I agree Elene. Bach and Chopin were wonderful improvisers.
Chopin is so balladic that it provides a great starting point for classical improvisers. And to my ears, a piece in Bb maj, Eb maj or Ab maj is particularly romantic.

It reminds me somewhat of Angela Lear's version on one of her CDs, although that was described as including some of Chopin's 'original variants', not her own improvisations.

Does anyone know why Chopin used Ab maj for so many of his pieces?

The notes to the Castro album weren't specific about whether he used anything that was actually notated in historical sources for his embellishments. He may have, but it seemed like he added a lot more. If I'd been writing the notes I would have made this explicit. We do have some written examples of Chopin's added ornamentation, but I don't think we have a lot--?

And while I don't know if Chopin had a predilection for the sound of the key of A flat, we can say that 4 flats makes for a convenient number of black keys in order to get around the instrument comfortably.

Elene

In my edition (Dover) of the posthumous C-sharp minor nocturne, after the last right hand run towards the end (bar 62, including the repeat at the beginning, I think) , it goes straight into major. However, in an Ashkenazy recording of the piece I have, he plays it minor until the last contrary motion arpeggio at the very end (bar 64).

Could you clear this up if there is a correct way to play it? Thanks.

Dear Chopin4life,

This one is more ambiguous. The Ashkenazy version is definitely correct as a reflection of the earlier version of the piece (we have an autograph manuscript in Chopin's hand with the ending you describe). The version in Paderewski (=Dover) might be authentic as a reflection of a later version for which we have no autograph manuscript, but only copies in other peoples' hands. The latest edition (Ekier, National Edition) expresses some doubt about the authenticity of the longer turn to major, but does offer it as a variant reading in smaller notes beneath the main text.

In short: there's no definitive answer that can be derived from the sources we presently know.

Jeff Kallberg

Elene:

[spoiler ]
(enter text here)
[/spoiler ]

But don't have the space after the "r" of course.

Thank you for telling me about George Sand writing fiction. I learned something new.

Thank you Dr. Kallberg.

I guess it's just another one of those many mysteries surrounding Chopin music, probably never to be proved either way.

I am making myself a Chopin CD this weekend and ready to fork out some $$$ for MP3's.

Chopin Fanatics: please recommend to me a "Top-10-Must-Listen" best Chopin pieces, including his popular and "overplayed" pieces (Fantasie Impromptu & Nocturne 9/2 are 2 that I plan to put on my playlist). Also include recommended performers/interpretations for each piece.

Thanks in advanced!

I enjoy Claudio Arrau's interpretation of Chopin and recently purchased this seven cd set of Chopin's works. It will last all day long!
Chopin

All of op 10, 25, & 28 -Angela Lear
also Dinu Lipatti for the waltzes

CebuKid, that's a tall order. I'd hardly know where to start in picking just 10 pieces. I'm sure you could listen to a lot of samples and see what grabs you. You could also listen to our past e-citals; it would take you a while, and you wouldn't necessarily get the all-time best performances, but you'd hear a good range of pieces.

It occurs to me that you couldn't go wrong owning copies of the two concerti.

Here's a small mystery: Earlier this evening my husband was looking at the Facebook profile of an Italian contact of his. Under the guy's picture was this:

Chi non ride mai non è una persona seria.*
Fryderyk Chopin

That's not ringing a bell with me at all. I wonder when he said that-- in any language? Has anyone seen it before? It's clever, so I hope he did say it.

*Who never laughs is not a serious person.

Elene

He said it in Polish, and the exact quote is:

Ten, kto nigdy się nie śmieje, jest błaznem.
One who never laughs is a fool (=buffoon).

But I don't know when he said that. It's one of those bits of erudition one knows, but doesn't realize exactly where from.

Another quote from Chopin I'm unable to trace the source of:

Nie chciałbym, aby ktoś kiedyś w muzeum moje stare portki admirował.
I wouldn't want somebody sometime in a museum to admire my old (=worn) trews (=pants).

Got any more JAS? We love stuff like that. One thing that mystified me was a reference to "'blue almonds', a favorite expression of Chopin." Care to elaborate on that?

That's a point. Do we know of any surviving clothes belonging to Chopin?

Byron Janis claims to own a "green corduroy dinner coat" that had been left at Nohant, (given him by George Sand's granddaughter,) but I don't necessarily believe him. The bulk of Chopin's wardrobe was sold off along with all the rest of his belongings after his death to settle his estate. If you're interested in his clothing watch the movie Impromptu. The costume designer actually dressed Hugh Grant using Chopin's tailor's records so the costuming is very accurate even if nothing else in the movie is.

Janis and Chopin's Coat

I'm going to release them one by one, whenever relevant in the given context .


There is a saying in Polish: "myśleć o niebieskich migdałach", which means literally "to think about blue almonds" and the sense is "to think about non-existing things", i.e. "to lose oneself in dreams".

Happy 325th birthday to J.S. Bach, without whom everything would be completely different. Is March a great month for musicians or what?



Dang, the other version was pithier.



Well, we don't have any of his pants to gaze upon, at least. We will have to content ourselves with the casts of his face and hands, his chair, some of his hair, manuscripts, a couple of pianos, and so forth.... if he's bothered by that, oh, well, what can we do?

(By the way, the word "trews" is archaic, and unintelligible to Americans.)

A lot of the Byron Janis article gives me a stomach ache, but I guess if he says he was given a green dinner coat, then chances are he was given a green dinner coat. If Chopin's clothes were sold off after his death, then they were around someplace for at least a while; one would think that some were saved, and actually it's strange that we don't have more of them. Back in the early '90s, I was visiting a keyboard player friend and we visited a music store in her city, where we found a booklet containing an edition of a Chopin piece, a waltz I think, from a manuscript Janis had come across. I don't remember the details, except that it didn't seem to be substantially different from what we already had. There were photos, and in one of them Janis was holding a waistcoat that had belonged to Chopin; it was a dark color with a sort of birdseye pattern, if I remember correctly, which I may not. The whole thing stuck in my mind because my friend was very put out by it. She said that Janis' pose with the waistcoat held up against his own body looked like he was trying to identify himself with Chopin or insert himself into Chopin's life. (I was not similarly offended, although there did seem to be a good deal of egotism involved.) At any rate, I don't know where that waistcoat came from or where it ended up.

In Impromptu, there was especially great virtuosity in Judy Davis' costumes. For ages I longed for the multicolored floral velvet of the waistcoat that went with the beige suit... never could find fabric like that, and had to be content with floral tapestry from the upholstery department-- back when I used to have more time to sew. (Could Mme Sand even have afforded a fabric like that?) Of course I didn't have her delicate little figure, either. At any rate, what I'd like to see is the construction of the shirts. I love the high collars and billowy sleeves. My costumer friend and I analyzed a bunch of patterns and some films last year, including Impromptu of course, but never arrived at quite the shirt I was trying to recreate.

I guess I'm thinking of blue almonds again. What a fun expression. It reminds me of another saying, one Krasinski applied to Mme Potocka when he was complaining about how she'd been ruined by Paris and all those wealthy men. (He'd had nothing to do with that, of course.) It was something like "she wants the moon so she can see if it's made of good cheese." I don't know how that goes in Polish either.

Elene

Yes, but was it Chopin's or were they having him on?

This is what gives me a stomach ache as well and I didn't even know about the waistcoat before.

Re George and her fabrics - I seem to remember Chopin writing of something he'd picked out for her - black (I think velvet) with a small gold figure - it sounded to die for.
jxxx

My heartburn came more from the last Aurore telling Janis that Maurice had said that the relationship between Fryderyk and Solange went "all the way."

Not to mention the smug certainty of Janis' statement that Chopin's birthdate was really February 22 and that it had probably been changed for tax reasons.

I am trying to picture what a green dinner coat from the 1840s would look like. I suppose one could have a idea of whether it belonged to The Man Himself just by looking at the size. Someone else could have been as slight, but if it's a small size that would be fairly convincing.

The waistcoat picture could also have been a matter of Janis showing Chopin's size relative to his own.

Elene

Of course at one point in time Maurice was quite slight as well. Remember George wrote something along the lines of "Chip-chip has gotten as fat as Maurice"? - Maurice being a stripling at the time. I half suspect the last Aurore was playing a game with the nice pianist.
(I'd love to see a picture of that birdeye waistcoat though.)

I know . That's why I provided an explanation in parentheses. The word portki in Polish is also archaic and used only humorously both nowadays and in Chopin's time. It was my feeble attempt to translate with preserving his humorous, mocking language. (The word admirować is also archaic.)

I am a bit confused; I must have missed something (which is entirely possible): who is 'the last Aurore'?

Sorry, how rude of us. The "last Aurore" was George Sand's granddaughter. You can read all about it below.
Byron Janis and Chopin's Alleged Dinner Coat

J.A.S., I thought your attempt at getting the flavor of archaic language worked. I was just meaning to clarify.

And apologies, I was writing about "the last Aurore" as if everyone had read the Janis article. Aurore Lauth-Sand lived well into the 20th century. Funny how the invented name "Sand" stuck so well.

I was thinking, too, that the green coat might have belonged to Maurice or some other skinny youngster. That actually seems more likely. His daughter might also simply have been mistaken about whose coat it had been.

I'm going to wear my 1840 shirt today, having been reminded of it, despite the fact that the collar pulls a little.

Elene

"Breeches" would've been another good choice.

LisztAddict, thank you so much for giving us this link. The video is beautifully done. The 'Revolutionary' bit made me cringe just a little, but the blend of old and new worked wonderfullly and the little boy actor was well chosen. He even seemd to have a budding Chopinesque nose!

I think the producer intentionally not putting very high quality performances in the video except for E-minor waltz and concerto #1 at the very end.

I mentioned for Chopin's Birth Celebration that Eric Himy was performing in MN as well as being on Public Radio interviewed and playing.

Here is an excerpt from the interview. Speaking about Chopin's Mazurka's and playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trH-VBEg6pU

Closeups of his playing.

What did you come up with, CebuKid?

I'd second the Arrau vote. I'm currently having a love affair with his Nocturne No. 20 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. posth.

Edited to add that I only dream that I could one day play it.
Jim