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Hi Kathleen, I am writing to congratulate you on having found a wonderful piano teacher. Lucky you - I am jealous! But seriously, it will be so motivating and I am sure you will progress even faster.

The story about Schumann is that he was dissatisfied with his prowess as a pianist, and tried to improve his reach by tying a rope to his little fingers and stretching them - thereby actually damaging his hands to the point of hardly being able to play at all. Of course, his wife was a brilliant pianist and was admired by Chopin. I don't think that Chopin actually disliked Schumann; he just didn't like his music all that much. After all, it is very "programmatic" with descriptive titles for all the piano works, which was anathema to Chopin.

And although I do feel very sorry for Schumann, and think that at his best he was a composer of the most charming piano music (which I love to play), he wasn't entirely kind. For example, he didn't support his wife's career as much as he might have done. He would have liked her to be a typical Victorian housewife, subordinate to his and their children's needs. And he could have tried to give her fewer children IMO

Hi MaryRose: My teacher used to be a child prodigy, and she is very flexible. I call her when I want a lesson (something that I need help with, etc.). She's also VERY reasonable..$15.00 half hour. She lets me work on what I want to and just makes suggestions on how I could play better etc. The only thing she has pressed me on is Hanon. I refused to budge on it but now have to admit that if I were doing those exercises, my fingers would be stronger. I am going to set up regular lessons now because this "once-in-a-while- routine isn't working very well.

Thank you for the information about Schumann. Somehow I got the impression he was a gentle soul. I believe I read somewhere that he wrote beautiful love letters to his wife. She was something else! Having all those kids and still touring Europe to support her family. Wow!

I think I was a peeved to learn that she didn't visit Schumann for two years before he died in that "hospital." However, I then read that she tried but the doctors told her to stay away. And of course, Brahms living with her all that time. But, according to another souce, there wasn't anything going on between them.

Take care,
Kathleen

Kathleen - yes, Schumann did love Clara dearly and wrote not only love letters but secret love music :-) And I don't think that she and Brahms were anything other than platonic, but who knows?

I'm really reaching into my memory (and we all know how trustworthy that is) that Brahms was quite the "purist." He wouldn't dream of anything so shocking as to fool around with another man's wife. He really worshipped Robert, and I think he stayed with Clara to offer spiritual support. After Schumann died, Brahms moved out. As Brahms got older, he became quite the character. He basically let himself go...torned and dirty clothing, long beard, hair a mess and on and on. Perhaps he sufferred some kind of breakdown.

Kathleen

hello I am new here I was just looking up information about Chopin and came across this forum, I have been reading through the many pages and I must say I am quite impressed with all this information you have here on this forum about Chopin. I have always found him to be one of the more interesting composers of the romantic period. I read the book "Chopins Funeral" but I was not impressed with the information provided in that book. Can you recommend a book about the life of Chopin? I am an intermediate pianist.I have done the Prelude in B minor and the Prelude in E minor. Do you think I would be ready for the Raindrop Prelude? Thank you for your help!

Welcome to the Chopin thread, pianomia! It's great to have another Chopin fan on board. I agree that the Eisler book is far from perfect, although it is very readable and one of the better ones. They nearly all seem to contain some errors. I'll leave the answers to your questions to others as I'm in a rush at the moment, but I just wanted to welcome you.

Hello Chopin fans! I found interesting article:

http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/PMJ/issue/2.1.99/weco

Hi Maryrose,
I agree with your advice to Kathleen about finger stretching with any kind of devices. It's potentially risky and probably not effective either. so be careful, Kathleen!

As for Schumann, poor fellow was seriously mentally ill for a long time and was on a deteriorating course until he died. Hard to say how that affected how he treated Clara but it must have (perhaps he was also a bit jealous of the fact that she could still play well enough to have a concert career while he was sidelined.)I've also read she was barred from visiting him in the last period of his life, probably because of the appalling condition he was in (and the appalling treatments of the times).

Sophia

Welcome Pianomia: There are hundreds of books out there about Chopin, and as MaryRose said, there's not one that gives us the definitive story of Chopin's life.

A MUST HAVE is the book: Chopin, pianist and teacher (as seen by his pupils) by Eigeldinger.
Some others of interest are Chopin in Paris by Szulc, Chopin by Gavoty, Chopin: A New Biography by Zamoyski. And if you are into analyzing his music, the best is the book: The Chopin Companion by Alan Walker.

I wish you well on your journey into Chopin.

I think you just might be able to tackle the Raindrop. Do you have a teacher?


kathy83: Your site didn't come up.

Sophia: Schumann actually starved myself to death. I read that he heard the tone of A in his ear constantly. I actually let out a sob when reading about his later years. How tragic.

Kathleen

Thank you Kathy. The link works this time. I played Lulajże Jezuniu from Op 20 in our last online recital.

What a SUPER SITE that is. Thank you kathy and Frycek. I'm printing it out right now.

Thanks so much,
kathleen

Kathleen,

Did you see this article on "Chopin in Warsaw's Salons" in Kathy's link?


Chopin in Warsaw\'s Salons


Mel

And this page:


Polish Music Journal


Mel

Thank you for your very interesting link Kathy83.
I will need more time to study it, but somehow the use of religious folk tunes explains some of the magic in Chopin's music to me.
Another thing is that Polish folk songs have lot of similarities to Norwegian folk tunes - both the religious (which I have sung a lot of) and others. When Frycek introduced "Wiosna" to me I thought it sounded like Grieg - and when I played it for my friend he said the same.

Ragnhild

Polish Music Journal Archives:


Archives


WOW!

Mel

Kathy - thanks so much for coming over to our Chopin thread!! (Well, it's Kathleen's thread really as she started it and we are all very grateful to her.) It is wonderful to get a real live Polish person to join in. Your English seems good, too. Kasha (Kathleen) is part Polish herself, and I think Hershey is too.

(A secret: we are also trying to make this the biggest thread on the Adult Beginners' Forum. At the moment we need about 90 posts to catch up ... I am sure we'll be there by the end of the month. It is the least that dear Chopin deserves.)

Is there anyone else amongst us who is Polish?

Hi Kathy: I never noticed you were from Poland. How cool!! We are very pleased to have you here (on OUR Chopin thread...it belongs to everyone, certainly not just to me). Before I forget Kathy...are you a Kasha also? If your full name is Kathleen, how is it spelled. My Polish relatives used to call me Kathleen in Polish. I can pronounce it but not able to spell it. I think it went something like...ka ta jzin na. I know that can't be right, but it sounds something like it. From what part of Poland are you from? Near Warsaw, by any chance?

Thank you again for those unbelievably informative journal entries. I will have a lot of reading to do tonight.

WOW is right, Mel.

We are SAILING!!

First, we have an actual celebrity who portrays Chopin so magically (Hersh is half Polish, on his dad's side) come to join us as a forumite and tell us of his experiences researching Chopin and is also going to give us a tour of Paris...and now we have a member from Poland. We will have a load of questions for you, so be prepared.

Most defintely, thank you MaryRose for bringing it up. If we have any other members who are Polish or part Polish, we'd be so pleased if you would let us know.

Not to worry about our catching up, MaryRose. If I do 10 entries a day (there is so much to write about, about Chopin), we'll be in the lead in just a couple of weeks.

Now, to printing out those papers. Thanks to everyone.

Kathleen

Chopin in Paris by Szulc, Chopin by Gavoty, Chopin: A New Biography by Zamoyski. And if you are into analyzing his music, the best is the book: The Chopin Companion by Alan Walker.

Thank you Kathleen for recommending the above books and thank you for the welcome.I intend to look up those books, I just got done reading Chopin The Man and His Music
by James Huneker. It was ok, it was better than Chopins funeral. The information in the 2 books I read seemed to differ, which I found a little annoying.

The funny thing is no matter how much I listen to other classical composers music I never seem to enjoy them as much as Chopins! My dream one day is to be able to play at least 10 of my favorite songs of his.

This is such a great forum I am learning so much about Chopin and I thank you , Mary Rose, Frycek and everyone else for educating me!

Take heart, Mary Rose. The Chopin Nocture Group is the LARGEST, beating even that "one" thread.



I had an idea on how to keep our "Devoted" thread going and keeping it interesting, informative and even funny...

Whoever would like to take part is more than welcome.

The only two rules (and these are just to keep some continuity to the thread) are these:

1) the item entered must be in somewhat of a chronological order to the previous comment.

2) the item can be either FACT, FALSE, OR FALLACY. The person who enters the next item must identify which of these she/he thinks it is..

For example:

Let's say I enter this:
"Chopin was born in 1810 in a small town near Warsaw."

(The next person would enter)
FACT
(And then enter his/her item that would take off from that point)...such as....

"He had loving parents and three sisters."
FACT
"Chopin's father was Polish and his mother French"
FALSE
"Chopin's father left France because of an argument with his father over money."
FALLACY
" the next statement here."

The examples I've given are pretty basic stuff and are pretty dull. Hopefully, we can find write comments that are a little more interesting. Don't presume that other members are quite well-aware of your statement. You may be surprised.

I had to look up the word fallacy. It is a statement that has not been proven to be either true or false.

At any time, if someone disagrees with a statement, please, please feel free to interject, at any time, your opinion.

Oh...one last thing. All comments have to be about CHOPIN.

Kathleen