Frédéric Chopin

Dovydenas, Jonas. Polish Constitution Day Parade, Chicago, Illinois. 1977. Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004). American Folklife Project, Library of Congress.

Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849) was born in the Polish village of Żelazowa Wola, which is situated west of Warsaw along the Utrata River. Chopin was raised in a musical family and was largely considered a child prodigy on the piano. The Warsaw aristocracy enjoyed performances by the young musician, who had also begun honing his compositional skills. Having concertized with great success, Chopin decided at the age of twenty to pursue a professional musical career abroad. En route to Paris, he had traveled as far as Vienna when the Warsaw Uprising began at the end of November 1830. Worried and with no updates from home, Chopin remained in Vienna for several months, where he would write some of his most intensive and emotional works. He finally arrived in Paris in 1831, and he stayed there until his death in 1849.

Over the course of his career, Chopin wrote almost exclusively for piano, but his compositional output encompassed a range of genres.  Among these genres were:

• those considered to be of Polish origins, such as the mazurka and the polonaise, and
• those that had become popular throughout Western Europe—most notably, theme and variations, the sonata, the rondo, the concerto, the fugue, and the waltz—but had not been restricted solely to the solo

Indeed, with his nuanced understanding of the instrument, Chopin was able to transform melodic lines originally conceived for the human voice into virtuosic showpieces. Tonight, we will hear two examples of “theme and variations” pieces:

• Variations on a theme by Rossini, for Flute and Piano, Op. Posth., which features variations on the finale from Rossini’s opera La Cenerentola, “Non più mesta accanto al fuoco.”
• Variations in D major on a National Air by Thomas Moore, for Piano Duet, Op. Posth., which features variations on the musical arrangement by John Stevenson of Thomas Moore’s poem “Oh Come to Me When Daylight Sets (Venetian Air).”

As you listen to Brian Ganz’s performance, consider the idiosyncrasies of Chopin’s style evident in his pieces for solo piano, especially the distinctive dance rhythms. How would you compare the 4 Mazurkas, Op. 68 and Sonata No. 1, Op. 4 with the “theme and variations” works and the Rondo for Two Pianos, Op. 73?  And, in your assessment, consider how the addition of a second instrument (piano or flute) affects the musical outcome.

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Chopin’s music is not generally considered “programmatic”—that is, his works do not tend to portray a specific non-musical concept or person. However, he was known to incorporate popular Polish tunes or dance rhythms in his pieces, thereby evoking a strong sense of Polish nationalism within his music.

You will also note that references to the five national dances of Poland—mazurka, krakowiak, kujawiak, oberek, and polonaise — can be found in many pieces, even though they were not actually intended to accompany dancing.  Which ones will you hear this evening?

• The mazurka refers to a dance in triple meter, whose dotted rhythm (on the first beat) and accent (on the third of three beats) differentiates it from the waltz, whose emphasis falls on the first beat of three. The term derives from the historical region of Mazovia in which Chopin’s birthplace Żelazowa Wola was located. Over time, types of mazurkas have been distinguished from each other.
• The oberek is a very fast dance in triple meter, whose name is derived from “obracać się,” which means “to spin.” Some of Chopin’s fastest mazurkas are obereks.
• The kujawiak is in triple meter, and its name derives from the central Polish region known as Kujawy. Recent musicological research (especially that of Halina Goldberg) has interrogated the relationship between the kujawiak and the mazurka during Chopin’s time, when they were not really distinguished from one another.
• The polonaise, whose name shares its root with the word “Poland,” is a slower dance, sometimes with the accent on the second of three beats. Chopin composed his first polonaise at age seven, and several of his polonaises, including the Polonaise in G-flat major, were not published until after he died.
• The krakowiak is a dance in duple time, whose name derives from the southern Polish city, Kraków. The krakowiak rhythm is evident in Chopin’s 1828 piece titled Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major, Op. 14, which is for piano and orchestra. The syncopation characteristic of the krakowiak is first found in the violins, but the accented notes within in the embellished solo piano part follow suit.

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To hear examples of Polish dance music, come to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and explore the archival collections. Despite the word “American” in its title, the American Folklife Center has ethnographical materials in over 500 languages (including Polish), documenting cultural expression around the world. The Center also holds collections featuring performances of Polish Americans.  Learn how to make the most of your visit to the American Folklife Center. And, when you visit us, be sure to view the wycinanki (Polish paper cuts) on display in the reading room and held in the archive.

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