Frederic Chopin's Contribution to Music - Research Paper Example

Frederic Chopin's Contribution to Music Frederic Chopin as a Polish-born pianist and composer of unique of keyboard music wasborn in a small town outside of Warsaw, Poland in the year 1810 from a Polish mother and a French father. As a kid, Chopin's redoubtable talent was clear which made him be considered as a genius gifted pianist and music composition at a tender age, for instance, at the age of seven Chopin was performing regularly both in public and in the houses as well as salons of noble families across Warsaw. Consequently, as Chopin grew up, he became a well-known composer because of his music work written for the piano which people considered the best in all of piano repertoire, and his early works, including two polonaises that he wrote when he was seven, earned him public interest. Although he got tuition from numerous famous teachers, Chopin was fundamentally a self-taught pianist whose heretical and highly individual technique contributed to the manner in which he composed. Because of his unique talent, Frederic Chopin is recognized as a great improviser and one of the main figures in nineteenth-century classical music and the Romantic period even if he transcribed his extempore inventions-often with some difficulty (Chen 2). In addition to a pianist, his talents were beyond emulation and had an effect on other musicians exclusively as compared to the number of his performance, for instance, he performed only 30 public performances in his 30 years as a performing artist. As a result, no artist has come before, and after him has had several important works of the piano’s repertoire, or captured its soul. Therefore, in order to understand the logic behind his life, one should learn Frederic Chopin's contribution to music as compared to other artists of his time. Chopin's musical production was entirely dedicated to his preferred instrument, the piano; therefore, at his dearth at the age of 39, Chopin’s influence on music and his effect on later authors were massive. For example, pianists currently play their music under the influence of Chopin as a great pianist, hence, a pianist without Chopin’s music is not nor recognized as a pianist, and is absurd. This is compared to English literature without Shakespeare or the Italian renaissance without Michelangelo. Thus, if Chopin had not live, there would be no Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, or even Debussy; moreover, Brahms' piano music would not be what it is currently (Gagne? 76). There are several motives that make pianists love Chopin's music, which include Chopin’s music satisfies and rewards, also the payoffs are big; in addition to that, studying it as well as breaking it down has its own recompenses as well. Moreover, Chopin’s music pleases a wide range of listeners because it is easily available and beautiful at all levels. Several pianists like Liszt’s works though advanced cannot compare their work with that of Chopin because he was the poet of piano and no artist has ever existed like him because their work lack the beauty of Chopin. Another benefit definite to Chopin’s own music is that Eigeldinger has been capable of using Chopin’s handwritten notations to verify that the tempo signs on the engraver’s manuscripts of his two books of Etudes were undeniably in his own hand. This matter of massive significance to pianists, and one had been under some discussions (Bellman 622). Generally, Chopin produced various diverse types of piano pieces, which were often used by other composers despite the fact that he created his own form of music that were original and of high standard. some artist have tried to copy Chopin’s work, for example, Beethoven’s greatest work lies on the manner in which rewrote the piano sonata in which he did only the sonata for solo piano. On the other hand, Schubert wrote something close to Chopin because he typically stuck to sonatas but also had impromptus and moments musicals, shorter and freer works whereby he at times took a musical form that already existed and reworked it, and other times he completely invented his own forms. For example, mazurkas and polonaises were Polish dances with exact characteristics that Chopin transferred over to the piano, and was typical of the Romantic period, as composers that followed similarly invented their own short piano forms. Moreover, his attitude in general was unique whereby instead of emphasizing on large-scale works and performances, he focused on composition as his primary way of earning a living, additionally, Chopin's general attitude toward music was unique, which for him was a passionate, personal affair that was intensely involved with the events of his life. In his exceptionally higher treatment of synchronization and cadence, Chopin drove out the ordinary from his music and opened the door to an emotional vagueness that carries on to intrigue listeners one whose communication needs delicacy of execution that generations of pianists have labored loyally to achieve (Huneker 24). The incandescent textures and unforgettable melodies he used to convey his thoughts added to the piano's sound and range of color shadings that no one before him had anticipated were there, but that all who have followed identify as his. The same is true of the harmonic question marks one finds all over his music, the equal of a look of gentle longing in which he created a slimmer oeuvre than his important contemporaries did, but every piece he produced was a pearl. Chopin as a Polish artist can be positioned first among musicians who have had an individual poetic sense of a particular realm. Among Chopin's most individual works are the Preludes, which he intended to serve as improvisatory beginnings to an intimate recital. These pieces range from tender melancholy to the dramatic expressions of the stormy Prelude in D minor, however, a lot of of Chopin's most beautiful compositions come from the series of short, reflective pieces he called Nocturnes, and can be heard in the Nocturne in F-sharp. These works are usually gentle and dreamlike with a flowing, rocking bass, and suitably proves Chopin's fondness for sweet, song-like melodies, the style of Italian bel canto opera of the era. Polish nationalism in Chopin's music Robert Schumann in his 1836 review of Chopin's piano concerts emphasized that Chopin had strong feelings towards his native Poland making artists stronger, and if the mighty autocrat could know that Chopin's works is the simple strains of his mazurkas, and his works could be buried in flowers. Likewise, Schumann was used to thinking of the values of his nation as the general values of humanity, thus professing an unwitting double standard, which they now call ethnocentrism that perpetuated the oppression with which he consciously sympathized on Chopin's behalf. However, this hesitant attitude to polish nationalism on the part of non-Poles has continued, and Chopin may be felt to have shared in these parallel attitudes. Zdzislaw Jachimecki notes that Chopin set to music works by several Polish poets but never a single French or German text, though he numbered among his friends several French and German poets. Jachimecki affirms that Chopin applied impact on the nationalism of the work of several future musicians, including the Czech Smetana and Norway's Grieg where his piano music is characterized by unique rhythms with interesting variations on chromatic scales. Therefore, a combination that offers the effect of transient melodies and harmonies in which his greatest input to musical form was the transformation of the nocturne as well as famous dance forms such as the mazurka and the Viennese waltz where he is credited with creating the Ballade (Kasunic 343). Conclusion Since Frederic Chopin arrived in Paris in 1831 to the present times, his music has been sleeted for being unique. No great composer has written so entirely for the piano as Chopin has, and most of his work is characterized by strong, supporting melodies. Moreover, the power of his invention transformed the simple structures within which he worked-the dances, the etudes, the nocturnes, therefore, it is a mistake always to see the dying man in the music. Works Cited Bellman, Jonathan D. "Bach Viewed By Chopin." Music Library Association.Notes 67.3 (2011): 621-3. Chen, Shu-fen V. A Performer's Analysis of the Four Ballades by Frederic Chopin. East Eisenhower Parkway: ProQuest LLC, 2009. Print. Gagne?, Nicole V. Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2012. Print. Huneker, James. Chopin: The Man and His Music. S.l.: Floating Press, 2008. Print. Kasunic, David. "Chopin's Polish Ballade: Op. 38 as Narrative of National Martyrdom." Music Library Association.Notes 67.2 (2010): 342-4. Taruskin, Richard. The Oxford History of Western Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Read More