Frederic Chopin and the Art of the Piano

A JOURNEY THROUGH CHOPIN'S TWENTY-SEVEN ÉTUDES, THE FOUNDATION OF VIRTUOSO PIANO TECHNIQUE, REVEALING HOW THE HAND ACTUALLY WORKS, IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF THE PIANO AND THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT IN MUSIC

© ALAN KOGOSOWSKI 2005 GENIUS OF THE PIANO - ÉTUDE!

CHOPIN'S ÉTUDES AND THE ART OF THE PIANO

Excerpt #2: The People

The Etudes were composed at a crucial moment in the development of the modern era. The series was begun when the composer was nineteen, a student in one of the far reaches of the old Napoleonic Empire, a country under the domination of Russia. Soon he would travel to Vienna, which for fifty years had been the centre of the music world, there to continue his work while meeting some of the participants who remained from a great era which had just passed.

In the midst of revolution, he would continue his journey and settle finally in Paris, just at the moment the city of light suddenly became the world centre for the passionate young Romantic generation of artists, writers, composers and musicians. Chopin was to be the jewel in the crown of this generation.

Continuing steadily throughout this journey was the creation of the Etudes, culminating in 1837, at which point Chopin became linked with one of the famous writers of the age in a liaison which captured the imagination of the whole world. Genius of the Piano traces all the influences which surrounded Chopin during the significant historical period in which he composed his Etudes, and through them an unparalleled epoch in European cultural history springs vividly to life.

When the lives of great musicians and other artists are approached biographically, the reader or viewer is occasionally left wondering why a particular artist's personal story is worth telling more than that of someone else. The essential ingredient - the talent, the genius, the contribution to civilization - is often treated as a separate, parallel subject to the artist's life story. Genius of the Piano is biography approached from the inside out - from the motivations and resulting creations of the composer - a biography which emerges naturally from an exploration of the artist's inner life, which, after all, is the true life of an artist.

As the story and nature of Chopin himself is revealed through an exploration of his Etudes, the many interesting personalities both intimately and tangentially involved with the story come alive through an appreciation of their creations. Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Berlioz; Paganini, Bellini, Rossini and Meyerbeer; Balzac, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Heine and Delacroix; and of course Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven; a raft of great pianists and singers, as well as relevant political figures, emerge vividly through their works, their talents and abilities, their individual personalities thus revealed and illuminated.

Chopin and Liszt. Chopin and George Sand. Iconic relationships. Names which are inextricably linked in the collective imagination of our culture. Without disturbing the aura which surrounds these celebrated relationships, Genius of the Piano looks at the facts and uncovers the truth behind the legend. What did Liszt actually learn from Frederic Chopin? How strong was the bond between Chopin and George Sand? The truth is hardly less glamorous than the myth, but it's of course more complicated, more human and rather more interesting.

Read the next excerpt from the book GENIUS OF THE PIANO ÉTUDE! FREDERIC CHOPIN AND THE ART OF THE PIANO:

Excerpt #3: The Pianist's Art ...