Frederic Chopin

La Barcarolle op. 60 de Chopin fait partie de la dernière période créatrice du compositeur, également appelée « dernier style ». Cette œuvre a suscité de très nombreuses interprétations dans la littérature musicologique, mais l’objet de cette communication est de proposer notre propre analyse, à la fois formelle et narrative, qui permettra de mettre en lumière certaines nouveautés stylistiques caractéristiques de cette période et d’expliquer les déviances formelles apparentes. Ce double-niveau analytique souhaite en effet investir les aspects techniques du discours musical (forme, tonalités, sections, cadences, harmonies, etc.) mais également son niveau expressif, à travers l’utilisation des topiques musicaux. L’étude de la succession de ces unités expressives permettra notamment d’éclaircir et d’expliquer le parcours de l’œuvre, qui se détache de la forme ternaire si chère au compositeur, avec un retour varié des deux thèmes principaux dans un style héroïque au sein de la dernière section, amenant un sentiment apothéotique. Il s’agit donc d’une stratégie narrative construite selon une concaténation particulière des unités du discours musical, une disposition de type téléologique qui amènera à cette apothéose finale, également retrouvée dans d’autres œuvres du corpus de la dernière période.

Agata Pietrzak „Chicken scratches”, or Frederic Chopin and the November insurgents in caricatures by Józef Szymon Kurowski from the collections of the National Library
The article discusses the previously unknown set of drawings by Joseph Simon Kurowski, a painter who specialized in portraying personalities of the Great Emigration. Discovered in storage at the Department of Manuscripts of the National Library, albums belonging to Zofia Ossolińska (née Chodkievicz) contain a collection of 24 drawings including satirical images of November insurgents (including Izydor Sobański, Aleksander and Edward Jełowicki, Anton Wodziński, General Józef Bem and General Henryk Dembinski, Edward Rottermund, Walenty Krosnowski, and Leonard Rettel). Created during the years 1835-1839, these works document their lives outside their country. The collection also includes three self-portraits of the artist, who was himself a participant in the Polish-Russian War of 1830-31. The most interesting items in the collection are, however, caricatures of Frederic Chopin. Based on comparative and stylistic analysis, we have managed to establish their proper attribution. The author of the humorous portraits was the pianist Józef Kurowski, and not, as previously assumed, Countess Ossolinska née Jablonowska. The article also discusses the original version, never before published and hitherto unknown to Chopin experts, of the caricature Chopin Toasting from 1837.

According to Ian Bent, “musical analysis is the reduction of a musical structure in several components […] and the research of functions of these components inside the structure”. It is in this wide analytical context that my research about Chopin’s last style is to be situated. I use a combination of classical and narrative analysis to consider these two different but complementary aspects of a musical work. The musical work is divided into significant unities (discretization by segmentation) according to the topics and narratives actors use. By so doing, I want to integrate elements from the musical signification into the structural dimension of the work. However, this distinction allows us to go further and to bring to light the different narrative identities, by the relation and interactions of the discretized unities and their rhythmic states: complex course, simple course, less contrasted course, etc. Thus, these unities become entirely comprehensible by the global observation of the path and enable us to understand the construction and tracking of the work. Then, these elements can be used for the study of the interpretation at the level of the sound object (tempi and dynamics) and for the study of the choices made by performers. It will be asked if these unities are still relevant for the sound object and if they have an impact on the performance.

This thesis focuses on a particular stylistic period of Frederic Chopin. The 1840s show an important evolution of Chopin’s musical language and correspond to an aesthetic turning point, characterized by a difficult historical and biographical context. All along our research, we will try to build a transversal definition of Chopin’s last style by highlighting the recurrent characteristics of this period. In this purpose, a corpus of twenty-two works will be analyzed through several levels (traditional and formal, semiotic, narrative and thymic), to grasp all the issues of the last period of the polish composer.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à une période stylistique particulière du compositeur Frédéric Chopin. Les années 1840 manifestent une évolution importante dans son langage musical et correspondent à un tournant esthétique marqué par un contexte historique et biographique difficile. Tout au long de ce travail, nous allons tenter d’ériger une définition transversale du « dernier style » de Chopin, en recherchant les éléments caractéristiques récurrents de cette période. Dans ce but, un corpus de vingt-deux oeuvres musicales sera analysé selon plusieurs niveaux (traditionnel et formel, sémiotique, narratif et thymique) afin de saisir tous les enjeux de la dernière période du compositeur polonais.

This paper is about a methodology which wants to represent in an innovative way the musical work’s narrativity and expression according to the moments of tension and detente created by the relations between the different topics. These unities are characteristic figures coming from the historical and social musical legacy and refer to genres and musical styles (march, dances, hymn, etc.). In line with the publications of Robert Hatten, Eero Tarasti, Márta Grabócz and many others, our narrative analyses try to understand the stylistic evolution and the different strategies of Chopin’s compositions. The evolution and concatenation of the topics reveal different identities and itineraries called “narrative structures”. Three models emerge from our analyses: the “complex” structure, the “simple” structure and the and “non-contrasted” structure which characterized all the 21 pieces of our corpus, composed after 1841 and linked to the last style.

Today I finished the Fantasy – and the sky is beautiful, there’s a sadness in my heart – but that’s alright. If it were otherwise, perhaps my existence would be worth nothing to anyone.
(Letter to J. Fontana, 20th October 1841)

Musical narratology is an important item to highlight and understand the narrative strategies of musical works by the study of the concatenation of the expressive unities it contains. In the 19th century, the narrative strategy is often built as a “path which leads the listener from dysphoric elements till the transcendental level (euphoric) through several steps […]. This itinerary often corresponds to the coming-of-age novel or imaginary or initiatory journey […]” (Grabocz, 2009, p. 33). This is also possible in music by the choice of the protagonists, their relationships and their evolution into the musical piece.
In our thesis, which focuses on Chopin’s last style, we study 21 works of the 1840’s to reach a definition of this late stylistic period. Among our corpus, the Fantasy op. 49 in F minor is particularly interesting. In fact, this piece was rather badly received by the contemporary critics, considering “a lack of unity and cohesion” according to Lenz while Schumann found it “full of genius traits, although the whole hasn’t felt to have being bound by a formal harmonious framework”.
However, we consider that this work is a very good illustration of a real mastery of the formal construction and the narrative strategy proposed by Chopin and revealed by the narrative analysis. Composed in the beginnings of the 40’s, two themes serve as a basis of all the progression: the first is dramatic and more and more powerful all along its repetitions which put us deeper into the dramaturgy. The second is more transitional, in an improvised style and presents two kinds of appearance, totally opposite, which carries the auditor into two different atmospheres. The interactions between these two protagonists will build the “plot” of the piece, anchored in this romantic aesthetic, as we will try to show it in our presentation.
This kind of narrative strategy will also be compared with other works of our corpus which present the same kind of strategy but also totally contrary, like the Ballade op. 52 in f minor whose analysis in our forthcoming paper "La Ballade op. 52: une « épopée dramatique ». Entre analyse formelle, narrative et thymique" noticed a totally inverse narrative strategy.

The last style of Chopin is a new notion in musicology in France. In spite of the fact that the authors  admit its existence, very less researches concern this subject, particularly in France. All along our researches, the analysis of the works of our corpus  shows us different narratives structures.
The narrative framework, proved by some theoretician of literature , is the thread of the main conventional narrative  and can also govern the musical discourse: initial situation (tranquillity, exposition), inciting incident, quest and adventures, crisis, resolution, and final situation. In the romantic period, the artists change these traditional paths to express their new aesthetics ideas and cause a bursting of the classical structures, which will more freely model the narrative framework.
In this paper, we want to present several examples of different narrative structures in Chopin’s last style. In fact, the themes, motives and thymic states of the works enable to model different evolutions of the dramaturgy. The results of these researches reveal different “narrative structures” used by Chopin in the works of the last style.

Cet article propose une étude approfondie de la Polonaise en la bémol majeur op. 53 de Chopin afin de mettre en avant des caractéristiques essentielles du dernier style de Chopin, qui s'exprime dans les années 1840, période difficile avant son décès. La Polonaise "héroïque", investie de manière plus traditionnelle mais également par le biais d'une approche plus narrative met en avant une évolution de la forme tripartite, déjà amorcée dans la Polonaise op. 44 et qui aboutira également à la forme téléologique de la Polonaise Fantaisie op .61 qui clot ce répertoire. En effet, l'usage des topiques et de leur concaténation sont particulièrement intéréssants pour comprendre une part de l'évolution stylistique du compositeur dans les dernières années.

Le présent article propose une analyse musicale de la Ballade op. 52 en fa mineur de Frédéric Chopin. De nombreuses méthodologies existent pour investir l'oeuvre musicale, mais l'auteure défend l'importance et la complémentarité de deux niveaux essentiels que sont la partition et son langage technique ainsi que l'expressivité de la pièce, qui peuvent s'assimiler au couple signifiant/signifié de la sémiotique générale. Par la détection des unités signifiantes (appelées topiques) et l'étude de leur concaténation, Julie Walker tente de démontrer que la pièce présente une stratégie narrative complexe qui sera également mise en avant par l'interprète musical.

This Part 2 describes the various structures of melodies as more complex versions of the metrical structures discussed in Part 1. In this way, the metrical structure and the grouping structure will be integrated into one theoretical entity.

In Chapter 5, the various structure of phrases will be understood as roughly being metrical unit. By returning to the metrical structure for analysis, the various irregular structures are clearly understood as the result of a kind of compositional technique.

In Chapter 6, the details of various phrases will be understood as a combination of metrical structures, as a complication of metrical structures. The way to create such combinations is through syncopation.

Casi toda la producción compositiva de Chopin está dirigida al piano, pero tras su muerte, se suceden una serie de transcripciones de sus obras para otros instrumentos. Esto se debe a la calidad de su obra y a la expresividad característica que definen sus melodías. Tal y como prueban los documentos hemerográficos y las obras consultadas en los fondos de la Biblioteca Nacional y la biblioteca del Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, se realizaron orquestaciones y adaptaciones de sus composiciones para diferentes agrupaciones. Los arreglos de las obras de Chopin más interpretados estos años fueron: la Fantasía de flauta sobre una melodía de Chopin compuesta por Jules Demersseman; el Estudio op. 25 nº7 en Do sostenido menor instrumentado por Giovanni Bottesini; la Introducción y polonesa brillante op.3, en Do mayor arreglada para orquesta por Tomás Bretón; y la celebérrima Marcha fúnebre orquestada por Prosper Pascal.

Chopin nunca ofreció ningún concierto en España y su rápido paso por Mallorca no tuvo un impacto notable en la recepción de sus obras en el país. A pesar de que pianistas españoles como Masarnau o Guelbenzu interpretaron algunas de sus composiciones en reuniones filarmónicas, la música de Chopin sería bastante desconocida en España durante la primera mitad del XIX. Además, el proceso de recepción de estas obras fue en España más tardío que en otros países en los que el compositor polaco sí había ofrecido conciertos. Sin embargo, éste no fue inexistente, y la figura de Chopin se convertiría en un referente en la segunda mitad del siglo. En este contexto, este artículo investiga los factores que favorecieron la introducción, aunque lenta, de la música de Chopin en España. Para ello, se estudian las referencias al músico polaco que aparecen en la prensa de la época, así como en los métodos pianísticos que se emplearon en el Conservatorio de Madrid y el proceso de importación de sus obras impresas.

There is a general skepticism about the possibility of establishing parallels between the literary ballad and Chopin's ballads. Even so, the evidence about a possible relationship between certain poetic ballads and the only four works by the composer (apart from his songs) that may have extra-musical content are enough to attempt an approach between both worlds. For this it will be necessary to know some of the life events of its author, as well as to make a foray into the world of the literary ballad and its most important Polish representative, Adam Mickiewicz, all against the background of the historical events that surrounded their protagonists in the second quarter of the 19th century, since both artists made the same geographical journey that, starting from Poland, reached Paris, also passing through other European cities.

The object of the present proposal is a semiotic analysis of the song Leci liście z drzewa, op. 74 n.17 by Chopin. In particular, the analysis will focus on the relationship between four different plans: (I) the form of the expression plan of the poetic text by Wincenty Pol; (II) the content plan expressed by the poem; (III) the form of the musical expression plan, and (IV) the musical content plan. If the poetic expression provides a rhythm which influences the melodic structure, on the other hand the music reorganizes the verses in different ways, by accelerating or slowing the poetic speech, by underlining and repeating some keywords (<<O Polska kraino!>>) or entire verses (the final stanza), or by constructing musical links between distant textual elements. The complex musical form and the different harmonic modulations are more sensible to the content expressed by the poem and its mood, which often shifts from the epic narration of the insurrection in Warsaw, to the didacticism about the consequences of the revolution. Even in these cases music is not a simple textual subordinate, but gives a contribute to meaning as a whole thanks to the emotional manipulation of the hearer suggested by the harmonic and rhythmic construction of the musical tension: thus the semiotic point of view on song as a case of syncretism between multiple plans - and the subsequent typology of the functions between them - helps in clarifying the link between form and emotions.

Os ateliers, seminários e encontros realizados com Claude Ledoux se inscreveram no âmbito de atividades acadêmicas desenvolvidas na Unicamp e na Usp na área de Análise Musical e compreenderam: Reflexão sobre a Análise Musical relacionada a tradições populares; Impacto do conhecimento de tradições populares no ato da composição musical; Claude Debussy e as tradições do Sudeste Asiático; Ligeti e a influência de músicas subsaarianas; Feldmann, tradições do Oriente-Médio e filosofias orientais; Scelsi, Murail e Harvey: interesse mutuo em músicas tibetanas, mongólicas e outros rituais budistas; Eötvös e Kurtag em relação às tradições da Europa Central; Claude Ledoux: influência das músicas da Índia do Norte e Indonésia; Relações com etnomusicologia e improvisação musical em extensão às reflexões analíticas; Levy Strauss e a Sinfonia de Berio; Relação entre música e texto em Berio e Kurt Schwitters.

The article reviews the evidence relating to Bellini’s knowledge of Viennese classical music, from
the years of his training to his last stay in Paris. The material examined includes documents that are already
known and others that are little or not known. Among these, the transcription, made in Naples around 1824,
of a piece from Mozart’s cantata Davide pentito, and the fragments of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s sonatas found
in the Bellini’s working papers (‘studi giornalieri’) used in Paris in 1834-35. A further piece sheds possible
new light on the relationship between Bellini and Chopin. In light of the facts examined, the article concludes
that the stay in Paris was an opportunity for Bellini to enrich a path of knowledge characterized by constant
curiosity towards new experiences.

In this study, we analyze Chopin’s thoughts on piano playing by examining his sketches for a method book, and define its position in both musical and cultural history. Chopin’s manuscript contains merely an introductory part of the book but deserves a careful consideration, since it reflects his critical view on contemporary piano pedagogy. This study first examines the composer’s definition of music and his understanding of the notion of taste, which is a key concept of his aesthetics. Then we discuss the notion of technique: the definition, aim, categories, and its place in Chopin’s musical thought. Lastly, we analyze Chopin’s practical advices on piano playing from a historical perspective. Chopin’s thoughts on piano playing imply both a nostalgia for the eighteenth century music and a premonition of the modern piano technique. These thoughts consist of a dynamic interaction between the classical aesthetics and the romantic world view, which can be  interpreted as a negative reaction to the modern industrial society.

In the world of classical music, a composer’s body rarely figures in the reception of their compositions. The reception of one composer, however, seems unique in this regard; observations about Frédéric Chopin's physical identity, and perceptions about his masculinity, significantly impacted upon the appreciation and understanding of his music, ultimately colouring the ways in which his works have been viewed. This article considers how Chopin’s masculinity was constructed during his life and following his death. It surveys a selection of press reviews and testimonies, alongside early Chopin biographies, in order to establish how the image of Chopin developed relative to physical weaknesses and (an apparent lack of) masculinity. Taken as a whole, this image encapsulates a sense of masculinity itself, pronounced and projected within nineteenth century music criticism. Alongside this core theme, the article considers some of the other preoccupations that may have played a part in the construction of Chopin’s reception. In particular, the apparent divisions between the Classical and Romantic schools of music. That such sentiments may still be heard to this day makes one question whether a body of work may ever be separated from the body that produced it.

This is an annotated bibliography concerning both the nature of primary sources related to the composer and the scope and significance of the secondary sources which deal with him, his compositions, and his influence as a composer. The second edition includes research published since the publication of the first edition and provides electronic resources.  The original Guide, by William Smialek, appeared in 1999, and has long since been out of print. Additionally, there was an explosion in Chopin research in the following 15 years that has called for a complete reorganization of the Guide.  Originally written by William Smialek, the Guide was updated by Maja Trochimczyk.

The ambiguity of Chopin’s music and its amenability to reinvention help account for its enduring appeal to pianists, composers, and critics. This article examines the conditions under which such ambiguity has taken shape on the page and at the piano. Just as curves become jagged—or “aliased”—when represented by the grid of discrete pixels that form digital displays, so have the contours of Chopin’s music been both veiled and disclosed by the straight lines that define the staff and the keyboard. Despite the term’s contemporary ring, the issues raised and reflected by aliasing are rooted in a set of nineteenth-century dichotomies concerning the discrete and the continuous, artifice and nature, instruments and bodies, virtuosity and poetry, machines and voices, and constraints and liberties, all of which Chopin’s music was heard both to invoke and to elude. By way of recordings and transcriptions by Leopold Godowsky, Marc-André Hamelin, Josef Lhévinne, Vladimir de Pachmann, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, and Arthur Rubinstein, the article presents various instances of aliasing and attempts to mitigate it via a range of compositional, pianistic, and cultural techniques that reveal how aliases can produce ambiguity by calling the very distinction between identity and difference into question.

Può un brano di musica strumentale raccontarci qualcosa similmente ad un romanzo? Partendo da questa domanda ho in primo luogo affrontato il tema della narratività musicale, per poi in un secondo luogo analizzare la prima e l'ultima ballade di Chopin, andando a cercare all'interno di esse topoi musicali che ne giustificherebbero questo tipo di approccio.

The recordings of pianists born before the turn of the century provide perhaps the most tangible link available to a previous performance practice. Evidence such as eye-witness accounts of live performances, editions and recorded performances of pianists born before 1900 suggest overwhelmingly that in the 19th century the printed page had nowhere near its present significance. This dissertation documents and compares temporal and dynamic deviations employed by a representative group of early recorded pianists with respect to both Chopin’s score and 19th century performance treatises. It features a unique methodology for evaluating and summarizing common piano performance approaches of the 19th century in fine detail.

This is an unpublished talk given in 2010 in celebration of Chopin's 200th birthday. No updates have been made. The text represents the stage of affairs back then. Some elements of this text have been published subsequently in my articles «Romantic thoroughbass» and «Handwerk und Weltengrund».

Based on an investigation of Chopin's musical education, the education of Parisian »Pianistes Compositeurs« of the 19th century, and a large number of historical sources, this article aims at reconstructing the unwritten parts of Chopin's unfinished »Méthode de Piano«. The first part discusses Chopin's musical education in Warsaw (focusing on music theory, improvisation and composition), his pianistic ideals and his teaching methods. The second part is a an educated guess/a reconstruction of what could have become Chopin's »Méthode de Piano« based on important historical facts and treatises.
It was Chopin's last will that his friends Henri Reber and Charles-Valentin Alkan complete his »Méthode de Piano«. Chopin also hoped that his student Thomas Tellefsen would continue the unfinished work. However, Tellefsen did not get much further than Chopin himself and unfortunately Alkan and Reber never worked to continue the »Méthode«. Taking a closer look at treatises like Reber's »Traité d'Harmonie«, the monumental »Encyclopédie du Pianiste Compositeur« by Alkan's teacher Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmerman, and other sources of the time, it becomes possible to get a clearer insight into what the training of 19th-century piano virtuosos looked like and what Chopin might have intended when he started to write his own »Méthode«.

https://de.schott-music.com/shop/musiktheorie-und-improvisation-no275561.html

Zawarte w książce Romantyczne sfery muzykalne. Literackie konteksty idei „musica iristrumentalis" artykuły i szkice dokumentują wieloletnie zainteresowanie autora literackimi i filozoficznymi aspektami idei muzycznych obecnych w epoce romantyzmu. Nie stanowią monograficznej całości, są tylko przybliżeniem wybranych wątków z polskiej estetyki i literatury romantycznej, które dotykają tematu muzyki instrumentalnej. Mogą być też odczytywane jako uzupełnienie i egzemplifikacja (w ograniczonym wymiarze) idei nieskończoności, która była przedmiotem dociekań w publikacji Romantyczna nieskończoność. Studium identyfikacji pojęcia (2010).

Muzyka romantyczna stojąca w centrum myśli estetycznej i hierarchii dziedzin artystycznych (w ujęciu Schellinga i Schopenhauera) poprzez szczególną aurę i duchowość łączy rozmaite prądy, estetyki, formy i koncepcje w jednorodną całość. Nie sposób mówić o literaturze romantycznej czy malarstwie bez znajomości wizji muzyki w tamtym czasie. Stoi ona zarówno po jasnej, jak i ciemnej stronie romantyzmu. Dzięki niej odkrywamy niezbadane terytoria myśli i fantazji oraz zakamarki nieskończonej duszy.

This article proposes an overall analysis of Chopin’s Nocturne op.9 No.2. It models in a systematic manner the different chord configurations of the piece, and examines the relation between the resulting timbre and the melodic organisation – especially in terms of “spectral doublings”. This modelling is then completed by a comparative analysis of three performances of the piece.

Indice e Introduzione della Tesi triennale in musicologia, sulle influenze chopiniane nella musica del giovane Alexander Scrjabin, con analisi del suo primo linguaggio pianistico, sull'esempio dei Preludi op. 11. | [EN] "The Russian piano miniature and the influence of Chopin in the early Scriabin, especially in his 24 Preludes opus 11" — The Index and the Introduction of my Bachelor Dissertation in musicology, about Chopin's influences on the piano output of the young Alexander Scriabin, with analysis of his early piano style, using the Preludes opus 11 as an example.

En 1836 Frédéric Chopin publica una obra bajo un título novedoso: “Ballade”, término que hasta entonces sólo había hecho referencia a composiciones narrativas o vocales. Fruto de esta publicación, Robert Schumann escribió en su revista sobre una historia que inspiró a Chopin para esta obra: un poema titulado Konrad Wallenrod de Adam Mickiewicz, poeta polaco admirado por Chopin. Ambos exiliados compartían círculos sociales en París y el amor por la tierra natal a la que no podían regresar. Así mismo, en 1855, Johanna Kinkel (compositora de la época) escribe sobre el carácter narrativo de esta obra de Chopin, poniendo incluso nombre a los temas y los motivos.
Aunque existe una corriente de pensamiento que se opone rotundamente al hecho de relacionar la obra de Chopin con cualquier idea extra-musical y con la música programática, en este trabajo de investigación se defenderá y seguirá la idea basada en lo que se dijo en la época por Schumann y por Johanna Kinkel. Autores como Cortot (1949), John Rink y Jim Samson (1994) afirman la relación de este género con un estilo narrativo, inspirado en poemas de carácter épico como los de Adam Mickiewicz. Otros como James Parakilas (1992), Karol Berger (1996) y Jonathan Bellman (2009) han ido un poco más allá relacionando directamente ambas obras y encontrando elementos, personajes y secciones comunes.
Ya que existen muchos rasgos que definen este nuevo género como algo novedoso, nos hemos cuestionado cómo se traduce el lenguaje de un poema épico, medieval, heroico y trágico al carácter musical y la técnica pianística. Luis Ángel de Benito (2007) se centra en la búsqueda de tópicos –motivos comunes que adquieren un significado perceptible para el oyente– para encontrar este estilo, que serán a su vez estudiados por Janice Dickensheets en The Topical Vocabulary of the Nineteenth Century (2012). Por lo tanto, objetivo de nuestro trabajo es analizar los tópicos que aparecen en la obra para aproximarse al carácter de esta balada con una mirada que parte del poema ya nombrado.
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In 1836 Frédéric Chopin published a work under a novel title: "Ballade", a term that until then had only referred to narrative or vocal compositions. As a result of this publication, Robert Schumann wrote in his magazine about a story that inspired Chopin for this work: a poem entitled Konrad Wallenrod by Adam Mickiewicz, a Polish poet admired by Chopin. Both exiles, shared social circles in Paris and love for the homeland to which they could not return. Likewise, in 1855, Johanna Kinkel (composer of the time) writes about the narrative nature of this work by Chopin, even naming the themes and motives.
Although there is a current of thought that strongly opposes the fact of relating Chopin's work to any extra-musical idea and to programmatic music, this research work will defend and follow the current of thought that is based on what it was said at the time by Schumann and by Johanna Kinkel. Authors such as Cortot (1949), John Rink and Jim Samson (1994) affirm the relationship of this genre with a narrative style, inspired by epic poems such as those of Adam Mickiewicz. Others like James Parakilas (1992), Karol Berger (1996) and Jonathan Bellman (2009) have gone a little further by directly relating both works and finding elements, characters and common sections.
Since there are many traits that define this new genre as something new, how does the language within an epic, medieval, heroic and tragic poem translate into musical character and piano technique? Luis Ángel de Benito (2007) focuses on the search for topics -common motifs that acquire a perceptible meaning for the listener- to find this style, which in turn will be studied by Janice Dickensheets in The Topical Vocabulary of the Nineteenth Century (2012 ). In this way the objective of this work is to approach the character of this ballad with a look that starts from the poem already named.

The book presents the history of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition narrated from the anthropological-cultural perspective and based on extensive source material, which enabled the authors to explore the less known aspects of one of the most important music competitions in the world.

The 18th-century tradition of partimento and thoroughbass exercises has come under intense scrutiny of historians, theorists, and pedagogues during the last years. Much less attention has been paid to the vivid persistence of this tradition in the 19th century all over Europe. Not only the education of organists but especially the training of pianiste-compositeurs proved to be fertile ground for the practical training in the partimento tradition: Performances of fantasies, improvisations of cadenzas, interludes, lead-ins and ornaments were part of their daily-business. 19th-century manuals and teachers imparting the skills necessary for this kind of improvisation rely on thoroughbass and partimento exercises almost exclusively. At the same time they refrain from contemporary theories of „modern harmony“. This shall be shown in this paper with the help of three examples: Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Friedrich Hiller and Frédéric Chopin. This 19th-century tradition is of interest not only for historians and theorists; romantic partimenti also open up new approaches and perspectives for a present music theory pedagogy, which in recent years has started to challenge the customary boundaries between theory, composition, improvisation, and performance.

Recent musicological discourse, while frequently considering issues of historiography and canonicity, has seldom critically engaged with biography as a genre of documentary significance to reception history for its attempts to shape public opinion of its subjects. In consequence, modern musicology has often taken for granted many tendencies and preoccupations that accumulated in musical biography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This thesis presents a historiographical examination of the precedents for and accretions of these assumptions, in terms of the role played by biography both in the establishment and maintenance of ideological canons and in the resultant ‘top-down’ conception of music history as dominated by an elite handful of exalted composers. Exploration of the ways in which biographies constructed their subjects as ‘great’ and ‘exemplary’ – insofar as these concepts were idealized within the communities of readers for whom they were originally written – is conducted through two major studies of the published texts to c.1950 on canonical composers including J. S. Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. The first investigates the elaboration and distortion of a set of some twenty-five of the most famous myths of musical biography, from their origins in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Continental European texts to their fullest development (and, in many cases, their refutation) in English-language biographies up to the mid-twentieth century. In contrast, the second critically analyzes the twelve volumes of the original ‘Master Musicians’ series (1899-1906) as exemplars of the biographical and musical paradigms of composer life-writing, and as late Victorian period pieces of significance to canon formation for their conception as a closed set of monographs of historically-important subjects appropriated to English ends. The conclusion provides a preliminary assessment of the implications to modern musicology of the findings of this thesis through re-evaluation of elements of recent biographical and hermeneutical scholarship, and proposes that the discipline might usefully adopt a more inclusive, self-reflexive approach to the study of musical biography in the future.