2nd piano concerto (Chopin)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2nd Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 21 is a piano concerto by Frédéric Chopin . It was written before the work known as the 1st Piano Concerto in E minor .

2nd piano concerto, Opus 21, 1st – 3rd Movement,
Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Nico Snel

Emergence

The second piano concerto was written between 1829 and 1830. The composer was only 19 years old when it was completed. The opus number 21, which is in use today , was given to the work long after it was published. Chopin's so-called 1st Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11 , was written after this Concerto in F minor , despite the lower number of opuses. Chopin composed the concert under the impression of his first great love for the opera singer Konstancja Gladkowska . After completion, however, he dedicated the concert to his later love Delfina Potocka . The concert is one of the most brilliant and virtuoso concerts of the Romantic era .

To the music

1st movement: Maestoso

Both of Chopin's concerts start with a great maestoso . The movement in sonata form takes about 14 minutes to perform. The violins begin the lyrical and wistful primary theme of the first movement. This rhythmically imaginative theme is one of the most popular inspirations of the Polish master. The main theme presented in pianissimo quickly gets a very different, expressive counter-theme. This second theme is preferred later in the recapitulation . The piano introduces itself with a run of octave scales before presenting both themes. The movement quickly climbs to a few forte positions, and the pianist is given the opportunity to demonstrate his virtuosity. In the implementation , both topics are not only dealt with, but also enlarged. Romantic-lyrical passages alternate with joyful and virtuoso thoughts. Iridescent passages, artistic ornaments and shapely figurations characterize the first movement. Chopin uses the polymelodics typical of him . Several melodic lines are pursued at the same time without having the character of polyphony . After a short recapitulation, the final section follows. There is no pronounced cadence here . Rather, the orchestra and piano give a concert until the energetic end of the first movement, marked by two orchestral chords.

2nd movement: Larghetto

The lyrical second movement in A flat major represents one of Chopin's most poetic movements. For this movement, the musicologist Arnold Schering used the superlative of “the most fervent effusion of love known to music literature”. The expressed feelings seem to flow from the soul, as it were, and are introduced by a Slavic intonation . The sentence is in a kind of free song form. It seems to be the song of the heart that Chopin describes so lyrically, poetically and sensitively. In this movement Chopin develops the harmony of the piano. Unknown dissonances go beyond the scope of the harmonic customs that were common in Chopin's time. In this movement Chopin achieved a completely new, previously unknown sound effect. The large-scale figurations of the piano, adorned with triplets and trills, fast thirty-two-digit runs and dynamic changes, play around the song theme presented by the orchestra. This “run of love” is interrupted by a gloomy, harmoniously interesting interjection by the orchestra, which the piano replies in the manner of an echo. There follows a brief search for the old harmony, which will be resumed. After another lecture on the poetic theme, the unique and poignant sentence fades away. This larghetto represents the artistic climax of the concert.

3rd movement: Allegro vivace

The finale of the concert is a rondo in the basic key of F minor over a Polish dance. This Krakowiak appears in three-four time and is also of a lyrical character. The tempo of the dance is quite fast and is fiery increased in individual parts of the Krakowiak ( Mazur and Oberek ). The rondo thus becomes a dance theme that recurs as a ritornello . This is juxtaposed with lyrical solo parts and parts of the mazurkas. An expressive coda ends the movement. Chopin treats the form of the rondo very freely in this movement and mixes it with the form of the Allegro. This creates a fiery, dreamy, imaginative and joyful dance. The sentence is considered a romantic realization of Polish folk dance.

effect

In March 1830, a private performance with a small orchestra took place in Chopin's parents' house before the official premiere . A press representative from the Polish capital Warsaw managed to attend this internal premiere. The following day there was a laudatory article in the newspaper - about a work that had never officially been performed. However, the press was enthusiastic about this new work: “He is the Paganini of the piano” and “The young Szope surpasses all pianists” are excerpts from newspaper reports. The first performance took place on March 17, 1830, at which the public interest was huge because of the above anecdote. The work was enthusiastically received by the audience at this performance in the Warsaw National Theater.

With this piano concerto, Chopin succeeded in establishing completely new harmonic forms. The sound effect has been expanded, especially in the second movement. Chopin created a typically romantic piano concerto here, which can be assigned to the type of virtuoso concerto . The soloist has to master a very virtuoso and freely designed solo part. The solo instrument is no longer strictly tied to the theme development, but also brings in completely independent aspects. Chopin's second piano concerto is still very popular today and is part of the repertoire of many important pianists. It is played in concert halls around the world.

Orchestration

With the instrumentation of the piano concertos Chopin, as is assumed, helped his friends Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807–1867) and Tomasz Nidecki (1807–1852) - piano students of Prof. Elsner. This fact became the basis and justification for small changes made by other musicians. Alfred Cortot made one of these versions and made a recording of it in 1935 with the conductor John Barbirolli . Pianist Ingolf Wunder recorded Alfred Cortot's orchestration with his own additions in 2015.

literature

  • Hansjuergen Schaefer: Concert book for orchestral music A – F. VEB German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1958.
  • Hans Wüst: Frédéric Chopin - letters and testimonies . 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oehmclassics Arnold Schering ( Memento of 24 October 2007 at the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Stanislaw Dybowski, Booklet text for Chopin & Liszt in Warsaw , Deutsche Grammophon, universalmusic.pl .
  3. ↑ Chopin / Schumann - Piano Concerto No. 2 / Piano Concerto at Discogs (English)
  4. ↑ Chopin & Liszt in Warsaw , Deutsche Grammophon, universalmusic.pl .