Scherzo No. 1 (Chopin)
The Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 , which Frédéric Chopin composed between 1830 and 1831 (according to other sources, 1831 to 1832) is the first of a series of four Scherzi . It is dedicated to Thomas Albrecht and, with its wild, feverish eighth note passages and sudden changes in mood, is one of the most unleashed pieces in Chopin's oeuvre.
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The Scherzo begins ( Presto con fuoco ) with two tense fortissimo chords that seem like an outcry and each extend over four bars. Then begin wild, whirling, dynamically increasing eighth-note figures, which are accompanied by an excited syncopated figure of the left and are reminiscent of a threatening gurgling and seething. After a downward run, further upswings and three fortissimo chords in bar 43, this movement is contrasted twice by gloomy bass motifs, followed by a kind of throbbing fate motif in bars 52 and 54 .
After a rapid increase, the middle trio ( Molto più lento ) in B major from bar 157 surprises with a harrowing, almost magical contrast of moods. Chopin quoted the Polish Christmas carol Lulajże, Jezuniu, lulajże, lulaj ( sleep, my baby Jesus, sleep! ), The intimate melody of which is enriched by a refined piano setting, with the notes being followed by a dominant F sharp in the higher register.
After the Christmas melody has played three times, two abrupt fortissimo chords, reminiscent of the violent beginning, introduce the return of the impetuous main section from bar 205, which leads to a dramatic coda from bar 325 without a break . The increase ( risoluto e semper più animato ) culminates in a garish, ten-note chord above the F sharp dominant organ point, which is struck nine times forte fortissimo. After a wild downward movement, an upward raging chromatic run played by both hands - set in double octaves by Vladimir Horowitz - and heavy chords, the work ends.
background
The recipient of the dedication, Thomas Albrecht, was secretary at the Saxon embassy in Paris as well as a wine merchant and a close friend of the composer, who also sponsored Albrecht's daughter Thérèse at the baptism. His superior was Count Hans Heinrich von Könneritz , who was the Saxon envoy in Paris from 1828 to 1848. In 1850 Thomas Albrecht was named as a Saxon consul and commercial agent in Paris.
The first Scherzo can be explained autobiographically according to a widespread opinion. It came about in a difficult life situation, the emotional effects of which are reflected in the agitated and pathetic gestures of the music. Chopin was on a concert tour in Vienna when the November Uprising broke out in Warsaw on November 29 and was soon put down. The Polish patriot was advised not to return to his homeland. So he stayed in Austria and later traveled to Paris via Stuttgart . As he told a friend, he was suffering mentally from the circumstances. While he remained calm in the salons, he romped and thundered at the piano at home. The idea for the work is said to have come to him in Vienna. In Stuttgart, where he learned of the suppression of the uprising and the planned retaliation by the Russians, he continued work on the Scherzo and completed it in Paris.
Like many of his other works, the Scherzi stand out from their predecessor models and - like the ballads - can be viewed as a new genre, in that Chopin removed Beethoven's movement type, which had replaced the minuet , from the sonata cycle and made it independent.
Other contemporary composers such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy also chose the term Scherzo for shorter pieces in which they adopted the lively motor skills of this musical form. In contrast to them, Chopin referred more clearly to Beethoven's juxtaposition of scherzo and trio-like sections.
Web links
- Scherzo No. 1 op.20 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ^ State manual for the Kingdom of Saxony. 1850 , Leipzig undated, p. 262 ( digitized version )
- ↑ Joachim Kaiser , Frédéric Chopin, The four Scherzi for piano , Kaisers Klassik, 100 masterpieces of music, Schneekluth, Augsburg 1997, p. 394
- ^ Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek , in: Composers Lexicon, Metzler, Stuttgart 2003, p. 129