Chopin Bicentenary, Who is celebrating? Options

[PianoNotes]

Hi

I just wondered how many piano lovers, as well as others, are getting involved in Chopin's bicentenary and what activities you are attending. By the way, did any of you go to The Chopin Forum yesterday in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, and what did you think of it? I thought it was very informative but a very long day from 10.00 to about 5.30, and quite tiring. I hope I survive my time at Chets. So far, as part of the Chopin celebrations, I have seen Cristina Ortiz performing at the Royal Overseas League Club in London and probably have about 20 other Chopin recitals to attend this year in my diary, the next one being a candlelit concert with Piers Lane performing the nocturnes at St. Paul Church in Covent Garden.

[bevpiano]

Hi

I just wondered how many piano lovers, as well as others, are getting involved in Chopin's bicentenary and what activities you are attending. By the way, did any of you go to The Chopin Forum yesterday in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, and what did you think of it? I thought it was very informative but a very long day from 10.00 to about 5.30, and quite tiring. I hope I survive my time at Chets. So far, as part of the Chopin celebrations, I have seen Cristina Ortiz performing at the Royal Overseas League Club in London and probably have about 20 other Chopin recitals to attend this year in my diary, the next one being a candlelit concert with Piers Lane performing the nocturnes at St. Paul Church in Covent Garden.

I'm going to an event at the Wigmore next Saturday afternoon, which looks interesting (about the romance in Chopin's life!)

We're also having a big event the following weekend at the Elmitt Piano Academy, where we'll be having a lecture recital (which I have researched) & masterclasses with Masa Tayama (who'll also be performing & teaching at Chet's again this year), as well as performing classes & musical games for children & a tea party with a 200-candle cake.

[Minuet3]

I went to the Chopin Forum, and yes, it was a long day... I found it a bit hit and miss. I really enjoyed hearing John Rink and Kenneth Hamilton speak, and would have liked to hear more from them. The other sections didn't really capture my interest, I particularly felt that the chair of the round table discussions could have asked some better questions to lead the discussions in a more practical direction. Apart from the points about notation in Chopin scores, I am struggling to think of other points which I can take away and use in my teaching, or explore through further reading.

Having said that, I have ordered Kenneth Hamilton's book, and can't wait for it to arrive... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[wurlitzer]

Theres a big celebration going on in Poland (at the end of this month I think!) where the Polish military wind band will be playing several Chopin pieces.
My piano teachers husband was commissioned by the Polish military wind band to do the arrangements of the pieces which must be a real honour. He's been invited to attend and watch the performances.
I wish school could be put on hold for a few days so I could attend also. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[PianoNotes]

Like yourself, Minuet3, John Rink and Kenneth Hamilton, were the highlights and thoroughly enjoyable. At the beginning I wondered what on earth I had let myself in for, but when John Rink came on I had a feeling of relief. It was interesting to see the different extracts and hear the different interpretations played. The section on the different editions was a bit too academic for me, but I am sure they suited the scholars who were there. I started off in Row G2 but then moved up more to the middle in the afternoon to sit next to one of my friends and had a good view of keyboard side of the Steinway.

It must be amazing to be in Poland this year, Wurlitzer.

[fsharpminor]

Theres a big celebration going on in Poland (at the end of this month I think!) where the Polish military wind band will be playing several Chopin pieces.
My piano teachers husband was commissioned by the Polish military wind band to do the arrangements of the pieces which must be a real honour. He's been invited to attend and watch the performances.
I wish school could be put on hold for a few days so I could attend also. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Ugh ! I cant imagine Chopin played by a military wind band !

[Mad Tom]

Theres a big celebration going on in Poland (at the end of this month I think!) where the Polish military wind band will be playing several Chopin pieces.

Why is Chopin thought to be such a great Polish patriot? I understand why Chopin wants to claim him as uniquely Polish, but the French have an equal claim on him. He left Poland when he was 20, just before the Revolution, and never went back. He spent most of the rest of his life in Paris, and was buried there. Surely a patriot would have asked to be buried in his homeland, even if the politics of the times made it impossible for him to return there while he was alive? Of course there is a strong Polish character to much of his music - but that is to be expected in someone that grew up there. It does not by itself make him a patriot.

I don't know much Polish history, and the "information" on the net looks like a hundred sites repeating the same unsubstantiated twaddle. Can any Chopin scholar enlighten me?

[bevpiano]

Theres a big celebration going on in Poland (at the end of this month I think!) where the Polish military wind band will be playing several Chopin pieces.

Why is Chopin thought to be such a great Polish patriot? I understand why Chopin wants to claim him as uniquely Polish, but the French have an equal claim on him. He left Poland when he was 20, just before the Revolution, and never went back. He spent most of the rest of his life in Paris, and was buried there. Surely a patriot would have asked to be buried in his homeland, even if the politics of the times made it impossible for him to return there while he was alive? Of course there is a strong Polish character to much of his music - but that is to be expected in someone that grew up there. It does not by itself make him a patriot.

I don't know much Polish history, and the "information" on the net looks like a hundred sites repeating the same unsubstantiated twaddle. Can any Chopin scholar enlighten me?

Haven't got time for a long reply - in any case I'm not a Chopin scholar, although I have been researching lately, but his heart was buried in Poland (at his own wish) & he did have very strong feelings for Poland.

[Tom Piano]

Theres a big celebration going on in Poland (at the end of this month I think!) where the Polish military wind band will be playing several Chopin pieces.

Why is Chopin thought to be such a great Polish patriot? I understand why Chopin wants to claim him as uniquely Polish, but the French have an equal claim on him. He left Poland when he was 20, just before the Revolution, and never went back. He spent most of the rest of his life in Paris, and was buried there. Surely a patriot would have asked to be buried in his homeland, even if the politics of the times made it impossible for him to return there while he was alive? Of course there is a strong Polish character to much of his music - but that is to be expected in someone that grew up there. It does not by itself make him a patriot.

I don't know much Polish history, and the "information" on the net looks like a hundred sites repeating the same unsubstantiated twaddle. Can any Chopin scholar enlighten me?

I'm by no means a Chopin scholar, but can volunteer the following (all of which is gleaned from books, not from the internet. Unfortunately not all of it is fact, but some of it is reasonably well-argued conjecture).

- while Chopin was buried in Paris, his heart was taken from his body and was sent to Poland. It was sealed in a pillar of the Holy Cross Church, Krakowskie Przedmiescie.
- Warsaw was not a major musical centre at the time. You could argue that Chopin needed the artistic stimulation that he got in Paris; he wouldn't necessarily have got it in Poland
- Chopin made an enormous amount of money teaching in Paris. Possibly he would not have been able to make the same amount in Poland
- There was a large Polish ex-pat community in Paris, particularly a number of the Polish nobility who had fled Poland. This would have given him the opportunity to speak his language, and share experiences with people of similar backgrounds
- George Sand's influence: she was the dominant partner in their relationship, and likely would have been strongly averse to going to Poland
- Possibly during the later years of his life, Chopin would have been too weak to uproot himself back to Poland, given the progression of his tuberculosis.

Anybody else got anything else to add / disagree with?

In terms of celebration of 200 years of Chopin, I'll be working on a number of Chopin pieces this year (including the G Minor Ballade, Mad Tom - I agree the second half looks like a nightmare!).

But, with the pieces I've got planned for this year, I'm also celebrating 325 years of Bach, 137 years of Rachmaninov, 240 years of Beethoven, and 135 years of Ravel!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Mad Tom]

In terms of celebration of 200 years of Chopin, I'll be working on a number of Chopin pieces this year (including the G Minor Ballade, Mad Tom - I agree the second half looks like a nightmare!).

But, with the pieces I've got planned for this year, I'm also celebrating 325 years of Bach, 137 years of Rachmaninov, 240 years of Beethoven, and 135 years of Ravel!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Thanks for the Chopin info. I knew he had his heart removed before being buried. I thought that was only because of his fear of being buried alive, and not also so that it could be sent to Poland.

Re: The Chopin Ballade, the second half - and especially the Presto, the scale in 10ths, and the ocatave apssage at the end, is really not horribly difficult after all. It just takes time to burn the movements into auto-pilot! The hardest part of the whole piece turns out to be the connecting passage between the first big ff statement of the theme in chords chords and the scherzando section.

Fortunately, of the other composers you mention, I have almost no interest in playing anything by Ravel (I am happy juist to listen), already play all the Bach I want to, and as for Rachmaninov there are a couple of Preludes and Etudes that I quite like, but I am only seriously interested in mastering Concerto No. 2 (slowly learning it - a multi-year project I am afraid) and Concerto No. 3 (a wild dream for now ... unless I unexpectedly leap up another order of magnitude in skill). Now Beethoven ... that is something else ...

[Panthera]

I'm going to the two birthday recitals at the Festival Hall (Zimerman and Pollini) and the Chopin study day at Kings Place in March (plus the concert in the evening).

[Solari]

I'm celebrating by learning as many of his Op.28 preludes as I can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[PianoNotes]

Snap, Panthera, for the two RFH concerts. I'm not going to the study day though, having already been to the forum. It is quite good that you will be provided with lunch and refreshments, as at the RFH we were given not very long breaks and it took an age to queue up for refreshments. Good plan, Solari. I think I will steal your idea and learn a bundle as well.

[Mad Tom]

I'm celebrating by learning as many of his Op.28 preludes as I can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Good luck. Three or four of them are very tough nuts to crack.

Having finally (37 years after I first took a look at it) cracked the nasty bits of the first Ballade, I am celebrating by learning the rest of the Op 10 etudes! (Don't expect to finish this year).

Does that count as "Celebration" ?

[barry-clari]

Theres a big celebration going on in Poland (at the end of this month I think!) where the Polish military wind band will be playing several Chopin pieces.
My piano teachers husband was commissioned by the Polish military wind band to do the arrangements of the pieces which must be a real honour. He's been invited to attend and watch the performances.
I wish school could be put on hold for a few days so I could attend also. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Ugh ! I cant imagine Chopin played by a military wind band !

Chopin was not, in my opinion, terribly good at composing for instruments that weren't pianos, and I can't imagine Chopin works translate terribly well to wind bands either...

Having said that, he knew a thing or two about pianos, and I may attend a Chopin Prom or two... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)