Chopin is credited with originating the Ballade genre for the piano. The Ballade had previously been associated exclusively with the literary world; it is found in the works of Goethe, Schiller, and other poets. In this Op. 23 effort, Chopin was said to have been inspired by the poem "Konrad Wallenrod" by Adam Mickiewicz who, like Chopin and many other Polish artists, lived as an exile in Paris in the 1830s. Regardless of any programmatic comments associated with the Ballade No. 1, it is almost certainly not a depiction of specific events associated with this or any other Mickiewicz poem, but rather an expression of emotions associated with them.
The ballade dates to sketches Chopin made in 1831 during his eight-month stay in Vienna. It was completed in 1835 after his move to Paris, where he dedicated it to Baron Nathaniel von Stockhausen, the Hanoverian ambassador to France.
The speed indication is Lento for the first seven bars which are in 4/4 time, but then becomes Moderato in 6/4 time (2 dotted minims to the bar).
(The first motif has a very introvert feel to it: not until later does Chopin break into a rapturous, joyous, ebullient mood. Although the introvert idea returns, it is now more energetic and breaks out into an excitable climax to the work).
GlynGlynn, alias GB, realiser.
Please feel free to leave any comments, be they good, bad, or indifferent as to whether the piece, or the performance, moved you in any way whatsoever!
(Since music is an aural art, and not a visual one, it is best to listen to these pieces, and other artists performances, with eyes closed, so as to be able to listen intently as to how the music is portrayed).
15 сен 2024
