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Fryderyk Chopin's career is intricately entwined with the piano. Although he made forays into orchestral and chamber work, the vast majority of Chopin's pieces feature the piano. While his relatively brief life shortened his potential contribution as a composer, the originality, richness, and quality of his work is undeniable. His harmonies were often surprising, the rhythms flexible, and the music dramatic.
In Experiencing Chopin: A Listener's Companion, Christine Lee Gengaro surveys Chopin's position as a composer at a time when the piano stood at the center of musical and social life. Throughout, she shines a spotlight on Chopin and his music, which illuminated the Romantic period in which he lived, the social and artistic climate that surrounded him, and the importance of the individual artist at a time of political foment. Gengaro considers the different genres among Chopin's works, linking each to the historical, social, and biographical issues that shaped them.
List of contents
Series Editor Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Timeline
Chapter 1: The Piano Lesson
Chapter 2: Adventures Abroad
Chapter 3: Two Pianos, Four Hands
Chapter 4: The Artistic Process of the Romantic
Chapter 5: "Cannons Among the Flowers"
Chapter 6: Yours With All Devotion
Chapter 7: Chopin and the Voice
Chapter 8: Influences, Past and Contemporary
Chapter 9: Physical and Mental Health
Chapter 10: Chopin in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries
Selected Reading
Selected Listening
Glossary
About the Author
About the author
By Christine Lee Gengaro
Summary
Gengaro surveys Chopin's position as a composer of Romantic piano music at a time when the piano stood at the center of musical and social life. It sheds a spotlight on Chopin and his music that illuminates the Romantic period in which he lived, the social and artistic climate, and the importance of this most individual artist.
