The Cambridge Companion to Chopin (Cambridge Companions to Music)

The Cambridge Companion to Chopin provides the enquiring music-lover with helpful insights into a musical style which recognises no contradiction between the accessible and the sophisticated, the popular and the significant. Twelve essays by leading Chopin scholars make up three parts. Part 1 discusses the sources of Chopin's style in the music of his predecessors and the social history of the period. Part 2 profiles the mature music, and Part 3 considers the afterlife of the music - its reception, its criticism and its compositional influence in the works of subsequent composers. The growth of a style. The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; -- Jeffrey Kallberg ; The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; -- Jeffrey Kallberg ; -- Adrian Thomas ; -- The The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; -- Jeffrey Kallberg ; -- Adrian Thomas ; -- The -- Anatole Leikin -- Reception. The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; -- Jeffrey Kallberg ; -- Adrian Thomas ; -- The -- Anatole Leikin -- Reception. -- James Methuen-Campbell ; The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; -- Jeffrey Kallberg ; -- Adrian Thomas ; -- The -- Anatole Leikin -- Reception. -- James Methuen-Campbell ; -- Zofia Chechlińska ; The growth of a style. -- Janet Ritterman ; -- The -- David Rowland ; -- The -- Simon Finlow ; -- John Rink -- Profiles of the music. -- Jim Samson ; -- Jeffrey Kallberg ; -- Adrian Thomas ; -- The -- Anatole Leikin -- Reception. -- James Methuen-Campbell ; -- Zofia Chechlińska ; -- Derek Carew ; The growth of a style.-- Janet Ritterman ;-- The-- David Rowland ;-- The-- Simon Finlow ;-- John Rink-- Profiles of the music.-- Jim Samson ;-- Jeffrey Kallberg ;-- Adrian Thomas ;-- The-- Anatole Leikin-- Reception.-- James Methuen-Campbell ;-- Zofia Chechlińska ;-- Derek Carew ;-- Roy Howat. For a century and a half Chopin's music has been played incessantly, yet the spell remains, and the 'Chopin recital', whoever the pianist, still fills the concert halls. This Companion is designed to provide the enquiring music-lover with helpful insights into a musical style that recognises no contradiction between the accessible and the sophisticated, between the popular and the significant. On the uniqueness of that style there has long been agreement. One of the aims of this Companion is to identify some of its sources, referring both to the social history of early nineteenth-century piano music (chapter 1) and to the music of Chopin's predecessors (chapters 2 and 3). The early music and the growth to stylistic maturity are examined in chapter 4. Part 2 of the Companion profiles some of the mature music in a language designed to be intelligible to the interested layman as well as to the musician. There are re-evaluations of Chopin's most 'epic' statements (chapter 5) as well as his most 'epigrammatic' (chapter 6). There is an account of his relation to Polish folk music in the dance pieces (chapter 7) and there is a fresh look at one of the more controversial aspects of his art, his handling of the sonata (chapter 8). Several facets of the afterlife of Chopin's music are examined in part 3. There is reception through performance (chapter 9), reception through criticism (chapters 10 and 11) and reception through compositional influence (chapters 11 and 12). As these later chapters indicate, Chopin's art left its mark both on the Trivialmusik of the later nineteenth century and on the emerging Modernism of the new century The growth of a style. Piano music and the public concert 1800-1850 / Janet Ritterman -- The nocturne : development of a new style / David Rowland -- The twenty-seven etudes and their antecedents / Simon Finlow -- Tonal architecture in the early music / John Rink -- Profiles of the music. Extended forms : the ballades, scherzos and fantasies / Jim Samson -- Small 'forms' : in defence of the prelude / Jeffrey Kallberg -- Beyond the dance / Adrian Thomas -- The sonatas / Anatole Leikin -- Reception. Chopin in performance / James Methuen-Campbell -- Chopin reception in nineteenth-century Poland / Zofia Chechlińska -- Victorian attitudes to Chopin -- Derek Carew -- Chopin's influence on the fin de siècle and beyond / Roy Howat This Companion Is Designed To Provide The Enquiring Music Lover With Helpful Insights Into A Musical Style That Recognizes No Contradictions Between The Accessible And The Sophisticated, Between The Popular And The Significant. Edited By Jim Samson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 333-334) And Index.