Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
Frédéric Chopin (1 March1810 – 17 October1849) was a Polishpianist and composer of classical music who lived in Paris from age 21. He wrote almost solely for piano and remains the most widely played composer for that instrument. He also wrote for violin and viola. His music ranged from patriotic, melancholy, passionate to simple and beautiful, and he was known as a great teacher of piano.
Give me a kiss, dearest lover. I'm certain that you still love me, and I fear you always, like some tyrant over me. I don't know why, but I fear you. Upon my word, only you have power over me, you and... no one else. [1]
Chopin to Tytus Woyciechowski, 5 October 1830
I'm glad that the secret is submerged in my heart, that in me is the end of what is for you the beginning. And be glad that you have in me an abyss into which you can cast everything without fear - as if into a second self - because your spirit has long lain there at the very bottom. I keep your letters like a ribbon from a mistress. I have the ribbon; write to me, I'll caress you again in a week.[2]
Chopin to Tytus Woyciechowski, 31 August 1830
No one other than I has read your letter. As always, even now, I carry your letters with me. How blissful it will it be for me, having gone beyond the city walls in May, thinking about my approaching journey, to pull out a letter of yours and assure myself sincerely that you love me, or at least to gaze at the hand and the writing of him, whom only I am able to love! [3]
Chopin to Tytus Woyciechowski, 27 March 1830
Messieurs, I should like to be granted the favour of performing at one of your admirable concerts, and this I beg to ask of you. Trusting, since I lack other qualifications to obtain this, in your goodwill towards artists, I dare to hope that you will greet my request favourably, I have the honour to be, Messieurs, your very humble servant. Frédéric Chopin Cité Bergère, No. 4
My piano has not yet arrived. How did you send it? By Marseilles or by Perpignan? I dream music but I cannot make any because here there are not any pianos . . . in this respect this is a savage country.
Variant translation: I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness. And yet I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them.
One needs only to study a certain positioning of the hand in relation to the keys to obtain with ease the most beautiful sounds, to know how to play long notes and short notes and to [attain] certain unlimited dexterity... A well formed technique, it seems to me, [is one] that can control and vary a beautiful sound quality.
As quoted in Chopin : Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils.[7]
Time is still the best critic, and patience the best teacher.
As quoted in Chopin : Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils.[8]
Sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano!
As quoted in Chopin and the Swedish Nightingale.[9]
Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
How strange! This bed on which I shall lie has been slept on by more than one dying man, but today it does not repel me! Who knows what corpses have lain on it and for how long? But is a corpse any worse than I? A corpse too knows nothing of its father, mother or sisters or Titus. Nor has a corpse a sweetheart. A corpse, too, is pale, like me. A corpse is cold, just as I am cold and indifferent to everything. A corpse has ceased to live, and I too have had enough of life.... Why do we live on through this wretched life which only devours us and serves to turn us into corpses? The clocks in the Stuttgart belfries strike the midnight hour. Oh how many people have become corpses at this moment! Mothers have been torn from their children, children from their mothers - how many plans have come to nothing, how much sorrow has sprung from these depths, and how much relief!... Virtue and vice have come in the end to the same thing! It seems that to die is man's finest action - and what might be his worst? To be born, since that is the exact opposite of his best deed. It is therefore right of me to be angry that I was ever born into this world! Why was I not prevented from remaining in a world where I am utterly useless? What good can my existence bring to anyone? … But wait, wait! What's this? Tears? How long it is since they flowed! How is this, seeing that an arid melancholy has held me for so long in its grip? How good it feels - and sorrowful. Sad but kindly tears! What a strange emotion! Sad but blessed. It is not good for one to be sad, and yet how pleasant it is - a strange state...
Here you doubtless observe my tendency to do wrong against my will. As something has involuntarily crept into my head through my eyes, I love to indulge it, even though it may be all wrong.
As quoted when he talked about his piano concerto, op.11. [12]
I could express my feelings more easily if they could be put into the notes of music, but as the very best concert would not cover my affection for you, dear daddy, I must use the simple words of my heart, to lay before you my utmost gratitude and filial affection
How great a joy I feel in my heart. That a day so pleasant, so dear and glorious begins, a day that I greet with the wish. That long years may pass in happiness. In health and vigour, peacefully, successfully. May the gift of heaven fall richly upon you
As quoted in his letter to his father, dated December 6th 1817[citation needed]
You already know when I'm writing, so don't be surprised if it's short and dry, because I'm too hungry to write anything fat
As quoted in his letter to Jan Bialoblocki, written in Zelazowa Wola and dated back to December 24th 1826[citation needed]
I have met Rossini, Cherubini, Baillot, etc.—also Kalkbrenner. You would not believe how curious I was about Herz, Liszt, Hiller, etc. — They are all zero beside Kalkbrenner. I confess that I have played like Herz, but would wish to play like Kalkbrenner. If Paganini is perfection, Kalkbrenner is his equal, but in quite another style.
His letter to Tytus Woyciechowski in Poturzyn. Paris, 12 December 1831.
I astonished Kalkbrenner, who at once asked me, was I not a pupil of Field, because I have Cramer's method and Field's touch. (That delighted me.)
His letter to Tytus Woyciechowski in Poturzyn. Paris, 12 December 1831.
Concerts are never real music, you have to give up the idea of hearing in them all the most beautiful things of art.
Said to one of his students, according to "Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by His Pupils" by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger
I am cross and depressed, and people bore me with their excessive attentions. I can't breathe, I can't work; I feel alone, alone, alone, although I am surrounded. There are a whole lot of ladies, 70 to 80 year-old lords, but no young folk: they are all out shooting. One can't get out of doors because it has been raining and blowing for several days. [15]
[...] mam mój ideał, któremu wiernie, nie mówiąc z nim już pół roku, służę, który mi się śni, na którego pamiątkę stanęło adagio od mojego koncertu, który mi inspirował tego walczyka dziś rano, co ci posyłam.
Translation 1: [...] I [...] have my own ideal, which I have served faithfully, though silently, for half a year; of which I dream, to thoughts of which the adagio of my concerto belongs, and which this morning inspired the little waltz I am sending you.
Translation 2: [...] I have [...] found my ideal, whom I have served faithfully, though without saying a word to her, for six months; whom I dream of, in whose memory the Adagio of my concerto has been written, and who this morning inspired me to write the little waltz[16] I am sending you.
Translation 3: [...] I have my ideal, whom I faithfully serve, not having spoken to her for half a year now, about whom I dream, with thoughts of whom the Adagio from my Concerto came to be, who this morning inspired the little waltz that I am sending you.
Translation 4: [...] I have [...] found my ideal, whom I have served faithfully for six months, though without saying a word to her about my feelings; whom I dream of, who inspired the Adagio of my Concerto, and also this morning the little waltz I am sending you.
Idę się umywać, nie całuj mię teraz, bom się jeszcze nie umył. — Ty? chociażbym się olejkami wysmarował bizantyjskimi, nie pocałowałbyś, gdybym ja Ciebie magnetycznym sposobem do tego nie przymusił. Jest jakaś siła w naturze. Dziś Ci się śnić będzie, że mnie całujesz. Muszę Ci oddać za szkaradny sen, jakiś mi dziś w nocy sprowadził.
Translation 1: I am going to wash now; don't kiss me, I'm not washed yet. You? If I were smeared with the oils of Byzantium, you would not kiss me unless I forced you to it by magnetism. There's some kind of power in nature. Today you will dream of kissing me! I have got to pay you out for the horrible dream you gave me last night.
Translation 2: I must go now and wash. So don't embrace me now, as I haven't washed myself yet. – You? If I anointed myself with fragrant oils from the East, – you wouldn't embrace me, not unless I forced you to by magnetic means. But there are forces in Nature, and tonight you will dream that you are embracing me. – I have to pay you back for the nightmare you caused me last night!
Translation 3: Now I am going to wash myself. Please do not embrace me as I have not washed yet. And you? Even were I to anoint myself with fragrant oils from Byzantium, you would not embrace me—not unless forced to by magnetism. But there are forces in Nature! Today you will dream that you are embracing me! You have to pay for the nightmare you caused me last night!
Translation 4: I will go and wash. Don't kiss me now, because I haven't yet washed. – You? Even if I were to rub myself with Byzantine oils, you still wouldn't kiss me, unless I compelled you to do so with magnetism. There is some sort of force in nature. Today you will dream that you‘re kissing me! I have to pay you back for the nasty dream you brought me last night.
50 years later, the quote—almost always minus the word "good"—begins to appear periodically,[17] with the occasional addition of such changes as "a guitar" to "one guitar" and "save, perhaps" to "except, possibly,"[18][19] as well as, very briefly (in conjunction with the equally brief return of "good"), "more beautiful" to simply "better"[20] and "Nothing is more beautiful than" to "Only one thing is as beautiful as".[21]
His creation was spontaneous, miraculous. He found it without searching for it, without foreseeing it.[citation needed] – George Sand
Alphabetized by author
Chopin‘s pianistic production is overall more voluminous and somewhat more consistent in emotional substance, however wonderful much of Schumann‘s work is.
Marc-André Hamelin, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
Chopin did not need to append words to music to make it songful; in fact it seems to me that he does better without them! Incidentally, their lack of popularity must largely be due to their being set to Polish words, and as far as I know, translating them would lessen their effect.
Marc-André Hamelin, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
Chopin is -- popularly, but not critically -- seen primarily as a great melodist, which reputation does him a great disservice.
...Chopin rather made a habit out of gainsaying genre expectations: his Barcarolle isn’t a barcarolle, the Scherzi aren’t even remotely funny or even lighthearted, the Waltzes are completely undanceable, the Preludes aren’t prelude to anything, the Nocturnes render Field unlistenable…
Chopin wrote many small pieces – mazurkas, waltzes, préludes, nocturnes – many more than Schumann. That covers the needs of millions of amateurs who love music, but do not command the instrument well enough and who love Chopin’s music. It enters their hearts.
Elisabeth Leonskaja, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
Chopin is played much more than Schumann in China, both in concert halls and music schools. The reason, if I put it in a most simple and direct way, Chopin is more universal, appeals more to the masses. Schumann is more personal, appeals more to the elites.
Ming-Qiang Li, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
Being Chopin a pianist himself, his works are mainly conceived for the piano. When people use the word “pianistic“, it means that the pieces lay easily, naturally and smoothly under the fingers. This is true for Liszt and Debussy too.
Ming-Qiang Li, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
Music was his language, the divine tongue through which he expressed a whole realm of sentiments that only the select few can appreciate... The muse of his homeland dictates his songs, and the anguished cries of Poland lend to his art a mysterious, indefinable poetry which, for all those who have truly experienced it, cannot be compared to anything else... The piano alone was not sufficient to reveal all that lies within him. In short he is a most remarkable individual who commands our highest degree of devotion.
Franz Liszt, "Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris", May 2, 1841, pp. 245f.[24]
According to a tradition—and, be it said, an erroneous one—Chopin’s playing was like that of one dreaming rather than awake—scarcely audible in its coninual pianissiomos and una cordoas, with feebly developed technique and quite lacking in confidence, or at least indistinct, and distorted out of all rhythmic form by an incessant tempo rubato! The effect of these notions could not be otherwise than very prejudicial to the interpretation of his works, even by the most able artists—in their very striving after truthfulness; besides, they are easily accounted for.
Carl Mikuli, Introductory Note of his edition of Chopin's works
In keeping time Chopin was inflexible, and many will be surprised to learn that the metronome never left his piano. Even in his oft-decried tempo rubato one hand—that having the accompaniment—always played on in strict time, while the other, singing the melody, either hesitating as if undecided, or, with increased animation, anticipating with a kind of impatient vehemence as if in passionate utterances, maintained the freedom of musical expression from the fetters of strict regularity.
Carl Mikuli, Introductory Note of his edition of Chopin's works
His creation was spontaneous, miraculous. He found it without searching for it, without foreseeing it. It came to his piano suddenly, complete, sublime, or it sang in his head during a walk, and he would hasten to hear it again by, tossing it off on his instrument. But then would begin the most heartbreaking labor I have ever witnessed. It was a series of efforts, indecision, and impatience to recapture certain details of the theme he had heard: what had come to him all of a piece, he now over-analyzed in his desire to write it down, and his regret at not finding it again "neat," as he said, would throw him into a kind of despair. He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating and changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and effacing it with equal frequency, and beginning again the next day with a meticulous and desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on one page, only to end up writing it just as he had traced it in his first outpouring.
There is no weak piece by Chopin. Still, his music is played so poorly so often, and that does not do him any good. The Sonata in B flat minor and the ballad in G minor are played much very often. It does not mean I wouldn’t play them, but I wouldn’t do it so much.
András Schiff, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
It was Chopin who properly set romantic pianism on its rails and gave it the impetus that shows no signs of deceleration. He did this all by himself, evolving from nowhere the most beautiful and original piano style of the century.
Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists (2nd ed. 1987), Ch. IX. Tubercular, Romantic, Poetic
Chopin was a romantic who hated romanticism. This is the paradox. It was Chopin who, of all the early romantics, has turned out the most popular. Virtually everything he composed has remained in the repertoire, and a piano recital without some Chopin on it is still the exception. […] In his day he was a revolutionary. To many his music was exotic, inexplicable, perhaps insane. Critics like Rellstab in Germany, Chorley and Davison in England, dismissed much of Chopin’s music as eccentricities full of earsplitting dissonance.
Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists (2nd ed. 1987), Ch. IX. Tubercular, Romantic, Poetic
Fortunately the picture as it stands is quite complete, and the figure of Chopin clearly emerges: that marvelously controlled, original, poetic, nuanced classic-romantic pianist and musician, whose physical resources may have been small but whose spirit and conception were epical.
Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists (2nd ed. 1987), Ch. IX. Tubercular, Romantic, Poetic
Hats off, gentlemen — a genius!
Robert Schumann. "Opus 2" Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 7 December 1831
If the mighty autocrat of the north knew what a dangerous enemy threatened him in Chopin's works in the simple tunes of his mazurkas, he would forbid this music. Chopin's works are canons buried in flowers.
Chopin was the first piano composer who knew exactly how to make piano sound reach fullness, radiance and grandness. What to regard and what, by all means, to avoid. Chopin was keenly aware of the overtones and he did take care of them so artfully.
Christian Zacharias, "Famous Pianists on Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann" (2010) by G. Henle Verlag
Chopin has done for the piano what Schubert has done for the voice.
'The France musicale' review of Chopin's concert held on 26 April 1841. As quoted in Nocturne: a life of Chopin.[27]
↑(13 March 1832); published in At the Piano with Fauré (1963) by Marguerite Long, p. 31
↑(21 November 1838); published in Fryderyk Chopin, Korespondencja Fryderyka Chopina (1955), edited by Bronisław Edward Sydow, (2 vols.), Vol. 1, p. 443
↑Michael Lord (14 September 1972). "Classical Records: Guitar Duo". Bristol Evening Post. p. 44. "The sleeve trots out Chopin's quote that the only sound more beautiful than one guitar is two guitars, and the artists and recording engineers do their best to prove his point".
↑Matthews, Noah (August 31, 1999). "CD Gets Down to Guitar-Playing Basics". The Times News. p. C-3. "When Frederic Chopin said, 'Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, except possibly two,' he didn't live next to the Matthews household."
↑Ryan, Desmond (October 6, 1974). Classical Records: Julian and John, Finest Guitar Duo. Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 7-K. "Frederic Chopin, to the despair of classical guitarists, never wrote music for their instrument but he did once remark with uncommon acuity that 'there is nothing better than a good guitar, save perhaps two.'"
↑Oeuvres autobiographiques, ed. Georges Lubin, 2 vols. (Paris, 1978); Vol. 2: Histoire de ma vie, p. 446. I (Jeffrey Kallberg) have modified somewhat the English translation printed in George Sand, Story of My Life: The Autobiography of George Sand, group translation ed. Thelma Jurgrau (Albany, 1991), p. 1109. Note: The chapter on Chopin dates from August or September 1854.
