Description
Book SynopsisChopin's Polish Ballade examines the Second Ballade, Op. 38, and how that work gave voice to the Polish cultural preoccupations of the 1830s, using musical conventions from French opera and amateur piano music. This approach provides answers to several persistent questions about the work's form, programmatic content, and poetic inspiration.
Trade Reviewhis connections with present performance concerns are also compelling ... the book is a welcome invitation to reconsider what approaches we might take to performing and listening to this music today. * Matthew Gelbart, Music and Letters *
This book is highly recommendable to performers and music students alike * Philip Borg-Wheeler, Classical Music *
Table of ContentsLIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES; INTRODUCTION; TWO VERSIONS; TWO KEYS; "CERTAIN POEMS OF MICKIEWICZ"; STORIES IN TONES; AMATEUR PROGRAM MUSIC; BALLAD POETRY AND MUSICAL FORM; OVERVIEW AND STYLISTIC SUMMARY OF THE FIRST BALLADE; KONRAD WALLENROD: PLOT AND STRUCTURE; KONRAD WALLENROD AS BALLADE SCENARIO; THE LAY OF ALDONA'S FATE; A FORMAL OVERVIEW OF CHOPIN'S SECOND BALLADE; THE SECOND BALLADE AND THE SONATA PROBLEM; BALLADE AS GENRE; THE OPERATIC BALLADE TO 1831; A PILGRIMS' BALLADE; A POLISH BALLADE; THE GREAT MIGRATION AND POLISH CULTURE IN EXILE; PERSONAL ANGUISH AND LITERARY APOTHEOSIS; SAPIENTI PAUCA; INTERNAL EVIDENCE I-THE A MATERIAL: SICILIANO; INTERNAL EVIDENCE II-THE B MATERIAL: STORM; INTERNAL EVIDENCE III-THE C THEME; OP. 38 AS NARRATIVE OF NATIONAL MARTYRDOM; VERSIONS, TONIC KEYS, AND MICKIEWICZ REVISITED; THE FOREST AND THE TREES; APPENDIX: "A M. F. CHOPIN, SUR SA BALLADE POLONAISE," BY FELICIEN MALLEFILLE; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX
