Performance Practices in Chopin’s Plano Sonatas

after Michalowski and Kleczynski may have assumed rubato meant the same thing to Chopin as it did to many other pianists of their own time: that is, a series of fluctuations[r]

NOTE TO USERS

Nat ional Li brary BibIiothèque nationale

Acquisitions and Acquisitions et

Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques

395 Wellington Street 395 nie Wellington

Ottawa O N K I A ON4 Oüawa ON K I A O N 4

The author has granted a non-

exclusive licence allowing the

National L i b r q of Canada to

reproduce, loan, distribute or sen

copies of this thesis in microform,

paper or electronic formats

The author retains ownership of the

copyright in this thesis Neither the

thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it

may be printed or otherwise

reproduced without the author's

permission

L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive permettant à la

Bibfiotheque nationale du Canada de

reproduire' prêter, distribuer ou vendre des copies de cette thèse sous

la forme de microfiche/^ de reproduction sur papier ou sur format

électronique

L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse

Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels

de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés

ou autrement reproduits sans son

autorisation

PERFORMANCE PRACTICES IN CHOPIN'S PLAN0 SONATAS,

OP 35 AND 58:

A CRITICAL STUDY OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY

MANCTSCRIPT AND PRINTED SOURCES

by Annabeiie Paetsch

Graduate Program in Music

Submitted in partial fulfiiiment

of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Faculty of Gradnate Studies University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada January 2001

O Annabelle Paetsch 2001

Chopin's piano sonatas, Op 35 in B-flat minor (1840) and Op 58 in B minor (1 84S), were composed during the period in which Chopin is thought to have drafted preliminary material for a piano rnethod In cornparison to methods published during the

first haLfof the nineteenth century, Chopin's sketches present a completely different conception of piano playing, one that is Iargely modelled on the hurnan voice Chopin's sketches for a method do not specifically address issues of performance practice, but they

do suggest that an awareness of vocal practices of the period would be pertinent to an

understanding of how to approach and perform his music

This study seeks to establish the range of practices that would have been

associated with Chopin's sonatas c 1840-1 880 by examining notationai variants in a broad selection of primary sources and by considering the practices suggested in these sources in the histoncal context provided by treatises on both keyboard playing and

singing The dimensions of performance practice considered include: trills and other

types of ornamentation, articulation, rubuto tempo and tempo modification, and

pedalling Practices associated with keyboard music of earlier periods, as well as

customs related to the Italian vocal style of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, are found to be relevant to Chopin's sonatas, particularly as presented in the first French editions in addition, sorne traditional beliefs about Chopin's practices (for example, the idea that ail trills begin fiom the upper auxiliary) need to be challenged in light of the evidence of the sources and in view of the range of practices described in both

instrumental and vocal treatises of the 1840s

Thanks are due to Dr Robert T o 4 my principal advisor, and Dr James Grier, my

second reader, for their work on this thesis I am especially grateful to Dr Sandra

Mangsen, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies of the Faculty of Music, for her support

and encouragerneuf and to Shelly Koster, Graduate Secretary of the Faculty of Music

Last but certainly not least, 1 am indebted to Dr Richard Semmens for graciously

providing much-needed input, despite his being on sabbatical

T gratefdly acknowledge the support of a Doctoral Fellowship fiom the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and 1 extend a special word of thanks to Hanna Wroblewska-Straus, curator of the Chopin Society museum and archives,

for her prompt and courteous assistance- My gratitutde extends also to Kasia Sienickï,

whose generosity facilitated my research in Warsaw; to Jean-Paul Sevilla, who provided

me with accomodations in Park; to Edmund Michael Frederick of Ashburnharn,

Massachusetts, who graciously allowed me to visit and glean information fiom his

collection of historic pianos; and to Darcy Kuronen, curator of musicai instruments at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, who kindly granted me access to that collection of

Chapter 2: Ornarnentation - Trills

Chapter 3: Omamentation - Appoggiaturas, Mordents

INTRODUCTION

The range of performance possibilities surrounduig the piano sonatas of Frederic Chopin includes practices often associated with keyboard music of earlier penods As weu,

vocal practices fiom the period c 1760-2 840 wodd have exerted an influence on the

performance of these works and on their compositional style In this study, I have

examined manuscript and printed sources for Chopin's two piano sonatas, Op 35 in B-flat minor (1 840) and Op 58 in B minor ( l84S), against the historical backdrop provided by keyboard methods and treatises on singing in order to ascertain how these sonatas might

have been perforrned in the period c 1840-1880 This thesis addresses the need for a systematic scholarly study of performance-practice issues in Chopin, placed in the proper context, by examining a wider variety of primary sources than has previously been the case,

by establishing a contextual fiamework on the basis of treatises as well as documented accounts of Chopin's students and colleagues, and by considering several interrelated

aspects of performance while focusing on a single genre, the piano sonata

Past decades have witnessed a resurgence of interest in performing and recording piano music of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries on period instruments, yet scholarly studies dealing with the performance practices associated with this music remain sporadic The idea that we, as performers at the beginning of the twenty-first century, possess a historically accurate conception of music of the nineteenth century appears to be based on the assumption that twentieth-century practices grew directly out of

nineteenth-century traditions While musical notation in nineteenth-century sources may

appear to be more directly accessible than that of the fourteenth century, it must be

remembered that nineteenth-century musical notation would have portrayed different

messages to the musicians for whom it was written than it does to perforrners of the present

day In order for us to gain insights into how Chopin might have expected his musical notation to be realized in performance, it is necessary to look beyond the notation itself

The methodology of th-s study centres on an examination of selected manuscript and printed sources of Chopin's sonatas c l84O-l882, which are described below, while seeking

to place the notation in these sources within a prûper historical perspective Pedagogical

treatises published during the late eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century

have provided valuable contemporary documentation with respect to tempo, omaments, touch and articulation, dynamics, expression marks, and pedalling The information found

in these treatises has helped to establish the range of practices in vogue during the period

Testimony of Chopin's students and colleagues (as docwnented in diaries, letters, and other CVntten accounts) supplies additional information not onLy about current practices in generai

but also about those that were unique to Chop& that is, those that deviated fiom established pianistic noms Chopin's own unfuiished piano treatise, although it does not directly confront issues related to keyboard performance practices, demonstrates a conceptual approach to the piano that is very different fiom that of contemporaries such as Kalkbremer

and Czerny-an approach that suggests an aesthetic more closely aligned with vocal

practices As is well known, Chopin urged his students to Ieam from the greatest Italian singers, such as Pasta, Rubini, and Grisi, and this, together with his well-documented

admiration for Jenny Lind and H e ~ e t t e Somtag, confums that vocal practices ofthe time,

as welI as pianistic practices, are himy relevant to my study Finally, additional context

has been provided by references found in historical periodicals such as Le pimiste and the

Revue ga7ette et rnusicaIee

The treatises used in this study to esiablish historical context are cited in the

bibliography and are, fdr the most part, well-known to scholan Keyboard methods such as those of Clementi, Cramer, Czerny, Kalkbremer, and Hummel receive frequent mention In addition, a lesser-known treatise provides some fascinating insights into the continuity of the historical relationship between singing and keyboard playing in nineteenth-century

Paris Felix Godeftoid's École chantante d u piano (Paris: Heugel, 186 1) illustrates the extent to which concepts borrowed kom singing and the imitation of the voice continued to

pervade pianistic thought, at least in some circles Not much is known about Godefroid

(1 8 18-1 897), except that he was an accomplished Belgian harpist, pianist, and composer who had studied briefly at the Paris Conservatoi~e.~ A copy of his piano method was found

in the former collection of the Paris Conservatoire currently contained in the Bibliothèque nationale, and it is possible that this method might have been known and even used at the Conservatoire

In addition to the general information garnered fiom periodicals, treatises, and the documented testimony of observers, manuscript sources of Chopin's works may convey specific pianistic practices Thomas Kggins, author of a dissertation on performance

indications in Chopin saurces, notes (dong with Emmanuel Wintemitz) that manuscript sources-particularly autographs-illuminate Chopin's intentions by revealing aspects of

musical handwriting that cannot always be accurately reproduced in print2 The plethora of

Sadie, Stanley, ed., The New Grove Dicrionary of Music (London and New York:

MacMillan Press, 19803, S.V 'Godefroid, Felix" by Alice Lawson Aber

Thomas Higgins, ""Chopin Interpretation: A Study of Performance Directions in Selected

Autographs and Other Sources," Ph-D diss (Stanford University, 1966),30-3 1

pfited editions of Chopin's music that appeared during the rnid- to late nineteenthcentury not only attests to the appeal of his works in several countnes but also provides a basis for comparative study An examination of the discrete manuscript and printed sources of a single work (especialiy those which stem f?om a penod as brief as a few weeks or months) can establish the range of a work's conception, while annotations made by Chopin or one of his students in printed sources may assist in c l a r m g one possible uiterpretation of the notation- Subsequent editions demonstrate how the practices exhibited in earlier editions

changed d u h g the course of the nineteenth century

Even the first editions of Opp 35 and 58 reved considerable variation in notated performance indications, attributable partly to circumstances s urrounding the transmission

of Chopin's musical texts From the time he had established bimself in Paris, Chopin's works were published virtually simultaneously in three countrïes: France, England, and Germany Separate manuscript fair copies were prepared for publishers on the continent

during the period 1837-1841, either by Chopin or by tnisted assistants such as Julian

Fontana, and after 184 1 autograph fair copies were provided almost exclusively by Chopin himselE3 In a description of what he refers to as the "Chopin problem," Jeffrey Kallberg observes that discrepancies arnong separate autograph fair copies of the same work suggest

a process of continuous cornpo~ition.~ in a sirnilar vein, Leo Treitler notes that fair copies

of the same work ofien differ fiom one another, even for those works copied around the

Jeffkey Kallberg, "Chopin in the Marketplace," in Chopin ut the Boundaries: Sex, Kistoryl and Musical Genre (Cambridge M A and London: Harvard University Press, 1996),

174-2 13 Before 1843, Chopin's publishers in Engiand (the firm of Wessel) apparently based their editions of his works on proofs h m the first French editions as well as

manuscript copies; afler 1843, however, the sources were more likely to be autograph manuscripts

Kallberg, "The Chopin 'Problem'," in Chopin ut the Boundaries, 216

sarne tirne, and that these variants are independent of the m e s that result from subsequent editions and revisions by publishers or agents working for them5 Treitler interprets the discrepancies between autographs as indicative of Chopin's fluid conception of a work, a conception open to new possibilities at each stage of the process between composition and perf~rmance.~ This interpretation is shared by Kallberg:

Cornposers in the nineteenth centuxy were not autonomous figures, and theu

scores did not necessarily represent unique, invariable forms of their music If Chopin aiiowed multiple versions of a piece to appear before the public, then this reaects sornething essential to the constitution of a work o f art in the 1830s and 40s.'

Ln an article dealing witb Chopin's autograph manuscripts and twentieth-century

recordings, Leo Treitler observes that " spart fiom a performance tradition, no notation has

a final meaning-"8 Treitler does not attempt to anaIyze specific performance traditions but

simply suggests that in the music of Chopin, work, score, and performance share the sarne

ontological level Treitler suggests that pianists who are unaware of the "fluidity of the

conception of the work" may be reIuctant to deviate fiom published scores of Chopin's works? Whïle it is impossible to completely recapture performance traditions of the

nineteenth century fiom our current vantage point, the present scholarly examination of

primary sources of music that was written, published, and performed during Chopin's tirne

rnay resdt in a richer understanding of the Ccfluidity" of a work or genre, as weil as an

awareness of the range of performing practices that were associated with it

Leo Treitler, "History and the Ontology of the Musical Work," Journal of Aesthetzcs and

Art Criticism 5 1 /3 (Summer 1993,493

bid, 495-

' Kallberg, "The Chopin 'Problem'," 228; previously cited in "&Are Variants a Problem? 'Composer's Intentions' in Editing Chopin," Chopin Studies III (Warsaw: Fredenc Chopin Society, 1990), 267

Treitler, ''Kstory and the Ontology of the Musical Work," 49 1

Ibid-, 496

Much of the existing discourse with respect to performance practices in Chopin's

works has been based on annotations in scores such as those owned by Chopin's student Camille Dubois-OMeara, the purpose of which codd arguably be perceived as primarily

pedagogical A dissertation by Jeanne Holland and, more recently, Jean-Jacques

Eigeldinger's book focus on Chopin's pedagogy, and these sources deal almost in passing with performance practi~es.~"ie Eigeldinger presents much docurnentary information

on Chopin's pedagogical practices and provides a summary description of the known

m o t a t e d scores of Chopin's works, his book is of Limited value to the scholar who wishes

to understand performance practices in Chopin's piano music in relation to

contempomeous practices While annotations in published scores of relatively short pieces may be instructive about performance practice issues at a local level, such as pedalling within a measure or the placement of omaments, they tell us Little about the practices

associated with works of relatively large scale: for example, subtle adjustments of tempo that may have assisted in cornmunicating the form of a sonata movement Furthemore, most annotations are found in printed scores of the first French edition and, therefore, other

first editions as well as subsequent printings are neplected An approach to detemining performance practices in Chopin's music that is based on his pedagogy provides a good point of departure but may lack an awareness of histoncal context

Another limitation of the existing research into perfomance practices in Chopin's music is that studies have tended to focus on a single aspect of performance rather than on a

'O Jeanne Holland, ccChopin's Teaching and His Students" (Ph-D diss., University of North Carolina at Chape1 Hill, 1972); JeamJacques Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianisr and Teacher e d

Roy Howat (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) English translation by

Naomi Shohet, W s i a Osostowicz and Roy Howat of Chopin vupar ses élèves (Neuchâtel,

Switzerland: Éditions de la Baconnière, 1970; reprint, 1979)

range of interrelated topics David Rowland, for example, in his recent book on t h e histoiy

of pianoforte pedalling from the eighteenth century to the present, devotes a smaE section to Chopin's use of the pedals." Similarly, an article by Sandra Rosenblum and a portion of a

dissertation by John Fem address the subject of pedal markuigs in Chopin's Other studies, like Ferri's, deal with more than one dimension of performance but are restricted to

a relatively small number of sources, often involving small-scale genres Thomas Hïggins has focused on autograph manuscripts and one historicd edition (the Amencan facsimile reprint of the Breitkopf & Hartel edition ofchopin's complete works, 1878-1880) as well as

two modem edition~,'~ but his selection of works is limited mostly to the preludes, selected ballades, and scherzi The present study attempts to focus on a single genre, to examine a

wide range of source material, and to establish historical context through a representative yet broad sampling of treatises and ottier docurnented evidence

Bibliographie control of the primary sources for Opp 35 and 58 examined in tbis study was facilitated by Krystyna Kobylanska's thematic catalogue of Chopin's warks,

which lists manuscript copies (including autographs and fair copies), first editions, and annotated scores.'" Unfominately, rnanuscnpt sources of Chopin's music are relatively

difficult to locate since many of these were dispersed during the Second World War

(According to one Polish scholar, Chopin's music was abhorred by the Nazis because of its

' 'David Rowland, A History of Pianoforte Pedizlhg (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1993), 108-109, 120-130, 150

Sandra Rosenblum, Pedalling," Journal of Musicologicol Researcfi (1 996),

41-61; John Fem, "Performance Indications and the Analysis of Chopin's Music" <Ph.D

diss., Yale University, 1996) Fem's study focuses more on the analysis of Chopin's music

than on musicological issues, although the author refers to sorne original source material in

his discussion of pedalling, f i n g e ~ g , and tempo markings

l 3 Higgins, "Chopin Interpretation," 16-3 1

l " ~ s t y n a Kobylanska, Frederic Chopin: Thematisch-bibiiographisches Werkve~eeichnis

ed E Herrtnch, trans from Polish by H Stolze (Munich: Henle, 1979)

perceived nationdistic associations, and anyone discovered listening to "secret concerts of

his music" faced the death penalty-'5) The manuscript documents examineci in this study include: the autograph fair copy of Op 58, which served a s the basis for the first Breitkopf

62 Hàrtel of 1 845 [Si@ Mus 232, Music Department of îhe National Library in Warsaw]; the manuscript fair copy of Op 35 in a hand other than Chopin's, possibly that of his

student AdolfGumann F 1299, Frederic Chopin Society, Warsaw]; and a manuscript copy

of the thkd rnovement only p- 19 18, Chopin Society] A manuscript fragment of Op 58A

that corresponds to mm I 18-133 of the development section, in Chopin's hand, is held by

the Chopin Society F1/234], and a photocopy was graciously supplied tu me

An original manuscript copy of the third movement of Op 35, the well-known

"'Marche funèbre," is housed in the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek in Viema [Sign Suppl Mus No 46891- The title page of this manuscript identifies the "Marsche [sic] funèbre" as belonging to the Sonata, Op 35, and in a different hand underneath the carefid calligraphy is written in parentheses "aus der B-mol1 Sonateyy [fkom the B-flat minor

sonata] Assuming that the annotation was contemporaneous with the copying, this

manuscript copy must have been made sometime after the entire sonata was published While the s c n i is not known, the Germanic rnisspeiluig " M a r s ~ h e ~ ~ suggests that he or she may have been Geman or Ausûian This manuscript copy of the "Marsche Funèbre" is of

interest primarily for the slight dynamic variants found in the reprise of the March section, a

section that is fùlly written out By contrast, the manuscript fair copy for the first Breitkopf

& Hiirtel edition of Op 35 shows numbered measures that represent a "da capo" notation,

and this notation would suggest an identical repeat of the March section!

15K Jazwinska, "The Frédéric Chopin Society in Warsaw," Polish Music 5 ( 2 W O ) , 4

I6Kallberg, "Chopin in the Marketplace," in Chopin at the Buundaries 198 Kallberg

Maurice Brown's index contains a comprehensive list of editions of Chopin's works published between 1850 and 1960.L7 Using Brown's index, I have been able to locate and

examine the followirog printed sources: the first French edition of Op 58 (Paris:

Meisonnier, 1845) and the first German and English editions of Op 58 ( L e i p e Breitkopf

& Hartel, 1845; London: Wessel & Stapleton, 18451, dl obtained îhrough the Chopin Society in Warsa~q the annotated scores of Op- 58 owned by Camille Dubois-O'Meara and

Jane Stirling housed at the B~Miotheque nationale in Paris r_Res.F.980 (U7); Res-Vma 24 1

(W58)]; l8 and the annotated volume of Op 35 owned by Marie Scherbatofî-Tcherkassky, a Russian student of Chopin, which is currently housed at the Houghton Library of Harvard

University [&lus C4555.B846~.].'~ As well, editions of the sonatas published after

Chopin's death that contnïuted to the docurnentary base of this study include those of

Wessel & Co (London, 1853); Richault (Paris, 1860); Gebethner and Wolff (Warsaw, 1863;

second and third editions, 1877 and 1882); and Breitkopf & Hartel (Leipzig, 1878-80).20

Although the first French, German, and English editions of both Opp 35 and 58 fa11 into the category of Chopin's works that were published "simultaneously" (that is, iithin a

observes that, when Chopin wanted an exact repetition, he "usually notated it- in his

manuscripts with numbers marking off the measures to be played over."

"Maurice E Brown, Chopin: An Index of His Works in Chrurtu~ogical Order Gondon: MacMiIlan, l96O), 173- i 87

I8These annotated scores of Chopin's well-known students were initially obtained as

photocopies Subsequently, 1 examined the originals in person on a research trip to Paris in

July 1999

IgAnother important source of annotations is the collection of Chopin's music (invariably in

the first French editions) which the composer's older sister Ludwika Jedrzejewicz received

fiom him The Fredenc Chopin Society in Warsaw holds copies of Ludwika's original Schlesinger editions containing annotations by Chopin d o r Jane Stirling Opp 9, L 5,27,

33,34,47,48 and 5 1 are included in that collection 174- 1761 and were examuied on microfilm Unforhinately, the sonatas are excluded fiom Ludwika's collection

Zoniese were obtained as photocopies or microforms from the British Library in London, the Chopin Society in Warsaw, and the University of Toronto Music Library

few months of each other),2I the variants found in these sources suggest not only multiple possibilitia for perfomiing a work, but dinering conceptions of the work Jeffrey Kailberg

has argued that it is not only difficult but counterproductive to search for a Fc~ssung letier

Hmrd among the simultaneously published 6rst editions of Chopin's works h t e a d , each source can be accepted as valid given the implicit social contract between the composer and

his anticipated a u d i e ~ c e ~ In this thesis, 1 make frequent reference to the fust editions of Chopin's sonatas, and it may be useful to provide a brief overview of what the performance indications in these editions suggest about instruments and musical context The following summav describes the most relevant characteristics of each of these sources More detailed descriptions are found in the body of the thesis

The first French editions of Opp 35 and 58 (Le., those published by Troupenas and

Meissonier, respectively) seem compatible with Chopin's preferred Pleyel instruments, as

well as the relatively intimate acoustics of the musical "chambers" or salons in private aristocratie homes- Dynamic markings are less extreme in comparison to the Geman

sources, which feature more instances of bothpp and ff (particularly the former) than are found in the French editions Although the Wessel editions published in England show similar dynamic markings to those in the French editions, a considerable number ofboth f

and p marlangs are lacking in Wessel, particularly in Op 58 Pedal markùigs in the first

French editions reflect techniques that might be considered conservative for the mid-

nineteenth-century: for example, rhythrnic pedalling to highlight grammatical accents, the

blurring of certain harmonies for colouristic effects or for the sake of rhetorical continuity,

and the use of the darnper pedal to enhance melodic sonority in the upper registers of the

*'Kallberg, "Chopin in the Marketplace," in Chopin at the Bomdaries, 163

"Kallberg, "The Chopin Problem," in Chopin nt the Boundaries 2 21 5-2 18,227-228

instrument Articulation markings in the srst French editions include wedges as well as dots The Meissonier edition shows the term "legato" in the le&-hand line of Op 58A in a context that may correspond to the holding down of certain notes independently of the

pedal, as is characteristic of the music of Türk's generatioa (Thi-s passage is described more fully in Chapter 4.)

In the e s t French editions of Opp 35 and 58, markings pertauiing to articulation, ornamentation and pedalling are less uniform in parallel or andogous structural sections of

a given movement than tends to be the case in the German sources In both the Troupenas

and Meissonier editions, indicators of articulation and dynamics are sometimes lacking in htten-out repetitions (for example, in Op 35/11), and it is possible that this absence of specific markings rnight provide an opportunity for varying the dynamics or touch on the

second occurrence Pedalling is sometrmes added at the second appearance (literal or varied) of thematic material, as the Meissonier edition of Op 58DV clearly demonstrates The first French editions of Chopin's sonatas, more than the other sources, attest to the influence of earlier principles illustrated, for instance, by Car1 Philipp Emmanuel Bach's notion of "varied repetiti~n."~ Taken together, these early French sources present the

sonata as a genre consistent with the "chamber style."

By cornparison, îhe first Geman editions portray the sonata genre as a more

dramatic work, one suited to the larger public stage The gestures are grand and orchestral,

=Car1 Philipp Ernanuel Bach, S e c h Sonaten mit veründerten Reprisen (Berlin, 1760);

edited and trandated by Etienne Darbellay as Six Sonutas wiCh Varied Reprises (Winterthur:

Amadeus, 1976), m The editor notes: "Aside fkom its g e a t artistic value, this collection

is also important for its specific didactic purpose-the art of varying repeats [die K m t der variierten Wzederholung]." Bach's collection provides notated variations for repeated

sections, admittedly a rather odd notion at a tirne when improvised variation wodd have

been the n o m Possibly Bach was providing a mode1 for students who were relatively

unfarniliar with what may have been a dying practice

and in some cases the movement titles are more descriptive (e-g., ''Marche funèbre" as

opposed to "Lento - March; or 'Zargo - cantabile" as opposed to "Largo," in the case of Op

58A) Longer and more harmonically-oriented pedals would contriiute to a m e r , larger

sound Restatements of thematic material are more likely to be ushered in by a crescendo

than a decrescendo, except where the thematic matenal is of a lyrïcal nature Repeated sections show Little notational variation, perhaps in cornpliance with Breitkopf & Hartel's editorial preference.*'

However, the German sources of Chopin's sonatas do not dways exude a more extroverted character than their French counterparts The autograph fair copy and the first Breitkopf & Hartel edition of Op 58 give dynamic markings that feature the lower end of the dynamic spectrum to a greater extent than is evident in the French and English sources

More pp markings, as well as longer and more fiequent decrescendos and shorter

crescendos, are found in the German sources, along with relatively few short expressive shadings The absence of detailed dynamic indications in the German sources of Op 35/N

may have encouraged later editors to include their own ideas for dynamic possiïilities, as Jan Kleczynski's 1882 edition for Gebethner & Wolff seerns to suggest

For their part, the English sources of Opp 35 and 58 Iack some of the fiequent dynatnic markings found in the continental sources Pedal markings in the Wessel editions

are longer, in some cases, than those found in the French editions However, m e n - o u t ornamentation in the Wessel editions is almost identical to that in the French sources, and

*'Kallberg, "Chopin in the Marketplace," in Chopin at the Bounduries 198 Kallberg

observes that engravers for Breitkopf & Hmel sometimes "revised passages to bring

Chopin's notation into accord with what must have been Breitkopf s 'house policy'," and that

Iater editions of Chopin's work often contain variants that "typically regularize what was asymmetrical in the early print."

the placement of crescendos and decrescendos is similar In general, the French and

Gerrnan sources display more Merences with regard to notational indicators of dyoamics, articulation, and pedalling than are evident between the French and English editions

The foregoing summary of the significant merences in performance indications among the sources reveals that the wealth of detailed information about the range of

practices relating to Chopin's sonatas in the mid-nineteenth century requires contextual perspective The matenal in this thesis has been organized into chapters on the b a i s of issues familiar to those with an interest in historical performance practice research The opening chapter examines Chopin's unfinished sketches for a piano method, the o d y

docurnented evidence in Chopin's own hand of his technicd and aesthetic premises, other

thm incidental gleanings fiom his letters This chapter seeks to place Chopin's pianism in the context not only of his Parisian contemporaries but also of other schools of keyboard playing, and it establishes that Chopin's "novel" approach to the piano may have been rooted in late eighteenth-century practices that were perpetuated in vocal music of the mid-nineteenth century Subsequent chapters focus on specific elements of performance practice in relation to Opp 35 and 58: tnk, other types of ornamentation (appoggiaturas,

mordents and gruppetti), articulation, rubato, tempo and tempo modification, and pedalling

1 have chosen to incorporate obsewations on dpamics into various chapters rather

than devote a separate chapter to this element of performance One of the primmy reasons for doing so concerns Chopin's own flexible attitude toward dynamics, which is manifested

in the sources of the sonatas For example, a crescendo in the Geman sources might be pardeled by a decrescendo in the French editions, as is the case at m 226 of Op 5 8 N

prior to the final restatement of thematic material Dynarnic changes may be explicit in

some sources but not in others Furthemore, dynamic markings are likely to Vary fiom source to source at the repetition of a structural section such as a reprise These differences

do not necessarily correlate to the acoustical properties of specific instruments, but appear simply to reflect alternative conceptions A quotation attnbuted to Chopin alludes to the diversity of dynamic means availabie to an end:

We are concerned with the end result-.-the goai, the response evoked in the listener, not the means used to evoke it- You can be stmck dumb with astonishment

at unexpected news, equaiiy whether it is shouted out Ioud, or bareIy whispered in your ear ZS

Descriptions of Chopin's playing suggest that he alrnost never piayed his own compositions

the sarne way twice, and that he norrnally introduced variants "according to the mood of the

r n ~ m e n t ~ ' ' ~ ~ Such variants would undoubtedly have included changes in dynamics, and it is not surprising to find such changes notated in the sources of the sonatas

Although Chopin's works may not yet have entered the mainstream of "earIy music"

in the recording world, this thesis shows that the Opp 35 and 58 sonatas wouid have been characterized by a wide range of practices, including those derived fiom earlier keyboard music and singing These practices may, at times, seem anomalous in cornparison to those associated with Chopin in accounts dating from the latter part of the nineteenth century

The findings will undoubtedly be of interest to performers and teachers of piano, especially those interested in historically infonned approaches

=The statement may be that of Marcelina Czartoryska, and is given in Adam Czartkowski and Zofia Jezewska, Fvderyk Chopin (Warsaw: P M , 1970), 377; cited in Eigeldinger, 57

"Anthony Hipliins; cited in Eigeldinger, 55

CHAPTER 1: CHOPIN'S UNFLNISHED PIANO MIETHOD

IN LIGHT OF CONTEMPORANEOUS TREATISES

The image of Frederic Chopin as a pianistic innovator is widely accepted in the twentieth century, and the demands made by Chopin's music for the piano stand alongside those of Franz Liszt as the pillars on which modem piano technique is based- In

cornparison to Liszt, however, Chopin taught only a relatively small nrimber of students during his lifetime; and of these, only ten or so ever achieved concert careers.' Liszt is said

to have remarked about Chopin's teaching that his colleague was "unfortunate in his

p ~ p i l s " ~ Whatever the reasons, no school of piano playing comparable to that of Liszt or

Leschetitziq may be traced back to Chopin This does not mean, however, that Chopin's activities as a pedagogue are of negligible value Rather, it is in examining the principles

which Chopin wished to communicate to students that insights may be gained into his

technical and aesthetic conceptions This chapter wiLl consider Chopin's little-hown

manuscript sketches for an unfinished piano method in relation to published piano treatises

of the first half of the nineteenth century, particulariy the Fétis-Moscheles Méthode des

méthodes (1 840) Although this treatise, CO-authored by Francois Fétis and Ignaz

Moscheles, f i s t appeared in prht in the same year that Chopin's Op 35 sonata was

' Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianisr and ï k d t e ~ as seen by hzs Pupils English trans by Naomi Shohet with Krysia Osostowicz and Roy Howat (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1986), 5-9; origùially published as Chopin vupar ses élèves (Neuchatel, SwitzerIand: Editions de la Baconniere, 1970) Eigeldinger asserts that a maximum of 150

students passed through Chopin's hands, and he points out that this figure includes those

who had only a few lessons as welI as those who might more legitimately be considered long-tem students

Ibid., 5

published in Paris, it reveals pianistic premises very different from those apparent in

Chopin's unpublished me-

As a pianist, Chopin was vîrtually self-taught, His earliest musical studies were at the Warsaw Conservatory with Adalbert Zwyny, a Bohemian violinist who also tau&

piano Later Chopin studied theoretical subjects and composition with Joseph Elsner, a German musician who had studied in Vienna before taking up residence in Warsaw, where

he became director of the Wanaw Conservatory in 1821 .' Shortiy afler Chopin arrived in

Paris in 183 1, he played for one of the most highly-regarded piano virtuoses of the day, Friedrich Kalkbrenner Upon hearing Chopin, Kalkbrenner suggested that he engage in a three-year course of study with him in order to fufly develop his potential Chopin dectined, preferring instead to work independentlyYJ This lefl him without a pianistic pedigree in a

culture in which concert audiences were accustomed to pianists with high reputations

derived fiom their teachers' statu Chopin was able to sustain a modest career as a concert

performer, but nonetheless relied on teaching as his prirnary source of incorne.'

The most comprehensive study of Chopin's pedagogical activities to date is that of

Swiss musicologist Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger Eigeldinger provides a docurnentary base of

writings by students and colleagues of Chopin with regard to his views on technique, style

and interpretation The picture of Chopin which emerges is that of a dedicated teacher who, although he allegedly referred to teaching as a "treadmill," nevertheless regarded it as an

Friedrich Niecks, Frederic Chopin as Man and Musician, Vol I,3rd ed (London:

Novello, l9O2), 29-3 5

'' James Methuen-Campbell, Chopin P l q i n g (London: V Gollancz, 198 1), 30

Eigeldlnger, Chopin: Piunist and ieacher, 6

important responsibility He could be very generous with his time, especially with pupils who were particularly tdented6

While much useful information has k e n gathered and assimilated by Eigeldinger, the fact remains that much of what it reveals about Chopin's teaching of piano technique is

drawn from indirect sources Car1 Mikuli, one of Chopin's better-hown students, States that Chopin "invented a completely new method of piano playing that permitted him to

reduce technicd exercises to a rnini~nurn,"~ but Mikuii does not state wbat these exercises were or to what extent the details of Chopin's "completely new method" may have been wrïtten down More recentiy, Eigeldinger has focused scholarly attention on a valuable

primary source of Chopin's teaching: his unfinished treatise on piano playinp In his 1993

study, Eigeldinger discusses the sources for Chopin's "Projet de Méthode" ["Sketches for a

Method"] and provides a critical edition and detailed commentay on the text?

During the early to mid-1800s, a profusion of piano methods and tutors was

published in continental Europe as well as in Britain Those published in EngIand tended to

be short and directed at the growing nurnber of amateur musicians, whereas those published

in France or Gerrnany were generally more comprehensive and may have been intended for

the advanced playere9 Many of the performers whose methods were published in the earlier

part of the nineteenth century were concert pianists or teachers in London, Pans, and

Eigeldinger, Chopin: Piunist and Encher 6-7

Ibid., 27

Eigeldinger, Frederic Chopin: Esquisses pour une méthode de piano (Paris: Hammarion,

1993)

One of the scholars who makes this observation is Sandra Rosenblum in her edition of

Muzio Clementi, introduction to the Art ofPZaying on the Piano Forte (London, 180 1 ) ;

facsimile repr (New York: Da Capo Press, 1974), ix

Vienna, including Jan Ladislav Dussek, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Car1 Czerny, Friedrich Kakbrenner, and Daniel SteibeIt 'O

In 1840, a treatise with the ambitious title Méthode des méthodes was published in

Paris as a collaboration between Francois-Joseph Fétis, director of the Brussels

Conservatory, and lgnaz Moscheles, a leading pianist of the day In the tradition o f

Clementi's Introduction to the Art of Playing the Piano Forte (1 801) and other

nineteenth-century rneîhods, the Fétis-Moschefes treatise includes an appendix of pieces by

well-hown composers Among these pieces are three etudes by Chopin

The p n m q author of the Méthode des méthodes is clearly Fétis Although he

fiequently refers to the celebrated Monsieur Moscheles' opinion on matters of technique, Fétis also draws comparisons with other pianists in an effort to be systematic and objective Among the pianists Fétis cites are Liszt, Thalberg, Kalkbrenner, Hummel, and Henri Herz Fétis also refers to the k t i n g s of Clementi, Dussek, and Louis Adam, thereby

demonstrating his familiarity with these earlier treatises-' ' References to the pianistic ideas

of Chopin are conspicuously absent fiom the Fétis-Moscheles method, although on several occasions short excerpts fkom his compositions are given as musical examples This,

coupled with the fact that three new études had been solicited as practical material to

supplement the Méthode des méthodes, suggests that Chopin may have achieved p a t e r recognition in 1840 as a composer than as a pianist and teacher

''The first h o w n treatises by the pianists listed are: Dussek, Ins~ruc~ions on the Art of Piaying rhe Pianoforte or ffarpsichord (London, 1796); Hummel, AtLsfîhriiche

theoretisch-praktische Anweisung -mm Piano-Forte-Spiel (Vienna, 1828); Czerny,

VoIIstÜndige theoretisclz-praktische Pianoforte-Schule (Vienna, Z 839); Kalkbrenner,

Méfhode pour upprendre le piunoforre, Op 108 (Paris, c 1 835); Ste~ibelt, Méfhode de piuno

(Paris, 1.809)

' 'Francois-Joseph Fétis with Ignaz Moscheles, Méthode des méthodes (Paris, L 840);

facsimile repr (Geneva: Minkoff, 1973), 9, 18,4647

It is no$ lcnown whether Chopin was familiar with the textual content of the

Méthode des méthodes- Eigelduiger points out that Chopin was familiar enough with the teaching of Hummel to cite him as an alrthority on the unique capabilities of the Werent Engers.12 Chopin also appears to have known Kakbrennefs method (which had been published in Leipzig and London, as well as in Paris), for he dudes to Kalkbrennerrs technical fhne of reference in his own unnnished method, if only to dispute i t t 3 In 1840,

Kalkbrenner was one of the most revered virtuoso pianists in Paris, then considered the pianistic capital of Europe, and it is hardly surprisùig that Kalkbremer's views are cited fiequently in the Fétis-Moschefes treatise One can easily imagine Chopin surrounded by

methods such as those of Kalkbrenner and Fétis which were largely Foreign to his own views, feeling compelled to make his voice heard

The sources for Chopin's unfinished "Sketches for a Method" are not dated, and it is not kmown exactly when Chopin first began working on this project The autograph

manuscript of the method has been in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City since

the death of its previous owner, the celebrated pianist Alfred Cortot, in 1962 According to paper studies by Eigeldinger and JefTrey Kalberg, the majority of the autograph folios match

paper kno~m to have been used by Chopin for compositions dated between 1844 and 1846,

~ L U % I ~ which time he also composed the Sonata in B minor, Op 58 The outer folios of the sketches appear to date fiom a slightly earlier period, 1842-1844, and a few leaves

correspond to paper used for earlier works during the period 1837-1 838.''' While it is

possible that Chopin may have begun work on his piano method as early as 1837, it appears

'%igeidinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher 195

I3Ibid.; Friedrich Kalkbremer, Méthode pour apprendre le piano a l'aide de guide-mains

(Pans, c 1835)

'"Eigeldinger, Esquisses, 20

probable that the bulk of ir \vas wrîtten after 1840, perhaps on staff paper which had been

acquired in 1837 Eigeldinger hypothesizes that Chopin rnay have worked on his piano

method during the summer of 1844 while he was staying at Georges Sand's summer home at

Nohanf or possïbly in the autumn of that yead5 Th-s hine period would correspond to that during which the Op 58 sonata was composed

Three other sources of Chopin's proposed method contain additional material not found in the autograph sketches; however, only one of these sources, the Katsarsis

manuscript, provides information on the dating of the rnetlmV6 But even this S o m a t i o n

is inconclusive: the dimensions of one of its pages are very similar to those of an

anonymous copy of the Funeral March, Op Posth- 72/2 (KK1063) which dates from

November 1849 The Katsarsis manuscript is in the hand of Chopin's older sister Ludwika, who may have made a copy of the autograph sketches sometime in 1849 or 1850, perhaps after Chopin's death It is not known what Ludwika ïntended to do with these sketches.I7

Ln a letter to Julian Fontana dated October 18, 184 1, Chopin states that a publisher

has offered him 300 francs for either a collection of twelve etudes or a piano method (He

feels that such a fee is far too low, and that 600 francs is the minimum that he would

accept.)18 No letter from a publisher corroborating Chopin's assertion is known However,

Chopin's letter supports the idea that work on his pedagogicd treatise would most likely have been begun in eamest soon after 1840 Eigeldinger notes that the painter Eugene Delacroix, a fkiend of Chopin, had spoken as early as 1841 of wnting a treatise on design lSEigeldinger, Esquisses 14

%id-, 23-28

17Tbid, 24-25 The printed scores of Chopin's works owned by his sister Ludwika contain annotations in the hand of Jane Stirling, as well as that of Chopin, and it is conceivable that Ludwika had plamed to make a copy of Chopin's sketches for Stirling-

''Ibid-, 12

and colour and this may have encouraged Chopin to commit his own aesthetic ideas to

paper.19 It is possible that the Opp 35 and Op 58 sonatas (published in 1840 and 1845 respectively) may have b s e n from a similar desire to demonstrate his ideas about the

"classicd" sonata genre Eor poste*

The originality e f Chopin's approach to the piano, as Jim Samson has suggested, rnay be attrr'buted to his being essentially seIf-taught and not having passed through the

han& of an established virtuoso such as Kakbremer." Nonetheless, documented accounts

of Chopin's playing and teaching suggest that his pianistic style was secureIy founded on earlier principles, such a s those of Clementi Johann Baptist Cramer, a member of the so-called "London schooR" and a student of Clementi, commented on the "correctness" of

Chopin's playing," and Chopin's student George Mathias reported to Frederick Niecks (Chopin's biographer) that his teacher was "absolutely of the old legato school of Clementi

and Cramer."a Even Chopin's mbafo was described by his students George Mathias, Car1

Mikuli, Camille Dubois-OMeara, and Pauline Garcia-Viardot in terms familiar fiom the

late eighteenth century; &at is, the lef3 hand @ass line) kept a strict metrical pulse while the

rïght hand (melody) was dkee to deviate fiom it-= Nevertheless, Eigeldinger's accounts

'Tigeldinger, Esquisses 12

Jim Samson, Chopin (Ddord: Oxford University Press, 1 W6), 14

2'Methuen-Campbell, C h p i n PZaying 30

Tigeldinger, Chopin: P ianist and Teacher, 32 Clementi's Introduction (first ed., 1 80 1 )

was not the first keyboard tutor to speciS that a finger legato touch should be assumed

when no articulation markïngs were specified; nevertheless, Clementi's treatise is often credited with the adoption of the expressive legato style on the keyboard (see Rosenblum,

ed., preface to Clementi r~roduction, 27) At least one earlier harpsichord treatise, that of

Pasquali (c 1750), r e c o m e n d s legato as the default touch

Z'Ibid-, 49-50; Methuen-Campbell, Chopin Playing 3 1,36

suggest that Mathias and M i i i would have also used the t m rubato to mean the

quickening and slowing of tempo withui a phrase?

Contemporaneous descriptions of Chopin's d a t o and arbculatioa suggest an

affinity with practices of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries However, unlike earlier treatises such as Türkls KZuvier~chuZe.~ Chopin's sketches do not explicitly discuss other ideas common in the eighteenth century, such as artïcdation or emphasis This should not necessarily be interpreted to mean that such concepts were absent fiom his

teaching On the contrary, Chopin often reiterated p ~ c i p l e s of accent, emphasis and the articulation of phrases and periods to his students Jan Kleczynski, a Polish piankt who studied in Paris with Chopin's students Mme Dubois, George Mathias, and Marcelina

C z a r t ~ r y s k a , ~ ~ relays the practical instructions that Chopin imparted to his pupils:

A long note is stronger, as is also a hi& note- A dissonant one is likewise stronger, and equally so a syncopated note The ending of a phrase, before a

comma, o r a stop, is dways weak If the meIody ascends, one pIays crescendo,

if it descends, decrescendo Moreover, notice rnust be taken o f natural accents

For instance, in a bar o f two, the first note is strong the second w ein a bar of

three the first strong and the other two w& T o the smaiier parts of the bar the

same direction wili apply Such then are the d e s : the exceptions are always

indicated by the authors t h e m s e l ~ e s ~

Although Chopin does not refer to them as such, he is clearly invoking concepts of accent found in rhetorically-based treatises of the Classic era: grammatical accent (correlating to metrically stressed and unstressed notes); oratorical accent (referring to important notes in a melody, including the highest ones); and pathetic accent (refemng to dissonant or

24Eigeldïnger, Chopin: Pionist and Teacher, 49-50 Chopin's use and understanding of

rub&o will be more fully discussed in Chapter 5

tSDaniel Gottlob Türk, KZmierschuZe (Leipzig, 1789); t r a m by Raymond Hagghe as SchooZ

o f c h i e r PZqing or Instructions in playing the clavier for teachers and audents (Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 19 82), 324-336

26Eigeldinger, Esquisses, 109

27Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pian ist and Teacher, 42

expressive notes)? Similar concepts are found in treatises on singing that date fiom the early to mid-nineteenth century, such as those by Domenico Corri and Manuel Garciam

Reports by Chopin's students and their students are filled with cornparisons made by

Chopin between music and language Car1 Mikuli, for example, relates that Chopin was

adamant that students learn intelligible phrasing which communicated rhetorical ~Iarïty-~O Kleczynski elaborates on the "theory of style" passed on to him by Chopin's students:

AU the theory of the style which Chopin taught to his pupils rested on this

d o g y between music and language, on the necessïty for separating the various phrases, on the necessiq for pointing and for mo-g the power of the voice

and its rapidity of articuiation In a musical phrase composed of sornething üke

eight masures, the end of the eighth wïü generally mark the termination of the

thought, that which, in language written o r spoken, we shouId indicate by a

W-point [Le a period]; here we shodd make a slight pause and lower the voice

The secondary divisions of thîs phrase of eight measwes, ocurrïng after each two

or each four rneasures, require shorter pauses-that is to say, they require commas

or sd-colons These pauses are of great importance; without them music becornes

a succession of sounds without connection, an incomprehensible chaos, as spoken

language wouid be if no regard were paid to punctuation and the inflection of the ~ o i c e ~ '

Eigeldinger maintains that Chopin's numerous cornparisons between musical execution and the art of oration anchor him to the great "rhetorical tradition" which dominated northem

Gennany in the eighteenth century He suggests that Chopin may have k e n f d a r with

Türk's Klavierschule (Leipzig, 1789) and its principles of rhetorical punctuation through Joseph Elsner?* The rhetorical tradition, of course, was also known outside of Germany,

for example, in Vienna and Paris

18Leonard Ratner, Classic Music: fipression Form and Style (New York: Schirrner

Books, 1980), 19 1 The eighteenth-century theorists cited by Ratner include Rousseau, HilLer, Koch and Christrnann

2Qornenico Corn, The Singer's Precepror (London: Chappell, 1810),2; Manuel Garcia,

Traité complet de ['art du chant Part II (Paris, 184 l), English trans by Donald Paschke as A

Complete Treutise on the Art of Singing, Part One (New York: Da Capo Press, l984),

18-19

''Car1 Mi kuli; cited in Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher 42

3'Jan Kleczynski; cited in Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher 42-43

3%igeldinger, Esquisses 1 14; Niecks, Chopin as a Man and Musician, 3 5

A more informa1 influence on Chopin's musical development, but not a less

important one, was his contact with and admiration for singers trained in the Italian style- While living in Warsaw and later in Paris, Chopin had the opportunity to hear the greatest

singers of his day, such as Mme Pasta and Mme Maliiran- Chopin's students Wilhelm von Lenz and Emilie von Gretsch are among those who report that the vocal approach was

paramount in his teaching Lenz, who studied with both Chopin and Liszt, states that

Chopin's advice with regard to style was to " follow that of Pasta, of the great ltalian school of ~ i n g i n g " ~ ~ Gretsch states: "His playing is entirely based on the vocal style of

Rubini, Malibran and Grisi, etc.; he says so himself? A substantial body of literature has

attempted to document the influence of vocal style on Chopin's piano and scholars such as Eigeldinger detail the extent to which Chopin had absorbed the expressive style of

singing and modified it for the piano.3G Eigeldinger suggests that it is Chopin's affinity with

the "Curztable [sic] Art" advocated in German îreatises of the latter eighteenth centwy that

sets hirn apart from conternporaries such as Thaiberg, who unsuccessfully attempted to revive the vocal tradition in keyboard playing in the Romantic em3' Chopin's close

connection to earlier traditions of keyboard playing and his presupposition of practices based on those traditions will become more evident in subsequent chapters

')Eigel dinger, Chopin: Piunisr and Teacher, 45

%id., 44

35See Ludwig Bronarski, Chopin en I'itahe (Lausanne: La Concorde, 1947); Wiaroslaw Sandelewski, "Les elements du 'bel canto' italien dans l'oeuvre de Chopin," in The Book of

the First lnternafionai Miirsicul Congress devoted to the Works of Frederick Chopin

(Warsaw: PWN, 1963), 230-235; idem., "Influssi rossuiiani nell'opera di Chopin," in

BoZZetino del Centro Rossiniano degli Studi V/3-4 (1959), 45-49; cited in Eigeldinger,

Chopin: Pianisr and Teacher, 1 1 1

36Eigeldinger, Chopin: Piunisr and Teocher, 1 13- 1 15

371bid-, 11 1-1 12

simply wi-shed to avoid producing yet aother written document, like those of Hummel and

chose to focus on simple, practicd s~ggestÏons based on "whatever goes straight to the point

~t's fike lea-g to walk on ofle's hands in order to go for a strok Eventualiy one is no Ionger abIe to wdk properly on one's feet, and not very well on one's hands either."

the early nineteenth century tutors (particda.dy those published in England) would often

with fingering, and so on- Although Chopin's "F'rojet" begins in this fahion, the originality

of its approach is evident imniediately- The e s titem in the tutor consists of a B-major scale fingered for the right han& with the capîion: " the elbow level with the white keys, the hand pointing neither in nor out'"' Chopin notes that, since intonation on the piano is the task of the tuner rather than the player, there is no need for the student to begùi with the scale of C rnaj0r.4~ He states that the optimal hand position is that whïch places the long fingers on the black keys and that the easiest and the most cornfortable is that of B major."

This brief discussion, dong with the positioning of the B major scale as the frrst item in the method, is the only reference Chopin makes in these autograph sketches to specific scales Contemporarîes such as Fétis, on the other hanci, devote entire chapters to scales and their fingerings Interestingly, the coda of the finale of Chopin's Op 58 sonata features rapid passage-work and arpeggïation in B major, which lies beautifully under the hands

Like the format of other early nineteenth-century piano Mors by Hummel el al,

Chopin's sketches contain repeated attempts to explain the derivation of the musical staff

and the placement of notes on lines or in ~paces.''~ Four attempts to introduce the concept of relative pitch and its notation are found at the begïnnïng of the autograph copy, the clearest explanation being the fiflh and one."6 Chopin's sketches reveal a struggle to convey the

'qigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, 1 93 The original text is given in Eigeldinger,

Esquisses (p 66) as " le coude au niveau des touches blanches, la main ni dedans ni

dehors."

"Chopin, "Projet de Méthode"; cited in Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, 1 94

Chopin makes severa! references in these sketches to intonation as k i n g the tuner's task, although he does not explicitly express a preference for a particular type of temperament

=Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, 194

45Similanties between Choput's table of relative durational values of notes and that of

Hummel are noted in Eigeldinger, Esquisses, 50-53

"The order in which the pages were found by Cortot when he purchased the autograph manuscript in 1936 is assumed

conceptual b a i s of pitch, not simply to present line-space d e s for reading notation fiom

the musical - Firsf he introduces the concepts of a ladder and the relative pitch of two

notes (lower or higher, deeper or shriller)." In the second version, he relates the note in the

rniddle of the grand stafT(that is, middie C) to the human voice a s "the sound which d l voices are able to sing and al1 instruments modelled on the voice are able to play, being consequently in a region of sounds neither too high nor too IOW."~* In subsequent versions, Chopin also attempts to explain pitch in terms of the human voice- The fourth version reads: " we have placed in the middle of the Iadder the note that a man, a woman, a child can sing and that al1 string and wind instruments c m play as the rniddle of 1149 Here the text

breaks off Nowhere in these first four versions does Chopin relate middle C to the

keyboard, perhaps because he does not see C major as ttie p r i m q scale Only in the final attempt to explain pitch derivation does Chopin Iabel this central pitch as C (or ut or do), a pitch located "almost in the middle of the keyboad, on a white key, before two black

keys."" It seems to have required considerable effort for Chopin to descnbe the range and physical location of middle C in terms of keyboard geography rather than in relation to the vocal fiame of reference which, like the key of B major, was more natural to him

The next section of Chopin's sketches deals with what he cdls the "mechanics" of playing the piano He begins by stressing that the keyboard is extremely well-designed and

adapted to the shape of the hand, and that the piayer should endeavour to work with the layout of the k e y b o d He then divides the study of piano "rnechanism" (Le., technique)

"Eigeldinger, Esquisses, 44 "Chaque son relativement à un autre est bas ou haut, grave ou

aigu l1

"qigeldinger, Chopin: Pianisi and Teacher 19 1 -

jglbid

'Olbid, 196,

into three parts: the study of adjacent notes, which includes scales (both chromatic and diatonic) and trills; the study of disjunct notes, which includes the octave divided into minor thirds (Le diminished seventh chords) and the cornmon chord with its inversions; and

the study of double notes, which comprises hannonic thirds, sixths, and octaves Following

these succinct categonzations of piano technique, Chopin asserts that "there is nothing more to be invented as far as mechanism [technique] of piano playing is

Chopin's simpbcity and brevïty in expounding the bases for piano technique stand in sharp contrat to the detailed chapters in other treatises, such as b t of Fétis-Moscheles, which present page after page of rules of fingering for double thirds and sixths and scales, a s well

as advice fiom various pianists on fingering and touch in playing octaves

As described above, Chopin's "Projet" begins with a condensed version of the

introductory material typicdly found in early nineteenth-century piano treatises: brief

references to the position of the hand and to the first scale (albeit B major rather than C

major), the musical b a i s For pitch notation, and the essential elements of piano technique

The next section, however, begins with what appears to be a non sequitur: "We know lines,

piano keys, signs and tones; we have some idea of hammers and d a r n p e r ~ " ~ Apparently, the intervening details of the rudiments of notation, a listing of major and minor scales, and

a description of piano action were either never written or else became separated fiorn the rest of the sketches The next portion of the existing sketches briefly addresses playing position: the player should be seated at the keyboard so as to be able to reach both ends

5LEigeldinger, Chopin: Piunisl und Teucher, 192-193

%id 193

easily Here, Chopin rerninds students that the optimal position of the hand is formed by

Iettïng the long k g e r s rest on the black keys."

The idea that the shape of the hand should be formed by the thurnb resting on a

white key and the longer fingers on black keys had been noted by earlier writers such as

Clementi, Kdkbrenner, and Fétis Clementi, in the eleventh edition of his Introduction

(182 1-22), advocates "accomodating uiem [the fingers] to the exigencies of the black and white k e y ~ " ~ SUnilarly, Kakbremer states that the best kgering is that which places the

shortest finger on the most elevated note [Le- black key] and the thumb on the lowest note [i-e-white key].Sï Fétis goes into considerably more detail than Chopin about the ideal position of the hand: it should be rounded, with the fleshy part of the fingers contacting the

key, with the fingers neither rigidly curved nor flat? Furthemore, Fétis notes that

Kalkbrenner had invented a mechanical devîce which, by keeping the wrists from sagging, assisted in the formation of a correct hand position An additional advantage of uiis device, descnied as a wooden bar on which the forearm would rest, is that it helps the fmgers acquire independence and agility? Fétis continues his methodical and systematic treatment

of the subject of hand position by citing Hummel's view that the little finger should be

curved so as to f o m a Line with the thumb parallel to the keyboardS8 With regard to the player's sitting position, Fétis reports in a footnote that most great artists of the day, except for Liszt, seat themselves at the centre of the piano; unfortunately, Fétis does not elaborate 53Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, 193- 194

sRosenblum, ed., preface to Clementi, introduction, W

55Kalkbrenner, cited in Fétis-MoscheIes, Méthode des méthodes, 22

or tell the reader exactly where Liszt sat in relation to the keyb~ard.'~ Fétis's exhaustive discussion of sitting and playing position Mpresses the reader by its scientific and histoncal perspective, whereas Chopin's brief lines have a decidedly practical orientation

Many piano treatises fiom the first halfof the nineteenth cenhuy, ïncluding those of Kalkbremer and Fétis, place a high priority on the îndependence, strength, and agdity ofthe

fingers The training of the fingers could only be attained through long and arduous practice (preferably of the exercises contained in the author's treatise) The use of the fingers to attain control of subtle nuances of dynamics and touch was, of course, an accepted prïnciple

in fortepiano playing of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth centuries, and Clementi echoes the pnority placed on finger technique in his treatise of 1801 when he states: "Al1

unnecessq motion [of the haad and a m ] must be a v ~ i d e d " ~ By 1840, Clementi's single

sentence had been expanded in the Fétis-Moscheles Méthode des méthodes into an entire

chapter dealing with the manner of stnking the keys

According to Fétis, the fingers should be independent of any aid from or movernent

in the k s t AI1 possible varieties of touch should be available by using only the fingers: for example, stretching and lifting the fingers will produce great intensity of sound, whereas keeping the fingers close to the keys will elicit lightness- The reader is advised, however, that the ability to achieve a wide range of touches fkom the fingers takes much work and

results only from long practicea61 Fétis reiterates that dl five h g e r s must be equal in

aptitude, suppleness, and force and must be perfectly independent of each other He refers

to Clementi and Dussek, who apparently believed that the best means for achieving fkger

'9Fétis-Moscheles, 6-7

60Rosenblum, ed, Clementi, Inmducrion 2 5

61Fétis-Moscheles, 8

independence and strength was the practice of long t d l s or "cadences" with three k g e r s

resting on the keys while the other two fmgers alternate." Fétis once again cites

Kakbremer, who suggests a drill for finger independence which consists of an individual

k g e r playing repeated notes while the other four fingers rest on the keys." Fétis agrees

with Kdkbrenner that it is imperative to have control of the fhgers before attempîing to

pass the thumb under the hand or to master the difficulties of fingering posed by scales-" in order to emphasize that mastery of the fingers is the foundation on which al1 other aspects

of piano technique are built, Fétis invokes the authority of previous generations of pianists such as I-furnmel, Dussek, Eberhard Müller, and Louis ~darn.6'

In contrast to the Fétis-Moscheles Méthode and the previous writers cited therein, Chopin's "Projet de Méthode" questions the a priori notion that the equality of sound

produced by independent fingers is the most desirable goal of pianistic tone production:

No one will notice the inequality of sound in a very fast scale, as long as the notes

are played in equal t i r n e t h e goal isn't to l e m to play everything with an equal sound A well-formed technique, it seems to me, is one that can control and Vary

a beaulifirl sound q ~ a l i t y - ~

Chopin criticizes those who place undue emphasis on finger strength and independence:

For a long tirne we have been acting against nature by training our fingers to be dl

equally powerfùl A s each fuiger is differentIy forme& it's better not to attempt to

destroy the particular charm of each one's touch but o n the contrary to develop it-67

He goes on to describe the idiosyncracies of each finger, and ends by quoting Hummel: "As many sounds as there are fingers-everything is a matter of howing good fingering."68

For his part, Fétis also regards proper fingering as critical, but he seeks to reduce the

d e s offingering put forth by Dussek and Hummel to "rational and universal" principles."

To Fétis, the ovemding principle of fingering is symmetry- Anything that disturbs

symmetrïcal fingering, such as the passing of the thumb or the turning of the hand or elbow, must be avoided whenever possible?0 Fétis claims that practice of the exercises in his

treatises is the o d y way to acquire a certain and facile technique, since the goal of these exercises is to isolate the action of the hgers fiom the motion of the a m and shoulder.''

In contrast to Fétis' emphasis on the fingers as the preferred means for producing sound on the piano, Chopin advocates involving the whole a m in tone production:

J u s as we need to use [work witf-~] the conformatr-on of the fingers, we need no less to use the rest of the hand, the wrist, the foreann and the arm One c m o t

try to play everything corn the wrist, as Kaikbrenner c l a i m ~ ~

The copy of Chopin's sketches made by his sister Ludwika contains the statement that "the

action of the wrist is analogous to taking a breath in singing,"" and accounts by his student

Emilie von Gretsch CO& that suppleness of the wrist is a key element not only in

Chopin's technique but in articulation as well Gretsch reports:

True to his principle of irnitating great singers in one's playing, Chopin drew 5orn the instrument the secret of how to express breathing At every point where a singer wouid take a brea* the accomplished pianist .should take care to raise the wrist so as to let

it faii again o n the singing note with the greatest suppleness irnagini~ble.'~

In this regard, Eigeldinger notes that markings consining of diagonal pencil strokes are found in the annotated scores of Chopin's student Camille Dubois-O'Meara and that these markings seem to imply the wrist movement desnied by Gretsch The pencil strokes

indicate breaks in the line-sometimes involving a lifting of the hand to set off a new idea,

sometimes corresponding to a iengthened note or resf and o hfitnctioning as breath marks

in vocal music which would create a pause before an important note in the melodic Line.75

Breathhg for articulative purposes is descn%ed in the vocal treatises of Domenico Com, Gesualdo Lanza, and Manuel Garcia, and was indicated by special symbols in Com

and LanzaT6 The first part of Garcia's treatise was published in Paris in 1 84 1, the same

year that Chopin fïrst met Garcia's sister Pauline Garcia-Viardot through George Sand."

Chopin may have been acquainted with Garcia's treatise (or others like it) which not o d y emphasized the importance of breathing and punctuation in expressive singing, but also provided concrete examples of situations in which breath should be taken- Even if he had never read Garcia's farnous treatise (which was recommended to Pansian pianists by Felix

Godefroid in 186 l"), Chopin must have been aware of the practical applications of its

principles through his contact with Mme Viardot and other Mian-trained singes

The diagonal p e n d Lines in the annotated scores of Mme Dubois, together with

ErniIie von Gretsch's cornments about the role of the wrist, reinforce the idea that Chopin equated the action of the wrist with the articulative h c t i o n s of breathing in singing

Nevertheless, it must be recognized that the use of the wrist and arm was not totally absent from piano technique before Chopin Fétis notes that Kalkbremer encourages the use of the

"Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianisr und Teocher, 1 12

76Domenico Com, A Select Colleclion of the Mosr Admired Songs, Duerrs, erc

(Edinborough, 1 78 1 ), 6; Gesualdo Lanza, EIements of Singzng &ondon, 1 8 1 3) Corri

specifically States (p 6) that the mark signifjnng a full breath is used in instrumental as well

as vocal music, suggesting that the concept of breathing for articulative purposes was not limited to the voice in the early nineteenth century

77Carolyn Shuster, "Six mazurkas de Frederic Chopin transcrites pour chant et piano par

Pauline Viardot," in Revue de mtrsicologie 7512 (I989), 266

7 % l i ~ Godefroid, École chantante du piano (Paris: Heugel, 186 1 ), W