Frédéric Chopin · Romanticism
1810–1849
1835 · Piano alone · Paris
Tonality
From the atril
Chopin invented the piano ballad as a new genre: a great narrative piece, without text, that tells a story through music. This first, in the smaller sun, was according to Schumann Chopin's work that he liked most. It has been related to the ballad of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, although Chopin never gave a specific program.
For the pianist, it is a work that requires telling a story from beginning to end. It starts with an introduction in octaves, slow, like a narrator who takes the floor. The first theme is melancholic and hesitant, at a slow rate of waltz; the second, a wide and comforting melody. Throughout the work, both themes are transformed, become heroic or desperate. And the coda, Presto with fuoco, is one of the most fearsome of the repertoire: a whirlwind of scales and chords that ends in a tragic fall.
What to hear
- The introduction in octaves, like a narrator.
- The heroic transformation of the second theme.
- Coda Presto with fuoco.
