Chopin

[invisible]

What do you think of Chopin? Please vote on the public poll for this thread. All responses equally acceptable!

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Considering that he composed almost exclusively for solo piano, he is historically a very significant artist. Can you imagine how vast his fame would be if he had worked on the orchestral scale of other notable composers? He wrote pieces of music that many of us have heard without knowing that they were written by him, and in some cases, without even knowing who he is. Even for those of us who know who he is, it is sometimes possible to discover that pieces of music that we had previously heard and had associated with no particular composer were in fact written by him.

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What do you think of him? Was he a genius? A madman? A profligate? Is he overrated? What is the emotional content of his music - in his composition does he express happiness, sadness, anger, jealousy,? Did he write about the sacred, or the profane?

I don't think anyone could deny his passion, or his musicianship. Bravo! Your music will be with me forever, beautiful human champion.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

Might sound a bit snooty, but Chopin's music seems to be the second rung on the ladder of coming to appreciate classical music.

Novice: Tchaikovsky
Beginners: Chopin
Intermediate: Haydn and Vivaldi
Proficient: Mozart, Beethoven and Bach



Ok, ok... Chopin is pretty good, if you like having your emotions manipulated with a few romantic melodies, with arpeggios droning in the base - it's music to listen to, when you think life is too mundane and meaningless.

 

[invisible]

Might sound a bit snooty, but Chopin's music seems to be the second rung on the ladder of coming to appreciate classical music.

Novice: Tchaikovsky
Beginners: Chopin
Intermediate: Haydn and Vivaldi
Proficient: Mozart, Beethoven and Bach



Ok, ok... Chopin is pretty good, if you like having your emotions manipulated with a few romantic melodies, with arpeggios droning in the base - it's music to listen to, when you think life is too mundane and meaningless.

In terms of sophistication... Would I measure Nabokov against Joyce? Would I measure Plath against Richardson? Would I measure White against Reage? No... I would not.

When I attempt to apply myself to Chopin's literature... no, I do not think that it is simple.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

In terms of sophistication... Would I measure Nabokov against Joyce? Would I measure Plath against Richardson? Would I measure White against Reage? No... I would not.

When I attempt to apply myself to Chopin's literature... no, I do not think that it is simple.

Sophistication and pretense shouldn't be the measure of music.

Complexity, harmony and radical intelligent departures from complexity and harmony are the bees-knees for me.

Chopin is highly limited to the treble - his use of base accompaniment is always the same and highly limits all his piano compositions. Comparing him to Bach, who was limited by the instrumentation of his day, is kind of unfair in terms of genre, but Bach's musical proficiency makes no distinction between base and treble in terms of melodic significance. Even Bach's most basic minuets are so advanced ahead of Chopin in terms of melodic flexibility.

 

[PintoBean]

I've always found Chopin quite soothing and lovely. The criticism is I suppose that he is a bit sugary/sentimental at times. Maybe it's true, but I love it. I often turn to this type of music to quiet my nerves on particularly anxious nights. Also, I can keep it going while I am studying and have found that it helps me avoid panic attacks when I feel like throwing up my hands and giving up. In this same vein, I like Franck and d'Indy. I enjoyed the Merchant Ivory film about Chopin a while back (Imromptu).

 

[invisible]

I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like I don't know how to appreciate Mozart, Beethoven or Bach. Did I grow up playing the compositions of those artists? Yes, I did, I remember! The very first thing I ever learned to play was by Mozart, and I learned to play it in every key, just for fun. When I was 6 years old. Maybe I didn't understand what I was playing? Probably, yes, I think that's likely to be true - we never fully understand what we are doing when we are doing it, and anyhow I was never talented with music, I could not be bothered applying myself to Czerny or Hanon. Is Tchaikovsky really any good? He created a gorgeous ballet, it is a cultural monolith, it has so inspired so many people that its retellings have become in themselves a retelling. The poor little naifs! Ah, ballerinas wrote part of the ballet that exists today, the original choreography is lost isn't it? I can't remember. But I know that I have often thought that Tchaikovsky was a progenitor of gothic genre. He created White Tutu Ballet? That's right, his ballets are the White Tutu Ballets, except for Giselle. But I have never seen Giselle, or listened to it, I only know the other two. How I cried when I heard that part of Sleeping Beauty at the end, don't remember what it's called. So beautiful, I get lost! But it's because I am so silly, so stupid about everything, I don't know what I'm talking about. Cheap theater obviously, I am so vulnerable to sensation, I don't understand abstract things. Anyhow, my education is in literature, not music. I only really know how to speak in terms of literature, fiction, stuff like that. I really don't understand the deep musical stuff. Music, music, what is it to me? I don't even grasp the difference between treble and bass.

What were we talking about? Chopin., love him, or hate him?

 

[invisible]

I've always found Chopin quite soothing and lovely. The criticism is I suppose that he is a bit sugary/sentimental at times. Maybe it's true, but I love it. I often turn to this type of music to quiet my nerves on particularly anxious nights. Also, I can keep it going while I am studying and have found that it helps me avoid panic attacks when I feel like throwing up my hands and giving up. In this same vein, I like Franck and d'Indy. I enjoyed the Merchant Ivory film about Chopin a while back (Imromptu).

I LOVE Franck and will have to look up d'Indy. TY

 

[Flavus Aquila]

I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like I don't know how to appreciate Mozart, Beethoven or Bach. Did I grow up playing the compositions of those artists? Yes, I did, I remember! The very first thing I ever learned to play was by Mozart, and I learned to play it in every key, just for fun. When I was 6 years old. Maybe I didn't understand what I was playing? Probably, yes, I think that's likely to be true - we never fully understand what we are doing when we are doing it, and anyhow I was never talented with music, I could not be bothered applying myself to Czerny or Hanon. Is Tchaikovsky really any good? He created a gorgeous ballet, it is a cultural monolith, it has so inspired so many people that its retellings have become in themselves a retelling. The poor little naifs! Ah, ballerinas wrote part of the ballet that exists today, the original choreography is lost isn't it? I can't remember. But I know that I have often thought that Tchaikovsky was a progenitor of gothic genre. He created White Tutu Ballet? That's right, his ballets are the White Tutu Ballets, except for Giselle. But I have never seen Giselle, or listened to it, I only know the other two. How I cried when I heard that part of Sleeping Beauty at the end, don't remember what it's called. So beautiful, I get lost! But it's because I am so silly, so stupid about everything, I don't know what I'm talking about. Cheap theater obviously, I am so vulnerable to sensation, I don't understand abstract things. Anyhow, my education is in literature, not music. I only really know how to speak in terms of literature, fiction, stuff like that. I really don't understand the deep musical stuff. Music, music, what is it to me? I don't even grasp the difference between treble and bass.

What were we talking about? Chopin., love him, or hate him?

Huh? What's all this fiddle-faddle about?

Love him, just above Tchaikovsky, but below Vivaldi. Gradients of love from emotional stimulation/sentimentality (mild love), to mind-captivating complexity/playfulness/innovation (intense love).

 

[Elegant Winter]

My Mother was a music major and I played the flute for a little while in school, but I never developed feelings of my own for classical music. I enjoy Bach and Beethoven though. I find Chopin hard to enjoy. Chopin's music doesn't feel right to me. His music feels dark and withdrawn and I am not those things.

I like unreservedly triumphant music; music that is a celebration. Preferably with trumpets. Trumpets.

 

[invisible]

Fiddle faddle, yes that sounds like a good way to describe the kinds of things I say! Nonsense, just pure unintelligible nonsense, I don’t even understand myself.

 

[Persona]

I enjoy Chopin intrinsically. I like the wavelengths of how ambiguous he can portray himself throughout his music.

 

[Sensiko]

I enjoy hearing other people play Chopin, I enjoy playing Chopin. As a musician, I think of different composers as *friends* in a way. Sometimes I don’t understand them, sometimes I do, sometimes they frustrate me, my opinion of them will change from time to time, but I still love them to varying degrees. Chopin has always been someone I understand and can trust. But he’s always beautiful, emotional, melancholy, proud… I’ve studied his works for many years, my fingers always seem to know what to do and as an INFJ I feel that when I play and that’s our connection.