Piano concertos by F. Chopin: “composing center” means

Abstract

The article focuses on characterizing compositional and structural peculiarities of piano concertos by F. Chopin. The research emphasis is laid on the revealed fact that the corresponding “composing center” means (V. Kholopova) function as fundamental issues in terms of creating their interpretational versions, thus, joining analytical procedures performers of the above pieces have to follow. With a view to objectivize data concerning the composing component of the Concertos e-moll and f-moll by F.Chopin, the article presents an actual comparative analysis of various perspectives as for the functional means, represented in the socalled note “schemes” of the both Concertos. It is highlighted that on the basis of the aesthetics and poetics of the style brilliant (J. N. Hummel, F. Kalkbrenner), in his Concertos F. Chopin demonstrates an individual innovative exceeding (M. Tomashevsky) of those existing standards of representing the concerto form, turning to the national character genre topicality, reconstructing that peculiar texture configuration type that makes the piano a musical instrument of a selfsufficient status. In accordance with the objective of the present research being to reveal the nature of the “composing center” means in Concertos by F. Chopin, first, the article concentrates on those life and creativity circumstances which served as determinants that had brought those musical pieces to life. It is highlighted that, on the one hand, his Concertos close the initial period of F. Chopin’s creative activities, where piano and orchestra music was dominant. On the other hand, for F. Chopin the early 1830s were the time of saying farewell to Poland, which was reflected in the deeply personal nature of the content of the both Concertos which appeared under the influence of the author’s feeling for K. Gladkovska and D. Pototska (it is the latter that the Concerto f-moll was dedicated to). It is found out that it is F. Kalkbrenner that the Concerto e-moll by F. Chopin is dedicated to, which, therefore, demonstrates his link to the epoch, to which Chopin was actually saying farewell, as well. In the present article, the subject-matter of the research is points of view of famous musicians and scholars-chopinists concerning the content and the form of the above-mentioned Concertos by Chopin. In this connection, the object of the work is our extrapolation of these data onto interpreting the composing center means as an ingredient of the corresponding performance analysis of the above pieces. Applying elements of general scientific (historic-genetic, deductive, comparative) and specific musicological (genre, style, texture, theme) gnoseological methods, we arrive at the conclusion that stylistically the composing means of the both Concertos by F. Chopin demonstrate a dual quality. On the one hand, they more than meet the requirements of the model of the modern at that time concerto virtuoso style of the epoch of transferring from Classicism to Romantism, and, on the other hand, they serve as the development of the traditions shaped up for the many-century existence of piano-concerto forms, starting with J. S. Bach, F. Couperin and W. A. Mozart with subsequently working their way to the future reconstruction of the concerto-piano style in the world practice of modern times. In terms of their composition structure the both Concertos are built according to the model of the three-part cycle of the classicist pattern with the corresponding inter-part tempo correlative ratio “fast – slow – fast”. However, F. Chopin’s content of this form is exclusively individual, integrating “a sole performance” and “deep poetic expressiveness”, “virtuosity” and “romanticism” (M. Tomashevskiy). It is emphasized that the existing points of view concerning the Concertos by F. Chopin are quite diverse in many respects. Some authors, in particular Yu. Kremlyov, point out to a certain composing style “immaturity” F. Chopin demonstrates there, admitting, at the same time, the fact of genius godsends being present in “details”. This author lays a special emphasis on the nationally peculiar sources of the music language of the Concertos, where Polish musical lexis prove to be dominant, which is especially typical of the genre final components (cracovienne). At present the above perspective concerning the both Concertos seems to be rather one-sided, which is in the focus of the monograph by M. Tomashevskiy). The Polish author regards the Concertos by F. Chopin as masterpieces of world concerto-piano literature, especially highlighting their slow parts Larghetto. It is there that Chopin’s piano expressive semantic and technique innovations are concentrated, being unique in terms of their self-sufficiency, though corresponding with orchestra accompaniment. It is no coincidence that the Concertos were the last piano-orchestra music pieces by F. Chopin, after which he composed only solo piano music. The means of the “composing center”, discovered in the Concertos, become fundamental for creating the texture-polyphonic complex based on a polygenre ontology and the technique of overlapping (S. Shkolyarenko), which implies modelling orchestra voices and colors on the piano, using solely the resources of this instrument. The both Concertos being dominant-piano oriented is also proved by the fact that F. Chopin himself considered it to be reasonable to perform them when accompanied by a string quartet, thus emphasizing the self-sufficiency of the piano constituent. Nevertheless, it did not mean any decrease of the significance of orchestra means that in the both Concertos are represented expertly, which proves wrong the quite popular idea as for F. Chopin’s not being proficient enough in the field of composing for orchestras. It is in the orchestra in the both Concertos that the theme development processes which set off the piano constituent according to the principle of double expositions as an attribute of a classical concert “contest” take place. The conducted analysis of the composition dramaturge peculiarities of the both Concertos is aimed at revealing their performance potential. It has been concluded that such qualities of the theme material of these masterpieces as their polygenre modality, polytexture, a peculiar correlative ratio of the background and the relief generate diverse versions of approaches to performing the corresponding textual content, which is determined by the dialectical correlation of the following two origins – the Chopin author’s and the interpretational performer’s ones. It has been emphasized that for performing pianists the expressive-content and the composition-technique versatility of the both Concertos by F. Chopin creates a way to individually reconstructing and reviving composition means complemented with various author’s and editors’ directions and comments. The latter form an integrative unity in terms of creating a cluster of “composing center” means, constituting still another component of the interpretational reflection and performers’ realization of the content and form of the piano Concertos by F. Chopin, building up the perspective of our further research as for the subject of the present article.