Scott Canavan MUSC 100 Professor Korstvedt Annotated Bibliography 12-06- 12 Samson, Jim. The Cambridge Companion to Chopin. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Samson s book provides detailed insight into both Chopin s nocturnes and his scherzi. It remarks a great deal on the influence the Irish pianist John Field played in Chopin s life, especially how closely Chopin originally imitated Field s techniques in the composition of his nocturnes. This source also shows how though Field laid the groundwork for the first nocturnes, they were unable to gain attention of the public until Chopin began composing his own. In the development of his nocturnes, Chopin began using more complexity in his left- hand harmonies to further provide for texture, which became even more so prevalent in Chopin s later nocturnes. This scholarly text also offers detailed analysis into all four scherzi; Samson points out how their contrasting texture, register, expressive range, and dynamics define Chopin s scherzi and separate them from other composers. Chopin s notorious relationship to the nocturne and scherzi is primarily due to his intensity and implementation of dramatic elements throughout his works. Samson, Jim. The Music of Chopin. London, Boston and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985. This earlier book, also by Samson, closely links Chopin s scherzi and ballades, delving further into the extensive form exhibited in the scherzi. It details how Scherzo No. 1 n B Minor is the most straightforward of the scherzi, (serving as an expansion of simple ternary form) making up for its slight lack of tonal contrast by providing for more texture and sonority. The second scherzo, in D Flat Minor, leans more towards an ambitious sonata- like approach; it features Chopin s maturity by the way in which he anticipates potential imaginative outlets, which leads to the scherzo s reprise to contain all the power of a typical sonata s recapitulation. Scherzo No. 3 in C Sharp Minor features Chopin s archetypal tendency to gradually clarify the tonic of a piece, rather than immediately establish it. Chorale- like in
character, the third scherzo marks another interesting aspect of Chopin s music: how the tonal schemes of exposition and reprise are reversed. Lastly, Scherzo No. 4 in E Major avoids dynamic extremes, more than any of the other scherzi, being more of poise and balance than of contrast and drama. Voynich, E. L. Chopin s Letters. New York: Dover Publications 1988 Voynich s collection of nearly 300 letters offers a much deeper look into Chopin s character, personality and mentality during various times in his life. Throughout a number entries, the reader is able to grasp a much richer context of Chopin s lifetime by interpreting contrasting views and opinions, present in letters written to and by Chopin. By delving into primary source articles one is able to see, firsthand, artistic qualities of his portrayed in methods besides composition. Actually, there is very little detail on composition or performance in any of the epistles, for attention is focused on his relations with colleagues and family members instead. While the book offers little in terms of musical analysis, it provides a much more personal look into Chopin s genius that one must see as absolutely essential to understanding his music. Jonson, G. C. A Handbook to Chopin s Works. Boston: Longwood Press 1978 Jonson, in writing this handbook, attempts not to provide criticism and insight into Chopin as a typical biography would, but more to constitute small accompaniments to the works of Chopin, specifically distinguishing features and epitomes of the comments and criticisms attributed to them. He explicitly lays out a complete bibliography of all the previous criticisms he draws from, and a complete table of all of Chopin s works, in the opening few pages. Later, he touches on both the nocturnes and scherzi. He describes the role Chopin s moroseness and dramatic extensiveness takes in the infinite diversity that the nocturnes exude. With the scherzi, he remarks on how Chopin s four scherzi, typically lively in tempo and in a joking manner, are their own individual genre entirely, being rather defiant, ironic and slightly sarcastic, which led his contemporaries to question Chopin s interpretation of scherzo. Schumann has been repeatedly quoted by academic
sources as saying in regards to this, how seriousness is to be clothed if jest is to go about in dark- hued veils? Orga, Ates. Chopin: his life and times. Great Britain: Chapel River Press 1976 This historically profound text is of indispensable biographical knowledge that any student studying Chopin ought to understand. Its exhaustively detailed pages cover a variety of keystones in Chopin s life, varying from his travels to Poland, France, and England, an advancing grip on his anxieties in Paris, to his heated interactions with George Sand. It concretely shows how Chopin developed as a musician and a pianist, and came to cultivate his own creative techniques especially during his time in Nohant, a French town in which his beloved Sand had an estate. Ates offers not just a history of Chopin s life and journey, but also an involved multifaceted account of Chopin s greatest accomplishments and his darkest times. Kallberg, Jeffery. Chopin at the Boundaries: Sex, History, and Musical Genre. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1996 In a methodical examination of social history and musicology, Kallberg explores an unusual outlook on Chopin s music, particularly his nocturnes and their ideological importance. Kallberg uses the nocturne in G Minor, op. 15, no. 3 to advocate his central thesis that Chopin bridges both the gaps between genre and gender. This specific nocturne, considering its accompaniment, rhythmic stresses, and lack of repetition of the opening theme, seems to epitomize Chopin s ambiguity with his definitions of genre, both of nocturnes and of scherzi. Kallberg s examination of the nocturne, as a feminine genre, and Chopin as a dominant composer of domestic music, situates Chopin in a new light, and on the boundaries of gender. Lopinski, Janet. Frederic Chopin: The Reluctant Virtuoso. In American Music Teacher Vol. 59 Issue 3. Cincinnati: Music Teachers National Association, Inc., 2009, p. 17 This cerebral essay of Lopinski s does an outstanding job of detailing Chopin s attitude towards performances and the uncertainty and fear that preceded them. By means of a thorough examination of public concerts, and private salon
appearances, and in reference to letters and other primary sources, the author draws out Chopin s doubt regarding performance. So grave were his feelings, that Chopin gave very few performances throughout his life. He was often criticized for being too delicate in his playing, and he suffered from shock and mental paralysis when confronted by immense concert halls. Salons and private spaces allowed not only Chopin to feel more comfortable in his routines, but they empowered his ability to improvise and helped him develop as a theorist and composer. Noden- Skinner, Cheryl. Tonal Ambiguity in the Opening Measures of Selected Works by Chopin. In College Music Symposium: Vol. 24, No. 2. Missoula: College Music Society, 1984, pp. 28-34 This scholarly article expounds on Chopin s innovative use of suspensions in order to provide for more tonal ambiguity. His use of altered chords, specifically his use of diminished sevenths, helps both his nocturnes and other works achieve this diatonic haziness. The article investigates four major pieces of Chopin s, including his Scherzo in C- Sharp Minor, Op. 39. There is little indication of any center around a tonic, and the augmented sixth he uses resolves to C- Sharp, as it should, but the chord functions as a tonic rather than a dominant. Furthermore, examinations are presented of varying tonic stabilizations that occur in a myriad of his pieces, and the increased tension due to lack of tonal recognition that permeate his longer works. Rink, John. Chopin in Performance: Perahia s Musical Dialogue. In The Musical Times: Vol. 142, No. 1877. London: Musical Times Publications Ltd., 2001, pp. 9-15 This article documents the conversation between the author, John Rink and the pianist Murray Perahia, in regards to Chopin in both a historical and performance sense. Deliberate focus is placed on Scherzo op. 31, and Chopin s manuscripts, improvisatory disposition, and the delicacy and intimacy with which he performed. Criticism is directed towards modern pianists ignorance of Chopin s technique, and how many seem to force the sound out of his pieces by playing in a loud and gawky manner. Common themes of Chopin s music are discussed throughout, including pedaling, tonic suspensions, and his deceptive composing style. (Especially his indecisive modulations) Periaha links Chopin s music
historically with the fight for a free Poland, and the emotional drama that Chopin was forced to deal with during his time in Paris. Krebs, Harald. Tonal and Formal Dualism in Chopin s Scherzo, Op. 31. In Music Theory Spectrum Vol. 13. Berkley: University of California Press, 1991, pp. 48-60 This is a wonderful response directed at Heinrich Schenker s own understanding of Schubert and Chopin, and his monotonally based theory. Krebs criticizes Schenker s interpretation of Chopin s Scherzo Op. 31, implying that the initial harmonies are not subordinate to the final tonic. The article is significant because it provides two opposing analyses of Chopin, both sides providing substantial factual support, and discussing the prolongation techniques that Chopin demonstrates in his works. The cross- examination charts that Krebs includes, impressively back up his statements, and his argument against Schenker s analysis of pitch structure coincides nicely. Chopin s use of bass arpeggiation, further generates puzzlement, by prolonging A Major in what Krebs understands to be B Flat Major tonality. The article is a fantastic document of tonal conditions that exist in Chopin s Scherzi.