![]() His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of chamber and piano music. Schubert already died before his 32nd birthday, but was extremely prolific during his lifetime. 20” (the Schubert side).Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. ![]() This scene features both sides of Chopin: the “Revolutionary Etude” (the Liszt side) and his “Nocturne No. I want to share this small excerpt from the Polish movie Desire for Love. Chopin’s etudes are very Lisztonian, as they push the then newly evolved piano to new, unheard levels. Before Chopin etudes were mainly composed for musicians, not for listeners. ![]() An etude is a short piece of music that is composed to improve a player’s specific technique. Yes, Chopin the virtuoso, trying to push the limits of the piano.Ĭhopin’s etudes are the Liszt side of Chopin. Remember, this is the composer who wrote the “ funeral march” – happy people who look toward life don’t do that.Īnd then there is another Chopin, the one who lives in the shadow of Franz Liszt, who is in the same city and travels in same circles as Liszt. ![]() It seems there are two Chopins: the one who reminds us of Schubert – first, the one in poor health, the depressed one, the one who wrote deeply emotional, melancholic music. And where Schubert lives in the shadow of Beethoven in Vienna, Chopin is in Paris, a city completely smitten by Liszt. He is in poor health in fact he will die young, just like Schubert, at 39. He’s very shy – he will give only 30 public performances in his lifetime (Liszt gave more performances in a month). He leaves Poland at 20 and settles in Paris. This brings us to Chopin, who is a year younger than Liszt. For Liszt, the piano as instrument is as important as the music he composes. He tours all over Europe, giving several performances a day. Liszt is the complete opposite of Schubert. If Liszt had composed the piece, he undoubtably would have arranged it for one pianist. His “ Fantasia in F minor” is written for four hands (two pianists). He was an introvert and not a good pianist – the piano was just another instrument to him, a means to his music. You can hear this depression in his music it is full of melancholy. Any sound that comes to your head will seem to pale in comparison, and anything you put on paper will somehow seem insignificant. If that were not enough, imagine living in Vienna in the early 1800s and trying to compose your own music when you have heard the ingenious 7th symphony composed by a fellow ( Beethoven) who lives a few blocks down the road. Just imagine a young man aged 25, his life supposedly lying ahead of him, but instead he is staring death in the face. Schubert lived a very short life: When he was 25 he contracted syphilis, and at the time syphilis was a treacherous, painful death sentence. This discussion is a follow-up to previous articles I wrote about two Franzes – Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt. But I cannot talk about Chopin and not mention Schubert and Liszt. Today I am going to share with you etudes by Frederic Chopin.
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