Frédéric Chopin

Books about Frédéric Chopin and his music

Frederic Chopin and E. L. Voynich Chopin's Letters Dover Publications, 1988; ISBN 0486255646; 448 pages Nearly 300 letters reveal Chopin as both man and artist and illuminate his fascinating world—Europe of the 1830’s and 1840’s. "They abound in delightful gossip, are merry rather than malicious, are engagingly witty, and at times their humor becomes positively Rabelaisian."—Books. Preface. Index. Price indication: $ 10.17

Frederic Chopin Chopin: An Introduction To His Piano Works (Book & CD) (An Alfred Masterwork Edtion) Alfred Publishing Company, 2004-12; ISBN 0739036858; 64 pages Known as a "pianist's composer," Chopin's love, passion and devotion to piano music resulted in over 200 compositions. This collection contains the more accessible pieces which still have vivid melodies and lush harmonies. Price indication: $ 8.26

John Rink and Julian Rushton Chopin: The Piano Concertos (Cambridge Music Handbooks) Cambridge University Press, 1997; ISBN 0521446600; 152 pages Chopin's E minor and F minor Piano Concertos played a vital role in his career as a composer-pianist. This Handbook reevaluates them so that their many outstanding qualities can be fully appreciated. It describes their genesis, Chopin's own performances and his use of them as a teacher. A survey of their critical, editorial and performance histories follows, in preparation for an engaging narrative analysis of the concertos as embodied in sound. The final chapter investigates Chopin's enigmatic "third concerto", the Allegro de concert. Price indication: $ 21.99

Victor Lederer Chopin - A Listener's Guide to the Master of the Piano: Unlocking the Masters Series Amadeus Press, 2006-10-30; ISBN 1574671480; 146 pages Frederic Chopin died a famous man with his place in the musical pantheon secure. Yet the works that were once most popular tended to be his lightest and least challenging, leading many listeners and critics to view him as a miniaturist and composer for the salon. The bold pieces now revered as his masterpieces-the epic and tragic structures of the ballades, scherzos, polonaises, and sonatas, and the compact but daring preludes and mazurkas-were rarely played and poorly understood. In fact, a larger proportion of Chopin's pieces are now in the active repertory than that of any composer. Chopin - A Listener's Guide to the Master of the Piano takes a detailed tour through the life and oeuvre of the sovereign master of the keyboard. The composer's metabolic adaptation of the melodic structures of Italian opera and the folk music of his native Poland for the resources of the piano are examined in detail, as are the originality and boldness he displayed throughout his tragically short, astonishing career. The book is accompanied by a CD containing 15 complete compositions (and one full movement from his Piano Sonata No. 2) performed by pianist Idil Biret, from her complete survey of the composer's music on the Naxos label. Price indication: $ 14.53

Mike Venezia Frederic Chopin (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) Children's Press (CT), 2000; ISBN 0516265342; 32 pages Presents a biography of Frédéric Chopin Price indication: $ 6.95

Jim Samson Chopin (Master Musicians Series) Oxford University Press, 2000; ISBN 0198167032; 360 pages Celebrating its 100th anniversary, this extraordinary series continues to amaze and captivate its readers with detailed insight into the lives and work of music's geniuses. Unlike other composer biographies that focus narrowly on the music, this series explores the personal history of each composer and the social context surrounding the music. In a precise, engaging, and authoritative manner, each volume combines a vivid portrait of the master musicians' inspirations, influences, life experiences, even their weaknesses, with an accessible discussion of their work-all in roughly 300 pages. Further, each volume offers superb reference material, including a detailed life and times chronology, a complete list of works, a personalia glossary highlighting the important people in the composer's life, and a select bibliography. Under the supervision of music expert and series general editor Stanley Sadie, Master Musicians will certainly proceed to delight music scholars, serious musicians, and all music lovers for another hundred years. In this profound look at Chopin, Jim Samson interweaves biographical and musical commentary to produce a well-rounded portrait the man and the musician. Incorporating the most recent research, it succeeds in presenting it without recourse to unduly complex technical language. Samson addresses such questions as pedagogy, musical influences, and pianistic idiom. He examines the composer's mature musical style, considers his unique approach to the genres of nineteenth-century piano music, and investigates the nature of his compositional process as revealed through manuscripts and early printed scores. Readers to understand why this frail and fastidious musician from Warsaw, whose music is so immensely refined and innovatory, has captured the imagination of generations of music lovers the world over. Price indication: $ 18.57

Tad Szulc Chopin In Paris: The Life And Times Of The Romantic Composer Da Capo Press, 1999-12-30; ISBN 0306809338; 452 pages First time in paperback: The acclaimed biography of Chopin focusing on his 18 years in Paris at the center of a dazzling circle that included Hugo, Balzac, Stendhal, Delacroix, Liszt, Berlioz, and George Sand Born in Poland in 1810, Chopin emigrated to Vienna at age eighteen-and then to Paris, where from 1831 to 1849 he would spend almost half of his brief and tumultuous life. In Paris his extraordinary powers would reach their height and he would shine among the immensely talented writers, painters, and musicians who were working there and defining their era. Chopin's other acquaintances ranged from Rothschild to Marx-and it was here that he began his long and stormy relationship with the novelist George Sand. In Chopin in Paris-a New York Times Notable Book-Tad Szulc brings to life this complex, contradictory genius, and re-creates an unsurpassed epoch of European history, culture, and music. Price indication: $ 11.97

BENITA EISLER Chopin's Funeral Knopf, 2003; ISBN 0375409459; 240 pages The author of the acclaimed biography Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame brings to life a closely fo- cused portrait of another great romantic artist, Frédéric Chopin. At twenty-one, Chopin fled Russian-occupied Poland for exile in France. He would never see his native country again. With only two public concerts in as many years, he became a star of Parisian society and a legendary performer at its salons, revered by his great contemporaries Schumann, Liszt, and the painter Eugène Delacroix. Blessed with genius, success, and the love of Europe’s most famous—and infamous—woman novelist, George Sand, Chopin’s years of triumph ended with his expulsion from paradise: less than two decades after his conquest of Paris, the composer lay destitute and dying in the arms of Sand’s estranged daughter, Solange. Chopin’s Funeral is the story of this fatal fall from grace, of an Oedipal tragedy unfolding, and of illness and loss redeemed by the radical breakthrough of the composer’s last style. Richly textured and artfully compressed, Chopin’s Funeral is an intimate close-up of an embattled man, grappling with conflict on all sides: family violence, political passions, and, not least, his own dependency and pride. With consummate skill Benita Eisler tells the story of the artist as exile, of an explosive love affair, and of worlds—private and public—convulsed by momentous change. Price indication: $ 15.64

Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger and Naomi Shohet and Krysia Osostowicz and Roy Howat Chopin: Pianist and Teacher : As Seen by his Pupils Cambridge University Press, 1988; ISBN 0521367093; 340 pages The accounts of Chopin's pupils, acquaintances and contemporaries, together with his own writing, provide valuable insights into the musician's pianistic and stylistic practice, his teaching methods and his aesthetic beliefs. This unique collection of documents, edited and annotated by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, reveals Chopin as teacher and interpreter of his own music. Included in this study is extensive appendix material that presents annotated scores, and personal accounts of Chopin's playing by pupils, writers, and critics. Price indication: $ 34.99

James Huneker Chopin : The Man and His Music Dover Publications, 1966; ISBN 048621687X; 252 pages This classic in music biography and criticism reflects the intimate, thorough knowledge of Chopin’s music Huneker acquired while studying to be a concert pianist and his unusually keen insight into the character of the composer. Part One deals with Chopin’s life; the second offers brilliant piece-by-piece analysis of the entire body of his music. Introduction and notes. Price indication: $ 8.76

Benita Eisler Chopin's Funeral Vintage, 2004-06-08; ISBN 0375708685; 240 pages Frédéric Chopin’s reputation as one of the Great Romantics endures, but as Benita Eisler reveals in her elegant and elegiac biography, the man was more complicated than his iconic image. A classicist, conservative, and dandy who relished his conquest of Parisian society, the Polish émigré was for a while blessed with genius, acclaim, and the love of Europe’s most infamous woman writer, George Sand. But by the age of 39, the man whose brilliant compositions had thrilled audiences in the most fashionable salons lay dying of consumption, penniless and abandoned by his lover. In the fall of 1849, his lavish funeral was attended by thousands—but not by George Sand. In this intimate portrait of an embattled man, Eisler tells the story of a turbulent love affair, of pain and loss redeemed by art, and of worlds—both private and public—convulsed by momentous change. Price indication: $ 138.75

Tad Szulc Chopin in Paris: The life and times of the Romantic Composer Scribner, 1998; ISBN 0684824582; 448 pages Chopin in Paris introduces the most important musical and literary figures of Fryderyk Chopin's day in a glittering story of the Romantic era. During Chopin's eighteen years in Paris, lasting nearly half his short life, he shone at the center of the immensely talented artists who were defining their time -- Hugo, Balzac, Stendhal, Delacroix, Liszt, Berlioz, and, of course, George Sand, a rebel feminist writer who became Chopin's lover and protector. Tad Szulc, the author of Fidel and Pope John Paul II, approaches his subject with imagination and insight, drawing extensively on diaries, memoirs, correspondence, and the composer's own journal, portions of which appear here for the first time in English. He uses contemporary sources to chronicle Chopin's meteoric rise in his native Poland, an ascent that had brought him to play before the reigning Russian grand duke at the age of eight. He left his homeland when he was eighteen, just before Warsaw's patriotic uprising was crushed by the tsar's armies. Carrying the memories of Poland and its folk music that would later surface in his polonaises and mazurkas, Chopin traveled to Vienna. There he established his reputation in the most demanding city of Europe. But Chopin soon left for Paris, where his extraordinary creative powers would come to fruition amid the revolutions roiling much of Europe. He quickly gained fame and a circle of powerful friends and acquaintances ranging from Rothschild, the banker, to Karl Marx. Distinguished by his fastidious dress and the wracking cough that would cut short his life, Chopin spent his days composing and giving piano lessons to a select group of students. His evenings were spent at the keyboard, playing for his friends. It was at one of these Chopin gatherings that he met George Sand, nine years his senior. Through their long and often stormy relationship, Chopin enjoyed his richest creative period. As she wrote dozens of novels, he composed furiously -- both were compulsive creators. After their affair unraveled, Chopin became the protégé of Jane Stirling, a wealthy Scotswoman, who paraded him in his final year across England and Scotland to play for the aristocracy and even Queen Victoria. In 1849, at the age of thirty-nine, Chopin succumbed to the tuberculosis that had plagued him from childhood. Chopin in Paris is an illuminating biography of a tragic figure who was one of the most important composers of all time. Szulc brings to life the complex, contradictory genius whose works will live forever. It is compelling reading about an exciting epoch of European history, culture, and music -- and about one of the great love dramas of the nineteenth century. Price indication: $ 29.95

Abby Whiteside Abby Whiteside on Piano Playing : Indispensables of Piano Playing - Mastering the Chopin Etudes and Other Essays Amadeus Press, 2003; ISBN 1574670263; 206 pages Revolutionary piano pedagogue Abby Whiteside (1881-1956) influenced generations of pianists in America and elsewhere. Whiteside's pioneering approach to piano technique stood apart from the mainstream of piano teaching in her day, and her ideas remain essential to piano pedagogy even now. Fiercely committed to developing in her students what she called a "basic rhythm" - a sense of physical continuity and ease that emphasizes musical structures - Whiteside as a teacher encouraged students to express the basic emotional rhythm of the music, and her understanding of the mechanics of piano playing enabled them to avoid the strains and injuries often experienced by pianists. This reprint of the two long-out-of-print works has been eagerly awaited by teachers and students of piano music in many countries. At last Whiteside's ideas will be accessible to new as well as to longtime disciples of this devoted and brilliant teacher of piano. Price indication: $ 13.57

Konrad Wolff Masters of the Keyboard: Individual Style Elements in the Piano Music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and Brahams (Midland Book) Indiana University Press, 1990; ISBN 0253205670; 328 pages "... fluently written and often humorous... " -- Notes "... should be required reading for performers and teachers." -- The Eighteenth Century Konrad Wolff characterizes in detail the personal musical language of several great masters of the piano, pursuing different lines of investigation to discover each composer's essential traits. He brings the accumulated wisdom of his long career as a pianist and teacher to this delineation of compositional styles. Both intellect and musicality contribute to his cogent observations, and his literary style is as eloquent as the music he describes. Price indication: $ 19.95

Jim Samson and Julian Rushton Chopin: The Four Ballades (Cambridge Music Handbooks) Cambridge University Press, 1992; ISBN 0521386152; 116 pages Chopin's four ballades are widely regarded as being among the most significant extended works for solo piano of the nineteenth century. In an illuminating discussion, Jim Samson combines history and analysis to provide a comprehensive picture of these popular piano works, investigating the social and musical background to Chopin's music, evaluating the many printed editions of the ballads before considering their critical reception and the differing interpretations of well-known nineteenth- and twentieth-century pianists. Price indication: $ 17.99

Franz Liszt Life of Chopin ValdeBooks, 2010-01-14; ISBN 1444401335; 104 pages This biography of Frédéric Chopin by his friend and fellow artist, Franz Liszt, offers a highly informed assessment of the Polish composer's musical legacy. It's further enlivened by the author's personal acquaintance with Chopin's other friends, who included Sand, Balzac, Hugo, Berlioz, Delacroix, and Schumann. Liszt surveys the brilliance of several of Chopin's masterpieces. Price indication: $ 8.49

Jim Samson and Jonathan Cross The Cambridge Companion to Chopin (Cambridge Companions to Music) Cambridge University Press, 1994; ISBN 0521477522; 356 pages This Companion is designed to provide the enquiring music lover with helpful insights into a musical style that recognizes no contradictions between the accessible and the sophisticated, between the popular and the significant. Price indication: $ 29.99

Jeffrey Kallberg Chopin at the Boundaries: Sex, History, and Musical Genre (Convergences) Harvard University Press, 1996; ISBN 0674127900; 320 pages The complex status of Chopin in our culture--he was a native Pole and adopted Frenchman, and a male composer writing in "feminine" genres--is the subject of Jeffrey Kallberg's absorbing book. Combining social history, literary theory, musicology, and feminist thought, Chopin at the Boundaries is the first book to situate Chopin's music within the construct of his somewhat marginal sexual identity and to explore how this should figure in our understanding of his compositional methods. Through this novel approach, Kallberg reveals a new Chopin, one situated precisely where questions of gender open up into the very important question of genre. Price indication: $ 57.5

Jim Samson The Music of Chopin (Clarendon Paperbacks) Oxford University Press, 1994; ISBN 0198164025; 264 pages The lasting popularity of Chopin's music has reached "from salon to slum." He captured and expressed the spirit of the age of Romanticism, its ardour and idealism, its longing and restlessness, its love of spontaneity, with an authority his contemporaries immediately recognized and which successive generations have admired and loved. Much of the Chopin literature in English is biographical, but this book is a critical study of the music itself and of the creative process which is central to the life of any composer. Samson provides a detailed analysis of the style and structure of the music in the light of recent Chopin scholarship on the one hand and recent analytical methods on the other. The early chapters deal mainly with the sources and the characteristic profile of Chopin's musical style, relating his music to a wider context in social and stylistic history. Later chapters look rather at the structure of his music and how it functions, with many examples highlighting the discussion. Price indication: $ 54

William Atwood The Parisian Worlds of Frederic Chopin Yale University Press, 1999; ISBN 0300077734; 400 pages Fleeing the Russian oppression of his native Warsaw in 1831, Fr_d_ric Chopin stopped in Paris on his way to London, became entranced with the city, and remained there until his death eighteen years later. This engaging book recreates the Paris that Chopin knew, providing vivid details about its people, places, politics, and arts, and their influence in the musician during this fruitful period in his career. Price indication: $ 47.50

Sheet music, libretti, etc.

Chopin: Album for the Piano (Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, Vol. 39) - G. Schirmer, Inc.
Contents: Ballade, Op. 47, No. 3 * Ballade, Op. 23, No. 1 * Berceuse (Lullaby) * Fantaisie-Impromptu * Funeral March (Sonata Op. 35) * Impromptu, Op. 29 * Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 1 * Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3 * Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 4 * Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 1 * Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 2 * Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2 * Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 2 * Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 3 * Nocturne, Op. 27, No. 2 * Nocturne, Op. 32, No. 1 * Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 1 * Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 2 * Polonaise, Op. 26, No. 1 * Polonaise, Op. 40, No. 1 * Polonaise, Op. 53 * Prelude in D-flat Major, Op. 28, No. 15 ("Raindrop") * Scherzo B Flat Minor, Op. 31 * Study, Op. 25, No. 9 * Study, Op. 25, No. 1 * Study, Op. 25, No. 7 * Waltz, Op. 18 * Waltz, Op. 34, No. 1 * Waltz, Op. 34, No. 2 * Waltz, Op. 42 * Waltz, Op. 64, No. 2 * Waltz in D-flat Major ("Minute Waltz"), Op. 64, No. 1.

Complete Ballades, Impromptus and Sonatas - Dover Publications
Edited by Chopin’s student and teaching assistant Carl Mikuli, this edition includes highly authoritative versions of these favorite pieces: Ballades—No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23; No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38; No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47; No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52 Impromptus—No. 1 in A-flat Major, Op. 29; No. 2 in F-sharp Major, Op. 36; No. 3 in G-flat Major, Op. 51; No. 4 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 66 (Fantaisie-Impromptu) Sonatas—No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 4; No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35; No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 New compilation of scores originally published by G. Schirmer, New York, 1894–1895.<br>

Complete Preludes and Etudes for Solo Piano - Dover Publications
Chopin’s piano works are of such uniformly high quality that they are all absolutely essential in the repertoire of any aspiring pianist. The Preludes and Etudes are exquisitely beautiful examples of his genius. Numbering 52 pieces in all, they are reproduced here from the authoritative Mikuli edition and are available for the first time in a low-priced, one-volume publication. The opus listings are: 25 Preludes—Op. 28, Nos. 1–24; Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 45. 27 Etudes—Op. 10, Nos. 1–12; Op. 25, Nos. 1–12; and Trois Nouvelles Etudes Unabridged (1998) republication of works from an authoritative early edition. New unified table of contents.<br>

Fantasy in F Minor, Barcarolle, Berceuse and Other Works for Solo Piano - Dover Publications
<DIV><DIV>Features 15 works, including one of the greatest of the Romantic period, the Fantasy in F Minor, Op. 49, reprinted from the authoritative German edition prepared by Chopin's student, Carl Mikuli.</DIV></DIV>

Frederic Chopin: Twenty-Five Preludes Opus 28-45 for Piano - Warner Brothers Publications
A newly engraved collection of advanced piano solos by Chopin.

Masterpieces of Piano Music: Chopin (Masterpieces of Piano Music) - Music Sales Corporation
A representative selection of the music of Chopin. Includes waltzes, mazurkas, preludes, polonaises, and ballades.

Mazurkas - Dover Publications
<DIV>Features 51 best-loved compositions, reproduced directly from the authoritative Kistner edition edited by Carl Mikuli, a pupil of Chopin. Editor's Foreword, 1879.<BR></DIV>

Mazurkas (Classic Reprint) - Forgotten Books
THE MAZURKAS<BR>DURING his lifetime Chopin published forty-one Mazurkas, in eleven cahiers of three, four, and five numbers. Opus 6, four Mazurkas, and opus 7, five Mazurkas, were published December, 1832; opus 17, four Mazurkas, May 4, 1834; opus 24, four Mazurkas, November, 1835; opus 30, four Mazurkas, December, 1837; opus 33, four Mazurkas, October, 1838; opus 41, four Mazurkas, December, 1840; opus 50, three Mazurkas, November, 1841; opus 56, three Mazurkas, August, 1844; opus 59, three Mazurkas, April, 1846 (no dedication); and opus 63, three Mazurkas, September, 1847. Besides these there are opus 67 and 68, published by Fontana after Chopin's death, consisting of eight Mazurkas, and there are miscellaneous numbers, two in A minor, both in the Kullak, Klindworth and Mikuli editions; one in F sharp major, said to have been written by Charles Mayer-in Klindworth- and four others in the keys of G, B flat, D, and C major, respectively. This makes fifty-five authentic specimens. Niecks<BR><BR><B>About the Publisher</B> <BR><BR>Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.<BR><BR>Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org

Nocturnes - G. Schirmer, Inc.

Nocturnes and Polonaises - Dover Publications
One of the most respected editions of Chopin’s works was prepared by Carl Mikuli, Chopin’s student and teaching assistant. His editorial contributions to this volume reflect his understanding of the principles imparted to him in word and deed by the composer.The 20 nocturnes reproduced here include Opp. 9, 15, 27, 32, 37, 48, 55, 62, 72, and the posthumous Nocturne in C-sharp Minor. The 11 polonaises include Opp. 26, 40, 44, 53, 61,71, and the posthumous Polonaise in G-sharp Minor.Serious pianists will want to have these authoritative texts of 31 of Chopin’s most popular and enduring works, reprinted from an authoritative early edition. New unified table of contents.<br>

The Piano Concertos in Full Score - Dover Publications
The authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel full-score edition in one volume of Piano Concertos No. l in E Minor and No.2 in F Minor.<br>

Waltzes and Scherzos - Dover Publications
Sparkling, graceful and tinged with an ineffable melancholy, Chopin’s waltzes succeed in conveying an air of mystery while retaining their ballroom splendor. His scherzos are truly novel metamorphoses of the form—tumultuous emotional outpourings that frequently attain tragic heights. Prepared by Carl Mikuli, Chopin’s student and teaching assistant, this edition of these innovative works is particularly authoritative, reflecting Mikuli’s knowledge and understanding of Chopin’s music. This volume includes: Waltzes Op. 18 Op. 70, Nos. 1–3 Op. 34, Nos. 1–3 E Minor, (Op. posth.) Op. 42 E Major (Op. posth.) Op. 64, Nos. 1–3 Op. 69, Nos. 1–2 Scherzos Opp. 20, 31, 39, 54 Republication of works from an authoritative early edition. New unified table of contents.<br>