so you think you can be a soloist – Beethoven / Paganini / Chopin
“Chopin Performing in the Guest-Hall of Anton Radziville in Berlin in 1829”
(1887)
________
Chopin’s Piano Concerto no 1, written
in 1830, is in the same mold as both
the Beethoven Violin Concerto, 1806,
and Paganini’s 5th, a synchronous
1830, three movements, fast, slow,
fast, a long symphonic introduction,
followed by miracles of articulation
by the virtuosic soloist, with, however,
differing degrees of emotional impact
Beethoven is evidently the source,
and model, for both later compositions
having clearly preceded them by a
number of years, but neither Chopin
nor Paganini have the chops to match
his magisterial orchestration
Chopin, like Paganini, was confined to
essentially one instrument, of which,
however, both were utter masters, and
manifestly and profoundly there inspired,
but in either, once the solo part takes
flight, the symphony is merely
packaging, no longer an equal partner
Beethoven has parts for all his players,
his is a conversation, not a declamation
but Chopin, 1830, had learned by then,
and integrated from Beethoven the
lesson of how to incorporate drama
into his high wire act, the constant
repetition of a melting air, a musical
motive, which Paganini hadn’t, Chopin
not only could fly, but also knew how
to dress for it, to become a virtual
angel of mercy and compassion up
there under the biggest of tops, his
immortality
don’t take my word for it, though,
you’ve probably heard already Chopin‘s
work, a very emblem of 19th Century
Romanticism, somewhere in your
subconscious you know this melody,
heard it before, it’s part of our Western
culture
not so the Paganini
what’s kicked
see above
you’ll hear your senses talking, the
language of music and art, more
accurate eventually than any of my,
however erudite, however informed,
but merely ruminative, words, art
being, once again, in the eye, the
ear, in this case, of the beholder,
or here, the be-hearer
listen
R ! chard
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