Frederic Chopin's Chamber Music and Polish Songs

Abstract

My purpose in writing this thesis is to represent Chopin and his music in a different light than usual. Most people are only familiar with Chopin’s works for piano solo and the few works for piano and orchestra. I know many music students and even some professional musicians and teachers who consider Chopin only as a piano composer. Chopin’s chamber works and Polish songs are seldom performed, though in my opinion they are extremely beautiful and deserve much more attention. Through writing this thesis, I am trying to introduce Chopin’s chamber music and songs and demonstrate that, although Chopin was one of the most prolific piano composers in the history, he had also a great ability to write valuable music for other instruments as well. Chopin’s chamber music and songs are able to present the musical character of Chopin very well. Even the Cello Sonata is the most significant duet sonata between those of Beethoven and Brahms.

I also played a concert with the name of “Chopin-ilta” (Chopin-night) regarding to the subject of my thesis. The concert took place on the 29th of May, 2009 in the Chamber Music Hall of the Faculty of Music of Lahti University of Applied Sciences, with the cooperation of Milla Mäkinen (soprano) and Anne Ylikoski (cello).

The written part of the thesis includes a biography of Frederic Chopin, an introduction to his chamber music and songs, explanation of each of the chamber works and the interpretation and English translation of the poems of the songs. It also includes an explanation of the preparation and performing of the concert. Along with the description of the pieces, I also have a view on the influence of the events of Chopin’s life on his works