Ballades (Chopin)

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Frédéric Chopin's Fourth Ballade, Op. 52. Autograph manuscript, 1842, Bodleian Library.

Ballades are single-movement pieces for solo piano, composed between 1831 and 1842. They are considered to be some of the most important and challenging pieces in the standard piano repertoire.[1][2][3]

Form

Chopin used the term ballade in the sense of a balletic interlude or dance piece, equivalent to the old Italian ballata. However, the term may also have connotations of the medieval heroic ballad, a narrative minstrel song, often of a fantastical character. There are dramatic and dance-like elements in Chopin's use of the genre, and he is a pioneer of the ballade as an abstract musical form. The four ballades are said to have been inspired by a friend of Chopin's, poet Adam Mickiewicz.[1][4] The exact inspiration for each ballade, however, needs to be clarified and disputed.

Though the ballades do not conform precisely to

themes in reverse order during the recapitulation).[citation needed] The ballades have directly influenced composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms, who, after Chopin, wrote ballades of their own.[2]

Besides sharing the title, the four ballades are entities distinct from each other. According to composer and music critic

6
4 or 6
8) and certain formal practices like the mirror reprise and delaying the structural dominant
.

Ballade No. 1

Main article: Ballade No. 1 (Chopin)

The Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, was completed in 1835 in Paris.[5]

Ballade No. 2

Main article: Ballade No. 2 (Chopin)

The Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38, was composed from 1836 to 1839 in Nohant, France, and on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

Ballade No. 3

Main article: Ballade No. 3 (Chopin)

The Ballade No. 3 in A♭ major, Op. 47, was composed in 1841 in Nohant.[6]

Ballade No. 4

Main article: Ballade No. 4 (Chopin)

The Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, was composed in 1842 in Paris and Nohant and revised in 1843.[6]

Recordings

The four ballades have been recorded by many pianists, including

Yundi Li, Seong-Jin Cho, Murray Perahia and Krystian Zimerman.[7] The Guardian has described Krystian Zimerman's recording with Deutsche Grammophon as a "key recording".[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Chopin: Complete Music Analysis - Ballades". ourchopin.com. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-60303-588-5
    . Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  3. ISBN 9780511611650
    .
  4. ISSN 1521-6039
    . Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  5. ISBN 978-0-415-99884-0
    .
  6. ^ a b Bielecki, Artur. "Ballades". Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Building a classical library - Chopin: Four Ballades". The Guardian. 11 August 2000. Retrieved 17 December 2020.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ballades by Frédéric Chopin.
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