Narrative in the Ballades of Fryderyk Chopin

Due to the influence of the poetry of Mickiewicz,
Chopin s ballades are rich in their narrative of
story telling. Much previous research asserts that
harmonic structures and tonal process comprise the
ballades narrative. However, the style of Chopin s
narrative via story telling may be evoked through
the character of rhythm, which reflects the analogy
of narrative strategies in Chopin s music and
Mickiewicz s literary works. At the core of this
idea, derived from the approaches in Expressionism,
is that rhythm is an essential element in rendering
music as a logical and non-discursive language which
expresses feelings and emotions. This notion leads
the author to dig into the roots of the narrative
form of the ballade, a form with the added dimension
of literary relationships. This inquiry attempts to
demonstrate that the usage of particular rhythms
defines the narrative qualities in Chopin s
ballades. Finally, the author, from the perspective
of the narrative qualities within his ballades and
through the relationships to rhythmic features,
provides insights to pianists performance
practices.

Autorentext

I-Chen Chen received Bachelor and Master degrees in Piano Performance at The Juilliard School and PhD in Music Performance and Composition at New York University. She currently teaches at Concordia College in New York.

Klappentext

Due to the influence of the poetry of Mickiewicz, Chopin's ballades are rich in their narrative of story telling. Much previous research asserts that harmonic structures and tonal process comprise the ballades' narrative. However, the style of Chopin's narrative via story telling may be evoked through the character of rhythm, which reflects the analogy of narrative strategies in Chopin's music and Mickiewicz's literary works. At the core of this idea, derived from the approaches in Expressionism, is that rhythm is an essential element in rendering music as a logical and non-discursive language which expresses feelings and emotions. This notion leads the author to dig into the roots of the narrative form of the ballade, a form with the added dimension of literary relationships. This inquiry attempts to demonstrate that the usage of particular rhythms defines the narrative qualities in Chopin's ballades. Finally, the author, from the perspective of the narrative qualities within his ballades and through the relationships to rhythmic features, provides insights to pianists' performance practices.