Chopin and his world
By: edited by Jonathan D. Bellman and Halina Goldberg
Series: Bard Music Festival; Bard Music Festival series
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 369
ISBN-13: 9780691177755; 9780691177762
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation; Music
Description: "Fryderyk Chopin (1810-49), although the most beloved of piano composers, remains a contradictory figure, an artist of virtually universal appeal who preferred the company of only a few sympathetic friends and listeners. Chopin and His World reexamines Chopin and his music in light of the cultural narratives formed during his lifetime. These include the romanticism of the ailing spirit, tragically singing its death-song as life ebbs; the Polish expatriate, helpless witness to the martyrdom of his beloved homeland, exiled among friendly but uncomprehending strangers; the sorcerer-bard of dream, memory, and Gothic terror; and the pianist's pianist, shunning the appreciative crowds yet composing and improvising idealized operas, scenes, dances, and narratives in the shadow of virtuoso-idol Franz Liszt. The international Chopin scholars gathered here demonstrate the ways in which Chopin responded to and was understood to exemplify these narratives, as an artist of his own time and one who transcended it. This collection also offers recently rediscovered artistic representations of his hands (with analysis), and--for the first time in English--an extended tribute to Chopin published in Poland upon his death and contemporary Polish writings contextualizing Chopin's compositional strategies." -- Publisher's description
Notes: Published in conjunction with the Bard Music Festival.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Contemporary cultural contexts.; title: Chopin's oneiric soundscapes and the role of dreams in romantic culture  -- Halina Goldberg ;; title: Józef Sikorski's "Recollection of Chopin": the earliest essay on Chopin and his music  -- translated by John Comber ; introduced and annotated by Halina Goldberg ;; title: Chopin and the gothic  -- Anatole Leikin ;; title: Revisiting Chopin's tubercular song, or, an opera in the making  -- David Kasunic ;; title: Chopin and Jews  -- Jeffrey Kallberg -- Part II. Musical and pianistic contexts.; title: Middlebrow becomes transcendent: the popular roots of Chopin's musical language  -- Jonathan D. Bellman ;; title: Karol Kurpiński on the musical expression of Polish national sentiment  -- translated by John Comber ; introduced and annotated by Halina Goldberg ;; title: Dance and the music of Chopin: the polonaise  -- Eric Mckee ;; title: The barcarolle and the barcarolle: topic and genre in Chopin  -- James Parakilas ;; title: Chopin and improvisation  -- John Rink ;; title: Chopin among the pianists in Paris  -- Sandra P. Rosenblum ;; title: The hand of Chopin: documents and commentary  -- Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger ; translated by Virginia E. Whealton -- Afterword.; title: Chopin and the consequences of exile -- Leon Botstein ;-- Index ;-- Notes on contributors.