2
teacher, dancer,
and dance accompanist, and will draw from Chopin’s own pedagogical
philosophy for pedagogical suggestions regarding these five waltzes.
Delimitations
This project will include a pedagogical analysis of the five Chopin waltzes of Opus 64
and Opus 69. The comparison of five different editions of the waltzes will be limited to
discussion about the editions that are most suitable for teaching. This study will not include a
theoretical analysis or manuscript study.
Literature Review
There is a vast amount of research on the music of Frédéric Chopin. The literature review
in this document is divided into four sections: dissertations; articles; books; and Internet sources.
I. Dissertations
There have been an immense number of dissertations written about Chopin. Six
dissertations have been written specifically on the topic of Chopin’s waltzes, and some of the
waltzes selected for this document were included in these dissertations. One of the most useful
dissertations was by
Jeanne Holland, entitled “Chopin’s Teaching and his Students” (1972).
1
It
provides detailed information about Chopin as a teacher and pianist. However, the author did not
discuss pedagogical suggestions for specific Chopin waltzes.
Felix Chung-chuen Chan’s dissertation, “The Development of Technique for Playing the
Waltzes of Frédéric Chopin” (1992), features a pedagogical viewpoint, but it focuses on György
Sándor’s five basic technical patterns rather than Chopin’s teaching method.
2
Finally, the dissertation by Thomas Higgins, “Chopin Interpretation: A Study of
Performance Directions in Selected Autographs and Other Sources” (1966), is applicable to this
1
Jeanne Holland, “Chopin’s Teaching and his Students,” Microfilm, PhD diss. (University of North Carolina, 1972).
2
Felix Chung-chuen Chan, “The Development of Technique for Playing the Waltzes of Frédéric Chopin,” EdD diss.
(University of Illinois, 1992).
3
project.
3
This dissertation talks about how to interpret Chopin’s compositions by looking at his
notational practices and performance styles with specific musical analysis of the Preludes, Opus
28, and selected Ballades and Scherzi. However, this dissertation
does not discuss pedagogical
suggestions, nor does it go into detail regarding the various editions of the Chopin works.
II. Articles
There are about fifteen articles that are very relevant to this study, and they discuss
Chopin’s waltzes, teaching, piano playing, and editions. The three most informative articles were
“Frédéric François Chopin” by Carl Mikuli,
4
“Frédéric Chopin as Teacher” by
Elena Letnanova,
5
and “The Dedicated Teaching of Frédéric Chopin” by Walden Hughes.
6
Those articles contain
either direct explanations about Chopin’s teaching styles as documented by his students or
detailed information on Chopin’s teaching method. In general, most of the other articles about
performance practice focused on how to play Chopin’s music in a general sense, or dealt with the
specifics of
rubato, ornamentation, and fingering.
III. Books
Numerous books have been written about Chopin and feature biographical information,
collections of letters, historical information
of his works and editions, as well as information on
Chopin’s musical style, his approach to piano playing, and his teaching. There were several
books that proved to be related to my research.
The four most useful books about Chopin’s pianism and teaching include those by
Eigeldinger, Kleczyński, Niecks, and Bailie. Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger’s book,
Chopin: Pianist
3
Thomas Higgins, “Chopin Interpretation: A Study of Performance Directions in Selected Autographs and Other
Sources,”
PhD diss. (University of Iowa, 1966).
4
Carl Mikuli, “Frédéric François Chopin,” In
Waltzer: Pianoforte-Werke by
Frédéric Chopin,
Vol. 8, German
(Leipzig: Fr. Kistner, 1879), Reprinted as “Frédéric François Chopin,” In
Waltzes: Complete Works for the Piano by
Frédéric Chopin, English Translated by Unknown, Vol. 1 (New York: G. Schirmer, 1949), iii-iv.
5
Elena Letnanova, “Frédéric Chopin as Teacher,”
Clavier 37, no. 2 (February 1998): 7-10 and 49.
6
Walden Hughes, “The Dedicated Teaching of Frédéric Chopin,”
Clavier 34, no. 5 (May/June 1995): 13-17.
4
and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils (1986),
7
provides detailed discussions of Chopin’s teaching
and his style of playing, as interpreted by his students.
8
It includes Chopin’s unpublished method
book,
Sketch for a Method, which is the first complete English translation. Jean Kleczyński’s
book,
How to Play Chopin. The Works of Frederic Chopin, their Proper Interpretation (c.
1880),
9
discusses how Chopin played and taught based on accounts from Chopin’s several
closest friends and pupils.
10
Frederick Niecks’s book,
Frederick Chopin: As a Man and
Musician, vol. 2 (1902),
11
includes details of Chopin’s piano playing and teaching with direct
quotes from Chopin’s friends, pupils, and contemporaries who heard him. Eleanor Bailie’s 1998
book,
Chopin: A Graded Practical Guide,
12
contains pedagogical aspects. It includes a graded
list of 19 Chopin waltzes with suggestions for study and performance of each piece. However,
this book does not discuss technical exercises for the specific challenges, nor does it contain a
detailed comparison of the different editions.
Two additional books related to this research are those by McKee and Ekier. Eric
McKee’s 2011 book,
Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz: A Study of Dance-Music
Relations in 3/4 Time, discusses how Chopin’s experience as a dancer
and dance accompanist
affected his compositional style and, in particular, that of his waltzes.
13
Jan Ekier’s 1974 book,
Introduction to the Polish National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin, provides detailed
information about Chopin’s compositional process and publications.
7
Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger,
Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by His Pupils, Translated by Naomi Shohet with
Krysia Osostowicz and Roy Howat, Edited by Roy Howat, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).
8
Ibid., 2.
9
Jean Kleczyński,
How to Play Chopin, The Works of Frederic Chopin, their Proper Interpretation, Translated by
Alfred Whittingham, 6th ed. (London: William Reeves, 1913). Original edition: date unknown, c. 1880.
10
Ibid., 5-6.
11
Frederick Niecks,
Frederick Chopin: As a Man and Musician, 3rd ed., Vol. 2 (London: Novello, 1902).
12
Eleanor Bailie,
Chopin: A Graded Practical Guide (London: Kahn and Averill, 1998).
13
Eric McKee,
Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz: A Study of Dance-Music Relations in 3/4 Time
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011).