Chopin, Frédéric

Preface

Fryderyk (Frédéric) Chopin – IInd (Ist) Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 21 (1829/30)
Set 5 string parts

(b. Zelazowa near Warsaw, 1 March (22 February) 1810 — d. Paris, 17 October 1949)

Version for Piano & String Quintet or String Orch. /first print / Edited by Ilan Rogoff

I – Maestoso (p.1)
II – Larghetto (p.58)
III – Allegro vivace (p.78)

Read about the piece:

Preface
Chopin’s two piano concertos are the crowning glory of his years in Poland. They were preceded by three works with orchestral accompaniment – Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” (op. 2, 1827-28), Krakowiak: Grand Rondeau de concert (op. 14, 1828), and Grande Fantaisie sur des airs polonais (op. 13, 1829) – and followed, after his emigration, by the orchestration of his Grande Polonaise brillante précédé d’un Andante spianato (op. 22). Thereafter he wrote exclusively for solo piano, as befitted not only his distinctive intimacy of expression but his fear and aversion toward playing in public: “I’m unsuited for giving concerts, for audiences intimidate me; they asphyxiate me with their breath and paralyze me with their inquiring gaze.”

The first concerto to be written was the work in F-minor, though it was subsequently called the Second owing to its later appearance in print. Chopin began work on it toward the end of 1829, completed it in fairly short order, and performed it in Warsaw on 7 February 1830 in an exclusive private performance with a small orchestra conducted by Karol Kurpinski. He then gave the piece its first public hearing in Warsaw’s National Theater on 17 March 1830, at the same time playing his Fantaisie sur des airs polonaise. Five days later he mounted a repeat performance of the concerto, this time coupled with the Krakowiak instead of the Fantaisie.

By then Chopin was already working on his second concerto, in E minor, which has been called the First ever since its initial publication. He had long decided to leave Poland. Writing to Titus Wojciechowski on 18 September 1830, he reported: “Last Wednesday I rehearsed my concerto with the quartet. But I was not overly satisfied with it. […] I’ll tell you next week how it turns out with orchestra, for I’ll give it a rehearsal this coming Wednesday. Tomorrow I’ll rehearse it again with the quartet. After the rehearsal I’ll take off – but where? For I feel drawn to nowhere in particular.”

The première of the Second Concerto was given in Warsaw on 11 October 1830, with Chopin at the piano and the orchestra conducted by Carlo Soliva. The following day he reported on the event to Wojciechowski: “Then came my moment of glory with the E-minor Allegro, which seemed simply to flow from my fingers at the Streicher piano. The applause was rapturous. […] If Soliva hadn’t taken my scores home, studied them, and conducted so that I couldn’t possibly run away head over heels, I can’t imagine how it would have turned out yesterday.” …

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