Structure
The work contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period: Maestoso, Larghetto and Allegro vivace. What makes Chopin’s Op. 21 an early-Romantic concerto par excellence is the dominance of the piano part. After introducing the first movement, the orchestra cedes all responsibility for musical development to the piano; there is none of the true interplay of forces that is the mainstay of the classical concerto. The idea that Chopin is a poor orchestrator is an oft-flogged dead horse of music criticism; Berlioz, himself a master orchestrator, was harsh in his appraisal, calling Chopin’s treatment “nothing but a cold and useless accompaniment.” Again, the criticism seems moot. If Chopin treated the orchestra merely as a platter on which to serve the piano, it was because the genre demanded it.
If the first movement bears the stamp of the stile brillante, the second shows the influence of Italian opera. The piano style of not only Chopin, but also his contemporaries, owes much to the bel canto operas of composers like Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, as well as to the leading singers of the day. The delicate melodic embroidery in the outer section is unmistakably operatic; so, too, is the arioso-like piano writing, over trembling strings, in the middle section. Chopin confessed in a letter, that the second movement had been inspired by his secret passion for a younger singer at the Warsaw Conservatory, with whom he had fallen in love and dreamed of for six months without once speaking to her. This larghetto remained one of his favourites, and excited the admiration of Schumann and Liszt.
In the third movement, there is another unmistakable influence. We hear the rhythm of the Polish mazurka, though in a brilliantly stylized setting. Once again, the piano, both in its poetic and virtuosic veins, dominate the music, with the orchestra largely relegated to the roles of cushion and punctuation mark.
In the finale, the violins are at one point instructed to play col legno (with the wood of the bow).
Read more about this topic: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Chopin)
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