"Canon buried in flowers".

"Canon buried in flowers". [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This year's Pedagogy Saturday will be a special programcommemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Chopin, acomposer central to the work of most piano teachers. The program, entitled "Rediscovering Chopin," will include a keynote address keynote addressn.An opening address, as at a political convention, that outlines the issues to be considered. Also called keynote speech.Noun 1. byChopin and Liszt scholar Alan Walker There are several notable people named Alan Walker: Alan Walker (theologian) (1911–2003), Australian theologian and evangelist Alan Walker (Australian sportsman) (1925–2005), Australian cricketer and Rugby Union player Alan Walker (musicologist) (b. . Louis Nagel, professor of piano at the University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. ,spoke to Walker about Chopin and his role in today's pianoteaching. Louis Nagel: Good Chopin playing style has evolved over the lastcentury, from the so-called excesses of Paderewski and Friedman to thepurity of Pollini and Ashkenazy. Is there such a thing as a "Chopinstyle of performance"? Alan Walker: The way you put the question suggests that there is.The history of performance itself is one of finding the heart and soulof the music. That can take a long time, and the path can be difficult.In Chopin's case it took more than a century to recognize the manyabuses to which his music had been subjected and to correct them. It sohappens that we have objective evidence of this. The first Chopinrecordings were made more than a hundred years ago, and they provideample testimony to the self-indulgence of an earlier generation ofpianists, who used his music as a vehicle for personal display and falseemotion. The overuse overuseHealth care The common use of a particular intervention even when the benefits of the intervention don't justify the potential harm or cost–eg, prescribing antibiotics for a probable viral URI. Cf Misuse, Underuse. of the agogic accent, spread chords between brokenhands and the wildly eccentric application of tempo rubato See under Rubato.See also: Tempo were thechief culprits. Did you know that Chopin was the first composer inhistory to write the words "tempo rubato" in his scores? Thiswonderful device, a key element in all great Chopin interpretations, canwreck his music if used to excess. Still, we must be careful who and what we condemn. You mentionedIgnaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman (also spelled Ignace or Ignacy) (February 13 1882 – January 26 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. Critics (e.g. Harold C. Schonberg) and colleagues (e.g. . His recording of the E-fiat Major Nocturne nocturne(nŏk`tûrn)[Fr.,=night piece], in music, romantic instrumental piece, free in form and usually reflective or languid in character. John Field wrote the first nocturnes, influencing Chopin in the writing of his 19 nocturnes for piano. , Op. 55, No.2, is one of the all-time great performances of this piece. It wasrecorded in 1936 and is something of an acoustical marvel consideringthe relatively early date of its release. And Friedman knows how to singat the keyboard. Was it not Hans yon Bulow who delivered the bestaphorism aphorism(ăf`ərĭz'əm), short, pithy statement of an evident truth concerned with life or nature; distinguished from the axiom because its truth is not capable of scientific demonstration. on that topic? "He who cannot sing, however poor thevoice, should not try to play the piano. "It remains a great pieceof advice for Chopin players. L.N.: Chopin's output focuses importantly on small forms suchas waltzes and mazurkas and nocturnes. This has given rise to the notionthat he was primarily a salon composer. Could you comment on that idea? A. W.: Music criticism has come a long way since then. In the l 9thcentury one had to compose symphonies, operas and oratorios, in order tobe considered "great. "It never occurred to our forefathers forefathersnpl → antepasados mplforefathersnpl → anc��tres mplforefathersnpl → Vorfahren that a piece lasting just a couple of minutes (witness some of theChopin Preludes, Op. 28), could contain more musical substance than anentire string quartet of Boccherini. This mistaken way of looking atthings (length rather than depth) meant that Chopin came to be regardedas a light-weight composer whose music, however exquisitely crafted,would forever deny him a place in the Pantheon. All that has changed,but it did not happen overnight. Incidentally, Chopin'scontemporaries Liszt and Schumann suffered a similar plight--the latteractually abandoned the writing of those marvellous sequences ofminiatures in his early years (the song cycles and the piano cyclesespecially, on which his fame largely rests today) and took to composingsymphonies, large-scale chamber works and choral works instead. Thesepieces contain wonderful music, of course; but if Schumann had neverwritten them, it would make no difference to his place in music historywhich, like that of Chopin, has been secured through his miniatures. L.N.: What do we know about Chopin's method of composing? Washe an inveterate inveterate/in��vet��er��ate/ (-vet��er-at) confirmed and chronic; long-established and difficult to cure. in��vet��er��ateadj.1. Firmly and long established; deep-rooted.2. "sketcher" as was Beethoven? Did he reviseendlessly as did Liszt? Was he facile or was composing a struggle forhim? A. W.: Chopin's composing process was slow and often painful.A glance through his manuscripts reveals signs of a continual struggle,with heavy corrections on every page. He would sometimes scratch out aphrase half-a-dozen times in his search for the right construction--onlyto finish with the version he had originally started with. George Sandhas tom us that he isolated himself in his room, with a piano as hissole companion (Chopin invariably in��var��i��a��ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in��vari��a��bil composed at the keyboard); and it wasnot unusual for him to spend six weeks on a single page, sometimespacing back and forth and breaking his pens in frustration. This questfor perfection was a lifelong characteristic, and #produced a dividend.It can easily be shown that a greater quantity of Chopin's music isnow alive and well in the concert hall, proportionate to his relativelysmall output, than that of any other master. L.N.: Chopin is venerated by pianists as a great teacher. Yet hehad, so far as I know, only one brilliantly talented student, KarolyFiltsch, who died at age 15. How can we explain the lack of"stars" in Chopin's pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. career? Along with that,how might his teaching methods differ from those of his friend Liszt? A. W.: Chopin became a piano teacher by default. It was never histrue calling. When he arrived in Paris in the autumn of 1831, he wasbasically a refugee from the Warsaw Uprising, and he had to make aliving. Thanks to his connections with the powerful Rothschild family,he built up a teaching practice consisting largely of the sons anddaughters of the French aristocracy, where wealth usually stood ininverse ratio to talent. None of these pupils achieved anything in laterlife, so the outcome might have been foreseen: his tradition died withhim. You mentioned the young Hungarian prodigy Karoly Filtsch, who diedyoung. He must have had exceptional promise. Liszt took over histraining for a time and declared, "When that young man sets out onhis travels, I shall shut up shop. "Another important name is KarolMikuli, who produced an edition of Chopin's music, and left someuseful observations about the way Chopin played. Chopin's approach to the keyboard was fascinating. His handswere small, but they were very supple. Heine was astonished to observetheir deceptive span-"like the jaws of a snake suddenly opening toswallow its prey. "Chopin was not afraid to promote theunrestricted use of the thumb on the black keys, something ~owned uponby earlier pedagogues; he also recommended a flat finger for a singingtouch; he advocated the organist's favorite device offinger-substitution to sustain melodies; he favoured a low piano-stool,finding it more comfortable than the high one adopted by thehard-hitting virtuosos who liked to descend on everything from a greatheight. Above all, there was his "flutter pedalling, "thatcontinuous vibrating vibrating,v using quivering hand motions made across the client's body for therapeutic purposes. of the sustaining pedal, which cast a warm glowover everything that he played, yet gave it at the same time its unusualclarity. He reacted strongly against the so-calledfinger-equalization" schools of Czerny, Kalkbrenner and others,maintaining that each finger has individual characteristics that arethere to be enhanced, not equalized away "The third finger, "he would tell his pupils, "is a great singer " and he wouldthen go on to unfold entire phrases with this finger taking the majorshare of the work. He once tried to write a piano method, but never gotbeyond some rough sketches. It tells us much about his approach to thepiano, however, that he thought the best scale for beginners was B major(not C major!), because it promoted the natural "lie" of thehand on the keyboard. Franz Liszt falls into an entirely different category. He inventedthe master class, and rarely, if ever, taught technique, butconcentrated on interpretation. He was an inspirational force, and witha few well-chosen words, or a brioCillustration at the piano, heestablished traditions of performance in his pupils that remain with ustoday Moreover, his leading pupils went on to enjoy internationalcareers, made gramophone records that can be studied with profit andkept his legacy alive. Many of them also kept diaries, so Liszt'swork as a teacher, unlike that of Chopin, is very well documented. L.N.: What is the role of the "bel canto" tradition inChopin's compositions? A.W.: Aside from the piano, Chopin's favorite instrument wasthe human voice. He adored Italian opera and never lost an opportunityof hearing it in Paris. He was particularly fond of Bellini andDonizetti. Their treatment of melody shines through his nocturnesespecially. It is often said that a major influence here was John Field,who actually invented the genre. There is truth in this idea, butField's influence is confined to externals. The inner spirit ofChopin's nocturnes comes from opera, and from that style of singingwe call "Bel Canto. " Consider the device of portamento, thesliding from one pitch to another without any break, so common amongsingers. Do we not hear an echo of this effect in Chopin's F-sharpMajor Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 2 (measures 18 and 20)? And could we notimagine a Callas Cal��las? , Maria Originally Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulos. 1923-1977.American soprano known for her technical capacity and dramatic intensity. Among her notable operatic roles was the title role in Bellini's Norma. or a Pavarotti caressing Chopin's melodic line inexactly the way he has notated it? Certainly Bellini's famous aria"Casta Diva, "immortalized by Callas, could easily betransferred to the keyboard, and you would have an instant Chopinnocturne! L.N.: Who, if any, were the most important influences on Chopin andhow are those influences reflected in some of his compositions? A. W.: Aside from Bellini, Donizetti and John Field, whom we havealready mentioned, Chopin owed much to Bach and Mozart. There is morecounterpoint in Chopin than one might suppose. There are many innervoices buried within Chopin's textures longing to be discovered andbrought out. The great players know where they are and bring them outaccordingly. (Not to be outdone out��do?tr.v. out��did , out��done , out��do��ing, out��doesTo do more or better than in performance or action. See Synonyms at excel. , there are other players who discovermelodies that do not even exist, but insist on bringing them outanyway!) As for Mozart, it was his classical restraint and coolnessunder fire that Chopin admired. Despite all the romantic passion andemotion that sometimes burns at white heat in Chopin's music, thereis an aristocratic detachment that prevails over everything. This issurely what Schumann had in mind when he came out with his fableddescription of Chopin's music as "Cannon buried inflowers." L.N.: Do all-Chopin recitals (or for that matter all-anybodyrecitals) serve to illuminate or neutralize his music? A.W.: The Chopin recital has become a fixture on the concertcircuit. And there is a good reason for it. Chopin's compositionsare bound together like the members of a single family. You can pull hispieces out of a hat at random, and they will still hang together--aprocess that simply does not work with other composers. You can haveall-Bach, all-Beethoven and all-Brahms recitals, but you must exercisecare in the planning, lest their pieces "neutralize" oneanother, to use your interesting term. Players have a role too. When Iworked at the BBC BBCin full British Broadcasting Corp.Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. in London I produced three of Arthur Rubinstein'sall-Chopin recitals, across a period of several years. In each one heplayed the Ballade ballade(bəläd`), in literature, verse form developed in France in the 14th and 15th cent. The ballade usually contains three stanzas of eight lines with three rhymes and a four-line envoy (a short, concluding stanza). in G Minor, and each time it was a differentperformance. When I pointed this out to him, he replied: "Ofcourse! Everything depends on where the work is placed. If it opens therecital I play it one way If I put it in the middle or at the end of therecital, I play it quite another way. " The remark is revealing andreminds us that a good programme, like a good work of art, is greaterthan the sum of its parts. Alan Walker is professor emeritus of music at McMaster University,Canada. Before that, he was on the staff of the music division of theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (company) British Broadcasting Corporation - (BBC) The non-commercial UK organisation that commissions, produces and broadcasts television and radio programmes.The BBC commissioned the "BBC Micro" from Acorn Computers for use in a television series about using computers. in London, England. He has written 13published books, including a three-volume, prize-winning biography ofFranz Liszt. Louis Nagel has been on the faculty at the University of Michigansince t969. An active performer and lecturer, he has presented programsexploring the relationship between music and the mind with his wife,Julie Jaffee Nagel.