Bookcover of Narrative in the Ballades of Fryderyk Chopin
Booktitle:
Narrative in the Ballades of Fryderyk Chopin
Rhythm as a Reflection of Adam Mickiewicz's Poetic
Ballads
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
(2009-06-23
)
eligible for voucher
ISBN-13:
978-3-639-16759-7
ISBN-10:
3639167597
EAN:
9783639167597
Book language:
English
Blurb/Shorttext:
Due to the influence of the poetry of Mickiewicz,
Chopin’s ballades are rich in their narrative of
story telling. Much previous research asserts that
harmonic structures and tonal process comprise the
ballades’ narrative. However, the style of Chopin’s
narrative via story telling may be evoked through
the character of rhythm, which reflects the analogy
of narrative strategies in Chopin’s music and
Mickiewicz’s literary works. At the core of this
idea, derived from the approaches in Expressionism,
is that rhythm is an essential element in rendering
music as a logical and non-discursive language which
expresses feelings and emotions. This notion leads
the author to dig into the roots of the narrative
form of the ballade, a form with the added dimension
of literary relationships. This inquiry attempts to
demonstrate that the usage of particular rhythms
defines the narrative qualities in Chopin’s
ballades. Finally, the author, from the perspective
of the narrative qualities within his ballades and
through the relationships to rhythmic features,
provides insights to pianists’ performance
practices.