Chopin, Nocturne Op 55 No 2

Chopin in Great Britain, trying to make ends meet

Karl Marx's essay entitled "The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850", addresses the political and economic process that took place in France during those years. The process exploded on February 23, 1848, in Paris, causing the fall of king Luis Felipe and the flight of the imperial family to England fraternally accompanied by the Parisian aristocracy and nobility. But the essay does not say a word that, as a result of those same events, a Polish musician living in the City Light was left without students.

Indeed, with Paris engulfed in flames and bristling with barricades, Frédérik Chopin's students chose to "freeze" the lessons and start off towards their summer houses in the countryside or, openly, cross the English Channel. In addition to the barricades, the city was rocked by a phenomenal decline in all cultural and artistic activities, including music. A few days before the uprising, on February 16, Chopin managed to give one last concert, but by the end of March he was in an unprecedented situation: he simply had no way to earn a living.

Jane Stirling
Fortunately, Chopin had had an enviable student from Scotland for several years. The lady, quietly in love with Frédérik, was 44 years old and named Jane Stirling. She lived in Paris for half the year, to take lessons, along with her sister, who did not take piano lessons but it is credible that she was engaged in some other cultural activity. The pair of sisters advised Chopin to travel to England, where, they assured him, London's high society would compete for the favour of the pianist and the teacher since his name and prestige were well recognized there.

10 Bentinck Street, London. With some goodwill,
the reminder plaque in the center can be distinguished.

Travel to England
Despite his poor health (he would die the following year) Chopin agreed to the proposal and, drawing on the income obtained at the February concert, on April 21 he was already in London, with some letters of introduction under his arm.

He was received and welcomed by Jane's friends who installed him comfortably at No. 10 Bentinck Street, in Cavendish Square, from where he had to rush off a few days later as it was a little expensive, settling in later at 48 Dover Street, in Piccadilly, more affordable.

The Stirling sisters were not wrong. Before long, Frédérik had given many paid concerts that brought him a good amount of money. He also gained access to the best of London society, which allowed him to meet Carlyle and Dickens. In addition, it had a good number of students. The only problem was that these were forgetful when it came to paying:

"I am badly in need of money. People are mischievous here. If they want to avoid something, they just go to the fields. One of my students left without paying me nine lessons."

Scotland

In June, the London aristocracy left the city as well, but to enjoy the summer. Frédérik was left alone again, but affectionate Jane came to his aid again. She invited him to Scotland to his relatives' house. After a twelve-hour train ride, Chopin arrived in Edinburgh on August 5. A Polish doctor was waiting for him there, whom Jane Stirling had strongly entrusted to take care of Frédéric's health. After a few days in a hotel, Chopin moved into Jane's brother-in-law's house.

Nocturne N ° 2 Opus 55
Miss Stirling was not only a good friend of Frédérik. She also seems to have been a very outstanding student, since we know that the two nocturnes of Opus 55, composed in 1843, were dedicated to her.

We are listening to Nocturne No 2 in the rendition by the Hungarian pianist Ivett Gyöngyösi. International Chopin Competition, 2015.

Beethoven: Symphony No 7 - Allegreto

Ludwig Spohr, a musician and Beethoven's contemporary who came to enjoy the composer's friendship, tells in his autobiography that in the rehearsal prior to the premiere of his Seventh Symphony, the 43-year-old maestro was so deaf that he could not hear the quiet passages of his own work. During the allegro – Spohr tell us –, a couple of these passages confused Beethoven and for a long time the orchestra walked on one side and him on the other. So, when the time came when, according to his own account, an orchestral forte had to be played, Beethoven bent down and spread his arms to underline it ... but nothing happened. The poor deaf maestro came out of his confusion ten or twelve bars later, when the orchestra played the forte and then he was able to hear it.

The premiere of the Seventh Symphony took place in Vienna on December 8, 1813, to great success. It had been five years since Beethoven had offered a new symphony to the Viennese public. Therefore, it was received with great enthusiasm. A few days later it was performed again, and just like in the premiere, the famous Allegretto, the second of its four movements (Poco Sostenuto - vivace / Allegretto / Presto / Allegro con brio), had to be repeated at the request of the public.

The work had been devised around 1811, although sketches dating back to 1806 have been found for the Allegretto. The popularity of the second movement is largely due to its simplicity: a simple rhythmic idea, a series of quarter notes and two eighth notes, repeatedly heard (an ostinato), give way to a Schubertian melody.

Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra, conducted by Georg Solti.

Beethoven's opinion ... and others
Beethoven regarded Symphony No. 7 as one of his best works. Subsequently, great composers, including Richard Wagner, spared no praise for the work. However, the maestro did have to deal with rude criticism from some of his contemporaries. Perhaps one of the greatest invectives was that of Professor Friedrich Wieck, the father of Clara Schumann, who did insinuate that Beethoven would have composed the work while being a little intoxicated.

But the resounded applause was for an English critic, who in 1826 pointed out:

"... it is impossible to discover in the work any scheme, nor to notice any connection between its parts. It seems to have been conceived as an enigma, but rather we dare to think that it is a mockery, a deception, a scam."

It's not easy to please everybody.