Pergolesi, La Serva Padrona

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, opera staged in the main European cities had for some time been oriented almost exclusively towards bringing to the stage, using elaborate productions, the great passions and memorable events of classical antiquity. This was accompanied by the emergence of certain idolatry for tenors and castrati, as well as an incipient divismo practiced by the prima donnas.

Intermezzi
But, apparently, the public had begun to tire of so much artifice, and of course, also of the tragic theme. Therefore, it was necessary to begin to include, in the middle of the "serious" operas, some brief pieces, called intermezzi, with a deliberately cheerful and even carefree character, destined to distract of so much tragedy to a public also new, the bourgeoisie.

Simple heroes
These intermissions were a respite from the mythological themes, the preening heroes and sublime sacrifices, showing completely opposite characters, born of the simplest of human vices and defects. Then, flirtatious females, jealous husbands, the cunning of young lovers and, by the way, the rages and outbursts of deceived tutors enter the scene.

Pergolesi and "La Serva Padrona" 

Giovanni Batista Pergolesi
(1710-1736)

Some of these intermezzi were transformed over time into true masterpieces. The best example of this is the two-act work La Serva Padrona (The Maid Turned Mistress) which, according to scholars, implanted the germ of the new opera or comic opera. The new work was born from the inventiveness of the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Draghi, also surnamed Pergolesi as his family came from the city of Pergola.

An autonomous work, until today
The piece, written in 1733 as an intermezzo to another "serious" work by the same composer, was so successful as a refreshing interlude that a few years later it was performed as an autonomous work, becoming a comic opera in its own right. Although with modest periodicity, it continues to be performed to this day, and its author is still remembered for it, as well as for his notable contribution in the field of sacred music, where a famous Stabat Mater stands out.

Unfortunately, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi did not live long. He died in the city of Pozzuoli at the age of 26, probably from tuberculosis.

The characters
There are only three: Uberto, an old bachelor, his maid Serpina who has ruled over the patron's house, and a mute actor, Uberto's servant. In the scene of Act I presented here, the arrogant Serpina informs her employer, Uberto, that he is forbidden to leave the house and that from now on she will be the one giving orders.

After the usual entanglements, Uberto discovers that he has always been in love with Serpina, so he ends up marrying her. Thus, Serpina truly becomes the mistress of the house, the padrona.

Serpina: the Italian soprano Patricia Biccire.

Mozart, Piano Concerto No 27

 
Between the years 1782 and 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart published and premiered in Vienna a staggering fifteen piano concertos. They were part of his public performances which, apart from the lessons to his pupils, were the natural way for a composer who did not have the favor of a court to generate income in those years. According to custom, the performances included the presentation of singers and other various numbers to give the Viennese public a varied program so that interest would not wane during the four hours that the concerts usually lasted. Of course, the total income had to be shared among all the artists.

Letter from Mozart to Puchberg, requesting a new loan. August 14, 1790

The bad times
In 1787 Austria started an unpopular war against the Ottoman Empire. The Viennese aristocracy decided then to concentrate their interest on protecting their property and shielding their children from conscription. Accordingly, the number of pupils and the interest in attending musical performances decreased notoriously. As a result, two years had to pass before Mozart wrote a new piano concerto, the one called "of the Coronation", in 1788, and the last of them, the Concerto in B flat, dated in his catalog on January 5, 1791, exactly eleven months before his death.

Constanze Mozart (1762 - 1842)

M. Puchberg, the helping hand
At the end of 1789, with the laurels of The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787) somewhat withered, Wolfgang's financial situation was not of the best. When Constanze gave birth to a daughter in November of that year – who lived a mere six months – he had just two pupils, so he was once again forced to seek financial support from the incredibly generous Michael Puchberg, a prosperous Viennese merchant and fellow mason of Amadeus.

Not a few authors have ever sought help from a patron of the arts, but none have done so in a more compelling and heartbreakingly than Mozart.

In June 1788 Mozart wrote Puchberg:

"I still owe you eight ducats. Apart from the fact that at the moment I am not in a position to pay you back this sum, my confidence in you is so boundless that I dare to implore you to help me out with a hundred gulden until next week, when my concerts in the Casino are to begin."

Puchberg apparently sent the money. Then Mozart asked for an even bigger favor:

"If you have sufficient regard and friendship for me to assist me for a year or two with one or two thousand guldens, at a suitable rate of interest, you will help me enormously!" He made the feeble argument that this loan would enable him to "work with a mind more free from care and with a lighter heart and thus earn more."

The Mason merchant jealously guarded these letters, all, more or less, of the same tenor. Today they are worth far more than he ever lent to the Salzburg genius, who, by the way, was only able to pay off the debt on a couple of occasions.

Concerto No. 27 for piano and orchestra in B flat major, K. 595
In March 1791 Mozart gave one of his last public performances in Vienna. On that occasion, he gave the audience Concerto No. 27 for piano and orchestra.

Unlike the brilliance of the immediately preceding concerts, this is an intimate work, with a cozy character and without the slightest trace of spectacularity that the soloist or orchestra could make use of. At times mysterious, at others luminous or tragic, the work builds its unity on a brilliant mixture of intensity and elegance.

Movements:
Allegro  On a very simple accompaniment lasting a single measure, the strings begin a beautiful cantabile melody punctuated by short interventions by the woodwind instruments. The sense of elegance and restraint is enhanced by an instrumentation that omits trumpets and tympani. At 2:55 the piano makes its entrance redrawing the initial motif.

Larghetto (14:25)  Cataloged by some as "religious", a very simple theme is offered by the solo piano with the utmost innocence; it shows a little elaboration, only when Mozart considered it essential. A second idea, the most recognizable despite its brevity, in 15:17. It reappears at 18:57.

Allegro (21:08)  Of calm candor, its first theme recalls the song that Mozart consecutively added to his catalog, the celebrated Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling (Longing for Spring, K. 596).

The rendition is by the brilliant Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires, accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by British conductor Trevor Pinnock.

After the concert, Maria Joao Pires offers us a couple of encores: Allegro and Andante from the sonata in D major for four hands (32:30), accompanied by the conductor who, of course, is also a pianist.

Franz Schubert, Impromptus Op 142

In the painting, a view of Kettenbrücken street, in the town of Neu Wieden, near Vienna. Ferdinand Schubert, Franz's older brother, and also a musician and composer, had his rooms in these buildings.
Franz Schubert moved there at the end of the summer of 1828 in search of healthier airs than those Vienna had to offer. He was ill and urgently needed his lungs to clear up, so that he could start composing again. Besides, he wanted to improve his knowledge of counterpoint and fugues technique.  For that, he needed time and a renewed mood.

Depression and the death of the idol
For two years his health had seriously deteriorated. The rejection of his nomination for the vacant post of court chapel director was followed by the death of the revered Beethoven in 1827. Franz fell into a severe state of depression. It is true that Beethoven's luster perhaps darkened Schubert's own brilliance, yet this did not prejudice Franz against him, although on one occasion he expressed serious doubts to a friend that anyone, including himself, was capable of surpassing the master. On Beethoven's death, despite his frail health and intolerable depression, little Franz, together with all his friends, accompanied the cortege, carrying one of the torches himself, as tradition has it.

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)

Despite his weak spiritual condition, Franz's creative genius did not wane. From that year are, among others, the Trios for piano and string, the Musical Moments and the highly celebrated eight Impromptus, composed in the autumn of 1827, and which make up Opus 90 and 142. It was not until that year that Viennese publishers began to glimpse that they might have before them a musician of true worth.

The end
Perhaps this explains that only the first two of the four impromptus of Opus 90 (or D. 899, according to the reviewer of his catalog, Otto Erich Deutsch), were published during the composer's lifetime.

The remaining two and the four impromptus of Opus 142 (D. 935) only saw the public light in the year 1857, almost thirty years after its composition and the death of their author, in the most absolute poverty and graciously lodged in the house of his brother Ferdinand.

His possessions at the time of his death, at the age of 31, were some clothing and a good number of scores, the value of which was estimated at 63 guilders. The funeral expenses amounted to 270.

Four Impromptus, Opus 142

Schubert's Impromptus are perhaps the composer's "little pieces" that have grown in popularity. More or less close to Chopin's nocturnes, they nevertheless possess their own personality and clearly show a deep and solid romantic musicality, even exhibiting a certain dramatism within the grace and charm that is proper to them.

The four impromptus are presented here as a complete work – following the concert tradition – in the rendition of the Russian pianist Alexei Volodin.

00:00  N ° 1 in F minor. Written in rondo form: a main theme alternates with a contrasting one.

09:28  N ° 2 in A flat major. Its opening bars are vividly reminiscent of those of Beethoven's Sonata No. 12. Schubert has likely "borrowed" them, it was not uncommon at the time.

16:49  N ° 3 in B flat major. Perhaps the most popular of all. A theme with variations. In this case, Schubert lent himself the main theme, taking it from the incidental music that he was asked to compose for the theatrical drama Rosamunda.

26:46  N ° 4 in F minor. An intense piece, the most demanding of all the Impromptus. It ends spectacularly with a right-hand scale that runs across the keyboard from one end to the other.

Brahms, Piano Concerto No 1 - Mov I

 
After Robert Schumann died in a sanatorium in 1856, leaving his wife Clara a widow and the breadwinner of the couple's seven children, family friend Johannes Brahms became as an indispensable support for Clara and, as far as we can imagine, they may have envisioned an eventual union at some point in their future lives, despite the seventeen years difference between Clara and the young musician.

In any case, dreams, if there were any, must have been postponed. Clara had to provide for the care for her children through an endless series of concerts. The young Brahms, a twenty-four-year-old musician, had for his part the urge to consolidate a career as a composer.

In 1857, and after successfully passing a measured examination, Johannes Brahms obtained his first official position upon being hired as a musician of the modest court of Detmold, to serve from September to December of that year. His duties consisted of giving piano lessons to Princess Friederike, directing the choir, and performing as a pianist at the concerts scheduled by the court.

The position had several advantages: the three-month salary was enough to live modestly for a whole year, the princess was a diligent pupil, the choir leadership served his purposes as a professional musician very well, and, above all, he had free mornings, and could dispose of them at will. Johannes occupied them in walking around the surroundings and continue to work on his own compositions, especially those that were already beginning to show a long process of gestation.

Brahms, at 20

Since 1854 he had been working on the composition of a symphony which, not having come to fruition, he tried to transform into a sonata for two pianos, which also did not come to fruition. But the material was there, available. So after his second season in Detmold, and based on the elements that perhaps had resisted taking another form, the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor finally was born.

Composed in three movements and with a somewhat extended duration, the concerto had a lukewarm premiere in Hanover on January 22, 1859, with Brahms at the piano and his friend Joseph Joachim conducting. Five days later, in Leipzig, it was received with whistles. Today it is considered a masterpiece. Apparently Brahms was right when, at the end of the Leipzig performance, he sent Joachim these words:

"After all, I am still in the experimental phase and am groping my way along. However, come to think of it... the whistling was indeed excessive."

The first movement, maestoso, is presented here in the rendition of the Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon, accompanied by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of the spirited violinist and conductor, also Hungarian, Gábor Takács-Nagy, in a performance at the Béla Bartók National Hall, Budapest, in 2010.

Antonio Soler, Sonatas for harpsichord

Created in 1373 by Pope Gregory XI (then in Avignon), the monastic order of Saint Jerome prescribes a religious life in solitude, silence, prayer and penance. Delivered to the Lord to such an extreme, the daily activities of the monks of this order would begin at five in the morning and between prayers, lessons and prayers before the Stations of the Cross, they ended at twelve at night with a last exercise of contemplative life and prayer.

Padre Soler
But the Spanish harpsichordist and composer Antonio Soler y Ramos, better known today as Padre Soler, was not deterred by so much personal sacrifice. When he was just over twenty years old he joined the order, ready to lead a life of penance. He had started his musical studies at the age of six, and ten years later he was serving as a chapel teacher in the cathedral of Lleida. In 1752 he held the position of organist and director of the choir of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he became part of the community of Hieronymite monks of the monastery, and in whose company he remained until his death in 1783.

A huge production
It is amazing, then, that the degree of devotion already mentioned has not been an obstacle for Padre Soler, as a Hieronymite monk, to have composed more than 200 sonatas for harpsichord, 6 quintets for organ and string, 6 concertos for two organs, 9 masses, 25 ecclesiastical hymns, 5 requiem and 60 psalms, in addition to a large number of Magnificats, motets and Christmas carols.

Other contributions
To this vast musical production must be added the construction of an instrument of keys and strings that he called afinador or templante, and the writing of a treatise on harmony, Llave de la modulación y Otras antigüedades de la música (Key of modulation and Antiquities of music), published by the Hieronymite community of El Escorial in 1762, which aroused some controversy for its advanced theories on modulation.

The sonatas
A student of Domenico Scarlatti while he was at El Escorial, Padre Soler is perhaps the most important musician of the 18th century in Spain. Although he differed from his tutor, Soler's music is undoubtedly influenced by the footprint that the Italian composer left in Spain, which is clearly seen in his harpsichord sonatas, especially in the repeated use of crossing hands and large leaps.

Soler's "sonatas" (as well as Scarlatti's) are very short one-movement pieces; They bear that name as the equivalent of "instrumental music" to differentiate them from vocal music ("cantatas") and were intended for the practice of the instrument and the amusement of the performer.

Presented here is the Sonata for harpsichord No. 88 in D minor, performed on piano by the Swiss musician Jean Baptiste Muller.

Moisés Moleiro, Joropo

 
The joropo is a dance and a folkloric rhythm native to the llanos of Venezuela and Colombia, probably originated in the flamenco and Andalusian dances that the conqueror brought from the Old Continent, acquiring here a new appearance although it retained some features such as, for example, the zapateado. As the national dance of Venezuela, it is danced in pairs, on the occasion of popular, cultural and religious festivals, to the beat of music sung by a group of singers accompanied by Venezuelan cuatro, llanera harp and maracas.

Reaching the academy
After the natural decay of the romantic waltzes of the nineteenth century, which in all fairness gained access to a space in academic and salon music in their time, at the beginning of the twentieth-century Venezuelan composers took up an interest in creating works that would elevate indigenous rhythms at the academy level.

Moisés Moleiro
Among many others, this is the case of the pianist and composer Moisés Moleiro, author of sonatinas and toccatas somewhat "scarlattian" but with both syncopation and Venezuelan accent, and whose most popular work ended up being, precisely, a joropo for piano.

Moisés Moleiro (1904 - 1979)

Born in the Guárico state in 1904, Moleiro graduated as a pianist in 1927 and gave his first recital in 1931. True to his customary style of simplicity and transparency, the composer was able to transport to the piano – in 1941– the flavor, the rhythm and the festive character that, in principle, only the cuatro, harp and maracas, could deliver.

Joropo, by Moleiro
A piece of a high technical difficulty, in 6/8 time, Moleiro's Joropo should be an obligatory work in the repertoire of every Latin American pianist aware of his roots, although it is only intended to be performed as an encore, due to its brevity. From beginning to end, the piece rests (the pianist not so much) on an "Alberti bass" as accompaniment. Huge syncopated leaps deliver more rhythmic richness and add another bit of difficulty.

The rendition, magnificent, is by Basco pianist Josu Gallastegui.

Beethoven, Romance for violin No 2

It is generally accepted that the two romances for violin and orchestra were composed around 1802 or 1803. Years that are not exactly encouraging for Beethoven. In 1802 he wrote a document – the famous Heiligenstadt Testament – addressed to his two brothers, Karl and Johann, to whom he confessed with deep regret his deafness, lamenting that he, a musician, had to suffer from such ailment. Despite this intimate confession, the document has been written "to be read after my death."

Overcoming rejection
To make matters worse, that same year he fell in love with his pupil Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom he dedicated the Moonlight sonata. The "damigella contessa" had given the maestro a tepid hope of being reciprocated, but by the end of the year the relationship was completely cooled down. However, Ludwig will show that he is capable of overcoming everything, for very soon afterwards he will begin work on his third symphony, as well as finishing the romanzas or refine the work for publication.

Beethoven, in 1803
by Ch. Horneman

An unfinished concerto
As hinted, it is likely that the two violin romances were written much earlier. What is not in doubt is the date of their publication: No. 1 in G major (which is actually the second) was published in 1803, and No. 2 (the first), in F major, in 1805.

The conjecture comes from the fact that in his youth, around 1790 – Beethoven is twenty years old – he left a violin concerto unfinished, of which his first movement, written in C major, is known.

G and F chords
Not only the harmonic proximity (G and F chords are, respectively, the dominant and subdominant of the C key) but also their stylistic affinity have led to think that, most likely, the romances were originally written for being incorporated, one or the other, as a slow movement to that concerto that did not come to an end. That would not be strange if we remember that Mozart entitled the slow movement of his Concerto No. 20, precisely, "Romance".

What cannot be doubted, in my modest opinion, is that at least in the gently lyrical Romance No. 2 in F major, Opus 50, we are dealing with a strictly classical Beethoven, the early Beethoven than once he was.
It lasts for less than nine minutes.

The rendition is by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Masur, with Renaud Capuçon as the soloist. 

C.P.E. Bach, concerto for flute in D minor

 
Since the time of the German zither player Veit Bach (around 1555), the first known ancestor of Johann Sebastian Bach (and according to him, his great-great-grandfather), the Bach family gave the world so many musicians that the itinerant musicians who roamed the villages at that time were generically called "Bachs", regardless of whether or not they belonged to the illustrious family.

The progeny of Johann Sebastian
This never-ending brood of musicians who emerged generation after generation, reached its maximum expression with the appearance on the scene of Johann Sebastian Bach, in 1685. Curiously enough, after his death, the output of geniuses or talents will extend only a little further. Of the twenty children born from his two marriages, only survived four of the seven he had with his first wife Maria Barbara and five of the thirteen he later had with Anna Magdalena, Of the nine survivors, five will be prominent musicians, but with them, the production of artists will be concluded.

Carl Philipp Emanuel
The second son born from his relationship with Maria Barbara, and who will later be greatly admired by Mozart, is Carl Philipp Emanuel, who at the age of seven was able to sight-read his father's keyboard pieces, no matter how demanding.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
(1714 - 1788)

Born in Weimar in 1714, despite his peculiar genius, Carl Philipp Emanuel will enter the university to study law obeying the strict indications of his father, because in the case that he later decided to devote to music professionally, as a university-trained man he could aspire in the courts to a more dignified treatment than the one dispensed to the servant proper.

Reluctantly with Frederick 
And so, in 1740 we find him, though not at ease, at the court of Frederick II the Great of Prussia, serving as a court harpsichordist. Although being a law graduate, the relationship with Frederick was not the best and Carl Philipp spent a good few years trying to get another position somewhere else.

"The Bach of Hamburg"
The Seven Years' War, oddly enough, relieved him a little because it kept Frederick away from court. But it was not until 1768 that he was able to leave Frederick for good to go and replace the late Georg Philipp Telemann in the post of chapel master of Hamburg, a position he would hold until his death in 1788. There he was known as "the Bach of Hamburg", to differentiate him, perhaps, from his brother Johann Christian, another talented musician, who in turn was recognized as "the Bach of London".

Sighting the Romanticism

Far removed from the rigorous polyphony of his father, Carl Philipp Emanuel is something of a "proto-romantic". Although his work lays between the baroque and classicism, he was the main representative of the Empfindsamer Stil musical movement, similar to the renowned Sturm und Drang, which foreshadows the first elements of romanticism.

An anecdote about a musical evening at the Bach's house shows Carl Philipp as a pale young man with narrowed eyes and almost "possessed", an adjective that would come in handy with any romantic musician of later years.

Concerto for flute, strings, and basso continuo in D minor, Wq 22

While in the service of Frederick the Great, Carl Philipp composed five flute concertos to be incorporated into the king's repertoire, who in addition to being a composer was a somewhat talented flautist, although he could hardly perform them as this requires the skill of a virtuoso. The Concerto in D minor is regularly performed by soloists around the world, especially due to its incomparably agile first movement (allegro di molto: very lively).
It is presented here in the rendition of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Stephan Mai. The soloist is Christoph Huntgeburth.

Chopin in London, 1837, Scherzo No 2

 
In early July 1837, Frédéric Chopin remained expectant in Paris at the prospect of joining the Wodzinsky family and spending the vacations with them. It was the occasion to meet again with his fiancée, Maria Wodzinska, and to formalize then a relationship that for the moment presented a lukewarm aspect. Maria's mother, although she supported the union, still had to find out what her husband thought of the whole affair.
As we know, the invitation to go on vacation together never came. But Frédéric, at the beginning of that summer, still hasn't found out.

To London for a walk
So, when he was invited by his friend the pianist and piano maker Camille Pleyel to accompany him to London on a short business trip, Frédéric gladly accepted. A couple of days later he was crossing the Channel, as happy as a clam. There they were joined by a childhood friend of Chopin, a Pole named Kozmian, and whom Julian Fontana, Chopin's factotum, had entrusted with the composer's care during his stay on the island.

The Pole Kozmian, an exemplary host and cicerone, fulfilled the assignment to the letter. The three friends spent splendid days in London, visiting important sites and hot spots during the day and attending performances in Covent Garden in the evenings.

Signing contracts
But it wasn't all fun. Within days of his arrival, Chopin signed a contract for the publication of the twelve Études of Opus 25 with the publisher Rudolf Wessel. He also had charmed with his music the London piano maker James Broadwood, once a supplier of instruments for Beethoven. The trip was a  success, no doubt.

Chopin is happy. And so he lets Julian Fontana know, describing his impressions of London and Londoners, in the casual tone of a schoolboy:

"... I will only say now that I am having a respectable time [...] One can have a good time here, if one stays only a short time and takes care. There are such tremendous things ! Huge urinals, but all the same nowhere to have a proper p ! As for the English women, the horses, the palaces, the carriages, the wealth, the splendour, the space, the trees everything from soap to razors it's all extraordinary, all uniform, all very proper, all well-washed BUT as black as a gentleman's bottom ! Let me give you a kiss on the face."

Upon return, a letter
He returns to Paris on July 22. A letter awaits him, from Maria's mother. The letter is very affectioned, although it does not contain a single word about the confusing engagement. Moreover, the Wodzinskys will not move from their habitual residence. They will not go on a vacation that year.

Chopin spends the rest of the summer in a deserted Paris, thinking about his grief.

But next year everything will be very different. Why does he have to suffer for a seventeen-year-old girl? George Sand, a wise woman, writer and mother of two children, asks herself the same question. In October 1838 she takes the musician for a walk to Mallorca.

Scherzo N ° 2, in B flat minor, Opus 31

Dedicated to his young student, Countess Adéle von Fürstenstein, Scherzo No. 2 was begun in June 1837 and completed the following year, probably in Majorca.

Like all Chopin scherzos, it is written in three-four time and has a ternary structure: two themes and a return to the first theme.

Marked presto, it begins with questioning motifs in the bass (to which Chopin granted the greatest importance in the world), responded explosively by triumphant chords in the treble to link at 0:50 with a lyrical motif. At minute 2:57 the second quieter theme appears, which after its introduction and a somehow daring development will lead to the repetition of the first theme at 7:10, with no variations. At 8:30 a spirited coda will begin, leading to a spectacular finale.

The rendition is by the Chinese pianist Shen Cai.

Chopin, 3 Nocturnes, Op 9

Chopin bunched his first three nocturnes in Opus 9. They were probably composed around 1831, and published two years later, in Paris. However, these are not his first compositions in the style of the form created by Dubliner John Field – that "precious but empty frame" according to the pianist and musicologist Alfred Cortot – to which Chopin will add soul, heart and life. Before 1831, he had already composed a few but they were not published until after his death, when his friend and factotum Julian Fontana ignored the solemn request for throwing them into the fire, thus entering the catalog in the "opus posthumous" category.

Pleyel, a real friend
So, the nocturnes of opus 9 were only the first to be published. They are dedicated "to Mrs Pleyel". It is understood that she is the renowned pianist and wife of Camille Pleyel, the great pianist and piano maker, a Chopin's friend. Pleyel was the one who would send Chopin a "pianino" to neither more nor less than Mallorca, so that Frédérik could overcome the inclement weather and mood during the unfortunate stay in Valldemosa, in the company of George Sand and her children, the winter of 1838-39.

Camille Pleyel (1788 - 1855)

It was not the first time that Camille Pleyel had given Chopin
a piano. Arrived in Paris just a year ago and little more, Frédérik had moved into his second residence in Paris and was installed in a two-story little house at 4 rue Cité Bergère. For the great hall (it's a saying because it was not very spacious), friend Pleyel provided a grand concert piano. And for the bedroom, a black pianino. The two rooms were connected so that if the talent of one of his students unleashed Frédérik's enthusiasm, he could accompany him from the other piano.

The dedication of the complete opus to "Mrs Pleyel", three nocturnes, the first to be published, will have been enough a token of gratitude on the part of the noble Frédérik, we imagine.

The rendition is by Jan Lisiecki, from Canada (the video contains the three preludes, in spite of the title).

00:05  No 1, in B-flat minor

05:27  No 2, in E-flat major

09:38  No 3, in B major