About the Course

      Subject Overview:

                    Frédéric Chopin (March 1, 1810 - October 17, 1849) was one of  three
            great composers of piano music in the Early Romantic era (c. 1830 - 1860). 
            Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) and Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) were the  
            other two.  Chopin is unique among history's great composers being the 
            only one who used the piano in every one of his compositions.  Over 90% 
            of his works are for solo piano.  


                    Between the advent of the piano in the 1770s and 1830, composers of  

            solo piano works worked only in a few genres, the most popular being the 

            multi-movement piano sonata.  But the Early Romantics composed far less  

            sonatas than their predecessors, instead writing in little used earlier genres 

            like the waltz, the polonaise, the nocturne, the fantasy, the étude, and the   

            impromptu or creating new genres to express their romantic ideals.  Chopin, 

            for instance, created the instrumental ballade.  Overall, Chopin wrote solo 

            piano music in sixteen genres.  Understanding at least ten of these genres is 

            a main_goal of the course. 

     ➤   (You can find a list of all of Chopin's genres with brief descriptions by clicking 

             the "Chopin Genres" tab on the grey tab bar above any course website page). 


                    Additional course goals include examining one of Chopin's concertos for 

            piano and orchestra, and learning about Chopin's life and his contributions to

            19th century romantic piano music.  

       Pre-course Readings:

                     Here are two essays that give some background on Chopin and on 19th 

            century romanticism.  Please read the essay Introduction to Romanticism and 

            Romantic Music before the first day of class.  It takes about 20 minutes to read.  

            This topic is our main focus on Day 1.

 
                     The second essay is a very short Chopin biography.  It takes about ten 

             minutes to read.  It would be good to also read this by Day 1 but it is not as 

             necessary as we will not begin discussing Chopin's life until the second class. 

                     For both essays, do not be concerned with all of the details, just having the 

             general idea of what the essays are about is enough.