Chopin's Studies for the Piano

We continue our classical broadcasts at half past seven every Wednesday evening; this evening we present studies for the piano composed by the musician of Polish origin and upbringing, Frédéric Chopin, who lived in the nineteenth century. Chopin differs from many musicians in that he gives no titles to his compositions, because he counts them as pure music; and he differs also from many who have written for the piano in that he does not regard the piano as a mere auxiliary instrument to the orchestra, but as an instrument independent in itself.

And though we cannot follow any particular story in these magical, mysterious studies of Chopin's that we hear, we can, if we listen well, accompany the musician through the torments of his loves and friendships, through the echoing of daily events, through his fear of death, and through the other deep feelings that reveal themselves to us by way of his surpassing power of expression. He is a free, wondrous composer, unbound by the familiar rules of expression in declaring feelings so difficult to define; and perhaps his power of invention has a close bond with his native homeland.

In savoring a musician as curious and mysterious as Chopin, it is fitting that we know something, however brief, of his sentimental history, which stamped all his compositions with a personal cast that is almost palpable. Perhaps the most important thing in Chopin's history from this side is the wound to his heart caused by his failed attachment to Marie Wodzinska — an attachment after which none of his other connections availed him, not even that with George Sand.

Much commentary has been written on the compositions of Chopin, which know how to reflect a whole age and a soul of deep feeling; but opinion has agreed, in the end, that the best interpreter of Chopin's music is his music itself.