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Blame Eric Carmen for that. It was a huge hit in 1975:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_By_Myself

Steven

I am always surprised when sometimes very intelligent people with a very high educational level are not interested at all in classical music and find it boring. Of course there is no real connections between these features, but somehow I would expect them to have "finer ears" so to speak...

Somehow a lot of our diacritical marks and punctuation have gone buggy since yesterday. My last post looked fine when I posted it, and now it's a mess. I wonder what happened? This was going on when the format was first changed, then got fixed somehow.

"Full Moon and Empty Arms" was also lifted from the Rach 2, if I remember correctly.

Elene

""Full Moon and Empty Arms" was also lifted from the Rach 2, if I remember correctly."

Lifted, stolen; six of one... a scant two years after the composer's decease. From the genius lyricist who brought us 'A' You're Adorable and Speedy Gonzales.

This Time Magazine article from 1947 pretty well nails it:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798001,00.html

Wow, I'm amazed that a Time article from 1947 is available. Thanks. I didn't know that one person was responsible for so many "crimes"! The article did mention, though, that the actual A flat Polonaise was brought to the attention of the masses and became a big seller after "Till the End of Time" came out, so I guess I should be a little less upset by that travesty.

By the way, Schumann's song "Widmung" came out as "Widinung" in the article. It really was a song to begin with, and really does mean "Dedication," so that adaptation sounds less horrifying.

But then, Liszt did a (quite nice) piano version of that song, in addition to his Chopin transcriptions-- pop adaptations have been going on for quite some time.

Hey, not only are our diacritical marks screwed up, links aren't coming out as links either.

Elene

Hello all:

My sister and I had the memorable experience of attending Hershey Felder's one-man play: Beethoven: As I knew him yesterday. For our new devotees, Hershey is a remarkably talented young man who has created a trilogy, with three famous composers: Gershwin, Chopin and Beethoven. He calls it the "Composer Sonata." He has performed all over the world, presenting Gershwin Alone, M. Chopin and ending with Beethoven: As I Knew Him . I've seen all three, and please believe me when I say, you will be left breathless at the genius and sensitivity of Mr. Felder. Run, don't walk to get tickets to any of his performances when you see them advertised in your area. Dr. Kallberg is also to be congratulated as he acts as an advisor for Hershey.

I wish I could write more but this darn screen keeps jumping around and I can't see what I am writing. AARRGGGHHGH!

Kathleen

"I didn't know that one person was responsible for so many "crimes"!"

Criminal lyricist... I'd have a hard time arguing against it. I think he was just a hired gun for Mossman, who mined for melodies on a mass scale, from art music works that the public never wanted to hear otherwise. Apparently, copying or outright pilfering from artists who are truly original, is an old story. One of the articles from The Cambridge Companion to Chopin discusses it at some length, contrasting the creators of knock-off salon music, with other true creatives, such as Debussy. They see a big difference in students who are steeped in the works of those like Chopin, and whose own work has been influenced by him, yet who go to lengths not to steal from him.

There are cases where there are similarities, whether in structure or the employment of similar harmonic solutions. So be it. The revolutionary character of Chopin's work was not even appreciated for another hundred years after his time, so I don't think he'd be that easy to copy successfully.

I thought I'd let the Cambridge sink in a bit before I said anything about it. It was a job of work to read through this little volume, which appears so unassuming, yet it is full of good ideas and interesting information. I would recommend it, as long as you don't think the ideas are going to jump off the page into your lap; it's not quite that easy.

Jeff Kallberg's doctoral dissertation was recommended as a resource. I wonder how one would lay hands on such a document.

I have discovered that bored people are quite often boring.

I get the chills listening to Barry Manilow's (now don't laugh) "Could It Be Magic," taken from Chopin's prelude #20. At least the opening bars.

Kathleen

Hi Steven and all:

I have such a difficult time writing on the forum that I have to go to a word processing program and do a cut and paste.

To answer your question about what Hershey does. He is a remarkable actor and a magnificent pianist. And he combines both, in his own unique way, to both entertain, amaze and delight us.

He actually “becomes” George Gershwin and Chopin for those performances. He takes on their persona, complete with all mannerisms and accents and personality traits. For Gershwin (brash and bold and he even resembles him), he tells the audience about his life, hardly ever leaving the piano. He plays many of his “hits,“ and in between he continue to speak to us. How he accomplishes this is quite mind-boggling. Such concentration. He ends each and every performance of (well over 3,000) with a fully orchestrated version (for the piano) of Rhapsody in Blue. It knocks your socks off.

For M. Chopin (my personal favorite), he comes on stage, dressed as Chopin would have in his day, right down to those famous white gloves. We are in his room; the set is furnished with some very elegant props that create this illusion. He is giving a piano lesson to us and speaks as if we are his students. It is quite eerie how much he resembles Chopin (really spooky). His accent is totally charming, a combination of New Yorkese, French, Polish and English (if that is possible.) Again, he seldom leaves the piano, but at the same time, tells us about his life. And play the piano, he does. Specifically selected compositions that move the story along. All with pathos and bits of humor. If a person didn’t love Chopin before, that same person would certainly love him afterwards…thanks to Hershey. For the final piece, he plays the “Romance” movement of (I think) the concerto in E minor.

Now Beethoven is very different in that Hershey actually portrays three different people while on the stage. This play is based on a true story by Dr. Gerhard von Breuning. Hershey plays the doctor at the age of 56, then as a young boy of 12, then the boy’s father, and then, of course, as Beethoven himself. And he does this quite convincingly and so effortlessly that the changes of characters just flow from one to the other with no confusion on the part of the audience. The story is told from the Doctor’s point of view, but when Hershey becomes Beethoven, several times during the play, the effect is chilling. When he recites the Heiligenstadt Testament, the theater is stone silence. Those tears in his eyes are probably reflecting many of those in the audience. And yes, the piano (and what a beauty it is) takes center stage. Both the “Doctor” and “Beethoven” play excerpts from the Moonlight and Pathetique sonatas, and portions of the 5th and 9th symphonies, just to name a few. Hershey plays with all the “dolce” the music calls for, but when it calls for power, wow!! There is so much more. But I guess you’ll just have to see it for yourself.

From the above, the local critics need not worry that their jobs are in jeopardy. I feel so inadequate when trying to describe something so memorable and words certainly do fail me here.

I am going to ask Hershey to join us once again when he has the time and energy. He was such a helpful and knowledgeable addition to our forum. And he was funny too!!

Sorry for any and all misspelled words and grammatical errors.

Kathleen

Here is the website for his trilogy.

http://www.eightyeightentertainment.com/

Kathleen

I'd love to see the Chopin performance, sounds interesting.

I'm updating for my Chopins C#m Nocturne (posthumous). Yesterday I had my pianolesson and brought the sheets with me. My teacher, who has taught me for a year now (that's when I started from the basics), did not think I should be playing it. Basically she said it's too difficult for me and recommended some Grieg instead. Now, Grieg sounds nice, actually very nice when she played it for me, but as I know myself, right now I would have much more motivation to learn the Chopins Nocturne, so I fought back.

Eventually she gave up, but made herself clear that it would take time, maybe a year, to learn it. I said I'm up for it, after all this is one of the pieces that made me ever start playing the piano.

I'm sure I'll learn the beginning part pretty fast, but the ending stuff. The 35 note run... That's gonna be challenging. Anyways, I'm happy to start learning it, I'll start today.

I mastered Chopins fourth prelude in about six months. It's much easier, but I'm better now. Just need to run the C#m scales every day, and play the Nocturne's notes one hand a time. And yeah, I need to have patience.

Hi Curious223:

You MUST play the music you love. That is the FIRST rule, at least around here. And there is a good reason for this: you will be highly motivated to learn it and your level of frustration will be kept at bay.

Definitely, that 35 note run will be THE challenge, but if you are playing the C#m scales every day, then the task will be easier. And good for you for having the courage to tell your teacher what you want. Many teachers think that their students are not "ready" for certain pieces, but we all know that teachers can underestimate the determination of their students. I know I quit lessons because my teacher refused to advance me at the rate I thought was possible. Then I went on to teach myself. The only thing I wish she would have done is teach me more technique, but I sometimes think she didn't have any herself.

Good luck to you
Kathleen

I don't see anything wrong, personally, with slowing the whole thing way down while you play those challenging runs towards the end. Pleasing, even!

I'm wholeheartedly behind you learning this piece, for personal reasons. I started learning it, and thought it was going quite nicely, but one day my amazingly inconsistent teacher heavily criticised something I was doing and I've never played it since. You might say I'm learning it vicariously through you.

Hi Seabelle: Welcome and thank you for further inspiring curious223 to learn this nocturne. Your story about your teacher really angers me. I know there are good teachers out there, but why do I hear so many stories like yours?

Go back to the nocturne and play it as you feel it. This would be Chopin's advice to you. And yes, you can slow down the run and even give it a bit of rubato here and there. I had to do this because my fingers (now age 70) just refuse to move that fast, just like my whole body. Don't forget, you are not planning a career on the concert stage. You can and should "adjust" some music (just a bit) to your own abilities. This is certainly better than not play the music at all.

Write again, seabelle,
Kathleen

That was my thinking about the adjustments. Why decide not to play something you really want to, just because there's a few bars that stymie you? In my case, I don't really think I like the piece as much as I need to to overcome my teacher's objections.

She is generally a fine lass, though. Just... occasionally erratic. She also gives me 1.5 hour lessons for the price of a half-hour one, and she's nice, and I like to think we're buddies and what-have-you.

Kathleen, I might also mention that I considered pinching your signature and posting it somewhere else like I'd just discovered it. It's a very good quote.

Seabelle and Curious -
The most important thing is to practice that 35 note run SLOWLY and EVENLY. Don't even try to speed it up until you can play it slowly and evenly in your sleep. And then when you do start to gradually speed it up continue to alternate your faster attempts with SLOW repeats. This will seem to take forever but not really - probably only a few weeks if done consistently for about 10 minutes a day. And remember for speed, let your whole hand move your fingers, not your fingers move your whole hand. And hopefully someone wiser than me, Sotto? LisztAddict? can give you even more help.

I don't dislike Oscar Wilde by any means, but he was, after all, a drama queen who frequently reveals in his quotations as much about himself as his intended subject.

I've never really found weeping, mourning, sins or tragedies in Chopin's music, though I know people of an earlier era commonly did (like, for instance, my own mother, who thought she was plumbing the emotional depths of his music with exaggerated rubato accompanied by cocktails and cigarettes atop the piano).

I just think that attributing pervasive sadness to Chopin both reflects and perpetuates a distorted perception that he was effete and his music shallow and self-indulgent. Nothing could be further from the truth! Poignancy is matched by the exaltation of beauty from a man who prized dignity, reserve and restraint; melancholy is outweighed by the exultation of life from a composer whose favored key by far was A-flat major.

Steven

I just thought it was cute because it was so melodramatic. I didn't mean to upset anyone.

That's OK. Most of us like it.

Now this is getting funny, as I'm not aware there's any evidence how "most" of us feel about it (or even who's included in "us"!).

I didn't actually mention how I feel about that quotation, but, if I'm going to be mistaken for "upset" about it anyway, I may as well say that I think it's quite loathsome.

Steven