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Holy Cow!! I had no idea that the Challenge game would "take off" so quickly or even at all. All of your comments are very interesting, especially the bribing with candy and being a pool player. Ha!!

Thank you Kathy for checking it and for the correct spelling of my name in Polish.

Now, back to the challenge...it appears I won't get away with any easy ones...

Chopin never had a piano lesson in his life.

Kathleen

I have a question to you : which mazurkas Martha Argerich played at Warsaw competition in 1965?

Kasha - Not true, he had lessons from Zywny!

kathy83 - I believe it was the three Op 59 Mazurkas?

True or False

Chopin spoke fluent unaccented French, learned from his French father Nicholas.

Whoooaaa, MaryRose...you are on a roll. You got my questionl correct. I don't know about kathy83's.

Now, MaryRose you are suppose to continue on with the challenge with another statement.

Such as...

Because Chopin was a fragile child, he was not allowed to play with other children.

Kathleen

He he Kathleen, you are telling a FALSEHOOD as Chopin certainly played with other children. He also dug up carrots to eat out of the park.

Frycek - Chopin had a gorgeous and wonderful Polish accent when he spoke French. Of course, being a good mimic he could have been as perfect as the natives, but he was aware that it was rather charming

Maryrose, you were supposed to add a statement like :

Chopin's first composition was a mlitairy march.

Ragnhild

I thought I ought to wait until Kathy83 says yes or no about my Argerich answer :p

That was a difficult one - I tried to search the web for the answer, but no chance.
Kathy83, we are waiting...

I am trying to learn some more about Thomas Tellefsen. I would have liked to have the sheet music for the mazurkas and nocturnes that he wrote.
Since he and Jane Stirling was the ones trying to continue the Chopin interpretation and finish the method book it would be fun to play something by him.

Ragnhild

Yes, Ragnhild, it would be nice to know more about Tellefsen. Let us know if you find out anything (perhaps you could send an email to Oslo Conservatory?)

Well, I'm sorry (or ashamed, as the case may be ) that I don't know who Tellefsen is. That's what I get for just listening to Rubinstein's interpretations of Chopin. I think I figure I have the best...so why bother with the rest.

Kathy: You were correct about Chopin getting piano lessons from Zywny. I wonder why we so often read that he never had a lesson in his life? Do the experts consider this early instruction meaningless?

Ragnhild:
A shaky FALSE to your comment. Chopin composed a polonaise in Bb M at the age of seven, but it is supposed to be played with vigor and majesty, like a minature Polonaise Militaire. So, I guess I'm guessing.


CHALLENGE STATEMENT
In the same year (when he was 7) he composed a piece dedicated to the Czar, a polonaise.

Kathleen

Kathleen, I am not so sure about the quality of my source, but it says that his first composition was played like a march by a militairy orchestra. It still might have been written as a polonaise.

Frycek - can you help us ?

About Tellefsen I just find him interesting because he was Chopin's friend and student. Since he learned composing from Chopin it would be nice to see some of his compositions. (even if - of course - genious can not be taught). Also I might learn something about Chopin's teaching methods.

He is not recorded, but i am quite sure he did not play as good as Rubinstein

(The information about Tellefsen will probably be in Norwegian which is a little relaxing...)

Ragnhild

Off the top of my head at work: The boy Chopin wrote a march for ArchDuke Constantine, the Russian Govenor of Poland. Constantine had the army band learn it and played it at reviews. This march was never published and has been lost. Chopin's first published composition was a Polonaise, the same one Hershey plays in Monsieur Chopin.

For those with questionable taste:

http://www.pimpmytones.net/artists7sea-dyn1.php?gid=0040005A2002868000PMTo&kid=chopin

Maybe I should feel embarrased now, but I've had the Minute-waltz as a ringtone the last couple of years
(I use my cell phone, though, mostly for sms)

Ragnhild

Frycek, I believe you are right. The composition was lost. I guess he wrote it to gain favor with the Tzar. And I also believe he received a diamond ring from the Tzar And the strange thing about it is that even though the Russians were destroying his country and killing many people, some of them dear friends of Chopin, he always kept that ring. One would think it would throw it out or destroy it in some way. But, as we all know, Chopin did like nice things, and I guess his love for the ring was stronger than his hate for the Czar. I don't get it. Unless, he wanted to keep it for a "rainy day," perhaps he would hock it for some cash. Then, I could understand.

O.K.
ANOTHER CHALLENGE QUESTION moving right along into his teens.
The first commercial publication of one of Chopin's works was the Rondo in C mino, op. 1 in the year 1824.

Kathleen

Quite possibly. Chopin wasn't a sentimentalist or one to make empty gestures. The ring probably represented one of the high points of his early career and a very pleasant memory. And there was always the possiblity of selling it. That last sad summer at Chaillot he was so distressed financially that he even contemplated selling his beloved gold watch, another cherished souvenir.

So glad to learn that he might have kept it practical reasons.


Kathleen

Chopin wrote in a letter to his family mid-1831 that he was saving his money as best he could, in the same way that he was saving the Czar's ring (ie for a rainy day).

Good news.

Maybe you can help me out with this one.

I read that once his mother wrote him (while he was in Paris) and said that she needed some money very desperately. I can't recall the reason, maybe after his father died. But the author of the book in which I read this never said whether Chopin sent the money or not. We know he had a "thing" about money, but I hope he did send his poor mother what she needed.

Has anyone read about this??

Kathleen