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posted 11-02-2008 03:03 PM
Chopin was in Vegas for some well-deserved R and R - gambling, heavy drinking and girls, girls girls! - that's what the TB doctor ordered! George and Jane were off visiting the folks in London and Frederick arranged for the dog sitter to come in and check on the poodles. He also made arrangements for two of his beloved Erards - well, actually two of his LEAST beloved Erards - to be shipped to him in order to be converted - one into a water bed, the other into a piano-shaped hot tub. And yet the composer - despite the nightlife, gaming tables and showgirls - was plunged into the deepest ennui!

"Helas! While I am the toast of toute Paris my soul is not at rest! My piano students - the aristocratic ones - all they care about is caviar, champagne and their wretched tableaux vivantes! The prodigies who come to visit me play my music as if it were the dry exercises of Czerny. And the concert pianists care only about sterile virtuosic display! Nobody understands me OR my music!"

It was while plunged in these melancoly ruminations that the Erards were delivered. The workmen maneuvered the heavy boxes into the composer's room, Chopin tipped them, and threw himself on the swooning sofa. While languishing there suddenly he heard a soft tapping coming from the inside of the box. Chopin swept up one of the crowbars left behind by the workmen and wrenched the wooden box open. To his astonishment out stepped the nonagenarian Princessa di Villa d'Este, hungry, tired, but none the worse for wear!

"To what do I owe this charming but nevertheless completely unexpected visit!"

"Oh Master, a thousand pardons for disturbing your creative solitude, but I simply had to meet with you privately. All my life it has been my dream to play the piano, but after my childhood at the convent, and my marriage to the Prince I have been barred from fulfilling my dream. The Prince forbids all amusements beyond the simple tambourine - that musical instument of his glorious forebears! I have taken the liberty of sealing myself in this precious shipment in order to confer with you privately and to realize my dream - even if it is for only a few all-to-brief hours!"

The composer's romantic soul was deeply moved by this outburst of artistic yearning. Clearing the rest of the packaging from the Erard he set up a stool for the Princessa and dropped a copy of his newly-printed Marzukas Op 6 onto the music rest. At once the Princessa began to play, and while it was executed in a manner less than 'perfect' it awakened a sudden realization in the heart of the musical genius and tears of joys streamed from his radiant countenance!

"Mon Dieu - it is THIS which has been missing from the interpretation of my Mazurkas! Although executed in a manner flawed by dropped notes, uncertain phrasing, uneven tonality and incorrect notes - it is through the combination of emotional maturity and a naive insouciance that the true Spirit of Poland and it's people - with their yearnings for freedom and their deep spiritual sadness - it expressed! And so it seems that an adult who is also a beginner - THIS is the pianist who can truly play these works as they were meant to be played!"

Immediately Chopin took up his quill and re-edited the printed page to reflect the humble but deeply stiffing performance which had so moved him. It is not well known, but nevertheless true, that subsequent editors have ignored these markings and have presented the Mazurkas in their 'cleaned up' version - leaving the correct interpretation to be obscured by the dust of time - UNTIL NOW! when the Adult Beginner's Forum prepares itself to reveal that composer's true intentions!

We have the participants of the Piano World Adult Beginner's Forum to thank for restoring this body of work to it's original lustre.

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Mon ami, you outdid yourself!

Bump--I'm starting to really crank on it. Do we have an idea when submissions will begin? I'm cutting it pretty close!

We're working on it. MaryRose our artist has been having computer difficulties but I think they're straightened out. We should be sending out a request for submissions very soon.

Didn't mean to rush you--just trying to figure out if it is time to panic yet.

Well, you have until 2/29 if you're make the 1st one. If not it can go in the 2nd.

All Mazurkathon participants: please be sure that your Mazurkas are as polished as possible this week! (Is that a pun? Polished - geddit?) Once you have a recording that you are satisfied with, then please upload it to a server such as Boxnet (or your own webspace if you have it - anything really). In a couple of days we will be asking you to send the url of your recording for us to make up the web page for next weekend. Chopin's birthday is one week from today.

And remember - enthusiasm is more important than perfection.

MaryRose

I have a Mazurka (op 41 Eminor) for you, it's uploaded. I need my time to concentrate on other things, so I'm afraid it's more enthusiastic than perfect and more Norwegian than
Polish(ed), but where to send it ?

Ragnhild

Ragnhild, please can you send it backchannel to me? I think that's the best way. I will collate them all and put them on a website in time for the Big Day.

Looking forward to hearing all your mazurkas!

Hi Mary Rose!

Another "enthusiastic" performance waiting here too.

Reminds me of a code word my parents had for my ambitious projects which were well-intentioned but suffered in execution: "charming"

Should I PM you the link? Or wait for a more formal announcement?

-rf

Dear Rusty, and anyone else who might be reading this, please pm me your links to your mazurkas any time you can this week. So far I only have Ragnhild's and I have soooo enjoyed listening to it that I played it again and again for nearly an hour.

bump

Ye Gods! October 17 is coming right up - is this still on?

Schubertian, where have you been?

The Mazurka Marathon was last spring on the anniversary of Chopin's birth; a recital of Etudes is scheduled for October:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/32/5173.html

Steven

Take a look at the first post of this thread -

Frycek - under the urging of some insane inner demon - has scheduled THREE marathons during which all the mazurkas are to be presented - the second and third are Oct 17 2008 and March 1 2009 -

Dang, I did not know that.

Steven

Mary-Rose and I were just discussing the possibility of moving the second Mazurkathon to March 1, '09 (from Oct. 17, '08) due to the fact that the Etude recital is already scheduled for Oct 17. Having the 2 Chopin recitals on the same day may be a bit much, and we were a little concerned that the Mazurkas would be overshadowed by the Etudes.

She thought it best to wait until others started asking, before putting the question out to the other participants. Mary-Rose: care to chime in? What do the rest of you think? Oct 17 or March 1?

my 2 cents: I think it would be a great idea to move it to March 1 for exactly the reason you state

whew!

Yea... I vote for March since I have not even looked at the other Mazurka I'm supposed to play...

OK with me, as the last Mazurkathon was rather sparsely attended, possibly because of it's temporal proximity to the ABF recital.