Chopin's Haiku for the Anniversary of his Passing, Vol. 12, No. 5

Here's a newly discovered Chopin's portrait, painted by someone called Alfred, presumably during the composer's lifetime, i.e. from life.  "The peeling portrait of the Polish piano composer dates back to the 19th century, according to Nicolaus Copernicus University professor Dariusz Markowski, who examined and restored the painting last year. He says it has significant historic and emotional value," reported Euro News in October 2021. https://www.euronews.com/2021/10/11/chopin-portrait-restored-after-flea-market-find-may-be-a-prelude-to-a-windfall.  

The expert of historical restoration dated the painting, based on the materials and pigments, to first half of the 19th century, that is during Chopin's lifetime. The owners placed the restored painting in an ornate gilded frame and hid it in a bank safe, fearing robbery. 

Sharing this image and its metamorphosis seems a fitting tribute to Chopin at a time when another edition of the International Chopin Piano Competition is under way in Warsaw, Poland. This is the 18th edition of a competition first held in 1927 that helped identify and promote some of the greatest pianists of the past two centuries. 

Top 3 prize winners since 1927, organized to show: Edition (Year): 1st Prize, 2nd Prize, 3rd Prize.

I (1927): 1) Lev Oborin,  Soviet Union; 2) Stanisław Szpinalski, Poland, 3) Róża Etkin, Poland

II (1932): 1) Alexander Uninsky, Soviet Union; 2) Imre Ungár, Hungary, 3) Bolesław Kon, Poland

III (1937): 1) Yakov Zak, Soviet Union, 2) Rosa Tamarkina, Soviet Union, 3) Witold Małcużyński, Poland

IV (1949): 1) Bella Davidovich, Soviet Union, 2) Barbara Hesse-Bukowska, Poland; 3) Waldemar Maciszewski, Poland and Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Poland (tie)

V (1955): 1) Adam Harasiewicz, Poland; 2) Vladimir Ashkenazy, Soviet Union; 3) Fou Ts'ong,  China

VI (1960): 1) Maurizio Pollini,  Italy; 2) Irina Zaritskaya, Soviet Union; 3) Tania Achot-Haroutounian, Iran

VII (1965): 1) Martha Argerich, Argentina; 2) Arthur Moreira Lima, Brazil; 3) Marta Sosińska,  Poland

VIII (1970): 1) Garrick Ohlsson, United States; 2) Mitsuko Uchida, Japan; 3) Piotr Paleczny,  Poland

IX (1975): 1) Krystian Zimerman, Poland; 2) Dina Joffe, Soviet Union; 3) Tatyana Fedkina,  Soviet Union

X (1980): 1) Dang Thai Son, Vietnam; 2) Tatyana Shebanova, Soviet Union; 3) Arutyun Papazyan, Soviet Union

XI (1985): Stanislav Bunin, Soviet Union; 2) Marc Laforet, France; 3) Krzysztof Jabłoński,  Poland

XII (1990): 1) Not awarded, 2) Kevin Kenner, United States; 3) Yukio Yokoyama, Japan

XIII (1995):  1) Not awarded; 2) Philippe Giusiano, France; 3) Gabriela Montero, United States and Alexei Sultanov, Uzbekistan (tie)

XIV (2000): 1) Yundi Li, China; 2) Ingrid Fliter, Argentina; 3) Alexander Kobrin, Russia

XV (2005): 1) Rafał Blechacz, Poland, 2) Not awarded, 3) Dong-Hyek Lim, South Korea and Dong-Min Lim, South Korea (tie)

XVI (2010): 1) Yulianna Avdeeva, Russia;  2) Lukas Geniušas, Russia; Lithuania; 3) Daniil Trifonov, Russia and Ingolf Wunder, Austria (tie)

XVII (2015): 1) Seong-Jin Cho, South Korea, 2) Charles Richard-Hamelin, Canada; 3) Kate Liu, United States.

The competitions are spaced out every five years, to leave sufficient time for the development of new talents. The 18th Competition is a year late due to pandemic-related shutdowns.  Looking at the distribution of countries of origin, it is easy to notice that Russians have been quite talented over the years: six first prize winners and 12 other awardees were from the Soviet Union or Russia. Poland had three first prize winners and ten other awardees. Italy, Argentina, U.S., Vietnam, China and South Korea - each had one winner of the first prize.  

The names of finalists in Chopin Competition XVIII have just been announced by the jury presided over by Professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, 12 participants representing 10 countries qualified to the final stage.

The finalists are:

1. Ms Leonora Armellini, Italy
2. Mr J J Jun Li Bui, Canada
3. Mr Alexander Gadjiev , Italy/Slovenia
4. Mr Martin Garcia Garcia, Spain
5. Ms Eva Gevorgyan, Russia/Armenia
6. Ms Aimi Kobayashi, Japan
7. Mr Jakub Kuszlik, Poland
8. Mr Hyuk Lee, South Korea
9. Mr Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu, Canada
10. Mr Kamil Pacholec, Poland
11. Mr Hao Rao, China
12. Mr Kyohei Sorita, Japan

In the final round, each finalist will play one of the two Chopin piano concertos, whereas earlier they played a variety of works, competing not  just for the main prizes, but also for special awards for the best interpretation of a mazurka, or a polonaise. By October 23, 2021, the winner will be crowned and will start reaping the rewards of years of hard work, mastering keyboard techniques  and the spirit of Chopin's music. 

This presence of Chopin's music reminded me of gathering Chopin-inspired poetry. The  discovery of this strange portrait discussed above inspired the following.

         through cracked paint

        Chopin's piercing gaze 

         touches my soul 

                    ~  Maja Trochimczyk 

For many generations of Poles Chopin's music bears the associations with "zal" - regret, nostalgia, sweet sorrow.  This emotional tone reappeared in the haiku of my American friends. 

Debbie Kolodji sent me her haiku and wrote: "Years ago, a decade ago, you published an anthology of Chopin poems.  At the time, I tried to write one but nothing ever came together for me so I never submitted anything. Oddly, the other day I wrote a Chopin haiku and I thought of you, and thought you might enjoy reading it."

     Chopin étude

     your fingers feel

     my sadness

                     ~ Debbie P Kolodji

I found this lovely haiku to be a good excuse to ask some friends for sending in their Chopin haiku. Susan Rogers did not disappoint and wrote, while thinking of Chopin's death in October, and the dreadful weather of this month in Poland, the following:

      October lament

      listening to the dying wind 

      I hear Chopin 's breath

                     ~ Susan Rogers

Ambika Talwar loves Chopin's Nocturnes, as I do. She sent in a link to music and two haiku: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Pei_1-kOQ. 

        sunrise sunset merge

        one melodious interchange –

        crowns of trees make love

                     ~ Ambika Talwar

 

      twilight sun melds

      dreams dance with stars on treetops

      my heart's melody

                   ~ Ambika Talwar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9Pei_1-kOQ. 

This recording of all Chopin's Nocturnes by Brigitte Engerer is doubly relaxing as it is recorded on a piano tuned to the natural key with A=432Hz, and not 440Hz,the higher, tense and chaos-inducing energy brought into the world of music in the early 20th century either by Rockefeller-inspired groups, or the Nazis. The 432 frequency resonates with harmony that can be seen on resonance plates of cymatics.