Eric Lu Plays Chopin, Chopin, Chopin....in South Pasadena (Vol. 6, No. 8)

Eric Lu, Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

It is such a pleasure to discover a new talent, a new way of hearing and interpreting Chopin's music. We have had this delightful opportunity during the all-Chopin concert by a young American pianist, Eric Lu, at the South Pasadena Library on August 30, 2015.

Mr. Lu, born in 1997 (gasp! he is merely 18!) has recently won the first prize and the concerto prize at the 9th National Chopin Competition in Miami, organized by the Chopin Foundation of the United States.  In August 2014, he won the first prize at the 9th Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists. A long list of his competition victories includes also the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition in 2013 and the 12th Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany in 2010 (where he was "praised for a musical understanding far beyond his years").  He has also won awards at the Junior Academy Eppan in Italy, and performed in Germany, Italy, China, the U.S. (Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Birmingham, and more).  He started piano lessons at the age of six (Ms. Dorothy Shi). At the New England Conservatory Preparatory School he was a student of Alexander Korsantia and Mr. A. Ramon Rivera. In 2013 he enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he currently studies with Jonathan Biss and Robert McDonald, while also studying with the famous Chopin Piano Competition winner in Warsaw, Dang Thai Son.

Lu's hands, Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

In accordance with its title, Chopin, Chopin, Chopin... Lu's recital featured only one non-Chopin work, an Impromptu by Franz Schubert, brilliantly played in its shimmering tranquility, an oasis of calm under the fingers of the master.  The contrast of the youthful appearance of the 18-years-old pianist and his musical maturity and technical prowess was one of the most striking characteristics of the entire recital. If you closed your eyes, and forgot that the pianist is this thin, tall boy in an elegant evening suit, with meticulously arranged white shirt cuffs  (a whiff of Chopin's dandy-ism and his focus on elegant attire could be felt here), you were transported to a grand 19th century concert hall, to listen to one of the grand, truly grand masters.  And I do not mean here, that his performance was somehow antiquated and old-fashioned. Not at all.

What I found most extraordinary alluring, was the full emotional span, intensity of expression, diversity of touch, richness of instrumental color, and perfectly crafted large-scale forms.  Of course, keyboard virtuosity... Asked later, what is the most remarkable characteristic of Chopin's music in his eyes, maybe his favorite, or the hardest or the easiest piece to play, he answered: "Everything is difficult. Chopin is unbelievably difficult, with the complexity of rhythms, internal polyphonies and intertwined melodies, that sing under the fingers, but especially the touch, the infinite variations of sound tone created through touch."

Polish Consul Ignacy Zarski welcomes guests and introduces the program.

Photo by Maja Trochimczyk. 

The first half of the program revealed Lu's scope of virtuosic technique, expressive range, and musicality.  How do you convey in music the depth of emotion? By subtle variations in tempo, dynamic, and rhythmic flexibility of motives and phrases, the flexibility known in Chopin's music as "tempo rubato" the "stolen time" - where one hand maintains a rhythm while the other "steals" microseconds and seconds from notes to add them to other notes and thus shift focus, create emotional arches, a play of expectations and resolutions.

The first piece on the program, Barcarole in F-sharp Major, Op. 60, composed in 1845/6 is the perennial favorite among Chopin's works for many pianists, especially outside of Poland. Its undulating rhythm captures the swaying of a Venetian gondola on the water, while an enchanting melody soars above, in the stratosphere of strange harmonies, embroidered figurations, and a mood of sublime tranquility, coupled with a "slightly wistful tone." For a pianist, whose task is to take his listeners into musical trance, the technical difficulties are formidable - parallel thirds and sixth in the right hand with long stretches of music flowing like water in the left. There are moments towards the end of the Barcarole, of harmonic uncertainties and moonlight beam ornaments, that give me shivers every time they are played right - truly otherworldly. Time shifts to a different dimension, it is raised to a power of two, could say composer Hanna Kulenty, who made construction of such times and trances, the crux of her compositional technique. But Chopin knew it too, and let us glimpse at this enchanted sonorous moonscape that Lu evoked so well.

Stylish auditorium at South Pasadena Library. Photo by Christopher Onzol

"So far, so good," I sighed getting ready for the series of Mazurkas from Op. 59 - No. 1 in A Minor, No. 2 in A-flat Major, and No. 3 in F-sharp Minor. Known for their capacity to embody the emotional category of "nostalgia" or, in Polish, "żal"- this nameless, wordless sorrow of having lost something one may never find again, the Mazurkas are also stylized national dances, from the slowest kujawiak to the fastest oberek. The three late Mazurkas Op. 59, composed in 1845, dwell in the middle of the tempo range and brilliantly portray the "sweetest sorrow" of a lost country, imagined in the beauty of its rural summers and dancing nights. Polish pianist Ludwik Bronarski, noted in the first Mazurka, in A Minor, the presence of "the most beautiful sounds that it is possible to produce from the piano." Indeed, the sounds created under Eric Lu's fingers were truly enchanting, even if the piano itself left something to be desired, providing to the disposal of the sublime virtuoso somewhat uneven and even slightly mistuned sonorities.

No matter. The second Mazurka, known for its tone of a ballade and moments of nearly heroic mood, coupled with incomparable sweetness, and folksy accompaniment patterns, straight from the dance floor of the Polish national mazur had its manuscript sent to Chopin's friend, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The third Mazurka beautifully rounds up the set and pulls the listener into a summer evening mazur dance, with "its sweeping, unconstrained gestures, its verve, élan, exuberance, and also, more importantly, the occasional suppressing of that vigour and momentum, in order to yield up music that is tender, subtle, delicate" - as stated noted Chopin expert, Mieczyslaw Tomaszewski. Each Mazurka is different, and Eric Lu found in each diverse sonic and emotional treasures.

I'm starting to yield to a tendency to overuse such words as "delightful," "incomparable," and "exquisite" and veering into purple prose in a description of Lu's performance, for which I apologize in advance, but it is hard to avoid expressing delight after a concert that delightful. Here I go again...

Eric Lu performs. Photo by Krzysztof Onzol.

Mr. Lu followed the Mazurkas Op. 59 (that were composed in 1845 at the same time as the Barcarole and thus shared with the larger masterpiece some structural, textural and thematic ideas), with a sweet interlude in the form of the Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 42. Written about five years before the Mazurkas (ca. 1839-40), the Waltz has been called a "dance poem" with its five distinct intertwined themes contrasting in their use of trills, figurations, and continuous, expressive melodies.

The first part of the recital ended with one of the best known Chopin's compositions, the Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 (composed in 1842 in Paris and Nohant) and dedicated to Baroness Charlotte de Rotschild. A whole library of books and essays has been written about this monumental Ballade, that begins with delicate "bell"-like sonorities, to evolve into dramatic, and even, heroic arches and avalanches of sound.  Many commentators felt a compulsion to discover a hidden plot - a poetic ballade by Adam Mickiewicz, perhaps - underneath the masterly construction built from a mosaic of tones. Prof. Tomaszewski dismisses these efforts with by emphasizing that "the music of this Ballade imitates nothing, illustrates nothing. It expresses a world that is experienced and represents a world that is possible, ideal and imagined."

And much was possible in the interpretation of the Ballade by Eric Lu. Here his ability to construct large-scale forms, develop and intertwine themes, pull the listeners into a narrative that is at times melancholy, at times sorrowful, at times dramatic and turbulent, but ends in a tranquility of a reconciliation. No wonder, the citations for Lu's awards so often speak of a maturity far above his years. I admired, in this piece particularly, his ability to contrast and stretch tempi, his use of tempo rubato, accelerandos, and ritardandos, and his ability to maintain the sense of a continuous narrative, of a musical whole.

He received a standing ovation at the end of this performance, a well deserved accolade... What would be life worth, if we did not have these sunny summer afternoons when music speaks to us so eloquently and touches us so deeply?

After the concert, I asked Eric what he loved the most about Chopin, what was the trait that he cherished above all others. His response - like his interpretations - was unexpectedly mature. "Chopin's intimate, personal voice" - he said - "his music speaks to all of his listeners directly, as if each person was the only one, as if each was alone - immersed in, surrounded by the music. This delicate, wise, intimate and individual voice is the greatest asset of Chopin's music that carries it over the ages."  I had to agree, as I have seen in countless YouTube comments of very young listeners who admit that they "love this song" and rhapsodize about how it perfectly captures their uncontrollable emotions, that they cannot even name.

Intermission: Consul Ignacy Zarski, Maja Trochimczyk, Marzena Wisniewska (Polam), 

Maria Kubal (Modjeska Club). Photo by Christopher Onzol.

Two Presidents and a Star: Elizabeth Kanski (President of Polish-American Film Society) with

Linda Plochocki (President of the Modjeska Foundation of Orange County) with Jane Kaczmarek.

Photo by Maja Trochimczyk.

After the intermission, the summer sun outside barely started to fade when we were immersed in the moonlight of the Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2, also of a peculiar "ballade-like" quality.  This prepared us to the wild ride and exorbitant beauties of the entire cycle of 24 Preludes, Op. 28. Composed between 1835 and 1839, partly in Paris, and partly at Valldemosa, Majorca where Chopin spent the winter of 1839 with George Sand and her children, the cycle was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's Das Wohl-Temperierte Klavier (The Wel-Tempered Clavier), cycle of preludes and fugues.  The Preludes Op. 28 traverse the entire range of tonalities and harmonies, starting from C Major and visiting each of the keys possible on the piano for a brief sojourn and a vista of an entirely different musical climate. The cycle was compared to a mosaic a la sonata form, and to a grand narrative.

Photo by Christopher Onzol

Over the centuries, some individual preludes received nicknames, like the "Raindrop" that everyone knows about and almost everyone heard played, if not on the concert stage, at least in the movies (Prelude in D-flat Major, No. 15). This prelude is a rare example of Chopin himself giving a programmatic title to his composition: with a handwritten note in a sheet music belonging to one of his students, not in the actual publication.  While being so well known, this prelude's potential impact borders on boredom: we have heard it soo many times... But we never heard it played as Eric Lu interpreted it, and that is the difference. I was entirely enchanted by Lu's ability to create a portrayal of exquisite tranquility dissolving into equally exquisite sorrow in the infinitely quiet return of the theme after the tempestous middle part of the Prelude. I think that his use of dynamic shadings, precise articulation and delineation of phrases, fluid "tempo rubato" and the previously mentioned caressing "touch" had a lot to do with the unforgettable uniqueness of Lu's interpretation.

The cycle op. 28 contains many extremely difficult, dramatic and fast preludes, overflowing with passages of heavy, parallel chords thundering up and down the keyboard. In-between are moments of tranquility, funereal sadness, or whimsy. Mr. Lu exposed the raw richness of emotions, textures, and expressions contained in the whole cycle. In addition to the Raindrop - that I have never heard played so well before, and I heard it almost too many times... (and I played it myself, for my own edification), I would like to single out for praise his interpretations of the charmingly capricious Prelude G Major (No. 3), the extreme brevity of moto perpetuo in D Major (No. 5), the wild and eerie sonorities of the ghostly dark Prelude in E-flat Minor (No. 14)... so well contrasted with the following melancholy serenity of the Raindrop...

These numbers and descriptions could be multiplied, as the pianist took his audience on the trip of their lifetime.  However, all journeys come to a close and our Chopin journey ended, too.

While sad to let the pianist go, we were grateful for his revelatory "other" side - the Schubert Impromptu played as an encore - or rather, an extensive, wise, virtuosic, and expressive musical farewell, that dissolved into silence thus giving the listeners something to think about, instead of making them jump to their feet in a standing ovation after a thundering cadential passage. The enthusiastic applause continued for a while after the pianist left. More, more, more - and no doubt, there will be more, as Mr. Lu will continue his musical explorations and enchantments. We will be delighted to follow the career of this young contender in the 2015 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he will encounter and compete with other precocious, brilliant talents.

Entrance to the Auditorium in South Pasadena. Photo by Maja Trochimczyk 

Eric Lu's Pasadena concert was organized by the Southwest Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, established in 2014, and dedicated to the support the young generation of American pianists, pursuing their studies and careers in the realm of classical piano. The Council focuses on the historical significance, creative implications, and a place in modern society for the music of Fryderyk Chopin and will organize concerts, recitals and competitions to spread the knowledge of classical music and Chopin,  in particular. President Christopher Onzol was joined by the creme-de-creme of California Polish-American society, including Consul for Cultural Heritage and Polonia, Hon. Ignacy Zarski, that started the event with an inspirational speech about Chopin's place in our lives and hearts, Artistic Director of Polish Film Festival in Los Angeles, Vladek Juszkiewicz, and a staunch supporter of Polish music, actress Jane Kaczmarek.

Vladek Juszkiewicz, Jane Kaczmarek, Maja Trochimczyk, Christopher Onzol and Consul Ignacy Zarski.

Photo by Katarzyna Pytlarczyk, Consulate's Intern.

At the end, Mr. Lu was surrounded by listeners, wishing the personally thank him for the afternoon of great music, and went home with a copy of our poetry anthology, "Chopin with Cherries" as seen in the picture below.  If you want to hear more performances or learn more about him, visit his channel on YouTube, listen to his version of solo piano part from Chopin's First Piano Concerto (2013), or the Nocturne op. 27 No. 2  (2015). No wonder he wins one competition after another...

Trochimczyk, Eric Lu and Consul Zarski with a copy of Chopin with Cherries.

Photo by Christopher Onzol.

To support the SW Council's work please visit the website: www.chopinswcouncil.com/membership-donation, or, to add your name to their mailing list contact: www.chopinswcouncil.com/contact-us.

Christopher Onzol, President of SW Council,Katarzyna Pytlarczyk, Eric Lu, 

Polish Consul for Cultural Heritage Ignacy Zarski, and Maja Trochimczyk.

Photo by Witold Sokolowski.

Chopin Monuments Around the World I - Warsaw, Poland (Vol. 6, No. 7)

What is the function of Chopin monuments? They do not tell us how he looked like. Maybe what he and his music meant and means...  national ideology, artistic conventions, musical myth-making... 

Photograph of Chopin by L.A. Bisson, 1849.

For his looks we could turn to the only two extant photographs of Chopin, one from 1849, with the suffering, somber pianist facing straight at the camera (taken by L.A. Bisson at the home of Chopin's publisher Maurice Schlesinger) and another one, badly damaged, yet revealing the elegant, reserved, intelligent and vulnerable man in 1846 or 1847 (a daguerreotype from Warsaw's Chopin Museum, published in 1990 by John O'Shea, reprinted and reversed by pianist-composer Jack Gibbons).  In both,  Chopin wears a tense expression, with a frown above a prominent nose. He is dressed elegantly; his hair is longish and combed back, falling somewhat over his forehead. ( A purported third photograph, of Chopin on his deathbed, surfaced in 2011 but is considered a 19th-century fake).

 

Chopin's 1846-7 daguerreotype, original (L) and reversed (R).  From Jack Gibbon's blog.

There are dozen of paintings, pencil drawings, sketches, oil portraits, of course. And then, there are monuments...  For these, Chopin is typically made larger than life, monumental, timeless.  Let's tour his image in his monuments, from bas-relief on memorial plaques, to enormous self-standing sculptures. In this part, we will visit Poland, France and other European countries - some of which Chopin lived in or visited. 

WARSAW, POLAND

Chopin Monument in Warsaw, 2012 photos by Maja Trochimczyk 

Wacław Szymanowski designed the world's most famous Chopin monument in 1907, at the height of Art Nouveau style. It took almost 20 years from the concept to implementation, and the monument went through several reincarnations prior to being built.  It was finally erected in 1926 in the upper part of Warsaw's Royal Baths (Łazienki) Park, visible from the Aleje Ujazdowskie boulevard, with a large reflective pond in front of the bronze statue of the composer seated by a willow bent by the force of wind... 

Chopin Monument in Lazienki Park, detail, photo by Maja Trochimczyk 

Every time I visit Warsaw I stop over at the monument, depicted here with lovely blues and greens of the spring.  I really do not like it. It must be some kind of a morbid fascination, then... But only now, after looking at the photographs, I noticed that it shows the suffering, inspired pianist in reverse, with the lock of hair above the frown flowing dramatically to the left, from hair parted on the right.  The historical accuracy has to give in to the artistic vision... For a detailed story of the concept and genesis of the monument read the article by Waldemar Okon, "The Monument of Fryderyk Chopin by Waclaw Szymanowski: Concepts and Reality" in The Age of Chopin, edited by Halina Goldberg, 2004. 

Chopin Monument in the Lazienki Park, details. 2012 Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

For those who do not know, the Monument that we see now is not the original bronze cast erected in 1926 - that one was destroyed by the Germans on May 31, 1940, as depicted on the photograph below.

Photo by an unknown author reproduced from Leszek Wysznacki, Warszawa od wyzwolenia do naszych dni, Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa 1977, p. 180, uploaded to Wikipedia by Boston9.

The rebuilt statue was dedicated in 1958, with an inscription on the side of the pedestal documenting this aspect of its history. Noon Chopin recitals are performed at the base of the statue every Sunday (in good weather) since 1959. You can listen to a brief fragment of Fantaisie - Impromptu from 2007 (amateur video), or to a longer 10-minute fragment of a recital by Piotr Latoszyński from 14 September 2014

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There are many other "faces" of Chopin in Warsaw, stylized from his hand-drawn or painted portraits, that appear on a variety of memorial tablets in Warsaw, the city of his youth and studies.  Some have been there for decades, others were created and placed on the occasion of his bicentennial in 2010. 

Photo from Wikipedia

A plaque from 2010 commemorates the 8-year-old child prodigy in his first public performance that took place in today's Presidential Palace, Warsaw, The concert was organized by the Warsaw Philanthropic Society (Towarzystwo Dobroczynnosci) and took place on 24 February 1818.

Chopin Museum in Ostrogski Palace Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

From there it is not too far to Palac Ostrogskich on Tamka Street (also rebuilt after the war), now the Chopin Museum, that houses many Chopin sculptures, portraits and documents, among them the first, and most realistic sculpture of the composer, his death mask, made in plaster by the husband of Solange, George Sand's daughter, Auguste Clesinger. 

Chopin Death Mask by Auguste Clesinger, in Chopin Museum. Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

An altogether different image - youthful, happy  Chopin with a pompadour - appears on the bas-relief adorning the plaque in the Holy Cross Church, on the pillar where the urn with Chopin's heart is preserved. Smuggled into Poland after his death by sister Ludwika Jedrzejewicz, Chopin's heart was permanently entombed inside that pillar in 1882, with a tablet by Leonard Marconi.  The inscription from Matthew VI:21 ("For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also") explains Chopin's deathbed wish that his sister was instrumental in realizing - by taking his heart back home, to Poland.  The pillar, along with the whole church, was completely destroyed by Germans after the Warsaw Uprising, but they removed the heart for safekeeping before doing so. Now it is safely enshrined in the church pillar again.

Entrance to the Holy Cross Church on Krakowskie Przedmiescie with the Christ sculpture, and 

the "Sursum Corda" Inscription (Lift Up Your Hearts), Photo 2014 by Maja Trochimczyk.

Pillar with Chopin's heart (left) in Holy Cross Church

 in Warsaw. Photo by Maja Trochimczyk, 2010

A closeup of the tablet with  its inscription and Chopin's bust.

2010 Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

Another plaque is found on the walls of the building where the Chopin family lived in 1820, now belonging to the campus of the University of Warsaw. As a graduate of the university, that incorporated the Warsaw Lyceum where Nicolas Chopin taught in the 1810s and 1820s, I feel quite connected to Chopin, even if my classes were in a far-off Geology building somewhere on the way to the airport (musicology being the study of petrified music, does belong with geology, no?).   I took this picture during the Second International Chopin Congress in 1999 and now cannot find it.

Malgorzata Kalicinska, Chopin and Maja Trochimczyk, 2010.

Instead, I found two photographs of Chopin's busts, one from Palac Kazimierzowski during the Third International Chopin Congress in 2010 (with Malgorzata Kalicinska), and one in the foyer of my other alma mater, Chopin Academy of Music, formerly known as F. Chopin State Higher School of Music and currently named Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.

Facing Chopin in Warsaw, 2012. Photo by Nikodem Wolk-Laniewski

.

There were also quite a few official flags of the school, with its changing name and unchanging, iconic Chopin's profile. 

 

Official flags of the Chopin Academy (1970s-1990s) and the renamed Chopin University (current).

Having measured my nose against Chopin, and having lost that nose-to-nose competition, I went for a walk around town, and found Chopin everywhere. Well, not his likeness, but his music - present on recordings mounted into 14 dark basalt (or black marble) benches, with carved maps and captions. This was a gift to the city created for Chopin's bicentennial, marking the places important to his biography (the church he played the organ, the home where he lived, the place where he boarded the stagecoach to take him to Vienna, and then Stuttgart, and Paris). The benches are still attractive and educational, even though a few of the "press-the-button" music boxes stopped working by 2014 when I photographed them again. In any case, these are wonderful elements of Warsaw's landscape that capture the attention of passerby and, occasionally, fill the air with Chopin's music. 

Here is the bench place at the edge of the Plac Zamkowy, the opposite side of the street 

from St. Anne's Church.  Below is a fragment of the map. 

Chopin Music Bench. February 2010 photos by Maja Trochimczyk. 

Chopin Music Bench on Plac Krasinskich (Krasinski Square)

2014 Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

Map on the bench on Plac Krasinskich, yellow marks the location, the starting point.

2014 Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

Here's the list of Chopin Music Benches with their location and music played at each, the tour is described on Warsaw's official tourist page, though with musical errors in captions that I corrected below. 

List of Chopin Music Bench Locations (according to Visit Chopin in Warsaw site, with added musical links to historical recordings of featured works):

1) The Krasiński Square – This square used to house the National Theatre building, where in March 1830 Fryderyk Chopin presented his famous Concerto in F minor.  This was also where in October 1830 he played his last farewell concert before leaving the country. The building does not exist any more and there is the Warsaw Uprising Monument on the square instead.  Krasiński Square – MAZURKA in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4; 39” - Listen to a version recorded by Arthur Rubinstein. 

2) The Miodowa Street – The entire social life of the capital used to be concentrated here. The local cafes, such as Pod Kopciuszkiem, Dziurka and Honoratka - the venues of meetings for artists and young people - were visited by Chopin almost on a daily basis.  Miodowa Street - MAZURKA in A minor, Op. 68; 34” - Listen to a version  recorded by Serge Rachmaninoff 

3) The Kozia Street – This narrow street used to be an important transport route in Chopin’s times. The U Brzezińskiej cafe was his favourite place to visit. Kozia Street – “HULANKA” song; 29” - Listen to a version recorded by Andrzej Hiolski, baritone.

3) The Music Conservatory – The place which now features a square over the East-West Underpass used to house the Music Conservatory where Fryderyk Chopin studied musical composition. Music Conservatory – WALTZ in E-flat major, Op. 18; 39”  - Listen to the Grande Valse Brillante Op. 18 No. 2 played by Garrick Ohlsson

4) The Wessel Palace – This was where on November 2nd 1830 Fryderyk Chopin got on a stagecoach and set out on his trip to fame – to Vienna and further to Paris. Wessel Palace – GRANDE POLONAISE in E-flat major, Op. 22; 35” - Listen to a version recorded by Krystian Zimerman in 1979.

5) The Radziwiłł Palace – This was where on February 24th 1818 Fryderyk Chopin, aged 8, gave his first public performance. Radziwiłł Palace located on Krakowskie Przedmiescie 387, now houses Polish government offices - RONDO in C minor, Op.1; 32” - Listen to a version recorded by Vladimir Askenazy.

6) The Saxon Palace (Palac Saski) – The Chopin family moved here in 1810, after Fryderyk’s father had accepted a job at the famous Warsaw Lyceum, which used to occupy part of the palace’s rooms. Saski Palace - MAZUREK in B-flat major, Op. 7 No. 1; 36” - Listen to a version recorded by Henryk Sztompka in 1959

7) The Saxon Garden (Ogrod Saski) – This was where the young Chopin entertained while he and his family resided at the Saski Palace (the former seat of the Warsaw Lyceum). Saski Garden – NOCTURNE in B major, Op. 9 No. 3; 47” - Listen to a version by Guiomar Novaes, 1959, the Nocturne starts at 9'53''

8) The Visitants’ Church – In Chopin’s times Sunday masses for students of the Warsaw Lyceum used to take place here, during which Fryderyk Chopin, aged 15, used to play the organ, performing the function of the Lyceum organist. The Visitants’ Church - LARGO in E-flat major (Op. posth.); 46” - listen to the Largo played by Anatol Ugorski.

9) The Kazimierzowski Palace – In 1817 the Warsaw Lyceum, and the newly-established Warsaw University, were located here. The Chopin family came to reside in the right-hand annexe (the Deputy Rector’s Building). Kazimierzowski Palace - WALTZ in E minor (Op. posth.); 45” - Listen to four historical interpretations of the Waltz from the early 1900s: Moriz Rosenthal, Leopold Godowsky (starts at 2'58''), Sergei Rachmaninoff (4'45''), and Josef Hofmann (recording of 1916, starts at 6'36''). 

10) The Czapski Palace – The Chopin family moved here in 1827 and Fryderyk got a room in a small garret, equipped with a piano. Located at Krakowskie Przedmiescie no. 5, it now houses the Academy of the Fine Arts.  The former residence of the Chopin family, located on the second floor, now features the Chopin Parlour museum with period furnishings. The Czapski Palace – WALTZ in D-flat major, Op. 64 No 1; 42” - Listen to Valentina Lisitsa playing the "Minute Waltz" in 1'48'' with extra slow trio and a wide range of tempi. 

11) The Holy Cross Church – the place where Chopin’s heart rests.Holy Cross Church – FUNERAL MARCH (Marche funebre) from SONATA in B-flat Minor, Op. 35; 45” - listen to a fascinating interpretation by Ivo Pogorelic from the early 1980s, the March starts at 17'18''.

12) The Zamoyski Palace – Chopin’s sister, who gathered the souvenirs of her brother, used to live here. In 1863 an attempt on the life of a Tsar’s governor was made through the palace windows, in retaliation for which all the tenants were removed from their flats and their entire property was destroyed. Among the objects thrown through the windows and burned was Chopin’s piano. Zamoyski Palace – ETUDE in C minor, Op. 10 No. 12; 42”  - Listen to an interpretation of the "Revolutionary Etude" by Stanislaw Bunin from 1985, the year he won the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (2'37'')

13) The Gniński - Ostrogski Palace – The seat of the Fryderyk Chopin Museum, next to which the Chopin Centre is located. Gniński – Ostrogski Palace – BALLADE in F minor, Op. 52; 42” - Listen to an interpretation recorded by Krystian Zimerman for the Polish TV in ca. 1979, four years after he won the Chopin Piano Competition (11'22'').

14) The Fryderyk Chopin Monument in Lazienki Park – The most famous monument of the composer in the world is located in the Łazienki or Łazienkowski (Royal Baths) Park, opposite the park gate in Aleje Ujazdowskie, near Belvedere. The Fryderyk Chopin Monument – POLONAISE in A major, Op. 40 No. 1; 39” - Listen to the "Military" Polonaise played by Josef Hofmann in 1923 (3'21''), by Arthur Rubinstein in 432 Hz natural tuning of the piano (3'45''), with its dramatic tempo differences and heroic expression, by Halina Czerny-Stefanska in the 1970s (5'16''), with its plodding, systematic, pedagogical evenness, or by that maverick of Las Vegas pianists, Liberace (3'23''), playing it as musically as the grand old masters.

Chopin Monument, 2012  Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

Martin Willitts, Jr. Discusses Chopin's Music and Poetry (Vol. 6, No. 6)

A talented poet, musician, gardener, healer, and a Quaker, Martin Willitts, Jr., is also a retired librarian, a publisher and an artist, working on paper cutouts. He contributed to two of my anthologies, Chopin with Cherries (2010) and Meditations on Divine Names (2012). In June 2015, he and his wife, also a Quaker and a poet, Linda Griggs, welcomed me to their  home. They took me on a sight-seeing tour of Syracuse, New York, including a splendid rose garden in the rain, and organized a reading for me for the Palace Poetry Group at DeWitt Community Library.

Having spent all this time with these two fascinating individuals and poets, I decided to share Martin's poems about Chopin on this blog, and publish an interview I conducted with him by email, about poetry and Chopin's music.

Martin Willitts Jr. and Linda Griggs, Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

MARTIN WILLITTS Jr.'s POEMS ABOUT CHOPIN

THE ENEMY IS IN THE HOUSE

“The enemy is in the house (...) Oh God, do you exist? You do and yet you do not avenge. -  Have you not had enough of Moscow’s crimes - or - or are You Yourself a Muscovite (...) I here, useless! And I here empty-handed. At times I can only groan, suffer, and pour out my despair at my piano!”

                                                — Chopin, 1831, learning that Poland

                                                      had been defeated by Russian armies.

The piano cannot stop wars, nor lift the dead,

nor block the door. I am numb, empty handed,

wondering why you cannot stop this silence

deadly as bullets. There are no avenging angels crying.

The Russians are shooting notes of despair

and all I can do is huddle in the sheet music of snow.

Paris is the gathering place of defeated friends,

failed politicians, grieving mothers and wounded artists.

There are exiles everywhere speaking Polish sadness.

I cannot pound the keys on my piano loud enough.

I shall never return to my homeland.

I shall not give in to the Russian demands.

I shall not let one note from my fingers serve them.

The enemy is in the house.

It does not mean they can trample the rugs with mud.

We have a saying where I come from.

If a stranger stays uninvited, then call him a friend

and mistreat him like a friend, then he will go away

thinking your false friendship is real as butter on bread.

It is like playing with a piano one-handed. It can be done,

but not as well as with two hands.

It is like a gun without bullets.

It is like a person without a home.

Published in "Chopin with Cherries," 2010, p. 24

DISCORD

1.  Chopin to George Sand, 1847

The delicate touch you felt on your neck

is the same as on a piano, with the same lyrical rush,

the music of leaves in the resolute winds.

It is the same idiomatic language of geese leaving.

My heart has the same feeling, restless, yearning.

When I play a rondo, no one can hear the silence after.

I leave these early movements behind

like I must leave you.

Some things are finished when they are finished.

I thought of returning to you.

I hesitated at your window.

I knew if you saw me with that melodic look you have,

it would enrapture me.

Our bodies would become counterpoints.

But it would be fragmentary motifs. Textural nuances

of what used to be.

Our love was illicit, some say.

I say, it was melodic, rhythmic, and full of music.

Our love was repetitions of a single note.

You criticized me for my primitive sense of form

when we would lie in bed, soaked in harmonic intonations.

You were right about me as well as everything else.

I cannot help being in the soundscape of textures,

in the lightness of sound, in the last moment leaving you.

For life is opening one door and descending unknown stairs.

2. George Sand to “beloved little corpse”

You could not stand a woman who did not act like a woman

except in bed. Even then you were horrified

by the idea a woman could enjoy passion.

What were all those compositions of love-soaked music then?

You were not my first lover and you will not be my last.

A woman should pick and choose who will enter her bedroom.

You shake your head, expecting me to fall for your music like others.

A woman cannot be a slave to men.

You will not allow us to be equal.

So what choice do I have?

What choice does any woman have?

I changed my name so I could publish what scandalizes you.

Women have a right to sincere love and I will write about it.

I shall write about my desires and disappointments.

I will not miss you. I will only find another.

What have you done recently?

Note: “Beloved little corpse” was her name for Chopin due to his numerous sicknesses.

 Published in "Chopin with Cherries" p. 131-132.

OPUS 21

Blackened corpses of stars are going nova.
All day, it has been crackling with heat insects.
I say, it is God’s voice telling us something important.
The heat grinds us for not listening.
We cannot seem to leave well enough alone.
Our futile attempts to improve or streamline life
only makes it worse.

Sheet music’s passages of wildness — briars
and milkweed sends music into trumpets of wind —
this melody heals stunted saplings, brings Light
to darkened air, finding cures for emptiness —

Light! — come fill us! Heal the forgotten!


Published online in the Black Poppy Review, with the Opus series.

INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN WILLITTS, JR.

Maja Trochimczyk's Question: What does Chopin mean for you? What do you like about his music?

Martin Willitts, Jr.'s Answer: I was playing piano at an early age. I am not sure when I started, but by the time I entered Kindergarten (about 5) I was already playing classical music: Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, Brahms, Chopin, and others. I eventually played with a full orchestra in Syracuse, New York. I was also playing chamber music. At one point, I played the Brandenburg Concertos by Bach on the harpsichord.

What I liked about Chopin was all the different styles of music: etudes; polonaises; waltzes; nocturnes, sonatas, and preludes. I think his most challenging piece was Prelude in D-flat Major, Opus 28, No, 15, often called “raindrop” for its sound. I never felt I could exactly get that sound right. I felt it was better plucked by bow on a violin, stretching the open E string.

I have written a series of poems based on the concept of the Opus; and I have titled a number of poems as “Nocturne” as I think of the Chopin and Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Opus 9, No. 2, and others. Although I have not played piano since I was about 12, I still recall the sounds, techniques, fingering, and exactness of pitch. When I lost my hearing, I lost pitch, then I quit playing; but I still hear the music in my head.

Q: What types of music have you studied, or played?

I was bored with classical as a child. I needed something to challenge me. I do not remember why I felt this way, but the structure was boring my creativity. I discovered Jazz, and switched from piano to mandolin. My grandfather had this mandolin from when he was a Union organizer. It has a metal plate resonator making high pitch sounds. My grandfather gave it to me when I tried the “raindrop” from the Preludes. Some people call this mandolin a dobro-mandolin, and I would bottle-neck it like a steel guitar player or a Blues slide guitar player.

I played on live radio some swing Jazz, fast tempo, improvisational fingering. Because a mandolin has double strings, I would trill notes (playing notes really fast), and because of the high scales, I was able to go extremely high compared to a piano. By this time, all I was interested in was individual notes and I abandoned all chord structures and sight reading.

For a while I played in coffeehouses with folk singers, and the people I played with became famous later. I decided I did not like the egos involved in band structures. Vietnam interrupted my playing, and I lost perfect-pitch.

When we met, I talked about the mathematics in music, and suggested there were two kinds of composers: the ones who stressed the math and tried to treat music as a mathematical formula; and those who wrote and/or played from the heart. There is an awareness of the metronome and the music signature at the top of the sheet music that tells you the measure and pace. The famous Jazz piece “Take-Five” performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet is E-Flat Minor, quintuple (5/4) time.

Martin Willitts Jr. with his antique mandoline. 

Q: What is it about music that appeals to you?

A: I listen to all types of music, including contemporary. When I listen, I am focused on the notes, their technique, what they do differently, how they play solos or work with the group. If the band only knows three chords or repeat too often, I lose interest. It also helps if I hear the music without seeing the musicians, so I am not judging them by their “name” or appearance. A good example was the contemporary singer Lady Gaga singing Sound Of Music. I was surprised at her vocal range.

Q: Why do you write poetry?

I became interested in poetry accidentally. If someone had asked me about poetry when I was a teenager, I would have thought they were crazy. Schools do a lousy job at promoting poetry. I originally thought of writing drama. I took a creative writing course to find out if I was good at it. The first day, the teacher said they would only read and talk about poetry. I am the kind of person who hears that as a challenge. At first, I was better than the average beginner. Over time, I would like to think I have become better.

I tend to write like a Jazz musician in that I improvise while writing. I tend to write thematically. I write several poems in a short burst of energy. When you play live music, you learn to perform on one-take, and if you make a mistake, you must continue. I disliked multiple attempts at recording music. When I was a session musician, I had in my contract about the one-take concept. If they wanted to re-record, I was already packing up. I seldom revise for this same reason, because I am revising as I am writing.

Sometimes, the classical musician in me will set aside a poem for revision. I will become overly cautious about every word, the value of each word, the structure of the line, the way it appears on the page, the punctuation, the imagery, and the phrasing of a line.

I have opposite viewpoints about writing. Sometimes, I do not trust my poems and I wonder if I am good enough. Other times I trust whatever I write. There are times I want to destroy everything; and other times the urge to write is overwhelming. I range from the highly structure to the totally unstructured compositions. I think of Chopin: how he must have felt, looking at the blank sheet music, wanting to fill it all in faster than he could write.

I am a retired Librarian. Over thirty years of the same reference questions, I reached to the point I knew a lot of subjects. I tend to bring all that information into the poems: history, art, politics, social issues, plant identification, spirituality, and other subjects.

Martin Willitts Jr. with one of his papercuts. 

ABOUT MARTIN WILLITTS, JR.

Martin Willitts Jr is a retired Librarian living in Syracuse, New York. He was nominated for 11 Pushcart and 11 Best of the Net awards. He provided his hands-on workshop “How to Make Origami Haiku Jumping Frogs” at the 2012 Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Winner of the 2012 Big River Poetry Review’s William K. Hathaway Award ; co-winner of the 2013 Bill Holm Witness Poetry Contest; winner of the 2013 “Trees” Poetry Contest; winner of the 2014 Broadsided award; winner of the 2014 Dylan Thomas International Poetry Contest.

He has over 20 chapbooks including "Swimming in the Ladle of Stars" (Kattywompus Press,2014),“City Of Tents” (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2014), “The Way Things Used To Be” (Writing Knights Press, 2014), and “Late All Night Sessions with Charlie “the Bird” Parker and the Members of Birdland, in Take-Three” (A Kind Of a Hurricane Press, 2015). He has 8 full length poetry books including ), national ecological award winner for “Searching for What You Cannot See” (Hiraeth Press, 2013), “Before Anything, There Was Mystery” (Flutter Press, 2014), and “Irises, the Lightning Conductor For Van Gogh's Illness” (Aldrich Press, 2014).

His forthcoming books include “Martin Willitts Jr, Greatest Hits” (Kattywompus Press), “How to Be Silent” (FutureCycle Press), “God Is Not Amused With What You Are Doing In Her Name” (Aldrich Press).

He wrote a collection of poems numbered “Opus” poems which have appeared in the following magazines (some under different titles): Big River Poetry Review, Blue Heron Review, Kentucky Review, Literature Today, Love Notes (anthology), Moon Magazine, Page & Spine, Black Poppy Review, Poppy Road Review, and Seven Circles Press. You can read the Black Poppy Review Opus Poems here.