This helped Chopin to start the trend of nationalism in music. Chopin spent the remainder of his life largely away from Poland – it was, after all, a war zone – but he took his heritage with him, and living in another place gave him the freedom to write as he wished. Less than a month after the 20-year old Chopin left Poland, the 1830 Uprising in Warsaw began armed conflict between Poland and Russia. The political climate was beginning to intensify and calls for pride in being Polish, even independence from Poland’s powerful controller, were gaining momentum.įrederic Chopin was born in Warsaw, but his musical talent prompted a move to Paris after he completed his education. Frederic Chopin’s Unique Voiceĭuring Frederic Chopin’s short lifetime, Poland had spent years as Russian territory. During the Nazi occupation of Poland a hundred years later, Chopin’s music was banned because of the national pride that it carried. During the height of Russia/Poland conflict, after Chopin’s death, Russian soldiers destroyed Chopin’s childhood piano by throwing it out a second-story window. Some music was associated so strongly with the culture from whence the composer came that later in history it would be used as a political tool. Differences between music written in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and other major contributors to European music will be easier to hear from this point onward. We should be very thankful for this now because the sheer variety in output from composers around Europe, and even elsewhere in the world, still fills programs and concert halls today. Whether that meant choosing a vernacular language instead of Latin when composing liturgical music, writing in dance formats particular to one’s culture, such as a Polish polka or an Italian tarantella, or reflecting happenings of the surrounding political climate in one’s work by telling a literal story with music, composers were finding creative ways to express their own personal views of the world around them, which were of course biased by where they lived, what language they spoke and how they were taught. Nationalism, a love for one’s own culture, country and way of life, was a hugely influential force in music during this time. All the buildup to these conflicts, though, took place in in the years before. We are still only talking about the early 19th century, 1800-1850, and many major 19th-century conflicts, such as the Revolutions of 1848, the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the Austro-Prussian War which led to the disillusion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which took up nearly half of Europe, took place after that. Colonialism was also in full swing powerful European nations were proud of their way of life and excited to share it, wealthy enough to pay for the logistics, and buying into the competition of who could annex more offshore territories both for economic gain and sheer pride. More countries had more to be proud of, and many countries rallied for independence, liberalization over old monarchial systems, or social change. An increasingly varied class system evolved in which more people had more means, and wealth spread across the continent. The European industrial revolution created wealth, prosperity and massive urbanization in the early 19th century. We’ll see how Chopin perhaps unknowingly started a powerful trend in European music, and we’ll enjoy his gorgeous and unique works for solo piano. Taking a break from program versus absolute music, we will explore another major force at work in European art in the early Romantic period: Nationalism.
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