By interweaving biography and musical commentary, Jim Samson has produced a well-rounded portrait of Chopin, the man and the musician.

Chopin's four ballades are widely regarded as being amongst the most significant extended works for solo piano of the nineteenth century. In an illuminating discussion, Jim Samson combines history and analysis to provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of these popular piano works. He begins by investigating the social and musical background to Chopin's unique style. He describes the manuscript sources and evaluates the many subsequent printed editions, then considers the critical reception of the ballades and the differing interpretations of well-known nineteenth- and twentieth-century pianists. The final two chapters examine the music of all four works analytically. There is a clearly presented formal synopsis of each ballade in turn, followed by a discussion of the works collectively which explores Chopin's own conception of the title 'ballade' and how it may be understood as a musical genre.

The following is a collection of ballads and rhymes written by Andrew Lang, a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. Featured titles in this book include Ballade of the Midnight Forest, Ballade of Dead Cities, and Ballade of the Royal Game of Golf.

Reproduction of the original: Ballades and Verses Vain by Andrew Lang

Frédéric Chopin's four ballades, composed between 1835 and 1842, are some of the most challenging pieces in the standard piano repertoire. The term "ballade" was associated with French poetry until the mid-19th century, when Chopin was among the first to pioneer the ballade as a musical form. Titles: * No. 1, Op. 23, in G minor * No. 2, Op. 38, in F major * No. 3, Op. 47, in A-flat major * No. 4, Op. 52, in F minor

(PWM). In his "Ballades" Chopin created a new, typically Romantic genre not known in earlier instrumental music. Includes the four Ballades: No. 1 in minor, Op. 23; No.2 in F major, Op. 38; No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47; No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52. This Urtext edition includes ossia marked by Chopin himself or inscribed in his hand in pupils' copies. The National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin Published by PWM Exclusively Distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation Co-Editors Jan Ekier and Pawel Kaminski The objective of the National Edition is to present Chopin's complete output in its authentic form, based on the entire body of available sources. Sources were analyzed with up-to-date scientific and musicological methodology. The National Edition was based on sources originated from the composer, mainly autographs, copies of autographs and first editions with the composer's corrections, and pupils' copies with Chopin's annotations. In cases when original sources were lacking, the closest possible materials were used. Collecting the source materials was a laborious task which took years of effort. The characteristics of sources, the links and discrepancies between them as well as the reasons for particular editorial decisions are discussed in the Source Commentary in each volume. The Performance Commentary appended to each volume includes: the realization of ornaments, comments on pedal markings (the original markings sometimes are inadequate, due to the difference in sound between pianos used in Chopin`s times and modern pianos), suggestions as to the "harmonic legato" (a performance technique often used by Chopin and now forgotten). About the National Edition Full Introduction to the Polish National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin

Chopin's Polish Ballade examines the Second Ballade, Op. 38, and how that work gave voice to the Polish cultural preoccupations of the 1830s, using musical conventions from French opera and amateur piano music. This approach provides answers to several persistent questions about the work's form, programmatic content, and poetic inspiration.

Soft bound music score for piano.