Chopinā€™s Fantaisie-Impromptu: Masterpiece or Melodrama?

For a century-and-a-half, Chopinā€™s so-called ā€œFantaisie-Impromptuā€ has captivated legions of listeners and provided an ideal showpiece for aspiring virtuosos to cut their teeth. tonebase Head of Piano Ben Laude takes a deep dive into the work ā€“ its controversial history as well as its compositional structure ā€“ while offering tips for practice and interpretation. Along the way, heā€™ll consider what gives the piece its allure and where it ranks in Chopinā€™s output. Featuring a full performance and Q&A session.

 

Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:           

 

https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/chopin-fantaisie-impromptu-ben-laude

 

 

 

We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!           

  • What questions do you have on this topic?
  • Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
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  • I was only able to watch a short bit of this when it was live, but was very happy to watch the rest of it from the archive. Great presentation, Ben! Thank you!!!

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  • Hi Ben ! I had to go pretty early during the live event, but have watched threw it now. I learned a lot so thank you.

     

    I must say the comparison between the editions was very interesting, because we really got to see Chopins mindset particularly with voice leading. So I enjoyed that a lot, also from a composers view. It's always nice to have a little analysis and some background Information. 

     

    I must say that I think Chopin created this as an improvisation using the line of notes from the cadenza of moonlight sonata (3rd movement). He obviously had that in mind when he started playing it. If he draw other influences from the work as well, I would say maybe, but I would call this extremely clever as an improvisation over Beethovens work.  

     

    Anyway, great class, and I also liked how you showed us different recordings and ways to ornament the piece. Otherwise it is very repetitive. Thank you. 

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  • Check out Moschelec impromptu! Written the same year... But ignore intro.

    The inversions from end of first part could be the ones in coda.

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    • Karol
    • Karol.2
    • 2 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    What pedaling from bar 127 do you use there?

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