Chopin – Prelude in C Major, Op. 28 No. 1

The following concerns the collection of Opus 28 Preludes as a whole… This information is the same for any of the reference pages concerning the opus.

From “preluding” to “prelude”: Before Chopin’s Op. 28 Preludes hit the scene, a composition titled “prelude” was meant to mimic the improvisatory “preluding” that many pianists did when first sitting down to perform. If this concept is unfamiliar to you, watch the start of this video from the first Chopin Competition on Period Instruments. There’s “preluding” in the first thirty seconds of the video before the etude begins. The preludes of Chopin’s Op. 28 transcended this realm and entered the domain of compositionally-interesting, self-contained works.

Getting Organized!  Chopin wrote these preludes between 1835 and their publication in 1839. This included the 1838-39 winter where he was relaxing in Valldemosa, Majorca with George Sand and her children.  It’s still a great vacation spot and now has a “Museum of Chopin and George Sand.” Like any good traveler, Chopin remembered to take  his copy of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier with him. Did this influence the structure of his preludes? An obvious point related to the first prelude specifically is that both Chopin and Bach start their collections with a prelude consisting of broken arpeggios. More importantly, many point out the obvious connection that both collections consist of pieces in each major and minor key.  (Bach organized these by rising semitone while Chopin organized them in a circle of fifths). Some argue that Chopin’s arrangement is conducive to a performance of the entire Op. 28 as a whole, which might have been Chopin’s intent (Alfred Cortot was the first to do this in 1926). Others point out (like Marilyn Meier in her dissertation) that Chopin himself never played more than four in any given sitting.

Better than Kessler! The manuscript of Chopin’s preludes shows a dedication to Joseph Christoph Kessler, which probably contradicts the dedication seen in the edition you’re using.  Kessler wrote 24 preludes of his own in 1831 (Op. 31). Maybe one shouldn’t make too much of the Bach connection above considering that Chopin may have simply been trying to one-up Kessler with a collection of his own!  Although Kessler remained the dedicatee of the first German edition, the primary dedicatee of his Op. 28 was changed to Camille Pleyel because…well…money talks!

The Man With the Cash! Camille Pleyel was a major piano entrepreneur of his time.  He could play, he published music, he ran a concert hall, he owned a firm that manufactured pianos…which explains why he could not only afford to commission Chopin’s Op. 28 preludes for 2,000 francs ^[1]Page 213 of Huneker’s Chopin Biography but also give him a piano for his writing! As the preludes were finished, a lot of historical documentation revolved around Pleyel.  Two letters exist from January 22, 1839…  The first to Julian Fontana where Chopin says that Fontana will soon be receiving the preludes and is to copy them with “Wolff,” give one of these copies to “Probst,” and send the manuscript to Pleyel.  The second letter to Pleyel himself says that Pleyel would receive the preludes from Fontana and that they were completed using Pleyel’s piano…a piano remaining undamaged during shipping, despite the sea, bad weather and the Parma customs office (some Chopin humor). And finally, a later letter to Fontana exists from March 1839 changing the Op. 28 dedicatee to Pleyel on the condition that Pleyel will “agree to leave out the Ballade.” If not, the dedication should be changed to Schumann.

What Others Thought: Schumann was surprised, initially expecting pieces “in the grand style of his studies” but finding “sketches, the beginning of studies, or, if you will, ruins, eagle’s feathers, all strangely intermingled”…but all distinctively Chopin.  Liszt said they were characterized by a youthful vigor that was lacking in some of his later works ^[2]Quotes on Pages 120-121 of Huneker’s Chopin Biography.

Ekier International Edition: The clear leader in terms of accuracy, research, and reputation in publications of Chopin’s piano music is the Ekier International Edition.  Edited by Jan Ekier and Paweł Kamiński, it was backed financially by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.  The instructional material for the International Chopin Competition recommends it. Don’t argue against this edition until reading the appendices where the research process is described.  Other editions may be recommended as a first-choice by some who are simply not aware of this latest project.

Edited by Carl Mikuli: Other editions are usually safe to use for this particular prelude. An example of what is faced when using a lesser edition can be seen by looking at the Mikuli-edited edition (often appearing in a Dover publication with a green cover as seen here). This edition has inconsistencies and errors present in other preludes, but for the C Major prelude, it is safe to use. There is a “pp” marking in the penultimate measure that is not authentic, although it’s harmless. The crescendo in measure 13 and stretto in measure 17 are accurate.  The beaming of the inner voice taken by the right-hand thumb is logical and matches any good edition. You can feel comfortable studying Op. 28 No. 1 if this is the edition you have on hand.

Trivia Concerning Early Editions: 

• In the first French edition from 1839, the final measure contains an extra E in the sustained notes of the left hand! It’s neat to see how this slipped in here.
• A huge issue is found in the second printing of the first German edition (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1878. Plate C. VI. 1-24). This second printing introduced a number of errors, including changing the rhythm of the quintuplet measures of this prelude!!!!  These measures (18-20, 23, and 25-26) were printed with the same rhythm as the other measures of the piece. The correct rhythm can be seen in an ossia part written above.

Pianists face major interpretive decisions with this prelude: How does one distinguish between the two differing rhythms in this piece?  Measures of sixteenth-note triplets are interrupted by quintuplets (measures 18-20, 23, and 25-26).  The interior voice taken by the thumb of the right hand consists of longer note values.  When and how often does this melody take precedence over the highest pitches? The Ekier International Edition (a scholarly edition recommended for the International Chopin Competition, see above) addresses this issue. This edition suggests stressing the eight-note in the right hand (the sole eighth note at the halfway point of the measure) for the sextuplets, and the first note of the right hand for the quintuplets.  The Martha Argerich recording below is an example of this, especially in the first dozen measures or so. But the recording recommendations below demonstrate the multitude of ways that pianists chose to highlight voicing and rhythm in this work.

Another item to be considered in interpretation is the tempo marking of Agitato.  It means what it means, and those who try to justify interpretations that are too serene and cozy risk defying the composer’s indication. The Sokolov recording below, although interesting in many ways, seems to defy a sense of Agitato.

Readers wanting to delve really, really, really in depth, should read Chopin’s Prelude in C Major Revisited: Integrating Sound and Symbol in Music Theory Online (Vol. 13 Issue 1). It closely examines a variety of the recordings below including Busoni, De Larrocha, Moravec, and Sokolov, and compares the performances to varying theoretical analyses of the work.

1. Martha Argerich – October 1975 (YouTube, Amazon) – Argerich plays this prelude in one rhythmic pulse per measure, a choice likely to highlight Chopin’s Agitato indication. She begins by clearly stressing the right-hand eighth note in the sixteenth-note triplets and the first note in the quintuplets (as recommended in the Ekier edition).  To be really picky, if this was her intent, one can hear a slight missed opportunity in not entirely reverting the stress back to the midpoint of measures 21-22 and 27. A must-have recording.

2. Ferruccio Busoni – (YouTube, Amazon) – After hearing Argerich’s recording, in one pulse per measure, you might find yourself wondering, what would she sound like with five shots of espresso?  That would be the Busoni interpretation. Do realize that this is a piano roll recording! Despite inherent limitations, it is a noteworthy historical landmark from an era when performers had more freedom to stray from the score and give more personal interpretations.

3. Alicia de Larrocha – (YouTube, Amazon) – Her frequent clipping of the midpoint of the right-hand melody lends a hint of “Agitato” to the interpretation. Notable for the lilt produced by this effect, De Larrocha’s interpretation seems to be a more musically acceptable version of this performance by Constance Keene (not sure where the rest between measure 32-33 comes from in the Keene).

4. Evgeny Kissin – (YouTube, Amazon) – An example of always accenting the first note of the right-hand regardless of rhythm in addition to the peak of the melody. This neutralizes the effect of the appearance of the quintuplet. For example, waiting for the quintuplet to accent the first note of the right hand could allow one to sense the sixteenth-rest in bar 27 very strongly. This interpretation is fine if one views the rhythmic neutralization as more flowing, but less effective if one wants crisp differences at these moments. Recommended for bold voicing choices.

5. Ivan Moravec – (YouTube, Amazon) – Recommended for an interpretation that hones in on the interior melody beginning with the first note struck by the right hand.  With many interpretations relying on the highest notes of the right-hand melody for shaping, it is important to encounter interpretations like this that deemphasize these notes and bring out the interior.

6. Arthur Rubinstein – (YouTube, Amazon) – Rubinstein’s tempo leaves room for the stretto marked in the middle of the piece. Overall, it is maybe too plodding for “Agitato.”  There is a clear distinction between the quintuplet  and sextuplet rhythms (except at measure 22). Recommended for pacing that highlights the stretto.

7. Grigory Sokolov – (YouTube, Amazon) – Sokolov never fails to capture the listener’s attention with thoughtful detail.  Although defying Chopin’s “Agitato” marking, Sokolov presents many fascinating details that allow this to be overlooked.  His careful shaping of the right hand melody notes force one to hear an overarching structural melody. Towards this end, he carefully stresses some of the initial notes of the quintuplets figures creating a sensation of counterpoint.