Chopin Soloist in Performance of His Own Piano Concerto No.1

Classical Music Dateline: October 11, 1830.

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 performed with the composer himself as soloist.

This day, on October 11, 1830, Polish composer Frederic Chopin was soloist in his Piano Concerto No. 1 in Warsaw Theatre.

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, written was first performed on 11 October 1830, in Warsaw, Poland, with the composer as soloist, during one of his “farewell” concerts before leaving his native land.

It was the first of Chopin’s two piano concertos to be published, and therefore given the designation of Piano Concerto “No. 1″ at the time of publication, however, it was written immediately after what was later published, his famous Piano Concerto No. 2.

Piano Concerto No. 1 is scored for solo piano, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, tenor, trombone, timpani and strings.

The concerto contains three movements which was typical of the period:

1. Allegro maestoso
2. Romance – Larghetto
3. Rondo – Vivace

This piece has been performed and recorded numerous times. Classical critics usually fall into two: the first group argues that given Chopin was a composer solely for the piano, the orchestral part of this piece acts more as a vehicle for him as a pianist; the other group of critics though suggests that the orchestral backing is carefully written to fit in with the piano, and the simplicity of arrangement is a deliberate contrast to the harmony’s complexity.

Russian composer Mily Balakirev re-orchestrated the concerto, wrote arrangements for violin and orchestra, as well as for piano solo of the second movement, Romance – Larghetto movement.

You may want to check out a brief biography of Chopin – Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin.

*Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (2nd Movement: Romance – Larghetto)* 

Sources:

• Piano Concerto No. 1: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• Wade-Matthews, Max and Tompson, Wendy. The Encyclopedia of Music. Hermes House (2004).

Video Credit from YouTube:

Piano Concerto No. 1 (2nd Movement:  Romance – Larghetto) uploaded by TheSpadeCaller