Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Interview
John: You started playing piano at a very young age, correct? What influenced you to start playing piano and composing music?
Frederic: You are correct young sir. I did indeed start playing piano at a very young age. I was born into a family that already bore one child. It was expected that every child should play piano in my family and in my entire town for that matter. I started lessons just like any other child with a very talented violinist named Adalbert Zywny. He taught me scales and beginner songs at first but he soon realized I had a superior talent than my sibling, and even him for the piano. I always hated playing other artist work. Even at a very young age I criticized everyone from Shubert to Mendelssohn. I wanted to write music and I knew I could write it better (Schonberg, 1997).
I moved from my small town of Zelazowa Wola Warsaw Warsaw Europe and I heard the works of some amazing artists such as Hummel, and Paganini. Although I enjoyed their pieces and their styles, I wanted to play my own pieces. I began to compose my own works and even though my teacher insisted I compose traditional sonatas, I wrote my own style of music. Many now say that I changed the rules for composers at an early age but at the time I was just writing whatever I wanted to. I was having fun. Ultimately that’s what inspired my piano playing, fun.
John: You said that your teacher wanted you to compose traditional sonatas but you wanted to compose other things. How did your teachers and mentors influence you as an artist?
Frederic: I respected my first teacher greatly. He was my role model and I wanted to impress him. He was the reason I practiced for so long everyday, so I could come to our next lesson and show off what I had done. I also loved his original opposition to my “revolutionary” work. When Adalbert told me to compose the traditional forms of music it made me want to “do my own thing” as you kids say, even more. When Aldalbert realized my desire to write my own style of music he was very supportive. He was, as I mentioned, a violinist so he was less than proficient at piano. He often times would simply sit around and watch me make up tunes off the top of my head (Dubal, 2001).
As far as artistic mentors I really had none. Most other artist’s work was boring to me. I did, however, enjoy the work of Bach. Just like me he was changing the standards for pianists of my time. His work was like no one else’s and I admired that. Soon after Aldalbert realized he could no longer teach me due to my advanced ability in piano I started taking lessons in composition from a man named Jozef Elsner. He also supported my creativity and almost never told me that what I was writing was wrong.
I enrolled at the Warsaw Conservatory in 1826. I studied piano there and only a year after I enrolled I Finished a writing piece called “La ci darem la mano”. Sound familiar? It should. It was originally written by non other than Mozart himself. I took his piece and wrote variations based off of it. This was obviously an extremely risky thing to do. The conservatory helped me greatly when writing this piece. They supported me though everything and considering it took me a year to write it and another two years to publish it, it was a great commitment to fully support me. I would not be the person I am today without my mentors and I still think of them as the people who shaped me as an artist (Dubal, 2001).
John: You were talking about Bach and how his work that was different from other work at the time. What was the artistic world like at the time you entered it?
Frederic: Well John, I keep talking about the traditional styles of music that were expected from us composers. I’m not trying to brag but I consider myself to be one of the starters for the “Romantic Era” as you all call it now. During the time I was first writing music the world was still in the “Classical Era”. During this time in music, everything was very structured and calm. You were not expected to show much emotion in your music and the pieces played were very simple. Let me explain to you what a sonata is. Some people refer to it as ABA ABA Capistrano School
It was not until around 1820 that music got more expressive. This is the era I consider myself a starter. During this era musicians broke away from the rules of the Classical Era and made their own rules. During this era emotions were not just general and suggestive, they were expressive and real. I say real because these emotions are what people were really feeing. The pieced composed in this era were pieces that exceeded 20 pages in length and each of the 20 pages are filled with raw emotion and feeling (Oracle Thinkquest Education Foundation). I was about 10 years old when this movement really started. When people heard my concerts and the pieces being written my Bach they realized that music could be used to express any feeling you wished. 10 sounds very young for my to take credit for helping start this era but you have to remember that I was writing pieces as early as 5 years old. This is the era I associate myself most with but both eras I was alive for influenced me greatly.
John: Now that we have covered what was happening musically during your upbringing, let’s talk about what was happening economically, culturally, and politically at the time.
Frederic: I hear you have an Incredible Social Studies teacher named Mrs. Andreatis so I am sure you know about the Revolutionary Era. Eveyone seemed to be unhappy. All of Europe seemed to want a revolution and they were wiling to kill to get it, Poland Poland France Poland Russia Paris Paris
John: What were some of your major accomplishments and the methods you used in your art?
Frederic: I love composing music so it is indeed hard to pick favorite pieces. Some of my most famous however are “Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 2.” This piece was originally for piano. It was lovely, a simple tune with a “ornamented right-hand tune floating above unhurried, uncluttered left hand chords” (Mcleish, 1986). This piece was later arranged for brass instruments and orchestras. One on the “revolutionary” pieces I love so much was called “Study, Op.10 No. 12.” This piece has a fast and furious right hand that is accompanied by a faster and more furious left hand, a real whopper for pianists to play. I know I tend to shun sonatas but there is one I composed that I love. It’s a dark and dramatic piece. Unlike other sonatas it is not short and sweet. It really makes you feel upset and depressed. I also had many pieces that were taken and arranged by others. I love when young artists use my work. I have toured all of Europe and played concerts for royalty. That’s quite an accomplishment if you ask me. The first piece you ever write and the first time you hear someone else playing one of your pieces are very big moments in a composer’s life.
I don’t have many methods that I regularly use. I like to mix it up. I think everyone would get bored with my compositions if I just wrote in one style of music all the time. Sometimes I write in the traditional styles of the Classical Era and sometimes I write in the free-formed methods of the Romantic Era. It really depends of what I am feeling that day. If you look at my pieces you will see that every piece is different. I love making people guess what sort of piece I will write next, I keep them guessing.
John: What moments in you life marked a turning point. What was your “big break?”
Frederic: I’m not sure I would say I had any particular “big break”. Ever since I can remember I was playing concerts for kings and royal figures. There were, however, many people and events that had a big impact on my works. For instance, you can listen to my music and find out exactly what was happening in my life, or at least how I felt about it. Right before I left for Paris Paris France
A more literal opportunity was when I was enrolled in the Warsaw Europe in 1830. This was such a giant moment for me because this was the first time I had visited France Paris Paris Paris Paris Warsaw
John: You talked about how moving to Paris
Frederic: Going into a career in the arts is a big decision to begin with. Even though I had great success as a child there was no guarantee I would continue to have success. Moving to Paris
I would hate for people to underestimate the amount of courage it took for me to write the pieces I did. I had so many critics tell me that I was out of line writing these things. They told me that I was to stick to the rules and laws already set for composers. Each piece I put out was a bug decision on my part. Each time I put out piece out I took incredible confidence that I was doing the right thing. Apart from the support of my teachers there were many people that were not as supportive. If I had opted out I would not be here today.
John: What hardships or roadblocks did you have to over come in your life?
Frederic: I had many hard moments in my life. I missed my family very much when I moved to France Poland France
There was a time in my life where I had close to no money. I was not always successful. I had not written anything new in a while and I had not made any money. Paris
John: What other limitations did you run into as both an artist and a person?
Frederic: I did not live an easy life. That is for sure. People have this perception that my life was full of glory and wealth. This is certainly not true. I was born into a middle class working family and I was a sickly child. All throughout my life I was unhealthy. I was weak and tired constantly. Eventually this is exactly what killed me. I had to overcome this obstacle every time I traveled. The weather changes absolutely killed me health wise. I had bad lungs and bad bone structure. My sister was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died from it at age 13. This was on my mind every day of every year. Not only was I emotionally distraught from this event, the possibility that I would develop this disease and also perish from it. When I was trying to develop my relationship with George Sand we spent a winter in the Spanish island of Majorca Majorca I wrote many pieces that expressed my heart ache and it ultimately helped me.
Another major setback I had to live with was my stage fright. I had dreadful stage fright. I hated concerts but they were necessary for my success. I would go around and handpick my audiences. I never had more than 300 people in the audience at a time. I would often play for the same people over and over again because I only like to play for friends and family. People are usually shocked when they hear this. If you look back into my past though you will realize that I never did play that many concerts compared to other artists. Playing for royalty made me especially nervous. I can’t say that this particular setback helped me in any way. It didn’t inspire me directly but some of my more desperate pieces I’m sure were subconsciously due to this phobia.
John: What personal Stories (anecdotes) best illustrate how you become successful in the arts.
Frederic: Well I obviously have many things that contributed to my success. There is the opposition from my peers to revolutionize music. There is the emotional heart ache that contributed to my music, and there are the political issues that troubled my homeland. I hated it when people told me that I couldn’t write the music I wanted to and be successful. If anyone telling you that what you are doing is wrong just ignore them and keep doing what you’re passionate about. When people told me this it just motivated me more to prevail and show them that I could do it. I wanted to be the best and my doubters helped that.
The emotional heart ache that plagued my life was great. I missed my family so much and I was always afraid of letting people down. I was heart broken when I had to leave my first instructor behind and move on to a new one. I loved him very much and respected him. There were also the romantic partners in my life that I had to leave behind. They rejected me and broke my heart. If this ever happens to you just use it as motivation to keep going and get through the other hard times in your life. Also my illnesses and stage fright were very hard for me. I just had to tell myself that I could get through it and that I would come out strong.
The world was a hard place to live in when I was in it. The governments were all in a bad place and needed reform. I’m thrilled that the countries got the help that they needed and the change that they needed but it was very hard for me. When not only my home country was in trouble but now my new country was in trouble to. I thought there was no safe place in the world. If this ever happens to you and you feel like you can’t go anywhere safe just no it doesn’t matter where you life, it matters what people you are with.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
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