Ballades & Images

Frédéric Chopin's first Ballade was called quot;one of his most curious compositionsquot; by Robert Schumann in a review in 1841. Indeed, the four works that eventually appeared under the title already seem peculiar for their novelty alone - before Chopin no one had ever given an instrumental work that name. The Ballades were published between 1836 and 1843, given individual opus numbers, and dedicated to contemporaries. Even if their common title seems to suggest otherwise, it is unlikely that they were meant to be understood as a cycle. Rather, it seems Chopin used them to address compositional issues in multiple ways. This quot;Ballade Projectquot;, if you will, is a key to understanding this series of works - the exploration of a kind of formal or aesthetic concept that becomes palpable as the four pieces unfold. Chopin's oeuvre, which mainly consists of piano works, contains some pieces with formal and structural implications (Waltzes, Études, Sonatas) and others with emotive associations (Nocturnes). However, by naming these works as he does, Chopin follows a preference of his time to avoid quot;a prioriquot; of definitions and chooses instead a title more open to interpretation. Even if Chopin always rejected programmatic or descriptive associations, time and again his listeners tried to impose narratives from outside the musical realm on these works. Even Schumann writes about Chopin quot;...that his Ballades were inspired by some poems of Mickiewiczquot;. This assumption may well have been motivated by the general nationalism of the day, and by the fact that Chopin was often seen as the national composer of Poland, who deserved a place next to the leading poet of his nation. This perceived connection to national poetry was probably why the Ballades, the Mazurkas, and the Polonaises came to be viewed as the quot;Polishquot; works of the composer - and also for the overly quot;Polishquot; interpretation of the second Ballade within certain circles. Rather than following any literary example, every one of these works follows a storyline on an individual and subjective level. The narrative gesture of the compositions comes in the form of the ubiquitous and flowing 6/4 or 6/8 time, bringing it into close relation to the genre of the literary folk ballad, in which magnificent acts become vividly tangible. In Chopin's adaptation for piano, the dramatic structure of the narration is composed of various musical scenes that - with the exception of the second Ballade (op. 38) - always culminate in a furious ending. Alone on the basis of this dramatic-expressive structure that climaxes in a final apotheosis - and on the basis of their length - the Ballades clearly distinguish themselves from the other works of that era. Chopin explodes the scope of a typical romantic character piece by also enriching common and popular types of virtuoso and salon music with elements and ideas from other musical forms. In doing so, he does not create an independent quot;balladequot; genre. Nevertheless, by tying together title and content of each Ballade, he succeeds in evoking the narration that already stands front and center of the literary ballad. The Four Ballades can be seen as a mixed form, a highly artificial amalgamation of virtuoso bravura pieces with tonal structures that derive from the Classical Sonata. Melodic phrases from popular types of music are tied to inherent drama, completely in the manner of new expressive aesthetics, although without having to carry any descriptive traits. Whilst Chopin's