Piano Concerto No. 1 (Chopin)

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, is a piano concerto written by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was first performed on 11 October of that year, in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist, during one of his "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland.

It was the first of Chopin's two piano concertos to be published, and was therefore given the designation of Piano Concerto "No. 1" at the time of publication, even though it was actually written immediately after what was later published as Piano Concerto No. 2. It is dedicated to Friedrich Kalkbrenner.

The concerto is scored for solo piano, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, tenor trombone, timpani and strings.

It contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period:

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

Classical critics usually fall into one of two schools of thought concerning the piece. The first of these says that, given that Chopin was a composer for the piano first and foremost, the orchestral part of this piece acts more as a vehicle for the pianist, with the individual instrumental parts being uninteresting to perform. The second suggests that the orchestral backing is carefully and deliberately written to fit in with the sound of the piano, and that the simplicity of arrangement is in deliberate contrast to the complexity of the harmony.

Chopin preferred to use unusual modulations in his expositions. For example, in the first movement, the exposition modulates to the parallel major, i-I, instead of the expected i-III. Interestingly, Chopin applies this tonal relation (i-III) between the second and the third theme in the recapitulation, where an actual i-I modulation would have been expected. In fact, the Romance is the only movement where the second theme of the exposition fits the classical model of modulating to the dominant (I-V), although even there, when the second theme returns, it modulates to the mediant (III).

It has been performed and recorded many times. Mily Balakirev re-orchestrated the concerto (using the same orchestral forces as Chopin employed), and also wrote arrangements for violin and orchestra as well as for piano solo of the Romance - Larghetto movement.

First movement

Chopin followed the structural example of concertos in the style of Jan Ladislav Dussek and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, with which he was familiar. He was interested in neither the Beethoven-style dialogue between orchestra and soloist, nor in a Weber-style interweaving of voices. Foremost in importance is the display of the expressive and technical abilities of the soloist.

The first movement of the E minor concerto has three themes, which are introduced by the orchestra. The piano then plays the first theme (bar 139), followed by the lyric second theme (bar 155), accompanied by the main motif of the first theme in bass counterpoint. The third theme is in E major, introduced in the exposition by the orchestra and taken over by the piano (bar 222). The development begins in bar 385, with the piano bringing back the second theme and further developing it. The recapitulation begins in bar 486 again with the orchestra playing its opening theme. The cadenza, whose bass trill paints a gloomy backdrop, requires utmost care by the pianist.

External links

• Piano Concerto No. 1: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• Piano Conerto No. 1, Mov. 2 performance by Alexis Weissenberg at youtube
• Piano Concerto No. 1 sheet music available at Musopen.com
• European Archive Copyright free LP recording of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Alexander Brailowsky (piano), William Steinberg (conductor) and RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra (for non-American viewers only) at the European Archive.