Frédéric Chopin
Polish composer, 1810-1849
Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era. All of Chopin’s compositions include the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some songs to Polish lyrics. His innovations in style, musical form, and harmony, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.
Source: Wikipedia
Polish composer (1810-1849). Contract signed twice ("FChopin") and countersigned by Camille Pleyel. London. 20.07.1837. 1 page. Folio (237 x 381 mm).
$ 40,443 / 35.000 €
(80885/BN52764)
Partly printed contract in English with Christian Rudolph Wessel & Co, importers and publishers of foreign music in London, for the sale of the present and future copyright and rights in Great Britain, of opus 25, "Twelve Etudes or Studies", dedicated to [the name is left blank; it will be the Countess d'Agoult] in two volumes to be published simultaneously in France and Germany on the 14th October 1837, for the sum of 16 livres sterling. Piano maker Camille Pleyel, who had accompanied Chopin to London, also signed as a witness. - Blindstamped in lower margin; slight traces of moisture and small tear to centerfold.
Polish composer (1810-1849). Autograph musical manuscript of two short works for piano: "All[egre]tto" (24 bars, in contrasting A major and A minor sections), and "Mazur" (14 bars in D minor), signed ("Ch") twice at the end of each piece. No place. Oblong 4to (287 x 228 mm). 1 page, meticulously notated in 38 bars on five systems of two staves. Annotated in a 19th-century hand "copié par Chopin", loosely matted. Stored in a custom-made red morocco portfolio with cut signatures of Arthur Rubinstein (.
$ 277,320 / 240.000 €
(82507/BN53632)
Two short piano works inspired by Polish folk music. Kobylanska considers that whilst both works are signed by Chopin, they are too unsophisticated to be his own compositions, and are perhaps transcriptions of Polish folk tunes: "Beide Stücke sind zwar mit Ch signiert, in ihrer ganzen Art jedoch zu primitiv, als daß man sie für eigene Kompositionen Chopins halten könnte. Wir ordnen sie in dieses Kapitel ein, da es sich vielleicht um Übertragungen von polnischen Volksweisen handeln mag." If so, it is fascinating not only to see Chopin in the posture of an ethnomusicologist some sixty or more years before the pioneering research of Bartók and Kodály, but also that the resulting works, notated with his characteristic exquisite neatness, should be granted the imprimatur of his discreet, repeated signature.
- Provenance: 1) collection of the actor, director and playwright Sacha Guitry (1885-1957); his sale, Drouot, Paris, 21 November 1974 (lot 15); 2) collection of the Canadian chemist and physician Frederick Lewis Maitland Pattison (1923-2010), with his bookplate on the portfolio's inside front cover..
Polish composer (1810-1849). Autograph letter signed ("Chopin"). N. p. o. d. 8vo. 3 lines. On blindstamped stationery.
$ 46,220 / 40.000 €
(92794/BN62348)
Rare and beautiful letter, thanking a close friend or relative and announcing when he will pick him up: "Merci, merci, cher. J'irai te prendre à 9 ¾ précises. À toi de cœur".
sold
Exceedingly rare handwritten notes in French, unsigned
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Autograph letter signed „Ch“.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Autograph letter signed „Chip“.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Eigenh. musikalisches Albumblatt mit Widmung und Unterschrift.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Titled "Wiosna, paroles de Witwicki". - Complete piano score of the Polish song op. posth. 74 nr. 2 in g minor, indicated "All[egre]tto". With autograph dedication: "Madame Kiéné |hommage respectueux | de son devoué| Chopin". The autograph place name "Paris" on the left. - This composition, originally written as "Andantino" for one singing voice with piano accompaniment, probably in the spring of 1838, set to a text by Stefan Witwicki, is a typical Dumka, the melancholic counterpart of Polish idyllic song. The oscillation between g minor and b flat major creates a nostalgic "senza-fine" mood. - Probably dedicated to the pianist Marie Catherine Kiéné, née Leyer, the mother of the pianist and composer Anne Marie Bigot de Morogues, who died at a young age, and taught the piano to Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. - Stefan Witwicki, who wrote most of the texts of the surviving Chopin songs, pressured him to compose a Polish opera. Chopin however, who only enjoyed improvising on Polish songs in a private circle, neither included them in his concert programmes, nor had them published. Some songs only existed as drafts and were to be burned, according to Chopin's last will. Up to date, a total of merely 19 songs are known. - The first edition of this song was published as late as 1856 by Aleksander Gins in Warsaw, set to the text of a poem by Stanislaw Jachowicz. - Right-hand edge slightly browned. Traces of mounting on right-hand edge verso. - Kobylanska, Chopin Werkverzeichnis (1971) S. 188, Autograph g.