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Chopin and Poland Cory McKay Departments of Music and Computer Science University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W 1 The nineteenth century was a time when he had a Polish mother and was raised in people were looking for something new and Poland, his father was French. Finally, there exciting in the arts. The Romantics valued is no doubt that Chopin was trained exten- the exotic and many artists, writers and sively in the conventional musical styles of composers created works that conjured im- western Europe while growing up in Poland. ages of distant places, in terms of both time It is thus understandable that at first glance and location. Nationalist movements were some would see the Polish influence on rising up all over Europe, leading to an em- Chopin's music as trivial. Indeed, there cer- phasis on distinctive cultural styles in music tainly are compositions of his which show rather than an international homogeneity. very little Polish influence. However, upon Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin used this op- further investigation, it becomes clear that portunity to go beyond the conventions of the music that he heard in Poland while his time and introduce music that had the growing up did indeed have a persistent and unique character of his native Poland to the pervasive influence on a large proportion of ears of western Europe. Chopin wrote music his music. with a distinctly Polish flare that was influ- The Polish influence is most obviously ential in the Polish nationalist movement. seen in Chopin's polonaises and mazurkas, Before proceeding to discuss the politi- both of which are traditional Polish dance cal aspect of Chopin's work, it is first neces- forms. The polonaise originated in Poland sary to establish that the musical styles of during the 16th century as a stately proces- Poland truly are evident in his music. There sional dance in triple meter. It had diffused are certain schools of thought, particularly in throughout Europe by Chopin's time, so his France and Germany, which hold that his use of the form was something less than work has much more in common with the revolutionary. He did, however, write far music of western Europe than with Poland. more polonaises than most composers in the It is argued that, although there certainly are west and he treated the form more seriously some token elements of Polish styles in his than most of them. He was also much truer music, the majority of his works were much to the original form of the dance than most more influenced by the music that he heard composers of the time, as can be seen in the in the aristocratic salons while living in particularly Polish character of the Polo- Paris. It has been said in conjunction to this naise in A flat Op. 53 and Polonaise in F that Chopin's music is really no more na- sharp minor Op. 44. His first composition, tional in style than that of Schumann or Bee- at the age of seven, was a polonaise, and he thoven and that it was only the Romantic continued to write them through his entire ideal of valuing the exotic that caused him to career. be hailed as a nationalist composer.1 The mazurka, on the other hand, was a It is true that Chopin cannot have helped form that was virtually unknown outside of but have been influenced by the music he Poland. It originated as a peasant dance in heard in Paris. It is also true that, although the province where Chopin was born, Ma- zovia. As a youth, Chopin frequently visited the Polish countryside and took great pains 1 Vaughn W illiams, National Music, (Oxford: to write down the folk songs that he heard Oxford University Press, 1987), 55. there.2 He drew on this collection for use in rather than obscuring it. Mazurka in F sharp many of his later works, and it was probably minor Op. 6 No. 1, shown in example 1, is a here that he first encountered the mazurka. good example of this. It shows how Chopin often mixed western diatonic elements and The unusual harmonies, rhythms and the Polish chromaticism in the sequences com- pervasive chromaticism of Chopin's mazur- mon in the genre. kas seemed very strange to listeners accus- tomed to western European music, causing Polish folk music also shows some traits some critics to react badly. Ludwig Rellstab common in Arabian music, probably be- wrote this on the subject of Chopin's first cause of Poland's proximity to Turkey. One two books of mazurkas: "In search of ear- such trait is the melodic use of the aug- splitting dissonances, tortured transitions, mented second.6 This influence can be seen piercing modulations, disgusting disloca- in some of Chopin's music, such as the pas- tions of the melody and rhythm, he is unre- sage shown in example 2 from the Mazurka mitting and, we would say, inexhaustible."3 Op. 7 No. 1. This type of criticism is an indication of how Chopin also incorporated the syncopated this Polish form was authentically different rhythms common in Polish folk music into from western styles. his mazurkas. The second or third beat ac- It is true that criticisms of Chopin's un- cents in traditional danced mazurkas are ac- usual compositional techniques were also companied by foot stomping. Chopin ap- launched at pieces that were not so obvi- plied this to his mazurkas through accents, ously Polish as his mazurkas, primarily his as can be seen in example 3 from the Ma- early nocturnes. However, there is no doubt zurka in D major Op. 33 No. 2. This was that the mazurkas and their distinctly Polish novel to the ears of his Parisian listeners, character received a disproportionately high and several listeners, such as Charles Hallé, amount of criticism.4 Indeed, much of the were so disoriented with this syncopation strangeness for which pieces like the Noc- that they insisted that the mazurkas are writ- turne in G minor Op. 15 No. 3 were criti- ten in duple time rather than triple time.7 cized was a result of the presence of ma- Chopin also used the church modes zurka-like gestures that are incorporated into common in the popular music of Poland, but them.5 took some steps to soften the blow to Pari- A triple meter characterizes traditional sians who had grown up listening almost Polish mazurkas, with a strong accent on the exclusively to music in the major or minor normally weak third beat. They frequently modes. Example 4, from the Mazurka Op. contain chromaticism and stray outside the 24 No. 2, shows one way in which Chopin realm of the major and minor into church did this. He uses the Aeolian mode but modes, the Lydian in particular. It is true avoids the third in the dominant seventh that Chopin did temper his mazurkas some- chord in the fourth measure. G natural what with the influence of western theory, would have sounded out of place in the con- but the significance of this should not be text of the seventh chord, while A sharp over-emphasized. He clearly allowed the would have destroyed the Aeolian character Polish character of his mazurkas to shine of the passage.8 through, building on it with western theory 2 Edgar Stillman Kelley, Chopin the Composer, (New York: Cooper Square Publishers Inc., 1969), 14. 3 Larry Todd, Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 6 Kelley, Chopin the Composer, 20-21. (New York: Schirmer Books), 236. 7 Todd, Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 243- 4 Ibid., 236. 244. 5 Ibid., 244. 8 Kelley, Chopin the Composer, 17. Exam ple 1: Mazurka in F# minor Op. 6 No. 1 (mm. 1-8) (Todd, Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 237) Exam ple 2: Mazurka Op. 7 No. 1 (mm. 1-8) (Kelley, Chopin the Composer, 20) Taking all of this into account, Chopin's dies seems to be a joyful echo of our native use of techniques often heard in Polish folk harmony. The simple mazurka becomes transformed at his touch while it still pre- music but uncommon in the western Euro- serves its own peculiar flavor and accent. To pean music of the time cannot be doubted, at capture the charming simplicity of such na- least in respect to his mazurkas. Contempo- tive refrains as Chopin does with his exqui- rary Polish critics clearly perceived the in- site playing and brilliant composition, one fluence of local styles in Chopin's music, as has to have a certain sensitivity to the music of our fields and woodlands and the songs of can be seen in the following excerpts from the Polish peasant.9 Polish newspapers: The land which has given him life by its songs has influenced the character of his music. This is evident in the works of this artist where the sound of many of his melo- 9 Todd, Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 246. Exam ple 3: Mazurka in D major Op. 33 No. 2 (mm. 1-8) (Todd, Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 242) Exam ple 4: Mazurka Op. 24 No. 2 (Kelley, Chopin the Composer, 17) 11 It is pleasing to the Polish people when re- captivates by its very strangeness." A flecting on such magnificent talent, nay even French reviewer wrote in a Parisian newspa- genius, to remember that in the greater part per that "M. Chopin has acquired a quite of his compositions as well as in his per- special reputation for the spiritual and pro- formance the spirit of the nation was evi- foundly artistic manner in which he handles dent.10 the national music of Poland, a genre of mu- sic that still remains very little known to French critics also recognized the Polish 12 character of Chopin's music, but did so us- us." ing somewhat different tones.

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