UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Chopin’s 24 Préludes, Opus 28: A Cycle Unified by Motion between the Fifth and Sixth Scale Degrees A document submitted to the The Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS in the Keyboard Studies Division of the College-Conservatory of Music 2008 by Andreas Boelcke B.A., Missouri Western State University in Saint Joseph, 2002 M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2005 Committee Chair: bruce d. mcclung, Ph.D. ii ABSTRACT Chopin’s twenty-four Préludes, Op. 28 stand out as revolutionary in history, for they are neither introductions to fugues, nor etude-like exercises as those preludes by other early nineteenth-century composers such as Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Johan Baptist Cramer, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, and Muzio Clementi. Instead they are the first instance of piano preludes as independent character pieces. This study shows, however, that Op. 28 is not just the beginning of the Romantic prelude tradition but forms a coherent large-scale composition unified by motion between the fifths and sixth scale degrees. After an overview of the compositional origins of Chopin’s Op. 28 and an outline of the history of keyboard preludes, the set will be compared to the contemporaneous ones by Hummel, Clementi, and Kalbrenner. The following chapter discusses previous theories of coherence in Chopin’s Préludes, including those by Jósef M. Chominski, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, and Anselm Gerhard. The final chapter consists of an analysis demonstrating that all twenty-four preludes are distinguished and unified by recurrences of movement between the fifth and sixth scale degrees. The scalar movements are grouped into the following categories: scalar motion as melodic idea, motion between fifth and sixth scale degree as motivic seed, alternation between major and minor sixth scale degrees, alternation between the two scale degrees to form an underlying structure, motion of fifth and sixth scale degrees highlighted by marcato accents, and motion between the two scale degrees at climactic moments. The study includes all twenty-four preludes and shows that the movements between the two scale degrees appear in significant ways throughout the set to unify the entire composition and create a coherent cycle. iii Copyright © 2008 by Andreas M. Boelcke All rights reserved iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the work on this document in 2007, I lost three family members, first my aunt who had always been like a mother to me, one month later my dear father, and less than two months after that my first-born child, Adrian. All deaths were unexpected and shocking. Going through this difficult time would have been impossible without my wife, who has not only supported me in these times but also encouraged me to continue with this project. I want to further thank my advisor, Dr. mcclung who has taught me––with his many corrections––more about writing style, research, and how to organize my thoughts on paper than anyone else in my academic career. This document would have never been possible without his help. My further thanks go to the two readers of this document, Professor Frank Weinstock––my piano teacher and mentor throughout my time at CCM who has always helped me in all matters throughout the years––and Professor Elizabeth Pridonoff, a most warm and wonderful person whose master-classes have inspired me as a musician. I want to thank Dover Publications for allowing me to reproduce all twenty-four preludes of Chopin’s Op. 28 as musical examples in this document, as well as Cambridge University Press for the permission to include Eigeldinger’s list of examples. v To Ursula Kolb, Armin Boelcke, and Adrian vi I must signalize the Preludes as most remarkable. I will confess that I expected something quite different, carried out in the grand style, like his Etudes. It is almost the contrary here: these are sketches, the beginnings of studies, or, if you will ruins, eagles’ feathers, all wildly, variegatedly intermingled. But in every piece we find, in his own refined hand, written in pearls, “This is by Frederic Chopin.” We recognize him in his pauses, and by his impetuous respiration. He is the boldest, the proudest, poet-soul of today. To be sure, the book also contains some morbid, feverish, repellent traits. But let everyone look in it for something that will enchant him. Philistines, however, must keep away. ––Robert Schumann (1839) vii CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………… iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………….………………………………..…… v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ………………………………………………..…….. x LIST OF TABLES ……………………………….……………………………………… xii INTRODUCTION……………………………………….……………...........................… 1 Chopin as a Revolutionary………………………………………………………… 2 Document Organization …………………………………………………………… 3 Literature on The Préludes……………………….………………………………... 4 CHAPTER 1: ORIGINS OF THE PRÉLUDES, OP. 28………………………...……….. 9 Dates of Composition………….. ………………………………........................... 9 Majorca: October 1838–January 1839……………………………………...…….. 10 CHAPTER 2: HISTORY OF PRELUDES PRIOR TO CHOPIN………………………. 15 Origins and Early Development…………………………………….…………… 15 Preludes during the Baroque…………………………………………………….. 18 Preludes during the Classical Era…………………………………………….….. 21 Revival of Preludes in the Nineteenth Century………………………………….. 24 CHAPTER 3: BAROQUE TRENDS AND THE CREATION OF THE ROMANTIC PRELUDE TRADITION………………………………….. 27 Chopin and the Baroque…………………………………………………………. 27 Contemporaneous Sets of Preludes……………………………………………… 32 Chopin’s Préludes in Comparison to Contemporaneous Sets of Preludes……... 36 CHAPTER 4: NOTION OF COHERENCE IN OPUS 28…………………………….… 39 General Coherence Elements……………………………………………….….… 39 Chominski’s Large-Scale Plan…………………………………………..………. 43 Eigeldinger’s Motivic Recurrences……………………………………………… 46 Anselm Gerhard’s Philosophical Idea……………………………………….....… 54 Summary……………………………………………………………………….… 58 CHAPTER 5: MOTIONS BETWEEN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH SCALE DEGREES IN THE THE PRÉLUDES ….............................................................................................................. 59 Scalar Motion as Melodic Idea…………………………….…………………….. 59 Motion Between Fifth and Sixth Scale Degree as Motivic Seed………………... 61 viii Alternation Between Major and Minor Sixth Scale Degrees……………………. 65 Alternation between the Two Scale Degrees to form an Underlying Structure…. 67 Motion of Fifth and Sixth Scale Degrees Highlighted by Marcato Accents….… 69 Motion Between the Two Scale Degrees at Climactic Moments ……………..… 71 Summary……………………………………………………………………….… 73 CONCLUSION………………………..………………………………………………… 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………...……………………………………………....... 77 ix MUSICAL EXAMPLES Fig. 3.1 Prelude No. 20 in C minor, mm. 5–8................................................................................... 28 Fig. 3.2 Prelude No. 18 in F minor, mm. 9–13................................................................................. 29 Fig. 3.3 Prelude No. 1 in C Major, mm. 1–6. ................................................................................... 31 Fig. 4.1 Prelude No. 1 in C Major, mm.28–33. The soprano ends on E4......................................... 40 Fig. 4.2 Prelude No. 2 in A minor, mm. 1–4. E4 resounds in the right hand. .................................. 40 Fig. 4.3. Chominski’s list of motives................................................................................................ 45 Fig. 4.4 Eigeldinger’s X motive. ....................................................................................................... 47 Fig. 4.5 Eigeldinger’s Y motive. ....................................................................................................... 47 Fig. 4.6 Eigeldinger’s list of X and Y motives in the Préludes. ........................................................ 48 Fig. 4.7 Prelude No. 15 in Db Major, mm. 5–9. The dominant pedal Ab3 in the left hand creates harmonic instability. ......................................................................................................................... 55 Fig. 4.8 Prelude No. 1 in C Major, mm 1–3. Opening movement from G3 to A3........................... 56 Fig. 4.9 Prelude No. 1 in C Major, mm. 28–34. Closing Statement from A3 to G3. ....................... 56 Fig. 4.10 Prelude No. 20 in C minor, m. 1. Beginning (G4–Ab4) and ending (Ab4–G4) takes place in the same measure.......................................................................................................................... 56 Fig. 4.11 Prelude No. 7 in A Major, mm. 1–4. ................................................................................. 57 Fig. 5.1 Prelude No. 4 in E minor, mm. 1–3..................................................................................... 59 Fig. 5.2 Prelude No. 9 in E Major, mm. 1–2..................................................................................... 60 Fig. 5.3 Prelude No. 11 in B Major, mm. 1–5. ................................................................................. 60 Fig. 5.4 Prelude No. 20 in C Minor, m.1. ........................................................................................