Classical Music | Piano Music

Frédéric Chopin

Contredanse  Play

Ren Zhang Piano

Recorded on 09/25/2007, uploaded on 01/10/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Though today he is known for his prolific contributions to the mazurka, polonaise and waltz, Chopin also experimented with other dances forms. As can be guessed, the results of the experiments were obviously unfavorable to the composer since he never returned to these other forms. One such experiment was the Contredanse composed while Chopin was still a student in Warsaw. Originating in England where it was known as a “country dance,” the contredanse was a dance popular in France in the late eighteenth century. The work was never published during the composer’s life—another indication Chopin did not consider it a worthy composition. Although against the stern wishes of the composer that his unpublished manuscripts be destroyed, it has appeared in print since his death in 1849.

The Contredanse is lighthearted with an aristocratic grace not found in many of Chopin’s later works. Nor is there the touch of melancholy that colored so many of his compositions for the piano, even those in a major key. The construction of the dance is also simple: a ternary design with a brief central episode in the key of the subdominant. Throughout the piece, the harmony is remarkably diatonic compared to the chromaticism Chopin utilized in later years. Overall, the Contredanse abounds in carefree joviality, an adequate musical accompaniment to the dance itself.        Joseph DuBose

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Contredanse in G-flat Major               Frédéric Chopin

Chopin's piano music remains the most frequently played in history.  He is one of the few universal masters, and has never suffered an eclipse.  Arthur Rubinstein wrote: "...it is not Romantic music in the Byronic sense.  It does not tell stories or paint pictures.  It is expressive and personal, but still a pure art."

Almost every note he wrote is in the permanent repertoire, but this first group of short pieces on today's program (written from different periods of his career) is an exception-they have remained little-known.     Ren Zhang

More music by Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin
Waltz Op 64 / 2
Frédéric Chopin
Fantasy, Op. 49
Frédéric Chopin
Etude Op. 10, No. 11

Performances by same musician(s)

Frédéric Chopin
Cantabile
Carl Maria von Weber
Invitation to the Dance
Frédéric Chopin
Largo
Frédéric Chopin
Fugue in a minor
Frédéric Chopin
Feuille d'Album

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