Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/08/2015, uploaded on 08/04/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Like the fantasia, the title “impromptu” is used to describe a piece of music written in an improvisatory manner. Its first recorded use was in 1817 by a publisher to describe a piece by the Czech composer Jan Václav Voříšek. More famously, however, Franz Schubert composed eight such pieces in 1827 and since then the term “impromptu” became popular with many Romantic and even 20^th century composers. Ironically, many of the pieces that bear the title possess well delineated forms and betray a more rigorous thought process rather than spur-of-the-moment inspiration. Such is the case with Chopin’s impromptus.

Composed in 1839, the Impromptu in F-sharp major op. 36 has a pastoral feel to its opening measures. It begins with two-part harmony confined solely to left hand, which itself sounds as if it could be the work’s principal melody. Nevertheless, this turns out to be nothing more than accompaniment and the melody, moving rhythmically with the accompaniment, begins in the sixth measure. The tranquil setting with which the piece begins, however, becomes somewhat agitated with the introduction of a dotted-eighth note motif, moments of florid ornamentation and chromatic harmonies. Changing to the key of D major, the middle episode takes on a livelier and even heroic demeanor. The dotted-eighth rhythm heard earlier is adopted as the rhythmic driving force of the bass line over which a noble melody grows in fortitude with an increasingly dense harmonic texture. In an unexpected harmonic turn, Chopin returns to opening melody, not in the tonic key, but instead in the key of F major while the accompaniment is varied with triplet rhythms. The tonic key is regained midway through the reprise and before Chopin launches into a passage of brilliant and agile ornamentation. However, this sudden outburst eventually subsides into the calm and peaceful music which closed the first section and the Impromptu concludes with a final forte tonic chord.      Joseph DuBose

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The term “impromptu” should not lead us to think that Chopin’s impromptus are without adherence to form. Indeed, all four honor ABA sonata form, but each in its own way with a variety of musical and emotional effects. Chopin wrote all four between 1834 and 1842, with the Op. 66 “Fantasie-Impromptu” coming first followed by Op. 29 in 1837, Op. 36 in 1839, and Op. 51 in 1842. Op. 29 is at once gracious, graceful, and complex. The longer Op. 36 brings a somber feeling in the opening and closing sections, but becomes lively in the middle section with its virtuosic demands for the right hand. Op. 51 is almost a moment of relief from the intensity of the previous Op. 29, preparing us for the dramatic display of the famous “Fantaisie-Impromptu.” Here the virtuosic demands of the left hand equal those for the right hand. Unforgettable in the “Fantaisie-Impromptu” is Chopin’s famous melody which many people know as “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” treated in 1917 with lyrics by Joseph McCarthy and sung by Judy Garland in the 1941 film Ziegfield Girl.      Steven Lin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.