Berlioz: "He has not a single point of similarity with any musician known to me"
Schumann: "Chopin is recognizable even in the pauses"
Giorgio Pestelli: "Among the mysterious components that crystallize into that miracle which is Chopin's music, it is probable that once, as today, the notion of that absolute originality, of that immediate recognizability, depended on the invention of a 'song' which in the voice had only distant ancestry, a song so original that it actually had to reinvent from scratch a sound entirely its own, the voice of the piano"
Surely there is much more, if anyone would like to provide some citations or comment on these... thank you.
Hi Pablo, I recommend you read Chopin racconta Chopin by Rattalino. It is divided into two parts. The first part concerns Chopin's notebooks, the second part the letters. There are many letters from illustrious people who knew him and who spoke of him even after his death.
Don't worry, I read it and I think it's a good book. Made mainly on the basis of original research and writings. The second part is perhaps a little less interesting... On the other hand, I was very struck by the part about Chopin's notebooks.
Berlioz: "He does not have a single point of similarity with any musician known to me"
Schumann: "Chopin is recognizable even in the pauses"
Giorgio Pestelli: "Among the mysterious components that crystallize into that miracle which is Chopin's music, it is probable that once, as today, the notion of that absolute originality, of that immediate recognizability, depended on the invention of a «song» that in the voice had only distant ancestry, a song so original that it actually had to reinvent from scratch a sound entirely its own, the voice of the piano"
I must say that I very much agree with the three quotes.
Hi Pablo.....the quotes are beautiful......listen to these: Schumann said of him after seeing some of his variations " ......hats off gentlemen....A genius! ". Mendelssohn on prelude op.28 no.17 : "one loves it without being able to say to what extent or why, at most I can affirm that it is something that I could never have written". Berlioz said: "..in his studies one finds harmonic combinations of a staggering depth". Moscheles: " ...he is unique in the world of pianists.". F.Liszt:"-...Chopin! Sweet and harmonious genius! What is the heart to which he was dear, what is the person to whom he was familiar who, hearing him named, does not feel a tremor, as at the memory of a superior being they had the fortune to know?"
