I just discovered this piece a few days ago. It feels like going deeper and deeper into the sea every time. Today my cousin passed away and i felt I should play it for her. Thank you for sharing your insights in this infinite sea of emotional sadness.
What I love about this piece is how the final resolution to the E minor tonic has a vague sense of unease, like we spent all that time trying to come home but when we finally arrived it wasn't quite what we hoped for--- try playing the final chord as E major, and you completely change the story of the whole piece. This was a great analysis, loved the video.
This piece feels to me like it is falling through a bottomless pit, with just a few ledges to temporarily break the fall, especially the chords in the bass. I have heard Chopin get to his angsty side in some of his nocturnes and especially in his G minor Ballade(that piece really feels like it has its peaceful nocturne moments and its angsty Beethovenian moments). But this has to be the most melancholic Chopin piece I have ever heard(and that is comparing it to the Funeral March from his Bb minor sonata, and his E minor and F minor nocturnes), with that bottomless pit that is the chromatically falling bass.
Yeah, I'm playing the Funeral march right now as well, and it's also very heavy but in a slightly different way. More explicit and direct, with pangs of pain striking suddenly. This one is more of a dark void as you say.
Classical music is a journey through the emotions, from the lively and exuberant to the serene and contemplative. Each piece is a masterpiece, inviting listeners to explore the depth of human sentiment through the magic of sound. 🚀🎵
It's a phenomenon I call sadness redeemed by beauty. The beauty of it allows us to feel the sadness and achieve a kind of catharsis. The sadness doesn't go away, but we learn to live with it somehow. Thus the ending, not the Hollywood ending in Emaj. but E minor still. Some performers play the climax explosively, which I really like because it feels like rage against the pain. But that rage quickly dissipates and we realize that the pain will not yield to anger. It must be accepted. This is such a deeply psychological piece. Much more than an exercise or romantic expression. The whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. Which is precisely what makes great art.
This is fast becoming my favourite channel. Wonderful analysis, thank you. I find it strange that this is a 'prelude' because it feels so strongly like an ending rather than a beginning, you know? It's the music of a dying heartbeat, for me. Chopin died of pericarditis, I think, due to chronic TB, and I guess this is as faithful an auditory representation of what that suffering felt like as it's possible to get. Tragic to think how much beautiful music he would have composed if he'd had more time.
I haven't found a lot of channels that analyze piano pieces, so I'm very glad to have found your channel! Thank you so much for helping me deepen my appreciation for this beautiful piece. I think music analysis is important to truly understand & convey both the feelings & intent of the composer as they wrote and performed this piece. Thank you again and I can't wait for your future videos!
I remember getting back into piano maybe 1-2 years back as I stopped playing piano for a few years in middle school. I was unsure of whether I actually wanted to begin piano lessons again or do something else, and I was getting bored after some time of going through more easy children's books after time away. Then, my teacher decided to give me this piece to get away from those books, and at first I didn't understand the appeal... technically it was only a little more difficult than the pieces in those books, but I remember one night I was practicing it and when I got to a certain part (I believe it was the second repeat of the initial chromatic descent a few measures before the chords began changing more quickly, when the bottom F# becomes an F instead of staying an F# like the first time) I began to cry for no apparent reason! I think that that piece was what made me start to look at classical music differently and made me certain that I wanted to continue playing. I'm still relatively new to piano (the most recent piece I learned was Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, from Children's Corner), but I know that classical music will always have this place in my life thanks to this piece in particular. Thank you for the analysis!
Thanks for sharing, I recognize the feeling I have had in some music too. It's really amazing how the music can get under our skin (and an analysis like this can never be a substitute for that, only a complement hopefully). I've had that experience most frequently with Brahms actually, and I think there it works the same way as in this peice - some move in the music that takes on a crucial importance in some way.
@@SonataSecrets Thanks for the reply! I agree, it's only recently that I've realised that music theory is at best a way of explaining why music makes us feel the way we do, rather than all the theory I might learn itself causing me to feel some way. Do you mind sharing what piece by Brahms you've had that experience with?
Sorry for the late reply, but absolutely: - 2nd piano concerto - Piano quintet - Intermezzo in A major op 118 no 2 - 3rd symphony - Piano trio n o 1 in B major
Your videos help me gain more insight and brush up on music history when I'm introducing them to my students. Thank you so much for all the work you do, and for the clear, easy to understand concepts.
Came into the video with no real expectations and left with a tear due to the beautiful interpretation of yours! Really great analisis, this being one of my favourite pieces i really enjoyed the way you described it and went into deep reason to try to comprehend it, only Chopin himself knew what he had in mind when creating this piece of art. Thank you for this video, You have a new subscriber here!
I will start to play this piece with my pianoteacher next week. And right now Im on my way from a very sad place emotionally. So listening to your word about it was surprising and very hopefull.
Maybe it has already been written in the comments but there is yet another piece which has the same structure (at least for somebody who hasn't got a musical background). What I am talking about is Bach's prelude BWV 639, precisely speaking the transcription to piano by Ferruccio Busoni played by Alfred Brendel. Not so uneasy and not carrying that longing grief, like dying that screems for life, it also tells a story of sadness. Thank you Henrik for this and other recordings. (btw, to me "Suffocation" is as well suited for this piece as naming carrot an orange)
Thank you so much for a wonderful analysis of Chopin's prelude. I'm halfway through learning it, and now after hearing the analysis I want to learn the rest. Also thank you for bringing such light to the mood, tension and resolution side to music, it's very valuable insights. ;) Love the emoji's. ha!
One of my piano books has both this E minor prelude and the B minor prelude. It isn't a book of Chopin preludes, but it nevertheless has both of these preludes. I see a similarity between the 2, pulsating chords. But they seem to be mirror images of each other. In the B minor prelude, the chords keep rising(It reaches its peak at a C major chord) and then fall back to B minor. In the E minor prelude, the chords keep falling and only once in a while do they rise. In the B minor prelude, the right hand acts as a bass and the left hand plays the melody. In the E minor prelude, the left hand acts as a bass and the right hand plays the melody(a minimalistic melody, but still a melody all the same). I wonder if Chopin intended for the B minor prelude to be the inverse of the E minor prelude with slight differences(namely, more freedom in the melody in the B minor prelude) or if it is just by coincidence that these 2 preludes are slightly different mirror images of each other. Either way, I find it remarkable how these 2 preludes are so similar, yet different, like mirror images.
That's true, it's a nice observation! As you say, the B minor prelude is much more moving and means something different than the heavy E minor, even though they share the idea of repeated chords as accompaniment.
For some reason I just felt the urge to search for "Chopin Prelude E minor analysis" and this came up! Very sensitive analysis (and playing!). Glad to have found your channel :)
In the future, as more and more literary artists, like myself, attempt to interpret Chopin's inspiration, classical music will become much more than just notes we hear, but rather stories that we understand... and love. After extensive research on the life of Frederic Chopin and his famous composition, "Prelude in E minor"... from the origin of the term, "sleep tight", to the left-handed boy's lost childhood, to his request to have his heart removed from his body and returned to his native land of Poland after his death, to his request to have "Prelude in E minor" played at his funeral, to the 700-year-old Bartek tree near the Swietokrzskie Mountains near the place of his birth, and to his deathbed gift to George Sand, it becomes much easier to understand and appreciate how Chopin's troubled life and continuously declining health greatly influenced his work and, ultimately, his thoughts, and the inspiration behind "Prelude in E minor". - David Sanz ruclips.net/video/_lWF7H8vTas/видео.html "PRELUDE IN E MINOR" Musical Composition by Frederic Chopin "BENEATH THE GRAND OLD BARTEK TREE" Literary Work by David Sanz Goodnight, love; goodnight sleep well; sleep tight The time has come; it’s late… goodnight, love Dear, if you’re wondering where I’ll be so free… my heart sings beneath the grand old Bartek tree Far… away my heart will lay, my love; with every little dream dreamt of childish ways; lost childhood days are here to stay… goodnight, love, goodnight… here, I’ll be beneath the grand old, old... Bartek tree Copyright 2022 rioxperience@aol.com
Splendida spiegazione dei 'colori della tristezza', sadness colours ..👍👍ogni accordo apre a una nuova sfumatura della tristezza', fino quasi a.. soffocare
I've always played it at least half as slow as you are there. Largo to me means ridiculously slow, and I feel like drawing this piece out really seals it as a slow trudge towards the final breath
I would have to say the 3rd measure from the end is not a "C chord with the 7th in the bass" but is instead a "misspelling" of a German Augmented 6th chord (A#, C, G, E). That explains it leading to the V. Chopin probably spelled it the way he did for melodic reasons, due to that descending bass line.
I am new to the piano, i play for 4 months and I am learning this piece. I love it. Thanks for the analysis, not only for the armony but also for the feelings that you have describe really well!
Thank you!!! I was trying to explain this piece to someone and of course you did a much better job and of course I shared this with the person! Subscribed, too!!!
Thank you! This is a great analysis. I'm interested in how the chords move throughout the piece. When I tried to work out what was going on functionally, as you said, it was messy. So what is it that makes the progressions sound so good? Is it a genius combination of expert voice leading and sensitivity to the emotional content of the piece? Is something else going on?
Ill try at a functional harmonic analysis. First section: Em B7 sus 4 > B7 (over the the 5th) (melody creates B7b9) F7 #11 > Dm / F > Fm6 E7 > Em7 > Edim7 Am7/E > F#m7b5 /E D#m7b5 / E > D#m7b5 (could argue these min7b5 chords are just diminished chords with a passing bass) D7 Dm7 > Dm6 > Ddim7 E/C Am/C B7sus4 > B7 > Am/C B7 > Am/C B7 See what you mean? Its kinda messy haha 😄 😅
Great analysis - also insight audiences although we try - as performers you never k ow what we may be thinking about, being able to explore was a great point. Some say taking too fast - i rubato, accelerando and slow a lot - totally contrary to anything the music says. Its how i feel and hear the music some may say keeps it alive but im not going to be winning any trophies lol
one thing that has ALWAYS bugged me in this piece is how that last german augmented sixth chord is written enharmonically like a C7.... IT KILLS ME ! it's not a C7.. it's a Ger+6 chord argh !
So yes he did write this before he died! Well he certainly couldn’t have written it after he died! Of course, I wasn’t there, and we have rely on facts that are always open to be challenged, changed and updated. It doesn’t change the fact that this music is a wonderful piece left to us by a talented composer, and for that we are grateful. 👍🎹
How do I handle the sustain. Do I lift off everytime a bass note changes? Except for the climax when it specifically says to hold the pedal I lift everytime a bass note changes but by the ties in the notation it would appear I can leave the pedal down.
I don't think you should follow the ties for the pedal - with longer ties and changing harmony it usually requires more pedal changes. I think I switch pedal when the harmony changes in LH.
Right at 9:40, could we also analyze that as a German 6th for the first 3 beats of this bar? So instead of a deceptive cadence, Chopin wrote it as dominant coming back into predominant (Gr⁺⁶). And then 2 bars later, that's another German 6th, this time prolonged, that leads to the final cadence.
Thank you for the great content, it really is interesting to see how Chopin might have been influenced by Beethoven's Arioso in the op110 Sonata, which is said to be influenced by Bach's St John's Passion.
Great analysis of my favourite prelude by Chopin. I happened to have a copy of it edited by Ignacy Paderewski and the chord in bar 23 is spelt with the A# (making it a German augmented sixth) instead of Bb (version displayed in the video).
When the chords get faster its probably reflecting how the decline in life can sometimes appear out of nowhere and gets quicker and quicker, until the end where it finally rests 😢
Very longing for the end is what i feel, depression... in the part where we return to B, it's like we're reconsidering our choice but then we finally get the resolve to end, but we don't know how to end. We try to end until finally we do it with that final juicy e minor chord.
hehe I can't mention all of them! This and the Beethoven Op 110 and the Schubert still have an even heavier texture. In that Nocturne there are still some movement that keeps the music going forward more, but that's also the case with the Moonlight sonata. I describe the character of the C# minor Nocturne as "noble solemnity".
from the title I thought this was going to be an examination of a page out of Hannibal Lecter's "cookbook with friends"...you know, page 35, Suffocation with Chopin, fava beans and a nice Chianti.
"Suffocation" lol, who did invent this name-giving? Pathetic... Not intended by composer, as far I know. Chianti (good one, fruity, but suspended, tensious, a bit astringent, with some viola notes from Mamollo) is always a good match to Chopin's music. ;)
I'm not a fan of Chopin, no doubt he was gifted but his music sounds too sentimental to me... Many other composers had bad health. But mostly, because his music is over played and taught as the end all in most music schools. His work is similar to an oak tree whose roots and foliage shadow the great works of many other gifted artists. Do we mention that Beethoven's music was influenced by his taking care of his brothers? Chopin didn't have a bad life at all, he could focus on composing. This piece looks deceptively easy, but difficult to play well. Henrik, you play it beautifully. Great theoretical insight and other helpful hints without focusing on Chopin's health and other issues.
Great and not following the herd comment. Although I am the fan of Chopin, no way to disagree that it is harder to reach other composers because of Chopin is so widely taught. On the other hand "Hut ab, ihr Herren, ein Genie" ;) I'm a Pole and then am biased for sure but, you know, it happened to me some umpteen years ago to order myself to get to know some Chopin 'cause it's kinda shame being a Pole and not knowing his works. Not knowing what to take first I took scherzi and two things happened: 1. Immediatelly fallen in love with Chopin, 2. I realized I knew his music very well even though I had never (consciously) listened to it. Is it in our DNA? :D As if he was speaking to me in my native language, yet not saying a word. Speaking about all sort of things - sentimental, rage, sadness, joy, what's to come (e.g. hard rock and ragtime ;) ), etc. His music is the whole universe (it can be said about many others, not about him only of course). Enjoy the music! (and sometimes enjoy the silence too ;) )
I don't know where you are from, but it's likely that the life of composers in some countries is taken more into consideration than in others. I'm German, I was a classical music child already, I grew up knowing the tough life of Beethoven, how terrible his ambitious father was, how depressing to loose one's hearing as a musician and how one could hear a lot of his dark moods and his frustration in his music. I also learned about Leopold Mozart's abusive way to exploit his children's talents, and that some of that damage surely entered and influenced Wolfgang's music. I'm a passionate music lover, and one of my favourites from the start was always Chopin. Not for his "sentimentality" (which I don't even hear as much in his music, but more his mind), but for his incredible chord progression skills, his stunning melodies and his rare talent to never bore my ears while many other composers, although talented, bore me after 1 hour of their music. Of course, Chopin started his life with a rare gift: blessed with fantastic parents. He had the right upbringing, education, personality and the smartness to make sure that he could make a living with his music, mainly his piano lessons (that was his main income). He couldn't have lived the life he did with just his compositions, publishers simply did not pay well enough. But he was chronically ill with an advancing disease from a young age on. That is very hard to ignore and unfair to not consider when listening to his music. He suffered severe relapses of that still debated disease (be it TB or else), with frequent episodes of coughing and vomiting blood and several near-death experiences throughout his life. He was born with asthma, chronic digestive problems, periodic trigeminal neuralgia, severe migraine. Actually, it's very surprising that the man lived as long as he did, considering how quickly people died from diseases in his days. It would also be unfair to ignore the political madness going on in his home country and all over Europe (it influenced Beethoven, too, since you mentioned him). He was lucky in some ways and very unfortunate in others. And you could say that about a lot of great composers. Like him or don't. But not respecting the compositional genius would be very ignorant. He developed piano music like no other before him to that extent and for a long time like no other after him, you hear his influence in countless great successors, all the way to Rachmaninoff. I'm not a fan of Beethoven, BTW, most of his music does not touch me, it's too technical and too intellectual for my liking, not intuitive enough. But that doesn't make me blind to his brilliant genius either.
Thank you for two intelligent and thought out comments, my neighbors, it's unusual in yt. While it is a forum of opinions, it seems some wish everyone thought alike. I say my neighbors because you are from Poland and Germany, bonjour from France. Music is a passion of mine, I started dancing to it when little. What I'm worried about is the monolithic modern way where all the great composers, be they German, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, French will be forgotten because of this obsession with Mozart and Chopin. I don't get to concerts often but it is dominated by both, and music schools are, what if the other music disappears? We keep hearing of diversity but modernism doesn't allow it, it's the dominant voice. That was my point. It is already very difficult to find certain pieces, especially played. Chopin was a genius but variety is the zest of life.
@@tia904 Yes, I see clearer what you meant now, neighbour ( 🙂). It's a complex subject. I live in Leipzig, where Bach is overplayed permanently to the expense of many other talented composers (although I love his music). Bach, though, was almost forgotten at one point and brought to attention by another great composer (Mendelssohn). Sometimes it needs a respected herald to open the eyes - and ears - of people. I do see music of lesser known composers being played here, on radio and in concert. Awareness for female composers is growing, too. But at the end of the day, it's the audience that demands what is going to be played most. If people don't buy tickets and recordings of music that they aren't familiar with or that they don't enjoy, performers will stop playing those composers and play what people willingly pay for, they need a job. This factor has never changed and was the same in the times of Bach, Telemann, Berlioz, Chopin, Glinka and so on. I wish the Leipzig Gewandhaus would play something else than the traditional Beethoven's 9th for New Year's Eve. But they tried and failed with the sales, so they continue the tradition. I remember a letter of Chopin to his former composition professor Jozef Elsner in Warsaw, which makes that very clear. In that letter Chopin lamented to the recipient about how it was impossible to get Elsner's new oratorio sold to the publishers that he requested Chopin to recommend and advertise in Paris. Elsner - ironically almost forgotten today if it wasn't for the fact that he was Chopins composition teacher - was a gifted composer himself. But the Parisian audience only paid for what they already knew and liked, and even the music schools only played a well renowned repertoire. Chopin complained in that letter how they wouldn't even play Bach or Händel much. He had no success in selling Elsner's work (which he called a masterpiece). Things are simply still the same.
I just discovered this piece a few days ago. It feels like going deeper and deeper into the sea every time. Today my cousin passed away and i felt I should play it for her. Thank you for sharing your insights in this infinite sea of emotional sadness.
I'm so sorry for your loss. Music like this can be a good consolation, to connect with our own emotions.
What I love about this piece is how the final resolution to the E minor tonic has a vague sense of unease, like we spent all that time trying to come home but when we finally arrived it wasn't quite what we hoped for--- try playing the final chord as E major, and you completely change the story of the whole piece. This was a great analysis, loved the video.
The content is fantastic and this channel is very, very, very underrated.
Very underrated indeed
Extremely underrated.
This piece feels to me like it is falling through a bottomless pit, with just a few ledges to temporarily break the fall, especially the chords in the bass. I have heard Chopin get to his angsty side in some of his nocturnes and especially in his G minor Ballade(that piece really feels like it has its peaceful nocturne moments and its angsty Beethovenian moments). But this has to be the most melancholic Chopin piece I have ever heard(and that is comparing it to the Funeral March from his Bb minor sonata, and his E minor and F minor nocturnes), with that bottomless pit that is the chromatically falling bass.
Yeah, I'm playing the Funeral march right now as well, and it's also very heavy but in a slightly different way. More explicit and direct, with pangs of pain striking suddenly. This one is more of a dark void as you say.
This guy has the right balance for explaining the music in an understanding way !
agree 100%
Classical music is a journey through the emotions, from the lively and exuberant to the serene and contemplative. Each piece is a masterpiece, inviting listeners to explore the depth of human sentiment through the magic of sound. 🚀🎵
Bravo! This is one of my very favorite pieces to listen to when I'm in a contemplative mood. I call it "Death in a Minor Key."
It's a phenomenon I call sadness redeemed by beauty. The beauty of it allows us to feel the sadness and achieve a kind of catharsis. The sadness doesn't go away, but we learn to live with it somehow. Thus the ending, not the Hollywood ending in Emaj. but E minor still. Some performers play the climax explosively, which I really like because it feels like rage against the pain. But that rage quickly dissipates and we realize that the pain will not yield to anger. It must be accepted. This is such a deeply psychological piece. Much more than an exercise or romantic expression. The whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. Which is precisely what makes great art.
This is fast becoming my favourite channel. Wonderful analysis, thank you. I find it strange that this is a 'prelude' because it feels so strongly like an ending rather than a beginning, you know? It's the music of a dying heartbeat, for me. Chopin died of pericarditis, I think, due to chronic TB, and I guess this is as faithful an auditory representation of what that suffering felt like as it's possible to get. Tragic to think how much beautiful music he would have composed if he'd had more time.
Your content completely change the way that I listen to and appreciate classical music and composers. Thank you so much
I haven't found a lot of channels that analyze piano pieces, so I'm very glad to have found your channel! Thank you so much for helping me deepen my appreciation for this beautiful piece. I think music analysis is important to truly understand & convey both the feelings & intent of the composer as they wrote and performed this piece. Thank you again and I can't wait for your future videos!
I remember getting back into piano maybe 1-2 years back as I stopped playing piano for a few years in middle school. I was unsure of whether I actually wanted to begin piano lessons again or do something else, and I was getting bored after some time of going through more easy children's books after time away. Then, my teacher decided to give me this piece to get away from those books, and at first I didn't understand the appeal... technically it was only a little more difficult than the pieces in those books, but I remember one night I was practicing it and when I got to a certain part (I believe it was the second repeat of the initial chromatic descent a few measures before the chords began changing more quickly, when the bottom F# becomes an F instead of staying an F# like the first time) I began to cry for no apparent reason! I think that that piece was what made me start to look at classical music differently and made me certain that I wanted to continue playing. I'm still relatively new to piano (the most recent piece I learned was Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, from Children's Corner), but I know that classical music will always have this place in my life thanks to this piece in particular. Thank you for the analysis!
Thanks for sharing, I recognize the feeling I have had in some music too. It's really amazing how the music can get under our skin (and an analysis like this can never be a substitute for that, only a complement hopefully). I've had that experience most frequently with Brahms actually, and I think there it works the same way as in this peice - some move in the music that takes on a crucial importance in some way.
@@SonataSecrets Thanks for the reply! I agree, it's only recently that I've realised that music theory is at best a way of explaining why music makes us feel the way we do, rather than all the theory I might learn itself causing me to feel some way. Do you mind sharing what piece by Brahms you've had that experience with?
@@ashwinkumar584 im glad youve found your way :)
Sorry for the late reply, but absolutely:
- 2nd piano concerto
- Piano quintet
- Intermezzo in A major op 118 no 2
- 3rd symphony
- Piano trio n o 1 in B major
Such a wonderful video, Henrik. You’re content is amazing. Keep up the good work 🌹.
Your videos help me gain more insight and brush up on music history when I'm introducing them to my students. Thank you so much for all the work you do, and for the clear, easy to understand concepts.
Thank you!
Some of the chord changes in this are sublime 😍
He really had a special skill for fascinating chord progressions.
@@SeleuceI also love that he made the comparison with the sad pulsating chords of some beethoven pieces
Both composers resonate deeply with me
What a great explanation 🙏 I really enjoyed your interpretation together with the beautiful playing. Thank you sir 👏👏👏
He has always a special smile on his face ...
Such amazing content. Appreciate your mastery of the theory but equally your passion and emotional connection to the music. Thank you for sharing.
Came into the video with no real expectations and left with a tear due to the beautiful interpretation of yours! Really great analisis, this being one of my favourite pieces i really enjoyed the way you described it and went into deep reason to try to comprehend it, only Chopin himself knew what he had in mind when creating this piece of art. Thank you for this video, You have a new subscriber here!
Great analysis of the emotional aspect of this piece. Thank you!!
You good sir made an amazing thing here. Thank you.
Awesome analysis. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you! :)
I will start to play this piece with my pianoteacher next week. And right now Im on my way from a very sad place emotionally. So listening to your word about it was surprising and very hopefull.
How did it go?
@@ethanbrowncomposer slowly. But I come to love it.
@@kristinamusik7414 Nice. I learned it as well.
Maybe it has already been written in the comments but there is yet another piece which has the same structure (at least for somebody who hasn't got a musical background). What I am talking about is Bach's prelude BWV 639, precisely speaking the transcription to piano by Ferruccio Busoni played by Alfred Brendel. Not so uneasy and not carrying that longing grief, like dying that screems for life, it also tells a story of sadness.
Thank you Henrik for this and other recordings.
(btw, to me "Suffocation" is as well suited for this piece as naming carrot an orange)
I love this piece. It always reminds me of a falling shepherd tone audio illusion
This is beautiful. I wrote an arrangement of this piece for orchestra last year for a final exam.
Thank you very much for this wonderful explanation and this beautiful performance !
Thank you!
Finally a piece I can play without too much difficulty! LOL
Thank you so much for a wonderful analysis of Chopin's prelude. I'm halfway through learning it, and now after hearing the analysis I want to learn the rest. Also thank you for bringing such light to the mood, tension and resolution side to music, it's very valuable insights. ;) Love the emoji's. ha!
¡Buenísimo! aún sin entender todo lo que dices en inglés se capta lo que precuras transmitir. ¡Gracias!
Thanks for your great and detailed explanation.
Great points at the end there, thanks.
One of my piano books has both this E minor prelude and the B minor prelude. It isn't a book of Chopin preludes, but it nevertheless has both of these preludes. I see a similarity between the 2, pulsating chords. But they seem to be mirror images of each other. In the B minor prelude, the chords keep rising(It reaches its peak at a C major chord) and then fall back to B minor. In the E minor prelude, the chords keep falling and only once in a while do they rise. In the B minor prelude, the right hand acts as a bass and the left hand plays the melody. In the E minor prelude, the left hand acts as a bass and the right hand plays the melody(a minimalistic melody, but still a melody all the same).
I wonder if Chopin intended for the B minor prelude to be the inverse of the E minor prelude with slight differences(namely, more freedom in the melody in the B minor prelude) or if it is just by coincidence that these 2 preludes are slightly different mirror images of each other. Either way, I find it remarkable how these 2 preludes are so similar, yet different, like mirror images.
That's true, it's a nice observation! As you say, the B minor prelude is much more moving and means something different than the heavy E minor, even though they share the idea of repeated chords as accompaniment.
For some reason I just felt the urge to search for "Chopin Prelude E minor analysis" and this came up! Very sensitive analysis (and playing!). Glad to have found your channel :)
Thank you Meccha! So the search tags worked perfectly then. Happy you're here :)
Henrik, I love your analysis, both your understanding of the music, your passion and humour. May I ask which brand your piano is?
Thank you Stefan! It's a German Rönisch, about 100 years old.
@@SonataSecrets j
I was also to comment the amazing sound of this beautiful upright piano
DEAR HENRIK, I AM VERY HAPPY THAT YOU PLAY CHOPIN, I WAS BORN IN POLAND, TOO
Thanks for this wonderful interpretation and analysis too❤❤❤
Absolutely loved your analysis. Liked, Subscribed, and added to my Analysis playlist. Please keep creating these. Thank you!
Thanks Rishi, welcome to the channel!
Beautiful rendition.
Beauty is the comfort company for sadness. And how lonely sadness would be without the companionship of beauty?
In the future, as more and more literary artists, like myself, attempt to interpret Chopin's inspiration, classical music will become much more than just notes we hear, but rather stories that we understand... and love.
After extensive research on the life of Frederic Chopin and his famous composition, "Prelude in E minor"... from the origin of the term, "sleep tight", to the left-handed boy's lost childhood, to his request to have his heart removed from his body and returned to his native land of Poland after his death, to his request to have "Prelude in E minor" played at his funeral, to the 700-year-old Bartek tree near the Swietokrzskie Mountains near the place of his birth, and to his deathbed gift to George Sand, it becomes much easier to understand and appreciate how Chopin's troubled life and continuously declining health greatly influenced his work and, ultimately, his thoughts, and the inspiration behind "Prelude in E minor". - David Sanz ruclips.net/video/_lWF7H8vTas/видео.html
"PRELUDE IN E MINOR"
Musical Composition by Frederic Chopin
"BENEATH THE GRAND OLD BARTEK TREE"
Literary Work by David Sanz
Goodnight, love; goodnight
sleep well; sleep tight
The time has come; it’s late…
goodnight, love
Dear, if you’re wondering where I’ll be
so free… my heart sings
beneath the grand old Bartek tree
Far… away
my heart will lay, my love; with every little dream
dreamt of childish ways; lost childhood days
are here to stay… goodnight, love,
goodnight… here, I’ll be
beneath the grand old, old... Bartek tree
Copyright 2022
rioxperience@aol.com
Great 👍🏼 analysis - relearning it now.
I loved watching your video, amazing analysis! Thank you for uploading!
Wonderful talk. Thank you. 💕
Thank you so much for this analysis. We better understand this piece now.
Splendida spiegazione dei 'colori della tristezza', sadness colours ..👍👍ogni accordo apre a una nuova sfumatura della tristezza', fino quasi a.. soffocare
I've always played it at least half as slow as you are there. Largo to me means ridiculously slow, and I feel like drawing this piece out really seals it as a slow trudge towards the final breath
Excellent tutorial
Thank you for your beautiful analysis.
Great Video and beautiful performance. Love this piece.
Amazing content, thank you very much 😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks!
Thank you for this🙏🏻👍🏻
I would have to say the 3rd measure from the end is not a "C chord with the 7th in the bass" but is instead a "misspelling" of a German Augmented 6th chord (A#, C, G, E). That explains it leading to the V. Chopin probably spelled it the way he did for melodic reasons, due to that descending bass line.
Thank you sir for this great work ❤
Beautiful Thank you
I am new to the piano, i play for 4 months and I am learning this piece. I love it. Thanks for the analysis, not only for the armony but also for the feelings that you have describe really well!
Thanks Jean :) Good luck with the piece!
Hey buddy, I just happen to be on my 4th month of this piano journey, how's it been going for you
I enjoyed that analysis!
Thanks Computer! :)
Thank you for this video. Really enjoyed it.
The similarity between some beethoven music I've always felt this ❤️
Thank you!!! I was trying to explain this piece to someone and of course you did a much better job and of course I shared this with the person! Subscribed, too!!!
Happy to be of service :)
Thank you
GREAT HENRIK !!!!!!
Your in depth analysis is much appreciated and thank you for uploading, really helpful!
Thank you! :)
I love your videos/channel idea! And I love that Ted talk so much. He’s a great guy. I’ve wanted to learn for so long. I’m sticking with it this time
Thank you! Just practice one bit at a time and expect slow but steady progress you will eventually get there.
@@SonataSecrets thank you =] I shall
Excelente explicacion!!😀
Gracias!
Thank you! This is a great analysis.
I'm interested in how the chords move throughout the piece. When I tried to work out what was going on functionally, as you said, it was messy. So what is it that makes the progressions sound so good? Is it a genius combination of expert voice leading and sensitivity to the emotional content of the piece? Is something else going on?
Beautiful!
Ill try at a functional harmonic analysis. First section:
Em
B7 sus 4 > B7 (over the the 5th) (melody creates B7b9)
F7 #11 > Dm / F > Fm6
E7 > Em7 > Edim7
Am7/E > F#m7b5 /E
D#m7b5 / E > D#m7b5 (could argue these min7b5 chords are just diminished chords with a passing bass)
D7
Dm7 > Dm6 > Ddim7
E/C Am/C
B7sus4 > B7 > Am/C
B7 > Am/C
B7
See what you mean? Its kinda messy haha 😄 😅
Great analysis - also insight audiences although we try - as performers you never k ow what we may be thinking about, being able to explore was a great point. Some say taking too fast - i rubato, accelerando and slow a lot - totally contrary to anything the music says. Its how i feel and hear the music some may say keeps it alive but im not going to be winning any trophies lol
one thing that has ALWAYS bugged me in this piece is how that last german augmented sixth chord is written enharmonically like a C7.... IT KILLS ME ! it's not a C7.. it's a Ger+6 chord argh !
I press buttons, buttons make me feel sad, you make me feel dumb.
So yes he did write this before he died! Well he certainly couldn’t have written it after he died!
Of course, I wasn’t there, and we have rely on facts that are always open to be challenged, changed and updated. It doesn’t change the fact that this music is a wonderful piece left to us by a talented composer, and for that we are grateful. 👍🎹
How do I handle the sustain. Do I lift off everytime a bass note changes? Except for the climax when it specifically says to hold the pedal I lift everytime a bass note changes but by the ties in the notation it would appear I can leave the pedal down.
I don't think you should follow the ties for the pedal - with longer ties and changing harmony it usually requires more pedal changes. I think I switch pedal when the harmony changes in LH.
Thank you for the verification. That's what I was doing and it sounds really good now thank you.
Right at 9:40, could we also analyze that as a German 6th for the first 3 beats of this bar? So instead of a deceptive cadence, Chopin wrote it as dominant coming back into predominant (Gr⁺⁶). And then 2 bars later, that's another German 6th, this time prolonged, that leads to the final cadence.
Brilliant!
Awesome video!
You are fantastic
inspiration for Tom Jobim on the song How insensitive (Insensatez).
Man, this is an incredible analisys! Fucking good!!
Useful❤
Thank you for the great content, it really is interesting to see how Chopin might have been influenced by Beethoven's Arioso in the op110 Sonata, which is said to be influenced by Bach's St John's Passion.
I love your channel
Great analysis of my favourite prelude by Chopin. I happened to have a copy of it edited by Ignacy Paderewski and the chord in bar 23 is spelt with the A# (making it a German augmented sixth) instead of Bb (version displayed in the video).
When the chords get faster its probably reflecting how the decline in life can sometimes appear out of nowhere and gets quicker and quicker, until the end where it finally rests 😢
just wow
Talking about sadness, what about "Für Alina" By Arvo Pärt ?? 😪
Is it necessary to give adjetives to music'?' for me this prelude is not sad, its something else, Its so deep, I dont think there is a word for it.
Very longing for the end is what i feel, depression... in the part where we return to B, it's like we're reconsidering our choice but then we finally get the resolve to end, but we don't know how to end. We try to end until finally we do it with that final juicy e minor chord.
Thank's
Great analysis. I feel like you played it pretty fast though
Whaaaaat? You talked about sad pieces and did not mention the CHOPIN - NOCTURNE NO.20?:-)
hehe I can't mention all of them! This and the Beethoven Op 110 and the Schubert still have an even heavier texture. In that Nocturne there are still some movement that keeps the music going forward more, but that's also the case with the Moonlight sonata. I describe the character of the C# minor Nocturne as "noble solemnity".
Wait, what do you mean all the keys started to sound good? What did they sound like before?! How did they tune pianos before Bach?
5:04 A Cmaj7#5? Maybe it's just me but maj7#5 is quite rare, right? EDIT: Or maybe not, as there's a Gmaj7#5 at 9:06.
Was this song written in 1849, right before Chopin’s death or early to middle 1840s?
from the title I thought this was going to be an examination of a page out of Hannibal Lecter's "cookbook with friends"...you know, page 35, Suffocation with Chopin, fava beans and a nice Chianti.
lol 😂
"Suffocation" lol, who did invent this name-giving? Pathetic... Not intended by composer, as far I know. Chianti (good one, fruity, but suspended, tensious, a bit astringent, with some viola notes from Mamollo) is always a good match to Chopin's music. ;)
Aaaa, some Hans... Alles klar;)
Can make a video for Chopin Prelude in B Minor please and C Minor
BTW what does "smorz" mean? Could you possibly give a practical example of it in a future video please?
It roughly means "slowing down, dying away"
Similar to a decrescendo but more dramatic
@AreEnTee hmm that's why I asked for a direct comparison because it's pretty difficult to notice the difference between smorz and decrescendo
Curious, do you think he chose the perfect key for this?
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Does anyone else hear Albinoni's Adagio in G minor in Beethoven's Arioso dolente? Or is it the other way round? :)
I'm not a fan of Chopin, no doubt he was gifted but his music sounds too sentimental to me... Many other composers had bad health. But mostly, because his music is over played and taught as the end all in most music schools. His work is similar to an oak tree whose roots and foliage shadow the great works of many other gifted artists. Do we mention that Beethoven's music was influenced by his taking care of his brothers? Chopin didn't have a bad life at all, he could focus on composing. This piece looks deceptively easy, but difficult to play well. Henrik, you play it beautifully. Great theoretical insight and other helpful hints without focusing on Chopin's health and other issues.
Great and not following the herd comment. Although I am the fan of Chopin, no way to disagree that it is harder to reach other composers because of Chopin is so widely taught. On the other hand "Hut ab, ihr Herren, ein Genie" ;)
I'm a Pole and then am biased for sure but, you know, it happened to me some umpteen years ago to order myself to get to know some Chopin 'cause it's kinda shame being a Pole and not knowing his works. Not knowing what to take first I took scherzi and two things happened: 1. Immediatelly fallen in love with Chopin, 2. I realized I knew his music very well even though I had never (consciously) listened to it. Is it in our DNA? :D As if he was speaking to me in my native language, yet not saying a word. Speaking about all sort of things - sentimental, rage, sadness, joy, what's to come (e.g. hard rock and ragtime ;) ), etc. His music is the whole universe (it can be said about many others, not about him only of course).
Enjoy the music! (and sometimes enjoy the silence too ;) )
I don't know where you are from, but it's likely that the life of composers in some countries is taken more into consideration than in others. I'm German, I was a classical music child already, I grew up knowing the tough life of Beethoven, how terrible his ambitious father was, how depressing to loose one's hearing as a musician and how one could hear a lot of his dark moods and his frustration in his music. I also learned about Leopold Mozart's abusive way to exploit his children's talents, and that some of that damage surely entered and influenced Wolfgang's music.
I'm a passionate music lover, and one of my favourites from the start was always Chopin. Not for his "sentimentality" (which I don't even hear as much in his music, but more his mind), but for his incredible chord progression skills, his stunning melodies and his rare talent to never bore my ears while many other composers, although talented, bore me after 1 hour of their music.
Of course, Chopin started his life with a rare gift: blessed with fantastic parents. He had the right upbringing, education, personality and the smartness to make sure that he could make a living with his music, mainly his piano lessons (that was his main income). He couldn't have lived the life he did with just his compositions, publishers simply did not pay well enough.
But he was chronically ill with an advancing disease from a young age on. That is very hard to ignore and unfair to not consider when listening to his music. He suffered severe relapses of that still debated disease (be it TB or else), with frequent episodes of coughing and vomiting blood and several near-death experiences throughout his life. He was born with asthma, chronic digestive problems, periodic trigeminal neuralgia, severe migraine. Actually, it's very surprising that the man lived as long as he did, considering how quickly people died from diseases in his days. It would also be unfair to ignore the political madness going on in his home country and all over Europe (it influenced Beethoven, too, since you mentioned him). He was lucky in some ways and very unfortunate in others. And you could say that about a lot of great composers.
Like him or don't. But not respecting the compositional genius would be very ignorant. He developed piano music like no other before him to that extent and for a long time like no other after him, you hear his influence in countless great successors, all the way to Rachmaninoff.
I'm not a fan of Beethoven, BTW, most of his music does not touch me, it's too technical and too intellectual for my liking, not intuitive enough. But that doesn't make me blind to his brilliant genius either.
Thank you for two intelligent and thought out comments, my neighbors, it's unusual in yt. While it is a forum of opinions, it seems some wish everyone thought alike. I say my neighbors because you are from Poland and Germany, bonjour from France. Music is a passion of mine, I started dancing to it when little. What I'm worried about is the monolithic modern way where all the great composers, be they German, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, French will be forgotten because of this obsession with Mozart and Chopin. I don't get to concerts often but it is dominated by both, and music schools are, what if the other music disappears? We keep hearing of diversity but modernism doesn't allow it, it's the dominant voice. That was my point. It is already very difficult to find certain pieces, especially played. Chopin was a genius but variety is the zest of life.
@@tia904 Yes, I see clearer what you meant now, neighbour ( 🙂). It's a complex subject. I live in Leipzig, where Bach is overplayed permanently to the expense of many other talented composers (although I love his music). Bach, though, was almost forgotten at one point and brought to attention by another great composer (Mendelssohn). Sometimes it needs a respected herald to open the eyes - and ears - of people.
I do see music of lesser known composers being played here, on radio and in concert. Awareness for female composers is growing, too. But at the end of the day, it's the audience that demands what is going to be played most. If people don't buy tickets and recordings of music that they aren't familiar with or that they don't enjoy, performers will stop playing those composers and play what people willingly pay for, they need a job. This factor has never changed and was the same in the times of Bach, Telemann, Berlioz, Chopin, Glinka and so on. I wish the Leipzig Gewandhaus would play something else than the traditional Beethoven's 9th for New Year's Eve. But they tried and failed with the sales, so they continue the tradition.
I remember a letter of Chopin to his former composition professor Jozef Elsner in Warsaw, which makes that very clear. In that letter Chopin lamented to the recipient about how it was impossible to get Elsner's new oratorio sold to the publishers that he requested Chopin to recommend and advertise in Paris. Elsner - ironically almost forgotten today if it wasn't for the fact that he was Chopins composition teacher - was a gifted composer himself. But the Parisian audience only paid for what they already knew and liked, and even the music schools only played a well renowned repertoire. Chopin complained in that letter how they wouldn't even play Bach or Händel much. He had no success in selling Elsner's work (which he called a masterpiece). Things are simply still the same.