NEW YORK (AP) A sheet of music about the size of an index card was used to meticulously write the melancholy waltz. The fascinating title of the short, melancholic piece was written in cursive at the top: Chopin.
It seems that the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan has discovered a hitherto undiscovered piece of music composed by the European maestro Frederic Chopin.
This month, the lavishly furnished institution—once the private library of billionaire J. P. Morgan—is showcasing the untitled and unsigned work.
The manuscript was found by museum curator Robinson McClellan, who said it was the first new composition by the Romantic era composer to be found in almost a century.
However, McClellan acknowledges that it might never be known if it was written by Chopin himself or if it is an original composition.
According to McClellan, the composition, which is in the key of A minor, is notable for its ominous, stormy opening section before shifting to a mournful melody that is more typical of Chopin.
His style is like this. During a recent visit to the museum, he stated that this represents his essence. It feels very much like him.
While looking through a collection of works by the late Arthur Satz, a former president of the New York School of Interior Design, McClellan claimed to have discovered the piece in May. Satz had purchased it from former school director A. Sherrill Whiton Jr., a passionate signature collector.
After that, McClellan collaborated with specialists to confirm its legitimacy.
According to the museum, the ink matched a type common in the early 19th century when Chopin lived, and the paper was consistent with what Chopin preferred for writings. However, a handwriting examination showed that the name Chopin at the top of the sheet was actually written by someone else.
Chopin, who was born in Poland, was regarded as a musical talent from a young age. Before relocating to Paris, where he died in 1849 at the age of 39, most likely from disease, he lived in Warsaw and Vienna.
In accordance with his dying wish for the organ to return to his native country, his heart, pickled in a jar of alcohol, is kept in a Warsaw church even though he is interred among a pantheon of artists at the city’s renowned P re Lachaise Cemetery.
The document is consistent with the types of ink and paper Chopin used in his early years in Paris, according to Artur Szklener, director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, the Polish capital where the composer was raised.
According to Szklener, the composition incorporates elements that are uncommon for Chopin’s works, but it also musically conjures the bright manner that made Chopin a luminary in his day.
In a lengthy statement issued following the document’s release last month, Szklener clarified that it is not a complete composition but rather a specific musical gesture, a theme laced with rather simple keyboard tricks that allude to a virtuoso approach.
He speculates that the item might have been a work in progress, as do other scholars. Perhaps it was a student’s work for a musical exercise, or it might have been a copy of someone else’s work.
Professor of music Jeffrey Kallberg of the University of Pennsylvania, who assisted in authenticating the paper, described the composition as a small treasure that Chopin probably meant to give as a present to a friend or well-to-do acquaintance.
In an email, Kallberg stated that many of the pieces he presented as presents were brief, akin to teasers for a longer piece. Additionally, he frequently wrote the same waltz more than once as a gift, so we are unsure if he wanted the song to be heard.
The composition possesses many of the composer’s signature elements, according to David Ludwig, dean of music at The Juilliard School, a performing arts conservatory located in Manhattan.
Ludwig remarked, who was not involved in the document’s authentication, “It has the Chopin character of something very lyrical and it has a little bit of darkness as well.”
However, Ludwig pointed out that the narrowly structured score would be among Chopin’s shortest known works if it were legitimate. When performed on the piano, the waltz lasts less than a minute, which is how many of Chopin’s compositions were supposed to sound.
Ludwig stated that since it piques our curiosity, it doesn’t really matter if it is authentic or not. This kind of discovery emphasizes how much classical music is a living art form.
The Chopin disclosure follows the announcement in September by the Leipzig Municipal Libraries in Germany that they had discovered a previously unidentified composition in its holdings that was most likely written by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
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This story was reported by John Minchillo, a video journalist for the Associated Press in New York.
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Philip Marcelo can be followed on Twitter at @philmarcelo.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
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