Chopin and Improvisation

This chapter talks about how the conventional practices and values of classical performance today differ radically from those of Chopin's musical world. Perhaps the most fundamental difference concerns the significant role played by improvisation in public and private musical circles during the first few decades of the nineteenth century. Whereas modern performers tend to ascribe authority to the inferred intentions of composers and to the notational artifacts that have been handed down over successive generations, musicians some two hundred years ago approached written texts with much greater flexibility and freedom. The chapter shows how, during Chopin's lifetime, professional performers sought to dazzle their audiences with daring improvisations on themes proposed by individual listeners and on familiar melodies drawn from folk traditions or the latest operas.