Frederick Chopin born on 1st March, 1810 and was a trendsetter of his own times. In the 19th century, the world of music was saturated with ostentatious performers who exhibited their musical abilities with grand motions and flamboyance. Chopin, in contrast, liked to keep his performances modest and simple. The Preludes, written around 1831-1839, published as a single work was a manifestation of Chopin’s unusual and non-conformist musical style. In the 19th century, a prelude was more of a finger exercise, a rehearsal before the main music. Chopin, on the other hand, took the use of preludes on a whole new level and established them as an independent genre of music.
margin-left:5em Prelude no. 3 in G Major (Vivace) is one of the Preludes composed by Chopin that is approximately a minute long. Composed during his affair with writer George Sand, this piece was nicknamed by Hans von Bulow as “Thou Art So Like a Flower.” When I first listened to this music, I was immediately taken by the rapid yet delicate strokes of the piano keys. The piano of the keyboard family was the only musical instrument I could hear. The tone was delicate, light and lively. However, there were sounds of soft notes amidst the rapid fingering, which kept the music from sounding jumbled. I could imagine that the composer must have been his happiest when he composed this piece.
The second listening was as pleasant as the first one. Prelude no. 3 is almost like a romantic poem written to a lover. Chopin’s affair with Sand must have been an inspiration for this piece. The second listening made me think of whirlwind romance between two young lovers. The romance is fast-paced, swift, and exuberant but the boy and girl cannot stop themselves. The smooth and delicate tone of this piece indicates their timidity; they are both afraid of the consequences but the rapid tempo indicates their abandonment to logic and simply “going with the flow.” The fast-paced tempo thus indicates the drunken giddiness of first love. The tone of the music was pleasant to the ears throughout thus it should be major (positive).
The fingering on the left hand side is rapid from the beginning and gets faster around the end. The fingering on the right hand stays relaxed and graceful throughout the music. It does not change its pace. The quickness of the keys played on the left hand made me imagine the roller coaster ride of first love, while the soft sound of the keys played on the right hand side felt like a yearning and that beautiful feeling experienced when a person is in love. The sudden ending of this music is as short-lived and as swift as first love.
Chopin, with this short composition, has beautifully resonated the thrill, the confusion and the short-life of the first romance. Perhaps it was his own romance with Sand that made this piece sound as poetic and as honest as it does. Prelude no. 3 makes you think of a perfect setting such as sunshine, grass, stream, silence, and warmth when you listen to it. It has every element to create a sense of a young and joyful romance. When musician Hans von Bulow termed this musical piece “Thou art so like a flower”, he was exact, as Prelude no. 3 in G major is truly as beautiful and as delicate as a rose.
Work cited
Michałowski, Kornel and Samson, Jim. "Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 3, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/51099.
Meier, Marilyn Anne. “Chopin Twenty-four preludes opus 28”, Doctor of Creative Arts thesis, School of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, accessed March 3, 2014, http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/947.
Yu, Fred. “Preludes.” Chopin: The Poet of the Piano. The Vancouver Chopin Society, accessed March 3, 2014, http://www.ourchopin.com/analysis/prelude0108.html.