MUSIC BOX
March 1, 2020
Melinda Coffey Armstead, piano & organ
Mostly Music of Frédéric Chopin
(b. March 1, 1810 - d. Oct. 17, 1849)
Chapel Concertino
Prelude in C major WTC I . . . J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude in C major Op. 28 No. 1 . . . F. Chopin
Mazurka in F minor Op. 68 No. 4 . . . F. Chopin
Mazurka B-flat major Op. 7 No. 1 . . . F. Chopin
Nocturne in E-flat Op. 9 . . . F. Chopin
Prelude in A-flat major Op. 28 No. 17 . . . F. Chopin
Musical Interlude
Prelude 13 in F# major . . . F. Chopin
Offertory
Berceuse Op. 57 . . . F. Chopin
Communion
Chorale from Nocturne Op. 15 No. 3 . . . F. Chopin
Ave Verum Corpus . . . W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Chorale from Nocturne Op. 37 No. 1. . F. Chopin
Postlude
Postlude in E major Op. 28 No. 9 . . . F. Chopin
Born on March 1, 1810, in the village of Żelazowa (rhymes with “whiplash”) Wola, Poland to a French father and a Polish mother, Frédéric Chopin was one of the greatest musical geniuses in the history of music. He was often compared to Mozart as child, was largely self-taught, and created an entirely new musical language for the piano. But he was an array of contradictions: obviously aristocratic, yet he came from peasant stock; obviously wealthy, though he was often close to poverty; revolutionary, yet he was socially conservative to the point of priggishness. There was no man more generous or accommodating, yet Robert Schumann said of him: “he will give you anything, except himself”.
He gave his unqualified admiration only to Bach and Mozart, but he also loved Polish folk music and Bellini’s operas. Alone among his contemporaries, Chopin has never suffered even a brief period of eclipse. Unlike Liszt, Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Schumann, his music has enjoyed uninterrupted popularity from his youth to the present, despite an originality that can surprise or even shock modern ears.
