Piano Concerto No. 1 (Chopin)

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The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 by the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin was composed in 1830. It was first performed on October 11, 1830, in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist during one of Chopin's "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland. It was the first of his two piano concertos to be published, and was therefore given the designation as Piano Concerto "No. 1" at the time of publication, even though it was actually written immediately after what was later published as Piano Concerto No. 2.

It contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period:

  1. Allegro maestoso
  2. Romance - Larghetto
  3. Rondo - Vivace

Classical critics usually fall in to one of two schools of thought concerning the piece. The first of these says that given that Chopin was a composer for the piano first and foremost; the orchestral part of this piece acts more as a vehicle for the pianist, with the individual instrumental parts being uninteresting to perform. The second suggests that the orchestral backing is carefully and deliberately written to fit in with the sound of the piano, and that the simplicity of arrangement is in deliberate contrast to the complexity of the harmony.

[edit] In popular culture

  • The second movement (Romance - Larghetto) was performed by street performers with a violin, viola, and guitar in the movie Splash, after it was featured as the music for the ballerina snowglobe from Tiffany's. It was also used in the movie The Truman Show (starring Jim Carrey) and is played in its entirety at the end credits. It was included on the soundtrack album released for the movie.
  • It is also featured in the Korean Drama Stairway to Heaven.

[edit] External links