Chopin’s Music – A Universal Language
American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote: “Music is the universal language of mankind” — music has the ability to transcend different cultures and times, and speak to humans directly on an emotional level.
The music of Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849) is among the most famous for its ability to speak to people regardless of their culture or the age in which they live.
In an interview with Professor Zbigniew Skowron at PolishHistory.pl, of the Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw, Professor Skowron notes:
“There is a saying that individual listeners perceive Chopin’s music as if it was addressed directly to them, so intimate and at the same time direct. I think that this is also due to the perfection of this music, the feeling that it does not have a single unnecessary note, just like in the case of other great masters: Bach or Mozart.”
He also notes that for Poles, Chopin’s music has deep patriotic meaning. Indeed, the Germans in World War II were very aware of this. As documented by Julian Kulski in his wartime diary The Color of Courage, the Germans banned the playing of Chopin’s music during their occupation of Poland. They also destroyed the statue of Chopin in Warsaw, and melted down the pieces. (The Color of Courage, pp. 60, 67)
In Roman Polański’s film “The Pianist,” there is a true scene where Władysław Szpilman plays Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 in the presence of a German officer in the ruins of a Warsaw destroyed by the Germans. Professor Skowron’s interviewer notes that this moving image is visible proof of the greatness of Chopin’s work. Professor Skowron agrees, saying, “This scene is emotionally moving when, in the presence of the executioner and the victim — in an almost inhuman situation — the music that comes from beneath his hands is a pure message of freedom.”
Do you have a favorite Chopin piece?
For myself, although I like virtually all of Chopin’s music, my all-time favorite is the “Heroic” Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53. I first heard it at a concert in a small salon in the beautiful Palace on the Water in Łazienki Park in Warsaw on my first trip to Poland almost twenty years ago, brilliantly played by Polish concert pianist Maciej Poliszewski. About halfway into the piece, the left hand plays a repetitive rhythm (not being a musician I don’t know the proper term), while the right hand plays a melody. When Mr. Poliszewski played this portion, he created a standing wave of energy in the room that I could feel physically — the most memorable concert experience I’ve ever had!
Click here for more information about music as the universal language.
Click here for a recent Harvard University study finding that music transcends cultural boundaries.
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