Chopin and the bare shoulder girl

During the eight years he lived in Paris, Frédéric wrote four impromptus. The first one was composed in 1834 (he was 24) and was never published during his lifetime as Chopin himself removed it from the catalog of his works. It was his friend and pianist Julian Fontana who published it in 1856, six years after his death, ignoring Chopin's request to throw it into the fire. One wonders if Julian refrained from doing so because the composition was dedicated to him.

A wise decision, indeed! Over the years it became the most famous of all Impromptus, to the extent of acquiring —no one knows how— a name of its own: Fantasie Impromptu.

Basically, the composition is made up of two parts. Firstly, an allegro agitato that is followed by a serene and lyrical melody, moderato cantabile, which will then whithers away to allow a repetition of the first theme, finishing with the left hand replaying the first notes of the moderato section while the right hand continues playing semiquavers, as it was at the beginning, till the piece resolves, gently, on a rolled chord.

Polyrhythm is a feature of the first part, which, more accurately, its a cross-rhythm. That is, the right hand plays sixteenth notes (semiquavers) whilst the left one plays triplets, with a very accurate synchronization of the two hands. It is not that complicated, after all. It is as if you were asked to beat on a table twice every second with your left hand and three times with your right hand in the same period of time. For children living in Caribbean countries it is literally child's play. I've seen and heard it with my own eyes and ears.

Let's listen to a little extract of the first theme running at a very slow rate, quite inadequate to appreciate the music, but perfect to illustrate the hard struggle between sixteenth notes and triplets. I hope you can hear how ugly the notes can sound, before turning into real music.



And now, let's listen to the same extract at a normal speed, coupled with a bit of magic, intention, the state of grace and the pedal.



Clearly the composition has become more real at the speed demanded by Chopin, i.e. allegro agitato, or fast and agitated.
But I think the young woman who has cheerfully agreed to illustrate the beginning of these notes went a bit overboard in the allegro agitato. Proof of this is the fact that, a few moments before moving us with the beautiful and serene melody of the central theme, the vigorous octaves that preceded it have uncovered her lovely right shoulder in an excess of enthusiasm. Apart from this, she plays like a goddess.
Therefore, I invite you to admire and listen to beautiful Russian pianist Valentina Igoshina playing the Impromptu N°4, or Fantasie Impromptu, at a recital in 2003, when she was 25 years old, just one more than Frédéric by the time he composed the piece.