How did Chopin play – vol. 1

When Chopin lived in Paris, he primarily supported himself by giving piano lessons – some of his pupils recorded in letters and memoirs the indications he gave them. Thanks to this, we can now learn a bit about how the composer himself envisioned performing his own works.

For example, we know his views on the flexibility of the wrist and hand, and the freedom of the fingers that a pianist should achieve. Karol Mikuli recounted that Chopin ‘could play legato in the most difficult arpeggios made up of very wide intervals, since it was his wrist and not his arm that was in constant motion.’ Princess Marcelina Czartoryska similarly remembered the Master's teachings, emphasizing that ‘the hand should fall softly on the keys just with its own weight – as though to play pianissimo, often seeming to caress the keys.’ Jan Kleczyński, who benefited from the Princess’s knowledge, added that Chopin ‘recommended […] that the fingers should fall freely and lightly.’

Kamila Stępień-Kutera