The curator of a New York museum made a surprising discovery: he found a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin . This is the first time in almost 100 years that a new piece by the Polish composer has been found.
The waltz, written in a small manuscript approximately 10 by 13 centimeters, was initially discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought help from outside experts, according to a statement from the Morgan Library and Museum on Monday. .
“He found it peculiar, as he could not think of any Chopin waltz that matched the measurements on the page,” the statement said.
“Chopin was famous for writing in “small forms”, but this work, lasting about a minute, is shorter than any of his other waltzes”, adds the statement. “Nevertheless, it is a complete piece, showing the kind of “concision” we expect from a finished work by the composer.”
McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, vice dean of arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, for help in authenticating the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong probability that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement. This research included analyzes by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink matched those Chopin typically used.
The Morgan Library and Museum believes that the fact that the manuscript is so small may mean that it was intended to be a gift that the recipient would keep in an autograph album. Chopin was known for signing manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests he ultimately decided not to hand it over.
“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider about when he wrote it and who it was intended for,” McClellan said in the release. “Hearing this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the classical piano world.”
“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process, and it is exciting to have discovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, director of the museum, in the release.
The discovery of an unknown piece by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.
Chopin died in Paris, France, aged just 39. He is one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, banks and buildings. His works and image are omnipresent throughout the Central European country, and his residences bear unmistakable signs.
Busts and statues of his image are scattered throughout several large cities. Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed in a wall of the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw.
However, recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life have clashed uncomfortably with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions – and made some question whether the Chopin story that Poles learn from a young age is true.
According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and these relationships have been omitted from history by successive historians and biographers; a potentially thorny accusation in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ+ rights.
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This content was originally published in Chopin’s lost music is discovered after almost 100 years on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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