Prelude in C Minor

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Prelude in C Minor Opus 28, Number 20
Composer Frédéric Chopin

The E minor Prelude was played at Chopin’s funeral. While this piece seems a bit more funeral-like, that is not why I chose it as my tribute to this great musician. I chose this piece for its deep character which emerges through it’s simple beauty; its joy amidst pain. The mystery of it’s depth, however lies truly within the heart of Chopin which is laid bare before us eloquently within the context of this very simple, and even basic, chord sequence that he codified into a song.

It is the way that Chopin chose to arrange these chords which makes this piece so beautiful. It often has musicians helplessly overexerting themselves as they strive to connect emotionally with the music rather than the soul of the composer. For any true artist music is a mirror. The search for depth within a piece of music is akin to the search for truth and beauty in life and we find that first within ourselves or we never find it at all.

If we discover only our emotions as we play a given work then we sadly present much less to the world than what caused the piece to be composed in the first place. In short, this music is beautiful in its simplicity whether we writhe around, contort our face or even shed tears as we perform it.

I don’t mean to suggest that the people performing classical works are not beautiful in their delivery. I am merely stating that the beauty people see on stage is often the only beauty that they retain. If however, our delivery is detached from ourselves, striving to deliver to our listeners the composition and not the performer, then the results of our discoveries and our labors will last longer and have a greater effect spiritually, psychologically and of course, emotionally.

At the time that I was studying piano literature in the late 70’s and early 80’s the version of this prelude with an E natural on the 4th beat of the 3rd measure was the one every pianist from Chopin to Rubinstein performed. As it was his first thought as a composer and a seeming ray of hope in this otherwise somber piece, I have always preferred this version.

It is common knowledge that Chopin preferred teaching and composing to performing. He gave very few concerts during his life and as a result he was able to complete lots of music for the piano in varying forms and character.

Recently I heard a (“musical expert") pianist saying that the Fantasie Impromptu is a repertoire piece for a “beginner professional” or an “advanced amateur.” When we describe works of art in such trivial ways we negate the gifts of the composer. Music is not always composed for others to perform. Sometimes music is an expression of that particular artist at a given moment in his life.

In other words, Chopin did not compose the Fantasie Impromptu while he was an advanced amateur any more than he composed the C Minor Prelude when he was a beginner. Such comments prove my theory as to why classical piano music has lost so much of its vibrancy.

There are many talented pianists out there performing all of the great works by great composers but we must remember that no matter how well they play those works they did not write them. The true artist is the one who composes, performs and teaches music, not simply one who performs the works of other composers.

Someone will arrive on the scene tomorrow who can play faster or more complex than I, but the beauty which God has placed within me to share in my own compositions is mine, and no one will be along to replace or eclipse that.

I have always loved this piece but I love it now as a follower of Jesus with far more understanding than I had when I was a young man chasing both personal and artistic validation. I was recently elated to discover that Chopin, my favorite artist, found true love and true beauty before he died.

After a lifetime of seeking human love that left him continually bereft and melancholy he discovered, on his death bed what he was longing for most and seeking through his music. God.

The composer’s longtime friend, the Abbé Jalowicki, a priest who rushed to his side in his final days, puts it like this:

While dying he still called on the names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, kissed the crucifix, and pressed it to his heart with the cry, “Now I am at the source of Blessedness!”

Thus died Chopin, and in truth, his death was the most beautiful concerto of all his life.

(Excerpt from The Death of Chopin, by Abbé Jalowicki)

I hope that as you discover the beauty that was always present in Chopin, (even though he did not recognize it until his death), you will ponder that same Beauty within yourself, and allow it to become the driving force of your life.

Mark Christopher Brandt