Interpretation coming to Life: Chopin - Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

In Search of Poetic Understanding :
A study of the interpretation approach and methods of Pnina Salzman and Alfred Cortot
/ Inbar Rothschild © / The Royal Academy of Music, London, 2020

Case Study: Frédéric François Chopin – Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Analysis and Interpretation according to the notes of Pnina Salzman and Alfred Cortot:

Yellow - Frederic Chopin's first edition highlights ;
Blue - Alfred Cortot's comments from his study edition;
Red - Pnina Salzman's comments from scores of pupils;
Black - Inbar Rothschild's analysis comments.

Many thanks to my dear friends and fellow pupils - Yoni Farhi, Efi Hackmey and Eyal Zaliouk for sharing their annotated scores, to the wonderful Oliver Glynn for sound-editing my original recording, and to my fantastic supervisor, Dr. Sarah Callis, for her valuable advice and continued support.

Chopin was the first composer to write an entirely instrumental Ballade, a "Ballade without words" portraying a poetic story where emotions, actions and words speak by sounds alone and develop from the seeds of the opening to their inevitable ending by pure musical means.

Chopin's four ballades were supposedly inspired by the literary ballads of his fellow countryman Adam Mickiewicz (according to Robert Schumann), and express the tales of the composer's beloved homeland in a discreet form to which any listener could relate.

This final ballade, composed in 1842 and dedicated to the Baroness de Rothschild, demonstrates Chopin's lyrical and refined style, his exquisitely innovative and ingenious developments in counterpoint, structure, texture and harmony (especially towards the end of his life), as well as his incredible imaginative, expressive and poetic qualities, which, altogether, sweep the listener along to a fantastic journey within the music.

For me, it speaks the most intimate of human emotions, searching our path, pleading to the universe, fighting impossible battles, reaching brief moments of peace, and forever longing for love.

Inbar Rothschild