The Influence of Improvisation on Chopin’s Piano Concerto Op. 21

Abstract

Chopin was widely recognized as a gifted improviser. Accounts of his improvisations span his entire life, from his early years in Warsaw to his later career in Paris. Contemporary testimonies—including the diaries of George Sand and the notes of Juliusz Seligmann—attest to his extraordinary spontaneous creativity. Julian Fontana even claimed that Chopin’s improvisations often surpassed his written compositions.

Although the topic resurfaced in twentieth-century scholarship, the past thirty years have seen significantly increased interest in improvisation, particularly in relation to Chopin’s music. Recent publications offering valuable perspectives include Valerie Woodring Goertzen’s By Way of Introduction: Preluding by 18th and Early 19th Century Pianists (1996), Kenneth Hamilton’s After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance (2007), and Dana Gooley’s Fantasies of Improvisation: Free Playing in Nineteenth-Century Music (2018). A review of the literature shows that while both Chopin’s improvisational practice and his piano concertos have been extensively studied, no research has systematically investigated how improvisation shaped the compositional process of the concertos themselves. Over 120 scholarly works address “Chopin and improvisation,” with John Rink’s long-term research—beginning with his dissertation The Evolution of Chopin’s ‘Structural Style’ and Its Relation to Improvisation (1989)—being particularly influential. Existing scholarship primarily focuses on genres traditionally associated with improvisation, such as preludes, impromptus, fantasies, and the Polonaise-Fantaisie, as well as the improvisatory character of nocturnes and mazurkas. Ballades and études are less frequently considered in this context.

To date, studies have tended to treat improvisation in Chopin’s work and his piano concertos as separate, though related, subjects. The role of improvisation specifically within the concertos has not yet been examined in a systematic way. This study addresses this gap by outlining the role of improvisation in Chopin’s compositional process and identifying its traces in the Piano Concerto Op. 21.