The Bach–Chopin Connection, a three-part class taught by Trevor Stephenson

The Bach-Chopin Connection

Three Classes
January 22, 29, and Feb. 5 2023
from 6-7:30 pm at the studio of Trevor Stephenson
5729 Forsythia Place
Madison WI 53705
Enrollment $100, individual classes $35

Chopin studied Bach’s keyboard music thoroughly–in particular, The Well-Tempered Clavier. We know from Chopin’s own letters that when he was composing his Preludes on the island of Majorca it was Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, his own (Chopin’s) scribblings (probably the Preludes sketches), his candlestick, and unassailable silence that he was dealing with.

Chopin wrote to his friend, Fontana, on 28 December 1838:

‘… Between the cliffs and the sea, a huge deserted Carthusian  monastery,  where in a cell with doors larger than any carriage-gateway in Paris you may imagine me with my hair unkempt, without white gloves and pale as ever. The cell is shaped like a tall coffin, the enormous vaulting covered with dust, the window small. In front of the window are orange trees, palms, cypresses; opposite the window is my camp-bed under a Moorish filigree rose-window. Close to the bed is an old square grubby box which I can scarcely use for writing on, with a leaden candlestick (a great luxury here) and a little candle. Bach, my scrawls and someone else’s old papers  … silence … you can yell … still silence. In short, I am writing to you from a very strange place.’

Chopin absorbed Bach’s music to the Nth degree. Chopin could play and did play huge swaths of it from memory (in particular, The Well-Tempered Clavier), for his students and colleagues. I would argue that Chopin learned from Bach the relationship between poetry and rigor, that expression and structure are in the end inextricable and must always work together–a tall order for Chopin, working as he did in the early 19th century, when freedom of expressive had become paramount. Chopin also gleaned from Bach the kaleidoscopic variety of expression possible through Well-Tempered keyboard tunings, i.e., circulating non-equal temperaments. These well temperaments, in common use throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, provided the keyboard player with a wealth of intonational expression. Chopin put this to work in all his music, choosing his tonalities very carefully in order to draw the best effect from his material.

In this class we’ll investigate how Bach’s influence rests at the heart of many of Chopin’s greatest works. I’ll play and discuss music by both composers on a 17th-century harpsichord, 18th-century clavichord, 18th-century fortepiano, a 19th-century English Cottage piano, and a 19th-century English Parlor Grand piano. Specific repertoire to be studied in the classes will be email to participants in early January.

To register for the class, email me at trevor@trevorstephenson.com. Reading knowledge of music is suggested. Enrollment for the three 90-minute classes is $100, individual classes are $35 per class.