For this week’s Great Music, I am returning to probably my favorite composer – Chopin.
Since I written about Chopin before, I’ll just remind you that he was born in Poland and loved the country more than life itself. However, because of the various wars Poland was engaged in during Chopin’s life, he spent most of his time in Paris. He lived only 39 years from 1810 to 1849 and if you recall his body is buried in Paris while his sister cut out his heart and smuggled it to Warsaw in a bottle of alcohol where it resides today displayed in the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw.
The particular piece I have picked for this edition of Great Music is Chopin’s “Prelude in Db, op28 #15” part of a group of 24 preludes Chopin wrote while recovering from Tuberculosis on the island of Majorca in 1838. This was the period in Chopin’s life when he lived with the famous French writer, Amantine Lucile Dupin, better known by her pen name, George Sand. She was an interesting character in her own right who published under a man’s name since no publisher would print her work as a woman.
While Chopin and Sand were living in a cottage in Majorca, one night there was a rainstorm and Chopin got up and composed this piece of music, mimicking the rain falling on the roof. The repetitive Ab’s in the music remind people of the sound of raindrops on the roof, hence the nickname of the piece – The Raindrop Prelude.
The pianist is Eric Lu and this performance occurred at the annual Chopin competition to determine the best pianist of Chopin’s work. This terrific performance only earned Eric 4th place in the competition.