Study To The Rhythmic And Structural Characteristics Of Chopin' Ballades

Chopin(1810-1849) is one of most greatest pianist and composer. In Poland. He occupied an important place in the musical history of Europe in the 19th century. The large amount of piano works he composed has become the national symbol of Poland. They include folk-like, playful small pieces as well as dramatic, epic works. These works for piano are still very popular today and they remain a part of the repertoire of almost every pianist. The contribution Chopin made to classical music was great. While continuing the classical tradition, he took bold steps in creating new harmonic language, musical structure, and singing melody, thus creating his own musical language and style, which had a very deep influence on his contemporary and future generation composers. The form of the four ballades is a combination of story-telling, lyricism, and drama. They are large scale works with complex content and deep meaning. They epitomized the masterful craftsmanship Chopin had. This paper studies and analyzes the rhythmical and structural characteristics of the four ballades, categorizing their rhythmical characters, looking for their main rhythmical structure, studying their patterns of change. At the same time, it analyzes the form of the ballades, finds new compositional material, and studies the significance the rhythmical characteristic within the form. The conclusion of this research will be used in teaching work to pin point difficult parts of the music, and to supply theoretical basis for understanding and interpreting Chopin's music.