Following the success of Chopin Studies, this second volume of essays contains the most recent Chopin research of twelve leading scholars. Three main themes are addressed: reception history, aesthetics and criticism, and performance studies. The essays explore Chopin as classical composer, as salon composer, as modernist, as "otherworldly," as androgyne, and define aspects of his musical language, including narrative structures, progressive tendencies and functional ambiguity.

Contributors: Jim Samson, Andreas Ballstaedt, Anne Swartz, Jeffrey Kallberg, Karol Berger, Anthony Newcomb, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Edward T. Cone, Carl Schachter, L. Henry Shaffer, David Rowland, John Rink, Jeremy Barlow

CONTENIDO:

Preface
1. Chopin reception: theory, history, analysis Jim Samson
2. Chopin as 'salon composer' in nineteenth-century German criticism Andreas Ballstaedt
3. Chopin as modernist in nineteenth-century Russia Anne Swartz
4. Small fairy voices: sex, history and meaning in Chopin Jeffrey Kallberg
5. Chopin's Ballade Op. 23 and the revolution of the intellectuals Karol Berger
6. The Polonaise-Fantasy and issues of musical narrative Anthony Newcomb
7. Placing Chopin: reflections on a compositional aesthetic Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger
8. Ambiguity and reinterpretation in Chopin Edward T. Cone
9. The Prelude in E minor Op. 28 No. 4: autograph sources and interpretation Carl Schachter
10. Performing the F# minor Prelude Op. 28 No. 8 L. Henry Shaffer
11. Chopin's tempo rubato in context David Rowland
12. Authentic Chopin: history, analysis and intuition in performance John Rink
Appendix: encounters with Chopin: Fanny Erskine's Paris diary, 1847–8 Jeremy Barlow
Index