Frederic Chopin: Mazurkas (Henle Edition)

Frédéric Chopin is known worldwide as one of the leading musicians of the Romantic era. This collection of Mazurkas features all 57 of the Polish virtuoso pianist's works written in this genre for the solo Piano. Chopin started composing his mazurkas in 1825, and continued composing them until 1849, the year of his death. His Mazurkas, while originating in the Polish dance (the 'mazurek'), differ from the traditional variety in that they were written for the concert hall rather than the dance hall, so that it was Chopin who put the mazurka on the European musical map. These mazurkas signalled new ideas of nationalism, and influenced and inspired other composers to support their national music. This Urtext edition is based on many different sources and follows the current state of research to present the pieces in a form as close to the original intentions of the composer as possible. The comments at the end of the volume give detailed information about the sources and their deviations, and an appendix with the first versions of certain works is also included. Most of the pieces are quite brief and thus perfect for any skilled pianist's repertoire.