rev etude No.12 C minor
... in C minor as Chopin forcefully pounded on the keys of the piano, I imagined an intense unrest, or anxiousness felt by revolutionaries waiting to bring about change. Similarly, because Chopin chose to compose his piece in C minor and play it with great swiftness, the piece caused me to recollect feelings of anxiousness and unstableness. As I listened to this composition, I imagined restless revolutionaries of colonial times waiting in intense unrest until they could overthrow the government or bring about some kind of change. Chopin’s etude was executed perfectly in order to keep with this theme. Because he played with such power, I imagined myself as a modern revolutionary anxious for change with each heartbeat of mine represented in the hammering of the piano key. Not only did I analyze this composition from the perspective of the Referential Listener, but I also decided that the musical concepts of structure, specifically ternary form, and bravura are illustrated by this selection. I think that this selection was extremely effective in illustrating the concept of ternary form because it was clearly organized into three different sections. For example, in the first section Chopin introduces the piece by playing a strong, heroic melody with his right hand and a sweeping accompaniment with his left. Then, in the second section Chopin builds tension throughout his piece by playing a new right hand melody. In conclusion, Chopin ends his etude with a third section in which he resorts back to playing the original melody and its accompaniment. Thus, by organizing his etude into three separate sections and concluding with the initial melody and accompaniment, Chopin gave unity and wholeness ...