Composers / Fryderyk Chopin / Routes

 

Trasa Sheet music and instruments

It was possible for a young musician in Warsaw in the days of the Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland) to keep abreast of musical developments all over Europe. Admittedly, he could not have listened to every composition, but if he was endowed with imagination and musicality, he would have been able to familiarise himself with them and study the sheet music readily available in Warsaw bookshops.

The adolescent Chopin was also a keen visitor to shops selling scores – and even instruments. He would drop in to Brzezina’s bookshop every day (as he told a friend), was able to test the sounds of different pianos at Buchholtz’s, and impatiently proceeded to Magnus’s in the hope of picking up his Variations, Op. 2, which had been published in Vienna.

Warsaw music shops definitely played a significant part in educating Chopin and moulding his genius. A walk around the places where these bookshops and music engravers once stood is a must for anyone who wants to get to know the world of the composer’s youth.

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Fryderyk Chopin – Polonaise in G flat major [WN 35] (1830) – Tatiana Shebanova (piano Erard, 1849), NIFCCD017, (C)(P) The Fryderyk Chopin Institute

Fryderyk Chopin – Polonaise in G minor [WN 2] (1817) – Marek Drewnowski (piano Pleyel, 1848), NIFCCD019, (C)(P) The Fryderyk Chopin Institute

Fryderyk Chopin – Rondo in C minor, Op. 1 (1825) – Nikolai Demidenko (piano Pleyel, 1848), NIFCCD014, (C)(P) The Fryderyk Chopin Institute

Fryderyk Chopin – Variations in D major on Thomas Moore`s song for four hands [WN 6] (1824–1826) – Tatiana Shebanova, Stanisław Drzewiecki (piano Erard, 1849), NIFCCD017, (C)(P) The Fryderyk Chopin Institute