The preludes, many of which are very brief, were described by Schumann as "the beginnings of studies". [183] Inspired by J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Chopin's preludes move up the circle of fifths (rather than Bach's chromatic scale sequence) to create a prelude in each major and minor tonality. [184] The preludes were perhaps not intended to be played as a group, and may even have been used by him and later pianists as generic preludes to others of his pieces, or even to music by other composers. This is suggested by Kenneth Hamilton, who has noted a 1922 recording by Ferruccio Busoni in which the Prelude Op.28 No.7 is followed by the Étude Op.10 No.5. [185]

Reiss, Jozef; Brown, Maurice (1980). "Polonaise". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol.15. London: Macmillan Publishers. pp.49=52. ISBN 978-0-333-23111-1.In late summer he was invited by Jane Stirling to visit Scotland, where he stayed at Calder House near Edinburgh and at Johnstone Castle in Renfrewshire, both owned by members of Stirling's family. [120] She clearly had a notion of going beyond mere friendship, and Chopin was obliged to make it clear to her that this could not be so. He wrote at this time to Grzymała: "My Scottish ladies are kind, but such bores", and responding to a rumour about his involvement, answered that he was "closer to the grave than the nuptial bed". [121] He gave a public concert in Glasgow on 27 September, [122] and another in Edinburgh at the Hopetoun Rooms on Queen Street (now Erskine House) on 4 October. [123] In late October 1848, while staying at 10 Warriston Crescent in Edinburgh with the Polish physician Adam Łyszczyński, he wrote out his last will and testament–"a kind of disposition to be made of my stuff in the future, if I should drop dead somewhere", he wrote to Grzymała. [110] A lengthy prelude featuring an A–B–A structure with continuous eighth-note movement in the left hand and chords and a nocturne-like melody in the right. Meryl Streep's and Simon Helberg's characters play this piece together in a poignant moment in the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins. The biography of Chopin published in 1863 under the name of Franz Liszt (but probably written by Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein) [210] states that Chopin "must be ranked first among the first musicians... individualizing in themselves the poetic sense of an entire nation". [211]

Hamilton, Kenneth (2008). After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517826-5. Harmonically dense with a low "plodding" bass line. This is the shortest of the preludes with just 12 bars. Halfway through the 1931 film Street Scene, the prelude is faintly played in one of the apartments, as a piano–violin duet. Chopin sacrificed himself by playing the organ at the Elevation – and what an organ! Anyhow our boy made the best of it by using the less discordant stops, and he played Schubert's Die Sterne, not with a passionate and glowing tone that Nourrit used, but with a plaintive sound as soft as an echo from another world. Two or three at most among those present felt its meaning and had tears in their eyes. [96]Works published since 1857 have received alternative catalogue designations instead of opus numbers. The most up-to-date catalogue is maintained by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute at its Internet Chopin Information Centre. The older Kobylańska Catalogue (usually represented by the initials 'KK'), named for its compiler, the Polish musicologist Krystyna Kobylańska, is still considered an important scholarly reference. The most recent catalogue of posthumously published works is that of the National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin, represented by the initials 'WN'. [162] Chopin's mazurkas and waltzes are all in straightforward ternary or episodic form, sometimes with a coda. [153] [176] The mazurkas often show more folk features than many of his other works, sometimes including modal scales and harmonies and the use of drone basses. However, some also show unusual sophistication, for example, Op.63 No.3, which includes a canon at one beat's distance, a great rarity in music. [177] Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest celebrities, his indirect association with political insurrection, his high-profile love life, and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying historical fidelity. Among his many memorials is the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, which was created by the Parliament of Poland to research and promote his life and works. It hosts the International Chopin Piano Competition, a prestigious competition devoted entirely to his works. Chopin's polonaises show a marked advance on those of his Polish predecessors in the form (who included his teachers Żywny and Elsner). As with the traditional polonaise, Chopin's works are in triple time and typically display a martial rhythm in their melodies, accompaniments, and cadences. Unlike most of their precursors, they also require a formidable playing technique. [178] Chopin, Fryderyk (1962). Selected Correspondence of Fryderyk Chopin. Translated by Hedley, Arthur. Compiled by Bronisław Edward Sydow. London: Heinemann.

Sergei Rachmaninoff used Prelude No. 20 as his inspiration for Variations on a Theme of Chopin, a set of 22 variations in a wide range of keys, tempos and lengthsAlthough this period had been productive, the bad weather had such a detrimental effect on Chopin's health that Sand determined to leave the island. To avoid further customs duties, Sand sold the piano to a local French couple, the Canuts. [90] [n 14] The group travelled first to Barcelona, then to Marseilles, where they stayed for a few months while Chopin convalesced. [92] While in Marseilles, Chopin made a rare appearance at the organ during a requiem mass for the tenor Adolphe Nourrit on 24 April 1839, playing a transcription of Franz Schubert's lied Die Sterne (D. 939). [93] [94] [n 15] George Sand gives a description of Chopin's playing in a letter of 28 April 1839: Fryderyk Chopin – Information Centre – Filmography". en.chopin.nifc.pl. chopin.nifc.pl. 2003–2018 . Retrieved 5 March 2020.