Chopin was inspired by the Irish pianist, composer and teacher John Field who invented
the piano nocturne. Field and Hummel were regarded as masters of cantabile. Chopin’s
contemporaries compared his playing with that of Field. Kalkbrenner found, when he
heard Chopin play, that Chopin had the style of Cramer and the touch of Field.
Chopin was physically incapable of consistently achieving the powerful effects that many
of his works call for and for that reason had to give up playing them towards the end of
his life. But this does not mean that he never produced an emphatic forte or could not
play with dramatic fire. Chopin’s own indications such as ‘fff - con più fuoco possibile’
and ‘il più forte possibile’ must be taken seriously.
Chopin’s pupil George Mathias said: ‘Those who have heard Chopin may say that
nothing approaching it has ever been heard. What virtuosity! What power! Yes, what
power! But it only lasted for a few bars, and what exaltation and inspiration! The man’s
whole being vibrated. The piano was animated by the intensest life: it sent a thrill
through you.’
Chopin called for pure, round tone, perfect legato and graceful ease. Mikuli pointed out:
‘The tone which Chopin drew from the instrument, especially in cantabile passages, was
immense ... a manly energy gave to appropriate passages an overpowering effect –
energy without coarseness; but, on the other hand, he knew how to enchant the listener by
delicacy – without affectation.’
Chopin’s touch on the key was gentler than was ordinarily adopted. He rarely used forte
since it produced a harsh and artificial sound. If a pupil used excessive force Chopin
would say: ‘What was that? A dog barking?’ This does not mean that Chopin did not
have a powerful tone or that one should avoid playing loudly in Chopin.
Chopin sometimes had his new works played by his pupils when he felt too weak to do
them justice. In 1839 his pupil Adolph Gutmann was asked to play Chopin’s Scherzo in
C sharp minor so that the famous composer, pianist and teacher Ignaz Moscheles might
not get a wrong idea of the work. Chopin’s style of playing was so personal and elusive
that it was difficult to hand it down to his disciples.
Chopin’s hands, though not large, were extraordinarily supple and were ideally
proportioned for piano playing. Chopin’s slim hands would ‘suddenly expand and cover
a third of the keyboard. It was like the opening of the mouth of a serpent about to
swallow a rabbit whole.’ The widespread chords and arpeggios which abound in his
works presented no difficulty for him.
Chopin’s intention was to produce a pure singing tone, a fine legato and carefully
moulded phrasing. In order to keep the hand quiet and ‘flow over the difficulty’ he
would slide one finger over several adjacent keys with the thumb or the fifth finger, or
pass his fourth finger over the fifth finger. He would sometimes play a sequence of
legato notes with the thumb. Chopin often used the same finger to play adjoining black
and white notes without any noticeable break in the continuity of the line. He also