Analysis of Chopin's Ballade no.3 Essay Example

For my research my topic it will be about romantic music, particularly about Chopin. After finding different editions of the Chopin Ballade no.3, I will be comparing three editions Chopin Complete Works editor by Paderewski, Ernst Rudorff, and Herrmann Scholtz. This year for my master’s repertoire, I am working on the Chopin Ballade no.3 of the Paderewski version and wanted to compare how this edition is different from the other two editions. Starting from the 1st measure, in the Rudorff edition some of the moving bass notes are in the right-hand staff line and the editor wants the right hand to play some of the bass notes. In the Paderewski version, the bass notes are written for only the left hand to be played. Then in measure four of the Rudorff edition, the bass notes are written as chords, whereas the Paderewski version there are only single bass notes and not written as chords in the left hand. Already, starting from the first few measures the editions wants you to play notes with different hands and different articulations.  From the Scholtz edition, from the first few measures there are many crescendos and decrescendos compared to the Parderewski edition. In the Scholtz edition, there are accents on different beats compared to the other editions, and the articulation of the phrasings in the first five measures are different as well. 

Then on measure 7, in the Rudorff version there is a slight crescendo of the moving right-hand chords, but in the Paderewski version there are no crescendos. In my own opinion, I prefer to play the Paderewski version because the dynamic marking from the beginning is written simply. In Chopin, it’s important to not overdo and create so much rubato and overdo dynamic because it is only the beginning. In the Rudorff version, I noticed from the beginning the editor wants the pianist to play a lot of crescendos, but that might overpower and ruin the simplicity of Chopin’s music. On measure 18, in the Scholtz edition there’s an articulation marking poco crescendo while other editions don’t have that marking.  After poco crescendo then comes diminuendo in the next measure, but other editions have no dynamic or any articulation markings in those measures.

In addition, in the middle of the score on measure 183, there are slightly different dynamic markings on each edition. In the Paderewski, there are sforzandos in each beat of that measure, whereas the Rudorff edition, the editor wants the pianist to play forte in each beat. After those measures, all the dynamic markings, pedal, and articulation are the same until measure 231- the coda ending. In the Paderewski edition, there’s a forte but in the Rudorff edition there are no dynamic markings in the coda. In the Scholtz edition, on measure 231, the dynamic is marked fortissimo sempre. The editor also writes allargando with crescendos on almost every measure in the coda. Every edition in the coda has different dynamic markings. 

Overall, after scanning through three editions, for Chopin’s music Paderewski has much clearer dynamic markings and the notes were easier to see and clear. The sense of the phrasings made more sense in the Paderewski edition. In the Rudorff edition, the editor wants several notes to be taken with the left hand even though the range is easier to play with the right hand. This version is harder to read because there are unnecessary notes such as chords to make the music a little hard to play and reach for pianists. In the Scholtz edition, there are too many articulations in one measure to the next and it’s just too many things going on one measure.