A new piece by Chopin has been discovered after almost 200 years
28 October 2024, 13:09 | Updated: 28 October 2024, 15:35
Newly discovered Chopin waltz, performed by Lang Lang at Steinway Hall in Manhattan
Star pianist Lang Lang has given the first performance of the previously unheard Chopin waltz.
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An unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin has been discovered in a Library in New York, leading to an outpouring of excitement across the classical music world.
Robinson McClellan was sorting through a collection of cultural memorabilia in the vault of the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan when he found a pockmarked manuscript the size of an index card with a distinctive name written on the top write corner: Chopin.
He sent a photograph of the piece to Jeffrey Kallberg, a leading Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
“My jaw dropped,” Kallberg told the New York Times. “I knew I had never seen this before.”
After a thorough analysis of the paper, ink, handwriting and musical style, the Morgan Museum has concluded that the work is indeed an unknown waltz by the great Polish composer. The momentous discovery is the first of its kind in more than half a century.
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The manuscript is dated between 1830 and 1835, when Chopin was in his early 20s and has several peculiarities.
Though believed to be complete, the work is shorter than Chopin’s other waltzes – only 48 measures long with a repeat, or about 80 seconds. The piece, in the key of A minor, has unusual dynamic markings, including a triple forte, signifying maximum volume, near the start.
The star pianist Lang Lang, who has recently recorded the waltz for at Steinway Hall in Manhattan has said the work felt like Chopin to him. The jarring opening, he said, evokes the harsh winters of the Polish countryside.
“This is not the most complicated music by Chopin,” he added, “but it is one of the most authentic Chopin styles that you can imagine.”
Watch the first performance of the work above!
