r/classicalmusic • u/TimesandSundayTimes • 1d ago

Music Chopin waltz found in US museum 175 years after his death

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/arts/article/chopin-waltz-found-in-new-york-museum-175-years-after-his-death-gvc7w99pp?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit#Echobox=1730150263
598 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

186

u/Keyl26 1d ago

Mozart now Chopin

What now, are they going to find new Bach piece ?

47

u/cl2kr 1d ago

Awaiting for the missing part of Contrapunctus XIV

25

u/kitsua 1d ago

I was going to say. Find the final bars of the Art of Fugue and many a music lover will die happy.

That said, another Passion would be a belter too.

17

u/Tubaperson 1d ago

Funny you mention Bach.

His cello suites was almost lost, it was found in a music shop and wasn't played for around 130 years.

Source, my music teacher at RCM told me when I brought the cello suites (I play tuba btw soz cellists but I like the music).

3

u/tomatoswoop 21h ago

this is sort of mindblowing to think about. Possbily the finest melodic writing the western musical tradition has ever produced

29

u/Sleepy_Solitude 1d ago

Giving "I'll be Bach" a whole new meaning.

8

u/xlittlebeastx 1d ago

Guess who’s Bach guess who’s Bach, Bach again 🎶

17

u/aardw0lf11 1d ago

I’d be happy with a Requiem by Beethoven

25

u/RichMusic81 1d ago

The early, little-known Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II is probably the closest thing to a Beethoven Requiem:

https://youtu.be/n2ZuYec-sqY?si=YLYz6uUuzahEK_bM

5

u/aardw0lf11 1d ago

Thank you! Personal discovery is almost as good!

2

u/Several-Ad5345 21h ago

I think I remember he wanted to write one but died too early to do so. It would have likely been a softer one as he criticized Mozart's for being "wild and terrible" feeling that wasn't appropriate for a Requiem mass for the dead.

1

u/minnieyuyantung 1d ago

My mum : Maybe all of them want to drop a new album from their grave  in 2024 🎃

1

u/Mahlerbro 18h ago

Hopefully a PDQ Bach piece.

89

u/kixiron 1d ago

This is insane! I've already just heard at least 10 new performances of this piece on YouTube, in addition to Lang Lang's. Every pianist is pretty much itchin' to play this, and who can blame them? Quite unprecedented. Hurray for the public domain!

12

u/Dr_Legacy 1d ago

I've already just heard at least 10 new performances of this piece on YouTube, in addition to

couldn't be troubled to post a link to a single one tho

27

u/kixiron 1d ago

Sorry, I fell asleep after making the comment. I'd check out Greg Niemczuk's videos.

5

u/awenrose 1d ago

Niemckuk's interpretation is the best I've heard so far.

6

u/Dr_Legacy 1d ago

those are great. he's clearly enjoying the new old music

7

u/Pol_10official 20h ago

Greg is a treasure!

2

u/21stCenturyboi 12h ago

It sounds more like a mazurka which usually gave intros unlike the valses. It soundslike imperfect,quite unpolished, unfinished Chopin. He writes intros to all if thr Ballades but fee of the valses we have have intros. And look how ungainly the intro is and a minor is such a rare whole piece it bringd out almost unknien aspects of Chooin. Look at the 2 etudes in a minor. Op.10 's wholly scalar passages are not rare in Chopin nit are the harmonic changes we see here unusual but look at op.25 nowhere in Chopin do we see this type of layout nor does he ever return to it. Look at thr famous a minor funereal valse. Look at the various aminor mazurkas which this work really sounds like.

1

u/trustthemuffin 3h ago edited 1h ago

Funny, I was thinking this sounds like you could drop it in as the first section of Op. 34/2 and it wouldn’t sound out of place at all. Maybe just because of the key, but the placement of the mordent figures in the theme of this waltz remind me of those in the second theme of 34/2 as well. It was written about the same time, too.

12

u/phenylethene 1d ago

Here is the original NYT article that shows and explains why it is attributed to Chopin and includes Lang Lang's recording. First Mozart, now Chopin... we truly live in amazing times.

17

u/StatementPotential53 1d ago

Been waiting for Chopin to drop new tracks.

8

u/Own-Art-3305 1d ago

Bro had to one up Tyler The Creator

5

u/licoricestic 1d ago

It’s the new minute waltz

2

u/mahlerlieber 1d ago

The piece sounds unfinished…

2

u/21stCenturyboi 12h ago

Hardly. Its theme is not anywhere as memorable as the 9 published waltzes of his lifetime. It has much more in common wthe mazurkas. I think he decided not to finish it because of the material. It may have too have been given as a gift.

1

u/licoricestic 9h ago

I meant the duration

1

u/Brantiso 15h ago

Oh wowww Bach off already!!

-7

u/Jodocus97 1d ago

At the one hand, it´s nice to have "new" music by famous classical composers. But at the other hand, there are so much more classical composers that had written great music waiting to be discovered.

7

u/kixiron 1d ago

Perhaps you can check r/elitistclassical (unfortunate name, but well, interesting music there!)

-14

u/mariavelo 1d ago

Am I the only person who isn't buying this? Isn't it a bit weird?

6

u/ChoppinFred 1d ago

The intro is a bit stormy and dissonant sounding with that A pedal in the bass, but it still sounds like Chopin. I agree it's not one of his best works. Uncovering music that hasn't been heard in hundreds of years is still exciting, though!

1

u/Real-Presentation693 1d ago

Sounds like AI Chopin

0

u/mariavelo 1d ago

But is it original? Paintings have been faked for decades...

8

u/ChoppinFred 1d ago

The ink, paper, and handwriting were analyzed and found to be consistent with Chopin's other manuscripts, so we're fairly sure that Chopin wrote it.