Frédéric Chopin
Score and Study Guide
The complete original score, edited and fingered by David de Miguel. Explore the harmony, shape the melody, and bring the voices into balance through analysis and studies at the piano.
The reduction brings out the notes that give the phrase its shape. Play them without the ornaments, then listen for the same melodic arc when you return to Chopin’s score.
Play the original melody in measures 1 and 2 with just the bass line. Listen to how the bass shapes the phrase when you leave out the inner chords.
Keep the bass in your left hand and move the chords to your right. Listen to their upper notes as a melody and connect one chord to the next. Then bring that same phrasing back to the left hand.
In measure 18, four right-hand notes fit into the time of three left-hand eighth notes. In measure 29, eight sixteenth notes span those same three eighth notes. The guides show where the left hand enters without adding accents to the right-hand line.
The example pairs Chopin’s turn sign with one way to play it. The book also gives trills and mordents written out note for note, so you can hear how each ornament leads into the melody.
Practice the repeated figure in measure 32 from four different starting points. Begin with four notes and a landing note, then extend the group. Rhythmic variations prepare the transition from the repeated figure to the final descent.
Comparing performances
History and interpretation
Chopin arrived in Paris in 1831. A few months later he performed at the Pleyel rooms. He dedicated the three Op. 9 nocturnes to the pianist Marie Pleyel.
The study wheel
Ten aspects of a single performance. Select a segment to explore that part of the piece.
Early editions and students’ recollections bring us closer to Chopin’s Paris. A marking from a lesson can suggest a different articulation for a familiar phrase.
The formal analysis traces the four appearances of the theme, the contrasting phrases, and the coda. In a separate exercise, compare four historical variants with the main edition and listen for how each change in ornamentation shapes the phrase.
A changing chord can intensify a phrase even while a melody note is held. Follow the tension to its resolution and listen for the note the phrase is moving toward.
Play the essential melody to hear which notes carry the phrase. When you add the ornaments again, let that underlying line guide the legato and the shape of each breath.
The bass traces the harmonic motion, while the upper notes of the chords form a line of their own. Playing that line separately helps you keep it connected within the accompaniment.
Changing fingers on a held key prepares the hand for the next note. In the quadruplet and octuplet, knowing where the left hand enters helps you coordinate both hands without accenting each meeting point.
A turn takes its shape from the note it leads into. In the cadenza studies, the repeated figure gradually grows longer until you can connect it to the final descent.
When the harmony changes, listen for how much resonance to keep. In rubato, distinguish a melody that lingers over a steady accompaniment from a change of tempo shared by both hands.
Start at different appearances of the theme, using its opening melody note and bass as landmarks. From each starting point, see if you can hear how the phrase continues.
Eight performances offer eight readings of the same measures. Listen to how long each pianist gives an ornament and how the pulse settles on the note that follows.
Paperback edition
The score is laid out for the music stand, with clear slurs, dynamics, and pedal markings. David’s fingering helps you connect the notes and sustain the melodic line. The studies use the score’s measure numbers, so you can take each idea straight back to the original passage.
Pianists who are ready to play Chopin’s original score and want to develop their interpretation. Piano teachers can also choose a study on phrasing, coordination, or the cadenza, then return to the same passage in the score with a student.
The complete original work in E-flat major. David de Miguel checked the musical text against historical sources and prepared the edition and its fingering. In the annotated score, documented fingerings by Chopin appear in bold parentheses.
