The First Acclamation of Chopin's Genius

After finishing, there was so much clapping - a moved Fryderyk reported to his parents after his first concert in Vienna - that I had to go out and bow a second time. The reason for this applause was not only the outstanding technique  and sensitivity of Chopin the pianist, but also his compositional talent. He presented Variations on a theme taken from Mozart!

The piece which begins Chopin's European career is a brilliant reaction of the seventeen-year-old composer to Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. Fryderyk, who in 1827 was a student of the Main School of Music in Warsaw, was commissioned to write a variation for a piano with the accompaniment of an orchestra.

the changes to which the subject is subject. The subject may be the composer's original idea or a fragment taken from another work. Subsequent variations are intended to show various shades of the same theme by changing the melody, tempo, rhythm or dynamics, among other factors. The form of variation has been used since the Renaissance until today.

We do not know whether Elsner imposed on young Chopin, as a teacher, a choice of a theme taken from a classic work, or whether it was an idea of ​​Fryderyk himself. The composer took as his starting point the famous duo of Zerlina and Don Juan La ci darem la mano from the first act of Mozart's opera.

It begins with an introduction that puts the audience in the right mood. In the second part, Chopin acquaints the audience with the theme, that is, the melody borrowed from the author of 'Don Juan'. Once we know the subject, Fryderyk shows off his ability to develop a musical pattern in five contrasting ways. In the end, he prepares the grand finale.

Each part of the solo piano part is accompanied by an orchestra (tutti). Sometimes the pianist dialogues with the rest of the instruments, but usually he rather leads a virtuoso monologue that has already delighted the first listeners. After playing each variation - he confided in a letter to his parents bursting with pride - there was such applause that I did not hear the orchestra's tutti...

Echoes of the Viennese success of the 'Variations' had been reaching Fryderyk for a long time. He certainly enjoyed reading in one of the reviews that: In his 'Variations' Chopin emphasized the whole wild, audacious, risky and adventurous life and activities of Don Juan. He did it in the most brilliant and daring way.

The great romantic Robert Schumann commented in the press: Chopin? Haven't heard that name. Who could it be? - genius is visible in every bar ... From that moment on, not only the German composer knew perfectly well who Fryderyk Chopin was.