Story-Telling Pieces

[melia]

Does story telling help in playing a piece with better expression? For example, instead of saying to yourself "this bit soft, that bit loud etc.." do you use your imagination and think up a story which may suit the piece. For example, the theme could be 'loved and lost' or 'revenge for being passed over a promotion' or 'dog chasing it's tail' etc.. you get the idea.

[Tash]

i find that it does give some extra meaning to the piece, so i do like to make up some form of story to go with it, or at least have a person or something in mind. the only problem is, when i'm performing the piece i'm too busy thinking about everything else and tend to forget my supposed meaning for the piece so...

[xvimbi]

As evident from other threads, I am a big fan of "stories" associated with pieces. With "story", I don't necessarily mean a fairytale-type story, but a coherent train of thought. I believe it does help in performing a piece. Likewise, a performance should also inspire stories or pictures in the listeners. They might not be the same.

Try it for yourself: construct a good story to a piece and see how it affects your ability to play it convincingly.

Warning: a "wrong" story can completely ruin a piece. The best example I can think of is Liszt's Liebesträume No. 3. Everybody plays it, but usually with the completely wrong message. Most people, even very renowned pianists, don't make the effort to dig up the true story behind it, and as a result play it very badly. I shudder when I hear it performed in a lovely, dreamy way (as the title misleadingly implies).

So, this means that one shouldn't stray too far from what the composer had in mind. Research is required.

[Motrax]

I believe that stories should never be forced. There are only a few pieces of music which give me very powerful images or stories - the other pieces I play evoke emotion and passion, but do so in a way which words or pictures could not describe.

And I disagree somewhat with having to know exactly what a composer intended with a piece. It is certainly useful, but a composers' intent should only be considered, not followed to the letter. I play Rachmaninoff's B minor prelude (Op. 32-10), and although the piece was inspired by Bocklin's The Return, it evokes a very specific, detailed story which has little to do with the painting.

It is not a bad thing to derive inspiration from a source other than that which the composer intended. One only has to be true to oneself when performing.

Just my two cents.

[super_ardua]

I play the piece exactly to the directions and then see what to do with it.

[mosis]

As evident from other threads, I am a big fan of "stories" associated with pieces. With "story", I don't necessarily mean a fairytale-type story, but a coherent train of thought. I believe it does help in performing a piece. Likewise, a performance should also inspire stories or pictures in the listeners. They might not be the same.

Try it for yourself: construct a good story to a piece and see how it affects your ability to play it convincingly.

Warning: a "wrong" story can completely ruin a piece. The best example I can think of is Liszt's Liebesträume No. 3. Everybody plays it, but usually with the completely wrong message. Most people, even very renowned pianists, don't make the effort to dig up the true story behind it, and as a result play it very badly. I shudder when I hear it performed in a lovely, dreamy way (as the title misleadingly implies).

So, this means that one shouldn't stray too far from what the composer had in mind. Research is required.

What is the story behind this piece?

[DarkWind]

Warning: a "wrong" story can completely ruin a piece. The best example I can think of is Liszt's Liebesträume No. 3. Everybody plays it, but usually with the completely wrong message. Most people, even very renowned pianists, don't make the effort to dig up the true story behind it, and as a result play it very badly. I shudder when I hear it performed in a lovely, dreamy way (as the title misleadingly implies).

Mind telling us this story?

[xvimbi]

What is the story behind this piece?

O Lieb, so lang du lieben kannst - Notturno Nr. 3, S541 (c1850) ('O Love, as long as you are able to love' - Nocturne No 3) is, of course, the third of the Liebesträume (often quite erroneously titled Liebestraum No 3 - the plural applies to each piece). It is probably only just that the best known work of the greatest transcriber in the history of Western music should be a transcription, but fortunate, at least, that it should be a transcription of one of his own works. For this is one of the world's most treasured melodies, and it has been the piano transcription, rather than the equally splendid original song, that has claimed a permanent place on the short-list of the best love-inspired themes. The original song, to a poem by Freiligrath, enjoins us to love whilst we may, for love lost is miserable. (taken from Hyperion)

Here is the original poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath (German poet). The translation below is my (pathetic) attempt. Does anybody have a better translation?

O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst!
O lieb, so lang du lieben magst!
Die Stunde kommt, die Stunde kommt,
Wo du an Gräbern stehst und klagst.
     
Und sorge, daß dein Herz glüht
Und Liebe hegt und Liebe trägt,
So lang ihm noch ein ander Herz
In Liebe warm entgegenschlägt.
     
Und wer dir seine Brust erschließt,
O tu ihm, was du kannst, zu lieb!
Und mach ihm jede Stunde froh,
Und mach ihm keine Stunde trüb.
     
Und hüte deine Zunge wohl,
Bald ist ein böses Wort gesagt!
O Gott, es war nicht bös gemeint, -
Der andre aber geht und klagt.
     
[O lieb, solang du lieben kannst!
O lieb, solang du lieben magst!
Die Stunde kommt, die Stunde kommt,
Wo du an Gräbern stehst und klagst!
     
Dann kniest du nieder an der Gruft
Und birgst die Augen, trüb und naß,
- Sie sehn den andern nimmermehr -
Ins lange, feuchte Kirchhofsgras.
     
Und sprichst: O schau auf mich herab,
Der hier an deinem Grabe weint!
Vergib, daß ich gekränkt dich hab!
O Gott, es war nicht bös gemeint!
     
Er aber sieht und hört dich nicht,
Kommt nicht, daß du ihn froh umfängst;
Der Mund, der oft dich küßte, spricht
Nie wieder: Ich vergab dir längst!
     
Er tat's, vergab dir lange schon,
Doch manche heiße Träne fiel
Um dich und um dein herbes Wort -
Doch still - er ruht, er ist am Ziel!
     
O lieb, solang du lieben kannst!
O lieb, solang du lieben magst!
Die Stunde kommt, die Stunde kommt,
Wo du an Gräbern stehst und klagst!]



Here is my attempt at translating it (I couldn't find an English translation).
The part in [] has not been set by Liszt.

O Love, as long as you are able to love
O Love as long as you have the desire to love.
The moment will come, the moment will come
where you'll be standing at the grave with regret.

Make sure your heart is full of fire
and full of love
as long as somebody else's heart
is full of love for you

And if somebody loves you
Be as nice as you can.
Make him happy all them time;
don't make him sad.

Don't utter any harsh words!
Soon, you may say a bad word,
Oh God, it wasn't meant that way.
Yet, he will be hurt and walk away.

[
O Love, as long as you are able to love
O Love as long as you have the desire to love.
The moment will come, the moment will come
where you'll be standing at the grave with regret.

You'll be kneeling at the grave,
eyes buried, full of tears,
they won't see the other anymore,
in the wet graveyard grass

Please look at me
Who is crying at your grave
Forgive my hurting you
It wasn't meant that way!

But he won't see you, won't hear you
Won't come back for you to comfort him
The lips that often kissed you
Won't talk again:
But I forgave you long ago!

Indeed he forgave you long ago
Still, he often cried
for you, and over your harsh words.
But quiet now! He rests, is there.

O Love, as long as you are able to love
O Love as long as you have the desire to love.
The moment will come, the moment will come
where you'll be standing at the grave with regret.
]


That should give playing this piece a whole new dimension. Honestly, I didn't know about the poem for a long time. Yet, once I read it, I could immediately see how the music really fits.

Some of my friends I showed this poem to said they were no longer able to play the piece. It was simply too devastating to them.

[Tash]

oh i can so hear that in the piece, makes complete sense. it's nice, now i have a new dimension for the piece thanks for that

[chopin_girl]

okay.
some time ago i played chopin's nocturne op.posth. c-sharp minor (i hope i said it right because english is not my native language)
anyway-he wrote it not so long before he died.
at the begining you hear church bells....and then their echo.
as you move on you hear his pain,you feel it as you play it and it grows or gets smaller...then you get to the piu mosso part where he remembers spain with georges sand and it gets calmer and just when you think it's coming to an end there's an "explosion" of triolas (did i say it right?) and a fake end.
then again he expresses his pain trough the same melody as in the very beginning which changes into an emotional ending,and it ends in c sharp major.
(we call that kind of ending  "pikardijska terca" but i really don't know how to say it in english)
anyway,yes-i am for stories in pieces because this story really helped me to blend with the piece,and enjoy it to the full.

God,when you want to express in a "professional" way you realise how rusty your english really is...