Chopin's favourite pieces

[cazico]

Hi!

There are many discussions about people's favourite Chopin pieces.

But do anyone know the favourites of the composer himself?

I've read someplace that the waltz 64-3 in Ab was one of the pieces he most frequently performed.

What do we know about this?

[stevebob]

That's an interesting question, and I would be interested in knowing the answer as well.  (If I came across it at some point, I don't remember where and I've forgotten the details.)

I think that the Waltz Op. 64 No. 3 is an unlikely candidate, though, if only because it was composed within a couple years of Chopin's death; his opportunities to perform the piece would therefore have been fairly limited relative to earlier works.

[keyboardclass]

He liked playing op 25 no 1 followed by op 25 no 2 quite a bit.  Most good biographies list his concertizing.

[birba]

VERY interesting post!   

[pianist1976]

According to Cortot's "Aspects de Chopin", he played in almost all his concerts a selection of etudes and preludes (he wrote some of them some years before publishing all). He also loved to play his Andante spianato and played many, many times his two concerti, with orchestra, with the chamber reduction or even in the Kalkbrenner's piano solo reduction. He preferred to play the f minor one because he himself admitted that the e minor had a really tricky and uncomfortable writing (I agree,   ). Unfortunately he stopped playing them on his late years because of his lack of physical endurance/stamina due to his illness, being unable to resist playing a 35-40 minutes piece

[shaulhadar]

Hello all, interesting topic we have here. As far as i know, Chopin had some pieces he was more fond of.  The op. 25 no. 1, and the op. 64 no. 3, are truly from his beloved works, but there were more. Chopin really like his etude op. 10 no. 3 (tristesse), and once in a lesson with his student Guttman, Chopin remembered his beloved Poland, and he once said that he didn't write anything so beautiful until then.  Another one of Chopin's favorite pieces by himself was the Allegro De Concert Op. 46. Some say this was supposed to be the beginning of the third concerto, but it was published as a piano solo, and Chopin used to say that this is the first piano piece he will play when coming back to free Poland (which of course never happened).  Another favorite of Chopin, was the waltz op .34 no. 2 in A minor, the melancholique one.  He once asked a friend of his which of the waltzes (which he just published in that time) he likes the best, and his friend said the op.34 no. 2 , and Chopin said to him that this his his favorite one, and than he bought him a cool cup of coffee.
that's from the tip of my head, if i will know of anything else i will write it, have a great day.

[birba]

I LOVE these anecdotes! 

[shaulhadar]

Hi birba, i'm happy i can contribute