Thank you, probably your most informative video until now! Simply brilliant! How about a video on each individual genre of Chopin's solo piano music with your insights?
This is very interesting. I think those of us who grew up far from Poland will have to spend a lot of time thinking about this. I can't resist mentioning that the subtitles have a lot of trouble when you say "mazurka." The titles say "bazooka," "massacre," "muzzle" (several times), and -- my favorite -- "muscle car." We're all looking forward to two more videos from you on this topic: the one where you show us typical examples of the three styles of mazurka, and the one where you try to explain how some of Chopin's friends claimed that his mazurkas were in duple, not triple, time.
Thank you Denis!! Good to see you here. Yes, I agree. I decided to do it when I watched some bullshit video about this problem by someone who had no idea of the problem. Thanks! Hvala Ukraine!
Yes, very helpful! It's remarkable how vapid the mazurka sounds when it's played like a waltz--but also how strange a waltz sounds when it's played with a mazurka rhythm. Thanks very much for the demonstration.
Playing the Mazurka Opus post 67 Nr 2 for the 1st time, I discovered this both very professional and easy understandable video. No prompt, everything coming from your expertise and, more importantly, your heart ❤. Thanks for sharing!
This helped so much. Just playing with the left hand, and contrasting the emphasis on the 1st beat with the 2nd & 3rd beats made this click for me. Much appreciated~
Jestem ponownie wdzięczny, tym razem za taki materiał. Często podczas ćwiczeń gram tego samego dnia, mazurki Chopina i Walce więc przyznam że jako średnio zaawansowany grajek (pianista to za duże słowo) takie uwagi pozwalają mi na samokontrole. For every viewers in ENG i have to say it: this is the best classical pianist channel in Poland and probably one of the best channel about Chopin's music in UA-cam. I would like to admire that Greg Niemczuk is very strict with "Chopin will" about his music i mean interpretation of course. Enjoy.
Very important video! So the 2nd and 3rd beat are quite active (you jump at the 2nd and land on the 3rd), and the 1st beat is just a transition. That must be why a former teacher of mine once told me that in a waltz the 1st beat is the most important but in a mazurka it is the "least important".
Very informative video and I also had a great laugh at the end! I was always ignorant about the difference and it seems that I tried composing a mazurka when in reality I was waltzing in a french castle.
I really enjoyed this video! are you planning on releasing more of these lecture like videos? I would love to learn more about for example chopins life or even about music theory from you!
Study Guide for Waltzes and Mazurkas: Waltz: “It’s fast from 1 to 2, time between 2 and 3, and time between 3 and 1” (Fleisher, 2006) from the Documentary “Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story.” “An up-bow effect [retiré] contributes a great deal to the flexibility of the contours. To demonstrate this, returning to the Waltz op. 64/2 [. . .] we shall apply this gesture to the third beat left hand chords of each bar. Chopin did this', Schiffmacher told me; in the same way, he would anticipate the F double-sharp [of bar 2], as is indicated for the G [sharp] of the first bar. Played this way, this waltz takes on a great elasticity and a truly artistic allure. It becomes impossible, with such a touch, to strike the notes unvaryingly. Schiffmacher/Tasset, p. 50 [bars 9-16:]” (Eigeldinger, 88) from Chopin Pianist and Teacher as seen by his pupils about the rhythm of the left hand in Chopin’s Waltz Op. 64 No. 2 in C-sharp minor. Mazurka: “Connect beats one and two, staccato on beat two (with the hand/sometimes pedal), jumping up and falling down late on beat 3 sometimes with an accent, and beat 3 is glued/connected to beat one of the next bar” (Niemczuk, 2022) paraphrased from a lecture by Grzegorz Niemczuk, “TUTORIAL - The difference between a Waltz and a Mazurka in Chopin - lecture by Greg Niemczuk.” Types of dances in Chopin’s Mazurkas: Oberek: Fastest Mazur: Medium Kujawiak: Slowest Chopin’s interpretation of Mazurkas: “In the national dances such as the Polonaise, Mazurka, Krakowiak, Kujawiak, the main rhythmic notes should be strongly accentuated, followed by a gentle release of the rhythmic impulse wherever the accent (or long-held accented note) is omitted or displaced.169 But this must never degenerate into mere lack of rhythm” (Eigeldinger, 72). “A remarkable feature of his playing was the entire freedom with which he treated the rhythm, but which appeared so natural that for years it has never struck me. It must have been in 1845 or 1846 that I once ventured to observe to him that most of his Mazurkas (those dainty jewels), when played by himself, appeared to be written, not in 3/4, but in 4/4 time, the result of his dwelling so much longer on the first note in the bar. He denied it strenuously, until I made him play one of them and counted audibly four in the bar, which fitted perfectly. Then he laughed and explained that it was the national character of the dance which created the oddity. The more remarkable fact was that you received the impression of 3/4 rhythm whilst listening to common time. Of course this was not the case with every Mazurka, but with many. I understood later how ill advised I had been to make that observation to him and how well disposed towards me he must have been to have taken it with such good humour, for a similar remark made by Meyerbeer, perhaps in a somewhat supercilious manner, on another occasion, led to a serious quarrel, and I believe Chopin never forgave him. Halle, p. 34” (Eigeldinger, 72-73). “Once Meyerbeer arrived in Chopin's room during my lesson. He did not announce his arrival, of course: he was a king. We were playing the Mazurka in op. 33[/3) - one page of music which seems nevertheless to contain hundreds. I called it the epitaph of the Mazurka, so full does it seem of grief and sorrow - the weary flight of an eagle: Meyerbeer took a seat and I continued. 'That's in 2/4', said Meyerbeer. I had to repeat it while Chopin, pencil in hand, beat time on the piano; his eyes were blazing. '2/4', Meyerbeer calmly repeated. Only once have I have ever seen Chopin lose his temper, and it was at that moment - and what a wonderful sight he was! A faint red suffused his pale cheeks. 'It's in 3/4', he said in a loud voice. 'Give me that piece as a ballet in my opera', retorted Meyerbeer (he was then working in secret on L'Africaine), 'I'll prove it to you.' 'It's in 3/4', Chopin almost yelled, he who never normally raised his voice above a murmur. He pushed me aside and sat at the piano himself. Three times he played the piece, counting aloud and stamping out the beat with his foot; he was beside himself! Meyerbeer still held his own and they parted on bad terms. It pained me to have witnessed this scene. Without taking leave of me, Chopin had disappeared into his study. He was right, all the same: for though the third beat loses some of its value, submerged as it is in the flow of the melody, still it does not cease to exist. Lenz, CPV, p. 30” (Eigeldinger, 73). “Moscheles told me that his married daughter [Emily Roche), who took lessons from Chopin, had played [for Moscheles), among other things, a new Chopin Mazurka, with such a rubato that the entire piece gave the impression of being in 2/4 instead of 3/4” (Eigeldinger, 73).
Thank you for clarifying the unique characteristics of the Polish mazurka! I honestly had never been sure of this. I truly love that first set of his mazurkas! Of the great pianists of the past who do you think best performed the mazurkas?
I have not tried a Chopin Mazurka. From what I have been taught, a Waltz accent is almost exclusively on the first beat of the triple meter as a Mazurka will often emphasize the second or third beat, alternating between them. Also, the actual mazurka dance appears to be a lot more difficult to execute than a Waltz.
In that case I'd suggest that you visualize a mazurka in such a way that you shift the second beat to the first beat (so instead of starting to count the beats at 1, you start it at 2), so that it seems like a waltz to you. Will that work?
But make sure that in a mazurka, you don't lay secondary emphasis on the third beat (in this case, the first beat of a succeeding measure) as you would do in a waltz.
If I remember correctly, you participated in the Chopin Competition, right? I don't see the video now, but I remember hearing the performance live for both the preliminary and other rounds. Isn't it? Your channel is very informative and has a lot of good performances. I was wondering how you practice for fast passage. Thank you for the good teaching.
Have you ever seen the video of Los Hermanos Cardenas playing a Mazurka on accordion and Bajo sexto? I’m curious to know the name of the mazurka that they’re playing.
Hi maestro, I just encountered this same video that you published 11 hours ago, but that video is not in your collection of videos. Is that a bug in UA-cam?
Hello. No, I uploaded this video for the second time because some of you wrote to me that the sound was too quiet. I'm going to delete the old version of this. Thank you for noticing! On this video the sound should be much louder
Hi, you only speak from Chopin. I have full respect for Chopin and like to hear his music, but as a dancing teacher (and no musician) this is completely uninteresting, because neither waltzes nor mazurkas from Chopin are danceable. I'm very interested in the difference between waltzes and mazurkas from Strauss (preferrably interpreted by vienna philharmonics)and italian mazurkas, because my clients want to learn them!!! Is there any difference to Chopin?
Thanks for this comment. Italian Mazurkas???? What's that? Does it exist??? Mazurka is a Polish dance..... I'm a classical pianist, so this video was created mostly for pianists who want to interpret Chopin's Waltzes or Mazurkas. I can't really help you with your interest......
Very enlightening lecture, it’s especially when you illustrated how a waltz sounds like in Mazurka’s beat, and vice versa
Thank you, probably your most informative video until now! Simply brilliant! How about a video on each individual genre of Chopin's solo piano music with your insights?
Oh wow, what a brilliant idea!
Your playing a walz like a mazurka was hilarious! 🤣🤣🤣You really mad your point well!! Thank you!!
Thanks! 😀😀😀😀
Thanks a. lot Greg for this lightening explanation of yours, you are as always fantastic!!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!! Excellent video. Many many thanks from Australia
Thank you !! Well explained ❤
I'm just fascinated and mesmerized by your energy and love for Chopin and your motherland..it is being felt easily...wish u the best🎉
Thank you so much!
This is very interesting. I think those of us who grew up far from Poland will have to spend a lot of time thinking about this.
I can't resist mentioning that the subtitles have a lot of trouble when you say "mazurka." The titles say "bazooka," "massacre," "muzzle" (several times), and -- my favorite -- "muscle car."
We're all looking forward to two more videos from you on this topic: the one where you show us typical examples of the three styles of mazurka, and the one where you try to explain how some of Chopin's friends claimed that his mazurkas were in duple, not triple, time.
Lol
That's hilarious! Chopin Muscle car in A major
Thank you for analyse . Now I am more clear to distinguish how to play between waltz and Marzuka
Great job man, UA-cam has desperately needed this video!
Thank you Denis!! Good to see you here.
Yes, I agree. I decided to do it when I watched some bullshit video about this problem by someone who had no idea of the problem.
Thanks!
Hvala Ukraine!
Thank you very much for this video. That was fun and weird to listen mazurka played in the style of waltz and vice versa. Now I understand more.
Yes, very helpful! It's remarkable how vapid the mazurka sounds when it's played like a waltz--but also how strange a waltz sounds when it's played with a mazurka rhythm. Thanks very much for the demonstration.
Thank you for watching and for your comment!
Playing the Mazurka Opus post 67 Nr 2 for the 1st time, I discovered this both very professional and easy understandable video. No prompt, everything coming from your expertise and, more importantly, your heart ❤. Thanks for sharing!
Exvellent video ! Thanks !
This helped so much. Just playing with the left hand, and contrasting the emphasis on the 1st beat with the 2nd & 3rd beats made this click for me. Much appreciated~
By the way, it was hilarious watching you try to play that mazurka in D major as a waltz. xD
Bravo!!!!!
Jestem ponownie wdzięczny, tym razem za taki materiał. Często podczas ćwiczeń gram tego samego dnia, mazurki Chopina i Walce więc przyznam że jako średnio zaawansowany grajek (pianista to za duże słowo) takie uwagi pozwalają mi na samokontrole. For every viewers in ENG i have to say it: this is the best classical pianist channel in Poland and probably one of the best channel about Chopin's music in UA-cam. I would like to admire that Greg Niemczuk is very strict with "Chopin will" about his music i mean interpretation of course. Enjoy.
Especially i recommend this video Polonaise A-flat Major op 53 with amazing chamber atmosphere ua-cam.com/video/U40HVniyGew/v-deo.html
Very important video! So the 2nd and 3rd beat are quite active (you jump at the 2nd and land on the 3rd), and the 1st beat is just a transition. That must be why a former teacher of mine once told me that in a waltz the 1st beat is the most important but in a mazurka it is the "least important".
So true!
Thank you. I learned a lot!
Thank you so much for your introducing Muzurka.Thank you so much to introduce your home country music for us
Very helpful video! love your content, keep it up :)
Thank you for this lesson :) again, a topic that I was wondering about :) now, so much clearer
Very good video, Greg. Thank you!🌼
Thank you so much for the explanation! Now I understand the rhythm much better. I love your channel! Many greetings from Hamburg
I'm so happy to hear that!!! Good luck!
as usual a great video and a useful lesson. I play fews valzer and somes fews mazurka by Chopin and this is a very good help for me. Thank you Greg.
Thank you it is clear
Thank you very much. 👍 I have never played a Mazurka, because I did not know how. My be I should try one this year. 🙋♀️
Definitely! It's worth it!
Very clear . Thanks for sharing Greg
Thank you Julien!
So helpful even to appreciate. Charming.
Very helpful and clearly explained! Thank you very much!
Thank you dear Robelle!
Very informative video and I also had a great laugh at the end! I was always ignorant about the difference and it seems that I tried composing a mazurka when in reality I was waltzing in a french castle.
Hahahahahahahahaha
Lol i just clocked mazurka is in ur name hhaha
@@Xzy_158 😉
5:33 Waltz op.34 no.1 played like a mazurka
Thank you very much! This is so informative and helpful!
Thanks for watching! Share it please!
I really enjoyed this video! are you planning on releasing more of these lecture like videos? I would love to learn more about for example chopins life or even about music theory from you!
Do you know my analyses of all the Mazurkas?
Gracias por la informacion ❤
Study Guide for Waltzes and Mazurkas:
Waltz: “It’s fast from 1 to 2, time between 2 and 3, and time between 3 and 1” (Fleisher, 2006) from the Documentary “Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story.”
“An up-bow effect [retiré] contributes a great deal to the flexibility of the contours. To demonstrate this, returning to the Waltz op. 64/2 [. . .] we shall apply this gesture to the third beat left hand chords of each bar. Chopin did this', Schiffmacher told me; in the same way, he would anticipate the F double-sharp [of bar 2], as is indicated for the G [sharp] of the first bar. Played this way, this waltz takes on a great elasticity and a truly artistic allure. It becomes impossible, with such a touch, to strike the notes unvaryingly. Schiffmacher/Tasset, p. 50 [bars 9-16:]” (Eigeldinger, 88) from Chopin Pianist and Teacher as seen by his pupils about the rhythm of the left hand in Chopin’s Waltz Op. 64 No. 2 in C-sharp minor.
Mazurka: “Connect beats one and two, staccato on beat two (with the hand/sometimes pedal), jumping up and falling down late on beat 3 sometimes with an accent, and beat 3 is glued/connected to beat one of the next bar” (Niemczuk, 2022) paraphrased from a lecture by Grzegorz Niemczuk, “TUTORIAL - The difference between a Waltz and a Mazurka in Chopin - lecture by Greg Niemczuk.”
Types of dances in Chopin’s Mazurkas:
Oberek: Fastest
Mazur: Medium
Kujawiak: Slowest
Chopin’s interpretation of Mazurkas:
“In the national dances such as the Polonaise, Mazurka, Krakowiak, Kujawiak, the main rhythmic notes should be strongly accentuated, followed by a gentle release of the rhythmic impulse wherever the accent (or long-held accented note) is omitted or displaced.169 But this must never degenerate into mere lack of rhythm” (Eigeldinger, 72).
“A remarkable feature of his playing was the entire freedom with which he treated the rhythm, but which appeared so natural that for years it has never struck me. It must have been in 1845 or 1846 that I once ventured to observe to him that most of his Mazurkas (those dainty jewels), when played by himself, appeared to be written, not in 3/4, but in 4/4 time, the result of his dwelling so much longer on the first note in the bar. He denied it strenuously, until I made him play one of them and counted audibly four in the bar, which fitted perfectly. Then he laughed and explained that it was the national character of the dance which created the oddity. The more remarkable fact was that you received the impression of 3/4 rhythm whilst listening to common time. Of course this was not the case with every Mazurka, but with many. I understood later how ill advised I had been to make that observation to him and how well disposed towards me he must have been to have taken it with such good humour, for a similar remark made by Meyerbeer, perhaps in a somewhat supercilious manner, on another occasion, led to a serious quarrel, and I believe Chopin never forgave him. Halle, p. 34” (Eigeldinger, 72-73).
“Once Meyerbeer arrived in Chopin's room during my lesson. He did not announce his arrival, of course: he was a king. We were playing the Mazurka in op. 33[/3) - one page of music which seems nevertheless to contain hundreds. I called it the epitaph of the Mazurka, so full does it seem of grief and sorrow - the weary flight of an eagle: Meyerbeer took a seat and I continued. 'That's in 2/4', said Meyerbeer. I had to repeat it while Chopin, pencil in hand, beat time on the piano; his eyes were blazing. '2/4', Meyerbeer calmly repeated. Only once have I have ever seen Chopin lose his temper, and it was at that moment - and what a wonderful sight he was! A faint red suffused his pale cheeks. 'It's in 3/4', he said in a loud voice. 'Give me that piece as a ballet in my opera', retorted Meyerbeer (he was then working in secret on L'Africaine), 'I'll prove it to you.' 'It's in 3/4', Chopin almost yelled, he who never normally raised his voice above a murmur. He pushed me aside and sat at the piano himself. Three times he played the piece, counting aloud and stamping out the beat with his foot; he was beside himself! Meyerbeer still held his own and they parted on bad terms. It pained me to have witnessed this scene. Without taking leave of me, Chopin had disappeared into his study. He was right, all the same: for though the third beat loses some of its value, submerged as it is in the flow of the melody, still it does not cease to exist. Lenz, CPV, p. 30” (Eigeldinger, 73).
“Moscheles told me that his married daughter [Emily Roche), who took lessons from Chopin, had played [for Moscheles), among other things, a new Chopin Mazurka, with such a rubato that the entire piece gave the impression of being in 2/4 instead of 3/4” (Eigeldinger, 73).
Wow. Thank you!
Mazurka: 8:40
Thank you for clarifying the unique characteristics of the Polish mazurka! I honestly had never been sure of this. I truly love that first set of his mazurkas! Of the great pianists of the past who do you think best performed the mazurkas?
Thank you!!! Definitely Arthur Rubinstein
Hi Greg! :D
面白い!! interesting
I have not tried a Chopin Mazurka. From what I have been taught, a Waltz accent is almost exclusively on the first beat of the triple meter as a Mazurka will often emphasize the second or third beat, alternating between them. Also, the actual mazurka dance appears to be a lot more difficult to execute than a Waltz.
100% true
In that case I'd suggest that you visualize a mazurka in such a way that you shift the second beat to the first beat (so instead of starting to count the beats at 1, you start it at 2), so that it seems like a waltz to you.
Will that work?
But make sure that in a mazurka, you don't lay secondary emphasis on the third beat (in this case, the first beat of a succeeding measure) as you would do in a waltz.
Late but let me suggest this: this might sound weird but you'd get what I said in the second movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier haha!
In fact, that's where I got the idea from
If I remember correctly, you participated in the Chopin Competition, right? I don't see the video now, but I remember hearing the performance live for both the preliminary and other rounds. Isn't it? Your channel is very informative and has a lot of good performances. I was wondering how you practice for fast passage. Thank you for the good teaching.
Thank you! I participated in the preliminary in 2015 and there is a video of this performance on UA-cam. Never on the main competition thoguh
@@gregniemczuk Sorry I was misstaken. Anyway your video is very helpful. Thank you.
Hi sir, what are names of mazurkas you played?
Mostly op.6 no. 1 and 2 and also op.33 no. 3 (or in some editions 2) in D major
Have you ever seen the video of Los Hermanos Cardenas playing a Mazurka on accordion and Bajo sexto? I’m curious to know the name of the mazurka that they’re playing.
I haven't! I saw it now, but I don't know the name of this Mazurka.... But I like them!
@@gregniemczuk thanks for taking a look! 👋🏻
🥰
Hi maestro, I just encountered this same video that you published 11 hours ago, but that video is not in your collection of videos. Is that a bug in UA-cam?
Hello. No, I uploaded this video for the second time because some of you wrote to me that the sound was too quiet. I'm going to delete the old version of this. Thank you for noticing!
On this video the sound should be much louder
@@gregniemczuk Thanks a lot, maestro, have a great day😆.
🙏
Hi, you only speak from Chopin. I have full respect for Chopin and like to hear his music, but as a dancing teacher (and no musician) this is completely uninteresting, because neither waltzes nor mazurkas from Chopin are danceable. I'm very interested in the difference between waltzes and mazurkas from Strauss (preferrably interpreted by vienna philharmonics)and italian mazurkas, because my clients want to learn them!!! Is there any difference to Chopin?
Thanks for this comment. Italian Mazurkas???? What's that? Does it exist??? Mazurka is a Polish dance.....
I'm a classical pianist, so this video was created mostly for pianists who want to interpret Chopin's Waltzes or Mazurkas. I can't really help you with your interest......
😂 that sounds really horrible, when you play mazurka like a waltz and vice versa. Great explrnation❤ greetings from Cz
日本人は、ショパンが大好き❤ 多くの若い優秀なピアニスト達が、貴方の国のコンクールを目指しています。
ショパンの国の貴方から、日本人の演奏するショパンはどのように聴こえますか？ ショパンの音に近づいてきてますか？
マズルカの表現、難しいですね。
😊🇵🇱😊❤😊🇯🇵😊
Every pianist is different. Even if they are from the same Nationality, they are different. I don't generalize
@@gregniemczuk 私のコメントに対して、貴方が誠実に回答してくれたことを嬉しく思っています😊😊
貴方からのメッセージは、東洋の日本人にとって、希望に溢れたものです。なぜなら、日本人のクラシック演奏家にとって、必ず突き当たる大きな壁は、西洋と云う自分達とは大きく異なった文化です。その中には、言語、宗教、行動様式、体格……あらゆることが含まれます。
しかし、貴方はそういったことよりも、国籍や民族を超えたことでの問題として捉えてくれました。これは、東洋の日本人でも、ショパンの真髄に近付き、それを聴衆に届けることが充分可能である、と私は理解しました。
素敵なメッセージ、ありがとうございます。いつか日本に来て、貴方のショパンを聴かせてください。楽しみに待っております。😊❤️😊
Myslalem ze bedzie po polsku
Myślę, że bardziej tego potrzebują obcokrajowcy 😊😊😊
@@gregniemczuk we do! 😂 😂 😂