Chopin comes of age

A song and piano sketches by Chopin share two sides of a single leaf, once belonging to Polish ethnologist and composer Oskar Kolberg (1814- 1890), and now residing in Stanford's Memorial Library of Music. The Kolberg and Chopin families were neighbors, and Oskar followed Chopin at the Warsaw Lyceum, studying piano with one of Chopin’s teachers. Kolberg was a lifelong collector of music manuscripts, specifically Polish folk and national music, which he used in his scholarly endeavors.

The ecossaise sketched here is an example of a popular genre typically heard in early 19th century European salons (an ecosssaise is a form of Scottish contradance). Both Beethoven and Schubert wrote numerous ecossaises. The popularity of the form waned mid-century, overtaken by the waltz and polka. Chopin's ecossaises were composed in 1830, a time of uncertainty in young Chopin’s life. Following an 1828 trip to Berlin, where he was well received in musical circles, he returned to Warsaw with much on his mind. He was hesitant about a concertizing career and the trappings of fame; he keenly felt the limitations of Warsaw’s artistic community; and he likely wrestled with travails common among all teenagers (an unrequited love, perhaps?). He continued to compose works including the ecossaises, op. 72, the first two etudes of op. 10, and the F minor piano concerto, op. 21, an early milestone in his developing mature style.

Chopin decided to embark on a tour to Vienna, Italy, France and possibly England. After a tearful family meal and a heartfelt musical sendoff by his friends, Chopin departed for Vienna on November 1, 1830, unaware that he would never return. His friends presented him with a silver goblet filled with earth from his birthplace, Żelazova Wola, to serve as a memory of loved ones and home. His first months in Vienna produced a flurry of compositions including the full set of op. 10 etudes, the opp. 6 and 7 mazurkas, and, likely, piosna litewska and other songs. He led an active social life but a thread of loneliness ran through. Chopin despaired about the political situation in Poland following the November Uprising, and about his subsequent ill treatment by the Austrians. Spending his first Christmastime alone, Chopin wrote his close friend Matuszynski,

“[After coffee hour] … I pay my calls, return to my place just before dark, curl my hair, change, off to a party. I get back about ten or eleven, never later than twelve. I play, cry, read, stare, laugh, get into bed, blow the candle out and dream about home.”

This article is one in a series highlighting rare music materials in the Stanford Libraries collections.  Originally published June 2016, revised September 2024.