Chopin's four ballades are widely regarded as being amongst the most significant extended works for solo piano of the nineteenth century. In an illuminating discussion, Jim Samson combines history and analysis to provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of these popular piano works. He begins by investigating the social and musical background to Chopin's unique style. He describes the manuscript sources and evaluates the many subsequent printed editions, then considers the critical reception of the ballades and the differing interpretations of well-known nineteenth- and twentieth-century pianists. The final two chapters examine the music of all four works analytically. There is a clearly presented formal synopsis of each ballade in turn, followed by a discussion of the works collectively which explores Chopin's own conception of the title 'ballade' and how it may be understood as a musical genre.

Undertakes the history of this verse form from its origins in romance lands through France and England. Shows how the formal ballade became reduced to three stanzas with identical scheme and refrain.

The Guardian editor and amateur pianist’s account of a remarkable musical challenge during an extraordinary year for news. As editor of the Guardian, one of the world’s foremost newspapers, Alan Rusbridger lives by the relentless twenty-four-hour news cycle. But increasingly in midlife, he feels the gravitational pull of music—especially the piano. He sets himself a formidable challenge: within a year, to fluently learn Chopin’s magnificent Ballade No. 1 in G minor, arguably one of the most difficult Romantic compositions in the repertory. With pyrotechnic passages that require feats of memory, dexterity, and power, the piece is one that causes alarm even in battle-hardened concert pianists. Under ideal circumstances, this would have been a daunting task. But the particular year Rusbridger chooses turns out to be one of frenetic intensity, beginning with WikiLeaks’ massive dump of state secrets and ending with the Guardian’s revelations about widespread phone hacking at News of the World. “In between, there were the Japanese tsunami, the Arab Spring, the English riots . . . and the death of Osama Bin Laden,” writes Rusbridger. The test would be to “nibble out” twenty minutes per day to do something totally unrelated to these events. Rusbridger’s subject is larger than any one piece of music: Play It Again deals with focus, discipline, and desire but is, above all, about the sanctity of one’s inner life in a world dominated by deadlines and distractions. Praise for Play It Again “An absorbing, adroitly crafted tale of humility, discipline and the sheer love of music . . . [Alan Rusbridger’s] triumph is an inspiration.” —Katie Hafner, The New York Times Book Review “A unique mélange of political and musical reportage . . . [Alan Rusbridger] illuminates not only print media in this digital age but also the changing role of the music within.” —Iain Burnside, The Observer (London)

The following is a collection of ballads and rhymes written by Andrew Lang, a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. Featured titles in this book include Ballade of the Midnight Forest, Ballade of Dead Cities, and Ballade of the Royal Game of Golf.

Chopin's Polish Ballade examines the Second Ballade, Op. 38, and how that work gave voice to the Polish cultural preoccupations of the 1830s, using musical conventions from French opera and amateur piano music. This approach provides answers to several persistent questions about the work's form, programmatic content, and poetic inspiration.