Radio Chopin 23: Chopin's Brave Scots
Series: Radio Chopin
From: WDAV Classical Public Radio
Length: 00:02:00
Chopin never wrote for the bagpipes. And there wasn’t a drop of Scottish blood in him. But even as a teenager he was a dedicated follower of fashion – and dances. And in those days, you were as likely to hear the Écossaise – French for “Scottish” – as you would a Mazurka or a Waltz.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Chopin never wrote for the bagpipes. And there wasn’t a drop of Scottish blood in him. But even as a teenager he was a dedicated follower of fashion – and dances. And in those days, you were as likely to hear the Écossaise – French for “Scottish” – as you would a Mazurka or a Waltz.
Transcript
Chopin never wrote for the bagpipes. And there wasn’t a drop of Scottish blood in him. But even as a teenager he was a dedicated follower of fashion – and dances. And in those days, you were as likely to hear the Écossaise – French for “Scottish” – as you would a Mazurka or a Waltz.
Like its country of origin, the Écossaise was by nature straightforward, sturdy, and a bit…numpty, as the Scots might say.
Chopin was sixteen – at the start of his career – when he wrote his three Écossaises as Warsaw party favors. He never wrote another.
But the Scots weren’t done with Chopin. Here’s how George Sand’s daughter described two of his most important students: “During lesson-times at the master’s house, one would often come across two long persons, of Scottish origin and size, thin, pale, ageless, solemn, dressed in black, never smiling.” Chopin, however, called them "mes braves Écossaises" –...
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