Concerning Raoul Koczalski’s ‘Piano Concerto in B Minor’ No. 1, Op. 79. Sources and Origin
Abstract
Polish pianist-composer Raoul Koczalski, a pupil of Karol Mikuli (who was taught by Fryderyk Chopin), was renowned first and foremost as a piano virtuoso, an excellent interpreter of the works of Chopin. His rich output as a composer is less widely known today, though he wrote compositions in many genres, including piano, symphonic and even operatic works. He composed as many as six piano concertos, the first of which, the Piano Concerto in B minor, Op. 79, is the least known. This article presents Koczalski’s unpublished opus 79, hitherto practically ignored in discussions of his oeuvre. A brief outline of this work’s origins within Koczalski’s output as a pianist and composer is followed by reflection on the development of his compositional work in the context of his relatively short musical education, and the article concludes with a description of the little-known but abundant source materials of this composition held in Berlin’s Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung. Those sources make it possible to date the Concerto and place it within Koczalski’s oeuvre.
Keywords:
Raoul Koczalski, piano concerto, sources, autograph, manuscript, piano music, Piano Concerto in B Minor, Op. 79, virtuoso, nineteenth-century musicReferences
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