17 and 22 March 1830
Two concerts at the National Theatre
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Two concerts at the National Theatre
Chopin, twenty years old, plays his previous concerto, the one in F minor, twice for the Warsaw public. The conductor is Karol Kurpiński. Right after these evenings Chopin starts on new music.
The programme of the evening of 11 October 1830
This concert was called the farewell concert only later. We know the order of the numbers from the letter Chopin wrote to Tytus the next morning.
1Symphony by Görnerorchestra
'Görner's Symphony began' - Chopin writes nothing more about it.
2Allegro from the Concerto in E minorFryderyk Chopin, piano; conducted by Carlo Soliva, an Italian, professor of singing at the Warsaw conservatory
The first movement was played apart from the rest of the concerto. Chopin played a piano by the Viennese maker Streicher and wrote that he had played it with complete ease. 'Thunderous applause.'
Listen: I. Allegro maestoso3Aria with chorus by Carlo SolivaAnna Wołków, singer, a pupil of Soliva; chorus
'Dressed like a little angel in blue', she, in Chopin's words, 'sang it nicely'. The composer of the aria conducted it himself.
4Adagio from the Concerto in E minorFryderyk Chopin, piano
The slow movement, the Romance, came only after the aria: it was the custom then to divide a large work with other numbers.
Listen: II. Larghetto5Rondo from the Concerto in E minorFryderyk Chopin, piano
The finale followed the slow movement at once. Chopin's letter has not a word on how they were received - only that they were played.
Listen: III. Vivace- Interval
The audience came up from the buffet onto the stage to congratulate Chopin.
6Overture to the opera 'William Tell' by Gioachino Rossiniorchestra
It opened the second half.
7Cavatina with recitative from the opera 'La donna del lago' by Gioachino RossiniKonstancja Gładkowska, singer, a pupil of Soliva
A cavatina is a short aria; this one was written out at a different pitch, comfortable for the singer's voice. Chopin remembered that Gładkowska came out 'in white, with roses on her head'.
8Fantasy on Polish AirsFryderyk Chopin, piano, with orchestra
The longest applause came after this number. 'This time I understood myself, the orchestra understood itself, and the stalls caught on,' Chopin wrote. After the last mazurka, a Polish dance, he was called back and 'had time to bow four times'.
Three weeks later, on 2 November, Chopin left Warsaw. This evening was his last performance in his homeland: at the end of November an uprising began in Warsaw, and he never returned to Poland.
