Abstract

This article focuses on the ‘bardic style’ as a defining trait of the G Minor Ballade and the balladic genre initiated by chopin. I suggest that viewing the piece through the lens of performativity reveals chopin’s reliance on a prototype of embodied performance. Borrowing the term ‘performativity’ from linguistic studies, I redefine it as a type of musical narrativity that mimics a real or imaginary performance. In his first Ballade, chopin creates precisely this kind of narration, built around a central figure of a bard who is captured in the act of performance. Chopin portrays the persona of the bard as a virtuoso of the harp, an instrument that is central to the 19th-century bardic style. As a result, the piano texture of the Ballade reveals a plethora of harp imitations that include the plucking or strumming of strings, arpeggiated chords, the overlapping of sustained notes, and many others. Skilful manipulations of these devices enabled Chopin to create audible distinctions between narration and action, or past and present, in the musical trajectory of his Ballade.
My analysis demonstrates how this ‘harp performance’ embodied in the Ballade functions as both the main unifying factor of form and a critical referential component that generates several layers of meaning. To provide context for my analytical claims, I discuss the potential impact of the ossianic movement, selected songs by franz schubert and poetic works by Adam Mickiewicz on Chopin’s concept of an instrumental ballade. All four ballades by Chopin feature imitations of the harp. Similarly, composers who contributed to this genre in the course of the 19th century followed in Chopin’s footsteps and also utilized abundant harplike textures in their own ballades. I adduce examples of this modelling from works by Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Edvard Grieg.