By Siwen Wong
I write this article to commemorate my piano professor Dr. Jan Drath, who passed away since two October ago. His whole life's dedication in researching how to perform authentic Chopin music had earned all his students' admiration and respect. Dr. Drath could speak nine languages, including Latin (his sister was a Latin professor), this helped him in research, especially into Chopin's life and teaching notes, he compared Chopin's teaching notes between his students and with dates to verify his last teaching notes to source a final conclusion.
During Dr. Drath's life time, for years when he did his Chopin research, according to the janitor, he told me Dr. Drath was actually staying and sleeping in his studio in the music department. The time I studied under him, he was already over sixty years old. Actually, I was one of his very few last students to learn Chopin so differently from stereo-type Chopin that you could hear from YouTube.
When I freshly graduated, I played for a Poland's trained pianist friend, he shrugged his shoulders said that even Kristian Zimmerman played with the "stereo-type" ornaments, he said he didn't understand why I played Chopin ornaments in such an odd way.
Concert pianists who studied before millennium under the elite Chopin specialists like Professors Regina Smenzianka, Jan Ekier, and in the States Jan Drath were like initiated into a special Greek fraternity, they know what they were playing but other pianists would say exactly like what my Polish pianist friend did, "I don't understand why you executed Chopin's ornaments in such an odd way!" Actually, Dr. Drath started as a "Chopin analyst" since he was a student. He revealed to me how one of his classmates borrowed his music, copied his interpretation, and after performed for the radio with his interpretation, then only returned the music to him. Of course I know who is the famous pianist who did this to him, anyway, Dr. Drath's languages prowess was a bless, he could do some research that many pianists couldn't attain, thus, some pianists ended up had to find a way to "borrow" other classmates' music scores in hope to find some "eureka!"
I attended annual Chopin workshops every yearly when I studied in Texas organized by Chopin Society under Dr. Jan Drath and Nina Drath (i first met Nina before her papa, then Nina took me to study Chopin under her piano professor Regina Smenzianka in Poland).
The following were Chopin workshop's notes that I kept since late 80's, in order to verify the Chopin ornaments for my ABRSM grade 8 student's exam, I made a special call to Texas to Nina at 1:30am to confirm that my ornaments were correctly taught to my students, it was due to my student got doubts why all the ornaments she heard fro YouTubes were so different from the way I taught her!
The following are the explanation for Chopin 's Nocturne G Minor, Op.37 No. 1 ornaments' execution:
This was the notes written by my professor Dr. Jan Drath
Chopin's Ornaments teaching notes by my professor, Dr. Jan Drath
Note that bar 5's first ornament with the acciaccatura D followed by D F Bb. The acciaccatura D preceded actually indicated that it should play together with the beat (beat 2)
Bar 15's grace notes should enter earlier than beat 4, it is due to the semiquaver notes followed are too short.
Bar 19's grace notes should enter before the beat 4 (two C notes but not the acciaccutura, thus not enter on the main beat)
Again, bar 30's first acciaccatura D should play with LH beat 2 together (not as the drawn line indicated).
Bar 37, as there is no acciaccatura note, grace notes thus enter before beat 2. The next ornament on beat 3, the first small note should fall right on the beat as indicated.
