On the Semantic Function of Genre in Chopin’s World

Abstract

Examining Chopin’s oeuvre this paper raises the theoretical questions on particular position of genre and peculiarities of temporal processes in Romantic music. Without creating new genres the composer profoundly transforms existing ones; his musical intonations arise at intersections of great number of genres, giving birth to unique and inexhaustible sense. Thus the conventional phenomena of genre become powerful factors of Chopin’s personal style and of the author’s unique concept of each composition.