First, they might start out well calibrated and then drift. I never considered at the time that it would be very likely that early 19th century metronomes might even be less accurate. My first motor driven Franz electric was even a little off. I even lined up identical models in a music store and set them in motion, amazed at how wildly they differed. I was a wee bit nerdy and checked them with the second hand on my watch and developed a way of adjusting them. I had a Franz pyramid style, a Wittner Taktell, and Mini Taktell. No one mentions the lightning speed.Ĭan anyone enlighten me with any source or comment of Chopin's time that highlights upon the speed in which he played?Įvery mechanical metronome I have owned - the first one in the 50s - was imprecise. Although he used rubato and all, one can't deny the fact that even the general tempo markings of his are too fast and are not played at in general by today's famous pianists.(eg: his revolutionary etude)Īnd even if I hypothesize that most of Chopin's contemporaries also played that fast or near to as fast as Chopin, further stating that people might not have felt the need of mentioning his speed, one can still notice that many of his contemporaries mentioned things like legato playing, evenness of fingers, his touch and all little but essential attributes of his playing. I have noticed from my research till now that although Chopin's tempo markings are really fast, even for a light touch pleyel piano, I have found no comments highlighting the lightning speed Chopin played at. I am researching about the kind of style Chopin himself would have had by drawing inferences from sources such as recordings of the 2nd generation pupils of Chopin and the comments of contemporaries and his pupils.
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