Austria (Roderich Edelstein)) :: Opus 004--Talent Competition

[gesangvoll]

Who: Austria, everyone else that wants to participate. 8D
Where: Espoir
Style: First or third for performances/whatever
Status: OPEN OPEN OPEN

It was a lovely day in Espoir; the sun was shining, there were only a few clouds in the sky, it was warm but not too warm, all that wonderful stuff. Austria was rather glad that the weather had cooperated

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Frederic Chopin

[poet_of_piano]

One might assume that a highly experienced performer and composer, such as Frederic Chopin, would be completely comfortable with performing in front of large audiences by now, but in truth, it was extremely rare for him to give a public performance. By the end of his life, he typically held one concert a year at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Concerts made him feel disconnected from his audience, and he had much preferred the closeness of performing in small salons, which were much smaller social gatherings.

This was quite a new experience for him. In his life, he never once participated in any competitions. He had never really felt that music was something that should be used for personal gain in that way. He didn’t even like having to play in order to make his living, but he knew it was necessary so that he could support himself. The fact that he was also doing this for Austria made him happy to participate, but he was not here in order to win this competition. He only wanted to share his music with others. As such, he chose a song that he felt held more meaning, rather then one that was technically difficult to perform. Emotional difficulty was another matter.

Thankfully, a piano had been moved onstage for him when it came his turn to perform. He walked onstage, and when he got close to the piano, he removed his top hat and positioned it over his heart as he gave the crowd a polite bow. He then sat down on the bench, placing the hat beside him.

He placed his hands to the keys in reverence, paused for a moment, preparing himself for what he was about to do, and he finally began to play.

The etude is slow at first, but it is filled with emotion. It slowly builds up in volume, and then quickly comes back down again in surges of feeling. One could tell by looking at the man as he performed that this particular song had very special meaning to him. The melody is captivating and nostalgic in nature.

As he played, Frederic completely forgot about the audience, and even where he was, and let himself become lost in the melody… He thought back to his homeland, to Poland, and the music flowed naturally through him. The man had not been joking when he had once said that this was the most intimate piece he had ever composed. However… his performance this time was different. His thoughts also seemed to wander to his memories of Polka, and of his dream. They all seemed as if they were both so close, and yet so far away. As much as he had desperately tried to return to his own world… He knew that, deep down, he longed to be together with his companions again.

The song reached its final crescendo, and then slowly and delicately came to an end. Frederic opened his eyes back to reality. It took him a moment, but he quickly remembered what was going on, and he stood up to face the crowd again. After giving a final bow, he walked offstage.

((If you wish to hear the song he played, it is Étude Op. 10 No. 3, Tristesse. If you wish to hear it for yourself, you can find it here.

[gesangvoll]

Austria listened intently to Chopin's performance, rather glad to hear the other man perform in person here in Somarium. Austria was a fan of Chopin's compositions, to say the least, and it had been some time since Chopin had passed away in his home-world. Hearing a musician as skilled as Chopin perform was always a pleasure in Austria's opinion, no matter where the musician was performing.

As Chopin took his final bow after completing his piece, Austria applauded politely, glad to have heard Chopin perform one of his own works in person.

[redeyed_devilx]

The vampire was sitting there, listening slowly, with his eyes closed. The melody flowed nicely, he thought. The person was extravagant with their performance. The player was indeed very into it, as he could tell. Red hues opened and stared off at the person, watching and listening. The song ended and he seemed to be almost pleased with it. Music was something he had been hearing for quite some time. There were various kinds, and he supposed this one wasn't so bad. He had his good experience of the bad and good sides of music.

He let his hands come together to create a noisy clap enough to please the player. He seemed at peace for once. Maybe taking a break worked. Well, hell without Ishtar to stress him out, he seemed to be out of things to do. This was probably one of the things he did out of boredom.