ABSTRACT
The manner and degree to which the Chopin oeuvre was inspired by common song remains a question yet to be addressed and considered in research. The years between 1810 and 1830 are filled with loose editions of songs, mainly elegies by Karol Kurpinski and idylls by Eisner, which can be considered as prototypes for the first salon songs by Chopin. As regards specific, concrete relations, one may speak of around ten moments at which Chopin’s music encountered the music of common songs. To put it another way, one may speak of ten moments at which this repertoire made its presence known in the oeuvre of the composer. One must add that this ‘presence’ is sometimes no more than supposed. Yet one must also be hard of hearing not to perceive many areas of repetitiveness, banality and conventionality in this repertoire, which, after all, was geared towards domestic and social functionality – towards everyday and ‘special day’ consumption, but not aesthetic use.
