Music of Frederic Chopin in the Works of the Rock Group MUSE

Abstract

The article examines constant interactions with the musical legacy of academic classical composers, in particular, Frederic Chopin, representing one of the chief stylistic features of the British rock group MUSE. References to Chopin’s piano music appear in three compositions: United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage) (2009), Prelude (2012) and Blockades (2018). The works of the Polish Romantic composer are shown to have been borrowed in various ways: as direct quotes, in somewhat modified form, as well as allusively and indirectly. The understanding and appreciation of Chopin’s legacy by the group members evolves over time from the symbolisation of Light, Ideal, and Humanity to the discovery of other dramatic and even tragic facets of the composer’s art, which are much more relevant to the challenges of our time. For the creative development of the group MUSE, such a shift in emphasis was decisive: with the disappearance of the idealised (previously personified in the music of Chopin) from the sphere of rock music-making, the optimistic life-affirming principle is also displaced. When incorporated more organically into the multi-coloured sound picture of contemporary man’s existence, the music of the Polish Romantic composer paradoxically reveals the dangers and impasses of the modern world.