Program notes by Eric Bromberger

Rondo à la Mazurka in F Major, Opus 5
Frédéric CHOPIN
Born February 22, 1810, Zelazowska Wola, Poland
Died October 17, 1849, Paris

Chopin composed the Rondo à la Mazurka in F Major in 1826, when he was only 16, but its harmonic freedom and its experiments with form point toward directions he would explore more fully in the years ahead. The curious title may suggest the young composer’s hesitant experimentation: Chopin would never be wholly comfortable with rondo form, but he would go on to write some of his greatest music in the form of the mazurka, the great Polish national dance. In his study of Chopin’s music Herbert Weinstock suggests that a more accurate title for this piece might be Mazurka à la Rondo.

The music gets off to a vigorous start, marked Vivace, and immediately shows some of the characteristics of the mazurka: it is in triple time, with the accent often falling off the downbeat. The remarkable thing about this music, written by so young a composer, is its harmonic freedom: the key signature may say F major, but Chopin obscures that key throughout the piece, and its harmonic daring is one of this piece’s most striking features. A rondo should have contrasting episodes, and the first of these–marked Tranquillamente e cantabile–soon arrives. Chopin alternates these two sections (along with other material), all of it powered by some brilliant writing for the piano.

The Rondo à la Mazurka drives to a firm close, but in the process of writing it Chopin may have discovered that he was more interested in mazurkas than in rondos. His next publication–his Opus 6–was a set of three mazurkas that would mark the official beginning of his nearly sixty works in that form.

Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Opus 4

Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor and Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor are two of his greatest and most famous works. The existence of a Second and Third Sonata inevitably means that there must be a First Sonata, but this turns out to be one of Chopin’s least-familiar works: very few people have heard his Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, which makes its appearance on this recital all the more welcome.

Chopin wrote this sonata in 1828, when he was eighteen years old and studying at the Warsaw Conservatory–he dedicated it to Józef Elsner, his teacher at the Conservatory. And at that point this sonata began its curious history. It was one of the works Chopin took with him the following year on a visit to Vienna, and in that fabled city of music Chopin offered his new sonata to Tobias Haslinger, who had been Schubert’s publisher. Haslinger accepted the sonata and gave it the opus number of 4, but he appears to have been in no hurry to bring this music out. He delayed its preparation for twelve years, and when the proofs were finally sent to Chopin in Paris in 1841, the composer had advanced so far beyond this youthful effort that he had no interest in publishing it–he never sent corrected proofs back to Haslinger. And so although this sonata is Chopin’s official Opus 4, it was not published until 1851, two years after his death.

The Sonata in C Minor is a student composition, the work of a young man intent on mastering classical form. Chopin was all too aware of the piano sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert (who was writing his three great final sonatas at exactly the same time Chopin wrote the Sonata in C Minor). Those examples must have seemed overpowering to the young Chopin, and he would soon learn that the great classical forms–concerto and sonata–were not for him: his Second and Third Piano Sonatas are not so much in classical form as they are in Chopin’s own highly original treatment of that form.

So we should understand the Sonata in C Minor as the work of an immensely-talented young man struggling to master forms from the past, forms he would soon move beyond. His First Sonata is in four-movement classical form, and the writing for piano, particularly in the outer movements, is very difficult indeed. The opening Allegro maestoso is a big-scaled sonata-form movement, complete with exposition repeat. The quick-paced minuet (Chopin’s marking is Allegretto) dances in E-flat major, then moves to E-flat minor for its expressive trio section. The Larghetto is distinctive for its 5/4 meter, while the finale, marked Presto, is very fast and very demanding for the performer.

Two Nocturnes, Opus 37 No. 1 in G Minor No. 2 in G Major

Chopin published these two nocturnes in 1840, when he was 30, but they had been written over the previous several years. No. 1 in G Minor dates from 1837, and Chopin composed No. 2 in G Minor during the happy summer of 1839, spent with George Sand at her estate in Nohant.

Some critics have claimed to hear a “Polish” character in the Nocturne in G Minor, perhaps the result of Chopin’s copious use of grace-notes in its outer sections. The central episode, which moves to E-flat major, proceeds along a steady pulse of quarter-note chords–Chopin avoids monotony with his subtle transformations of tonality here. The Nocturne in G Major is not in the expected ternary form, but instead alternates two quite different kinds of music: a shimmering opening section and a simpler melody that rocks comfortably along the 6/8 meter.

Four Mazurkas, Opus 41
No. 1 in C-sharp Minor
No. 2 in E Minor
No. 3 in B Major No. 3 in A-flat Major

In the fall of 1838, Chopin and George Sand felt the need to escape from Paris, so she arranged for them to spend the winter on the island of Mallorca. They sailed on a warm November evening from Barcelona, and Chopin’s first reaction to Mallorca was ecstatic. To his publisher he wrote: “I am in Palma among palms, cedars, cacti, olives, pomegranates, etc. Everything the Jardin des Plantes has in its greenhouses. A sky like turquoise, a sea like lapis lazuli, mountains like emerald, air like heaven. Sun all day, and hot. Everybody in summer clothes. At night for hours guitars and singing. Huge balconies with grapevines overhead; Moorish walls. Everything faces toward Africa as the town does. In short, a glorious life!” But his happiness was short-lived. Neither Chopin nor Sand had any inkling that winter in Mallorca would bring wind and cold rain, and soon his bronchitis flared up, followed by a recurrence of tuberculosis that had him spitting up blood. In February they fled to Marseilles, where Chopin slowly regained his health, then went on to spend the summer of 1839 at Sand’s summer house in Nohant, south of Paris.

Chopin was trying to compose throughout all of this. He composed the Mazurka in E Minor in Palma in November 1838, then composed the remaining three mazurkas of this set at Nohant the following summer. The group of four mazurkas was published as his Opus 41 in December 1840. This is one of the less-well-known sets of Chopin’s mazurkas, and it consists of four quite different pieces. No. 1 in C-sharp Minor has been much admired for its energy, drive, and harmonic pungency. It begins with the right hand alone–a spare, almost bleak statement. Though the dynamic is quiet, Chopin marks this music Maestoso, and quickly textures thicken and the music becomes more complex rhythmically. A brief center section flows smoothly before the return of the opening material, which builds to a massive coda, hammered out in octaves. This gradually dissolves, recalling material heard earlier, and the music drifts into silence.

No. 2 in E Minor, the mazurka composed on Mallorca, has an unexpectedly melancholy air; after rising to a fierce climax, it too fades into silence. No. 3 in B Major is marked Animato, and Chopin further instructs the player: con spirito. The pulsing chords at the opening will recur throughout (they eventually bring this mazurka to its quiet close). In between, the music flies along fluid melodies whose progress is enlivened by hammered chords. Many have felt that No. 4 in A-flat Major is more nearly a waltz than a mazurka–it flows along smoothly and lacks the unexpected rhythmic pulses of the mazurka. Its principal surprise comes at the very end, where this music vanishes in mid-phrase.

Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Opus 52

Chopin himself was the first to use the term “ballade” to refer to a piano composition, appropriating the name from the literary ballad. He appears to have been most taken with the lyric and dramatic possibilities of the term, and his four ballades fuse melodic writing with intensely dramatic–almost explosive–gestures. After Chopin’s death, Liszt, Grieg, Fauré, and Brahms would compose works for solo piano that they too called ballades.

Formally, Chopin’s ballades most closely resemble the sonata-form movement (an opening idea contrasted with a second theme-group, and the two ideas developed and recapitulated), but the ballades are not strictly in sonata-form, nor was Chopin trying to write sonata-form movements. His ballades are quite free in form, and their thematic development and harmonic progression are sometimes wildly original. All four ballades employ a six-beat meter (either 6/4 or 6/8), and the flowing quality of such a meter is particularly well-suited to the sweeping drama of this music. All four demand a pianist of the greatest skill.

Because of the literary association and the dramatic character of the music, some have been quick to search for extra-musical inspiration for the ballades, believing that such music must represent the attempt to capture actual events in sound. Some have heard the Polish struggle for independence in this music, others the depiction of medieval heroism. Chopin himself discouraged this kind of speculation and asked the listener to take the music on its own terms rather than as a representation of something else.

Many regard the Ballade in F Minor, composed in 1842, as Chopin’s finest creation. A brief introduction leads to the waltz-like opening theme, marked Andante con moto, which gradually evolves into music of extraordinary animation. A slightly-swung second subject is swept into the ballade, and the two themes alternate in an atmosphere of increasing tension, leading to a grand climax and a brilliant close.

Two Nocturnes, Opus 55
No. 1 in F Minor
No. 2 in E-flat Major

These two works come from 1843. A nocturne suggests music not just with a nocturnal atmosphere but of an intimate, personal nature, and that is certainly true of the Nocturne in F Minor. The haunting opening Andante moves gracefully over steady chords in the left hand. At the più mosso center section, animated triplets push the tempo ahead, but Chopin makes an effective transition back to the opening material, and the music concludes very quietly.

The Nocturne in E-flat Major is remarkable for the equal importance of the two hands. The left hand is here not relegated to the role of accompanist but given a musical line that co-exists with the pianist’s right hand. Counterpoint is not a characteristic one automatically associates with Chopin, but this nocturne is an exercise in the deft treatment of simultaneous musical lines.

Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Opus 38

Chopin dedicated the Ballade in F Major to Robert Schumann. The actual composition of this piece was spread over several years, and Schumann was surprised when the text published in 1840 bore little resemblance to a version Chopin had played for him in 1836. The Ballade in F Major is built on two distinct theme-groups. The gently-rocking opening, marked Andantino, moves along gracefully but is suddenly shouldered aside when the Presto con fuoco explodes to life. These two sections alternate, and the music comes to a close on a quiet fragment of the opening melody.

Three Mazurkas, Opus 56
No. 1 in B Major
No. 2 in C Major
No. 3 in C Minor

Chopin wrote the three mazurkas of his Opus 56 in 1843. The harmonic freedom that flavors his finest music is much in evidence here, with these mazurkas moving suddenly between unexpected keys, assuming different expressive tints almost by the measure. The opening Mazurka in B Major dances along dotted rhythms and some pungent chords; in ABABA form, it offers a much brisker countertheme in the second and fourth sections. The Mazurka in C Major is quite brief; its Vivace opening gives way to a dancing central episode and a modified return of the opening material. The Mazurka in C Minor has become the best-known of the set: it is long and full of quite unusual harmonic modulations (a number of commentators hear these as pre-Wagnerian). The middle section is in the completely unexpected key of B major, and the long return finally arrives at a close that pulses into silence.

Polonaise in A-flat Major, Opus 53

Chopin’s last polonaise, the Polonaise in A-flat Major, is one of his grandest works: exciting, dramatic, and harmonically adventurous. Composed in 1842, it is somewhat in the manner of the “Military” Polonaise, but this one is even more powerful, more dynamic. One feels this from the first instant, where the ominous, muttering runs create a sense of expectancy and of power tightly restrained. That power bursts out when this polonaise does begin to dance, but this is not the polite dance of the ballroom–this one explodes across the keyboard, driven along by thunderous runs, trills, and complex chording. A series of arpeggiated chords leads to the center section (sometimes compared to the pound of horses’ hooves): here the rapid left-hand octaves accompany a stirring right-hand melody that has been compared to trumpet calls (and it is easy to understand how this dramatic much can call forth such dramatic interpretations). This center section–quite lengthy and itself divided into further subdivisions–leads to a return of the fiery dance from the opening section, but now Chopin abbreviates this dance and drives the polonaise directly to its exciting close.