The present selection illustrates two contrasting aspects of Chopin’s poetic nature. With the mazurkas, it is the exile, the nostalgic dreamer revisiting his beloved native Poland irretrievably lost, often speaking softly such are his emotion and sadness; it is the intimate poet talking quietly to himself, the diarist exploring his feelings without witness. With the Sonata Op. 35, it is the romantic artist embracing the human condition and struggling desperately against the elements, against a formidable enemy, against death and nothingness — it is nothing but ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’.

Chopin was very found of dances and besides some twelve polonaises and nineteen waltzes, he composed nearly sixty mazurkas. The mazurka originated in the 16th century among the Mazurs of east central Poland and was rapidly adopted by the Polish court. It later spread to Russia and Germany and by the early 19th century had reached France, England and even the USA. It has often been said that the mazurkas are among the most characteristic of Chopin’s works. Indeed, with their abrupt changes of mood from exuberance to melancholy, exaltation to depression, they display his nationalistic feelings and some aspects of his Polish temperament. But Chopin was French by his father, and this may account for a certain restraint of expression, a certain discretion which are often regarded as French qualities. And moreover, if Chopin was by essence a ‘romantic’, he was also a classic at heart, a great admirer of Mozart and Bach above all, and he wanted to say the maximum in the shortest possible way. Simplicity was for him the highest form of art. At the same time, Chopin’s mazurkas are also marked by an exceptional subtlety of harmony and some, showing the composer at his most exploratory, are enigmatic and inconclusive.

Composed in 1832-33 and published in 1833, the Mazurkas Op. 17 were dedicated to Lina Freppa, a singing teacher and friend of the composer. Marked Lento non troppo the No. 2 in e minor is tender and poetic. The No. 3 in A flat major (Legato assai) is in melancholic mood while the despondent No. 4 in a minor (Lento ma non troppo) was called ‘the grief-stricken face’ by Chopin’s pupils. Published in 1838 and dedicated to the Countess Rosa Mostowska, the Mazurkas Op. 33 were composed in 1837-38. Wilhelm von Lenz, a pupil of Chopin and Liszt, considered the No. 3 in C major (Semplice) as ‘the epitaph of mazurkas’. The No. 1 in g sharp minor (Mesto) is like a brief and poignant confidence. Written in July 1839, the Mazurka Op. 41 No. 4 in A flat major (Allegretto) is exactly contemporaneous with the completion of the Sonata Op. 35. And yet, it would be difficult to imagine a stronger contrast between the two works, the mazurka being pleasant and relaxed. The Mazurka in a minor (op. posthumous) was composed during the summer 1840 and published the following year. Published in 1842, the Mazurka Op. 50 No. 1 in G major (Vivace), which Chopin judged difficult to play, is another lively piece. Written in 1846 and printed in 1847, the Mazurkas Op. 63 were the last to be published during Chopin’s lifetime. The No. 2 in f minor (Lento) and No. 3 in c sharp minor (Allegretto) are both nostalgic and restraint. Finally, the two sets Op. 67 and Op. 68 were published posthumously in 1855 by Chopin’s Polish friend Julian Fontana. The mazurka Op. 67 No. 4 in a minor (Moderato animato) exists in three different versions all dated 1846. This one is a gracious and seductive piece. Ironically, the mazurka Op. 68 No. 3 in F major is in fact an early piece written by the composer in 1830 while the Op. 68 No. 4 in f minor is the very last piece he wrote shortly before his death in 1849. Fontana wrote that Chopin was already too ill to try it on the piano...

Sonata in b flat minor Op. 35

It was in Nohant, in the country house of his lover, the eccentric French writer Georges Sand, that Chopin completed his Second Sonata op. 35 during the summer of 1839. He wrote to his friend Fontana: "Here I am composing a Sonata in b flat minor, in which there will be the Funeral March you know. There is an Allegro, then a Scherzo in e flat minor, the March, and a short Finale of about three pages. After the March, the left hand chatters unisono with the right."

Published in 1840, the Sonata was largely misunderstood. Even Robert Schumann does not seem to have really understood the composer’s intentions and the amazing modernity of the work. ‘Chopin advances in discords, from one discord to another.’ He disapproved of the Finale in which he heard ‘more sarcasm than music’, but he was nevertheless fascinated: ‘And yet how much beauty this work still contains! It would be a caprice to call this a sonata, if it wasn’t for the arrogant coupling of four of his maddest children...’

The first movement opens by a short and powerful introduction (Grave) immediately followed by a tumultuous Agitato based on two contrasting themes. The first one, with its implacable succession of semi-quavers and rests, is tormented and violent while the second, marked sostenuto, is a lyrical and radiant melody. Their development, which mixes anger and hope, leads to several climaxes of considerable intensity and the movement ends by an outburst of chords.

With its ferocious repeated octaves and chords, its rhythmic drive and extreme dynamic range, the Scherzo in e flat minor belongs clearly to the Beethoven tradition. The middle section, Piu lento, is a moment of calm amid the storm: a gentle and dreaming melody sings over the waltz-like accompaniment played by the left hand. But soon the storm returns as violent as ever and sweeps everything away. The Piu lento episode reappears briefly and the movement ends mysteriously in g flat major.

Written in 1837, two years before the other movements, the Funeral March is the emotional heart of the work. Incidentally, it was orchestrated by Henri Reber to be played in the Madeleine’s Church in Paris at Chopin’s own funeral in October 1849. The middle section in d flat major is one of Chopin’s most sublime creation, a glimpse of pure beauty and peace. But after a short silence, the March resumes its ghostly procession and leads the movement to its hushed conclusion.