Chopin Piano Sonata No 3 In B Minor Op 58
Klaudia Aricas
Frdric Chopin composed three piano sonatas, two of which were published in his lifetime, one posthumously. They are considered to be among Chopin's most difficult piano compositions both musically and technically. They cover a period of time from 1828 to 1844, reflecting Chopin's style changes.
Chopin composed this piano sonata in 1828, when he was still studying with Jzef Elsner, to whom the sonata was dedicated. Despite having a low opus number, this work was published posthumously in 1851 by Tobias Haslinger's son. This work is among the least recorded of all of Chopin's works, and is not considered a part of the standard piano repertoire.[1]
Chopin composed this sonata in 1844 and dedicated it to Countess Emilie de Perthuis. As his last sonata for solo piano, it has been suggested that this was his attempt to address the criticisms of his earlier Sonata No. 2, Op. 35.
Not until measure 42 does Chopin break into a fully sustained melody in the relative major key of D flat. The performer is urged to summon legato, a singing tone and the roundness necessary to express this rare beauty, not to ignore the rich bass supporting the top.
Measure 69 begins a change of direction and an emotional climb achieved through the color of intensified harmonies, arriving at measure 81. Here we experience the power of driving chords in quarter notes which are even more effective arriving after such a glorious singing melody, as if poignancy had given way to a new-found confidence.
We are in a transition from measure 105 to 137 when Chopin achieves a climactic arrival still using the snippets of melody but now with grandeur, introducing chords as triplets in the bass for added sonority and keeping the dynamic level at fortissimo. At measure 165 this motivic material winds down via a long decrescendo to reach, at measure 169, the narrative or sustained melody that we first encountered at measure 42. Originally in D flat or the relative major of B-flat minor, the same melody is now presented in B-flat major.
Eighth notes in octaves, in 3/4, inside a crescendo drive toward a heavy chord at the second measure but an accented third beat seems to waylay the motion. It imbues the Scherzo with a stomping, boots-to-the-floor feeling.
Chopin mazurkas highlight the second beat of triple meter and here he manipulates the rhythm in yet another way. The accents, crescendi, a dynamic of forte and the 2-note slurs at measures 9 and 29 combine to achieve a powerful, propelling opening.
As a double dose of heaven, in measure 81, marked piu lento, Chopin dissolves the sonata into a pool of melodic repose. We want to shout genius! on hearing such a pure, upward reaching line made even more poignant by low chords at measure 90 that surge down and away from the melody.
A short transition at measure 184 brings us back to the original, furioso Scherzo material and to the end. Just there Chopin reminds us as in a daydream of the purely spun melody and proceeds to end in the major key, forestalling the inevitable.
At measure 31 Chopin moves seamlessly to yet another divine melody (of which there is never a shortage). Its simplicity and serenity contrasts to, and complements, the march section as it carries us away to a dream-like place.
The finale is entirely composed of running triplets in unison, right and left hand playing the same note an octave apart. Chopin surges in and out of harmonies related closely to B-flat minor and highlights particular notes in a given measure by hinting at snippets of melody.
Frderic Chopin completed his Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 35, in 1839. This work is often nicknamed Funeral March in reference to its most popular Marcia Funebre third movement, which was written two years earlier than the rest of the sonata. This movement was later adapted for orchestral by both Leopold Stokowski and Sir Edward Elgar, and played in a number of well known funerals (the original piece had been played at the graveside during Chopin's own burial). There is no shortage of drama in this Sonata: Chopin uses his considerable gifts for innovative armony here, and it consistently impresses, especially in the virtuosic conclusion. The work confused contemporary critics, who found it lacking cohesion.
As a result, we see no development, per se, in the Allegro de Concert. (What could have been development is actually the tonal resolution in the minor tonic.) Instead, we see an immediate reprise of the secondary group, not unlike the reprise of the Second Concerto. After a digression in the minor mode (shown in Example 9), Chopin completely bypasses the development,(45) preserving the secondary theme area as the foundational unit of recapitulation and thematic repose. We shall see this same pattern in the late piano sonatas.
[5.2] While no S group appears in op. 4 or op. 8, a secondary theme appears in the orchestral expositions of both piano concertos. Further, the solo exposition of each concerto retains the harmonic and thematic identity of the orchestral S-zone. As fulcrums between the early and late sonatas, the First Piano Concerto mimics the tonal architecture of op. 4 (and op. 8), and the Second Piano Concerto anticipates the positioning of the second theme group as a formal centerpiece. In the late sonatas, unlike the early sonatas, S realizes an expositional modulation from the tonic minor to the relative major. By inserting this thematic group in the tonic major immediately following the development (in place of the expected minor-key recapitulation of P), Chopin rhetorically highlights this unit as a tonal event; in the Third Sonata, an RFC contributes to this dramatization.
29. In my dissertation (Aziz 2013, 49), I argue that within French sonatas, large-scale tonal dissonance eludes the exposition, resulting in a monotonal section. Nevertheless, movement to a single closely-related key area may be positioned in the development or even the recapitulation.
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Chopin's final piano sonata was composed in 1844 and dedicated to Countess milie de Perthuis. It is a work of immense complexity, both technically and musically, and comprises four movements. The sonata opens with heavy chords in B minor, but journeys through a Scherzo and dream-like Nocturne, before ending in a dazzling Finale, which starts in B minor but ends triumphantly in a B major Coda.
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