MUS 404: Keyboard Literature
June 22, 2010
Piano Sonata No. 3 in b minor, Op. 58 by Frédéric Chopin
Chopin’s third sonata is a masterwork filled with pianistic elements, daring harmonies, experimental form, and a wealth of expressivity. In this four-movement work, references to other Chopin compositions and influences from fellow composers are found. At the same time, there is a progressive element; it looks forward to the heights which would be achieved by Chopin and later composers.
Background
Chopin wrote the Sonata, Op. 58 in 1844, several months after the Berceuse, Op. 57. The Berceuse provides inspiration for the slow movement (Samson, Chopin 23). These works were written at a time when Chopin’s relationship with George Sand was coming to an end. These personal troubles, however, did not hamper his musical genius (Lederer 69). However, perhaps this turmoil is reflected in the ungraspable opening sections of the first movement and the tumultuousness of the final movement.
The sonata-allegro from was fathered by Haydn, mastered by Mozart, and experimented with by Beethoven. By the Romantic period, the sonata form was quite loose (Lederer 65 – 66). Chopin did not wish to be hampered by conventions; instead, he desired freedom in form. One of Chopin’s favorite of Beethoven sonatas is the Op. 26 in A-flat Major. He taught and played it quite often (Lederer 66). This sonata is highly unconventional. It begins with a set of theme and variations; not one of the movements is written a sonata-allegro form. It interchanges the middle movements; a scherzo precedes the slow movement, which happens to be a funeral march. Chopin’s two great sonatas (No. 2 in b-flat minor and No. 3 in b minor) are quite experimental with the sonata-al...
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...e mold of the sonata-allegro form; he is quite progressive with his harmonies, exploring distant keys and incorporating daring chromaticism. This sonata was written by Chopin at the height of his genius. It represents his triumph and mastery over form, harmonies, and the piano.
Bibliography
Huneker, James. Chopin: The Man and His Music. New York: Dover Publications, 1966. Print.
Lederer, Victor. Chopin: A Listener's Guide to the Master of the Piano. Pompton Plains, N.J.: Amadeus, 2006. Print.
"Piano Sonata No. 3 (Chopin)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 June 2010. .
Samson, Jim. Chopin. New York: Schirmer, 1996. Print.
Samson, Jim. The Music of Chopin. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985. Print.
Whiteside, Abby. Mastering the Chopin Etudes and Other Essays. New York: Scribner, 1969. Print.
Chopin’s Impromptu arouses "the very passions ... within [Edna’s] soul"(p.34). The harmony, fluidity, subtle rhythm and poetic beauty of the Romantic composer make Edna loose herself in the music that stirs her emotions. The art completes, for her, what nature cannot bring to a finish. The exquisite, looping, and often fiery melodies of the Impromptu make a cut in Edna’s mind through the conventional beliefs about people and society. Because she is not a musician, her listening is based on intuition, allowing for a direct apprehension of the music by the soul and leading to a confrontation with the reality itself — the reality of "solitude, of hope, of longing, ... of despair"(p.34). This is the beginning of Edna’s awakening, for such emotions, especially despair, are not an end but a beginning because they take away the excuses and guilts, those toward herself, from which she suffers. This revelation of previously hidden conflicts gives birth to dramatic emotions within Edna. It is so powerful that Edna wonders if she "shall ever be stirred again as...Reisz’s playing moved" her that night (p.38).
Seyersted, Per, and Emily Toth, eds. A Kate Chopin Miscellany. Natchitoches: Northwestern State University Press, 1979.
...Chopin's The Awakening." Journal For Cultural Research 12.4 (2008): 335-347. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
This piano concerto adheres to the tradition way of composing a piece in this genre as it consists of three movements:
From the Classical period and onwards, sonata form became the basis for most instrumental music. Sonata form became established as the clearly defined structure of the first movement of instrumental compositions. This form consists of three sections: exposition, development, and recapitulation. If you have studied anything about story form, you know a lot about Sonata form, because they are identical in their purpose. The exposition (same word is used in music and literature) sets the scene. This section is where the musical themes are introduced, the mood is set, and the key, main rhythmic patterns, and harmonies are stated. The second section, the development, is like the "heart" of the story. This is where the music explores the themes, keys, rhythms, and harmonies, and weaves the musical material into something new and interesting. The development should sustain your interest, make you wonder what is going to happen next, just like in a well-told story. The final section, the recapitulation, is like the closing section of a good story. In the recapitulation, the opening material comes back, but everything is resolved and finalized, just like wrapping up the loose ends in the story.
Alice Petry Hall gives readers of Kate Chopin’s works an exceptional overview of this author’s life, sharing Chopin’s understanding of fundamental issues based on critical essays, interviews, criticisms, and Chopin’s personal notes.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1985.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Eds. Elizabeth M. Schaaf, Katherine A. Retan, and Joanne Diaz. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1997. 12-14. Print.
His compositions are considered to have led to the development of the sonata form. This was still evident late in his career. Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat major (Hob. XVI:52) consists of short, balanced melodic phrases of two, four or sometimes six bars. Each melody in the exposition is evenly divided into an antecedent phrase and a consequent phrase; question and answer. This is a typical characteristic of the Classical Period which obsessed over clarity of structure. Similarly, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 2, No.1 is clearly divided into an exposition, development and recapitulation. Its lucid exposition of melodic material occurs in balanced melodic phrases. Both of these works contain short codas to each section. The fact that Beethoven’s sonata was written one year after Haydn’s, whilst he was still a student of Haydn’s, highlights the influence of Haydn over Beethoven during the early stage of his
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
With exquisite mingling in sound of quiet and agitation, fluidity and interruption, with a gorgeous melody of cautious, tightly contracting circles and sudden leaps into space, Chopin, the subtle-souled psychologist, opens his waltz. How does Chopin speak through his waltz? How does the music play the listener? Minds think through forms. Form follows content. Music’s structure matters. In Chopin’s Opus 69 No.1, the AA’BA’BA’CCDCDA’ structure of reoccurring themes uncomfortably prolongs the inevitable return of the tragic first theme which the audience does not want to hear but expects to hear anyway.
Thematic development and structure are considered to be Chopin's weak points in his compositions and this is thought to be especially true in longer pieces such as the three piano sonatas. One critic strongly criticised these pieces as they did not stick strictly to sonata form. Others however, feel that as they are Romantic sonatas, and therefore the structure is not as important as it was in Classical music, that they "should not be straightjacketed by the rigours of sonata form."
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
Throughout the transitioning period with debating over Romanticism and Classicism, Chopin declared himself through his music, on the Romantic side (Goldberg, 22).