Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 01/12/2010, uploaded on 03/02/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Chopin’s Polonaise in F-sharp minor, composed in 1841, begins quietly with ominous octaves in the low register of the piano. The motivic figure of the introduction, which utilizes the three halftone relationships present in the minor scale, builds in intensity and volume until halting suddenly on the dominant. Then follows the Polonaise’s principal theme—a passionate melody, forceful and bold, though at times nearly lured into a more lyrical demeanor—over the rhythmic underpinnings of the traditional dance. Near the conclusion of this opening section, Chopin draws us into a deeper realm of wild fantasy. Sinister and with an almost demonic fury despite the initial A major tonality, bare octaves are separated by a tempestuous thirty-second note ostinato figure. A rising melodic figure, taken from the prior Polonaise theme, interrupts the wild scene lifting the music into an all too brief glorious B major. Like Orpheus attempting to calm the Furies at the gates of Hades, the gentle melody is met with defiant rejection and the tempestuous figure is resumed. Ultimately, the music subsides into the central episode.

For the middle portion of the Polonaise’s ternary design, Chopin interestingly chose the mazurka. In a quicker tempo and the key of A major, the mazurka is lyrical, bright and somewhat whimsical, seemingly little effected by the storm that raged before it. At its conclusion, however, a descending bass line darkens the mood and the listener soon finds himself facing the eerie and ominous octaves that opened the work. An abbreviated reprise of the opening section rounds out the tripartite design and leads into the coda. Adopting a lyrical tune vaguely reminiscent of the earlier mazurka, the energy of the polonaise slowly dissipates. The first measure of the polonaise’s principal theme returns in the bass only to quickly give way to reiterations of dominant and tonic. However, in a final defiant stroke, Chopin ends with the Polonaise with fortissimo octaves upon the tonic.     Joseph DuBose