Classical Music | Piano Music

Frédéric Chopin

Scherzo No. 1 in b minor, Op. 20  Play

Ko-Eun Yi Piano

Recorded on 02/13/2013, uploaded on 07/11/2013

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Travelling to Paris in September 1831, Frédéric Chopin received word of Imperial Russia’s suppression of the uprising in his native Poland that had been taking place since November of the previous year. Anguished over this news and fearing for the safety of his family, Chopin’s emotions were given immediate expression in a personal journal he kept in which he wrote down his fears, cursed the French for not coming to the aid of his countrymen and even accused God of being a Russian. Musically, Chopin’s turmoil found utterance in two works written during the remainder of that year—the “Revolutionary” Etude in C minor and the Scherzo No. 1 in B minor.

Dark and full of passionate energy, the Scherzo opens with a great six-four chord sounded fortissimo and then moving through a dominant seventh harmony prior to launching into the scherzo proper. The Scherzo’s main idea surges upward by leaps and bounds and with great agility through the middle and upper ranges of the piano. Running contrary to the energetic eighth-note idea is a brief poignant motif which closes the first section of the scherzo and returns multiple times throughout. The eight-note rhythm returns, assuming the character of a moto perpetuo, though with a new melodic pattern and ultimately leading to a return of the original idea.

The Trio section of the Scherzo shifts to the key of B major and slackens in tempo. Marked sotto voce (“small voice”), Chopin quotes a Polish Christmas carol as the tune of the Trio. One can imagine the reiterated F-sharps above the melody as the distant chiming of church bells. However, the peaceful scene of the Trio slowly comes to end and the return of the Scherzo is heralded by the thunderous chords with which the piece opened. At the conclusion of this reprise, Chopin alludes to the transitional bars that before led to the Trio. However, this time the transitory chords lead to a spirited and virtuosic coda. The coda comes to a climax with full-voiced diminished seventh harmonies in both hands and then falls down through the notes of the tonic triad. Surging upward once again via a chromatic scale in both hands, the final chords are reached and the piece concludes with an altered form of the plagal cadence.   Joseph DuBose

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Scherzo No. 1 in b minor, Op. 20       Frédéric Chopin

This piece was written in 1831, the year that Chopin heard of the revolution in his native Poland and the start of the Russo-Polish War. The war frightened Chopin immensely, and he longed to return to his family and his country. However, a friend convinced him to stay in Vienna where he was living to build his musical career.

Even though he did not return to Poland, Chopin mourned the war by reducing his performances. During this time, he played only one concert, where he performed his concerto in E Minor.  He also composed this Scherzo and a lot of his Opus 10 etudes. Because of the war, his style changed from a brilliant one to a new individual style that is more dark and mysterious.

The A section of the Scherzo is dark, suspenseful, and full of chaos while the B middle section provides a tranquil respite with a setting of the Polish Christmas carol, Lulajze Jezuniu (‘Sleep Little Jesus’).  It then returns to chaos.      Ko-Eun Yi