Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 10/25/2019, uploaded on 10/25/2019

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 is known as his first mature sonata. However, it was criticized by Robert Schumann at that time, since it appeared to break the normal structure of the sonata form. The sonata was composed in four movements: a modified sonata-form in the first movement, followed by a Scherzo in E-flat minor, a funeral march, and a brief finale as the last movement. 

Chopin first composed the third movement in 1837, Marche funèbre, which became one of the most famous compositions by Chopin. Notably, it was performed at his own funeral. This funeral march also paid tribute to Beethoven, since Beethoven was the first composer to use a funeral march as the third movement of his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major, Op. 26. The other three movements were finished two years later in Paris and published in 1840.     Notes by Huiping Cai

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.