Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frédéric Chopin wrote his second piano sonata in B flat minor, op. 35, in 1839/40.

Sonata No. 2, Opus 35, 1st – 4th Sentence,
Bernd Krueger

construction

1st movement: Grave; Doppio movimento , alla breve
In the key of open and broad, grave , but already in alla breve , the four introductory bars reveal the “spirit” of the movement and the whole sonata. The paired eighth notes in the first four bars of the Doppio movimento provide the drive of the main theme; agitato , but still quietly and unanimously, it follows old classical rules in eight bars. The amplification in octaves and fourths in the bar-wise alternation of forte and piano , repeated twice, has the effect of timid doubt. Syncopated sixth and seventh chords brush it aside. In three chords , the storm takes a “respite” in the wonderful sostenuto , in the parallel key of D flat major .

“It's the sharpest possible contrast. With its broad chordality, it is one of the best-climbed themes in piano music: first in half and full notes with a quarter note turn of the bass in the 4th bar, then half and quarter notes with a slight triplet acceleration of the bass figure, followed by a mighty rising and falling wave double lift, richer harmonics and (partly dotted) rhythm. In repeating the overall idea, the aforementioned bass figure first becomes continuous triplets and then rolling eighth notes. Urgent triplets and, finally, eighth notes in the movement, sixth and octave parallels in the sound as well as more powerful degrees of strength are added to the theme. The final group consists of chord chains forged in quarter triplets full of flickering, sparkling harmony shifts and dissonances. The relatively short development is passionately tense due to the incessant digging through of the restless main theme. The head motif of the grave and also a hint of the secondary theme sound like it; but that never shows up in the wild obsession with the main theme. A few bars in the final group lead over to a B major part (a kind of recapitulation), which allows the secondary theme to blossom again in all its beauty, then takes up the final group again and into a short, chordally wide coda with the booming bass Main motif flows in. "

- Otto Schumann

2nd movement: Scherzo (Presto, ma non troppo) , 3 / 4
How else only the op 4 of. Johannes Brahms is the Scherzo in "sinister" in E flat minor . The beginning and end of the movement show a wild, stormy character, while the middle section (trio), titled più lento , G flat major , evokes the character of a nocturne. In the repetition, the "barbarically exuberant octave jubilation" with its wide sforzato jumps in the pianissimo of the trio theme fades.

3rd set: Marche funebre: Lento , 4 / 4
The funeral march was already in 1837, two years ahead of the other sets . This phrase became famous because of its multiple uses in film and television; Orchestral arrangements of the march were often played at state funerals , for example for Leonid Brezhnev , Josip Broz Tito , John F. Kennedy , Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher . The structure is similar to that of the Scherzo Trio : to the heavy bell sound of the even bass chords and the dotted rhythm of the narrow theme, the constant second steps of the middle voice alternate between B flat minor and G flat major. Economical in the means, the D flat major consoles with its soft singing.

4th movement: Finale. Presto , alla breve
The finale is an extremely short movement without a theme or chords, which can hardly be understood as a regular finale in the classical sense. In triplets and unison , sotto voce e legato (una corda) , without any pause and senza pedale , the pale finale flits by. Only a few hidden accents and phrasings can be heard, the exact elaboration of which requires a very experienced pianist. Chopin jokingly commented on the sentence: "After the march [chat] the left and right hands in unison".

reception

Eric Satie uses a variation of the funeral march in the 2nd movement of Embryons desséchés . The motif appears on the Bathory album Under the Sign of the Black Mark as part of the guitar solo in Call from the Grave .

"That Chopin called it a sonata would be more likely to be called a Kaprice, if not an arrogance that he had just paired four of his greatest children together, perhaps to blacken them under this name in places where they would otherwise not have reached."

- Robert Schumann

The middle part of the funeral march has repeatedly suggested adaptations with humorous text underlay, for example the Bavarian morality from the backside of Bene , which was made famous by the hot dogs , or the song Through the Sahara Desert, Nathan went with Sarah , which has been handed down since 1917 . In the film Die Drei von der Gasstelle (1930), the composer Werner Richard Heymann quoted the motif of the middle section in the song Dear, good Mr. bailiff.

literature

  • Otto Emil Schumann : Handbook of piano music , 4th edition. Wilhelmshaven 1979, pp. 351-353.

Movie

  • Sonata for two: Chopin. Music analysis and work interpretation, Switzerland, 2012, 50:30 min., Director: Sandra Steffan, moderation: Nina Brunner , pianist: Lev Vinocour , production: SRF , 3sat , series: Sonate for two, first broadcast: October 27, 2012 on 3sat, Summary of 3sat.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ O. Schumann (1979)
  2. ^ Letter to J. Fontana, postmarked August 10, 1839, in Ernst Burger: Frédéric Chopin. A life history in pictures and documents . Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7774-5370-6 , p. 220
  3. ↑ What is more now: actor or folk actor? In: The world . May 3, 2000
  4. ↑ Hot Dogs - Hintertupfer Bene 1968 on YouTube
  5. ↑ My note book. - Der lustsamen Liedlein, Part 2, Franz Xaver Rambold, July 1917 ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Source entry in the folk music archive of the Upper Bavaria district , accessed on November 23, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.volksmusik-archiv.de
  6. ↑ Through the Sahara desert at volksliederarchiv.de
  7. ↑ Dear, good bailiff (1930) on YouTube - Heinz Rühmann , Oskar Karlweis and Willy Fritsch