Chopin Sonata op. 35

This week I gave a presentation on Chopin: his life and his second sonata. I did quite alot of prepartion for this assignment. The more I learn, the more I don't know. At first I had a conception that he wrote the whole sonata at one point. Later I realized The funeral march was written two years before the rest of the sonata. Then I read that in 1837, there were at least three different french editions of the march. Apparently Chopin did not know what he wanted out of this piece. Then I learned that in a letter to his publisher Juljan Fontana in Paris he discussed his plans for writting a Sonata. Deduced from the letter, Chopin might have written the second movement even earlier then previously assumed. To make things even less clear, I read that the second part of the funeral march (the lyrical section) was actually written as a four-hand piano piece. Also the presence of an Autograph of the lyrical section of the funeral march suggests this part was perhaps to be a seperate complete piece.

It almost seems too perfect when considering the motivation and purpose to Chopin's writting of this composition. His engagement to Maria Wodzinski was concelled by her mother in 1837. The previous August he had fallen in love with her while staying with the family in Dresden. People have speculated about way the engagement was cancelled. Most researchers say it was because of his health. Everything, as the mother Teresa said "depended on his health." Because he was always sickly, perhaps the family was uncomfortable with the notion of early death and Maria becoming a widow. Others speculate that his life was very unstable. As a musician, Chopin was always traveling, unsure about his plans. Obviously the Wodzinski's would be looking for someone he was healthy and predictable. In any case, Chopin recieved the sorrowful letter while he was in London talking to Pleyel (the piano maker). It is very frustrating trying to read Chopin's letters. He is very good at hiding his feelings even in the letter to Teresa right after she sent the bad news. The only evidence that he even recieved that letter is from this statement "Your last letter reached me in London, where I spent last month dawdling about. I had thought of going from there to Germany through Holland--I came back here, as it is getting late, and in my room it will probably be altogether too late for me. I hope for a less sad letter from you than the last. Perhaps my next one will be only a postscript to one from Antos." What is really sad about the whole situation is that Chopin was pretty excited about going back to the Wodzinski's that summer of 1837. Even though, as I have said, Chopin hides feelings, the anticipation is clear: "And is the summer beatiful at Sluzew? Is there much shade? Can one sit under the trees and paint? Has Teresa still a good place for her cheese-making? Does she not miss Panna Josefa's of Mlle Malet's heop with it? Shan't you see them soom? I could ask a thousand questions. The silly happiness in the tone is rather depressing when compared to the following emotionless one, which lacks any sense of personality, just facts.
I have always wondered why Chopin's music sounds so fragile, dark, and beautiful. It is so interesting how close Chopin is to his music. His whole life is full of sorrow, disappointment, and sickness. His music is always so painful. Even in the most beautiful moments their is a certain amount of poignancy. Even in his teens, when he was studying at the conservatory, tuberculosis was effecting his health: "[my head has] been aching, I don't know why, for the last four days. They have put leeches on my throat because the glands have swelled, and our Roemer says it's a catarrhal affection." Catarrhal is basically a swelling of the throat, a symptom of TB. His famous trip to Majorca is another period of intense pain and sickness. I wonder if his music would have just as good if he had not been a victim of constant suffering. He did write most of his preludes while he was there. I strongly believe that in order to convey a genuine emotion in music, one has to experience it in their life. Beethoven suffered greatly, and so his music has this deep real meaning to it. Any attempt to reproduce an emotion that one has never experienced is going to yield a certain amount of artificiality. Chopin had many friends die from disease in Poland. He knew death and he knew suffering. The whole second sonata is full of grim moods and suggests. Even the Doppio Movimento is full of painfull dissonance and exciting macabre moments.
Speaking of dark pieces, Chopin's polonaise in F-sharp minor is full of power and emotion. Like Chopin's other later pieces, this piece is full of chromaticism. Even the opening introduction is built on half-step ominous motives. Following a general ternary form A B A, the A is built on repeated variation. The first appearance is a single melody line that quickly becomes thirds and then octaves. In its reapearance the whole melodic passage becomes octaves, and by the third iteration the left-hand adds this sweeping gesture which adds to the drama. The B section is basically vamp material. This section keeps the listener waiting, waiting for a melody or something to come on top of this accompainment passagework which is solely connected by ryhthmic continuity. What keeps this passage from boredom is the suddenly harmonic intensification. Instead of returning to the A section, as listener's might expect, Chopin includes an italian style mazurka in the middle (how unusual!). The beautiful rather light section is almost comical in relation to the rather serious A part. With the help of creepy loud irregular scale patterns, Chopin transitions back into the darker stormy polonaise.