Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/25/2006, uploaded on 01/12/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Like with his waltzes, Chopin’s mazurkas progressed from stylized concert pieces not far remove from the traditional dances to elaborate formal compositions that intricately and subtly entwined the characteristics of the dance with an increasingly complex musical structure. Here in these later pieces, expression took precedence over formal considerations and the elements of the dance became only the boundaries of a large blank canvas to be filled by the composer’s imagination.

The three mazurkas of opus 63, composed in 1846, make up the last set published during Chopin’s lifetime. By this time, his relationship with Aurore Dudevant, better known by her pseudonym George Sand, was crumbling and his frail health was rapidly deteriorating. The somber mood which must have hung over the composer’s mind during this time is evident in the latter two mazurkas of the set, particularly the middle dance in F minor.

Standing apart from the rest of the set, the first piece in B major possesses a happy mood with a lilting opening melody accompanied by a more subdued, but charming, middle section. The middle piece, on the other hand, in F minor is tormented by dark shadows. Opening on a dissonant dominant minor ninth, the mournful melody struggles to rise against the downward pull of its melancholic demeanor. The middle section momentarily brightens the mood in a shift to A-flat major but, at each major cadential point, the music is inevitably drawn into C minor—like the brief appearance of a happy thought but, nevertheless, unable to dispel the gloomy clouds that hang overhead.

The final mazurka, in C-sharp minor, begins with a graceful tune tinged with a bit of sadness. The brief central episode changes to the key of the tonic major and, like the previous mazurka, attempts unsuccessfully to usher in a brighter and more energetic mood. In the reprise, Chopin masterfully presents the last statement of the principal melody in canon at the octave with only the distance of a quarter-note between the two contrapuntal voices.  As if drawing energy from this interplay of voices, the mazurka builds into an agitated ending and rises to a dramatic forte—the only instance of the dynamic in the piece.      Joseph DuBose

Mazurkas in c-sharp minor, Op. 63, No. 3       Frédéric Chopin

Although he left Warsaw for Paris at age 20, never to return, Chopin always kept Poland close to his heart.  The folk dances and rhythms of his native country permeate many of his later works, perhaps nowhere more touchingly than in the Mazurkas.  Originating as a rural folk dance in the Mazovia region of Poland (whose inhabitants were called Mazurs), Chopin famously transported them from their rustic origins to the art music salon.  His Mazurkas are his most personal creations, covering vast emotional ranges in the space of one or two minutes.  The two Mazurkas selected here feature both the introverted (c-sharp minor) and extroverted (D Major) sides of the Mazurka.  However, even in these miniatures, Chopin imbues his most high-spirited moments with melancholy, and his saddest moments with hope.      Michael Mizrahi

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.