Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 09/21/2000, uploaded on 09/21/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

During the early 1830s, the famed Spanish tenor Manuel Garcia introduced the bolero, a slow-tempo dance of Latin origin, to Paris. By the time Chopin settled in the city in late 1831, it had already become quite popular with the Parisian public. Chopin himself was likely introduced to the dance by his friend and Garcia’s daughter, the soprano Pauline Viardot. It is no surprise then that while settling into his new home in the French capital, though he likely still thought it a temporary one, Chopin tried his hand at this popular dance. In 1833, he composed his Bolero, op.19, which was published the following year. Ironically, it would be five years before the composer would actually visit Spain itself. Thus, Chopin’s interpretation of the dance comes from what he likely heard in the company of Viardot. Indeed, like many of his dances, Chopin’s Bolero is only in part inspired by the actual dance which is mingled with his own Polish-infused idiom, so much so that it has often been described as a bolero à la polonaise.

A lengthy introduction in C major, heralded by fortissimo and accented octaves on the dominant, proceeds the dance proper. When the bolero begins in the key of A minor, one can hear the Spanish influence in the music. Yet, equally present is Chopin’s Polish heritage, heard predominantly in the left-hand rhythms that sound so much like the polonaise. The central portion of the dance becomes quite adventurous—first with the appearance of a majestic theme (marked risoluto) in the key of the tonic major, followed by dolce melody in A-flat major. A sidestep back into A major leads into a brief passage in B-flat minor, from which Chopin deftly returns to the tonic key for a reprise of the opening material. The risoluto major key theme returns to form the dance’s coda creating a triumphant ending to the piece.      Joseph DuBose