Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 07/04/2011, uploaded on 03/01/2012

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Polonaise in C-sharp minor, op. 26 no. 1; Polonaise in E-flat minor, op. 26 no. 2

The outbreak of the November Uprising in 1830 left Frédéric Chopin a political exile from his native Poland. When word of the uprising reached Chopin in Vienna, his travelling companion Tytus Woyciechowski returned home to enlist in the Polish cause. Chopin was left alone in Vienna, homesick yet barred from returning to his native land. Unable to fully adapt himself to Viennese society, he left that great musical city after less than a year for Paris. While en route to the French capital in September 1831, the distressing news reached him of Imperial Russia’s victory over the Polish revolutionaries. As he settled into Parisian society, Chopin harbored hopes that he could soon return to Poland once the political atmosphere had settled down. This dream, however, was never realized. Throughout all this Chopin nevertheless kept the vision of his homeland alive in the composition of Polish dances—namely, mazurkas and polonaises. While the mazurka was in most cases for Chopin a vehicle for wistful and melancholy remembrances of his homeland, his polonaises, on the other hand, were often extroverted dances, buoyant with national pride or filled with passionate feelings for Poland.

Composed in 1835, the 2 Polonaises, op. 26 were the first of their kind to be published during Chopin’s lifetime. Yet, they were not his first essays in the form, but were in fact preceded by nine other dances that would remain unprinted until after the composer’s death. In the keys of C-sharp minor and E-flat minor, respectively, (the latter key being one certainly not found often as the principal key of a piece or movement), both dances are sad and melancholy. Indeed, given their year of composition, Chopin was likely still longing to return to his homeland, and this sentiment came forth easily in his music.

The first Polonaise, in C-sharp minor, opens with vigorous octaves that precede a passionate theme of somewhat ambiguous tonality, wavering at moments between C-sharp major and minor. Yet, this uncertainly only heightens the dance’s melancholic tone, effectively portraying the close proximity of moments of hope and anxiety. The central episode turns to the key of the tonic major featuring a lyrical and endearing melody. Despite its initial graceful beginning, the episode loses none of the passion of that which came before it. Quite exceptionally, the Polonaise closes with a da capo repeat of the opening C-sharp minor section.

Though marked Maestoso, the second Polonaise, in E-flat minor, begins rather ominously, building from a quiet octave figure to an agitated main theme. The succeeding theme, however, in G-flat major is more rambunctious, yet is short-lived and the dance falls back into the dispirited melancholy of the opening. Changing to the key of B major, the central episode returns to the material of G-flat major melody heard earlier but this time with a quieter and more restrained demeanor. The opening material is reprised and the polonaise concludes quietly and unsettled.       Joseph DuBose

recorded at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz music festival in 1992