Description
A waltz Chopin is thought to have written around the age of nineteen, while he was still in Warsaw. It went unpublished in his lifetime and was issued after his death by Fontana as Op. 69. Chopin is said to have asked that his unpublished manuscripts be burned, so the posthumous works survive by a route other than his own wishes.
In B minor and triple time, this is not a waltz for a Viennese ballroom but one to be listened to rather than danced. A wistful theme keeps returning with a major-key episode between its appearances. Some 1,600 notes fill just under three minutes, with fine ornaments laced through the melody.
The task is to give the melody free breathing while the triple-time accompaniment stays even. If the left hand wavers the ground of the waltz gives way; if the right is tied to it, the song dies. Do not force the ornaments inside the beat — let them flow out of the preceding note. This is not a piece to play fast, so choose a tempo at which it sings.
Waltzes in elegant triple time, including Chopin's concert waltzes alongside works by a range of other composers.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
What this piece teaches
A waltz in B minor thought to date from Chopin's late teens, published after his death. It is a waltz for listening rather than dancing: a wistful theme that keeps returning, with a major-key episode between. The lesson is singing freely over a steady triple-time accompaniment.
How to practise it
- Practise the left-hand accompaniment alone until it no longer wavers. If it does, the ground of the waltz gives way.
- Do not force the ornaments into the beat; let them flow out of the note before. Check them at 0.5x.
- Loop the major-key episode with A-B and make its colour different from the minor-key theme.
About the Composer
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Frederic Chopin was born in Poland and made his career in Paris, remaining unusual among great composers for writing almost exclusively for piano. He poured his longing for his homeland into mazurkas and polonaises, while his ballades and etudes combine poetic melody with harmonic innovation. This site includes the "Revolutionary" and other etudes, Ballades No. 1 and No. 4, nocturnes, and the Preludes, Op. 28.
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