Cary Fagan
Chopin - Piano Sonata no.2 in bb minor (1839)
This is one of the darkest sonatas of the 19th century. And it’s also a very unusual one…the most famous movement is the funeral march which has become a meme at this point, and all of the other movements are somehow built out of the structure of that march. The sonata is uniquely “Chopin” in the sound, and its oddities were criticized heavily by the German music scene. Schumann infamously denounced it, despite being one of Chopin’s greatest fans, by saying “The idea of calling it a sonata is a caprice, if not a jest, for he has simply bound together four of his most reckless children, thus under his name smuggling them into a place into which they could not else have penetrated.” For a long time, I figured that this was Chopin trying to write in the sonata format, and not necessarily fitting expectations but writing a masterpiece anyway. However, one of my favorite youtubers Ashish Xiangyi Kumar [here is his channel, I recommend it if you love piano music, because his insights into performances and pieces are phenomenal] made a great observation, that Chopin wasn’t necessarily trying to write a sonata. Instead, he was using the sonata form to express some of the free-form genres he had already been writing in. For example, the first movement is almost like one of his ballades, more concentrated but still titanic in its scale, and full of dramatic flourishes and impressive pianistic work. Years ago I tried copying this sonata down in Noteflight and found the harmonies were so muddled, it was hard to keep track. So when played with the pedal, the music is dense and is like a study in grey. The second movement is like his first scherzo, an intense march like first melody, again with piano fireworks, and a more soothing lyrical second theme. The iconic third movement opens with the march, a solemn cry out at fate itself. And then, in the middle of it all, what sounds like something that could have come from one of his early nocturnes, an angelic melody over a simple and thin left hand. A study in contrasts, from very thick heavy chords to delicate single voices in each hand. The last movement is like one of his preludes, and is what makes this the darkest Romantic era sonata. We are completely lost in a creepy perpetuum mobile where the hands are spiraling almost out of control around harmonies. It is so completely different from the movements that came before, and more different than anything else Chopin ever wrote, that it is shocking. I’m not making this up for effect; I shudder every time I hear it.
Movements:
1. Grave - Doppio movimento
2. Scherzo
3. Marche funèbre
4. Finale: Presto
Caspar David Friedrich - Monastery Graveyard in the Snow (1817/9)
