Chopin's Use of Form

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

FREDERIC CHOPIN’S CLIMACTIC USE OF SONATA ALLEGRO FORM

MUSIC HISTORY 335 TERM PAPER

PROF. LAUNA WHITEHEAD

DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC

J. DAVID TAYLOR

BUENA VISTA, VIRGINIA

11 APRIL 2011

I

A Broad Overview of Chopin’s Climactic Formal Alterations

Throughout his entire oeuvre, Chopin uses many compositional techniques that

tend to surprise the listener. As a romantic period composer, Chopin used form and

harmony in new ways that challenged common practice in that era. At the same time,

modern theorists have criticized Chopin for his “weakness of form”1; but these deviations

from ordinary formal practice are an essential element of Chopin’s originality and

expression. Chopin tends to alter classical forms in order to place dramatic emphasis at

the end of the piece. In his larger works, this usually appears in the form of a fortissimo

display of bravura.

For the aspiring virtuoso playing Chopin, nothing is more attractive in the

repertory than the bravura endings of Chopin’s larger works. As a listener, however, it is

very easy to overlook what makes Chopin’s endings so stunning. Analysis clearly reveals

Chopin’s formal and harmonic techniques that make an otherwise normal ending into a

climactic Chopin ending. Chopin achieves this effect by obscuring the function of

important harmonies, such as the final tonic key area and delaying the appearance of the

structural V (ie, using the V as a key area or sustaining a harmony on the V) 2 until the

final section of the piece preceding the coda. Chopin’s genius lies in departing just far

enough away from the destined harmonies that he can hint at them (by common tones and

fifth relationships) without abandoning them entirely—that is, modulating to the upper or

lower neighbor key, modulating by fifth, or modulating to the upper or lower neighbor to

1 David Witten, Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis (New York, Garland Publishing, 1997), 117.

2 Ibid, 119.

the fifth. Chopin strengthens these harmonic techniques with formal alterations such as

the mirror reprise of the first, second, and third Ballades. The mirror reprise (or

recapitulation) presents the two expository themes in reverse order: 2nd theme first,

followed by the 1st theme. Departing even further from the classical recapitulation,

Chopin reveals both of the expository themes in apotheosis (a mixture of bravura with

tonal glorification) rather than a literal and monotonal synthesis3. In these compositions,

the mirror reprise uses the 1st theme as the vehicle to reveal the structural V just before

the coda. Rather than presenting the V in the expositional transition, re-transition or

reprisal transition, Chopin saves the best for last and dramatizes the final appearance of

the 1st theme and the ending that follows. Moreover, Chopin occasionally constructs his

endings including a 3rd theme presented earlier in the piece (after the exposition and

before the recapitulation). In this case, the 3rd theme serves as a means of tonal synthesis,

removing any doubt of the true tonality by reaffirming it with a theme written for that

purpose alone. These are the specific techniques that make a Chopin ending. In short,

“[Chopin] carries the principle of statement-intensification-reconciliation to new heights

not forseen in the works of his predecessors”4. Even if the critics do not all agree, the

author maintains that Chopin’s formal alterations are an essential element of his genius as

a composer.

For the purpose of clarity, the author thinks it helpful to clarify the usage of

formal terminology that Chopin’s theoretical critics cannot seem to agree on. In this

essay, Chopin’s larger works are analyzed in comparison to the sonata allegro form, with

an exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. That is not to say that they conform

3 Jim Samson, Chopin - The Four Ballades (New York, Cambridge University Press, 1992), 75.4 Witten, 119.

exactly to the classical idea of the form or that it is the only way to analyze Chopin’s

larger works, but that the author believes sonata form to be the best way to describe their

form, concurring with Chopin scholars such as Jim Samson5, David Witten6, and

Jonathan Bellman7.

II

Chopin’s Formal Alterations in the Ballades and the F Minor Fantaisie

Chopin’s most climactic writing appears in his four Ballades, Op. 23 in G Minor,

Op. 38 in F Major, Op. 47 in A-flat Major, Op. 52 in F Minor. The analysis also includes

the Fantaisie F Minor, Op. 49. Each composition varies in formal design but uses two or

more of the before mentioned formal techniques (mirror reprise, obscured tonic, delayed

structural V, and 3rd theme ending for tonal synthesis). This analysis begins with the first

Ballade in G Minor.

Chopin’s Op. 23 employs all of his large-scale formal techniques (tonal

ambiguity, mirror reprise and delayed structural V) except for the 3rd theme tonal

synthesis. In this way, the G Minor Ballade can be viewed as a prototype for the other

three Ballades. Chopin begins the piece with harmonic ambiguity at measure 1. The

opening statement (Ex.1, measures 1-3) resembles A-flat major more than G Minor. The

harmony at measure 7 forms a secondary Neapolitan 6th chord8 (in relation to D, the V of

G Minor) that finally yields to G Minor at measure 8, the beginning of the exposition.

5 Samson, Chopin - The Four Ballades, 45.6 Witten, 119.7 Jonathan Bellman, Chopin's Polish ballade: Op. 38 as narrative of national martyrdom (New

York, Oxford University Press, 2010), 91.8 Samson, The Music of Chopin (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul plc, 1985), 175.

The G Minor harmony holds until the second theme, where an E-flat Major harmony

emerges, although Chopin obscures it with sequential harmony between E-flat Major and

B-flat Major for 15 measures before a strong cadence with E-flat functioning as the clear

tonic at measure 83. The second theme closes by transitioning into a new harmony over a

pedal on E-natural, rising to the upper neighbor of the previous E-flat section, leading

into what can be interpreted as the start of the “development” section of the piece, based

on the 1st theme of the exposition.

Op. 23: introductory bars

Ex.1: A-flat Major writing in the opening bars of the G Minor Ballade9

Chopin reveals the new key at measure 107 in the first apotheosis of the piece, a glorious

A Major bravura treatment of the 2nd theme. Upon closing, this theme transitions back to

E-flat major with a playful waltz section, termed by some Chopin scholars as the 3rd

theme10. For formal purposes, however, this section functions as part of the development.

At 167, the development re-transitions into the functional recapitulation, which mirror

reprises the themes of the exposition, starting with theme 2. The 2nd theme appears in the

same key as before, but in glorified form. This apotheosis is eclipsed only by the absence

of the first theme in the recapitulation, which finally comes after a harmonic transition

back to a G Minor re-statement of the 1st theme over a D pedal at measure 195.

9 Frèderic Chopin, Complete Works for Piano, Vol. 5 (New York, G. Schirmer, 1894), 7.10 Samson, Chopin - The Four Ballades, 47.

Op. 23: measures 251 and 258

Ex.2: Chopin’s reference to the 1st theme in the coda11

Bars TonalityTheme I 8-44 G MinorTheme II 67-93 E-flat MajorDevelopment 94-105 A Minor, A MajorTheme II` 167-189 E-flat MajorTheme I` 191-208 G MinorCoda 209-265 G Minor

Figure 1

At this point Chopin has indicated that the structural V is very close, but he delays it until

the last moment at measure 207, which yields to the coda Presto con fuoco still in G

Minor, the tonal finish of the piece. Although this Ballade uses the mirror reprise, it relies

more on tonal ambiguity (Figure 1, adapted from Samson12) and the delayed structural V

and a virtuosic coda to dramatize the ending rather than a final apotheosis of the 1st

theme. Although the G Minor Ballade culminates in apotheosis, Chopin does not use the

1st theme as the primary melodic or motivic basis for the coda. At the same time Chopin

quotes the opening bars of the piece in the coda, from which Chopin derives his 1st theme

(Ex.2). The result is a glorious climax that sets a standard for the other Ballades.

11 Chopin, 22.12 Samson, Chopin - The Four Ballades, 46-47.

In the second Ballade in A Minor, Chopin achieves similar climactic results but

with a slightly different approach. Chopin’s Op. 38 relies heavily on tonal ambiguity and

the delayed structural V in order to emphasize the ending where the true tonality finally

becomes clear. The first and greatest problem for analysis in the A Minor Ballade Op. 38

is tonal ambiguity. Nearly all publications and recordings of the Ballade refer to it as the

F Major Ballade, which does begins in F major, but ends in A Minor. Johannes Brahms

courageously defended its true tonality13 of A Minor. For this reason the author defers to

the wisdom of Brahms to establish a tonal basis for analysis. In the A Minor Ballade, the

destined tonality is obscured for only 46 measures, although Chopin hints at it in measure

33 by introducing a iii6 harmony that cadences in A Minor at measure 38. Chopin then

promptly returns to F Major as if to say that the A Minor tonality was just a mistake. But

at measure 47, Chopin introduces the first sustained A Minor section in the piece,

portraying A Minor as a contrasting, not primary key area. Chopin does not conclusively

establish A Minor as the real tonality until the end of the piece. Chopin exploits the major

third between the two keys going back and forth between them until the end of the piece.

In this Ballade, Chopin relies on overall tonal ambiguity to intensify the effect when the

structural V arrives at measure 157. He intensifies this effect is by the false harmony

established at measure 141, where the re-statement of the 2nd theme appears to have

changed to D Minor. The 141 Presto con fuoco begins with the same notes as the A

Minor figuration at measure 47 (Ex.3(i) and (ii)), but Chopin reveals his true intentions at

measure 149 where the 2nd theme appears in A Minor, as before (like measures 47-49).

The true tonality of the piece is only really clear at measure 199, where the 1st theme

returns at the end of the piece, in its destined key of A Minor. In this Ballade, Chopin

13 Witten, 140.

spreads his bravura moments of the same themes throughout the piece; tonal ambiguity

makes those themes all the more poignant when they appear after discovering that F

Major was just a diversion.

Op. 38: measures 47-49

Ex.3.i14


Ex.3.ii15

Using slightly different methods, Chopin’s A Minor Ballade Op. 38 contrasts the G

Minor Ballade in terms of form, but the delayed structural V and harmonic ambiguity tie

them together.

Chopin’s Op. 47 in A-flat major, uses the mirror reprise and delayed structural V,

but is less tonally ambiguous than the other Ballades, employing a sort of tonal rondo,

with the following formal schemata16 (Figure 2):

14 Chopin, 24.15 Ibid, 28.16 Samson, Chopin - The Four Ballades, 62.

Bars TonalityTheme I 1-52 A-flat majorTheme II 53-115 F minorTheme III 116-144 A-flat majorTheme II` 144-183 C-sharp minorTheme I` 213-230 A-flat major

Figure 2

Although there is no question about the true tonality of the third Ballade, Chopin creates

a final tonal and thematic synthesis by finishing the piece with the 3rd theme, introduced

at measure 116. In this Ballade, Chopin creates his climactic ending by synthesizing the

1st and 3rd themes in A-flat Major at the end, and preceding the bravura ending with

intense chromaticism. This begins after he presents the 3rd theme in A-flat Major. Here,

Chopin turns A-flat into G-sharp, the V of C-sharp Minor. Before concluding the piece,

Chopin modulates back to A-flat major by developing the 1st theme over a pedal point

that starts on B-natural in measure 182 and climbs the chromatic scale all the way back to

the structural V, E-flat. The pedal point arrives at the structural V in measure 204 and

takes 8 measures to chromatically prepare the final apotheosis of the 1st theme at measure

212. Measure 230, Più mosso introduces the 3rd theme as the thematic closing of the

piece. As the only Chopin Ballade in a major key, the third is formally simpler than the

first two, but Chopin in nowise falls short of the climactic precedent established by his

first two Ballades.

In the fourth Ballade, Op. 52, Chopin creates his most complex treatment of form

in the Ballades, spanning many key areas with a new variation on his delayed structural

V. The F Minor Ballade is the only of the four that does not employ the mirror reprise

(Figure 3, adapted from Samson17).

17 Ibid, 67.

Bars TonalityIntroduction 1-7 C MajorTheme I (and variations) 7-71 F MinorTheme II 80-99 B-flat MajorEpisode based on Theme I 99-128 A-flat MajorIntroduction 129-34 A MajorTheme I (and variations) 135-168 F MinorTheme II 169-210 D-flat MajorCoda 211-239 F Minor

Figure 3

The F Minor Ballade begins with an introductory theme (which will appear again later in

the piece). The introduction is stated, oddly enough, in the key of the structural V, C-

major. Like in the G Minor Ballade, Chopin employs an ambiguous tonal anacrusis18. Far

from revealing the structural V too soon, he has not even harmonically identified the

tonic yet. At the conclusion of the introductory theme, Chopin reveals the real harmonic

basis for the piece, F Minor. After a series of variations on the 1st theme culminating in its

own apotheosis, Chopin transitions to the 2nd theme in B-flat Major at measure 80. At the

conclusion of the 2nd theme, Chopin begins to develop the 1st theme19. The harmony

begins in G-minor at measure 100, but developmentally shifts around until arriving at a

clear A-flat Major at measure 120. After concluding his development of the 1st theme, A-

flat major unfolds into a lyrical A Major restatement of the introduction at measure 129.

Measure 134 concludes the development and at measure 135, Chopin re-transitions to a

fairly literal but truncated recapitulation of the 1st theme in F Minor at measure 145.

Following the final literal statement of the 1st theme (and abandoning the mirror reprise),

Chopin begins an embellished nocturnal development of the 1st theme at measure 152.

This development transitions into a recapitulation of the 2nd theme at measure 169 in D-

18 Ibid, 49.19 Ibid, 67.

flat Major. This time the 2nd theme is stated in apotheosis at measure 195, where Chopin

reveals the structural V, not as an ambiguous tonal anacrusis like the introduction, but in

relation to the now obvious F Minor tonality of the piece. Chopin concludes with an

extremely difficult coda in F Minor that serves to affirm the Ballade’s real tonal

destination, thus concluding Chopin’s cycle of Ballades for solo piano.

The final example of Chopin’s climactic deviations from the sonata allegro form

is his Fantaisie in F Minor, Op. 49. While this piece sets aside the mirror reprise native to

the Ballades, it employs techniques already demonstrated in the 4 Ballades such as

obscuring the real (and final) tonality, and the use of a 3rd theme to confirm the terminal

key area as such. The F Minor Fantaisie explores several distant key areas and has a

harmonic problem similar to the A Minor Ballade. Again, the composer has clearly stated

his designated tonality for the piece in the title, but Chopin contradicts this designation by

ending the piece in a related key, A-flat Major. For the purpose of analysis, the author

will refer to the piece in terms of F Minor. But the author and other analysts agree that

the Fantaisie employs a two-key scheme20.

The Fantaisie begins with an introductory section labeled “Marcia” (or March)

outside of the sonata allegro form. This introduction, in an undisputable F Minor, lasts 42

measures. At measure 43, the introduction unfolds into a 23 measure transition to the

exposition. The 1st theme appears at measure 68, still in F Minor. At measure 77, the

theme modulates to A-flat Major, where it stays until measure 85 where the transition to

the 2nd theme occurs, lasting 7 measures. At measure 93, the 2nd theme is introduced in C

Minor. At this point Chopin makes no effort to avoid the structural V of F Minor,

20 Carl Schachter and Joseph Nathan Straus, Unfoldings: essays in Schenkerian theory and analysis (New York, Oxford University Press, 1999), 261.

although the final tonality of the piece is still a mystery to the listener. Four measures

later, Chopin states the 2nd theme again, this time in E-flat Major. Even after significant

chromatic activity, measure 109 reveals E-flat Major as the current and outstanding

harmony, which continues until measure 127, where Chopin introduces the closing

theme, still in E-flat Major. Measure 144 marks the beginning of the development, which

borrows material from the transition between the introduction and the start of the

exposition (Ex.4.i, measures 44-47 and Ex.4.ii, measures 144-145). At measure 155,

Chopin re-states the 1st theme developmentally—not in recapitulation. This time the

theme appears in C Minor. Again, Chopin has no fear of the structural V to F Minor.


Ex.4.i21


Ex.4.ii22

At measure 164, the 1st theme transitions to G-flat Major, where it stays for 7 measures

before a new statement of the transition that appears between the introduction and the

exposition, at measure 179. Chopin uses this material until measure 197, where the

21 Chopin, 77.22 Ibid, 82.

development concludes. Using the previously established G-flat Major and turning it into

F-sharp, Chopin introduces the 3rd theme at measure 198, in B Major. At measure 222,

the 3rd theme concludes and Chopin re-transitions for 12 measures before beginning the

functional recapitulation with the 1st theme in B-flat Minor. Although in a different key

than the exposition, Chopin literally restates the 1st theme and transition before arriving at

the 2nd theme at measure 259 in F Minor. This new recapitulatory harmony lasts for 4

measures before yielding to A-flat Major. The closing theme appears for the last time at

measure 293, now in A-flat Major, where the tonality stays for the remainder of the piece.

Measure 319 marks the return of the 3rd theme, which, by synthesis, affirms the end of the

piece and its true tonality, as in the 3rd Ballade. According to one analyst:

The deceptive progression that extends the final cadence, therefore is a compositional necessity. Its effect is far more powerful than that of its analogue at the end of the first cycle, or any of the other deceptive cadences in the Fantasy. This is so precisely because the progression it interrupts is perceived by any experienced listener to be a motion toward final closure. That closure represents the resolution both of immediate tonal tensions and, indirectly, of all the processes whose lack of resolution has kept the Fantasy in a constant state of flux almost without parallel in the literature.23

Bars TonalityIntroduction 1-43 F Minor

Transition 44-68Theme 1 69-93 F Minor, A-flat MajorTheme 2 94-127 C Minor, E-flat MajorClosing Theme 128-143 E-flat Major

23 Schachter, 285.

DevelopmentTransition 144-153Theme 1 156-172 C Minor, G-flat MajorTransition 181-199

Theme III 200-223 B MajorTransition 224-233

Theme 1 236-260 B-flat Major, D-flat MajorTheme 2 261-294 F Minor, A-flat MajorClosing Theme 295-307 A-flat MajorTheme III 321-322 A-flat MajorCoda (from Transition) 323-333 A-flat Major

Figure 4

A true harmonic journey (Figure 4), Chopin’s Fantaisie Op. 49 is possibly his most

daring treatment of sonata allegro in his solo piano repertory. By obscuring the final

harmony of the piece, Chopin glorifies its arrival with the appearance of the closing

theme and the thematic synthesis of the 3rd theme at the end of the piece. Using formal

techniques similar to those of the 4 Ballades, Chopin’s Op. 49 is a masterpiece ranked

equally with any of his 4 Ballades.

III

Conclusion

Frèderic Chopin crafted the most glorious moments in his oeuvre not by following

in the footsteps of Bach and Mozart, but by defying formal practice and using sonata

allegro form as a point of departure rather than as an end unto itself. Chopin’s four

Ballades and Fantaisie in F-Minor contain his most daring formal techniques which are

romantically justified by the apotheosis they create. By embarking on a series of

harmonic adventures full of formal mystery, foreshadowing, and subsequent fulfillment,

Chopin creates some of the most climactic endings in the solo piano repertoire. Analysis

reveals his exact techniques including the delayed structural V, the mirror reprise, 3rd

theme tonal synthesis and abundant tonal ambiguity. That being said, the challenge lies

with the analyst or performer to do justice to the breadth, complexity and depth of the

larger works of Frèderic Chopin, “the only truly great composer for the piano”24.

Bibliography

Bellman, Jonathan. Chopin's Polish ballade: Op. 38 as narrative of national martyrdom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

24 Vladimir Horowitz, Newsweek Magazine, 1982.

Chopin, Frèderic. Edited by Carl Mikuli, Complete Works for Piano.Vol. 5 and 6. New York: G. Schirmer, 1894.

Horowizt, Vladimir. Newsweek Magazine, May 1982.

Samson, Jim. Chopin - The Four Ballades. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Samson, Jim. The Music of Chopin. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul plc, 1985.

Schachter, Carl. Edited by Joseph Nathan Straus, Unfoldings: essays in Schenkerian theory and analysis. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Witten, David. Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis. New York: Garland Publishing, 1997.

Chopin's Use of Form

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