Chopin's Mazurkas - Part 4 @ r6

This article is part 13 of 52 in the 2022 music project series.
This article is part 4 of 9 in the Reviewing Chopin's mazurkas series.
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  1. Quatre Mazurkas
    1. Op. 30, No. 1 in C minor
    2. Op. 30, No. 2 in B minor
    3. Op. 30, No. 3 in D♭ major
    4. Op. 30, No. 4 in C♯ minor

In which I listen to Chopin's Mazurkas and struggle with Lilypond. We begin on Op. 30, No. 1.

Quatre Mazurkas

For à la Princesse de Würtemberg.

Op. 30, No. 1 in C minor

Once again a mazurka starts with a V → i progression. Truly one of my favorite things in the world.1

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Once again a mazurka starts on the V

The A section ends with a "V of the V" progression and uses a Picardy third at the end to lead back nicely to C minor. I talked about the "V of the V" thing and its prevalence previously in part 3.

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"V of the V": D7 resolves to G(7) which resolves to Cm

It ends with an interesting semi-deceptive cadence by hitting you with a iv before plagally closing to the i.

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The "deceptive" Fm chord in the left hand plagally resolves to Cm

Op. 30, No. 2 in B minor

I like the very beginning of this piece. It starts off with a i → V progression in the first two measures, and then repeats the same melody but employs an A♮ instead of an A♯ to achieve a i → v progression.

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F♯7 first time around, F♯m the second

Since last time I did this I'm always on the lookout for 7♭5 chords, and we've found another in the B section. The B section is mostly a lesson in how the circle of fifths works, but Chopin sneaks in a descending chromatic motif in the left hand to go from C♯7 → F♯m → B7♭5 → E.

I really like these kinds of things because it really emphasizes the importance of spelling and enharmonics. Tonally it's the same notes with the same frequency, but in this case the E♯ is very different harmonically from the F♮. Another reason why I'm not a huge fan of guitar tablature, because you lose this meaning when you only see, for example, 4 3 on the D string twice and it's not immediately obvious that the harmony is different since there is no indication of whether it's an E♯ or an F♮.

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Left-hand chromatics lead to the ever elusive 7♭5 chord
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Enharmonic ambiguity in guitar tablature (is it E♯ or F♮?)

In the C section Chopin repeats the idea of the main theme but with different harmonies. The right hand does the same thing four times in a row while the left hand slightly changes the harmony.

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LH changes the harmony underneath the repeating RH melody

This mazurka is unusual in that it ends without gratuitous repeats. It follows an A → B → C → B progression without ever returning to the A section.

Op. 30, No. 3 in D♭ major

Some cool harmonies in this one. I particulary like the reverse (?) Picard Third type thing that occurs at the end of the A section. The piece ends with perhaps a double (?) reverse (?) Picardy third. Meaning, we're in D♭ major, it modulates to D♭ minor, and then hits you with an accented F♮ to re-assert that yes, it is in a major key.

The transition back to the A section at the end of the piece reminds of some Liszt piece (or maybe just most of his original stuff) in that there's huge white space interspersed by out-of-key notes, before finally transitioning with full force into something more melodic. I'm sure I'll find an example. I know the B minor sonata starts like that (I think).

Op. 30, No. 4 in C♯ minor

  1. I've pontificated on this phenomenon extensively in literally every other part of this series.
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