Chopin's Mazurkas - Part 1[source]

xml
<glacius:metadata>
    <title>Chopin's Mazurkas - Part 1</title>
    <description>I listened to Chopin's Mazurkas</description>
    <category>Classical music</category>
    <category>Piano</category>
    <category>Chopin</category>
    <category>Music</category>
    <series order="3">2022 music project</series>
    <series order="1">Reviewing Chopin's mazurkas</series>
</glacius:metadata>
<p>
    This is my third installment in the <glacius:link category="2022 music project" /> series
    <small>(<glacius:link page="music/projects/chopin-mazurkas-part-2">part 2</glacius:link>)</small>.
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Chopin">Chopin</a> is my
    favorite composer, except for the stuff he wrote that I don't like. However, I have at
    one time another either played or listened to everything he's done. Or so I thought.
</p>
<p>
    I recently realized that I had not listened to all of his
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazurkas_(Chopin)">mazurkas</a>. The reason for this
    is that I don't really like them. They're supposed to be traditional dances or something,
    but they're not very dance-like. The melody is generally either boringly simple or
    way too complex. And my god the repetition!
</p>
<p>
    Anyway, I figured I could blow through 51 of his mazurkas and then I can say that I've
    listened to them. Apparently there are more, published after his death, or whatever,
    but those ones aren't in my book of Chopin's Mazurkas, so I'm going to ignore them.
</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Mazurkas</h2>
<p>
    My plan is to listen to them, while following along in the score. Perhaps I'll write
    some thoughts, but mostly I thought it might be neat to rank them in a purely
    objective manner, i.e. how much I like them. Or maybe not. I haven't really decided, yet.
</p>
<h3>Quatre Mazurkas</h3>
<p>
    For <em>Contessa Pauline Plater</em>. I'm sure she was thrilled.
</p>
<h4>Op. 6, No. 1 in F&#x266f; minor</h4>
<p>
    This one isn't bad. Short and sweet, although, like all the mazurkas, annoyingly
    repetitive. Interesting that the main theme starts on the <code>V</code> and resolves to 
    the <code>i</code> in the second measure.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-01-1.png">
    <caption>C&#x266f;7 resolves to F&#x266f;m</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<h4>Op. 6, No. 2 in C&#x266f; minor</h4>
<p>
    I like this one. The intro is unusual. It uses a pedal G&#x266f; in both hands
    while the right top three fingers handle the melody.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-02-1.png">
    <caption>G&#x266f; pedals in both left and right hands</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    Like the previous piece, this one also starts on the <code>V</code> and then resolves
    to the <code>i</code>. Maybe that's just how mazurkas work. I've got 49 more to go
    to see if that theory holds.
</p>
<p>
    Most of this one kind of just sounds like a typical waltz, which probably is why I like
    it.
</p>
<h4>Op. 6, No. 3 in E major</h4>
<p>
    This one is even shorter and sweeter. The beginning reminds of something, perhaps some
    Liszt piece<glacius:cite>
        The piece I was thinking of is
        Liszt's <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=2X_hOY6tEvM?t=55"><em>Rondo 
        Fantastique "El Contrabandista"</em></a>, which, while being pretty great, is also
        an excellent name for a piece of piano music.
    </glacius:cite> 
    with the strangely accented fifths.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-03-fifths.png">
    <caption>Strangely accented fifths in Chopin's third mazurka</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-03-fifths-liszt.png">
    <caption>Liszt's <em>Rondo Fantastique "El Contrabandista"</em> also has some accented fifths</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    These ascending broken chords I found to be reminiscent of
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN1ptgmwSWc">Chopin's E major scherzo</a>, albeit 
    significantly less intimidating.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-03-scherzo-maz.png">
    <caption>Ascending broken chords in the mazurka</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-03-scherzo.png">
    <caption>Chopin's Scherzo No. 4 also has some ascending broken chords</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    And if anyone else has smallish and/or mildly inflexible fingers, you may also
    notice the <span style="color: dodgerblue">same inverted 7<sup>th</sup> chords </span>
    from Beethoven's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_Over_a_Lost_Penny">Rage Over 
    a Lost Penny</a>.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-03-lost-penny.png">
    <caption>Chopin used the same left-hand 7th chord inversion transposed from G &#x2192; E</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<h4>Op. 6, No. 4 in E&#x266d; minor</h4>
<p>
    This is incredibly short, for which I am thankful. Very frantic, with lots of notes
    that sound like wrong notes, weird accents and just generally muddled melodies. This
    is what I think of when I think of mazurkas.
</p>
<p>
    This one did <strong>not</strong> start on the <code>V</code> so the dream from the
    previous mazurka is dead.
</p>
<p>
    One interesting musical thing is that the main melody starts with an E&#x266d;m chord
    and then immediately goes to an E&#x266d;7. It's hard to tell the actual chord progression,
    but it might be more of a G&#x00b0;7 which leads to <del>Fm</del> F&#x00b0;7 
    (forgot about the C&#x266d;s) which leads to B&#x266d;7 which brings
    us back to E&#x266d;m, which would make more sense than a 
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_third">Picardy 3rd</a> in the 2nd beat of
    the main theme.
</p>
<p>
    Actually that doesn't really make more sense (if it were Fm it might), so I don't really
    understand the theory here. Maybe it's just some classic Romantic chromaticism.
</p>
<p>
    Or whatever.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-04-intro.png">
    <caption>Intro to mazurka no. 4</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<h3>Cinq Mazurkas</h3>
<p>For <em>Johns de la Nouvelle-Orl&#x00e9;ans</em></p>
<h4>Op. 7, No. 1 in B&#x266d; major</h4>
<p>
    Just looking at the score I can see we're back to the <code>V - I</code> progression
    to start out. The dream is alive?
</p>
<p>
    This one is nice and whimsical, with a very waltz-like feel to it. Once again the C section
    revisited one of the neat things I mentioned from No. 2, with the pedal tones, this time in
    G&#x266d;, which eventually resolves to F and then back to the main theme in B&#x266d;.
    I don't know if that's a common theme in these mazurkas, but it's nice to hear something
    different between all the repeats.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-05-pedal.png">
    <caption>G&#x266d;5 pedal tones in mazurka no. 5</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<h4>Op. 7, No. 2 in A minor</h4>
<p>
    I'm starting to think mazurkas don't really start out on the tonic. This one
    starts out on the <code>iv</code>. No dreamy <code>V - I</code> but still pretty
    spicy.
</p>
<p>
    First thing I noticed while listening it that there appears to be an omission
    from my score. Measure 8 in the performance (and other scores) has
    an E major chord while mine has E minor. Probably a printing error, to be honest.
    This might warrant some more investigation...
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-06-accidental.png">
    <caption>G&#x266e; in my score (Schirmer)</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-06-accidental-imslp.jpeg">
    <caption>
        G&#x266e; in the <em>41 Mazurkas</em> score on 
        <a href="https://imslp.org/wiki/Chopin%27s_41_Mazurkas_(Chopin,_Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric)">IMSLP</a>
    </caption>
</glacius:figure>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-06-accidental-imslp-2.jpeg">
    <caption>
        G&#x266f; in the <em>Mazurkas, Op. 7</em> score on 
        <a href="https://imslp.org/wiki/Mazurkas,_Op.7_(Chopin,_Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric)">IMSLP</a></caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    A fairly cursory glance through IMSLP eems like it's actually kind of evenly 
    split between G&#x266e; and G&#x266f;. Performances seem to be split as well:
</p>
<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Kissin">Kissin</a> 
        played G&#x266e;<glacius:cite>
            Listen to Kissin's performance 
            <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdxGH9AXBW4">on YouTube</a>
        </glacius:cite>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rubinstein">Rubinstein</a> 
        played G&#x266e;<glacius:cite>
            Listen to Rubinstein's performance 
            <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvqFOEPgJQU">on YouTube</a>
        </glacius:cite>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Ashkenazy">Ashkenazy</a> 
        played G&#x266f;<glacius:cite>
            Listen to Ashkenazy's performance
            <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emN8SYT4BYo">on YouTube</a>
        </glacius:cite>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mei-Ting_Sun">Mei-Ting Sun</a> 
        played G&#x266f;<glacius:cite>
            Listen to Sun's performance
            <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5nxo0j2VG0">on YouTube</a>
        </glacius:cite>
        in the 2010 Chopin competition
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Ksi%C4%85%C5%BCek">Krzysztof Książek</a>
        also played G&#x266f;<glacius:cite>
            Listen to Książek's performance
            <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbDP1Ht8cpI">on YouTube</a>
        </glacius:cite>
        in the 2015 Chopin competition
    </li>
</ul>
<p>
    From what I can tell, it seems like more modern interpretations/editions use G&#x266f;
    while older ones use G&#x266e;. I feel like some music major could write a thesis on
    this, but this is as far as I'm willing to go.
</p>
<hr />
<p>
    This one is much more somber and melancholy than the previous mazurkas. A nice departure
    from what I would probably characterize as "frantic" compositions; this one is more
    like a sad ballad.
</p>
<p>
    The B section ends on a picardy third, which I found quite pleasing. The 1st ending
    is A minor and the 2nd ending is A major, which leads to a key change. You love to
    see it. I guess all mazurkas aren't just cacophonies of appoggiaturas after all.
</p>
<p>
    This has a classic <em>DC al fine</em> marking, in which I noticed that after the
    key change to A major, when it goes back to the beginning we are back in D minor.
    So with end of the final section ending in A major <code>V</code>, it then nicely
    transitions to D minor (<code>i</code>). Maybe Chopin knows what he's doing after
    all.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-06-dc-al-fine.png">
    <caption>Ending in A major leads to the D minor chord back at the beginning of the piece</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    This one is probably my favorite so far.
</p>
<h4>Op. 7, No. 3 in F minor</h4>
<p>
    This seems to be the most dance-like of all the ones I've listened to. I mean,
    it would probably be hard to tango to it, but I could imagine some 19th century
    gypsies dancing to it. Or maybe that's because I just read <em>The Hunchback
    of Notre Dame</em> and I've got dancing gypsies on the mind. Anyway.
</p>
<p>
    The end of the first section ended in Cm and then immediately hits you with
    an <span style="color: #ff6666">E&#x266e;</span> which leads back to Fm. It was kind of jarring, but I like
    some unusual chromatics in my romantic music, so I'm into it.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-07-e-nat.png">
    <caption>Cm &#x2192; C7 &#x2192; Fm</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    I also like the use of the ornaments in this piece as opposed to the previous
    pieces where they felt too distracting. The occasional mordent in this piece
    adds some flavor without annoying you.
</p>
<h4>Op. 7, No. 4 in A&#x266d; major</h4>
<p>
    This one starts off quick kinda sounding like bluegrass.
</p>
<p>
    The middle section switches to D&#x266d; with a kind of lyrical phrase, followed
    by the same phrase repeated (of course) but staccato. This might be the first
    occurrence of stacatto in the first eight mazurkas, and it was a welcome relief.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-08-staccato.png">
    <caption>Legato phrasing followed by staccato</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<p>
    Then it inexplicably modulates to A major, before going back to the main theme
    in A&#x266d;. Somebody with more theory knowledge will have to explain that one.
</p>
<glacius:figure glacius:src="chopin-mazurkas-08-modulation.png">
    <caption>Sudden modulation to A major leading back to the main theme in A&#x266d;</caption>
</glacius:figure>
<h4>Op. 7, No. 5 in C major</h4>
<p>
    Well that was some weird shit.
</p>
<p>
    This kind of sounds like a too-happy Irish reel but he died before
    he could write the rest of it. The ending was terrible but the rest was okay.
</p>
<h2>Ranking</h2>
<p>
    As promised, my completely objective and even-handed ranking of the first 9
    mazurkas, in order of "how much I liked them."
</p>
<table class="table table-hover" data-sortable="true" style="max-width: 400px">
    <thead>
        <tr class="header">
            <th data-sort="number">Rank</th>
            <th data-sort="string">Name</th>
            <th data-sort="string">Key</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr><td>1</td><td data-sort-value="0702">Op. 7, No. 2</td><td>Am</td></tr>
        <tr><td>2</td><td data-sort-value="0703">Op. 7, No. 3</td><td>Fm</td></tr>
        <tr><td>3</td><td data-sort-value="0603">Op. 6, No. 2</td><td>C&#x266f;m</td></tr>
        <tr><td>4</td><td data-sort-value="0603">Op. 6, No. 3</td><td>E</td></tr>
        <tr><td>5</td><td data-sort-value="0704">Op. 7, No. 4</td><td>A&#x266d;</td></tr>
        <tr><td>6</td><td data-sort-value="0701">Op. 7, No. 1</td><td>B&#x266d;</td></tr>
        <tr><td>7</td><td data-sort-value="0601">Op. 6, No. 1</td><td>F&#x266f;m</td></tr>
        <tr><td>8</td><td data-sort-value="0604">Op. 6, No. 4</td><td>E&#x266d;m</td></tr>
        <tr><td>9</td><td data-sort-value="0705">Op. 7, No. 5</td><td>C</td></tr>
    </tbody>
</table>
<h2>Downloads</h2>
<ul>
    <li>
        <glacius:link file="03-chopin-mazurkas-01.ly">Lilypond source</glacius:link> used
        to generate the graphics for this article.
    </li>
</ul>