All this must have
been at Majorca, for op. 40 was composed or finished there.
Ailing, weak and unhappy as he was, Chopin had grit enough to
file and polish this brilliant and striking composition into its
present shape. It is the best known and, though the most muscular
of his compositions, it is the most played. It is dedicated to J.
Fontana, and was published November, 1840. This Polonaise has the
festive glitter of Weber.
The C minor Polonaise of the same set is a noble, troubled
composition, large in accents and deeply felt. Can anything be
more impressive than this opening?
[Musical score excerpt]
It is indeed Poland's downfall. The Trio in A flat, with its
kaleidoscopic modulations, produces an impression of vague unrest
and suppressed sorrow. There is loftiness of spirit and daring in
it.
What can one say new of the tremendous F sharp minor Polonaise?
Willeby calls it noisy! And Stanislaw Przybyszewski--whom Vance
Thompson christened a prestidigious noctambulist-has literally
stormed over it. It is barbaric, it is perhaps pathologic, and of
it Liszt has said most eloquent things.
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