And what puzzled our fathers--the shifting lights and
shadows, the restless tonalities--are welcome, for at the
beginning of this new century the chromatic is king. The ending
of this Polonaise is triumphant, recalling in key and climaxing
the A flat Ballade. Chopin is still the captain of his soul--and
Poland will be free! Are Celt and Slav doomed to follow ever the
phosphorescent lights of patriotism? Liszt acknowledges the
beauty and grandeur of this last Polonaise, which unites the
characteristics of superb and original manipulation of the form,
the martial and the melancholic.
Opus 71, three posthumous Polonaises, given to the world by
Julius Fontana, are in D minor, published in 1827, B flat major,
1828, and F minor, 1829. They are interesting to Chopinists. The
influence of Weber, a past master in this form, is felt. Of the
three the last in F minor is the strongest, although if Chopin's
age is taken into consideration, the first, in D minor, is a feat
for a lad of eighteen. I agree with Niecks that the posthumous
Polonaise, without opus number, in G sharp minor, was composed
later than 1822--the date given in the Breitkopf & Hartel
edition.
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