Ballade No.3 in A flat major, Op.47

The one form which Chopin can be said to have invented is the ballade.    It was “inspired,” he told Robert Schumann, “by the poems of Mickiewicz, ” the Polish nationalist poet in exile who was a member of the composer’s circle in Paris. Chopin presumably meant not to suggest that his ballades were directly based on the stories in Mickiewicz’s Ballady i romanse – although that is not impossible – -but to indicate that he found in them a usefully liberal title and the general idea of a poetic narrative shaped by epic events and heroic personalities rather than by any conventional formal pattern.

The Ballade No.3 in A flat major – which was written in George Sand’s Château at Nohant in 1841 – is cast in two unequal parts, an introduction and a narrative, which are most ingeniously linked together before the end. The first part not only recalls the voice of the poet heard for the first time in the opening bars of the Ballade No.1 in G minor but also anticipates something of the character of the thematic protagonists to be featured later. The division between the end of the introduction and the opening of the narrative is clearly defined by a sustained chord of A flat major.

The first and principal protagonist, preceded by an outline of its rocking-horse rhythm in the right hand, is a gently lilting melody beginning in C major. It does not long remain in that key and, as the story develops, it reveals a more violent and even demonic side to its character. It reverts to C major innocence, this time to give way to a playful waltz-like theme and then to reappear in A flat major. In a sonata-form construction that return to A flat would be the beginning of the end. Here it is the beginning of a powerful development starting at the harmonic extremity of C sharp minor and culminating in a masterfully realised combination of thematic material from the introduction with the main theme of the narrative. An accelerated recall of the waltz theme acts as a brief but brilliant coda.

Though not the most popular of the four ballades, No.3 in A flat major is much the most interesting, not least because of the enigmatic and quite unique quality of its construction. While sonata form might be a useful guide to the course taken by the other three, however far they might diverge from the background pattern, in this case it is best forgotten altogether. The clue is in the the opening bars and the parlando nature of their thematic material. Clearly related to the opening bars of the First Ballade in G minor, where the bardic voice of the narrator is heard for the first time, they are the beginning of an extensive introduction designed to anticipate something of the character of the thematic protagonists to be featured later in the work. The division between the end of the introduction and the opening of the narrative is clearly defined by a sustained chord of A flat major.

The first and principal protagonist – anticipated in a dramatic and rhythmically disjointed intervention early in the introduction and now preceded by an outline of its rocking-horse rhythm in the right hand – is a gently lilting melody beginning in C major. It does not long remain in C and, as the story develops, it reveals a more violent and even (in a sequence of emphatically articulated chromatic harmonies) demonic side to its character. It reverts to C major innocence, this time to give way to a playful waltz-like theme and then to come back in A flat major. In a sonata-form construction that would be the beginning of the end. Here it is the beginning of a powerful development starting in C sharp minor and culminating in an ingenious combination of thematic material from the introduction with the main theme of the ballade itself. An accelerated recall of the waltz theme acts as a brief but brilliant coda.

Completed at Nohant in 1841, the Third Ballade was first performed by the composer himself at a, by all accounts, memorable concert in the Salle Pleyel in Paris in February of the following year.   

chopin: ballade in A flat

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

Ballade in A flat major Op.47 (1841)

Though not the most popular of the four ballades, No.3 in A flat major is much the most interesting, not least because of the enigmatic and quite unique quality of its construction. While sonata form might be a useful guide to the course taken by the other three, however far they might diverge from the background pattern, in this case it is best forgotten altogether. The clue is in the the opening bars and the parlando nature of their thematic material. Clearly related to the opening bars of the First Ballade in G minor, where the bardic voice of the narrator is heard for the first time, they are the beginning of an extensive introduction designed to anticipate something of the character of the thematic protagonists to be featured later in the work. The division between the end of the introduction and the opening of the narrative is clearly defined by a sustained chord of A flat major.

The first and principal protagonist – anticipated in a dramatic and rhythmically disjointed intervention early in the introduction and now preceded by an outline of its rocking-horse rhythm in the right hand – is a gently lilting melody beginning in C major. It does not long remain in C and, as the story develops, it reveals a more violent and even (in a sequence of emphatically articulated chromatic harmonies) demonic side to its character. It reverts to C major innocence, this time to give way to a playful waltz-like theme and then to come back in A flat major. In a sonata-form construction that would be the beginning of the end. Here it is the beginning of a powerful development starting in C sharp minor and culminating in an ingenious combination of thematic material from the introduction with the main theme of the ballade itself. An accelerated recall of the waltz theme acts as a brief but brilliant coda.

Completed at Nohant in 1841, the Third Ballade was first performed by the composer himself at a, by all accounts, memorable concert in the Salle Pleyel in Paris in February of the following year.

The one form which Chopin can be said to have invented is the ballade. It was “inspired,” he told Robert Schumann, “by the poems of Mickiewicz, ” the Polish nationalist poet in exile who was a member of the composer’s circle in Paris. Chopin presumably meant to suggest not that his ballades were directly based on the stories in Mickiewicz’s Ballady i romanse - although that is not impossible - but that he found in them a usefully liberal title and the general idea of a poetic narrative shaped by epic events and heroic personalities rather than by any conventional formal pattern.

While sonata form serves as a basic guide to the course taken by most of Chopin’s medium to large-scale constructions, with most of the Ballades it is best forgotten altogether - above all in No.3 in A flat major. It is cast in two unequal parts, an introduction and a narrative, which are most ingeniously linked together before the end. The first part not only recalls the voice of the poet heard for the first time in the opening bars of the Ballade No.1 in G minor but also anticipates something of the character of the thematic protagonists to be featured later. The division between the end of the introduction and the opening of the narrative is clearly defined by a sustained chord of A flat major.

The first and principal protagonist - anticipated in a dramatic and rhythmically disjointed intervention early in the introduction and now preceded by an outline of its rocking-horse rhythm in the right hand - is a gently lilting melody beginning in C major. It does not long remain in that key and, as the story develops, it reveals a more violent and even demonic side to its character. It reverts to C major innocence, this time to give way to a playful waltz-like theme and then to come back in A flat major. In a sonata-form construction that return to A flat would be the beginning of the end. Here it is the beginning of a powerful development starting at the harmonic extremity of C sharp minor and culminating in a masterfully realised combination of thematic material from the introduction with the main theme of the narrative. An accelerated recall of the waltz theme acts as a brief but brilliant coda.

Completed in George Sand’s château at Nohant in 1841, the Third Ballade was first performed by Chopin at a, by all accounts, memorable concert in the Salle Pleyel in Paris in February of the following year.