Introduction et Polonaise brillante Op.3

After the piano – a long way after – Chopin’s favourite instrument was the cello. The violin, one might think, would have been better suited to the supple detail of his melodic style but his liking for the cello was inspired by his admiration for two outstanding performers, the Polish cellist Joseph Merk, to whom he dedicated the Introduction et Polonaise brillante Op.3, and the Parisian Auguste Franchomme, with whom he collaborated on the Grand Duo concertant and for whom he wrote the masterly Sonata in G minor Op.65.

Franchomme was also responsible for an influential edition of the Introduction et Polonaise brillante which, being an early work, evidently left room for improvement in the scoring. Emanuel Feuermann was another outstanding cellist who published his own edition of the work. Chopin himself regarded the Polonaise as of little importance: “It is nothing but glitter,” he said, “for the drawing-room, for the ladies.” He wrote it during a visit to Prince Radziwell’s estate at Antonin near Poznan in 1829 as something that the Prince, himself a cellist, could play with his daughter Wanda – “a beautiful girl of seventeen,” the composer reported to a friend: “it was charming to direct her delicate fingers.”

Composed a few months later than the Polonaise, the Introduction is a persuasive little piece with the elegant melodic line confined largely to the cello while the piano indulges in a series of bravura flourishes. The Polonaise, which is indeed “brilliant,” is based on two main themes, both of them introduced by the cello – the first a spirited dance tune accompanied by the strutting rhythm characteristic of the polonaise, the other a more expressive melody with a counterpoint low in the pianist’s left hand. Whichever edition is used, there is no lack of opportunity for what Chopin so disparagingly referred to as “glitter” on both instruments.