Composers › Frédéric Chopin › Programme note
Op. 33
by Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
Four Mazurkas, Op.33
No.1 in G sharp minor
No.2 in D major
No.3 in C major
No.4 in B minor
Chopin’s tendency to present his mazurkas in coherent, inter-related groups is nowhere clearer than in his Op.33, which was published two years before the Op.41 set in 1838. The last in this set, the Mazurka in B minor, is not only one of the two longest of its kind but is also firmly and inescapably conclusive in its context. It is particularly closed related, by its tonality, to the first of them, which in its middle section expresses the serene - and, as it turns out, vain - hope of escaping into B major from the prevailing G sharp minor melancholy.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “Mazurkas, Op.33/alt start”