Op. 7 No. 2

Two Mazurkas

in A minor, Op.7 No.2

in C sharp minor, Op.63 No.3

The first Mazurkas Chopin chose to have published were the two sets he assembled as Op.6 and Op.7 in Vienna between 1830 and 1831. He had written several authentic examples before he left Warsaw, however, including an early version of Op.7 No.2 in A minor with an introduction cheerfully featuring a rustic drone under the melodic line. He left the bagpipes out of the finished version, presumably because it contradicted the gentle melancholy of the opening section. The contrast is now provided by the A major harmonies and the characteristically displaced rhythmic accents in the middle section.

The last Mazurkas to be published in Chopin’s lifetime were the three of the Op.63 set written at George Sand’s château at Nohant in 1846. (the Op.67 and 68 sets, both made up of works from different periods, were published in Berlin in 1855). The Mazurka in C sharp minor, which is as poetic as any nocturne in its nostalgic atmosphere, is an exquisitely sophisticated piece with a beautifully contrived canon at the octave, with the lower voice shared between left hand and right, in the closing bars.