Sonata in G minor Op.65 (1845–46)

Chopin had written for cello and piano before – in the Introduction et Polonaise brilliante in 1829-30 and, in collaboration with Auguste Franchomme, the Grand Duo Concertant sur des thèmes de “Robert le Diable” in 1833. But he had never written for the two instruments on truly equal, authentically chamber-music terms. In fact, apart from the early Piano Trio in G minor, which scarcely qualifies, he had written no chamber music at all. So, having promised Franchomme a sonata and having written for no instrument other than the piano for as long as ten years, he knew that he had to make radical changes to his style – which he did partly by turning to German models by composers like Mendelssohn and Schumann and partly by recalling his own strategy in the two piano concertos.

The piano’s presentation of the main theme of the Allegro moderato in the opening bars of the work calls to mind the orchestral introduction to the Piano Concerto in F minor. True, it is followed immediately by a keyboard flourish but then the cello enters, drawing attention to its first three notes by means of a pause before it repeats the piano theme. Those three notes, which are already embedded in the main theme, are to have a positively Germanic long-term significance.

In the meantime the cello introduces anther theme in G minor which the piano takes up in a passionate C minor over cello arpeggios. The second subject, approached by a hesitant modulation to B flat major, is an exquisitely chromatic inspiration which, however, for all its sensual appeal, has a comparatively small part to play at this stage. The development section, beginning with a reminder of the opening of the movement, is dominated by the two first-subject themes which, characteristically of this texturally ambitious movement, attract a wealth of contrapuntal as well as colour elaboration. They are so thoroughly represented in fact that, following the precedent of the two mature piano sonatas, that they are all but omitted from the recapitulation. The chromatic second subject is happily recalled in G major before G minor reasserts itself and confirms its status in a climactic allusion to the main theme in the closing bars.

The three-note motif, which turned up at the major structural junctions in the Allegro moderato, supplies the opening phrase of the main theme of the Scherzo. Though harmonised in D minor, this Allegro con brio is far from the demonic minor-key Chopin scherzo. Indeed, it is so charmed by its own radiantly lilting middle section in D major that it very nearly persuaded to end in that key. A lyrical interlude rather than a full-scale slow movement, like most of its kind in cello sonatas written in the first three quarters of the 19th century, the Largo incorporates the three note-motif in its lovely main theme in B flat major.

The Finale restores something of the textural ambition that was such a distinctive feature of the first movement but little of its structural complexity. An impulsive rondo based on a tarantella-like main theme, which includes the three-note motif in its first bar, it makes its way from a G minor beginning by way of the cello’s second theme in C minor and a third in C major to an accelerated and jubilant ending in G major.

Chopin had written for cello and piano before – in the Introduction et Polonaise brilliante in 1829-30 and, in collaboration with his cellist friend Auguste Franchomme, the Grand Duo Concertant sur des thèmes de “Robert le Diable” in 1833. But he had never composed music for the two instruments on truly equal, authentically chamber-music terms. In fact, after the Piano Trio in G minor completed before he was twenty, he had taken no interest in chamber music at all. So, having promised Franchomme a sonata and having written for no instrument other than the piano for as long as ten years, he knew that he had to make radical changes to his style – which he did partly by turning to German models by composers like Mendelssohn and Schumann and partly by recalling his own strategy in the two piano concertos.

The piano’s presentation of the main theme of the Allegro moderato in the opening bars of the work calls to mind the orchestral introduction to the Piano Concerto in F minor (the notion that Chopin echoes here a prominent motif in Schubert’s Winterreise as a commentary on his unhappy relationship with George Sand seems entirely alien to what we know of the composer’s creative personality). After a keyboard flourish, which later turns out to be part of the fabric of the construction, the cello enters, drawing attention to its first three notes by means of a pause before it repeats the piano theme. Those three notes, a rising and falling semitone, which are already embedded in the main theme, are to have a positively Germanic long-term significance.

In the meantime the cello introduces anther theme in G minor which the piano takes up in a passionate C minor over cello arpeggios. The second subject, approached by a hesitant modulation to B flat major, is an exquisitely chromatic inspiration which, however, for all its sensual appeal, has a comparatively small part to play at this stage. The development section, beginning with a reminder of the opening of the movement, is dominated by the two first-subject themes which, characteristically of this texturally ambitious movement, attract a wealth of contrapuntal as well as colour elaboration. They are so thoroughly represented in fact that, following the precedent of the two mature piano sonatas, they are all but omitted from the recapitulation. The chromatic second subject is happily recalled in G major before G minor reasserts itself and confirms its status in a climactic allusion to the main theme in the closing bars.

The three-note motif, which turned up at the major structural junctions in the Allegro moderato, supplies the opening phrase of the main theme of the Scherzo. Though harmonised in D minor, this Allegro con brio is far from the demonic minor-key Chopin scherzo. It is more closely related to the mazurkas, just as the radiantly lilting middle section in D major, featuring a melody perfectly conceived for the cello, has much of the waltz about it. The three-note motif is also incorporated in the lovely B-flat-major main theme of    the Largo which, like most of its kind in cello sonatas written in the first three quarters of the 19th century, is more a lyrical interlude than a full-scale slow movement.

The Finale restores something of the textural ambition that was such a distinctive feature of the first movement but little of its structural complexity. An impulsive sonata-rondo based on a tarantella-like main theme, which includes the three-note motif in its first bar, it makes its way from a G minor beginning by way of the cello’s second theme in C minor and a third in C major to an accelerated and jubilant ending in G major.