Three Mazurkas, Op.56

No.1 in B major

No.2 in C major

No.3 in C minor

Equivalent to the Polonaise-Fantasie among the polonaises, the Mazurka in C minor, Op.56, No.3, is the longest and the most freely developed of all the mazurkas. It is of such exceptional stature that Chopin must have had to think carefully about how to present it as part of a set. His solution, when he delivered Op.56 for publication in 1843, was to precede it with a short and comparatively primitive oberek in C major and to balance it with an opening number which, though little more than average in length, is itself a sophisticated example of the art.

The B major Mazurka, Op.56, No.1, is based on two alternating tempi - an Allegro non tanto, which veils its tonality in a subtly contrived texture of counterpoints and misleading pedal points before proudly asserting it in plain triadic harmonies, and a Poco più mosso which runs away in E flat major like a waltz-time moto perpetuo. While it is not surpising that the process is repeated, with the Poco più mosso now in G major, it is remarkable how the Allegro non tanto extends itself in a spontaneous and adventurous development in the closing section of the piece. The simple left-hand drone harmonies of Op.56, No.2, which are repeated virtually unchanged throughout the opening section and its recall at the end, is a refreshing and necessary contrast at this point.

Op.56, No.3, is more a matter of thinking about the mazurka, in often abstruse harmonic and contrapuntal terms, than performing one. A characteristic four-note rhythmic motif emerges in the opening bars and is repeated several times as the left-hand thinking goes on. But that is as far as it gets until the key definitively changes for what sounds like the beginning of a lyrical episode in B major. Inimical harmonies stand in its way, however, and force a return to the initial rhythmic motif. The nearest approach to mazurka continuity is made in the middle section, where two new themes succeed even in persuading the four-note motif to make something of its rhythmic implications. But the thinking begins again and, except in one more briefly lyrical gesture, contemplation of the four-note motif persists until it happens upon the quietly pronounced C major chords at the end.