Mazurkas, Op.17
Mazurka · Op. 17
Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
Mazurka
Form
Op. 17
Catalogue
Score
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Difficulty
Our estimate Intermediate
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Themes & character
Polish folk dance·Modal harmony·Contains the A minor·Published 1834
At a glance
- Catalogue
- Op. 17
- Form
- Mazurka
About the piece
Four mazurkas published in 1834. The mazurka was a Polish country dance in triple time, and Chopin wrote over fifty of them across his life, more than any other form, using them as a private laboratory for harmonic experiment.
The best known of this set is the fourth, in A minor, which begins and ends in harmonic ambiguity, drifting in without clearly establishing its key and fading out the same way. Its folk-derived modal turns sounded strange to Western European ears and remain among Chopin's most distinctive touches.
The composer
Frédéric Chopin
1810–1849
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading composer of his era whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".
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