Polonaise in C minor

At a glance

• What it isthe second of two Polonaises, Op. 40, in C minor. Its partner, No. 1, is a bright and proud polonaise in A major.
• Who, when, whyChopin completed it around 1838 to 1839 and published it in 1840, dedicated to his friend Julian Fontana.
• What to listen forthe texture in which the left hand's low melody and the right hand's chords trade.

Listen for

• The low melodythe left hand carries the melody heavily in octaves while the right hand touches chords on each beat.
• Growingthe same melody returns with ever thicker chords, and the sound grows.
• The middlethe music moves to A-flat major for a gentler section, though unease remains within it. Then the dark opening melody returns.

When it was written

The polonaise is a dance in three that grew out of the processional dances of the Polish nobility. Couples walked in stately fashion to open a ball, so its rhythm carries a proud stride. The two pieces of Op. 40 show opposite faces, one bright and one dark.

In the winter of 1838 Chopin stayed on the Mediterranean island of Majorca with the writer George Sand and her children. They hoped for warm weather, but the rain kept falling and Chopin's illness grew worse. This polonaise was completed around that time. Its dedicatee, Fontana, was a friend from his Warsaw days who in Paris copied out Chopin's scores and helped with publishing.