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Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26 No. 1

Frédéric Chopin (1,810–1,849)

Key
C-sharp minor
Style
Romantic
Level
Level 10
Roughly
RCM 10 · ABRSM after Grade 8 · Trinity after Grade 8 · Henle 6
Lesson
Musicianship
Focus
polonaise rhythm, chordal power, octaves

What its lesson teaches

10.1 Hear an enharmonic key change

Study Chopin’s Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26 No. 1. Bar 49 closes the first section in C-sharp minor, its dominant, G sharp, resolving to the tonic; bar 50 goes on in D-flat major, which is C-sharp major renamed, and writes the G sharp as A flat. This is a respelling at a parallel-minor/major boundary, not one unchanged chord renamed: the tonic’s E becomes F. The card and keyboard task separately show how the same diminished-seventh chord can lead to different keys. At the keyboard: resolve one chord into two enharmonic keys.

Technique
  • C-sharp harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves

Edition and licence

Score: Chopin Institute (NIFC) first editions · CC BY 4.0

Polonaise No. 1

First Editions of Fryderyk Chopin's Music

Copyright 2017-2021 The Fryderyk Chopin Institute (https://nifc.pl)

Website: https://chopinscores.org

Digital scores: https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Source: https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions/blob/95dfb105c1669c72d10b04088566154f12d3dc1c/kern/026-1a-Sm-001.krn

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Adapted by Musalea: converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

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