Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 — complete

Frédéric Chopin (1,810–1,849)

First published: 1840
Key: B-flat minor
Style: Romantic
Level: Fellowship and Concert
Roughly: ABRSM FRSM · Trinity FTCL · Henle 9
Lesson: C.3 Pace a complete four-movement dramatic sonata
Musicianship: C.3 Chains of dominants
Focus: Plan a complete four-movement sonata, not only the funeral march; maintain architectural and colour contrast across the Scherzo, march and unison finale.

What its lesson teaches

C.3 Pace a complete four-movement dramatic sonata

Prepare all four movements of Chopin’s B-flat-minor Sonata, Op. 35. Plan the relationship between the opening movement, Scherzo, Funeral March and largely octave-doubled finale from their scores. Rehearse the joins and silences as part of the complete work, and preserve the finale’s written line rather than inventing a missing accompaniment. The A-flat bass-to-chord model prepares released landings in another key; transfer the movement comfortably to the original passages.

Ideas: Large forms and cycles
Texture types
Recital architecture
Virtuoso figuration
Theory cards: Weighing sonata arrivals
Recovering in a programme
Finding the line in figuration
Technique: A-flat major two-octave leaps from bass note to chord, hands separately, staccato
B-flat harmonic minor scale, hands together, 4 octaves

Edition and licence

Score: First Editions of Fryderyk Chopin's Music

Website: https://chopinscores.org

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

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

Adapted by Musalea: converted to MusicXML with every bar the converter misread rebuilt from the encoding and the performance markings restored; a complete cycle or sonata is joined in order without changing the music.

Practice tempos: from the encoding where it gives them, otherwise from Kullak's recommendations (1881–1883) or chosen by Musalea; they are practice targets, not the composer's metronome marks. The printed tempo words are kept and no number is shown in the score.

Paris: E. Troupenas et Cie, first French edition, 1840, plate T.891

Encoding source: https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions

Digital licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ · CC BY 4.0

Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 — complete

First Editions of Fryderyk Chopin's Music

Digital licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

CC-BY-4.0

Source: https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions/blob/95dfb105c1669c72d10b04088566154f12d3dc1c/kern/035-1a-TR-001.krn, https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions/blob/95dfb105c1669c72d10b04088566154f12d3dc1c/kern/035-1a-TR-002.krn, https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions/blob/95dfb105c1669c72d10b04088566154f12d3dc1c/kern/035-1a-TR-003.krn, https://github.com/pl-wnifc/humdrum-chopin-first-editions/blob/95dfb105c1669c72d10b04088566154f12d3dc1c/kern/035-1a-TR-004.krn

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

The other lesson pieces of Fellowship and Concert

Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 — complete cycle, Johann Sebastian Bach
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111: I. Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionato, Ludwig van Beethoven
Étude in A minor “Winter Wind”, Op. 25 No. 11, Frédéric Chopin
Prélude, choral et fugue, FWV 21, FWV 21; CFF 24, César Franck
Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 — complete, Frédéric Chopin
Étude in C minor, Op. 25 No. 12, Frédéric Chopin
24 Preludes, Op. 28 — complete cycle, Frédéric Chopin
Toccata in C major, Op. 92, Carl Czerny
Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55: III. Scarbo, Maurice Ravel
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 — complete, Frédéric Chopin

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