The Chopin
Scherzos
place extraordinary demands on the player. Although the
word
Scherzo means joke, these pieces are anything
but; they are highly dramatic works. The very opening
of the Chopin
Scherzo No 1 in B minor demonstrates
the drama inherent in this music. Written in 1832 when Chopin
was 25, this is the young Chopin at his most furious and
passionate. Two dramatic chords announce the piece, followed
by swirling arpeggios in the tonic of B Minor, each one
more reaching and intense than the previous. After a brief
respite, the arpeggios continue, building into a huge climax
on a diminshed seventh chord. The whole sequence then repeats
istelf. The middle section of the Chopin
Scherzo
No 1 is a beautiful lullaby based on a Polish Christmas
song. The melody is heard in the middle register, with the
accompaniment in the left hand and upper right hands. The
two crashing chords following this melody announce the return
of the fury, and the scherzo reaches a massive climax in
the coda. The coda to Chopin's
Scherzo no 1
is based on material from the main section, with arpeggios
up and down the entire keyboard. A massive suspension occurs
on the dominant of B Minor with the repetition of nine chords
fortissimo. These resolve onto the tonic with some more
furious passagework followed by the final chromatic scale
ending on the tonic. The scherzo comes to an end on a plagal
cadence (IV-I).
Listen to Chopin's
Scherzo No 1 in B Minor played by Jonathan Oshry
