These commentators have contributed significantly to the
understanding of Chopin's music in the last fifteen years, and for this reason
their comments and analyses with respect to Chopin's second piano sonata are
included in a separate chapter. Their writings are particularly informative and
seldom constitute a mere rehash of the works of others.
In his 1985 The
Music of Chopin, Samson discusses the issue of unity in this sonata, and
goes a step further than simple thematic interconnections between movements. He
emphasises that the concept of "unity" is a highly problematical notion in
music, and that there are various approaches that may be used to investigate
this issue. He quotes Jozef Chominski, who states that opus 35 is
...in reality a synthesis of Chopin's earlier achievements
within the framework of the four-movement sonata. The four-movement scheme
provides in short a context within which the figurative patterns of the studies
and preludes, the cantilene of the
nocturnes and even the periodicity of the dance pieces may be drawn together.
Protopopov adds to this argument asserting that Chopin
transformed the sonata cycle in a significant manner. In particular, he
mentions that, like Beethoven, whose willingness to introduce the fugue into
his own later works led to its permeation through to his works using sonata
structure, Chopin's use of the nocturne finds its way into certain themes of
the sonata cycle.
