Chopin Funeral March (Arr. for Organ) - YouTube Chopin Funeral March (Arr. for Organ) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Aug 15, 2011 From his Sonata, Op. 35. Chopin composed his famous funeral march a few years before writing his second sonata. He wrote the other three movements so it would fit around the march thematically and harmonically. Chopin's own funeral was held at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris, France. The pieces that were played at the funeral were his Preludes Nos. 4 and 6, parts of Mozart's Requiem, and his very own Funeral March. The main reason I posted this video was because I realized that there weren't any good quality videos of this piece on an organ. Though there were great preformances, the sound of the organ isn't easy to capture on a video camera. Played by: Yves Rechsteiner Op.

26 “Funeral March” (with video) – The Beethoven Sonatas Reading time: about 20 minutes Piano Sonata in A-flat major, Op. 26 “Funeral March Sonata” Dedicated to Prince Karl Alois Lichnowski Composed: 1800-1801 Movement 1: Andante con variazioni Form: Theme with five variations *** The Sonata op. 26 was one of Beethoven’s most popular sonatas during the time after his death. It has the heroic spirit of the Funeral March as well as beautiful lyricism in the first movement. Franz Liszt had a very special relationship with this sonata, which he adored since childhood. It was the Beethoven sonata he performed the most in his recitals. Chopin, who was not a big fan of Beethoven, adored this sonata and it seems like he modeled his own Funeral March sonata from Beethoven’s, but more about that in later posts. It is worth noting that this is the first Beethoven sonata that has no movement in what we call Sonata Form. *** The first movement is a theme with five variations.

It’s in A-flat major, a key Beethoven used for warmth and melodic beauty, such as in the slow movement of the Pathétique Sonata op. 13: *** This key also has the advantage that if one changes it to minor, it creates one of the “sharpest” minor keys (Beethoven believed that different keys has different characteristics: c-minor is a dramatic key, F-major is a pastoral key, etc.). *** In fact, a melody written by Schubert in 1827, the same year that Beethoven died, seems to pay hommage to the theme and its composer. It is subtly fitting that he chose the Funeral March Sonata, since the Funeral March has the undertitle “sulla morte d’un eroe” (to the death of a hero), the hero, in Schubert’s world, of course being Beethoven himself: /%20 *** The variations in the first movement are so different, and I would like to think of them as quite theatrical (or operatic if you want).

Let’s say the theme is like the aria of the the female heroine, then the first variation has the character of an elegant admirer, trying to get the lady’s attention: And of course, the scary third movement is perhaps the most theatrical of all. The left hand is continuing to bounce, but in half speed. That brings out a tense, threatening atmosphere. In fact, the third variation is constructed rhythmically the way the second is, just with half the note values (which makes everything move in half speed), and…in minor. Let’s hear the beginning of both variations next to each other: The fourth variation is almost ballet-like. It brings back the music to major in a quite magical way. The short chords in the left hands hangs in the air, and we hear just as much silences as we hear sounds. Beethoven is dancing on the piano like a ballerina: *** On playing Op. 26, 1st movement One of the most difficult things with this sonata when you play it is the tempo relations between the variations. Should they all be in the same tempo? Or does keeping the same tempo force the pianist to not completely get the maximum character out of the variations.

In my opinion there is a case for playing the variations in basically the same tempo, and it is closely related to the construction, and more importantly, the musical experience of the piece. *** Let’s start with the theme. There is a little thing, which is just some passing notes in the theme, which will play a pretty big part in the whole movement. And that is this: Those little notes will be, believe it or not, the main “glue” in keeping the movement together. Let’s listen to this short segment of the first variation: What is that? Well, that derives from those little notes from the first movement, in my opinion. What about the second variation? So many pianists play this in a MUCH faster tempo all of a sudden. But, listen to this little part: Do you hear those little notes coming back again in the middle of all the jumping around? It’s the “glue” I was talking about, and this might be personal, but I think it’s weird if this is heard in a completely new tempo. We can hear the same thing in the last variation: In my opinion, the challenge is to find a tempo that can fit all movements, of course with slight tempo adjustments.

I could imagine a tempo faster than mine, but hardly a tempo that is slower. *** A final note about playing this movement would be the importance of articulation. All the slurs in the theme should be phrased well and the staccatos should be differentiated by the pianist (for example, I consider the staccatos in the second variation as “softer”, and the ones in the third as “sharper”). Like this: Classical - Chopin - Funeral March - YouTube Classical - Chopin - Funeral March Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Feb 13, 2008 Classical - Chopin - Funeral March Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 ("Funeral March") | LA Phil Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op.

35 ("Funeral March") Last Modified: May 14, 2012 Chopin is regarded primarily as a peerless miniaturist, unchallenged for the glories of his creations in small forms – preludes, etudes, mazurkas, nocturnes, etc. But although supreme as a miniaturist, Chopin also scaled the heights in larger forms. It was, in fact, the composer’s three-movement F-minor Piano Concerto, which he played in his Paris debut in 1832, that proved to be a major breakthrough in his fledgling career – he was 22 at the time. Reporting on the performance, the keenly perceptive and influential critic (yes, some critics are influential) François-Joseph Fétis wrote, “Here is a young man who, giving way to his natural leanings and taking no model, has found, if not a way of reviving piano music completely, at least some of what has so long been vainly sought, namely, an abundance of original ideas of which the type is nowhere to be found. That is not to say that M.

Chopin is gifted with the power of a Beethoven,” Fétis assures, “or that one finds in his music the vitality of conception that is so remarkable in that great man. Beethoven has composed music for the piano, but here I am speaking of music for pianists, and in this realm I find, in the inspirations of M. Chopin, indications of a change of form that may in the future exercise considerable influence on this branch of art.” We know that Chopin’s inspirations profoundly affected not only the course of pianism, but also the course of music itself. In the realm of keyboard innovation, his piano style fully exploited the singing quality of the instrument and embodied a whole new world of sonorities resulting from such factors as the unique wide-spread figures that accompanied his endlessly beautiful, long-breathed melodies and, importantly, the fanciful, exquisite filigrees that are not just ornamental but become organic elements. Also, his use of the sustaining pedal greatly amplified the distinctive sonority he sought, just as the judiciously placed slowing down or acceleration of tempo (rubato) he employed contributed enormously to a poetic ambiance.

(Imagine if you will piano music by Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, et al., without Chopin.) In the realm of music itself, Chopin’s harmonic advancements and, of prime importance, his inspired use of chromaticism, guided virtually all composers who came after him. (Imagine Wagner without Chopin.) All of Chopin’s works, large and small, are endowed with the above-mentioned qualities; and there are enough of the large ones to eliminate the pigeonholing to which he has been subjected. There are two concertos as well as other pieces for piano and orchestra; several chamber works, all with piano; and among the large solo works, four ballades, the same number of scherzos; the Fantasie; many polonaises; and three sonatas for piano, the first an early work from 1828, the second, the one on this program, written in 1839, and the last in 1844. Not all of Chopin’s extended works have been dealt with kindly. Take the B-flat-minor Sonata, for example.

No less than Robert Schumann, who had welcomed Chopin with the effusive greeting, “Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!” said this about the present work: “The idea of calling it a sonata is a caprice, if not a jest, for he has simply bound together four of his most reckless children, thus under his name smuggling them into a place into which they could not else have penetrated.” One wonders if Schumann, always given to strong emotional responses, knew that the Sonata’s third movement, the Funeral March, was composed first, in 1837, and that it apparently was the motivating force for the other three movements. In any case, the music surrounding the pivotal March precedes and follows it with what seems inevitable dramatic rightness. The Sonata opens with four attention-grabbing slow measures, the first two descending notes of which are to be very important in the development section. The fast, galloping main theme that follows propels us into a scene of extreme agitation, then of contrasting repose by way of the lyric second theme.

In the development Chopin deals primarily with the main galloping theme, but he also ingeniously brings in the introduction’s crucial descending interval, at first gently in the right hand, then forcefully in the left hand. Having developed the main theme at length, Chopin wisely begins the recapitulation with the lyric second theme, binding the movement together at the end by alluding to the main theme in the bass while the treble ascends with chordal thrust to a B-flat-major cadence. The second movement Scherzo is, in its vitally dramatic main section, compounded of biting octaves, leaping chords, hazardous double notes and, withal, an atmosphere of brilliance under fire. The middle section is a major-key jewel in a Chopin crown studded with such invaluable gems. After a repeat of the main material, Chopin makes a miracle by bringing back a phrase of the lyric theme, with the result that the aggressiveness of the main theme, which was in E-flat minor, is lovingly warmed by this G-flat-major ending. The Funeral March third movement is all too familiar to require description, and for some, to take seriously because of the kinds of unfortunate uses (cartoon and comedic) to which it has been subjected.

But it is powerfully tragic music that receives consolation from a severely simple dry-eyed melody at midpoint. And it follows the Scherzo’s major-key ending with marvelous dramatic logic, just as the swirling, other-worldly wildness of the finale, all one sweeping thrust of single notes in each hand an octave apart, follows it as a breathtaking, technically formidable stroke of genius. Orrin Howard, who annotated Los Angeles Philharmonic programs for more than 20 years while serving as Director of Publications and Archives, continues to contribute regularly to the Philharmonic program book. Funeral March by Frédéric Chopin Songfacts Songfacts Chopin's Funeral March is part of the third movement of his "Piano Sonata No. 2 In B Flat Minor." The Polish composer wrote this piece in 1837, though he composed the rest of the sonata in 1839 at Nohant near Châteauroux in France. The English composer Sir Edward Elgar transcribed it for full orchestra in 1933 and its first performance was at his own memorial concert the following year.

Words were also added at some stage to the tune, for a popular, if macabre, playground ditty ("Pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you!"). German composer and critic Robert Schumann, a contemporary of Chopin, said he heard "cannon­concealed amid blossoms" in the textures of the Sonata. The "funeral march" has been played on numerous occasions at actual funerals. It was performed at the graveside during Chopin's own burial at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris in 1849 and was also used at the state funeral of John F. Kennedy and those of several Soviet leaders, including Leonid Brezhnev. The alternating ostinato bass on "Change Your Mind", a 14 minute epic by Neil Young from his 1994 album Sleep With Angels was borrowed from this piece. The "funeral march" has become well known in popular culture. It has often been used in video games when the player's character dies and amongst the movies its been utilized in is the classic 1940s Frank Capra comedy thriller, Arsenic and Black Lace when Teddy gets Mr. Hoskins.

Chopin's Iconic Funeral March : NPR Chopin's Iconic Funeral March Embed Embed Embed Embed A drawing of Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin on his deathbed. Kean Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption A drawing of Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin on his deathbed. Kean Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Pianist Garrick Ohlsson On The Funeral March Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> If you're talking funeral music, no one did it quite like Frederic Chopin , the Polish composer born 200 years ago Monday. Chances are, you've heard snippets of his musical evocation of doom and gloom in cartoons, movies and, yes, funerals. Chopin's Funeral March first appeared in the 1830s. It was the third movement in his Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor — a stunning, haunting work. Despite the piece's serious tone, Chopin's iconic melody has been used to embellish morbid humor for what seems like forever.

Classical pianist Garrick Ohlsson hears it on his cell phone when he loses a game of blackjack. It's also appeared in various television shows and movies — among them Beetlejuice, Monty Python and Looney Tunes cartoons. Parodies of funeral marches aren't new, according to Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar and chair of the music department at the University of Pennsylvania. Kallberg says they trace back all the way to the piece that originally inspired Chopin to write his own funeral march. "Chopin's march is modeled after a Rossini opera, La Gazza Ladra, and that served as the basis for parodies," says Kallberg, who notes that one such parody was written by Charles Gounod. "If you're old enough to remember, that was the theme music for Alfred Hichcock's show." Article continues after sponsorship Just because something has become a joke doesn't mean it's trivial. In the case of Chopin's Funeral March, it's far from it. When played seriously and in its entirety by a professional like Garrick Ohlsson, it's a different story altogether. No one knows for sure exactly what inspired Chopin to write the march.

But Kallberg says there's evidence that he associated it with the Polish uprising of the 1830s. Chopin, who was born in Poland, sympathized with his countrymen in their revolt against the Russians. Though Chopin was living in exile elsewhere in Europe, he feared for his family and friends in the face of the Russians' violent response. "His colleagues said that he often played in salons, and the only way to get him to stop playing was to get him to play the March," Kallberg says. "He was so caught up in the emotions of it." Chopin's first biographer heard "the pain and grief of an entire nation" in his Funeral March, while classical pianist Gabriela Montero says she hears Chopin's humanity. "A lot of people have the idea that Chopin's music is supposed to be very pristine and almost untouchable," Montero says. "I feel that it's so human and volcanic." Chopin's march has been played at the funerals of heads of state, including those of John F. Kennedy and, ironically, Russian leaders Brezhnev and Stalin.

But the very first time it was performed at a funeral may have been the most important: Chopin's own. Fryderyk Chopin - Information Centre - Sonata in B flat minor, - Compositions Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35 (English, Wessel & Co.) ‘Chopin is still up and down, never exactly good or bad. […] He is gay as soon as he feels a little strength, and when he’s melancholy he falls back onto his piano and composes beautiful pages.’ (Letter from George Sand to Charlotte Marliani, end of July 1839) That was the period when Chopin created a work that is considered to be one of the greatest masterworks of the nineteenth century: the B flat minor Sonata. On 8 August 1839, Chopin wrote to Fontana : ‘I’m writing here a Sonata en si bémol mineur […] a march and a short finale, perhaps three of my pages; the left hand chatters in unison with the right after the march’. Judging from the composer’s words, there is nothing simpler: just sit down and write. Thanks to George Sand, we can imagine how that task looked close up.

Although her account should be taken with a pinch of salt, as it issued from the pen of a novelist (and a rather exalted one at that), that pen did belong to someone who watched Chopin compose on a daily basis. ‘His creativity was spontaneous, miraculous’, wrote Sand in The Story of My Life, ‘he found it without seeking it, without expecting it. It arrived at his piano suddenly, completely, sublimely, or it sang in his head during a walk, and he would hasten to hear it again by recreating it on his instrument.’ [i] That is the first part of the account. The second part brings quite a surprise: ‘But then would begin the most heartbreaking labor I have ever witnessed. […] He would shut himself up in his room for days at a time, weeping, pacing, breaking his pens, repeating or changing a single measure a hundred times, writing it and erasing it with equal frequency [here the writer seems to have got carried away], and beginning again the next day with desperate perseverance.

He would spend six weeks on a page, only to end up writing it just as he had done in his first outpouring.’ [ii] Whatever one may think of Mrs Sand’s text, the conclusion is irresistible: the melodic ideas and initial shapes of a work were born directly and spontaneously. A great deal of time and reflection was needed, however, to complete the work and polish the details. Chopin did not consider what ‘inspiration’ or fleeting fancy had given him to be his work. That was merely the starting point for the laborious chiselling of every single bar. The effect of those labours can be felt when listening to his music, which contains not a single superfluous note. The extreme succinctness of the B flat minor Sonata suggested a comparison to Witold Lutosławski : ‘it’s like a sculpture hewn from rock’. Much has been written about the first four bars and two chords – so distinctive, so memorable. In 1929, Ludwik Bronarski devoted a separate study to them. Chopin instructs them to be played grave and forte. Thus they have weight and strength. One hears in them tragedy, menace, gnawing questions and oracular judgment.

Such words have been used by monographers to describe the moving and disturbing music of the opening bars of the B flat minor Sonata. There is no doubt that it does not augur anything good. And that is probably its function. What follows (the Sonata’s first movement) has the form of a sonata allegro: the clashing of two themes in an exposition, then a development and a reprise. In its details, the form departs from sonata principles, but in general it conforms to them. Yet this Allegro is pervaded by the spirit not of a sonata, but of a ballade. Restlessness, mystery, extreme contrasts of expression, subtle sonorities facing sinister sounds. And most of all that propulsion, unusual in a sonata, evoking a horse’s galloping. And it is in this breathless rhythm and propulsion that the first of the Allegro’s themes (agitato) appears (bars 5–24). Suddenly, unexpectedly, the frenzied rush comes to a halt. The music – with a couple of chords – stands still (bars 35–40(41)). And a vista onto another world opens up.

It is filled with the song of the Allegro’s second theme, sounding in the relative key (D flat major). The song of the chords radiates peace and warmth, as yet restrained (sostenuto), though slowly rising to a peak (bars 41–56). Soon, this music will bloom and sing out in high octaves, surging towards a moment of ecstasy (bars 65–80). Then the original motion and propulsion returns, bearing the closing motives, which bring a strong and passionate end to the so-called exposition of the sonata allegro, and so the presentation of the principal characters (or the principal forces) of the drama (bars 81–104). The middle section of the Allegro leads us into a space and time that seem surreal: wholly balladic. Imbued with mystery, the narrative unfolds in a hushed voice. It is full of importunate questions and enigmatic replies (bars 106–124(125)). A moment later, the music will erupt violently, almost spasmodically (bars (128)129–143).

The reprise is particularly beautiful: there is another explosion of the narrative, ending with great abatement. And on the crest of that wave (this time in the key of B flat major), the captivating melody of the second theme manifests itself again (bars 162–176). The first theme vanishes, resurfacing again for just a moment in the coda, in the ominous, disturbing octaves of the bass (bars 230–242). The first movement of the B flat minor Sonata ends with a series of chords played fff, but a sensitive listener feels that nothing has really ended here yet, that the closing cadence of the Allegro has not concluded the drama. This was barely the opening act. The second act of the drama, a Scherzo en mi bémol mineur (in E flat minor), sustains the tension created by the first movement. Here, as well, two worlds that are poles apart will be set against one another. The principal theme of the Scherzo strikes with force and aggression. Zdzisław Jachimecki sees ‘demonic features’ in it.

And indeed, one might say that it combines Beethovenian vigour with the wildness of Goya’s Caprichos (bars 1–20 (21)). The complementary theme neither baulks the vigour nor lessens the wildness. Again, besides the dynamics, an important role is assigned to the demonic play of accents (bars 37–64). The trio of the Scherzo emerges suddenly out of silence. It unfolds at a slower tempo (in the key of G flat major). It brings one of those simple melodies that one tends to remember. The piano sings it in reverie, as if forgetting to end it or waiting for an echo to sound in some strange, resonating space (bars 81–100). For a moment, the trio’s song breaks off. A new theme comes to the fore (as a mutatio of the principal melody), led in two parts. This is a very odd dialogue, in which one voice strives to rise upwards whilst the other seems to crawl along the ground (bars 144–160). The Scherzo’s last bars bring acute anxiety.

They end the Scherzo not with a strong accent, with that principal ‘demonic’ theme, but with a reminder of the songful melody of the trio, not finished, left to echo. And the echo leads straight into music that simply had to sound in the Sonata: to the notes of a funeral march (bars 274–288 + III, bar 1 (2)). ‘When I was playing my Sonata in B flat minor amidst a circle of English friends, an unusual experience befell me. I executed the allegro and scherzo more or less correctly [Chopin was always self-critical] and was just about to start the [funeral] march, when suddenly I saw emerging from the half-opened case of the piano the cursed apparitions that had appeared to me one evening in the Chartreuse [on Majorca]. I had to go out for a moment to collect myself, after which, without a word, I played on’. (Chopin to Solange from Scotland, Johnston Castle, 9 September 1848) This looks like a yarn, like something made up, yet it presents an admission that brooks no doubt.

What is more, it confirms everything that George Sand wrote in her Majorcan memoirs about Chopin’s rather jittery imagination. The Funeral March from the B flat minor Sonata carries a long and weighty history. It was written two years before the rest of the Sonata. Happily, Chopin placed the date on the extant manuscript of the trio of the March: 28 November 1837. That was the eve of the anniversary of the outbreak of the November Rising in Poland. In Paris, among the Polish émigré community, national and religious anniversaries were commemorated the day before the actual date. Chopin improvised at many such commemorative events. Given its date, the manuscript of the Funeral March appears to suggest patriotic origins to this work. Subsequently, however, there came the expedition to Majorca: the wonderful elation and the moments of dread that marked the sojourn in the charterhouse in Valldemosa. The experiences and hallucinations of the composer of the Funeral March were noted by George Sand and confirmed by the above-quoted fragment from a letter to Solange. Whatever else one may make of it, this was a time when death stared him straight in the eyes.

The B flat minor Sonata may be said to have ‘grown around the march’, which formed its point of departure and at the same time serves as its fulcrum and climax. The first two movements, the Allegro and Scherzo, head towards it. The Finale acts solely as an epilogue, the ‘chattering after the march’ that has gone before. The opening gesture – that exordium that stands at the head of the work – points to this moment, and to no other. In this musical drama, of a tragic character, the march represents the catastrophe: unavoidable, inevitable, announced by the opening grave and brought about by the last bars of the Scherzo. One cannot imagine funeral music so simple, austere and concisely designed, and also so moving. Chopin casts it forth by degrees, heightening the expression step by step. The march itself is built from two themes: the first (principal) theme is filled with expression that ranges from condemnation to lament. The complementary theme, meanwhile, brings the musical expression of shouting and anger (bars (22)23–28). In this section of the march, the music proceeds in modo geometrico – along a straight line.

Here, the power of fate has the shape and expression of an unwavering, implacable force. The trio (in D flat major) brings a contrast that is so great… it is truly astonishing. Against the gloom, expression and irrevocable logic that characterise the march, Chopin sets a melody that is childishly simple, naive and defenceless. In the midst of the march, it serves both as a hint of irony and as a moment that is acutely touching (bars 31–38). After the trio has faded away, the music of the march returns. Again it swells: from a whisper to a scream, from a silent lament to protest and revolt (bars 76–83). Interpretations of the Funeral March comprise an abundant and diverse collection. Ferenc Liszt heard in it ‘the cortège of a nation in mourning, lamenting its own death’. Later interpretations speak of mainly personal expression. In both camps, the accent falls on the strength of the ‘heroic-tragic’ expression, on the dignity of the pathos, ‘transfused with pain’.

If the march from the B flat minor Sonata is compared with anything, it is only to the Funeral March from Beethoven ’s ‘Eroica’. It has become – in addition – Chopin’s most famous work. At least, that is what one may surmise from the quantity of transcriptions: over five hundred transcriptions have been produced, for all kinds of ensembles and instruments, including brass band. Only Schumann was not impressed. More specifically, he did not like its incorporation into the dramatic structure of a sonata. In its place, he would most readily have seen ‘some adagio in D flat major’. The seventy-five bars of music with which Chopin ends his Sonata – that ‘chattering after the march’ of the two hands in unison – caused no little consternation to Schumann, and indeed not just him. ‘The Sonata ends as it began’, he wrote, ‘with a riddle, like a Sphinx – with a mocking smile on its lips’. Numerous attempts have been made to describe the form through which the music of the Presto Finale is expressed. Yet none of the a priori formal terms – such as rondo or sonata allegro – can be convincingly applied.

What we have here is the undulation of musical material, moving away from the point of departure and then back again, close in its conception to an etude , tasked with exploiting the full chromatic universe of the piano. More often than the form, observers have endeavoured to name and describe the character and expression of the peculiar moto perpetuo ‘imparted’ to these notes. Alfred Einstein called the Presto ‘ghostly’, and it has been ascribed a ‘catastrophic’ eloquence. Interpreters of a naturalist or expressionist persuasion have heard in the Sonata’s Finale the music of ‘wind blowing through a graveyard’. Worse than that, such an interpretation was perpetuated by a generation of expressionistically-inclined pianists. Schumann concludes unambiguously that ‘music it is not’. The acknowledgement of the Sonata in B flat minor as a masterpiece of piano music, an essential embodiment of the idiom of Romantic music, did not come about overnight. Schumann tried to be fair. Though regarding the juxtaposition of four such incompatible movements as a sort of mockery of the genre’s principles, he did admit to listening to it with bated breath, from beginning to end.

Ferenc Liszt – oddly for a composer so committed to ‘the music of the future’ – could not bring himself to consider the B flat minor Sonata a masterwork. It is Liszt who first expressed the opinion that became widely established for decades to come that Chopin, as a master of the piano miniature, had no feel for large forms, for sonata form. For Liszt, sonata form was beyond the compositional capacities and the mental predispositions of the composer of the nocturnes and mazurkas . Even the excellent Chopin monographer Frederick Niecks found it hard to reconcile his immediate impressions with his knowledge and conception of what a sonata ought to look like. ‘There is something gigantic in the work’, he wrote in 1888, ‘which, although it does not elevate and ennoble, being for the most part a purposeless fuming, impresses one powerfully’. Monographers and theorists of twentieth-century music found an explanation for those apparent contradictions.

Hugo Leichtentritt discovered in the Sonata a far-reaching motivic unity among the ‘incompatible’ movements, which he deemed to be the ‘cyclic principle’ that would soon find its ultimate embodiment in the works of Liszt and Cesar Franck. Alfred Einstein stated quite plainly that the Sonata in B flat minor – comprising a ballade , a scherzo , a funeral march and an expressive etude – constituted a whole that was entirely logical and sensible… as a product par excellence Romantic, and so intentionally reconciling opposites. The Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35, composed in the summer of 1839 at Nohant, was published in Paris and Leipzig in the spring of the following year. It was not furnished with any dedication. This is quite understandable: it would be difficult to dedicate a sonata with a funeral march to anyone. It was written under the roof of George Sand and under her tender and solicitous care. But, as we know, Chopin did not consider it suitable to ‘publicly’ offer Mrs Sand – through an editorial dedication – any of his works. He separated the intimate domain from the public domain quite radically.

Nevertheless, it seems unquestionable that personal experiences were written into the music of the B flat minor Sonata, which arose around a Funeral March inspired by patriotic sentiment. It is heard and felt like some testimony to the extreme situation in which Chopin found himself at that time and in that place. The Sonata was written in the atmosphere of a passion newly manifest, but frozen by the threat of death. In the times of Mieczysław Karłowicz, it might have been called a ‘Sonata of love and death’. It became a ‘soliloquial’ utterance – an inward conversation about existential matters. [i] George Sand, Story of My Life, group tr., ed. Thelma Jurgrau (New York, 1991), 1108 The Imperial March | Wookieepedia | Fandom powered by Wikia [Source] "The Imperial March," also called "Darth Vader's Theme," is a recurring musical theme of the Star Wars movies. It was composed by John Williams and first appeared in the film The Empire Strikes Back . The theme is based on the well known funeral march from Chopin's Piano Sonata No.

2 in B flat minor and on "Mars, the Bringer of War" by Gustav Holst . One of the best known symphonic movie themes, it is a classic example of a leitmotiv, a recurrent theme associated with characters or events in a drama. "The Imperial March" is the theme music that represents the authoritarian Galactic Empire . As Anakin Skywalker is stripped of all individuality, he, in essence, becomes one with the Empire as Darth Vader; hence the reason the march is often associated with him as well. "The Imperial March" represents all that is the Empire; therefore, it is nearly equivalent to a galactic anthem. To the Galactic Empire, "The Imperial March" represents strength, order, and control. However, to the Rebel Alliance, it is symbolic of tyranny, oppression, and hate. Although played by an orchestra on the movie soundtrack, it is often played by brass bands; military bands are particularly effective in delivering the theme's martial stance. "The Imperial March" was also played by No Doubt at some of their live concerts. For the game Star Wars: Force Commander , the menu music was a "March" remix with a rock/metal flavor.

In the movies (except for A New Hope ), the march is played when Darth Vader appears, or when he is mentioned. On a few occasions, "The Imperial March" has been used to introduce Mr. Burns on the television series The Simpsons . Additionally, it has been used as a background musical piece by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh when discussing subjects relating to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev . In some National Hockey League games, the music is used at the beginning of powerplay opportunities. The march is used when an opponent enters the field at a Cleveland Browns, Indian or Cavaliers game. The music is also played at home games of the New York Yankees when announcing the players of the opposing team (in contrast to music heard during the Rebel Alliance's award ceremony in A New Hope being played to announce the home players). Contents Edit "The Imperial March" is first heard in The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader is re-introduced as Death Squadron assembles. It is played throughout the film nearly every time the Death Squadron or Darth Vader appears, most notably during the track "The Battle of Hoth" as the Executor is seen approaching Hoth and as Vader enters Echo Base after the battle.

It is then used in the beginning of "The Asteroid Field" as the Millennium Falcon tries to evade the attacking Star Destroyers and, in a more powerful form, during "Han Solo and the Princess" as the Death Squadron blasts its way through the asteroid field and as the Executor emerges from the asteroids. Later the tune is shortly heard during the end of "The Training of a Jedi Knight," as the bounty hunters assemble on the Executor, "Yoda and the Force" when Captain Needa departs the Avenger to apologize to Darth Vader, and "Imperial Starfleet Deployed" as the Falcon is seen hanging on the back of the Avenger's command tower. Then, in a more dramatic form, it was played during the duel between Vader and Luke, known as "The Clash of Lightsabers," when Vader uses the Force to throw objects at Luke. It also appears in "Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace" when Darth Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father. It is used in a powerful form in Return of the Jedi , when Emperor Palpatine is seen arriving on the Death Star II .

As Luke unmasks Vader at the end of Jedi, the theme is carried somberly by high-range strings; as Vader dies, the tune is heard one last time as a dirge played by the harp. "The Imperial March" theme appears scarcely in the prequel trilogy , but is often used to hint at Anakin Skywalker's future as Darth Vader. Its usage increases through the trilogy. A few notes of "The Imperial March" are played in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace in a scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda discuss the future of Anakin Skywalker on Naboo . The main few notes of "The Imperial March" are heard in "The Droid Battle." It is also heard at the sinister end to " Anakin's Theme ," played during the end credits, along with Darth Vader's breathing, indicating that the prequel trilogy will show how Anakin became Darth Vader. In the next film, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones , "The Imperial March" is played subtly and so faintly that it's barely audible when Yoda senses Anakin's slaughter of the Tusken Raiders .

The first notes of the march are heard again, slightly louder this time, after Anakin confesses the deed to Padmé . At the end of the movie, the full version accompanies the deployment of the Grand Army of the Republic , hinting at the eventual link between clone troopers and stormtroopers , and as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is shown observing the deployment of the Army from a balcony, foreshadowing his becoming the Emperor. In Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith , "The Imperial March" is first played when Anakin rebukes the Jedi Council for denying him the rank of Jedi Master , although being appointed to the Council. The track can also be heard when Anakin tells Mace Windu about Palpatine's true identity. It is later played when Anakin is dubbed as the Sith Darth Vader, shortly after the death of Mace Windu. "The Imperial March" is quoted when Clone Troopers find dead wookies on Kashyyyk and when Padmé confronts Anakin on Mustafar. A few notes of the "March" are played when Vader arrives on Mustafar to kill the Separatists.

The piece is played more clearly during the " Battle of the Heroes " scene between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader at the movie's climax and in the simultaneous battle between Yoda and Palpatine. It is also played when Darth Vader receives his armor and when he looks up at the first Death Star. In Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens , "The Imperial March" is briefly reprised when Kylo Ren confides his inner conflict to the burnt helmet of Darth Vader aboard the Finalizer . In the Expanded Universe Edit The soundtrack to Shadows of the Empire by Joel McNeely samples a small part of "The Imperial March" in the "Night Skies" theme. Here, it is played as a contemplative piece, designed to show Darth Vader mulling over information about the Falleen Prince Xizor and feeling that his son is close by in Imperial Center . In Star Wars: Rogue Squadron a more synthetic and somewhat eerie version of "The Imperial March" is played during the battle with Kohl Seerdon . Several bits were more ominous during the World Devastators ' rampage over Mon Calamari . "The Imperial March" is played often during the Star Wars: Empire at War game series, usually when playing as the Galactic Empire .

A part of the theme is played in Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast when the Doomgiver leaves the Cairn Installation and at the dark side ending of Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy when Jaden Korr takes over the Star Destroyer orbiting Korriban with his Z-95 . The theme can be heard in the musical piece John Williams created for Star Tours , by the same name. On television Edit "The Imperial March" is featured in a number of episodes of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars . It is also used in the opening of the Star Wars Rebels installment " Call to Action " as Governor Wilhuff Tarkin visits Lothal and appears less prominently in several other installments as well. It is featured briefly but prominently at the end of " Fire Across the Galaxy " when Darth Vader appears. In-universe In Star Wars: Battlefront II , Imperials occasionally whistle "The Imperial March." Leonis Murthé hums "Dum Dum Dum, Dum-te-Dum, Dum-te-Dum" as he uses his lightsaber on a "patient" in Boba Fett: Agent of Doom .

In Star Wars: Republic Commando , a piano remix of the march can be heard as a cheery elevator tune in an elevator in the level "Attack of the Clones." In " The Lawless ," a small snippet of "The Imperial March" is heard when Darth Sidious enters the Mandalorian throne room to confront Darth Maul and Savage Opress . In Angry Birds Star Wars , it's played on the last level of every episode (boss battles), excepting Tatooine, Path of the Jedi, Boba Fett's Misisons and Bonus. In Star Wars Rebels episode " Empire Day ", a more upbeat and heroic version of the march is played over loudspeakers during the eponymous holiday's parade. In popular culture Edit A muzak version of "The Imperial March" is used as elevator music on board the Death Star in the Family Guy episode Blue Harvest , which is a parody of A New Hope and derives most of its plot from the film. The New York Yankees plays the theme when presenting players from the opposing team when at Yankee Stadium. In The Simpsons, "The Imperial March" is occasionally used to introduce Mr. Burns.

In an episode of The Big Bang Theory , Raj plays "The Imperial March" while entering a comic-book store to show that he is "awesome and to be feared." The Crossbone Vanguard theme from Gundam F91 is based on "The Imperial March," mostly because the creator of the anime movie Tomino really liked Star Wars. The symphonic metal band Epica made a cover of "The Imperial March" on their 2009 live album The Classical Conspiracy. Before being replaced with a new theme around mid-2010, "The Imperial March" was the opening theme song (played at the "top of the hour") for The Alex Jones Show. While the theme played, an announcer said: "Big Brother, mainstream media, government cover-ups. You want answers? Well so does he. He's Alex Jones...on the GCN Radio Network. And now, live from Austin, Texas...Alex Jones." Parts of this theme are still played in the aforementioned The Alex Jones Show at the "top of the hour" and after returning from commercial breaks. The Montreal Canadians Hockey team play "The Imperial March" whenever they have a power play at games.

Certain NPCs in The Witcher PC CRPG can be heard whistling the theme. In 2012, Volkswagen teased a Super Bowl commercial where a chorus of dogs barked the march, each dressed up as different characters in the films. Ryan Bader has used a remixed version of the theme as his entrance music at UFC 144. In 2007, the Band of the Welsh Guards notoriously played the Imperial March to greet Saudi Arabian King Abdullah when he visited the UK on a controversial state visit. An episode of The Big Bang Theory titled "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion" includes the theme as Sheldon's "I'm unhappy and about to destroy the planet" music. The first TV trailer for the 2013 Japanese superhero crossover movie Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z opened with a brief piece of music highly reminiscent of "The Imperial March" to introduce another space empire, Space Shocker . Appearances Piano Sonata No. 12, Funeral March - Beethoven | HD Classical Music Partita for keyboard No. 5 in G Ma... by Bach Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major, Op.

26, in 1800--1801, around the same time as he completed his First Symphony. He dedicated the sonata to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, who had been his patron since 1792. Consisting of four movements, the sonata takes around 20 minutes to perform. 1. Andante con variazioni 3/8 2. Scherzo, allegro molto 3/4 A-flat major, D-flat major, A-flat major 3. Maestoso andante, marcia funebre sulla morte d'un eroe 4/4 A-flat minor, A-flat major 4. Allegro, Rondo form 2/4 A-flat major The structure of the sonata is unconventional in that the piece opens with a relatively slow movement in the format of theme and variations. In contrast, the remaining movements of the sonata proceed according to classical principles in fast-slow-fast alternation. The third movement incorporates a funeral march, clearly anticipating the watershed of the Eroica Symphony that Beethoven wrote in 1803-1804.

This is the only movement from his sonatas that Beethoven arranged for orchestra, and was played during Beethoven's own funeral procession in 1827. This sonata is also unusual in that none of its four movements is in sonata-allegro form. In most of Beethoven's four-movement sonatas, the third movement is in 3/4 and in ternary form, while the second movement is slow and in a different key from the other movements. In this sonata, the second and third movements have switched roles, where the second movement is the ternary scherzo and trio, while the third movement is the slow movement in the tonic minor. The main theme of Schubert's Impromptu in A-flat major, Op. 142 No. 2 is strikingly similar to the theme in the first movement of Beethoven's sonata. The four-bar phrases that open these pieces are almost identical in most musical aspects: key, harmony, voicing, register, and basic as well as harmonic rhythm. Another less immediate connection exists with the main theme, also in A-flat major, of the Adagio movement in Schubert's piano sonata in C minor, D. 958.

Indeed, Schubert may have borrowed these themes from Beethoven, as he often did in his compositions. This sonata was greatly admired by Chopin, who repeated its basic sequence of scherzo, funeral march with trio, and perpetuum mobile finale in his own Piano Sonata in B-flat minor. His first movement, however, is also animated and in sonata form, unlike Beethoven's Andante con variazioni. ----------------------------------------------------- The text above is offered by courtesy of Wikipedia, under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Performed by: Paavali Jumppanen

Question: Who composed the Funeral March sonata?
Answer: Frederic Chopin