minor, Op. 35 (published in May, 1840), this
most powerful of Chopin's works in the larger forms, Liszt's remark,
"Plus de volonte que d'inspiration," is hardly applicable, although he
used the expression in speaking of Chopin's concertos and sonatas in
general; for there is no lack of inspiration here, nor are there traces
of painful, unrewarded effort. Each of the four pieces of which the
sonata consists is full of vigour, originality, and interest. But
whether they can be called a sonata is another question. Schumann, in
his playful manner, speaks of caprice and wantonness, and insinuates
that Chopin bound together four of his maddest children, and entitled
them sonata, in order that he might perhaps under this name smuggle them
in where otherwise they would not penetrate. Of course, this is a fancy
of Schumann's. Still, one cannot help wondering whether the
composer from the first intended to write a sonata and obtained this
result--amphora coepit institui; currente rota cur urceus exit?--or
whether these four movements got into existence without any
predestination, and were afterwards put under one cover. [FOOTNOTE: At
any rate, the march was finished before the rest of the work. See the
quotation from one of Chopin's letters farther on.] With all Schumann's
admiration for Chopin and praise of this sonata, it appears to me that
he does not give Chopin his due. There is something gigantic in the work
which, although it does not elevate and ennoble, being for the most
part a purposeless fuming, impresses one powerfully. The first movement
begins with four bars grave, a groan full of pain; then the composer,
in restless, breathless haste, is driven by his feelings onward, ever
onward, till he comes to the lovely, peaceful second subject (in D
flat major, a real contrast this time), which grows by-and-by more
passionate, and in the concluding portion of the first part transcends
the limits of propriety--VIDE those ugly dissonances. The connection
of the close of the first part with the repetition of this and the
beginning of the second part by means of the chord of the dominant
seventh in A flat and that in D flat with the suspended sixth, is
noteworthy. The strange second section, in which the first subject is
worked out, has the appearance rather of an improvisation than of a
composition. After this a few bars in 6/4 time, fiercely wild (stretto)
at first, but gradually subsiding, lead to the repeat in B flat major
of