Musical Analysis: Chopin Mazurka Op. 7 no. 2 in A Minor

  

     In this blog post, I'll be analyzing three components of one of Chopins Mazurkas and giving some background on the piece and also some of my own thoughts. I hope that you find the read enjoyable even if you don't listen to classical/romantic era music. I myself played this specific piece under the tutelage of Professor Eduard Zilberkant at the University here in Fairbanks, so I thought I'd share what I thought about the Mazurka and also what others have said about it.

    A brief history on Chopin; Originally from Poland, Chopin was a Virtuosic pianist and a child prodigy, completing many complex and beautiful pieces of music in his life, including Waltzes, Mazurkas, Sonatas, and Preludes, mostly for the solo Piano. By the time of his death in 1849, Chopin had completed dozens of works for the piano and a small collection of other instruments.

    1. Structure 

The structure of this Mazurka is pretty simple. There's the first part that gets repeated two times, sort of the first verse. This is a slow-feeling section. Then there's a second "verse", similar to the first, repeated two times as well. It then switches to the second part of the song, which goes for 8 and 2/3 measures, then is interrupted for a more hectic section that goes for 16 measures, and gets repeated twice. After this part, the first part gets repeated once more and then the song ends.

    2. Rythmn

This Mazurka, as with most others, is in 3/4 time. A Mazurka is a popular style for a polish waltz, very poplar in Chopin's time. Also, as with all Mazurkas, instead of the heavy beat being on one as with most other Waltzes, the heavy beat in this piece is on two, giving it a kind of syncopated feel. This Waltz takes on a slightly different tone than other Mazurkas since it's a slower, more smooth, storylike piece. There are two "sections": the first, which is slow and really feel's like a story is being told. The second is totally different and feels very springy and light. This section is played dolce which means "sweetly" in Italian. In the middle of the second section, the music gains energy and the second beat is very heavily accented. For the end or fine the first section is played, bringing back the feel of a light, melodic story to end with.

    3. Dynamics

As stated in the rhythm paragraph, the first section of the song starts with a slow feeling tempo played piano or soft. Even though the time is 160 bpms per quarter note, it still feels like the song just kind of floats along (and to be honest I didn't play it near that fast; it's kind of a suggestion anyway). the left-hand accompaniment throughout the first section  Mazurka very quiet and short. On the sheet music, it's written as slurred staccato, which makes the left-hand sound short, but not like a tap. in the second section, the mood is light and playful. Even though it's technically still piano, it sounds a lot more bright and cheerful, played scherzo which literally means, you guessed it, light and playful. in the second half of this section, the volume increases to forte and creates a crazier feeling atmosphere, with heavy accents on the second beat and a couple sforzando octaves.

Frederic Chopin Mazurka Op 7 no 2 in A minor

Tomaszewski, Mieczysław. “Mazurka in A Minor Op 7 No 2.” Fryderyk Chopin - Information Centre -       Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 7 No. 2 - Compositions, The Fryderyk Chopin Institute,                                   en.chopin.nifc.pl/chopin/composition/detail/id/150.

Witkowska-Zaremba, Elżbieta. “Versification, Syntax and Form in Chopin's Mazurkas.” Polish Music         Center, Polish Music Journal, polishmusic.usc.edu/research/publications/polish-music-                            journal/vol3no1/chopin-mazurkas/.