The Form of Chopin S Ballade Op 23

The Form of Chopin's "Ballade," Op.
23
Author(s): Karol Berger
Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Summer, 1996), pp. 46-71
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746667
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The Form of Chopin's Ballade, Op. 23
KAROL BERGER
The main challenge facing a composer of a might want to understand narrative and lyric
relatively long and complex work is that of as the two most fundamental forms of compo-
continuity. A short piece may be built from a sition.' In a narrative (or temporal) form, parts
single phrase, or a few phrases arrangedin a succeed one another in a determined order,and
simple pattern (such as Chopin's favorite, and their succession is governed by the relation-
infinitely varied, ABA). In a longer work, how- ships of causing and resulting by necessity or
ever, the question arises: When the end of a probability. On the other hand, in a lyrical
phrase has been reached, what comes next? (atemporal) form, the parts, whether existing
Change by itself is easy to achieve: it is enough simultaneously or succeeding one another, are
to string one phrase after another. The difficul- governed by the relationship of the necessary
ties begin when one wants not just one-phrase- or probablemutual implication. Thus, in creat-
after-another but a continuous discourse, a ing a narrative work, one must not only give
"configuration"(to use Paul Ricoeur's term) in each phrase a function within the whole, but
which "one-after-the-other" becomes "one also establish, for instance, that the later phrases
because-of-the-other," a whole rather than a are in some way caused or preparedby some-
heap-that is, when the form of the work is thing that happened earlier (although not nec-
"narrative"as opposed to "lyric."
In a separateessay, I have explained why one
'See my "Narrativeand Lyric:FundamentalPoetic Forms
of Composition," in Musical Humanism and Its Legacy:
19th-Century Music XX/1 (Summer 1996). ? by The Re- Essays in Honor of Claude V. Palisca, ed. N. K. Bakerand
gents of the University of California. B. R. Hanning (Stuyvesant,N.Y., 1992),pp. 451-70.
46
essarily in the immediately preceding phrase). craftsman puts one stone on another, places KAROL
BERGER
The relationships of causing and resulting are one beam on another."3 Chopin's
the main means of achieving narrative conti- What follows, then, is an exercise in formal- Ballade,
ist close reading of, in this case, Chopin's First op. 23
nuity.
In identifying the main problem of any large, Ballade in G Minor, op. 23 (published in 1836).
complex, narrative form with continuity and This is a silent imaginary performance, a read-
its solution with probabilistic causality, one ing that would be followed most profitablywith
need not see either issue as being faced only by the score in hand. Elsewhere, in a companion
the composer. The listener and the performer essay, I have attempted to show how one might
face the same problem and have the same means subject the results of such a reading to a further
of solving it at their disposal. Once they as- interpretation and might move beyond formal-
sume that they are dealing with a single work, ism, without sacrificing its insights and with-
performers and listeners must attempt to de- out falling into the familiar trap at the bottom
termine (by continuously proposing, trying out, of which waits, grinning, Hermann Kretz-
and revising hypotheses, in the process of play- schmar.4
ing or listening) how the whole is divided into
parts and what function each part has in mak- I
ing up the whole.2 And once they assume that I consider first the "punctuation form," the
the work is narrative, they must then look for way the work is articulated into a hierarchy of
the relationships of causing and resulting among parts by means of stronger and weaker ca-
the parts. dences.5Form, after all, involves a relationship
Both the problem and its solution pertain to between the parts and the whole, and if the
the structure of the work itself, as I shall dem- form is temporal, the parts succeed one an-
onstrate. Neither the composer's nor the other. In the last two centuries, musical form
performer'sand the listener's thought processes has been commonly thought of as produced by
will matter here; rather what matter primarily the manipulation of two factors,key and theme.
are the constitution and significance of the The musical form, on this view, results from
world that the composer's work presents as an an interaction of a tonal plan consisting of a
occasion for the performer's and listener's in- succession of stable and unstable tonal areas
terpretations-the world that, after all, is al- and a thematic plan consisting of an exposi-
ways someone's interpretation (in this case, tion, development, and recapitulation of
my own). But it would not be surprising if the themes. This view suppresses a much older,
young Chopin consciously shared the classicist "rhetorical"conception (Dahlhaus'sterm),6still
ambition to create wholes rather than heaps, well remembered by theorists in the late eigh-
since this was clearly the tenor of the music teenth century, whereby a form results in the
education that he received in Warsaw. Indeed,
at the beginning of his stay in Paris, he received
a letter from his composition teacher, J6zef 3"Pojecie caXosciw dziele znamieniem jest prawdziwego
Elsner, writing from Warsaw on 27 November artysty; rzemieslnik stawia kamief na kamief, belke na
belke kladzie" (Fryderyk Chopin, Korespondencja, ed.
1831, advising him that "the concept of the BronisXawEdwardSydow, vol. I [Warsaw, 1955], p. 198).
whole in the work is the mark of a true artist; a (All translations in this article are mine unless otherwise
indicated.)
4See my "Chopin's Ballade Op. 23 and the Revolution of
the Intellectuals," in Chopin Studies 2, ed. John Rink and
21 have argued that the unity of the work is the reader's Jim Samson (Cambridge,1994),pp. 72-83.
necessary, not optional, assumption in "Diegesis and Mi- 5Foran introduction to the concept of "punctuationform"
mesis: The Poetic Modes and the Matter of Artistic Pre- and for an explanation of the punctuation terminology
sentation," Journalof Musicology 12 (1994), 407-33; and I used here, see my "The First-MovementPunctuation Form
have discussed the temporal nature of the process of musi- in Mozart's Piano Concertos," in Mozart's Piano Concer-
cal interpretation in "Toward a History of Hearing: The tos: Text, Context, Interpretation,ed. N. Zaslaw (Ann Ar-
Classic Concerto, A Sample Case," in Convention in Eigh- bor, 1996),pp. 239-59.
teenth- and Nineteenth-Century Music: Essays in Honor 6Carl Dahlhaus, "Das rhetorische Formbegriff H. Chr.
of LeonardG. Ratner, ed. W. J.Allanbrook,J.M. Levy, and Kochs und die Theorie der Sonatenform," Archiv fiir
W. P. Mahrt (Stuyvesant, N.Y., 1992),pp. 405-29. Musikwissenschaft 35 (1978), 155-77.
47
19TH first place from "punctuation" (to speak with tion (in C; mm. 1-8) and the Presto con fuoco
CENTURY Koch),7 an articulation of the musical discourse coda (in ?; mm. 209-64). The two parts of the
MUSIC
by means of cadences of varying strength. The frame could not be less balanced: at the begin-
cadential punctuation articulatesthe whole into ning, a mere eight measures, without so much
successive parts and provides the framework as a hint of cadence either internally or at the
within which the respective roles of other for- end, articulated only by brief rests, as if the
mal factors, of keys and themes, can be under- speaker were short of breath or, better, still
stood. By the 1830s, theorists lost much of the turning in his mind the subject of the about-to-
interest in cadences and punctuation that ani- be-opened story; at the end, fifty-six measures
mated their predecessors from the sixteenth
through the eighteenth centuries. Cadence was
too conventional an object to attract much at- to have been introduced by anyone other than the com-
tention in an age that appreciated originality poser, but he himself refersto a number of Chopin's works
where tempo indications differ between the French and
above all else and found it in the uniqueness of German first editions, without being able to show that
the thematic and harmonic invention and ma- these differences can be attributed to Chopin. Similarly,
he claims that the celebratedBreitkopfand Hartel reading
nipulation. But this lack of theoretical interest of the left hand in m. 7, with dl instead of e6l, represents
should not blind one to the continued impor- too important a revision to have been introduced without
tance of punctuation in the practice of a com- the composer's authorization,but since-as Ekier himself
notes-the revision correctsthe parallel fifths between the
poser for whom the music of Bach and Mozart right and left hands (mm. 6-7), it might well have been
continued to be a living presence. introducedby a pedantic house editor in Leipzig.By claim-
The main musical discourse of the G-Minor ing that Breitkopfand Hartel based their text on corrected
Ballade, the Moderato (in 6; mm. 9-208),8 is proofs of the Schlesinger edition, Ekier ignores the fact
that a manuscript of the Ballade, whether the composer's
framed on both sides, by the Largo9introduc- autograph or a copy, was still in the possession of the
Leipzig publishers in 1878 (see their letter to Chopin's
sister, Izabela Barcifiska,dated Leipzig, 1 February1878,
7Heinrich Christoph Koch, Versuch einer Anleitung zur quoted and discussed in Krystyna Kobylafiska,Rekopisy
Composition, 3 vols. (Leipzig,1782-93). Utwor6w Chopina:Katalog, vol. I [Cracow, 1977], p. 126;
8Throughoutthis article, I measure a section from its first see also Kobylafiska, Frederic Chopin: Thematisch-
melodic downbeat, no matter how long the precedingup- bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis, ed. Ernst Herttrich,
beat, to its last melodic downbeat, even when the first trans. Helmut Stolze [Munich, 1979], p. 46). Most likely,
melodic downbeat of the next section is simultaneous with the German first edition was based on this manuscript
this last downbeat (i.e., even when the two phrases are and never proofreadby the composer. (See, however, n. 19
"elided"),or when the upbeat of the next section follows below.) This would be fully consistent with Chopin's nor-
immediately in the same measure (and the two phrases mal publishing practices, as described by JeffreyKallberg
are "linked"). ("Chopinin the Marketplace:Aspects of the International
9Largois the indication in Chopin's autograph(formerly Music Publishing Industry in the First Half of the Nine-
in the collection of GregorPiatigorski,Los Angeles) and in teenth Century," Notes 39 [1982-83], 535-69, 795-824):
the French first edition (Paris, 1836), which was certainly "Throughouthis career,he would ordinarilygive an auto-
preparedon the basis of this autographand probablyproof- graph manuscript to the French publisher for use in en-
readby the composer. In the Germanfirst edition (Leipzig, gravingthe edition.... In his middle years (roughly 1835-
1836), the indication is Lento. Of the two principal mod- 41), copyists were allowed to read over proofs, and at least
ern editors of the Ballade, Ewald Zimmermann chooses some of the time, Chopin would check over these copyist-
the autographand the Schlesinger edition as the basis of correctedproofs before submitting them to the publisher.
his text, implicitly rejecting the readings of the Breitkopf But duringthese years, Chopin did not entirely relinquish
and Hartel edition as inauthentic (see the "Kritischer proof-reading... [p. 551]. Until mid-1835, Chopin's Ger-
Bericht" accompanying Frederic Chopin, Balladen, ed. man editions were engravedfrom printed proofs originat-
Ewald Zimmermann [Munich, 1976], p. 3), whereas Jan ing in France.Fromlate 1835 through the remainderof his
Ekier argues for the authenticity of the German first edi- career, manuscripts were as a rule sent eastward. As in
tion, claiming that it was "basedon correctedproofs of F France,the years 1835 to 1841 saw copyists' manuscripts
[the Frenchfirst edition] on which Chopin made a number employed along with autographs.... Most of the manu-
of additionalchanges"("CriticalNotes" to FredericChopin, scripts were reviewed by Chopin prior to being forwarded
Balladen, ed. Jan Ekier [Vienna, 1986], p. xxi; for detailed to Leipzig . . . [pp. 808-09]. While the composer in his
arguments on which this conclusion is based, see the early years and once or twice later sent proofs of his music
Komentarze ir6dXowe published with FryderykChopin, to Germany to serve as engraver'scopy, no case is known
Ballady, Wydanie Narodowe A.1, ed. Jan Ekier [Cracow, where he corrected proof sheets engraved by one of his
1970]). Ekier's claims for the authenticity of the German Germanpublishers. Once his music in whatever form ...
first edition do not convince. (Compare also Zofia left his hands for Leipzig,Vienna, or another Germanpub-
Chechlifiska, "The National Edition of Chopin's Works," lishing center, Chopin's ability to oversee the musical text
Chopin Studies 2 [1987], 7-19.) He asserts, for instance, ceased" (pp.815-16).
that a change of tempo indication was too majora revision An important additional consideration should be men-
48
of emphatic peroration, ending (in m. 250) with final cadential tonic of the phrase (mm. 36-44, KAROL
BERGER
a cadence whose powers of closure are enhanced 45-48, and 49-56) and the second by one such Chopin's
as much by the length of the dominant preced- appendix (mm. 83-90). The two phrases are Ballade,
connected by a twelve-measure unpunctuated op. 23
ing the final tonic (mm. 246-49) as by the dura-
tion of the appendix prolonging the tonic (mm. and uncadenced transition (mm. 56-67). As is
250-64), and articulated internally by three the norm in Chopin's sonata practice, the ab-
weaker cadences (mm. 212, 216, 224). In spite breviatedlast period (the recapitulation)restates
of (orrather because of) the introduction's hesi- only the second half of the "expositional" first
tant and open character at the beginning, the period, that is, only the second balanced phrase
design is insistently goal-oriented and closed at and its appendix (mm. 166-88 correspondingto
the end. This is a discourse in search of an aim. mm. 68-90). But what happensin between these
Once the aim is reached, it is repeatedly two broadperiods (mm. 91-166) and after them
stressed. One could imagine a number of ways (mm. 189-208) defies any explanation in terms
in which the "speaker" might have eased his of the sonata-allegrotradition. For want of bet-
way into the Moderato, but after the Presto ter terms, one might speak in a preliminary
absolutely nothing remains to be said. fashion of a complex two-part transition (mm.
The Moderato itself preserves unmistakable 91-137) preparingthe central episode (mm. 138-
traces of the sonata-allegro tradition. The regu- 66) and another, simpler one-part transition
lar first period (mm. 9-90), to speak in punctua- (mm. 189-208) preparing the coda. Now it is
tion terms (or, in thematic terms, the exposi- immediately apparentthat the latter transition
tion), consists of two balanced (antecedent-con- (mm. 189-208) correspondsto (orrecapitulates)
sequent) phrases (mm. 9-36 = 8 mm. + 20 mm.; the first part of the former transition (mm. 91-
and mm. 68-82 = 8 mm. + 7 mm.), the first 106) in its punctuation form as well as its har-
followed by three appendixes prolonging the monic and thematic content: the four mea-
sures of modulation ending with a hint of a half
cadence (mm. 91-94) are recapitulated in six
measures (mm. 189-94), and the twelve-mea-
tioned here. As far as I know, none of the student exemplars sure appendix prolonging the cadential domi-
of the Ballade that survive with the composer's autograph
annotations corrects the introductory tempo indication or nant (mm. 95-106) is recapitulated in twelve
the left-handchordin m. 7 to conformwith the Breitkopfand measures (mm. 195-206) and followed by a two-
Hartel readings. (See Kobylafska, Rekopisy, I, 127; idem, measure appendix that resolves the dominant
Werkverzeichnis,p. 46; Fr6dericChopin, (Euvrespour pi-
ano: facsimile de 1'exemplairede JaneW. Stirling,ed. Jean- to the tonic (mm. 207-08).10Moreover, the cen-
JacquesEigeldingerand Jean-MichelNectoux [Paris,1982]). tral episode (mm. 138-66) resembles in its rela-
Thus, in the unlikely case that these readingsstem from the tive harmonic stability and especially in its
composer himself, they would represent an ultimately re-
jected momentary hesitation on his part. Finally, an early
autograph of the first fifteen or sixteen measures of the
Ballade, known to exist in a private collection, is also
markedLargo(Kobylafiska,Werkverzeichnis,"Erganzungen: '?Given the very close correspondence of mm. 189-208
Berichtigungen," Musikantiquariat Hans Schneider, and 91-106, no analyst that I am aware of considers the
BedeutendeMusikerautographen,CatalogNo. 241 [Tutzing, latter section to be a part of the exposition, and Chopin's
1980],p. 16).In sum, while complete certaintyin this matter well-known practice of recapitulating normally only the
is unlikely (unless the manuscript mentioned in Breitkopf second half of the exposition, it is puzzling that so many
and Hartel's letter to Barcifiskacomes to light), it seems analysts of op. 23, including most recently even the usu-
most plausible to conclude that the readingstransmittedin ally admirablyperceptive Jim Samson, identify a mirroror
the German first edition are not authentic and that the symmetrical recapitulation (with the first theme recapitu-
authorizedtext is best representedby the Frenchfirst edition lated after the second one) in the work. Compare Jim
readin conjunction with the autographandwhatevercan be Samson, Chopin: The Four Ballades (Cambridge, 1992),
learnedfrom the annotations in the exemplarsthat belonged pp. 45-50. The most noteworthy analyses of the Ballade
to the composer or his students. Needless to say, this to appear after Samson's book are John Daverio, Nine-
conclusion in no way detracts from the interest that the teenth-Century Music and the German Romantic Ideol-
BreitkopfandHartelreadingsmay hold forthe student of the ogy (New York, 1993), pp. 39-41, and Charles Rosen, The
performance and reception history of the work outside Romantic Generation (Cambridge,Mass., 1995), pp. 323-
Franceand England.Heinrich Schenker'sargumentin favor 28. Daverio talks of "an overridingpalindromic form" (p.
of the Germanreadingof m. 7 is as telling as it is unconvinc- 40). Rosen, on the other hand, considers both returns of
ing. See Schenker,Der freie Satz (2ndedn. Vienna, 1956),p. theme A as "a ritornello" or "a refrain"(p. 327) and avoids
110 and fig. 64, ex. 2. any suggestion of a recapitulation.
49
19TH
CENTURY
punctuation form, although not in its thematic cadential dominant (mm. 32-35-the only mea-
MUSIC content, the coda (mm. 209-64): both consist of sures that could be removed from the incise
three short incises followed by a very large one without a loss of motivic substance or gram-
(in the episode, three four-measure incises are matical integrity) were removed from the sec-
followed by a seventeen-measure one; in the ond incise, a sizable consequent of fourteen
coda, two incises of four measures each are measureswould still remain. On the other hand,
elided with one of nine measures, which is the behaviorof the second (recapitulated)phrase
elided in turn with a twenty-seven-measure (mm. 68-82 and 166-80) is quite different. Here
one, followed by a fifteen-measure appendix).(I the slightly shorter consequent weakens the
shall show that the correspondences between sense of closure and necessitates a continua-
the episode and the coda go further than that.) tion. (When the phrase is recapitulated/devel-
Thus only the second part of the first transition oped in mm. 106-26, the consequent is made
(mm. 106-37) seems to be left without a direct longerto make room for a modulation.)Whereas
recapitulation or at least a correspondingsec- the balanced phrases are conceived in terms of
tion in the last third of the piece. Since this is, the eight-plus-eight norm, the episode and the
however, a developed restatement of the sec- coda suggest another underlying norm, an addi-
ond balanced phrase of the main period (mm. tive construction of four four-measure incises
106-26 = 8 mm. + 13 mm., corresponding to (I shall offer arguments for this reading later),
mm. 68-82 = 8 mm. + 7 mm.), this time ending with the norm observed only in the first two or
with a half rather than full cadence (m. 126), three incises, and with an enormous expansion
with the final cadential dominant prolongedby of the last incise. (Together with the conse-
the following appendix (mm. 126-37), even this quent of the first phrase, these are by far the
music finds its corresponding counterpart, if largest incises of the entire work.) Once again,
not an exact restatement, at the beginning of the end-oriented shape of the whole is reflected
the recapitulation (mm. 166-88). in the structure of these two sections. This
Figure 1 summarizes the punctuation form contributes to the sense of a discourse that
of the Ballade. (The recapitulating sections are constantly yearns for (and finally attains) an
linked with the sections they recapitulate by emphatic conclusion.
continuous vertical lines; sections correspond- Second, the handling of the cadences shows
ing in some other, weaker way are linked by an abiding concern for continuity. To be sure,
interrupted lines; I and V mark sections ending the discourse is marked by a number of ca-
with a full or half cadence, respectively; +1and dence articulations, and all are additionally
+V in parentheses mark appendixes prolonging strengthened by one or more appendixes pro-
the final tonic or dominant of the preceding longing their final chords. Nevertheless, these
cadence, respectively; 1 indicates that the sec- cadences and appendixes (save, of course, the
tion is linked with the following one, e-that it last one) are either linked or elided with the
is elided with the following one; Arabicnumer- following music. This ensures that the sense of
als count measures within a section.) Several articulation is never very strong-never as em-
points clearly emerge. First, the norm underly- phatic, for instance, as the one commonly en-
ing Chopin's balanced phrases (that is, the an- countered at the end of the first period (exposi-
tecedent-consequent phrases that present the tion) of the Classical sonata-allegro.
two main themes) seems to be two eight-mea- In addition to such obvious devices as the
sure incises, but the norm is obeyed (estab- link and the elision, Chopin also uses subtler
lished) in the first incise only to be departed ways of smoothing over the joints between suc-
from in the second. In the first (unrecapitulated) cessive sections. The introduction, for example,
phrase (mm. 9-36), the generous expansion of is left without a cadence. The cadence that
the second incise to twenty measures may per- should have closed it comes at the first down-
haps adumbrate the overall end-oriented shape beat of the following phrase (m. 9), but because
of the work. Even if all parenthetical repetition this downbeat is preceded by an upbeat, this is
(mm. 24-25 repeat mm. 22-23) as well as the not a normal case of elision (in which the last
parenthetical expansion of the penultimate melodic downbeat of a preceding section and
50
Measure: 1 9 36 45 49 56 68 91 95 106 126 138
81 81 + 20e (5e + 51) (21[21]) (8e) 121 81+ 71 (41[411) 41 (12e) 81+13e (121) 41, 4
Punctuation: le (+ Il) (+11) (+Ie) Il (+II) vi (+Ve) Ve (+Vl)
Section: Intro. First period: Transition: Epi

phrase 1 Transition phrase 2 part 1 part 2
Measure: 16 181 189 19 20 209

81 + 71 (41[41]) 61 (121) (21) 41,
Punctuation: Il (+11) VI (+V1) (+II) Ie
Section: Last period: Transition: Cod

phrase 2 part 1
Figure 1: The Punctuation form of Chopin's Ballade, op. 23.
Un
19TH the first of the following one coincide). Instead, under another. In this way, Chopin originally
CENTURY
MUSIC the melody of the introduction is interrupted marked a point of articulation between the ap-
in midstream rather than concluded, and it is pendix and the transition very clearly. In the
only covertly continued throughthe upbeat and French first edition, however, he decided to
first downbeat of the following phrase. One cover all four measures with a single slur, thus
might call this a superelision.11Similar cases of increasing the sense of continuity between the
superelision occur at the ends of the only other two sections.
two sections that lack cadences, the transition Third, full cadences are used to close the
between the first and second phrase of the first relatively stable sections that state or restate
period (mm. 56-67) and the episode (mm. 138- their material (the two balancedphrases of both
66), parallel spots to the extent that both pre- periods and the coda), and half cadences close
cede the same material, the second phrase of the relatively unstable sections, with the func-
the period. In the former case, the cadence oc- tion of preparingthe appearanceof the follow-
curs in m. 69, that is, one measure after the ing, more stable sections (the two phrases of
new phrase had begun (on the last quarterof m. transition). Here Chopin strictly observes the
67). Like the introduction, the transition is in- Classical usage. The central episode, however,
terrupted in midstream and only covertly con- is anomalous, since-as observed earlier-it
tinued as the new phrase begins with the same promises to close with a full cadence but post-
dyad the transition died out on. And similarly, pones its completion until after the beginning
the cadence that should have ended the episode of the next phrase and ends on the V3 chord.
is delayed until m. 167, that is, one measure This imaginative ending makes it at once a
after the beginning of the next phrase. The section of relative stability and transition.
melodic link (the dyad) between the episode Fourth, the relative strength of a cadence
and the following phrase is lacking this time, depends primarily on the length of its domi-
but the harmonic bond between them is much nant; observe where the strongest cadences oc-
stronger, since the cadence begins within the cur and how they are handled. The dominants
episode and is completed within the phrase: of longest duration are placed as follows: mm.
the cadential dominant is reached in m. 158 in 94-106 (thirteen measures), the appendix of the
the form of the six-four (Eb)chord, which is first part of the transition between the first
prolonged through the downbeat of m. 162 and period and the central episode through the first
resolved by way of the chromaticpassing chords measure of the following phrase (another case
in mm. 162-65 to the V (Bb)chord at the begin- of the superelision that always precedes the
ning of the new phrase in m. 166. appearance of this material); mm. 126-37
Here, as throughout the Ballade, Chopin's (twelve measures), the appendix of the second
evident goal is to punctuate without stopping, part of the first transition; mm. 158-66 (nine
to suggest points of articulation without im- measures), the already discussed cadence
peding the drive toward the final destination. supereliding the episode with the last period;
The composer's concern with such issues may mm. 194-207 (fourteen measures), the two ap-
be graphically illustrated by his subtle revision pendixes of the second transition; and mm.
of the phrasing in mm. 54-57. In the autograph, 238-49 (twelve measures), the final cadence of
mm. 54-55 (i.e., the last two measures of the the work. It is clear that once the main the-
final appendix to the first phrase) are placed matic material has been presented, that is, im-
under one slur, and mm. 56-57, the first two mediately after the first period (exposition), the
measures of the following transition, are placed discourse consists essentially of one strong
cadential statement after another. Although
there are no seriously prolonged dominants
"The articulation between the introduction and the first through the end of the first period (the only
period is further weakened by a subtle textural transition, dominant-prolongation,lasting four-and-a-half
as the monophony of the paralleloctaves in mm. 1-5 gives
way to the first hint of the homophonic, melody-with-
measures, occurs at the cadence of the first
accompaniment, texture in mm. 6-7, thus preparingthe phrase, mm. 312-35), every phrase after the
homophonic texture of the first period. first period, with the sole exception of the
52
Measure: 1 9 36 45 49 56 68 83 91 95 106 126 138 KAROL
A al a2 a3 x B b I"b" "A" C BERGER
Theme/motif: a y Chopin's
I -> (V) ~"Vb"-3 (V) I Ballade,
Key: (V) i -> "vi"/VI VI op. 23
Punctuation: Ie (+I11 (+I1) (+Ie II (+I1) vl (+Ve) Ve (+Vl)
Section: Intro. First period: Transition: Episode
phrase 1 Transition phrase 2 part 1 part 2
Measure: 166 181 189 195 207 209 250

Theme/motif: B b "b/ "A" z D "A"
Key: -> (V) i
Punctuation: II (+I1) VI (+V1) (+I1) Ie (+I)
Section: Last period: Transition: Coda
phrase 2 part 1
Figure 2: The Harmonic and thematic plans of Chopin's Ballade, op. 23.
recapitulatory phrase of the last period, ends tify major thematic ideas, lowercase letters,
with a seriously prolonged dominant. But it is with or without Arabic numerals, identify mi-
noteworthy that only one, the final, of these nor motivic ideas that serve to individualize
strong cadences is suited to conclude the dis- less important formal units, such as appen-
course, since only it is simultaneously a full dixes; quotation marks around a letter indicate
cadence and has a final tonic prolonged by an that the theme in question is being developed,
appendix. The impression, again, is of a dis- rather than stated.
course in search of a suitably strong conclu- Through the end of the first period, the har-
sion, reached only after a number of less suc- monic plan of the Ballade more or less meets
cessful rehearsals. sonata-allegro expectations, at least to the ex-
tent that it establishes the main key, modu-
II lates, and establishes the second key. After-
In music analysis the "what" questions, al- ward, it goes its own way. To be sure, the
though indispensable, are generally less inter- further modulation one might expect does oc-
esting than the "why" questions. It is clear at cur, but, instead of leading toward new har-
this point what the punctuation form of the monic regions, it circles back to the second
Ballade is, but not why the work has this form key; and the retransition and reestablishing of
rather than another. To make the first step in the main key occur much later than they would
this direction, I shall turn to the harmonic and in a sonata-allegro. Thus, the basic plan con-
melodic matter of the musical discourse. Fig- sists of two tonic areas of roughly similar di-
ure 2 summarizes the harmonic and thematic mensions at the beginning and end framing a
plans of the work, mapping them against the much longer (more than twice as long as either
already identified formal units. Upper-and of the two tonic regions) central submediant
lowercase Roman numerals stand for majorand area, the latter in three parts: a tonally stable
minor keys respectively; an arrow marks a one correspondingto the second phrase of the
modulation;V in parenthesessignifies the domi- first period; an unstable one corresponding to
nant preparation of the following key; quota- the transition; and another stable one corre-
tion marks around a Roman numeral indicate sponding to the episode and last period. In ef-
that the key in question has not been adequately fect, two tonal recapitulations can be identi-
prepared,that we are "on," but not "in" it, as fied, one occurring before and one after the
Tovey would say; a key is crossed-out when it thematic recapitulation: the return of the
is preparedbut withheld. Capital letters iden- submediant in m. 138 and of the tonic in
53
19TH m. 209. It is worth observing that there is rela- after the transition gets underway in m. 56.
CENUTSCRYtively little tonal instability in the piece; the Strictly speaking, there is no real modulation
principal areas of instability are confined to the here, in the sense of an adequate preparationof
transitions. Otherwise, the discourse is remark- the following key-only a chromatic sliding
ably reluctant to modulate and proceeds in down of the bass from GG in m. 56 through
broad, stable tonal areas of either the tonic or GGbin m. 62 to FF in m. 63, all of which is
submediant. Measured against the sonata-alle- executed with such vacillation that until the
gro expectations raised at the beginning, the downbeat of m. 63 the music could still slide
most striking feature of this tonal plan is the back easily to g minor. As a result, when the
postponement of the main key's return until new key, Ebmajor, appearsin m. 68, it is quite
the coda, that is, until well after the thematic unprepared,and even the cadence in m. 69 is
recapitulation had been completed. This shift not sufficient to stabilize it. In fact, the tonal
of the tonic's return from the point where it instability of the second phrase is initially so
would coincide with the beginning of the the- great that it is not even clear whether El or BL
matic recapitulation to the beginning of the will be its key: the hint of a cadence in Ebat the
coda, lending so much more dramato the point end of the first incise in m. 69 is immediately
of return, confirms and reinforces our sense of followed by another hint of a cadence in Bl at
the work's general shape as imbalanced and the end of the second incise in m. 71. For a
end-oriented. strongcadential confirmation of the second key,
A few harmonic details deserve additional one must wait until the end of the second phrase
comment. First, the dominant preparation,the in m. 82. Like the whole Ballade, the second
essential harmonic content of the introduction, phrase moves from an ambiguous, hesitant be-
emerges only gradually out of the opening HII6 ginning to a clearly defined goal at the end. The
(Neapolitan sixth) chord;its first elements show remarkable reluctance with which the main
up only in m. 3, which emphasizes c3 and f#2, key is abandoned and the second one reached
the two indispensable pitches of the V7 chord, contrasts strongly with the normal Classical
itself fully spelled out only after the introduc- practice of an energetic drive toward the sec-
tion is over in m. 8. This beginning is harmoni- ond key (although the concealing of a hint of
cally as strikingly reluctant as the ending will what this second key might be in the first mea-
be strikingly emphatic.12The specific harmony sures of the work does have Classical prece-
Ab, which dominates the first three measures dents). The relative lack of a forwardharmonic
and out of which the dominant emerges, may drive is compensated for, at least in part, by the
hint at the importance the pitch A; will have in seamlessness of the transition from the main
the tonal plan of the whole, as it is the only to the second key area and, again, this is in
step of the submediant key missing from the contrast with the normal Classical practice of
tonic G minor. placing a strong point of 'articulationbefore the
Second, Chopin's already noted reluctance second phrase. Needless to say, Chopin's mas-
to modulate is nowhere more evident than in tery of the mechanics of modulation cannot be
the transition between the two key areas of the in doubt. Rather, his aesthetic goals are differ-
first period. He not only follows the first phrase ent from those of his Classical masters. At
with three appendixes, thus postponing the every step one discovers that he aims not for
moment when the tonic key will have to be the Classical balance and symmetry of clearly
abandoned, but also continues to hesitate even articulatedformal units but for an overall shape
that projects, from an unassuming and reluc-
tant beginning, a sense of a relatively seamless,
gradual accumulation of energy and accelera-
'2Moreover,it is reluctant not only harmonically but also tion toward the inevitable, frantic conclusion.
texturally, with the gradualemergence of homophony out
of monophony, and rhythmically, with measured rhyth- Third, the longest section of tonal instabil-
mic differentiation of values emerging only graduallyout ity in the Ballade, the transition between the
of the initial lack of metric definition and rhythmic differ-
entiation; on every level, mm. 6-7 furnish the crucial me-
first period and the episode, represents a move-
diating step. ment within the second key, rather than away
54
from it. The new key, BUb enharmonically no- turn, first to the submediant in m. 138 and KAROL
BERGER
tated as A (I shall offer my reasons for this second to the tonic in m. 209. This and because Chopin's
interpretation later), is adequately preparedby C and D are the two new themes introduced Ballade,
the dominant-function six-four appendix in after the first-period exposition further op. 23
mm. 94-105 (strictly speaking, its parallel mi- strengthen the correspondencebetween the epi-
nor, bb, is prepared), but the confirming B6l- sode and the coda alreadynoted on the basis of
major cadence is reached only in m. 107, after punctuation alone. In fact,.the correspondence
the beginning of the next phrase on V7 of the goes even deeper: both themes have a similar
new key in m. 106 (the already discussed motivic construction. The four incises of both
superelision); because toward the end (from m. themes, C and D (see fig. 1), are filled with
118 on) the new phrase initiates a move back motivic content that could be labeled mmnn'-
to Eband ends with a half cadence in that key that is, in terms of the motivic content, the
(or rather its parallel minor), the key of B6lis second incise repeats the first, while the fourth
never confirmed by a full cadence coinciding wants to repeat the third, but, unable to con-
with either the beginning or end of the phrase. tain its energy, bursts its limits as if losing self-
The daring diminished-fifth relationship be- control in a giddy rush to the cadence. Thus
tween El and B6 is certainly noteworthy, defin- the episode takes on the appearance of a re-
ing as it does the high point of harmonic insta- hearsal for the coda, and the whole sequence of
bility in the work. Chopin, who loved to flatten events from m. 166 on can be read as a rectifi-
the fifth degree of a chord, here transfers his cation of the sequence of events from m. 68 to
predilection from the level of chordal structure m. 165, as if the search for a proper conclu-
to that of key structure. sion-the essential content of the work-did
The thematic plan of the Ballade, like the not get it right the first time and had to be
harmonic one, follows the sonata-allegromodel repeated and corrected on second try.13
through the end of the first period, to the ex-
tent at least that it presents two thematic ideas
in two different keys, and alludes to them once '3Needless to say, the similarity of the overall thematic
more in the last period, where the second theme plan, a-b-b1 (mm. 1-67, 68-165, and 166-264 respectively),
to the form of the medieval ballade is fortuitous. In choos-
is recapitulated, although, against all sonata ing a name for the genre his op. 23 was to inaugurate,
precedents, in the second rather than the main Chopin was certainly inspired by the tremendous Euro-
key. This lack of correlation between the the- pean vogue for the poetic ballad among the Romantics,
and in particularby that virtual manifesto of Polish liter-
matic and harmonic recapitulations and the aryRomanticism,AdamMickiewicz's collection of Ballady
introduction of two new thematic ideas, C and i Romanse (Ballads and Romances) of 1822. There is no
D after the first-period exposition, constitute good reason to distrust Robert Schumann's testimony in
this matter: "He spoke then [when he met Schumann in
the two most striking features of the thematic Leipzig on 12-13 September 1836] also of the fact that he
plan as measured against the sonata-allegroex- got inspiration for his ballads from some poems of
Mickiewicz" (Er sprach damals auch davon, dag er zu
pectations raised at the beginning. The two seinen Balladen durch einige Gedichte von Mickiewicz
features are related to this extent: that the sec- angeregt worden sei.) (Schumann, Gesammelte Schriften
ond theme is recapitulated in the subsidiary iiber Musik und Musiker, vol. II, ed. M. Kreisig [5th edn.
rather than main key necessitates the continu- Leipzig,1914],p. 32). See, however, ChristianeEngelbrecht,
"Zur Vorgeschichte der Chopinschen Klavierballade,"in
ation of the discourse beyond the end of the The Book of the First International Musicological Con-
last period so that the main key can return in gress Devoted to the Worksof FrederickChopin, Warszawa
the coda. The introduction of a new theme at 16th-22nd February1960, ed. Zofia Lissa (Warsaw,1963),
pp. 519-21; Gunther Wagner,Die Klavierballade um die
the point where the tonic key returns gives this Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts, Berliner Musikwissen-
point additional emphasis and importance and schaftliche Arbeiten 9 (Munich-Salzburg,1976), pp. 42-48;
confirms our fundamental reading of the over- and Anselm Gerhard, "Ballade und Drama: Frederic
Chopins Ballade opus 38 und die franzosische Oper um
all shape of the work as focused on the final 1830," Archiv fir Musikwissenschaft 48 (1991), 110-25.
goal. Like theme D, theme C itself articulates See also James Parakilas,Ballads Without Words:Chopin
and emphasizes the arrival of the tonal reca- and the Tradition of the Instrumental Ballade (Portland,
Or., 1992), pp. 26-27. For the date of Chopin's meeting
pitulation: it has been noted above that the with Schumann, see Schumann's letter to Heinrich Dorn
Ballade contains two such points of tonal re- in Riga, written in Leipzig on 14 September 1836: "Eben
55
19TH I have commented above on the relative lack of a recurringrefrain. (Goethe observed in 1821
CENTURY
MUSIC of tonal instability in the Ballade. Similar and that "the refrain, the recurrence of the same
closely related to it is the scarcity of genuine closing sound, gives this genre of poetry [the
thematic development in the piece-and the ballad] its decisively lyrical character."14) To
little there is is confined to the two transitions, claim that Chopin consciously invokes the
just as the areas of harmonic instability were. model of the poetic strophic ballad with refrain
Even many of the passages signaled by quota- would probablybe an over-interpretation.Still,
tion marks in fig. 2 as developmental do not the idea should not be hastily rejected: it is
quite live up to the Classical image of thematic plausible to claim, after all, that Chopin's next
working: mm. 91-94 and 189-94 merely con- Ballade would explore this very model.15
tinue to use the motif of the preceding appen-
dix to shift the key up by thirds; in mm. 106- III
26 the second theme is not so much developed This relative lack of tonal instability and
as restated with a modulatory change at the especially of thematic development might eas-
end (thus, one might speak of a development ily give a superficial observer the impression of
only after m. 117) and with its charactertrans- a work more "lyrical" than "narrative"in its
formed from the original sotto voce pianissimo basic character,in which the temporal ordering
to the chordally reinforcedfortissimo; and mm. of the events and the logic governing their suc-
250-64 do not so much develop as make refer- cession matter far less than the dimensions of
ences to previously heard ideas. Even mm. 95- the work would lead one to expect. But nothing
106 and 195-206, which are as close to genuine could be further from the truth. Motivic devel-
development as the Ballade ever gets, begin opment is all-pervasive in the Ballade. It ex-
with restatements of the main theme and only tends from the first to the last measure and
later lapse into a brief and rudimentary the- does not have to be confined to the ghetto of
matic working. But in these two passages, at the (nonexistent) development section. But this
least, one cannot really speak of a thematic development is conceived in terms different
restatement (as in mm. 106-26), since too little from those of the Classical masters, in terms
of the original theme is repeated and both the more akin to the Brahmsian developing varia-
expressive character and the function of the tion than to Beethovenian thematic working.
material is transformed, reversed in fact, from To be more precise: neither "development" nor
a thematic statement to a preparation for an "variation"accurately describes Chopin's tech-
upcoming one (mainly through harmonic nique. These terms imply a distinction between
means, as the whole passage is based on the a model (motif, theme) and its elaboration (de-
dominant-function six-fourpedal).Forthe most velopment, variation),between something origi-
part, then, the work seems to state and restate nal and primary, and something derived and
its ideas rather than developing them. The rela- secondary. But distinctions of this sort are ir-
tive lack of development of the second theme relevant to the technique found in Chopin's
in mm. 106-26 and that this is the only subject Ballade. It is evident that its thematic and
to be recapitulated give theme B the character motivic statements are interrelated, but they
are not derived from one another: they are all
equally original, or-what amounts to the same
thing-equally derivedfrom a single, extremely
als ich vorgestern Ihren Brief erhalte und antworten will, concentrated motivic source.
wer tritt herein? Chopin! Das war grosse Freude. Einen
schonen Tag lebten wir, den ich gestern noch nachfeierte"
(quotedfrom Chopin, Korespondencja,I, 420). See also the
12 September 1836 entry in Schumann's personal diary,
quoted in Jean-JacquesEigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and
Teacher as Seen by His Pupils, ed. Roy Howat, trans. '4"Der Refrain, das Wiederkehren ebendesselben
Naomi Shohet with Krysia Osostowicz and Roy Howat Schlufklanges, gibt dieser Dichtart den entschiedenen
(Cambridge, 1986), p. 268. Concerning Chopin's visit to lyrischen Charakter" (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Leipzig and meeting with Schumann, see in particular "Ballade,Betrachtungund Auslegung," Werke,Hamburger
Gastone Belotti, F. Chopin l'uomo, 3 vols. (Milan and Ausgabe,vol. I [Munich, 1981],p. 400).
Rome, 1974), pp. 571-74. '5SeeGerhard,"Balladeund Drama,"pp. 110-25.
56
The narrative continuity in the Ballade is ginning to reduce the individual melodic phases KAROL
BERGER
established mainly by a tight network of motivic of the Ballade in this way, one discovers a Chopin's
interrelationships. Some of these lie at the sur- narrative thread of astonishing logic running Ballade,
op. 23
face and are easily noticed. The ascending ar- through the whole discourse, astonishing cer-
peggio that opens the main motif of the first tainly to this writer and, judging by the pub-
theme, A (m. 8), echoes the ascending arpeggio lished literature, probablyalso to other Chopin
that opened the introduction, a (mm. 1-3). The critics.
motif of the first appendix that follows the
main theme, al, again opens with an ascending m. 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
arpeggio (m. 36). In all three cases, the ascent is ./^^ L. .

A; -r - D__ 1
followed by a stepwise descent. The same con-
tour of an at least partly arpeggiated ascent in g
followed by a stepwise descent reappears in the
motif of the appendix to the second theme, b Example 1: Chopin, Ballade,
(mm. 82-83). Thus, when the contour reap- op. 23, mm. 1-9, reduction.
pears in the appendix of the coda (mm. 253-54
and 257-58), a backward glance is cast simulta- A reduction of the introduction (ex. 1) reveals that
neously at theme A and at motives a, al, and its underlying melodic motif is formed by the c2 and
b-that is, a final reference is made to the most b6l (mm. 6-7), with the structural c2 preparedfrom
overt motivic link of the whole discourse. Since the beginning by the initial opening-up of the tonal
appendixes a2 and a3 have no genuinely me- space from c (or even C) to c3 (mm. 1-3) and the
lodic content, consisting instead of an increas- following stepwise descent to c2 (mm. 3-6), and with
the further descent down to the tonic prime, gl,
ingly nervous and agitated sempre piu mosso completed, as already seen, only at the beginning of
figuration that gives way to the (again!) the following phrase (mm. 8-9). The motif is the
arpeggiated chords of the transition, and given Classical musical emblem of a sigh, and it encapsu-
that x, y, and z are melodically even more neu- lates the expressive world of the following dis-
tral, of the melodically significant ideas of the course.'6 A middle-voice counterpoint in mm. 7-8
Ballade, only themes B, C, and D are free of reproducesthe motif a sixth lower as ebl-dl.17Struc-
references to the just-identified motivic con- turally, the most striking feature of the introduction
tour. Another, equally overt, motivic interrela- is its emphasis on C as the melodic beginning, strik-
tionship links theme C with the first appendix ing because the fourth scale degree (4), not being a
of the main theme, al: compare the left-hand member of the tonic triad, is an unexpected choice
for the beginning of the melody from the standpoint
motif in m. 138 with the one in m. 36. A much
of Classical tonal practice. It is surely worth noting
less obvious link, but still close to the surface, that on the surface (mm. 6-7) the accented melodic
relates the theme to the introduction: compare
beginning, c2 (4), is directly related to gl (1) before
the right hand in m. 138 with m. 3. Thus, on resolving to bbl in a gesture that echoes the first
the surface at least, only themes B and D ap- descent from c3 to bb2via g2 in m. 3: the introduc-
pear to be without significant links to other tion encapsulates what matters in a most economi-
ideas in the piece. cal fashion. Both the sigh motif and its specific ini-
Although these overt motivic links, how-
ever, do play a role in establishing connections
between individual ideas of the discourse, I
believe the motivic interrelationships and deri- '6InFrederickNiecks's words, op. 23 is "full of sighs, sobs,
vations one discovers beneath the surface are groans, and passionate ebullitions" (FrederickChopin as a
Man and a Musician, vol. II [London, 1888; rpt. Neptune
far more significant. The narrative continuity City, N.J., n.d.], p. 268). More recently, Anatoly Leikin
in the Ballade mainly relies on those. The meta- claims that the sigh gesture in op. 23 evokes the seven-
teenth-century operatic genre of the lamento. Compare
phor of what is on or beneath the surface stands Anatoly Leikin, The Dissolution of Sonata Structure in
here for the distinction between an overt me- Romantic Piano Music (1820-1850) (Ph.D. diss., Univer-
lodic shape and its underlying structure that sity of California,Los Angeles, 1986), p. 242.
can be revealed when this overt shape is re- '7Chopinis as unconcerned
with the hiddenparallelfifths
between the top and the middle voices in mm. 7-8 as he is
duced to its most fundamental pitches. By be- with the overt ones in mm. 6-7; see n. 9 above.
57
19TH m. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 26 28 30 31 36
CENTURY
MUSIC A^I 1 JI - ,, 1_ I 1 _ 1- - I
b r-I Ir
Irr r r,k J#,r_r
r- I
- ~ ,
- r r r bJ# r-r1 \-It
-10-- ' 7
i J J
I I I j ''---- I I I I I I 3 I i
in g
Example 2: Ballade, mm. 9-36, reduction.
m. 36 37 38 40 41 42 44
A I _ _
.n g
in g
tial pitch will have profound repercussions in what mm. 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, and 20). A new feature (with
follows.18 consequences in the future) is provided by the
A reduction of theme A (ex. 2) reveals the hidden stepwise descending thirds of the counterpoint.
polyphonic nature of its melody. The main struc- Every significant interpreter of Chopin's music
tural melody (markedby ascending stems in ex. 2) is knows to what extent the composer's surface ho-
constructed mostly of the dyadic sigh motif encoun- mophony covers multivoiced textures. If the melody
tered in the introduction (mostly, because on two of theme A was characterizedby hidden polyphony,
occasions the motif's direction is inverted to ascend that of the following appendix, al, might be dubbed
and at the end the dyads are abandonedin favor of a heterophonic: the right-hand melody is reduced to
longer linear descent). The antecedent (mm. 9-16) as its structurally most important pitches, rhythmi-
a whole can be reduced to a single sigh, 5-4, but the cally displaced, and doubled an octave lower in the
consequent (mm. 17-36) goes back to 5 and com- left hand. A reduction of the melody (ex. 3) shows
pletes the stepwise descent all the way to 1. This that it is, again, constructed wholly of the descend-
melody is accompanied by a counterpoint (descending-dyad sigh motif. A new feature, and worth re-
ing stems in the example)composed wholly of thirds membering for its future repercussions, is that both
descendingby step. It is most striking that the theme halves of the appendix begin on f2, again a striking
is constructed of the same motif governing the in- choice for a starting point of a melody, since 7 is not
troduction. (Note, by the way, how the sigh motif a member of the tonic triad.
reappearstwice on the surface in the left-hand ac- It has alreadybeen mentioned that in the follow-
companiment at the cadence, m. 35.) The fourth ing two appendixes, a2 and a3, true melody has
scale degreegives way to the fifth one as the opening given way to an increasingly nervous figuration. But
melodic tone, but does not disappearfrom view com- this too can be reduced to its structurally most im-
pletely, interrupting the structural melodic descent portant pitches. The two two-measure incises of a2
at the end of the antecedent. It reappearsalso, on par (see fig. 1) differ (apartfrom being sounded in differ-
with the fifth degree, as a significant surface detail, ent octaves) only in that the first ends with the fifth
when in mm. 21-23 (and again in mm. 24-25) the scale degree in the bass, whereas the second ends
g2_gl octave is divided by d2 and c2. Even more on with the conclusive prime, which ensures that the
the surface (so much that it does not appearat all in repetition is not heard as redundant. Melodically,
my reduction), but certainly no less significant, is both incises consist essentially of two tetrachords
the insistent droningof the accented cls (righthand, descending by step, one from C to G and the other
from F to C (see the reduction of mm. 44-45 in ex.
4), which condenses and summarizes the pitch rela-
tionships observed before, namely, the emphasis on
8In his well-known analysis of the Ballade, Hugo 4 in its relation to 1 (as earlier in the introduction,
Leichtentrittalso derivesthe whole work from a single
motivic source,but he locates this sourcein m. 5. See mm. 3 and 6-7) and the emphasis on 7, which is now
Leichtentritt,Analyse von Chopin'schenKlavierwerke,vol. revealedas related to 4 (i.e., as the 4 of 4, a sort of 4 to
II (Berlin,1921),p. 2. Leichtentritt'sclaim is disputedin the second power).
Wagner, Die Klavierballade um die Mitte des 19. Jahr- The following appendix,a3, begins with the figure
hunderts,pp. 13-16. On the otherhand,Leikincorrectly reduced in ex. 5, repeating it four times, in different
identifiesthe sigh motifas beingof pivotalimportancein
op. 23. See Leikin, The Dissolution of Sonata Structure,p. octaves, in mm. 48-52. Then it continues as in ex. 6,
250. repeating the pattern initiated in m. 54 four times in
58
m. 44 45 begins the second theme. The key may have changed, KAROL
I
but the melodic pitch on which the continuity of BERGER
Chopin's
the whole so centrally depends, C, together with its Ballade,
in g tributaryF, remains as firmly in charge as ever. op. 23
The second theme, B (reduced in ex. 7), is, like
Example 4: Ballade, mm. 44-45, reduction. the first one, polyphonic-consisting again of a struc-
m. 48 49
tural melody (in ex. 7, upward stems plus a few
8 . . . -. .............................. embellishing unstemmed note heads) and a lower
counterpoint. This textural similarity by itself es-
tablishes a link between themes B and A. But there
are also other, more specifically motivic links with
in g the preceding music, as well as links of pitch. The
Example 5: Ballade, mm. 48-49, reduction. antecedent and consequent are almost identical me-
lodically, consisting essentially of two sighs, one on
fl, the other on c2, and a descent from 5 to 1, articu-
mm. 54-55, so that by the end of the appendix the lated into individual sighs in the antecedent, linear
melodic cl remains unresolved, its importance un- (despite the missing 4) in the consequent. (Inview of
derscored by the bass, which summarizes the cen- this near identity, what necessitates the consequent,
tral pitch relationship of the discourse so far by what makes it nonredundant, is, of course, that in
alternatingrepeatedlyc and G (againrelated directly, the antecedent 1 is reachedon a weak beat and is not
with economy equal to that of the introduction). supported by the El-tonic chord, both weaknesses
Thus the inconclusive appendix flows directly into being corrected in the consequent.) Moreover, in
the following modulating arpeggiation. The reduc- theme A the consequent had consisted of a few sighs
tion reveals again the exclusive reliance on the sigh followed by a linear descent from 5 to 1, and the
motif and, moreover, a return of the motif to the antecedent had stated the first and last sigh motives
pitch level at which it was initially introduced in at the same pitch level. In both themes, A and B, the
mm. 6-7. The pitch C dominates the whole appen- melodic high point in the consequent gets additional
dix and is as important at the end of m. 55 as it was emphasis by being prolongedan octave apart in two
at the beginning of m. 1. As the motion to the registers (cf. mm. 21-25 and 79-80). More impor-
second key and theme begins, the sigh motif and the tant, the ubiquitous sigh appearingat several scale
4 that wants, but does not quite manage, to exploit degrees is again the main motivic component of the
it to descend to 3 are firmly established as the main melody (on a most fundamental level, both the ante-
melodic protagonists of the discourse. cedent and consequent of B are large-scale sighs, as
was the antecedent of A). And the pitches singled
m. 52 53 54 out for attention, in addition to the expected bb2and
A I 'o w-__
eb2(5 and 1 in the local key), happen to be their upper
6
-- - , ,
neighbors, c2 and fl, the two crucially important
-- * J- -- -
-e-
-
pitches mentioned above. Note the extent to which
-_ T-e-- -_
in g
they are singled out for attention on the surface:the
vertical dyad, fl-cl, itself coming, as seen, directly
from the horn calls of the precedingtransition, opens
both the antecedent and the consequent, stressed
The only motivically significant element of the with an accent in the former and an arpeggioin the
transition,x, is providedby the empty vertical fourths latter.19The counterpoint that accompanies the first
and fifths in the left hand (mm. 56-57, 60-61, and
64-67), which in their recollection of horns, the ro-
mantic emblem of sylvan nature, help to achieve the
calando-smorzando-ritenutotransition from the agi- 19Thearpeggiois presentin Chopin'sautograph but not in
tated figurationof the appendixesto the meno mosso the FrenchandGermanfirsteditions,in which Chopin's
and sotto voce second theme. It is striking that, once signhas beenmistakenfora redundantnatural,a mistake
the composermissedin readingSchlesinger's proofs.This
the key of G minor has finally been abandoned,the situation,by the way, might lend some credenceto Jan
horn calls use exclusively cl and the Fs above and Ekier'sclaim that the Leipzigpublishersbasedtheir text
below (mm. 64-67). Thus the cl in mm. 64-67 picks on correctedproofsof the Schlesingeredition (see n. 9
above).On the otherhand,it is alsopossiblethatwhoever
up the cl abandoned,unresolved at the end of m. 55, copiedChopin'sautographfor Breitkopfand Hartelmis-
and this in turn is picked up, together with the read the composer's notation in the same way as
accompanying fl, in m. 67 by the right hand as it engraverdid.
Schlesinger's
59
19TH m. 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82
CENTURY
MUSIC A --,__
._.,- I l j ii
-- I,
o- j_o *
I (4X,
I1 LJ i
-JjinElJ j-;/ \ e
in E;
halves of both the antecedent and consequent is music include a subtle echo of a gesture from the
againrelatedto the one that accompaniedthe melody second theme, when the appendix is repeated and
of the first theme, consisting of thirds filled linearly, the strong-beat bls in mm. 87 and 88 resonate an
this time, however, ascending rather than descend- octave higher,in a recall of the transferof the melody
ing. In short, whereas theme B could not be related to the higher register, from bbl to bb2(mm. 71 and
to the remaining thematic and motivic material of 79). And finally, note the inner-voice counterpoint
the Ballade while remaining on the melodic sur- in mm. 85-86 echoing the initial thirds, d2-c2-bbl,
face,20this reduction has revealed such a wealth of in the minor mode, d 1l-c 1-bb.This is the first time
textural, motivic, and even pitch-centeredlinks with that the c2-bl motif, followed since the introduc-
theme A and other music preceding theme B that tion, gets inflected to cbl-b6 (and note that Chopin
nothing central to the new theme now appearsto be marks these two pitches, not the initial dbl, with
completely new. accents). The significance of this inflection will be-
come apparentlater.
m. 82 83 84 85 86
A I I
Thus, by the end of the first period the main
features on which the work's narrative conti-
in E;
nuity depends are in place. The individual
Example 8: Ballade, mm. 83-90, reduction. phases of discourse are connected by economi-
cal and rigorous links of motives and pitches.
Everything of melodic significance is con-
The appendix of the second theme, b (reducedin structed from a single motif of extreme sim-
ex. 8), is also entirely derived from the main theme plicity and expressive-emblematic resonance:
or, to be exact, from its counterpoint. Like the coun- the descending step, with the descending (or
terpoint of A, it consists entirely of thirds descend- ascending) linear thirds playing a secondary,
ing by step. In addition, it is constituted by one such
accompanying role. Equally significant is the
third, which, moreover, is sounded at the same pitch
level as most of those in theme A (although this emphasis on a single pitch, C, and secondarily
on F, as the threads connecting distinct and
time, of course, with an abl, since the key has
changed).That the structuralline descends now only often distant phases of discourse, threads main-
to 3 rather than to 1 diminishes the sense of closure tained even through a change of the local key.
and thereby increases the continuity. In this respect, (Chopin may have chosen these rather than
the appendix of the second theme behaves as para- other pitches because they are the only two
doxically as those of the first theme, which also diatonic scale degrees shared by G minor and Eb
introduced increasing restlessness instead of con- major that are not members of the tonic triads
firming the stability of the theme's cadence. Further in these keys; consequently, they provide par-
features linking the appendix with the preceding
ticularly unstable, dynamic, forward-pressing
melodic elements. They thus contribute to the
overall shape of the piece, which moves from
20Compare,however,AlanRawsthome's observation:"This an ill-defined, uncertain beginning to an em-
secondtheme is a kind of complementto the first,a re-
statementin the majormode and in a moreconsolatory phatically stable and final closure.)
mood of the earlierutterancein G minor.Both consist
basicallyof the dominantthirteenthresolvingupon the The transition from E; major in m. 90 to V of A
tonic, andboth proceedmelodicallyfromthe mediantto minor in m. 94 proceeded by shifting the bass up-
the key-note"("Ballades,Fantasyand Scherzos,"in The
Chopin Companion: Profiles of the Man and the Musi- ward by thirds, from Eb(El major, m. 90), through G
cian, ed. Alan Walker[New York, 1973],p. 47). (G minor, m. 91) and Bb(Bbmajor, m. 92), to d (D
60
m. 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 KAROL
BERGER
A^
6-W.f
L I-
4,, ,-
-Ij1
S4 -
I1jj
2B
iI J JX;-
jjIjjgJiJ n3 " -i
Chopin's
Ballade,
,; ,
op. 23
on V/a/bl
m. 106 107 108 109110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117118 120122123 124 125 126
8------------------ --?---X- . ----- ------- ... A... . -- .
I/A/BU ' V/e;
m. 126 130 131 132 133 134136 137

8.
A I W; - - ,, KJIL &_
' y 4 -_. _ _
V/et/E;
minor, m. 93). The correspondingshift in the struc- in mm. 11-12 and 19-20. It should be increasingly
turally most important melodic pitch is from gl in clear that Chopin likes to impart significance to
m. 90, through d2 in m. 91 (thus recapturing the specific pitches and to maintain their identity
melodic point of departureof the first theme), to e~ through changes of underlying keys.)
in m. 94, a motion by step again, but moving upward The b2 just reached (m. 106) becomes the melodic
this time, the first suggestion after the inverted sighs point of departureof the following phrase (melody
of the main theme that upwardmotion may come to reduced in ex. 10). Until the middle of the conse-
play an important role in the melodic structuring of quent, this essentially reproducesthe original theme
the work. By the beginning of the following appen- B "on" a new key (cf. ex. 10 with ex. 7). But the
dix (m. 95), the e is transferredto the appropriately second half of the consequent (afterm. 117), instead
high register, e2 (see the reduction in ex. 9). As the of descending from 5 to 1, introduces a second as-
reduction shows, the whole dominant preparation cending line similar to the one in the preceding
that follows (mm. 95-106) adopts the melody-with- appendix: e3-f#3-g#3-a#3-b3/c6l. Only now, when the
counterpoint texture of the main theme, just as it B, which began the melody of the phrase, has been
adopts its motivic substance, but freely mixes de- reached again and enharmonically respelled, does
scending with ascending steps (thus exploiting the another descending dyad appear, contracted this time
inverted sigh motif observed in the precedingtransi- to a semitone, cbl-bb.Thus, the melody of the whole
tion) and creates from this mixture the first signifi- phrase can be reduced to the same large-scale sigh,
cant ascending structural melodic line of the work: Cb-Bb.The appendix that follows (reducedin ex. 11)
e2-f#2-g#2-a2-b2.21(It is perhaps not accidental that serves then to prolong the melodic Bbreached in m.
the beginning of this line involves the same pitches 126 over the dominant harmony preparingthe fol-
as the only ascending dyad in the main theme: el-f#1 lowing key, embellishing this Bb prominently with
its upper neighbor Cb. (It is because of these Cbs that
the preparedkey is ELminor through m. 134. Only
21Adornoheard a quotation of this passage in the second in mm. 135-36 is ct3 prominently introduced as a
movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony (mm. 137-41), "in component of the d3-c3-bb2motif in the left hand,
a moment of breathless tension" (indeed, a very close, so that the preparedkey changes into ELmajor.)
although probably fortuitous, resemblance). Theodor W. It is apparentto what extent the melodic content
Adoro, Mahler:Eine musikalische Physiognomik,Gesam-
melte Schriften, vol. 13 (Frankfurtam Main, 1971), pp. of the introduction and of the first period was domi-
224-25. nated by one pitch, C, and the dyad descending from
61
19TH it, C-BK.The melodic events just traced, the events m. 138 139 140 141
CENTURY of the transition between the first period and the A I
episode, can be interpreted as a contraction of this

descending whole tone, C-B6, into a semitone, CK- in El
B[.22 The principal stages of this process are the
establishment of b2 as the main melodic pitch in m. Example 12: Ballade, mm. 138-41,
106 (an event whose importance is emphasized on left hand, reduction.
the surface by the highest dynamic level reached so m. 138 139 140 141
far,ff, and by b2 opening the repetition of theme B in ^ I- e- - -
1, _, .a _ -
its expressively transformedcharacter),the reconfir-
mation of b3 in m. 124 (again underscored on the in Eb
surface by the furtherdynamic intensification to the
climactic ff), the enharmonic respelling of the pitch Example 13: Ballade, mm. 138-41,
to c 1 in m. 125, and its resolution to b6in m. 126.23 right hand, reduction.
The correspondence between the C-B' motif of the
m. 146 147 148 149 150
introduction and the first periodand the Cb-Bbmotif A I
of the transition is underscoredfurther on the sur- .Q I !I

L 1 I
face by the striking similarity of texture and register

in E;
between the first four measures of the appendix y
with their oscillation between bband cbl (mm. 126- Example 14: Ballade, mm. 146-50, reduction.
29) and the last two measures of appendix a3 with
their oscillation between bband cl (mm. 54-55).
g2 always intervenes between c3 and bh2, just as it
As mentioned earlier,the scherzando24episode in
did in the introduction in mm. 3 and 6-7.) The sec-
E; major (mm. 138-66) consists of three harmoni-
ond incise (mm. 142-45) is a close variation, almost
cally very stable four-measureincises followed by a a repetition, of the first, with the left hand giving up
much longer and much less stable final incise, which
its melodic role in the last measure,25while the
reaches a cadential six-four in m. 158, prolongs this
harmony, and then resolves it by way of chromatic melody in the right hand continues its descent chro-
matically to gl in m. 146. The third incise (mm. 146-
passing chords in mm. 162-65 to V3, at the begin-
49) gives up the heterophony altogether and works
ning of the next phrase in m. 166. The first incise instead with the chromatic-scale idea introduced in
(mm. 138-41) offers another instance of Chopin's the last measure of the preceding one (m. 145). Its
characteristic "heterophonic" texture in which the
melody (reducedin ex. 14)essentially prolongsthe gl
melody is presented simultaneously, although with to m. 150 by means of a chromatic motion up to and
considerablerhythmic displacements and variations,
down from-what else?-c2. And the last incise (mm.
in two different octaves. Here the melody in the left
hand (ex. 12) reveals, once again, exclusive reliance 150-66) works initially with chromatic dyads, as-
on dyads descending (or ascending)by step, with the cending and descending (see the notes emphasized in
the right hand in mm. 150-53), in reference to the
whole melody reducible to our Ur-motif of C-Bb.
The melody in the right hand (ex. 13) is a variant of preceding chromatic scales, producing essentially a
chromatic ascent from e6l (m. 150) to c#2 (m. 154).
the one in the left, to the extent that it also is reduc-
The remaining part of the incise (mm. 154-66) oper-
ible to the C-Bl sigh. (A noteworthy surface detail:
ates with motivically neutral scales and arpeggios,
with no genuinely melodic content, and with the
main "line" transferredto the bass. The line reverses
22Recallthe first suggestionthat c1 mightbe inflectedto the direction of the chromatic-scale motion to pro-
cbdin the inner-voicecounterpoint of appendixb (mm.85
and89;see ex. 8) andnote the accentswith whichChopin duce the descent from C# (m. 154), through BB# = C
marksthese ckls,but not the precedingd6ls,as well as the (m. 156) and Cb (m. 157), to BBl (m. 158). Thus as the
fact that the secondtime around,in m. 90, he does not cadential six-four is reached on the downbeat of m.
place an accent on bN,as he did in m. 86, wantingthe 158, the BBl in the bass is approached from Cl in a
unresolvedcb1to lingerin the memoryas a preparation for motion recalling the contracted form of the Ur-mo-
the firstbeatof m. 106.Symmetrically, the left-handcoun-
terpointd3-c3-bb2 in mm. 134-36 (see ex. 11)announces
that the Ur-motif will be shortly reinflected back to C-Bk.
2It was this sequenceof eventsthatmotivatedmy earlier 25At some time between the autographand the French
suggestion that the key of mm. 106-17 was "really" BM firstedition,Chopinsharpenedthe interruptionby delet-
major,enharmonically notated to facilitate reading. ing a chordin m. 145:with the chord,the chain of de-
24Somarked in the autograph,although not in the French scending steps would extend to dl; without it, an ebl is
first edition. deletedandthe chainstopsat f1.
62
m. 166 167 168 169 170171172173 174 175 176 177178 179 180 KAROL
BERGER
Chopin's
Ballade,
J' op. 23
1,-
'EJTaplJ/ d mm V-W0- Mui
in E;
m. 195 199 200 202 205 206 207 208
P~~~,lk C : zE _A #: N
6~~ 6~~
J-
0c A :i4 j 3 -# __O &#0a __
ing V4 V7 i
tif that is recognizable from the transition and that established as the point of departurefor the structural
might have been thought overcome in the episode. melody of the following two appendixes (d2 in m.
The following prolongation of the bass BB6through 195), but is also shifted to the bass register, where it
the bass motion from BBl (m. 158), through cl (m. providesa dominant pedal point for the appendixes (d
162)and Cb(m. 165), back to BBb(m. 166) manages to and D, mm. 194-207, with DD addedin the last two
combine both forms of the motif, C-Bl and Cb-Bl,in measures). Moreover, the melodic reduction of the
a grand summarizing gesture as the episode gives appendixes(ex. 16)shows that even when the tonic of
way to the last period. In fact, the whole episode, G minor is reached in m. 208, d2 (i.e., 5) remains the
from m. 138 to m. 166, can be seen as a gigantic melodic pitch, which, of course, is one of the main
prolongationof the pitch B1,prominentlyembellished reasons why the music has to continue, even though
with both C and CK. the tonic has been regained. It will be the tonal
The appearance of theme B in mm. 166-80 (ex. function of the coda both to confirm the tonic and to
15) is in pitch content an almost literal recapitula- reach the melodic 1 in a convincing way.
tion of mm. 68-82 (cf. with ex. 7). Two subtle vari- The coda, like the episode, consists of four in-
ants, however, should be noticed. First, the omis- cises whose motivic content might be represented
sion of the first melodic note from the antecedent as mmnnl, with the final incise getting out of con-
(i.e., the missing fi in m. 166) is clearly designed to trol and exploding the eight-measure framework es-
focus all of the attention on the bass BBM; its crucial tablished in the preceding one (strictly speaking, it
motivic significance has just been discussed. Sec- had consisted of nine measures with elision; see fig.
ond, the counterpoint accompanying the main 1). The first and second incises (mm. 209-12 and
melody has been revised in orderto stress, instead of 213-16; ex. 17) prolong d2, embellishing it with the
the thirds ascending by step, the more typical thirds upper-neighborsighs, and then descend, again by
and dyads descending by step. In the recapitulation way of sighs, to bb1. The third incise (mm. 216-24;
of the following appendix b (mm. 181-88; compare ex. 18) continues the stepwise descent all the way to
with the reduction of the correspondingpassage in gl. Significantly, this is reached not through the
ex. 8), the original dl -ck -bb counterpoint is not diatonic A, but through the chromatic A--surely a
completed (bNis missing in both m. 184 and m. 188). backwardreference to the prominent Abs in the in-
This not only returns to the contracted form of the troduction.26I have already interpreted this promi-
Ur-motif, but, paradoxically,places emphasis on the nence as a way of preparingthe second key of the
missing bb,as if to say that the descent from Bbto E; work. Retrospectively, another layer can be addedto
in the preceding phrase did not manage to challenge this interpretation: the flattened 2 descending to 1
Bbspreeminence. makes a clear reference to the contracted semitone
The retransition from Eb major back to V of G form of the Ur-motif, which played such an impor-
minor (mm. 189-94) is again not a true modulation, tant role in the central phase of the discourse. In
but only a simple shift from the Eb-majortriad (mm.
188-89) to the G-minor triad (mm. 190-92), which
accompanies the transference of the main melodic 26Rawsthorne also believesthat the Neapolitanharmony
pitch fromgl (m. 188)tobbl (m. 189)tod2(m. 190). By in the passagebeginningin m. 216 mayechothe introduc-
the end of the retransition phrase, this d2 is not only tion ("Ballades,
FantasyandScherzos,"p. 48).
63
19TH m. 208 209 210 211 212
CENTURY 212 213 214 215 216
MUSIC
A I- . - I I I
b
- t - - -- - - S d ^
:||
in g

m. 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224
A I J J
in g
m. 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 244 245 246 248 250
8 -
A#.4-)J _I J -II-----.------ ' \ L

6\l*Y--1:l
6
in g V4 V7 i
additionto this overallstructuralsigh-motifdescent to g2 by way of sighs (mm. 234-35, repeated an

fromAbto G, the incise brimsoverwith significant, octave higher in mm. 236-37). The structural
characteristicdetails. It consists first of a twice- melodic motion in the background,however, is
repeated A6-G sigh motif (mm. 216-19) and then of upward, from c3 (m. 234) to d2 (m. 235) and
a stepwise octave descent from g2 to gl through two hence to d3 (m. 237) and d4 (m. 238); this last
perfect fourths, from fl to c1 (mm. 220-21) and from
c2 to gl (mm. 222-24), a descent that emphasizes the pitch is reached simultaneously with the in-
two pitches that played such an important role be-
crease in the dynamic level to ff and with the
arrival of the cadential dominant-function six-
fore, fl and, in particular,cl/c2, and that manages to
articulate once more (in m. 222) the c2-bbl motif. four chord. As the cadential harmonies move
from the six-four chord (m. 238) to V7 (m. 246)
The last incise (mm. 224-50; ex. 19) begins to i (m. 250), the melodic d4 is moved to the
like the previous one, with twice repeated sigh register three octaves lower (dl in m. 239), and
motif Al-G (mm. 224-27). It continues, also then the ascent from C continues through e1
similarly to the precedingone, with a tetrachord (m. 240) and f#l (m. 248), both embellished by
descending from fl to cl (mm. 228-30). The the sigh-motif upper neighbors, to the final GG
chromatic passing-notec#1,introducedthis time (m. 250). In other words, whereas the third
into the descent, gives the final cl a new em- incise ended with the tetrachord descending
phasis, and this becomes the springboardfor from 4 to 1 and thus completed the descent
the remaining portion of the fourth incise; already promised in mm. 6-7 of the Ballade,
which diverges from the third one. Instead of the last incise gives renewed prominence to
the descent from c2 to gl in mm. 222-24, there the 4, with which the work began and which
is now a prolongation of C through three oc- reverberatedthrough so much of the discourse.
taves, from cl to c3 (mm. 230-34). Thus, this It then "catastrophically" and heroically re-
crucial pitch and scale degree is once more verses the direction of the structural melody so
explicitly emphasized. But what happens next that the final line of the work is the climactic
is the most dramatic and climactic reversal in ascent from 4 to 1. Note that this ascent does
the Ballade-a true "catastrophe"in the Aris- not come unprepared; on the contrary, it has
totelian sense of the term. On the surface ap- significant precedents. Even on the surface, the
pears the awaited tetrachordal descent from c3 motivic shapes (intervallic and rhythmic) in
64
Marcia funebre sulla morte d'un Eroe KAROL
BERGER
Chopin's
P A
Ballade,
op. 23
_-_ _ _
Example 20: Beethoven, Piano Sonata in AS,op. 26,

Marcia funebre sulla morte d'un Eroe, mm. 1-4.
mm. 242-50 recall those of two earlier pas- heard from a distance.28The allusion may be
sages, the parallel points of dominant prepara- even more specific than that. The dotted-
tion based on the first theme in mm. 101-06 rhythm upbeat-to-downbeat form of the motif
and 201-06, the only traditionally developmen- is identical to that opening the slow move-
tal ones in the work. Beneath the surface, the ments in Beethoven's Piano Sonata in AS, op.
structural melodic ascent D-E-F#-G (= 5-#6- 26 (1800-01), the Marcia funebre sulla morte
#7-8) in mm. 238-50 (see ex. 19) recalls the d'un Eroe (this was the Beethoven sonata that
ones in the preceding passages: E-F#-G#-A-B seems to have been most often played and
(= 5-#6-#7-8/1-2) in mm.^99-106 (seeex. 9) and taught by Chopin;29ex. 20), and in his Sym-
D-E-F#-G-A-B9(=5-#6-#7-8/1-2-3) in mm. 195- phony in Eb(Eroica),op. 55 (1803), the Marcia
206 (see ex. 16). But while the earlier two as- funebre (ex. 21), the two most famous, early
cents overshot their targets, the last finally gets nineteenth-century funeral marches celebrat-
it right and stops at the tonic's prime, thus ing the death of a revolutionary hero. The end-
realizing for the first time the closure previ- ing of the Ballade, no matter how emphatic
ously implied. and conclusive, is not triumphant, joyous, or
The basic function of the concluding appen- ecstatic, but catastrophic, heroic, and tragic.
dix (mm. 250-64) is to reinforce this sense of The narrative ends successfully in the sense
harmonic and melodic closure by prolonging that it reaches its appointed goal, but, as in the
the final tonic. The appendix does this prima- biography of a revolutionary, the achievement
rily by covering much of the tonal space with of the conclusion requires a heroic effort and is
two ascending, G melodic-minor scales (mm. paid for with the protagonist's death.
250-52 and 254-56) and then with a descend- The most overt motivic referencein the final
ing chromatic one (mm. 258-62; combined with appendix is, of course, the twice-repeated evo-
the left hand's contrary-motion chromatic as- cation of the opening of the main theme (itself
cent in mm. 258-59), the concluding gestures an idea with several motivic cross-references
of tonal saturation that look backward to the in the work) in mm. 253-54 and 257-58. The
opening-up of the tonal space in the initial first of these presents for the last time the Ur-
three measures of the Ballade.27In purely for- motif sigh of cl-bb with which the Ballade had
mal terms, it would be difficult to imagine a opened in mm. 6-7 (see ex. 1 again). The sec-
stronger, more emphatic closure. But the im- ond raises the motif a third to eb2-d2,reproduc-
port of these final fifteen measures is not purely ing the middle-voice counterpoint that accom-
formal. Amid the clamor of the f-fff scales, two panied the first presentation of the Ur-motif in
hushed moments of three piano ritenuto drum mm. 7-8. Thus, in the final measures of the
strokes each (mm. 252-53 and 256-57) bring to
mind, subtly but insistently, a funeral march
28An allusion to an unspecified funeral march in these
low-register chords is identified by Igor Belza in Fryderyk
27Andif one glances beyond the closed context of this F. Chopin (2nd edn. Warsaw, 1980), p. 184; and by Leikin,
composition, the gestures look also forward to the final, The Dissolution of Sonata Structure,p. 256.
"cadential" measures of Schoenberg's Erwartung. See 29Seethe references to the work in Eigeldinger, Chopin:
Rosen, Arnold Schoenberg(New York, 1975), pp. 57-59. Pianist and Teacher.
65
19TH Marciafunebre.Adagioassai
.
CENTURY
MUSIC Fl. r J
A
V
I
I i 9,
P
v p4
Ob.
X rr p4 N
C1.
Bsn. y L' - _
I. IIin C I
Hn. I
IIIin Es
Trpt.in C
Timp.
sotto voce
Vn. I
I
PP
Vn. II
PP
Via.
18bbaX P
J " Jj
Vc.
I I) p
;Sa '7 I $ J
_k i _92
A | _ _ i
Cb. 9:66 1 7 $
-
b%~P
-V
PP
Example 21: Beethoven, Symphony in Eb(Eroica),op. 55, Marcia funebre, mm. 1-2.
Ballade, its main motivic idea reappears suc- on a single pitch, C, which maintains its iden-
cessively at the pitch levels at which it had tity even through the changes of underlying
originally appeared(almost) simultaneously. keys and which, as the opening pitch of the Ur-
motif C-Bl, generates the expectation of the
IV structural melodic descent from the fourth to
A summary is now in order. The narrative the first scale degree of the main key. The
continuity in the G-MinorBallade dependspri- expectation is repeatedly frustrated, and the
marily on two factors: (1) the threads provided work concludes instead with a climactic, cata-
by a single sigh motif, which generates with strophic-heroic reversal of the structural
astonishing economy the essential motivic sub- melody's direction, that is, with an ascent from
stance of the work; (2) the obsessive focusing 4 to 1 in mm. 230-50.
66
These essential threads of narrativecontinu- out forcing Chopin to abandonhis light-handed KAROL
BERGER
ity would remain undiscovered without reach- aristocraticsprezzaturafor academic gravitas.32 Chopin's
ing below the surface and reducing the melody Thus the composer's individual answer to Ballade,
the general problem of continuity raised by any op. 23
phrase by phrase. Reduction of this sort does
not have to go very deep (to go deeper might narrativeform, an answer given from the stand-
prove counterproductive): when analyzing the point of the aesthetics of the salon, involved
music of composers not known for a taste for the invention of a new kind of "developmen-
ciphers and puzzles, one should remain close tal" technique33and its deployment in a new
to what is aurally perceivable. All that is re- kind of genre, arguablythe first artistically sig-
quired is to strip the surface of the most obvi- nificant result in a series of nineteenth-century
ous embellishments and distinguish individual attempts to provide a viable alternative to the
melodic lines and counterpoints that may be Classical sonata.34Schumann's reportindicates
hidden in the ostensibly homophonic texture. the importance Chopin himself attached to his
In a characteristically perceptive "dialecti- op. 23 in what he told Schumann about the
cal" observation designed to answer the obtuse work during their meeting of 12 September
accusation that Chopin's was merely "salon 1836: "I also told him that this was my favorite
music," Carl Dahlhaus argued that the term among all [his works]. After a long thoughtful
"salon music" is thoroughly appropriate,pro- rest, he said with great emphasis: 'I like this, it
vided the authentic spirit of the philosophical is also my favorite'."35And no wonder: at the
and literary salon is not misconstrued: time, it was undoubtedly Chopin's most ambi-
tious, original, and successful large-scale com-
This spirit was marked by essays and dialogues in a
conversational tone, not by disquisitions and learned
treatises. We need only take the Classical sonata 32Chopin'smondanite is exceedingly well documented in
literally as a thematic disquisition, a meditation in his correspondence.Less well known, but equally charac-
notes, to understand why the sonata principle and teristic, is his ironic attitude toward academic manners he
salon music were mutually exclusive. . . . Salon had a chance to observe during a scientific congress in
Berlin in September 1828. The three extant letters from
music's conversational tone in no way implied that Berlin to his family in Warsaw are pepperedwith quickly
the composer had studiously to avoid saying any- drawn, biting anecdotes and caricatures. See Chopin,
thing substantial lest he be accused of pedantry.30 Korespondencja,I, 81-85.
33Note Jim Samson's related observation that in the So-
nata in B Minor, op. 58, thematic links are not only a
Writing of the G-Minor Ballade, Dahlhaus sub- means of unifying thematic contrasts but also a contribu-
sequently observed: "If sophistication and idio- tion to "a process of continuous development and trans-
formation within the bar-by-barprogression of the move-
syncrasy are hidden beneath the seemingly ment, an unbroken thread spun of related ideas." Samson
straightforwardsurface of this work, the genu- writes further of "the subtle, minutely detailed motivic,
ine spirit of the salon demands not only that harmonic andrhythmic cross-referenceswhich ensure con-
the music harbor an element of artifice but tinuity of thought" (The Music of Chopin [London, 1985],
p. 133).
that this element be kept concealed. (Eversince 34EmileBosquet,J6zefChomifiski, and JimSamson are fun-
the Renaissance, the aesthetic motto of aristo- damentally correct to see in Chopin's Ballades predeces-
cratic music culture was nascondere l'arte: art sors and pianistic equivalents of Liszt's symphonic poems.
Emile Bosquet, "Chopinprecurseurle poeme pianistique,"
must be concealed.)"31In reaching below the Annales Chopin 3 (1958), 63-67; J6zef M. Chomifiski,
melodic surface of the Ballade, one is able to FryderykChopin, trans. Bolko Schweinitz (Leipzig, 1980),
uncover the threads of continuity that provide p. 100; Samson, The Music of Chopin, p. 175.
35"Auchsagte ich es ihm, dass es mir das Liebste unter
the discourse with a musical logic equal in its allen sei. Nach einer langen Pause Nachdenken sagte er
rigor to that of a sonata, without displaying mit grossem Nachdruck:'Das ist mir lieb, auch mir ist es
this logic directly through the techniques of mein Liebstes"' (Robert Schumann's letter to Heinrich
Dorn in Riga, Leipzig, 14 September 1836, quoted in
thematic and motivic development, and with- Chopin, Korespondencja, I, 420). Compare the entry in
Schumann's personal diary, Leipzig, 12 September 1836:
"Inthe morning, Chopin ... 'His Ballade I like best of all.'
I am very glad of that; I am very glad of that" (quotedfrom
30Dahlhaus,Nineteenth-Century Music, trans. J. Bradford Eigeldinger,Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, p. 268). On the
Robinson (Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 1989), p. 148. question of whether Schumann's words refer to op. 23 or
3'Ibid.,p. 149. op. 38, see Belotti, F. Chopin l'uomo, pp. 571-74.
67
19TH position, his answer to those compatriots who, Beethoven.40Chopin himself extolled Bach and
CENTURY
MUSIC like Mickiewicz, urged the composer to under- Mozart above all other predecessors, and his
take a largerwork and not to waste his creative best-known remark concerning Beethoven
powers on miniatures.36 (made to Eugene Delacroix on 7 April 1849), to
But while the novelty and the far-reaching the effect that Mozart never turned his back on
implications of both the technique and the genre the eternal principles of counterpoint, as
are undeniable, neither the technique nor the Beethoven occasionally did, is characteristic of
genre is completely without precedent. As his classicist convictions (only classicists be-
Schumann remarked: "The word 'ballad' was lieve that artistic principles can be ever eter-
transferred to music first by Chopin. By the nal).41But, while there is no reason to doubt
way, only the word seems new to us, one can the composer's sincerity, the affinity between
find the matter already in Beethoven and the technique uncovered here that provides the
Schubert."37I have already noted the exact ex- Ballade with continuity and Beethoven's prin-
tent and limits of the debt that the form of ciple of "contrasting derivation" suggests that
Chopin's op. 23 owes to the Classical sonata- Chopin may have paid closer attention to
allegro. The developmental technique of the Beethoven's sonatas than has hitherto been sus-
work also has its roots in sonata practice, spe- pected.
cifically in Beethoven's principle of "contrast- Indeed the G-Minor Ballade seems to show
ing derivation" of a later theme from an earlier several further traces of such attention, traces
one,38 but was deployed by Chopin with un- that go beyond the affinity of technique. One of
usual rigor, so that, instead of supplementing these has alreadybeen mentioned: the allusion
the Classical techniques of thematic and to the Marcia funebre sulla morte d'un Eroe in
motivic development, it could replace them. the concluding appendix. In addition, I hear in
The general formal shape of the Ballade, with the Ballade traces of a preoccupation with the
its intense orientation toward the ending, may first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in
also owe something to the example of the tri- D Minor, op. 31, no. 2, of 1802. First and fore-
umphantly emphatic Beethovenian codas, almost, Chopin's introductory Largois reminis-
though Chopin characteristically replaced the cent of the Largosections in Beethoven's open-
sense of triumph with one of tragedy.39 ing theme (mm. 1-2 and 7-8 in ex. 22): both
Of all the great composers of his remarkable arpeggiate a major triad in first inversion, and
generation, Chopin has always seemed the least both provide a somewhat tentative, hesitant
touched and least awed by what so many of his beginning to a tempestuous composition.
contemporaries experienced as the simulta- Chopin links the introduction and the main
neously liberating and paralyzing example of theme by not completing the former until the
latter had already begun; Beethoven makes the
beginning of the main theme sound like an
introduction. The similarity is even stronger
36SeeNiecks, FrederickChopin as a Man and a Musician, when Beethoven's theme is recapitulated (mm.
I, pp. 276-78. 143-58 in ex. 23), and the arpeggiated chords
37"DasWort 'Ballade'trugwohl zuerst Chopin in die Musik evolve into instrumental recitatives, the way
iiber. Ubrigens scheint uns nur das Wort neu, die Sache
kann man schon in Beethoven und Schubert finden" the opening chord does in Chopin's introduc-
(Schumann, Gesammelte Schriften,II,343). tion (and the similarities extend here even to
38Inhis discussion of the Ballade, Dahlhaus (Nineteenth- individual recitative gestures: compare
Century Music, p. 148) notes the derivationof what I have
labeled in fig. 2 as b from the opening of A, and he relates
this to Beethoven's "contrastingderivation"principle.
39Inan 1836 review, Schumann observed:"A genuine mu-
sical structure will always have a certain focal point to- 40CompareRosen's view: "Perhapsonly Chopin, coming
ward which everything gravitates, on which all the imagi- from a provincialmusical culture, succeeded in being com-
native strands converge. Many composers place it in the pletely free from its [the prestige of Beethoven] spell" (The
middle (as Mozart does), others toward the close (like Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven [New York,
Beethoven)"(quotedfrom Reinhold Brinkmann,Late Idyll: 1972],p. 379).
The Second Symphony of Johannes Brahms, trans. Peter 41EugeneDelacroix, Journal,vol. I, ed. Andre Joubin(Paris,
Palmer [Cambridge,Mass., 1995],p. 203). 1932),p. 284; trans. WalterPach (New York, 1961), p. 195.
68
Allegro Adagio, c KAROL
A Largo BERGER
(?;? -
La j4 J.
I N
;;- h#rt 4
_ I t 2
f
Chopin's
Ballade,
I rrJL p cresc. sf op. 23
f r-rr#^
HT f
4;<*l"n 1 ^
-; f t It
fI r ^. rtr-i i I
7 Largo ,.. legro
Al< t ;
1 Pcres* c es .
19
p
f
Example 22: Beethoven, Piano Sonata in D Minor, op. 31, no. 2, Largo-Allegro, mm. 1-22.
137
A Largo
.P: r r r con espressione e semplice
147 Allegro Adagio '
n
'.__.._____cresc sf p
- - T L ? r; :.
*^? I I I f;r ;
153 Largo
i rconespressionee semplice
69
19TH
CENTURY
39
A J ji b^4-
MUSIC
#t #te
X el AW
r#> f^ ^t?it ??
49
? ?
?iLft Q
cresc.
Og#tS
J ^ *
N
f
541
^i} , sff - sf sf sf decresc.
* f
>r ; sf r
1_f i
i'3S fJ ;.sf Sf (p"
cresc.- ( , -
i 3: b m~rr^~n~pm
m I
rwrm? ?W .r *- .
_---
-Ott Ww-
Beethoven's mm. 147-48 with Chopin's mm. junction with the more specific similarity of
6-8). Second, the Allegro sections of Beethoven's the two openings, its presence is telling. Third,
main theme (mm. 3-6 and 9-21 in ex. 22) are the Beethoven movement can serve, together
constructed from two-note groups, most of with many other sonata movements by the
which, at least initially, take the form of the composer, as a model of motivic derivation of
sigh motif. The motif is, of course, too ubiqui- one thematic idea from another: note the ex-
tous in music to establish by itself any rela- tent to which the thematic ideas of the second-
tionship between the two works, but in con- key area are permeated by the two-note groups,
70
and specifically the sigh motif, of the main work requiring interpretations),42Chopin's af- KAROL
theme (see in particular mm. 42-54 and 69-75 BERGER
finity with the former and distance from the Chopin's
in ex. 24). Taken individually, each of these latter cannot be in doubt. But dichotomies of Ballade,
Beethovenian traces in the Ballade may be of this sort are useful only when they are treated op. 23
little consequence (although the allusion to the not as rigid systems of classification ("Rossini
funeral march of op. 26 is significant and the qua,Beethovenla")but as flexible heuristic tools
similarity of the introduction to the Largosof allowing one to recognize that, in any actual
op. 31, no. 2, seems to me too close to be phenomenon, features of the twin ideal types
wholly accidental). Taken together, they sug- are mixed and intertwined in a complex fash-
gest that Chopin may have developed his tech- ion, and to describe the mixture with some pre-
nique of narrative continuity and his new genre cision. With exhilarating (and for the pedants,
of the Ballade that embodies it in a more direct maddening)abandon,Chopin transgressedmost
confrontation with some aspects of Beethoven's of the familiar boundaries one can think of, the
legacy than previously suspected. boundaries between aristocracy and middle
In saying this, I do not wish to challenge class, femininity and masculinity, performance
Chopin's self-image. His work does stem from and print, nationalist peripheryand cosmopoli-
Mozart's to a much greater extent than from tan center of Europe, classicism and romanti-
Beethoven's. If, with Dahlhaus, one recognizes cism, political and social conservatism and revo-
not one but two "twin musical cultures" in the lution, to pick just a few at random. True, he
nineteenth century, a Rossinian culture of the was a Mozartian,with his relative lack of inter-
beautiful centered on self-sufficient melody (an est in thematic development and his fixation
aristocratic, operatic, Romance culture for on melody. But, to an extent greater than hith-
which music was a real performingevent) and a erto suspected, he may have been a ^
Beethovenian culture of the sublime centered post-Beethovenian sort of Mozartian.
on processual form grounded in thematic de-
velopment (a middle-class, symphonic, Ger-
manic culture for which music was an ideal 42Dahlhaus,Nineteenth-CenturyMusic, pp. 8-15.
71

The Form of Chopin S Ballade Op 23

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The Form of Chopin S Ballade Op 23

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The Form of Chopin's "Ballade," Op.

Punctuation: le (+ Il) (+11) (+Ie) Il (+II) vi (+Ve) Ve (+Vl)

Section: Intro. First period: Transition: Epi

Measure: 16 181 189 19 20 209

Punctuation: Il (+11) VI (+V1) (+II) Ie

Section: Last period: Transition: Cod

Figure 1: The Punctuation form of Chopin's Ballade, op. 23.

Measure: 166 181 189 195 207 209 250

arpeggio (m. 36). In all three cases, the ascent is ./^^ L. .

Example 2: Ballade, mm. 9-36, reduction.

Example 3: Ballade, mm. 36-44, reduction.

Example 7: Ballade, mm. 68-82, reduction.

Example 9: Ballade, mm. 95-106, reduction.

8------------------ --?---X- . ----- ------- ... A... . -- .

I/A/BU ' V/e;

Example 10: Ballade, mm. 106-26, reduction.

m. 126 130 131 132 133 134136 137

Example 11: Ballade, mm. 126-37, reduction.

episode, can be interpreted as a contraction of this

of the transition is underscoredfurther on the sur- .Q I !I

face by the striking similarity of texture and register

Example 15: Ballade, mm. 166-80, reduction.

m. 195 199 200 202 205 206 207 208

Example 16: Ballade, mm. 195-208, reduction.

Example 17: Ballade, mm. 208-16, reduction.

Example 18: Ballade, mm. 216-24, reduction.

A#.4-)J _I J -II-----.------ ' \ L

additionto this overallstructuralsigh-motifdescent to g2 by way of sighs (mm. 234-35, repeated an

Example 20: Beethoven, Piano Sonata in AS,op. 26,

.P: r r r con espressione e semplice

147 Allegro Adagio '

^i} , sff - sf sf sf decresc.

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