Ballade No. 3 (Chopin)
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The Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major, Op. 47 is Chopin's third ballade, dating from 1841. It is dedicated to Mlle. de Noailles. The ballade takes from six to eight minutes to play. The long ending is typical of Romantic music, though the last ending is rather short, containing the chords C major, F minor, E-flat 7, and A-flat major.
[edit] Suggested Narrative
According to some rumours, Chopin was inspired in many of his works by Adam Mickiewicz, and so he may have been when he wrote this ballade. It may have been written according to a ballade about a water nymph who wants to make sure that her beloved loves only her and so she changes her appearance and tries to seduce him. He follows her to the water where she drowns him. Chopin, in contrast to Mickiewicz, did not let her drown him and therefore this is probably the only 19th century ballade with a happy ending (as well as being the only ballade of Chopin's that ends on a major chord).
Chopin's ballade can be divided to three parts, in accordance with the poem's narrative:
In the first section (bars 1 to 51) there is a dialogue between the two people assuring each other about their love. The first two bars represent the girl's question; the urgency of this question is strengthened by the first tone being the dominant. The answer comes in the left hand in bars 3 and 4 and begins on the dominant as well. From bar 9 there are obvious doubts of the girl because she is not convinced about his love and she is thinking about the examination for the first time. Therefore it is far more dramatic and octaves in the right hand foretell the dance rhythm in the second part (mainly the beginning of the theme in bars 52 and 53). In bar 26 their parting begins.
The second part shows the dance of the nymph and her tempting of her beloved. The main theme of this part returns several times in different keys. At the end of this part (bar 212 and earlier) he yields to this temptation before the third part (coda).
Here Chopin's story differs from the Mickiewicz's poem. Chopin does not like the idea of drowning the man because he may have identified his love in the dancing nymph and he also wanted to show us a moral lesson. In this fairy tale he says that excessive distrust only assists us to succumb to temptations. In bar 213 the main theme from the first part returns in much more complicated chords. In bar 231 comes one of the themes of the second part (bar 116).
[edit] Media
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Ballade No. 3 performed by Martha Goldstein on an 1851 Erard piano Ballade No. 3 Performed by Donald Betts. Courtesy of Musopen - Problems playing the files? See media help.
[edit] External links
- Read more on the Ballade No. 3 and hear the performance at the Chopin Project site
- Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major was available at the International Music Score Library Project.
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