Section II · Chopin · B. 56 · the score

Chopin Waltz in E minor: Score Questions

The whole waltz, set out line by line, with the questions an examiner asks at each place. Look, answer out loud in English, then check.

Play from this score · big, page by page, for iPad

1How to use this page

  1. Read a question and look at the bars it names. Show on score lights them up.
  2. Answer out loud, in English, for two to three minutes at most.
  3. Open Show the answer and compare. Note what you missed.
How accurate is this score?

The notes were typed in from photographs of one edition, and drawn by computer. Every page was transcribed twice, independently (neither reader saw the other's work), every disagreement was settled against the photograph, and the chords the answers rely on were checked again note by note. Not typed in: crescendo and diminuendo wedges, pedal signs and fingering. If anything here disagrees with your own score, your score is right.

About bar numbers

The numbers under each line are the ones printed in that edition. Editions number bars differently (some write out the repeats), so in the exam point to the music, or name the edition, before you say a number.

2Map of the piece

Press a part to see its bars lit up on the score below.

Introductionbars 0–8E minor chords over a bass EA · the refrainbars 9–24E minor · returns at 41 and 100Bbars 25–40E minor · bass falls by semitonesA againbars 41–57bar 56: 1st ending, bar 57: 2nd endingC · E majorbars 58–99dolce · turns to G♯ minor at 75–82A′ · shortenedbars 100–111E minor again · 12 bars, not 16Codabars 112–134Neapolitan sixth at 112

3The score, with the questions an examiner asks about it

Each question sits under the line where its bars begin. Answer out loud first, then open the answer.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b Piano Vivace cre- 01234
Formbars 0–134

Tell me about the form of this waltz. How would you divide it into sections?

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Introduction (bars 1 to 8), A (bar 9), B (bar 25), A (bar 41), C in E major (bar 58), A′ (bar 100) and the coda (bar 112).

The repeat sign at bar 25 means B and A are played twice, so you hear Intro–A–B–A–B–A–C–A′–Coda, while the printed order is Intro–A–B–A–C–A′–Coda. That is why books call it ternary with an introduction, or a modified rondo: both describe the same music.

It is not in sonata form, so say A, B and C, not first and second subject.

Introductionbars 1–8

Look at the opening. What is this section, and what harmony does it use?

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An introduction of eight bars (bars 1 to 8, after the one-note upbeat in bar 0). The bass is E in every bar and the right hand spreads E minor chords (E–G–B), with chromatic neighbour notes such as D♯ and A♯.

So it stays on the tonic chord: there is no dominant preparation, like a curtain going up.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 5 -scen- -do grazioso 56789
Refrainbars 9–24

Where does the main theme start, and where does it come back?

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The refrain, A, starts at bar 9 (grazioso), in E minor. The same music comes back at bar 41, note for note, and at bar 100 in a shortened, slightly changed form.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 10 (cresc.) (dimin.) 1011121314
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 15 1516171819
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 20 2021222324
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 25 dolce e legato 252627282930
B sectionbars 25–30

B begins here. What does the left hand do in the first six bars?

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B starts at bar 25 (dolce e legato), still in E minor. The bass falls by semitones: E–D♯–D–C♯–C–B, bars 25 to 30, from the tonic down to the dominant. That chromatic line is what makes B feel restless.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 31 3132333435
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 36 3637383940
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 41 dolce 414243444546
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 47 474849505152
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 53 1 2 5354555657
Repeatbars 56–57

What do the 1 and 2 brackets over bars 56 and 57 tell you?

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Bars 25 to 56 are repeated: the first time you play bar 56 (first ending) and go back to bar 25; the second time you skip it and play bar 57 (second ending), which leads on to the E major section at bar 58.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 58 dolce 585960616263
Key changebar 58

Look at the key signature at bar 58. What has happened, and what might you have expected instead?

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Four sharps: the music has moved to E major, the parallel major. From E minor you might expect G major, the relative major, so E major is the bolder choice: the same tonic note, but dark becomes bright.

It is marked dolce and piano. The section runs to bar 99, in two halves (58 to 74 and 75 to 99), each repeated.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 64 646566676869
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 70 1 2 7071727374
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 75 7576777879
G♯ minorbars 75–82

This is fortissimo. What is unusual in the left hand at bar 75, and where does the harmony turn?

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The left-hand run starts on F double-sharp, the leading note of G♯, under a G♯ major chord (G♯–B♯–D♯) in the right hand. The harmony is turning towards G♯ minor.

Bar 80 is a G♯ minor chord, bar 81 is a dominant seventh on D♯ (D♯–F double-sharp–A♯–C♯), and bar 82 is G♯ again.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 80 8081828384
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 85 8586878889
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 90 9091929394
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 95 1 2 9596979899
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 100 100101102103104105
Return of Abar 100

What happens at bar 100?

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The key signature goes back to one sharp: E minor, and the refrain A returns. It is shortened to 12 bars (100 to 111) instead of 16, and the end differs from the earlier A, for example in bar 106.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 106 106107108109110111
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 112 crescendo 112113114115116
Small detailsbars 112–116

The examiner asks: any small details, such as a tierce de Picardie or a Neapolitan sixth? Look at the left hand here.

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The coda starts at bar 112 over a bass that rises by semitones: A–A♯–B–C–C♯, bars 112 to 116.

Bar 112: F major with A in the bass (F–A–C, with E added): the Neapolitan sixth. Bar 113: F♯7 over A♯, the dominant seventh of B. Bar 114: E minor in 6/4. Bar 115: C–E–G with A♯ above, the German sixth. Bars 116 to 118 are diminished sevenths, and the German sixth returns in bar 119.

A tierce de Picardie? No: see the last bars.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 117 117118119120121122
Dominantbar 121

What chord is the arpeggiated chord in the left hand in bar 121?

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B–D♯–F♯–A: the dominant seventh of E minor. The chromatic rise and the diminished sevenths before it have been heading here.

Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 123 123124125126127
Engraved by Verovio 6.3.0-425dd7b 128 diminuendo 128129130131132133134
Endingbars 131–134

How does the waltz end? Is there a tierce de Picardie?

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The last four bars alternate B major (bars 131 and 133: B–D♯–F♯) with E minor (bars 132 and 134), dominant and tonic.

The last chord is E–G–B–E, and the G has no sharp, so the piece ends in E minor: no tierce de Picardie.

4Keep going

The words to use are on the Answer Cards (Chopin, Q3). To practise speaking, use the voice examiner and ask for Chopin, question 3.