style="font-size: larger;" | Waltz in E minor, Op. posth.

Key/Time Signature:	E minor, 3/4
Form:	Waltz
Date of composition:	1830
Opus Number:	Posth. (B.56, KK IVa/15, P1/15)
Movements/Sections:	-
Dedication:	-

The Waltz in E minor is a waltz

Waltz (music)

A waltz, or valse from the French term, is a piece of music in triple meter, most often written in time signature but sometimes in 3/8 or 3/2...

 for solo piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 by Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

. It was composed circa 1830 and published in 1868.

It was the first of Chopin's posthumously published waltzes not to be given a posthumous opus number. It appears in Brown's catalogue as B.56, in Kobylańska's catalogue as KK IVa/15, and in Chominski's as P1/15. Although this is the final (fourteenth) waltz in the older editions of Chopin (other waltzes begin included in more recent editions), this waltz was likely composed before any of the waltzes published in Chopin's lifetime.

Introduction

This waltz begins at a vivace

Vivace

Vivace is Italian for "lively" and "vivid". It is pronounced in the International Phonetic Alphabet.Vivace is used as an Italian musical term indicating a movement that is in a lively mood ....

tempo, with a series of E minor arpeggio

Arpeggio

An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...

s in the right hand, accompanied by dotted half-note arpeggiated chords in the left hand. The arpeggios rise in pitch and volume to reach a climax in the ninth measure at the upper register of the keyboard.

Theme 1

At this point, the score indicates grazioso (in a graceful style), and a true waltz begins, with the melody still in the right hand, and the left-hand accompaniment in a steady, quarter-note rhythm, with a staccato

Staccato

Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...

bass note followed by mid range notes filling in the chords (with sustain pedal

Sustain pedal

A sustain pedal or sustaining pedal is the most commonly used pedal in a modern piano. It is typically the rightmost of two or three pedals. When pressed, the sustain pedal "sustains" all the damped strings on the piano by moving all the dampers away from the strings and allowing them to vibrate...

 evening the texture).

Theme 2

This is followed by a second theme in E major

E major

E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....

 to be played dolce

Dolce

Dolce means "sweet" in Italian and may refer to:- Places:*Dolcè, an Italian municipality located in the Province of Verona*Dolce , a village in the Czech Republic- People :*Christine Dolce...

 e legato

Legato

In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...

, and the harmony of which has a more chromatic texture. The first eight bars of its second part are a distinct G-sharp minor. The hint of chromaticism in this section is not nearly as fully expressed as that, for instance, in the beginning of Waltz No.8, Opus 64 No. 3, or his Revolutionary Étude, but perhaps foreshadows his future compositions.

Recapitulation

After this, the first theme returns, followed by a repeat back to the beginning of Theme 2.

Section 3: Dolce

The third, dolce (Italian for "sweet", "soft") middle section changes to the tonic major key (E major).

Theme 3

The first theme of this section is marked by long sustained notes in the right hand with the usual waltz rhythm continuing in the left hand.

Theme 4

The next section is a brief strident bridge in some combination of D-sharp and G-sharp minor, with the melody in the lower reaches of the left hand bass, and the accompaniment provided by solid chords in the right hand.

Theme 3: Recapitulation

After this somewhat jarring disturbance of the sweet calm, order is restored in a recapitulation of the third theme, followed by repeating from the beginning of Theme 4.

Section 4 (Coda)

In the final section (coda), the first theme returns, but with a more forceful accompaniment, brought to a close first by a diminuendo

Dynamics (music)

In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...

 (growing softer) arpeggio toward the lower end of the keyboard, followed by a series of four note chords from both hands, each further apart with the final chord fortissimo

Dynamics (music)

In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...

 near the lower and higher ends of the keyboard, a demonstration of the physical power and range of the Pleyel

Ignaz Pleyel

Ignace Joseph Pleyel , ; was an Austrian-born French composer and piano builder of the Classical period.-Early years:...

pianos available to Chopin.