Polonaise in A-flat major, Op.53
Polonaise · in A♭ major · Op. 53
Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
A♭ major
Key
Polonaise
Form
Maestoso
Tempo
Op. 53
Catalogue
Score
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Difficulty
Our estimate Virtuoso
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Themes & character
The Heroic Polonaise·Polish national spirit·Famous octave passage·Composed 1842
At a glance
- Catalogue
- Op. 53
- Key
- A♭ major
- Tempo / character
- Maestoso
- Form
- Polonaise
About the piece
Known everywhere as the Heroic Polonaise, composed in 1842 and among the most recognizable pieces in the piano repertoire. The polonaise was a stately Polish processional dance, and Chopin, in exile in Paris, turned it into a vehicle for national feeling.
Its central section is famous and feared in equal measure: a long passage of descending octaves in the left hand, hammered out over a martial rhythm, meant to evoke a cavalry charge. Chopin himself reportedly disliked the militaristic interpretations later attached to it.
The composer
Frédéric Chopin
1810–1849
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading composer of his era whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".
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