F. Chopin - Sonata no. 2 op. 35, Movement 3 Funeral March - analysis - Greg Niemczuk's lecture.

[@BleaK1211]

In my opinion, the melody that starts 13:48 is the best Chopin ever wrote. Hauntingly beautiful, sorrowful but at the same also has a tinge of happiness.

[@gregniemczuk]

It is!

[@MeneLauSantos]

Bleak1211 I agree with you.

[@DawidPianoo]

Hello Greg, I discovered your channel through this video, and since then I have fallen in love with your Chopin analyses. They are so detailed and fascinating. I love your passion for Chopin's works. I found out so many things that I didn't notice before in Chopin's pieces because of your videos. Amazing work!

[@gregniemczuk]

Aw! Thank you so much!!! I appreciate that! You made me happy

[@matteobandera4455]

Hi Greg thanks again for sharing this analysis. I wanted to share my interpretation of the piece even if you probably don't bother. Part A is like realizing the loss of a really dear person and asking for the meaning of death (and so of life). Part B has always sounded to me as remembering the beatiful moments spent with the person who is now gone. After that the need to find an answer to the question is really urgent and becomes almost a cry (crescendo part A), like in Liszt Invocation btw. The whole sonata to me sounds like raising the question of a meaning to life and death. The fourth movement is probably the real tragedy. To me it sounds like spiraling down as if the question raised never would be answered. Thanks again Greg!

[@gregniemczuk]

Hi Matteo. Of course I bother! Your comment is very enriching and fascinating! Please never hesitate to write what you feel. That's the essence of the Beauty of this music and I really appreciate it! I really love your interpretation. Very deep and philosophical, I think Chopin would also feel touched reading that

[@emj0nes]

I agree with Matteo.. Part A tells us what happened; Part B is a "remembrance"; Part A then brings us back again to the tragedy and pain of the loss. Part B makes us appreciate the depth of the loss all the more but contrasting the beauty of life with the sadness of loss.

[@melaniez8498]

Thank you very much for this wonderful analysis. I really like the fact you left the second part open for interpretation. To me this part is a lullaby. I can feel the pure peace of a child that is being sung to sleep by its mother. Maybe it means the lullaby is singing him to sleep for eternity. What I also feel listening to this part is a sort of "dissolving and flying away" This could be the soul that just fell asleep forever, rises and flies to heaven. Afterwards there is only death left on the cemetery, that's why the first part is repeated.

[@gregniemczuk]

Hi Melanie. Very, very beautiful interpretation! You must be a very poetic and sensitive person. Chopin's music touches such souls. Thank you!

[@mohamadrezayegane7870]

you are so freaking real dude.

[@AlexisOrsini]

Hi greg, I started watching your videos because I am a fan of Chopin’s music. I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into your analysis and your videos in general. Thank you for all that and looking forward to new videos!

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you Alexis!

[@JarmilaXymenaGorna]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, thoughts and feelings on this colossal movement. I also very much agree with Matteo Bandera in the comments. I had many different inner ideas on the meaning of the middle part in D flat, but one that seems to prevail is that it is a recollection of idyllic moments of life with the deceased. But now you opened my mind and heart to the other, very sound possibilities. Many thanks and blessings 🤍

[@gregniemczuk]

Thanks dear Jarmila. I'm very happy to see your comment. You're welcome to watch my other analyses as well.

[@bigl5343]

Have you heard Satie's "Embryons desséchés"? He quotes the D-flat major excerpt and cites it as "a theme from Schubert's Grand Mazurka".

[@gregniemczuk]

Wow! No, I didn't know that!!!

[@wellingtonmendes9006]

The critics' lack of imagination and presumption about part B is impressive. They certainly expected the composer to write in a way that would match their supposed sensibilities (laughs). Perhaps you have never stood before the coffin of a loved one and been repeatedly struck by the weight of reality and the painful sweetness of good memories. A great master works with contrasts, giving us the densest shadow and the most resplendent light, like a Rembrandt or a Caravaggio. Furthermore, it is one of the most sublime moments in music. As Oscar Wilde said, if the function of critics is to educate the public, the function of the artist is to educate the critics (more laughter).

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you much for this beautiful comment. I can't agree more

[@AdrienSchmittPiano]

Great Analysis! "The funeral and the funeral march in a fact the funeral of Chopin's marriage and the Chopin's hope to be ever married" This is a very perceptive comment. I do not doubt the sincerity of this work and the stately and public mood of the work, but it can also be viewed as personal. Do you have any information about the Polish folk song "Niepodobieństwo"? It is said that Chopin heard this song around 1837 when he started working on this Sonata.

[@RenataBłażejewska-p9b]

Dziękuję😂

[@BurningSky9]

I have a curiosity. Which sonata were you going to play at the Chopin Competition?

[@gregniemczuk]

No.3!

[@keegansimyh]

Hi, does the performance at the end not have sound at all?

[@gregniemczuk]

Oh my God, my mistake probably... There's a full recording on KZbin thought. I need to upload this probably again..

[@s.n.b5511]

Hi, Greg. The sound from Nagoya recital is off, can`t hear anything. Others made comment about this, so I`m not the only one.

[@gregniemczuk]

Oh God!!! I didn't know e! Here you have the whole performance: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gamxdWBpZd6VnJI

[@s.n.b5511]

@@gregniemczuk BRAVO

[@AdrienSchmittPiano]

Like I said, I do not doubt Chopin's sincerity and I have total respect for him. However, I've had heartburn on many occassion in my life. And at that time I *really* thought I was going to die 🤣🤣🤣 The church warns us about sin for 1000s of years. Difficult to understand what happens inside a human being and there many mysterious things that we do not yet know about the human psyche. But after 100 years Freud and Jung, I think we can safely say that our life choices can affect our physical health up to a point, but in the end these things don't matter so much. The price of sin is not that we will pay for them by going to hell... we'll just get heartburn 😅🤣🤣🤣 But that is the genius of Chopin, he gives us a glimpse into not just Human feeling but also the Human Psyche ♥

[@finnianreilly1831]

Thank you for this excellent analysis Greg. It was interesting to learn the connection with Beethoven. I was recently inspired to learn the intro to this movement after hearing Aime Kobayashi's playing. (kzbin.info/www/bejne/npi8fZV8aL-nba8) It does not surprise me to learn that many musicologists have criticized the middle section. For me it lacks a certain "je ne sais quoi", that I hear for example, in a similarly melancholy piece, the intro to Nocturne Op 55, No 1 in F minor. A propos, for lesser pianists like myself who struggle to make a decent tremolo with the left hand, I have found it easier to cross hands for those 2 bars. Strangely the treble chords in those bars are also made easier in my opinion. Sounds crazy I know, but give it a try if the left hand tremolo is not easy for you.

[@gregniemczuk]

Thank you for this comment! It's very useful and interesting idea!