Although Chopin spent most of his adult life Paris, his roots were Polish. In homage to his homeland, he developed two genres of music, the polonaise and the mazurka. The mazurka takes much of its form from the native folk songs and dances of Poland, specifically the Mazur, the Kujawiak, and the Oberek. The unusual rhythmic patterns and irregular accents provided the basis for 57 mazurkas in total, each unique in character and texture. Because of the different sources of inspiration for the mazurka, each piece is a different combination of several ingredients of rhythm, harmony, tempo, and mood. This particular genre, more than any other, encouraged Chopin to revise and experiment freely. Unlike many of his other mazurkas collections, the pieces of Op. 59 do not contrast greatly amongst themselves. They share similar characteristics and textures, perhaps meant to unify the collection. The first piece in the set is highly chromatic, warm and rich in melodic and contrapuntal nuances. It serves as a tender portrait, the ending as unassuming as the opening. Pleasant and good-natured in its character, the second mazurka features a rich exchange between hands, a hallmark of Chopin's mature style. This piece ends with an ascending, winding lyrical line, which seems to disappear into the clouds. Resembling a polonaise, the third composition is noble and waltz-like in character. Having experimented with different contrapuntal devices, Chopin includes chromaticism, as well as some interesting descending chromatic chords in the accompaniment. While much interesting harmonic material is found in the lower voices, this particular composition is defined by the unaffected, expressive singing melody appears to be unaffected, soaring above the texture below.

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The mazurka originated in the Polish province of Mazovia, near Warsaw. In the seventeenth century, the dance began to spread beyond the boundaries of Poland. Stylized mazurkas, such as Chopin's, combine aspects of this and several other dances, but some characteristics are consistently present: an accented third beat (occasionally the second) in a 3/4 measure; the use of both the natural and raised versions of some scale degrees, particularly the fourth; and a drone bass. During the 1830s and 1840s "art" music mazurkas were very popular in drawing rooms throughout Europe.

Some of the melodies of the mazurkas are unusual in comparison to the melodies of European "art" music. Many of these are related to folk mazurkas in their "modular" melodies consisting of tiny rhythmic and melodic units. Also, some use cross rhythms, chromatic scales, and modes typically not found in Western music. Often, we find remote keys used as colorful excursions from the tonic.

Most of Chopin's Mazurkas are in strict ternary form, some of them actually sporting a da capo to indicate the return to the first section. Chopin's later Mazurkas are more stylized and are in many cases the testing ground for some of his most experimental ideas. Unlike other Romantic-era manifestations of "folk" music, Chopin's Mazurkas contain no actual folk tunes. He uses typical rhythms associated with Polish music, fragments of Polish melodies and Polish rhythmic and cadential formulas and combines them in an original way. Chopin borrowed sounds he found outside European "art" music and used them to create music within that tradition. Some consider Chopin's mazurkas to be the most original of his works.

With the printing of the Mazurkas, Op. 50, Chopin established a pattern of publishing mazurkas in sets of three with a strong opening piece, a simpler second one and a substantial, grandly conceived third work, usually with a contrapuntal texture. The three mazurkas of Op. 59, in A minor, A flat major and F sharp minor, follow this same format. However, Chopin creates unity within this set of contrasting works through tonal connections. The Mazurkas, Op. 59, were published in Berlin in 1845, the year of their composition.

The shortest of the Op. 59 Mazurkas, the second, in A flat major, is no less a gem than the other two. Its key is enharmonically anticipated in the unusual reprise of No. 1, which begins on G sharp. No. 2 is filled with subtle gestures that create a splendid variety at points where we expect none. One example is at the return of the opening theme to close the first theme complex, where the melody, slightly varied, appears in two voices. Unlike the other works of Op. 59, the trio provides little harmonic contrast and its melody very much resembles the main theme.

Chopin denies the satisfaction of our expectations several times in this diminutive work. Perhaps the most notable of these is at the reprise following the trio, where the main theme is shortened to about a fourth of its original length and the melody appears in the left hand for the first four measures. For the listener, this creates a sense of instability that resolves only in the substantial coda. By introducing developmental material at such a moment Chopin abandons what his contemporaries perceived as the "traditional" mazurka format. The coda is really a developmental expansion of ideas from the first theme.

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The mazurka originated in the Polish province of Mazovia, near Warsaw. In the seventeenth century, the dance began to spread beyond the boundaries of Poland. Stylized mazurkas, such as Chopin's, combine aspects of this and several other dances, but some characteristics are consistently present: an accented third beat (occasionally the second) in a 3/4 measure; the use of both the natural and raised versions of some scale degrees, particularly the fourth; and a drone bass. During the 1830s and 1840s "art" music mazurkas were very popular in drawing rooms throughout Europe.

Some of the melodies of the mazurkas are unusual in comparison to the melodies of European "art" music. Many of these are related to folk mazurkas in their "modular" melodies consisting of tiny rhythmic and melodic units. Also, some use cross rhythms, chromatic scales, and modes typically not found in Western music. Often, we find remote keys used as colorful excursions from the tonic.

Most of Chopin's Mazurkas are in strict ternary form, some of them actually sporting a da capo to indicate the return to the first section. Chopin's later Mazurkas are more stylized and are in many cases the testing ground for some of his most experimental ideas. Unlike other Romantic-era manifestations of "folk" music, Chopin's Mazurkas contain no actual folk tunes. He uses typical rhythms associated with Polish music, fragments of Polish melodies and Polish rhythmic and cadential formulas and combines them in an original way. Chopin borrowed sounds he found outside European "art" music and used them to create music within that tradition. Some consider Chopin's mazurkas to be the most original of his works.

With the printing of the Mazurkas, Op. 50, Chopin established a pattern of publishing mazurkas in sets of three with a strong opening piece, a simpler second one and a substantial, grandly conceived third work, usually with a contrapuntal texture. The three mazurkas of Op. 59, in A minor, A flat major and F sharp minor, follow this same format. However, Chopin creates unity within this set of contrasting works through tonal connections. The Mazurkas, Op. 59, were published in Berlin in 1845, the year of their composition.

Chopin placed the most innovative and profound of the set last. The main theme, with its infectious triplet figure, is one of Chopin's melodies that seems to spin out endlessly. The trio, in F sharp major, presents new material but contains motivic references to the main theme, particularly the triplet figures. Chopin's foreshortening of the reprise prevents the reaffirmation of the main theme we expect from its return after the trio, suspending any sense of resolution until later and effectively destroying the piece's relationship to the conception of the traditional mazurka. Furthermore, the supporting chords that mark the 3/4 meter and support the main theme at the beginning are missing from the reprise. Instead, Chopin inserts as second, contrapuntal voice to create a canon, injecting a "learned" device into what should be the most reaffirming moment of the "folk" mazurka.

Chopin closes the piece, and the Op. 59 set, with what by now has become a typical gesture: a lengthy, weighty coda. The substance of this coda comes primarily from a striking chromatic segment and a close on F sharp major. Shortly after the coda begins, Chopin artfully shifts the melody to the left hand, maintaining a moving upper voice. Most impressive is the introduction of a new theme in the last measure, swelling and collapsing until the very end.

© All Music Guide

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The mazurka originated in the Polish province of Mazovia, near Warsaw. In the seventeenth century, the dance began to spread beyond the boundaries of Poland. Stylized mazurkas, such as Chopin's, combine aspects of this and several other dances, but some characteristics are consistently present: an accented third beat (occasionally the second) in a 3/4 measure; the use of both the natural and raised versions of some scale degrees, particularly the fourth; and a drone bass. During the 1830s and 1840s "art" music mazurkas were very popular in drawing rooms throughout Europe.

Some of the melodies of the mazurkas are unusual in comparison to the melodies of European "art" music. Many of these are related to folk mazurkas in their "modular" melodies consisting of tiny rhythmic and melodic units. Also, some use cross rhythms, chromatic scales, and modes typically not found in Western music. Often, we find remote keys used as colorful excursions from the tonic.

Most of Chopin's Mazurkas are in strict ternary form, some of them actually sporting a da capo to indicate the return to the first section. Chopin's later Mazurkas are more stylized than the earlier ones and are in many cases the testing ground for some of his most experimental ideas. Unlike other Romantic-era manifestations of "folk" music, Chopin's Mazurkas contain no actual folk tunes. He uses typical rhythms associated with Polish music, fragments of Polish melodies and Polish rhythmic and cadential formulas and combines them in an original way. Chopin borrowed sounds he found outside European "art" music and used them to create music within that tradition. Some consider Chopin's mazurkas to be the most original of his works.

With the printing of the Mazurkas, Op. 50, Chopin established a pattern of publishing mazurkas in sets of three with a strong opening piece, a simpler second one and a substantial, grandly conceived third work, usually with a contrapuntal texture. The three mazurkas of Op. 59, in A minor, A flat major and F sharp minor, follow this same format. However, Chopin creates unity within this set of contrasting works through tonal connections. The Mazurkas, Op. 59, were published in Berlin in 1845, the year of their composition.

In the second of the set, in A minor, Chopin employs the shifting metric accents found in the Polish mazurka from the start, stopping the melody on the second beat of every second measure. As the first section trails off into a continuous, dotted melody, Chopin introduces a triplet figure that is a prominent feature of Op. 59, No. 3. The contrasting trio section begins in a bright A major, its melodic material becoming increasingly chromatic until the reprise.

The most arresting moment of the A minor mazurka is the return of the main theme, which appears, unexpectedly, on G sharp minor, enharmonically anticipating the A flat major key of the ensuing mazurka. The more immediate effect of this key change, however, is to destroy the strength of the traditional reprise, creating, instead, a developmental passage that modulates to the expected key half-way through the main theme. A brief coda constructed of fragments from the first them closes the work.

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