By the time Chopin wrote the Op. 63 set of mazurkas, his relationship with his mistress George Sand had become precarious, owing to the intrigues of her grown children, Maurice and Solange, who were bent on driving the composer out of their mother's life. Moreover, Chopin's health, fragile for years, was now declining rapidly. Yet, none of the three mazurkas in the Op. 63 collection quite reflect the tension and pain then plaguing his personal life, and this B major effort would, in fact, suggest a rather happy frame of mind.

This piece opens up with a robust theme that radiates freshness and vitality. Many of Chopin's mazurkas are not dance-like in their forlorn or restless character, but this one, graceful and elegant, vigorous and upbeat, surely is. The alternate theme is subdued and playful, and contrasts nicely with the main material. Near the close the mood relaxes and the piece serenely fades, but the composer crowns the ending with an emphatic chord. This is one of Chopin's more vital and optimistic creations in this form. A performance of this B major mazurka typically lasts about two minutes.

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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.

Composed in 1846, the Three Mazurkas, Op. 63, in B major, F minor, and C sharp minor, were published first in Leipzig in 1847. These mazurkas were composed at a time of unrest for Chopin, when his relationship with George Sand (Aurore Dudevant) began to dissolve. Among the composer's shortest mazurkas, they were the last to be published during his lifetime.

Chopin opens the second of the Op. 59 set, in F minor, with a melody that is unusual in the context of the mazurka. Although there is an accent on the second beat of the measure, the downward sweep of even eighth notes in the second and sixth measures does not convey any sort of dance rhythm. Most notable is that the first occurrence of this eight-measure melody closes on the dominant (C major), while the repeat closes on the tonic. This procedure is more characteristic of melodies in the Viennese Classical style than in examples of the mazurka. The ternary form in this piece is simpler than in most of Chopin's other mazurkas, and the contrasting trio section begins immediately after the repetition of the first theme. Set in the relative major (A flat), the trio also consists of a single melody, the repeat of which Chopin extends through repetition to anticipate the return of the first theme. This, too, is very much unlike the trios one finds in Chopin's earlier mazurkas. The piece close abruptly with the end of the first theme.

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Chopin's piano music can be descriptive, as in the ballades or nocturnes, or can just explore the range of a certain genre, as in the scherzos and waltzes. Some genres, such as the mazurka, both explore formal boundaries and reflect feelings associated with particular places. The mazurkas draw upon Chopin's early years in Poland and the different classical and native forms of music which influenced the young composer. Folk dances such as the Mazur, the Kujawiak, and the Oberek, served as models for the mazurka. A few of the pieces actually draw directly upon one specific dance form, but most are an amalgamation of many ingredients. Although some of the mazurkas have a distinctly Polish flavor, other examples of this genre merely suggest, through subtle accents and rhythmic references, the original source of inspiration. Furthermore, each composition is a unique and personal reflection of the composer's memories of Poland. The later mazurkas of Chopin demonstrate the maturity of the composer's style. In addition, the mazurkas Op. 63 may suggest a maturing of the composer's emotional approach to the music as well. The opening Vivace is rhythmic and full of rustic flourishes, contrasted by interruptions of a rather simple melodic idea. There is much repetition throughout, with accents on the second and third beats, and a feeling of animation and excitement contrasting with warmth and simplicity. The second piece of the collection, marked Lento, is melancholy and pensive in its character. The mastery of lyricism one would expect from Chopin is certainly present, along with subtle nuances within the inner voices. The final mazurka of the set is a true Kujawaik, with its slow, singing flavor. The innocent, bittersweet, expressive, melody line works along with innovative contrapuntal devices and textural experimentation to create a mournful, intimate miniature.

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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.

Composed in 1846, the Three Mazurkas, Op. 63, in B major, F minor, and C sharp minor, were published first in Leipzig in 1847. These mazurkas were composed at a time of unrest for Chopin, when his relationship with George Sand (Aurore Dudevant) began to dissolve. Among the composer's shortest mazurkas, they were the last to be published during his lifetime.

The last of the set, in C sharp minor, begins with one of the composer's most charming melodies. Part of its attraction derives from the sense that Chopin has "omitted" the first three notes of the tune's beginning from a reiterated sequence that climbs slowly to a peak. The second half of the first theme complex is far more chromatic than the first, and moves ahead into the trio without the expected "rounding" return of the opening idea.

Chopin shifts to the tonic major by writing the trio in D flat (enharmonic with C sharp major). The very narrow range of the trio melody contrasts with the rising and falling main theme, which, of course returns to close the piece.

For the reprise of the main theme, Chopin restores the "missing" notes and includes a canonic development in the second half of the theme, the lead voice one beat ahead of the following voice. The strictness of the brief canon produces expressively dissonant intervals that make the melody more prominent. Here we have yet another example of Chopin ostentatiously using a learned device in what was considered a folk idiom.

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