Découvrez la vidéo Chopin Polonaise c minor Op 40 #2 Valentina Lisitsa de ValentinaLisitsa sur Le Fil YouTube de Piano Partage.
This Polonaise is a "twin" brother of another - far more famous Op 40, bearing a title of "Military" polonaise. Unlike its famous sibling, this - technically easy - Polonaise suffered a lot from being a favorite piece to abuse for intermediate piano students. This tradition gradually led to depreciation of Chopin's own remark "Allegro Maestoso". It is very frustrating to hear it performed like a dirge or a funeral march - and while I can forgive students doing it, it is very bad when professionals try to "milk" it in order to elicit tears and sighs from the audience - treating it like yet another prelude written by a sickly Chopin... It cannot be further from truth. This is a very nationalistic piece - in the very best sense of it. It was composed to swell the hearts of listeners with pride in their country, with a hope than no matter how despoiled and plundered at the moment, it will survive and flourish ( Just as famous words of Polish anthem" Poland has not yet perished..."). In fact, this polonaise is the most traditional of the whole set - it would lend itself easily to an actual dance. Not by incident, many details ( including two measures' short opening - inviting dancers to take places, minor key etc...) establish uncanny similarity with a traditional Polish Polonez (yes, that's how Polonaise is called correctly) which never disappeared from hearts of Poles and which opens each and every high school prom in Poland. If you are curious - and if you want to see how Polonaise - or Polonez - is danced, just type it into YouTube search window. If you study any of Chopin's own polonaises it will be very helpful to see some amazingly beautiful clips from movies.
![Beethoven Sonata #12 in A♭ major (« Funeral March »), Op. 26 Valentina Lisitsa [ValentinaLisitsa]](https://www.piano-partage.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/lo9liTFmGWI-150x84.jpg)