35 is compared to any of
Chopin's four stand-alone Scherzi, a huge contrast is evident.
Unlike all four stand-alone Scherzi, which contain a vehement coda and end in a
triumphant manner, the Scherzo of opus 35 is rather tame by comparison.
This is evident in the quiet ending of the movement, as the melody from the
Trio enters and slowly dies away. The feeling of expectation or questioning
here suggests that the Scherzo has been moulded to fit the bigger context of
the Sonata. This, in turn, provides further substantiation for those who
opposed Schumann and Huneker's view that the four movements of this sonata were
seemingly unconnected and thus cannot collectively be called a "sonata."
Charles Rosen raises an important issue with regard to the
introductory four bars of the first movement of opus 35. He notes that a glance
at the autograph in Warsaw
shows that the repeat markings in almost every edition appear in the wrong
place - bar 5 instead of bar 1.
This, according to him, makes "awkward nonsense of an important moment in the
opening movement."
He believes that the repeat is clearly intended to begin with the first note of
the movement, or else the harmonic change between the cadence in D flat major
at the end of the exposition and the beginning of the accompaniment figure in
bar 5 makes no sense. Thus the opening four bars serve a double function: they
are a dramatic beginning, and a transition from the end of the exposition back
to the tonic.
Having examined the work of various commentators since the
1960's, recent publications of two influential Chopin scholars of the last
decade or so will now be investigated. These are the writings of Jim Samson and
Anatoly Leiken, the work of whom has contributed further to the understanding
of Chopin's compositional idiom as it relates to the sonata cycle. This
material will be examined in Chapter Nine.
