validity of opus
35 being called a "sonata." In his
monumental work Analyse der Chopin'schen
Klavierwerke (1921-1922), he writes:
Strange to say, as far as I know, no one has yet noticed
that the B Flat Minor Sonata is constructed in an extraordinarily subtle way
that anticipates Liszt's and César Franck's "principe cyclique", that reveals a
penetrating study of late Beethoven which one hardly expects from Chopin. So
the last word on the two sonatas [opus 35 and opus 58] has by no means yet been
said. They invite exhaustive study and repay this examination thoroughly as the
following investigations will show.
At this point, reference can be made to Jim Samson's view
on the significance of Leichtentritt's analyses of Chopin's works. From 1850
onwards, in a project spanning some forty years, the German publisher Breitkopf
and Härtel compiled collected editions of major composers. It was launched by
editions of Bach and Handel (clearly viewed as the foundation stones of German
music). The works of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and
Chopin soon followed. According to Samson, Chopin's inclusion is significant in
that it was "tantamount to a form of adoption."
It confirmed him as "a sort of honorary member of the German tradition," a
status further secured by the appearance of serious biographies by Adolf
Weismann
and Bernard Scharlitt.
One of the cornerstones of this tradition was the music of the Viennese
classics, which clearly made extensive use of the sonata and sonata form.
Beethoven's thirty-two piano sonatas, acknowledged by many as the pinnacle of
achievement in this genre, form a part of this select group of works. If the
prevailing opinion was that Chopin was a master of miniature romantic forms,
and not comfortable with writing sonatas and using sonata form, then why was he
included in this exclusive German tradition? Moreover, if he was considered a
failure with respect to his adoption of the large classical forms (a view
accepted by various critics at the time), surely this alone would exclude him
from that tradition, regardless of the quality of the remainder of his output?
Yet, Chopin's works were included in the
