Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49

Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49 Fryderyk Chopin (1810 - 1849)

Composed during a less productive period in 1841 after Chopin shifted from Paris to Nohant, Fantasie marked a departure from the ‘brilliant style’ of public pianism associated with his contemporaries Hummel and Weber.

The word Fantasie is used loosely with historical associations from Bach’s organ fantasias, as well as specific genre markers, such as the slow march, prelude, recitative and chorale according to Chopin‘s imagination. For example, Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13, is a chain of variations on a popular theme. This Fantasie, Op.49, on the other hand, resembles his ballades in written-out improvisation while gesturing towards themes in the composer’s wider repertory. Yet, unlike the mazurkas and polonaises, the piece does not contain Slavonic nationalistic qualities often attributed to Chopin by nationalistic Russian composers.

Fantasie begins with a slow match before dying away into a slow, improvisatory section with preluding arpeggiations. A stanzaic melody, with internal repeats based on the eight-bar classical sentence, appears after the exuberant chromatic parlando plunges to the lowest C. The first tonal and thematic cycle enters singing, playing host to the vocal bel canto in Italian opera, that leads on to an enchanting portamento of operatic duet textures. Unsurprisingly, such vocal imitation was facilitated by the development of the sustaining pedal during Chopin’s time.

The melody soon splinters into symmetrically mirrored figurations, heavily elaborated by modulation and chromaticism before octaves charge forth in contrary motion. The intense, climatic E flat section is then quelled by a stately march. Chopin then prolonged the piece by recycling thematic materials into different keys, separated only by the intermission of a peaceful chorale. Just as in the Polonaise-fantasie, the slow, serene B major movement falls within a prevailing A flat major.

Throughout, the tension between two tonal regions (the tonal ‘relatives’ in F minor and A flat major) implies a two-key scheme, and produces a drama of large-scale tonal relationships. In fact, Chopin privileged tonic, subdominant and submediant keys above the dominant as a means of structural expansion.

As seen, a coherent structure is buried beneath this supposedly aimless piece - it is almost a sonata-form with tonal and directional support. The ternary design alludes to the classical three-part song structure, with Chopin mediating between the etudes and preludes, the nocturnes and the dances through common motives, voice-leading threads across each caesura, hence sustaining the intensity of the piece. Chopin’s genius lies in its tonal organisation: how the chain of ascending thirds (namely f - A flat - c - E flat - G flat - [B] - b flat - D flat - f - A flat) adds shape and design to the piece. Also, similar figurations from his march from op. 36 as well as with the prelude of op. 28 no. 3 are cross-pollinated here. The resultant layers of meaning could only strengthen our appreciation of the wistfully beautiful Fantasie.

Written by Louis, Master Degree on Piano.