“STYLE WITHIN STYLE”: CHOPIN’S USE OF SMALLER-FORM STYLES USED IN HIS SONATA-FORM WORKS

Abstract

Frédéric Chopin is widely renowned for his standalone piano works, namely his nocturnes, mazurkas, and polonaises. Many contend Chopin was better suited for salon music and should not have attempted sonata-form pieces for piano or larger ensembles. For example, in a review of Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, opus 35, Schumann stated: “that [Chopin] should have called it a ‘sonata’ [is to] suggest a joke, if not sheer bravado.” Along with this, David Wright states that: “Chopin is certainly not a great composer since he is a very limited composer. All his works involve the piano, and he did not write anything for the stage, string quartets, or symphonies. In fact, his orchestral writing has been universally condemned as very poor, which it is.” These near-sighted critiques fail to examine how Chopin incorporates the style of his smaller forms (nocturnes, waltzes, etc.) into his larger sonata-form compositions. It is here that Chopin’s technique of style within a style emerges. Style within a style is where we find a small form piece such as a nocturne, waltz, etude, etc., embedded into a larger sonata form piece. An examination of Chopin’s pieces through the lens of William Caplin’s Formal-Function Theory, as well as Raymond Monelle’s Topic Theory and Hepokoski and Darcy’s Sonata Theory, will reveal that the smaller styles are integrated into the structure, context, tonal surroundings, and harmony of the larger form works. This demonstrates that Chopin’s unique formal approach was equally suited for large and small structures and not, as Schumann might argue, mere “comical” attempts at sonata form.