Walzer A-Moll Op. 34 No. 2

Chopin applied himself the waltz genre throughout his life, and created a broad spectrum of musical possibilities from profoundly melancholic and atmospheric mood-pieces to showpieces of extraordinary virtuosity. Its title of Grande Valse brillante notwithstanding, this second waltz from opus 34 has a dreamy character within a calm Lento tempo, causing it to function to some extent as a slow movement between the two triumphant vivace movements that surround it in opus 34. While a complete autograph of this work no longer survives, several copies of the first edition issued by Schlesinger in 1838 have Chopin’s proof corrections, we have of course taken these into account inour Urtext edition.