Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 69-1, Posthumous Publication

Basic Information on the Work

Composition Year: 1835 Publication Year: 1855 (Paris, Berlin)

Dedication: Maria Wodzińska (dedication: 1835), Charlotte de Rothschild (dedication: 1842)

Score Information

• Paderewski Edition: No. 9 (Fontana Edition), No. 9bis (based on 1835 manuscript)
• Ekier Edition: WN47, [SeriesB]-7a (To Mme Peruzzi, based on later autograph), [B]-7b (Pour Mlle Marie, based on early autograph [copy]), [B]-App. (Appendix) 7a (earliest version), [B]-App. 7b (Fontana Edition)
• Cortot Edition: No. 9
• Henle Edition: No. 9a (Pour Mlle Marie), No. 9b (Fontana Edition)
• Peters Edition (Urtext): (No. 15a: based on 1835 manuscript, No. 15b: based on 1842 autograph. With variants)

The score situation is extremely complex, with multiple autographs, dedications, and editions remaining. Recently published Ekier and Peters editions remove the opus number (69-1) from this work and treat it as a separate piece from the Waltz in B minor, which was previously designated as Op. 69-2.

Chopin composed a total of 12 waltzes after settling in Paris, eight of which were published during his lifetime. The remaining four waltzes, including this Waltz in A-flat Major, are thought to have been composed by Chopin as personal gifts, and it is even suggested that he did not wish for their publication. Three types of autographs for the A-flat Major Waltz remain, dated 1835, 1837, and 1842, respectively (the 1835 autograph is a copy). The most famous is the score inscribed "Dresden, September 1835, to Mademoiselle Marie [Maria]," which is included in various editions. Maria Wodzińska, to whom it was dedicated, was the only woman Chopin ever promised to marry and remained his ideal woman.

The waltz is believed to have been composed in September 1835, during Chopin's stay with the Wodziński family in Dresden. After visiting the Hohenstein family in Bohemia (see Op. 34-1), Chopin reunited with the Wodziński family, whom he had known since his Warsaw days, in Dresden on his way back to Paris. It is likely that he composed it improvisationally while playing the piano and then notated it, as a letter from Maria to Chopin remains, stating, "When I play that Waltz (the one you played last and gave to us), everyone enjoys listening to it." Maria, who was only 16 at the time, sent Chopin a "farewell (Adieu)" letter in March 1837, bringing their romance to an end. For this reason, the piece is commonly known as the "Farewell Waltz (Valse de l'adieu)."

The Waltz in A-flat Major, also a piece of remembrance, was later revised and given to other women who were also piano students (to Madame Peruzzi in 1837, and to Mademoiselle Rothschild in 1842). It is fundamentally in ternary form with a trio (A-a-A-B-b-B-A), and the differences between each version are largely due to improvisation. The opening, with its chromatic descending anacrusis that seems to blur the first beat, creates a startling beauty and allure. (January 2010, Tomoko Yasukawa)