Three Waltzes op. 34

Published at the end of 1838, each one dedicated to one of his pupils (Josefine von Thun-Hohenstein, the Baronne d’Ivry and the Baronne d’Eichtal), these three waltzes were composed during different professionally and emotionally eventful periods. The oldest dance (No. 2), probably dates from around 1834. Chopin composed Waltz No. 1 in September 1835, a few months after his two concerts in April had caused him to distance himself from public life. During the summer of the same year, Chopin saw his parents again in Karlsbad and considered the possibility of returning to Poland. By the time he wrote Waltz No. 3, in 1838, he had become the lover of George Sand (after trying and failing to win the hand of Maria Wodzinska). Opus 34 was greeted enthusiastically by Schumann, as can be seen by his review of 19 November 1839 in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik: “The three waltzes, in particular, will be appreciated, since they sound so different from ordinary waltzes, in a genre mastered solely by Chopin, when he observes the dancers with the eyes of an artist, carrying them along with his playing, while thinking about something else entirely. Such a vitality flows through them that it really does seem as though they were improvised in the drawing room.” As Schumann implies, these are idealized dances, none of which (particularly the last two) are actually designed for dancing. The central waltz,  a melancholy cello melody in a minor mode, strays a long way from the norms of the period, if only by its slow tempo. It is impossible to imagine a more striking contrast with the third waltz, which whirls about to the point of breathlessness.