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This remarkable composition was named Fantasia by Stadler who completed the fragmented work, which was left by Mozart. The composition is clearly divided into three parts of which Mozart had almost completed the first. While the last part resembles a reprise and in this sense is closely connected to Mozart's fragment, it is unclear whether Stadler based the second part on an unknown fragment by Mozart or whether Stadler can claim the merit for himself. However, this development section is true to Mozart's style and its use of chromatisism and its harmonic structure is not dissimilar to other compositions by Mozart such as the development section of his a-minor sonata No. 8 and his Fantasia No. 14a. Thus, the c-minor Fantasia presents itself as coherent and homogenous.
The reason why this work was named Fantasia is obvious; rather than creating a tide net of similar passages, the composition makes use of contrasting effects such as slow/fast, harmonious/dissharmonious and loud/soft, placing material next to each other which appears to be the product of a highly spontaneous thought process just like we experience in our own fantasies. This is where the attraction lies from a contemporary point of view as it seems that the sense of fragmentation as we encounter within 20th century music has been anticipated within this Fantasia.The structure of this fantasia is not dissimilar to Mozart's in as much as contrasting passages succeed each other while each passage itself is more homogenous than typically for contemporary music. This is, while Mozart would have understood it as a challenge that a higher degree of freedom was to be contented with, now the situation is reversed that a contemporary composer faces the challenge of substantial restrictions. However, the tonal language is far removed from the major/minor tonality.
Unlike the Mozart piece, this Fantasia is not written in an a-b-a form. Still, this composition also consists of three parts, where the first part could be seen as the exposition, the second part as a reduction of this exposition and the final part as the reduction of all musical material to a point where the essence of the musical ideas surfaces. In this sense, this fantasia can be seen as a journey whereby some vague fantasy crystallises in the end.
The waltz as a German country dance, which was enjoying great popularity by the end of the eighteens century, inspired Chopin to elevate this dance form into the artistic realm. Chopin wrote 19 waltzes in all throughout his short life. Although Chopin's waltzes are performed throughout the world in all major concert halls, he himself preferred to perform these in an atmosphere of small gatherings, and it can be argued that in order to enjoy the intimacy of these compositions a small setting is preferable to large concert halls indeed.
The waltz 10b is the version as published by Fontana and not the version according to Chopin's autograph. Fontana's version is substantially the same as Chopin's original but displays an enriched harmonic texture. Considering that Chopin himself had a dislike in writing down his music, it can be assumed that Chopin might have added such enriching texture himself during his performances.
While the waltz 10b contains many articulations, this is not the case for No 16, and No 19 does not contain any articulations at all (e.g. dynamics, accents etc.), which makes it harder to agree upon an authoritative interpretation. Therefore, at this occasion the approach is taken to perform the waltzes in a typical tempo rather than excessively fast allowing the listener to hear details which might get lost otherwise.
All three waltzes have in common that either one section or several sections are repeated throughout the composition, thus bringing the music close to a rondo form. Considering that we are dealing here with a musical form which in its outset asks for simplicity, several passages appear modern even to a listener of the 21st century.
While the first of these three waltzes appears powerful and forceful, the second is more melodic and the third one more disjointed and abstract. However, the structure of the waltzes are somewhat similar to Chopin's waltzes. This is, as mentioned above, Chopin's waltzes repeat either one specific passage or several passages throughout the composition, we encounter a similar situation here. All three waltzes here, are constructed around their own nucleus, which reappears throughout each waltz. However, these repetitions are mostly not literal. It seems that once a nucleus appears holding together the structure of the music, it does so only to lead to a deterioration which can be only controlled by the reappearance of the nucleus.
The triple time is strongly manifest within the first waltz, less so in the second and at times almost unrecognisable within the third waltz. This is, while Chopin uplifted a simple dance form to an artistic level, this time we encounter a process whereby the principle of a waltz undergoes a process of abstraction to a point where the existence of the waltz itself becomes questionable.
This work by Chopin is interesting as it employs excessive chromatisism as well as harmonic instability. Chopin, who knew that death would not be far away, left the manuscript of this composition next to his death bed.
However, most important about this composition is the fact that Chopin conceived it as a composition without end. This is, as the last bar of the Mazurka sounds, there is no Cadence and the mark only for the performer to return to the beginning and to continue playing without end (senza fine).
The audience will be asked to listen to this work, which will be played at the end of this concert, and to leave the concert when they feel the time to be appropriate. The performance will continue until the last member of the audience has left the concert.
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