Chopin in London, 1837, Scherzo No 2

 
In early July 1837, Frédéric Chopin remained expectant in Paris at the prospect of joining the Wodzinsky family and spending the vacations with them. It was the occasion to meet again with his fiancée, Maria Wodzinska, and to formalize then a relationship that for the moment presented a lukewarm aspect. Maria's mother, although she supported the union, still had to find out what her husband thought of the whole affair.
As we know, the invitation to go on vacation together never came. But Frédéric, at the beginning of that summer, still hasn't found out.

To London for a walk
So, when he was invited by his friend the pianist and piano maker Camille Pleyel to accompany him to London on a short business trip, Frédéric gladly accepted. A couple of days later he was crossing the Channel, as happy as a clam. There they were joined by a childhood friend of Chopin, a Pole named Kozmian, and whom Julian Fontana, Chopin's factotum, had entrusted with the composer's care during his stay on the island.

The Pole Kozmian, an exemplary host and cicerone, fulfilled the assignment to the letter. The three friends spent splendid days in London, visiting important sites and hot spots during the day and attending performances in Covent Garden in the evenings.

Signing contracts
But it wasn't all fun. Within days of his arrival, Chopin signed a contract for the publication of the twelve Études of Opus 25 with the publisher Rudolf Wessel. He also had charmed with his music the London piano maker James Broadwood, once a supplier of instruments for Beethoven. The trip was a  success, no doubt.

Chopin is happy. And so he lets Julian Fontana know, describing his impressions of London and Londoners, in the casual tone of a schoolboy:

"... I will only say now that I am having a respectable time [...] One can have a good time here, if one stays only a short time and takes care. There are such tremendous things ! Huge urinals, but all the same nowhere to have a proper p ! As for the English women, the horses, the palaces, the carriages, the wealth, the splendour, the space, the trees everything from soap to razors it's all extraordinary, all uniform, all very proper, all well-washed BUT as black as a gentleman's bottom ! Let me give you a kiss on the face."

Upon return, a letter
He returns to Paris on July 22. A letter awaits him, from Maria's mother. The letter is very affectioned, although it does not contain a single word about the confusing engagement. Moreover, the Wodzinskys will not move from their habitual residence. They will not go on a vacation that year.

Chopin spends the rest of the summer in a deserted Paris, thinking about his grief.

But next year everything will be very different. Why does he have to suffer for a seventeen-year-old girl? George Sand, a wise woman, writer and mother of two children, asks herself the same question. In October 1838 she takes the musician for a walk to Mallorca.

Scherzo N ° 2, in B flat minor, Opus 31

Dedicated to his young student, Countess Adéle von Fürstenstein, Scherzo No. 2 was begun in June 1837 and completed the following year, probably in Majorca.

Like all Chopin scherzos, it is written in three-four time and has a ternary structure: two themes and a return to the first theme.

Marked presto, it begins with questioning motifs in the bass (to which Chopin granted the greatest importance in the world), responded explosively by triumphant chords in the treble to link at 0:50 with a lyrical motif. At minute 2:57 the second quieter theme appears, which after its introduction and a somehow daring development will lead to the repetition of the first theme at 7:10, with no variations. At 8:30 a spirited coda will begin, leading to a spectacular finale.

The rendition is by the Chinese pianist Shen Cai.