Chopin in Paris, 1847 - Waltz Op 64 No 2

Two years before his death, Chopin was in Paris, alone. But Paris was on fire.
There was only one year left for the "bourgeois king" Louis Philippe to flee to England after the popular uprising in February 1848. But already in June 1847, as a result of the rise in the price of bread, in an Alsacian city there were serious clashes of workers, peasants and the petty bourgeoisie against the troops, which would be strongly repressed with a balance of several deaths. Between August 31 and September 7, it was Paris's turn: a week of barricades and clashes on rue Saint-Honoré marked the soon end of the "July Monarchy", installed in 1830.

George Sand. The farewell
A few blocks away, Chopin, who is not precisely a revolutionary and lives only for his music, tries to work at his residence at 9 Place d'Orléans. This summer there is no getaway to Nohant because a month ago he received the last letter from George Sand, who from his rest estate writes him saying goodbye forever with these words:

"Farewell, my friend, be cured soon of all ailments and I will thank God for this strange denouement of nine years of exclusive friendship. Let me hear from you sometime."

So, coldly, the summers free of financial worries and the peaceful afternoons composing in the countryside are over. Therefore, he has to double the number of lessons, get more pupils. But he coughs a lot and has a fever, so everything becomes a little more difficult. In spite of everything, he has the strength to finish three simple waltzes that will make up opus 64.

At the home of friends

That convulsed Parisian summer, Chopin takes refuge at times in the house of some friends and, in opposition to the historical reality that surrounds him, he will compose an elegant and aristocratic waltz, as well as perfect: the today popular Waltz in C sharp minor, which will be dedicated to Mrs Rothschild, in whose house he escaped from loneliness for some days.

Waltz opus 64 N° 2, in C sharp minor

A sort of refrain (0:43) accompanies the main theme which, repeated four times, is broken by an interlude as a third theme, calmer and more lyrical, at 1:13. The piece concludes cleanly with the refrain, without the slightest stridency, as if it were fading away.

The rendition, flawless, is by the extraordinary Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, when she was twenty-five-year-old.