Racing the Clock with Chopin's Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 "Minute Waltz"
The Backstory
Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64 No. 1
I'm Fryderyk Chopin, and here I'll tell you the backstory of my Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 "Minute Waltz". You'll learn who I dedicated this little waltz to, Countess Delfina Potocka, and why such a carefree tune was written in a year that was far from carefree for me. Should you like to recognize our music whenever you hear it, which my fellow composers and I also teach here on this site, test yourself in the Trainer .
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A Waltz Slips Out in 1847
I wrote this waltz in 1847, as part of a set of three that I worked on across 1846 and 1847. It's for solo piano, the instrument I knew best, so I never needed an orchestra to explain myself. The key is D-flat major, a warm and rounded key that sits very comfortably under the fingers. Whether I wrote it in Paris or at Nohant, nobody can confirm, so I'll leave that question to the historians.A Cheerful Tune Beside a Breakup
That same year, my relationship with George Sand came to an end after an angry exchange of letters. So the waltz was written around the time when my private life was coming apart. You wouldn't guess it from the music, which skips along without a trace of gloom. I've always found it interesting that something so bright can come out of such an unhappy season.Saving My Strength
My health had been declining steadily since 1842, and I wrote a little less with every year. Seen against that, a small, bright waltz like this one feels more like a spark than a grand statement. I died in 1849, aged 39, only two years after finishing it. Still, I'd like you to hear it as lively and warm rather than as a farewell, even if the timing is hard to ignore.A Gift for the Countess
I dedicated this waltz to Countess Delfina Potocka. In my day a dedication was a common way of honouring a friend or admirer, and it put a name on the first page for everyone to see. This piece suits a drawing room well, since it's brilliant without ever being heavy. Her name is still printed on it today, which is a rather nice kind of immortality.Three Waltzes, One Family
This is the first of the three waltzes in Op. 64, and the other two each have a dedication of their own. The second, in C-sharp minor, went to Charlotte de Rothschild, and the third, in A-flat major, went to Countess Katarzyna Branicka. That C-sharp minor waltz is the darker, minor-key counterpart of my D-flat major, just spelled differently on the page. So the set opens in sunshine and moves into shadow within a few minutes, which is how many of my evenings went.Two Publishers and One Mystery
The waltz came out in 1847 from Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, and the set was issued in Paris by Brandus et Cie that same year. I can't tell you which edition reached the shops first, because the exact dates have never been confirmed. Nor is there any record of who played it in public for the first time, or where. That's an odd gap for a piece that is now played everywhere, but sometimes a first night simply goes unrecorded.A Name I Didn't Pick
The nickname Minute Waltz wasn't mine, because the publisher added it. They meant miniature, a small waltz, and not a piece that should be over in sixty seconds. Most pianists take somewhere between about a minute and a half and two and a half minutes, and that's perfectly fine with me. The misunderstanding has done the piece no harm, since the name is very easy to remember.What the Pedal Is Doing
The score asks for the sustain pedal, which lets the notes keep ringing into one another. It also calls for crescendi and diminuendi throughout, which simply means the sound swells and fades again and again. That's what keeps the fast notes from sounding like a typewriter and gives them a gentle, breathing shape. Listen for it and you'll hear the tune lean forward and settle back, as if the waltz were taking small breaths.Surprising Places the Waltz Turned Up
Arthur Rubinstein's fast recording has been the theme of the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute since the programme began. Barbra Streisand recorded a vocal version on Color Me Barbra in 1966, and it peaked at No. 23 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. James Booker recorded an instrumental version on Junco Partner in 1976, and he made it sound very different from the way I wrote it. I never imagined my little waltz would end up on a radio panel show, on a singer's album and in the hands of a pianist like Booker.Bigger Than a Minute
Godowsky, Reger and Hamelin have each written a paraphrase of the piece. A paraphrase is when another composer takes a tune and reworks it in his own way, and I take that as a compliment. It pleases me that something so small keeps inviting other musicians to play with it. So the waltz that began as a miniature in 1847 is still going strong, and it needs only a few bars to win you over.---
I hope you enjoyed learning about the backstory of my Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 "Minute Waltz". Looking back, it still surprises me how much a piece this small can hold. It was written in a difficult year, yet it comes across as light and playful, and I think that says something about what music can do for us. There's still plenty more to explore, from the dedication to Countess Delfina Potocka to the different ways pianists and other musicians have made the waltz their own. Even the name has more to it than most people expect, since it was my publisher who gave it to the piece and not me. If you'd like to keep going, I invite you to click on the links provided and see where they take you. And the next time you hear this waltz, I hope you'll listen for the quiet moments between all those quick notes.