Romantic · Virtuoso
Sonata No. 3
- Catalog
- Op. 58
- Key
- B minor
- Year
- 1844
- Era
- Romantic
- Form
- Sonata
- Instrumentation
- Solo Piano
- Difficulty
- Virtuoso
- License
- Public Domain
- Source
- IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library
Sonata No. 3 by Frédéric Chopin, catalogued as Op. 58, is a work for solo piano in B minor. Composed during the Romantic era, it forms part of the composer's enduring contribution to the keyboard repertoire and is freely available in the public domain through archives such as IMSLP.
Frédéric Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the piano. His preludes, études, nocturnes, ballades, scherzos, polonaises, mazurkas, and waltzes invented the Romantic piano vocabulary almost single-handedly — pedal as colour, rubato as breathing, the singing right-hand line over a flexible accompaniment.
The work is suited to virtuoso-level pianists. As with all repertoire from this period, study editions vary; the public-domain engravings linked here are based on the most widely-circulated nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century editions and are sufficient for serious study, recital preparation, and recording.
About Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the piano. His preludes, études, nocturnes, ballades, scherzos, polonaises, mazurkas, and waltzes invented the Romantic piano vocabulary almost single-handedly — pedal as colour, rubato as breathing, the singing right-hand line over a flexible accompaniment.
Key character — B minor
Severe and elegiac, sometimes called the key of patience. Liszt's B minor Sonata is its monumental statement.
The Romantic Era
The Romantic era turned the piano into an orchestra under ten fingers. Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Liszt, Brahms, and Mendelssohn pushed expression toward the personal and the poetic, exploiting pedal, color, and virtuosity in equal measure.
About the Sonata form
The sonata is the central architectural form of Classical and Romantic keyboard music: typically three or four contrasting movements built around the dramatic dialogue of sonata-allegro form. From C. P. E. Bach's first essays through Beethoven's 32, Schubert's last great cycle, and the Romantic single-movement experiments of Liszt and Scriabin, the sonata absorbs every major shift in keyboard thinking.