Piano Forum

I have always wondered the same thing as cruisecontrol. jamienc, could you point out some specific bars in the coda and indicate which theme it refers back to and what makes you draw that conclusion?

(Love the ballade btw)

Sure! As I mentioned, the main theme after the introduction is greatly transformed in the coda, and it is the nature of the intervals and direction that provide the link to the theme from a purely motivic sense. The theme itself is never overtly stated in the coda in its original form, but the motives definitely overlap between the hands of RH figuration and LH accompaniment. For example, the main theme has a rising fourth and a falling tritone, followed by a rising minor third. If you look at the first bar of the coda (211), the RH has the rising c-f in the first triplet, the falling g-d flat split between the hands in the second triplet, and a rising minor third split between the hands from the e-natural LH to g in the RH. Notice the d-flat on the first note of the third triplet in the RH, which plays in important role as the longest duration in the main theme itself. (I was always curious about the abundance of d-flat in the first four bars of the coda.) Since the harmony is tonic and then the unstable e-diminished chord over the pedal F, one could reasonably argue that all of the notes of the theme are there within the first three triplet groups of the coda, though not in the expected order or textural placement. But the direction is correct! The second half of that measure is essentially the same thing with a varied arrangement of the voicing.
Mm. 212 has the three repeated notes of the theme in the top voice, rhythmically transformed to exhibit the raging character. The cadential 16ths of the theme are energized within the falling chromatic scale to initiate the repeat of those two measures in a different register. The evidence I suggest that supports this claim is that Chopin took the time to differentiate the RH voices by splitting the stem direction, which he didn’t do in the previous measure. Since those repeated notes had longer values and he wanted them held out, I can understand why he separated the voices, but it is still curious.
As far as the lyrical lullaby, the only link I could find in the coda is that which happens in mm. 220-222. The chords in the RH are a gross transformation of that beautiful theme, and in the minor key in a lower register. It is only evident once in the coda, but the melodic/rhythmic motives are there albeit for a short moment. In fact, it happens so quickly amidst the chaos that I doubt that would be recognizable to anyone who isn’t really intimate with the piece from a performance standpoint.
Overall, it really is the main theme that dominates the coda, and quite frankly, after having taken another look at this I think Chopin remarkably fused the theme and harmonic support of it into one solid entity that is obscured by the rampage of technical display and textural transformation. Both are definitely there, but they are difficult to separate into their constituent parts. Anyway, that’s my take on it. Hope this provides some insight!