Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat Minor (Chopin)

Frédéric Chopin composed his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor ("Funeral March") in 1839 at Nohant near Chateauroux in France. It consists of four movements:

1. Grave; Doppio movimento
2. Scherzo
3. Marche funèbre: Lento
4. Finale: Presto

The first movement features a stormy opening theme and a gently lyrical second theme. The second contains a more relaxed second melodic theme. The third movement is the funeral march from which the sonata gets its nickname. The finale contains a whirlwind of notes; Chopin referred to it as a gossip between hands on the piano.

The Sonata may have been influenced by the struggle for freedom in Poland. It confused contemporary critics who found it lacked cohesion. Robert Schumann suggested that Chopin had in this sonata "simply bound together four of his most unruly children."