The Boléro, Op. 19, is a short piano work written by Frédéric Chopin in 1833 and published in 1834. It is one of his lesser-known piano pieces, although it has been recorded numerous times.
Structure
The overall key of the Boléro is difficult to establish.[
dominant chords of C major) in fortissimo, then a lengthy introduction in C major, moving to A minor (the relative minor of C major) for the Boléro proper.[citation needed] This is interrupted by sections in A major, A-flat major and B-flat minor before returning to A minor. It ends triumphantly in A major (parallel major of A minor).[citation needed
]
Composition
The work was dedicated to the Scottish-born but half-French
polonaise in disguise, or a boléro à la polonaise,[4]
as its rhythms are more redolent of the national dance of Chopin's homeland than anything Spanish. It was written five years before Chopin first visited Spain in 1838.
