Minute Waltz (Op. 64 No. 1)

Background

The Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1, is one of the last works Chopin published. He wrote it in 1846–47, and it appeared in 1847 as the first of three waltzes in Op. 64, dedicated to his friend Countess Delfina Potocka.

The nickname is not Chopin's, and it is often misunderstood. "Minute" here means "small" (as in my-newt), not sixty seconds. Played well it usually takes closer to two minutes, and racing it to fit inside one is not the point. The French nickname, Valse du petit chien ("waltz of the little dog"), comes from a story that Chopin was inspired by George Sand's small dog chasing its own tail. That story is traditional rather than documented, but the spinning right hand certainly fits it.

Like Chopin's other waltzes, it is not music for a ballroom. It is a concert piece in waltz rhythm: quick, light and witty, with a calmer, singing middle section.

How to practise it

The right hand opens alone for four bars, circling around four neighbouring notes: G, A flat, B flat and C. Then the left hand joins with a waltz pattern, a bass note on beat 1 and a chord on beats 2 and 3, while the right hand keeps spinning.

With the thumb on G and fingers 2, 3 and 4 on the next three notes, the opening never needs the hand to move. Stay close to the keys and let the fingers do the work; the wrist should feel loose, not fixed.

Evenness matters far more than speed. Try these drills on the first eight bars:

• Play in dotted rhythms: long-short, then short-long.
• Play in groups of three notes with a pause, then groups of six.
• Play at half speed with a metronome, making every eighth note identical in loudness.

The left hand needs its own attention. The bass note on beat 1 sits well below the chords, so practise the jump alone, looking at the chord and feeling for the bass. Keep the chords on beats 2 and 3 short and light, so the bar feels like one swing rather than three thumps.

The middle section is slower and more lyrical, with long notes in the melody. Give it a singing tone and a little more time. It leads back to the opening through a passage built on a held A flat, so practise that join on its own.

At the very end, the right hand plunges in a long run from the top of the keyboard down to the final note. Learn it in short groups, starting each group on a different finger, before connecting them.

Tempo ladder: half speed (120 on the metronome), then 160, 200 and the full 240, moving up only after three clean run-throughs in a row. Pedal lightly, mostly on the bass notes, so the quick notes stay clear.