Waltz in D-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1 (Minute Waltz)

The name is a curse. Chopin's Waltz in D-flat Major is universally known as the 'Minute Waltz,' which everyone interprets as 'a waltz that lasts one minute,' which it doesn't — it takes about two minutes at a proper tempo, and attempting it in sixty seconds produces music that sounds like a sewing machine having a panic attack. The 'minute' was originally meant as 'small' — a minute waltz, as in tiny, diminutive — but the damage was done the moment the first ambitious pianist decided to race the clock.

The legend behind the piece involves George Sand's little dog chasing its own tail. Chopin supposedly watched the spectacle and sat down at the piano to capture the circular, dizzy motion in music. Sand confirmed the story, which means it's either true or she enjoyed the image enough to endorse it. The opening figure — a rapid, spinning descent in the right hand — does sound remarkably like a small animal in pursuit of something it will never catch. Whether that something is a tail or happiness or artistic perfection is left to the listener.

Chopin composed this in 1847, two years before his death. By this point his tuberculosis was severe, his relationship with Sand had ended acrimoniously, and his performing career had been reduced to a handful of private salon appearances. The Minute Waltz is a piece of extraordinary lightness written by a man who was running out of air. That contrast — between the buoyancy of the music and the gravity of the circumstances — is the entire Chopin story in miniature. The man's body was failing. His hands still knew how to make joy.

The middle section switches from the spinning figuration to a lyrical melody that floats above a waltz accompaniment with the effortlessness of someone who has spent twenty years mastering the art of making difficulty invisible. It lasts about twenty seconds. Then the spinning returns, the tail chase resumes, and the piece ends with a flourish that's half bow and half wink. Two minutes. A dog, a dying man, and the piano. That's all you need.

Recording: Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano (Victor, recorded April 5, 1923). Public domain. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minute_Waltz,_by_Chopin_-_Performed_by_Sergej_Rachmaninoff.ogg