After a relationship lasting some ten years, the last few of which were stormy, Frédéric Chopin finally separated from George Sand in July 1847. It was on her estate at Nohant that, over seven summers, he had composed or completed the core of his oeuvre: the Fantaisie Op.49, a dozen mazurkas, the Berceuse, several nocturnes, two of the ballades, two of the scherzos, his last two sonatas, the Trois Nouvelles Études, three impromptus, three waltzes, two polonaises, among others. The summer of 1846, the last he spent in the Berry region, saw the birth of his final masterpieces for it was at Nohant that he composed, started, or finished the last pieces to be printed in his lifetime: ‘miniatures’ like the Mazurkas Op.63 and the Waltzes Op.64, or pieces with a more elaborate structure such as the Barcarolle Op.60, the Nocturnes Op.62a and the Sonata for piano and cello Op.65, the final published opuses that are brought together in this programme.
Pascal Amoyel and Emmanuelle Bertrand plunge us into the heart of those few months before the couple’s separation, when the ailing Chopin did not yet know that he was leaving his musical testament.