Chopin, Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39

The Scherzo No. 3, Op. 39, in C-sharp minor by Frédéric Chopin, completed in 1839, was written in the abandoned monastery of Valldemossa on the Balearic island of Majorca, Spain. This is the most terse, ironic, and tightly constructed of the four scherzos, with an almost Beethovenian grandeur. The music is given over to a wild frenzy, mysteriously becalmed, then erupting a moment later with a return of the aggressive octaves.