Near the center of the piece, the music leads into a slower section in B major; finally one hears a tangible melody in the middle register, surrounded by accompaniment in both the left and upper right hands.
Chopin quotes here from an old Polish Christmas song (Lulajże, Jezuniu / Sleep, little Jesus);[1] the tempo in this section is marked Molto più lento.
[2] A friend of Chopin's, Thomas Albrecht, to whom it was dedicated, convinced him to stay in Vienna, away from his family in Poland, to build his musical career.
[citation needed] Because of the struggle and the war, his compositions changed from pieces of a brilliant style to works in a new, darker tonality.
[citation needed] Scherzo is "joke" in Italian, and Robert Schumann commented on the work's apparent disregard for its title: "How is 'gravity' to clothe itself if 'jest' goes about in dark veils?"
[3] It is dark, suspenseful, and full of chaos – the first clear melody is in the slow B major middle section, but returns to a chaotic murmur soon after.