Programmatic clues appear in the opening measures. The left hand’s ostinato-like accompaniment suggests the grinding wheels of a primitive peasant cart. (4) Note that the pitches sounding in the middle register of the left hand part are clearly linked in Chopin’s fair copy autograph (Example 2) by separate beaming in the first bar (with continuation implied), and their mournful reference to the Dies irae supports a funereal interpretation.(5) Together with the awkward displacements in the ostinato figure, an initial program may be suggested: perhaps an ox cart with a dead body being hauled to a desolate graveyard. Appropriately, the melodic gesture entering in measure 3 has a heavy lament character, with the move to subtonic providing a more primitive sound in accord with the primitive wheels of the ox cart. The three-note motive (E–B–D) may also suggest a bardic or narrative voice; the same intervallic idea is used to announce the opening waltz of Chopin’s Ballade in G minor, op. 23.