Ballades (Chopin)

Movements

Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 Ballade No. 3 in A♭ major, Op. 47 Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

Notes

Frédéric Chopin’s Four Ballades are single-movement pieces for solo piano, composed between 1831 and 1842. They are considered to be some of the most important and challenging pieces in the standard piano repertoire.

Chopin used the term ballade in the sense of a balletic interlude or dance piece, equivalent to the old Italian ballata. However, the term may also have connotations of the medieval heroic ballad, a narrative minstrel song, often of a fantastical character. There are dramatic and dance-like elements in Chopin’s use of the genre, and he is a pioneer of the ballade as an abstract musical form.

Performances