Composed: 1829
Premiered: 1829, Warsaw
Duration: 43 minutes

Shortly after graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1829, Chopin visited Vienna, where his playing of what seemed to his audiences very exotic Polish music aroused great enthusiasm. In order to firm up his reputation there, it was suggested that he should compose a piano concerto. (The so-called Second Concerto is actually his first, but was published later). He started by adapting a solo piano piece, which became the adagio of the concerto. It was dedicated to Konstancja Gladkowska, a fellow student at the conservatory and an aspiring opera singer. He referred to this adagio as a “romantic, calm and somewhat melancholy piece”, which he often played for his friend. Although they considered themselves engaged, when Chopin left for Paris she married a wealthy land-owner, and he dedicated the concerto to another woman.

Chopin took little interest in orchestral composition; in his concertos, the orchestra provides a background for the all-important solo part. Chopin himself frequently played his concertos as solos without orchestra. A contemporary reviewer of this concerto wrote “Chopin knows what sounds are heard in our fields and woods, and he has listened to the songs of the Polish villager. He has made them his own, and has united the tunes of his native land in skilful composition and elegant execution.” Although the final movement is in the style of a Polish dance, Chopin in fact very seldom used actual folk tunes in his compositions. He was so thoroughly steeped in their ambiance that his own original melodies sounded like folk songs.

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner.