Composed: 1830
Premiered: 1830, Warsaw
Duration: 43 minutes

Both of Chopin’s two piano concertos were composed in 1830. The young man had just graduated from the Warsaw conservatory, and was establishing a solid local reputation as a virtuoso pianist. Concertos were the usual way to reach a large audience. Chopin modelled his concertos on those of earlier Romantic composers, incorporating some of the melodic style of the Italian bel canto operas of the time. Although he seldom quoted Polish folk songs in his works, he was intimately familiar with the dance rhythms of his native land; the finales of both concertos are stylized Polish dances. The orchestra in these works serves mainly as a foil for the soloist, with only limited interaction with them or development of its own. Chopin performed the concerto known as his first to great applause in Warsaw as part of his farewell concert before leaving on a tour of Europe. (Although the E Minor concerto is labelled No. 1, it is actually his second; it just happened to be published first).

Chopin settled in Paris and never returned to Poland. He became a member of the Polish emigré community there. He did not renew his passport, becoming in effect a political refugee from the Tsarist regime of his native land. He developed his distinctive pianistic style, recalling the dances of Poland, but composed no more concertos. At times, he performed the solo part of his concertos without the orchestral accompaniment, with little loss of effect. He usually played in the more intimate settings of salons rather than in public concerts.

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