Ballade No.4, Op.52
Ballade · in F minor · Op. 52
Frédéric Chopin 1810–1849
F minor
Key
Ballade
Form
Andante con moto
Tempo
Op. 52
Catalogue
Score
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Difficulty
Our estimate Virtuoso
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Themes & character
Contrapuntal mastery·Tragic grandeur·Variation technique·Towering coda
At a glance
- Catalogue
- Op. 52
- Key
- F minor
- Tempo / character
- Andante con moto
- Form
- Ballade
About the piece
The fourth ballade, composed in 1842 and dedicated to Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild, is widely held to be the greatest of the set and one of the peaks of the entire piano literature. Its haunting main theme returns again and again, each time more richly varied and woven with counterpoint.
The long build leads to a coda of extraordinary intensity and difficulty, a final unleashing that many pianists regard as one of the hardest passages Chopin ever wrote.
The composer
Frédéric Chopin
1810–1849
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading composer of his era whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".
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