Frederic Chopin // Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23

Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, composed in 1831 during Chopin’s early years in Vienna, was a reflection about his loneliness in the city far away from home, where a war was happening against the Russian Empire’s oppression. Once finished, it wasn’t published until his move to Paris, where he dedicated it to Baron Nathaniel von Stockhausen, the Hanoverian ambassador to France. Robert Schumann commented that, “I received a new Ballade from Chopin. It seems to be a work closest to his genius (although not the most ingenious) and I told him that I like it best of all his compositions. After quite a lengthy silence he replied with emphasis, ‘I am happy to hear this since I too like it most and hold it dearest.’”