Waltzes (Chopin)


Frédéric Chopin's waltzes are pieces of moderate length for piano, all written between 1824 and 1849. They are all in waltz triple meter, specifically, but differ from earlier Viennese waltzes in not being intended for dancing; nonetheless, several have been used in ballets, most notably Les Sylphides. Some are accessible by pianists of modest capability, others require advanced technique.
Chopin may have written as many as 37 piano waltzes, but only nineteen are numbered and only eight were published before he died. His desire was that any unpublished works should be burned, but his sister Ludwika and Julian Fontana proceeded anyway to publish Waltzes 9–13. Six waltzes composed 1826–1831 and present in Frédéric’s Paris home were at first preserved but then lost in an unintended 1863 fire in Ludwika's house. Another six were eventually published as Waltzes 14–19. These Chopin had given to related people without guarding the manuscripts. Waltz 18 was untitled; it is in time and bears some characteristics of a waltz but is marked Sostenuto. Waltz 17 is not accepted as authentic by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute; to the other five in this group it has assigned WN numbers. Waltz 20 is likewise inauthentic. Another authentic waltz in A minor was rediscovered in 2024 and has not yet been published or numbered. Separately, the last variation of Chopin’s Variations on a German National Air , WN 6, is in the form of a waltz. Besides, there remain:
  1. Extant waltzes in private hands, unavailable to researchers
  2. Waltzes believed destroyed or lost
  3. Waltzes of which documentary evidence exists but whose manuscripts are not known to exist
Famous are the Minute Waltz and the Waltz in C♯ Minor, both from Op. 64, the last set of waltzes Chopin published before his death.

List of waltzes by or attributed to Chopin

Series
number		KeyComposedPublishedOpus NumberBrownKobylańskaChominskiDedicationNotes
1[Grande valse brillante in Grande valse brillante in E-flat major (Chopin)|E-flat major (Chopin)|E-flat major]18331834 Op. 18B.62Laura HorsfordGrande valse brillante; used in Les Sylphides
2A-flat major18351838Op. 34/1B.94Josefine von Thun-HohensteinThe three waltzes, Op. 34 were also published as Grandes valses brillantes, but this title is usually reserved for the Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18
3A minor18311838Op. 34/2B.64Baroness C. d'IvryThe three waltzes, Op. 34 were also published as Grandes valses brillantes, but this title is usually reserved for the Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18
4F major1838 or earlier1838Op. 34/3B.118Mlle. A. d'EichthalThe three waltzes, Op. 34 were also published as Grandes valses brillantes, but this title is usually reserved for the Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18
5A-flat major18401840Op. 42B.131Grande valse; sometimes called the 2/4 waltz since the main melody sounds as if in 2/4 time against a 3/4 bass.
6D-flat major1846–1847XI 1847Op. 64/1B.164/1Countess Delfina PotockaValse du petit chien is the title Chopin gave this waltz, which is popularly known as Minute Waltz
71846–1847XI 1847Op. 64/2B.164/2Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild Used in Les Sylphides and Secret
8A-flat major1846–1847XI 1847Op. 64/3B.164/3Countess Katarzyna Branicka
9A-flat major1835 1855Op. posth. 69/1B.95Charlotte de Rothschild, Mme Peruzzi and Maria WodzińskaL'adieu
10B minor18291852 Op. posth. 69/2B.35Wilhelm Kolberg
11G-flat major18331855Op. posth. 70/1B.92Used in Les Sylphides
12F minor/A-flat major1841 1852 Op. posth. 70/2B.138Marie de Krudner, Mme. Oury, Élise Gavard & Countess Esterházy
13D-flat major1829 1855Op. posth. 70/3B.40
14E minor18301868Op. PosthB.56KK IVa/15P1/15No autograph exists
15E major18291861 Lviv,Ukraine-B.44KK IVa/12P1/12No autograph exists
16A-flat major18271902-B.21KK IVa/13P1/13Emilia Elsner
17E-flat major18271902B 46KK IVa/14P1/14Emilia Elsner
18E-flat major18401955-B.133KK IVb/10Émile GaillardHeaded "Sostenuto"; not always classified as a waltz.From 1938 present in the "Conservatoire Paris "
19A minor1847–49 1955, 1958Op. PosthB.150KK IVb/11P2/11Charlotte de Rothschild or daughterUnedited edition pub. Paris 1955; ed. Jack Werner 1958. From 1901 present in the "Bibliotheque du Conservatoire de Paris "
20F-sharp minor1838 1932-KK Ib/7A1/7Not by Chopin; first published in 1861, and in 1986 published under the name Valse mélancolique by Stanislaw Dybowski on the bi-weekly "Ruch Muzyczny", but in 2012 discovered by Luca Chierici to be a shortened version of a piece by Charles Mayer named Le Régret, op. 332.
-C major1824 --KK Vb/8Lost
-A minor1824---KK VfCountess LubienskaLost
-C major1826--KK Vb/3MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant
-A-flat major1827--KK Vb/4MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant
-D minor1828--KK Vb/6La Partenza; MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant
-A minor1829--Discovered 1937; was in possession of H. Hinterberger of Vienna, but now believed destroyed
-A minor1829 ----Sketches for a brief prelude and main theme
-A-flat major1829–30 --KK Vb/5Mentioned in a letter from Chopin to his family, 21 December 1830; MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant
-E-flat major1829–30--KK Vb/7MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant
-A minor1830–35-Manuscript discovered at The Morgan Library & Museum in 2024
-C major1831--MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant
-?1845 ---KK Ve/12Mentioned in diary of L. Niedźwiecki
-B major1848 --B.166KK Va/3Madame ErskineAccording to a letter of Arthur Hedley
manuscript in a private collection
-E-flat major1829–30--KK Vb/7Mentioned in letters from Breitkopf to Izabela Barcińska in 1878
-??---KK Ve/10Listed in auction catalogue, Paris, March 1906
-??---KK Ve/11Mentioned in letters from Breitkopf to Izabela Barcińska in 1878
-??---KK VfSeveral waltzes; lost