Rondo in C minor (Chopin)

The Rondo in C minor, Op. 1, for solo piano is Chopin's first published work, published in 1825,^[1] and dedicated to "Madame de Linde", the wife of the headmaster of the Lyceum at which Chopin was studying.^[2] The piece contains an "unorthodox (but entirely logical) tonal scheme".^[1] The first phase begins in C minor, moving into E major, A♭ major, then back to C minor. The second phase moves to D♭ major, finishing in C minor for a final statement of the theme.^[1]

Chopin premiered the work at a concert on 10 June 1825 in the auditorium of the Warsaw Conservatory. The performance gained a review in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of Leipzig (probably written by Chopin's teacher Józef Elsner) praising its "wealth of musical ideas".^[3]

Robert Schumann wrote to his teacher Friedrich Wieck of the Rondo in 1832:

"Chopin's first work (I believe firmly that it is his 10th) is in my hands: a lady would say that it was very pretty, very piquant, almost Moschelesque. But I believe you will make Clara study it; for there is plenty of spirit in it and few difficulties. But I humbly venture to assert that there are between this composition and Op. 2 two years and twenty works."^[4]

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Cambridge Companion to Chopin p80, Jim Samson. Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-47752-2 ISBN 9780521477529
^ Walker (2018), p. 69
^ Walker (2018), p. 84
^ Frederick Niecks, "Chopin as a man as a musician" [1]