Poland acquires a “very rare” manuscript by Frédéric Chopin in “excellent condition”

Poland announced Thursday that it had purchased the manuscript of a ballad by Frédéric Chopin, a score whose exhibition will coincide with the prestigious piano competition that bears his name and which will take place this year in the Polish capital. The manuscript of the Ballad no. 4 in F minor, Opus 52, was previously in private hands before Poland struck a deal to buy it last year. « It’s a treasure », Polish Culture Minister Hanna Wroblewska told reporters at Warsaw’s Chopin Institute, adding that the French-Polish composer’s original manuscripts were « very rare ».

The purchase was made with public funds but the Institute did not disclose the price of the four-page manuscript due to a clause in the contract. « This manuscript is in excellent condition. It has been preserved for more than 100 years in optimal conditions », said Seweryn Kuter, curator of the Chopin Institute.

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A Parisian composition

A masterpiece among the composer’s masterpieces, the ballad was probably composed in Paris in 1842 and dedicated to Charlotte de Rothschild, the wife of Nataniel de Rothschild. Born in 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, near the Polish capital, Frédéric Chopin fled his country just before the 1830 uprising against the occupying forces of Tsarist Russia. The composer then lived in Vienna, before settling in Paris, where he died at the age of 39 after a long illness. His music remains a symbol of Poland’s long struggle for freedom.

The score purchased by Poland will be the subject of an exhibition in Warsaw which will begin in June and continue until the end of October, the month of 19^e Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition. Organized every five years since 1927, this competition attracts pianists from all over the world to Warsaw.

In October, organizers said Russian pianists would only be allowed to compete under a neutral flag and if they did not support their country’s aggression against Ukraine.