PlayPiano
The short answer
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 is a ballade by Frédéric Chopin from the Romantic era. PlayPiano puts it at Level 10, an estimate.
- ballade
- Romantic
- stormy
Also known as Première Ballade.
History
Chopin's first piano ballade was published in Paris, Leipzig and London in 1836, bringing a literary-sounding genre title to a large solo-piano work. The G-minor score is dedicated to Baron de Stockhausen; the dedication to Robert Schumann belongs to Ballade No. 2, not this one.
Sources
What to listen for
A shared contour climbs from below
Both staves begin with a shared rising and descending contour, then thin into held sound. Hear the whole opening gesture before the song begins.
A broader song rides flowing support
The longer-note upper song sits above broken-note accompaniment. Listen to its wider span alongside the smaller moving responses.
A quiet familiar contour prepares a change
An opening-related line returns quietly above separated supports and builds toward the meter change. Hear the preparation without assuming an automatic repeat.
Runs and opposing octaves drive the ending
High chromatic runs, held punctuation and opposing octave lines move toward the final low close. Follow the larger drive through the brief interruptions.
How to practise it
Give the unison opening a clear long-note arrival before shaping the quieter chromatic continuation.
- Play the main pitch contour slowly and count the tied C fully; combine the two streams without anticipating E-flat.
- Sing F-sharp/G/F-sharp/E-sharp separately, then join the triplet continuation without carrying the introduction's weight into it.
How hard is it
Large-scale narrative pacing and demanding climactic passagework require concert-level technique and structural control.
About this piece
- Licence
- Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
- Source
- mutopiaproject.org
- Credit
- “Première Ballade” by F. F. Chopin (1810 to 1849). Mutopia edition maintained by Javier Ruiz-Alma. Source: https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=1959. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Changes to the supplied file: none; any later conversion or edit must be disclosed separately.
More by Frédéric Chopin
- Prelude in A major, Op. 28 No. 7Level 5, estimatedWith Maestro
- Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2Level 7, estimatedWith Maestro
- Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52Level 10, estimatedWith Maestro
