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Warsaw’s Chopin Museum acquires the composer’s priceless manuscript

24.01.2025 10:00
The Chopin Museum in Warsaw has unveiled the composer’s autograph manuscript of the Ballade in F minor, Op. 52. It was purchased from a private collector with funds provided by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Warsaw, January 23, 2025  The Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw unveils the original manuscript of Chopins Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, recently acquired by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. This priceless document highlights the composers genius and Polands cultural heritage.
Warsaw, January 23, 2025 – The Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw unveils the original manuscript of Chopin's Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, recently acquired by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. This priceless document highlights the composer’s genius and Poland’s cultural heritage.Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell

Written in 1842 in Nohant, the Ballade in F minor is the last of Chopin’s four ballades and is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of piano music.

The director of the National Chopin Institute, Artur Szklener, announced at a press conference that the manuscript is exceptionally unique in Chopin’s oeuvre.

It reveals that after completing the piece, the composer decided to introduce significant changes—one of which was so crucial that the score had to be rewritten.

Szklener explained: “Chopin decided to change the metre from 6/4 to 6/8, most likely intending the piece to be performed at a faster tempo.” He added that the 79-bar manuscript, containing Chopin’s amendments and crossings-out, provides an invaluable insight into the composer’s creative process and the development of his musical ideas.

📣✨ Już jest! Nowy nabytek Narodowego Instytutu Fryderyka Chopina – 𝗿𝗲̨𝗸𝗼𝗽𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘄𝘀𝘇𝗲𝗷, 𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗷 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗷𝗶 „𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗱𝘆...

Opublikowany przez Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina Czwartek, 23 stycznia 2025

After Chopin’s death in Paris in 1849, his sister, Ludwika, gifted the manuscript to Joseph Dessauer, a close friend of the composer and an acclaimed pianist and composer.

In 1933, it resurfaced in an antiquarian shop in Lucerne, where it was purchased by renowned art collector Rudolf F. Kallir. Following several years of negotiations, the Chopin Museum in Warsaw acquired the manuscript from Kallir’s heirs. Under the terms of the contract, the transaction price remains undisclosed.

The Minister of Culture, Hanna Wróblewska, described the acquisition as “a real treasure.” She emphasized that the purchase reaffirms the position of the National Chopin Institute in Warsaw as the world’s leading center for Chopin research, while also underscoring the importance of preserving Poland’s cultural heritage.

According to Dr. Seweryn Kuter, a curator at the Chopin Museum, the manuscript is in excellent condition. It is currently on display at the museum until Sunday.

Later in the year, from June 12 to October 30, it will be featured in a temporary exhibition titled "Romantic Life: Chopin, Scheffer, Delacroix, Sand," one of the key events accompanying the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition, which will be held in Warsaw throughout October.

Source: Chopin Institute/YouTube.com; PAP; X/@kultura_gov_pl

(m k/m p)