The night of Chopin
Ballade op.38 no.2
Uisu, Shin
Chopin ballade op.38 no.2
Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38, was composed from 1836 to 1839. The second ballade is dedicated to Schumann. He did not appear to have had any great liking for Schumann’s music. It was certainly perspicacious to discern genius in this very early piece. Schumann seems to have been perplexed by this piece, and with reason, for apparently Chopin played different versions of it at different times, sometimes merely an extended version of the first section. When Chopin played it to him, writes Schumann, it finished in F major. When it was published in 1840, however, it finished in A minor. Chopin must have been turning it over in his mind for several years- Since 1836, in fact, when Schumann first heard it. A long time in terms of Chopin’s woefully short life, and indeed, one can imagine the composer playing these uniquely seductive strains on the piano, and wondering which of their charming suggestions to follow.