Chopin - Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, is a piano concerto written by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was first performed on 11 October of that year, in Warsaw, with the composer as soloist, during one of his "farewell" concerts before leaving Poland.

It was the first of Chopin's two piano concerti to be published, and was therefore given the designation of Piano Concerto "No. 1" at the time of publication, even though it was actually written immediately after what was later published as Piano Concerto No. 2. It is dedicated to Friedrich Kalkbrenner.

The concerto is scored for solo piano, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, tenor trombone, timpani and strings.

It contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period:

Allegro maestoso
Romanze – Larghetto in E major
Rondo – Vivace in E major

Opinions of the concerto differ. Some critics feel that the orchestral support as written is dry and uninteresting. Others feel that the orchestral backing is carefully and deliberately written to fit in with the sound of the piano, and that the simplicity of arrangement is in deliberate contrast to the complexity of the harmony.

Both the first and second movements feature unusual modulations; in the opening Allegro, the exposition modulates to the parallel major, i-I, instead of the expected i-III. This tonal relation (i-III) between the second and the third theme finally occurs in the recapitulation, where an actual i-I modulation would have been expected, producing a different effect. The Romanze, although not strictly in sonata form, has its second theme of the exposition ascribe to the classical model of modulating to the dominant (I-V), and, when it returns, it modulates to the mediant (III).

Mily Balakirev re-orchestrated the concerto (using the same orchestral forces as Chopin employed, though with cor anglais instead of second oboe), and also wrote arrangements for violin and orchestra as well as for piano solo of the second movement.

Frederic Francois Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer, virtuoso pianist, and music teacher of French - Polish parentage. He was one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano".

Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, a village in the Duchy of Warsaw. A renowned child-prodigy pianist and composer, he grew up in Warsaw and completed his musical education there. Following the Russian suppression of the Polish November 1830 Uprising, he settled in Paris as part of the Polish Great Emigration. He supported himself as a composer and piano teacher, giving few public performances.

From 1837 to 1847 he carried on a relationship with the French woman writer George Sand. For most of his life, Chopin suffered from poor health; he died in Paris in 1849 at the age of 39. The vast majority of Chopin's works are exclusively for solo piano, the most notable exceptions being his two piano concertos.

His compositions are technically demanding but emphasize nuance and expressive depth. Chopin invented the musical form known as the instrumental ballade and made major innovations to the piano sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocturne, polonaise, etude, impromptu, scherzo, and prelude.

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