Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23, dates to sketches Frédéric Chopin made in 1831 during his eight-month stay in Vienna. It was completed in 1835 after his move to Paris. The Ballade was a reflection about Frédéric Chopin loneliness in the city far away from his home in Poland, where a war was happening against the Russian Empire’s oppression. In 1836 Robert Schumann commented that, “I received a new Ballade from Chopin. It seems to be a work closest to his genius (although not the most ingenious) and I told him that I like it best of all his compositions. After quite a lengthy silence he replied with emphasis, ‘I am happy to hear this since I too like it most and hold it dearest.’ – Vladimir Horowitz
