I. Allegro maestoso

II. Romanze – Larghetto

III. Rondo – Vivace

Chopin began to compose his Piano Concerto in E minor in early 1830. Published in 1833, it was first performed in the year it was composed, on 11 October 1830.

The scale of the orchestral introduction that open the work promises a large-scale piano concerto to come. Featuring three principal melodies, it dazzles the listener with virtuoso and bravura piano technique at every step, but the orchestra merely supports all this in the background. There is no question of there being genuine dialogue or of it playing an equal role.

The slow movement evokes the atmosphere of the slow movements in Mozart’s piano concertos, although one can also detect the sound of Chopin’s own nocturnes in it. At that time, Chopin felt passionate Platonic love for the singer Konstancja Gładkowska: the movement’s reflective characteristics conceal a portrait of the adored lady.

Like the finalé of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, the closing movement draws much of its base material from Polish folk music. The end of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor is based on the double-time Krakowiak folk dance, which Chopin transforms into a graceful and worldly “conversational” language.