# Waltzes (Chopin)

Frédéric Chopin's waltzes are pieces of moderate length for piano, all written between 1824 and 1849. They are all in waltz triple meter, specifically 3/4 (except Op. P1/13, which is in 3/8 time), but differ from earlier Viennese waltzes in not being intended for dancing; nonetheless, several have been used in ballets, most notably Les Sylphides. Some are accessible by pianists of modest capability, others require advanced technique.
Chopin may have written as many as 37 piano waltzes, but only nineteen (along with one inauthentic waltz) are numbered and only eight were published (in Opp. 18, 34, 42 and 64) before he died. His desire was that any unpublished works should be burned, but his sister Ludwika and Julian Fontana proceeded anyway to publish Waltzes 9–13 (as Opp. 69 and 70). Six waltzes composed 1826–1831 and present in Frédéric’s Paris home were at first preserved but then lost in an unintended 1863 fire in Ludwika's house. Another six were eventually published as Waltzes 14–19. These Chopin had given to related people without guarding the manuscripts. Waltz 18 was untitled; it is in 3/4 time and bears some characteristics of a waltz but is marked Sostenuto. Waltz 17 is not accepted as authentic by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute; to the other five in this group it has assigned WN numbers (29, 18, 28, 53 and 63). Waltz 20 is likewise inauthentic. Another authentic waltz in A minor was rediscovered in 2024 and has not yet been published or numbered. Separately, the last variation of Chopin’s (authentic) Variations on a German National Air (Der Schweizerbub), WN 6, is in the form of a waltz. Besides, there remain:
* Extant waltzes in private hands, unavailable to researchers
* Waltzes believed destroyed or lost
* Waltzes of which documentary evidence exists but whose manuscripts are not known to exist
Famous are the Minute Waltz and the Waltz in C♯ Minor, both from Op. 64, the last set of waltzes Chopin published before his death.

## List of waltzes by or attributed to Chopin

| Series number | Key | Composed | Published | Opus Number | Brown | Kobylańska | Chominski | Dedication | Notes |
| 1 | E-flat major | 1833 | 1834 (June) | Op. 18 | B.62 | | | Laura Horsford | Grande valse brillante; used in Les Sylphides |
| 2 | A-flat major | 1835 | 1838 | Op. 34/1 | B.94 | | | Josefine von Thun-Hohenstein | The three waltzes, Op. 34 were also published as Grandes valses brillantes, but this title is usually reserved for the Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18 |
| 3 | A minor | 1831 | 1838 | Op. 34/2 | B.64 | | | Baroness C. d'Ivry | The three waltzes, Op. 34 were also published as Grandes valses brillantes, but this title is usually reserved for the Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18 |
| 4 | F major | 1838 or earlier | 1838 | Op. 34/3 | B.118 | | | Mlle. A. d'Eichthal | The three waltzes, Op. 34 were also published as Grandes valses brillantes, but this title is usually reserved for the Waltz in E-flat major, Op. 18 |
| 5 | A-flat major | 1840 | 1840 | Op. 42 | B.131 | | | | Grande valse; sometimes called the 2/4 waltz since the main melody sounds as if in 2/4 time against a 3/4 bass. |
| 6 | D-flat major | 1846–1847 | XI 1847 | Op. 64/1 | B.164/1 | | | Countess Delfina Potocka | Valse du petit chien is the title Chopin gave this waltz, which is popularly known as Minute Waltz |
| 7 | C-sharp minor | 1846–1847 | XI 1847 | Op. 64/2 | B.164/2 | | | Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild (= Charlotte de Rothschild) | Used in Les Sylphides and Secret |
| 8 | A-flat major | 1846–1847 | XI 1847 | Op. 64/3 | B.164/3 | | | Countess Katarzyna Branicka (or Bronicka) | |
| 9 | A-flat major | 1835 (24 September) | 1855 | Op. posth. 69/1 | B.95 | | | Charlotte de Rothschild, Mme Peruzzi and Maria Wodzińska | L'adieu |
| 10 | B minor | 1829 | 1852 (Krakow) | Op. posth. 69/2 | B.35 | | | Wilhelm Kolberg | |
| 11 | G-flat major | 1833 | 1855 | Op. posth. 70/1 | B.92 | | | | Used in Les Sylphides |
| 12 | F minor/A-flat major | 1841 (June) | 1852 (Krakow) | Op. posth. 70/2 | B.138 | | | Marie de Krudner, Mme. Oury, Élise Gavard & Countess Esterházy | |
| 13 | D-flat major | 1829 (3 October) | 1855 | Op. posth. 70/3 | B.40 | | | | |
| 14 | E minor | 1830 | 1868 | Op. Posth | B.56 | KK IVa/15 | P1/15 | | No autograph exists |
| 15 | E major | 1829 | 1861 Lviv,Ukraine | - | B.44 | KK IVa/12 | P1/12 | | No autograph exists |
| 16 | A-flat major | 1827 | 1902 | - | B.21 | KK IVa/13 | P1/13 | Emilia Elsner | |
| 17 | E-flat major | 1827 | 1902 | | B 46 | KK IVa/14 | P1/14 | Emilia Elsner | |
| 18 | E-flat major | 1840 | 1955 | - | B.133 | KK IVb/10 | | Émile Gaillard | Headed "Sostenuto"; not always classified as a waltz.From 1938 present in the "Conservatoire Paris " |
| 19 | A minor | 1847–49 ( ? ) | 1955, 1958 | Op. Posth | B.150 | KK IVb/11 | P2/11 | Charlotte de Rothschild or daughter | Unedited edition pub. Paris 1955; ed. Jack Werner 1958. From 1901 present in the "Bibliotheque du Conservatoire de Paris " |
| 20 | F-sharp minor | 1838 (?) | 1932 | - | | KK Ib/7 | A1/7 | | Not by Chopin; first published in 1861, and in 1986 published under the name Valse mélancolique by Stanislaw Dybowski on the bi-weekly "Ruch Muzyczny", but in 2012 discovered by Luca Chierici to be a shortened version of a piece by Charles Mayer named Le Régret, op. 332. |
| - | C major | 1824 (?) | - | - | | KK Vb/8 | | | Lost |
| - | A minor | 1824 | - | - | - | KK Vf | | Countess Lubienska | Lost |
| - | C major | 1826 | - | - | | KK Vb/3 | | | MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant |
| - | A-flat major | 1827 | - | - | | KK Vb/4 | | | MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant |
| - | D minor | 1828 | - | - | | KK Vb/6 | | | La Partenza; MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant |
| - | A minor | 1829 | - | - | | | | | Discovered 1937; was in possession of H. Hinterberger of Vienna, but now believed destroyed |
| - | A minor | 1829 (?) | - | - | - | - | | | Sketches for a brief prelude and main theme |
| - | A-flat major | 1829–30 (by 21 December 1830) | - | - | | KK Vb/5 | | | Mentioned in a letter from Chopin to his family, 21 December 1830; MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant |
| - | E-flat major | 1829–30 | - | - | | KK Vb/7 | | | MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant |
| - | A minor | 1830–35 | | - | | | | | Manuscript discovered at The Morgan Library & Museum in 2024 |
| - | C major | 1831 | - | - | | | | | MS destroyed; copy of first line made by Chopin's sister Ludwika is extant |
| - | ? | 1845 (by) | - | - | - | KK Ve/12 | | | Mentioned in diary of L. Niedźwiecki |
| - | B major | 1848 (12 October) | - | - | B.166 | KK Va/3 | | Madame Erskine | According to a letter of Arthur Hedley (March 10 1960) manuscript in a private collection (London) |
| - | E-flat major | 1829–30 | - | - | | KK Vb/7 | | | Mentioned in letters from Breitkopf to Izabela Barcińska in 1878 |
| - | ? | ? | - | - | - | KK Ve/10 | | | Listed in auction catalogue, Paris, March 1906 |
| - | ? | ? | - | - | - | KK Ve/11 | | | Mentioned in letters from Breitkopf to Izabela Barcińska in 1878 |
| - | ? | ? | - | - | - | KK Vf | | | Several waltzes; lost |