A previously unpublished waltz by Frédéric Chopin discovered in a New York library

The score was written between 1830 and 1835, when Frédéric Chopin was entering his twenties.

Portrait of Frédéric Chopin, oil on canvas by Eugène Delacroix, dated 1838 and kept at the Louvre Museum in . Collection Faillet/Keystone

By Télérama, with AFP

Published on October 29, 2024 at 10:39 a.m.

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Lhe piece had been dormant for over 200 years. A previously unpublished waltz by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin has been discovered in a vault at the Morgan Library-Museum in New York, the New York Times.

The score, which included in the header the words “false” (in French in the text), was discovered on a file by a curator of the establishment during the spring, reports the daily.

“I was like, ‘What’s going on here? What could it possibly be?explained to New York Times the curator, Robinson McClellan, adding “not having recognized the music”. He said he was initially unsure whether the waltz was actually composed by Frédéric Chopin after taking a photo of the score and playing it at home on a piano.

A piece with “dramatic darkness”

But Robinson McClellan later consulted an expert on the composer at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Morgan Library ultimately came to the conclusion that the waltz was authentic after an examination of the ink and paper. The calligraphy also corresponded to that of Frédéric Chopin, including a bass clef as well as scribbles characteristic of the Polish genius who died in in 1849.

“We have complete conviction in our conclusions”Robinson McClellan told the New York Times. According to the Morgan Library, the music dates from between 1830 and 1835, when Frédéric Chopin was entering his twenties.

The piece includes an austere opening and was described by the famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang as containing “a dramatic darkness that turns into a positive thing”.

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