Chopin’s Piano Concertos first saw the light of day around 1829/1830 and thus represent the culmination and termination of his student years in Warsaw. Both concertos are early masterpieces with which Chopin celebrated triumphs on his first foreign concert tours, and to this day their popularity has remained unbroken. As to the sources, the situation for the e-minor concerto is simple, since hardly any autograph material has survived. The Henle Urtext of the solo part is thus based on the first edition of 1833 that the composer himself authorised for printing. The piano reduction of the orchestral parts is based on material that has its roots close to Chopin himself. The Henle edition thus makes possible an authentic study of this core work of piano concerto literature.
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Preface
The Concerto in e minor for piano and orchestra was composed in 1830 after Chopin had completed his f-minor Con- certo. Nonetheless, it was the first of the two to be published, appearing in 1833 as op. 11 whereas the f-minor Concerto did not reach print until 1836, when it appeared as op. 21. The editor of an Urtext edition of a solo concerto with orchestral accompaniment … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer

Frédéric Chopin
Pianist and composer. His work is concentrated around piano music that enjoys extraordinary popularity and has become an integral part of the concert repertoire. His music influenced subsequent generations in France (Franck, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Debussy) as well as Smetana, Dvořák, Balakirev, Grieg, Albéniz.
1810 | Born in Żelazowa Wola near Warsaw on March 1. First compositions at age seven, his first public performance at eight. |
1822 | Private instruction in composition. |
1825 | Rondo in C minor, Op. 1, his first published work. |
1826–29 | Studies at the Institute of Music in Warsaw. |
1829 | “Fantaisie sur des airs nationaux polonaise” in A major, Op. 13; Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 8. Travels to Vienna, where he gives two concerts of his compositions and improvisations. |
1829–33 and 1835–37 | Etudes, Opp. 10 and 25 -- a new type of virtuosic etude that also makes aesthetic demands. |
1830 | Premieres in Warsaw of his two piano concerti, Op. 21 in F minor and Op. 11 in E minor. |
1831 | Unable to return to Warsaw due to the Polish uprising, he goes to Paris, where he will remain until the end of his life. |
1832 | Debut concert in Paris to great acclaim. |
1835/38 | “Trois valses brillantes,” Op. 34. |
1836/39 | “24 Preludes,” Op. 28, in a cyclic succession: compactly-designed short pieces. |
1835/39 | Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 35, with the funeral march. |
1842/43 | Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52; “Grande Polonaise brillante” in A-flat major, Op. 53; Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54. |
1844 | Piano Sonata in B minor, Op. 58 |
1849 | Completion of the mazurkas in G minor and F minor. Death in Paris on October 17. |
About the authors
Ewald Zimmerman’s Chopin research for Henle has been an ongoing process spanning three decades, and the standard set in the concertos certainly matches the quality of the famous editions already widely in print, notably of the etudes and smaller sets of pieces.