It’s happened again: a work by a long-dead composer has been discovered centuries after their passing. This time, the composer is Frédéric Chopin.
On October 27, 2024, The New York Times reported the discovery of a short Chopin waltz. The piece, scribbled on paper the size of an index card, was uncovered by Robinson McClellan, music curator of the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. It was part of an uncataloged collection donated to the museum in 2019 — one whose cataloging was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. McClellan was organizing this collection when he found a small manuscript at the bottom of a vault.
The paper was signed “Chopin”, with handwritten music sprawling across the tiny space. McClellan was initially skeptical: after all, new works by Frédéric Chopin are a rare find. The Morgan Museum launched an analysis of the piece, even seeking assistance from Jeffrey Kallberg, Chopin scholar and Associate Dean for Arts and Letters at the University of Pennsylvania. Following musicological, handwriting, and material analyses, Kallberg has determined the piece to be authentic.
Short in length, the newly unearthed waltz bears many of Chopin’s signature characteristics: drama, melancholy, and a penchant for beautiful melodies. It only takes about one minute to play, making it Chopin’s shortest piece to date. The Morgan Library and Museum believes that the newly discovered waltz was composed by Chopin in his early 20s, sometime between 1830 and 1835.
News about the work quickly spread. Soon after its discovery, the New York Times invited Chinese pianist Lang Lang to make the piece’s premiere recording. Many have followed suit on YouTube since then, with some enthusiasts even posting transcriptions of the sheet music for free.
This music news follows on the heels of the recently unearthed Mozart piece, discovered by researchers in Leipzig as they were updating the Köchel Catalog. Click here to learn about other classical works that were rediscovered years later!
