Works by Frédéric Chopin Including Recently Discovered Waltz at the Morgan

An installation of works by Frédéric Chopin opens today at the The Morgan Library & Museum.

Running through September 14, 2025, it will feature the recently discovered waltz (ca. 1830) found in the Morgan’s music collection last year, alongside other works by Chopin from the same period including an early masterpiece he wrote as a teenager in Poland, a mazurka he conceived when leaving the country, and an étude he composed soon after moving to Paris. Also included is the playbill for Chopin's first major concert in Paris in 1832, at the Salons Pleyel, and Franz Liszt's biography of Chopin from 1852.

The manuscript discovered last year was written in Chopin’s hand was very likely composed by him, and is the first newly identified work by the Polish composer since the 1930s. Chopin typically used small-format paper for manuscripts meant as gifts for friends and students, though the lack of his signature on this one suggests he never gave it to anyone. However, the care with which he notated dynamics, fingerings, accents, and phrase marks indicates that he intended it to be performed. The compact composition starts with several moody, dissonant measures that culminate in a loud outburst before a melody of characteristically Chopinesque melancholy begins.

Other works by Frédéric Chopin from the Morgan holdings in the exhibition include:

• Valse in A Minor : Autograph manuscript, ca. 1830–35
• Variations on Mozart’s “Là ci darem la mano,” op. 2 : Autograph manuscript, 1827
• Mazurka, op. 7, no. 3 : Autograph manuscript, 1831
• Étude, op. 10, no. 3 : Autograph manuscript draft, August 25, 1832

The installation is organized by Robinson McClellan, Associate Curator of Music Manuscripts and 
Printed Music.