Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 34, No. 1, “Grande valse brillante”

Composer: CHOPIN, Frédéric
  • Chopin completed this waltz on September 15, 1835. It was published in his Op.34 set of waltzes in 1838.1
  • Chopin dedicated this waltz to Josefine von Thun-Hohenstein, a member of an aristocratic Austrian family, and one of his piano students.2 Chopin actually taught piano to three siblings in the family. 
  • Chopin composed this waltz during a stay at what was then called Tetschen Castle (now the Děčín Castle), the Thun-Hohenstein family’s estate in Bohemia. He stopped there after a trip to spend time with his parents in the spa town of Karlovy Vary.3
    • This waltz is sometimes known as the “Děčín” Waltz. 

Sources

  1. Kornel Michałowski and Jim Samson, “Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed July 22, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051099. 
  2. Ibid.
  3. Mieczysław Tomaszewski, “Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1,” The Fryderyk Chopin Institute, 2021, https://chopin.nifc.pl/en/chopin/kompozycja/228. 

Cut IDs

13620 13823 41237 49265