Ballade No. 4, Op. 52

1. 0:03
   Opening in C major

   Repeated Gs sound high in the piano over harmony in C major. The melody falls, then rests on E. Chopin holds back F minor, the key of the Ballade, for seven bars.

2. 0:30
   First theme, F minor

   The first theme is in F minor, and its melody repeatedly moves by semitone to neighbouring notes. A quiet accompaniment rocks beneath it. When the phrase returns, Chopin adds turns and faster notes within the same line.

3. 4:05
   Dedication to Charlotte de Rothschild

   Chopin dedicated the Fourth Ballade to Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild. He wrote it in 1842, a year after the Third. It was the last of his four works with the title.

4. 4:31
   Second theme in B♭ major

   The second theme is in B♭ major, marked piano e dolce (softly and sweetly). The right hand plays a chordal melody above a rocking bass. Its phrases move in broader steps than the curling line of the first theme.

5. 5:45
   Cortot and The Three Budrys

   In the preface to his edition of the Ballades, the pianist Alfred Cortot linked this one to Mickiewicz’s poem The Three Budrys, in which a father sends his three sons off to seek treasure and they come home with three Polish brides. Nothing Chopin wrote confirms it.

6. 6:49
   Return of the introduction in A major

   In bars 129–⁠134 the introductory melody returns in A major, with its repeated notes and falling phrase. The bass has moved from C to A. The piano then plays a cadenza, marked dolcissimo and rallentando, over a chord of A major.

7. 7:25
   Return of the first theme, D minor

   The first theme returns in D minor, and the left hand imitates the right half a bar later. More voices enter as the music moves back to F minor.

8. 8:30
   Decorated return of the first theme

   At bars 152–⁠168 the first theme returns with nocturne-like embellishments high on the keyboard, above the harmony. Jim Samson called it a “cantabile-decorative treatment of exquisitely moulded ornamental melody”.

9. 9:23
   Return of the second theme, D♭ major

   The second theme returns in D♭ major, first heard in B♭ major. The left hand plays wide arpeggios and the right hand carries the melody above in chords.

10. 10:51
    Five chords over C

    After the rush, five quiet chords sound over a bass C in bars 203–⁠210. The upper notes change and the bass stays on C. The last chord, in C major, is tied across bars 207–⁠210, and a silence follows before the coda.

11. 11:14
    Coda, bar 211

    The coda follows a soft chord in C major and opens on a low F in the bass at bar 211. Semiquaver triplets alternate between the hands, with sharp accents and chromatic figuration, in the Ballade’s most strenuous writing in F minor.

Joins

1. 0:32
   From C major introduction to F minor theme

   The introduction holds E over C major harmony and a fermata. A C pickup starts the first theme, which moves through F minor at a tempo. Beneath the quieter melody, the left hand takes up a regular accompaniment.

2. 4:45
   The second theme in B♭ major

   The running notes of the first theme are followed by a theme in B♭ major, marked piano e dolce. The right hand plays the melody in chords, with D as the top note, and the left hand moves back and forth between bass notes and accompanying chords.

3. 6:48
   Return of the introduction in A major

   The developing passage reaches A major, with A in the bass. Above it the introduction’s repeated-note melody returns. Its last phrase slows into a cadenza marked dolcissimo, and the cadenza’s arpeggios spread the A major chord across both hands.

4. 7:24
   From the cadenza to the D minor imitation

   In bars 134–⁠140 the A major cadenza ends under a fermata. The right hand begins the first theme in D minor, marked legato. Half a bar later the left hand repeats its opening notes in imitation. The harmony then moves back towards F minor.

5. 9:24
   Second song returns in D♭ major

   The decorated phrases of the first theme lead into the second song in D♭ major (bars 168–⁠175 in the Joseffy edition). The left hand plays wide arpeggios, and the right hand plays the melody above them in chords. The melody keeps its original rhythm over the larger accompaniment.

6. 10:45
   The bass stops on C

   In bars 201–⁠210 of the Joseffy edition, the fast passage ends on a C major chord, followed by a rest with a fermata. Five quiet chords follow. A low C stays in the bass while their upper notes change, and the last chord, again C major, is held across several bars.

7. 11:14
   Held C major chord to the coda

   The held C major chord is followed by rests. A low F begins the coda, and both hands leap into semiquaver triplets. The dominant harmony resolves to F minor. In the Joseffy edition the join spans bars 207–⁠213.