Chopin, a true representative of Romanticism, created a new musical genre with his Ballades. These works, composed between 1831 and 1842, are considered significant and demanding pieces in the classical piano repertoire. Although the year of their composition, 1831, was marked by the intensification of the Russian and Prussian occupation of Poland following the failed November Uprising, Chopin likely did not intend to create programmatic national music.
The four Ballades differ fundamentally from one another, yet share certain formal practices. In 1836, with the publication of his Ballade Op. 23, Chopin introduced the term "ballade" into piano music. He used the term to refer to a balletic interlude or dance piece, comparable to the old Italian "ballata." The Ballades directly influenced composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms.
Although Robert Schumann reported that Chopin was inspired to compose by poems by Adam Mickiewicz, this does not refer to the specific content of any identifiable poems, but rather to their general epic, lyric, and dramatic qualities. Despite the differing content, a unified effect is achieved through the characteristic suspensions followed by stepwise intervals.
The ballades are often interpreted as national music, as depicted in Roman Polanski's film "The Pianist," where Władysław Szpilman performs the ballade for a German officer. Recent Chopin scholarship has led to revised editions of these important works, which continue to be appreciated for their musical genius.