Frédéric Chopin wrote his Ballade no. 1 in G minor, Op. 23, in 1831. During those years he had taken residence in Vienna, and as the war between his native land and the Russian Empire grew longer so did his music become increasingly dramatic, a reflection of his feelings of loneliness and alienation. The Ballade no. 1 wasn't published until Chopin moved to Paris, where he dedicated it to Baron Nathaniel von Stockhausen. Chopin may be said to be the creator of the Ballade as a distinct genre, inspiring many musicians (such as Liszt and Brahms) to write their own Ballades. Though the pieces seem to be entirely different between them, analysts have shown that the Ballades share a number of traits, like a mirror reexposition (where the order of the first and second themes are inverted), and the so called ballade meter (a 6/8 or 6/4 meter). The Ballade no. 1 in G minor is one of the more popular Chopin pieces. being prominently featured in the 2002 Roman Polanski film The Pianist.
