Only 48 bars long

Unknown waltz by Chopin found in New York

An unknown, short waltz by Frédéric Chopin was found in the Morgan Library & Museum (picture) in Manhattan.(Bild: Wikipedia/Beyond My Ken (CC BY-SA 4.0))

The Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan has probably made a sensational find: rather by chance, curator Robinson McClellan came across the sheet music of a short piano piece while sorting through collector's items, which - according to several experts - was probably written by Frédéric Chopin (1810 to 1849).

The "New York Times" newspaper reports that the work, which is quite short at 48 bars and played for around 80 seconds, is simply entitled "Valse" (Waltz) and bears Chopin's name. It contains typical elements of the Polish composer's penmanship, but no signature.

According to McClellan, he initially played the sheet music digitally and had doubts when listening to it. The work begins with soft, dissonant tones that erupt into crashing chords - unusually "volcanic" for the composer, who is actually famous for his gentle, imaginative melodies.

Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg from the University of Pennsylvania, who McClellan consulted, said his jaw dropped: "I knew I'd never seen this before."

Paper, ink and handwriting analyzed
Examination of the paper, ink, handwriting and musical style in the document and interviews with other experts led to the conclusion that it is indeed very likely that this is a previously unknown waltz by Chopin.

This means that the Polish composer, whose melodies epitomize the Romantic era like few others, must have written this waltz sometime between 1830 and 1835, when he was already living in Paris and often looked anxiously at his politically troubled homeland.

Chopin died of tuberculosis at the age of just 39.