Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 (Chopin)
composition for piano by Frederic Chopin
The Polonaise in F♯ minor, Op. 44, is a piece for solo piano written by Frédéric Chopin in 1841. It is often referred to as the "tragic" polonaise, due to its dark nature. The polonaise is dedicated to Princess Ludmilla de Beauvau, a prominent member of the Polish émigré community in Paris.
Despite its title, the polonaise is a composite work in ternary form. The piece opens with a short menacing passage, and soon develops into a dark and often furious polonaise theme. The central section of the piece is a mazurka in A major that provides a romantic contrast. The mazurka soon gives in to darker harmonies and the polonaise returns after two isolated torrents of notes. At length, the reprise seems to lose force and momentum, and Chopin concludes the work with a surprising fortissimo double octave on F#. One of the largest polonaises, a typical performance of the work lasts around eleven minutes.
The public source identifies “Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 (Chopin)” as composition for piano by Frederic Chopin. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Polonaise, F-sharp and minor.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1506063. VIAF identifies the subject as 175199458. The Library of Congress control number is no97077007. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1841.
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This entry incorporates text from “Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 (Chopin)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.