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Extraordinary autograph musical manuscript by Frédéric Chopin containing two short piano works inspired by Polish folk music, one page, 11.25 x 9, meticulously handwritten in ink on five systems of two staves, comprising 'All[egre]tto' (24 bars, in contrasting A major and A minor sections) and 'Mazur' (14 bars in D minor), each concluding with two examples of Chopin's abbreviated 'Ch.' initials, for a total of four autograph initials across the manuscript. Undated but attributable to circa 1832–1833, the manuscript is additionally annotated in a 19th-century hand, 'copié par Chopin.' Housed in a gilt-stamped custom red morocco presentation folder, 12 x 9.75, also containing cut signatures of celebrated Chopin interpreters Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz. In fine condition, with scattered faint staining and foxing.
Rather than original compositions, these two concise piano works have long been regarded by scholars as probable transcriptions of Polish folk melodies. Dating to circa 1832–1833, the manuscript belongs to Chopin's first years in Paris after his departure from Poland, a formative period in which his homeland remained a constant source of artistic inspiration. In her authoritative thematic catalogue of Chopin's works, Krystyna Kobylanska concluded that, although both pieces bear Chopin's distinctive 'Ch.' initials, their musical character is too simple to represent original compositions, instead classifying them as likely arrangements of traditional Polish tunes. If so, the manuscript offers a rare glimpse of Chopin preserving the folk music of his homeland decades before the systematic collecting of folk melodies by composers such as Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. Carefully written in Chopin's characteristically elegant hand and personally endorsed with his abbreviated 'Ch.' initials at the conclusion of each work, the manuscript is an extraordinary testament to his lifelong connection to Polish musical traditions.
The manuscript boasts distinguished provenance, having belonged to the celebrated French actor, playwright, and filmmaker Sacha Guitry (1885–1957), before appearing in his Paris sale at Drouot on November 21, 1974 (lot 15). It was later acquired by Canadian chemist and physician Frederick Lewis Maitland Pattison (1923–2010), whose bookplate remains affixed inside the presentation folder. First published by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger in 1975 and subsequently discussed in the Journal of the American Liszt Society and included in both Kobylanska's thematic catalogue and the Katalog dzieł Fryderyka Chopina, this remarkable manuscript has been recognized for decades as one of the few surviving autograph examples documenting Chopin's engagement with Polish folk melodies.
