4, of which Chopin wrote as early as September 9, 1828, that it had been for some time in the hands of Haslinger at Vienna, was kept by this publisher in manuscript till after the composer's death, being published only in July, 1851.

"As a pupil of his I dedicated it to Elsner," says Chopin.

It is indeed a pupil's work--an exercise, and not a very successful one.

The exigencies of the form overburdened the composer and crushed all individuality out of him.
Nowhere is Chopin so little himself, we may even say so unlike himself.
The distribution of keys and the character of the themes show that the importance of contrast in the construction of larger works was still unsuspected by him.

The two middle movements, a Menuetto and a Larghetto--although in the latter the self-imposed fetters of the 5-4 time prevent the composer from feeling quite at his ease--are more attractive than the rest.