From the above dates we see that the composer bestowed much time, care, and thought upon the work.
Indeed, there can be no doubt that as regards conventional handling of the sonata-form Chopin has in no instance been more successful.

Were we to look upon this work as an exercise, we should have to pronounce it a most excellent one.

But the ideal content, which is always estimable and often truly beautiful as well as original, raises it high above the status of an exercise.

The fundamental fault of the Trio lies in this, that the composer tried to fill a given form with ideas, and to some extent failed to do so--the working-out sections especially testify to the correctness of this opinion.

That the notion of regarding form as a vessel--a notion oftener acted upon than openly professed--is a mischievous one will hardly be denied, and if it were denied, we could not here discuss so wide a question as that of "What is form ?" The comparatively ineffective treatment of the violin and violoncello also lays the composer open to censure.