Virtually everything important Chopin wrote is for the piano and his songs are a minor part of his output. As a young musician Chopin provided himself with a number of pieces for piano and orchestra.
These include two piano concertos, three works based on Polish themes, a "Fantasia", a "Krakowiak "and a "Grand polonaise", and a set of variations on a theme by Mozart.
Chopin wrote an Introduction and Polonaise for cello and piano for an early patron and towards the end of his life a Cello Sonata.
His G minor Piano Trio is a valuable addition to recital repertoire.
He used the popular form of the Waltz in a score of such compositions, of which the so-called Minute Waltz is probably the best known of many of almost equal familiarity.
The Polish dance, the Polonaise, elevated from village to ball-room, provided the basis of another characteristic form, in 16 such works, written between 1817 (when Chopin was seven) and 1846.
The best known, among generally familiar works, are the Polonaise in A major, Opus 40 n. 1, the Polonaise in A flat, Opus 53, and the Polonaise- Fantaisie, Opus 61.
Other Polish dances used by Chopin include the 62 Mazurkas.
The four ballades are supposedly based on patriotic poems by Chopin's friend Mickiewicz, evocative narrative works with no precise extra-musical association.
The 21 Nocturnes continue an evocative form initiated by the Irish pianist John Field.
Chopin wrote 26 Preludes, 24 of them completed during an ill-fated winter with George Sand in Majorca, and 27 Studies.
Other compositions include 4 Scherzos, expansions of the earlier form into a more extended virtuoso piece, 3 Sonatas, a Berceuse, a Barcarolle, 4 Impromptus and a number of other works.
All Chopin's music is of the greatest musical and technical importance, melodies often of operatic inspiration and harmonies and forms of considerable originality.