52 is a ballade for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin, completed in 1842 in Paris and published in 1843 with a dedication to Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild.

"[6] The circumstances of composition are poorly documented, though it appears that Chopin began composing shortly after the completion of Ballade No.

By December 1842, the ballade was finished, and he offered it for sale to Breitkopf & Härtel, along with the Heroic Polonaise and the fourth Scherzo.

[8] A phrase in C major (marked piano) opens the seven introductory bars and leads into the first subject of sonata-form exposition.

[12] Jim Samson provided a careful musical analysis of the ballade, characterising its "purposeful ambivalence".

According to Samson, "The tonal setting of the reprise proves ingeniously deceptive, exploiting the minor third sequence built into Theme I to return the music very quickly to the tonic.

At this point the whole movement at last begins to spring into bloom, as its "nocturne-like" embellishments in the high register become even more adventurous.

The deceptive innocence of Theme II is transformed into a powerful apotheosis, building with ever more impassioned fervour towards ... the return to F minor.

The structural dominant appears now for the first time in the work and it remains suspended, poised on a precipice of harmonic tension, while a series of pianissimo chords prolongs it in a brief illusion of repose.