The Polonaise was written between 20 and 28 October 1829 during a visit to the estate of Antoni Radziwiłł in Antonin.
[1] The work was published in 1831 and dedicated to the Austrian cellist Joseph Merk.
In a letter, Chopin wrote "On Thursday there was a soiree at Fuchs’s, when Limmer introduced some of his own compositions for four violoncellos.
Merk as usual made them more beautiful than they really were by his playing, which is so full of soul.
Jean Françaix orchestrated the work in 1951 in collaboration with Maurice Gendron.