The appearance of these Variations, the first work of Chopin published outside his own country, created a sensation.

James Huneker: "Opus 2 has its dazzling moments, but its musical worth is inferior. It is written to split the ears of the groundlings, or rather to astonish and confuse them, for the Chopin dynamics in the early music are never very rude. The indisputable superiority to Herz and the rest of the shallow-pated variationists caused Schumann's passionate admiration."

Letter of Chopin, dated september 9, 1828, to one of his most intimate friends, Titus Woyciechowski: "As to my new compositions, I have nothing to show except the as yet unfinished Trio (G minor), which I began after your departure. The first Allegro I have already tried with accompaniment. It appears to me that this trio will have the same fate as my sonata and the variations. Both works are now in Vienna; the first I have, as a pupil of Elsner's, dedicated to him, and on the second I have placed (perhaps too boldly) your name. I followed in this the impulse of my heart and you will not take it unkindly."

In a letter to Titus Woyciechowski, dated Vienna, September 12, 1829, Chopin wrote:" The sight of the Viennese public did not at all excite me, and I sat down, pale as I was, at a wonderful instrument of Graff's, at the time perhaps the best in Vienna. Beside me I had a painted young man, who turned the leaves for me in the Variations, and who prided himself on having rendered the same service to Moscheles, Hummel, and Herz. Believe me when I say that I played in a desperate mood; nevertheless, the Variations produced so much effect that I was called back several times. Mdlle. Veltheim sang very beautifully. Of my improvisation I know only that it was followed by stormy applause and many recalls."

Highest among all the composers, living and dead, Chopin esteemed Mozart. Him he regarded as "the ideal type, the poet par excellence." It is related of Chopin--with what truth I do not know--that he never travelled without having either the score of "Don Giovanni" or that of the "Requiem" in his portmanteau.

Heinrich Rellstab didn't like this variation: "the composer runs down the theme with roulades, and throttles and hangs it with chains of shakes."