While writing A, Chopin wrote Op. 3 on the title leaf, as this number was the next available one after the only piece published with an opus number – the Variations in B
, Op. 2 (Chopin apparently reserved Op. 1 for another composition, most probably the Rondo in C minor). As the Sonata was not eventually published during Chopin's lifetime, the piece's first publisher, Haslinger, provided it with the number 4, which Chopin ended up not using. In mUltimate Chopin, as in the National Edition, we keep this commonly used number, yet we put it in brackets to emphasise the Sonata's separate status among the other compositions with opus numbers:
- the number was not assigned by Chopin,
- the piece, although meant to be published, was released only after the composer's death.
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