This is one of those rare instances of collaboration among well-known composers. In this case, the esteemed parties were Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, Henri Herz, Carl Czerny, and Chopin. Each wrote one variation to form the so-called Hexameron, by which name the collective composition is usually given. The effort was initiated by Princess Belgiojoso, who commissioned the piece for an 1837 concert in Paris to raise money for Italian refugees. One of the few other prominent instances of composer collaboration in the keyboard realm involved the efforts of Borodin, Cui, Lyadov, and Rimsky-Korsakov in the creation of another variations work, Paraphrases.

Chopin's contribution to Hexameron was, of course, the sixth variation, which concluded the piece. He does not provide the expected bravura piece to close out the work, but offers instead a thoughtful, somewhat understated finale that must have astonished his audience. It begins with a somber, gentle theme whose sweet beauty turns fiery in the brief middle section, then retreats to the intimacy of the opening for its closing reprise. This is truly one of the most overlooked masterpieces of Chopin. Its simple beauty owes almost everything to the composer's deftly imagined harmonies, which come from the lower ranges of the keyboard, in contrast with the melody's upper-register writing. This variation lasts about two minutes.

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