The composer and music theorist Józef Elsner had a significant impact on the musical culture of Warsaw in the early 19th century. Young Chopin came under his care as a teacher and mentor in 1826, when, at the age of sixteen, he began studying at the Warsaw Conservatory, which was the first institution of higher musical education in Polish territories. Elsner (associated with the Conservatory since 1815) put effort into changing the curriculum and raising the level of education. At that time, the teachers included organists Václav Vilém Würfel and Henryk Lentz and pianist-pedagogist Josef Javůrek. Chopin's education consisted of the piano lessons, counterpoint lessons with Elsner, and general bass lessons with Würfel and Lentz. Chopin had already studied with Würfel in 1822-25.
In the first year of study, students were supposed to compose polonaises, marches, variations, rondos and sonatas. This was consistent with works composed by Chopin: Variations Op.2, Rondo Op.5, Sonata Op.4. In years 1826-28 he composed also three piano polonaises: D minor, F minor and B-flat major, and soon afterwards Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major, Op. 3 (1829-30). Polonaise Op. 3 as a 'homework' was to meet the requirements set by his teachers. This is where questions arise: how did Elsner teach polonaises? Which works did he accept as models? He himself was the author of 19 piano, chamber and orchestral polonaises. Shaping musical material into an architectural whole was important for Elsner’s teaching. In his opinion music required a balance between logic, emotional expression and technical proficiency.
Influence of the fashionable virtuoso (brillante) style is prominent in this work. In the 1820s, many significant virtuosos gave concerts in Warsaw. Chopin has also been influenced by his teacher Würfel. A probable source of inspiration was his Polonaise Op. 40, also in the key of C major. Analogies are visible in the piano texture and figuration, as well as in contrasting the sweeping polonaise motif with a ‘dolce’ theme. Both works convey the spirit of the dance. In Polonaise Op. 3 ‘datum ‘outweighs ‘novum’. In its design it is possible to see traces of Chopin's masters.