Fryderyk Chopin was a Polish composer and piano virtuoso who lived a short but eventful life. He was a child prodigy and his music technically belongs to the Romantic period, but his work was mainly more indicative of the work produced in the Classical and Baroque periods. His most popular works include the Fantasia in F minor op. 49, Nocturnes 7 and 8, and Impromptus 2, op. 36 and 3, and op. 51. He died before his 40th birthday in 1849 after a long battle with tuberculosis.
Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was a Polish composer and piano virtuoso, who lived a short but eventful life. He was born in Poland in 1810 and died before his 40th birthday in 1849 after a long battle with tuberculosis. His music technically belongs to the Romantic period, but his work was mainly more indicative of the work produced in the Classical and Baroque periods. His favorite composers were Bach, Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart. However, he is more identified as a Romantic composer despite his own objections to being called that.
Chopin was a child prodigy; some called him a second Mozart. By the age of seven he had already composed two polonaises and had begun to give concerts. It is significant that such a young child could be so gifted at the piano. He didn’t start formal lessons until he was six, which suggests an incredible talent. After a concert when he was seven years old, a reporter asked him what he thought the audience appreciated most about his performance. His answer, “My shirt collar,” endeared him to the Polish public, because although he was a prodigy, he was still quite charming, a child.
Chopin’s family moved to Warsaw so that he could study with some masters. He received lessons but his skills were often superior to those of his teachers. As a young man he traveled to Vienna and was inspired by a performance by Paganini, a German pianist with great showmanship. While in Vienna, he learned of an uprising in Poland which prevented him from returning home.
Since returning to Poland was not safe, he traveled from Vienna to Paris, and soon found himself friends with other great composers and pianists such as Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn. In Paris he also met the poet George Sand, who preferred to be referred to by her pen name rather than the official title of Baroness Dudevant.
Chopin’s introduction to Sand led to a ten-year romantic relationship that was often stormy and ended when Sand wrote Lucrezia Floriani a semi-autobiographical account of a wealthy actress who takes care of a sick prince and weak. He was enraged by Sand’s profile on him and ended their relationship.
Depressed after ending his relationship with Sand, and quite ill with tuberculosis, Chopin died two years later, with his older sister by his side. Over a thousand people attended his funeral in Paris and, although he was buried in Paris, he requested that his heart be buried in Poland. This request was granted and his heart resides in an urn at the Pillar of the Holy Cross Church in Kraków, Poland.
Unlike his contemporaries, Chopin continued to enjoy great popularity as a composer. All of his works feature the piano, both as a solo instrument and as an accompaniment. He is credited with reinventing Polish folk music, the mazurka, as well as his own interpretation of the nocturne, a new musical style for his time.
Today the most popular works of Chopin are considered to be the Fantasia in F minor op. 49, Nocturnes 7 and 8, and Impromptus 2, op. 36 and 3, and op. 51. His work is often presented in piano recitals and is considered standard fare for advanced players.
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