Frederic Chopin Polish musical composer and pianist

Frederic Chopin

Polish musical composer and pianist born at Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw, on the 22 nd of February 1810. His father, of French origin, born at Nancy in 1770, had married a Polish lady, Justine Krzyzanowska. Frederic was their third child. His first musical education he received from Adalbert Ziwny, a Czech musician, who is said to have been a passionate admirer of Johann Sebastian Bach.

He also received a good general education at one of the first colleges of Warsaw, where he was supported by Prince Antoine Radziwill, a generous protector of artistic talent and himself well known as the composer of music to Goethe's Faust and other works. His musical genius opened to Chopin the best circles of Polish society, at that time unrivaled in Europe for its ease of intercourse, the beauty and grace of its women, and its liberal appreciation of artistic gifts. These early impressions were of lasting influence on Chopin's development.

While at college he received thorough Robert Schumann instruction in theory of his art from Joseph Elsner, a learned musician and director of the conservatoire at Warsaw. When in 1829 he left his native town for Vienna, where his debut as a pianist took place, he was in all respects a perfectly formed and developed artist. There is in his compositions little of that gradual progress which, for instance, in Beethoven necessitates a classification of his works according to different periods. Chopin's individuality and his style were distinctly pronounced in that set of variations on La ci darem which excited the wondering enthusiasn of Robert Schumann. 4

In 1831 he left Vienna with the intention of visiting London; but on his way to England he reached Paris and settled there for the rest of his life. Here again he soon became the favorite and musical hero of society. His connection with Madame Dudevant, better known by her literary pseudonym of George Sand, is an important feature of Chopin's life. When in 1839 his health began to fail, George Sand went with him to Majorca, and it was mainly owing to her tender care that the composer recovered his health for a time. Chopin declared that the destruction of his relations with Madame Dudevant in 1847 broke up his life. The association of these two artists has provoked a whole literature on the nature of their relations, of which the novelists Un Hiver а Majorque was the beginning.

The last ten years of Chopin's life were a continual struggle with the pulmonary disease to which he succumbed in Paris on the 17 th of October 1849. The year before his death he visited England, where he was received with enthusiasm by his numerous admirers. Chopin died in the arms of his sister, who hastened from Poland to his death-bed. He was buried in the cemetery of Pure Lachaise. A small monument was erected to the memory of the composer at Wasswan in 1880.

Music The great majority of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument; all of his extant works feature the piano in one way or another. Chopin, according to Arthur Hedley, "had the rare gift of a very personal melody, expressive of heart-felt emotion, and his music is penetrated by a poetic feeling that has an almost universal appeal. . Present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano. "

The first systematic, if imperfect, study of Chopin's style came in F. P. Laurencin's 1861 Die Harmonik der Neuzeit. Laurencin concluded that "Chopin is one of the most brilliant exceptional natures that have ever stridden onto the stage of history and life, he is one who can never be exhausted nor stand before a void. Chopin is the musical progone of all progones until now. "

Robert Schumann, speaking of Chopin's Sonata in B-flat minor, wrote that "he alone begins and ends a work like this: with dissonances, through dissonances, and in dissonances", and in Chopin's music he discerned "cannon concealed amid blossoms". According to Tad Szulc, Chopin's works, though technically demanding, emphasize nuance and expressive depth rather than sheer virtuosity. Vladimir Horowitz referred to Chopin as "the only truly great composer for the piano".

Chopin was the first to write ballades and scherzi as individual pieces. He took the example of Bach's preludes and fugues and essentially established a new genre with his own Préludes. He reinvented the étude, expanding on the idea and making it into a gorgeous, eloquent and emotional showpiece, and he used his Études to teach his own revolutionary style – for instance playing with the weak fingers (3, 4, and 5) in fast figures (Op. 10, No. 2), playing in octaves (Op. 25, No. 10), and playing black keys with the thumb (Op. 10, No. 5).

Over 230 Chopin works survive; some compositions from early childhood have been lost. All his known works involve the piano, and only a few range beyond solo piano music, as either piano concertos or chamber music. He composed: Chopin's autograph, stylised as a half note 59 mazurkas 27 études (twelve in the Op. 10 cycle, twelve in the Op. 25 cycle, and three in a collection without an opus number) 27 preludes 21 nocturnes 20 waltzes 18 polonaises, including one with orchestral accompaniment and one for cello and piano accompaniment 5 rondos 4 ballades 4 impromptus 4 scherzos 4 sets of variations, including Souvenir de Paganini 3 écossaises 3 piano sonatas 2 concerti for piano and orchestra, Op. 11 and 21 He also composed: a fantaisie; an Allegro de concert (possibly the remnant of an incomplete concerto); a barcarole; a berceuse; a bolero; a tarantelle; acontredanse; a fugue; a cantabile; a lento; a Funeral march; a Feuille d'album; a krakowiak for piano and orchestra; Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" for piano and orchestra; fantasia on themes from Polish songs with accompanying orchestra; a trio for violin, cello and piano; a sonata for cello and piano; a Grand Duo in E major for cello and piano on themes from Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable, co-written with Auguste Franchomme; and 19 Polish songs for voice and piano.

Ostrogski Palace, Warsaw seat of the Fryderyk Chopin Museum Chopin statue, Royal Baths (Łazienki) Park "Chopin's Warsaw" bench (foreground)

From 1827 the Chopins lived in south annex (left) of Warsaw's Krasiński Palace(middle, background), now the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Chopin's last (Pleyel) piano, on which he composed in 184849. Fryderyk Chopin Museum, Warsaw.

Chopin Family Parlor, Krasiński Palace