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Frédéric-François Chopin (March 1, 1810 – October 17, 1849) is widely seen as the greatest of Polish composers and

among the very greatest of composers for the piano, the instrument for which he wrote almost exclusively.

Frederic Francois Chopin, Polish-born composer and renowned pianist, was the creator of 55 mazurkas, 16 polonaises,
26 preludes, 27 etudes, 21 nocturnes, 4 ballads, and 4 scherzos.

He was a true Romantic composer-Chopin had an otherworldly air, and loved intellectual company and high society. He
was known to sometimes be cold, petty, and arrogant.

He left Poland for Paris at age 20, never to return.. He was another one of the extremely rare child prodigies, including
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Felix Mendelssohn. Other famous romantic composers born at that time were: Franz
Schubert, was born in 1797; 1809 was the year of Felix Mendelssohn's birth, while 1811 marked the birth of piano
virtuoso Franz Liszt.

Biography

According to the artist himself and his family, Chopin was born on March 1, 1810. Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola in central
Poland. He was born to Mikołaj (Nicolas) Chopin, a Frenchman and to his Polish mother, Tekla Justyna Krzyżanowska. He had 3
siblings. And was homeschooled until he was 13.

Formative Years

The musical talent of young Chopin became apparent early on and can be compared with the childhood genius of Mozart.
At the age of 7, he was already the author of two polonaises (polish slow dances)(in G minor and B-flat major).The
prodigy was featured in the Warsaw newspapers, and 'little Chopin' became the attraction at receptions given in the
aristocratic salons of the capital. He also began giving public charity concerts.

From 1823 to 1826, Chopin attended the Warsaw Lyceum ( a music high school), where his father was a professor. In the autumn
of 1826, Chopin began studying music theory, figured bass, and composition with the composer Józef Elsner (b. 1769 in Silesia)
at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1831 he left Poland for Vienna before settling in Paris where he spent much of his life.

Career in Paris

Chopin first visited Vienna in early 1829, where he gave a piano performace and received his first favorable reviews. The
following year he returned to Warsaw and performed the premiere of his Piano Concerto in F Minor at the National Theater on
March 17 to an audience of 900 people.

By 1831 Chopin had left Poland for good and settled in Paris. He began work on his first scherzi and ballades as well as the first
book of études. It is also at this time that he began his lifelong struggle with tuberculosis.

The early and mid-1830s in Paris were a productive time for the composer. He completed several of his most famous works and
also performed regular concerts, to rave reviews. By 1838 Chopin had become a famous figure in Paris. Among his closest friends
were opera composer Vincenzo Bellini (beside whom he is buried in the Père Lachaise), and painter Eugène Delacroix. He was
also friends with composers Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann, and although he was at times critical of their
music, Chopin dedicated some of his own compositions to them.
His income derived from teaching, for which he charged a lot of money for private piano lessons, though his tutorship
was highly demanded. Chopin preferred to give private, more intimate concerts to smaller crowds of high class
"socialites".(Salons were private gatherings at which art, philosophy, and ideas might be discussed. Most were hosted by
socially connected women.) After 1833 his income is bolstered (helped) by publication of his music.

Chopin and George Sand

In 1836 Chopin was secretly engaged to a seventeen-year-old Polish girl named Maria Wodzinska. The engagement was later
called off, partly because he was very sick. In that same year, at a party hosted by Countess Marie d'Agoult, Chopin met the
novelist Amarice Dupin, better known by her pseudonym as George Sand.-were together for 10 years. In Chopin’s lifetime, he
never married.

In the winter of 1838, he and George Sand were in Majorca (spain)- Chopin’s tuberculosis is first diagnosed.
News of the war in Poland inspired Chopin to write many sad musical pieces expressing his grief for "his" Poland.
Among these was the famous "Revolutionary Etude." Plagued by poor health as well as his homesickness, Chopin found
solace in summer visits to the country. Here, his most complex yet harmonic creations found their way to the brilliant
composer's hand. The "Fantaisie in F Minor," the "Barcarolle," the "Polonaise Fantaisie," "Ballade in A Flat Major,"
"Ballade in F Minor," and "Sonata in B Minor" were all products of the relaxed time Chopin enjoyed in the country.
Prolific as this might seem, Chopin's earlier teacher, Elsner, voiced his disappointment in Chopin's inability to create an
opera for the sake of Poland.

Death and Funeral

By the 1840s Chopin's health was rapidly deteriorating As


the war continued in Warsaw and then reached Paris. Chopin
takes an ill-advised trip to London and Scotland in 1848. He makes little money there, however, he sank deeper into a
depression, and his health worsens. He returns to Paris, dying, and is attended by his sister, Ludwika, and her family.By
1849 most of his major works were completed and Chopin concentrated on mazurkas and nocturnes. His last work was a
mazurka, in F minor.

Chopin died, officially, of tuberculosis in 1849, although there is some speculation that he may have had another disease such as
cystic fibrosis or emphysema due in part to autopsy findings (reported only by his sister) seemingly inconsistent with the initial
diagnosis. He had a terror of being buried alive, and asked to be 'cut open' to make sure he was dead.

He had requested that Mozart's Requiem be sung at his funeral, held at the Church of the Madeleine. The Requiem has
major parts for female singers but the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The funeral was delayed
for almost 2 weeks while the matter raged, the church finally relenting and granting Chopin's final wish. Although
Chopin is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, his heart is entombed in a pillar in the Church of the Holy Cross
in Warsaw. Chopin's last request was that the Polish soil in the silver goblet be sprinkled over his grave.

Music

Chopin's music for the piano combined a unique rhythmic sense (particularly his use of rubato, chromatic inflections, and the
style of Johann Sebastian Bach), as well as a piano technique which was of his own creation. Chopin's compositional output
consists mainly of music for solo piano. His larger scale works such as the ballades, scherzos, the barcarolle, and sonatas have
cemented a solid place within the repertoire, as well as shorter works like his impromptus, mazurkas, nocturnes, waltzes and
polonaises.

Chopin used the piano to re-create the gracefulness of the singing voice from operas and talked and wrote constantly about
singers.

Chopin's style and gifts became increasingly influential: Schumann was a huge admirer of Chopin's music — although the feeling
was not mutual — and he took melodies from Chopin and even named a piece of his Carnaval Suite after Chopin; Franz Liszt,
another great admirer of the composer, transcribed several Chopin songs for unaccompanied piano.

All of his works, without exception, involve the piano, whether solo or accompanied. They are predominantly for solo
piano but include a small number of works for piano and secondary instruments, including a second piano, violin, cello,
voice, and orchestra.

Other

In commemoration of the genius of Frédéric Chopin, the International Chopin Piano Competition is held in Warsaw, Poland every
five years.

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