His parents, Justyna Krzyzanowska and Nicholas Szopen, moved to Warsaw soon after their son's birth when Nicholas found a job as a tutor for aristocratic families. Libby argues that no one before or since Chopin has contributed as many significant piano works and writes that Chopin's impact on other musicians is "entirely out of proportion to the number of concerts he gave - only 30 public performances in 30 years of concertizing." In his surprisingly short career, Chopin managed to leave a lasting mark on the classical genre and the music world at large.īorn on March 1, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Poland, Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen, who went on to be known as Frédéric Chopin, developed an early ear for music. Writer Ted Libby may have said it best in his 2010 NPR article celebrating 200 years of the musical genius Frédéric Chopin. Getty Images/ZU_09-Getty Images/Howstuffworks His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying degrees of historical accuracy.In his short, 39-year lifetime, Frédéric Chopin wrote two concertos, four ballades, 24 etudes, 57 mazurkas and many other pieces of music, including sonatas, waltzes, nocturnes, études and scherzos. His innovations in style,musical form, and harmony, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.īoth in his native Poland and beyond, Chopin’s music, his status as one of music’s earliest superstars, his association (if only indirect) with political insurrection, his love life and his early death have made him, in the public consciousness, a leading symbol of the Romantic era. Bach, Mozart and Schubert, the music of all of whom he admired. Many contain elements of both Polishfolk music and of the classical tradition of J. His major piano works also include sonatas, mazurkas, waltzes,nocturnes, polonaises, études, impromptus, scherzos, and preludes, some published only after his death. Chopin invented the concept of instrumental ballade. His keyboard style is highly individual and often technically demanding his own performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some songs to Polish lyrics. He died in Paris in 1849, probably of tuberculosis.Īll of Chopin’s compositions include the piano. Through most of his life, Chopin suffered from poor health. In his last years, he was financially supported by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. A brief and unhappy visit to Majorca with Sand in 1838–39 was one of his most productive periods of composition. After a failed engagement to a Polish girl, from 1837 to 1847 he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer George Sand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann. He supported himself by selling his compositions and teaching piano, for which he was in high demand. Thereafter, during the last 18 years of his life, he gave only some 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed many of his works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising.Īt the age of 21 he settled in Paris. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era, whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation.” Chopin was born in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw, and grew up in Warsaw, which after 1815 became part of Congress Poland. Photograph of Chopin by Bisson, c. 1849įrédéric François Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849), born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano.
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