FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin was one of the greatest composers of Romantic music (1815 - 1910).
During that music period the composers were inspired by the nature, old legends and folk music and when it comes to Chopin he had a special love for Polish folk dances.
How much do you know about one of Poland’s greatest composer?
Frédéric Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw in 1810. Chopin's father was Nicolas Chopin, a Frenchman from Lorraine who had emigrated to Poland in 1787 at the age of sixteen and had served in Poland's National Guard during the Kościuszko Uprising. In 1806 he married a Polish woman Justyna Krzyżanowska. Frédéric was the couple's second child and only son. In October 1810, when Chopin was seven months old, the family moved to Warsaw, where his father began to teach French language at the Warsaw Lyceum. Chopin's father played the flute and violin; his mother played the piano and gave lessons to boys in the elite boarding house that the Chopins maintained.
Frédéric showed great admiration for the piano at a very young age. At first his older sister gave him the first piano lessons. At the age of six he received his first professional lessons. By the age of seven he already composed his first pieces of music - two polonaises (Polish dances) and was called the ‘second Mozart’. At the same time, he gave concert performances to impressed audiences.
In 1825, at the age of 15 years, Chopin published his first work (Rondo, op. 1). The next year he started musical theories studies at the Warsaw Conservatory with Jozef Elsner, a Silesian composer who taught at the Conservatory. In early 1829, Chopin performed in Vienna, where he was received with several optimistic reviews. The political situation in Warsaw made him move to Paris. On the road, he learned that the Russians had captured Warsaw. In reaction to that fact he composed the great “Revolutionary Etude”.
In France Frédéric Chopin worked as a pianist, music teacher and composer. He had the opportunity to meet many famous composers and writers, among them were Liszt, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac, Heine, Victor Hugo and Schumann. The 1830s in Paris proved to be a progressive and productive time for Chopin. He completed some of his most popular works and performed regular concerts, receiving fantastic reviews.
Chopin’s favourite instrument was the piano and his works are some of the finest piano compositions ever created. He invented new musical forms such as the ballade, and was the first western composer to use elements of Polish folk music , such as folk dances, in his work. To this day his mazurkas and polonaises are among the greatest masterpieces of Polish national classical music.
Many performers find his music very difficult to play and a real test of their skills. But Chopin’s style is really all about expressing emotions. He said in his letters, “I tell the piano my things I used to tell friends,” and “Sometimes I can only suffer and pour my despair at the piano.” For most of his life, Chopin suffered from poor health. On October 17, 1849, tuberculosis ended the life of a young genius. At the age of 39, Chopin passed away. His funeral was held at the Church of the Madeleine, and he was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His heart was entombed at the Church of the Holy Cross in Poland, and Polish soil was sprinkled over his tomb in France, as he had requested.
Chopin still finds many followers and is recognized and enjoyed by audience all over the world. His music is celebrated every five years by the world’s best pianists during the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious music events in the world.
