Frederic chopin

Early Years

Chopin was born Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen on March 1, 1810, in the small village of Zelazowa Wola, Duchy of Warsaw (now Poland). His father, Nicholas, was a French émigré who was working as a bookkeeper when he met and married Justyna Krzyzanowska. Soon after Chopin was born, Nicholas found employment as a tutor for aristocratic families in Warsaw.

His father’s employment exposed young Chopin to cultured Warsaw society, and his mother introduced him to music at an early age. By age 6, Chopin was ably playing the piano and composing tunes. Recognizing his talent, his family engaged professional musician Wojciech Zywny for lessons, and soon the pupil surpassed the teacher in both technique and imagination.

Final Years and Death

By the mid-1840s, both Chopin’s health and his relationship with Sand were deteriorating. His behavior had also become erratic, possibly due to an undiagnosed form of epilepsy. Their affair ended in 1848 after, among other things, Sand’s unflattering portrayal of their relationship in her 1846 novel Lucrezia Floriani. In the end, both parties were too proud to reconcile, and Chopin’s spirit and health were broken. He made an extended tour to the British Isles, where he struggled under an exhausting schedule, making his last public appearance on November 16, 1848. He then returned to Paris, where he died on October 17, 1849, at age 39. His body was buried at Père Lachaise cemetery, but his heart was interred at a church in Warsaw, near the place of his birth.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Frédéric Chopin
• Birth Year: 1810
• Birth date: March 1, 1810
• Birth City: Zelazowa Wola
• Birth Country: Poland
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Considered Poland’s greatest composer, Frédéric Chopin focused his efforts on piano composition and was a strong influence on composers who followed him.
• Industries

  Classical

• Astrological Sign: Pisces
• Nacionalities

  Polish

• Interesting Facts

  Frédéric Chopin was composing complex musical pieces at age 7.

• Death Year: 1849
• Death date: October 17, 1849
• Death City: Paris
• Death Country: France

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Frédéric Chopin Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/frederic-chopin
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

QUOTES

• Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
• I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness, but I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them.
• Sometimes I can only groan, and suffer, and pour out my despair at the piano!

Chopin posthumously[]

File:Poland Warsaw Łazienki Park 2.jpg

Summer Sunday concert at Chopin statue in Łazienki Park, Warsaw.

Chopin’s popularity, and the esteem in which he is held, have prompted many commemorations. For example, a statue of Chopin was erected before World War II in Warsaw’s Łazienki Park. At its base, on summer Sundays, free piano recitals of Chopin’s compositions are performed. The stylized tree over Chopin’s figure echoes a pianist’s hand and fingers. A tribute of a different type is the naming of the asteroid 3784 Chopin after the composer.

The International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition is held every five years in Warsaw, and the Grand prix du disque de F.Chopin is awarded periodically for notable Chopin recordings, both remastered and newly-recorded work.

Warsaw has a Frederic Chopin International Airport.

Chopin’s life and his relationship with George Sand has been fictionalised in film, notably in the 1945 biopic, A Song to Remember, which earned Cornel Wilde an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for his portrayal of the composer. Other film treatments include Impromptu (1991), which starred Hugh Grant as Chopin, La note bleue (1991), and Chopin: Desire for Love (2002).

Relationship with George Sand

Though Chopin had had youthful love affairs and was at one time engaged, none of his relationships lasted more than a year. In 1838 he began a love affair with French novelist Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, a.k.a., George Sand. The couple spent a harsh winter on the Spanish island of Majorca, where Chopin became ill. In March 1839, Sand realized that Chopin needed medical attention and took him to Marseille, where he was diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis).

After a period of recuperation in Marseille, in May 1839 Chopin and Sand settled south of Paris in Nohant, Sand’s country home. The next seven years proved to be the happiest and most productive period of Chopin’s life. He steadily composed a series of masterpieces, including the Sonata in B Minor, the Opus 55 Nocturnes and the Opus 56 Mazurkas. The growing demand for his new works and his greater understanding of the publishing business also brought increased income and provided Chopin an elegant lifestyle.

External links[]

Template:LinkfarmTemplate:Wikiquote

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Frédéric Chopin

• Chopin: the poet of the piano — A favorite Chopin place since 1999 with biography, images, music files, work list and analysis, quizzes and contests, noted interpreters…
• Artanhime — Chopin’s mp3 Collection.
• Online biography of Chopin
• University of Michigan Chopin Project
• Internet Chopin Information Centre, Chopin portal including calendar, catalogues, other information about Chopin, Chopin on the Web, and pianists’ biographical notes.
• Chopin Music — Website and forum dedicated to the music of Chopin, including recordings, sheet music and image galleries.
• Brief Chopin essay at Classical Music Pages
• The Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaw. Contains a biography, an outline of Chopin’s works and musical style and pictures of original manuscripts.
• Fryderyk Chopin: Poet of the Piano
• Valldemossa, Majorca where Chopin lived with George Sand in 1838-39.
• Biographies (Project Gutenberg e-texts):
  • Life of Chopin, by Franz Liszt
  • Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, by Frederick Niecks
  • Chopin: The Man and his Music, by James Huneker
• International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition
• Template:Musicbrainz artist
• The International Foundation Can Mossenya — Friends of Jorge Luis Borges
• Free Chopin Downloads (MP3 and WMV)

Music scores

• Chopin Piano Sheet Music (out of copyright)
• Template:IMSLP
• Chopin scores from Mutopia Project
• Template:IckingArchive
• Chopin Early Editions, a collection of over 400 first and early printed editions of musical compositions by Frédéric Chopin published before 1881.

Free recordings

• Performances by Donald Betts: 3 ballades, 3 études, 2 nocturnes, 1 mazurka
• Performances by Paul Cantrell from In the Hands
• Performances by Alberto Cobo: Sonata #3, Ballade #1 & Fantasie-Impromptu, Sonata #2, Scherzo #2, Prelude #16
• Performances by Stephen Kopp, Roberto Carnevale, Graziella, Concas, Chris Breemer, Robert Stahlbrand and others from Piano Society
• Various performers from PianoParadise (some links are broken)
• MIDI files from Kunst der Fuge
• Preludes No. 4 and No. 6 arranged for voices, guitar, and bass by the John Link Project
• Performances of works by Frédéric Chopin in MP3 and MIDI formats at Logos Virtual Library