From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo by Bisson,
1849, the year of Chopin's death
Frédéric François Chopin, in Polish Fryderyk
Franciszek Chopin (surname
pronounced [ʃɔpɛ̃] in
French, usually /ˈʃoʊpæn/ in
English, sometimes written Szopen in
Polish; 1 March 1810[1] –
17 October 1849), was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist.[2][3] He
is considered one of the great masters of Romantic
music.[4]
Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa
Wola, in the
Duchy of Warsaw, to a French-expatriate father
and Polish mother. He was considered a child-prodigy
pianist.[5][6] At
the age of 20, on 2 November 1830, he left Warsaw for
Austria, intending to go on to Italy. The outbreak of the Polish November
Uprising 27 days later, and its
subsequent suppression by the Russian
Empire, led to his becoming one of many expatriates of the Polish Great
Emigration.[7]
In Paris, Chopin made a comfortable living as a composer and piano teacher,
while giving few public performances. Though an ardent Polish patriot,[8][9] in
France he used the French versions of his given
names, and traveled on a French passport, possibly to avoid having to rely
on Imperial Russian documents.[10] After
ill-fated romantic involvements with Polish women, from 1837 to 1847 he had a
turbulent relationship with the French novelist Aurore Dupin, better known by
her pseudonym, George
Sand. For the greater part of his life Chopin suffered from poor health;
he died in Paris in 1849, aged thirty-nine, of
pulmonary tuberculosis.[7][11]
The great majority of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument.
Though technically demanding,[12] they
emphasize nuance and expressive depth rather than sheer virtuosity. Chopin
invented musical
forms such as the instrumental
ballade[13] and
was responsible for major innovations in the piano
sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocturne,
polonaise, étude, impromptu and prélude.
