Chopin

Chopin was a Polish-born composer, one of the masters of piano composition. He wrote chamber music which is music for small groups of instruments, songs, and pieces for piano and orchestra. But his fame rests almost entirely on his more than 200 compositions for solo piano.He was born in Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw.He played the piano in public when he was only 8 years old. He began to write music soon afterward. Chopin studied at the Warsaw Conservatory from 1826 to 1829 before leaving Poland in 1830. He settled in Paris in 1831, and, except for some travel, lived there the rest of his life.

In 1837, Chopin began a famous love affair with George Sand, a French woman novelist. The affair ended with a quarrel in 1847. He was then seriously ill with tuberculosis. He died on Oct. 17, 1849.

Chopin was a master of small musical forms. His works for solo piano include three sonatas, four ballades, four large-scale scherzos, about 40 mazurkas and 15 polonaises in a stately Polish dance rhythm. His other solo pieces include more than 25 etudes, 18 waltzes, a barcarole, a berceuse, a bolero, a fantasia, a tarantella, and several rondos. The fantasia is perhaps his greatest single work. His etudes are valuable for their music and for use in teaching piano.

Chopin is unique among composers because his music has always been as highly esteemed by musicians as by the public. Chopin was a creator of melody, and some of his pieces now seem as familiar as folk music.He did much to influence piano composition. He had a unique appreciation for the capability of the piano to produce beautiful music. He designed his compositions to display the resources of the instrument to full effect. His best works were written in patterns that he worked out or perfected himself.

Chopin also influenced the whole future of music by including Slavic folk harmonies and rhythms in his work.His music expresses Polish patriotism in the Polish harmonies and rhythms of his mazurkas and polonaises. However, the rest of his music was essentially international in style.