ChopinMusic Forum

[PianistSk8er]

What do you think was Chopin's largest inspiration in life? to make him compose and compose. He has a been a big inspiration to many of us, but what could possibly have been his inspiration?

[virtuoso_735]

His innate talent and love of music. I don't necessarily see a great external force that inspired him, but maybe that his family was mainly musicians or the music of the great composers of the past.

[TheRach]

Maybe something to do with Poland.

[Philip Daniel]

His inspiration came naturally, so I doubt that any single person inspired him throughout his life; even George Sand, his mistress, was not a great musical inspiration to him.The sources of his inspiration, in nearly all his works, were the melodies of bel-canto opera, the polyphony of Bach, and the modal austerity of Polish folk music. Each of those three influences, different though they seem, merged perfectly to form Chopin's style. His nocturnes, scherzos, and impromptus were inspired by contemporary opera, while his Mazurkas & Polonaises were inspired by Polish folk music (though do not quote directly any folk tunes), and the Ballades, Fantasy, Polonaise-Fantasie, & Sonatas, his most learned works, were inspired by his study of Bach. Chopin was the greatest contrapuntist of his time, and the greatest since Mozart; however, he calculates his polyphony for the enjoyment of the listener; unlike Bach, whose works are mainly meant for solitary enjoyment of the performer, Chopin's works are meant for an audience, albeit a small one.

[WinterWind_23]

To be a composer and pianist? Maybe it is inherent, his love for music, like most of us. And then talent and creativity.

His music? Maybe Bach, Poland, and other elements he put in this music that philip explains.

[LaPianistaLoca]

Aye, do you think he was an extreme Polish patriot as Brahms was for Hungary? (he hated living in the US even after he immigrated). I forgot exactly where, but in Warsaw, there is a monument/statue of Chopin; the people really rever him, but do you think it is otherwise, too?

[WinterWind_23]

Brahms wasn't hungrarian. He was a German, though most of his music has a hungrarian flavor, and most are designed after hungrarian musics. He was inspired by the harmonies, and he was attracted to the place. But I don't think it was patriosm for the country.