THE LIFE OF CHOPIN

Born in a small city near Warsaw - Zelazowa Wola, Poland on February 22, 1810, Chopin first studied the piano at the Warsaw School of Music. He was quite proficient at the piano by his early teens. He played his first public concert at the early age of 7 and was a published composer at only 15.

By the late 1820s, Chopin had become very respected and had won a great reputation as a virtuoso pianist and composer. He toured Europe, giving concert performances for overjoyed audiences and critics. In 1831 he arrived in Paris for such a concert; so immediate was his love for this city that he promptly decided to make it his new home. He was never to return to Warsaw.

While living in Paris, Chopin had acquired a constant demand as a performer and teacher. He was loved at the Parisian salons, and was befriended by many artistic composers of the period. (including Hugo, Balzac, Liszt, Berlioz, Schumann, Dumas and Delacroix) The intense poeticism in his music made rendered him an icon of the Romantic period to many of his contemporaries.

During the year 1837, at 27 years of age, Chopin came across a novelist named Aurore Dudevant who had to use the pseudonym George Sand. They began an ultimately tragic relationship which was the most influential and devastating development in his life.

Ten years later, their relationship was no more. Chopin, who was heartbroken, continued to compose, but soon became very ill.

He had tuberculosis, he became very ill, and suddenly died at the age of 39, on October 17, 1849.

One thing is still sure, the impact he had left on the romantic period was sensational. He changed romantic music very much, and brought it to new heights rarely even thought about. His works, usually sorted within 3 categories, are all really amazing. His large-scale masterpieces (ballades, fantasies, ...) are some of the most beautiful forms of art that I have ever witnessed. He was a pioneer for music, and I will always be touched by the music he has left us.

"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."
- Frederick Chopin

Written By: PianistSk8er

I'm a revolutionary, money means nothing to me.
-- Frédéric Chopin, quoted in Arthur Headley, Chopin (1947)

After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own.
-- Oscar Wilde, 1891

Hats off, gentlemen -- a genius!
-- Robert Schumann, 1831