You can
learn a great deal about Frederic Chopins life, music, and influence at www.classicfm.com as
well as www.npr.org. In National Public Radios online article, The Life and Music of Frederic
Chopin (March 10, 2010), author Ted Libbey writes that Chopin was the first composer of genius
to devote himself solely to the piano and asserts that No one before or since has contributed
as many significant works for the pianos repertoire, or come closer to capturing its soul.
Chopins work is also known for introducing what Libbey calls emotional ambiguity.
Frederic Chopin was born in 1810 near Warsaw, Poland. His father, Nicholas, was French
and his mother, Justyna Krzyzanowska, was Polish. Chopins father was a bookkeeper who later
worked as a tutor for children of aristocratic families and was very supportive of his sons
musical abilities. Chopin began to play the piano at a very early age and by the time he was
seven years old, had already published his first composition. By 1818 (at the age of 8) he was
performing in renowned music salons. Chopin attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Music from
1826-1829. At the age of 21, he settled in Paris (a great center of European culture) where he
found ample employment as a teacher and success as a composer. Chopin was fortunate to receive
recognition for his work within his lifetime and to be able to earn enough money to live
comfortably.
In 1838 he became romantically involved with French novelist
Aurore Dudevant, more commonly known by her pen name, George Sand. The couple lived at Sands
family home north of Paris for seven years. Although diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1839, Chopin
recuperated and went on to compose some of his most famous masterpieces, including
Sonata in B Minor, the Opus 55 Nocturnes, and the
Opus 56 Mazurkas during his years with her.
Chopins
relationship with Sand ended in 1848. That year he toured the British Isles and returned to
Paris exhausted and sick. He died in 1849, at the age of 39, though no one is sure of the
causes. Chopins body was interred in Paris, but his heart was taken back to Warsaw (per his
deathbed request), preserved in a jar, and laid to rest within a pillar of Holy Cross
Church.
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