Fryderyk Chopin  

    Fryderyk Chopin’s birthdate is recorded as March 1, 1810.  He was a Polish composer and virtuoso performer who has been a major influence in piano music since the Romantic period.  His music is passionate, but sincere, and reflects the spirit of his beloved Poland.

    Chopin was born in a village of Warsaw.  He was the third child of a French tutor.  Chopin had the privilege of spending his early years living on the palace grounds, and similarly advantaged settings. 

    His home was a musical environment.  Chopin’s father played violin and flute and his mother played piano.  Chopin loved the sound of music, and began playing melodies as soon as his little fingers could reach the keys.  He had his first lessons for fun, as a toddler, from his big sister, who was 3 years older.  

    Chopin’s first ‘proper’ music lessons began at 6 years of age, from Zwyny.  He learnt very quickly, soon surpassing his teacher.  At 7 he was recognised as a child prodigy, giving public concerts.  At the same age, he wrote his first two siginifcant pieces – a Polonaise in G minor and one in Bb major.  These pieces were as complex as those by the leading composers of the time. 

    Chopin was a very bright child.  He was well liked, and was invited to play with the son of the Grand Duke.  He enjoyed drawing and had a witty sense of humour.  He observed everything, was quite inventive, and had a talent for mimicking.  He was even known for these things as an adult.

    At 15, Chopin was named the best pianist in Poland.  He amazed audiences with his ability to improvise.  He included folk rhythms and melodies that he heard during his family’s visits to the countryside.

    In his late teens, Chopin received his first formal music theory lessons from Elsner, at the regional conservatory.  Seeing Chopin’s natural and creative genius, Elsner taught him about past composers and forms without insisting he follow these rules in his own writing.  Thus, unlike previous famous composers, whose early writing tended to look back to past techniques, Chopin’s writings were totally original.

    Chopin was fairly isolated from the world outside of Poland, including the musical world, until he travelled to Germany in 1828.  He then heard operas and performances from other composers, such as Mendelssohn.  The next year, Chopin performed in Vienna, and was given a very impressive write-up in the papers.  He began receiving tempting invitations to concerts throughout Western Europe.

    In 1830, Chopin was with a friend in Vienna when he heard the news about Polish Uprising against Russian rule.  His friend went back to Poland to fight in the Revolution.  Chopin was left alone.  He moved to Paris to try and make his fame at this centre of popular culture.  He was very home sick, and plunged deeply into composition to tell of his love and hopes for his home country.

    After Russian suppression of the Polish Uprising in 1831, Chopin hid a notebook that he filled with rage.  This inspired writing of his Revolutionary Etude and the Scherzo in B minor.  Chopin chose to stay in Paris and eventually became a French citizen so he would not have to use Russian identification documents.

    While in Paris, Chopin received awed written reviews by influential music journalists and composers.  People were impressed by his originality, of idea and technique.  Schumann described Chopin’s pieces as "the tenderest and most soulful things that may be conceived of in music."  Chopin became famous.  He was able to reduce his performance schedule and earn good money through composition and teaching.  It became a fashionable point of boasting, people claiming they had received a lesson from Chopin.

    Chopin composed extensively.  He wrote mostly for solo piano, also writing for ensemble and voice – but always with a piano part.  The pianoforte was undergoing great development just before Chopin’s time.  He saw much potential for the new instrument as virtually a whole orchestra in itself.  Partly due to this, his music is very demanding, with expressive and technical depth.

    He invented or altered many forms of music, including the ballade, sonata, waltz, nocturne, etude, impromptu and prelude.  Many of his waltzes were written in Paris because waltzes were the pop music of the time.  Although his waltzes are very famous, and most were ‘hits’, Chopin was never very satisfied with this music.  He wanted to play and compose music that meant something, that came from his soul rather than to meet demands of popularity.  Chopin’s greatest self-expression possibly lies in his mazurkas and polonaises – both are forms of folk dance and are powerful in Polish spirit. 

    In 1848, the French Revolution caused discomfort in Paris.  Chopin moved to London for a year, assisted by Queen Victoria.  However, his life-long struggle with tuberculosis led to his health quickly failing.  He returned to Paris, unable to perform anymore.  He died in 1849.  Some of his friends later travelled from Poland with a jar of earth they scattered on his grave so he would always ‘lie under Polish soil’.

    Chopin’s music is somehow pure and simple - often rhythmically very sensitive, with a fragile sounding melody supported by a strong harmony (often in counterpoint).  It is both Classical and Romantic.  He used a lot of half –step (chromatic) progressions and ornamentation, but never in a showy way.  He used the model of the human voice – believing the piano should also sing. 

    Although many of his works have become recognised and named, such as Revolutionary Etude, Minute Waltz, Funeral March Sonata, Military Polonaise, Raindrop Prelude, Chopin never gave names to his pieces.  He strictly used genre and number only – e.g. Etude opus 25, number 7.  He believed that the heart of music is deeper than language.  Certainly his music is known and loved by people everywhere.  Arthur Rubinstein, a Polish-American virtuoso pianst of the early 1900s, said,

Chopin was a genius of universal appeal. His music conquers the most diverse audiences. When the first notes of Chopin sound through the concert hall there is a happy sigh of recognition. All over the world men and women know his music. They love it. They are moved by it… It is expressive and personal, but still a pure art. Even in this abstract atomic age, where emotion is not fashionable, Chopin endures. His music is the universal language of human communication. When I play Chopin I know I speak directly to the hearts of people!

Last modified: April 13, 2009