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Frédéric-François Chopin ( March 1, 1810– October 17, 1849) is widely seen as the greatest of Polish composers and the very greatest of composers for the piano, the instrument for which he wrote almost exclusively. He was born as Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, adopting the French variant "Frédéric-François" only when he left Poland for Paris at age 20, never to return. His surname is also sometimes spelled Szopen in Polish texts.
1 Biography
According to the artist himself and his family, Chopin was born on March 1, 1810. However, his baptismal certificate, written several weeks after his birth, lists his birthdate as February 22. Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola in central Poland near Sochaczew, in the region of Mazovia, which was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. He was born to Mikolaj (Nicolas) Chopin , a Polonized FrenchmanThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. and to his Polish mother, Tekla Justyna Krzyzanowska .
1.1 Formative Years
The musical talent of Fryderyk became apparent extremely early on, and it was compared with the childhood genius of Mozart. Already at the age of 7, Fryderyk was the author of two polonaiseThe polonaise polonez chodzony is a rather slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Before Fryderyk Chopin, the polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. From Cs (in G minor and B-flat major), the first being published in the engraving workshop of Father Cybulski. The prodigy was featured in the WarsawWarsaw ( Polish: see also other names in full The Capital City of Warsaw Polish: Miasto Stoleczne Warszawa is the capital of Poland and its largest city. It is located on the Vistula river roughly 350 km from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian M newspapers, and "little Chopin" became the attraction and ornament of receptions given in the aristocratic salons of the capital. He also began giving public charity concerts. His first professional piano lessons, given to him by the violinist Wojciech Zywny (b. 1756Events March 17 St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern). May 15 Seven Years' War: The war begins when England declares war on France. August 29 Frederick the Great attacks Saxony October 1 Seve in BohemiaBohemia Cechy in Czech, Bohmen in German) is an historical region in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic. With an area of 52,750 sq. 25 million of the country's 10. 3 million inabitants, Bohemia is bounded by Germ), lasted from 1816 to 1822, when the teacher was no longer able to give any more help to the pupil whose skills surpassed his own.
The further development of Fryderyk's talent was supervised by Wilhelm Würfel (b. 1791 in Bohemia). This renowned pianist and professor at the Warsaw Conservatory gave Chopin valuable (although irregular) lessons in playing organ, and possibly piano. From 1823 to 1826, Fryderyk attended the Warsaw Lyceum, where his father was a professor. In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying music theory, figured bass, and composition with the composer Józef Elsner (b. 1769 in Silesia) at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1831 he left Poland for Vienna before settling in Paris where he spent much of his life.
