Frederic Francois Chopin (1810 - 1849)

Frederic Chopin was born in 1810, in Zelazowa-Wola, a town near Warsaw, Poland. Publicly performing on the piano at the age of eight, Chopin began to compose soon afterward. With his lyrical, often melancholy, compositions, he brought romantic piano music to unprecedented heights of expressiveness.
A prodigy as a pianist and a composer, he began performing at aristocratic salons in Warsaw, and in 1826 he began full-time studies at the Warsaw Conservatory. After concert appearances in Vienna and Munich, he settled in Paris, where he gave his first concert in 1831. Although he remained always devoted to Polish culture and artists, he never returned to his homeland.
In Paris he became closely associated with the principal composers, artists, and literary figures of his time. He was a virtuoso interpreter of his own works, but his dislike of playing in public made him prefer teaching and composing to the concert stage. In 1836, Liszt introduced him to Mme Dudevant, better known by her pen name George Sand, with whom he spent the winter of 1838–39 in Majorca; there, despite worsening pulmonary illness, he wrote his 24 preludes, which are counted among his finest compositions.
The stormy affair with the novelist lasted until 1847, by which time Chopin's illness had developed into tuberculosis. He made a last concert tour through Great Britain in 1848. Chopin established the piano as a solo instrument free from choral or orchestral influence. Even in the piano concertos in E Minor (1833) and in F Minor (1836), the orchestra is completely dominated by the piano.
Other major works include the sonatas in B Flat Minor (1840) and B Minor (1845), and two sets of ้tudes (1833, 1837). Because of their highly romantic quality, some of his works have become known by descriptive titles that he did not give them; they were published simply as nocturnes, scherzos, ballades, waltzes, impromptus, fantasies, and the like. Polish nationalism is evident in his many polonaises and mazurkas. His last concert was a benefit performance for Polish refugees, and at his funeral in Paris, Polish soil was strewn on his grave.
Several musical selections from Chopin's works can be found in the Victorian Station Gramophone.