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~Birth And Early Years~
Chopin was born in 1810 in Poland to a French father and Polish mother. Beginning in 1822, he studied harmony and counterpoint at the Warsaw Conservatory with Joseph Elsner who encouraged his
appreciation of Bach. By age nineteen he had written his F minor piano concerto and had played two concerts in Vienna.
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Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, near Sochaczew in the Masovia region, which was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. He was born to Mikołaj (Nicolas) Chopin, a Frenchman of distant Polish ancestry
from Lorraine who had adopted Poland as his homeland when he moved there in 1787. Nicolas had married a woman from an upper-class but impoverished Polish family, Tekla Justyna Krzyżanowska.
According to the composer's family, Chopin was born March 1, 1810. There is no known birth certificate. His baptismal certificate lists his birthdate as February 22, 1810, but this was most likely an error
on the part of the priest.
In October 1810, when Frédéric was seven months old, the family moved to Warsaw, where the father took a position as teacher of French language at a school housed in the Saxon Palace. The family
lived on the palace grounds.
In 1817 the father became a teacher of French at the Warsaw Lyceum, housed in Warsaw University's Kazimierz Palace. The family lived in a spacious second-floor apartment in an adjacent building. In
1823-26 Fryderyk himself attended the Warsaw Lyceum.
The family, including the French-teacher father, spoke Polish at home. Chopin grew up culturally Polish and never attained equal mastery of the French language. It was to Warsaw that, at the end of his
life, he would bequeath his heart.
In his school years, Chopin was noted to be an accomplished sketch artist and a talented, witty letter-writer. A teacher was pleasantly surprised to find that Chopin had drawn a superb portrait of him in
class. During vacations in the countryside, when Chopin acquainted himself with the folk melodies that he would later refine into his musical compositions, he wrote home letters parodying the Warsaw
newspapers. Chopin has been called by some "a universal genius."
In 1827 the family moved to lodgings in the Krasiński Palace just across the street at Krakowskie Przedmieście 5, now the Academy of Fine Arts. There Chopin would reside until he departed Warsaw —
then unbeknown to him — forever.
Thus, from the age of seven months until his final departure from Warsaw and Poland at age twenty, Chopin always dwelled with his family either in a palace or in palace precincts.
Young Chopin received his first piano lessons from his older sister Ludwika (Polish for "Louise") and was subsequently taught by his mother. His musical talent was early apparent, and he gained a
reputation in Warsaw as a "second Mozart." At age seven he was already the author of two polonaises (G minor and B flat major), the first being published in the engraving workshop of Father Cybulski,
director of a School of Organists and one of the few music publishers in Poland.
The prodigy was featured in Warsaw newspapers, and "little Chopin" became an attraction in the capital's aristocratic salons. He also began giving public charity concerts. He is said to once have been
asked what he thought the audience liked best; the witty seven-year-old replied, "My shirt collar." He first appeared publicly as a pianist when he was eight.
Chopin received his first professional piano lessons, in 1816–22, from Wojciech Żywny. Chopin later spoke highly of Żywny, although the youngster's skills soon surpassed those of his teacher. The
further development of Chopin's talent was supervised by Wilhelm Würfel. This renowned pianist, a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, gave Chopin valuable though irregular lessons in playing the
organ, and possibly also the piano.
In 1827-30, Chopin lived with his family at the Krasiński Palace (Krakowskie Przedmieście 5) before departing Warsaw forever. In 1837-39, poet Cyprian Norwid would reside there — author of Chopin's
Piano about Russian troops' 1863 defenestration of the instrument.In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying music theory, figured bass and composition with the composer Józef Elsner at the
Warsaw Conservatory, which was affiliated with Warsaw University (hence Chopin is counted among the University's alumni). Chopin's contact with Elsner may date to as early as 1822, and it is certain
that Elsner was giving Chopin informal guidance by 1823. Chopin completed a normal three-year course at the conservatory in 1829.
That same year in Warsaw, Chopin heard Niccolò Paganini play, and he also met the German pianist and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. It was also in 1829 that Chopin met his first love, a singing
student named Konstancja Gładkowska. This inspired Chopin to put the melody of the human voice into his works.
In August 1829, three weeks after leaving the Warsaw Conservatory, Chopin made a brilliant debut in Vienna. He gave two piano performances and received many very favorable reviews, along with
others that criticized the small tone that he produced from the piano.
In December 1829, at Warsaw's Merchants' Club, he performed the premiere of his Piano Concerto in F minor. On March 17, 1830, at the National Theater, he gave the first performance of his other piano
concerto, in E minor.
On November 2, 1830, Chopin left Warsaw to give concerts in Western Europe, never to return to Poland. At month's end the November 1830 Uprising broke out, and his traveling companion Titus
Woyciechowski went home to take part. Chopin stayed in Vienna, tortured by anxiety for his loved ones, then visited Munich and Stuttgart (where he learned of Poland's occupation by the Russian army;
see Congress Poland) and arrived in Paris by September 1831. He had already composed a body of important compositions, including his two piano concertos and some of his Études Op. 10.
~Young Adult~
A celebrated recitalist in his early 20s, Chopin composed while playing, and had difficulty capturing ideas on paper. Much of his work can be sorted by its professional function; his four concert-giving
years (1828-1832) produced virtuosic pieces and music for piano and orchestra, where his stupedagogy yielded volumes of moderately difficult studies, waltzes, preludes, and mazurkas.
March 17, 1830: Debut of Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin
Child prodigy Frederic Chopin began performing publicly and writing his own music at the age of seven. Most of his works were written for solo piano. At nineteen on a trip to the Vienna, the music
capital of Europe at that time, he began work on his piano Concerto in F-Minor part of which he confessed to a friend was an expression of his love for Constantia Gladkowska, a vocal student at the
Warsaw Conservatory "whom I dream of." He finished the piece after returning to his native Poland and performed it, along with several other of his latest works, in Warsaw two weeks after his twentieth
birthday. A concerto is a piece with three movements differing in style and tempo, like a symphony, except that it is written to feature one or two solo intruments accompanied by the orchestra.
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In Paris, Chopin was welcomed by eminent Polish exiles such as Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, residing at the Hôtel Lambert, and by leading artists such as Heinrich Heine, Alfred de Vigny and Eugène
Delacroix.
He was introduced to some of the foremost pianists of the day, including Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Ferdinand Hiller and Franz Liszt, and he formed personal friendships with composers Hector Berlioz,
Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Vincenzo Bellini (beside whom he is buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery).
Chopin's music was already admired by many of his composer contemporaries, including Robert Schumann who, in his review of the Variations on "La ci darem la mano" (from Mozart's opera Don
Giovanni), Op. 2, wrote: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius."
During his years in Paris, Chopin participated in a number of concerts. The programs provide some idea of the richness of Parisian artistic life during this period, such as the concert on March 23, 1833,
in which Chopin, Liszt and Hiller played the solo parts in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's concerto for three harpsichords, and the concert on March 3, 1838, when Chopin, Alkan, Alkan's
teacher Pierre Joseph Zimmerman and Chopin's pupil Adolphe Gutman played Alkan's 8-hand arrangement of Beethoven's 7th symphony. He was also involved in the composition of Hexaméron (1837)
— the sixth (and last) variation on Bellini's theme is Chopin's.
A distinguished English amateur described seeing Chopin at a salon:
In Paris, Chopin was welcomed by eminent Polish exiles such as Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, residing at the Hôtel Lambert, and by leading artists such as Heinrich Heine, Alfred de Vigny and Eugène
Delacroix.
He was introduced to some of the foremost pianists of the day, including Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Ferdinand Hiller and Franz Liszt, and he formed personal friendships with composers Hector Berlioz,
Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Vincenzo Bellini (beside whom he is buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery).
Chopin's music was already admired by many of his composer contemporaries, including Robert Schumann who, in his review of the Variations on "La ci darem la mano" (from Mozart's opera Don
Giovanni), Op. 2, wrote: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius."
During his years in Paris, Chopin participated in a number of concerts. The programs provide some idea of the richness of Parisian artistic life during this period, such as the concert on March 23, 1833,
in which Chopin, Liszt and Hiller played the solo parts in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's concerto for three harpsichords, and the concert on March 3, 1838, when Chopin, Alkan, Alkan's
teacher Pierre Joseph Zimmerman and Chopin's pupil Adolphe Gutman played Alkan's 8-hand arrangement of Beethoven's 7th symphony. He was also involved in the composition of Hexaméron (1837)
— the sixth (and last) variation on Bellini's theme is Chopin's.
A distinguished English amateur described seeing Chopin at a salon:
“ Imagine a delicate man of extreme refinement of mien and manner, sitting at the piano and playing with no sway of the body and scarcely any movement of the arms, depending entirely upon his
narrow feminine hand and slender fingers. The wide arpeggios in the left hand, maintained in a continuous stream of tone by the strict legato and fine and constant use of the damper pedal, formed a
harmonious substructure for a wonderfully poetic cantabile. His delicate pianissimo, the ever-changing modifications of tone and time (tempo rubato) were of indescribable effect. Even in energetic
passages he scarcely ever exceeded an ordinary mezzoforte. ”
From Paris, Chopin made various visits and tours. In 1834, with Hiller, he visited a Rhenish Music Festival at Aachen organized by Ferdinand Ries. Here Chopin and Hiller met up with Mendelssohn, and
the three went on to visit Düsseldorf, Koblenz and Cologne, enjoying each other's company and learning and playing music together.
In 1835 Chopin arranged to meet his family in Karlsbad. While there he made the acquaintance of Count Franz von Thun-Hohenstein, whose daughters Chopin had taught in Paris. The Count invited
Chopin and his parents to stay at his family castle on the Elbe at Děčín. Afterwards Chopin saw his parents off back to Warsaw; he would never see them again. He returned to Paris via Dresden, where he
stayed for some weeks, and then Leipzig where he met up with Mendelssohn, Schumann and Clara Wieck. On the return journey he had a bronchial attack, so severe that some Polish newspapers
reported that he had died.
In 1836 Chopin became engaged to a seventeen-year-old Polish girl, Maria Wodzińska, whose mother insisted that the engagement be kept secret. The following year the engagement was called off by
her family.
In 1836, at a party hosted by Countess Marie d'Agoult, mistress of fellow-composer Franz Liszt, Chopin met Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, Baroness Dudevant, better known by her pseudonym, George
Sand. She was a French Romantic writer noted for her numerous love affairs with Prosper Mérimée, Alfred de Musset (1833–34), her secretary Alexandre Manceau (1849–65) and others, possibly
including the actress Marie Dorval.
Chopin initially did not find her attractive. "Something about her repels me," he told his family. Sand, however, in an extraordinary June 1837 letter to her friend Count Wojciech Grzymała, debated
whether to let Chopin go with his fiancée Maria Wodzińska or to abandon another affair in order to begin a relationship with Chopin. Sand had strong feelings for Chopin and pursued him until a
relationship developed.
A notable episode in their time together was a turbulent and miserable winter on Mallorca (1838–1839), where they had problems finding habitable accommodation and ended up lodging in the scenic
but stark and cold Valldemossa monastery. Chopin also had problems having his Pleyel piano sent to him. It arrived from Paris after a great delay, to be stuck at Spanish customs, which demanded a
large import duty. He could use it for little more than three weeks; the rest of the time he had to compose on a rickety rented piano to complete his Preludes (Op. 28).
During the winter, the bad weather had such a serious effect on Chopin's health and his chronic lung disease that – to save his life – he, George Sand and her two children were compelled to return first
to the Spanish mainland where they reached Barcelona, and then to Marseille where they stayed for a few months to recover. Although his health improved, he never completely recovered from this
bout. He complained, with his habitual wit, about the incompetence of the doctors in Mallorca: "The first said I was going to die; the second said I had breathed my last; and the third said I was already
dead."
Chopin spent the summers of 1839 until 1843 at Sand's estate in Nohant. These were quiet but productive days during which Chopin composed many works. They included his great Polonaise in A flat
major, Op.53 "Heroic," one of his most famous pieces. On Chopin's return to Paris in 1839, he met the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles.
In 1845, even as a further deterioration occurred in Chopin's health, a serious problem emerged in his relations with George Sand. The latter were further soured in 1846 by problems involving Sand's
daughter Solange and the young sculptor Jean Baptiste Auguste Clesinger. This was the year that Sand published Lucrezia Floriani, whose main characters — a rich actress and a prince in weak health
— may be interpreted as Sand and Chopin; the story was uncomplimentary to Chopin. In 1847 the family problems finally brought to an end the relations between Sand and Chopin that had lasted ten
years, since 1837.
~Works~
Opus 23: Ballade in G minor (composed 1835-36)
Opus 38: Ballade in F major (1836-39)
Opus 47: Ballade in A-flat major (1841)
Opus 52: Ballade in F minor (1842-43)
No. 1: Étude in C major (composed 1830)
No. 2: Étude in A minor (1830)
No. 3: Étude in E major "Tristesse" (1832)
No. 4: Étude in C-sharp minor (1832)
No. 5: Étude in G-flat major "Black Key" (1830)
No. 6: Étude in E-flat minor (1830)
No. 7: Étude in C major (1832)
No. 8: Étude in F major (1829)
No. 9: Étude in F minor (1829)
No. 10: Étude A-flat major (1829)
No. 11: Étude in E-flat major (1829)
No. 12: Étude in C minor "Revolutionary" (1831)
No. 1: Étude in A-flat major "Aeolian Harp" (composed 1836)
No. 2: Étude in F minor (1836)
No. 3: Étude in F major (1836)
No. 4: Étude in A minor (1832-1834)
No. 5: Étude in E minor (1832-1834)
No. 6: Étude in G-sharp minor (1832-1834)
No. 7: Étude in C-sharp minor (1836)
No. 8: Étude in D-flat major (1832-1834)
No. 9: Étude in G-flat major "Butterfly" (1832-1834)
No. 10: Étude in B minor (1832-1834)
No. 11: Étude in A minor "Winter Wind" (1834)
No. 12: Étude in C minor (1836)
No. 1: Étude in F minor (1839)
No. 2: Étude in A-flat major (1839)
No. 3: Étude in D-flat major (1839)
Opus 49: Fantaisie in F minor
Opus 29: Impromptu in A-flat major (1837)
Opus 36: Impromptu in F-sharp major (1839)
Opus 51: Impromptu in G-flat major (1843)
Opus 66: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor (1834)
No. 1: Mazurka in F-sharp minor
No. 2: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 3: Mazurka in E major
No. 4: Mazurka in E-flat minor
No. 1: Mazurka in B-flat major
No. 2: Mazurka in A minor
No. 3: Mazurka in F minor
No. 4: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 5: Mazurka in C major
No. 1: Mazurka in B-flat major
No. 2: Mazurka in E minor
No. 3: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 4: Mazurka in A minor
No. 1: Mazurka in G minor
No. 2: Mazurka in C major
No. 3: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 4: Mazurka in B-flat minor
No. 1: Mazurka in C minor
No. 2: Mazurka in B minor
No. 3: Mazurka in D-flat major
No. 4: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in G-sharp minor
No. 2: Mazurka in D major
No. 3: Mazurka in C major
No. 4: Mazurka in B minor
No. 1: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 2: Mazurka in E minor
No. 3: Mazurka in B major
No. 4: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 1: Mazurka in G major
No. 2: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 3: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in B major
No. 2: Mazurka in C major
No. 3: Mazurka in C minor
No. 1: Mazurka in A minor
No. 2: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 3: Mazurka in F-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in B major
No. 2: Mazurka in F minor
No. 3: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in G major
No. 2: Mazurka in G minor
No. 3: Mazurka in C major
No. 4: Mazurka in A minor
No. 1: Mazurka in C major
No. 2: Mazurka in A minor
No. 3: Mazurka in F major
No. 4: Mazurka in F minor
a. Mazurka in G major (1836)
b. Mazurka in B flat major (1836)
No. 4, Mazurka No. 50 in A minor "Notre Temps" (1840)
No. 5, Mazurka No. 51 in A minor "Émile Gaillard" (1841)
No. 1, Mazurka in B flat major (1832)
No. 2, Mazurka in D major (1832)
No. 3, Mazurka in C major (1833)
No. 4, Mazurka in A flat major (1834)
A 1, No. 1: Mazurka in F major "Mazurek" (1820)
P 1, No. 7: Mazurka in D major (1829)
No. 1: Nocturne in B-flat minor
No. 2: Nocturne in E-flat major
No. 3: Nocturne in B major
No. 1: Nocturne in F major (1830-1831)
No. 2: Nocturne in F-sharp major (1830-1831)
No. 3: Nocturne in G minor (1833)
No. 1: Nocturne in C-sharp minor
No. 2: Nocturne in D-flat major
No. 1: Nocturne in B major (1836-1837)
No. 2: Nocturne in A-flat major (1836-1837)
No. 1: Nocturne in G minor
No. 2: Nocturne in G major
No. 1: Nocturne in C minor
No. 2: Nocturne in F-sharp minor
No. 1: Nocturne in F minor
No. 2: Nocturne in E-flat major
No. 1: Nocturne in B major
No. 2: Nocturne in E major
No. 1: Nocturne in E minor
Posthumously published:
Nocturne in C-sharp minor (1830)
Nocturne in C minor (1837)
No. 1: Polonaise in C-sharp minor
No. 2: Polonaise in E-flat minor
No. 1: Polonaise in A major "Military"
No. 2: Polonaise in C minor
Opus 44: Polonaise in F-sharp minor
Opus 53: Polonaise in A-flat major "Heroic"
Opus 61: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major
No. 1: Polonaise in D minor
No. 2: Polonaise in B-flat major
No. 3: Polonaise in F minor
KK IIa No. 1: Polonaise in G minor (1817)
No. 1: Polonaise in B flat major (1817)
No. 2: Polonaise in A flat major (1821)
No. 3: Polonaise in G sharp minor (1822)
No. 5: Polonaise in B flat minor "Adieu à Guillaume Kolberg" (1826)
No. 8: Polonaise in G flat major (1829).
No. 1: Prélude in C major (composed 1839)
No. 2: Prélude in A minor (1838)
No. 3: Prélude in G major (1838-1839)
No. 4: Prélude in E minor (1838)
No. 5: Prélude in D major (1838-1839)
No. 6: Prélude in B minor (1838-1839)
No. 7: Prélude in A major (1836)
No. 8: Prélude in F-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 9: Prélude in E major (1838-1839)
No. 10: Prélude in C-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 11: Prélude in B major (1838-1839)
No. 12: Prélude in G-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 13: Prélude in F-sharp major (1838-1839)
No. 14: Prélude in E-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 15: Prélude in D-flat major ("Raindrop") (1838-1839)
No. 16: Prélude in B-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 17: Prélude in A-flat major (1836)
No. 18: Prélude in F minor (1838-1839)
No. 19: Prélude in E-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 20: Prélude in C minor (1838-1839)
No. 21: Prélude in B-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 22: Prélude in G minor (1838-1839)
No. 23: Prélude in F major (1838-1839)
No. 24: Prélude in D minor (1838-1839)
Opus 45: Prélude in C-sharp minor (1841)
Posthumously published: Prélude in A-flat major (1834, published 1918)
Opus 1: Rondo in C Minor
Opus 5: Rondo à la Mazur in F major (1826)
Opus 16: Rondo in E-flat major (1832)
Opus 73: Rondo in C major, two pianos (1828)
Opus 20: Scherzo in B minor (1831)
Opus 31: Scherzo in B-flat minor (1837)
Opus 39: Scherzo in C-sharp minor (1839)
Opus 54: Scherzo in E major (1843)
Opus 4: Piano Sonata in C minor
Opus 35: Piano Sonata in B-flat minor; movement number 3 is the famous "Funeral March"
Opus 58: Piano Sonata in B minor
Opus 18: Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major
Opus 34:
No. 1: Valse brillante in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2: Valse brillante in A minor (1831)
No. 3: Valse brillante in F Major (1838)
Opus 42: Valse in A-flat major
Opus 64:
No. 1: Valse in D-flat major "Minute Waltz" (1846)
No. 2: Valse in C-sharp minor (1846)
No. 3: Valse in A-flat major
Opus 69:
No. 1: Valse in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2: Valse in B minor
Opus 70:
No. 1: Valse in G-flat major
No. 2: Valse in F minor
No. 3: Valse in D-flat major
Valse in E minor
Valse in E major
Valse in A minor
Valse in A-flat major
Valse in E-flat major
Valse in E-flat major
Valse in F-sharp minor (Doubtful)
Partially lost:
Valse in C major (1826)
Valse in A-flat major (1827)
Valse in A-flat major (1829-30)
Valse in D minor (1827)
Valse in E-flat major (1829-30)
Valse in C major (1831)
Unpublished (privately owned): Valse in B major (1848)
Opus 12: Variations brillantes in B-flat major on "Je vends du Scapulaires" from Hérold's "Ludóvic"
Opus 19: Bolero in C major
Opus 43: Tarantelle in A-flat major
Opus 46: Allegro de Concert in A major
Opus 57: Berceuse in D-flat major
Opus 60: Barcarolle in F-sharp major
Opus posth. 72:
No. 2: Marche funèbre (1829)
No. 3: Trois Ecossaises (1830)
B. 12a: Variations in D major on a Theme by Thomas Moore, piano four-hands
B. 14: Variations in E major on the air "Der Schweizerbub: Steh'auf, steh'auf o du Schweitzer Bub"
B. 17: Contredanse in G-flat major
B. 37: Variations in A major, 'Souvenir de Paganini'
B. 84: Cantabile in B-flat major
B. 109a: Largo in E-flat major
B. 129a: Canon in F minor
B. 144: Fugue in A minor
B. 151: Album Leaf in E major
Opus 2: Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano' in B-flat major (1827)
Opus 11: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor (composed 1830)
Opus 13: Fantaisie brillante on Polish Airs in A major (1828)
Opus 14: Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major (1828)
Opus 21: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor (1829-1830)
Opus 22: Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E-flat major (1830-1831)[1]
Opus 3: Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major
Opus 65: Cello Sonata in G minor (1845–46)
B. 70: Grand Duo Concertante in E major on Themes from "Robert le Diable", cello and piano (1832; written jointly with August Franchomme, and published under both their names)
Opus 8: Trio for Violin, Cello & Piano in G minor
Op. posth. 74, 19 Songs (1829-1847; Polish)
No. 1 The Wish (Życzenie) (1829)
No. 2 Spring (Wiosna) (1838)
No. 3 The Sad River (Smutna Rzeka) (1831)
No. 4 Merrymaking (Hulanka) (1830)
No. 5 What She Likes (Gdzie lubi) (1829)
No. 6 Out of My Sight (Precz z moich oczu) (1830)
No. 7 The Messenger (Poseł) (1830)
No. 8 Handsome Lad (Śliczny chłopiec) (1841)
No. 9 Melody (Melodia) (1847)
No. 10 The Warrior (Wojak) (1830)
No. 11 The Double-End (Dwojaki koniec) (1845)
No. 12 My Darling (Moja pieszczotka) (1837)
No. 13 I Want What I Have Not (Nie ma czego trzeba) (1845)
No. 14 The Ring (Pierścień) (1836)
No. 15 The Bridegroom (Narzeczony) (1831)
No. 16 Lithuanian Song (Piosnka litewska) (1831)
No. 17 Leaves are Falling, Hymn from the Tomb (Śpiew z mogiłki) (1836)
No. 18 Enchantment (Czary) (1830)
No. 19 Reverie (Dumka) (1840)
Op. 1, Rondo in C minor (1825)
Op. 2, Variations on "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Opera "Don Giovanni" in B-flat major (1827)
Op. 3, Introduction and Polonaise brillante for Violoncello and Piano in C major (1829)
Op. 4, Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor (1828)
Op. 5, Rondo à la Mazur in F major (1826)
Op. 6, 4 Mazurkas (1830)
No. 1 in F-sharp minor
No. 2 in C-sharp minor
No. 3 in E major
No. 4 in E-flat minor
Op. 7, 5 Mazurkas (1830-1831)
No. 1 in B-flat major
No. 2 in A minor
No. 3 in F minor
No. 4 in A-flat major
No. 5 in C major
Op. 8, Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano in G minor (1829)
Op. 9, 3 Nocturnes (1830-1831)
No. 1 in B-flat minor
No. 2 in E-flat major
No. 3 in B major
Op. 10, 12 Études à son ami Franz Liszt (1829-1832)
No. 1 in C major (1830)
No. 2 in A minor (1830)
No. 3 in E major (1832)
No. 4 in C-sharp minor (1832)
No. 5 in G-flat major ("Black Key") (1830)
No. 6 in E-flat minor (1830)
No. 7 in C major (1832)
No. 8 in F major (1829)
No. 9 in F minor (1829)
No. 10 in A-flat major (1829)
No. 11 in E-flat major (1829)
No. 12 C minor - (Revolutionary étude) (1831)
Op. 11, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in E minor (1830)
Op. 12, Variations brillantes in B-flat major on "Je vends du Scapulaires" from Hérold's "Ludóvic" (1833)
Op. 13, Fantasia on Polish Airs in A major (1828)
Op. 14, Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major (1828)
Op. 15, 3 Nocturnes (1830-1833)
No. 1 in F major (1830-1831)
No. 2 in F-sharp major (1830-1831)
No. 3 in G minor (1833)
Op. 16, Rondo in E-flat major (1832)
Op. 17, 4 Mazurkas (1832-1833)
No. 1 in B-flat major
No. 2 in E minor
No. 3 in A-flat major
No. 4 in A minor
Op. 18, Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major (1831)
Op. 19, Bolero in A minor (1833)
Op. 20, Scherzo No. 1 in B minor (1831)
Op. 21, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in F minor (1829-1830)
Op. 22, Andante spianato in G major and Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major (Piano Solo 1834; the Polonaise section orchestrated 1830-31)
Op. 23, Ballade No.1 in G minor (1831-1835)
Op. 24, 4 Mazurkas (1834-1835)
No. 1 in G minor
No. 2 in C major
No. 3 in A-flat major
No. 4 in B-flat minor
Op. 25, 12 Études à son ami Mme la Comtesse d'Agoult (1832-1836)
No. 1 in A flat major (1836)
No. 2 in F minor (1836)
No. 3 in F major (1836)
No. 4 in A minor (1832-1834)
No. 5 in E minor (1832-1834)
No. 6 in G-sharp minor (1832-1834)
No. 7 in C-sharp minor (1836)
No. 8 in D-flat major (1832-1834)
No. 9 in G-flat major (1832-1834)
No. 10 in B minor (1832-1834)
No. 11 in A minor ("Winter Wind") (1834)
No. 12 in C minor ("Ocean") (1836)
Op. 26, 2 Polonaises (1834-1835)
No. 1 in C-sharp minor
No. 2 in E-flat minor
Op. 27, 2 Nocturnes (1835)
No. 1 in C-sharp minor
No. 2 in D-flat major
Op. 28, 24 Preludes (1836-1839)
No. 1 in C major (1839)
No. 2 in A minor (1838)
No. 3 in G major (1838-1839)
No. 4 in E minor (1838)
No. 5 in D major (1838-1839)
No. 6 in B minor (1838-1839)
No. 7 in A major (1836)
No. 8 in F-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 9 in E major (1838-1839)
No. 10 in C-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 11 in B major (1838-1839)
No. 12 in G-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 13 in F-sharp major (1838-1839)
No. 14 in E-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 15 in D-flat major ("Raindrop") (1838-1839)
No. 16 in B-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 17 in A-flat major (1836)
No. 18 in F minor (1838-1839)
No. 19 in E-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 20 in C minor (1838-1839)
No. 21 in B-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 22 in G minor (1838-1839)
No. 23 in F major (1838-1839)
No. 24 in D minor (1838-1839)
Op. 29, Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major (1837)
Op. 30, 4 Mazurkas (1836-1837)
No. 1 in C minor
No. 2 in B minor
No. 3 in D-flat major
No. 4 in C-sharp minor
Op. 31, Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor (1837)
Op. 32, 2 Nocturnes (1836-1837)
No. 1 in B major (1836-1837)
No. 2 in A-flat major (1836-1837)
Op. 33, 4 Mazurkas (1837-1838)
No. 1 in G-sharp minor
No. 2 in D major
No. 3 in C major
No. 4 in B minor
Op. 34, 3 Waltzes (1831-1838)
No. 1 in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2 in A minor (1831)
No. 3 in F major (1838)
Op. 35, Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor - Funeral March (1839)
Op. 36, Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major (1839)
Op. 37, 2 Nocturnes (1838-1839)
No. 1 in G minor (1838)
No. 2 in G major (1839)
Op. 38, Ballade No. 2 in F major (1836-1839)
Op. 39, Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor (1839)
Op. 40, 2 Polonaises (1838-1839)
No. 1 in A major - Military (1838)
No. 2 in C minor (1838-1839)
Op. 41 4 Mazurkas (1838-1839)
No. 1/2, in E minor (1839)
No. 2/3, in B major (1838)
No. 3/4, in A-flat major (1839)
No. 4/1, in C-sharp minor (1839)
Op. 42, Waltz in A-flat major (1840)
Op. 43, Tarantella in A-flat major (1841)
Op. 44, Polonaise in F-sharp minor (1841)
Op. 45, Prelude in C-sharp minor (1841)
Op. 46, Allegro de Concert in A major (1832-1841)
Op. 47, Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major (1840-1841)
Op. 48, 2 Nocturnes (1841)
No. 1 in C minor
No. 2 in F-sharp minor
Op. 49, Fantasia in F minor (1841)
Op. 50, 3 Mazurkas (1841-1842)
No. 1 in G major
No. 2 in A-flat major
No. 3 in C-sharp minor
Op. 51, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat major (1842)
Op. 52, Ballade No. 4 in F minor (1842)
Op. 53, Polonaise in A-flat major - "Heroic" (1842)
Op. 54, Scherzo No. 4 in E major (1842)
Op. 55, 2 Nocturnes (1843)
No. 1 in F minor
No. 2 in E-flat major
Op. 56, 3 Mazurkas (1843)
No. 1 in B major
No. 2 in C major
No. 3 in C minor
Op. 57, Berceuse in D-flat major (1843)
Op. 58, Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor (1844)
Op. 59, 3 Mazurkas (1845)
No. 1 in A minor
No. 2 in A-flat major
No. 3 in F-sharp minor
Op. 60, Barcarolle in F-sharp major (1845-1846)
Op. 61, Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major (1845-1846)
Op. 62, 2 Nocturnes (1846)
No. 1 in B major
No. 2 in E major
Op. 63, 3 Mazurkas (1846)
No. 1 in B major
No. 2 in F minor
No. 3 in C-sharp minor
Op. 64, 3 Waltzes (1846-1847)
No. 1 in D-flat major - (Minute Waltz)
No. 2 in C-sharp minor
No. 3 in A-flat major' (composed around 1840)'
Op. 65, Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in G minor (1845-1846)
Opp. 66 – 74 were published posthumously and are sometimes numbered to as Op. posth.
Op. 66, Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor (1835)
Op. 67, 4 Mazurkas (1835-1849)
No. 1 in G major (1835)
No. 2 in G minor (1849)
No. 3 in C major (1835)
No. 4 in A minor (1846)
Op. 68, 4 Mazurkas (1827-1849)
No. 1 in C major (1829)
No. 2 in A minor (1827)
No. 3 in F major (1829)
No. 4 in F minor (1849) (Last Composition)
Op. 69, 2 Waltzes (1829-1835)
No. 1 in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2 in B minor (1829)
Op. 70, 3 Waltzes (1829-1841)
No. 1 in G-flat major (1833)
No. 2 in F minor (1841)
No. 3 in D-flat major (1829)
Op. 71, 3 Polonaises (1825-1828)
No. 1 in D minor (1825)
No. 2 in B-flat major (1828)
No. 3 in F minor (1828)
Op. 72, (1826-1827)
No. 1 Nocturne in E minor (1827)
No. 2 Funeral March in C minor (1827)
No. 3 3 Ecossaises (1826)
No. 3a in D major
No. 3b in G major
No. 3c in D-flat major
Op. 73, Rondo in C major (for two pianos) (1828)
Op. 74, 19 Songs (1829-1847)
No. 1 The Wish (Życzenie) (1829)
No. 2 Spring (Wiosna) (1838)
No. 3 The Sad River (Smutna Rzeka) (1831)
No. 4 Merrymaking (Hulanka) (1830)
No. 5 What She Likes (Gdzie lubi) (1829)
No. 6 Out of My Sight (Precz z moich oczu) (1830)
No. 7 The Messenger (Poseł) (1830)
No. 8 Handsome Lad (Śliczny chłopiec) (1841)
No. 9 Melody (Melodia) (1847)
No. 10 The Warrior (Wojak) (1830)
No. 11 The Double-End (Dwojaki koniec) (1845)
No. 12 My Darling (Moja pieszczotka) (1837)
No. 13 I Want What I Have Not (Nie ma czego trzeba) (1845)
No. 14 The Ring (Pierścień) (1836)
No. 15 The Bridegroom (Narzeczony) (1831)
No. 16 Lithuanian Song (Piosnka litewska) (1831)
No. 17 Leaves are Falling, Hymn from the Tomb (Śpiew z mogiłki) (1836)
No. 18 Enchantment (Czary) (1830)
No. 19 Reverie (Dumka) (1840)
S 1 No. 1, Polonaise in G minor (1817)
S 1 No. 2, 2 Mazurkas (1826)
No. 2a in G
No. 2b in B flat
S 2 No. 1, Grand Duo concertant for Violoncello and Piano in E (1832)
S 2 No. 2, Variation No. 6 in E from 'Hexameron' (1837)
S 2 No. 3, 3 Etudes (1839)
No. 3a in F minor
No. 3b in A flat
No. 3c in D flat
S 2 No. 4, Mazurka in A minor - Notre Temps (1840)
S 2 No. 5, Mazurka in A minor - Émile Gaillard (1841)
A 1 No. 1, Mazurka in D major - Mazurek (1820)
A 1 No. 2, Prelude in F major (1845)
A 1 No. 3, Andantino animato in F major (1845)
A 1 No. 4, Contredanse in G flat major (1826)
A 1 No. 5, Variations in E major for flute and piano on the air "Non piu mesta" from the opera "La Cenerentola" (1824)
A 1 No. 6, Nocturne in C sharp minor - Nocturne oublié (unknown)
A 1 No. 7, Waltz in F sharp minor - Valse mélancolique (unknown)
P 1 No. 1, Polonaise in B flat (1817)
P 1 No. 2, Polonaise in A flat (1821)
P 1 No. 3, Polonaise in G sharp minor (1822)
P 1 No. 4, Introduction et Variations sur un lied Allemande in E (1826)
P 1 No. 5, Polonaise in B flat minor - "La Gazza Ladra" (1826)
P 1 No. 6, Introduction, Theme and Variations in D On a Theme by Thomas Moore (1826)
P 1 No. 7, Mazurka in D (1829)
P 1 No. 8, Polonaise in G flat (1829)
P 1 No. 9, Lied in C (Jakiez kwiaty, jakie wianki) (1829)
P 1 No. 10, Variations in A - "Souvenir de Paganini" (1829)
P 1 No. 11, Lied in D minor, Enchantment (Czary) (1830)
P 1 No. 12, Waltz in E (1829)
P 1 No. 13, Waltz in A flat (1827)
P 1 No. 14, Waltz in E flat (1829-1830)
P 1 No. 15, Waltz in E minor (1830)
P 1 No. 16, Nocturne in C sharp minor (1830)
P 2 No. 1, Mazurka in B flat (1832)
P 2 No. 2, Mazurka in D (1832)
P 2 No. 3, Mazurka in C (1833)
P 2 No. 4, Mazurka in A flat (1834)
P 2 No. 5, Klavierstuck in E flat (1837)
P 2 No. 6, Klavierstuck in B flat (1834)
P 2 No. 7, Prelude in A flat - "Pierre Wolf" (1834)
P 2 No. 8, Nocturne in C minor (1837)
P 2 No. 9, Lied in A minor, Rêverie (Dumka) (1840)
P 2 No. 10, Klavierstuck in E flat (1840)
P 2 No. 11, Waltz in A minor (1843)
P 2 No. 12, Moderato in E - "Album Leaf" (1843)
P 2 No. 13, Galop A flat - "Galop Marquis" (1846)
P 3 No. 2, Fugue in A minor (1841-1842)
D 2 No. 1, Bourrée No. 1 in G (1848)
D 2 No. 2, Bourrée No. 2 in A (1846)
~About His Music~
Chopin's music for the piano combined a unique rhythmic sense (particularly his use of rubato), frequent use of chromaticism, and counterpoint. This mixture produces a particularly fragile sound in the
melody and the harmony, which are nonetheless underpinned by solid and interesting harmonic techniques. He took the new salon genre of the nocturne, invented by Irish composer John Field, to a
deeper level of sophistication. Three of his twenty-one nocturnes were only published after his death in 1849, contrary to his wishes.[6] He also endowed popular dance forms, such as the Polish mazurka
and the waltz, Viennese Waltz, with a greater range of melody and expression. Chopin was the first to write ballades[4] and scherzi as individual pieces. Chopin also took the example of Bach's preludes
and fugues, transforming the genre in his own preludes.
Several of Chopin's pieces have become very well known — for instance the Revolutionary Étude (Op. 10, No. 12), the Minute Waltz (Op. 64, No. 1), and the third movement of his Funeral March sonata
(Op. 35), which is often used as an iconic representation of grief. (It is to be noted that Chopin himself never named an instrumental work beyond genre and number, leaving all potential extramusical
association to the listener. The expressive or atmospheric names by which we know many of them today have all been invented by others.) The Revolutionary Étude was not written with the failed Polish
uprising against Russia in mind; it merely appeared at that time. The Funeral March was written before the rest of the sonata within which it is contained, but the exact occasion is not known; it appears
not to have been inspired by any specific personal bereavement.[7] Other melodies have been used as the basis of popular songs, such as the slow section of the Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. posth. 66) and
the first section of the Étude Op. 10 No. 3. These pieces often rely on an intense and personalised chromaticism, as well as a melodic curve that resembles the operas of Chopin's day — the operas of
Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and especially Bellini. Chopin used the piano to re-create the gracefulness of the singing voice, and talked and wrote constantly about singers.
Chopin's style and gifts became increasingly influential. Robert Schumann was a huge admirer of Chopin's music — although the feeling was not reciprocated — and he took melodies from Chopin and
even named a piece from his suite Carnaval after Chopin.
Franz Liszt, another great admirer and personal friend of the composer, transcribed for piano six of Chopin's Polish songs. However, one myth about Liszt's admiration for Chopin should be dispelled. In
1853, Liszt published a piano suite called Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses. The seventh movement, Funérailles, is subtitled "October 1849". That this was the month of Chopin's death, and that the
middle section seems to be modelled upon the famous octave trio section of Chopin's Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53, have led many to presume that Liszt wrote the piece in memory of Chopin.
However, Liszt denied this, saying the piece had been inspired by the deaths of three of his Hungarian compatriots in the same month.
Chopin performed his own works in concert halls but most often in his salon for friends. Only later in life, as his disease progressed, did Chopin give up public performance altogether.
Chopin's technical innovations also became influential. His Préludes (Op. 28) and Études (Opp. 10 and 25) rapidly became standard works, and inspired both Liszt's Transcendental Études and
Schumann's Symphonic Études. Alexander Scriabin was also strongly influenced by Chopin; for example, his 24 Preludes, Op. 11 are inspired by Chopin's Op. 28.
Jeremy Siepmann, in his biography of the composer, named a list of pianists he believed to have made recordings of works by Chopin generally acknowledged to be among the greatest Chopin
performances ever preserved: Vladimir de Pachmann, Raoul Pugno, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Moriz Rosenthal, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alfred Cortot, Ignaz Friedman, Raoul Koczalski, Arthur Rubinstein,
Mieczysław Horszowski, Claudio Arrau, Vlado Perlemuter, Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Horowitz, Dinu Lipatti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perahia, Krystian
Zimerman, Evgeny Kissin.
Rubinstein said the following about Chopin's music and its universality:
“ 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. Yet it is not "Romantic music" in the Byronic sense. It does not tell stories or paint pictures. 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! ”
~Style~
Although Chopin lived in the 1800s, he was educated in the tradition of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart and Clementi; he even used Clementi's piano method with his own students. He was also influenced by
Hummel's development of virtuoso, yet Mozartian, piano technique. One of his students, Friederike Muller, wrote the following in her diary about Chopin's playing style:
“ His playing was always noble and beautiful; his tones sang, whether in full forte or softest piano. He took infinite pains to teach his pupils this legato, cantabile style of playing. His most severe criticism
was "He—or she—does not know how to join two notes together." He also demanded the strictest adherence to rhythm. He hated all lingering and dragging, misplaced rubatos, as well as exaggerated
ritardandos ... and it is precisely in this respect that people make such terrible errors in playing his works. ”
Chopin's polonaises brought the musical form to a higher level than anyone had envisioned the musical style to be capable of. The series of seven polonaises published in his lifetime (another nine were
published posthumously), beginning with the Op. 26 pair, set a whole new standard for composing and playing the music and were rooted in a passion by Chopin to write something to celebrate Polish
culture — after the country had fallen back into the Russian grip. The A major polonaise Op. 40 No. 1, "Military," and the polonaise in A flat major Op. 53, "Heroic," are among Chopin's most beloved
and played works.
~Romanticism~
Chopin regarded most of his contemporaries with some indifference, although he had many acquaintances with those associated with romanticism in music, literature and the arts (many of them via his
liaison with George Sand). Chopin's music is, however, considered by many to be a peak of the Romantic style. [8] The relative classical purity and discretion in his music, with little extravagant
exhibitionism, partly reflects his reverence for Bach and Mozart. Chopin also never indulged in explicit "scene painting" in his music, or used programmatic titles, castigating publishers who renamed
his pieces in this way.
~Elder Years~
After many foreign concerts during 1829 and 1830, he arrived in Paris in 1831 where he was to stay until his death in 1849.
~Death~
After the demise of an alleged affair with novelist George Sand, Chopin's emotional and physical problems hastened his death. Then and now, Frederic Chopin is cherished for his towering originality
and resourcefulness in exploiting the expressive possibilities of the piano.
In 1848 Chopin gave his last concert in Paris, and visited England and Scotland with his student and admirer Jane Stirling. They reached London in November, and although Chopin managed to give
some concerts and salon performances, he was severely ill. He returned to Paris, where in 1849 he became unable to teach or perform.
His sister Ludwika, who had given him his first piano lessons, nursed him in his apartment at Place Vendôme 12. There in the small hours of October 17 he died. Later that morning, Clesinger made
Chopin's death mask and casts of his hands.
Before Chopin's funeral, pursuant to his dying wish, his heart was removed (he dreaded being buried alive) to be taken by his sister in an urn to Warsaw. There it remains sealed within a pillar of the Holy
Cross Church (Kościół Świętego Krzyża) on Krakowskie Przedmieście, beneath an inscription from Matthew VI:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Chopin had requested that Mozart's Requiem be sung at his funeral. The Requiem has major parts for female singers, but the Church of the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The
funeral was delayed almost two weeks until the church relented, provided the female singers remained behind a black velvet curtain.
The funeral was held on October 30, 1849, attended by nearly three thousand people. The soloists in the Requiem included the bass Luigi Lablache, who had sung the same work at the funeral of
Beethoven and had also sung at the funeral of Vincenzo Bellini. Also played were Chopin's preludes no. 4 in E minor and no. 6 in B minor.
Chopin was buried, in accordance with his wishes, at Père Lachaise Cemetery. At the graveside, the Funeral March from Sonata Op. 35 was played, in Napoléon Henri Reber's instrumentation.[5]
Later, some of Chopin's Polish friends journeyed to Paris with a jar of earth from their native land and scattered it over his grave so that Chopin would lie under Polish soil.
Chopin's grave attracts numerous visitors and is invariably festooned with flowers, even in the dead of winter.
Nearly all of Chopin's compositions are for piano. Although an expatriate, he was deeply loyal to his war-torn homeland; his mazurkas reflect the rhythms and melodic traits of Polish folk music, and his
polonaises are marked by a heroic spirit. The Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini also influenced his melodies. His ballades, scherzos, and études exemplify his large-scale works for solo piano. His
music, romantic and lyrical in nature, is characterized by exquisite melody of great originality, refined--often adventurous--harmony, subtle rhythm, and poetic beauty. Chopin greatly influenced other
composers, notably the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, the German composer Richard Wagner, and the French composer Claude Debussy. Chopin's many published compositions include
55 mazurkas, 27 études, 24 preludes, 19 nocturnes, 13 polonaises, and 3 piano sonatas. Among his other works are the Concertos in E minor and in F minor, both for piano and orchestra, the cello
concerto, and 17 songs.
Chopin was born in 1810 in Poland to a French father and Polish mother. Beginning in 1822, he studied harmony and counterpoint at the Warsaw Conservatory with Joseph Elsner who encouraged his
appreciation of Bach. By age nineteen he had written his F minor piano concerto and had played two concerts in Vienna.
****************************
Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, near Sochaczew in the Masovia region, which was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. He was born to Mikołaj (Nicolas) Chopin, a Frenchman of distant Polish ancestry
from Lorraine who had adopted Poland as his homeland when he moved there in 1787. Nicolas had married a woman from an upper-class but impoverished Polish family, Tekla Justyna Krzyżanowska.
According to the composer's family, Chopin was born March 1, 1810. There is no known birth certificate. His baptismal certificate lists his birthdate as February 22, 1810, but this was most likely an error
on the part of the priest.
In October 1810, when Frédéric was seven months old, the family moved to Warsaw, where the father took a position as teacher of French language at a school housed in the Saxon Palace. The family
lived on the palace grounds.
In 1817 the father became a teacher of French at the Warsaw Lyceum, housed in Warsaw University's Kazimierz Palace. The family lived in a spacious second-floor apartment in an adjacent building. In
1823-26 Fryderyk himself attended the Warsaw Lyceum.
The family, including the French-teacher father, spoke Polish at home. Chopin grew up culturally Polish and never attained equal mastery of the French language. It was to Warsaw that, at the end of his
life, he would bequeath his heart.
In his school years, Chopin was noted to be an accomplished sketch artist and a talented, witty letter-writer. A teacher was pleasantly surprised to find that Chopin had drawn a superb portrait of him in
class. During vacations in the countryside, when Chopin acquainted himself with the folk melodies that he would later refine into his musical compositions, he wrote home letters parodying the Warsaw
newspapers. Chopin has been called by some "a universal genius."
In 1827 the family moved to lodgings in the Krasiński Palace just across the street at Krakowskie Przedmieście 5, now the Academy of Fine Arts. There Chopin would reside until he departed Warsaw —
then unbeknown to him — forever.
Thus, from the age of seven months until his final departure from Warsaw and Poland at age twenty, Chopin always dwelled with his family either in a palace or in palace precincts.
Young Chopin received his first piano lessons from his older sister Ludwika (Polish for "Louise") and was subsequently taught by his mother. His musical talent was early apparent, and he gained a
reputation in Warsaw as a "second Mozart." At age seven he was already the author of two polonaises (G minor and B flat major), the first being published in the engraving workshop of Father Cybulski,
director of a School of Organists and one of the few music publishers in Poland.
The prodigy was featured in Warsaw newspapers, and "little Chopin" became an attraction in the capital's aristocratic salons. He also began giving public charity concerts. He is said to once have been
asked what he thought the audience liked best; the witty seven-year-old replied, "My shirt collar." He first appeared publicly as a pianist when he was eight.
Chopin received his first professional piano lessons, in 1816–22, from Wojciech Żywny. Chopin later spoke highly of Żywny, although the youngster's skills soon surpassed those of his teacher. The
further development of Chopin's talent was supervised by Wilhelm Würfel. This renowned pianist, a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, gave Chopin valuable though irregular lessons in playing the
organ, and possibly also the piano.
In 1827-30, Chopin lived with his family at the Krasiński Palace (Krakowskie Przedmieście 5) before departing Warsaw forever. In 1837-39, poet Cyprian Norwid would reside there — author of Chopin's
Piano about Russian troops' 1863 defenestration of the instrument.In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying music theory, figured bass and composition with the composer Józef Elsner at the
Warsaw Conservatory, which was affiliated with Warsaw University (hence Chopin is counted among the University's alumni). Chopin's contact with Elsner may date to as early as 1822, and it is certain
that Elsner was giving Chopin informal guidance by 1823. Chopin completed a normal three-year course at the conservatory in 1829.
That same year in Warsaw, Chopin heard Niccolò Paganini play, and he also met the German pianist and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. It was also in 1829 that Chopin met his first love, a singing
student named Konstancja Gładkowska. This inspired Chopin to put the melody of the human voice into his works.
In August 1829, three weeks after leaving the Warsaw Conservatory, Chopin made a brilliant debut in Vienna. He gave two piano performances and received many very favorable reviews, along with
others that criticized the small tone that he produced from the piano.
In December 1829, at Warsaw's Merchants' Club, he performed the premiere of his Piano Concerto in F minor. On March 17, 1830, at the National Theater, he gave the first performance of his other piano
concerto, in E minor.
On November 2, 1830, Chopin left Warsaw to give concerts in Western Europe, never to return to Poland. At month's end the November 1830 Uprising broke out, and his traveling companion Titus
Woyciechowski went home to take part. Chopin stayed in Vienna, tortured by anxiety for his loved ones, then visited Munich and Stuttgart (where he learned of Poland's occupation by the Russian army;
see Congress Poland) and arrived in Paris by September 1831. He had already composed a body of important compositions, including his two piano concertos and some of his Études Op. 10.
~Young Adult~
A celebrated recitalist in his early 20s, Chopin composed while playing, and had difficulty capturing ideas on paper. Much of his work can be sorted by its professional function; his four concert-giving
years (1828-1832) produced virtuosic pieces and music for piano and orchestra, where his stupedagogy yielded volumes of moderately difficult studies, waltzes, preludes, and mazurkas.
March 17, 1830: Debut of Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin
Child prodigy Frederic Chopin began performing publicly and writing his own music at the age of seven. Most of his works were written for solo piano. At nineteen on a trip to the Vienna, the music
capital of Europe at that time, he began work on his piano Concerto in F-Minor part of which he confessed to a friend was an expression of his love for Constantia Gladkowska, a vocal student at the
Warsaw Conservatory "whom I dream of." He finished the piece after returning to his native Poland and performed it, along with several other of his latest works, in Warsaw two weeks after his twentieth
birthday. A concerto is a piece with three movements differing in style and tempo, like a symphony, except that it is written to feature one or two solo intruments accompanied by the orchestra.
*******************
In Paris, Chopin was welcomed by eminent Polish exiles such as Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, residing at the Hôtel Lambert, and by leading artists such as Heinrich Heine, Alfred de Vigny and Eugène
Delacroix.
He was introduced to some of the foremost pianists of the day, including Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Ferdinand Hiller and Franz Liszt, and he formed personal friendships with composers Hector Berlioz,
Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Vincenzo Bellini (beside whom he is buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery).
Chopin's music was already admired by many of his composer contemporaries, including Robert Schumann who, in his review of the Variations on "La ci darem la mano" (from Mozart's opera Don
Giovanni), Op. 2, wrote: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius."
During his years in Paris, Chopin participated in a number of concerts. The programs provide some idea of the richness of Parisian artistic life during this period, such as the concert on March 23, 1833,
in which Chopin, Liszt and Hiller played the solo parts in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's concerto for three harpsichords, and the concert on March 3, 1838, when Chopin, Alkan, Alkan's
teacher Pierre Joseph Zimmerman and Chopin's pupil Adolphe Gutman played Alkan's 8-hand arrangement of Beethoven's 7th symphony. He was also involved in the composition of Hexaméron (1837)
— the sixth (and last) variation on Bellini's theme is Chopin's.
A distinguished English amateur described seeing Chopin at a salon:
In Paris, Chopin was welcomed by eminent Polish exiles such as Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, residing at the Hôtel Lambert, and by leading artists such as Heinrich Heine, Alfred de Vigny and Eugène
Delacroix.
He was introduced to some of the foremost pianists of the day, including Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Ferdinand Hiller and Franz Liszt, and he formed personal friendships with composers Hector Berlioz,
Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Valentin Alkan and Vincenzo Bellini (beside whom he is buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery).
Chopin's music was already admired by many of his composer contemporaries, including Robert Schumann who, in his review of the Variations on "La ci darem la mano" (from Mozart's opera Don
Giovanni), Op. 2, wrote: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius."
During his years in Paris, Chopin participated in a number of concerts. The programs provide some idea of the richness of Parisian artistic life during this period, such as the concert on March 23, 1833,
in which Chopin, Liszt and Hiller played the solo parts in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's concerto for three harpsichords, and the concert on March 3, 1838, when Chopin, Alkan, Alkan's
teacher Pierre Joseph Zimmerman and Chopin's pupil Adolphe Gutman played Alkan's 8-hand arrangement of Beethoven's 7th symphony. He was also involved in the composition of Hexaméron (1837)
— the sixth (and last) variation on Bellini's theme is Chopin's.
A distinguished English amateur described seeing Chopin at a salon:
“ Imagine a delicate man of extreme refinement of mien and manner, sitting at the piano and playing with no sway of the body and scarcely any movement of the arms, depending entirely upon his
narrow feminine hand and slender fingers. The wide arpeggios in the left hand, maintained in a continuous stream of tone by the strict legato and fine and constant use of the damper pedal, formed a
harmonious substructure for a wonderfully poetic cantabile. His delicate pianissimo, the ever-changing modifications of tone and time (tempo rubato) were of indescribable effect. Even in energetic
passages he scarcely ever exceeded an ordinary mezzoforte. ”
From Paris, Chopin made various visits and tours. In 1834, with Hiller, he visited a Rhenish Music Festival at Aachen organized by Ferdinand Ries. Here Chopin and Hiller met up with Mendelssohn, and
the three went on to visit Düsseldorf, Koblenz and Cologne, enjoying each other's company and learning and playing music together.
In 1835 Chopin arranged to meet his family in Karlsbad. While there he made the acquaintance of Count Franz von Thun-Hohenstein, whose daughters Chopin had taught in Paris. The Count invited
Chopin and his parents to stay at his family castle on the Elbe at Děčín. Afterwards Chopin saw his parents off back to Warsaw; he would never see them again. He returned to Paris via Dresden, where he
stayed for some weeks, and then Leipzig where he met up with Mendelssohn, Schumann and Clara Wieck. On the return journey he had a bronchial attack, so severe that some Polish newspapers
reported that he had died.
In 1836 Chopin became engaged to a seventeen-year-old Polish girl, Maria Wodzińska, whose mother insisted that the engagement be kept secret. The following year the engagement was called off by
her family.
In 1836, at a party hosted by Countess Marie d'Agoult, mistress of fellow-composer Franz Liszt, Chopin met Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, Baroness Dudevant, better known by her pseudonym, George
Sand. She was a French Romantic writer noted for her numerous love affairs with Prosper Mérimée, Alfred de Musset (1833–34), her secretary Alexandre Manceau (1849–65) and others, possibly
including the actress Marie Dorval.
Chopin initially did not find her attractive. "Something about her repels me," he told his family. Sand, however, in an extraordinary June 1837 letter to her friend Count Wojciech Grzymała, debated
whether to let Chopin go with his fiancée Maria Wodzińska or to abandon another affair in order to begin a relationship with Chopin. Sand had strong feelings for Chopin and pursued him until a
relationship developed.
A notable episode in their time together was a turbulent and miserable winter on Mallorca (1838–1839), where they had problems finding habitable accommodation and ended up lodging in the scenic
but stark and cold Valldemossa monastery. Chopin also had problems having his Pleyel piano sent to him. It arrived from Paris after a great delay, to be stuck at Spanish customs, which demanded a
large import duty. He could use it for little more than three weeks; the rest of the time he had to compose on a rickety rented piano to complete his Preludes (Op. 28).
During the winter, the bad weather had such a serious effect on Chopin's health and his chronic lung disease that – to save his life – he, George Sand and her two children were compelled to return first
to the Spanish mainland where they reached Barcelona, and then to Marseille where they stayed for a few months to recover. Although his health improved, he never completely recovered from this
bout. He complained, with his habitual wit, about the incompetence of the doctors in Mallorca: "The first said I was going to die; the second said I had breathed my last; and the third said I was already
dead."
Chopin spent the summers of 1839 until 1843 at Sand's estate in Nohant. These were quiet but productive days during which Chopin composed many works. They included his great Polonaise in A flat
major, Op.53 "Heroic," one of his most famous pieces. On Chopin's return to Paris in 1839, he met the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles.
In 1845, even as a further deterioration occurred in Chopin's health, a serious problem emerged in his relations with George Sand. The latter were further soured in 1846 by problems involving Sand's
daughter Solange and the young sculptor Jean Baptiste Auguste Clesinger. This was the year that Sand published Lucrezia Floriani, whose main characters — a rich actress and a prince in weak health
— may be interpreted as Sand and Chopin; the story was uncomplimentary to Chopin. In 1847 the family problems finally brought to an end the relations between Sand and Chopin that had lasted ten
years, since 1837.
~Works~
Opus 23: Ballade in G minor (composed 1835-36)
Opus 38: Ballade in F major (1836-39)
Opus 47: Ballade in A-flat major (1841)
Opus 52: Ballade in F minor (1842-43)
No. 1: Étude in C major (composed 1830)
No. 2: Étude in A minor (1830)
No. 3: Étude in E major "Tristesse" (1832)
No. 4: Étude in C-sharp minor (1832)
No. 5: Étude in G-flat major "Black Key" (1830)
No. 6: Étude in E-flat minor (1830)
No. 7: Étude in C major (1832)
No. 8: Étude in F major (1829)
No. 9: Étude in F minor (1829)
No. 10: Étude A-flat major (1829)
No. 11: Étude in E-flat major (1829)
No. 12: Étude in C minor "Revolutionary" (1831)
No. 1: Étude in A-flat major "Aeolian Harp" (composed 1836)
No. 2: Étude in F minor (1836)
No. 3: Étude in F major (1836)
No. 4: Étude in A minor (1832-1834)
No. 5: Étude in E minor (1832-1834)
No. 6: Étude in G-sharp minor (1832-1834)
No. 7: Étude in C-sharp minor (1836)
No. 8: Étude in D-flat major (1832-1834)
No. 9: Étude in G-flat major "Butterfly" (1832-1834)
No. 10: Étude in B minor (1832-1834)
No. 11: Étude in A minor "Winter Wind" (1834)
No. 12: Étude in C minor (1836)
No. 1: Étude in F minor (1839)
No. 2: Étude in A-flat major (1839)
No. 3: Étude in D-flat major (1839)
Opus 49: Fantaisie in F minor
Opus 29: Impromptu in A-flat major (1837)
Opus 36: Impromptu in F-sharp major (1839)
Opus 51: Impromptu in G-flat major (1843)
Opus 66: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor (1834)
No. 1: Mazurka in F-sharp minor
No. 2: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 3: Mazurka in E major
No. 4: Mazurka in E-flat minor
No. 1: Mazurka in B-flat major
No. 2: Mazurka in A minor
No. 3: Mazurka in F minor
No. 4: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 5: Mazurka in C major
No. 1: Mazurka in B-flat major
No. 2: Mazurka in E minor
No. 3: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 4: Mazurka in A minor
No. 1: Mazurka in G minor
No. 2: Mazurka in C major
No. 3: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 4: Mazurka in B-flat minor
No. 1: Mazurka in C minor
No. 2: Mazurka in B minor
No. 3: Mazurka in D-flat major
No. 4: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in G-sharp minor
No. 2: Mazurka in D major
No. 3: Mazurka in C major
No. 4: Mazurka in B minor
No. 1: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 2: Mazurka in E minor
No. 3: Mazurka in B major
No. 4: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 1: Mazurka in G major
No. 2: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 3: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in B major
No. 2: Mazurka in C major
No. 3: Mazurka in C minor
No. 1: Mazurka in A minor
No. 2: Mazurka in A-flat major
No. 3: Mazurka in F-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in B major
No. 2: Mazurka in F minor
No. 3: Mazurka in C-sharp minor
No. 1: Mazurka in G major
No. 2: Mazurka in G minor
No. 3: Mazurka in C major
No. 4: Mazurka in A minor
No. 1: Mazurka in C major
No. 2: Mazurka in A minor
No. 3: Mazurka in F major
No. 4: Mazurka in F minor
a. Mazurka in G major (1836)
b. Mazurka in B flat major (1836)
No. 4, Mazurka No. 50 in A minor "Notre Temps" (1840)
No. 5, Mazurka No. 51 in A minor "Émile Gaillard" (1841)
No. 1, Mazurka in B flat major (1832)
No. 2, Mazurka in D major (1832)
No. 3, Mazurka in C major (1833)
No. 4, Mazurka in A flat major (1834)
A 1, No. 1: Mazurka in F major "Mazurek" (1820)
P 1, No. 7: Mazurka in D major (1829)
No. 1: Nocturne in B-flat minor
No. 2: Nocturne in E-flat major
No. 3: Nocturne in B major
No. 1: Nocturne in F major (1830-1831)
No. 2: Nocturne in F-sharp major (1830-1831)
No. 3: Nocturne in G minor (1833)
No. 1: Nocturne in C-sharp minor
No. 2: Nocturne in D-flat major
No. 1: Nocturne in B major (1836-1837)
No. 2: Nocturne in A-flat major (1836-1837)
No. 1: Nocturne in G minor
No. 2: Nocturne in G major
No. 1: Nocturne in C minor
No. 2: Nocturne in F-sharp minor
No. 1: Nocturne in F minor
No. 2: Nocturne in E-flat major
No. 1: Nocturne in B major
No. 2: Nocturne in E major
No. 1: Nocturne in E minor
Posthumously published:
Nocturne in C-sharp minor (1830)
Nocturne in C minor (1837)
No. 1: Polonaise in C-sharp minor
No. 2: Polonaise in E-flat minor
No. 1: Polonaise in A major "Military"
No. 2: Polonaise in C minor
Opus 44: Polonaise in F-sharp minor
Opus 53: Polonaise in A-flat major "Heroic"
Opus 61: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major
No. 1: Polonaise in D minor
No. 2: Polonaise in B-flat major
No. 3: Polonaise in F minor
KK IIa No. 1: Polonaise in G minor (1817)
No. 1: Polonaise in B flat major (1817)
No. 2: Polonaise in A flat major (1821)
No. 3: Polonaise in G sharp minor (1822)
No. 5: Polonaise in B flat minor "Adieu à Guillaume Kolberg" (1826)
No. 8: Polonaise in G flat major (1829).
No. 1: Prélude in C major (composed 1839)
No. 2: Prélude in A minor (1838)
No. 3: Prélude in G major (1838-1839)
No. 4: Prélude in E minor (1838)
No. 5: Prélude in D major (1838-1839)
No. 6: Prélude in B minor (1838-1839)
No. 7: Prélude in A major (1836)
No. 8: Prélude in F-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 9: Prélude in E major (1838-1839)
No. 10: Prélude in C-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 11: Prélude in B major (1838-1839)
No. 12: Prélude in G-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 13: Prélude in F-sharp major (1838-1839)
No. 14: Prélude in E-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 15: Prélude in D-flat major ("Raindrop") (1838-1839)
No. 16: Prélude in B-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 17: Prélude in A-flat major (1836)
No. 18: Prélude in F minor (1838-1839)
No. 19: Prélude in E-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 20: Prélude in C minor (1838-1839)
No. 21: Prélude in B-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 22: Prélude in G minor (1838-1839)
No. 23: Prélude in F major (1838-1839)
No. 24: Prélude in D minor (1838-1839)
Opus 45: Prélude in C-sharp minor (1841)
Posthumously published: Prélude in A-flat major (1834, published 1918)
Opus 1: Rondo in C Minor
Opus 5: Rondo à la Mazur in F major (1826)
Opus 16: Rondo in E-flat major (1832)
Opus 73: Rondo in C major, two pianos (1828)
Opus 20: Scherzo in B minor (1831)
Opus 31: Scherzo in B-flat minor (1837)
Opus 39: Scherzo in C-sharp minor (1839)
Opus 54: Scherzo in E major (1843)
Opus 4: Piano Sonata in C minor
Opus 35: Piano Sonata in B-flat minor; movement number 3 is the famous "Funeral March"
Opus 58: Piano Sonata in B minor
Opus 18: Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major
Opus 34:
No. 1: Valse brillante in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2: Valse brillante in A minor (1831)
No. 3: Valse brillante in F Major (1838)
Opus 42: Valse in A-flat major
Opus 64:
No. 1: Valse in D-flat major "Minute Waltz" (1846)
No. 2: Valse in C-sharp minor (1846)
No. 3: Valse in A-flat major
Opus 69:
No. 1: Valse in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2: Valse in B minor
Opus 70:
No. 1: Valse in G-flat major
No. 2: Valse in F minor
No. 3: Valse in D-flat major
Valse in E minor
Valse in E major
Valse in A minor
Valse in A-flat major
Valse in E-flat major
Valse in E-flat major
Valse in F-sharp minor (Doubtful)
Partially lost:
Valse in C major (1826)
Valse in A-flat major (1827)
Valse in A-flat major (1829-30)
Valse in D minor (1827)
Valse in E-flat major (1829-30)
Valse in C major (1831)
Unpublished (privately owned): Valse in B major (1848)
Opus 12: Variations brillantes in B-flat major on "Je vends du Scapulaires" from Hérold's "Ludóvic"
Opus 19: Bolero in C major
Opus 43: Tarantelle in A-flat major
Opus 46: Allegro de Concert in A major
Opus 57: Berceuse in D-flat major
Opus 60: Barcarolle in F-sharp major
Opus posth. 72:
No. 2: Marche funèbre (1829)
No. 3: Trois Ecossaises (1830)
B. 12a: Variations in D major on a Theme by Thomas Moore, piano four-hands
B. 14: Variations in E major on the air "Der Schweizerbub: Steh'auf, steh'auf o du Schweitzer Bub"
B. 17: Contredanse in G-flat major
B. 37: Variations in A major, 'Souvenir de Paganini'
B. 84: Cantabile in B-flat major
B. 109a: Largo in E-flat major
B. 129a: Canon in F minor
B. 144: Fugue in A minor
B. 151: Album Leaf in E major
Opus 2: Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano' in B-flat major (1827)
Opus 11: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor (composed 1830)
Opus 13: Fantaisie brillante on Polish Airs in A major (1828)
Opus 14: Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major (1828)
Opus 21: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor (1829-1830)
Opus 22: Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E-flat major (1830-1831)[1]
Opus 3: Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major
Opus 65: Cello Sonata in G minor (1845–46)
B. 70: Grand Duo Concertante in E major on Themes from "Robert le Diable", cello and piano (1832; written jointly with August Franchomme, and published under both their names)
Opus 8: Trio for Violin, Cello & Piano in G minor
Op. posth. 74, 19 Songs (1829-1847; Polish)
No. 1 The Wish (Życzenie) (1829)
No. 2 Spring (Wiosna) (1838)
No. 3 The Sad River (Smutna Rzeka) (1831)
No. 4 Merrymaking (Hulanka) (1830)
No. 5 What She Likes (Gdzie lubi) (1829)
No. 6 Out of My Sight (Precz z moich oczu) (1830)
No. 7 The Messenger (Poseł) (1830)
No. 8 Handsome Lad (Śliczny chłopiec) (1841)
No. 9 Melody (Melodia) (1847)
No. 10 The Warrior (Wojak) (1830)
No. 11 The Double-End (Dwojaki koniec) (1845)
No. 12 My Darling (Moja pieszczotka) (1837)
No. 13 I Want What I Have Not (Nie ma czego trzeba) (1845)
No. 14 The Ring (Pierścień) (1836)
No. 15 The Bridegroom (Narzeczony) (1831)
No. 16 Lithuanian Song (Piosnka litewska) (1831)
No. 17 Leaves are Falling, Hymn from the Tomb (Śpiew z mogiłki) (1836)
No. 18 Enchantment (Czary) (1830)
No. 19 Reverie (Dumka) (1840)
Op. 1, Rondo in C minor (1825)
Op. 2, Variations on "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Opera "Don Giovanni" in B-flat major (1827)
Op. 3, Introduction and Polonaise brillante for Violoncello and Piano in C major (1829)
Op. 4, Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor (1828)
Op. 5, Rondo à la Mazur in F major (1826)
Op. 6, 4 Mazurkas (1830)
No. 1 in F-sharp minor
No. 2 in C-sharp minor
No. 3 in E major
No. 4 in E-flat minor
Op. 7, 5 Mazurkas (1830-1831)
No. 1 in B-flat major
No. 2 in A minor
No. 3 in F minor
No. 4 in A-flat major
No. 5 in C major
Op. 8, Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano in G minor (1829)
Op. 9, 3 Nocturnes (1830-1831)
No. 1 in B-flat minor
No. 2 in E-flat major
No. 3 in B major
Op. 10, 12 Études à son ami Franz Liszt (1829-1832)
No. 1 in C major (1830)
No. 2 in A minor (1830)
No. 3 in E major (1832)
No. 4 in C-sharp minor (1832)
No. 5 in G-flat major ("Black Key") (1830)
No. 6 in E-flat minor (1830)
No. 7 in C major (1832)
No. 8 in F major (1829)
No. 9 in F minor (1829)
No. 10 in A-flat major (1829)
No. 11 in E-flat major (1829)
No. 12 C minor - (Revolutionary étude) (1831)
Op. 11, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in E minor (1830)
Op. 12, Variations brillantes in B-flat major on "Je vends du Scapulaires" from Hérold's "Ludóvic" (1833)
Op. 13, Fantasia on Polish Airs in A major (1828)
Op. 14, Rondo à la Krakowiak in F major (1828)
Op. 15, 3 Nocturnes (1830-1833)
No. 1 in F major (1830-1831)
No. 2 in F-sharp major (1830-1831)
No. 3 in G minor (1833)
Op. 16, Rondo in E-flat major (1832)
Op. 17, 4 Mazurkas (1832-1833)
No. 1 in B-flat major
No. 2 in E minor
No. 3 in A-flat major
No. 4 in A minor
Op. 18, Grande Valse brillante in E-flat major (1831)
Op. 19, Bolero in A minor (1833)
Op. 20, Scherzo No. 1 in B minor (1831)
Op. 21, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in F minor (1829-1830)
Op. 22, Andante spianato in G major and Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major (Piano Solo 1834; the Polonaise section orchestrated 1830-31)
Op. 23, Ballade No.1 in G minor (1831-1835)
Op. 24, 4 Mazurkas (1834-1835)
No. 1 in G minor
No. 2 in C major
No. 3 in A-flat major
No. 4 in B-flat minor
Op. 25, 12 Études à son ami Mme la Comtesse d'Agoult (1832-1836)
No. 1 in A flat major (1836)
No. 2 in F minor (1836)
No. 3 in F major (1836)
No. 4 in A minor (1832-1834)
No. 5 in E minor (1832-1834)
No. 6 in G-sharp minor (1832-1834)
No. 7 in C-sharp minor (1836)
No. 8 in D-flat major (1832-1834)
No. 9 in G-flat major (1832-1834)
No. 10 in B minor (1832-1834)
No. 11 in A minor ("Winter Wind") (1834)
No. 12 in C minor ("Ocean") (1836)
Op. 26, 2 Polonaises (1834-1835)
No. 1 in C-sharp minor
No. 2 in E-flat minor
Op. 27, 2 Nocturnes (1835)
No. 1 in C-sharp minor
No. 2 in D-flat major
Op. 28, 24 Preludes (1836-1839)
No. 1 in C major (1839)
No. 2 in A minor (1838)
No. 3 in G major (1838-1839)
No. 4 in E minor (1838)
No. 5 in D major (1838-1839)
No. 6 in B minor (1838-1839)
No. 7 in A major (1836)
No. 8 in F-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 9 in E major (1838-1839)
No. 10 in C-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 11 in B major (1838-1839)
No. 12 in G-sharp minor (1838-1839)
No. 13 in F-sharp major (1838-1839)
No. 14 in E-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 15 in D-flat major ("Raindrop") (1838-1839)
No. 16 in B-flat minor (1838-1839)
No. 17 in A-flat major (1836)
No. 18 in F minor (1838-1839)
No. 19 in E-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 20 in C minor (1838-1839)
No. 21 in B-flat major (1838-1839)
No. 22 in G minor (1838-1839)
No. 23 in F major (1838-1839)
No. 24 in D minor (1838-1839)
Op. 29, Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major (1837)
Op. 30, 4 Mazurkas (1836-1837)
No. 1 in C minor
No. 2 in B minor
No. 3 in D-flat major
No. 4 in C-sharp minor
Op. 31, Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor (1837)
Op. 32, 2 Nocturnes (1836-1837)
No. 1 in B major (1836-1837)
No. 2 in A-flat major (1836-1837)
Op. 33, 4 Mazurkas (1837-1838)
No. 1 in G-sharp minor
No. 2 in D major
No. 3 in C major
No. 4 in B minor
Op. 34, 3 Waltzes (1831-1838)
No. 1 in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2 in A minor (1831)
No. 3 in F major (1838)
Op. 35, Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor - Funeral March (1839)
Op. 36, Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major (1839)
Op. 37, 2 Nocturnes (1838-1839)
No. 1 in G minor (1838)
No. 2 in G major (1839)
Op. 38, Ballade No. 2 in F major (1836-1839)
Op. 39, Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor (1839)
Op. 40, 2 Polonaises (1838-1839)
No. 1 in A major - Military (1838)
No. 2 in C minor (1838-1839)
Op. 41 4 Mazurkas (1838-1839)
No. 1/2, in E minor (1839)
No. 2/3, in B major (1838)
No. 3/4, in A-flat major (1839)
No. 4/1, in C-sharp minor (1839)
Op. 42, Waltz in A-flat major (1840)
Op. 43, Tarantella in A-flat major (1841)
Op. 44, Polonaise in F-sharp minor (1841)
Op. 45, Prelude in C-sharp minor (1841)
Op. 46, Allegro de Concert in A major (1832-1841)
Op. 47, Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major (1840-1841)
Op. 48, 2 Nocturnes (1841)
No. 1 in C minor
No. 2 in F-sharp minor
Op. 49, Fantasia in F minor (1841)
Op. 50, 3 Mazurkas (1841-1842)
No. 1 in G major
No. 2 in A-flat major
No. 3 in C-sharp minor
Op. 51, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat major (1842)
Op. 52, Ballade No. 4 in F minor (1842)
Op. 53, Polonaise in A-flat major - "Heroic" (1842)
Op. 54, Scherzo No. 4 in E major (1842)
Op. 55, 2 Nocturnes (1843)
No. 1 in F minor
No. 2 in E-flat major
Op. 56, 3 Mazurkas (1843)
No. 1 in B major
No. 2 in C major
No. 3 in C minor
Op. 57, Berceuse in D-flat major (1843)
Op. 58, Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor (1844)
Op. 59, 3 Mazurkas (1845)
No. 1 in A minor
No. 2 in A-flat major
No. 3 in F-sharp minor
Op. 60, Barcarolle in F-sharp major (1845-1846)
Op. 61, Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major (1845-1846)
Op. 62, 2 Nocturnes (1846)
No. 1 in B major
No. 2 in E major
Op. 63, 3 Mazurkas (1846)
No. 1 in B major
No. 2 in F minor
No. 3 in C-sharp minor
Op. 64, 3 Waltzes (1846-1847)
No. 1 in D-flat major - (Minute Waltz)
No. 2 in C-sharp minor
No. 3 in A-flat major' (composed around 1840)'
Op. 65, Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in G minor (1845-1846)
Opp. 66 – 74 were published posthumously and are sometimes numbered to as Op. posth.
Op. 66, Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor (1835)
Op. 67, 4 Mazurkas (1835-1849)
No. 1 in G major (1835)
No. 2 in G minor (1849)
No. 3 in C major (1835)
No. 4 in A minor (1846)
Op. 68, 4 Mazurkas (1827-1849)
No. 1 in C major (1829)
No. 2 in A minor (1827)
No. 3 in F major (1829)
No. 4 in F minor (1849) (Last Composition)
Op. 69, 2 Waltzes (1829-1835)
No. 1 in A-flat major (1835)
No. 2 in B minor (1829)
Op. 70, 3 Waltzes (1829-1841)
No. 1 in G-flat major (1833)
No. 2 in F minor (1841)
No. 3 in D-flat major (1829)
Op. 71, 3 Polonaises (1825-1828)
No. 1 in D minor (1825)
No. 2 in B-flat major (1828)
No. 3 in F minor (1828)
Op. 72, (1826-1827)
No. 1 Nocturne in E minor (1827)
No. 2 Funeral March in C minor (1827)
No. 3 3 Ecossaises (1826)
No. 3a in D major
No. 3b in G major
No. 3c in D-flat major
Op. 73, Rondo in C major (for two pianos) (1828)
Op. 74, 19 Songs (1829-1847)
No. 1 The Wish (Życzenie) (1829)
No. 2 Spring (Wiosna) (1838)
No. 3 The Sad River (Smutna Rzeka) (1831)
No. 4 Merrymaking (Hulanka) (1830)
No. 5 What She Likes (Gdzie lubi) (1829)
No. 6 Out of My Sight (Precz z moich oczu) (1830)
No. 7 The Messenger (Poseł) (1830)
No. 8 Handsome Lad (Śliczny chłopiec) (1841)
No. 9 Melody (Melodia) (1847)
No. 10 The Warrior (Wojak) (1830)
No. 11 The Double-End (Dwojaki koniec) (1845)
No. 12 My Darling (Moja pieszczotka) (1837)
No. 13 I Want What I Have Not (Nie ma czego trzeba) (1845)
No. 14 The Ring (Pierścień) (1836)
No. 15 The Bridegroom (Narzeczony) (1831)
No. 16 Lithuanian Song (Piosnka litewska) (1831)
No. 17 Leaves are Falling, Hymn from the Tomb (Śpiew z mogiłki) (1836)
No. 18 Enchantment (Czary) (1830)
No. 19 Reverie (Dumka) (1840)
S 1 No. 1, Polonaise in G minor (1817)
S 1 No. 2, 2 Mazurkas (1826)
No. 2a in G
No. 2b in B flat
S 2 No. 1, Grand Duo concertant for Violoncello and Piano in E (1832)
S 2 No. 2, Variation No. 6 in E from 'Hexameron' (1837)
S 2 No. 3, 3 Etudes (1839)
No. 3a in F minor
No. 3b in A flat
No. 3c in D flat
S 2 No. 4, Mazurka in A minor - Notre Temps (1840)
S 2 No. 5, Mazurka in A minor - Émile Gaillard (1841)
A 1 No. 1, Mazurka in D major - Mazurek (1820)
A 1 No. 2, Prelude in F major (1845)
A 1 No. 3, Andantino animato in F major (1845)
A 1 No. 4, Contredanse in G flat major (1826)
A 1 No. 5, Variations in E major for flute and piano on the air "Non piu mesta" from the opera "La Cenerentola" (1824)
A 1 No. 6, Nocturne in C sharp minor - Nocturne oublié (unknown)
A 1 No. 7, Waltz in F sharp minor - Valse mélancolique (unknown)
P 1 No. 1, Polonaise in B flat (1817)
P 1 No. 2, Polonaise in A flat (1821)
P 1 No. 3, Polonaise in G sharp minor (1822)
P 1 No. 4, Introduction et Variations sur un lied Allemande in E (1826)
P 1 No. 5, Polonaise in B flat minor - "La Gazza Ladra" (1826)
P 1 No. 6, Introduction, Theme and Variations in D On a Theme by Thomas Moore (1826)
P 1 No. 7, Mazurka in D (1829)
P 1 No. 8, Polonaise in G flat (1829)
P 1 No. 9, Lied in C (Jakiez kwiaty, jakie wianki) (1829)
P 1 No. 10, Variations in A - "Souvenir de Paganini" (1829)
P 1 No. 11, Lied in D minor, Enchantment (Czary) (1830)
P 1 No. 12, Waltz in E (1829)
P 1 No. 13, Waltz in A flat (1827)
P 1 No. 14, Waltz in E flat (1829-1830)
P 1 No. 15, Waltz in E minor (1830)
P 1 No. 16, Nocturne in C sharp minor (1830)
P 2 No. 1, Mazurka in B flat (1832)
P 2 No. 2, Mazurka in D (1832)
P 2 No. 3, Mazurka in C (1833)
P 2 No. 4, Mazurka in A flat (1834)
P 2 No. 5, Klavierstuck in E flat (1837)
P 2 No. 6, Klavierstuck in B flat (1834)
P 2 No. 7, Prelude in A flat - "Pierre Wolf" (1834)
P 2 No. 8, Nocturne in C minor (1837)
P 2 No. 9, Lied in A minor, Rêverie (Dumka) (1840)
P 2 No. 10, Klavierstuck in E flat (1840)
P 2 No. 11, Waltz in A minor (1843)
P 2 No. 12, Moderato in E - "Album Leaf" (1843)
P 2 No. 13, Galop A flat - "Galop Marquis" (1846)
P 3 No. 2, Fugue in A minor (1841-1842)
D 2 No. 1, Bourrée No. 1 in G (1848)
D 2 No. 2, Bourrée No. 2 in A (1846)
~About His Music~
Chopin's music for the piano combined a unique rhythmic sense (particularly his use of rubato), frequent use of chromaticism, and counterpoint. This mixture produces a particularly fragile sound in the
melody and the harmony, which are nonetheless underpinned by solid and interesting harmonic techniques. He took the new salon genre of the nocturne, invented by Irish composer John Field, to a
deeper level of sophistication. Three of his twenty-one nocturnes were only published after his death in 1849, contrary to his wishes.[6] He also endowed popular dance forms, such as the Polish mazurka
and the waltz, Viennese Waltz, with a greater range of melody and expression. Chopin was the first to write ballades[4] and scherzi as individual pieces. Chopin also took the example of Bach's preludes
and fugues, transforming the genre in his own preludes.
Several of Chopin's pieces have become very well known — for instance the Revolutionary Étude (Op. 10, No. 12), the Minute Waltz (Op. 64, No. 1), and the third movement of his Funeral March sonata
(Op. 35), which is often used as an iconic representation of grief. (It is to be noted that Chopin himself never named an instrumental work beyond genre and number, leaving all potential extramusical
association to the listener. The expressive or atmospheric names by which we know many of them today have all been invented by others.) The Revolutionary Étude was not written with the failed Polish
uprising against Russia in mind; it merely appeared at that time. The Funeral March was written before the rest of the sonata within which it is contained, but the exact occasion is not known; it appears
not to have been inspired by any specific personal bereavement.[7] Other melodies have been used as the basis of popular songs, such as the slow section of the Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. posth. 66) and
the first section of the Étude Op. 10 No. 3. These pieces often rely on an intense and personalised chromaticism, as well as a melodic curve that resembles the operas of Chopin's day — the operas of
Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and especially Bellini. Chopin used the piano to re-create the gracefulness of the singing voice, and talked and wrote constantly about singers.
Chopin's style and gifts became increasingly influential. Robert Schumann was a huge admirer of Chopin's music — although the feeling was not reciprocated — and he took melodies from Chopin and
even named a piece from his suite Carnaval after Chopin.
Franz Liszt, another great admirer and personal friend of the composer, transcribed for piano six of Chopin's Polish songs. However, one myth about Liszt's admiration for Chopin should be dispelled. In
1853, Liszt published a piano suite called Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses. The seventh movement, Funérailles, is subtitled "October 1849". That this was the month of Chopin's death, and that the
middle section seems to be modelled upon the famous octave trio section of Chopin's Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53, have led many to presume that Liszt wrote the piece in memory of Chopin.
However, Liszt denied this, saying the piece had been inspired by the deaths of three of his Hungarian compatriots in the same month.
Chopin performed his own works in concert halls but most often in his salon for friends. Only later in life, as his disease progressed, did Chopin give up public performance altogether.
Chopin's technical innovations also became influential. His Préludes (Op. 28) and Études (Opp. 10 and 25) rapidly became standard works, and inspired both Liszt's Transcendental Études and
Schumann's Symphonic Études. Alexander Scriabin was also strongly influenced by Chopin; for example, his 24 Preludes, Op. 11 are inspired by Chopin's Op. 28.
Jeremy Siepmann, in his biography of the composer, named a list of pianists he believed to have made recordings of works by Chopin generally acknowledged to be among the greatest Chopin
performances ever preserved: Vladimir de Pachmann, Raoul Pugno, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Moriz Rosenthal, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alfred Cortot, Ignaz Friedman, Raoul Koczalski, Arthur Rubinstein,
Mieczysław Horszowski, Claudio Arrau, Vlado Perlemuter, Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Horowitz, Dinu Lipatti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perahia, Krystian
Zimerman, Evgeny Kissin.
Rubinstein said the following about Chopin's music and its universality:
“ 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. Yet it is not "Romantic music" in the Byronic sense. It does not tell stories or paint pictures. 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! ”
~Style~
Although Chopin lived in the 1800s, he was educated in the tradition of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart and Clementi; he even used Clementi's piano method with his own students. He was also influenced by
Hummel's development of virtuoso, yet Mozartian, piano technique. One of his students, Friederike Muller, wrote the following in her diary about Chopin's playing style:
“ His playing was always noble and beautiful; his tones sang, whether in full forte or softest piano. He took infinite pains to teach his pupils this legato, cantabile style of playing. His most severe criticism
was "He—or she—does not know how to join two notes together." He also demanded the strictest adherence to rhythm. He hated all lingering and dragging, misplaced rubatos, as well as exaggerated
ritardandos ... and it is precisely in this respect that people make such terrible errors in playing his works. ”
Chopin's polonaises brought the musical form to a higher level than anyone had envisioned the musical style to be capable of. The series of seven polonaises published in his lifetime (another nine were
published posthumously), beginning with the Op. 26 pair, set a whole new standard for composing and playing the music and were rooted in a passion by Chopin to write something to celebrate Polish
culture — after the country had fallen back into the Russian grip. The A major polonaise Op. 40 No. 1, "Military," and the polonaise in A flat major Op. 53, "Heroic," are among Chopin's most beloved
and played works.
~Romanticism~
Chopin regarded most of his contemporaries with some indifference, although he had many acquaintances with those associated with romanticism in music, literature and the arts (many of them via his
liaison with George Sand). Chopin's music is, however, considered by many to be a peak of the Romantic style. [8] The relative classical purity and discretion in his music, with little extravagant
exhibitionism, partly reflects his reverence for Bach and Mozart. Chopin also never indulged in explicit "scene painting" in his music, or used programmatic titles, castigating publishers who renamed
his pieces in this way.
~Elder Years~
After many foreign concerts during 1829 and 1830, he arrived in Paris in 1831 where he was to stay until his death in 1849.
~Death~
After the demise of an alleged affair with novelist George Sand, Chopin's emotional and physical problems hastened his death. Then and now, Frederic Chopin is cherished for his towering originality
and resourcefulness in exploiting the expressive possibilities of the piano.
In 1848 Chopin gave his last concert in Paris, and visited England and Scotland with his student and admirer Jane Stirling. They reached London in November, and although Chopin managed to give
some concerts and salon performances, he was severely ill. He returned to Paris, where in 1849 he became unable to teach or perform.
His sister Ludwika, who had given him his first piano lessons, nursed him in his apartment at Place Vendôme 12. There in the small hours of October 17 he died. Later that morning, Clesinger made
Chopin's death mask and casts of his hands.
Before Chopin's funeral, pursuant to his dying wish, his heart was removed (he dreaded being buried alive) to be taken by his sister in an urn to Warsaw. There it remains sealed within a pillar of the Holy
Cross Church (Kościół Świętego Krzyża) on Krakowskie Przedmieście, beneath an inscription from Matthew VI:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Chopin had requested that Mozart's Requiem be sung at his funeral. The Requiem has major parts for female singers, but the Church of the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The
funeral was delayed almost two weeks until the church relented, provided the female singers remained behind a black velvet curtain.
The funeral was held on October 30, 1849, attended by nearly three thousand people. The soloists in the Requiem included the bass Luigi Lablache, who had sung the same work at the funeral of
Beethoven and had also sung at the funeral of Vincenzo Bellini. Also played were Chopin's preludes no. 4 in E minor and no. 6 in B minor.
Chopin was buried, in accordance with his wishes, at Père Lachaise Cemetery. At the graveside, the Funeral March from Sonata Op. 35 was played, in Napoléon Henri Reber's instrumentation.[5]
Later, some of Chopin's Polish friends journeyed to Paris with a jar of earth from their native land and scattered it over his grave so that Chopin would lie under Polish soil.
Chopin's grave attracts numerous visitors and is invariably festooned with flowers, even in the dead of winter.
Nearly all of Chopin's compositions are for piano. Although an expatriate, he was deeply loyal to his war-torn homeland; his mazurkas reflect the rhythms and melodic traits of Polish folk music, and his
polonaises are marked by a heroic spirit. The Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini also influenced his melodies. His ballades, scherzos, and études exemplify his large-scale works for solo piano. His
music, romantic and lyrical in nature, is characterized by exquisite melody of great originality, refined--often adventurous--harmony, subtle rhythm, and poetic beauty. Chopin greatly influenced other
composers, notably the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, the German composer Richard Wagner, and the French composer Claude Debussy. Chopin's many published compositions include
55 mazurkas, 27 études, 24 preludes, 19 nocturnes, 13 polonaises, and 3 piano sonatas. Among his other works are the Concertos in E minor and in F minor, both for piano and orchestra, the cello
concerto, and 17 songs.
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