Frédéric Chopin
1810-1849

Born in a village near Warsaw, Poland, Chopin is known as "the poet of the piano." Composing exclusively for piano, he earned his nickname by expanding the instrument's "musical" and "poetic" capabilities. No one has achieved the piano's capacity to create a poem with sounds. He conquered the piano's harmony like no other, sending the piano and the player to a serene majestic world of music.

At the age of seven, he played a difficult piano concerto, amazing everyone. Later, at ten, Chopin wrote a march for band, and at fifteen, still in high school, a rondo he had written was published. When he reached twenty, Chopin left Poland as a touring performer in Germany, France, and Austria. He never went back to his home country. When 1830 came along, and the Russians took over Warsaw, Chopin never forgave them, as he always refused to perform in Russia. Because of this, young Frédéric proved his dedication for Poland through his music, especially his "Mazurkas" and "Polonaises".

Most successful in Paris, where he performed most of those Mazurkas and Polonaises, he was invited by the greatest composers, painters, and writers of the day. There, he settled for a career in writing and teaching, seldom performing in public. While living under the atmosphere of the places he loved the most, he also had a famous love affair with a French woman, a novelist, whose penname was George Sand.

Chopin's was one of the first composers to incorporate the recently refined sustaining pedal of the piano. In his dreamy nocturnes, for example, the left hand introduces the smooth melody, making the pushing of the pedal almost mandatory to achieve the ethereal music which he creates. Along with Schubert, they are the grand masters of piano impromptus, short pieces that give the sense of improvisation. Chopin's most famous, the Fantasie-Impromptu, is one of great awe and delight to the listener, thus making Chopin the incontrovertible master of the piano.

Later, in 1848, a French revolution forced Chopin out of France to England. Long in poor health, he at that point suffered critically from tuberculosis. He attempted so deeply to perform on stage to raise money, but he was in no condition whatsoever to perform on stage. After a collapse, Frédéric Chopin traveled back to his beloved Paris, where he took his last breath.

© 1999 H.Tsai

Some Famous Works:
Fantasie - Impromptu

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