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Frédéric François Chopin [n 1] (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; [n 2] [n 3] 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation".
Co-Artistic Director, Musique du Jour Presents. Frédéric Chopin (1810–49) had at his disposal in Paris two very different types of grand piano, one by the firm of Ignace Joseph Pleyel (1757–1831) and his son Camille (1788–1855), the other by Pierre Érard (1794–1855). When visiting London in 1848 Chopin had a large drawing room in ...
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Frédéric Chopin is famous for his expressive piano playing and the innovative works he composed for that instrument.
What did Frédéric Chopin die from?
Frédéric Chopin died from tuberculosis on October 17, 1849. He had suffered from that disease for the last 11 years of his life.
Where is Frédéric Chopin buried?
Frédéric Chopin is buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His heart is buried at the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, in his native land, Poland.
How did Frédéric Chopin become famous?
Chopin’s father, Nicholas, a French émigré in Poland, was employed as a tutor to various aristocratic families, including the Skarbeks, at Żelazowa Wola, one of whose poorer relations he married. When Frédéric was eight months old, Nicholas became a French teacher at the Warsaw lyceum. Chopin himself attended the lyceum from 1823 to 1826.
All the family had artistic leanings, and even in infancy Chopin was always strangely moved when listening to his mother or eldest sister playing the piano. By age six he was already trying to reproduce what he heard or to make up new tunes. The following year he started piano lessons with the 61-year-old Wojciech Zywny, an all-around musician with an astute sense of values. Zywny’s simple instruction in piano playing was soon left behind by his pupil, who discovered for himself an original approach to the piano and was allowed to develop unhindered by academic rules and formal discipline.
Chopin found himself invited at an early age to play at private soirées, and at eight he made his first public appearance at a charity concert. Three years later he performed in the presence of the Russian tsar Alexander I, who was in Warsaw to open Parliament. Playing was not alone responsible for his growing reputation as a child prodigy. At seven he wrote a Polonaise in G Minor, which was printed, and soon afterward a march of his appealed to the Russian grand duke Constantine, who had it scored for his military band to play on parade. Other polonaises, mazurkas, variations, ecossaises, and a rondo followed, with the result that, when he was 16, his family enrolled him at the newly formed Warsaw Conservatory of Music. This school was directed by the Polish composer Joseph Elsner, with whom Chopin already had been studying musical theory.
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No better teacher could have been found, for, while insisting on a traditional training, Elsner, as a Romantically inclined composer himself, realized that Chopin’s individual imagination must never be checked by purely academic demands. Even before he came under Elsner’s eye, Chopin had shown interest in the folk music of the Polish countryside and had received those impressions that later gave an unmistakable national colouring to his work. At the conservatory he was put through a solid course of instruction in harmony and composition; in piano playing he was allowed to develop a high degree of individuality.
And also unlike most of his 19th century contemporaries, he wrote only for the piano. In fact the piano in the hands of Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, the Schumanns and Liszt, became the most important instrument of the 19th century, and in a way defined the way that, even a century and three quarters later, we think about serious music.
Chopin's Pianos. The story of three pianos that the Polish composer Frederyk Chopin played in Paris and London in 1848, giving the very last performances of his life. The Cobbe Collection Trust. A truly exceptional group of instruments associated with Chopin in Paris, London and Scotland survives in the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands.
3. Chopin as a child. Chopin was composing and writing poetry at six, and gave his first public concerto performance at the age of eight. It's not really surprising - his mother was a piano teacher, and his father played the flute and violin. 4. Chopin's compositions for piano. Most of Chopin's music was written for piano.
People also ask
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Did Frédéric Chopin have a grand piano?
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Did Chopin buy a piano?
May 11, 2023 · Definition. Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso noted for his solo piano music. Chopin's work helped make the piano the most popular musical instrument of the 19th century. One of the great composers of Romantic music, Chopin's piano style, with its strong emphasis on single notes and great variations in speed, was ...
