Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

"Chopin" redirects here. For other uses, see Chopin (disambiguation).

Polish name: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, with the surname sometimes phonetically spelled Szopen (French: Frédéric François Chopin; English: /ʃoʊpæn/ or /ʃoʊpæ̃/; French: [fʁedeʁik fʁɑ̃swa ʃɔpɛ̃]) (March 1 1810 – October 17 1849), was a Polish pianist and composer of the Romantic era. He is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential and prolific composers for piano.

Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, Poland, to a Polish mother and French-expatriate father. Hailed in his homeland as a child prodigy, at age twenty Chopin left for Paris. There he made a career as performer, teacher and composer, and adopted the French version of his given names, "Frédéric-François." From 1837 to 1847 he had a turbulent relationship with the French writer George Sand (Aurore Dudevant). Always in frail health, at 39 he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis.

All of Chopin's extant work includes the piano in some role (predominantly as a solo instrument), and his compositions are widely considered to be among the pinnacles of the piano's repertoire. Although his music is among the most technically demanding for the instrument, Chopin's style emphasizes poetry, nuance, and expressive depth rather than mere technical display. He perfected some musical forms, such as the ballade, but his most significant innovations were within existing structures such as the piano sonata, waltz, nocturne, étude, and prelude. His works are often cited as being among the mainstays of Romanticism in 19th-century classical music. Additionally, Chopin was the first Western Classical composer to imbue Slavic elements into his music; to this day his mazurkas and polonaises are the cornerstone of Polish Nationalistic classical music.

Life

Chopin's birthplace at Żelazowa Wola. Free public piano recitals are performed there.

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 who had adopted Poland as his homeland when he moved there in 1787, and had married a Polish woman, Tekla Justyna Krzyżanowska.

According to the composer's family, Chopin was born March 1, 1810, and always celebrated his birthday on that date. 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.

Formative years

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, by Ary Scheffer.

The family moved to Warsaw in October 1810. The young Chopin's musical talent was apparent early on in his life, and in Warsaw he gained a reputation as a "second Mozart". At the age of 7 he was already the author of two polonaises (in G minor and B flat major), the first being published in the engraving workshop of Father Cybulski, director of the School of Organists and one of the few music publishers in Poland. The prodigy was featured in the Warsaw newspapers, and "little Chopin" became the attraction at receptions given in the aristocratic salons of the capital. He also began giving public charity concerts. At one concert, he is said to have been asked what he thought the audience liked best. 7-year-old Chopin replied, "My shirt collar." He performed his first piano concert at age 8.

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According to the left plaque, "In this building lived and composed Fryderyk Chopin before, in 1830, leaving Warsaw forever." The same floor would, in 1837-39, be home to Cyprian Norwid, future author of the poem, Chopin's Piano, describing the 1863 destruction of Chopin's piano by Russian troops.

His first professional piano lessons, given to him by Wojciech Żywny, lasted from 1816 to 1822. Chopin later spoke highly of Żywny, although his 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 although irregular lessons in playing the organ, and possibly the piano. From 1823 to 1826, Chopin attended the Warsaw Lyceum, where his father was a professor. In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying music theory, figured bass and composition with the composer Józef Elsner at the Warsaw Conservatory. 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.

In 1829 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 that year Chopin also paid his first visit to Vienna, where he gave two piano performances and received mixed notices, including many very favourable reviews and others that criticised the small tone he produced from the piano.

In Warsaw in December 1829 he performed the premiere of his Piano Concerto in F minor at the Merchants' Club. He gave the first performance of his other piano concerto, in E minor, at the National Theatre on March 17 1830. He visited Vienna again in 1830, playing his two piano concertos.

In Vienna, he learned about the November Uprising and decided not to return to Poland, thus becoming one of the émigrés of the Great Polish Emigration. He stayed in Vienna for a few more months before visiting Munich and Stuttgart (where he learned of Poland's occupation by the Russian army; see Congress Poland), and arrived in Paris early in October. He had already composed a body of important compositions, including his two piano concertos and some of his Études Op. 10.

Paris

In Paris, Chopin 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 the composers Hector Berlioz, Felix Mendelssohn, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Vincenzo Bellini (beside whom he is buried in the Père Lachaise). His music was already admired by many of his composer contemporaries, among them 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".

Chopin participated in several concerts during his years in Paris. The programs of these concerts 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, or 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.

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 visited his family in Karlsbad, whence he accompanied his parents to Děčín where they lived. 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. However, on the return journey he had a severe bronchial attack — so bad that he was reported dead in some Polish newspapers.

In 1836 Chopin was engaged to a seventeen-year-old Polish girl named Maria Wodzińska, whose mother insisted that the engagement be kept secret. The engagement was called off in the following year by her family.

Chopin and George Sand

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin as portrayed by his friend Eugène Delacroix in 1838. Originally this painting and the George Sand portrait (shown below) were part of a larger double portrait showing both of them.

George Sand by Eugène Delacroix

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 such prominent figures as Prosper Mérimée, Alfred de Musset (1833–34), Alexandre Manceau (1849–65), and others.

The composer initially did not consider her attractive. "Something about her repels me," he said to his family. However, in an extraordinary letter from Sand to her friend Count Wojciech Grzymała in June 1837, she debated whether to let Chopin go with Maria Wodzińska or whether to abandon another affair in order to start a relationship with Chopin. Sand had strong feelings for and was attracted to Chopin, and pursued him until a relationship began.

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 the Spanish customs who demanded a large import duty. He could only use it for a 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 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. Among other works is the great Polonaise in A-flat major, Op.53 "Heroic", which is still today one of his most famous pieces. On his return to Paris in 1839, he met the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles.

In 1845 a serious problem emerged in his relationship with Sand at the same time as a further deterioration in Chopin's health. Their relationship was further soured in 1846 by family problems; this was the year in which Sand published Lucrezia Floriani, which is quite unfavourable to Chopin. The story is about a rich actress and a prince with weak health, and it is possible to interpret the main characters as Sand and Chopin. The family problems finally brought an end to their relationship in 1847.

Death and funeral

Chopin's grave in Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Place Vendôme, where Chopin died.

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Warsaw's Church of the Holy Cross. Chopin's bust is visible on the left-most pillar, which encloses his preserved heart.

Plaque behind which rests Chopin's heart.

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 nursed him at his home on the Place Vendôme; he died there in the small hours of October 17. Later that morning, a death mask and a cast of Chopin's hands were made.

He had requested that Mozart's Requiem be sung at his funeral, which was held at the Church of the Madeleine and was attended by nearly three thousand people. The Requiem has major parts for female singers, but the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The funeral was delayed for almost 2 weeks, until the church finally relented and granted Chopin's final wish, provided the female singers remained behind a black velvet curtain. Also performing was bass Luigi Lablache, who had sung the same work at the funerals of Beethoven and Bellini.

Although Chopin is buried in Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery, at his own request his heart was removed and dispatched in an urn to Warsaw, where it is sealed within a pillar of the Church of the Holy Cross (Kościół Świętego Krzyża). The Père Lachaise site attracts numerous visitors and is invariably festooned with flowers, even in the dead of winter.

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. He also endowed popular dance forms, such as the Polish mazurka and the Viennese waltz, with a greater range of melody and expression. Chopin was the first to write ballades and scherzi as individual pieces. Chopin also took the example of Bach's preludes and fugues, transforming the genre in his own preludes.

Chopin in 1847. Drawing by Franz Xavier Winterhalter.

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. 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. Other melodies have been used as the basis of popular songs, such as the slow section of the Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. 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, 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 the Romantic movement with indifference, and rarely associated himself with it directly. Even so, today Chopin's music is considered to be the paragon of the Romantic style.

However, his music has less of the expected trappings of Romanticism. There is a classical purity and discretion in his music, with little Romantic exhibitionism, personified by his reverence of Bach and Mozart (Chopin based the structure of his preludes on the Well-Tempered Clavier of Bach). Chopin also never indulged in 'scene painting' in his music, or using programmatic titles.

Works

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Communist-era Polish banknote with likeness of Chopin.

Main article: List of compositions by Frédéric Chopin

All of Chopin's works involve the piano, whether solo or accompanied. They are predominantly for solo piano but include a small number of piano ensembles with instruments including a second piano, violin, cello, voice, and orchestra.

Other

Statue of Frédéric Chopin, Łazienki Park, Warsaw, Poland. At its base, in summer, free weekly public piano recitals of Chopin's compositions are performed. The stylized tree over Chopin's figure echoes a pianist's hand and fingers.

• In commemoration of the genius of Frédéric Chopin, the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition is held every five years in Warsaw.
• The Grand prix du disque de F.Chopin is awarded periodically for notable Chopin recordings, both remastered and newly-recorded work.

Eponyms

The following have been named after the composer:

• Asteroid 3784 Chopin
• Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport (also known as Frederic Chopin International Airport)

In the media

• Chopin's relationship with George Sand is explored in the 1991 movie, Impromptu, starring Hugh Grant as Chopin and Judy Davis as Sand.
• A perhaps more historically accurate depiction of that relationship may be found in the 2002 film, Chopin: Desire for Love, by director Jerzy Antczak, featuring Piotr Adamczyk as Chopin and Danuta Stenka as Sand.
• Another biopic was A Song to Remember (1945). Starring as Chopin was Cornel Wilde, who received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for his portrayal. Numerous other films have featured Chopin and / or his music, often focusing on his relationship with Sand.
• Many fragments of Chopin pieces, including his "Revolutionary" Etude in C minor, opus 10, no. 12, and his "Chromatic" Etude in A minor, opus 10, no. 2, have appeared on the children's television show, Arthur.
• Due to Chopin's popularity as a composer for piano, his music often features, in whole or part, in movies such as The Peacemaker.
• Chopin's music figures prominently in the film, The Pianist.

See also

• List of compositions by Frédéric Chopin
• Piano competitions named after Chopin
• Hôtel Lambert

References

• Bastet, Frédéric L. (1997). Helse liefde: Biografisch essay over Marie d'Agoult, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, George Sand [in Dutch]. Amsterdam: Querido. ISBN 90-214-5157-3.
• Samson, Jim (1996). Chopin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816495-5.
• Siepmann, Jeremy (1995). Chopin: The Reluctant Romantic. London: Victor Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-05692-4
• Wuest, Hans Werner (2001). Frédéric Chopin, Briefe und Zeitzeugnisse, Koeln, ISBN 3-8311-0066-7.
• Kornel Michałowski/Jim Samson: "Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 31 2006), (subscription access)

External links

• Chopin: the poet of the piano - A favorite Chopin place since 1999 with biography, images, music files, work list and analysis, quizzes and contests, noted interpreters...
• CHOPIN Free scores with audio previews, midifiles...
• Chopin Piano Sheet Music (out of copyright)
• Online biography of Chopin
• Internet Chopin Information Centre, Chopin portal including calendar, catalogues, other information about Chopin, Chopin on the Web, and pianists' biographical notes.
• Chopin Music - Website and forum dedicated to the music of Chopin, including recordings, sheet music and image galleries.
• Chopin Early Editions, a collection of over 400 first and early printed editions of musical compositions by Frédéric Chopin published before 1881.
• IMSLP, International Music Score Library Project's Chopin page.
• Brief Chopin essay at Classical Music Pages
• The Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaw. Contains a biography, an outline of Chopin's works and musical style and pictures of original manuscripts.
• Fryderyk Chopin: Poet of the Piano
• Valldemossa, Majorca where Chopin lived with George Sand in 1838-39.
• Biographies (Project Gutenberg e-texts):
  • Life of Chopin, by Franz Liszt
  • Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, by Frederick Niecks
  • Chopin: The Man and his Music, by James Huneker
• Chopin scores from Mutopia Project
• Template:IckingArchive
• International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition
• Frédéric Chopin discography at MusicBrainz
• The International Foundation Can Mossenya - Friends of Jorge Luis Borges
• Hostal Can Marió

Free recordings

• Performances by Donald Betts: 3 ballades, 3 études, 2 nocturnes, 1 mazurka
• Performances by Paul Cantrell from In the Hands
• Performances by Alberto Cobo: Sonata #3, Ballade #1 & Fantasie-Impromptu, Sonata #2, Scherzo #2, Prelude #16
• Performances by Stephen Kopp, Roberto Carnevale, Graziella, Concas, Chris Breemer, Robert Stahlbrand and others from Piano Society
• Various performers from PianoParadise (some links are broken)
• MIDI files from Kunst der Fuge