Chopin, Frédéric (-François)(actually, Fryderyk Franciszek)

Chopin, Frédéric (-François)(actually, Fryderyk Franciszek)

Chopin, Frédéric (-François)(actually, Fryderyk Franciszek), greatly renowned Polish composer, incomparable genius of the piano who created a unique romantic style of keyboard music; b. Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, in all probability on March 1, 1810, the date given by Chopin himself in his letter of acceptance of membership in the Polish Literary Soc. in Paris in 1833 (but in his certificate of baptism the date of birth is given as Feb. 22, 1810); d. Paris, Oct. 17, 1849. His father, Nicolas Chopin, was a native of Marainville, France, who went to Warsaw as a teacher of French; his mother, Tekla Justyna Krzyzanowska, was Polish. Chopin's talent was manifested in early childhood; at the age of eight, he played in public a piano concerto by Gyrowetz, and he had already begun to compose polonaises, mazurkas, and waltzes. He received his primary musical instruction from the Bohemian pianist Adalbert ywny, who resided in Warsaw at the time. A much more important teacher was Joseph Eisner, director of the Warsaw School of Music, who gave him a thorough instruction in music theory and form. Chopin was 15 years old when his Rondo for Piano was publ, in Warsaw as op.l. In the summer of 1829 he set out for Vienna, where he gave highly successful concerts on Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, 1829. While in Vienna, he made arrangements to have his variations on Mozart's aria Là ci darem la mano, for Piano and Orch., publ, by Haslinger as op.2. It was this work that attracted the attention of Schumann, who saluted Chopin in his famous article publ, in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of Dec. 7, 1831, in which Schumann's alter ego, Eusebius, is represented as exclaiming, "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius!" The common assumption in many biographies that Schumann "launched" Chopin on his career is deceptive; actually Schumann was some months younger than Chopin, and was referred to editorially merely as a student of Prof. Wieck. Returning to Warsaw, Chopin gave the first public performance of his Piano Concerto in F minor, op.21, on March 17, 1830. On Oct. 11, 1830, he was soloist in his Piano Concerto in E minor, op.11. A confusion resulted in the usual listing of the E-minor Concerto as first, and the F-minor Concerto as his second; chronologically, the composition of the F-minor Concerto preceded the E-minor. He spent the winter of 1830–31 in Vienna. The Polish rebellion against Russian domination, which ended in defeat, determined Chopin's further course of action, and he proceeded to Paris, visiting Linz, Salzburg, Dresden, and Stuttgart on the way. He arrived in Paris in Sept. 1831, and was introduced to Rossini, Cherubini, and Paër. He also met Bellini, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Victor Hugo, and Heinrich Heine; he became particularly friendly with Liszt. Paris was then the center of Polish emigration, and Chopin maintained his contacts with the Polish circle there. He presented his first Paris concert on Feb. 26, 1832. He also taught the piano. The Paris critics found an apt Shakespearean epithet for him, calling him "the Ariel of the piano." In 1834 he went with Hiller to Germany, where he met Mendelssohn and Clara and Robert Schumann. In July 1837 he went with Pleyel to London. In 1836 he met the famous novelist Aurore Dupin (Mme. Dudevant), who publ, her works under the affected masculine English name George Sand. They became intimate, even though quite incompatible in character and interests. Sand was …