Frederic Chopin

Frederic Chopin (1810-1839)
This famous romantic composer and a superb piano player is of course widely known by is music, but I decided to choose few interesting facts from his personal life to present him in a different light. He was born in 1810 in February or March (documents disagree on this fact) and he died of tuberculosis (as so many great artists in the past) in 1839. He is buried in Pere Lachaise, the most famous cemetery in the world:

1. He was a child prodigy. His father played violin and flute and mother was a piano teacher, so music was in his genes. He started writing poetry and composing at the age of six. His first public performance was at eight.

Frederic Chopin - Nocturne Op 55 No. 1 (hard)

2. He was of Polish origin (Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was his real name) but moved to Paris when he was 20 years old and stayed there for most of his life.

3. Chopin never liked public performances, so he earned the most money by giving piano lessons to rich pupils. When they were paying him, he was too embarrassed to look at them.

4. Majority of his compositions are written for piano. Some pianists say they are made with an intention to emphasize his superb playing technique and can be really painful to perform.

5. He was engaged to Maria Wodzinski but canceled marriage due to bad health. After that, he met Georges Sand (real name: Aurore Dudevant) and got on and off going relationship with her for about ten years until he died. There was another important woman in his life although it is hard to tell if he ever returned her love. Her name was Jenny Lind, probably most popular singer of her time, who was called a Swedish Nightingale. She was an inspiration to at least three fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

Some of Chopin’s most famous pieces are available here:

https://musopen.org/music/search/?q=chopin

They are free to download and listen, but you need to register. Enjoy!