Chopin - A Look At The Man Behind The Music

Frederic François Chopin (1810-1849) is one of the most popular piano composers of all time who earned the prestigious title of "genius" as a teen. His music included a wide variety of emotions and skills that ranged from waltzes and nocturnes to ballads and etudes. As a Poland native, he was born and raised by father and mother in Zelazowa Wola, but he began to emerge as a prodigy at only six years old when he began piano lessons. At this same tender age, Frederic started composing music before he could even write, and two years later, he played the piano for the public at a charity concert for the first time.

As a young composer, his own rondo was published at the age of 15 and at 17, he was acknowledged as Warsaw's leading pianist. But his unique style really began to emerge two years later, when he performed in Vienna. Vienna fell under Russian military rule in 1830 so Chopin traveled to Paris where he remained for his entire life. Here, the still young wonder supported himself by giving lessons, performing at concerts, and selling his compositions.

Life in Paris was good for Chopin as he managed to befriend other musicians, poets, and Polish exiles and even develop a failing romance with Baroness Dudevant (a.k.a novelist George Sand, 1847). In between such a busy social life, he found time to write:

• 50 mazurkas (music composed for dancing the mazurka)

• 26 preludes (music that precedes a fugue or introduces an act in an opera)

• 24 etudes (short compositions for a solo instrument)

• 19 nocturnes (lyrical piece of music for the piano)

• 15 waltzes (music composed in triple time for waltzing)

• 11 polonaises

• 4 ballads (narrative songs with a recurrent refrain)

• 3 sonatas (musical compositions of three or four movements of contrasting forms)

You may have heard some of Chopin's compositions as the background music for some of the nation's most well-known dramatic films. Some of the most popular titles are:

• 'Nocturne in E Flat Major', Op. 9, No. 2

• Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 1

• Mazurka in A Flat Major, Op. 24, No. 3

• Fantaisie-Impromptu in C Sharp Minor, Op. 66 (Posthumous)

• Waltz in D Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, -Minute

• Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12, -Revolutionary

• Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9, No. 3

• Waltz in A Flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1

Tuberculosis took him at the age of 39 on Oct. 17, 1849 but his influence continues to reign centuries later. The music of Chopin can be heard in classrooms, collegiate bands, and professional symphonies around the world. But his biggest contributions to the today's students of classical music are his ground-breaking finger use, pedal use, and keyboard use -- all of which greatly influenced the musicians that followed him and the musicians that continue to enjoy him at the present.