Frederic Francois Chopin, Polish-born composer and renowned pianist, was the creator of 55 mazurkas, 16 polonaises, 26 preludes, 27 etudes, 21 nocturnes, 4 ballads, and 4 scherzos. But did you know that Chopin's teacher was disappointed in him because he never wrote a Polish opera? And what of his national allegiance? Did you know that Chopin's family was of French lineage? Did you know that he was buried in Paris but asked that Polish soil be sprinkled over his grave? These are but a few of the lesser-known facts about the well-known musician.
Chopin was born Frederic (spelled in Polish as Fryderyk) Francois (French) Chopin, his very name indicative of the blended impact two countries made on the precocious musician's life. His father, Nicholas Chopin, was a French tutor to many aristocratic Polish families, later accepting a position as a French teacher at the Warsaw Lyceum.
Although Chopin later attended the Lyceum where his father taught, his early training began at home. This included receiving piano lessons from his mother. By the age of six, Chopin was creating original pieces, showing innate prodigious musical ability. His parents arranged for the young Chopin to take piano instruction from Wojciech Zywny.
Zywny taught the boy the work of classical composers Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, but with an ear open and sympathetic to the individualism infiltrating the music of a dawning Romantic Period. Artistically, this period represented an era dedicated to the creation of ideas and impressions, beauty, imagination and sentiment. The music synonymous with this time was intensely personal and emotional. Emphases were placed on color, tone, and dynamics, a rather impressive outbreak from the "follow the rules" Classical Period with its focus on structure and form. Wojciech Zywny's tutelage influenced the young Chopin perhaps immeasurably, as Chopin's compositions were Romantically expressive and emotional, yet defined by a purity derived from the Classical Period before him.
When Chopin was sixteen, he attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, directed by composer Joseph Elsner. Elsner, like Zywny, insisted on the traditional training associated with Classical music but allowed his students to investigate the more original imaginations of the Romantic style as well.
As often happened with the young musicians of both the Classical and Romantic Periods, Chopin was sent to Vienna, the unquestioned center of music for that day. He gave piano concerts and then arranged to have his pieces published by a Viennese publishing house there. While Chopin was in Austria, Poland and Russia faced off in the apparent beginnings of war. He returned to Warsaw to get his things in preparation of a more permanent move. While there, his friends gave him a silver goblet filled with Polish soil. He kept it always, as he was never able to return to his beloved Poland. His family forbade him to come home, fearful for his safety.
French by heritage, and desirous of finding musical acceptance from a less traditional audience than that of Vienna, Chopin ventured to Paris. Interestingly, other young musicians had assembled in the city of fashion with the very same hope. Chopin joined Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Felix Mendelssohn, Vincenzo Bellini, and Auguste Franchomme, all proponents of the "new" Romantic style.
Although Chopin did play in the large concert halls on occasion, he felt most at home in private settings, enjoying the social milieu that accompanied concerts for the wealthy. He also enjoyed teaching, as this caused him less stress than performing. Chopin did not feel that his delicate technique and intricate melodies were as suited to the grandiose hall as they were to smaller environments and audiences.
News of the war in Poland inspired Chopin to write many sad musical pieces expressing his grief for "his" Poland. Among these was the famous "Revolutionary Etude." Plagued by poor health as well as his homesickness, Chopin found solace in summer visits to the country. Here, his most complex yet harmonic creations found their way to the brilliant composer's hand. The "Fantaisie in F Minor," the "Barcarolle," the "Polonaise Fantaisie," "Ballade in A Flat Major," "Ballade in F Minor," and "Sonata in B Minor" were all products of the relaxed time Chopin enjoyed in the country. Prolific as this might seem, Chopin's earlier teacher, Elsner, voiced his disappointment in Chopin's inability to create an opera for the sake of Poland.
As the war continued in Warsaw and then reached Paris, Chopin retired to Scotland with friends. Although he was far beyond the reach of the revolution, his melancholy attitude did not improve and he sank deeper into a depression. Likewise, his health did not rejuvenate either. A window in the fighting made it possible for Chopin to return to Paris as his health deteriorated further. Surrounded by those that he loved, Frederic Francois Chopin died at the age of 39. He was buried in Paris.
Chopin's last request was that the Polish soil in the silver goblet be sprinkled over his grave.
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