Frederyk Chopin (1810-1849, aged 39)

Full name: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, Frédéric Fran?ois Chopin (French)

Great Polish musician and composer

Representative works: "Mazurka", "Waltz", "Funeral March", "Revolutionary Etudes"

I have loved Polish folk music since I was a child. I started learning piano at the age of six. I wrote "Polonaise" at the age of seven. I performed on the stage at the age of eight. At the age of sixteen, I joined the composition class of the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. I was less than 20 years old. Already a recognized pianist and composer in Warsaw. The second half of his life coincided with the subjugation of Poland, and he spent his time abroad. He composed many patriotic piano works to express his homesickness and hatred for the country's subjugation. Among them are heroic works related to Poland's national liberation struggle, such as: "Ballade No. 1", "Polonaise in b A major", etc.; there are combat works full of patriotic enthusiasm, such as "Revolutionary Etudes", "B "Scherzo in Minor", etc.; there are tragic works that mourn the fate of the motherland, such as "Sonata in B flat minor", etc.; there are also fantasy works that miss the motherland and relatives, such as many nocturnes and fantasies; there are emotional works such as "Farewell" piano music.

Chopin stayed with the piano throughout his life, and almost all his creations were piano music. He was known as the "romantic piano poet". He often performed to raise funds for his compatriots and performed for nobles abroad. In 1837, he sternly refused the position of "chief pianist to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia" awarded to him by Tsarist Russia. Schumann called his music like "a cannon hidden among the flowers", announcing to the world: "Poland will not fall." Chopin lived a very lonely life in his later years, and painfully called himself a "Polish orphan far away from his mother." Before his death, he asked his sister Ludwika to transport his heart back to his motherland.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) was born in Zeryazowa Volia, a suburb of Warsaw. His father, Nicholas Chopin, was originally a Frenchman who later moved to Poland and participated in the 1794 uprising against the invaders led by Polish national hero Kostyushko (1746-1817). After the failure of the uprising, he lived in Warsaw and relied on teaching and other jobs to make a living. Later, he opened a boarding school at home. From then on, he no longer participated in political affairs and just wanted to live in peace. However, he maintained close contacts with people in the cultural circles in Warsaw, which had an impact on the young Chopin's ideological growth.

[Edit this paragraph] Life

On March 1, 1810, Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, a suburb of Warsaw. My father was originally from France and was a French teacher in a middle school in Warsaw. Later he opened a boarding school for the children of nobles from other provinces who came to Warsaw to study. Her mother was Polish and worked as a housekeeper in a family of aristocratic relatives. Chopin learned piano from a Czech musician W. Zivny when he was young. He could write music scores at the age of 7 and began to perform in public at the age of 8. In 1824, he studied music theory under J.A.F. Elsner, a German musician and director of the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. After graduating from high school in 1826, he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music and began his early creative activities. He graduated from the conservatory in 1829. At that time, the Polish national movement was reaching its climax. The national struggle against foreign slavery and for freedom and independence had a profound impact on the young Chopin's thoughts and cultivated his national feelings and patriotic enthusiasm. In March 1830, Chopin performed his early masterpiece "Piano Concerto No. 2" (F minor) in Warsaw. In October of the same year, he performed another masterpiece "Piano Concerto No. 1" (E minor) at his farewell concert in Warsaw. minor), all were successful. On November 2, Chopin left Warsaw with a handful of Polish soil presented by his friends, went abroad for further studies, and left his motherland forever. While staying in Vienna in early December, he learned about the uprising in Warsaw. He was anxious that he could not participate in the uprising. At that time, he wanted to return to Poland to participate in the struggle, but was dissuaded by his friends and failed to realize it. At the beginning of the next year, when he was traveling to Paris and passing through Stuttgart, he learned the sad news that the uprising was suppressed by Tsarist Russia and the fall of Warsaw. He was deeply shaken. These all left a deep mark on his creations at that time. After arriving in Paris, he gave up his plan to go to London and settled in Paris, where he engaged in piano teaching and creative activities.

Here, in addition to having close contacts with Polish expatriates in exile in Paris, he also met many important figures in the Western European art world, including the Polish exiled poet A. Mickiewicz, the German poet H. Heine, and the French painter E. De Lacroix, Italian musician V. Bellini, Hungarian musician F. Liszt and others. The impact of these contacts on Chopin's spiritual life cannot be underestimated, especially the relationship with the French female writer George Sand, which had a profound impact on Chopin's thoughts and life. They lived together from 1838 to 1846 when their relationship broke down, and they lived together for eight years. From the time he arrived in Paris in the early 1930s to the mid-1940s, Chopin's thoughts and art were highly mature and he achieved extremely fruitful results in creation. From 1846 onwards, Chopin's creation began to decline. There are many reasons for this: several setbacks of the Polish national movement in the 1940s, Chopin, who had always had enthusiastic expectations for it, suffered a heavy mental blow and fell deeply into disappointment and depression; with George The breakdown of the love between Sang and Sang, the deaths of relatives and close friends in his hometown, and the deterioration of his health all caused deep trauma to his body and mind, aggravating his sadness and loneliness. In 1848, the weakened Chopin went to England to stay for a while and engaged in short-term teaching and performance activities. There he gave his last concert to the Polish expatriates abroad. After returning to Paris, his health deteriorated sharply. He died in his Paris residence on October 17, 1849. On his deathbed, he asked that his heart be transported back to his native Poland for burial.