Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin was the most famous composer of Polish origin in the history of Western concert music. He was a progressive who revolutionized the harmonic content, the texture, and the emotional quality of the small piano piece, turning light dance forms, nocturnes, and study genres into profound works that were both daring and deeply inward.
Born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin to a French father and a Polish mother, probably on March 1, 1810, he was a native of Zelazowa Wola village west of Warsaw. In these rustic surroundings, he was exposed to both the classics of keyboard music (including, significantly, those of Bach), by teachers who immediately recognized him as a prodigy, and to Polish folk music, which would be reflected in a pioneering musical nationalism. He quickly outstripped the talents of most of Warsaw's top piano and composition teachers, and when he graduated from the Main School of Music in 1829, professor Józef Elsner pronounced him a genius. That year, Chopin set out on a tour of Austria, Germany, and France. During this period, he wrote his two piano concertos, which contain much of the typical brilliant style of virtuoso piano music of the era, but show the development of a gift for distinctive melody, both ornate and emotionally deep. Chopin returned to Warsaw but departed again, first for Vienna, where he heard news that Poland's uprising against its Russian, Prussian, and Austrian rulers had failed. The Polish national spirit would pervade some of his larger works, including the so-called "Revolutionary" Etude (the Etude in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12). He was encouraged by composer Robert Schumann, who reviewed his Variations, Op. 2, with the words "Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!"
In 1832, Chopin headed for Paris, in many ways the center of European cultural life, and dazzled the city's musical elite, including Franz Liszt, in a concert at the Salle Pleyel. He immediately found himself in demand as a piano teacher, and soon he decided to settle in Paris, although he always hoped to return to Poland. He performed at aristocratic salons, cultivating then-new genres such as the étude (the word means "study," but in Chopin's hands it became much more), the nocturne, the waltz, and, in a Polish vein, the mazurka and the polonaise. After a planned marriage to a Polish girl, Maria Wodzinska, fell through, Chopin met writer Aurore Dudevant, who used the pen name George Sand. The pair began a torrid affair (Sand was married) and traveled together in 1838 to Mallorca, Spain, where they found the local citizenry disapproving of their unconventional relationship and were forced to lodge in a disused monastery. Chopin's creativity was fired, and he would write brilliantly innovative sets of piano music over the next few years. However, the weather turned cold in the winter of 1838-1839, and Chopin's health worsened as he and Sand lived in the unheated building; he was probably already suffering from tuberculosis. Back in France, Chopin and Sand took up residence in Paris and in summers at her estate in Nohant, where Chopin composed prolifically and the couple hosted painter Eugène Delacroix and other members of the cream of French artistic society. The romance cooled, though, and finally ended in 1847. One factor precipitating the breakup was Sand's negative portrayal of Chopin in her 1846 novel Lucrezia Floriani.
Chopin's health was also worsening badly; he found it difficult to perform and could no longer attract crowds as a virtuoso. During political unrest in Paris in 1848, Chopin fled to the British Isles. He performed in London (once for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) and in Glasgow, where he was the subject of romantic interest from Scots noblewoman Jane Stirling. Chopin, however, remarked that he was "closer to the grave than the nuptial bed," and indeed in November of 1848 he gave what would be his last concert, for Polish refugees. He returned to Paris and continued to receive a steady stream of admirers despite what was clearly a terminal illness; singer Pauline Viardot, according to historians Kornel Michałowski and Jim Samson, remarked that "all the grand Parisian ladies considered it de rigueur to faint in his room." Chopin died in Paris on October 17, 1849.
© James Manheim /TiVo
-
Mazurkas, Op. 50
Classical - Released by Audiofonic Records on Jan 14, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prelude In D Minor, Op.28, No.26: Progressive House (Original Mix)
Miscellaneous - Released by Black Widow Music on Sep 12, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mazurka in A Minor, B. 140
Classical - Released by Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. on Nov 25, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 69/1
Peter Schmalfuss, Frédéric Chopin
Classical - Released by NEW WORLD CLASSIC (LC 95656) on Dec 8, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fantasy, Op. 49
Classical - Released by Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. on Nov 21, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paganini
Classical - Released by Audiofonic Records on Mar 20, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mazurka in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 50 No. 3
Classical - Released by Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. on Dec 1, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mazurka in C Major, Op. 33 No. 3
Classical - Released by Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. on Nov 29, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin - Best Of
Markovics Máté, Frédéric Chopin
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fine Line Records on Jun 25, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Relaxed Classical Music
Classical - Released by Hope Records on Mar 31, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Outstanding Classical Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Mar 28, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zen & Chill Classical Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Apr 6, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zen Classical
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Mar 9, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amazing Piano
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Mar 1, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Serenity Classical Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Mar 1, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zen Pregnancy Classical Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Feb 8, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cosy at Home Classical Music
Classical - Released by Classic Records on Jan 17, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music To Read
Classical - Released by Music Ware on Oct 13, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Summer Love Music
Classical - Released by Music Ware on Aug 2, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Baby on board Classical Music
Classical - Released by Music Ware on Jun 30, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo