Chopin Music Bio

Dayne Ventura
Music Appreciation MU 200
Fr?d?ric Fran?ois Chopin
Portrait of Chopin
by Eug?ne Delacroix (1838)
In this bibliography, I will discuss Chopin, his life span and nationality, and the historical period of his performance. I will address his types of major works and titles and discuss his major contributions to music. Additionally, I will touch upon his early works, his dedications and his teachings.

Fr?d?ric Fran?ois Chopin, (1810-1849), Polish composer and pianist of the romantic era, regarded by some as the greatest of all composers of music for the piano. Born Fryderyk Chopin in Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw. His father was French and his mother was Polish. He preferred to use the French name Fr?d?ric. He began to study the piano at the age of four, and he played at a private concert in Warsaw when he was eight years old. Later he studied harmony and counterpoint at the Warsaw Conservatory. Chopin was also advanced as a composer: His first published composition is dated 1817. He gave his first concerts as a piano virtuoso in 1829 in Vienna, where he lived for the next two years. After 1831, except for brief absences, Chopin lived in Paris, where he became noted as a pianist, teacher, and composer. He formed an intimate relationship in 1837 with French writer George Sand. In 1838 Chopin began to suffer from tuberculosis and Sand nursed him in Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands, and in France until continued differences between the two resulted in an estrangement in 1847. Thereafter his musical activity was limited to giving several concerts in 1848 in France, Scotland, and England.
The 1830s have been called the decade of the piano because the piano and the music written for it played a dominant role in European musical culture. As the Industrial Revolution hit, piano manufacturers developed methods for building many more pianos at lower cost. Pianos ceased to be the exclusively for the wealthy. Middle class could also own them and make music at home. Thousands of amateur pianists began to take lessons, buy printed music, and attend concerts.
Chopin’s piano playing was highly regarded by other virtuosos and was in great demand from professional and amateur musicians alike. Unlike the other composer-pianists of his time, Chopin rarely gave public concerts; his performing was generally confined to the homes of wealthy aristocrats and businessmen. Public awareness of Chopin’s music came about primarily through its publication, and the process of putting his works into print. However, this was not simply a matter of converting his manuscripts into printed form. Chopin felt that many performance details, such as phrasing, dynamics, pedaling, and articulation, were not fixed elements of his music, even though they have a substantial impact on the way it sounds. He was inconsistent about including performing instructions in his manuscripts, and when publishers asked him to supply them at the proof stage, he often changed his mind several times.
Nearly all of Chopin’s compositions were for piano. Although a refugee, he was deeply loyal to his war-torn homeland, his mazurkas reflect the rhythms and melodic traits of Polish folk music, and his polonaises contain a heroic spirit. Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini also influenced his melodies. His ballads, scherzos, and ?tudes exemplify his large-scale works for solo piano. His music, which is romantic and lyrical in nature, is characterized by great originality of melody, refined and often adventurous harmony, subtle rhythm, and poetic beauty. Chopin greatly influenced other composers, such as the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, German composer Richard Wagner, and French composer Claude Debussy. Chopin’s many published compositions include 55 mazurkas, 27 ?tudes, 24 preludes, 19 nocturnes, 13 polonaises, and 3 piano sonatas. Among his other works are the Concertos in E minor and in F minor, both for piano and orchestra, the cello sonata, and 17 songs.

Among Chopin’s most individual works are the Pr?ludes. Intended to serve as beginnings to an intimate recital, these pieces range from tender melancholy to the dramatic of the stormy Prelude in D minor. Many of Chopin’s most beautiful compositions come from the series of short, reflective pieces he called Nocturnes. As can be heard in the Nocturne in F-sharp, these works are usually gentle and