Fryderyk Chopin Composer and pianist of the emotions

In his short, tumultuous life (1810-1849) Fryderyk Chopin, Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, touched meteoric heights. French music critic and journalist Leon Escudier in his reviews of 1841 and 1842 wrote, “Listen how Chopin dreams, how he weeps and tenderly he sings, how perfectly he expresses his most affectionate feelings. He is the pianist of the emotions par excellence.” On a similar lyrical note French litterateur, art and literary critic Theophile Gautier said, “Chopin means melancholy elegance, dreamy grace, feminine sensitivity…the stroke of his fingers on the keyboard is like that of an angel's gossamer wing.” Chopin's peer Hungarian composer-virtuoso pianist Liszt compared the subtlety of Chopin's playing to “the scent of verbena” or the sound of a glass harmonica.
Musical genius Chopin is widely known for his sonatas, etudes, waltzes, impromptus, nocturnes, preludes, mazurkas and polonaises (the last two harked back to his intense Polish nationalism).  These contained elements of Polish folk music and classical traditions of Bach, Mozart and Schubert, who the frail Chopin greatly admired.
Chopin spent his early years in Warsaw. Born to a French father and Polish mother who mingled with the city's intellectual and artistic elite, he grew up in an environment conducive to the development of his own genius. By the age of eight he was recognised as a child prodigy giving performances in intimate soirees and composing his own pieces. To this period can be attributed his two Polonaises in G minor and B- flat major. Chopin's next work, a Polonaise in A-flat major was dedicated to his first professional music tutor the Czech Wojciech Zywny. This early work was his first surviving musical manuscript.
While still in Warsaw where he grew up and completed his musical education, he learned the rules of composition, gaining acquaintance with musical genres. This resulted in his Sonata in C minor Op. 4 and the Trio in G Minor Op. 8 as well as his first major success in piano composition and performances.
When he grew older, Chopin attended lectures at Warsaw University while also studying music under Jozef Elsner. This idyll came to an end shortly before the November 1830 Uprising against the Tsarist forces. The brutal suppression of the November insurrection by the Tsarist regime wrenched the young Chopin just as much as his “eternal exile” in Paris.
He seemed to lose his mooring when he left Poland. Tormented by his illness he longed for his homeland and his loved ones. He also faced the angst of channelising his immense musical genius into perfect compositions.
After failed relationships with a number of women who inspired some of his great compositions, he finally found love with French novelist George Sand.  During a stay in 1838-39 with Sand and her children in Majorca, he went on to compose some of his finest works. This intensely happy period in his life was reflected in some of his letters where he enthused about the island's beauty and his personal happiness. The relationship ended two years before his death.
In Chopin's last days he was financially supported by his admirer Jane Stirling. The frail and sickly Chopin died in Paris in 1849, most likely from tuberculosis.

Compiled by Correspondent