Frederic Chopin | Composers

Frédéric François Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin) was a composer, pianist and piano teacher. He was born on March 1, 1810 in the village of Żelazowa Wola, in the then Polish Duchy of Warsaw. His father was French, his mother Polish. From 1831 until his death on October 17, 1849, he lived mainly in France. From 1835 he had French citizenship. Chopin's compositional style is influenced by Polish folk music, the great masters such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but especially by the bel canto style of contemporary Italian opera. The atmosphere of the Parisian salons, in which Chopin frequented, had a formative influence. Here he developed his skills in free improvisations on the piano, which often became the basis of his compositions. His innovations in all elements of the composition (melody, rhythm, harmony and forms) and the inclusion of the Polish musical tradition with its emphasis on the national character were important for the development of European music. Even during his lifetime, Chopin was considered one of the leading musicians of his time. His piano playing and his work as a teacher were regarded as extraordinary because of the expansion and use of the technical and tonal possibilities of the instrument, the sensitivity of the touch, the innovations in the use of the pedals and in the fingering. His ideas about piano playing (facilité "lightness", rejection of the percussive "knocking" stroke, model of singing, the so-called bel canto in agogic and articulation, rejection of mechanical practice without musical commitment, use and training of the fingers according to their natural physiological conditions instead equalizing finger drill) are still considered fundamental in piano pedagogy today.