Frédéric François Chopin (Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin)

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1810–1849) was born near Warsaw. A prodigy in childhood, he left Poland in 1830 just before the outbreak of the November Uprising against Russian rule, settling in Paris where he became the idol of aristocratic Parisian salons and formed a famous relationship with novelist George Sand.

Chopin devoted his creative genius almost exclusively to the solo piano, extracting velvety singing sonorities (*bel canto*), delicate expressive rubato, and bold harmonic chromaticism from the instrument. His polonaises and mazurkas voiced fiery patriotic solidarity with partitioned Poland, while his twenty-one Nocturnes, four Ballades, twenty-four Preludes, and groundbreaking Études transformed piano literature for all time.