Frederic Chopin
Presentation by: Craig Robbins
Who Is He?
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Musician
Composer
Virtuoso & Child Prodigy
Music Teacher
Famous Man
Whose “poetic genius was based on a professional
technique that was without equal of his generation”
His Life
 Born March 1, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola in Poland
 Family of three sister and a Polish Mother, Justyna
and French Father, Nicloas
 Noted for his piano playing, but was a fine violinist
too
 His mother was his first teacher
 His first composition was at 7 yrs. old
 First public performance at 8 yrs. old
 Studied with Jozef Elsner at the Warsaw
Conservatory in the Fall of 1826
 Finished his formal education in 1830
 Good friends with Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann
Traveling & Playing
 Moved to Paris in 1830 where he would live for 18
years and write some of his best works
 Much of his life he would suffer from poor health
 Financially supported by his admirer, Jane Stirling
 Stirling was an amateur Scottish pianist, referred to as
his widow
 He would die most likely of tuberculosis in October of
1849
Famous Works
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58 mazurkas
27 etudes
20 waltzes
17 polonaises
4 ballades
And a whole lot of others!
Also noted as one of the first virtuosos to
invent/compose the instrumental ballade
Listening Examples
 Rondo in C minor (1825)
 Ballade No. 1 in G minor (1835)
 Nocturne in E-Flat Major (1831)
Works Cited
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Ch
opin
 http://www.chopinmusic.net/works/list/
 http://www.ourchopin.com/biography.html