Hello everyone. For the February theme I will tell you a bit more about musical culture in Poland. The main person of musical culture in Poland is Frédéric Chopin (polish name: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin).
He was born in 1810 in Żelazowa Wola (Poland) and died in 1849 in Paris. He is a French-Polish composer and pianist. First he was trained at the Warsaw Conservatory: The Warsaw School of Music. He then started his career in Vienna. Chopin came from a French family on his father's side, so at the age of 21 he moved to France. He went there to discover European musical life, to perfect his art and to give concerts. The excitement of the Parisian piano world helped and inspired him to develop his imagination. His first public concert in Paris, on February 25, 1832, in the salons of Pleyel, was decisive for his Parisian career and opened all doors, particularly those of the most brilliant embassy salons (Austria, England…). After, Chopin met Georges Sand in 1836 when the Hungarian composer Liszt came to visit him with her. At the beginning it was not love at first sight. Chopin found that she was unsympathetic. However in the spring of 1838, Sand and Chopin began to see each other on a regular basis. Before this relation with Georges, Chopin still suffered from his old relationship, and this is felt in his works as in "his Nocturnes". They separated in 1847, which is equal to almost 10 years of relationship.
In all his career he played in several countries. At first in Warsaw and Vienna, from 1831 in Paris and finally in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1848. Before his death he taught his passion and his work to Georges Mathias, Karol Mikuli and Thomas Tellefsen.
So here is a brief description of his career.
Now Chopin is recognized as one of the greatest composers of music of the Romantic period. He is also one of the most famous pianists of the 19th century. His music is still today one of the most played and remains an indispensable passage in the understanding of the universal piano repertoire. His most famous works are concertos, polonaises, waltzes, nocturnes and ballads.
To finish my article I will tell you some facts about Chopin. Chopin’s body is buried in the cemetery Père Lachaise in Paris but as he asked before he died, his heart, which was kept in a crystal jar with strong alcohol, is buried in a pillar of a church in Warsaw: l’Église Sainte-Croix, in the Old Town of Warsaw.
In the city of Warsaw there are musical benches where you press a button and Chopin's music starts playing. And finally, also in Warsaw there are always small concerts of one hour where a pianist plays Chopin's music. It's a great experience because the hall is small, it's not very long but very beautiful and relaxing.
So here it is. I hope you learned more about Frédéric Chopin and that you liked my article. See you next month!
- Clémence Palanque - Poland
Frédéric Chopin