Frederic Chopin
A
young man of humble origins and the only son of a French father and a Polish mother,
Chopin won early fame as a brilliant pianist within the relatively limited circles of his
native country.
He
left Poland late in 1830, at the time of the unsuccessful national rising against Russian
domination, and settled in Paris where he soon gained a reputation as "the most
sensitive genius in existence".
For
some 10 years Chopin enjoyed a liaison with the woman novelist George Sand.
By
the time his relationhip with her ended in 1847 he was seriously ill with tuberculosis.
His
compositions, mainly for the piano, make a remarkable use of the newly developed
instrument.
His
reliance on the sustaining pedal was as much a part of his compositional
Some of his most famous works are:
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