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Frédéric Chopin photo by TheClassicalMusicGuy-

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Frédéric Chopin

Fredric Chopin was one of the greatest music composers and pianists who during the Romantic period and left behind a legacy illuminated by piano solos and poetic tones.

He was hailed a musician of his era one whose poetic genius was based on a professional technique that had no rival to par with it.

All of Chopin’s compositions include the piano, which is mostly solo piano and he was highly regarded for the creativity and uniqueness of his music expressed and was even admired by his contemporaries.

Chopin’s music is believed to be a soul-soothing sonata, simple yet so captivating and mysteriously evoking calmness.

Here are the Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Frédéric Chopin

 1. He came from a family of artist

Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, west of Warsaw, in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw, a Polish state established by Napoleon.

His father was a French teacher at the Warsaw lyceum, which was then housed in the Saxons palace, Chopin lived with his family on the palace grounds.

A Child’s upbringing is influenced by a lot of factors, including the environment as they mimic their surroundings.

Chopin’s environment was that of pro music, his father played the flute and violin while his mother played the piano and gave lessons to boys in the boarding house that the Chopin’s kept.

The pianist was believed to have a weak body constitute but that didn’t deter him from harnessing his talent for playing the Piano.

It wasn’t just his mother and father that played musical instruments, even his two older sisters played the piano which Chopin listened to and stirred his interest at an early age.

It’s believed he may have had some piano instruction from his mother, but his first professional music tutor was the Czech pianist Wojciech ZZywny, who also tutored his sister who occasionally played duets with him.

2. He was a child prodigy

Many today can agree to the fact that Chopin was one of the greatest pianists who profoundly impacted the music industry, but the idea was so different during his era.

He was proclaimed a child prodigy, in fact as a composer he started composing his writing and published his first piece at the age of six.

Soon he was giving public concerts just at the age of eight and in 1817 he composed two polonaises, in G minor and B-Flat major.

His first performance was at a charity event and soon his name traveled through different mediums exposing him to perform at private parties by invitation.

His major work was dedicated to his teacher Zywny and it’s the earliest surviving musical manuscript.

3. He studied at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music

Etching of Fréderik Chopin by Unknown author-

By 1826, Chopin had composed several piano pieces in his unique style prompting his parents to enroll him in the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, he was handed over to the Polish composer Josef Elsner who guided him for the next three years.

A good teacher brings out the best in his student and Elsner, known for his strict traditional training style, realized his young student needed space for freedom, to explore and pluck his music tunes from a field of possibilities. During his time at the conservatory, he was given the freedom to develop his sense of style.

Employing his teacher’s intuition, Elsner saw the need to release the young prodigy into a broader musical field to harvest more experience hence Chopin’s parents finally sent him to Vienna.

4. He mostly played the piano in the dark

Chopin concert photo by images.fineartamerica.com-

Ironically despite being glorified in the music field, Chopin limited his public appearances and is believed not to have given more than 30 performances. It was believed he was a shy and modest individual who loved the intimacy of the salon.

He played the piano in the dark throughout his entire life and it’s said he would request for candles to be put off in the rooms he was performing, even if he was playing at an event or party he would request to extinguish or dim the light in the room.

5. He was plagued by undiagnosed epilepsy

Chopin was truly the giant of the Romantic Era, writing passionate and unique pieces for the piano, while his gift was surprising and captivating to many, he has plagued with afflictions and health problems masked in a miasma of hallucinations.

His friends attributed his illness as a result of the talents bestowed upon him, they believed he had a price he owed for such a gift.

Spanish researchers in the journal Medical Humanities believed Chopin suffered from Temporal lobe epilepsy.

Chopin described seeing a “Cohort of phantoms “which he confided to his lover and later wife, Gorge sand.

During a performance in Â鶹APP in 1848, Chopin suddenly stopped in the middle of a piece and left the stage. He later attributed his fault to hallucinations, where he believed he saw creatures emerging from the half case of the piano.

6. He was married to a charismatic  novelist

George Sand by François Théodore Rochard-

while the composer’s musical life was thriving, his romantic life was somewhat turbulent as most of his relationships were.

Chopin started seeing the French author known as George sand in 1838, her real name was Amantune Lucile Aurore Duping.

Gorge Sand was known for her many affairs and was notorious for being an outspoken feminist in an era that limited women’s expression.

Towards the end of June 1838, they became lovers, sand was older than Chopin by six years and had a series of lovers in her dating book.

Though their love story was beautiful they dint escape the criticism of a traditional society that scorned their relationship for not being married.

The two lovers spent a harsh winter together to improve Chopin’s bad health and that of Sand’s son Maurice as well as to escape the daring threats sands former liver Felicien Mallefille.

Their stay wasn’t rosy, as a matter of fact when the deeply traditional Catholic residents of Majorca discovered that the two weren’t married they became very inhospitable to them.

The two lovers found it very difficult to find accommodations and this compelled them to take lodgings in a former Carthusian monastery in Valldemossa, which gave them a little shelter from the cold winter.

Sand and Chopin were later estranged and the cause was believed due to a dispute they had over Sands’ daughter over an arranged marriage.

7. He was supported financially by his admirers

Chopin’s public popularity as Virtuoso began to wane as did the number of his students and this was made so much worse by the political strife and instability of the time making him struggle financially.

During the 1848 revolution in Â鶹APP, he left for London, where he conducted several concerts and numerous receptions in great houses despite his poor health.

Chopin received much of his financial aid from a former pupil, Jane Strolling who also provided much financial assistance to the composer who was struggling between a thin line of wealth and poverty.

It’s believed that Jane desired a romantic relationship but she was met with a rejection from Chopin who made it clear he wasn’t interested in romance.

8. His last play was for polish refugees

Chopin marked his last public appearance on a concert platform at London’s Guildhall on November 16^th, 1848. This was meant to be his last final patriotic gesture, which he played for the benefit of Polish refugees.

Though his intentions were good he was slapped by disappointment as most of his audience was more interested in the dancing and refreshments than in Chopin’s piano artistry, this drained him as he was seriously I’ll and his doctors made it clear to him the terminal stage he was in.

9. He wished for his works to be destroyed

Frédéric Chopin Coloured by GregoryFunk-

Before death took him, the pianist expressed the wish to destroy his unpublished Musical works. Upon his death, his mother and sister decided not to follow his request neither did Chopin’s publisher.

They decided to move forward with publishing the composition that hadn’t yet come to light today many of the Waltzes, polonaise, and nocturnes attributed to Chopin were published after his death.

10. His heart was extracted

The last days of Chopin were spent in Â鶹APP where he died on October 17^th,1849 at the young age of only 39 years, and it’s believed he died from tuberculosis. During his last days, only a  handful of his friends and family remained with him.

His funeral was held at the church of Madeleine in Â鶹APP and the entrance was restricted to ticket holders, as many people were expected to attend, over 3,000 people attended his funeral.

Chopin made the gruesome request that his heart is extracted from his corpse and sent back to his homeland.

His elder sister complied with his request taking the heart before his body could be buried and secretly transported it back to Poland in a jar of alcohol. She was finally able to smuggle it to the holy cross church in Warsaw where it is buried beneath a small monument.