Piano and orchestra: two piano concertos, Fantasia on Polish Airs, Krakowiak, Andante Spianato and Grand polonaise, variations on La ci darem la mano (Mozart, Don Giovanni)Ĭhamber music: Cello Sonata, Introduction and Polonaise brilliant for cello and piano, Grand Duo Concertante for cello and piano, Piano Trio He died in the presence of his pupil Adolphe Gutman and Sand’s daughter Solange. Pauline Viardot remarked cynically that "all the grand Parisian ladies considered it de rigueur to faint in his room." In his last year, he managed to make a tour of the British Isles after his return, as the word quickly spread that he was dying, friends and acquaintances gathered constantly around him. In 1846, the relationship with Sand came to an end her novel Lucrezia Floriani, published the same year, was blatantly autobiographical and far from flattering to Chopin. This proved an ill-considered venture: their accommodation was quite unable to withstand the harsh winter, and Chopin’s already fragile health worsened.ĭuring the first half of the 1840s, Chopin would spend the summers composing in Sand’s home in Berry, but work became increasingly slow and laborious as his health deteriorated further. In 1838 Chopin began his love affair with the novelist George Sand together they spent the winter months of 1838–9 in Majorca. In the following years his reputation grew steadily, and he settled into a stable routine of teaching, composing and performing, mostly in the intimate setting of the salons. He made friends with other young artists, including Liszt and Berlioz, and with the help of Frédéric Kalkbrenner arranged his first Parisian concert early in 1832. From the start he felt at home there, not least because there were Polish émigrés everywhere but also because he was overwhelmed by the city’s cultural life. The Russians were victorious, which made a return to Poland impossible Chopin continued to Paris. One week after arriving in Vienna, he had news of the Warsaw uprising against the Russian rulers.Ĭhopin would have liked to return immediately, but was dissuaded by friends pointing out that his contribution to the Polish cause could best be made in other ways. He embarked on a European tour, still doubting the path of public pianist-composer and resenting the extreme publicity surrounding his concerts. Around his twenties, he grew increasingly troubled about his future – he loved his native country, but at the same time deplored the provinciality of it. Later, Chopin received thorough training in composition at the High School of Music in Warsaw. Brought up in Warsaw by a Polish mother and a French father, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was more or less self-taught as a performer.Įven his first teacher Wojciech Zywny didn’t have much to offer him in terms of technique, but still did his pupil a great service by introducing him to Bach and Viennese Classicism.