Frederic Francois Chopin
(March 1, 1810 - October 17, 1849)
Frederic Chopin was born in a village six miles from Warsaw, Poland. His father, a Frenchman who had come from Nancy, France, was a captain in the National Guard. He conducted a private school for the sons of the Polish nobility where Frederic received his early education. His mother, for whom he entertained profound love, was pure Polish. She encouraged him at an early age to study music and he advanced so rapidly that, at the age of nine years, he played a concerto at a public concert. After the concert he seems to have been more concerned about his new collar than the effect his brilliant playing made on the audience for he remarked to his mother: "Everybody was looking at my collar".
In 1831, Chopin went to Paris to make his home. It was there, in the drawing-rooms of the French aristocracy, that he fasinated his hearers with the wonderful playing which earned him the name, The Poet of the Piano.
He was never of robust health and during the last years of his life his frail body broke under the strain of his concerts, teaching and social activities. He died in Paris at the age of 39.
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