Frédéric Chopin

Fryderyk Chopin (, sometimes ; ; surname pronunciation in English: , in French: ; March 1, 1810 – October 17, 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period. He is widely regarded as the greatest Polish composer, and ranks as one of music's greatest tone poets by reason of superfine imagination and fastidious craftsmanship. Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, in the Duchy of Warsaw, to a Polish mother and French-expatriate father, and in his early life was regarded as a child-prodigy pianist. In November 1830, at the age of 20, Chopin went abroad; following the suppression of the Polish November Uprising of 1830–31, he became one of many expatriate of the Polish "Great Emigration." In Paris, Chopin made a comfortable living as a composer and piano teacher, while giving few public performances. An ardent Polish patriot, in France he used the French versions of his given names and eventually, to avoid having to rely on Imperial Russia documents,... full article at wikipedia