- Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano.
- He composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising.
- Chopin was the second child of Nicolas and Justyna and their only son; he had an elder sister, Ludwika, and two younger sisters, Izabela and Emilia, whose death at the age of 14 was probably from tuberculosis.
- Nicolas Chopin (his father) was devoted to his adopted homeland, and insisted on the use of the Polish language in the household.
- All of Chopin’s compositions feature the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, some chamber music, and 19 songs set to Polish lyrics.
- With his mazurkas and polonaises, Chopin has been credited with introducing to music a new sense of nationalism.
- He had a failed engagement to Maria Wodzińska from 1836 to 1837, he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer Aurore Dupin.
His most famous works include:
- Fantaisie-Impromptu (1834)
- Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante (1834)
- Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. posth. (1870)
- 24 Preludes, Op. 28
- Nocturnes Op. 9
- Fantasy on Polish Airs
- ‘Klarinet Concerto in A major, K. (KV) 622
- ‘Minute’ Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1
- Polonaises Op. 40
