Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano".
The great majority of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument; all of his extant works feature the piano in one way or another.Chopin, according to Arthur Hedley , "had the rare gift of a very personal melody, expressive of heart-felt emotion, and his music is penetrated by a poetic feeling that has an almost universal appeal.... Present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano."Chopin's mazurkas , while based somewhat on the traditional Polish dance (the mazurek ), were different from the traditional variety in that they were suitable for concerts halls as well as dance settings.He also took the example of Bach's preludes and fugues , transforming the genre in his own Préludes.
Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano".
The great majority of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument; all of his extant works feature the piano in one way or another.Chopin, according to Arthur Hedley , "had the rare gift of a very personal melody, expressive of heart-felt emotion, and his music is penetrated by a poetic feeling that has an almost universal appeal.... Present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano."Chopin's mazurkas , while based somewhat on the traditional Polish dance (the mazurek ), were different from the traditional variety in that they were suitable for concerts halls as well as dance settings.He also took the example of Bach's preludes and fugues , transforming the genre in his own Préludes.