Simply Chopin: 14 (Great Lives)

Born in a small town near Warsaw Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) was a musical prodigy who began giving public concerts and composed his first piano pieces at the age of seven. Following studies at the Warsaw Conservatory he left his native Poland in 1830 eventually settling in Paris where he lived for the rest of his life. There he cultivated friendships with prominent musicians and intellectuals of the period and quickly achieved renown as a virtuoso performer and pioneering composer. However by 1842 his lifelong health issues had become increasingly serious and his brilliant career went into a precipitous decline concluding with his untimely death at the age of thirty-nine.In Simply Chopin Dr. William Smialek presents an accessible and revealing portrait of a musical genius including his artistic development his tempestuous love life and his towering artistic achievements. Relating Chopins life story to his historical place and time Dr. Smialek intimately chronicles his influences and significant relationships in particular his long love affair with the writer George Sand. The book also draws on recent research to explore the compositional technique displayed in Chopins piano compositions with commentary on his most important works.Intended for a general readership Simply Chopin is both a lucid introduction to a giant of classical music and an insightful look at a key moment in musical history as nineteenth-century Europe turned toward Romanticism and the powerful idea of nationalism.