Composing Chopin
Sarah Shon
MUS 370W, Dr. Emmery
April 29, 2015
Sarah Shon
MUS370W
Dr. Emmery
Final Paper
Composing Chopin
In the early nineteenth century, the Western Europe was cultivating one of the
greatest composers in history. Although this composer led a very brief life, he was able to
leave a legacy that made him a symbol of the Romantic era of the music world. This man
was Frédéric François Chopin, a man much known for his melodic and lyrical works of
art. When the name of Chopin is mentioned, everyone is aware of his beautiful nocturnes,
mazurkas, waltzes and preludes. What is often forgotten is the fact that he had very poor
health, both mentally and physically. Despite these unfortunate physical and mental
impairments, Chopin was able to compose great masterpieces through both compelling
determination and concentration.
Throughout my piano music career of fourteen years, Chopin had always been
one of my favorite composers to play. It was his tunes that inspired to become a better
pianist. However I never got the opportunity to learn about him beyond his pieces so I
took this opportunity to discover how his compositional process and also the outside
factors, especially health-related, that influenced him. In specific, I will be looking his
famous 24 Preludes that he composed at the time he was in Majorca, Spain, where his
health also took a turn for the worse. In order to accomplish these research goals, I have
utilized facsimiles of Chopin’s original manuscripts, the correspondences from Chopin
and George Sand, and other books regarding his life and health. As the medical records
from this period of time are not as accurate as present-day records, it is hard to make a
definite conclusion on what really had affected Chopin. It will be a topic that will
continue to be questioned and challenged for other musicology scholars.
Known as the “Poet of the Piano,” Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk
Franciszek Chopin) was one of the most well known composers during the nineteenth
century. He was born on March 1, 1810 in the town of Źelazowa Wola, Poland as the
second of four children. His father, Mikolaj Chopin, was a Frenchman who met his wife
Tekla Justyna Kryźanowska while working as a tutor for Countess Justyna Skarbek in
Źelazowa Wola. Seven months after Chopin’s birth, the family permanently relocated in
Warsaw, where he spent majority of his childhood. Growing up in the Saxon Palace
