Life Of Chopin

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. The Sunday Times (U.K.) Classical Music Book of 2018 and one of The Economist's Best Books of 2018. "A magisterial portrait." --Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times Book Review A landmark biography of the Polish composer by a leading authority on Chopin and his time Based on ten years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker’s monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Walker’s work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin. Fryderyk Chopin is an intimate look into a dramatic life; of particular focus are Chopin’s childhood and youth in Poland, which are brought into line with the latest scholarly findings, and Chopin’s romantic life with George Sand, with whom he lived for nine years. Comprehensive and engaging, and written in highly readable prose, the biography wears its scholarship lightly: this is a book suited as much for the professional pianist as it is for the casual music lover. Just as he did in his definitive biography of Liszt, Walker illuminates Chopin and his music with unprecedented clarity in this magisterial biography, bringing to life one of the nineteenth century’s most confounding, beloved, and legendary artists.

A new look at the life, times, and music of Polish composer and piano virtuoso Fryderyk Chopin Fryderyk Chopin (1810–49), although the most beloved of piano composers, remains a contradictory figure, an artist of virtually universal appeal who preferred the company of only a few sympathetic friends and listeners. Chopin and His World reexamines Chopin and his music in light of the cultural narratives formed during his lifetime. These include the romanticism of the ailing spirit, tragically singing its death-song as life ebbs; the Polish expatriate, helpless witness to the martyrdom of his beloved homeland, exiled among friendly but uncomprehending strangers; the sorcerer-bard of dream, memory, and Gothic terror; and the pianist's pianist, shunning the appreciative crowds yet composing and improvising idealized operas, scenes, dances, and narratives in the shadow of virtuoso-idol Franz Liszt. The international Chopin scholars gathered here demonstrate the ways in which Chopin responded to and was understood to exemplify these narratives, as an artist of his own time and one who transcended it. This collection also offers recently rediscovered artistic representations of his hands (with analysis), and—for the first time in English—an extended tribute to Chopin published in Poland upon his death and contemporary Polish writings contextualizing Chopin's compositional strategies. The contributors are Jonathan D. Bellman, Leon Botstein, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Halina Goldberg, Jeffrey Kallberg, David Kasunic, Anatole Leikin, Eric McKee, James Parakilas, John Rink, and Sandra P. Rosenblum. Contemporary documents by Karol Kurpiński, Adam Mickiewicz, and Józef Sikorski are included.

One of the world's greatest classical pianists reveals how the "other world" transformed his life and career By any measure, Byron Janis has had an extraordinary musical career. His discovery of two long-lost Chopin scores made headlines around the world, and he has been honored many times for his breathtaking performances of some of the most exciting and challenging works in the standard classical piano repertoire. As he retraces this remarkable journey in Chopin and Beyond, he shares something even more extraordinary: the other-worldly experiences that have shaped his life and music in surprising and profound ways. Shares milestones and memories from the life and musical career of one of the world's greatest pianists Includes lively anecdotes of famous classical musicians and other notable figures, including Vladimir Horowitz and Pablo Picasso Describes his long-secret but ultimately triumphant battle with arthritis Recounts the paranormal experiences that deepened his personal association with Chopin, effected near miraculous recoveries from serious accidents, and more Like the best music, Chopin and Beyond will open your mind to explore the wonder and possibility of a different world.

Discover the remarkable life of Frédéric Chopin...If any of the great composers have a staying power that defies genre and time period, Frédéric Chopin was most certainly one of them. You can find his work being played with cherished delight by any budding pianist, and his music serves as a constant backdrop and mainstay for piano concertos worldwide. But what do we really know about Frédéric Chopin? A child prodigy, Frédéric Chopin was a transplant from Poland who took the artistic world of Paris by storm. He was never completely at ease in his surroundings, but he took the pain of an eternal outsider and used it as a transformative force not only in his life but in the lives of countless others to come. In this book, you will find the life and legacy of the composer and piano virtuoso Frédéric Chopin explored in full. Discover a plethora of topics such as Early Life of a Child Prodigy Success in Paris Chopin's Illness Relationship with George Sand Chopin's Final Tour Late Life and Death And much more! So if you want a concise and informative book on Frédéric Chopin, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was a Polish and French composer and a virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote predominantly for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era. Liszt knew Chopin both as man and artist; Chopin loved to hear him interpret his music, and himself taught the great Pianist the mysteries of his undulating rhythm and original motifs. The broad and noble criticisms contained in this book are absolutely essential for the musical culture of the thousands now laboriously but vainly struggling to perform his elaborate works, and who, having no key to their multiplied complexities of expression, frequently fail in rendering them aright. And the masses in this country, full of vivid perception and intelligent curiosity, who, not playing themselves, would yet fain follow with the heart compositions which they are told are of so much artistic value, will here find a key to guide them through the tuneful labyrinth. Some of Chopin's best works are analyzed herein. He wrote for the "Heart of his people" their joys, sorrows, and caprices are immortalized by the power of his art. "There is something fundamentally personal and at the same time so very masterly in his playing that he may be called a really perfect virtuoso." -Felix Mendelssohn, composer, pianist, organist (1809-1847) "Every single note was played with the highest degree of taste, in the noblest sense of the word. When he embellished, which he rarely did, it was a positive miracle of refinement." -Wilhelm von Lenz, writer (1809-1883) "Now, for the first time, I understood his music, and could also explain to myself the great enthusiasm of the ladies. The sudden modulations that I could not grasp when I myself played his works no longer bother me. His piano is so ethereal that no forte is needed to create the necessary contrast. Listening to him, one yields with one's whole soul, as to a singer who, oblivious of accompaniment, lets himself be carried away by his emotion. In short, he is unique among pianists." - Ignaz Moscheles composer and piano virtuoso (1794-1870)

Frédéric Chopin’s reputation as one of the Great Romantics endures, but as Benita Eisler reveals in her elegant and elegiac biography, the man was more complicated than his iconic image. A classicist, conservative, and dandy who relished his conquest of Parisian society, the Polish émigré was for a while blessed with genius, acclaim, and the love of Europe’s most infamous woman writer, George Sand. But by the age of 39, the man whose brilliant compositions had thrilled audiences in the most fashionable salons lay dying of consumption, penniless and abandoned by his lover. In the fall of 1849, his lavish funeral was attended by thousands—but not by George Sand. In this intimate portrait of an embattled man, Eisler tells the story of a turbulent love affair, of pain and loss redeemed by art, and of worlds—both private and public—convulsed by momentous change.

Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849) was one of the most influential musicians of the 19th Century. Discovered as a child-prodigy pianist in his native Poland, he later travelled to France, where he remained after the Polish uprising of 1830-31. There he gave few public performances, but worked as composer and piano teacher. He later became a French citizen and conducted a stormy relationship with French writer George Sand (Aurore Dudevant). He died at 39 of pulmonary tuberculosis. Chopin innovated many traditional forms of piano music and also created new forms such as the ballade. Though technically demanding, his music is nuanced and deeply expressive. His mazurkas and polonaises became the centerpiece of Polish classical music.