On October 17, 1849, the heart of one of the most ardent patriots and the most famous geniuses ceased to beat. Descending from a modest family, son of a member of the Kosciuszko Insurrection and Justyna Krzyzanowska, Frederic Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, not far from Warsaw, and with all the strength of his warm feelings fell in love with his Fatherland. Unusually sensitive on the beauty, both of the nature and the achievements of the national culture, from his very childhood Chopin knew how to transform the subtleties of the Polish spirit into enchanting sounds of music - the ideas and sufferings of the nation, its endeavors, aspirations and hopes.

Physically weak, Chopin was a giant by his spirit. He grew on the foundation of Polish sentimentalism and romanticism, but he did not limit his nativity to a mere incarnation of these features into the wonderful world of tones. He was a creator who felt and experienced pain and sorrow for millions. Purely Sarmatian motives - popular in the mazurkas and aristocratic in the polonaises - were elevated by him to the heights of harmony and artistic expression in the way nobody could do it previously. While they did not lose anything from their Polish character, they worked in the direction of purification of the human soul everywhere. There is no human being having at least a touch of sensitivity and ability to appreciate the beauty who would not be deeply impressed and moved by the music of Chopin. It is so unique and different from the masterpieces of all other masters of music, that in spite of the fact that it influenced many composers and that a great number of them tried to imitate it, it remains something quite exceptional and unparalleled in the history of the world culture. Every passage in the compositions of Chopin is Chopinian - it cannot be falsified or replaced.Not only the mazurkas and polonaises of Chopin were an expression of Polish spirit. He was an incarnation of the national genius, and, with a few exceptions, he could not - and did not want to - forsake the Polish motives in other of his masterpieces, be it the Revolutionary Etiude, composed when the news about the beginning of the "November Uprising" against the Russians reached Chopin, or the nocturnes, expressing his deep nostalgia caused by the necessary exile from his oppressed land which he had to leave, escaping from Russian persecution. And in spite of the fact that connoisseurs of music early recognized his unusual talent and originality, the great master went through difficult times abroad. Some concerts in Paris did not live up to expectations and he had to earn his living by giving piano lessons. A person whose soul was the reflection of the soul of a tortured and suffering nation could not be happy. Thus, most of his compositions are sad, similarly to the fate of his country. However, from time to time some more cheerful tones may be heard, tones of the Polish eagerness to live which may be driven under the surface by harsh realities, but not obliterated; tones of protest and rebellion; tones of hope, and certainty that a better future is forthcoming.Therefore, a full understanding of Chopin may be experienced only by a few individuals besides the Poles -Poles who, to use the expression of Dmowski, live by the life of their nation "by all the broad side of their soul", who know its history, traditions and endeavors, who in every passage of Chopin's music discover a connection with the feelings and experiences of the Polish nation. Therefore a great composer Schumann, who understood Chopin's music, said: "This is a cannon hidden under flowers; if the Northern autocrat (the Russian tsar) knew what an enemy threatens him even in most simple melodies of the mazurkas - he would damn this music." For this reason, soon after the invasion of Poland in 1939 by the Teutonic hordes, the German occupants prohibited to play Chopin... Again for this reason, when Chopin himself created compositions independent from his Polish character, for instance in the Italian "Tarantella", the result was pleasant but not reaching the pinnacle of the artistic achievement. However, the melodies of Chopin, grown on the background of the Polish spirit, conquered the whole world, found their way under the roofs of all music lovers, and became favorite selections of concert programs. The disarmed Polish nation fought with them, used them to promote the interest and sympathy for its country and to gain the hearts for the Polish cause. And Chopin's music continues to be - and will be forever - the most outstanding creation of human genius and a bloodless but potent weapon of Polonism, requesting justice for its own nation and the others. To quote Norwid: it contains "all Poland to the top - in the perfection of its fate - taken in the rainbow of enchantment."

Chopin Quotes

"...but why should one be ashamed of writing badly in spite of knowing better - it's results that shows errors. Here you doubtless observe my tendency to do wrong against my will. As something has involuntarily crept into my head through my eyes, I love to indulge it, even though it may be all wrong." - About his piano concerto opus 11

"It's a huge Carthusian monastery, stuck down between rocks and sea, where you may imagine me, without white gloves or haircurling, as pale as ever, in a cell with such doors as Paris never had for gates. The cell is the shape of a tall coffin, with an enormous dusty vaulting, a small window...Bach, my scrawls and waste pater - silence - you could scream- there would still be silence. Indeed, I write to you from a strange place."- describing his "cell" at Majorca

"The population here is ugly, but apparently good-natured. On the other hand the cows are magnificent, but apparently inclined to gore people."- on Scotland

"I have met a great celebrity, Mme Dudevant, known as George Sand... Her appearance is not to my liking. Indeed there is something about her which positively repels me... What an unattractive person La Sand is... Is she really a woman? I'm inclined to doubt it."

"They want me to give another concert but I have no desire to do so. You cannot imagine what a torture the three days before a public appearance are to me."

"I wish I could throw off the thoughts which poison my happiness. And yet I take a kind of pleasure in indulging them."

"But when he asked Chopin whether he was still in pain, we quite distinctly heard the answer: 'No more.' These were the last words heard from his lips." - Charles Gavard, witness to Chopin's death

"I was traveling in a coupe`, with a very handsome pair of young thoroughbred English horses. One horse began to rear; he caught his foot and then started to bolt, taking the other horse with him. As they were tearing down a slope in the park, the reins snapped and the coachman was thrown from his seat (he received a very nasty bruising). The carriage was smashed to bits as it was flung against tree after tree; we should have been thrown over a precipice if the vehicle had not been stopped at length by a tree. One of the horses tore itself free and bolted madly, but the other fell with the carriage on top of it. The windows were smashed by branches. Luckily I was unhurt, apart from having my legs bruised from the jolting I had received... None of those who saw what had happened, or we ourselves, could understand how we had escaped being smashed to pieces. I confess that I was calm as I saw my last hour approaching, but the thought of broken legs and hands appalls me. To be a cripple would put the finishing touch to me."

"You can enjoy yourself, get bored, laugh, cry, do anything you like, and no-one takes any notice because thousands here are doing exactly the same...You find here the greatest splendor, the greatest filthiness, the greatest virtue, the greatest vice..They really are a queer lot here! As soon as it gets dark all you hear is street-vendors shouting out the titles of the latest pamphlets, and you can often buy three or four sheets of printed rubbish for a few sous, with titles such as 'How to Get and Keep a Lover', or 'Priests in Love', or 'Romance of the Archbishop of Paris and the Duchesse de Beery', and a thousand similar obscenities, often very wittily put together. Honestly, one can't be surprised at the way of making a few pennies that they think up. I must tell you that there is terrible poverty here and little money about. You meet with crowds of beggars with menacing looks on their faces..."

"Put all your soul into it, play the way you feel!"

"...the Official Bulletin declared that the Poles should be as proud of me as the Germans are of Mozart; obvious nonsense."

"I don't know how it is, but the Germans are amazed at me - and I am amazed at them for finding anything to be amazed about."

"Yesterday's concert was a success. I hasten to let you know. I inform your Lordship that I was not a bit nervous and played as I play when I am alone. It went well... and I had to come back and bow four times."

"I feel like a novice, just as I felt before I knew anything of the keyboard. It is far too original, and I shall end up not being able to learn it myself."

"...in a word, finished artists, take lessons from me and couple my name with that of Field. In short, if I were still stupider than I am, I should think myself at the apex of my career; yet I know how much I still lack, to reach perfection; I see it the more clearly now that I live only among first-rank artists and know what each one of them lacks."

"They want me to give another concert but I have no desire to do so. You cannot imagine what a torture the three days before a public appearance are to me."

"There are certain times when I feel more inspired, filled with a strong power that forces me to listen to my inner voice, and when I feel more need than ever for a Pleyel piano."

"The three most celibrated doctors on the island have been to see me. One sniffed at what I spat, the second tapped where I spat from, and the third sounded me and listened as I spat. The first said I was dead, the second that I was dying and the third that I'm going to die."

"My manuscripts sleep, while I cannot, for I am covered with poultices."

"Here, whatever is not boring is not English."