In this time of angst and emotions, I thought a nice soothing Chopin Nocturne would be ideal break for TMV’ers among all the articles about looting and burning. As I have indicated before, I have a very strong affinity for Chopin’s music. Whenever I had a tough day at the office, I would come home and take out a book of Chopin’s music and play until my blood pressure was back to normal.
A quick review of Chopin’s biography yields some interesting information. He was born in 1820 in Warsaw, Poland. Even as a child he was considered a piano prodigy but Warsaw was not a place where he could develop as a pianist and composer. He left Poland at age 20 for Paris which was at the time a mecca for musicians. A string of troubled female relationships gave his music a melancholy richness which became the hallmark of his Preludes and Nocturnes.
Chopin may have left Poland but Poland never left Chopin. For his entire life he was worried about his native country which periodically got invaded by either Russia or Germany. For much of his life Chopin was sickly and his poor health prevented him from giving concerts and improving his reputation as an important musician. Chopin died in 1849 and it has been attributed to complications of Tuberulosis.
Chopin’s compositions have survived time because they are generally full of sensitive melodies that evoke a yearning for something just beyond one’s reach. For Chopin it was his failed romantic relationships along with missing his beloved Poland. While Chopin’s body is buried in a Paris cemetery, his Polish sister arranged for Chopin’s heart to be cut out so she could smuggle it back to Warsaw, hidden and preserved in a bottle of Cognac. This allowed his sister to get past the Russian troops guarding Poland’s western border for his heart to be forever displayed in the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw. Here is a piece of music which is typical Chopin.