Frédéric Chopin
Romantic · 1810–1849
Frédéric Chopin was born in 1810 in a village near Warsaw and left Poland at twenty, weeks before an uprising against Russian rule broke out. It was crushed the following year; he settled in Paris and never returned home, a fact that colors the mazurkas and polonaises, Polish dances, that he wrote all his life. He earned his living not from big concerts, which he mostly avoided, but from teaching piano to wealthy pupils and selling his music to publishers.
Almost everything he wrote involves the piano, and he changed what the instrument could do: a singing melodic line over softly shifting harmony, virtuosity always in service of poetry. His decade-long relationship with the novelist George Sand gave him his most productive years. His health, never strong, failed steadily, and he died in Paris in 1849 at 39.
Start with the Nocturnes, op. 9, his night music, then the Ballade no. 1 in G minor for the full dramatic sweep.
114 works in the catalog, across 4 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- Cello Sonata in G minor, op. 65
- Grand Duo on Themes from Robert Le Diable, B.70 For cello and piano
- Introduction and Polonaise in C major, op. 3 For cello and piano
- Piano Trio in G minor, op. 8
- Variations on 'Non più mesta', B.9 For flute and piano
Keyboard
- Ballade no. 1 in G minor, op. 23
- Ballade no. 2 in F major, op. 38
- Ballade no. 3 in A flat major, op. 47
- Ballade no. 4 in F minor, op. 52
- Etudes, op. 10
- Etudes, op. 25
- Nocturnes, op. 9
- Polonaise no. 6 in A flat major, op. 53, "Heroic"
- Preludes, op. 28
- Scherzo no. 1 in B minor, op. 20
- Scherzo no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 31
- Scherzo no. 3 in C sharp minor, op. 39
- Scherzo no. 4 in E major, op. 54
- Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 35
- Sonata no. 3 in B minor, op. 58
- Allegro de concert, op. 46
- Andantino for piano in G minor, B.117
- Barcarolle in F sharp major, op. 60
- Berceuse, op. 57
- Boléro, op. 19
- Bourrées, B.160
- Cantabile in B flat major, B.84
- Ecossaises for piano, op. 72 no. 3
- Fantaisie-impromptu in C sharp minor, op. 66
- Fantasie in F minor, op. 49
- Fugue in A minor, KKIVc/2
- Funeral March in C minor, op. 72 no. 2
- Impromptu no. 1 in A flat major, op. 29
- Impromptu no. 2 in F sharp major, op. 36
- Impromptu no. 3 in G flat major, op. 51
- Largo in E flat major, B.109
- Mazurka in A flat major, B.85
- Mazurka in A minor, B.134, "Notre temps"
- Mazurka in A minor, B.140, "Émile Gaillard"
- Mazurka in B flat major, B.73
- Mazurka in C major, B.82
- Mazurka in D major, B.4
- Mazurka in G major, B.39
- Mazurkas, op. 6
- Mazurkas, op. 7
- Mazurkas, op. 17
- Mazurkas, op. 24
- Mazurkas, op. 30
- Mazurkas, op. 33
- Mazurkas, op. 41
- Mazurkas, op. 50
- Mazurkas, op. 56
- Mazurkas, op. 59
- Mazurkas, op. 63
- Mazurkas, op. 67
- Mazurkas, op. 68
- Moderato in E major, B.151, "Feuille d'album"
- Nocturne in C minor, B.108
- Nocturne in C sharp minor, B.49, "Lento con gran espressione"
- Nocturne in E minor, op. 72 no. 1
- Nocturnes, op. 15
- Nocturnes, op. 27
- Nocturnes, op. 32
- Nocturnes, op. 37
- Nocturnes, op. 48
- Nocturnes, op. 55
- Nocturnes, op. 62
- Nouvelles études, B.130
- Polonaise-fantaisie in A flat major, op. 61
- Polonaise in A flat major, B.5
- Polonaise in B flat major, B.3
- Polonaise in B flat minor, B.13, "Adieu à Guillaume Kolberg"
- Polonaise in F sharp minor, op. 44
- Polonaise in G flat major, B.36
- Polonaise in G minor, B.1
- Polonaise in G sharp minor, B.6
- Polonaises, op. 26
- Polonaises, op. 40
- Polonaises, op. 71
- Prelude in A flat major, B.86
- Prelude in C sharp minor, op. 45
- Rondo in C major, op. 73
- Rondo in C minor, op. 1
- Rondo in E flat major, op. 16
- Rondo à la Mazur in F major, op. 5
- Sonata no. 1 in C minor, op. 4
- Sostenuto in E flat major
- Souvenir de Paganini, B.37
- Tarantelle in A flat major, op. 43
- Variation on a March by Bellini, B.113 Part of the collective work Hexaméron
- Variations on a German Air, B.14
- Variations on a Theme by Hérold, op. 12
- Waltzes, op. 34
- Waltzes, op. 64
- Waltzes, op. 69
- Waltzes, op. 70
- Waltz in A flat major, B.21
- Waltz in A flat major, op. 42
- Waltz in A minor, B.150
- Waltz in A minor, B.150
- Waltz in E flat major, B.46
- Waltz in E flat major, B.133, "Sostenuto"
- Waltz in E flat major, op. 18, "Grande valse brillante"
- Waltz in E major, B.44
- Waltz in E minor, B.56
Orchestral
- Piano Concerto no. 1 in E minor, op. 11
- Variations on La ci darem la mano, op. 2 For piano and orchestra
- Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, op. 22 For piano and orchestra
- Fantasy on Polish Airs, op. 13 For piano and orchestra
- Krakowiak, op. 14 For piano and orchestra
- Piano Concerto no. 2 in F minor, op. 21
Vocal
- Czary, B.51 Song
- Dumka, B.132 Song
- Polish Songs, op. 74
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