Frédéric Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk [Franciszek] Chopin, sometimes Szopen; French: Frédéric [François] Chopin; 1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He was one of the great masters of Romantic music.
Chopin was born in the village of Zelazowa Wola, in the Duchy of Warsaw, to a French-expatriate father and Polish mother, and in his early life was regarded as a child-prodigy pianist. In November 1830, at the age of twenty, he went abroad; following the suppression of the Polish November Uprising of 1830?1831, he became one of many expatriates of the Polish "Great Emigration."
In Paris, Chopin made a comfortable living as a composer and piano teacher, while giving few public performances. Though an ardent Polish patriot, in France he used the French versions of his names and eventually, to avoid having to rely on Imperial Russian documents, became a French citizen. After some ill-fated romantic involvements with Polish women, from 1837 to 1847 he had a turbulent relationship with the French writer George Sand (Aurore Dudevant). Always in frail health, he died in Paris in 1849, at the age of thirty-nine, of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis.
Chopin's extant compositions were written primarily for the piano as a solo instrument. Though they are technically demanding, his style emphasises nuance and expressive depth. Chopin invented musical forms such as the ballade and was responsible for major innovations in forms such as the piano sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocturne, étude, impromptu and prélude. His works are masterpieces and mainstays of Romanticism in 19th-century classical music. (Collapse)...(Read more)
Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 69, No. 1, is a waltz composed by Frédéric Chopin. It is also called The Farewell Waltz or Valse de l'adieu.
Th...
Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 69, No. 1, is a waltz composed by Frédéric Chopin. It is also called The Farewell Waltz or Valse de l'adieu.
The waltz was originally written as a farewell piece to Maria Wodzińska, to whom Chopin was once engaged. This autographed copy Pour Mlle Marie, given to her in Dresden, Germany, in September 1835, is now in the National Library (Biblioteka Narodowa) of Poland in Warsaw. Another autographed version of the piece can be found at the Conservatoire de Paris, but is considered to be a less refined version. A third is presented as the posthumous edition of Julian Fontana, but has not been substantiated by any known autograph.
The waltz is in A-flat major, with a time signature of 3/4. The tempo is marked at tempo di valse, or a waltz tempo. The beginning theme, marked con espressione, is melancholic and nostalgic, and reaches a small high point with a fast flourish. The second part is marked sempre delicatissimo, or con anima in other versions. It is somewhat more cheerful that the previous theme, but soon gives way to the same first theme. After a second rendition of the first theme is a third theme, marked as dolce, the most playful theme. It leads to another theme with a series of ascending double-stops. This fourth theme is marked poco a poco crescendo, with other editions adding ed appassionato. This leads back to the third, playful theme, and returns back to the beginning with a da capo al fin.
Although originally composed for Piano, this piece has been adapted to Concert (Pedal) Harp
GUITAR
KEYBOARD
STUDIO
PA
LIGHT
DEEJAY
MIC
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