2010 – Year of Chopin

A chronology of the life and creative output of Frederic Chopin.
1771
Frederic Chopin’s father, Mikołaj, is born on April 15th. Mikołaj’s father, François, was a vineyard owner and a clerk from the village of Marainville in Lorraine. His mother was Marguerite Delfin.
1782
Frederic’s mother Justyna Tekla, a daughter of Jakub and Antonina Krzyżanowski, is born in the village of Długie near Izbica Kujawska.
1787
Mikołaj Chopin arrives in Poland as an assistant to the administrator of Count Jan Michał Pac’s estate in Marainville.
1794
Mikołaj Chopin takes part in the Kościuszko Insurrection.
1806
On June 2nd Mikołaj Chopin marries Justyna Krzyżanowska in the Church of St. Roch in Brochów.
1807
On April 6th Ludwika Marianna Chopin is born in Warsaw (to which the Chopins moved temporarily during the Napoleonic Wars).
1810
On March 1st Frederic Franciszek Chopin is born in Żelazowa Wola. The boy is baptised on April 23rd.
On October 1st Mikołaj Chopin becomes „a collaborator” of the Warsaw Lyceum in the Saxon Palace (the palace no longer exists). The family moves to Warsaw to occupy the right wing of the palace.
1811
On July 9th Justyna Izabela Chopin is born.
1812
On November 20th Emilia Chopin is born.
1814
Mikołaj Chopin is officially nominated professor of the French language of the Warsaw Lyceum. Gradually the Chopins’ house becomes a meeting place for Warsaw’s most prominent artists and scientists.
1816
At the age of six Frederic Chopin begins his piano lessons with Wojciech Żywny. Until now Chopin has been taught by his mother and sister Ludwika who, like all children in the Chopin family, had a musical talent.
1817
The first piece composed by Chopin is published thanks to Father I. J. Cybulski, rector of the Church of the Virgin Mary, who together with Żywny admired Chopin’s play. The church printing house publishes the Polonaise in G minor.
The Warsaw Lyceum moves in to the Kazimierzowski Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście Street. The Chopins live on the second floor in the right extension of the palace.
1818
In January „Pamiętnik Warszawski” (The Warsaw Diary) makes the first mention of Frederic Chopin. In the column entitled „A collection of Polish masterpieces from 1817” the magazine wrote about the publication of the Polonaise in G minor. The author described Chopin’s virtuoso performance as follows: For not only does he play the most difficult pieces on the piano with the greatest of ease, but he has also composed several dances and variations which the musical experts do not cease to wonder at, considering the composer’s young age.
On February 24th at a Benevolent Society soirée organised in the Radziwiłł Palace where the cream of Warsaw’s society would gather, Chopin’s first public performance takes place.   
1819
As a so-called „child prodigy” the young Frederic is invited to play in such aristocratic houses as those of the Duke Czartoryski, Duke Sapieha, and Duke Antoni Radziwiłł. He also plays for the Grand Duke Constantin, a brother of the Tsar, and is invited to the Belvedere Palace.
1821
In April Chopin dedicates to Wojciech Żywny his Polonaise in A flat major with an inscription in his own handwriting: Polonaise son Eleve Frédéric Chopin a Varsovie ce Avril, 1821. The piece dedicated to his beloved tutor becomes a farewell gift. Soon Żywny gives up teaching Chopin as he considers that he is no longer capable of teaching anything new to such an exceptional pupil.
1822
Chopin begins lessons of music theory and composition with Józef Elsner, the founder and director of the Warsaw School of Music which later became the Warsaw Conservatory.
1825
In spring Chopin plays the aeolomelodikon at two charity concerts held in the Evangelical Church. For his outstanding performance Tsar Alexander I, who was present at one of the concerts, gives Frederic a diamond ring.
1826
He spends his holiday with his mother and sisters in Duszniki where they went to cure the ailing health of Frederic and Emilia. Chopin gives two concerts for charity. In autumn he begins his theory of music studies with Józef Elsner, but at the same time he signs for selected lectures at the University of Warsaw.
1827
On April 10th Emilia Chopin dies. The Chopin family move in to the Krasiński Palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście. Frederic spends his holiday in Strzyżewo in the Wielkopolska region. He also stays at the house of Count Radziwiłł in Antonin and makes a sightseeing trip to Gdask. Cho pin’s trips out of town were of great importance for his musical career as he became familiar with Polish folklore, which in turn made his compositions so Polish. Chopin became familiar with almost all regions of Poland – in all he visited 60 towns and cites.
1828
After Chopin completes the second year of his studies in the Warsaw School of Music, Elsner reports: „remarkable talent”. Frederic spends his holiday with the Pruszaks in Sanniki. In autumn he makes his first foreign trip. He takes advantage of musical events organised by the so-called Singakademie, Berlin’s famous institution set up to popularise music, renowned for educating young talents.
1829
He completes his studies at the Warsaw School of Music. Elsner reports: „Particular talent, musical genius”. In July Chopin leaves for Vienna to give two concerts at the Kärntnertortheater. On August 20th „Wiener Theaterzeitung” comments in its re view: He decided to please the audience with music played as music, and with his performance he did manage to overcome difficulties which came as a surprise even here in the country of piano virtuosos.
The year was dominated by Chopin’s love for Konstancja Gładkowska who studied singing at the Warsaw School of Music.
1830
Chopin prepares for his trip to the West. It is a time of farewells to Warsaw, family, home and friends. As it turnes out later Chopin will leave them forever.
On February 7th Chopin performs in his family home the Concerto in F minor with an orchestra directed by Karol Kurpiński himself. On March 17th Chopin performs for the first time in the National Theatre where he plays the Concerto in F minor and the Fantasia in A major on Polish Airs. On September 22nd at home Chopin performs for the first time the E minor Concerto. On October 11th at his farewell concert in the National Theatre, Chopin performs the E minor Concerto publicly for the first time.
Chopin spends his last Polish holiday with Tytus Woyciechowski in Poturzyn in the Lublin region. On his return from the holiday he goes to Żelazowa Wola where his mother and sister stay to rest. He bids farewell to his birthplace.
On November 2nd Frederic leaves Warsaw. He is seen off by people close to him with a cantata composed by Elsner. In the company of Tytus Woyciechowski he leaves for Vienna.
1831
On hearing the news about the outbreak of the November Uprising in Poland, Chopin postpones his departure from Vienna in accordance with the wishes of his family and friends. He gives concerts in Vienna. On July 20th Chopin leaves Vienna for Paris. On July 23rd he plays the Concerto in E minor and the Fantasia on Polish Airs in the Philharmonische Gesellschaft in Munich.
In the beginning of September he travels to Stuttgart where he receives news about the collapse of the Uprising. In the so-called „Dziennik Stuttgardzki” (Stuttgart Diary) Chopin writes about his patriotic feelings, homesickness, and that he misses his family and friends very much. He composes the sketches of the Study in C minor, later known as the Revolutionary.
In late September Chopin arrives in Paris and rents a flat at Boulevard Poissonnière 27. He makes friends with Franciszek Liszt and becomes acquainted with Polish émigrés.
On December 7th Robert Schumann publishes an enthusiastic review in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of the Variations on the Là ci dorem mano theme from Mozart’s Don Giovanni published in Vienna. It is in this review that the renownes composer expresses his admiration of Chopin and the famous exclamation Hut ab, ihr Herren! eine Genie is pronounced.
1832
On February 26th, a couple of months after his arrival in Paris, Chopin makes his Paris debut with 13 other artists in the famous Pleyel salon. Chopin plays the F minor Concerto and Variations op. 2, and takes part in a performance of Kalkbrenner’s Grand Polonaise for 6 pianos. Chopin receives a message from Poland that his sister Ludwika is getting married to Józef Kalasanty Jędrzejewicz.
1833
Chopin becomes a popular personality of Paris’s artistic and social life. The composer’s apartment becomes a focal point for prominent artists and music buffs. Musical soirées held in his apartment are adorned by the presence of Delfina Potocka, famous not only for her beauty, but also for her voice, which was considered one of the finest in Europe. The friendship between Delfina and Frederic soon turns into a love affair. Chopin also makes friends with Eugène Delacroix, the prominent Romantic painter.
1835
On April 26th Chopin plays the Polonaise in E flat major with an orchestra for the first time. He pays a visit to the Wodzińskis in Dresden, where they stopped with their sixteen-year-old daughter Maria whom Frederic knew when she was a child. Maria was talented and well educated. She sang with a beautiful alto voice, played the piano at concerts for charity, painted and drew.
1836
On April 9th Chopin performs at a Liszt concert in Paris. In late July he meets the Wodzińskis in Mariańskie Łaźnie. Together they leave for Dresden. He propses to Maria and is accepted for a trial period on condition. In October Chopin meets George Sand at Liszt’s.
1837
After a month-long exchange of letters between Chopin and Maria Wodzińska and her mother, the relationship becomes unstable and the engagement is broken off. Chopin closes this chapter of his life by making a packet from all the letters from Maria and marking it with an inscription „My sorrow”. On July 10th Chopin visits London for the first time in the company of Camille Pleyel, an influential piano maker and a patron of musicians.
1838
On February 25th Chopin gives a concert in the Tuileries before the Royal family for the first time.
In April, at a musical evening, Chopin receives a card form George Sand and her best friend Marie Dorval: „On vous adore”. During the following months George Sand and Frederic Chopin live through the most passionate period of their relationship. In autumn Chopin and Sand, together with her children Maurice and Solange, leave for Majorca in order to improve the composer’s deteriorating health as well as to strengthen the health of the writer’s son.
1839
In January Chopin sends to J. Fontana in Paris, who is his most trusted friend, twenty four Preludes prepared for publication in Majorca. On October 10th Chopin and Sand with her family return to Paris to rent new apartments located close to each other. They run a common salon.
1844
On May 3rd Chopin’s father dies.
1847
The relationship between Chopin and Sand inevitably fades. July sees the last exchange of letters between the two.
1848
Deprived of summer holiday rest and proper care, the ill composer is no longer able to lead a normal daily life and decides to go elsewhere. On February 16th Chopin gives his last concert in the Pleyel salon. He plays, among others, the Cello Sonata in G minor op. 65.
In April Chopin leaves for London encouraged by Jane W. Stirling, a well-to-do Scotswoman, who still loves her former tutor – a feeling not reciprocated by the composer. On 23rd November he leaves London, seriously ill and exhausted by his over-intensive lifestyle.
On 24th November Chopin is back in his Paris apartment, surrounded by people close to him and Paris doctors.
1849
Chopin attempts to return to normal life, but his condition allowes him neither to teach nor to compose.
On August 9th Chopin’s sister Ludwika arrives in Paris with her husband and daughter at the request of the composer. Once again Chopin changes his address and moves into a luxurious apartment at Place Vendôme 12, where he lives for only three weeks. Until the very last day he is taken care of day and night by Ludwika, Solange, Clésinger, and Delacroix who are always by his bed. On hearing the news that Chopin is dying Delfina Potocka leaves Niece and arrives in Paris.
Frederic Chopin passes away on October 17th, 1849. The funeral takes place in the Church of St. Madeleine and at the Père-Lachaise cemetery on October 30th.