He was born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin in the village of Zelazowa Wola, Poland, to a Polish mother and French expatriate father. Hailed as a child prodigy in his homeland, Chopin left for Paris at the age of 20. In Paris, he made a career as a performer and teacher as well as a composer, and adopted the French variant of his name, “Frédéric-François”. He had a turbulent 10-year relationship with the French writer George Sand (Baroness Dudevant) from 1837 to 1847. Always in fragile health, he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 39.

Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the piano, and published little music that did not involve it. His compositions are widely considered to be among the pinnacles of the piano’s repertoire. Although his music is among the most technically demanding for the instrument, Chopin’s style emphasizes poetry, nuance, and expressive depth rather than mere technical display. He invented some musical forms, but his most significant innovations were within existing structures such as the piano sonata, waltz, nocturne, étude, prelude, ballade and polonaise. His works are often cited as among the mainstays of Romanticism in nineteenth-century classical music.