Frédéric François Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849)

Born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, the Polish composer and pianist was one of the foremost virtuosos of his day and the creator of a body of work that remains at the heart of the piano repertoire.

After completing his musical education at the Warsaw Conservatory, the 20-year-old Chopin left Poland one month before an uprising was brutally suppressed by Russian forces. In 1831 he settled in Paris, where he became a celebrity and a habitué of the salon. The composer and critic Robert Schumann was among the first to recognise Chopin’s unique talent, famously writing, “Hats off, gentlemen – a genius!”

Chopin’s genius lay in blending an improvisatory and harmonically wayward style with elaborately ornamented melodies inspired by bel canto opera singing. He specialised in atmospheric miniatures – nocturnes, preludes, barcarolles, waltzes – and works with a distinctly Polish national character: polonaises, mazurkas and ballades. These latter became a potent symbol of Polish identity and resistance.

In 1838 Chopin began a relationship with the writer George Sand (the pen name of Aurore Dupin). They travelled to Mallorca that winter, where their unmarried cohabitation caused a scandal among the island’s deeply religious inhabitants.

They remained together for nearly a decade, sharing a home in Paris and spending long summers at Sand’s country estate at Nohant – among the most productive years of Chopin’s life. Their relationship ended in 1847, two years before his death.

Through the 1840s Chopin’s health continued to deteriorate, though he kept composing and even toured Britain, making his last public appearance at the Guildhall in London on 16 November 1848, playing at a benefit concert for Polish refugees.

He died of tuberculosis in Paris in October 1849 and was buried at Père Lachaise cemetery. His heart is interred at the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw.