| − | Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, [[Poland]], to a father who was a French national and a Polish mother. The family later moved to Warsaw when Chopin's father was offered a job teaching French. Chopin was a child prodigy, and through his father's connections with other intellectuals and aristocrats, he was able to travel outside of Poland at an early age to give concerts. This culminated in a series of concerts in [[Vienna]] in 1830, which were greeted with acclaim. During this sojourn, however, the November Uprising broke out in Poland, and Chopin found himself stranded in Vienna. He wandered through [[Munich]] and Stuttgart, before finally settling in [[Paris]], where he would remain on and off for the rest of his life. | + | Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, [[Poland]], to a father who was a French national and a Polish mother. The family later moved to [[Warsaw]] when Chopin's father was offered a job teaching French. Chopin was a child prodigy, and through his father's connections with other intellectuals and aristocrats, he was able to travel outside of Poland at an early age to give concerts. This culminated in a series of concerts in [[Vienna]] in 1830, which were greeted with acclaim. During this sojourn, however, the November Uprising broke out in Poland, and Chopin found himself stranded in Vienna. He wandered through [[Munich]] and Stuttgart, before finally settling in [[Paris]], where he would remain on and off for the rest of his life. |
| | Chopin quickly made for himself a good living teaching piano, and made friends among the aristocracy, as well as among the intellectual and musical elite of the French capital. He also played many concerts in aristocratic salons, and continuously composed ground-breaking piano works. He most closely identified with Polish dance forms, which found an eager audience among Parisians, who sympathized with the Polish revolutionary cause. | | Chopin quickly made for himself a good living teaching piano, and made friends among the aristocracy, as well as among the intellectual and musical elite of the French capital. He also played many concerts in aristocratic salons, and continuously composed ground-breaking piano works. He most closely identified with Polish dance forms, which found an eager audience among Parisians, who sympathized with the Polish revolutionary cause. |