Friederike Chopin (1810-1849) was born in Geriazowa-Wolya, a suburb of Warsaw. His father, Nicolas Chopin, was a Frenchman who moved to Poland and participated in the 1794 uprising against the invaders led by Polish national hero Kostyuszko (1746-1817). After the failure of the uprising, he was displaced to Warsaw and lived by teaching and other work. Later, he opened a boarding school in his home. From then on, he stopped taking part in politics and just lived in peace. However, he maintained a relatively close relationship with the cultural community in Warsaw, which had an impact on young Chopin's intellectual growth.
From an early age, Chopin showed exceptional musical talent, not only playing the piano, but also composing music. At the age of seven, he published his first work, the Polish Dance in g minor. At the age of eight, he gave his first public performance. From then on, Chopin was often invited by the Warsaw nobility to play as a piano "prodigy" and became a favorite in the aristocratic salons. 1825, the Russian Tsar Alexander I, who came to Warsaw to participate in the Polish Parliament, also attended one of Chopin's recitals and gave Chopin a diamond ring. These experiences of Chopin's childhood and adolescence contrasted sharply with what happened to him thereafter.
As a teenager, Chopin was also exposed to the folk music of Polish towns and villages, as well as the progressive ideas of many Polish patriots. from 1826 onwards, Chopin formally became a student at the Conservatory of Music, where he socialized with a number of teachers and students who were progressive in their thinking. During these years, Chopin often went on vacation to the countryside. He admired the natural beauty of his homeland, listened to peasants singing and playing music, and attended country dances and weddings. The culture of the motherland, the music of the national folk, was sown like a seed in Xiao Zheng's heart.
Poland at the end of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century, is a disaster-prone country, but also a singable nation. 1772, 1793, 1795, Russia, Prussia, Austria, the three powerful countries of the weak Poland carried out three times partition. They partitioned Poland's territory, enslaved the Polish people, and tried to kill the Polish people's national consciousness so that they could rule for a long time. But, as a Polish patriotic song says: "Poland will not perish!" The Polish people have always maintained an indomitable patriotic struggle. The progressive, national Romantic literature of the first half of the nineteenth century contributed greatly to this struggle. At that time, a number of patriotic thinkers and literary artists emerged in Poland. They advocated that literature and art should have a distinctive national identity, a love of people and freedom, and a rich emotional color. These ideas had a profound influence on Chopin. Chopin's friend, the Polish poet Witwicki, wrote in a letter to Chopin: "You only have to remember often that national, national, and finally national ...... Just as Poland has the nature of the motherland, so also the melodies of the motherland. The mountains, the forests, the rivers, the meadows all have their own inner, homeland sound, though not every heart can hear it." He repeatedly instructed Chopin to work "for the people, through the people!" Chopin's teacher, Elsner, also told Chopin, "You are a genius, write for the people, write for the people, write for the people, write for the people." All this had a profound influence on Chopin's later intellectual development.
In 1830, the July Revolution broke out in France. It not only struck down the feudal rule of the reactionary "Holy Alliance" in Europe, but also gave impetus to the revolutions in various European countries. At this time, the patriotic forces in Poland were revitalized, and the secret patriotic organizations were also active. In spite of the arrests and suppression by the reactionary authorities, new uprisings were brewing. It was in such a volatile situation that Chopin's relatives, teachers and friends urged Chopin to go abroad to further his education and to gain honor for his country through his musical compositions and performances. For this reason, Chopin was in the midst of a fierce ideological struggle, patriotism made him want to stay; careerism made him want to leave. He wrote: "I am still here and I cannot decide on the day of my departure. I feel that if I leave Warsaw I shall never return to my native land. I am convinced that I am going to say goodbye to my homeland forever. Ah, how sad it is to die where one was not born!" The pain of parting, the foreboding of an eternal farewell tormented him, but the encouragement, instructions and expectations of his friends and relatives encouraged him and made him realize that it was his duty to go abroad and sing the praises of his country and his own people with his art, and for this reason he was thrilled again. He wrote: "I am willing to sing everything that is inspired by angry, spirited emotions, so that my work (at least part of it) can serve as a tribute to John (referring to the seventeenth-century Polish siege-king John III Sobieski. He had defeated the Turkish invaders, regained his country's frontiers, and expelled the Turks from Vienna and Hungary, and made a name for himself in Europe.) The war songs sung by the troops of the The war songs are extinct, but their echoes will still ripple across the Danube."
On November 2, 1830, a chilly wind added to the autumnal mood of Warsaw, and even more to the pain of parting. The farewell friend exhorted the departing Chopin with these words:
"Wherever you linger and wander, may you never forget your fatherland, never cease to love it with a warm, loyal heart."
Chopin accepted a silver cup full of the motherland's soil from his friends, which symbolized that the motherland would always accompany him in a foreign country. What moved Chopin even more was that when his family and friends arrived at his birthplace, Wolya, on the outskirts of Warsaw, his teacher, Elsner, and some of his classmates at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, were waiting there and sang a choral piece that Elsner had written especially for the farewell of Chopin:
"Thy talent grows out of our land, may it flourish everywhere, and may it be used to the fullest. May it flourish fully everywhere, ...... Show the glory of your homeland through the sound of your musical art, through our mazubek, krakowiak (Polish folk dances)."
Such a farewell scene, such exciting words, so that Chopin mixed feelings, in boarding the journey could not help but lose his voice and cry.
A few weeks after Chopin left the country, the Warsaw Uprising broke out and succeeded. It is said that when Chopin heard the news of the Warsaw Uprising, he was so excited that he intended to go back to his country, but it was his close friend Titus who urged him not to go back. When Titus set out to return to China to participate in the uprising, Xiao had hired a stagecoach to catch up, ready to return with him, but the result was unable to catch up and returned to Vienna. At this point, Shaw Jung wrote in a letter to his friend Matuszynski in Warsaw: "Why can't I phase you together, why can't I be a drummer!!!"
The Warsaw Uprising of November 1830, once a brilliant victory, drove away the Russian invading forces and established Poland's own regime. This heroic performance of the Polish people shook the whole of Europe and was a glorious page in the history of European revolutions. However, less than a year after the victory, the fruits of the uprising were cut short due to the betrayal of the great Polish nobility. The Russian invasion army recaptured Warsaw and the Warsaw Uprising was suppressed. On another cold and windy day, Chopin was on his way to Paris when he heard the news of the fall of Warsaw. At that moment, he was filled with indignation and grief. In a letter to Titus, he expressed his immense indignation against the invaders: "...... O God, you exist! Exist without giving them retribution! You don't care about the crimes of the Muscovites, or, or you yourself are a Muscovite! My poor father! My noble father, perhaps he is starving and he has no money to buy bread for his mother! My sister may be suffering from the furious ravages of licentious Moscow scum! Paskiewicz (Paskiewicz was the Russian commander-in-chief who sacked Warsaw.) , this bitch of Mo Tomb Lev, occupying the garrisons of those head monarchies of Europe!? The Muscovite will be the ruler of the world?...... Ah! Why can't I kill even one Muscovite!" Although Chopin's father repeatedly advised him not to abandon his Russian "citizenship" (at that time, all residents of Poland under Russian rule were "Russian"), Chopin never renewed his Russian passport in Vienna, and willingly gave up his "Russian citizenship" to become a "stateless" Polish exile. At the same time, Chopin did not use the letter of introduction from Grand Duke Konstantin, the reactionary leader of the Russian occupation of Warsaw, to the Russian ambassador in Vienna, and henceforth made a complete break with the Russian rulers. The Polish National Independence Movement, symbolized by the Warsaw Uprising, was like a big school of patriotism, which created countless Polish national fighters and nurtured a number of Polish national artists. When he first left Warsaw, the twenty-year-old Chopin was still quite na?ve, but after the Warsaw Uprising, the twenty-one-year-old Chopin was already a young man. However, after the Warsaw Uprising, Chopin, at the age of twenty-one, had been hardened by the disasters of his country. His love for the motherland and hate for the enemy, also became stronger.
When Chopin arrived in Paris in 1831, France was in the period of constitutional monarchy "July Dynasty", the dynasty represents the interests of the financial bourgeoisie, money rules everything in society. France's political, economic and cultural center - Paris, despite a long tradition in culture and art, one of the cultural and artistic centers of Europe, but, as Chopin said in Paris: "Here is the most brilliant luxury. There is the lowest vileness, the greatest mercy, the greatest sin; every action and word has to do with flowers and willows; shouts, hoots, rumbles and filth are so numerous as to be unimaginable, so that you become bewildered in this paradise, that is to say, who does not ask how a man lives ......." In order to gain a foothold in Paris, Chopin socialized with the upper class. Circumstances dictated that he "had to live in the circle." Early in 1833, Chopin wrote in a letter to Duo Zevanovsky: "I have entered the uppermost circles of society, associating with ambassadors, dukes, ministers, ...... for it is from here that noble interest is said to proceed; if someone had heard you at the English or Austrian embassies, you would at once have had a greater talent; if the Duchesse de Vaudemont had sheltered you, you would at once have played better." From this it is clear that Chopin was dissatisfied in Paris, despite the false rapidity of his opening and success. The luxury and falsehood of the upper classes could not comfort the bitter heart of an exile full of hatred for his country, and at the end of 1832 he wrote a letter to the Minister of Fine Arts in Paris: "A Pole who could no longer endure the miserable fate of his country, and who has been in Paris for nearly a year - this is all the title I can use to introduce myself to Your Excellency - respectfully submits to you a letter of congratulations from the Minister of Arts. all the titles I can use to introduce myself to Your Excellency - respectfully requests you to make the hall of the Conservatoire available to him for his concert on January 20 ......" . This letter clearly shows who Chopin was in Paris and how he felt. His association with the upper echelons of society increasingly led him to feel "the great emptiness which the wig conceals." Only with the Polish expatriates did he feel close to them. In 1836, the violinist Lipinski, known as the "Polish Paganini" (Paganini was the most outstanding Italian violinist of his time and was famous throughout Europe), was invited to perform at a concert in Poland. When the violinist Ripinski, known as "Paganini" (Paganini was the most outstanding Italian violinist of his time and was famous throughout Europe), came to perform in Paris, Chopin actively prepared for him, and the only thing he asked for was that he give a concert for the Polish diaspora. Ripinski initially agreed, but later refused because he was going to play in Russia soon and it would be offensive to the Russians if he played for the Polish diaspora in Paris. This feigned "reason" infuriated Chopin, who angrily broke off his friendship with Lipinski, and in 1837 the Russian ambassador to France solicited Chopin, in the name of the Tsar's court, to accept the position and title of "His Majesty's Chief Pianist", stating that this was because Chopin had not taken part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1830. Chopin categorically refused and rightly replied: "Although I did not take part in the revolution of 1830, because I was too young at the time, my heart is with the revolutionaries." This firm answer, this arrogant defiance, gave the tyrant of the North a resounding slap in the face. From this series of performances, it is clear: Chopin did not disappoint the expectations and instructions of his family, friends and teachers, and he always kept a heart loyal to his country.
Chopin soon became famous in Paris. He earned high respect through his compositions, performances and piano teaching. In Paris, "entertainment became debauchery, where gold... Nastiness and blood are mixed together." Although Chopin was disgusted with the upper class society in Paris, his activities were mostly confined to the upper class salons, plus he gradually led a superior life, which inevitably had a certain influence on his ideology, making him lack of understanding and sympathy for the bourgeois democratic revolution and social reforms, which was also related to his close relationship with many Polish aristocrats and their children. 1831, after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising in 1831, Chopin was a member of the Polish Nationalist Party and a member of the Polish Nationalist Party, which was the first Polish Nationalist Party in the world. After the failure of the Warsaw Uprising in 1831, there were several thousand Poles in exile, two thirds of whom were in France, and most of them were intellectuals of aristocratic origin. Politically speaking, these people could be roughly divided into two groups, the conservatives and the democrats. The conservatives favored a constitutional monarchy and were not enthusiastic about social reforms, while the democrats advocated the immediate emancipation of the peasants and opposed the dictatorship. Chopin did not recognize any of the Polish democrats in Paris. From the point of view of ideology, Chopin was more inclined to the conservatives. Therefore, Chopin was rather indifferent to the bourgeois democratic revolutions that broke out in France in 1830 and 1848. These are all reflections of Chopin's class limitations.
Since then, Chopin had settled in Paris and traveled only occasionally; in 1835, he went to Carlsbad, Germany, to meet his parents for a short time. In Dresden that same year, he met Maria, the daughter of Polish aristocrat W?odzinski, with whom he fell in love. The following year, Chopin proposed to her, but was rejected by Maria's father because Chopin was not an aristocrat, but only "a musician" and not a match for her. 1836 end, Chopin met the French writer Georges Sand, about a year later, they cohabited, and only until 1847 did they break up. Chopin often socialized with famous artists in Paris, such as the Polish poet Mickiewicz, the French writer Hugo, Balzac, the German poet Heinrich Heine, the French painter Delacroix, the Hungarian composer and pianist Liszt, the Italian composer Bellini, the French composer Berlioz, etc. These literary artists, although each of them had their own personalities, had a very good relationship with Chopin and his wife. These literary artists, despite their style, personality is often inconsistent, but their interactions with each other, so that each other in the thought and creation of inspiration, which is a kind of comfort to Chopin's spiritual life. However, Chopin spent the second half of his life in Paris, is still full of inexpressible loneliness. The feeling of being a guest in another country and having no one to turn to, always made him sad. From the mid-1930s onwards, Chopin suffered from frequent illnesses, and his health was quite debilitating. Public concerts, despite the money and honor they brought, were not his favorite. His greatest pleasure was still to be with his fellow Poles. He said: "Just as one cannot refuse to give medicine to a sick person, I never refused to play for Mickiewicz and Norwich, and whichever of them came, I would sit down and play, sometimes without saying a word at all. More than once my music has caused them to shed tears, and are not these tears the highest cross (meaning reward) of the national artist?" In 1841, Chopin wrote in a letter to a friend, "Will we still return to the motherland? Or are we completely mad? I don't worry for Mitskevivin and Sobonsky - these are strong heads, and these heads won't lose their sanity and strength after a few more exiles in the diaspora." These words show the suffering of Chopin as a "voluntary political exile" in a foreign country. However, he preferred to suffer the pain rather than go back to Poland as a "submissive" under foreign rule.
In 1848, he was invited to visit England and Scotland to perform, and although he was warmly welcomed, he resented the fact that "the English judge everything in pounds, and they like art only because it is an extravagance." While in England, he wrote: "In my heart, I no longer want to do anything, ...... My heart feels sad, but I anesthetize myself, ...... I feel a dull bitterness, ...... I have not experienced true happiness for a long time. I felt nothing at all; I simply lived like a plant, waiting patiently for my end." Chopin's last years thus completed the end of his personal tragedy. However, Chopin always remembered his motherland and the future revival of his country. 1846 saw the outbreak of the Krakow Uprising in Poland, which was followed by the failed Peasants' Revolt in Galicia. These events had aroused Chopin's enthusiasm, and he cheered in his letters, "Things are going extremely well in Cracow"; "The peasants of Galicia have given an example to the peasants of Wolen and Podol; terrible things cannot be avoided, but in the end, Poland will be a strong, good Poland, in short, Poland." In March, 1848, the Principality of Poznań revolted, which was suppressed by Prussia in April. Chopin also expressed great regret at this: "I ...... know all the terrible news about the Duchy of Poznan. It is nothing but misfortune. I have lost all hope." Chopin's deep concern for the fate of the motherland and his passionate longing for the future of the motherland reflect Chopin's unswerving love for the motherland. It was this love that led Chopin to state his last wish: "I know that Paszkiewicz will never allow my body to be brought back to Warsaw, so at least bring back my heart". When Chopin died in 1849, his body was buried, as he had instructed, in the cemetery of Père Rushitz in Paris, next to the grave of his favorite composer, Cellini. The clay of his homeland, in the silver cup brought from Warsaw, was sprinkled over his grave. Chopin's heart was transported back to his homeland, where it was buried in the earth that nurtured him. Chopin's compositions