Window choppin’…

The life and compositions of Ferderic Chopin can be summed up with the quote “music isn’t music if you can’t dance to it”. When you really think about it, dancing is a response to music or sound. Sound can be so moving that it causes you to physically or emotionally respond. Chopin had a way of making sure that all of his music moved people both physically and emotionally.

Chopin was a very emotional and unique individual. It has been speculated that he spent most of his life in a tumultuous relationship with a woman, which would be quite the contribution to his life of emotional turmoil. In fact, he and Amantine Lucille Aurore Dupin were said to have spent time in a dark castle while Chopin was battling a stint of tuberculosis. 

Chopin’s emotions heavily poured into his music. His sensitivity is what helped him gain traction in the upper echelon of society. Onlookers would praise his privacy and demur but astonishing talents, which ultimately led to him being invited to perform all over the world. As he toured Europe presenting his works, he grew fond of performing two particular forms of composition, the Mazurka and the Waltz. 

Chopin grew fond of composing and performing mazurkas due to his Polish background. As he was touring these vastly different worlds, performing mazurkas kept him rooted in his feelings for his homeland and his people.

Almost all of his compositions were written for solo piano, which can be seen as a sincere reflection of his feelings of isolation and loneliness. Chopin choosing to compose almost entirely for the piano opened the door for brilliant pianists to follow him and allowed greater understanding of the pianist, and even artist, in itself. 

Chopin was in his prime during a time where emotional strife was swept under the rug. Even so, Chopin still chose to write music that was both physically and emotionally moving for himself and so many others. He essentially used his composition as his therapy, his music was nothing more that what truly resides in him. His Waltz compositions are still some of the most popular waltzes to date. Chopin’s Waltzes have remained timeless because they make your heart flutter with romantic quality while you float around the room in a three step fashion.

To take it a step further than that, Chopln had a way of having your thoughts dancing around your mind. He was an intriguing individual, to his partner, to his friends, and to the world in itself.