Frédéric François Chopin, in Polish Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (surname pronounced [ʃɔpɛ̃] in French, usually /ˈʃoʊpæn/ in English, sometimes written Szopen in Polish; 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849), was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music.
Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, in the Duchy of Warsaw, to a French-expatriate father and Polish mother. He was considered a child-prodigy pianist. At the age of 20, on 2 November 1830, he left Warsaw for Austria, intending to go on to Italy. The outbreak of the Polish November Uprising 27 days later, and its subsequent suppression by the Russian Empire, led to his becoming one of many expatriates of the Polish Great Emigration.
In Paris, Chopin made a comfortable living as a composer and piano teacher, while giving few public performances. Though an ardent Polish patriot, in France he used the French versions of his given names, and traveled on a French passport, possibly to avoid having to rely on Imperial Russian documents. After ill-fated romantic involvements with Polish women, from.