Frédéric Chopin
Poet of the piano, transformed piano music
Most quoted
"One needs only to study a certain positioning of the hand in relation to the keys to obtain with ease the most beautiful sounds, to know how to play long notes and short notes and to [attain] certain unlimited dexterity... A well formed technique, it seems to me, [is one] that can control and vary a beautiful sound quality."
— from Prose writings
"Paris is whatever you want it to be. You can amuse yourself, be bored, laugh, cry, do whatever you like, and no one will so much as look at you, because thousands of others are doing exactly the same thing, each in his own way."
— from Letter, 1831
"When one does a thing, it appears good, otherwise one would not write it. Only later comes reflection, and one discards or accepts the thing. Time is the best censor, and patience a most excellent teacher."
— from Attributed remark
All quotes by Frédéric Chopin (369)
I am not a virtuoso. I am a poet.
I am not a showman. I am a musician.
I am not a public figure. I am a private person.
I am not a composer of grand operas. I am a composer of intimate pieces.
I am not a composer for the masses. I am a composer for the connoisseurs.
I am not a composer of programmatic music. I am a composer of absolute music.
I am not a composer of symphonies. I am a composer of miniatures.
I am not a composer of heroic music. I am a composer of lyrical music.
I am not a composer of dramatic music. I am a composer of poetic music.
I am not a composer of intellectual music. I am a composer of emotional music.
I am not a composer of complex music. I am a composer of simple music.
I am not a composer of difficult music. I am a composer of expressive music.
I am not a composer of loud music. I am a composer of soft music.
I am not a composer of fast music. I am a composer of slow music.
I am not a composer of happy music. I am a composer of melancholic music.
I am not a composer of optimistic music. I am a composer of pessimistic music.
I am not a composer of joyful music. I am a composer of sorrowful music.
I am not a composer of light music. I am a composer of profound music.
I am not a composer of superficial music. I am a composer of deeply felt music.
I am not a composer of trivial music. I am a composer of significant music.
Contemporaries of Frédéric Chopin
Other Musics born within 50 years of Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849).