I
6
December
1816
-
9
September
1828
.
LOCATION:
Warsaw, Szafarnia, Żelazowa Wola, Duszniki Zdrój, Sanniki
NB Poland did not exist as such at this time, divided into three 'partitions' under the rule of Russia, Prussia and Austria. Warsaw was capital of the Congress Kingdom under Russian tutelage
Chopin, Fryderyk (Fritz, 'Jakub', 'Mikołajek', 'Pichon(ek)')
Born in 1810 in Żelazowa Wola, grew up in Warsaw. Taught piano by Żywny, composition by Elsner. Attended secondary school (Lyceum) and conservatory (Main School of Music). Holidays spent on the family estates of his schoolfriends, at the Dziewanowskis' in Szafarnia and the Pruszaks' in Sanniki, where he encountered traditional customs and music. In Warsaw, attended concerts and operas. Poor health. First performances and compositions. Opp. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7/4 and 8 (begun).
FAMILY
Mikołaj [Nicolas] Chopin (1771-1844), Fryderyk Chopin's father (Papa), born in Lorraine. In 1787 (together with the family of Adam Weydlich, steward-administrator of the Marainville estate belonging to Count Michał Jan Pac), he left for Poland. An intelligent, receptive and well-educated young man, with time he became a highly esteemed tutor to families of the Polish gentry, including Ludwika and Kacper Skarbek in Żelazowa Wola and Warsaw. It was in their service that he met Justyna Krzyżanowski, whom he wed in 1806, in Brochów. The couple had four children: the daughters Ludwika, Izabella and Emilia, and the son Fryderyk.
In 1810, Mikołaj started working as a teacher in various schools, beginning with the Warsaw Lyceum. At the same time, from 1810 to 1837, the Chopins ran one of the most highly regarded boarding schools in Warsaw; the boarders became Fryderyk Chopin's closest friends.
Mikołaj Chopin never returned to France and became fully attached, including emotionally, to his adopted homeland.
Justyna Chopin, née Krzyżanowska (1782-1861), Fryderyk Chopin's mother (Mama). During the first years of the nineteenth century, probably due to the death of her father, she left the family home and moved to the estate of Kacper and Ludwika Skarbek at Żelazowa Wola, where she probably helped keep house. Thanks to the Skarbeks, Justyna met the tutor to their children, Mikołaj Chopin.
Justyna was very close to her son. In the recollections of those around her, she comes across as a devoted wife and mother, gentle, good, patient and pious, taking care to preserve the Polishness of her family and home.
Ludwika Chopin (Ludwina, Ludka) (1807-1855), Fryderyk's elder and closest sister. Together with her daughter (also Ludwika), she was the only member of the composer's family to be with him when he died (she travelled to Paris at his request and looked after him during his final months). After his death, she took care of his affairs. She brought Chopin's heart back to Warsaw, in accordance with his dying wish, and did a great deal to set his manuscripts in order.
Ludwika was endowed with musical and literary talents. She wrote and published several books (some with her sisters), mainly for children, and in 1848 also Krótkie wiadomości z nauk przyrodzonych i niektóre ważniejsze wynalazki [A digest of scientific knowledge and some major discoveries]. Published in 1841 was Krótki zbiór życia ś. Weroniki [A short life of St Veronica], translated by Ludwika from the Italian.
In 1832, she married Józef Kalasanty Jędrzejewicz (not a happy union, particularly during the final years), with whom she had four children; today, Ludwika's descendants are the Chopin family's only heirs.
Izabella Chopin (Izabelka) (1811-1881), Fryderyk's younger sister. Like her siblings, she received an excellent education and was musically and artistically gifted. With her sister Ludwika, she wrote the two-volume Pan Wojciech czyli wzór pracy i oszczędności [Mr Adalbert, or A model of industry and thrift], reissued many times. In 1834, Izabella married Antoni Barciński; it was a childless marriage.
Self-sacrificing, modest and hardworking, she came to take care of her elderly parents and later her widowed mother, as well as the under-age son of her elder sister Ludwika on the latter's death. Active within the community, she was also committed to national affairs. During the 60s, on her mother's death, Izabella inherited the family souvenirs left by Fryderyk Chopin (a large part of that collection was destroyed during a revenge campaign undertaken by the Russians in 1863; it was then that Russian soldiers threw Chopin's piano out of the window of Izabella's flat - an occurrence immortalised in verse by the Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid).
Emilia Chopin (Emilka) (1812-1827), the youngest of the Chopin siblings. Extant recollections extol her charm, wit and distinguished literary talent (among those to praise her verse were Count Fryderyk Skarbek, himself a talented writer and eminent statesman, and the esteemed writer Klementyna z Tańskich Hoffmanowa). Emilia and her brother wrote the comedy Omyłka, czyli mniemany filut [The error, or The supposed rake], which the children prepared and performed in 1824 for Mikołaj Chopin's name-day. Together with her sister Ludwika, she also wrote the novel Ludwik i Emilka. Powieść moralna dla dzieci z pism Salzmana wytłumaczona i do polskich obyczajów zastosowana [Louis and Emily. An edifying children's tale from the writings of Salzman, translated and adapted to Polish morals and customs]. Emilia died prematurely, at the age of fourteen, from tuberculosis.
Zuzanna Bielska (Zuzia) (1803-1869), the beloved niece of Justyna Chopin, whom she helped keep house. Zuzia lived with the Chopins in Warsaw in 1824 and stayed with them more than once in subsequent years. In 1845, she resided with Fryderyk's mother and sister, Izabella Barcińska, with whom she also lived after Justyna Chopin's death until the end of her life.
FRIENDS
Białobłocki, Jan (Jaś, Jal, Jalek, Jasiek) (1805-1828), a close friend of Fryderyk Chopin; from 1816 to 1823, he attended the Warsaw Lyceum and boarded at the Chopins'. From 1823, he studied law and administration at the Royal University of Warsaw, but his poor health prevented him from completing the course.
Białobłocki was artistically and musically talented: he played the piano, sang in a choral-instrumental group and took painting lessons. He spent a lot of time with Fryderyk Chopin during the summer holidays of 1824 and 1825, when Fryderyk was staying at the Dziewanowskis' in Szafarnia and Jaś on his family estate in nearby Sokołowo.
Jan Białobłocki died at the age of twenty-three, probably from tuberculosis of the knee bone.
Dziewanowski, Dominik (Domuś) (1811-1881), a schoolfriend of Fryderyk's and a resident of the Chopins' boarding school in Casimir Palace. Fryderyk spent the summer holidays of 1824 and 1825 on Domuś's family estate in Szafarnia (he wrote letters to his family in Warsaw in the form of a daily newspaper, which he titled Kurier Szafarska). Dominik studied in Warsaw and Berlin. He was a highly regarded lawyer and a distinguished participant in patriotic and political life, having previously taken part in the November Uprising. His daughter, Cecylia, became the wife of Mateusz Ciechomski, brother of Ludwik Ciechomski, who was married to Fryderyk Chopin's niece, Ludwika Jędrzejewicz.
Kolberg, Wilhelm (Wiluś) (1807-1877), a good friend of Fryderyk Chopin, the eldest of several children of Karolina and Juliusz Kolberg, brother of Oskar. When Juliusz obtained a professorship of the Royal University of Warsaw, from 1820 the Kolbergs were neighbours of the Chopins in an annexe of Casimir Palace. Wilhelm was trained as a cartographer, metrologist and construction engineer, specialising in roads and bridges; he was a participant in the November Uprising and subsequently an active and respected citizen and patriot.
Mentioned among the works of Chopin dedicated to Kolberg are the Mazurka in A flat major, Op. 7 No. 4 and the Waltz in B minor (Op. 69 No. 2). Fryderyk composed the 'Farewell' Polonaise in B flat minor especially for Wiluś.
Matuszyński, Jan (Jaś) (1808/9-1842), one of Fryderyk's closest friends. Matuszyński was musically gifted and trained in music as a child; ultimately, however, in line with the family tradition, he studied medicine in Warsaw and Tübingen. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Paris, where he lived with Chopin for a while (1834-1836). For several years, Matuszyński tried to cure Fryderyk's illness. Unfortunately, in 1842, he contracted tuberculosis himself and died soon afterwards, after being moved by Chopin into George Sand's apartment at 16 Place Pigalle. As the writer later mentioned in a letter to Pauline Viardot: 'a Polish friend, a doctor, an old schoolfriend of Chopin's, died in our arms after a slow and excruciating agony, which caused poor Chopin such suffering as if he had experienced it himself'.
Pruszak, Konstanty (Kostuś, Kot, Kocio) (1808-1852), a good friend of Fryderyk's from the Warsaw Lyceum and a boarder with the Chopins. He took part in the November Uprising and after its defeat worked at the Bank of Poland and elsewhere. In 1845, he inherited the family estate of Sanniki, where many years earlier he had been visited by the young Chopin.
Woyciechowski, Tytus (1808-1879), a landowner, a close friend of Fryderyk Chopin during their youth; he continued to exchange letters with the composer after the latter's departure from Poland. From 1818, Tytus was a pupil of the Warsaw Lyceum and a boarder at the Chopins'. On completing his studies, he returned to the family estate of Poturzyn, which he began running in 1829.
In 1830, Woyciechowski accompanied Fryderyk Chopin on a journey to Vienna, but he returned home on learning of the outbreak of the November Uprising.
Chopin dedicated to Tytus his Variations, Op. 2, whilst the latter kept souvenirs of his friend until his death: in 1873 he donated a bust of the composer to the Warsaw Music Society, and in 1876, via the intermediary of Izabella Barcińska, he made his letters available to Chopin's biographer Maurycy Karasowski.
OTHERS
Barciński, Feliks Antoni (1803-1878), a mathematician, in 1825 a tutor at the Chopins' boarding school; in subsequent years, having undertaken educational travels, he wrote a dozen or more books on accounting and arithmetic. In 1834, he married Izabella Chopin; they enjoyed a harmonious marriage until his death, at the age of seventy-five. The Barcińskis had no children of their own, but, on the death of Ludwika and Józef Kalasanty Jędrzejewicz, Antoni became the legal guardian of his wife's nephew, Antoni.
Brzezina, Antoni (d. 1831), a publisher, from 1822 owner of a music shop on Miodowa Street in Warsaw, a lithographic workshop, an engraver's atelier and then a printing press. Active as a publisher for almost ten years, he issued a total of 612 scores, as well as books, music textbooks, lithographic prints, maps, articles and periodicals; he also sold musical instruments. Brzezina published two compositions by Fryderyk Chopin: the Rondo in C minor, Op. 1 and the Rondo a la mazur in F major, Op. 5.
Dziewanowski family: Juliusz and Honorata (parents), Ludwika, Józefa (daughters), Dominik (son, see above).
The father of the family, Juliusz Dziewanowski (1779-1854), was a cousin of one of Mikołaj Chopin's boarders, Piotr. Juliusz was owner of the estate in Szafarnia where Fryderyk Chopin spent two summer holidays. In 1834, Dziewanowski was a witness at the wedding of one of Fryderyk Chopin's sisters, Izabella, and Antoni Barciński.
Another important figure in this family was Juliusz's brother, Jan Nepomucen Dziewanowski (1782-1808). Probably ca. 1798, Jan Nepomucen's tutor was Mikołaj Chopin. A soldier and patriot, Jan Dziewanowski secretly left Warsaw ca. 1806 to join the troops of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. In 1808, he took part in the Battle of Somosierra, and he was decorated as a hero by Napoleon, while still on the battlefield, with the Legion of Honour. Dziewanowski was the only Polish participant in the battle to be mentioned in the bulletin of Napoleon's army. He died several days later in Madrid from his wounds.
Jan Nepomucen was the godfather of Ludwika Chopin.
Elsner, Józef (1769-1854), a Polish composer and teacher (his ancestors, who hailed from Sweden, settled in Poland during the seventeenth century). He taught Fryderyk Chopin harmony, counterpoint and composition at the Main School of Music (1826-1829). Elsner made a huge contribution to the development of cultural life and musical education in Warsaw, from the founding of the Drama School, through the opening (in accordance with his principles regarding the reform and development of musical schooling) of the School of Music and Drama (later divided into separate schools of music and of drama), to the founding of the Main School of Music under his direction. Elsner was also Director General of National Music, assessor to the Board of Theatres and All Dramatic and Musical Spectacles in the Kingdom and even a correspondent for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung and (in 1803) founder of his own music engraving atelier. Chopin dedicated his Sonata in C minor, Op. 4 to Elsner.
Jędrzejewicz, Józef Kalasanty (1803-1853), a doctor of philosophy, master of law and administration and social activist. Born in Warsaw, he completed his schooling at the Warsaw Lyceum (in 1824) before graduating from the Royal University of Warsaw and the Jagiellonian University of Cracow. In 1828, he accompanied Count Fryderyk Skarbek and Eustachy Marylski (author of valuable recollections of Fryderyk Chopin's youth) on an academic journey around Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Flanders, France, England, Switzerland and Austria, acquiring membership of international associations. In 1832, he married Ludwika Chopin. They had four children, but their union was not a happy one. Jędrzejewicz died suddenly in 1853.
Kurpiński, Karol (1785-1857), a Polish composer, conductor and music teacher, alongside Józef Elsner an outstanding figure in the musical life of Warsaw at that time. Initially a conductor, he subsequently combined that work with the posts of director at the National Theatre, lecturer at the Drama School and later the School of Music and Drama, director of the Singing School and editor of a music weekly (the Tygodnik Muzyczny, for one year, from 1820); he also wrote books and reviews. He composed almost thirty stage works, as well as symphonic, chamber and solo compositions. On 17 March 1830, he conducted the first performance of Fryderyk Chopin's F minor Concerto.
Skarbek, Fryderyk (1792-1866), count, son and heir to the owners of Żelazowa Wola, Ludwika and Kacper Skarbek. According to the Chopin family tradition, he was Fryderyk Chopin's godfather.
Skarbek, a future eminent statesman, professor of the Royal University of Warsaw, economist, historian, author of successful novels, plays and memoirs (written in 1878 and first published in full in 2009), began his education under the tutorship of Mikołaj Chopin at Żelazowa Wola (from 1802). Throughout his life, he maintained close and sincere relations with the Chopins, holding his first teacher, Mikołaj, in high regard.
Żywny (Živný), Wojciech (Vojt?ch) (1756 or 1760-1842), Fryderyk Chopin's only piano teacher (from 1816 to 1821); it was Żywny who inspired in Fryderyk a love of the music of Mozart.
Żywny, of Czech origins, received a comprehensive training as an instrumentalist (besides piano, he also mastered the violin and the organ) and a composer (he also studied harmony and counterpoint). He spent most of his life in Warsaw, where he made his living from countless piano lessons; besides Chopin, his most illustrious pupil, he also taught Fryderyk's sisters, Jan Białobłocki, Dominik Dziewanowski and Tytus Woyciechowski. Żywny was universally liked, and fortune bound him particularly closely to the Chopin family, with which he spent most of his time, as practically a member of the household. Chopin held his teacher in high regard and dedicated to him the childhood Polonaise in A flat major.
