Chopin was a Polish-born French composer and pianist.  Some regard him as the greatest of all composers of piano music.
     Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw--the son of a French father and a Polish mother.  His given name was Fryderyk Chopin, but he preferred to use the French name Frédéric.
     Precocious as a composer, Chopin began to study the piano at the age of 4.  When he was 8, he played at a private concert in Warsaw.  Chopin published his 1st composition when he was 7 years old and gave his 1st concerts as a piano virtuoso at age 19 in Vienna.  After 1831, Chopin lived in Paris, where he became noted as a pianist, teacher, and composer.  Chopin died of tuberculosis in Paris.
     Chopin's influence on other composers is notably seen in the Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt, German composer Richard Wagner, and French composer Claude Debussy.  Chopin's published compositions include 55 mazurkas, 27 études, 24 preludes, 19 nocturnes, 13 polonaises, 3 piano sonatas, concertos both for piano and orchestra, a cello concerto, and 17 songs.