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The surviving portraits of Chopin show him as a thin-faced, sensitive man, typical of the early
Romantic artist with his dark flowing hair and delicate features. A daguerreotype of 1849, the
year of his death, gives a sadder impression. Desperately ill with consumption, haggard and
drawn, he gazes at the camera with sullen and disappointed eyes, and a heavy great-coat
hangs on his wasted frame. He looks much older than his 39 years. It was a tragic end for a
composer who had enjoyed the excitement of being an infant prodigy, who has published his
first work at the age of seven, and who had been acclaimed in many of the finest musical
centres of Europe.
When Chopin was born in 1810 near Warsaw the piano was still emerging from infancy and was
an imperfect instrument. Because the iron frame had yet to be invented the string tension was
much less than in today's pianos and consequently the tone was lighter and weaker. But
improvements were underway, among them the softening of hammers to produce a less
percussive effect. Chopin exploited this and every other transformation, following on from,
among others, the Irishman John Field. It was Field who invented the piano nocturne in 1812,
an entirely fresh form which eventually found its true home with Frederic Chopin. The new
pianos allowed a delicacy of touch that turned the instrument into a singing voice, subtle,
shaded, and capable of the evocative harmonies that give Chopin's Nocturnes their
characteristic expressive beauty. It has been argued, with justification, that just as the
newly-transformed piano influenced Chopin's style, so Chopin's experimentation with the
widening possibilities of the instrument influenced its development. His earliest Nocturnes, Op
9, appeared in 1832 and he returned to the form repeatedly throughout his short life.
Robert Dearling.
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