Today is Polish composer Frédéric Chopin` s 202nd anniversary.

Frédéric Chopin was born in Warsaw in 1810 to a French father and Polish mother. He taught himself how to play piano, and later studied with pianist Wojciech Zywny who introduced him to Viennese Classicism and the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Chopin attended the High School of Music in his home town of Warsaw, where he was formally trained in musical composition. His 20s brought him internal conflict between his love of his country and his distaste for the provincialism of it. His career demanded a tour throughout Europe, though internally he doubted and resented the public pianist-composer life and the extreme attention it brought. While performing in Vienna, Chopin learned of the uprising against the Russian rulers taking place in Warsaw. His instinct was to return home, but his friends convinced him otherwise.

His return to Poland was rendered impossible after the victory of the Russian rulers. Chopin moved on to Paris, where he felt an overwhelming sense of coming home. Not only was he entranced with the city's cultural variety, but there were many Polish émigrés who had come to Paris to flee from the war in their own country.

While in Paris, he met and became friends with many artists, including Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. But it was Frédéric Kalkbrenner who helped Chopin coordinate his first concert in Paris in 1832. Chopin settled into a routine of composing, performing (mostly in salons), and teaching over the years, and he developed a healthy reputation in Paris.

Chopin was in poor health in 1838 when he and novelist George Sand developed an intimate relationship. They decided to spend the winter months of 1838-1839 together in Majorca. Unfortunately, the accommodations were not sufficient during the harsh winter, and Chopin's health deteriorated further.

Chopin spent his summers in the early 1840s in Sand's home in Berry, composing work and struggling with his health. As his health worsened, his work slowed. Sand published an autobiographical novel called Lucrezia Floriani in 1846, which painted an unflattering view of Chopin. This caused a great deal of strife in the relationship, and by the end of 1846, Chopin's love affair with Sand was over.

He went on tour to the British Isles in the last year of his life. When he returned to Paris, word spread that he was dying. Friends and acquaintances flocked to his bedside, causing Pauline Viardot to cynically remark that "it is considered de rigueur for Parisian ladies to faint in Chopin's room." Sand's daughter Solange and Chopin's pupil Adolphe Gutman were present during his final moment.