Chopin is piano poetry. Nearly his entire output is written for this single instrument, and no one before or since has created such an intimate, songful, expressive piano language.
Genres: mazurkas and polonaises (rooted in Polish dance, elevated to high poetry); nocturnes (night reflections, borrowed from John Field but brought to perfection); ballades; scherzos; études (Op. 10 and 25 — technical masterpieces that are at once poetry); two piano concertos; Sonata No. 2 with the Funeral March. Chopin emigrated from Poland under imperial occupation to Paris; his heart was brought back to his homeland and is still preserved in the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw. His relationship with the writer George Sand is a legend of the Romantic era.
