Frédéric François Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish comp… Read Full Bio ↴Frédéric François Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation."

Chopin was born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin in the Duchy of Warsaw and grew up in Warsaw, which in 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising. At 21, he settled in Paris. Thereafter—in the last 18 years of his life—he gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his other musical contemporaries (including Robert Schumann). In 1835, Chopin obtained French citizenship. After a failed engagement to Maria Wodzińska from 1836 to 1837, he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer Amantine Dupin (known by her pen name, George Sand). A brief and unhappy visit to Majorca with Sand in 1838–39 would prove one of his most productive periods of composition. In his final years, he was supported financially by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. For most of his life, Chopin was in poor health. He died in Paris in 1849 at the age of 39, probably of pericarditis aggravated by tuberculosis.

All of Chopin's compositions include the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some 19 songs set to Polish lyrics. His piano writing was technically demanding and expanded the limits of the instrument: his own performances were noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Chopin invented the concept of the instrumental ballade. His major piano works also include mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, études, impromptus, scherzos, preludes and sonatas, some published only posthumously. Among the influences on his style of composition were Polish folk music, the classical tradition of J.S. Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, and the atmosphere of the Paris salons of which he was a frequent guest. His innovations in style, harmony, and musical form, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.

Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest superstars, his (indirect) association with political insurrection, his high-profile love-life, and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era. His works remain popular, and he has been the subject of numerous films and biographies of varying historical fidelity.

Over 230 works of Chopin survive; some compositions from early childhood have been lost. All his known works involve the piano, and only a few range beyond solo piano music, as either piano concertos, songs or chamber music.

Chopin was educated in the tradition of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart and Clementi; he used Clementi's piano method with his own students. He was also influenced by Hummel's development of virtuoso, yet Mozartian, piano technique. He cited Bach and Mozart as the two most important composers in shaping his musical outlook. Chopin's early works are in the style of the "brilliant" keyboard pieces of his era as exemplified by the works of Ignaz Moscheles, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, and others. Less direct in the earlier period are the influences of Polish folk music and of Italian opera. Much of what became his typical style of ornamentation (for example, his fioriture) is taken from singing. His melodic lines were increasingly reminiscent of the modes and features of the music of his native country, such as drones.

Chopin took the new salon genre of the nocturne, invented by the Irish composer John Field, to a deeper level of sophistication. He was the first to write ballades and scherzi as individual concert pieces. He essentially established a new genre with his own set of free-standing preludes (Op. 28, published 1839). He exploited the poetic potential of the concept of the concert étude, already being developed in the 1820s and 1830s by Liszt, Clementi and Moscheles, in his two sets of studies (Op. 10 published in 1833, Op. 25 in 1837).

Chopin also endowed popular dance forms with a greater range of melody and expression. Chopin's mazurkas, while originating in the traditional Polish dance (the mazurek), differed from the traditional variety in that they were written for the concert hall rather than the dance hall; as J. Barrie Jones puts it, "it was Chopin who put the mazurka on the European musical map." The series of seven polonaises published in his lifetime (another nine were published posthumously), beginning with the Op. 26 pair (published 1836), set a new standard for music in the form. His waltzes were also written specifically for the salon recital rather than the ballroom and are frequently at rather faster tempos than their dance-floor equivalents.

Dwojaki koniec
Frédéric Chopin Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Rok się kochali a wiek się nie widzieli
Zbolały serca oboje na pościeli
Leży dziewczyna w komnacie swej na łożu
A kozak leży w dąbrowie na rozdrożu

O nad dziewczyną rodziny całej płacze
A nad kozakiem och siwy orzeł kracze
Oboje biedni wnętrz ności ogień pali

Cierpieli srodze cierpieli i skonali

O nad dziewczyną po siole dzwony biją
A nad kozakiem po lesie wilki wyją

Kości dziewczyny grób zamkna'ł poświęcony
Kości kozaka bieleją na wsze strony

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Frédéric Chopin's song "Dwojaki koniec" depict a tragic love story. The first verse describes a couple who were in love for a year but were separated for a long time. Both of their hearts are in pain, lying in bed. The second verse portrays the girl lying in her room, while the "kozak" (a Cossack soldier) is lying in the forest at a crossroads. The girl's family grieves over her, and the old eagle (symbolizing wisdom and experience) cries over the kozak. Both of them suffer greatly and eventually die.

These lyrics convey a sense of melancholy and longing. The imagery of the girl and the kozak suffering separately highlights the tragic consequences of their separation. The mention of the girl's family grieving and the eagle crying over the kozak suggests that their love was deeply valued and mourned by those around them.

Overall, "Dwojaki koniec" presents a poignant narrative of love, pain, and tragedy, showcasing Chopin's ability to convey emotion through his music.

Line by Line Meaning

Rok się kochali a wiek się nie widzieli
They loved each other for a year but didn't see each other for a lifetime

Zbolały serca oboje na pościeli
Both their hearts were in pain on their beds

Leży dziewczyna w komnacie swej na łożu
The girl lies in her room on her bed

A kozak leży w dąbrowie na rozdrożu
And the Cossack lies in the grove at the crossroads

O nad dziewczyną rodziny całej płacze
Oh, the whole family weeps over the girl

A nad kozakiem och siwy orzeł kracze
And over the Cossack, the grey eagle caws

Oboje biedni wnętrz ności ogień pali
Both poor, the fire of longing burns inside

Cierpieli srodze cierpieli i skonali
They suffered severely, they suffered and died

O nad dziewczyną po siole dzwony biją
Oh, village bells toll over the girl

A nad kozakiem po lesie wilki wyją
And over the Cossack, wolves howl through the forest