The following post is by Robin Rausch, Senior Music Specialist.
If you have ever been a serious student of the piano, you have likely had the pleasure of playing Frédéric Chopin’s music. He wrote almost exclusively for the instrument; his ballades, etudes, mazurkas, nocturnes, polonaises, preludes, scherzos, and waltzes count among the staples of the pianist’s repertoire. Even if you don’t play the piano, you’d recognize Chopin from the movies. Who could forget Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces (1970) playing Chopin’s Prelude, op. 28, no. 4? And Chopin’s Mazurka, op. 17, no. 4, provided the haunting backdrop to Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers (1972). Chopin is one of the few composers whose life has been the subject of popular film: Impromptu (1991) with Hugh Grant as the composer and Judy Davis as writer George Sand, his lover.
According to birth records, Frédéric Chopin was born on February 22, but Chopin considered March 1 his birthday. Whatever the day, the year was 1810, making this year the 200th anniversary of his birth. To commemorate the occasion the Library of Congress has scanned the Chopin manuscripts in its collections: three letters and three music manuscripts.
The Library is not particularly known for its Cho