Fryderyk François Chopin (Polish Fryderyk [Franciszek] Chopin, sometimes Szopen; fr. Frédéric [François] Chopin; February 22 or March 1, 1810, village of Željazów Wola, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland - October 17, 1849, Paris, France) is an outstanding Polish composer and pianist of French origin.

Born "Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin", baptized "Fridericus Franciscus Choppen" on April 23, 1810, he took the French variant "Frédéric-François" when he left Poland for Paris at the age of 20. In Polish texts, the surname is sometimes written as Szopen.

Fryderyk Chopin was born on February 22, 1810 in the village of Želazova Wola near Warsaw in the Duchy of Warsaw. His father, Nicolas Chopin (1771-1844), a French emigrant from 1787, served as a governor and a school teacher of French; mother, Teklya Yustyna Kryzhanivska (1782-1861), was brought up in a noble family and was the housekeeper of Countess Ludvika Skarbek. Chopin's parents got married in 1806, after the birth of their son, the family moved to Warsaw.

Even as a child, Fryderyk showed bright musical abilities; at the age of seven he began to learn to play the piano, and in the same year a small polonaise composed by him in G minor was published. He received his first professional piano lessons, which lasted from 1816 to 1822, from the famous Czech pianist and cellist Wojciech Zhivny. Chopin soon became a favorite of the aristocratic salons of Warsaw.

Wilhelm Wurfel (born in 1791 in Bohemia) took care of Chopin's further development. This famous pianist and professor at the Warsaw Conservatory gave Chopin valuable (albeit irregular) lessons in organ music and possibly piano. During the years 1823-1826, Chopin studied at the Warsaw Lyceum, where his father was a professor. In the autumn of 1826, the young musician began to study music theory, figured bass and composition with Joseph Elsner (born in 1769 in Silesia) at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1831, he left Poland for Vienna, and later settled in Paris, where he spent a significant part of his life.