Chopin, Frederic

sho-pan', Frederic (1809-1849), a noted Polish pianist. A native of Warsaw. His later years were spent in Paris. He was a brilliant player and the composer of a large number of instrumental pieces for the piano. A list of about eighty of his compositions, including a famous funeral march and many polonaises or Polish dance tunes, is well known to pianists. The peasant music of Poland proved a rich field for Chopin to whom the musical world is as truly indebted for finding, arranging, and recording Polish dancing music as the literary world is to the compiler of the traditions of Robin Hood or of the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table.