Polska muzyka: Fryderyk Chopin
Polish Music: Frederic Chopin
Poland's greatest composer: a child prodigy from Żelazowa Wola who left at twenty and, exiled in Paris after the November Uprising, poured Polish folk music and longing for his lost homeland into his polonaises and mazurkas — his heart smuggled back to Warsaw after his death.
You will practice: Adverbial participles (pisząc, stając się), the passive (uważany jest, zostało przewiezione), za + accusative in uważać za, and mimo że for concession.
Words to know
Skim these before you read — they carry the story. Tap the star to add one to your saved words.
- kompozytorcomposer
- pianistapianist
- twórcacreator, author
- fortepian(grand) piano
- wieśvillage, countryside
- talenttalent
- utwórpiece, composition
- opuścićto leave, to abandon
- ojczyznahomeland
- powstanieuprising
- emigracjaemigration, exile
- sławafame
- tęsknotalonging, yearning
- niepodległośćindependence
- serceheart
- spoczywaćto rest, to lie
- muzykamusic
Did you get it?
5 quick questions — no grades, just a comprehension check.
1. Where was Chopin born?
2. Why could Chopin never return to Poland?
3. Where did he spend the rest of his life?
4. What did Chopin draw on in his compositions?
5. What happened to Chopin's heart after his death?
Too hard? Pick an easier text in the Polish reading library. Understanding most of a text without translations is the goal — struggling through is not.