By Mursi Saad El-Din Poland is celebrating the bi- centennial of its famous composer Chopin, and Cairo has been chosen as one of three cities in which to mark the event. On this occasion the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zadrojewski came to Egypt to inaugurate, with the Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny, a "Chopin at the Pyramids" concert given by musicians from Warsaw. The Polish minister has a background of political struggle as a member of the Independent Students Union and Solidarity movement which helped to topple the communist regime. I should not need to introduce Chopin to the reader since his works are known all over the world and regularly presented by symphony orchestras, including our own. But a survey of this great artists achievement would not be amiss. Chopin was born in 1810 to a French father and a Polish mother. His father worked as a teacher of the French language in one of the secondary schools in Warsaw. At that time Poland was occupied by three powers: Russia, Austria and Prussia. Warsaw was under the yoke of Russia. Chopin's parents were amateur musicians, and it is hardly surprising that their son should start to learn piano at the age of six. After finishing secondary school, Chopin joined the Institute of Music of Warsaw University where he learnt musical composition. Then he started giving piano concerts at the homes of aristocratic families. In 1829 Chopin graduated from the Institute of Music and he soon developed a reputation in Vienna as well as Warsaw, where he was described as "the Polish Mozart." It was in Warsaw that Chopin imbibed nationalist values and while he was not interested in politics as such, his music reflected patriotic feeling. It was as a young man in Warsaw that he composed his first work, Polonaise and Mazurka, based on traditional Polish dance tunes. Due to his success with works written mostly for piano and orchestra, he was asked to produce Polish operas like Mozart's Don Giovanni, but he refused and concentrated on his compositions, which formed into what can be regarded as Polish music. One of the critics tried to describe the influences on his music: first the traditional Polish popular tunes which he learnt during his travels in the countryside, and secondly what was known as the brillante style known in Vienna. It was a style based on rhythm and the virtuosity of the player. He was also greatly influenced by the technique of Paganini. During his stay in Vienna Chopin heard about the Polish people's revolt against the Russian colonialists. He wanted to travel to Warsaw to join the revolutionaries, but he could not. Instead he expressed his feeling in, as he himself put it, tears and the piano. From Vienna Chopin went to Paris which became his second home and where he produced his best music. Chopin was described as being "pure as a tear." While he had unlimited imagination, he embraced traditional values. He was close to his family and felt great nostalgia for Poland, worrying greatly about the sufferingof his people. His work reflect his loneliness as an immigrant. There was a feeling of bitterness. He once said that in spite of the many friends surrounding him, he felt lonely, lonely, lonely. When Chopin refused to produce an opera, he was asked to produce an oratorium, a religious form of music. But again he declined and continued with his style of compositions for piano and orchestra. His music was described by critics as "clear and spiritual" and he was known for two unique forms: nocturnes and preludes; which became popular with other composers. These two forms were known for their shortness, not lasting more than thirty seconds. The preludes reflected diverse emotions which were summed up as happiness, love, the feeling of beauty tinged with sadness, pessimism and above all nature.
