Over the course of 2010 the French embassy in Sofia and the cultural centre have been celebrating jointly with Polish friends the 200th anniversary of the birth of composer Frederic Chopin.

Numerous festivities have been organised featuring young French and Polish pianists. March 1 say the French embassy launch their special Chopin commmorative stamp, followed later in the month by a special concert by Dina Bensaid at the residence of French ambassador Etienne de Poncins and a special gala dinner attended by many dignitaries from different countries.
People often assume that Chopin was French - he spent half his life in France and is buried in Paris' famous Pere Lachaise cemetery. Yet Chopin was actually born in the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw to a French-expatriate father and Polish mother. Hence for many Poles, Chopin is the embodiment of their nation's spirit. When they listen to his mazurkas and polonaises, they hear not only the strains of Polish folk music, but also nostalgia and patriotism for his homeland.

Poland's Chopin Year 2010 celebrations were launched at midnight on January 1 in his birthplace of Zelazowa Wola, 60km west of Warsaw. A special address by minister of culture and national heritage, Zbigniew Zdrojewski, was followed by a recital from 82-year-old American virtuoso Boris Janis and 14-year-old Polish-born Canadian Jas Lisiecki.

The highlights of Poland's Chopin Year include the "Chopin and His Europe" International Festival in Warsaw (August 2 to 31) and the 14th Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw (October 2 to 23).*

Settling in France
Following the Russian suppression of the Polish November 1830 Uprising, Chopin settled in France as part of the Polish Great Emigration. In Paris he supported himself as a composer and piano teacher, seldom giving public performances. After romantic involvements with several Polish women, from 1837 to 1847 he conducted a relationship with French novelist Amantine Aurore Lucie Dupin, baronne Dudevant, better known by her pseudonym, George Sand.

For the greater part of his life Chopin suffered from poor health. He died in Paris, aged just 39, of tuberculosis.

Most of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument; all of his extant works feature the piano in one way or another. They are technically demanding, but emphasise nuance and expressive depth.

Chopin, according to Arthur Hedley, "had the rare gift of a very personal melody, expressive of heart-felt emotion, and his music is penetrated by a poetic feeling that has an almost universal appeal".

Hedley added that "present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano".

*High-calibre events, commemorating the bicentenary of Chopin's bith, have also been scheduled in major European capitals, Asia and the United States.