Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1886 — Chopin as a Boy. [ARTICLE]

Chopin as a Boy.

Chopin, alone of all the musicians, has been immortalized through his pianoforte music. If all the works that have ever been written for- the piano were to be swept away, his compositions would of-tlfemselves inspire one through all the drudgery that is necessary to master the instrument. Frederic Chopin was born on March 1, 1809, at a little village near Warsaw. The child’s genius was apparent in his earliest years; when scarcely more than a baby, he was so sensitive that he wept on hearing music; and hf.began to compose before he was old enough to write out the notes. He was placed under the tuition of Albert Zwyny, who was delighted with his little pupil’s progress, and in his ninth year he gave his first concert. Frederick was generally full of high spirits, and often amused liiniself by playing little practical jokes, sometimes being joined by his sister Emily. This sister gave as rare promise of being great in literature as Frederic in music, but, unfortunately, she died when only a young girl. Chopin had a talent for seizing the ludicrous and placing it on paper; and* liis power of caricaturing on the piano was much like Schumann’s. It is said that once, when his father’s pupils were becoming very boisterous, Chopin entered the room and seated himself at the piano. »He imitated a band of robbers breaking into a house, their escape, and retreat to the woods; as the music grew fainter the pupils became drowsier and drowsier until they were all fast asleep. I —Agatha Tunis, in St Nicholas.