Nicolas Chopin

Nicolas Chopin
Nicolas Chopin

Mikołaj Chopin. Photo of lost painting by Ambroży Mieroszewski, 1829
Born 15 April 1771(1771-04-15)
Marainville, Vosges, Frances
Died 3 May 1844(1844-05-03) (aged 73)
Warsaw, Poland
Cause of death Tuberculosis
Spouse Justyna Krzyżanowska
Children Ludwika Chopin, later Jędrzejewicz
Frédéric Chopin
Izabella Chopin
Emilia Chopin
Parents François Chopin
Marguerite Deflin

Nicolas Chopin (in Polish: Mikołaj Chopin; 15 April 1771 – 3 May 1844) was a teacher of French language in Prussian-and Russian-ruled Poland, and the father of the Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin.[1]

Contents

Life

Justyna Chopin, née Krzyżanowska, wife of Nicolas and mother of Frédéric

Nicolas Chopin was born in the village of Marainville, (Vosges department), in the province of Lorraine, France. He was the son of François Chopin, a wheelwright, and Marguerite, née Deflin.[2] A 20th-century account of his background describes him as born into a family of French peasants;[3] a discredited 19th-century version of his ancestry suggested that he was the illegitimate son of a Polish nobleman serving Stanisław Leszczyński.[4][5]

Arriving in Poland at the end of 1787, he began his teaching career at girls' boarding schools and in private households. For an extended period until July 1810, he was a private tutor in the household of Countess Ludwika Skarbek at Żelazowa Wola. In October 1810, he was appointed "collaborator" (kollaborant) and, in June 1814, regular professor of French language at the Warsaw Lyceum. He held this post until the lyceum's closure in 1833.[6]

Apart from these positions, in 1812 he was appointed professor of French language at an Elementary Artillery and Engineers School (Szkoła Elementarna Artylerii i Inżynierów), and in 1820 at a Military Training School (Szkoła Aplikacyjna Wojskowa), where he was active until the school was closed down in 1831.[7]

In 1833, with the reorganization of the educational system following the November 1830 Uprising, Chopin was to have received a position at a planned Pedagogical Institute. While awaiting the new appointment, he received half-wages and served to evaluate French-teacher candidates and French works proposed for use in public schools. In 1837, when the Institute failed to materialize, Chopin retired. Nevertheless, he continued on the Examining Committee till 1841. In addition, for a brief period in 1837, he was lecturer in French language at the Roman Catholic Clerical Academy (Akademia Duchowna) in Warsaw.[8]

Nicolas Chopin died of tuberculosis in Warsaw on 3 May 1844, aged seventy-three.[9] He is interred with his wife at Powązki Cemetery.

Family

On 2 June 1806, Chopin married Justyna née Krzyżanowska. The couple produced four children: Ludwika, born in 1807, who married Józef Jędrzejewicz; their only son, Fryderyk Franciszek, born in 1810, who was a pianist and composer best known as Frédéric Chopin; Izabella, born in 1811, who married Antoni Barciński; and Emilia, born in 1813, who died of tuberculosis in 1827, at the age of fourteen.[10]

Assessment

Nicolas Chopin was, according to Wincenty Łopaciński, a man of great intelligence and culture, universally esteemed, a model teacher, solicitous of his brilliant son Frédéric. Though he had come from a foreign country, with time he became completely polonized and "undoubtedly considered himself a Pole."[11]

Notes

Frédéric Chopin's sister, Ludwika Jędrzejewicz. She gave him his first piano lessons and smuggled his heart (concealed under her skirts) back to Warsaw.
  1. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  2. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  3. ^ Benita Eisler (2004). Chopin's Funeral. Random House. p. 22. ISBN 9780375708688. http://books.google.com/books?id=aVDwQ7fL71cC&pg=PA22&dq=nicolas+chopin+peasant&lr=&as_brr=3&cd=7#v=onepage&q=nicolas%20chopin%20peasant&f=false. 
  4. ^ Janet Green (2008). Musical Biographies. READ Books. p. 137. ISBN 9781409778677. http://books.google.com/books?id=Bhs1sd815IgC&pg=PA137&dq=nicolas+chopin+natural+son+nobleman&lr=&as_brr=3&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  5. ^ Frederick Niecks (1890). Frederick Chopin, as a man and musician, Volume 1. Novello and company. http://books.google.com/books?id=gjY5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA15&dq=nicolas+chopin+natural+son&lr=&as_brr=3&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  6. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  7. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  8. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  9. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  10. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 426.
  11. ^ Łopaciński, "Chopin, Mikołaj," p. 427.

References


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