Chopin: From Warsaw to Paris

Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, 46 kilometres west of Warsaw. The composer and his family used 1 March as his birthday, now generally accepted as the correct date. Six months later, in October 1810, the family moved to Warsaw, so the village was only the start. Today the birthplace is a museum, and in summer pianists play his music inside the family home for an audience outside.

Para el visitante: Summer concerts are played inside the house for listeners outside in the park.

In 1827–30 Chopin lived with his family in the south annex of this Warsaw palace, his last home before exile. In March 1830 he premiered his Piano Concerto No. 2 in the city, and on 2 November 1830 he set out "into the wide world, with no very clearly defined aim, forever". The Chopin Family Parlor on the second floor has period furniture and memorabilia of the composer and is open to the public.

Para el visitante: The palace stands across the street from the University of Warsaw; the parlor is open to the public.

Chopin and George Sand spent "a miserable winter" on Mallorca, from 8 November 1838 to 13 February 1839, in a cell of three large rooms and a garden in this former monastery. His health was poor, and he joked that three doctors had told him he was dead, dying and going to die. Still, he completed his Preludes Op. 28 here. The cell is now a museum with his Pleyel upright piano.

Para el visitante: The Chopin and George Sand museum is in cell 4 of the charterhouse.

From May 1839 Chopin and Sand spent most summers at her estate in Nohant, in central France, until 1846. Away from Paris he found quiet, productive days and composed many works, including the Polonaise in A♭ major, Op. 53. When Delacroix stayed, he wrote that a gust of music from Chopin at work sometimes wafted through the garden window. The house is now a museum, and the sound boards Sand installed to muffle the piano can still be seen.

Para el visitante: The house museum has a large garden and park.

In September 1849 a seriously ill Chopin took an apartment at the Hôtel Baudard de Saint-James on the Place Vendôme in Paris. His sister Ludwika came from Warsaw to be with him, and friends played music at his request. He died a few minutes before 2 a.m. on 17 October 1849, aged 39.

Precisión del lugar: The pin marks the Place Vendôme; the source names the hotel but not its exact building on the square.

Chopin's funeral was delayed almost two weeks until 30 October 1849, held at the Church of the Madeleine, with Mozart's Requiem sung. The procession to Père Lachaise was led by Prince Adam Czartoryski, and the Funeral March from his Piano Sonata No. 2 was played at the graveside. His tombstone, by Clésinger, shows the muse Euterpe weeping over a broken lyre.

Para el visitante: The cemetery is in eastern Paris.

Chopin asked for his heart to go home. His doctor removed it and preserved it in alcohol, and in 1850 his sister Ludwika took it back to Poland. In 1882 an urn with the heart was immured in a pillar of this church on Krakowskie Przedmieście, a few steps from the Czapski Palace. Each 17 October, during the Chopin Competition, Mozart's Requiem is performed at a mass here.

Para el visitante: The church stands opposite the main University of Warsaw campus.