Chopin was born March 1st, 1810. Happy 215th birthday to this brilliant composer-slash-pianist!
Chopin was an exclusively piano composer (almost all of his works involve the piano, either solo or with accompaniment). He composed around 230 pieces, and his music is mostly categorized into 9 main genres:
Études (27 pieces) – These are technical studies that go beyond mere exercises and are full of musicality (e.g., Revolutionary Etude, Black Key Etude, Winter Wind).
Nocturnes (21 pieces) – Yeah, the pieces that everyone knows.
Preludes (24 pieces) – Short, atmospheric pieces covering all major and minor keys (e.g., Raindrop Prelude, Prelude in C Minor).
Note: Chopin’s Preludes are definitely not preludes in the traditional sense. Historically, for example in Bach’s age, Preludes really should be followed by something. But Chopin’s Preludes stand alone as self-contained musical statements—in this way, the name Preludes is more like a stylistic placeholder rather than a strict form. It means short, atmospheric pieces that capture a single mood or idea rather than something that necessarily “preludes” another work.
Pretty much Chopin’s Preludes are like brief snapshots of an emotion or state of mind, like Miniature Mood Pieces.
Fun fact: Chopin was inspired by Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, which contains Preludes & Fugues in all 24 major and minor keys.
Mazurkas (59 pieces) – Inspired by Polish folk dances, but transformed into personal, poetic compositions (e.g., Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17 No. 4).
Note: Chopin’s Mazurkas are inspired by Polish folk dances, but they’re much more than just dance music. Unlike, say, Mazurkas in ballet, which are clearly meant for movement, Chopin takes the mazurka motive and transforms it into something personal, poetic, and sometimes even experimental—sometimes making them melancholic, dreamy, or even harmonically adventurous. Some are lively and dance-like, while others feel like nostalgic memories of Poland rather than something you’d actually dance to.
Waltzes (19 pieces)
Ballades (4 pieces) – Narrative, dramatic (and somtimes wondering_ pieces with deep expression (e.g., Ballade No. 1 in G Minor).
Polonaises (16 pieces, including the famous Op. 53 and Op. 40) – Grand waltz based on Polish national dances (e.g., the Heroic Polonaise).
Sonatas (3 major ones) – Full-scale classical sonatas, with Sonata No. 2 featuring the famous Funeral March.
Concertos (2 pieces)
Personally I found Chopin’s ballads and mazurkas a little bit bo`ring — I prefer Chopin at his most dramatic or lyrical or technical in his Etudes and Nocturnes and Polonaises — not when he’s wandering in folk-dance nostalgia or telling long-winded musical stories.
Anyway, if I have to pick one piece to best represent Chopin—his lyricism, poetic intimacy and Polish nationalism—in honor of his birthday, here’s today music recommendation Heroic Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53, played by Vladimir Horowitz,