Frederic Chopin
Born: February 22, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland
Died: October 17, 1849 in Paris, France
Nationality: French
Occupation: Composer
Romanticist composer; b. Zelazowa Wola (near Warsaw), Poland, Feb. 22, 1810; d. Paris, Oct. 17, 1849. He was the second of four talented children of Nicolas Chopin, a transplanted, vaguely Voltairean French schoolman, and Justyna Krzyzanowska, a Polish woman of refinement and piety. At age seven Frédéric first played in public and had his first piece published—a polonaise set in type in the print shop of Visitation parish, where the boy later was organist. He studied at Warsaw Conservatory under J. K. Elsner (1769–1854), a prolific composer who fostered the boy's unusual creative impulses.

Joseph Haydn
Born: March 31, 1732 in Rohrau, Austria
Died: May 31, 1809 in Vienna, Austria
Nationality: Austrian
Occupation: Composer
Master composer of the classical period; b. Rohrau, lower Austria, March 31, 1732; d. Vienna, May 31, 1806. When the seven-year-old boy's pleasant voice and general musicality aroused the interest of the imperial Kapellmeister Reutter, Haydn was taken to the court chapel at Vienna. As a choirboy he received a thorough general and musical education, with opportunities to sing in the cathedral and at court. In 1749 his voice changed and he was unceremoniously dismissed. Hard years followed.

Romanticism and Realism Musicians