Frederic Chopin

A child prodigy and one of the most prolific figures from the Romantic era, Frederic Chopin was a pianist and composer who honed his musical prowess as a student at the Warsaw Conservatory. Though his virtuosic skill and instrumentally dense compositions may suggest otherwise, Chopin believed that a musician's depth of field and nuance were just as important as his or her perceived talent. He lent this belief to his avant-garde compositions, popularizing emotional scherzos and the mazurka and rising as one of the world's first musical icons. While he was born in Poland, Chopin lived in France for the majority of his life and wrote nearly his entire catalog of work in Paris, where he is among the many celebrated artists buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.