4. His father was French; his mother Polish. 5. At the age of nine he made his first public appearance as a pianist. 6. Many distinguished people welcomed him to Paris. 7. Among them were Liszt, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Heine. 8. His first weeks in Paris were discouraging; his first concert poorly attended. 9. This tempted him to return to Poland. 10. But his friends urged him to remain in Paris. 11. Finally success came. 12. Chopin was described as one who spoke little, especially among strangers. 13. Some of the music forms which he wrote are the nocturne, waltz, mazurka, impromptu, concerto, polonaise, etude. 14. Schumann was one of the first to declare Chopin a genius. 15. Chopin worked hard all his life. 16. But in his last years he suffered from ill-health. 17. Like Milton, Beethoven, Stevenson and Grieg, he kept on with his work, in spite of his illness. 18. Chopin once went to England and Scotland. 19. Chopin was very fond of Bach and urged his pupils to practice Bach pieces every day for the mental drill as well as the drill for the fingers. SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT CHOPIN 1. In what country was Chopin born? 2. In what two great cities did he live? 3. In what year was Chopin born? 4. What other composer was born about the same time? 5. When did Chopin first appear in public? 6. What two works had he already composed when he set out for Paris? 7. Who were some of the people who welcomed Chopin to Paris? 8. Name some of the great cities in which he played. 9. What led Chopin to want to leave Paris? 10. Why did he change his mind and remain there? 11. What great German composer discovered Chopin to be a genius? 12. Name some great writers and composers who kept at work even though they were not in the best of health. 13. In what country was Grieg born? 14. In what city was Mozart born? 15. In what two countries did Handel live? 16. What famous river flows by the City of Warsaw? 17. Name some of the kinds of music that Chopin composed. 18. What music by Chopin have you heard? THE STORY OF FREDERIC CHOPIN Written by............................. On (date)............................. [Illustration: No. 19] Transcriber's Notes: Passages in italics are indicated by _underscores_. Passages in bold are indicated by =equal signs=. Passages in small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS. In the list of composers in the instructions on how to use the book, the "r with a caron" in the name Dvorák was replaced with a regular "r". On page 6, a new paragraph was begun at "Berlioz was the only". On page 7, a quotation mark was added after "a true lover of music." On page 12, in example seven, the period was moved within the closing parenthesis. On page 14, the question mark at the end of question 17 ("Name some of the kinds of music that Chopin composed?) was changed to a period.