Great Composers 1oz Silver Proof Coin Series Frédéric Chopin 1810 - 1849 

Born in Poland 200 years ago on 1 March 1810, Chopin was a gifted child performer who played his first public concert at the age of eight.  After studying at the Warsaw Conservatory, he embarked on an extensive European tour, arriving in Paris in 1831, where he earned enough income as a piano tutor to spend the majority of his time composing.  Chopin’s mazurkas, polonaises, preludes, études, nocturnes, ballades, impromptus and many other works have been described as the richest and most influential legacy left to the piano repertoire by any individual composer.  He died on 17 October 1849, a victim of tuberculosis.