Musical tribute to Chopin on death anniversary

A special concert will be held on Thursday at Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church to mark 175 years since the death of Romantic composer Fryderyk Chopin.

A statue of the great Romantic composer Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) in Warsaw's Łazienki Park. Pixabay License

Image by Jacek Dopieralski from Pixabay

The church houses the composer’s heart, which is buried inside one of its pillars.

Chopin’s heart was brought to Poland from Paris by his elder sister Ludwika, after his death on October 17, 1849. It rests in a pillar on the left side of the church’s nave.

This year’s performance coincides with the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition and will feature Mozart’s Requiem in Franz Xaver Süssmayr’s version, arranged for solo piano by 19th-century German virtuoso and conductor Karl Klingworth, according to Poland's Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko will perform the piece on a historical piano from Chopin’s era.

It has long been a tradition to perform Mozart’s Requiem at Holy Cross Church every October 17 in tribute to Chopin.

The work was originally performed during the composer’s funeral service at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris on October 30, 1849.

Chopin's grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Photo: DIMSFIKAS [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

(mk/gs)

Source: nifc.pl