Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the early Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading composer of his era whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation". February 22, 1810 – October 17, 1849; died at 39. Alive at the same time as Karl Marx, Abraham Lincoln, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Darwin, and Napoleon. Wiki link