When it comes to classical music, my tastes run towards full symphony orchestras complete with strings, winds and brass. Or for a change of pace, a string quartet. So I didn't know much about the life or music of Frederic Chopin. If the piano is your thing, then Chopin is da man! And there is no place better to experience all things Chopin than the Chopin Museum in Warsaw.
Chopin died at the age of 39 on October 17, 1849 and tomorrow is the beginning of Warsaw's Chopin Festival. Even though he spent his most productive years in Paris, Chopin, along with Jan (Battle of Grunwald) Matejko, is the glue that unified Poles and kept their national identity alive during those long years of partition when Poland ceased to be Poland.
An electonic card is your ticket to the show
Even if you can't tell a "polonaise" from "mayonaise," the Chopin Museum is worth a visit. It is the most high-tech, the most 21st Century, museum I have ever seen. Your admission ticket is an electronic security card like the best hotels use, Swipe it over the red light on any of the displays and you can listen to a Chopin mazurka, eavesdrop on personal letters between Frederic and hsi amoure, (female) writer, George Sands or page through "virtual" sheet music and hear it played. As a special bonus, the Chopin Museum is free on Tuesdays!
Chopin reads the paper while squeeze George Sands writes
