Frédéric François Chopin (; ; 22 February or 1 March 181017 October 1849), born
Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a
Polish composer and a
virtuoso pianist of the
Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era, whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation." Chopin was born in what was then the
Duchy of Warsaw, and grew up in
Warsaw, which after 1815 became part of
Congress Poland. A
child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the
November 1830 Uprising.