The Polonaise Op 40, No. 1 was nicknamed the Military Polonaise and was composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1838. Arthur Rubinstein remarked that the Polonaise was the symbol of Polish glory. During the September 1939 German invasion of Poland at the outset of World War II, Polskie Radio broadcast this piece daily as nationalistic protest, and to rally the Polish people.
The beginning of this piece is used as the interval signal for Polskie Radio. It is also featured in the opening and closing credits of the classic film To Be or Not to Be (1942). Frédéric François Chopin, born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, (March 1810 – October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation.
Born in Żelazowa Wola in the Duchy of Warsaw, he grew up in Warsaw, which in 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. He settled in Paris. During the last 18 years of his life – he gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his other musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann.
