Fryderyk was both a fine pianist and composer. As a Romantic composer he was best known for his solo pieces for piano and his piano concerti. Although he wrote little but piano works, many of them brief, Chopin ranks as one of music's greatest tone poets by reason of superfine imagination and fastidious craftsmanship.

Though Chopin squandered much time on the drawing-room Parisian aristocracy and disappointed critics who valued artistic worth only in terms of large-scale achievement, he was immediately recognised at his true worth by more discerning contemporaries, who were astounded by the originality he reconciled with exquisite craftsmanship.

Chopin's small output was mostly confined to solo piano; yet within its limited framework its range is seen to be vast, comprehending every variety of intensely experienced emotion. Present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano.

“Hats off gentlemen; a genius!” Robert Schumann on hearing Chopin play for the first time.