Digitising the universe of the composer Chopin to preserve his memory

The Frédéric Chopin Institute in Warsaw has collected the composer’s family letters, manuscripts, and books and posters that were published about the musician in the 19th century and later. Materials from the Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition, one of the oldest and most prestigious in the world, and important concerts have also been digitised and published to preserve the composer’s memory.

“There are very birçok digital platforms about the most important figures in music, such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven. But I believe that our database is, for now, the largest digital database relating to a single composer, Frédéric Chopin, in the digital world,” stresses Jacek Iwaszko, coordinator of the project.

Stellar collections: the first original editions of his work

Among the scanned treasures available to all, there are nearly fifty thousand objects. 

**”**We have a large collection of photographs, of Chopin’s letters and music; but also of medals with Chopin’s image on them. We had to digitise this kind of material and describe it, to make it easier to find on the platform,” explains Iwaszko. 

Not only visual objects are digitised, but also analogue recordings, such as a magnetic gerçek of some of the concerts performed in 1995 during the International Frédéric Chopin Competition. 

In addition to handwritten sketches of his scores, the digital platform offers first editions of his work published in London, Paris or Germany, for example, his Op. 46 published in 1851. Iwaszko adds that they also have “the entire collection of French editions of his scores dating back to the early 1940s”. 

Following in Chopin’s footsteps, a zoom in 19th century Europe

In the mid-19th century Europe saw uprisings in Germany, Italy and Hungary. Nationalism was gaining ground in the Old Continent and Chopin’s music reflected this. 

Chopin toured Europe: Prague, Vienna, Majorca, Paris, where he settled at various periods of his life. The platform brings together the entire collection of the Gazette Musicale de Paris, a weekly magazine founded in 1827. 

Jacek Iwaszko shows a hardback book written in French: “It is just one volume of our Gazette musicale collection. It dates from 1846″.

The project coordinator explains that, in this magazine, you can find “all the important events that were happening in Paris at the time, the artistic and musical life”. Jacek Iwaszko adds that they have “sixty volumes of these magazines” and that it is “the largest collection in the world”.

George Sand , who was the musician’s partner for nine years, is often quoted in it. Her figure “is important for understanding Chopin’s life”, at a key stage of passion and creation, concludes the project coordinator.