He is *the* greatest composer! This is my favorite picture of him (taken a few months before his death). This man had one foot in the grave his whole life, and yet he managed to revolutionize the classical forms of composition, while inventing new forms for the Romantic era. His works are some of the most technically challenging of all known works for the piano, and yet they all have gorgeous melodies and minimal repetition, since he hated repetition and always managed to squeeze in some variations on his main theme. His Ballade in G Minor always moves me to tears. I think, in some way, it is like his musical mini-biography. Chopin has been my all-time favorite composer since 7th grade, when I first heard one of his pieces performed in public. I could sit down at the piano and play nothing but his stuff for hours on end! There is not a single bad piece in his collection. And to think he only lived to be 39! Oh, and did I mention he and I share a birthday? 🙂 Chopin FTW!!!