单选题
Although Chopin later attended the Lyceum where his
father taught, his early training began at home. This included receiving piano
lessons from his mother. By the age of six, Chopin was creating original pieces,
showing innate prodigious musical ability. His parents arranged for the young
Chopin to take piano instruction from Wojciech Zywny. When
Chopin was sixteen, he attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, directed by
composer Joseph Elsner, like Zywny, who insisted on the traditional training
associated with Classical music but allowed his students to investigate the more
original imaginations of the Romantic style as well. As often
happened with the young musicians of both the Classical and Romantic Periods,
Chopin was sent to Vienna, the unquestioned center of music for that day. He
gave piano concerts and then arranged to have his pieces published by a Vienna
publishing house there. While Chopin was in Austria, Poland and Russia faced off
in the apparent beginnings of war. He returned him a silver goblet filled with
Polish soil. He kept it always, as he was never able to return to his beloved
Poland. French by heritage, and desirous of finding musical
acceptance from a less traditional audience than that of Vienna, Chopin ventured
to Paris. Interestingly, other young musicians had assembled in the city of
fashion with the very same hope. Chopin joined Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz,
Vincenzo Bellini, all proponents of the "new" Romantic style.
Although Chopin did play in the large concert halls on occasion, he left most at
home in private settings, enjoying the social milieu that accompanied concerts
for the wealthy. He also enjoyed teaching, as this caused him less stress, than
performing. Chopin did not feel that his delicate technique and intricate
melodies were as suited to the grandiose hall as they were to smaller
environments and audiences. News of the war in Poland inspired
Chopin to write many sad musical pieces expressing his grief for "his" Poland.
Among these was the famous "Revolutionary Etude." Plagued by poor health as well
as his homesickness, Chopin found solace in summer visits to the country. Here,
his most complex yet harmonic creations found their way to the brilliant
composer's hand the "Fantasia in F Minor," the "Barcarolle," the "Polonaise
Fantasia," "Ballade in A Flat Major, Ballade in F Minor" and "Sonata in B
Minor" were all products of the relaxed time Chopin enjoyed in the
country. As the war continued in Warsaw and then reached Paris,
Chopin retired to Scotland with friends. Although he was far beyond the reach of
the revolution, his melancholy attitude did not improve and he sank deeper into
a depression. Likewise, his health did not rejuvenate either. A window in the
fighting made it possible for Chopin to return to Paris as his health
deteriorated further. Surrounded by those that he loved, Frederi Francois Chopin
died at the age of 39. he was buried in Paris. Chopin's last
request was that the Polish soil in the silver goblet be sprinkled over his
grave.
单选题
Which of the following cities was believed to better accept music of
Romantic style?