Would you consider Chopin to be French?

[mjames]

No not the person, not his ethnicity or duo nationality; this is about his music. Someone told me that they thought of Chopin's music as both French and Polish. His main influences stems from old dudes Germany, Austria, Italy, Ireland(one dude to be exact), and Polish hobo music. Yes he lived in France for 20 years so he could have some influences from his contemporaries, but there's a nice counter-argument for that. Isn't it said that (from various biographers and irl "friends" too) that Chopin disliked contemporary music? Even tho he is considered to be a foundation of romantic music he thought of it as a lesser art form (well that may be an exaggeration). When discussing contemporaries such as Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, Thalberg etc he usuallly insulted their music rather than praise it. Like Mendelssohn he was a conservative, a man of the past; building his music from the past rather than from those around him. Whether it be folk music or academic music, I can't find a shred of French influence in Chopin's music. So can his music be considered French just because his father was French (even though he considered himself Polish), and because he died there?

If so can we call Stravinsky's and Rachmaninov's music American?

Can we call John Field's music Russian?

idk man just discuss and share ur knowledge with me

[outin]

No, I've never even considered him to be French. Paris was just a place where composers from eastern Europe liked to go to for a certain lifestyle.

[Bob]

Hybrid.

[joplinfreak]

I have always thought him to be more French than Polish. Like an immigrant so to speak, besides the French culture can rub off on you very quickly!

[quantum]

Then the question arises, can one truly assign a nationalistic identity to a composer's oeuvre?  Presuming such was done, can one follow by assigning the same nationalistic identity to another composer's oeuvre, who's style contains similar elements to the first composer?  Following that, what if the second composer shared no commonalities in ethnic background, or regional association?  What bearing does the movement of international borders over time have on the assignment of a nationalistic identity to a composer?  Considering the natural evolution of music through time, how would one classify the music of a composer living today that borrowed heavily on the stylistic tendencies of a composer that lived two centuries ago? 

[forte88]

It's about influences. Where a composer's from is irrelevant if the teachers, inspirations are international

[kalirren]

Chopin was a Polish Parisian.  Being Parisian does not make one French.

[j_menz]

Being Parisian does not make one French.

Unless one is Parisian, in which case it's required.