Q: Frederic Francois Chopin (/opn/; French pronunciation: [fe.de.ik f.swa .p]; 22 February or 1 March 1810 17 October 1849), born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin,[n 1] was a Polish and French (by citizenship and birth of father) composer and a virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano. He gained and has maintained renown worldwide as one of the leading musicians of his era, whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation." Chopin was born in what was then the Duchy of Warsaw, and grew up in Warsaw, which after 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising.

At the age of 21 he settled in Paris. Thereafter, during the last 18 years of his life, he gave only some 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and teaching piano, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann. In 1835 he obtained French citizenship. After a failed engagement to Maria Wodzinska, from 1837 to 1847 he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer George Sand. A brief and unhappy visit to Majorca with Sand in 183839 was one of his most productive periods of composition. In his last years, he was financially supported by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. Through most of his life, Chopin suffered from poor health. He died in Paris in 1849, probably of tuberculosis.

1. composer and pianist
2. 30 public ones
3. 20
4. the salon
5. the November 1830 Uprising
6. no
7. Maria Wodzinska
8. yes
9. from 1837 to 1847
10. often troubled relationship
11. Jane Stirling
12. tuberculosis
13. no

Numbered questions:
1. What did the person of focus do?
2. How many performances did he give after moving to Paris?
3. At what age did he leave Poland?
4. Where did he prefer to perform?
5. What happened soon after his leaving Poland?
6. Was he ever ready to wed anyone?
7. Who?
8. Was he with anyone after her?
9. For how long?
10. How'd they get along?
11. Who supported him monetarily at the end?
12. What was his probable cause of death?
13. Was he a healthy person?

CHAPTER XXIV

The voyage is doomed to disaster and death. I know Mr. Pike, now, and if ever he discovers the identity of Mr. Mellaire, murder will be done. Mr. Mellaire is not Mr. Mellaire. He is not from Georgia. He is from Virginia. His name is Waltham--Sidney Waltham. He is one of the Walthams of Virginia, a black sheep, true, but a Waltham. Of this I am convinced, just as utterly as I am convinced that Mr. Pike will kill him if he learns who he is.

Let me tell how I have discovered all this. It was last night, shortly before midnight, when I came up on the poop to enjoy a whiff of the south- east trades in which we are now bowling along, close-hauled in order to weather Cape San Roque. Mr. Pike had the watch, and I paced up and down with him while he told me old pages of his life. He has often done this, when not "sea-grouched," and often he has mentioned with pride--yes, with reverence--a master with whom he sailed five years. "Old Captain Somers," he called him--"the finest, squarest, noblest man I ever sailed under, sir."

Well, last night our talk turned on lugubrious subjects, and Mr. Pike, wicked old man that he is, descanted on the wickedness of the world and on the wickedness of the man who had murdered Captain Somers.

"He was an old man, over seventy years old," Mr. Pike went on. "And they say he'd got a touch of palsy--I hadn't seen him for years. You see, I'd had to clear out from the coast because of trouble. And that devil of a second mate caught him in bed late at night and beat him to death. It was terrible. They told me about it. Right in San Francisco, on board the _Jason Harrison_, it happened, eleven years ago. What are the answers to this following set of questions: 1. Is the voyage doomed?
2. To how many things?
3. What is the first mentioned?
4. And the second?
5. Whose identity is hidden?
6. What is his alias?
7. Is he from Maine?
8. What state then?
9. What crime will happen if his identity is revealed?
10. Who will kill him?
11. Was Pike described as old?
12. How old?
13. What sort of ailment did he have?
14. How long ago did something happen on the Jason Harrison?
15. What chapter is this from?
16. Who had the watch?
17. Who was the master he sailed with some time ago?
18. How many years ago?
19. What adjectives were used to describe Somers?
20. Where had Pike had to clear out from?
Answer:
1. yes
2. Two
3. disaster
4. death
5. Sidney Waltham
6. Mr. Mellaire
7. no
8. Virginia
9. murder
10. Mr. Pike
11. yes
12. over seventy
13. palsy
14. eleven years ago
15. XXIV
16. Mr. Pike
17. Old Captain Somers
18. eleven years ago
19. finest, squarest, noblest
20. the coast