On BBC Radio 3, Piers Lane presented a series of essays looking at five aspects of Chopin’s life and music to celebrate two hundred years since the composer’s birth.

Piers Lane looks at five aspects of Frederic Chopin's life and music to celebrate 200 years since the composer's birth.

Drawing on extracts from Chopin's own writing, and those who have written about him over the past two centuries, Piers looks at the myths, interpretations and veneration surrounding one of the most universally adored pianist/composers.

Chopin's name is synonymous with ideas of romance and melancholy. In this first programme, Piers explores how, despite being labelled as the archetypal Romantic pianist, Chopin resisted much of what is now associated with 19th-century Romantic piano music – the overt scene painting and descriptive title of his contemporaries such as Liszt, Berlioz or Schumann.

Later in the week, Piers looks at how the composer innovated form and style on the piano, the instrument on which he focused so exclusively; Chopin's often overlooked role as one of the most sought-after teachers in Paris; his composing process and interpretations of his music; and the veneration from audiences and other composers that has always surrounded him.