Chopin-Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat Major

Chopin didn't care much for the music of his illustrious contemporaries even though many were friends or acquaintances. Schumann, who had been extravagant in his praise of Chopin in introducing him to Germany, was too idiosyncratic. Berlioz and Mendelssohn didn't interest him and Liszt was often vulgar. Chopin's heroes were Bach and Mozart. This sense of classical proportion and elegance combined with a love of bel canto operatic singing and his Polish heritage form Chopin's basic aesthetic. The Polish expatriate who spent most of his creative life in Paris is the first nationalist composer.