The Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw, founded in 1934 (initially as the Fryderyk Chopin Institute), continued the work of the Fryderyk Chopin Section (est. 1899) of the Warsaw Music Society.

The Institute was set up at the initiative of politicians, musicians and publishers, including Józef Beck, Mieczysław Idzikowski, Janusz Jędrzejewicz, Emil Młynarski, Stanisław Niewiadomski, Karol Szymanowski and August Zaleski. In 1935, the Institute began collecting autographs, books, sheet music, gramophone records and photographs, laying the foundations for the future museum and library and the phonographic and photographic collections; it also published the periodical Chopin. The Second World War broke off the work of the Institute, which was reactivated in 1945. In 1950, the Institute changed its name to the Fryderyk Chopin Society. From 1953 to 2005, it was based in Ostrogski (Gniński) Palace, which also housed the Fryderyk Chopin Museum and all the Chopin collections. The Society also ran the Birthplace of Chopin in Żelazowa Wola and the Chopin Family Drawing-Room in Czapski/Krasiński Palace at 5 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street in Warsaw (the composer’s last home in Warsaw was also located in that building).

From its beginnings, the Society carried on academic, publishing and concert work. In association with PWM Edition, from 1949 to 1961, the Society published the Complete Works of Fryderyk Chopin, edited by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Ludwik Bronarski and Józef Turczyński (work began in 1937), and from 1967 to 1992 it issued nine volumes in the Polish National Edition of the Works of Fryderyk Chopin edited by Jan Ekier.

From 1956, the Society published the Rocznik Chopinowski [Chopin yearbook], its academic organ (twenty-five volumes up to 2001), presenting the latest research into the life and work of Fryderyk Chopin, a bibliography of Polish and foreign publishers of Chopin’s music, a discography, and reports on major Chopin events (competitions, exhibitions, conferences, etc.). The English-language equivalent of the Rocznik was the series Chopin Studies (seven volumes between 1985 and 2000).

Ten facsimile editions of Chopin autograph manuscripts from the Society’s own collection were prepared: letters (edited by Zofia Helman) and compositions by Fryderyk Chopin (Op. 7 No. 3, Op. 18, Op. 29, Op. 57, Op. 68 No. 4, Op. 71 No. 3), furnished with commentaries by Hanna Wróblewska-Straus, Wojciech Nowik, Teresa Czerwińska and Kazimierz Chruścicki, in Polish, English and French (TiFC – Wydawnictwo „Romega”, 1999–2001).

The Kronika Międzynarodowych Konkursów Pianistycznych im. Fryderyka Chopina 1927–1995 [Chronicle of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition 1927–1995], edited by Barbara Niewiarowska and published in 2000 by TiFC – Wydawnictwo „Romega”, documents another important strand to the Society’s work, namely, the organising of the Chopin Competition.

Many exhibition catalogues were published (e.g. Chopin i Liszt [Chopin and Liszt], Chopin daleko rozsławił swe imię [Chopin spread his name far and wide], Chopin i bracia Kolbergowie [Chopin and the Kolberg brothers]), as well as the Katalog Dzieł Fryderyka Chopina / Catalogue of the Works of Frederick Chopin, prepared by Józef Michał Chomiński and Teresa Dalila Turło (TiFC–PWM, 1990), many occasional publications, folders, Chopin posters, and so on.

Particularly noteworthy is the website http://www.chopin.pl/, as well as the multimedia publication Fryderyk Chopin: Życie – Dzieło – Tradycja [Fryderyk Chopin: His life, work and tradition], designed by Teresa Czerwińska and realised by a group of outstanding Chopin scholars, which constitutes a large source of knowledge about Chopin and his music, in Polish and English.

In 1985, the Fryderyk Chopin Society founded the International Federation of Chopin Societies, in 1988 the International Fryderyk Chopin Foundation, and in 1995 the Alliance Internationale d’Associations et d’Amis de Frédéric Chopin.

The Society has organised many international events: the Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, masterclasses in Chopin interpretation (since 1985), academic symposia (including in 1960, 1986 and 1989), exhibitions abroad (including in Japan, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Hungary, France and the US) and phonographic competitions (Grand Prix du Disque, since 1985); it has also supported young pianists, organising an annual All-Poland Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Artistic Scholarships since 1967, and cooperated with and supported other institutions in organising Chopin festivals and competitions in Poland and abroad.

In 2005, on the strength of an agreement between the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Fryderyk Chopin Society and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute (a national cultural institution created in 2001), the newly established Institute took over a considerable part of the Society’s prerogatives, including the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, the Birthplace of Chopin in Żelazowa Wola and the Chopin Family Drawing-Room in Warsaw. In 2006, fulfilling the conditions of the agreement, the Society transferred to the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, as a deposit, the whole of its collection, as well as its library and its phonographic and photographic collections.

The Fryderyk Chopin Society has around four hundred and fifty members across Poland, affiliated in local groups (Gdańsk, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Sanniki, Supraśl, Zambrów, Żychlin) and in Warsaw.

The Society pursues a wide range of activities, united by the aim of popularising and enhancing knowledge about the life and work of Fryderyk Chopin and assisting efforts to promote Polish musical culture.

Today, the Society’s work is focussed on popularising the music of Chopin, including through cycles of concerts at the Royal Łazienki Park, as well as in Brochów, the ‘Floralia Muzyczne’ festival in Powsin, the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition for Amateur Pianists and the ‘Grand Prix du Disque’ International Phonographic Competition.

The work of the Fryderyk Chopin Society has undoubtedly been influenced by its successive presidents: August Zaleski (1934–1939), Bolesław Woytowicz (1939 and 1945), Adam Wieniawski (1945–1949), Władysław Kowalski (1949–1951), Stefan Dybowski (1951–1952), Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1952–1955), Stanisław Szpinalski (1955–1957), Zbigniew Drzewiecki (1957–1965), Teodor Zalewski (1965–1968), Kazimierz Sikorski (1968–1981), Elżbieta Artysz (1981–1986), Barbara Hesse-Bukowska (1986–1991), Tadeusz Chmielewski (1991–2001), Kazimierz Gierżod (2001–2018) and now Bronisława Kawalla (since 2018).