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Chopin was born in Poland in 1810 to a French father and Polish mother. When he first arrived in Paris in 1831 he did not intend to stay there, but ended up living there for the rest of his life.

Living in Paris was expensive and he was often low on funds. His fortune took an up turn when he was introduced to the Rothschild family. Because of their influence he soon became a regular in all the best Parisian salons. Chopin preferred the intimacy of salons to concert halls and only gave about 30 public concerts in his 18 years in Paris. His virtuosic Etudes (studies) and Preludes are short works of major expressive power. These works along with his waltzes, nocturnes and polonaises are still in the piano repertoire today. Chopin made his money in Paris by giving lessons to rich, aristocratic ladies. In an age where the average worker earned 10 to 15 francs per week, Chopin charged 20 francs per lesson.

If they could fulfill one wish, many current music writers fantasize about going back in time and hearing Chopin playing in a salon.

Liszt was born in Hungary in 1811 and his father, Adam, was quick to promote the child prodigy pianist. Barely 11 years old, Liszt stunned audiences at his Viennese debut. The tiny, thin boy who could barely reach the pedals played as if his arms were made of steel and showed great physical stamina. They called him "little Hercules."

Arriving in Paris in 1823 young Liszt was refused entry into the Paris Conservatory because the school no longer took foreign students. Undeterred, Adam Liszt introduced his son to the piano manufacturer Pierre Erard who was greatly impressed. Liszt quickly became the Erard house pianist and gave concerts everywhere. Their constant touring ended abruptly when Liszt's father died of typhus in 1827. Losing the managerial guiding hand of his father, Liszt became rudderless and rarely appeared in public. In 1832, he saw the violin virtuoso Paganini perform mesmerizing feats of magic on his instrument. Inspired, Liszt locked himself away from society and practiced nonstop on his piano, vowing to become the Paganini of the piano. Liszt emerged from his relentless practice and began to dazzle audiences. His good looks, prodigious technique and flashy showmanship made him a virtuoso superstar.

Liszt's transformation into the "Paganini of the piano" revolutionized piano performance and established new standards for virtuosity.

Henri Herz was a child prodigy born in 1806 to a large musical family in Vienna. His family moved to Paris in 1816 and Herz entered the Paris Conservatory, joining 3 of his siblings already enrolled in the school.

Pradher, his piano teacher at the Conservatory, was well connected and Herz was quickly introduced into society and became a favorite of Paris' aristocratic salons. In 1827 he was appointed the "premier pianiste de roi" (king's first pianist). Herz was a prolific composer of lightweight opera variations that sounded showy and dramatic, but were in fact easy to play. This made him the darling of budding amateur pianists who wanted to look semi-pro. He gave piano lessons literally day and night. One pianist found that the only time available for his lesson was 5 o'clock… in the morning. His sheet music sold more than all other composers and his publishers paid him up to 4 times more per page. In 1838 he opened a business which included a piano manufacturer, a piano school and a concert hall that was all the rage in Paris.

Herz's success as both a performer and businessman made him one of the most influential figures in Parisian piano culture.

Frédéric Kalkbrenner was born in 1785 supposedly in a stagecoach somewhere between Kassel and Berlin in Germany. Kalkbrenner was a child prodigy and met the famous composers Haydn and Beethoven who both foresaw a great future for the boy.

The family arrived in Paris in 1798 and Kalkbrenner was immediately accepted at the Paris Conservatory. He advanced quickly at the Conservatory, winning first prizes in piano playing and composition, an unprecedented double header. After business and personal successes in the 1820's in London, Kalkbrenner returned to Paris where by 1828 he was considered to be on par with Henri Herz and Franz Liszt, making him one of Paris' elite piano virtuosos. In the late 1820's Kalkbrenner started a partnership with the Pleyel piano company and was their in-house pianist at concerts. While his playing was elegant and accurate, it was a little emotionally flat. By the early 1830's Kalkbrenner was rich and famous. He was the go-to piano teacher in Paris, his compositions sold well and he married a young and aristocratic lady.

Kalkbrenner's influence as a teacher and performer helped shape the Parisian piano scene during this golden age.

When Sigismond Thalberg was born in Geneva in 1812, he was rumoured to be the illegitimate child of a Prince and Baroness. Aristocratic or not, Thalberg was lucky enough to have had a gentleman's upbringing before his piano talents came to light when he was 14.

Having rich sponsors and so not needing to give piano lessons, he was able to focus on perfecting his piano playing, which he did day and night. He developed a technique where he would use both thumbs to play the melody in the middle of the keyboard, while the other fingers went about their business with embellishments in the upper and lower registers of the piano. The resulting wall of sound was dubbed the three-handed technique and would become Thalberg's trademark. Audience members would get up on their chairs to try and see what Thalberg was doing with his fingers. Thalberg's compositions consisted almost entirely of variations on popular opera tunes. His Moses Fantasy variations was probably the most successful piece of the 19th century. Thalberg's Paris debut in 1836 was a huge hit and he was considered the main rival of Paris' other piano star, Franz Liszt.

Thalberg's three-hand technique became legendary and influenced many pianists of the era.

Marie Pleyel was the whole package. She was born in Paris in 1811 to a Belgian father and German mother. So, besides being a piano prodigy she was also trilingual. She was astonishingly gifted and gave her first formal recital when she was only 8 amazing the audience with her virtuosity.

She was also very pretty and caught the eye of the romantic composer Hector Berlioz. They were engaged in 1830. Marie's mother wished for her daughter to marry a man of good fortune and broke her engagement to Berlioz so Marie could marry Paris' top piano manufacturer Camille Pleyel. Furious at the deception, Berlioz bought poison and pistols and planned to assassinate Marie and Camille Pleyel. Luckily for them, and for music, he gave up the plan. Perhaps because Camille was 23 years older than Marie, their marriage was not the happiest and Marie had several lovers including Franz Liszt. Her affairs were so notorious that they overshadowed her piano career. Her marriage to Camille did not last and the couple separated after only 4 years together.

After their divorce Marie disappeared from Paris for several years but made a triumphal comeback in 1845.

Leopold de Meyer was born in Baden near Vienna in 1816 and his father intended for him to be a civil servant. When his father died of cholera, de Meyer shifted gears devoting himself entirely to music. He was a pupil of Carl Czerny, the piano teacher in Vienna.

From 1835 onwards, concerts through Europe brought him great success and he was also a fixture in Viennese salons. He was not thin and elegant like Thalberg or Liszt, but short, fat and perspired a lot when he played. His arrival in Paris in the early months of 1845 established him as the hot virtuoso of the moment. He played fast and loud and his stunts made him a worthy member of what was being called the "flying trapeze" school of piano playing. His big hit of 1845 was the Moroccan March which impressed the composer Hector Berlioz so much that he had it orchestrated and played at his concerts.

De Meyer was one of the first pianists to tour the United States and cash in on this burgeoning market. Due to his success others like Henri Herz would soon follow him across the sea.

Charles Valentin Alkan was born in Paris in 1813 in an Ashkenazi Jewish family of 6 children. Alkan's father ran a private music school in the emerging Jewish community in the Marais. All six of his gifted children studied music. But Alkan was the child prodigy of child prodigies.

He auditioned at the Conservatory when he was 6, and after being accepted, won a first prize in music theory when he was 9 and a piano first prize when he was 10. Alkan started appearing in salons when he was 8 years old and was very successful. In 1830, when he was 17, he was poised to become as famous a virtuoso as Liszt or Chopin.

But Alkan was an anti-virtuoso virtuoso. He did not have the charisma and movie star good looks of Liszt. He was shy and reclusive and didn't like touring. He was happiest out of the public eye, composing very intricate piano pieces that sold poorly. So, although he was talented, he sabotaged himself to the point where he only ever made one brief appearance in England and then returned to his comfort zone in Paris.

If Paris, during the years of Pianopolis, was the Mecca of all budding piano virtuosos, this was partly due to the fact that all the industry leading piano makers found themselves in Paris. Érard and Pleyel were definitely the most prestigious manufacturers of pianos in Paris.