Ludwika Chopin

Ludwika Chopin (1807–1855) was Chopin’s oldest sister and their frequent correspondence suggests that she was his closest as well. Ludwika and her daughter (also Ludwika) were only the immediate family members present when Chopin died. They came to Paris at his request and tended to him during his final months. After his death, Ludwika finalised his affairs, brought his heart back to Warsaw in accordance with his wishes and did a lot of work to help tidy up and arrange his remaining manuscripts.

Ludwika was talented musically and literarily. She wrote and published several books, mainly for children, either alone or with her sisters. Her translation of an Italian book on the life of St. Veronica came out in 1841 and her Krótkie wiadomości z nauk przyrodzonych i niektóre ważniejsze wynalazki [Short News from Natural Sciences and Some Principal Inventions] was published in 1848.

Ludwika married Józef Kalasanty Jędrzejewicz in 1832 (the marriage was not a happy one, especially in its final years). The couple had four children. Ludwika’s descendants are the only surviving heirs of the Chopin family.