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diff --git a/4386.txt b/4386.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aaf324b --- /dev/null +++ b/4386.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5123 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Chopin, by Franz Liszt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Life of Chopin + +Author: Franz Liszt + +Translator: Martha Walker Cook + +Release Date: August, 2003 [Etext# 4386] +Posting Date: January 7, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHOPIN *** + + + + +Produced by John Mamoun and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +LIFE OF CHOPIN + +by Franz Liszt + + +Translated from the French by Martha Walker Cook + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + DEDICATION OF THE TRANSLATION TO JAN PYCHOWSKI + PREFACE + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + + + +INFORMATION ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION + +The following is an e-text of "Life of Chopin," written by Franz Liszt +and translated from the french by Martha Walker Cook. The original +edition was published in 1863; a fourth, revised edition (1880) was +used in making this e-text. This e-text reproduces the fourth edition +essentially unabridged, with original spellings intact, numerous +typographical errors corrected, and words italicized in the original +text capitalized in this e-text. In making this e-text, each page was +cut out of the original book with an x-acto knife to feed the pages into +an Automatic Document Feeder scanner for scanning. Hence, the book was +disbinded in order to save it. Thanks to Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading team for help in proofreading this e-text. + + + +DEDICATION OF THE TRANSLATION TO JAN PYCHOWSKI + +Without your consent or knowledge, I have ventured to dedicate this +translation to you! + +As the countryman of Chopin, and filled with the same earnest patriotism +which distinguished him; as an impassioned and perfect Pianist, capable, +of reproducing his difficult compositions in all the subtle tenderness, +fire, energy, melancholy, despair, caprice, hope, delicacy and +startling vigor which they imperiously exact; as thorough master of +the complicated instrument to which he devoted his best powers; as +an erudite and experienced possessor of that abstruse and difficult +science, music; as a composer of true, deep, and highly original +genius,--this dedication is justly made to you! + +Even though I may have wounded your characteristically haughty, +shrinking, and Sclavic susceptibilities in rendering so public a tribute +to your artistic skill, forgive me! The high moral worth and manly +rectitude which distinguish you, and which alone render even the most +sublime genius truly illustrious in the eyes of woman, almost force +these inadequate and imperfect words from the heart of the translator. + +M.W.C. + + + + +PREFACE + + +To a people, always prompt in its recognition of genius, and ready to +sympathize in the joys and woes of a truly great artist, this work +will be one of exceeding interest. It is a short, glowing, and generous +sketch, from the hand of Franz Liszt, (who, considered in the double +light of composer and performer, has no living equal,) of the original +and romantic Chopin; the most ethereal, subtle, and delicate among our +modern tone-poets. It is a rare thing for a great artist to write on +art, to leave the passionate worlds of sounds or colors for the colder +realm of words; rarer still for him to abdicate, even temporarily, his +own throne, to stand patiently and hold aloft the blazing torch of his +own genius, to illume the gloomy grave of another: yet this has Liszt +done through love for Chopin. + +It is a matter of considerable interest to note how the nervous and +agile fingers, accustomed to sovereign rule over the keys, handle the +pen; how the musician feels as a man; how he estimates art and artists. +Liszt is a man of extensive culture, vivid imagination, and great +knowledge of the world; and, in addition to their high artistic value, +his lines glow with poetic fervor, with impassioned eloquence. His +musical criticisms are refined and acute, but without repulsive +technicalities or scientific terms, ever sparkling with the poetic ardor +of the generous soul through which the discriminating, yet appreciative +awards were poured. Ah! in these days of degenerate rivalries and bitter +jealousies, let us welcome a proof of affection so tender as his "Life +of Chopin"! + +It would be impossible for the reader of this book to remain ignorant of +the exactions of art. While, through its eloquence and subtle analysis +of character, it appeals to the cultivated literary tastes of our +people, it opens for them a dazzling perspective into that strange world +of tones, of whose magical realm they know, comparatively speaking, +so little. It is intelligible to all who think or feel; requiring no +knowledge of music for its comprehension. + +The compositions of Chopin are now the mode, the rage. Every one asks +for them, every one tries to play them. We have, however, but few +remarks upon the peculiarities of his style, or the proper manner of +producing his works. His compositions, generally perfect in form, are +never abstract conceptions, but had their birth in his soul, sprang +from the events of his life, and are full of individual and national +idiosyncrasies, of psychological interest. Liszt knew Chopin both as man +and artist; Chopin loved to hear him interpret his music, and himself +taught the great Pianist the mysteries of his undulating rhythm and +original motifs. The broad and noble criticisms contained in this book +are absolutely essential for the musical culture of the thousands now +laboriously but vainly struggling to perform his elaborate works, and +who, having no key to their multiplied complexities of expression, +frequently fail in rendering them aright. + +And the masses in this country, full of vivid perception and intelligent +curiosity, who, not playing themselves, would yet fain follow with the +heart compositions which they are told are of so much artistic value, +will here find a key to guide them through the tuneful labyrinth. Some +of Chopin's best works are analyzed herein. He wrote for the HEART OF +HIS PEOPLE; their joys, sorrows, and caprices are immortalized by +the power of his art. He was a strictly national tone-poet, and to +understand him fully, something must be known of the brave and haughty, +but unhappy country which he so loved. Liszt felt this, and has been +exceedingly happy in the short sketch given of Poland. We actually know +more of its picturesque and characteristic customs after a perusal of +his graphic pages, than after a long course of dry historical details. +His remarks on the Polonaise and Mazourka are full of the philosophy +and essence of history. These dances grew directly from the heart of +the Polish people; repeating the martial valor and haughty love of noble +exhibition of their men; the tenderness, devotion, and subtle coquetry +of their women--they were of course favorite forms with Chopin; their +national character made them dear to the national poet. The remarks of +Liszt on these dances are given with a knowledge so acute of the traits +of the nation in which they originated, with such a gorgeousness of +description and correctness of detail, that they rather resemble a +highly finished picture, than a colder work of words only. They have +all the splendor of a brilliant painting. He seizes the secrets of the +nationality of these forms, traces them through the heart of the Polish +people, follows them through their marvelous transfiguration in the +pages of the Polish artist, and reads by their light much of the +sensitive and exclusive character of Chopin, analyzing it with the skill +of love, while depicting it with romantic eloquence. + +To those who can produce the compositions of Chopin in the spirit of +their author, no words are necessary. They follow with the heart the +poetic and palpitating emotions so exquisitely wrought through the +aerial tissue of the tones by this "subtle-souled Psychologist," this +bold and original explorer in the invisible world of sound;--all honor +to their genius: + + + "Oh, happy! and of many millions, they + The purest chosen, whom Art's service pure + Hallows and claims--whose hearts are made her throne, + Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure, + To lead a priestly life, and feed the ray + Of her eternal shrine, to them alone + Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown: + Ye, the high brotherhood she links, rejoice + In the great rank allotted by her choice! + The loftiest rank the spiritual world sublime, + Rich with its starry thrones, gives to the sons of Time!" + + Schiller. + + +Short but glowing sketches of Heine, Meyerbeer, Adolphe Nourrit, Hiller, +Eugene Delacroix, Niemcevicz, Mickiewicz, and Madame Sand, occur in the +book. The description of the last days of poor Chopin's melancholy life, +with the untiring devotion of those around him, including the beautiful +countess, Delphine Potocka; his cherished sister, Louise; his devoted +friend and pupil, M. Gutman, with the great Liszt himself, is full of +tragic interest. + +No pains have been spared by the translator to make the translation +acceptable, for the task was truly a labor of love. No motives of +interest induced the lingering over the careful rendering of the charmed +pages, but an intense desire that our people should know more of musical +art; that while acknowledging the generosity and eloquence of Liszt, +they should learn to appreciate and love the more subtle fire, the more +creative genius of the unfortunate, but honorable and honored artist, +Chopin. + +Perchance Liszt may yet visit us; we may yet hear the matchless Pianist +call from their graves in the white keys, the delicate arabesques, the +undulating and varied melodies, of Chopin. We should be prepared +to appreciate the great Artist in his enthusiastic rendering of the +master-pieces of the man he loved; prepared to greet him when he +electrifies us with his wonderful Cyclopean harmonies, written for his +own Herculean grasp, sparkling with his own Promethean fire, which no +meaner hand can ever hope to master! "Hear Liszt and die," has been said +by some of his enthusiastic admirers--understand him and live, were the +wiser advice! + +In gratitude then to Chopin for the multiplied sources of high and pure +pleasure which he has revealed to humanity in his creations, that human +woe and sorrow become pure beauty when his magic spell is on them, the +translator calls upon all lovers of the beautiful "to contribute a +stone to the pyramid now rapidly erecting in honor of the great modern +composer"--ay, the living stone of appreciation, crystalized in the +enlightened gratitude of the heart. + + + "So works this music upon earth + God so admits it, sends it forth. + To add another worth to worth-- + + A new creation-bloom that rounds + The old creation, and expounds + His Beautiful in tuneful sounds." + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Chopin--Style and Improvements--The Adagio of the Second +Concerto--Funeral March--Psychological Character of the Compositions of +Chopin, &c., &c. + + +Deeply regretted as he may be by the whole body of artists, lamented by +all who have ever known him, we must still be permitted to doubt if +the time has even yet arrived in which he, whose loss is so peculiarly +deplored by ourselves, can be appreciated in accordance with his +just value, or occupy that high rank which in all probability will be +assigned him in the future. + +If it has been often proved that "no one is a prophet in his own +country;" is it not equally true that the prophets, the men of the +future, who feel its life in advance, and prefigure it in their works, +are never recognized as prophets in their own times? It would be +presumptuous to assert that it can ever be otherwise. In vain may the +young generations of artists protest against the "Anti-progressives," +whose invariable custom it is to assault and beat down the living with +the dead: time alone can test the real value, or reveal the hidden +beauties, either of musical compositions, or of kindred efforts in the +sister arts. + +As the manifold forms of art are but different incantations, charged +with electricity from the soul of the artist, and destined to evoke +the latent emotions and passions in order to render them sensible, +intelligible, and, in some degree, tangible; so genius may be manifested +in the invention of new forms, adapted, it may be, to the expression +of feelings which have not yet surged within the limits of common +experience, and are indeed first evoked within the magic circle by the +creative power of artistic intuition. In arts in which sensation is +linked to emotion, without the intermediate assistance of thought and +reflection, the mere introduction of unaccustomed forms, of unused +modes, must present an obstacle to the immediate comprehension of any +very original composition. The surprise, nay, the fatigue, caused by +the novelty of the singular impressions which it awakens, will make it +appear to many as if written in a language of which they were ignorant, +and which that reason will in itself be sufficient to induce them to +pronounce a barbarous dialect. The trouble of accustoming the ear to it +will repel many who will, in consequence, refuse to make a study of it. +Through the more vivid and youthful organizations, less enthralled +by the chains of habit; through the more ardent spirits, won first by +curiosity, then filled with passion for the new idiom, must it penetrate +and win the resisting and opposing public, which will finally catch the +meaning, the aim, the construction, and at last render justice to its +qualities, and acknowledge whatever beauty it may contain. Musicians who +do not restrict themselves within the limits of conventional routine, +have, consequently, more need than other artists of the aid of time. +They cannot hope that death will bring that instantaneous plus-value to +their works which it gives to those of the painters. No musician could +renew, to the profit of his manuscripts, the deception practiced by one +of the great Flemish painters, who, wishing in his lifetime to benefit +by his future glory, directed his wife to spread abroad the news of his +death, in order that the pictures with which he had taken care to cover +the walls of his studio, might suddenly increase in value! + +Whatever may be the present popularity of any part of the productions of +one, broken, by suffering long before taken by death, it is nevertheless +to be presumed that posterity will award to his works an estimation of +a far higher character, of a much more earnest nature, than has hitherto +been awarded them. A high rank must be assigned by the future historians +of music to one who distinguished himself in art by a genius for melody +so rare, by such graceful and remarkable enlargements of the harmonic +tissue; and his triumph will be justly preferred to many of far more +extended surface, though the works of such victors may be played and +replayed by the greatest number of instruments, and be sung and resung +by passing crowds of Prime Donne. + +In confining himself exclusively to the Piano, Chopin has, in our +opinion, given proof of one of the most essential qualities of a +composer--a just appreciation of the form in which he possessed +the power to excel; yet this very fact, to which we attach so much +importance, has been injurious to the extent of his fame. It would have +been most difficult for any other writer, gifted with such high harmonic +and melodic powers, to have resisted the temptation of the SINGING of +the bow, the liquid sweetness of the flute, or the deafening swells of +the trumpet, which we still persist in believing the only fore-runner +of the antique goddess from whom we woo the sudden favors. What strong +conviction, based upon reflection, must have been requisite to have +induced him to restrict himself to a circle apparently so much more +barren; what warmth of creative genius must have been necessary to have +forced from its apparent aridity a fresh growth of luxuriant bloom, +unhoped for in such a soil! What intuitive penetration is repealed by +this exclusive choice, which, wresting the different effects of the +various instruments from their habitual domain, where the whole foam of +sound would have broken at their feet, transported them into a sphere, +more limited, indeed, but far more idealized! What confident perception +of the future powers of his instrument must have presided over his +voluntary renunciation of an empiricism, so widely spread, that another +would have thought it a mistake, a folly, to have wrested such great +thoughts from their ordinary interpreters! How sincerely should we +revere him for this devotion to the Beautiful for its own sake, which +induced him not to yield to the general propensity to scatter each light +spray of melody over a hundred orchestral desks, and enabled him to +augment the resources of art, in teaching how they may be concentrated +in a more limited space, elaborated at less expense of means, and +condensed in time! + +Far from being ambitious of the uproar of an orchestra, Chopin was +satisfied to see his thought integrally produced upon the ivory of the +key-board; succeeding in his aim of losing nothing in power, without +pretending to orchestral effects, or to the brush of the scene-painter. +Oh! we have not yet studied with sufficient earnestness and attention +the designs of his delicate pencil, habituated as we are, in these +days, to consider only those composers worthy of a great name, who have +written at least half-a-dozen Operas, as many Oratorios, and various +Symphonies: vainly requiring every musician to do every thing, nay, a +little more than every thing. However widely diffused this idea may be, +its justice is, to say the least, highly problematical. We are far +from contesting the glory more difficult of attainment, or the real +superiority of the Epic poets, who display their splendid creations upon +so large a plan; but we desire that material proportion in music should +be estimated by the same measure which is applied to dimension in other +branches of the fine arts; as, for example, in painting, where a canvas +of twenty inches square, as the Vision of Ezekiel, or Le Cimetiere by +Ruysdael, is placed among the chefs d'oeuvre, and is more highly valued +than pictures of a far larger size, even though they might be from the +hands of a Rubens or a Tintoret. In literature, is Beranger less a great +poet, because he has condensed his thoughts within the narrow limits +of his songs? Does not Petrarch owe his fame to his Sonnets? and among +those who most frequently repeat their soothing rhymes, how many know +any thing of the existence of his long poem on Africa? We cannot doubt +that the prejudice which would deny the superiority of an artist--though +he should have produced nothing but such Sonatas as Franz Schubert has +given us--over one who has portioned out the insipid melodies of many +Operas, which it were useless to cite, will disappear; and that in +music, also, we will yet take into account the eloquence and ability +with which the thoughts and feelings are expressed, whatever may be +the size of the composition in which they are developed, or the means +employed to interpret them. + +In making an analysis of the works of Chopin, we meet with beauties of a +high order, expressions entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original +as erudite. In his compositions, boldness is always justified; richness, +even exuberance, never interferes with clearness; singularity never +degenerates into uncouth fantasticalness; the sculpturing is never +disorderly; the luxury of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence +of the principal lines. His best works abound in combinations which +may be said to form an epoch in the handling of musical style. Daring, +brilliant and attractive, they disguise their profundity under so much +grace, their science under so many charms, that it is with difficulty +we free ourselves sufficiently from their magical enthrallment, to judge +coldly of their theoretical value. Their worth has, however, already +been felt; but it will be more highly estimated when the time arrives +for a critical examination of the services rendered by them to art +during that period of its course traversed by Chopin. + +It is to him we owe the extension of chords, struck together in +arpeggio, or en batterie; the chromatic sinuosities of which his pages +offer such striking examples; the little groups of superadded notes, +falling like light drops of pearly dew upon the melodic figure. This +species of adornment had hitherto been modeled only upon the Fioritures +of the great Old School of Italian song; the embellishments for +the voice had been servilely copied by the Piano, although become +stereotyped and monotonous: he imparted to them the charm of novelty, +surprise and variety, unsuited for the vocalist, but in perfect keeping +with the character of the instrument. He invented the admirable harmonic +progressions which have given a serious character to pages, which, in +consequence of the lightness of their subject, made no pretension to any +importance. But of what consequence is the subject? Is it not the idea +which is developed through it, the emotion with which it vibrates, +which expands, elevates and ennobles it? What tender melancholy, what +subtlety, what sagacity in the master-pieces of La Fontaine, although +the subjects are so familiar, the titles so modest? Equally unassuming +are the titles and subjects of the Studies and Preludes; yet the +compositions of Chopin, so modestly named, are not the less types of +perfection in a mode created by himself, and stamped, like all his +other works, with the high impress of his poetic genius. Written in the +commencement of his career, they are characterized by a youthful +vigor not to be found in some of his subsequent works, even when more +elaborate, finished, and richer in combinations; a vigor, which is +entirely lost in his latest productions, marked by an over-excited +sensibility, a morbid irritability, and giving painful intimations of +his own state of suffering and exhaustion. + +If it were our intention to discuss the development of Piano music in +the language of the Schools, we would dissect his magnificent pages, +which afford so rich a field for scientific observation. We would, in +the first place, analyze his Nocturnes, Ballades, Impromptus, Scherzos, +which are full of refinements of harmony never heard before; bold, +and of startling originality. We would also examine his Polonaises, +Mazourkas, Waltzes and Boleros. But this is not the time or place +for such a study, which would be interesting only to the adepts in +Counterpoint and Thoroughbass. + +It is the feeling which overflows in all his works, which has rendered +them known and popular; feeling of a character eminently romantic, +subjective individual, peculiar to their author, yet awakening immediate +sympathy; appealing not alone to the heart of that country indebted +to him for yet one glory more, but to all who can be touched by the +misfortunes of exile, or moved by the tenderness of love. Not content +with success in the field in which he was free to design, with such +perfect grace, the contours chosen by himself, Chopin also wished to +fetter his ideal thoughts with classic chains. His Concertos and Sonatas +are beautiful indeed, but we may discern in them more effort than +inspiration. His creative genius was imperious, fantastic and impulsive. +His beauties were only manifested fully in entire freedom. We believe +he offered violence to the character of his genius whenever he sought to +subject it to rules, to classifications, to regulations not his own, +and which he could not force into harmony with the exactions of his own +mind. He was one of those original beings, whose graces are only fully +displayed when they have cut themselves adrift from all bondage, and +float on at their own wild will, swayed only by the ever undulating +impulses of their own mobile natures. + +He was, perhaps, induced to desire this double success through the +example of his friend, Mickiewicz, who, having been the first to gift +his country with romantic poetry, forming a school in Sclavic literature +by the publication of his Dziady, and his romantic Ballads, as early +as 1818, proved afterwards, by the publication at his Grazyna and +Wallenrod, that he could triumph over the difficulties that classic +restrictions oppose to inspiration, and that, when holding the classic +lyre of the ancient poets, he was still master. In making analogous +attempts, we do not think Chopin has been equally successful. He could +not retain, within the square of an angular and rigid mould, that +floating and indeterminate contour which so fascinates us in his +graceful conceptions. He could not introduce in its unyielding lines +that shadowy and sketchy indecision, which, disguising the skeleton, the +whole frame-work of form, drapes it in the mist of floating vapors, such +as surround the white-bosomed maids of Ossian, when they permit +mortals to catch some vague, yet lovely outline, from their home in the +changing, drifting, blinding clouds. + +Some of these efforts, however, are resplendent with a rare dignity of +style; and passages of exceeding interest, of surprising grandeur, may +be found among them. As an example of this, we cite the Adagio of the +Second Concerto, for which he evinced a decided preference, and which +he liked to repeat frequently. The accessory designs are in his best +manner, while the principal phrase is of an admirable breadth. It +alternates with a Recitative, which assumes a minor key, and which seems +to be its Antistrophe. The whole of this piece is of a perfection +almost ideal; its expression, now radiant with light, now full of +tender pathos. It seems as if one had chosen a happy vale of Tempe, +a magnificent landscape flooded with summer glow and lustre, as a +background for the rehearsal of some dire scene of mortal anguish. A +bitter and irreparable regret seizes the wildly-throbbing human heart, +even in the midst of the incomparable splendor of external nature. This +contrast is sustained by a fusion of tones, a softening of gloomy hues, +which prevent the intrusion of aught rude or brusque that might awaken +a dissonance in the touching impression produced, which, while saddening +joy, soothes and softens the bitterness of sorrow. + +It would be impossible to pass in silence the Funeral March inserted in +the first Sonata, which was arranged for the orchestra, and performed, +for the first time, at his own obsequies. What other accents could have +been found capable of expressing, with the same heart-breaking effect, +the emotions, the tears, which should accompany to the last long sleep, +one who had taught in a manner so sublime, how great losses should +be mourned? We once heard it remarked by a native of his own country: +"these pages could only have been written by a Pole." All that the +funeral train of an entire nation weeping its own ruin and death can +be imagined to feel of desolating woe, of majestic sorrow, wails in +the musical ringing of this passing bell, mourns in the tolling of this +solemn knell, as it accompanies the mighty escort on its way to the +still city of the Dead. The intensity of mystic hope; the devout appeal +to superhuman pity, to infinite mercy, to a dread justice, which numbers +every cradle and watches every tomb; the exalted resignation which has +wreathed so much grief with halos so luminous; the noble endurance of so +many disasters with the inspired heroism of Christian martyrs who +know not to despair;--resound in this melancholy chant, whose voice of +supplication breaks the heart. All of most pure, of most holy, of +most believing, of most hopeful in the hearts of children, women, +and priests, resounds, quivers and trembles there with irresistible +vibrations. We feel it is not the death of a single warrior we mourn, +while other heroes live to avenge him, but that a whole generation of +warriors has forever fallen, leaving the death song to be chanted but by +wailing women, weeping children and helpless priests. Yet this +Melopee so funereal, so full of desolating woe, is of such penetrating +sweetness, that we can scarcely deem it of this earth. These sounds, +in which the wild passion of human anguish seems chilled by awe and +softened by distance, impose a profound meditation, as if, chanted +by angels, they floated already in the heavens: the cry of a nation's +anguish mounting to the very throne of God! The appeal of human grief +from the lyre of seraphs! Neither cries, nor hoarse groans, nor impious +blasphemies, nor furious imprecations, trouble for a moment the sublime +sorrow of the plaint: it breathes upon the ear like the rhythmed sighs +of angels. The antique face of grief is entirely excluded. Nothing +recalls the fury of Cassandra, the prostration of Priam, the frenzy of +Hecuba, the despair of the Trojan captives. A sublime faith destroying +in the survivors of this Christian Ilion the bitterness of anguish and +the cowardice of despair, their sorrow is no longer marked by earthly +weakness. Raising itself from the soil wet with blood and tears, it +springs forward to implore God; and, having nothing more to hope from +earth, it supplicates the Supreme Judge with prayers so poignant, +that our hearts, in listening, break under the weight of an august +compassion! It would be a mistake to suppose that all the compositions +of Chopin are deprived of the feelings which he has deemed best to +suppress in this great work. Not so. Perhaps human nature is not capable +of maintaining always this mood of energetic abnegation, of courageous +submission. We meet with breathings of stifled rage, of suppressed +anger, in many passages of his writings: and many of his Studies, as +well as his Scherzos, depict a concentrated exasperation and despair, +which are sometimes manifested in bitter irony, sometimes in intolerant +hauteur. These dark apostrophes of his muse have attracted less +attention, have been less fully understood, than his poems of more +tender coloring. The personal character of Chopin had something to +do with this general misconception. Kind, courteous, and affable, of +tranquil and almost joyous manners, he would not suffer the secret +convulsions which agitated him to be even suspected. + +His character was indeed not easily understood. A thousand subtle +shades, mingling, crossing, contradicting and disguising each other, +rendered it almost undecipherable at a first view. As is usually the +case with the Sclaves, it was difficult to read the recesses of +his mind. With them, loyalty and candor, familiarity and the most +captivating ease of manner, by no means imply confidence, or impulsive +frankness. Like the twisted folds of a serpent rolled upon itself, their +feelings are half hidden, half revealed. It requires a most attentive +examination to follow the coiled linking of the glittering rings. It +would be naive to interpret literally their courtesy full of compliment, +their assumed humility. The forms of this politeness, this modesty, have +their solution in their manners, in which their ancient connection with +the East may be strangely traced. Without having in the least degree +acquired the taciturnity of the Mussulman, they have yet learned from +it a distrustful reserve upon all subjects which touch upon the +more delicate and personal chords of the heart. When they speak +of themselves, we may almost always be certain that they keep some +concealment in reserve, which assures them the advantage in intellect, +or feeling. They suffer their interrogator to remain in ignorance of +some circumstance, some mobile secret, through the unveiling of which +they would be more admired, or less esteemed, and which they well know +how to hide under the subtle smile of an almost imperceptible mockery. +Delighting in the pleasure of mystification, from the most spiritual or +comic to the most bitter and melancholy, they may perhaps find in +this deceptive raillery an external formula of disdain for the veiled +expression of the superiority which they internally claim, but +which claim they veil with the caution and astuteness natural to the +oppressed. + +The frail and sickly organization of Chopin, not permitting him the +energetic expression of his passions, he gave to his friends only the +gentle and affectionate phase of his nature. In the busy, eager life +of large cities, where no one has time to study the destiny of another, +where every one is judged by his external activity, very few think it +worth while to attempt to penetrate the enigma of individual character. +Those who enjoyed familiar intercourse with Chopin, could not be blind +to the impatience and ennui he experienced in being, upon the calm +character of his manners, so promptly believed. And may not the artist +revenge the man? As his health was too frail to permit him to give vent +to his impatience through the vehemence of his execution, he sought to +compensate himself by pouring this bitterness over those pages which he +loved to hear performed with a vigor [Footnote: It was his delight to +hear them executed by the great Liszt himself.--Translator.] which he +could not himself always command: pages which are indeed full of the +impassioned feelings of a man suffering deeply from wounds which he does +not choose to avow. Thus around a gaily flagged, yet sinking ship, float +the fallen spars and scattered fragments, torn by warring winds and +surging waves from its shattered sides. + +Such emotions have been of so much the more importance in the life +of Chopin, because they have deeply influenced the character of his +compositions. Among the pages published under such influences, may be +traced much analogous to the wire-drawn subtleties of Jean Paul, who +found it necessary, in order to move hearts macerated by passion, blazes +through suffering, to make use of the surprises caused by natural and +physical phenomena; to evoke the sensations of luxurious terrors arising +from occurrences not to be foreseen in the natural order of things; +to awaken the morbid excitements of a dreamy brain. Step by step the +tortured mind of Chopin arrived at a state of sickly irritability; his +emotions increased to a feverish tremor, producing that involution, that +tortuosity of thought, which mark his latest works. Almost suffocating +under the oppression of repressed feelings, using art only to repeat +and rehearse for himself his own internal tragedy, after having wearied +emotion, he began to subtilize it. His melodies are actually tormented; +a nervous and restless sensibility leads to an obstinate persistence +in the handling and rehandling and a reiterated pursuit of the tortured +motifs, which impress us as painfully as the sight of those physical or +mental agonies which we know can find relief only in death. Chopin was a +victim to a disease without hope, which growing more envenomed from year +to year, took him, while yet young, from those who loved him, and laid +him in his still grave. As in the fair form of some beautiful victim, +the marks of the grasping claws of the fierce bird of prey which has +destroyed it, may be found; so, in the productions of which we have just +spoken, the traces of the bitter sufferings which devoured his heart, +are painfully visible. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +National Character of the +Polonaise--Oginski--Meyseder--Weber--Chopin--His Polonaise in F Sharp, +Minor--Polonaise--Fantaisie. + + +It must not be supposed that the tortured aberrations of feeling to +which we have just alluded, ever injure the harmonic tissue in the works +of Chopin on the contrary, they only render it a more curious subject +for analysis. Such eccentricities rarely occur in his more generally +known and admired compositions. His Polonaises, which are less studied +than they merit, on account of the difficulties presented by their +perfect execution, are to be classed among his highest inspirations. +They never remind us of the mincing and affected "Polonaises a la +Pompadour," which our orchestras have introduced into ball-rooms, +our virtuosi in concerts, or of those to be found in our "Parlor +Repertories," filled, as they invariably are, with hackneyed collections +of music, marked by insipidity and mannerism. + +His Polonaises, characterized by an energetic rhythm, galvanize and +electrify the torpor of indifference. The most noble traditional +feelings of ancient Poland are embodied in them. The firm resolve +and calm gravity of its men of other days, breathe through these +compositions. Generally of a martial character, courage and daring are +rendered with that simplicity of expression, said to be a distinctive +trait of this warlike people. They bring vividly before the imagination, +the ancient Poles, as we find them described in their chronicles; gifted +with powerful organizations, subtle intellects, indomitable courage and +earnest piety, mingled with high-born courtesy and a gallantry which +never deserted them, whether on the eve of battle, during its exciting +course, in the triumph of victory, or amidst the gloom of defeat. So +inherent was this gallantry and chivalric courtesy in their nature, that +in spite of the restraint which their customs (resembling those of +their neighbours and enemies, the infidels of Stamboul) induced them to +exercise upon their women, confining them in the limits of domestic +life and always holding them under legal wardship, they still +manifest themselves in their annals, in which they have glorified +and immortalized queens who were saints; vassals who became queens, +beautiful subjects for whose sake some periled, while others lost, +crowns: a terrible Sforza; an intriguing d'Arquien; and a coquettish +Gonzaga. + +The Poles of olden times united a manly firmness with this peculiar +chivalric devotion to the objects of their love. A characteristic +example of this may be seen in the letters of Jean Sobieski to his wife. +They were dictated in face of the standards of the Crescent, "numerous +as the ears in a grain-field," tender and devoted as is their character. +Such traits caught a singular and imposing hue from the grave deportment +of these men, so dignified that they might almost be accused of +pomposity. It was next to impossible that they should not contract a +taste for this stateliness, when we consider that they had almost +always before them the most exquisite type of gravity of manner in the +followers of Islam, whose qualities they appreciated and appropriated, +even while engaged in repelling their invasions. Like the infidel, they +knew how to preface their acts by an intelligent deliberation, so that +the device of Prince Boleslas of Pomerania, was always present to them: +"First weigh it; then dare:" Erst wieg's: dann wag's! Such deliberation +imparted a kind of stately pride to their movements, while it left +them in possession of an ease and freedom of spirit accessible to the +lightest cares of tenderness, to the most trivial interests of the +passing hour, to the most transient feelings of the heart. As it made +part of their code of honor to make those who interfered with them, +in their more tender interests, pay dearly for it; so they knew how +to beautify life, and, better still, they knew how to love those who +embellished it; to revere those who rendered it precious to them. + +Their chivalric heroism was sanctioned by their grave and haughty +dignity; an intelligent and premeditated conviction added the force of +reason to the energy of impulsive virtue; thus they have succeeded in +winning the admiration of all ages, of all minds, even that of their +most determined adversaries. They were characterized by qualities +rarely found together, the description of which would appear almost +paradoxical: reckless wisdom, daring prudence, and fanatic fatalism. The +most marked and celebrated historic manifestation of these properties is +to be found in the expedition of Sobieski when he saved Vienna, and gave +a mortal blow to the Ottoman Empire, which was at last conquered in the +long struggle, sustained on both sides with so much prowess and glory, +with so much mutual deference between opponents as magnanimous in their +truces as irreconcilable in their combats. + +While listening to some of the POLONAISES of Chopin, we can almost catch +the firm, nay, the more than firm, the heavy, resolute tread of men +bravely facing all the bitter injustice which the most cruel and +relentless destiny can offer, with the manly pride of unblenching +courage. The progress of the music suggests to our imagination such +magnificent groups as were designed by Paul Veronese, robed in the +rich costume of days long past: we see passing at intervals before us, +brocades of gold, velvets, damasked satins, silvery soft and flexile +sables, hanging sleeves gracefully thrown back upon the shoulders, +embossed sabres, boots yellow as gold or red with trampled blood, sashes +with long and undulating fringes, close chemisettes, rustling trains, +stomachers embroidered with pearls, head dresses glittering with rubies +or leafy with emeralds, light slippers rich with amber, gloves perfumed +with the luxurious attar from the harems. Prom the faded background of +times long passed these vivid groups start forth; gorgeous carpets from +Persia lie at their feet, filigreed furniture from Constantinople stands +around; all is marked by the sumptuous prodigality of the Magnates who +drew, in ruby goblets embossed with medallions, wine from the fountains +of Tokay, and shoed their fleet Arabian steeds with silver, who +surmounted all their escutcheons with the same crown which the fate of +an election might render a royal one, and which, causing them to despise +all other titles, was alone worn as INSIGNE of their glorious equality. + +Those who have seen the Polonaise danced even as late as the beginning +of the present century, declare that its style has changed so much, that +it is now almost impossible to divine its primitive character. As very +few national dances have succeeded in preserving their racy originality, +we may imagine, when we take into consideration the changes which +have occurred, to what a degree this has degenerated. The Polonaise is +without rapid movements, without any true steps in the artistic sense +of the word, intended rather for display than for the exhibition of +seductive grace; so we may readily conceive it must lose all its haughty +importance, its pompous self-sufficiency, when the dancers are deprived +of the accessories necessary to enable them to animate its simple +form by dignified, yet vivid gestures, by appropriate and expressive +pantomime, and when the costume peculiarly fitted for it is no longer +worn. It has indeed become decidedly monotonous, a mere circulating +promenade, exciting but little interest. Unless we could see it danced +by some of the old regime who still wear the ancient costume, or listen +to their animated descriptions of it, we can form no conception of the +numerous incidents, the scenic pantomime, which once rendered it so +effective. By a rare exception this dance was designed to exhibit the +men, to display manly beauty, to set off noble and dignified deportment, +martial yet courtly bearing. "Martial yet courtly:" do not these two +epithets almost define the Polish character? In the original the +very name of the dance is masculine; it is only in consequence of a +misconception that it has been translated in other tongues into the +feminine gender. + +Those who have never seen the KONTUSZ worn, (it is a kind of Occidental +kaftan, as it is the robe of the Orientals, modified to suit the customs +of an active life, unfettered by the stagnant resignation taught by +fatalism,) a sort of FEREDGI, often trimmed with fur, forcing the wearer +to make frequent movements susceptible of grace and coquetry, by which +the flowing sleeves are thrown backward, can scarcely imagine the +bearing, the slow bending, the quick rising, the finesse of the delicate +pantomime displayed by the Ancients, as they defiled in a Polonaise, as +though in a military parade, not suffering their fingers to remain +idle, but sometimes occupying them in playing with the long moustache, +sometimes with the handle of the sword. Both moustache and sword were +essential parts of the costume, and were indeed objects of vanity with +all ages. Diamonds and sapphires frequently sparkled upon the arms, worn +suspended from belts of cashmere, or from sashes of silk embroidered +with gold, displaying to advantage forms always slightly corpulent; +the moustache often veiled, without quite hiding, some scar, far more +effective than the most brilliant array of jewels. The dress of the men +rivaled that of the women in the luxury of the material worn, in the +value of the precious stones, and in the variety of vivid colors. This +love of adornment is also found among the Hungarians, [Footnote: The +Hungarian costume worn by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy at the coronation +of George the Fourth, is still remembered in England. It was valued at +several millions of florins.] as may be seen in their buttons made of +jewels, the rings forming a necessary part of their dress, the wrought +clasps for the neck, the aigrettes and plumes adorning the cap made of +velvet of some brilliant hue. To know how to take off, to put on, to +manoeuvre the cap with all possible grace, constituted almost an art. +During the progress of a Polonaise, this became an object of especial +remark, because the cavalier of the leading pair, as commandant of the +file, gave the mute word of command, which was immediately obeyed and +imitated by the rest of the train. + +The master of the house in which the ball was given, always opened it +himself by leading off in this dance. His partner was selected neither +for her beauty, nor youth; the most highly honored lady present +was always chosen. This phalanx, by whose evolutions every fete was +commenced, was not formed only of the young: it was composed of the +most distinguished, as well as of the most beautiful. A grand review, a +dazzling exhibition of all the distinction present, was offered as the +highest pleasure of the festival. After the host, came next in order the +guests of the greatest consideration, who, choosing their partners, some +from friendship, some from policy or from desire of advancement, +some from love,--followed closely his steps. His task was a far more +complicated one than it is at present. He was expected to conduct the +files under his guidance through a thousand capricious meanderings, +through long suites of apartments lined by guests, who were to take a +later part in this brilliant cortege. They liked to be conducted through +distant galleries, through the parterres of illuminated gardens, through +the groves of shrubbery, where distant echoes of the music alone reached +the ear, which, as if in revenge, greeted them with redoubled sound and +blowing of trumpets upon their return to the principal saloon. As the +spectators, ranged like rows of hedges along the route, were continually +changing, and never ceased for a moment to observe all their movements, +the dancers never forgot that dignity of bearing and address which won +for them the admiration of women, and excited the jealousy of men. Vain +and joyous, the host would have deemed himself wanting in courtesy to +his guests, had he not evinced to them, which he did sometimes with +a piquant naivete, the pride he felt in seeing himself surrounded by +persons so illustrious, and partisans so noble, all striving through the +splendor of the attire chosen to visit him, to show their high sense of +the honor in which they held him. + +Guided by him in their first circuit, they were led through long +windings, where unexpected turns, views, and openings had been +arranged beforehand to cause surprise; where architectural deceptions, +decorations and shifting scenes had been studiously adapted to increase +the pleasure of the festival. If any monument or inscription, fitted +for the occasion, lay upon the long line of route, from which some +complimentary homage might be drawn to the "most valiant or the most +beautiful," the honors were gracefully done by the host. The more +unexpected the surprises arranged for these excursions, the more +imagination evinced in their invention, the louder were the applauses +from the younger part of the society, the more ardent the exclamations +of delight; and silvery sounds of merry laughter greeted pleasantly the +ears of the conductor-in-chief, who, having thus succeeded in achieving +his reputation, became a privileged Corypheus, a leader par excellence. +If he had already attained a certain age, he was greeted on his return +from such circuits by frequent deputations of young ladies, who came, +in the name of all present, to thank and congratulate him. Through their +vivid descriptions, these pretty wanderers excited the curiosity of the +guests, and increased the eagerness for the formation of the succeeding +Polonaises among those who, though they did not make part of the +procession, still watched its passage in motionless attention, as if +gazing upon the flashing line of light of some brilliant meteor. + +In this land of aristocratic democracy, the numerous dependents of the +great seigniorial houses, (too poor, indeed, to take part in the fete, +yet only excluded from it by their own volition, all, however noble, +some even more noble than their lords,) being all present, it was +considered highly desirable to dazzle them; and this flowing chain +of rainbow-hued and gorgeous light, like an immense serpent with +its glittering rings, sometimes wreathed its linked folds, sometimes +uncoiled its entire length, to display its brilliancy through the +whole line of its undulating animated surface, in the most vivid +scintillations; accompanying the shifting hues with the silvery sounds +of chains of gold, ringing like muffled bells; with the rustling of the +heavy sweep of gorgeous damasks and with the dragging of jewelled +swords upon the floor. The murmuring sound of many voices announced the +approach of this animated, varied, and glittering life-stream. + +But the genius of hospitality, never deficient in high-born courtesy, +and which, even while preserving the touching simplicity of primitive +manners, inspired in Poland all the refinements of the most advanced +state of civilization,--how could it be exiled from the details of a +dance so eminently Polish? After the host had, by inaugurating the fete, +rendered due homage to all who were present, any one of his guests had +the right to claim his place with the lady whom he had honored by his +choice. The new claimant, clapping his hands, to arrest for a moment the +ever moving cortege, bowed before the partner of the host, begging her +graciously to accept the change; while the host, from whom she had been +taken, made the same appeal to the lady next in course. This example was +followed by the whole train. Constantly changing partners, whenever a +new cavalier claimed the honor of leading the one first chosen by +the host, the ladies remained in the same succession during the whole +course; while, on the contrary, as the gentlemen continually replaced +each other, he who had commenced the dance, would, in its progress, +become the last, if not indeed entirely excluded before its close. + +Each cavalier who placed himself in turn at the head of the column, +tried to surpass his predecessors in the novelty of the combinations of +his opening, in the complications of the windings through which he led +the expectant cortege; and this course, even when restricted to a +single saloon, might be made remarkable by the designing of graceful +arabesques, or the involved tracing of enigmatical ciphers. He made good +his claim to the place he had solicited, and displayed his skill, by +inventing close, complicated and inextricable figures; by describing +them with so much certainty and accuracy, that the living ribbon, turned +and twisted as it might be, was never broken in the loosing of its +wreathed knots; and by so leading, that no confusion or graceless +jostling should result from the complicated torsion. The succeeding +couples, who had only to follow the figures already given, and thus +continue the impulsion, were not permitted to drag themselves lazily +and listlessly along the parquet. The step was rhythmic, cadenced, and +undulating; the whole form swayed by graceful wavings and harmonious +balancings. They were careful never to advance with too much haste, nor +to replace each other as if driven on by some urgent necessity. On they +glided, like swans descending a tranquil stream, their flexile forms +swayed by the ebb and swell of unseen and gentle waves. Sometimes, the +gentleman offered the right, sometimes, the left hand to his partner; +touching only the points of her fingers, or clasping the slight hand +within his own, he passed now to her right, now to her left, without +yielding the snowy treasure. These complicated movements, being +instantaneously imitated by every pair, ran, like an electric shiver, +through the whole length of this gigantic serpent. Although apparently +occupied and absorbed by these multiplied manoeuvres, the cavalier yet +found time to bend to his lady and whisper sweet flatteries in her ear, +if she were young; if young no longer, to repose confidence, to urge +requests, or to repeat to her the news of the hour. Then, haughtily +raising himself, he would make the metal of his arms ring, caress his +thick moustache, giving to all his features an expression so vivid, that +the lady was forced to respond by the animation of her own countenance. + +Thus, it was no hackneyed and senseless promenade which they executed; +it was, rather, a parade in which the whole splendor of the society +was exhibited, gratified with its own admiration, conscious of its own +elegance, brilliancy, nobility and courtesy. It was a constant display +of its lustre, its glory, its renown. Men grown gray in camps, or in +the strife of courtly eloquence; generals more often seen in the cuirass +than in the robes of peace; prelates and persons high in the Church; +dignitaries of State aged senators; warlike palatines; ambitious +castellans;--were the partners who were expected, welcomed, disputed and +sought for, by the youngest, gayest, and most brilliant women present. +Honor and glory rendered ages equal, and caused years to be forgotten +in this dance; nay, more, they gave an advantage even over love. It was +while listening to the animated descriptions of the almost forgotten +evolutions and dignified capabilities of this truly national dance, from +the lips of those who would never abandon the ancient Zupan and Kontusz, +and who still wore their hair closely cut round their temples, as it had +been worn by their ancestors, that we first fully understood in what a +high degree this haughty nation possessed the innate instinct of its own +exhibition, and how entirely it had succeeded, through its natural grace +and genius, in poetizing its love of ostentation by draping it in the +charms of noble emotions, and wrapping round it the glittering robes of +martial glory. + +When we visited the country of Chopin, whose memory always accompanied +us like a faithful guide who constantly keeps our interest excited, +we were fortunate enough to meet with some of the peculiar characters, +daily growing more rare, because European civilization, even where it +does not modify the basis of character, effaces asperities, and moulds +exterior forms. We there encountered some of those men gifted with +superior intellect, cultivated and strongly developed by a life of +incessant action, yet whose horizon does not extend beyond the limits of +their own country, their own society, their own traditions. During our +intercourse, facilitated by an interpreter, with these men of past +days, we were able to study them and to understand the secret of their +greatness. It was really curious to observe the inimitable originality +caused by the utter exclusiveness of the view taken by them. This +limited cultivation, while it greatly diminishes the value of their +ideas upon many subjects, at the same time gifts the mind with +a peculiar force, almost resembling the keen scent and the acute +perceptions of the savage, for all the things near and dear to it. Only +from a mind of this peculiar training, marked by a concentrative energy +that nothing can distract from its course, every thing beyond the circle +of its own nationality remaining alien to it, can we hope to obtain +an exact picture of the past; for it alone, like a faithful mirror, +reflects it in its primal coloring, preserves its proper lights and +shades, and gives it with its varied and picturesque accompaniments. +From such minds alone can we obtain, with the ritual of customs which +are rapidly becoming extinct, the spirit from which they emanated. +Chopin was born too late, and left the domestic hearth too early, to be +himself in possession of this spirit; but he had known many examples of +it, and, through the memories which surrounded his childhood, even more +fully than through the literature and history of his country, he found +by induction the secrets of its ancient prestige, which he evoked from +the dim and dark land of forgetfulness, and, through the magic of his +poetic art, endowed with immortal youth. Poets are better comprehended +and appreciated by those who have made themselves familiar with the +countries which inspired their songs. Pindar is more fully understood by +those who have seen the Parthenon bathed in the radiance of its limpid +atmosphere; Ossian, by those familiar with the mountains of Scotland, +with their heavy veils and long wreaths of mist. The feelings which +inspired the creations of Chopin can only be fully appreciated by those +who have visited his country. They must have seen the giant shadows +of past centuries gradually increasing, and veiling the ground as the +gloomy night of despair rolled on; they must have felt the electric and +mystic influence of that strange "phantom of glory" forever haunting +martyred Poland. Even in the gayest hours of festival, it appalls and +saddens all hearts. Whenever a tale of past renown, a commemoration of +slaughtered heroes is given, an allusion to national prowess is made, +its resurrection from the grave is instantaneous; it takes its place +in the banquet-hall, spreading an electric terror mingled with intense +admiration; a shudder, wild and mystic as that which seizes upon the +peasants of Ukraine, when the "Beautiful Virgin," white as Death, with +her girdle of crimson, is suddenly seen gliding through their tranquil +village, while her shadowy hand marks with blood the door of each +cottage doomed to destruction. + +During many centuries, the civilization of Poland was entirely peculiar +and aboriginal; it did not resemble that of any other country; and, +indeed, it seems destined to remain forever unique in its kind. As +different from the German feudalism which neighboured it upon the West, +as from the conquering spirit of the Turks which disquieted it on +the East, it resembled Europe in its chivalric Christianity, in its +eagerness to attack the infidel, even while receiving instruction in +sagacious policy, in military tactics, and sententious reasoning, from +the masters of Byzantium. By the assumption, at the same time, of the +heroic qualities of Mussulman fanaticism and the sublime virtues of +Christian sanctity and humility, [Footnote: It is well known with how +many glorious names Poland has enriched the martyrology of the Church. +In memorial of the countless martyrs it had offered, the Roman Church +granted to the order of Trinitarians, or Redemptorist Brothers, whose +duty it was to redeem from slavery the Christians who had fallen into +the hands of the Infidels, the distinction, only granted to this nation, +of wearing a crimson belt. These victims to benevolence were +generally from the establishments near the frontiers, such as those of +Kamieniec-Podolski.] it mingled the most heterogeneous elements, and +thus planted in its very bosom the seeds of ruin and decay. + +The general culture of Latin letters, the knowledge of and love for +Italian and French literature gave a lustre and classical polish to the +startling contrasts we hare attempted to describe. Such a civilization +must necessarily impress all its manifestations with its own seal. As +was natural for a nation always engaged in war, forced to reserve its +deeds of prowess and valor for its enemies upon the field of battle, it +was not famed for the romances of knight-errantry, for tournaments or +jousts; it replaced the excitement and splendor of the mimic war by +characteristic fetes, in which the gorgeousness of personal display +formed the principal feature. + +There is certainly nothing new in the assertion, that national character +is, in some degree, revealed by national dances. We believe, however, +there are none in which the creative impulses can be so readily +deciphered, or the ensemble traced with so much simplicity, as in the +Polonaise. In consequence of the varied episodes which each individual +was expected to insert in the general frame, the national intuitions +were revealed with the greatest diversity. When these distinctive marks +disappeared, when the original flame no longer burned, when no one +invented scenes for the intermediary pauses, when to accomplish +mechanically the obligatory circuit of a saloon, was all that was +requisite, nothing but the skeleton of departed glory remained. + +We would certainly have hesitated to speak of the Polonaise, after +the exquisite verses which Mickiewicz has consecrated to it, and the +admirable description which he has given of it in the last Canto of the +"Pan Tadeusz," but that this description is to be found only in a work +not yet translated, and, consequently, only known to the compatriots of +the Poet. [Footnote: It has been translated into German.--T.] It would +have been presumptuous, even under another form, to have ventured upon +a subject already sketched and colored by such a hand, in his romantic +Epic, in which beauties of the highest order are set in such a scene as +Ruysdael loved to paint; where a ray of sunshine, thrown through heavy +storm-clouds, falls upon one of those strange trees never wanting in his +pictures, a birch shattered by lightning, while its snowy bark is deeply +stained, as if dyed in the blood flowing from its fresh and gaping +wounds. The scenes of "Pan Tadeusz" are laid at the beginning of the +present century, when many still lived who retained the profound feeling +and grave deportment of the ancient Poles, mingled with those who were +even then under the sway of the graceful or giddying passions of modern +origin. These striking and contrasting types existing together at +that period, are now rapidly disappearing before that universal +conventionalism which is at present seizing and moulding the higher +classes in all cities and in all countries. Without doubt, Chopin +frequently drew fresh inspiration from this noble poem, whose scenes so +forcibly depict the emotions he best loved to reproduce. + +The primitive music of the Polonaise, of which we have no example of +greater age than a century, possesses but little value for art. Those +Polonaises which do not bear the names of their authors, but are +frequently marked with the name of some hero, thus indicating +their date, are generally grave and sweet. The Polonaise styled "de +Kosciuszko," is the most universally known, and is so closely linked +with the memories of his epoch, that we have known ladies who could not +hear it without breaking into sobs. The Princess F. L., who had been +loved by Kosciuszko, in her last days, when age had enfeebled all her +faculties, was only sensible to the chords of this piece, which her +trembling hands could still find upon the key-board, though the dim and +aged eye could no longer see the keys. Some contemporary Polonaises are +of a character so sad, that they might almost be supposed to accompany a +funeral train. + +The Polonaises of Count Oginski [Footnote: Among the Polonaises of Count +Oginski, the one in F Major has especially retained its celebrity. It +was published with a vignette, representing the author in the act +of blowing his brains out with a pistol. This was merely a romantic +commentary, which was for a long time mistaken for a fact.] which next +appeared, soon attained great popularity through the introduction of an +air of seductive languor into the melancholy strains. Full of gloom +as they still are, they soothe by their delicious tenderness, by their +naive and mournful grace. The martial rhythm grows more feeble; the +march of the stately train, no longer rustling in its pride of state, is +hushed in reverential silence, in solemn thought, as if its course wound +on through graves, whose sad swells extinguish smiles and humiliate +pride. Love alone survives, as the mourners wander among the mounds +of earth so freshly heaped that the grass has not yet grown upon them, +repeating the sad refrain which the Bard of Erin caught from the wild +breezes of the sea: + +"Love born of sorrow, like sorrow is true!" + +In the well known pages of Oginski may be found the sighing of analogous +thoughts: the very breath of love is sad, and only revealed through the +melancholy lustre of eyes bathed in tears. + +At a somewhat later stage, the graves and grassy mounds were all passed, +they are seen only in the distance of the shadowy background. The living +cannot always weep; life and animation again appear, mournful thoughts +changed into soothing memories, return on the ear, sweet as distant +echoes. The saddened train of the living no longer hush their breath as +they glide on with noiseless precaution, as if not to disturb the sleep +of those who have just departed, over whose graves the turf is not yet +green; the imagination no longer evokes only the gloomy shadows of +the past. In the Polonaises of Lipinski we hear the music of the +pleasure-loving heart once more beating joyously, giddily, happily, as +it had done before the days of disaster and defeat. The melodies breathe +more and more the perfume of happy youth; love, young love, sighs +around. Expanding into expressive songs of vague and dreamy character, +they speak but to youthful hearts, cradling them in poetic fictions, in +soft illusions. No longer destined to cadence the steps of the high +and grave personages who ceased to bear their part in these dances, +[Footnote: Bishops and Primates formerly assisted in these dances; at +a later date the Church dignitaries took no part in them.] they are +addressed to romantic imaginations, dreaming rather of rapture than of +renown. Meyseder advanced upon this descending path; his dances, full of +lively coquetry, reflect only the magic charms of youth and beauty. +His numerous imitations have inundated us with pieces of music, called +Polonaises, out which have no characteristics to justify the name. + +The pristine and vigorous brilliancy of the Polonaise was again +suddenly given to it by a composer of true genius. Weber made of it a +Dithyrambic, in which the glittering display of vanished magnificence +again appeared in its ancient glory. He united all the resources of his +art to ennoble the formula which had been so misrepresented and debased, +to fill it with the spirit of the past; not seeking to recall +the character of ancient music, he transported into music the +characteristics of ancient Poland. Using the melody as a recital, +he accentuated the rhythm, he colored his composition, through his +modulations, with a profusion of hues not only suitable to his subject, +but imperiously demanded by it. Life, warmth, and passion again +circulated in his Polonaises, yet he did not deprive them of the +haughty charm, the ceremonious and magisterial dignity, the natural yet +elaborate majesty, which are essential parts of their character. The +cadences are marked by chords, which fall upon the ear like the rattling +of swords drawn from their scabbards. The soft, warm, effeminate +pleadings of love give place to the murmuring of deep, fall, bass +voices, proceeding from manly breasts used to command; we may almost +hear, in reply, the wild and distant neighings of the steeds of +the desert, as they toss the long manes around their haughty heads, +impatiently pawing the ground, with their lustrous eye beaming with +intelligence and full of fire, while they bear with stately grace the +trailing caparisons embroidered with turquoise and rubies, with which +the Polish Seigneurs loved to adorn them. [Footnote: Among the treasures +of Prince radziwill at Nieswirz were to be seen, in the days of former +splendor, twelve sets of horse trappings, each of a different color, +incrusted with precious stones. The twelve Apostles, life size, in +massive silver, were also to be seen there. This luxury will cease to +astonish us when we consider that the family of Radziwill was descended +from the last Grand Pontiff of Lithuania, to whom, when he embraced +Christianity, were given all the forests and plains which had before +been consecrated to the worship of the heathen Deities; and that toward +the close of the last century, the family still possessed eight hundred +thousand serfs, although its riches had then considerably diminished. +Among the collection of treasures of which we speak, was an exceedingly +curious relic, which is still in existence. It is a picture of St. John +the Baptist, surrounded by a Bannerol bearing the inscription: "In the +name of the Lord, John, thou shalt be Conqueror." It was found by Jean +Sobieski himself, after the victory which he had won, under the walls of +Vienna, in the tent of the Vizier Kara Mustapha. It was presented after +his death, by Marie d'Arquin, to a Prince Radziwill, with an inscription +in her own hand-writing which indicates its origin, and the presentation +which she makes of it. The autograph, with the royal seal, is on the +reverse side of the canvas.] How did Weber divine the Poland of other +days? Had he indeed the power to call from the grave of the past, the +scenes which we have just contemplated, that he was thus able to clothe +them with life, to renew their earlier associations? Vain questions! +Genius is always endowed with its own sacred intuitions! Poetry ever +reveals to her chosen the secrets of her wild domain! + +All the poetry contained in the Polonaises had, like a rich sap, been so +fully expressed from them by the genius of Weber, they had been handled +with a mastery so absolute, that it was, indeed, a dangerous and +difficult thing to attempt them, with the slightest hope of producing +the same effect. He has, however, been surpassed in this species of +composition by Chopin, not only in the number and variety of works in +this style, but also in the more touching character of the handling, +and the new and varied processes of harmony. Both in construction and +spirit, Chopin's Polonaise In A, with the one in A flat major, resembles +very much the one of Weber's in E Major. In others he relinquished this +broad style: Shall we say always with a more decided success? In such a +question, decision were a thorny thing. Who shall restrict the rights of +a poet over the various phases of his subject? Even in the midst of joy, +may he not be permitted to be gloomy and oppressed? After having chanted +the splendor of glory, may he not sing of grief? After having rejoiced +with the victorious, may he not mourn with the vanquished? We may, +without any fear of contradiction, assert, that it is not one of the +least merits of Chopin, that he has, consecutively, embraced ALL the +phases of which the theme is susceptible, that he has succeeded in +eliciting from it all its brilliancy, in awakening from it all its +sadness. The variety of the moods of feeling to which he was himself +subject, aided him in the reproduction and comprehension of such a +multiplicity of views. It would be impossible to follow the varied +transformations occurring in these compositions, with their pervading +melancholy, without admiring the fecundity of his creative force, even +when not fully sustained by the higher powers of his inspiration. He +did not always confine himself to the consideration of the pictures +presented to him by his imagination and memory, taken en masse, or as a +united whole. More than once, while contemplating the brilliant groups +and throngs flowing on before him, has he yielded to the strange charm +of some isolated figure, arresting it in its course by the magic of his +gaze, and, suffering the gay crowds to pass on, he has given himself +up with delight to the divination of its mystic revelations, while he +continued to weave his incantations and spells only for the entranced +Sibyl of his song. + +His GRAND POLONAISE in F SHARP MINOR, must be ranked among his most +energetic compositions. He has inserted in it a MAZOURKA. Had he not +frightened the frivolous world of fashionable life, by the gloomy +grotesqueness with which he introduced it in an incantation so +fantastic, this mode might have become an ingenious caprice for the +ball-room. It is a most original production, exciting us like the +recital of some broken dream, made, after a night of restlessness, by +the first dull, gray, cold, leaden rays of a winter's sunrise. It is a +dream-poem, in which the impressions and objects succeed each other with +startling incoherency and with the wildest transitions, reminding us of +what Byron says in his "DREAM:" + + "... Dreams in their development have breath, + And tears, and tortures, and the touch of joy; + They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts, + * * * * * * * * + And look like heralds of Eternity." + +The principal motive is a weird air, dark as the lurid hour which +precedes a hurricane, in which we catch the fierce exclamations of +exasperation, mingled with a bold defiance, recklessly hurled at the +stormy elements. The prolonged return of a tonic, at the commencement +of each measure, reminds us of the repeated roar of artillery--as if we +caught the sounds from some dread battle waging in the distance. After +the termination of this note, a series of the most unusual chords are +unrolled through measure after measure. We know nothing analogous, +to the striking effect produced by this, in the compositions of the +greatest masters. This passage is suddenly interrupted by a SCENE +CHAMPETRE, a MAZOURKA in the style of an Idyl, full of the perfume of +lavender and sweet marjoram; but which, far from effacing the memory of +the profound sorrow which had before been awakened, only augments, by +its ironical and bitter contrast, our emotions of pain to such a degree, +that we feel almost solaced when the first phrase returns; and, free +from the disturbing contradiction of a naive, simple, and inglorious +happiness, we may again sympathize with the noble and imposing woe of +a high, yet fatal struggle. This improvisation terminates like a dream, +without other conclusion than a convulsive shudder; leaving the soul +under the strangest, the wildest, the most subduing impressions. + +The "POLONAISE-FANTAISIE" is to be classed among the works which belong +to the latest period of Chopin's compositions, which are all more or +less marked by a feverish and restless anxiety. No bold and brilliant +pictures are to be found in it; the loud tramp of a cavalry accustomed +to victory is no longer heard; no more resound the heroic chants muffled +by no visions of defeat--the bold tones suited to the audacity of those +who were always victorious. A deep melancholy--ever broken by startled +movements, by sudden alarms, by disturbed rest, by stifled sighs--reigns +throughout. We are surrounded by such scenes and feelings as might arise +among those who had been surprised and encompassed on all sides by an +ambuscade, the vast sweep of whose horizon reveals not a single ground +for hope, and whose despair had giddied the brain, like a draught of +that wine of Cyprus which gives a more instinctive rapidity to all our +gestures, a keener point to all our words, a more subtle flame to +all our emotions, and excites the mind to a pitch of irritability +approaching insanity. + +Such pictures possess but little real value for art. Like all +descriptions of moments of extremity, of agonies, of death rattles, +of contractions of the muscles where all elasticity is lost, where the +nerves, ceasing to be the organs of the human will, reduce man to +a passive victim of despair; they only serve to torture the soul. +Deplorable visions, which the artist should admit with extreme +circumspection within the graceful circle of his charmed realm! + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Chopin's Mazourkas--Polish Ladies--Mazourka in Poland--Tortured +Motives--Early life of Chopin--Zal. + + + +In all that regards expression, the MAZOURKAS of Chopin differ greatly +from his POLONAISES. Indeed they are entirely unlike in character. The +bold and vigorous coloring of the Polonaises gives place to the most +delicate, tender, and evanescent shades in the Mazourkas. A nation, +considered as a whole, in its united, characteristic, and single +impetus, is no longer placed before us; the character and impressions +now become purely personal, always individualized and divided. No +longer is the feminine and effeminate element driven back into shadowy +recesses. On the contrary, it is brought out in the boldest relief, nay, +it is brought into such prominent importance that all else disappears, +or, at most, serves only as its accompaniment. The days are now +past when to say that a woman was charming, they called her GRATEFUL +(WDZIECZNA); the very word charm being derived from WDZIEKI: GRATITUDE. +Woman no longer appears as a protegee, but as a queen; she no longer +forms only the better part of life, she now entirely fills it. Man is +still ardent, proud, and presumptuous, but he yields himself up to a +delirium of pleasure. This very pleasure is, however, always stamped +with melancholy. Both the music of the national airs, and the words, +which are almost always joined with them, express mingled emotions of +pain and joy. This strange but attractive contrast was caused by the +necessity of "CONSOLING MISERY" (CIESZYC BIDE), which necessity induced +them to seek the magical distraction of the graceful Mazourka, with its +transient delusions. The words which were sung to these melodies, gave +them a capability of linking themselves with the sacred associations of +memory, in a far higher degree than is usual with ordinary dance-music. +They were sung and re-sung a thousand times in the days of buoyant +youth, by fresh and sonorous voices, in the hours of solitude, or in +those of happy idleness. Linking the most varying associations with +the melody, they were again and again carelessly hummed when traveling +through forests, or ploughing the deep in ships; perhaps they were +listlessly upon the lips when some startling emotion has suddenly +surprised the singer; when an unexpected meeting, a long-desired +grouping, an unhoped-for word, has thrown an undying light upon the +heart, consecrating hours destined to live forever, and ever to shine on +in the memory, even through the most distant and gloomy recesses of the +constantly darkening future. + +Such inspirations were used by Chopin in the most happy manner, and +greatly enriched with the treasures of his handling and style. Cutting +these diamonds so as to present a thousand facets, he brought all their +latent fire to light, and re-uniting even their glittering dust, he +mounted them in gorgeous caskets. Indeed what settings could he have +chosen better adapted to enhance the value of his early recollections, +or which would have given him more efficient aid in creating poems, in +arranging scenes, in depicting episodes, in producing romances? Such +associations and national memories are indebted to him for a reign far +more extensive than the land which gave them birth. Placing them among +those idealized types which art has touched and consecrated with her +resplendent lustre, he has gifted them with immortality. + +In order fully to understand how perfectly this setting suited the +varying emotions which Chopin had succeeded in displaying in all the +magic of their rainbow hues, we must have seen the Mazourka danced +in Poland, because it is only there that it is possible to catch the +haughty, yet tender and alluring, character of this dance. The cavalier, +always chosen by the lady, seizes her as a conquest of which he is +proud, striving to exhibit her loveliness to the admiration of his +rivals, before he whirls her off in an entrancing and ardent embrace, +through the tenderness of which the defiant expression of the victor +still gleams, mingling with the blushing yet gratified vanity of the +prize, whose beauty forms the glory of his triumph. There are few +more delightful scenes than a ball in Poland. After the Mazourka has +commenced, the attention, in place of being distracted by a multitude of +people jostling against each other without grace or order, is fascinated +by one couple of equal beauty, darting forward, like twin stars, in +free and unimpeded space. As if in the pride of defiance, the cavalier +accentuates his steps, quits his partner for a moment, as if to +contemplate her with renewed delight, rejoins her with passionate +eagerness, or whirls himself rapidly round, as though overcome with +the sudden joy and yielding to the delicious giddiness of rapture. +Sometimes, two couples start at the same moment, after which a change +of partners may occur between them; or a third cavalier may present +himself, and, clapping his hands, claim one of the ladies as his +partner. The queens of the festival are in turn claimed by the most +brilliant gentlemen present, courting the honor of leading them through +the mazes of the dance. + +While in the Waltz and Galop, the dancers are isolated, and only +confused tableaux are offered to the bystanders; while the Quadrille is +only a kind of pass at arms made with foils, where attack and defence +proceed with equal indifference, where the most nonchalant display of +grace is answered with the same nonchalance; while the vivacity of +the Polka, charming, we confess, may easily become equivocal; while +Fandangos, Tarantulas and Minuets, are merely little love-dramas, only +interesting to those who execute them, in which the cavalier has nothing +to do but to display his partner, and the spectators have no share but +to follow, tediously enough, coquetries whose obligatory movements are +not addressed to them;--in the Mazourka, on the contrary, they have also +their part, and the role of the cavalier yields neither in grace nor +importance to that of his fair partner. + +The long intervals which separate the successive appearance of the pairs +being reserved for conversation among the dancers, when their turn comes +again, the scene passes no longer only among themselves, but extends +from them to the spectators. It is to them that the cavalier exhibits +the vanity he feels in having been able to win the preference of the +lady who has selected him; it is in their presence she has deigned to +show him this honor; she strives to please them, because the triumph of +charming them is reflected upon her partner, and their applause may be +made a part of the most flattering and insinuating coquetry. Indeed, at +the close of the dance, she seems to make him a formal offering of their +suffrages in her favor. She bounds rapidly towards him and rests upon +his arm,--a movement susceptible of a thousand varying shades which +feminine tact and subtle feeling well know how to modify, ringing every +change, from the most impassioned and impulsive warmth of manner to an +air of the most complete "abandon." + +What varied movements succeed each other in the course round the +ball-room! Commencing at first with a kind of timid hesitation, the lady +sways about like a bird about to take flight; gliding for some time on +one foot only, like a skater, she skims the ice of the polished floor; +then, running forward like a sportive child, she suddenly takes wing. +Raising her veiling eyelids, with head erect, with swelling bosom and +elastic bounds, she cleaves the air as the light bark cleaves the waves, +and, like an agile woodnymph, seems to sport with space. Again +she recommences her timid graceful gliding, looks round among the +spectators, sends sighs and words to the most, highly favored, then +extending her white arms to the partner who comes to rejoin her, again +begins her vigorous steps which transport her with magical rapidity from +one end to the other of the ball-room. She glides, she runs, she flies; +emotion colors her cheek, brightens her eye; fatigue bends her flexile +form, retards her winged feet, until, panting and exhausted, she softly +sinks and reclines in the arms of her partner, who, seizing her with +vigorous arm, raises her a moment in the air, before finishing with her +the last intoxicating round. + +In this triumphal course, in which may be seen a thousand Atalantas as +beautiful as the dreams of Ovid, many changes occur in the figures. The +couples, in the first chain, commence by giving each other the hand; +then forming themselves into a circle, whose rapid rotation dazzles the +eye, they wreathe a living crown, in which each lady is the only flower +of its own kind, while the glowing and varied colors are heightened +by the uniform costume of the men, the effect resembling that of the +dark-green foliage with which nature relieves her glowing buds and +fragrant bloom. They all then dart forward together with a sparkling +animation, a jealous emulation, defiling before the spectators as in +a review--an enumeration of which would scarcely yield in interest +to those given us, by Homer and Tasso, of the armies about to range +themselves in the front of battle! At the close of an hour or two, +the same circle again forms to end the dance; and on those days when +amusement and pleasure fill all with an excited gayety, sparkling and +glittering through those impressible temperaments like an aurora in a +midnight sky, a general promenade is recommenced, and in its accelerated +movements, we cannot detect the least symptom of fatigue among all +these delicate yet enduring women; as if their light limbs possessed the +flexible tenacity and elasticity of steel! + +As if by intuition, all the Polish women possess the magical science +of this dance. Even the least richly gifted among them know how to draw +from it new charms. If the graceful ease and noble dignity of those +conscious of their own power are full of attraction in it, timidity and +modesty are equally full of interest. This is so because of all modern +dances, it breathes most of pure love. As the dancers are always +conscious that the gaze of the spectators is fastened upon them, +addressing themselves constantly to them, there reigns in its very +essence a mixture of innate tenderness and mutual vanity, as full of +delicacy and propriety as of allurement. + +The latent and unknown poetry, which was only indicated in the original +Polish Mazourkas, was divined, developed, and brought to light, by +Chopin. Preserving their rhythm, he ennobled their melody, enlarged +their proportions; and--in order to paint more fully in these +productions, which he loved to hear us call "pictures from the easel," +the innumerable and widely-differing emotions which agitate the heart +during the progress of this dance, above all, in the long intervals in +which the cavalier has a right to retain his place at the side of the +lady, whom he never leaves--he wrought into their tissues harmonic +lights and shadows, as new in themselves as were the subjects to which +he adapted them. + +Coquetries, vanities, fantasies, inclinations, elegies, vague emotions, +passions, conquests, struggles upon which the safety or favor of others +depends, all--all, meet in this dance. How difficult it is to form a +complete idea of the infinite gradations of passion--sometimes pausing, +sometimes progressing, sometimes suing, sometimes ruling! In the +country where the Mazourka reigns from the palace to the cottage, these +gradations are pursued, for a longer or shorter time, with as much ardor +and enthusiasm as malicious trifling. The good qualities and faults +of men are distributed among the Poles in a manner so fantastic, that, +although the essentials of character may remain nearly the same in all, +they vary and shade into each other in a manner so extraordinary, +that it becomes almost impossible to recognize or distinguish them. +In natures so capriciously amalgamated, a wonderful diversity occurs, +adding to the investigations of curiosity, a spur unknown in other +lands; making of every new relation a stimulating study, and lending +unwonted interest to the lightest incident. Nothing is here indifferent, +nothing unheeded, nothing hackneyed! Striking contrasts are constantly +occurring among these natures so mobile and susceptible, endowed with +subtle, keen and vivid intellects, with acute sensibilities increased +by suffering and misfortune; contrasts throwing lurid light upon hearts, +like the blaze of a conflagration illumining and revealing the gloom +of midnight. Here chance may bring together those who but a few hours +before were strangers to each other. The ordeal of a moment, a single +word, may separate hearts long united; sudden confidences are often +forced by necessity, and invincible suspicions frequently held in +secret. As a witty woman once remarked: "They often play a comedy, to +avoid a tragedy!" That which has never been uttered, is yet incessantly +divined and understood. Generalities are often used to sharpen +interrogation, while concealing its drift; the most evasive replies +are carefully listened to, like the ringing of metal, as a test of the +quality. Often, when in appearance pleading for others, the suitor is +urging his own cause; and the most graceful flattery may be only the +veil of disguised exactions. + +But caution and attention become at last wearisome to natures naturally +expansive and candid, and a tiresome frivolity, surprising enough before +the secret of its reckless indifference has been divined, mingles with +the most spiritual refinement, the most poetic sentiments, the most real +causes for intense suffering, as if to mock and jeer at all reality. It +is difficult to analyze or appreciate justly this frivolity, as it +is sometimes real, sometimes only assumed. It makes use of confusing +replies and strange resources to conceal the truth. It is sometimes +justly, sometimes wrongfully regarded as a kind of veil of motley, whose +fantastic tissue needs only to be slightly torn to reveal more than one +hidden or sleeping quality under the variegated folds of gossamer. It +often follows from such causes, that eloquence becomes only a sort of +grave badinage, sparkling with spangles like the play of fireworks, +though the heart of the discourse may contain nothing earnest; while the +lightest raillery, thrown out apparently at random, may perhaps be most +sadly serious. Bitter and intense thought follows closely upon the +steps of the most tempestuous gayety; nothing indeed remains absolutely +superficial, though nothing is presented without an artificial +polish. In the discussions constantly occurring in this country, where +conversation is an art cultivated to the highest degree, and occupying +much time, there are always those present, who, whether the topic +discussed be grave or gay, can pass in a moment from smiles to tears, +from joy to sorrow, leaving the keenest observer in doubt which is most +real, so difficult is it to discern the fictitious from the true. + +In such varying modes of thought, where ideas shift like quick sands +upon the shores of the sea, they are rarely to be found again at the +exact point where they were left. This fact is in itself sufficient to +give interest to interviews otherwise insignificant. We have been taught +this in Paris by some natives of Poland, who astonished the Parisians by +their skill in "fencing in paradox;" an art in which every Pole is more +or less skillful, as he has felt more or less interest or amusement in +its cultivation. But the inimitable skill with which they are constantly +able to alternate the garb of truth or fiction (like touchstones, more +certain when least suspected, the one always concealed under the garb of +the other), the force which expends an immense amount of intellect upon +the most trivial occasions, as Gil Bias made use of as much intelligence +to find the means of subsistence for a single day, as was required by +the Spanish king to govern the whole of his domain; make at last an +impression as painful upon us as the games in which the jugglers of +India exhibit such wonderful skill, where sharp and deadly arms fly +glittering through the air, which the least error, the least want of +perfect mastery, would make the bright, swift messengers of certain +death! Such skill is full of concealed anxiety, terror, and anguish! +From the complication of circumstances, danger may lurk in the slightest +inadvertence, in the least imprudence, in possible accidents, while +powerful assistance may suddenly spring from some obscure and forgotten +individual. A dramatic interest may instantaneously arise from +interviews apparently the most trivial, giving an unforeseen phase to +every relation. A misty uncertainty hovers round every meeting, through +whose clouds it is difficult to seize the contours, to fix the lines, to +ascertain the present and future influence, thus rendering intercourse +vague and unintelligible, filling it with an indefinable and hidden +terror, yet, at the same time, with an insinuating flattery. The strong +currents of genuine sympathy are always struggling to escape from the +weight of this external repression. The differing impulses of vanity, +love, and patriotism, in their threefold motives of action, are forever +hurtling against each other in all hearts, leading to inextricable +confusion of thought and feeling. + +What mingling emotions are concentrated in the accidental meetings of +the Mazourka! It can surround, with its own enchantment, the lightest +emotion of the heart, while, through its magic, the most reserved, +transitory, and trivial rencounter appeals to the imagination. Could it +be otherwise in the presence of the women who give to this dance that +inimitable grace and suavity, for which, in less happy countries, +they struggle in vain? In very truth are not the Sclavic women utterly +incomparable? There are to be found among them those whose qualities and +virtues are so incontestable, so absolute, that they are acknowledged +by all ages, and by all countries. Such apparitions are always and +everywhere rare. The women of Poland are generally distinguished by an +originality full of fire. Parisians in their grace and culture, Eastern +dancing girls in their languid fire, they have perhaps preserved among +them, handed down from mother to daughter, the secret of the burning +love potions possessed in the seraglios. Their charms possess the +strange spell of Asiatic languor. With the flames of spiritual and +intellectual Houris in their lustrous eyes, we find the luxurious +indolence of the Sultana. Their manners caress without emboldening; +the grace of their languid movements is intoxicating; they allure by +a flexibility of form, which knows no restraint, save that of perfect +modesty, and which etiquette has never succeeded in robbing of its +willowy grace. They win upon us by those intonations of voice which +touch the heart, and fill the eye with tender tears; by those sudden and +graceful impulses which recall the spontaneity and beautiful timidity +of the gazelle. Intelligent, cultivated, comprehending every thing +with rapidity, skillful in the use of all they have acquired; they are +nevertheless as superstitious and fastidious as the lovely yet ignorant +creatures adored by the Arabian prophet. Generous, devout, loving danger +and loving love, from which they demand much, and to which they grant +little; beyond every thing they prize renown and glory. All heroism +is dear to them. Perhaps there is no one among them who would think it +possible to pay too dearly for a brilliant action; and yet, let us say +it with reverence, many of them devote to obscurity their most holy +sacrifices, their most sublime virtues. But however exemplary these +quiet virtues of the home life may be, neither the miseries of private +life, nor the secret sorrows which must prey upon souls too ardent not +to be frequently wounded, can diminish the wonderful vivacity of +their emotions, which they know how to communicate with the infallible +rapidity and certainty of an electric spark. Discreet by nature and +position, they manage the great weapon of dissimulation with incredible +dexterity, skillfully reading the souls of others with out revealing the +secrets of their own. With that strange pride which disdains to exhibit +characteristic or individual qualities, it is frequently the most noble +virtues which are thus concealed. The internal contempt they feel for +those who cannot divine them, gives them that superiority which enables +them to reign so absolutely over those whom they have enthralled, +flattered, subjugated, charmed; until the moment arrives when--loving +with the whole force of their ardent souls, they are willing to brave +and share the most bitter suffering, prison, exile, even death itself, +with the object of their love! Ever faithful, ever consoling, ever +tender, ever unchangeable in the intensity of their generous devotion! +Irresistible beings, who in fascinating and charming, yet demand an +earnest and devout esteem! In that precious incense of praise burned by +M. de Balzac, "in honor of that daughter of a foreign soil," he has +thus sketched the Polish woman in hues composed entirely of antitheses: +"Angel through love, demon through fantasy; child through faith, sage +through experience; man through the brain, woman through the heart; +giant through hope, mother through sorrow; and poet through dreams." +[Footnote: Dedication of "Modeste Mignon".] + +The homage inspired by the Polish women is always fervent. They all +possess the poetic conception of an ideal, which gleams through their +intercourse like an image constantly passing before a mirror, the +comprehension and seizure of which they impose as a task. Despising the +insipid and common pleasure of merely being able to please, they demand +that the being whom they love shall be capable of exacting their esteem. +This romantic temperament sometimes retains them long in hesitation +between the world and the cloister. Indeed, there are few among them who +at some moment of their lives have not seriously and bitterly thought of +taking refuge within the walls of a convent. + +Where such women reign as sovereigns, what feverish words, what hopes, +what despair, what entrancing fascinations must occur in the mazes of +the Mazourka; the Mazourka, whose every cadence vibrates in the ear of +the Polish lady as the echo of a vanished passion, or the whisper of a +tender declaration. Which among them has ever danced through a Mazourka, +whose cheeks burned not more from the excitement of emotion than from +mere physical fatigue? What unexpected and endearing ties have been +formed in the long tete-a-tete, in the very midst of crowds, with the +sounds of music, which generally recalled the name of some hero or some +proud historical remembrance attached to the words, floating around, +while thus the associations of love and heroism became forever attached +to the words and melodies! What ardent vows have been exchanged; what +wild and despairing farewells been breathed! How many brief attachments +have been linked and as suddenly unlinked, between those who had never +met before, who were never, never to meet again--and yet, to whom +forgetfulness had become forever impossible! What hopeless love may have +been revealed during the moments so rare upon this earth; when beauty +is more highly esteemed than riches, a noble bearing of more consequence +than rank! What dark destinies forever severed by the tyranny of rank +and wealth may have been, in these fleeting moments of meeting, again +united, happy in the glitter of passing triumph, reveling in concealed +and unsuspected joy! What interviews, commenced in indifference, +prolonged in jest, interrupted with emotion, renewed with the secret +consciousness of mutual understanding, (in all that concerns subtle +intuition Slavic finesse and delicacy especially excel,) have terminated +in the deepest attachments! What holy confidences have been exchanged in +the spirit of that generous frankness which circulates from unknown +to unknown, when the noble are delivered from the tyranny of forced +conventionalisms! What words deceitfully bland, what vows, what desires, +what vague hopes have been negligently thrown on the winds;--thrown +as the handkerchief of the fair dancer in the Mazourka... and which the +maladroit knows not how to pick up!... + +We have before asserted that we must have known personally the women of +Poland, for the full and intuitive comprehension of the feelings with +which the Mazourkas of Chopin, as well as many more of his compositions, +are impregnated. A subtle love vapor floats like an ambient fluid around +them; we may trace step by step in his Preludes, Nocturnes Impromptus +and Mazourkas, all the phases of which passion is capable The sportive +hues of coquetry the insensible and gradual yielding of inclination, the +capricious festoons of fantasy; the sadness of sickly joys born dying, +flowers of mourning like the black roses, the very perfume of whose +gloomy leaves is depressing, and whose petals are so frail that the +faintest sigh is sufficient to detach them from the fragile stem; sudden +flames without thought, like the false shining of that decayed and +dead wood which only glitters in obscurity and crumbles at the touch; +pleasures without past and without future, snatched from accidental +meetings; illusions, inexplicable excitements tempting to adventure, +like the sharp taste of half ripened fruit which stimulates and pleases +even while it sets the teeth on edge; emotions without memory +and without hope; shadowy feelings whose chromatic tints are +interminable;--are all found in these works, endowed by genius with the +innate nobility, the beauty, the distinction, the surpassing elegance of +those by whom they are experienced. + +In the compositions just mentioned, as well as in most of his Ballads, +Waltzes and Etudes, the rendering of some of the poetical subjects to +which we have just alluded, may be found embalmed. These fugitive poems +are so idealized, rendered so fragile and attenuated, that they scarcely +seem to belong to human nature, but rather to a fairy world, unveiling +the indiscreet confidences of Peris, of Titanias, of Ariels, of Queen +Mabs, of the Genii of the air, of water, and of fire,--like ourselves, +subject to bitter disappointments, to invincible disgusts. + +Some of these compositions are as gay and fantastic as the wiles of an +enamored, yet mischievous sylph; some are soft, playing in undulating +light, like the hues of a salamander; some, full of the most profound +discouragement, as if the sighs of souls in pain, who could find none +to offer up the charitable prayers necessary for their deliverance, +breathed through their notes. Sometimes a despair so inconsolable +is stamped upon them, that we feel ourselves present at some Byronic +tragedy, oppressed by the anguish of a Jacopo Foscari, unable to survive +the agony of exile. In some we hear the shuddering spasms of suppressed +sobs. Some of them, in which the black keys are exclusively taken, are +acute and subtle, and remind us of the character of his own gaiety, +lover of atticism as he was, subject only to the higher emotions, +recoiling from all vulgar mirth, from coarse laughter, and from low +enjoyments, as we do from those animals more abject than venomous, whose +very sight causes the most nauseating repulsion in tender and sensitive +natures. + +An exceeding variety of subjects and impressions occur in the great +number of his Mazourkas. Sometimes we catch the manly sounds of the +rattling of spurs, but it is generally the almost imperceptible rustling +of crape and gauze under the light breath of the dancers, or the +clinking of chains of gold and diamonds, that maybe distinguished. Some +of them seem to depict the defiant pleasure of the ball given on the eve +of battle, tortured however by anxiety for, through the rhythm of the +dance, we hear the sighs and despairing farewells of hearts forced to +suppress their tears. Others reveal to us the discomfort and secret +ennui of those guests at a fete, who find it in vain to expect that +the gay sounds will muffle the sharp cries of anguished spirits. +We sometimes catch the gasping breath of terror and stifled fears; +sometimes divine the dim presentiments of a love destined to perpetual +struggle and doomed to survive all hope, which, though devoured by +jealousy and conscious that it can never be the victor, still disdains +to curse, and takes refuge in a soul-subduing pity. In others we feel as +if borne into the heart of a whirlwind, a strange madness; in the midst +of the mystic confusion, an abrupt melody passes and repasses, panting +and palpitating, like the throbbing of a heart faint with longing, +gasping in despair, breaking in anguish, dying of hopeless, yet +indignant love. In some we hear the distant flourish of trumpets, like +fading memories of glories past, in some of them, the rhythm is as +floating, as undetermined, as shadowy, as the feeling with which two +young lovers gaze upon the first star of evening, as yet alone in the +dim skies. + +Upon one afternoon, when there were but three persons present, and +Chopin had been playing for a long time, one of the most distinguished +women in Paris remarked, that she felt always more and more filled +with solemn meditation, such as might be awakened in presence of the +grave-stones strewing those grounds in Turkey, whose shady recesses +and bright beds of flowers promise only a gay garden to the startled +traveller. She asked him what was the cause of the involuntary, yet +sad veneration which subdued her heart while listening to these pieces, +apparently presenting only sweet and graceful subjects:--and by what +name he called the strange emotion inclosed in his compositions, like +ashes of the unknown dead in superbly sculptured urns of the purest +alabaster... Conquered by the appealing tears which moistened the +beautiful eyes, with a candor rare indeed in this artist, so susceptible +upon all that related to the secrets of the sacred relics buried in +the gorgeous shrines of his music, he replied: "that her heart had not +deceived her in the gloom which she felt stealing upon her, for whatever +might have been his transitory pleasures, he had never been free from +a feeling which might almost be said to form the soil of his heart, +and for which he could find no appropriate expression except in his +own language, no other possessing a term equivalent to the Polish word: +ZAL!" As if his ear thirsted for the sound of this word, which expresses +the whole range of emotions produced by an intense regret, through all +the shades of feeling, from hatred to repentance, he repeated it again +and again. + +ZAL! Strange substantive, embracing a strange diversity, a strange +philosophy! Susceptible of different regimens, it includes all the +tenderness, all the humility of a regret borne with resignation and +without a murmur, while bowing before the fiat of necessity, the +inscrutable decrees of Providence: but, changing its character, and +assuming the regimen indirect as soon as it is addressed to man, it +signifies excitement, agitation, rancor, revolt full of reproach, +premeditated vengeance, menace never ceasing to threaten if retaliation +should ever become possible, feeding itself meanwhile with a bitter, if +sterile hatred. + +ZAL! In very truth, it colors the whole of Chopin's compositions: +sometimes wrought through their elaborate tissue, like threads of dim +silver; sometimes coloring them with more passionate hues. It may be +found in his sweetest reveries; even in those which that Shakespearian +genius, Berlioz, comprehending all extremes, has so well characterized +as "divine coquetries"--coquetries only understood in semi-oriental +countries; coquetries in which men are cradled by their mothers, with +which they are tormented by their sisters, and enchanted by those they +love; and which cause the coquetries of other women to appear insipid +or coarse in their eyes; inducing them to exclaim, with an appearance of +boasting, yet in which they are entirely justified by the truth: NIEMA +IAK POLKI! "Nothing equals the Polish women!" [Footnote: The custom +formerly in use of drinking, in her own shoe, the health of the woman +they loved, is one of the most original traditions of the enthusiastic +gallantry if the Poles.] Through the secrets of these "divine +coquetries" those adorable beings are formed, who are alone capable +of fulfilling the impassioned ideals of poets who, like M. de +Chateaubriand, in the feverish sleeplessness of their adolescence, +create for themselves visions "of an Eve, innocent, yet fallen; ignorant +of all, yet knowing all; mistress, yet virgin." [Footnote: Memoires +d'Outre Tombe. 1st vol. Incantation.] The only being which was ever +found to resemble this dream, was a Polish girl of seventeen--"a mixture +of the Odalisque and Valkyria... realization of the ancient sylph--new +Flora--freed from the chain of the seasons" [Footnote: Idem. 3d vol. +Atala.]--and whom M. de Chateaubriand feared to meet again. "Divine +coquetries" at once generous and avaricious; impressing the floating, +wavy, rocking, undecided motion of a boat without rigging or oars upon +the charmed and intoxicated heart! + +Through his peculiar style of performance, Chopin imparted this constant +rocking with the most fascinating effect; thus making the melody +undulate to and fro, like a skiff driven on over the bosom of tossing +waves. This manner of execution, which set a seal so peculiar upon his +own style of playing, was at first indicated by the term 'tempo rubato', +affixed to his writings: a Tempo agitated, broken, interrupted, a +movement flexible, yet at the same time abrupt and languishing, and +vacillating as the flame under the fluctuating breath by which it is +agitated. In his later productions we no longer find this mark. He was +convinced that if the performer understood them, he would divine this +rule of irregularity. All his compositions should be played with this +accentuated and measured swaying and balancing. It is difficult for +those who have not frequently heard him play to catch this secret of +their proper execution. He seemed desirous of imparting this style +to his numerous pupils, particularly those of his own country. His +countrymen, or rather his countrywomen, seized it with the facility +with which they understand every thing relating to poetry or feeling; an +innate, intuitive comprehension of his meaning aided them in following +all the fluctuations of his depths of aerial and spiritual blue. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Chopin's Mode of Playing--Concerts--The Elite--Fading Bouquets and +Immortal Crowns--Hospitality--Heine--Meyerbeer--Adolphe Nourrit--Eugene +Delacroix--Niemcevicz--Mickiewicz--George Sand. + + + +AFTER having described the compositions palpitating with emotion in +which genius struggles with grief, (grief, that terrible reality which +Art must strive to reconcile with Heaven), confronting it sometimes +as conqueror, sometimes as conquered; compositions in which all the +memories of his youth, the affections of his heart, the mysteries of his +desires, the secrets of his untold passions, are collected like tears +in a lachrymatory; compositions in which, passing the limits of human +sensations--too dull for his eager fancy, too obtuse for his keen +perceptions--he makes incursions into the realms of Dryads, Oreads, and +Oceanides;--we would naturally be expected to speak of his talent +for execution. But this task we cannot assume. We cannot command the +melancholy courage to exhume emotions linked with our fondest memories, +our dearest personal recollections; we cannot force ourselves to make +the mournful effort to color the gloomy shrouds, veiling the skill we +once loved, with the brilliant hues they would exact at our hands. We +feel our loss too bitterly to attempt such an analysis. And what result +would it be possible to attain with all our efforts! We could not hope +to convey to those who have never heard him, any just conception of that +fascination so ineffably poetic, that charm subtle and penetrating +as the delicate perfume of the vervain or the Ethiopian calla, which, +shrinking and exclusive, refuses to diffuse its exquisite aroma in the +noisome breath of crowds, whose heavy air can only retain the stronger +odor of the tuberose, the incense of burning resin. + +By the purity of its handling, by its relation with LA FEE AUX MIETTES +and LES LUTINS D'ARGAIL, by its rencounters with the SERAPHINS and +DIANES, who murmur in his ear their most confidential complaints, their +most secret dreams, the style and the manner of conception of Chopin +remind us of Nodier. He knew that he did not act upon the masses, that +he could not warm the multitude, which is like a sea of lead, and as +heavy to set in motion, and which, though its waves may be melted and +rendered malleable by heat, requires the powerful arm of an athletic +Cyclops to manipulate, fuse, and pour into moulds, where the dull +metal, glowing and seething under the electric fire, becomes thought and +feeling under the new form into which it has been forced. He knew he was +only perfectly appreciated in those meetings, unfortunately too few, +in which ALL his hearers were prepared to follow him into those spheres +which the ancients imagined to be entered only through a gate of ivory, +to be surrounded by pilasters of diamond, and surmounted by a dome +arched with fawn-colored crystal, upon which played the various dyes of +the prism; spheres, like the Mexican opal, whose kaleidoscopical foci +are dimmed by olive-colored mists veiling and unveiling the inner +glories; spheres, in which all is magical and supernatural, reminding +us of the marvellous worlds of realized dreams. In such spheres Chopin +delighted. He once remarked to a friend, an artist who has since been +frequently heard: "I am not suited for concert giving; the public +intimidate me; their looks, only stimulated by curiosity, paralyze me; +their strange faces oppress me; their breath stifles me: but you--you +are destined for it, for when you do not gain your public, you have the +force to assault, to overwhelm, to control, to compel them." + +Conscious of how much was necessary for the comprehension of his +peculiar talent, he played but rarely in public. With the exception of +some concerts given at his debut in 1831, in Vienna and Munich, he gave +no more, except in Paris, being indeed not able to travel on account of +his health, which was so precarious, that during entire months, he would +appear to be in an almost dying state. During the only excursion which +he made with a hope that the mildness of a Southern climate would be +more conducive to his health, his condition was frequently so alarming, +that more than once the hotel keepers demanded payment for the bed and +mattress he occupied, in order to have them burned, deeming him already +arrived at that stage of consumption in which it becomes so highly +contagious We believe, however, if we may be permitted to say it, that +his concerts were less fatiguing to his physical constitution, than to +his artistic susceptibility. We think that his voluntary abnegation of +popular applause veiled an internal wound. He was perfectly aware of his +own superiority; perhaps it did not receive sufficient reverberation +and echo from without to give him the tranquil assurance that he was +perfectly appreciated. No doubt, in the absence of popular acclamation, +he asked himself how far a chosen audience, through the enthusiasm +of its applause, was able to replace the great public which he +relinquished. Few understood him:--did those few indeed understand him +aright? A gnawing feeling of discontent, of which he himself scarcely +comprehended the cause, secretly undermined him. We have seen him +almost shocked by eulogy. The praise to which he was justly entitled not +reaching him EN MASSE, he looked upon isolated commendation as almost +wounding. That he felt himself not only slightly, but badly applauded, +was sufficiently evident by the polished phrases with which, like +troublesome dust, he shook such praises off, making it quite evident +that he preferred to be left undisturbed in the enjoyment of his +solitary feelings to injudicious commendation. + +Too fine a connoisseur in raillery, too ingenious satirist ever to +expose himself to sarcasm, he never assumed the role of a "genius +misunderstood." With a good grace and under an apparent satisfaction, he +concealed so entirely the wound given to his just pride, that its very +existence was scarcely suspected. But not without reason, might the +gradually increasing rarity [Footnote: Sometimes he passed years without +giving a single concert. We believe the one given by him in Pleyel's +room, in 1844, was after an interval of nearly ten years] of his +concerts be attributed rather to the wish he felt to avoid occasions +which did not bring him the tribute he merited, than to physical +debility. Indeed, he put his strength to rude proofs in the many lessons +which he always gave, and the many hours he spent at his own Piano. + +It is to be regretted that the indubitable advantage for the artist +resulting from the cultivation of only a select audience, should be so +sensibly diminished by the rare and cold expression of its sympathies. +The GLACE which covers the grace of the ELITE, as it does the fruit of +their desserts; the imperturbable calm of their most earnest enthusiasm, +could not be satisfactory to Chopin. The poet, torn from his solitary +inspiration, can only find it again in the interest, more than +attentive, vivid and animated of his audience. He can never hope to +regain it in the cold looks of an Areopagus assembled to judge him. He +must FEEL that he moves, that he agitates those who hear him, that his +emotions find in them the responsive sympathies of the same intuitions, +that he draws them on with him in his flight towards the infinite: as +when the leader of a winged train gives the signal of departure, he is +immediately followed by the whole flock in search of milder shores. + +But had it been otherwise--had Chopin everywhere received the exalted +homage and admiration he so well deserved; had he been heard, as so +many others, by all nations and in all climates; had ho obtained those +brilliant ovations which make a Capitol every where, where the people +salute merit or honor genius had he been known and recognized by +thousands in place of the hundreds who acknowledged him--we would not +pause in this part of his career to enumerate such triumphs. + +What are the dying bouquets of an hour to those whose brows claim the +laurel of immortality? Ephemeral sympathies, transitory praises, are not +to be mentioned in the presence of the august Dead, crowned with higher +glories. The joys, the consolations, the soothing emotions which the +creations of true art awaken in the weary, suffering, thirsty, or +persevering and believing hearts to whom they are dedicated, are +destined to be borne into far countries and distant years, by the sacred +works of Chopin. Thus an unbroken bond will be established between +elevated natures, enabling them to understand and appreciate each other, +in whatever part of the earth or period of time they may live. Such +natures are generally badly divined by their contemporaries when they +have been silent, often misunderstood when they have spoken the most +eloquently! + +"There are different crowns," says Goethe, "there are some which may +be readily gathered during a walk." Such crowns charm for the moment +through their balmy freshness, but who would think of comparing them +with those so laboriously gained by Chopin by constant and exemplary +effort, by an earnest love of art, and by his own mournful experience of +the emotions which he has so truthfully depicted? + +As he sought not with a mean avidity those crowns so easily won, of +which more than one among ourselves has the modesty to be proud; as he +was a pure, generous, good and compassionate man, filled with a single +sentiment, and that one of the most noble of feelings, the love of +country; as he moved among us like a spirit consecrated by all that +Poland possesses of poetry; let us approach his sacred grave with due +reverence! Let us adorn it with no artificial wreaths! Let us cast upon +it no trivial crowns! Let us nobly elevate our thoughts before this +consecrated shroud! Let us learn from him to repulse all but the highest +ambition, let us try to concentrate our labor upon efforts which will +leave more lasting effects than the vain leading of the fashions of the +passing hour. Let us renounce the corrupt spirit of the times in which +we live, with all that is not worthy of art, all that will not endure, +all that does not contain in itself some spark of that eternal and +immaterial beauty, which it is the task of art to reveal and unveil as +the condition of its own glory! Let us remember the ancient prayer of +the Dorians whose simple formula is so full of pious poetry, asking only +of their gods: "To give them the Good, in return for the Beautiful!" +In place of laboring so constantly to attract auditors, and striving to +please them at whatever sacrifice, let us rather aim, like Chopin, to +leave a celestial and immortal echo of what we have felt, loved, +and suffered! Let us learn, from his revered memory, to demand from +ourselves works which will entitle us to some true rank in the sacred +city of art! Let us not exact from the present with out regard to the +future, those light and vain wreath which are scarcely woven before they +are faded and forgotten!... + +In place of such crowns, the most glorious palms which it is possible +for an artist to receive during his lifetime, have been placed in the +hands of Chopin by ILLUSTRIOUS EQUALS. An enthusiastic admiration was +given him by a public still more limited than the musical aristocracy +which frequented his concerts. This public was formed of the most +distinguished names of men, who bowed before him as the kings of +different empires bend before a monarch whom they have assembled to +honor. Such men rendered to him, individually, due homage. How could it +have been otherwise in France, where the hospitality, so truly national, +discerns with such perfect taste the rank and claims of the guests? + +The most eminent minds in Paris frequently met in Chopin's saloon. Not +in reunions of fantastic periodicity, such as the dull imaginations +of ceremonious and tiresome circles have arranged, and which they +have never succeeded in realizing in accordance with their wishes, for +enjoyment, ease, enthusiasm, animation, never come at an hour fixed upon +before hand. They can be commanded less by artists than by other +men, for they are all more or less struck by some sacred malady whose +paralyzing torpor they must shake off, whose benumbing pain they must +forget, to be joyous and amused by those pyrotechnic fires which startle +the bewildered guests, who see from time to time a Roman candle, a +rose-colored Bengal light, a cascade whose waters are of fire, or a +terrible, yet quite innocent dragon! Gayety and the strength necessary +to be joyous, are, unfortunately things only accidentally to be +encountered among poets and artists! It is true some of the more +privileged among them have the happy gift of surmounting internal pain, +so as to bear their burden always lightly, able to laugh with their +companions over the toils of the way, or at least always able to +preserve a gentle and calm serenity which, like a mute pledge of hope +and consolation, animates, elevates, and encourages their associates, +imparting to them, while they remain under the influence of this placid +atmosphere, a freedom of spirit which appears so much the more vivid, +the more strongly it contrasts with their habitual ennui, their +abstraction, their natural gloom, their usual indifference. + +Chopin did not belong to either of the above mentioned classes; he +possessed the innate grace of a Polish welcome, by which the host is not +only bound to fulfill the common laws and duties of hospitality, but is +obliged to relinquish all thought of himself, to devote all his powers +to promote the enjoyment of his guests. It was a pleasant thing to visit +him; his visitors were always charmed; he knew how to put them at once +at ease, making them masters of every thing, and placing every thing at +their disposal. In doing the honors of his own cabin, even the simple +laborer of Sclavic race never departs from this munificence; more +joyously eager in his welcome than the Arab in his tent, he compensates +for the splendor which may be wanting in his reception by an adage +which he never fails to repeat, and which is also repealed by the grand +seignior after the most luxurious repasts served under gilded canopies: +CZYM BOHAT, TYM RAD--which is thus paraphrased for foreigners: "Deign +graciously to pardon all that is unworthy of you, it is all my humble +riches which I place at your feet." This formula [Footnote: All +the Polish formulas of courtesy retain the strong impress of the +hyperbolical expressions of the Eastern languages. The titles of "very +powerful and very enlightened seigniors" are still obligatory. +The Poles, in conversation, constantly name each other Benefactor +(DOBRODZIJ). The common salutation between men, and of men to women, +is PADAM DO NOG: "I fall at your feet." The greeting of the people +possesses a character of ancient solemnity and simplicity: SLAWA BOHU: +"Glory to God."] is still pronounced with a national grace and dignity +by all masters of families who preserve the picturesque customs which +distinguished the ancient manners of Poland. + +Having thus described something of the habits of hospitality common in +his country, the ease which presided over our reunions with Chopin will +be readily understood. The flow of thought, the entire freedom from +restraint, were of a character so pure that no insipidity or bitterness +ever ensued, no ill humor was ever provoked. Though he avoided society, +yet when his saloon was invaded, the kindness of his attention was +delightful; without appearing to occupy himself with any one, he +succeeded in finding for all that which was most agreeable; neglecting +none, he extended to all the most graceful courtesy. + +It was not without a struggle, without a repugnance slightly +misanthropic, that Chopin could be induced to open his doors and piano, +even to those whose friendship, as respectful as faithful, gave them a +claim to urge such a request with eagerness. Without doubt more than one +of us can still remember our first improvised evening with him, in spite +of his refusal, when he lived at Chaussee d'Antin. + +His apartment, invaded by surprise, was only lighted by some wax +candles, grouped round one of Pleyel's pianos, which he particularly +liked for their slightly veiled, yet silvery sonorousness, and easy +touch, permitting him to elicit tones which one might think proceeded +from one of those harmonicas of which romantic Germany has preserved +the monopoly, and which were so ingeniously constructed by its ancient +masters, by the union of crystal and water. + +As the corners of the room were left in obscurity, all idea of limit was +lost, so that there seemed no boundary save the darkness of space. Some +tall piece of furniture, with its white cover, would reveal itself in +the dim light; an indistinct form, raising itself like a spectre to +listen to the sounds which had evoked it. The light, concentrated round +the piano and falling on the floor, glided on like a spreading wave +until it mingled with the broken flashes from the fire, from which +orange colored plumes rose and fell, like fitful gnomes, attracted there +by mystic incantations in their own tongue. A single portrait, that of +a pianist, an admiring and sympathetic friend, seemed invited to be the +constant auditor of the ebb and flow of tones, which sighed, moaned, +murmured, broke and died upon the instrument near which it always hung. +By a strange accident, the polished surface of the mirror only reflected +so as to double it for our eyes, the beautiful oval with silky curls +which so many pencils have copied, and which the engraver has just +reproduced for all who are charmed by works of such peculiar eloquence. + +Several men, of brilliant renown, were grouped in the luminous zone +immediately around the piano: Heine, the saddest of humorists, listened +with the interest of a fellow countryman to the narrations made him by +Chopin of the mysterious country which haunted his ethereal fancy also, +and of which he too had explored the beautiful shores. At a glance, +a word, a tone, Chopin and Heine understood each other; the musician +replied to the questions murmured in his ear by the poet, giving in +tones the most surprising revelations from those unknown regions, about +that "laughing nymph" [Footnote: Heine. SALOON-CHOPIN.] of whom he +demanded news: "If she still continued to drape her silvery veil around +the flowing locks of her green hair, with a coquetry so enticing?" +Familiar with the tittle-tattle and love tales of those distant lands he +asked: "If the old marine god, with the long white beard, still pursued +this mischievous naiad with his ridiculous love?" Fully informed, too, +about all the exquisite fairy scenes to be seen DOWN THERE--DOWN THERE, +he asked "if the roses always glowed there with a flame so triumphant? +if the trees at moonlight sang always so harmoniously?" When Chopin had +answered, and they had for a long time conversed together about that +aerial clime, they would remain in gloomy silence, seized with that mal +du pays from which Heine suffered when he compared himself to that Dutch +captain of the phantom ship, with his crew eternally driven about upon +the chill waves, and "sighing in vain for the spices, the tulips, +the hyacinths, the pipes of sea-foam, the porcelain cups of +Holland... 'Amsterdam! Amsterdam! when shall we again see Amsterdam!' +they cry from on board, while the tempest howls in the cordage, +beating them forever about in their watery hell." Heine adds: "I +fully understand the passion with which the unfortunate captain once +exclaimed: 'Oh if I should EVER again see Amsterdam! I would rather be +chained forever at the corner of one of its streets, than be forced to +leave it again!' Poor Van der Decken!" + +Heine well knew what poor Van der Decken had suffered in his terrible +and eternal course upon the ocean, which had fastened its fangs in the +wood of his incorruptible vessel, and by an invisible anchor, whose +chain he could not break because it could never be found, held it firmly +linked upon the waves of its restless bosom. He could describe to us +when he chose, the hope, the despair, the torture of the miserable +beings peopling this unfortunate ship, for he had mounted its accursed +timbers, led on and guided by the hand of some enamored Undine, who, +when the guest of her forest of coral and palace of pearl rose more +morose, more satirical, more bitter than usual, offered for the +amusement of his ill humor between the repasts, some spectacle worthy +of a lover who could create more wonders in his dreams than her whole +kingdom contained. + +Heine had traveled round the poles of the earth in this imperishable +vessel; he had seen the brilliant visitor of the long nights, the aurora +borealis, mirror herself in the immense stalactites of eternal ice, +rejoicing in the play of colors alternating with each other in the +varying folds of her glowing scarf. He had visited the tropics, where +the zodiacal triangle, with its celestial light, replaces, during the +short nights, the burning rays of an oppressive sun. He had crossed the +latitudes where life becomes pain, and advanced into those in which it +is a living death, making himself familiar, on the long way, with the +heavenly miracles in the wild path of sailors who make for no port! +Seated on a poop without a helm, his eye had ranged from the two Bears +majestically overhanging the North, to the brilliant Southern Cross, +through the blank Antarctic deserts extending through the empty space of +the heavens overhead, as well as over the dreary waves below, where the +despairing eye finds nothing to contemplate in the sombre depths of a +sky without a star, vainly arching over a shoreless and bottomless sea! +He had long followed the glittering yet fleeting traces left by the +meteors through the blue depths of space; he had tracked the mystic and +incalculable orbits of the comets as they flash through their wandering +paths, solitary and incomprehensible, everywhere dreaded for their +ominous splendor, yet inoffensive and harmless. He had gazed upon the +shining of that distant star, Aldebaran, which, like the glitter and +sullen glow in the eye of a vengeful enemy, glares fiercely upon our +globe, without daring to approach it. He had watched the radiant planets +shedding upon the restless eye which seeks them a consoling and friendly +light, like the weird cabala of an enigmatic yet hopeful promise. + +Heine had seen all these things, under the varying appearances which +they assume in different latitudes; he had seen much more also with +which he would entertain us under strange similitudes. He had assisted +at the furious cavalcade of "Herodiade;" he had also an entrance at the +court of the king of "Aulnes" in the gardens of the "Hesperides"; and +indeed into all those places inaccessible to mortals who have not had +a fairy as godmother, who would take upon herself the task of +counterbalancing all the evil experienced in life, by showering upon the +adopted the whole store of fairy treasures. + +Upon that evening which we are now describing, Meyerbeer was seated +next to Heine;--Meyerbeer, for whom the whole catalogue of admiring +interjections has long since been exhausted! Creator of Cyclopean +harmonics as he was, he passed the time in delight when following the +detailed arabesques, which, woven in transparent gauze, wound in filmy +veils around the delicate conceptions of Chopin. + +Adolphe Nourrit, a noble artist, at once ascetic and passionate, was +also there. He was a sincere, almost a devout Catholic, dreaming of the +future with the fervor of the Middle Ages, who, during the latter part +of his life, refused the assistance of his talent to any scene of +merely superficial sentiment. He served Art with a high and enthusiastic +respect; he considered it, in all its divers manifestations, only a +holy tabernacle, "the Beauty of which formed the splendor of the True." +Already undermined by a melancholy passion for the Beautiful, his brow +seemed to be turning into stone under the dominion of this haunting +feeling: a feeling always explained by the outbreak of despair, too late +for remedy from man--man, alas! so eager to explore the secrets of the +heart--so dull to divine them! + +Hiller, whose talent was allied to Chopin's, and who was one of his most +intimate friends, was there also. In advance of the great compositions +which he afterwards published, of which the first was his remarkable +Oratorio, "The Destruction of Jerusalem," he wrote some pieces for the +Piano. Among these, those known under the title of Etudes, (vigorous +sketches of the most finished design), recall those studies of foliage, +in which the landscape painter gives us an entire little poem of light +and shade, with only one tree, one branch, a single "motif," happily and +boldly handled. + +In the presence of the spectres which filled the air, and whose rustling +might almost be heard, Eugene Delacroix remained absorbed and silent. +Was he considering what pallet, what brushes, what canvas he must use, +to introduce them into visible life through his art? Did he task +himself to discover canvas woven by Arachne, brushes made from the long +eyelashes of the fairies, and a pallet covered with the vaporous tints +of the rainbow, in order to make such a sketch possible? Did he then +smile at these fancies, yet gladly yield to the impressions from which +they sprung, because great talent is always attracted by that power in +direct contrast to its own? + +The aged Niemcevicz, who appeared to be the nearest to the grave among +us, listened to the "Historic Songs" which Chopin translated into +dramatic execution for this survivor of times long past. Under the +fingers of the Polish artist, again were heard, side by side with the +descriptions, so popular, of the Polish bard, the shock of arms, the +songs of conquerors, the hymns of triumph, the complaints of illustrious +prisoners, and the wail over dead heroes. They memorized together the +long course of national glory, of victory, of kings, of queens, of +warriors; and so much life had these phantoms, that the old man, deeming +the present an illusion, believed the olden times fully resuscitated. + +Dark and silent, apart from all others, fell the motionless profile of +Mickiewicz: the Dante of the North, he seemed always to find "the salt +of the stranger bitter, and his steps hard to mount." + +Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, sat Madame +Sand, curiously attentive, gracefully subdued. Endowed with that rare +faculty only given to a few elect, of recognizing the Beautiful under +whatever form of nature or of art it may assume, she listened with +the whole force of her ardent genius. The faculty of instantaneously +recognizing Beauty may perhaps be the "second sight," of which all +nations have acknowledged the existence in highly gifted women. It is a +kind of magical gaze which causes the bark, the mask, the gross envelope +of form, to fall off; so that the invisible essence, the soul which is +incarnated within, may be clearly contemplated; so that the ideal which +the poet or artist may have vivified under the torrent of notes, the +passionate veil of coloring, the cold chiseling of marble, or the +mysterious rhythms of strophes, may be fully discerned. This faculty is +much rarer than is generally supposed. It is usually felt but vaguely, +yet--in its highest manifestations, it reveals itself as a "divining +oracle," knowing the Past and prophesying the Future. It is a power +which exempts the blessed organization which it illumes, from the +bearing of the heavy burden of technicalities, with which the merely +scientific drag on toward that mystic region of inner life, which the +gifted attain with a single bound. It is a faculty which springs less +from an acquaintance with the sciences, than from a familiarity with +nature. + +The fascination and value of a country life consist in the long +tete-a-tete with nature. The words of revelation hidden under the +infinite harmonies of form, of sounds, of lights and shadows, of tones +and warblings, of terror and delight, may best be caught in these +long solitary interviews. Such infinite variety may appear crushing or +distracting on a first view, but if faced with a courage that no mystery +can appal, if sounded with a resolution that no length of time can +abate, may give the clue to analogies, conformities, relations between +our senses and our sentiments, and aid us in tracing the hidden +links which bind apparent dissimilarities, identical oppositions and +equivalent antitheses, and teach us the secrets of the chasms separating +with narrow but impassable space, that which is destined to approach +forever, yet never mingle; to resemble ever, yet never blend. To have +awakened early, as did Madame Sand, to the dim whispering with which +nature initiates her chosen to her mystic rites, is a necessary appanage +of the poet. To have learned from her to penetrate the dreams of man +when he, in his turn, creates, and uses in his works the tones, the +warblings, the terrors, the delights, requires a still more subtle +power; a power which Madame Sand possesses by a double right, by the +intuitions of her heart, and the vigor of her genius. After having named +Madame Sand, whose energetic personality and electric genius inspired +the frail and delicate organization of Chopin with an intensity of +admiration which consumed him, as a wine too spirituous shatters the +fragile vase; we cannot now call up other names from the dim limbus of +the past, in which so many indistinct images, such doubtful sympathies, +such indefinite projects and uncertain beliefs, are forever surging and +hurtling. Perhaps there is no one among us, who, in looking through the +long vista, would not meet the ghost of some feeling whose shadowy +form he would find impossible to pass! Among the varied interests, the +burning desires, the restless tendencies surging through the epoch in +which so many high hearts and brilliant intellects were fortuitously +thrown together, how few of them, alas! possessed sufficient vitality to +enable them to resist the numberless causes of death, surrounding every +idea, every feeling, as well as every individual life, from the cradle +to the grave! Even during the moments of the troubled existence of the +emotions now past, how many of them escaped that saddest of all human +judgments: "Happy, oh, happy were it dead! Far happier had it never +been born!" Among the varied feelings with which so many noble hearts +throbbed high, were there indeed many which never incurred this fearful +malediction? Like the suicide lover in Mickiewicz's poem, who returns to +life in the land of the Dead only to renew the dreadful suffering of his +earth life, perhaps among all the emotions then so vividly felt there is +not a single one which, could it again live, would reappear without the +disfigurements, the brandings, the bruises, the mutilations, which +were inflicted on its early beauty, which so deeply sullied its primal +innocence! And if we should persist in recalling these melancholy ghosts +of dead thoughts and buried feelings from the heavy folds of the shroud, +would they not actually appal us, because so few of them possessed +sufficient purity and celestial radiance to redeem them from the shame +of being utterly disowned, entirely repudiated, by those whose bliss or +torment they formed during the passionate hours of their absolute rule? +In very pity ask us not to call from the Dead, ghosts whose resurrection +would be so painful! Who could bear the sepulchral ghastly array? +Who would willingly call them from their sheeted sleep? If our ideas, +thoughts, and feelings were indeed to be suddenly aroused from the +unquiet grave in which they lie buried, and an account demanded from +them of the good and evil which they have severally produced in the +hearts in which they found so generous an asylum, and which they have +confused, overwhelmed, illumined, devastated, ruined, broken, as chance +or destiny willed,--who could hope to endure the replies that would be +made to questions so searching? + +If among the group of which we have spoken, every member of which has +won the attention of many human souls, and must, in consequence, bear +in his conscience the sharp sting of multiplied responsibilities, there +should be found ONE who has not suffered aught, that was pure in the +natural attraction which bound them together in this chain of glittering +links, to fall into dull forgetfulness; one who allowed no breath of +the fermentation lingering even around the most delicate perfumes, +to embitter his memories; one who has transfigured and left to the +immortality of art, only the unblemished inheritance of all that was +noblest in their enthusiasm, all that was purest and most lasting of +their joys; let us bow before him as before one of the Elect! Let us +regard him as one of those whom the belief of the people marks as "Good +Genii!" The attribution of superior power to beings believed to be +beneficent to man, has received a sublime conformation from a great +Italian poet, who defines genius as a "stronger impress of Divinity!" +Let us bow before all who are marked with this mystic seal; but let us +venerate with the deepest, truest tenderness those who have only used +their wondrous supremacy to give life and expression to the highest +and most exquisite feelings! and among the pure and beneficent genii of +earth must indubitably be ranked the artist Chopin! + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Lives of Artists--Pure Fame of Chopin--Reserve--Classic and Romantic +Art-Language of the Sclaves--Chopin's Love of Home Memories. + + + +A natural curiosity is generally felt to know something of the lives +of men who have consecrated their genius to embellish noble feelings +through works of art, through which they shine like brilliant meteors +in the eyes of the surprised and delighted crowd. The admiration and +sympathy awakened by the compositions of such men, attach immediately to +their own names, which are at once elevated as symbols of nobility and +greatness, because the world is loath to believe that those who can +express high sentiments with force, can themselves feel ignobly. The +objects of this benevolent prejudice, this favorable presumption, are +expected to justify such suppositions by the high course of life which +they are required to lead. When it is seen that the poet feels with such +exquisite delicacy all that which it is so sweet to inspire; that he +divines with such rapid intuition all that pride, timidity, or weariness +struggles to hide; that he can paint love as youth dreams it, but as +riper years despair to realize it; when such sublime situations seem +to be ruled by his genius, which raises itself so calmly above the +calamities of human destiny, always finding the leading threads by which +the most complicated knots in the tangled skein of life may be proudly +and victoriously unloosed; when the secret modulations of the most +exquisite tenderness, the most heroic courage, the most sublime +simplicity, are known to be subject to his command,--it is most natural +that the inquiry should be made if this wondrous divination springs +from a sincere faith in the reality of the noble feelings portrayed, +or whether its source is to be found in an acute perception of the +intellect, an abstract comprehension of the logical reason. + +The question in what the life led by men so enamored of beauty differs +from that of the common multitude, is then earnestly asked. This high +poetic disdain,--how did it comport itself when struggling with material +interests? These ineffable emotions of ethereal love,--how were they +guarded from the bitterness of petty cares, from that rapidly growing +and corroding mould which usually stifles or poisons them? How many of +such feelings were preserved from that subtle evaporation which robs +them of their perfume, that gradually increasing inconstancy which lulls +us until we forget to call the dying emotions to account? Those who felt +such holy indignation,--were they indeed always just? Those who exalted +integrity,--were they always equitable? Those who sung of honor,--did +they never stoop? Those who so admired fortitude,--have they never +compromised with their own weakness? + +A deep interest is also felt in ascertaining how those to whom the task +of sustaining our faith in the nobler sentiments through art has +been intrusted, have conducted themselves in external affairs, where +pecuniary gain is only to be acquired at the expense of delicacy, +loyalty, or honor. Many assert that the nobler feelings exist only +in the works of art. When some unfortunate occurrence seems to give a +deplorable foundation to the words of such mockers, with what avidity +they name the most exquisite conceptions of the poet, "vain phantoms!" +How they plume themselves upon their own wisdom in having advocated the +politic doctrine of an astute, yet honeyed hypocrisy; how they delight +to speak of the perpetual contradiction between words and deeds!... With +what cruel joy they detail such occurrences, and cite such examples in +the presence of those unsteady restless souls, who are incited by their +youthful aspirations and by the depression and utter loss of happy +confidence which such a conviction would entail upon them, to struggle +against a distrust so blighting! When such wavering spirits are engaged +in the bitter combat with the harsh alternatives of life, or tempted at +every turn by its insinuating seductions, what a profound discouragement +seizes upon them when they are induced to believe that the hearts +devoted to the most sublime thoughts, the most deeply initiated in +the most delicate susceptibilities, the most charmed by the beauty of +innocence, have denied, by their acts, the sincerity of their worship +for the noble themes which they have sung as poets! With what agonizing +doubts are they not filled by such flagrant contradictions! How much +is their anguish increased by the jeering mockery of those who repeat: +"Poetry is only that which might have been"--and who delight in +blaspheming it by their guilty negations! Whatever may be the human +short-comings of the gifted, believe the truths they sing! Poetry is +more than the gigantic shadow of our own imagination, immeasurably +increased, and projected upon the flying plane of the Impossible. POETRY +and REALITY are not two incompatible elements, destined to move on +together without commingling. Goethe himself confesses this. In speaking +of a contemporary writer he says: "that having lived to create poems, +he had also made his life a Poem." (Er lebte dichtend, und dichtete +lebend.) Goethe was himself too true a poet not to know that Poetry +only is, because its eternal Reality throbs in the noble impulses of the +human heart. + +We have once before remarked that "genius imposes its own obligations." +[Footnote: Upon Paganini, after his death.] If the examples of cold +austerity and of rigid disinterestedness are sufficient to awaken the +admiration of calm and reflective natures, whence shall more passionate +and mobile organizations, to whom the dullness of mediocrity is insipid, +who naturally seek honor or pleasure, and who are willing to purchase +the object of their desires at any price--form their models? Such +temperaments easily free themselves from the authority of their seniors. +They do not admit their competency to decide. They accuse them of +wishing to use the world only for the profit of their own dead passions, +of striving to turn all to their own advantage, of pronouncing upon +the effects of causes which they do not understand, of desiring to +promulgate laws in spheres to which nature has denied them entrance. +They will not receive answers from their lips, but turn to others to +resolve their doubts; they question those who have drunk deeply from the +boiling springs of grief, bursting from the riven clefts in the steep +cliffs upon the top of which alone the soul seeks rest and light. They +pass in silence by the still cold gravity of those who practice the +good, without enthusiasm for the beautiful. What leisure has ardent +youth to interpret their gravity, to resolve their chill problems? +The throbbings of its impetuous heart are too rapid to allow it to +investigate the hidden sufferings, the mystic combats, the solitary +struggles, which may be detected even in the calm eye of the man who +practices only the good. Souls in continual agitation seldom interpret +aright the calm simplicity of the just, or the heroic smiles of the +stoic. For them enthusiasm and emotion are necessities. A bold image +persuades them, a metaphor leads them, tears convince them, they prefer +the conclusions of impulse, of intuition, to the fatigue of logical +argument. Thus they turn with an eager curiosity to the poets and +artists who have moved them by their images, allured them by their +metaphors, excited them by their enthusiasm. They demand from them the +explanation, the purpose of this enthusiasm, the secret of this beauty! + +When distracted by heart-rending events, when tortured by intense +suffering, when feeling and enthusiasm seem to be but a heavy and +cumbersome load which may upset the life-boat if not thrown overboard +into the abyss of forgetfulness; who, when menaced with utter shipwreck +after a long struggle with peril, has not evoked the glorious shades +of those who have conquered, whose thoughts glow with noble ardor, to +inquire from them how far their aspirations were sincere, how long they +preserved their vitality and truth? Who has not exerted an ingenious +discernment to ascertain how much of the generous feeling depicted +was only for mental amusement, a mere speculation; how much had really +become incorporated with the habitual acts of life? Detraction is never +idle in such cases; it seizes eagerly upon the foibles, the neglect, the +faults of those who have been degraded by any weakness: alas, it omits +nothing! It chases its prey, it accumulates facts only to distort them, +it arrogates to itself the right of despising the inspiration to which +it will grant no authority or aim but to furnish amusement, denying +it any claim to guide our actions, our resolutions, our refusal, our +consent! Detraction knows well how to winnow history! Casting aside all +the good grain, it carefully gathers all the tares, to scatter the black +seed over the brilliant pages in which the purest desires of the heart, +the noblest dreams of the imagination are found; and with the irony of +assumed victory, demands what the grain is worth which only germinates +dearth and famine? Of what value the vain words, which only nourish +sterile feelings? Of what use are excursions into realms in which +no real fruit can ever be gathered? of what possible importance are +emotions and enthusiasm, which always end in calculations of interest, +covering only with brilliant veil the covert struggles of egotism and +venal self-interest? + +With how much arrogant derision men given to such detraction, contrast +the noble thoughts of the poet, with his unworthy acts! The high +compositions of the artist, with his guilty frivolity! What a haughty +superiority they assume over the laborious merit of the men of guileless +honesty, whom they look upon as crustacea, sheltered from temptation +by the immobility of weak organizations, as well as over the pride of +those, who, believing themselves superior to such temptations, do not, +they assert, succeed even as well as themselves in repudiating the +pursuit of material well being, the gratification of vanity, or the +pleasure of immediate enjoyment! What an easy triumph they win over the +hesitation, the doubt, the repugnance of those who would fain cling to +a belief in the possibility of the union of vivid feelings, passionate +impressions, intellectual gifts, imaginative temperaments, with high +integrity, pure lives, and courses of conduct in perfect harmony with +poetic ideals! + +It is therefore impossible not to feel the deepest sadness when we meet +with any fact which shows us the poet disobedient to the inspiration +of the Muses, those guardian angels of the man of genius, who would +willingly teach him to make of his own life the most beautiful of +poems. What disastrous doubts in the minds of others, what profound +discouragements, what melancholy apostasies are induced by the faltering +steps of the man of genius! And yet it would be profanity to confound +his errors in the same anathema, hurled against the base vices of +meanness, the shameless effrontery of low crime! It would be sacrilege! +If the acts of the poet have sometimes denied the spirit of his song, +have not his songs still more powerfully denied his acts? May not +the limited influence of his private actions have been far more than +counterbalanced by the germs of creative virtues, scattered profusely +through his eloquent writings? Evil is contagious, but good is truly +fruitful! The poet, even while forcing his inner convictions to give way +to his personal interest, still acknowledges and ennobles the sentiments +which condemn himself; such sentiments attain a far wider influence +through his works than can be exerted by his individual acts. Are not +the number of spirits which have been calmed, consoled, edified, through +these works, far greater than the number of those who have been injured +by the errors of his private life? Art is far more powerful than the +artist. His creations have a life independent of his vacillating will; +for they are revelations of the "immutable beauty!" More durable than +himself, they pass on from generation to generation; let us hope that +they may, through the blessings of their widely spread influence, +contain a virtual power of redemption for the frequent errors of +their gifted authors. If it be indeed true that many of those who have +immortalized their sensibility and their aspirations, by robing them in +the garb of surpassing eloquence, have, nevertheless, stifled these high +aspirations, abused these quick sensibilities,--how many have they not +confirmed, strengthened and encouraged to pursue a noble course, through +the works created by their genius! A generous indulgence towards them +would be but justice! It is hard to be forced to claim simple justice +for them; unpleasant to be constrained to defend those whom we wish to +be admired, to excuse those whom we wish to see venerated! + +With what exultant feelings of just pride may the friend and artist +remember a career in which there are no jarring dissonances; no +contradictions, for which he is forced to claim indulgence; no errors, +whose source must be found in palliation of their existence; no extreme, +to be accounted for as the consequence of "excess of cause." How sweet +it is to be able to name one who has fully proved that it is not only +apathetic beings whom no fascination can attract, no illusion betray, +who are able to limit themselves within the strict routine of honored +and honorable laws, who may justly claim that elevation of soul, which +no reverse subdues, and which is never found in contradiction with its +better self! Doubly dear and doubly honored must the memory of Chopin, +in this respect, ever remain! Dear to the friends and artists who have +known him in his lifetime, dear to the unknown friends who shall learn +to love him through his poetic song, as well as to the artists who, in +succeeding him, shall find their glory in being worthy of him! + +The character of Chopin, in none of its numerous folds, concealed a +single movement, a single impulse, which was not dictated by the nicest +sense of honor, the most delicate appreciation of affection. Yet no +nature was ever more formed to justify eccentricity, whims, and abrupt +caprices. His imagination was ardent, his feelings almost violent, his +physical organization weak, irritable and sickly. Who can measure the +amount of suffering arising from such contrasts? It must have been +bitter, but he never allowed it to be seen! He kept the secret of his +torments, he veiled them from all eyes under the impenetrable serenity +of a haughty resignation. + +The delicacy of his heart and constitution imposed upon him the woman's +torture, that of enduring agonies never to be confessed, thus giving to +his fate some of the darker hues of feminine destiny. Excluded, by +the infirm state of his health, from the exciting arena of ordinary +activity, without any taste for the useless buzzing, in which a few +bees, joined with many wasps, expend their superfluous strength, he +built apart from all noisy and frequented routes a secluded cell for +himself. Neither adventures, embarrassments, nor episodes, mark +his life, which he succeeded in simplifying, although surrounded by +circumstances which rendered such a result difficult of attainment. His +own feelings, his own impressions, were his events; more important in +his eyes than the chances and changes of external life. He constantly +gave lessons with regularity and assiduity; domestic and daily tasks, +they were given conscientiously and satisfactorily. As the devout in +prayer, so he poured out his soul in his compositions, expressing in +them those passions of the heart, those unexpressed sorrows, to which +the pious give vent in their communion with their Maker. What they never +say except upon their knees, he said in his palpitating compositions; +uttering in the language of the tones those mysteries of passion and of +grief which man has been permitted to understand without words, because +there are no words adequate for their expression. + +The care taken by Chopin to avoid the zig-zags of life, to eliminate +from it all that was useless, to prevent its crumbling into masses +without form, has deprived his own course of incident. The vague lines +and indications surrounding his figure like misty clouds, disappear +under the touch which would strive to follow or trace their outlines. He +takes part in no actions, no drama, no entanglements, no denouements. +He exercised a decisive influence upon no human being. His will never +encroached upon the desires of another, he never constrained any +other spirit, or crashed it under the domination of his own, He never +tyrannized over another heart, he never placed a conquering hand upon +the destiny of another being. He sought nothing; he would have scorned +to have made any demands. Like Tasso, he might say: + +Brama assai, poco spera, e nulla chiede. In compensation, he escaped +from all ties; from the affections which might have influenced him, or +led him into more tumultuous spheres. Ready to yield all, he never gave +himself. Perhaps he knew what exclusive devotion, what love without +limit he was worthy of inspiring, of understanding, of sharing! Like +other ardent and ambitions natures, he may have thought if love and +friendship are not all--they are nothing! Perhaps it would have been +more painful for him to have accepted a part, any thing less than +all, than to have relinquished all, and thus to have remained at least +faithful to his impossible Ideal! If these things have been so or not, +none ever knew, for he rarely spoke of love or friendship. He was not +exacting, like those whose high claims and just demands exceed all that +we possess to offer them. The most intimate of his acquaintances never +penetrated to that secluded fortress in which the soul, absent from his +common life, dwelt; a fortress which he so well succeeded in concealing, +that its very existence was scarcely suspected. + +In his relations and intercourse with others, he always seemed occupied +in what interested them; he was cautions not to lead them from the +circle of their own personality, lest they should intrude into his. If +he gave up but little of his time to others, at least of that which he +did relinquish, he reserved none for himself. No one ever asked him to +give an account of his dreams, his wishes, or his hopes. No one seemed +to wish to know what he sighed for, what he might have conquered, if his +white and tapering fingers could have linked the brazen chords of life +to the golden ones of his enchanted lyre! No one had leisure to think of +this in his presence. His conversation was rarely upon subjects of any +deep interest. He glided lightly over all, and as he gave but little +of his time, it was easily filled with the details of the day. He was +careful never to allow himself to wander into digressions of which he +himself might become the subject. His individuality rarely excited the +investigations of curiosity, or awakened vivid scrutiny. He pleased +too much to excite much reflection. The ensemble of his person was +harmonious, and called for no especial commentary. His blue eye was more +spiritual than dreamy, his bland smile never writhed into bitterness. +The transparent delicacy of his complexion pleased the eye, his fair +hair was soft and silky, his nose slightly aquiline, his bearing so +distinguished, and his manners stamped with so much high breeding, that +involuntarily he was always treated EN PRINCE. His gestures were many +and graceful; the tone of his voice was veiled, often stifled; his +stature was low, and his limbs slight. He constantly reminded us of a +convolvulus balancing its heaven-colored cup upon an incredibly slight +stem, the tissue of which is so like vapor that the slightest contact +wounds and tears the misty corolla. + +His manners in society possessed that serenity of mood which +distinguishes those whom no ennui annoys, because they expect no +interest. He was generally gay, his caustic spirit caught the ridiculous +rapidly and far below the surface at which it usually strikes the eye. +He displayed a rich vein of drollery in pantomime. He often amused +himself by reproducing the musical formulas and peculiar tricks of +certain virtuosi, in the most burlesque and comic improvisations, in +imitating their gestures, their movements, in counterfeiting their faces +with a talent which instantaneously depicted their whole personality. +His own features would then become scarcely recognizable, he could force +the strangest metamorphoses upon them, but while mimicking the ugly and +grotesque, he never lost his own native grace. Grimace was never carried +far enough to disfigure him; his gayety was so much the more piquant +because he always restrained it within the limits of perfect good +taste, holding at a suspicious distance all that could wound the most +fastidious delicacy. He never made use of an inelegant word, even in the +moments of the most entire familiarity; an improper merriment, a coarse +jest would have been shocking to him. + +Through a strict exclusion of all subjects relating to himself from +conversation, through a constant reserve with regard to his own +feelings, he always succeeded in leaving a happy impression behind him. +People in general like those who charm them without causing them to +fear that they will be called upon to render aught in return for the +amusement given, or that the pleasurable excitement of gayety will be +followed by the sadness of melancholy confidences the sight of mournful +faces, or the inevitable reactions which occur in susceptible natures of +which we may say: Ubi mel, ibi fel. People generally like to keep such +"susceptible natures" at a distance; they dislike to be brought into +contact with their melancholy moods, though they do not refuse a kind +of respect to the mournful feelings caused by their subtle reactions; +indeed such changes possess for them the attraction of the unknown and +they are as ready to take delight in the description of such changing +caprices, as they are to avoid their reality. The presence of Chopin +was always feted. He interested himself so vividly in all that was not +himself, that his own personality remained intact, unapproached and +unapproachable, under the polished and glassy surface upon which it was +impossible to gain footing. + +On some occasions, although very rarely, we have seen him deeply +agitated. We have seen him grow so pale and wan, that his appearance was +actually corpse-like. But even in moments of the most intense +emotion, he remained concentrated within himself. A single instant +for self-recovery always enabled him to veil the secret of his first +impression. However full of spontaneity his bearing afterwards might +seem to be, it was instantaneously the effect of reflection, of a will +which governed the strange conflict of emotional and moral energy with +conscious physical debility; a conflict whose strange contrasts were +forever warring vividly within. The dominion exercised over the natural +violence of his character reminds us of the melancholy force of those +beings who seek their strength in isolation and entire self-control, +conscious of the uselessness of their vivid indignation and vexation, +and too jealous of the mysteries of their passions to betray them +gratuitously. + +He could pardon in the most noble manner. No rancor remained in his +heart toward those who had wounded him, though such wounds penetrated +deeply in his soul, and fermented there in vague pain and internal +suffering, so that long after the exciting cause had been effaced from +his memory, he still experienced the secret torture. By dint of constant +effort, in spite of his acute and tormenting sensibilities, he subjected +his feelings to the rule rather of what ought to be, than of what is; +thus he was grateful for services proceeding rather from good intentions +than from a knowledge of what would have been agreeable to him; from +friendship which wounded him, because not aware of his acute but +concealed susceptibility. Nevertheless the wounds caused by such awkward +miscomprehension are, of all others, the most difficult for nervous +temperaments to bear. Condemned to repress their vexation, such natures +are excited by degrees to a state of constantly gnawing irritability, +which they can never attribute to the true cause. It would be a gross +mistake to imagine that this irritation existed without provocation. +But as a dereliction from what appeared to him to be the most honorable +course of conduct was a temptation which he was never called upon to +resist, because in all probability it never presented itself to him; +so he never, in the presence of the more vigorous and therefore more +brusque and positive individualities than his own, unveiled the +shudder, if repulsion be too strong a term, caused by their contact or +association. + +The reserve which marked his intercourse with others, extended to +all subjects to which the fanaticism of opinion can attach. His own +sentiments could only be estimated by that which he did not do in the +narrow limits of his activity. His patriotism was revealed in the course +taken by his genius, in the choice of his friends, in the preferences +given to his pupils, and in the frequent and great services which he +rendered to his compatriots; but we cannot remember that he took any +pleasure in the expression of this feeling. If he sometimes entered +upon the topic of politics, so vividly attacked, so warmly defended, +so frequently discussed in Prance, it was rather to point out what he +deemed dangerous or erroneous in the opinions advanced by others than to +win attention for his own. In constant connection with some of the most +brilliant politicians of the day, he knew how to limit the relations +between them to a personal attachment entirely independent of political +interests. + +Democracy presented to his view an agglomeration of elements too +heterogeneous, too restless, wielding too much savage power, to win +his sympathies. The entrance of social and political questions into the +arena of popular discussion was compared, more than twenty years ago, +to a new and bold incursion of barbarians. Chopin was peculiarly and +painfully struck by the terror which this comparison awakened. He +despaired of obtaining the safety of Rome from these modern Attilas, +he feared the destruction of art, its monuments, its refinements, its +civilization; in a word, he dreaded the loss of the elegant, cultivated +if somewhat indolent ease described by Horace. Would the graceful +elegancies of life, the high culture of the arts, indeed be safe in +the rude and devastating hands of the new barbarians? He followed at a +distance the progress of events, and an acuteness of perception, which +he would scarcely have been supposed to possess, often enabled him +to predict occurrences which were not anticipated even by the best +informed. But though such observations escaped him, he never developed +them. His concise remarks attracted no attention until time proved their +truth. His good sense, full of acuteness, had early persuaded him of +the perfect vacuity of the greater part of political orations, of +theological discussions, of philosophic digressions. He began early to +practice the favorite maxim of a man of great distinction, whom we have +often heard repeat a remark dictated by the misanthropic wisdom of age, +which was then startling to our inexperienced impetuosity, but which +has since frequently struck us by its melancholy truth: "You will be +persuaded one day as I am," (said the Marquis de Noailles to the young +people whom he honored with his attention, and who were becoming heated +in some naive discussions of differing opinions,) "that it is scarcely +possible to talk about any thing to any body." (Qu'il n'y a guere moyen +de causer de quoi que ce soit, avec qui que ce soit.) + +Sincerely religious, and attached to Catholicity, Chopin never touched +upon this subject, but held his faith without attracting attention to +it. One might have been acquainted with him for a long time, without +knowing exactly what his religious opinion were. Perhaps to console his +inactive hand an reconcile it with his lute, he persuaded himself to +think: Il mondo va da se. We have frequently watched him during the +progress of long, animated, and stormy discussions, in which he would +take no part. In the excitement of the debate he was forgotten by the +speakers, but we have often neglected to follow the chain of their +reasoning, to fix our attention upon the features of Chopin, which were +almost imperceptibly contracted when subjects touching upon the most +important conditions of our existence were discussed with such eagerness +and ardor, that it might have been thought our fates were to be +instantly decided by the result of the debate. At such times, he +appeared to us like a passenger on board of a vessel, driven and tossed +by tempests upon the stormful waves, thinking of his distant country, +watching the horizon, the stars, the manoeuvres of the sailors, counting +their fatal mistakes, without possessing in himself sufficient force to +seize a rope, or the energy requisite to haul in a fluttering sail. + +On one single subject he relinquished his premeditated silence, his +cherished neutrality. In the cause of art he broke through his reserve, +he never abdicated upon this topic the explicit enunciation of his +opinions. He applied himself with great perseverance to extend the +limits of his influence upon this subject. It was a tacit confession +that he considered himself legitimately possessed of the authority of +a great artist. In questions which he dignified by his competence, he +never left any doubt with regard to the nature of his opinions. During +several years his appeals were full of impassioned ardor, but later, the +triumph of his opinions having diminished the interest of his role, he +sought no further occasion to place himself as leader, as the bearer of +any banner. In the only occurrence in which he took part in the +conflict of parties, he gave proof of opinions, absolute, tenacious, and +inflexible, as those which rarely come to the light usually are. + +Shortly after his arrival in Paris, in 1832, a new school was formed +both in literature and music, and youthful talent appeared, which +shook off with eclat the yoke of ancient formulas. The scarcely lulled +political effervescence of the first years of the revolution of +July, passed into questions upon art and letters, which attracted the +attention and interest of all minds. ROMANTICISM was the order of the +day; they fought with obstinacy for and against it. What truce could +there be between those who would not admit the possibility of writing +in any other than the already established manner, and those who thought +that the artist should be allowed to choose such forms as he deemed best +suited for the expression of his ideas; that the rule of form should +be found in the agreement of the chosen form with the sentiments to +be expressed, every different shade of feeling requiring of course a +different mode of expression? The former believed in the existence of +a permanent form, whose perfection represented absolute Beauty. But in +admitting that the great masters had attained the highest limits in art, +had reached supreme perfection, they left to the artists who succeeded +them no other glory than the hope of approaching these models, more or +less closely, by imitation, thus frustrating all hope of ever equalling +them, because the perfecting of any process can never rival the merit +of its invention. The latter denied that the immaterial Beautiful could +have a fixed and absolute form. The different forms which had appeared +in the history of art, seemed to them like tents spread in the +interminable route of the ideal; mere momentary halting places which +genius attains from epoch to epoch, and beyond which the inheritors of +the past should strive to advance. The former wished to restrict the +creations of times and natures the most dissimilar, within the limits +of the same symmetrical frame; the latter claimed for all writers the +liberty of creating their own mode, accepting no other rules than those +which result from the direct relation of sentiment and form, exacting +only that the form should be adequate to the expression of the +sentiment. However admirable the existing models might be, they did not +appear to them to have exhausted all the range of sentiments upon which +art might seize, or all the forms which it might advantageously use. Not +contented with the mere excellence of form, they sought it so far only +as its perfection is indispensable for the complete revelation of the +idea, for they were not ignorant that the sentiment is maimed if the +form remain imperfect, any imperfection in it, like an opaque veil, +intercepting the raying of the pure idea. Thus they elevated what had +otherwise been the mere work of the trade, into the sphere of poetic +inspiration. They enjoined upon genius and patience the task of +inventing a form which would satisfy the exactions of the inspiration. +They reproached their adversaries with attempting to reduce inspiration +to the bed of Procrustes, because they refused to admit that there are +sentiments which cannot be expressed in forms which have been determined +upon beforehand, and of thus robbing art, in advance even of their +creation, of all works which might attempt the introduction of newly +awakened ideas, newly clad in new forms; forms and ideas both naturally +arising from the naturally progressive development of the human spirit, +the improvement of the instruments, and the consequent increase of the +material resources of art. + +Those who saw the flames of Genius devour the old worm-eaten crumbling +skeletons, attached themselves to the musical school of which the most +gifted, the most brilliant, the most daring representative, was Berlioz. +Chopin joined this school. He persisted most strenuously in freeing +himself from the servile formulas of conventional style, while he +earnestly repudiated the charlatanism which sought to replace the old +abuses only by the introduction of new ones. + +During the years which this campaign of Romanticism lasted, in which +some of the trial blows were master-strokes, Chopin remained invariable +in his predilections, as well as in his repulsions. He did not admit the +least compromise with those who, in his opinion, did not sufficiently +represent progress, and who, in their refusal to relinquish the desire +of displaying art for the profit of the trade, in their pursuit of +transitory effects, of success won only from the astonishment of the +audience, gave no proof of sincere devotion to progress. He broke the +ties which he had contracted with respect when he felt restricted by +them, or bound too closely to the shore by cordage which he knew to be +decayed. He obstinately refused, on the other hand, to form ties with +the young artists whose success, which he deemed exaggerated, elevated a +certain kind of merit too highly. He never gave the least praise to any +thing which he did not believe to be a real conquest for art, or which +did not evince a serious conception of the task of an artist. He did +not wish to be lauded by any party, to be aided by the manoeuvres of +any faction, or by the concessions made by any schools in the persons +of their chiefs. In the midst of jealousies, encroachments, forfeitures, +and invasions of the different branches of art, negotiations, treaties, +and contracts have been introduced, like the means and appliances of +diplomacy, with all the artifices inseparable from such a course. In +refusing the support of any accessory aid for his productions, he proved +that he confidently believed that their own beauty would ensure their +appreciation, and that he did not struggle to facilitate their immediate +reception. + +He supported our struggles, at that time so full of uncertainty, when we +met more sages shaking their heads, than glorious adversaries, with his +calm and unalterable conviction. He aided us with opinions so fixed +that neither weariness nor artifice could shake them, with a rare +immutability of will, and that efficacious assistance which the creation +of meritorious works always brings to a struggling cause, when it can +claim them as its own. He mingled so many charms, so much moderation, so +much knowledge with his daring innovations, that the prompt admiration +he inspired fully justified the confidence he placed in his own genius. +The solid studies which he had made, the reflective habits of his youth, +the worship for classic models in which he had been educated, preserved +him from losing his strength in blind gropings, in doubtful triumphs, +as has happened to more than one partisan of the new ideas. His studious +patience in the elaboration of his works sheltered him from the +critics, who envenomed the dissensions by seizing upon those easy +and insignificant victories due to omissions, and the negligence of +inadvertence. Early trained to the exactions and restrictions of rules, +having produced compositions filled with beauty when subjected to all +their fetters, he never shook them off without an appropriate cause and +after due reflection. In virtue of his principles he always progressed, +but without being led into exaggeration or lured by compromise; he +willingly relinquished theoretic formulas to pursue their results. +Less occupied with the disputes of the schools and their terms, than in +producing himself the best argument, a finished work, he was fortunate +enough to avoid personal enmities and vexatious accommodations. + +Chopin had that reverential worship for art which characterized the +first masters of the middle ages, but in expression and bearing he was +more simple, modern, and less ecstatic. As for them, so art was for him, +a high and holy vocation. Like them he was proud of his election for it, +and honored it with devout piety. This feeling was revealed at the hour +of his death through an occurrence, the significance of which is more +fully explained by a knowledge of the manners prevalent in Poland. By a +custom which still exists, although it is now falling into disuse, the +Poles often chose the garments in which they wished to be buried, +and which were frequently prepared a long time in advance. [Footnote: +General K----, the author of Julie and Adolphe, a romance imitated from +the New Heloise which was much in vogue at the time of its publication, +and who was still living in Volhynia at the date of our visit to Poland, +though more than eighty years of age, in conformity with the custom +spoken of above, had caused his coffin to be made, and for more than +thirty years it had always stood at the door of his chamber.] Their +dearest wishes were thus expressed for the last time, their inmost +feelings were thus at the hour of death betrayed. Monastic robes were +frequently chosen by worldly men, the costumes of official charges +were selected or refused as the remembrances connected with them +were glorious or painful. Chopin, who, although among the first +of contemporary artists, had given the fewest concerts, wished, +notwithstanding, to be borne to the grave in the clothes which he had +worn on such occasions. A natural and profound feeling springing from +the inexhaustible sources of art, without doubt dictated this dying +request, when having scrupulously fulfilled the last duties of a +Christian, he left all of earth which he could not bear with him to +the skies. He had linked his love for art and his faith in it with +immortality long before the approach of death, and as he robed himself +for his long sleep in the grave, he gave, as was customary with him, +by a mute symbol, the last touching proof of the conviction he had +preserved intact during the whole course of his life. Faithful to +himself, he died adoring art in its mystic greatness, its highest +revelations. + +In retiring from the turmoil of society, Chopin concentrated his +cares and affections upon the circle of his own family and his early +acquaintances. Without any interruption he preserved close relations +with them; never ceasing to keep them up with the greatest care. His +sister Louise was especially dear to him, a resemblance in the character +of their minds, the bent of their feelings, bound them closely to each +other. Louise frequently came from Warsaw to Paris to see him. She spent +the last three months of his life with the brother she loved, watching +over him with undying affection. Chopin kept up a regular correspondence +with the members of his own family, but only with them. It was one of +his peculiarities to write letters to no others; it might almost have +been thought that he had made a vow to write to no strangers. It was +curious enough to see him resort to all kinds of expedients to escape +the necessity of tracing the most insignificant note. Many times he has +traversed Paris from one end to the other, to decline an invitation to +dinner, or to give some trivial information, rather than write a few +lines which would have spared him all this trouble and loss of time. His +handwriting was quite unknown to the greatest number of his friends. It +is said he sometimes departed from this custom in favor of his beautiful +countrywomen, some of whom possess several of his notes written in +Polish. This infraction of what seemed to be a law with him, may be +attributed to the pleasure he took in the use of this language. +He always used it with the people of his own country, and loved to +translate its most expressive phrases. He was a good French scholar, +as the Sclaves generally are. In consequence of his French origin, the +language had been taught him with peculiar care. But he did not like +it, he did not think it sufficiently sonorous, and he deemed its genius +cold. This opinion is very prevalent among the Poles, who, although +speaking it with great facility, often better than their native tongue, +and frequently using it in their intercourse with each other, yet +complain to those who do not speak Polish of the impossibility of +rendering the thousand ethereal and shifting modes of thought in any +other idiom. In their opinion it is sometimes dignity, sometimes grace, +sometimes passion, which is wanting in the French language. If they are +asked the meaning of a word or a phrase which they may have cited in +Polish, the reply invariably is: "Oh, that cannot be translated!" Then +follow explanations, serving as comments to the exclamation, of all the +subtleties, all the shades of meaning, all the delicacies contained +in THE NOT TO BE TRANSLATED words. We have cited some examples which, +joined to others, induce us to believe that this language has the +advantage of making images of abstract nouns, and that in the course of +its development, through the poetic genius of the nation, it has been +enabled to establish striking and just relations between ideas by +etymologies, derivations, and synonymes. Colored reflections of light +and shade are thus thrown upon all expressions, so that they necessarily +call into vibration through the mind the correspondent tone of a third, +which modulates the thought into a major or minor mode. The richness +of the language always permits the choice of the mode, but this very +richness may become a difficulty. It is not impossible that the general +use of foreign tongues in Poland may be attributed to indolence of +mind or want of application; may be traced to a desire to escape the +necessary labor of acquiring that mastery of diction indispensable in +a language so full of sudden depths, of laconic energy, that it is very +difficult, if not quite impossible, to support in it the commonplace. +The vague agreements of badly defined ideas cannot be compressed in the +nervous strength of its grammatical forms; the thought, if it be really +low, cannot be elevated from its debasement or poverty; if it really +soar above the commonplace, it requires a rare precision of terms not +to appear uncouth or fantastic. In consequence of this, in proportion +to the works published, the Polish literature should be able to show a +greater number of chefs-d'oeuvre than can be done in any other language. +He who ventures to use this tongue, must feel himself already master. + +[Footnote: It cannot be reproached with a want of harmony or musical +charm. The harshness of a language does not always and absolutely depend +upon the number of consonants, but rather upon the manner of their +association. We might even assert, that in consequence of the absence of +well-determined and strongly marked sounds, some languages have a dull +and cold coloring. It is the frequent repetition of certain consonants +which gives shadow, rhythm, and vigor to a tongue; the vowels imparting +only a kind of light clear hue, which requires to be brought out by +deeper shades. It is the sharp, uncouth, or unharmonious clashing of +heterogeneous consonants which strikes the ear painfully. It is true the +Sclavic languages make use of many consonants, but their connection is +generally sonorous, sometimes pleasant to the ear, and scarcely ever +entirely discordant, even when the combinations are more striking than +agreeable. The quality of the sounds is rich, full, and varied. They +are not straitened and contracted as if produced in a narrow medium, but +extending through a considerable register, range through a variety of +intonations. The letter L, almost impossible for those to pronounce, who +have not acquired the pronunciation in their infancy, has nothing harsh +in its sound. The ear receives from it an impression similar to that +which is made upon the fingers by the touch of a thick woolen velvet, +rough, but at the same time, yielding. The union of jarring consonants +being rare, and the assonances easily multiplied, the same comparison +might be employed to the ensemble of the effect produced by these idioms +upon foreigners. Many words occur in Polish which imitate the sound +of the thing designated by them. The frequent repetition of CH, (h +aspirated,) of SZ, (CH in French,) of RZ, of CZ, so frightful to a +profane eye, have however nothing barbaric in their sounds, being +pronounced nearly like GEAI, and TCHE, and greatly facilitate imitations +of the sense by the sound. The word DZWIEK, (read DZWIINQUE,) meaning +sound, offers a characteristic example of this; it would be difficult to +find a word which would reproduce more accurately the sensation which a +diapason makes upon the ear. Among the consonants accumulated in groups, +producing very different sounds, sometimes metallic, sometimes buzzing, +hissing or rumbling, many diphthongs and vowels are mingled, which +sometimes become slightly nasal, the A and E being sounded as ON and IN, +(in French,) when they are accompanied by a cedilla. In juxtaposition +with the E, (TSE,) which is pronounced with great softness, sometimes C, +(TSIE,) the accented S is almost warbled. The Z has three sounds: the +Z, (JAIS,) the Z, (ZED,) and the Z, (ZIED). The Y forms a vowel of a +muffled tone, which, as the L, cannot be represented by any equivalent +sound in French, and which like it gives a variety of ineffable shades +to the language. These fine and light elements enable the Polish women +to assume a lingering and singing accent, which they usually transport +into other tongues. When the subjects are serious or melancholy, after +such recitatives or improvised lamentations, they have a sort of lisping +infantile manner of speaking, which they vary by light silvery laughs, +little interjectional cries, short musical pauses upon the higher notes, +from which they descend by one knows not what chromatic scale of demi +and quarter tones to rest upon some low note; and again pursue the +varied, brusque and original modulations which astonish the ear not +accustomed to such lovely warblings, to which they sometimes give that +air of caressing irony, of cunning mockery, peculiar to the song of some +birds. They love to ZINZILYLER, and charming changes, piquant intervals, +unexpected cadences naturally find place in this fondling prattle, +making the language far more sweet and caressing when spoken by the +women, than it is in the mouths of the men. The men indeed pride +themselves upon speaking it with elegance, impressing upon it a +masculine sonorousness, which is peculiarly adapted to the energetic +movements of manly eloquence, formerly so much cultivated in Poland. +Poetry commands such a diversity of prosodies, of rhymes, of rhythms, +such an abundance of assonances from these rich and varied materials, +that it is almost possible to follow MUSICALLY the feelings and scenes +which it depicts, not only in mere expressions in which the sound +repeats the sense, but also in long declamations. The analogy between +the Polish and Russian, has been compared to that which obtains between +the Latin and Italian. The Russian language is indeed more mellifluous, +more lingering, more caressing, fuller of sighs than the Polish. Its +cadencing is peculiarly fitted for song. The finer poems, such as those +of Zukowski and Pouchkin, seem to contain a melody already designated in +the metre of the verses; for example, it would appear quite possible +to detach an ARIOSO or a sweet CANTIABLE from some of the stanzas of +LE CHALE NOIR, or the TALISMAN. The ancient Sclavonic, which is the +language of the Eastern Church, possesses great majesty. More guttural +than the idioms which have arisen from it, it is severe and monotonous +yet of great dignity, like the Byzantine paintings preserved in +the worship to which it is consecrated. It has throughout the +characteristics of a sacred language which has only been used for the +expression of one feeling and has never been modulated or fashioned by +profane wants.] + +Chopin mingled a charming grace with all the intercourse which he held +with his relatives. Not satisfied with limiting his whole correspondence +to them alone, he profited by his stay in Paris to procure for them the +thousand agreeable surprises given by the novelties, the bagatelles, the +little gifts which charm through their beauty, or attract as being +the first seen of their kind. He sought for all that he had reason to +believe would please his friends in Warsaw, adding constant presents to +his many letters. It was his wish that his gifts should be preserved, +that through the memories linked with them he might be often remembered +by those to whom they were sent. He attached the greatest importance, +on his side, to all the evidences of their affection for him. To receive +news or some mark of their remembrance, was always a festival for him. +He never shared this pleasure with any one, but it was plainly visible +in his conduct. He took the greatest care of every thing that came from +his distant friends, the least of their gifts was precious to him, he +never allowed others to make use of them, indeed he was visibly uneasy +if they touched them. + +Material elegance was as natural to him as mental; this was evinced +in the objects with which he surrounded himself, as well as in the +aristocratic grace of his manners. He was passionately fond of flowers. +Without aiming at the brilliant luxury with which, at that epoch, some +of the celebrities in Paris decorated their apartments, he knew how to +keep upon this point, as well as in his style of dress, the instinctive +line of perfect propriety. + +Not wishing the course of his life, his thoughts, his time, to be +associated or shackled in any way by the pursuits of others, he +preferred the society of ladies, as less apt to force him into +subsequent relations. He willingly spent whole evenings in playing blind +man's buff with the young people, telling them little stories to make +them break into the silvery laughs of youth, sweeter than the song of +the nightingale. He was fond of a life in the country, or the life of +the chateau. He was ingenious in varying its amusements, in multiplying +its enjoyments. He also loved to compose there. Many of his best works +written in such moments, perhaps embalm and hallow the memories of his +happiest days. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Birth and Early Life of Chopin--National Artists--Chopin embodies in +himself the poetic sense of his whole nation--Opinion of Beethoven. + + + +CHOPIN was born in 1810, at Zelazowa-Wola, near Warsaw. Unlike most +other children, he could not, during his childhood, remember his own +age, and the date of his birth was only fixed in his memory by a +watch given him in 1820 by Madame Catalani, which bore the following +inscription: "Madame Catalani to Frederic Chopin, aged ten years." +Perhaps the presentiments of the artist gave to the child a foresight of +his future! Nothing extraordinary marked the course of his boyhood; +his internal development traversed but few phases, and gave but few +manifestations. As he was fragile and sickly, the attention of his +family was concentrated upon his health. Doubtless it was from this +cause that he acquired his habits of affability, his patience under +suffering, his endurance of every annoyance with a good grace; qualities +which he early acquired from his wish to calm the constant anxiety +that was felt with regard to him. No precocity of his faculties, no +precursory sign of remarkable development, revealed, in his early years, +his future superiority of soul, mind, or capacity. The little creature +was seen suffering indeed, but always trying to smile, patient and +apparently happy and his friends were so glad that he did not become +moody or morose, that they were satisfied to cherish his good qualities, +believing that he opened his heart to them without reserve, and gave to +them all his secret thoughts. + +But there are souls among us who resemble rich travelers thrown among +simple herdsmen, loading them with gifts during their sojourn among +them, truly not at all in proportion to their own wealth, yet which are +quite sufficient to astonish the poor hosts, and to spread riches and +happiness in the midst of such simple habits. It is true that such souls +give as much affection, it may be more, than those who surround +them; every body is pleased with them, they are supposed to have been +generous, when the truth is that in comparison with their boundless +wealth they have not been liberal, and have given but little of their +store of internal treasure. + +The habits in which Chopin grew up, in which he was rocked as in a +form-strengthening cradle, were those peculiar to calm, occupied, and +tranquil characters. These early examples of simplicity, piety, and +integrity, always remained the nearest and dearest to him. Domestic +virtues, religious habits, pious charities, and rigid modesty, +surrounded him from his infancy with that pure atmosphere in which +his rich imagination assumed the velvety tenderness characterizing the +plants which have never been exposed to the dust of the beaten highways. + +He commenced the study of music at an early age, being but nine years +old when he began to learn it. Shortly after he was confided to a +passionate disciple of Sebastian Bach, Ziwna, who directed his studies +during many years in accordance with the most classic models. It is +not to be supposed that when he embraced the career of a musician, any +prestige of vain glory, any fantastic perspective, dazzled his eyes, or +excited the hopes of his family. In order to become a skillful and able +master, he studied seriously and conscientiously, without dreaming of +the greater or less amount of fame he would be able to obtain as the +fruit of his lessons and assiduous labors. + +In consequence of the generous and discriminating protection always +granted by Prince Antoine Radziwill to the arts, and to genius, which +he had the power of recognizing both as a man of intellect and as +a distinguished artist; Chopin was early placed in one of the first +colleges in Warsaw. Prince Radziwill did not cultivate music only as +a simple dilettante, he was also a remarkable composer. His beautiful +rendering of Faust, published some years ago, and executed at fixed +epochs by the Academy of Song at Berlin, appears to us far superior to +any other attempts which have been made to transport it into the realm +of music, by its close internal appropriateness to the peculiar genius +of the poem. Assisting the limited means of the family of Chopin, the +Prince made him the inestimable gift of a finished education, of which +no part had been neglected. Through the person of a friend, M. Antoine +Korzuchowski, whose own elevated mind enabled him to understand the +requirements of an artistic career, the Prince always paid his pension +from his first entrance into college, until the completion of +his studies. From this time until the death of Chopin, M. Antoine +Korzuchowski always held the closest relations of friendship with him. + +In speaking of this period of his life, it gives us pleasure to quote +the charming lines which may be applied to him more justly, than other +pages in which his character is believed to have been traced, but in +which we only find it distorted, and in such false proportions as are +given in a profile drawn upon an elastic tissue, which has been pulled +athwart, biased by contrary movements during the whole progress of the +sketch. [Footnote: These extracts, with many that succeed them, in which +the character of Chopin is described, are taken from Lucrezia Floriani, +a novel by Madame Sand, in which the leading characters are said to +be intended to represent Liszt, Chopin, and herself.--Note of the +Translator.] + + + +"Gentle, sensitive, and very lovely, at fifteen years of age he united +the charms of adolescence with the gravity of a more mature age. He +was delicate both in body and in mind. Through the want of muscular +development he retained a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, +which had, if we may venture so to speak, neither age nor sex. It was +not the bold and masculine air of a descendant of a race of Magnates, +who knew nothing but drinking, hunting and making war; neither was it +the effeminate loveliness of a cherub couleur de rose. It was more like +the ideal creations with which the poetry of the middle ages adorned the +Christian temples: a beautiful angel, with a form pure and slight as a +young god of Olympus, with a face like that of a majestic woman filled +with a divine sorrow, and as the crown of all, an expression at the same +time tender and severe, chaste and impassioned. + +"This expression revealed the depths of his being. Nothing could be +purer, more exalted than his thoughts; nothing more tenacious, more +exclusive, more intensely devoted, than his affections.... But he could +only understand that which closely resembled himself.... Every thing +else only existed for him as a kind of annoying dream, which he tried +to shake off while living with the rest of the world. Always plunged in +reveries, realities displeased him. As a child he could never touch a +sharp instrument without injuring himself with it; as a man, he never +found himself face to face with a being different from himself without +being wounded by the living contradiction... + +"He was preserved from constant antagonism by a voluntary and almost +inveterate habit of never seeing or hearing any thing which was +disagreeable to him, unless it touched upon his personal affections. The +beings who did not think as he did, were only phantoms in his eyes. As +his manners were polished and graceful, it was easy to mistake his cold +disdain on insurmountable aversion for benevolent courtesy... + +"He never spent an hour in open-hearted expansiveness, without +compensating for it by a season of reserve. The moral causes which +induced such reserve were too slight, too subtle, to be discovered by +the naked eye. It was necessary to use the microscope to read his soul, +into which so little of the light of the living ever penetrated.... + +"With such a character, it seems strange he should have had friends: yet +he had them, not only the friends of his mother who esteemed him as the +noble son of a noble mother, but friends of his own age, who loved him +ardently, and who were loved by him in return.... He had formed a high +ideal of friendship; in the age of early illusions he loved to think +that his friends and himself, brought up nearly in the same manner, +with the same principles, would never change their opinions, and that no +formal disagreement could ever occur between them.... + +"He was externally so affectionate, his education had been so finished, +and he possessed so much natural grace, that he had the gift of pleasing +even where he was not personally known. His exceeding loveliness was +immediately prepossessing, the delicacy of his constitution rendered him +interesting in the eyes of women, the full yet graceful cultivation of +his mind, the sweet and captivating originality of his conversation, +gained for him the attention of the most enlightened men. Men less +highly cultivated, liked him for his exquisite courtesy of manner. They +were so much the more pleased with this, because, in their simplicity, +they never imagined it was the graceful fulfillment of a duty into which +no real sympathy entered. + +"Could such people have divined the secrets of his mystic character, +they would have said he was more amiable than loving--and with respect +to them, this would have been true. But how could they have known +that his real, though rare attachments, were so vivid, so profound, so +undying?... + +"Association with him in the details of life was delightful. He filled +all the forms of friendship with an unaccustomed charm, and when he +expressed his gratitude, it was with that deep emotion which recompenses +kindness with usury. He willingly imagined that he felt himself every +day dying; he accepted the cares of a friend, hiding from him, lest +it should render him unhappy, the little time he expected to profit by +them. He possessed great physical courage, and if he did not accept with +the heroic recklessness of youth the idea of approaching death, at least +he cherished the expectation of it with a kind of bitter pleasure."... + +The attachment which he felt for a young lady, who never ceased to feel +a reverential homage for him, may be traced back to his early youth. +The tempest which in one of its sudden gusts tore Chopin from his native +soil, like a bird dreamy and abstracted surprised by the storm upon the +branches of a foreign tree, sundered the ties of this first love, and +robbed the exile of a faithful and devoted wife, as well as disinherited +him of a country. He never found the realization of that happiness of +which he had once dreamed with her, though he won the glory of which +perhaps he had never thought. Like the Madonnas of Luini whose looks are +so full of earnest tenderness, this young girl was sweet and beautiful. +She lived on calm, but sad. No doubt the sadness increased in that pure +soul when she knew that no devotion tender as her own, ever came to +sweeten the existence of one whom she had adored with that ingenuous +submission, that exclusive devotion, that entire self-forgetfulness, +naive and sublime, which transform the woman into the angel. + +Those who are gifted by nature with the beautiful, yet fatal energies +of genius, and who are consequently forbidden to sacrifice the care of +their glory to the exactions of their love, are probably right in +fixing limits to the abnegation of their own personality. But the divine +emotions due to absolute devotion, may be regretted even in the presence +of the most sparkling endowments of genius. The utter submission, the +disinterestedness of love, in absorbing the existence, the will, the +very name of the woman in that of the man she loves, can alone authorize +him in believing that he has really shared his life with her, and that +his honorable love for her has given her that which no chance lover, +accidentally met, could have rendered her: peace of heart and the honor +of his name. + +This young Polish lady, unfortunately separated from Chopin, remained +faithful to his memory, to all that was left of him. She devoted herself +to his parents. The father of Chopin would never suffer the portrait +which she had drawn of him in the days of hope, to be replaced by +another, though from the hands of a far more skilful artist. We saw the +pale cheeks of this melancholy woman, glow like alabaster when a light +shines through its snow, many years afterwards, when in gazing upon this +picture, she met the eyes of his father. + +The amiable character of Chopin won for him while at college the love +of his fellow collegiates, particularly that of Prince Czetwertynski +and his brothers. He often spent the vacations and days of festival with +them at the house of their mother, the Princess Louise Czetwertynska, +who cultivated music with a true feeling for its beauties, and who soon +discovered the poet in the musician. Perhaps she was the first who +made Chopin feel the charm of being understood, as well as heard. The +Princess was still beautiful, and possessed a sympathetic soul united +to many high qualities. Her saloon was one of the most brilliant and +RECHERCHE in Warsaw. Chopin often met there the most distinguished women +of the city. He became acquainted there with those fascinating beauties +who had acquired a European celebrity, when Warsaw was so famed for the +brilliancy, elegance, and grace of its society. He was introduced by +the Princess Czetwertynska to the Princess of Lowicz; by her he was +presented to the Countess Zamoyska; to the Princess Radziwill; to the +Princess Jablonowska; enchantresses, surrounded by many beauties little +less illustrious. + +While still very young, he has often cadenced their steps to the chords +of his piano. In these meetings, which might almost be called assemblies +of fairies, he may often have discovered, unveiled in the excitement of +the dance, the secrets of enthusiastic and tender souls. He could easily +read the hearts which were attracted to him by friendship and the grace +of his youth, and thus was enabled early to learn of what a strange +mixture of leaven and cream of roses, of gunpowder and tears of angels, +the poetic Ideal of his nation is formed. When his wandering fingers ran +over the keys, suddenly touching some moving chords, he could see how +the furtive tears coursed down the cheeks of the loving girl, or the +young neglected wife; how they moistened the eyes of the young men, +enamored of, and eager for glory. Can we not fancy some young beauty +asking him to play a simple prelude, then softened by the tones, leaning +her rounded arm upon the instrument to support her dreaming head, while +she suffered the young artist to divine in the dewy glitter of the +lustrous eyes, the song sung by her youthful heart? Did not groups, like +sportive nymphs, throng around him, and begging him for some waltz of +giddying rapidity, smile upon him with such wildering joyousness, as to +put him immediately in unison with the gay spirit of the dance? He saw +there the chaste grace of his brilliant countrywomen displayed in the +Mazourka, and the memories of their witching fascination, their winning +reserve, were never effaced from his soul. + +In an apparently careless manner, but with that involuntary and subdued +emotion which accompanies the remembrance of our early delights, he +would sometimes remark that he first understood the whole meaning of +the feeling which is contained in the melodies and rhythms of national +dances, upon the days in which he saw these exquisite fairies at some +magic fete, adorned with that brilliant coquetry which sparkles like +electric fire, and flashing from heart to heart, heightens love, blinds +it, or robs it of all hope. And when the muslins of India, which the +Greeks would have said were woven of air, were replaced by the heavier +folds of Venetian velvet, and the perfumed roses and sculptured petals +of the hot-house camellias gave way to the gorgeous bouquets of the +jewel caskets; it often seemed to him that however good the orchestra +might be, the dancers glided less rapidly over the floor, that their +laugh was less sonorous, their eye less luminous, than upon those +evenings in which the dance had been suddenly improvised, because he +had succeeded in electrifying his audience through the magic of his +performance. If he electrified them, it was because he repeated, truly +in hieroglyphic tones, but yet easily understood by the initiated, the +secret whispers which his delicate ear had caught from the reserved yet +impassioned hearts, which indeed resemble the Fraxinella, that plant so +full of burning and vivid life, that its flowers are always surrounded +by a gas as subtle as inflammable. He had seen celestial visions +glitter, and illusory phantoms fade in this sublimated air; he had +divined the meaning of the swarms of passions which are forever buzzing +in it; he knew how these hurtling emotions fluttered through the +reckless human soul; how, notwithstanding their ceaseless agitation and +excitement, they could intermingle, interweave, intercept each other, +without once disturbing the exquisite proportions of external grace, +the imposing and classic charm of manner. It was thus that he learned to +prize so highly the noble and measured manners which preserve delicacy +from insipidity; petty cares from wearisome trifling; conventionalism +from tyranny; good taste from coldness; and which never permit the +passions to resemble, as is often the case where such careful culture +does not rule, those stony and calcareous vegetables whose hard and +brittle growth takes a name of such sad contrast: flowers of iron (FLOS +FERRI). + +His early introduction into this society, in which regularity of form +did not conceal petrifaction of heart, induced Chopin to think that the +CONVENANCES and courtesies of manner, in place of being only a uniform +mask, repressing the character of each individual under the symmetry of +the same lines, rather serve to contain the passions without stifling +them, coloring only that bald crudity of tone which is so injurious to +their beauty, elevating that materialism which debases them, robbing +them of that license which vulgarizes them, lowering that vehemence +which vitiates them, pruning that exuberance which exhausts them, +teaching the "lovers of the ideal" to unite the virtues which have +sprung from a knowledge of evil, with those "which cause its very +existence to be forgotten in speaking to those they love." As these +visions of his youth deepened in the long perspective of memories, they +gained in grace, in charm, in delight, in his eyes, fascinating him to +such an extent that no reality could destroy their secret power over +his imagination, rendering his repugnance more and more unconquerable +to that license of allurement, that brutal tyranny of caprice, that +eagerness to drink the cup of fantasy to the very dregs, that stormy +pursuit of all the changes and incongruities of life, which rule in the +strange mode of life known as LA BOHEME. + +More than once in the history of art and literature, a poet has arisen, +embodying in himself the poetic sense of a whole nation, an entire +epoch, representing the types which his contemporaries pursue and strive +to realize, in an absolute manner in his works: such a poet was Chopin +for his country and for the epoch in which he was born. The poetic +sentiments the most widely spread, yet the most intimate and inherent of +his nation, were embodied and united in his imagination, and represented +by his brilliant genius. Poland has given birth to many bards, some of +whom rank among the first poets of the world. + +Its writers are now making strenuous efforts to display in the strongest +light, the most glorious and interesting facts of its history, the most +peculiar and picturesque phases of its manners and customs. Chopin, +differing from them in having formed no premeditated design, surpasses +them all in originality. He did not determine upon, he did not seek such +a result; he created no ideal a priori. Without having predetermined to +transport himself into the past, he constantly remembered the glories +of his country, he understood and sung the loves and tears of his +contemporaries without having analyzed them in advance. He did not task +himself, nor study to be a national musician. Like all truly national +poets he sang spontaneously without premeditated design or preconceived +choice all that inspiration dictated to him, as we hear it gushing forth +in his songs without labor, almost without effort. He repeated in the +most idealized form the emotions which had animated and embellished his +youth; under the magic delicacy of his pen he displayed the Ideal, which +is, if we may be permitted so to speak, the Real among his people; an +Ideal really in existence among them, which every one in general and +each one in particular approaches by the one or the other of its many +sides. Without assuming to do so, he collected in luminous sheaves the +impressions felt everywhere throughout his country--vaguely felt it is +true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts. Is it not by this power of +reproducing in a poetic formula, enchanting to the imagination of +all nations, the indefinite shades of feeling widely scattered but +frequently met among their compatriots, that the artists truly national +are distinguished? + +Not without reason has the task been undertaken of collecting the +melodies indigenous to every country. It appears to us it would be +of still deeper interest, to trace the influences forming the +characteristic powers of the authors most deeply inspired by the genius +of the nation to which they belong. Until the present epoch there have +been very few distinctive compositions, which stand out from the two +great divisions of the German and Italian schools of music. But with +the immense development which this art seems destined to attain, perhaps +renewing for us the glorious era of the Painters of the CINQUE CENTO, it +is highly probable that composers will appear whose works will be marked +by an originality drawn from differences of organization, of races, and +of climates. It is to be presumed that we will be able to recognize the +influences of the country in which they were born upon the great +masters in music, as well as in the other arts; that we will be able to +distinguish the peculiar and predominant traits of the national genius +more completely developed, more poetically true, more interesting to +study, in the pages of their compositions than in the crude, incorrect, +uncertain, vague and tremulous sketches of the uncultured people. + +Chopin must be ranked among the first musicians thus individualizing in +themselves the poetic sense of an entire nation, not because he adopted +the rhythm of POLONAISES, MAZOURKAS, and CRACOVIENNES, and called +many of his works by such names, for in so doing he would have limited +himself to the multiplication of such works alone, and would always +have given us the same mode, the remembrance of the same thing; a +reproduction which would soon have grown wearisome, serving but to +multiply compositions of similar form, which must have soon grown +more or less monotonous. It is because he filled these forms with the +feelings peculiar to his country, because the expression of the national +heart may be found under all the modes in which he has written, that he +is entitled to be considered a poet essentially Polish. His PRELUDES, +his NOCTURNES, his SCHERZOS, his CONCERTOS, his shortest as well as +his longest compositions, are all filled with the national sensibility, +expressed indeed in different degrees, modified and varied in a thousand +ways, but always bearing the same character. An eminently subjective +author, Chopin has given the same life to all his productions, animated +all his works with his own spirit. All his writings are thus linked by +a marked unity. Their beauties as well as their defects may be traced +to the same order of emotions, to peculiar modes of feeling. The +reproduction of the feelings of his people, idealized and elevated +through his own subjective genius, is an essential requisite for the +national poet who desires that the heart of his country should vibrate +in unison with his own strains. + +By the analogies of words and images, we should like to render it +possible for our readers to comprehend the exquisite yet irritable +sensibility peculiar to ardent yet susceptible hearts, to haughty yet +deeply wounded souls. We cannot flatter ourselves that in the cold realm +of words we have been able to give any idea of such ethereal odorous +flames. In comparison with the vivid and delicious excitement produced +by other arts, words always appear poor, cold, and arid, so that the +assertion seems just: "that of all modes of expressing sentiments, words +are the most insufficient." We cannot flatter ourselves with having +attained in our descriptions the exceeding delicacy of touch, necessary +to sketch that which Chopin has painted with hues so ethereal. All is +subtle in his compositions, even the source of excitement, of passion; +all open, frank, primitive impressions disappear in them; before +they meet the eye, they have passed through the prism of an exacting, +ingenious, and fertile imagination, and it has become difficult if not +impossible to resolve them again into their primal elements. Acuteness +of discernment is required to understand, delicacy to describe them. +In seizing such refined impressions with the keenest discrimination, in +embodying them with infinite art, Chopin has proved himself an artist of +the highest order. It is only after long and patient study, after having +pursued his sublimated ideas through their multiform ramifications, that +we learn to admire sufficiently, to comprehend aright, the genius with +which he has rendered his subtle thoughts visible and palpable, without +once blunting their edge, or ever congealing their fiery flow. + +He was so entirely filled with the sentiments whose most perfect types +he believed he had known in his own youth, with the ideas which it alone +pleased him to confide to art; he contemplated art so invariably from +the same point of view, that his artistic preferences could not fail +to be influenced by his early impressions. In the great models and +CHEFS-D'OEUVRE, he only sought that which was in correspondence with +his own soul. That which stood in relation to it pleased him; that which +resembled it not, scarcely obtained justice from him. Uniting in himself +the frequently incompatible qualities of passion and grace he possessed +great accuracy of judgment, and preserved himself from all petty +partiality, but he was but slightly attracted by the greatest beauties, +the highest merits, when they wounded any of the phases of his poetic +conceptions. Notwithstanding the high admiration which he entertained +for the works of Beethoven, certain portions of them always seemed to +him too rudely sculptured; their structure was too athletic to please +him, their wrath seemed to him too tempestuous, their passion too +overpowering, the lion-marrow which fills every member of his phases was +matter too substantial for his tastes, and the Raphaelic and Seraphic +profiles which are wrought into the midst of the nervous and powerful +creations of this great genius, were to him almost painful from the +force of the cutting contrast in which they are frequently set. + +In spite of the charm which he acknowledged in some of the melodies of +Schubert, he would not willingly listen to those in which the contours +were too sharp for his ear, in which suffering lies naked, and we can +almost feel the flesh palpitate, and hear the bones crack and crash +under the rude embrace of sorrow. All savage wildness was repulsive +to him. In music, in literature, in the conduct of life, all that +approached the melodramatic was painful to him The frantic and +despairing aspects of exaggerated romanticism were repellent to him, +he could not endure the struggling for wonderful effects, for delicious +excesses. "He loved Shakspeare only under many conditions. He thought +his characters were drawn too closely to the life, and spoke a language +too true; he preferred the epic and lyric syntheses which leave the poor +details of humanity in the shade. For the same reason he spoke little +and listened less, not wishing to give expression to his own thoughts, +or to receive the thoughts of others, until after they had attained a +certain degree of elevation." + +A nature so completely master of itself, so full of delicate reserve, +which loved to divine through glimpses, presentiments, suppositions, all +that had been left untold (a species of divination always dear to poets +who can so eloquently finish the interrupted words) must have felt +annoyed, almost scandalized, by an audacity which leaves nothing +unexpressed, nothing to be divined. If he had been called upon to +express his own views upon this subject, we believe he would have +confessed that in accordance with his taste, he was only permitted +to give vent to his feelings on condition of suffering much to remain +unrevealed, or only to be divined under the rich veils of broidery in +which he wound his emotions. If that which they agree in calling classic +in art appeared to him too full of methodical restrictions, if he +refused to permit himself to be garroted in the manacles and frozen +in the conventions of systems, if he did not like confinement although +enclosed in the safe symmetry of a gilded cage, it was not because he +preferred the license of disorder, the confusion of irregularity. It +was rather that he might soar like the lark into the deep blue of the +unclouded heavens. Like the Bird of Paradise, which it was once thought +never slept but while resting upon extended wing, rocked only by the +breath of unlimited space at the sublime height at which it reposed; he +obstinately refused to descend to bury himself in the misty gloom of +the forests, or to surround himself with the howlings and wailings +with which it is filled. He would not leave the depths of azure for the +wastes of the desert, or attempt to fix pathways over the treacherous +waves of sand, which the winds, in exulting irony, delight to sweep over +the traces of the rash mortal seeking to mark the line of his wandering +through the drifting, blinding swells. + +That style of Italian art which is so open, so glaring, so devoid of the +attraction of mystery or of science, with all that which in German art +bears the seal of vulgar, though powerful energy, was distasteful +to him. Apropos of Schubert he once remarked: "that the sublime is +desecrated when followed by the trivial or commonplace." Among the +composers for the piano Hummel was one of the authors whom he reread +with the most pleasure. Mozart was in his eyes the ideal type, the +Poet par excellence, because he, less rarely than any other author, +condescended to descend the steps leading from the beautiful to the +commonplace. The father of Mozart after having been present at a +representation of IDOMENEE made to his son the following reproach: "You +have been wrong in putting in it nothing for the long ears." It was +precisely for such omissions that Chopin admired him. The gayety of +Papageno charmed him; the love of Tamino with its mysterious trials +seemed to him worthy of having occupied Mozart; he understood the +vengeance of Donna Anna because it cast but a deeper shade upon her +mourning. Yet such was his Sybaritism of purity, his dread of the +commonplace, that even in this immortal work he discovered some passages +whose introduction we have heard him regret. His worship for Mozart was +not diminished but only saddened by this. He could sometimes forget +that which was repulsive to him, but to reconcile himself to it was +impossible. He seemed to be governed in this by one of those implacable +and irrational instincts, which no persuasion, no effort, can ever +conquer sufficiently to obtain a state of mere indifference towards the +objects of the antipathy; an aversion sometimes so insurmountable, that +we can only account for it by supposing it to proceed from some innate +and peculiar idiosyncrasy. + +After he had finished his studies in harmony with Professor Joseph +Elsner, who taught him the rarely known and difficult task of being +exacting towards himself, and placing the just value upon the advantages +which are only to be obtained by dint of patience and labor; and after +he had finished his collegiate course, it was the desire of his parents +that he should travel in order that he might become familiar with the +finest works under the advantage of their perfect execution. For this +purpose he visited many of the German cities. He had left Warsaw upon +one of these short excursions, when the revolution of the 29th of +November broke out in 1830. + +Forced to remain in Vienna, he was heard there in some concerts, but the +Viennese public, generally so cultivated, so prompt to seize the most +delicate shades of execution, the finest subtleties of thought, during +this winter were disturbed and abstracted. The young artist did not +produce there the effect he had the right to anticipate. He left Vienna +with the design of going to London, but he came first to Paris, where +he intended to remain but a short time. Upon his passport drawn up for +England, he had caused to be inserted: "passing through Paris." These +words sealed his fate. Long years afterwards, when he seemed not only +acclimated, but naturalized in France, he would smilingly say: I am +"passing through Paris." + +He gave several concerts after his arrival in Paris, where he was +immediately received and admired in the circles of the elite, as well as +welcomed by the young artists. We remember his first appearance in the +saloons of Pleyel, where the most enthusiastic and redoubled applause +seemed scarcely sufficient to express our enchantment for the genius +which had revealed new phases of poetic feeling, and made such happy yet +bold innovations in the form of musical art. + +Unlike the greater part of young debutants, he was not intoxicated or +dazzled for a moment by his triumph, but accepted it without pride +or false modesty, evincing none of the puerile enjoyment of gratified +vanity exhibited by the PARVENUS of success. His countrymen who were +then in Paris gave him a most affectionate reception. He was intimate +in the house of Prince Czartoryski, of the Countess Plater, of Madame +de Komar, and in that of her daughters, the Princess de Beauveau and the +Countess Delphine Potocka, whose beauty, together with her indescribable +and spiritual grace, made her one of the most admired sovereigns of +the society of Paris. He dedicated to her his second Concerto, which +contains the Adagio we have already described. The ethereal beauty of +the Countess, her enchanting voice enchained him by a fascination full +of respectful admiration. Her voice was destined to be the last which +should vibrate upon the musician's heart. Perhaps the sweetest sounds +of earth accompanied the parting soul until they blended in his ear with +the first chords of the angels' lyres. + +He mingled much with the Polish circle in Paris; with Orda who seemed +born to command the future, and who was however killed in Algiers at +twenty years of age; with Counts Plater, Grzymala, Ostrowski, Szembeck, +with Prince Lubomirski, etc. etc. As the Polish families who came +afterwards to Paris were all anxious to form acquaintance with him, he +continued to mingle principally with his own people. He remained through +them not only AU COURANT of all that was passing in his own country, +but even in a kind of musical correspondence with it. He liked those who +visited Paris to show him the airs or new songs they had brought with +them, and when the words of these airs pleased him, he frequently wrote +a new melody for them, thus popularizing them rapidly in his country +although the name of their author was often unknown. The number of +these melodies, due to the inspiration of the heart alone, having become +considerable, he often thought of collecting them for publication. But +he thought of it too late, and they remain scattered and dispersed, +like the perfume of the scented flowers blessing the wilderness and +sweetening the "desert air" around some wandering traveller, whom chance +may have led upon their secluded track. During our stay in Poland we +heard some of the melodies which are attributed to him, and which +are truly worthy of him; but who would now dare to make an uncertain +selection between the inspirations of the national poet, and the dreams +of his people? + +Chopin kept for a long time aloof from the celebrities of Paris; their +glittering train repelled him. As his character and habits had more true +originality than apparent eccentricity, he inspired less curiosity +than they did. Besides he had sharp repartees for those who imprudently +wished to force him into a display of his musical abilities. Upon one +occasion after he had just left the dining-room, an indiscreet host, who +had had the simplicity to promise his guests some piece executed by +him as a rare dessert, pointed to him an open piano. He should have +remembered that in counting without the host, it is necessary to +count twice. Chopin at first refused, but wearied at last by continued +persecution, assuming, to sharpen the sting of his words, a stifled and +languid tone of voice, he exclaimed: "Ah, sir, I have scarcely dined!" + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Madame Sand--Lelia--Visit to Majorca--Exclusive Ideals. + + + +In 1836 Madame Sand had not only published INDIANA, VALENTINE, and +JACQUES, but also LELIA, that prose poem of which she afterwards said: +"If I regret having written it, it is because I could not now write it. +Were I in the same state of mind now as when it was written, it would +indeed be a great consolation to me to be able to commence it." The +mere painting of romances in cold water colors must have seemed, without +doubt, dull to Madame Sand, after having handled the hammer and +chisel of the sculptor so boldly, in modeling the grand lines of that +semi-colossal statue, in cutting those sinewy muscles, which even in +their statuesque immobility, are full of bewildering and seductive +charm. Should we continue long to gaze upon it, it excites the most +painful emotion. In strong contrast to the miracle of Pygmalion, Lelia +seems a living Galatea, rich in feeling, full of love, whom the deeply +enamored artist has tried to bury alive in his exquisitely sculptured +marble, stifling the palpitating breath, and congealing the warm blood +in the vain hope of elevating and immortalizing the beauty he adores. In +the presence of this vivid nature petrified by art, we cannot feel +that admiration is kindled into love, but, saddened and chilled, we are +forced to acknowledge that love may be frozen into mere admiration. + +Brown and olive-hued Lelia! Dark as Lara, despairing as Manfred, +rebellious as Cain, thou hast ranged through the depths of solitude! +But thou art more ferocious, more savage, more inconsolable than they, +because thou hast never found a man's heart sufficiently feminine to +love thee as they were loved, to pay the homage of a confiding and +blind submission to thy virile charms, to offer thee a mute yet ardent +devotion, to suffer its obedience to be protected by thy Amazonian +force! Woman-hero! Like the Amazons, thou hast been valiant and eager +for combats; like them thou hast not feared to expose the exquisite +loveliness of thy face to the fierceness of the summer's sun, or the +sharp blasts of winter! Thou hast hardened thy fragile limbs by the +endurance of fatigue, thus robbing them of the subtle power of their +weakness! Thou hast covered thy palpitating breast with a heavy cuirass, +which has pressed and torn it, dyeing its snow in blood;--that gentle +woman's bosom, charming as life, discreet as the grave, which is +always adored by man when his heart is permitted to form its sole, its +impenetrable buckler! + +After having blunted her chisel in polishing this statue, which, by its +majesty, its haughty disdain, its look of hopeless anguish, shadowed +by the frowning of the pure brows and by the long loose locks shivering +with electric life, reminds us of those antique cameos on which we still +admire the perfect features, the beautiful yet fatal brow, the haughty +smile of the Medusa, whose gaze paralyzed and stopped the pulses of the +human heart;--Madame Sand in vain sought another form for the expression +of the emotions which tortured her insatiate soul. After having +draped this figure with the highest art, accumulating every species of +masculine greatness upon it in order to compensate for the highest +of all qualities which she repudiated for it, the grandeur of, "utter +self-abnegation for love," which the many-sided poet has placed in the +empyrean and called "the Eternal Feminine," (DAS EWIGWEIBLICHE,)--a +greatness which is love existing before any of its joys, surviving all +its sorrows;--after having caused Don Juan to be cursed, and a divine +hymn to be chanted to Desire by Lelia, who, as well as Don Juan, +had repulsed the only delight which crowns desire, the luxury of +self-abnegation,--after having fully revenged Elvira by the creation +of Stenio,--after having scorned man more than Don Juan had degraded +woman,--Madame Sand, in her LETTRES D'UN VOYAGEUR, depicts the shivering +palsy, the painful lethargy which seizes the artist, when, having +incorporated the emotion which inspired him in his work, his imagination +still remains under the domination of the insatiate idea without +being able to find another form in which to incarnate it. Such poetic +sufferings were well understood by Byron, when he makes Tasso shed his +most bitter tears, not for his chains, not for his physical sufferings, +not for the ignominy heaped upon him, but for his finished Epic, for the +ideal world created by his thought and now about to close its doors upon +him, and by thus expelling him from its enchanted realm, rendering him +at last sensible of the gloomy realities around him:-- + + + "But this is o'er--my pleasant task is done:-- + My long-sustaining friend of many years: + If I do blot thy final page with tears, + Know that my sorrows have wrung from me none. + But thou, my young creation! my soul's child! + Which ever playing round me came and smiled, + And woo'd me from myself with thy sweet sight, + Thou too art gone--and so is my delight." + + LAMENT OF TASSO.--BYRON. + + +At this epoch, Madame Sand often heard a musician, one of the friends +who had greeted Chopin with the most enthusiastic joy upon his arrival +at Paris, speak of him. She heard him praise his poetic genius even more +than his artistic talent. She was acquainted with his compositions, +and admired their graceful tenderness. She was struck by the amount of +emotion displayed in his poems, with the effusions of a heart so noble +and dignified. Some of the countrymen of Chopin spoke to her of the +women of their country, with the enthusiasm natural to them upon that +subject, an enthusiasm then very much increased by a remembrance of +the sublime sacrifices made by them during the last war. Through their +recitals and the poetic inspiration of the Polish artist, she perceived +an ideal of love which took the form of worship for woman. She thought +that guaranteed from dependence, preserved from inferiority, her role +might be like the fairy power of the Peri, that ethereal intelligence +and friend of man. Perhaps she did not fully understand what innumerable +links of suffering, of silence, of patience, of gentleness, of +indulgence, of courageous perseverance, had been necessary for the +formation of the worship for this imperious but resigned ideal, +beautiful indeed, but sad to behold, like those plants with the +rose-colored corollas, whose stems, intertwining and interlacing in a +network of long and numerous branches, give life to ruins; destined ever +to embellish decay, growing upon old walls and hiding only tottering +stones! Beautiful veils woven by beneficent Nature, in her ingenious and +inexhaustible richness, to cover the constant decay of human things! + +As Madame Sand perceived that this artist, in place of giving body to +his phantasy in porphyry and marble, or defining his thoughts by the +creation of massive caryatides, rather effaced the contour of his works, +and, had it been necessary, could have elevated his architecture itself +from the soil, to suspend it, like the floating palaces of the Fata +Morgana, in the fleecy clouds, through his aerial forms of almost +impalpable buoyancy, she was more and more attracted by that mystic +ideal which she perceived glowing within them. Though her arm was +powerful enough to have sculptured the round shield, her hand was +delicate enough to have traced those light relievos where the shadows +of ineffaceable profiles have been thrown upon and trusted to a stone +scarcely raised from its level plane. She was no stranger in the +supernatural world, she to whom Nature, as to a favored child, had +unloosed her girdle and unveiled all the caprices, the attractions, +the delights, which she can lend to beauty. She was not ignorant of the +lightest graces; she whose eye could embrace such vast proportions, had +stooped to study the glowing illuminations painted upon the wings of the +fragile butterfly. She had traced the symmetrical and marvellous network +which the fern extends as a canopy over the wood strawberry; she had +listened to the murmuring of streams through the long reeds and stems of +the water-grass, where the hissing of the "amorous viper" may be heard; +she had followed the wild leaps of the Will-with-a-wisp as it bounds +over the surface of the meadows and marshes; she had pictured to herself +the chimerical dwelling-places toward which it perfidiously attracts +the benighted traveller; she had listened to the concerts given by the +Cicada and their friends in the stubble of the fields; she had learned +the names of the inhabitants of the winged republics of the woods which +she could distinguish as well by their plumaged robes, as by their +jeering roulades or plaintive cries. She knew the secret tenderness of +the lily in the splendor of its tints; she had listened to the sighs of +Genevieve, [Footnote: ANDRE] the maiden enamored of flowers. + +She was visited in her dreams by those "unknown friends" who came to +rejoin her "when she was seized with distress upon a desolate shore," +brought by a "rapid stream... in large and full bark"... upon which she +mounted to leave the unknown shores, "the country of chimeras which make +real life appear like a dream half effaced to those, who enamored from +their infancy of large shells of pearl, mount them to land in those +isles where all are young and beautiful... where the men and women +are crowned with flowers, with their long locks floating upon their +shoulders... holding vases and harps of a strange form... having songs and +voices not of this world... all loving each other equally with a divine +love... where crystal fountains of perfumed waters play in basins of +silver... where blue roses bloom in vases of alabaster... where the +perspectives are all enchanted... where they walk with naked feet upon +the thick green moss, soft as carpets of velvet... where all sing as they +wander among the fragrant groves." [Footnote: LETTRES D'UN VOYAGEUR] + +She knew these unknown friends so well that after having again seen +them, "she could not dream of them without palpitations of the heart +during the whole day." She was initiated into the Hoffmannic world--"she +who had surprised such ineffable smiles upon the portraits of the dead;" +[Footnote: SPIRIDSON] who had seen the rays of the sun falling through +the stained glass of a Gothic window form a halo round loved heads, +like the arm of God, luminous and impalpable, surrounded by a vortex of +atoms;--she who had known such glorious apparitions, clothed with the +purple and golden glories of the setting sun. The realm of fantasy had +no myth with whose secret she was not familiar! + +Thus she was naturally anxious to become acquainted with one who +had with rapid wing flown "to those scenes which it is impossible to +describe, but which must exist somewhere, either upon the earth, or in +some of the planets, whose light we love to gaze upon in the forests +when the moon has set." [Footnote: LETTRES D'UN VOYAGEUR] Such scenes +she had prayed never to be forced to desert--never desiring to bring +her heart and imagination back to this dreary world, too like the gloomy +coasts of Finland, where the slime and miry slough can only be escaped +by scaling the naked granite of the solitary rocks. Fatigued with the +massive statue she had sculptured, the Amazonian Lelia; wearied with +the grandeur of an Ideal which it is impossible to mould from the gross +materials of this earth; she was desirous to form an acquaintance with +the artist "the lover of an impossible so shadowy"--so near the starry +regions. Alas! if these regions are exempt from the poisonous miasmas +of our atmosphere, they are not free from its desolating melancholy! +Perhaps those who are transported there may adore the shining of new +suns--but there are others not less dear whose light they must see +extinguished! Will not the most glorious among the beloved constellation +of the Pleiades there disappear? Like drops of luminous dew the +stars fall one by one into the nothingness of a yawning abyss, +whose bottomless depths no plummet has ever sounded, while the soul, +contemplating these fields of ether, this blue Sahara with its wandering +and perishing oases,--is stricken by a grief so hopeless, so profound, +that neither enthusiasm nor love can ever soothe it more. It ingulfs and +absorbs all emotions, being no more agitated by them than the sleeping +waters of some tranquil lake, reflecting the moving images thronging +its banks from its polished surface, are by the varied motions and eager +life of the many objects mirrored upon its glassy bosom. The drowsy +waters cannot thus be wakened from their icy lethargy. This melancholy +saddens even the highest joy. "Through the exhaustion always +accompanying such tension, when the soul is strained above the region +which it naturally inhabits... the insufficiency of speech is felt for +the first time by those who have studied it so much, and used it so +well--we are borne from all active, from all militant instincts--to +travel through boundless space--to be lost in the immensity of +adventurous courses far, far above the clouds... where we no longer +see that the earth is beautiful, because our gaze is riveted upon the +skies... where reality is no longer poetically draped, as has been so +skilfully done by the author of Waverley, but where, in idealizing +poetry itself, the infinite is peopled with the spirits belonging only +to its mystic realm, as has been done by Byron in his Manfred." + +Could Madame Sand have divined the incurable melancholy, the will which +cannot blend with that of others, the imperious exclusiveness, which +invariably seize upon imaginations delighting in the pursuit of dreams +whose realities are nowhere to be found, or at least never in the +matter-of-fact world in which the dreamers are constrained to dwell? +Had she foreseen the form which devoted attachment assumes for such +dreamers; had she measured the entire and absolute absorption which they +will alone accept as the synonyme of tenderness? It is necessary to be +in some degree shy, shrinking, and secretive as they themselves are, to +be able to understand the hidden depths of characters so concentrated. +Like those susceptible flowers which close their sensitive petals before +the first breath of the North wind, they too veil their exacting souls +in the shrouds of self concentration, unfolding themselves only under +the warming rays of a propitious sun. Such natures have been called +"rich by exclusiveness;" in opposition to those which are "rich by +expansiveness." "If these differing temperaments should meet and +approach each other, they can never mingle or melt the one into the +other," (says the writer whom we have so often quoted) "but the one must +consume the other, leaving nothing but ashes behind." Alas! it is the +natures like that of the fragile musician whose days we commemorate, +which, consuming themselves, perish; not wishing, not indeed being able, +to live any life but one in conformity with their own exclusive Ideal. + +Chopin seemed to dread Madame Sand more than any other woman, the modern +Sibyl, who, like the Pythoness of old, had said so many things that +others of her sex neither knew nor dared to say. He avoided and put +off all introduction to her. Madame Sand was ignorant of this. In +consequence of that captivating simplicity, which is one of her noblest +charms, she did not divine his fear of the Delphic priestess. At last +she was presented to him, and an acquaintance with her soon dissipated +the prejudices which he had obstinately nourished against female +authors. + +In the fall of 1837, Chopin was attacked by an alarming illness, which +left him almost without force to support life. Dangerous symptoms forced +him to go South to avoid the rigor of winter. Madame Sand, always so +watchful over those whom she loved, so full of compassion for their +sufferings, would not permit him, when his health required so much care, +to set out alone, and determined to accompany him. They selected the +island of Majorca for their residence because the air of the sea, joined +to the mild climate which prevails there, is especially salubrious for +those who are suffering from affections of the lungs. Though he was +so weak when he left Paris that we had no hope of his ever returning; +though after his arrival in Majorca he was long and dangerously ill; +yet so much was he benefited by the change that big health was improved +during several years. + +Was it the effect of the balmy climate alone which recalled him to +health? Was it not rather because his life was full of bliss that he +found strength to live? Did he not regain strength only because he now +wished to live? Who can tell how far the influence of the will extends +over the body? Who knows what internal subtle aroma it has the power of +disengaging to preserve the sinking frame from decay; what vital force +it can breathe into the debilitated organs? Who can say where the +dominion of mind over matter ceases? Who knows how far our senses are +under the dominion of the imagination, to what extent their powers may +be increased, or their extinction accelerated, by its influence? It +matters not how the imagination gains its strange extension of power, +whether through long and bitter exercise, or, whether spontaneously +collecting its forgotten strength, it concentrates its force in some new +and decisive moment of destiny: as when the rays of the sun are able to +kindle a flame of celestial origin when concentrated in the focus of the +burning glass, brittle and fragile though the medium be. + +All the long scattered rays of happiness were collected within this +epoch of the life of Chopin; is it then surprising that they should have +rekindled the flame of life, and that it should have burned at this time +with the most vivid lustre? The solitude surrounded by the blue waves of +the Mediterranean and shaded by groves of orange, seemed fitted in +its exceeding loveliness for the ardent vows of youthful lovers, still +believing in their naive and sweet illusions, sighing for happiness +in "some desert isle." He breathed there that air for which natures +unsuited for the world, and never feeling themselves happy in it, +long with such a painful home-sickness; that air which may be found +everywhere if we can find the sympathetic souls to breathe it with us, +and which is to be met nowhere without them; that air of the land of +our dreams; and which in spite of all obstacles, of the bitter real, is +easily discovered when sought by two! It is the air of the country of +the ideal to which we gladly entice the being we cherish, repeating with +poor Mignon: DAHIN! DAHIN!... LASST UNS ZIEHN! + +As long as his sickness lasted, Madame Sand never left the pillow of him +who loved her even to death, with an attachment which in losing all its +joys, did not lose its intensity, which remained faithful to her even +after all its memories had turned to pain: "for it seemed as if +this fragile being was absorbed and consumed by the strength of his +affection.... Others seek happiness in their attachments; when they no +longer find it, the attachment gently vanishes. In this they resemble +the rest of the world. But he loved for the sake of loving. No amount +of suffering was sufficient to discourage him. He could enter upon a new +phase, that of woe; but the phase of coldness he could never arrive at. +It would have been indeed a phase of physical agony--for his love was +his life--and delicious or bitter, he had not the power of withdrawing +himself a single moment from its domination." [Footnote: LUCRESIA +FLORIANA] Madame Sand never ceased to be for Chopin that being of magic +spells who had snatched him from the valley of the shadow of death, +whose power had changed his physical agony into the delicious languor of +love. To save him from death, to bring him back to life, she struggled +courageously with his disease. She surrounded him with those divining +and instinctive cares which are a thousand times more efficacious than +the material remedies known to science. While engaged in nursing him, +she felt no fatigue, no weariness, no discouragement. Neither her +strength, nor her patience, yielded before the task. Like the mothers in +robust health, who appear to communicate a part of their own strength to +the sickly infant who, constantly requiring their care, have also their +preference, she nursed the precious charge into new life. The disease +yielded: "the funereal oppression which secretly undermined the spirit +of Chopin, destroying and corroding all contentment, gradually vanished. +He permitted the amiable character, the cheerful serenity of his friend +to chase sad thoughts and mournful presentiments away, and to breathe +new force into his intellectual being." + +Happiness succeeded to gloomy fears, like the gradual progression of a +beautiful day after a night full of obscurity and terror, when so dense +and heavy is the vault of darkness which weighs upon us from above, that +we are prepared for a sudden and fatal catastrophe, we do not even dare +to dream of deliverance, when the despairing eye suddenly catches a +bright spot where the mists clear, and the clouds open like flocks of +heavy wool yielding, even while the edges thicken under the pressure +of the hand which rends them. At this moment, the first ray of hope +penetrates the soul. We breathe more freely like those who lost in the +windings of a dark cavern at last think they see a light, though indeed +its existence is still doubtful. This faint light is the day dawn, +though so colorless are its rays, that it is more like the extinction of +the dying twilight,--the fall of the night-shroud upon the earth. But it +is indeed the dawn; we know it by the vivid and pure breath of the +young zephyrs which it sends forth, like avant-coureurs, to bear us the +assurance of morn and safety. The balm of flowers fills the air, like +the thrilling of an encouraged hope. A stray bird accidentally commences +his song earlier than usual, it soothes the heart like a distant +consolation, and is accepted as a promise for the future. As the +imperceptibly progressive but sure indications multiply, we are +convinced that in this struggle of light and darkness it is the shadows +of night which are to yield. Raising our eyes to the Dome of lead above +us, we feel that it weighs less heavily upon us, that it has already +lost its fatal stability. + +Little by little the long gray lines of light increase, they stretch +themselves along the horizon like fissures into a brighter world. They +suddenly enlarge, they gain upon their dark boundaries, now they break +through them, as the waters bounding the edge of a lake inundate in +irregular pools the arid banks. Then a fierce opposition begins, banks +and long dikes accumulate to arrest the progress. The clouds are oiled +like ridges of sand, tossing and surging to present obstructions, but +like the impetuous raging of irresistible waters, the light breaks +through them, demolishes them, devours them, and as the rays ascend, the +rolling waves of purple mist glow into crimson. At this moment the young +dawn shines with a timid yet victorious grace, while the knee bends in +admiration and gratitude before it, for the last terror has vanished, +and we feel as if new born. + +Fresh objects strike upon the view, as if just called from chaos. A +veil of uniform rose-color covers them all, but as the light augments in +intensity, the thin gauze drapes and folds in shades of pale carnation, +while the advancing plains grow clear in white and dazzling splendor. + +The brilliant sun delays no longer to invade the firmament, gaining +new glory as he rises. The vapors surge and crowd together, rolling +themselves from right to left, like the heavy drapery of a curtain moved +by the wind. Then all breathes, moves, lives, hums, sings; the sounds +mingle, cross, meet, and melt into each other. Inertia gives place to +motion, it spreads, accelerates and circulates. The waves of the lake +undulate and swell like a bosom touched by love. The tears of the dew, +motionless as those of tenderness, grow more and more perceptible, one +after another they are seen glittering on the humid herbs, diamonds +waiting for the sun to paint with rainbow-tints their vivid +scintillations. The gigantic fan of light in the East is ever opening +larger and wider. Spangles of silver, borders of scarlet, violet +fringes, bars of gold, cover it with fantastic broidery. Light bands of +reddish brown feather its branches. The brightest scarlet at its centre +has the glowing transparency of the ruby; shading into orange like a +burning coal, it widens like a torch, spreads like a bouquet of flames, +which glows and glows from fervor to fervor, ever more incandescent. + +At last the god of day appears! His blazing front is adorned with +luminous locks of long floating hair. Slowly he seems to rise--but +scarcely has he fully unveiled himself, than he starts forward, +disengages himself from all around him, and, leaving the earth far below +him, takes instantaneous possession of the vaulted heavens.... + +The memory of the days passed in the lovely isle of Majorca, like the +remembrance of an entrancing ecstasy, which fate grants but once in life +even to the most favored of her children, remained always dear to the +heart of Chopin. "He [Footnote: Lucrezia Fioriani] was no longer upon +this earth, he was in an empyrean of golden clouds and perfumes, his +imagination, so full of exquisite beauty, seemed engaged in a monologue +with God himself; and if upon the radiant prism in whose contemplation +he forgot all else, the magic-lantern of the outer world would even cast +its disturbing shadow, he felt deeply pained, as if in the midst of +a sublime concert, a shrieking old woman should blend her shrill yet +broken tones, her vulgar musical motivo, with the divine thoughts of +the great masters." He always spoke of this period with deep emotion, +profound gratitude, as if its happiness had been sufficient for a +life-time, without hoping that it would ever be possible again to find a +felicity in which the fight of time was only marked by the tenderness +of woman's love, and the brilliant flashes of true genius. Thus did the +clock of Linnaeus mark the course of time, indicating the hours by +the successive waking and sleeping of the flowers, marking each by +a different perfume, and a display of ever varying beauties, as each +variegated calyx opened in ever changing yet ever lovely form! + +The beauties of the countries through which the Poet and Musician +travelled together, struck with more distinctness the imagination of +the former. The loveliness of nature impressed Chopin in a manner less +definite, though not less strong. His soul was touched, and immediately +harmonized with the external enchantment, yet his intellect did not +feel the necessity of analyzing or classifying it. His heart vibrated in +unison with the exquisite scenery around him, although he was not able +at the moment to assign the precise source of his blissful tranquillity. +Like a true musician, he was satisfied to seize the sentiment of the +scenes he visited, while he seemed to give but little attention to the +plastic material, the picturesque frame, which did not assimilate +with the form of his art, nor belong to his more spiritualized sphere. +However, (a fact that has been often remarked in organizations such as +his,) as he was removed in time and distance from the scenes in which +emotion had obscured his senses, as the clouds from the burning incense +envelope the censer, the more vividly the forms and beauties of such +scenes stood out in his memory. In the succeeding years, he frequently +spoke of them, as though the remembrance was full of pleasure to him. +But when so entirely happy, he made no inventory of his bliss. He +enjoyed it simply, as we all do in the sweet years of childhood, when we +are deeply impressed by the scenery surrounding us without ever thinking +of its details, yet finding, long after, the exact image of each object +in our memory, though we are only able to describe its forms when we +have ceased to behold them. + +Besides, why should he have tasked himself to scrutinize the beautiful +sites in Spain which formed the appropriate setting of his poetic +happiness? Could he not always find them again through the descriptions +of his inspired companion? As all objects, even the atmosphere itself, +become flame-colored when seen through a glass dyed in crimson, so he +might contemplate these delicious sites in the glowing hues cast around +them by the impassioned genius of the woman he loved. The nurse of his +sick-room--was she not also a great artist? Rare and beautiful union! +If to the depths of tenderness and devotion, in which the true and +irresistible empire of woman must commence, and deprived of which she is +only an enigma without a possible solution, nature should unite the most +brilliant gifts of genius,--the miraculous spectacle of the Greek firs +would be renewed,--the glittering flames would again sport over the +abysses of the ocean without being extinguished or submerged in the +chilling depths, adding, as the living hues were thrown upon the surging +waves, the glowing dyes of the purple fire to the celestial blue of the +heaven-reflecting sea! + +Has genius ever attained that utter self-abnegation, that sublime +humility of heart which gives the power to make those strange sacrifices +of the entire Past, of the whole Future; those immolations, as +courageous as mysterious; those mystic and utter holocausts of self, +not temporary and changing, but monotonous and constant,--through whose +might alone tenderness may justly claim the higher name, devotion? Has +not the force of genius its own exclusive and legitimate exactions, and +does not the force of woman consist in the abdication of all exactions? +Can the royal purple and burning flames of genius ever float upon the +immaculate azure of woman's destiny?... + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Disappointment--Ill Health--Visit to England--Devotion of Friends--Last +Sacraments--Delphina Potocka--Louise--M. Gutman--Death. + + + +FROM the date of 1840, the health of Chopin, affected by so many +changes, visibly declined. During some years, his most tranquil hours +were spent at Nohant, where he seemed to suffer less than elsewhere. +He composed there, with pleasure, bringing with him every year to Paris +several new compositions, but every winter caused him an increase of +suffering. Motion became at first difficult, and soon almost impossible +to him. From 1846 to 1847, he scarcely walked at all; he could not +ascend the staircase without the most painful sensation of suffocation, +and his life was only prolonged through continual care and the greatest +precaution. + +Towards the Spring of 1847, as his health grew more precarious from day +to day, he was attacked by an illness from which it was thought he could +never recover. He was saved for the last time; but this epoch was marked +by an event so agonizing to his heart that he immediately called it +mortal. Indeed, he did not long survive the rupture of his friendship +with Madame Sand, which took place at this date. Madame de Stael, who, +in spite of her generous and impassioned heart, her subtle and vivid +intellect, fell sometimes into the fault of making her sentences +heavy through a species of pedantry which robbed them of the grace of +"abandon,"--remarked on one of those occasions when the strength of her +feelings made her forget the solemnity of her Genevese stiffness: "In +affection, there are only beginnings!" + +This exclamation was based upon the bitter experience of the +insufficiency of the human heart to accomplish the beautiful and +blissful dreams of the imagination. Ah! if some blessed examples of +human devotion did not sometimes occur to contradict the melancholy +words of Madame de Stael, which so many illustrious as well as obscure +facts seem to prove, our suspicions might lead us to be guilty of much +ingratitude and want of trust; we might be led to doubt the sincerity +of the hearts which surround us, and see but the allegorical symbols of +human affections in the antique train of the beautiful Canephoroe, who +carried the fragile and perfumed flowers to adorn some hapless victim +for the altar! + +Chopin spoke frequently and almost by preference of Madame Sand, without +bitterness or recrimination. Tears always filled his eyes when he named +her; but with a kind of bitter sweetness he gave himself up to the +memories of past days, alas, now. He stripped of their manifold +significance! In spite of the many subterfuges employed by his friends +to entice him from dwelling upon remembrances which always brought +dangerous excitement with them, he loved to return to them; as if +through the same feelings which had once reanimated his life, he now +wished to destroy it, sedulously stifling its powers through the vapor +of this subtle poison. His last pleasure seemed to be the memory of the +blasting of his last hope; he treasured the bitter knowledge that under +this fatal spell his life was ebbing fast away. All attempts to fix +his attention upon other objects were made in vain, he refused to be +comforted and would constantly speak of the one engrossing subject. Even +if he had ceased to speak of it, would he not always have thought of it? +He seemed to inhale the poison rapidly and eagerly, that he might thus +shorten the time in which he would be forced to breathe it! + +Although the exceeding fragility of his physical constitution might +not have allowed him, under any circumstances, to have lingered long +on earth, yet at least he might have been spared the bitter sufferings +which clouded his last hours! With a tender and ardent soul, though +exacting through its fastidiousness and excessive delicacy, he could not +live unless surrounded by the radiant phantoms he had himself evoked; +he could not expel the profound sorrow which his heart cherished as +the sole remaining fragment of the happy past. He was another great +and illustrious victim to the transitory attachments occurring between +persons of different character, who, experiencing a surprise full of +delight in their first sudden meeting, mistake it for a durable feeling, +and build hopes and illusions upon it which can never be realized. It is +always the nature the most deeply moved, the most absolute in its hopes +and attachments, for which all transplantation is impossible, which is +destroyed and mined in the painful awakening from the absorbing dream! +Terrible power exercised over man by the most exquisite gifts which he +possesses! Like the coursers of the sun, when the hand of Phaeton, in +place of guiding their beneficent career, permits them to wander at +random, disordering the beautiful structure of the celestial spheres, +they bring devastation and flames in their train! Chopin felt and often +repeated that the sundering of this long friendship, the rupture of this +strong tie, broke all the chords which bound him to life. + +During this attack his life was despaired of for several days. M. +Gutman, his most distinguished pupil, and during the last years of his +life, his most intimate friend, lavished upon him every proof of tender +attachment. His cares, his attentions, were the most agreeable to him. +With the timidity natural to invalids, and with the tender delicacy +peculiar to himself, he once asked the Princess Czartoryska, who visited +him every day, often fearing that on the morrow he would no longer be +among the living: "if Gutman was not very much fatigued? If she thought +he would be able to continue his care of him;" adding, "that his +presence was dearer to him than that of any other person." His +convalescence was very slow and painful, leaving him indeed but the +semblance of life. At this epoch he changed so much in appearance +that he could scarcely be recognized The next summer brought him that +deceptive decrease of suffering which it sometimes grants to those who +are dying. He refused to quit Paris, and thus deprived himself of the +pure air of the country, and the benefit of this vivifying element. + +The winter of 1847 to 1848 was filled with a painful and continual +succession of improvements and relapses. Notwithstanding this, he +resolved in the spring to accomplish his old project of visiting London. +When the revolution of February broke out, he was still confined to bed, +but with a melancholy effort, he seemed to try to interest himself in +the events of the day, and spoke of them more than usual. M. Gutman +continued his most intimate and constant visitor. He accepted through +preference his cares until the close of his life. + +Feeling better in the month of April, he thought of realizing his +contemplated journey, of visiting that country to which he had intended +to go when youth and life opened in bright perspective before him. He +set out for England, where his works had already found an intelligent +public, and were generally known and admired. + + [Footnote: The compositions of Chopin were, even at that + time, known and very much liked in England. The most + distinguished virtuosi frequently executed them. In a + pamphlet published in London by Messrs. Wessel and + Stappletou, under the title of AN ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF F. + CHOPIN, we find some lines marked by just criticism. The + epigraph of this little pamphlet is ingeniously chosen, and + the two lines from Shelley could scarcely be better applied + than to Chopin: + + "He was a mighty poet--and + A subtle-souled Psychologist." + + The author of this pamphlet speaks with enthusiasm of the + "originative genius untrammeled by conventionalities, + unfettered by pedantry;... of the outpourings of an + unworldly and tristful soul--those musical floods of tears, + and gushes of pure joyfulness--those exquisite embodiments + of fugitive thoughts--those infinitesimal delicacies, which + give so much value to the lightest sketch of Chopin." The + English author again says: "One thing is certain, viz.: to + play with proper feeling and correct execution, the PRELUDES + and STUDIES of Chopin, is to be neither more nor less than a + finished pianist, and moreover to comprehend them + thoroughly, to give a life and tongue to their infinite and + most eloquent subtleties of expression, involves the + necessity of being in no less a degree a poet than a + pianist, a thinker than a musician. Commonplace is + instinctively avoided in all the works of Chopin; a stale + cadence or a trite progression, a humdrum subject or a + hackneyed sequence, a vulgar twist of the melody or a worn- + out passage, a meagre harmony or an unskillful counterpoint, + may in vain be looked for throughout the entire range of his + compositions; the prevailing characteristics of which, are, + a feeling as uncommon as beautiful, a treatment as original + as felicitous, a melody and a harmony as new, fresh, + vigorous, and striking, as they are utterly unexpected and + out of the common track. In taking up one of the works of + Chopin, you are entering, as it were, a fairyland, untrodden + by human footsteps, a path hitherto unfrequented but by the + great composer himself; and a faith, a devotion, a desire to + appreciate and a determination to understand are absolutely + necessary, to do it any thing like adequate justice.... + Chopin in his POLONAISES and in his MAZOURKAS has aimed at + those characteristics, which distinguish the national music + of his country so markedly from, that of all others, that + quaint idiosyncrasy, that identical wildness and + fantasticality, that delicious mingling of the sad and + cheerful, which invariably and forcibly individualize the + music of those Northern nations, whose language delights in + combinations of consonants...."] + +He left France in that mood of mind which the English call "low +spirits." The transitory interest which he had endeavored to take in +political changes, soon disappeared. He became more taciturn than ever. +If through absence of mind, a few words would escape him. They were only +exclamations of regret. His affection for the limited number of persons +whom he continued to see, was filled with that heart-rending emotion +which precedes eternal farewells! Art alone always retained its absolute +power over him. Music absorbed him during the time, now constantly +shortening, in which he was able to occupy himself with it, as +completely as during the days when he was full of life and hope. Before +he left Paris, he gave a concert in the saloon of M. Pleyel, one of the +friends with whom his relations had been the most constant, the most +frequent, and the most affectionate; who is now rendering a worthy +homage to his memory, occupying himself with zeal and activity in the +execution of a monument for his tomb. At this concert, his chosen and +faithful audience heard him for the last time! + +He was received in London with an eagerness which had some effect +in aiding him to shake off his sadness, to dissipate his mournful +depression. Perhaps he dreamed, by burying all his former habits in +oblivion, he could succeed in dissipating, his melancholy! He neglected +the prescriptions of his physicians, with all the precautions which +reminded him of his wretched health. He played twice in public, and many +times in private concerts. He mingled much in society, sat up late at +night, and exposed himself to considerable fatigue, without permitting +himself to be deterred by any consideration for his health. He was +presented to the Queen by the Duchess of Sutherland, and the most +distinguished society sought the pleasure of his acquaintance. He went +to Edinburgh, where the climate was particularly injurious to him. +He was much debilitated upon his return from Scotland; his physicians +wished him to leave England immediately, but he delayed for some time +his departure. Who can read the feelings which caused this delay!... He +played again at a concert given for the Poles. It was the last mark of +love sent to his beloved country--the last look--the last sigh--the last +regret! He was feted, applauded, and surrounded by his own people. He +bade them all adieu,--they did not know it was an eternal Farewell! What +thoughts must have filled his sad soul as he crossed the sea to return +to Paris! That Paris so different now for him from that which he had +found without seeking in 1831! + +He was met upon his arrival by a surprise as painful as unexpected. Dr. +Molin, whose advice and intelligent prescriptions had saved his life in +the winter of 1847, to whom alone he believed himself indebted for the +prolongation of his life, was dead. He felt his loss painfully, nay, +it brought a profound discouragement with it; at a time when the +mind exercises so much influence over the progress of the disease, he +persuaded himself that no one could replace the trusted physician, and +he had no confidence in any other. Dissatisfied with them all, without +any hope from their skill, he changed them constantly. A kind of +superstitious depression seized him. No tie stronger than life, no more +powerful as death, came now to struggle against this bitter apathy! +From the winter of 1848, Chopin had been in no condition to labor +continuously. From time to time he retouched some scattered leaves, +without succeeding in arranging his thoughts in accordance with his +designs. A respectful care of his fame dictated to him the wish that +these sketches should be destroyed to prevent the possibility of their +being mutilated, disfigured, and transformed into posthumous works +unworthy of his hand. + +He left no finished manuscripts, except a very short WALTZ, and a +last NOCTURNE, as parting memories. In the later period of his life he +thought of writing a method for the Piano, in which he intended to give +his ideas upon the theory and technicality of his art, the results of +his long and patient studies, his happy innovations, and his intelligent +experience. The task was a difficult one, demanding redoubled +application even from one who labored as assiduously as Chopin. Perhaps +he wished to avoid the emotions of art, (affecting those who reproduce +them in serenity of soul so differently from those who repeat in them +their own desolation of heart,) by taking refuge in a region so barren. +He sought in this employment only an absorbing and uniform occupation, +he only asked from it what Manfred demanded in vain from the powers of +magic: "forgetfulness!" Forgetfulness--granted neither by the gayety of +amusement, nor the lethargy of torpor! On the contrary, with venomous +guile, they always compensate in the renewed intensity of woe, for the +time they may have succeeded in benumbing it. In the daily labor which +"charms the storms of the soul," (DER SEELE STURM BESCHWORT,) he sought +without doubt forgetfulness, which occupation, by rendering the memory +torpid, may sometimes procure, though it cannot destroy the sense of +pain. At the close of that fine elegy which he names "The Ideal," a +poet, who was also the victim of an inconsolable melancholy, appeals to +labor as a consolation when a prey to bitter regret; while expecting +an early death, he invokes occupation as the last resource against the +incessant anguish of life: + + + "And thou, so pleated, with her uniting, + To charm the soul-storm into peace, + Sweet toil, in toil itself delighting, + That more it labored, less could cease, + Though but by grains thou aidest the pile + The vast eternity uprears, + At least thou strikest from TIME the while + Life's debt--the minutes--days--and years." + + Bulwer's translation of SCHILLER'S "Ideal." + + Beschoeftigung, die nie ermattet + Die langsam schafft, doch nie zerstoert, + Die zu dem Bau der Ewigkeiten + Zwar Sandkorn nur, fuer Sandkorn reicht, + Doch von der grossen Schuld der Zeiten + Minute, Tage, Jahre streicht. + + Die Ideale--SHILLER. + + +The strength of Chopin was not sufficient for the execution of +his intention. The occupation was too abstract, too fatiguing. He +contemplated the form of his project, he spoke of it at different times, +but its execution had become impossible. He wrote but a few pages of it, +which were destroyed with the rest. + +At last the disease augmented so visibly, that the fears of his friends +assumed the hue of despair. He scarcely ever left his bed, and spoke but +rarely. His sister, upon receiving this intelligence, came from Warsaw +to take her place at his pillow, which she left no more. He witnessed +the anguish, the presentiments, the redoubled sadness around him, +without showing what impression they made upon him. He thought of death +with Christian calm and resignation, yet he did not cease to prepare for +the morrow. The fancy he had for changing his residence was once more +manifested, he took another lodging, disposed the furnishing of it anew, +and occupied himself in its most minute details. As he had taken no +measures to recall the orders he had given for its arrangement, they +were transporting his furniture to the apartments he was destined never +to inhabit, upon the very day of his death! + +Did he fear that death would not fulfil his plighted promise! Did he +dread, that after having touched him with his icy hand, he would still +suffer him to linger upon earth? Did he feel that life would be almost +unendurable with its fondest ties broken, its closest links dissevered? +There is a double influence often felt by gifted temperaments when upon +the eve of some event which is to decide their fate. The eager heart, +urged on by a desire to unravel the mystic secrets of the unknown +Future, contradicts the colder, the more timid intellect, which fears to +plunge into the uncertain abyss of the coming fate! This want of harmony +between the simultaneous previsions of the mind and heart, often causes +the firmest spirits to make assertions which their actions seem to +contradict; yet actions and assertions both flow from the differing +sources of an equal conviction. Did Chopin suffer from this inevitable +dissimilarity between the prophetic whispers of the heart, and the +thronging doubts of the questioning mind? + +From week to week, and soon from day to day, the cold shadow of death +gained upon him. His end was rapidly approaching; his sufferings became +more and more intense; his crises grew more frequent, and at each +accelerated occurrence, resembled more and more a mortal agony. He +retained his presence of mind, his vivid will upon their intermission, +until the last; neither losing the precision of his ideas, nor the clear +perception of his intentions. The wishes which he expressed in his +short moments of respite, evinced the calm solemnity with which he +contemplated the approach of death. He desired to be buried by the side +of Bellini, with whom, during the time of Bellini's residence in Paris, +he had been intimately acquainted. The grave of Bellini is in the +cemetery of Pere LaChaise, next to that of Cherubini. The desire of +forming an acquaintance with this great master whom he had been brought +up to admire, was one of the motives which, when he left Vienna in 1831 +to go to London, induced him, without foreseeing that his destiny would +fix him there, to pass through Paris. Chopin now sleeps between Bellini +and Cherubini, men of very dissimilar genius, and yet to both of whom +he was in an equal degree allied, as he attached as much value to +the respect he felt for the science of the one, as to the sympathy he +acknowledged for the creations of the other. Like the author of NORMA, +he was full of melodic feeling, yet he was ambitions of attaining the +harmonic depth of the learned old master; desiring to unite, in a great +and elevated style, the dreamy vagueness of spontaneous emotion with the +erudition of the most consummate masters. + +Continuing the reserve of his manners to the very last, he did not +request to see any one for the last time; but he evinced the most +touching gratitude to all who approached him. The first days of October +left neither doubt nor hope. The fatal moment drew near. The next day, +the next hour, could no longer be relied upon. M. Gutman and his sister +were in constant attendance upon him, never for a single moment leaving +him. The Countess Delphine Potocka, who was then absent from Paris, +returned as soon as she was informed of his imminent danger. None of +those who approached the dying artist, could tear themselves from the +spectacle of this great and gifted soul in its hours of mortal anguish. + +However violent or frivolous the passions may be which agitate our +hearts, whatever strength or indifference may be displayed in +meeting unforeseen or sudden accidents, which would seem necessarily +overwhelming in their effects, it is impossible to escape the impression +made by the imposing majesty of a lingering and beautiful death, which +touches, softens, fascinates and elevates even the souls the least +prepared for such holy and sublime emotions. The lingering and gradual +departure of one among us for those unknown shores, the mysterious +solemnity of his secret dreams, his commemoration of past facts +and passing ideas when still breathing upon the narrow strait which +separates time from eternity, affect us more deeply than any thing else +in this world. Sudden catastrophes, the dreadful alternations forced +upon the shuddering fragile ship, tossed like a toy by the wild breath +of the tempest; the blood of the battle-field, with the gloomy smoke of +artillery; the horrible charnel-house into which our own habitation is +converted by a contagious plague; conflagrations which wrap whole +cities in their glittering flames; fathomless abysses which open at our +feet;--remove us less sensibly from all the fleeting attachments "which +pass, which can be broken, which cease," than the prolonged view of a +soul conscious of its own position, silently contemplating the multiform +aspects of time and the mute door of eternity! The courage, the +resignation, the elevation, the emotion, which reconcile it with that +inevitable dissolution so repugnant to all our instincts, certainly +impress the bystanders more profoundly than the most frightful +catastrophes, which, in the confusion they create, rob the scene of its +still anguish, its solemn meditation. + +The parlor adjoining the chamber of Chopin was constantly occupied by +some of his friends, who, one by one, in turn, approached him to receive +a sign of recognition, a look of affection, when he was no longer able +to address them in words. On Sunday, the 15th of October, his attacks +were more violent and more frequent--lasting for several hours in +succession. He endured them with patience and great strength of mind. +The Countess Delphine Potocka, who was present, was much distressed; her +tears were flowing fast when he observed her standing at the foot of +his bed, tall, slight, draped in white, resembling the beautiful angels +created by the imagination of the most devout among the painters. +Without doubt, he supposed her to be a celestial apparition; and when +the crisis left him a moment in repose, he requested her to sing; they +deemed him at first seized with delirium, but he eagerly repeated his +request. Who could have ventured--to oppose his wish? The piano was +rolled from his parlor to the door of his chamber, while, with sobs in +her voice, and tears streaming down her cheeks, his gifted countrywoman +sang. Certainly, this delightful voice had never before attained an +expression so full of profound pathos. He seemed to suffer less as he +listened. She sang that famous Canticle to the Virgin, which, it is +said, once saved the life of Stradella. "How beautiful it is!" +he exclaimed. "My God, how very beautiful! Again--again!" Though +overwhelmed with emotion, the Countess had the noble courage to comply +with the last wish of a friend, a compatriot; she again took a seat at +the piano, and sung a hymn from Marcello. Chopin again feeling worse, +everybody was seized with fright--by a spontaneous impulse all who were +present threw themselves upon their knees--no one ventured to speak; the +sacred silence was only broken by the voice of the Countess, floating, +like a melody from heaven, above the sighs and sobs which formed its +heavy and mournful earth-accompaniment. It was the haunted hour +of twilight; a dying light lent its mysterious shadows to this +sad scene--the sister of Chopin prostrated near his bed, wept and +prayed--and never quitted this attitude of supplication while the life +of the brother she had so cherished lasted. + +His condition altered for the worse during the night, but he felt more +tranquil upon Monday morning, and as if he had known in advance the +appointed and propitious moment, he asked to receive immediately the +last sacraments. In the absence of the Abbe ----, with whom he had been +very intimate since their common expatriation, he requested that +the Abbe Jelowicki, one of the most distinguished men of the Polish +emigration, should be sent for. When the holy Viaticum was administered +to him, he received it, surrounded by those who loved him, with great +devotion. He called his friends a short time afterwards, one by one, +to his bedside, to give each of them his last earnest blessing; calling +down the grace of God fervently upon themselves, their affections, and +their hopes,--every knee bent--every head bowed--all eyes were heavy +with tears--every heart was sad and oppressed--every soul elevated. + +Attacks more and more painful, returned and continued during the day; +from Monday night until Tuesday, he did not utter a single word. He +did not seem able to distinguish the persons who were around him. About +eleven o'clock on Tuesday evening, he appeared to revive a little. The +Abbe Jelowicki had never left him. Hardly had he recovered the power +of speech, than he requested him to recite with him the prayers and +litanies for the dying. He was able to accompany the Abbe in an audible +and intelligible voice. From this moment until his death, he held his +head constantly supported upon the shoulder of M. Gutman, who, during +the whole course of this sickness, had devoted his days and nights to +him. + +A convulsive sleep lasted until the 17th of October, 1849. The final +agony commenced about two o'clock; a cold sweat ran profusely from his +brow; after a short drowsiness, he asked, in a voice scarcely audible: +"Who is near me?" Being answered, he bent his head to kiss the hand of +M. Gutman, who still supported it--while giving this last tender proof +of love and gratitude, the soul of the artist left its fragile clay. He +died as he had lived--in loving. + +When the doors of the parlor were opened, his friends threw themselves +around the loved corpse, not able to suppress the gush of tears. + +His love for flowers being well known, they were brought in such +quantities the next day, that the bed in which they had placed them, and +indeed the whole room, almost disappeared, hidden by their varied and +brilliant hues. He seemed to repose in a garden of roses. His face +regained its early beauty, its purity of expression, its long unwonted +serenity. Calmly--with his youthful loveliness, so long dimmed by bitter +suffering, restored by death, he slept among the flowers he loved, the +last long and dreamless sleep! + +M. Clesinger reproduced the delicate traits, to which death had rendered +their early beauty, in a sketch which he immediately modeled, and which +he afterwards executed in marble for his tomb. + +The respectful admiration which Chopin felt for the genius of Mozart, +had induced him to request that his Requiem should be performed at his +obsequies; this wish was complied with. The funeral ceremonies took +place in the Madeleine Church, the 30th of October, 1849. They had been +delayed until this date, in order that the execution of this great work +should be worthy of the master and his disciple. The principal artists +in Paris were anxious to take part in it. The FUNERAL MARCH of Chopin, +arranged for the instruments for this occasion by M. Reber, was +introduced at the Introit. At the Offertory, M. Lefebure Vely executed +his admirable PRELUDES in SI and MI MINOR upon the organ. The solos +of the REQUIEM were claimed by Madame Viardot and Madame Castellan. +Lablache, who had sung the TUBA MIRUM of this REQUIEM at the burial of +Beethoven in 1827, again sung it upon this occasion. M. Meyerbeer, with +Prince Adam Czartoryski, led the train of mourners. The pall was +borne by M. Delacroix, M. Franchomme, M. Gutman, and Prince Alexander +Czartorvski.--However insufficient these pages may be to speak of Chopin +as we would have desired, we hope that the attraction which so justly +surrounds his name, will compensate for much that may be wanting in +them. If to these lines, consecrated to the commemoration of his works +and to all that he held dear, which the sincere esteem, enthusiastic +regard, and intense sorrow for his loss, can alone gift with persuasive +and sympathetic power, it were necessary to add some of the thoughts +awakened in every man when death robs him of the loved contemporaries +of his youth, thus breaking the first ties linked by the confiding and +deluded heart with so much the greater pain if they were strong enough +to survive that bright period of young life, we would say that in the +same--year we have lost the two dearest friends we have known on earth. +One of them perished in the wild course of civil war. Unfortunate and +valiant hero! He fell with his burning courage unsubdued, his intrepid +calmness undisturbed, his chivalric temerity unabated, through the +endurance of the horrible tortures of a fearful death. He was a Prince +of rare intelligence, of great activity, of eminent faculties, through +whose veins the young blood circulated with the glittering ardor of a +subtle gas. By his own indefatigable energy he had just succeeded in +removing the difficulties which obstructed his path, in creating an +arena in which his faculties might hare displayed themselves with as +much success in debates and the management of civil affairs, as they had +already done in brilliant feats in arms. The other, Chopin, died slowly, +consuming himself in the flames of his own genius. His life, unconnected +with public events, was like some fact which has never been incorporated +in a material body. The traces of his existence are only to be found +in the works which he has left. He ended his days upon a foreign soil, +which he never considered as his country, remaining faithful in the +devotion of his affections to the eternal widowhood of his own. He was +a Poet of a mournful soul, full of reserve and complicated mystery, and +familiar with the stern face of sorrow. + +The immediate interest which we felt in the movements of the parties to +which the life of Prince Felix Lichnowsky was bound, was broken by his +death: the death of Chopin has robbed us of all the consolations of an +intelligent and comprehensive friendship. The affectionate sympathy +with our feelings, with our manner of understanding art, of which this +exclusive artist has given us so many proofs, would have softened the +disappointment and weariness which yet await us, and have strengthened +is in our earliest tendencies, confirmed us in our first essays. + +Since it has fallen to our lot to survive them, we wish at least to +express the sincere regret we feel for their loss. We deem ourselves +bound to offer the homage of our deep and respectful sorrow upon the +grave of the remarkable musician who has just passed from among us. +Music is at present receiving such great and general development, that +it reminds us of that which took place in painting in the fourteenth +and fifteenth centuries. Even the artists who limited the productions of +their genius to the margins of parchments, painted their miniatures +with an inspiration so happy, that having broken through the Byzantine +stiffness, they left the most exquisite types, which the Francias, the +Peruginos, and the Raphaels to come were to transport to their frescos, +and introduce upon their canvas. + + ***** + +There have been people among whom, in order to preserve the memory of +their great men or the signal events of their history, it was the +custom to form pyramids composed of the stones which each passer-by +was expected to bring to the pile, which gradually increased to an +unlooked-for height from the anonymous contributions of all. Monuments +are still in our days erected by an analogous proceeding, but in place +of building only a rude and unformed hillock, in consequence of a +fortunate combination the contribution of all concurs in the creation +of some work of art, which is not only destined to perpetuate the mute +remembrance which they wish to honor, but which may have the power to +awaken in future ages the feelings which gave birth to such creation, +the emotions of the contemporaries which called it into being. The +subscriptions which are opened to raise statues and noble memorials to +those who have rendered their epoch or country illustrious, originate +in this design. Immediately after the death of Chopin, M. Camille Pleyel +conceived a project of this kind. He commenced a subscription, +(which conformably to the general expectation rapidly amounted to +a considerable sum,) to have the monument modeled by M. Clesinger, +executed in marble and placed in the Pere La-Chaise. In thinking over +our long friendship with Chopin; on the exceptional admiration which we +have always felt for him ever since his appearance in the musical +world; remembering that, artist like himself, we have been the frequent +interpreter of his inspirations, an interpreter, we may safely venture +to say, loved and chosen by himself; that we have more frequently than +others received from his own lips the spirit of his style; that we +were in some degree identified with his creations in art, and with +the feelings which he confided to it, through that long and constant +assimilation which obtains between a writer and his translator;--we have +fondly thought that these connective circumstances imposed upon us +a higher and nearer duty than that of merely adding an unformed +and anonymous stone to the growing pyramid of homage which his +contemporaries are elevating to him. We believed that the claims of a +tender friendship for our illustrious colleague, exacted from us a more +particular expression of our profound regret, of our high admiration. It +appeared to us that we would not be true to ourselves, did we not +court the honor of inscribing our name, our deep affliction, upon his +sepulchral stone! This should be granted to those who never hope to fill +the void in their hearts left by an irreparable loss!... + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life of Chopin, by Franz Liszt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF CHOPIN *** + +***** This file should be named 4386.txt or 4386.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/8/4386/ + +Produced by John Mamoun and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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