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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4972.txt b/4972.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f54fd7f --- /dev/null +++ b/4972.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16534 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, +Volume 2, by Frederick Niecks +#2 in our series by Frederick Niecks + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, Volume 2 + +Author: Frederick Niecks + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4972] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREDERICK CHOPIN VOLUME 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, John Mamoun <mamounjo@umdnj.edu> +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, Volume 2 (of 2) + +Frederick Niecks + +Third Edition (1902) + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + CHAPTERS XX-XXXII + APPENDICES I-IX + REMARKS PRELIMINARY TO THE LIST OF CHOPIN'S WORKS. + LIST OF CHOPIN'S PUBLISHED WORKS + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + + +1836--1838. + + + +THE LOVES OF CELEBRITIES.--VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF CHOPIN AND GEORGE +SAND'S FIRST MEETING.--CHOPIN'S FIRST IMPRESSION OF HER.--A +COMPARISON OF THE TWO CHARACTERS.--PORTRAYALS OF CHOPIN AND +GEORGE SAND.--HER POWER OF PLEASING.--CHOPIN'S PUBLICATIONS IN +1837 AND 1838.--HE PLAYS AT COURT AND AT CONCERTS IN PARIS AND +ROUEN.--CRITICISM. + + + +THE loves of famous men and women, especially of those connected +with literature and the fine arts, have always excited much +curiosity. In the majority of cases the poet's and artist's +choice of a partner falls on a person who is incapable of +comprehending his aims and sometimes even of sympathising with +his striving. The question "why poets are so apt to choose their +mates, not for any similarity of poetical endowment, but for +qualities which might make the happiness of the rudest +handicrafts-man as well as that of the ideal craftsman" has +perhaps never been better answered than by Nathaniel Hawthorne, +who remarks that "at his highest elevation the poet needs no +human intercourse; but he finds it dreary to descend, and be a +stranger." Still, this is by no means a complete solution of the +problem which again and again presents itself and challenges our +ingenuity. Chopin and George Sand's case belongs to the small +minority of loves where both parties are distinguished +practitioners of ideal crafts. Great would be the mistake, +however, were we to assume that the elective affinities of such +lovers are easily discoverable On the contrary, we have here +another problem, one which, owing to the higher, finer, and more +varied factors that come into play, is much more difficult to +solve than the first. But before we can engage in solving the +problem, it must be properly propounded. Now, to ascertain facts +about the love-affairs of poets and artists is the very reverse +of an easy task; and this is so partly because the parties +naturally do not let outsiders into all their secrets, and partly +because romantic minds and imaginative litterateurs are always +busy developing plain facts and unfounded rumours into wonderful +myths. The picturesqueness of the story, the piquancy of the +anecdote, is generally in inverse proportion to the narrator's +knowledge of the matter in question. In short, truth is only too +often most unconscionably sacrificed to effect. Accounts, for +instance, such as L. Enault and Karasowski have given of Chopin's +first meeting with George Sand can be recommended only to those +who care for amusing gossip about the world of art, and do not +mind whether what they read is the simple truth or not, nay, do +not mind even whether it has any verisimilitude. Nevertheless, we +will give these gentlemen a hearing, and then try if we cannot +find some firmer ground to stand on. + +L. Enault relates that Chopin and George Sand met for the first +time at one of the fetes of the Marquis de C., where the +aristocracy of Europe assembled--the aristocracy of genius, of +birth, of wealth, of beauty, &c.:-- + + The last knots of the chaine anglaise had already been untied, + the brilliant crowd had left the ball-room, the murmur of + discreet conversation was heard in the boudoirs: the fetes of + the intimate friends began. Chopin seated himself at the + piano. He played one of those ballads whose words are written + by no poet, but whose subjects, floating in the dreamy soul of + nations, belong to the artist who likes to take them. I + believe it was the Adieux du Cavalier...Suddenly, in the + middle of the ballad, he perceived, close to the door, + immovable and pale, the beautiful face of Lelia. [FOOTNOTE: + This name of the heroine of one of her romances is often given + to George Sand. See Vol. I., p. 338.] She fixed her passionate + and sombre eyes upon him; the impressionable artist felt at + the same time pain and pleasure...others might listen to him: + he played only for her. + + They met again. + + From this moment fears vanished, and these two noble souls + understood each other...or believed they understood each + other. + +Karasowski labours hard to surpass Enault, but is not like him a +master of the ars artem celare. The weather, he tells us, was +dull and damp, and had a depressing effect on the mind of Chopin. +No friend had visited him during the day, no book entertained +him, no musical idea gladdened him. It was nearly ten o'clock at +night (the circumstantiality of the account ought to inspire +confidence) when he bethought himself of paying a visit to the +Countess C. (the Marquis, by some means, magical or natural, has +been transformed into a Countess), this being her jour fixe, on +which an intellectual and agreeable company was always assembled +at her house. + + When he ascended the carpet-covered stairs [Unfortunately we + are not informed whether the carpet was Turkey, Brussels, or + Kidderminster], it seemed to him as if he were followed by a + shadow that diffused a fragrance of violets [Ah!], and a + presentiment as if something strange and wonderful were going + to happen to him flashed through his soul. He was on the point + of turning back and going home, but, laughing at his own + superstition, he bounded lightly and cheerfully over the last + steps. + +Skipping the fine description of the brilliant company assembled +in the salon, the enumeration of the topics on which the +conversation ran, and the observation that Chopin, being +disinclined to talk, seated himself in a corner and watched the +beautiful ladies as they glided hither and thither, we will join +Karasowski again where, after the departure of the greater number +of the guests, Chopin goes to the piano and begins to improvise. + + His auditors, whom he, absorbed in his own thoughts and + looking only at the keys, had entirely forgotten, listened + with breathless attention. When he had concluded his + improvisation, he raised his eyes, and noticed a plainly- + dressed lady who, leaning on the instrument, seemed to wish to + read his soul with her dark fiery eyes. [Although a severe + critic might object to the attitude of a lady leaning on a + piano as socially and pictorially awkward, he must admit that + from a literary point of view it is unquestionably more + effective than sitting or standing by the door.] Chopin felt + he was blushing under the fascinating glances of the lady + [Bravo! This is a master-touch]; she smiled [Exquisite!], and + when the artist was about to withdraw from the company behind + a group of camellias, he heard the peculiar rustling of a silk + dress, which exhaled a fragrance of violets [Camellias, + rustling silks, fragrance of violets! What a profusion of + beauty and sweetness!], and the same lady who had watched him + so inquiringly at the piano approached him accompanied by + Liszt. Speaking to him with a deep, sweet voice, she made some + remarks on his playing, and more especially on the contents of + his improvisation. Frederick listened to her with pleasure and + emotion, and while words full of sparkling wit and + indescribable poetry flowed from the lady's eloquent lips + [Quite a novel representation of her powers of conversation], + he felt that he was understood as he had never been. + +All this is undoubtedly very pretty, and would be invaluable in a +novel, but I am afraid we should embarrass Karasowski were we to +ask him to name his authorities. + +Of this meeting at the house of the Marquis de C.--i.e., the +Marquis de Custine--I was furnished with a third version by an +eye-witness--namely, by Chopin's pupil Adolph Gutmann. From him I +learned that the occasion was neither a full-dress ball nor a +chance gathering of a jour fixe, but a musical matinee. Gutmann, +Vidal (Jean Joseph), and Franchomme opened the proceedings with a +trio by Mayseder, a composer the very existence of whose once +popular chamber-music is unknown to the present generation. +Chopin played a great deal, and George Sand devoured him with her +eyes. Afterwards the musician and the novelist walked together a +long time in the garden. Gutmann was sure that this matinee took +place either in 1836 or in 1837, and was inclined to think that +it was in the first-mentioned year. + +Franchomme, whom I questioned about the matinee at the Marquis de +Custine's, had no recollection of it. Nor did he remember the +circumstance of having on this or any other occasion played a +trio of Mayseder's with Gutmann and Vidal. But this friend of the +Polish pianist--composer, while confessing his ignorance as to +the place where the latter met the great novelist for the first +time, was quite certain as to the year when he met her. Chopin, +Franchomme informed me, made George Sand's acquaintance in 1837, +their connection was broken in 1847, and he died, as everyone +knows, on October 17, 1849. In each of these dates appears the +number which Chopin regarded with a superstitious dread, which he +avoided whenever he could-for instance, he would not at any price +take lodgings in a house the number of which contained a seven-- +and which may be thought by some to have really exercised a fatal +influence over him. It is hardly necessary to point out that it +was this fatal number which fixed the date in Franchomme's +memory. + +But supposing Chopin and George Sand to have really met at the +Marquis de Custine's, was this their first meeting? + +[FOONOTE: That they were on one occasion both present at a party +given by the Marquis de Custine may be gathered from Freiherr von +Flotow's Reminiscences of his life in Paris (published in the +"Deutsche Revue" of January, 1883, p. 65); but not that this was +their first meeting, nor the time when it took place. As to the +character of this dish of reminiscences, I may say that it is +sauced and seasoned for the consumption of the blase magazine +reader, and has no nutritive substance whatever.] + +I put the question to Liszt in the course of a conversation I had +with him some years ago in Weimar. His answer was most positive, +and to the effect that the first meeting took place at Chopin's +own apartments. "I ought to know best," he added, "seeing that I +was instrumental in bringing the two together." Indeed, it would +be difficult to find a more trustworthy witness in this matter +than Liszt, who at that time not only was one of the chief +comrades of Chopin, but also of George Sand. According to him, +then, the meeting came about in this way. George Sand, whose +curiosity had been excited both by the Polish musician's +compositions and by the accounts she had heard of him, expressed +to Liszt the wish to make the acquaintance of his friend. Liszt +thereupon spoke about her to Chopin, but the latter was averse to +having any intercourse with her. He said he did not like literary +women, and was not made for their society; it was different with +his friend, who there found himself in his element. George Sand, +however, did not cease to remind Liszt of his promise to +introduce her to Chopin. One morning in the early part of 1837 +Liszt called on his friend and brother-artist, and found him in +high spirits on account of some compositions he had lately +finished. As Chopin was anxious to play them to his friends, it +was arranged to have in the evening a little party at his rooms. + +This seemed to Liszt an excellent opportunity to redeem the +promise which he had given George Sand when she asked for an +introduction; and, without telling Chopin what he was going to +do, he brought her with him along with the Comtesse d'Agoult. The +success of the soiree was such that it was soon followed by a +second and many more. + +In the foregoing accounts the reader will find contradictions +enough to exercise his ingenuity upon. But the involuntary tricks +of memory and the voluntary ones of imagination make always such +terrible havoc of facts that truth, be it ever so much sought and +cared for, appears in history and biography only in a more or +less disfigured condition. George Sand's own allusion to the +commencement of the acquaintance agrees best with Liszt's +account. After passing in the latter part of 1836 some months in +Switzerland with Liszt and the Comtesse d'Agoult, she meets them +again at Paris in the December of the same year:-- + + At the Hotel de France, where Madame d'Agoult had persuaded me + to take quarters near her, the conditions of existence were + charming for a few days. She received many litterateurs, + artists, and some clever men of fashion. It was at Madame + d'Agoult's, or through her, that I made the acquaintance of + Eugene Sue, Baron d'Eckstein, Chopin, Mickiewicz, Nourrit, + Victor Schoelcher, &c. My friends became also hers. Through me + she got acquainted with M. Lamennais, Pierre-Leroux, Henri + Heine, &c. Her salon, improvised in an inn, was therefore a + reunion d'elite over which she presided with exquisite grace, + and where she found herself the equal of all the eminent + specialists by reason of the extent of her mind and the + variety of her faculties, which were at once poetic and + serious. Admirable music was performed there, and in the + intervals one could instruct one's self by listening to the + conversation. + +To reconcile Liszt's account with George Sand's remark that +Chopin was one of those whose acquaintance she made at Madame +d'Agoult's or through her, we have only to remember the intimate +relation in which Liszt stood to this lady (subsequently known in +literature under the nom de plume of Daniel Stern), who had left +her husband, the Comte d'Agoult, in 1835. + +And now at last we can step again from the treacherous quicksand +of reminiscences on the terra firma of documents. The following +extracts from some letters of George Sand's throw light on her +relation to Chopin in the early part of 1837:-- + + + Nohant, March 28, 1837. + + [To Franz Liszt.]...Come and see us as soon as possible. Love, + esteem, and friendship claim you at Nohant. Love (Marie + [FOOTNOTE: The Comtesse d'Agoult.]) is some what ailing, + esteem (Maurice and Pelletan [FOOTNOTE: The former, George + Sand's son; the latter, Eugene Pelletan, Maurice's tutor.]) + pretty well, and friendship (myself) obese and in excellent + health. + + Marie told me that there was some hope of Chopin. Tell Chopin + that I beg of him to accompany you; that Marie cannot live + without him, and that I adore him. + + I shall write to Grzymala personally in order to induce him + also, if I can, to come and see us. I should like to be able + to surround Marie with all her friends, in order that she also + may live in the bosom of love, esteem, and friendship. + +[FOOTNOTE: Albert Grzymala, a man of note among the Polish +refugees. He was a native of Dunajowce in Podolia, had held +various military and other posts--those of maitre des requites, +director of the Bank of Poland, attache to the staff of Prince +Poniatowski, General Sebastiani, and Lefebvre, &c.--and was in +1830 sent by the Polish Government on a diplomatic mission to +Berlin, Paris, and London. (See L'Amanach de L'Emigration +polonaise, published at Paris some forty years ago.) He must not +be confounded with the publicist Francis Grzymala, who at Warsaw +was considered one of the marechaux de plume, and at Paris was +connected with the Polish publication Sybilla. With one exception +(Vol. I., p. 3), the Grzymala spoken of in these volumes is +Albert Grzymala, sometimes also called Count Grzymala. This +title, however, was, if I am rightly informed, only a courtesy +title. The Polish nobility as such was untitled, titles being of +foreign origin and not legally recognised. But many Polish +noblemen when abroad assume the prefix de or von, or the title +"Count," in order to make known their rank.] + + + Nohant, April 5, 1837. + + [To the Comtesse d'Agoult.]...Tell Mick....[FOOTNOTE: + Mickiewicz, the poet.] (non-compromising manner of writing + Polish names) that my pen and my house are at his service, and + are only too happy to be so; tell Grzy. ..., [FOOTNOTE: + Gryzmala] whom I adore, Chopin, whom I idolatrise, and all + those whom you love that I love them, and that, brought by + you, they will be welcome. Berry in a body watches for the + maestro's [FOOTNOTE: Liszt's] return in order to hear him play + the piano. I believe we shall be obliged to place le garde- + champetre and la garde nationals of Nohant under arms in order + to defend ourselves against the dilettanti berrichoni. + + + Nohant, April 10, 1837. + + [To the Comtesse d'Agoult.] I want the fellows, [FOOTNOTE: + "Fellows" (English) was the nickname which Liszt gave to + himself and his pupil Hermann Cohen.] I want them as soon and + as LONG as possible. I want them a mort. I want also Chopin + and all the Mickiewiczs and Grzymalas in the world. I want + even Sue if you want him. What more would I not want if that + were your fancy? For instance, M. de Suzannet or Victor + Schoelcher! Everything, a lover excepted. + + + Nohant, April 21, 1837. + + [To the Comtesse d'Agoult.] Nobody has permitted himself to + breathe the air of your room since you left it. Arrangements + will be made to put up all those you may bring with you. I + count on the maestro, on Chopin, on the Rat, [FOOTNOTE: + Liszt's pupil, Hermann Cohen.] if he does not weary you too + much, and all the others at your choice. + +Chopin's love for George Sand was not instantaneous like that of +Romeo for Juliet. Karasowski remembers having read in one of +those letters of the composer which perished in 1863: "Yesterday +I met George Sand...; she made a very disagreeable impression +upon me." Hiller in his Open Letter to Franz Liszt writes:-- + + One evening you had assembled in your apartments the + aristocracy of the French literary world--George Sand was of + course one of the company. On the way home Chopin said to me + "What a repellent [antipathische] woman the Sand is! But is + she really a woman? I am inclined to doubt it." + +Liszt, in discussing this matter with me, spoke only of Chopin's +"reserve" towards George Sand, but said nothing of his "aversion" +to her. And according to this authority the novelist's +extraordinary mind and attractive conversation soon overcame the +musician's reserve. Alfred de Musset's experience had been of a +similar nature. George Sand did not particularly please him at +first, but a few visits which he paid her sufficed to inflame his +heart with a violent passion. The liaisons of the poet and +musician with the novelist offer other points of resemblance +besides the one just mentioned: both Musset and Chopin were +younger than George Sand--the one six, the other five years; and +both, notwithstanding the dissimilarity of their characters, +occupied the position of a weaker half. In the case of Chopin I +am reminded of a saying of Sydney Smith, who, in speaking of his +friends the historian Grote and his wife, remarked: "I do like +them both so much, for he is so lady-like, and she is such a +perfect gentleman." Indeed, Chopin was described to me by his +pupil Gutmann as feminine in looks, gestures, and taste; as to +George Sand, although many may be unwilling to admit her perfect +gentlemanliness, no one can doubt her manliness:-- + + Dark and olive-complexioned Lelia! [writes Liszt] thou hast + walked in solitary places, sombre as Lara, distracted as + Manfred, rebellious as Cain, but more fierce [farouche], more + pitiless, more inconsolable than they, because thou hast found + among the hearts of men none feminine enough to love thee as + they have been loved, to pay to thy virile charms the tribute + of a confiding and blind submission, of a silent and ardent + devotion, to suffer his allegiance to be protected by thy + Amazonian strength! + +The enthusiasm with which the Poles of her acquaintance spoke of +their countrywomen, and the amorous suavity, fulness of feeling, +and spotless nobleness which she admired in the Polish composer's +inspirations, seem to have made her anticipate, even before +meeting Chopin, that she would find in him her ideal lover, one +whose love takes the form of worship. To quote Liszt's words: +"She believed that there, free from all dependence, secure +against all inferiority, her role would rise to the fairy-like +power of some being at once the superior and the friend of man. +"Were it not unreasonable to regard spontaneous utterances-- +expressions of passing moods and fancies, perhaps mere flights of +rhetoric--as well-considered expositions of stable principles, +one might be tempted to ask: Had George Sand found in Chopin the +man who was "bold or vile enough" to accept her "hard and clear" +conditions? [FOOTNOTE: See extract from one of her letters in the +preceding chapter, Vol. I., p. 334.] + +While the ordinary position of man and woman was entirely +reversed in this alliance, the qualities which characterised them +can nevertheless hardly ever have been more nearly diametrically +opposed. Chopin was weak and undecided; George Sand strong and +energetic. The former shrank from inquiry and controversy; the +latter threw herself eagerly into them. [FOOTNOTE: George Sand +talks much of the indolence of her temperament: we may admit this +fact, but must not overlook another one--namely, that she was in +possession of an immense fund of energy, and was always ready to +draw upon it whenever speech or action served her purpose or +fancy.] The one was a strict observer of the laws of propriety +and an almost exclusive frequenter of fashionable society; the +other, on the contrary, had an unmitigated scorn for the so- +called proprieties and so-called good society. Chopin's manners +exhibited a studied refinement, and no woman could be more +particular in the matter of dress than he was. It is +characteristic of the man that he was so discerning a judge of +the elegance and perfection of a female toilette as to be able to +tell at a glance whether a dress had been made in a first-class +establishment or in an inferior one. The great composer is said +to have had an unlimited admiration for a well-made and well- +carried (bien porte) dress. Now what a totally different picture +presents itself when we turn to George Sand, who says of herself, +in speaking of her girlhood, that although never boorish or +importunate, she was always brusque in her movements and natural +in her manners, and had a horror of gloves and profound bows. Her +fondness for male garments is as characteristic as Chopin's +connoisseurship of the female toilette; it did not end with her +student life, for she donned them again in 1836 when travelling +in Switzerland. + +The whole of Chopin's person was harmonious. "His appearance," +says Moscheles, who saw him in 1839, "is exactly like his music +[ist identificirt mit seiner Musik], both are tender and +schwarmerisch." + +[FOOTNOTE: I shall not attempt to translate this word, but I will +give the reader a recipe. Take the notions "fanciful," "dreamy," +and "enthusiastic" (in their poetic sense), mix them well, and +you have a conception of schwarmerisck.] + +A slim frame of middle height; fragile but wonderfully flexible +limbs; delicately-formed hands; very small feet; an oval, softly- +outlined head; a pale, transparent complexion; long silken hair +of a light chestnut colour, parted on one side; tender brown +eyes, intelligent rather than dreamy; a finely-curved aquiline +nose; a sweet subtle smile; graceful and varied gestures: such +was the outward presence of Chopin. As to the colour of the eyes +and hair, the authorities contradict each other most thoroughly. +Liszt describes the eyes as blue, Karasowski as dark brown, and +M. Mathias as "couleur de biere." [FOOTNOTE: This strange +expression we find again in Count Wodzinski's Les trois Romans de +Frederic Chopin, where the author says: "His large limpid, +expressive, and soft eyes had that tint which the English call +auburn, which the Poles, his compatriots, describe as piwne (beer +colour), and which the French would denominate brown."] Of the +hair Liszt says that it was blonde, Madame Dubois and others that +it was cendre, Miss L. Ramann that it was dark blonde, and a +Scotch lady that it was dark brown. [FOOTNOTE: Count Wodzinski +writes: "It was not blonde, but of a shade similar to that of his +eyes: ash-coloured (cendre), with golden reflections in the +light."] Happily the matter is settled for us by an authority to +which all others must yield--namely, by M. T. Kwiatkowski, the +friend and countryman of Chopin, an artist who has drawn and +painted the latter frequently. Well, the information I received +from him is to the effect that Chopin had des yeux bruns tendres +(eyes of a tender brown), and les cheveux blonds chatains +(chestnut-blonde hair). Liszt, from whose book some of the above +details are derived, completes his portrayal of Chopin by some +characteristic touches. The timbre of his voice, he says, was +subdued and often muffled; and his movements had such a +distinction and his manners such an impress of good society that +one treated him unconsciously like a prince. His whole appearance +made one think of that of the convolvuli, which on incredibly +slender stems balance divinely-coloured chalices of such +vapourous tissue that the slightest touch destroys them. + +And whilst Liszt attributes to Chopin all sorts of feminine +graces and beauties, he speaks of George Sand as an Amazon, a +femme-heros, who is not afraid to expose her masculine +countenance to all suns and winds. Merimee says of George Sand +that he has known her "maigre comme un clou et noire comme une +taupe." Musset, after their first meeting, describes her, to whom +he at a subsequent period alludes as femme a l'oeil sombre, thus:- +- + + She is very beautiful; she is the kind of woman I like--brown, + pale, dull-complexioned with reflections as of bronze, and + strikingly large-eyed like an Indian. I have never been able + to contemplate such a countenance without inward emotion. Her + physiognomy is rather torpid, but when it becomes animated it + assumes a remarkably independent and proud expression. + +The most complete literary portrayal of George Sand that has been +handed down to us, however, is by Heine. He represents her as +Chopin knew her, for although he published the portrait as late +as 1854 he did not represent her as she then looked; indeed, at +that time he had probably no intercourse with her, and therefore +was obliged to draw from memory. The truthfulness of Heine's +delineation is testified by the approval of many who knew George +Sand, and also by Couture's portrait of her:-- + + George Sand, the great writer, is at the same time a beautiful + woman. She is even a distinguished beauty. Like the genius + which manifests itself in her works, her face is rather to be + called beautiful than interesting. The interesting is always a + graceful or ingenious deviation from the type of the + beautiful, and the features of George Sand bear rather the + impress of a Greek regularity. Their form, however, is not + hard, but softened by the sentimentality which is suffused + over them like a veil of sorrow. The forehead is not high, and + the delicious chestnut-brown curly hair falls parted down to + the shoulders. Her eyes are somewhat dim, at least they are + not bright, and their fire may have been extinguished by many + tears, or may have passed into her works, which have spread + their flaming brands over the whole world, illumined many a + comfortless prison, but perhaps also fatally set on fire many + a temple of innocence. The authoress of "Lelia" has quiet, + soft eyes, which remind one neither of Sodom nor of Gomorrah. + She has neither an emancipated aquiline nose nor a witty + little snub nose. It is just an ordinary straight nose. A good- + natured smile plays usually around her mouth, but it is not + very attractive; the somewhat hanging under-lip betrays + fatigued sensuality. The chin is full and plump, but + nevertheless beautifully proportioned. Also her shoulders are + beautiful, nay, magnificent. Likewise her arms and hands, + which, like her feet, are small. Let other contemporaries + describe the charms of her bosom, I confess my incompetence. + The rest of her bodily frame seems to be somewhat too stout, + at least too short. Only her head bears the impress of + ideality; it reminds one of the noblest remains of Greek art, + and in this respect one of our friends could compare the + beautiful woman to the marble statue of the Venus of Milo, + which stands in one of the lower rooms of the Louvre. Yes, she + is as beautiful as the Venus of Milo; she even surpasses the + latter in many respects: she is, for instance, very much + younger. The physiognomists who maintain that the voice of man + reveals his character most unmistakably would be much at a + loss if they were called upon to detect George Sand's + extraordinary depth of feeling [Innigkeit] in her voice. The + latter is dull and faded, without sonority, but soft and + agreeable. The naturalness of her speaking lends it some + charm. Of vocal talent she exhibits not a trace! George Sand + sings at best with the bravura of a beautiful grisette who has + not yet breakfasted or happens not to be in good voice. The + organ of George Sand has as little brilliancy as what she + says. She has nothing whatever of the sparkling esprit of her + countrywomen, but also nothing of their talkativeness. The + cause of this taciturnity, however, is neither modesty nor + sympathetic absorption in the discourse of another. She is + taciturn rather from haughtiness, because she does not think + you worth squandering her cleverness [Geist] upon, or even + from selfishness, because she endeavours to absorb the best of + your discourse in order to work it up afterwards in her works. + That out of avarice George Sand knows how never to give + anything and always to take something in conversation, is a + trait to which Alfred de Musset drew my attention. "This gives + her a great advantage over us," said Musset, who, as he had + for many years occupied the post of cavaliere servente to the + lady, had had the best opportunity to learn to know her + thoroughly. George Sand never says anything witty; she is + indeed one of the most unwitty Frenchwomen I know. + +While admiring the clever drawing and the life-like appearance of +the portrait, we must, however, not overlook the exaggerations +and inaccuracies. The reader cannot have failed to detect the +limner tripping with regard to Musset, who occupied not many +years but less than a year the post of cavaliere servente. But +who would expect religious adherence to fact from Heine, who at +all times distinguishes himself rather by wit than +conscientiousness? What he says of George Sand's taciturnity in +company and want of wit, however, must be true; for she herself +tells us of these negative qualities in the Histoire de ma Vie. + +The musical accomplishments of Chopin's beloved one have, of +course, a peculiar interest for us. Liszt, who knew her so well, +informed me that she was not musical, but possessed taste and +judgment. By "not musical" he meant no doubt that she was not in +the habit of exhibiting her practical musical acquirements, or +did not possess these latter to any appreciable extent. She +herself seems to me to make too much of her musical talents, +studies, and knowledge. Indeed, her writings show that, whatever +her talents may have been, her taste was vague and her knowledge +very limited. + +When we consider the diversity of character, it is not a matter +for wonder that Chopin was at first rather repelled than +attracted by the personality of George Sand. Nor is it, on the +other hand, a matter for wonder that her beauty and power of +pleasing proved too strong for his antipathy. How great this +power of pleasing was when she wished to exercise it, the reader +may judge from the incident I shall now relate. Musset's mother, +having been informed of her son's projected tour to Italy, begged +him to give it up. The poet promised to comply with her request: +"If one must weep, it shall not be you," he said. In the evening +George Sand came in a carriage to the door and asked for Madame +Musset; the latter came out, and after a short interview gave her +consent to her son's departure. Chopin's unsuccessful wooing of +Miss Wodzinska and her marriage with Count Skarbek in this year +(1837) may not have been without effect on the composer. His +heart being left bruised and empty was as it were sensitised (if +I may use this photographic term) for the reception of a new +impression by the action of love. In short, the intimacy between +Chopin and George Sand grew steadily and continued to grow till +it reached its climax in the autumn of 1838, when they went +together to Majorca. Other matters, however, have to be adverted +to before we come to this passage of Chopin's life. First I shall +have to say a few words about his artistic activity during the +years 1837 and 1838. + +Among the works composed by Chopin in 1837 was one of the +Variations on the March from I Puritani, which were published +under the title Hexameron: Morceau de Concert. Grandes variations +de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini, composees +pour le concert de Madame la Princesse Belgiojoso au benefice des +pauvres, par M.M. Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, H. Herz, Czerny, et +Chopin. This co-operative undertaking was set on foot by the +Princess, and was one of her many schemes to procure money for +her poor exiled countrymen. Liszt played these Variations often +at his concerts, and even wrote orchestral accompaniments to +them, which, however, were never published. + +Chopin's publications of the year 1837 are: in October, Op. 25, +Douze Etudes, dedicated to Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult; and in +December, Op. 29, Impromptu (in A flat major), dedicated to +Mdlle. la Comtesse de Lobau; Op. 30, Quatre Mazurkas, dedicated +to Madame la Princesse de Wurtemberg, nee Princesse Czartoryska; +Op. 31, Deuxieme Scherzo (B flat minor), dedicated to Mdlle. la +Comtesse Adele de Furstenstein; and Op. 32, Deux Nocturnes (B +major and A flat major), dedicated to Madame la Baronne de +Billing. His publications of the year 1838 are: in October, Op. +33, Quatre Mazurkas, dedicated to Mdlle. la Comtesse Mostowska; +and, in December, Op. 34, Trois Valses brillantes (A flat major, +A minor, and F major), respectively dedicated to Mdlle. de Thun- +Hohenstein, Madame G. d'Ivri, and Mdlle. A. d'Eichthal. This last +work appeared at Paris first in an Album des Pianistes, a +collection of unpublished pieces by Thalberg, Chopin, Doehler, +Osborne, Liszt, and Mereaux. Two things in connection with this +album may yet be mentioned--namely, that Mereaux contributed to +it a Fantasia on a mazurka by Chopin, and that Stephen Heller +reviewed it in the Gazette musicale. Chopin was by no means +pleased with the insertion of the waltzes in Schlesinger's Album +des Pianistes. But more of this and his labours and grievances as +a composer in the next chapter. + +There are also to be recorded some public and semi-public +appearances of Chopin as a virtuoso. On February 25, 1838, the +Gazette musicale informs its readers that Chopin, "that equally +extraordinary and modest pianist," had lately been summoned to +Court to be heard there en cercle intime. His inexhaustible +improvisations, which almost made up the whole of the evening's +entertainment, were particularly admired by the audience, which +knew as well as a gathering of artists how to appreciate the +composer's merits. At a concert given by Valentin Alkan on March +3, 1838, Chopin performed with Zimmermann, Gutmann, and the +concert-giver, the latter's arrangement of Beethoven's A major +Symphony (or rather some movements from it) for two pianos and +eight hands. And in the Gazette musicale of March 25, 1838, there +is a report by M. Legouve of Chopin's appearance at a concert +given by his countryman Orlowski at Rouen, where the latter had +settled after some years stay in Paris. From a writer in the +Journal de Rouen (December 1, 1849) we learn that ever since this +concert, which was held in the town-hall, and at which the +composer played his E minor Concerto with incomparable +perfection, the name of Chopin had in the musical world of Rouen +a popularity which secured to his memory an honourable and +cordial sympathy. But here is what Legouve says about this +concert. I transcribe the notice in full, because it shows us +both how completely Chopin had retired from the noise and strife +of publicity, and how high he stood in the estimation of his +contemporaries. + + Here is an event which is not without importance in the + musical world. Chopin, who has not been heard in public for + several years; Chopin, who imprisons his charming genius in an + audience of five or six persons; Chopin, who resembles those + enchanted isles where so many marvels are said to abound that + one regards them as fabulous; Chopin, whom one can never + forget after having once heard him; Chopin has just given a + grand concert at Rouen before 500 people for the benefit of a + Polish professor. Nothing less than a good action to be done + and the remembrance of his country could have overcome his + repugnance to playing in public. Well! the success was + immense! immense! All these enchanting melodies, these + ineffable delicacies of execution, these melancholy and + impassioned inspirations, and all that poesy of playing and of + composition which takes hold at once of your imagination and + heart, have penetrated, moved, enraptured 500 auditors, as + they do the eight or ten privileged persons who listen to him + religiously for whole hours; every moment there were in the + hall those electric fremissements, those murmurs of ecstasy + and astonishment which are the bravos of the soul. Forward + then, Chopin! forward! let this triumph decide you; do not be + selfish, give your beautiful talent to all; consent to pass + for what you are; put an end to the great debate which divides + the artists; and when it shall be asked who is the first + pianist of Europe, Liszt or Thalberg, let all the world reply, + like those who have heard you..."It is Chopin." + +Chopin's artistic achievements, however, were not unanimously +received with such enthusiastic approval. A writer in the less +friendly La France musicale goes even so far as to stultify +himself by ridiculing, a propos of the A flat Impromptu, the +composer's style. This jackanapes--who belongs to that numerous +class of critics whose smartness of verbiage combined with +obtuseness of judgment is so well-known to the serious musical +reader and so thoroughly despised by him--ignores the spiritual +contents of the work under discussion altogether, and condemns +without hesitation every means of expression which in the +slightest degree deviates from the time-honoured standards. We +are told that Chopin's mode of procedure in composing is this. He +goes in quest of an idea, writes, writes, modulates through all +the twenty-four keys, and, if the idea fails to come, does +without it and concludes the little piece very nicely (tres- +bien). And now, gentle reader, ponder on this momentous and +immeasurably sad fact: of such a nature was, is, and ever will be +the great mass of criticism. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + + +CHOPIN'S VISITS TO NOHANT IN 1837 AND 1838.--HIS ILL HEALTH.--HE +DECIDES TO GO WITH MADAME SAND AND HER CHILDREN TO MAJORCA.-- +MADAME SAND'S ACCOUNT OF THIS MATTER AND WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT +ABOUT IT.--CHOPIN AND HIS FELLOW--TRAVELLERS MEET AT PERPIGNAN IN +THE BEGINNING OF NOVEMBER, 1838, AND PROCEED BY PORT-VENDRES AND +BARCELONA TO PALMA.--THEIR LIFE AND EXPERIENCES IN THE TOWN, AT +THE VILLA SON-VENT, AND AT THE MONASTERY OF VALDEMOSA, AS +DESCRIBED IN CHOPIN'S AND GEORGE SAND'S LETTERS, AND THE LATTER'S +"MA VIE" AND "UN HIVER A MAJORQUE."--THE PRELUDES.--RETURN TO +FRANCE BY BARCELONA AND MARSEILLES IN THE END OF FEBRUARY, 1839. + + + +In a letter written in 1837, and quoted on p. 313 of Vol. I., +Chopin said: "I may perhaps go for a few days to George Sand's." +How heartily she invited him through their common friends Liszt +and the Comtesse d'Agoult, we saw in the preceding chapter. We +may safely assume, I think, that Chopin went to Nohant in the +summer of 1837, and may be sure that he did so in the summer of +1838, although with regard to neither visit reliable information +of any kind is discoverable. Karasowski, it is true, quotes four +letters of Chopin to Fontana as written from Nohant in 1838, but +internal evidence shows that they must have been written three +years later. + +We know from Mendelssohn's and Moscheles' allusions to Chopin's +visit to London that he was at that time ailing. He himself wrote +in the same year (1837) to Anthony Wodzinski that during the +winter he had been again ill with influenza, and that the doctors +had wanted to send him to Ems. As time went on the state of his +health seems to have got worse, and this led to his going to +Majorca in the winter of 1838-1839. The circumstance that he had +the company of Madame Sand on this occasion has given rise to +much discussion. According to Liszt, Chopin was forced by the +alarming state of his health to go to the south in order to avoid +the severities of the Paris winter; and Madame Sand, who always +watched sympathetically over her friends, would not let him +depart alone, but resolved to accompany him. Karasowski, on the +other hand, maintains that it was not Madame Sand who was induced +to accompany Chopin, but that Madame Sand induced Chopin to +accompany her. Neither of these statements tallies with Madame +Sand's own account. She tells us that when in 1838 her son +Maurice, who had been in the custody of his father, was +definitively entrusted to her care, she resolved to take him to a +milder climate, hoping thus to prevent a return of the rheumatism +from which he had suffered so much in the preceding year. +Besides, she wished to live for some time in a quiet place where +she could make her children work, and could work herself, +undisturbed by the claims of society. + + As I was making my plans and preparations for departure [she + goes on to say], Chopin, whom I saw every day and whose genius + and character I tenderly loved, said to me that if he were in + Maurice's place he would soon recover. I believed it, and I + was mistaken. I did not put him in the place of Maurice on the + journey, but beside Maurice. His friends had for long urged + him to go and spend some time in the south of Europe. People + believed that he was consumptive. Gaubert examined him and + declared to me that he was not. "You will save him, in fact," + he said to me, "if you give him air, exercise, and rest." + Others, knowing well that Chopin would never make up his mind + to leave the society and life of Paris without being carried + off by a person whom he loved and who was devoted to him, + urged me strongly not to oppose the desire he showed so a + propos and in a quite unhoped-for way. + + As time showed, I was wrong in yielding to their hopes and my + own solicitude. It was indeed enough to go abroad alone with + two children, one already ill, the other full of exuberant + health and spirits, without taking upon myself also a terrible + anxiety and a physician's responsibility. + + But Chopin was just then in a state of health that reassured + everybody. With the exception of Grzymala, who saw more + clearly how matters stood, we were all hopeful. I nevertheless + begged Chopin to consider well his moral strength, because for + several years he had never contemplated without dread the idea + of leaving Paris, his physician, his acquaintances, his room + even, and his piano. He was a man of imperious habits, and + every change, however small it might be, was a terrible event + in his life. + +Seeing that Liszt--who was at the time in Italy--and Karasowski +speak only from hearsay, we cannot do better than accept George +Sand's account, which contains nothing improbable. In connection +with this migration to the south, I must, however, not omit to +mention certain statements of Adolph Gutmann, one of Chopin's +pupils. Here is the substance of what Gutmann told me. Chopin was +anxious to go to Majorca, but for some time was kept in suspense +by the scantiness of his funds. This threatening obstacle, +however, disappeared when his friend the pianoforte-maker and +publisher, Camille Pleyel, paid him 2,000 francs for the +copyright of the Preludes, Op. 28. Chopin remarked of this +transaction to Gutmann, or in his hearing: "I sold the Preludes +to Pleyel because he liked them [parcequ'il les. aimait]." And +Pleyel exclaimed on one occasion: "These are my Preludes [Ce sont +mes Preludes]." Gutmann thought that Pleyel, who was indebted to +Chopin for playing on his instruments and recommending them, +wished to assist his friend in a delicate way with some money, +and therefore pretended to be greatly taken with these +compositions and bent upon possessing them. This, however, cannot +be quite correct; for from Chopin's letters, which I shall quote +I presently, it appears that he had indeed promised Pleyel the +Preludes, but before his departure received from him only 500 +francs, the remaining 1,500 being paid months afterwards, on the +delivery of the manuscript. These letters show, on the other +hand, that when Chopin was in Majorca he owed to Leo 1,000 +francs, which very likely he borrowed from him to defray part of +the expenses of his sojourn in the south. + +[FOOTNOTE: August Leo, a Paris banker, "the friend and patron of +many artists," as he is called by Moscheles, who was related to +him through his wife Charlotte Embden, of Hamburg. The name of +Leo occurs often in the letters and conversations of musicians, +especially German musicians, who visited Paris or lived there in +the second quarter of this century. Leo kept house together with +his brother-in-law Valentin. (See Vol. I., p. 254.)] + +Chopin kept his intention of going with Madame Sand to Majorca +secret from all but a privileged few. According to Franchomme, he +did not speak of it even to his friends. There seem to have been +only three exceptions--Fontana, Matuszynski, and Grzymala, and in +his letters to the first he repeatedly entreats his friend not to +talk about him. Nor does he seem to have been much more +communicative after his return, for none of Chopin's +acquaintances whom I questioned was able to tell me whether the +composer looked back on this migration with satisfaction or with +regret; still less did they remember any remark made by him that +would throw a more searching light on this period of his life. + +Until recently the only sources of information bearing on +Chopin's stay in Majorca were George Sand's "Un Hiver a Majorque" +and "Histoire de ma Vie." But now we have also Chopin's letters +to Fontana (in the Polish edition of Karasowski's "Chopin") and +George Sand's "Correspondance," which supplement and correct the +two publications of the novelist. Remembering the latter's +tendency to idealise everything, and her disinclination to +descend to the prose of her subject, I shall make the letters the +backbone of my narrative, and for the rest select my material +cautiously. + +Telling Chopin that she would stay some days at Perpignan if he +were not there on her arrival, but would proceed without him if +he failed to make his appearance within a certain time, Madame +Sand set out with her two children and a maid in the month of +November, 1838, for the south of France, and, travelling for +travelling's sake, visited Lyons, Avignon, Vaucluse, Nimes, and +other places. The distinguished financier and well-known Spanish +statesman Mendizabal, their friend, who was going to Madrid, was +to accompany Chopin to the Spanish frontier. Madame Sand was not +long left in doubt as to whether Chopin would realise his reve de +voyage or not, for he put in his appearance at Perpignan the very +next day after her arrival there. Madame Sand to Madame Marliani, +[FOOTNOTE: The wife of the Spanish politician and author, Manuel +Marliani. We shall hear more of her farther on.] November, 1838:- +- + + Chopin arrived at Perpignan last night, fresh as a rose, and + rosy as a turnip; moreover, in good health, having stood his + four nights of the mail-coach heroically. As to ourselves, we + travelled slowly, quietly, and surrounded at all stations by + our friends, who overwhelmed us with kindness. + +As the weather was fine and the sea calm Chopin did not suffer +much on the passage from Port-Vendres to Barcelona. At the latter +town the party halted for a while-spending some busy days within +its walls, and making an excursion into the country-and then took +ship for Palma, the capital of Majorca and the Balearic Isles +generally. Again the voyagers were favoured by the elements. + + The night was warm and dark, illumined only by an + extraordinary phosphorescence in the wake of the ship; + everybody was asleep on board except the steersman, who, in + order to keep himself awake, sang all night, but in a voice so + soft and so subdued that one might have thought that he feared + to awake the men of the watch, or that he himself was half + asleep. We did not weary of listening to him, for his singing + was of the strangest kind. He observed a rhythm and + modulations totally different from those we are accustomed to, + and seemed to allow his voice to go at random, like the smoke + of the vessel carried away and swayed by the breeze. It was a + reverie rather than a song, a kind of careless divagation of + the voice, with which the mind had little to do, but which + kept time with the swaying of the ship, the faint sound of the + dead water, and resembled a vague improvisation, restrained, + nevertheless, by sweet and monotonous forms. + +When night had passed into day, the steep coasts of Majorca, +dentelees au soleil du matin par les aloes et les palmiers, came +in sight, and soon after El Mallorquin landed its passengers at +Palma. Madame Sand had left Paris a fortnight before in extremely +cold weather, and here she found in the first half of November +summer heat. The newcomers derived much pleasure from their +rambles through the town, which has a strongly-pronounced +character of its own and is rich in fine and interesting +buildings, among which are most prominent the magnificent +Cathedral, the elegant Exchange (la lonja), the stately Town- +Hall, and the picturesque Royal Palace (palacio real). Indeed, in +Majorca everything is picturesque, + + from the hut of the peasant, who in his most insignificant + buildings has preserved the tradition of the Arabic style, to + the infant clothed in rags and triumphant in his "malproprete + grandiose," as Heine said a propos of the market-women of + Verona. The character of the landscape, whose vegetation is + richer than that of Africa is in general, has quite as much + breadth, calm, and simplicity. It is green Switzerland under + the sky of Calabria, with the solemnity and silence of the + East. + +But picturesqueness alone does not make man's happiness, and +Palma seems to have afforded little else. If we may believe +Madame Sand, there was not a single hotel in the town, and the +only accommodation her party could get consisted of two small +rooms, unfurnished rather than furnished, in some wretched place +where travellers are happy to find "a folding-bed, a straw- +bottomed chair, and, as regards food, pepper and garlic a +discretion." Still, however great their discomfort and disgust +might be, they had to do their utmost to hide their feelings; +for, if they had made faces on discovering vermin in their beds +and scorpions in their soup, they would certainly have hurt the +susceptibilities of the natives, and would probably have exposed +themselves to unpleasant consequences. No inhabitable apartments +were to be had in the town itself, but in its neighbourhood a +villa chanced to be vacant, and this our party rented at once. + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Palma, November 14, 1838:-- + + I am leaving the town, and shall establish myself in the + country: I have a pretty furnished house, with a garden and a + magnificent view, for fifty francs per month. Besides, two + leagues from there I have a cell, that is to say, three rooms + and a garden full of oranges and lemons, for thirty-five + francs PER YEAR, in the large monastery of Valdemosa. + +The furniture of the villa was indeed of the most primitive kind, +and the walls were only whitewashed, but the house was otherwise +convenient, well ventilated--in fact, too well ventilated--and +above all beautifully situated at the foot of rounded, fertile +mountains, in the bosom of a rich valley which was terminated by +the yellow walls of Palma, the mass of the cathedral, and the +sparkling sea on the horizon. + +Chopin to Fontana; Palma, November 15, 1838:-- + +[FOOTNOTE: Julius Fontana, born at Warsaw in 1810, studied music +(at the Warsaw Conservatoire under Elsner) as an amateur and law +for his profession; joined in 1830 the Polish insurrectionary +army; left his country after the failure of the insurrection; +taught the piano in London; played in 1835 several times with +success in Paris; resided there for some years; went in 1841 to +Havannah; on account of the climate, removed to New York; gave +there concerts with Sivori; and returned to Paris in 1850. This +at least is the account we get of him in Sowinski's "Les +Musiciens polonais et slaves." Mr. A. J. Hipkins, who became +acquainted with Fontana during a stay which the latter made in +London in 1856 (May and early part of June), described him to me +as "an honourable and gentlemanly man." From the same informant I +learned that Fontana married a lady who had an income for life, +and that by this marriage he was enabled to retire from the +active exercise of his profession. Later on he became very deaf, +and this great trouble was followed by a still greater one, the +death of his wife. Thus left deaf and poor, he despaired, and, +putting a pistol to one of his ears, blew out his brains. +According to Karasowski he died at Paris in 1870. The +compositions he published (dances, fantasias, studies, &c.) are +of no importance. He is said to have published also two books, +one on Polish orthography in 1866 and one on popular astronomy in +1869. The above and all the following letters of Chopin to +Fontana are in the possession of Madame Johanna Lilpop, of +Warsaw, and are here translated from Karasowski's Polish edition +of his biography of Chopin. Many of the letters are undated, and +the dates suggested by Karasowski generally wrong. There are, +moreover, two letters which are given as if dated by Chopin; but +as the contents point to Nohant and 1841 rather than to Majorca +and 1838 and 1839, I shall place them in Chapter XXIV., where +also my reasons for doing so will be more particularly stated. A +third letter, supposed by Karasowski to be written at Valdemosa +in February, I hold to be written at Marseilles in April. It will +be found in the next chapter.] + + My dear friend,--I am at Palma, among palms, cedars, cactuses, + aloes, and olive, orange, lemon, fig, and pomegranate trees, + &c., which the Jardin des Plantes possesses only thanks to its + stoves. The sky is like a turquoise, the sea is like lazuli, + and the mountains are like emeralds. The air? The air is just + as in heaven. During the day there is sunshine, and + consequently it is warm--everybody wears summer clothes. + During the night guitars and songs are heard everywhere and at + all hours. Enormous balconies with vines overhead, Moorish + walls...The town, like everything here, looks towards + Africa...In one word, a charming life"! + + Dear Julius, go to Pleyel--the piano has not yet arrived--and + ask him by what route they have sent it. + + The Preludes you shall have soon. + + I shall probably take up my quarters in a delightful monastery + in one of the most beautiful sites in the world: sea, + mountains, palm trees, cemetery, church of the Knights of the + Cross, ruins of mosques, thousand-year-old olive trees!...Ah, + my dear friend, I am now enjoying life a little more; I am + near what is most beautiful--I am a better man. + + Letters from my parents and whatever you have to send me give + to Grzymala; he knows the safest address. + + Embrace Johnnie. [FOOTNOTE: The Johnnie so frequently + mentioned in the letters to Fontana is John Matuszynski.] How + soon he would recover here! + + Tell Schlesinger that before long he will receive MS. To + acquaintances speak little of me. Should anybody ask, say that + I shall be back in spring. The mail goes once a week; I write + through the French Consulate here. + + Send the enclosed letter as it is to my parents; leave it at + the postoffice yourself. + + Yours, + + CHOPIN. + +George Sand relates in "Un Hiver a Majorque" that the first days +which her party passed at the Son-Vent (House of the Wind)--this +was the name of the villa they had rented--were pretty well taken +up with promenading and pleasant lounging, to which the delicious +climate and novel scenery invited. But this paradisaic condition +was suddenly changed as if by magic when at the end of two or +three weeks the wet season began and the Son-Vent became +uninhabitable. + + The walls of it were so thin that the lime with which our + rooms were plastered swelled like a sponge. For my part I + never suffered so much from cold, although it was in reality + not very cold; but for us, who are accustomed to warm + ourselves in winter, this house without a chimney was like a + mantle of ice on our shoulders, and I felt paralysed. Chopin, + delicate as he was and subject to violent irritation of the + larynx, soon felt the effects of the damp. + + We could not accustom ourselves to the stifling odour of the + brasiers, and our invalid began to ail and to cough. + + From this moment we became an object of dread and horror to + the population. We were accused and convicted of pulmonary + phthisis, which is equivalent to the plague in the prejudices + regarding contagion entertained by Spanish physicians. A rich + doctor, who for the moderate remuneration of forty-five francs + deigned to come and pay us a visit, declared, nevertheless, + that there was nothing the matter, and prescribed nothing. + + Another physician came obligingly to our assistance; but the + pharmacy at Palma was in such a miserable state that we could + only procure detestable drugs. Moreover, the illness was to be + aggravated by causes which no science and no devotion could + efficiently battle against. + + One morning, when we were given up to serious fears on account + of the duration of these rains and these sufferings which were + bound up together, we received a letter from the fierce Gomez + [the landlord], who declared, in the Spanish style, that we + held a person who held a disease which carried contagion into + his house, and threatened prematurely the life of his family; + in consequence of which he requested us to leave his palace + with the shortest delay possible. + + This did not cause us much regret, for we could no longer stay + there without fear of being drowned in our rooms; but our + invalid was not in a condition to be moved without danger, + especially by such means of transport as are available in + Majorca, and in the weather then obtaining. And then the + difficulty was to know where to go, for the rumour of our + phthisis had spread instantaneously, and we could no longer + hope to find a shelter anywhere, not even at a very high price + for a night. We knew that the obliging persons who offeredto + take us in were themselves not free from prejudices, and that, + moreover, we should draw upon them, in going near them, the + reprobation which weighed upon us. Without the hospitality of + the French consul, who did wonders in order to gather us all + under his roof, we were threatened with the prospect of + camping in some cavern like veritable Bohemians. + + Another miracle came to pass, and we found an asylum for the + winter. At the Carthusian monastery of Valdemosa there was a + Spanish refugee, who had hidden himself there for I don't know + what political reason. Visiting the monastery, we were struck + with the gentility of his manners, the melancholy beauty of + his wife, and the rustic and yet comfortable furniture of + their cell. The poesy of this monastery had turned my head. It + happened that the mysterious couple wished to leave the + country precipitately, and--that they were as delighted to + dispose to us of their furniture and cell as we were to + acquire them. For the moderate sum of a thousand francs we had + then a complete establishment, but such a one as we could have + procured in France for 300 francs, so rare, costly, and + difficult to get are the most necessary things in Majorca. + +The outcasts decamped speedily from the Son-Vent. But before +Senor Gomez had done with his tenants, he made them pay for the +whitewashing and the replastering of the whole house, which he +held to have been infected by Chopin. + +And now let us turn once more from George Sand's poetical +inventions, distortions, and exaggerations, to the comparative +sobriety and trustworthiness of letters. + +Chopin to Fontana; Palma, December 3, 1838:-- + + I cannot send you the MSS. as they are not yet finished. + During the last two weeks I have been as ill as a dog, in + spite of eighteen degrees of heat, [FOOTNOTE: That is, + eighteen degrees Centigrade, which are equal to about sixty- + four degrees Fahrenheit.] and of roses, and orange, palm, and + fig trees in blossom. I caught a severe cold. Three doctors, + the most renowned in the island, were called in for + consultation. One smelt what I spat, the second knocked whence + I spat, the third sounded and listened when I spat. The first + said that I would die, the second that I was dying, the third + that I had died already; and in the meantime I live as I was + living. I cannot forgive Johnnie that in the case of bronchite + aigue, which he could always notice in me, he gave me no + advice. I had a narrow escape from their bleedings, + cataplasms, and such like operations. Thanks to Providence, I + am now myself again. My illness has nevertheless a pernicious + effect on the Preludes, which you will receive God knows when. + + In a few days I shall live in the most beautiful part of the + world. Sea, mountains...whatever you wish. We are to have our + quarters in an old, vast, abandoned and ruined monastery of + Carthusians whom Mend [FOOTNOTE: Mendizabal] drove away as it + were for me. Near Palma--nothing more wonderful: cloisters, + most poetic cemeteries. In short, I feel that there it will be + well with me. Only the piano has not yet come! I wrote to + Pleyel. Ask there and tell him that on the day after my + arrival here I was taken very ill, and that I am well again. + On the whole, speak little about me and my manuscripts. Write + to me. As yet I have not received a letter from you. + + Tell Leo that I have not as yet sent the Preludes to the + Albrechts, but that I still love them sincerely, and shall + write to them shortly. + + Post the enclosed letter to my parents yourself, and write as + soon as possible. + + My love to Johnnie. Do not tell anyone that I was ill, they + would only gossip about it. + +[FOOTNOTE: to Madame Dubois I owe the information that Albrecht, +an attache to the Saxon legation (a post which gave him a good +standing in society) and at the same time a wine-merchant (with +offices in the Place Vendome--his specialty being "vins de +Bordeaux"), was one of Chopin's "fanatic friends." In the letters +there are allusions to two Albrechts, father and son; the +foregoing information refers to the son, who, I think, is the T. +Albrecht to whom the Premier Scherzo, Chopin's Op. 20, is +dedicated.] + + +Chopin to Fontana; Palma, December 14, 1838:-- + + As yet not a word from you, and this is my third or fourth + letter. Did you prepay? Perhaps my parents did not write. + Maybe some misfortune has befallen them. Or are you so lazy? + But no, you are not lazy, you are so obliging. No doubt you + sent my two letters to my people (both from Palma). And you + must have written to me, only the post of this place, which is + the most irregular in the world, has not yet delivered your + letters. + + Only to-day I was informed that on the ist of December my + piano was embarked at Marseilles on a merchant vessel. The + letter took fourteen days to come from that town. Thus there + is some hope that the piano may pass the winter in the port, + as here nobody stirs when it rains. The idea of my getting it + just at my departure pleases me, for in addition to the 500 + francs for freight and duty which I must pay, I shall have the + pleasure of packing it and sending it back. Meanwhile my + manuscripts are sleeping, whereas I cannot sleep, but cough, + and am covered with plasters, waiting anxiously for spring or + something else. + + To-morrow I start for this delightful monastery of Valdemosa. + I shall live, muse, and write in the cell of some old monk who + may have had more fire in his heart than I, and was obliged to + hide and smother it, not being able to make use of it. + + I think that shortly I shall be able to send you my Preludes + and my Ballade. Go and see Leo; do not mention that I am ill, + he would fear for his 1,000 francs. + + Give my kind remembrances to Johnnie and Pleyel. + + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Palma, December 14, 1838:-- + + ...What is really beautiful here is the country, the sky, the + mountains, the good health of Maurice, and the radoucissement + of Solange. The good Chopin is not in equally brilliant + health. He misses his piano very much. We received news of it + to-day. It has left Marseilles, and we shall perhaps have it + in a fortnight. Mon Dieu, how hard, difficult, and miserable + the physical life is here! It is beyond what one can imagine. + + By a stroke of fortune I have found for sale a clean suite of + furniture, charming for this country, but which a French + peasant would not have. Unheard-of trouble was required to get + a stove, wood, linen, and who knows what else. Though for a + month I have believed myself established, I am always on the + eve of being so. Here a cart takes five hours to go three + leagues; judge of the rest. They require two months to + manufacture a pair of tongs. There is no exaggeration in what + I say. Guess about this country all I do not tell you. For my + part I do not mind it, but I have suffered a little from it in + the fear of seeing my children suffer much from it. + + Happily, my ambulance is doing well. To-morrow we depart for + the Carthusian monastery of Valdemosa, the most poetic + residence on earth. We shall pass there the winter, which has + hardly begun and will soon end. This is the sole happiness of + this country. I have never in my life met with a nature so + delicious as that of Majorca. + + ...The people of this country are generally very gracious, + very obliging; but all this in words... + + I shall write to Leroux from the monastery at leisure. If you + knew what I have to do! I have almost to cook. Here, another + amenity, one cannot get served. The domestic is a brute: + bigoted, lazy, and gluttonous; a veritable son of a monk (I + think that all are that). It requires ten to do the work which + your brave Mary does. Happily, the maid whom I have brought + with me from Paris is very devoted, and resigns herself to do + heavy work; but she is not strong, and I must help her. + Besides, everything is dear, and proper nourishment is + difficult to get when the stomach cannot stand either rancid + oil or pig's grease. I begin to get accustomed to it; but + Chopin is ill every time that we do not prepare his food + ourselves. In short, our expedition here is, in many respects, + a frightful fiasco. + +On December 15, 1838, then, the Sand party took possession of +their quarters in the monastery of Valdemosa, and thence the next +letters are dated. + +Chopin to Fontana; "Palma, December 28, 1838, or rather +Valdemosa, a few miles distant from Palma":-- + + Between rocks and the sea, in a great abandoned Carthusian + monastery, in one of the cells with doors bigger than the + gates in Paris, you may imagine me with my hair uncurled, + without white gloves, pale as usual. The cell is in the shape + of a coffin, high, and full of dust on the vault. The window + small, before the window orange, palm, and cypress trees. + Opposite the window, under a Moorish filigree rosette, stands + my bed. By its side an old square thing like a table for + writing, scarcely serviceable; on it a leaden candlestick (a + great luxury) with a little tallow-candle, Works of Bach, my + jottings, and old scrawls that are not mine, this is all I + possess. Quietness...one may shout and nobody will hear...in + short, I am writing to you from a strange place. + + Your letter of the 9th of December I received the day before + yesterday; as on account of the holidays the express mail does + not leave till next week, I write to you in no great hurry. It + will be a Russian month before you get the bill of exchange + which I send you. + + Sublime nature is a fine thing, but one should have nothing to + do with men--nor with roads and posts. Many a time I came here + from Palma, always with the same driver and always by another + road. Streams of water make roads, violent rains destroy them; + to-day it is impossible to pass, for what was a road is + ploughed; next day only mules can pass where you were driving + yesterday. And what carriages here! That is the reason, + Julius, why you do not see a single Englishman, not even an + English consul. + + Leo is a Jew, a rogue! I was at his house the day before my + departure, and I told him not to send me anything here. I + cannot send you the Preludes, they are not yet finished. At + present I am better and shall push on the work. I shall write + and thank him in a way that will make him wince. + + But Schlesinger is a still worse dog to put my Waltzes + [FOOTNOTE: "Trois Valses brillantes," Op. 34.] in the Album, + and to sell them to Probst [FOOTNOTE: Heinrich Albert Probst + founded in 1823 a music-shop and publishing-house at Leipzig. + In 1831 Fr. Kistner entered the business (Probst-Kistner), + which under his name has existed from 1836 down to this day. + In the Chopin letters we meet Probst in the character of + Breitkopf and Hartel's agent.] when I gave him them because he + begged them for his father in Berlin. [FOOTNOTE: Adolf Martin + Schlesinger, a music-publisher like his son Maurice Adolph of + Paris, so frequently mentioned in these letters.] All this + irritates me. I am only sorry for you; but in one month at the + latest you will be clear of Leo and my landlord. With the + money which you receive on the bill of exchange, do what is + necessary. And my servant, what is he doing? Give the portier + twenty francs as a New Year's present. + + I do not remember whether I left any debts of importance. At + all events, as I promised you, we shall be clear in a month at + the latest. + + To-day the moon is wonderful, I never saw it more beautiful. + + By the way, you write that you sent me a letter from my + people. I neither saw nor heard of one, and I am longing so + much for one! Did you prepay when you sent them the letter? + + Your letter, the only one I have hitherto received, was very + badly addressed. Here nature is benevolent, but the people are + thievish. They never see any strangers, and therefore do not + know what to ask of them. For instance, an orange they will + give you for nothing, but ask a fabulous sum for a coat- + button. + + Under this sky you are penetrated with a kind of poetical + feeling which everything seems to exhale. Eagles alarmed by no + one soar every day majestically over our heads. + + For God's sake write, always prepay, and to Palma add always + Valdemosa. + + I love Johnnie, and I think it is a pity that he did not + altogether qualify himself as director of the children of some + benevolent institution in some Nuremberg or Bamberg. Get him + to write to me, were it only a few words. + + I enclose you a letter to my people...I think it is already + the third or fourth that I send you for my parents. + + My love to Albrecht, but speak very little about me. + + +Chopin to Fontana; Valdemosa, January 12, 1839:-- + + I send you the Preludes, make a copy of them, you and Wolf; + [FOOTNOTE: Edouard Wolff] I think there are no mistakes. You + will give the transcript to Probst, but my manuscript to + Pleyel. When you get the money from Probst, for whom I enclose + a receipt, you will take it at once to Leo. I do not write and + thank him just now, for I have no time. Out of the money which + Pleyel will give you, that is 1,500 francs, you will pay the + rent of my rooms till the New Year, 450 francs and you will + give notice of my giving them up if you have a chance to get + others from April. If not it will be necessary to keep them + for a quarter longer. The rest of the amount, or 1,000 francs, + you will return from me to Nougi. Where he lives you will + learn from Johnnie, but don't tell the latter of the money, + for he might attack Nougi, and I do not wish that anyone but + you and I should know of it. Should you succeed in finding + rooms, you could send one part of the furniture to Johnnie and + another to Grzymala. You will tell Pleyel to send letters + through you. + + I sent you before the New Year a bill of exchange for Wessel; + tell Pleyel that I have settled with Wessel. + + [FOOTNOTE: The music-publisher Christian Rudolph Wessel, of + Bremen, who came to London in 1825. Up to 1838 he had Stodart, + and from 1839 to 1845 Stapleton, as partner. He retired in + 1860, Messrs. Edwin Ashdown and Henry Parry being his + successors. Since the retirement of Mr. Parry, in 1882, Mr. + Ashdown is the sole proprietor. Mr. Ashdown, whom I have to + thank for the latter part of this note, informs me that Wessel + died in 1885.] + + In a few weeks you will receive a Ballade, a Polonaise, and a + Scherzo. + + Until now I have not yet received any letters from my parents. + + I embrace you. + + Sometimes I have Arabian balls, African sun, and always before + my eyes the Mediterranean Sea. + + I do not know when I shall be back, perhaps as late as May, + perhaps even later. + + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Valdemosa, January 15, 1839:-- + + ...We inhabit the Carthusian monastery of Valdemosa, a really + sublime place, which I have hardly the time to admire, so many + occupations have I with my children, their lessons, and my + work. + + There are rains here of which one has elsewhere no idea: it is + a frightful deluge! The air is on account of it so relaxing, + so soft, that one cannot drag one's self along; one is really + ill. Happily, Maurice is in admirable health; his constitution + is only afraid of frost, a thing unknown here. But the little + Chopin [FOOTNOTE: Madame Marliani seems to have been in the + habit of calling Chopin "le petit." In another letter to her + (April 28, 1839) George Sand writes of Chopin as votre petit. + This reminds one of Mendelssohn's Chopinetto.] is very + depressed and always coughs much. For his sake I await with + impatience the return of fine weather, which will not be long + in coming. His piano has at last arrived at Palma; but it is + in the clutches of the custom-house officers, who demand from + five to six hundred francs duty, and show themselves + intractable. + + ...I am plunged with Maurice in Thucydides and company; with + Solange in the indirect object and the agreement of the + participle. Chopin plays on a poor Majorcan piano which + reminds me of that of Bouffe in "Pauvre Jacques." I pass my + nights generally in scrawling. When I raise my nose, it is to + see through the sky-light of my cell the moon which shines in + the midst of the rain on the orange trees, and I think no more + of it than she. + + +Madame Sand to M. A. M. Duteil; Valdemosa, January 20, 1839:-- + + ...This [the slowness and irregularity of the post] is not the + only inconvenience of the country. There are innumerable ones, + and yet this is the most beautiful country. The climate is + delicious. At the time I am writing, Maurice is gardening in + his shirt-sleeves, and Solange, seated under an orange tree + loaded with fruit, studies her lesson with a grave air. We + have bushes covered with roses, and spring is coming in. Our + winter lasted six weeks, not cold, but rainy to a degree to + frighten us. It is a deluge! The rain uproots the mountains; + all the waters of the mountain rush into the plain; the roads + become torrents. We found ourselves caught in them, Maurice + and I. We had been at Palma in superb weather. When we + returned in the evening, there were no fields, no roads, but + only trees to indicate approximately the way which we had to + go. I was really very. frightened, especially as the horse + refused to proceed, and we were obliged to traverse the + mountain on foot in the night, with torrents across our legs. + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Valdemosa, February 22, 1839:-- + + ...You see me at my Carthusian monastery, still sedentary, and + occupied during the day with my children, at night with my + work. In the midst of all this, the warbling of Chopin, who + goes his usual pretty way, and whom the walls of the cell are + much astonished to hear. + + The only remarkable event since my last letter is the arrival + of the so much-expected piano. After a fortnight of + applications and waiting we have been able to get it out of + the custom-house by paying three hundred francs of duty. + Pretty country this! After all, it has been disembarked + without accident, and the vaults of the monastery are + delighted with it. And all this is not profaned by the + admiration of fools-we do not see a cat. + + Our retreat in the mountains, three leagues from the town, has + freed us from the politeness of idlers. + + Nevertheless, we have had one visitor, and a visitor from + Paris!--namely, M. Dembowski, an Italian Pole whom Chopin + knew, and who calls himself a cousin of Marliani--I don't know + in what degree. + + ...The fact is, that we are very much pleased with the freedom + which this gives us, because we have work to do; but we + understand very well that these poetic intervals which one + introduces into one's life are only times of transition and + rest allowed to the mind before it resumes the exercise of the + emotions. I mean this in the purely intellectual sense; for, + as regards the life of the heart, it cannot cease for a + moment... + +This brings us to the end of the known letters written by Chopin +and Madame Sand from Majorca. And now let us see what we can find +in George Sand's books to complete the picture of the life of her +and her party at Valdemosa, of which the letters give only more +or less disconnected indications. I shall use the materials at my +disposal freely and cautiously, quoting some passages in full, +regrouping and summing-up others, and keeping always in mind-- +which the reader should likewise do--the authoress's tendency to +emphasise, colour, and embellish, for the sake of literary and +moral effect. + +Not to extend this chapter too much, I refer the curious to +George Sand's "Un Hiver a Majorque" for a description of the +"admirable, grandiose, and wild nature" in the midst of which the +"poetic abode" of her and her party was situated--of the grandly +and beautifully-varied surface of the earth, the luxuriant +southern vegetation, and the marvellous phenomena of light and +air; of the sea stretching out on two sides and meeting the +horizon; of the surrounding formidable peaks, and the more +distant round-swelling hills; of the eagles descending in the +pursuit of their prey down to the orange trees of the monastery +gardens; of the avenue of cypresses serpentining from the top of +the mountain to the bottom of the gorge; of the torrents covered +with myrtles; in short, of the immense ensemble, the infinite +details, which overwhelm the imagination and outvie the poet's +and painter's dreams. Here it will be advisable to confine +ourselves to the investigation of a more limited sphere, to +inspect rather narrow interiors than vast landscapes. + +As the reader has gathered from the preceding letters, there was +no longer a monastic community at Valdemosa. The monks had been +dispersed some time before, and the monastery had become the +property of the state. During the hot summer months it was in +great part occupied by small burghers from Palma who came in +quest of fresh air. The only permanent inhabitants of the +monastery, and the only fellow-tenants of George Sand's party, +were two men and one woman, called by the novelist respectively +the Apothecary, the Sacristan, and Maria Antonia. The first, a +remnant of the dispersed community, sold mallows and couch-grass, +the only specifics he had; the second was the person in whose +keeping were the keys of the monastery; and the third was a kind +of housekeeper who, for the love of God and out of neighbourly +friendship, offered her help to new-comers, and, if it was +accepted, did not fail to levy heavy contributions. + +The monastery was a complex of strongly-constructed, buildings +without any architectural beauty, and such was, its circumference +and mass of stones that it would have been easy to house an army +corps. Besides the dwelling of the superior, the cells of the lay- +brothers, the lodgings for visitors, the stables, and other +structures, there were three cloisters, each consisting of twelve +cells and twelve chapels. The most ancient of these cloisters, +which is also the smallest, dates from the 15th century. + + It presents a charming coup d'oeil. The court which it + encloses with its broken-down walls is the ancient cemetery of + the monks. No inscription distinguishes these tombs...The + graves are scarcely indicated by the swellings of the turf. + +In the cells were stored up the remains of all sorts of fine old +furniture and sculpture, but these could only be seen through the +chinks, for the cells were carefully locked, and the sacristan +would not open them to anyone. The second cloister, although of +more recent date, was likewise in a dilapidated state, which, +however, gave it character. In stormy weather it was not at all +safe to pass through it on account of the falling fragments of +walls and vaults. + + I never heard the wind sound so like mournful voices and utter + such despairing howls as in these empty and sonorous + galleries. The noise of the torrents, the swift motion of the + clouds, the grand, monotonous sound of the sea, interrupted by + the whistling of the storm and the plaintive cries of sea- + birds which passed, quite terrified and bewildered, in the + squalls; then thick fogs which fell suddenly like a shroud and + which, penetrating into the cloisters through the broken + arcades, rendered us invisible, and made the little lamp we + carried to guide us appear like a will-o'-the-wisp wandering + under the galleries; and a thousand other details of this + monastic life which crowd all at once into my memory: all + combined made indeed this monastery the most romantic abode in + the world. + + I was not sorry to see for once fully and in reality what I + had seen only in a dream, or in the fashionable ballads, and + in the nuns' scene in Robert le Diable at the Opera. Even + fantastic apparitions were not wanting to us. [FOOTNOTE: "Un + Hiver a Majorque," pp. 116 and 117.] + +In the same book from which the above passage is extracted we +find also a minute description of the new cloister; the chapels, +variously ornamented, covered with gilding, decorated with rude +paintings and horrible statues of saints in coloured wood, paved +in the Arabic style with enamelled faience laid out in various +mosaic designs, and provided with a fountain or marble conch; the +pretty church, unfortunately without an organ, but with wainscot, +confessionals, and doors of most excellent workmanship, a floor +of finely-painted faience, and a remarkable statue in painted +wood of St. Bruno; the little meadow in the centre of the +cloister, symmetrically planted with box-trees, &c., &c. + +George Sand's party occupied one of the spacious, well- +ventilated, and well-lighted cells in this part of the monastery. +I shall let her describe it herself. + + The three rooms of which it was composed were spacious, + elegantly vaulted, and ventilated at the back by open + rosettes, all different and very prettily designed. These + three rooms were separated from the cloister by a dark passage + at the end of which was a strong door of oak. The wall was + three feet thick. The middle room was destined for reading, + prayer, and meditation; all its furniture consisted of a large + chair with a praying-desk and a back, from six to eight feet + high, let into and fixed in the wall. The room to the right of + this was the friar's bed-room; at the farther end of it was + situated the alcove, very low, and paved above with flags like + a tomb. The room to the left was the workshop, the refectory, + the store-room of the recluse. A press at the far end of the + room had a wooden compartment with a window opening on the + cloister, through which his provisions were passed in. His + kitchen consisted of two little stoves placed outside, but + not, as was the strict rule, in the open air; a vault, opening + on the garden, protected the culinary labours of the monk from + the rain, and allowed him to give himself up to this + occupation a little more than the founder would have wished. + Moreover, a fire-place introduced into this third room + indicated many other relaxations, although the science of the + architect had not gone so far as to make this fire-place + serviceable. + + Running along the back of the rooms, on a level with the + rosettes, was a long channel, narrow and dark, intended for + the ventilation of the cell, and above was a loft in which the + maize, onions, beans, and other simple winter provisions were + kept. On the south the three rooms opened on a flower garden, + exactly the size of the cell itself, which was separated from + the neighbouring gardens by walls ten feet high, and was + supported by a strongly-built terrace above a little orange + grove which occupied this ledge of the mountain. The lower + ledge was covered with a beautiful arbour of vines, the third + with almond and palm trees, and so on to the bottom of the + little valley, which, as I have said, was an immense garden. + + The flower garden of each cell had all along its right side a + reservoir, made of freestone, from three to four feet in width + and the same in depth, receiving through conduits placed in + the balustrade of the terrace the waters of the mountain, and + distributing them in the flower garden by means of a stone + cross, which divided it into four equal squares. + + As to this flower garden, planted with pomegranate, lemon, and + orange trees, surrounded by raised walks made of bricks which, + like the reservoir, were shaded by perfumed arbours, it was + like a pretty salon of flowers and verdure, where the monk + could walk dry-footed on wet days. + +Even without being told, we should have known that the artists +who had now become inmates of the monastery were charmed with +their surroundings. Moreover, George Sand did her utmost to make +life within doors comfortable. When the furniture bought from the +Spanish refugee had been supplemented by further purchases, they +were, considering the circumstances, not at all badly off in this +respect. The tables and straw-bottomed chairs were indeed no +better than those one finds in the cottages of peasants; the sofa +of white wood with cushions of mattress cloth stuffed with wool +could only ironically be called "voluptuous"; and the large +yellow leather trunks, whatever their ornamental properties might +be, must have made but poor substitutes for wardrobes. The +folding-beds, on the other hand, proved irreproachable; the +mattresses, though not very soft, were new and clean, and the +padded and quilted chintz coverlets left nothing to be desired. +Nor does this enumeration exhaust the comforts and adornments of +which the establishment could boast. Feathers, a rare article in +Majorca, had been got from a French lady to make pillows for +Chopin; Valenciennes matting and long-fleeced sheep skins covered +the dusty floor; a large tartan shawl did duty as an alcove +curtain; a stove of somewhat eccentric habits, and consisting +simply of an iron cylinder with a pipe that passed through the +window, had been manufactured for them at Palma; a charming clay +vase surrounded with a garland of ivy displayed its beauty on the +top of the stove; a beautiful large Gothic carved oak chair with +a small chest convenient as a book-case had, with the consent of +the sacristan, been brought from the monks' chapel; and last, but +not least, there was, as we have already read in the letters, a +piano, in the first weeks only a miserable Majorcan instrument, +which, however, in the second half of January, after much +waiting, was replaced by one of Pleyel's excellent cottage +pianos. + +[FOOTNOTE: By the way, among the many important and unimportant +doubtful points which Chopin's and George Sand's letters settle, +is also that of the amount of duty paid for the piano. The sum +originally asked by the Palma custom-house officers seems to have +been from 500 to 600 francs, and this demand was after a +fortnight's negotiations reduced to 300 francs. That the +imaginative novelist did not long remember the exact particulars +of this transaction need not surprise us. In Un Hiver a Majorque +she states tha the original demand was 700 francs, and the sum +ultimately paid about 400 francs.] + +These various items collectively and in conjunction with the +rooms in which they were gathered together form a tout-ensemble +picturesque and homely withal. As regards the supply of +provisions, the situation of our Carthusians was decidedly less +brilliant. Indeed, the water and the juicy raisins, Malaga +potatoes, fried Valencia pumpkins, &c., which they had for +dessert, were the only things that gave them unmixed +satisfaction. With anything but pleasure they made the discovery +that the chief ingredient of Majorcan cookery, an ingredient +appearing in all imaginable and unimaginable guises and +disguises, was pork. Fowl was all skin and bones, fish dry and +tasteless, sugar of so bad a quality that it made them sick, and +butter could not be procured at all. Indeed, they found it +difficult to get anything of any kind. On account of their non- +attendance at church they were disliked by the villagers of +Valdemosa, who sold their produce to such heretics only at twice +or thrice the usual price. Still, thanks to the good offices of +the French consul's cook, they might have done fairly well had +not wet weather been against them. But, alas, their eagerly- +awaited provisions often arrived spoiled with rain, oftener still +they did not arrive at all. Many a time they had to eat bread as +hard as ship-biscuits, and content themselves with real +Carthusian dinners. The wine was good and cheap, but, +unfortunately, it had the objectionable quality of being heady. + +These discomforts and wants were not painfully felt by George +Sand and her children, nay, they gave, for a time at least, a new +zest to life. It was otherwise with Chopin. "With his feeling for +details and the wants of a refined well-being, he naturally took +an intense dislike to Majorca after a few days of illness." We +have already seen what a bad effect the wet weather and the damp +of Son-Vent had on Chopin's health. But, according to George +Sand, [FOOTNOTE: "Un Hiver a Marjorque," pp. 161-168. I suspect +that she mixes up matters in a very unhistorical manner; I have, +however, no means of checking her statements, her and her +companion's letters being insufficient for the purpose. Chopin +certainly was not likely to tell his friend the worst about his +health.] it was not till later, although still in the early days +of their sojourn in Majorca, that his disease declared itself in +a really alarming manner. The cause of this change for the worse +was over-fatigue incurred on an excursion which he made with his +friends to a hermitage three miles [FOOTNOTE: George Sand does +not say what kind of miles] distant from Valdemosa; the length +and badness of the road alone would have been more than enough to +exhaust his fund of strength, but in addition to these hardships +they had, on returning, to encounter a violent wind which threw +them down repeatedly. Bronchitis, from which he had previously +suffered, was now followed by a nervous excitement that produced +several symptoms of laryngeal phthisis. [FOOTNOTE: In the +Histoire de ma Vie George Sand Bays: "From the beginning of +winter, which set in all at once with a diluvian rain, Chopin +showed, suddenly also, all the symptoms of pulmonary affection."] +The physician, judging of the disease by the symptoms that +presented themselves at the time of his visits, mistook its real +nature, and prescribed bleeding, milk diet, &c. Chopin felt +instinctively that all this would be injurious to him, that +bleeding would even be fatal. George Sand, who was an experienced +nurse, and whose opportunities for observing were less limited +than those of the physician, had the same presentiment. After a +long and anxious struggle she decided to disregard the strongly- +urged advice of the physician and to obey the voice that said to +her, even in her sleep: "Bleeding will kill him; but if you save +him from it, he will not die," She was persuaded that this voice +was the voice of Providence, and that by obeying it she saved her +friend's life. What Chopin stood most in need of in his weakness +and languor was a strengthening diet, and that, unfortunately, +was impossible to procure:-- + + What would I not have given to have had some beef-tea and a + glass of Bordeaux wine to offer to our invalid every day! The + Majorcan food, and especially the manner in which it was + prepared when we were not there with eye and hand, caused him + an invincible disgust. Shall I tell you how well founded this + disgust was? One day when a lean chicken was put on the table + we saw jumping on its steaming back enormous Mattres Floh, + [FOOTNOTE: Anglice "fleas."] of which Hoffmann would have made + as many evil spirits, but which he certainly would not have + eaten in gravy. My children laughed so heartily that they + nearly fell under the table. + +Chopin's most ardent wish was to get away from Majorca and back +to France. But for some time he was too weak to travel, and when +he had got a little stronger, contrary winds prevented the +steamer from leaving the port. The following words of George Sand +depict vividly our poor Carthusian friends' situation in all its +gloom:-- + + As the winter advanced, sadness more and more paralysed my + efforts at gaiety and cheerfulness. The state of our invalid + grew always worse; the wind wailed in the ravines, the rain + beat against our windows, the voice of the thunder penetrated + through our thick walls and mingled its mournful sounds with + the laughter and sports of the children. The eagles and + vultures, emboldened by the fog, came to devour our poor + sparrows, even on the pomegranate tree which shaded my window. + The raging sea kept the ships in the harbours; we felt + ourselves prisoners, far from all enlightened help and from + all efficacious sympathy. Death seemed to hover over our heads + to seize one of us, and we were alone in contending with him + for his prey. + +If George Sand's serenity and gaiety succumbed to these +influences, we may easily imagine how much more they oppressed +Chopin, of whom she tells us that-- + + the mournful cry of the famished eagle and the gloomy + desolation of the yew trees covered with snow saddened him + much longer and more keenly than the perfume of the orange + trees, the gracefulness of the vines, and the Moorish song of + the labourers gladdened him. + +The above-quoted letters have already given us some hints of how +the prisoners of Valdemosa passed their time. In the morning +there were first the day's provisions to be procured and the +rooms to be tidied--which latter business could not be entrusted +to Maria Antonia without the sacrifice of their night's rest. +[FOOTNOTE: George Sand's share of the household work was not so +great as she wished to make the readers of Un Hiver a Majorque +believe, for it consisted, as we gather from her letters, only in +giving a helping hand to her maid, who had undertaken to cook and +clean up, but found that her strength fell short of the +requirements.] Then George Sand would teach her children for some +hours. These lessons over, the young ones ran about and amused +themselves for the rest of the day, while their mother sat down +to her literary studies and labours. In the evening they either +strolled together through the moonlit cloisters or read in their +cell, half of the night being generally devoted by the novelist +to writing. George Sand says in the "Histoire de ma Vie" that she +wrote a good deal and read beautiful philosophical and historical +works when she was not nursing her friend. The latter, however, +took up much of her time, and prevented her from getting out +much, for he did not like to be left alone, nor, indeed, could he +safely be left long alone. Sometimes she and her children would +set out on an expedition of discovery, and satisfy their +curiosity and pleasantly while away an hour or two in examining +the various parts of the vast aggregation of buildings; or the +whole party would sit round the stove and laugh over the +rehearsal of the morning's transactions with the villagers. Once +they witnessed even a ball in this sanctuary. It was on Shrove- +Tuesday, after dark, that their attention was roused by a +strange, crackling noise. On going to the door of their cell they +could see nothing, but they heard the noise approaching. After a +little there appeared at the opposite end of the cloister a faint +glimmer of white light, then the red glare of torches, and at +last a crew the sight of which made their flesh creep and their +hair stand on end--he-devils with birds' heads, horses' tails, +and tinsel of all colours; she-devils or abducted shepherdesses +in white and pink dresses; and at the head of them Lucifer +himself, horned and, except the blood-red face, all black. The +strange noise, however, turned out to be the rattling of +castanets, and the terrible-looking figures a merry company of +rich farmers and well-to-do villagers who were going to have a +dance in Maria Antonia's cell. The orchestra, which consisted of +a large and a small guitar, a kind of high-pitched violin, and +from three to four pairs of castanets, began to play indigenous +jotas and fandangos which, George Sand tells us, resemble those +of Spain, but have an even bolder form and more original rhythm. +The critical spectators thought that the dancing of the Majorcans +was not any gayer than their singing, which was not gay at all, +and that their boleros had "la gravite des ancetres, et point de +ces graces profanes qu'on admire en Andalousie." Much of the +music of these islanders was rather interesting than pleasing to +their visitors. The clicking of the castanets with which they +accompany their festal processions, and which, unlike the broken +and measured rhythm of the Spaniards, consists of a continuous +roll like that of a drum "battant aux champs," is from time to +time suddenly interrupted in order to sing in unison a coplita on +a phrase which always recommences but never finishes. George Sand +shares the opinion of M. Tastu that the principal Majorcan +rhythms and favourite fioriture are Arabic in type and origin. + +Of quite another nature was the music that might be heard in +those winter months in one of the cells of the monastery of +Valdemosa. "With what poesy did his music fill this sanctuary, +even in the midst of his most grievous troubles!" exclaims George +Sand. I like to picture to myself the vaulted cell, in which +Pleyel's piano sounded so magnificently, illumined by a lamp, the +rich traceries of the Gothic chair shadowed on the wall, George +Sand absorbed in her studies, her children at play, and Chopin +pouring out his soul in music. + +It would be a mistake to think that those months which the +friends spent in Majorca were for them a time of unintermittent +or even largely-predominating wretchedness. Indeed, George Sand +herself admits that, in spite of the wildness of the country and +the pilfering habits of the people, their existence might have +been an agreeable one in this romantic solitude had it not been +for the sad spectacle of her companion's sufferings and certain +days of serious anxiety about his life. And now I must quote a. +long but very important passage from the "Histoire de ma Vie":-- + + The poor great artist was a detestable patient. What I had + feared, but unfortunately not enough, happened. He became + completely demoralised. Bearing pain courageously enough, he + could not overcome the disquietude of his imagination. The + monastery was for him full of terrors and phantoms, even when + he was well. He did not say so, and I had to guess it. On + returning from my nocturnal explorations in the ruins with my + children, I found him at ten o'clock at night before his + piano, his face pale, his eyes wild, and his hair almost + standing on end. It was some moments before he could + recognise us. + + He then made an attempt to laugh, and played to us sublime + things he had just composed, or rather, to be more accurate, + terrible or heartrending ideas which had taken possession of + him, as it were without his knowledge, in that hour of + solitude, sadness, and terror. + + It was there that he composed the most beautiful of those + short pages he modestly entitled "Preludes." They are + masterpieces. Several present to the mind visions of deceased + monks and the sounds of the funeral chants which beset his + imagination; others are melancholy and sweet--they occurred + to him in the hours of sunshine and of health, with the noise + of the children's laughter under the window, the distant + sound of guitars, the warbling of the birds among the humid + foliage, and the sight of the pale little full-blown roses on + the snow. + + Others again are of a mournful sadness, and, while charming + the ear, rend the heart. There is one of them which occurred + to him on a dismal rainy evening which produces a terrible + mental depression. We had left him well that day, Maurice and + I, and had gone to Palma to buy things we required for our + encampment. The rain had come on, the torrents had + overflowed, we had travelled three leagues in six hours to + return in the midst of the inundation, and we arrived in the + dead of night, without boots, abandoned by our driver, having + passed through unheard-of dangers. We made haste, + anticipating the anxiety of our invalid. It had been indeed + great, but it had become as it were congealed into a kind of + calm despair, and he played his wonderful prelude weeping. On + seeing us enter he rose, uttering a great cry, then he said + to us, with a wild look and in a strange tone: "Ah! I knew + well that you were dead!" + + When he had come to himself again, and saw the state in which + we were, he was ill at the retrospective spectacle of our + dangers; but he confessed to me afterwards that while waiting + for our return he had seen all this in a dream and that, no + longer distinguishing this dream from reality, he had grown + calm and been almost lulled to sleep while playing the piano, + believing that he was dead himself. He saw himself drowned in + a lake; heavy and ice-cold drops of water fell at regular + intervals upon his breast, and when I drew his attention to + those drops of water which were actually falling at regular + intervals upon the roof, he denied having heard them. He was + even vexed at what I translated by the term imitative + harmony. He protested with all his might, and he was right, + against the puerility of these imitations for the ear. His + genius was full of mysterious harmonies of nature, translated + by sublime equivalents into his musical thought, and not by a + servile repetition of external sounds. His composition of + this evening was indeed full of the drops of rain which + resounded on the sonorous tiles of the monastery, but they + were transformed in his imagination and his music into tears + falling from heaven on his heart. + +Although George Sand cannot be acquitted of the charge of +exaggerating the weak points in her lover's character, what she +says about his being a detestable patient seems to have a good +foundation in fact. Gutmann, who nursed him often, told me that +his master was very irritable and difficult to manage in +sickness. On the other hand, Gutmann contradicted George Sand's +remarks about the Preludes, saying that Chopin composed them +before starting on his journey. When I mentioned to him that +Fontana had made a statement irreconcilable with his, and +suggested that Chopin might have composed some of the Preludes in +Majorca, Gutmann maintained firmly that every one of them was +composed previously, and that he himself had copied them. Now +with Chopin's letters to Fontana before us we must come to the +conclusion that Gutmann was either under a false impression or +confirmed a rash statement by a bold assertion, unless we prefer +to assume that Chopin's labours on the Preludes in Majorca were +confined to selecting, [FOOTNOTE: Internal evidence suggests that +the Preludes consist (to a great extent at least) of pickings +from the composer's portfolios, of pieces, sketches, and +memoranda written at various times and kept to be utilised when +occasion might offer.] filing, and polishing. My opinion--which +not only has probability but also the low opus number (28) and +the letters in its favour--is that most of the Preludes, if not +all, were finished or sketched before Chopin went to the south, +and that a few, if any, were composed and the whole revised at +Palma and Valdemosa. Chopin cannot have composed many in Majorca, +because a few days after his arrival there he wrote: from Palma +(Nov. 15, 1838) to Fontana that he would send the Preludes soon; +and it was only his illness that prevented him from doing so. +There is one statement in George Sand's above-quoted narrative +which it is difficult to reconcile with other statements in "Un +Hiver a Majorque" and in her and Chopin's letters. In the just- +mentioned book (p. 177) she says that the journey in question was +made for the purpose of rescuing the piano from the hands of the +custom-house officers; and in a letter of January 15, 1839, to +her friend Madame Marliani (quoted on p. 31), which does not +contain a word about adventures on a stormy night, [They are +first mentioned in the letter of January 20, 1839, quoted on p. +32.] she writes that the piano is still in the clutches of the +custom-house officers. From this, I think, we may conclude that +it must have taken place after January 15. But, then, how could +Chopin have composed on that occasion a Prelude included in a +work the manuscript of which he sent away on the lath? Still, +this does not quite settle the question. Is it not possible that +Chopin may have afterwards substituted the new Prelude for one of +those already forwarded to France? To this our answer must be +that it is possible, but that the letters do not give any support +to such an assumption. Another and stronger objection would be +the uncertainty as to the correctness of the date of the letter. +Seeing that so many of Chopin's letters have been published with +wrong dates, why not also that of January 12? Unfortunately, we +cannot in this case prove or disprove the point by internal +evidence. There is, however, one factor we must be especially +careful not to forget in our calculations--namely, George Sand's +habitual unconscientious inaccuracy; but the nature of her +narrative will indeed be a sufficient warning to the reader, for +nobody can read it without at once perceiving that it is not a +plain, unvarnished recital of facts. + +It would be interesting to know which were the compositions that +Chopin produced at Valdemosa. As to the Prelude particularly +referred to by George Sand, it is generally and reasonably +believed to be No. 6 (in B minor). [FOOTNOTE: Liszt, who tells +the story differently, brings in the F sharp minor Prelude. (See +Liszt's Chopin, new edition, pp. 273 and 274.)] The only +compositions besides the Preludes which Chopin mentions in his +letters from Majorca are the Ballade, Op, 38, the Scherzo, Op. +39, and the two Polonaises, Op. 40. The peevish, fretful, and +fiercely-scornful Scherzo and the despairingly-melancholy second +Polonaise (in C minor) are quite in keeping with the moods one +imagines the composer to have been in at the time. Nor is there +anything discrepant in the Ballade. But if the sadly-ailing +composer really created, and not merely elaborated and finished, +in Majorca the superlatively-healthy, vigorously-martial, +brilliantly-chivalrous Polonaise in A major, we have here a +remarkable instance of the mind's ascendency over the body, of +its independence of it. This piece, however, may have been +conceived under happier circumstances, just as the gloomy Sonata, +Op. 35 (the one in B flat minor, with the funeral march), and the +two Nocturnes, Op. 37--the one (in G minor) plaintive, longing, +and prayerful; the other (in G major) sunny and perfume-laden-- +may have had their origin in the days of Chopin's sojourn in the +Balearic island. A letter of Chopin's, written from Nohant in the +summer of 1839, leaves, as regards the Nocturnes, scarcely room +for such a conjecture. On the other hand, we learn from the same +letter that he composed at Palma the sad, yearning Mazurka in E +minor (No. 2 of Op. 41). + +As soon as fair weather set in and the steamer resumed its. +weekly courses to Barcelona, George Sand and her party hastened +to leave the island. The delightful prospects of spring could not +detain them. + + Our invalid (she says) did not seem to be in a state to stand + the passage, but he seemed equally incapable of enduring + another week in Majorca. The situation was frightful; there + were days when I lost hope and courage. To console us, Maria + Antonia and her village gossips repeated to us in chorus the + most edifying discourses on the future life. "This consumptive + person," they said, "is going to hell, first because he is + consumptive, secondly, because he does not confess. If he is + in this condition when he dies, we shall not bury him in + consecrated ground, and as nobody will be willing to give him + a grave, his friends will have to manage matters as well as + they can. It remains to be seen how they will get out of the + difficulty; as for me, I will have Inothing to do with it,-- + Nor I--Nor I: and Amen!" + +In fact, Valdemosa, which at first was enchanting to them, lost +afterwards much of its poesy in their eyes. George Sand, as we +have seen, said that their sojourn was I in many respects a +frightful fiasco; it was so certainly as far as Chopin was +concerned, for he arrived with a cough and left the place +spitting blood. + +The passage from Palma to Barcelona was not so pleasant as that +from Barcelona to Palma had been. Chopin suffered much from +sleeplessness, which was caused by the noise and bad smell of the +most favoured class of passengers on board the Mallorquin--i.e., +pigs. "The captain showed us no other attention than that of +begging us not to let the invalid lie down on the best bed of the +cabin, because according to Spanish prejudice every illness is +contagious; and as our man thought already of burning the couch +on which the invalid reposed, he wished it should be the worst." +[FOOTNOTE: "Un Hiver a Majorque," pp. 24--25.] + +On arriving at Barcelona George Sand wrote from the Mallorquin +and sent by boat a note to M. Belves, the officer in command at +the station, who at once came in his cutter to take her and her +party to the Meleagre, where they were well received by the +officers, doctor, and all the crew. It seemed to them as if they +had left the Polynesian savages and were once more in civilised +society. When they shook hands with the French consul they could +contain themselves no longer, but jumped for joy and cried "Vive +La France!" + +A fortnight after their leaving Palma the Phenicien landed them +at Marseilles. The treatment Chopin received from the French +captain of this steamer differed widely from that he had met with +at the hands of the captain of the Mallorquin; for fearing that +the invalid was not quite comfortable in a common berth, he gave +him his own bed. [FOOTNOTE: "Un Hiver a Majorque," p. 183.] + +An extract from a letter written by George Sand from Marseilles +on March 8, 1839, to her friend Francois Rollinat, which contains +interesting details concerning Chopin in the last scenes of the +Majorca intermezzo, may fitly conclude this chapter. + + Chopin got worse and worse, and in spite of all offers of + service which were made to us in the Spanish manner, we should + not have found a hospitable house in all the island. At last + we resolved to depart at any price, although Chopin had not + the strength to drag himself along. We asked only one--a first + and a last service--a carriage to convey him to Palma, where + we wished to embark. This service was refused to us, although + our FRIENDS had all equipages and fortunes to correspond. We + were obliged to travel three leagues on the worst roads in a + birlocho [FOOTNOTE: A cabriolet. In a Spainish Dictionary I + find a birlocho defined as a vehicle open in front, with two + seats, and two or four wheels. A more detailed description is + to be found on p. 101 of George Sand's "Un Hiver a + Marjorque."] that is to say, a brouette. + + On arriving at Palma, Chopin had a frightful spitting of + blood; we embarked the following day on the only steamboat of + the island, which serves to transport pigs to Barcelona. There + is no other way of leaving this cursed country. We were in + company of 100 pigs, whose continual cries and foul odour left + our patient no rest and no respirable air. He arrived at + Barcelona still spitting basins full of blood, and crawling + along like a ghost. There, happily, our misfortunes were + mitigated! The French consul and the commandant of the French + maritime station received us with a hospitality and grace + which one does not know in Spain. We were brought on board a + fine brig of war, the doctor of which, an honest and worthy + man, came at once to the assistance of the invalid, and + stopped the hemorrhage of the lung within twenty-four hours. + + From that moment he got better and better. The consul had us + driven in his carriage to an hotel. Chopin rested there a + week, at the end of which the same vessel which had conveyed + us to Spain brought us back to France. When we left the hotel + at Barcelona the landlord wished to make us pay for the bed in + which Chopin had slept, under the pretext that it had been + infected, and that the police regulations obliged him to burn + it. + + + +Chapter XXII. + + + +STAY AT MARSEILLES (FROM MARCH TO MAY, 1839) AS DESCRIBED IN +CHOPIN'S AND MADAME SAND'S LETTERS.--HIS STATE OF HEALTH.-- +COMPOSITIONS AND THEIR PUBLICATION.--PLAYING THE ORGAN AT A +FUNERAL SERVICE FOR NOURRIT.--AN EXCURSION TO GENOA.--DEPARTURE +FOR NOHANT. + +As George Sand and her party were obliged to stop at Marseilles, +she had Chopin examined by Dr. Cauviere. This celebrated +physician thought him in great danger, but, on seeing him recover +rapidly, augured that with proper care his patient might +nevertheless live a long time. Their stay at Marseilles was more +protracted than they intended and desired; in fact, they did not +start for Nohant till the 22nd of May. Dr. Cauviere would not +permit Chopin to leave Marseilles before summer; but whether this +was the only cause of the long sojourn of the Sand party in the +great commercial city, or whether there were others, I have not +been able to discover. Happily, we have first-hand information-- +namely, letters of Chopin and George Sand--to throw a little +light on these months of the pianist-composer's life. As to his +letters, their main contents consist of business matters-- +wranglings about terms, abuse of publishers, &c. Here and there, +however, we find also a few words about his health, +characteristic remarks about friends and acquaintances, +interesting hints about domestic arrangements and the like--the +allusion (in the letter of March 2, 1839) to a will made by him +some time before, and which he wishes to be burned, will be read +with some curiosity. + +An extract or two from the letter which George Sand wrote on +March 8, 1839, to Francois Rollinat, launches us at once in +medias res. + + At last we are in Marseilles. Chopin has stood the passage + very well. He is very weak here, but is doing infinitely + better in all respects, and is in the hands of Dr. Cauviere, + an excellent man and excellent physician, who takes a paternal + care of him, and who answers for his recovery. We breathe at + last, but after how many troubles and anxieties!...Write to me + here to the address of Dr. Cauviere, Rue de Rome, 71. + + Chopin charges me to shake you heartily by the hand for him. + Maurice and Solange embrace you. They are wonderfully well. + Maurice has completely recovered. + + +Chopin to Fontana; Marseilles, March 2, 1839:-- + + You no doubt learned from Grzymala of the state of my health + and my manuscripts. Two months ago I sent you from Palma my + Preludes. After making a copy of them for Probst and getting + the money from him, you were to give to Leo 1,000 francs; and + out of the 1,500 francs which Pleyel was to give you for the + Preludes I wrote you to pay Nougi and one term to the + landlord. In the same letter, if I am not mistaken, I asked + you to give notice of my leaving the apartments; for were this + not done before April, I should be obliged to retain them for + the next quarter, till July. + + The second batch of manuscripts may have now reached you; for + it must have remained a long time at the custom-house, on the + sea, and again at the custom-house. + + I also wrote to Pleyel with the Preludes that I give him the + Ballade (which I sold to Probst for Germany) for 1,000 francs. + For the two Polonaises I asked 1,500 francs for France, + England, and Germany (the right of Probst is confined to the + Ballade). It seems to me that this is not too dear. + + In this way you ought to get, on receiving the second batch of + manuscripts, from Pleyel 2,500 francs, and from Probst, for + the Ballade, 500 or 600 francs, I do not quite remember, which + makes altogether 3,000 francs. + + I asked Grzymala if he could send me immediately at least 500 + francs, which need not prevent him from sending me soon the + rest. Thus much for business. + + Now if, which I doubt, you succeed in getting apartments from + next month, divide my furniture amongst you three: Grzymala, + Johnnie, and you. Johnnie has the most room, although not the + most sense, judging from the childish letter he wrote to me. + For his telling me that I should become a Camaldolite, let him + take all the shabby things. Do not overload Grzymala too much, + and take to your house what you judge necessary and + serviceable to you, as I do not know whether I shall return to + Paris in summer (keep this to yourself). At all events, we + will always write one another, and if, as I expect, it be + necessary to keep my apartments till July, I beg of you to + look after them and pay the quarterly rent. + + For your sincere and truly affectionate letter you have an + answer in the second Polonaise. [FOOTNOTE: See next foot- + note.] It is not my fault that I am like a mushroom that + poisons when you unearth and taste it. I know I have never in + anything been of service to anyone, but also not of much to + myself. + + I told you that in the first drawer of my writing-desk near + the door there was a paper which you or Grzymala or Johnnie + might unseal on a certain occasion. Now I beg of you to take + it out and, WITHOUT READING IT, BURN IT. Do this, I entreat + you, for friendship's sake. This paper is now of no use. + + If Anthony leaves without sending you the money, it is very + much in the Polish style; nota bene, do not say to him a word + about it. Try to see Pleyel; tell him I have received no word + from him, and that his pianino is entrusted to safe hands. + Does he agree to the transaction I proposed to him? + + The letters from home reached me all three together, with + yours, before going on board the vessel. I again send you one. + + I thank you for the friendly help you give me, who am not + strong. My love to Johnnie, tell him that I did not allow + them, or rather that they were not permitted, to bleed me; + that I wear vesicatories, that I am coughing a very little in + the morning, and that I am not yet at all looked upon as a + consumptive person. I drink neither coffee nor wine, but milk. + Lastly, I keep myself warm, and look like a girl. + + +Chopin to Fontana; Marseilles, March 6, 1839:-- + + My health is still improving; I begin to play, eat, walk, and + speak, like other men; and when you receive these few words + from me you will see that I again write with ease. But once + more of business. I would like very much that my Preludes + should be dedicated to Pleyel (surely there is still time, for + they are not yet printed) and the Ballade to Robert Schumann. + The Polonaises, as they are, to you and to Kessler. If Pleyel + does not like to give up the dedication of the Ballade, you + will dedicate the Preludes to Schumann. + + [FOOTNOTE: The final arrangement was that Op. 38, the + "Deuxieme Ballade," was dedicated to Robert Schumann; Op. 40, + the "Deux Polonaises," to Julius Fontana; the French and the + English edition of Op. 28, "Vingt-quatre Preludes," to Camille + Pleyel, and the German editon to J. C. Kessler.] + + Garczynski called upon me yesterday on his way back from Aix; + he is the only person that I have received, for I keep the + door well shut to all amateurs of music and literature. + + Of the change of dedication you will inform Probst as soon as + you have arranged with Pleyel. + + From the money obtained you will give Grzymala 500 francs, the + rest, 2,500 francs, you will send me as soon as possible. + + Love me and write. + + Pardon me if I overwhelm you too much with commissions, but do + not be afraid, these are not the last. I think you do + willingly what I ask you. + + My love to Johnnie. + + +Chopin to Fontana; Marseilles, March 10, 1839:-- + + Thanks for your trouble. I did not expect Jewish tricks from + Pleyel; but if it is so, I beg of you to give him the enclosed + letter, unless he makes no difficulties about the Ballade and + the Polonaises. On the other hand, on receiving for the + Ballade 500 francs from Probst, you will take it to + Schlesinger. If one has to deal with Jews, let it at least be + with orthodox ones. Probst may cheat me still worse; he is a + bird you will not catch. Schlesinger used to cheat me, he + gained enough by me, and he will not reject new profit, only + be polite to him. Though a Jew, he nevertheless wishes to pass + for something better. + + Thus, should Pleyel make the least difficulties, you will go + to Schlesinger, and tell him that I give him the Ballade for + France and England for 800 francs, and the Polonaises for + Germany, England, and France for 1,500 francs (should he not + be inclined to give so much, give them for 1,400, 1,300, and + even for 1,200 francs). If he mentions the Preludes, you may + say that it is a thing long ago promised to Pleyel--he wished + to be the publisher of them; that he asked them from me as a + favour before my departure from Paris--as was really the case. + You see, my very dear friend, for Pleyel I could break with + Schlesinger, but for Probst I cannot. What is it to me if + Schlesinger makes Probst pay dearer for my manuscripts? If + Probst pays dear for them to Schlesinger, it shows that the + latter cheats me, paying me too little. After all, Probst has + no establishment in Paris. For all my printed things + Schlesinger paid me at once, and Probst very often made me + wait for money. If he will not have them all, give him the + Ballade separately, and the Polonaises separately, but at the + latest within two weeks. If he does not accept the offer, then + apply to Probst. Being such an admirer of mine, he must not + pay less than Pleyel. You will deliver my letter to Pleyel + only if he makes any difficulties. + + Dear me! this Pleyel who is such an adorer of mine! He thinks, + perhaps, that I shall never return to Paris alive. I shall + come back, and shall pay him a visit, and thank him as well as + Leo. + + I enclose a note to Schlesinger, in which I give you full + authority to act in this matter. + + I feel better every day; nevertheless, you will pay the + portier these fifty francs, to which I completely agree, for + my doctor does not permit me to move from here before summer. + + Mickiewicz's "Dziady" I received yesterday. What shall you do + with my papers? + + The letters you will leave in the writing-desk, and send the + music to Johnnie, or take it to your own house. In the little + table that stands in the anteroom there are also letters; you + must lock it well. + + My love to Johnnie, I am glad he is better. + + +Chopin to Fontana; March 17, 1839:-- + + I thank you for all your efforts. Pleyel is a scoundrel, + Probst a scape-grace. He never gave me 1,000 francs for three + manuscripts. Very likely you have received my long letter + about Schlesinger, therefore I wish you and beg of you to give + that letter of mine to Pleyel, who thinks my manuscripts too + dear. If I have to sell them cheap, I would rather do so to + Schlesinger than look for new and improbable connections. For + Schlesinger can always count upon England, and as I am square + with Wessel, he may sell them to whomsoever he likes. The same + with the Polonaises in Germany, for Probst is a bird whom I + have known a long time. As regards the money, you must make an + unequivocal agreement, and do not give the manuscripts except + for cash. I send you a reconnaissance for Pleyel, it + astonishes me that he absolutely wants it, as if he could not + trust me and you. + + Dear me, this Pleyel who said that Schlesinger paid me badly! + 500 francs for a manuscript for all the countries seems to him + too dear! I assure you I prefer to deal with a real Jew. And + Probst, that good-for-nothing fellow, who pays me 300 francs + for my mazurkas! You see, the last mazurkas brought me with + ease 800 francs--namely, Probst 300 francs, Schlesinger 400, + and Wessel 100. I prefer giving my manuscripts as formerly at + a very low price to stooping before these...I prefer being + submissive to one Jew to being so to three. Therefore go to + Schlesinger, but perhaps you settled with Pleyel. + + Oh, men, men! But this Mrs. Migneron, she too is a good one! + However, Fortune turns round, I may yet live and hear that + this lady will come and ask you for some leather; if, as you + say, you are aiming at being a shoemaker. I beg of you to make + shoes neither for Pleyel nor for Probst. + + Do not yet speak to anyone of the Scherzo [Op. 39]. I do not + know when I shall finish it, for I am still weak and cannot + write. + + As yet I have no idea when I shall see you. My love to + Grzymala; and give him such furniture as he will like, and let + Johnnie take the rest from the apartments. I do not write to + him, but I love him always. Tell him this, and give him my + love. + + Wodzinski still astonishes me. + + When you receive the money from Pleyel, pay first the + landlord's rent, and send me immediately 500 francs. I left on + the receipt for Pleyel the Op. blank, for I do not remember + the following number. + + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Marseilles, April 22, 1839:-- + + ...I was also occupied with the removal from one hotel to + another. Notwithstanding all his efforts and inquiries, the + good doctor was not able to find me a corner in the country + where to pass the month of April. + + I am pretty tired of this town of merchants and shopkeepers, + where the intellectual life is wholly unknown; but here I am + still shut up for the month of April. + + +Further on in the letter, after inviting Madame Marliani and her +husband to come to Nohant in May, she proceeds thus:-- + + He [M. Marliani] loves the country, and I shall be a match for + him as regards rural pleasures, while you [Madame Marliani] + will philosophise at the piano with Chopin. It can hardly be + said that he enjoys himself in Marseilles; but he resigns + himself to recover patiently. + + +The following letter of Chopin to Fontana, which Karasowski +thinks was written at Valdemosa in the middle of February, ought +to be dated Marseilles, April, 1839:-- + + As they are such Jews, keep everything till my return. The + Preludes I have sold to Pleyel (I received from him 500 + francs). He is entitled to do with them what he likes. But as + to the Ballades and Polonaises, sell them neither to + Schlesinger nor to Probst. But whatever may happen, with no + Schonenberger [FOOTNOTE: A Paris music-publisher] will I have + anything to do. Therefore, if you gave the Ballade to Probst, + take it back, even though he offered a thousand. You may tell + him that I have asked you to keep it till my return, that when + I am back we shall see. + + Enough of these...Enough for me and for you. + + My very life, I beg of you to forgive me all the trouble; you + have really been busying yourself like a friend, and now you + will have still on your shoulders my removal. I beg Grzymala + to pay the cost of the removal. As to the portier, he very + likely tells lies, but who will prove it? You must give, in + order to stop his barking. + + My love to Johnnie, I will write to him when I am in better + spirits. My health is improved, but I am in a rage. Tell + Johnnie that from Anthony as well as from me he will have + neither word nor money. + + Yesterday I received your letter, together with letters from + Pleyel and Johnnie. + + If Clara Wieck pleased you, that is good, for nobody can play + better than she does. When you see her give her my + compliments, and also to her father. + + Did I happen to lend you Witwicki's songs? I cannot find them. + I only ask for them in case you should chance to have them. + + +Chopin to Fontana; Marseilles, March 25 [should no doubt be April +25], 1839:-- + + I received your letter, in which you let me know the + particulars of the removal. I have no words to thank you for + your true, friendly help. The particulars were very + interesting to me. But I am sorry that you complain, and that + Johnnie is spitting blood. Yesterday I played for Nourrit on + the organ, you see by this that I am better. Sometimes I play + to myself at home, but as yet I can neither sing nor dance. + + Although the news of my mother is welcome, its having been + originated by Plat...is enough to make one consider it a + falsehood. + + The warm weather has set in here, and I shall certainly not + leave Marseilles before May, and then go somewhere else in the + south of France. + + It is not likely that we shall soon have news from Anthony. + Why should he write? Perhaps to pay his debts? But this is not + customary in Poland. The reason Raciborski appreciates you so + much is that you have no Polish habits, nota bene, not those + Polish habits you know and I mean. + + You are staying at No. 26 [Chaussee d'Antin]. Are you + comfortable? On what floor, and how much do you pay? I take + more and more interest in these matters, for I also shall be + obliged to think of new apartments, but not till after my + return to Paris. + + I had only that letter from Pleyel which he sent through you-- + it is a month ago or more. Write to the same address, Rue et + Hotel Beauveau. + + Perhaps you did not understand what I said above about my + having played for Nourrit. His body was brought from Italy and + carried to Paris. There was a Requiem Mass for his soul. I was + asked by his friends to play on the organ during the + Elevation. + + Did Miss Wieck play my Etude well? Could she not select + something better than just this etude, the least interesting + for those who do not know that it is written for the black + keys? It would have been far better to do nothing at all. + [FOOTNOTE: Clara Wieck gave a concert in Paris on April 16, + 1839. The study in question is No. 5 of Op. 10 (G flat major). + Only the right hand plays throughout on black keys.] + + In conclusion, I have nothing more to write, except to wish + you good luck in the new house. Hide my manuscripts, that they + may not appear printed before the time. If the Prelude is + printed, that is Pleyel's trick. But I do not care. + Mischievous Germans, rascally Jews...! Finish the litany, for + you know them as well as I do. + + Give my love to Johnnie and Grzymaia if you see them.--Your + + FREDERICK. + +One subject mentioned in this letter deserves a fuller +explanation than Chopin vouchsafes. Adolphe Nourrit, the +celebrated tenor singer, had in a state of despondency, caused by +the idea that since the appearance of his rival Duprez his +popularity was on the wane, put an end to his life by throwing +himself out of a window at Naples on the 8th of March, 1839. +[FOOTNOTE: This is the generally-accepted account of Nourrit's +death. But Madame Garcia, the mother of the famous Malibran, who +at the time was staying in the same house, thought it might have +been an accident, the unfortuante artist having in the dark +opened a window on a level with the floor instead of a door. (See +Fetis: Biographie universelle des Musiciens.)] Madame Nourrit +brought her husband's body to Paris, and it was on the way +thither that a funeral service was held at Marseilles for the +much-lamented man and singer. + +Le Sud, Journal de la Mediterranee of April 25, 1839, [FOOTNOTE: +Quoted in L. M. Quicherat's Adolphe Nourrit, sa vie, son talent, +son caractere] shall tell us of Chopin's part in this service:-- + + At the Elevation of the Host were heard the melancholy tones + of the organ. It was M. Chopin, the celebrated pianist, who + came to place a souvenir on the coffin of Nourrit; and what a + souvenir! a simple melody of Schubert, but the same which had + so filled us with enthusiasm when Nourrit revealed it to us at + Marseilles--the melody of Les Astres. [FOOTNOTE: Die gestirne + is the original German title of this song.] + +A less colourless account, one full of interesting facts and free +from conventional newspaper sentiment and enthusiasm, we find in +a letter of Chopin's companion. + + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Marseilles, April 28, 1839:-- + + The day before yesterday I saw Madame Nourrit with her six + children, and the seventh coming shortly...Poor unfortunate + woman! what a return to France! accompanying this corpse, and + she herself super-intending the packing, transporting, and + unpacking [charger, voiturer, deballer] of it like a parcel! + + They held here a very meagre service for the poor deceased, + the bishop being ill-disposed. This was in the little church + of Notre-Dame-du-Mont. I do not know if the singers did so + intentionally, but I never heard such false singing. Chopin + devoted himself to playing the organ at the Elevation, what an + organ! A false, screaming instrument, which had no wind except + for the purpose of being out of tune. Nevertheless, YOUR + LITTLE ONE [votre petit] made the most of it. He took the + least shrill stops, and played Les Astres, not in a proud and + enthusiastic style as Nourrit used to sing it, but in a + plaintive and soft style, like the far-off echo from another + world. Two, at the most three, were there who deeply felt + this, and our eyes filled with tears. + + The rest of the audience, who had gone there en masse, and had + been led by curiosity to pay as much as fifty centimes for a + chair (an unheard-of price for Marseilles), were very much + disappointed; for it was expected that he would make a + tremendous noise and break at least two or three stops. They + expected also to see me, in full dress, in the very middle of + the choir; what not? They did not see me at all; I was hidden + in the organ-loft, and through the balustrade I descried the + coffin of poor Nourrit. + +Thanks to the revivifying influences of spring and Dr. Cauviere's +attention and happy treatment, Chopin was able to accompany +George Sand on a trip to Genoa, that vaga gemma del mar, fior +delta terra. It gave George Sand much pleasure to see again, now +with her son Maurice by her side, the beautiful edifices and +pictures of the city which six years before she had visited with +Musset. Chopin was probably not strong enough to join his friends +in all their sight-seeing, but if he saw Genoa as it presents +itself on being approached from the sea, passed along the Via +Nuova between the double row of magnificent palaces, and viewed +from the cupola of S. Maria in Carignano the city, its port, the +sea beyond, and the stretches of the Riviera di Levante and +Riviera di Ponente, he did not travel to Italy in vain. Thus +Chopin got at last a glimpse of the land where nine years before +he had contemplated taking up his abode for some time. + +On returning to Marseilles, after a stormy passage, on which +Chopin suffered much from sea-sickness, George Sand and her party +rested for a few days at the house of Dr. Cauviere, and then set +out, on the 22nd of May, for Nohant. + + +Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Marseilles, May 20, 1839:-- + + We have just arrived from Genoa, in a terrible storm. The bad + weather kept us on sea double the ordinary time; forty hours + of rolling such as I have not seen for a long time. It was a + fine spectacle, and if everybody had not been ill, I would + have greatly enjoyed it... + + We shall depart the day after to-morrow for Nohant. Address + your next letter to me there, we shall be there in eight days. + My carriage has arrived from Chalon at Arles by boat, and we + shall post home very quietly, sleeping at the inns like good + bourgeois. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + + +JUNE TO OCTOBER, 1839. + + + +GEORGE SAND AND CHOPIN'S RETURN TO NOHANT.--STATE OF HIS HEALTH.- +-HIS POSITION IN HIS FRIEND'S HOUSE.--HER ACCOUNT OF THEIR +RELATIONSHIP.--HIS LETTERS TO FONTANA, WHICH, AMONG MANY OTHER +MATTERS, TREAT OF HIS COMPOSITIONS AND OF PREPARATIONS TO BE MADE +FOR HIS AND GEORGE SAND'S ARRIVAL IN PARIS. + + + +The date of one of George Sand's letters shows that the +travellers were settled again at Nohant on the 3rd of June, 1839. +Dr. Papet, a rich friend of George Sand's, who practised his art +only for the benefit of the poor and his friends, took the +convalescent Chopin at once under his care. He declared that his +patient showed no longer any symptoms of pulmonary affection, but +was suffering merely from a slight chronic laryngeal affection +which, although he did not expect to be able to cure it, need not +cause any serious alarm. + +On returning to Nohant, George Sand had her mind much exercised +by the question how to teach her children. She resolved to +undertake the task herself, but found she was not suited for it, +at any rate, could not acquit herself of it satisfactorily +without giving up writing. This question, however, was not the +only one that troubled her. + + In the irresolution in which I was for a time regarding the + arrangement of my life with a view to what would be best for + my dear children, a serious question was debated in my + conscience. I asked myself if I ought to entertain the idea + which Chopin had formed of taking up his abode near me. I + should not have hesitated to say "no," had I known then for + how short a time the retired life and the solemnity of the + country suited his moral and physical health. I still + attributed his despair and horror of Majorca to the excitement + of fever and the exces de caractere of that place. Nohant + offered pleasanter conditions, a less austere retreat, + congenial society, and resources in case of illness. Papet was + to him an enlightened and kind physician. Fleury, Duteil, + Duvernet, and their families, Planet, and especially Rollinat, + were dear to him at first sight. All of them loved him also, + and felt disposed to spoil him as I did. + +Among those with whom the family at Nohant had much intercourse, +and who were frequent guests at the chateau, was also an old +acquaintance of ours, one who had not grown in wisdom as in age, +I mean George Sand's half-brother, Hippolyte Chatiron, who was +now again living in Berry, his wife having inherited the estate +of Montgivray, situated only half a league from Nohant. + + His warmth of manner, his inexhaustible gaiety, the + originality of his sallies, his enthusiastic and naive + effusions of admiration for the genius of Chopin, the always + respectful deference which he showed to him alone, even in the + inevitable and terrible apres-boire, found favour with the + eminently-aristocratic artist. All, then, went very well at + first, and I entertained eventually the idea that Chopin might + rest and regain his health by spending a few summers with us, + his work necessarily calling him back to Paris in the winter. + + However, the prospect of this kind of family union with a + newly-made friend caused me to reflect. I felt alarmed at the + task which I was about to undertake, and which I had believed + would be limited to the journey in Spain. + +In short, George Sand presents herself as a sister of mercy, who, +prompted by charity, sacrifices her own happiness for that of +another. Contemplating the possibility of her son falling ill and +herself being thereby deprived of the joys of her work, she +exclaims: "What hours of my calm and invigorating life should I +be able to devote to another patient, much more difficult to +nurse and comfort than Maurice?" + +The discussion of this matter by George Sand is so characteristic +of her that, lengthy as it is, I cannot refrain from giving it in +full. + + A kind of terror seized me in presence of a new duty which I + was to take upon me. I was not under the illusion of passion. + I had for the artist a kind of maternal adoration which was + very warm, very real, but which could not for a moment contend + with maternal love, the only chaste feeling which may be + passionate. + + I was still young enough to have perhaps to contend with love, + with passion properly so called. This contingency of my age, + of my situation, and of the destiny of artistic women, + especially when they have a horror of passing diversions, + alarmed me much, and, resolved as I was never to submit to any + influence which might divert me from my children, I saw a + less, but still possible danger in the tender friendship with + which Chopin inspired me. + + Well, after reflection, this danger disappeared and even + assumed an opposite character--that of a preservative against + emotions which I no longer wished to know. One duty more in my + life, already so full of and so overburdened with work, + appeared to me one chance more to attain the austerity towards + which I felt myself attracted with a kind of religious + enthusiasm. + +If this is a sincere confession, we can only wonder at the height +of self-deception attainable by the human mind; if, however, it +is meant as a justification, we cannot but be surprised at the +want of skill displayed by the generally so clever advocate. In +fact, George Sand has in no instance been less happy in defending +her conduct and in setting forth her immaculate virtuousness. The +great words "chastity" and "maternity" are of course not absent. +George Sand could as little leave off using them as some people +can leave off using oaths. In either case the words imply much +more than is intended by those from whose mouths or pens they +come. A chaste woman speculating on "real love" and "passing +diversions," as George Sand does here, seems to me a strange +phenomenon. And how charmingly naive is the remark she makes +regarding her relations with Chopin as a "PRESERVATIVE against +emotions which she no longer wished to know"! I am afraid the +concluding sentence, which in its unction is worthy of Pecksniff, +and where she exhibits herself as an ascetic and martyr in all +the radiance of saintliness, will not have the desired effect, +but will make the reader laugh as loud as Musset is said to have +done when she upbraided him with his ungratefulness to her, who +had been devoted to him to the utmost bounds of self-abnegation, +to the sacrifice of her noblest impulses, to the degradation of +her chaste nature. + +George Sand, looking back in later years on this period of her +life, thought that if she had put into execution her project of +becoming the teacher of her children, and of shutting herself up +all the year round at Nohant, she would have saved Chopin from +the danger which, unknown to her, threatened him--namely, the +danger of attaching himself too absolutely to her. At that time, +she says, his love was not so great but that absence would have +diverted him from it. Nor did she consider his affection +exclusive. In fact, she had no doubt that the six months which +his profession obliged him to pass every year in Paris would, +"after a few days of malaise and tears," have given him back to +"his habits of elegance, exquisite success, and intellectual +coquetry." The correctness of the facts and the probability of +the supposition may be doubted. At any rate, the reasons which +led her to assume the non-exclusiveness of Chopin's affection are +simply childish. That he spoke to her of a romantic love-affair +he had had in Poland, and of sweet attractions he had afterwards +experienced in Paris, proves nothing. What she says about his +mother having been his only passion is still less to the point. +But reasoning avails little, and the strength of Chopin's love +was not put to the test. He went, indeed, in the autumn of 1839 +to Paris, but not alone; George Sand, professedly for the sake of +her children's education, went there likewise. "We were driven by +fate," she says, "into the bonds of a long connection, and both +of us entered into it unawares." The words "driven by fate," and +"entered into it unawares," sound strange, if we remember that +they apply not to a young girl who, inexperienced and confiding, +had lost herself in the mazes of life, but to a novelist skilled +in the reading of human hearts, to a constantly-reasoning and +calculating woman, aged 35, who had better reasons than poor +Amelia in Schiller's play for saying "I have lived and loved." + +After all this reasoning, moralising, and sentimentalising, it is +pleasant to be once more face to face with facts, of which the +following letters, written by Chopin to Fontana during the months +from June to October, 1839, contain a goodly number. The rather +monotonous publishing transactions play here and there again a +prominent part, but these Nohant letters are on the whole more +interesting than the Majorca letters, and decidedly more varied +as regards contents than those he wrote from Marseilles--they +tell us much more of the writer's tastes and requirements, and +even reveal something of his relationship to George Sand. Chopin, +it appears to me, did not take exactly the same view of this +relationship as the novelist. What will be read with most +interest are Chopin's directions as to the decoration and +furnishing of his rooms, the engagement of a valet, the ordering +of clothes and a hat, the taking of a house for George Sand, and +certain remarks made en passant on composers and other less-known +people. + + [I.] + + ...The best part of your letter is your address, which I had + already forgotten, and without which I do not know if I would + have answered you so soon; but the worst is the death of + Albrecht. [FOOTNOTE: See p.27 foot-note 7.] + + You wish to know when I shall be back. When the misty and + rainy weather begins, for I must breathe fresh air. + + Johnnie has left. I don't know if he asked you to forward to + me the letters from my parents should any arrive during his + absence and be sent to his usual address. Perhaps he thought + of it, perhaps not. I should be very sorry if any of them + miscarried. It is not long since I had a letter from home, + they will not write soon, and by this time he, who is so kind + and good, will be in good health and return. + + I am composing here a Sonata in B flat minor, in which will be + the Funeral March which you have already. There is an allegro, + then a "Scherzo" in E flat minor, the "March," and a short + "Finale" of about three pages. The left hand unisono with the + right hand are gossiping [FOOTNOTE: "Lewa reka unisono z + prawa, ogaduja po Marszu."] after the March. I have a new + "Nocturne" in G major, which will go along with the Nocturne + in G minor, [FOOTNOTE: "Deux Nocturnes," Op.37.] if you + remember such a one. + + You know that I have four new mazurkas: one from Palma in E + minor, three from here in B major, A flat major, and C sharp + minor. [FOOTNOTE: Quatre mazurkas, Op. 41.] They seem to me + pretty, as the youngest children usually do when the parents + grow old. + + Otherwise I do nothing; I correct for myself the Parisian + edition of Bach; not only the stroke-makers' [FOOTNOTE: In + Polish strycharz, the usual meaning of which is "brickmaker." + Chopin may have played upon the word. A mistake, however, is + likewise possible, as the Polish for engraver is sztycharz.] + (engravers') errors, but, I think, the harmonic errors + committed by those who pretend to understand Bach. I do not do + it with the pretension that I understand him better than they, + but from a conviction that I sometimes guess how it ought to + be. + + You see I have praised myself enough to you. + + Now, if Grzymata will visit me (which is doubtful), send me + through him Weber for four hands. Also the last of my Ballade + in manuscript, as I wish to change something in it. I should + like very much to have your copy of the last mazurkas, if you + have such a thing, for I do not know if my gallantry went so + far as to give you a copy. + + Pleyel wrote to me that you were very obliging, and have + corrected the Preludes. Do you know how much Wessel paid him + for them? It would be well to know this for the future. + + My father has written to me that my old sonata has been + published by Haslinger, and that the Germans praise it. + [FOOTNOTE: There must have been some misunderstanding; the + Sonata, Op. 4, was not published till 1851.] + + I have now, counting those you have, six manuscripts; the + devil take them if they get them for nothing. Pleyel did not + do me any service with his offers, for he thereby made + Schlesinger indifferent about me. But I hope this will be set + right, f wrote to ask him to let me know if he had been paid + for the piano sent to Palma, and I did so because the French + consul in Majorca, whom I know very well, was to be changed, + and had he not been paid, it would have been very difficult + for me to settle this affair at such a distance. Fortunately, + he is paid, and very liberally, as he wrote to me only last + week. + + Write to me what sort of lodgings you have. Do you board at + the club? + + Woyciechowski wrote to me to compose an oratorio. I answered + him in the letter to my parents. Why does he build a sugar- + refinery and not a monastery of Camaldolites or a nunnery of + Dominican sisters! + + + [2.] + + I give you my most hearty thanks for your upright, friendly, + not English but Polish soul. + + Select paper (wall-paper) such as I had formerly, tourterelle + (dove colour), only bright and glossy, for the two rooms, also + dark green with not too broad stripes. For the anteroom + something else, but still respectable. Nevertheless, if there + are any nicer and more fashionable papers that are to your + liking, and you think that I also will like them, then take + them. I prefer the plain, unpretending, and neat ones to the + common shopkeeper's staring colours. Therefore, pearl colour + pleases me, for it is neither loud nor does it look vulgar. I + thank you for the servant's room, for it is much needed. + + Now, as to the furniture: you will make the best of it if you + look to it yourself. I did not dare to trouble you with it, + but if you will be so kind, take it and arrange it as it ought + to be. I shall ask Grzymala to give money for the removal. I + shall write to him about it at once. As to the bed and writing- + desk, it may be necessary to give them to the cabinet-maker to + be renewed. In this case you will take the papers out of the + writing-desk, and lock them up somewhere else. I need not tell + you what you ought to do. Act as you like and judge what is + necessary. Whatever you may do will be well done. You have my + full confidence: this is one thing. + + Now the second. + + You must write to Wessel--doubtless you have already written + about the Preludes. Let him know that I have six new + manuscripts, for which I want 300 francs each (how many pounds + is that?). If you think he would not give so much, let me know + first. Inform me also if Probst is in Paris. Further look out + for a servant. I should prefer a respectable honest Pole. Tell + also Grzymala of it. Stipulate that he is to board himself; no + more than 80 francs. I shall not be in Paris before the end of + October--keep this, however, to yourself. + + My dear friend, the state of Johnnie's health weighs sometimes + strangely on my heart. May God give him what he stands in need + of, but he should not allow himself to be cheated...However, + this is neither here nor there. The greatest truth in the + world is that I shall always love you as a most honest and + kind man and Johnnie as another. + + I embrace you both, write each of you and soon, were it of + nothing more than the weather.--Your old more than ever long- + nosed + + FREDERICK. + + + [3.] + + According to your description and that of Grzymala you have + found such capital rooms that we are now thinking you have a + lucky hand, and for this reason a man--and he is a great man, + being the portier of George's house--who will run about to + find a house for her, is ordered to apply to you when he has + found a few; and you with your elegant tact (you see how I + flatter you) will also examine what he has found, and give + your opinion thereon. The main point is that it should be + detached, if possible; for instance, a little hotel. Or + something in a courtyard, with a view into a garden, or, if + there be no garden, into a large court-yard; nota bene, very + few lodgers--elegant--not higher than the second story. + Perhaps some corps de logis, but small, or something like + Perthuis's house, or even smaller. Lastly, should it be in + front, the street must not be noisy. In one word, something + you judge would be good for her. If it could be near me, so + much the better; but if it cannot be, this consideration need + not prevent you. + + It seems to me that a little hotel in the new streets--such as + Clichy, Blanche, or Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, as far as Rue des + Martyrs--would be most suitable. Moreover, I send you a list + of the streets where Mr. Mardelle--the portier of the Hotel + Narbonne, Rue de la Harpe, No. 89, which belongs to George-- + will look for a house. If in your leisure time you also looked + out for something in our part of the town, it would be very + nice. Fancy, I don't know why, but we think that you will find + something wonderfully good, although it is already late. + + The price she wishes to pay is from 2,000 to 2,500 francs, you + might also give a couple of hundred francs more if anything + extra fine should turn up. Grzymala and Arago promised to look + out for something, but in spite of Grzymala's efforts nothing + acceptable has thus far been found. I have written to him that + he should employ you also in this business of mine (I say of + MINE, for it is just the same as if it were mine). I shall + write to him again to-day and tell him that I have asked you + to give your help and use all your talents. It is necessary + that there should be three bedrooms, two of which must be + beside each other and one separated, for instance, by the + drawing-room. Adjoining the third there will be required a + well-lighted cabinet for her study. The other two may be + small, this one, the third, also not very large. Besides this + a drawing-room and dining-room in proportion. A pretty large + kitchen. Two rooms for the servants, and a coal-cellar. The + rooms must of course have inlaid floors, be newly laid, if + possible, and require no repairs. But a little hotel or a + separate part of a house in a court-yard looking into a garden + would be most desirable. There must be tranquillity, + quietness, no blacksmith in the neighbourhood. Respectable + stairs. The windows exposed to the sun, absolutely to the + south. Further, there must be no smoke, no bad odour, but a + fine view, a garden, or at least a large court. A garden would + be best. In the Faubourg St. Germain are many gardens, also in + the Faubourg St. Honore. Find something quickly, something + splendid, and near me. As soon as you have any chance, write + immediately, don't be lazy; or get hold of Grzymala, go and + see, both of you, take et que cela finisse. I send you a plan + of the arrangement of the apartments. If you find something + like this, draw the plan, or take it at once, which will be + better than letting it slip out of your hands. + + Mr. Mardelle is a decent man, and no fool, he was not always a + portier. He is ordered to go and see you whenever he finds + anything. You must also on your part be on the look-out, but + let us keep that between us. I embrace you and Johnnie also. + You will have our true gratitude when you find a house. + + [a diagram of the apartments is inserted here in the letter.] + + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | | | | | + | Study | Bedroom. | Drawing room. | Bedroom. | Servants’ room. | + | | | | | | + |----------------------------------------------------------------| + | | | | + | | Dining room | | + | | | | + |----------------------------------------------------------------| + | | | | + | | Lobby | | + | | | | + +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + + Pas de voisinage, surtout blacksmith, nor anything that + belongs to him. For God's sake I beg of you take an active + interest in the matter, my dear friend! + + + [4.] + + I thank you for all your kind actions. + + In the anteroom you will direct the grey curtains to be hung + which were in my cabinet with the piano, and in the bedroom + the same that were in the bedroom, only under them the white + muslin ones which were under the grey ones. + + I should like to have a little press in my bedroom, unless + there be not room enough, or the drawing-room be too bare + between the windows. + + If the little sofa, the same which stood in the dining-room, + could be covered with red, with the same stuff with which the + chairs are covered, it might be placed in the drawing-room; + but as it would be necessary to call in the upholsterer for + that, it may be difficult. + + It is a good thing that Domaradzki is going to be married, for + surely he will give me back the 80 francs after the wedding. I + should like also to see Podczaski married, and Nakw. + (Nakwaska), and Anthony also. Let this remain between this + paper, myself, and you. + + Find me a valet. Kiss Madame Leo (surely the first commission + will be the more pleasant to you, wherefore I relieve you of + the second if you will do the first). + + Let me know about Probst, whether he is in Paris or not. Do + not forget Wessel. Tell Gutmann that I was much pleased that + he asked for me at least once. To Moscheles, should he be in + Paris, order to be given an injection of Neukomm's oratorios, + prepared with Berlioz's "Cellini" and Doehler's Concerto. Give + Johnnie from me for his breakfast moustaches of sphinxes and + kidneys of parrots, with tomato sauce powdered with little + eggs of the microscopic world. You yourself take a bath in + whale's infusion as a rest from all the commissions I give + you, for I know that you will do willingly as much as time + will permit, and I shall do the same for you when you are + married--of which Johnnie will very likely inform me soon. + Only not to Ox, for that is my party. + + + [5.] + + My dear friend,--In five, six, or seven days I shall be in + Paris. Get things prepared as quickly as possible; if not all, + let me find at least the rooms papered and the bed ready. + + I am hastening my arrival as the presence of George Sand is + necessary on account of a piece to be played. [FOOTNOTE: + "Cosima." The first representation, at the Comedie Francaise, + did not take place until April, 1840.] But this remains + between us. We have fixed our departure for the day after to- + morrow; thus, counting a few days for delay, we shall see each + other on Wednesday or Thursday. + + Besides the different commissions I gave you, especially that + in the last letter about her house, which after our arrival + will be off your shoulders--but till then, for God's sake, be + obliging--besides all this, I say, I forgot to ask you to + order for me a hat from my Duport in your street, Chaussee + d'Antin. He has my measure, and knows how light I want it and + of what kind. Let him give the hat of this year's shape, not + too much exaggerated, for I do not know how you are dressing + yourself just now. Again, besides this, call in passing at + Dautremont's, my tailor's, on the Boulevards, and order him to + make me at once a pair of grey trousers. You will yourself + select a dark-grey colour for winter trousers; something + respectable, not striped, but plain and elastic. You are an + Englishman, so you know what I require. Dautremont will be + glad to hear that I am coming. Also a quiet black velvet + waistcoat, but with very little and no loud pattern, something + very quiet but very elegant. Should he not have the best + velvet of this kind, let him make a quiet, fine silk + waistcoat, but not too much open. If the servant could be got + for less than 80 francs, I should prefer it; but as you have + already found one, let the matter rest. + + My very dear friend, pardon me once more for troubling you, + but I must. In a few days we shall see each other, and embrace + for all this. + + I beg of you, for God's sake, do not say to any Poles that I + am coming so soon, nor to any Jewess either, as I should like + to reserve myself during the first few days only for you, + Grzymala, and Johnnie. Give them my love; to the latter I + shall write once more. + + I expect that the rooms will be ready. Write constantly to me, + three times a day if you like, whether you have anything to + say or not. Before leaving here I shall once more write to + you. + + + Monday. + + You are inappreciable! Take Rue Pigal [Pigalle], both houses, + without asking anybody. Make haste. If by taking both houses + you can diminish a little the price, well; if not, take them + for 2,500 francs. Do not let them slip out of your hands, for + we think them the best and most excellent. SHE regards you as + my most logical and best--and I would add: the most splenetic, + Anglo-Polish, from my soul beloved--friend. + + + [6.] + + The day after to-morrow, Thursday, at five o'clock in the + morning, we start, and on Friday at three, four, certainly at + five o'clock, I shall be in Rue Tronchet, No. 5. I beg of you + to inform the people there of this, I wrote to Johnnie to-day + to retain for me that valet, and order him to wait for me at + Rue Tronchet on Friday from noon. Should you have time to call + upon me at that time, we would most heartily embrace each + other. Once more my and my companion's most sincere thanks for + Rue Pigalle. + + Now, keep a sharp look-out on the tailor, he must have the + clothes ready by Friday morning, so that I can change my + clothes as soon as I come. Order him to take them to Rue + Tronchet, and deliver them there to the valet Tineau--if I + mistake not, that is his name. Likewise the hat from Dupont, + [FOOTNOTE: In the preceding letter it was Duport] and for that + I shall alter for you the second part of the Polonaise till + the last moment of my life. Yesterday's version also may not + please you, although I racked my brains with it for at least + eighty seconds. + + I have written out my manuscripts in good order. There are six + with your Polonaises, not counting the seventh, an impromptu, + which may perhaps be worthless--I do not know myself, it is + too new. But it would be well if it be not too much in the + style of Orlowski, Zimmermann, or Karsko-Konski, [FOOTNOTE: + Chopin's countryman, the pianist and composer Antoine Kontski] + or Sowinski, or other similar animals. For, according to my + reckoning, it might fetch me about 800 francs. That will be + seen afterwards. + + As you are such a clever man, you might also arrange that no + black thoughts and suffocating coughs shall annoy me in the + new rooms. Try to make me good. Change, if you can, many + episodes of my past. It would also not be a bad thing if I + should find a few years of great work accomplished. By this + you will greatly oblige me, also if you would make yourself + younger or bring about that we had never been born.--Your old + + FREDERICK. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + + +1839-1842. + + + +RETURN OF GEORGE SAND AND CHOPIN TO PARIS.--GEORGE SAND IN THE +RUE PIGALLE.--CHOPIN IN THE RUE TRONCHET: REMINISCENCES OF +BRINLEY RICHARDS AND MOSCHELES.--SOIREES AT LEO'S AND ST. CLOUD.- +-CHOPIN JOINS MADAME SAND IN THE RUE PIGALLE.--EXTRACTS FROM +GEORGE SAND'S CORRESPONDANCE; A LETTER OF MADAME SAND'S TO +CHOPIN; BALZAC ANECDOTES.--MADAME SAND AND CHOPIN DO NOT GO TO +NOHANT IN 1840.--COMPOSITIONS OF THIS PERIOD.--ABOUT CHOPIN AS A +PIANIST.--LETTERS WRITTEN TO FONTANA IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF +1841. + + + +Although Chopin and George Sand came to Paris towards the end of +October, 1839, months passed before the latter got into the house +which Fontana had taken for her. This we learn from a letter +written by her to her friend Gustave Papet, and dated Paris, +January, 1840, wherein we read:-- + + At last I am installed in the Rue Pigalle, 16, only since the + last two days, after having fumed, raged, stormed, and sworn + at the upholsterers, locksmith, &c., &c. What a long, + horrible, unbearable business it is to lodge one's self here! + + [FOOTNOTE: In the letter, dated Paris, October, 1839, + preceding, in the George Sand "Correspondance," the one from + which the above passage is extracted, occur the following + words: "Je suis enfin installee chez moi a Paris." Where this + chez moi was, I do not know.] + +How greatly the interiors of George Sand's pavilions in the Rue +Pigalle differed from those of Senor Gomez's villa and the cells +in the monastery of Valdemosa, may be gathered from Gutmann's +description of two of the apartments. + +[FOOTNOTE: I do not guarantee the correctness of all the +following details, although I found them in a sketch of Gutmann's +life inspired by himself ("Der Lieblings-schuler Chopin's", No. 3 +of "Schone Geister," by Bernhard Stavenow, Bremen, 1879), and +which he assured me was trustworthy. The reasons of my scepticism +are--1, Gutmann's imaginative memory and tendency to show himself +off to advantage; 2, Stavenow's love of fine writing and a good +story; 3, innumerable misstatements that can be indisputably +proved by documents.] + +Regarding the small salon, he gives only the general information +that it was quaintly fitted up with antique furniture. But of +George Sand's own room, which made a deeper impression upon him, +he mentions so many particulars--the brown carpet covering the +whole floor, the walls hung with a dark-brown ribbed cloth +(Ripsstoff), the fine paintings, the carved furniture of dark +oak, the brown velvet seats of the chairs, the large square bed, +rising but little above the floor, and covered with a Persian rug +(Teppich)--that it is easy to picture to ourselves the tout- +ensemble of its appearance. Gutmann tells us that he had an early +opportunity of making these observations, for Chopin visited his +pupil the very day after his arrival (?), and invited him at once +to call on George Sand in order to be introduced to her. When +Gutmann presented himself in the small salon above alluded to, he +found George Sand seated on an ottoman smoking a cigarette. She +received the young man with great cordiality, telling him that +his master had often spoken to her of him most lovingly. Chopin +entered soon after from an adjoining apartment, and then they all +went into the dining-room to have dinner. When they were seated +again in the cosy salon, and George Sand had lit another +cigarette, the conversation, which had touched on a variety of +topics, among the rest on Majorca, turned on art. It was then +that the authoress said to her friend: "Chop, Chop, show Gutmann +my room that he may see the pictures which Eugene Delacroix +painted for me." + +Chopin on arriving in Paris had taken up his lodgings in the Rue +Tronchet, No. 5, and resumed teaching. One of his pupils there +was Brinley Richards, who practised under him one of the books of +studies. Chopin also assisted the British musician in the +publication, by Troupenas, of his first composition, having +previously looked over and corrected it. Brinley Richards +informed me that Chopin, who played rarely in these lessons, +making his corrections and suggestions rather by word of mouth +than by example, was very languid, indeed so much so that he +looked as if he felt inclined to lie down, and seemed to say: "I +wish you would come another time." + +About this time, that is in the autumn or early in the winter of +1839, Moscheles came to Paris. We learn from his diary that at +Leo's, where he liked best to play, he met for the first time +Chopin, who had just returned from the country, and whose +acquaintance he was impatient to make. I have already quoted what +Moscheles said of Chopin's appearance--namely, that it was +exactly like [identificirt mit] his music, both being delicate +and dreamy [schwarmerisch]. His remarks on his great +contemporary's musical performances are, of course, still more +interesting to us. + + He played to me at my request, and now for the first time I + understand his music, and can also explain to myself the + enthusiasm of the ladies. His ad libitum playing, which with + the interpreters of his music degenerates into disregard of + time, is with him only the most charming originality of + execution; the dilettantish harsh modulations which strike me + disagreeably when I am playing his compositions no longer + shock me, because he glides lightly over them in a fairy-like + way with his delicate fingers; his piano is so softly breathed + forth that he does not need any strong forte in order to + produce the wished-for contrasts; it is for this reason that + one does not miss the orchestral-like effects which the German + school demands from a pianoforte-player, but allows one's self + to be carried away, as by a singer who, little concerned about + the accompaniment, entirely follows his feeling. In short, he + is an unicum in the world of pianists. He declares that he + loves my music very much, and at all events he knows it very + well. He played me some studies and his latest work, the + "Preludes," and I played him many of my compositions. + +In addition to this characterisation of the artist Chopin, +Moscheles' notes afford us also some glimpses of the man. "Chopin +was lively, merry, nay, exceedingly comical in his imitations of +Pixis, Liszt, and a hunchbacked pianoforte-player." Some days +afterwards, when Moscheles saw him at his own house, he found him +an altogether different Chopin:-- + + I called on him according to agreement with Ch. and E., who + are also quite enthusiastic about him, and who were + particularly struck with the "Prelude" in A flat major in 6/8 + time with the ever-recurring pedal A flat. Only the Countess + O. [Obreskoff] from St. Petersburg, who adores us artists en + bloc, was there, and some gentlemen. Chopin's excellent pupil + Gutmann played his master's manuscript Scherzo in C sharp + minor. Chopin himself played his manuscript Sonata in B flat + minor with the Funeral March. + +Gutmann relates that Chopin sent for him early in the morning of +the day following that on which he paid the above-mentioned visit +to George Sand, and said to him:-- + + Pardon me for disturbing you so early in the morning, but I + have just received a note from Moscheles, wherein he expresses + his joy at my return to Paris, and announces that he will + visit me at five in the afternoon to hear my new compositions. + Now I am unfortunately too weak to play my things to him; so + you must play. I am chiefly concerned about this Scherzo. + +Gutmann, who did not yet know the work (Op. 39), thereupon sat +down at Chopin's piano, and by dint of hard practising managed to +play it at the appointed hour from memory, and to the +satisfaction of the composer. Gutmann's account does not tally in +several of its details with Moscheles'. As, however, Moscheles +does not give us reminiscences, but sober, business-like notes +taken down at the time they refer to, and without any attempt at +making a nice story, he is the safer authority. Still, thus much +at least we may assume to be certain:--Gutmann played the +Scherzo, Op. 39, on this occasion, and his rendering of it was +such as to induce his master to dedicate it to him. + +Comte de Perthuis, the adjutant of King Louis Philippe, who had +heard Chopin and Moscheles repeatedly play the latter's Sonata in +E flat major for four hands, spoke so much and so +enthusiastically about it at Court that the royal family, wishing +"to have also the great treat," invited the two artists to come +to St. Cloud. The day after this soiree Moscheles wrote in his +diary:-- + + Yesterday was a memorable day...at nine o'clock Chopin and I, + with Perthuis and his amiable wife, who had called for us, + drove out to St. Cloud in the heaviest showers of rain, and + felt so much the more comfortable when we entered the + brilliant, well-lighted palace. We passed through many state- + rooms into a salon carre, where the royal family was assembled + en petit comite. At a round table sat the queen with an + elegant work-basket before her (perhaps to embroider a purse + for me?); near her were Madame Adelaide, the Duchess of + Orleans, and ladies-in-waiting. The noble ladies were as + affable as if we had been old acquaintances...Chopin played + first a number of nocturnes and studies, and was admired and + petted like a favourite. After I also had played some old and + new studies, and been honoured with the same applause, we + seated ourselves together at the instrument--he again playing + the bass, which he always insists on doing. The close + attention of the little circle during my E flat major Sonata + was interrupted only by the exclamations "divine!" + "delicious!" After the Andante the queen whispered to a lady- + in-waiting: "Would it not be indiscreet to ask them to play it + again?" which naturally was equivalent to a command to repeat + it, and so we played it again with increased abandon. In the + Finale we gave ourselves up to a musical delirium. Chopin's + enthusiasm throughout the whole piece must, I believe, have + infected the auditors, who now burst forth into eulogies of + us. Chopin played again alone with the same charm, and called + forth the same sympathy as before; then I improvised... + + [FOOTNOTE: In the "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik" of November 12, + 1839, we read that Chopin improvised on Grisar's "La Folle," + Moscheles on themes by Mozart. La Folle is a romance the + success of which was so great that a wit called it une folie + de salon. It had for some years an extraordinary popularity, + and made the composer a reputation.] + +To show his gratitude, the king sent the two artists valuable +presents: to Chopin a gold cup and saucer, to Moscheles a +travelling case. "The king," remarked Chopin, "gave Moscheles a +travelling case to get the sooner rid of him." The composer was +fond of and had a talent for throwing off sharp and witty +sayings; but it is most probable that on this occasion the words +were prompted solely by the fancy, and that their ill-nature was +only apparent. Or must we assume that the man Moscheles was less +congenial to Chopin than the artist? Moscheles was a Jew, and +Chopin disliked the Jews. As, however, the tempting opportunity +afforded by the nature of the king's present to Moscheles is +sufficient to account for Chopin's remark, and no proofs +warranting a less creditable explanation are forthcoming, it +would be unfair to listen to the suggestions of suspicion. + +George Sand tells us in the "Histoire de ma Vie" that Chopin +found his rooms in the Rue Tronchet cold and damp, and felt +sorely the separation from her. The consequence of this was that +the saintly woman, the sister of mercy, took, after some time, +pity upon her suffering worshipper, and once more sacrificed +herself. Not to misrepresent her account, the only one we have, +of this change in the domestic arrangements of the two friends, I +shall faithfully transcribe her delicately-worded statements:-- + + He again began to cough alarmingly, and I saw myself forced + either to give in my resignation as nurse, or to pass my life + in impossible journeyings to and fro. He, in order to spare me + these, came every day to tell me with a troubled face and a + feeble voice that he was wonderfully well. He asked if he + might dine with us, and he went away in the evening, shivering + in his cab. Seeing how he took to heart his exclusion from our + family life, I offered to let to him one of the pavilions, a + part of which I could give up to him. He joyfully accepted. He + had there his room, received there his friends, and gave there + his lessons without incommoding me. Maurice had the room above + his; I occupied the other pavilion with my daughter. + +Let us see if we cannot get some glimpses of the life in the +pavilions of the Rue Pigalle, No. 16. In the first months of +1840, George Sand was busy with preparations for the performance +of her drama Cosima, moving heaven and earth to bring about the +admission of her friend Madame Dorval into the company of the +Theatre-Francais, where her piece, in which she wished this lady +to take the principal part, was to be performed. Her son Maurice +passed his days in the studio of Eugene Delacroix; and Solange +gave much time to her lessons, and lost much over her toilet. Of +Grzymala we hear that he is always in love with all the beautiful +women, and rolls his big eyes at the tall Borgnotte and the +little Jacqueline; and that Madame Marliani is always up to her +ears in philosophy. This I gathered from George Sand's +Correspondance, where, as the reader will see presently, more is +to be found. + +George Sand to Chopin; Cambrai, August 13, 1840:-- + + I arrived at noon very tired, for it is 45 and 35 leagues from + Paris to this place. We shall relate to you good stories of + the bourgeois of Cambrai. They are beaux, they are stupid, + they are shopkeepers; they are the sublime of the genre. If + the Historical Procession does not console us, we are capable + of dying of ennui at the politeness which people show us. We + are lodged like princes. But what hosts, what conversations, + what dinners! We laugh at them when we are by ourselves, but + when we are before the enemy, what a pitiable figure we + selves, make! I am no longer desirous to see you come; but I + aspire to depart very quickly, and I understand why you do not + wish to give concerts. It is not unlikely that Pauline Viardot + may not sing the day after to-morrow, for want of a hall. We + shall, perhaps, leave a day sooner. I wish I were already far + away from the Cambresians, male and female. + + Good night! I am going to bed, I am overcome with fatigue. + + Love your old woman [votre vieille] as she loves you. + +From a letter written two days later to her son, we learn that +Madame Viardot after all gave two concerts at Cambrai. But +amusing as the letter is, we will pass it over as not concerning +us here. Of another letter (September 20,1840), likewise +addressed to her son, I shall quote only one passage, although it +contains much interesting matter about the friends and visitors +of the inmates of the pavilions of the Rue Pigalle, No. 16:-- + + Balzac came to dine here the day before yesterday. He is quite + mad. He has discovered the blue rose, for which the + horticultural societies of London and Belgium have promised a + reward of 500,000 francs (qui dit, dit-il). He will sell, + moreover, every grain at a hundred sous, and for this great + botanic production he will lay out only fifty centimes. + Hereupon Rollinat asked him naively:-- + + "Well, why, then, do you not set about it at once?" + + To which Balzac replied: + + "Oh! because I have so many other things to do; but I shall + set about it one of these days." + +Stavenow, in Schone Geister (see foot-note, p. 70), tells an +anecdote of Balzac, which may find a place here:-- + + One day Balzac had invited George Sand, Chopin, and Gutmann to + dinner. On that occasion he related to them that the next day + he would have to meet a bill of 30,000 francs, but that he had + not a sou in his pocket. Gutmann asked what he intended to do? + "Well," replied Balzac, "what shall I do? I wait quietly. + Before to-morrow something unexpected may turn up, and give me + the means to pay the sum." Scarcely had he said this when the + door bell rang. The servant entered and announced that a + gentleman was there who urgently wished to speak with M. + Balzac. + + Balzac rose and left the room. After a quarter of an hour he + came back in high spirits and said: + + "The 30,000 francs are found. My publisher wishes to bring out + a new edition of my works, and he offers me just this sum." + + George Sand, Chopin, and Gutmann looked at each other with a + smile, and thought--"Another one!" + + +George Sand to her son; Paris, September 4, 1840:-- + + We have had here great shows of troops. They have fione the + gendarme and cuisse the national guardsman. All Paris was in + agitation, as if there were to be a revolution. Nothing took + place, except that some passers-by were knocked down by the + police. + + There were places in Paris where it was dangerous to pass, as + these gentlemen assassinated right and left for the pleasure + of getting their hands into practice. Chopin, who will not + believe anything, has at last the proof and certainty of it. + + Madame Marliani is back. I dined at her house the day before + yesterday with the Abbe de Lamennais. Yesterday Leroux dined + here. Chopin embraces you a thousand times. He is always qui, + qui, qui, me, me, me. Rollinat smokes like a steam-boat. + Solange has been good for two or three days, but yesterday she + had a fit of temper [acces de fureur]. It is the Rebouls, the + English neighbours, people and dogs, who turn her head. + +In the summer of 1840 George Sand did not go to Nohant, and +Chopin seems to have passed most of, if not all, the time in +Paris. From a letter addressed to her half-brother, we learn that +the reason of her staying away from her country-seat was a wish +to economise:-- + + If you will guarantee my being able to pass the summer at + Nohant for 4,000 francs, I will go. But I have never been + there without spending 1,500 francs per month, and as I do not + spend here the half of this, it is neither the love of work, + nor that of spending, nor that of glory, which makes me + stay... + +George Sand's fits of economy never lasted very long. At any +rate, in the summer of 1841 we find her again at Nohant. But as +it is my intention to treat of Chopin's domestic life at Nohant +and in Paris with some fulness in special chapters, I shall now +turn to his artistic doings. + +In 1839 there appeared only one work by Chopin, Op. 28, the +"Preludes," but in the two following years as many as sixteen-- +namely, Op. 35-50. Here is an enumeration of these compositions, +with the dates of publication and the dedications. + +[FOOTNOTE: Both the absence of dedications in the case of some +compositions, and the persons to whom others are dedicated, have +a biographical significance. They tell us of the composer's +absence from Paris and aristocratic society, and his return to +them.] + +The "Vingt-quatre Preludes," Op. 28, published in September, +1839, have a twofold dedication, the French and English editions +being dedicated a son ami Pleyel, and the German to Mr. J. C. +Kessler. The publications of 1840 are: in May--Op. 35, "Sonate" +(B flat minor); Op. 36, "Deuxieme Impromptu" (F sharp minor); Op. +37, "Deux Nocturnes" (G minor and G major); in July--Op. 42, +"Valse" (A flat major); in September--Op. 38, "Deuxieme Ballade" +(F major), dedicated to Mr. R. Schumann; in October--Op. 39, +"Troisieme Scherzo" (C sharp minor), dedicated to Mr. A. Gutmann; +in November--Op. 40, "Deux Polonaises" (A major and C minor), +dedicated to Mr. J. Fontana; and in December--Op. 41, "Quatre +Mazurkas" (C sharp and E minor, B and A flat major), dedicated to +E. Witwicki. Those of 1841 are: in October--Op. 43, "Tarantelle" +(A flat major), without any dedication; and in November--Op. 44, +"Polonaise" (F sharp minor), dedicated to Madame la Princesse +Charles de Beauvau; Op. 45, "Prelude" (C sharp minor), dedicated +to Madame la Princesse Elizabeth Czernicheff; Op. 46, "Allegro de +Concert" (A major), dedicated to Mdlle. F. Muller; Op. 47, +"Troisieme Ballade" (A flat major), dedicated to Mdlle. P. de +Noailles; Op. 48, "Deux Nocturnes" (C minor and F sharp minor), +dedicated to Mdlle. L. Duperre; Op. 49, "Fantaisie" (F minor), +dedicated to Madame la Princesse C. de Souzzo; and Op. 50, "Trois +Mazurkas" (G and A flat major, and C sharp minor), dedicated to +Mr. Leon Smitkowski. + +Chopin's genius had now reached the most perfect stage of its +development, and was radiating with all the intensity of which +its nature was capable. Notwithstanding such later creations as +the fourth "Ballade," Op. 52, the "Barcarolle," Op. 60, and the +"Polonaise," Op. 53, it can hardly be said that the composer +surpassed in his subsequent works those which he had published in +recent years, works among which were the first three ballades, +the preludes, and a number of stirring polonaises and charming +nocturnes, mazurkas, and other pieces. + +However, not only as a creative artist, but also as an executant, +Chopin was at the zenith of his power. His bodily frame had +indeed suffered from disease, but as yet it was not seriously +injured, at least, not so seriously as to disable him to +discharge the functions of a musical interpreter. Moreover, the +great majority of his compositions demanded from the executant +other qualities than physical strength, which was indispensable +in only a few of his works. A writer in the "Menestrel" (April +25, 1841) asks himself the question whether Chopin had progressed +as a pianist, and answers: "No, for he troubles himself little +about the mechanical secrets of the piano; in him there is no +charlatanism; heart and genius alone speak, and in these respects +his privileged organisation has nothing to learn." Or rather let +us say, Chopin troubled himself enough about the mechanical +secrets of the piano, but not for their own sakes: he regarded +them not as ends, but as means to ends, and although mechanically +he may have made no progress, he had done so poetically. Love and +sorrow, those most successful teachers of poets and musicians, +had not taught him in vain. + +It was a fortunate occurrence that at this period of his career +Chopin was induced to give a concert, and equally fortunate that +men of knowledge, judgment, and literary ability have left us +their impressions of the event. The desirability of replenishing +an ever-empty purse, and the instigations of George Sand, were no +doubt the chief motive powers which helped the composer to +overcome his dislike to playing in public. + +"Do you practise when the day of the concert approaches?" asked +Lenz. [FOOTNOTE: Die grossen Pianoforte-Virtusen unstrer Zeit, p. +36.] "It is a terrible time for me," was Chopin's answer; "I +dislike publicity, but it is part of my position. I shut myself +up for a fortnight and play Bach. That is my preparation; I never +practise my own compositions." What Gutmann told me confirms +these statements. Chopin detested playing in public, and became +nervous when the dreaded time approached. He then fidgeted a +great deal about his clothes, and felt very unhappy if one or the +other article did not quite fit or pinched him a little. On one +occasion Chopin, being dissatisfied with his own things, made use +of a dress-coat and shirt of his pupil Gutmann. By the way, the +latter, who gave me this piece of information, must have been in +those days of less bulk, and, I feel inclined to add, of less +height, than he was when I became acquainted with him. + +Leaving the two concerts given by Chopin in 1841 and 1842 to be +discussed in detail in the next chapter, I shall now give a +translation of the Polish letters which he wrote in the summer +and autumn of 1841 to Fontana. The letters numbered 4 and 5 are +those already alluded to on p. 24 (foot-note 3) which Karasowski +gives as respectively dated by Chopin: "Palma, November 17, +1838"; and "Valdemosa, January 9, 1839." But against these dates +militate the contents: the mention of Troupenas, with whom the +composer's business connection began only in 1840 (with the +Sonata, Op. 35); the mention of the Tarantelle, which was not +published until 1841; the mention (contradictory to an earlier +inquiry--see p. 30) of the sending back of a valet nowhere else +alluded to; the mention of the sending and arrival of a piano, +irreconcilable with the circumstances and certain statements in +indisputably correctly-dated letters; and, lastly, the absence of +all mention of Majorca and the Preludes, those important topics +in the letters really from that place and of that time. +Karasowski thinks that the letters numbered 1, 2, 3, and 9 were +of the year 1838, and those numbered 6, 7, and 8 of the year +1839; but as the "Tarantelle," Op. 43, the "Polonaise," Op. 44, +the "Prelude," Op. 45, the "Allegro de Concert," Op. 46, the +third "Ballade," Op. 47, the two "Nocturnes," Op. 48, and the +"Fantaisie," Op. 49, therein mentioned, were published in 1841, I +have no doubt that they are of the year 1841. The mention in the +ninth letter of the Rue Pigalle, 16, George Sand's and Chopin's +abode in Paris, of Pelletan, the tutor of George Sand's son +Maurice, and of the latter's coming to Paris, speaks likewise +against 1838 and for 1841, 1840 being out of the question, as +neither George Sand nor Chopin was in this year at Nohant. What +decides me especially to reject the date 1839 for the seventh +letter is that Pauline Garcia had then not yet become the wife of +Louis Viardot. There is, moreover, an allusion to a visit of +Pauline Viardot to Nohant in the summer of 1841 in one of George +Sand's letters (August 13, 1841). In this letter occurs a passage +which is important for the dating both of the fifth and the +seventh letter. As to the order of succession of the letters, it +may be wrong, it certainly does not altogether satisfy me; but it +is the result of long and careful weighing of all the pros and +cons. I have some doubt about the seventh letter, which, read by +the light of George Sand's letter, ought perhaps to be placed +after the ninth. But the seventh letter is somewhat of a puzzle. +Puzzles, owing to his confused statements and slipshod style, +are, however, not a rare thing in Chopin's correspondence. The +passage in the above-mentioned letter of George Sand runs thus: +"Pauline leaves me on the 16th [of August]; Maurice goes on the +17th to fetch his sister, who should be here on the 23rd." + + + [I.] Nohant [1841]. + + My very dear friend,--I arrived here yesterday, Thursday. For + Schlesinger [FOOTNOTE: The Paris music-publisher.] I have + composed a Prelude in C sharp minor [Op. 45], which is short, + as he wished it. Seeing that, like Mechetti's [FOOTNOTE: The + Vienna music-publisher.] Beethoven, this has to come out at + the New Year, do not yet give my Polonaise to Leo (although + you have already transcribed it), for to-morrow I shall send + you a letter for Mechetti, in which I shall explain to him + that, if he wishes something short, I will give him for the + Album instead of the mazurka (which is already old) the NEW + prelude. It is well modulated, and I can send it without + hesitation. He ought to give me 300 francs for it, n'est-ce + pas? Par-dessus le marche he may get the mazurka, only he must + not print it in the Album. + + Should Troupenas, [FOOTNOTE: Eugene Troupenas, the Paris music- + publisher.] that is, Masset, [FOOTNOTE: Masset (his daughter, + Madame Colombier, informed me) was the partner of Troupenas, + and managed almost the whole business, Troupenas being in weak + health, which obliged him to pass the last ten winters of his + life at Hyeres.] make any difficulties, do not give him the + pieces a farthing cheaper, and tell him that if he does not + wish to print them all--which I should not like--I could sell + them at a better price to others. + + Now of something else. + + You will find in the right-hand drawer of my writing-desk (in + the place where the cash-box always is) a sealed parcel + addressed to Madame Sand. Wrap this parcel in wax-cloth, seal + it, and send it by post to Madame Sand's address. Sew on the + address with a strong thread, that it may not come off the wax- + cloth. It is Madame Sand who asks me to do this. I know you + will do it perfectly well. The key, I think, is on the top + shelf of the little cabinet with the mirror. If it should not + be there, get a locksmith to open the drawer. + + I love you as an old friend. Embrace Johnnie.--Your + + FREDERICK. + + + [2.] Nohant [1841]. + + Thanks for forwarding the parcel. I send you the Prelude, in + large characters for Schlesinger and in small characters for + Mechetti. Clip the MS. of the Polonaise to the same size, + number the pages, and fold it like the Prelude, add to the + whole my letter to Mechetti, and deliver it into Leo's own + hands, praying him to send it by the first mail, as Mechetti + is waiting for it. + + The letter to Haslinger [FOOTNOTE: The Vienna music- + publisher.] post yourself; and if you do not find Schlesinger + at home leave the letter, but do not give him the MS. until he + tells you that he accepts the Prelude as a settlement of the + account. If he does not wish to acquire the right of + publication for London, tell him to inform me of it by letter. + Do not forget to add the opus on the Polonaise and the + following number on the Prelude--that is, on the copies that + are going to Vienna. + + I do not know how Czerniszewowa is spelt. Perhaps you will + find under the vase or on the little table near the bronze + ornament a note from her, from her daughter, or from the + governess; if not, I should be glad if you would go--they know + you already as my friend--to the Hotel de Londres in the Place + Vendome, and beg in my name the young Princess to give you her + name in writing and to say whether it is Tscher or Tcher. Or + better still, ask for Mdlle. Krause, the governess; tell her + that I wish to give the young Princess a surprise; and inquire + of her whether it is usual to write Elisabeth and + Tschernichef, or ff. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin dedicated the Prelude, + Op. 45, to Mdlle. la Princesse Elisabeth Czernicheff.] + + If you do not wish to do this, don't be bashful with me, and + write that you would rather be excused, in which case I shall + find it out by some other means. But do not yet direct + Schlesinger to print the title. Tell him I don't know how to + spell. Nevertheless, I hope that you will find at my house + some note from them on which will be the name.... + + I conclude because it is time for the mail, and I wish that my + letter should reach Vienna without fail this week. + + + [3.] Nohant, Sunday [1841]. + + I send you the Tarantella [Op. 43]. Please to copy it. But + first go to Schlesinger, or, better still, to Troupenas, and + see the collection of Rossini's songs published by Troupenas. + In it there is a Tarantella in F. I do not know whether it is + written in 6/8 or 12/8 time. As to my composition, it does not + matter which way it is written, but I should prefer it to be + like Rossini's. Therefore, if the latter be in 12/8 or in C + with triplets, make in copying one bar out of two. It will be + thus: [here follows one bar of music, bars four and five of + the Tarantella as it is printed.] [FOOTNOTE: This is a + characteristic instance of Chopin's carelessness in the + notation of his music. To write his Tarantella in 12/8 or C + would have been an egregious mistake. How Chopin failed to see + this is inexplicable to me.] + + I beg of you also to write out everything in full, instead of + marking repeats. Be quick, and give it to Leo with my letter + to Schubert. [FOOTNOTE: Schuberth, the Hamburg music- + publisher.] You know he leaves for Hamburg before the 8th of + next month, and I should not like to lose 500 francs. + + As regards Troupenas, there is no hurry. If the time of my + manuscript is not right, do not deliver the latter, but make a + copy of it. Besides this, make a third copy of it for Wessel. + It will weary you to copy this nasty thing so often; but I + hope I shall not compose anything worse for a long time. I + also beg of you to look up the number of the last opus-- + namely, the last mazurkas, or rather the waltz published by + Paccini [FOOTNOTE: Pacini, a Paris music-publisher. He + published the Waltz in A flat major, Op. 42, in the summer of + 1840, if not earlier.]--and give the following number to the + Tarantella. + + I am keeping my mind easy, for I know you are willing and + clever. I trust you will receive from me no more letters + burdened with commissions. Had I not been with only one foot + at home before my departure you would have none of these + unpleasantnesses. Attend to the Tarantella, give it to Leo, + and tell him to keep the money he may receive till I come + back. Once more I beg of you to excuse my troubling you so + much. To-day I received the letter from my people in Poland + you sent me. Tell the portier to give you all the letters + addressed to me. + + + [4.] + + My dear friend,--As you are so good, be so to the end. Go to + the transport commission-office of Mr. Hamberg et Levistal + successeurs de Mr. Corstel fils aine et Cie, rue des Marais + St. Martin, No. 51, a Paris, and direct them to send at once + to Pleyel for the piano I am to have, so that it may go off + the next day. Say at the office that it is to be forwarded par + un envoy [sic] accelere et non ordinaire. Such a transport + costs of course far more, but is incomparably quicker. It will + probably cost five francs per cwt. I shall pay here. Only + direct them to give you a receipt, on which they will write + how many cwts. the piano weighs, when it leaves, and when it + will arrive at Chateauroux. If the piano is conveyed by + roulage [land-transport]--which goes straight to Toulouse and + leaves goods only on the route--the address must not be a la + Chatre, [FOOTNOTE: Instead of "la Chatre" we have in + Karasowski's Polish book "la Chatie," which ought to warn us + not to attribute all the peculiar French in this letter to + Chopin, who surely knew how to spell the name of the town in + the neighbourhood of the familiar Nohant.] but Madame + Dudevant, a Chateauroux, as I wrote above. [FOOTNOTE: "Address + of the piano: Madame Dudevant, a Chateauroux. Bureau Restant + chez M. Vollant Patureau." This is what Chopin wrote above.] + At the last-mentioned place the agency has been informed, and + will forward it at once. You need not send me the receipt, we + should require it only in case of some unforeseen reclamation. + The correspondent in Chateauroux says that PAR LA VOYE + ACCELERE [SIC] it will come from Paris in four days. If this + is so, let him bind himself to deliver the piano at + Chateauroux in four or five days. + + Now to other business. + + Should Pleyel make any difficulties, apply to Erard; I think + that the latter in all probability ought to be serviceable to + you. Only do not act hastily, and first ascertain how the + matter really stands. + + As to the Tarantella, seal it and send it to Hamburg. To- + morrow I shall write you of other affairs, concerning + Troupenas, &c. + + Embrace Johnnie, and tell him to write. + + + [5.] + + Thanks for all the commissions you have executed so well. To- + day, that is on the 9th, I received the piano and the other + things. Do not send my little bust to Warsaw, it would + frighten them, leave it in the press. Kiss Johnnie for his + letter. I shall write him a few lines shortly. + + To-morrow I shall very likely send back my old servant, who + loses his wits here. He is an honest man and knows how to + serve, but he is tiresome, and makes one lose one's patience. + I shall send him back, telling him to wait for me in Paris. If + he appears at the house, do not be frightened. + + Latterly the weather has been only so-so. + + The man in Chateauroux was waiting three days for the piano; + yesterday, after receiving your letter, I gave orders that he + should be recalled. To-day I do not yet know what kind of tone + the piano has, as it is not yet unpacked; this great event is + to take place to-morrow. As to the delay and misunderstanding + in sending it, do not make any inquiries; let the matter rest, + it is not worth a quarrel. You did the best you could. A + little ill-humour and a few days lost in expectation are not + worth a pinch of snuff. Forget, therefore, my commissions and + your transaction; next time, if God permits us to live, + matters will turn out better. + + I write you these few words late at night. Once more I thank + you, most obliging of men, for the commissions, which are not + yet ended, for now comes the turn of the Troupenas business, + which will hang on your shoulders. I shall write to you on + this subject more fully some other time, and to-day I wish you + good night. But don't have dreams like Johnnie--that I died; + but rather dream that I am about to be born, or something of + the sort. + + In fact, I am feeling now as calm and serene as a baby in + swaddling-clothes; and if somebody wished to put me in leading- + strings, I should be very glad--nota bene, with a cap thickly + lined with wadding on my head, for I feel that at every moment + I should stumble and turn upside down. Unfortunately, instead + of leading-strings there are probably awaiting me crutches, if + I approach old age with my present step. I once dreamt that I + was dying in a hospital, and this is so strongly rooted in my + mind that I cannot forget it--it is as if I had dreamt it + yesterday. If you survive me, you will learn whether we may + believe in dreams. + + And now I often dream with my eyes open what may be said to + have neither rhyme nor reason in it. + + That is why I write you such a foolish letter, is it? + + Send me soon a letter from my people, and love your old + + FREDERICK. + + + [6.] Nohant [1841]. + + Thanks for your very kind letter. Unseal all you judge + necessary. + + Do not give the manuscripts to Troupenas till Schubert has + informed you of the day of publication. The answer will very + likely come soon through Leo. + + What a pity that the Tarantella is gone to Berlin, for, as you + know from Schubert's letter, Liszt is mixed up in this + monetary affair, and I may have some unpleasantness. He is a + thin-skinned Hungarian, and may think that I do not trust him + because I directed that the manuscripts should not be given + otherwise than for cash. I do not know, but I have a + presentiment of a disagreeable mess. Do not say anything about + it to the ailing Leo; go and see him if you think it + necessary, give him my compliments and thanks (although + undeserved), and ask pardon for troubling him so much. After + all, it is kind of him to take upon him the forwarding of my + things. Give my compliments, also to Pleyel, and ask him to + excuse my not writing to him (do not say anything about his + sending me a very inferior piano). + + I beg of you to put into the letter-box at the Exchange + yourself the letter to my parents, but I say do it yourself, + and before 4 o'clock. Excuse my troubling you, but you know of + what great importance my letter is to my people. + + Escudier has very likely sent you that famous album. If you + wish you may ask Troupenas to get you a copy as if it were for + me; but if you don't wish, say nothing. + + [FOOTNOTE: Leon Escudier, I suppose. The brothers Marie and + Leon Escudier established a music business in the latter part + of the fourth decade of this century; but when soon after both + married and divided their common property, Marie got their + journal "La France Musicale" and Leon the music-business. They + wrote and published together various books on music and + musicians.] + + Still one more bother. + + At your leisure transcribe once more this unlucky Tarantella, + which will be sent to Wessel when the day [of publication] is + known. If I tire you so much with this Tarentella, you may be + sure that it is for the last time. From here, I am sure you + will have no more manuscript from me. If there should not be + any news from Schubert within a week, please write to me. In + that case you would give the manuscript to Troupenas. But I + shall write him about it. + + + [7.] Nohant [1841], Friday evening. + + My dear Julius,--I send you a letter for Bonnet; read, seal, + and deliver it. And if in passing through the streets in which + you know I can lodge, you find something suitable for me, + please write to me. Just now the condition about the staircase + exists no longer. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin felt so much stronger that + high stairs were no longer any objection to lodgings.] I also + send you a letter to Dessauer [FOOTNOTE: Joseph Dessauer, a + native of Prague, best known by his songs. He stayed in Paris + in 1833, and afterwards settled in Vienna. George Sand + numbered him among her friends.] in answer to his letter which + Madame Deller sent me from Austria. He must already be back to + Paris; be sure and ask Schlesinger, who will be best able to + inform you of this. + + Do not give Dessauer many particulars about me; do not tell + him that you are looking for rooms, nor Anthony either, for he + will mention it to Mdlle. de Rozieres, and she is a babbler + and makes the least thing a subject for gossip. Some of her + gossipings have already reached me here in a strange way. You + know how great things sometimes grow out of nothing if they + pass through a mouth with a loose tongue. Much could be said + on this head. + + As to the unlucky Tarantella, you may give it to Troupenas + (that is, to Masset); but, if you think otherwise, send it by + post to Wessel, only insist on his answering at once that he + has received it. The weather has been charming here for the + last few days, but my music--is ugly. Madame Viardot spent a + fortnight here; we occupied ourselves less with music than + with other things. + + Please write to me whatever you like, but write. + + May Johnnie be in good health! + + But remember to write on Troupenas's copy: Hamburg, Schubert; + Wessel, London. + + In a few days I shall send you a letter for Mechetti in + Vienna, to whom I promised to give some compositions. If you + see Dessauer or Schlesinger, ask if it is absolutely necessary + to pay postage for the letters sent to Vienna.--I embrace you, + adieu. + + CHOPIN. + + + [8.] + + Nohant, Sunday [1841]. + + What you have done you have done well. Strange world! Masset + is a fool, so also is Pelletan. Masset knew of Pacini's waltz + and that I promised it to the "Gazette" for the Album. I did + not wish to make any advances to him. If he does not wish them + at 600 francs, with London (the price of my USUAL manuscripts + was 300 francs with him)--three times five being fifteen--I + should have to give so much labour for 1,500 francs--that + cannot be. So much the more as I told him when I had the first + conversation with him that it might happen that I could not + let him have my things at this price. For instance, he cannot + expect that I should give him twelve Etudes or a new Methode + de Piano for 300 francs. The Allegro maestoso ["Allegro de + Concert," Op. 46] which I send you to-day I cannot give for + 300 francs, but only for 600 francs, nor the "Fantasia" [Op. + 49], for which I ask 500 francs. Nevertheless, the "Ballade" + [the third, Op. 47], the Nocturnes ["Deux Nocturnes," Op. 48], + and Polonaise [F sharp minor, Op. 44], I shall let him have at + 300 francs, for he has already formerly printed such things. + In one word, for Paris I give these five compositions for + 2,000 francs. If he does not care for them, so much the + better. I say it entre nous--for Schlesinger will most + willingly buy them. But I should not like him to take me for a + man who does not keep his word in an agreement. "Il n'y avait + qu'une convention facile d'honnete homme a honnete homme." + therefore, he should not complain of my terms, for they are + very easy. I want nothing but to come out of this affair + respectably. You know that I do not sell myself. But tell him + further that if I were desirous of taking advantage of him or + of cheating him, I could write fifteen things per year, but + worthless ones, which he would buy at 300 francs and I would + have a better income. Would it be an honest action? + + My dear friend, tell him that I write seldom, and spend but + little. He must not think that I wish to raise the price. But + when you yourself see my manuscript flies, [FOOTNOTE: An + allusion to his small, fine writing.] you will agree with me + that I may ask 600 francs when I was paid 300 francs for the + Tarantella and 500 for the Bolero. + + For God's sake take good care of the manuscripts, do not + squeeze, dirty, or tear them. I know you are not capable of + doing anything of the sort, but I love my WRITTEN TEDIOUSNESS + [NUDY, tediousness; NUTY, notes] so much that I always fear + that something might happen to them. + + To-morrow you will receive the Nocturne, and at the end of the + week the Ballade and Fantasia; I cannot get my writing done + sooner. Each of these things you will transcribe; your copies + will remain in Paris. If copying wearies you, console yourself + with thinking that you are doing it for THE REMISSION OF YOUR + SINS. I should not like to give my little spider-feet to any + copyist who would daub coarsely. Once more I make this + request, for had I again to write these eighteen pages, I + should most certainly go wrong in my mind. + + I send you a letter from Hartel. + + Try to get another valet instead of the one you have. I shall + probably be in Paris during the first days of November. To- + morrow I will write to you again. + + Monday +morning. + + On reading your letter attentively, I see that Masset does not + ask for Paris. Leave this point untouched if you can. Mention + only 3,000 francs pour les deux pays, and 2,000 francs for + Paris itself if he particularly asks about it. Because la + condition des deux pays is still easier, and for me also more + convenient. If he should not want it, it must be because he + seeks an opportunity for breaking with me. In that case, wait + for his answer from London. Write to him openly and frankly, + but always politely, and act cautiously and coolly, but mind, + not to me, for you know how much loves you your... + + + [9.] Nohant [1841]. + + My dear friend,--You would be sure to receive my letters and + compositions. You have read the German letters, sealed them, + and done everything I asked you, have you not? As to Wessel, + he is a fool and a cheat. Write him whatever you like, but + tell him that I do not intend to give up my rights to the + Tarantella, as he did not send it back in time. If he + sustained losses by my compositions, it is most likely owing + to the foolish titles he gave them, in spite of my directions. + Were I to listen to the voice of my soul, I would not send him + anything more after these titles. Say as many sharp things to + him as you can. + + [FOOTNOTE: Here are some specimens of the publisher's + ingenious inventiveness:--"Adieu a Varsovie" (Rondeau, Op. 1), + "Hommage a Mozart" (Variations, Op. 2), "La Gaite" + (Introduction et Polonaise, Op. 3), "La Posiana" (Rondeau a la + Mazur, Op. 5), "Murmures de la Seine" (Nocturnes, Op. 9), "Les + Zephirs" (Nocturnes, Op. 15), "Invitation a la Valse" (Valse, + Op. 18), "Souvenir d'Andalousie" (Bolero, Op. 19), "Le banquet + infernal" (Premier Scherzo, Op. 20), "Ballade ohne Worte" + [Ballad without words] (Ballade, Op. 23), "Les Plaintives" + (Nocturnes, Op. 27), "La Meditation" (Deuxieme Scherzo, Op. + 31), "Il lamento e la consolazione" (Nocturnes, Op. 32), "Les + Soupirs" (Nocturnes, Op. 37), and "Les Favorites" (Polonaises, + Op. 40). The mazurkas generally received the title of + "Souvenir de la Pologne."] + + Madame Sand thanks you for the kind words accompanying the + parcel. Give directions that my letters may be delivered to + Pelletan, Rue Pigal [i.e., Pigalle], 16, and impress it very + strongly on the portier. The son of Madame Sand will be in + Paris about the 16th. I shall send you, through him, the MS. + of the Concerto ["Allegro de Concert"] and the Nocturnes [Op. + 46 and 48]. + +These letters of the romantic tone-poet to a friend and fellow- +artist will probably take the reader by surprise, nay, may even +disillusionise him. Their matter is indeed very suggestive of a +commercial man writing to one of his agents. Nor is this feature, +as the sequel will show, peculiar to the letters just quoted. +Trafficking takes up a very large part of Chopin's Parisian +correspondence; [FOOTNOTE: I indicate by this phrase +comprehensively the whole correspondence since his settling in +the French capital, whether written there or elsewhere.] of the +ideal within him that made him what he was as an artist we catch, +if any, only rare glimmerings and glimpses. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + + +TWO PUBLIC CONCERTS, ONE IN 1841 AND ANOTHER IN 1842. --CHOPIN'S +STYLE OF PLAYING: TECHNICAL QUALITIES; FAVOURABLE PHYSICAL +CONDITIONS; VOLUME OF TONE; USE OF THE PEDALS; SPIRITUAL +QUALITIES; TEMPO RUBATO; INSTRUMENTS.--HIS MUSICAL SYMPATHIES AND +ANTIPATHIES.--OPINIONS ON MUSIC AND MUSICIANS. + + + +The concert which Chopin gave in 1841, after several years of +retirement, took place at Pleyel's rooms on Monday, the 26th of +April. It was like his subsequent concerts a semi-public rather +than a public one, for the audience consisted of a select circle +of pupils, friends, and partisans who, as Chopin told Lenz, took +the tickets in advance and divided them among themselves. As most +of the pupils belonged to the aristocracy, it followed as a +matter of course that the concert was emphatically what Liszt +calls it, "un concert de fashion." The three chief musical papers +of Paris: the "Gazette Musicale," the "France Musicale," and the +"Menestrel" were unanimous in their high, unqualified praise of +the concert-giver, "the king of the fete, who was overwhelmed +with bravos." The pianoforte performances of Chopin took up by +far the greater part of the programme, which was varied by two +arias from Adam's "La Rose de Peronne," sung by Mdme. Damoreau-- +Cinti, who was as usual "ravissante de perfection," and by +Ernst's "Elegie," played by the composer himself "in a grand +style, with passionate feeling and a purity worthy of the great +masters." Escudier, the writer of the notice in the "France +Musicale," says of Ernst's playing: "If you wish to hear the +violin weep, go and hear Ernst; he produces such heart-rending, +such passionate sounds, that you fear every moment to see his +instrument break to pieces in his hands. It is difficult to carry +farther the expression of sadness, of suffering, and of despair." + +To give the reader an idea of the character of the concert, I +shall quote largely from Liszt's notice, in which he not only +sets forth the merits of the artists, but also describes the +appearance of the room and the audience. First, however, I must +tell a pretty anecdote of which this notice reminds me. When +Liszt was moving about among the audience during the intervals of +the concert, paying his respects here and there, he came upon M. +Ernest Legouve. The latter told him of his intention to give an +account of the concert in the "Gazette Musicale." Liszt thereupon +said that he had a great wish to write one himself, and M. +Legouve, although reluctantly, gave way. When it came to the ears +of Chopin that Liszt was going to report on the concert, he +remarked: "Il me donnera un petit royaume dans son empire" (He +will give me a little kingdom in his empire). + +[FOOTNOTE: Since I wrote the above, M. Legouve has published his +"Soixante ans de Souvenirs," and in this book gives his version +of the story, which, it is to be hoped, is less. incorrect than +some other statements of his relating to Chopin: "He [Chopin] had +asked me to write a report of the concert. Liszt claimed the +honour. I hastened to announce this good news to Chopin, who +quietly said to me: "I should have liked better if it had been +you." "What are you thinking of my dear friend! An article by +Liszt, that is a fortunate thing for the public and for you. +Trust in his admiration for your talent. I promise you qu'il vous +fera un beau royaume.'--'Oui, me dit-il en souriant, dans son +empire!'"] + +These few words speak volumes. But here is what Liszt wrote about +the concert in the "Gazette musicale" of May 2, 1841:-- + + Last Monday, at eight o'clock in the evening, M. Pleyel's + rooms were brilliantly lighted up; numerous carriages brought + incessantly to the foot of a staircase covered with carpet and + perfumed with flowers the most elegant women, the most + fashionable young men, the most celebrated artists, the + richest financiers, the most illustrious noblemen, a whole + elite of society, a whole aristocracy of birth, fortune, + talent, and beauty. + + A grand piano was open on a platform; people crowded round, + eager for the seats nearest it; they prepared to listen, they + composed them-selves, they said to themselves that they must + not lose a chord, a note, an intention, a thought of him who + was going to seat himself there. And people were right in + being thus eager, attentive, and religiously moved, because he + for whom they waited, whom they wished to hear, admire, and + applaud, was not only a clever virtuoso, a pianist expert in + the art of making notes [de faire des notes], not only an + artist of great renown, he was all this and more than all + this, he was Chopin... + + ...If less eclat has gathered round his name, if a less bright + aureole has encircled his head, it is not because he had not + in him perhaps the same depth of feeling as the illustrious + author of "Conrad Wallenrod" and the "Pilgrims," [FOOTNOTE: + Adam Mickiewicz.] but his means of expression were too + limited, his instrument too imperfect; he could not reveal his + whole self by means of a piano. Hence, if we are not mistaken, + a dull and continual suffering, a certain repugnance to reveal + himself to the outer world, a sadness which shrinks out of + sight under apparent gaiety, in short, a whole individuality + in the highest degree remarkable and attractive. + + ...It was only rarely, at very distant intervals, that Chopin + played in public; but what would have been for anyone else an + almost certain cause of oblivion and obscurity was precisely + what assured to him a fame above the caprices of fashion, and + kept him from rivalries, jealousies, and injustice. Chopin, + who has taken no part in the extreme movement which for + several years has thrust one on another and one against + another the executive artists from all quarters of the world, + has been constantly surrounded by faithful adepts, + enthusiastic pupils, and warm friends, all of whom, while + guarding him against disagreeable contests and painful + collisions, have not ceased to spread abroad his works, and + with them admiration for his name. Moreover, this exquisite, + altogether lofty, and eminently aristocratic celebrity has + remained unattacked. A complete silence of criticism already + reigns round it, as if posterity were come; and in the + brilliant audience which flocked together to hear the too long + silent poet there was neither reticence nor restriction, + unanimous praise was on the lips of all. + + ...He has known how to give to new thoughts a new form. That + element of wildness and abruptness which belongs to his + country has found its expression in bold dissonances, in + strange harmonies, while the delicacy and grace which belong + to his personality were revealed in a thousand contours, in a + thousand embellishments of an inimitable fancy. + + In Monday's concert Chopin had chosen in preference those of + his works which swerve more from the classical forms. He + played neither concerto, nor sonata, nor fantasia, nor + variations, but preludes, studies, nocturnes, and mazurkas. + Addressing himself to a society rather than to a public, he + could show himself with impunity as he is, an elegiac poet, + profound, chaste, and dreamy. He did not need either to + astonish or to overwhelm, he sought for delicate sympathy + rather than for noisy enthusiasm. Let us say at once that he + had no reason to complain of want of sympathy. From the first + chords there was established a close communication between him + and his audience. Two studies and a ballade were encored, and + had it not been for the fear of adding to the already great + fatigue which betrayed itself on his pale face, people would + have asked for a repetition of the pieces of the programme one + by one... + +An account of the concert in La France musicale of May 2, 1841, +contained a general characterisation of Chopin's artistic +position with regard to the public coinciding with that given by +Liszt, but the following excerpts from the other parts of the +article may not be unacceptable to the reader:-- + + We spoke of Schubert because there is no other nature which + has a more complete analogy with him. The one has done for the + piano what the other has done for the voice...Chopin was a + composer from conviction. He composes for himself, and what he + composes he performs for himself...Chopin is the pianist of + sentiment PAR EXCELLENCE. One may say that Chopin is the + creator of a school of pianoforte-playing and of a school of + composition. Indeed, nothing equals the lightness and + sweetness with which the artist preludes on the piano, nothing + again can be placed by the side of his works full of + originality, distinction, and grace. Chopin is an exceptional + pianist who ought not to be, and cannot be, compared with + anyone. + +The words with which the critic of the Menestrel closes his +remarks, describe well the nature of the emotions which the +artist excited in his hearers:-- + + In order to appreciate Chopin rightly, one must love gentle + impressions, and have the feeling for poetry: to hear Chopin + is to read a strophe of Lamartine....Everyone went away full + of sweet joy and deep reverie (recueillement). + +The concert, which was beyond a doubt a complete success, must +have given Chopin satisfaction in every respect. At any rate, he +faced the public again before a year had gone by. In the Gazette +Musicale of February 20, 1842, we read that on the following +evening, Monday, at Pleyel's rooms, the haute societe de Paris et +tous les artistes s'y donneront rendez-vous. The programme of the +concert was to be as follows:-- + + + 1. Andante suivi de la 3ieme Ballade, par Chopin. + + 2. Felice Donzella, air de Dessauer. + + 3. Suite de Nocturnes, Preludes et Etudes, par Chopin. + + 4. Divers fragments de Handel, chante par Madame Viardot- + Garcia. + + 5. Solo pour Violoncello, par M. Franchomme. + + 6. Nocturne, Preludes, Mazurkas et Impromptu. + + 7. Le Chene et le Roseau, chante par Madame Viardot-Garcia, + accompagne par Chopin. + + +Maurice Bourges, who a week later reports on the concert, states +more particularly what Chopin played. He mentions three mazurkas +in A flat major, B major, and A minor; three studies in A flat +major, F minor, and C minor; the Ballade in A flat major; four +nocturnes, one of which was that in F sharp minor; a prelude in D +flat; and an impromptu in G (G flat major?). Maurice Bourges's +account is not altogether free from strictures. He finds Chopin's +ornamentations always novel, but sometimes mannered (manierees). +He says: "Trop de recherche fine et minutieuse n'est pas +quelquefois sans pretention et san froideur." But on the whole +the critique is very laudatory. "Liszt and Thalberg excite, as is +well known, violent enthusiasm; Chopin also awakens enthusiasm, +but of a less energetic, less noisy nature, precisely because he +causes the most intimate chords of the heart to vibrate." + +From the report in the "France musicale" we see that the audience +was not less brilliant than that of the first concert:-- + + ...Chopin has given in Pleyel's hall a charming soiree, a fete + peopled with adorable smiles, delicate and rosy faces, small + and well-formed white hands; a splendid fete where simplicity + was combined with grace and elegance, and where good taste + served as a pedestal to wealth. Those ugly black hats which + give to men the most unsightly appearance possible were very + few in number. The gilded ribbons, the delicate blue gauze, + the chaplets of trembling pearls, the freshest roses and + mignonettes, in short, a thousand medleys of the prettiest and + gayest colours were assembled, and intersected each other in + all sorts of ways on the perfumed heads and snowy shoulders of + the most charming women for whom the princely salons contend. + The first success of the seance was for Madame George Sand. As + soon as she appeared with her two charming daughters [daughter + and cousin?], she was the observed of all observers. Others + would have been disturbed by all those eyes turned on her like + so many stars; but George Sand contented herself with lowering + her head and smiling... + +This description is so graphic that one seems to see the actual +scene, and imagines one's self one of the audience. It also +points out a very characteristic feature of these concerts-- +namely, the preponderance of the fair sex. As regards Chopin's +playing, the writer remarks that the genre of execution which +aims at the imitation of orchestral effects suits neither +Chopin's organisation nor his ideas:-- + + In listening to all these sounds, all these nuances, which + follow each other, intermingle, separate, and reunite to + arrive at one and the same goal, melody, do you not think you + hear little fairy voices sighing under silver bells, or a rain + of pearls falling on crystal tables? The fingers of the + pianist seem to multiply ad infinitum; it does not appear + possible that only two hands can produce effects of rapidity + so precise and so natural... + +I shall now try to give the reader a clearer idea of what +Chopin's style of playing was like than any and all of the +criticisms and descriptions I have hitherto quoted can have done. +And I do this not only in order to satisfy a natural curiosity, +but also, and more especially, to furnish a guide for the better +understanding and execution of the master's works. Some, seeing +that no music reflects more clearly its author's nature than that +of Chopin, may think that it would be wiser to illustrate the +style of playing by the style of composition, and not the style +of composition by the style of playing. Two reasons determine me +to differ from them. Our musical notation is an inadequate +exponent of the conceptions of the great masters--visible signs +cannot express the subtle shades of the emotional language; and +the capabilities of Chopin the composer and of Chopin the +executant were by no means coextensive--we cannot draw +conclusions as to the character of his playing from the character +of his Polonaises in A major (Op. 40) and in A flat (Op. 53), and +certain movements of the Sonata in B flat minor (Op. 35). The +information contained in the following remarks is derived partly +from printed publications, partly from private letters and +conversations; nothing is admitted which does not proceed from +Chopin's pupils, friends, and such persons as have frequently +heard him. + +What struck everyone who had the good fortune to hear Chopin was +the fact that he was a pianist sui generis. Moscheles calls him +an unicum; Mendelssohn describes him as "radically original" +(Gruneigentumlich); Meyerbeer said of him that he knew no +pianist, no composer for the piano, like him; and thus I could go +on quoting ad infinitum. A writer in the "Gazette musicale" (of +the year 1835, I think), who, although he places at the head of +his article side by side the names of Liszt, Hiller, Chopin, and- +-Bertini, proved himself in the characterisation of these +pianists a man of some insight, remarks of Chopin: "Thought, +style, conception, even the fingering, everything, in fact, +appears individual, but of a communicative, expansive +individuality, an individuality of which superficial +organisations alone fail to recognise the magnetic influence." +Chopin's place among the great pianists of the second quarter of +this century has been felicitously characterised by an anonymous +contemporary: Thalberg, he said, is a king, Liszt a prophet, +Chopin a poet, Herz an advocate, Kalkbrenner a minstrel, Madame +Pleyel a sibyl, and Doehler a pianist. + +But if our investigation is to be profitable, we must proceed +analytically. It will be best to begin with the fundamental +technical qualities. First of all, then, we have to note the +suppleness and equality of Chopin's fingers and the perfect +independence of his hands. "The evenness of his scales and +passages in all kinds of touch," writes Mikuli, "was unsurpassed, +nay, prodigious." Gutmann told me that his master's playing was +particularly smooth, and his fingering calculated to attain this +result. A great lady who was present at Chopin's last concert in +Paris (1848), when he played among other works his Valse in D +flat (Op. 64, No. 1), wished to know "le secret de Chopin pour +que les gammes fussent si COULEES sur le piano." Madame Dubois, +who related this incident to me, added that the expression was +felicitous, for this "limpidite delicate" had never been +equalled. Such indeed were the lightness, delicacy, neatness, +elegance, and gracefulness of Chopin's playing that they won for +him the name of Ariel of the piano. The reader will remember how +much Chopin admired these qualities in other artists, notably in +Mdlle. Sontag and in Kalkbrenner. + +So high a degree and so peculiar a kind of excellence was of +course attainable only under exceptionally favourable conditions, +physical as well as mental. The first and chief condition was a +suitably formed hand. Now, no one can look at Chopin's hand, of +which there exists a cast, without perceiving at once its +capabilities. It was indeed small, but at the same time it was +thin, light, delicately articulated, and, if I may say so, highly +expressive. Chopin's whole body was extraordinarily flexible. +According to Gutmann, he could, like a clown, throw his legs over +his shoulders. After this we may easily imagine how great must +have been the flexibility of his hands, those members of his body +which he had specially trained all his life. Indeed, the +startlingly wide-spread chords, arpeggios, &c., which constantly +occur in his compositions, and which until he introduced them had +been undreamt-of and still are far from being common, seemed to +offer him no difficulty, for he executed them not only without +any visible effort, but even with a pleasing ease and freedom. +Stephen Heller told me that it was a wonderful sight to see one +of those small hands expand and cover a third of the keyboard. It +was like the opening of the mouth of a serpent which is going to +swallow a rabbit whole. In fact, Chopin appeared to be made of +caoutchouc. + +In the criticisms on Chopin's public performances we have met +again and again with the statement that he brought little tone +out of the piano. Now, although it is no doubt true that Chopin +could neither subdue to his sway large audiences nor successfully +battle with a full orchestra, it would be a mistake to infer from +this that he was always a weak and languid player. Stephen +Heller, who declared that Chopin's tone was rich, remembered +hearing him play a duet with Moscheles (the latter's duet, of +which Chopin was so fond), and on this occasion the Polish +pianist, who insisted on playing the bass, drowned the treble of +his partner, a virtuoso well known for his vigour and brilliancy. +Were we, however, to form our judgment on this single item of +evidence, we should again arrive at a wrong conclusion. Where +musical matters--i.e., matters generally estimated according to +individual taste and momentary impressibility alone--are +concerned, there is safety only in the multitude of witnesses. +Let us, therefore, hear first what Chopin's pupils have got to +say on this point, and then go and inquire further. Gutmann said +that Chopin played generally very quietly, and rarely, indeed +hardly ever, fortissimo. The A flat major Polonaise (Op. 53), for +instance, he could not thunder forth in the way we are accustomed +to hear it. As for the famous octave passages which occur in it, +he began them pianissimo and continued thus without much increase +in loudness. And, then, Chopin never thumped. M. Mathias remarks +that his master had extraordinary vigour, but only in flashes. +Mikuli's preface to his edition of the works of Chopin affords +more explicit information. We read there:-- + + The tone which Chopin brought out of the instrument was + always, especially in the cantabiles, immense (riesengross), + only Field could perhaps in this respect be compared to him. A + manly energy gave to appropriate passages overpowering effect-- + energy without roughness (Rohheit); but, on the other hand, + he knew how by delicacy--delicacy without affectation--to + captivate the hearer. + +We may summarise these various depositions by saying with Lenz +that, being deficient in physical strength, Chopin put his all in +the cantabile style, in the connections and combinations, in the +detail. But two things are evident, and they ought to be noted: +(1) The volume of tone, of pure tone, which Chopin was capable of +producing was by no means inconsiderable; (2) he had learnt the +art of economising his means so as to cover his shortcomings. +This last statement is confirmed by some remarks of Moscheles +which have already been quoted--namely, that Chopin's piano was +breathed forth so softly that he required no vigorous forte to +produce the desired contrasts; and that one did not miss the +orchestral effects which the German school demanded from a +pianist, but allowed one's self to be carried away as by a singer +who takes little heed of the accompaniment and follows his own +feelings. + +In listening to accounts of Chopin's style of playing, we must +not leave out of consideration the time to which they refer. What +is true of the Chopin of 1848 is not true of the Chopin of 1831 +nor of 1841. In the last years of his life he became so weak that +sometimes, as Stephen Heller told me, his playing was hardly +audible. He then made use of all sorts of devices to hide the +want of vigour, often modifying the original conception of his +compositions, but always producing beautiful effects. Thus, to +give only one example (for which and much other interesting +information I am indebted to Mr. Charles Halle), Chopin played at +his last concert in Paris (February, 1848) the two forte passages +towards the end of the Barcarole, not as they are printed, but +pianissimo and with all sorts of dynamic finesses. Having +possessed himself of the most recondite mysteries of touch, and +mastered as no other pianist had done the subtlest gradations of +tone, he even then, reduced by disease as he was, did not give +the hearer the impression of weakness. At least this is what Mr. +Otto Goldschmidt relates, who likewise was present at this +concert. There can be no doubt that what Chopin aimed at chiefly, +or rather, let us say, what his physical constitution permitted +him to aim at, was quality not quantity of tone. A writer in the +"Menestrel" (October 21, 1849) remarks that for Chopin, who in +this was unlike all other pianists, the piano had always too much +tone; and that his constant endeavour was to SENTIMENTALISE the +timbre, his greatest care to avoid everything which approached +the fracas pianistique of the time. + +Of course, a true artist's touch has besides its mechanical also +its spiritual aspect. With regard to this it is impossible to +overlook the personal element which pervaded and characterised +Chopin's touch. M. Marmontel does not forget to note it in his +"Pianistes Celebres." He writes:-- + + In the marvellous art of carrying and modulating the tone, in + the expressive, melancholy manner of shading it off, Chopin + was entirely himself. He had quite an individual way of + attacking the keyboard, a supple, mellow touch, sonorous + effects of a vaporous fluidity of which only he knew the + secret. + +In connection with Chopin's production of tone, I must not omit +to mention his felicitous utilisation of the loud and soft +pedals. It was not till the time of Liszt, Thalberg, and Chopin +that the pedals became a power in pianoforte-playing. Hummel did +not understand their importance, and failed to take advantage of +them. The few indications we find in Beethoven's works prove that +this genius began to see some of the as yet latent possibilities. +Of the virtuosi, + +Moscheles was the first who made a more extensive and artistic +use of the pedals, although also he employed them sparingly +compared with his above-named younger contemporaries. Every +pianist of note has, of course, his own style of pedalling. +Unfortunately, there are no particulars forthcoming with regard +to Chopin's peculiar style; and this is the more to be regretted +as the composer was very careless in his notation of the pedals. +Rubinstein declares that most of the pedal marks in Chopin's +compositions are wrongly placed. If nothing more, we know at +least thus much: "No pianist before him [Chopin] has employed the +pedals alternately or simultaneously with so much tact and +ability," and "in making constantly use of the pedal he obtained +des harmonies ravissantes, des bruissements melodiques qui +etonnaient et charmaient." [FOOTNOTE: Marmontel: "Les Pianistes +celebres."] + +The poetical qualities of Chopin's playingare not so easily +defined as the technical ones. Indeed, if they are definable at +all they are so only by one who, like Liszt, is a poet as well as +a great pianist. I shall, therefore, transcribe from his book +some of the most important remarks bearing on this matter. + +After saying that Chopin idealised the fugitive poesy inspired by +fugitive apparitions like "La Fee aux Miettes," "Le Lutin +d'Argail," &c., to such an extent as to render its fibres so thin +and friable that they seemed no longer to belong to our nature, +but to reveal to us the indiscreet confidences of the Undines, +Titanias, Ariels, Queen Mabs, and Oberons, Liszt proceeds thus:-- + + When this kind of inspiration laid hold of Chopin his playing + assumed a distinctive character, whatever the kind of music he + executed might be--dance-music or dreamy music, mazurkas or + nocturnes, preludes or scherzos, waltzes or tarantellas, + studies or ballades. He imprinted on them all one knows not + what nameless colour, what vague appearance, what pulsations + akin to vibration, that had almost no longer anything material + about them, and, like the imponderables, seemed to act on + one's being without passing through the senses. Sometimes one + thought one heard the joyous tripping of some amorously- + teasing Peri; sometimes there were modulations velvety and + iridescent as the robe of a salamander; sometimes one heard + accents of deep despondency, as if souls in torment did not + find the loving prayers necessary for their final deliverance. + At other times there breathed forth from his fingers a despair + so mournful, so inconsolable, that one thought one saw Byron's + Jacopo Foscari come to life again, and contemplated the + extreme dejection of him who, dying of love for his country, + preferred death to exile, being unable to endure the pain of + leaving Venezia la bella! + +It is interesting to compare this description with that of +another poet, a poet who sent forth his poetry daintily dressed +in verse as well as carelessly wrapped in prose. Liszt tells us +that Chopin had in his imagination and talent something "qui, par +la purete de sa diction, par ses accointances avec La Fee aux +Miettes et Le Lutin d'Argail, par ses rencon-tres de Seraphine et +de Diane, murmurant a son oreille leurs plus confidentielles +plaintes, leurs reves les plus innommes," [FOOTNOTE: The +allusions are to stories by Charles Nodier. According to Sainte- +Beuve, "La Fee aux Miettes" was one of those stories in which the +author was influenced by Hoffmann's creations.] reminded him of +Nodier. Now, what thoughts did Chopin's playing call up in Heine? + + Yes, one must admit that Chopin has genius in the full sense + of the word; he is not only a virtuoso, he is also a poet; he + can embody for us the poesy which lives within his soul, he is + a tone-poet, and nothing can be compared to the pleasure which + he gives us when he sits at the piano and improvises. He is + then neither a Pole, nor a Frenchman, nor a German, he reveals + then a higher origin, one perceives then that he comes from + the land of Mozart, Raphael, and Goethe, his true fatherland + is the dream-realm of poesy. When he sits at the piano and + improvises I feel as though a countryman from my beloved + native land were visiting me and telling me the most curious + things which have taken place there during my + absence...Sometimes I should like to interrupt him with + questions: And how is the beautiful little water-nymph who + knows how to fasten her silvery veil so coquettishly round her + green locks? Does the white-bearded sea-god still persecute + her with his foolish, stale love? Are the roses at home still + in their flame-hued pride? Do the trees still sing as + beautifully in the moonlight? + +But to return to Liszt. A little farther on than the passage I +quoted above he says:-- + + In his playing the great artist rendered exquisitely that kind + of agitated trepidation, timid or breathless, which seizes the + heart when one believes one's self in the vicinity of + supernatural beings, in presence of those whom one does not + know either how to divine or to lay hold of, to embrace or to + charm. He always made the melody undulate like a skiff borne + on the bosom of a powerful wave; or he made it move vaguely + like an aerial apparition suddenly sprung up in this tangible + and palpable world. In his writings he at first indicated this + manner which gave so individual an impress to his virtuosity + by the term tempo rubato: stolen, broken time--a measure at + once supple, abrupt, and languid, vacillating like the flame + under the breath which agitates it, like the corn in a field + swayed by the soft pressure of a warm air, like the top of + trees bent hither and thither by a keen breeze. + + But as the term taught nothing to him who knew, said nothing + to him who did not know, understand, and feel, Chopin + afterwards ceased to add this explanation to his music, being + persuaded that if one understood it, it was impossible not to + divine this rule of irregularity. Accordingly, all his + compositions ought to be played with that kind of accented, + rhythmical balancement, that morbidezza, the secret of which + it was difficult to seize if one had not often heard him play. + +Let us try if it is not possible to obtain a clearer notion of +this mysterious tempo rubato. Among instrumentalists the "stolen +time" was brought into vogue especially by Chopin and Liszt. But +it is not an invention of theirs or their time. Quanz, the great +flutist (see Marpurg: "Kritische Beitrage." Vol. I.), said that +he heard it for the first time from the celebrated singer Santa +Stella Lotti, who was engaged in 1717 at the Dresden Opera, and +died in 1759 at Venice. Above all, however, we have to keep in +mind that the tempo rubato is a genus which comprehends numerous +species. In short, the tempo rubato of Chopin is not that of +Liszt, that of Liszt is not that of Henselt, and so on. As for +the general definitions we find in dictionaries, they can afford +us no particular enlightenment. But help comes to us from +elsewhere. Liszt explained Chopin's tempo rubato in a very +poetical and graphic manner to his pupil the Russian pianist +Neilissow:--"Look at these trees!" he said, "the wind plays in +the leaves, stirs up life among them, the tree remains the same, +that is Chopinesque rubato." But how did the composer himself +describe it? From Madame Dubois and other pupils of Chopin we +learn that he was in the habit of saying to them: "Que votre main +gauche soit votre maitre de chapelle et garde toujours la mesure" +(Let your left hand be your conductor and always keep time). +According to Lenz Chopin taught also: "Angenommen, ein Stuck +dauert so und so viel Minuten, wenn das Ganze nur so lange +gedauert hat, im Einzelnen kann's anders sein!" (Suppose a piece +lasts so and so many minutes, if only the whole lasts so long, +the differences in the details do not matter). This is somewhat +ambiguous teaching, and seems to be in contradiction to the +preceding precept. Mikuli, another pupil of Chopin's, explains +his master's tempo rubato thus:--"While the singing hand, either +irresolutely lingering or as in passionate speech eagerly +anticipating with a certain impatient vehemence, freed the truth +of the musical expression from all rhythmical fetters, the other, +the accompanying hand, continued to play strictly in time." We +get a very lucid description of Chopin's tempo rubato from the +critic of the Athenaeum who after hearing the pianist-composer at +a London matinee in 1848 wrote:--"He makes free use of tempo +rubato; leaning about within his bars more than any player we +recollect, but still subject to a presiding measure such as +presently habituates the ear to the liberties taken." Often, no +doubt, people mistook for tempo rubato what in reality was a +suppression or displacement of accent, to which kind of playing +the term is indeed sometimes applied. The reader will remember +the following passage from a criticism in the "Wiener +Theaterzeitung" of 1829:--"There are defects noticeable in the +young man's [Chopin's] playing, among which is perhaps especially +to be mentioned the non-observance of the indication by accent of +the commencement of musical phrases." Mr. Halle related to me an +interesting dispute bearing on this matter. The German pianist +told Chopin one day that he played in his mazurkas often 4/4 +instead of 3/4 time. Chopin would not admit it at first, but when +Mr. Halle proved his case by counting to Chopin's playing, the +latter admitted the correctness of the observation, and laughing +said that this was national. Lenz reports a similar dispute +between Chopin and Meyerbeer. In short, we may sum up in +Moscheles' words, Chopin's playing did not degenerate into +Tactlosigkeit [lit., timelessness], but it was of the most +charming originality. Along with the above testimony we have, +however, to take note of what Berlioz said on the subject: +"Chopin supportait mal le frein de la mesure; il a pousse +beaucoup trap loin, selon moi, l'independance rhythmique." +Berlioz even went so far as to say that "Chopin could not play +strictly in time [ne pouvait pas jouer regulierement]." + +Indeed, so strange was Chopin's style that when Mr. Charles Halle +first heard him play his compositions he could not imagine how +what he heard was represented by musical signs. But strange as +Chopin's style of playing was he thinks that its peculiarities +are generally exaggerated. The Parisians said of Rubinstein's +playing of compositions of Chopin: "Ce n'est pas ca!" Mr. Halle +himself thinks that Rubinstein's rendering of Chopin is clever, +but not Chopinesque. Nor do Von Bulow's readings come near the +original. As for Chopin's pupils, they are even less successful +than others in imitating their master's style. The opinion of one +who is so distinguished a pianist and at the same time was so +well acquainted with Chopin as Mr. Halle is worth having. Hearing +Chopin often play his compositions he got so familiar with that +master's music and felt so much in sympathy with it that the +composer liked to have it played by him, and told him that when +he was in the adjoining room he could imagine he was playing +himself. + +But it is time that we got off the shoals on which we have been +lying so long. Well, Lenz shall set us afloat:-- + + In the undulation of the motion, in that suspension and unrest + [Hangen und Bangen], in the rubato as he understood it, Chopin + was captivating, every note was the outcome of the best taste + in the best sense of the word. If he introduced an + embellishment, which happened only rarely, it was always a + kind of miracle of good taste. Chopin was by his whole nature + unfitted to render Beethoven or Weber, who paint on a large + scale and with a big brush. Chopin was an artist in crayons + [Pastellmaler], but an INCOMPARABLE one! By the side of Liszt + he might pass with honour for that master's well-matched wife + [ebenburtige Frau, i.e., wife of equal rank]. Beethoven's B + flat major Sonata, Op. 106, and Chopin exclude each other. + +One day Chopin took Lenz with him to the Baronne Krudner and her +friend the Countess Scheremetjew to whom he had promised to play +the variations of Beethoven's Sonata in A flat major (Op. 26). +And how did he play them? + + Beautifully [says Lenz], but not so beautifully as his own + things, not enthrallingly [packend], not en relief, not as a + romance increasing in interest from variation to variation. He + whispered it mezza voce, but it was incomparable in the + cantilena, infinitely perfect in the phrasing of the + structure, ideally beautiful, but FEMININE! Beethoven is a man + and never ceases to be one! + + Chopin played on a Pleyel, he made it a point never to give + lessons on another instrument; they were obliged to get a + Pleyel. All were charmed, I also was charmed, but only with + the tone of Chopin, with his touch, with his sweetness and + grace, with the purity of his style. + +Chopin's purity of style, self-command, and aristocratic reserve +have to be quite especially noted by us who are accustomed to +hear the master's compositions played wildly, deliriously, +ostentatiously. J. B. Cramer's remarks on Chopin are significant. +The master of a bygone age said of the master of the then +flourishing generation:-- + + I do not understand him, but he plays beautifully and + correctly, oh! very correctly, he does not give way to his + passion like other young men, but I do not understand him. + +What one reads and hears of Chopin's playing agrees with the +account of his pupil Mikuli, who remarks that, with all the +warmth which Chopin possessed in so high a degree, his rendering +was nevertheless temperate [massvoll], chaste, nay, aristocratic, +and sometimes even severely reserved. When, on returning home +from the above-mentioned visit to the Russian ladies, Lenz +expressed his sincere opinion of Chopin's playing of Beethoven's +variations, the master replied testily: "I indicate (j'indique); +the hearer must complete (parachever) the picture." And when +afterwards, while Chopin was changing his clothes in an adjoining +room, Lenz committed the impertinence of playing Beethoven's +theme as he understood it, the master came in in his shirt- +sleeves, sat down beside him, and at the end of the theme laid +his hand on Lenz's shoulder and said: "I shall tell Liszt of it; +this has never happened to me before; but it is beautiful--well, +BUT MUST ONE THEN ALWAYS SPEAK SO PASSIONATELY (si +declamatoirement)?" The italics in the text, not those in +parentheses, are mine. I marked some of Chopin's words thus that +they might get the attention they deserve. "Tell me with whom you +associate, and I will tell you who you are." Parodying this +aphorism one might say, not without a good deal of truth: Tell me +what piano you use, and I will tell you what sort of a pianist +you are. Liszt gives us all the desirable information as to +Chopin's predilection in this respect. But Lenz too has, as we +have seen, touched on this point. Liszt writes:-- + + While Chopin was strong and healthy, as during the first years + of his residence in Paris, he used to play on an Erard piano; + but after his friend Camille Pleyel had made him a present of + one of his splendid instruments, remarkable for their metallic + ring and very light touch, he would play on no other maker's. + + If he was engaged for a soiree at the house of one of his + Polish or French friends, he would often send his own + instrument, if there did not happen to be a Pleyel in the + house. + + Chopin was very partial to [affectionnait] Pleyel's pianos, + particularly on account of their silvery and somewhat veiled + sonority, and of the easy touch which permitted him to draw + from them sounds which one might have believed to belong to + those harmonicas of which romantic Germany has kept the + monopoly, and which her ancient masters constructed so + ingeniously, marrying crystal to water. + +Chopin himself said:-- + + When I am indisposed, I play on one of Erard's pianos and + there I easily find a ready-made tone. But when I feel in the + right mood and strong enough to find my own tone for myself, I + must have one of Pleyel's pianos. + +From the fact that Chopin played during his visit to Great +Britain in 1848 at public concerts as well as at private parties +on instruments of Broadwood's, we may conclude that he also +appreciated the pianos of this firm. In a letter dated London, +48, Dover Street, May 6, 1848, he writes to Gutmann: "Erard a ete +charmant, il m'a fait poser un piano. J'ai un de Broadwood et un +de Pleyel, ce qui fait 3, et je ne trouve pas encore le temps +pour les jouer." And in a letter dated Edinburgh, August 6, and +Calder House, August 11, he writes to Franchomme: "I have a +Broadwood piano in my room, and the Pleyel of Miss Stirling in +the salon." + +Here, I think, will be the fittest place to record what I have +learnt regarding Chopin's musical taste and opinions on music and +musicians, and what will perhaps illustrate better than any other +part of this book the character of the man and artist. His +opinions of composers and musical works show that he had in a +high degree les vices de ses qualites. The delicacy of his +constitution and the super-refinement of his breeding, which put +within his reach the inimitable beauties of subtlest tenderness +and grace that distinguish his compositions and distinguished his +playing, were disqualifications as well as qualifications. "Every +kind of uncouth roughness [toutes les rudesses sauvages] inspired +him with aversion," says Liszt. "In music as in literature and in +every-day life everything which bordered on melodrama was torture +to him." In short, Chopin was an aristocrat with all the +exclusiveness of an aristocrat. + +The inability of men of genius to appreciate the merit of one or +the other of their great predecessors and more especially of +their contemporaries has often been commented on and wondered at, +but I doubt very much whether a musician could be instanced whose +sympathies were narrower than those of Chopin. Besides being +biographically important, the record of the master's likings and +dislikings will teach a useful lesson to the critic and furnish +some curious material for the psychological student. + +Highest among all the composers, living and dead, Chopin esteemed +Mozart. Him he regarded as "the ideal type, the poet par +excellence." It is related of Chopin--with what truth I do not +know--that he never travelled without having either the score of +"Don Giovanni" or that of the "Requiem" in his portmanteau. +Significant, although not founded on fact, is the story according +to which he expressed the wish that the "Requiem" should be +performed at his funeral service. Nothing, however, shows his +love for the great German master more unmistakably and more +touchingly than the words which on his death-bed he addressed to +his dear friends the Princess Czartoryska and M. Franchomme: "You +will play Mozart together, and I shall hear you." And why did +Chopin regard Mozart as the ideal type, the poet par excellence? +Liszt answers: "Because Mozart condescended more rarely than any +other composer to cross the steps which separate refinement from +vulgarity." But what no doubt more especially stirred +sympathetic chords in the heart of Chopin, and inspired him with +that loving admiration for the earlier master, was the sweetness, +the grace, and the harmoniousness which in Mozart's works reign +supreme and undisturbed--the unsurpassed and unsurpassable +perfect loveliness and lovely perfection which result from a +complete absence of everything that is harsh, hard, awkward, +unhealthy, and eccentric. And yet, says Liszt of Chopin:-- + + His sybaritism of purity, his apprehension of what was + commonplace, were such that even in "Don Giovanni," even in + this immortal chef-d'oeuvre, he discovered passages the + presence of which we have heard him regret. His worship of + Mozart was not thereby diminished, but as it were saddened. + +The composer who next to Mozart stood highest in Chopin's esteem +was Bach. "It was difficult to say," remarks Mikuli, "which of +the two he loved most." Chopin not only, as has already been +mentioned, had works of Bach on his writing-table at Valdemosa, +corrected the Parisian edition for his own use, and prepared +himself for his concerts by playing Bach, but also set his pupils +to study the immortal cantor's suites, partitas, and preludes and +fugues. Madame Dubois told me that at her last meeting with him +(in 1848) he recommended her "de toujours travailler Bach," +adding that that was the best means of making progress. + +Hummel, Field, and Moscheles were the pianoforte composers who +seem to have given Chopin most satisfaction. Mozart and Bach were +his gods, but these were his friends. Gutmann informed me that +Chopin was particularly fond of Hummel; Liszt writes that Hummel +was one of the composers Chopin played again and again with the +greatest pleasure; and from Mikuli we learn that of Hummel's +compositions his master liked best the Fantasia, the Septet, and +the Concertos. Liszt's statement that the Nocturnes of Field were +regarded by Chopin as "insuffisants" seems to me disproved by +unexceptionable evidence. Chopin schooled his pupils most +assiduously and carefully in the Nocturnes as well as in the +Concertos of Field, who was, to use Madame Dubois's words, "an +author very sympathetic to him." Mikuli relates that Chopin had a +predilection for Field's A flat Concerto and the Nocturnes, and +that, when playing the latter, he used to improvise the most +charming embellishments. To take liberties with another artist's +works and complain when another artist takes liberties with your +own works is very inconsistent, is it not? But it is also +thoroughly human, and Chopin was not exempt from the common +failing. One day when Liszt did with some composition of Chopin's +what the latter was in the habit of doing with Field's Nocturnes, +the enraged composer is said to have told his friend to play his +compositions as they were written or to let them alone. M. +Marmontel writes:-- + + Either from a profound love of the art or from an excess of + conscience personelle, Chopin could not bear any one to touch + the text of his works. The slightest modification seemed to + him a grave fault which he did not even forgive his intimate + friends, his fervent admirers, Liszt not excepted. I have many + a time, as well as my master, Zimmermann, caused Chopin's + sonatas, concertos, ballades, and allegros to be played as + examination pieces; but restricted as I was to a fragment of + the work, I was pained by the thought of hurting the composer, + who considered these alterations a veritable sacrilege. + +This, however, is a digression. Little need be added to what has +already been said in another chapter of the third composer of the +group we were speaking of. Chopin, the reader will remember, told +Moscheles that he loved his music, and Moscheles admitted that he +who thus complimented him was intimately acquainted with it. From +Mikuli we learn that Moscheles' studies were very sympathetic to +his master. As to Moscheles' duets, they were played by Chopin +probably more frequently than the works of any other composer, +excepting of course his own works. We hear of his playing them +not only with his pupils, but with Osborne, with Moscheles +himself, and with Liszt, who told me that Chopin was fond of +playing with him the duets of Moscheles and Hummel. + +Speaking of playing duets reminds me of Schubert, who, Gutmann +informed me, was a favourite of Chopin's. The Viennese master's +"Divertissement hongrois" he admired without reserve. Also the +marches and polonaises a quatre mains he played with his pupils. +But his teaching repertoire seems to have contained, with the +exception of the waltzes, none of the works a deux mains, neither +the sonatas, nor the impromptus, nor the "Moments musicals." This +shows that if Schubert was a favourite of Chopin's, he was so +only to a certain extent. Indeed, Chopin even found fault with +the master where he is universally regarded as facile princeps. +Liszt remarks:-- + + In spite of the charm which he recognised in some of + Schubert's melodies, he did not care to hear those whose + contours were too sharp for his ear, where feeling is as it + were denuded, where one feels, so to speak, the flesh + palpitate and the bones crack under the grasp of anguish. A + propos of Schubert, Chopin is reported to have said: "The + sublime is dimmed when it is followed by the common or the + trivial." + +I shall now mention some of those composers with whom Chopin was +less in sympathy. In the case of Weber his approval, however, +seems to have outweighed his censure. At least Mikuli relates +that the E minor and A flat major Sonatas and the "Concertstuck" +were among those works for which his master had a predilection, +and Madame Dubois says that he made his pupils play the Sonatas +in C and in A flat major with extreme care. Now let us hear Lenz:- +- + + He could not appreciate Weber; he spoke of "opera," + "unsuitable for the piano" [unklaviermassig]! On the whole, + Chopin was little in sympathy with the GERMAN spirit in music, + although I heard him say: "There is only ONE SCHOOL, the + German!" + +Gutmann informed me that he brought the A flat major Sonata with +him from Germany in 1836 or 1837, and that Chopin did not know it +then. It is hard enough to believe that Liszt asked Lenz in 1828 +if the composer of the "Freischutz" had also written for the +piano, but Chopin's ignorance in 1836 is much more startling. Did +fame and publications travel so slowly in the earlier part of the +century? Had genius to wait so long for recognition? If the +statement, for the correctness of which Gutmann alone is +responsible, rests on fact and not on some delusion of memory, +this most characteristic work of Weber and one of the most +important items of the pianoforte literature did not reach +Chopin, one of the foremost European pianists, till twenty years +after its publication, which took place in December, 1816. + +That Chopin had a high opinion of Beethoven may be gathered from +a story which Lenz relates in an article written for the +"Berliner Musikzeitung" (Vol. XXVI). Little Filtsch--the talented +young Hungarian who made Liszt say: "I shall shut my shop when he +begins to travel"--having played to a select company invited by +his master the latter's Concerto in E minor, Chopin was so +pleased with his pupil's performance that he went with him to +Schlesinger's music-shop, asked for the score of "Fidelio," and +presented it to him with the words:--"I am in your debt, you have +given me great pleasure to-day, I wrote the concerto in a happy +time, accept, my dear young friend, the great master work! read +in it as long as you live and remember me also sometimes." But +Chopin's high opinion of Beethoven was neither unlimited nor +unqualified. His attitude as regards this master, which +Franchomme briefly indicated by saying that his friend loved +Beethoven, but had his dislikes in connection with him, is more +fully explained by Liszt. + + However great his admiration for the works of Beethoven might + be, certain parts of them seemed to him too rudely fashioned. + Their structure was too athletic to please him; their wraths + seemed to him too violent [leurs courroux lui semblaient trop + rugissants]. He held that in them passion too closely + approaches cataclysm; the lion's marrow which is found in + every member of his phrases was in his opinion a too + substantial matter, and the seraphic accents, the Raphaelesque + profiles, which appear in the midst of the powerful creations + of this genius, became at times almost painful to him in so + violent a contrast. + +I am able to illustrate this most excellent general description +by some examples. Chopin said that Beethoven raised him one +moment up to the heavens and the next moment precipitated him to +the earth, nay, into the very mire. Such a fall Chopin +experienced always at the commencement of the last movement of +the C minor Symphony. Gutmann, who informed me of this, added +that pieces such as the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata (C +sharp minor) were most highly appreciated by his master. One day +when Mr. Halle played to Chopin one of the three Sonatas, Op. 31 +(I am not sure which it was), the latter remarked that he had +formerly thought the last movement VULGAR. From this Mr. Halle +naturally concluded that Chopin could not have studied the works +of Beethoven thoroughly. This conjecture is confirmed by what we +learn from Lenz, who in 1842 saw a good deal of Chopin, and +thanks to his Boswellian inquisitiveness, persistence, and +forwardness, made himself acquainted with a number of interesting +facts. Lenz and Chopin spoke a great deal about Beethoven after +that visit to the Russian ladies mentioned in a foregoing part of +this chapter. They had never spoken of the great master before. +Lenz says of Chopin:-- + + He did not take a very serious interest in Beethoven; he knew + only his principal compositions, the last works not at all. + This was in the Paris air! People knew the symphonies, the + quartets of the middle period but little, the last ones not at + all. + +Chopin, on being told by Lenz that Beethoven had in the F minor +Quartet anticipated Mendelssohn, Schumann, and him; and that the +scherzo prepared the way for his mazurka-fantasias, said: "Bring +me this quartet, I do not know it." According to Mikuli Chopin +was a regular frequenter of the concerts of the Societe des +Concerts du Conservatoire and of the Alard, Franchomme, &c., +quartet party. But one of the most distinguished musicians living +in Paris, who knew Chopin's opinion of Beethoven, suspects that +the music was for him not the greatest attraction of the +Conservatoire concerts, that in fact, like most of those who went +there, he considered them a fashionable resort. True or not, the +suspicion is undeniably significant. "But Mendelssohn," the +reader will say, "surely Chopin must have admired and felt in +sympathy with this sweet-voiced, well-mannered musician?" +Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth. Chopin hated +Mendelssohn's D minor Trio, and told Halle that that composer had +never written anything better than the first Song without Words. +Franchomme, stating the case mildly, says that Chopin did not +care much for Mendelssohn's music; Gutmann, however, declared +stoutly that his master positively disliked it and thought it +COMMON. This word and the mention of the Trio remind me of a +passage in Hiller's "Mendelssohn: Letters and Recollections," in +which the author relates how, when his friend played to him the D +minor Trio after its completion, he was favourably impressed by +the fire, spirit, and flow, in one word, the masterly character +of the work, but had some misgivings about certain pianoforte +passages, especially those based on broken chords, which, +accustomed as he was by his constant intercourse with Liszt and +Chopin during his stay of several years in Paris to the rich +passage work of the new school, appeared to him old-fashioned. +Mendelssohn, who in his letters repeatedly alludes to his +sterility in the matter of new pianoforte passages, allowed +himself to be persuaded by Hiller to rewrite the pianoforte part, +and was pleased with the result. It is clear from the above that +if Mendelssohn failed to give Chopin his due, Chopin did more +than apply the jus talionis. + +Schumann, however, found still less favour in the eyes of Chopin +than Mendelssohn; for whilst among the works which, for instance, +Madame Dubois, who was Chopin's pupil for five years, studied +under her master, Mendelssohn was represented at least by the +Songs without Words and the G minor Concerto, Schumann was +conspicuous by his total absence. And let it be remarked that +this was in the last years of Chopin's life, when Schumann had +composed and published almost all his important works for +pianoforte alone and many of his finest works for pianoforte with +other instruments. M. Mathias, Chopin's pupil during the years +1839-1844, wrote to me: "I think I recollect that he had no great +opinion of Schumann. I remember seeing the "Carnaval," Op. 9, on +his table; he did not speak very highly of it." In 1838, when +Stephen Heller was about to leave Augsburg for Paris, Schumann +sent him a copy of his "Carnaval" (published in September, 1837), +to be presented to Chopin. This copy had a title-page printed in +various colours and was most tastefully bound; for Schumann knew +Chopin's love of elegance, and wished to please him. Soon after +his arrival in Paris, Heller called on the Polish musician and +found him sitting for his portrait. On receiving the copy of the +"Carnaval" Chopin said: "How beautifully they get up these things +in Germany!" but uttered not a word about the music. However, we +shall see presently what his opinion of it was. Some time, +perhaps some years, after this first meeting with Chopin, Heller +was asked by Schlesinger whether he would advise him to publish +Schumann's "Carnaval." Heller answered that it would be a good +speculation, for although the work would probably not sell well +at first, it was sure to pay in the long run. Thereupon +Schlesinger confided to Heller what Chopin had told him--namely, +that the "Carnaval" was not music at all. The contemplation of +this indifference and more than indifference of a great artist to +the creations of one of his most distinguished contemporaries is +saddening, especially if we remember how devoted Schumann was to +Chopin, how he admired him, loved him, upheld him, and idolised +him. Had it not been for Schumann's enthusiastic praise and +valiant defence Chopin's fame would have risen and spread, more +slowly in Germany. + +"Of virtuoso music of any kind I never saw anything on his desk, +nor do I think anybody else ever did," says Mikuli.. This, +although true in the main, is somewhat too strongly stated. +Kalkbrenner, whose "noisy virtuosities [virtuosites tapageuses] +and decorative expressivities [expressivites decoratives]" Chopin +regarded with antipathy, and Thalberg, whose shallow elegancies +and brilliancies he despised, were no doubt altogether banished +from his desk; this, however, seems not to have been the case +with Liszt, who occasionally made his appearance there. Thus +Madame Dubois studied under Chopin Liszt's transcription of +Rossini's "Tarantella" and of the Septet from Donizetti's "Lucia +di Lammermoor." But the compositions of Liszt that had Chopin's +approval were very limited in number. Chopin, who viewed making +concessions to bad taste at the cost of true art and for the sake +of success with the greatest indignation, found his former friend +often guilty of this sin. In 1840 Liszt's transcription of +Beethoven's "Adelaide" was published in a supplement to the +Gazette musicale. M. Mathias happened to come to Chopin on the +day when the latter had received the number of the journal which +contained the piece in question, and found his master furious, +outre, on account of certain cadenzas which he considered out of +place and out of keeping. + +We have seen in one of the earlier chapters how little Chopin +approved of Berlioz's matter and manner; some of the ultra- +romanticist's antipodes did not fare much better. As for Halevy, +Chopin had no great opinion of him; Meyerbeer's music he heartily +disliked; and, although not insensible to Auber's French esprit +and liveliness, he did not prize this master's works very highly. +Indeed, at the Italian opera-house he found more that was to his +taste than at the French opera-houses. Bellini's music had a +particular charm for Chopin, and he was also an admirer of +Rossini. + +The above notes exemplify and show the truth of Liszt's remark:-- + + In the great models and the master-works of art Chopin sought + only what corresponded with his nature. What resembled it + pleased him; what differed from it hardly received justice + from him. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + + +1843-1847. + + + +CHOPIN'S PECUNIARY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCES WITH +PUBLISHERS.--LETTERS TO FRANCHOMME.--PUBLICATIONS FROM 1842-7.-- +SOJOURNS AT NOHANT.--LISZT, MATTHEW ARNOLD, GEORGE SAND, CHARLES +ROLLINAT, AND EUGENE DELACROIX ON NOHANT AND LIFE AT NOHANT.-- +CHOPIN'S MODE OF COMPOSITION.--CHOPIN AND GEORGE SAND TAKE UP +THEIR PARIS QUARTERS IN THE CITE D'ORLEANS.--THEIR WAY OF LIFE +THERE, PARTICULARLY CHOPIN'S, AS DESCRIBED BY HIS PUPILS LINDSAY +SLOPER, MATHIAS, AND MADAME DUBOIS, AND MORE ESPECIALLY BY LENZ, +MADAME SAND HERSELF, AND PROFESSOR ALEXANDER CHODZKO (DOMESTIC +RELATIONS, APARTMENTS, MANNERS, SYMPATHIES, HIS TALENT FOR +MIMICRY, GEORGE SAND'S FRIENDS, AND HER ESTIMATE OF CHOPIN'S +CHARACTER). + + + +Chopin's life from 1843 to 1847 was too little eventful to lend +itself to a chronologically progressive narrative. I shall, +therefore, begin this chapter with a number of letters written by +the composer during this period to his friend Franchomme, and +then endeavour to describe Chopin's mode of life, friends, +character, &c. + +The following fascicle of letters, although containing less about +the writer's thoughts, feelings, and doings than we could wish, +affords nevertheless matter of interest. At any rate, much +additional light is thrown on Chopin's pecuniary circumstances +and his dealings with his publishers. + +Impecuniosity seems to have been a chronic state with the artist +and sometimes to have pressed hard upon him. On one occasion it +even made him write to the father of one of his pupils, and ask +for the payment of the fees for five lessons (100 francs). M. +Mathias tells me that the letter is still in his possession. One +would hardly have expected such a proceeding from a grand +seigneur like Chopin, and many will, no doubt, ask, how it was +that a teacher so much sought after, who got 20 francs a lesson, +and besides had an income from his compositions, was reduced to +such straits. The riddle is easily solved. Chopin was open-handed +and not much of an economist: he spent a good deal on pretty +trifles, assisted liberally his needy countrymen, made handsome +presents to his friends, and is said to have had occasionally to +pay bills of his likewise often impecunious lady-love. Moreover, +his total income was not so large as may be supposed, for +although he could have as many pupils as he wished, he never +taught more than five hours a day, and lived every year for +several months in the country. And then there is one other point +to be taken into consideration: he often gave his lessons gratis. +From Madame Rubio I learned that on one occasion when she had +placed the money for a series of lessons on the mantel-piece, the +master declined to take any of it, with the exception of a 20- +franc piece, for which sum he put her name down on a subscription +list for poor Poles. Lindsay Sloper, too, told me that Chopin +declined payment for the lessons he gave him. + +Chopin's business experiences were not, for the most part, of a +pleasant nature; this is shown as much by the facts he mentions +in his letters as by the distrust with which he speaks of the +publishers. Here are some more particulars on the same subject. +Gutmann says that Chopin on his return from Majorca asked +Schlesinger for better terms. But the publisher, whilst +professing the highest opinion of the composer's merit, regretted +that the sale of the compositions was not such as to allow him to +pay more than he had hitherto done. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin's letters +show that Gutmann's statement is correct. Troupenas was Chopin's +publisher for some time after his return from Majorca.] Stephen +Heller remembered hearing that Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig, +wrote to their Paris agent informing him that they would go on +publishing Chopin's compositions, although, considering their by +no means large sale, the terms at which they got them were too +high. Ed. Wolff related to me that one day he drove with his +countryman to the publisher Troupenas, to whom Chopin wished to +sell his Sonata (probably the one in B flat minor). When after +his negotiations with the publisher Chopin was seated again in +the carriage, he said in Polish: "The pig, he offered me 200 +francs for my Sonata!" Chopin's relations with England were even +less satisfactory. At a concert at which Filtsch played, Chopin +introduced Stephen Heller to Wessel or to a representative ofthat +firm, but afterwards remarked: "You won't find them pleasant to +deal with." Chopin at any rate did not find them pleasant to deal +with. Hearing that Gutmann was going to London he asked his pupil +to call at Wessel's and try to renew the contract which had +expired. The publisher on being applied to answered that not only +would he not renew the contract, but that he would not even print +Chopin's compositions if he got them for nothing. Among the +pieces offered was the Berceuse. With regard to this story of +Gutmann's it has, however, to be stated that, though it may have +some foundation of fact, it is not true as he told it; for Wessel +certainly had published the Berceuse by June 26, 1845, and also +published in the course of time the five following works. Then, +however, the connection was broken off by Wessel. Chopin's +grumblings at his English publisher brings before us only one +side of the question. The other side comes in view in the +following piece of information with which Wessel's successor, Mr. +Edwin Ashdown, favoured me:--"In 1847 Mr. Wessel got tired of +buying Chopin's works, which at that time had scarcely any sale, +and discontinued the agreement, his last assignment from Chopin +(of Op. 60, 61, and 62) being dated July 17, 1847." Wessel +advertised these works on September 26, 1846. + +Although in the first of the following letters the day, month, +and year when it was written are not mentioned, and the second +and third inform us only of the day and month, but not of the +year, internal evidence shows that the first four letters form +one group and belong to the year 1844. Chopin places the date +sometimes at the head, sometimes at the foot, and sometimes in +the middle of his letters; to give it prominence I shall place it +always at the head, but indicate where he places it in the +middle. + +Chateau de Nohant, near La Chatre, Indre [August 1, 1844]. + + Dearest [Cherissime],--I send you [FOOTNOTE: In addressing + Franchomme Chopin makes use of the pronoun of the second + person singular.] the letter from Schlesinger and another for + him. Read them. He wishes to delay the publication, and I + cannot do so. If he says NO, give my manuscripts to Maho + [FOOTNOTE: See next letter.] so that he may get M. Meissonnier + [FOOTNOTE: A Paris music-publisher. He brought out in the + following year (1845) Chopin's Op. 57, Berceuse, and Op. 58, + Sonate (B minor). The compositions spoken of in this and the + next two letters are Op. 55, Deux Nocturnes, and Op. 56, Trois + Mazurkas.] to take them for the same price, 600 francs, I + believe that he (Schlesinger) will engrave them. They must be + published on the 20th. But you know it is only necessary to + register the title on that day. I ask your pardon for + troubling you with all these things. I love you, and apply to + you as I would to my brother. Embrace your children. My + regards to Madame Franchomme.--Your devoted friend, + + F. Chopin. + + A thousand compliments from Madame Sand. + + + Chateau de Nohant, Indre, August 2 [1844]. + + Dearest,--I was in great haste yesterday when I wrote to you + to apply at Meissonnier's through Maho IF SCHLESINGER REFUSES + my compositions. I forgot that Henri Lemoine [FOOTNOTE: A + Paris music-publisher.] paid Schlesinger a very high price for + my studies, and that I had rather have Lemoine engrave my + manuscripts than Meissonnier. I give you much trouble, dear + friend, but here is a letter for H. Lemoine, which I send to + you. Read it, and arrange with him. He must either publish the + compositions or register the titles on the 20th of this month + (August); ask from him only 300 francs for each, which makes + 600 francs for the two. Tell him he need not pay me till my + return to Paris if he likes. Give him even the two for 500 + francs if you think it necessary. I had rather do that than + give them to Meissonnier for 600 francs, as I wrote to you + yesterday without reflecting. If you have in the meantime + already arranged something with M., it is a different matter. + If not, do not let them go for less than 1,000 francs. For + Maho, who is the correspondent of Haertel (who pays me well) + might, knowing that I sell my compositions for so little in + Paris, make me lower my price in Germany. I torment you much + with my affairs. It is only in case Schlesinger persists in + his intention not to publish this month. If you think Lemoine + would give 800 francs for the two works, ask them. I do not + mention THE PRICE to him so as to leave you complete freedom. + I have no time to lose before the departure of the mail. I + embrace you, dear brother--write me a line.--Yours devotedly, + + Chopin. + + My regards to Madame. A thousand kisses to your children. + + + + Nohant, Monday, August 4 [1844]. + + Dearest,--I relied indeed on your friendship--therefore the + celerity with which you have arranged the Schlesinger affair + for me does not surprise me at all. I thank you from the + bottom of my heart, and await the moment when I shall be able + to do as much for you. I imagine all is well in your home-- + that Madame Franchomme and your dear children are well--and + that you love me as I love you.--Yours devotedly, + + F. CH. + + Madame Sand embraces your dear big darling [fanfan], and sends + you a hearty grasp of the hand. + + + Chateau de Nohant, September 20, 1844. + + Dearest,--If I did not write you before, it was because I + thought I should see you again this week in Paris. My + departure being postponed, I send you a line for Schlesinger + so that he may remit to you the price of my last manuscripts, + that is to say, 600 francs (100 of which you will keep for + me). I hope he will do it without making any difficulty about + it--if not, ask him at once for a line in reply (without + getting angry), send it to me, and I shall write immediately + to M. Leo to have the 500 francs you had the kindness to lend + me remitted to you before the end of the month. + + What shall I say? I often think of our last evening spent with + my dear sister. [FOOTNOTE: His sister Louise, who had been on + a visit to him.] How glad she was to hear you! She wrote to me + about it since from Strasburg, and asked me to remember her to + you and Madame Franchomme. I hope you are all well, and that I + shall find you so. Write to me, and love me as I love you. + Your old + + [A scrawl.] + + A thousand compliments to Madame. I embrace your dear + children. A thousand compliments from Madame Sand. + + + [Date.] + + I send you also a receipt for Schlesinger which you will give + up to him for the money only. Once more, do not be vexed if he + makes any difficulties. I embrace you. + + C. + + + August 30, 1845. + + Very dear friend,--Here are three manuscripts for Brandus, + [FOOTNOTE: Brandus, whose name here appears for the first time + in Chopin's letters, was the successor of Schlesinger.] and + three for Maho, who will remit to you Haertel's price for them + (1,500 francs). Give the manuscripts only at the moment of + payment. Send a note for 500 francs in your next letter, and + keep the rest for me. I give you much trouble, I should like + to spare you it--but--but----. + + Ask Maho not to change the manuscripts destined for Haertel, + because, as I shall not correct the Leipzig proofs, it is + important that my copy should be clear. Also ask Brandus to + send me two proofs, one of which I may keep. + + Now, how are you? and Madame Franchomme and her dear children? + I know you are in the country--(if St. Germain may be called + country)--that ought to do you all infinite good in the fine + weather which we continue to have. Look at my erasures! I + should not end if I were to launch out into a chat with you, + and I have not time to resume my letter, for Eug. Delacroix, + who wishes much to take charge of my message for you, leaves + immediately. He is the most admirable artist possible--I have + spent delightful times with him. He adores Mozart--knows all + his operas by heart. + + Decidedly I am only making blots to-day--pardon me for them. + Au revoir, dear friend, I love you always, and I think of you + every day. + + Give my kind regards to Madame Franchomme, and embrace the + dear children. + + + September 22, 1845. + + Very dear friend,--I thank you with all my heart for all your + journeys after Maho, and your letter which I have just + received with the money. The day of the publication seems to + me good, and I have only to ask you again not to let Brandus + fall asleep on my account or over my accounts. + + + Nohant, July 8, 1846. + + Very dear friend,--It was not because I did not think of it + that I have not written to you sooner, but because I wished to + send you at the same time my poor manuscripts, which are not + yet finished. In the meantime here is a letter for M. Brandus. + When you deliver it to him, be so kind as to ask him for a + line in reply, which you will have the goodness to send to me; + because if any unforeseen event occurs, I shall have to apply + to Meissonnier, their offers being equal. + + My good friend,--I am doing my utmost to work, but I do not + get on; and if this state of things continues, my new + productions will no longer remind people either of the + WARBLING OF LINNETS [gazouillement des fauvettes] [FOOTNOTE: + This is an allusion to a remark which somebody made on his + compositions.] or even of BROKEN CHINA [porcelaine cassee]. I + must resign myself. + + Write to me. I love you as much as ever. + + A thousand kind regards to Madame Franchomme, and many + compliments from my sister Louise. I embrace your dear + children. + + + [Date.] + + Madame Sand begs to be remembered to you and Madame + Franchomme. + + Chateau de Nohant, near La Chatre, September 17, 1846. + + Very dear friend,--I am very sorry that Brandus is away, and + that Maho is not yet in a position to receive the manuscripts + that he has so often asked me for this winter. One must + therefore wait; meanwhile I beg you will be so kind as to go + back AS SOON as you judge it possible, for I should not now + like this to be a long business, having sent my copy to London + at the same time as to you. Do not tell them this--if they are + CLEVER tradesmen [marchands habiles] they may cheat me like + honest people [en honnetes gens]. As this is all my present + fortune I should prefer the affair to turn out differently. + Also have the kindness not to consign my manuscripts to them + without receiving the money agreed upon, and send me + immediately a note for 500 francs in your letter. You will + keep the rest for me till my arrival in Paris, which will take + place probably in the end of October. I thank you a thousand + times, dear friend, for your good heart and friendly offers. + Keep your millions for me till another time--is it not already + too much to dispose of your time as I do? + + [Here follow compliments to and friendly enquiries after + Franchomme's family.] + + Madame Sand sends you a thousand compliments and desires to be + remembered to Madame Franchomme. + + [Date.] + + I shall answer Madame Rubio. [FOOTNOTE: Nee Vera de + Kologriwof, a pupil of Chopin's and teacher of music in Paris; + she married Signor Rubio, an artist, and died in the summer of + 1880 at Florence.] If Mdlle. Stirling [FOOTNOTE: A Scotch lady + and pupil of Chopin's; I shall have to say more about her by- + and-by. Madame Erskine was her elder sister.] is at St. + Germain, do not forget to remember me to her, also to Madame + Erskine. + +This will be the proper place to mention the compositions of the +years 1842-47, about the publication of many of which we have +read so much in the above letters. There is no new publication to +be recorded in 1842. The publications of 1843 were: in February-- +Op. 51, Allegro vivace, Troisieme Impromptu (G flat major), +dedicated to Madame la Comtesse Esterhazy; in December--Op. 52, +Quatrieme Ballade (F minor), dedicated to Madame la Baronne C. de +Rothschild; Op. 53, Huitieme Polonaise (A flat major), dedicated +to Mr. A. Leo; and Op. 54, Scherzo, No. 4 (E major), dedicated to +Mdlle. J. de Caraman. Those of 1844 were: in August--Op. 55, Deux +Nocturnes (F minor and E flat major), dedicated to Mdlle. J. H. +Stirling; and Op. 56, Trois Mazurkas (A minor, A flat major, and +F sharp minor), dedicated to Mdlle. C. Maberly. Those of 1845: in +May--Op. 57, Berceuse (D flat major), dedicated to Mdlle. Elise +Gavard; and in June--Op. 58, Sonate (B minor), dedicated to +Madame la Comtesse E. de Perthuis. Those of 1846: in April--Op. +59, Trois Mazurkas (A minor, A flat major, and F sharp minor); +and in September--Op. 60, Barcarole (F sharp major), dedicated to +Madame la Baronne de Stockhausen; Op. 61, Polonaise-Fantaisie (A +flat major), dedicated to Madame A. Veyret; and Op. 62, Deux +Nocturnes (B major and E major), dedicated to Mdlle. R. de +Konneritz. Those of 1847: in September--Op. 63, Trois Mazurkas (B +major, F minor, and C sharp minor), dedicated to Madame la +Comtesse L. Czosnowska, and Op. 64, Trois Valses (D flat major, C +sharp minor, and A flat major), respectively dedicated to Madame +la Comtesse Delphine Potocka, Madame la Baronne Nathaniel de +Rothschild, and Madame la Baronne Bronicka; and lastly, in +October--Op. 65, Sonate (G minor), pour piano et violoncelle, +dedicated to Mr. A. Franchomme. + +From 1838 to 1846 Chopin passed regularly every year, with the +exception of 1840, three or four months at Nohant. The musical +papers announced Chopin's return to town sometimes at the +beginning of October, sometimes at the beginning of November. In +1844 he must either have made a longer stay at Nohant than usual +or paid it a visit during the winter, for in the "Gazette +musicale" of January 5, 1845, we read: "Chopin has returned to +Paris and brought with him a new grand Sonata and variantes. +These two important works will soon be published." + +[FOOTNOTE: The new Sonata here mentioned is the one in B minor, +Op. 58, which was published in June, 1845. As to the other item +mentioned, I am somewhat puzzled. Has the word to be taken in its +literal sense of "various readings," i.e., new readings of works +already known (the context, however, does not favour this +supposition), or does it refer to the ever-varying evolutions of +the Berceuse, Op. 57. published in May, 1845, or, lastly, is it +simply a misprint?] + +George Sand generally prolonged her stay at Nohant till pretty +far into the winter, much to the sorrow of her malade ordinaire +(thus Chopin used to style himself), who yearned for her return +to Paris. + +According to Liszt, the country and the vie de chateau pleased +Chopin so much that for the sake of enjoying them he put up with +company that did not please him at all. George Sand has a +different story to tell. She declares that the retired life and +the solemnity of the country agreed neither with Chopin's +physical nor with his moral health; that he loved the country +only for a fortnight, after which he bore it only out of +attachment to her; and that he never felt regret on leaving it. +Whether Chopin loved country life or not, whether he liked George +Sand's Berry friends and her guests from elsewhere or not, we may +be sure that he missed Paris and his accustomed Paris society. + +"Of all the troubles I had not to endure but to contend against, +the sufferings of my malade ordinaire were not the least," says +George Sand. "Chopin always wished for Nohant, and never could +bear it." And, speaking of the later years, when the havoc made +in Chopin's constitution by the inroads of his malady showed +itself more and more, she remarks: "Nohant had become repugnant +to him. His return in the spring still filled him with ecstatic +joy for a short time. But as soon as he began to work everything +round him assumed a gloomy aspect." + +Before we peep into Chopin's room and watch him at work, let us +see what the chateau of Nohant and life there were like. "The +railway through the centre of France went in those days [August, +1846] no further than Vierzon," [FOOTNOTE: The opening of the +extension of the line to Chateauroux was daily expected at that +time.] writes Mr. Matthew Arnold in an account of a visit paid by +him to George Sand:-- + + From Vierzon to Chateauroux one travelled by an ordinary + diligence, from Chateauroux to La Chatre by a humbler + diligence, from La Chatre to Broussac by the humblest + diligence cf. all. At Broussac diligence ended, and PATACHE + began. Between Chateauroux and La Chatre, a mile or two before + reaching the latter place, the road passes by the village of + Nohant. The chateau of Nohant, in which Madame Sand lived, is + a plain house by the roadside, with a walled garden. Down in + the meadows not far off flows the Indre, bordered by trees. + +The Chateau of Nohant is indeed, as Mr. Matthew Arnold says, a +plain house, only the roof with its irregularly distributed +dormars and chimney-stacks of various size giving to it a touch +of picturesqueness. On the other hand, the ground-floor, with its +central door flanked on each side by three windows, and the seven +windowed story above, impresses one with the sense of +spaciousness. + +Liszt, speaking of a three months' stay at Nohant made by himself +and his friend the Comtesse d'Agoult in the summer of 1837--i.e., +before the closer connection of George Sand and Chopin began-- +relates that the hostess and her guests spent the days in reading +good books, receiving letters from absent friends, taking long +walks on the banks of the Indre, and in other equally simple +occupations and amusements. In the evenings they assembled on the +terrace. There, where the light of the lamps cast fantastic +shadows on the neighbouring trees, they sat listening to the +murmuring of the river and the warbling of the nightingales, and +breathing in the sweet perfume of the lime-trees and the stronger +scent of the larches till the Countess would exclaim: "There you +are again dreaming, you incorrigible artists! Do you not know +that the hour for working has come?" And then George Sand would +go and write at the book on which she was engaged, and Liszt +would betake himself to the old scores which he was studying with +a view to discover some of the great masters' secrets. [FOOTNOTE: +Liszt. "Essays and Reisebriefe eines Baccalaureus der Tonkunst." +Vol. II., pp. 146 and 147 of the collected works.] + +Thus was Nohant in quiet days. But the days at Nohant were by no +means always quiet. For George Sand was most hospitable, kept +indeed literally open house for her friends, and did so +regardless of credit and debit. The following passage from a +letter written by her in 1840 from Paris to her half-brother +Hippolyte Chatiron gives us a good idea of the state of matters:- +- + + If you will guarantee my being able to pass the summer at + Nohant for 4,000 francs, I will go. But I have never been + there without spending 1,500 francs per month, and as I do not + spend here the half of this, it is neither the love of work, + nor that of spending, nor that of GLORY, which makes me stay. + I do not know whether I have been pillaged; but I am at a loss + how to avoid it with my nonchalance, in so vast a house, and + so easy a kind of life as that of Nohant. Here I can see + clearly; everything is done under my eyes as I understand and + wish it. At Nohant--let this remain between us--you know that + before I am up a dozen people have often made themselves at + home in the house. What can I do? Were I to pose as a good + manager [econome] they would accuse me of stinginess; were I + to let things go on, I should not be able to provide for them. + Try if you can find a remedy for this. + +In George Sand's letters many glimpses may be caught of the life +at Nohant. To some of them I have already drawn the reader's +attention in preceding chapters; now I shall point out a few +more. + + + George Sand to Madame Marliani; Nohant, August 13, 1841:-- + + I have had all my nights absorbed by work and fatigue. I have + passed all my days with Pauline [Viardot] in walking, playing + at billiards, and all this makes me so entirely go out of my + indolent character and lazy habits that, at night, instead of + working quickly, I fall stupidly asleep at every + line....Viardot [Louis Viardot, the husband of Pauline] passes + his days in poaching with my brother and Papet; for the + shooting season has not yet begun, and they brave the laws, + divine and human. Pauline reads with Chopin whole scores at + the piano. She is always good-natured and charming, as you + know her. + + + George Sand to Mdlle. Rozieres: Nohant, October 15, 1841:-- + + Papet is in the depths of the forests; in "Erymanthe" at + least, hunting the wild boar. Chopin is in Paris, and he has + relapsed, as he says, into his triples croches + [demisemiquavers]. + + + George Sand to Mdlle. Rozieres; Nohant, May 9, 1842:-- + + Quick to work! Your master, the great Chopin, has forgotten + (that for which he nevertheless cares a great deal) to buy a + beautiful present for Francoise, my faithful servant, whom he + adores, and he is very right. + + He begs of you therefore to send him, IMMEDIATELY, four yards + of lace, two fingers broad at least, within the price of ten + francs a yard; further, a shawl of whatever material you like, + within the price of forty francs....This, then, is the superb + present which your HONOURED MASTER asks you to get for him, + with an eagerness worthy of the ardour which he carries into + his gifts, and of the impatience which he puts into little + things. + +Charles Rollinat, a friend of George Sand's, the brother of one +of George Sand's most intimate and valued friends, Francois +Rollinat, published in "Le Temps" (September 1, 1874) a charming +"Souvenir de Nohant," which shows us the the chateau astir with a +more numerous company:-- + + The hospitality there [he writes] was comfortable, and the + freedom absolute. There were guns and dogs for those who loved + hunting, boats and nets for those who loved fishing, a + splendid garden to walk in. Everyone did as he liked. Liszt + and Chopin composed; Pauline Garcia studied her role of the + "Prophete"; the mistress of the house wrote a romance or a + drama; and it was the same with the others. At six o'clock + they assembled again to dine, and did not part company till + two or three o'clock in the morning. + Chopin rarely played. He could only be prevailed upon to play + when he was sure of perfection. Nothing in the world would + have made him consent to play indifferently. Liszt, on the + contrary, played always, well or badly. + +[FOOTNOTE: Charles Rollinat, a younger brother of Francois, went +afterwards to Russia, where, according to George Sand (see letter +to Edmond Plauchut, April 8, 1874), he was for twenty-five years +"professeur de musique et haut enseignement, avec une bonne place +du gouvernement." He made a fortune and lost it, retaining only +enough to live upon quietly in Italy. He tried then to supplement +his scanty income by literary work (translations from the +Russian). George Sand, recalling the days of long ago, says: "Il +chantait comme on ne chante plus, excepte Pauline [Viardot- +Garcia]!"] + +Unfortunately, the greater portion of M. Rollinat's so-called +Souvenir consists of "poetry WITHOUT truth." Nevertheless, we +will not altogether ignore his pretty stories. + +One evening when Liszt played a piece of Chopin's with +embellishments of his own, the composer became impatient and at +last, unable to restrain himself any longer, walked up to Liszt +and said with his ENGLISH PHLEGM:-- + + "I beg of you, my dear friend, if you do me the honour to play + a piece of mine, to play what is written, or to play something + else. It is only Chopin who has the right to alter Chopin." + + "Well! play yourself!" said Liszt, rising from his seat a + little irritated, + + "With pleasure," said Chopin. + + At that moment a moth extinguished the lamp. Chopin would not + have it relighted, and played in the dark. When he had + finished his delighted auditors overwhelmed him with + compliments, and Liszt said: + + "Ah, my friend, you were right! The works of a genius like you + are sacred; it is a profanation to meddle with them. You are a + true poet, and I am only a mountebank." + + Whereupon Chopin replied: "We have each our genre." + +M. Rollinat then proceeds to tell his readers that Chopin, +believing he had eclipsed Liszt that evening, boasted of it, and +said: "How vexed he was!" It seems that the author felt that this +part of the story put a dangerously severe strain on the +credulity of his readers, for he thinks it necessary to assure +them that these were the ipsissima verba of Chopin. Well, the +words in question came to the ears of Liszt, and he resolved at +once to have his revenge. + +Five days afterwards the friends were again assembled in the same +place and at the same time. Liszt asked Chopin to play, and had +all the lights put out and all the curtains drawn; but when +Chopin was going to the piano, Liszt whispered something in his +ear and sat down in his stead. He played the same composition +which Chopin had played on the previous occasion, and the +audience was again enchanted. At the end of the piece Liszt +struck a match and lighted the candles which stood on the piano. +Of course general stupefaction ensued. + + "What do you say to it?" said Liszt to his rival. + "I say what everyone says; I too believed it was Chopin." + "You see," said the virtuoso rising, "that Liszt can be Chopin + when he likes; but could Chopin be Liszt?" + +Instead of commenting on the improbability of a generous artist +thus cruelly taunting his sensitive rival, I shall simply say +that Liszt had not the slightest recollection of ever having +imitated Chopin's playing in a darkened room. There may be some +minute grains of truth mixed up with all this chaff of fancy-- +Chopin's displeasure at the liberties Liszt took with his +compositions was no doubt one of them--but it is impossible to +separate them. + +M. Rollinat relates also how in 184-, when Chopin, Liszt, the +Comtesse d'Agoult, Pauline Garcia, Eugene Delacroix, the actor +Bocage, and other celebrities were at Nohant, the piano was one +moonlit night carried out to the terrace; how Liszt played the +hunting chorus from Weber's Euryanthe, Chopin some bars from an +impromptu he was then composing; how Pauline Garcia sang Nel cor +piu non mi sento, and a niece of George Sand a popular air; how +the echo answered the musicians; and how after the music the +company, which included also a number of friends from the +neighbouring town, had punch and remained together till dawn. But +here again M. Rollinat's veracity is impugned on all sides. +Madame Viardot-Garcia declares that she was never at Nohant when +Liszt was there; and Liszt did not remember having played on the +terrace of the chateau. Moreover, seeing that the first +performance of the Prophete took place on April 16, 1849, is it +likely that Madame Pauline Garcia was studying her part before or +in 1846? And unless she did so she could not meet Chopin at +Nohant when she was studying it. + +M. Rollinat is more trustworthy when he tells us that there was a +pretty theatre and quite an assortment of costumes at the +chateau; that the dramas and comedies played there were +improvised by the actors, only the subject and the division into +scenes being given; and that on two pianos, concealed by +curtains, one on the right and one on the left of the stage, +Chopin and Liszt improvised the musical part of the +entertainment. All this is, however, so much better and so much +more fully told by George Sand (in Dernieres Pages: Le Theatre +des Marionnettes de Nohant) that we will take our information +from her. It was in the long nights of a winter that she +conceived the plan of these private theatricals in imitation of +the comedia dell' arte--namely, of "pieces the improvised +dialogue of which followed a written sketch posted up behind the +scenes." + + They resembled the charades which are acted in society and + which are more or less developed according to the ensemble and + the talent of the performers. We had begun with these. By + degrees the word of the charade disappeared and we played + first mad saynetes, then comedies of intrigues and adventures, + and finally dramas of incidents and emotions. The whole thing + began by pantomime, and this was of Chopin's invention; he + occupied the place at the piano and improvised, while the + young people gesticulated scenes and danced comic ballets. I + leave you to imagine whether these now wonderful, now charming + improvisations quickened the brains and made supple the legs + of our performers. He led them as he pleased and made them + pass, according to his fancy, from the droll to the severe, + from the burlesque to the solemn, from the graceful to the + passionate. We improvised costumes in order to play + successively several roles. As soon as the artist saw them + appear, he adapted his theme and his accent in a marvellous + manner to their respective characters. This went on for three + evenings, and then the master, setting out for Paris, left us + thoroughly stirred up, enthusiastic, and determined not to + suffer the spark which had electrified us to be lost. + +To get away from the quicksands of Souvenirs--for George Sand's +pages, too, were written more than thirty years after the +occurrences she describes, and not published till 1877--I shall +make some extracts from the contemporaneous correspondence of +George Sand's great friend, the celebrated painter Eugene +Delacroix. [FOOTNOTE: Lettres de Eugene Delacroix (1815 a 1863) +recucillies et publiees par M. Philippe Burty. Paris, 1878.] The +reader cannot fail to feel at once the fresh breeze of reality +that issues from these letters, which contain vivid sketches full +of natural beauties and free from affectation and striving after +effect:-- + + + Nohant, June 7, 1842. + + ...The place is very pleasant, and the hosts do their utmost + to please me. When we are not assembled to dine, breakfast, + play at billiards, or walk, we are in our rooms, reading, or + resting on our sofas. Now and then there come to you through + the window opening on the garden, whiffs of the music of + Chopin, who is working in his room; this mingles with the song + of the nightingales and the odour of the roses. You see that + so far I am not much to be pitied, and, nevertheless, work + must come to give the grain of salt to all this. This life is + too easy, I must purchase it with a little racking of my + brains; and like the huntsman who eats with more appetite when + he has got his skin torn by bushes, one must strive a little + after ideas in order to feel the charm of doing nothing. + + + Nohant, June 14, 1842. + + ...Although I am in every respect most agreeably + circumstanced, both as regards body and mind, for I am in much + better health, I have not been able to prevent myself from + thinking of work. How strange! this work is fatiguing, and yet + the species of activity it gives to the mind is necessary to + the body itself. In vain did I try to get up a passion for + billiards, in which I receive a lesson every day, in vain have + I good conversations on all the subjects that please me, music + that I seize on the wing and by whiffs, I have felt the need + of doing something. I have begun a Sainte-Anne for the parish, + and I have already set it agoing. + + + Nohant, June 22, 1842. + + ...Pen and ink certainly become more and more repugnant to me. + I have no more than you any event to record. I lead a monastic + life, and as monotonous as it well can be. No event varies the + course of it. We expected Balzac, who has not come, and I am + not sorry. He is a babbler who would have destroyed this + harmony of NONCHALANCE which I am enjoying thoroughly; at + intervals a little painting, billiards, and walking, that is + more than is necessary to fill up the days. There is not even + the distraction of neighbours and friends from the environs; + in this part of the country everyone remains at home and + occupies him self with his oxen and his land. One would become + a fossil here in a very short time. + + I have interminable private interviews with Chopin, whom I + love much, and who is a man of a rare distinction; he is the + most true artist I have met. He is one of the few one can + admire and esteem. Madame Sand suffers frequently from violent + headaches and pains in her eyes, which she tries to master as + much as possible and with much strength of will, so as not to + weary us with what she suffers. + + The greatest event of my stay has been a peasants' ball on the + lawn of the chateau with the best bagpipers of the place. The + people of this part of the country present a remarkable type + of gentleness and good nature; ugliness is rare here, though + beauty is not often seen, but there is not that kind of fever + which is observable in the peasants of the environs of Paris. + All the women have the appearance of those sweet faces one + sees only in the pictures of the old masters. They are all + Saint Annes. + +Amidst the affectations, insincerities, and superficialities of +Chopin's social intercourse, Delacroix's friendship--we have +already seen that the musician reciprocated the painter's +sentiments--stands out like a green oasis in a barren desert. +When, on October 28, 1849, a few days after Chopin's death, +Delacroix sent a friend a ticket for the funeral service of the +deceased, he speaks of him as "my poor and dear Chopin." But the +sincerity of Delacroix's esteem and the tenderness of his love +for Chopin are most fully revealed in some lines of a letter +which he wrote on January 7, 1861, to Count Czymala [Grzymala]:-- + + When I have finished [the labours that took up all his time], + I shall let you know, and shall see you again, with the + pleasure I have always had, and with the feelings your kind + letter has reanimated in me. With whom shall I speak of the + incomparable genius whom heaven has envied the earth, and of + whom I dream often, being no longer able to see him in this + world nor to hear his divine harmonies. + + If you see sometimes the charming Princess Marcelline + [Czartoryska], another object of my respect, place at her feet + the homage of a poor man who has not ceased to be full of the + memory of her kindnesses and of admiration for her talent, + another bond of union with the seraph whom we have lost and + who, at this hour, charms the celestial spheres. + +The first three of the above extracts from Delacroix's letters +enable us to form a clear idea of what the everyday life at +Nohant was like, and after reading them we can easily imagine +that its monotony must have had a depressing effect on the +company-loving Chopin. But the drawback was counterbalanced by an +advantage. At Paris most of Chopin's time was occupied with +teaching and the pleasures of society, at Nohant he could devote +himself undisturbed and undistracted to composition. And there is +more than sufficient evidence to prove that in this respect +Chopin utilised well the quiet and leisure of his rural +retirement. + +Few things excite the curiosity of those who have a taste for art +and literature so much as an artist's or poet's mode of creation. +With what interest, for instance, do we read Schindler's account +of how Beethoven composed his Missa Solemnis--of the master's +absolute detachment from the terrestrial world during the time he +was engaged on this work; of his singing, shouting, and stamping, +when he was in the act of giving birth to the fugue of the Credo! +But as regards musicians, we know, generally speaking, very +little on the subject; and had not George Sand left us her +reminiscences, I should not have much to tell the reader about +Chopin's mode of creation. From Gutmann I learned that his master +worked long before he put a composition to paper, but when it was +once in writing did not keep it long in his portfolio. The latter +part of this statement is contradicted by a remark of the better- +informed Fontana, who, in the preface to Chopin's posthumous +works, says that the composer, whether from caprice or +nonchalance, had the habit of keeping his manuscripts sometimes a +very long time in his portfolio before giving them to the public. +As George Sand observed the composer with an artist's eye and +interest, and had, of course, better opportunities than anybody +else to observe him, her remarks are particularly valuable. She +writes:-- + + His creation was spontaneous and miraculous. He found it + without seeking it, without foreseeing it. It came on his + piano suddenly, complete, sublime, or it sang in his head + during a walk, and he was impatient to play it to himself. But + then began the most heart-rending labour I ever saw. It was a + series of efforts, of irresolutions, and of frettings to seize + again certain details of the theme he had heard; what he had + conceived as a whole he analysed too much when wishing to + write it, and his regret at not finding it again, in his + opinion, clearly defined, threw him into a kind of despair. He + shut himself up in his room for whole days, weeping, walking, + breaking his pens, repeating and altering a bar a hundred + times, writing and effacing it as many times, and recommencing + the next day with a minute and desperate perseverance. He + spent six weeks over a single page to write it at last as he + had noted it down at the very first. + + I had for a long time been able to make him consent to trust + to this first inspiration. But when he was no longer disposed + to believe me, he reproached me gently with having spoiled him + and with not being severe enough for him. I tried to amuse + him, to take him out for walks. Sometimes, taking away all my + brood in a country char a bancs, I dragged him away in spite + of himself from this agony. I took him to the banks of the + Creuse, and after being for two or three days lost amid + sunshine and rain in frightful roads, we arrived, cheerful and + famished, at some magnificently-situated place where he seemed + to revive. These fatigues knocked him up the first day, but he + slept. The last day he was quite revived, quite rejuvenated in + returning to Nohant, and he found the solution of his work + without too much effort; but it was not always possible to + prevail upon him to leave that piano which was much oftener + his torment than his joy, and by degrees he showed temper when + I disturbed him. I dared not insist. Chopin when angry was + alarming, and as, with me, he always restrained himself, he + seemed almost to choke and die. + +A critic remarks in reference to this account that Chopin's mode +of creation does not show genius, but only passion. From which we +may conclude that he would not, like Carlyle, have defined genius +as the power of taking infinite pains. To be sure, the great +Scotchman's definition is inadequate, but nothing is more false +than the popular notion that the great authors throw off their +works with the pleasantest ease, that creation is an act of pure +enjoyment. Beethoven's sketch-books tell a different story; so do +also Balzac's proof-sheets and the manuscripts of Pope's version +of the Iliad and Odyssey in the British Museum. Dr. Johnson +speaking of Milton's MSS. observed truly: "Such reliques show how +excellence is acquired." Goethe in writing to Schiller asks him +to return certain books of "Wilhelm Meister" that he may go over +them A FEW TIMES before sending them to the press. And on re- +reading one of these books he cut out one third of its contents. +Moreover, if an author writes with ease, this is not necessarily +a proof that he labours little, for he may finish the work before +bringing it to paper. Mozart is a striking instance. He has +himself described his mode of composing--which was a process of +accumulation, agglutination, and crystallisation--in a letter to +a friend. The constitution of the mind determines the mode of +working. Some qualities favour, others obstruct the realisation +of a first conception. Among the former are acuteness and +quickness of vision, the power of grasping complex subjects, and +a good memory. But however varied the mode of creation may be, an +almost unvarying characteristic of the production of really +precious and lasting artwork is ungrudging painstaking, such as +we find described in William Hunt's "Talks about Art":--"If you +could see me dig and groan, rub it out and start again, hate +myself and feel dreadfully! The people who do things easily, +their things you look at easily, and give away easily." Lastly +and briefly, it is not the mode of working, but the result of +this working which demonstrates genius. + +As Chopin disliked the pavilion in the Rue Pigalle, George Sand +moved with her household in 1842 to the quiet, aristocratic- +looking Cite (Court or Square) d'Orleans, where their friend +Madame Marliani arranged for them a vie de famille. To get to the +Cite d'Orleans one has to pass through two gateways--the first +leads from the Rue Taitbout (close to the Rue St. Lazare), into a +small out-court with the lodge of the principal concierge; the +second, into the court itself. In the centre is a grass plot with +four flower-beds and a fountain; and between this grass plot and +the footpath which runs along the houses extends a carriage +drive. As to the houses which form the square, they are well and +handsomely built, the block opposite the entrance making even +some architectural pretensions. Madame Sand's, Madame Marliani's, +and Chopin's houses, which bore respectively the numbers 5, 4, +and 3, were situated on the right side, the last-mentioned being +just in the first right-hand corner on entering from the out- +court. On account of the predilection shown for it by artists and +literary men as a place of abode, the Court d'Orldans has not +inaptly been called a little Athens. Alexander Dumas was one of +the many celebrities who lived there at one time or other; and +Chopin had for neighbours the famous singer Pauline Viardot- +Garcia, the distinguished pianoforte-professor Zimmermann, and +the sculptor Dantan, from whose famous gallery of caricatures, or +rather charges, the composer's portrait was not absent. Madame +Marliani, the friend of George Sand and Chopin, who has already +repeatedly been mentioned in this book, was the wife of Manuel +Marliani, Spanish Consul in Paris, author, [FOOTNOTE: Especially +notable among his political and historical publications in +Spanish and French is: "Histoire politique de l'Espagne moderne +suivie d'un apercu sur les finances." 2 vols. in 8vo (Paris, +1840).] politician, and subsequently senator. Lenz says that +Madame Marliani was a Spanish countess and a fine lady; and +George Sand describes her as good-natured and active, endowed +with a passionate head and maternal heart, but destined to be +unhappy because she wished to make the reality of life yield to +the ideal of her imagination and the exigences of her +sensibility. + +Some excerpts from a letter written by George Sand on November +12, 1842, to her friend Charles Duvernet, and a passage from Ma +Vie will bring scene and actors vividly before us:-- + + We also cultivate billiards; I have a pretty little table, + which I hire for twenty francs a month, in my salon, and + thanks to kind friendships we approach Nohant life as much as + is possible in this melancholy Paris. What makes things + country-like also is that I live in the same square as the + family Marliani, Chopin in the next pavilion, so that without + leaving this large well-lighted and sanded Court d'Orleans, we + run in the evening from one to another like good provincial + neighbours. We have even contrived to have only one pot + [marmite], and eat all together at Madame Marliani's, which is + more economical and by far more lively than taking one's meals + at home. It is a kind of phalanstery which amuses us, and + where mutual liberty is much better guaranteed than in that of + the Fourierists... + + Solange is at a boarding-school, and comes out every Saturday + to Monday morning. Maurice has resumed the studio con furia, + and I, I have resumed Consuelo like a dog that is being + whipped; for I have idled on account of my removal and the + fitting up of my apartments... + + Kind regards and shakes of the hand from Viardot, Chopin, and + my children. + +The passge [sic: passage] from Ma Vie, which contains some +repetitions along with a few additional touches, runs as follows:- +- + + She [Madame Marliani] had fine apartments between the two we + [George Sand and Chopin] occupied. We had only a large planted + and sanded and always clean court to cross in order to meet, + sometimes, in her rooms, sometimes in mine, sometimes in + Chopin's when he was inclined to give us some music. We dined + with her at common expense. It was a very good association, + economical like all associations, and enabled one to see + society at Madame Marliani's, my friends more privately in my + apartments, and to take up my work at the hour when it suited + me to withdraw. Chopin rejoiced also at having a fine, + isolated salon where he could go to compose or to dream. But + he loved society, and made little use of his sanctuary except + to give lessons in it. + +Although George Sand speaks only of a salon, Chopin's official +residence, as we may call it, consisted of several rooms. They +were elegantly furnished and always adorned with flowers--for he +loved le luxe and had the coquetterie des appartements. + +[FOOTNOTE: When I visited in 1880 M. Kwiatkowski in Paris, he +showed me some Chopin relics: 1, a pastel drawing by Jules +Coignet (representing Les Pyramides d'Egypte), which hung always +above the composer's piano; 2, a little causeuse which Chopin +bought with his first Parisian savings; 3, an embroidered easy- +chair worked and presented to him by the Princess Czartoiyska; +and 4, an embroidered cushion worked and presented to him by +Madame de Rothschild. If we keep in mind Chopin's remarks about +his furniture and the papering of his rooms, and add to the above- +mentioned articles those which Karasowski mentions as having been +bought by Miss Stirling after the composer's death, left by her +to his mother, and destroyed by the Russians along with his +letters in 1861 when in possession of his sister Isabella +Barcinska--his portrait by Ary Scheffer, some Sevres porcelain +with the inscription "Offert par Louis Philippe a Frederic +Chopin," a fine inlaid box, a present from one of the Rothschild +family, carpets, table-cloths, easy-chairs, &c., worked by his +pupils--we can form some sort of idea of the internal +arrangements of the pianist-composer's rooms.] + +Nevertheless, they exhibited none of the splendour which was to +be found in the houses of many of the celebrities then living in +Paris. "He observed," remarks Liszt, "on this point as well as in +the then so fashionable elegancies of walking-sticks, pins, +studs, and jewels, the instinctive line of the comme il faut +between the too much and the too little." But Chopin's letters +written from Nohant in 1839 to Fontana have afforded the reader +sufficient opportunities to make himself acquainted with the +master's fastidiousness and good taste in matters of furniture +and room decoration, above all, his horror of vulgar gaudiness. + +Let us try to get some glimpses of Chopin in his new home. +Lindsay Sloper, who--owing, no doubt, to a great extent at least, +to the letter of recommendation from Moscheles which he brought +with him--had got permission from Chopin to come for a lesson as +often as he liked at eight o'clock in the morning, found the +master at that hour not in deshabille, but dressed with the +greatest care. Another early pupil, M. Mathias, always fell in +with the daily-attending barber. M. Mathias told me also of +Chopin's habit of leaning with his back against the mantel-piece +while he was chatting at the end of the lesson. It must have been +a pretty sight to see the master in this favourite attitude of +his, his coat buttoned up to the chin (this was his usual style), +the most elegant shoes on his small feet, faultless exquisiteness +characterising the whole of his attire, and his small eyes +sparkling with esprit and sometimes with malice. + +Of all who came in contact with Chopin, however, no one made so +much of his opportunities as Lenz: some of his observations on +the pianist have already been quoted, those on the man and his +surroundings deserve likewise attention. [FOOTNOTE: W. von Lenz: +"Die Grossen Pianoforte-Virtuosen unserer Zeit."] Lenz came to +Paris in the summer or autumn of the year 1842; and as he wished +to study Chopin's mazurkas with the master himself, he awaited +impatiently his return from Nohant. At last, late in October, +Lenz heard from Liszt that Chopin had arrived in town; but Liszt +told him also that it was by no means an easy thing to get +lessons from Chopin, that indeed many had journeyed to Paris for +the purpose and failed even to get sight of him. To guard Lenz +against such a mishap, Liszt gave him a card with the words +"Laissez passer, Franz Liszt" on it, and advised him to call on +Chopin at two o'clock. The enthusiastic amateur was not slow in +availing himself of his artist friend's card and advice. But on +reaching his destination he was met in the anteroom by a male +servant--"an article of luxury in Paris, a rarissima avis in the +house of an artist," observes Lenz--who informed him that Chopin +was not in town. The visitor, however, was not to be put off in +this way, and insisted that the card should be taken in to +Chopin. Fortune favours the brave. A moment after the servant had +left the room the great artist made his appearance holding the +card in his hand: "a young man of middle height, slim, thin, with +a careworn, speaking face and the finest Parisian tournure." +Lenz does not hesitate to declare that he hardly ever met a +person so naturally elegant and winning. But here is what took +place at this interview. + + Chopin did not press me to sit down [says Lenz], I stood as + before a reigning sovereign. "What do you wish? a pupil of + Liszt's, an artist?" "A friend of Liszt's. I wish to have the + happiness of making, under your guidance, acquaintance with + your mazurkas, which I regard as a literature. Some of them I + have already studied with Liszt." I felt I had been + imprudent, but it was too late. "Indeed!" replied Chopin, with + a drawl, but in the politest tone, "what do you want me for + then? Please play to me what you have played with Liszt, I + have still a few minutes at my disposal"--he drew from his + fob an elegant, small watch--"I was on the point of going out, + I had told my servant to admit nobody, pardon me!" + +Lenz sat down at the piano, tried the gue of it--an expression at +which Chopin, who was leaning languidly on the piano and looking +with his intelligent eyes straight in his visitor's face, smiled-- +and then struck up the Mazurka in B flat major. When he came to +a passage in which Liszt had taught him to introduce a volata +through two octaves, Chopin whispered blandly:-- + + "This TRAIT is not your own; am I right? HE has shown it you-- + he must meddle with everything; well! he may do it, he plays + before THOUSANDS, I rarely before ONE. Well, this will do, I + will give you lessons, but only twice a week, I never give + more, it is difficult for me to find three-quarters of an + hour." He again looked at his watch. "What do you read then? + With what do you occupy yourself generally?" This was a + question for which I was well prepared. "George Sand and Jean + Jacques I prefer to all other writers," said I quickly. He + smiled, he was most beautiful at that moment. "Liszt has told + you this. I see, you are initiated, so much the better. Only + be punctual, with me things go by the clock, my house is a + pigeon-house (pigeonnier). I see already we shall become more + intimate, a recommendation from Liszt is worth something, you + are the first pupil whom he has recommended to me; we are + friends, we were comrades." + +Lenz had, of course, too imaginative a turn of mind to leave +facts in their native nakedness, but this tendency of his is too +apparent to need pointing out. What betrays him is the wonderful +family likeness of his portraits, a kind of vapid esprit, not +distantly related to silliness, with which the limner endows his +unfortunate sitters, Chopin as well as Liszt and Tausig. Indeed, +the portraits compared with the originals are like Dresden china +figures compared with Greek statuary. It seems to me also very +improbable that so perfect a gentleman as Chopin was should +subject a stranger to an examination as to his reading and +general occupation. These questions have very much the appearance +of having been invented by the narrator for the sake of the +answers. However, notwithstanding the many unmistakable +embellishments, Lenz's account was worth quoting, for after all +it is not without a basis of fact and truth. The following +reminiscences of the lively Russian councillor, although not +wanting in exaggerations, are less open to objections:-- + + I always made my appearance long before my hour and waited. + One lady after another came out, one more beautiful than the + other, on one occasion Mdlle. Laure Duperre, the daughter of + the admiral, whom Chopin accompanied to the staircase, she was + the most beautiful of all, and as straight as a palm; to her + Chopin has dedicated two of his most important Nocturnes (in C + minor and F sharp minor, Op. 48); she was at that time his + favourite pupil. In the anteroom I often met little Filtsch, + who, unfortunately, died too young, at the age of thirteen, a + Hungarian and a genius. He knew how to play Chopin! Of Filtsch + Liszt said in my presence at a soiree of the Comtesse + d'Agoult: "When the little one begins to travel, I shall shut + up my shop" (Quand le petit voyagera, je fermerai boutique). I + was jealous of Filtsch, Chopin had eyes only for him. + +How high an opinion the master had of this talented pupil appears +from his assertion that the boy played the E minor Concerto +better than he himself. Lenz mentions Filtsch and his playing of +the E minor Concerto only in passing in "Die grossen Pianoforte- +Virtuosen unserer Zeit," but devotes to them more of his leisure +in an article which appeared in the Berliner Musikzeitung (Vol. +XXVI.), the amusing gossip of which deserves notice here on +account of the light thrown by some of its details on Chopin's +ways and the company he received in his salon. On one occasion +when Filtsch had given his master particular satisfaction by a +tasteful rendering of the second solo of the first movement of +the E minor Concerto, Chopin said: "You have played this well, my +boy (mon garcon), I must try it myself." Lenz relates that what +now followed was indescribable: the little one (der Kleine) burst +into tears, and Chopin, who indeed had been telling them the +story of his artist life, said, as if speaking to himself, "I +have loved it! I have already once played it!" Then, turning to +Filtsch, he spoke these words: "Yours is a beautiful artist +nature (une belle nature d'artiste), you will become a great +artist." Whilst the youthful pianist was studying the Concerto +with Chopin, he was never allowed to play more than one solo at a +time, the work affecting too much the feelings of the composer, +who, moreover, thought that the whole was contained in every one +of the solos; and when he at last got leave to perform the whole, +an event for which he prepared himself by fasting and prayers of +the Roman Catholic Church, and by such reading as was pointed out +by his master, practising being forbidden for the time, Chopin +said to him: "As you have now mastered the movement so well, we +will bring it to a hearing." + +The reader must understand that I do not vouch for the strict +correctness of Lenz's somewhat melodramatic narrative; and having +given this warning I shall, to keep myself free from all +responsibility, simply translate the rest of what is yet to be +told:-- + + Chopin invited a party of ladies, George Sand was one of them, + and was as quiet as a mouse; moreover, she knew nothing of + music. The favoured pupils from the highest aristocracy + appeared with modest demeanour and full of the most profound + devotion, they glided silently, like gold-fishes in a vase, + one after another into the salon, and sat down as far as + possible from the piano, as Chopin liked people to do. Nobody + spoke, Chopin only nodded, and shook hands with one here and + there, not with all of them. The square pianoforte, which + stood in his cabinet, he had placed beside the Pleyel concert + grand in the salon, not without the most painful embarras to + him. The most insignificant trifle affected him; he was a noli + me tangere. He had said once, or rather had thought aloud: "If + I saw a crack more in the ceiling, I should not be able to + bring out a note." Chopin poured the whole dreamy, vaporous + instrumentation of the work into his incomparable + accompaniment. He played without book. I have never heard + anything that could be compared to the first tutti, which he + played alone on the piano. The little one did wonders. The + whole was an impression for all the rest of one's life. After + Chopin had briefly dismissed the ladies (he loved praise + neither for himself nor for others, and only George Sand was + permitted to embrace Filtsch), he said to the latter, his + brother, who always accompanied the little one, and me: "We + have yet to take a walk." It was a command which we received + with the most respectful bow. + +The destination of this walk was Schlesinger's music-shop, where +Chopin presented his promising young pupil with the score of +Beethoven's "Fidelio":-- + + "I am in your debt, you have given me much pleasure to-day. I + wrote the Concerto in happier days. Receive, my dear little + friend, this great master-work; read therein as long as you + live, and remember me also sometimes." The little one was as + if stunned, and kissed Chopin's hand. We were all deeply + moved, Chopin himself was so. He disappeared immediately + through the glass door on a level with the Rue Richelieu, into + which it leads. + +A scene of a very different nature which occurred some years +later was described to me by Madame Dubois. This lady, then still +Mdlle. O'Meara and a pupil of Chopin's, had in 1847 played, +accompanied on a second piano by her master, the latter's +Concerto in E minor at a party of Madame de Courbonne's. Madame +Girardin, who was among the guests, afterwards wrote most +charmingly and eulogistically about the young girl's beauty and +talent in one of her Lettres parisiennes, which appeared in La +Presse and were subsequently published in a collected form under +the title of "Le Vicomte de Launay." Made curious by Madame +Girardin's account, and probably also by remarks of Chopin and +others, George Sand wished to see the heroine of that much-talked- +of letter. Thus it came to pass that one day when Miss O'Meara +was having her lesson, George Sand crossed the Square d'Orleans +and paid Chopin a visit in his apartments. The master received +her with all the grace and amiability he was capable of. Noticing +that her pardessus was bespattered with mud, he seemed to be much +vexed, and the exquisitely-elegant gentleman (l'homme de toutes +les elegances ) began to rub off with his small, white hands the +stains which on any other person would have caused him disgust. +And Mdlle. O'Meara, child as she still was, watched what was +going on from the corner of her eye and thought: "Comme il aime +cette femme!" [FOOTNOTE: Madame A. Audley gives an altogether +incorrect account of this incident in her FREDERIC CHOPIN. Madame +Girardin was not one of the actors, and Mdlle. O'Meara did not +think the thoughts attributed to her.] + +Whenever Chopin's connection with George Sand is mentioned, one +hears a great deal of the misery and nothing or little of the +happiness which accrued to him out of it. The years of tenderness +and devotion are slurred over and her infidelities, growing +indifference, and final desertion are dwelt upon with undue +emphasis. Whatever those of Chopin's friends who were not also +George Sand's friends may say, we may be sure that his joys +outweighed his sorrows. Her resoluteness must have been an +invaluable support to so vacillating a character as Chopin's was; +and, although their natures were in many respects discordant, the +poetic element of hers cannot but have found sympathetic chords +in his. Every character has many aspects, but the world is little +disposed to see more than one side of George Sand's--namely, that +which is most conspicuous by its defiance of law and custom, and +finds expression in loud declamation and denunciation. To observe +her in one of her more lovable attitudes of mind, we will +transport ourselves from Chopin's to her salon. + +Louis Enault relates how one evening George Sand, who sometimes +thought aloud when with Chopin--this being her way of chatting-- +spoke of the peacefulness of the country and unfolded a picture +of the rural harmonies that had all the charming and negligent +grace of a village idyl, bringing, in fact, her beloved Berry to +the fireside of the room in the Square d'Orleans. + + "How well you have spoken!" said Chopin naively. + + "You think so?" she replied. "Well, then, set me to music!" + Hereupon Chopin improvised a veritable pastoral symphony, and + George Sand placing herself beside him and laying her hand + gently on his shoulder said: "Go on, velvet fingers [courage, + doigts de velour]!" + +Here is another anecdote of quiet home-life. George Sand had a +little dog which was in the habit of turning round and round in +the endeavour to catch its tail. One evening when it was thus +engaged, she said to Chopin: "If I had your talent, I would +compose a pianoforte piece for this dog." Chopin at once sat down +at the piano, and improvised the charming Waltz in D flat (Op. +64), which hence has obtained the name of Valse du petit chien. +This story is well known among the pupils and friends of the +master, but not always told in exactly the same way. According to +another version, Chopin improvised the waltz when the little dog +was playing with a ball of wool. This variation, however, does +not affect the pith of the story. + +The following two extracts tell us more about the intimate home- +life at Nohant and in the Court d'Orleans than anything we have +as yet met with. + + + Madame Sand to her son; October 17, 1843:-- + + Tell me if Chopin is ill; his letters are short and sad. Take + care of him if he is ailing. Take a little my place. He would + take my place with so much zeal if you were ill. + + + Madame Sand to her son; November 16, 1843:-- + + If you care for the letter which I have written you about her + [Solange], ask Chopin for it. It was for both of you, and it + has not given him much pleasure. He has taken it amiss, and + yet I did not wish to annoy him, God forbid! We shall all see + each other soon again, and hearty embraces [de bonnes + bigeades] [FOOTNOTE: Biger is in the Berry dialect "to kiss."] + all round shall efface all my sermons. + +In another of George Sand's letters to her son--it is dated +November 28, 1843--we read about Chopin's already often-mentioned +valet. Speaking of the foundation of a provincial journal, +"L'Eclaireur de l'Indre," by herself and a number of her friends, +and of their being on the look-out for an editor who would be +content with the modest salary of 2,000 francs, she says:-- + + This is hardly more than the wages of Chopin's domestic, and + to imagine that for this it is possible to find a man of + talent! First measure of the Committee of Public Safety: we + shall outlaw Chopin if he allows himself to have lackeys + salaried like publicists. + +Chopin treated George Sand with the greatest respect and +devotion; he was always aux petits soins with her. It is +characteristic of the man and exemplifies strikingly the delicacy +of his taste and feeling that his demeanour in her house showed +in no way the intimate relation in which he stood to the mistress +of it: he seemed to be a guest like any other occasional visitor. +Lenz wishes to make us believe that George Sand's treatment of +Chopin was unworthy of the great artist, but his statements are +emphatically contradicted by Gutmann, who says that her behaviour +towards him was always respectful. If the lively Russian +councillor in the passages I am going to translate describes +correctly what he heard and saw, he must have witnessed an +exceptional occurrence; it is, however, more likely that the bad +reception he received from the lady prejudiced him against her. + +Lenz relates that one day Chopin took him to the salon of Madame +Marliani, where there was in the evening always a gathering of +friends. + + George Sand [thus runs his account of his first meeting with + the great novelist] did not say a word when Chopin introduced + me. This was rude. Just for that reason I seated myself beside + her. Chopin fluttered about like a little frightened bird in + its cage, he saw something was going to happen. What had he + not always feared on this terrain? At the first pause in the + conversation, which was led by Madame Sand's friend, Madame + Viardot, the great singer whose acquaintance I was later to + make in St. Petersburg, Chopin put his arm through mine and + led me to the piano. Reader! if you play the piano you will + imagine how I felt! It was an upright or cottage piano [Steh- + oder Stutzflugel] of Pleyel's, which people in Paris regard as + a pianoforte. I played the Invitation in a fragmentary + fashion, Chopin gave me his hand in the most friendly manner, + George Sand did not say a word. I seated myself once more + beside her. I had obviously a purpose. Chopin looked anxiously + at us across the table, on which was burning the inevitable + carcel. + + "Are you not coming sometime to St. Petersburg," said I to + George Sand in the most polite tone, "where you are so much + read, so highly admired?" + + "I shall never lower myself by visiting a country of slaves!" + answered George Sand shortly. + + This was indecorous [unanstandig] after she had been uncivil. + + "After all, you are right NOT to come," I replied in the same + tone; "you might find the door closed! I was thinking of the + Emperor Nicholas." + + George Sand looked at me in astonishment, I plunged boldly + into her large, beautiful, brown, cow-like eyes. Chopin did + not seem displeased, I knew the movements of his head. + + Instead of giving any answer George Sand rose in a theatrical + fashion, and strode in the most manly way through the salon to + the blazing fire. I followed her closely, and seated myself + for the third time beside her, ready for another attack. + + She would be obliged at last to say something. + + George Sand drew an enormously thick Trabucco cigar out of her + apron pocket, and called out "Frederic! un fidibus!" + + This offended me for him, that perfect gentleman, my master; I + understood Liszt's words: "Pauvre Frederic!" in all their + significance. + + Chopin immediately came up with a fidibus. + + As she was sending forth the first terrible cloud of smoke, + George Sand honoured me with a word: + + "In St. Petersburg," she began, "I could not even smoke a + cigar in a drawing-room?" + + "In NO drawing-room have I ever seen anyone smoke a cigar, + Madame," I answered, not without emphasis, with a bow! + + George Sand fixed her eyes sharply upon me--the thrust had + gone home! I looked calmly around me at the good pictures in + the salon, each of which was lighted up by a separate lamp. + Chopin had probably heard nothing; he had returned to the + hostess at the table. + + Pauvre Frederic! How sorry I was for him, the great artist! + The next day the Suisse [hall-porter] in the hotel, Mr. + Armand, said to me: "A gentleman and a lady have been here, I + said you were not at home, you had not said you would receive + visitors; the gentleman left his name, he had no card with + him." I read: Chopin et Madame Sand. After this I quarrelled + for two months with Mr. Armand. + +George Sand was probably out of humour on the evening in +question; that it was not her usual manner of receiving visitors +may be gathered from what Chopin said soon after to Lenz when the +latter came to him for a lesson. "George Sand," he said, "called +with me on you. What a pity you were not at home! I regretted it +very much. George Sand thought she had been uncivil to you. You +would have seen how amiable she can be. You have pleased her." + +Alexander Chodzko, the learned professor of Slavonic literature +at the College de France, told me that he was half-a-dozen times +at George Sand's house. Her apartments were furnished in a style +in favour with young men. First you came into a vestibule where +hats, coats, and sticks were left, then into a large salon with a +billiard-table. On the mantel-piece were to be found the +materials requisite for smoking. George Sand set her guests an +example by lighting a cigar. M. Chodzko met there among others +the historian and statesman Guizot, the litterateur Francois, and +Madame Marliani. If Chopin was not present, George Sand would +often ask the servant what he was doing, whether he was working +or sleeping, whether he was in good or bad humour. And when he +came in all eyes were directed towards him. If he happened to be +in good humour George Sand would lead him to the piano, which +stood in one of the two smaller apartments adjoining the salon. +These smaller apartments were provided with couches for those who +wished to talk. Chopin began generally to prelude apathetically +and only gradually grew warm, but then his playing was really +grand. If, however, he was not in a playing mood, he was often +asked to give some of his wonderful mimetic imitations. On such +occasions Chopin retired to one of the side-rooms, and when he +returned he was irrecognisable. Professor Chodzko remembers +seeing him as Frederick the Great. + +Chopin's talent for mimicry, which even such distinguished actors +as Bocage and Madame Dorval regarded with admiration, is alluded +to by Balzac in his novel "Un Homme d'affaires," where he says of +one of the characters that "he is endowed with the same talent +for imitating people which Chopin, the pianist, possesses in so +high a degree; he represents a personage instantly and with +astounding truth." Liszt remarks that Chopin displayed in +pantomime an inexhaustible verve drolatique, and often amused +himself with reproducing in comical improvisations the musical +formulas and peculiar ways of certain virtuosos, whose faces and +gestures he at the same time imitated in the most striking +manner. These statements are corroborated by the accounts of +innumerable eye and ear-witnesses of such performances. One of +the most illustrative of these accounts is the following very +amusing anecdote. When the Polish musician Nowakowski [FOOTNOTE: +He visited Paris in 1838, 1841, and 1846, partly for the purpose +of making arrangements for the publication of his compositions, +among which are Etudes dedicated to Chopin.] visited Paris, he +begged his countryman to bring him in contact with Kalkbrenner, +Liszt, and Pixis. Chopin, replying that he need not put himself +to the trouble of going in search of these artists if he wished +to make their acquaintance, forthwith sat down at the piano and +assumed the attitude, imitated the style of playing, and mimicked +the mien and gestures, first of Liszt and then of Pixis. Next +evening Chopin and Nowakowski went together to the theatre. The +former having left the box during one of the intervals, the +latter looked round after awhile and saw Pixis sitting beside +him. Nowakowski, thinking Chopin was at his favourite game, +clapped Pixis familiarly on the shoulder and said: "Leave off, +don't imitate now!" The surprise of Pixis and the subsequent +confusion of Nowakowski may be easily imagined. When Chopin, who +at this moment returned, had been made to understand what had +taken place, he laughed heartily, and with the grace peculiar to +him knew how to make his friend's and his own excuses. One thing +in connection with Chopin's mimicry has to be particularly noted- +-it is very characteristic of the man. Chopin, we learn from +Liszt, while subjecting his features to all kinds of +metamorphoses and imitating even the ugly and grotesque, never +lost his native grace, "la grimace ne parvenait meme pas a +l'enlaidir." + +We shall see presently what George Sand has to say about her +lover's imitative talent; first, however, we will make ourselves +acquainted with the friends with whom she especially associated. +Besides Pierre Leroux, Balzac, Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and others +who have already been mentioned in the foregoing chapters, she +numbered among her most intimate friends the Republican +politician and historian Louis Blanc, the Republican litterateur +Godefroy Cavaignac, the historian Henri Martin, and the +litterateur Louis Viardot, the husband of Pauline Garcia. + +[FOOTNOTE: This name reminds me of a passage in Louis Blanc's +"Histoire de la Revolution de 1840" (p. 210 of Fifth Edition. +Paris, 1880). "A short time before his [Godefroy Cavaignac's] +end, he was seized by an extraordinary desire to hear music once +more. I knew Chopin. I offered to go to him, and to bring him +with me, if the doctor did not oppose it. The entreaties +thereupon took the character of a supplication. With the consent, +or rather at the urgent prayer, of Madame Cavaignac, I betook +myself to Chopin. Madame George Sand was there. She expressed in +a touching manner the lively interest with which the invalid +inspired her; and Chopin placed himself at my service with much +readiness and grace. I conducted him then into the chamber of the +dying man, where there was a bad piano. The great artist +begins...Suddenly he is interrupted by sobs. Godefroy, in a +transport of sensibility which gave him a moment's physical +strength, had quite unexpectedly raised himself in his bed of +suffering, his face bathed in tears. Chopin stopped, much +disturbed; Madame Cavaignac, leaning towards her son, anxiously +interrogated him with her eyes. He made an effort to become self- +possessed; he attempted to smile, and with a feeble voice said, +'Do not be uneasy, mamma, it is nothing; real childishness...Ah! +how beautiful music is, understood thus!' His thought was--we +had no difficulty in divining it--that he would no longer hear +anything like it in this world, but he refrained from saying +so."] + +Friends not less esteemed by her than these, but with whom she +was less intimate, were the Polish poet Mickiewicz, the famous +bass singer Lablache, the excellent pianist and composer Alkan +aine, the Italian composer and singing-master Soliva (whom we met +already in Warsaw), the philosopher and poet Edgar Quinet, +General Guglielmo Pepe (commander-in-chief of the Neapolitan +insurrectionary army in 1820-21), and likewise the actor Bocage, +the litterateur Ferdinand Francois, the German musician Dessauer, +the Spanish politician Mendizabal, the dramatist and journalist +Etienne Arago, [FOOTNOTE: The name of Etienne Arago is mentioned +in "Ma Vie," but it is that of Emmanuel Arago which occurs +frequently in the "Corrcspcndance."] and a number of literary and +other personages of less note, of whom I shall mention only +Agricol Perdiguier and Gilland, the noble artisan and the +ecrivain proletaire, as George Sand calls them. + +Although some of George Sand's friends were also Chopin's, there +can be no doubt that the society which gathered around her was on +the whole not congenial to him. Some remarks which Liszt makes +with regard to George Sand's salon at Nohant are even more +applicable to her salon in Paris. + + An author's relations with the representatives of publicity + and his dramatic executants, actors and actresses, and with + those whom he treats with marked attention on account of their + merits or because they please him; the crossing of incidents, + the clash and rebound of the infatuations and disagreements + which result therefrom; were naturally hateful to him [to + Chopin]. For a long time he endeavoured to escape from them by + shutting his eyes, by making up his mind not to see anything. + There happened, however, such things, such catastrophes + [denouements], as, by shocking too much his delicacy, + offending too much his habits of the moral and social comme-il- + faut, ended in rendering his presence at Nohant impossible, + although he seemed at first to have felt more content [plus de + repif] there than elsewhere. + +These are, of course, only mere surmises, but Liszt, although +often wrong as to incidents, is, thanks to his penetrative +genius, generally right as to essences. Indeed, if George Sand's +surroundings and Chopin's character and tastes are kept in view +nothing seems to be more probable than that his over-delicate +susceptibilities may have occasionally been shocked by +unrestrained vivacity, loud laughter, and perhaps even coarse +words; that his uncompromising idealism may have been disturbed +by the discordance of literary squabbles, intrigues, and business +transactions; that his peaceable, non-speculative, and non- +argumentative disposition may have been vexed and wearied by +discussions of political, social, religious, literary, and +artistic problems. Unless his own art was the subject, Chopin did +not take part in discussions. And Liszt tells us that Chopin not +only, like most artists, lacked a generalising mind [esprit +generalisateur], but showed hardly any inclination for +aesthetics, of which he had not even heard much. We may be sure +that to Chopin to whom discussions of any kind were distasteful, +those of a circle in which, as in that of George Sand, democratic +and socialistic, theistic and atheistic views prevailed, were +particularly so. For, notwithstanding his bourgeois birth, his +sympathies were with the aristocracy; and notwithstanding his +neglect of ritual observances, his attachment to the Church of +Rome remained unbroken. Chopin does not seem to have concealed +his dislike to George Sand's circle; if he did not give audible +expression to it, he made it sufficiently manifest by seeking +other company. That she was aware of the fact and displeased with +it, is evident from what she says of her lover's social habits in +Ma Vie. The following excerpt from that work is an important +biographical contribution; it is written not without bitterness, +but with hardly any exaggeration:-- + + He was a man of the world par excellence, not of the too + formal and too numerous world, but of the intimate world, of + the salons of twenty persons, of the hour when the crowd goes + away and the habitues crowd round the artist to wrest from him + by amiable importunity his purest inspiration. It was then + only that he exhibited all his genius and all his talent. It + was then also that after having plunged his audience into a + profound recueillement or into a painful sadness, for his + music sometimes discouraged one's soul terribly, especially + when he improvised, he would suddenly, as if to take away the + impression and remembrance of his sorrow from others and from + himself, turn stealthily to a glass, arrange his hair and his + cravat, and show himself suddenly transformed into a + phlegmatic Englishman, into an impertinent old man, into a + sentimental and ridiculous Englishwoman, into a sordid Jew. + The types were always sad, however comical they might be, but + perfectly conceived and so delicately rendered that one could + not grow weary of admiring them. + + All these sublime, charming, or bizarre things that he knew + how to evolve out of himself made him the soul of select + society, and there was literally a contest for his company, + his noble character, his disinterestedness, his self-respect, + his proper pride, enemy of every vanity of bad taste and of + every insolent reclame, the security of intercourse with him, + and the exquisite delicacy of his manners, making him a friend + equally serious and agreeable. + + To tear Chopin away from so many gdteries, to associate him + with a simple, uniform, and constantly studious life, him who + had been brought up on the knees of princesses, was to deprive + him of that which made him live, of a factitious life, it is + true, for, like a painted woman, he laid aside in the evening, + in returning to his home, his verve and his energy, to give + the night to fever and sleeplessness; but of a life which + would have been shorter and more animated than that of the + retirement and of the intimacy restricted to the uniform + circle of a single family. In Paris he visited several salons + every day, or he chose at least every evening a different one + as a milieu. He had thus by turns twenty or thirty salons to + intoxicate or to charm with his presence. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + + +CHOPIN IN HIS SOCIAL RELATIONS: HIS PREDILECTION FOR THE +FASHIONABLE SALON SOCIETY (ACCOUNTS BY MADAME GIRARDIN AND +BERLIOZ); HIS NEGLECT OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTISTS (ARY SCHEFFER, +MARMONTEL, HELLER, SCHULHOFF, THE PARIS CORRESPONDENT OF THE +MUSICAL WORLD); APHORISMS BY LISZT ON CHOPIN IN HIS SOCIAL +ASPECT.--CHOPIN'S FRIENDSHIPS.--GEORGE SAND, LISZT, LENZ, HELLER, +MARMONTEL, AND HILLER ON HIS CHARACTER (IRRITABILITY, FITS OF +ANGER--SCENE WITH MEYERBEER--GAIETY AND RAILLERY, LOVE OF +SOCIETY, AND LITTLE TASTE FOR READING, PREDILECTION FOR THINGS +POLISH).--HIS POLISH, GERMAN, ENGLISH, AND RUSSIAN FRIENDS.--THE +PARTY MADE FAMOUS BY LISZT'S ACCOUNT.--HIS INTERCOURSE WITH +MUSICIANS (OSBORNE, BERLIOZ, BAILLOT, CHERUBINI, KALKBRENNER, +FONTANA, SOWINSKI, WOLFF, MEYERBEER, ALKAN, ETC.).--HIS +FRIENDSHIP WITH LISZT.--HIS DISLIKE TO LETTER-WRITING. + + + +George Sand, although one of the cleverest of the literary +portrayers who have tried their hand at Chopin, cannot be +regarded as one of the most impartial; but it must be admitted +that in describing her deserted lover as un homme du monde par +excellence, non pas du monde trop officiel, trop nombreux, she +says what is confirmed by all who have known him, by his friends, +foes, and those that are neither. Aristocratic society, with +which he was acquainted from his earliest childhood, had always a +great charm for him. When at the beginning of 1833, a little more +than two years after his arrival in Paris, he informed his friend +Dziewanowski that he moved in the highest society--among +ambassadors, princes, and ministers--it is impossible not to see +that the fact gives him much satisfaction. Without going so far +as to say with a great contemporary of Chopin, Stephen Heller, +that the higher you go in society the greater is the ignorance +you find, I think that little if any good for either heart or +mind can come from intercourse with that section of the people +which proudly styles itself "society" (le monde). Many +individuals that belong to it possess, no doubt, true nobility, +wisdom, and learning, nay, even the majority may possess one or +the other or all of them in some degree, but these qualities are +so out of keeping with the prevailing frivolity that few have the +moral courage to show their better nature. If Chopin imagined +that he was fully understood as an artist by society, he was +sadly mistaken. Liszt and Heller certainly held that he was not +fully understood, and they did not merely surmise or speak from +hearsay, for neither of them was a stranger in that quarter, +although the latter avoided it as much as possible. What society +could and did appreciate in Chopin was his virtuosity, his +elegance, and his delicacy. It is not my intention to attempt an +enumeration of Chopin's aristocratic friends and acquaintances, +but in the dedications of his works the curious will find the +most important of them. There, then, we read the names of the +Princess Czartoryska, Countess Plater, Countess Potocka, +Princesse de Beauvau, Countess Appony, Countess Esterhazy, Comte +and Comtesse de Perthuis, Baroness Bronicka, Princess +Czernicheff, Princess Souzzo, Countess Mostowska, Countess +Czosnowska, Comtesse de Flahault, Baroness von Billing, Baron and +Baroness von Stockhausen, Countess von Lobau, Mdlle. de Noailles, +&c. And in addition to these we have representatives of the +aristocracy of wealth, Madame C. de Rothschild foremost amongst +them. Whether the banker Leo with whom and his family Chopin was +on very friendly terms may be mentioned in this connection, I do +not know. But we must remember that round many of the above names +cluster large families. The names of the sisters Countess Potocka +and Princesse de Beauvau call up at once that of their mother, +Countess Komar. Many of these here enumerated are repeatedly +mentioned in the course of this book, some will receive +particular attention in the next chapter. Now we will try to get +a glimpse of Chopin in society. + +Madame de Girardin, after having described in one of her "Lettres +parisiennes" (March 7, 1847) [FOOTNOTE: The full title of the +work is: "Le Vicomte de Launay--Lettres parisiennes par Mdme. +Emile de Girardin." (Paris: Michel Levy freres.)] with what +success Mdlle. O'Meara accompanied by her master played his E +minor Concerto at a soiree of Madame de Courbonne, proceeds thus:- +- + + Mdlle. Meara is a pupil of Chopin's. He was there, he was + present at the triumph of his pupil, the anxious audience + asked itself: "Shall we hear him?" + + The fact is that it was for passionate admirers the torment of + Tantalus to see Chopin going about a whole evening in a salon + and not to hear him. The mistress of the house took pity on + us; she was indiscreet, and Chopin played, sang his most + delicious songs; we set to these joyous or sad airs the words + which came into our heads; we followed with our thoughts his + melodious caprices. There were some twenty of us, sincere + amateurs, true believers, and not a note was lost, not an + intention was misunderstood; it was not a concert, it was + intimate, serious music such as we love; he was not a virtuoso + who comes and plays the air agreed upon and then disappears; + he was a beautiful talent, monopolised, worried, tormented, + without consideration and scruples, whom one dared ask for the + most beloved airs, and who full of grace and charity repeated + to you the favourite phrase, in order that you might carry it + away correct and pure in your memory, and for a long time yet + feast on it in remembrance. Madame so-and-so said: "Please, + play this pretty nocturne dedicated to Mdlle. Stirling."--The + nocturne which I called the dangerous one.--He smiled, and + played the fatal nocturne. "I," said another lady, "should + like to hear once played by you this mazurka, so sad and so + charming." He smiled again, and played the delicious mazurka. + The most profoundly artful among the ladies sought expedients + to attain their end: "I am practising the grand sonata which + commences with this beautiful funeral march," and "I should + like to know the movement in which the finale ought to be + played." He smiled a little at the stratagem, and played the + finale, of the grand sonata, one of the most magnificent + pieces which he has composed. + +Although Madame Girardin's language and opinions are fair +specimens of those prevalent in the beatified regions in which +Chopin delighted to move, we will not follow her rhapsodic eulogy +of his playing. That she cannot be ranked with the connoisseurs +is evident from her statement that the sonata BEGINS with the +funeral march, and that the FINALE is one of the most magnificent +creations of the composer. Notwithstanding Madame Girardin's +subsequent remark that Chopin's playing at Madame de Courbonne's +was quite an exception, her letter may mislead the reader into +the belief that the great pianist was easily induced to sit down +at the piano. A more correct idea may be formed of the real state +of matters from a passage in an article by Berlioz (Feuilleton du +Journal des Debats, October 27, 1849) in which the supremacy of +style over matter is a little less absolute than in the lady's +elegant chit-chat:-- + + A small circle of select auditors, whose real desire to hear + him was beyond doubt, could alone determine him to approach + the piano. What emotions he would then call forth! In what + ardent and melancholy reveries he loved to pour out his soul! + It was usually towards midnight that he gave himself up with + the greatest ABANDON, when the big butterflies of the salon + had left, when the political questions of the day had been + discussed at length, when all the scandal-mongers were at the + end of their anecdotes, when all the snares were laid, all the + perfidies consummated, when one was thoroughly tired of prose, + then, obedient to the mute petition of some beautiful, + intelligent eyes, he became a poet, and sang the Ossianic + loves of the heroes of his dreams, their chivalrous joys, and + the sorrows of the absent fatherland, his dear Poland always + ready to conquer and always defeated. But without these + conditions--the exacting of which for his playing all artists + must thank him for--it was useless to solicit him. The + curiosity excited by his fame seemed even to irritate him, and + he shunned as far as possible the nonsympathetic world when + chance had led him into it. I remember a cutting saying which + he let fly one evening at the master of a house where he had + dined. Scarcely had the company taken coffee when the host, + approaching Chopin, told him that his fellow-guests who had + never heard him hoped that he would be so good as to sit down + at the piano and play them some little thing [quelque petite + chose]. Chopin excused himself from the very first in a way + which left not the slightest doubt as to his inclination. But + when the other insisted, in an almost offensive manner, like a + man who knows the worth and the object of the dinner which he + has given, the artist cut the conversation short by saying + with a weak and broken voice and a fit of coughing: "Ah! + sir...I have...eaten so little!" + +Chopin's predilection for the fashionable salon society led him +to neglect the society of artists. That he carried the odi +profanum vulgus, et arceo too far cannot for a moment be doubted. +For many of those who sought to have intercourse with him were +men of no less nobility of sentiment and striving than himself. +Chopin offended even Ary Scheffer, the great painter, who admired +him and loved him, by promising to spend an evening with him and +again and again disappointing him. Musicians, with a few +exceptions. Chopin seems always to have been careful to keep at a +distance, at least after the first years of his arrival in Paris. +This is regrettable especially in the case of the young men who +looked up to him with veneration and enthusiasm, and whose +feelings were cruelly hurt by the polite but unsympathetic +reception he gave them:-- + + We have had always a profound admiration for Chopin's talent + [writes M. Marmontel], and, let us add, a lively sympathy for + his person. No artist, the intimate disciples not excepted, + has more studied his compositions, and more caused them to be + played, and yet our relations with this great musician have + only been rare and transient. Chopin was surrounded, fawned + upon, closely watched by a small cenacle of enthusiastic + friends, who guarded him against importunate visitors and + admirers of the second order. It was difficult to get access + to him; and it was necessary, as he said himself to that other + great artist whose name is Stephen Heller, to try several + times before one succeeded in meeting him. These trials + ["essais"] being no more to my taste than to Heller's, I could + not belong to that little congregation of faithful ones whose + cult verged on fanaticism. + +As to Stephen Heller--who himself told me that he would have +liked to be more with Chopin, but was afraid of being regarded as +intrusive--Mr. Heller thinks that Chopin had an antipathy to him, +which considering the amiable and truly gentlemanly character of +this artist seems rather strange. + +If the details of Karasowski's account of Chopin's and +Schulhoff's first meeting are correct, the Polish artist was in +his aloofness sometimes even deficient in that common civility +which good-breeding and consideration for the feelings of others +demand. Premising that Fetis in telling the story is less +circumstantial and lays the scene of the incident in the +pianoforte-saloon of Pleyel, I shall quote Karasowski's version, +as he may have had direct information from Schulhoff, who since +1855 has lived much of his time at Dresden, where Karasowski also +resides:-- + + Schulhoff came when quite a young man and as yet completely + unknown to Paris. There he learned that Chopin, who was then + already very ailing and difficult of access, was coming to the + pianoforte-manufactory of Mercier to inspect one of the newly- + invented transposing pianofortes. It was in the year 1844. + Schulhoff seized the opportunity to become personally + acquainted with the master, and made his appearance among the + small party which awaited Chopin. The latter came with an old + friend, a Russian Capellmeister [Soliva?]. Taking advantage of + a propitious moment, Schulhoff got himself introduced by one + of the ladies present. On the latter begging Chopin to allow + Schulhoff to play him something, the renowned master, who was + much bothered by dilettante tormentors, signified, somewhat + displeased, his consent by a slight nod of the head. Schulhoff + seated himself at the pianoforte, while Chopin, with his back + turned to him, was leaning against it. But already during the + short prelude he turned his head attentively towards Schulhoff + who now performed an Allegro brillant en forme de Senate (Op. + I), which he had lately composed. With growing interest Chopin + came nearer and nearer the keyboard and listened to the fine, + poetic playing of the young Bohemian; his pale features grew + animated, and by mien and gesture he showed to all who were + present his lively approbation. When Schulhoff had finished, + Chopin held out his hand to him with the words: "Vous etes un + vrai artiste, un collegue!" Some days after Schulhoff paid the + revered master a visit, and asked him to accept the dedication + of the composition he had played to him. Chopin thanked him in + a heart-winning manner, and said in the presence of several + ladies: "Je suis tres flatte de l'honneur que vous me faites." + +The behaviour of Chopin during the latter part of this +transaction made, no doubt, amends for that of the earlier. But +the ungracious manner in which he granted the young musician +permission to play to him, and especially his turning his back to +Schulhoff when the latter began to play, are not excused by the +fact that he was often bothered by dilettante tormentors. + +The Paris correspondent of the Musical World, writing immediately +after the death of the composer, describes the feeling which +existed among the musicians in the French capital, and also +suggests an explanation and excuse. In the number of the paper +bearing date November 10, 1849, we read as follows:-- + + Owing to his retired way of living and his habitual reserve, + Chopin had few friends in the profession; and, indeed, spoiled + from his original nature by the caprice of society, he was too + apt to treat his brother-artists with a supercilious hauteur, + which many, his equals, and a few, his superiors, were wont to + stigmatise as insulting. But from want of sympathy with the + man, they overlooked the fact that a pulmonary complaint, + which for years had been gradually wasting him to a shadow, + rendered him little fit for the enjoyments of society and the + relaxations of artistic conviviality. In short, Chopin, in + self-defence, was compelled to live in comparative seclusion, + but we wholly disbelieve that this isolation had its source in + unkindness or egotism. We are the more inclined to this + opinion by the fact that the intimate friends whom he + possessed in the profession (and some of them were pianists) + were as devotedly attached to him as the most romantic of his + aristocratic worshippers. + +The reasoning does not seem to me quite conclusive. Would it not +have been possible to live in retirement without drawing upon +himself the accusation of supercilious hauteur? Moreover, as +Chopin was strong enough to frequent fashionable salons, he +cannot have been altogether unable to hold intercourse with his +brother-artists. And, lastly, who are the pianist friends that +were as devotedly attached to him as the most romantic of his +aristocratic worshippers? The fact that Chopin became +subsequently less social and more reticent than he had been in +his early Paris days, confined himself to a very limited number +of friends and families, and had relations of an intimate nature +with only a very few musicians, cannot, therefore, be +attributable to ill-health alone, although that too had, no +doubt, something to do with it, directly or indirectly. In short, +the allegation that Chopin was "spoiled by the caprice of +society," as the above-quoted correspondent puts it, is not only +probable, but even very likely. Fastidious by nature and +education, he became more so, partly in consequence of his +growing physical weakness, and still more through the influence +of the society with which, in the exercise of his profession and +otherwise, he was in constant contact. His pupils and many of his +other admirers, mostly of the female sex and the aristocratic +class, accustomed him to adulation and adoration to such an +extent as to make these to be regarded by him as necessaries of +life. Some excerpts from Liszt's book, which I shall quote here +in the form of aphorisms, will help to bring Chopin, in his +social aspect, clearly before the reader's eyes:-- + + As he did not confound his time, thought, and ways with those + of anyone, the society of women was often more convenient to + him in that it involved fewer subsequent relations. + + He carried into society the uniformity of temper of people + whom no annoyance troubles because they expect no interest. + + His conversation dwelt little on stirring subjects. He glided + over them; as he was not at all lavish of his time, the talk + was easily absorbed by the details of the day. + + He loved the unimportant talk [les causeries sans portee] of + people whom he esteemed; he delighted in the childish + pleasures of young people. He passed readily whole evenings in + playing blind-man's-buff with young girls, in telling them + amusing or funny little stories, in making them laugh the mad + laughter of youth, which it gives even more pleasure to hear + than the singing of the warbler. [FOOTNOTE: This, I think, + must refer to the earlier years of Chopin's residence in + Paris.] + + In his relations and conversations he seemed to take an + interest in what preoccupied the others; he took care not to + draw them out of the circle of their personality inorder to + lead them into his. If he gave up little of his time, he, to + make up for it, reserved to himself nothing of that which he + granted. + + The presence of Chopin was, therefore, always heartily welcome + [fetee]. Not hoping to be understood [devine], disdaining to + speak of himself [de se raconter lui-meme], he occupied + himself so much with everything that was not himself that his + intimate personality remained aloof, unapproached and + unapproachable, under this polite and smooth [glissant] + surface where it was impossible to get a footing. + + He pleased too much to make people reflect. + + He hardly spoke either of love or of friendship. + + He was not exacting like those whose rights and just demands + surpass by far what one would have to offer them. The most + intimate acquaintances did not penetrate to this sacred recess + where, withdrawn from all the rest of his life, dwelt the + secret motive power of his soul: a recess so concealed that + one scarcely suspected its existence. + + Ready to give everything, he did not give himself. + +The last dictum and part of the last but one were already quoted +by me in an earlier chapter, but for the sake of completeness, +and also because they form an excellent starting-point for the +following additional remarks on Chopin's friendships, I have +repeated them here. First of all, I venture to make the sweeping +assertion that Chopin had among his non-Polish friends none who +could be called intimate in the fullest sense of the word, none +to whom he unbosomed himself as he did to Woyciechowski and +Matuszynski, the friends of his youth, and Grzymala, a friend of +a later time. Long cessation of personal intercourse together +with the diverging development of their characters in totally +unlike conditions of life cannot but have diminished the intimacy +with the first named. [FOOTNOTE: Titus Woyciechowski continued to +live on his estate Poturzyn, in the kingdom of Poland.] With +Matuszyriski Chopin remained in close connection till this +friend's death. [FOOTNOTE: Karasowski says in the first volume of +his Polish biography of Chopin that Matuszynski died on April 20, +1842; and in the second that he died after Chopin's father, but +in the same year--that is, in 1844.] How he opened his whole +heart to Grzymala we shall see in a subsequent chapter. That his +friendship with Fontana was of a less intimate character becomes +at once apparent on comparing Chopin's letters to him with those +he wrote to the three other Polish friends. Of all his +connections with non-Poles there seems to be only one which +really deserves the name of friendship, and that is his +connection with Franchomme. Even here, however, he gave much less +than he received. Indeed, we may say--speaking generally, and not +only with a view to Franchomme--that Chopin was more loved than +loving. But he knew well how to conceal his deficiencies in this +respect under the blandness of his manners and the coaxing +affectionateness of his language. There is something really +tragic, and comic too, in the fact that every friend of Chopin's +thought that he had more of the composer's love and confidence +than any other friend. Thus, for instance, while Gutmann told me +that Franchomme was not so intimate with Chopin that the latter +would confide any secrets to him, Franchomme made to me a similar +statement with regard to Gutmann. And so we find every friend of +Chopin declaring that every other friend was not so much of a +friend as himself. Of Chopin's procedures in friendship much may +be learned from his letters; in them is to be seen something of +his insinuating, cajoling ways, of his endeavours to make the +person addressed believe himself a privileged favourite, and of +his habit of speaking not only ungenerously and unlovingly, but +even unjustly of other persons with whom he was apparently on +cordial terms. In fact, it is only too clear that Chopin spoke +differently before the faces and behind the backs of people. You +remember how in his letters to Fontana he abuses Camille Pleyel +in a manner irreconcilable with genuine love and esteem. Well, to +this same Camille Pleyel, of whom he thus falls foul when he +thinks himself in the slightest aggrieved, he addresses on one +occasion the following note. Mark the last sentence:-- + + Dearest friend [Cherissime],--Here is what Onslow has written + to me. I wished to call on you and tell you, but I feel very + feeble and am going to lie down. I love you always more, if + this is possible [je vous aime toujours plus si c'est + possible]. + + CHOPIN. + + [FOOTNOTE: To the above, unfortunately undated, note, which + was published for the first time in the Menestrel of February + 15, 1885, and reprinted in "Un nid d'autographes," lettres + incites recueillies et annotees par Oscar Comettant (Paris: E. + Dentu), is appended the following P.S.:--"Do not forget, + please, friend Herbeault. Till to-morrow, then; I expect you + both." + + La Mara's Musikerbriefe (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel) + contains likewise a friendly letter of Chopin to Camille + Pleyel. It runs thus: + + "Dearest friend,--I received the other day your piano, and + give you my best thanks. It arrived in good tune, and is + exactly at concert-pitch. As yet I have not played much on it, + for the weather is at present so fine that I am almost always + in the open air. I wish you as pleasant weather for your + holidays. Write me a few words (if you find that you have not + sufficiently exercised your pen in the course of the day). May + you all remain well--and lay me at the feet of your mother and + sister.--Your devoted, "F. CHOPIN." + + The date given by La Mara is "Monday [May 20, 1842], Nohant, + near La Chatre, Indre." This, however, cannot be right, for + the 20th of May in 1842 was a Friday.] + +And, again, how atrociously he reviles in the same letters the +banker Leo, who lends him money, often takes charge of his +manuscripts, procures payment for them, and in whose house he has +been for years a frequent visitor. Mr. Ch. Halle informed me that +Chopin was on particularly good terms with the Leos. From +Moscheles' diary we learn that the writer made Chopin's +acquaintance at the banker's house. Stephen Heller told me that +he met Chopin several times at Leo's, and that the Polish +composer visited there often, and continued to go there when he +had given up going to many other houses. And from the same +informant I learned also that Madame Leo as well as her husband +took a kindly interest in Chopin, showing this, for instance, by +providing him with linen. And yet Leo, this man who does him all +sorts of services, and whose smiling guest he is before and +after, is spoken of by Chopin as if he were the most "despicable +wretch imaginable"; and this for no other reason than that +everything has not been done exactly as he wished it to be done. +Unless we assume these revilings to be no more than explosions of +momentary ill-humour, we must find Chopin convicted of duplicity +and ingratitude. In the letters to Fontana there are also certain +remarks about Matuszynski which I do not like. Nor can they be +wholly explained away by saying that they are in part fun and in +part indirect flattery of his correspondent. It would rather seem +that Chopin's undoubtedly real love for Matuszynski was not +unmixed with a certain kind of contempt. And here I must tell the +reader that while Poles have so high an opinion of their nation +in comparison with other nations, and of their countrymen with +other countrymen, they have generally a very mean opinion of each +other. Indeed, I never met with a Pole who did not look down with +a self-satisfied smile of pity on any of his fellow-countrymen, +even on his best friend. It seems that their feeling of +individual superiority is as great as that of their national +superiority. Liszt's observations (see Vol. I., p. 259) and those +of other writers (Polish as well as non-Polish) confirm mine, +which else might rightly be supposed to be based on too limited +an experience. To return to Matuszynski, he may have been too +ready to advise and censure his friend, and not practical enough +to be actively helpful. After reading the letters addressed to +them one comes to the conclusion that Fontana's and Franchomme's +serviceableness and readiness to serve went for something in his +appreciation of them as friends. At any rate, he did not hesitate +to exploiter them most unconscionably. Taking a general view of +the letters written by him during the last twelve years of his +life, one is struck by the absence of generous judgments and the +extreme rareness of sympathetic sentiments concerning third +persons. As this was not the case in his earlier letters, ill- +health and disappointments suggest themselves naturally as causes +of these faults of character and temper. To these principal +causes have, however, to be added his nationality, his originally +delicate constitution, and his cultivation of salon manners and +tastes. His extreme sensitiveness, fastidiousness, and +irritability may be easily understood to derive from one or the +other of these conditions. + +George Sand's Ma Vie throws a good deal of light on Chopin's +character; let us collect a few rays from it:-- + + He [Chopin] was modest on principle and gentle [doux] by + habit, but he was imperious by instinct, and full of a + legitimate pride that did not know itself. + + He was certainly not made to live long in this world, this + extreme type of an artist. He was devoured by the dream of an + ideal which no practical philosophic or compassionate + tolerance combated. He would never compound with human nature. + He accepted nothing of reality. This was his vice and his + virtue, his grandeur and his misery. Implacable to the least + blemish, he had an immense enthusiasm for the least light, his + excited imagination doing its utmost to see in it a sun. + + He was the same in friendship [as in love], becoming + enthusiastic at first sight, getting disgusted, and correcting + himself [se reprenant] incessantly, living on infatuations + full of charms for those who were the object of them, and on + secret discontents which poisoned his dearest affections. + + Chopin accorded to me, I may say honoured me with, a kind of + friendship which was an exception in his life. He was always + the same to me. + + The friendship of Chopin was never a refuge for me in sadness. + He had enough of his own ills to bear. + + We never addressed a reproach to each other, except once, + which, alas! was the first and the last time. + + But if Chopin was with me devotion, kind attention, grace, + obligingness, and deference in person, he had not for all that + abjured the asperities of his character towards those who were + about me. With them the inequality of his soul, in turn + generous and fantastic, gave itself full course, passing + always from infatuation to aversion, and vice versa. + + Chopin when angry was alarming, and as, with me, he always + restrained himself, he seemed almost to choke and die. + +The following extracts from Liszt's book partly corroborate, +partly supplement, the foregoing evidence:-- + + His imagination was ardent, his feelings rose to violence,-- + his physical organisation was feeble and sickly! Who can sound + the sufferings proceeding from this contrast? They must have + been poignant, but he never let them be seen. + + The delicacy of his constitution and of his heart, in imposing + upon him the feminine martyrdom of for ever unavowed tortures, + gave to his destiny some of the traits of feminine destinies. + + He did not exercise a decisive influence on any existence. His + passion never encroached upon any of his desires; he neither + pressed close nor bore down [n'a etreint ni masse] any mind by + the domination of his own. + + However rarely, there were nevertheless instances when we + surprised him profoundly moved. We have seen him turn pale + [palir et blemir] to such a degree as to assume green and + cadaverous tints. But in his intensest emotions he remained + concentrated. He was then, as usually, chary of words about + what he felt; a minute's reflection [recueillement] always hid + the secret of his first impression...This constant control + over the violence of his character reminded one of the + melancholy superiority of certain women who seek their + strength in reticence and isolation, knowing the uselessness + of the explosions of their anger, and having a too jealous + care of the mystery of their passion to betray it + gratuitously. + +Chopin, however, did not always control his temper. Heller +remembers seeing him more than once in a passion, and hearing him +speak very harshly to Nowakowski. The following story, which Lenz +relates in "Die grossen Pianoforte-Virtuosen unserer Zeit," is +also to the point. + + On one occasion Meyerbeer, whom I had not yet seen, entered + Chopin's room when I was getting a lesson. Meyerbeer was not + announced, he was king. I was playing the Mazurka in C (Op. + 33), printed on one page which contains so many hundreds--I + called it the epitaph of the idea [Grabschrift des Begriffs], + so full of distress and sadness is the composition, the + wearied flight of an eagle. + + Meyerbeer had taken a seat, Chopin made me go on. + + "This is two-four time," said Meyerbeer. Chopin denied this, + made me repeat the piece, and beat time aloud with the pencil + on the piano--his eyes were glowing. + + "Two crotchets," repeated Meyerbeer, calmly. + + Only once I saw Chopin angry, it was at this moment. It was + beautiful to see how a light red coloured his pale cheeks. + + "These are three crotchets," he said with a loud voice, he who + spoke always so low + + "Give it me," replied Meyerbeer, "for a ballet in my opera + ("L'Africaine," at that time kept a secret), I shall show it + you then." + + "These are three crotchets," Chopin almost shouted, and played + it himself. He played the mazurka several times, counted + aloud, stamped time with his foot, was beside himself. But all + was of no use, Meyerbeer insisted on TWO crotchets. They + parted very angrily. I found it anything but agreeable to have + been a witness of this angry scene. Chopin disappeared into + his cabinet without taking leave of me. The whole thing lasted + but a few minutes. + +Exhibitions of temper like this were no doubt rare, indeed, +hardly ever occurred except in his intercourse with familiars +and, more especially, fellow-countrymen--sometimes also with +pupils. In passing I may remark that Chopin's Polish vocabulary +was much less choice than his French one. As a rule, Chopin's +manners were very refined and aristocratic, Mr. Halle thinks they +were too much so. For this refinement resulted in a uniform +amiability which left you quite in the dark as to the real nature +of the man. Many people who made advances to Chopin found like M. +Marmontel--I have this from his own mouth--that he had a +temperament sauvage and was difficult to get at. And all who came +near him learned soon from experience that, as Liszt told Lenz, +he was ombrageux. But while Chopin would treat outsiders with a +chilly politeness, he charmed those who were admitted into his +circle both by amiability and wit. "Usually," says Liszt, "he was +lively, his caustic mind unearthed quickly the ridiculous far +below the surface where it strikes all eyes." And again, "the +playfulness of Chopin attacked only the superior keys of the +mind, fond of witticism as he was, recoiling from vulgar +joviality, gross laughter, common merriment, as from those +animals more abject than venomous, the sight of which causes the +most nauseous aversion to certain sensitive and delicate +natures." Liszt calls Chopin "a fine connoisseur in raillery and +an ingenious mocker." The testimony of other acquaintances of +Chopin and that of his letters does not allow us to accept as +holding good generally Mr. Halle's experience, who, mentioning +also the Polish artist's wit, said to me that he never heard him +utter a sarcasm or use a cutting expression. + +Fondness of society is a characteristic trait in Chopin's mental +constitution. Indeed, Hiller told me that his friend could not be +without company. For reading, on the other hand, he did not much +care. Alkan related to me that Chopin did not even read George +Sand's works--which is difficult to believe--and that Pierre +Leroux, who liked Chopin and always brought him his books, might +have found them any time afterwards uncut on the pianist's table, +which is not so difficult to believe, as philosophy and Chopin +are contraries. According to what I learned from Hiller, Chopin +took an interest in literature but read very little. To Heller it +seemed that Chopin had no taste for literature, indeed, he made +on him the impression of an uneducated man. Heller, I must tell +the reader parenthetically, was both a great reader and an +earnest thinker, over whom good books had even the power of +making him neglect and forget mistress Musica without regret and +with little compunction. But to return to Chopin. Franchomme +excused his friend by saying that teaching and the claims of +society left him no time for reading. But if Chopin neglected +French literature--not to speak of other ancient and modern +literatures--he paid some attention to that of his native +country; at any rate, new publications of Polish books were +generally to be found on his table. The reader will also remember +that Chopin, in his letters to Fontana, alludes twice to books of +poetry--one by Mickiewicz which was sent him to Majorca, the +other by Witwicki which he had lost sight of. + +Indeed, anything Polish had an especial charm and value for +Chopin. Absence from his native country so far from diminishing +increased his love for it. The words with which he is reported to +have received the pianist Mortier de Fontaine, who came to Paris +in 1833 and called on him with letters of introduction, are +characteristic in this respect: "It is enough that you have +breathed the air of Warsaw to find a friend and adviser in me." +There is, no doubt, some exaggeration in Liszt's statement that +whoever came to Chopin from Poland, whether with or without +letters of introduction, was sure of a hearty welcome, of being +received with open arms. On the other hand, we may fully believe +the same authority when he says that Chopin often accorded to +persons of his own country what he would not accord to anyone +else--namely, the right of disturbing his habits; that he would +sacrifice his time, money, and comfort to people who were perhaps +unknown to him the day before, showing them the sights of the +capital, having them to dine with him, and taking them in the +evening to some theatre. We have already seen that his most +intimate friends were Poles, and this was so in the aristocratic +as well as in the conventionally less-elevated circles. However +pleasant his relations with the Rothschilds may have been-- +indeed, Franchomme told me that his friend loved the house of +Rothschild and that this house loved him, and that more +especially Madame Nathaniel Rothschild preserved a touching +remembrance of him [FOOTNOTE: Chopin dedicated to Madame la +Baronne C. Rothschild the Waltz, Op. 64, No. 2 (Parisian +Edition), and the Ballade, Op. 52.]--they can have been but of +small significance in comparison with the almost passionate +attachment he had to Prince Alexander Czartoryski and his wife +the Princess Marcelline. And if we were to compare his friendship +for any non-Polish gentleman or lady with that which he felt for +the Countess Delphine Potocka, to whom he dedicated two of his +happiest inspirations in two very different genres (the F minor +Concerto, Op. 21, and the D flat major Waltz, Op. 64, No. I), the +result would be again in favour of his compatriot. +There were, indeed, some who thought that he felt more than +friendship for this lady; this, however, he energetically denied. + +[FOOTNOTE: Of this lady Kwiatkowski said that she took as much +trouble and pride in giving choice musical entertainments as +other people did in giving choice dinners. In Sowinski's +Musiciens polonais we read that she had a beautiful soprano voice +and occupied the first place among the amateur ladies of Paris. +"A great friend of the illustrious Chopin, she gave formerly +splendid concerts at her house with the old company of the +Italians, which one shall see no more in Paris. To cite the names +of Rubini, Lablache, Tamburini, Malibran, Grisi, Persiani, is to +give the highest idea of Italian singing. The Countess Potocka +sang herself according to the method of the Italian masters."] + +But although Chopin was more devoted and more happy in his Polish +friendships, he had beloved as well as loving friends of all +nationalities--Germans, English, and even Russians. That as a +good Pole he hated the Russians as a nation may be taken for +granted. Of his feelings and opinions with regard to his English +friends and the English in general, information will be +forthcoming in a subsequent chapter. The Germans Chopin disliked +thoroughly, partly, no doubt, from political reasons, partly +perhaps on account of their inelegance and social awkwardness. +Still, of this nation were some of his best friends, among them +Hiller, Gutmann, Albrecht, and the Hanoverian ambassador Baron +von Stockhausen. + +[FOOTNOTE: Gutmann, in speaking to me of his master's dislike, +positively ascribed it to the second of the above causes. In +connection with this we must, however, not forget that the +Germans of to-day differ from the Germans of fifty years ago as +much socially as politically. Nor have the social characters of +their neighbours, the French and the English, remained the same.] + +Liszt has given a glowing description of an improvised soiree at +Chopin's lodgings in the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin--that is, in +the years before the winter in Majorca. At this soiree, we are +told, were present Liszt himself, Heine, Meyerbeer, Nourrit, +Hiller, Delacroix, Niemcewicz, Mickiewicz, George Sand, and the +Comtesse d'Agoult. Of course, this is a poetic licence: these men +and women cannot have been at one and the same time in Chopin's +salon. Indeed, Hiller informed me that he knew nothing of this +party, and that, moreover, as long as he was in Paris (up to +1836) there were hardly ever more numerous gatherings at his +friend's lodgings than of two or three. Liszt's group, however, +brings vividly before us one section of Chopin's social +surroundings: it shows us what a poetic atmosphere he was +breathing, amidst what a galaxy of celebrities he was moving. A +glimpse of the real life our artist lived in the early Paris +years this extravagant effort of a luxuriant imagination does not +afford. Such glimpses we got in his letters to Hiller and +Franchomme, where we also met with many friends and acquaintances +with less high-sounding names, some of whom Chopin subsequently +lost by removal or death. In addition to the friends who were +then mentioned, I may name here the Polish poet Stephen Witwicki, +the friend of his youth as well as of his manhood, to whom in +1842 he dedicated his Op. 41, three mazurkas, and several of +whose poems he set to music; and the Polish painter Kwiatkowski, +an acquaintance of a later time, who drew and painted many +portraits of the composer, and more than one of whose pictures +was inspired by compositions of his friend. I have not been able +to ascertain what Chopin's sentiments were with regard to +Kwiatkowski, but the latter must have been a frequent visitor, +for after relating to me that the composer was fond of playing in +the dusk, he remarked that he heard him play thus almost all his +works immediately after they were composed. + +As we have seen in the chapters treating of Chopin's first years +in Paris, there was then a goodly sprinkling of musicians among +his associates--I use the word "associates" advisedly, for many +of them could not truly be called friends. When he was once +firmly settled, artistically and socially, not a few of these +early acquaintances lapsed. How much this was due to the force of +circumstances, how much to the choice of Chopin, is difficult to +determine. But we may be sure that his distaste to the +Bohemianism, the free and easy style that obtains among a +considerable portion of the artistic tribe, had at least as much +to do with the result as pressure of engagements. Of the +musicians of whom we heard so much in the first years after his +coming to Paris, he remained in close connection only with one- +namely, with Franchomme. Osborne soon disappeared from his +circle. Chopin's intercourse with Berlioz was in after years so +rare that some of their common friends did not even know of its +existence. The loosening of this connection was probably brought +about by the departure of Hiller in 1836 and the quarrel with +Liszt some time after, which broke two links between the +sensitive Pole and the fiery Frenchman. The ageing Baillot and +Cherubini died in 1842. Kalkbrenner died but a short time before +Chopin, but the sympathy existing between them was not strong +enough to prevent their drifting apart. Other artists to whom the +new-comer had paid due homage may have been neglected, forgotten, +or lost sight of when success was attained and the blandishments +of the salons were lavished upon him. Strange to say, with all +his love for what belonged to and came from Poland, he kept +compatriot musicians at a distance. Fontana was an exception, but +him he cherished, no doubt, as a friend of his youth in spite of +his profession, or, if as a musician at all, chiefly because of +his handiness as a copyist. For Sowinski, who was already settled +in Paris when Chopin arrived there, and who assisted him at his +first concert, he did not care. Consequently they had afterwards +less and less intercourse, which, indeed, in the end may have +ceased altogether. An undated letter given by Count Wodziriski in +"Les trois Romans de Frederic Chopin," no doubt originally +written in Polish, brings the master's feelings towards his +compatriot, and also his irritability, most vividly before the +reader. + + Here he is! He has just come in to see me--a tall strong + individual who wears moustaches; he sits down at the piano and + improvises, without knowing exactly what. He knocks, strikes, + and crosses his hands, without reason; he demolishes in five + minutes a poor helpless key; he has enormous fingers, made + rather to handle reins and whip somewhere on the confines of + Ukraine. Here you have the portrait of S...who has no other + merit than that of having small moustaches and a good heart. + If I ever thought of imagining what stupidity and charlatanism + in art are, I have now the clearest perception of them. I run + through my room with my ears reddening; I have a mad desire to + throw the door wide open; but one has to spare him, to show + one's self almost affectionate. No, you cannot imagine what it + is: here one sees only his neckties; one does him the honour + of taking him seriously....There remains, therefore, nothing + but to bear him. What exasperates me is his collection of + little songs, compositions in the most vulgar style, without + the least knowledge of the most elementary rules of harmony + and poetry, concluding with quadrille ritornelli, and which he + calls Recueil de Chants Polonais. You know how I wished to + understand, and how I have in part succeeded in understanding, + our national music. Therefore you will judge what pleasure I + experience when, laying hold of a motive of mine here and + there, without taking account of the fact that all the beauty + of a melody depends on the accompaniment, he reproduces it + with the taste of a frequenter of suburban taverns + (guinguettes) and public-houses (cabarets). And one cannot say + anything to him, for he comprehends nothing beyond what he has + taken from you. + +Edouard Wolff came to Paris in 1835, provided with a letter of +introduction from Chopin's master Zywny; [FOOTNOTE: See Vol. I., +p. 31.] but, notwithstanding this favourable opening of their +acquaintanceship, he was only for some time on visiting terms +with his more distinguished compatriot. Wolff himself told me +that Chopin would never hear one of his compositions. From any +other informant I would not have accepted this statement as +probable, still less as true. [FOOTNOTE: Wolff dedicated in 1841 +his Grand Allegro de Concert pour piano still, Op. 59, a son ami +Chopin; but the latter never repaid him the compliment.] These +remarks about Wolff remind me of another piece of information I +got from this pianist-composer a few months before his death-- +namely, that Chopin hated all Jews, Meyerbeer and Halevy among +the rest. What Pole does not hate the Jews? That Chopin was not +enamoured of them we have seen in his letters. But that he hated +Meyerbeer is a more than doubtful statement. Franchomme said to +me that Meyerbeer was not a great friend of Chopin's; but that +the latter, though he did not like his music, liked him as a man. +If Lenz reports accurately, Meyerbeer's feelings towards Chopin +were, no doubt, warmer than Chopin's towards Meyerbeer. When +after the scene about the rhythm of a mazurka Chopin had left the +room, Lenz introduced himself to Meyerbeer as a friend of the +Counts Wielhorski, of St. Petersburg. On coming to the door, +where a coupe was waiting, the composer offered to drive him +home, and when they were seated said:-- + + I had not seen Chopin for a long time, I love him very much. I + know no pianist like him, no composer for the piano like him. + The piano lives on nuances and on cantilena; it is an + instrument of intimacy [ein Intimitalsinstrument], I also was + once a pianist, and there was a time when I trained myself to + be a virtuoso. Visit me when you come to Berlin. Are we not + now comrades? When one has met at the house of so great a man, + it was for life. + +Kwiatkowski told me a pretty story which se non vero is certainly +ben trovato. When on one occasion Meyerbeer had fallen out with +his wife, he sat down to the piano and played a nocturne or some +other composition which Chopin had sent him. And such was the +effect of the music on his helpmate that she came and kissed him. +Thereupon Meyerbeer wrote Chopin a note telling him of what had +taken place, and asking him to come and see their conjugal +happiness. Among the few musicians with whom Chopin had in later +years friendly relations stands out prominently, both by his +genius and the preference shown him, the pianist and composer +Alkan aine (Charles Henri Valentine), who, however, was not so +intimate with the Polish composer as Franchomme, nor on such easy +terms of companionship as Hiller and Liszt had been. The +originality of the man and artist, his high aims and unselfish +striving, may well have attracted Chopin; but as an important +point in Alkan's favour must be reckoned the fact that he was +also a friend of George Sand's. Indeed, some of the limitations +of Chopin's intercourse were, no doubt, made on her account. +Kwiatkowski told me that George Sand hated Chopin's Polish +friends, and that some of them were consequently not admitted at +all and others only reluctantly. Now suppose that she disliked +also some of the non-Polish friends, musicians as well as others, +would not her influence act in the same way as in the case of the +Poles? + +But now I must say a few words about Chopin and Liszt's +friendship, and how it came to an end. This connection of the +great pianists has been the subject of much of that sentimental +talk of which writers on music and of musical biography are so +fond. This, however, which so often has been represented as an +ideal friendship, was really no friendship at all, but merely +comradeship. Both admired each other sincerely as musicians. If +Chopin did not care much for Liszt's compositions, he had the +highest opinion of him as a pianist. We have seen in the letter +of June 20, 1833, addressed to Hiller and conjointly written by +Chopin and Liszt, how delighted Chopin was with Liszt's manner of +playing his studies, and how he wished to be able to rob him of +it. He said on one occasion to his pupil Mdlle. Kologrivof +[FOOTNOTE: Afterwards Madame Rubio.]: "I like my music when Liszt +plays it." No doubt, it was Liszt's book with its +transcendentally-poetic treatment which induced the false notion +now current. Yet whoever keeps his eyes open can read between the +lines what the real state of matters was. The covert sneers at +and the openly-expressed compassion for his comrade's whims, +weaknesses, and deficiencies, tell a tale. Of Chopin's sentiments +with regard to Liszt we have more than sufficient evidence. Mr. +Halle, who arrived in Paris at the end of 1840, was strongly +recommended to the banker Mallet. This gentleman, to give him an +opportunity to make the acquaintance of the Polish pianist, +invited both to dinner. On this occasion Mr. Halle asked Chopin +about Liszt, but the reticent answer he got was indicative rather +of dislike than of anything else. When in 1842 Lenz took lessons +from Chopin, the latter defined his relations with Liszt thus: +"We are friends, we were comrades." What he meant by the first +half of the statement was, no doubt: "Now we meet only on terms +of polite acquaintanceship." When the comradeship came to an end +I do not know, but I think I do know how it came to an end. When +I asked Liszt about the cause of the termination of their +friendship, he said: "Our lady-loves had quarrelled, and as good +cavaliers we were in duty bound to side with them." [FOOTNOTE: +Liszt's words in describing to me his subsequent relation with +Chopin were similar to those of Chopin to Lenz. He said: "There +was a cessation of intimacy, but no enmity. I left Paris soon +after, and never saw him again."] This, however, was merely a way +to get rid of an inconvenient question. Franchomme explained the +mystery to me, and his explanation was confirmed by what I +learned from Madame Rubio. The circumstances are of too delicate +a nature to be set forth in detail. But the long and short of the +affair is that Liszt, accompanied by another person, invaded +Chopin's lodgings during his absence, and made himself quite at +home there. The discovery of traces of the use to which his rooms +had been put justly enraged Chopin. One day, I do not know how +long after the occurrence, Liszt asked Madame Rubio to tell her +master that he hoped the past would be forgotten and the young +man's trick (Junggesellenstuck) wiped out. Chopin then said that +he could not forget, and was much better as he was; and further, +that Liszt was not open enough, having always secrets and +intrigues, and had written in some newspapers feuilleton notices +unfavourable to him. This last accusation reminds one at once of +the remark he made when he heard that Liszt intended to write an +account of one of his concerts for the Gazette musicale. I have +quoted the words already, but may repeat them here: "Il me +donnera un petit royaume dans son empire" (He will give me a +little kingdom in his empire). In this, as in most sayings of +Chopin regarding Liszt, irritation against the latter is +distinctly noticeable. The cause of this irritation may be +manifold, but Liszt's great success as a concert-player and his +own failure in this respect [FOOTNOTE: I speak here only of his +inability to impress large audiences, to move great masses.] have +certainly something to do with it. Liszt, who thought so +likewise, says somewhere in his book that Chopin knew how to +forgive nobly. Whether this was so or not, I do not venture to +decide. But I am sure if he forgave, he never forgot. An offence +remained for ever rankling in his heart and mind. + +From Chopin's friends to his pupils is but one step, and not even +that, for a great many of his pupils were also his friends; +indeed, among them were some of those who were nearest to his +heart, and not a few in whose society he took a particular +delight. Before I speak, however, of his teaching, I must say a +few words about a subject which equally relates to our artist's +friends and pupils, and to them rather than to any other class of +people with whom he had any dealings. + + One of his [Chopin's] oddities [writes Liszt] consisted in + abstaining from every exchange of letters, from every sending + of notes; one could have believed that he had made a vow never + to address letters to strangers. It was a curious thing to see + him have recourse to all kinds of expedients to escape from + the necessity of tracing a few lines. Many times he preferred + traversing Paris from one end to the other in order to decline + a dinner or give some slight information, to saving himself + the trouble by means of a little sheet of paper. His + handwriting remained almost unknown to most of his friends. It + is said that he sometimes deviated from this habit in favour + of his fair compatriots settled at Paris, of whom some are in + possession of charming autographs of his, all written in + Polish. This breach of what one might have taken as a rule may + be explained by the pleasure he took in speaking his language, + which he employed in preference, and whose most expressive + idioms he delighted in translating to others. Like the Slaves + generally, he mastered the French language very well; + moreover, owing to his French origin, it had been taught him + with particular care. But he accommodated himself badly to it, + reproaching it with having little sonority and being of a cold + genius. + + [FOOTNOTE: Notwithstanding his French origin, Chopin spoke + French with a foreign accent, some say even with a strong + foreign accent. Of his manner of writing French I spoke when + quoting his letters to Franchomme (see Vol. I., p. 258).] + +Liszt's account of Chopin's bizarrerie is in the main correct, +although we have, of course, to make some deduction for +exaggeration. In fact, Gutmann told me that his master sometimes +began a letter twenty times, and finally flung down the pen and +said: "I'll go and tell her [or "him," as the case might be] +myself." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + + +CHOPIN AS A TEACHER: HIS SUCCESS OR WANT OF SUCCESS AS SUCH; HIS +PUPILS, AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL; METHOD OF TEACHING; AND +TEACHING REPERTOIRE. + + + +As Chopin rarely played in public and could not make a +comfortable living by his compositions, there remained nothing +for him but to teach, which, indeed, he did till his strength +forsook him. But so far from regarding teaching as a burden, says +his pupil Mikuli, he devoted himself to it with real pleasure. Of +course, a teacher can only take pleasure in teaching when he has +pupils of the right sort. This advantage, however, Chopin may +have enjoyed to a greater extent than most masters, for according +to all accounts it was difficult to be received as a pupil--he by +no means gave lessons to anyone who asked for them. As long as he +was in fair health, he taught during the season from four to five +hours a day, in later years only, or almost only, at home. His +fee for a lesson was twenty francs, which were deposited by the +pupil on the mantelpiece. + +Was Chopin a good teacher? His pupils without exception most +positively affirm it. But outsiders ask: How is it, then, that so +great a virtuoso has not trained players who have made the world +ring with their fame? Mr. Halle, whilst pointing out the fact +that Chopin's pupils have not distinguished themselves, did not +wish to decide whether this was owing to a deficiency in the +master or to some other cause. Liszt, in speaking to me on this +subject, simply remarked: "Chopin was unfortunate in his pupils-- +none of them has become a player of any importance, although some +of his noble pupils played very well." If we compare Liszt's +pianistic offspring with Chopin's, the difference is indeed +striking. But here we have to keep in mind several considerations- +-Chopin taught for a shorter period than Liszt; most of his +pupils, unlike Liszt's, were amateurs; and he may not have met +with the stuff out of which great virtuosos are made. That Chopin +was unfortunate in his pupils may be proved by the early death of +several very promising ones. Charles Filtsch, born at +Hermannstadt, Transylvania (Hungary), about 1830, of whom Liszt +and Lenz spoke so highly (see Chapter XXVI.), died on May 11, +1845, at Venice, after having in 1843 made a sensation in London +and Vienna, both by the poetical and technical qualities of his +playing. In London "little Filtsch" played at least twice in +public (on June 14 at the St. James's Theatre between two plays, +and on July 4 at a matinee of his own at the Hanover Square +Rooms), repeatedly in private, and had also the honour to appear +before the Queen at Buckingham Palace. J. W. Davison relates in +his preface to Chopin's mazurkas and waltzes (Boosey & Co.) a +circumstance which proves the young virtuoso's musicianship. +"Engaged to perform Chopin's second concerto in public, the +orchestral parts not being obtainable, Filtsch, nothing dismayed, +wrote out the whole of them from memory." Another short-lived +great talent was Paul Gunsberg. "This young man," Madame Dubois +informed me, "was endowed with an extraordinary organisation. +Chopin had made of him an admirable executant. He died of +consumption, otherwise he would have become celebrated." I do not +know in which year Gunsberg died. He was still alive on May 11, +1855. For on that day he played with his fellow-pupil Tellefsen, +at a concert given by the latter in Paris, a duet of Schumann's. +A third pupil of Chopin prematurely snatched away by death was +Caroline Hartmann, the daughter of a manufacturer, born at +Munster, near Colmar, in 1808. She came to Paris in 1833, and +died the year after--of love for Chopin, as Edouard Wolff told +me. Other authorities, however, ascribe the sad effect to a less +romantic cause. They say that through persevering study under the +direction of Chopin and Liszt she became an excellent pianist, +but that the hard work brought on a chest complaint to which she +succumbed on July 30, 1834. The GAZETTE MUSICALE of August 17, +1834, which notices her death, describes her as a pupil of Liszt, +Chopin, and Pixis, without commenting on her abilities. Spohr +admired her as a child. But if Chopin has not turned out +virtuosos of the calibre of Tausig and Hans von Bulow, he has +nevertheless formed many very clever pianists. It would serve no +purpose except that of satisfying idle curiosity to draw up a +list of all the master's ascertainable pupils. Those who wish, +however, to satisfy this idle curiosity can do so to some extent +by scanning the dedications of Chopin's works, as the names +therein to be found--with a few and mostly obvious exceptions-- +are those of pupils. The array of princesses, countesses, &c., +will, it is to be hoped, duly impress the investigator. Let us +hear what the illustrious master Marmontel has to say on this +subject:-- + + Among the pianist-composers who have had the immense advantage + of taking lessons from Chopin, to impregnate themselves with + his style and manner, we must cite Gutmann, Lysberg, and our + dear colleague G. Mathias. The Princesses de Chimay, + Czartoryska, the Countesses Esterhazy, Branicka, Potocka, de + Kalergis, d'Est; Mdlles. Muller and de Noailles were his + cherished disciples [disciples affectionnees]. Madame Dubois, + nee O'Meara, is also one of his favourite pupils [eleves de + predilection], and numbers among those whose talent has best + preserved the characteristic traditions and procedures + [procedes] of the master. + +Two of Chopin's amateur and a few more of his professional pupils +ought to be briefly noticed here--first and chiefly of the +amateurs, the Princess Marcelline Czartoryska, who has sometimes +played in public for charitable purposes, and of whom it has +often been said that she is the most faithful transmitter of her +master's style. Would the praise which is generally lavished upon +her have been so enthusiastic if the lady had been a professional +pianist instead of a princess? The question is ungracious in one +who has not had the pleasure of hearing her, but not unnaturally +suggests itself. Be this as it may, that she is, or was, a good +player, who as an intimate friend and countrywoman thoroughly +entered into the spirit of her master's music, seems beyond +question. + +[FOOTNOTE: "The Princess Marcelline Czartoryska," wrote Sowinski +in 1857 in the article "Chopin" of his "Musicien polonais," "who +has a fine execution, seems to have inherited Chopin's ways of +procedure, especially in phrasing and accentuation. Lately the +Princess performed at Paris with much success the magnificent F +minor Concerto at a concert for the benefit of the poor." A +critic, writing in the Gazette Musicale of March 11, 1855, of a +concert given by the Princess--at which she played an andante +with variations for piano and violoncello by Mozart, a rondo for +piano and orchestra by Mendelssohn, and Chopin's F minor +Concerto, being assisted by Alard as conductor, the violoncellist +Franchomme, and the singers Madame Viardot and M. Fedor--praised +especially her rendering of the ADAGIO in Chopin's Concerto. Lenz +was the most enthusiastic admirer of the Princess I have met +with. He calls her (in the Berliner Musikzeitung, Vol. XXVI) a +highly-gifted nature, the best pupil [Schulerin] of Chopin, and +the incarnation of her master's pianoforte style. At a musical +party at the house of the Counts Wilhorski at St. Petersburg, +where she performed a waltz and the Marche funebre by Chopin, her +playing made such an impression that it was thought improper to +have any more music on that evening, the trio of the march +having, indeed, moved the auditors to tears. The Princess told +Lenz that on one occasion when Chopin played to her this trio, +she fell on her knees before him and felt unspeakably happy.] + +G. Chouquet reminded me not to omit to mention among Chopin's +pupils Madame Peruzzi, the wife of the ambassador of the Duke of +Tuscany to the court of Louis Philippe:-- + + This virtuosa [wrote to me the late keeper of the Musee of the + Paris Conservatoire] had no less talent than the Princess + Marcelline Czartoryska. I heard her at Florence in 1852, and I + can assure you that she played Chopin's music in the true + style and with all the unpublished traits of the master. She + was of Russian origin. + +But enough of amateurs. Mdlle. Friederike Muller, now for many +years married to the Viennese pianoforte-maker J. B. Streicher, +is regarded by many as the most, and is certainly one of the most +gifted of Chopin's favourite pupils. [FOOTNOTE: She played +already in public at Vienna in the fourth decade of this century, +which must have been before her coming to Paris (see Eduard +Hanslick, Geschichte des Concertwesens in Wien, p. 326). Marriage +brought the lady's professional career to a close.] That the +composer dedicated to her his Allegro de Concert, Op. 46, may be +regarded as a mark of his love and esteem for her. Carl Mikuli +found her assistance of great importance in the preparation of +his edition of Chopin's works, as she had received lessons from +the master for several years, and, moreover, had had many +opportunities of hearing him on other occasions. The same +authority refers to Madame Dubois (nee O'Meara) [FOOTNOTE: A +relation of Edward Barry O'Meara, physician to the first Napoleon +at St. Helena, and author of "Napoleon in Exile."] and to Madame +Rubio (NEE Vera de Kologrivof) as to "two extremely excellent +pianists [hochst ausgezeichnete Pianistinnen] whose talent +enjoyed the advantage of the master's particular care." The +latter lady was taught by Chopin from 1842 to 1849, and in the +last years of his life assisted him, as we shall see, by taking +partial charge of some of his pupils. Madame Dubois, who studied +under Kalkbrenner from the age of nine to thirteen, became then a +pupil of Chopin, with whom she remained five years. It was very +difficult to obtain his consent to take another pupil, but the +influence of M. Albrecht, a common friend of her father's and +Chopin's, stood her in good stead. Although I heard her play only +one or two of her master's minor pieces, and under very +unfavourable circumstances too--namely, at the end of the +teaching season and in a tropical heat--I may say that her suave +touch, perfect legato, and delicate sentiment seemed to me to +bear out the above-quoted remark of M. Marmontel. Madame Dubois, +who is one of the most highly-esteemed teachers of the piano in +Paris, used to play till recently in public, although less +frequently in later than in earlier years. And here I must +extract a passage from Madame Girardin's letter of March 7, 1847, +in Vol. IV. of "Le Vicomte de Launay," where, after describing +Mdlle. O'Meara's beauty, more especially her Irish look--"that +mixture of sadness and serenity, of profound tenderness and shy +dignity, which you never find in the proud and brilliant looks +which you admire in the women of other nations "--she says:-- + + We heard her a few hours ago; she played in a really superior + way the beautiful Concerto of Chopin in E flat minor [of + course E minor]; she was applauded with enthusiasm. [FOOTNOTE: + Chopin accompanied on a second piano. The occasion was a + soiree at the house of Madame de Courbonne.] All we can say to + give you an idea of Mdlle. O'Meara's playing is that there is + in her playing all that is in her look, and in addition to it + an admirable method, and excellent fingering. Her success has + been complete; in hearing her, statesmen were moved...and the + young ladies, those who are good musicians, forgave her her + prettiness. + +As regards Chopin's male pupils, we have to note George Mathias +(born at Paris in 1826), the well-known professor of the piano at +the Paris Conservatoire, [FOOTNOTE: He retired a year or two +ago.] and still more widely-known composer of more than half-a- +hundred important works (sonatas, trios, concertos, symphonic +compositions, pianoforte pieces, songs, &c.), who enjoyed the +master's teaching from 1839 to 1844; Lysberg (1821-1873), whose +real name was Charles Samuel Bovy, for many years professor of +the piano at the Conservatoire of his native town, Geneva, and a +very fertile composer of salon pieces for the piano (composer +also of a one-act comic opera, La Fills du Carillonneur), +distinguished by "much poetic feeling, an extremely careful form, +an original colouring, and in which one often seems to see pass a +breath of Weber or Chopin"; [FOOTNOTE: Supplement et Complement +to Fetis' Biographie universelle des Musiciens, published under +the direction of Arthur Pougin.] the Norwegian Thomas Dyke Acland +Tellefsen (1823-1874), a teacher of the piano in Paris and author +of an edition of Chopin's works; Carl Mikuli (born at Czernowitz +in 1821), since 1858 artistic director of the Galician Musical +Society (conservatoire, concerts, &c.), and author of an edition +of Chopin's works; and Adolph Gutmann, the master's favourite +pupil par excellence, of whom we must speak somewhat more at +length. Karasowski makes also mention of Casimir Wernik, who died +at St. Petersburg in 1859, and of Gustav Schumann, a teacher of +the piano at Berlin, who, however, was only during the winter of +1840-1841 with the Polish master. For Englishmen the fact of the +late Brinley Richards and Lindsay Sloper having been pupils of +Chopin--the one for a short, the other for a longer period--will +be of special interest. + +Adolph Gutmann was a boy of fifteen when in 1834 his father +brought him to Paris to place him under Chopin. The latter, +however, did not at first feel inclined to accept the proposed +trust; but on hearing the boy play he conceived so high an idea +of his capacities that he agreed to undertake his artistic +education. Chopin seems to have always retained a thorough belief +in his muscular pupil, although some of his great pianist friends +thought this belief nothing but a strange delusion. There are +also piquant anecdotes told by fellow-pupils with the purpose of +showing that Chopin did not care very much for him. For instance, +the following: Some one asked the master how his pupil was +getting on, "Oh, he makes very good chocolate," was the answer. +Unfortunately, I cannot speak of Gutmann's playing from +experience, for although I spent eight days with him, it was on a +mountain-top in the Tyrol, where there were no pianos. But +Chopin's belief in Gutmann counts with me for something, and so +does Moscheles' reference to him as Chopin's "excellent pupil"; +more valuable, I think, than either is the evidence of Dr. A. C. +Mackenzie, who at my request visited Gutmann several times in +Florence and was favourably impressed by his playing, in which he +noticed especially beauty of tone combined with power. As far as +I can make out Gutmann planned only once, in 1846, a regular +concert-tour, being furnished for it by Chopin with letters of +introduction to the highest personages in Berlin, Warsaw, and St. +Petersburg. Through the intervention of the Countess Rossi +(Henriette Sontag), he was invited to play at a court-concert at +Charlottenburg in celebration of the King's birthday. [FOOTNOTE: +His part of the programme consisted of his master's E minor +Concerto (2nd and 3rd movements) and No. 3 of the first book of +studies, and his own tenth study.] But the day after the concert +he was seized with such home-sickness that he returned forthwith +to Paris, where he made his appearance to the great astonishment +of Chopin. The reader may perhaps be interested in what a writer +in the Gazette Musicale said about Chopin's favourite pupil on +March 24, 1844:-- + + M. Gutmann is a pianist with a neat but somewhat cold style of + playing; he has what one calls fingers, and uses them with + much dexterity. His manner of proceeding is rather that of + Thalberg than of the clever professor who has given him + lessons. He afforded pleasure to the lovers of the piano + [amateurs de piano] at the musical SOIREE which he gave last + Monday at M. Erard's. Especially his fantasia on the + "Freischutz" was applauded. + +Of course, the expression of any individual opinion is no +conclusive proof. Gutmann was so successful as a teacher and in a +way also as a composer (his compositions, I may say in passing, +were not in his master's but in a light salon style) that at a +comparatively early period of his life he was able to retire from +his profession. After travelling for some time he settled at +Florence, where he invented the art, or, at least, practised the +art which he had previously invented, of painting with oil- +colours on satin. He died at Spezzia on October 27, 1882. + +[FOOTNOTE: The short notice of Gutmann in Fetis' Biographie +Universelle des Musiciens, and those of the followers of this by +no means infallible authority, are very incorrect. Adolfo +Gutmann, Riccordi Biografici, by Giulio Piccini (Firenze: +Guiseppe Polverini, 1881), reproduces to a great extent the +information contained in Der Lieblingsschuler Chopin's in +Bernhard Stavenow's Schone Geister (Bremen: Kuhlmann, 1879), both +which publications, eulogistic rather than biographical, were +inspired by Gutmann.] + +Whatever interest the reader may have taken in this survey of +Chopin's pupils, he is sure to be more deeply interested by the +account of the master's manner and method of teaching. Such an +account, which would be interesting in the case of any remarkable +virtuoso who devoted himself to instruction, is so in a higher +degree in that of Chopin: first, because it may help us to solve +the question why so unique a virtuoso did not form a single +eminent concert-player; secondly, because it throws still further +light on his character as a man and artist; and thirdly, because, +as Mikuli thinks may be asserted without exaggeration, "only +Chopin's pupils knew the pianist in the fulness of his unrivalled +height." The materials at my disposal are abundant and not less +trustworthy than abundant. My account is based chiefly on the +communications made to me by a number of the master's pupils-- +notably, Madame Dubois, Madame Rubio, M. Mathias, and Gutmann-- +and on Mikuli's excellent preface to his edition of Chopin's +works. When I have drawn upon other sources, I have not done so +without previous examination and verification. I may add that I +shall use as far as possible the ipsissima verba of my +informants:-- + + As to Chopin's method of teaching [wrote to me M. Mathias], it + was absolutely of the old legato school, of the school of + Clementi and Cramer. Of course, he had enriched it by a great + variety of touch [d'une grande variete dans l'attaque de la + touche]; he obtained a wonderful variety of tone and NUANCES + of tone; in passing I may tell you that he had an + extraordinary vigour, but only by flashes [ce ne pouvait etre + que par eclairs]. + +The Polish master, who was so original in many ways, differed +from his confreres even in the way of starting his pupils. With +him the normal position of the hand was not that above the keys +c, d, e, f, g (i.e., above five white keys), but that above the +keys e, f sharp, g sharp, a sharp, b (I.E., above two white keys +and three black keys, the latter lying between the former). The +hand had to be thrown lightly on the keyboard so as to rest on +these keys, the object of this being to secure for it not only an +advantageous, but also a graceful position:-- + +[FOOTNOTE: Kleczynski, in Chopin: De l'interpretation de ses +oeuvres--Trois conferences faites a Varsovie, says that he was +told by several of the master's pupils that the latter sometimes +held his hands absolutely flat. When I asked Madame Dubois about +the correctness of this statement, she replied: "I never noticed +Chopin holding his hands flat." In short, if Chopin put his hands +at any time in so awkward a position, it was exceptional; +physical exhaustion may have induced him to indulge in such +negligence when the technical structure of the music he was +playing permitted it.] + + Chopin [Madame Dubois informed me] made his pupils begin with + the B major scale, very slowly, without stiffness. Suppleness + was his great object. He repeated, without ceasing, during the + lesson: "Easily, easily" [facilement, facilement]. Stiffness + exasperated him. + +How much stiffness and jerkiness exasperated him may be judged +from what Madame Zaleska related to M. Kleczynski. A pupil having +played somewhat carelessly the arpeggio at the beginning of the +first study (in A flat major) of the second book of Clementi's +Preludes et Exercices, the master jumped from his chair and +exclaimed: "What is that? Has a dog been barking?" [Qu'est-ce? +Est-ce un chien qui vient d'aboyer?] The rudeness of this +exclamation will, no doubt, surprise. But polite as Chopin +generally was, irritation often got the better of him, more +especially in later years when bad health troubled him. Whether +he ever went the length of throwing the music from the desk and +breaking chairs, as Karasowski says, I do not know and have not +heard confirmed by any pupil. Madame Rubio, however, informed me +that Chopin was very irritable, and when teaching amateurs used +to have always a packet of pencils about him which, to vent his +anger, he silently broke into bits. Gutmann told me that in the +early stages of his discipleship Chopin sometimes got very angry, +and stormed and raged dreadfully; but immediately was kind and +tried to soothe his pupil when he saw him distressed and weeping. + + To be sure [writes Mikuli], Chopin made great demands on the + talent and diligence of the pupil. Consequently, there were + often des lecons orageuses, as it was called in the school + idiom, and many a beautiful eye left the high altar of the + Cite d'Orleans, Rue St. Lazare, bedewed with tears, without, + on that account, ever bearing the dearly-beloved master the + least grudge. For was not the severity which was not easily + satisfied with anything, the feverish vehemence with which the + master wished to raise his disciples to his own stand-point, + the ceaseless repetition of a passage till it was understood, + a guarantee that he had at heart the progress of the pupil? A + holy artistic zeal burnt in him then, every word from his lips + was incentive and inspiring. Single lessons often lasted + literally for hours at a stretch, till exhaustion overcame + master and pupil. + +Indeed, the pupils were so far from bearing their master the +least grudge that, to use M. Marmontel's words, they had more for +him than admiration: a veritable idolatry. But it is time that +after this excursion--which hardly calls for an excuse--we return +to the more important part of our subject, the master's method of +teaching. + + What concerned Chopin most at the commencement of his + instruction [writes Mikuli] was to free the pupil from every + stiffness and convulsive, cramped movement of the hand, and to + give him thus the first condition of a beautiful style of + playing, souplesse (suppleness), and with it independence of + the fingers. He taught indefatigably that the exercises in + question were no mere mechanical ones, but called for the + intelligence and the whole will of the pupil, on which account + twenty and even forty thoughtless repetitions (up to this time + the arcanum of so many schools) do no good at all, still less + the practising during which, according to Kalkbrenner's + advice, one may occupy one's self simultaneously with some + kind of reading(!). + + He feared above all [remarked Madame Dubois to me] the + abrutissement of the pupils. One day he heard me say that I + practised six hours a day. He became quite angry, and forbade + me to practise more than three hours. This was also the advice + of Hummel in his pianoforte school. + +To resume Mikuli's narrative:-- + + Chopin treated very thoroughly the different kinds of touch, + especially the full-toned [tonvolle] legato. + + [FOOTNOTE: Karasowski says that Chopin demanded absolutely + from his pupils that they should practise the exercises, and + especially the scales in major and minor, from piano to + fortissimo, staccato as well as legato, and also with a change + of accent, which was to be now on the second, now on the + third, now on the fourth note. Madame Dubois, on the other + hand, is sure she was never told by her master to play the + scales staccato.] + + "As gymnastic helps he recommended the bending inward and + outward of the wrist, the repeated touch from the wrist, the + extending of the fingers, but all this with the earnest + warning against over-fatigue. He made his pupils play the + scales with a full tone, as connectedly as possible, very + slowly and only gradually advancing to a quicker TEMPO, and + with metronomic evenness. The passing of the thumb under the + other fingers and the passing of the latter over the former + was to be facilitated by a corresponding turning inward of the + hand. The scales with many black keys (B, F sharp, and D flat) + were first studied, and last, as the most difficult, C major. + In the same sequence he took up Clementi's Preludes et + Exercices, a work which for its utility he esteemed very + highly." + + [FOOTNOTE: Kleczynski writes that whatever the degree of + instruction was which Chopin's pupils brought with them, they + had all to play carefully besides the scales the second book + of Clementi's Preludes et Exercices, especially the first in A + flat major.] + + According to Chopin the evenness of the scales (also of the + arpeggios) not merely depended on the utmost equal + strengthening of all fingers by means of five-finger exercises + and on a thumb entirely free at the passing under and over, + but rather on a lateral movement (with the elbow hanging quite + down and always easy) of the hand, not by jerks, but + continuously and evenly flowing, which he tried to illustrate + by the glissando over the keyboard. Of studies he gave after + this a selection of Cramer's Etudes, Clementi's Gradus ad + Parnassum, Moscheles' style-studies for the higher development + (which were very sympathetic to him), and J. S. Bach's suites + and some fugues from Das wohltemperirte Clavier. In a certain + way Field's and his own nocturnes numbered likewise with the + studies, for in them the pupil was--partly by the apprehension + of his explanations, partly by observation and imitation (he + played them to the pupil unweariedly)--to learn to know, love, + and execute the beautiful smooth [gebundene] vocal tone and + the legato. + + [FOOTNOTE: This statement can only be accepted with much + reserve. Whether Chopin played much or little to his pupil + depended, no doubt, largely on the mood and state of health he + was in at the time, perhaps also on his liking or disliking + the pupil. The late Brinley Richards told me that when he had + lessons from Chopin, the latter rarely played to him, making + his corrections and suggestions mostly by word of mouth.] + + With double notes and chords he demanded most strictly + simultaneous striking, breaking was only allowed when it was + indicated by the composer himself; shakes, which he generally + began with the auxiliary note, had not so much to be played + quick as with great evenness the conclusion of the shake + quietly and without precipitation. For the turn (gruppetto) + and the appoggiatura he recommended the great Italian singers + as models. Although he made his pupils play octaves from the + wrist, they must not thereby lose in fulness of tone. + +All who have had the good fortune to hear Chopin play agree in +declaring that one of the most distinctive features of his style +of execution was smoothness, and smoothness, as we have seen in +the foregoing notes, was also one of the qualities on which he +most strenuously insisted in the playing of his pupils. The +reader will remember Gutmann's statement to me, mentioned in a +previous chapter, that all his master's fingering was calculated +for the attainment of this object. Fingering is the mainspring, +the determining principle, one might almost say the life and +soul, of the pianoforte technique. We shall, therefore, do well +to give a moment's consideration to Chopin's fingering, +especially as he was one of the boldest and most influential +revolutionisers of this important department of the pianistic +art. His merits in this as in other respects, his various claims +to priority of invention, are only too often overlooked. As at +one time all ameliorations in the theory and practice of music +were ascribed to Guido of Arezzo, so it is nowadays the fashion +to ascribe all improvements and extensions of the pianoforte +technique to Liszt, who more than any other pianist drew upon +himself the admiration of the world, and who through his pupils +continued to make his presence felt even after the close of his +career as a virtuoso. But the cause of this false opinion is to +be sought not so much in the fact that the brilliancy of his +artistic personality threw all his contemporaries into the shade, +as in that other fact, that he gathered up into one web the many +threads new and old which he found floating about during the +years of his development. The difference between Liszt and Chopin +lies in this, that the basis of the former's art is universality, +that of the latter's, individuality. Of the fingering of the one +we may say that it is a system, of that of the other that it is a +manner. Probably we have here also touched on the cause of +Liszt's success and Chopin's want of success as a teacher. I +called Chopin a revolutioniser of fingering, and, I think, his +full enfranchisement of the thumb, his breaking-down of all +distinctions of rank between the other fingers, in short, the +introduction of a liberty sometimes degenerating into licence, +justifies the expression. That this master's fingering is +occasionally eccentric (presupposing peculiarly flexible hands +and a peculiar course of study) cannot be denied; on the whole, +however, it is not only well adapted for the proper rendering of +his compositions, but also contains valuable contributions to a +universal system of fingering. The following particulars by +Mikuli will be read with interest, and cannot be misunderstood +after what has just now been said on the subject:-- + + In the notation of fingering, especially of that peculiar to + himself, Chopin was not sparing. Here pianoforte-playing owes + him great innovations which, on account of their expedience, + were soon adopted, notwithstanding the horror with which + authorities like Kalkbrenner at first regarded them. Thus, for + instance, Chopin used without hesitation the thumb on the + black keys, passed it even under the little finger (it is + true, with a distinct inward bend of the wrist), if this could + facilitate the execution and give it more repose and evenness. + With one and the same finger he took often two consecutive + keys (and this not only in gliding down from a black to the + next white key) without the least interruption of the sequence + being noticeable. The passing over each other of the longer + fingers without the aid of the thumb (see Etude, No. 2, Op. + 10) he frequently made use of, and not only in passages where + the thumb stationary on a key made this unavoidably necessary. + The fingering of the chromatic thirds based on this (as he + marked it in Etude, No. 5, Op. 25) affords in a much higher + degree than that customary before him the possibility of the + most beautiful legato in the quickest tempo and with a + perfectly quiet hand. + +But if with Chopin smoothness was one of the qualities upon which +he insisted strenuously in the playing of his pupils, he was by +no means satisfied with a mere mechanical perfection. He advised +his pupils to undertake betimes thorough theoretical studies, +recommending his friend, the composer and theorist Henri Reber as +a teacher. He advised them also to cultivate ensemble playing-- +trios, quartets, &c., if first-class partners could be had, +otherwise pianoforte duets. Most urgent, however, he was in his +advice to them to hear good singing, and even to learn to sing. +To Madame Rubio he said: "You must sing if you wish to play"; and +made her take lessons in singing and hear much Italian opera-- +this last, the lady remarked, Chopin regarded as positively +necessary for a pianoforte-player. In this advice we recognise +Chopin's ideal of execution: beauty of tone, intelligent +phrasing, truthfulness and warmth of expression. The sounds which +he drew from the pianoforte were pure tone without the least +admixture of anything that might be called noise. "He never +thumped," was Gutmann's remark to me. Chopin, according to +Mikuli, repeatedly said that when he heard bad phrasing it +appeared to him as if some one recited, in a language he did not +know, a speech laboriously memorised, not only neglecting to +observe the right quantity of the syllables, but perhaps even +making full stops in the middle of words. "The badly-phrasing +pseudo-musician," he thought, "showed that music was not his +mother-tongue, but something foreign, unintelligible to him," and +that, consequently, "like that reciter, he must altogether give +up the idea of producing any effect on the auditor by his +rendering." Chopin hated exaggeration and affectation. His +precept was: "Play as you feel." But he hated the want of feeling +as much as false feeling. To a pupil whose playing gave evidence +of nothing but the possession of fingers, he said emphatically, +despairingly: "METTEZ-Y DONc TOUTE VOTRE AME!" (Do put all your +soul into it!) + +[FOOTNOTE: "In dynamical shading [im nuanciren]," says Mikuli, +"he was exceedingly particular about a gradual increase and +decrease of loudness." Karasowski writes: "Exaggeration in +accentuation was hateful to him, for, in his opinion, it took +away the poesy from playing, and gave it a certain didactic +pedantry."] + + On declamation, and rendering in general [writes Mikuli], he + gave his pupils invaluable and significant instructions and + hints, but, no doubt, effected more certain results by + repeatedly playing not only single passages, but whole pieces, + and this he did with a conscientiousness and enthusiasm that + perhaps he hardly gave anyone an opportunity of hearing when + he played in a concert-room. Frequently the whole hour passed + without the pupil having played more than a few bars, whilst + Chopin, interrupting and correcting him on a Pleyel cottage + piano (the pupil played always on an excellent grand piano; + and it was enjoined upon him as a duty to practise only on + first-class instruments), presented to him for his admiration + and imitation the life-warm ideal of the highest beauty. + +With regard to Chopin's playing to his pupils we must keep in +mind what was said in foot-note 12 on page 184. On another point +in the above quotation one of Madame Dubois's communications to +me throws some welcome light:-- + + Chopin [she said] had always a cottage piano [pianino] by the + side of the grand piano on which he gave his lessons. It was + marvellous to hear him accompany, no matter what compositions, + from the concertos of Hummel to those of Beethoven. He + performed the role of the orchestra most wonderfully [d'une + facon prodigieuse]. When I played his own concertos, he + accompanied me in this way. + +Judging from various reports, Chopin seems to have regarded his +Polish pupils as more apt than those of other nationalities to do +full justice to his compositions. Karasowski relates that when +one of Chopin's French pupils played his compositions and the +auditors overwhelmed the performer with their praise, the master +used often to remark that his pupil had done very well, but that +the Polish element and the Polish enthusiasm had been wanting. +Here it is impossible not to be reminded of the contention +between Chopin on the one hand and Liszt and Hiller on the other +hand about the possibility of foreigners comprehending Polish +national music (See Vol. 1., p. 256). After revealing the mystery +of Chopin's tempo rubato, Liszt writes in his book on this +master:-- + + All his compositions have to be played with this sort of + balancement accentue et prosodie, this morbidezza, of which it + was difficult to seize the secret when one had not heard him + often. He seemed desirous to teach this manner to his numerous + pupils, especially to his compatriots, to whom he wished, more + than to others, to communicate the breath of his inspiration. + These [ceux-ci, ou plutot celles-la] seized it with that + aptitude which they have for all matters of sentiment and + poesy. An innate comprehension of his thought permitted them + to follow all the fluctuations of his azure wave. + +There is one thing which is worth inquiring into before we close +this chapter, for it may help us to a deeper insight into +Chopin's character as a teacher--I mean his teaching repertoire. +Mikuli says that, carefully arranged according to their +difficulty, Chopin placed before his pupils the following +compositions: the concertos and sonatas of Clementi, Mozart, +Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Dussek, Field, Hummel, Ries, Beethoven; +further, Weber, Moscheles, Mendelssohn, Hiller, Schumann, and his +own works. This enumeration, however, does not agree with +accounts from other equally authentic sources. The pupils of +Chopin I have conversed and corresponded with never studied any +Schumann under their master. As to the cultivation of Beethoven, +it was, no doubt, limited. M. Mathias, it is true, told me that +Chopin showed a preference for Clementi (Gradus ad Parnassum), +Bach, Field (of him much was played, notably his concertos), and +naturally for Beethoven, Weber, &c.--Clementi, Bach, and Field +being always the composers most laid under contribution in the +case of debutants. Madame Rubio, on the other hand, confined +herself to stating that Chopin put her through Hummel, Moscheles, +and Bach; and did not mention Beethoven at all. Gutmann's +statements concerning his master's teaching contain some positive +evidence with regard to the Beethoven question. What he said was +this: Chopin held that dementi's Gradus ad Parnassum, Bach's +pianoforte fugues, and Hummel's compositions were the key to +pianoforte-playing, and he considered a training in these +composers a fit preparation for his own works. He was +particularly fond of Hummel and his style. Beethoven he seemed to +like less. He appreciated such pieces as the first movement of +the Moonlight Sonata (C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2). Schubert was +a favourite with him. This, then, is what I learned from Gutmann. +In parenthesis, as it were, I may ask: Is it not strange that no +pupil, with the exception of Mikuli, mentions the name of Mozart, +the composer whom Chopin is said to have so much admired? Thanks +to Madame Dubois, who at my request had the kindness to make out +a list of the works she remembers having studied under Chopin, we +shall be able to form a pretty distinct idea of the master's +course of instruction, which, to be sure, would be modified +according to the capacities of his pupils and the objects they +had in view. Well, Madame Dubois says that Chopin made her begin +with the second book of Clementi's Preludes et Exercices, and +that she also studied under him the same composer's Gradus ad +Parnassum and Bach's forty-eight preludes and fugues. Of his high +opinion of the teaching qualities of Bach's compositions we may +form an idea from the recommendation to her at their last meeting- +-already mentioned in an earlier chapter--to practise them +constantly, "ce sera votre meilleur moyen de progresser" (this +will be your best means to make progress). The pieces she studied +under him included the following ones: Of Hummel, the Rondo +brillant sur un theme russe (Op. 98), La Bella capricciosa, the +Sonata in F sharp minor (Op. 81), the Concertos in A minor and B +minor, and the Septet; of Field, several concertos (the one in E +flat among others) and several nocturnes ("Field" she says, "lui +etait tres sympathique"); of Beethoven, the concertos and several +sonatas (the Moonlight, Op. 27, No. 2; the one with the Funeral +March, Op. 26; and the Appassionata, Op. 57); of Weber, the +Sonatas in C and A flat major (Chopin made his pupils play these +two works with extreme care); of Schubert, the Landler and all +the waltzes and some of the duets (the marches, polonaises, and +the Divertissement hongrois, which last piece he admired sans +reserve); of Mendelssohn, only the G minor Concerto and the Songs +without Words; of Liszt, no more than La Tarantelle de Rossini +and the Septet from Lucia ("mais ce genre de musique ne lui +allait pas," says my informant); and of Schumann, NOTHING. + +Madame Streicher's interesting reminiscences, given in Appendix +III., form a supplement to this chapter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + + +RUPTURE OF THE SAND-CHOPIN CONNECTION.--HER OWN, LISZT'S, AND +KARASOWSKI'S ACCOUNTS.-THE LUCREZIA FLORIANI INCIDENT.--FURTHER +INVESTIGATION OF THE CAUSES OF THE RUPTURE BY THE LIGHT OF +LETTERS AND THE INFORMATION OF GUTMANN, FRANCHOMME, AND MADAME +RUBIO.--SUMMING-UP OF THE EVIDENCE.--CHOPIN'S COMPOSITIONS IN +1847.--GIVES A CONCERT, HIS LAST IN PARIS (1848): WHAT AND HOW HE +PLAYED; THE CHARACTER OF THE AUDIENCE.--GEORGE SAND AND CHOPIN +MEET ONCE MORE.--THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION; CHOPIN MAKES UP HIS +MIND TO VISIT ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. + + + +WE now come to the catastrophe of Chopin's life, the rupture of +his connection with George Sand. Although there is no lack of +narratives in which the causes, circumstances, and time of this +rupture are set forth with absolute positiveness, it is +nevertheless an undeniable fact that we are not at the present +moment, nor, all things well considered, shall be even in the +most distant future, in a position to speak on this subject +otherwise than conjecturally. + +[FOOTNOTE: Except the letter of George Sand given on p. 75, and +the note of Chopin to George Sand which will be given a little +farther on, nothing, I think, of their correspondence has become +public. But even if their letters were forth-coming, it is more +likely than not that they would fail to clear up the mystery. +Here I ought, perhaps, to reproduce the somewhat improbable story +told in the World of December 14, 1887, by the Paris +correspondent who signs himself "Theoc." He writes as follows: "I +have heard that it was by saving her letters to Chopin that M. +Alexandre Dumas won the friendship of George Sand. The anecdote +runs thus: When Chopin died, his sister found amongst his papers +some two hundred letters of Madame Sand, which she took with her +to Poland. By chance this lady had some difficulties at the +frontier with the Russian custom-house officials; her trunks were +seized, and the box containing the letters was mislaid and lost. +A few years afterwards, one of the custom-house officials found +the letters and kept them, not knowing the name and the address +of the Polish lady who had lost them. M. Dumas discovered this +fact, and during a journey in Russia he explained to this +official how painful it would be if by some indiscretion these +letters of the illustrious novelist ever got into print. 'Let me +restore them to Madame Sand,' said M. Dumas. 'And my duty?' asked +the customs official. 'If anybody ever claims the letters,' +replied M. Dumas, 'I authorise you to say that I stole them.' On +this condition M. Dumas, then a young man, obtained the letters, +brought them back to Paris, and restored them to Madame Sand, +whose acquaintance he thus made. Madame Sand burnt all her +letters to Chopin, but she never forgot the service that M. Dumas +had rendered her."] + +I have done my utmost to elucidate the tragic event which it is +impossible not to regard as one of the most momentous crises in +Chopin's life, and have succeeded in collecting besides the +material already known much that is new; but of what avail is +this for coming to a final decision if we find the depositions +hopelessly contradictory, and the witnesses more or less +untrustworthy--self-interest makes George Sand's evidence +suspicious, the instability of memory that of others. Under the +circumstances it seems to me safest to place before the reader +the depositions of the various witnesses--not, however, without +comment--and leave him to form his own conclusions. I shall begin +with the account which George Sand gives in her Ma Vie:-- + + After the last relapses of the invalid, his mind had become + extremely gloomy, and Maurice, who had hitherto tenderly loved + him, was suddenly wounded by him in an unexpected manner about + a trifling subject. They embraced each other the next moment, + but the grain of sand had fallen into the tranquil lake, and + little by little the pebbles fell there, one after + another...All this was borne; but at last, one day, Maurice, + tired of the pin-pricks, spoke of giving up the game. That + could not be, and should not be. Chopin would not stand my + legitimate and necessary intervention. He bowed his head and + said that I no longer loved him. + + What blasphemy after these eight years of maternal devotion! + But the poor bruised heart was not conscious of its delirium. + I thought that some months passed at a distance and in silence + would heal the wound, and make his friendship again calm and + his memory equitable. But the revolution of February came, and + Paris became momentarily hateful to this mind incapable of + yielding to any commotion in the social form. Free to return + to Poland, or certain to be tolerated there, he had preferred + languishing ten [and some more] years far from his family, + whom he adored, to the pain of seeing his country transformed + and deformed [denature]. He had fled from tyranny, as now he + fled from liberty. + + I saw him again for an instant in March, 1848. I pressed his + trembling and icy hand. I wished to speak to him, he slipped + away. Now it was my turn to say that he no longer loved me. I + spared him this infliction, and entrusted all to the hands of + Providence and the future. + + I was not to see him again. There were bad hearts between us. + There were good ones too who were at a loss what to do. There + were frivolous ones who preferred not to meddle with such + delicate matters; Gutmann was not there. + + I have been told that he had asked for me, regretted me, and + loved me filially up to the very end. It was thought fit to + conceal this from me till then. It was also thought fit to + conceal from him that I was ready to hasten to him. + +Liszt's account is noteworthy because it gives us the opinion of +a man who knew the two principal actors in the drama intimately, +and had good opportunities to learn what contemporary society +thought about it. Direct knowledge of the facts, however, Liszt +had not, for he was no longer a friend either of the one or the +other of the two parties:-- + + These commencements, of which Madame de Stael spoke, + [FOOTNOTE: He alludes to her saying: En amour, il n'y a que + des commencemens.] had already for a long time been exhausted + between the Polish artist and the French poet. They had only + survived with the one by a violent effort of respect for the + ideal which he had gilded with its fatal brilliancy; with the + other by a false shame which sophisticated on the pretension + to preserve constancy in fidelity. The time came when this + factitious existence, which succeeded no longer in galvanising + fibres dried up under the eyes of the spiritualistic artist, + seemed to him to surpass what honour permitted him not to + perceive. No one knew what was the cause or the pretext of the + sudden rupture; one saw only that after a violent opposition + to the marriage of the daughter of the house, Chopin abruptly + left Nohant never to return again. + +However unreliable Liszt's facts may be, the PHILOSOPHY of his +account shows real insight. Karasowski, on the other hand, has +neither facts nor insight. He speaks with a novelist's confidence +and freedom of characters whom he in no way knows, and about whom +he has nothing to tell but the vaguest and most doubtful of +second-hand hearsays:-- + + The depressed invalid became now to her a burden. At first her + at times sombre mien and her shorter visits in the sick-room + showed him that her sympathy for him was on the decrease; + Chopin felt this painfully, but he said nothing...\The + complaints of Madame Sand that the nursing of the invalid + exhausted her strength, complaints which she often gave + expression to in his presence, hurt him. He entreated her to + leave him alone, to take walks in the fresh air; he implored + her not to give up for his sake her amusements, but to + frequent the theatre, to give parties, &c.; he would be + contented in quietness and solitude if he only knew that she + was happy. At last, when the invalid still failed to think of + a separation from her, she chose a heroic means. + +By this heroic means Karasowski understands the publication of +George Sand's novel Lucrezia Floriani (in 1847), concerning which +he says the story goes that "out of refined cruelty the proof- +sheets were handed to him [Chopin] with the request to correct +the misprints." Karasowski also reports as a "fact" that + + the children of Madame Sand [who, by the way, were a man of + twenty-three and a woman of eighteen] said to him [Chopin], + pointing to the novel: "M. Chopin, do you know that you are + meant by the Prince Karol?"...In spite of all this the + invalid, and therefore less passionate, artist bore with the + most painful feeling the mortification caused him by the + novel...At the beginning of the year 1847 George Sand brought + about by a violent scene, the innocent cause of which was her + daughter, a complete rupture. To the unjust reproaches which + she made to him, he merely replied: "I shall immediately leave + your house, and wish henceforth no longer to be regarded by + you as living." These words were very welcome to her; she made + no objections, and the very same day the artist left for ever + the house of Madame Sand. But the excitement and the mental + distress connected with it threw him once more on the sick- + bed, and for a long time people seriously feared that he would + soon exchange it for a coffin. + +George Sand's view of the Lucrezia Floriani incident must be +given in full. In Ma Vie she writes as follows:-- + + It has been pretended that in one of my romances I have + painted his [Chopin's] character with a great exactness of + analysis. People were mistaken, because they thought they + recognised some of his traits; and, proceeding by this system, + too convenient to be sure, Liszt himself, in a Life of Chopin, + a little exuberant as regards style, but nevertheless full of + very good things and very beautiful pages, has gone astray in + good faith. I have traced in Prince Karol the character of a + man determined in his nature, exclusive in his sentiments, + exclusive in his exigencies. + + Chopin was not such. Nature does not design like art, however + realistic it may be. She has caprices, inconsequences, + probably not real, but very mysterious. Art only rectifies + these inconsequences because it is too limited to reproduce + them. + + Chopin was a resume of these magnificent inconsequences which + God alone can allow Himself to create, and which have their + particular logic. He was modest on principle, gentle by habit, + but he was imperious by instinct and full of a legitimate + pride which was unconscious of itself. Hence sufferings which + he did not reason and which did not fix themselves on a + determined object. + + Moreover, Prince Karol is not an artist. He is a dreamer, and + nothing more; having no genius, he has not the rights of + genius. He is, therefore, a personage more true than amiable, + and the portrait is so little that of a great artist that + Chopin, in reading the manuscript every day on my writing- + desk, had not the slightest inclination to deceive himself, he + who, nevertheless, was so suspicious. + + And yet afterwards, by reaction, he imagined, I am told, that + this was the case. Enemies (I had such about him who call + themselves his friends; as if embittering a suffering heart + was not murder, enemies made him believe that this romance was + a revelation of his character. At that time his memory was, no + doubt, enfeebled: he had forgotten the book, why did he not + reread it! + + This history is so little ours! It was the very reverse of it + There were between us neither the same raptures [enivrements] + nor the same sufferings. Our history had nothing of a romance; + its foundation was too simple and too serious for us ever to + have had occasion for a quarrel with each other, a propos of + each other. + +The arguments advanced by George Sand are anything but +convincing; in fact, her defence is extremely weak. She does not +even tell us that she did not make use of Chopin as a model. That +she drew a caricature and not a portrait will hardly be accepted +as an excuse, nay, is sure to be regarded as the very head and +front of her offending. But George Sand had extraordinarily naive +notions on this subject, notions which are not likely to be +shared by many, at least not by many outside the fraternities of +novelists and dramatists. Having mentioned, in speaking of her +grand-uncle the Abbe de Beaumont, that she thought of him when +sketching the portrait of a certain canon in Consuelo, and that +she had very much exaggerated the resemblance to meet the +requirements of the romance, she remarks that portraits traced in +this way are no longer portraits, and that those who feel +offended on recognising themselves do an injustice both to the +author and themselves. "Caricature or idealisation," she writes, +"it is no longer the original model, and this model has little +judgment if it thinks it recognises itself, if it becomes angry +or vain on seeing what art or imagination has been able to make +of it." This is turning the tables with a vengeance; and if +impudence can silence the voice of truth and humanity, George +Sand has gained her case. In her account of the Lucrezia Floriani +incident George Sand proceeds as usual when she is attacked and +does not find it more convenient simply to declare that she will +not condescend to defend herself--namely, she envelops the whole +matter in a mist of beautiful words and sentiments out of which +issues--and this is the only clearly-distinguishable thing--her +own saintly self in celestial radiance. But notwithstanding all +her arguments and explanations there remains the fact that Liszt +and thousands of others, I one of them, read Lucrezia Floriani +and were not a moment in doubt that Chopin was the prototype of +Prince Karol. We will not charge George Sand with the atrocity of +writing the novel for the purpose of getting rid of Chopin; but +we cannot absolve her from the sin of being regardless of the +pain she would inflict on one who once was dear to her, and who +still loved her ardently. Even Miss Thomas, [FOOTNOTE: In George +Sand, a volume of the "Eminent Women Series."] who generally +takes George Sand at her own valuation, and in this case too +tries to excuse her, admits that in Lucrezia Floriani there was +enough of reality interwoven to make the world hasten to identify +or confound Chopin with Prince Karol, that Chopin, the most +sensitive of mortals, could not but be pained by the inferences +which would be drawn, that "perhaps if only as a genius he had +the right to be spared such an infliction," and that, therefore, +"one must wish it could have appeared in this light to Madame +Sand." This is a mild way of expressing disapproval of conduct +that shows, to say the least, an inhuman callousness to the +susceptibilities of a fellow-being. And to speak of the +irresistible prompting of genius in connection with one who had +her faculties so well under her control is downright mockery. It +would, however, be foolish to expect considerateness for others +in one who needlessly detailed and proclaimed to the world not +only the little foibles but also the drunkenness and consequent +idiocy and madness of a brother whose family was still living. +Her practice was, indeed, so much at variance with her profession +that it is preposterous rather to accept than to doubt her words. +George Sand was certainly not the self-sacrificing woman she +pretended to be; for her sacrifices never outlasted her +inclinations, they were, indeed, nothing else than an abandonment +to her desires. And these desires were the directors of her +reason, which, aided by an exuberant imagination, was never at a +loss to justify any act, be it ever so cruel and abject. In +short, the chief characteristic of George Sand's moral +constitution was her incapacity of regarding anything she did +otherwise than as right. What I have said is fully borne out by +her Ma Vie and the "Correspondance," which, of course, can be +more easily and safely examined than her deeds and spoken words. + +And now we will continue our investigations of the causes and +circumstances of the rupture. First I shall quote some passages +from letters written by George Sand, between which will be +inserted a note from Chopin to her. If the reader does not see at +once what several of these quotations have to do with the matter +under discussion, he will do so before long. + + Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Nohant, September 1, 1846:-- + + It is exceedingly kind of you to offer me shelter [un gîte]. + We have still our apartments in the Square Saint-Lazare + [Square d'Orleans], and nothing would prevent us from going + there. + + + Chopin to Madame Sand; Tuesday 2 1/2 [Paris, December 15, + 1846] + + [FOOTNOTE: The date is that of the postmark. A German + translation of the French original (in the Imperial Public + Library at St. Petersburg) will be found in La Mara's + "Musikerbriefe."]:-- + + Mademoiselle de Rozieres has found the piece of cloth in + question (it was in the camail-carton of Mdlle. Augustine), + and I sent it at once last night to Borie, [Victor Borie a + publicist and friend of George Sand] who, as Peter was told, + does not yet leave to-day. Here we have a little sun and + Russian snow. I am glad of this weather for your sake, and + imagine you walking about a great deal. Did Dib dance in last + night's pantomime? May you and yours enjoy good health! + + Your most devoted, + + C. + + For your dear children. + + I am well; but I have not the courage to leave my fireside for + a moment. + + + Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Nohant, May 6, 1847:-- + + Solange marries in a fortnight Clesinger, the sculptor, a man + of great talent, who is making much money, and can give her + the brilliant existence which, I believe, is to her taste. He + is very violently in love with her, and he pleases her much. + She was this time as prompt and firm in her determination as + she was hitherto capricious and irresolute. Apparently she has + met with what she dreamt of. May God grant it! + + As regards myself, the young man pleases me also much and + Maurice likewise. He is little civilised at first sight; but + he is full of sacred fire and for some time past, since I + noticed him making advances, I have been studying him without + having the appearance of doing so...He has other qualities + which compensate for all the defects he may have and ought to + have. + + ...Somebody told me of him all the ill that can be said of a + man [on making inquiries George Sand found that Clesinger was + a man "irreproachable in the best sense of the word"]. + + M. Dudevant, whom he has been to see, consents. We do not know + yet where the marriage will take place. Perhaps at Nerac, + [FOOTNOTE: Where M. Dudevant, her whilom husband, resided.] in + order to prevent M. Dudevant from falling asleep in the + eternal to-morrow to the province. + + + Madame Sand to Mazzini; Nohant, May 22, 1847:-- + + I have just married and, I believe, well married my daughter + to an artist of powerful inspiration and will. I had for her + but one ambition--namely, that she should love and be loved; + my wish is realised. The future is in the hand of God, but I + believe in the duration of this love and this union. + + + Madame Sand to Charles Poncy; Nohant, August 9, 1847:-- + + My good Maurice is always calm, occupied, and lively. He + sustains and consoles me. Solange is in Paris with her + husband; they are going to travel. Chopin is in Paris also; + his health has not yet permitted him to make the journey; but + he is better. + + +The following letter, of an earlier date than those from which my +last two excerpts are taken, is more directly concerned with +Chopin. + + + Madame Sand to Gutmann; Nohant, May 12, 1847:-- + + Thanks, my good Gutmann, thanks from the bottom of my heart + for the admirable care which you lavish on him [Chopin]. I + know well that it is for him, for yourself, and not for me, + that you act thus, but I do not the less feel the need of + thanking you. It is a great misfortune for me that this + happens at a moment like that in which I find myself. Truly, + this is too much anxiety at one time! I would have gone mad, I + believe, if I had learned the gravity of his illness before + hearing that the danger was past. He does not know that I know + of it, and on account, especially, of the embarras in which he + knows I find myself, he wishes it to be concealed from me. He + wrote to me yesterday as if nothing had taken place, and I + have answered him as if I suspected as yet nothing. Therefore, + do not tell him that I write to you, and that for twenty-four + hours I have suffered terribly. Grzymala writes about you very + kindly a propos of the tenderness with which you have taken my + place by the side of him, and you especially, so that I will + tell you that I know it, and that my heart will keep account + of it seriously and for ever... + + Au revoir, then, soon, my dear child, and receive my maternal + benediction. May it bring you luck as I wish! + + George Sand. + + [FOOTNOTE: This letter, which is not contained in the + "Correspondance," was, as far as I know, first published in + "Die Gegenwart" (Berlin, July 12, 1879)] + +If all that George Sand here says is bona fide, the letter proves +that the rupture had not yet taken place. Indeed, Gutmann was of +opinion that it did not take place till 1848, shortly before +Chopin's departure for England, that, in-fact, she, her daughter, +and son-in-law were present at the concert he gave on February +16, 1848. That this, however, was not the case is shown both by a +letter written by George Sand from Nohant on February 18, 1848, +and by another statement of Gutmann's, according to which one of +the causes of the rupture was the marriage of Solange with +Clesinger of which Chopin (foreseeing unhappiness which did not +fail to come, and led to separation) did not approve. Another +cause, he thought, was Chopin's disagreements with Maurice Sand. +There were hasty remarks and sharp retorts between lover and son, +and scenes in consequence. Gutmann is a very unsatisfactory +informant, everything he read and heard seemed to pass through +the retort of his imagination and reappear transformed as his own +experience. + +A more reliable witness is Franchomme, who in a letter to me +summed up the information which he had given me on this subject +by word of mouth as follows:-- + + Strange to say [chose bizarre], Chopin had a horror of the + figure 7; he would not have taken lodgings in a house which + bore the number 7; he would not have set out on a journey on + the 7th or 17th, &c. It was in 1837 that he formed the liaison + with George Sand; it was in 1847 that the rupture took place; + it was on the 17th October that my dear friend said farewell + to us. The rupture between Chopin and Madame Sand came about + in this way. In June, 1847, Chopin was making ready to start + for Nohant when he received a letter from Madame Sand to the + effect that she had just turned out her daughter and son-in- + law, and that if he received them in his house all would be + over between them [i.e., between George Sand and Chopin]. I + was with Chopin at the time the letter arrived, and he said to + me, "They have only me, and should I close my door upon them? + No, I shall not do it!" and he did not do it, and yet he knew + that this creature whom he adored would not forgive it him. + Poor friend, how I have seen him suffer! + +Of the quarrel at Nohant, Franchomme gave the following account:- +-There was staying at that time at Nohant a gentleman who treated +Madame Clesinger invariably with rudeness. One day as Clesinger +and his wife went downstairs the person in question passed +without taking off his hat. The sculptor stopped him, and said, +"Bid madam a good day"; and when the gentleman or churl, as the +case may be, refused, he gave him a box on the ear. George Sand, +who stood at the top of the stairs, saw it, came down, and gave +in her turn Clesinger a box on the ear. After this she turned her +son-in-law together with his wife out of her house, and wrote the +above-mentioned letter to Chopin. + +Madame Rubio had also heard of the box on the ear which George +Sand gave Clesinger. According to this informant there were many +quarrels between mother and daughter, the former objecting to the +latter's frequent visits to Chopin, and using this as a pretext +to break with him. Gutmann said to me that Chopin was fond of +Solange, though not in love with her. But now we have again got +into the current of gossip, and the sooner we get out of it the +better. + +Before I draw my conclusions from the evidence I have collected, +I must find room for some extracts from two letters, respectively +written on August 9, 1847, and December 14,1847, to Charles +Poncy. The contents of these extracts will to a great extent be a +mystery to the reader, a mystery to which I cannot furnish the +key. Was Solange the chief subject of George Sand's lamentations? +Had Chopin or her brother, or both, to do with this paroxysm of +despair? + +After saying how she has been overwhelmed by a chain of chagrins, +how her purest intentions have had a fatal issue, how her best +actions have been blamed by men and punished by heaven as crimes, +she proceeds:-- + + And do you think I have reached the end? No, all I have told + you hitherto is nothing, and since my last letter I have + exhausted all the cup of life contains of tribulation. It is + even so bitter and unprecedented that I cannot speak of it, at + least I cannot write it. Even that would give me too much + pain. I will tell you something about it when I see you...I + hoped at least for the old age on which I was entering the + recompense of great sacrifices, of much work, fatigue, and a + whole life of devotion and abnegation. I asked for nothing but + to render happy the objects of my affection. Well, I have been + repaid with ingratitude, and evil has got the upper hand in a + soul which I wished to make the sanctuary and the hearth of + the beautiful and the good. At present I struggle against + myself in order not to let myself die. I wish to accomplish my + task unto the end. May God aid me! I believe in Him and + hope!...Augustine has suffered much, but she has had great + courage and a true feeling of her dignity; and her health, + thank God, has not suffered. + + [FOOTNOTE: Augustine Brault was according to the editor of the + Correspondance a cousin of George Sand's; George Sand herself + calls her in Ma Vie her parent, and tells us in a vague way + how her connection with this young lady gave occasion to + scandalous libels.] + +The next quotation is from the letter dated Nohant, December 14, +1847. Desirez is the wife of Charles Poncy, to whom the letter is +addressed. + + You have understood, Desirez and you, you whose soul is + delicate because it is ardent, that I passed through the + gravest and most painful phase of my life. I nearly succumbed, + although I had foreseen it for a long time. But you know one + is not always under the pressure of a sinister foresight, + however evident it may be. There are days, weeks, entire + months even, when one lives on illusions, and when one + flatters one's self one is turning aside the blow which + threatens one. At last, the most probable misfortune always + surprises us disarmed and unprepared. In addition to this + development of the unhappy germ, which was going on unnoticed, + there have arisen several very bitter and altogether + unexpected accessory circumstances. The result is that I am + broken in soul and body with chagrin. I believe that this + chagrin is incurable; for the better I succeed in freeing + myself from it for some hours, the more sombre and poignant + does it re-enter into me in the following hours...I have + undertaken a lengthy work [un ouvrage de longue haleine] + entitled Histoire de ma Vie...However, I shall not reveal the + whole of my life...It will be, moreover, a pretty good piece + of business, which will put me on my feet again, and will + relieve me of a part of my anxieties with regard to the future + of Solange, which is rather compromised. + +We have, then, the choice of two explanations of the rupture: +George Sand's, that it was caused by the disagreement of Chopin +and her son; and Franchomme's, that it was brought about by +Chopin's disregard of George Sand's injunction not to receive her +daughter and son-in-law. I prefer the latter version, which is +reconcilable with George Sand's letters, confirmed by the +testimony of several of Chopin's friends, and given by an honest, +simple-minded man who may be trusted to have told a plain +unvarnished tale. + +[FOOTNOTE: The contradictions are merely apparent, and disappear +if we consider that George Sand cannot have had any inclination +to give to Gutmann and Poncy an explanation of the real state of +matters. Moreover, when she wrote to the former the rupture had, +according to Franchomme, not yet taken place.] + +But whatever reason may have been alleged to justify, whatever +circumstance may have been the ostensible cause of the rupture, +in reality it was only a pretext. On this point all agree-- +Franchomme, Gutmann, Kwiatkowski, Madame Rubio, Liszt, &c. George +Sand was tired of Chopin, and as he did not leave her +voluntarily, the separation had to be forced upon him. Gutmann +thought there was no rupture at all. George Sand went to Nohant +without Chopin, ceased to write to him, and thus the connection +came to an end. Of course, Chopin ought to have left her before +she had recourse to the "heroic means" of kicking him, +metaphorically speaking, out of doors. But the strength of his +passion for this woman made him weak. If a tithe of what is +rumoured about George Sand's amorous escapades is true, a lover +who stayed with her for eight years must have found his capacity +of overlooking and forgiving severely tested. We hear on all +sides of the infidelities she permitted herself. A Polish friend +of Chopin's informed me that one day when he was about to enter +the composer's, room to pay him a visit, the married Berrichon +female servant of George Sand came out of it; and Chopin, who was +lying ill in bed, told him afterwards that she had been +complaining of her mistress and husband. Gutmann, who said that +Chopin knew of George Sand's occasional infidelities, pretended +to have heard him say when she had left him behind in Paris: "I +would overlook all if only she would allow me to stay with her at +Nohant." I regard these and such like stories, especially the +last one, with suspicion (is it probable that the reticent artist +was communicative on so delicate a subject, and with Gutmann, his +pupil and a much younger man?), but they cannot be ignored, as +they are characteristic of how Chopin's friends viewed his +position. And yet, tormented as he must have been in the days of +possession, crushed as he was by the loss, tempted as he +subsequently often felt to curse her and her deceitfulness, he +loved and missed George Sand to the very end--even the day before +his death he said to Franchomme that she had told him he would +die in no other arms but hers (que je ne mourrais que dans ses +bras). + +If George Sand had represented her separation from Chopin as a +matter of convenience, she would have got more sympathy and been +able to make out a better case. + + The friendship of Chopin [she writes in Ma Vie] has never been + for me a refuge in sadness. He had quite enough troubles of + his own to bear. Mine would have overwhelmed him; moreover, he + knew them only vaguely and did not understand them at all. He + would have appreciated them from a point of view very + different from mine. + +Besides Chopin's illnesses became more frequent, his strength +diminished from day to day, and care and attendance were +consequently more than ever needful. That he was a "detestable +patient" has already been said. The world takes it for granted +that the wife or paramour of a man of genius is in duty bound to +sacrifice herself for him. But how does the matter stand when +there is genius on both sides, and self-sacrifice of either party +entails loss to the world? By the way, is it not very selfish and +hypocritical of this world which generally does so little for men +of genius to demand that women shall entirely, self-denyingly +devote themselves to their gifted lovers? Well, both George Sand +and Chopin had to do work worth doing, and if one of them was +hampered by the other in doing it, the dissolution of the union +was justified. But perhaps this was not the reason of the +separation. At any rate, George Sand does not advance such a +plea. Still, it would have been unfair not to discuss this +possible point of view. + +The passage from the letter of George Sand dated September 1, +1846, which I quoted earlier in this chapter, justifies us, I +think, in assuming that, although she was still keeping on her +apartments in the Square d'Orleans, the phalanstery had ceased to +exist. The apartments she gave up probably sometime in 1847; at +any rate, she passed the winter of 1847-8, for the most part at +least, at Nohant; and when after the outbreak of the revolution +of 1848 she came to Paris (between the 9th and 14th of March), +she put up at a hotel garni. Chopin continued to live in his old +quarters in the Square d'Orldans, and, according to Gutmann, was +after the cessation of his connection with George Sand in the +habit of dining either with him (Gutmann) or Grzymala, that is to +say, in their company. + +It is much to be regretted that no letters are forthcoming to +tell us of Chopin's feelings and doings at this time. I can place +before the reader no more than one note, the satisfactory nature +of which makes up to some extent for its brevity. It is addressed +to Franchomme; dated Friday, October 1, 1847; and contains only +these few words:-- + + Dear friend,--I thank you for your good heart, but I am very + RICH this evening. Yours with all my heart. + +In this year--i.e., 1847--appeared the three last works which +Chopin published, although among his posthumous compositions +there are two of a later date. The Trois Mazurkas, Op. 63 +(dedicated to the Comtesse L. Czosnowska), and the Trois Valses, +Op. 64 (dedicated respectively to Madame la Comtesse Potocka, +Madame la Baronne de Rothschild, and Madame la Baronne Bronicka), +appeared in September, and the Sonata for piano and violoncello, +Op. 65 (dedicated to Franchomme), in October. Now I will say of +these compositions only that the mazurkas and waltzes are not +inferior to his previous works of this kind, and that the sonata +is one of his most strenuous efforts in the larger forms. Mr. +Charles Halle remembers going one evening in 1847 with Stephen +Heller to Chopin, who had invited some friends to let them hear +this sonata which he had lately finished. On arriving at his +house they found him rather unwell; he went about the room bent +like a half-opened penknife. The visitors proposed to leave him +and to postpone the performance, but Chopin would not hear of it. +He said he would try. Having once begun, he soon became straight +again, warming as he proceeded. As will be seen from some remarks +of Madame Dubois's, which I shall quote farther on, the sonata +did not make an altogether favourable impression on the auditors. + +The name of Madame Dubois reminds me of the soiree immortalised +by a letter of Madame Girardin (see the one of March 7, 1847, in +Vol. IV. of Le Vicomte de Launay), and already several times +alluded to by me in preceding chapters. At this soiree Chopin not +only performed several of his pieces, but also accompanied on a +second piano his E minor Concerto which was played by his pupil, +the youthful and beautiful Mdlle. Camille O'Meara. But the +musical event par excellence of the period of Chopin's life with +which we are concerned in this chapter is his concert, the last +he gave in Paris, on February 16, 1848. Before I proceed with my +account of it, I must quote a note, enclosing tickets for this +concert, which Chopin wrote at this time to Franchomme. It runs +thus: "The best places en evidence for Madame D., but not for her +cook." Madame D. was Madame Paul Delaroche, the wife of the great +painter, and a friend of Franchomme's. + +But here is a copy of the original programme:-- + + + FIRST PART. + + Trio by Mozart, for piano, violin, and violoncello, + performed by MM. Chopin, Alard, and Franchomme. + + Aria, sung by Mdlle. Antonia Molina di Mondi. + + Nocturne, | + |--composed and performed by M. Chopin. + Barcarole, | + + Air, sung by Mdlle. Antonia Molina di Mondi. + + Etude, | + |--composed and performed by M. Chopin. + Berceuse, | + + SECOND PART. + + Scherzo, Adagio, and Finale of the Sonata in G minor, for + piano and violoncello, composed by M. Chopin, and performed + by the author and M. Franchomme. + + Air nouveau from Robert le Diable, composed by M. Meyerbeer, + sung by M. Roger. + + Preludes, | + | + Mazurkas, |--composed and performed by M. Chopin. + | + Valse, | + + Accompanists:--MM. Aulary and de Garaude. + + +The report of "M. S." in the Gazette musicale of February 20, +1848, transports us at once into the midst of the exquisite, +perfume-laden atmosphere of Pleyel's rooms on February 16:-- + + A concert by the Ariel of pianists is a thing too rare to be + given, like other concerts, by opening both wings of the doors + to whomsoever wishes to enter. For this one a list had been + drawn up: everyone inscribed thereon his name: but everyone + was not sure of obtaining the precious ticket: patronage was + required to be admitted into the holy of holies, to obtain the + favour of depositing one's offering, and yet this offering + amounted to a louis; but who has not a louis to spare whep + Chopin may be heard? + + The outcome of all this naturally was that the fine flower of + the aristocracy of the most distinguished women, the most + elegant toilettes, filled on Wednesday Pleyel's rooms. There + was also the aristocracy of artists and amateurs, happy to + seize in his flight this musical sylph who had promised to let + himself once more and for a few hours be approached, seen, and + heard. + + The sylph kept his word, and with what success, what + enthusiasm! It is easier to tell you of the reception he got, + the transport he excited, than to describe, analyse, divulge, + the mysteries of an execution which was nothing analogous in + our terrestrial regions. If we had in our power the pen which + traced the delicate marvels of Queen Mab, not bigger than an + agate that glitters on the finger of an alderman, of her liny + chariot, of her diaphanous team, only then should we succeed + in giving an idea of a purely ideal talent into which matter + enters hardly at all. Only Chopin can make Chopin understood: + all those who were present at the seance of Wednesday are + convinced of this as well as we. + + The programme announced first a trio of Mozart, which Chopin, + Alard, and Franchomme executed in such a manner that one + despairs of ever hearing it again so well performed. Then + Chopin played studies, preludes, mazurkas, waltzes; he + performed afterwards his beautiful sonata with Franchomme. Do + not ask us how all these masterpieces small and great were + rendered. We said at first we would not attempt to reproduce + these thousands and thousands of nuances of an exceptional + genius having in his service an organisation of the same kind. + We shall only say that the charm did not cease to act a single + instant on the audience, and that it still lasted after the + concert was ended. + + Let us add that Roger, our brilliant tenor, sang with his most + expressive voice the beautiful prayer intercalated in Robert + le Diable by the author himself at the debut of Mario at the + Opera; that Mdlle. Antonia de Mendi [a niece of Pauline + Viardot's; see the spelling of her name in the programme], the + young and beautiful singer, carried off her share of bravos by + her talent full of hope and promise. + + There is a talk of a second concert which Chopin is to give on + the 10th of March, and already more than 600 names are put + down on the new list. In this there is nothing astonishing; + Chopin owed us this recompense, and he well deserves this + eagerness. + +As this report, although it enables us to realise the atmosphere, +is otherwise lacking in substance, we must try to get further +information elsewhere. Happily, there is plenty at our disposal. + + Before playing the violoncello sonata in public [wrote Madame + Dubois to me], Chopin had tried it before some artists and + intimate friends; the first movement, the masterpiece, was not + understood. It appeared to the hearers obscure, involved by + too many ideas, in short, it had no success. At the last + moment Chopin dared not play the whole sonata before so + worldly and elegant an audience, but confined himself to the + Scherzo, Adagio, and Finale. I shall never forget the manner + in which he executed the Barcarole, that adorable composition; + the Waltz in D flat (la valse au petit chien) was encored + amidst the acclamations of the public. A grande dame who was + present at this concert wished to know Chopin's secret of + making the scales so flowing on the piano [faire les gammes si + coulees stir le piano]. The expression is good, and this + limpidity has never been equalled. + +Stephen Heller's remark to me, that Chopin became in his last +years so weak that his playing was sometimes hardly audible, I +have already related in a preceding chapter. There I have also +mentioned what Mr. Charles Halle' told me--namely, that in the +latter part of his life Chopin often played forte passages piano +and even pianissimo, that, for instance, at the concert we are +speaking of he played the two forte passages towards the end of +the Barcarole pianissimo and with all sorts of dynamic finesses. +Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, who was present at the concert on February +16, 1848, gave some interesting recollections of it, after the +reading of a paper on the subject of Chopin, by Mr. G. A. +Osborne, at one of the meetings of the Musical Association (see +Proceedings, of the Musical Association for the year 1879-80):-- + + He [Chopin] was extremely weak, but still his playing--by + reason of that remarkable quality which he possessed of + gradation in touch--betrayed none of the impress of weakness + which some attributed to piano playing or softness of touch; + and he possessed in a greater degree than any pianoforte- + player he [Mr. Goldschmidt] had ever heard, the faculty of + passing upwards from piano through all gradations of tone...It + was extremely difficult to obtain admission, for Chopin, who + had been truly described as a most sensitive man--which seemed + to be pre-eminently a quality of artistic organisations--not + only had a list submitted to him of those who ought to be + admitted, but he sifted that list, and made a selection from + the selected list; he was, therefore, surrounded by none but + friends and admirers. The room was beautifully decorated with + flowers of all kinds, and he could truly say that even now, at + the distance of thirty years, he had the most vivid + recollection of the concert...The audience was so enraptured + with his [Chopin's] playing that he was called forward again + and again. + +In connection with what Mr. Goldschmidt and the writer in the +Gazette musicale say about the difficulty of admission and a +sifted list, I have to record, and I shall do no more than +record, Franchomme's denial. "I really believe," he said to me, +"that this is a mere fiction. I saw Chopin every day; how, then, +could I remain ignorant of it?" + +To complete my account of Chopin's last concert in Paris, I have +yet to add some scraps of information derived from Un nid +d'autographes, by Oscar Comettant, who was present at it, and, +moreover, reported on it in Le Siecle. The memory of the event +was brought back to him when on looking over autographs in the +possession of Auguste Wolff, the successor of Camille Pleyel, he +found a ticket for the above described concert. As the concert so +was also the ticket unlike that of any other artist. "Les lettres +d'ecriture anglaise etaient gravees au burin et imprimees en +taille-douce sur de beau papier mi-carton glace, d'un carre long +elegant et distingue." It bore the following words and figures:-- + + + SOIREE DE M. CHOPIN, + DANS L'UN DES SALONS DE MM. PLEYEL ET CIE., + 20, Rue Rochechouart, + Le mercredi 16 fevrier 1848 a 8 heures 1/2. + Rang....Prix 20 francs....Place reservee. + + +M. Comettant, in contradiction to what has been said by others +about Chopin's physical condition, states that when the latter +came on the platform, he walked upright and without feebleness; +his face, though pale, did not seem greatly altered; and he +played as he had always played. But M. Comettant was told that +Chopin, having spent at the concert all his moral and physical +energy, afterwards nearly fainted in the artists' room. + +In March Chopin and George Sand saw each other once more. We will +rest satisfied with the latter's laconic account of the meeting +already quoted: "Je serrai sa main tremblante et glacee. Je voulu +lui parler, il s'echappa." Karasowski's account of this last +meeting is in the feuilleton style and a worthy pendant to that +of the first meeting:-- + + A month before his departure [he writes], in the last days of + March, Chopin was invited by a lady to whose hospitable house + he had in former times often gone. Some moments he hesitated + whether he should accept this invitation, for he had of late + years less frequented the salons; at last--as if impelled by + an inner voice--he accepted. An hour before he entered the + house of Madame H... + +And then follow wonderful conversations, sighs, blushes, tears, a +lady hiding behind an ivy screen, and afterwards advancing with a +gliding step, and whispering with a look full of repentance: +"Frederick!" Alas, this was not the way George Sand met her +dismissed lovers. Moreover, let it be remembered she was at this +time not a girl in her teens, but a woman of nearly forty-four. + +The outbreak of the revolution on February 22, 1848, upset the +arrangements for the second concert, which was to take place on +the 10th of March, and, along with the desire to seek +forgetfulness of the grievous loss he had sustained in a change +of scene, decided him at last to accept the pressing and +unwearied invitations of his Scotch and English friends to visit +Great Britain. On April 2 the Gazette musicale announced that +Chopin would shortly betake himself to London and pass the season +there. And before many weeks had passed he set out upon his +journey. But the history of his doings in the capital and in +other parts of the United Kingdom shall be related in another +chapter. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + + +DIFFERENCE OF STYLE IN CHOPIN'S WORKS.----THEIR CHARACTERISTICS +DISCUSSED, AND POPULAR PREJUDICES CONTROVERTED.----POLISH +NATIONAL MUSIC AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CHOPIN.----CHOPIN A PERSONAL +AS WELL AS NATIONAL TONE-POET.--A REVIEW OF SOME OF HIS LESS +PERFECT COMPOSITIONS AND OF HIS MASTERPIECES: BOLERO; RONDEAU; +VARIATIONS; TARANTELLE; ALLEGRO DE CONCERT; TWO SONATAS FOR +PIANOFORTE (OP. 38 AND 58); SONATA (OP. 65) AND GRAND DUO +CONCERTANT FOR PIANOFORTE AND VIOLONCELLO; FANTAISIE; MAZURKAS; +POLONAISES; VALSES; ETUDES; PRELUDES; SCHERZI; IMPROMPTUS; +NOCTURNES; BERCEUSE; BARCAROLE; AND BALLADES-----THE SONGS.---- +VARIOUS EDITIONS. + + + +Before we inquire into the doings and sufferings of Chopin in +England and Scotland, let us take a general survey of his life- +work as a composer. We may fitly do so now; as at the stage of +his career we have reached, his creative activity had come to a +close. The last composition he published, the G minor Sonata for +piano and violoncello, Op. 65, appeared in October, 1847; and +among his posthumous compositions published by Fontana there are +only two of later date--namely, the mazurkas, No. 2 of Op. 67 (G +minor) and No. 4 of Op. 68 (F minor), which came into existence +in 1849. Neither of these compositions can be numbered with the +master's best works, but the latter of them is interesting, +because it seems in its tonal writhings and wailings a picture of +the bodily and mental torments Chopin was at the time enduring. + +A considerable number of the master's works I have already +discussed in Chapters III., VIII., and XIII. These, if we except +the two Concertos, Op. II and 21 (although they, too, do not rank +with his chefs-d'oeuvre), are, however, for us of greater importance +biographically, perhaps also historically, than otherwise. It is +true, we hear now and then of some virtuoso playing the Variations, +Op. 2, or the Fantasia on Polish airs, Op. 13, nay, we may hear even +of the performance of the Trio, Op. 8; but such occurrences are of +the rarest rarity, and, considering how rich musical literature is +in unexceptionable concert-pieces and chamber compositions, one +feels on the whole pleased that these enterprising soloists and +trio-players find neither much encouragement nor many imitators. +While in examining the earlier works, the praise bestowed on them +was often largely mixed with censure, and the admiration felt for +them tempered by dissatisfaction; we shall have little else than +pure praise and admiration for the works that remain to be +considered, at least for the vast majority of them. One thing, +however, seems to me needful before justice can be done to the +composer Chopin: certain prejudices abroad concerning him have to +be combated. I shall, therefore, preface my remarks on particular +compositions and groups of compositions by some general +observations. + +It is sometimes said that there are hardly any traces of a +development in the productions of Chopin, and that in this +respect he is unlike all the other great masters. Such an opinion +cannot be the result of a thorough and comprehensive study of the +composer's works. So far from agreeing with those who hold it, I +am tempted to assert that the difference of style between +Chopin's early and latest works (even when juvenile compositions +like the first two Rondos are left out of account) is as great as +that between Beethoven's first and ninth Symphony. It would be +easy to classify the Polish master's works according to three and +even four (with the usual exceptions) successive styles, but I +have no taste for this cheap kind of useless ingenuity. In fact, +I shall confine myself to saying that in Chopin's works there are +clearly distinguishable two styles--the early virtuosic and the +later poetic style. The latter is in a certain sense also +virtuosic, but with this difference, that its virtuosity is not +virtuosity for virtuosity's sake. The poetic style which has +thrown off the tinsel showiness of its predecessor does not, +however, remain unchanged, for its texture becomes more and more +close, and affords conclusive evidence of the increasing +influence of Johann Sebastian Bach. Of course, the grand master +of fugue does not appear here, as it were, full life-size, in +peruke, knee-breeches, and shoe-buckles, but his presence in +spite of transformation and attenuation is unmistakable. It is, +however, not only in the closeness and complexity of texture that +we notice Chopin's style changing: a striving after greater +breadth and fulness of form are likewise apparent, and, alas! +also an increase in sombreness, the result of deteriorating +health. All this the reader will have to keep in mind when he +passes in review the master's works, for I shall marshal them by +groups, not chronologically. + +Another prejudice, wide-spread, almost universal, is that +Chopin's music is all languor and melancholy, and, consequently, +wanting in variety. Now, there can be no greater error than this +belief. As to variety, we should be obliged to wonder at its +infiniteness if he had composed nothing but the pieces to which +are really applicable the epithets dreamy, pensive, mournful, and +despondent. But what vigour, what more than manly vigour, +manifests itself in many of his creations! Think only of the +Polonaises in A major (Op. 40, No. 1) and in A flat major (Op. +53), of many of his studies, the first three of his ballades, the +scherzos, and much besides! To be sure, a great deal of this +vigour is not natural, but the outcome of despair and maddening +passion. Still, it is vigour, and such vigour as is not often to +be met with. And, then, it is not the only kind to be found in +his music. There is also a healthy vigour, which, for instance, +in the A major Polonaise assumes a brilliantly-heroic form. Nor +are serene and even joyous moods so rare that it would be +permissible to ignore them. While thus controverting the so- +called vox Dei (are not popular opinions generally popular +prejudices?) and the pseudo-critics who create or follow it, I +have no intention either to deny or conceal the Polish master's +excess of languor and melancholy. I only wish to avoid vulgar +exaggeration, to keep within the bounds of the factual. In art as +in life, in biography as in history, there are not many questions +that can be answered by a plain "yea" or "nay. It was, indeed, +with Chopin as has been said of him, "his heart was sad, his mind +was gay. "One day when Chopin, Liszt, and the Comtesse d'Agoult +spent the after-dinner hours together, the lady, deeply moved by +the Polish composer's playing, ventured to ask him "by what name +he called the extraordinary feeling which he enclosed in his +compositions, like unknown ashes in superb urns of most +exquisitely-chiselled alabaster? "He answered her that-- + + her heart had not deceived her in its melancholy saddening, + for whatever his moments of cheerfulness might be, he never + for all that got rid of a feeling which formed, as it were, + the soil of his heart, and for which he found a name only in + his mother-tongue, no other possessing an equivalent to the + Polish word zal [sadness, pain, sorrow, grief, trouble, + repentance, &c.]. Indeed, he uttered the word repeatedly, as + if his ear had been eager for this sound, which for him + comprised the whole scale of the feelings which is produced by + an intense plaint, from repentance to hatred, blessed or + poisoned fruits of this acrid root. + +After a long dissertation on the meaning of the word zal, Liszt, +from whose book this quotation is taken, proceeds thus:-- + + Yes, truly, the zal colours with a reflection now argent, now + ardent, the whole of Chopin's works. It is not even absent + from his sweetest reveries. These impressions had so much the + more importance in the life of Chopin that they manifested + themselves distinctly in his last works. They little by little + attained a kind of sickly irascibility, reaching the point of + feverish tremulousness. This latter reveals itself in some of + his last writings by a distortion of his thought which one is + sometimes rather pained than surprised to meet. Suffocating + almost under the oppression of his repressed transports of + passion, making no longer use of the art except to rehearse to + himself his own tragedy, he began, after having sung his + feeling, to tear it to pieces. + +Read together with my matter-of-fact statements, Liszt's +hyperbolical and circumlocutional poetic prose will not be +misunderstood by the reader. The case may be briefly summed up +thus. Zal is not to be found in every one of Chopin's +compositions, but in the greater part of them: sometimes it +appears clearly on the surface, now as a smooth or lightly- +rippled flow, now as a wildly-coursing, fiercely-gushing torrent; +sometimes it is dimly felt only as an undercurrent whose presence +not unfrequently becomes temporarily lost to ear and eye. We +must, however, take care not to overlook that this zal is not +exclusively individual, although its width and intensity are so. + + The key-note [of Polish songs] [says the editor and translator + into German of an interesting collection of Folk-songs of the + Poles][FOOTNOTE: Volkslieder der Polen. Gesammelt und + ubersetzt von W. P. (Leipzig,1833).] is melancholy--even in + playful and naive songs something may be heard which reminds + one of the pain of past sorrows; a plaintive sigh, a death- + groan, which seems to accuse the Creator, curses His + existence, and, as Tieck thinks, cries to heaven out of the + dust of annihilation: + + "What sin have I committed?" + + These are the after-throes of whole races; these are the pains + of whole centuries, which in these melodies entwine themselves + in an infinite sigh. One is tempted to call them sentimental, + because they seem to reflect sometimes on their own feeling; + but, on the other hand, they are not so, for the impulse to an + annihilating outpouring of feeling expresses itself too + powerfully for these musical poems to be products of conscious + creativeness. One feels when one hears these songs that the + implacable wheel of fate has only too often rolled over the + terrene happiness of this people, and life has turned to them + only its dark side. Therefore, the dark side is so + conspicuous; therefore, much pain and poetry--unhappiness and + greatness. + +The remarks on Polish folk-music lead us naturally to the +question of Chopin's indebtedness to it, which, while in one +respect it cannot be too highly rated, is yet in another respect +generally overrated. The opinion that every peculiarity which +distinguishes his music from that of other masters is to be put +to the account of his nationality, and may be traced in Polish +folk-music, is erroneous. But, on the other hand, it is +emphatically true that this same folk-music was to him a potent +inspirer and trainer. Generally speaking, however, Chopin has +more of the spirit than of the form of Polish folk-music. The +only two classes of his compositions where we find also something +of the form are his mazurkas and polonaises; and, what is +noteworthy, more in the former, the dance of the people, than in +the latter, the dance of the aristocracy. In Chopin's mazurkas we +meet not only with many of the most characteristic rhythms, but +also with many equally characteristic melodic and harmonic traits +of this chief of all the Polish dances. + +Polish national music conforms in part to the tonality prevailing +in modern art-music, that is, to our major and minor modes; in +part, however, it reminds one of other tonalities--for instance, +of that of the mediaeval church modes, and of that or those +prevalent in the music of the Hungarians, Wallachians, and other +peoples of that quarter. + +[FOOTNOTE: The strictly diatonic church modes (not to be +confounded with the ancient Greek modes bearing the same names) +differ from each other by the position of the two semitones: the +Ionian is like our C major; the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, +Mixolydian, Aeolian. &c., are like the series of natural notes +starting respectively from d, c, f, g, a, &c. The characteristic +interval of the Hungarian scale is the augmented second (a, b, c, +d#, e, f, g#, a).] + +The melodic progression, not always immediate, of an augmented +fourth and major seventh occurs frequently, and that of an +augmented second occasionally. Skips of a third after or before +one or more steps of a second are very common. In connection with +these skips of a third may be mentioned that one meets with +melodies evidently based on a scale with a degree less than our +major and minor scales, having in one place a step of a third +instead of a second. [FOOTNOTE: Connoisseurs of Scotch music, on +becoming acquainted with Polish music, will be incited by many +traits of the latter to undertake a comparative study of the +two.] The opening and the closing note stand often to each other +in the relation of a second, sometimes also of a seventh. The +numerous peculiarities to be met with in Polish folkmusic with +regard to melodic progression are not likely to be reducible to +one tonality or a simple system of tonalities. Time and district +of origin have much to do with the formal character of the +melodies. And besides political, social, and local influences +direct musical ones--the mediaeval church music, eastern secular +music, &c.--have to be taken into account. Of most Polish +melodies it may be said that they are as capricious as they are +piquant. Any attempt to harmonise them according to our tonal +system must end in failure. Many of them would, indeed, be +spoiled by any kind of harmony, being essentially melodic, not +outgrowths of harmony. + +[FOOTNOTE: To those who wish to study this subject may be +recommended Oskar Kolberg's Piesni Ludu Polskiego (Warsaw, 1857), +the best collection of Polish folk-songs. Charles Lipinski's +collection, Piesni Polskie i Ruskie Luttu Galicyjskiego, although +much less interesting, is yet noteworthy.] + +To treat, however, this subject adequately, one requires volumes, +not pages; to speak on it authoritatively, one must have studied +it more thoroughly than I have done. The following melodies and +snatches of melodies will to some extent illustrate what I have +said, although they are chosen with a view rather to illustrate +Chopin's indebtedness to Polish folk-music than Polish folk-music +itself:-- + +[11 music score excerpts illustrated here] + +Chopin, while piquantly and daringly varying the tonality +prevailing in art-music, hardly ever departs from it altogether-- +he keeps at least in contact with it, however light that contact +may be now and then in the mazurkas. + +[FOOTNOTE: One of the most decided exceptions is the Mazurka, Op. +24, No. 2, of which only the A fiat major part adheres frankly to +our tonality. The portion beginning with the twenty-first bar and +extending over that and the next fifteen bars displays, on the +other hand, the purest Lydian, while the other portions, although +less definite as regards tonality, keep in closer touch with the +mediaeval church smode [sic: mode] than with our major and +minor.] + +Further, he adopted only some of the striking peculiarities of +the national music, and added to them others which were +individual. These individual characteristics--those audacities of +rhythm, melody, and harmony (in progressions and modulations, as +well as in single chords)--may, however, be said to have been +fathered by the national ones. As to the predominating +chromaticism of his style, it is not to be found in Polish folk- +music; although slight rudiments are discoverable (see Nos. 6-12 +of the musical illustrations). Of course, no one would seek there +his indescribably-exquisite and highly-elaborate workmanship, +which alone enabled him to give expression to the finest shades +and most sudden changes of gentle feelings and turbulent +passions. Indeed, as I have already said, it is rather the +national spirit than the form which manifests itself in Chopin's +music. The writer of the article on Polish music in Mendel's +Conversations-Lexikon remarks:-- + + What Chopin has written remains for all times the highest + ideal of Polish music. Although it would be impossible to + point out in a single bar a vulgar utilisation of a national + theme, or a Slavonic aping of it, there yet hovers over the + whole the spirit of Polish melody, with its chivalrous, proud, + and dreamy accents; yea, even the spirit of the Polish + language is so pregnantly reproduced in the musical diction as + perhaps in no composition of any of his countrymen; unless it + be that Prince Oginski with his polonaises and Dobrzynski in + his happiest moments have approached him. + +Liszt, as so often, has also in connection with this aspect of +the composer Chopin some excellent remarks to offer. + + He neither applied himself nor exerted himself to write Polish + music; it is possible that he would have been astonished to + hear himself called a Polish musician. + + [FOOTNOTE: Liszt decidedly overshoots here the mark, and does + so in a less degree in the rest of these observations. Did not + Chopin himself say to Hiller that he wished to be to his + countrymen what Uhland was to the Germans? And did he not + write in one of his letters (see p. 168): "You know how I wish + to understand, and how I have in part succeeded in + understanding, our national music"?] + + Nevertheless, he was a national musician par excellence...He + summed up in his imagination, he represented in his talent, a + poetic feeling inherent in his nation and diffused there among + all his contemporaries. Like the true national poets, Chopin + sang, without a fixed design, without a preconceived choice, + what inspiration spontaneously dictated to him; it is thus + that there arose in his music, without solicitation, without + effort, the most idealised form of the emotions which had + animated his childhood, chequered his adolescence, and + embellished his youth...Without making any pretence to it, he + collected into a luminous sheaf sentiments confusedly felt by + all in his country, fragmentarily disseminated in their + hearts, vaguely perceived by some. + +George Sand tells us that Chopin's works were the mysterious and +vague expression of his inner life. That they were the expression +of his inner life is indeed a fact which no attentive hearer can +fail to discover without the aid of external evidence. For the +composer has hardly written a bar in which, so to speak, the +beating of his heart may not be felt. Chopin revealed himself +only in his music, but there he revealed himself fully. And was +this expression of his inner life really "mysterious and vague"? +I think not! At least, no effusion of words could have made +clearer and more distinct what he expressed. For the +communications of dreams and visions such as he dreamt and saw, +of the fluctuating emotional actualities such as his sensitive +heart experienced, musical forms are, no doubt, less clumsy than +verbal and pictorial ones. And if we know something of his +history and that of his nation, we cannot be at a loss to give +names and local habitations to the impalpable, but emotionally +and intellectually-perceptible contents of his music. We have to +distinguish in Chopin the personal and the national tone-poet, +the singer of his own joys and sorrows and that of his country's. +But, while distinguishing these two aspects, we must take care +not to regard them as two separate things. They were a duality +the constitutive forces of which alternately assumed supremacy. +The national poet at no time absorbed the personal, the personal +poet at no time disowned the national. His imagination was always +ready to conjure up his native atmosphere, nay, we may even say +that, wherever he might be, he lived in it. The scene of his +dreams and visions lay oftenest in the land of his birth. And +what did the national poet dream and see in these dreams and +visions? A past, present, and future which never existed and +never will exist, a Poland and a Polish people glorified. Reality +passed through the refining fires of his love and genius and +reappeared in his music sublimated as beauty and poetry. No other +poet has like Chopin embodied in art the romance of the land and +people of Poland. And, also, no other poet has like him embodied +in art the romance of his own existence. But whereas as a +national poet he was a flattering idealist, he was as a personal +poet an uncompromising realist. + +The masterpieces of Chopin consist of mazurkas, polonaises, +waltzes, etudes, preludes, nocturnes (with which we will class +the berceuse and barcarole), scherzos and impromptus, and +ballades. They do not, however, comprise all his notable +compositions. And about these notable compositions which do not +rank with his masterpieces, either because they are of less +significance or otherwise fail to reach the standard of requisite +perfectness, I shall first say a few words. + +Chopin's Bolero, Op. 19, may be described as a Bolero a la +polonaise. It is livelier in movement and more coquettish in +character than the compositions which he entitles polonaises, but +for all that its physiognomy does not on the whole strike one as +particularly Spanish, certainly not beyond the first section of +the Bolero proper and the seductive strains of the Pililento, the +second tempo of the introduction. And in saying this I am not +misled by the points of resemblance in the rhythmical +accompaniment of these dances. Chopin published the Bolero in +1834, four years before he visited Spain, but one may doubt +whether it would have turned out less Polish if he had composed +it subsequently. Although an excellent imitator in the way of +mimicry, he lacked the talent of imitating musical thought and +character; at any rate, there are no traces of it in his works. +The cause of this lack of talent lies, of course, in the strength +of his subjectivism in the first place, and of his nationalism in +the second. I said the Bolero was published four years before his +visit to Spain. But how many years before this visit was it +composed? I think a good many years earlier; for it has so much +of his youthful style about it, and not only of his youthful +style, but also of his youthful character--by which I mean that +it is less intensely poetic. It is not impossible that Chopin was +instigated to write it by hearing the Bolero in Auber's "La +Muette de Portici" ("Masaniello"), which opera was first +performed on February 28, 1828. These remarks are thrown out +merely as hints. The second composition which we shall consider +will show how dangerous it is to dogmatise on the strength of +internal evidence. + +Op. 16, a lightsome Rondeau with a dramatic Introduction, is, +like the Bolero, not without its beauties; but in spite of +greater individuality, ranks, like it, low among the master's +works, being patchy, unequal, and little poetical. + +If ever Chopin is not Chopin in his music, he is so in his +Variations brillantes (in B flat major) sur le Rondeau favori: +"Je vends des Scapulaires" de Ludovic, de Herold et Halevy, Op. +12. Did we not know that he must have composed the. work about +the middle of 1833, we should be tempted to class it with the +works which came into existence when his individuality was as yet +little developed. [FOOTNOTE: The opera Ludovic, on which Herold +was engaged when he died on January 19, 1833, and which Halevy +completed, was produced in Paris on May 16, 1833. From the German +publishers of Chopin's Op. 12 I learned that it appeared in +November, 1833. In the Gazette musicale of January 26, 1834, may +be read a review of it.] But knowing what we do, we can only +wonder at the strange phenomenon. It is as if Chopin had here +thrown overboard the Polish part of his natal inheritance and +given himself up unrestrainedly and voluptuously to the French +part. Besides various diatonic runs of an inessential and purely +ornamental character, there is in the finale actually a plain and +full-toned C flat major scale. What other work of the composer +could be pointed out exhibiting the like feature? Of course, +Chopin is as little successful in entirely hiding his +serpentining and chromaticising tendency as Mephistopheles in +hiding the limp arising from his cloven foot. Still, these +fallings out of the role are rare and transient, and, on the +whole, Chopin presents himself as a perfect homme du monde who +knows how to say the most insignificant trifles with the most +exquisite grace imaginable. There can. be nothing more amusing +than the contemporary critical opinions regarding this work, +nothing more amusing than to see the at other times censorious +Philistines unwrinkle their brows, relax generally the sternness +of their features, and welcome, as it were, the return of the +prodigal son. We wiser critics of to-day, who, of course, think +very differently about this matter, can, nevertheless, enjoy and +heartily applaud the prettiness and elegance of the simple first +variation, the playful tripping second, the schwarmerische +melodious third, the merry swinging fourth, and the brilliant +finale. + +From Chopin's letters we see that the publication of the +Tarantelle, Op. 43, which took place in the latter part of 1841, +was attended with difficulties and annoyances. [FOOTNOTE: Herr +Schuberth, of Leipzig, informed me that a honorarium of 500 +francs was paid to Chopin for this work on July 1, 1841. The +French publisher deposited the work at the library of the +Conservatoire in October, 1841.] What these difficulties and +annoyances were, is, however, only in part ascertainable. To turn +from the publication to the composition itself, I may say that it +is full of life, indeed, spirited in every respect, in movement +and in boldness of harmonic and melodic conception. The +Tarantelle is a translation from Italian into Polish, a +transmutation of Rossini into Chopin, a Neapolitan scene painted +with opaque colours, the south without its transparent sky, balmy +air, and general brightness. That this composition was inspired +by impressions received from Rossini's Tarantella, and not from +impressions received in Italy (of which, as has already been +related, he had a short glimpse in 1839), is evident. A +comparison of Chopin's Op. 43 with Liszt's glowing and +intoxicating transcription of Rossini's composition may be +recommended as a study equally pleasant and instructive. Although +not an enthusiastic admirer of Chopin's Tarantelle, I protest in +the interest of the composer and for justice's sake against +Schumann's dictum: "Nobody can call that beautiful music; but we +pardon the master his wild fantasies, for once he may let us see +also the dark sides of his inner life." + +The Allegro de Concert, Op. 46, which was published in November, +1841, although written for the pianoforte alone, contains, +nevertheless, passages which are more distinctly orchestral than +anything Chopin ever wrote for the orchestra. The form resembles +somewhat that of the concerto. In the first section, which +occupies the place of the opening tutti, we cannot fail to +distinguish the entrances of single instruments, groups of +instruments, and the full orchestra. The soloist starts in the +eighty-seventh bar, and in the following commences a cadenza. +With the a tempo comes the first subject (A major), and the +passage-work which brings up the rear leads to the second subject +(E major), which had already appeared in the first section in A +major. The first subject, if I may dignify the matter in question +with that designation, does not recur again, nor was it +introduced by the tutti. The central and principal thought is +what I called the second subject. The second section concludes +with brilliant passage-work in E major, the time--honoured shake +rousing the drowsy orchestra from its sweet repose. The hint is +not lost, and the orchestra, in the disguise of the pianoforte, +attends to its duty right vigorously. With the poco rit. the +soloist sets to work again, and in the next bar takes up the +principal subject in A minor. After that we have once more +brilliant passage-work, closing this time in A major, and then a +final tutti. The Allegro de Concert gives rise to all sorts of +surmises. Was it written first for the pianoforte and orchestra, +as Schumann suspects? Or may we make even a bolder guess, and +suppose that the composer, at a more advanced age, worked up into +this Allegro de Concert a sketch for the first movement of a +concerto conceived in his younger days? Have we, perhaps, here a +fragment or fragments of the Concerto for two pianos which +Chopin, in a letter written at Vienna on December 21, 1830, said +he would play in public with his friend Nidecki, if he succeeded +in writing it to his satisfaction? And is there any significance +in the fact that Chopin, when (probably in the summer of 1841) +sending the manuscript of this work to Fontana, calls it a +Concerto? Be this as it may, the principal subject and some of +the passage-work remind one of the time of the concertos; other +things, again, belong undoubtedly to a later period. The tutti +and solo parts are unmistakable, so different is the treatment of +the pianoforte: in the former the style has the heaviness of an +arrangement, in the latter it has Chopin's usual airiness. The +work, as a whole, is unsatisfactory, nay, almost indigestible. +The subjects are neither striking nor important. Of the passage- +work, that which follows the second subject contains the most +interesting matter. Piquant traits and all sorts of fragmentary +beauties are scattered here and there over the movement. But +after we have considered all, we must confess that this opus adds +little or nothing to the value of our Chopin inheritance. + +[FOOTNOTE: In justice to the composer I must here quote a +criticism which since I wrote the above appeared in the Athenaum +(January 21, 1888):--"The last-named work [the Allegro de +Concert, Op. 46] is not often heard, and is generally regarded as +one of Chopin's least interesting and least characteristic +pieces. Let us hasten to say that these impressions are +distinctly wrong; the executive difficulties of the work are +extremely great, and a mere mastery of them is far from all that +is needed. When M. de Pachmann commenced to play it was quickly +evident that his reading would be most remarkable, and in the end +it amounted to an astounding revelation. That which seemed dry +and involved became under his fingers instinct with beauty and +feeling; the musicians and amateurs present listened as if +spellbound, and opinion was unanimous that the performance was +nothing short of an artistic creation. For the sake of the +composer, if not for his own reputation, the pianist should +repeat it, not once, but many times." Notwithstanding this +decided judgment of a weighty authority--for such everyone will, +without hesitation, acknowledge the critic in question to be--I +am unable, after once more examining the work, to alter my +previously formed opinion.] + +As a further confirmation of the supposed origin of the Allegro +de Concert, I may mention the arrangement of it for piano and +orchestra (also for two pianos) by Jean Louis Nicode. + +[FOOTNOTE: Nicode has done his work well so far as he kept close +to the text of Chopin; but his insertion of a working-out section +of more than seventy bars is not justifiable, and, moreover, +though making the work more like an orthodox first movement of a +concerto, does not enhance its beauty and artistic value.] + +To the Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35 (published in May, 1840), +this most powerful of Chopin's works in the larger forms, Liszt's +remark, "Plus de volonte que d'inspiration," is hardly +applicable, although he used the expression in speaking of +Chopin's concertos and sonatas in general; for there is no lack +of inspiration here, nor are there traces of painful, unrewarded +effort. Each of the four pieces of which the sonata consists is +full of vigour, originality, and interest. But whether they can +be called a sonata is another question. Schumann, in his playful +manner, speaks of caprice and wantonness, and insinuates that +Chopin bound together four of his maddest children, and entitled +them sonata, in order that he might perhaps under this name +smuggle them in where otherwise they would not penetrate. Of +course, this is a fancy of Schumann's. Still, one cannot help +wondering whether the composer from the first intended to write a +sonata and obtained this result--amphora coepit institui; +currente rota cur urceus exit?--or whether these four movements +got into existence without any predestination, and were +afterwards put under one cover. [FOOTNOTE: At any rate, the march +was finished before the rest of the work. See the quotation from +one of Chopin's letters farther on.] With all Schumann's +admiration for Chopin and praise of this sonata, it appears to me +that he does not give Chopin his due. There is something gigantic +in the work which, although it does not elevate and ennoble, +being for the most part a purposeless fuming, impresses one +powerfully. The first movement begins with four bars grave, a +groan full of pain; then the composer, in restless, breathless +haste, is driven by his feelings onward, ever onward, till he +comes to the lovely, peaceful second subject (in D flat major, a +real contrast this time), which grows by-and-by more passionate, +and in the concluding portion of the first part transcends the +limits of propriety--VIDE those ugly dissonances. The connection +of the close of the first part with the repetition of this and +the beginning of the second part by means of the chord of the +dominant seventh in A flat and that in D flat with the suspended +sixth, is noteworthy. The strange second section, in which the +first subject is worked out, has the appearance rather of an +improvisation than of a composition. After this a few bars in 6/4 +time, fiercely wild (stretto) at first, but gradually subsiding, +lead to the repeat in B flat major of the second subject--the +first subject does not appear again in its original form. To the +close, which is like that of the corresponding section in the +first part (6/4), is added a coda (2/2) introducing the +characteristic motive of the first subject. In the scherzo, the +grandest movement and the climax of the sonata, the gloom and the +threatening power which rise to a higher and higher pitch become +quite weird and fear-inspiring; it affects one like lowering +clouds, rolling of thunder, and howling and whistling of the wind- +-to the latter, for instance, the chromatic successions of chords +of the sixth may not inappropriately be likened. The piu lento is +certainly one of the most scherzo-like thoughts in Chopin's +scherzos--so light and joyful, yet a volcano is murmuring under +this serenity. The return of this piu lento, after the repeat of +the first section, is very fine and beneficently refreshing, like +nature after a storm. The Marche funebre ranks among Chopin's +best-known and most highly-appreciated pieces. Liszt mentions it +with particular distinction, and grows justly eloquent over it. I +do not altogether understand Schumann's objection: "It is still +more gloomy than the scherzo," he says, "and contains even much +that is repulsive; in its place an adagio, perhaps in D flat, +would have had an incomparably finer effect." Out of the dull, +stupefied brooding, which is the fundamental mood of the first +section, there rises once and again (bars 7 and 8, and 11 and 12) +a pitiable wailing, and then an outburst of passionate appealing +(the forte passage in D flat major), followed by a sinking +helplessness (the two bars with the shakes in the bass), +accompanied by moans and deep breathings. The two parts of the +second section are a rapturous gaze into the beatific regions of +a beyond, a vision of reunion of what for the time is severed. +The last movement may be counted among the curiosities of +composition--a presto in B flat minor of seventy-five bars, an +endless series of triplets from beginning to end in octaves. It +calls up in one's mind the solitude and dreariness of a desert. +"The last movement is more like mockery than music," says +Schumann, but adds, truly and wisely-- + + and yet one confesses to one's self that also out of this + unmelodious and joyless movement a peculiar dismal spirit + breathes upon us, who keeps down with a strong hand that which + would revolt, so that we obey, as if we were charmed, without + murmuring, but also without praising, for that is no music. + Thus the sonata concludes, as it began, enigmatically, like a + sphinx with a mocking smile. + +J. W. Davison, in the preface to an edition of Chopin's mazurkas, +relates that Mendelssohn, on being questioned about the finale of +one of Chopin's sonatas (I think it must have been the one before +us), said briefly and bitterly, "Oh, I abhor it!" H. Barbedette +remarks in his "Chopin," a criticism without insight and +originality, of this finale, "C'est Lazare grattant de ses ongles +la pierre de son tombeau et tombant epuise de fatigue, de faim et +de desespoir." And now let the reader recall the words which +Chopin wrote from Nohant to Fontana in the summer of 1839:-- + + I am composing here a Sonata in B flat minor, in which will be + the funeral march which you have already. There is an Allegro, + then a Scherzo, in E flat minor, the March, and a short Finale + of about three pages. The left hand unisono with the right + hand are gossiping after the March [ogaduja po Marszu]. + +The meaning of which somewhat obscure interpretation seems to be, +that after the burial the good neighbours took to discussing the +merits of the departed, not without a spice of backbiting. + +The Sonata in B minor, Op. 58, the second of Chopin's notable +pianoforte sonatas (the third if we take into account the +unpalatable Op. 4), made its appearance five years later, in +June, 1845. Unity is as little discernible in this sonata as in +its predecessor. The four movements of which the work consists +are rather affiliated than cognate; nay, this may be said even of +many parts of the movements. The first movement by far surpasses +the other three in importance: indeed, the wealth of beautiful +and interesting matter which is here heaped up--for it is rather +an unsifted accumulation than an artistic presentation and +evolution--would have sufficed many a composer for several +movements. The ideas are very unequal and their course very jerky +till we come to the second subject (D major), which swells out +into a broad stream of impassioned melody. Farther on the matter +becomes again jerky and mosaic-like. While the close of the first +part is very fine, the beginning of the second is a comfortless +waste. Things mend with the re-entrance of the subsidiary part of +the second subject (now in D flat major), which, after being +dwelt upon for some time and varied, disappears, and is followed +by a repetition of portions of the first subject, the whole +second subject (in B major), and the closing period, which is +prolonged by a coda to make the close more emphatic and +satisfying. A light and graceful quaver figure winds with now +rippling, now waving motion through the first and third sections +of the scherzo; in the contrasting second section, with the +sustained accompaniment and the melody in one of the middle +parts, the entrance of the bright A major, after the gloom of the +preceding bars, is very effective. The third movement has the +character of a nocturne, and as such cannot fail to be admired. +In the visionary dreaming of the long middle section we imagine +the composer with dilated eyes and rapture in his look--it is +rather a reverie than a composition. The finale surrounds us with +an emotional atmosphere somewhat akin to that of the first +movement, but more agitated. After eight bold introductory bars +with piercing dissonances begins the first subject, which, with +its rhythmically differently-accompanied repetition, is the most +important constituent of the movement. The rest, although finely +polished, is somewhat insignificant. In short, this is the old +story, plus de volonte que d'inspiration, that is to say, +inspiration of the right sort. And also, plus de volonte que de +savoir-faire. + +There is one work of Chopin's to which Liszt's dictum, plus de +volnte que d'inspiratio, applies in all, and even more than all +its force. I allude to the Sonata (in G minor) for piano and +violoncello, Op. 65 (published in September, 1847), in which +hardly anything else but effort, painful effort, manifests +itself. The first and last movements are immense wildernesses +with only here and there a small flower. The middle movements, a +Scherzo and an Andante, do not rise to the dignity of a sonata, +and, moreover, lack distinction, especially the slow movement, a +nocturne-like dialogue between the two instruments. As to the +beauties--such as the first subject of the first movement (at the +entrance of the violoncello), the opening bars of the Scherzo, +part of the ANDANTE, &c.--they are merely beginnings, springs +that lose themselves soon in a sandy waste. Hence I have not the +heart to controvert Moscheles who, in his diary, says some +cutting things about this work: "In composition Chopin proves +that he has only isolated happy thoughts which he does not know +how to work up into a rounded whole. In the just published sonata +with violoncello I find often passages which sound as if someone +were preluding on the piano and knocked at all the keys to learn +whether euphony was at home." [FOOTNOTE: Aus Moscheles' Leben; +Vol. II., p. 171.] An entry of the year 1850 runs as follows: +"But a trial of patience of another kind is imposed on me by +Chopin's Violoncello Sonata, which I am arranging for four hands. +To me it is a tangled forest, through which now and then +penetrates a gleam of the sun." [FOOTNOTE: Ibid., Vol. II., p. +216.] To take up after the last-discussed work a composition like +the Grand Duo Concertant for piano and violoncello, on themes +from "Robert le Diable," by Chopin and A. Franchomme, is quite a +relief, although it is really of no artistic importance. Schumann +is right when he says of this DUO, which saw the light of +publicity (without OPUS number) in 1833:14 [FOOTNOTE: The first +performance of Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable" took place at the +Paris Opera on November 21, 1831.] "A piece for a SALON where +behind the shoulders of counts and countesses now and then rises +the head of a celebrated artist." And he may also be right when +he says:-- + + It seems to me that Chopin sketched the whole of it, and that + Franchomme said "yes" to everything; for what Chopin touches + takes his form and spirit, and in this minor salon-style he + expresses himself with grace and distinction, compared with + which all the gentility of other brilliant composers together + with all their elegance vanish into thin air. + +The mention of the DUO is somewhat out of place here, but the +Sonata, Op. 65, in which the violoncello is employed, naturally +suggested it. + +We have only one more work to consider before we come to the +groups of masterpieces in the smaller forms above enumerated. But +this last work is one of Chopin's best compositions, and in its +way no less a masterpiece than these. Unfettered by the scheme of +a definite form such as the sonata or concerto, the composer +develops in the Fantaisie, Op. 49 (published in November, 1841), +his thought with masterly freedom. There is an enthralling +weirdness about this work, a weirdness made up of force of +passion and an indescribable fantastic waywardness. Nothing more +common than the name of Fantasia, here we have the thing! The +music falls on our ears like the insuppressible outpouring of a +being stirred to its heart's core, and full of immeasurable love +and longing. Who would suspect the composer's fragility and +sickliness in this work? Does it not rather suggest a Titan in +commotion? There was a time when I spoke of the Fantasia in a +less complimentary tone, now I bow down my head regretfully and +exclaim peccavi. The disposition of the composition may be thus +briefly indicated. A tempo di marcia opens the Fantasia--it forms +the porch of the edifice. The dreamy triplet passages of the poco +a poco piu mosso are comparable to galleries that connect the +various blocks of buildings. The principal subject, or +accumulation of themes, recurs again and again in different keys, +whilst other subjects appear only once or twice between the +repetitions of the principal subject. + +The mazurkas of Chopin are a literature in themselves, said Lenz, +and there is some truth in his saying. They may, indeed, be +called a literature in themselves for two reasons--first, because +of their originality, which makes them things sui generis; and +secondly, because of the poetical and musical wealth of their +contents. Chopin, as I have already said, is most national in the +mazurkas and polonaises, for the former of which he draws not +only inspiration, but even rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic +motives from his country's folk-music. Liszt told me, in a +conversation I had with him, that he did not care much for +Chopin's mazurkas. "One often meets in them with bars which might +just as well be in another place." But he added, "And yet as +Chopin puts them, perhaps nobody else could have put them." And +mark, those are the words of one who also told me that when he +sometimes played half-an-hour for his amusement, he liked to +resort to Chopin. Moscheles, I suspect, had especially the +mazurkas in his mind when, in 1833, [FOOTNOTE: At this time the +published compositions of Chopin were, of course, not numerous, +but they included the first two books of Mazurkas, Op. 6 and 7.] +he said of the Polish master's compositions that he found "much +charm in their originality and national colouring," and that "his +thoughts and through them the fingers stumbled over certain hard, +inartistic modulations." Startling progressions, unreconciled +contrasts, and abrupt changes of mood are characteristic of +Slavonic music and expressive of the Slavonic character. Whether +they ought to be called inartistic or not, we will leave time to +decide, if it has not done so already; the Russian and other +Slavonic composers, who are now coming more and more to the +front, seem to be little in doubt as to their legitimacy. I +neither regard Chopin's mazurkas as his most artistic +achievements nor recommend their capriciousness and +fragmentariness for general imitation. But if we view them from +the right stand-point, which is not that of classicism, we cannot +help admiring them. The musical idiom which the composer uses in +these, notwithstanding their capriciousness and fragmentariness, +exquisitely-finished miniatures, has a truly delightful piquancy. +Yet delightful as their language is, the mazurkas have a far +higher claim to our admiration. They are poems--social poems, +poems of private life, in distinction from the polonaises, which +are political poems. Although Chopin's mazurkas and polonaises +are no less individual than the other compositions of this most +subjective of subjective poets, they incorporate, nevertheless, a +good deal of the poetry of which the national dances of those +names are the expression or vehicle. And let it be noted, in +Poland so-called civilisation did not do its work so fast and +effectually as in Western Europe; there dancing had not yet +become in Chopin's days a merely formal and conventional affair, +a matter of sinew and muscle. + +It is, therefore, advisable that we should make ourselves +acquainted with the principal Polish dances; such an +acquaintance, moreover, will not only help us to interpret aright +Chopin's mazurkas and polonaises, but also to gain a deeper +insight into his ways of feeling and seeing generally. Now the +reader will become aware that the long disquisitions on Poland +and the Poles at the commencement of this biography were not +superfluous accessories. For completeness' sake I shall preface +the description of the mazurka by a short one of the krakowiak, +the third of the triad of principal Polish dances. The informants +on whom I shall chiefly rely when I am not guided by my own +observations are the musician Sowinski and the poet Brodzinski, +both Poles: + + The krakowiak [says Albert Sowinski in chant polonais] bubbles + over with esprit and gaiety; its name indicates its origin. It + is the delight of the salons, and especially of the huts. The + Cracovians dance it in a very agitated and expressive manner, + singing at the same time words made for the occasion of which + they multiply the stanzas and which they often improvise. + These words are of an easy gaiety which remind one strangely + of the rather loose [semi-grivoises] songs so popular in + France; others again are connected with the glorious epochs of + history, with the sweet or sad memories which it calls up, and + are a faithful expression of the character and manners of the + nation. + +Casimir Brodzinski describes the dance as follows:-- + + The krakowiak resembles in its figures a simplified polonaise; + it represents, compared with the latter, a less advanced + social state. The boldest and strongest takes the position of + leader and conducts the dance; he sings, the others join in + chorus; he dances, they imitate him. Often also the krakowiak + represents, in a kind of little ballet, the simple course of a + love-affair: one sees a couple of young people place + themselves before the orchestra; the young man looks proud, + presumptuous, preoccupied with his costume and beauty. Before + long he becomes meditative, and seeks inspiration to improvise + verses which the cries of his companions ask for, and which + the time beaten by them provoke, as well as the manoeuvre of + the young girl, who is impatient to dance. Arriving before the + orchestra after making a round, the dancer generally takes the + liberty of singing a refrain which makes the young girl blush; + she runs away, and it is in pursuing her that the young man + displays all his agility. At the last round it is the young + man who pretends to run away from his partner; she tries to + seize his arm, after which they dance together until the + ritornello puts an end to their pleasure. + +As a technical supplement to the above, I may say that this +lively dance is in 2/4 time, and like other Polish dances has the +rhythmical peculiarity of having frequently the accent on a +usually unaccented part of the bar, especially at the end of a +section or a phrase, for instance, on the second quaver of the +second and the fourth bar, thus:-- + +[Here, the author illustrates with a rhythm diagram consisting of +a line of notes divided in measures: 1/8 1/16 1/16 1/8 1/8 | 1/8 +1/4 1/8 | 1/8 1/16 1/16 1/8 1/8 | 1/8 1/4 dot] + +Chopin has only once been inspired by the krakowiak--namely, in +his Op. 14, entitled Krakowiak, Grand Rondeau de Concert, a +composition which was discussed in Chapter VIII. Thus much of the +krakowiak; now to the more interesting second of the triad. + + The mazurek [or mazurka], whose name comes from Mazovia, one + of our finest provinces, is the most characteristic dance-tune + --it is the model of all our new tunes. One distinguishes, + however, these latter easily from the ancient ones on account + of their less original and less cantabile form. There are two + kinds of mazureks: one, of which the first portion is always + in minor and the second in major, has a romance-like + colouring, it is made to be sung, in Polish one says "to be + heard" (do sludninin); the other serves as an accompaniment to + a dance, of which the figures arc multiplied passes and + coiuluiles. Its movement is in time, and yet less quick than + the waltz. The motive is in dotted notes, which must be + executed with energy and warmth, but not without a certain + dignity. + +Now the mazurka is generally written in 3/4-time; Chopin's are +all written thus. The dotted rhythmical motive alluded to by +Sowinski is this, or similar to this-- + +[Another rhythm diagram: 1/8 dot 1/16 1/4 1/4 | 1/8 dot 1/16 1/2] + +But the dotted notes are by no means de rigueur. As motives like +the following-- + +[Another rhythm diagram: 1/4 1/2 | 1/8 1/8 1/4 1/4 | triplet 1/4 +1/4 | triple 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8] + +are of frequent occurrence, I would propose a more comprehensive +definition--namely, that the first part of the bar consists +mostly of quicker notes than the latter part. But even this more +comprehensive definition does not comprehend all; it is a rule +which has many exceptions. [FOOTNOTE: See the musical +illustrations on pp. 217-218.] Le Sowinski mentions only one +classification of mazurkas. Several others, however, exist. +First, according to the district from which they derive--mazurkas +of Kujavia, of Podlachia, of Lublin, &c.; or, secondly, according +to their character, or to the purpose or occasion for which they +were composed: wedding, village, historical, martial, and +political mazurkas. And now let us hear what the poet Brodzinski +has to say about the nature of this dance:- + + The mazurek in its primitive form and as the common people + dance is only a kind of krakowiak, only less lively and less + sautillant. The agile Cracovians and the mountaineers of the + Carpathians call the mazurek danced by the inhabitants of the + plain but a dwarfed krakowiak. The proximity of the Germans, + or rather the sojourn of the German troops, has caused the + true character of the mazurek among the people to be lost; + this dance hap become a kind of awkward waltz. + + With the people of the capital the real dances of the country + are disfigured not only by the influx of foreigners, but + especially also by the unfortunate employment of barrel- + organs....It is this instrument which crushes among the people + the practice of music, and takes the means of subsistence from + the village fiddler, who becomes more and more rare since + every tavern-keeper, in buying a barrel-organ, easily puts an + end to all competition. We see already more and more disappear + from our country sides these sweet songs and improvised + refrains which the rustic minstrels remembered and repeated, + and the truly national music gives way, alas! to the themes + borrowed from the operas most in vogue. + + The mazurek, thus degenerated among the people, has been + adopted by the upper classes who, in preserving the national + allures, perfected it to the extent of rendering it, beyond + doubt, one of the most graceful dances in Europe. This dance + has much resemblance with the French quadrille, according to + what is analogous in the characters of the two nations; in + seeing these two dances one might say that a French woman + dances only to please, and that a Polish woman pleases by + abandoning herself to a kind of maiden gaiety--the graces + which she displays come rather from nature than from art. A + French female dancer recalls the ideal of Greek statues; a + Polish female dancer has something which recalls the + shepherdesses created by the imagination of the poets; if the + former charms us, the latter attaches us. + + As modern dances lend themselves especially to the triumph of + the women, because the costume of the men is so little + favourable, it is noteworthy that the mazurek forms here an + exception; for a young man, and especially a young Pole, + remarkable by a certain amiable boldness, becomes soon the + soul and hero of this dance. A light and in some sort pastoral + dress for the women, and the Polish military costume so + advantageous for the men, add to the charm of the picture + which the mazurek presents to the eye of the painter. This + dance permits to the whole body the most lively and varied + movements, leaves the shoulders full liberty to bend with that + ABANDON which, accompanied by a joyous laisser-aller and a + certain movement of the foot striking the floor, is + exceedingly graceful. + + One finds often a magic effect in the animated enthusiasm + which characterises the different movements of the head--now + proudly erect, now tenderly sunk on the bosom, now lightly + inclined towards the shoulder, and always depicting in large + traits the abundance of life and joy, shaded with simple, + graceful, and delicate sentiments. Seeing in the mazurek the + female dancer almost carried away in the arms and on the + shoulders of her cavalier, abandoning herself entirely to his + guidance, one thinks one sees two beings intoxicated with + happiness and flying towards the celestial regions. The female + dancer, lightly dressed, scarcely skimming the earth with her + dainty foot, holding on by the hand of her partner, in the + twinkling of an eye carried away by several others, and then, + like lightning, precipitating herself again into the arms of + the first, offers the image of the most happy and delightful + creature. The music of the mazurek is altogether national and + original; through its gaiety breathes usually something of + melancholy--one might say that it is destined to direct the + steps of lovers, whose passing sorrows are not without charm. + +Chopin himself published forty-one mazurkas of his composition in +eleven sets of four, five, or three numbers--Op. 6, Quatre +Mazurkas, and Op. 7, Cinq Mazurkas, in December, 1832; Op. 17, +Quatre Mazurkas, in May, 1834; Op. 24, Quatre Mazurkas, in +November, 1835; Op. 30, Quatre Maazurkas, in December, 1837; Op. +33, Quatre Mazurkas, in October, 1838; Op. 41, Quatre Mazurkas, +in December, 1840; Op. 50, Trois Mazurkas, in November, 1841; Op, +56, Trois Mazurkas, in August, 1844; Op. 59, Trois Mazurkas, in +April, 1846; and Op. 63, Trois Mazurkas, in September, 1847. In +tne posthumous works published by Fontana there are two more +sets, each of four numbers, and respectively marked as Op. 67 and +68. Lastly, several other mazurkas composed by or attributed to +Chopin have been published without any opus number. Two mazurkas, +both in A minor, although very feeble compositions, are included +in the editions by Klindworth and Mikuli. The Breitkopf and +Hartel edition, which includes only one of these two mazurkas, +comprises further a mazurka in G major and one in B flat major of +1825, one in D major of 1829-30, a remodelling of the same of +1832--these have already been discussed--and a somewhat more +interesting one in C major of 1833. Of one of the two mazurkas in +A minor, a poor thing and for the most part little Chopinesque, +only the dedication (a son ami Rmile Gaillard) is known, but not +the date of composition. The other (the one not included in +Breitkopf and Hartel's, No. 50 of Mikuli's and Klindworth's +edition) appeared first as No. 2 of Noire Temps, a publication by +Schott's Sohne. On inquiry I learned that Notre Temps was the +general title of a series of 12 pieces by Czerny, Chopin, +Kalliwoda, Rosenhain, Thalberg, Kalkbrenner, Mendelssohn, +Bertini, Wolff, Kontski, Osborne, and Herz, which appeared in +1842 or 1843 as a Christmas Album. [FOONOTE: I find, however, +that Chopin's Mazurka was already separately announced as "Notre +Temps, No. 2," in the Monatsberichte of February, 1842.] Whether +a Mazurka elegante by Fr, Chopin, advertised in La France +Musicale of April 6, 1845, as en vente au Bureau de musique, 29, +Place de la Bourse, is identical with one of the above-enumerated +mazurkas I have not been able to discover. In the Klindworth +edition [FOOTNOTE: That is to say, in the original Russian, not +in the English (Augener and Co.'s) edition; and there only by the +desire of the publishers and against the better judgment of the +editor.] is also to be found a very un-Chopinesque Mazurka in F +sharp major, previously published by J. P. Gotthard, in Vienna, +the authorship of which Mr. E. Pauer has shown to belong to +Charles Mayer. + +[FOOTNOTE: In an article, entitled Musical Plagiarism in the +Monthly Musical Record of July 1, 1882 (where also the mazurka in +question is reprinted), we read as follows:--"In 1877 Mr. E. +Pauer, whilst preparing a comprehensive guide through the entire +literature of the piano, looked through many thousand pieces for +that instrument published by German firms, and came across a +mazurka by Charles Mayer, published by Pietro Mechetti +(afterwards C. A. Spinal, and entitled Souvenirs de la Pologne. A +few weeks later a mazurka, a posthumous work of F. Chopin, +published by J. Gotthard, came into his hands. At first, although +the piece 'struck him as being an old acquaintance,' he could not +fix the time when and the place where he had heard it; but at +last the Mayer mazurka mentioned above returned to his +remembrance, and on comparing the two, he found that they were +one and the same piece. From the appearance of the title-page and +the size of the notes, Mr. Pauer, who has had considerable +experience in these matters, concluded that the Mayer copy must +have been published between the years 1840 and 1845, and wrote to +Mr. Gotthard pointing out the similarity of Chopin's posthumous +work, and asking how he came into possession of the Chopin +manuscript. Mr. Gotthard replied,'that he had bought the mazurka +as Chopin's autograph from a Polish countess, who, being in sad +distress, parted, though with the greatest sorrow, with the +composition of her illustrious compatriot.' Mr. Pauer naturally +concludes that Mr. Gotthard had been deceived, that the +manuscript was not a genuine autograph, and 'that the honour of +having composed the mazurka in question belongs to Charles +Mayer.' Mr. Pauer further adds: 'It is not likely that C. Mayer, +even if Chopin had made him a present of this mazurka, would have +published it during Chopin's lifetime as a work of his own, or +have sold or given it to the Polish countess. It is much more +likely that Mayer's mazurka was copied in the style of Chopin's +handwriting, and after Mayer's death in 1862 sold as Chopin's +autograph to Mr. Gotthard.'"] + +Surveying the mazurkas in their totality, we cannot but notice +that there is a marked difference between those up to and those +above Op. 41. In the later ones we look in vain for the beautes +sauvages which charm us in the earlier ones--they strike us +rather by their propriety of manner and scholarly elaboration; in +short, they have more of reflective composition and less of +spontaneous effusion about them. This, however, must not be taken +too literally. There are exceptions, partial and total. The +"native wood-notes wild" make themselves often heard, only they +are almost as often stifled in the close air of the study. +Strange to say, the last opus (63) of mazurkas published by +Chopin has again something of the early freshness and poetry. +Schumann spoke truly when he said that some poetical trait, +something new, was to be found in every one of Chopin's mazurkas. +They are indeed teeming with interesting matter. Looked at from +the musician's point of view, how much do we not see that is +novel and strange, and beautiful and fascinating withal? Sharp +dissonances, chromatic passing notes, suspensions and +anticipations, displacements of accent, progressions of perfect +fifths (the horror of schoolmen), [FOOTNOTE: See especially the +passage near the close of Op. 30, No. 4, where there are four +bars of simultaneous consecutive fifths and sevenths.] sudden +turns and unexpected digressions that are so unaccountable, so +out of the line of logical sequence, that one's following the +composer is beset with difficulties, marked rhythm picture to us +the graceful motions of the dancers, and suggest the clashing of +the spurs and the striking of heels against the ground. The +second mazurka might be called "the request." All the arts of +persuasion are tried, from the pathetic to the playful, and a +vein of longing, not unmixed with sadness, runs through the +whole, or rather forms the basis of it. The tender commencement +of the second part is followed, as it were, by the several times +repeated questions--Yes? No? (Bright sunshine? Dark clouds?) But +there comes no answer, and the poor wretch has to begin anew. A +helpless, questioning uncertainty and indecision characterise the +third mazurka. For a while the composer gives way (at the +beginning of the second part) to anger, and speaks in a defiant +tone; but, as if perceiving the unprofitableness of it, returns +soon to his first strain. Syncopations, suspensions, and +chromatic passing notes form here the composer's chief stock in +trade, displacement of everything in melody, harmony, and rhythm +is the rule. Nobody did anything like this before Chopin, and, as +far as I know, nobody has given to the world an equally minute +and distinct representation of the same intimate emotional +experiences. My last remarks hold good with the fourth mazurka, +which is bleak and joyless till, with the entrance of A major, a +fairer prospect opens. But those jarring tones that strike in +wake the dreamer pitilessly. The commencement of the mazurka, as +well as the close on the chord of the sixth, the chromatic +glidings of the harmonies, the strange twirls and skips, give a +weird character to this piece. + +The origin of the polonaise (Taniec Polski, Polish dance), like +that of the, no doubt, older mazurka, is lost in the dim past. +For much credit can hardly be given to the popular belief that it +developed out of the measured procession, to the sound of music, +of the nobles and their ladies, which is said to have first taken +place in 1574, the year after his election to the Polish throne, +when Henry of Anjou received the grandees of his realm. The +ancient polonaises were without words, and thus they were still +in the time of King Sobieski (1674-96). Under the subsequent +kings of the house of Saxony, however, they were often adapted to +words or words were adapted to them. Celebrated polonaises of +political significance are: the Polonaise of the 3rd of May, +adapted to words relative to the promulgation of the famous +constitution of the 3rd of May, 1791; the Kosciuszko Polonaise, +with words adapted to already existing music, dedicated to the +great patriot and general when, in 1792, the nation rose in +defence of the constitution; the Oginski Polonaise, also called +the Swan's song and the Partition of Poland, a composition +without words, of the year 1793 (at the time of the second +partition), by Prince Michael Cleophas Oginski. Among the Polish +composers of the second half of the last century and the +beginning of the present whose polonaises enjoyed in their day, +and partly enjoy still, a high reputation, are especially notable +Kozlowski, Kamienski, Elsner, Deszczynski, Bracicki, Wanski, +Prince Oginski, Kurpinski, and Dobrzynski. Outside Poland the +polonaise, both as an instrumental and vocal composition, both as +an independent piece and part of larger works, had during the +same period quite an extraordinary popularity. Whether we examine +the productions of the classics or those of the inferior +virtuosic and drawing-room composers, [FOOTNOTE: I should have +added "operatic composers."] everywhere we find specimens of the +polonaise. Pre-eminence among the most successful foreign +cultivators of this Polish dance has, however, been accorded to +Spohr and Weber. I said just now "this dance," but, strictly +speaking, the polonaise, which has been called a marche dansante, +is not so much a dance as a figured walk, or procession, full of +gravity and a certain courtly etiquette. As to the music of the +polonaise, it is in 3/4 time, and of a moderate movement (rather +slow than quick). The flowing and more or less florid melody has +rhythmically a tendency to lean on the second crotchet and even +on the second quaver of the bar (see illustration No. 1, a and +b), and generally concludes each of its parts with one of certain +stereotyped formulas of a similar rhythmical cast (see +illustration No. 2, a, b, c, and d). The usual accompaniment +consists of a bass note at the beginning of the bar followed, +except at the cadences, by five quavers, of which the first may +be divided into semiquavers. Chopin, however, emancipated himself +more and more from these conventionalities in his later poetic +polonaises. + +[Two music score excerpts here, labeled No. 1 and No. 2] + + The polonaise [writes Brodzinski] is the only dance which + suits mature age, and is not unbecoming to persons of elevated + rank; it is the dance of kings, heroes, and even old men; it + alone suits the martial dress. It does not breathe any + passion, but seems to be only a triumphal march, an expression + of chivalrous and polite manners. A solemn gravity presides + always at the polonaise, which, perhaps, alone recalls neither + the fire of primitive manners nor the gallantry of more + civilised but more enervated ages. Besides these principal + characteristics, the polonaise bears a singularly national and + historical impress; for its laws recall an aristocratic + republic with a disposition to anarchy, flowing less from the + character of the people than from its particular legislation. + In the olden times the polonaise was a kind of solemn + ceremony. The king, holding by the hand the most distinguished + personage of the assembly, marched at the head of a numerous + train of couples composed of men alone: this dance, made more + effective by the splendour of the chivalrous costumes, was + only, strictly speaking, a triumphal march. + + If a lady was the object of the festival, it was her privilege + to open the march, holding by the hand another lady. All the + others followed until the queen of the ball, having offered + her hand to one of the men standing round the room, induced + the other ladies to follow her example. + + The ordinary polonaise is opened by the most distinguished + person of the gathering, whose privilege it is to conduct the + whole file of the dancers or to break it up. This is called in + Polish rey wodzic, figuratively, to be the leader, in some + sort the king (from the Latin rex). To dance at the head was + also called to be the marshal, on account of the privileges of + a marshal at the Diets. The whole of this form is connected + with the memories and customs of raising the militia + (pospolite), or rather of the gathering of the national + assemblies in Poland. Hence, notwithstanding the deference + paid to the leaders, who have the privilege of conducting at + will the chain of dancers, it is allowable, by a singular + practice made into a law, to dethrone a leader every time any + bold person calls out odbiianego, which means retaken by force + or reconquered; he who pronounces this word is supposed to + wish to reconquer the hand of the first lady and the direction + of the dance; it is a kind of act of liberum veto, to which + everyone is obliged to give way. The leader then abandons the + hand of his lady to the new pretender; every cavalier dances + with the lady of the following couple, and it is only the + cavalier of the last couple who finds himself definitively + ousted if he has not the boldness to insist likewise upon his + privilege of equality by demanding odbiianego, and placing + himself at the head. + + But as a privilege of this nature too often employed would + throw the whole ball into complete anarchy, two means are + established to obviate this abuse--namely, the leader makes + use of his right to terminate the polonaise, in imitation of a + king or marshal dissolving a Diet, or else, according to the + predominating wish, all the cavaliers leave the ladies alone + in the middle, who then choose new partners and continue the + dance, excluding the disturbers and discontented, which + recalls the confederations employed for the purpose of making + the will of the majority prevail. + + The polonaise breathes and paints the whole national + character; the music of this dance, while admitting much art, + combines something martial with a sweetness marked by the + simplicity of manners of an agricultural people. Foreigners + have distorted this character of the polonaises; the natives + themselves preserve it less in our day in consequence of the + frequent employment of motives drawn from modern operas. As to + the dance itself, the polonaise has become in our day a kind + of promenade which has little charm for the young, and is but + a scene of etiquette for those of a riper age. Our fathers + danced it with a marvellous ability and a gravity full of + nobleness; the dancer, making gliding steps with energy, but + without skips, and caressing his moustache, varied his + movements by the position of his sabre, of his cap, and of + his tucked-up coat-sleeves, distinctive signs of a free man + and warlike citizen. Whoever has seen a Pole of the old school + dance the polonaise in the national costume will confess + without hesitation that this dance is the triumph of a well- + made man, with a noble and proud tournure, and with an air at + once manly and gay. + +After this Brodzinski goes on to describe the way in which the +polonaise used to be danced. But instead of his description I +shall quote a not less true and more picturesque one from the +last canto of Mickiewicz's "Pan Tadeusz":-- + + It is time to dance the polonaise. The President comes + forward; he lightly throws back the fausses manches of his + overcoat, caresses his moustache, presents his hand to Sophia: + and, by a respectful salute, invites her for the first couple. + Behind them range themselves the other dancers, two and two; + the signal is given, the dance is begun, the President directs + it. + + His red boots move over the green sward, his belt sends forth + flashes of light; he proceeds slowly, as if at random: but in + every one of his steps, in every one of his movements, one can + read the feelings and the thoughts of the dancer. He stops as + if to question his partner; he leans towards her, wishes to + speak to her in an undertone. The lady turns away, does not + listen, blushes. He takes off his cap, and salutes her + respectfully. The lady is not disinclined to look at him, but + persists in being silent. He slackens his pace, seeks to read + in her eyes, and smiles. Happy in her mute answer, he walks + more quickly, looking proudly at his rivals; now he draws his + cap with the heron-feathers forward, now he pushes it back. At + last he puts it on one side and turns up his moustaches. He + withdraws; all envy him, all follow his footsteps. He would + like to disappear with his lady. Sometimes he stops, raises + politely his hand, and begs the dancers to pass by him. + Sometimes he tries to slip dexterously away, changing the + direction. He would like to deceive his companions; but the + troublesome individuals follow him with a nimble step, entwine + him with more and more tightened loops. He becomes angry; lays + his right hand on his sword as if he wished to say: "Woe to + the jealous!" He turns, pride on his countenance, a challenge + in his air, and marches straight on the company, who give way + at his approach, open to him a passage, and soon, by a rapid + evolution, are off again in pursuit of him. + + On all sides one hears the exclamation: "Ah! this is perhaps + the last. Look, young people, perhaps this is the last who + will know how to conduct thus the polonaise!" + +Among those of Chopin's compositions which he himself published +are, exclusive of the "Introduction et Polonaise brillante" for +piano and violoncello, Op. 3, eight polonaises--namely: "Grande +Polonaise brillante" (in E flat major), "precedee d'un Andante +spianato" (in G major), "pour le piano avec orchestre," Op. 22; +"Deux Polonaises" (in C sharp minor and E flat minor), Op. 26; +"Deux Polonaises" (in A major and C minor), Op. 40; "Polonaise" +(F sharp minor), Op. 44; "Polonaise" (in A flat major), Op. 53; +[FOOTNOTE: This polonaise is called the "eighth" on the title- +page, which, of course, it is only by including the "Polonaise," +Op. 3, for piano and violoncello.] and "Polonaise-Fantaisie" (in +A flat major), Op. 61. The three early polonaises posthumously- +published by Fontana as Op. 71 have already been discussed in +Chapter VIII. Other posthumously-published polonaises--such as +the Polonaise in G sharp minor, to be found in Mikuli's edition, +and one in B flat minor of the year 1826, first published in the +supplement of the journal "Echo Muzyczne"--need not be considered +by us. [FOOTNOTE: Both polonaises are included in the Breitkopf +and Hartel edition, where the one in G sharp minor bears the +unlikely date 1822. The internal evidence speaks against this +statement.] + +Chopin's Polonaises Op. 26, 40, 53, and 61 are pre-eminently +political, they are the composer's expression of his patriotic +feelings. It is not difficult to recognise in them proud memories +of past splendours, sad broodings over present humiliations, +bright visions of a future resurrection. They are full of martial +chivalry, of wailing dejection, of conspiracy and sedition, of +glorious victories. The poetically-inferior Polonaise, Op. 22, on +the other hand, while unquestionably Polish in spirit, is not +political. Chopin played this work, which was probably composed, +or at least sketched, in 1830, [FOOTNOTE: See Vol. I., Chapter +xiii., pp. 201, 202.] and certainly published in July, 1836, for +the first time in public at a Paris Conservatoire concert for the +benefit of Habeneck on April 26, 1835; and this was the only +occasion on which he played it with orchestral accompaniments. +The introductory Andante (in G major, and 6/8 time), as the +accompanying adjective indicates, is smooth and even. It makes +one think of a lake on a calm, bright summer day. A boat glides +over the pellucid, unruffled surface of the water, by-and-by +halts at a shady spot by the shore, or by the side of some island +(3/4 time), then continues its course (f time), and finally +returns to its moorings (3/4). I can perceive no connection +between the Andante and the following Polonaise (in E flat major) +except the factitious one of a formal and forced transition, with +which the orchestra enters on the scene of action (Allegro molto, +3/4). After sixteen bars of tutti, the pianoforte commences, +unaccompanied, the polonaise. Barring the short and in no way +attractive and remarkable test's, the orchestra plays a very +subordinate and often silent role, being, indeed, hardly missed +when the pianoforte part is. played alone. The pronounced bravura +character of the piece would warrant the supposition that it was +written expressly for the concert-room, even if the orchestral +accompaniments were not there to prove the fact. A proud bearing, +healthful vigour, and sprightly vivacity distinguish Chopin on +this occasion. But notwithstanding the brave appearance, one +misses his best qualities. This polonaise illustrates not only +the most brilliant, but also the least lovable features of the +Polish character--ostentatiousness and exaggerated rhetoric. In +it Chopin is discovered posturing, dealing in phrases, and +coquetting with sentimental affectations. In short, the composer +comes before us as a man of the world, intent on pleasing, and +sure of himself and success. The general airiness of the style is +a particularly-noticeable feature of this piece of Chopin's +virtuosic period. + +The first bars of the first (in C sharp minor) of the two +Polonaises, Op. 26 (published in July, 1836), fall upon one's ear +like a decision of irresistible, inexorable fate. Indignation +flares up for a moment, and then dies away, leaving behind +sufficient strength only for a dull stupor (beginning of the +second part), deprecation, melting tenderness (the E major in the +second part, and the closing bars of the first and second parts), +and declarations of devotion (meno mosso). While the first +polonaise expresses weak timidity, sweet plaintiveness, and a +looking for help from above, the second one (in E flat minor) +speaks of physical force and self-reliance--it is full of +conspiracy and sedition. The ill-suppressed murmurs of +discontent, which may be compared to the ominous growls of a +volcano, grow in loudness and intensity, till at last, with a +rush and a wild shriek, there follows an explosion. The thoughts +flutter hither and thither, in anxious, helpless agitation. Then +martial sounds are heard--a secret gathering of a few, which soon +grows in number and in boldness. Now they draw nearer; you +distinguish the clatter of spurs and weapons, the clang of +trumpets (D flat major). Revenge and death are their watchwords, +and with sullen determination they stare desolation in the face +(the pedal F with the trebled part above). After an interesting +transition the first section returns. In the meno mosso (B major) +again a martial rhythm is heard; this time, however, the +gathering is not one for revenge and death, but for battle and +victory. From the far-off distance the winds carry the message +that tells of freedom and glory. But what is this (the four bars +before the tempo I.)? Alas! the awakening from a dream. Once more +we hear those sombre sounds, the shriek and explosion, and so on. +Of the two Polonaises, Op. 26, the second is the grander, and the +definiteness which distinguishes it from the vague first shows +itself also in the form. + +A greater contrast than the two Polonaises, Op. 40 (published in +November, 1840), can hardly be imagined. In the first (in A +major) the mind of the composer is fixed on one elating thought-- +he sees the gallantly-advancing chivalry of Poland, determination +in every look and gesture; he hears rising above the noise of +stamping horses and the clash of arms their bold challenge +scornfully hurled at the enemy. In the second (in C minor), on +the other hand, the mind of the composer turns from one +depressing or exasperating thought to another--he seems to review +the different aspects of his country's unhappy state, its sullen +discontent, fretful agitation, and uncertain hopes. The manly +Polonaise in A major, one of the simplest (not easiest) +compositions of Chopin, is the most popular of his polonaises. +The second polonaise, however, although not so often heard, is +the more interesting one, the emotional contents being more +varied, and engaging more our sympathy. Further, the pianoforte, +however fully and effectively employed, cannot do justice to the +martial music of the one, while its capacities are well suited +for the rendering of the less material effect of the other. In +conclusion, let me point out in the C minor Polonaise the chafing +agitation of the second part, the fitful play between light and +shade of the trio-like part in A flat major, and the added +wailing voice in the recurring first portion at the end of the +piece. [FOOTNOTE: In connection with the A major Polonaise, see +last paragraph on next page.] + +If Schiller is right in saying "Ernst ist das Leben, heiter ist +die Kunst," then what we find in the Polonaise (in F sharp +minor), Op. 44 (published in November, 1841), cannot be art. We +look in vain for beauty of melody and harmony; dreary unisons, +querulous melodic phrases, hollow-eyed chords, hard progressions +and modulations throughout every part of the polonaise proper. We +receive a pathological rather than aesthetical impression. +Nevertheless, no one can deny the grandeur and originality that +shine through this gloom. The intervening Doppio movimento, tempo +di Mazurka, sends forth soft beneficent rays--reminiscences of +long ago, vague and vanishing, sweet and melancholy. But there is +an end to this as to all such dreams. Those harassing, +exasperating gloomy thoughts (Tempo di Polacca) return. The sharp +corners which we round so pleasantly and beautifully in our +reconstructions of the past make themselves only too soon felt in +the things of the present, and cruelly waken us to reality and +its miseries. + +The Polonaise, Op. 53 (in A flat major; published in December, +1843), is one of the most stirring compositions of Chopin, +manifesting an overmastering power and consuming fire. But is it +really the same Chopin, is it the composer of the dreamy +nocturnes, the elegant waltzes, who here fumes and frets, +struggling with a fierce, suffocating rage (mark the rushing +succession of chords of the sixth, the growling semiquaver +figures, and the crashing dissonances of the sixteen introductory +bars), and then shouts forth, sure of victory, his bold and +scornful challenge? And farther on, in the part of the polonaise +where the ostinato semiquaver figure in octaves for the left hand +begins, do we not hear the trampling of horses, the clatter of +arms and spurs, and the sound of trumpets? Do we not hear--yea, +and see too--a high-spirited chivalry approaching and passing? +Only pianoforte giants can do justice to this martial tone- +picture, the physical strength of the composer certainly did not +suffice. + +The story goes that when Chopin played one of his polonaises in +the night-time, just after finishing its composition, he saw the +door open, and a long train of Polish knights and ladies, dressed +in antique costumes, enter through it and defile past him. This +vision filled the composer with such terror that he fled through +the opposite door, and dared not return to the room the whole +night. Karasowski says that the polonaise in question is the last- +mentioned one, in A flat major; but from M. Kwiatkowski, who +depicted the scene three times, [FOOTNOTE: "Le Reve de Chopin," a +water-colour, and two sketches in oils representing, according to +Chopin's indication (d'apres l'avis de Chopin), the polonaise.] +learned that it is the one in A major, No. 1 of Op. 40, dedicated +to Fontana. + +I know of no more affecting composition among all the productions +of Chopin than the "Polonaise-Fantaisie" (in A flat major), Op. +61 (published in September, 1846). What an unspeakable, +unfathomable wretchedness reveals itself in these sounds! We gaze +on a boundless desolation. These lamentations and cries of +despair rend our heart, these strange, troubled wanderings from +thought to thought fill us with intensest pity. There are +thoughts of sweet resignation, but the absence of hope makes them +perhaps the saddest of all. The martial strains, the bold +challenges, the shouts of triumph, which we heard so often in the +composer's polonaises, are silenced. + + An elegiac sadness [says Liszt] predominates, intersected by + wild movements, melancholy smiles, unexpected starts, and + intervals of rest full of dread such as those experience who + have been surprised by an ambuscade, who are surrounded on all + sides, for whom there dawns no hope upon the vast horizon, and + to whose brain despair has gone like a deep draught of Cyprian + wine, which gives a more instinctive rapidity to every + gesture, a sharper point to every emotion, causing the mind to + arrive at a pitch of irritability bordering on madness. + +Thus, although comprising thoughts that in beauty and grandeur +equal--I would almost say surpass-anything Chopin has written, +the work stands, on account of its pathological contents, outside +the sphere of art. + +Chopin's waltzes, the most popular of his compositions, are not +poesie intime like the greater number of his works. [FOOTNOTE: +Op. 34, No. 2, and Op. 64, No. 2, however, have to be excepted, +to some extent at least.] In them the composer mixes with the +world-looks without him rather than within--and as a man of the +world conceals his sorrows and discontents under smiles and +graceful manners. The bright brilliancy and light pleasantness of +the earlier years of his artistic career, which are almost +entirely lost in the later years, rise to the surface in the +waltzes. These waltzes are salon music of the most aristocratic +kind. Schumann makes Florestan say of one of them, and he might +have said it of all, that he would not play it unless one half of +the female dancers were countesses. But the aristocraticalness of +Chopin's waltzes is real, not conventional; their exquisite +gracefulness and distinction are natural, not affected. They are, +indeed, dance-poems whose content is the poetry of waltz-rhythm +and movement, and the feelings these indicate and call forth. In +one of his most extravagantly-romantic critical productions +Schumann speaks, in connection with Chopin's Op. 18, "Grande +Valse brillante," the first-published (in June, 1834) of his +waltzes, of "Chopin's body and mind elevating waltz," and its +"enveloping the dancer deeper and deeper in its floods." This +language is altogether out of proportion with the thing spoken +of; for Op. 18 differs from the master's best waltzes in being, +not a dance-poem, but simply a dance, although it must be +admitted that it is an exceedingly spirited one, both as regards +piquancy and dash. When, however, we come to Op. 34, "Trois +Valses brillantes" (published in December, 1838), Op. 42, "Valse" +(published in July, 1840), and Op. 64, "Trois Valses" (published +in September, 1847), the only other waltzes published by him, we +find ourselves face to face with true dance-poems. Let us tarry +for a moment over Op. 34. How brisk the introductory bars of the +first (in A flat major) of these three waltzes! And what a +striking manifestation of the spirit of that dance all that +follows! We feel the wheeling motions; and where, at the +seventeenth bar of the second part, the quaver figure enters, we +think we see the flowing dresses sweeping round. Again what +vigour in the third part, and how coaxingly tender the fourth! +And, lastly, the brilliant conclusion--the quavers intertwined +with triplets! The second waltz (in A minor; Lento) is of quite +another, of a more retired and private, nature, an exception to +the rule. The composer evidently found pleasure in giving way to +this delicious languor, in indulging in these melancholy thoughts +full of sweetest, tenderest loving and longing. But here words +will not avail. One day when Stephen Heller--my informant--was at +Schlesinger's music-shop in Paris, Chopin entered. The latter, +hearing Heller ask for one of his waltzes, inquired of him which +of them he liked best. "It is difficult to say which I like +best," replied Heller, "for I like them all; but if I were +pressed for an answer I would probably say the one in A minor." +This gave Chopin much pleasure. "I am glad you do," he said; "it +is also my favourite." And in an exuberance of amiability he +invited Heller to lunch with him, an invitation which was +accepted, the two artists taking the meal together at the Cafe +Riche. The third waltz (in F major; Vivace) shows a character +very different from the preceding one. What a stretching of +muscles! What a whirling! Mark the giddy motions of the melody +beginning at bar seventeen! Of this waltz of Chopin's and the +first it is more especially true what Schumann said of all three: +"Such flooding life moves within these waltzes that they seem to +have been improvised in the ball-room." And the words which the +same critic applies to Op. 34 may be applied to all the waltzes +Chopin published himself--"They must please; they are of another +stamp than the usual waltzes, and in the style in which they can +only be conceived by Chopin when he looks in a grandly-artistic +way into the dancing crowd, which he elevates by his playing, +thinking of other things than of what is being danced." In the A +flat major waltz which bears the opus number 42, the duple rhythm +of the melody along with the triple one of the accompaniment +seems to me indicative of the loving nestling and tender +embracing of the dancing couples. Then, after the smooth +gyrations of the first period, come those sweeping motions, free +and graceful like those of birds, that intervene again and again +between the different portions of the waltz. The D flat major +part bubbles over with joyousness. In the sostenuto, on the other +hand, the composer becomes sentimental, protests, and heaves +sighs. But at the very height of his rising ardour he suddenly +plunges back into that wild, self-surrendering, heaven and earth- +forgetting joyousness--a stroke of genius as delightful as it is +clever. If we do not understand by the name of scherzo a fixed +form, but rather a state of mind, we may say that Chopin's +waltzes are his scherzos and not the pieces to which he has given +that name. None of Chopin's waltzes is more popular than the +first of Op. 64 (in D flat major). And no wonder! The life, flow, +and oneness are unique; the charm of the multiform motions is +indescribable. That it has been and why it has been called valse +au petit chien need here only be recalled to the reader's +recollection (see Chapter XXVI., p. 142). No. 2 (in C sharp +minor); different as it is, is in its own way nearly as perfect +as No. 1. Tender, love-sick longing cannot be depicted more +truthfully, sweetly, and entrancingly. The excellent No. 3 (in A +flat major), with the exquisite serpentining melodic lines, which +play so important a part in Chopin's waltzes, and other beautiful +details, is in a somewhat trying position beside the other two +waltzes. The non-publication by the composer of the waltzes which +have got into print, thanks to the zeal of his admirers and the +avidity of publishers, proves to me that he was a good judge of +his own works. Fontana included in his collection of posthumous +compositions five waltzes--"Deux Valses," Op. 69 (in F minor, of +1836; in B minor, of 1829);. and "Trois Valses," Op. 70 (in G +flat major, of 1835; in F minor, of 1843; in D flat major, of +1830). There are further a waltz in E minor and one in E major +(of 1829). [FOOTNOTE: The "Deux Valses melancoliques" (in F minor +and B minor), ecrits sur l'album de Madame la Comtesse P., 1844 +(Cracow: J. Wildt), the English edition of which (London: Edwin +Ashdown) is entitled "Une soiree en 1844," "Deux Valses +melancoliques," are Op. 70. No. 2, and Op. 69, No. 2, of the +works of Chopin posthumously published by Fontana.] Some of these +waltzes I discussed already when speaking of the master's early +compositions, to which they belong. The last-mentioned waltz, +which the reader will find in Mikuli's edition (No. 15 of the +waltzes), and also in Breitkopf and Hartel's (No. 22 of the +Posthumous works), is a very weak composition; and of all the +waltzes not published by the composer himself it may be said that +what is good in them has been expressed better in others. + +We have of Chopin 27 studies: Op. 10, "Douze Etudes," published +in July, 1833; Op. 25, "Douze Etudes," published in October, +1837; and "Trois nouvelles Etudes," which, before being +separately published, appeared in 1840 in the "Methode des +Methodes pour le piano" by F. J. Fetis and I. Moscheles. The +dates of their publication, as in the case of many other works, +do not indicate the approximate dates of their composition. +Sowinski tells us, for instance, that Chopin brought the first +book of his studies with him to Paris in 1831. A Polish musician +who visited the French capital in 1834 heard Chopin play the +studies contained in Op. 25. And about the last-mentioned opus we +read in a critical notice by Schumann, who had, no doubt, his +information directly from Chopin: "The studies which have now +appeared [that is, those of Op. 25] were almost all composed at +the same time as the others [that is, those of Op. 10] and only +some of them, the greater masterliness of which is noticeable, +such as the first, in A flat major, and the splendid one in C +minor [that is, the twelfth] but lately." Regarding the Trois +nouvelles Etudes without OPUS number we have no similar +testimony. But internal evidence seems to show that these weakest +of the master's studies--which, however, are by no means +uninteresting, and certainly very characteristic--may be regarded +more than Op. 25 as the outcome of a gleaning. In two of Chopin's +letters of the year 1829, we meet with announcements of his +having composed studies. On the 2Oth of October he writes: "I +have composed a study in my own manner"; and on the 14th of +November: "I have written some studies." From Karasowski learn +that the master composed the twelfth study of Op. 10 during his +stay in Stuttgart, being inspired by the capture of Warsaw by the +Russians, which took place on September 8, 1831. Whether looked +at from the aesthetical or technical point of view, Chopin's +studies will be seen to be second to those of no composer. Were +it not wrong to speak of anything as absolutely best, their +excellences would induce one to call them unequalled. A striking +feature in them compared with Chopin's other works is their +healthy freshness and vigour. Even the slow, dreamy, and elegiac +ones have none of the faintness and sickliness to be found in not +a few of the composer's pieces, especially in several of the +nocturnes. The diversity of character exhibited by these studies +is very great. In some of them the aesthetical, in others the +technical purpose predominates; in a few the two are evenly +balanced: in none is either of them absent. They give a summary +of Chopin's ways and means, of his pianoforte language: chords in +extended positions, wide-spread arpeggios, chromatic progressions +(simple, in thirds, and in octaves), simultaneous combinations of +contrasting rhythms, &c--nothing is wanting. In playing them or +hearing them played Chopin's words cannot fail to recur to one's +mind: "I have composed a study in my own manner." Indeed, the +composer's demands on the technique of the executant were so +novel at the time when the studies made their first public +appearance that one does not wonder at poor blind Rellstab being +staggered, and venting his feelings in the following uncouthly- +jocular manner: "Those who have distorted fingers may put them +right by practising these studies; but those who have not, should +not play them, at least not without having a surgeon at hand." In +Op. 10 there are three studies especially noteworthy for their +musical beauty. The third (Lento ma non troppo, in E major) and +the sixth (Andante, in E flat minor) may be reckoned among +Chopin's loveliest compositions. They combine classical +chasteness of contour with the fragrance of romanticism. And the +twelfth study (Allegro con fuoco, in C minor), the one composed +at Stuttgart after the fall of Warsaw, how superbly grand! The +composer seems to be fuming with rage: the left hand rushes +impetuously along and the right hand strikes in with passionate +ejaculations. With regard to the above-named Lento ma non troppo +(Op. 10, No. 3), Chopin said to Gutmann that he had never in his +life written another such beautiful melody (CHANT); and on one +occasion when Gutmann was studying it the master lifted up his +arms with his hands clasped and exclaimed: "O, my fatherland!" +("O, me patrie!") I share with Schumann the opinion that the +total weight of Op. 10 amounts to more than that of Op. 25. Like +him I regard also Nos. 1 and 12 as the most important items of +the latter collection of studies: No. 1 (Allegro sostenuto, in A +flat major)--a tremulous mist below, a beautiful breezy melody +floating above, and once or twice a more opaque body becoming +discernible within the vaporous element--of which Schumann says +that "after listening to the study one feels as one does after a +blissful vision, seen in a dream, which, already half-awake, one +would fain bring back": [FOOTNOTE: See the whole quotation, Vol. +I., p. 310.] and No. 12 (in C minor, Allegro molto con fuoco), in +which the emotions rise not less than the waves of arpeggios (in +both hands) which symbolise them. Stephen Heller's likings differ +from Schumann's. Discussing Chopin's Op. 25 in the Gazette +musicale of February 24, 1839, he says:-- + + What more do we require to pass one or several evenings in as + perfect a happiness as possible? As for me, I seek in this + collection of poesy (this is the only name appropriate to the + works of Chopin) some favourite pieces which I might fix in my + memory rather than others. Who could retain everything? For + this reason I have in my note book quite particularly marked + the numbers 4, 5, and 7 of the present poems. Of these twelve + much-loved studies (every one of which has a charm of its own) + these three numbers are those I prefer to all the rest. + +In connection with the fourth, Heller points out that it reminds +him of the first bar of the Kyrie (rather the Requiem aeternam) +of Mozart's Requiem. And of the seventh study he remarks:-- + + It engenders the sweetest sadness, the most enviable torments; + and if in playing it one feels one's self insensibly drawn + towards mournful and melancholy ideas, it is a disposition of + the soul which I prefer to all others. Alas! how I love these + sombre and mysterious dreams, and Chopin is the god who + creates them. + +This No. 7 (in C sharp minor, lento), a duet between a HE and a +SHE, of whom the former shows himself more talkative and emphatic +than the latter, is, indeed, very sweet, but perhaps, also +somewhat tiresomely monotonous, as such tete-a-tete naturally are +to third parties. As a contrast to No. 7, and in conclusion-- +leaving several aerial flights and other charming conceptions +undiscussed--I will yet mention the octave study, No. 10, which +is a real pandemonium; for a while holier sounds intervene, but +finally hell prevails. + +The genesis of the Vingt-quatre Preludes, Op. 28, published in +September, 1839, I have tried to elucidate in the twenty-first +chapter. I need, therefore, not discuss the question here. The +indefinite character and form of the prelude, no doubt, +determined the choice of the title which, however, does not +describe the contents of this OPUS. Indeed, no ONE name could do +so. This heterogeneous collection of pieces reminds me of nothing +so much as of an artist's portfolio filled with drawings in all +stages of advancement--finished and unfinished, complete and +incomplete compositions, sketches and mere memoranda, all mixed +indiscriminately together. The finished works were either too +small or too slight to be sent into the world separately, and the +right mood for developing, completing, and giving the last touch +to the rest was gone, and could not be found again. Schumann, +after expressing his admiration for these preludes, as well he +might, adds: "This book contains morbid, feverish, and repellent +matter." I do not think that there is much that could justly be +called repellent; but the morbidity and feverishness of a +considerable portion must be admitted. + + I described the preludes [writes Schumann] as remarkable. To + confess the truth, I expected they would be executed like the + studies, in the grandest style. Almost the reverse is the + case; they are sketches, commencements of studies, or, if you + will, ruins, single eagle-wings, all strangely mixed together. + But in his fine nonpareil there stands in every piece:-- + "Frederick Chopin wrote it." One recognises him by the violent + breathing during the rests. He is, and remains, the proudest + poet-mind of the time. + +The almost infinite and infinitely-varied beauties collected in +this treasure-trove denominated Vingt-quatre Preludes could only +be done justice to by a minute analysis, for which, however, +there is no room here. I must content myself with a word or two +about a few of them, picked out at random. No. 4 is a little poem +the exquisitely-sweet languid pensiveness of which defies +description. The composer seems to be absorbed in the narrow +sphere of his ego, from which the wide, noisy world is for the +time being shut out. In No. 6 we have, no doubt, the one of which +George Sand said that it occurred to Chopin one evening while +rain was falling, and that it "precipitates the soul into a +frightful depression."30 [FOOTNOTE: See George Sand's account and +description in Chapter XXI., p. 43.] How wonderfully the +contending rhythms of the accompaniment, and the fitful, jerky +course of the melody, depict in No. 8 a state of anxiety and +agitation! The premature conclusion of that bright vivacious +thing No. 11 fills one with regret. Of the beautifully-melodious +No. 13, the piu lento and the peculiar closing bars are +especially noteworthy. No. 14 invites a comparison with the +finale of the B flat minor Sonata. In the middle section (in C +sharp minor) of the following number (in D flat major), one of +the larger pieces, rises before one's mind the cloistered court +of the monastery of Valdemosa, and a procession of monks chanting +lugubrious prayers, and carrying in the dark hours of night their +departed brother to his last resting-place. It reminds one of the +words of George Sand, that the monastery was to Chopin full of +terrors and phantoms. This C sharp minor portion of No. 15 +affects one like an oppressive dream; the re-entrance of the +opening D flat major, which dispels the dreadful nightmare, comes +upon one with the smiling freshness of dear, familiar nature-- +only after these horrors of the imagination can its serene beauty +be fully appreciated. No. 17, another developed piece, strikes +one as akin to Mendelssohn's Songs without Words. I must not omit +to mention No. 21, one of the finest of the collection, with its +calming cantilena and palpitating quaver figure. Besides the set +of twenty-four preludes, Op. 28, Chopin published a single one, +Op. 45, which appeared in December, 1841. This composition +deserves its name better than almost anyone of the twenty-four; +still, I would rather call it an improvisata. It seems +unpremeditated, a heedless outpouring when sitting at the piano +in a lonely, dreary hour, perhaps in the twilight. The quaver +figure rises aspiringly, and the sustained parts swell out +proudly. The piquant cadenza forestalls in the progression of +diminished chords favourite effects of some of our more modern +composers. The modulation from C sharp minor to D major and back +again (after the cadenza) is very striking and equally beautiful. + +It can hardly be said, although Liszt seemed to be of a different +opinion, that Chopin created a new type by his preludes--they are +too unlike each other in form and character. On the other hand, +he has done so by his four scherzos--Op. 20 (in B minor), +published in February, 1835; Op. 31 (B flat minor), published in +December, 1837; Op. 39 (C sharp minor), published in October, +1840; and Op. 54 (in E major), published in December, 1843. "How +is 'gravity' to clothe itself, if 'jest' goes about in dark +veils?" exclaims Schumann. No doubt, scherzo, if we consider the +original meaning of the word, is a misnomer. But are not +Beethoven's scherzos, too, misnamed? To a certain extent they +are. But if Beethoven's scherzos often lack frolicsomeness, they +are endowed with humour, whereas Chopin's have neither the one +nor the other. Were it not that we attach, especially since +Mendelssohn's time, the idea of lightness and light-heartedness +to the word capriccio, this would certainly be the more +descriptive name for the things Chopin entitled SCHERZO. But what +is the use of carping at a name? Let us rather look at the +things, and thus employ our time better. Did ever composer begin +like Chopin in his Premier Scherzo, Op. 20? Is this not like a +shriek of despair? and what follows, bewildered efforts of a soul +shut in by a wall of circumstances through which it strives in +vain to break? at last sinking down with fatigue, dreaming a +dream of idyllic beauty? but beginning the struggle again as soon +as its strength is recruited? Schumann compared the second +SCHERZO, Op. 31, to a poem of Byron's, "so tender, so bold, as +full of love as of scorn." Indeed, scorn--an element which does +not belong to what is generally understood by either +frolicsomeness or humour--plays an important part in Chopin's +scherzos. The very beginning of Op. 31 offers an example. + +[FOOTNOTE: "It must be a question [the doubled triplet figure A, +B flat, d flat, in the first bar], taught Chopin, and for him it +was never question enough, never piano enough, never vaulted +(tombe) enough, as he said, never important enough. It must be a +charnel-house, he said on one occasion." (W. von Lenz, in Vol. +XXVI. of the Berliner Musikzeitung.)] + +And then, we do not meet with a phrase of a more cheerful nature +which is not clouded by sadness. Weber--I mention his name +intentionally--would, for instance, in the D flat major portion +have concluded the melodic phrase in diatonic progression and +left the harmony pure. Now see what Chopin does. The con anima +has this mark of melancholy still more distinctly impressed upon +it. After the repetition of the capricious, impulsively- +passionate first section (in B flat minor and D flat major) +follows the delicious second, the expression of which is as +indescribable as that of Leonardo da Vinci's "La Gioconda." It is +a pondering and wondering full of longing. In the deep, tender +yearning, with the urging undercurrent of feeling, of the C sharp +minor portion, the vague dreaming of the preceding portion of the +section grows into wakefulness, and the fitful imagination is +concentrated on one object. Without continuing the emotional or +entering on a formal analysis of this scherzo, I venture to say +that it is a very important composition, richer and more varied +in emotional incidents than the other works of Chopin which bear +the same name. More than to any one of the master's scherzos, the +name capriccio would be suitable to his third "Scherzo," Op. 39, +with its capricious starts and changes, its rudderless drifting. +Peevishness, a fierce scornfulness, and a fretful agitation, may +be heard in these sounds, of jest and humour there is nothing +perceptible. At any rate, the curled lip, as it were, contradicts +the jesting words, and the careless exterior does not altogether +conceal the seething rage within. But with the meno mosso (D flat +major) come pleasanter thoughts. The hymn-like snatches of +sustained melody with the intervening airy interludes are very +lovely. These are the principal features, to describe all the +whims is of course impossible. You may call this work an +extravaganza, and point out its grotesqueness; but you must admit +that only by this erratic character of the form and these +spasmodic movements, could be expressed the peculiar restiveness, +fitfulness, and waywardness of thought and feeling that +characterise Chopin's individuality. To these unclassical +qualities--for classical art is above all plastic and self- +possessed--combined as they are with a high degree of refinement +and delicacy, his compositions owe much of their peculiar charm. +The absence of scorn distinguishes the fourth "Scherzo," Op. 54, +from the other three; but, like them, although less closely +wrapped, it wears dark veils. The tripping fairy steps which we +find in bars 17-20 and in other places are a new feature in +Chopin. As to the comparative value of the work, it seems to me +inferior to its brothers. The first section is too fragmentary to +give altogether satisfaction. One is hustled from one phrase to +another, and they are as unlike each other as can well be +imagined. The beauty of many of the details, however, must be +acknowledged; indeed, the harmonic finesses, the melodic cunning, +and rhythmical piquancy, are too potent to be ignored. The +resting-place and redeeming part of this scherzo is the sweetly- +melodious second section, with its long, smooth, gently and +beautifully-curved lines. Also the return to the repetition of +the first section is very interesting. This scherzo has the +appearance of being laboured, painfully hammered and welded +together. But as the poet is born, not made-which "being born" is +not brought about without travail, nor makes the less desirable a +careful bringing-up--so also does a work of art owe what is best +in it to a propitious concurrence of circumstances in the natal +hour. + +The contents of Chopin's impromptus are of a more pleasing nature +than those of the scherzos. Like the latter they are wayward, but +theirs is a charming, lovable waywardness. The composer's three +first impromptus were published during his lifetime: Op. 29 in +December, 1837; Op. 36 in May, 1840; and Op. 51 in February, +1843. The fourth impromptu ("Fantaisie-Impromptu"), Op. 66, is a +posthumous publication. What name has been more misapplied than +that of impromptu? Again and again we meet with works thus +christened which bear upon them the distinct marks of painful +effort and anxious filing, which maybe said to smell of the mid- +night lamp, and to be dripping with the hard-working artificer's +sweat. How Chopin produced the "Impromptu," Op. 29 (in A flat +major), I do not know. Although an admired improviser, the +process of composition was to him neither easy nor quick. But be +this as it may, this impromptu has quite the air of a +spontaneous, unconstrained outpouring. The first section with its +triplets bubbles forth and sparkles like a fountain on which the +sunbeams that steal through the interstices of the overhanging +foliage are playing. The F minor section is sung out clearly and +heartily, with graces beautiful as nature's. The song over, our +attention is again attracted by the harmonious murmuring and the +changing lights of the water. The "Deuxieme Impromptu," Op. 36 +(in F sharp major), is, like the first, a true impromptu, but +while the first is a fresh and lusty welling forth of joy amidst +the pleasures of a present reality, this is a dreamy lingering +over thoughts and scenes of the imagination that appear and +vanish like dissolving views. One would wish to have a programme +of this piece. Without such assistance the D major section of the +impromptu is insignificant. We want to see, or at least to know, +who the persons that walk in the procession which the music +accompanies are. Some bars in the second half of this section +remind one of Schumann's "Fantasia" in C. After this section a +curious transition leads in again the theme, which first appeared +in F sharp major, in F major, and with a triplet accompaniment. +When F sharp major is once more reached, the theme is still +further varied (melodically), till at last the wondrous, fairy- +like phrase from the first section brings the piece to a +conclusion. This impromptu is inferior to the first, having less +pith in it; but its tender sweetness and euphony cannot be +denied. The idle forgetfulness of the more serious duties and the +deep miseries of life in the enjoyment of a dolce far niente +recalls Schubert and the "Fantasia," Op. 78, and other works of +his. In the "Troisieme Impromptu" (in G flat major), Op. 51, the +rhythmical motion and the melodical form of the two parts that +serpentine their lines in opposite directions remind one of the +first impromptu (in A flat), but the characters of these pieces +are otherwise very unlike. The earlier work is distinguished by a +brisk freshness; the later one by a feverish restlessness and +faint plaintiveness. After the irresolute flutter of the relaxing +and enervating chromatic progressions and successions of thirds +and sixths, the greater steadiness of the middle section, more +especially the subdued strength and passionate eloquence at the D +flat major, has a good effect. But here, too, the languid, +lamenting chromatic passing and auxiliary notes are not wanting, +and the anxious, breathless accompaniment does not make things +more cheerful. In short, the piece is very fine in its way, but +the unrelieved, or at least very insufficiently relieved, +morbidezza is anything but healthy. We may take note of the plain +chord progressions which intervene in the first and last sections +of the impromptu; such progressions are of frequent occurrence in +Chopin's works. Is there not something pleonastic in the title +"Fantaisie-Impromptu?" Whether the reader may think so or not, he +will agree with me that the fourth impromptu (in C sharp minor), +Op. 66, is the most valuable of the compositions published by +Fontana; indeed, it has become one of the favourites of the +pianoforte-playing world. Spontaneity of emotional expression and +effective treatment of the pianoforte distinguish the Fantaisie- +Impromptu. In the first section we have the restless, surging, +gushing semiquavers, carrying along with them a passionate, +urging melody, and the simultaneous waving triplet accompaniment; +in the second section, where the motion of the accompaniment is +on the whole preserved, the sonorous, expressive cantilena in D +flat major; the third section repeats the first, which it +supplements with a coda containing a reminiscence of the +cantilena of the second section, which calms the agitation of the +semiquavers. According to Fontana, Chopin composed this piece +about 1834. Why did he keep it in his portfolio? I suspect he +missed in it, more especially in the middle section, that degree +of distinction and perfection of detail which alone satisfied his +fastidious taste. + +Among Chopin's nocturnes some of his most popular works are to be +found. Nay, the most widely-prevailing idea of his character as a +man and musician seems to have been derived from them. But the +idea thus formed is an erroneous one; these dulcet, effeminate +compositions illustrate only one side of the master's character, +and by no means the best or most interesting. Notwithstanding +such precious pearls as the two Nocturnes, Op. 37, and a few +others, Chopin shows himself greater both as a man and a musician +in every other class of pieces he has originated and cultivated, +more especially in his polonaises, ballades, and studies. That, +however, there is much to be admired in the class now under +consideration will be seen from the following brief comments on +the eighteen nocturnes (leaving out of account the one of the +year 1828 published by Fontana as Op. 72, No. 1, and already +discussed in an earlier chapter) which Chopin gave to the world-- +Op. 9, Trois Nocturnes, in January, 1833; Op. 15, Trois +Nocturnes, in January, 1834; Op. 27, Deux Nocturnes, in May, +1836; Op. 32, Deux Nocturnes, December, 1837; Op. 37, Deux +Nocturnes, in May, 1840; Op. 48, Deux Nocturnes, in November, +1841; Op. 55, Deux Nocturnes, in August, 1844; and Op. 62, Deux +Nocturnes, in September, 1846. Rellstab remarked in 1833 of the +Trois Nocturnes, Op. 9, that Chopin, without borrowing directly +from Field, copied the latter's melody and manner of +accompaniment. There is some truth in this; only the word "copy" +is not the correct one. The younger received from the elder +artist the first impulse to write in this form, and naturally +adopted also something of his manner. On the whole, the +similitude is rather generic than specific. Even the contents of +Op. 9 give Chopin a just claim to originality; and the Field +reminiscences which are noticeable in Nos. 1 and 2 (most +strikingly in the commencement of No. 2) of the first set of +nocturnes will be looked for in vain in the subsequent ones. + + Where Field smiles [said the above-mentioned critic], Chopin + makes a grinning grimace; where Field sighs, Chopin groans; + where Field shrugs his shoulders, Chopin twists his whole + body; where Field puts some seasoning into the food, Chopin + empties a handful of Cayenne pepper...In short, if one holds + Field's charming romances before a distorting concave mirror, + so that every delicate expression becomes a coarse one, one + gets Chopin's work...We implore Mr. Chopin to return to + nature. + +Now, what remains of this statement after subtracting prejudices +and narrow-mindedness? Nothing but that Chopin is more varied and +passionate than Field, and has developed to the utmost some of +the means of expression used by the latter. No. 1 (in B flat +minor) of Op. 9 is pervaded by a voluptuous dreaminess and +cloying sweetness: it suggests twilight, the stillness of night, +and thoughts engendered thereby. The tone of sentiment and the +phraseology of No. 2 (in E fiat major) have been made so common +by fashionable salon composers that one cannot help suspecting +that it is not quite a natural tone--not a tone of true feeling, +but of sentimentality. The vulgar do not imitate the true and +noble, but the false and ostentatious. In this piece one breathes +drawing-room air, and ostentation of sentiment and affectation of +speech are native to that place. What, however, the imitations +often lack is present in every tone and motion of the original: +eloquence, grace, and genuine refinement. + +[FOOTNOTE: Gutmann played the return of the principal subject in +a way very different from that in which it is printed, with a +great deal of ornamentation, and said that Chopin played it +always in that way. Also the cadence at the end of the nocturne +(Op. 9, No. 2) had a different form. But the composer very +frequently altered the ornamentions of his pieces or excogitated +alternative readings.] + +The third is, like the preceding nocturne, exquisite salon music. +Little is said, but that little very prettily. Although the +atmosphere is close, impregnated with musk and other perfumes, +there is here no affectation. The concluding cadenza, that +twirling line, reads plainly "Frederic Chopin." Op. 15 shows a +higher degree of independence and poetic power than Op. 9. The +third (in G minor) of these nocturnes is the finest of the three. +The words languido e rubato describe well the wavering +pensiveness of the first portion of the nocturne, which finds its +expression in the indecision of the melodic progressions, +harmonies, and modulations. The second section is marked +religiose, and may be characterised as a trustful prayer, +conducive to calm and comfort. The Nocturnes in F major and F +sharp major, Op. 15, are more passionate than the one we just now +considered, at least in the middle sections. The serene, tender +Andante in F major, always sweet, and here and there with touches +of delicate playfulness, is interrupted by thoughts of impetuous +defiance, which give way to sobs and sighs, start up again with +equal violence, and at last die away into the first sweet, tender +serenity. The contrast between the languid dreaming and the fiery +upstarting is striking and effective, and the practical musician, +as well as the student of aesthetics, will do well to examine by +what means these various effects are produced. In the second +nocturne, F sharp major, the brightness and warmth of the world +without have penetrated into the world within. The fioriture flit +about as lightly as gossamer threads. The sweetly-sad longing of +the first section becomes more disquieting in the doppio +movimento, but the beneficial influence of the sun never quite +loses its power, and after a little there is a relapse into the +calmer mood, with a close like a hazy distance on a summer day. +The second (in D flat major) of Op. 27 was, no doubt, conceived +in a more auspicious moment than the first (in C sharp minor), of +which the extravagantly wide-meshed netting of the accompaniment +is the most noteworthy feature. [FOOTNOTE: In most of the pieces +where, as in this one, the left-hand accompaniment consists of an +undulating figure, Chopin wished it to be played very soft and +subdued. This is what Gutmann said.] As to the one in D flat, +nothing can equal the finish and delicacy of execution, the flow +of gentle feeling, lightly rippled by melancholy, and spreading +out here and there in smooth expansiveness. But all this +sweetness enervates; there is poison in it. We should not drink +in these thirds, sixths, &c., without taking an antidote of Bach +or Beethoven. Both the nocturnes of Op. 32 are pretty specimens +of Chopin's style of writing in the tender, calm, and dreamy +moods. Of the two (in B major and A flat major) I prefer the +quiet, pellucid first one. It is very simple, ornaments being +very sparingly introduced. The quietness and simplicity are, +however, at last disturbed by an interrupted cadence, sombre +sounds as of a kettle-drum, and a passionate recitative with +intervening abrupt chords. The second nocturne has less +originality and pith. Deux Nocturnes (in G minor and G major), +Op. 37, are two of the finest, I am inclined to say, the two +finest, of this class of Chopin's pieces; but they are of +contrasting natures. The first and last sections of the one in G +minor are plaintive and longing, and have a wailing +accompaniment; the chord progressions of the middle section glide +along hymn-like. [FOOTNOTE: Gutmann played this section quicker +than the rest, and said that Chopin forgot to mark the change of +movement.] Were it possible to praise one part more emphatically +than another without committing an injustice, I would speak of +the melodic exquisiteness of the first motive. But already I see +other parts rise reproachfully before my repentant conscience. A +beautiful sensuousness distinguishes the nocturne in G major: it +is luscious, soft, rounded, and not without a certain degree of +languor. The successions of thirds and, sixths, the semitone +progressions, the rocking motion, the modulations (note +especially those of the first section and the transition from +that to the second), all tend to express the essential character. +The second section in C major reappears in E major, after a +repetition of part of the first section; a few bars of the latter +and a reminiscence of the former conclude the nocturne. But let +us not tarry too long in the treacherous atmosphere of this Capua- +-it bewitches and unmans. The two nocturnes (in C minor and F +sharp minor) which form Op. 48 are not of the number of those +that occupy foremost places among their companions. Still, they +need not be despised. The melody of the C minor portion of the +first is very expressive, and the second has in the C sharp minor +portion the peculiar Chopinesque flebile dolcezza. In playing +these nocturnes there occurred to me a remark of Schumann's, made +when he reviewed some nocturnes by Count Wielhorski. He said, on +that occasion, that the quicker middle movements which Chopin +frequently introduces into his nocturnes are often weaker than +his first conceptions, meaning the first portions of the +nocturnes. Now, although the middle parts in the present +instances are, on the contrary, slower movements, yet the +judgment holds good; at least, with respect to the first +nocturne, the middle part of which has nothing to recommend it +but the effective use of a full and sonorous instrumentation, if +I may use this word in speaking of one instrument. The middle +part of the second (f, D flat, Molto piu lento), however, is much +finer; in it we meet again, as we did in some other nocturnes, +with soothing, simple chord progressions. When Gutmann studied +the C sharp minor nocturne with Chopin, the master told him that +the middle section (the Molto piu lento, in D flat major) should +be played as a recitative: "A tyrant commands" (the first two +chords), he said, "and the other asks for mercy." Regarding the +first nocturne (in F minor) of Op. 55, we will note only the +flebile dolcezza of the first and the last section, and the +inferiority of the more impassioned middle section. The second +nocturne (in E flat major) differs in form from the other +nocturnes in this, that it has no contrasting second section, the +melody flowing onward from begining to end in a uniform manner. +The monotony of the unrelieved sentimentality does not fail to +make itself felt. One is seized by an ever-increasing longing to +get out of this oppressive atmosphere, to feel the fresh breezes +and warm sunshine, to see smiling faces and the many-coloured +dress of Nature, to hear the rustling of leaves, the murmuring of +streams, and voices which have not yet lost the clear, sonorous +ring that joy in the present and hope in the future impart. The +two nocturnes, Op. 62, seem to owe their existence rather to the +sweet habit of activity than to inspiration. At any rate, the +tender flutings, trills, roulades, syncopations, &c., of the +first nocturne (in B major), and the sentimental declarations and +confused, monotonous agitation of the second (in E major), do not +interest me sufficiently to induce me to discuss their merits and +demerits. + +One day Tausig, the great pianoforte-virtuoso, promised W. von +Lenz to play him Chopin's "Barcarolle," Op. 60 (published in +September, 1846), adding, "That is a performance which must not +be undertaken before more than two persons. I shall play you my +own self (meinen Menschen). I love the piece, but take it up only +rarely." Lenz, who did not know the barcarolle, thereupon went to +a music-shop and read it through attentively. The piece, however, +did not please him at all; it seemed to him a long movement in +the nocturne-style, a Babel of figuration on a lightly-laid +foundation. But he found that he had made a mistake, and, after +hearing it played by Tausig, confessed that the virtuoso had +infused into the "nine pages of enervating music, of one and the +same long-breathed rhythm (12/8), so much interest, so much +motion, and so much action," that he regretted the long piece was +not longer. And now let us hear what remarks Tausig made with +regard to the barcarolle:-- + + There are two persons concerned in the affair; it is a love- + scene in a discrete gondola; let us say this mise en scene is + the symbol of a lovers' meeting generally. This is expressed + in the thirds and sixths; the dualism of two notes (persons) + is maintained throughout; all is two-voiced, two-souled. In + this modulation here in C sharp major (superscribed dolce + sfogato), there are kiss and embrace! This is evident! When, + after three bars of introduction, the theme, lightly rocking + in the bass solo, enters in the fourth, this theme is + nevertheless made use of throughout the whole fabric only as + an accompaniment, and on this the cantilena in two parts is + laid; we have thus a continuous, tender dialogue. + +Both Lenz's first and last impressions were correct. The form of +the barcarolle is that of most of Chopin's nocturnes--consisting +of three sections, of which the third is a modified repetition of +the first--only everything is on a larger scale, and more worked +out. Unfortunately, the contrast of the middle section is not +great enough to prevent the length, in spite of the excellence of +the contents, from being felt. Thus we must also subscribe to the +"nine pages of enervating music." Still, the barcarolle is one of +the most important of Chopin's compositions in the nocturne- +style. It has distinctive features which decidedly justify and +make valuable its existence. Local colouring is not wanting. The +first section reminded me of Schumann's saying that Chopin in his +melodies leans sometimes over Germany towards Italy. If properly +told, this love-laden romance cannot fail to produce effect. + +Of the pieces that bear the name "Berceuse," Chopin's Op. 57 +(published in June, 1845) is the finest, or at least one of the +finest and happiest conceptions. It rests on the harmonic basis +of tonic and dominant. The triad of the tonic and the chord of +the dominant seventh divide every bar between them in a brotherly +manner. Only in the twelfth and thirteenth bars from the end (the +whole piece contains seventy) the triad of the subdominant comes +forward, and gives a little breathing time to the triad of the +tonic, the chord of the dominant having already dropped off. +Well, on this basis Chopin builds, or let us rather say, on this +rocking harmonic fluid he sets afloat a charming melody, which is +soon joined by a self-willed second part. Afterwards, this melody +is dissolved into all kinds of fioriture, colorature, and other +trickeries, and they are of such fineness, subtlety, loveliness, +and gracefulness, that one is reminded of Queen Mab, who comes-- + + In shape no bigger than an agate-stone + On the fore-finger of an alderman. + Drawn with a team of little atomies + Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep; + Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners' legs, + The cover of the wings of grasshoppers; + The traces of the smallest spider's web; + The collars of the moonshine's watery beams; + Her whip of cricket's bone; the lash of film; + Her waggoner a small grey-coated gnat. + +[FOOTNOTE: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, I., iv., 59-68] + +But who does not know the delightful description of the fairy in +her hazel-nut coach, and the amusing story of her frolics and +pranks? By-and-by the nimble motions of the colorature become +slower, and finally glide into the original form of the melody, +which, however, already after the third bar comes to a stand- +still, is resumed for a short phrase, then expires, after a long- +drawn chord of the dominant seventh, on the chord of the tonic, +and all is rest and silence. Alexandre Dumas fils speaks in the +"Affaire Clemenceau" of the "Berceuse" as-- + + this muted music [musique en sourdine] which penetrated little + by little the atmosphere and enveloped us in one and the same + sensation, comparable perhaps to that which follows a Turkish + bath, when all the senses are confounded in a general + apaisement, when the body, harmoniously broken, has no longer + any other wish than rest, and when, the soul, seeing all the + doors of its prison open, goes wherever it lists, but always + towards the Blue, into the dream-land. + +None of Chopin's compositions surpass in masterliness of form and +beauty and poetry of contents his ballades. In them he attains, I +think, the acme of his power as an artist. It is much to be +regretted that they are only four in number--Op. 23, published in +June, 1836; Op. 38, in September, 1840; Op. 47, in November, +1841; and Op 52, in December, 1843. When Schumann reviewed the +second ballade he wrote: "Chopin has already written a piece +under the same title, one of his wildest and most individual +compositions." Schumann relates also that the poems of Mickiewicz +incited Chopin to write his ballades, which information he got +from the Polish composer himself. He adds significantly: "A poet, +again, might easily write words to them [Chopin's ballades]. They +move the innermost depth of the soul." Indeed, the "Ballade" (in +G minor), Op. 23, is all over quivering with intensest feeling, +full of sighs, sobs, groans, and passionate ebullitions. The +seven introductory bars (Lento) begin firm, ponderous, and loud, +but gradually become looser, lighter, and softer, terminating +with a dissonant chord, which some editors have thought fit to +correct. [FOOTNOTE: For the correctness of the suspected note we +have the testimony of pupils--Gutmann, Mikuli, &c.] Yet this +dissonant E flat may be said to be the emotional key-note of the +whole poem. It is a questioning thought that, like a sudden pain, +shoots through mind and body. And now the story-teller begins his +simple but pathetic tale, heaving every now and then a sigh. +After the ritenuto the matter becomes more affecting; the sighs +and groans, yet for a while kept under restraint, grow louder +with the increasing agitation, till at last the whole being is +moved to its very depths. On the uproar of the passions follows a +delicious calm that descends like a heavenly vision (meno mosso, +E flat major). But this does not last, and before long there +comes, in the train of the first theme, an outburst of passion +with mighty upheavings and fearful lulls that presage new +eruptions. Thus the ballade rises and falls on the sea of passion +till a mad, reckless rush (presto con fuoco) brings it to a +conclusion. Schumann tells us a rather interesting fact in his +notice of the "Deuxieme Ballade" (in F major), Op. 38. He heard +Chopin play it in Leipzig before its publication, and at that +time the passionate middle parts did not exist, and the piece +closed in F major, now it closes in A minor. Schumann's opinion +of this ballade is, that as a work of art it stands below the +first, yet is not less fantastic and geistreich. If two such +wholly dissimilar things can be compared and weighed in this +fashion, Schumann is very likely right; but I rather think they +cannot. The second ballade possesses beauties in no way inferior +to those of the first. What can be finer than the simple strains +of the opening section! They sound as if they had been drawn from +the people's storehouse of song. The entrance of the presto +surprises, and seems out of keeping with what precedes; but what +we hear after the return of the tempo primo--the development of +those simple strains, or rather the cogitations on them-- +justifies the presence of the presto. The second appearance of +the latter leads to an urging, restless coda in A minor, which +closes in the same key and pianissimo with a few bars of the +simple, serene, now veiled, first strain. The "Troisieme Ballade" +(in A flat major), Op. 47, does not equal its sisters in +emotional intensity, at any rate, not in emotional +tumultuousness. On this occasion the composer shows himself in a +fundamentally caressing mood. But the fine gradations, the +iridescence of feeling, mocks at verbal definition. Insinuation +and persuasion cannot be more irresistible, grace and affection +more seductive. Over everything in melody, harmony, and rhythm, +there is suffused a most exquisite elegance. A quiver of +excitement runs through the whole piece. The syncopations, +reversions of accent, silences on accented parts of the bar +(sighs and suspended respiration, felicitously expressed), which +occur very frequently in this ballade, give much charm and +piquancy to it. As an example, I may mention the bewitching +subject in F major of the second section. The appearances of this +subject in different keys and in a new guise are also very +effective. Indeed, one cannot but be struck with wonder at the +ease, refinement, and success with which Chopin handles here the +form, while in almost every work in the larger forms we find him +floundering lamentably. It would be foolish and presumptuous to +pronounce this or that one of the ballades the finest; but one +may safely say that the fourth (in F minor), Op. 52, is fully +worthy of her sisters. The emotional key-note of the piece is +longing sadness, and this key-note is well preserved throughout; +there are no long or distant excursions from it. The variations +of the principal subject are more emphatic restatements of it: +the first is more impressive than the original, the second more +eloquently beseeching than either of them. I resist, though with +difficulty, the temptation to point out in detail the interesting +course of the composer's thoughts, and proceed at once to the +coda which, palpitating and swelling with passion, concludes the +fourth and, alas! last ballade. + +We have now passed in review not only all the compositions published +by Chopin himself, but also a number of those published without his +authorisation. The publications not brought about by the master +himself were without exception indiscretions; most of them, no +doubt, well meant, but nevertheless regrettable. Whatever Fontana +says to the contrary in the preface to his collection of Chopin's +posthumous works, [FOOTNOTE: The Chopin compositions published by +Fontana (in 1855) comprise the Op. 66- 74; the reader will see them +enumerated in detail in the list of cur composer's works at the end +of this volume.] the composer unequivocally expressed the wish that +his manuscripts should not be published. Indeed, no one acquainted +with the artistic character of the master, and the nature of the +works published by himself, could for a moment imagine that the +latter would at any time or in any circumstances have given his +consent to the publication of insignificant and imperfect +compositions such as most of those presented to the world by his +ill-advised friend are. Still, besides the "Fantaisie-Impromptu," +which one would not like to have lost, and one or two mazurkas, +which cannot but be prized, though perhaps less for their artistic +than their human interest, Fontana's collection contains an item +which, if it adds little value to Chopin's musical legacy, attracts +at least the attention of the lover and student of his music-namely, +Op. 74, Seventeen Polish Songs, composed in the years 1824-1844, the +only vocal compositions of this pianist-composer that have got into +print. The words of most of these songs are by his friend Stephen +Witwicki; others are by Adam Mickiewicz, Bogdan Zaleski, and +Sigismond Krasinski, poets with all of whom he was personally +acquainted. As to the musical settings, they are very unequal: a +considerable number of them decidedly commonplace--Nos. 1, 5, 8, and +also 4 and 12 may be instanced; several, and these belong to the +better ones, exceedingly simple and in the style of folk-songs-- +No. 2 consists of a phrase of four bars (accompanied by a pedal bass +and the tonic and dominant harmonies) repeated alternately in G +minor and B flat major; and a few more developed in form and of a +more artistic character. In the symphonies (the preludes, +interludes, &c.) of the songs, we meet now and then with +reminiscences from his instrumental pieces. In one or two cases one +notices also pretty tone-painting--for instance, No. 10, "Horseman +before the Battle," and No. 15, "The return Home" (storm). Among the +most noteworthy are: the already-described No. 2; the +sweetly-melancholy No. 3; the artistically more dignified No. 9; the +popular No. 13; the weird No. 15; and the impressive, but, by its +terrible monotony, also oppressive No. 17 ("Poland's Dirge"). The +mazurka movement and the augmented fourth degree of the scale (Nos. +2 and 4) present themselves, apart from the emotional contents, as +the most strikingly-national features of these songs. Karasowski +states that many songs sung by the people in Poland are attributed +to Chopin, chief among them one entitled "The third of May." + +I must not conclude this chapter without saying something about +the editions of Chopin's works. The original French, German, and +English editions all leave much to be desired in the way of +correctness. To begin with, the composer's manuscripts were very +negligently prepared, and of the German and the English, and even +of the French edition, he did not always see the proofs; and, +whether he did or not, he was not likely to be a good proof- +reader, which presupposes a special talent, or rather +disposition. Indeed, that much in the preparation of the +manuscripts for the press and the correction of the proofs was +left to his friends and pupils may be gathered both from his +letters and from other sources. "The first comprehension of the +piece," says Schumann, in speaking of the German edition of the +Tarantella, "is, unfortunately, rendered very difficult by the +misprints with which it is really swarming." Those who assisted +Chopin in the work incident to publication--more especially by +copying his autographs--were Fontana, Wolff, Gutmann, and in +later years Mikuli and Tellefsen. + +Here I may fitly insert a letter written by Chopin to Maurice +Schlesinger on July 22, 1843 (not 1836, as La Mara supposes), +which has some bearing on the subject under discussion. The +Impromptu spoken of is the third, Op. 51, in G flat major:-- + + Dear friend,--In the Impromptu which you have issued with the + paper [Gazette musicals] of July 9, there is a confusion in + the paging, which makes my composition unintelligible. Though + I cannot at all pretend to taking the pains which our friend + Moscheles bestows on his works, I consider myself, however, + with regard to your subscribers, in duty bound to ask you on + this occasion to insert in your next number an erratum:-- + + Page 3--read page 5. + Page 5--read page 3. + + If you are too busy or too lazy to write to me, answer me + through the erratum in the paper, and that shall signify to me + that you, Madame Schlesinger, and your children are all well. + --Yours very truly, July 22 [1843]. + F. CHOPIN. + +The first complete edition of Chopin's works was, according to +Karasowski, [FOOTNOTE: More recently the same firm brought out +the works of Chopin edited by Jean Kleczynski.] that published in +1864, with the authorisation of the composer's family, by +Gebethner and Wolff, of Warsaw. But the most important editions-- +namely, critical editions--are Tellefsen's (I mention them in +chronological order), Klindworth's, Scholtz's, and Breitkopf and +Hartel's. Simon Richault, of Paris, the publisher of the first- +named edition, which appeared in 1860, says in the preface to it +that Tellefsen had in his possession a collection of the works of +Chopin corrected by the composer's own hand. As to the +violoncello part of the Polonaise, it was printed as Franchomme +always played it with the composer. The edition was also to be +free from all marks of expression that were not Chopin's own. +Notwithstanding all this, Tellefsen's edition left much to be +desired. + + My friend and fellow-pupil, Thomas Tellefsen [writes Mikuli], + who, till Chopin's last breath, had the happiness to be in + uninterrupted intercourse with him, was quite in a position to + bring out correctly his master's works in the complete edition + undertaken by him for Richault. Unfortunately, a serious + illness and his death interrupted this labour, so that + numerous misprints remained uncorrected. + + [FOOTNOTE: Mikuli's spelling of the name is Telefsen, whereas + it is Tellefsen on the Norwegian's edition of Chopin's works, + in all the dictionaries that mention him, and in the + contemporary newspaper notices and advertisements I have come + across.] + + [FOOTNOTE: I do not know how to reconcile this last remark + with the publisher's statement that the edition appeared in + 1860 (it was entered at Stationers' Hall on September 20, + 1860), and Tellefsen's death at Paris in October, 1874.] + +Klindworth's edition, the first volume of which appeared in +October, 1873, and the last in March, 1876, at Moscow (P. +Jurgenson), in six volumes, is described on the title-page as +"Complete works of Fr. Chopin critically revised after the +original French, German, and Polish editions, carefully corrected +and minutely fingered for pupils." [FOOTNOTE: This edition has +been reprinted by Augener & Co., of London.] The work done by +Klindworth is one of the greatest merit, and has received the +highest commendations of such men as Liszt and Hans von Bulow. +Objections that can be made to it are, that the fingering, +although excellent, is not always Chopinesque; and that the +alteration of the rhythmically-indefinite small notes of the +original into rhythmically-definite ones, although facilitating +the execution for learners, counteracts the composer's intention. +Mikuli holds that an appeal to Chopin's manuscripts is of no use +as they are full of slips of the pen--wrong notes and values, +wrong accidentals and clefs, wrong slurs and 8va markings, and +omissions of dots and chord-intervals. The original French, +German, and English editions he regards likewise as unreliable. +But of them he gives the preference to the French editions, as +the composer oftener saw proofs of them. On the other hand, the +German editions, which, he thinks, came out later than the Paris +ones, contain subsequently-made changes and improvements. +[FOOTNOTE: Take note, however, in connection with this remark, of +Chopin's letter of August 30, 1845, on pp. 119-120 of this +volume.] Sometimes, no doubt, the Paris edition preceded the +German one, but not as a rule. The reader will remember from the +letters that Chopin was always anxious that his works should +appear simultaneously in all countries, which, of course, was not +always practicable. Mikuli based his edition (Leipzig: Fr. +Kistner), the preface to which is dated "Lemberg, September, +1879," on his own copies, mostly of Parisian editions, copies +which Chopin corrected in the course of his lessons; and on other +copies, with numerous corrections from the hand of the master, +which were given him by the Countess Delphine Potocka. He had +also the assistance of Chopin's pupils the Princess Marcelline +Czartoryska and Madame Friederike Streicher (nee Muller), and +also of Madame Dubois and Madame Rubio, and of the composer's +friend Ferdinand Hiller. Mikuli's edition, like Klindworth's, is +fingered, and, as the title-page informs us, "for the most part +according to the author's markings." Hermann Scholtz, who edited +Chopin's works for Peters, of Leipzig, says in the preface (dated +"Dresden, December, 1879") that his critical apparatus consisted +of the original French, German, and English editions, various +autographs (the Preludes, Op. 28; the Scherzo, Op. 54; the +Impromptu, Op. 51; the Nocturnes, Op. 48; the Mazurka, Op. 7, No. +3, and a sketch of the Mazurka, Op. 30, No. 4), and three volumes +of Chopin's compositions with corrections, additions, and marks +of expression by his own hand, belonging to the master's pupil +Madame von Heygendorf (nee von Konneritz). In addition to these +advantages he enjoyed the advice of M. Mathias, another pupil of +Chopin. The critically-revised edition published (March, 1878-- +January, 1880) by Breitkopf and Hartel was edited by Woldemar +Bargiel, Johannes Brahms, Auguste Franchomme, Franz Liszt (the +Preludes), Carl Reinecke, and Ernst Rudorff. The prospectus sets +forth that the revision was based on manuscript material +(autographs and proofs with the composer's corrections and +additions) and the original French and German editions; and that +Madame Schumann, M. Franchomme, and friends and pupils of the +composer had been helpful with their counsel. Breitkopf and +Hartel's edition is the most complete, containing besides all the +pianoforte solo and ensemble works published by the composer +himself, a greater number of posthumous works (including the +songs) than is to be found in any other edition. Klindworth's is +a purely pianoforte edition, and excludes the trio, the pieces +with violoncello, and the songs. The above enumeration, however, +does not exhaust the existing Chopin editions, which, indeed, are +almost innumerable, as in the last decade almost every publisher, +at least, almost every German publisher, has issued one--among +others there are Schuberth's, edited by Alfred Richter, Kahnt's, +edited by S. Jadassohn, and Steingraber's, edited by Ed. Mertke. +[FOOTNOTE: Among earlier editions I may mention the incomplete +OEuvres completes, forming Vols. 21-24 of the Bibliotheque des +Pianistes, published by Schonenberger (Paris, 1860).] Voluminous +as the material for a critical edition of Chopin's works is, its +inconclusiveness, which constantly necessitates appeals to the +individual taste and judgment of the editor, precludes the +possibility of an edition that will satisfy all in all cases. +Chopin's pupils, who reject the editing of their master's works +by outsiders, do not accept even the labours of those from among +their midst. These reasons have determined me not to criticise, +but simply to describe, the most notable editions. In speaking of +the disputes about the correctness of the various editions, I +cannot help remembering a remark of Mendelssohn's, of which +Wenzel told me. "Mendelssohn said on one occasion in his naive +manner: 'In Chopin's music one really does not know sometimes +whether a thing is right or wrong.'" + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + + +CHOPIN'S ARRIVAL IN LONDON.--MUSICAL ASPECT OF THE BRITISH +METROPOLIS IN 1848.--CULTIVATION OF CHOPIN'S MUSIC IN ENGLAND.-- +CHOPIN AT EVENING PARTIES, &C. --LETTERS GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS +DOINGS AND FEELINGS.--TWO MATINEES MUSICALES GIVEN BY CHOPIN; +CRITICISMS ON THEM.--ANOTHER LETTER.--KINDNESS SHOWN HIM.--CHOPIN +STARTS FOR SCOTLAND.--A LETTER WRITTEN AT EDINBURGH AND CALDER +HOUSE.--HIS SCOTCH FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES.--HIS STAY AT DR. +LYSCHINSKl'S.--PLAYS AT A CONCERT IN MANCHESTER.--RETURNS TO +SCOTLAND, AND GIVES A MATINEE MUSICALE IN GLASGOW AND IN +EDINBURGH.--MORE LETTERS FROM SCOTLAND.--BACK TO LONDON.--OTHER +LETTERS.--PLAYS AT A "GRAND POLISH BALL AND CONCERT" IN THE +GUILDHALL.--LAST LETTER FROM LONDON, AND JOURNEY AND RETURN TO +PARIS. + + + +CHOPIN arrived in London, according to Mr. A. J. Hipkins, on +April 21, 1848. + +[FOOTNOTE: The indebtedness of two writers on Chopin to Mr. +Hipkins has already been adverted to in the Preface. But his +vivid recollection of Chopin's visit to London in this year, and +of the qualities of his playing, has been found of great value +also in other published notices dealing with this period. The +present writer has to thank Mr. Hipkins, apart from second-hand +obligations, for various suggestions, answers to inquiries, and +reading the proof-sheets of this chapter.] + +He took up his quarters first at 10, Bentinck Street, but soon +removed to the house indicated in the following letter, written +by him to Franchomme on May 1, 1848:-- + + Dearest friend,--Here I am, just settled. I have at last a + room--fine and large--where I shall be able to breathe and + play, and the sun visits me to-day for the first time. I feel + less suffocated this morning, but all last week I was good for + nothing. How are you and your wife and the dear children? You + begin at last to become more tranquil, [FOOTNOTE: This, I + think, refers to some loss Franchomme had sustained in his + family] do you not? I have some tiresome visits; my letters of + introduction are not yet delivered. I trifle away my time, and + VOILA. I love you, and once more VOILA. + + Yours with all my heart. + + My kindest regards to Madame Franchomme. + 48, Dover Street. + Write to me, I will write to you also. + +Were Chopin now to make his appearance in London, what a stir +there would be in musical society! In 1848 Billet, Osborne, +Kalkbrenner, Halle, and especially Thalberg, who came about the +same time across the channel, caused more curiosity. By the way, +England was just then heroically enduring an artistic invasion +such as had never been seen before; not only from France, but +also from Germany and other musical countries arrived day after +day musicians who had found that their occupation was gone on the +Continent, where people could think of nothing but politics and +revolutions. To enumerate all the celebrities then congregated in +the British Metropolis would be beyond my power and the scope of +this publication, but I must at least mention that among them was +no less eminent a creative genius than Berlioz, no less brilliant +a vocal star than Pauline Viardot-Garcia. Of other high-priests +and high-priestesses of the art we shall hear in the sequel. But +although Chopin did not set the Thames on fire, his visit was not +altogether ignored by the press. Especially the Athenaeum (H. F. +Chorley) and the Musical World (J. W. Davison) honoured +themselves by the notice they took of the artist. The former +journal not only announced (on April 29) his arrival, but also +some weeks previously (on April 8) his prospective advent, +saying: "M. Chopin's visit is an event for which we most heartily +thank the French Republic." + +In those days, and for a long time after, the appreciation and +cultivation of Chopin's music was in England confined to a select +few. Mr. Hipkins told me that he "had to struggle for years to +gain adherents to Chopin's music, while enduring the good- +humoured banter of Sterndale Bennett and J. W. Davison." The +latter--the author of An Essay on the Works of Frederic Chopin +(London, 1843), the first publication of some length on the +subject, and a Preface to, or, to be more precise, a Memoir +prefixed to Boosey & Co.'s The Mazurkas and Valses of F. Chopin- +-seems to have in later years changed his early good opinion of +the Polish master. + +[FOOTNOTE: Two suggestions have been made to me in explanation of +this change of opinion: it may have been due to the fear that the +rising glory of Chopin might dim that of Mendelssohn; or Davison +may have taken umbrage at Chopin's conduct in an affair relative +to Mendelssohn. I shall not discuss the probability of these +suggestions, but will say a few words with regard to the last- +mentioned matter. My source of information is a Paris letter in +the Musical World of December 4, 1847. After the death of +Mendelssohn some foreign musicians living in Paris proposed to +send a letter of condolence to Mrs. Mendelssohn. One part of the +letter ran thus: "May it be permitted to us, German artists, far +from our country, to offer," &c. The signatures to it were: +Rosenhain, Kalkbrenner, Panofka, Heller, Halle, Pixis, and Wolff. +Chopin when applied to for his signature wrote: "La lettre venant +des Allemands, comment voulez-vous que je m'arroge le droit de la +signer?" One would think that no reasonable being could take +exception to Chopin's conduct in this affair, and yet the writer +in the Musical World comments most venomously on it.] + +The battle fought in the pages of the Musical World in 1841 +illustrates the then state of matters in England. Hostilities +commenced on October 28 with a criticism of the Mazurkas, Op. 41. +Of its unparalleled nature the reader shall judge himself:-- + + Monsieur Frederic Chopin has, by some means or other which we + cannot divine, obtained an enormous reputation, a reputation + but too often refused to composers of ten times his genius. M. + Chopin is by no means a putter down of commonplaces; but he + is, what by many would be esteemed worse, a dealer in the most + absurd and hyperbolical extravagances. It is a striking satire + on the capability for thought possessed by the musical + profession, that so very crude and limited a writer should be + esteemed, as he is very generally, a profound classical + musician. M. Chopin does not want ideas, but they never extend + beyond eight or sixteen bars at the utmost, and then he is + invariably in nubibus...the works of the composer give us + invariably the idea of an enthusiastic school-boy, whose parts + are by no means on a par with his enthusiasm, who WILL be + original whether he CAN or not. There is a clumsiness about + his harmonies in the midst of their affected strangeness, a + sickliness about his melodies despite their evidently FORCED + unlikeness to familiar phrases, an utter ignorance of design + everywhere apparent in his lengthened works...The entire works + of Chopin present a motley surface of ranting hyperbole and + excruciating cacophony. When he is not THUS singular, he is no + better than Strauss or any other waltz compounder...such as + admire Chopin, and they are legion, will admire these + Mazurkas, which are supereminently Chopin-ical; that do NOT + we. + +Wessel and Stapleton, the publishers, protested against this +shameful criticism, defending Chopin and adducing the opinions of +numerous musicians in support of their own. But the valorous +editor "ventures to assure the distinguished critics and the +publishers that there will be no difficulty in pointing out a +hundred palpable faults, and an infinitude of meretricious +uglinesses, such as, to real taste and judgment, are +intolerable." Three more letters appeared in the following +numbers--two for (Amateur and Professor) and one against +(Inquirer) Chopin; the editor continuing to insist with as much +violence as stupidity that he was right. It is pleasant to turn +from this senseless opposition to the friends and admirers of the +master. Of them we learn something in Davison's Essay on the +Works of F. Chopin, from which I must quote a few passages:-- + + This Concerto [the E minor] has been made known to the + amateurs of music in England by the artist-like performance of + Messrs. W. H. Holmes, F. B. Jewson, H. B. Richards, R. + Barnett, and other distinguished members of the Royal Academy, + where it is a stock piece...The Concerto [in F minor] has been + made widely known of late by the clever performance of that + true little prodigy Demoiselle Sophie Bohrer....These charming + bagatelles [the Mazurkas] have been made widely known in + England through the instrumentality of Mr. Moscheles, Mr. + Cipriani Potter, Mr. Kiallmark, Madame de Belleville-Oury, Mr. + Henry Field (of Bath), Mr. Werner, and other eminent pianists, + who enthusiastically admire and universally recommend them to + their pupils...To hear one of those eloquent streams of pure + loveliness [the nocturnes] delivered by such pianists as + Edouard Pirkhert, William Holmes, or Henry Field, a pleasure + we frequently enjoyed, is the very transcendency of delight. + + [FOOTNOTE: Information about the above-named pianists may be + found in the musical biographical dictionaries, with three + exceptions-namely, Kiallmark, Werner, and Pirkhert. George + Frederick Kiallmark (b. November 7, 1804; d. December 13, + 1887), a son of the violinist and composer George Kiallmark, + was for many years a leading professor in London. He is said + to have had a thorough appreciation and understanding of + Chopin's genius, and even in his last years played much of + that master's music. He took especial delight in playing + Chopin's Nocturnes, no Sunday ever passed without his family + hearing him play two or three of them.--Louis Werner (whose + real name was Levi) was the son of a wealthy and esteemed + Jewish family living at Clapham. He studied music in London + under Moscheles, and, though not an eminent pianist, was a + good teacher. His amiability assured him a warm welcome in + society.--Eduard Pirkhert died at Vienna, aged 63, on February + 28, 1881. To Mr. Ernst Pauer, who is never appealed to in + vain, I am indebted for the following data as well as for the + subject--matter of my notice on Werner: "Eduard Pirkhert, born + at Graz in 1817, was a pupil of Anton Halm and Carl Czerny. He + was a shy and enormously diligent artist, who, however, on + account of his nervousness, played, like Henselt, rarely in + public. His execution was extraordinary and his tone + beautiful. In 1855 he became professor at the Vienna + Conservatorium." Mr. Pauer never heard him play Chopin.] + +After this historical excursus let us take up again the record of +our hero's doings and sufferings in London. + +Chopin seems to have gone to a great many parties of various +kinds, but he could not always be prevailed upon to give the +company a taste of his artistic quality. Brinley Richards saw him +at an evening party at the house of the politician Milner Gibson, +where he did not play, although he was asked to do so. According +to Mr. Hueffer, [FOOTNOTE: Chopin in Fortnightly Review of +September, 1877, reprinted in Musical Studies (Edinburgh: A. & C. +Black, 1880).] he attended, likewise without playing, an evening +party (May 6) at the house of the historian Grote. Sometimes ill- +health prevented him from fulfilling his engagements; this, for +instance, was the case on the occasion of a dinner which Macready +is said to have given in his honour, and to which Thackeray, Mrs. +Procter, Berlioz, and Julius Benedict were invited. On the other +hand, Chopin was heard at the Countess of Blessington's (Gore +House, Kensington) and the Duchess of Sutherland's (Stafford +House). On the latter occasion Benedict played with him a duet of +Mozart's. More than thirty years after, Sir Julius had still a +clear recollection of "the great pains Chopin insisted should be +taken in rehearsing it, to make the rendering of it at the +concert as perfect as possible." John Ella heard Chopin play at +Benedict's. Of another of Chopin's private performances in the +spring of 1848 we read in the Supplement du Dictionnaire de la +Conversation, where Fiorentino writes: + + We were at most ten or twelve in a homely, comfortable little + salon, equally propitious to conversation and contemplation. + Chopin took the place of Madame Viardot at the piano, and + plunged us into ineffable raptures. I do not know what he + played to us; I do not know how long our ecstasy lasted: we + were no longer on earth; he had transported us into unknown + regions, into a sphere of flame and azure, where the soul, + freed from all corporeal bonds, floats towards the infinite. + This was, alas! the song of the swan. + +The sequel will show that the concluding sentence is no more than +a flourish of the pen. Whether Chopin played at Court, as he says +in a letter to Gutmann he expected to do, I have not ascertained. +Nor have I been able to get any information about a dinner which, +Karasowski relates, some forty countrymen of Chopin's got up in +his honour when they heard of his arrival in London. According to +this authority the pianist-composer rose when the proceedings +were drawing to an end, and many speeches extolling him as a +musician and patriot had been made, and spoke, if not these +words, to this effect: "My dear countrymen! The proofs of your +attachment and love which you have just given me have truly moved +me. I wish to thank you, but lack the talent of expressing my +feelings in words; I invite you therefore to accompany me to my +lodgings and to receive there my thanks at the piano." The +proposal was received with enthusiasm, and Chopin played to his +delighted and insatiable auditors till two o'clock in the +morning. What a crush, these forty or more people in Chopin's +lodgings! However, that is no business of mine. + +[FOOTNOTE: After reading the above, Mr. Hipkins remarked: "I +fancy this dinner resembled the dinner which will go down to +posterity as given by the Hungarians of London to Liszt in +[1886], which was really a private dinner given by Mrs. +Bretherton to fifteen people, of whom her children and mine were +four. NO Hungarians."] + +The documents--letters and newspaper advertisements and notices-- +bearing on this period of Chopin's life are so plentiful that +they tell the story without the help of many additions and +explanatory notes. This is satisfactory, for one grain of fact is +more precious than a bushel of guesses and hearsays. + + Chopin to Gutmann; London, 48, Dover Street, Piccadilly, + Saturday, May 6, 1848:-- + + Dear friend,--Here I am at last, settled in this whirlpool of + London. It is only a few days since I began to breathe; for it + is only a few days since the sun showed itself. I have seen M. + D'Orsay, and notwithstanding all the delay of my letter he + received me very well. Be so good as to thank the duchess for + me and him. I have not yet made all my calls, for many persons + to whom I have letters of introduction are not yet here. Erard + was charming; he sent me a piano. I have a Broadwood and a + Pleyel, which makes three, and yet I do not find time to play + them. I have many visitors, and my days pass like lightning--I + have not even had a moment to write to Pleyel. Let me know how + you are getting on. In what state of mind are you? How are + your people? With my people things are not going well. I am + much vexed about this. In spite of that I must think of making + a public appearance; a proposal has been made to me to play at + the Philharmonic, [FOOTNOTE: "Chopin, we are told," says the + Musical World of May 27, 1848, "was invited to play at the + Philharmonic, but declined."] but I would rather not. I shall + apparently finish off, after playing at Court before the Queen + [chez la reine], by giving a matinee, limited to a number of + persons, at a private residence [hotel particulier]. I wish + that this would terminate thus. But these projects are only + projects in the air. Write to me a great deal about yourself. + --Yours ever, my old Gut., + + + CHOPIN. + + P.S.--I heard the other evening Mdlle. Lind in La Sonnambula. + [FOOTNOTE: Jenny Lind made her first appearance at Her + Majesty's Theatre in the season 1848, on May 4, as Amina, in + La Sonnambula. The Queen was present on that occasion. Pauline + Garcia made her first appearance, likewise as Amina, at Covent + Garden Theatre, on May 9.] It was very fine; I have made her + acquaintance. Madame Viardot also came to see me. She will + make her debuts at the rival theatre [Covent Garden], likewise + in La Sonnambula. All the pianists of Paris are here. Prudent + played his Concerto at the Philharmonic with little success, + for it is necessary to play classical music there. Thalberg is + engaged for twelve concerts at the theatre where Lind is [Her + Majesty's, Haymarket]. Halle is going to play Mendelssohn at + the rival theatre. + + + Chopin to his friend Grzymala; Thursday, May 11, 1848:-- + + I have just come from the Italian Opera, where Jenny Lind + appeared to-day, for the first time, as Sonnambula, and the + Queen showed herself for the first time to the people after a + long retirement. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin must have begun this letter + on the 4th of May, and dated it later on; for on the 11th of + May Jenny Lind sang in La Figlia del Reggimento, and the + presence of the Queen at the performance is not mentioned in + the newspaper accounts of it. See preceding foot-note.] Both + were, of course, of much interest to me; more especially, + however, Wellington, who, like an old, faithful dog in a + cottage, sat in the box below his crowned mistress. I have + also made Jenny Lind's personal acquaintance: when, a few days + afterwards, I paid her a visit, she received me in the most + amiable manner, and sent me an excellent "stall" for the opera + performance. I was capitally seated and heard excellently. + This Swede is indeed an original from top to toe! She does not + show herself in the ordinary light, but in the magic rays of + an aurora borealis. Her singing is infallibly pure and sure; + but what I admired most was her piano, which has an + indescribable charm. "Your + + FREDERICK. + +Of Chopin's visit Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt had to the last years of +her life a most pleasing and vivid recollection. She sang to him +Polskas, [FOOTNOTE: Polskas are dances of Polish origin, popular +in Sweden, whose introduction dates from the time of the union of +the crowns of Sweden and Poland in 1587.] which delighted him +greatly. The way Madame Goldschmidt spoke of Chopin showed +unmistakably that he made the best possible impression upon her, +not only as an artist, but also as a man--she was sure of his +goodness, and that he could not but have been right in the Sand +affair, I mean as regards the rupture. She visited him when she +went in the following year (1849) to Paris. + +In his letter to Gutmann, Chopin speaks of his intention to give +a matinee at a private house. And he more than realised it; for +he not only gave one, but two--the first at the house of Mrs. +Sartoris (nee Adelaide Kemble) and the second at the house of +Lord Falmouth. Here are two advertisements which appeared in the +Times. + + June 15, 1848:-- + + Monsieur Chopin will give a Matinee musicale, at No. 99, Eaton + Place, on Friday, June 23, to commence at 3 o'clock. A limited + number of tickets, one guinea each, with full particulars, at + Cramer, Beale & Co.'s, 201, Regent Street. + + + July 3 and 4, 1848:-- + + Monsieur Chopin begs to announce that his second Matinee + musicale will take place on Friday next, July 7, at the + residence of the Earl of Falmouth, No. 2, St. James's Square. + To commence at half-past 3. Tickets, limited in number, and + full particulars at Cramer, Beale & Co.'s, 201, Regent Street. + + + The Musical World (July 8, 1848) says about these + performances:-- + + M. Chopin has lately given two performances of his own + pianoforte music at the residence of Mrs. Sartoris (late Miss + Adelaide Kemble), which seem to have given much pleasure to + his audiences, among whom Mdlle. Lind, who was present at the + first, seems to be the most enthusiastic. We were not present + at either, and, therefore, have nothing to say on the subject. + + [FOOTNOTE: Of course, the above-quoted advertisements prove + the reporter to be wrong in this particular; there was only + one at the house of Mrs. Sartoris.] + +From an account of the first matinee in the Athenaeum we learn +that Chopin played nocturnes, etudes, mazurkas, two waltzes, and +the Berceuse, but none of his more developed works, such as +sonatas, concertos, scherzos, and ballades. The critic tries to +analyse the master's style of execution--a "mode" in which +"delicacy, picturesqueness, elegance, and humour are blended so +as to produce that rare thing, a new delight"--pointing out his +peculiar fingering, treatment of scale and shake, tempo rubato, +&c. But although the critic speaks no less appreciatively of the +playing than of the compositions, the tenor of the notice of the +second matinee (July 15, 1848) shows that the former left +nevertheless something to be desired. "Monsieur Chopin played +better at his second than at his first matinee--not with more +delicacy (that could hardly be), but with more force and brio." +Along with other compositions of his, Chopin played on this +occasion his Scherzo in B flat and his Etude in C sharp minor. +Another attraction of the matinee was the singing of Madame +Viardot-Garcia, "who, besides her inimitable airs with Mdlle. de +Mendi, and her queerly-piquant Mazurkas, gave the Cenerentola +rondo, graced with great brilliancy; and a song by Beethoven, +'Ich denke dein.'" + +[FOOTNOTE: No doubt, those Mazurkas by Chopin which, adapting to +them Spanish words, she had arranged for voice and piano. Hiller +wrote mostenthusiastically of these arrangements and her +performance of them.] + +Mr. Salaman said, at a meeting of the London Musical Association +(April 5, 1880), in the course of a discussion on the subject of +Chopin, that he was present at the matinee at the house of Mrs. +Sartoris, and would never forget the concert-giver's playing, +especially of the waltz in D flat. "I remember every bar, how he +played it, and the appearance of his long, attenuated fingers +during the time he was playing. [FOOTNOTE: Their thinness may +have made them appear long, but they were not really so. See +Appendix III.] He seemed quite exhausted." Mr. Salaman was +particularly struck by the delicacy and refinement of Chopin's +touch, and the utmost exquisiteness of expression. + +To Chopin, as the reader will see in the letter addressed to +Franchomme, and dated August 6th and 11th, these semi-public +performances had only the one redeeming point--that they procured +him much-needed money, otherwise he regarded them as a great +annoyance. And this is not to be wondered at, if we consider the +physical weakness under which he was then labouring. When Chopin +went before these matinees to Broadwood's to try the pianoforte +on which he was to play, he had each time to be carried up the +flight of stairs which led to the piano-room. Chopin had also to +be carried upstairs when he came to a concert which his pupil +Lindsay Sloper gave in this year in the Hanover Square Rooms. But +nothing brings his miserable condition so vividly before us as +his own letters. + + + Chopin to Grzymala, London, July 18, 1848:-- + + My best thanks for your kind lines and the accompanying letter + from my people. Heaven be thanked, they are all well; but why + are they concerned about me? I cannot become sadder than I am, + a real joy I have not felt for a long time. Indeed, I feel + nothing at all, I only vegetate, waiting patiently for my end. + Next week I go to Scotland to Lord Torphichen, the brother-in- + law of my Scottish friends, the Misses Stirling, who are + already with him (in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh). He wrote + to me and invited me heartily, as did also Lady Murray, an + influential lady of high rank there, who takes an + extraordinary interest in music, not to mention the many + invitations I have received from various parts of England. But + I cannot wander about from one place to another like a + strolling musician; such a vagabond' life is hateful to me, + and not conducive to my health. I intend to remain in Scotland + till the 29th of August, on which day I go as far as + Manchester, where I am engaged to play in public. I shall play + there twice without orchestra, and receive for this 60 + [pounds]. The Alboni comes also, but all this does not + interest me--I just seat myself at the piano, and begin to + play. I shall stay during this time with rich manufacturers, + with whom also Neukomm [FOOTNOTE: Karasowski has Narkomm, + which is, of course, either a misreading or a misprint, + probably the former, as it is to be found in all editions of + his book.] has stayed. What I shall do next I don't know yet. + If only someone could foretell whether I shall not fall sick + here during the winter..."Your + + FREDERICK. + +Had Chopin, when he left Paris, really in view the possibility of +settling in London? There was at the time a rumour of this being +the case. The Athenaeum (April 8, 1848), in the note already +adverted to, said:--"M. Chopin is expected, if not already here-- +it is even added to remain in England." But if he embraced the +idea at first, he soon began to loosen his grasp of it, and, +before long, abandoned it altogether. In his then state of health +existence would have been a burden anywhere, but it was a greater +one away from his accustomed surroundings. Moreover, English life +to be enjoyable requires a robustness of constitution, +sentimental and intellectual as well as physical, which the +delicately-organised artist, even in his best time, could not +boast of. If London and the rest of Britain was not to the mind +of Chopin, it was not for want of good-will among the people. +Chopin's letters show distinctly that kindness was showered upon +him from all sides. And these letters do not by any means contain +a complete roll of those who were serviceable to him. The name of +Frederick Beale, the publisher, for instance, is not to be found +there, and yet he is said, with what truth I do not know, to have +attached himself to the tone-poet. + +[FOOTNOTE: Mr. Hipkins heard Chopin play at Broadwood's to Beale +the Waltzes in D flat major and C sharp minor (Nos. 1 and 2 of +Op. 64), subsequently published by Cramer, Beale and Co. But why +did the publisher not bring out the whole opus (three waltzes, +not two), which had already been in print in France and Germany +for nine or ten months? Was his attachment to the composer weaker +than his attachment to his cash-box?] + +The attentions of the piano-makers, on the other hand, are duly +remembered. In connection with them I must not forget to record +the fact that Mr. Henry Fowler Broadwood had a concert grand, the +first in a complete iron frame, expressly made for Chopin, who, +unfortunately, did not live to play upon it. + +[FOOTNOTE: For particulars about the Broadwood pianos used by +Chopin in England and Scotland (and he used there no others at +his public concerts and principal private entertainments), see +the List of John Broadwood & Sons' Exhibits at the International +Inventions Exhibition (1885), a pamphlet full of interesting +information concerning the history and construction of the +pianoforte. It is from the pen of A. J. Hipkins.] + +A name one misses with surprise in Chopin's letters is that of +his Norwegian pupil Tellefsen, who came over from Paris to +London, and seems to have devoted himself to his master. +[FOOTNOTE: Tellefsen, says Mr. Hipkins, was nearly always with +Chopin.] Of his ever-watchful ministering friend Miss Stirling +and her relations we shall hear more in the following letters. + +Chopin started for Scotland early in August, 1848, for on the 6th +August he writes to Franchomme that he had left London a few days +before. + + Chopin to Franchomme; Edinburgh, August 6 [1848]. Calder + House, August 11:-- + + Very dear friend,--I do not know what to say. The best, it + seems to me, is not even to attempt to console you for the + loss of your father. I know your grief--time itself assuages + little such sorrows. I left London a few days ago. I made the + journey to Edinburgh (407 miles) in twelve hours. After having + taken a day's rest in Edinburgh, I went to Calder House, + twelve miles from Edinburgh, the mansion of Lord Torphichen, + brother-in-law of Madame Erskine, where I expect to remain + till the end of the month and to rest after my great doings in + London. I gave two matinees, which it appears have given + pleasure, but which, for all that, did not the less bore me. + Without them, however, I do not know how I could have passed + three months in this dear London, with large apartments + (absolutely necessary), carriage, and valet. My health is not + altogether bad, but I become more feeble, and the air here + does not yet agree with me. Miss Stirling was going to write + to you from London, and asks me to beg you to excuse her. The + fact is that these ladies had many preparations to make before + their journey to Scotland, where they intend to remain some + months. There is in Edinburgh a pupil of yours, Mr. Drechsler, + I believe. + + [FOOTNOTE: Louis Drechsler (son of the Dessau violoncellist + Carl Drechsler and uncle of the Edinburgh violoncellist and + conductor Carl Drechsler Hamilton), who came to Edinburgh in + August, 1841, and died there on June 25,1860. From an obituary + notice in a local paper I gather that he studied under + Franchomme in 1845.] + + He came to see me in London; he appeared to me a fine young + fellow, and he loves you much. He plays duets [fait de la + musique] with a great lady of this country, Lady Murray, one + of my sexagenarian pupils in London, to whom I have also + promised a visit in her beautiful mansion. [FOOTNOTE: The wife + of Lord (Sir John Archibald) Murray, I think. At any rate, + this lady was very musical and in the habit of playing with + Louis Drechsler.] But I do not know how I shall do it, for I + have promised to be in Manchester on the 28th of August to + play at a concert for 60 pounds. Neukomm is there, and, + provided that he does not improvise on the same day [et pourvu + qu'il ne m'improvise pas le meme jour], I reckon on earning my + 60 francs [he means, of course, "60 pounds"]. + + [FOOTNOTE: Thinking that this remark had some hidden meaning, + I applied to Franchomme for an explanation; but he wrote to me + as follows: "Chopin trouvait que Neukomm etait un musicien + ennuyeux, et il lui etait desagreable de penser que Neukomm + pourrait improviser dans le concert dans lequel il devrait + jouer."] + + After that I don't know what will become of me. I should like + very much if they were to give me a pension for life for + having composed nothing, not even an air a la Osborne or + Sowinski (both of them excellent friends), the one an + Irishman, the other a compatriot of mine (I am prouder of them + than of the rejected representative Antoine de Kontski-- + Frenchman of the north and animal of the south). [FOOTNOTE: + "Frenchmen of the north" used to be a common appellation of + the Poles.] + + After these parentheses, I will tell you truly that I know + [FOOTNOTE: Here probably "not" ought to be added.] what will + become of me in autumn. At any rate, if you get no news from + me do not complain of me, for I think very often of writing to + you. If you see Mdlle. de Rozieres or Grzymala, one or the + other of them will have heard something--if not from me, from + some friends. The park here is very beautiful, the lord of the + manor very excellent, and I am as well as I am permitted to + be. Not one proper musical idea. I am out of my groove; I am + like, for instance, an ass at a masked ball, a chanterelle + [first, i.e., highest string] of a violin on a double bass-- + astonished, amazed, lulled to sleep as if I were hearing a + trait [a run or a phrase] of Bodiot [FOOTNOTE: That is, + Charles Nicolas Baudiot (1773-1849), the violoncellist, at one + time professor at the Conservatoire. He published a school and + many compositions for his instrument.] (before the 24th of + February), [FOOTNOTE: The revolution of February 24, 1848.] or + a stroke of the bow of M. Cap [FOOTNOTE: This gentleman was an + amateur player of the violoncello and other stringed + instruments.] (after the June days). [FOOTNOTE: The + insurrection of the Red Republicans on June 23-26, 1848.] I + hope they are still flourishing, for I cannot do without them + in writing. But another real question is, that I hope you have + no friends to deplore in all these terrible affairs. And the + health of Madame Franchomme and of the little children? Write + me a line, and address it to London, care of Mr. Broadwood, + 33, Great Pulteney Street, Golden Square. I have here a + perfect (material) tranquillity, and pretty Scotch airs. I + wish I were able to compose a little, were it only to please + these good ladies--Madame Erskine and Mdlle. Stirling. I have + a Broadwood piano in my room, the Pleyel of Miss Stirling in + my salon. I lack neither paper nor pens. I hope that you also + will compose something, and may God grant that I hear it soon + newly born. I have friends in London who advise me to pass + there the winter.--But I shall listen only to my I do not know + what [mon je ne sais quoi]; or, rather, I shall listen to the + last comer--this comes often to the same thing as weighing + well. Adieu dear, dear friend! My most sincere wishes to + Madame Franchomme for her children. I hope that Rene amuses + himself with his bass, that Cecile works well, and that their + little sister always reads her books. Remember me to Madame + Lasserve, I pray you, and correct my orthography as well as my + French. + + + The following words are written along the margin:-- + + The people here are ugly, but, it would seem, good. As a + compensation there are charming, apparently mischievous, + cattle, perfect milk, butter, eggs, and tout ce qui s'en suit, + cheese and chickens. + +To save the reader from becoming confused by allusions in +Chopin's letters to names of unknown persons and places, I will +now say a few words about the composer's Scotch friends. The +Stirlings of Keir, generally regarded as the principal family of +the name, are said to be descended from Walter de Striveline, +Strivelyn, or Strivelyng, Lucas of Strivelyng (1370-1449) being +the first possessor of Keyr. The family was for about two +centuries engaged in the East India and West India trade. +Archibald Stirling, the father of the late baronet, went, as +William Fraser relates in The Stirlings of Keir, like former +younger sons, to Jamaica, where he was a planter for nearly +twenty-five years. He succeeded his brother James in 1831, +greatly improved the mansion, and died in 1847. When Chopin +visited Keir it was in the possession of William Stirling, who, +in 1865, became Sir William Stirling-Maxwell (his mother was a +daughter of Sir John Maxwell), and is well-known by his literary +works--Annals of the Artists of Spain (1848), The Cloister Life +of the Emperor Charles V. (1852), Velasquez (1855), &c. He was +the uncle of Jane Stirling and Mrs. Erskine, daughters (the +former the youngest daughter) of John Stirling, of Kippendavie +and Kippenross, and friends of Chopin. W. Hanna, the editor of +the Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, says that Jane +Stirling was a cousin and particular friend of Thomas Erskine. +The latter used in later life to regard her and the Duchess de +Broglie as the most remarkable women he had ever met:-- + + In her later years she lived much in Paris, and counted among + her friends there Ary Scheffer. In his "Christus Consolator," + this eminent artist has presented in one of the figures his + ideal of female beauty, and was struck on being first + introduced to Miss Stirling to find in her the almost exact + embodiment of that ideal. She was introduced afterwards in + many of his pictures. + +In a letter addressed to Mrs. Schwabe, and dated February 14, +1859, we read about her:-- + + She was ill for eight weeks, and suffered a great deal...I + know you will feel this deeply, for you could appreciate the + purity and beauty of that stream of love which flowed through + her whole life. I don't think that I ever knew anyone who + seemed more entirely to have given up self, and devoted her + whole being to the good of others. I remember her birth like + yesterday, and I never saw anything in her but what was + lovable from the beginning to the end of her course. + +Lindsay Sloper, who lived in Paris from 1841 to 1846, told me +that Miss Stirling, who was likewise staying there, took for some +time lessons from him. As she wished to become a pupil of Chopin, +he spoke to his master about her. Chopin, Lindsay Sloper said, +was pleased with her playing, and soon began to like her. + +[FOOTNOTE: To the above I must append a cautionary foot-note. In +his account to me Lindsay Sloper made two mistakes which prove +that his memory was not one of the most trustworthy, and suggest +even the possibility that his Miss Stirling was a different +person from Chopin's friend. His mistakes were these: he called +Mrs. Erskine, who was with Miss Stirling in Paris, her aunt +instead of her sister; and thought that Miss Stirling was about +eighteen years old when he taught her. The information I shall +give farther on seems to show that she was older rather than +younger than Chopin; indeed, Mr Hipkins is of opinion that she +was in 1848 nearer fifty than forty.] + +To her the composer dedicated his Deux Nocturnes, Op. 55, which +he published in August, 1844. It was thought that she was in love +with Chopin, and there were rumours of their going to be married. +Gutmann informed me that Chopin said to him one day when he was +ill: "They have married me to Miss Stirling; she might as well +marry death." Of Miss Jane Stirling's elder sister Katherine, +who, in 1811, married her cousin James Erskine, and lost her +husband already in 1816, Thomas Erskine says: "She was an +admirable woman, faithful and diligent in all duties, and +unwearied in her efforts to help those who needed her help." Lord +Torphichen, at whose residence (Calder House, twelve miles from +Edinburgh) Chopin passed much of his time in Scotland, was, as we +learn from the composer's letters, a brother-in-law of Miss +Stirling and Mrs. Erskine. Johnstone Castle (twelve miles from +Glasgow), where Chopin was also received as a guest, belonged to +the Houston family, friends of the Erskines and Stirlings, but, I +think, no relations. The death of Ludovic Houston, Esq., in 1862, +is alluded to in one of Thomas Erskine's letters. + +But Chopin, while in Scotland, was not always staying in manors +and castles, now and then he was housed less aristocratically, +though perhaps not less, nay, probably more, comfortably. Such +humbler quarters he found at the house (10, Warriston Crescent) +of Dr. Lyschinski, a Pole by birth, and a refugee, who after +studying medicine in Edinburgh practised it there until a few +years ago when he removed to London. For the information which I +am now going to give I am indebted to Mrs. Lyschinski. Among +those who received Chopin at the Edinburgh railway station was +Dr. Lyschinski who addressed him in Polish. The composer put up +at an hotel (perhaps the London Hotel, in St. Andrew's Square). +Next day--Miss Paterson, a neighbour, having placed her carriage +at Chopin's disposal--Mrs. Lyschinski took him out for a drive. +He soon got tired of the hotel, in fact, felt it quite +unbearable, and told the doctor, to whom he had at once taken a +fancy, that he could not do without him. Whereupon the latter +said: "Well, then you must come to my house; and as it is rather +small, you must be satisfied with the nursery." So the children +were sent to a friend's house, and the nursery was made into a +bedroom for the illustrious guest, an adjoining bedroom being +prepared for his servant Daniel, an Irish-Frenchman. Unless the +above refers to Chopin's return to Scotland in September, after +his visit to Manchester, Mrs. Lyschinski confuses her +reminiscences a little, for, as the last-quoted letter proves, he +tarried, on his first arrival, only one day in Edinburgh. But the +facts, even if not exactly grouped, are, no doubt, otherwise +correctly remembered. Chopin rose very late in the day, and in +the morning had soup in his room. His hair was curled daily by +the servant, and his shirts, boots, and other things were of the +neatest--in fact, he was a petit-maitre, more vain in dress than +any woman. The maid-servants found themselves strictly excluded +from his room, however indispensable their presence might seem to +them in the interests of neatness and cleanliness. Chopin was so +weak that Dr. Lyschinski had always to carry him upstairs. After +dinner he sat before the fire, often shivering with cold. Then +all on a sudden he would cross the room, seat himself at the +piano, and play himself warm. He could bear neither dictation nor +contradiction: if you told him to go to the fire, he would go to +the other end of the room where the piano stood. Indeed, he was +imperious. He once asked Mrs. Lyschinski to sing. She declined. +At this he was astonished and quite angry. "Doctor, would you +take it amiss if I were to force your wife to do it?" The idea of +a woman refusing him anything seemed to him preposterous. Mrs. +Lyschinski says that Chopin was gallant to all ladies alike, but +thinks that he had no heart. She used to tease him about women, +saying, for instance, that Miss Stirling was a particular friend +of his. He replied that he had no particular friends among the +ladies, that he gave to all an equal share of his attention. "Not +even George Sand then," she asked, "is a particular friend?" "Not +even George Sand," was the reply. Had Mrs. Lyschinski known the +real state of matters between Chopin and George Sand, she +certainly would not have asked that question. He, however, by no +means always avoided the mention of his faithless love. Speaking +one day of his thinness he remarked that she used to call him mon +cher cadavre. Miss Stirling was much about Chopin. I may mention +by the way that Mrs. Lyschinski told me that Miss Stirling was +much older than Chopin, and her love for him, although +passionate, purely Platonic. Princess Czartoryska arrived some +time after Chopin, and accompanied him, my informant says, +wherever he went. But, as we see from one of his letters, her +stay in Scotland was short. The composer was always on the move. +Indeed, Dr. Lyschinski's was hardly more than a pied-a-terre for +him: he never stayed long, and generally came unexpectedly. A +number of places where Chopin was a guest are mentioned in his +letters. Mrs. Lyschinski thinks that he also visited the Duke of +Hamilton. + +At the end of August and at the end of September and beginning of +October, this idling was interrupted by serious work, and a kind +of work which, at no time to his liking, was particularly irksome +in the then state of his health. + +The Manchester Guardian of August 19, 1848, contained the +following advertisement:-- + + Concert Hall.--The Directors beg to announce to the + Subscribers that a Dress Concert has been fixed for Monday, + the 28th of August next, for which the following performers + have already been engaged: Signora Alboni, Signora Corbari, + Signer Salvi, and Mons. Chopin. + +From an account of the concert in the same paper (August 30), the +writer of which declares the concert to have been the most +brilliant of the season, we learn that the orchestra, led by Mr. +Seymour, played three overtures--Weber's Ruler of the Spirits, +Beethoven's Prometheus, and Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia; and +that Chopin performed an Andante and Scherzo, and a Nocturne, +Etudes, and the Berceuse of his own composition. With regard to +Chopin we read in this critique:-- + + With the more instrumental portion of the audience, Mons. + Chopin was perhaps an equal feature of interest with Alboni, + as he was preceded by a high musical reputation. Chopin + appears to be about thirty years of age. [FOOTNOTE: Chopin, + says Mr. Hipkins, had a young look, although much wasted.] He + is very spare in frame, and there is an almost painful air of + feebleness in his appearance and gait. This vanishes when he + seats himself at the instrument, in which he seems for the + time perfectly absorbed. Chopin's music and style of + performance partake of the same leading characteristics-- + refinement rather than vigour--subtle elaboration rather than + simple comprehensiveness in composition--an elegant rapid + touch, rather than a firm, nervous grasp of the instrument. + Both his compositions and playing appear to be the perfection + of chamber music--fit to be associated with the most refined + instrumental quartet and quartet playing--but wanting breadth + and obviousness of design, and executive power, to be + effective in a large hall. These are our impressions from + hearing Mons. Chopin for the first time on Monday evening. He + was warmly applauded by many of the most accomplished amateurs + in the town, and he received an encore in his last piece, a + compliment thus accorded to each of the four London artists + who appeared at the concert. + +From the criticism of the Manchester Courier and Lancashire +General Advertiser (August 30, 1848), I cull the following +remarks:-- + + We can, with great sincerity, say that he delighted us. Though + we did not discover in him the vigour of Thalberg, yet there + was a chasteness and purity of style, a correctness of + manipulation combined with a brilliance of touch, and delicate + sensibility of expression which we never heard excelled. He + played in the second act [part]...and elicited a rapturous + encore. He did not, however, repeat any part, but treated the + audience with what appeared to be a fragment of great beauty. + +Mr. Osborne, in a paper on Chopin read before the London Musical +Association, says:-- + + On a tour which I made with Alboni, I met Chopin at + Manchester, where he was announced to play at a grand concert + without orchestra. He begged I should not be present. "You, my + dear Osborne," said he, "who have heard me so often in Paris, + remain with those impressions. My playing will be lost in such + a large room, and my compositions will be ineffective. Your + presence at the concert will be painful both to you and me." + +Mr. Osborne told his audience further that notwithstanding this +appeal he was present in a remote corner of the room. I may add +that although he could absent himself from the hall for the time +Chopin was playing, he could not absent himself from the concert, +for, as the papers tell us, he acted as accompanist. The +impression which Chopin's performance on this occasion left upon +his friend's mind is described in the following few sad words: +"His playing was too delicate to create enthusiasm, and I felt +truly sorry for him." + +Soon after the concert Chopin returned to Scotland. How many days +(between August 23 and September 7?) he remained in Manchester, I +do not know, but it is well known that while staying there he was +the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Salis Schwabe. To Mrs. Salis Schwabe, a +lady noted for her benevolence, Thomas Erskine addressed the +letter concerning Miss Jane Stirling a part of which I quoted on +one of the foregoing pages of this chapter. The reader remembers, +of course, Chopin's prospective allusions to the Manchester +concert in his letters to Franchomme (August 6, 1848) and +Grzymala (July 18, 1848). + +About a month after the concert at which he played in Manchester, +Chopin gave one of his own in Glasgow. Here is what may be read +in the Courier of September 28 and previous days:-- + + Monsieur Chopin has the honour to announce that his Matinee + musicals will take place on Wednesday, the 27th September, in + the Merchant Hall, Glasgow. To commence at half-past two + o'clock. Tickets, limited in number, half-a-guinea each, and + full particulars to be had from Mr. Muir Wood, 42, Buchanan + Street. + +The net profits of this concert are said to have been 60 pounds. +Mr. Muir Wood relates:-- + + I was then a comparative stranger in Glasgow, but I was told + that so many private carriages had never been seen at any + concert in the town. In fact, it was the county people who + turned out, with a few of the elite of Glasgow society. Being + a morning concert, the citizens were busy otherwise, and half- + a-guinea was considered too high a sum for their wives and + daughters. + +No doubt Chopin's playing and compositions must have been to the +good Glasgow citizens of that day what caviare is to the general. +In fact, Scotland, as regards music, had at that period not yet +emerged from its state of primitive savagery. But if we may +believe the learned critic in the Glasgow Courier, Chopin's +matinee was numerously attended, and the audience, which +consisted of "the beauty and fashion, indeed of the very elite of +the West-end," thoroughly enjoyed the playing of the concert- +giver and the singing of Madame Adelasio de Margueritte who +assisted him. I think the reader will be interested by the +following specimen of criticism for more than one reason:-- + + The performance was certainly of the highest order in point of + musical attainment and artistic skill, and was completely + successful in interesting and delighting everyone present for + an hour and a half. Visited as we now are by the highest + musical talent, by this great player and the other eminent + composer, it must be difficult for each successive candidate + for our patronage and applause to produce in sufficient + quantity that essential element to success--novelty; but M. + Chopin has proved satisfactorily that it is not easy to + estimate the capabilities of the instrument he handles with so + much grace and ingenuity, or limit the skill and power whose + magic touch makes it pour forth its sublime strains to + electrify and delight anew the astonished listener. M. + Chopin's treatment of the pianoforte is peculiar to himself, + and his style blends in beautiful harmony and perfection the + elegant, the picturesque, and the humorous. We cannot at + present descend to practical illustrations in proof of these + observations, but feel persuaded we only express the feelings + of all who attended yesterday when we say that the pianist + produces, without extraordinary effort, not only pleasing, but + new musical delights. Madame Adelasio has a beautiful voice, + which she manages with great ease and occasional brilliancy. + She sang several airs with much taste and great acceptance. We + may mention that all the pieces were rapturously applauded, + and the audience separated with expressions of the highest + gratification. + +Clearly this critic was not without judgment, although his +literary taste and skill leave much to be desired. That there +were real Chopin enthusiasts in Glasgow is proved by an effusion, +full of praise and admiration, which the editor received from a +correspondent and inserted on September 30, two days after the +above criticism. But, without indulging our curiosity further, we +will now take our leave of Glasgow and Glasgow critics. + +On October 4, Chopin gave an evening concert in Edinburgh. Here +is the programme:-- + + + HOPETOUN ROOMS, QUEEN STREET. + MONSIEUR CHOPIN'S SOIREE MUSICALE. + + Programme. + + 1. Andante et Impromptu. + 2. Etudes. + 3. Nocturne et Berceuse. + 4. Grande Valse Brillante. + 5. Andante precede d'un Largo. + 6. Preludes, Ballade, Mazurkas et Valses. + + To commence at half-past eight o'clock. Tickets, + limited to number, half-a-guinea each. To be had, &c. + + +Mrs. Lyschinski told me that this concert was chiefly attended by +the nobility. Half-a-guinea had never been charged for admission +to a concert (which is probably overstating the case), and Chopin +was little known. Miss Stirling, who was afraid the hall might +not be filled, bought fifty pounds' worth of tickets. The piano +on which Chopin played (one sent by Broadwood, and used in +Glasgow as well as in Edinburgh) was afterwards sold for 30 +pounds above the price. Thus, at any rate, runs the legend. + +In the Edinburgh Courant, which contained on September 30 and on +other days an advertisement similar to the Glasgow one (with the +addition of a programme, consisting, however, only of the 1st, +2nd, 3rd, and 6th items of the one above given), there appeared +on October 7, 1848, a notice of the concert, a part of which may +find a place here:-- + + This talented pianist gratified his admirers by a performance + on Wednesday evening in the Hopetoun Rooms, where a select and + highly fashionable audience assembled to welcome him on his + first appearance in Edinburgh...Chopin's compositions have + been too long before the musical portion of Europe, and have + been too highly appreciated to require any comment, further + than that they are among the best specimens of classical + excellence in pianoforte music. Of his execution we need say + nothing further than that it is the most finished we have ever + heard. He has neither the ponderosity nor the digital power of + a Mendelssohn, a Thalberg, or Liszt; consequently his + execution would appear less effective in a large room; but as + a chamber pianist he stands unrivalled. Notwithstanding the + amount of musical entertainment already afforded the Edinburgh + public this season, the rooms were filled with an audience + who, by their judicious and well-timed applause, testified + their appreciation of the high talent of Monsieur Chopin. + +An Edinburgh correspondent of the Musical World, who signs +himself "M.," confirms (October 14, 1848) the statements of the +critic of the Courant. From this communication we learn that one +of the etudes played was in F minor (probably No. 2 of Op. 25, +although there are two others in the same key--No. 9 of Op. 10 +and No. 1 of Trois Etudes without opus number). The problematical +Andante precede d'un Largo was, no doubt, a juxtaposition of two +of his shorter compositions, this title being chosen to vary the +programme. From Mr. Hipkins I learned that at this Chopin played +frequently the slow movement from his Op. 22, Grande Polonaise +preceded d'un Andante Spianato. + +And now we will let Chopin again speak for himself. + +Chopin to Grzymala; Keir, Perthshire, Sunday, October 1, 1848:-- + + No post, no railway, also no carriage (not even for taking the + air), no boat, not a dog to be seen--all desolate, desolate! + My dearest friend,--Just at the moment when I had already + begun to write to you on another sheet, your and my sister's + letters were brought to me. Heaven be thanked that cholera has + hitherto spared them. But why do you not write a word about + yourself? and yet to you corresponding is much easier than to + me; for I have been writing to you daily for a whole week + already--namely, since my return from northern Scotland + (Strachur [FOOTNOTE: A small town, eight miles south of + Inveraray, in Argyleshire.])--without getting done. I know, + indeed, that you have an invalid in Versailles; for Rozaria + [FOOTNOTE: Mdlle. de Rozieres.] wrote to me that you had paid + her a visit, and then in great haste had gone to an invalid in + Versailles. I hope it is not your grandfather or grandchild, + or one of your dear neighbours, the Rochanskis. Here one hears + as yet nothing of cholera, but in London it appears already + here and there. + + With your letter, which I received at Johnstone Castle, and in + which you informed me that you had been with Soli [FOOTNOTE: I + suppose Solange, Madame Clesinger, George Sand's daughter.] at + the Gymnase Theatre, there came at the same time one from + Edinburgh, from Prince Alexander Czartoryski, with the news + that he and his wife had arrived, and that he would be very + glad to see me. Although tired, I at once took the train and + found them still in Edinburgh. Princess Marcelline was as kind + as she always is to me. The intercourse with them reanimated + me, and gave me strength to play in Glasgow, where the whole + haute volee had gathered for my concert. The weather was + magnificent, and the princely family had even come from + Edinburgh with little Marcel, who is growing nicely, and sings + already my compositions, yes, and even corrects when he hears + someone making mistakes. It was on Wednesday afternoon, at 3 + o'clock, and the princely couple did me the kindness to accept + along with me an invitation to a dinner at Johnstone Castle + (by the way, twelve English miles from Glasgow) after the + concert; in this way, then, I passed the whole day with them. + Lord and Lady Murray and the old Lord Torphichen (who had come + a distance of a hundred miles) drove also thither with us, and + the next day all were quite charmed with the amiability of + Princess Marcelline. The princely pair returned to Glasgow, + whence, after a visit to Loch Tamen, [FOOTNOTE: There is no + such loch. Could it possibly be Loch Lomond? Loch Leven seems + to me less likely.] they wished to go back at once to London, + and thence to the Continent. The Prince spoke of you with + sincere kindness. I can very well imagine what your noble soul + must suffer when you see what is now going on in Paris. You + cannot think how I revived, how lively I became that day in + the society of such dear countrymen; but to-day I am again + very depressed. O, this mist! Although, from the window at + which I write, I have before me the most beautiful view of + Stirling Castle--it is the same, as you will remember, which + delighted Robert Bruce--and mountains, lochs, a charming park, + in one word, the view most celebrated for its beauty in + Scotland; I see nothing, except now and then, when the mist + gives way to the sun. The owner of this mansion, whose name is + Stirling, is the uncle of our Scotch ladies, and the head of + the family. I made his acquaintance in London; he is a rich + bachelor, and has a very beautiful picture-gallery, which is + especially distinguished by works of Murillo and other Spanish + masters. He has lately even published a very interesting book + on the Spanish school; he has travelled much (visited also the + East), and is a very intelligent man. All Englishmen of note + who come to Scotland go to him; he has always an open house, + so that there are daily on an average about thirty people at + dinner with him. In this way one has opportunities of seeing + the most different English beauties; lately there was, for + instance, for some days a Mrs. Boston here, but she is already + gone. As to dukes, earls, and lords, one now sees here more of + them than ever, because the Queen has sojourned in Scotland. + Yesterday she passed close by us by rail, as she had to be at + a certain time in London, and there was such a fog on the sea + that she preferred to return from Aberdeen to London by land, + and not (as she had come) by boat--to the great regret of the + navy, which had prepared various festivities for her. It is + said that her consort, Prince Albert, was very much pleased at + this, as he becomes always sea-sick on board, while the Queen, + like a true ruler of the sea, is not inconvenienced by a + voyage. I shall soon have forgotten Polish, speak French like + an Englishman, and English like a Scotchman--in short, like + Jawurek, jumble together five languages. If I do not write to + you a Jeremiad, it is not because you cannot comfort me, but + because you are the only one who knows everything; and if I + once begin to complain, there will be no end to it, and it + will always be in the same key. But it is incorrect when I + say: "always in the same key," for things are getting worse + with me every day. I feel weaker; I cannot compose, not for + want of inclination, but for physical reasons, and because I + am every week in a different place. But what shall I do? At + least, I shall save something for the winter. Invitations I + have in plenty, and cannot even go where I should like, for + instance, to the Duchess of Argyll and Lady Belhaven, as the + season is already too far advanced and too dangerous for my + enfeebled health. I am all the morning unable to do anything, + and when I have dressed myself I feel again so fatigued that I + must rest. After dinner I must sit two hours with the + gentlemen, hear what they say, and see how much they drink. + Meanwhile I feel bored to death. I think of something totally + different, and then go to the drawing-room, where I require + all my strength to revive, for all are anxious to hear me. + Afterwards my good Daniel carries me upstairs to my bedroom, + undresses me, puts me to bed, leaves the candle burning, and + then I am again at liberty to sigh and to dream until morning, + to pass the next day just like the preceding one. When I have + settled down in some measure, I must continue my travels, for + my Scotch ladies do not allow me--to be sure with the best + intentions in the world--any rest. They fetch me to introduce + me to all their relations; they will at last kill me with + their kindness, and I must bear it all out of pure amiability.-- + + Your + + FREDERICK. + + +Chopin to Gutmann; Calder House, October 16, 1848 (twelve miles +from Edinburgh):-- + + Very dear friend,--What are you doing? How are your people, + your country, your art? you are unjustly severe upon me, for + you know my infirmity in the matter of letter-writing. I have + thought of you much, and on reading the other day that there + was a disturbance at Heidelberg, I tried some thirty rough + draughts [brouillons] in order to send you a line, the end of + them all being to be thrown into the fire. This page will + perhaps reach you and find you happy with your good mother. + Since I had news from you, I have been in Scotland, in this + beautiful country of Walter Scott, with so many memories of + Mary Stuart, the two Charleses, &c. I drag myself from one + lord to another, from one duke to another. I find everywhere, + besides extreme kindness and hospitality without limit, + excellent pianos, beautiful pictures, choice libraries; there + are also hunts, horses, dogs, interminable dinners, and + cellars of which I avail myself less. It is impossible to form + an idea of all the elaborate comfort which reigns in the + English mansions. The Queen having passed this year some weeks + in Scotland, all England followed her, partly out of courtesy, + partly because of the impossibility of going to the disturbed + Continent. Everything here has become doubly splendid, except + the sun, which has done nothing more than usual; moreover, the + winter advances, and I do not know yet what will become of me. + I am writing to you from Lord Torphichen's. In this mansion, + above my apartment, John Knox, the Scotch reformer, dispensed + for the first time the Sacrament. Everything here furnishes + matter for the imagination--a park with hundred-year-old + trees, precipices, walls of the castle in ruins, endless + passages with numberless old ancestors--there is even a + certain Red-cowl which walks there at midnight. I walk there + my incertitude. [II y a meme un certain bonnet rouge, qui s'y + promene a minuit. J'y promene mon incertitude.] + + Cholera is coming; there is fog and spleen in London, and no + president in Paris. It does not matter where I go to cough and + suffocate, I shall always love you. Present my respects to + your mother, and all my wishes for the happiness of you all. + Write me a line to the address: Dr. Lishinsky, [FOOTNOTE: The + letter I shall next place before the reader is addressed by + Chopin to "Dr. Lishinski." In an Edinburgh medical directory + the name appeared as Lyszynski.] 10, Warriston Crescent, + Edinburgh, Scotland.--Yours, with all my heart, + + + CHOPIN. + + P.S.--I have played in Edinburgh; the nobility of the + neighbourhood came to hear me; people say the thing went off + well--a little success and money. There were this year in + Scotland Lind, Grisi, Alboni, Mario, Salvi--everybody. + +From Chopin's letters may be gathered that he arrived once more +in London at the end of October or beginning of November. + + +Chopin to Dr. Lyschinski; London, November 3, 1848:-- + + I received yesterday your kind words with the letter from + Heidelberg. I am as perplexed here as when I was with you, and + have the same love in my heart for you as when I was with you. + My respects to your wife and your neighbours. May God bless + you! + + I embrace you cordially. I have seen the Princess + [Czartoryska]; they were inquiring about you most kindly. + + My present abode is 4, St. James's Place. If anything should + come for me, please send it to that address. + + 3rd November, 1848. + + Pray send the enclosed note to Miss Stirling, who, no doubt, + is still at Barnton. + + [FOOTNOTE: In this case, as when writing to Woyciechowski, + Matuszynski, Fontana, Franchomme and Gutmann, Chopin uses in + addressing his correspondent, the pronoun of the second person + singular. Here I may also mention the curious monogram on his + seal: three C's in the form of horns (with mouthpieces and + bells) intertwined.] + +The following letter shows in what state of mind and body Chopin +was at the time. + +Chopin to Grzymala; London, October [should be November] 17-18, +1848:-- + + My dearest friend,--For the last eighteen days, that is, since + my arrival in London, I have been ill, and had such a severe + cold in my head (with headache, difficult breathing, and all + my bad symptoms) that I did not get out of doors at all. The + physician visits me daily (a homoeopathist of the name of + Mallan, the same whom my Scotch ladies have and who has here a + great reputation, and is married to a niece of Lady + Gainsborough). He has succeeded in restoring me so far that + yesterday I was able to take part in the Polish Concert and + Ball; I went, however, at once home, after I had gone through + my task. The whole night I could not sleep, as I suffered, + besides cough and asthma, from very violent headache. As yet + the mist has not been very bad, so that, in order to breathe a + little fresh air, I can open the windows of my apartments + notwithstanding the keen cold. I live at No. 4, St. James's + Street, see almost every day the excellent Szulczewski, + Broadwood, Mrs. Erskine, who followed me hither with Mr. + Stirling, and especially Prince Alexander [Czartoryski] and + his wife. + + [FOOTNOTE: Charles Francis Szulczewski, son of Charles + Szulczewski, Receiver General for the District of Orlow, born + on January 18, 1814, was educated at the Military School at + Kalisz, served during the War of 1831 in the Corps of + Artillery under General Bem, obtained the Cross of Honour + (virtuti militari) for distinguishing himself at Ostrolenka, + passed the first years of his refugee life in France, and in + 1842 took up his residence in London, where, in 1845, he + became Secretary of the Literary Association of the Friends of + Poland. He was promoted for his services to the rank of Major + in the Polish Legion, which was formed in Turkey under the + command of Ladislas Zamoyski, and after the treaty of Paris + (1856) the English Government appointed him to a post in the + War Office. Major Szulczewski, who died on October 18, 1884, + was an ardent patriot, highly esteemed not only by his + countrymen, but also by all others who came in contact with + him, numbering among his friends the late Lord Dudley Stuart + and the late Earl of Harrowby.] + + Address your letters, please, to Szulczewski. I cannot yet + come to Paris, but I am always considering what is to be done + to return there. Here in these apartments, which for any + healthy man would be good, I cannot remain, although they are + beautifully situated and not dear (four and a half guineas a + week, inclusive of bed, coals, &c.); they are near Lord + Stuart's, [FOOTNOTE: Lord Dudley Cuotts Stuart, a staunch and + generous friend of the Poles.] who has just left me. This + worthy gentleman came to inquire how I felt after last night's + concert. Probably I shall take up my quarters with him, + because he has much larger rooms, in which I can breathe more + freely. En tout cas--inquire, please, whether there are not + somewhere on the Boulevard, in the neighbourhood of the Rue de + la Paix or Rue Royale, apartments to be had on the first etage + with windows towards the south; or, for aught I care, in the + Rue des Mathurin, but not in the Rue Godot or other gloomy, + narrow streets; at any rate, there must be included a room for + the servant. Perhaps Franck's old quarters, which were above + mine, at the excellent Madame Etienne's, in the Square No. 9 + (Cite d'Orleans), are unoccupied; for I know from experience + that I cannot keep on my old ones during the winter. If there + were only on the same story a room for the servant, I should + go again and live with Madame Etienne, but I should not like + to let my Daniel go away, as, should I at any time wish or be + able to return to England, he will be acquainted with + everything. + + Why I bother you with all this I don't know myself; but I must + think of myself, and, therefore, I beg of you, assist me in + this. I have never cursed anyone, but now I am so weary of + life that I am near cursing Lucrezia! [FOOTNOTE: George Sand. + This allusion after what has been said in a previous chapter + about her novel Lucrezia Floriani needs no further + explanation.] But she suffers too, and suffers more because + she grows daily older in wickedness. What a pity about Soli! + [FOOTNOTE: I suppose Solange, Madame Clesinger, George Sand's + daughter.] Alas! everything is going wrong in this world. + Think only that Arago with the eagle on his breast now + represents France!!! Louis Blanc attracts here nobody's + attention. The deputation of the national guard drove + Caussidier out of the Hotel de la Sablonniere (Leicester + Square) from the table d'hote with the exclamation: "Vous + n'etes pas francais!" + + Should you find apartments, let me know at once; but do not + give up the old ones till then.--Your + + +FREDERICK. + +The Polish Ball and Concert alluded to in the above letter +deserves our attention, for on that occasion Chopin was heard for +the last time in public, indeed, his performance there may be +truly called the swan's song. + +The following is an advertisement which appeared in the DAILY +NEWS of November 1, 1848:-- + + Grand Polish Ball and Concert at Guildhall, under Royal and + distinguished patronage, and on a scale of more than usual + magnificence, will take place on Thursday, the 16th of + November, by permission of the Lord Mayor and Corporation of + the City of London; particulars of which will be shortly + announced to the public. + + JAMES R. CARR, HONORARY SECRETARY. + +The information given in this advertisement is supplemented in +one of November 15:-- + + The magnificent decorations used on the Lord Mayor's day are, + by permission, preserved. The concert will comprise the most + eminent vocalists. Tickets (refreshments included), for a lady + and gentleman, 21/-; for a gentleman, 15/-; for a lady, 10/6; + to be had of, &c. + +On the 17th of November the TIMES had, of course, an account of +the festivity of the preceding night:-- + + The patrons and patronesses of this annual or rather perennial + demonstration in favour of foreign claims on domestic charity + assembled last night at Guildhall much in the same way as they + assembled last year and on previous occasions, though + certainly not in such numbers, nor in such quality as some + years ago. The great hall was illuminated and decorated as at + the Lord Mayor's banquet. The appearance was brilliant without + being particularly lively. + +Then the dancing, Mr. Adams' excellent band, the refreshment +rooms, a few noble Lords, the Lord Mayor, and some of the civic +authorities (who "diversified the plain misters and mistresses +who formed the majority"), the gay costumes of some Highlanders +and Spaniards, and Lord Dudley (the great lion of the evening)-- +all these are mentioned, but there is not a word about Chopin. Of +the concert we read only that it "was much the same as on former +anniversaries, and at its conclusion many of the company +departed." We learn, moreover, that the net profit was estimated +at less than on former occasions. + +The concert for which Chopin, prompted by his patriotism and +persuaded by his friends, lent his assistance, was evidently a +subordinate part of the proceedings in which few took any +interest. The newspapers either do not notice it at all or but +very briefly; in any case the, great pianist-composer is ignored. +Consequently, very little information is now to be obtained about +this matter. Mr. Lindsay Sloper remembered that Chopin played +among other things the "Etudes" in A flat and F minor (Op. 25, +Nos. 1 & 2). But the best account we have of the concert are some +remarks of one present at it which Mr. Hueffer quotes in his +essay on Chopin in "Musical Studies":-- + + The people, hot from dancing, who went into the room where he + played, were but little in the humour to pay attention, and + anxious to return to their amusement. He was in the last stage + of exhaustion, and the affair resulted in disappointment. His + playing at such a place was a well-intentioned mistake. + +What a sad conclusion to a noble artistic career! + +Although Chopin was longing for Paris in November, he was still +in London in the following January. + +Chopin to Grzymaia; London, Tuesday, January, 1849:-- + + My dearest friend,--To-day I am again lying almost the whole + day, but Thursday I shall leave the to me unbearable London. + The night from Thursday to Friday I shall remain at Boulogne, + and, I hope, go to bed on Friday night in the Place d'Orleans. + To other ailments is now added neuralgia. Please see that the + sheets and pillows are quite dry and cause fir-nuts to be + bought; Madame Etienne is not to spare anything, so that I may + warm myself when I arrive. I have written to Drozewski that he + is to provide carpets and curtains. I shall pay the paper- + hanger Perrichon at once after my arrival. Tell Pleyel to send + me a piano on Thursday; let it be closed and a nosegay of + violets be bought, so that there may be a nice fragrance in + the salon. I should like to find a little poesy in my rooms + and in my bedroom, where I in all probability shall lie down + for a long time. + + Friday evening, then, I expect to be in Paris; a day longer + here, and I shall go mad or die! My Scotch ladies are good, + but so tedious that--God have mercy on us! They have so + attached themselves to me that I cannot easily get rid of + them; only Princess Marcelline [Czartoryska] and her family, + and the excellent Szulczewski keep me alive. Have fires + lighted in all rooms and the dust removed--perhaps I may yet + recover.--Yours ever, + + FREDERICK. + +Mr. Niedzwiecki told me that he travelled with Chopin, who was +accompanied by his servant, from London to Paris. + +[FOOTNOTE: Leonard Niedzwiecki, born in the Kingdom of Poland in +1807, joined the National Army in 1830, distinguished himself on +several battlefields, came in 1832 as a refugee to England, made +there a livelihood by literary work and acted as honorary +librarian of the Literary Association of the friends of Poland, +left about 1845 London for Paris and became Private Secretary, +first to General Count Ladislas Zamoyski, and after the Count's +death to the widowed Countess. M. Niedzwiecki, who is also +librarian of the Polish Library at Paris, now devotes all his +time to historical and philological research.] + +The three had a compartment to themselves. During the journey the +invalid suffered greatly from frequent attacks of breathlessness. +Chopin was delighted when he saw Boulogne. How hateful England +and the English were to him is shown by the following anecdote. +When they had left Boulogne and Chopin had been for some time +looking at the landscape through which they were passing, he said +to Mr. Niedzwiecki: "Do you see the cattle in this meadow? Ca a +plus d'intelligence que les Anglais." Let us not be wroth at poor +Chopin: he was then irritated by his troubles, and always +anything but a cosmopolitan. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + + +DETERIORATION OF CHOPIN'S STATE OF HEALTH.--TWO LETTERS.--REMOVES +FROM THE SQUARE D'ORLEANS TO THE RUE CHAILLOT.--PECUNIARY +CIRCUMSTANCES.--A CURIOUS STORY.--REMINISCENCES AND LETTERS +CONNECTED WITH CHOPIN'S STAY IN THE RUE CHAILLOT.--REMOVES TO NO. +12, PLACE VENDOME.--LAST DAYS, AND DEATH.--FUNERAL.--LAST RESTING- +PLACE.--MONUMENT AND COMMEMORATION IN 1850. + + + +The physical condition in which we saw Chopin in the preceding +chapter was not the outcome of a newly-contracted disease, but +only an acuter phase of that old disease from which he had been +suffering more or less for at least twelve years, and which in +all probability he inherited from his father, who like himself +died of a chest and heart complaint. [FOOTNOTE: My authority for +this statement is Dr. Lyschinski, who must have got his +information either from Chopin himself or his mother. That +Chopin's youngest sister, Emilia, died of consumption in early +life cannot but be regarded as a significant fact.] Long before +Chopin went in search of health to Majorca, ominous symptoms +showed themselves; and when he returned from the south, he was +only partly restored, not cured. + + My attachment [writes George Sand in "Ma Vie"] could work this + miracle of making him a little calm and happy, only because + God had approved of it by preserving a little of his health. + He declined, however, visibly, and I knew no longer what + remedies to employ in order to combat the growing irritation + of his nerves. The death of his friend Dr. Matuszynski, then + that of his own father, [FOOTNOTE: Nicholas Chopin died on May + 3, 1844. About Matuszynski's death see page 158.] were to him + two terrible blows. The Catholic dogma throws on death + horrible terrors. Chopin, instead of dreaming for these pure + souls a better world, had only dreadful visions, and I was + obliged to pass very many nights in a room adjoining his, + always ready to rise a hundred times from my work in order to + drive away the spectres of his sleep and wakefulness. The idea + of his own death appeared to him accompanied with all the + superstitious imaginings of Slavonic poetry. As a Pole he + lived under the nightmare of legends. The phantoms called him, + clasped him, and, instead of seeing his father and his friend + smile at him in the ray of faith, he repelled their fleshless + faces from his own and struggled under the grasp of their icy + hands. + +But a far more terrible blow than the deaths of his friend and +his father was his desertion by George Sand, and we may be sure +that it aggravated his disease a hundredfold. To be convinced of +this we have only to remember his curse on Lucrezia (see the +letter to Grzymala of November 17-18, 1848). + +Jules Janin, in an obituary notice, says of Chopin that "he lived +ten years, ten miraculous years, with a breath ready to fly away" +(il a vecu dix ans, dix ans de miracle, d'un souffle pret a +s'envoler). Another writer remarks: "In seeing him [Chopin] so +puny, thin, and pale, one thought for a. long time that he was +dying, and then one got accustomed to the idea that he could live +always so." Stephen Heller in chatting to me about Chopin +expressed the same idea in different words: "Chopin was often +reported to have died, so often, indeed, that people would not +believe the news when he was really dead." There was in Chopin +for many years, especially since 1837, a constant flux and reflux +of life. To repeat another remark of Heller's: "Now he was ill, +and then again one saw him walking on the boulevards in a thin +coat." A married sister of Gutmann's remembers that Chopin had +already, in 1843-4, to be carried upstairs, when he visited her +mother, who in that year was staying with her children in Paris; +to walk upstairs, even with assistance, would have been +impossible to him. + + For a long time [writes M. Charles Gavard] Chopin had been, + moving about with difficulty, and only went out to have + himself carried to a few faithful friends. He visited them by + no means in order that they might share his misery, on the + contrary, he seemed even to forget his troubles, and at sight + of the family life, and in the midst of the demonstrations of + love which he called forth from everyone, he found new impulse + and new strength to live. + + [FOOTNOTE: In a manuscript now before me, containing + reminiscences of the last months of Chopin's life. Karasowski, + at whose disposal the author placed his manuscript, copies + LITERALY, in the twelfth chapter of his Chopin biography, page + after page, without the customary quotation marks.] + +Edouard Wolff told me that, in the latter part of Chopin's life, +he did not leave the carriage when he had any business at +Schlesinger's music-shop; a shopman came out to the composer, who +kept himself closely wrapped in his blue mantle. The following +reminiscence is, like some of the preceding ones, somewhat vague +with regard to time. Stephen Heller met Chopin shortly before the +latter fell ill. On being asked where he was going, Chopin +replied that he was on his way to buy a new carpet, his old one +having got worn, and then he complained of his legs beginning to +swell. And Stephen Heller saw indeed that there were lumps of +swelling. M. Mathias, describing to me his master as he saw him +in 1847, wrote: "It was a painful spectacle to see Chopin at that +time; he was the picture of exhaustion--the back bent, the head +bowed forward--but always amiable and full of distinction." That +Chopin was no longer in a condition to compose (he published +nothing after October, 1847), and that playing in public was +torture to him and an effort beyond his strength, we have already +seen. But this was not all the misery; he was also unable to +teach. Thus all his sources of income were cut off. From Chopin's +pupil Madame Rubio (nee Vera de Kologrivof) I learned that +latterly when her master was ill and could not give many lessons, +he sent to her several of his pupils, among whom was also Miss +Stirling, who then came to him only once a week instead of +oftener. But after his return from England Chopin was no longer +able to teach at all. [FOOTNOTE: "When languor [son mal de +langueur] took hold of him," relates Henri Blaze de Bury in +"Etudes et Souvenirs," "Chopin gave his lessons, stretched on a +sofa, having within reach a piano of which he made use for +demonstration."] This is what Franchomme told me, and he, in the +last years especially, was intimately acquainted with Chopin, and +knew all about his financial affairs, of which we shall hear more +presently. + +As we saw from the letter quoted at the end of the last chapter, +Chopin took up his quarters in the Square d'Orleans, No. 9. He, +however, did not find there the recovery of his health, of which +he spoke in the concluding sentences. Indeed, Chopin knew +perfectly by that time that the game was lost. Hope showed +herself to him now and then, but very dimly and doubtfully. +Nothing proves the gravity of his illness and his utter +prostration so much as the following letters in which he informs +his Titus, the dearest friend of his youth, that he cannot go and +meet him in Belgium. + +Chopin to Titus Woyciechowski; Paris, August 20, 1849:-- + + Square d'Orleans, Rue St. Lazare, No 9. + + My dearest friend,--Nothing but my being so ill as I really am + could prevent me from leaving Paris and hastening to meet you + at Ostend; but I hope that God will permit you to come to me. + The doctors do not permit me to travel. I drink Pyrenean + waters in my own room. But your presence would do me more good + than any kind of medicine.--Yours unto death, + + FREDERICK. + + + Paris, September 12, 1849. + + My dear Titus,--I had too little time to see about the permit + for your coming here; [FOOTNOTE: As a Russian subject, + Woyciechowski required a special permission from the Rusian + authorities to visit Paris, which was not readily granted to + Poles.] I cannot go after it myself, for the half of my time I + lie in bed. But I have asked one of my friends, who has very + great influence, to undertake this for me; I shall not hear + anything certain, about it till Saturday. I should have liked + to go by rail to the frontier, as far as Valenciennes, to see + you again; but the doctors do not permit me to leave Paris, + because a few days ago I could not get as far as Ville + d'Avraye, near Versailles, where I have a goddaughter. For the + same reason they do not send me this winter to a warmer + climate. It is, then, illness that retains me; were I only + tolerably well I should certainly have visited you in Belgium. + + Perhaps you may manage to come here. I am not egotistic enough + to ask you to come only on my account; for, as I am ill, you + would have with me weary hours and disappointments, but, + perhaps, also hours of comfort, and of beautiful reminiscences + of our youth, and I wish only that our time together may be a + time of happiness.--Yours ever, + + FREDERICK. + + +When Chopin wrote the second of the above letters he was staying +in a part of Paris more suitable for summer quarters than the +Square d'Orleans--namely, in the Rue Chaillot, whither he had +removed in the end of August. + + The Rue Chaillot [writes M. Charles Gavard] was then a very + quiet street, where one thought one's self rather in the + province than in the capital. A large court-yard led to + Chopin's apartments on the second story and with a view of + Paris, which can be seen from the height of Chaillot. + +The friends who found these apartments for the invalid composer +made him believe that the rent was only 200 francs. But in +reality it was 400 francs, and a Russian lady, Countess +Obreskoff, [FOOTNOTE: Madame Rubio, differing in this one +particular from Franchomme, said that Chopin paid 100 francs and +Countess Obreskoff 200.] paid one half of it. When Chopin +expressed surprise at the lowness of the rent, he was told that +lodgings were cheap in summer. + +This last story prompts me to say a few words about Chopin's +pecuniary circumstances, and naturally leads me to another story, +one more like romance than reality. Chopin was a bad manager, or +rather he was no manager at all. He spent inconsiderately, and +neglecting to adapt his expenditure to his income, he was again +and again under the necessity of adapting his income to his +expenditure. Hence those borrowings of money from friends, those +higglings with and dunnings of publishers, in short, all those +meannesses which were unworthy of so distinguished an artist, and +irreconcilable with his character of grand seigneur. Chopin's +income was more than sufficient to provide him with all +reasonable comforts; but he spent money like a giddy-headed, +capricious woman, and unfortunately for him had not a fond father +or husband to pay the debts thus incurred. Knowing in what an +unsatisfactory state his financial affairs were when he was +earning money by teaching and publishing, we can have no +difficulty in imagining into what straits he must have been +driven by the absolute cessation of work and the consequent +cessation of income. The little he had saved in England and +Scotland was soon gone, gone unawares; indeed, the discovery of +the fact came to him as a surprise. What was to be done? +Franchomme, his right hand, and his head too, in business and +money matters--and now, of course, more than ever--was at his +wits' end. He discussed the disquieting, threatening problem with +some friends of Chopin, and through one of them the composer's +destitution came to the knowledge of Miss Stirling. She cut the +Gordian knot by sending her master 25,000 francs. [FOOTNOTE: M. +Charles Gavard says 20,000 francs.] This noble gift, however; did +not at once reach the hands of Chopin. When Franchomme, who knew +what had been done, visited Chopin a few days afterwards, the +invalid lamented as on previous occasions his impecuniosity, and +in answer to the questions of his astonished friend stated that +he had received nothing. The enquiries which were forthwith set +on foot led to the envelope with the precious enclosure being +found untouched in the clock of the portiere, who intentionally +or unintentionally had omitted to deliver it. The story is told +in various ways, the above is the skeleton of apparently solid +facts. I will now make the reader acquainted with the hitherto +unpublished account of Madame Rubio, who declared solemnly that +her version was correct in every detail. Franchomme's version, as +given in Madame Audley's book on Chopin, differs in several +points from that of Madame Rubio; I shall, therefore, reproduce +it for comparison in a foot-note. + +One day in 1849 Franchomme came to Madame Rubio, and said that +something must be done to get money for Chopin. Madame Rubio +thereupon went to Miss Stirling to acquaint her with the state of +matters. When Miss Stirling heard of Chopin's want of money, she +was amazed, and told her visitor that some time before she had, +without the knowledge of anyone, sent Chopin 25,000 francs in a +packet which, in order to conceal the sender, she got addressed +and sealed in a shop. The ladies made enquiries as to the +whereabouts of the money, but without result. A Scotch gentleman, +a novelist (Madame Rubio had forgotten the name at the time she +told the story, but was sure she would recall it, and no doubt +would have done so, had not her sudden death soon after +[FOOTNOTE: In the summer of 1880] intervened), proposed to +consult the clairvoyant Alexandre. [FOOTNOTE: Madame Rubio always +called the clairvoyant thus. See another name farther on.] The +latter on being applied to told them that the packet along with a +letter had been delivered to the portiere who had it then in her +possession, but that he could not say more until he got some of +her hair. One evening when the portiere was bathing Chopin's +feet, he--who had in the meantime been communicated with--talked +to her about her hair and asked her to let him cut off one lock. +She allowed him to do so, and thus Alexandre was enabled to say +that the money was in the clock in the portiere's room. Having +got this information, they went to the woman and asked her for +the packet. She turned pale, and, drawing it out of the clock, +said that at the time she forgot to give it to Chopin, and when +she remembered it afterwards was afraid to do so. The packet of +notes was unopened. Madame Rubio supposed that the portiere +thought Chopin would soon die and that then she might keep the +contents of the parcel. + +[FOOTNOTE: After relating that an intimate friend of Chopin's +told Miss Stirling of the latter's straitened circumstances, +received from her bank-notes to the amount of 25,000 francs, and +handed them enclosed in an envelope to the master's portiere with +the request to deliver the packet immediately to its address, +Madame Audley proceeds with her story (which Franchomme's death +prevented me from verifying) thus: "Here, then, was a gleam of +light in this darkened sky, and the reassured friends breathed +more freely." "But what was my surprise," said M. Franchomme, from +whom I have the story, "when some time after I heard Chopin renew +his complaints and speak of his distress in the most poignant +terms. Becoming impatient, and being quite at a loss as to what +was going on, I said at last to him: "But, my dear friend, you +have no cause to torment yourself, you can wait for the return of +your health, you have money now!"--"I, money!" exclaimed Chopin; +"I have nothing."--"How! and these 25,000 francs which were sent +you lately?"--"25,000 francs? Where are they? Who sent them to +me? I have not received a sou!"--"Ah! really, that is too bad!" +Great commotion among the friends. It was evident that the money +given to the portiere had not arrived at its destination; but how +to be assured of this? and what had become of it? Here was a +curious enough fact, as if a little of the marvellous must always +be mingled with Chopin's affairs. Paris at that time possessed a +much run-after clairvoyant, the celebrated Alexis; they thought +of going to consult him. But to get some information it was +necessary to put him en rapport, directly or indirectly, with the +person suspected. Now this person was, naturally, the portiere. +By ruse or by address they got hold of a little scarf that she +wore round her neck and placed it in the hands of the +clairvoyant. The latter unhesitatingly declared that the 25,000 +francs were behind the looking-glass in the loge. The friend who +had brought them immediately presented himself to claim them; and +our careful portiere, fearing, no doubt, the consequences of a +too prolonged sequestration, drew the packet from behind the +clock and held it out to him, saying: 'Eh bien, la v'la, vot' +lettre!'"] + +Chopin, however, refused to accept the whole of the 25,000 +francs. According to Madame Rubio, he kept only 1,000 francs, +returning the rest to Miss Stirling, whilst Franchomme, on the +other hand, said that his friend kept 12,000 francs. + +During Chopin's short stay in the Rue Chaillot, M. Charles +Gavard, then a very young man, in fact, a youth, spent much of +his time with the suffering composer:-- + + The invalid [he writes] avoided everything that could make me + sad, and, to shorten the hours which we passed together, + generally begged me to take a book out of his library and to + read to him. For the most part he chose some pages out of + Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique. He valued very highly + the finished form of that clear and concise language, and that + so sure judgment on questions of taste. Thus, for instance, I + remember that the article on taste was one of the last I read + to him. + +What M. Gavard says of how slowly, in pain, and often in +loneliness, the hours passed for Chopin in the spacious, rooms of +his lodgings in the Rue Chaillot, reminds me of a passage in +Hector Berlioz's admirable article on his friend in the Journal +des Debats (October 27, 1849):-- + + His weakness and his sufferings had become so great that he + could no longer either play the piano or compose; even the + slightest conversation fatigued him in an alarming manner. He + endeavoured generally to make himself understood as far as + possible by signs. Hence the kind of isolation in which he + wished to pass the last months of his life, an isolation which + many people wrongly interpreted--some attributing it to a + scornful pride, others to a melancholic temper, the one as + well as the other equally foreign to the character of this, + charming artist. + +During his stay in the Rue Chaillot Chopin wrote the following +note and letter to Franchomme:-- + + Dear friend,--Send me a little of your Bordeaux. I must take a + little wine to-day, and have none. How distrustful I am! Wrap + up the bottle, and put your seal on it. For these porters! And + I do not know who will take charge of this commission. + + Yours, with all my heart. + + + Sunday after your departure, September 17, 1849. + + Dear friend,--I am very sorry that you were not well at Le + Mans. Now, however, you are in Touraine, whose sky will have + been more favourable to you. I am less well rather than + better. MM. Cruveille, Louis, and Blache have had a + consultation, and have come to the conclusion that I ought not + to travel, but only to take lodgings in the south and remain + at Paris. After much seeking, very dear apartments, combining + all the desired conditions, have been found in the Place + Vendome, No. 12. Albrecht has now his offices there. Meara + [FOOTNOTE: This is a very common French equivalent for + O'Meara.] has been of great help to me in the search for the + apartments. In short, I shall see you all next winter--well + housed; my sister remains with me, unless she is urgently + required in her own country. I love you, and that is all I can + tell you, for I am overcome with sleep and weakness. My sister + rejoices at the idea of seeing Madame Franchomme again, and I + also do so most sincerely. This shall be as God wills. Kindest + regards to M. and Madame Forest. How much I should like to be + some days with you! Is Madame de Lauvergeat also at the sea- + side? Do not forget to remember me to her, as well as to M. de + Lauvergeat. Embrace your little ones. Write me a line. Yours + ever. My sister embraces Madame Franchomme. + +After a stay of less than six weeks Chopin removed from the Rue +Chaillot to the apartments in No. 12, Place Vendome, which M. +Albrecht and Dr. O'Meara had succeeded in finding for him. About +this time Moscheles came to Paris. Of course he did not fail to +inquire after his brother-artist and call at his house. What +Moscheles heard and thought may be gathered from the following +entry in his diary:-"Unfortunately, we heard of Chopin's critical +condition, made ourselves inquiries, and found all the sad news +confirmed. Since he has been laid up thus, his sister has been +with him. Now the days of the poor fellow are numbered, his +sufferings great. Sad lot!" Yes, Chopin's condition had become so +hopeless that his relations had been communicated with, and his +sister, Louisa Jedrzejewicz, [FOOTNOTE: The same sister who +visited him in 1844, passed on that occasion also some time at +Nohant, and subsequently is mentioned in a letter of Chopin's to +Franchomme.] accompanied by her husband and daughter, had lost no +time in coming from Poland to Paris. For the comfort of her +presence he was, no doubt, thankful. But he missed and deplored +very much during his last illness the absence of his old, trusted +physician, Dr. Molin, who had died shortly after the composer's +return from England. + +The accounts of Chopin's last days--even if we confine ourselves +to those given by eye-witnesses--are a mesh of contradictions +which it is impossible to wholly disentangle. I shall do my best, +but perhaps the most I can hope for is to avoid making confusion +worse confounded. + +In the first days of October Chopin was already in such a +condition that unsupported he could not sit upright. His sister +and Gutmann did not leave him for a minute, Chopin holding a hand +of the latter almost constantly in one of his. By the 15th of +October the voice of the patient had lost its sonority. It was on +this day that took place the episode which has so often and +variously been described. The Countess Delphine Potocka, between +whom and Chopin existed a warm friendship, and who then happened +to be at Nice, was no sooner informed of her friend's fatal +illness than she hastened to Paris. + + When the coming of this dear friend was announced to Chopin + [relates M. Gavard], he exclaimed: "Therefore, then, has God + delayed so long to call me to Him; He wished to vouchsafe me + yet the pleasure of seeing you." Scarcely had she stepped up + to him when he expressed the wish that she should let him hear + once more the voice which he loved so much. When the priest + who prayed beside the bed had granted the request of the dying + man, the piano was moved from the adjoining room, and the + unhappy Countess, mastering her sorrow and suppressing tier + sobs, had to force herself to sing beside the bed where her + friend was exhaling his life. I, for my part, heard nothing; I + do not know what she sang. This scene, this contrast, this + excess of grief had over-powered my-sensibility; I remember + only the moment when the death-rattle of the departing one + interrupted the Countess in the middle of the second piece. + The instrument was quickly removed, and beside the bed + remained only the priest who said the prayers for the dying, + and the kneeling friends around him. + +However, the end was not yet come, indeed, was not to come till +two days after. M. Gavard, in saying that he did not hear what +the Countess Potocka sang, acts wisely, for those who pretended +to have heard it contradict each other outright. Liszt and +Karasowski, who follows him, say that the Countess sang the Hymn +to the Virgin by Stradella, and a Psalm by Marcello; on the other +hand, Gutmann most positively asserted that she sang a Psalm by +Marcello and an air by Pergolesi; whereas Franchomme insisted on +her having sung an air from Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda, and that +only once, and nothing else. As Liszt was not himself present, +and does not give the authority for his statement, we may set it, +and with it Karasowski's, aside; but the two other statements, +made as they were by two musicians who were ear witnesses, leave +us in distressing perplexity with regard to what really took +place, for between them we cannot choose. Chopin, says M. Gavard, +looked forward to his death with serenity. + + Some days after his removal to the Place Vendome, Chopin, + sitting upright and leaning on the arm of a friend, remained + silent for a long time and seemed lost in deep meditation. + Suddenly he broke the silence with the words: "Now my death- + struggle begins" [Maintenant j'entre en agonie]. The + physician, who was feeling his pulse, wished to comfort him + with some commonplace words of hope. But Chopin rejoined with + a superiority which admitted of no reply: "God shows man a + rare favour when He reveals to him the moment of the approach + of death; this grace He shows me. Do not disturb me." + +M. Gavard relates also that on the 16th October Chopin twice +called his friends that were gathered in his apartments around +him. "For everyone he had a touching word; I, for my part, shall +never forget the tender words he spoke to me." Calling to his +side the Princess Czartoryska and Mdlle. Gavard, [FOOTNOTE: A +sister of M. Charles Gavard, the pupil to whom Chopin dedicated +his Berceuse.] he said to them: "You will play together, you will +think of me, and I shall listen to you." And calling to his side +Franchomme, he said to the Princess: "I recommend Franchomme to +you, you will play Mozart together, and I shall listen to you." +[FOOTNOTE: The words are usually reported to have been "Vous +jouerez du Mozart en memoire de moi."] "And," added Franchomme +when he told me this, "the Princess has always been a good friend +to me." + +And George Sand? Chopin, as I have already mentioned, said two +days before his death to Franchomme: "She had said to me that I +would die in no arms but hers" [Elle n'avait dit que je ne +mourrais que dans ses bras]. Well, did she not come and fulfil +her promise, or, at least, take leave of her friend of many +years? Here, again, all is contradiction. M. Gavard writes:-- + + Among the persons who called and were not admitted was a + certain Madame M., who came in the name of George Sand--who + was then much occupied with the impending representation of + one of her dramas--to inquire after Chopin's state of health. + None of us thought it proper to disturb the last moments of + the master by the announcement of this somewhat late + remembrance. + +Gutmann, on the other hand, related that George Sand came to the +landing of the staircase and asked him if she might see Chopin; +but that he advised her strongly against it, as it was likely to +excite the patient too much. Gutmann, however, seems to have been +by no means sure about this part of his recollections, for on two +occasions he told me that it was Madame Clesinger (George Sand's +daughter, Solange) who asked if it was advisable for her mother +to come. Madame Clesinger, I may say in passing, was one of those +in loving attendance on Chopin, and, as Franchomme told me, +present, like himself, when the pianist-composer breathed his +last. From the above we gather, at least, that it is very +uncertain whether Chopin's desire to see George Sand was +frustrated by her heartlessness or the well-meaning interference +of his friends. + +During this illness of Chopin a great many of his friends and +acquaintances, in fact, too many, pressed forward, ready to be of +use, anxious to learn what was passing. Happily for the dying +man's comfort, most of them were not allowed to enter the room in +which he lay. + + In the back room [writes M. Gavard] lay the poor sufferer, + tormented by fits of breathlessness, and only sitting in bed + resting in the arms of a friend could he procure air for his + oppressed lungs. It was Gutmann, the strongest among us, who + knew best how to manage the patient, and who mostly thus + supported him. At the head of his bed sat the Princess + Marcelline Czartoryska: she never left him, guessing his most + secret wishes, nursing him like a sister of mercy with a + serene countenance, which did not betray her deep sorrow. + Other friends gave a helping hand or relieved her, everyone + according to his power; but most of them stayed in the two + adjoining rooms. Everyone had assumed a part; everyone helped + as much as he could: one ran to the doctors, to the + apothecary; another introduced the persons asked for; a third + shut the door on the intruders. To be sure, many who had + anything but free entrance came, and called to take leave of + him just as if he were about to start on a journey. This + anteroom of the dying man, where every one of us hopelessly + waited and watched, was like a guard-house or a camp. + +M. Gavard probably exaggerates the services of the Princess +Czartoryska, but certainly forgets those of the composer's +sister. Liszt, no doubt, comes nearer the truth when he says that +among those who assembled in the salon adjoining Chopin's +bedroom, and in turn came to him and watched his gestures and +looks when he had lost his speech, the Princess Marcelline +Czartoryska was the most assiduous. + + She passed every day a couple of hours with the dying man. She + left him at the last only after having prayed for a long time + beside him who had just then fled from this world of illusions + and sorrows.... + +After a bad night Chopin felt somewhat better on the morning of +the 16th. By several authorities we are informed that on this +day, the day after the Potocka episode, the artist received the +sacrament which a Polish priest gave him in the presence of many +friends. Chopin got worse again in the evening. While the priest +was reading the prayers for the dying, he rested silently and +with his eyes closed upon Gutmann's shoulder; but at the end of +the prayers he opened his eyes wide and said with a loud voice: +"Amen." + +The Polish priest above mentioned was the Abbe Alexander +Jelowicki. Liszt relates that in the absence of the Polish priest +who was formerly Chopin's confessor, the Abbe called on his +countryman when he heard of his condition, although they had not +been on good terms for years. Three times he was sent away by +those about Chopin without seeing him. But when he had succeeded +in informing Chopin of his wish to see him, the artist received +him without delay. After that the Abbe became a daily visitor. +One day Chopin told him that he had not confessed for many years, +he would do so now. When the confession was over and the last +word of the absolution spoken, Chopin embraced his confessor with +both arms a la polonaise, and exclaimed: "Thanks! Thanks! Thanks +to you I shall not die like a pig." That is what Liszt tells us +he had from Abbe Jelowicki's own lips. In the account which the +latter has himself given of how Chopin was induced by him to +receive the sacrament, induced only after much hesitation, he +writes:-- + + Then I experienced an inexpressible joy mixed with an + indescribable anguish. How should I receive this precious soul + so as to give it to God? I fell on my knees, and cried to God + with all the energy of my faith: "You alone receive it, O my + God!" And I held out to Chopin the image of the crucified + Saviour, pressing it firmly in his two hands without saying a + word. Then fell from his eyes big tears. "Do you believe?" I + asked him.--"I believe."--"Do you believe as your mother + taught you?"--"As my mother taught me." And, his eyes fixed on + the image of his Saviour, he confessed while shedding torrents + of tears. Then he received the viaticum and the extreme + unction which he asked for himself. After a moment he desired + that the sacristan should be given twenty times more than was + usually given to him. When I told him that this would be far + too much, he replied: "No, no, this is not too much, for what + I have received is priceless." From this moment, by God's + grace, or rather under the hand of God Himself, he became + quite another, and one might almost say he became a saint. On + the same day began the death-struggle, which lasted four days + and four nights. His patience and resignation to the will of + God did not abandon him up to the last minute.... + +When Chopin's last moments approached he took "nervous cramps" +(this was Gutmann's expression in speaking of the matter), and +the only thing which seemed to soothe him was Gutmann's clasping +his wrists and ankles firmly. Quite near the end Chopin was +induced to drink some wine or water by Gutmann, who supported him +in his arms while holding the glass to his lips. Chopin drank, +and, sinking back, said "Cher ami!" and died. Gutmann preserved +the glass with the marks of Chopin's lips on it till the end of +his life. + +[FOOTNOTE: In B. Stavenow's sketch already more than once alluded +to by me, we read that Chopin, after having wetted his lips with +the water brought him by Gutmann, raised the latter's hand, +kissed it, and with the words "Cher ami!" breathed his last in +the arms of his pupil, whose sorrow was so great that Count +Gryzmala was obliged to lead him out of the room. Liszt's account +is slightly different. "Who is near me?" asked Chopin, with a +scarcely audible voice. He bent his head to kiss the hand of +Gutmann who supported him, giving up his soul in this last proof +of friendship and gratitude. He died as he had lived, loving.] + +M. Gavard describes the closing hours of Chopin's life as +follows:-- + + The whole evening of the 16th passed in litanies; we gave the + responses, but Chopin remained silent. Only from his difficult + breathing could one perceive that he was still alive. That + evening two doctors examined him. One of them, Dr. Cruveille, + took a candle, and, holding it before Chopin's face, which had + become quite black from suffocation, remarked to us that the + senses had already ceased to act. But when he asked Chopin + whether he suffered, we heard, still quite distinctly, the + answer "No longer" [Plus]. This was the last word I heard from + his lips. He died painlessly between three and four in the + morning [of October 17, 1849]. When I saw him some hours + afterwards, the calm of death had given again to his + countenance the grand character which we find in the mould + taken the same day [by Clesinger], and still more in the + simple pencil sketch which was drawn by the hand of a friend, + M. Kwiatkowski. This picture of Chopin is the one I like best. + +Liszt, too, reports that Chopin's face resumed an unwonted youth, +purity, and calm; that his youthful beauty so long eclipsed by +suffering reappeared. Common as the phenomenon is, there can be +nothing more significant, more impressive, more awful, than this +throwing-off in death of the marks of care, hardship, vice, and +disease--the corruption of earthly life; than this return to the +innocence, serenity, and loveliness of a first and better nature; +than this foreshadowing of a higher and more perfect existence. +Chopin's love of flowers was not forgotten by those who had +cherished and admired him now when his soul and body were parted. +"The bed on which he lay," relates Liszt, "the whole room, +disappeared under their varied colours; he seemed to repose in a +garden." It was a Polish custom, which is not quite obsolete even +now, for the dying to choose for themselves the garments in which +they wished to be dressed before being laid in the coffin +(indeed, some people had their last habiliments prepared long +before the approach of their end); and the pious, more especially +of the female sex, affected conventual vestments, men generally +preferring their official attire. That Chopin chose for his grave- +clothes his dress-suit, his official attire, in which he +presented himself to his audiences in concert-hall and salon, +cannot but be regarded as characteristic of the man, and is +perhaps more significant than appears at first sight. But I ought +to have said, it would be if it were true that Chopin really +expressed the wish. M. Kwiatkowski informed me that this was not +so. + +For some weeks after, from the 18th October onwards, the French +press occupied itself a good deal with the deceased musician. +There was not, I think, a single Paris paper of note which did +not bring one or more long articles or short notes regretting the +loss, describing the end, and estimating the man and artist. But +the phenomenal ignorance, exuberance of imagination, and audacity +of statement, manifested by almost every one of the writers of +these articles and notes are sufficient to destroy one's faith in +journalism completely and for ever. Among the offenders were men +of great celebrity, chief among them Theophile Gautier +(Feuilleton de la Presse, November 5, 1849) and Jules Janin +(Feuilleton du Journal des Debuts, October 22, 1849), the +latter's performance being absolutely appalling. Indeed, if we +must adjudge to French journalists the palm for gracefulness and +sprightliness, we cannot withhold it from them for +unconscientiousness. Some of the inventions of journalism, I +suspect, were subsequently accepted as facts, in some cases +perhaps even assimilated as items of their experience, by the +friends of the deceased, and finally found their way into +AUTHENTIC biography. One of these myths is that Chopin expressed +the wish that Mozart's Requiem should be performed at his +funeral. Berlioz, one of the many journalists who wrote at the +time to this effect, adds (Feuilleton du Journal des Debuts, +October 27, 1849) that "His [Chopin's] worthy pupil received this +wish with his last sigh." Unfortunately for Berlioz and this +pretty story, Gutmann told me that Chopin did not express such a +wish; and Franchomme made to me the same statement. must, [I +must, however, not omit to mention here that M. Charles Gavard +says that Chopin drew up the programme of his funeral, and asked +that on that occasion Mozart's Requiem should be performed.] Also +the story about Chopin's wish to be buried beside Bellini is, +according to the latter authority, a baseless invention. This is +also the place to dispose of the question: What was done with +Chopin's MSS.? The reader may know that the composer is said to +have caused all his MSS. to be burnt. Now, this is not true. From +Franchomme I learned that what actually took place was this. +Pleyel asked Chopin what was to be done with the MSS. Chopin +replied that they were to be distributed among his friends, that +none were to be published, and that fragments were to be +destroyed. Of the pianoforte school which Chopin is said to have +had the intention to write, nothing but scraps, if anything, can +have been found. + +M. Gavard pere made the arrangements for the funeral, which, +owing to the extensiveness of the preparations, did not take +place till the 3Oth of October. Ready assistance was given by M. +Daguerry, the curate of the Madeleine, where the funeral service +was to be held; and thanks to him permission was received for the +introduction of female singers into the church, without whom the +performance of Mozart's Requiem would have been an impossibility. + + Numerous equipages [says Eugene Guinot in the Feuilleton du + Siecle of November 4] encumbered last Tuesday the large + avenues of the Madeleine church, and the crowd besieged the + doors of the Temple where one was admitted only on presenting + a letter of invitation. Mourning draperies announced a funeral + ceremony, and in seeing this external pomp, this concourse of + carriages and liveried servants, and this privilege which + permitted only the elect to enter the church, the curious + congregated on the square asked: "Who is the great lord [grand + seigneur] whom they are burying?" As if there were still + grands seigneurs! Within, the gathering was brilliant; the + elite of Parisian society, all the strangers of distinction + which Paris possesses at this moment, were to be found + there... + +Many writers complain of the exclusiveness which seems to have +presided at the sending out of invitations. M. Guinot remarks in +reference to this point: + + His testamentary executors [executrices] organised this + solemnity magnificently. But, be it from premeditation or from + forgetfulness, they completely neglected to invite to the + ceremony most of the representatives of the musical world. + Members of the Institute, celebrated artists, notable writers, + tried in vain to elude the watch-word [consigne] and penetrate + into the church, where the women were in a very great + majority. Some had come from London, Vienna, and Berlin. + +In continuation of my account of the funeral service I shall +quote from a report in the Daily News of November 2, 1849:-- + + The coffin was under a catafalque which stood in the middle of + the area. The semicircular space behind the steps of the altar + was screened by a drapery of black cloth, which being + festooned towards the middle, gave a partial view of the vocal + and instrumental orchestra, disposed not in the usual form of + a gradual ascent from the front to the back, but only on the + level of the floor.... + + The doors of the church were opened at eleven o'clock, and at + noon (the time fixed for the commencement of the funeral + service) the vast area was filled by an assembly of nearly + three thousand persons, all of whom had received special + invitations, as being entitled from rank, from station in the + world of art and literature, or from friendship for the + lamented deceased, to be present on so solemn and melancholy + an occasion. + +A trustworthy account of the whole ceremony, and especially a +clear and full report of the musical part of the service, we find +in a letter from the Paris correspondent of The Musical World +(November 10, 1849). I shall quote some portions of this letter, +accompanying them with elucidatory and supplementary notes:-- + + The ceremony, which took place on Tuesday (the 30th ult.), at + noon, in the church of the Madeleine, was one of the most + imposing we ever remember to have witnessed. The great door of + the church was hung with black curtains, with the initials of + the deceased, "F. C.," emblazoned in silver. On our entry we + found the vast area of the modern Parthenon entirely crowded. + Nave, aisles, galleries, &c., were alive with human beings who + had come to see the last of Frederick Chopin. Many, perhaps, + had never heard of him before....In the space that separates + the nave from the choir, a lofty mausoleum had been erected, + hung with black and silver drapery, with the initials "F.C." + emblazoned on the pall. At noon the service began. The + orchestra and chorus (both from the Conservatoire, with M. + Girard as conductor and the principal singers (Madame Viardot- + Garcia, Madame Castellan, Signor Lablache, and M. Alexis + Dupont)) were placed at the extreme end of the church, a black + drapery concealing them from view. + + [FOOTNOTE: This statement is confirmed by one in the Gazette + musicals, where we read that the members of the Societe des + Concerts "have made themselves the testamentary executors of + this wish"--namely, to have Mozart's Requiem performed. Madame + Audley, misled, I think, by a dubious phrase of Karasowski's, + that has its origin in a by no means dubious phrase of + Liszt's, says that Meyerbeer conducted (dirigeait l'ensemble). + Liszt speaks of the conducting of the funeral procession.] + + When the service commenced the drapery was partially withdrawn + and exposed the male executants to view, concealing the women, + whose presence, being uncanonical, was being felt, not seen. A + solemn march was then struck up by the band, during the + performance of which the coffin containing the body of the + deceased was slowly carried up the middle of the nave...As + soon as the coffin was placed in the mausoleum, Mozart's + Requiem was begun...The march that accompanied the body to the + mausoleum was Chopin's own composition from his first + pianoforte sonata, instrumented for the orchestra by M. Henri + Reber. + + [FOOTNOTE: Op. 35, the first of those then published, but in + reality his second, Op. 4 being the first. Meyerbeer + afterwards expressed to M. Charles Gavard his surprise that he + had not been asked to do the deceased the homage of scoring + the march.] + + During the ceremony M. Lefebure-Wely, organist of the + Madeleine, performed two of Chopin's preludes [FOOTNOTE: Nos. + 4 and 6, in E and B minor] upon the organ...After the service + M. Wely played a voluntary, introducing themes from Chopin's + compositions, while the crowd dispersed with decorous gravity. + The coffin was then carried from the church, all along the + Boulevards, to the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise-a distance of + three miles at least--Meyerbeer and the other chief mourners, + who held the cords, walking on foot, bareheaded. + + [FOOTNOTE: Liszt writes that Meyerbeer and Prince Adam + Czartoryski conducted the funeral procession, and that Prince + Alexander Czartoryski, Delacroix, Franchomme, and Gutmann were + the pall-bearers. Karasowski mentions the same gentlemen as + pall-bearers; Madame Audley, on the other hand, names + Meyerbeer instead of Gutmann. Lastly, Theophile Gautier + reported in the Feuilleton de la Presse of November 5, 1849, + that MM. Meyerbeer, Eugene Delacroix, Franchomme, and Pleyel + held the cords of the pall. The Gazette musicale mentions + Franchomme, Delacroix, Meyerbeer, and Czartoryski.] + + A vast number of carriages followed... + + [FOOTNOTE: "Un grand nombre de voitures de deuil et de + voitures particulieres," we read in the Gazette musicals, "ont + suivi jusqu'au cimetiere de l'Est, dit du Pere-Lachaise, le + pompeux corbillard qui portait le corps du defunt. L'elite des + artistes de Paris lui a servi de cortege. Plusieurs dames, ses + eleves, en grand deuil, ont suivi le convoi, a pied, jusqu'au + champ de repos, ou l'artiste eminent, convaincu, a eu pour + oraisons funebres des regrets muets, profondement sentis, qui + valent mieux que des discours dans lesquels perce toujours une + vanite d'auteur ou d'orateur"] + + At Pere-Lachaise, in one of the most secluded spots, near the + tombs of Habeneck and Marie Milanollo, the coffin was + deposited in a newly-made grave. The friends and admirers took + a last look, ladies in deep mourning threw garlands and + flowers upon the coffin, and then the gravedigger resumed his + work...The ceremony was performed in silence. + +One affecting circumstance escaped the attention of our otherwise +so acute observer--namely, the sprinkling on the coffin, when the +latter had been lowered into the grave, of the Polish earth +which, enclosed in a finely-wrought silver cup, loving friends +had nearly nineteen years before, in the village of Wola, near +Warsaw, given to the departing young and hopeful musician who was +never to see his country again. + +Chopin's surroundings at Pere-Lachaise are most congenial. +Indeed, the neighbourhood forms quite a galaxy of musical talent- +-close by lie Cherubini, Bellini, Gretry, Boieldieu, Bocquillon- +Wilhem, Louis Duport, and several of the Erard family; farther +away, Ignace Pleyel, Rodolphe Kreutzer, Pierre Galin, Auguste +Panseron, Mehul, and Paer. Some of these, however, had not yet at +that time taken possession of their resting-places there, and +Bellini has since then (September 15, 1876) been removed by his +compatriots, to his birthplace, Catania, in Sicily. + +Not the whole of Chopin's body, however, was buried at Pere- +Lachaise; his heart was conveyed to his native country and is +preserved in the Holy Cross Church at Warsaw, where at the end of +1879 or beginning of 1880 a monument was erected, consisting of a +marble bust of the composer in a marble niche. Soon after +Chopin's death voluntary contributions were collected, and a +committee under Delacroix's presidence was formed, for the +erection of a monument, the execution of which was entrusted to +Clesinger, the husband of Madame Sand's daughter, Solange. +Although the sculptor's general idea is good--a pedestal bearing +on its front a medallion, and surmounted by a mourning muse with +a neglected lyre in her hand--the realisation leaves much to be +desired. This monument was unveiled in October, 1850, on the +anniversary of Chopin's death. + +[FOOTNOTE: On the pedestal of the monument are to be read besides +the words "A. Frederic Chopin" above the medallion, "Ses amis" +under the medallion, and the name of the sculptor and the year of +its production (J. Clesinger, 1850), the following incorrect +biographical data: "Frederic Chopin, ne en Pologne a Zelazowa +Wola pres de Varsovie: Fils d'un emigre francais, marie a Mile. +Krzyzanowska, fille d'un gentilhomme Polonais.] + +The friends of the composer, as we learn from an account in John +Bull (October 26, 1850), assembled in the little chapel of Pere- +Lachaise, and after a religious service proceeded with the +officiating priest at their head to Chopin's grave. The monument +was then unveiled, flowers and garlands were scattered over and +around it, prayers were said, and M. Wolowski, the deputy, +[FOOTNOTE: Louis Francois Michel Raymond Wolowski, political +economist, member of the Academie des Sciences Morales, and +member of the Constituante. A Pole by birth, he became a +naturalised French subject in 1834.] endeavoured to make a +speech, but was so much moved that he could only say a few words. + +[FOOTNOTE: In the Gazette muticale of October 20, 1850, we read: +"Une messe commemorative a ete dite jeudi dernier [i.e., on the +17th] dans la chapelle du cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise a la memoire +de Frederic Chopin et pour l'inauguration de son monument +funebre."] + +The Menestrel of November 3, 1850, informed its readers that in +the course of the week (it was on the 3Oth October at eleven +o'clock) an anniversary mass had been celebrated at the Madeleine +in honour of Chopin, at which from two to three hundred of his +friends were present, and that Franchomme on the violoncello and +Lefebure-Wely on the organ had played some of the departed +master's preludes, or, to quote our authority literally, "ont +redit aux assistants emus les preludes si pleins de melancolie de +I'illustre defunt." + + + +EPILOGUE. + + + +We have followed Chopin from his birthplace, Zelazowa Wola, to +Warsaw, where he passed his childhood and youth, and received his +musical as well as his general education; we have followed him in +his holiday sojourns in the country, and on his more distant +journeys to Reinerz, Berlin, and Vienna; we have followed him +when he left his native country and, for further improvement, +settled for a time in the Austrian capital; we have followed him +subsequently to Paris, which thenceforth became his home; and we +have followed him to his various lodgings there and on the +journeys and in the sojourns elsewhere--to 27, Boulevard +Poissonniere, to 5 and 38, Chaussee d'Antin, to Aix-la-Chapelle, +Carlsbad, Leipzig, Heidelberg, Marienbad, and London, to Majorca, +to Nohant, to 5, Rue Tronchet, 16, Rue Pigalle, and 9, Square +d'Orleans, to England and Scotland, to 9, Square d'Orleans once +more, Rue Chaillot, and 12, Place Vendome; and, lastly, to the +Pere-Lachaise cemetery. We have considered him as a pupil at the +Warsaw Lyceum and as a student of music under the tuition of +Zywny and Elsner; we have considered him as a son and as a +brother, as a lover and as a friend, as a man of the world and as +a man of business; and we have considered him as a virtuoso, as a +teacher, and as a composer. Having done all this, there remains +only one thing for me to do--namely, to summarise the thousands +of details of the foregoing account, and to point out what this +artist was to his and is to our time. But before doing this I +ought perhaps to answer a question which the reader may have +asked himself. Why have I not expressed an opinion on the moral +aspect of Chopin's connection with George Sand? My explanation +shall be brief. I abstained from pronouncing judgment because the +incomplete evidence did not seem to me to warrant my doing so. A +full knowledge of all the conditions and circumstances. I hold to +be indispensable if justice is to be done; the rash and ruthless +application of precepts drawn from the social conventions of the +day are not likely to attain that end. Having done my duty in +placing before the reader the ascertainable evidence, I leave him +at liberty to decide on it according to his wisdom and charity. + +Henri Blaze de Bury describes (in Etudes et Souvenirs) the +portrait which Ary Scheffer painted of Chopin in these words:-- + + It represents him about this epoch [when "neither physical nor + moral consumption of any kind prevented him from attending + freely to his labours as well as to his pleasures"], slender, + and in a nonchalant attitude, gentlemanlike in the highest + degree: the forehead superb, the hands of a rare distinction, + the eyes small, the nose prominent, but the mouth of an + exquisite fineness and gently closed, as if to keep back a + melody that wishes to escape. + +M. Marmontel, with, "his [Chopin's] admirable portrait" by +Delacroix before him, penned the following description:-- + + This is the Chopin of the last years, ailing, broken by + suffering; the physiognomy already marked by the last seal [le + sceau supreme], the look dreamy, melancholy, floating between + heaven and earth, in the limbos of dream and agony. The + attenuated and lengthened features are strongly accentuated: + the relief stands out boldly, but the lines of the countenance + remain beautiful; the oval of the face, the aquiline nose and + its harmonious curve, give to this sickly physiognomy the + stamp of poetic distinction peculiar to Chopin. + +Poetic distinction, exquisite refinement, and a noble bearing are +the characteristics which strike one in all portraits of Chopin, +[FOOTNOTE: See Appendix IV.] and which struck the beholder still +more strongly in the real Chopin, where they were reinforced by +the gracefulness of his movements, and by manners that made +people involuntarily treat him as a prince...[FOOTNOTE: See my +description of Chopin, based on the most reliable information, in +Chapter XX.] And pervading and tincturing every part of the +harmonious whole of Chopin's presence there was delicacy, which +was indeed the cardinal factor in the shaping not only of his +outward conformation, but also of his character, life, and art- +practice. Physical delicacy brought with it psychical delicacy, +inducing a delicacy of tastes, habits, and manners, which early +and continued intercourse with the highest aristocracy confirmed +and developed. Many of the charming qualities of the man and +artist derive from this delicacy. But it is likewise the source +of some of the deficiencies and weaknesses in the man and artist. +His exclusiveness, for instance, is, no doubt, chargeable to the +superlative sensitiveness which shrank from everything that +failed to satisfy his fastidious, exacting nature, and became +more and more morbid as delicacy, of which it was a concomitant, +degenerated into disease. Yet, notwithstanding the lack of +robustness and all it entails, Chopin might have been moderately +happy, perhaps even have continued to enjoy moderately good +health, if body and soul had been well matched. This, however, +was not the case. His thoughts were too big, his passions too +violent, for the frail frame that held them; and the former grew +bigger and more violent as the latter grew frailer and frailer. +He could not realise his aspirations, could not compass his +desires, in short, could not fully assert himself. Here, indeed, +we have lit upon the tragic motive of Chopin's life-drama, and +the key to much that otherwise would be enigmatical, certainly +not explicable by delicacy and disease alone. His salon +acquaintances, who saw only the polished outside of the man, knew +nothing of this disparity and discrepancy; and even the select +few of his most intimate friends, from whom he was not always +able to conceal the irritation that gnawed at his heart, hardly +more than guessed the true state of matters. In fact, had not +Chopin been an artist, the tale of his life would have for ever +remained a tale untold. But in his art, as an executant and a +composer, he revealed all his strength and weakness, all his +excellences and insufficiencies, all his aspirations and +failures, all his successes and disappointments, all his dreams +and realities. + + Chopin [wrote Anton Schindler in 1841 [FOOTNOTE: Beethoven in + Paris, p. 71] is the prince of all pianists, poesy itself at + the piano...His playing does not impress by powerfulness of + touch, by fiery brilliancy, for Chopin's physical condition + forbids him every bodily exertion, and spirit and body are + constantly at variance and in reciprocal excitement. The + cardinal virtue of this great master in pianoforte-playing + lies in the perfect truth of the expression of every feeling + within his reach [dessen er sich bemeistern darf], which is + altogether inimitable and might lead to caricature were + imitatior attempted. + +Chopin was not a virtuoso in the ordinary sense of the word. His +sphere was the reunion intime, not the mixed crowd of concert +audiences. If, however, human testimony is worth anything, we may +take it as proven that there never was a pianist whose playing +exercised a charm equal to that of Chopin. But, as Liszt has +said, it is impossible to make those who have not heard him +understand this subtle, penetrating charm of an ineffable poesy. +If words could give an idea of Chopin's playing, it would be +given by such expressions as "legerete impalpable," "palais +aeriens de la Fata Morgana," "wundersam und marchenhaft," and +other similar ones used with regard to it by men who may safely +be accepted as authorities. + +As a pianist Chopin was sorely restricted by lack of physical +vigour, which obliged him often to merely suggest, and even to +leave not a little wholly unexpressed. His range as a composer +was much wider, as its limits were those of his spirit. Still, +Chopin does not number among those masterminds who gather up and +grasp with a strong hand all the acquisitions of the past and +present, and mould them into a new and glorious synthesis-the +highest achievement possible in art, and not to be accomplished +without a liberal share of originality in addition to the +comprehensive power. Chopin, then, is not a compeer of Bach, +Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven. But if he does not stand on their +level, he stands on a level not far below them. And if the +inferiority of his intellectual stamina prevented him from +achieving what they achieved, his delicate sensibility and +romantic imagination enabled him to achieve what they were +disqualified from achieving. Of universality there was not a +trace in him, but his individuality is one of the most +interesting. The artistico-historical importance of Chopin lies +in his having added new elements to music, originated means of +expression for the communication and discrimination of moods and +emotions, and shades of moods and emotions, that up to his time +had belonged to the realm of the unuttered and unutterable. +Notwithstanding the high estimation in which Chopin is held, it +seems to me that his importance for the development of the art is +not rated at its full value. His influence on composers for the +pianoforte, both as regards style and subject-matter, is +generally understood; but the same cannot be said of his less +obvious wider influence. Indeed, nothing is more common than to +overlook his connection with the main current of musical history +altogether, to regard him as a mere hors d'oeuvre in the musical +MENU of the universe. My opinion, on the contrary, is that among +the notable composers who have lived since the days of Chopin +there is not to be found one who has not profited more or less, +consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, by this +truly creative genius. To trace his influence we must transport +ourselves back fifty or sixty years, and see what the state of +music then was, what composers expressed and what means of +expression they had at their disposal. Much that is now familiar, +nay, even commonplace, was then a startling novelty. The +appearance of Chopin was so wonderful a phenomenon that it +produced quite an electrical effect upon Schumann. "Come," said +Berlioz to Legouve in the first years of the fourth decade of +this century, "I am going to let you see something which you have +never seen, and someone whom you will never forget." This +something and someone was Chopin. Mendelssohn being questioned +about his enthusiasm for one of this master's preludes replied: +"I love it, I cannot tell you how much, or why; except, perhaps, +that it is something which I could never have written at all." Of +course, Chopin's originality was not universally welcomed and +appreciated. Mendelssohn, for instance, was rather repelled than +attracted by it; at any rate, in his letters there are to be +found frequent expressions of antipathy to Chopin's music, which +seemed to him" mannered "(see letter to Moscheles of February 7, +1835). But even the heartless and brainless critic of the Musical +World whose nonsense I quoted in Chapter XXXI. admits that Chopin +was generally esteemed by the "professed classical musicians," +and that the name of the admirers of the master's compositions +was legion. To the early popularity of Chopin's music testify +also the many arrangements for other instruments (the guitar not +excepted) and even for voices (for instance, OEuvres celebres de +Chopin, transcrites a une ou deux voix egales par Luigi Bordese) +to which his compositions were subjected. This popularity was, +however, necessarily limited, limited in extent or intensity. +Indeed, popular, in the comprehensive sense of the word, Chopin's +compositions can never become. To understand them fully we must +have something of the author's nature, something of his delicate +sensibility and romantic imagination. To understand him we must, +moreover, know something of his life and country. For, as Balzac +truly remarked, Chopin was less a musician than une ame qui se +rend sensible. In short, his compositions are the "celestial echo +of what he had felt, loved, and suffered"; they are his memoirs, +his autobiography, which, like that of every poet, assumes the +form of "Truth and Poetry." + + + +APPENDICES. + + + +APPENDIX I. + +THE GOLDEN AGE OP POLISH MUSIC. + +(VOL. I., p. 66.) + + + +As yet it is difficult to speak with any degree of certainty of +the early musical history of Poland. Our general histories of +music have little or nothing to say on the matter, and a special +history exists neither in the Polish nor in any other language. +The Abbe Joseph Surzynski, who by his labours is endeavouring to +remove the reproach of indifference and ignorance now lying on +his countrymen in this respect, says: [FOOTNOTE: In the preface +to the Monumenta Musices sacra, selected works of the best +composers of classical religious music in Poland, published by +him. The first two parts of this publication, respectively issued +in 1885 and 1887, contain compositions by Thomas Szadek, Nicolas +Zielenski, G. G. Gorczycki, Venceslas, Szamotulski, and Sebastian +of Felsztyn.] "The compositions of our old masters are buried in +the archives and libraries--no one cares to make them known to +the public; many Polish musicians, not even supposing that these +compositions exist, are very far from believing that the authors +of these pieces deserve to be ranked with the best composers of +the Roman Catholic Church. Now, in studying these works, we find +in the century of Palestrina and Vittoria among our artists: +Marcin ze Lwowa (Martin Leopolita), Christopher Borek, Thomas +Szadek, Venceslas Szamotulski, and especially Zielenski and +Gomolka--distinguished masters who deserve to be known by the +friends of the musical art, either on account of their altogether +national genius, or on account of their inspiration and the +perfection of the forms which manifest themselves in their +compositions." One of the first illustrious names in the history +of music in Poland is the German Henry Finck, the chapel-master +of the Polish Kings, John Albert (1492-1501) and Alexander (1501- +1506). From the fact that this excellent master got his musical +education in Poland we may safely conclude--and it is not the +only fact which justifies our doing so--that in that country +already in the fifteenth century good contrapuntists were to be +found. The Abbe Surzynski regards Zielenski as the best of the +early composers, having been impressed both by the profound +religious inspiration and the classical form of his works. Of +Gomolka, who has been called the Polish Palestrina as Sebastian +of Felsztyn the Polish Goudimel, the Abbe remarks: "Among the +magnificent musical works of Martin Leopolita, Szadek, and +Zielenski, the compositions of Gomolka present themselves like +miniature water-colours, in which, nevertheless, every line, +every colour, betrays the painter of genius. His was a talent +thoroughly indigenous--his compositions are of great simplicity; +no too complicated combinations of parts, one might even say that +they are homophonous; nevertheless what wealth of thought, what +beauty of harmony, what profoundness of sentiment do we find +there! These simple melodies clothed in pure and truly holy +harmonies, written, as Gomolka said himself, not for the +Italians, but for the Poles, who are happy in their own country, +are the best specimens of the national style. "In speaking of the +early Polish church music I must not forget to mention the famous +College of the Roratists, [FOOTNOTE: The duties of these singers +were to sing Rorate masses and Requiem masses for the royal +family. Their name was derived from the opening word of the +Introit, "Rorate coeli."] the Polish Sistine Chapel, attached to +the Cracow Cathedral. It was founded in 1543 and subsisted till +1760. With the fifteenth of seventeen conductors of the college, +Gregor Gorczycki, who died in 1734, passed away the last of the +classical school of Polish church music. Music was diligently +cultivated in the seventeenth century, especially under the +reigns of Sigismund III. (1587-1632), and Wladislaw IV. (1632- +1648); but no purpose would be served by crowding these pages +with unknown names of musicians about whom only scanty +information is available; I may, however, mention the familiar +names of three of many Italian composers who, in the seventeenth +century, like many more of their countrymen, passed a great part +of their lives in Poland--namely, Luca Marenzio, Asprilio +Pacelii, and Marco Scacchi. + + + +APPENDIX II. + +EARLY PERFORMANCES OF CHOPIN'S WORKS IN GERMANY. + +(VOL. I., p. 268.) + + + +The first performance of a composition by Chopin at the Leipzig +Gewandhaus took place on October 27, 1831. It was his Op. 1, the +variations on La ci darem la mano, which Julius Knorr played at a +concert for the benefit of the Pension-fund of the orchestra, but +not so as to give the audience pleasure--at least, this was the +opinion of Schumann, as may be seen from his letter to Frederick +Wieck of January 4, 1832. Chopin relates already on June 5, 1830, +that Emilie Belleville knew his variations by heart and had +played them in Vienna. Clara Wieck was one of the first who +performed Chopin's compositions in public. On September 29, 1833, +she played at a Leipzig Gewandhaus concert the last movement of +the E minor Concerto, and on May 5, 1834, in the same hall at an +extra concert, the whole work and two Etudes. Further information +about the introduction and repetitions of Chopin's compositions +at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, is to be found in the statistical part +(p. 13) of Alfred Dorffel's Die Gewandhausconcerte. + + + +APPENDIX III. + +MADAME SCHUMANN ON CHOPIN'S VISIT TO LEIPZIG. + +(VOL. I., p. 290.) + + + +Through a kind communication from Madame Schumann I have learned +that Wenzel's account does not quite agree with her diary. There +she finds written that her father, Friedrich Wieck, felt offended +because Chopin, for whose recognition in Germany he had done so +much, had not called upon him immediately after his arrival. +Chopin made his appearance only two hours before his departure, +but then did not find Wieck at home, for he, to avoid Chopin, had +gone out and had also taken his daughter Clara with him. When +Wieck returned an hour later, he found unexpectedly Chopin still +there. Clara had now to play to the visitor. She let him hear +Schumann's F sharp minor Sonata, two Etudes by Chopin, and a +movement of a Concerto by herself. After this Chopin played his E +flat major Nocturne. By degrees Wieck's wrath subsided, and +finally he accompanied Chopin to the post-house, and parted from +him in the most friendly mood. + + + +APPENDIX IV. + +REBECCA DIRICHLET ON CHOPIN AT MARIENBAD. + +(VOL. I., p. 309.) + + + +When Rebecca Dirichlet came with her husband to Marienbad, she +learnt that Chopin did not show himself, and that his physician +and a Polish countess, who completely monopolised him, did not +allow him to play. Having, however, heard so much of his playing +from her brothers, she was, in order to satisfy her curiosity, +even ready to commit the bassesse of presenting herself as the +soeur de Messieurs Paul et Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. As she +humorously wrote a few days later: "The bassesse towards Chopin +has been committed and has completely failed. Dirichlet went to +him, and said that a soeur, &c.--only a mazurka--impossible, mal +aux nerfs, mauvais piano--et comment se porte cette chere Madame +Hensel, el Paul est marie? heureux couple, &c.--allez vous +promener--the first and the last time that we do such a thing." + + + +APPENDIX V. + +PALMA AND VALDEMOSA. + +(VOL. II., pp. 22-48.) + + + +The Argosy of 1888 contains a series of Letters from Majorca by +Charles W. Wood, illustrated by views of Palma, Valdemosa, and +other parts of the island. The illustrations in the April number +comprise a general view of the monastery of Valdemosa, and views +of one of its courts and of the cloister in which is situated the +cell occupied by George Sand and Chopin in the winter of 1838- +1839. The cloister has a groined vault, on one side the cell +doors, and on the other side, opening on the court, doors and +rectangular windows with separate circular windows above them. +The letters have been republished in book form (London: Bentley +and Sons). + + + +APPENDIX VI. + +On Tempo Rubato. + +(VOL. II., p. 101.) + + + +An earlier practiser of the tempo rubato than the lady mentioned +by Quanz (see Vol. II., p. 101 of this work) was Girolamo +Frescobaldi, who speaks of this manner of musical rendering in +the preface to Il primo libra di Capricci fatti sopra diversi +sogetti et Arie in partitura (1624). An extract from this preface +is to be found in A. G. Ritter's Zur Geschichte des Orgelspiels, +Vol. I., p. 34. F. X. Haberl remarks in the preface to his +collection of pieces by Frescobaldi (Leipzig: Breitkopf and +Hartel): "A chief trait of Frescobaldi's genius is the so-called +tempo rubato, an absolute freedom in the employment of a quicker +and slower tempo." + + + +APPENDIX VII. + +CAROLINE HARTMANN. + +(VOL. II., p. I7I.) + + + +On page 175 of this volume I made an allusion to Spohr in +connection with Chopin's pupil Caroline Hartmann. To save the +curious reader trouble, I had better point out that the +information is to be found in Spohr's autobiography under date +Munster, near Colmar, March 26, 1816 (German edition, pp. 245- +250; English edition, pp. 229-232). Jacques Hartmann, the father +of Caroline, was a cotton manufacturer and an enthusiastic lover +of music. He had an orchestra consisting of his family and +employes. Spohr calls the father a bassoon-virtuoso; what he says +of the daughter will be seen in the following sentences: "His +sister and his daughter play the pianoforte. The latter, a child +eight years old, is the star of the amateur orchestra. She plays +with a dexterity and exactness that are worthy of admiration. I +was still more astonished at her fine ear, with which (away from +the piano) she recognises the intervals of the most intricate and +full dissonant chords which one strikes, and names the notes of +which they consist in their sequence. If the child is well +guided, she is sure to become one day an excellent artist." + + + +APPENDIX VIII. + +MADAME PERUZZI. + +(VOL. II., p. 177.) + + + +The reader will be as grateful as I am for the following +interesting communications of Madame Peruzzi (nee Elise +Eustaphieve, whose father was Russian Consul-General to the +United States of America) about her intercourse with Chopin. + +"I first met Chopin at the house of the American banker, Samuel +Welles, in Paris, where I, like every one present, was enchanted +listening to his mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, &c., which he +played on a wretched square piano. I lived as dame en chambre (a +very convenient custom for ladies alone), at a pension, or rather +a regular boarding-school, with rooms to let for ladies. The lady +of the house was acquainted with many of the musical people, and +I had a splendid American grand piano which was placed in the +large drawing-room of the establishment, so that I felt quite at +home, and there received Chopin, Liszt, and Herz (Miss Herz, his +sister, gave lessons in the school), and often played four-hand +pieces with them. + +"My intimacy with Chopin began after my marriage. He often dined +with us, was very fond of my husband, and after dinner we were +not at home if any one else came, but remained at our two pianos +(Erard had sent me one), playing together, and I used to amuse +him by picking out of his music little bits that seemed like +questions for him to answer on the other piano. He lived very +near us, so we very often passed mornings at his house, where he +asked me to play with him all Weber's duets. This was delightful +to me, the more so, as he complimented me on my reading and +entering at first sight into the spirit of the music. He made me +acquainted with the beautiful duet of Moscheles, and was the +first with whom I played Hummel's splendid duet. He was a great +admirer of Weber. We frequently had morning concerts with double +quartet, and Chopin would very kindly turn the leaves for me. He +was particularly fond of doing so when I played Hummel's Septet, +and was so encouraging. Even when playing to him his own music, +he would approve some little thing not indicated and say, 'What a +good idea of yours that is!' My husband begged him to give me +lessons; but he always refused, and did give them; for I studied +so many things with him, among others his two concertos. The one +in E minor I once played accompanied by himself on a second +piano. We passed many pleasant evenings at Mr. and Madame Leo's +house, a very musical one. Madame Moscheles was a niece of +theirs. Chopin was fond of going there, where he was quite a pet. +He always appeared to best advantage among his most intimate +friends. I was one who helped to christen the Berceuse. You ask +me in what years I knew Chopin, 1838 is the date of the +manuscript in my collection which he gave me after I was married, +and the last notes of that little jewel he wrote on the desk of +the piano in our presence. He said it would not be published +because they would play it....Then he would show how they would +play it, which was very funny. It came out after his death, it is +a kind of waltz-mazurka [the Valse, Op. 69, No. I], Chopin's +intimate friend, Camille Pleyel, called it the story of a D flat, +because that note comes in constantly. One morning we took +Paganini to hear Chopin, and he was enchanted; they seemed to +understand each other so well. When I knew him he was a sufferer +and would only occasionally play in public, and then place his +piano in the middle of Pleyel's room whilst his admirers were +around the piano. His speciality was extreme delicacy, and his +pianissimo extraordinary. Every little note was like a bell, so +clear. His fingers seemed to be without any bones; but he would +bring out certain effects by great elasticity. He got very angry +at being accused of not keeping time; calling his left hand his +maitre de chapelle and allowing his right to wander about ad +libitum." + + + +APPENDIX IX. + +MADAME STREICHER'S (nee FRIEDERIKE MULLER) RECOLLECTIONS OF +CHOPIN, BASED ON EXTRACTS FROM HER CAREFULLY-KEPT DIARY OF THE +YEARS 1839, 1840, AND 1841. (VOL. II., p. I77.) + + + +In March, 1839, I went to Paris, accompanied by a kind aunt, who +was a highly-cultured musical connoisseur, animated by the wish +to get if possible lessons from Chopin, whose compositions +inspired me with enthusiasm. But he was from home and very ill; +indeed, it was feared he would not return to Paris even in the +winter. However, at last, at last, in October, 1839, he came. I +had employed this long time in making myself acquainted with the +musical world in Paris, but the more I heard, nay, even admired, +the more was my intention to wait till Chopin's return confirmed. +And I was quite right. + +On the 30th of October, 1839, we, my kind aunt and I, went to +him. At that time he lived in Rue Tronchet, No. 5. Anxiously I +handed him my letters of introduction from Vienna, and begged him +to take me as a pupil. He said very politely, but very formally: +"You have played with applause at a matinee at the house of +Countess Appony, the wife of the Austrian ambassador, and will +hardly require my instruction." I became afraid, for I was wise +enough to understand he had not the least inclination to accept +me as a pupil. I quickly protested that I knew very well I had +still very, very much to learn. And, I added timidly, I should +like to be able to play his wondrously-beautiful compositions +well. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "it would be sad if people were not in +a position to play them well without my instruction." "I +certainly am not able to do so," I replied anxiously. "Well, play +me something," he said. And in a moment his reserve had vanished. +Kindly and indulgently he helped me to overcome my timidity, +moved the piano, inquired whether I were comfortably seated, let +me play till I had become calm, then gently found fault with my +stiff wrist, praised my correct comprehension, and accepted me as +a pupil. He arranged for two lessons a week, then turned in the +most amiable way to my aunt, excusing himself beforehand if he +should often be obliged to change the day and hour of the lesson +on account of his delicate health. His servant would always +inform us of this. + +Alas! he suffered greatly. Feeble, pale, coughing much, he often +took opium drops on sugar and gum-water, rubbed his forehead with +eau de Cologne, and nevertheless he taught with a patience, +perseverance, and zeal which were admirable. His lessons always +lasted a full hour, generally he was so kind as to make them +longer. Mikuli says: "A holy artistic zeal burnt in him then, +every word from his lips was incentive and inspiring. Single +lessons often lasted literally for hours at a stretch, till +exhaustion overcame master and pupil." There were for me also +such blessed lessons. Many a Sunday I began at one o'clock to +play at Chopin's, and only at four or five o'clock in the +afternoon did he dismiss us. Then he also played, and how +splendidly but not only his own compositions, also those of other +masters, in order to teach the pupil how they should be +performed. One morning he played from memory fourteen Preludes +and Fugues of Bach's, and when I expressed my joyful admiration +at this unparalleled performance, he replied: "Cela ne s'oublie +jamais," and smiling sadly he continued: "Depuis un an je n'ai +pas etudie un quart d'heure de sante, je n'ai pas de force, pas +d'energie, j'attends toujours un peu de sante pour reprendre tout +cela, mais...j'attends encore." We always spoke French together, +in spite of his great fondness for the German language and +poetry. It is for this reason that I give his sayings in the +French language, as I heard them from him. In Paris people had +made me afraid, and told me how Chopin caused Clementi, Hummel, +Cramer, Moscheles, Beethoven, and Bach to be studied, but not his +own compositions. This was not the case. To be sure, I had to +study with him the works of the above-mentioned masters, but he +also required me to play to him the new and newest compositions +of Hiller, Thalberg, and Liszt, &c. And already in the first +lesson he placed before me his wondrously--beautiful Preludes and +Studies. Indeed, he made me acquainted with many a composition +before it had appeared in print. + +I heard him often preluding in a wonderfully-beautiful manner. On +one occasion when he was entirely absorbed in his playing, +completely detached from the world, his servant entered softly +and laid a letter on the music-desk. With a cry Chopin left off +playing, his hair stood on end--what I had hitherto regarded as +impossible I now saw with my own eyes. But this lasted only for a +moment. + +His playing was always noble and beautiful, his tones always +sang, whether in full forte, or in the softest piano. He took +infinite pains to teach the pupil this legato, cantabile way of +playing. "Il [ou elle] ne sait pas lier deux notes" was his +severest censure. He also required adherence to the strictest +rhythm, hated all lingering and dragging, misplaced rubatos, as +well as exaggerated ritardandos. "Je vous prie de vous asseoir," +he said on such an occasion with gentle mockery. And it is just +in this respect that people make such terrible mistakes in the +execution of his works. In the use of the pedal he had likewise +attained the greatest mastery, was uncommonly strict regarding +the misuse of it, and said repeatedly to the pupil: "The correct +employment of it remains a study for life." + +When I played with him the study in C major, the first of those +he dedicated to Liszt, he bade me practise it in the mornings +very slowly. "Cette etude vous fera du bien," he said. "Si vous +l'etudiez comme je l'entends, cela elargit la main, et cela vous +donne des gammes d'accords, comme les coups d'archet. Mais +souvent malheureusement au lieu d'apprendre tout cela, elle fait +desapprendre." I am quite aware that it is a generally-prevalent +error, even in our day, that one can only play this study well +when one possesses a very large hand. But this is not the case, +only a supple hand is required. + +Chopin related that in May, 1834, he had taken a trip to Aix-la- +Chapelle with Hiller and Mendelssohn. "Welcomed there in a very +friendly manner, people asked me when I was introduced: 'You are, +I suppose, a brother of the pianist?' I answered in the +affirmative, for it amused me, and described my brother the +pianist. 'He is tall, strong, has black hair, a black moustache, +and a very large hand.'" To those who have seen the slightly- +built Chopin and his delicate hand, the joke must have been +exceedingly amusing. + +On the 20th of April, 1840, Liszt, who had come back to Paris +after extended artistic tours, gave a matinee to an invited +audience in Erard's saloon. He played, as he did always, very +brilliantly, and the next morning I had to give a minute account +to Chopin of what and how he had played. He himself was too +unwell to be present. When I spoke of Liszt's artistic self- +control and calmness in overcoming the greatest technical +difficulties, he exclaimed: "Ainsi il parait que mon avis est +juste. La derniere chose c'est la simplicite. Apres avoir epuise +toutes les difficultes, apres avoir joue une immense quantite de +notes, et de notes, c'est la simplicite qui sort avec tout son +charme, comme le dernier sceau de l'art. Quiconque veut arriver +de suite a cela n'y parviendra jamais, on ne peut commencer par +la fin. II faut avoir etudie beaucoup, meme immensement pour +atteindre ce but, ce n'est pas une chose facile. II m'etait +impossible," he continued, "d'assister a sa matinee. Avec ma +sante ou ne peut rien faire. Je suis toujours embrouille avec mes +affaires, de maniere que je n'ai pas un moment libre. Que j'envie +les gens forts qui sont d'une sante robuste et qui n'ont rien a +faire! Je suis bien fache, je n'ai pas le temps d'etre malade." + +When I studied his Trio he drew my attention to some passages +which now displeased him, he would now write them differently. At +the end of the Trio he said: "How vividly do the days when I +composed it rise up in my memory! It was at Posen, in the castle +surrounded by vast forests of Prince Radziwill. A small but very +select company was gathered together there. In the mornings there +was hunting, in the evenings music. Ah! and now," he added sadly, +"the Prince, his wife, his son, all, all are dead." + +At a soiree (Dec. 20, 1840) he made me play the Sonata with the +Funeral March before a large assemblage. On the morning of the +same day I had once more to play over to him the Sonata, but was +very nervous. "Why do you play less well to-day?" he asked. I +replied that I was afraid. "Why? I consider you play it well," he +rejoined very gravely, indeed, severely. "But if you wish to play +this evening as nobody played before you, and nobody will play +after you, well then!"...These words restored my composure. The +thought that I played to his satisfaction possessed me also in +the evening; I had the happiness of gaining Chopin's approval and +the applause of the audience. Then he played with me the Andante +of his F minor Concerto, which he accompanied magnificently on +the second piano. The entire assemblage assailed him with the +request to perform some more of his compositions, which he then +did to the delight of all. + +For eighteen months (he did not leave Paris this summer) I was +allowed to enjoy his instruction. How willingly would I have +continued my studies with him longer! But he himself was of +opinion that I should now return to my fatherland, pursue my +studies unaided, and play much in public. On parting he presented +me with the two manuscripts of his C sharp major and E major +studies (dedicated to Liszt), and promised to write during his +stay in the country a concert-piece and dedicate it to me. + +In the end of the year 1844 I went again to Paris, and found +Chopin looking somewhat stronger. At that time his friends hoped +for the restoration of, or at least for a considerable +improvement in, his health. + +The promised concert-piece, Op. 46, had to my inexpressible +delight been published. I played it to him, and he was satisfied +with my playing of it; rejoiced at my successes in Vienna, of +which he had been told, exerted himself with the amiability +peculiar to him to make me still better known to the musical +world of Paris. Thus I learned to know Auber, Halevy, Franchomme, +Alkan, and others. But in February, 1845,1 was obliged to return +to Vienna; I had pupils there who were waiting for me. On parting +he spoke of the possibility of coming there for a short time, and +I had quite made up my mind to return for another visit to Paris +in eighteen months, in order again to enjoy his valuable +instruction and advice. But this, to my deepest regret, was not +to be. + +I saw Madame Sand in the year 1841 and again in the year 1845 in +a box in a theatre, and had an opportunity of admiring her +beauty. I never spoke to her. + + + +APPENDIX X. + +PORTRAITS OF CHOPIN. + + + +A biography is incomplete without some account of the portraits +of the hero or heroine who is the subject of it. M. Mathias +regards as the best portrait of Chopin a lithograph by Engelmann +after a drawing by Vigneron, of 1833, published by Maurice +Schlesinger, of Paris. In a letter to me he writes: "This +portrait is marvellous for the absolutely exact idea it gives of +Chopin: the graceful fall of the shoulders, the Polish look, the +charm of the mouth." Continuing, he says: "Another good likeness +of Chopin, but of a later date, between the youthful period and +that of his decay, is Bovy's medallion, which gives a very exact +idea of the outlines of his hair and nose. Beyond these there +exists nothing, all is frightful; for instance, the portrait in +Karasowski's book, which has a stupid look." The portrait here +alluded to is a lithographic reproduction of a drawing by A. +Duval. As a rule, the portraits of Chopin most highly prized by +his pupils and acquaintances are those by A. Bovy and T. +Kwiatkowski. Madame Dubois, who likes Bovy's medallion best, and +next to it the portraits by Kwiatkowski, does not care much for +Ary Scheffer's portrait of her master, in whose apartments she +had of course frequent opportunities to examine it. "It had the +appearance of a ghost [d'un ombre], and was more pale and worn +than Chopin himself." Of a bust by Clesinger Madame Dubois +remarks that it does not satisfy those who knew Chopin. M. +Marmontel writes in a letter to me that the portrait of Chopin by +Delacroix in his possession is a powerful sketch painted in oil, +"reproducing the great artist in the last period of his life, +when he was about to succumb to his chest disease. My dear friend +Felix Barrias has been inspired, or, to be more exact, has +reproduced this beautiful and poetic face in his picture of the +dying Chopin asking the Countess Potocka to sing to him." Gutmann +had in his possession two portraits of his master, both pencil +drawings; the one by Franz Winterhalter, dated May 2, 1847, the +other by Albert Graefle, dated October 19, 1849. The former of +these valuable portraits shows Chopin in his decline, the latter +on his death-bed. Both seem good likenesses, Graefle's drawing +having a strong resemblance with Bovy's medallion. + +[FOOTNOTE: The authorship alone is sufficient to make a drawing +by George Sand interesting. Madame Dubois says (in a letter +written to me) that the portrait, after a drawing of George Sand, +contained in the French edition of Chopin's posthumous works, +published by Fontana, is not at all a good likeness. Herr +Herrmann Scholtz in Dresden has in his possession a faithful copy +of a drawing by George Sand made by a nephew of the composer, a +painter living at Warsaw. Madame Barcinska, the sister of Chopin, +in whose possession the original is, spoke of it as a very good +likeness. This picture, however, is not identical with that +mentioned by Madame Dubois.] + +The portrait by A. Regulski in Szulc's book can only be regarded +as a libel on Chopin, and ought perhaps also to be regarded as a +libel on the artist. Various portraits in circulation are +curiosities rather than helps to a realisation of the outward +appearance of Chopin. Schlesinger, of Berlin, published a +lithograph after a drawing by Maurir; and Schuberth, of Hamburg, +an engraving on steel, and Hofmeister, of Leipzig, a lithograph, +after I don't know what original. Several other portraits need +not be mentioned, as they are not from life, but more or less +fancy portraits based on one or more of the authentic +delineations. Bovy's medallion graces Breitkopf and Hartel's +Gesammtausgabe and Thematic Catalogue of the master's published +works. The portrait by Ary Scheffer may be seen lithographically +reproduced by Waldow in the German edition of Chopin's posthumous +works, published by Fontana. A wood-cut after the drawing by +Graefle appeared in 1879 in the German journal Die Gartenlaube. +Prefixed to the first volume of the present biography the reader +will find one of the portraits by Kwiatkowski, an etching after a +charming pencil drawing in my possession, the reproduction of +which the artist has kindly permitted. M. Kwiatkowski has +portrayed Chopin frequently, and in many ways and under various +circumstances, alive and dead. Messrs. Novello, Ewer & Co. have +in their possession a clever water-colour drawing by Kwiatkowski +of Chopin on his death-bed. A more elaborate picture by the same +artist represents Chopin on his death-bed surrounded by his +sister, the Princess Marcellince Czartoryska, Grzymala, the Abbe +Jelowicki, and the portrayer. On page 321 of this volume will be +found M. Charles Gavard's opinion of two portrayals of Chopin, +respectively by Clesinger and Kwiatkowski. In conclusion, I +recall to the reader's attention what has been said of the +master's appearance and its pictorial and literary reproductions +on pp. 65 and 246 of Vol. I. and pp. 100, 135, and 329 of Vol. +II. + + + +REMARKS PRELIMINARY + +TO THE + +LIST OF CHOPIN'S WORKS. + + + +The original editions were three in number: the German, the +French, and the English (see p. 272). To avoid overcrowding, only +the names of the original German and French publishers will be +given in the following list, with two exceptions, however,--Op. 1 +and 5, which were published in Poland (by Brzezina & Co., of +Warsaw) long before they made their appearance elsewhere. +[FOOTNOTE: What is here said, however, does not apply to Section +IV.] Some notes on the publication of the works in England are +included in these preliminary remarks. + +In the list the publishers will be always placed in the same +order--the German first, and the French second (in the two +exceptional cases, Op. 1 and 5, they will be second and third). +The dates with an asterisk and in parentheses (*) are those at +which a copy of the respective works was deposited at the Paris +Bibliotheque du Conservatoire de Musique, the dates without an +asterisk in parentheses are derived from advertisements in French +musical journals; the square brackets [ ] enclose conjectural and +approximate dates and additional information; and lastly, the +dates without parentheses and without brackets were obtained by +me direct from the successors of the original German publishers, +and consequently are more exact and trustworthy than the others. +In a few cases where the copyright changed hands during the +composer's lifetime, and where unacquaintance with this change +might give rise to doubts and difficulties, I have indicated the +fact. + +The publishing firms mentioned in the list are the following:-- +Maurice Schlesinger, Brandus &Cie. (the successors of M. +Schlesinger), Eugene Troupenas & Cie., Joseph Meissonnier, Joseph +Meissonnier fils H. Lemoine, Ad. Catelin & Cie. (Editeurs des +Compositeurs reunis, Rue Grange Bateliere, No. 26), Pacini +(Antonio Francesco Gaetano), Prilipp & Cie. (Aquereurs d'une +partie du Fond d'lgn. Pleyel & Cie.), S. Richault (i.e., Charles +Simon Richault, to whom succeeded his son Guillaume Simon, who in +his turn was succeeded by his son Leon.--Present style: Richault +et Cie., Successeurs), and Schonenberger, all of Pans;-Breitkopf +& Hartel, Probst-Kistner (since 1836 Friedrich Kistner), +Friedrich Hofmeister, and C. F. Peters, of Leipzig;--Ad. M. +Schlesinger, Stern & Co.( from 1852 J. Friedlander; later on +annexed to Peters, of Leipzig), and Bote and Bock, of Berlin;-- +Tobias Haslinger, Carl Haslinger quondam Tobias, and Pietro +Mechetti (whose widow was succeeded by C. A. Spina), of Vienna;-- +Schuberth & Co., of Hamburg (now Julius Schuberth, of Leipzig);-- +B. Schott's Sohne, of Mainz;--Andr. Brzezina & Co. and Gebethner +& Wolff, of Warsaw;--J. Wildt and W. Chaberski, of Cracow;--and +J. Leitgeber, of Posen. + +From 1836 onward the course of the publication of Chopin's works +in England can be followed in the advertisement columns of the +Musical World. Almost all the master's works were published in +England by Wessel. On March 8, 1838, Messrs. Wessel advertised +Op. 1-32 with the exception of Op. 4, 11, and 29. This last +figure has, no doubt, to be read as 28, as the Preludes could +hardly be in print at that time, and the Impromptu, Op. 29, was +advertised on October 20, 1837, as OP. 28. With regard to Op. 12 +it has to be noted that it represents not the Variations +brillantes sur le Rondo favori "Je vends des Scapulaires," but +the Grand Duo concertant for piano and violoncello, everywhere +else published without opus number. The Studies, Op. 10, were +offered to the public "revised with additional fingering by his +pupil I. [sic] Fontana." On November 18, 1841, Wessel and +Stapleton (the latter having come in as a partner in 1839) +advertised Op. 33-43, and subsequently Op. 44-48. On February 22, +1844, they announced that they had "the sole copyright of the +COMPLETE and entire works" of Chopin. On May 15, 1845, were +advertised Op. 57 and 58; on January 17, 1846, Op. 59; on +September 26, 1846, Op. 60, 61, and 62. The partnership with +Stapleton having in 1845 been dissolved, the style of the firm +was now Wessel & Co. Thenceforth other English publishers came +forward with Chopin compositions. On June 3, 1848, Cramer, Beale +& Co. advertised Chopin's "New Valses and Mazurkas for the +pianoforte"; and on the title-pages of the French edition of Op. +63, 64, and 65 I found the words: "London, Jullien et Cie." But +also before this time Wessel seems to have had competitors; for +on the title-page of the French edition of Op. 22 may be read: +"London, Mori et Lavenu," and on September 20, 1838, Robert Cocks +advertised "Five Mazurkas and Three Nocturnes." On September 23, +1848, however, Wessel & Co. call themselves sole proprietors of +Chopin's works; and on November 24, 1849, they call themselves +Publishers of the Complete Works of Chopin. Information received +from Mr. Ashdown, the present proprietor of the business, one of +the two successors (Mr. Parry retired in 1882) of Christian +Rudolph Wessel, who retired in 1860 and died in 1885, throws some +further light on the publication of Chopin's works in England. We +have already seen in a former part of this book (p. 117) that +Wessel discontinued to deal with Chopin after Op. 62. "Cramer, +Beale & Co.," writes Mr. Ashdown, "published the Mazurkas, Op. +63, and two only of the Waltzes, Op. 64; these, being non- +copyright in England, Mr. Wessel added to his edition, together +with the third waltz of Op. 64. The name of Jullien on the French +edition was probably put on in consequence of negotiations for +the sale of English copyright having been entered upon, but +without result." With the exception of Op. 12 and 65, Wessel +published all the works with opus numbers of Chopin that were +printed during the composer's lifetime. Cramer, Addison & Beale +published the Variations, Op. 12; Chappell, the Trois Nouvelles +Etudes; R. Cocks, the posthumous Sonata, Op. 4, and the +Variations stir un air allemand without opus number; and Stanley +Lucas, Weber & Co., the Seventeen Polish Songs, Op. 74. The +present editions issued by the successor of Wessel are either +printed from the original plates or re-engraved (which is the +case in about half of the number) from the old Wessel copies, +with here and there a correction. + +Simultaneous publication was aimed at, as we see from Chopin's +letters, but the dates of the list show that it was rarely +attained. The appearance of the works in France seems to have in +most cases preceded that in Germany; in the case of the +Tarantelle, Op. 43, I found the English edition first advertised +(October 28, 1841). Generally there was approximation if not +simultaneity. + + + + I.--WORKS PUBLISHED WITH OPUS NUMBERS DURING + THE COMPOSER'S LIFETIME. + + + +DATES ORIGINAL +OF GERMAN & FRENCH +PUBLICATION TITLES WITH REFERENCES PUBLISHERS. + + + +1825. OP.1. Premier Rondeau [C minor] Brzezina. + pour le piano. Dedie a Mme. de A. M. Schlesinger. + Linde.--Vol. I, pp. 52, 53-54, M. Schlesinger + 55, 112;--Vol. II, p.87 + + +[1830, OP.2. La ci darem la mano [B flat T. Haslinger +about March] major] varie pour le piano, avec M. Schlesinger +(September accompagnement d'orchestre. Dedie +21, 1834.) a Mr. Woyciechowski.--Vol. I., pp. + 53, 62, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, + 105, 112, 116-118, 120, 163, 241; + Vol. II., p.87, 212 + + +[1833 in OP.3. Introduction et Polonaise Mechetti +print.] brillante [C major], pour piano S. Richault +June, 1835) et violincelle Dediee d Mr. Joseph + Merk.--Vol.I., pp. 129, 200-201; + --Vol. II., p. 87. + + + Op.4. As this work was published + posthumously, it had to be placed + in Section III. Nevertheless, it + differs from the works with which + it is classed in one important + respect--it was intended for + publication by the composer himself, + who sent it to Vienna in 1828. + + +[1827?] Op.5. Rondeau a la Mazur [F major] Brzezina. +May, 1836 pour le piano. Dediee a Mlle. la Hofmeister. + Comtesse Alexandrine de Moriolles. Schonenberger. + --Vol. I., pp. 54-55, 56, 112, 168; + --Vol. II., p.87 + + +Dec., 1832 Op.6. Quatre Mazurkas [F sharp minor Probst-Kistner. +(Nov. 23, C Sharp minor, E major, and E flat M. Schlesinger. +1834.) minor] pour le piano. Dediees a + Mlle. la Comtesse Pauline Plater. + --Vol. I., p. 268;--Vol. II, pp.231- + 232.234-239. + + +Dec.1832 Op.7. Cinq Mazurkas [B flat major, Probst-Kistner +(Nov. 23, A minor, F minor, A flat major, and M. Schlesinger. + 1834.) C major] pour le piano. Dediees a + Mr. Johns.--Vol. I., pp.250,268, + 276 (No. 1);--Vol. II, pp. 231-232 + 234-239. + + +March, 1833.) Op.8. Premier Trio [G minor] pour Probst-Kistner +(Nov. 23, piano, violon, et violoncelle. M. Schlesinger + 1834.) Dedie a Mr. le Prince Antonine + Radziwill--Vol. I., pp. 62, 88, + 112, 113-115, 268;--Vol. II., p. + 212,342 + + +Jan. 1833. Op.9. Trois Nocturnes (B flat Probst-Kistner +(Nov. 23, minor, E flamajor, and B major] M. Schlesinger + 1834.) pour le piano Dedies a Mme. + Camille Pleyel--Vol.l.,268; + --Vol. II., pp.87. 261-63 + + +August, 1833. Op.10.Douze Grandes Etudes [C major Probst-Kistner +(July 6,1833.) A minor, E major, C sharp minor M. Schlesinger + G flat major, E flat minor, C [who sold them + major, F major, F minor, A flat afterwards to + major, E flat major, and C minor] Lemoine]. + pour le piano. Dediees a Mr. Fr. + Liszt.--Vol. I., p.201,268; Vol. + II., p. 55 (No. 5), 251-254. + + + +Sept., 1833 Op.11.Grand Concerto [E minor] pour Probst-Kistner +(July 6, le piano avec orchestre. Dedie a M. Schlesinger +1833.) Mr. Fr. Kalkbrenner.--Vol. I., pp + 127, 146, 147, 150, 151, 152, 156, + 189, 195, 203-208, 210-212, 233, 240, + 241, 268, 281; Vol. II., pp. 16, 211 + + +Nov., 1833 Op.12.Variations brillantes [B flat Breitkopf & Hartel +(Jan.26, major] pour le piano sur le Rondeau M. Schlesinger +1834) favori de Ludovic de Herold: "Je + vends des Scapulaires." Dediees a + Mlle. Emma Horsford.--Vol.I.,p.268; + Vol. II., p.221. + + +May, 1834 Op.13.Grande Fantaisie [A major] sur Probst-Kistner +(April, des airs polonais, pour le piano M. Schlesinger +1834) avec orchestre. Dediee a Mr. J. + P. Pixis--Vol.I., pp. 112,116. + 118-120,132,152,197,268; Vol. + II., p.212. + + +July, 1834. Op.14 Krakowiak, Grand Rondeau de Probst-Kistner +(June, Concert [F major] pour le piano M. Schlesinger +1834.) avec orchestre. Deidie a Mme. la + Princesse Adam Czartoryska. + Vol.I.,pp.88,96,97,98,99,101, + 102.112,116,118-120,134,268; + Vol. II., 233. + + +Jan., 1834 OP. 15. Trois Nocturnes [F major, F Breitkopf & +[Copies sharp major, and G minor] pour le Hartel. +sent to piano. Dedies a Mr. Ferd. Hiller.-- M. Schlesinger. +composer Vol. II., pp. 87, 261, 263 +already in +Dec., +1833]. +(Jan. +12,1834.) + + +March, OP. 16. Rondeau [E flat major] pour Breitkopf & +1834. le piano. Dedie a Mlle. Caroline Hartel. + Hartmann.--Vol. I., p. 269; Vol. M. Schlesinger. + II., p. 221. + + +May, 1834. OP. 17. Quatre Mazurkas [B flat Breitkopf & + major, E minor, A flat major, and A Hartel. + minor] pour le piano, Dediees a Mme. M. Schlesinger. + Lina Freppa.--Vol. I., p. 268; Vol. + II., 231-232, 234-239. + + +July, 1834. OP. 18. Grande Valse [E fiat major] Breitkopf & +(June, pour le piano. Dediee a Mlle. Laura Hartel. +1834.*) Harsford [thus in all the editions, M. Schlesinger + but should probably be Horsford. See [who sold it + Op. 12.]--Vol. I., pp. 268, 273; afterwards to + Vol. II., 249. Lemoine]. + + +March, OP. 20. Premier Scherzo [B minor] Breitkopf & +1835. pour le piano. Dedie a Mr. Hartel. +(Feb., T.Albrecht.--Vol. I., p. 294; Vol. M. Schlesinger. +1835.*) II., pp. 27,87, 256-257. + + +April, OP. 21. Second Concerto [F minor] Breitkopf and +1836. pour le piano avec orchestre. Dedie Hartel. +(Aug., a Mme. la Comtesse Delphine Potocka. M. Schlesinger. +1836.) --Vol. I., pp. 128, 131-132, 134, + 156, 163, 200, 203-210, 212, 241, + 294; II., p. 211. + + +Aug., 1836. OP. 22. Grande Polonaise brillante Breitkopf & +(July, [E flat major], precedee d'un Hartel. +1836.*) Andante spianato, pour le piano avec M. Schlesinger. + orchestre. Dediee a Mme. la Baronne + d'Est.--Vol. I., pp. 201-202, 295; + Vol. II., pp. 239-243, 244. + + +June, 1836. OP. 23. Ballade [G minor] pour le Breitkopf & +(July, piano. Dediee a Mr. le Baron de Hartel. +1836.*) Stockhausen.--Vol. I., pp. 294, 295 M. Schlesinger. + Vol. II., pp. 87, 268-9. + + +Nov., 1835. Op. 24 Quatre Mazurkas [G minor, C Breitkopf & +(Jan., major, A flat major, and B flat Hartel. +1836.) minor]. Dediees a Mr. le Comte de M. Schlesinger. + Perthuis.-Vol. I., pp. 294, + 295; Vol. II., pp. 218 (No. 2), 231- + 2, 234 9. + + +Oct., 1837. Op. 25 Douze Etudes [A flat major, F Breitkopf & +(Oct.22, minor, F major, A minor, E minor, G Hartel. +1837.) sharp minor, C sharp minor, D flat M. Schlesinger + major G flat major, B minor, A minor, [who sold the + & C minor] pour le piano. Dediees & copyright + Mme. la Comtesse d'Agoult.--Vol. I., afterwards to + pp. 276, 295, 310; Vol. II., pp. 15, Lemoine]. + 251-4. + +July, 1836. Op. 26. Deux Polonaises [C sharp Breitkopf & +(July, minor and E flat minor] pour le Hartel. +1836.*) piano. Dediees a Mr. J. Dessauer.-- M. Schlesinger. + Vol. I., p. 295; Vol. II., pp. 239- + 244; 245-6. + + +May, 1836. Op. 27. Deux Nocturnes [C sharp Breitkopf & +(July, minor and D flat major] pour le Hartel. +1836.*) piano. Dediees a Mme. la Comtesse M. Schlesinger. + d'Appony.-Vol. I., pp. 294, 295; + Vol. II., pp. 87, 261, 263-4. + + +Sept., Op. 28. Vingt-quatre Preludes pour Breitkopf & +1839. le piano. Dediees a son ami Pleyel Hartel. +(Sept., [in the French and in the English Ad. Catelin et +1839.*) edition; a Mr. J. C. Kessler in the Cie. + German edition. The French edition + appeared in two books and without + opus number].--Vol. II., pp. 20, 24, + 27, 28, 29-30, 30-31, 42-45, 50, 51, + 71, 72, 76, 77, + 254-6. + + +Jan., 1838. Op. 29. Impromptu [A flat major] Breitkopf & +(Dec., pour le piano. Dedie a Mile, la Hartel. +1837.*) Comtesse de Lobau.--Vol. II., pp. M. Schlesinger. + 15, 259. + + +Jan., 1838. Op. 30. Quatre Mazurkas [C minor, B Breitkopf & +(Dec., minor, D flat major, and C sharp Hartel. +1837.*) minor] pour le piano. Dediees a Mme. M. Schlesinger. + la Princesse de Wurtemberg, nee + Princesse Czartoryska.--Vol. II., + pp. 15, 231-2, 234-9. + + +Feb., 1838. Op. 31. Deuxieme Scherzo [B flat Breitkopf & +(Dec., minor] pour le piano. Dedie a Mile, Hartel. +1837.*) la Comtesse Adele de Fursienslein. M. Schlesinger. + --Vol. II., pp. 15, 87, 256, 257. + + +(Dec., OP. 32. Deux Nocturnes [B major and A. M. +1837.*) A flat major] pour le Piano. Dedies Schlesinger. + a Mme. la Baronne de Billing.--Vol. M. Schlesinger. + II., pp. 15, 87, 264. + + +Nov., 1838. OP. 33. Quatre Mazurkas [G sharp Breitkopf & +(Nov., minor, D major, C major, and B Hartel. +1838.) minor] pour le piano. Dediees a M. Schlesinger. + Mlle. la Comtesse Mostowska.--Vol. + II., pp. 15, 231-2, 234-9. + + +Dec., 1838. OP. 34. Trois Valses brillantes [A Breitkopf & +(Jan., flat major, A minor, and F major] Hartel. +1839.*) pour le piano. Dediees [No. 1] a M. Schlesinger. + Mlle. deThun-Hohenstein; [No. 2] a + Mme. G. d'Ivri; [No. 3] d Mile. A. + d'Eichthal.--Vol. I., p. 200 (No. + I); Vol. II., pp. 15, 30; 248, 249. + + +May, 1840. OP. 35. Sonate [B flat minor] pour Breitkopf & +(May, le piano.--Vol. II., pp. 45, 62, 72, Hartel. +1840.*) 77, 94, 225-8. Troupenas et + Cie. + + +May, 1840. OP. 36. Deuxieme Impromptu [F sharp Breitkopf & +(May, minor] pour le piano.--Vol. II., pp. Hartel. +1840.*) 259-60. Troupenas et + Cie. + + +May, 1840. OP. 37. Deux Nocturnes [G minor and Breitkopf & +(June, G major] pour le piano.--Vol. II., Hartel. +1840.*) p. 45, 62, 87, 261, 264. Troupenas et + Cie. + + +Sept., OP. 38. Deuxieme Ballade [F major] Breitkopf & +1840. pour le piano. Dediee a Mr. R. Hartel. +(Sept., Schumann.--Vol. II., pp. 45, 50, 51, Troupenas et +1840.*) 52,54,77,268,269. Cie. + + +Oct., 1840. Op. 39. Troisieme Scherzo [C sharp Breitkopf & +(Dec., minor] pour le piano. Dedie a Mr. A. Hartel. +1840.*) Gutmann.--Vol. II., pp. 45, 53, 72, Troupenas et + 77, 256, 258. Cie. + + +Nov., 1840. Op. 40. Deux Polonaises [A major and Breitkopf & +(Dec., C minor] pour le piano. Dediees a Hartel. +1840.*) Mr. J. Fontana.--Vol. II., pp. 45, Troupenas et + 50, 51, 52, 54, 77, 87, 94, 213 (No. Cie. + 1), 239-244, 246, 247. + + +Dec., 1840. Op. 41. Quatre Mazurkas [C sharp Breitkopf & +(Dec., minor, E minor, B major, and A flat Hartel. +1840.*) major] pour le piano. Dediees a Mr. Troupenas et + E. Witwicki.--Vol. II., pp. 46 (No. Cie. + 1), 62, 77, 231-2, 234-9. + + +July, 1840. Op. 42. Valse [A flat major pour le Breitkopf & + piano,--Vol. II., pp. 77, 86, 248, Hartel. + 249. Pacini. + + +(1841. An Op. 43. Tarantella [A flat major] Schuberth & Co. +nounced in pour le piano.--Vol. II., pp. 77, Troupenas et Cie. +Monatsbe- 82-86, 222. +richte on Jan. +1,1842. Paid +for by the +publisher on +July 7, 1841.] +(Oct., 1841.*) + + +(Nov. 28, Op.44. Polonaise [F sharp minor] Merchetti. +1841.) pour le piano. Dediee a Mme. la M. Schlesinger. + Princesse Charles de Beauvau.--Vol. + II., pp. 77,80, 81,86,239-244,246. + + +(Nov. 28, Op.45. Prelude [C sharp minor] pour Merchetti. +1841.) piano. Dediee a Mlle. la Prin- M. Schlesinger. + cesse Elisabeth Czernicheff.--Vol. + II., pp. 77, 80, 81, 256 + + +Jan., 1842. Op.46. Allegro de Concert [A major] Breitkopf & Hartel. +(Nov. 28, pour le piano. Dedie a Mlle. F. M. Schlesinger. +1841) Muller--Vol. I., p. 202; Vol.II., + pp.77, 86, 87, 177, 223-5. + + +Jan. 1842 Op.47. Troisieme Ballade [A flat Breitkopf & Hartel. +(Nov. 28, major] pour le piano. Dediee a M. Schlesinger. + 1841) Mlle. P. de Noailles.--Vol.II., + pp.77,87, 92, 268, 269-70. + + +Jan., 1842 Op.48. Deux Nocturnes [C minor Breitkopf & Hartel. +(Nov. 28, and F sharp minor] pour le piano. M. Schlesinger. +1841) Dediees a Mlle. L. Duperre--Vol.II., + pp. 77, 87, 88, 262, 265 + + +Jan., 1842 Op.49. Fantaisie [F minor] pour Breitkopf & Hartel. +(Nov. 28, le piano Dediee a Mme. la Princesse M. Schlesinger. + 1841) C. de Souzzo.--Vol. II., pp. 77,87, + 230-1. + +[Sept.,1842. Op.50. Trois Mazurkas [G major, Mechetti. +Announced A flat major, and C charp minor] M. Schlesinger. +in Monats- pour le piano. Dediees a Mr. Leon +berichte.] Szmitkowski--Vol.II., p.77,231-2, +(Nov.28,1841 234-9. +[not again +advertised +till June 5, +1842, +although the +preceding +numbers +were.]) + + +Feb.,1843. Op. 51. Allegro Vivace. Troisieme Hofmeister. +(July 9, Impromptu [G flat major] pour le M. Schlesinger. +1843.) piano. Dedie a Mme. la Comtesse + Esterhazy.--Vol.II.,pp.121,260. + +Feb., 1843. Op. 52. Quatrieme Ballade [F minor] Breitkopf & +(Dec. 24, pour le piano. Dediee a Mme. la Hartel. +1843.) Baronne C. de Rothschild.--Vol. II., M. Schlesinger. + pp. 77, 121, 268, 270. + + +Dec., 1843. OP. 53. Huiticmc Polonaise [A flat Breitkopf & +(Dec. 24, major] pour le piano. Dediee a Mr. Hartel. +1843.) A. Leo.--Vol. II., pp. 77, 94, 97, M. Schlesinger. + 121, 213, 239-244, 247. + + +Dec., 1843. Op. 54. Scherzo No. 4 [E major] pour Breitkopf & +(Dec. 24, le piano. Dedie a Mlle. J. de Hartel. +1843.) Caraman.--Vol. II-, pp. 121, 256, M. Schlesinger. + 258-9. + + +Aug. 1844. Op. 55. Deux Nocturnes [F minor and Breitkopf & +(Sept. 22, E flat major] pour le piano. Dedies Hartel. +1844.) a Mlle. J. W. Stirling.--Vol. II., M. Schlesinger. + p. 118, 121,262, 265-6. + + +Aug., 1844. Op. 56. Trois Mazurkas [B major, C Breitkopf & +(Sept. 22, major, and C minor] pour le piano. Hartel. +1844.) Dediees a Mlle. C. Maberly.--Vol. M. Schlesinger. + II., pp. 118, 121-2, 231-2, 234-9. + + +May, 1845. Op. 57. Berceuse [D flat major] pour Breitkopf & +(June, le piano. Dediee & Mlle. Elise Hartel. +1845.*) Gavard.--Vol. I., p. 119; Vol. II., J. Meissonnier. + pp. 118, 122,267-8. + + +June, 1845. Op.58. Sonate [B minor] pour le Breitkopf & Hartel +(June, piano. Dediee a Mme.la Comtesse J. Meissonnier. +1845*) E. de Perthuis.--Vol. II., pp. + 118, 122, 228-9. + + +[Jan., 1846, Op. 59. Trois Mazurkas [A minor, Stern et Cie. +announced A flat major, and F sharp minor] Brandus et Cie. +in Monats- pour le piano.--Vol.II.,pp. 122, +berichte.] 231-2, 234-9. +(April, +1846.*) + + +Dec., 1846 Op.60 Barcarolle [F sharp major] Breitkopf & Hartel +(Sept., pour le piano. Dediee a Mme. la Brandus et Cie. +1846) Baronne de Stockhausen-Vol.II, + pp.77, 122 266-7. + + +Dec., 1846. Op.61 Polonaise-Fantaisie [A Breitkopf & Hartel +(Sept., flat major] pour le piano. Brandus et Cie. +1846.*) Dediee a Mme. A.Veyret.-- + Vol.II., pp. 122, 239-244, 248 + + +Dec., 1846. Op. 62. Deux Nocturnes [B major Breitkopf & Hartel. +(Sept., and E major] pour le piano. Dedies Brandus et Cie. +1846.*) a Mlle. R. de Konneritz.--Vol. II., + pp. 122, 262, 266. + + +Sept., OP. 63. Trois Mazurkas [B major, F Breitkopf & +1847. minor, and C sharp minor] pour le Hartel. +(Oct. 17, piano. Dediees a. Mme. la Comtesse Brandus et Cie. +1847) L. Czosnowska.--Vol. II., pp. 122, + 205, 231-2, 234-9. + + +Sept., OP. 64. Trois Valses [D flat major, Breitkopf & +1847. C sharp minor, and A flat major] Hartel. +(Oct. 17, pour le piano. Dediees [No 1] a Mme. Brandus et Cie. +1847) la Comtesse Potocka; [No. 2] a Mme. + la Baronne de Rothschild; + [No. 3] a Mme. la Baronne Bronicka.-- + Vol. II., pp. 95, 122, 142 (No. 1), + 205, 248, 250-1, 387. + + +Sept., OP. 65. Sonate [G minor] pour piano Breitkopf & +1847. et violoncelle. Dediee a Mr. A. Hartel. +(Oct. 17, Franchomme.--Vol. II., pp. 122, 205, Brandus et Cie. +1847) 206, 207, 211, 229. + + + + II.--WORKS PUBLISHED WITHOUT OPUS NUMBERS + DURING THE COMPOSER'S LIFETIME. + + + +[1833, in Grand Duo concertant [E major] pour M. Schlesinger. +print.] piano et violoncelle sur des themes A. M. +(July 6, de Robert le Diable, par F. Chopin Schlesinger. +1833.) et A. Franchomme.--Vol. II., p. 230. + + +Aug. or Trois Nouvelles Etudes [F. minor, A M. Schlesinger. +Sept., 1840 flat major, and D flat major]. Etudes A. M. +[this is de Schlesinger. Perfection de la +the date of Methode des Moscheles et Fetis.--Vol. +the II., p. 252. +appearance +of the +Methode.] + + +(July 25, Variation VI. [Largo, E major, C] T. Haslinger. + 1841.) from the Hexameron: Morceau de Troupenas et Cie. + Concert. Grandes Variations de + bravoure sur la Marche des + "Puritains" de Bellini, composees + pour le Concert de Mme. la Princesse + Belgiojoso au benefice des pauvres, + par MM. Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, H. + Herz, Czerny, and Chopin.--Vol. II., + pp. 14, 15. + + +[Feb., 1842, Mazurka [A minor] pour piano, No.2 B. Schott's Sohne. +announced of "Notre Temps."--Vol.II.,p.237 +in Monats- +berichte. + + + + III.--WORKS PUBLISHED WITH OPUS NUMBERS AFTER + THE COMPOSER'S DEATH. + + + +[May, OP. 4. Sonate [C minor] pour le C. Haslinger. +1851.] piano. Dediee a Mr. Joseph Elsner. S. Richault. +(May, [This work was already in the hands +1851.*) of the German publisher, T. Haslinger, + in 1828.]--Vol. I., pp. 62,112,118; + Vol. II., p. 63. + + +1855. OP. 66-74 are the posthumous works A. M. + with opus numbers given to the world Schlesinger. + by Julius Fontana (publies sur fils. J. Meissonnier + manuscrits originaux avec + autorisation de sa famille).--Vol. + II., 270-1. + + OP. 66. Fantaisie-Impromptu [C + sharp minor]. Composed about 1834.-- + Vol. II.. p. 261, 271. + + OP. 67. Quatre Mazurkas [G major + (1835), G minor (1849), C major (1835), + and A minor (1846).]--Vol. II., + p. 271. + + OP. 68. Quatre Mazurkas [C major + (1830), A minor (1827), F major (1830), + and F minor (1849).]--Vol. I., pp. + 112, 122 (No. 2). + + OP. 69. Deux Valses [F minor + (1836), and B minor (1829).]-- + Vol. I., pp. 112, 122 (No. 2). + + OP. 70. Trois Valses [G flat major + (1835), F minor (1843), and D flat major + (1830).]--Vol. I., pp. 128, 200 + (No. 3). + + Op. 71. Trois Polonaises [D minor + (1827), B flat major (1828), and F minor + (1829).]--Vol. I., pp. 62 (Nos. 1 + and 2), 112, 121 (Nos. 1, 2, and 3), + 129 (No. 3). + + OP. 72. Nocturne [E minor (1827)]; + Marche funebre [C minor (1829)]; + et Trois Ecossaises [D major, G + major, and D flat major (1830)].-- + Vol. I., pp. 62, 112, 121 (No. 1); + 112, 123 (No. 2); 202 (No. 3). + + OP. 73. Rondeau [C major] pour deux + pianos (1828).--Vol. I., pp. 62, + 112, 116. + + OP. 74. Seventeen Polish Songs by + Witwicki, Mickiewicz, Zaleski, &c., + for voice with pianoforte + accompaniment. The German translation + by Ferd. Gumbert. [The + English translation of Stanley + Lucas, Weber & Co.'s English + edition is by the Rev. J. + Troutbeck.]--Vol. II., p. 271-272. + + + + IV.--WORKS PUBLISHED WITHOUT OPUS NUMBERS + AFTER THE COMPOSER'S DEATH. + + + +[May, Variations [E major] pour le piano C. Haslinger. +1851.] stir un air allemand. (1824?) S. Richault. + [although not published till 1851, + this composition was already in 1830 + in T. Haslinger's hands).--Vol. I.: + pp. 53, 55, 56. + + + Mazurka [G major]. (1825.)--Vol. I., J. Leitgeber. + p. 52; II., 236. Gebethner & + Wolff. + Mazurka [B flat major (1825)].--Vol. + I., p. 52; II., 236. + + Mazurka [D major (1829-30)].--Vol. + I., PP--202-203; II., 236. + + Mazurka [D major (1832.--A + remodelling of the preceding + Mazurka)].--Vol. I., pp. + 202-203; II., 236. + + + Mazurka [C major (1833)].--Vol. II., Gebethner & + p. 236. Wolff. + + + Mazurka [A minor. Dediee a son ami Bote & Bock. + Emile Gail'ard.--Vol. II, p. 236. + + +1858. Valse [E minor].--Vol. II., p. 251. B. Schott's + Sohne. + Gebethner & + Wolff. + + +1864. Polonaise [G sharp minor]. Dediee B. Schott's + a Mme. Dupont.--Vol. I., p. 52 (see Sohne. + also Corrections and Additions, Vol. Gebethner & + I., p. VIII. Wolff. + + + +1872. Polonaise [G flat major]. Nothing B. Schott's + but the composer's autograph could Sohne. + convince one of the genuineness of + this piece. There are here and there + passages which have the Chopin ring, + indeed, seem to be almost bodily + taken from some other of his works, + but there is also a great deal which + it is impossible to imagine to have + come at any time from his pen--the + very opening bars may be instanced. + + + Polonaise [B flat minor (1826)].-- Gebethner & + Vol. I., pp. 52-53. Wolff. + + + Valse [E major (1829)].-- Vol. I., Gebethner & + pp. 112, 122. Wolff. + W. Chaberski. + + Souvenir de Paganini [A major]. + This piece, which I do not know, is + mentioned in the list of the + master's works given by Karasowski + in the Polish edition of his life of + Chopin. It was published in the + supplement of the Warsaw Echo + Muzyczne, where also the two + preceding pieces first appeared. + + + About a Mazurka in F sharp major, + published under Chopin's name by J. + P. Gotthard, of Vienna, see Vol. + II., p. 237; and about Deux Valses + melancoliques (F minor and B minor) + ecrites sur l'Album de Mme. la + Comtesse P. 1844, see Vol. II., p. + 251. + + + La Reine des Songes, which appeared + in the Paris Journal de Musique, No. + 8, 1876, is No. 1 of the Seventeen + Polish Songs (transposed to B flat + major) with French words by George + Sand, beginning: + + "Quand la lune se leve + Dans un pale rayon + Elle vient comme un reve, + Comme une vision." + + Besides this song, the letter-press, + taken from George Sand's Histoire de + ma Vie, is accompanied by two + instrumental pieces, extracts from + the last movement of the E minor + Concerto and the Bolero, the latter + being called Chanson de Zingara. + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, +Volume 2, by Frederick Niecks + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREDERICK CHOPIN VOLUME 2 *** + +This file should be named 4972.txt or 4972.zip + +Produced by Charles Franks, John Mamoun <mamounjo@umdnj.edu> +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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