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diff --git a/4973.txt b/4973.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b218d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/4973.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28761 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, by +Frederick Niecks + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician + Volume 1-2, Complete + +Author: Frederick Niecks + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4973] +Posting Date: December 12, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREDERICK CHOPIN *** + + + + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +FREDERICK CHOPIN AS A MAN AND MUSICIAN + +By Frederick Niecks + + +Third Edition (1902) + + + + +VOLUME I. + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1888) + PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION (1890) + PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1902) + PROEM: POLAND AND THE POLES + CHAPTERS I-XIX + + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION + + + +While the novelist has absolute freedom to follow his artistic instinct +and intelligence, the biographer is fettered by the subject-matter with +which he proposes to deal. The former may hopefully pursue an ideal, the +latter must rest satisfied with a compromise between the desirable and +the necessary. No doubt, it is possible to thoroughly digest all the +requisite material, and then present it in a perfect, beautiful form. +But this can only be done at a terrible loss, at a sacrifice of truth +and trustworthiness. My guiding principle has been to place before the +reader the facts collected by me as well as the conclusions at which I +arrived. This will enable him to see the subject in all its bearings, +with all its pros and cons, and to draw his own conclusions, should +mine not obtain his approval. Unless an author proceeds in this way, +the reader never knows how far he may trust him, how far the evidence +justifies his judgment. For--not to speak of cheats and fools--the +best informed are apt to make assertions unsupported or insufficiently +supported by facts, and the wisest cannot help seeing things through the +coloured spectacles of their individuality. The foregoing remarks are +intended to explain my method, not to excuse carelessness of literary +workmanship. Whatever the defects of the present volumes may be--and, no +doubt, they are both great and many--I have laboured to the full extent +of my humble abilities to group and present my material perspicuously, +and to avoid diffuseness and rhapsody, those besetting sins of writers +on music. + +The first work of some length having Chopin for its subject was Liszt's +"Frederic Chopin," which, after appearing in 1851 in the Paris journal +"La France musicale," came out in book-form, still in French, in 1852 +(Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel.--Translated into English by M. W. Cook, +and published by William Reeves, London, 1877). George Sand describes +it as "un peu exuberant de style, mais rempli de bonnes choses et de +tres-belles pages." These words, however, do in no way justice to the +book: for, on the one hand, the style is excessively, and not merely +a little, exuberant; and, on the other hand, the "good things" and +"beautiful pages" amount to a psychological study of Chopin, and an +aesthetical study of his works, which it is impossible to over-estimate. +Still, the book is no biography. It records few dates and events, and +these few are for the most part incorrect. When, in 1878, the second +edition of F. Chopin was passing through the press, Liszt remarked to +me:-- + +"I have been told that there are wrong dates and other mistakes in my +book, and that the dates and facts are correctly given in Karasowski's +biography of Chopin [which had in the meantime been published]. But, +though I often thought of reading it, I have not yet done so. I got my +information from Paris friends on whom I believed I might depend. The +Princess Wittgenstein [who then lived in Rome, but in 1850 at Weimar, +and is said to have had a share in the production of the book] wished me +to make some alterations in the new edition. I tried to please her, but, +when she was still dissatisfied, I told her to add and alter whatever +she liked." + +From this statement it is clear that Liszt had not the stuff of a +biographer in him. And, whatever value we may put on the Princess +Wittgenstein's additions and alterations, they did not touch the vital +faults of the work, which, as a French critic remarked, was a symphonie +funebre rather than a biography. The next book we have to notice, M. A. +Szulc's Polish Fryderyk Chopin i Utwory jego Muzyczne (Posen, 1873), is +little more than a chaotic, unsifted collection of notices, criticisms, +anecdotes, &c., from Polish, German, and French books and magazines. In +1877 Moritz Karasowski, a native of Warsaw, and since 1864 a member of +the Dresden orchestra, published his Friedrich Chopin: sein Leben, seine +Werke und seine Briefe (Dresden: F. Ries.--Translated into English by +E. Hill, under the title Frederick Chopin: "His Life, Letters, and Work," +and published by William Reeves, London, in 1879). This was the first +serious attempt at a biography of Chopin. The author reproduced in +the book what had been brought to light in Polish magazines and other +publications regarding Chopin's life by various countrymen of the +composer, among whom he himself was not the least notable. But the most +valuable ingredients are, no doubt, the Chopin letters which the author +obtained from the composer's relatives, with whom he was acquainted. +While gratefully acknowledging his achievements, I must not omit to +indicate his shortcomings--his unchecked partiality for, and boundless +admiration of his hero; his uncritical acceptance and fanciful +embellishments of anecdotes and hearsays; and the extreme paucity of his +information concerning the period of Chopin's life which begins with +his settlement in Paris. In 1878 appeared a second edition of the work, +distinguished from the first by a few additions and many judicious +omissions, the original two volumes being reduced to one. But of more +importance than the second German edition is the first Polish edition, +"Fryderyk Chopin: Zycie, Listy, Dziela," two volumes (Warsaw: Gebethner +and Wolff, 1882), which contains a series of, till then, unpublished +letters from Chopin to Fontana. Of Madame A. Audley's short and readable +"Frederic Chopin, sa vie et ses oeuvres" (Paris: E. Plon et Cie., 1880), +I need only say that for the most part it follows Karasowski, and where +it does not is not always correct. Count Wodzinski's "Les trois Romans +de Frederic Chopin" (Paris: Calmann Levy, 1886)--according to the title +treating only of the composer's love for Constantia Gladkowska, Maria +Wodzinska, and George Sand, but in reality having a wider scope--cannot +be altogether ignored, though it is more of the nature of a novel than +of a biography. Mr. Joseph Bennett, who based his "Frederic Chopin" (one +of Novello's Primers of Musical Biography) on Liszt's and Karasowski's +works, had in the parts dealing with Great Britain the advantage of +notes by Mr. A.J. Hipkins, who inspired also, to some extent at least, +Mr. Hueffer in his essay Chopin ("Fortnightly Review," September, 1877; +and reprinted in "Musical Studies"--Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1880). +This ends the list of biographies with any claims to originality. There +are, however, many interesting contributions to a biography of Chopin +to be found in works of various kinds. These shall be mentioned in +the course of my narrative; here I will point out only the two most +important ones--namely, George Sand's "Histoire de ma Vie," first +published in the Paris newspaper "La Presse" (1854) and subsequently in +book-form; and her six volumes of "Correspondance," 1812-1876 (Paris: +Calmann Levy, 1882-1884). + +My researches had for their object the whole life of Chopin, and his +historical, political, artistical, social, and personal surroundings, +but they were chiefly directed to the least known and most interesting +period of his career--his life in France, and his visits to Germany and +Great Britain. My chief sources of information are divisible into two +classes--newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, correspondences, and books; +and conversations I held with, and letters I received from, Chopin's +pupils, friends, and acquaintances. Of his pupils, my warmest thanks are +due to Madame Dubois (nee Camille O'Meara), Madame Rubio (nee Vera de +Kologrivof), Mdlle. Gavard, Madame Streicher (nee Friederike Muller), +Adolph Gutmann, M. Georges Mathias, Brinley Richards, and Lindsay +Sloper; of friends and acquaintances, to Liszt, Ferdinand Hiller, +Franchomme, Charles Valentin Alkan, Stephen Heller, Edouard Wolff, Mr. +Charles Halle, Mr. G. A. Osborne, T. Kwiatkowski, Prof. A. Chodzko, M. +Leonard Niedzwiecki (gallice, Nedvetsky), Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, +Mr. A. J. Hipkins, and Dr. and Mrs. Lyschinski. I am likewise greatly +indebted to Messrs. Breitkopf and Hartel, Karl Gurckhaus (the late +proprietor of the firm of Friedrich Kistner), Julius Schuberth, +Friedrich Hofmeister, Edwin Ashdown, Richault & Cie, and others, for +information in connection with the publication of Chopin's works. It is +impossible to enumerate all my obligations--many of my informants and +many furtherers of my labours will be mentioned in the body of the book; +many, however, and by no means the least helpful, will remain unnamed. +To all of them I offer the assurance of my deep-felt gratitude. Not a +few of my kind helpers, alas! are no longer among the living; more than +ten years have gone by since I began my researches, and during that time +Death has been reaping a rich harvest. + +The Chopin letters will, no doubt, be regarded as a special feature +of the present biography. They may, I think, be called numerous, if we +consider the master's dislike to letter-writing. Ferdinand Hiller--whose +almost unique collection of letters addressed to him by his famous +friends in art and literature is now, and will be for years to come, +under lock and key among the municipal archives at Cologne--allowed +me to copy two letters by Chopin, one of them written conjointly with +Liszt. Franchomme, too, granted me the privilege of copying his friend's +epistolary communications. Besides a number of letters that have here +and there been published, I include, further, a translation of Chopin's +letters to Fontana, which in Karasowski's book (i.e., the Polish +edition) lose much of their value, owing to his inability to assign +approximately correct dates to them. + +The space which I give to George Sand is, I think, justified by the part +she plays in the life of Chopin. To meet the objections of those who +may regard my opinion of her as too harsh, I will confess that I +entered upon the study of her character with the impression that she had +suffered much undeserved abuse, and that it would be incumbent upon a +Chopin biographer to defend her against his predecessors and the friends +of the composer. How entirely I changed my mind, the sequel will show. + +In conclusion, a few hints as to the pronunciation of Polish words, +which otherwise might puzzle the reader uninitiated in the mysteries +of that rarely-learned language. Aiming more at simplicity than at +accuracy, one may say that the vowels are pronounced somewhat like this: +a as in "arm," aL like the nasal French "on," e as in "tell," e/ with +an approach to the French "e/" (or to the German "u [umlaut]" and "o +[umlaut]"), eL like the nasal French "in," i as in "pick," o as in +"not," o/ with an approach to the French "ou," u like the French ou, and +y with an approach to the German "i" and "u." The following consonants +are pronounced as in English: b, d, f, g (always hard), h, k, I, m, n, +p, s, t, and z. The following single and double consonants differ from +the English pronunciation: c like "ts," c/ softer than c, j like "y," +l/ like "ll" with the tongue pressed against the upper row of teeth, +n/ like "ny" (i.e., n softened by i), r sharper than in English, w like +"v," z/ softer than z, z. and rz like the French "j," ch like the German +guttural "ch" in "lachen" (similar to "ch" in the Scotch "loch"), cz +like "ch" in "cherry," and sz like "sh" in "sharp." Mr. W. R. Morfill +("A Simplified Grammar of the Polish Language") elucidates the +combination szcz, frequently to be met with, by the English expression +"smasht china," where the italicised letters give the pronunciation. +Lastly, family names terminating in take a instead of i when applied to +women. + +April, 1888. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + + +The second edition differs from the first by little more than the +correction of some misprints and a few additions. These latter are to +be found among the Appendices. The principal addition consists of +interesting communications from Madame Peruzzi, a friend of Chopin's +still living at Florence. Next in importance come Madame Schumann's +diary notes bearing on Chopin's first visit to Leipzig. The remaining +additions concern early Polish music, the first performances of Chopin's +works at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, his visit to Marienbad (remarks by +Rebecca Dirichlet), the tempo rubato, and his portraits. To the names +of Chopin's friends and acquaintances to whom I am indebted for valuable +assistance, those of Madame Peruzzi and Madame Schumann have, therefore, +to be added. My apologies as well as my thanks are due to Mr. Felix +Moscheles, who kindly permitted a fac-simile to be made from a +manuscript, in his possession, a kindness that ought to have been +acknowledged in the first edition. I am glad that a second edition +affords me an opportunity to repair this much regretted omission. The +manuscript in question is an "Etude" which Chopin wrote for the "Methode +des Methodes de Piano," by F. J. Fetis and I. Moscheles, the father of +Mr. Felix Moscheles. This concludes what I have to say about the second +edition, but I cannot lay down the pen without expressing my gratitude +to critics and public for the exceedingly favourable reception they have +given to my book. + +October, 1890. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. + + + +BESIDES minor corrections, the present edition contains the correction +of the day and year of Frederick Francis Chopin's birth, which have been +discovered since the publication of the second edition of this work. +According to the baptismal entry in the register of the Brochow parish +church, he who became the great pianist and immortal composer was born +on February 22, 1810. This date has been generally accepted in +Poland, and is to be found on the medal struck on the occasion of the +semi-centenary celebration of the master's death. Owing to a misreading +of musicus for magnificus in the published copy of the document, its +trustworthiness has been doubted elsewhere, but, I believe, without +sufficient cause. The strongest argument that could be urged against +the acceptance of the date would be the long interval between birth and +baptism, which did not take place till late in April, and the consequent +possibility of an error in the registration. This, however, could only +affect the day, and perhaps the month, not the year. It is certainly +a very curious circumstance that Fontana, a friend of Chopin's in his +youth and manhood, Karasowski, at least an acquaintance, if not an +intimate friend, of the family (from whom he derived much information), +Fetis, a contemporary lexicographer, and apparently Chopin's family, and +even Chopin himself, did not know the date of the latter's birth. + +Where the character of persons and works of art are concerned, nothing +is more natural than differences of opinion. Bias and inequality of +knowledge sufficiently account for them. For my reading of the character +of George Sand, I have been held up as a monster of moral depravity; for +my daring to question the exactitude of Liszt's biographical facts, I +have been severely sermonised; for my inability to regard Chopin as one +of the great composers of songs, and continue uninterruptedly in a state +of ecstatic admiration, I have been told that the publication of my +biography of the master is a much to be deplored calamity. Of course, +the moral monster and author of the calamity cannot pretend to be an +unbiassed judge in the case; but it seems to him that there may be some +exaggeration and perhaps even some misconception in these accusations. + +As to George Sand, I have not merely made assertions, but have earnestly +laboured to prove the conclusions at which I reluctantly arrived. Are +George Sand's pretentions to self-sacrificing saintliness, and to purely +maternal feelings for Musset, Chopin, and others to be accepted in spite +of the fairy-tale nature of her "Histoire," and the misrepresentations +of her "Lettres d'un Voyageur" and her novels "Elle et lui" and +"Lucrezia Floriani"; in spite of the adverse indirect testimony of +some of her other novels, and the adverse direct testimony of her +"Correspondance"; and in spite of the experiences and firm beliefs of +her friends, Liszt included? Let us not overlook that charitableness +towards George Sand implies uncharitableness towards Chopin, place. Need +I say anything on the extraordinary charge made against me--namely, that +in some cases I have preferred the testimony of less famous men to +that of Liszt? Are genius, greatness, and fame the measures of +trustworthiness? + +As to Chopin, the composer of songs, the case is very simple. His +pianoforte pieces are original tone-poems of exquisite beauty; his +songs, though always acceptable, and sometimes charming, are not. We +should know nothing of them and the composer, if of his works they alone +had been published. In not publishing them himself, Chopin gave us his +own opinion, an opinion confirmed by the singers in rarely performing +them and by the public in little caring for them. In short, Chopin's +songs add nothing to his fame. To mention them in one breath with those +of Schubert and Schumann, or even with those of Robert Franz and +Adolf Jensen, is the act of an hero-worshipping enthusiast, not of a +discriminating critic. + +On two points, often commented upon by critics, I feel regret, although +not repentance--namely, on any "anecdotic iconoclasm" where fact +refuted fancy, and on my abstention from pronouncing judgments where the +evidence was inconclusive. But how can a conscientious biographer help +this ungraciousness and inaccommodativeness? Is it not his duty to tell +the truth, and nothing but the truth, in order that his subject may +stand out unobstructed and shine forth unclouded? + +In conclusion, two instances of careless reading. One critic, after +attributing a remark of Chopin's to me, exclaims: "The author is fond +of such violent jumps to conclusions." And an author, most benevolently +inclined towards me, enjoyed the humour of my first "literally ratting" +George Sand, and then saying that I "abstained from pronouncing judgment +because the complete evidence did not warrant my doing so." The former +(in vol. i.) had to do with George Sand's character; the latter (in vol. +ii.) with the moral aspect of her connection with Chopin. + +An enumeration of the more notable books dealing with Chopin, published +after the issue of the earlier editions of the present book will form an +appropriate coda to this preface--"Frederic Francois Chopin," by Charles +Willeby; "Chopin, and Other Musical Essays," by Henry T. Finck; "Studies +in Modern Music" (containing an essay on Chopin), by W. H. Hadow; +"Chopin's Greater Works," by Jean Kleczynski, translated by Natalie +Janotha; and "Chopin: the Man and his Music," by James Huneker. + +Edinburgh, February, 1902. + + + + +PROEM. + + + + +POLAND AND THE POLES. + + + +THE works of no composer of equal importance bear so striking a national +impress as those of Chopin. It would, however, be an error to attribute +this simply and solely to the superior force of the Polish musician's +patriotism. The same force of patriotism in an Italian, Frenchman, +German, or Englishman would not have produced a similar result. +Characteristics such as distinguish Chopin's music presuppose a nation +as peculiarly endowed, constituted, situated, and conditioned, as the +Polish--a nation with a history as brilliant and dark, as fair and +hideous, as romantic and tragic. The peculiarities of the peoples +of western Europe have been considerably modified, if not entirely +levelled, by centuries of international intercourse; the peoples of the +eastern part of the Continent, on the other hand, have, until recent +times, kept theirs almost intact, foreign influences penetrating to no +depth, affecting indeed no more than the aristocratic few, and them only +superficially. At any rate, the Slavonic races have not been moulded by +the Germanic and Romanic races as these latter have moulded each other: +east and west remain still apart--strangers, if not enemies. Seeing how +deeply rooted Chopin's music is in the national soil, and considering +how little is generally known about Poland and the Poles, the necessity +of paying in this case more attention to the land of the artist's birth +and the people to which he belongs than is usually done in biographies +of artists, will be admitted by all who wish to understand fully and +appreciate rightly the poet-musician and his works. But while taking +note of what is of national origin in Chopin's music, we must be careful +not to ascribe to this origin too much. Indeed, the fact that the +personal individuality of Chopin is as markedly differentiated, as +exclusively self-contained, as the national individuality of Poland, +is oftener overlooked than the master's national descent and its +significance with regard to his artistic production. And now, having +made the reader acquainted with the raison d'etre of this proem, I shall +plunge without further preliminaries in medias res. + +The palmy days of Poland came to an end soon after the extinction of +the dynasty of the Jagellons in 1572. So early as 1661 King John Casimir +warned the nobles, whose insubordination and want of solidity, whose +love of outside glitter and tumult, he deplored, that, unless they +remedied the existing evils, reformed their pretended free elections, +and renounced their personal privileges, the noble kingdom would become +the prey of other nations. Nor was this the first warning. The Jesuit +Peter Skarga (1536--1612), an indefatigable denunciator of the vices of +the ruling classes, told them in 1605 that their dissensions would bring +them under the yoke of those who hated them, deprive them of king and +country, drive them into exile, and make them despised by those +who formerly feared and respected them. But these warnings remained +unheeded, and the prophecies were fulfilled to the letter. Elective +kingship, pacta conventa, [Footnote: Terms which a candidate for the +throne had to subscribe on his election. They were of course dictated by +the electors--i.e., by the selfish interest of one class, the szlachta +(nobility), or rather the most powerful of them.] liberum veto, +[Footnote: The right of any member to stop the proceedings of the Diet +by pronouncing the words "Nie pozwalam" (I do not permit), or others of +the same import.] degradation of the burgher class, enslavement of +the peasantry, and other devices of an ever-encroaching nobility, +transformed the once powerful and flourishing commonwealth into one +"lying as if broken-backed on the public highway; a nation anarchic +every fibre of it, and under the feet and hoofs of travelling +neighbours." [Footnote: Thomas Carlyle, Frederick the Great, vol. +viii., p. 105.] In the rottenness of the social organism, venality, +unprincipled ambition, and religious intolerance found a congenial soil; +and favoured by and favouring foreign intrigues and interferences, they +bore deadly fruit--confederations, civil wars, Russian occupation of the +country and dominion over king, council, and diet, and the beginning of +the end, the first partition (1772) by which Poland lost a third of her +territory with five millions of inhabitants. Even worse, however, was +to come. For the partitioning powers--Russia, Prussia, and Austria--knew +how by bribes and threats to induce the Diet not only to sanction the +spoliation, but also so to alter the constitution as to enable them to +have a permanent influence over the internal affairs of the Republic. + +The Pole Francis Grzymala remarks truly that if instead of some thousand +individuals swaying the destinies of Poland, the whole nation had +enjoyed equal rights, and, instead of being plunged in darkness and +ignorance, the people had been free and consequently capable of feeling +and thinking, the national cause, imperilled by the indolence and +perversity of one part of the citizens, would have been saved by those +who now looked on without giving a sign of life. The "some thousands" +here spoken of are of course the nobles, who had grasped all the +political power and almost all the wealth of the nation, and, imitating +the proud language of Louis XIV, could, without exaggeration, have said: +"L'etat c'est nous." As for the king and the commonalty, the one had +been deprived of almost all his prerogatives, and the other had become +a rightless rabble of wretched peasants, impoverished burghers, and +chaffering Jews. Rousseau, in his Considerations sur le gouvernement +de Pologne, says pithily that the three orders of which the Republic +of Poland was composed were not, as had been so often and illogically +stated, the equestrian order, the senate, and the king, but the nobles +who were everything, the burghers who were nothing, and the peasants +who were less than nothing. The nobility of Poland differed from that of +Other countries not only in its supreme political and social position, +but also in its numerousness, character, and internal constitution. + +[Footnote: The statistics concerning old Poland are provokingly +contradictory. One authority calculates that the nobility comprised +120,000 families, or one fourteenth of the population (which, before +the first partition, is variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty +millions); another counts only 100,000 families; and a third states +that between 1788 and 1792 (i.e., after the first partition) there were +38,314 families of nobles.] + +All nobles were equal in rank, and as every French soldier was said to +carry a marshal's staff in his knapsack, so every Polish noble was born +a candidate for the throne. This equality, however, was rather de jure +than de facto; legal decrees could not fill the chasm which separated +families distinguished by wealth and fame--such as the Sapiehas, +Radziwills, Czartoryskis, Zamoyskis, Potockis, and Branickis--from +obscure noblemen whose possessions amount to no more than "a few acres +of land, a sword, and a pair of moustaches that extend from one ear to +the other," or perhaps amounted only to the last two items. With some +insignificant exceptions, the land not belonging to the state or the +church was in the hands of the nobles, a few of whom had estates of +the extent of principalities. Many of the poorer amongst the nobility +attached themselves to their better-situated brethren, becoming their +dependents and willing tools. The relation of the nobility to the +peasantry is well characterised in a passage of Mickiewicz's epic poem +Pan Tadeusz, where a peasant, on humbly suggesting that the nobility +suffered less from the measures of their foreign rulers than his own +class, is told by one of his betters that this is a silly remark, seeing +that peasants, like eels, are accustomed to being skinned, whereas the +well-born are accustomed to live in liberty. + +Nothing illustrates so well the condition of a people as the way in +which justice is administered. In Poland a nobleman was on his +estate prosecutor as well as judge, and could be arrested only after +conviction, or, in the case of high-treason, murder, and robbery, if +taken in the act. And whilst the nobleman enjoyed these high privileges, +the peasant had, as the law terms it, no facultatem standi in judicio, +and his testimony went for nothing in the courts of justice. More than +a hundred laws in the statutes of Poland are said to have been +unfavourable to these poor wretches. In short, the peasant was quite +at the mercy of the privileged class, and his master could do with him +pretty much as he liked, whipping and selling not excepted, nor did +killing cost more than a fine of a few shillings. The peasants on the +state domains and of the clergy were, however, somewhat better off; and +the burghers, too, enjoyed some shreds of their old privileges with more +or less security. If we look for a true and striking description of +the comparative position of the principal classes of the population of +Poland, we find it in these words of a writer of the eighteenth century: +"Polonia coelum nobilium, paradisus clericorum, infernus rusticorum." + +The vast plain of Poland, although in many places boggy and sandy, is on +the whole fertile, especially in the flat river valleys, and in the east +at the sources of the Dnieper; indeed, it is so much so that it has been +called the granary of Europe. But as the pleasure-loving gentlemen had +nobler pursuits to attend to, and the miserable peasants, with whom it +was a saying that only what they spent in drink was their own, were not +very anxious to work more and better than they could help, agriculture +was in a very neglected condition. With manufacture and commerce it +stood not a whit better. What little there was, was in the hands of the +Jews and foreigners, the nobles not being allowed to meddle with such +base matters, and the degraded descendants of the industrious and +enterprising ancient burghers having neither the means nor the spirit to +undertake anything of the sort. Hence the strong contrast of wealth and +poverty, luxury and distress, that in every part of Poland, in town and +country, struck so forcibly and painfully all foreign travellers. Of the +Polish provinces that in 1773 came under Prussian rule we read that-- + + the country people hardly knew such a thing as bread, many + had never in their life tasted such a delicacy; few villages + had an oven. A weaving-loom was rare; the spinning-wheel + unknown. The main article of furniture, in this bare scene of + squalor, was the crucifix and vessel of holy-water under + it....It was a desolate land without discipline, without law, + without a master. On 9,000 English square miles lived 500,000 + souls: not 55 to the square mile. [Footnote: Carlyle. + Frederick the Great, vol. x., p. 40.] + +And this poverty and squalor were not to be found only in one part of +Poland, they seem to have been general. Abbe de Mably when seeing, in +1771, the misery of the country (campagne) and the bad condition of the +roads, imagined himself in Tartary. William Coxe, the English historian +and writer of travels, who visited Poland after the first partition, +relates, in speaking of the district called Podlachia, that he visited +between Bjelsk and Woyszki villages in which there was nothing but the +bare walls, and he was told at the table of the ------ that knives, +forks, and spoons were conveniences unknown to the peasants. He says he +never saw-- + + a road so barren of interesting scenes as that from Cracow to + Warsaw--for the most part level, with little variation of + surface; chiefly overspread with tracts of thick forest; + where open, the distant horizon was always skirted with wood + (chiefly pines and firs, intermixed with beech, birch, and + small oaks). The occasional breaks presented some pasture- + ground, with here and there a few meagre crops of corn. The + natives were poorer, humbler, and more miserable than any + people we had yet observed in the course of our travels: + whenever we stopped they flocked around us in crowds; and, + asking for charity, used the most abject gestures....The + Polish peasants are cringing and servile in their expressions + of respect; they bowed down to the ground; took off their + hats or caps and held them in their hands till we were out of + sight; stopped their carts on the first glimpse of our + carriage; in short, their whole behaviour gave evident + symptoms of the abject servitude under which they groaned. + [FOOTNOTE: William Coxe, Travels in Poland, Russia, Sweden, + and Denmark (1784--90).] + +The Jews, to whom I have already more than once alluded, are too +important an element in the population of Poland not to be particularly +noticed. They are a people within a people, differing in dress as well +as in language, which is a jargon of German-Hebrew. Their number before +the first partition has been variously estimated at from less than +two millions to fully two millions and a half in a population of from +fifteen to twenty millions, and in 1860 there were in Russian Poland +612,098 Jews in a population of 4,867,124. + +[FOOTNOTE: According to Charles Forster (in Pologne, a volume of the +historical series entitled L'univers pittoresque, published by Firmin +Didot freres of Paris), who follows Stanislas Plater, the population of +Poland within the boundaries of 1772 amounted to 20,220,000 inhabitants, +and was composed of 6,770,000 Poles, 7,520,000 Russians (i.e., White and +Red Russians), 2,110,000 Jews, 1,900,000 Lithuanians, 1,640,000 Germans, +180,000 Muscovites (i.e., Great Russians), and 100,000 Wallachians.] + + They monopolise [says Mr. Coxe] the commerce and trade of the + country, keep inns and taverns, are stewards to the nobility, + and seem to have so much influence that nothing can be bought + or sold without the intervention of a Jew. + +Our never-failing informant was particularly struck with the number and +usefulness of the Jews in Lithuania when he visited that part of the +Polish Republic in 1781-- + + If you ask for an interpreter, they bring you a Jew; if you + want post-horses, a Jew procures them and a Jew drives them; + if you wish to purchase, a Jew is your agent; and this + perhaps is the only country in Europe where Jews cultivate + the ground; in passing through Lithuania, we frequently saw + them engaged in sowing, reaping, mowing, and other works of + husbandry. + +Having considered the condition of the lower classes, we will now turn +our attention to that of the nobility. The very unequal distribution of +wealth among them has already been mentioned. Some idea of their mode of +life may be formed from the account of the Starost Krasinski's court in +the diary (year 1759) of his daughter, Frances Krasinska. [FOOTNOTE: A +starost (starosta) is the possessor of a starosty (starostwo)--i.e., a +castle and domains conferred on a nobleman for life by the crown.] Her +description of the household seems to justify her belief that there +were not many houses in Poland that surpassed theirs in magnificence. +In introducing to the reader the various ornaments and appendages of the +magnate's court, I shall mention first, giving precedence to the fair +sex, that there lived under the supervision of a French governess six +young ladies of noble families. The noblemen attached to the lord of the +castle were divided into three classes. In the first class were to be +found sons of wealthy, or, at least, well-to-do families who served +for honour, and came to the court to acquire good manners and as an +introduction to a civil or military career. The starost provided the +keep of their horses, and also paid weekly wages of two florins to their +grooms. Each of these noble-men had besides a groom another servant who +waited on his master at table, standing behind his chair and dining on +what he left on his plate. Those of the second class were paid for their +services and had fixed duties to perform. Their pay amounted to from +300 to 1,000 florins (a florin being about the value of sixpence), in +addition to which gratuities and presents were often given. Excepting +the chaplain, doctor, and secretary, they did not, like the preceding +class, have the honour of sitting with their master at table. With +regard to this privilege it is, however, worth noticing that those +courtiers who enjoyed it derived materially hardly any advantage from +it, for on week-days wine was served only to the family and their +guests, and the dishes of roast meat were arranged pyramidally, so +that fowl and venison went to those at the head of the table, and those +sitting farther down had to content themselves with the coarser kinds of +meat--with beef, pork, &c. The duties of the third class of followers, +a dozen young men from fifteen to twenty years of age, consisted +in accompanying the family on foot or on horseback, and doing their +messages, such as carrying presents and letters of invitation. +The second and third classes were under the jurisdiction of the +house-steward, who, in the case of the young gentlemen, was not sparing +in the application of the cat. A strict injunction was laid on all to +appear in good clothes. As to the other servants of the castle, the +authoress thought she would find it difficult to specify them; indeed, +did not know even the number of their musicians, cooks, Heyducs, +Cossacks, and serving maids and men. She knew, however, that every day +five tables were served, and that from morning to night two persons +were occupied in distributing the things necessary for the kitchen. +More impressive even than a circumstantial account like this are +briefly-stated facts such as the following: that the Palatine Stanislas +Jablonowski kept a retinue of 2,300 soldiers and 4,000 courtiers, +valets, armed attendants, huntsmen, falconers, fishers, musicians, and +actors; and that Janusz, Prince of Ostrog, left at his death a majorat +of eighty towns and boroughs, and 2,760 villages, without counting the +towns and villages of his starosties. The magnates who distinguished +themselves during the reign of Stanislas Augustus (1764--1795) by the +brilliance and magnificence of their courts were the Princes Czartoryski +and Radziwill, Count Potocki, and Bishop Soltyk of Cracovia. Our +often-quoted English traveller informs us that the revenue of Prince +Czartoryski amounted to nearly 100,000 pounds per annum, and that his +style of living corresponded with this income. The Prince kept an open +table at which there rarely sat down less than from twenty to thirty +persons. [FOOTNOTE: Another authority informs us that on great occasions +the Czartoryskis received at their table more than twenty thousand +persons.] The same informant has much to say about the elegance and +luxury of the Polish nobility in their houses and villas, in the +decoration and furniture of which he found the French and English styles +happily blended. He gives a glowing account of the fetes at which he +was present, and says that they were exquisitely refined and got up +regardless of expense. + +Whatever changes the national character of the Poles has undergone in +the course of time, certain traits of it have remained unaltered, and +among these stands forth predominantly their chivalry. Polish bravery is +so universally recognised and admired that it is unnecessary to enlarge +upon it. For who has not heard at least of the victorious battle of +Czotzim, of the delivery of Vienna, of the no less glorious defeats of +Maciejowice and Ostrolenka, and of the brilliant deeds of Napoleon's +Polish Legion? And are not the names of Poland's most popular heroes, +Sobieski and Kosciuszko, household words all the world over? Moreover, +the Poles have proved their chivalry not only by their valour on the +battle-field, but also by their devotion to the fair sex. At banquets +in the good olden time it was no uncommon occurrence to see a Pole kneel +down before his lady, take off one of her shoes, and drink out of it. +But the women of Poland seem to be endowed with a peculiar power. Their +beauty, grace, and bewitching manner inflame the heart and imagination +of all that set their eyes on them. How often have they not conquered +the conquerors of their country? [FOOTNOTE: The Emperor Nicholas is +credited with the saying: "Je pourrais en finir des Polonais si je +venais a bout des Polonaises."] They remind Heine of the tenderest and +loveliest flowers that grow on the banks of the Ganges, and he calls for +the brush of Raphael, the melodies of Mozart, the language of Calderon, +so that he may conjure up before his readers an Aphrodite of the +Vistula. Liszt, bolder than Heine, makes the attempt to portray them, +and writes like an inspired poet. No Pole can speak on this subject +without being transported into a transcendental rapture that illumines +his countenance with a blissful radiance, and inspires him with a +glowing eloquence which, he thinks, is nevertheless beggared by the +matchless reality. + +The French of the North--for thus the Poles have been called--are of a +very excitable nature; easily moved to anger, and easily appeased; soon +warmed into boundless enthusiasm, and soon also manifesting lack of +perseverance. They feel happiest in the turmoil of life and in the +bustle of society. Retirement and the study of books are little to +their taste. Yet, knowing how to make the most of their limited stock +of knowledge, they acquit themselves well in conversation. Indeed, they +have a natural aptitude for the social arts which insures their success +in society, where they move with ease and elegance. Their oriental +mellifluousness, hyperbolism, and obsequious politeness of speech have, +as well as the Asiatic appearance of their features and dress, been +noticed by all travellers in Poland. Love of show is another very +striking trait in the character of the Poles. It struggles to manifest +itself among the poor, causes the curious mixture of splendour and +shabbiness among the better-situated people, and gives rise to the +greatest extravagances among the wealthy. If we may believe the +chroniclers and poets, the entertainments of the Polish magnates must +have often vied with the marvellous feasts of imperial Rome. Of the +vastness of the households with which these grands seigneurs surrounded +themselves, enough has already been said. Perhaps the chief channel +through which this love of show vented itself was the decoration of man +and horse. The entrance of Polish ambassadors with their numerous +suites has more than once astonished the Parisians, who were certainly +accustomed to exhibitions of this kind. The mere description of some of +them is enough to dazzle one--the superb horses with their bridles and +stirrups of massive silver, and their caparisons and saddles embroidered +with golden flowers; and the not less superb men with their rich +garments of satin or gold cloth, adorned with rare furs, their bonnets +surmounted by bright plumes, and their weapons of artistic workmanship, +the silver scabbards inlaid with rubies. We hear also of ambassadors +riding through towns on horses loosely shod with gold or silver, so that +the horse-shoes lost on their passage might testify to their wealth +and grandeur. I shall quote some lines from a Polish poem in which the +author describes in detail the costume of an eminent nobleman in the +early part of this century:-- + + He was clad in the uniform of the palatinate: a doublet + embroidered with gold, an overcoat of Tours silk ornamented + with fringes, a belt of brocade from which hung a sword with + a hilt of morocco. At his neck glittered a clasp with + diamonds. His square white cap was surmounted by a + magnificent plume, composed of tufts of herons' feathers. It + is only on festive occasions that such a rich bouquet, of + which each feather costs a ducat, is put on. + +The belt above mentioned was one of the most essential parts and the +chief ornament of the old Polish national dress, and those manufactured +at Sluck had especially a high reputation. A description of a belt of +Sluck, "with thick fringes like tufts," glows on another page of the +poem from which I took my last quotation:-- + + On one side it is of gold with purple flowers; on the other + it is of black silk with silver checks. Such a belt can be + worn on either side: the part woven with gold for festive + days; the reverse for days of mourning. + +A vivid picture of the Polish character is to be found in Mickiewicz's +epic poem, Pan Tadeusz, from which the above quotations are taken. + +[FOOTNOTE: I may mention here another interesting book illustrative +of Polish character and life, especially in the second half of the +eighteenth century, which has been of much use to me--namely, Count +Henry Rzewuski's Memoirs of Pan Severin Soplica, translated into German, +and furnished with an instructive preface by Philipp Lubenstein.] + +He handles his pencil lovingly; proclaiming with just pride the virtues +of his countrymen, and revealing with a kindly smile their weaknesses. +In this truest, perhaps, of all the portraits that have ever been drawn +of the Poles, we see the gallantry and devotion, the generosity and +hospitality, the grace and liveliness in social intercourse, but also +the excitability and changefulness, the quickly inflamed enthusiasm and +sudden depression, the restlessness and turbulence, the love of outward +show and of the pleasures of society, the pompous pride, boastfulness, +and other little vanities, in short, all the qualities, good and +bad, that distinguish his countrymen. Heinrich Heine, not always a +trustworthy witness, but in this case so unusually serious that we +will take advantage of his acuteness and conciseness, characterises +the Polish nobleman by the following precious mosaic of adjectives: +"hospitable, proud, courageous, supple, false (this little yellow +stone must not be lacking), irritable, enthusiastic, given to gambling, +pleasure-loving, generous, and overbearing." Whether Heine was not +mistaken as to the presence of the little yellow stone is a question +that may have to be discussed in another part of this work. The observer +who, in enumerating the most striking qualities of the Polish character, +added "MISTRUSTFULNESS and SUSPICIOUSNESS engendered by many misfortunes +and often-disappointed hopes," came probably nearer the truth. And this +reminds me of a point which ought never to be left out of sight when +contemplating any one of these portraits--namely, the time at which it +was taken. This, of course, is always an important consideration; but it +is so in a higher degree in the case of a nation whose character, like +the Polish, has at different epochs of its existence assumed such varied +aspects. The first great change came over the national character on +the introduction of elective kingship: it was, at least so far as +the nobility was concerned, a change for the worse--from simplicity, +frugality, and patriotism, to pride, luxury, and selfishness; the second +great change was owing to the disasters that befell the nation in the +latter half of the last century: it was on the whole a change for the +better, purifying and ennobling, calling forth qualities that till then +had lain dormant. At the time the events I have to relate take us to +Poland, the nation is just at this last turning-point, but it has not +yet rounded it. To what an extent the bad qualities had overgrown +the good ones, corrupting and deadening them, may be gathered from +contemporary witnesses. George Forster, who was appointed professor +of natural history at Wilna in 1784, and remained in that position for +several years, says that he found in Poland "a medley of fanatical +and almost New Zealand barbarity and French super-refinement; a people +wholly ignorant and without taste, and nevertheless given to luxury, +gambling, fashion, and outward glitter." + +Frederick II describes the Poles in language still more harsh; in his +opinion they are vain in fortune, cringing in misfortune, capable +of anything for the sake of money, spendthrifts, frivolous, without +judgment, always ready to join or abandon a party without cause. No +doubt there is much exaggeration in these statements; but that there +is also much truth in them, is proved by the accounts of many writers, +native and foreign, who cannot be accused of being prejudiced against +Poland. Rulhiere, and other more or less voluminous authorities, might +be quoted; but, not to try the patience of the reader too much, I shall +confine myself to transcribing a clenching remark of a Polish nobleman, +who told our old friend, the English traveller, that although the name +of Poland still remained, the nation no longer existed. "An universal +corruption and venality pervades all ranks of the people. Many of the +first nobility do not blush to receive pensions from foreign courts: one +professes himself publicly an Austrian, a second a Prussian, a third a +Frenchman, and a fourth a Russian." + + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +FREDERICK CHOPIN'S ANCESTORS.--HIS FATHER NICHOLAS CHOPIN'S BIRTH, +YOUTH, ARRIVAL AND EARLY VICISSITUDES IN POLAND, AND MARRIAGE.--BIRTH +AND EARLY INFANCY OF FREDERICK CHOPIN.--HIS PARENTS AND SISTERS. + + + +GOETHE playfully describes himself as indebted to his father for +his frame and steady guidance of life, to his mother for his happy +disposition and love of story-telling, to his grandfather for his +devotion to the fair sex, to his grandmother for his love of finery. +Schopenhauer reduces the law of heredity to the simple formula that man +has his moral nature, his character, his inclinations, and his heart +from his father, and the quality and tendency of his intellect from his +mother. Buckle, on the other hand, questions hereditary transmission of +mental qualities altogether. Though little disposed to doubt with the +English historian, yet we may hesitate to assent to the proposition of +the German philosopher; the adoption of a more scientific doctrine, +one that recognises a process of compensation, neutralisation, and +accentuation, would probably bring us nearer the truth. But whatever the +complicated working of the law of heredity may be, there can be no doubt +that the tracing of a remarkable man's pedigree is always an interesting +and rarely an entirely idle occupation. Pursuing such an inquiry with +regard to Frederick Chopin, we find ourselves, however, soon at the end +of our tether. This is the more annoying, as there are circumstances +that particularly incite our curiosity. The "Journal de Rouen" of +December 1, 1849, contains an article, probably by Amedee de Mereaux, in +which it is stated that Frederick Chopin was descended from the French +family Chopin d'Arnouville, of which one member, a victim of the +revocation of the Edict of Nantes, had taken refuge in Poland. +[Footnote: In scanning the Moniteur of 1835, I came across several +prefects and sous-prefects of the name of Choppin d'Arnouville. (There +are two communes of the name of Arnouville, both are in the departement +of the Seine et Oise--the one in the arrondissement Mantes, +the other in the arrondissement Pontoise. This latter is called +Arnouville-les-Gonesse.) I noticed also a number of intimations +concerning plain Chopins and Choppins who served their country as maires +and army officers. Indeed, the name of Chopin is by no means uncommon in +France, and more than one individual of that name has illustrated it +by his achievements--to wit: The jurist Rene Chopin or Choppin +(1537--1606), the litterateur Chopin (born about 1800), and the poet +Charles-Auguste Chopin (1811--1844).] Although this confidently-advanced +statement is supported by the inscription on the composer's tombstone in +Pere Lachaise, which describes his father as a French refugee, both the +Catholicism of the latter and contradictory accounts of his extraction +caution us not to put too much faith in its authenticity. M. A. Szulc, +the author of a Polish book on Chopin and his works, has been told +that Nicholas Chopin, the father of Frederick, was the natural son of +a Polish nobleman, who, having come with King Stanislas Leszczynski to +Lorraine, adopted there the name of Chopin. From Karasowski we learn +nothing of Nicholas Chopin's parentage. But as he was a friend of the +Chopin family, and from them got much of his information, this silence +might with equal force be adduced for and against the correctness of +Szulc's story, which in itself is nowise improbable. The only point that +could strike one as strange is the change of name. But would not the +death of the Polish ruler and the consequent lapse of Lorraine to France +afford some inducement for the discarding of an unpronounceable foreign +name? It must, however, not be overlooked that this story is but a +hearsay, relegated to a modest foot-note, and put forward without +mention of the source whence it is derived. [FOOTNOTE: Count Wodzinski, +who leaves Nicholas Chopin's descent an open question, mentions a +variant of Szulc's story, saying that some biographers pretended that +Nicholas Chopin was descended from one of the name of Szop, a soldier, +valet, or heyduc (reitre, valet, ou heiduque) in the service of +Stanislas Leszczinski, whom he followed to Lorraine.] Indeed, until we +get possession of indisputable proofs, it will be advisable to disregard +these more or less fabulous reports altogether, and begin with the first +well-ascertained fact--namely, Nicholas Chopin's birth, which took place +at Nancy, in Lorraine, on the 17th of August, 1770. Of his youth nothing +is known except that, like other young men of his country, he conceived +a desire to visit Poland. Polish descent would furnish a satisfactory +explanation of Nicholas' sentiments in regard to Poland at this time +and subsequently, but an equally satisfactory explanation can be found +without having recourse to such a hazardous assumption. + +In 1735 Stanislas Leszczynski, who had been King of Poland from 1704 to +1709, became Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and reigned over the Duchies till +1766, when an accident--some part of his dress taking fire--put an end +to his existence. As Stanislas was a wise, kind-hearted, and benevolent +prince, his subjects not only loved him as long as he lived, but also +cherished his memory after his death, when their country had been united +to France. The young, we may be sure, would often hear their elders +speak of the good times of Duke Stanislas, of the Duke (the philosophe +bienfaisant) himself, and of the strange land and people he came from. +But Stanislas, besides being an excellent prince, was also an amiable, +generous gentleman, who, whilst paying due attention to the well-being +of his new subjects, remained to the end of his days a true Pole. From +this circumstance it may be easily inferred that the Court of Stanislas +proved a great attraction to his countrymen, and that Nancy became a +chief halting-place of Polish travellers on their way to and from Paris. +Of course, not all the Poles that had settled in the Duchies during the +Duke's reign left the country after his demise, nor did their friends +from the fatherland altogether cease to visit them in their new home. +Thus a connection between the two countries was kept up, and the +interest taken by the people of the west in the fortunes of the people +in the east was not allowed to die. Moreover, were not the Academie de +Stanislas founded by the Duke, the monument erected to his memory, and +the square named after him, perpetual reminders to the inhabitants of +Nancy and the visitors to that town? + +Nicholas Chopin came to Warsaw in or about the year 1787. Karasowski +relates in the first and the second German edition of his biography of +Frederick Chopin that the Staroscina [FOOTNOTE: The wife of a starosta +(vide p. 7.)] Laczynska made the acquaintance of the latter's father, +and engaged him as tutor to her children; but in the later Polish +edition he abandons this account in favour of one given by Count +Frederick Skarbek in his Pamietniki (Memoirs). According to this most +trustworthy of procurable witnesses (why he is the most trustworthy will +be seen presently), Nicholas Chopin's migration to Poland came about +in this way. A Frenchman had established in Warsaw a manufactory of +tobacco, which, as the taking of snuff was then becoming more and more +the fashion, began to flourish in so high a degree that he felt the +need of assistance. He proposed, therefore, to his countryman, Nicholas +Chopin, to come to him and take in hand the book-keeping, a proposal +which was readily accepted. + +The first impression of the young Lorrainer on entering the land of +his dreams cannot have been altogether of a pleasant nature. For in the +summer of 1812, when, we are told, the condition of the people had been +infinitely ameliorated by the Prussian and Russian governments, M. +de Pradt, Napoleon's ambassador, found the nation in a state of +semi-barbarity, agriculture in its infancy, the soil parched like a +desert, the animals stunted, the people, although of good stature, in +a state of extreme poverty, the towns built of wood, the houses filled +with vermin, and the food revolting. This picture will not escape +the suspicion of being overdrawn. But J.G. Seume, who was by no means +over-squeamish, and whom experience had taught the meaning of "to rough +it," asserts, in speaking of Poland in 1805, that, Warsaw and a few +other places excepted, the dunghill was in most houses literally and +without exaggeration the cleanest spot, and the only one where one could +stand without loathing. But if the general aspect of things left much +to be desired from a utilitarian point of view, its strangeness and +picturesqueness would not fail to compensate an imaginative youth +for the want of order and comfort. The strong contrast of wealth and +poverty, of luxury and distress, that gave to the whole country so +melancholy an appearance, was, as it were, focussed in its capital. +Mr. Coxe, who visited Warsaw not long before Nicholas Chopin's arrival +there, says:-- + + The streets are spacious, but ill-paved; the churches and + public buildings large and magnificent, the palaces of the + nobility are numerous and splendid; but the greatest part of + the houses, especially the suburbs, are mean and ill- + constructed wooden hovels. + +What, however, struck a stranger most, was the throngs of humanity that +enlivened the streets and squares of Warsaw, the capital of a nation +composed of a medley of Poles, Lithuanians, Red and White Russians, +Germans, Muscovites, Jews, and Wallachians, and the residence of a +numerous temporary and permanent foreign population. How our friend from +quiet Nancy--which long ago had been deserted by royalty and its train, +and where literary luminaries, such as Voltaire, Madame du Chatelet, +Saint Lambert, &c., had ceased to make their fitful appearances--must +have opened his eyes when this varied spectacle unfolded itself before +him. + + The streets of stately breadth, formed of palaces in the + finest Italian taste and wooden huts which at every moment + threatened to tumble down on the heads of the inmates; in + these buildings Asiatic pomp and Greenland dirtin strange + union, an ever-bustling population, forming, like a + masked procession, the most striking contrasts. Long-bearded + Jews, and monks in all kinds of habits; nuns of the strictest + discipline, entirely veiled and wrapped in meditation; and in + the large squares troops of young Polesses in light-coloured + silk mantles engaged in conversation; venerable old Polish + gentlemen with moustaches, caftan, girdle, sword, and yellow + and red boots; and the new generation in the most incroyable + Parisian fashion. Turks, Greeks, Russians, Italians, and + French in an ever-changing throng; moreover, an exceedingly + tolerant police that interfered nowise with the popular + amusements, so that in squares and streets there moved about + incessantly Pulchinella theatres, dancing bears, camels, and + monkeys, before which the most elegant carriages as well as + porters stopped and stood gaping. + +Thus pictures J. E. Hitzig, the biographer of E. Th. A. Hoffmann, and +himself a sojourner in Warsaw, the life of the Polish capital in 1807. +When Nicholas Chopin saw it first the spectacle in the streets was even +more stirring, varied, and brilliant; for then Warsaw was still the +capital of an independent state, and the pending and impending political +affairs brought to it magnates from all the principal courts of Europe, +who vied with each other in the splendour of their carriages and horses, +and in the number and equipment of their attendants. + +In the introductory part of this work I have spoken of the misfortunes +that befel Poland and culminated in the first partition. But the +buoyancy of the Polish character helped the nation to recover sooner +from this severe blow than could have been expected. Before long +patriots began to hope that the national disaster might be turned into +a blessing. Many circumstances favoured the realisation of these hopes. +Prussia, on discovering that her interests no longer coincided with +those of her partners of 1772, changed sides, and by-and-by even went +the length of concluding a defensive and offensive alliance with the +Polish Republic. She, with England and other governments, backed Poland +against Russia and Austria. Russia, moreover, had to turn her attention +elsewhere. At the time of Nicholas Chopin's arrival, Poland was dreaming +of a renascence of her former greatness, and everyone was looking +forward with impatience to the assembly of the Diet which was to meet +the following year. Predisposed by sympathy, he was soon drawn into +the current of excitement and enthusiasm that was surging around him. +Indeed, what young soul possessed of any nobleness could look with +indifference on a nation struggling for liberty and independence. As he +took a great interest in the debates and transactions of the Diet, he +became more and more acquainted with the history, character, condition, +and needs of the country, and this stimulated him to apply himself +assiduously to the study of the national language, in order to increase, +by means of this faithful mirror and interpreter of a people's heart and +mind, his knowledge of these things. And now I must ask the reader to +bear patiently the infliction of a brief historical summary, which +I would most willingly spare him, were I not prevented by two strong +reasons. In the first place, the vicissitudes of Nicholas Chopin's +early life in Poland are so closely bound up with, or rather so much +influenced by, the political events, that an intelligible account of +the former cannot be given without referring to the latter; and in the +second place, those same political events are such important factors in +the moulding of the national character, that, if we wish to understand +it, they ought not to be overlooked. + +The Diet which assembled at the end of 1788, in order to prevent the +use or rather abuse of the liberum veto, soon formed itself into a +confederation, abolished in 1789 the obnoxious Permanent Council, +and decreed in 1791, after much patriotic oratory and unpatriotic +obstruction, the famous constitution of the 3rd of May, regarded by the +Poles up to this day with loving pride, and admired and praised at the +time by sovereigns and statesmen, Fox and Burke among them. Although +confirming most of the privileges of the nobles, the constitution +nevertheless bore in it seeds of good promise. Thus, for instance, the +crown was to pass after the death of the reigning king to the Elector +of Saxony, and become thenceforth hereditary; greater power was given +to the king and ministers, confederations and the liberum veto were +declared illegal, the administration of justice was ameliorated, and +some attention was paid to the rights and wrongs of the third estate and +peasantry. But the patriots who already rejoiced in the prospect of a +renewal of Polish greatness and prosperity had counted without the proud +selfish aristocrats, without Russia, always ready to sow and nurture +discord. Hence new troubles--the confederation of Targowica, Russian +demands for the repeal of the constitution and unconditional submission +to the Empress Catharine II, betrayal by Prussia, invasion, war, +desertion of the national cause by their own king and his joining the +conspirators of Targowica, and then the second partition of Poland +(October 14, 1793), implying a further loss of territory and population. +Now, indeed, the events were hastening towards the end of the sad drama, +the finis poloniae. After much hypocritical verbiage and cruel coercion +and oppression by Russia and Prussia, more especially by the former, +outraged Poland rose to free itself from the galling yoke, and fought +under the noble Kosciuszko and other gallant generals with a bravery +that will for ever live in the memory of men. But however glorious the +attempt, it was vain. Having three such powers as Russia, Prussia, +and Austria against her, Poland, unsupported by allies and otherwise +hampered, was too weak to hold her own. Without inquiring into the +causes and the faults committed by her commanders, without dwelling on +or even enumerating the vicissitudes of the struggle, I shall pass on +to the terrible closing scene of the drama--the siege and fall of Praga, +the suburb of Warsaw, and the subsequent massacre. The third partition +(October 24, 1795), in which each of the three powers took her share, +followed as a natural consequence, and Poland ceased to exist as an +independent state. Not, however, for ever; for when in 1807 Napoleon, +after crushing Prussia and defeating Russia, recast at Tilsit to a great +extent the political conformation of Europe, bullying King Frederick +William III and flattering the Emperor Alexander, he created the Grand +Duchy of Warsaw, over which he placed as ruler the then King of Saxony. + +Now let us see how Nicholas Chopin fared while these whirlwinds passed +over Poland. The threatening political situation and the consequent +general insecurity made themselves at once felt in trade, indeed soon +paralysed it. What more particularly told on the business in which the +young Lorrainer was engaged was the King's desertion of the national +cause, which induced the great and wealthy to leave Warsaw and betake +themselves for shelter to more retired and safer places. Indeed, so +disastrous was the effect of these occurrences on the Frenchman's +tobacco manufactory that it had to be closed. In these circumstances +Nicholas Chopin naturally thought of returning home, but sickness +detained him. When he had recovered his health, Poland was rising under +Kosciuszko. He then joined the national guard, in which he was before +long promoted to the rank of captain. On the 5th of November, 1794, he +was on duty at Praga, and had not his company been relieved a few hours +before the fall of the suburb, he would certainly have met there his +death. Seeing that all was lost he again turned his thoughts homewards, +when once more sickness prevented him from executing his intention. +For a time he tried to make a living by teaching French, but ere long +accepted an engagement as tutor in the family--then living in the +country--of the Staroscina Laczynska, who meeting him by chance had been +favourably impressed by his manners and accomplishments. In passing we +may note that among his four pupils (two girls and two boys) was one, +Mary, who afterwards became notorious by her connection with Napoleon +I., and by the son that sprang from this connection, Count Walewski, +the minister of Napoleon III. At the beginning of this century we find +Nicholas Chopin at Zelazowa Wola, near Sochaczew, in the house of the +Countess Skarbek, as tutor to her son Frederick. It was there that he +made the acquaintance of Justina Krzyzanowska, a young lady of noble but +poor family, whom he married in the year 1806, and who became the mother +of four children, three daughters and one son, the latter being no other +than Frederick Chopin, the subject of this biography. The position of +Nicholas Chopin in the house of the Countess must have been a pleasant +one, for ever after there seems to have existed a friendly relation +between the two families. His pupil, Count Frederick Skarbek, who +prosecuted his studies at Warsaw and Paris, distinguished himself +subsequently as a poet, man of science, professor at the University +of Warsaw, state official, philanthropist, and many-sided author--more +especially as a politico--economical writer. When in his Memoirs the +Count looks back on his youth, he remembers gratefully and with respect +his tutor, speaking of him in highly appreciative terms. In teaching, +Nicholas Chopin's chief aim was to form his pupils into useful, +patriotic citizens; nothing was farther from his mind than the desire or +unconscious tendency to turn them into Frenchmen. And now approaches the +time when the principal personage makes his appearance on the stage. + +Frederick Chopin, the only son and the third of the four children of +Nicholas and Justina Chopin, was born on February 22, 1810, + +[FOOTNOTE: See Preface, p. xii. In the earlier editions the date given +was March 1,1809, as in the biography by Karasowski, with whom agree +the earlier J. Fontana (Preface to Chopin's posthumous works.--1855), +C. Sowinski (Les musiciens polonais et slaves.--1857), and the writer +of the Chopin article in Mendel's Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon +(1872). According to M. A. Szulc (Fryderyk Chopin.--1873) and the +inscription on the memorial (erected in 1880) in the Holy Cross Church +at Warsaw, the composer was born on March 2, 1809. The monument in Pere +Lachaise, at Paris, bears the date of Chopin's death, but not that of +his birth. Felis, in his Biographie universelle des musiciens, differs +widely from these authorities. The first edition (1835--1844) has +only the year--1810; the second edition (1861--1865) adds month and +day--February 8.] + +in a mean little house at Zelazowa Wola, a village about twenty-eight +English miles from Warsaw belonging to the Countess Skarbek. + +[FOOTNOTE: Count Wodzinski, after indicating the general features of +Polish villages--the dwor (manor-house) surrounded by a "bouquet of +trees"; the barns and stables forming a square with a well in the +centre; the roads planted with poplars and bordered with thatched huts; +the rye, wheat, rape, and clover fields, &c.--describes the birthplace +of Frederick Chopin as follows: "I have seen there the same dwor +embosomed in trees, the same outhouses, the same huts, the same plains +where here and there a wild pear-tree throws its shadow. Some steps from +the mansion I stopped before a little cot with a slated roof, flanked +by a little wooden perron. Nothing has been changed for nearly a hundred +years. A dark passage traverses it. On the left, in a room illuminated +by the reddish flame of slowly-consumed logs, or by the uncertain +light of two candles placed at each extremity of the long table, +the maid-servants spin as in olden times, and relate to each other a +thousand marvellous legends. On the right, in a lodging of three rooms, +so low that one can touch the ceiling, a man of some thirty years, +brown, with vivacious eyes, the face closely shaven." This man was +of course Nicholas Chopin. I need hardly say that Count Wodzinski's +description is novelistically tricked out. His accuracy may be judged +by the fact that a few pages after the above passage he speaks of the +discoloured tiles of the roof which he told his readers before was of +slate.] + +The son of the latter, Count Frederick Skarbek, Nicholas Chopin's pupil, +a young man of seventeen, stood godfather and gave his name to the +new-born offspring of his tutor. Little Frederick's residence at the +village cannot have been of long duration. + +The establishment of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 had ushered in a +time big with chances for a capable man, and we may be sure that a +young husband and father, no doubt already on the look-out for some more +lucrative and independent employment, was determined not to miss them. +Few peaceful revolutions, if any, can compare in thoroughness with the +one that then took place in Poland; a new sovereign ascended the throne, +two differently-constituted representative bodies superseded the old +Senate and Diet, the French code of laws was introduced, the army and +civil service underwent a complete re-organisation, public instruction +obtained a long-needed attention, and so forth. To give an idea of the +extent of the improvement effected in matters of education, it is enough +to mention that the number of schools rose from 140 to 634, and that +a commission was formed for the publication of suitable books of +instruction in the Polish language. Nicholas Chopin's hopes were not +frustrated; for on October 1, 1810, he was appointed professor of the +French language at the newly-founded Lyceum in Warsaw, and a little more +than a year after, on January 1, 1812, to a similar post at the School +of Artillery and Engineering. + +The exact date when Nicholas Chopin and his family settled in Warsaw is +not known, nor is it of any consequence. We may, however, safely assume +that about this time little Frederick was an inhabitant of the Polish +metropolis. During the first years of his life the parents may +have lived in somewhat straitened circumstances. The salary of the +professorship, even if regularly paid, would hardly suffice for a family +to live comfortably, and the time was unfavourable for gaining much by +private tuition. M. de Pradt, describing Poland in 1812, says:-- + + Nothing could exceed the misery of all classes. The army was + not paid, the officers were in rags, the best houses were in + ruins, the greatest lords were compelled to leave Warsaw from + want of money to provide for their tables. No pleasures, no + society, no invitations as in Paris and in London. I even saw + princesses quit Warsaw from the most extreme distress. The + Princess Radziwill had brought two women from England and + France, she wished to send them back, but had to keep them + because she was unable to pay their salaries and travelling + expenses. I saw in Warsaw two French physicians who informed + me that they could not procure their fees even from the + greatest lords. + +But whatever straits the parents may have been put to, the weak, +helpless infant would lack none of the necessaries of life, and enjoy +all the reasonable comforts of his age. + +When in 1815 peace was restored and a period of quiet followed, the +family must have lived in easy circumstances; for besides holding +appointments as professor at some public schools (under the Russian +government he became also one of the staff of teachers at the Military +Preparatory School), Nicholas Chopin kept for a number of years a +boarding-school, which was patronised by the best families of the +country. The supposed poverty of Chopin's parents has given rise to all +sorts of misconceptions and misstatements. A writer in Larousse's +"Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siecle" even builds on it a +theory explanatory of the character of Chopin and his music: "Sa famille +d'origine francaise," he writes, "jouissait d'une mediocre fortune; de +la, peut-etre, certains froissements dans l'organisation nerveuse et +la vive sensibilite de l'enfant, sentiments qui devaient plus tard +se refleter dans ses oeuvres, empreintes generalement d'une profonde +melancolie." If the writer of the article in question had gone a little +farther back, he might have found a sounder basis for his theory in the +extremely delicate physical organisation of the man, whose sensitiveness +was so acute that in early infancy he could not hear music without +crying, and resisted almost all attempts at appeasing him. + +The last-mentioned fact, curious and really noteworthy in itself, +acquires a certain preciousness by its being the only one transmitted +to us of that period of Chopin's existence. But this scantiness of +information need not cause us much regret. During the first years of a +man's life biography is chiefly concerned with his surroundings, with +the agencies that train his faculties and mould his character. A +man's acts and opinions are interesting in proportion to the degree of +consolidation attained by his individuality. Fortunately our material is +abundant enough to enable us to reconstruct in some measure the milieu +into which Chopin was born and in which he grew up. We will begin with +that first circle which surrounds the child--his family. The negative +advantages which our Frederick found there--the absence of the +privations and hardships of poverty, with their depressing and often +demoralising influence--have already been adverted to; now I must say a +few words about the positive advantages with which he was favoured. +And it may be at once stated that they cannot be estimated too highly. +Frederick enjoyed the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed upon +mortal man--viz., that of being born into a virtuous and well-educated +family united by the ties of love. I call it the greatest of blessings, +because neither catechism and sermons nor schools and colleges can take +the place,, or compensate for the want, of this education that does not +stop at the outside, but by its subtle, continuous action penetrates to +the very heart's core and pervades the whole being. The atmosphere in +which Frederick lived was not only moral and social, but also distinctly +intellectual. + +The father, Nicholas Chopin, seems to have been a man of worth and +culture, honest of purpose, charitable in judgment, attentive to duty, +and endowed with a good share of prudence and commonsense. In support of +this characterisation may be advanced that among his friends he counted +many men of distinction in literature, science, and art; that between +him and the parents of his pupils as well as the pupils themselves there +existed a friendly relation; that he was on intimate terms with several +of his colleagues; and that his children not only loved, but also +respected him. No one who reads his son's letters, which indeed give us +some striking glimpses of the man, can fail to notice this last point. +On one occasion, when confessing that he had gone to a certain dinner +two hours later than he had been asked, Frederick foresees his father's +anger at the disregard for what is owing to others, and especially +to one's elders; and on another occasion he makes excuses for his +indifference to non-musical matters, which, he thinks, his father will +blame. And mark, these letters were written after Chopin had attained +manhood. What testifies to Nicholas Chopin's, abilities as a teacher and +steadiness as a man, is the unshaken confidence of the government: he +continued in his position at the Lyceumtill after the revolution in +1831, when this institution, like many others, was closed; he was then +appointed a member of the board for the examination of candidates for +situations as schoolmasters, and somewhat later he became professor of +the French language at the Academy of the Roman Catholic Clergy. + +It is more difficult, or rather it is impossible, to form anything like +a clear picture of his wife, Justina Chopin. None of those of her son's +letters that are preserved is addressed to her, and in those addressed +to the members of the family conjointly, or to friends, nothing occurs +that brings her nearer to us, or gives a clue to her character. George +Sand said that she was Chopin's only passion. Karasowski describes +her as "particularly tender-hearted and rich in all the truly womanly +virtues.....For her quietness and homeliness were the greatest +happiness." K. W. Wojcicki, in "Cmentarz Powazkowski" (Powazki +Cemetery), expresses, himself in the same strain. A Scotch lady, who had +seen Justina Chopin in her old age, and conversed with her in French, +told me that she was then "a neat, quiet, intelligent old lady, whose +activeness contrasted strongly with the languor of her son, who had +not a shadow of energy in him." With regard to the latter part of this +account, we must not overlook the fact that my informant knew Chopin +only in the last year of his life--i.e., when he was in a very suffering +state of mind and body. This is all the information I have been able to +collect regarding the character of Chopin's mother. Moreover, Karasowski +is not an altogether trustworthy informant; as a friend of the Chopin +family he sees in its members so many paragons of intellectual and moral +perfection. He proceeds on the de mortuis nil nisi bonum principle, +which I venture to suggest is a very bad principle. Let us apply this +loving tenderness to our living neighbours, and judge the dead according +to their merits. Thus the living will be doubly benefited, and no harm +be done to the dead. Still, the evidence before us--including that +exclamation about his "best of mothers" in one of Chopin's letters, +written from Vienna, soon after the outbreak of the Polish +insurrection in 1830: "How glad my mamma will be that I did not come +back!"--justifies us, I think, in inferring that Justina Chopin was a +woman of the most lovable type, one in whom the central principle of +existence was the maternal instinct, that bright ray of light which, +dispersed in its action, displays itself in the most varied and lovely +colours. That this principle, although often all-absorbing, is not +incompatible with the wider and higher social and intellectual interests +is a proposition that does not stand in need of proof. But who could +describe that wondrous blending of loving strength and lovable weakness +of a true woman's character? You feel its beauty and sublimity, and if +you attempt to give words to your feeling you produce a caricature. + +The three sisters of Frederick all manifested more or less a taste +for literature. The two elder sisters, Louisa (who married Professor +Jedrzejewicz, and died in 1855) and Isabella (who married Anton +Barcinski--first inspector of schools, and subsequently director of +steam navigation on the Vistula--and died in 1881), wrote together for +the improvement of the working classes. The former contributed now and +then, also after her marriage, articles to periodicals on the education +of the young. Emilia, the youngest sister, who died at the early age of +fourteen (in 1827), translated, conjointly with her sister Isabella, +the educational tales of the German author Salzmann, and her poetical +efforts held out much promise for the future. + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +FREDERICK'S FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUCTION AND MUSIC-MASTER, ADALBERT +ZYWNY.--HIS DEBUT AND SUCCESS AS A PIANIST.--HIS EARLY INTRODUCTION INTO +ARISTOCRATIC SOCIETY AND CONSTANT INTERCOURSE WITH THE ARISTOCRACY.--HIS +FIRST COMPOSITIONS.--HIS STUDIES AND MASTER IN HARMONY, COUNTERPOINT, +AND COMPOSITION, JOSEPH ELSNER. + + + +OUR little friend, who, as we have seen, at first took up a hostile +attitude towards music--for his passionate utterances, albeit +inarticulate, cannot well be interpreted as expressions of satisfaction +or approval--came before long under her mighty sway. The pianoforte +threw a spell over him, and, attracting him more and more, inspired +him with such a fondness as to induce his parents to provide him, +notwithstanding his tender age, with an instructor. To lessen the +awfulness of the proceeding, it was arranged that one of the elder +sisters should join him in his lessons. The first and only pianoforte +teacher of him who in the course of time became one of the greatest and +most original masters of this instrument, deserves some attention from +us. Adalbert Zywny [FOOTNOTE: This is the usual spelling of the name, +which, as the reader will see further on, its possessor wrote Ziwny. +Liszt calls him Zywna.], a native of Bohemia, born in 1756, came to +Poland, according to Albert Sowinski (Les musiciens polonais et slaves), +during the reign of Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski (1764--1795), and +after staying for some time as pianist at the court of Prince Casimir +Sapieha, settled in Warsaw as a teacher of music, and soon got into good +practice, "giving his lessons at three florins (eighteen pence) per hour +very regularly, and making a fortune." And thus teaching and composing +(he is said to have composed much for the pianoforte, but he never +published anything), he lived a long and useful life, dying in 1842 at +the age of 86 (Karasowski says in 1840). The punctual and, no doubt, +also somewhat pedantic music-master who acquired the esteem and goodwill +of his patrons, the best families of Warsaw, and a fortune at the same +time, is a pleasant figure to contemplate. The honest orderliness and +dignified calmness of his life, as I read it, are quite refreshing in +this time of rush and gush. Having seen a letter of his, I can imagine +the heaps of original MSS., clearly and neatly penned with a firm +hand, lying carefully packed up in spacious drawers, or piled up on +well-dusted shelves. Of the man Zywny and his relation to the Chopin +family we get some glimpses in Frederick's letters. In one of the year +1828, addressed to his friend Titus Woyciechowski, he writes: "With us +things are as they used to be; the honest Zywny is the soul of all our +amusements." Sowinski informs us that Zywny taught his pupil according +to the classical German method--whatever that may mean--at that time in +use in Poland. Liszt, who calls him "an enthusiastic student of Bach," +speaks likewise of "les errements d'une ecole entierement classique." +Now imagine my astonishment when on asking the well-known pianoforte +player and composer Edouard Wolff, a native of Warsaw, [Fooynote: He +died at Paris on October 16, 1880.] what kind of pianist Zywny was, +I received the answer that he was a violinist and not a pianist. +That Wolff and Zywny knew each other is proved beyond doubt by the +above-mentioned letter of Zywny's, introducing the former to Chopin, +then resident in Paris. The solution of the riddle is probably this. +Zywny, whether violinist or not, was not a pianoforte virtuoso--at +least, was not heard in public in his old age. The mention of a single +name, that of Wenzel W. Wurfel, certainly shows that he was not the best +pianist in Warsaw. But against any such depreciatory remarks we have +to set Chopin's high opinion of Zywny's teaching capability. Zywny's +letter, already twice alluded to, is worth quoting. It still further +illustrates the relation in which master and pupil stood to each other, +and by bringing us in close contact with the former makes us better +acquainted with his character. A particularly curious fact about the +letter--considering the nationality of the persons concerned--is its +being written in German. Only a fac-simile of the original, with its +clear, firm, though (owing to the writer's old age) cramped penmanship, +and its quaint spelling and capricious use of capital and small +initials, could fully reveal the expressiveness of this document. +However, even in the translation there may be found some of the man's +characteristic old-fashioned formality, grave benevolence, and quiet +homeliness. The outside of the sheet on which the letter is written +bears the words, "From the old music-master Adalbert Ziwny [at least +this I take to be the meaning of the seven letters followed by dots], +kindly to be transmitted to my best friend, Mr. Frederick Chopin, in +Paris." The letter itself runs as follows:-- + + DEAREST MR. F. CHOPIN,--Wishing you perfect health I have the + honour to write to you through Mr. Eduard Wolf. [FOOTNOTE: + The language of the first sentence is neither logical nor + otherwise precise. I shall keep throughout as close as + possible to the original, and also retain the peculiar + spelling of proper names.] I recommend him to your esteemed + friendship. Your whole family and I had also the pleasure of + hearing at his concert the Adagio and Rondo from your + Concerto, which called up in our minds the most agreeable + remembrance of you. May God give you every prosperity! We are + all well, and wish so much to see you again. Meanwhile I send + you through Mr. Wolf my heartiest kiss, and recommending + myself to your esteemed friendship, I remain your faithful + friend, + + ADALBERT ZIWNY. + + Warsaw, the 12th of June, 1835. + + N.B.--Mr. Kirkow, the merchant, and his son George, who was + at Mr. Reinschmid's at your farewell party, recommend + themselves to you, and wish you good health. Adieu. + +Julius Fontana, the friend and companion of Frederick, after stating (in +his preface to Chopin's posthumous works) that Chopin had never another +pianoforte teacher than Zywny, observes that the latter taught his +pupil only the first principles. "The progress of the child was so +extraordinary that his parents and his professor thought they could do +no better than abandon him at the age of 12 to his own instincts, and +follow instead of directing him." The progress of Frederick must indeed +have been considerable, for in Clementina Tanska-Hofmanowa's Pamiatka po +dobrej matce (Memorial of a good Mother) [FOOTNOTE: Published in 1819.] +the writer relates that she was at a soiree at Gr----'s, where she found +a numerous party assembled, and heard in the course of the evening young +Chopin play the piano--"a child not yet eight years old, who, in the +opinion of the connoisseurs of the art, promises to replace Mozart." +Before the boy had completed his ninth year his talents were already so +favourably known that he was invited to take part in a concert which was +got up by several persons of high rank for the benefit of the poor. The +bearer of the invitation was no less a person than Ursin Niemcewicz, the +publicist, poet, dramatist, and statesman, one of the most remarkable +and influential men of the Poland of that day. At this concert, which +took place on February 24, 1818, the young virtuoso played a concerto +by Adalbert Gyrowetz, a composer once celebrated, but now ignominiously +shelved--sic transit gloria mundi--and one of Riehl's "divine +Philistines." An anecdote shows that at that time Frederick was neither +an intellectual prodigy nor a conceited puppy, but a naive, modest child +that played the pianoforte, as birds sing, with unconscious art. When +he came home after the concert, for which of course he had been arrayed +most splendidly and to his own great satisfaction, his mother said to +him: "Well, Fred, what did the public like best?"--"Oh, mamma," replied +the little innocent, "everybody was looking at my collar." + +The debut was a complete success, and our Frederick--Chopinek +(diminutive of Chopin) they called him--became more than ever the pet of +the aristocracy of Warsaw. He was invited to the houses of the Princes +Czartoryski, Sapieha, Czetwertynski, Lubecki, Radziwill, the Counts +Skarbek, Wolicki, Pruszak, Hussarzewski, Lempicki, and others. By the +Princess Czetwertynska, who, says Liszt, cultivated music with a true +feeling of its beauties, and whose salon was one of the most brilliant +and select of Warsaw, Frederick was introduced to the Princess Lowicka, +the beautiful Polish wife of the Grand Duke Constantine, who, as +Countess Johanna Antonia Grudzinska, had so charmed the latter that, +in order to obtain the Emperor's consent to his marriage with her, he +abdicated his right of succession to the throne. The way in which +she exerted her influence over her brutal, eccentric, if not insane, +husband, who at once loved and maltreated the Poles, gained her the +title of "guardian angel of Poland." In her salon Frederick came of +course also in contact with the dreaded Grand Duke, the Napoleon of +Belvedere (thus he was nicknamed by Niemcewicz, from the palace where +he resided in Warsaw), who on one occasion when the boy was improvising +with his eyes turned to the ceiling, as was his wont, asked him why he +looked in that direction, if he saw notes up there. With the exalted +occupants of Belvedere Frederick had a good deal of intercourse, for +little Paul, a boy of his own age, a son or adopted son of the Grand +Duke, enjoyed his company, and sometimes came with his tutor, Count de +Moriolles, to his house to take him for a drive. On these occasions +the neighbours of the Chopin family wondered not a little what business +brought the Grand Duke's carriage, drawn by four splendid horses, yoked +in the Russian fashion--i.e., all abreast--to their quarter. + +Chopin's early introduction into aristocratic society and constant +intercourse with the aristocracy is an item of his education which must +not be considered as of subordinate importance. More than almost any +other of his early disciplines, it formed his tastes, or at least +strongly assisted in developing certain inborn traits of his nature, and +in doing this influenced his entire moral and artistic character. In the +proem I mentioned an English traveller's encomiums on the elegance in +the houses, and the exquisite refinement in the entertainments, of the +wealthy nobles in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. We may be +sure that in these respects the present century was not eclipsed by +its predecessors, at least not in the third decade, when the salons of +Warsaw shone at their brightest. The influence of French thought and +manners, for the importation and spreading of which King Stanislas +Leszczinski was so solicitous that he sent at his own expense many young +gentlemen to Paris for their education, was subsequently strengthened by +literary taste, national sympathies, and the political connection during +the first Empire. But although foreign notions and customs caused +much of the old barbarous extravagance and also much of the old +homely simplicity to disappear, they did not annihilate the national +distinctiveness of the class that was affected by them. Suffused with +the Slavonic spirit and its tincture of Orientalism, the importation +assumed a character of its own. Liszt, who did not speak merely from +hearsay, emphasises, in giving expression to his admiration of the +elegant and refined manners of the Polish aristocracy, the absence of +formalism and stiff artificiality:-- + + In these salons [he writes] the rigorously observed + proprieties were not a kind of ingeniously-constructed + corsets that served to hide deformed hearts; they only + necessitated the spiritualisation of all contacts, the + elevation of all rapports, the aristocratisation of all + impressions. + +But enough of this for the present. + +A surer proof of Frederick's ability than the applause and favour of the +aristocracy was the impression he made on the celebrated Catalani, who, +in January, 1820, gave four concerts in the town-hall of Warsaw, the +charge for admission to each of which was, as we may note in passing, no +less than thirty Polish florins (fifteen shillings). Hearing much of the +musically-gifted boy, she expressed the wish to have him presented to +her. On this being done, she was so pleased with him and his playing +that she made him a present of a watch, on which were engraved the +words: "Donne par Madame Catalani a Frederic Chopin, age de dix ans." + +As yet I have said nothing of the boy's first attempts at composition. +Little Frederick began to compose soon after the commencement of his +pianoforte lessons and before he could handle the pen. His master had +to write down what the pupil played, after which the youthful maestro, +often dissatisfied with his first conception, would set to work with the +critical file, and try to improve it. He composed mazurkas, polonaises, +waltzes, &c. At the age of ten he dedicated a march to the Grand Duke +Constantine, who had it scored for a military band and played on parade +(subsequently it was also published, but without the composer's name), +and these productions gave such evident proof of talent that his father +deemed it desirable to get his friend Elsner to instruct him in +harmony and counterpoint. At this time, however, it was not as yet in +contemplation that Frederick should become a professional musician; on +the contrary, he was made to understand that his musical studies must +not interfere with his other studies, as he was then preparing for his +entrance into the Warsaw Lyceum. As we know that this event took place +in 1824, we know also the approximate time of the commencement of +Elsner's lessons. Fontana says that Chopin began these studies when he +was already remarkable as a pianist. Seeing how very little is known +concerning the nature and extent of Chopin's studies in composition, it +may be as well to exhaust the subject at once. But before I do so I must +make the reader acquainted with the musician who, as Zyvny was Chopin's +only pianoforte teacher, was his only teacher of composition. + +Joseph Elsner, the son of a cabinet and musical instrument maker at +Grottkau, in Silesia, was born on June 1, 1769. As his father intended +him for the medical profession, he was sent in 1781 to the Latin school +at Breslau, and some years later to the University at Vienna. Having +already been encouraged by the rector in Grottkau to cultivate his +beautiful voice, he became in Breslau a chorister in one of the +churches, and after some time was often employed as violinist and singer +at the theatre. Here, where he got, if not regular instruction, at least +some hints regarding harmony and kindred matters (the authorities are +hopelessly at variance on this and on many other points), he made his +first attempts at composition, writing dances, songs, duets, trios, nay, +venturing even on larger works for chorus and orchestra. The musical +studies commenced in Breslau were continued in Vienna; preferring +musical scores to medical books, the conversations of musicians to +the lectures of professors, he first neglected and at last altogether +abandoned the study of the healing art. A. Boguslawski, who wrote a +biography of Elsner, tells the story differently and more poetically. +When, after a long illness during his sojourn in Breslau, thus runs his +version, Elsner went, on the day of the Holy Trinity in the year 1789, +for the first time to church, he was so deeply moved by the sounds of +the organ that he fainted. On recovering he felt his whole being filled +with such ineffable comfort and happiness that he thought he saw in this +occurrence the hand of destiny. He, therefore, set out for Vienna, +in order that he might draw as it were at the fountain-head the great +principles of his art. Be this as it may, in 1791 we hear of Elsner +as violinist in Brunn, in 1792 as musical conductor at a theatre in +Lemberg--where he is busy composing dramatic and other works--and near +the end of the last century as occupant of the same post at the National +Theatre in Warsaw, which town became his home for the rest of his life. +There was the principal field of his labours; there he died, after a +sojourn of sixty-two years in Poland, on April 18, 1854, leaving +behind him one of the most honoured names in the history of his adopted +country. Of the journeys he undertook, the longest and most important +was, no doubt, that to Paris in 1805. On the occasion of this visit +some of his compositions were performed, and when Chopin arrived there +twenty-five years afterwards, Elsner was still remembered by Lesueur, +who said: "Et que fait notre bon Elsner? Racontez-moi de ses nouvelles." +Elsner was a very productive composer: besides symphonies, quartets, +cantatas, masses, an oratorio, &c., he composed twenty-seven Polish +operas. Many of these works were published, some in Warsaw, some in +various German towns, some even in Paris. But his activity as a teacher, +conductor, and organiser was perhaps even more beneficial to the +development of the musical art in Poland than that as a composer. After +founding and conducting several musical societies, he became in 1821 +director of the then opened Conservatorium, at the head of which he +continued to the end of its existence in 1830. To complete the idea of +the man, we must not omit to mention his essay In how far is the Polish +language suitable for music? As few of his compositions have been heard +outside of Poland, and these few long ago, rarely, and in few places, it +is difficult to form a satisfactory opinion with regard to his position +as a composer. Most accounts, however, agree in stating that he wrote in +the style of the modern Italians, that is to say, what were called the +modern Italians in the later part of the last and the earlier part of +this century. Elsner tried his strength and ability in all genres, from +oratorio, opera, and symphony, down to pianoforte variations, rondos, +and dances, and in none of them did he fail to be pleasing and +intelligible, not even where, as especially in his sacred music, he +made use--a sparing use--of contrapuntal devices, imitations, and fugal +treatment. The naturalness, fluency, effectiveness, and practicableness +which distinguish his writing for voices and instruments show that he +possessed a thorough knowledge of their nature and capability. It was, +therefore, not an empty rhetorical phrase to speak of him initiating +his pupils "a la science du contre-point et aux effets d'une savante +instrumentation." + +[FOOTNOTE: "The productions of Elsner," says Fetis, "are in the style of +Paer and Mayer's music. In his church music there is a little too much +of modern and dramatic forms; one finds in them facility and a natural +manner of making the parts sing, but little originality and variety in +his ideas. Elsner writes with sufficient purity, although he shows in +his fugues that his studies have not been severe."] + +For the pupils of the Conservatorium he wrote vocal pieces in from one +to ten parts, and he composed also a number of canons in four and five +parts, which fact seems to demonstrate that he had no ill-will against +the scholastic forms. And now I shall quote a passage from an apparently +well-informed writer [FOOTNOTE: The writer of the article Elsner in +Schilling's Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst] (to whom I am, moreover, +otherwise indebted in this sketch), wherein Elsner is blamed for certain +shortcomings with which Chopin has been often reproached in a less +charitable spirit. The italics, which are mine, will point out the words +in question:-- + + One forgives him readily [in consideration of the general + excellence of his style] THE OFFENCES AGAINST THE LAW OF + HARMONIC CONNECTION THAT OCCUR HERE AND THERE, AND THE + FACILITY WITH WHICH HE SOMETIMES DISREGARDS THE FIXED RULES + OF STRICT PART-WRITING, especially in the dramatic works, + where he makes effect apparently the ultimate aim of his + indefatigable endeavours. + +The wealth of melody and technical mastery displayed in "The Passion +of our Lord Jesus Christ" incline Karasowski to think that it is the +composer's best work. When the people at Breslau praised Elsner's +"Echo Variations" for orchestra, Chopin exclaimed: "You must hear his +Coronation Mass, then only can you judge of him as a composer." To +characterise Elsner in a few words, he was a man of considerable musical +aptitude and capacity, full of nobleness of purpose, learning, industry, +perseverance, in short, possessing all qualities implied by talent, but +lacking those implied by genius. + +A musician travelling in 1841 in Poland sent at the time to the Neue +Zeitschrift fur Musik a series of "Reiseblatter" (Notes of Travel), +which contain so charming and vivid a description of this interesting +personality that I cannot resist the temptation to translate and insert +it here almost without any abridgment. Two noteworthy opinions of the +writer may be fitly prefixed to this quotation--namely, that Elsner was +a Pole with all his heart and soul, indeed, a better one than thousands +that are natives of the country, and that, like Haydn, he possessed the +quality of writing better the older he grew:-- + + The first musical person of the town [Warsaw] is still the + old, youthful Joseph Elsner, a veteran master of our art, who + is as amiable as he is truly estimable. In our day one hardly + meets with a notable Polish musician who has not studied + composition under Pan [i.e., Mr.] Elsner; and he loves all + his pupils, and all speak of him with enthusiasm, and, + according to the Polish fashion, kiss the old master's + shoulder, whereupon he never forgets to kiss them heartily on + both cheeks. Even Charles Kurpinski, the pensioned + Capelhneister of the Polish National Theatre, whose hair is + already grey, is, if I am not very much misinformed, also a + pupil of Joseph Elsner's. One is often mistaken with regard + to the outward appearance of a celebrated man; I mean, one + forms often a false idea of him before one has seen him and + knows a portrait of him. I found Elsner almost exactly as I + had imagined him. Wisocki, the pianist, also a pupil of his, + took me to him. Pan Elsner lives in the Dom Pyarow [House of + Piarists]. One has to start early if one wishes to find him + at home; for soon after breakfast he goes out, and rarely + returns to his cell before evening. He inhabits, like a + genuine church composer, two cells of the old Piarist + Monastery in Jesuit Street, and in the dark passages which + lead to his rooms one sees here and there faded laid-aside + pictures of saints lying about, and old church banners + hanging down. The old gentleman was still in bed when we + arrived, and sent his servant to ask us to wait a little in + the anteroom, promising to be with us immediately. All the + walls of this room, or rather cell, were hung to the ceiling + with portraits of musicians, among them some very rare names + and faces. Mr. Elsner has continued this collection down to + the present time; also the portraits of Liszt, Thalberg, + Chopin, and Clara Wieck shine down from the old monastic + walls. I had scarcely looked about me in this large company + for a few minutes, when the door of the adjoining room + opened, and a man of medium height (not to say little), + somewhat stout, with a round, friendly countenance, grey + hair, but very lively eyes, enveloped in a warm fur dressing- + gown, stepped up to us, comfortably but quickly, and bade us + welcome. Wisocki kissed him, according to the Polish fashion, + as a token of respect, on the right shoulder, and introduced + me to him, whereupon the old friendly gentleman shook hands + with me and said some kindly words. + + This, then, was Pan Joseph Elsner, the ancestor of modern + Polish music, the teacher of Chopin, the fine connoisseur and + cautious guide of original talents. For he does not do as is + done only too often by other teachers in the arts, who insist + on screwing all pupils to the same turning-lathe on which + they themselves were formed, who always do their utmost to + ingraft their own I on the pupil, so that he may become as + excellent a man as they imagine themselves to be. Joseph + Elsner did not proceed thus. When all the people of Warsaw + thought Frederick Chopin was entering on a wrong path, that + his was not music at all, that he must keep to Himmel and + Hummel, otherwise he would never do anything decent--the + clever Pan Elsner had already very clearly perceived what a + poetic kernel there was in the pale young dreamer, had long + before felt very clearly that he had before him the founder + of a new epoch of pianoforte-playing, and was far from laying + upon him a cavesson, knowing well that such a noble + thoroughbred may indeed be cautiously led, but must not be + trained and fettered in the usual way if he is to conquer. + +Of Chopin's studies under this master we do not know much more than +of his studies under Zywny. Both Fontana and Sowinski say that he went +through a complete course of counterpoint and composition. Elsner, in a +letter written to Chopin in 1834, speaks of himself as "your teacher +of harmony and counterpoint, of little merit, but fortunate." Liszt +writes:-- + + Joseph Elsner taught Chopin those things that are most + difficult to learn and most rarely known: to be exacting + to one's self, and to value the advantages that are only + obtained by dint of patience and labour. + +What other accounts of the matter under discussion I have got from books +and conversations are as general and vague as the foregoing. I therefore +shall not weary the reader with them. What Elsner's view of teaching was +may be gathered from one of his letters to his pupil. The gist of his +remarks lies in this sentence:-- + + That with which the artist (who learns continually from his + surroundings) astonishes his contemporaries, he can only + attain by himself and through himself. + +Elsner had insight and self-negation (a rare quality with teachers) +enough to act up to his theory, and give free play to the natural +tendencies of his pupil's powers. That this was really the case is seen +from his reply to one who blamed Frederick's disregard of rules and +custom:-- + + Leave him in peace [he said], his is an uncommon way because + his gifts are uncommon. He does not strictly adhere to the + customary method, but he has one of his own, and he will + reveal in his works an originality which in such a degree has + not been found in anyone. + +The letters of master and pupil testify to their unceasing mutual esteem +and love. Those of the master are full of fatherly affection and advice, +those of the pupil full of filial devotion and reverence. Allusions to +and messages for Elsner are very frequent in Chopin's letters. He seems +always anxious that his old master should know how he fared, especially +hear of his success. His sentiments regarding Elsner reveal themselves +perhaps nowhere more strikingly than in an incidental remark which +escapes him when writing to his friend Woyciechowski. Speaking of a new +acquaintance he has made, he says, "He is a great friend of Elsner's, +which in my estimation means much." No doubt Chopin looked up with more +respect and thought himself more indebted to Elsner than to Zywny; but +that he had a good opinion of both his masters is evident from his pithy +reply to the Viennese gentleman who told him that people were astonished +at his having learned all he knew at Warsaw: "From Messrs. Zywny and +Elsner even the greatest ass must learn something." + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +FREDERICK ENTERS THE WARSAW LYCEUM.--VARIOUS EDUCATIONAL +INFLUENCES.--HIS FATHER'S FRIENDS.--RISE OF ROMANTICISM IN POLISH +LITERATURE.--FREDERICK'S STAY AT SZAFARNIA DURING HIS FIRST SCHOOL +HOLIDAYS.--HIS TALENT FOR IMPROVISATION.--HIS DEVELOPMENT AS A COMPOSER +AND PIANIST.--HIS PUBLIC PERFORMANCES.--PUBLICATION OF OP. I.--EARLY +COMPOSITIONS.--HIS PIANOFORTE STYLE. + + + +FREDERICK, who up to the age of fifteen was taught at home along with +his father's boarders, became in 1824 a pupil of the Warsaw Lyceum, a +kind of high-school, the curriculum of which comprised Latin, Greek, +modern languages, mathematics, history, &c. His education was so +far advanced that he could at once enter the fourth class, and the +liveliness of his parts, combined with application to work, enabled him +to distinguish himself in the following years as a student and to carry +off twice a prize. Polish history and literature are said to have been +his favourite studies. + +Liszt relates that Chopin was placed at an early age in one of the first +colleges of Warsaw, "thanks to the generous and intelligent protection +which Prince Anton Radziwill always bestowed upon the arts and upon +young men of talent." This statement, however, has met with a direct +denial on the part of the Chopin family, and may, therefore, be +considered as disposed of. But even without such a denial the statement +would appear suspicious to all but those unacquainted with Nicholas +Chopin's position. Surely he must have been able to pay for his son's +schooling! Moreover, one would think that, as a professor at the Lyceum, +he might even have got it gratis. As to Frederick's musical education +in Warsaw, it cannot have cost much. And then, how improbable that the +Prince should have paid the comparatively trifling school-fees and left +the young man when he went abroad dependent upon the support of his +parents! The letters from Vienna (1831) show unmistakably that Chopin +applied to his father repeatedly for money, and regretted being such a +burden to him. Further, Chopin's correspondence, which throws much light +on his relation to Prince Radziwili, contains nothing which would lead +one to infer any such indebtedness as Liszt mentions. But in order that +the reader may be in possession of the whole evidence and able to judge +for himself, I shall place before him Liszt's curiously circumstantial +account in its entirety:-- + + The Prince bestowed upon him the inappreciable gift of a good + education, no part of which remained neglected. His elevated + mind enabling him to understand the exigencies of an artist's + career, he, from the time of his protege's entering the + college to the entire completion of his studies, paid the + pension through the agency of a friend, M. Antoine + Korzuchowski, [FOOTNOTE: Liszt should have called this + gentleman Adam Kozuchowski.] who always maintained cordial + relations and a constant friendship with Chopin. + +Liszt's informant was no doubt Chopin's Paris friend Albert Grzymala, +[FOOTNOTE: M. Karasowski calls this Grzymala erroneously Francis. More +information about this gentleman will be given in a subsequent chapter.] +who seems to have had no connection with the Chopin family in Poland. +Karasowski thinks that the only foundation of the story is a letter and +present from Prince Radziwill--acknowledgments of the dedication to him +of the Trio, Op. 8--which Adam Kozuchowski brought to Chopin in 1833. +[FOOTNOTE: M. Karasowski, Fryderyk Chopin, vol. i., p. 65.] + +Frederick was much liked by his school-fellows, which, as his manners +and disposition were of a nature thoroughly appreciated by boys, is +not at all to be wondered at. One of the most striking features in +the character of young Chopin was his sprightliness, a sparkling +effervescence that manifested itself by all sorts of fun and mischief. +He was never weary of playing pranks on his sisters, his comrades, +and even on older people, and indulged to the utmost his fondness for +caricaturing by pictorial and personal imitations. In the course of a +lecture the worthy rector of the Lyceum discovered the scapegrace making +free with the face and figure of no less a person than his own rectorial +self. Nevertheless the irreverent pupil got off easily, for the master, +with as much magnanimity as wisdom, abstained from punishing the +culprit, and, in a subscript which he added to the caricature, even +praised the execution of it. A German Protestant pastor at Warsaw, who +made always sad havoc of the Polish language, in which he had every +Sunday to preach one of his sermons, was the prototype of one of the +imitations with which Frederick frequently amused his friends. Our +hero's talent for changing the expression of his face, of which +George Sand, Liszt, Balzac, Hiller, Moscheles, and other personal +acquaintances, speak with admiration, seems already at this time to have +been extraordinary. Of the theatricals which the young folks were wont +to get up at the paternal house, especially on the name-days of their +parents and friends, Frederick was the soul and mainstay. With a good +delivery he combined a presence of mind that enabled him to be always +ready with an improvisation when another player forgot his part. A +clever Polish actor, Albert Piasecki, who was stage-manager on these +occasions, gave it as his opinion that the lad was born to be a great +actor. In after years two distinguished members of the profession in +France, M. Bocage and Mdme. Dorval, expressed similar opinions. For +their father's name-day in 1824, Frederick and his sister Emilia wrote +conjointly a one-act comedy in verse, entitled THE MISTAKE; OR, THE +PRETENDED ROGUE, which was acted by a juvenile company. According to +Karasowski, the play showed that the authors had a not inconsiderable +command of language, but in other respects could not be called a very +brilliant achievement. Seeing that fine comedies are not often written +at the ages of fifteen and eleven, nobody will be in the least surprised +at the result. + +These domestic amusements naturally lead us to inquire who were the +visitors that frequented the house. Among them there was Dr. Samuel +Bogumil Linde, rector of the Lyceum and first librarian of the National +Library, a distinguished philologist, who, assisted by the best Slavonic +scholars, wrote a valuable and voluminous "Dictionary of the Polish +Language," and published many other works on the Slavonic languages. +After this oldest of Nicholas Chopin's friends I shall mention Waclaw +Alexander Maciejowski, who, like Linde, received his university +education in Germany, taught then for a short time at the Lyceum, +and became in 1819 a professor at the University of Warsaw. His +contributions to various branches of Slavonic history (law, literature, +&c.) are very numerous. However, one of the most widely known of those +who were occasionally seen at Chopin's home was Casimir Brodzinski, the +poet, critic, and champion of romanticism, a prominent figure in Polish +literary history, who lived in Warsaw from about 1815 to 1822, in which +year he went as professor of literature to the University of Cracow. +Nicholas Chopin's pupil, Count Frederick Skarbek, must not be forgotten; +he had now become a man of note, being professor of political economy at +the university, and author of several books that treat of that science. +Besides Elsner and Zywny, who have already been noticed at some +length, a third musician has to be numbered among friends of the Chopin +family--namely, Joseph Javurek, the esteemed composer and professor at +the Conservatorium; further, I must yet make mention of Anton Barcinski, +professor at the Polytechnic School, teacher at Nicholas Chopin's +institution, and by-and-by his son-in-law; Dr. Jarocki, the zoologist; +Julius Kolberg, the engineer; and Brodowski, the painter. These and +others, although to us only names, or little more, are nevertheless not +without their significance. We may liken them to the supernumeraries on +the stage, who, dumb as they are, help to set off and show the position +of the principal figure or figures. + +The love of literature which we have noticed in the young Chopins, more +particularly in the sisters, implanted by an excellent education and +fostered by the taste, habits, and encouragement of their father, cannot +but have been greatly influenced and strengthened by the characters and +conversation of such visitors. And let it not be overlooked that +this was the time of Poland's intellectual renascence--a time when the +influence of man over man is greater than at other times, he being, as +it were, charged with a kind of vivifying electricity. The +misfortunes that had passed over Poland had purified and fortified the +nation--breathed into it a new and healthier life. The change which the +country underwent from the middle of the eighteenth to the earlier +part of the nineteenth century was indeed immense. Then Poland, to +use Carlyle's drastic phraseology, had ripened into a condition +of "beautifully phosphorescent rot-heap"; now, with an improved +agriculture, reviving commerce, and rising industry, it was more +prosperous than it had been for centuries. As regards intellectual +matters, the comparison with the past was even more favourable to +the present. The government that took the helm in 1815 followed the +direction taken by its predecessors, and schools and universities +flourished; but a most hopeful sign was this, that whilst the epoch of +Stanislas Augustus was, as Mickiewicz remarked (in Les Slaves), little +Slavonic and not even national, now the national spirit pervaded the +whole intellectual atmosphere, and incited workers in all branches of +science and art to unprecedented efforts. To confine ourselves to one +department, we find that the study of the history and literature of +Poland had received a vigorous impulse, folk-songs were zealously +collected, and a new school of poetry, romanticism, rose victoriously +over the fading splendour of an effete classicism. The literature of +the time of Stanislas was a court and salon literature, and under the +influence of France and ancient Rome. The literature that began to +bud about 1815, and whose germs are to be sought for in the preceding +revolutionary time, was more of a people's literature, and under the +influence of Germany, England, and Russia. The one was a hot-house +plant, the other a garden flower, or even a wild flower. The classics +swore by the precepts of Horace and Boileau, and held that among +the works of Shakespeare there was not one veritable tragedy. The +romanticists, on the other hand, showed by their criticisms and works +that their sympathies were with Schiller, Goethe, Burger, Byron, +Shukovski, &c. Wilna was the chief centre from which this movement +issued, and Brodziriski one of the foremost defenders of the new +principles and the precursor of Mickiewicz, the appearance of whose +ballads, romances, "Dziady" and "Grazyna" (1822), decided the war in +favour of romanticism. The names of Anton Malczewski, Bogdan Zaleski, +Severyn Goszczynski, and others, ought to be cited along with that of +the more illustrious Mickiewicz, but I will not weary the reader either +with a long disquisition or with a dry enumeration. I have said above +that Polish poetry had become more of a people's poetry. This, however, +must not be understood in the sense of democratic poetry. + +The Polish poets [says C. Courriere, to whose "Histoire de la +litterature chez les Slaves" I am much indebted] ransacked with avidity +the past of their country, which appeared to them so much the more +brilliant because it presented a unique spectacle in the history of +nations. Instead of breaking with the historic traditions they respected +them, and gave them a new lustre, a new life, by representing them under +a more beautiful, more animated, and more striking form. In short, if +Polish romanticism was an evolution of poetry in the national sense, it +did not depart from the tendencies of its elder sister, for it saw +in the past only the nobility; it was and remained, except in a few +instances, aristocratic. + +Now let us keep in mind that this contest of classicism and romanticism, +this turning away from a dead formalism to living ideals, was taking +place at that period of Frederick Chopin's life when the human mind is +most open to new impressions, and most disposed to entertain bold and +noble ideas. And, further, let us not undervalue the circumstance that +he must have come in close contact with one of the chief actors in this +unbloody revolution. + +Frederick spent his first school holidays at Szafarnia, in Mazovia, the +property of the Dziewanowski family. In a letter written on August +19, 1824, he gives his friend and school-fellow William Kolberg, some +account of his doings there--of his strolls and runs in the garden, his +walks and drives to the forest, and above all of his horsemanship. He +tells his dear Willie that he manages to keep his seat, but would +not like to be asked how. Indeed, he confesses that, his equestrian +accomplishments amount to no more than to letting the horse go slowly +where it lists, and sitting on it, like a monkey, with fear. If he had +not yet met with an accident, it was because the horse had so far not +felt any inclination to throw him off. In connection with his drives--in +britzka and in coach--he does not forget to mention that he is always +honoured with a back-seat. Still, life at Szafarnia was not unmixed +happiness, although our hero bore the ills with admirable stoicism:-- + + Very often [he writes] the flies sit on my prominent nose-- + this, however, is of no consequence, it is the habit of these + little animals. The mosquitoes bite me--this too, however, is + of no consequence, for they don't bite me in the nose. + +The reader sees from this specimen of epistolary writing that Frederick +is still a boy, and if I had given the letter in extenso, the boyishness +would have been even more apparent, in the loose and careless style as +well as in the frolicsome matter. + +His letters to his people at home took on this occasion the form of a +manuscript newspaper, called, in imitation of the "Kuryer Warszawski" +("Warsaw Courier"), "Kuryer Szafarski" ("Szafarnia Courier"), which the +editor, in imitation of the then obtaining press regulation, did not +send off until it had been seen and approved of by the censor, Miss +Dziewanowska. One of the numbers of the paper contains among other news +the report of a musical gathering of "some persons and demi-persons" +at which, on July 15, 1824, Mr. Pichon (anagram of Chopin) played a +Concerto of Kalkbrenner's and a little song, the latter being received +by the youthful audience with more applause than the former. + +Two anecdotes that relate to this stay at Szafarnia further exemplify +what has already been said of Frederick's love of fun and mischief. +Having on one of his visits to the village of Oberow met some Jews +who had come to buy grain, he invited them to his room, and there +entertained them with music, playing to them "Majufes." + +[FOOTNOTE: Karasowski describes "Majufes" as a kind of Jewish wedding +march. Ph. Lobenstein says that it means "the beautiful, the pleasing +one." With this word opened a Hebrew song which dates from the time of +the sojourn of the Jews in Spain, and which the orthodox Polish Jews +sing on Saturdays after dinner, and whose often-heard melody the Poles +imitate as a parody of Jewish singing.] + +His guests were delighted--they began to dance, told him that he played +like a born Jew, and urged him to come to the next Jewish wedding and +play to them there. The other anecdote would be a very ugly story were +it not for the redeeming conclusion. Again we meet with one of the +numerous, but by no means well-loved, class of Polish citizens. +Frederick, having heard that a certain Jew had bought grain from +Mr. Romecki, the proprietor of Oberow, sent this gentleman a letter +purporting to be written by the grain-dealer in question, in which he +informed him that after reconsidering the matter he would rather not +take the grain. The imitation of the jargon in use among the Polish Jews +was so good, and the spelling and writing so bad, that Mr. Romecki was +taken in. Indeed, he flew at once into such a passion that he sent for +the Jew with the intention of administering to him a sound thrashing. +Only Frederick's timely confession saved the poor fellow from his +undeserved punishment. But enough of Szafarnia, where the young +scapegrace paid so long a holiday visit (from his letter to William +Kolberg we learn that he would not see his friend for four weeks more), +and where, judging from what has already been told, and also from a +remark in the same letter, he must have "enjoyed himself pretty well." +And now we will return to Warsaw, to Nicholas Chopin's boarding-school. + +To take away any bad impression that may be left by the last anecdote, I +shall tell another of a more pleasing character, which, indeed, has had +the honour of being made the subject of a picture. It was often told, +says Karasowski, by Casimir Wodzinski, a boarder of Nicholas Chopin's. +One day when the latter was out, Barcinski, the assistant master, +could not manage the noisy boys. Seeing this, Frederick, who just then +happened to come into the room, said to them that he would improvise a +pretty story if they would sit down and be quiet. This quickly restored +silence. He thereupon had the lights extinguished, took his seat at the +piano, and began as follows:-- + + Robbers set out to plunder a house. They come nearer and + nearer. Then they halt, and put up the ladders they have + brought with them. But just when they are about to enter + through the windows, they hear a noise within. This gives + them a fright. They run away to the woods. There, amidst the + stillness and darkness of the night, they lie down and + before long fall fast asleep. + +When Frederick had got to this part of the story he began to play softer +and softer, and ever softer, till his auditors, like the robbers, were +fast asleep. Noticing this he stole out of the room, called in the other +inmates of the house, who came carrying lights with them, and then +with a tremendous, crashing chord disturbed the sweet slumbers of the +evil-doers. + +Here we have an instance of "la richesse de son improvisation," by +which, as Fontana tells us, Chopin, from his earliest youth, astonished +all who had the good fortune to hear him. Those who think that there +is no salvation outside the pale of absolute music, will no doubt be +horror-stricken at the heretical tendency manifested on this occasion by +an otherwise so promising musician. Nay, even the less orthodox, those +who do not altogether deny the admissibility of programme-music if it +conforms to certain conditions and keeps within certain limits, will +shake their heads sadly. The duty of an enthusiastic biographer, it +would seem, is unmistakable; he ought to justify, or, at least, excuse +his hero--if nothing else availed, plead his youth and inexperience. +My leaving the poor suspected heretic in the lurch under these +circumstances will draw upon me the reproach of remissness; but, as +I have what I consider more important business on hand, I must not be +deterred from proceeding to it by the fear of censure. + +The year 1825 was, in many respects, a memorable one in the life of +Chopin. On May 27 and June 10 Joseph Javurek, whom I mentioned a few +pages back among the friends of the Chopin family, gave two concerts for +charitable purposes in the large hall of the Conservatorium. At one of +these Frederick appeared again in public. A Warsaw correspondent of the +"Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung" says in the course of one of +his letters:-- + + The Academist Chopin performed the first Allegro of + Moscheles' Pianoforte Concerto in F [G?] minor, and an + improvisation on the aeolopantaleon. This instrument, + invented by the cabinet-maker Dlugosz, of this town, combines + the aeolomelodicon [FOOTNOTE: An instrument of the organ + species, invented by Professor Hoffmann, and constructed by + the mechanician Brunner, of Warsaw.] with the piano- + forte....Young Chopin distinguished himself in his + improvisation by wealth of musical ideas, and under his hands + this instrument, of which he is a thorough master, made a + great impression. + +Unfortunately we learn nothing of Chopin's rendering of the movement +from Moscheles' Concerto. Still, this meagre notice, written by a +contemporary--an ear-witness, who wrote down his impressions soon after +the performance--is very precious, indeed more precious than the +most complete and elaborate criticism written fifty years after the +occurrence would be. I cannot help thinking that Karasowski somewhat +exaggerates when he says that Chopin's pianoforte playing transported +the audience into a state of enthusiasm, and that no concert had a +brilliant success unless he took part in it. The biographer seems either +to trust too much to the fancy-coloured recollections of his informants, +or to allow himself to be carried away by his zeal for the exaltation of +his hero. At any rate, the tenor of the above-quoted notice, laudatory +as it is, and the absence of Chopin's name from other Warsaw letters, +do not remove the doubts which such eulogistic superlatives raise in the +mind of an unbiassed inquirer. But that Chopin, as a pianist and as +a musician generally, had attained a proficiency far beyond his years +becomes evident if we examine his compositions of that time, to which I +shall presently advert. And that he had risen into notoriety and saw his +talents appreciated cannot be doubted for a moment after what has been +said. Were further proof needed, we should find it in the fact that he +was selected to display the excellences of the aeolomelodicon when the +Emperor Alexander I, during his sojourn in Warsaw in 1825, [FOOTNOTE: +The Emperor Alexander opened the Diet at Warsaw on May 13, 1825, and +closed it on June 13.] expressed the wish to hear this instrument. +Chopin's performance is said to have pleased the august auditor, who, at +all events, rewarded the young musician with a diamond ring. + +A greater event than either the concert or the performance before the +Emperor, in fact, THE event of the year 1825, was the publication of +Chopin's Opus 1. Only he who has experienced the delicious sensation of +seeing himself for the first time in print can realise what our young +author felt on this occasion. Before we examine this work, we will +give a passing glance at some less important early compositions of the +maestro which were published posthumously. + +There is first of all a Polonaise in G sharp minor, said to be of +the year 1822, [FOOTNOTE: See No. 15 of the Posthumous Works in the +Breitkopf and Hartel edition.] but which, on account of the savoir-faire +and invention exhibited in it, I hold to be of a considerably later +time. Chopin's individuality, it is true, is here still in a rudimentary +state, chiefly manifested in the light-winged figuration; the thoughts +and the expression, however, are natural and even graceful, bearing +thus the divine impress. The echoes of Weber should be noted. Of +two mazurkas, in G and B flat major, of the year 1825, the first is, +especially in its last part, rather commonplace; the second is more +interesting, because more suggestive of better things, which the first +is only to an inconsiderable extent. In No. 2 we meet already with +harmonic piquancies which charmed musicians and lovers of music so +much in the later mazurkas. Critics and students will not overlook the +octaves between, treble and bass in the second bar of part two in No. +1. A. Polonaise in B flat minor, superscribed "Farewell to William +Kolberg," of the year 1826, has not less naturalness and grace than the +Polonaise of 1822, but in addition to these qualities, it has also at +least one thought (part 1) which contains something of the sweet ring of +Chopinian melancholy. The trio of the Polonaise is headed by the words: +"Au revoir! after an aria from 'Gazza ladra'." Two foot-notes accompany +this composition in the Breitkopf and Hartel edition (No. 16 of the +Posthumous Works). The first says that the Polonaise was composed "at +Chopin's departure from [should be 'for'] Reinerz"; and the second, in +connection with the trio, that "some days before Chopin's departure the +two friends had been present at a performance of Rossini's opera." +There is one other early posthumously-published work of Chopin's, whose +status, however, differs from the above-mentioned ones in this, that +the composer seems to have intended to publish it. The composition in +question is the Variations sur un air national allemand. + +Szulc says that Oskar Kolberg related that he had still in his +possession these Variations on the theme of Der Schweizerbub, which +Chopin composed between his twelfth and seventeenth years at the house +of General Sowinski's wife in the course of "a few quarter-hours." +The Variations sur un air national allemand were published after the +composer's death along with his Sonata, Op. 4, by Haslinger, of Vienna, +in 1851. They are, no doubt, the identical composition of which Chopin +in a letter from Vienna (December 1, 1830) writes: "Haslinger received +me very kindly, but nevertheless would publish neither the Sonata nor +the Second Variations." The First Variations were those on La ci darem, +Op. 2, the first of his compositions that was published in Germany. +Without inquiring too curiously into the exact time of its production +and into the exact meaning of "a few quarter-hours," also leaving it +an open question whether the composer did or did not revise his first +conception of the Variations before sending them to Vienna, I shall +regard this unnumbered work--which, by the way, in the Breitkopf and +Hartel edition is dated 1824--on account of its greater simplicity and +inferior interest, as an earlier composition than the Premier Rondeau +(C minor), Op. 1, dedicated to Mdme. de Linde (the wife of his father's +friend and colleague, the rector Dr. Linde), a lady with whom Frederick +often played duets. What strikes one at once in both of them is +the almost total absence of awkwardness and the presence of a +rarely-disturbed ease. They have a natural air which is alike free from +affected profundity and insipid childishness. And the hand that wrote +them betrays so little inexperience in the treatment of the instrument +that they can hold their ground without difficulty and honourably among +the better class of light drawing-room pieces. Of course, there are +weak points: the introduction to the Variations with those interminable +sequences of dominant and tonic chords accompanying a stereotyped run, +and the want of cohesiveness in the Rondo, the different subjects of +which are too loosely strung together, may be instanced. But, although +these two compositions leave behind them a pleasurable impression, +they can lay only a small claim to originality. Still, there are slight +indications of it in the tempo di valse, the concluding portion of the +Variations, and more distinct ones in the Rondo, in which it is +possible to discover the embryos of forms--chromatic and serpentining +progressions, &c.--which subequently develop most exuberantly. But if on +the one hand we must admit that the composer's individuality is as yet +weak, on the other hand we cannot accuse him of being the imitator of +any one master--such a dominant influence is not perceptible. + +[FOOTNOTE: Schumann, who in 1831 became acquainted with Chopin's Op. +2, and conceived an enthusiastic admiration for the composer, must have +made inquiries after his Op. 1, and succeeded in getting it. For on +January 1832, he wrote to Frederick Wieck: "Chopin's first work (I +believe firmly that it is his tenth) is in my hands: a lady would +say that it was very pretty, very piquant, almost Moschelesque. But +I believe you will make Clara [Wieck's daughter, afterwards Mdme. +Schumann] study it; for there is plenty of Geist in it and few +difficulties. But I humbly venture to assert that there are between this +composition and Op. 2 two years and twenty works"] + +All this, however, is changed in another composition, the Rondeau a +la Mazur, Op. 5, dedicated to the Comtesse Alexandrine de Moriolles (a +daughter of the Comte de Moriolles mentioned in Chapter II), which, like +the Rondo, Op. 1, was first published in Warsaw, and made its appearance +in Germany some years later. I do not know the exact time of its +composition, but I presume it was a year or two after that of the +previously mentioned works. Schumann, who reviewed it in 1836, thought +it had perhaps been written in the eighteenth year of the composer, but +he found in it, some confused passages excepted, no indications of the +author's youth. In this Rondeau a la Mazur the individuality of Chopin +and with it his nationality begin to reveal themselves unmistakably. Who +could fail to recognise him in the peculiar sweet and persuasive flows +of sound, and the serpent-like winding of the melodic outline, the +wide-spread chords, the chromatic progressions, the dissolving of the +harmonies and the linking of their constituent parts! And, as I have +said elsewhere in speaking of this work: "The harmonies are often novel, +and the matter is more homogeneous and better welded into oneness." + +Chopin's pianoforte lessons, as has already been stated, came to an end +when he was twelve years old, and thenceforth he was left to his own +resources. + + The school of that time [remarks Fontana] could no longer + suffice him, he aimed higher, and felt himself impelled + towards an ideal which, at first vague, before long grew into + greater distinctness. It was then that, in trying his + strength, he acquired that touch and style, so different from + those of his predecessors, and that he succeeded in creating + at last that execution which since then has been the + admiration of the artistic world. + +The first stages of the development of his peculiar style may be traced +in the compositions we have just now discussed. In the variations and +first Rondo which Chopin wrote at or before the age of fifteen, the +treatment of the instrument not only proves that he was already as much +in his element on the pianoforte as a fish in the water, but also shows +that an as yet vaguely-perceived ideal began to beckon him onward. +Karasowski, informed by witnesses of the boy's studies in pianoforte +playing, relates that Frederick, being struck with the fine effect of +a chord in extended harmony, and unable, on account of the smallness of +his hands, to strike the notes simultaneously, set about thinking how +this physical obstacle could be overcome. The result of his cogitations +was the invention of a contrivance which he put between his fingers and +kept there even during the night, by this means endeavouring to increase +the extensibility and flexibility of his hands. Who, in reading of this +incident in Chopin's life, is not reminded of Schumann and his attempt +to strengthen his fingers, an attempt that ended so fatally for his +prospects as a virtuoso! And the question, an idle one I admit, suggests +itself: Had Chopin been less fortunate than he was, and lost, like +Schumann, the command of one of his hands before he had formed his +pianoforte style, would he, as a composer, have risen to a higher +position than we know him to have attained, or would he have achieved +less than he actually did? From the place and wording of Karasowski's +account it would appear that this experiment of Chopin's took place at +or near the age of ten. Of course it does not matter much whether we +know or do not know the year or day of the adoption of the practice, +what is really interesting is the fact itself. I may, however, remark +that Chopin's love of wide-spread chords and skips, if marked at all, +is not strongly marked in the Variations on the German air and the first +Rondo. Let the curious examine with regard to this matter the Tempo di +Valse of the former work, and bars 38-43 of the Piu lento of the latter. +In the Rondeau a la Mazur, the next work in chronological order, this +peculiarity begins to show itself distinctly, and it continues to grow +in the works that follow. It is not my intention to weary the reader +with microscopical criticism, but I thought the first manifestations of +Chopin's individuality ought not to be passed over in silence. As to his +style, it will be more fully discussed in a subsequent chapter, where +also the seeds from which it sprang will be pointed out. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + + +FREDERICK WORKS TOO HARD.--PASSES PART OF HIS HOLIDAYS (1826) +IN REINERZ.--STAYS ALSO AT STRZYZEWO, AND PAYS A VISIT TO PRINCE +RADZIWILL.--HE TERMINATES HIS STUDIES AT THE LYCEUM (1827). ADOPTION +OF MUSIC AS HIS PROFESSION.--EXCURSIONS.--FOLK-MUSIC AND THE POLISH +PEASANTRY.--SOME MORE COMPOSITIONS.--PROJECTED TRAVELS FOR HIS +IMPROVEMENT.--HIS OUTWARD APPEARANCE AND STATE OF HEALTH. + + + +THE art which had attracted the child took every day a stronger hold of +the youth. Frederick was not always in that sportive humour in which +we have seen him repeatedly. At times he would wander about silent and +solitary, wrapped in his musical meditations. He would sit up late, busy +with his beloved music, and often, after lying down, rise from his bed +in the middle of the night in order, to strike a few chords or try a +short phrase--to the horror of the servants, whose first thought was of +ghosts, the second that their dear young master was not quite right in +his mind. Indeed, what with his school-work and his musical studies, +our young friend exerted himself more than was good for him. When, +therefore, in the holidays of 1826 his youngest sister, Emilia, was +ordered by the physicians to go to Reinerz, a watering-place in +Prussian Silesia, the parents thought it advisable that the too diligent +Frederick should accompany her, and drink whey for the benefit of his +health. The travelling party consisted of the mother, two sisters, +and himself. A letter which he wrote on August 28, 1826, to his friend +William Kolberg, furnishes some information about his doings there. It +contains, as letters from watering-places usually do, criticisms of the +society and accounts of promenadings, excursions, regular meals, and +early hours in going to bed and in rising. As the greater part of the +contents can be of no interest to us, I shall confine myself to picking +up what seems to me worth preserving. He had been drinking whey and the +waters for a fortnight and found he was getting somewhat stouter and at +the same time lazy. People said he began to look better. He enjoyed +the sight of the valleys from the hills which surround Reinerz, but +the climbing fatigued him, and he had sometimes to drag himself down +on all-fours. One mountain, the rocky Heuscheuer, he and other delicate +persons were forbidden to ascend, as the doctor was afraid that the +sharp air at the top would do his patients harm. Of course, Frederick +tried to make fun of everything and everyone--for instance, of the +wretched wind-band, which consisted of about a dozen "caricatures," +among whom a lean bassoon-player with a snuffy hook-nose was the most +notable. To the manners of the country, which in some respects seem to +have displeased him, he got gradually accustomed. + + At first I was astonished that in Silesia the women work + generally more than the men, but as I am doing nothing myself + just now I have no difficulty in falling in with this + arrangement. + +During his stay at Reinerz he gave also a concert on behalf of two +orphans who had come with their sick mother to this watering-place, and +at her death were left so poor as to be unable even to pay the funeral +expenses and to return home with the servant who took care of them. + +From Reinerz Frederick went to Strzyzewo, the property of Madame +Wiesiolowska, his godmother, and sister of his godfather, Count +Frederick Skarbek. While he was spending here the rest of his holidays, +he took advantage of an invitation he had received from Prince Radziwill +(governor of the grand duchy of Posen, and, through his wife, a daughter +of Prince Ferdinand, related to the royal family of Prussia) to visit +him at his country-seat Antonin, which was not very far from Strzyzewo. +The Prince, who had many relations in Poland, and paid frequent visits +to that country, must on these occasions have heard of and met with the +musical prodigy that was the pet of the aristocracy. Moreover, it is +on record that he was present at the concert at Warsaw in 1825 at +which Frederick played. We have already considered and disposed of the +question whether the Prince, as has been averred by Liszt, paid for +young Chopin's education. As a dilettante Prince Radziwill occupied a +no less exalted position in art and science than as a citizen and +functionary in the body politic. To confine ourselves to music, he was +not only a good singer and violoncellist, but also a composer; and in +composition he did not confine himself to songs, duets, part-songs, and +the like, but undertook the ambitious and arduous task of writing music +to the first part of Goethe's Faust. By desire of the Court the Berlin +Singakademie used to bring this work to a hearing once every year, and +they gave a performance of it even as late as 1879. An enthusiastic +critic once pronounced it to be among modern works one of those that +evince most genius. The vox populi seems to have repealed this judgment, +or rather never to have taken cognisance of the case, for outside Berlin +the work has not often been heard. Dr. Langhans wrote to me after the +Berlin performance in 1879:-- + + I heard yesterday Radziwill's Faust for the first time, and, + I may add, with much satisfaction; for the old-fashioned + things to be found in it (for instance, the utilisation of + Mozart's C minor Quartet fugue as overture, the strictly + polyphonous treatment of the choruses, &c.) are abundantly + compensated for by numerous traits of genius, and by the + thorough knowledge and the earnest intention with which the + work is conceived and executed. He dares incredible things in + the way of combining speech and song. That this combination + is an inartistic one, on that point we are no doubt at one, + but what he has effected by this means is nevertheless in the + highest degree remarkable.... + +By-and-by Chopin will pay the Prince a longer visit, and then we shall +learn what he thought of Faust, and how he enjoyed himself at this +nobleman's house. + +Chopin's studies at the Lyceum terminated in the year 1827. Through his +final examination, however, he did not pass so brilliantly as through +his previous ones; this time he carried off no prize. The cause of this +falling-off is not far to seek; indeed, has already been hinted at. +Frederick's inclination and his successes as a pianist and composer, +and the persuasions of Elsner and other musical friends, could not +but lessen and at last altogether dispel any doubts and misgivings the +parents may at first have harboured. And whilst in consequence of this +change of attitude they became less exacting with their son in the +matter of school-work, the latter, feeling the slackening of the reins, +would more and more follow his natural bent. The final examination was +to him, no doubt, a kind of manumission which freed him from the last +remnant of an oppressive bondage. Henceforth, then, Chopin could, +unhindered by disagreeable tasks or other obstacles, devote his whole +time and strength to the cultivation of his chosen art. First, however, +he spent now, as in the preceding year, some weeks with his friends +in Strzyzewo, and afterwards travelled to Danzig, where he visited +Superintendent von Linde, a brother of the rector of the Warsaw Lyceum. + +Chopin was fond of listening to the singing and fiddling of the country +people; and everyone acquainted with the national music of Poland as +well as with the composer's works knows that he is indebted to it +for some of the most piquant rhythmic, melodic, and even harmonic +peculiarities of his style. These longer stays in the country would +offer him better opportunities for the enjoyment and study of this land +of music than the short excursions which he occasionally made with his +father into the neighbourhood of Warsaw. His wonder always was who +could have composed the quaint and beautiful strains of those mazurkas, +polonaises, and krakowiaks, and who had taught these simple men and +women to play and sing so truly in tune. The conditions then existing +in Poland were very favourable to the study of folk-lore of any kind. +Art-music had not yet corrupted folk-music; indeed, it could hardly be +said that civilisation had affected the lower strata of society at +all. Notwithstanding the emancipation of the peasants in 1807, and the +confirmation of this law in 1815--a law which seems to have remained +for a long time and in a great measure a dead letter--the writer of an +anonymous book, published at Boston in 1834, found that the freedom of +the wretched serfs in Russian Poland was much the same as that of their +cattle, they being brought up with as little of human cultivation; nay, +that the Polish peasant, poor in every part of the country, was of all +the living creatures he had met with in this world or seen described +in books, the most wretched. From another publication we learn that the +improvements in public instruction, however much it may have benefited +the upper classes, did not affect the lowest ones: the parish schools +were insufficient, and the village schools not numerous enough. But the +peasants, although steeped in superstition and ignorance, and too much +addicted to brandy-drinking with its consequences--quarrelsomeness and +revengefulness--had not altogether lost the happier features of their +original character--hospitality, patriotism, good-naturedness, and, +above all, cheerfulness and love of song and dance. It has been said +that a simple Slavonic peasant can be enticed by his national songs +from one end of the world to the other. The delight which the Slavonic +nations take in dancing seems to be equally great. No other nation, +it has been asserted, can compare with them in ardent devotion to +this amusement. Moreover, it is noteworthy that song and dance were in +Poland--as they were of course originally everywhere--intimately +united. Heine gives a pretty description of the character of the Polish +peasant:-- + + It cannot be denied [he writes] that the Polish peasant has + often more head and heart than the German peasant in some + districts. Not infrequently did I find in the meanest Pole + that original wit (not Gemuthswitz, humour) which on every + occasion bubbles forth with wonderful iridescence, and that + dreamy sentimental trait, that brilliant flashing of an + Ossianic feeling for nature whose sudden outbreaks on + passionate occasions are as involuntary as the rising of the + blood into the face. + +The student of human nature and its reflex in art will not call these +remarks a digression; at least, not one deserving of censure. + +We may suppose that Chopin, after his return to Warsaw and during the +following winter, and the spring and summer of 1828, continued his +studies with undiminished and, had this been possible, with redoubled +ardour. Some of his compositions that came into existence at this time +were published after his death by his friend Julius Fontana, who was a +daily visitor at his parents' house. We have a Polonaise (D minor) and a +Nocturne (E minor) of 1827, and another Polonaise (B flat) and the Rondo +for two pianos of 1828. The Sonata, Op. 4, and La ci darem la mano, +varie for pianoforte, with orchestral accompaniments, belong also to +this time. The Trio (Op. 8), although not finished till 1829, was begun +and considerably advanced in 1828. Several of the above compositions are +referred to in a letter written by him on September 9, 1828, to one +of his most intimate friends, Titus Woyciechowski. The Rondo in C had +originally a different form and was recast by him for two pianos at +Strzyzewo, where he passed the whole summer of 1828. He tried it +with Ernemann, a musician living in Warsaw, at the warehouse of the +pianoforte-manufacturer Buchholtz, and was pretty well pleased with his +work. + + We intend to play it some day at the Ressource. As to my new + compositions, I have nothing to show except the as yet + unfinished Trio (G minor), which I began after your + departure. The first Allegro I have already tried with + accompaniment. It appears to me that this trio will have the + same fate as my sonata and the variations. Both works are now + in Vienna; the first I have, as a pupil of Elsner's, + dedicated to him, and on the second I have placed (perhaps + too boldly) your name. I followed in this the impulse of my + heart and you will not take it unkindly. + +The opportunities which Warsaw offered being considered insufficient for +the completion of his artistic education, ways and means were discussed +as to how his wants could be best provided for. The upshot of the +discussions was the project of excursions to Berlin and Vienna. As, +however, this plan was not realised till the autumn of 1828, and +no noteworthy incidents or interesting particulars concerning the +intervening period of his life have become known, I shall utilise this +break in the narrative by trying my hand at a slight sketch of that +terra incognita, the history of music in Poland, more particularly the +history of the musical life in Warsaw, shortly before and in Chopin's +time. I am induced to undertake this task by the consideration that a +knowledge of the means of culture within the reach of Chopin during his +residence in the Polish capital is indispensable if we wish to form a +clear and complete idea of the artist's development, and that such +a knowledge will at the same time help us to understand better the +contents of some of the subsequent portions of this work. Before, +however, I begin a new chapter and with it the above-mentioned sketch, I +should like to advert to a few other matters. + +The reader may perhaps already have asked the question--What was Chopin +like in his outward appearance? As I have seen a daguerreotype from a +picture painted when he was seventeen, I can give some sort of answer to +this question. Chopin's face was clearly and finely cut, especially +the nose with its wide nostrils; the forehead was high, the eyebrows +delicate, the lips thin, and the lower one somewhat protruding. For +those who know A. Bovy's medallion I may add that the early portrait is +very like it; only, in the latter, the line formed by the lower jawbone +that runs from the chin towards the ear is more rounded, and the whole +has a more youthful appearance. As to the expression, it is not only +meditative but even melancholy. This last point leads me naturally to +another question. The delicate build of Chopin's body, his early death +preceded by many years of ill-health, and the character of his music, +have led people into the belief that from childhood he was always sickly +in body, and for the most part also melancholy in disposition. But as +the poverty and melancholy, so also disappears on closer investigation +the sickliness of the child and youth. To jump, however, from this to +the other extreme, and assert that he enjoyed vigorous health, would be +as great a mistake. Karasowski, in his eagerness to controvert Liszt, +although not going quite this length, nevertheless overshoots the mark. +Besides it is a misrepresentation of Liszt not to say that the passage +excerpted from his book, and condemned as not being in accordance with +the facts of the case, is a quotation from G. Sand's novel Lucrezia +Floriani (of which more will be said by-and-by), in which the authoress +is supposed, although this was denied by her, to have portrayed Chopin. +Liszt is a poet, not a chronicler; he must be read as such, and not +be taken au pied de la lettre. However, even Karasowski, in whom one +notices a perhaps unconscious anxiety to keep out of sight anything +which might throw doubt on the health and strength of his hero, is +obliged to admit that Chopin was "delicate," although he hastens to +add, "but nevertheless healthy and pretty strong." It seems to me +that Karasowski makes too much of the statement of a friend of +Chopin's--namely, that the latter was, up to manhood, only once ill, and +then with nothing worse than a cold. Indeed, in Karasowski's narrative +there are not wanting indications that the health of Chopin cannot have +been very vigorous; nor his strength have amounted to much; for in one +place we read that the youth was no friend of long excursions on foot, +and preferred to lie down and dream under beautiful trees; in another +place, that his parents sent him to Reinerz and some years afterwards +to Vienna, because they thought his studies had affected his health, +and that rest and change of air and scene would restore his strength. +Further, we are told that his mother and sisters never tired of +recommending him to wrap up carefully in cold and wet weather, and +that, like a good son and brother, he followed their advice. Lastly, +he objected to smoking. Some of the items of this evidence are very +trivial, but taken collectively they have considerable force. Of greater +significance are the following additional items. Chopin's sister Emilia +was carried off at the age of fourteen by pulmonary disease, and his +father, as a physician informed me, died of a heart and chest complaint. +Stephen Heller, who saw Chopin in 1830 in Warsaw, told me that the +latter was then in delicate health, thin and with sunken cheeks, and +that the people of Warsaw said that he could not live long, but would, +like so many geniuses, die young. The real state of the matter seems +to me to have been this. Although Chopin in his youth was at no time +troubled with any serious illness, he enjoyed but fragile health, and if +his frame did not alreadv contain the seeds of the disease to which he +later fell a prey, it was a favourable soil for their reception. +How easily was an organisation so delicately framed over-excited and +disarranged! Indeed, being vivacious, active, and hard-working, as he +was, he lived on his capital. The fire of youth overcame much, not, +however, without a dangerous waste of strength, the lamentable results +of which we shall see before we have gone much farther. This statement +of the case we find, I think, confirmed by Chopin's correspondence--the +letter written at Reinerz is in this respect noteworthy. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + + +MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN POLAND BEFORE AND IN CHOPIN'S TIME. + + + +THE golden age of Polish music, which coincides with that of Polish +literature, is the sixteenth century, the century of the Sigismonds. The +most remarkable musician of that time, and probably the greatest that +Poland produced previous to the present century, was Nicolas Gomolka, +who studied music in Italy, perhaps under Palestrina, in whose style +he wrote. Born in or about the beginning of the second half of the +sixteenth century, he died on March 5, 1609. During the reigns of the +kings of the house of Saxony (1697-1763) instrumental music is said +to have made much progress. Be this as it may, there was no lack of +opportunities to study good examples. Augustus the Strong (I. of +Saxony and II of Poland) established a special Polish band, called, +in contradistinction to the Grosse Kammermusik (Great Chamber-band) in +Dresden, Kleine Kammermusik (Little Chamber-band), whose business it was +to be in attendance when his majesty went to Poland. These visits took +place usually once a year, and lasted from, August to December, but +sometimes were more frequent, and shorter or longer, just as occasion +might call for. Among the members of the Polish band--which consisted +of a leader (Premier), four violins, one oboe, two French horns, three +bassoons, and one double bass--we meet with such well-known men as +Johann Joachim Quanz and Franz Benda. Their conductor was Alberto +Ristori, who at the same time held the post of composer to the Italian +actors, a company that, besides plays, performed also little operas, +serenades, intermezzi, &c. The usual retinue of the King on his visits +to Poland included also a part of the French ballet and comedy. These +travels of the artistic forces must have been rich in tragic, comic, and +tragi-comic incidents, and would furnish splendid material for the pen +of a novelist. But such a journey from the Saxon capital to Warsaw, +which took about eight days, and cost on an average from 3,000 to +3,500 thalers (450 to 525 pounds), was a mere nothing compared with the +migration of a Parisian operatic company in May, 1700. The ninety-three +members of which it was composed set out in carriages and drove by +Strasburg to Ulm, there they embarked and sailed to Cracow, whence the +journey was continued on rafts. [FOOTNOTE: M. Furstenau, Zur Geschichte +der Music und des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden.] So much for artistic +tours at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Frederick Augustus (II +of Saxony and III of Poland, 1733-1763) dissolved the Polish band, and +organised a similar body which was destined solely for Poland, and was +to be resident there. It consisted in 1753 of an organist, two singers, +twenty instrumentalists (almost all Germans), and a band-servant, their +salary amounting to 5,383 thalers, 10 groschen (a little more than 805 +pounds). Notwithstanding this new arrangement, the great Dresden band +sometimes accompanied the King to Poland, and when it did not, some of +its members at least had to be in attendance for the performance of the +solos at the chamber concerts and in the operas. Also such singers, male +and female, as were required for the operas proposed for representation +had to take to the road. Hasse and his wife Faustina came several times +to Poland. That the constellation of the Dresden musical establishment, +in its vocal as well as instrumental department, was one of the most +brilliant imaginable is sufficiently proved by a glance at the names +which we meet with in 1719: Lotti, Heinichen, Veracini, Volumier, +Senesino, Tesi, Santa Stella Lotti, Durastanti, &c. Rousseau, writing in +1754, calls the Dresden orchestra the first in Europe. And Burney says +in 1772 that the instrumental performers had been some time previously +of the first class. No wonder, then, if the visits of such artists +improved the instrumental music of Poland. + +From Sowinski's Les Musiciens Polonais we learn that on great occasions +the King's band was reinforced by those of Prince Czartoryski and Count +Wielhorski, thus forming a body of 100 executants. This shows that +outside the King's band good musicians were to be found in Poland. +Indeed, to keep in their service private bands of native and foreign +singers and players was an ancient custom among the Polish magnates; it +obtained for a long time, and had not yet died out at the beginning of +this century. From this circumstance, however, we must not too rashly +conclude that these wealthy noblemen were all animated by artistic +enthusiasm. Ostentatiousness had, I am afraid, more to do with it than +love of art for art's sake. Music was simply one of the indispensable +departments of their establishments, in the splendour and vastness of +which they tried to outdo each other and vie with sovereign rulers. The +promiscuous enumeration of musicians, cooks, footmen, &c., in the lady's +description of a nobleman's court which I referred to in the proem, +is in this respect very characteristic. Towards the middle of the last +century Prince Sanguszko, who lived at Dubno, in Volhynia, had in his +service no less than two bands, to which was sometimes joined a third +belonging to Prince Lubomirski. But, it will be asked, what music did +they play? An author of Memoirs of the reign of Augustus III tells us +that, according to the Polish fashion, they had during meal-times +to play national airs, polonaises, mazurkas, &c., arranged for +wind-instruments, with or without violins. For special occasions the +Prince got a new kind of music, then much in favour--viz., a band of +mountaineers playing on flutes and drums. And while the guests were +sitting at the banquet, horns, trumpets, and fifes sounded fanfares. +Besides the ordinary and extraordinary bands, this exalted personage +had among his musical retainers a drummer who performed solos on his +instrument. One is glad to learn that when the Prince was alone or had +little company, he took delight in listening to trios for two violins +and bass, it being then the fashion to play such ensemble pieces. Count +Ilinski, the father of the composer John Stanislas Ilinski, engaged for +his private theatre two companies, one from Germany and one from Italy. +The persons employed in the musical department of his household numbered +124. The principal band, conducted by Dobrzyrnski pere, a good violinist +and conductor, consisted of four violins, one viola, one violoncello, +one double bass, one flute, one oboe, one clarinet, and one bassoon. +Villagers were trained by these players to assist them. Then there +was yet another band, one of wind instruments, under the direction of +Karelli, a pupil of the Russian composer Bartnianski [Footnote: The +Russian Palestrina, whose name is oftener met with in the forms of +Bortnianski and Bortniansky]. The chorus was composed of twenty four +voices, picked from the young people on Count Ilinski's estates. However +questionable the taste of many of these noble art patrons may have been, +there were not wanting some who cultivated music with a purer spirit. +Some of the best bands were those of the Princes D. Radziwill, Adam +Czartoryski, F. Sulkowski, Michael Lubomirski, Counts Ilinski, Oginski, +and Wielhorski. Our inquiry into the cultivation of music at the courts +of the Polish magnates has carried us beyond the point we had reached in +our historical survey. Let us now retrace our steps. + +The progress of music above spoken of was arrested by the anarchy and +the civil and other wars that began to rage in Poland with such fury in +the middle of the last century. King Stanislas Poniatowski (1764-1795) +is credited with having exercised great influence on the music of +Poland; at any rate, he patronised the arts and sciences right royally. +The Italian opera at Warsaw cannot have been of mean standing, seeing +that artists such as the composers Paisiello and Cimarosa, and the great +violinist, composer, and conductor Pugnani, with his pupil Viotti (the +latter playing second violin in the orchestra), were members of the +company. And the King's band of foreign and native players has been +called one of the best in Europe. Still, all this was but the hothouse +bloom of exotics. To bring about a natural harvest of home produce +something else was wanted than royal patronage, and this something +sprang from the series of disasters that befell the nation in the latter +half of the last century, and by shaking it to its very heart's core +stirred up its nobler self. As in literature, so in music, the national +element came now more and more into action and prominence. + +Up to 1778 there had been heard in Poland only Italian and French +operas; in this year, for the first time, a Polish opera was put on +the stage. It is true the beginning was very modest. The early attempts +contained few ensemble pieces, no choruses, and no complex finales. But +a new art does not rise from the mind of a nation as Minerva is said to +have risen from the head of Jupiter. Nay, even the fact that the first +three composers of Polish operas (Kamienski, Weynert, and Kajetani) were +not Poles, but foreigners endeavouring to write in the Polish style, +does not destroy the significance of the movement. The following +statistics will, no doubt, take the reader by surprise:--From the +foundation of the national Polish opera in 1778 till April 20, 1859, +5,917 performances of 285 different operas with Polish words took place +in Poland. Of these 92 were national Polish operas, the remaining 193 by +Italian, French, and German composers; 1,075 representations being given +of the former, 4,842 of the latter. The libretti of 41 of the 92 Polish +operas were originals, the other 51 were translations. And, lastly, the +majority of the 16 musicians who composed the 92 Polish operas were not +native Poles, but Czechs, Hungarians, and Germans [FOOTNOTE: Ladislas +von Trocki, Die Entwickelung der Oper in Polen. (Leipzig, 1867.)] + +A step hardly less important than the foundation of a national opera was +the formation, in 1805, of a Musical Society, which had for its object +the improvement as well as the amusement of its members. The idea, which +originated in the head of one of the Prussian officials then in Warsaw, +finding approval, and the pecuniary supplies flowing in abundantly, the +Oginski Palace was rented and fitted up, two masters were engaged for +the teaching of solo and choral singing, and a number of successful +concerts were given. The chief promoters seem to have been Count +Krasinski and the two Prussian officials Mosqua and E. Th. A. Hoffmann. +In the last named the reader will recognise the famous author of +fantastic tales and of no less fantastic musical criticisms, the +conductor and composer of operas and other works, &c. According to his +biographer, J. E. Hitzig, Hoffmann did not take much interest in the +proceedings of the Musical Ressource (that was the name of the society) +till it bought the Mniszech Palace, a large building, which, having been +damaged by fire, had to undergo extensive repairs. Then, indeed, he +set to work with a will, planned the arrangement and fitting-up of the +rooms, designed and partly painted the decorations--not without freely +indulging his disposition for caricature--and when all was ready, on +August 3, 1806 (the King of Prussia's birthday), conducted the first +concert in the splendid new hall. The activity of the society was great, +and must have been beneficial; for we read that they had every Sunday +performances of quartets and other kinds of chamber music, that ladies +frequently came forward with pianoforte sonatas, and that when the +celebrated violinist Moser, of Berlin, visited Warsaw, he made them +acquainted with the finest quartets of Mozart and Haydn. Still, I should +not have dwelt so long on the doings of the Musical Ressource were it +not that it was the germ of, or at least gave the impulse to, even more +influential associations and institutions that were subsequently founded +with a view to the wider diffusion and better cultivation of the musical +art in Poland. After the battle of Jena the French were not long in +making their appearance in Warsaw, whereby an end was put to Prussia's +rule there, and her officials were sent about, or rather sent out of, +their business. Thus the Musical Ressource lost many of its members, +Hoffmann and Mosqua among others. Still, it survived, and was +reconstructed with more national elements. In Frederick Augustus of +Saxony's reign it is said to have been transformed into a school of +singing. + +The year 1815 brought into existence two musical institutions that +deserve to be noticed--society for the cultivation of church music, +which met at the College of the Pianists, and had at its head Count +Zabiello as president and Elsner as conductor; and an association, +organised by the last-named musician, and presided over by the Princess +Sophia Zamoyska, which aimed at the advancement of the musical art in +Poland, and provided for the education of music teachers for schools, +organists for churches, and singers for the stage. Although I try to +do my best with the unsatisfactory and often contradictory newspaper +reports and dictionary articles from which I have to draw my data, I +cannot vouch for the literal correctness of my notes. In making use of +Sowinski's work I am constantly reminded of Voltaire's definition of +dictionaries: "Immenses archives de mensonges et d'un peu de verite." +Happy he who need not consult them! In 1816 Elsner was entrusted by the +minister Staszyc with the direction of a school of dramatic singing and +recitation; and in 1821, to crown all previous efforts, a conservatorium +was opened, the programme of which might almost have satisfied a +Berlioz. The department of instrumental music not only comprised +sections for the usual keyed, stringed, and wind instruments, but also +one for instruments of percussion. Solo and choral singing were to be +taught with special regard to dramatic expression. Besides these and the +theoretical branches of music, the curriculum included dancing, Polish +literature, French, and Italian. After reading the programme it is +superfluous to be informed that the institution was chiefly intended for +the training of dramatic artists. Elsner, who was appointed director, +selected the teaching staff, with one exception, however, that of the +first singing-master, for which post the Government engaged the composer +Carlo Evasio Soliva, a pupil of Asioli and Frederici. + +The musical taste and culture prevailing in Poland about 1819 is pretty +accurately described by a German resident at Cracow. So far as music was +concerned Poland had hitherto been ignored by the rest of Europe, and +indeed could lay no claim to universal notice in this respect. But the +improved culture and greater insight which some had acquired in foreign +lands were good seeds that began to bear fruit. As yet, however, the +greater part of the public took little or no interest in the better +class of music, and was easily pleased and satisfied with polonaises, +mazurkas, and other trivial things. In fact, the music in Cracow, +notwithstanding the many professional musicians and amateurs living +there, was decidedly bad, and not comparable to the music in many a +small German town. In Warsaw, where the resources were more plentiful, +the state of music was of course also more prosperous. Still, as late +as 1815 we meet with the complaint that what was chiefly aimed at in +concerts was the display of virtuosity, and that grand, serious works +were neglected, and complete symphonies rarely performed. To remedy this +evil, therefore, 150 amateurs combined and organised in 1818 a concert +institution. Their concerts took place once a week, and at every meeting +a new and entire symphony, an overture, a concerto, an aria, and +a finale, were performed. The names of Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, +Cherubini, Spohr, Mehul, Romberg, &c., were to be found on their +programmes. Strange to say, there were no less than seven conductors: +Lessel, Lentz, Wurfel, Haase, Javurek, Stolpe, and Peschke, all good +musicians. The orchestra consisted in part of amateurs, who were +most numerous among the violins, tenors, and violoncellos. The solo +department seems to have been well stocked. To confine ourselves to one +instrument, they could pride themselves on having four excellent +lady pianists, one of whom distinguished herself particularly by +the wonderful dexterity with which she played the most difficult +compositions of Beethoven, Field, Ries, and Dussek. Another good sign +of the improving taste was a series of twenty-four matinees given +on Sundays from twelve to two during the winter of 1818-1819 by Carl +Arnold, and much patronised by the highest nobility. The concert-giver, +a clever pianist and composer, who enjoyed in his day a good reputation +in Germany, Russia, and Poland, produced at every matinee a new +pianoforte concerto by one of the best composers--sometimes one of +his own--and was assisted by the quartet party of Bielawski, a good +violinist, leader in the orchestra, and professor at the Conservatorium. +Although Arnold's stay was not of long duration, his departure did not +leave the town without good pianists. Indeed, it is a mistake to suppose +that Warsaw was badly off with regard to musicians. This will be evident +to the reader as soon as I have named some of those living there in +the time of Chopin. Wenzel W. Wurfel, one of the professors at the +Conservatorium, who stayed in Warsaw from 1815 to 1824, and afterwards +went to Vienna, where he became conductor at the Karnthnerthor Theater, +was an esteemed pianist and composer, and frequently gave concerts, at +one of which he played Field's Concerto in C. + +[FOOTNOTE: Wenzel Wilhelm Wurfel, in most dictionaries called Wilhelm +Wurfel (exceptions are: E. Bernsdorf's "Neues Universal-Lexikon +der Tonkunst", and Dr. Hugo Riemann's "Opern-Handbuch"). A Warsaw +correspondent of a German musical paper called him Waclaw Wurfel. In +Whistling's "Handbuch der musikalischen Literatur" his Christian names +are only indicated by initials--W. W.] + +If we scan the list of professors at the Conservatorium we find other +musicians whose reputation was not confined to the narrow limits of +Warsaw or even Poland. There was, for instance, the pianist and +composer Franz Lessel, the favourite pupil of Haydn; and, further, that +interesting character Heinrich Gerhard Lentz, who, born and educated at +Cologne, went in 1784 to Paris, played with success his first concerto +at the Concert Spirituel, published some of his compositions and taught +in the best families, arrived in London in 1791, lived in friendly +intercourse with Clementi and Haydn, and had compositions of his +performed at Solomon's concerts, returned to Germany in 1795, stayed +with Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia till Dussek supplanted him, and +so, wandering about, reached Warsaw, where he gave lessons, founded +a pianoforte manufactory, became professor of the organ at the +Conservatorium, married twice, and died in 1839. The only other +professor at the Conservatorium about whom I shall say a few words is C. +E. Soliva, whose name and masters I have already mentioned. Of his works +the opera "La testa di bronzo" is the best known. I should have said +"was," for nobody now knows anything of his. That loud, shallow talker +Count Stendhal, or, to give him his real name, Marie Henry Beyle, heard +it at Milan in 1816, when it was first produced. He had at first some +difficulty in deciding whether Soliva showed himself in that opera a +plagiarist of Mozart or a genius. Finally he came to the conclusion +that-- + + there is in it a warmth, a dramatic life, and a strength in + all its effects, which are decidedly not in the style of + Mozart. But Soliva, who is a young man and full of the + warmest admiration for Mozart, has imbibed certain tints of + his colouring. +The rest is too outrageously ridiculous to be quoted. Whatever Beyle's +purely literary merits and his achievements in fiction may be, I quite +agree with Berlioz, who remarks, a propos of this gentleman's Vie de +Rossini, that he writes "les plus irritantes stupidites sur la musique, +dont il croyait avoir le secret." To which cutting dictum may be added +a no less cutting one of M. Lavoix fils, who, although calling Beyle +an "ecrivain d'esprit," applies to him the appellation of "fanfaron +d'ignorance en musique." I would go a step farther than either of these +writers. Beyle is an ignorant braggart, not only in music, but in art +generally, and such esprit as his art criticisms exhibit would be even +more common than it unfortunately now is, if he were oftener equalled +in conceit and arrogance. The pillorying of a humbug is so laudable an +object that the reader will excuse the digression, which, moreover, may +show what miserable instruments a poor biographer has sometimes to +make use of. Another informant, unknown to fame, but apparently more +trustworthy, furnishes us with an account of Soliva in Warsaw. The +writer in question disapproves of the Italian master's drill-method in +teaching singing, and says that as a composer his power of invention +was inferior to his power of construction; and, further, that he was +acquainted with the scores of the best musicians of all times, and an +expert in accompanying on the pianoforte. As Elsner, Zywny, and the +pianist and composer Javurek have already been introduced to the reader, +I shall advert only to one other of the older Warsaw musicians--namely, +Charles Kurpinski, the most talented and influential native composer +then living in Poland. To him and Elsner is chiefly due the progress +which Polish music made in the first thirty years of this century. +Kurpinski came to Warsaw in 1810, was appointed second conductor at +the National Opera-house, afterwards rose to the position of first +conductor, was nominated maitre de chapelle de la cour de Varsovie, was +made a Knight of the St. Stanislas Order, &c. He is said to have learnt +composition by diligently studying Mozart's scores, and in 1811 began to +supply the theatre with dramatic works. Besides masses, symphonies, +&c., he composed twenty-four operas, and published also some theoretical +works and a sketch of the history of the Polish opera. Kurpinski was +by nature endowed with fine musical qualities, uniting sensibility and +energy with easy productivity. Chopin did homage to his distinguished +countryman in introducing into his Grande Fantaisie sur des airs +polonais, Op. 13, a theme of Kurpinski's. Two younger men, both born in +1800, must yet be mentioned to compete the picture. One of them, Moritz +Ernemann, a pupil of Mendelssohn's pianoforte-master, L. Berger, +played with success in Poland and Germany, and has been described by +contemporaries as a finished and expressive, but not brilliant, pianist. +His pleasing compositions are of an instructive and mildly-entertaining +character. The other of the two was Joseph Christoph Kessler, a musician +of very different mettle. After studying philosophy in Vienna, and +composing at the house of Count Potocki in Lemberg his celebrated +Etudes, Op. 20 (published at Vienna, reprinted at Paris, recommended +by Kalkbrenner in his Methode, quoted by Fetis and Moscheles in their +Methode des Methodes, and played in part by Liszt at his concerts), +he tried in 1829 his luck in Warsaw. Schumann thought (in 1835) that +Kessler had the stuff in him to do something great, and always looked +forward with expectation to what he would yet accomplish. Kessler's +studies might be dry, but he was assuredly a "Mann von Geist und sogar +poetischem Geist." He dedicated his twenty-four Preludes, Op. 31, to +Chopin, and Chopin his twenty-four Preludes, Op. 28, to him--that is to +say, the German edition. + +By this time the reader must have found out that Warsaw was not such a +musical desert as he may at first have imagined. Perfect renderings +of great orchestral works, it is true, seem to have been as yet +unattainable, and the performances of operas failed likewise to satisfy +a pure and trained taste. Nay, in 1822 it was even said that the opera +was getting worse. But when the fruits of the Conservatorium had had +time to ripen and could be gathered in, things would assume a more +promising aspect. Church music, which like other things had much +deteriorated, received a share of the attention which in this century +was given to the art. The best singing was in the Piarist and University +churches. In the former the bulk of the performers consisted of +amateurs, who, however, were assisted by members of the opera. They sang +Haydn's masses best and oftenest. In the other church the executants +were students and professors, Elsner being the conductor. Besides these +choirs there existed a number of musical associations in connection with +different churches in Warsaw. Indeed, it cannot be doubted that great +progress was made in the first thirty years of this century, and had +it not been for the unfortunate insurrection of 1830, Poland would +have succeeded in producing a national art and taking up an honourable +position among the great musical powers of Europe, whereas now it can +boast only of individual artists of more or less skill and originality. +The musical events to which the death of the Emperor Alexander I. +gave occasion in 1826, show to some extent the musical capabilities +of Warsaw. On one day a Requiem by Kozlowski (a Polish composer, then +living in St. Petersburg; b. 1757, d. 1831), with interpolations of +pieces by other composers, was performed in the Cathedral by two hundred +singers and players under Soliva. On another day Mozart's Requiem, +with additional accompaniments by Kurpinski (piccolos, flutes, oboes, +clarinets, and horns to the Dies irae and Sanctus; harps to the Hostias +and Benedictus; and a military brass-band to the closing chorus!!!), was +given in the same place by two hundred and fifty executants under +the last-mentioned musician. And in the Lutheran church took place a +performance of Elsner's Requiem for male voices, violoncellos, bassoons, +horns, trumpets, trombones, and drums. + +Having made the reader acquainted with the musical sphere in which +Chopin moved, I shall take up the thread of the narrative where I left +it, and the reader may follow without fear of being again detained by so +long an interruption. + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +Fourteen days in Berlin (From September 14 to 28, 1828).--Return by +Posen (Prince Radziwill) and Zullichau (anecdotes) to Warsaw.--Chopin's +doings there in the following winter and spring.--his home-life, +companions, and preparations for a journey to Vienna. + + +Chopin, leaving his apprenticeship behind him, was now entering on that +period of his life which we may call his Wanderjahre (years of travel). +This change in his position and circumstances demands a simultaneous +change in the manner of the biographical treatment. Hitherto we have +been much occupied with the agencies that made and moulded the man, +henceforth we shall fix our main attention on his experiences, actions, +and utterances. The materials at our disposal become now more abundant +and more trustworthy. Foremost in importance among them, up to Chopin's +arrival in Paris, are the letters he wrote at that time, the publication +of which we owe to Karasowski. As they are, however, valuable only +as chronicles of the writer's doings and feelings, and not, like +Mendelssohn's and Berlioz's, also as literary productions, I shall, +whilst fully availing myself of the information they contain, confine my +quotations from them to the characteristic passages. + +Chopin's long-projected and much-desired visit to Berlin came about in +this way. In 1828 Frederick William III of Prussia requested the Berlin +University to invite the most eminent natural philosophers to take part +in a congress to be held in that city under the presidency of Alexander +von Humboldt. Nicholas Chopin's friend Dr. Jarocki, the zoologist and +professor at the Warsaw University, who had studied and obtained his +degree at Berlin, was one of those who were honoured with an invitation. +The favourable opportunity which thus presented itself to the +young musician of visiting in good company one of the centres of +civilisation--for the professor intended to comply with the invitation, +and was willing to take his friend's son under his wing--was not allowed +to slip by, on the contrary, was seized eagerly. With what feelings, +with what an infinitude of youthful hopes and expectations, Chopin +looked forward to this journey may be gathered from some expressions in +a letter of his (September 9, 1828) addressed to Titus Woyciechowski, +where he describes himself as being at the time of writing "like a +madman," and accounts for his madness by the announcement: "For I am +going to-day to Berlin." To appear in public as a pianist or composer +was not one of the objects he had in view. His dearest wishes were to +make the acquaintance of the musical celebrities of Berlin, and to +hear some really good music. From a promised performance of Spontini's +Ferdinand Cortez he anticipated great things. + +Professor Jarocki and Chopin left Warsaw on the 9th of September, 1828, +and after five days' posting arrived in Berlin, where they put up at +the Kronprinz. Among the conveniences of this hotel our friend had the +pleasant surprise of finding a good grand piano. He played on it every +day, and was rewarded for his pains not only by the pleasure it gave +him, but also by the admiration of the landlord. Through his travelling +companion's friend and teacher, M. H. K. Lichtenstein, professor of +zoology and director of the Zoological Museum, who was a member of +the Singakademie and on good terms with Zelter, the conductor of that +society, he hoped to be made acquainted with the most distinguished +musicians of the Prussian capital, and looked to Prince Radziwill for +an introduction to the musical autocrat Spontini, with whom Lichtenstein +was not on a friendly footing. In these hopes, however, Chopin was +disappointed, and had to content himself with looking at the stars from +afar. Speaking of a performance of the Singakademie at which he was +present, he says:-- + + Spontini, Zelter, and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy were also + there; but I spoke to none of these gentlemen, as I did not + think it becoming to introduce myself. + +It is not difficult to discover the circumstances that in this respect +caused matters to turn out so little in accordance with the young man's +wishes. Prince Radziwill was not in Berlin when Chopin arrived, and, +although he was expected, perhaps never came, or came too late to be +of any use. As to Lichtenstein, his time was too much taken up by his +duties as secretary to the congress. Had this not been so, the professor +could not only have brought the young artist in contact with many of +the musical celebrities in Berlin, but also have told him much about his +intimate friend Carl Maria von Weber, who had died little more than +two years before. Lichtenstein's connection with Weber was probably +the cause of his disagreement with Spontini, alluded to by Chopin. +The latter relates in an off-hand way that he was introduced to and +exchanged a few words with the editor of the Berliner Musikzeitung, +without mentioning that this was Marx. The great theorist had of course +then still to make his reputation. + +One cannot help wondering at the absence from Chopin's Berlin letters +of the name of Ludwig Berger, who, no doubt, like Bernhard Klein, +Rungenhagen, the brothers Ganz, and many another composer and virtuoso +in Berlin, was included in the collective expression "distinguished +musicians." But one would have thought that the personality of the pupil +of Clementi, the companion of A. Klengel, the friend of Steibelt, Field, +and Crotch, and the teacher of Mendelssohn and Taubert, would have +particularly interested a young pianist. Berger's compositions cannot +have been unknown to Chopin, who, moreover, must have heard of him from +his Warsaw acquaintance Ernemann. However, be this as it may, our friend +was more fortunate as regards hearing good music, which certainly was a +more important business than interviewing celebrities, often, alas, +so refrigerating in its effect on enthusiastic natures. Before his +departure from Warsaw Chopin wrote:--"It is much to hear a really good +opera, were it only once; it enables one to form an idea of what a +perfect performance is like." Although the most famous singers were +on leave of absence, he greatly enjoyed the performances of Spontini's +"Ferdinand Cortez", Cimarosa's "Die heimliche Eke" ("Il Matrimonio +segreto"), Onslow's "Der Hausirer" ("Le colporteur"), and Winter's "Das +unterbrochene Opferfest." Still, they gave rise to some "buts," which +he thought would be wholly silenced only in Paris; nay, one of the two +singers he liked best, Fraulein von Schatzel (Signora Tibaldi was +the other), reminded him by her omissions of chromatic scales even of +Warsaw. What, however, affected him more than anything else was Handel's +"Ode on St. Cecilia's Day," which he heard at the Singakademie; it came +nearest, he said, to the ideal of sublime music which he harboured in +his soul. A propos of another musical event he writes:-- + + To-morrow the "Freischutz" will be performed; this is the + fulfilment of my most ardent wish. When I hear it I shall be + able to make a comparison between the singers here and our + own. + +The "Freischutz" made its first appearance on the Warsaw stage in 1826, +and therefore was known to Chopin; whereas the other operas were either +unknown to him or were not considered decisive tests. + +Music and things connected with music, such as music-shops and +pianoforte-manufactories, took up Chopin's attention almost exclusively. +He declines with thanks the offer of a ticket for the meetings of the +congress:-- + + I should gain little or nothing for my mind from these + discussions, because I am too little of a savant; and, + moreover, the professional gentlemen might perhaps look at + me, the layman, and think: "How comes Saul among the + prophets?" + +Of the Royal Library, to which he went with Professor Jarocki, he has +no more to say than that "it is very large, but contains few musical +works"; and when he visits the Zoological Museum, he thinks all the time +what a bore it is, and how he would rather be at Schlesinger's, the best +music-shop in the town, and an enterprising publishing house. That +he neglects many things which educated men generally prize, he feels +himself, and expresses the fear that his father will reproach him with +one-sidedness. In his excuse he says:-- + + I have come to Berlin for my musical education, and the + library of Schlesinger, consisting of the most interesting + works of the composers of all countries and times, must + interest me more than any other collections. + +The words, he adds, add nothing to the strength of his argument. + + It is a comfort to think that I, too, shall yet come to + Schlesinger's, and that it is always good for a young man to + see much, as from everything something may be learnt. + +According to Karasowski, who reports, no doubt faithfully, what he has +heard, Chopin was so well versed in all the branches of science, which +he cultivated at the Lyceum, that all who knew him were astonished at +his attainments, and prognosticated for him a brilliant future. I am +afraid the only authorities for this statement were the parents, the +sisters, and other equally indiscriminately-admiring connections, who +often discover genius where it is hidden from the cold, unfeeling world +outside this sympathetic circle. Not that I would blame an amiable +weakness without which love, friendship, in short, happiness were +well-nigh impossible. Only a biographer who wishes to represent a man as +he really was, and not as he appeared to be to one or more individuals, +has to be on his guard against it. Let us grant at once that Chopin made +a good figure at the Lyceum--indeed, a quick-witted boy who found +help and encouragement at home (the secret of almost all successful +education) could hardly do otherwise. But from this to a master of all +the arts, to an admirable Crichton, is a great step. Where there is +genius there is inclination. Now, however well Chopin acquitted himself +of his school-tasks--and even therein you will remember a falling-off +was noticeable when outward pressure ceased--science and kindred +subjects were subsequently treated by him with indifference. The +thorough training which he received in general knowledge entirely failed +to implant in him the dispositions of a scholar or thinker. His nature +was perhaps a soil unfavourable to such growths, and certainly already +preoccupied by a vegetation the luxuriance of which excluded, dwarfed, +or crushed everything else. The truth of these remarks is proved +by Chopin's letters and his friends' accounts of his tastes and +conversation. In connection with this I may quote a passage from a +letter which Chopin wrote immediately before starting on his Berlin +trip. Jedrzejewicz, a gentleman who by-and-by became Chopin's +brother-in-law, and was just then staying in Paris, made there the +acquaintance of the Polish musician Sowinski. The latter hearing thus of +his talented countryman in Warsaw, and being co-editor with Fetis of the +"Revue musicale" (so at least we read in the letter in question, but +it is more likely that Sowinski was simply a contributor to the paper), +applied to him for a description of the state of music in Poland, and +biographical notes on the most celebrated executants and composers. Now +let us see what Chopin says in reference to this request. + + All these are things with which I have no intention to + meddle. I shall write to him from Berlin that this affair is + not in my line, and that, moreover, I cannot yet form a + judgment such as would be worthy of a Parisian journal, which + must contain only mature and competent opinions, &c. + +How much of this is self-knowledge, modesty, or disinclination, I leave +the reader to decide, who, no doubt, will smile at the young man's +innocence in imagining that Parisian, or, indeed, any journals +distinguish themselves generally by maturity and competence of judgment. + +At the time of the Berlin visit Chopin was a lively, well-educated, and +well-mannered youth, who walked through life pleased and amused with +its motley garb, but as yet unconscious of the deeper truths, and the +immensities of joy and sadness, of love and hate, that lie beneath. +Although the extreme youthfulness, nay boyishness, of the letters +written by him at that time, and for some time after, makes him appear +younger than he really was, the criticisms and witticisms on what is +going on around which they contain, show incontestably that he had +more than the usual share of clear and quick-sightedness. His power of +observation, however, was directed rather to dress, manners, and the +peculiarities and eccentricities of outward appearance generally, than +to the essentials which are not always indicated and are often hidden +by them. As to his wit, it had a decided tendency towards satire and +caricature. He notices the pleasing orderliness and cleanliness of the +otherwise not well-favoured surroundings of Berlin as he approaches, +considers the city itself too much extended for the number of its +inhabitants, of whom it could hold twice as many, is favourably +impressed by the fine large palace, the spacious well-built streets, +the picturesque bridges, and congratulates himself that he and his +fellow-traveller did not take lodgings in the broad but rather too +quiet Franzosische Strasse. Yes, our friend is fond of life and society. +Whether he thought man the proper study of mankind or not, as Pope +held, he certainly found it the most attractive. The passengers in the +stage-coach were to him so many personages of a comedy. There was an +advocate who tried to shine with his dull jokes, an agriculturist to +whom travelling had given a certain varnish of civilisation, and a +German Sappho who poured forth a stream of pretentious and at the same +time ludicrous complaints. The play unwittingly performed by these +unpaid actors was enjoyed by our friend with all the zest the feeling +of superiority can give. What a tragi-comical arrangement it is that +in this world of ours everybody is laughing at everybody else! The +scientists of the congress afforded Chopin an almost unlimited scope for +the exercise of his wit. Among them he found so many curious and various +specimens that he was induced not only to draw but also to classify +them. Having already previously sent home some sketches, he concludes +one of his letters with the words "the number of caricatures is +increasing." Indeed, there seems to have been only one among these +learned gentlemen who impressed him with a feeling of respect and +admiration--namely, Alexander von Humboldt. As Chopin's remarks on him +are the best part of his three Berlin letters, I shall quote them in +full. On seeing Von Humboldt at Lichtenstein's he writes:-- + + He is not above middle height, and his countenance cannot be + called beautiful; but the somewhat protruding, broad, and + well-moulded forehead, and the deep inquiring eye, announce + the all-embracing mind which animates this humane as well as + much-travelled savant. Humboldt spoke French, and as well as + his mother-tongue. + +One of the chief events of Chopin's visit to Berlin was, according to +his own account, his second dinner with the natural philosophers, which +took place the day before the close of the congress, and was very lively +and entertaining:-- + +Many appropriate songs were sung in which every one joined with more +or less energy. Zelter conducted; he had standing before him on a red +pedestal as a sign of his exalted musical dignity a large gilt goblet, +which seemed to give him much pleasure. On this day the food was much +better than usual. People say the natural philosophers had at their +meetings been specially occupied with the amelioration of roasts, +sauces, soups, and the like. + +"The Berliners are such an impertinent race," says Goethe, "that to keep +one's self above water one must have Haare auf den Zahnen, and at times +be rude." Such a judgment prepares one for much, but not for what Chopin +dares to say:-- + + Marylski [one of his Warsaw friends] has not the faintest + shadow of taste if he asserts that the ladies of Berlin dress + prettily. They deck themselves out, it is true; but it is a + pity for the fine stuffs which are cut up for such puppets! + +What blasphemy! + +After a fortnight's stay in the Prussian capital Professor Jarocki and +Chopin turned homeward on September 28, 1828. They did not, however, +go straight to Warsaw, but broke their journey at Posen, where they +remained two days "in gratiam of an invitation from Archbishop Wolicki." +A great part of the time he was at Posen he spent at the house of Prince +Radziwill, improvising and playing sonatas of Mozart, Beethoven, and +Hummel, either alone or with Capellmeister Klingohr. On October 6 the +travellers arrived in Warsaw, which Chopin was so impatient to reach +that the professor was prevailed upon to take post-horses from Lowicz. +Before I have done with this trip to Berlin I must relate an incident +which occurred at a stage between Frankfort on the Oder and Posen. + +On arriving at Zullichau our travellers were informed by the postmaster +that they would have to wait an hour for horses. This announcement +opened up an anything but pleasing prospect. The professor and +his companion did the best that could be done in these distressing +circumstances--namely, took a stroll through the small town, although +the latter had no amenities to boast of, and the fact of a battle having +been fought there between the Russians and Prussians in 1759 would +hardly fire their enthusiasm. Matters, however, became desperate when +on their return there was still neither sign nor sound of horses. Dr. +Jarocki comforted himself with meat and drink, but Chopin began to look +uneasily about him for something to while away the weariness of waiting. +His search was not in vain, for in an adjoining room he discovered an +old piano of unpromising appearance, which, on being opened and tried, +not only turned out to be better than it looked, but even in tune. Of +course our artist did not bethink himself long, but sat down at once, +and launched out into an improvisation on a Polish air. One of his +fellow-passengers, a German, and an inveterate smoker, attracted by the +music, stepped in, and was soon so wrapped up in it that he forgot even +his pipe. The other passengers, the postmaster, his buxom wife, and +their pretty daughters, came dropping in, one after the other. But when +this peaceful conventicle had for some time been listening silently, +devoutly, and admiringly, lo, they were startled by a stentorian voice +bawling into the room the words:--"Gentlemen, the horses are put in." +The postmaster, who was indignant at this untimely interruption, begged +the musician to continue. But Chopin said that they had already +waited too long, it was time to depart. Upon this there was a general +commotion; the mistress of the house solicited and cajoled, the young +ladies bashfully entreated with their eyes, and all pressed around the +artist and supported the request, the postmaster even offering extra +horses if Chopin would go on with his playing. Who could resist? Chopin +sat down again, and resumed his fantasia. When he had ended, a servant +brought in wine, the postmaster proposed as a toast "the favourite of +Polyhymnia," and one of the audience, an old musician, gave voice to his +feelings by telling the hero that, "if Mozart had heard you, he would +have shaken hands with you and exclaimed 'Bravo!' An insignificant +man like me dare not do that." After Chopin had played a mazurka as a +wind-up, the tall postmaster took him in his arms, carried him to the +coach--the pockets of which the ladies had already filled with wine and +eatables--and, bidding him farewell, said that as long as he lived he +would think with enthusiasm of Frederick Chopin. + +We can have no difficulty in believing the statement that in after-life +our artist recalled with pleasure this incident at the post-house of +Zullichau, and that his success among these unsophisticated people was +dearer to him than many a more brilliant one in the great world of art +and fashion. But, it may be asked, did all this happen in exactly the +same way in which it is told here? Gentle reader, let us not inquire too +curiously into this matter. Of course you have heard of myth-making and +legend-making. Well, anecdote-making is a process of a similar nature, a +process of accumulation and development. The only difference between the +process in the first two cases and that in the third is, that the former +is carried on by races, the latter by individuals. A seed-corn of fact +falls on the generous soil of the poetic imagination, and forthwith it +begins to expand, to sprout, and to grow into flower, shrub, or tree. +But there are well and ill-shapen plants, and monstrosities too. The +above anecdote is a specimen of the first kind. As a specimen of the +last kind may be instanced an undated anecdote told by Sikorski and +others. It is likewise illustrative of Chopin's power and love of +improvisation. The seed-corn of fact in the case seems to be that +one Sunday, when playing during divine service in the Wizytek Church, +Chopin, taking for his subjects some motives of the part of the Mass +that had just been performed, got so absorbed in his improvisation that +he entirely forgot all his surroundings, and turned a deaf ear to the +priest at the altar, who had already for the second time chanted 'Per +omnia saecula saeculurum.' This is a characteristic as well as a pretty +artist-story, which, however, is marred, I think, by the additions of a +choir that gathers round the organist and without exception forgets like +him time and place, and of a mother superior who sends the sacristan to +remind those music-enthusiasts in the organ-gallery of the impatiently +waiting priest and acolyte, &c. Men willingly allow themselves to +be deceived, but care has to be taken that their credulity be not +overtaxed. For if the intention is perceived, it fails in its object; as +the German poet says:--"So fuehrt man Absicht und man ist verstimmt." + +On the 6th of October, as has already been said, Chopin returned to +Warsaw. Judging from a letter written by him at the end of the year +(December 27, 1828) to his friend Titus Woyciechowski, he was busy +composing and going to parties. The "Rondeau a la Krakowiak," Op. 14, +was now finished, and the Trio, Op. 8, was nearly so. A day on which he +had not been musically productive seems to have been regarded by him as +a lost day. The opening phrase of the following quotation reminds one of +the famous exclamation of the Emperor Titus:-- + + During the last week I have composed nothing worthy either of + God or of man. I run from Ananias to Caiaphas; to-night I + shall be at Madame Wizegerod's, from there I shall drive to a + musical soiree at Miss Kicka's. You know how pleasant it is + to be forced to improvise when one is tired! I have not often + such happy thoughts as come sometimes under my fingers when I + am with you. And then the miserable instruments! + +In the same letter he relates that his parents are preparing a small +room for him:-- + + A staircase leads from the entrance directly into it; there I + shall have an old writing-desk, and this nook will be my + retreat. + +This remark calls up a passage in a letter written two years later from +Vienna to his friend John Matuszynski:-- + + When your former colleagues, for instance, Rostkowski, + Schuch, Freyer, Kyjewski, Hube, &c., are holding merry + converse in my room, then think that I am laughing and + enjoying myself with you. + +A charming little genre picture of Chopin's home-life is to be found in +one of his letters from Vienna (December 1, 1830) Having received news +from Warsaw, he writes:-- + + The joy was general, for Titus also had letters from home. I + thank Celinski lor the enclosed note; it brought vividly back + to me the time when I was still amongst you: it seemed to me + as if I were sitting at the piano and Celinski standing + opposite me looking at Mr. Zywny, who just then treated + Linowski to a pinch of snuff. Only Matuszynski was wanting to + make the group complete. + +Several names in the above extract remind me that I ought to say a few +words about the young men with whom Chopin at that time associated. Many +of them were no doubt companions in the noblest sense of the word. +Of this class may have been Celinski, Hube, Eustachius Marylski, and +Francis Maciejowski (a nephew of the previously-mentioned Professor +Waclaw Maciejowski), who are more or less frequently mentioned in +Chopin's correspondence, but concerning whom I have no information to +give. I am as badly informed about Dziewanowski, whom a letter quoted +by Karasowski shows to have been a friend of Chopin's. Of two other +friends, Stanislas Kozmian and William Kolberg, we know at least that +the one was a few years ago still living at Posen and occupied the post +of President of the Society of the Friends of Science, and that the +other, to whom the earliest letters of Chopin that have come down to +us are addressed, became, not to mention lesser offices and titles, a +Councillor of State, and died on June 4,1877. Whatever the influence of +the friends I have thus far named may have been on the man Chopin, one +cannot but feel inclined to think that Stephen Witwicki and Dominic +Magnuszewski, especially the former, must have had a greater influence +on the artist. At any rate, these two poets, who made their mark in +Polish literature, brought the musician in closest contact with the +strivings of the literary romanticism of those days. In later years +Chopin set several of Witwicki's songs to music. Both Magnuszewski and +Witwicki lived afterwards, like Chopin, in Paris, where they continued +to associate with him. Of the musical acquaintances we have to notice +first and foremost Julius Fontana, who himself said that he was a daily +visitor at Chopin's house. The latter writes in the above-mentioned +letter (December 27, 1828) to Titus Woyciechowski:-- + + The Rondo for two pianos, this orphan child, has found a step- + father in Fontana (you may perhaps have seen him at our + house, he attends the university); he studied it for more + than a month, but then he did learn it, and not long ago we + tried how it would sound at Buchholtz's. + +Alexander Rembielinski, described as a brilliant pianist and a composer +in the style of Fesca, who returned from Paris to Warsaw and died +young, is said to have been a friend of Chopin's. Better musicians than +Fontana, although less generally known in the western part of Europe, +are Joseph Nowakowski and Thomas Nidecki. Chopin, by some years their +junior, had intercourse with them during his residence in Poland as +well as afterwards abroad. It does not appear that Chopin had what can +rightly be called intimate friends among the young Polish musicians. If +we may believe the writer of an article in Sowinski's Dictionary, there +was one exception. He tells us that the talented Ignaz Felix Dobrzynski +was a fellow-pupil of Chopin's, taking like him private lessons from +Elsner. Dobrzynski came to Warsaw in 1825, and took altogether thirty +lessons. + + Working together under the same master, having the same + manner of seeing and feeling, Frederick Chopin and I.F. + Dobrzynski became united in a close friendship. The same + aims, the same artistic tendency to seek the UNKNOWN, + characterised their efforts. They communicated to each other + their ideas and impressions, followed different routes to + arrive at the same goal. + +This unison of kindred minds is so beautiful that one cannot but wish +it to have been a fact. Still, I must not hide the circumstance that +neither Liszt nor Karasowski mentions Dobrzynski as one of Chopin's +friends, and the even more significant circumstance that he is only +mentioned twice and en passant in Chopin's letters. All this, however, +does not necessarily nullify the lexicographer's statements, and until +contradictory evidence is forthcoming we may hold fast by so pleasing +and ennobling a creed. + +The most intimate of Chopin's early friends, indeed, of all +his friends--perhaps the only ones that can be called his bosom +friends--have still to be named, Titus Woyciechowski and John +Matuszynski. It was to them that Chopin wrote his most interesting and +self-revealing letters. We shall meet them and hear of them often in +the course of this narrative, for their friendship with the musician was +severed only by death. It will therefore suffice to say here that Titus +Woyciechowski, who had been Chopin's school-fellow, lived, at the period +of the latter's life we have now reached, on his family estates, and +that John Matuszynski was then studying medicine in Warsaw. + +In his letter of December 27, 1828, Chopin makes some allusions to the +Warsaw theatres. The French company had played Rataplan, and at the +National Theatre they had performed a comedy of Fredro's, Weber's +Preciosa, and Auber's Macon. A musical event whichmust have interested +Chopin much more than the performances of the two last-mentioned +works took place in the first half of the year 1829--namely, Hummel's +appearance in Warsaw. He and Field were, no doubt, those pianists who +through the style of their compositions most influenced Chopin. For +Hummel's works Chopin had indeed a life-long admiration and love. It is +therefore to be regretted that he left in his letters no record of +the impression which Hummel, one of the four most distinguished +representatives of pianoforte-playing of that time, made upon him. It +is hardly necessary to say that the other three representatives--of +different generations and schools let it be understood--were Field, +Kalkbrenner, and Moscheles. The only thing we learn about this visit of +Hummel's to Warsaw is that he and the young Polish pianist made a good +impression upon each other. As far as the latter is concerned this is a +mere surmise, or rather an inference from indirect proofs, for, strange +to say, although Chopin mentions Hummel frequently in his letters, he +does not write a syllable that gives a clue to his sentiments regarding +him. The older master, on the other hand, shows by his inquiries after +his younger brother in art and the visits he pays him that he had a real +regard and affection for him. + +It is also to be regretted that Chopin says in his letters nothing of +Paganini's appearance in Warsaw. The great Italian violinist, who made +so deep an impression on, and exercised so great an influence over, +Liszt, cannot have passed by without producing some effect on Chopin. +That the latter had a high opinion of Paganini may be gathered from +later utterances, but what one would like is a description of his +feelings and thoughts when he first heard him. Paganini came to Warsaw +in 1829, after his visit to Berlin. In the Polish capital he was +worshipped with the same ardour as elsewhere, and also received the +customary tributes of applause, gold, and gifts. From Oreste Bruni's +Niccolo Paganini, celebre violinista Genovese, we learn that his +Warsaw worshippers presented him with a gold snuff-box, which bore the +following inscription:--Al Cav. Niccolo Paganini. Gli ammiratori del suo +talento. Varsovia 19 Luglio 1829. + +Some months after this break in what he, no doubt, considered the +monotonous routine of Warsaw life, our friend made another excursion, +one of far greater importance in more than one respect than that to +Berlin. Vienna had long attracted him like a powerful magnet, the +obstacles to his going thither were now removed, and he was to see that +glorious art-city in which Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, +and many lesser but still illustrious men had lived and worked. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +CHOPIN JOURNEYS TO VIENNA BY WAY OF CRACOW AND OJCOW.--STAYS THERE +FOR SOME WEEKS, PLAYING TWICE IN PUBLIC.--RETURNS TO WARSAW BY WAY OF +PRAGUE, DRESDEN, AND BRESLAU. + + + +IT was about the middle of July, 1829, that Chopin, accompanied by his +friends Celinski, Hube, and Francis Maciejowski, set out on his journey +to Vienna. They made a week's halt at the ancient capital of the Polish +Republic, the many-towered Cracow, which rises picturesquely in a +landscape of great loveliness. There they explored the town and its +neighbourhood, both of which are rich in secular and ecclesiastical +buildings, venerable by age and historical associations, not a few of +them remarkable also as fine specimens of architecture. Although we have +no detailed account of Chopin's proceedings, we may be sure that +our patriotic friend did not neglect to look for and contemplate the +vestiges of his nation's past power and greatness: the noble royal +palace, degraded, alas, into barracks for the Austrian soldiery; the +grand, impressive cathedral, in which the tombs of the kings present +an epitome of Polish history; the town-hall, a building of the 14th +century; the turreted St. Florian's gate; and the monumental hillock, +erected on the mountain Bronislawa in memory of Kosciuszko by the +hands of his grateful countrymen, of which a Frenchman said:--"Void une +eloquence touts nouvelle: un peuple qui ne peut s'exprimer par la +parole ou par les livres, et qui parle par des montagnes." On a Sunday +afternoon, probably on the 24th of July, the friends left Cracow, and in +a rustic vehicle drove briskly to Ojcow. They were going to put up not +in the place itself, but at a house much patronised by tourists, lying +some miles distant from it and the highway. This circumstance led to +something like a romantic incident, for as the driver was unacquainted +with the bye-roads, they got into a small brook, "as clear and silvery +bright as brooks in fairytales," and having walls of rock on the +right and left, they were unable to extricate themselves "from this +labyrinth." Fortunately they met towards nine o'clock in the evening two +peasants who conducted them to their destination, the inn of Mr. Indyk, +in which also the Polish authoress Clementina Tanska, who has described +this district in one of her works, had lodged--a fact duly reported by +Chopin to his sister Isabella and friend Titus. Arriving not only tired +but also wet to above the knees, his first business was to guard against +taking a cold. He bought a Cracow double-woven woollen night-cap, which +he cut in two pieces and wrapped round his feet. Then he sat down by the +fire, drank a glass of red wine, and, after talking for a little while +longer, betook himself to bed, and slept the sleep of the just. Thus +ended the adventure of that day, and, to all appearance, without the +dreaded consequences of a cold. The natural beauties of the part of +the country where Chopin now was have gained for it the name of Polish +Switzerland. The principal sights are the Black Cave, in which during +the bloody wars with the Turks and Tartars the women and children used +to hide themselves; the Royal Cave, in which, about the year 1300, +King Wladyslaw Lokietek sought refuge when he was hardly pressed by +the usurper Wenceslas of Bohemia; and the beautifully-situated ruins +of Ojcow Castle, once embowered in thick forests. Having enjoyed to the +full the beauties of Polish Switzerland, Chopin continued his journey +merrily and in favourable weather through the picturesque countries of +Galicia, Upper Silesia, and Moravia, arriving in Vienna on July 31. + +Chopin's letters tell us very little of his sight-seeing in the Austrian +capital, but a great deal of matters that interest us far more deeply. +He brought, of course, a number of letters of introduction with him. +Among the first which he delivered was one from Elsner to the publisher +Hashnger, to whom Chopin had sent a considerable time before some of his +compositions, which, however, still remained in manuscript. Haslinger +treated Elsner's pupil with an almost embarrassing politeness, and, +without being reminded of the MSS. in question, informed his visitor +that one of them, the variations on La ci darem la mano, would before +long appear in the Odeon series. "A great honour for me, is it not?" +writes the happy composer to his friend Titus. The amiable publisher, +however, thought that Chopin would do well to show the people of Vienna +what his difficult and by no means easily comprehensible composition was +like. But the composer was not readily persuaded. The thought of playing +in the city where Mozart and Beethoven had been heard frightened him, +and then he had not touched a piano for a whole fortnight. Not even +when Count Gallenberg entered and Haslinger presented Chopin to him as +a coward who dare not play in public was the young virtuoso put on his +mettle. In fact, he even declined with thanks the theatre which was +placed at his disposal by Count Gallenberg, who was then lessee of the +Karnthnerthor Theatre, and in whom the reader has no doubt recognised +the once celebrated composer of ballets, or at least the husband of +Beethoven's passionately-loved Countess Giulia Guicciardi. Haslinger and +Gallenberg were not the only persons who urged him to give the Viennese +an opportunity to hear him. Dining at the house of Count Hussarzewski, +a worthy old gentleman who admired his young countryman's playing very +much, Chopin was advised by everybody present--and the guests belonged +to the best society of Vienna--to give a concert. The journalist +Blahetka, best known as the father of his daughter, was not sparing in +words of encouragement; and Capellmeister Wurfel, who had been kind +to Chopin in Warsaw, told him plainly that it would be a disgrace to +himself, his parents, and his teachers not to make a public appearance, +which, he added, was, moreover, a politic move for this reason, that +no one who has composed anything new and wishes to make a noise in the +world can do so unless he performs his works himself. In fact, everybody +with whom he got acquainted was of the same opinion, and assured him +that the newspapers would say nothing but what was flattering. At last +Chopin allowed himself to be persuaded, Wurfel took upon him the care +of making the necessary arrangements, and already the next morning the +bills announced the coming event to the public of Vienna. In a long +postscript of a long and confused letter to his people he writes: "I +have made up my mind. Blahetka asserts that I shall create a furore, +'being,' as he expressed it, 'an artist of the first rank, and occupying +an honourable place by the side of Moscheles, Herz, and Kalkbrenner.'" +To all appearance our friend was not disposed to question the +correctness of this opinion; indeed, we shall see that although he had +his moments of doubting, he was perfectly conscious of his worth. +No blame, however, attaches to him on this account; self-respect +and self-confidence are not only irreprehensible but even +indispensable--that is, indispensable for the successful exercise of any +talent. That our friend had his little weaknesses shall not be denied +nor concealed. I am afraid he cannot escape the suspicion of having +possessed a considerable share of harmless vanity. "All journalists," he +writes to his parents and sisters, "open their eyes wide at me, and the +members of the orchestra greet me deferentially because I +walk with the director of the Italian opera arm-in-arm." Two +pianoforte-manufacturers--in one place Chopin says three--offered to +send him instruments, but he declined, partly because he had not room +enough, partly because he did not think it worth while to begin to +practise two days before the concert. Both Stein and Graff were very +obliging; as, however, he preferred the latter's instruments, he chose +one of this maker's for the concert, and tried to prevent the other from +taking offence by speaking him fair. + +Chopin made his first public appearance in Vienna at the Karnthnerthor +Theatre on August 11, 1829. The programme comprised the following items: +Beethoven's Overture to Prometheus; arias of Rossini's and Vaccaj's, +sung by Mdlle. Veltheim, singer to the Saxon Court; Chopin's variations +on La ci darem la mano and Krakowiak, rondeau de concert (both for +pianoforte and orchestra), for the latter of which the composer +substituted an improvisation; and a short ballet. Chopin, in a letter to +his people dated August 12, 1829, describes the proceedings thus:-- + + Yesterday--i.e., Tuesday, at 7 p.m., I made my debut in the + Imperial Opera-house before the public of Vienna. These + evening concerts in the theatre are called here "musical + academies." As I claimed no honorarium, Count Gallenberg + hastened on my appearance. + +In a letter to Titus Woyciechowski, dated September 12, 1829, he says:-- + + The sight of the Viennese public did not at all excite me, + and I sat down, pale as I was, at a wonderful instrument of + Graff's, at the time perhaps the best in Vienna. Beside me I + had a painted young man, who turned the leaves for me in the + Variations, and who prided himself on having rendered the + same service to Moscheles, Hummel, and Herz. Believe me when + I say that I played in a desperate mood; nevertheless, the + Variations produced so much effect that I was called back + several times. Mdlle. Veltheim sang very beautifully. Of my + improvisation I know only that it was followed by stormy + applause and many recalls. + +To the cause of the paleness and the desperate mood I shall advert anon. +Chopin was satisfied, nay, delighted with his success; he had a friendly +greeting of "Bravo!" on entering, and this "pleasant word" the audience +repeated after each Variation so impetuously that he could not hear +the tuttis of the orchestra. At the end of the piece he was called back +twice. The improvisation on a theme from La Dame blanche and the Polish +tune Chmiel, which he substituted for the Krakowiak, although it did +not satisfy himself, pleased, or as Chopin has it, "electrified" +the audience. Count Gallenberg commended his compositions, and Count +Dietrichstein, who was much with the Emperor, came to him on the stage, +conversed with him a long time in French, complimented him on his +performance, and asked him to prolong his stay in Vienna. The only +adverse criticism which his friends, who had posted themselves in +different parts of the theatre, heard, was that of a lady who remarked, +"Pity the lad has not a better tournure." However, the affair did not +pass off altogether without unpleasant incidents:-- + + The members of the orchestra [Chopin writes to his friend + Titus Woyciechowski] showed me sour faces at the rehearsal; + what vexed them most was that I wished to make my debut with + a new composition. I began with the Variations which are + dedicated to you; they were to be followed by the Rondo + Krakowiak. We got through the Variations well, the Rondo, on + the other hand, went so badly that we had to begin twice from + the beginning; the cause of this was said to be the bad + writing. I ought to have placed the figures above and not + below the rests (that being the way to which the Viennese + musicians are accustomed). Enough, these gentlemen made such + faces that I already felt inclined to send word in the + evening that I was ill. Demar, the manager, noticed the bad + disposition of the members of the orchestra, who also don't + like Wurfel. The latter wished to conduct himself, but the + orchestra refused (I don't know for what reason) to play + under his direction. Mr. Demar advised me to improvise, at + which proposal the orchestra looked surprised. I was so + irritated by what had happened that in my desperation I + agreed to it; and who knows if my bad humour and strange mood + were not the causes of the great success which my playing + obtained. + +Although Chopin passes off lightly the grumbling and grimacing of the +members of the orchestra respecting the bad writing of his music, they +seem to have had more serious reasons for complaint than he alleges +in the above quotation. Indeed, he relates himself that after the +occurrence his countryman Nidecki, who was very friendly to him and +rejoiced at his success, looked over the orchestral parts of the Rondo +and corrected them. The correction of MSS. was at no time of his life +a strong point of Chopin's. That the orchestra was not hostile to him +appears from another allusion of his to this affair:-- + + The orchestra cursed my badly-written music, and was not at + all favourably inclined towards me until I began the + improvisation; but then it joined in the applause of the + public. From this I saw that it had a good opinion of me. + Whether the other artists had so too I did not know as yet; + but why should they be against me? They must see that I do + not play for the sake of material advantages. + +After such a success nothing was more natural than that Chopin should +allow himself to be easily persuaded to play again--il n'y a que le +premier pas qui coute--but he said he would not play a third time. +Accordingly, on August 18, he appeared once more on the stage of the +Karnthnerthor Theatre. Also this time he received no payment, but played +to oblige Count Gallenberg, who, indeed, was in anything but flourishing +circumstances. On this occasion Chopin succeeded in producing the +Krakowiak, and repeated, by desire of the ladies, the Variations. +Two other items of the programme were Lindpaintner's Overture to Der +Bergkonig and a polonaise of Mayseder's played by the violinist Joseph +Khayl, a very young pupil of Jansa's. + + The rendering of the Rondo especially [Chopin writes] gave me + pleasure, because Gyrowetz, Lachner, and other masters, nay, + even the orchestra, were so charmed--excuse the expression-- + that they called me back twice. + +In another letter he is more loquacious on the subject:-- + + If the public received me kindly on my first appearance, it + was yesterday still more hearty. When I appeared on the stage + I was greeted with a twice-repeated, long-sustained "Bravo!" + The public had gathered in greater numbers than at the first + concert. The financier of the theatre, Baron--I do not + remember his name--thanked me for the recette and said that + if the attendance was great, it was not on account of the + ballet, which had already been often performed. With my Rondo + I have won the good opinion of all professional musicians-- + from Capellmeister Lachner to the pianoforte-tuner, all + praise my composition. + +The press showed itself not less favourable than the public. The fullest +account of our artist's playing and compositions, and the impression +they produced on this occasion, I found on looking over the pages of the +Wiener Theaterzeitung. Chopin refers to it prospectively in a letter to +his parents, written on August 19. He had called on Bauerle, the editor +of the paper, and had been told that a critique of the concert would +soon appear. To satisfy his own curiosity and to show his people that he +had said no more than what was the truth in speaking of his success, +he became a subscriber to the Wiener Theaterzeitung, and had it sent to +Warsaw. The criticism is somewhat long, but as this first step into the +great world of art was an event of superlative importance to Chopin, +and is one of more than ordinary interest to us, I do not hesitate to +transcribe it in full so far as it relates to our artist. Well, what we +read in the Wiener Theaterzeitung of August 20, 1829, is this:-- + + [Chopin] surprised people, because they discovered in him not + only a fine, but a really very eminent talent; on account of + the originality of his playing and compositions one might + almost attribute to him already some genius, at least, in so + far as unconventional forms and pronounced individuality are + concerned. His playing, like his compositions--of which we + heard on this occasion only variations--has a certain + character of modesty which seems to indicate that to shine is + not the aim of this young man, although his execution + conquered difficulties the overcoming of which even here, in + the home of pianoforte virtuosos, could not fail to cause + astonishment; nay, with almost ironical naivete he takes it + into his head to entertain a large audience with music as + music. And lo, he succeeded in this. The unprejudiced public + rewarded him with lavish applause. His touch, although neat + and sure, has little of that brilliance by which our + virtuosos announce themselves as such in the first bars; he + emphasised but little, like one conversing in a company of + clever people, not with that rhetorical aplomb which is + considered by virtuosos as indispensable. He plays very + quietly, without the daring elan which generally at once + distinguishes the artist from the amateur. Nevertheless, our + fine-feeling and acute-judging public recognised at once in + this youth, who is a stranger and as yet unknown to fame, a + true artist; and this evening afforded the unprejudiced + observer the pleasing spectacle of a public which, considered + as a moral person, showed itself a true connoisseur and a + virtuoso in the comprehension and appreciation of an artistic + performance which, in no wise grandiose, was nevertheless + gratifying. + + There were defects noticeable in the young man's playing, + among which are perhaps especially to be mentioned the non- + observance of the indication by accent of the commencement of + musical phrases. Nevertheless, he was recognised as an artist + of whom the best may be expected as soon as he has heard + more....As in his playing he was like a beautiful young tree + that stands free and full of fragrant blossoms and ripening + fruits, so he manifested as much estimable individuality in + his compositions, where new figures, new passages, new forms + unfolded themselves in the introduction, in the first, + second, and fourth Variations, and in the concluding + metamorphosis of Mozart's theme into a polacca. + + Such is the ingenuousness of the young virtuoso that he + undertook to come forward at the close of the concert with a + free fantasia before a public in whose eyes few improvisers, + with the exception of Beethoven and Hummel, have as yet found + favour. If the young man by a manifold change of his themes + aimed especially at amusement, the calm flow of his thoughts + and their firm connection and chaste development were + nevertheless a sufficient proof of his capability as regards + this rare gift. Mr. Chopin gave to-day so much pleasure to a + small audience that one cannot help wishing he may at another + performance play before a larger one.... + +Although the critic of the Wiener Theaterzeitung is more succinct in +his report (September 1, 1829) of the second concert, he is not less +complimentary. Chopin as a composer as well as an executant justified on +this occasion the opinion previously expressed about him. + + He is a young man who goes his own way, and knows how to + please in this way, although his style of playing and writing + differs greatly from that of other virtuosos; and, indeed + chiefly in this, that the desire to make good music + predominates noticeably in his case over the desire to + please. Also to-day Mr. Chopin gave general satisfaction. + +These expressions of praise are so enthusiastic that a suspicion might +possibly arise as to their trustworthiness. But this is not the only +laudatory account to be found in the Vienna papers. Der Sammler, for +instance, remarked: "In Mr. Chopin we made the acquaintance of one of +the most excellent pianists, full of delicacy and deepest feeling." +The Wiener Zeitschrift fur Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode, too, had +appreciative notices of the concerts. + + He executes the greatest difficulties with accuracy and + precision, and renders all passages with neatness. The + tribute of applause which the public paid to this clever + artist was very great; the concert-piece with orchestra (the + Variations) especially pleased. + +This was written after the first concert, and printed on August 22, +1829. From the criticism on the second concert, which appeared in the +same paper a week later (August 29), I cull the following sentences:-- + + Chopin performed a new Rondo for pianoforte and orchestra of + his own composition. This piece is written throughout in the + chromatic style, rarely rises to geniality, but has passages + which are distinguished by depth and thoughtful working-out. + On the whole, however, he seems to be somewhat lacking in + variety. The master showed in it his dexterity as a pianist + to perfection, and conquered the greatest difficulties with + felicity. A longer stay in Vienna might be to the advantage + of his touch as well as of his ensemble playing with the + orchestra. He received much applause, and was repeatedly + called back....At the close Mr. Chopin played to-day the + Variations on a theme of Mozart's, which he had already + performed with so much bravura and felicity at his first + concert. The pleasing and yet substantial variety of this + composition as well as the fine, successful playing obtained + also to-day loud applause for the pianist. Connoisseurs and + amateurs manifested joyously and loudly their recognition of + his clever playing. This young man...shows in his + compositions a serious striving to interweave by interesting + combinations the orchestra with the pianoforte. + +In conclusion, let me quote one other journal, this time a purely +musical one--namely, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (No. 46, +November 18, 1829). The notice, probably written by that debauched +genius F.A. Kanne, runs thus:-- + + Mr. Chopin, a pianist from Warsaw, according to report a + pupil of Wurfel's [which report was of course baseless], came + before us a master of the first rank. The exquisite delicacy + of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, his + finished shading and portamento, which reflect the deepest + feeling; the lucidity of his interpretation, and his + compositions, which bear the stamp of great genius-- + variazioni di bravura, rondo, free fantasia--reveal a + virtuoso most liberally endowed by nature, who, without + previous blasts of trumpets, appears on the horizon like one + of the most brilliant meteors. + +Still, the sweets of success were not altogether without some admixture +of bitterness, as we may perceive from the following remarks of +Chopin's:-- + + I know that I have pleased the ladies and the musicians. + Gyrowetz, who sat beside Celinski, made a terrible noise, and + shouted "Bravo." Only the out-and-out Germans seem not to + have been quite satisfied. + +And this, after having a few days before attributed the applause to +the Germans, who "could appreciate improvisations." Tantae animis +coelestibus irae? But what was the reason of this indignation? +Simply this: a gentleman, who after the second concert came into the +coffee-room of the hotel where Chopin was staying, on being asked by +some of the guests how he liked the performance, answered laconically, +"the ballet was very pretty"; and, although they put some further +questions, he would say no more, having no doubt noticed a certain +person. And hinc illae lacrimae. Our sensitive friend was indeed so much +ruffled at this that he left the room in a pet and went to bed, so +as not to hinder, as he explains, the outpouring of the gentleman's +feelings. The principal stricture passed on the virtuoso was that he +played too softly, or, rather, too delicately. Chopin himself says that +on that point all were unanimous. But the touchy artist, in true artist +fashion-- or shall we be quite just and say "in true human fashion"? +adds:-- + + They are accustomed to the drumming of the native pianoforte + virtuosos. I fear that the newspapers will reproach me with + the same thing, especially as the daughter of an editor is + said to drum frightfully. However, it does not matter; as + this cannot be helped, I would rather that people say I play + too delicately than too roughly. + +When Count Moritz Lichnowski, to whom Chopin was introduced by Wurfel, +learned after the first concert that the young virtuoso was going to +play again, he offered to lend him his own piano for the occasion, for +he thought Chopin's feebleness of tone was owing to the instrument he +had used. But Chopin knew perfectly the real state of the matter: "This +is my manner of playing, which pleases the ladies so very much." Chopin +was already then, and remained all his life, nay, even became more and +more, the ladies' pianist par excellence. By which, however, I do not +mean that he did not please the men, but only that no other pianist was +equally successful in touching the most tender and intimate chords of +the female heart. Indeed, a high degree of refinement in thought and +feeling combined with a poetic disposition are indispensable requisites +for an adequate appreciation of Chopin's compositions and style of +playing. His remark, therefore, that he had captivated the learned and +the poetic natures, was no doubt strictly correct with regard to +his success in Vienna; but at the same time it may be accepted as a +significant foreshadowing of his whole artistic career. Enough has now +been said of these performances, and, indeed, too much, were it not that +to ascertain the stage of development reached by an original master, +and the effect which his efforts produced on his artistically-cultivated +contemporaries, are objects not undeserving a few pages of discussion. + +During the twenty days which Chopin spent in Vienna he displayed great +activity. He was always busy, and had not a moment to spare. His own +public performances did not make him neglect those of others. He heard +the violinist Mayseder twice, and went to representations of Boieldieu's +"La Dame blanche," Rossini's "Cenerentola," Meyerbeer's "Crociato in +Egitto," and other operas. He also visited the picture gallery and +the museum of antiquities, delivered letters of introduction, made +acquaintances, dined and drank tea with counts and countesses, &c. +Wherever Chopin goes we are sure to see him soon in aristocratic and in +Polish society. + + Everybody says that I have pleased the nobility here + exceedingly The Schwarzenbergs, Wrbnas, &c., were quite + enraptured by the delicacy and elegance of my playing. As a + further proof I may mention the visit which Count + Dietrichstein paid me on the stage. + +Chopin called repeatedly on the "worthy old gentleman" Count +Hussarzewski and his "worthy lady," with whom he dined once, and who +wished him to stay for dinner when he made his farewell call. With the +Countess Lichnowska and her daughter he took tea two days after the +first concert. They were inexpressibly delighted to hear that he was +going to give a second, asked him to visit them on his way through +Vienna to Paris, and promised him a letter of introduction to a sister +of the Count's. This Count Lichnowski was Count Moritz Lichnowski, the +friend of Beethoven, to whom the great master dedicated the Variations, +Op. 35, and the Sonata, Op. 90, in which are depicted the woes and +joys of the Count's love for the singer Mdlle. Strammer, who afterwards +became his wife, and, in fact, was the Countess Lichnowska with whom +Chopin became acquainted. + +[Footnote: Count Moritz Lichnowski must not be confounded with his elder +brother Prince Carl Lichnowski, the pupil and friend of Mozart, and the +friend and patron of Beethoven, to whom the latter dedicated his Op. 1, +and who died in 1814.] + +Among the letters of introduction which Chopin brought with him +there was also one for Schuppanzigh, whose name is in musical history +indissolubly connected with those of Beethoven and Lichnowski. The +eminent quartet leader, although his quartet evenings were over, held +out to Chopin hopes of getting up another during his visitor's stay in +Vienna--he would do so, he said, if possible. To no one, however, either +professional or amateur, was Chopin so much indebted for guidance and +furtherance as to his old obliging friend Wurfel, who introduced him not +only to Count Gallenberg, Count Lichnowski, and Capellmeister Seyfried, +but to every one of his acquaintances who either was a man of influence +or took an interest in musical matters. Musicians whose personal +acquaintance Chopin said he was glad to make were: Gyrowetz, the author +of the concerto with which little Frederick made his debut in Warsaw at +the age of nine, an estimable artist, as already stated, who had the sad +misfortune to outlive his popularity; Capellmeister Seyfried, a prolific +but qualitatively poor composer, best known to our generation as the +editor of Albrechtsberger's theoretical works and Beethoven's studies; +Conradin Kreutzer, who had already distinguished himself as a virtuoso +on the clarinet and pianoforte, and as a conductor and composer, but had +not yet produced his "Nachtlager"; Franz Lachner, the friend of Franz +Schubert, then a young active conductor and rising composer, now one +of the most honoured veterans of his art. With Schuppanzigh's pupil +Mayseder, the prince of the Viennese violinists of that day, and indeed +one of the neatest, most graceful, and elegant, although somewhat cold, +players of his instrument, Chopin had a long conversation. The only +critical comments to be found in Chopin's letters on the musicians he +came in contact with in the Austrian capital refer to Czerny, with whom +he got well acquainted and often played duets for two pianos. Of him the +young Polish musician said, "He is a good man, but nothing more." And +after having bidden him farewell, he says, "Czerny was warmer than +all his compositions." However, it must not be supposed that Chopin's +musical acquaintances were confined to the male sex; among them there +was at least one belonging to the better and fairer half of humanity--a +pianist-composer, a maiden still in her teens, and clever and pretty +to boot, who reciprocated the interest he took in her. According to our +friend's rather conceited statement I ought to have said--but it would +have been very ungallant to do so--he reciprocated the interest she took +in him. The reader has no doubt already guessed that I am speaking of +Leopoldine Blahetka. + +On the whole, Chopin passed his time in Vienna both pleasantly and +profitably, as is well shown by his exclamation on the last day of his +stay: "It goes crescendo with my popularity here, and this gives me much +pleasure." The preceding day Schuppanzigh had said to him that as he +left so soon he ought not to be long in coming back. And when Chopin +replied that he would like to return to perfect himself, the by-standers +told him he need not come for that purpose as he had no longer +anything to learn. Although the young musician remarks that these were +compliments, he cannot help confessing that he likes to hear them; and +of course one who likes to hear them does not wholly disbelieve them, +but considers them something more than a mere flatus vocis. "Nobody +here," Chopin writes exultingly, "will regard me as a pupil." Indeed, +such was the reception he met with that it took him by surprise. "People +wonder at me," he remarked soon after his arrival in Vienna, "and I +wonder at them for wondering at me." It was incomprehensible to him that +the artists and amateurs of the famous musical city should consider it a +loss if he departed without giving a concert. The unexpected compliments +and applause that everywhere fell upon his ear, together with the many +events, experiences, and thoughts that came crowding upon him, would +have caused giddiness in any young artist; Chopin they made drunk with +excitement and pleasure. The day after the second concert he writes +home: "I really intended to have written about something else, but I +can't get yesterday out of my head." His head was indeed brimful, or +rather full to overflowing, of whirling memories and expectations which +he poured into the news--budgets destined for his parents, regardless +of logical sequence, just as they came uppermost. The clear, succinct +accounts of his visit which he gives to his friend Titus after his +return to Warsaw contrast curiously with the confused interminable +letters of shreds and patches he writes from Vienna. These latter, +however, have a value of their own; they present one with a striking +picture of the state of his mind at that time. The reader may consider +this part of the biography as an annotated digest of Chopin's letters, +of those addressed to his parents as well as of those to his friend +Woyciechowski. + +At last came the 19th of August, the day of our travelling-party's +departure. Chopin passed the whole forenoon in making valedictory +visits, and when in the afternoon he had done packing and writing, he +called once more on Haslinger--who promised to publish the Variations in +about five weeks--and then went to the cafe opposite the theatre, where +he was to meet Gyrowetz, Lachner, Kreutzer, and others. The rest shall +be told in Chopin's own words:-- + + After a touching parting--it was really a touching parting + when Miss Blahetka gave me as a souvenir her compositions + bearing her own signature, and her father sent his + compliments to you [Chopin's father] and dear mother, + congratulating you on having such a son; when young Stein + [one of the well-known family of pianoforte-manufacturers and + musicians] wept, and Schuppanzigh, Gyrowetz, in one word, all + the other artists, were much moved--well then, after this + touching parting and having promised to return soon, I + stepped into the stage-coach. + +This was at nine o'clock in the evening, and Chopin and his +fellow-travellers, accompanied for half-an-hour by Nidecki and some +other Poles, leaving behind Vienna and Vienna friends, proceeded on +their way to Bohemia. + +Prague was reached by our travellers on August 21. The interesting old +town did not display its beauties in vain, for Chopin writes admiringly +of the fine views from the castle hill, of the castle itself, of "the +majestic cathedral with a silver statue of St. John, the beautiful +chapel of St. Wenceslas, inlaid with amethysts and other precious +stones," and promises to give a fuller and more detailed description of +what he has seen by word of mouth. His friend Maciejowski had a +letter of introduction to Waclaw Hanka, the celebrated philologist and +librarian of the National Museum, to whom Chopin introduced himself as +the godson of Count Skarbek. On visiting the museum they were asked, +like all on whom the librarian bestowed his special attention, to write +their names in the visitors' book. Maciejowski wrote also four mazurka +strophes eulogising Hanka's scientific achievements, and Chopin set +them to music. The latter brought with him from Vienna six letters +of introduction--one from Blahetka and five from Wurfel--which were +respectively addressed to Pixis, to the manager of the theatre, and to +other musical big-wigs. The distinguished violin-virtuoso, professor +at the Conservatorium, and conductor at the theatre, Frederick Pixis +(1786--1842), received Chopin very kindly, gave up some lessons that he +might keep him longer and talk with him, and invited him to come again +in the afternoon, when he would meet August Alexander Klengel, of +Dresden, whose card Chopin had noticed on the table. For this esteemed +pianist and famous contrapuntist he had also a letter of introduction, +and he was glad to meet him in Prague, as he otherwise would have missed +seeing him, Klengel being on his way to Vienna and Italy. They made each +other's acquaintance on the stairs leading to Pixis' apartments. + + I heard him play his fugues for two hours; I did not play, as + they did not ask me to do so. Klengel's rendering pleased me, + but I must confess I had expected something better (but I beg + of you not to mention this remark of mine to others). + +Elsewhere he writes:-- + + Of all the artists whose acquaintance I have made, Klengel + pleased me most. He played me his fugues (one may say that + they are a continuation of those of Bach. There are forty- + eight of them, and the same number of canons). What a + difference between him and Czerny! + +Klengel's opus magnum, the "Canons et Fugues dans tons les tons majeurs +et mineurs pour le piano, en deux parties," did not appear till 1854, +two years after his death, although it had been completed some decades +previously. He carried it about with him on all his travels, unceasingly +improving and perfecting it, and may be said to have worked at it for +the space of half his life. The two artists who met at Pixis' house +got on well together, unlike as they were in their characters and aims. +Chopin called on Klengel before the latter's departure from Prague, and +spent two hours with him in conversation, neither of them being for +a moment at a loss for material to talk about. Klengel gave Chopin +a letter of introduction to Morlacchi, the address of which ran: Al +ornatissimo Signore Cavaliere Morlacchi, primo maestro della capella +Reale, and in which he asked this gentleman to make the bearer +acquainted with the musical life of Dresden. How favourably Klengel +had impressed his younger brother in art may be gathered from the +above-quoted and the following remarks: "He was to me a very agreeable +acquaintance, whom I esteem more highly than Czerny, but of this also +don't speak, my beloved ones." + +[FOOTNOTE: Their disparity of character would have revealed itself +unpleasantly to both parties if the grand seigneur Chopin had, +like Moritz Hauptmann, been the travelling-companion of the meanly +parsimonious Klengel, who to save a few bajocchi left the hotels with +uncleaned boots, and calculated the worth of the few things he cared +for by scudi.--See Moritz Hauptmann's account of his "canonic" +travelling-companion's ways and procedures in the letters to Franz +Hauser, vol. i., p. 64, and passim.] + +The reader will no doubt notice and admire the caution of our young +friend. Remembering that not even Paganini had escaped being censured in +Prague, Chopin felt no inclination to give a concert, as he was advised +to do. A letter in which he describes his Prague experiences reveals to +us one of his weaknesses--one, however, which he has in common with many +men of genius. A propos of his bursting into a wrong bedroom he says: "I +am absent-minded, you know." + +After three pleasant days at Prague the quatrefoil of friends betook +themselves again to the road, and wended their way to Teplitz, where +they arrived the same evening, and stopped two nights and one day. Here +they fell in with many Poles, by one of whom, Louis Lempicki, Chopin was +introduced to Prince Clary and his family, in whose castle he spent an +evening in very aristocratic society. Among the guests were an Austrian +prince, an Austrian and a Saxon general, a captain of the English navy, +and several dandies whom Chopin suspected to be Austrian princes or +counts. After tea he was asked by the mother of the Princess Clary, +Countess Chotek, to play something. Chopin at once went to the piano, +and invited those present to give him a theme to improvise upon. + + Hereupon [he relates] I heard the ladies, who had taken seats + near a table, whisper to each other: "Un theme, un theme." + Three young princesses consulted together and at last turned + to Mr. Fritsche, the tutor of Prince Clary's only son, who, + with the approbation of all present, said to me: "The + principal theme of Rossini's 'Moses'." I improvised, and, it + appears, very successfully, for General Leiser [this was the + Saxon general] afterwards conversed with me for a long time, + and when he heard that I intended to go to Dresden he wrote + at once to Baron von Friesen as follows: "Monsieur Frederic + Chopin est recommande de la part du General Leiser a Monsieur + le Baron de Friesen, Maitre de Ceremonie de S.M. le Roi de + Saxe, pour lui etre utile pendant son sejour a Dresde et de + lui procurer la connaissance de plusieurs de nos artistes." + And he added, in German: "Herr Chopin is himself one of the + most excellent pianists whom I know." + +In short, Chopin was made much of; had to play four times, received an +invitation to dine at the castle the following day, &c., &c. That our +friend, in spite of all these charming prospects, leaving behind +him three lovely princesses, and who knows what other aristocratic +amenities, rolled off the very next morning at five o'clock in a vehicle +hired at the low price of two thalers--i.e., six shillings--must be +called either a feat of superhuman heroism or an instance of barbarous +insensibility--let the reader decide which. Chopin's visit to Teplitz +was not part of his original plan, but the state of his finances was +so good that he could allow himself some extravagances. Everything +delighted him at Teplitz, and, short as his stay was, he did the +sight-seeing thoroughly--we have his own word for it that he saw +everything worth seeing, among the rest Dux, the castle of the +Waldsteins, with relics of their ancestor Albrecht Waldstein, or +Wallenstein. + +Leaving Teplitz on the morning of August 26, he arrived in the evening +of the same day in Dresden in good health and good humour. About this +visit to Dresden little is to be said. Chopin had no intention of +playing in public, and did nothing but look about him, admiring nature +in Saxon Switzerland, and art in the "magnificent" gallery. He went to +the theatre where Goethe's Faust (the first part), adapted by Tieck, was +for the first time produced on the stage, Carl Devrient impersonating +the principal part. "An awful but grand imagination! In the entr'actes +portions from Spohr's opera "Faust" were performed. They celebrated +today Goethe's eightieth birthday." It must be admitted that the +master-work is dealt with rather laconically, but Chopin never indulges +in long aesthetical discussions. On the following Saturday Meyerbeer's +"Il Crociato" was to be performed by the Italian Opera--for at that time +there was still an Italian Opera in Dresden. Chopin, however, did not +stay long enough to hear it, nor did he very much regret missing it, +having heard the work already in Vienna. Although Baron von Friesen +received our friend most politely, he seems to have been of no +assistance to him. Chopin fared better with his letter of introduction +to Capellmeister Morlacchi, who returned the visit paid him and made +himself serviceable. And now mark this touch of boyish vanity: "Tomorrow +morning I expect Morlacchi, and I shall go with him to Miss Pechwell's. +That is to say, I do not go to him, but he comes to me. Yes, yes, +yes!" Miss Pechwell was a pupil of Klengel's, and the latter had asked +Morlacchi to introduce Chopin to her. She seems to have been not only a +technically skilful, fine-feeling, and thoughtful musician, but also in +other respects a highly-cultivated person. Klengel called her the best +pianist in Dresden. She died young, at the age of 35, having some time +previously changed her maiden name for that of Madame Pesadori. We shall +meet her again in the course of this biography. + +Of the rest of Chopin's journey nothing is known except that it led him +to Breslau, but when he reached and left it, and what he did there, +are open questions, and not worth troubling about. So much, however, is +certain, that on September 12, 1829, he was settled again in his native +city, as is proved by a letter bearing that date. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +THE WORKS OF CHOPIN'S FIRST PERIOD. + + + +The only works of Chopin we have as yet discussed are--if we leave out +of account the compositions which the master neither published himself +nor wished to be published by anybody else--the "Premier Rondeau," Op. +1, the "Rondeau a la Mazur," Op. 5, and "Variations sur un air allemand" +(see Chapter III). We must retrace our steps as far back as 1827, and +briefly survey the composer's achievements up to the spring of 1829, +when a new element enters into his life and influences his artistic +work. It will be best to begin with a chronological enumeration of those +of Chopin's compositions of the time indicated that have come down to +us. In 1827 came into existence or were finished: a Mazurka (Op. 68, No. +2), a Polonaise (Op. 71, No. 1), and a Nocturne (Op. 72); in 1828, "La +ci darem la mano, varie" for piano and orchestra (Op. 2), a Polonaise +(Op. 71, No. 2), a Rondo for two pianos (Op. 73), a Sonata (Op. 4), a +Fantasia on Polish airs for piano and orchestra (Op. 13), a Krakowiak, +"Grand Rondeau de Concert," likewise for piano and orchestra (Op. +14), and a Trio for piano, violin, and violoncello (Op. 8); in 1829, a +Polonaise (Op. 71, No. 3), a Waltz (Op. 69, No. 2), another Waltz (in E +major, without opus number), and a Funeral March (Op. 726). I will +not too confidently assert that every one of the last four works was +composed in the spring or early summer of 1829; but whether they were or +were not, they may be properly ranged with those previously mentioned +of 1827 and 1828. The works that bear a higher opus number than 65 were +published after the composer's death by Fontana. The Waltz without opus +number and the Sonata, Op. 4, are likewise posthumous publications. + +The works enumerated above may be divided into three groups, the first +of which comprises the Sonata, the Trio, and the Rondo for two pianos. + +The Sonata (in C minor) for piano, Op. 4, of which Chopin wrote as early +as September 9, 1828, that it had been for some time in the hands of +Haslinger at Vienna, was kept by this publisher in manuscript till after +the composer's death, being published only in July, 1851. "As a pupil +of his I dedicated it to Elsner," says Chopin. It is indeed a pupil's +work--an exercise, and not a very successful one. The exigencies of the +form overburdened the composer and crushed all individuality out of him. +Nowhere is Chopin so little himself, we may even say so unlike himself. +The distribution of keys and the character of the themes show that the +importance of contrast in the construction of larger works was +still unsuspected by him. The two middle movements, a Menuetto and a +Larghetto--although in the latter the self-imposed fetters of the 5-4 +time prevent the composer from feeling quite at his ease--are more +attractive than the rest. In them are discernible an approach to freedom +and something like a breath of life, whereas in the first and the last +movement there is almost nothing but painful labour and dull monotony. +The most curious thing, however, about this work is the lumbering +passage-writing of our graceful, light-winged Chopin. + +Infinitely superior to the Sonata is the Trio for piano, violin, and +violoncello, Op. 8, dedicated to Prince Anton Radziwill, which was +published in March, 1833. It was begun early in 1828, was "not yet +finished" on September 9, and "not yet quite finished" on December 27 of +that year. Chopin tried the first movement in the summer of 1828, and we +may assume that, a few details and improvements excepted, the whole +was completed at the beginning of 1829. A considerable time, however, +elapsed before the composer declared it ready for the press. On August +31, 1830, he writes:-- + + I tried the Trio last Sunday and was satisfied with it, + perhaps because I had not heard it for a long time. I suppose + you will say, "What a happy man!" Something occurred to me on + hearing it--namely, that it would be better to employ a viola + instead of the violin, for with the violin the E string + dominates most, whilst in my Trio it is hardly ever used. The + viola would stand in a more proper relation to the + violoncello. Then the Trio will be ready for the press. + +The composer did not make the intended alteration, and in this he was +well advised. For his remarks betray little insight; what preciousness +they possess they owe for the most part to the scarcity of similar +discussions of craftsmanship in his letters. From the above dates we see +that the composer bestowed much time, care, and thought upon the work. +Indeed, there can be no doubt that as regards conventional handling of +the sonata-form Chopin has in no instance been more successful. Were we +to look upon this work as an exercise, we should have to pronounce it a +most excellent one. But the ideal content, which is always estimable +and often truly beautiful as well as original, raises it high above the +status of an exercise. The fundamental fault of the Trio lies in this, +that the composer tried to fill a given form with ideas, and to some +extent failed to do so--the working-out sections especially testify to +the correctness of this opinion. That the notion of regarding form as +a vessel--a notion oftener acted upon than openly professed--is a +mischievous one will hardly be denied, and if it were denied, we could +not here discuss so wide a question as that of "What is form?" The +comparatively ineffective treatment of the violin and violoncello also +lays the composer open to censure. Notwithstanding its weaknesses +the work was received with favour by the critics, the most pronounced +conservatives not excepted. That the latter gave more praise to it than +to Chopin's previously-published compositions is a significant fact, and +may be easily accounted for by the less vigorous originality and less +exclusive individuality of the Trio, which, although superior in these +respects to the Sonata, Op. 4, does not equal the composer's works +written in simpler forms. Even the most hostile of Chopin's critics, +Rellstab, the editor of the Berlin musical journal Iris, admits--after +censuring the composer's excessive striving after originality, and the +unnecessarily difficult pianoforte passages with their progressions of +intervals alike repellent to hand and ear--that this is "on the whole +a praiseworthy work, which, in spite of some excursions into deviating +bye-paths, strikes out in a better direction than the usual productions +of the modern composers" (1833, No. 21). The editor of the Leipzig +"Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung," a journal which Schumann +characterises as "a sleepy place," is as eulogistic as the most rabid +Chopin admirer could wish. Having spoken of the "talented young man" +as being on the one hand under the influence of Field, and on the other +under that of Beethoven, he remarks:-- + + In the Trio everything is new: the school, which is the neo- + romantic; the art of pianoforte-playing, the individuality, + the originality, or rather the genius--which, in the + expression of a passion, unites, mingles, and alternates so + strangely with that amiable tenderness [Innigkeit] that the + shifting image of the passion hardly leaves the draughtsman + time to seize it firmly and securely, as he would fain do; + even the position of the phrases is unusual. All this, + however, would be ambiguous praise did not the spirit, which + is both old and new, breathe through the new form and give it + a soul. + +I place these criticisms before the reader as historical documents, not +as final decisions and examples of judicial wisdom. In fact, I accept +neither the strictures of the one nor the sublimifications of the other, +although the confident self-assertion of the former and the mystic +vagueness of the latter ought, according to use and wont, to carry +the weight of authority with them. Schumann, the Chopin champion par +excellence, saw clearer, and, writing three years later (1836), said +that the Trio belonged to Chopin's earlier period when the composer +still allowed the virtuoso some privileges. Although I cannot go so far +as this too admiring and too indulgent critic, and describe the work as +being "as noble as possible, more full of enthusiasm than the work +of any other poet [so schwarmerisch wie noch kein Dichter gesungen], +original in its smallest details, and, as a whole, every note music and +life," I think that it has enough of nobility, enthusiasm, originality, +music, and life, to deserve more attention than it has hitherto +obtained. + +Few classifications can at one and the same time lay claim to +the highest possible degree of convenience--the raison d'etre of +classifications--and strict accuracy. The third item of my first group, +for instance, might more properly be said to stand somewhere between +this and the second group, partaking somewhat of the nature of both. The +Rondo, Op. 73, was not originally written for two pianos. Chopin wrote +on September 9, 1828, that he had thus rearranged it during a stay at +Strzyzewo in the summer of that year. At that time he was pretty well +pleased with the piece, and a month afterwards talked of playing it with +his friend Fontana at the Ressource. Subsequently he must have changed +his opinion, for the Rondo did not become known to the world at large +till it was published posthumously. Granting certain prettinesses, an +unusual dash and vigour, and some points of interest in the working-out, +there remains the fact that the stunted melodies signify little and the +too luxuriant passage-work signifies less, neither the former nor the +latter possessing much of the charm that distinguishes them in the +composer's later works. The original in this piece is confined to the +passage-work, and has not yet got out of the rudimentary stage. Hence, +although the Rondo may not be unworthy of finding occasionally a place +in a programme of a social gathering with musical accompaniments and +even of a non-classical concert, it will disappoint those who come to it +with their expectations raised by Chopin's chefs-d'oeuvre, where all is +poetry and exquisiteness of style. + +The second group contains Chopin's concert-pieces, all of which have +orchestral accompaniments. They are: (1) "La ci darem la mano, varie +pour le piano," Op. 2; (2) "Grande Fantaisie sur des airs polonais," Op. +13; (3) "Krakowiak, Grande Rondeau de Concert," Op. 14. Of these three +the first, which is dedicated to Titus Woyciechowski, has become the +most famous, not, however, on account of its greater intrinsic value, +but partly because the orchestral accompaniments can be most easily +dispensed with, and more especially because Schumann has immortalised +it by--what shall I call it?--a poetic prose rhapsody. As previously +stated, the work had already in September, 1828, been for some time at +Vienna in the hands of Haslinger; it was probably commenced as far +back as 1827, but it did not appear in print till 1830. [FOOTNOTE: It +appeared in a serial publication entitled Odeon, which was described +on the title-page as: Ausgewahlte grosse Concertstucke fur verschiedene +Instrumente (Selected Grand Concert-Pieces for different instruments).] +On April 10 of that year Chopin writes that he expects it impatiently. +The appearance of these Variations, the first work of Chopin published +outside his own country, created a sensation. Of the impression which +he produced with it on the Viennese in 1829 enough has been said in the +preceding chapter. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung received no less +than three reviews of it, two of them--that of Schumann and one by "an +old musician"--were accepted and inserted in the same number of the +paper (1831, Vol. xxxiii., No. 49); the third, by Friedrich Wieck, +which was rejected, found its way in the following year into the musical +journal Caecilia. Schumann's enthusiastic effusion was a prophecy rather +than a criticism. But although we may fail to distinguish in Chopin's +composition the flirting of the grandee Don Juan with the peasant-girl +Zerlina, the curses of the duped lover Masetto, and the jeers and +laughter of the knavish attendant Leporello, which Schumann thought +he recognised, we all obey most readily and reverently his injunction, +"Hats off, gentlemen: a genius!" In these words lies, indeed, the merit +of Schumann's review as a criticism. Wieck felt and expressed nearly +the same, only he felt it less passionately and expressed it in the +customary critical style. The "old musician," on the other hand, is +pedantically censorious, and the redoubtable Rellstab (in the Iris) +mercilessly condemnatory. Still, these two conservative critics, blinded +as they were by the force of habit to the excellences of the rising +star, saw what their progressive brethren overlooked in the ardour +of their admiration--namely, the super-abundance of ornament and +figuration. There is a grain of truth in the rather strong statement +of Rellstab that the composer "runs down the theme with roulades, and +throttles and hangs it with chains of shakes." What, however, Rellstab +and the "old musician"--for he, too, exclaims, "nothing but bravura and +figuration!"--did not see, but what must be patent to every candid and +unprejudiced observer, are the originality, piquancy, and grace of these +fioriture, roulades, &c., which, indeed, are unlike anything that +was ever heard or seen before Chopin's time. I say "seen," for the +configurations in the notation of this piece are so different from those +of the works of any other composer that even an unmusical person could +distinguish them from all the rest; and there is none of the timid +groping, the awkward stumbling of the tyro. On the contrary, the +composer presents himself with an ease and boldness which cannot but +command admiration. The reader will remember what the Viennese critic +said about Chopin's "aim"; that it was not to dazzle by the superficial +means of the virtuoso, but to impress by the more legitimate ones of the +genuine musician. This is true if we compare the Chopin of that day with +his fellow-virtuosos Kalkbrenner, Herz, &c.; but if we compare him with +his later self, or with Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, &c., +the case is different. Indeed, there can be no doubt but that in +this and the other pieces of this group, Chopin's aim was that of the +virtuoso, only his nature was too rich, too noble, to sink into the +inanity of an insipid, conventional brilliancy. Moreover, whilst +maintaining that in the works specified language outruns in youthful +exuberance thought and emotion, I hasten to add that there are +premonitory signs--for instance, in the Op. 2 under discussion, more +especially in the introduction, the fifth variation, and the Finale--of +what as yet lies latent in the master's undeveloped creative power. + +The Grande Fantaisie sur des airs polonais (A major) for the pianoforte +and orchestra, Op. 13, dedicated to J. P. Pixis, and published in April, +1834, and the Krakowiak, Grand Rondeau de Concert (F major) for the +pianoforte and orchestra, Op. 14, dedicated to the Princesse Adam +Czartoryska, and published in June, 1834, are the most overtly Polish +works of Chopin. Of the composition of the former, which, according +to Karasowski, was sketched in 1828, the composer's letters give no +information; but they contain some remarks concerning the latter. We +learn that the score of the Krakowiak was finished by December 27, 1828, +and find the introduction described as having "as funny an appearance +as himself in his pilot-cloth overcoat." In the Fantasia the composer +introduces and variates a Polish popular song (Juz miesiac zaszedl), and +an air by the Polish composer Kurpinski, and concludes with a Kujawiak, +a dance of the mazurka species, in 3-4 time, which derives its name from +the district called Kujawia. In connection with this composition I must +not omit to mention that the first variation on the Polish popular song +contains the germ of the charming Berceuse (Op. 57). The Rondo, Op. 14, +has the character of a Krakowiak, a dance in 2-4 time which originated +in Cracovia. In no other compositions of the master do the national +elements show themselves in the same degree of crudity; indeed, after +this he never incorporates national airs and imitates so closely +national dances. Chopin remains a true Pole to the end of his days, and +his love of and attachment to everything Polish increase with the +time of absence from his native country. But as the composer grows +in maturity, he subjects the raw material to a more and more thorough +process of refinement and development before he considers it fit for +artistic purposes; the popular dances are spiritualised, the national +characteristics and their corresponding musical idioms are subtilised +and individualised. I do not agree with those critics who think it is +owing to the strongly-marked, exclusive Polish national character that +these two works have gained so little sympathy in the musical world; +there are artistic reasons that account for the neglect, which is indeed +so great that I do not remember having heard or read of any virtuoso +performing either of these pieces in public till a few years ago, when +Chopin's talented countrywoman Mdlle. Janotha ventured on a revival +of the Fantasia, without, however, receiving, in spite of her finished +rendering, much encouragement. The works, as wholes, are not altogether +satisfactory in the matter of form, and appear somewhat patchy. This is +especially the case in the Fantasia, where the connection of parts is +anything but masterly. Then the arabesk-element predominates again quite +unduly. Rellstab discusses the Fantasia with his usual obtuseness, but +points out correctly that Chopin gives only here and there a few bars of +melody, and never a longer melodic strain. The best parts of the works, +those that contain the greatest amount of music, are certainly the +exceedingly spirited Kujawiak and Krakowiak. The unrestrained merriment +that reigns in the latter justifies, or, if it does not justify, +disposes us to forgive much. Indeed, the Rondo may be said to overflow +with joyousness; now the notes run at random hither and thither, now +tumble about head over heels, now surge in bold arpeggios, now skip +from octave to octave, now trip along in chromatics, now vent their +gamesomeness in the most extravagant capers. + +The orchestral accompaniments, which in the Variations, Op. 2, are of +very little account, show in every one of the three works of this group +an inaptitude in writing for any other instrument than the piano that is +quite surprising considering the great musical endowments of Chopin in +other respects. I shall not dwell on this subject now, as we shall have +to consider it when we come to the composer's concertos. + +The fundamental characteristics of Chopin's style--the loose-textured, +wide-meshed chords and arpeggios, the serpentine movements, the +bold leaps--are exaggerated in the works of this group, and in their +exaggeration become grotesque, and not unfrequently ineffective. These +works show us, indeed, the composer's style in a state of fermentation; +it has still to pass through a clearing process, in which some of its +elements will be secreted and others undergo a greater or less +change. We, who judge Chopin by his best works, are apt to condemn too +precipitately the adverse critics of his early compositions. But the +consideration of the luxuriance and extravagance of the passage-work +which distinguish them from the master's maturer creations ought to +caution us and moderate our wrath. Nay more, it may even lead us to +acknowledge, however reluctantly, that amidst the loud braying of +Rellstab there occurred occasionally utterances that were by no means +devoid of articulation and sense. Take, for instance, this--I do +not remember just now a propos of which composition, but it is very +appropriate to those we are now discussing:--"The whole striving of the +composer must be regarded as an aberration, based on decided talent, +we admit, but nevertheless an aberration." You see the most hostile of +Chopin's critics does not deny his talent; indeed, Rellstab sometimes, +especially subsequently, speaks quite patronisingly about him. I shall +take this opportunity to contradict the current notion that Chopin had +just cause to complain of backwardness in the recognition of his genius, +and even of malicious attacks on his rising reputation. The truth of +this is already partly disproved by the foregoing, and it will be fully +so by the sequel. + +The pieces which I have formed into a third group show us the composer +free from the fetters that ambition and other preoccupations impose. +Besides Chopin's peculiar handling we find in them more of his +peculiar sentiment. If the works of the first group were interesting as +illustrating the development of the student, those of the second group +that of the virtuoso, and those of both that of the craftsman, the works +of the third group furnish us most valuable documents for the history of +the man and poet. The foremost in importance of the pieces comprised in +this group are no doubt the three polonaises, composed respectively +in the years 1827, 1828, and 1829. The bravura character is still +prominent, but, instead of ruling supreme, it becomes in every +successive work more and more subordinate to thought and emotion. These +polonaises, although thoroughly Chopinesque, nevertheless differ +very much from his later ones, those published by himself, which are +generally more compact and fuller of poetry. Moreover, I imagine I can +see in several passages the influence of Weber, whose Polonaise in E +flat minor, Polacca in E major, Sonata in A flat major, and Invitation +a la Valse (to mention a few apposite instances), respectively published +in 1810, 1819, 1816, and 1821, may be supposed to have been known to +Chopin. These reminiscences, if such they are, do not detract much from +the originality of the compositions; indeed, that a youth of eighteen +should have attained such a strongly-developed individuality as the D +minor Polonaise exhibits, is truly wonderful. + +The Nocturne of the year 1827 (Op. 72, No. 1, E minor) is probably the +poorest of the early compositions, but excites one's curiosity as the +first specimen of the kind by the incomparable composer of nocturnes. Do +not misunderstand me, however, and imagine that I wish to exalt Chopin +at the expense of another great musician. Field has the glory not only +of having originated the genre, but also of having produced examples +that have as yet lost nothing, or very little, of their vitality. His +nocturnes are, indeed, a rich treasure, which, undeservedly neglected +by the present generation, cannot be superseded by those of his +illustrious, and now favoured successor. On the other hand, although +Field's priority and influence on Chopin must be admitted, the +unprejudiced cannot but perceive that the latter is no imitator. Even +where, as for instance in Op. 9, Nos. 1 and 2, the mejody or the form +of the accompaniment shows a distinct reminiscence of Field, such is +the case only for a few notes, and the next moment Chopin is what nobody +else could be. To watch a great man's growth, to trace a master's noble +achievements from their humble beginnings, has a charm for most minds. +I, therefore, need not fear the reader's displeasure if I direct his +attention to some points, notable on this account--in this case to +the wide-meshed chords and light-winged flights of notes, and the +foreshadowing of the Coda of Op. 9. + +Of 1827 we have also a Mazurka in A minor, Op. 68, No. 2. It is simple +and rustic, and at the same time graceful. The trio (poco piu mosso), +the more original portion of the Mazurka, reappears in a slightly +altered form in later mazurkas. It is these foreshadowings of +future beauties, that make these early works so interesting. The +above-mentioned three polonaises are full of phrases, harmonic, +progressions, &c., which are subsequently reutilised in a. purer, more +emphatic, more developed, more epigrammatic, or otherwise more perfect +form. We notice the same in the waltzes which remain yet to be discussed +here. + +Whether these Waltzes (in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2; and in E major, +without opus number) were really written in the early part of 1829, or +later on in the year, need not be too curiously inquired into. As I +have already remarked, they may certainly be classed along with the +above-discussed works. The first is the more interesting of them. In +both we meet with passages that point to more perfect specimens of the +kind--for instance, certain rhythmical motives, melodic inflections, and +harmonic progressions, to the familiar Waltzes in E flat major (Op. +18) and in A flat major (Op. 34, No. 1); and the D major portion of the +Waltz in B minor, to the C major part of the Waltz in A minor (Op. 34, +No. 2). This concludes our survey of the compositions of Chopin's first +period. + +In the legacy of a less rich man, the Funeral March in C minor, Op. 72b, +composed (according to Fontana) in 1829, [FOOTNOTE: In Breitkopf and +Hartel's Gesammtausgabe of Chopin's works will be found 1826 instead of +1829. This, however, is a misprint, not a correction.]would be a notable +item; in that of Chopin it counts for little. Whatever the shortcomings +of this composition are, the quiet simplicity and sweet melancholy which +pervade it must touch the hearer. But the master stands in his own. +light; the famous Funeral March in B flat minor, from the Sonata in B +flat minor, Op. 35, composed about ten years later, eclipses the more +modest one in C minor. Beside the former, with its sublime force and +fervency of passion and imposing mastery of the resources of the art, +the latter sinks into weak insignificance, indeed, appears a mere +puerility. Let us note in the earlier work the anticipation, (bar 12) of +a motive of the chef-d'ceuvre (bar 7), and reminiscences of the Funeral +March from Beethoven's. Sonata in A flat major, Op. 26. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + + +CHOPIN'S FIRST LOVE.--FRIENDSHIP WITH TITUS WOYCIECHOWSKI.--LIFE IN +WARSAW AFTER RETURNING FROM VIENNA.--VISIT TO PRINCE RADZIWILL AT +ANTONIN (OCTOBER, 1829).--NEW COMPOSITIONS.--GIVES TWO CONCERTS. + + + +IN the preceding chapter I alluded to a new element that entered into +the life of Chopin and influenced his artistic work. The following +words, addressed by the young composer on October 3, 1829, to his friend +Titus Woyciechowski, will explain what kind of element it was and when +it began to make itself felt:-- + + Do not imagine that [when I speak of the advantages and + desirability of a stay in Vienua] I am thinking of Miss + Blahetka, of whom I have written to you; I have--perhaps to + my misfortune--already found my ideal, which I worship + faithfully and sincerely. Six months have elapsed, and I have + not yet exchanged a syllable with her of whom I dream every + night. Whilst my thoughts were with her I composed the Adagio + of my Concerto, and early this morning she inspired the Waltz + which I send along with this letter. + +The influence of the tender passion on the development of heart and +mind cannot be rated too highly; it is in nine out of ten, if not in +ninety-nine out of a hundred cases that which transforms the rhymer into +a poet, the artificer into an artist. Chopin confesses his indebtedness +to Constantia, Schumann his to Clara. But who could recount all the +happy and hapless loves that have made poets? Countless is the number of +those recorded in histories, biographies, and anecdotes; greater still +the number of those buried in literature and art, the graves whence they +rise again as flowers, matchless in beauty, unfading, and of sweetest +perfume. Love is indeed the sun that by its warmth unfolds the +multitudinous possibilities that lie hidden, often unsuspected, in +the depths of the human soul. It was, then, according to Chopin, about +April, 1829, that the mighty power began to stir within him; and the +correspondence of the following two years shows us most strikingly how +it takes hold of him with an ever-increasing firmness of grasp, and +shakes the whole fabric of his delicate organisation with fearful +violence. The object of Chopin's passion, the being whom he worshipped +and in whom he saw the realisation of his ideal of womanhood, was +Constantia Gladkowska, a pupil at the Warsaw Conservatorium, of whom the +reader will learn more in the course of this and the next chapter. + +What reveals perhaps more distinctly than anything else Chopin's +idiosyncrasy is his friendship for Titus Woyciechowski. At any rate, it +is no exaggeration to say that a knowledge of the nature of Chopin's two +passions, his love and his friendship--for this, too, was a passion +with him--gives into our hands a key that unlocks all the secrets of +his character, of his life, and of their outcome--his artistic work. Nay +more, with a full comprehension of, and insight into, these passions +we can foresee the sufferings and disappointments which he is fated to +endure. Chopin's friendship was not a common one; it was truly and in +the highest degree romantic. To the sturdy Briton and gay Frenchman it +must be incomprehensible, and the German of four or five generations ago +would have understood it better than his descendant of to-day is likely +to do. If we look for examples of such friendship in literature, we +find the type nowhere so perfect as in the works of Jean Paul Richter. +Indeed, there are many passages in the letters of the Polish composer +that read like extracts from the German author: they remind us of the +sentimental and other transcendentalisms of Siebenkas, Leibgeber, Walt, +Vult, and others. There was somethine in Chopin's warm, tender, effusive +friendship that may be best characterised by the word "feminine." +Moreover, it was so exacting, or rather so covetous and jealous, that +he had often occasion to chide, gently of course, the less caressing and +enthusiastic Titus. Let me give some instances. + + December 27th, 1828.--If I scribble to-day again so much + nonsense, I do so only in order to remind you that you are as + much locked in my heart as ever, and that I am the same Fred + I was. You do not like to be kissed; but to-day you must + permit me to do so. + +The question of kissing is frequently brought up. + + September 12th, 1829.--I embrace you heartily, and kiss you + on your lips if you will permit me. + + October 20th, 1829.--I embrace you heartily--many a one + writes this at the end ol his letter, but most people do so + with little thought of what they are writing. But you may + believe me, my dearest friend, that I do so sincerely, as + truly as my name is Fred. + + September 4th, 1830.--Time passes, I must wash myself...do + not kiss me now...but you would not kiss me in any case--even + if I anointed myself with Byzantine oils--unless I forced you + to do so by magnetic means. + +Did we not know the writer and the person addressed, one might imagine +that the two next extracts were written by a lover to his mistress or +vice versa. + + November 14th, 1829.--You, my dearest one, do not require my + portrait. Believe me I am always with you, and shall not + forget you till the end of my life. + + May 15th, 1830.--You have no idea how much I love you! If I + only could prove it to you! What would I not give if I could + once again right heartily embrace you! + +One day he expresses the wish that he and his friend should travel +together. But this was too commonplace a sentiment not to be refined +upon. Accordingly we read in a subsequent letter as follows:-- + + September 18th, 1830.--I should not like to travel with you, + for I look forward with the greatest delight to the moment + when we shall meet abroad and embrace each other; it will be + worth more than a thousand monotonous days passed with you on + the journey. +From another passage in one of these letters we get a good idea of the +influence Titus Woyciechowski exercised on his friend. + + April 10, 1830.--Your advice is good. I have already refused + some invitations for the evening, as if I had had a + presentiment of it--for I think of you in almost everything I + undertake. I do not know whether it comes from my having + learned from you how to feel and perceive; but when I compose + anything I should much like to know whether it pleases you; + and I believe that my second Concerto (E minor) will have no + value for me until you have heard it and approved of it. + +I quoted the above passage to show how Chopin felt that this friendship +had been a kind of education to him, and how he valued his friend's +opinion of his compositions--he is always anxious to make Titus +acquainted with anything new he may have composed. But in this passage +there is another very characteristic touch, and it may easily be +overlooked, or at least may not receive the attention which it +deserves--I allude to what Chopin says of having had "a presentiment." +In superstitiousness he is a true child of his country, and all the +enlightenment of France did not succeed in weaning him from his belief +in dreams, presentiments, good and evil days, lucky and unlucky numbers, +&c. This is another romantic feature in the character of the composer; +a dangerous one in the pursuit of science, but advantageous rather than +otherwise in the pursuit of art. Later on I shall have to return to +this subject and relate some anecdotes, here I shall confine myself to +quoting a short passage from one of his early letters. + + April 17, 1830.--If you are in Warsaw during the sitting of + the Diet, you will come to my concert--I have something like + a presentiment, and when I also dream it, I shall firmly + believe it. + +And now, after these introductory explanations, we will begin the +chapter in right earnest by taking up the thread of the story where we +left it. On his return to Warsaw Chopin was kept in a state of mental +excitement by the criticisms on his Vienna performances that appeared +in German papers. He does not weary of telling his friend about them, +transcribing portions of them, and complaining of Polish papers which +had misrepresented the drift and mistranslated the words of them. I do +not wonder at the incorrectness of the Polish reports, for some of these +criticisms are written in as uncouth, confused, and vague German as I +ever had the misfortune to turn into English. One cannot help thinking, +in reading what Chopin says with regard to these matters, that he showed +far too much concern about the utterances of the press, and far too much +sensitiveness under the infliction of even the slightest strictures. +That, however, the young composer was soon engaged on new works may be +gathered from the passage (Oct. 3, 1829), quoted at the commencement +of this chapter, in which he speaks of the Adagio of a concerto, and +a waltz, written whilst his thoughts were with his ideal. These +compositions were the second movement of the F minor Concerto and the +Waltz, Op. 70, No. 3. But more of this when we come to discuss the works +which Chopin produced in the years 1829 and 1830. + +One of the most important of the items which made up our friend's +musical life at this time was the weekly musical meetings at the house +of Kessler, the pianist-composer characterised in Chapter X. There all +the best artists of Warsaw assembled, and the executants had to play +prima vista whatever was placed before them. Of works performed at +two of these Friday evening meetings, we find mentioned Spohr's Octet, +described by Chopin as "a wonderful work"; Ries's Concerto in C sharp +minor (played with quartet accompaniment), Hummel's Trio in E major, +Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia's Quartet, and Beethoven's last Trio, +which, Chopin says, he could not but admire for its magnificence and +grandeur. To Brzezina's music-shop he paid a visit every day, without +finding there, however, anything new, except a Concerto by Pixis, which +made no great impression upon him. That Chopin was little satisfied with +his situation may be gathered from the following remarks of his:-- + + You cannot imagine how sad Warsaw is to me; if I did not feel + happy in my home circle I should not like to live here. Oh, + how bitter it is to have no one with whom one can share joy + and sorrow; oh, how dreadful to feel one's heart oppressed + and to be unable to express one's complaints to any human + soul! You know full well what I mean. How often do I tell my + piano all that I should like to impart to you! + +Of course the reader, who is in the secret, knows as well as Titus knew, +to whom the letter was addressed, that Chopin alludes to his love. Let +us mark the words in the concluding sentence about the conversations +with his piano. Chopin was continually occupied with plans for going +abroad. In October, 1829, he writes that, wherever fate may lead him, he +is determined not to spend the winter in Warsaw. Nevertheless, more +than a year passed away before he said farewell to his native city. He +himself wished to go to Vienna, his father seems to have been in favour +of Berlin. Prince Radziwill and his wife had kindly invited him to come +to the Prussian capital, and offered him apartments in their palais. But +Chopin was unable to see what advantages he could derive from a stay in +Berlin. Moreover, unlike his father, he believed that this invitation +was no more than "de belles paroles." By the way, these remarks of +Chopin's furnish a strong proof that the Prince was not his patron and +benefactor, as Liszt and others have maintained. While speaking of his +fixed intention to go somewhere, and of the Prince's invitation, +Chopin suddenly exclaims with truly Chopinesque indecision and +capriciousness:-- + + But what is the good of it all? Seeing that I have begun so + many new works, perhaps the wisest thing I can do is to stay + here. + +Leaving this question undecided, he undertook in October, 1829, a +journey to Posen, starting on the 20th of that month. An invitation from +Prince Radziwill was the inducement that led him to quit the paternal +roof so soon after his return to it. His intention was to remain only a +fortnight from home, and to visit his friends, the Wiesiolowskis, on the +way to Antonin. Chopin enjoyed himself greatly at the latter place. The +wife of the Prince, a courteous and kindly lady, who did not gauge a +man's merits by his descent, found the way to the heart of the composer +by wishing to hear every day and to possess as soon as possible +his Polonaise in F minor (Op. 71, No. 3). The young Princesses, her +daughters, had charms besides those of their beauty. One of them played +the piano with genuine musical feeling. + + I have written [reports Chopin to his friend Titus on + November 14, 1829] during my visit at Prince Radziwill's an + Alla Polacca with violoncello. It is nothing more than a + brilliant salon piece, such as pleases ladies. I would like + Princess Wanda to practise it, so that it might be said that + I had taught her. She is only seventeen years old and + beautiful; it would be delightful to have the privilege of + placing her pretty fingers on the keys. But, joking apart, + her soul is endowed with true musical feeling, and one does + not need to tell her whether she is to play crescendo, piano, + or pianissimo. + +According to Liszt, Chopin fondly remembered his visits to Antonin, and +told many an anecdote in connection with them. + + The Princess Elisa, one of the daughters of Prince Radziwill, + who died in the first bloom of her life, left him [Chopin] + the sweet image of an angel exiled for a short period here + below. + +A passage in the letter of Chopin from which I last quoted throws also a +little light on his relation to her. + + You wished one of my portraits; if I could only have pilfered + one of Princess Elisa's, I should certainly have sent it; for + she has two portraits of me in her album, and I am told that + these drawings are very good likenesses. + +The musical Prince would naturally be attracted by, and take an interest +in, the rising genius. What the latter's opinion of his noble friend as +a composer was, he tells Titus Woyciechowski at some length. I may here +say, once for all, that all the letters from which extracts are given in +this chapter are addressed to this latter. + + You know how the Prince loves music; he showed me his "Faust" + and I found in it some things that are really beautiful, + indeed, in part even grandly conceived. In confidence, I + should not at all have credited the Namiestnik [governor, + lord-lieutenant] with such music! Among other things I was + struck by a scene in which Mephistopheles allures Margaret to + the window by his singing and guitar-playing, while at the + same time a chorale is heard from the neighbouring church. + This is sure to produce a great effect at a performance. I + mention this only that you may form an idea of his musical + conceptions. He is a great admirer of Gluck. Theatrical music + has, in his opinion, significance only in so far as it + illustrates the situation and emotion; the overture, + therefore, has no close, and leads at once into the + introduction. The orchestra is placed behind the stage and is + always invisible, in order that the attention of the audience + may not be diverted by external, such as the movements of the + conductor and executants. + +Chopin enjoyed himself so much at Antonin that if he had consulted only +his pleasure he would have stayed till turned out by his host. But, +although he was asked to prolong his visit, he left this "Paradise" and +the "two Eves" after a sojourn of eight days. It was his occupations, +more especially the F minor Concerto, "impatiently waiting for its +Finale," that induced him to practise this self-denial. When Chopin +had again taken possession of his study, he no doubt made it his first +business, or at least one of the first, to compose the wanting movement, +the Rondo, of his Concerto; as, however, there is an interval of more +than four months in his extant letters, we hear no more about it till +he plays it in public. Before his visit to Antonin (October 20, 1829) he +writes to his friend that he has composed "a study in his own manner," +and after the visit he mentions having composed "some studies." + +Chopin seems to have occasionally played at the Ressource. The reader +will remember the composer's intention of playing there with Fontana his +Rondo for two pianos. On November 14, 1829, Chopin informs his friend +Titus that on the preceding Saturday Kessler performed Hummel's E major +Concerto at the Ressource, and that on the following Saturday he himself +would perhaps play there, and in the case of his doing so choose for his +piece his Variations, Op. 2. Thus composing, playing, and all the time +suffering from a certain loneliness--"You cannot imagine how everywhere +in Warsaw I now find something wanting! I have nobody with whom I can +speak, were it only two words, nobody whom I can really trust"--the day +came when he gave his first concert in his native city. This great event +took place on March 17, 1830, and the programme contained the following +pieces:-- + +PART I + + 1. Overture to the Opera "Leszek Bialy," by Elsner. + + 2. Allegro from the Concerto in F minor, composed and played + by F. Chopin. + + 3. Divertissement for the French horn, composed and played by + Gorner. + + 4. Adagio and Rondo from the Concerto in F minor, composed + and played by Chopin. + +PART II + + 1. Overture to the Opera "Cecylja Piaseczynska," by + Kurpinski. + + 2. Variations by Paer, sung by Madame Meier. + + 3. Pot-pourri on national airs, composed and played by + Chopin. + +Three days before the concert, which took place in the theatre, neither +box nor reserved seat was to be had. But Chopin complains that on the +whole it did not make the impression he expected. Only the Adagio +and Rondo of his Concerto had a decided success. But let us see the +concert-giver's own account of the proceedings. + + The first Allegro of the F minor Concerto (not intelligible + to all) received indeed the reward of a "Bravo," but I + believe this was given because the public wished to show that + it understands and knows how to appreciate serious music. + There are people enough in all countries who like to assume + the air of connoisseurs! The Adagio and Rondo produced a very + great effect. After these the applause and the "Bravos" came + really from the heart; but the Pot-pourri on Polish airs + missed its object entirely. There was indeed some applause, + but evidently only to show the player that the audience had + not been bored. + +We now hear again the old complaint that Chopin's playing was too +delicate. The opinion of the pit was that he had not played loud enough, +whilst those who sat in the gallery or stood in the orchestra seem to +have been better satisfied. In one paper, where he got high praise, he +was advised to put forth more energy and power in the future; but Chopin +thought he knew where this power was to be found, and for the next +concert got a Vienna instrument instead of his own Warsaw one. Elsner, +too, attributed the indistinctness of the bass passages and the weakness +of tone generally to the instrument. The approval of some of the +musicians compensated Chopin to some extent for the want of appreciation +and intelligence shown by the public at large "Kurpinski thought he +discovered that evening new beauties in my Concerto, and Ernemann was +fully satisfied with it." Edouard Wolff told me that they had no idea in +Warsaw of the real greatness of Chopin. Indeed, how could they? He +was too original to be at once fully understood. There are people who +imagine that the difficulties of Chopin's music arise from its Polish +national characteristics, and that to the Poles themselves it is as +easy as their mother-tongue; this, however, is a mistake. In fact, +other countries had to teach Poland what is due to Chopin. That the +aristocracy of Paris, Polish and native, did not comprehend the whole +Chopin, although it may have appreciated and admired his sweetness, +elegance, and exquisiteness, has been remarked by Liszt, an eye and +ear-witness and an excellent judge. But his testimony is not needed to +convince one of the fact. A subtle poet, be he ever so national, has +thoughts and corresponding language beyond the ken of the vulgar, who +are to be found in all ranks, high and low. Chopin, imbued as he +was with the national spirit, did nevertheless not manifest it in +a popularly intelligible form, for in passing through his mind it +underwent a process of idealisation and individualisation. It has been +repeatedly said that the national predominates over the universal in +Chopin's music; it is a still less disputable truth that the individual +predominates therein over the national. There are artist-natures whose +tendency is to expand and to absorb; others again whose tendency is to +contract and to exclude. Chopin is one of the most typical instances of +the latter; hence, no wonder that he was not at once fully understood by +his countrymen. The great success which Chopin's subsequent concerts in +Warsaw obtained does not invalidate E. Wolff's statement, which indeed +is confirmed by the composer's own remarks on the taste of the public +and its reception of his compositions. Moreover, we shall see that those +pieces pleased most in which, as in the Fantasia and Krakowiak, the +national raw material was merely more or less artistically dressed up, +but not yet digested and assimilated; if the Fantasia left the audience +cold at the first concert, this was no doubt owing to the inadequacy of +the performance. + +No sooner was the first concert over than, with his head still full of +it, Chopin set about making preparations for a second, which took place +within a week after the first. The programme was as follows:-- + +PART I + +1. Symphony by Nowakowski. + +2. Allegro from the Concerto in F minor, composed and played by Chopin. + +3. Air Varie by De Beriot, played by Bielawski. + +4. Adagio and Rondo from the Concerto in F minor, composed and played by +Chopin. + +PART II + +1. Rondo Krakowiak, composed and played by Chopin. + +2. Aria from "Elena e Malvina" by Soliva, sung by Madame Meier. + +3. Improvisation on national airs. + +This time the audience, which Chopin describes as having been more +numerous than at any other concert, was satisfied. There was no end to +the applause, and when he came forward to bow his acknowledgments there +were calls of "Give another concert!" The Krakowiak produced an immense +effect, and was followed by four volleys of applause. His improvisation +on the Polish national air "W miescie dziwne obyczaje" pleased only the +people in the dress-circle, although he did not improvise in the way he +had intended to do, which would not have been suitable for the audience +that was present. From this and another remark, that few of the haute +volee had as yet heard him, it appears that the aristocracy, for the +most part living on their estates, was not largely represented at the +concert. Thinking as he did of the public, he was surprised that the +Adagio had found such general favour, and that he heard everywhere the +most flattering remarks. He was also told that "every note sounded like +a bell," and that he had "played much better on the second than on the +first instrument." But although Elsner held that Chopin could only be +judged after the second concert, and Kurpinski and others expressed +their regret that he did not play on the Viennese instrument at the +first one, he confesses that he would have preferred playing on his +own piano. The success of the concerts may be measured by the +following facts: A travelling virtuoso and former pupil of the Paris +Conservatoire, Dunst by name, offered in his enthusiasm to treat Chopin +with champagne; the day after the second concert a bouquet with a poem +was sent to him; his fellow-student Orlowski wrote mazurkas and waltzes +on the principal theme of the Concerto, and published them in spite of +the horrified composer's request that he should not do so; Brzezina, the +musicseller, asked him for his portrait, but, frightened at the prospect +of seeing his counterfeit used as a wrapper for butter and cheese, +Chopin declined to give it to him; the editor of the "Courier" inserted +in his paper a sonnet addressed to Chopin. Pecuniarily the concerts +were likewise a success, although the concert-giver was of a different +opinion. But then he seems to have had quite prima donna notions about +receipts, for he writes very coolly: "From the two concerts I had, +after deduction of all expenses, not as much as 5,000 florins (about 125 +pounds)." Indeed, he treats this part of the business very cavalierly, +and declares that money was no object with him. On the utterances of the +papers, which, of course, had their say, Chopin makes some sensible and +modest comments. + + After my concerts there appeared many criticisms; if in them + (especially in the "Kuryer Polski") abundant praise was + awarded to me, it was nevertheless not too extravagant. The + "Official Journal" has also devoted some columns to my + praise; one of its numbers contained, among other things, + such stupidities--well meant, no doubt--that I was quite + desperate till I had read the answer in the "Gazeta Polska," + which justly takes away what the other papers had in their + exaggeration attributed to me. In this article it is said + that the Poles will one day be as proud of me as the Germans + are of Mozart, which is palpable nonsense. But that is not + all, the critic says further: "That if I had fallen into the + hands of a pedant or a Rossinist (what a stupid expression!) + I could not have become what I am." Now, although I am as yet + nothing, he is right in so far that my performance would be + still less than it actually is if I had not studied under + Elsner. + +Gratifying as the praise of the press no doubt was to Chopin, it became +a matter of small account when he thought of his friend's approving +sympathy. "One look from you after the concert would have been worth +more to me than all the laudations of the critics here." The concerts, +however, brought with them annoyances as well as pleasures. While one +paper pointed out Chopin's strongly-marked originality, another advised +him to hear Rossini, but not to imitate him. Dobrzynski, who expected +that his Symphony would be placed on one of the programmes, was angry +with Chopin for not doing so; a lady acquaintance took it amiss that a +box had not been reserved for her, and so on. What troubled our friend +most of all, and put him quite out of spirits, was the publication of +the sonnet and of the mazurkas; he was afraid that his enemies would +not let this opportunity pass, and attack and ridicule him. "I will no +longer read what people may now write about me," he bursts out in a fit +of lachrymose querulousness. Although pressed from many sides to give +a third concert, Chopin decided to postpone it till shortly before +his departure, which, however, was farther off than he imagined. +Nevertheless, he had already made up his mind what to play--namely, +the new Concerto (some parts of which had yet to be composed) and, by +desire, the Fantasia and the Variations. + + + +CHAPTER X. + + + +1829-1830. + + + +MUSIC IN THE WARSAW SALONS.--MORE ABOUT CHOPIN'S CAUTION.--MUSICAL +VISITORS TO THE POLISH CAPITAL: WORLITZER, MDLLE. DE BELLEVILLE, MDLLE. +SONTAG, &c.--SOME OF CHOPIN'S ARTISTIC AND OTHER DOINGS; VISIT +TO POTURZYN.--HIS LOVE FOR CONSTANTIA GLADKOWSKA.--INTENDED AND +FREQUENTLY-POSTPONED DEPARTURE FOR ABROAD; IRRESOLUTION.--THE E MINOR +CONCERTO AND HIS THIRD CONCERT IN WARSAW.--DEPARTS AT LAST. + + + +After the turmoil and agitation of the concerts, Chopin resumed the even +tenor of his Warsaw life, that is to say, played, composed, and went +to parties. Of the latter we get some glimpses in his letters, and they +raise in us the suspicion that the salons of Warsaw were not overzealous +in the cultivation of the classics. First we have a grand musical +soiree at the house of General Filipeus, [F-ootnote: Or Philippeus] the +intendant of the Court of the Grand Duke Constantine. There the Swan +of Pesaro was evidently in the ascendant, at any rate, a duet from +"Semiramide" and a buffo duet from "Il Turco in Italia" (in this Soliva +took a part and Chopin accompanied) were the only items of the musical +menu thought worth mentioning by the reporter. A soiree at Lewicki's +offers matter of more interest. Chopin, who had drawn up the programme, +played Hummel's "La Sentinelle" and his Op. 3, the Polonaise for +piano and violoncello composed at Antonin with a subsequently-added +introduction; and Prince Galitzin was one of the executants of a quartet +of Rode's. Occasionally, however, better works were performed. Some +months later, for instance, at the celebration of a gentleman's +name-day, Spohr's Quintet for piano, flute, clarinet, horn, and bassoon +was played. Chopin's criticism on this work is as usual short:-- + + Wonderfully beautiful, but not quite suitable for the piano. + Everything Spohr has written for the piano is very difficult, + indeed, sometimes it is impossible to find any fingering for + his passages. + +On Easter-day, the great feasting day of the Poles, Chopin was invited +to breakfast by the poet Minasowicz. On this occasion he expected to +meet Kurpinski; and as in the articles which had appeared in the papers +a propos of his concerts the latter and Elsner had been pitted against +each other, he wondered what would be the demeanour of his elder +fellow-countryman and fellow-composer towards him. Remembering Chopin's +repeated injunctions to his parents not to mention to others his remarks +on musicians, we may be sure that in this as in every other case +Chopin proceeded warily. Here is another striking example of this +characteristic and highly-developed cautiousness. After hearing the +young pianist Leskiewicz play at a concert he writes:-- + + It seems to me that he will become a better player than + Krogulski; but I have not yet dared to express this opinion, + although I have been often asked to do so. + +In the first half of April, 1830, Chopin was so intent on finishing the +compositions he had begun that, greatly as he wished to pay his friend +Titus Woyciechowski a visit at his country-seat Poturzyn, he determined +to stick to his work. The Diet, which had not been convoked for five +years, was to meet on the 28th of May. That there would be a great +concourse of lords and lordlings and their families and retinues +followed as a matter of course. Here, then, was an excellent opportunity +for giving a concert. Chopin, who remembered that the haute voice had +not yet heard him, did not overlook it. But be it that the Concerto was +not finished in time, or that the circumstances proved less favourable +than he had expected, he did not carry out his plan. Perhaps the +virtuosos poured in too plentifully. In those days the age of artistic +vagrancy had not yet come to an end, and virtuosity concerts were still +flourishing most vigorously. Blahetka of Vienna, too, had a notion of +coming with his daughter to Warsaw and giving some concerts there during +the sitting of the Diet. He wrote to Chopin to this effect, and asked +his advice. The latter told him that many musicians and amateurs had +indeed often expressed a desire to hear Miss Blahetka, but that the +expenses of a concert and the many distinguished artists who had arrived +or were about to arrive made the enterprise rather hazardous. + + Now [says Chopin, the cautious, to his friend] he [Blahetka] + cannot say that I have not sufficiently informed him of the + state of things here! It is not unlikely that he will come. I + should be glad to see them, and would do what I could to + procure a full house for his daughter. I should most + willingly play with her on two pianos, for you cannot imagine + how kindly an interest this German [Mr. Blahetka] took in me + at Vienna. + +Among the artists who came to Warsaw were: the youthful Worlitzer, who, +although only sixteen years of age, was already pianist to the King of +Prussia; the clever pianist Mdlle. de Belleville, who afterwards became +Madame Oury; the great violinist Lipinski, the Polish Paganini; and the +celebrated Henrietta Sontag, one of the brightest stars of the time. +Chopin's intercourse with these artists and his remarks on them are +worth noting: they throw light on his character as a musician and man +as well as on theirs. He relates that Worlitzer, a youth of Jewish +extraction, and consequently by nature very talented, had called on him +and played to him several things famously, especially Moscheles' +"Marche d'Alexandre variee." Notwithstanding the admitted excellence of +Worlitzer's playing, Chopin adds--not, however, without a "this remains +between us two"--that he as yet lacks much to deserve the title of +Kammer-Virtuos. Chopin thought more highly of Mdlle. de Belleville, who, +he says, "plays the piano beautifully; very airily, very elegantly, +and ten times better than Worlitzer." What, we may be sure, in no wise +diminished his good opinion of the lady was that she had performed his +Variations in Vienna, and could play one of them by heart. To picture +the object of Chopin's artistic admiration a little more clearly, let me +recall to the reader's memory Schumann's characterisation of Mdlle. de +Belleville and Clara Wieck. + + They should not be compared. They are different mistresses of + different schools. The playing of the Belleville is + technically the finer of the two; Clara's is more + impassioned. The tone of the Belleville caresses, but does + not penetrate beyond the ear; that of Clara reaches the + heart. The one is a poetess; the other is poetry itself. + +Chopin's warmest admiration and longest comments were, however, reserved +for Mdlle. Sontag. Having a little more than a year before her visit +to Warsaw secretly married Count Rossi, she made at the time we are +speaking of her last artistic tour before retiring, at the zenith of her +fame and power, into private life. At least, she thought then it was her +last tour; but pecuniary losses and tempting offers induced her in 1849 +to reappear in public. In Warsaw she gave a first series of five or six +concerts in the course of a week, went then by invitation of the King +of Prussia to Fischbach, and from there returned to Warsaw. Her concerts +were remarkable for their brevity. She usually sang at them four times, +and between her performances the orchestra played some pieces. She +dispensed altogether with the assistance of other virtuosos. But Chopin +remarks that so great was the impression she made as a vocalist and the +interest she inspired as an artist that one required some rest after her +singing. Here is what the composer writes to his friend about her (June +5, 1830):-- + + ...It is impossible for me to describe to you how great a pleasure the + acquaintance with this "God-sent one" (as some + enthusiasts justly call her) has given me. Prince Radziwitt + introduced me to her, for which I feel greatly obliged to + him. Unfortunately, I profited little by her eight days' stay + with us, and I saw how she was bored by dull visits from + senators, woyewods, castellans, ministers, generals, and + adjutants, who only sat and stared at her while they were + talking about quite indifferent things. She receives them all + very kindly, for she is so very good-natured that she cannot + be unamiable to anyone. Yesterday, when she was going to put + on her bonnet previously to going to the rehearsal, she was + obliged to lock the door of her room, because the servant in + the ante-room could not keep back the large number of + callers. I should not have one to her if she had not sent for + me, Radziwill having asked me to write out a song which he + has arranged for her. This is an Ukraine popular song + ("Dumka") with variations. The theme and finale are + beautiful, but the middle section does not please me (and it + pleases Mdlle. Sontag even less than me). I have indeed made + some alterations, but it is still good for nothing. I am glad + she leaves after to-day's concert, because I shall pet rid of + this business, and when Radziwill comes at the close of the + Diet he may perhaps relinquish his variations. + + Mdlle. Sontag is not beautiful, but in the highest degree + captivating; she enchants all with her voice, which indeed is + not very powerful, but magnificently cultivated. Her + diminuendo is the non plus ultra that can be heard; her + portamento wonderfully fine; her chromatic scales, especially + toward the upper part of her voice, unrivalled. She sang us + an aria by Mercadante, very, very beautifully; the variations + by Rode, especially the last roulades, more than excellently. + The variations on the Swiss theme pleased so much that, after + having several times bowed her acknowledgments for the + applause, she had to sing them da capo. The same thing + happened to her yesterday with the last of Rode's variations. + She has, moreover, performed the cavatina from "Il Barbiere", + as well as several arias from "La Gazza ladra" and from "Der + Freischutz". Well, you will hear for yourself what a + difference there is between her erformances and those we have + hitherto heard here. On one occasion was with her when Soliva + came with the Misses Gladkowska [the idea!] and Wolkaw, who + had to sing to her his duet which concludes with the words + "barbara sorte"--you may perhaps remember it. Miss Sontag + remarked to me, in confidence, that both voices were really + beautiful, but already somewhat worn, and that these ladies + must change their method of singing entirely if they did not + wish to run the risk of losing their voices within two years. + She said, in my presence, to Miss Wolkow that she possessed + much facility and taste, but had une voix trop aigue. She + invited both ladies in the most friendly manner to visit her + more frequently, promising to do all in her power to show and + teach them her own manner of singing. Is this not a quite + unusual politeness? Nay, I even believe it is coquetry so + great that it made upon me the impression of naturalness and + a certain naivete; for it is hardly to be believed that a + human being can be so natural unless it knows all the + resources of coquetry. In her neglige Miss Sontag is a + hundred times more beautiful and pleasing than in full + evening-dress. Nevertheless, those who have not seen her in + the morning are charmed with her appearance at the concert. + On her return she will give concerts up to the 22nd of the + month; then, as she herself told me, she intends to go to St. + Petersburg. Therefore, be quick, dear friend, and come at + once, so that you may not miss more than the five concerts + she has already given. + +From the concluding sentence it would appear that Chopin had talked +himself out on the subject; this, however, is not the case, for after +imparting some other news he resumes thus:-- + + But I have not yet told you all about Miss Sontag. She has in + her rendering some entirely new broderies, with which she + produces great effect, but not in the same way as Paganini. + Perhaps the cause lies in this, that hers is a smaller genre. + She seems to exhale the perfume of a fresh bouquet of flowers + over the parterre, and, now caresses, now plays with her + voice; but she rarely moves to tears. Radziwill, on the other + hand, thinks that she sings and acts the last scene of + Desdemona in Othello in such a manner that nobody can refrain + from weeping. To-day I asked her if she would sing us + sometime this scene in costume (she is said to be an + excellent actress); she answered me that it was true that she + had often seen tears in the eyes of the audience, but that + acting excited her too much, and she had resolved to appear + as rarely as possible on the stage. You have but to come here + if you wish to rest from your rustic cares. Miss Sontag will + sing you something, and you will awake to life again and will + gather new strength for your labours. + +Mdlle. Sontag was indeed a unique artist. In power and fulness of voice, +in impassioned expression, in dazzling virtuosity, and in grandeur of +style, she might be inferior to Malibran, Catalani, and Pasta; but in +clearness and sweetness of voice, in purity of intonation, in airiness, +neatness, and elegance of execution, and in exquisiteness of taste, she +was unsurpassed. Now, these were qualities particularly congenial to +Chopin; he admired them enthusiastically in the eminent vocalist, +and appreciated similar qualities in the pleasing pianist Mdlle. de +Belleville. Indeed, we shall see in the sequel that unless an artist +possessed these qualities Chopin had but little sympathy to bestow upon +him. He was, however, not slow to discover in these distinguished lady +artists a shortcoming in a direction where he himself was exceedingly +strong--namely, in subtlety and intensity of feeling. Chopin's +opinion of Mdlle. Sontag coincides on the whole with those of other +contemporaries; nevertheless, his account contributes some details which +add a page to her biography, and a few touches to her portraiture. It +is to be regretted that the arrival of Titus Woyciechowski in Warsaw +put for a time an end to Chopin's correspondence with him, otherwise we +should, no doubt, have got some more information about Mdlle. Sontag and +other artists. + +While so many stars were shining, Chopin's light seems to have been +under an eclipse. Not only did he not give a concert, but he was even +passed over on the occasion of a soiree musicale at court to which +all the most distinguished artists then assembled at Warsaw were +invited--Mdlle. Sontag, Mdlle. de Belleville, Worlitzer, Kurpinski, &c. +"Many were astonished," writes Chopin, "that I was not invited to play, +but _I_ was not astonished." When the sittings of the Diet and the +entertainments that accompanied them came to a close Chopin paid a visit +to his friend Titus at Poturzyn, and on his return thence proceeded +with his parents to Zelazowa Wola to stay for some time at the Count +of Skarbek's. After leaving Poturzyn the picture of his friend's quiet +rural life continually rose up in Chopin's mind. A passage in one of his +letters which refers to his sojourn there seems to me characteristic of +the writer, suggestive of moods consonant with his nocturnes and many +cantilene in his other works:-- + + I must confess that I look back to it with great pleasure; I + feel always a certain longing for your beautiful country- + seat. The weeping-willow is always present to my mind; that + arbaleta! oh, I remember it so fondly! Well, you have teased + me so much about it that I am punished thereby for all my + sins. + +And has he forgotten his ideal? Oh, no! On the contrary, his passion +grows stronger every day. This is proved by his frequent allusions to +her whom he never names, and by those words of restless yearning and +heart-rending despair that cannot be read without exciting a pitiful +sympathy. As before long we shall get better acquainted with the lady +and hear more of her--she being on the point of leaving the comparative +privacy of the Conservatorium for the boards that represent the +world--it may be as well to study the symptoms of our friend's +interesting malady. + +The first mention of the ideal we find in the letter dated October 3, +1829, wherein he says that he has been dreaming of her every night for +the past six months, and nevertheless has not yet spoken to her. In +these circumstances he stood in need of one to whom he might confide his +joys and sorrows, and as no friend of flesh and blood was at hand, he +often addressed himself to the piano. And now let us proceed with our +investigation. + + March 27, 1830.--At no time have I missed you so much as now. + I have nobody to whom I can open my heart. + + April 17, 1830.--In my unbearable longing I feel better as + soon as I receive a letter from you. To-day this comfort was + more necessary than ever. I should like to chase away the + thoughts that poison my joyousness; but, in spite of all, it + is pleasant to play with them. I don't know myself what I + want; perhaps I shall be calmer after writing this letter. + +Farther on in the same letter he says:-- + + How often do I take the night for the day, and the day for + the night! How often do I live in a dream and sleep during + the day, worse than if I slept, for I feel always the same; + and instead of finding refreshment in this stupor, as in + sleep, I vex and torment myself so that I cannot gain + strength. + +It may be easily imagined with what interest one so far gone in love +watched the debut of Miss Gladkowska as Agnese in Paer's opera of the +same name. Of course he sends a full account of the event to his friend. +She looked better on the stage than in the salon; left nothing to be +desired in her tragic acting; managed her voice excellently up to the +high j sharp and g; shaded in a wonderful manner, and charmed her slave +when she sang an aria with harp accompaniment. The success of the lady, +however, was not merely in her lover's imagination, it was real; for at +the close of the opera the audience overwhelmed her with never-ending +applause. Another pupil of the Conservatorium, Miss Wolkow, made her +debut about the same time, discussions of the comparative merits of +the two ladies, on the choice of the parts in which they were going to +appear next, on the intrigues which had been set on foot for or against +them, &c., were the order of the day. Chopin discusses all these matters +with great earnestness and at considerable length; and, while not at +all stingy in his praise of Miss Wolkow, he takes good care that Miss +Gladkowska does not come off a loser:-- + + Ernemann is of our opinion [writes Chopin] that no singer can + easily be compared to Miss Gladkowska, especially as regards + just intonation and genuine warmth of feeling, which + manifests itself fully only on the stage, and carries away + the audience. Miss Wolkow made several times slight mistakes, + whereas Miss Gladkowska, although she has only been heard + twice in Agnese, did not allow the least doubtful note to + pass her lips. + +The warmer applause given to Miss Wolkow did not disturb so staunch a +partisan; he put it to the account of Rossini's music which she sang. + +When Chopin comes to the end of his account of Miss Gladkowska's first +appearance on the stage, he abruptly asks the question: "And what shall +I do now?" and answers forthwith: "I will leave next month; first, +however, I must rehearse my Concerto, for the Rondo is now finished." +But this resolve is a mere flash of energy, and before we have proceeded +far we shall come on words which contrast strangely with what we have +read just now. Chopin has been talking about his going abroad ever +so long, more especially since his return from Vienna, and will go on +talking about it for a long time yet. First he intends to leave Warsaw +in the winter of 1829-1830; next he makes up his mind to start in the +summer of 1830, the question being only whether he shall go to Berlin or +Vienna; then in May, 1830, Berlin is already given up, but the time of +his departure remains still to be fixed. After this he is induced by +the consideration that the Italian Opera season at Vienna does not begin +till September to stay at home during the hot summer months. How he +continues to put off the evil day of parting from home and friends we +shall see as we go on. I called Chopin's vigorously-expressed resolve a +flash of energy. Here is what he wrote not much more than a week after +(on August 31, 1830):-- + + I am still here; indeed, I do not feel inclined to go abroad. + Next month, however, I shall certainly go. Of course, only to + follow my vocation and reason, which latter would be in a + sorry plight if it were not strong enough to master every + other thing in my head. + +But that his reason was in a sorry plight may be gathered from a letter +dated September 4, 1830, which, moreover, is noteworthy, as in the +confessions which it contains are discoverable the key-notes of the +principal parts that make up the symphony of his character. + + I tell you my ideas become madder and madder every day. I am + still sitting here, and cannot make up my mind to fix + definitively the day of my departure. I have always a + presentiment that I shall leave Warsaw never to return to it; + I am convinced that I shall say farewell to my home for ever. + Oh, how sad it must be to die in any other place but where + one was born! What a great trial it would be to me to see + beside my death-bed an unconcerned physician and paid servant + instead of the dear faces of my relatives! Believe me, Titus, + I many a time should like to go to you and seek rest for my + oppressed heart; but as this is not possible, I often hurry, + without knowing why, into the street. But there also nothing + allays or diverts my longing. I return home to... long again + indescribably... I have not yet rehearsed my Concerto; in any + case I shall leave all my treasures behind me by Michaelmas. + In Vienna I shall be condemned to sigh and groan! This is the + consequence of having no longer a free heart! You who know + this indescribable power so well, explain to me the strange + feeling which makes men always expect from the following day + something better than the preceding day has bestowed upon + them? "Do not be so foolish!" That is all the answer I can + give myself; if you know a better, tell me, pray, pray.... + +After saying that his plan for the winter is to stay two months in +Vienna and pass the rest of the season in Milan, "if it cannot be +helped," he makes some remarks of no particular interest, and then comes +back to the old and ever new subject, the cud that humanity has been +chewing from the time of Adam and Eve, and will have to chew till the +extinction of the race, whether pessimism or optimism be the favoured +philosophy. + + Since my return I have not yet visited her, and must tell you + openly that I often attribute the cause of my distress to + her; it seems to me as if people shared this view, and that + affords me a certain satisfaction. My father smiles at it; + but if he knew all, he would perhaps weep. Indeed, I am + seemingly quite contented, whilst my heart.... + +This is one of the occasions, which occur so frequently in Chopin's +letters, where he breaks suddenly off in the course of his emotional +outpourings, and subsides into effective silence. On such occasions one +would like to see him go to the piano and hear him finish the sentence +there. "All I can write to you now is indeed stupid stuff; only the +thought of leaving Warsaw..." Another musical opportunity! Where words +fail, there music begins. + + Only wait, the day will come when you will not fare any + better. Man is not always happy; sometimes only a few moments + of happiness are granted to him in this life; therefore why + should we shun this rapture which cannot last long? + +After this the darkness of sadness shades gradually into brighter +hues:-- + + As on the one hand I consider intercourse with the outer + world a sacred duty, so, on the other hand, I regard it as a + devilish invention, and it would be better if men... but I + have said enough!... + +The reader knows already the rest of the letter; it is the passage in +which Chopin's love of fun gets the better of his melancholy, his joyous +spirits of his sad heart, and where he warns his friend, as it were with +a bright twinkle in his tearful eyes and a smile on his face, not to +kiss him at that moment, as he must wash himself. This joking about +his friend's dislike to osculation is not without an undercurrent of +seriousness; indeed, it is virtually a reproach, but a reproach cast in +the most delicate form and attired in feminine coquetry. + +On September 18, 1830, Chopin is still in Warsaw. Why he is still there +he does not know; but he feels unspeakably happy where he is, and his +parents make no objections to this procrastination. + + To-morrow I shall hold a rehearsal [of the E minor Concerto] + with quartet, and then drive to--whither? Indeed, I do not + feel inclined to go anywhere; but I shall on no account stay + in Warsaw. If you have, perhaps, a suspicion that something + dear to me retains me here, you are mistaken, like many + others. I assure you I should be ready to make any sacrifice + if only my own self were concerned, and I--although I am in + love--had yet to keep my unfortunate feelings concealed in my + bosom for some years to come. + +Is it possible to imagine anything more inconsistent and self-delusive +than these ravings of our friend? Farther on in this very lengthy +epistle we come first of all once more to the pending question. + + I was to start with the Cracow post for Vienna as early as + this day week, but finally I have given up that idea--you + will understand why. You may be quite sure that I am no + egoist, but, as I love you, am also willing to sacrifice + anything for the sake of others. For the sake of others, I + say, but not for the sake of outward appearance. For public + opinion, which is in high esteem among us, but which, you may + be sure, does not influence me, goes even so far as to call + it a misfortune if one wears a torn coat, a shabby hat, and + the like. If I should fail in my career, and have some day + nothing to eat, you must appoint me as clerk at Poturzyn. + There, in a room above the stables, I shall be as happy as I + was last summer in your castle. As long as I am in vigour and + health I shall willingly continue to work all my life. I have + often considered the question, whether I am really lazy or + whether I could work more without overexerting my strength. + Joking apart, I have convinced myself that I am not the worst + idler, and that I am able to work twice as much if necessity + demands it. + + It often happens that he who wishes to better the opinion + which others have formed of him makes it worse; but, I think, + as regards you, I can make it neither better nor worse, even + if I occasionally praise myself. The sympathy which I have + for you forces your heart to have the same sympathetic + feelings for me. You are not master of your thoughts, but I + command mine; when I have once taken one into my head I do + not let it be taken from me, just as the trees do not let + themselves be robbed of their green garment which gives them + the charm of youth. With me it will be green in winter also, + that is, only in the head, but--God help me--in the heart the + greatest ardour, therefore, no one need wonder that the + vegetation is so luxuriant. Enough...yours for ever...Only + now I notice that I have talked too much nonsense. You see + yesterday's impression [he refers to the name-day festivity + already mentioned] has not yet quite passed away, I am still + sleepy and tired, because I danced too many mazurkas. + + Around your letters I twine a little ribbon which my ideal + once gave me. I am glad the two lifeless things, the letters + and the ribbon, agree so well together, probably because, + although they do not know each other, they yet feel that they + both come from a hand dear to me. + +Even the most courteous of mortals, unless he be wholly destitute of +veracity, will hesitate to deny the truth of Chopin's confession that +he has been talking nonsense. But apart from the vagueness and +illogicalness of several of the statements, the foregoing effusion is +curious as a whole: the thoughts turn up one does not know where, how, +or why--their course is quite unaccountable; and if they passed through +his mind in an unbroken connection, he fails to give the slightest +indication of it. Still, although Chopin's philosophy of life, poetical +rhapsodies, and meditations on love and friendship, may not afford us +much light, edification, or pleasure, they help us substantially to +realise their author's character, and particularly his temporary mood. + +Great as was the magnetic power of the ideal over Chopin, great as was +the irresolution of the latter, the long delay of his departure must +not be attributed solely to these causes. The disturbed state of Europe +after the outbreak of the July revolution in Paris had also something to +do with this interminable procrastination. Passports could only be had +for Prussia and Austria, and even for these countries not by everyone. +In France the excitement had not yet subsided, in Italy it was nearing +the boiling point. Nor were Vienna, whither Chopin intended to go first, +and the Tyrol, through which he would have to pass on his way to Milan, +altogether quiet. Chopin's father himself, therefore, wished the journey +to be postponed for a short time. Nevertheless, our friend writes +on September 22 that he will start in a few weeks: his first goal is +Vienna, where, he says, they still remember him, and where he will forge +the iron as long as it is hot. But now to the climax of Chopin's amorous +fever. + + I regret very much [he writes on September 22, 1830] that I + must write to you when, as to-day, I am unable to collect my + thoughts. When I reflect on myself I get into a sad mood, and + am in danger of losing my reason. When I am lost in my + thoughts--which is often the case with me--horses could + trample upon me, and yesterday this nearly happened in the + street without my noticing it. Struck in the church by a + glance of my ideal, I ran in a moment of pleasant stupor into + the street, and it was not till about a quarter of an hour + afterwards that I regained my full consciousness; I am + sometimes so mad that I am frightened at myself. + +The melancholy cast of the letters cited in this chapter must not lead +us to think that despondence was the invariable state of Chopin's mind. +It is more probable that when his heart was saddest he was most disposed +to write to his friend his confessions and complaints, as by this means +he was enabled to relieve himself to some extent of the burden that +oppressed him. At any rate, the agitations of love did not prevent him +from cultivating his art, for even at the time when he felt the +tyranny of the passion most potently, he mentions having composed "some +insignificant pieces," as he modestly expresses himself, meaning, no +doubt, "short pieces." Meanwhile Chopin had also finished a +composition which by no means belongs to the category of "insignificant +pieces"--namely, the Concerto in E minor, the completion of which he +announces on August 21, 1830. A critical examination of this and other +works will be found in a special chapter, at present I shall speak only +of its performance and the circumstances connected with it. + +On September 18, 1830, Chopin writes that a few days previously he +rehearsed the Concerto with quartet accompaniment, but that it does not +quite satisfy him:-- + + Those who were present at the rehearsal say that the Finale + is the most successful movement (probably because it is + easily intelligible). How it will sound with the orchestra I + cannot tell you till next Wednesday, when I shall play the + Concerto for the first time in this guise. To-morrow I shall + have another rehearsal with quartet. + +To a rehearsal with full orchestra, except trumpets and drums (on +September 22, 1830), he invited Kurpinski, Soliva, and the select +musical world of Warsaw, in whose judgment, however, he professes to +have little confidence. Still, he is curious to know how-- + + the Capellmeister [Kurpinski] will look at the Italian + [Soliva], Czapek at Kessler, Filipeus at Dobrzynski, Molsdorf + at Kaczynski, Ledoux at Count Sohyk, and Mr. P. at us all. It + has never before occurred that all these gentlemen have been + assembled in one place; I alone shall succeed in this, and I + do it only out of curiosity! + +The musicians in this company, among whom are Poles, Czechs, Germans, +Italians, &c., give us a good idea of the mixed character of the musical +world of Warsaw, which was not unlike what the musical world of London +is still in our day. From the above remark we see that Chopin had +neither much respect nor affection for his fellow-musicians; indeed, +there is not the slightest sign in his letters that an intimacy existed +between him and any one of them. The rehearsals of the Concerto keep +Chopin pretty busy, and his head is full of the composition. In the same +letter from which I quoted last we find the following passage:-- + + I heartily beg your pardon for my hasty letter of to-day; I + have still to run quickly to Elsner in order to make sure + that he will come to the rehearsal. Then I have also to + provide the desks and mutes, which I had yesterday totally + forgotten; without the latter the Adagio would be wholly + insignificant, and its success doubtful. The Rondo is + effective, the first Allegro vigorous. Cursed self-love! And + if it is anyone's fault that I am conceited it is yours, + egoist; he who associates with such a person becomes like + him. But in one point I am as yet unlike you. I can never + make up my mind quickly. But I have the firm will and the + secret intention actually to depart on Saturday week, without + pardon, and in spite of lamentations, tears, and complaints. + My music in the trunk, a certain ribbon on my heart, my soul + full of anxiety: thus into the post-chaise. To be sure, + everywhere in the town tears will flow in streams: from + Copernicus to the fountain, from the bank to the column of + King Sigismund; but I shall be cold and unfeeling as a stone, + and laugh at all those who wish to take such a heart-rending + farewell of me! + +After the rehearsal of the Concerto with orchestra, which evidently made +a good impression upon the much-despised musical world of Warsaw, Chopin +resolved to give, or rather his friends resolved for him that he should +give, a concert in the theatre on October 11, 1830. Although he is +anxious to know what effect his Concerto will produce on the public, +he seems little disposed to play at any concert, which may be easily +understood if we remember the state of mind he is in. + + You can hardly imagine [he writes] how everything here makes + me impatient, and bores me, in consequence of the commotion + within me against which I cannot struggle. + +The third and last of his Warsaw concerts was to be of a more perfect +type than the two preceding ones; it was to be one "without those +unlucky clarinet and bassoon solos," at that time still so much in +vogue. To make up for this quantitative loss Chopin requested the Misses +Gladkowska and Wolkow to sing some arias, and obtained, not without much +trouble, the requisite permission for them from their master, Soliva, +and the Minister of Public Instruction, Mostowski. It was necessary to +ask the latter's permission, because the two young ladies were educated +as singers at the expense of the State. + +The programme of the concert was as follows:-- + +PART I + + 1. Symphony by Gorner. + + 2. First Allegro from the Concerto in E minor, composed and + played by Chopin. + + 3. Aria with Chorus by Soliva, sung by Miss Wolkow. + + 4. Adagio and Rondo from the Concerto in E minor, composed + and played by Chopin. + +PART II + + 1. Overture to "Guillaume Tell" by Rossini. + + 2. Cavatina from "La Donna del lago" by Rossini, sung by Miss + Gladkowska. + + 3. Fantasia on Polish airs, composed and played by Chopin. + +The success of the concert made Chopin forget his sorrows. There is not +one complaint in the letter in which he gives an account of it; in fact, +he seems to have been enjoying real halcyon days. He had a full house, +but played with as little nervousness as if he had been playing at home. +The first Allegro of the Concerto went very smoothly, and the audience +rewarded him with thundering applause. Of the reception of the Adagio +and Rondo we learn nothing except that in the pause between the first +and second parts the connoisseurs and amateurs came on the stage, and +complimented him in the most flattering terms on his playing. The great +success, however, of the evening was his performance of the Fantasia on +Polish airs. "This time I understood myself, the orchestra understood +me, and the audience understood us." This is quite in the bulletin style +of conquerors; it has a ring of "veni, vidi, vici" about it. Especially +the mazurka at the end of the piece produced a great effect, and Chopin +was called back so enthusiastically that he was obliged to bow his +acknowledgments four times. Respecting the bowing he says: "I believe I +did it yesterday with a certain grace, for Brandt had taught me how to +do it properly." In short, the concert-giver was in the best of +spirits, one is every moment expecting him to exclaim: "Seid umschlungen +Millionen, diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt." He is pleased with himself and +Streicher's piano on which he had played; pleased with Soliva, who +kept both soloist and orchestra splendidly in order; pleased with +the impression the execution of the overture made; pleased with +the blue-robed, fay-like Miss Wolkow; pleased most of all with Miss +Gladkowska, who "wore a white dress and roses in her hair, and was +charmingly beautiful." He tells his friend that: + + she never sang so well as on that evening (except the aria in + "Agnese"). You know "O! quante lagrime per te versai." The + tutto detesto down to the lower b came out so magnificently + that Zielinski declared this b alone was worth a thousand + ducats. + +In Vienna the score and parts of the Krakowiak had been found to be full +of mistakes, it was the same with the Concerto in Warsaw. Chopin himself +says that if Soliva had not taken the score with him in order to correct +it, he (Chopin) did not know what might have become of the Concerto +on the evening of the concert. Carl Mikuli, who, as well as his +fellow-pupil Tellefsen, copied many of Chopin's MSS., says that they +were full of slips of the pen, such as wrong notes and signatures, +omissions of accidentals, dots, and intervals of chords, and incorrect +markings of slurs and 8va's. + +Although Chopin wrote on October 5, 1830, that eight days after the +concert he would certainly be no longer in Warsaw, that his trunk +was bought, his whole outfit ready, the scores corrected, the +pocket-handkerchiefs hemmed, the new trousers and the new dress-coat +tried on, &c., that, in fact, nothing remained to be done but the worst +of all, the leave-taking, yet it was not till the 1st of November, 1830, +that he actually did take his departure. Elsner and a number of friends +accompanied him to Wola, the first village beyond Warsaw. There the +pupils of the Conservatorium awaited them, and sang a cantata composed +by Elsner for the occasion. After this the friends once more sat down +together to a banquet which had been prepared for them. In the course +of the repast a silver goblet filled with Polish earth was presented to +Chopin in the name of all. + + May you never forget your country [said the speaker, + according to Karasowski], wherever you may wander or sojourn, + may you never cease to love it with a warm, faithful heart! + Remember Poland, remember your friends, who call you with + pride their fellow-countryman, who expect great things of + you, whose wishes and prayers accompany you! + +How fully Chopin realised their wishes and expectations the sequel will +show: how much such loving words must have affected him the reader +of this chapter can have no difficulty in understanding. But now came +pitilessly the dread hour of parting. A last farewell is taken, the +carriage rolls away, and the traveller has left behind him all that +is dearest to him--parents, sisters, sweetheart, and friends. "I have +always a presentiment that I am leaving Warsaw never to return to it; I +am convinced that I shall say an eternal farewell to my native country." +Thus, indeed, destiny willed it. Chopin was never to tread again the +beloved soil of Poland, never to set eyes again on Warsaw and its +Conservatorium, the column of King Sigismund opposite, the neighbouring +church of the Bernardines (Constantia's place of worship), and all those +things and places associated in his mind with the sweet memories of his +youth and early manhood. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + + +CHOPIN IS JOINED AT KALISZ BY TITUS WOYCIECHOWSKI.--FOUR DAYS AT +BRESLAU: HIS VISITS TO THE THEATRE; CAPELLMEISTER SCHNABEL; PLAYS AT +A CONCERT; ADOLF HESSE.--SECOND VISIT TO DRESDEN: MUSIC AT THEATRE +AND CHURCH; GERMAN AND POLISH SOCIETY; MORLACCHI, SIGNORA PALAZZESI, +RASTRELLI, ROLLA, DOTZAUER, KUMMER, KLENGEL, AND OTHER MUSICIANS; A +CONCERT TALKED ABOUT BUT NOT GIVEN; SIGHT-SEEING.--AFTER A WEEK, BY +PRAGUE TO VIENNA.--ARRIVES AT VIENNA TOWARDS THE END OF NOVEMBER, 1830. + + + +Thanks to Chopin's extant letters to his family and friends it is not +difficult to give, with the help of some knowledge of the contemporary +artists and of the state of music in the towns he visited, a pretty +clear account of his experiences and mode of life during the nine or ten +months which intervene between his departure from Warsaw and his arrival +in Paris. Without the letters this would have been impossible, and for +two reasons: one of them is that, although already a notable man, Chopin +was not yet a noted man; and the other, that those with whom he then +associated have, like himself, passed away from among us. + +Chopin, who, as the reader will remember, left Warsaw on November +1, 1830, was joined at Kalisz by Titus Woyciechowski. Thence the two +friends travelled together to Vienna. They made their first halt at +Breslau, which they reached on November 6. No sooner had Chopin put +up at the hotel Zur goldenen Gans, changed his dress, and taken some +refreshments, than he rushed off to the theatre. During his stay in +Breslau he was present at three performances--at Raimund's fantastical +comedy "Der Alpenkonig und der Menschenfeind", Auber's "Maurer und +Schlosser (Le Macon)," and Winter's "Das unterbrochene Opferfest", a now +superannuated but then still popular opera. The players succeeded better +than the singers in gaining the approval of their fastidious auditor, +which indeed might have been expected. As both Chopin and Woyciechowski +were provided with letters of introduction, and the gentlemen to whom +they were addressed did all in their power to make their visitors' +sojourn as pleasant as possible, the friends spent in Breslau four happy +days. It is characteristic of the German musical life in those days that +in the Ressource, a society of that town, they had three weekly +concerts at which the greater number of the performers were amateurs. +Capellmeister Schnabel, an old acquaintance of Chopin's, had invited the +latter to come to a morning rehearsal. When Chopin entered, an amateur, +a young barrister, was going to rehearse Moscheles' E flat major +Concerto. Schnabel, on seeing the newcomer, asked him to try the +piano. Chopin sat down and played some variations which astonished and +delighted the Capellmeister, who had not heard him for four years, so +much that he overwhelmed him with expressions of admiration. As the poor +amateur began to feel nervous, Chopin was pressed on all sides to take +that gentleman's place in the evening. Although he had not practised +for some weeks he consented, drove to the hotel, fetched the requisite +music, rehearsed, and in the evening performed the Romanza and Rondo of +his E minor Concerto and an improvisation on a theme from Auber's "La +Muette" ("Masaniello"). At the rehearsal the "Germans" admired his +playing; some of them he heard whispering "What a light touch he has!" +but not a word was said about the composition. The amateurs did not know +whether it was good or bad. Titus Woyciechowski heard one of them say +"No doubt he can play, but he can't compose." There was, however, one +gentleman who praised the novelty of the form, and the composer naively +declares that this was the person who understood him best. Speaking of +the professional musicians, Chopin remarks that, with the exception of +Schnabel, "the Germans" were at a loss what to think of him. The Polish +peasants use the word "German" as an invective, believe that the devil +speaks German and dresses in the German fashion, and refuse to take +medicine because they hold it to be an invention of the Germans and, +consequently, unfit for Christians. Although Chopin does not go so +far, he is by no means free from this national antipathy. Let his +susceptibility be ruffled by Germans, and you may be sure he will +remember their nationality. Besides old Schnabel there was among the +persons whose acquaintance Chopin made at Breslau only one other who +interests us, and interests us more than that respectable composer +of church music; and this one was the organist and composer Adolph +Frederick Hesse, then a young man of Chopin's age. Before long the +latter became better acquainted with him. In his account of his stay and +playing in the Silesian capital, he says of him only that "the second +local connoisseur, Hesse, who has travelled through the whole of +Germany, paid me also compliments." + +Chopin continued his journey on November 10, and on November 12 had +already plunged into Dresden life. Two features of this, in some +respects quite unique, life cannot but have been particularly attractive +to our traveller--namely, its Polish colony and the Italian opera. The +former owed its origin to the connection of the house of Saxony with +the crown of Poland; and the latter, which had been patronised by the +Electors and Kings for hundreds of years, was not disbanded till 1832. +In 1817, it is true, Weber, who had received a call for that purpose, +founded a German opera at Dresden, but the Italian opera retained the +favour of the Court and of a great part of the public, in fact, was the +spoiled child that looked down upon her younger sister, poor Cinderella. +Even a Weber had to fight hard to keep his own, indeed, sometimes +failed to do so, in the rivalry with the ornatissimo Signore Cavaliere +Morlacchi, primo maestro della capella Reale. + +Chopin's first visit was to Miss Pechwell, through whom he got admission +to a soiree at the house of Dr. Kreyssig, where she was going to play +and the prima donna of the Italian opera to sing. Having carefully +dressed, Chopin made his way to Dr. Kreyssig's in a sedan-chair. Being +unaccustomed to this kind of conveyance he had a desire to kick out +the bottom of the "curious but comfortable box," a temptation which he, +however--to his honour be it recorded--resisted. On entering the salon +he found there a great number of ladies sitting round eight large +tables:-- + + No sparkling of diamonds met my eye, but the more modest + glitter of a host of steel knitting-needles, which moved + ceaselessly in the busy hands of these ladies. The number of + ladies and knitting-needles was so large that if the ladies + had planned an attack upon the gentlemen that were present, + the latter would have been in a sorry plight. Nothing would + have been left to them but to make use of their spectacles as + weapons, for there was as little lack of eye-glasses as of + bald heads. + +The clicking of knitting-needles and the rattling of teacups were +suddenly interrupted by the overture to the opera "Fra Diavolo," which +was being played in an adjoining room. After the overture Signora +Palazzesi sang "with a bell-like, magnificent voice, and great bravura." +Chopin asked to be introduced to her. He made likewise the acquaintance +of the old composer and conductor Vincent Rastrelli, who introduced him +to a brother of the celebrated tenor Rubini. + +At the Roman Catholic church, the Court Church, Chopin met Morlacchi, +and heard a mass by that excellent artist. The Neapolitan sopranists +Sassaroli and Tarquinio sang, and the "incomparable Rolla" played the +solo violin. On another occasion he heard a clever but dry mass by Baron +von Miltitz, which was performed under the direction of Morlacchi, and +in which the celebrated violoncello virtuosos Dotzauer and Kummer +played their solos beautifully, and the voices of Sassaroli, Muschetti, +Babnigg, and Zezi were heard to advantage. The theatre was, as usual, +assiduously frequented by Chopin. After the above-mentioned soiree +he hastened to hear at least the last act of "Die Stumme von Portici" +("Masaniello"). Of the performance of Rossini's "Tancredi," which he +witnessed on another evening, he praised only the wonderful violin +playing of Rolla and the singing of Mdlle. Hahnel, a lady from the +Vienna Court Theatre. Rossini's "La Donna del lago," in Italian, +is mentioned among the operas about to be performed. What a strange +anomaly, that in the year 1830 a state of matters such as is indicated +by these names and facts could still obtain in Dresden, one of the +capitals of musical Germany! It is emphatically a curiosity of history. + +Chopin, who came to Rolla with a letter of introduction from Soliva, +was received by the Italian violinist with great friendliness. Indeed, +kindness was showered upon him from all sides. Rubini promised him +a letter of introduction to his brother in Milan, Rolla one to the +director of the opera there, and Princess Augusta, the daughter of the +late king, and Princess Maximiliana, the sister-in-law of the reigning +king, provided him with letters for the Queen of Naples, the Duchess of +Lucca, the Vice-Queen of Milan, and Princess Ulasino in Rome. He had +met the princesses and played to them at the house of the Countess +Dobrzycka, Oberhofmeisterin of the Princess Augusta, daughter of the +late king, Frederick Augustus. + +The name of the Oberhofmeisterin brings us to the Polish society of +Dresden, into which Chopin seems to have found his way at once. Already +two days after his arrival he writes of a party of Poles with whom he +had dined. At the house of Mdme. Pruszak he made the acquaintance of no +less a person than General Kniaziewicz, who took part in the defence of +Warsaw, commanded the left wing in the battle of Maciejowice (1794), +and joined Napoleon's Polish legion in 1796. Chopin wrote home: "I have +pleased him very much; he said that no pianist had made so agreeable an +impression on him." + +To judge from the tone of Chopin's letters, none of all the people he +came in contact with gained his affection in so high a degree as did +Klengel, whom he calls "my dear Klengel," and of whom he says that he +esteems him very highly, and loves him as if he had known him from his +earliest youth. "I like to converse with him, for from him something is +to be learned." The great contrapuntist seems to have reciprocated this +affection, at any rate he took a great interest in his young friend, +wished to see the scores of his concertos, went without Chopin's +knowledge to Morlacchi and to the intendant of the theatre to try if +a concert could not be arranged within four days, told him that his +playing reminded him of Field's, that his touch was of a peculiar kind, +and that he had not expected to find him such a virtuoso. Although +Chopin replied, when Klengel advised him to give a concert, that his +stay in Dresden was too short to admit of his doing so, and thought +himself that he could earn there neither much fame nor much money, he +nevertheless was not a little pleased that this excellent artist had +taken some trouble in attempting to smooth the way for a concert, and to +hear from him that this had been done not for Chopin's but for Dresden's +sake; our friend, be it noted, was by no means callous to flattery. +Klengel took him also to a soiree at the house of Madame Niesiolawska, +a Polish lady, and at supper proposed his health, which was drunk in +champagne. + +There is a passage in one of Chopin's letters which I must quote; it +tells us something of his artistic taste outside his own art:-- + + The Green Vault I saw last time I was here, and once is + enough for me; but I revisited with great interest the + picture gallery. If I lived here I would go to it every week, + for there are pictures in it at the sight of which I imagine + I hear music. + +Thus our friend spent a week right pleasantly and not altogether +unprofitably in the Saxon Athens, and spent it so busily that what with +visits, dinners, soirees, operas, and other amusements, he leaving his +hotel early in the morning and returning late at night, it passed away +he did not know how. + +Chopin, who made also a short stay in Prague--of which visit, however, +we have no account--arrived in Vienna in the latter part of November, +1830. His intention was to give some concerts, and to proceed in a month +or two to Italy. How the execution of this plan was prevented by various +circumstances we shall see presently. Chopin flattered himself with the +belief that managers, publishers, artists, and the public in general +were impatiently awaiting his coming, and ready to receive him with +open arms. This, however, was an illusion. He overrated his success. +His playing at the two "Academies" in the dead season must have remained +unnoticed by many, and was probably forgotten by not a few who did +notice it. To talk, therefore, about forging the iron while it was hot +proved a misconception of the actual state of matters. It is true his +playing and compositions had made a certain impression, especially upon +some of the musicians who had heard him. But artists, even when +free from hostile jealousy, are far too much occupied with their own +interests to be helpful in pushing on their younger brethren. As to +publishers and managers, they care only for marketable articles, and +until an article has got a reputation its marketable value is very +small. Nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand judge by names and +not by intrinsic worth. Suppose a hitherto unknown statue of Phidias, +a painting of Raphael, a symphony of Beethoven, were discovered and +introduced to the public as the works of unknown living artists, do +you think they would receive the same universal admiration as the known +works of the immortal masters? Not at all! By a very large majority of +the connoisseurs and pretended connoisseurs they would be criticised, +depreciated, or ignored. Let, however, the real names of the authors +become known, and the whole world will forthwith be thrown into ecstasy, +and see in them even more beauties than they really possess. Well, the +first business of an artist, then, is to make himself a reputation, and +a reputation is not made by one or two successes. A first success, be it +ever so great, and achieved under ever so favourable circumstances, is +at best but the thin end of the wedge which has been got in, but which +has to be driven home with much vigour and perseverance before the work +is done. "Art is a fight, not a pleasure-trip," said the French +painter Millet, one who had learnt the lesson in the severe school of +experience. Unfortunately for Chopin, he had neither the stuff nor +the stomach for fighting. He shrank back at the slightest touch like a +sensitive plant. He could only thrive in the sunshine of prosperity and +protected against all those inimical influences and obstacles that cause +hardier natures to put forth their strength, and indeed are necessary +for the full unfolding of all their capabilities. Chopin and Titus +Woyciechowski put up at the hotel Stadt London, but, finding the charges +too high, they decamped and stayed at the hotel Goldenes Lamm till the +lodgings which they had taken were evacuated by the English admiral then +in possession of them. From Chopin's first letter after his arrival in +the Austrian capital his parents had the satisfaction of learning that +their son was in excellent spirits, and that his appetite left nothing +to be desired, especially when sharpened by good news from home. In his +perambulations he took particular note of the charming Viennese girls, +and at the Wilde Mann, where he was in the habit of dining, he enjoyed +immensely a dish of Strudeln. The only drawback to the blissfulness of +his then existence was a swollen nose, caused by the change of air, a +circumstance which interfered somewhat with his visiting operations. He +was generally well received by those on whom he called with letters +of introduction. In one of the two exceptional cases he let it be +understood that, having a letter of introduction from the Grand Duke +Constantine to the Russian Ambassador, he was not so insignificant a +person as to require the patronage of a banker; and in the other case +he comforted himself with the thought that a time would come when things +would be changed. + +In the letter above alluded to (December 1, 1830) Chopin speaks of one +of the projected concerts as if it were to take place shortly; that is +to say, he is confident that, such being his pleasure, this will be +the natural course of events. His Warsaw acquaintance Orlowski, the +perpetrator of mazurkas on his concerto themes, was accompanying +the violinist Lafont on a concert-tour. Chopin does not envy him the +honour:-- + + Will the time come [he writes] when Lafont will accompany me? + Does this question sound arrogant? But, God willing, this may + come to pass some day. + +Wurfel has conversations with him about the arrangements for a +concert, and Graff, the pianoforte-maker, advises him to give it in +the Landstandische Saal, the finest and most convenient hall in Vienna. +Chopin even asks his people which of his Concertos he should play, the +one in F or the one in E minor. But disappointments were not long in +coming. One of his first visits was to Haslinger, the publisher of the +Variations on "La ci darem la mano," to whom he had sent also a sonata +and another set of variations. Haslinger received him very kindly, but +would print neither the one nor the other work. No wonder the composer +thought the cunning publisher wished to induce him in a polite and +artful way to let him have his compositions gratis. For had not Wurfel +told him that his Concerto in F minor was better than Hummel's in A +flat, which Haslinger had just published, and had not Klengel at +Dresden been surprised to hear that he had received no payment for the +Variations? But Chopin will make Haslinger repent of it. "Perhaps he +thinks that if he treats my compositions somewhat en bagatelle, I shall +be glad if only he prints them; but henceforth nothing will be got from +me gratis; my motto will be 'Pay, animal!'" But evidently the animal +wouldn't pay, and in fact did not print the compositions till after +Chopin's death. So, unless the firm of Haslinger mentioned that he will +call on him as soon as he has a room wherein he can receive a visit in +return, the name of Lachner does not reappear in the correspondence. + +In the management of the Karnthnerthor Theatre, Louis Duport had +succeeded, on September 1, 1830, Count Gallenberg, whom severe losses +obliged to relinquish a ten years' contract after the lapse of less than +two years. Chopin was introduced to the new manager by Hummel. + + He (Duport) [writes Chopin on December 21 to his parents] was + formerly a celebrated dancer, and is said to be very + niggardly; however, he received me in an extremely polite + manner, for perhaps he thinks I shall play for him gratis. He + is mistaken there! We entered into a kind of negotiation, but + nothing definite was settled. If Mr. Duport offers me too + little, I shall give my concert in the large Redoutensaal. + +But the niggardly manager offered him nothing at all, and Chopin did not +give a concert either in the Redoutensaal or elsewhere, at least not for +a long time. Chopin's last-quoted remark is difficult to reconcile with +what he tells his friend Matuszyriski four days later: "I have no longer +any thought of giving a concert." In a letter to Elsner, dated January +26, 1831, he writes:-- + + I meet now with obstacles on all sides. Not only does a + series of the most miserable pianoforte concerts totally ruin + all true music and make the public suspicious, but the + occurrences in Poland have also acted unfavourably upon my + position. Nevertheless, I intend to have during the carnival + a performance of my first Concerto, which has met with + Wurfel's full approval. + +It would, however, be a great mistake to ascribe the failure of Chopin's +projects solely to the adverse circumstances pointed out by him. +The chief causes lay in himself. They were his want of energy and of +decision, constitutional defects which were of course intensified by the +disappointment of finding indifference and obstruction where he expected +enthusiasm and furtherance, and by the outbreak of the revolution in +Poland (November 30, 1830), which made him tremble for the safety of his +beloved ones and the future of his country. In the letter from which I +have last quoted Chopin, after remarking that he had postponed writing +till he should be able to report some definite arrangement, proceeds to +say:-- + + But from the day that I heard of the dreadful occurrences in + our fatherland, my thoughts have been occupied only with + anxiety and longing for it and my dear ones. Malfatti gives + himself useless trouble in trying to convince me that the + artist is, or ought to be, a cosmopolitan. And, supposing + this were really the case, as an artist I am still in the + cradle, but as a Pole already a man. I hope, therefore, that + you will not be offended with me for not yet having seriously + thought of making arrangements for a concert. + +What affected Chopin most and made him feel lonely was the departure +of his friend Woyciechowski, who on the first news of the insurrection +returned to Poland and joined the insurgents. Chopin wished to do the +same, but his parents advised him to stay where he was, telling him +that he was not strong enough to bear the fatigues and hardships of +a soldier's life. Nevertheless, when Woyciechowski was gone an +irresistible home-sickness seized him, and, taking post-horses, he tried +to overtake his friend and go with him. But after following him for +some stages without making up to him, his resolution broke down, and he +returned to Vienna. Chopin's characteristic irresolution shows itself +again at this time very strikingly, indeed, his letters are full of +expressions indicating and even confessing it. On December 21, 1830, he +writes to his parents:-- + + I do not know whether I ought to go soon to Italy or wait a + little longer? Please, dearest papa, let me know your and the + best mother's will in this matter. + +And four days afterwards he writes to Matuszynski:-- + + You know, of course, that 1 have letters from the Royal Court + of Saxony to the Vice-Queen in Milan, but what shall I do? My + parents leave me to choose; I wish they would give me + instructions. Shall I go to Paris? My acquaintances here + advise me to wait a little longer. Shall I return home? Shall + I stay here? Shall I kill myself? Shall I not write to you + any more? + +Chopin's dearest wish was to be at home again. "How I should like to be +in Warsaw!" he writes. But the fulfilment of this wish was out of the +question, being against the desire of his parents, of whom especially +the mother seems to have been glad that he did not execute his project +of coming home. + + I would not like to be a burden to my father; were it not for + this fear I should return home at once. I am often in such a + mood that I curse the moment of my departure from my sweet + home! You will understand my situation, and that since the + departure of Titus too much has fallen upon me all at once. + +The question whether he should go to Italy or to France was soon decided +for him, for the suppressed but constantly-increasing commotion which +had agitated the former country ever since the July revolution at last +vented itself in a series of insurrections. Modena began on February +3,1831, Bologna, Ancona, Parma, and Rome followed. While the "where to +go" was thus settled, the "when to go" remained an open question for +many months to come. Meanwhile let us try to look a little deeper into +the inner and outer life which Chopin lived at Vienna. + +The biographical details of this period of Chopin's life have to +be drawn almost wholly from his letters. These, however, must be +judiciously used. Those addressed to his parents, important as they are, +are only valuable with regard to the composer's outward life, and even +as vehicles of such facts they are not altogether trustworthy, for it +is always his endeavour to make his parents believe that he is well and +cheery. Thus he writes, for instance, to his friend Matuszyriski, after +pouring forth complaint after complaint:--"Tell my parents that I am +very happy, that I am in want of nothing, that I amuse myself famously, +and never feel lonely." Indeed, the Spectator's opinion that nothing +discovers the true temper of a person so much as his letters, requires +a good deal of limitation and qualification. Johnson's ideas on the same +subject may be recommended as a corrective. He held that there was +no transaction which offered stronger temptations to fallacy and +sophistication than epistolary intercourse:-- + + In the eagerness of conversation the first emotions of the + mind burst out before they are considered. In the tumult of + business, interest and passion have their genuine effect; but + a friendly letter is a calm and deliberate performance in the + cool of leisure, in the stillness of solitude, and surely no + man sits down by design to depreciate his own character. + Friendship has no tendency to secure veracity; for by whom + can a man so much wish to be thought better than he is, as by + him whose kindness he desires to gain or keep? + +These one-sided statements are open to much criticism, and would make an +excellent theme for an essay. Here, however, we must content ourselves +with simply pointing out that letters are not always calm and deliberate +performances, but exhibit often the eagerness of conversation and the +impulsiveness of passion. In Chopin's correspondence we find this not +unfrequently exemplified. But to see it we must not turn to the letters +addressed to his parents, to his master, and to his acquaintances--there +we find little of the real man and his deeper feelings--but to those +addressed to his bosom-friends, and among them there are none in which +he shows himself more openly than in the two which he wrote on December +25, 1830, and January 1, 1831, to John Matuszynski. These letters are, +indeed, such wonderful revelations of their writer's character that +I should fail in my duty as his biographer were I to neglect to place +before the reader copious extracts from them, in short, all those +passages which throw light on the inner working of this interesting +personality. + + Dec. 25, 1830.--I longed indescribably for your letter; you + know why. How happy news of my angel of peace always makes + me! How I should like to touch all the strings which not only + call up stormy feelings, but also awaken again the songs + whose half-dying echo is still flitting on the banks of the + Danube-songs which the warriors of King John Sobieski sang! + + You advised me to choose a poet. But you know I am an + undecided being, and succeeded only once in my life in making + a good choice. + + The many dinners, soirees, concerts, and balls which I have + to go to only bore me. I am sad, and feel so lonely and + forsaken here. But I cannot live as I would! I must dress, + appear with a cheerful countenance in the salons; but when I + am again in my room I give vent to my feelings on the piano, + to which, as my best friend in Vienna, I disclose all my + sufferings. I have not a soul to whom I can fully unbosom + myself, and yet I must meet everyone like a friend. There + are, indeed, people here who seem to love me, take my + portrait, seek my society; but they do not make up for the + want of you [his friends and relations]. I lack inward peace, + I am at rest only when I read your [his friends' and + relations'] letters, and picture to myself the statue of King + Sigismund, or gaze at the ring [Constantia's], that dear + jewel. Forgive me, dear Johnnie, for complaining so much to + you; but my heart grows lighter when I speak to you thus. To + you I have indeed always told all that affected me. Did you + receive my little note the day before yesterday? Perhaps you + don't care much for my scribbling, for you are at home; but I + read and read your letters again and again. + + Dr. Freyer has called on me several times; he had learned + from Schuch that I was in Vienna. He told me a great deal of + interesting news, and enjoyed your letter, which I read to + him up to a certain passage. This passage has made me very + sad. Is she really so much changed in appearance? Perhaps she + was ill? One could easily fancy her being so, as she has a + very sensitive disposition. Perhaps she only appeared so to + you, or was she afraid of anything? God forbid that she + should suffer in any way on my account. Set her mind at rest, + and tell her that as long as my heart beats I shall not cease + to adore her. Tell her that even after my death my ashes + shall be strewn under her feet. Still, all this is yet too + little, and you might tell her a great deal more. + + I shall write to her myself; indeed, I would have done so + long ago to free myself from my torments; but if my letter + should fall into strange hands, might this not hurt her + reputation? Therefore, dear friend, be you the interpreter + of my feelings; speak for me, "et j'en conviendrai." These + French words of yours flashed through me like lightning. A + Viennese gentleman who walked beside me in the street when I + was reading your letter, seized me by the arm, and was hardly + able to hold me. He did not know what had happened to me. I + should have liked to embrace and kiss all the passers-by, and + I felt happier than I had done for a long time, for I had + received the first letter from you. Perhaps I weary you, + Johnnie, with my passionateness; but it is difficult for me + to conceal from you anything that moves my heart. + + The day before yesterday I dined at Madame Beyer's, her name + is likewise Constantia. I like her society, her having that + indescribably dear Christian name is sufficient to account + for my partiality; it gives me even pleasure when one of her + pocket-handkerchiefs or napkins marked "Constantia" comes + into my hands. + + I walked alone, and slowly, into St. Stephen's. The church + was as yet empty. To view the noble, magnificent edifice in a + truly devout spirit I leant against a pillar in the darkest + corner of this house of God. The grandeur of the arched roof + cannot be described, one must see St. Stephen's with one's + own eyes. Around me reigned the profoundest silence, which + was interrupted only by the echoing footsteps of the + sacristan who came to light the candles. Behind me was a + grave, before me a grave, only above me I saw none. At that + moment I felt my loneliness and isolation. When the lights + were burning and the Cathedral began to fill with people, I + wrapped myself up more closely in my cloak (you know the way + in which I used to walk through the suburb of Cracow), and + hastened to be present at the Mass in the Imperial Court + Chapel. Now, however, I walked no longer alone, but passed + through the beautiful streets of Vienna in merry company to + the Hofburg, where I heard three movements of a mass + performed by sleepy musicians. At one o'clock in the morning + I reached my lodgings. I dreamt of you, of her, and of my + dear children [his sisters]. + + The first thing I did to-day was to indulge myself in + melancholy fantasias on my piano. + + Advise me what to do. Please ask the person who has always + exercised so powerful an influence over me in Warsaw, and let + me know her opinion; according to that I shall act. + + Let me hear once more from you before you take the field. + Vienna, poste restante. Go and see my parents and Constantia. + Visit my sisters often, as long as you are still in Warsaw, + so that they may think that you are coming to me, and that I + am in the other room. Sit down beside them that they may + imagine I am there too; in one word, be my substitute in the + house of my parents. + + I shall conclude, dear Johnnie, for now it is really time. + Embrace all my dear colleagues for me, and believe that I + shall not cease to love you until I cease to love those that + are dearest to me, my parents and her. + + My dearest friend, do write me soon a few lines. You may even + show her this letter, if you think fit to do so. + + My parents don't know that I write to you. You may tell them + of it, but must by no means show them the letter. I cannot + yet take leave of my Johnnie; but I shall be off presently, + you naughty one! If W...loves you as heartily as I love you, + then would Con...No, I cannot complete the name, my hand is + too unworthy. Ah! I could tear out my hair when I think that + I could be forgotten by her! + + My portrait, of which only you and I are to know, is a very + good likeness; if you think it would give her pleasure, I + would send it to her through Schuch. + + January 1, 1831.--There you have what you wanted! Have you + received the letter? Have you delivered any of the messages + it contained? To-day I still regret what I have done. I was + full of sweet hopes, and now am tormented by anxiety and + doubts. Perhaps she mocks at me--laughs at me? Perhaps--ah! + does she love me? This is what my passionate heart asks. You + wicked AEsculapius, you were at the theatre, you eyed her + incessantly with your opera-glass; if this is the case a + thunderbolt shall...Do not forfeit my confidence; oh, you! if + I write to you I do so only for my own sake, for you do not + deserve it. + + Just now when I am writing I am in a strange state; I feel as + if I were with you [with his dear ones], and were only + dreaming what I see and hear here. The voices which I hear + around me, and to which my ear is not accustomed, make upon + me for the most part only an impression like the rattling of + carriages or any other indifferent noise. Only your voice or + that of Titus could to-day wake me out of my torpor. Life and + death are perfectly alike to me. Tell, however, my parents + that I am very happy, that I am in want of nothing, that I + amuse myself famously, and never feel lonely. + + If she mocks at me, tell her the same; but if she inquires + kindly for me, shows some concern about me, whisper to her + that she may make her mind easy; but add also that away from + her I feel everywhere lonely and unhappy. I am unwell, but + this I do not write to my parents. Everybody asks what is the + matter with me. I should like to answer that I have lost my + good spirits. However, you know best what troubles me! + Although there is no lack of entertainment and diversion + here, I rarely feel inclined for amusement. + + To-day is the first of January. Oh, how sadly this year + begins for me! I love you [his friends] above all things. + Write as soon as possible. Is she at Radom? Have you thrown + up redoubts? My poor parents! How are my friends faring? + + I could die for you, for you all! Why am I doomed to be here + so lonely and forsaken? You can at least open your hearts to + each other and comfort each other. Your flute will have + enough to lament! How much more will my piano have to weep! + + You write that you and your regiment are going to take the + field; how will you forward the note? Be sure you do not send + it by a messenger; be cautious! The parents might perhaps-- + they might perhaps view the matter in a false light. + + I embrace you once more. You are going to the war; return as + a colonel. May all pass off well! Why may I not at least be + your drummer? + + Forgive the disorder in my letter, I write as if I were + intoxicated. + +The disorder of the letters is indeed very striking; it is great in +the foregoing extracts, and of course ten times greater with the +interspersed descriptions, bits of news, and criticisms on music and +musicians. I preferred separating the fundamental and always-recurring +thoughts, the all-absorbing and predominating feelings, from the more +superficial and passing fancies and affections, and all those +matters which were to him, if not of total indifference, at least of +comparatively little moment; because such a separation enables us to +gain a clearer and fuller view of the inner man and to judge henceforth +his actions and works with some degree of certainty, even where his own +accounts and comments and those of trustworthy witnesses fail us. The +psychological student need not be told to take note of the disorder in +these two letters and of their length (written to the same person within +less than a week, they fill nearly twelve printed pages in Karasowski's +book), he will not be found neglecting such important indications of the +temporary mood and the character of which it is a manifestation. And now +let us take a glance at Chopin's outward life in Vienna. + +I have already stated that Chopin and Woyciechowski lived together. +Their lodgings, for which they had to pay their landlady, a baroness, +fifty florins, were on the third story of a house in the Kohlmarkt, and +consisted of three elegant rooms. When his friend left, Chopin thought +the rent too high for his purse, and as an English family was willing +to pay as much as eighty florins, he sublet the rooms and removed to +the fourth story, where he found in the Baroness von Lachmanowicz an +agreeable young landlady, and had equally roomy apartments which cost +him only twenty florins and pleased him quite well. The house was +favourably situated, Mechetti being on the right, Artaria on the left, +and the opera behind; and as people were not deterred by the high stairs +from visiting him, not even old Count Hussarzewski, and a good profit +would accrue to him from those eighty florins, he could afford to laugh +at theprobable dismay of his friends picturing him as "a poor devil +living in a garret," and could do so the more heartily as there was in +reality another story between him and the roof. He gives his people a +very pretty description of his lodgings and mode of life:-- + + I live on the fourth story, in a fine street, but I have to + strain my eyes in looking out of the window when I wish to + see what is going on beneath. You will find my room in my new + album when I am at home again. Young Hummel [a son of the + composer] is so kind as to draw it for me. It is large and + has five windows; the bed is opposite to them. My wonderful + piano stands on the right, the sofa on the left; between the + windows there is a mirror, in the middle of the room a fine, + large, round mahogany table; the floor is polished. Hush! + "The gentleman does not receive visitors in the afternoon"-- + hence I can be amongst you in my thoughts. Early in the + morning the unbearably-stupid servant wakes me; I rise, get + my coffee, and often drink it cold because I forget my + breakfast over my playing. Punctually at nine o'clock appears + my German master; then I generally write; and after that, + Hummel comes to work at my portrait, while Nidecki studies my + concerto. And all this time I remain in my comfortable + dressing-gown, which I do not take off till twelve o'clock. + At that hour a very worthy German makes his appearance, Herr + Leibenfrost, who works in the law-courts here. If the weather + is fine I take a walk with him on the Glacis, then we dine + together at a restaurant, Zur bohmischen Kochin, which is + frequented by all the university students; and finally we go + (as is the custom here) to one of the best coffee-houses. + After this I make calls, return home in the twilight, throw + myself into evening-dress, and must be off to some soiree: to- + day here, to-morrow there. About eleven or twelve (but never + later) I return home, play, laugh, read, lie down, put out + the light, sleep, and dream of you, my dear ones. + +If is evident that there was no occasion to fear that Chopin would kill +himself with too hard work. Indeed, the number of friends, or, not to +misuse this sacred name, let us rather say acquaintances, he had, did +not allow him much time for study and composition. In his letters +from Vienna are mentioned more than forty names of families and single +individuals with whom he had personal intercourse. I need hardly add +that among them there was a considerable sprinkling of Poles. Indeed, +the majority of the houses where he was oftenest seen, and where he felt +most happy, were those of his countrymen, or those in which there was at +least some Polish member, or which had some Polish connection. Already +on December 1, 1830, he writes home that he had been several times at +Count Hussarzewski's, and purposes to pay a visit at Countess Rosalia +Rzewuska's, where he expects to meet Madame Cibbini, the daughter +of Leopold Kozeluch and a pupil of Clementi, known as a pianist and +composer, to whom Moscheles dedicated a sonata for four hands, and who +at that time was first lady-in-waiting to the Empress of Austria. Chopin +had likewise called twice at Madame Weyberheim's. This lady, who was a +sister of Madame Wolf and the wife of a rich banker, invited him to a +soiree "en petit cercle des amateurs," and some weeks later to a soiree +dansante, on which occasion he saw "many young people, beautiful, but +not antique [that is to say not of the Old Testament kind], "refused +to play, although the lady of the house and her beautiful daughters had +invited many musical personages, was forced to dance a cotillon, made +some rounds, and then went home. In the house of the family Beyer (where +the husband was a Pole of Odessa, and the wife, likewise Polish, bore +the fascinating Christian name Constantia--the reader will remember her) +Chopin felt soon at his ease. There he liked to dine, sup, lounge, chat, +play, dance mazurkas, &c. He often met there the violinist Slavik, and +the day before Christmas played with him all the morning and evening, +another day staying with him there till two o'clock in the morning. We +hear also of dinners at the house of his countrywoman Madame Elkan, and +at Madame Schaschek's, where (he writes in July, 1831) he usually met +several Polish ladies, who by their hearty hopeful words always cheered +him, and where he once made his appearance at four instead of the +appointed dinner hour, two o'clock. But one of his best friends was the +medical celebrity Dr. Malfatti, physician-in-ordinary to the Emperor +of Austria, better remembered by the musical reader as the friend of +Beethoven, whom he attended in his last illness, forgetting what causes +for complaint he might have against the too irritable master. Well, +this Dr. Malfatti received Chopin, of whom he had already heard from +Wladyslaw Ostrowski, "as heartily as if I had been a relation of his" +(Chopin uses here a very bold simile), running up to him and embracing +him as soon as he had got sight of his visiting-card. Chopin became a +frequent guest at the doctor's house; in his letters we come often on +the announcement that he has dined or is going to dine on such or such a +day at Dr. Malfatti's. + + December 1, 1830.--On the whole things are going well with + me, and I hope with God's help, who sent Malfatti to my + assistance--oh, excellent Malfatti!--that they will go better + still. + + December 25, 1830.--I went to dine at Malfatti's. This + excellent man thinks of everything; he is even so kind as to + set before us dishes prepared in the Polish fashion. + + May 14, 1831.--I am very brisk, and feel that good health is + the best comfort in misfortune. Perhaps Malfatti's soups have + strengthened me so much that I feel better than I ever did. + If this is really the case, I must doubly regret that + Malfatti has gone with his family into the country. You have + no idea how beautiful the villa is in which he lives; this + day week I was there with Hummel. After this amiable + physician had taken us over his house he showed us also his + garden. When we stood at the top of the hill, from which we + had a splendid view, we did not wish to go down again. The + Court honours Malfatti every year with a visit. He has the + Duchess of Anhalt-Cothen as a neighbour; I should not wonder + if she envied him his garden. On one side one sees Vienna + lying at one's feet, and in such a way that one might believe + it was joined to Schoenbrunn; on the other side one sees high + mountains picturesquely dotted with convents and villages. + Gazing on this romantic panorama one entirely forgets the + noisy bustle and proximity of the capital. + +This is one of the few descriptive passages to be found in Chopin's +letters--men and their ways interested him more than natural scenery. +But to return from the villa to its owner, Chopin characterises +his relation to the doctor unequivocally in the following +statement:--"Malfatti really loves me, and I am not a little proud of +it." Indeed, the doctor seems to have been a true friend, ready with act +and counsel. He aided him with his influence in various ways; thus, +for instance, we read that he promised to introduce him to Madame +Tatyszczew, the wife of the Russian Ambassador, and to Baron Dunoi, +the president of the musical society, whom Chopin thought a very useful +personage to know. At Malfatti's he made also the acquaintance of some +artists whom he would, perhaps, have had no opportunity of meeting +elsewhere. One of these was the celebrated tenor Wild. He came to +Malfatti's in the afternoon of Christmas-day, and Chopin, who had been +dining there, says: "I accompanied by heart the aria from Othello, which +he sang in a masterly style. Wild and Miss Heinefetter are the ornaments +of the Court Opera." Of a celebration of Malfatti's name-day Chopin +gives the following graphic account in a letter to his parents, dated +June 25, 1831:-- Mechetti, who wished to surprise him [Malfatti], +persuaded the Misses Emmering and Lutzer, and the Messrs. Wild, + Cicimara, and your Frederick to perform some music at the + honoured man's house; almost from beginning to end the + performance was deserving of the predicate "parfait." I never + heard the quartet from Moses better sung; but Miss Gladkowska + sang "O quante lagrime" at my farewell concert at Warsaw with + much more expression. Wild was in excellent voice, and I + acted in a way as Capellmeister. + +To this he adds the note:-- + + Cicimara said there was nobody in Vienna who accompanied so + well as I. And I thought, "Of that I have been long + convinced." A considerable number of people stood on the + terrace of the house and listened to our concert. The moon + shone with wondrous beauty, the fountains rose like columns + of pearls, the air was filled with the fragrance of the + orangery; in short, it was an enchanting night, and the + surroundings were magnificent! And now I will describe to you + the drawing-room in which we were. High windows, open from + top to bottom, look out upon the terrace, from which one has + a splendid view of the whole of Vienna. The walls are hung + with large mirrors; the lights were faint: but so much the + greater was the effect of the moonlight which streamed + through the windows. The cabinet to the left of the drawing- + room and adjoining it gives, on account of its large + dimensions, an imposing aspect to the whole apartment. The + ingenuousness and courtesy of the host, the elegant and + genial society, the generally-prevailing joviality, and the + excellent supper, kept us long together. + +Here Chopin is seen at his best as a letter writer; it would be +difficult to find other passages of equal excellence. For, although +we meet frequently enough with isolated pretty bits, there is not one +single letter which, from beginning to end, as a whole as well as in its +parts, has the perfection and charm of Mendelssohn's letters. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + +VIENNA MUSICAL LIFE.--KARNTHNERTHOR THEATRE.--SABINE +HEINEFETTER.--CONCERTS: HESSE, THALBERG, DOHLER, HUMMEL, ALOYS SCHMITT, +CHARLES CZERNY, SLAVIK, MERK, BOCKLET, ABBE STABLER, KIESEWETTER, +KANDLER.--THE PUBLISHERS HASLINGER, DIABELLI, MECHETTI, AND JOSEPH +CZERNY.--LANNER AND STRAUSS.--CHOPIN PLAYS AT A CONCERT OF MADAME +GARZIA-VESTRIS AND GIVES ONE HIMSELF.--HIS STUDIES AND COMPOSITIONS +OF THAT TIME.--HIS STATE OF BODY AND MIND.--PREPARATIONS FOR +AND POSTPONEMENT OF HIS DEPARTURE.--SHORTNESS OF MONEY.--HIS +MELANCHOLY.--TWO EXCURSIONS.--LEAVES FOR MUNICH.--HIS CONCERT AT +MUNICH.--HIS STAY AT STUTTGART.--PROCEEDS TO PARIS. + + + +The allusions to music and musicians lead us naturally to inquire +further after Chopin's musical experiences in Vienna. + + January 26, 1831.--If I had not made [he writes] the + exceedingly interesting acquaintance of the most talented + artists of this place, such as Slavik, Merk, Bocklet, and so + forth [this "so forth" is tantalising], I should be very + little satisfied with my stay here. The Opera indeed is good: + Wild and Miss Heinefetter fascinate the Viennese; only it is + a pity that Duport brings forward so few new operas, and + thinks more of his pocket than of art. + +What Chopin says here and elsewhere about Duport's stinginess tallies +with the contemporary newspaper accounts. No sooner had the new manager +taken possession of his post than he began to economise in such a manner +that he drove away men like Conradin Kreutzer, Weigl, and Mayseder. +During the earlier part of his sojourn in Vienna Chopin remarked that +excepting Heinefetter and Wild, the singers were not so excellent as he +had expected to find them at the Imperial Opera. Afterwards he seems to +have somewhat extended his sympathies, for he writes in July, 1831:-- + + Rossini's "Siege of Corinth" was lately very well performed + here, and I am glad that I had the opportunity of hearing + this opera. Miss Heinefetter and Messrs. Wild, Binder, and + Forti, in short, all the good singers in Vienna, appeared in + this opera and did their best. + +Chopin's most considerable criticism of this time is one on Miss +Heinefetter in a letter written on December 25, 1830; it may serve as +a pendant to his criticism on Miss Sontag which I quoted in a preceding +chapter. + + Miss Heinefetter has a voice such as one seldom hears; she + sings always in tune; her coloratura is like so many pearls; + in short, everything is faultless. She looks particularly + well when dressed as a man. But she is cold: I got my nose + almost frozen in the stalls. In "Othello" she delighted me + more than in the "Barber of Seville," where she represents a + finished coquette instead of a lively, witty girl. As Sextus + in "Titus" she looks really quite splendid. In a few days she + is to appear in the "Thieving Magpie" ["La Gazza ladra"]. I + am anxious to hear it. Miss Woikow pleased me better as + Rosina in the "Barber"; but, to be sure, she has not such a + delicious voice as the Heinefetter. I wish I had heard Pasta! + +The opera at the Karnthnerthor Theatre with all its shortcomings +was nevertheless the most important and most satisfactory musical +institution of the city. What else, indeed, had Vienna to offer to the +earnest musician? Lanner and Strauss were the heroes of the day, and the +majority of other concerts than those given by them were exhibitions +of virtuosos. Imagine what a pass the musical world of Vienna must have +come to when Stadler, Kiesewetter, Mosel, and Seyfried could be called, +as Chopin did call them, its elite! Abbe Stadler might well say to +the stranger from Poland that Vienna was no longer what it used to be. +Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert had shuffled off their mortal +coil, and compared with these suns their surviving contemporaries +and successors--Gyrowetz, Weigl, Stadler, Conradin Kreutzer, Lachner, +&c.--were but dim and uncertain lights. + +With regard to choral and orchestral performances apart from the stage, +Vienna had till more recent times very little to boast of. In 1830-1831 +the Spirituel-Concerte (Concerts Spirituels) were still in existence +under the conductorship of Lannoy; but since 1824 their number had +dwindled down from eighteen to four yearly concerts. The programmes were +made up of a symphony and some sacred choruses. Beethoven, Mozart, +and Haydn predominated among the symphonists; in the choral department +preference was given to the Austrian school of church music; but +Cherubim also was a great favourite, and choruses from Handel's +oratorios, with Mosel's additional accompaniments, were often performed. +The name of Beethoven was hardly ever absent from any of the programmes. +That the orchestra consisted chiefly of amateurs, and that the +performances took place without rehearsals (only difficult new works got +a rehearsal, and one only), are facts which speak for themselves. +Franz Lachner told Hanslick that the performances of new and in any way +difficult compositions were so bad that Schubert once left the hall +in the middle of one of his works, and he himself (Lachner) had felt +several times inclined to do the same. These are the concerts of which +Beethoven spoke as Winkelmusik, and the tickets of which he denominated +Abtrittskarten, a word which, as the expression of a man of genius, I do +not hesitate to quote, but which I could not venture to translate. Since +this damning criticism was uttered, matters had not improved, on the +contrary, had gone from bad to worse. Another society of note was the +still existing and flourishing Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. It, too, +gave four, or perhaps five yearly concerts, in each of which a symphony, +an overture, an aria or duet, an instrumental solo, and a chorus +were performed. This society was afflicted with the same evil as the +first-named institution. It was a + + gladdening sight [we are told] to see counts and tradesmen, + superiors and subalterns, professors and students, noble + ladies and simple burghers' daughters side by side + harmoniously exerting themselves for the love of art. + +As far as choral singing is concerned the example deserves to be +followed, but the matter stands differently with regard to instrumental +music, a branch of the art which demands not only longer and more +careful, but also constant, training. Although the early custom of +drawing lots, in order to determine who were to sing the solos, what +places the players were to occupy in the orchestra, and which of the +four conductors was to wield the baton, had already disappeared before +1831, yet in 1841 the performances of the symphonies were still so +little "in the spirit of the composers" (a delicate way of stating an +ugly fact) that a critic advised the society to imitate the foreign +conservatoriums, and reinforce the band with the best musicians of the +capital, who, constantly exercising their art, and conversant with the +works of the great masters, were better able to do justice to them than +amateurs who met only four times a year. What a boon it would be +to humanity, what an increase of happiness, if amateurs would allow +themselves to be taught by George Eliot, who never spoke truer and wiser +words than when she said:--"A little private imitation of what is good +is a sort of private devotion to it, and most of us ought to practise +art only in the light of private study--preparation to understand and +enjoy what the few can do for us." In addition to the above I shall yet +mention a third society, the Tonkunstler-Societat, which, as the name +implies, was an association of musicians. Its object was the getting-up +and keeping-up of a pension fund, and its artistic activity displayed +itself in four yearly concerts. Haydn's "Creation" and "Seasons" were +the stock pieces of the society's repertoire, but in 1830 and 1831 +Handel's "Messiah" and "Solomon" and Lachner's "Die vier Menschenalter" +were also performed. + +These historical notes will give us an idea of what Chopin may have +heard in the way of choral and orchestral music. I say "may have heard," +because not a word is to be found in his extant letters about the +concerts of these societies. Without exposing ourselves to the reproach +of rashness, we may, however, assume that he was present at the concert +of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde on March 20, 1831, when among the +items of the programme were Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, and the first +movement of a concerto composed and played by Thalberg. On seeing the +name of one of the most famous pianists contemporary with Chopin, the +reader has, no doubt, at once guessed the reason why I assumed the +latter's presence at the concert. These two remarkable, but in their +characters and aims so dissimilar, men had some friendly intercourse in +Vienna. Chopin mentions Thalberg twice in his letters, first on December +25, 1830, and again on May 28, 1831. On the latter occasion he +relates that he went with him to an organ recital given by Hesse, the +previously-mentioned Adolf Hesse of Breslau, of whom Chopin now remarked +that he had talent and knew how to treat his instrument. Hesse and +Chopin must have had some personal intercourse, for we learn that +the former left with the latter an album leaf. A propos of this +circumstance, Chopin confesses in a letter to his people that he is at +a loss what to write, that he lacks the requisite wit. But let us +return to the brilliant pianist, who, of course, was a more interesting +acquaintance in Chopin's, eyes than the great organist. Born in 1812, +and consequently three years younger than Chopin, Sigismund Thalberg had +already in his fifteenth year played with success in public, and at the +age of sixteen published Op. 1, 2, and 3. However, when Chopin made his +acquaintance, he had not yet begun to play only his own compositions +(about that time he played, for instance, Beethoven's C minor Concerto +at one of the Spirituel-Concerte, where since 1830 instrumental solos +were occasionally heard), nor had he attained that in its way +unique perfection of beauty of tone and elegance of execution which +distinguished him afterwards. Indeed, the palmy days of his career +cannot be dated farther back than the year 1835, when he and Chopin met +again in Paris; but then his success was so enormous that his fame in a +short time became universal, and as a virtuoso only one rival was left +him--Liszt, the unconquered. That Chopin and Thalberg entertained very +high opinions of each other cannot be asserted. Let the reader judge +for himself after reading what Chopin says in his letter of December 25, +1830:-- + + Thalberg plays famously, but he is not my man. He is younger + than I, pleases the ladies very much, makes pot-pourris on + "La Muette" ["Masaniello"], plays the forte and piano with + the pedal, but not with the hand, takes tenths as easily as I + do octaves, and wears studs with diamonds. Moscheles does not + at all astonish him; therefore it is no wonder that only the + tuttis of my concerto have pleased him. He, too, writes + concertos. + +Chopin was endowed with a considerable power of sarcasm, and was fond of +cultivating and exercising it. This portraiture of his brother-artist is +not a bad specimen of its kind, although we shall meet with better ones. + +Another, but as yet unfledged, celebrity was at that time living in +Vienna, prosecuting his studies under Czerny--namely, Theodor Dohler. +Chopin, who went to hear him play some compositions of his master's at +the theatre, does not allude to him again after the concert; but if +he foresaw what a position as a pianist and composer he himself was +destined to occupy, he could not suspect that this lad of seventeen +would some day be held up to the Parisian public by a hostile clique as +a rival equalling and even surpassing his peculiar excellences. By the +way, the notion of anyone playing compositions of Czerny's at a +concert cannot but strangely tickle the fancy of a musician who has the +privilege of living in the latter part of the nineteenth century. + +Besides the young pianists with a great future before them Chopin came +also in contact with aging pianists with a great past behind them. +Hummel, accompanied by his son, called on him in the latter part of +December, 1830, and was extraordinarily polite. In April, 1831, the two +pianists, the setting and the rising star, were together at the villa +of Dr. Malfatti. Chopin informed his master, Elsner, for whose masses he +was in quest of a publisher, that Haslinger was publishing the last mass +of Hummel, and added:-- For he now lives only by and for Hummel. + + It is rumoured that + the last compositions of Hummel do not sell well, and yet he + is said to have paid a high price for them. Therefore he now + lays all MSS. aside, and prints only Strauss's waltzes. + +Unfortunately there is not a word which betrays Chopin's opinion of +Hummel's playing and compositions. We are more fortunate in the case of +another celebrity, one, however, of a much lower order. In one of the +prosaic intervals, of the sentimental rhapsody, indited on December 25, +1830, there occur the following remarks:-- + + The pianist Aloys Schmitt of Frankfort-on-the-Main, famous + for his excellent studies, is at present here; he is a man + above forty. I have made his acquaintance; he promised to + visit me. He intends to give a concert here, and one must + admit that he is a clever musician. I think we shall + understand each other with regard to music. + +Having looked at this picture, let the reader look also at this other, +dashed off a month later in a letter to Elsner:-- + + The pianist Aloys Schmitt has been flipped on the nose by the + critics, although he is already over forty years old, and + composes eighty-years-old music. + +From the contemporary journals we learn that, at the concert mentioned +by Chopin, Schmitt afforded the public of Vienna an opportunity of +hearing a number of his own compositions--which were by no means short +drawing-room pieces, but a symphony, overture, concerto, concertino, +&c.--and that he concluded his concert with an improvisation. One +critic, at least, described his style of playing as sound and +brilliant. The misfortune of Schmitt was to have come too late into the +world--respectable mediocrities like him always do that--he never had +any youth. The pianist on whom Chopin called first on arriving in Vienna +was Charles Czerny, and he + + was, as he is always (and to everybody), very polite, and + asked, "Hat fleissig studirt?" [Have you studied diligently?] + He has again arranged an overture for eight pianos and + sixteen performers, and seems to be very happy over it. + +Only in the sense of belonging rather to the outgoing than to the +incoming generation can Czerny be reckoned among the aged pianists, for +in 1831 he was not above forty years of age and had still an enormous +capacity for work in him--hundreds and hundreds of original and +transcribed compositions, thousands and thousands of lessons. His name +appears in a passage of one of Chopin's letters which deserves to be +quoted for various reasons: it shows the writer's dislike to the Jews, +his love of Polish music, and his contempt for a kind of composition +much cultivated by Czerny. Speaking of the violinist Herz, "an +Israelite," who was almost hissed when he made his debut in Warsaw, and +whom Chopin was going to hear again in Vienna, he says:-- + + At the close of the concert Herz will play his own Variations + on Polish airs. Poor Polish airs! You do not in the least + suspect how you will be interlarded with "majufes" [see page + 49, foot-note], and that the title of "Polish music" is only + given you to entice the public. If one is so outspoken as to + discuss the respective merits of genuine Polish music and + this imitation of it, and to place the former above the + latter, people declare one to be mad, and do this so much the + more readily because Czerny, the oracle of Vienna, has + hitherto in the fabrication of his musical dainties never + produced Variations on a Polish air. + +Chopin had not much sympathy with Czerny the musician, but seems to have +had some liking for the man, who indeed was gentle, kind, and courteous +in his disposition and deportment. + +A much more congenial and intimate connection existed between Chopin, +Slavik, and Merk. [FOOTNOTE: Thus the name is spelt in Mendel's +Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon and by E. A. Melis, the Bohemian +writer on music. Chopin spells it Slawik. The more usual spelling, +however, is Slawjk; and in C.F. Whistling's Handbuch der musikalischen +Literatur (Leipzig, 1828) it is Slavjk.] Joseph Slavik had come to +Vienna in 1825 and had at once excited a great sensation. He was then +a young man of nineteen, but technically already superior to all the +violinists that had been heard in the Austrian capital. The celebrated +Mayseder called him a second Lipinski. Pixis, his master at the +Conservatorium in Prague, on seeing some of this extraordinary pupil's +compositions--a concerto, variations, &c.--had wondered how anyone could +write down such mad, unplayable stuff. But Slavik before leaving Prague +proved at a farewell concert that there was at least one who could play +the mad stuff. All this, however, was merely the prelude to what was yet +to come. The appearance of Paganini in 1828 revealed to him the, +till then, dimly-perceived ideal of his dreams, and the great Italian +violinist, who took an interest in this ardent admirer and gave him some +hints, became henceforth his model. Having saved a little money, he went +for his further improvement to Paris, studying especially under Baillot, +but soon returned to accept an engagement in the Imperial Band. When +after two years of hard practising he reappeared before the public +of Vienna, his style was altogether changed; he mastered the same +difficulties as Paganini, or even greater ones, not, however, with the +same unfailing certainty, nor with an always irreproachable intonation. +Still, there can be no doubt that had not a premature death (in 1833, at +the age of twenty-seven) cut short his career, he would have spread his +fame all over the world. Chopin, who met him first at Wurfel's, at once +felt a liking for him, and when on the following day he heard him play +after dinner at Beyer's, he was more pleased with his performance than +with that of any other violinist except Paganini. As Chopin's playing +was equally sympathetic to Slavik, they formed the project of writing +a duet for violin and piano. In a letter to his friend Matuszynski +(December 25, 1830) Chopin writes:-- + + I have just come from the excellent violinist Slavik. With + the exception of Paganini, I never heard a violin-player like + him. Ninety-six staccato notes in one bow! It is almost + incredible! When I heard him I felt inclined to return to my + lodgings and sketch variations on an Adagio [which they had + previously agreed to take for their theme] of Beethoven's. + +The sight of the post-office and a letter from his Polish friends +put the variations out of his mind, and they seem never to have been +written, at least nothing has been heard of them. Some remarks on +Slavik in a letter addressed to his parents (May 28, 1831) show Chopin's +admiration of and affection for his friend still more distinctly:-- + + He is one of the Viennese artists with whom I keep up a + really friendly and intimate intercourse. He plays like a + second Paganini, but a rejuvenated one, who will perhaps in + time surpass the first. I should not believe it myself if I + had not heard him so often....Slavik fascinates the listener + and brings tears into his eyes. + +Shortly after falling in with Slavik, Chopin met Merk, probably at the +house of the publisher Mechetti, and on January 1, 1831, he announces +to his friend in Warsaw with unmistakable pride that "Merk, the first +violoncellist in Vienna," has promised him a visit. Chopin desired very +much to become acquainted with him because he thought that Merk, +Slavik, and himself would form a capital trio. The violoncellist was +considerably older than either pianist or violinist, being born in 1795. +Merk began his musical career as a violinist, but being badly bitten +in the arm by a big dog, and disabled thereby to hold the violin in its +proper position (this is what Fetis relates), he devoted himself to the +violoncello, and with such success as to become the first solo player in +Vienna. At the time we are speaking of he was a member of the Imperial +Orchestra and a professor at the Conservatorium. He often gave concerts +with Mayseder, and was called the Mayseder of the violoncello. Chopin, +on hearing him at a soiree of the well-known autograph collector Fuchs, +writes home:-- + + Limmer, one of the better artists here in Vienna, produced + some of his compositions for four violoncelli. Merk, by his + expressive playing, made them, as usual, more beautiful than + they really are. People stayed again till midnight, for Merk + took a fancy to play with me his variations. He told me that + he liked to play with me, and it is always a great treat to + me to play with him. I think we look well together. He is the + first violoncellist whom I really admire. + +Of Chopin's intercourse with the third of the "exceedingly interesting +acquaintances" whom he mentions by name, we get no particulars in his +letters. Still, Carl Maria von Bocklet, for whom Beethoven wrote three +letters of recommendation, who was an intimate friend of Schubert's, and +whose interpretations of classical works and power of improvisation gave +him one of the foremost places among the pianists of the day, cannot +have been without influence on Chopin. Bocklet, better than any other +pianist then living in Vienna, could bring the young Pole into closer +communication with the German masters of the preceding generation; he +could, as it were, transmit to him some of the spirit that animated +Beethoven, Schubert, and Weber. The absence of allusions to Bocklet in +Chopin's letters does not, however, prove that he never made any, for +the extant letters are only a small portion of those he actually wrote, +many of them having in the perturbed state of Poland never reached their +destination, others having been burnt by his parents for fear of +the Russian police, and some, no doubt, having been lost through +carelessness or indifference. + +The list of Chopin's acquaintances is as yet far from being exhausted. +He had conversations with old Abbe Stadler, the friend of Haydn and +Mozart, whose Psalms, which he saw in MS., he admired. He also speaks +of one of the performances of old, sacred, and secular music which took +place at Kiesewetter's house as if he were going to it. But a musician +of Chopin's nature would not take a very lively interest in the +historical aspect of the art; nor would the learned investigator of the +music of the Netherlanders, of the music of the Arabs, of the life and +works of Guido d'Arezzo, &c., readily perceive the preciousness of the +modern composer's originality. At any rate, Chopin had more intercourse +with the musico-literary Franz Kandler, who wrote favourable criticisms +on his performances as a composer and player, and with whom he went on +one occasion to the Imperial Library, where the discovery of a certain +MS. surprised him even more than the magnitude and order of the +collection, which he could not imagine to be inferior to that of +Bologna--the manuscript in question being no other than his Op. 2, which +Haslinger had presented to the library. Chopin found another MS. of his, +that of the Rondo for two pianos, in Aloys Fuchs's famous collection of +autographs, which then comprised 400 numbers, but about the year 1840 +had increased to 650 numbers, most of them complete works. He must have +understood how to ingratiate himself with the collector, otherwise he +would hardly have had the good fortune to be presented with an autograph +of Beethoven. + +Chopin became also acquainted with almost all the principal publishers +in Vienna. Of Haslinger enough has already been said. By Czerny Chopin +was introduced to Diabelli, who invited him to an evening party of +musicians. With Mechetti he seems to have been on a friendly footing. +He dined at his house, met him at Dr. Malfatti's, handed over to him +for publication his Polonaise for piano and violoncello (Op. 3), and +described him as enterprising and probably persuadable to publish +Elsner's masses. Joseph Czerny, no relation of Charles's, was a mere +business acquaintance of Chopin's. Being reminded of his promise to +publish a quartet of Elsner's, he said he could not undertake to do so +just then (about January 26, 1831), as he was publishing the works of +Schubert, of which many were still in the press. + + Therefore [writes Chopin to his master] I fear your MS. will + have to wait. Czerny, I have found out now, is not one of the + richest publishers here, and consequently cannot easily risk + the publication of a work which is not performed at the Sped + or at the Romische Kaiser. Waltzes are here called works; and + Lanner and Strauss, who lead the performances, Capellmeister. + In saying this, however, I do not mean that all people here + are of this opinion; on the contrary, there are many who + laugh at it. Still, it is almost only waltzes that are + published. + +It is hardly possible for us to conceive the enthusiasm and ecstasy into +which the waltzes of the two dance composers transported Vienna, which +was divided into two camps:-- + + The Sperl and Volksgarten [says Hanslick] were on the Strauss + and Lanner days the favourite and most frequented "concert + localities." In the year 1839 Strauss and Lanner had already + each of them published more than too works. The journals were + thrown into ecstasy by every new set of waltzes; innumerable + articles appeared on Strauss, and Lanner, enthusiastic, + humorous, pathetic, and certainly longer than those that were + devoted to Beethoven and Mozart. + +These glimpses of the notabilities and manners of a by-gone generation, +caught, as it were, through the chinks of the wall which time is +building up between the past and the present, are instructive as well as +amusing. It would be a great mistake to regard these details, apparently +very loosely connected with the life of Chopin, as superfluous +appendages to his biography. A man's sympathies and antipathies are +revelations of his nature, and an artist's surroundings make evident his +position and merit, the degree of his originality being undeterminable +without a knowledge of the time in which he lived. Moreover, let the +impatient reader remember that, Chopin's life being somewhat poor in +incidents, the narrative cannot be an even-paced march, but must be a +series of leaps and pauses, with here and there an intervening amble, +and one or two brisk canters. + +Having described the social and artistic sphere, or rather spheres, +in which Chopin moved, pointed out the persons with whom he most +associated, and noted his opinions regarding men and things, almost all +that is worth telling of his life in the imperial city is told--almost +all, but not all. Indeed, of the latter half of his sojourn there some +events have yet to be recorded which in importance, if not in interest, +surpass anything that is to be found in the preceding and the foregoing +part of the present chapter. I have already indicated that the +disappointment of Chopin's hopes and the failure of his plans cannot +altogether be laid to the charge of unfavourable circumstances. His +parents must have thought so too, and taken him to task about his +remissness in the matter of giving a concert, for on May 14, 1831, +Chopin writes to them:--"My most fervent wish is to be able to fulfil +your wishes; till now, however, I found it impossible to give a +concert." But although he had not himself given a concert he had had an +opportunity of presenting himself in the best company to the public of +Vienna. In the "Theaterzeitung" of April 2, 1831, Madame Garzia-Vestris +announced a concert to be held in the Redoutensaal during the morning +hours of April 4, in which she was to be assisted by the Misses +Sabine and Clara Heinefetter, Messrs. Wild, Chopin, Bohm (violinist), +Hellmesberger (violinist, pupil of the former), Merk, and the brothers +Lewy (two horn-players). Chopin was distinguished from all the rest, as +a homo ignotus et novus, by the parenthetical "pianoforte-player" after +his name, no such information being thought necessary in the case of +the other artists. The times are changed, now most readers require +parenthetical elucidation after each name except that of Chopin. "He has +put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted them of low degree!" +The above-mentioned exhortation of his parents seems to have had the +desired effect, and induced Chopin to make an effort, although now the +circumstances were less favourable to his giving a concert than at the +time of his arrival. The musical season was over, and many people +had left the capital for their summer haunts; the struggle in Poland +continued with increasing fierceness, which was not likely to lessen +the backwardness of Austrians in patronising a Pole; and in addition to +this, cholera had visited the country and put to flight all who were not +obliged to stay. I have not been able to ascertain the date and other +particulars of this concert. Through Karasowski we learn that it was +thinly attended, and that the receipts did not cover the expenses. +The "Theaterzeitung," which had given such full criticisms of Chopin's +performances in 1829, says not a word either of the matinee or of the +concert, not even the advertisement of the latter has come under my +notice. No doubt Chopin alludes to criticisms on this concert when he +writes in the month of July:-- + + Louisa [his sister] informs me that Mr. Elsner was very much + pleased with the criticism; I wonder what he will say of the + others, he who was my teacher of composition? + +Kandler, the Vienna correspondent of the "Allgemeine musikalische +Zeitung," after discussing in that paper (September 21, 1831) the +performances of several artists, among others that of the clever Polish +violin-virtuoso Serwaczynski, turns to "Chopin, also from the Sarmatian +capital, who already during his visit last year proved himself a pianist +of the first rank," and remarks:-- + + The execution of his newest Concerto in E minor, a serious + composition, gave no cause to revoke our former judgment. One + who is so upright in his dealings with genuine art is + deserving our genuine esteem. + +All things considered, I do not hesitate to accept Liszt's statement +that the young artist did not produce such a sensation as he had a right +to expect. In fact, notwithstanding the many pleasant social connections +he had, Chopin must have afterwards looked back with regret, probably +with bitterness, on his eight months' sojourn in Vienna. Not only did he +add nothing to his fame as a pianist and composer by successful concerts +and new publications, but he seems even to have been sluggish in his +studies and in the production of new works. How he leisurely whiled away +the mornings at his lodgings, and passed the rest of the day abroad and +in society, he himself has explicitly described. That this was his +usual mode of life at Vienna, receives further support from the +self-satisfaction with which he on one occasion mentions that he had +practised from early morning till two o'clock in the afternoon. In his +letters we read only twice of his having finished some new compositions. +On December 21, 1830, he writes:-- + + I wished to enclose my latest waltz, but the post is about to + depart, and I have no longer time to copy it, therefore I + shall send it another time. The mazurkas, too, I have first + to get copied, but they are not intended for dancing. + +And in the month of July, 1831, "I have written a polonaise, which +I must leave here for Wurfel." There are two more remarks about +compositions, but of compositions which were never finished, perhaps +never begun. One of these remarks refers to the variations on a theme +of Beethoven's, which he intended to compose conjointly with Slavik, and +has already been quoted; the other refers to a grander project. Speaking +of Nidecki, who came every morning to his lodgings and practised his +(Chopin's) concerto, he says (December 21, 1830):-- + + If I succeed in writing a concerto for two pianos so as to + satisfy myself, we intend to appear at once with it in + public; first, however, I wish to play once alone. + +What an interesting, but at the same time what a gigantic, subject to +write on the history of the unrealised plans of men of genius would be! +The above-mentioned waltz, polonaise, and mazurkas do not, of course, +represent the whole of Chopin's output as a composer during the time +of his stay in Vienna; but we may surmise with some degree of certainty +that few works of importance have to be added to it. Indeed, the +multiplicity of his social connections and engagements left him little +time for himself, and the condition of his fatherland kept him in a +constant state of restlessness. Poland and her struggle for independence +were always in his mind; now he laments in his letters the death of a +friend, now rejoices at a victory, now asks eagerly if such or such a +piece of good news that has reached him is true, now expresses the hope +that God will be propitious to their cause, now relates that he has +vented his patriotism by putting on the studs with the Polish eagles and +using the pocket-handkerchief with the Kosynier (scythe-man) depicted on +it. + + What is going on at home? [he writes, on May 28, 1831.] I am + always dreaming of you. Is there still no end to the + bloodshed? I know your answer: "Patience!" I, too, always + comfort myself with that. + +But good health, he finds, is the best comfort in misfortune, and if his +bulletins to his parents could be trusted he was in full enjoyment of +it. + + Zacharkiewicz of Warsaw called on me; and when his wife saw + me at Szaszek's, she did not know how to sufficiently express + her astonishment at my having become such a sturdy fellow. I + have let my whiskers grow only on the right side, and they + are growing very well; on the left side they are not needed + at all, for one sits always with the right side turned to the + public. + +Although his "ideal" is not there to retain him, yet he cannot make up +his mind to leave Vienna. On May 28, he writes:-- + + How quickly this dear time passes! It is already the end of + May, and I am still in Vienna. June will come, and I shall + probably be still here, for Kumelski fell ill and was obliged + to take to bed again. + +It was not only June but past the middle of July before Chopin left, and +I am afraid he would not always have so good an excuse for prolonging +his stay as the sickness of his travelling-companion. On June 25, +however, we hear of active preparations being made for departure. + + I am in good health, that is the only thing that cheers me, + for it seems as if my departure would never take place. You + all know how irresolute I am, and in addition to this I meet + with obstacles at every step. Day after day I am promised my + passport, and I run from Herod to Pontius Pilate, only to get + back what I deposited at the police office. To-day I heard + even more agreeable news--namely, that my passport has been + mislaid, and that they cannot find it; I have even to send in + an application for a new one. It is curious how now every + imaginable misfortune befalls us poor Poles. Although I am + ready to depart, I am unable to set out. + +Chopin had been advised by Mr. Beyer to have London instead of Paris +put as a visa in his passport. The police complied with his request +that this should be done, but the Russian Ambassador, after keeping +the document for two days, gave him only permission to travel as far as +Munich. But Chopin did not care so long as he got the signature of the +French Ambassador. Although his passport contained the words "passant +par Paris a Londres," and he in after years in Paris sometimes remarked, +in allusion to these words, "I am here only in passing," he had no +intention of going to London. The fine sentiment, therefore, of which a +propos of this circumstance some writers have delivered themselves +was altogether misplaced. When the difficulty about the passport was +overcome, another arose: to enter Bavaria from cholera-stricken Austria +a passport of health was required. Thus Chopin had to begin another +series of applications, in fact, had to run about for half a day before +he obtained this additional document. + +Chopin appears to have been rather short of money in the latter part of +his stay in Vienna--a state of matters with which the financial failure +of the concert may have had something to do. The preparations for his +departure brought the pecuniary question still more prominently forward. +On June 25, 1831, he writes to his parents:-- + + I live as economically as possible, and take as much care of + every kreuzer as of that ring in Warsaw [the one given him by + the Emperor Alexander]. You may sell it, I have already cost + you so much. + +He must have talked about his shortness of money to some of his friends +in Vienna, for he mentions that the pianist-composer Czapek, who calls +on him every day and shows him much kindness, has offered him money +for the journey should he stand in need of it. One would hardly have +credited Chopin with proficiency in an art in which he nevertheless +greatly excelled--namely, in the art of writing begging letters. How +well he understood how to touch the springs of the parental feelings the +following application for funds will prove. + + July, 1831.--But I must not forget to mention that I shall + probably be obliged to draw more money from the banker Peter + than my dear father has allowed me. I am very economical; + but, God knows, I cannot help it, for otherwise I should have + to leave with an almost empty purse. God preserve me from + sickness; were, however, anything to happen to me, you might + perhaps reproach me for not having taken more. Pardon me, but + consider that I have already lived on this money during May, + June, and July, and that I have now to pay more for my dinner + than I did in winter. I do not do this only because I myself + feel I ought to do so, but also in consequence of the good + advice of others. I am very sorry that I have to ask you for + it; my papa has already spent more than three groschen for + me; I know also very well how difficult it is to earn money. + Believe me, my dearest ones, it is harder for me to ask than + for you to give. God will not fail to assist us also in the + future, punctum! + +Chopin was at this time very subject to melancholy, and did not +altogether hide the fact even from his parents. He was perhaps thinking +of the "lengthening chain" which he would have to drag at this new +remove. He often runs into the street to seek Titus Woyciechowski or +John Matuszynski. One day he imagines he sees the former walking before +him, but on coming up to the supposed friend is disgusted to find "a +d---- Prussian." + + I lack nothing [he writes in July, 1831] except more life, + more spirit! I often feel unstrung, but sometimes as merry as + I used to be at home. When I am sad I go to Madame Szaszek's; + there I generally meet several amiable Polish ladies who with + their hearty, hopeful words always cheer me up, so that I + begin at once to imitate the generals here. This is a fresh + joke of mine; but those who saw it almost died with laughing. + But alas, there are days when not two words can be got out of + me, nor can anyone find out what is the matter with me; then, + to divert myself, I generally take a thirty-kreuzer drive to + Hietzing, or somewhere else in the neighbourhood of Vienna. + +This is a valuable bit of autobiography; it sets forth clearly Chopin's +proneness to melancholy, which, however, easily gave way to his +sportiveness. That low spirits and scantiness of money did not prevent +Chopin from thoroughly enjoying himself may be gathered from many +indications in his letters; of these I shall select his descriptions of +two excursions in the neighbourhood of Vienna, which not only make +us better acquainted with the writer, but also are interesting in +themselves. + + June 25, 1831.--The day before yesterday we were with + Kumelski and Czapek...on the Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg. It + was a magnificent day; I have never had a finer walk. From + the Leopoldsberg one sees all Vienna, Wagram, Aspern, + Pressburg, even Kloster-Neuburg, the castle in which Richard + the Lion-hearted lived for a long time as a prisoner. Also + the whole of the upper part of the Danube lay before our + eyes. After breakfast we ascended the Kahlenberg, where King + John Sobieski pitched his camp and caused the rockets to be + fired which announced to Count Starhemberg, the commandant of + Vienna, the approach of the Polish army. There is the + Camaldolese Monastery in which the King knighted his son + James before the attack on the Turks and himself served as + acolyte at the Mass. I enclose for Isabella a little leaf + from that spot, which is now covered with plants. From there + we went in the evening to the Krapfenwald, a beautiful + valley, where we saw a comical boys' trick. The little + fellows had enveloped themselves from head to foot in leaves + and looked like walking bushes. In this costume they crept + from one visitor to another. Such a boy covered with leaves + and his head adorned with twigs is called a "Pfingstkonig" + [Whitsuntide-King]. This drollery is customary here at + Whitsuntide. + +The second excursion is thus described:-- + + July, 1831.--The day before yesterday honest Wurfel called on + me; Czapek, Kumelski, and many others also came, and we drove + together to St. Veil--a beautiful place; I could not say the + same of Tivoli, where they have constructed a kind ol + caroitsscl, or rather a track with a sledge, which is called + Rutsch. It is a childish amusement, but a great number of + grown-up people have themselves rolled down the hill in this + carriage just for pastime. At first I did not feel inclined + to try it, but as there were eight of us, all good friends, + we began to vie with each other in sliding down. It was + folly, and yet we all laughed heartily. I myself joined in + the sport with much satisfaction until it struck me that + healthy and strong men could do something better--now, when + humanity calls to them for protection and defence. May the + devil take this frivolity! + +In the same letter Chopin expresses the hope that his use of various, +not quite unobjectionable, words beginning with a "d" may not give his +parents a bad opinion of the culture he has acquired in Vienna, and +removes any possible disquietude on their part by assuring them that he +has adopted nothing that is Viennese in its nature, that, in fact, he +has not even learnt to play a Tanzwalzer (a dancing waltz). This, then, +is the sad result of his sojourn in Vienna. + +On July 20, 1831, Chopin, accompanied by his friend Kumelski, left +Vienna and travelled by Linz and Salzburg to Munich, where he had to +wait some weeks for supplies from home. His stay in the capital of +Bavaria, however, was not lost time, for he made there the acquaintance +of several clever musicians, and they, charmed by his playing and +compositions, induced him to give a concert. Karasowski tells us that +Chopin played his E minor Concerto at one of the Philharmonic Society's +concerts--which is not quite correct, as we shall see presently--and +adds that + + the audience, carried away by the beauty of the composition + and his excellent, poetic rendering, overwhelmed the young + virtuoso with loud applause and sincere admiration. + +In writing this the biographer had probably in his mind the following +passage from Chopin's letter to Titus Woyciechowski, dated Paris, +December 16, 1831:--"I played [to Kalkbrenner, in Paris] the E minor +Concerto, which charmed the people of the Bavarian capital so much." The +two statements are not synonymous. What the biographer says may be true, +and if it is not, ought to be so; but I am afraid the existing documents +do not bear it out in its entirety. Among the many local and other +journals which I have consulted, I have found only one notice of +Chopin's appearance at Munich, and when I expectantly scanned a resume +of Munich musical life, from the spring to the end of the year 1831, +in the "Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung," I found mention made of +Mendelssohn and Lafont, but not of Chopin. Thus, unless we assume that +Karasowski--true to his mission as a eulogising biographer, and most +vigorous when unfettered by definite data--indulged in exaggeration, we +must seek for a reconciliation of the enthusiasm of the audience with +the silence of the reporter in certain characteristics of the Munich +public. Mendelssohn says of it:-- + + The people here [in Munich] have an extraordinary receptivity + for music, which is much cultivated. But it appears to me + that everything makes an impression and that the impressions + do not last. + +Speaking of Mendelssohn, it is curious to note how he and Chopin were +again and again on the point of meeting, and again and again failed to +meet. In Berlin Chopin was too bashful and modest to address his already +famous young brother-artist, who in 1830 left Vienna shortly before +Chopin arrived, and in 1831 arrived in Munich shortly after Chopin had +left. The only notice of Chopin's public appearance in Munich I have +been able to discover, I found in No. 87 (August 30, 1831) of the +periodical "Flora", which contains, under the heading "news," a pretty +full account of the "concert of Mr. Chopin of Warsaw." From this account +we learn that Chopin was assisted by the singers Madame Pellegrini and +Messrs. Bayer, Lenz, and Harm, the clarinet-player Barmann, jun., and +Capellmeister Stunz. The singers performed a four-part song, and Barmann +took part in a cavatina (sung by Bayer, the first tenor at the opera) +with clarinet and pianoforte accompaniment by Schubert (?). What the +writer of the account says about Chopin shall be quoted in full:-- + + On the 28th August, Mr. F. Chopin, of Warsaw, gave a morning + concert [Mittags Concert] in the hall of the Philharmonic + Society, which was attended by a very select audience. Mr. + Chopin performed on the pianoforte a Concerto in E minor of + his own composition, and showed an excellent virtuosity in + the treatment of his instrument; besides a developed + technique, one noticed especially a charming delicacy of + execution, and a beautiful and characteristic rendering of + the motives. The composition was, on the whole, brilliantly + and well written, without surprising, however, by + extraordinary novelty or a particular profundity, with the + exception of the Rondo, whose principal thought as well as + the florid middle sections, through an original combination + of a melancholy trait with a capriccio, evolved a peculiar + charm, on which account it particularly pleased. The concert- + giver performed in conclusion a fantasia on Polish national + songs. There is a something in the Slavonic songs which + almost never fails in its effect, the cause of which, + however, is difficult to trace and explain; for it is not + only the rhythm and the quick change from minor to major + which produce this charm. No one has probably understood + better how to combine the national character of such folk- + songs with a brilliant concert style than Bernhard Romberg + [Footnote: The famous violoncellist], who by his compositions + of this kind, put in a favourable light by his masterly + playing, knew how to exercise a peculiar fascination. Quite + of this style was the fantasia of Mr. Chopin, who gained + unanimous applause. + +From Munich Chopin proceeded to Stuttgart, and during his stay there +learnt the sad news of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians (September +8, 1831). It is said that this event inspired him to compose the C minor +study (No. 12 of Op. 10), with its passionate surging and impetuous +ejaculations. Writing from Paris on December 16, 1831, Chopin remarks, +in allusion to the traeic denouement of the Polish revolution: "All this +has caused me much pain. Who could have foreseen it!" + +With his visits to Stuttgart Chopin's artist-life in Germany came to a +close, for, although he afterwards repeatedly visited the country, he +never played in public or made a lengthened stay there. Now that Chopin +is nearing Paris, where, occasional sojourns elsewhere (most of them +of short duration) excepted, he will pass the rest of his life, it may +interest the reader to learn that this change of country brought with +it also a change of name, at least as far as popular pronunciation and +spelling went. We may be sure that the Germans did not always give to +the final syllable the appropriate nasal sound. And what the Polish +pronunciation was is sufficiently indicated by the spelling "Szopen," +frequently to be met with. I found it in the Polish illustrated journal +"Kiosy," and it is also to be seen in Joseph Sikorski's "Wspomnienie +Szopena" ("Reminiscences of Chopin"). Szulc and Karasowski call their +books and hero "Fryderyk Chopin." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + + +CHOPIN'S PRODUCTIONS FROM THE SPRING OF 1829 TO THEEND OF 1831.--THE +CHIEF INFLUENCES THAT HELPED TO FORM HIS STYLE OF COMPOSITION. + + + +Let us pause for a little in our biographical inquiries and critically +examine what Chopin had achieved as a composer since the spring of 1829. +At the very first glance it becomes evident that the works of the last +two years (1829-1831) are decidedly superior to those he wrote before +that time. And this advance was not due merely to the increased power +derived from practice; it was real growth, which a Greek philosopher +describes as penetration of nourishment into empty places, the +nourishment being in Chopin's case experience of life's joys and +sorrows. In most of the works of what I call his first period, the +composer luxuriates, as it were, in language. He does not regard it +solely or chiefly as the interpreter of thoughts and feelings, he loves +it for its own sake, just as children, small and tall, prattle for no +other reason than the pleasure of prattling. I closed the first period +when a new element entered Chopin's life and influenced his artistic +work. This element was his first love, his passion for Constantia +Gtadkowska. Thenceforth Chopin's compositions had in them more of +humanity and poetry, and the improved subject-matter naturally, indeed +necessarily, chastened, ennobled, and enriched the means and ways +of expression. Of course no hard line can be drawn between the two +periods--the distinctive quality of the one period appears sometimes +in the work of the other: a work of the earlier period foreshadows the +character of the later; one of the later re-echoes that of the earlier. + +The compositions which we know to have been written by Chopin between +1829 and 1831 are few in number. This may be partly because Chopin was +rather idle from the autumn of 1830 to the end of 1831, partly because +no account of the production of other works has come down to us. In +fact, I have no doubt that other short pieces besides those mentioned by +Chopin in his letters were composed during those years, and subsequently +published by him. The compositions oftenest and most explicitly +mentioned in the letters are also the most important ones--namely, the +concertos. As I wish to discuss them at some length, we will keep them +to the last, and see first what allusions to other compositions we can +find, and what observations these latter give rise to. + +On October 3, 1829, Chopin sends his friend Titus Woyciechowski a waltz +which, he says, was, like the Adagio of the F minor Concerto, inspired +by his ideal, Constantia Gladkowska:-- + + Pay attention to the passage marked with a +; nobody, except + you, knows of this. How happy would I be if I could play my + newest compositions to you! In the fifth bar of the trio the + bass melody up to E flat dominates, which, however, I need + not tell you, as you are sure to feel it without being told. + +The remark about the bass melody up to E flat in the trio gives us a +clue to which of Chopin's waltzes this is. It can be no other than the +one in D flat which Fontana published among his friend's posthumous +works as Op. 70, No. 3. Although by no means equal to any of the waltzes +published by Chopin himself, one may admit that it is pretty; but its +chief claim to our attention lies in the fact that it contains germs +which reappear as fully-developed flowers in other examples of this +class of the master's works--the first half of the first part reappears +in the opening (from the ninth bar onward) of Op. 42 (Waltz in A flat +major); and the third part, in the third part (without counting the +introductory bars) of Op. 34, No. 1 (Waltz in A flat major). + +On October 20, 1829, Chopin writes:--"During my visit at Prince +Radziwill's [at Antonin] I wrote an Alla Polacca. It is nothing more +than a brilliant salon piece, such as pleases ladies"; and on April 10, +1830:-- + + I shall play [at a soiree at the house of Lewicki] Hummel's + "La Sentinelle," and at the close my Polonaise with + violoncello, for which I have composed an Adagio as an + introduction. I have already rehearsed it, and it does not + sound badly. + +Prince Radziwill, the reader will remember, played the violoncello. +It was, however, not to him but to Merk that Chopin dedicated this +composition, which, before departing from Vienna to Paris, he left with +Mechetti, who eventually published it under the title of "Introduction +et Polonaise brillante pour piano et violoncelle," dediees a Mr. Joseph +Merk. On the whole we may accept Chopin's criticism of his Op. 3 as +correct. The Polonaise is nothing but a brilliant salon piece. Indeed, +there is very little in this composition--one or two pianoforte +passages, and a finesse here and there excepted--that distinguishes +it as Chopin's. The opening theme verges even dangerously to the +commonplace. More of the Chopinesque than in the Polonaise may be +discovered in the Introduction, which was less of a piece d'occasion. +What subdued the composer's individuality was no doubt the violoncello, +which, however, is well provided with grateful cantilene. + +On two occasions Chopin writes of studies. On October 20, 1829: "I have +composed a study in my own manner"; and on November 14, 1829: "I have +written some studies; in your presence I would play them well." These +studies are probably among the twelve published in the summer of 1833, +they may, however, also be among those published in the autumn of 1837. +The twelfth of the first sheaf of studies (Op. 10) Chopin composed, as +already stated, at Stuttgart, when he was under the excitement caused by +the news of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians on September 8, 1831. + +The words "I intend to write a Polonaise with orchestra," contained in a +letter dated September 18, 1830, give rise to the interesting question: +"Did Chopin realise his intention, and has the work come down to us?" I +think both questions can be answered in the affirmative. At any rate, I +hold that internal evidence seems to indicate that Op. 22, the "Grande +Polonaise brillante precedee d'un Andante spianato avec orchestre," +which was published in the summer of 1836, is the work in question. +Whether the "Andante" was composed at the same time, and what, if any, +alterations were subsequently made in the Polonaise, I do not venture to +decide. But the Polonaise has so much of Chopin's early showy virtuosic +style and so little of his later noble emotional power that my +conjecture seems reasonable. Moreover, the fact that the orchestra is +employed speaks in favour of my theory, for after the works already +discussed in the tenth chapter, and the concertos with which we shall +concern ourselves presently, Chopin did not in any other composition +(i.e., after 1830) write for the orchestra. His experiences in Warsaw, +Vienna, and Paris convinced him, no doubt, that he was not made to +contend with masses, either as an executant or as a composer. Query: Is +the Polonaise, of which Chopin says in July, 1831, that he has to leave +it to Wurfel, Op. 22 or another work? + +Two other projects of Chopin, however, seem to have remained +unrealised--a Concerto for two pianos which he intended to play in +public at Vienna with his countryman Nidecki (letter of December 21, +1830), and Variations for piano and violin on a theme of Beethoven's, to +be written conjointly by himself and Slavik (letters of December 21 +and 25, 1830). Fragments of the former of these projected works may, +however, have been used in the "Allegro de Concert," Op. 46, published +in 1842. + +In the letter of December 21, 1830, there is also an allusion to a waltz +and mazurkas just finished, but whether they are to be found among the +master's printed compositions is more than I can tell. + +The three "Ecossaises" of the year 1830, which Fontana published as Op. +72, No. 3, are the least individual of Chopin's compositions, and almost +the only dances of his which may be described as dance music pure and +simple--rhythm and melody without poetry, matter with a minimum of soul. + +The posthumous Mazurka (D major) of 1829-30 is unimportant. It contains +nothing notable, except perhaps the descending chromatic successions of +chords of the sixth. In fact, we can rejoice in its preservation only +because a comparison with a remodelling of 1832 allows us to trace a +step in Chopin's development. + +And now we come to the concertos, the history of which, as far as it +is traceable in the composer's letters, I will here place before the +reader. If I repeat in this chapter passages already quoted in previous +chapters, it is for the sake of completeness and convenience. + + October 3, 1829.--I have--perhaps to my misfortune--already + found my ideal, whom I worship faithfully and sincerely. Six + months have elapsed and I have not yet exchanged a syllable + with her of whom I dream every night. Whilst my thoughts were + with her I composed the Adagio of my Concerto. + +The Adagio here mentioned is that of the F minor Concerto, Op. 21, +which he composed before but published after the F. minor Concerto, +Op. 11--the former appearing in print in April, 1836, the latter in +September, 1833. [Footnote: The slow movements of Chopin's concertos +are marked Larglietto, the composer uses here the word Adagio +generically--i.e., in the sense of slow movement generally.] Karasowski +says mistakingly that the movement referred to is the Adagio of the E +minor Concerto. He was perhaps misled by a mistranslation of his own. In +the German version of his Chopin biography he gives the concluding words +of the above quotation as "of my new Concerto," but there is no new +in the Polish text (na ktorego pamiatke skomponowalem Adagio do mojego +Koncertu). + + October 20, 1829.--Elsner has praised the Adagio of the + Concerto. He says that there is something new in it. As to + the Rondo I do not wish yet to hear a judgment, for I am not + yet satisfied with it myself. I am curious whether I shall + finish this work when I return [from a visit to Prince + Radziwill]. + + November 14, 1829.--I received your last letter at Antonin at + Radziwill's. I was there a week; you cannot imagine how + quickly and pleasantly the time passed to me. I left by the + last coach, and had much trouble in getting away. As for me I + should have stayed till they had turned me out; but my + occupations and, above all things, my Concerto, which is + impatiently waiting for its Finale, have compelled me to take + leave of this Paradise. + +On March 17, 1830, Chopin played the F minor Concerto at the first +concert he gave in Warsaw. How it was received by the public and the +critics on this occasion and on that of a second concert has been +related in the ninth chapter (p.131). + + March 27, 1830.--I hope yet to finish before the holidays the + first Allegro of my second Concerto [i.e., the one in E + minor], and therefore I should in any case wait till after + the holidays [to give a third concert], although I am + convinced that I should have this time a still larger + audience than formerly; for the haute volee has not yet heard + me. + +On April 10, 1830, Chopin writes that his Concerto is not yet finished; +and on May 15, 1830:-- + + The Rondo for my Concerto is not yet finished, because the + right inspired mood has always beep wanting. If I have only + the Allegro and the Adagio completely finished I shall be + without anxiety about the Finale. The Adagio is in E major, + and of a romantic, calm, and partly melancholy character. It + is intended to convey the impression which one receives when + the eye rests on a beloved landscape that calls up in one's + soul beautiful memories--for instance, on a fine, moonlit + spring night. I have written violins with mutes as an + accompaniment to it. I wonder if that will have a good + effect? Well, time will show. + + August 21, 1830.--Next month I leave here; first, however, I + must rehearse my Concerto, for the Rondo is now finished. + +For an account of the rehearsals of the Concerto and its first public +performance at Chopin's third Warsaw concert on October u, 1830, the +reader is referred to the tenth chapter (p. 150). [FOOTNOTE: In the +following remarks on the concertos I shall draw freely from the critical +commentary on the Pianoforte Works of Chopin, which I contributed some +years ago (1879) to the Monthly Musical Record.] + +Chopin, says Liszt, wrote beautiful concertos and fine sonatas, but it +is not difficult to perceive in these productions "plus de volonte que +d'inspiration." As for his inspiration it was naturally "imperieuse, +fantasque, irreflechie; ses allures ne pouvaient etre que libres." +Indeed, Liszt believes that Chopin-- + + did violence to his genius every time he sought to fetter it + by rules, classifications, and an arrangement that was not + his own, and could not accord with the exigencies of his + spirit, which was one of those whose grace displays itself + when they seem to drift along [alter a la derive]....The + classical attempts of Chopin nevertheless shine by a rare + refinement of style. They contain passages of great interest, + parts of surprising grandeur. + +With Chopin writing a concerto or a sonata was an effort, and the effort +was always inadequate for the attainment of the object--a perfect work +of its kind. He lacked the peculiar qualities, natural and acquired, +requisite for a successful cultivation of the larger forms. He could +not grasp and hold the threads of thought which he found flitting in his +mind, and weave them into a strong, complex web; he snatched them up one +by one, tied them together, and either knit them into light fabrics or +merely wound them into skeins. In short, Chopin was not a thinker, not +a logician--his propositions are generally good, but his arguments +are poor and the conclusions often wanting. Liszt speaks sometimes of +Chopin's science. In doing this, however, he misapplies the word. There +was nothing scientific in Chopin's mode of production, and there is +nothing scientific in his works. Substitute "ingenious" (in the sense +of quick-witted and possessed of genius, in the sense of the German +geistreich) for "scientific," and you come near to what Liszt really +meant. If the word is applicable at all to art, it can be applicable +only to works which manifest a sustained and dominating intellectual +power, such, for instance, as a fugue of Bach's, a symphony of +Beethoven's, that is, to works radically different from those of Chopin. +Strictly speaking, the word, however, is not applicable to art, for art +and science are not coextensive; nay, to some extent, are even +inimical to each other. Indeed, to call a work of art purely and simply +"scientific," is tantamount to saying that it is dry and uninspired by +the muse. In dwelling so long on this point my object was not so much to +elucidate Liszt's meaning as Chopin's character as a composer. + +Notwithstanding their many shortcomings, the concertos may be said to be +the most satisfactory of Chopin's works in the larger forms, or at least +those that afford the greatest amount of enjoyment. In some respects the +concerto-form was more favourable than the sonata-form for the exercise +of Chopin's peculiar talent, in other respects it was less so. The +concerto-form admits of a far greater and freer display of the virtuosic +capabilities of the pianoforte than the sonata-form, and does not +necessitate the same strictness of logical structure, the same thorough +working-out of the subject-matter. But, on the other hand, it demands +aptitude in writing for the orchestra and appropriately solid material. +Now, Chopin lacked such aptitude entirely, and the nature of his +material accorded little with the size of the structure and the +orchestral frame. And, then, are not these confessions of intimate +experiences, these moonlight sentimentalities, these listless dreams, +&c., out of place in the gaslight glare of concert-rooms, crowded with +audiences brought together to a great extent rather by ennui, vanity, +and idle curiosity than by love of art? + +The concerto is the least perfect species of the sonata genus; +practical, not ideal, reasons have determined its form, which owes its +distinctive features to the calculations of the virtuoso, not to the +inspiration of the creative artist. Romanticism does not take kindly to +it. Since Beethoven the form has been often modified, more especially +the long introductory tutti omitted or cut short. Chopin, however, +adhered to the orthodox form, taking unmistakably Hummel for his model. +Indeed, Hummel's concertos were Chopin's model not only as regards +structure, but also to a certain extent as regards the character of +the several movements. In the tutti's of the first movement, and in +the general complexion of the second (the slow) and the third (Rondo) +movement, this discipleship is most apparent. But while noting the +resemblance, let us not overlook the difference. If the bones are +Hummel's (which no doubt is an exaggeration of the fact), the flesh, +blood, and soul are Chopin's. In his case adherence to the orthodox +concerto-form was so much the more regrettable as writing for the +orchestra was one of his weakest points. Indeed, Chopin's originality +is gone as soon as he writes for another instrument than the pianoforte. +The commencement of the first solo is like the opening of a beautiful +vista after a long walk through dreary scenery, and every new entry +of the orchestra precipitates you from the delectable regions of +imagination to the joyless deserts of the actual. Chopin's inaptitude in +writing for the orchestra is, however, most conspicuous where he employs +it conjointly with the pianoforte. Carl Klindworth and Carl Tausig have +rescored the concertos: the former the one in F minor, the latter the +one in E minor. Klindworth wrote his arrangement of the F minor Concerto +in 1867-1868 in London, and published it ten years later at Moscow (P. +Jurgenson).[FOOTNOTE: The title runs: "Second Concerto de Chopin, Op. +21, avec un nouvel accompagnement d'orchestre d'apres la partition +originale par Karl Klindworth. Dedie a Franz Lizt." It is now the +property of the Berlin publishers Bote and Bock.] A short quotation from +the preface will charactise his work:-- + + The principal pianoforte part has, notwithstanding the entire + remodelling of the score, been retained almost unchanged. + Only in some passages, which the orchestra, in consequence of + a richer instrumentation, accompanies with greater fulness, + the pianoforte part had, on that account, to be made more + effective by an increase of brilliance. By these divergences + from the original, from the so perfect and beautifully + effectuating [effectuirenden] pianoforte style of Chopin, + either the unnecessary doubling of the melody already + pregnantly represented by the orchestra was avoided, or--in + keeping with the now fuller harmonic support of the + accompaniment--some figurations of the solo instrument + received a more brilliant form. + +Of Tausig's labour [FOOTNOTE: "Grosses Concert in E moll. Op. 11." +Bearberet von Carl Tausig. Score, pianoforte, and orchestral parts. +Berlin: Ries and Erler.] I shall only say that his cutting-down and +patching-up of the introductory tutti, to mention only one thing, are +not well enough done to excuse the liberty taken with a great composer's +work. Moreover, your emendations cannot reach the vital fault, which +lies in the conceptions. A musician may have mastered the mechanical +trick of instrumentation, and yet his works may not be at heart +orchestral. Instrumentation ought to be more than something that at will +can be added or withheld; it ought to be the appropriate expression of +something that appertains to the thought. The fact is, Chopin could +not think for the orchestra, his thoughts took always the form of the +pianoforte language; his thinking became paralysed when he made use of +another medium of expression. Still, there have been critics who +thought differently. The Polish composer Sowinski declared without +circumlocution that Chopin "wrote admirably for the orchestra." Other +countrymen of his dwelt at greater length, and with no less enthusiasm, +on what is generally considered a weak point in the master's equipment. +A Paris correspondent of the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik (1834) remarked +a propos of the F minor Concerto that there was much delicacy in the +instrumentation. But what do the opinions of those critics, if they +deserve the name, amount to when weighed against that of the rest of the +world, nay, even against that of Berlioz alone, who held that "in the +compositions of Chopin all the interest is concentrated in the piano +part, the orchestra of his concertos is nothing but a cold and almost +useless accompaniment"? + +All this and much more may be said against Chopin's concertos, yet such +is the charm, loveliness, delicacy, elegance, and brilliancy of +the details, that one again and again forgives and forgets their +shortcomings as wholes. But now let us look at these works a little more +closely. + +The first-composed and last-published Concerto, the one in F minor, +Op. 21 (dedicated to Madame la Comtesse Delphine Potocka), opens with a +tutti of about seventy bars. When, after this, the pianoforte interrupts +the orchestra impatiently, and then takes up the first subject, it is +as if we were transported into another world and breathed a purer +atmosphere. First, there are some questions and expostulations, then the +composer unfolds a tale full of sweet melancholy in a strain of lovely, +tenderly-intertwined melody. With what inimitable grace he winds those +delicate garlands around the members of his melodic structure! How light +and airy the harmonic base on which it rests! But the contemplation of +his grief disturbs his equanimity more and more, and he begins to fret +and fume. In the second subject he seems to protest the truthfulness +and devotion of his heart, and concludes with a passage half upbraiding, +half beseeching, which is quite captivating, nay more, even bewitching +in its eloquent persuasiveness. Thus far, from the entrance of the +pianoforte, all was irreproachable. How charming if Chopin had allowed +himself to drift on the current of his fancy, and had left rules, +classifications, &c., to others! But no, he had resolved to write a +concerto, and must now put his hand to the rudder, and have done with +idle dreaming, at least for the present--unaware, alas, that the idle +dreamings of some people are worth more than their serious efforts. +Well, what is unpoetically called the working-out section--to call it +free fantasia in this instance would be mockery--reminds me of Goethe's +"Zauberlehrling," who said to himself in the absence of his master, "I +noted his words, works, and procedure, and, with strength of mind, I +also shall do wonders." How the apprentice conjured up the spirits, and +made them do his bidding; how, afterwards, he found he had forgotten the +formula with which to stop and banish them, and what were the consequent +sad results, the reader will, no doubt, remember. The customary +repetition of the first section of the movement calls for no remark. +Liszt cites the second movement (Larghetto, A flat major) of this work +as a specimen of the morceaux d'une surprenante grandeur to be found +in Chopin's concertos and sonatas, and mentions that the composer had +a marked predilection for it, delighting in frequently playing it. And +Schumann exclaims: "What are ten editorial crowns compared to one +such Adagio as that in the second concerto!" The beautiful deep-toned, +love-laden cantilena, which is profusely and exquisitely ornamented +in Chopin's characteristic style, is interrupted by a very impressive +recitative of some length, after which the cantilena is heard again. +But criticism had better be silent, and listen here attentively. And how +shall I describe the last movement (Allegro vivace F minor, 3-4)--its +feminine softness and rounded contours, its graceful, gyrating, +dance-like motions, its sprightliness and frolicsomeness? Unless I quote +every part and particle, I feel I cannot do justice to it. The exquisite +ease and grace, the subtle spirit that breathes through this movement, +defy description, and, more, defy the attempts of most performers to +reproduce the original. He who ventures to interpret Chopin ought to +have a soul strung with chords which the gentlest breath of feeling sets +in vibration, and a body of such a delicate and supple organisation as +to echo with equal readiness the music of the soul. As to the listener, +he is carried away in this movement from one lovely picture to another, +and no time is left him to reflect and make objections with reference to +the whole. + +The Concerto in E minor, Op. 11, dedicated to Mr. Fred Kalkbrenner, +shows more of volonte and less of inspiration than the one in F minor. +One can almost read in it the words of the composer, "If I have only +the Allegro and the Adagio completely finished, I shall be in no +anxiety about the Finale." The elongated form of the first movement--the +introductory tutti alone extends to 138 bars--compares disadvantageously +with the greater compactness of the corresponding movement in the F +minor Concerto, and makes still more sensible the monotony resulting +from the key-relation of the constituent parts, the tonic being the same +in both subjects. The scheme is this:--First subject in E minor, second +subject in E major, working-out section in C major, leading through +various keys to the return of the first subject in E minor and of the +second subject in G major, followed by a close in E minor. The tonic +is not relieved till the commencement of the working-out section. +The re-entrance of the second subject brings, at last, something of a +contrast. How little Chopin understood the importance or the handling of +those powerful levers, key-relation and contrast, may also be observed +in the Sonata, Op. 4, where the last movement brings the first subject +in C minor and the second in G minor. Here the composer preserves the +same mode (minor), there the same tonic, the result being nearly the +same in both instances. But, it may be asked, was not this languid +monotony which results from the employment of these means just what +Chopin intended? The only reply that can be made to this otherwise +unanswerable objection is, so much the worse for the artist's art if +he had such intentions. Chopin's description of the Adagio quoted +above--remember the beloved landscape, the beautiful memories, the +moonlit spring night, and the muted violins--hits off its character +admirably. Although Chopin himself designates the first Allegro as +"vigorous"--which in some passages, at least from the composer's +standpoint, we may admit it to be--the fundamental mood of this movement +is one closely allied to that which he says he intended to express in +the Adagio. Look at the first movement, and judge whether there are not +in it more pale moonlight reveries than fresh morning thoughts. Indeed, +the latter, if not wholly absent, are confined to the introductory +bars of the first subject and some passage-work. Still, the movement +is certainly not without beauty, although the themes appear somewhat +bloodless, and the passages are less brilliant and piquant than those in +the F minor Concerto. Exquisite softness and tenderness distinguish +the melodious parts, and Chopin's peculiar coaxing tone is heard in the +semiquaver passage marked tranquillo of the first subject. The least +palatable portion of the movement is the working-out section. The +pianoforte part therein reminds one too much of a study, without having +the beauty of Chopin's compositions thus entitled; and the orchestra +amuses itself meanwhile with reminiscences of the principal motives. +Chopin's procedure in this and similar cases is pretty much the same (F +minor Concerto, Krakowiak, &c.), and recalls to my mind--may the manes +of the composer forgive me--a malicious remark of Rellstab's. Speaking +of the introduction to the Variations, Op. 2, he says: "The composer +pretends to be going to work out the theme." It is curious, and sad +at the same time, to behold with what distinction Chopin treats the +bassoon, and how he is repaid with mocking ingratitude. But enough of +the orchestral rabble. The Adagio is very fine in its way, but such is +its cloying sweetness that one longs for something bracing and active. +This desire the composer satisfies only partially in the last movement +(Rondo vivace, 2-4, E major). Nevertheless, he succeeds in putting us +in good humour by his gaiety, pretty ways, and tricksy surprises (for +instance, the modulations from E major to E flat major, and back again +to E major). We seem, however, rather to look on the play of fantoccini +than the doings of men; in short, we feel here what we have felt more or +less strongly throughout the whole work--there is less intensity of +life and consequently less of human interest in this than in the F minor +Concerto. + +Almost all my remarks on the concertos run counter to those made by W. +von Lenz. The F minor Concerto he holds to be an uninteresting +work, immature and fragmentary in plan, and, excepting some delicate +ornamentation, without originality. Nay, he goes even so far as to say +that the passage-work is of the usual kind met with in the compositions +of Hummel and his successors, and that the cantilena in the larghetto +is in the jejune style of Hummel; the last movement also receives but +scanty and qualified praise. On the other hand, he raves about the E +minor Concerto, confining himself, however, to the first movement. The +second movement he calls a "tiresome nocturne," the Rondo "a Hummel." +A tincture of classical soberness and self-possession in the first +movement explains Lenz's admiration of this composition, but I fail to +understand the rest of his predilections and critical utterances. + +In considering these concertos one cannot help exclaiming--What a pity +that Chopin should have set so many beautiful thoughts and fancies in +such a frame and thereby marred them! They contain passages which are +not surpassed in any of his most perfect compositions, yet among them +these concertos cannot be reckoned. It is difficult to determine their +rank in concerto literature. The loveliness, brilliancy, and piquancy +of the details bribe us to overlook, and by dazzling us even prevent +us from seeing, the formal shortcomings of the whole. But be their +shortcomings ever so great and many, who would dispense with these +works? Therefore, let us be thankful, and enjoy them without much +grumbling. + +Schumann in writing of the concertos said that Chopin introduced +Beethoven spirit [Beethovenischen Geist] into the concert-room, dressing +the master's thoughts, as Hummel had done Mozart's, in brilliant, +flowing drapery; and also, that Chopin had instruction from the best, +from Beethoven, Schubert, and Field--that the first might be supposed to +have educated his mind to boldness, the second his heart to tenderness, +the third his fingers to dexterity. Although as a rule a wonderfully +acute observer, Schumann was not on this occasion very happy in the few +critical utterances which he vouchsafed in the course of the general +remarks of which his notice mainly consists. Without congeniality there +cannot be much influence, at least not in the case of so exclusive and +fastidious a nature as Chopin's. Now, what congeniality could there be +between the rugged German and the delicate Pole? All accounts agree +in that Chopin was far from being a thorough-going worshipper of +Beethoven--he objected to much in his matter and manner, and, moreover, +could not by any means boast an exhaustive acquaintance with his works. +That Chopin assimilated something of Beethoven is of course more likely +than not; but, if a fact, it is a latent one. As to Schubert, I think +Chopin knew too little of his music to be appreciably influenced by +him. At any rate, I fail to perceive how and where the influence reveals +itself. Of Field, on the other hand, traces are discoverable, and even +more distinct ones of Hummel. The idyllic serenity of the former and the +Mozartian sweetness of the latter were truly congenial to him; but no +less, if not more, so was Spohr's elegiac morbidezza. Chopin's affection +for Spohr is proved by several remarks in his letters: thus on one +occasion (October 3, 1829) he calls the master's Octet a wonderful work; +and on another occasion (September 18, 1830) he says that the Quintet +for pianoforte, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and horn (Op. 52) is a +wonderfully beautiful work, but not suitable for the pianoforte. How +the gliding cantilena in sixths and thirds of the minuet and +the serpentining chromatic passages in the last movement of the +last-mentioned work must have flattered his inmost soul! There can be no +doubt that Spohr was a composer who made a considerable impression +upon Chopin. In his music there is nothing to hurt the most fastidious +sensibility, and much to feed on for one who, like Jaques in "As you +like it", could "suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel eggs." + +Many other composers, notably the supremely-loved and +enthusiastically-admired Mozart and Bach, must have had a share in +Chopin's development; but it cannot be said that they left a striking +mark on his music, with regard to which, however, it has to be +remembered that the degree of external resemblance does not always +accurately indicate the degree of internal indebtedness. Bach's +influence on Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, and others of their +contemporaries, and its various effects on their styles, is one of the +curiosities of nineteenth century musical history; a curiosity, however, +which is fully disclosed only by subtle analysis. Field and especially +Hummel are those musicians who--more, however, as pianists than as +composers (i.e., more by their pianoforte language than by their musical +thoughts)--set the most distinct impress on Chopin's early virtuosic +style, of which we see almost the last in the concertos, where it +appears in a chastened and spiritualised form very different from the +materialism of the Fantasia (Op. 13) and the Krakowiak (Op. 14). Indeed, +we may say of this style that the germ, and much more than the germ, of +almost every one of its peculiarities is to be found in the pianoforte +works of Hummel and Field; and this statement the concertos of these +masters, more especially those of the former, and their shorter pieces, +more especially the nocturnes of the latter, bear out in its entirety. +The wide-spread broken chords, great skips, wreaths of rhythmically +unmeasured ornamental notes, simultaneous combinations of unequal +numbers of notes (five or seven against four, for instance), &c., +are all to be found in the compositions of the two above-named +pianist-composers. Chopin's style, then, was not original? Most +decidedly it was. But it is not so much new elements as the development +and the different commixture, in degree and kind, of known elements +which make an individual style--the absolutely new being, generally +speaking, insignificant compared with the acquired and evolved. The +opinion that individuality is a spontaneous generation is an error of +the same kind as that imagination has nothing to do with memory. Ex +nihilo nihil fit. Individuality should rather be regarded as a feminine +organisation which conceives and brings forth; or, better still, as +a growing thing which feeds on what is germane to it, a thing with +self-acting suctorial organs that operate whenever they come in contact +with suitable food. A nucleus is of course necessary for the development +of an individuality, and this nucleus is the physical and intellectual +constitution of the individual. Let us note in passing that the +development of the individuality of an artistic style presupposes the +development of the individuality of the man's character. But not only +natural dispositions, also acquired dexterities affect the development +of the individuality of an artistic style. Beethoven is orchestral +even in his pianoforte works. Weber rarely ceases to be operatic. Spohr +cannot help betraying the violinist, nor Schubert the song-composer. The +more Schumann got under his command the orchestral forces, the more he +impressed on them the style which he had formed previously by many years +of playing and writing for the pianoforte. Bach would have been another +Bach if he had not been an organist. Clementi was and remained all his +life a pianist. Like Clementi, so was also Chopin under the dominion +of his instrument. How the character of the man expressed itself in +the style of the artist will become evident when we examine Chopin's +masterpieces. Then will also be discussed the influence on his style of +the Polish national music. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + + +PARIS IN 1831.--LIFE IN THE STREETS.--ROMANTICISM AND +LIBERALISM.--ROMANTICISM IN LITERATURE.--CHIEF LITERARY PUBLICATIONS OF +THE TIME.--THE PICTORIAL ARTS.--MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.--CHOPIN'S OPINION +OF THE GALAXY OF SINGERS THEN PERFORMING AT THE VARIOUS OPERA-HOUSES. + + + +Chopin's sensations on plunging, after his long stay in the stagnant +pool of Vienna, into the boiling sea of Paris might have been easily +imagined, even if he had not left us a record of them. What newcomer +from a place less populous and inhabited by a less vivacious race could +help wondering at and being entertained by the vastness, variety, and +bustle that surrounded him there? + + Paris offers anything you may wish [writes Chopin]. You can + amuse yourself, mope, laugh, weep, in short, do whatever you + like; no one notices it, because thousands do the same. + Everybody goes his own way....The Parisians are a peculiar + people. When evening sets in one hears nothing but the crying + of titles of little new books, which consist of from three to + four sheets of nonsense. The boys know so well how to + recommend their wares that in the end--willing or not--one + buys one for a sou. They bear titles such as these:--"L'art + de faire, des amours, et de les conserver ensuite"; "Les + amours des pretres"; "L'Archeveque de Paris avec Madame la + duchesse de Berry"; and a thousand similar absurdities which, + however, are often very wittily written. One cannot but be + astonished at the means people here make use of to earn a few + pence. + +All this and much more may be seen in Paris every day, but in 1831 Paris +life was not an everyday life. It was then and there, if at any time and +anywhere, that the "roaring loom of Time" might be heard: a new garment +was being woven for an age that longed to throw off the wornout, +tattered, and ill-fitting one inherited from its predecessors; and +discontent and hopefulness were the impulses that set the shuttle so +busily flying hither and thither. This movement, a reaction against +the conventional formalism and barren, superficial scepticism of the +preceding age, had ever since the beginning of the century been growing +in strength and breadth. It pervaded all the departments of human +knowledge and activity--politics, philosophy, religion, literature, and +the arts. The doctrinaire school in politics and the eclectic school +in philosophy were as characteristic products of the movement as +the romantic school in poetry and art. We recognise the movement in +Lamennais' attack on religious indifference, and in the gospel of a +"New Christianity" revealed by Saint Simon and preached and developed +by Bazard and Enfantin, as well as in the teaching of Cousin, Villemain, +and Guizot, and in the works of V. Hugo, Delacroix, and others. Indeed, +unless we keep in view as far as possible all the branches into which +the broad stream divides itself, we shall not be able to understand the +movement aright either as a whole or in its parts. V. Hugo defines +the militant--i.e., negative side of romanticism as liberalism in +literature. The positive side of the liberalism of the time might, on +the other hand, not inaptly be described as romanticism in speculation +and practice. This, however, is matter rather for a history of +civilisation than for a biography of an artist. Therefore, without +further enlarging on it, I shall let Chopin depict the political aspect +of Paris in 1831 as he saw it, and then attempt myself a slight outline +sketch of the literary and artistic aspect of the French capital, which +signifies France. + +Louis Philippe had been more than a year on the throne, but the +agitation of the country was as yet far from being allayed:-- + + There is now in Paris great want and little money in + circulation. One meets many shabby individuals with wild + physiognomies, and sometimes one hears an excited, menacing + discussion on Louis Philippe, who, as well as his ministers, + hangs only by a single hair. The populace is disgusted with + the Government, and would like to overthrow it, in order to + make an end of the misery; but the Government is too well on + its guard, and the least concourse of people is at once + dispersed by the mounted police. + +Riots and attentats were still the order of the day, and no opportunity +for a demonstration was let slip by the parties hostile to the +Government. The return of General Ramorino from Poland, where he had +taken part in the insurrection, offered such an opportunity. This +adventurer, a natural son of Marshal Lannes, who began his military +career in the army of Napoleon, and, after fighting wherever fighting +was going on, ended it on the Piazza d'Armi at Turin, being condemned by +a Piedmontese court-martial to be shot for disobedience to orders, was +hardly a worthy recipient of the honours bestowed upon him during his +journey through Germany and France. But the personal merit of such +popular heroes of a day is a consideration of little moment; they are +mere counters, counters representative of ideas and transient whims. + + The enthusiasm of the populace for our general is of course + known to you [writes Chopin to his friend Woyciechowski]. + Paris would not be behind in this respect. [Footnote: The + Poles and everything Polish were at that time the rage in + Paris; thus, for instance, at one of the theatres where + dramas were generally played, they represented now the whole + history of the last Polish insurrection, and the house was + every night crammed with people who wished to see the combats + and national costumes.] The Ecole de Medecine and the jeune + France, who wear their beards and cravats according to a + certain pattern, intend to honour him with a great + demonstration. Every political party--I speak of course only + of the ultras--has its peculiar badge: the Carlists have + green waistcoats, the Republicans and Napoleonists (and these + form the jeune France) [red], [Footnote: Chopin has omitted + this word, which seems to be necessary to complete the + sentence; at least, it is neither in the Polish nor German + edition of Karasowski's book.] the Saint-Simonians who + profess a new religion, wear blue, and so forth. Nearly a + thousand of these young people marched with a tricolour + through the town in order to give Ramorino an ovation. + Although he was at home, and notwithstanding the shouting of + "Vive les Polonais!" he did not show himself, not wishing to + expose himself to any unpleasantness on the part of the + Government. His adjutant came out and said that the general + was sorry he could not receive them and begged them to return + some other day. But the next day he took other lodgings. When + some days afterwards an immense mass of people--not only young + men, but also rabble that had congregated near the + Pantheon--proceeded to the other side of the Seine to + Ramorino's house, the crowd increased like an avalanche till + it was dispersed by several charges of the mounted police who + had stationed themselves at the Pont Neuf. Although many were + wounded, new masses of people gathered on the Boulevards + under my windows in order to join those who were expected + from the other side of the Seine. The police was now + helpless, the crowd increased more and more, till at last a + body of infantry and a squadron of hussars advanced; the + commandant ordered the municipal guard and the troops to + clear the footpaths and street of the curious and riotous mob + and to arrest the ringleaders. (This is the free nation!) The + panic spread with the swiftness of lightning: the shops were + closed, the populace flocked together at all the corners of + the streets, and the orderlies who galloped through the + streets were hissed. All windows were crowded by spectators, + as on festive occasions with us at home, and the excitement + lasted from eleven o'clock in the morning till eleven o'clock + at night. I thought that the affair would have a bad end; but + towards midnight they sang "Allons enfants de la patrie!" and + went home. I am unable to describe to you the impression + which the horrid voices of this riotous, discontented mob + made upon me! Everyone was afraid that the riot would be + continued next morning, but that was not the case. Only + Grenoble has followed the example of Lyons; however, one + cannot tell what may yet come to pass in the world! + +The length and nature of Chopin's account show what a lively interest he +took in the occurrences of which he was in part an eye and ear-witness, +for he lived on the fourth story of a house (No. 27) on the Boulevard +Poissonniere, opposite the Cite Bergere, where General Ramorino lodged. +But some of his remarks show also that the interest he felt was by no +means a pleasurable one, and probably from this day dates his fear +and horror of the mob. And now we will turn from politics, a theme so +distasteful to Chopin that he did not like to hear it discussed and +could not easily be induced to take part in its discussion, to a theme +more congenial, I doubt not, to all of us. + +Literary romanticism, of which Chateaubriand and Madame de Stael were +the harbingers, owed its existence to a longing for a greater fulness of +thought, a greater intenseness of feeling, a greater appropriateness and +adequateness of expression, and, above all, a greater truth to life and +nature. It was felt that the degenerated classicists were "barren of +imagination and invention," offered in their insipid artificialities +nothing but "rhetoric, bombast, fleurs de college, and Latin-verse +poetry," clothed "borrowed ideas in trumpery imagery," and presented +themselves with a "conventional elegance and noblesse than which +there was nothing more common." On the other hand, the works of the +master-minds of England, Germany, Spain, and Italy, which were more and +more translated and read, opened new, undreamt-of vistas. The Bible, +Homer, and Shakespeare began now to be considered of all books the most +worthy to be studied. And thus it came to pass that in a short time a +most complete revolution was accomplished in literature, from abject +slavery to unlimited freedom. + + There are neither rules nor models [says V. Hugo, the leader + of the school, in the preface to his Cromwell (1827)], or + rather there are no other rules than the general laws of + nature which encompass the whole art, and the special laws + which for every composition result from the conditions of + existence peculiar to each subject. The former are eternal, + internal, and remain; the latter variable, external, and + serve only once. + +Hence theories, poetics, and systems were to be broken up, and the old +plastering which covered the fagade of art was to be pulled down. +From rules and theories the romanticists appealed to nature and truth, +without forgetting, however, that nature and art are two different +things, and that the truth of art can never be absolute reality. The +drama, for instance, must be "a concentrating mirror which, so far from +enfeebling, collects and condenses the colouring rays and transforms +a glimmer into a light, a light into a flame." To pass from form +to matter, the attention given by the romanticists to history +is particularly to be noted. Pierre Dubois, the director of the +philosophical and literary journal "Le Globe," the organ of romanticism +(1824-1832), contrasts the poverty of invention in the works of the +classicists with the inexhaustible wealth of reality, "the scenes of +disorder, of passion, of fanaticism, of hypocrisy, and of intrigue," +recorded in history. What the dramatist has to do is to perform the +miracle "of reanimating the personages who appear dead on the pages of +a chronicle, of discovering by analysis all the shades of the passions +which caused these hearts to beat, of recreating their language and +costume." It is a significant fact that Sainte-Beuve opened the campaign +of romanticism in "Le Globe" with a "Tableau de la poesie francaise +au seizieme siecle," the century of the "Pleiade," and of Rabelais and +Montaigne. It is a still more significant fact that the members of +the "Cenacle," the circle of kindred minds that gathered around Victor +Hugo--Alfred de Vigny, Emile Deschamps, Sainte-Beuve, David +d'Angers, and others--"studied and felt the real Middle Ages in their +architecture, in their chronicles, and in their picturesque vivacity." +Nor should we overlook in connection with romanticism Cousin's aesthetic +teaching, according to which, God being the source of all beauty as well +as of all truth, religion, and morality, "the highest aim of art is to +awaken in its own way the feeling of the infinite." Like all reformers +the romanticists were stronger in destruction than in construction. +Their fundamental doctrines will hardly be questioned by anyone in our +day, but the works of art which they reared on them only too often +give just cause for objection and even rejection. However, it is not +surprising that, with the physical and spiritual world, with time and +eternity at their arbitrary disposal, they made themselves sometimes +guilty of misrule. To "extract the invariable laws from the general +order of things, and the special from the subject under treatment," is +no easy matter. V. Hugo tells us that it is only for a man of genius to +undertake such a task, but he himself is an example that even a man so +gifted is fallible. In a letter written in the French capital on January +14, 1832, Mendelssohn says of the "so-called romantic school" that it +has infected all the Parisians, and that on the stage they think of +nothing but the plague, the gallows, the devil, childbeds, and the like. +Nor were the romances less extravagant than the dramas. The lyrical +poetry, too, had its defects and blemishes. But if it had laid itself +open to the blame of being "very unequal and very mixed," it also called +for the praise of being "rich, richer than any lyrical poetry France +had known up to that time." And if the romanticists, as one of them, +Sainte-Beuve, remarked, "abandoned themselves without control and +without restraint to all the instincts of their nature, and also to all +the pretensions of their pride, or even to the silly tricks of +their vanity," they had, nevertheless, the supreme merit of having +resuscitated what was extinct, and even of having created what never +existed in their language. Although a discussion of romanticism without +a characterisation of its specific and individual differences is +incomplete, I must bring this part of my remarks to a close with a few +names and dates illustrative of the literary aspect of Paris in 1831. +I may, however, inform the reader that the subject of romanticism will +give rise to further discussion in subsequent chapters. + +The most notable literary events of the year 1831 were the publication +of Victor Hugo's "Notre Dame de Paris," "Feuilles d'automne," and +"Marion Delorme"; Dumas' "Charles VII"; Balzac's "La peau de chagrin"; +Eugene Sue's "Ata Gull"; and George Sand's first novel, "Rose et +Blanche," written conjointly with Sandeau. Alfred de Musset and +Theophile Gautier made their literary debuts in 1830, the one with +"Contes d'Espagne et d'ltalie," the other with "Poesies." In the course +of the third decade of the century Lamartine had given to the world +"Meditations poetiques," "Nouvelles Meditations poetiques," and +"Harmonies poetiques et religieuses"; Victor Hugo, "Odes et Ballades," +"Les Orientales," three novels, and the dramas "Cromwell" and "Hernani"; +Dumas, "Henri III et sa Cour," and "Stockholm, Fontainebleau et Rome"; +Alfred de Vigny, "Poemes antiques et modernes" and "Cinq-Mars"; Balzac, +"Scenes de la vie privee" and "Physiologie du Mariage." Besides the +authors just named there were at this time in full activity in one +or the other department of literature, Nodier, Beranger, Merimee, +Delavigne, Scribe, Sainte-Beuve, Villemain, Cousin, Michelet, Guizot, +Thiers, and many other men and women of distinction. + +A glance at the Salon of 1831 will suffice to give us an idea of the +then state of the pictorial art in France. The pictures which attracted +the visitors most were: Delacroix's "Goddess of Liberty on the +barricades"; Delaroche's "Richelieu conveying Cinq-Mars and De Thou to +Lyons," "Mazarin on his death-bed," "The sons of Edward in the Tower," +and "Cromwell beside the coffin of diaries I."; Ary Scheffer's "Faust +and Margaret," "Leonore," "Talleyrand," "Henri IV.," and "Louis +Philippe"; Robert's "Pifferari," "Burial," and "Mowers"; Horace Vernet's +"Judith," "Capture of the Princes Conde," "Conti, and Longueville," +"Camille Desmoulins," and "Pius VIII" To enumerate only a few more of +the most important exhibitors I shall yet mention Decamps, Lessore, +Schnetz, Judin, and Isabey. The dry list will no doubt conjure up in +the minds of many of my readers vivid reproductions of the masterpieces +mentioned or suggested by the names of the artists. + +Romanticism had not invaded music to the same extent as the literary and +pictorial arts. Berlioz is the only French composer who can be called in +the fullest sense of the word a romanticist, and whose genius entitles +him to a position in his art similar to those occupied by V. Hugo and +Delacroix in literature and painting. But in 1831 his works were as yet +few in number and little known. Having in the preceding year obtained +the prix de Rome, he was absent from Paris till the latter part of 1832, +when he began to draw upon himself the attention, if not the admiration, +of the public by the concerts in which he produced his startlingly +original works. Among the foreign musicians residing in the French +capital there were many who had adopted the principles of romanticism, +but none of them was so thoroughly imbued with its spirit as +Liszt--witness his subsequent publications. But although there were +few French composers who, strictly speaking, could be designated +romanticists, it would be difficult to find among the younger men one +who had not more or less been affected by the intellectual atmosphere. + +An opera, "La Marquise de Brinvilliers," produced in 1831 at the +Opera-Comique, introduces to us no less than nine dramatic composers, +the libretto of Scribe and Castil-Blaze being set to music by Cherubini, +Auber, Batton, Berton, Boieldieu, Blangini, Carafa, Herold, and Paer. +[Footnote: Chopin makes a mistake, leaving out of account Boieldieu, +when he says in speaking of "La Marquise de Brinvilliers" that the opera +was composed by eight composers.] Cherubini, who towers above all of +them, was indeed the high-priest of the art, the grand-master of the +craft. Although the Nestor of composers, none equalled him in manly +vigour and perennial youth. When seventy-six years of age (in 1836) he +composed his fine Requiem in D minor for three-part male chorus, and +in the following year a string quartet and quintet. Of his younger +colleagues so favourable an account cannot be given. The youngest of +them, Batton, a grand prix, who wrote unsuccessful operas, then took to +the manufacturing of artificial flowers, and died as inspector at +the Conservatoire, need not detain us. Berton, Paer, Blangini, Carafa +(respectively born in 1767, 1771, 1781, and 1785), once composers who +enjoyed the public's favour, had lost or were losing their popularity at +the time we are speaking of; Rossini, Auber, and others having now +come into fashion. They present a saddening spectacle, these faded +reputations, these dethroned monarchs! What do we know of Blangini, +the "Musical Anacreon," and his twenty operas, one hundred and seventy +two-part "Notturni," thirty-four "Romances," &c.? Where are Paer's +oratorios, operas, and cantatas performed now? Attempts were made in +later years to revive some of Carafa's earlier works, but the result +was on each occasion a failure. And poor Berton? He could not bear the +public's neglect patiently, and vented his rage in two pamphlets, one of +them entitled "De la musique mecanique et de la musique philosophique," +which neither converted nor harmed anyone. Boieldieu, too, had to +deplore the failure of his last opera, "Les deux nuits" (1829), but then +his "La Dame blanche," which had appeared in 1825, and his earlier "Jean +de Paris" were still as fresh as ever. Herold had only in this year +(1831) scored his greatest success with "Zampa." As to Auber, he was at +the zenith of his fame. Among the many operas he had already composed, +there were three of his best--"Le Macon," "La Muette," and "Fra +Diavolo"--and this inimitable master of the genre sautillant had still a +long series of charming works in petto. To exhaust the list of prominent +men in the dramatic department we have to add only a few names. Of the +younger masters I shall mention Halevy, whose most successful work, +"La Juive," did not come out till 1835, and Adam, whose best opera, +"Le postilion de Longjumeau," saw the foot-lights in 1836. Of the older +masters we must not overlook Lesueur, the composer of "Les Bardes," +an opera which came out in 1812, and was admired by Napoleon. Lesueur, +distinguished as a composer of dramatic and sacred music, and a writer +on musical matters, had, however, given up all professional work with +the exception of teaching composition at the Conservatoire. In fact, +almost all the above-named old gentlemen, although out of fashion as +composers, occupied important positions in the musical commonwealth as +professors at that institution. Speaking of professors I must not +forget to mention old Reicha (born in 1770), the well-known theorist, +voluminous composer of instrumental music, and esteemed teacher of +counterpoint and composition. + +But the young generation did not always look up to these venerable men +with the reverence due to their age and merit. Chopin, for instance, +writes:-- + + Reicha I know only by sight. You can imagine how curious I am + to make his personal acquaintance. I have already seen some + of his pupils, but from them I have not obtained a favourable + opinion of their teacher. He does not love music, never + frequents the concerts of the Conservatoire, will not speak + with anyone about music, and, when he gives lessons, looks + only at his watch. Cherubini behaves in a similar manner; he + is always speaking of cholera and the revolution. These + gentlemen are mummies; one must content one's self with + respectfully lookingat them from afar, and studying their + works for instruction. + +In these remarks of Chopin the concerts of the Conservatoire are +made mention of; they were founded in 1828 by Habeneck and others +and intended for the cultivation of the symphonic works of the great +masters, more especially of Beethoven. Berlioz tells us in his Memoires, +with his usual vivacity and causticity, what impressions the works of +Beethoven made upon the old gentlemen above-named. Lesueur considered +instrumental music an inferior genre, and although the C minor Symphony +quite overwhelmed him, he gave it as his opinion that "one ought not to +write such music." Cherubini was profoundly irritated at the success of +a master who undermined his dearest theories, but he dared not discharge +the bile that was gathering within him. That, however, he had the +courage of his opinion may be gathered from what, according to +Mendelssohn, he said of Beethoven's later works: "Ca me fait eternuer." +Berton looked down with pity on the whole modern German school. +Boieldieu, who hardly knew what to think of the matter, manifested "a +childish surprise at the simplest harmonic combinations which departed +somewhat from the three chords which he had been using all his life." +Paer, a cunning Italian, was fond of letting people know that he had +known Beethoven, and of telling stories more or less unfavourable to the +great man, and flattering to the narrator. The critical young men of the +new generation were, however, not altogether fair in their judgments; +Cherubini, at least, and Boieldieu too, deserved better treatment at +their hands. + +In 1830 Auber and Rossini (who, after his last opera "Guillaume Tell," +was resting on his laurels) were the idols of the Parisians, and reigned +supreme on the operatic stage. But in 1831 Meyerbeer established himself +as a third power beside them, for it was in that year that "Robert le +Diable" was produced at the Academic Royale de Musique. Let us hear +what Chopin says of this event. Speaking of the difficulties with which +composers of operas have often to contend he remarks:-- + + Even Meyerbeer, who for ten years had been favourably known + in the musical world, waited, worked, and paid in Paris for + three years in vain before he succeeded in bringing about the + performance of his opera "Robert le Diable," which now causes + such a furore. Auber had got the start of Meyerbeer with his + works, which are very pleasing to the taste of the people, + and he did not readily make room for the foreigner at the + Grand Opera. + +And again:-- + + If there was ever a brilliant mise en scene at the Opera- + Italien, I cannot believe that it equalled that of Robert le + Diable, the new five-act opera of Meyerbeer, who has also + written "Il Crociato." "Robert" is a masterpiece of the new + school, where the devils sing through speaking-trumpets and + the dead rise from their graves, but not as in "Szarlatan" + [an opera of Kurpinski's], only from fifty to sixty persons + all at once! The stage represents the interior of a convent + ruin illuminated by the clear light of the full moon whose + rays fall on the graves of the nuns. In the last act appear + in brilliant candle-light monks with ancense, and from behind + the scene are heard the solemn tones of the organ. Meyerbeer + has made himself immortal by this work; but he had to wait + more than three years before he could get it performed. + People say that he has spent more than 20,000 francs for the + organ and other things made use of in the opera. + + [Footnote: This was the current belief at the time, which + Meyerbeer, however, declares to be false in a letter + addressed to Veron, the director of the Opera:--"L'orgue a + ete paye par vous, fourni par vous, comme toutes les choses + que reclamait la mise en scene de Robert, et je dois declarer + que loin de vous tenir au strict neccessaire, vous avez + depasse de bcaucoup les obligations ordinaires d'un directeur + envers les auteurs et le public."] + +The creative musicians having received sufficient attention, let us now +turn for a moment to the executive ones. Of the pianists we shall hear +enough in the next chapter, and therefore will pass them by for the +present. Chopin thought that there were in no town more pianists than +in Paris, nor anywhere more asses and virtuosos. Of the many excellent +virtuosos on stringed and wind-instruments only a few of the most +distinguished shall be mentioned. Baillot, the veteran violinist; +Franchomme, the young violoncellist; Brod, the oboe-player; and Tulou, +the flutist. Beriot and Lafont, although not constant residents like +these, may yet be numbered among the Parisian artists. The French +capital could boast of at least three first-rate orchestras--that of +the Conservatoire, that of the Academic Royale, and that of the +Opera-Italien. Chopin, who probably had on December 14 not yet heard the +first of these, takes no notice of it, but calls the orchestra of the +theatre Feydeau (Opera-Comique) excellent. Cherubini seems to have +thought differently, for on being asked why he did not allow his operas +to be performed at that institution, he answered:--"Je ne fais pas +donner des operas sans choeur, sans orchestre, sans chanteurs, et +sans decorations." The Opera-Comique had indeed been suffering from +bankruptcy; still, whatever its shortcomings were, it was not altogether +without good singers, in proof of which assertion may be named the tenor +Chollet, Madame Casimir, and Mdlle. Prevost. But it was at the Italian +Opera that a constellation of vocal talent was to be found such as +has perhaps at no time been equalled: Malibran-Garcia, Pasta, +Schroder-Devrient, Rubini, Lablache, and Santini. Nor had the Academic, +with Nourrit, Levasseur, Derivis, Madame Damoreau-Cinti, and Madame +Dorus, to shrink from a comparison. Imagine the treat it must have been +to be present at the concert which took place at the Italian Opera on +December 25, 1831, and the performers at which comprised artists such +as Malibran, Rubini, Lablache, Santini, Madame Raimbaux, Madame +Schroder-Devrient, Madame Casadory, Herz, and De Beriot! + +Chopin was so full of admiration for what he had heard at the three +operatic establishments that he wrote to his master Elsner:-- + + It is only here that one can learn what singing is. I believe + that not Pasta, but Malibran-Garcia is now the greatest + singer in Europe. Prince Valentin Radziwill is quite + enraptured by her, and we often wish you were here, for you + would be charmed with her singing. + +The following extracts from a letter to his friend Woyciechowski contain +some more of Chopin's criticism:-- + + As regards the opera, I must tell you that I never heard so + fine a performance as I did last week, when the "Barber of + Seville" was given at the Italian Opera, with Lablache, + Rubini, and Malibran-Garcia in the principal parts. Of + "Othello" there is likewise an excellent rendering in + prospect, further also of "L'Italiana in Algeri." Paris has + in this respect never offered so much as now. You can have no + idea of Lablache. People say that Pasta's voice has somewhat + failed, but I never heard in all my life such heavenly + singing as hers. Malibran embraces with her wonderful voice a + compass of three octaves; her singing is quite unique in its + way, enchanting! Rubini, an excellent tenor, makes endless + roulades, often too many colorature, vibrates and trills + continually, for which he is rewarded with the greatest + applause. His mezza voce is incomparable. A Schroder-Devrient + is now making her appearance, but she does not produce such a + furore here as in Germany. Signora Malibran personated + Othello, Schroder-Devrient Desdemona. Malibran is little, the + German lady taller. One thought sometimes that Desdemona was + going to strangle Othello. It was a very expensive + performance; I paid twenty-four francs for my seat, and did + so because I wished to see Malibran play the part of the + Moor, which she did not do particularly well. The orchestra + was excellent, but the mise en scene in the Italian Opera is + nothing compared with that of the French Academie + Royale...Madame Damoreau-Cinti sings also very beautifully; I + prefer her singing to that of Malibran. The latter astonishes + one, but Cinti charms. She sings the chromatic scales and + colorature almost more perfectly than the famous flute-player + Tulou plays them. It is hardly possible to find a more + finished execution. In Nourrit, the first tenor of the Grand + Opera, [Footnote: It may perhaps not be superfluous to point + out that Academie Royale (Imperial, or Nationale, as the case + may be) de Musique, or simply Academie de Musique, and Grand + Opera, or simply Opera, are different names for one and the + same thing--namely, the principal opera-house in France, the + institution whose specialties are grand opera and ballet.] + one admires the warmth of feeling which speaks out of his + singing. Chollet, the first tenor of the Opera-Comique, the + best performer of Fra Diavolo, and excellent in the operas + "Zampa" and "Fiancee," has a manner of his own in conceiving + the parts. He captivates all with his beautiful voice, and is + the favourite of the public. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + + +1831-1832. + + + +ACQUAINTANCES AND FRIENDS: CHERUBINI, BAILLOT, FRANCHOMME, LISZT, +MILLER, OSBORNE, MENDELSSOHN.--CHOPIN AND KALKBRENNER.--CHOPIN'S AIMS AS +AN ARTIST.--KALKBRENNER'S CHARACTER AS A MAN AND ARTIST.--CHOPIN'S FIRST +PARIS CONCERT.--FETIS.--CHOPIN PLAYS AT A CONCERT GIVEN BY THE PRINCE +DE LA MOSKOWA.--HIS STATE OF MIND.--LOSS OF HIS POLISH +LETTERS.--TEMPORARILY STRAITENED CIRCUMSTANCES AND BRIGHTENING +PROSPECTS.--PATRONS AND WELL-WISHERS.--THE "IDEAL."--A LETTER TO HILLER. + + + +Chopin brought only a few letters of introduction with him to Paris: +one from Dr. Malfatti to Paer, and some from others to music-publishers. +Through Paer he was made acquainted with Cherubini, Rossini, Baillot, +and Kalkbrenner. Although Chopin in one of his early Paris letters calls +Cherubini a mummy, he seems to have subsequently been more favourably +impressed by him. At any rate, Ferdinand Hiller--who may have +accompanied the new-comer, if he did not, as he thinks he did, introduce +him, which is not reconcilable with his friend's statement that Paer +made him acquainted with Cherubini--told me that Chopin conceived a +liking for the burbero maestro, of whom Mendelssohn remarked that he +composed everything with his head without the help of his heart. + + The house of Cherubini [writes Veron in his "Memoires d'un + Bourgeois de Paris"] was open to artists, amateurs, and + people of good society; and every Monday a numerous assembly + thronged his salons. All foreign artists wished to be + presented to Cherubini. During these last years one met often + at his house Hummel, Liszt, Chopin, Moscheles, Madame + Grassini, and Mademoiselle Falcon, then young and brilliant + in talent and beauty; Auber and Halevy, the favourite pupils + of the master; and Meyerbeer and Rossini. + +As evidence of the younger master's respect for the older one may +be adduced a copy made by Chopin of one of Cherubini's fugues. This +manuscript, which I saw in the possession of M. Franchomme, is a miracle +of penmanship, and surpasses in neatness and minuteness everything I +have seen of Chopin's writing, which is always microscopic. + +From Dr. Hiller I learnt also that Chopin went frequently to Baillot's +house. It is very probable that he was present at the soirees which +Mendelssohn describes with his usual charming ease in his Paris letters. +Baillot, though a man of sixty, still knew how to win the admiration of +the best musicians by his fine, expressive violin-playing. Chopin writes +in a letter to Elsner that Baillot was very amiable towards him, and +had promised to take part with him in a quintet of Beethoven's at +his concert; and in another letter Chopin calls Baillot "the rival of +Paganini." + +As far as I can learn there was not much intercourse between Chopin and +Rossini. Of Kalkbrenner I shall have presently to speak at some +length; first, however, I shall say a few words about some of the most +interesting young artists whose acquaintance Chopin made. + +One of these young artists was the famous violoncellist Franchomme, who +told me that it was Hiller who first spoke to him of the young Pole and +his unique compositions and playing. Soon after this conversation, and +not long after the new-comer's arrival in Paris, Chopin, Liszt, Hiller, +and Franchomme dined together. When the party broke up, Chopin asked +Franchomme what he was going to do. Franchomme replied he had no +particular engagement. "Then," said Chopin, "come with me and spend an +hour or two at my lodgings." "Well," was the answer of Franchomme, "but +if I do you will have to play to me." Chopin had no objection, and the +two walked off together. Franchomme thought that Chopin was at that time +staying at an hotel in the Rue Bergere. Be this as it may, the young +Pole played as he had promised, and the young Frenchman understood him +at once. This first meeting was the beginning of a life-long friendship, +a friendship such as is rarely to be met with among the fashionable +musicians of populous cities. + +Mendelssohn, who came to Paris early in December, 1831, and stayed there +till about the middle of April, 1832, associated a good deal with this +set of striving artists. The diminutive "Chopinetto," which he makes +use of in his letters to Hiller, indicates not only Chopin's delicate +constitution of body and mind and social amiability, but also +Mendelssohn's kindly feeling for him. [Footnote: Chopin is not mentioned +in any of Mendelssohn's Paris letters. But the following words may refer +to him; for although Mendelssohn did not play at Chopin's concert, there +may have been some talk of his doing so. January 14, 1832: "Next week +a Pole gives a concert; in it I have to play a piece for six performers +with Kalkbrenner, Hiller and Co." Osborne related in his "Reminiscences +of Frederick Chopin," a paper read before a meeting of the Musical +Association (April 5, 1880), that he, Chopin, Hiller, and Mendelssohn, +during the latter's stay in Paris, frequently dined together at a +restaurant. They ordered and paid the dinner in turn. One evening at +dessert they had a very animated conversation about authors and their +manuscripts. When they were ready to leave Osborne called the waiter, +but instead of asking for la note a payer, he said "Garcon, apportez-moi +votre manuscrit." This sally of the mercurial Irishman was received with +hearty laughter, Chopin especially being much tickled by the profanation +of the word so sacred to authors. From the same source we learn also +that Chopin took delight in repeating the criticisms on his performances +which he at one time or other had chanced to overhear. + +Not the least interesting and significant incident in Chopin's life was +his first meeting and early connection with Kalkbrenner, who at that +time--when Liszt and Thalberg had not yet taken possession of the +commanding positions they afterwards occupied--enjoyed the most +brilliant reputation of all the pianists then living. On December 16, +1831, Chopin writes to his friend Woyciechowski:-- + + You may easily imagine how curious I was to hear Herz and + Hiller play; they are ciphers compared with Kalkbrenner. + Honestly speaking, I play as well as Herz, but I wish I could + play as well as Kalkbrenner. If Paganini is perfect, so also + is he, but in quite another way. His repose, his enchanting + touch, the smoothness of his playing, I cannot describe to + you, one recognises the master in every note--he is a giant + who throws all other artists into the shade. When I visited + him, he begged me to play him something. What was I to do? As + I had heard Herz, I took courage, seated myself at the + instrument, and played my E minor Concerto, which charmed the + people of the Bavarian capital so much. Kalkbrenner was + astonished, and asked me if I were a pupil of Field's. He + remarked that I had the style of Cramer, but the touch of + Field. It amused me that Kalkbrenner, when he played to me, + made a mistake and did not know how to go on; but it was + wonderful to hear how he found his way again. Since this + meeting we see each other daily, either he calls on me or I + on him. He proposed to teach me for three years and make a + great artist of me. I told him that I knew very well what I + still lacked; but I will not imitate him, and three years are + too much for me. He has convinced me that I play well only + when I am in the right mood for it, but less well when this + is not the case. This cannot be said of Kalkbrenner, his + playing is always the same. When he had watched me for a long + time, he came to the conclusion that I had no method; that I + was indeed on a very good path, but might easily go astray; + and that when he ceased to play, there would no longer be a + representative of the grand pianoforte school left. I cannot + create a new school, however much I may wish to do so, + because I do not even know the old one; but I know that my + tone-poems have some individuality in them, and that I always + strive to advance. + + If you were here, you would say "Learn, young man, as long as + you have an opportunity to do so!" But many dissuade me from + taking lessons, are of opinion that I play as well as + Kalkbrenner, and that it is only vanity that makes him wish + to have me for his pupil. That is nonsense. Whoever knows + anything of music must think highly of Kalkbrenner's talent, + although he is disliked as a man because he will not + associate with everybody. But I assure you there is in him + something higher than in all the virtuosos whom I have as yet + heard. I have said this in a letter to my parents, who quite + understand it. Elsner, however, does not comprehend it, and + regards it as jealousy on Kalkbrenner's part that he not only + praises me, but also wishes that my playing were in some + respects different from what it is. In spite of all this I + may tell you confidentially that I have already a + distinguished name among the artists here. + +Elsner expressed his astonishment that Kalkbrenner should require three +years to reveal to Chopin the secrets of his art, and advised his +former pupil not to confine the exercise of his musical talent to +pianoforte-playing and the composition of pianoforte music. Chopin +replies to this in a letter written on December 14, 1831, as follows:-- + + In the beginning of last year, although I knew what I yet + lacked, and how very far I still was from equalling the model + I have in you, I nevertheless ventured to think, "I will + approach him, and if I cannot produce, a Lokietek ["the + short," surname of a king of Poland; Elsner had composed an + opera of that name], I may perhaps give to the world a + Laskonogi ["the thin-legged," surname of another king of + Poland]." To-day all such hopes are annihilated; I am forced + to think of making my way in the world as a pianist. For some + time I must keep in the background the higher artistic aim of + which you wrote to me. In order to be a great composer one + must possess, in addition to creative power, experience and + the faculty of self-criticism, which, as you have taught me, + one obtains not only by listening to the works of others, but + still more by means of a careful critical examination of + one's own. + +After describing the difficulties which lie in the way of the opera +composer, he proceeds:-- + + It is my conviction that he is the happier man who is able to + execute his compositions himself. I am known here and there + in Germany as a pianist; several musical journals have spoken + highly of my concerts, and expressed the hope of seeing me + soon take a prominent position among the first pianoforte- + virtuosos. I had to-day anopportunity or fulfilling the + promise I had made to myself. Why should I not embrace it?... + I should not like to learn pianoforte-playing in Germany, for + there no one could tell me precisely what it was that I + lacked. I, too, have not seen the beam in my eye. Three + years' study is far too much. Kalkbrenner, when he had heard + me repeatedly, came to see that himself. From this you may + see that a true meritorious virtuoso does not know the + feeling of envy. I would certainly make up my mind to study + for three years longer if I were certain that I should then + reach the aim which I have kept in view. So much is clear to + me, I shall never become a copy of Kalkbrenner; he will not + be able to break my perhaps bold but noble resolve--TO CREATE + A NEW ART-ERA. If I now continue my studies, I do so only in + order to stand at some future time on my own feet. It was not + difficult for Ries, who was then already recognised as a + celebrated pianist, to win laurels at Berlin, Frankfort-on- + the-Main, Dresden, &c., by his opera Die Rauberbraut. And how + long was Spohr known as an excellent violinist before he had + written Faust, Jessonda, and other works? I hope you will not + deny me your blessing when you see on what grounds and with + what intentions I struggle onwards. + +This is one of the most important letters we have of Chopin; it brings +before us, not the sighing lover, the sentimental friend, but the +courageous artist. On no other occasion did he write so freely and fully +of his views and aims. What heroic self-confidence, noble resolves, vast +projects, flattering dreams! And how sad to think that most of them were +doomed to end in failure and disappointment! But few are the lives of +true artists that can really be called happy! Even the most successful +have, in view of the ideally conceived, to deplore the quantitative and +qualitative shortcomings of the actually accomplished. But to return to +Kalkbrenner. Of him Chopin said truly that he was not a popular man; at +any rate, he was not a popular man with the romanticists. Hiller tells +us in his "Recollections and Letters of Mendelssohn" how little grateful +he and his friends, Mendelssohn included, were for Kalkbrenner's +civilities, and what a wicked pleasure they took in worrying him. +Sitting one day in front of a cafe on the Boulevard des Italiens, +Hiller, Liszt, and Chopin saw the prim master advancing, and knowing +how disagreeable it would be to him to meet such a noisy company, they +surrounded him in the friendliest manner, and assailed him with such a +volley of talk that he was nearly driven to despair, which, adds +Hiller, "of course delighted us." It must be confessed that the great +Kalkbrenner, as M. Marmontel in his "Pianistes celebres" remarks, had +"certaines etroitesses de caractere," and these "narrownesses" were of +a kind that particularly provokes the ridicule of unconventional and +irreverent minds. Heine is never more biting than when he speaks of +Kalkbrenner. He calls him a mummy, and describes him as being dead long +ago and having lately also married. This, however, was some years after +the time we are speaking of. On another occasion Heine writes that +Kalkbrenner is envied + + for his elegant manners, for his polish and sweetishness, and + for his whole marchpane-like appearance, in which, however, + ihe calm observer discovers a shabby admixture of involuntary + Berlinisms of the lowest class, so that Koreff could say of + the man as wittily as correctly: "He looks like a bon-bon + that has been in the mud." + +A thorough belief in and an unlimited admiration of himself form the +centre of gravity upon which the other qualities of Kalkbrenner's +character balance themselves. He prided himself on being the pattern of +a fine gentleman, and took upon him to teach even his oldest friends +how to conduct themselves in society and at table. In his gait he was +dignified, in his manners ceremonious, and in his speech excessively +polite. He was addicted to boasting of honours offered him by the +King, and of his intimacy with the highest aristocracy. That he did not +despise popularity with the lower strata of society is evidenced by the +anecdote (which the virtuoso is credited with having told himself to his +guests) of the fish-wife who, on reading his card, timidly asks him to +accept as a homage to the great Kalkbrenner a splendid fish which he had +selected for his table. The artist was the counterpart of the man. He +considered every success as by right his due, and recognised merit only +in those who were formed on his method or at least acknowledged its +superiority. His artistic style was a chastened reflex of his social +demeanour. + +It is difficult to understand how the Kalkbrenner-Chopin affair could +be so often misrepresented, especially since we are in possession of +Chopin's clear statements of the facts. [FOOTNOTE: Statements which +are by no means invalidated by the following statement of Lenz:--"On my +asking Chopin 'whether Kalkbrenner had understood much about it' [i.e. +the art of pianoforte-playing], followed the answer: 'It was at the +beginning of my stay in Paris.'"]. There are no grounds whatever to +justify the assumption that Kalkbrenner was actuated by jealousy, +artfulness, or the like, when he proposed that the wonderfully-gifted +and developed Chopin should become his pupil for three years. His +conceit of himself and his method account fully for the strangeness +of the proposal. Moreover, three years was the regulation time of +Kalkbrenner's course, and it was much that he was willing to shorten +it in the case of Chopin. Karasowski, speaking as if he had the gift +of reading the inmost thoughts of men, remarks: "Chopin did not suspect +what was passing in Kalkbrenner's mind when he was playing to him." +After all, I should like to ask, is there anything surprising in the +fact that the admired virtuoso and author of a "Methode pour apprendre +le Piano a l'aide du Guide-mains; contenant les principes de musique; +un systems complet de doigter; des regles sur l'expression," &c., +found fault with Chopin's strange fingering and unconventional style? +Kalkbrenner could not imagine anything superior to his own method, +anything finer than his own style. And this inability to admit the +meritoriousness or even the legitimacy of anything that differed +from what he was accustomed to, was not at all peculiar to this great +pianist; we see it every day in men greatly his inferiors. Kalkbrenner's +lament that when he ceased to play there would be no representative left +of the grand pianoforte school ought to call forth our sympathy. +Surely we cannot blame him for wishing to perpetuate what he held to be +unsurpassable! According to Hiller, Chopin went a few times to the class +of advanced pupils which Kalkbrenner had advised him to attend, as he +wished to see what the thing was like. Mendelssohn, who had a great +opinion of Chopin and the reverse of Kalkbrenner, was furious when +he heard of this. But were Chopin's friends correct in saying that he +played better than Kalkbrenner, and could learn nothing from him? That +Chopin played better than Kalkbrenner was no doubt true, if we consider +the emotional and intellectual qualities of their playing. But I think +it was not correct to say that Chopin could learn nothing from the +older master. Chopin was not only a better judge of Kalkbrenner than his +friends, who had only sharp eyes for his short-comings, and overlooked +or undervalued his good qualities, but he was also a better judge of +himself and his own requirements. He had an ideal in his mind, and he +thought that Kalkbrenner's teaching would help him to realise it. Then +there is also this to be considered: unconnected with any school, at +no time guided by a great master of the instrument, and left to his own +devices at a very early age, Chopin found himself, as it were, floating +free in the air without a base to stand on, without a pillar to lean +against. The consequent feeling of isolation inspires at times even +the strongest and most independent self-taught man--and Chopin, as a +pianist, may almost be called one--with distrust in the adequacy of his +self-acquired attainments, and an exaggerated idea of the advantages of +a school education. "I cannot create a new school, because I do not even +know the old one." This may or may not be bad reasoning, but it shows +the attitude of Chopin's mind. It is also possible that he may have +felt the inadequacy and inappropriateness of his technique and style for +other than his own compositions. And many facts in the history of his +career as an executant would seem to confirm the correctness of such a +feeling. At any rate, after what we have read we cannot attribute his +intention of studying under Kalkbrenner to undue self-depreciation. For +did he not consider his own playing as good as that of Herz, and feel +that he had in him the stuff to found a new era in music? But what +was it then that attracted him to Kalkbrenner, and made him exalt this +pianist above all the pianists he had heard? If the reader will recall +to mind what I said in speaking of Mdlles. Sontag and Belleville of +Chopin's love of beauty of tone, elegance, and neatness, he cannot be +surprised at the young pianist's estimate of the virtuoso of whom +Riehl says: "The essence of his nature was what the philologists call +elegantia--he spoke the purest Ciceronian Latin on the piano." As a +knowledge of Kalkbrenner's artistic personality will help to further +our acquaintance with Chopin, and as our knowledge of it is for the +most part derived from the libels and caricatures of well-intentioned +critics, who in their zeal for a nobler and more glorious art overshoot +the mark of truth, it will be worth our while to make inquiries +regarding it. + +Kalkbrenner may not inaptly be called the Delille of pianist-composers, +for his nature and fate remind us somewhat of the poet. As to his works, +although none of them possessed stamina enough to be long-lived, they +would have insured him a fairer reputation if he had not published so +many that were written merely for the market. Even Schumann confessed +to having in his younger days heard and played Kalkbrenner's music often +and with pleasure, and at a maturer age continued to acknowledge not +only the master's natural virtuoso amiability and clever manner of +writing effectively for fingers and hands, but also the genuinely +musical qualities of his better works, of which he held the Concerto in +D minor to be the "bloom," and remarks that it shows the "bright sides" +of Kalkbrenner's "pleasing talent." We are, however, here more concerned +with the pianist than with the composer. One of the best sketches of +Kalkbrenner as a pianist is to be found in a passage which I shall +presently quote from M. Marmontel's collection of "Silhouettes et +Medaillons" of "Les Pianistes celebres." The sketch is valuable on +account of its being written by one who is himself a master, one who +does not speak from mere hearsay, and who, whilst regarding Kalkbrenner +as an exceptional virtuoso, the continuator of Clementi, the +founder ("one of the founders" would be more correct) of modern +pianoforte-playing, and approving of the leading principle of his +method, which aims at the perfect independence of the fingers and their +preponderant action, does not hesitate to blame the exclusion of the +action of the wrist, forearm, and arm, of which the executant should +not deprive himself "dans les accents de legerete, d'expression et de +force." But here is what M. Marmontel says:-- + + The pianoforte assumed under his fingers a marvellous and + never harsh sonorousness, for he did not seek forced effects. + His playing, smooth, sustained, harmonious, and of a perfect + evenness, charmed even more than it astonished; moreover, a + faultless neatness in the most difficult passages, and a left + hand of unparalleled bravura, made Kalkbrenner an + extraordinary virtuoso. Let us add that the perfect + independence of the fingers, the absence of the in our day so + frequent movements of the arms, the tranquillity of the hands + and body, a perfect bearing--all these qualities combined, + and many others which we forget, left the auditor free to + enjoy the pleasure of listening without having his attention + diverted by fatiguing gymnastics. Kalkbrenner's manner of + phrasing was somewhat lacking in expression and communicative + warmth, but the style was always noble, true, and of the + grand school. + +We now know what Chopin meant when he described Kalkbrenner as "perfect +and possessed of something that raised him above all other virtuosos"; +we now know also that Chopin's admiration was characteristic and not +misplaced. Nevertheless, nobody will think for a moment of disagreeing +with those who advised Chopin not to become a pupil of this master, who +always exacted absolute submission to his precepts; for it was to +be feared that he would pay too dear for the gain of inferior +accomplishments with the loss of his invaluable originality. But, as +we have seen, the affair came to nothing, Chopin ceasing to attend the +classes after a few visits. What no doubt influenced his final decision +more than the advice of his friends was the success which his playing +and compositions met with at the concert of which I have now to tell the +history. Chopin's desertion as a pupil did not terminate the friendly +relation that existed between the two artists. When Chopin published +his E minor Concerto he dedicated it to Kalkbrenner, and the latter soon +after composed "Variations brillantes (Op. 120) pour le piano sur une +Mazourka de Chopin," and often improvised on his young brother-artist's +mazurkas. Chopin's friendship with Camille Pleyel helped no doubt to +keep up his intercourse with Kalkbrenner, who was a partner of the firm +of Pleyel & Co. + +The arrangements for his concert gave Chopin much trouble, and had they +not been taken in hand by Paer, Kalkbrenner, and especially Norblin, he +would not have been able to do anything in Paris, where one required at +least two months to get up a concert. This is what Chopin tells Elsner +in the letter dated December 14, 1831. Notwithstanding such powerful +assistance he did not succeed in giving his concert on the 25th of +December, as he at first intended. The difficulty was to find a lady +vocalist. Rossini, the director of the Italian Opera, was willing to +help him, but Robert, the second director, refused to give permission +to any of the singers in his company to perform at the concert, fearing +that, if he did so once, there would be no end of applications. As +Veron, the director of the Academie Royale likewise refused Chopin's +request, the concert had to be put off till the 15th of January, 1832, +when, however, on account of Kalkbrenner's illness or for some other +reason, it had again to be postponed. At last it came off on February +26, 1832. Chopin writes on December 16, 1831, about the arrangements for +the concert:-- + + Baillot, the rival of Paganini, and Brod, the celebrated oboe- + player, will assist me with their talent. I intend to play my + F minor Concerto and the Variations in B flat...I shall play + not only the concerto and the variations, but also with + Kalkbrenner his duet "Marche suivie d'une Polonaise" for two + pianos, with the accompaniment of four others. Is this not an + altogether mad idea? One of the grand pianos is very large, + and is for Kalkbrenner; the other is small (a so-called mono- + chord), and is for me. On the other large ones, which are as + loud as an orchestra, Hiller, Osborne, Stamati, and Sowinski + are to play. Besides these performers, Norblin, Vidal, and + the celebrated viola-player Urban will take part in the + concert. + +The singers of the evening were Mdlles. Isambert and Tomeoni, and +M. Boulanger. I have not been able to discover the programme of the +concert. Hiller says that Chopin played his E minor Concerto and some +of his mazurkas and nocturnes. Fetis, in the Revue musicale (March +3, 1832), mentions only in a general way that there were performed a +concerto by Chopin, a composition for six pianos by Kalkbrenner, some +vocal pieces, an oboe solo, and "a quintet for violin [sic], executed +with that energy of feeling and that variety of inspiration which +distinguish the talent of M. Baillot." The concert, which took place in +Pleyel's rooms, was financially a failure; the receipts did not cover +the expenses. The audience consisted chiefly of Poles, and most of +the French present had free tickets. Hiller says that all the musical +celebrities of Paris were there, and that Chopin's performances took +everybody by storm. "After this," he adds, "nothing more was heard +of want of technique, and Mendelssohn applauded triumphantly." Fetis +describes this soiree musicale as one of the most pleasant that had been +given that year. His criticism contains such interesting and, on the +whole, such excellent remarks that I cannot resist the temptation to +quote the more remarkable passages:-- + + Here is a young man who, abandoning himself to his natural + impressions and without taking a model, has found, if not a + complete renewal of pianoforte music, at least a part of what + has been sought in vain for a long time--namely, an abundance + of original ideas of which the type is to be found nowhere. + We do not mean by this that M. Chopin is endowed with a + powerful organisation like that of Beethoven, nor that there + are in his music such powerful conceptions as one remarks in + that of this great man. Beethoven has composed pianoforte + music, but I speak here of pianists' music, and it is by + comparison with the latter that I find in M. Chopin's + inspirations the indication of a renewal of forms which may + exercise in time much influence over this department of the + art. + +Of Chopin's concerto Fetis remarks that it:-- + + equally astonished and surprised his audience, as much by the + novelty of the melodic ideas as by the figures, modulations, + and general disposition of the movements. There is soul in + these melodies, fancy in these figures, and originality in + everything. Too much luxuriance in the modulations, disorder + in the linking of the phrases, so that one seems sometimes to + hear an improvisation rather than written music, these are + the defects which are mixed with the qualities I have just + now pointed out. But these defects belong to the age of the + artist; they will disappear when experience comes. If the + subsequent works of M. Chopin correspond to his debut, there + can be no doubt but that he will acquire a brilliant and + merited reputation. + + As an executant also the young artist deserves praise. His + playing is elegant, easy, graceful, and possesses brilliance + and neatness. He brings little tone out of the instrument, + and resembles in this respect the majority of German + pianists. But the study which he is making of this part of + his art, under the direction of M. Kalkbrenner, cannot fail + to give him an important quality on which the nerf of + execution depends, and without which the accents of the + instrument cannot be modified. + +Of course dissentient voices made themselves heard who objected to this +and that; but an overwhelming majority, to which belonged the young +artists, pronounced in favour of Chopin. Liszt says that he remembers +his friend's debut:-- + + The most vigorous applause seemed not to suffice to our + enthusiasm in the presence of this talented musician, who + revealed a new phase of poetic sentiment combined with such + happy innovations in the form of his art. + +The concluding remark of the above-quoted criticism furnishes an +additional proof that Chopin went for some time to Kalkbrenner's class. +As Fetis and Chopin were acquainted with each other, we may suppose that +the former was well informed on this point. In passing, we may take +note of Chopin's account of the famous historian and theorist's early +struggles:-- + + Fetis [Chopin writes on December 14, 1831], whom I know, and + from whom one can learn much, lives outside the town, and + comes to Paris only to give his lessons. They say he is + obliged to do this because his debts are greater than the + profits from his "Revue musicale." He is sometimes in danger + of making intimate acquaintance with the debtors' prison. You + must know that according to the law of the country a debtor + can only be arrested in his dwelling. Fetis has, therefore, + left the town and lives in the neighbourhood of Paris, nobody + knows where. + +On May 20, 1832, less than three months after his first concert, Chopin +made his second public appearance in Paris, at a concert given by +the Prince de la Moskowa for the benefit of the poor. Among the works +performed was a mass composed by the Prince. Chopin played the first +movement of:-- + + the concerto, which had already been heard at Pleyel's rooms, + and had there obtained a brilliant success. On this occasion + it was not so well received, a fact which, no doubt, must be + attributed to the instrumentation, which is lacking in + lightness, and to the small volume of tone which M. Chopin + draws from the piano. However, it appears to us that the + music of this artist will gain in the public opinion when it + becomes better known. [FOOTNOTE: From the "Revue musicale."] + +The great attraction of the evening was not Chopin, but Brod, who +"enraptured" the audience. Indeed, there were few virtuosos who were +as great favourites as this oboe-player; his name was absent from the +programme of hardly any concert of note. + +In passing we will note some other musical events of interest which +occurred about the same time that Chopin made his debut. On March 18 +Mendelssohn played Beethoven's G major Concerto with great success +at one of the Conservatoire concerts, [FOOTNOTE: It was the first +performance of this work in Paris.] the younger master's overture to the +"Midsummer Night's Dream" had been heard and well received at the same +institution in the preceding month, and somewhat later his "Reformation +Symphony" was rehearsed, but laid aside. In the middle of March +Paganini, who had lately arrived, gave the first of a series of +concerts, with what success it is unnecessary to say. Of Chopin's +intercourse with Zimmermann, the distinguished pianoforte-professor at +the Conservatoire, and his family we learn from M. Marmontel, who was +introduced to Chopin and Liszt, and heard them play in 1832 at one of +his master's brilliant musical fetes, and gives a charming description +of the more social and intimate parties at which Chopin seems to have +been occasionally present. + + Madame Zimmermann and her daughters did the honours to a + great number of artists. Charades were acted; the forfeits + that were given, and the rebuses that were not guessed, had + to be redeemed by penances varying according to the nature of + the guilty ones. Gautier, Dumas, and Musset were condemned to + recite their last poem. Liszt or Chopin had to improvise on a + given theme, Mesdames Viardot, Falcon, and Euggnie Garcia had + also to discharge their melodic debts, and I myself remember + having paid many a forfeit. + +The preceding chapter and the foregoing part of this chapter set forth +the most important facts of Chopin's social and artistic life in his +early Paris days. The following extract from a letter of his to Titus +Woyciechowski, dated December 25, 1831, reveals to us something of his +inward life, the gloom of which contrasts violently with the outward +brightness:-- + + Ah, how I should like to have you beside me!... You cannot + imagine how sad it is to have nobody to whom I can open my + troubled heart. You know how easily I make acquaintances, how + I love human society--such acquaintances I make in great + numbers--but with no one, no one can I sigh. My heart beats + as it were always "in syncopes," therefore I torment myself + and seek for a rest--for solitude, so that the whole day + nobody may look at me and speak to me. It is too annoying to + me when there is a pull at the bell, and a tedious visit is + announced while I am writing to you. At the moment when I was + going to describe to you the ball, at which a divine being + with a rose in her black hair enchanted me, arrives your + letter. All the romances of my brain disappear? my thoughts + carry me to you, I take your hand and weep...When shall we + see each other again?...Perhaps never, because, seriously, my + health is very bad. I appear indeed merry, especially when I + am among my fellow-countrymen; but inwardly something + torments me--a gloomy presentiment, unrest, bad dreams, + sleeplessness, yearning, indifference to everything, to the + desire to live and the desire to die. It seems to me often as + if my mind were benumbed, I feel a heavenly repose in my + heart, in my thoughts I see images from which I cannot tear + myself away, and this tortures me beyond all measure. In + short, it is a combination of feelings that are difficult to + describe...Pardon me, dear Titus, for telling you of all + this; but now I have said enough...I will dress now and go, + or rather drive, to the dinner which our countrymen give to- + day to Ramorino and Langermann...Your letter contained much + that was news to me; you have written me four pages and + thirty-seven lines--in all my life you have never been so + liberal to me, and I stood in need of something of the kind, + I stood indeed very much in need of it. + + What you write about my artistic career is very true, and I + myself am convinced of it. + + I drive in my own equipage, only the coachman is hired. + + I shall close, because otherwise I should be too late for the + post, for I am everything in one person, master and servant. + Take pity on me and write as often as possible!--Yours unto + death, + + FREDERICK. + +In the postscript of this letter Chopin's light fancy gets the better of +his heavy heart; in it all is fun and gaiety. First he tells his friend +of a pretty neighbour whose husband is out all day and who often invites +him to visit and comfort her. But the blandishments of the fair one were +of no avail; he had no taste for adventures, and, moreover, was afraid +to be caught and beaten by the said husband. A second love-story is told +at greater length. The dramatis personae are Chopin, John Peter Pixis, +and Francilla Pixis, a beautiful girl of sixteen, a German orphan whom +the pianist-composer, then a man of about forty-three, had adopted, and +who afterwards became known as a much-admired singer. Chopin made their +acquaintance in Stuttgart, and remarks that Pixis said that he intended +to marry her. On his return to Paris Pixis invited Chopin to visit him; +the latter, who had by this time forgotten pretty Francilla, was in no +hurry to call. What follows must be given in Chopin's own words:-- + + Eight days after the second invitation I went to his house, + and accidentally met his pet on the stairs. She invited me to + come in, assuring me it did not matter that Mr. Pixis was not + at home; meanwhile I was to sit down, he would return soon, + and so on. A strange embarrassment seized both of us. I made + my excuses--for I knew the old man was very jealous--and said + I would rather return another time. While we were talking + familiarly and innocently on the staircase, Pixis came up, + looking over his spectacles in order to see who was speaking + above to his bella. He may not have recognised us at once, + quickened his steps, stopped before us, and said to her + harshly: "Qu'est-ce que vous faites ici?" and gave her a + severe lecture for receiving young men in his absence, and so + on. I addressed Pixis smilingly, and said to her that it was + somewhat imprudent to leave the room in so thin a silk dress. + At last the old man became calm--he took me by the arm and + led me into the drawing-room. He was in such a state of + excitement that he did not know what seat to offer me; for he + was afraid that, if he had offended me, I would make better + use of his absence another time. When I left he accompanied + me down stairs, and seeing me smile (for I could not help + doing so when I found I was thought capable of such a thing), + he went to the concierge and asked how long it was since I + had come. The concierge must have calmed his fears, for since + that time Pixis does not know how to praise my talent + sufficiently to all his acquaintances. What do you think of + this? I, a dangerous seducteur! + +The letters which Chopin wrote to his parents from Paris passed, after +his mother's death, into the hands of his sister, who preserved them +till September 19, 1863. On that day the house in which she lived in +Warsaw--a shot having been fired and some bombs thrown from an upper +story of it when General Berg and his escort were passing--was sacked by +Russian soldiers, who burned or otherwise destroyed all they could lay +hands on, among the rest Chopin's letters, his portrait by Ary Scheffer, +the Buchholtz piano on which he had made his first studies, and other +relics. We have now also exhausted, at least very nearly exhausted, +Chopin's extant correspondence with his most intimate Polish friends, +Matuszynski and Woyciechowski, only two unimportant letters written in +1849 and addressed to the latter remaining yet to be mentioned. That the +confidential correspondence begins to fail us at this period (the last +letter is of December 25, 1831) is particularly inopportune; a series of +letters like those he wrote from Vienna would have furnished us with +the materials for a thoroughly trustworthy history of his settlement +in Paris, over which now hangs a mythical haze. Karasowski, who saw the +lost letters, says they were tinged with melancholy. + +Besides the thought of his unhappy country, a thought constantly kept +alive by the Polish refugees with whom Paris was swarming, Chopin +had another more prosaic but not less potent cause of disquietude and +sadness. His pecuniary circumstances were by no means brilliant. Economy +cannot fill a slender purse, still less can a badly-attended concert do +so, and Chopin was loath to be a burden on his parents who, although in +easy circumstances, were not wealthy, and whose income must have been +considerably lessened by some of the consequences of the insurrection, +such as the closing of schools, general scarcity of money, and so forth. +Nor was Paris in 1831, when people were so busy with politics, El Dorado +for musicians. Of the latter, Mendelssohn wrote at the time that they +did not, like other people, wrangle about politics, but lamented over +them. "One has lost his place, another his title, and a third his money, +and they say this all proceeds from the 'juste milieu.'" As Chopin saw +no prospect of success in Paris he began to think, like others of his +countrymen, of going to America. His parents, however, were against this +project, and advised him either to stay where he was and wait for better +things, or to return to Warsaw. Although he might fear annoyances from +the Russian government on account of his not renewing his passport +before the expiration of the time for which it was granted, he chose +the latter alternative. Destiny, however, had decided the matter +otherwise.[FOOTNOTE: Karasowski says that Liszt, Hiller, and Sowinski +dissuaded him from leaving Paris. Liszt and Hiller both told me, and +so did also Franchomme, that they knew nothing of Chopin having had any +such intention; and Sowinski does not mention the circumstance in his +Musiciens polonais.] One day, or, as some will have it, on the very day +when he was preparing for his departure, Chopin met in the street Prince +Valentine Radziwill, and, in the course of the conversation which the +latter opened, informed him of his intention of leaving Paris. The +Prince, thinking, no doubt, of the responsibility he would incur by +doing so, did not attempt to dissuade him, but engaged the artist to go +with him in the evening to Rothschild's. Chopin, who of course was asked +by the hostess to play something, charmed by his wonderful performance, +and no doubt also by his refined manners, the brilliant company +assembled there to such a degree that he carried off not only a +plentiful harvest of praise and compliments, but also some offers of +pupils. Supposing the story to be true, we could easily believe that +this soiree was the turning-point in Chopin's career, but nevertheless +might hesitate to assert that it changed his position "as if by +enchantment." I said "supposing the story to be true," because, although +it has been reported that Chopin was fond of alluding to this incident, +his best friends seem to know nothing of it: Liszt does not mention +it, Hiller and Franchomme told me they never heard of it, and +notwithstanding Karasowski's contrary statement there is nothing to be +found about it in Sowinski's Musiciens polonais. Still, the story may +have a substratum of truth, to arrive at which it has only to be shorn +of its poetical accessories and exaggerations, of which, however, there +is little in my version. + +But to whatever extent, or whether to any extent at all, this or any +similar soiree may have served Chopin as a favourable introduction to +a wider circle of admirers and patrons, and as a stepping-stone to +success, his indebtedness to his countrymen, who from the very first +befriended and encouraged him, ought not to be forgotten or passed over +in silence for the sake of giving point to a pretty anecdote. The great +majority of the Polish refugees then living in Paris would of course +rather require than be able to afford help and furtherance, but there +was also a not inconsiderable minority of persons of noble birth and +great wealth whose patronage and influence could not but be of immense +advantage to a struggling artist. According to Liszt, Chopin was on +intimate terms with the inmates of the Hotel Lambert, where old Prince +Adam Czartoryski and his wife and daughter gathered around them "les +debris de la Pologne que la derniere guerre avait jetes au loin." Of the +family of Count Plater and other compatriots with whom the composer had +friendly intercourse we shall speak farther on. Chopin's friends were +not remiss in exerting themselves to procure him pupils and good fees at +the same time. They told all inquirers that he gave no lesson for less +than twenty francs, although he had expressed his willingness to be at +first satisfied with more modest terms. Chopin had neither to wait in +vain nor to wait long, for in about a year's time he could boast of a +goodly number of pupils. + +The reader must have noticed with surprise the absence of any mention of +the "Ideal" from Chopin's letters to his friend Titus Woyciechowski, +to whom the love-sick artist was wont to write so voluminously on this +theme. How is this strange silence to be accounted for? Surely this +passionate lover could not have forgotten her beneath whose feet he +wished his ashes to be spread after his death? But perhaps in the end +of 1831 he had already learnt what was going to happen in the following +year. The sad fact has to be told: inconstant Constantia Gladkowska +married a merchant of the name of Joseph Grabowski, at Warsaw, in +1832; this at least is the information given in Sowinski's biographical +dictionary Les musiciens polonais et slaves.[FOOTNOTE: According to +Count Wodzinski she married a country gentleman, and subsequently became +blind.] As the circumstances of the case and the motives of the parties +are unknown to me, and as a biographer ought not to take the same +liberties as a novelist, I shall neither expatiate on the fickleness +and mercenariness of woman, nor attempt to describe the feelings of our +unfortunate hero robbed of his ideal, but leave the reader to make his +own reflections and draw his own moral. + +On August 2, 1832, Chopin wrote a letter to Hiller, who had gone in +the spring of the year to Germany. What the young Pole thought of this +German brother-artist may be gathered from some remarks of his in the +letter to Titus Woyciechowski dated December 16, 1831:-- + + The concert of the good Hiller, who is a pupil of Hummel and + a youth of great talent, came off very successfully the day + before yesterday. A symphony of his was received with much + applause. He has taken Beethoven for his model, and his work + is full of poesy and inspiration. + +Since then the two had become more intimate, seeing each other almost +every day, Chopin, as Osborne relates, being always in good spirits when +Hiller was with him. The bearer of the said letter was Mr. Johns, to +whom the five Mazurkas, Op. 7, are dedicated, and whom Chopin introduced +to Hiller as "a distinguished amateur of New Orleans." After warmly +recommending this gentleman, he excuses himself for not having +acknowledged the receipt of his friend's letter, which procured him the +pleasure of Paul Mendelssohn's acquaintance, and then proceeds:-- + + Your trios, my dear friend, have been finished for a long + time, and, true to my character of a glutton, I have gulped + down your manuscripts into my repertoire. Your concerto will + be performed this month by Adam's pupils at the examination + of the Conservatoire. Mdlle. Lyon plays it very well. La + Tentation, an opera-ballet by Halevy and Gide, has not + tempted any one of good taste, because it has just as little + interest as your German Diet harmony with the spirit of the + age. Maurice, who has returned from London, whither he had + gone for the mise en scene of Robert (which has not had a + very great success), has assured us that Moscheles and Field + will come to Paris for the winter. This is all the news I + have to give you. Osborne has been in London for the last two + months. Pixis is at Boulogne. Kalkbrenner is at Meudon, + Rossini at Bordeaux. All who know you await you with open + arms. Liszt will add a few words below. Farewell, dear + friend. + + Yours most truly, + + F. CHOPIN. + + Paris, 2/8/32 + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + + +1832-1834. + + + +CHOPIN'S SUCCESS IN SOCIETY AND AS A TEACHER.--VARIOUS CONCERTS AT +WHICH HE PLAYED.--A LETTER FROM CHOPIN AND LISZT TO HILLER.--SOME OF +HIS FRIENDS.--STRANGE BEHAVIOUR.--A LETTER TO +FRANCHOMME.--CHOPIN'S RESERVE.--SOME TRAITS OF THE POLISH +CHARACTER.--FIELD.--BERLIOZ.--NEO-ROMANTICISM AND CHOPIN'S RELATION TO +IT.--WHAT INFLUENCE HAD LISZT ON CHOPIN'S DEVELOPMENT--PUBLICATION OF +WORKS.--THE CRITICS.--INCREASING POPULARITY.--JOURNEY IN THE COMPANY OF +HILLER TO AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.--A DAY AT DUSSELDORF WITH MENDELSSOHN. + + + +IN the season 1832-1833 Chopin took his place as one of the acknowledged +pianistic luminaries of the French capital, and began his activity as a +professor par excellence of the aristocracy. "His distinguished manners, +his exquisite politeness, his studied and somewhat affected refinement +in all things, made Chopin the model professor of the fashionable +nobility." Thus Chopin is described by a contemporary. Now he shall +describe himself. An undated letter addressed to his friend Dominic +Dziewanowski, which, judging from an allusion to the death of the +Princess Vaudemont, [FOOTNOTE: In a necrology contained in the Moniteur +of January 6, 1833, she is praised for the justesse de son esprit, and +described as naive et vraie comme une femme du peuple, genereuse comme +une grande dame. There we find it also recorded that she saved M. +de Vitrolles pendant les Cent-jours, et M. de Lavalette sous la +Restoration.] must have been written about the second week of January, +1833, gives much interesting information concerning the writer's tastes +and manners, the degree of success he had obtained, and the kind of life +he was leading. After some jocular remarks on his long silence--remarks +in which he alludes to recollections of Szafarnia and the sincerity of +their friendship, and which he concludes with the statement that he is +so much in demand on all sides as to betorn to pieces--Chopin proceeds +thus:-- + + I move in the highest society--among ambassadors, princes, + and ministers; and I don't know how I got there, for I did + not thrust myself forward at all. But for me this is at + present an absolute necessity, for thence comes, as it were, + good taste. You are at once credited with more talent if you + are heard at a soiree of the English or Austrian + Ambassador's. Your playing is finer if the Princess Vaudemont + patronises you. "Patronises" I cannot properly say, for the + good old woman died a week ago. She was a lady who reminded + me of the late Kasztelanowa Polaniecka, received at her house + the whole Court, was very charitable, and gave refuge to many + aristocrats in the days of terror of the first revolution. + She was the first who presented herself after the days of + July at the Court of Louis Philippe, although she belonged to + the Montmorency family (the elder branch), whose last + descendant she was. She had always a number of black and + white pet dogs, canaries, and parrots about her; and + possessed also a very droll little monkey, which was + permitted even to... bite countesses and princesses. + + Among the Paris artists I enjoy general esteem and + friendship, although I have been here only a year. A proof of + this is that men of great reputation dedicate their + compositions to me, and do so even before I have paid them + the same compliment--for instance, Pixis his last Variations + for orchestra. He is now even composing variations on a theme + of mine. Kalkbrenner improvises frequently on my mazurkas. + Pupils of the Conservatoire, nay, even private pupils of + Moscheles, Herz, and Kalkbrenner (consequently clever + artists), still take lessons from me, and regard me as the + equal of Field. Really, if I were somewhat more silly than I + am, I might imagine myself already a finished artist; + nevertheless, I feel daily how much I have still to learn, + and become the more conscious of it through my intercourse + with the first artists here, and my perception of what every + one, even of them, is lacking in. But I am quite ashamed of + myself for what I have written just now, having praised + myself like a child. I would erase it, but I have no time to + write another letter. Moreover, you will remember my + character as it formerly was; indeed, I have remained quite + the same, only with this one difference, that I have now + whiskers on one side--unfortunately they won't grow at all on + the other side. To-day I have to give five lessons; you will + imagine that I must soon have made a fortune, but the + cabriolet and the white gloves eat the earnings almost up, + and without these things people would deny my bon ton. I love + the Carlists, hate the Philippists, and am myself a + revolutionist; therefore I don't care for money, but only for + friendship, for the preservation of which I earnestly entreat + you. + +This letter, and still more the letters which I shall presently +transcribe, afford irrefragable evidence of the baselessness of the +often-heard statement that Chopin's intercourse was in the first years +of his settlement in Paris confined to the Polish salons. The simple +unexaggerated truth is that Chopin had always a predilection for, and +felt more at home among, his compatriots. + +In the winter 1832-1833 Chopin was heard frequently in public. At a +concert of Killer's (December 15, 1832) he performed with Liszt and the +concert-giver a movement of Bach's Concerto for three pianos, the three +artists rendering the piece "avec une intelligence de son caractere et +une delicatesse parfaite." Soon after Chopin and Liszt played between +the acts of a dramatic performance got up for the benefit of Miss +Smithson, the English actress and bankrupt manager, Berlioz's flame, +heroine of his "Episode de la vie d'un artiste," and before long his +wife. On April 3, 1833, Chopin assisted at a concert given by the +brothers Herz, taking part along with them and Liszt in a quartet +for eight hands on two pianos. M. Marmontel, in his silhouette of the +pianist and critic Amedee de Mereaux, mentions that in 1832 this artist +twice played with Chopin a duo of his own on "Le Pre aux Clercs," but +leaves us in uncertainty as to whether they performed it at public +concerts or private parties. M. Franchomme told me that he remembered +something about a concert given by Chopin in 1833 at the house of one of +his aristocratic friends, perhaps at Madame la Marechale de Lannes's! In +summing up, as it were, Chopin's activity as a virtuoso, I may make use +of the words of the Paris correspondent of the "Allgemeine musikalische +Zeitung," who reports in April, 1833, that "Chopin and Osborne, as well +as the other celebrated masters, delight the public frequently." In +short, Chopin was becoming more and more of a favourite, not, however, +of the democracy of large concert-halls, but of the aristocracy of +select salons. + +The following letter addressed to Hiller, written by Chopin and Liszt, +and signed by them and Franchomme, brings together Chopin's most +intimate artist friends, and spreads out before us a vivid picture of +their good fellowship and the society in which they moved. I have put +the portions written by Liszt within brackets [within parentheses in +this e-text]. Thus the reader will see what belongs to each of the +two writers, and how they took the pen out of each other's hand in the +middle of a phrase and even of a word. With regard to this letter I have +further to remark that Hiller, who was again in Germany, had lately lost +his father:-- + + {This is at least the twentieth time that we have made + arrangements to meet, sometimes at my house, sometimes here, + [Footnote: At Chopin's lodgings mentioned farther on.] with + the intention of writing to you, and some visit, or other + unexpected hindrance, has always prevented us from doing + so!...I don't know whether Chopin will be able to make any + excuses to you; as regards myself it seems to me that we have + been so excessively rude and impertinent that excuses are no + longer either admissible or possible. + + We have sympathised deeply with you in your sorrow, and + longed to be with you in order to alleviate as much as + possible the pangs of your heart.} + + He has expressed himself so well that I have nothing to add + in excuse of my negligence or idleness, influenza or + distraction, or, or, or--you know I explain myself better in + person; and when I escort you home to your mother's house + this autumn, late at night along the boulevards, I shall try + to obtain your pardon. I write to you without knowing what my + pen is scribbling, because Liszt is at this moment playing my + studies and transports me out of my proper senses. I should + like to rob him of his way of rendering my own studies. As to + your friends who are in Paris, I have seen the Leo family and + their set [Footnote: Chopin's words are et qui s'en suit.' He + refers, no doubt, to the Valentin family, relations of the + Leos, who lived in the same house with them.] frequently this + winter and spring. There have been some soirees at the houses + of certain ambassadresses, and there was not one in which + mention was not made of some one who is at Frankfort. Madame + Eichthal sends you a thousand compliments. The whole Plater + family were much grieved at your departure, and asked me to + express to you their sympathy. (Madame d'Appony has quite a + grudge against me for not having taken you to her house + before your departure; she hopes that when you return you + will remember the promise you made me. I may say as much from + a certain lady who is not an ambassadress. [Footnote: This + certain lady was the Countess d'Agoult.] + + Do you know Chopin's wonderful studies?) They are admirable-- + and yet they will only last till the moment yours appear (a + little bit of authorial modesty!!!). A little bit of rudeness + on the part of the tutor--for, to explain the matter better + to you, he corrects my orthographical mistakes (after the + fashion of M. Marlet. + + You will come back to us in the month of September, will you + not? Try to let us know the day as we have resolved to give + you a serenade (or charivari). The most distinguished artists + of the capital--M. Franchomme (present), Madame Petzold, and + the Abbe Bardin, the coryphees of the Rue d'Amboise (and my + neighbours), Maurice Schlesinger, uncles, aunts, nephews, + nieces, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, &c., &c.) en plan du + troisieme, &c. [Footnote: I give the last words in the + original French, because I am not sure of their meaning. + Hiller, to whom I applied for an explanation, was unable to + help me. Perhaps Chopin uses here the word plan in the + pictorial sense (premier plan, foreground; second plan, + middle distance).] + + The responsible editors, + + (F. LISZT.) F. CHOPIN. (Aug. FRANCHOMME.) + + A Propos, I met Heine yesterday, who asked me to grussen you + herzlich und herzlich. [Footnote: To greet you heartily and + heartily.] A propos again, pardon me for all the "you's"--I + beg you to forgive me them. If you have a moment to spare let + us have news of you, which is very precious to us. + + Paris: Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin, No. 5. + + At present I occupy Franck's lodgings--he has set out for + London and Berlin; I feel quite at home in the rooms which + were so often our place of meeting. Berlioz embraces you. As + to pere Baillot, he is in Switzerland, at Geneva, and so you + will understand why I cannot send you Bach's Concerto. + + June 20, 1833. + +Some of the names that appear in this letter will give occasion +for comment. Chopin, as Hiller informed me, went frequently to the +ambassadors Appony and Von Kilmannsegge, and still more frequently to +his compatriots, the Platers. At the house of the latter much good music +was performed, for the countess, the Pani Kasztelanowa (the wife of the +castellan), to whom Liszt devotes an eloquent encomium, "knew how to +welcome so as to encourage all the talents that then promised to take +their upward flight and form une lumineuse pleiade," being + + in turn fairy, nurse, godmother, guardian angel, delicate + benefactress, knowing all that threatens, divining all that + saves, she was to each of us an amiable protectress, equally + beloved and respected, who enlightened, warmed, and elevated + his [Chopin's] inspiration, and left a blank in his life when + she was no more. + +It was she who said one day to Chopin: "Si j'etais jeune et jolie, mon +petit Chopin, je te prendrais pour mari, Hiller pour ami, et Liszt +pour amant." And it was at her house that the interesting contention of +Chopin with Liszt and Hiller took place. The Hungarian and the German +having denied the assertion of the Pole that only he who was born and +bred in Poland, only he who had breathed the perfume of her fields and +woods, could fully comprehend with heart and mind Polish national music, +the three agreed to play in turn, by way of experiment, the mazurka +"Poland is not lost yet." Liszt began, Hiller followed, and Chopin came +last and carried off the palm, his rivals admitting that they had not +seized the true spirit of the music as he had done. Another anecdote, +told me by Hiller, shows how intimate the Polish artist was with this +family of compatriots, the Platers, and what strange whims he sometimes +gave way to. One day Chopin came into the salon acting the part of +Pierrot, and, after jumping and dancing about for an hour, left without +having spoken a single word. + +Abbe Bardin was a great musical amateur, at whose weekly afternoon +gatherings the best artists might be seen and heard, Mendelssohn among +the rest when he was in Paris in 1832-1833. In one of the many obituary +notices of Chopin which appeared in French and other papers, and which +are in no wise distinguished by their trustworthiness, I found the +remark that the Abbe Bardin and M.M. Tilmant freres were the first to +recognise Chopin's genius. The notice in question is to be found in the +Chronique Musicale of November 3, 1849. + +In Franck, whose lodgings Chopin had taken, the reader will recognise +the "clever [geistreiche], musical Dr. Hermann Franck," the friend of +many musical and other celebrities, the same with whom Mendelssohn used +to play at chess during his stay in Paris. From Hiller I learned +that Franck was very musical, and that his attainments in the natural +sciences were considerable; but that being well-to-do he was without +a profession. In the fifth decade of this century he edited for a year +Brockhaus's Deutsche allgemeine Zeitung. + +In the following letter which Chopin wrote to Franchomme--the latter +thinks in the autumn of 1833--we meet with some new names. Dr. Hoffmann +was a good friend of the composer's, and was frequently found at his +rooms smoking. I take him to have been the well-known litterateur +Charles Alexander Hoffmann, [Footnote: This is the usual German, French, +and English spelling. The correct Polish spelling is Hofman. The forms +Hoffman and Hofmann occur likewise.] the husband of Clementina Tanska, +a Polish refugee who came to Paris in 1832 and continued to reside there +till 1848. Maurice is of course Schlesinger the publisher. Of Smitkowski +I know only that he was one of Chopin's Polish friends, whose list +is pretty long and comprised among others Prince Casimir Lubomirski, +Grzymala, Fontana, and Orda. + +[Footnote: Of Grzymala and Fontana more will be heard in the sequel. +Prince Casimir Lubomirski was a passionate lover of music, and published +various compositions. Liszt writes that Orda, "who seemed to command a +future," was killed at the age of twenty in Algiers. Karasowski gives +the same information, omitting, however, the age. My inquiries about +Orda among French musicians and Poles have had no result. Although the +data do not tally with those of Liszt and Karasowski, one is tempted to +identify Chopin's friend with the Napoleon Orda mentioned in Sowinski's +Musiciens polonais et slaves--"A pianist-composer who had made himself +known since the events of 1831. One owes to him the publication of a +Polish Album devoted to the composers of this nation, published at Paris +in 1838. M. Orda is the author of several elegantly-written pianoforte +works." In a memoir prefixed to an edition of Chopin's mazurkas and +waltzes (Boosey & Co.), J.W. Davison mentions a M. Orda (the "M." +stands, I suppose, for Monsieur) and Charles Filtsch as pupils of +Chopin.] + +It was well for Chopin that he was so abundantly provided with friends, +for, as Hiller told me, he could not do without company. But here is +Chopin's letter to Franchomme:-- + + Begun on Saturday, the 14th, and finished on Wednesday, the + 18th. + + DEAR FRIEND,--It would be useless to excuse myself for my + silence. If my thoughts could but go without paper to the + post-office! However, you know me too well not to know that + I, unfortunately, never do what I ought to do. I got here + very comfortably (except for a little disagreeable episode, + caused by an excessively odoriferous gentleman who went as + far as Chartres--he surprised me in the night-time). I have + found more occupation in Paris than I left behind me, which + will, without doubt, hinder me from visiting you at Coteau. + Coteau! oh Coteau! Say, my child, to the whole family at + Coteau that I shall never forget my stay in Touraine--that so + much kindness has made me for ever grateful. People think I + am stouter and look very well, and I feel wonderfully well, + thanks to the ladies that sat beside me at dinner, who + bestowed truly maternal attentions upon me. When I think of + all this the whole appears to me such an agreeable dream that + I should like to sleep again. And the peasant-girls of + Pormic! [FOOTNOTE: A village near the place where Chopin had + been staying.] and the flour! or rather your graceful nose + which you were obliged to plunge into it. + + [FOOTNOTE: The remark about the "flour" and Franchomme's "nez + en forme gracieuse" is an allusion to some childish game in + which Chopin, thanks to his aquiline nose, got the better of + his friend, who as regards this feature was less liberally + endowed.] + + A very interesting visit has interrupted my letter, which was + begun three days ago, and which I have not been able to + finish till to-day. + + Hiller embraces you, Maurice, and everybody. I have delivered + your note to his brother, whom I did not find at home. + + Paer, whom I saw a few days ago, spoke to me of your return. + Come back to us stout and in good health like me. Again a + thousand messages to the estimable Forest family. I have + neither words nor powers to express all I feel for them. + Excuse me. Shake hands with me--I pat you on the shoulder--I + hug you--I embrace you. My friend--au revoir. + + Hoffmann, the stout Hoffmann, and the slim Smitkowski also, + embrace you. + + [FOOTNOTE: The orthography of the French original is very + careless. Thus one finds frequent omissions and misplacements + of accents and numerous misspellings, such as trouvais + instead of trouve, engresse instead of engraisse, plonge + instead of plonger. Of course, these mistakes have to be + ascribed to negligence not to ignorance. I must mention yet + another point which the English translation does not bring + out--namely, that in addressing Franchomme Chopin makes use + of the familiar form of the second person singular.] + +The last-quoted letter adds a few more touches to the portraiture +of Chopin which has been in progress in the preceding pages. The +insinuating affectionateness and winning playfulness had hitherto not +been brought out so distinctly. There was then, and there remained to +the end of his life, something of a woman and of a boy in this man. The +sentimental element is almost wholly absent from Chopin's letters to his +non-Polish friends. Even to Franchomme, the most intimate among these, +he shows not only less of his inmost feelings and thoughts than to Titus +Woyciechowski and John Matuszyriski, the friends of his youth, but also +less than to others of his countrymen whose acquaintance he made +later in life, and of whom Grzymala may be instanced. Ready to give +everything, says Liszt, Chopin did not give himself-- + + his most intimate acquaintances did not penetrate into the + sacred recess where, apart from the rest of his life, dwelt + the secret spring of his soul: a recess so well concealed + that one hardly suspected its existence. + +Indeed, you could as little get hold of Chopin as, to use L. Enault's +expression, of the scaly back of a siren. Only after reading his letters +to the few confidants to whom he freely gave his whole self do we know +how little of himself he gave to the generality of his friends, whom he +pays off with affectionateness and playfulness, and who, perhaps, never +suspected, or only suspected, what lay beneath that smooth surface. +This kind of reserve is a feature of the Slavonic character, which in +Chopin's individuality was unusually developed. + + The Slavonians [says Enault pithily] lend themselves, they do + not give themselves; and, as if Chopin had wished to make his + country-men pardon him the French origin of his family, he + showed himself more Polish than Poland. + +Liszt makes some very interesting remarks on this point, and as they +throw much light on the character of the race, and on that of the +individual with whom we are especially concerned in this book, I shall +quote them:-- + + With the Slavonians, the loyalty and frankness, the + familiarity and captivating desinvoltura of their manners, do + not in the least imply trust and effusiveness. Their feelings + reveal and conceal themselves like the coils of a serpent + convoluted upon itself; it is only by a very attentive + examination that one discovers the connection of the rings. + It would be naive to take their complimentary politeness, + their pretended modesty literally. The forms of this + politeness and this modesty belong to their manners, which + bear distinct traces of their ancient relations with the + East. Without being in the least infected by Mussulmanic + taciturnity, the Slavonians have learned from it a defiant + reserve on all subjects which touch the intimate chords of + the heart. One may be almost certain that, in speaking of + themselves, they maintain with regard to their interlocutor + some reticence which assures them over him an advantage of + intelligence or of feeling, leaving him in ignorance of some + circumstance or some secret motive by which they would be the + most admired or the least esteemed; they delight in hiding + themselves behind a cunning interrogatory smile of + imperceptible mockery. Having on every occasion a taste for + the pleasure of mystification, from the most witty and droll + to the most bitter and lugubrious kinds, one would say that + they see in this mocking deceit a form of disdain for the + superiority which they inwardly adjudge to themselves, but + which they veil with the care and cunning of the oppressed. + +And now we will turn our attention once more to musical matters. In the +letter to Hiller (August 2, 1832) Chopin mentioned the coming of Field +and Moscheles, to which, no doubt, he looked forward with curiosity. +They were the only eminent pianists whom he had not yet heard. +Moscheles, however, seems not to have gone this winter to Paris; at any +rate, his personal acquaintance with the Polish artist did not begin +till 1839. Chopin, whose playing had so often reminded people of +Field's, and who had again and again been called a pupil of his, would +naturally take a particular interest in this pianist. Moreover, he +esteemed him very highly as a composer. Mikuli tells us that Field's +A flat Concerto and nocturnes were among those compositions which he +delighted in playing (spielte mit Vorliebe). Kalkbrenner is reported +[FOOTNOTE: In the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of April 3, 1833.] to +have characterised Field's performances as quite novel and incredible; +and Fetis, who speaks of them in the highest terms, relates that on +hearing the pianist play a concerto of his own composition, the public +manifested an indescribable enthusiasm, a real delirium. Not all +accounts, however, are equally favourable. + +[FOOTNOTE: In the Revue musicale of December 29, 1832. The criticism is +worth reproducing:--"Quiconque n'a point entendu ce grand pianiste ne +peut se faire d'idee du mecanisme admirable de ses doigts, mecanisme tel +que les plus grandes difficultes semblent etre des choses fort simples, +et que sa main n'a point l'air de se mouvoir. Il n'est d'ailleurs pas +mains etonnant dans l'art d'attaquer la note et de varier a l'infini +les diverses nuances de force, de douceur et d'accent. Un enthousiasme +impossible a decrire, un veritable delire s'est manifeste dans le public +a l'audition de ce concerto plein de charme rendu avec une perfection de +fini, de precision, de nettete et d'expression qu'il serait impossible +de surpasser et que bien peu de pianistes pourraient egaler." Of a MS. +concerto played by Field at his second concert, given on February 3, +1833, Fetis says that it is "diffus, peu riche en motifs heureux, peu +digne, en un mot, de la renommee de son auteur," but "la delicieuse +execution de M. Field nous a tres-heureusement servi de compensation"] + +Indeed, the contradictory criticisms to be met with in books and +newspapers leave on the reader the impression that Field disappointed +the expectations raised by his fame. The fact that the second concert +he gave was less well attended than the first cannot but confirm this +impression. He was probably no longer what he had been; and the reigning +pianoforte style and musical taste were certainly no longer what they +had been. "His elegant playing and beautiful manner of singing on the +piano made people admire his talent," wrote Fetis at a later period (in +his "Biographie universelle des Musiciens"), "although his execution had +not the power of the pianists of the modern school." It is not at +all surprising that the general public and the younger generation of +artists, more especially the romanticists, were not unanimously moved +to unbounded enthusiasm by "the clear limpid flow" and "almost somnolent +tranquillity" of Field's playing, "the placid tenderness, graceful +candour, and charming ingenuousness of his melodious reveries." This +characterisation of Field's style is taken from Liszt's preface to the +nocturnes. Moscheles, with whom Field dined in London shortly before +the latter's visit to Paris, gives in his diary a by no means flattering +account of him. Of the man, the diarist says that he is good-natured but +not educated and rather droll, and that there cannot be a more glaring +contrast than that between Field's nocturnes and Field's manners, which +were often cynical. Of the artist, Moscheles remarks that while his +touch was admirable and his legato entrancing, his playing lacked spirit +and accent, light and shadow, and depth of feeling. M. Marmontel was +not far wrong when, before having heard Field, he regarded him as the +forerunner of Chopin, as a Chopin without his passion, sombre reveries, +heart-throes, and morbidity. The opinions which the two artists had of +each other and the degree of their mutual sympathy and antipathy may be +easily guessed. We are, however, not put to the trouble of guessing all. +Whoever has read anything about Chopin knows of course Field's criticism +of him--namely, that he was "un talent de chambre de malade," which, +by the by, reminds one of a remark of Auber's, who said that Chopin was +dying all his life (il se meurt tonte sa vie). It is a pity that we +have not, as a pendant to Field's criticism on Chopin, one of Chopin on +Field. But whatever impression Chopin may have received from the artist, +he cannot but have been repelled by the man. And yet the older artist's +natural disposition was congenial to that of the younger one, only +intemperate habits had vitiated it. Spohr saw Field in 1802-1803, and +describes him as a pale, overgrown youth, whose dreamy, melancholy +playing made people forget his awkward bearing and badly-fitting +clothes. One who knew Field at the time of his first successes portrays +him as a young man with blonde hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, and +pleasing features, expressive of the mood of the moment--of child-like +ingenuousness, modest good-nature, gentle roguishness, and artistic +aspiration. M. Marmontel, who made his acquaintance in 1832, represents +him as a worn-out, vulgar-looking man of fifty, whose outward appearance +contrasted painfully with his artistic performances, and whose heavy, +thick-set form in conjunction with the delicacy and dreaminess of his +musical thoughts and execution called to mind Rossini's saying of a +celebrated singer, "Elle a l'air d'un elephant qui aurait avale un +rossignol." One can easily imagine the surprise and disillusion of +the four pupils of Zimmermann--MM. Marmontel, Prudent, A. Petit, and +Chollet--who, provided with a letter of introduction by their master, +called on Field soon after his arrival in Paris and beheld the great +pianist-- + + in a room filled with tobacco smoke, sitting in an easy + chair, an enormous pipe in his mouth, surrounded by large and + small bottles of all sorts [entoure de chopes et bouteilles + de toutes provenances]. His rather large head, his highly- + coloured cheeks, his heavy features gave a Falstaff-like + appearance to his physiognomy. + +Notwithstanding his tipsiness, he received the young gentlemen kindly, +and played to them two studies by Cramer and Clementi "with rare +perfection, admirable finish, marvellous agility, and exquisiteness +of touch." Many anecdotes might be told of Field's indolence and +nonchalance; for instance, how he often fell asleep while giving his +lessons, and on one occasion was asked whether he thought he was paid +twenty roubles for allowing himself to be played to sleep; or, how, when +his walking-stick had slipped out of his hand, he waited till some one +came and picked it up; or, how, on finding his dress-boots rather tight, +he put on slippers, and thus appeared in one of the first salons of +Paris and was led by the mistress of the house, the Duchess Decazes, to +the piano--but I have said enough of the artist who is so often named in +connection with Chopin. + +From placid Field to volcanic Berlioz is an enormous distance, which, +however, we will clear at one leap, and do it too without hesitation or +difficulty. For is not leaping the mind's natural mode of locomotion, +and walking an artificially-acquired and rare accomplishment? Proceeding +step by step we move only with more or less awkwardness, but aided by +ever so slight an association of ideas we bound with the greatest ease +from any point to any other point of infinitude. Berlioz returned to +Paris in the latter part of 1832, and on the ninth of December of that +year gave a concert at which he produced among other works his "Episode +de la vie d'un artiste" (Part I.--"Symphonic fantastique," for the +second time; Part II--"Lelio, ou le retour a la vie," for the first +time), the subject of which is the history of his love for Miss +Smithson. Chopin, no doubt, made Berlioz's acquaintance through Liszt, +whose friendship with the great French symphonic composer dated from +before the latter's departure for Italy. The characters of Chopin and +Berlioz differed too much for a deep sympathy to exist between +them; their connection was indeed hardly more than a pleasant social +companionship. Liszt tells us that the constant intercourse with +Berlioz, Hiller, and other celebrities who were in the habit of saying +smart things, developed Chopin's natural talent for incisive remarks, +ironical answers, and ambiguous speeches. Berlioz. I think, had more +affection for Chopin than the latter for Berlioz. + +But it is much more the artistic than the social attitude taken up by +Chopin towards Berlioz and romanticism which interests us. Has Liszt +correctly represented it? Let us see. It may be accepted as in the main +true that the nocturnes of Field, [Footnote: In connection with this, +however, Mikuli's remark has to be remembered.] the sonatas of +Dussek, and the "noisy virtuosities and decorative expressivities" of +Kalkbrenner were either insufficient for or antipathetic to Chopin; and +it is plainly evident that he was one of those who most perseveringly +endeavoured to free themselves from the servile formulas of the +conventional style and repudiated the charlatanisms that only replace +old abuses by new ones. On the other hand, it cannot be said that +he joined unreservedly those who, seeing the fire of talent devour +imperceptibly the old worm-eaten scaffolding, attached themselves to +the school of which Berlioz was the most gifted, valiant, and daring +representative, nor that, as long as the campaign of romanticism +lasted, he remained invariable in his predilections and repugnances. +The promptings of his genius taught Chopin that the practice of any one +author or set of authors, whatever their excellence might be, ought not +to be an obligatory rule for their successors. But while his individual +requirements led him to disregard use and wont, his individual taste set +up a very exclusive standard of his own. He adopted the maxims of the +romanticists, but disapproved of almost all the works of art in which +they were embodied. Or rather, he adopted their negative teaching, and +like them broke and threw off the trammels of dead formulas; but at the +same time he rejected their positive teaching, and walked apart from +them. Chopin's repugnance was not confined only to the frantic side and +the delirious excesses of romanticism as Liszt thinks. He presents to +us the strange spectacle of a thoroughly romantic and emphatically +unclassical composer who has no sympathy either with Berlioz and Liszt, +or with Schumann and other leaders of romanticism, and the object of +whose constant and ardent love and admiration was Mozart, the purest +type of classicism. But the romantic, which Jean Paul Richter defined +as "the beautiful without limitation, or the beautiful infinite" [das +Schone ohne Begrenzung, oder das schone Unendliche], affords more +scope for wide divergence, and allows greater freedom in the display of +individual and national differences, than the classical. + +Chopin's and Berlioz's relative positions may be compared to those of +V. Hugo and Alfred de Musset, both of whom were undeniably romanticists, +and yet as unlike as two authors can be. For a time Chopin was carried +away by Liszt's and Killer's enthusiasm for Berlioz, but he soon retired +from his championship, as Musset from the Cenacle. Franchomme thought +this took place in 1833, but perhaps he antedated this change of +opinion. At any rate, Chopin told him that he had expected better things +from Berlioz, and declared that the latter's music justified any man +in breaking off all friendship with him. Some years afterwards, when +conversing with his pupil Gutmann about Berlioz, Chopin took up a pen, +bent back the point of it, and then let it rebound, saying: "This is the +way Berlioz composes--he sputters the ink over the pages of ruled paper, +and the result is as chance wills it." Chopin did not like the works of +Victor Hugo, because he felt them to be too coarse and violent. And this +may also have been his opinion of Berlioz's works. No doubt he spurned +Voltaire's maxim, "Le gout n'est autre chose pour la poesie que ce +qu'il est pour les ajustements des femmes," and embraced V. Hugo's +countermaxim, "Le gout c'est la raison du genie"; but his delicate, +beauty-loving nature could feel nothing but disgust at what has been +called the rehabilitation of the ugly, at such creations, for instance, +as Le Roi s'amuse and Lucrece Borgia, of which, according to their +author's own declaration, this is the essence:-- + + Take the most hideous, repulsive, and complete physical + deformity; place it where it stands out most prominently, in + the lowest, most subterraneous and despised story of the + social edifice; illuminate this miserable creature on all + sides by the sinister light of contrasts; and then give it a + soul, and place in that soul the purest feeling which is + bestowed on man, the paternal feeling. What will be the + result? This sublime feeling, intensified according to + certain conditions, will transform under your eyes the + degraded creature; the little being will become great; the + deformed being will become beautiful.--Take the most hideous, + repulsive, and complete moral deformity; place it where it + stands out most prominently, in the heart of a woman, with + all the conditions of physical beauty and royal grandeur + which give prominence to crime; and now mix with all this + moral deformity a pure feeling, the purest which woman can + feel, the maternal feeling; place a mother in your monster + and the monster will interest you, and the monster will make + you weep, and this creature which caused fear will cause + pity, and this deformed soul will become almost beautiful in + your eyes. Thus we have in Le Roi s'amuse paternity + sanctifying physical deformity; and in Lucrece Borgia + maternity purifying moral deformity. [FOOTNOTE: from Victor + Hugo's preface to "Lucrece Borgia."] + +In fact, Chopin assimilated nothing or infinitely little of the ideas +that were surging around him. His ambition was, as he confided to his +friend Hiller, to become to his countrymen as a musician what Uhland was +to the Germans as a poet. Nevertheless, the intellectual activity of +the French capital and its tendencies had a considerable influence on +Chopin. They strengthened the spirit of independence in him, and were +potent impulses that helped to unfold his individuality in all its width +and depth. The intensification of thought and feeling, and the greater +fulness and compactness of his pianoforte style in his Parisian +compositions, cannot escape the attentive observer. The artist who +contributed the largest quotum of force to this impulse was probably +Liszt, whose fiery passions, indomitable energy, soaring enthusiasm, +universal tastes, and capacity of assimilation, mark him out as the very +opposite of Chopin. But, although the latter was undoubtedly stimulated +by Liszt's style of playing the piano and of writing for this +instrument, it is not so certain as Miss L. Ramann, Liszt's biographer, +thinks, that this master's influence can be discovered in many passages +of Chopin's music which are distinguished by a fiery and passionate +expression, and resemble rather a strong, swelling torrent than a +gently-gliding rivulet. She instances Nos. 9 and 12 of "Douze +Etudes," Op. 10; Nos. 11 and 12 of "Douze Etudes," Op. 25; No. 24 of +"Vingt-quatre Preludes," Op. 28; "Premier Scherzo," Op. 20; "Polonaise" +in A flat major, Op. 53; and the close of the "Nocturne" in A flat +major, Op. 32. All these compositions, we are told, exhibit Liszt's +style and mode of feeling. Now, the works composed by Chopin before he +came to Paris and got acquainted with Liszt comprise not only a sonata, +a trio, two concertos, variations, polonaises, waltzes, mazurkas, one +or more nocturnes, &c., but also--and this is for the question under +consideration of great importance--most of, if not all, the studies of +Op. 10, [FOOTNOTE: Sowinski says that Chopin brought with him to Paris +the MS. of the first book of his studies.] and some of Op. 25; and these +works prove decisively the inconclusiveness of the lady's argument. The +twelfth study of Op. 10 (composed in September, 1831) invalidates all +she says about fire, passion, and rushing torrents. In fact, no cogent +reason can be given why the works mentioned by her should not be the +outcome of unaided development.[FOONOTE: That is to say, development +not aided in the way indicated by Miss Ramann. Development can never +be absolutely unaided; it always presupposes conditions--external or +internal, physical or psychical, moral or intellectual--which induce +and promote it. What is here said may be compared with the remarks about +style and individuality on p. 214.] The first Scherzo alone might make +us pause and ask whether the new features that present themselves in +it ought not to be fathered on Liszt. But seeing that Chopin evolved so +much, why should he not also have evolved this? Moreover, we must keep +in mind that Liszt had, up to 1831, composed almost nothing of what in +after years was considered either by him or others of much moment, +and that his pianoforte style had first to pass through the state of +fermentation into which Paganini's, playing had precipitated it (in the +spring of 1831) before it was formed; on the other hand, Chopin arrived +in Paris with his portfolios full of masterpieces, and in possession of +a style of his own, as a player of his instrument as well as a writer +for it. That both learned from each other cannot be doubted; but the +exact gain of each is less easily determinable. Nevertheless, I think +I may venture to assert that whatever be the extent of Chopin's +indebtedness to Liszt, the latter's indebtedness to the former is +greater. The tracing of an influence in the works of a man of genius, +who, of course, neither slavishly imitates nor flagrantly appropriates, +is one of the most difficult tasks. If Miss Ramann had first noted +the works produced by the two composers in question before their +acquaintance began, and had carefully examined Chopin's early +productions with a view to ascertain his capability of growth, she +would have come to another conclusion, or, at least, have spoken less +confidently. [FOOTNOTE: Schumann, who in 1839 attempted to give a +history of Liszt's development (in the "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik"), +remarked that when Liszt, on the one hand, was brooding over the most +gloomy fancies, and indifferent, nay, even blase, and, on the other +hand, laughing and madly daring, indulged in the most extravagant +virtuoso tricks, "the sight of Chopin, it seems, first brought him again +to his senses."] + +It was not till 1833 that Chopin became known to the musical world as +a composer. For up to that time the "Variations," Op. 2, published in +1830, was the only work in circulation; the compositions previously +published in Warsaw--the "Rondo," Op. 1, and the "Rondeau a la Mazur," +Op. 5--may be left out of account, as they did not pass beyond the +frontier of Poland till several years afterwards, when they were +published elsewhere. After the publication, in December, 1832, of Op. 6, +"Quatre Mazurkas," dedicated to Mdlle. la Comtesse Pauline Plater, and +Op. 7, "Cinq Mazurkas," dedicated to Mr. Johns, Chopin's compositions +made their appearance in quick succession. In the year 1833 were +published: in January, Op. 9, "Trois Nocturnes," dedicated to Mdme. +Camille Pleyel; in March, Op. 8, "Premier Trio," dedicated to M. le +Prince Antoine Radziwill; in July, Op. 10, "Douze Grandes Etudes," +dedicated to Mr. Fr. Liszt; and Op. 11, "Grand Concerto" (in E minor), +dedicated to Mr. Fr. Kalkbrenner; and in November, Op. 12, "Variations +brillantes" (in B flat major), dedicated to Mdlle. Emma Horsford. In +1834 were published: in January, Op. 15, "Trois Nocturnes," dedicated +to Mr. Ferd. Hiller; in March, Op. 16, "Rondeau" (in E flat major), +dedicated to Mdlle. Caroline Hartmann; in April, Op. 13, "Grande +Fantaisie sur des airs polonais," dedicated to Mr. J. P. Pixis; and in +May, Op. 17, "Quatre Mazurkas," dedicated to Mdme. Lina Freppa; in June, +Op. 14, "Krakowiak, grand Rondeau de Concert," dedicated to Mdme. +la Princesse Adam Czartoryska; and Op. 18, "Grande Valse brillante," +dedicated to Mdlle. Laura Horsford; and in October, Op. 19, "Bolero" (in +C major), dedicated to Mdme. la Comtesse E. de Flahault. [FOOTNOTE: The +dates given are those when the pieces, as far as I could ascertain, were +first heard of as published. For further information see "List of Works" +at the end of the second volume, where my sources of information are +mentioned, and the divergences of the different original editions, as +regards time of publication, are indicated.] + +The "Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung" notices several of Chopin's +compositions with great praise in the course of 1833; in the year after +the notices became more frequent. But the critic who follows Chopin's +publications with the greatest attention and discusses them most fully +is Rellstab, the editor of the Iris. Unfortunately, he is not at all +favourably inclined towards the composer. He occasionally doles out a +little praise, but usually shows himself a spendthrift in censure and +abuse. His most frequent complaints are that Chopin strives too much +after originality, and that his music is unnecessarily difficult for the +hands. A few specimens of Rellstab's criticism may not be out of place +here. Of the "Mazurkas," Op. 7, he says:-- + + In the dances before us the author satisfies the passion [of + writing affectedly and unnaturally] to a loathsome excess. He + is indefatigable, and I might say inexhaustible [sic], in his + search for ear-splitting discords, forced transitions, harsh + modulations, ugly distortions of melody and rhythm. + Everything it is possible to think of is raked up to produce + the effect of odd originality, but especially strange keys, + the most unnatural positions of chords, the most perverse + combinations with regard to fingering. + +After some more discussion of the same nature, he concludes thus:-- If +Mr. Chopin had shown this composition to a master, the latter would, +it is to be hoped, have torn it and thrown it at his feet, which we +hereby do symbolically. + +In his review of the "Trois Nocturnes," Op. 9, occurs the following +pretty passage:-- + + Where Field smiles, 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 coarse, one gets Chopin's work...We + implore Mr. Chopin to return to nature. + +I shall quote one more sentence; it is from a notice of the "Douze +Etudes," Op. 10:-- + + 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. + + [FOOTNOTE: In the number of the Iris in which this criticism + appeared (No. 5 of Vol. V., 1834 Rellstab inserts the + following letter, which he says he received from Leipzig:-- + + "P. P. + + "You are really a very bad man, and not worthy that God's + earth either knows (sic) or bears you. The King of Prussia + should have imprisoned you in a fortress; in that case he + would have removed from the world a rebel, a disturber of the + peace, and an infamous enemy of humanity, who probably will + yet be choked in his own blood. I have noticed a great number + of enemies, not only in Berlin, but in all towns which I + visited last summer on my artistic tour, especially very many + here in Leipzig, where I inform you of this, in order--that + you may in future change your disposition, and not act so + uncharitably towards others. Another bad, bad trick, and you + are done for! Do you understand me, you little man, you + loveless and partial dog of a critic, you musical snarler + [Schnurrbart], you Berlin wit-cracker [Witzenmacher], &c. + + "Your most obedient Servant, + + "CHOPIN." + + To this Rellstab adds: "Whether Mr. Chopin has written this + letter himself, I do not know, and will not assert it, but + print the document that he may recognise or repudiate it." + The letter was not repudiated, but I do not think that it was + written by Chopin. Had he written a letter, he surely would + have written a less childish one, although the German might + not have been much better than that of the above. But my + chief reasons for doubting its genuineness are that Chopin + made no artistic tour in Germany after 1831, and is not known + to have visited Leipzig either in 1833 or 1834.] + +However, we should not be too hard upon Rellstab, seeing that one of the +greatest pianists and best musicians of the time made in the same year +(in 1833, and not in 1831, as we read in Karasowski's book) an entry +in his diary, which expresses an opinion not very unlike his. Moscheles +writes thus:-- + + I like to employ some free hours in the evening in making + myself acquainted with Chopin's studies and his other + compositions, and find much charm in the originality and + national colouring of their motivi; but my fingers always + stumble over certain hard, inartistic, and to me + incomprehensible modulations, and the whole is often too + sweetish for my taste, and appears too little worthy of a man + and a trained musician. + +And again-- + + I am a sincere admirer of Chopin's originality; he has + furnished pianists with matter of the greatest novelty and + attractiveness. But personally I dislike the artificial, + often forced modulations; my fingers stumble and fall over + such passages; however much I may practise them, I cannot + execute them without tripping. + +The first criticism on Chopin's publications which I met with in the +French musical papers is one on the "Variations," Op. 12. It appeared in +the "Revue musicale" of January 26, 1834. After this his new works are +pretty regularly noticed, and always favourably. From what has been said +it will be evident that Karasowski made a mistake when he wrote that +Chopin's compositions began to find a wide circulation as early as the +year 1832. + +Much sympathy has been undeservedly bestowed on the composer by many, +because they were under the impression that he had had to contend with +more than the usual difficulties. Now just the reverse was the case. +Most of his critics were well-disposed towards him, and his fame spread +fast. In 1834 (August 13) a writer in the "Allgemeine musikalische +Zeitung" remarks that Chopin had the good fortune to draw upon himself +sooner than others the attention not only of the pianists, although of +these particularly, but also of a number of the musicians generally. And +in 1836 even Rellstab, Chopin's most adverse critic, says: "We entertain +the hope of hearing a public performance of the Concerto [the second, +Op. 21] in the course of the winter, for now it is a point of honour for +every pianist to play Chopin." The composer, however, cannot be said to +have enjoyed popularity; his works were relished only by the few, not +by the many. Chopin's position as a pianist and composer at the point we +have reached in the history of his life (1833-1834) is well described by +a writer in the "Revue musicale" of May 15, 1834:-- + + Chopin [he says] has opened up for himself a new route, and + from the first moment of his appearance on the scene he has + taken so high a stand, both by his pianoforte-playing and by + his compositions for this instrument, that he is to the + multitude an inexplicable phenomenon which it looks on in + passing with astonishment, and which stupid egoism regards + with a smile of pity, while the small number of connoisseurs, + led by a sure judgment, rather by an instinct of progress + than by a reasoned sentiment of enjoyment, follow this artist + in his efforts and in his creations, if not closely, at least + at a distance, admiring him, learning from him, and trying to + imitate him. For this reason Chopin has not found a critic, + although his works are already known everywhere. They have + either excited equivocal smiles and have been disparaged, or + have provoked astonishment and an overflow of unlimited + praise; but nobody has as yet come forward to say in what + their peculiar character and merit consists, by what they are + distinguished from so many other compositions, what assigns + to them a superior rank, &c. + +No important events are to be recorded of the season 1833-1834, but +that Chopin was making his way is shown by a passage from a letter which +Orlowski wrote to one of his friends in Poland:-- + + Chopin [he says] is well and strong; he turns the heads of + all the Frenchwomen, and makes the men jealous of him. He is + now the fashion, and the elegant world will soon wear gloves + a la Chopin, Only the yearning after his country consumes + him. + +In the spring of 1834 Chopin took a trip to Aix-la-Chapelle, where +at Whitsuntide the Lower Rhenish Music Festival was held. Handel's +"Deborah," Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, and part of Beethoven's Ninth +were on the programme, and the baton was in the hand of Ferdinand Ries. +Hiller, who had written additional accompaniments to the oratorio and +translated the English words into German, had received an invitation +from the committee, and easily persuaded Chopin to accompany him. +But this plan very nearly came to naught. While they were making +preparations for the journey, news reached them that the festival was +postponed; and when a few days later they heard that it would take place +after all, poor Chopin was no longer able to go, having in the meantime +spent the money put aside for travelling expenses, probably given it +away to one of his needy countrymen, to whom, as Hiller says, his purse +was always open. But what was to be done now? Hiller did not like to +depart without his friend, and urged him to consider if he could not +contrive in one way or another to procure the requisite pecuniary +outfit. At last Chopin said he thought he could manage it, took the +manuscript of the Waltz in E flat (Op. 18), went with it to Pleyel, and +returned with 500 francs. [FOOTNOTE: I repeat Hiller's account without +vouching for its literal correctness, confining myself to the statement +that the work was in print on the 1st of June,1834, and published by +Schlesinger, of Paris, not by Pleyel.] Thus the barrier was removed, and +the friends set out for Aix-la-Chapelle. There Hiller was quartered in +the house of the burgomaster, and Chopin got a room close by. They +went without much delay to the rehearsal of "Deborah," where they met +Mendelssohn, who describes their meeting in a letter addressed to his +mother (Dusseldorf, May 23, 1834):-- + + On the first tier sat a man with a moustache reading the + score, and as he was coming downstairs after the rehearsal, + and I was going up, we met in the side-scenes, and Ferdinand + Hiller stumbled right into my arms, almost crushing me in his + joyful embrace. He had come from Paris to hear the oratorio, + and Chopin had left his pupils in the lurch and come with + him, and thus we met again. Now I had my full share of + pleasure in the musical festival, for we three now remained + together, got a box in the theatre (where the performances + are given) to ourselves, and as a matter of course betook + ourselves next morning to a piano, where I enjoyed myself + greatly. They have both still further developed their + execution, and Chopin is now one of the very first pianoforte- + players; he produces as novel effects as Paganini does on the + violin, and performs wonders which one would never have + imagined possible. Hiller, too, is an excellent player, + powerful and coquettish enough. Both are a little infected by + the Parisian mania for despondency and straining after + emotional vehemence [Verzweif-lungssucht und + Leidenschaftssucherei], and often lose sight of time and + repose and the really musical too much. I, on the other hand, + do so perhaps too little. Thus we made up for each other's + deficiencies, and all three, I think, learned something, + while I felt rather like a schoolmaster, and they like + mirliflores or incroyables. + +After the festival the three musicians travelled together to Dusseldorf, +where since the preceding October Mendelssohn was settled as musical +director. They passed the morning of the day which Chopin and Hiller +spent in the town at Mendelssohn's piano, and in the afternoon took a +walk, at the end of which they had coffee and a game at skittles. In +this walk they were accompanied by F. W. Schadow, the director of the +Academy of Art and founder of the Dusseldorf School, and some of +his pupils, among whom may have been one or more of its brightest +stars--Lessing, Bendemann, Hildebrandt, Sohn, and Alfred Rethel. Hiller, +who furnishes us with some particulars of what Mendelssohn calls "a very +agreeable day passed in playing and discussing music," says that +Schadow and his pupils appeared to him like a prophet surrounded by +his disciples. But the dignified manner and eloquent discourse of the +prophet, the humble silence of the devoutly-listening disciples, seem to +have prevented Chopin from feeling quite at ease. + + Chopin [writes Hiller], who was not known to any of them, and + extremely reserved, kept close to me during the walk, + observing everything and making remarks to me in a low, low + tone. For the later part of the evening we were invited to + the Schadows', who were never wanting in hospitality. We + found there some of the most eminent young painters. The + conversation soon became very animated, and all would have + been right if poor Chopin had not sat there so reserved--not + to say unnoticed. However, Mendelssohn and I knew that he + would have his revenge, and were secretly rejoicing at the + thought. At last the piano was opened; I began, Mendelssohn + followed; then we asked Chopin to play, and rather doubtful + looks were cast at him and us. But he had hardly played a few + bars when all present, especially Schadow, looked at him with + altogether different eyes. Nothing like it had ever been + heard. They were all in the greatest delight, and begged for + more and more. Count Almaviva had dropped his disguise, and + all were speechless. + +The following day Chopin and Hiller set out per steamer for Coblenz, and +Mendelssohn, although Schadow had asked him what was to become of "St. +Paul," at which he was working, accompanied them as far as Cologne. +There, after a visit to the Apostles' church, they parted at the Rhine +bridge, and, as Mendelssohn wrote to his mother, "the pleasant episode +was over." + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + + +1834-1835. + + + +MATUSZYNSKI SETTLES IN PARIS.--MORE ABOUT CHOPIN'S WAY OF LIFE.--OP. +25.--HE IS ADVISED TO WRITE AN OPERA.--HIS OWN IDEAS IN REGARD TO +THIS, AND A DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTION.--CHOPIN'S PUBLIC +APPEARANCES.--BERLIOZ'S CONCERT.--STOEPEL's CONCERT.--A CONCERT AT +PLEYEL'S ROOMS.--A CONCERT AT THE THEATRE-ITALIEN FOR THE BENEFIT OF +THE INDIGENT POLISH REFUGEES.--A CONCERT OF THE SOCIETE DES +CONCERTS.--CHOPIN AS A PUBLIC PERFORMER.--CHOUQUET, LISZT, ETC., ON THE +CHARACTER OF HIS PLAYING.--BELLINI AND HIS RELATION TO CHOPIN.--CHOPIN +GOES TO CARLSBAD.--AT DRESDEN.--HIS VISIT TO LEIPZIG: E. F. WENZEL'S +REMINISCENCES; MENDELSSOHN'S AND SCHUMANN'S REMARKS ON THE SAME +EVENT.--CHOPIN'S STAY AT HEIDELBERG AND RETURN TO PARIS. + + + +The coming to Paris and settlement there of his friend Matuszynski must +have been very gratifying to Chopin, who felt so much the want of one +with whom he could sigh. Matuszynski, who, since we heard last of him, +had served as surgeon-major in the Polish insurrectionary army, and +taken his doctor's degree at Tubingen in 1834, proceeded in the +same year to Paris, where he was appointed professor at the Ecole +de Medecine. The latter circumstance testifies to his excellent +professional qualities, and Chopin's letters do not leave us in doubt +concerning the nature of his qualities as a friend. Indeed, what George +Sand says of his great influence over Chopin only confirms what these +letters lead one to think. In 1834 Matuszynski wrote in a letter +addressed to his brother-in-law:-- + + The first thing I did in Paris was to call on Chopin. I + cannot tell you how great our mutual happiness was on meeting + again after a separation of five years. He has grown strong + and tall; I hardly recognised him. Chopin is now the first + pianist here; he gives a great many lessons, but none under + twenty francs. He has composed much, and his works are in + great request. I live with him: Rue Chaussee d'Antin, No. 5. + This street is indeed rather far from the Ecole de Medecine + and the hospitals; but I have weighty reasons for staying + with him--he is my all! We spend the evenings at the theatre + or pay visits; if we do not do one or the other, we enjoy + ourselves quietly at home. + +Less interesting than this letter of Matuszynski's, with its glimpses of +Chopin's condition and habits, are the reminiscences of a Mr. W., now or +till lately a music-teacher at Posen, who visited Paris in 1834, and +was introduced to Chopin by Dr. A. Hofman. [FOONOTE: See p. 257.] But, +although less interesting, they are by no means without significance, +for instance, with regard to the chronology of the composer's works. +Being asked to play something, Mr. W. chose Kalkbrenner's variations +on one of Chopin's mazurkas (the one in B major, Op. 7, No. 1). Chopin +generously repaid the treat which Kalkbrenner's variations and his +countryman's execution may have afforded him, by playing the studies +which he afterwards published as Op. 25. + +Elsner, like all Chopin's friends, was pleased with the young artist's +success. The news he heard of his dear Frederick filled his heart +with joy, nevertheless he was not altogether satisfied. "Excuse my +sincerity," he writes, on September 14, 1834, "but what you have done +hitherto I do not yet consider enough." Elsner's wish was that Chopin +should compose an opera, if possible one with a Polish historical +subject; and this he wished, not so much for the increase of Chopin's +fame as for the advantage of the art. Knowing his pupil's talents and +acquirements he was sure that what a critic pointed out in Chopin's +mazurkas would be fully displayed and obtain a lasting value only in an +opera. The unnamed critic referred to must be the writer in the "Gazette +musicale," who on June 29, 1834, in speaking of the "Quatre Mazurkas," +Op. 17, says-- + + Chopin has gained a quite special reputation by the clever + spirituelle and profoundly artistic manner in which he knows + how to treat the national music of Poland, a genre of music + which was to us as yet little known...here again he appears + poetical, tender, fantastic, always graceful, and always + charming, even in the moments when he abandons himself to the + most passionate inspiration. + +Karasowski says that Elsner's letter made Chopin seriously think of +writing an opera, and that he even addressed himself to his friend +Stanislas Kozmian with the request to furnish him with a libretto, the +subject of which was to be taken from Polish history. I do not question +this statement. But if it is true, Chopin soon abandoned the idea. In +fact, he thoroughly made up his mind, and instead of endeavouring to +become a Shakespeare he contented himself with being an Uhland. The +following conversations will show that Chopin acquired the rarest +and most precious kind of knowledge, that is, self-knowledge. His +countryman, the painter Kwiatkowski, calling one day on Chopin found him +and Mickiewicz in the midst of a very excited discussion. The poet urged +the composer to undertake a great work, and not to fritter away his +power on trifles; the composer, on the other hand, maintained that he +was not in possession of the qualities requisite for what he was advised +to undertake. G. Mathias, who studied under Chopin from 1839 to 1844, +remembers a conversation between his master and M. le Comte de Perthuis, +one of Louis Philippe's aides-de-camp. The Count said-- + + "Chopin, how is it that you, who have such admirable ideas, + do not compose an opera?" [Chopin, avec vos idees admirables, + pourquoi ne nous faites-vous pas un opera?] "Ah, Count, let + me compose nothing but music for the pianoforte; I am not + learned enough to compose operas!" [Ah, Monsieur le Comte, + laissez-moi ne faire que de la musique de piano; pour faire + des operas je ne suis pas assez savant.] + +Chopin, in fact, knew himself better than his friends and teacher knew +him, and it was well for him and it is well for us that he did, for +thereby he saved himself much heart-burning and disappointment, and us +the loss of a rich inheritance of charming and inimitable pianoforte +music. He was emphatically a Kleinmeister--i.e. a master of works of +small size and minute execution. His attempts in the sonata-form were +failures, although failures worth more--some of them at least--than +many a clever artist's most brilliant successes. Had he attempted the +dramatic form the result would in all probability have been still less +happy; for this form demands not only a vigorous constructive power, +but in addition to it a firm grasp of all the vocal and instrumental +resources--qualities, in short, in which Chopin was undeniably +deficient, owing not so much to inadequate training as to the nature +of his organisation. Moreover, he was too much given to express his +own emotions, too narrow in his sympathies, in short, too individual a +composer, to successfully express the emotions of others, to objectively +conceive and set forth the characters of men and women unlike himself. +Still, the master's confidence in his pupil, though unfounded in this +particular, is beautiful to contemplate; and so also is his affection +for him, which even the pedantic style of his letters cannot altogether +hide. Nor is it possible to admire in a less degree the reciprocation of +these sentiments by the great master's greater pupil:-- + + What a pity it is [are the concluding words of Elsner's + letter of September 14, 1834] that we can no longer see each + other and exchange our opinions! I have got so much to tell + you. I should like also to thank you for the present, which + is doubly precious to me. I wish I were a bird, so that I + might visit you in your Olympian dwelling, which the + Parisians take for a swallow's nest. Farewell, love me, as I + do you, for I shall always remain your sincere friend and + well-wisher. + +In no musical season was Chopin heard so often in public as in that of +1834-35; but it was not only his busiest, it was also his last season +as a virtuoso. After it his public appearances ceased for several years +altogether, and the number of concerts at which he was subsequently +heard does not much exceed half-a-dozen. The reader will be best enabled +to understand the causes that led to this result if I mention those of +Chopin's public performances in this season which have come under +my notice. On December 7, 1834, at the third and last of a series +of concerts given by Berlioz at the Conservatoire, Chopin played an +"Andante" for the piano with orchestral accompaniments of his own +composition, which, placed as it was among the overtures to "Les +Francs-Juges" and "King Lear," the "Harold" Symphony, and other works of +Berlioz, no doubt sounded at the concert as strange as it looks on +the programme. The "Andante" played by Chopin was of course the middle +movement of one of his concertos. [Footnote: Probably the "Larghetto" +from the F minor Concerto. See Liszt's remark on p. 282.] + +On December 25 of the same year, Dr. Francois Stoepel gave a matinee +musicale at Pleyel's rooms, for which he had secured a number of very +distinguished artists. But the reader will ask--"Who is Dr. Stoepel?" +An author of several theoretical works, instruction books, and musical +compositions, who came to Paris in 1829 and founded a school on +Logier's system, as he had done in Berlin and other towns, but was +as unsuccessful in the French capital as elsewhere. Disappointed +and consumptive he died in 1836 at the age of forty-two; his income, +although the proceeds of teaching were supplemented by the remuneration +for contributions to the "Gazette musicale," having from first to last +been scanty. Among the artists who took part in this matinee musicale +were Chopin, Liszt, the violinist Ernst, and the singers Mdlle. +Heinefetter, Madame Degli-Antoni, and M. Richelmi. The programme +comprised also an improvisation on the orgue expressif (harmonium) by +Madame de la Hye, a grand-niece of J.J. Rousseau's. Liszt and Chopin +opened the matinee with a performance of Moscheles' "Grand duo a quatre +mains," of which the reporter of the "Gazette musicale" writes as +follows:-- + + We consider it superfluous to say that this piece, one of the + masterworks of the composer, was executed with a rare + perfection of talent by the two greatest pianoforte-virtuosos + of our epoch. Brilliancy of execution combined with perfect + delicacy, sustained elevation, and the contrast of the most + spirited vivacity and calmest serenity, of the most graceful + lightness and gravest seriousness--the clever blending of all + the nuances can only be expected from two artists of the same + eminence and equally endowed with deep artistic feeling. The + most enthusiastic applause showed MM. Liszt and Chopin better + than we can do by our words how much they charmed the + audience, which they electrified a second time by a Duo for + two pianos composed by Liszt. + +This work of Liszt's was no doubt the Duo for two pianos on a theme of +Mendelssohn's which, according to Miss Ramann, was composed in 1834 but +never published, and is now lost. + +The "Menestrel" of March 22, 1835, contains a report of a concert at +Pleyel's rooms, without, however, mentioning the concert-giver, who was +probably the proprietor himself:-- + + The last concert at Pleyel's rooms was very brilliant. Men of + fashion, litterateurs, and artists had given each other + rendez-vous there to hear our musical celebrities--MM. Herz, + Chopin, Osborne, Hiller, Reicha, Mesdames Camille Lambert and + Leroy, and M. Hamati [read Stamati], a young pianist who had + not yet made a public appearance in our salons. These artists + performed various pieces which won the approval of all. + +And now mark the dying fall of this vague report: "Kalkbrenner's +Variations on the cavatina 'Di tanti palpiti' were especially +applauded." + +We come now to the so much talked-of concert at the Italian Opera, which +became so fateful in Chopin's career as a virtuoso. It is generally +spoken of as a concert given by Chopin, and Karasowski says it took +place in February, 1834. I have, however, been unable to find any trace +of a concert given by Chopin in 1834. On the other hand, Chopin played +on April 5, 1835, at a concert which in all particulars except that of +date answers to the description of the one mentioned by Karasowski. The +"Journal des Debats" of April 4, 1835, draws the public's attention to +it by the following short and curious article:-- + + The concert for the benefit of the indigent Poles [i.e., + indigent Polish refugees] will take place to-morrow, + Saturday, at the Theatre-Italien, at eight o'clock in the + evening. Mdlle. Falcon and Nourrit, MM. Ernst, Dorus, Schopin + [sic], Litz [sic], and Pantaleoni, will do the honours of + this soiree, which will be brilliant. Among other things + there will be heard the overtures to "Oberon" and "Guillaume + Tell," the duet from the latter opera, sung by Mdlle. Falcon + and Nourrit, and romances by M. Schubert, sung by Nourrit and + accompanied by Litz, &c. + +To this galaxy of artistic talent I have yet to add Habeneck, who +conducted the orchestra. Chopin played with the orchestra his E minor +Concerto and with Liszt a duet for two pianos by Hiller. + + As you may suppose [says a writer of a notice in the "Gazette + musicale"] M. Chopin was not a stranger to the composition of + the programme of this soiree in behalf of his unhappy + countrymen. Accordingly the fete was brilliant. + +In the same notice may also be read the following:-- + + Chopin's Concerto, so original, of so brilliant a style, so + full of ingenious details, so fresh in its melodies, obtained + a very great success. It is very difficult not to be + monotonous in a pianoforte concerto; and the amateurs could + not but thank Chopin for the pleasure he had procured them, + while the artists admired the talent which enabled him to do + so [i.e., to avoid monotony], and at the same time to + rejuvenate so antiquated a form. + +The remark on the agedness of the concerto-form and the difficulty of +not being monotonous is naive and amusing enough to be quoted for its +own sake, but what concerns us here is the correctness of the report. +Although the expressions of praise contained in it are by no means +enthusiastic, nay, are not even straightforward, they do not tally +with what we learn from other accounts. This discrepancy may be thus +explained. Maurice Schlesinger, the founder and publisher of the +"Gazette musicale," was on friendly terms with Chopin and had already +published some of his compositions. What more natural, therefore, than +that, if the artist's feelings were hurt, he should take care that +they should not be further tortured by unpleasant remarks in his paper. +Indeed, in connection with all the Chopin notices and criticisms in +the "Gazette musicale" we must keep in mind the relations between the +publisher and composer, and the fact that several of the writers in +the paper were Chopin's intimate friends, and many of them were of the +clique, or party, to which he also belonged. Sowinski, a countryman +and acquaintance of Chopin's, says of this concert that the theatre +was crowded and all went well, but that Chopin's expectations were +disappointed, the E minor Concerto not producing the desired effect. The +account in Larousse's "Grand Dictionnaire" is so graphic that it +makes one's flesh creep. After remarking that Chopin obtained only a +demi-success, the writer of the article proceeds thus: "The bravos of +his friends and a few connoisseurs alone disturbed the cold and somewhat +bewildered attitude of the majority of the audience." According to +Sowinski and others Chopin's repugnance to play in public dates from +this concert; but this repugnance was not the outcome of one but of +many experiences. The concert at the Theatre-Italien may, however, have +brought it to the culminating point. Liszt told me that Chopin was +most deeply hurt by the cold reception he got at a concert at the +Conservatoire, where he played the Larghetto from the F minor Concerto. +This must have been at Berlioz's concert, which I mentioned on one of +the foregoing pages of this chapter. + +Shortly after the concert at the Theatre-Italien, Chopin ventured once +more to face that terrible monster, the public. On Sunday, April 26, +1835, he played at a benefit concert of Habeneck's, which is notable as +the only concert of the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire in which +he took part. The programme was as follows:--1. The "Pastoral Symphony," +by Beethoven; 2. "The Erl-King," by Schubert, sung by M. Ad. Nourrit; +3. Scherzo from the "Choral Symphony," by Beethoven; 4. "Polonaise +avec introduction" [i.e., "Polonaise brillante precedee d'un Andante +spianato"], composed and played by M. Chopin; 5. Scena, by Beethoven, +sung by Mdlle. Falcon; 6. Finale from the C minor Symphony, by +Beethoven. The writer of the article Chopin in Larousse's "Grand +Dictionnaire" says that Chopin had no reason to repent of having taken +part in the concert, and others confirm this statement. In Elwart's +"Histoire des Concerts du Conservatoire" we read:--"Le compositeur +reveur, l'elegiaque pianiste, produisit a ce concert un effet +delicieux." To the author of the "Histoire dramatique en France" and +late curator of the Musee du Conservatoire I am indebted for some +precious communications. M. Gustave Chouquet, who at the time we are +speaking of was a youth and still at the College, informed me in a +charming letter that he was present at this concert at which Chopin +played, and also at the preceding one (on Good Friday) at which Liszt +played Weber's "Concertstuck," and that he remembered very well "the +fiery playing of Liszt and the ineffable poetry of Chopin's style." +In another letter M. Chouquet gave a striking resume of the vivid +reminiscences of his first impressions:-- + + Liszt, in 1835 [he wrote], represented a merveilleux the + prototype of the virtuoso; while in my opinion Chopin + personified the poet. The first aimed at effect and posed as + the Paganini of the piano; Chopin, on the other hand, seemed + never to concern himself [se preuccuper] about the public, + and to listen only to the inner voices. He was unequal; but + when inspiration took hold of him [s'emparait de hit] he made + the keyboard sing in an ineffable manner. I owe him some + poetic hours which I shall never forget. + +One of the facts safely deducible from the often doubtful and +contradictory testimonies relative to Chopin's public performances is, +that when he appeared before a large and mixed audience he failed to +call forth general enthusiasm. He who wishes to carry the multitude +away with him must have in him a force akin to the broad sweep of a +full river. Chopin, however, was not a Demosthenes, Cicero, Mirabeau, or +Pitt. Unless he addressed himself to select conventicles of sympathetic +minds, the best of his subtle art remained uncomprehended. How well +Chopin knew this may be gathered from what he said to Liszt:-- + + I am not at all fit for giving concerts, the crowd + intimidates me, its breath suffocates me, I feel paralysed by + its curious look, and the unknown faces make me dumb. But you + are destined for it, for when you do not win your public, you + have the power to overwhelm it. + +Opposition and indifference, which stimulate more vigorous natures, +affected Chopin as touch does the mimosa pudica, the sensitive +plant--they made him shrink and wither. Liszt observes correctly that +the concerts did not so much fatigue Chopin's physical constitution +as provoke his irritability as a poet; that, in fact, his delicate +constitution was less a reason than a pretext for abstention, he wishing +to avoid being again and again made the subject of debate. But it is +more difficult for one in similar circumstances not to feel as Chopin +did than for a successful virtuoso like Liszt to say:-- + + If Chopin suffered on account of his not being able to take + part in those public and solemn jousts where popular + acclamation salutes the victor; if he felt depressed at + seeing himself excluded from them, it was because he did not + esteem highly enough what he had, to do gaily without what he + had not. + +To be sure, the admiration of the best men of his time ought to have +consoled him for the indifference of the dull crowd. But do we not all +rather yearn for what we have not than enjoy what we have? Nay, do we +not even often bewail the unattainableness of vain bubbles when it would +be more seasonable to rejoice in the solid possessions with which we +are blessed? Chopin's discontent, however, was caused by the +unattainableness not of a vain bubble, but of a precious crown. There +are artists who pretend to despise the great public, but their abuse of +it when it withholds its applause shows their real feeling. No artist +can at heart be fully satisfied with the approval of a small minority; +Chopin, at any rate, was not such a one. Nature, who had richly endowed +him with the qualities that make a virtuoso, had denied him one, perhaps +the meanest of all, certainly the least dispensable, the want of which +balked him of the fulfilment of the promise with which the others had +flattered him, of the most brilliant reward of his striving. In the +lists where men much below his worth won laurels and gold in abundance +he failed to obtain a fair share of the popular acclamation. This +was one of the disappointments which, like malignant cancers, cruelly +tortured and slowly consumed his life. + +The first performance of Bellini's "I Puritani" at the Theatre-Italien +(January 24, 1835), which as well as that of Halevy's "La Juive" at the +Academic (February 23, 1835), and of Auber's "Le cheval de bronze" at +the Opera-Comique (March 23, 1835), was one of the chief musico-dramatic +events of the season 1834-1835, reminds me that I ought to say a few +words about the relation which existed between the Italian and the +Polish composer. Most readers will have heard of Chopin's touching +request to be buried by the side of Bellini. Loath though I am to +discredit so charming a story, duty compels me to state that it is +wholly fictitious. Chopin's liking for Bellini and his music, how ever, +was true and real enough. Hiller relates that he rarely saw him so +deeply moved as at a performance of Norma, which they attended together, +and that in the finale of the second act, in which Rubini seemed to sing +tears, Chopin had tears in his eyes. A liking for the Italian operatic +music of the time, a liking which was not confined to Bellini's works, +but, as Franchomme, Wolff, and others informed me, included also those +of Rossini, appears at first sight rather strange in a musician of +Chopin's complexion; the prevalent musical taste at Warsaw, and a +kindred trait in the national characters of the Poles and Italians, +however, account for it. With regard to Bellini, Chopin's sympathy was +strengthened by the congeniality of their individual temperaments. Many +besides Leon Escudier may have found in the genius of Chopin points of +resemblance with Bellini as well as with Raphael--two artists who, it is +needless to say, were heaven-wide apart in the mastery of the craft of +their arts, and in the width, height, and depth of their conceptions. +The soft, rounded Italian contours and sweet sonorousness of some of +Chopin's cantilene cannot escape the notice of the observer. Indeed, +Chopin's Italicisms have often been pointed out. Let me remind the +reader here only of some remarks of Schumann's, made apropos of the +Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35:-- + + It is known that Bellini and Chopin were friends, and that + they, who often made each other acquainted with their + compositions, may perhaps have had some artistic influence on + each other. But, as has been said, there is [on the part of + Chopin] only a slight leaning to the southern manner; as soon + as the cantilena is at an end the Sarmatian flashes out + again. + +To understand Chopin's sympathy we have but to picture to ourselves +Bellini's personality--the perfectly well-proportioned, slender figure, +the head with its high forehead and scanty blonde hair, the well-formed +nose, the honest, bright look, the expressive mouth; and within this +pleasing exterior, the amiable, modest disposition, the heart that felt +deeply, the mind that thought acutely. M. Charles Maurice relates a +characteristic conversation in his "Histoire anecdotique du Theatre." +Speaking to Bellini about "La Sonnambula," he had remarked that there +was soul in his music. This expression pleased the composer immensely. +"Oui, n'est-ce pas? De l'ame!" he exclaimed in his soft Italian manner +of speaking, "C'est ce que je veux...De L'ame! Oh! je suis sensible! +Merci!...C'est que l'ame, c'est toute la musique!" "And he pressed my +hands," says Charles Maurice, "as if I had discovered a new merit in his +rare talent." This specimen of Bellini's conversation is sufficient to +show that his linguistic accomplishments were very limited. Indeed, as +a good Sicilian he spoke Italian badly, and his French was according to +Heine worse than bad, it was frightful, apt to make people's hair stand +on end. + +When one was in the same salon with him, his vicinity inspired one with +a certain anxiety mingled with the fascination of terror which repelled +and attracted at the same time. His puns were not always of an amusing +kind. Hiller also mentions Bellini's bad grammar and pronunciation, but +he adds that the contrast between what he said and the way he said +it gave to his gibberish a charm which is often absent from the +irreproachable language of trained orators. It is impossible to +conjecture what Bellini might have become as a musician if, instead +of dying before the completion of his thirty-third year (September 24, +1835), he had lived up to the age of fifty or sixty; thus much, however, +is certain, that there was still in him a vast amount of undeveloped +capability. Since his arrival in Paris he had watched attentively the +new musical phenomena that came there within his ken, and the "Puritani" +proves that he had not done so without profit. This sweet singer from +sensuous Italy was not insensible even to the depth and grandeur of +German music. After hearing Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, for instance, +he said to Hiller, his eyes glistening as if he had himself done a great +deed: "E bel comme la nature!" [Footnote: I give the words literally +as they are printed in Hiller's Kimmerleben. The mixture of Italian +and French was no doubt intended, but hardly the spelling.] In short, +Bellini was a true artist, and therefore a meet companion for a true +artist like Chopin, of whose music it can be said with greater force +than of that of most composers that "it is all soul." Chopin, who of +course met Bellini here and there in the salons of the aristocracy, +came also in closer contact with him amidst less fashionable but +more congenial surroundings. I shall now let Hiller, the pleasant +story-teller, speak, who, after remarking that Bellini took a great +interest in piano-forte music, even though it was not played by a +Chopin, proceeds thus:-- + + I can never forget some evenings which I spent with him + [Bellini] and Chopin and a few other guests at Madame + Freppa's. Madame Freppa, an accomplished and exceedingly + musical woman, born at Naples, but of French extraction, had, + in order to escape from painful family circumstances, settled + in Paris, where she taught singing in the most distinguished + circles. She had an exceedingly sonorous though not powerful + voice, and an excellent method, and by her rendering of + Italian folk-songs and other simple vocal compositions of the + older masters charmed even the spoiled frequenters of the + Italian Opera. We cordially esteemed her, and sometimes went + together to visit her at the extreme end of the Faubourg St. + Germain, where she lived with her mother on a troisieme au + dessus de l'entresol, high above all the noise and tumult of + the ever-bustling city. There music was discussed, sung, and + played, and then again discussed, played, and sung. Chopin + and Madame Freppa seated themselves by turns at the + pianoforte; I, too, did my best; Bellini made remarks, and + accompanied himself in one or other of his cantilene, rather + in illustration of what he had been saying than for the + purpose of giving a performance of them. He knew how to sing + better than any German composer whom I have met, and had a + voice less full of sound than of feeling. His pianoforte- + playing sufficed for the reproduction of his orchestra, + which, indeed, is not saying much. But he knew very well what + he wanted, and was far from being a kind of natural poet, as + some may imagine him to have been. + +In the summer of 1835, towards the end of July, Chopin journeyed to +Carlsbad, whither his father had been sent by the Warsaw physicians. The +meeting of the parents and their now famous son after a separation of +nearly five years was no doubt a very joyous one; but as no accounts +have come down to us of Chopin's doings and feelings during his sojourn +in the Bohemian watering-place, I shall make no attempt to fill up the +gap by a gushing description of what may have been, evolved out of +the omniscience of my inner consciousness, although this would be an +insignificant feat compared with those of a recent biographer whose +imaginativeness enabled her to describe the appearance of the sky +and the state of the weather in the night when her hero became a free +citizen of this planet, and to analyse minutely the characters of +private individuals whose lives were passed in retirement, whom she had +never seen, and who had left neither works nor letters by which they +might be judged. + +From Carlsbad Chopin went to Dresden. His doings there were of great +importance to him, and are of great interest to us. In fact, a +new love-romance was in progress. But the story had better be told +consecutively, for which reason I postpone my account of his stay in the +Saxon capital till the next chapter. + +Frederick Wieck, the father and teacher of Clara, who a few years later +became the wife of Robert Schumann, sent the following budget of Leipzig +news to Nauenburg, a teacher of music in Halle, in the autumn of 1835:-- + + The first subscription concert will take place under the + direction of Mendelssohn on October 4, the second on October + 4. To-morrow or the day after to-morrow Chopin will arrive + here from Dresden, but will probably not give a concert, for + he is very lazy. He could stay here for some time, if false + friends (especially a dog of a Pole) did not prevent him from + making himself acquainted with the musical side of Leipzig. + But Mendelssohn, who is a good friend of mine and Schumann's, + will oppose this. Chopin does not believe, judging from a + remark he made to a colleague in Dresden, that there is any + lady in Germany who can play his compositions--we will see + what Clara can do. + +The Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, Schumann's paper, of September 29, 1835, +contained the following announcement:-- + + Leipzig will soon be able to show a Kalisz [Footnote: An + allusion to the encampment of Russian and Prussian troops and + friendly meeting of princes which took place there in 1835.] + as regards musical crowned heads. Herr Mendelssohn has + already arrived. Herr Moscheles comes this week; and besides + him there will be Chopin, and later, Pixis and Franzilla. + [Footnote: Franzilla (or Francilla) Pixis, the adopted + daughter of Peter Pixis, whose acquaintance the reader made + in one of the preceding chapters (p. 245).] + +The details of the account of Chopin's visit to Leipzig which I am now +going to give, were communicated to me by Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel, +the well-known professor of pianoforte-playing at the Leipzig +Conservatorium, who died in 1880. + +In the middle of the year 1835 the words "Chopin is coming" were passing +from mouth to mouth, and caused much stir in the musical circles of +Leipzig. Shortly after this my informant saw Mendelssohn in the street +walking arm in arm with a young man, and he knew at once that the Polish +musician had arrived, for this young man could be no other than Chopin. +From the direction in which the two friends were going, he guessed +whither their steps were tending. He, therefore, ran as fast as his legs +would carry him to his master Wieck, to tell him that Chopin would be +with him in another moment. The visit had been expected, and a little +party was assembled, every one of which was anxious to see and hear +the distinguished artist. Besides Wieck, his wife, daughter, and +sister-in-law, there were present Robert Schumann and Wieck's pupils +Wenzel, Louis Rakemann, and Ulex. But the irascible pedagogue, who felt +offended because Chopin had not come first to him, who had made such +efforts for the propagation of his music, would not stay and welcome +his visitor, but withdrew sulkily into the inner apartments. Wieck had +scarcely left the room when Mendelssohn and Chopin entered. The former, +who had some engagement, said, "Here is Chopin!" and then left, rightly +thinking this laconic introduction sufficient. Thus the three most +distinguished composers of their time were at least for a moment brought +together in the narrow space of a room. [Footnote: This dictum, like +all superlatives and sweeping assertions, will no doubt raise objectors; +but, I think, it may be maintained, and easily maintained with the +saving clause "apart from the stage."] Chopin was in figure not unlike +Mendelssohn, but the former was more lightly built and more graceful in +his movements. He spoke German fluently, although with a foreign accent. +The primary object of Chopin's visit was to make the acquaintance of +Clara Wieck, who had already acquired a high reputation as a pianist. +She played to him among other things the then new and not yet published +Sonata in F sharp minor (Op. 11) by Schumann, which she had lately been +studying. The gentlemen dared not ask Chopin to play because of the +piano, the touch of which was heavy and which consequently would not +suit him. But the ladies were bolder, and did not cease entreating him +till he sat down and played his Nocturne in E flat (Op. 9, No. 2). After +the lapse of forty-two years Wenzel was still in raptures about the +wonderful, fairy-like lightness and delicacy of Chopin's touch and +style. The conversation seems to have turned on Schubert, one of +Schumann's great favourites, for Chopin, in illustration of something he +said, played the commencement of Schubert's Alexander March. Meanwhile +Wieck was sorely tried by his curiosity when Chopin was playing, and +could not resist the temptation of listening in the adjoining room, and +even peeping through the door that stood slightly ajar. When the visit +came to a close; Schumann conducted Chopin to the house of his friend +Henrietta Voigt, a pupil of Louis Berger's, and Wenzel, who accompanied +them to the door, heard Schumann say to Chopin: "Let us go in here where +we shall find a thorough, intelligent pianist and a good piano." They +then entered the house, and Chopin played and also stayed for dinner. +No sooner had he left, than the lady, who up to that time had been +exceedingly orthodox in her musical opinions and tastes, sent to +Kistner's music-shop, and got all the compositions by Chopin which were +in stock. + +The letter of Mendelssohn which I shall quote presently and an entry in +Henrietta Voigt's diary of the year 1836, which will be quoted in the +next chapter, throw some doubt on the latter part of Herr Wenzel's +reminiscences. Indeed, on being further questioned on the subject, +he modified his original information to this, that he showed Chopin, +unaccompanied by Schumann, the way to the lady's house, and left him at +the door. As to the general credibility of the above account, I may say +that I have added nothing to my informant's communications, and that in +my intercourse with him I found him to be a man of acute observation and +tenacious memory. What, however, I do not know, is the extent to which +the mythopoeic faculty was developed in him. + +[Footnote: Richard Pohl gave incidentally a characterisation of this +exceedingly interesting personality in the Signale of September, 1886, +No. 48. Having been personally acquainted with Wenzel and many of his +friends and pupils, I can vouch for its truthfulness. He was "one of +the best and most amiable men I have known," writes R. Pohl, "full of +enthusiasm for all that is beautiful, obliging, unselfish, thoroughly +kind, and at the same time so clever, so cultured, and so many-sided +as--excuse me, gentlemen--I have rarely found a pianoforte-teacher. +He gave pianoforte lessons at the Conservatorium and in many private +houses; he worked day after day, year after year, from morning till +night, and with no other outcome as far as he himself was concerned +than that all his pupils--especially his female pupils--loved him +enthusiastically. He was a pupil of Friedrich Wieck and a friend of +Schumann."] + +In a letter dated October 6, 1835, and addressed to his family, +Mendelssohn describes another part of Chopin's sojourn in Leipzig and +gives us his opinion of the Polish artist's compositions and playing:-- + + The day after I accompanied the Hensels to Delitzsch, Chopin + was here; he intended to remain only one day, so we spent + this entirely together and had a great deal of music. I + cannot deny, dear Fanny, that I have lately found that you do + not do him justice in your judgment [of his talents]; perhaps + he was not in a right humour for playing when you heard him, + which may not unfrequently be the case with him. But his + playing has enchanted me anew, and I am persuaded that if you + and my father had heard some of his better pieces played as + he played them to me, you would say the same. There is + something thoroughly original and at the same time so very + masterly in his piano-forte-playing that he may be called a + really perfect virtuoso; and as every kind of perfection is + welcome and gratifying to me, that day was a most pleasant + one, although so entirely different from the previous ones + spent with you Hensels. + + I was glad to be once more with a thorough musician, not with + those half-virtuosos and half-classics who would gladly + combine in music les honneurs de la vertu et les plaisirs du + vice, but with one who has his perfect and well-defined genre + [Richtung]. To whatever extent it may differ from mine, I can + get on with it famously; but not with those half-men. The + Sunday evening was really curious when Chopin made me play + over my oratorio to him, while curious Leipzigers stole into + the room to see him, and how between the first and second + parts he dashed off his new Etudes and a new Concerto, to the + astonishment of the Leipzigers, and I afterwards resumed my + St. Paul, just as if a Cherokee and a Kaffir had met and + conversed. He has such a pretty new notturno, several parts + of which I have retained in my memory for the purpose of + playing it for Paul's amusement. Thus we passed the time + pleasantly together, and he promised seriously to return in + the course of the winter if I would compose a new symphony + and perform it in honour of him. We vowed these things in the + presence of three witnesses, and we shall see whether we both + keep our word. My works of Handel [Footnote: A present from + the Committee of the Cologne Musical Festival of 1835.] + arrived before Chopin's departure, and were a source of quite + childish delight to him; but they are really so beautiful + that I cannot sufficiently rejoice in their possession. + +Although Mendelssohn never played any of Chopin's compositions in +public, he made his piano pupils practise some of them. Karasowski is +wrong in saying that Mendelssohn had no such pupils; he had not many, it +is true, but he had a few. A remark which Mendelssohn once made in his +peculiar naive manner is very characteristic of him and his opinion +of Chopin. What he said was this: "Sometimes one really does not know +whether Chopin's music is right or wrong." On the whole, however, if one +of the two had to complain of the other's judgment, it was not Chopin +but Mendelssohn, as we shall see farther on. + +To learn what impression Chopin made on Schumann, we must once more turn +to the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, where we find the Polish artist's +visit to Leipzig twice mentioned:-- + + October 6, 1835. Chopin was here, but only for a few hours, + which he passed in private circles. He played just as he + composes, that is, uniquely. + +The second mention is in the P.S. of a transcendental Schwarmerbrief +addressed by Eusebius (the personification of the gentle, dreamy side of +Schumann's character) to Chiara (Clara Wieck):-- + + October 20, 1835. Chopin was here. Florestan [the + personification of the strong, passionate side of Schumann's + character] rushed to him. I saw them arm in arm glide rather + than walk. I did not speak with him, was quite startled at + the thought. + +On his way to Paris, Chopin stopped also at Heidelberg, where he visited +the father of his pupil Adolph Gutmann, who treated him, as one of his +daughters remarked, not like a prince or even a king, but like somebody +far superior to either. The children were taught to look up to Chopin as +one who had no equal in his line. And the daughter already referred to +wrote more than thirty years afterwards that Chopin still stood out in +her memory as the most poetical remembrance of her childhood and youth. + +Chopin must have been back in Paris in the first half or about the +middle of October, for the Gazette musicale of the 18th of that month +contains the following paragraph:-- + + One of the most eminent pianists of our epoch, M. Chopin, has + returned to Paris, after having made a tour in Germany which + has been for him a real ovation. Everywhere his admirable + talent obtained the most flattering reception and excited + enthusiasm. It was, indeed, as if he had not left our capital + at all. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + + +1835--1837. + + + +PUBLICATIONS IN 1835 AND 1836.--FIRST PERFORMANCE OF LES HUGUENOTS.-- +GUSIKOW, LIPINSKI, THALBERG.--CHOPIN'S IMPRESSIONABLENESS AND FICKLENESS +IN REGARD TO THE FAIR SEX.--THE FAMILY WODZINSKI.--CHOPIN'S LOVE FOR +MARIA WODZINSKA (DRESDEN, 1835; MARIENBAD, 1836).--ANOTHER VISIT TO +LEIPZIG (1836).--CHARACTER OF THE CHIEF EVENTS IN 1837.--MENTION OF +HIS FIRST MEETING WITH GEORGE SAND.--HIS VISIT TO LONDON.--NEWSPAPER +ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANOTHER VISIT TO MARIENBAD.--STATE OF HIS HEALTH IN +1837. + + + +IF we leave out of account his playing in the salons, Chopin's artistic +activity during the period comprised in this chapter was confined to +teaching and composition. [Footnote: A Paris correspondent wrote in the +Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik of May 17, 1836, that Chopin had not been +heard at all that winter, meaning, of course, that he had not been +heard in public.] The publication of his works enables us to form an +approximate idea of how he was occupied as a creative musician. In the +year 1835 were published: in February, Op. 20, Premier Scherzo (in B +minor), dedicated to Mr. T. Albrecht, and in November, Op. 24, Quatre +Mazurkas, dedicated to M. le Comte de Perthuis. In 1836 appeared: in +April, Op. 21, Second Concerto (in F minor), dedicated to Madame la +Comtesse Delphine Potocka: in May, Op. 27, Deux Nocturnes (in C sharp +minor and D flat major), dedicated to Madame la Comtesse d'Appony; +in June, Op. 23, Ballade (in G minor), dedicated to M. le Baron de +Stockhausen; in July, Op. 22, Grande Polonaise brillante (E flat major) +precedee d'un Andante spianato for pianoforte and orchestra, dedicated +to Madame la Baronne d'Est; and Op. 26, Deux Polonaises (in C sharp +minor and E flat minor), dedicated to Mr. J. Dessauer. It is hardly +necessary to point out that the opus numbers do not indicate the order +of succession in which the works were composed. The Concerto belongs to +the year 1830; the above notes show that Op. 24 and 27 were sooner in +print than Op. 23 and 26; and Op. 25, although we hear of its being +played by the composer in 1834 and 1835, was not published till 1837. + +The indubitably most important musical event of the season 1835-1836, +was the production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, which took place on +February 29, 1836, and had an extraordinary success. The concert-rooms, +however, concern us more than the opera-houses. This year brought to +Paris two Polish musicians: Lipinski, the violinist, and Gusikow, the +virtuoso on the Strohfiedel, [FOOTNOTE: "Straw-fiddle," Gigelira, or +Xylophone, an instrument consisting of a graduated series of bars of +wood that lie on cords of twisted straw and are struck with sticks.] +whom Mendelssohn called "a true genius," and another contemporary +pointed out as one of the three great stars (Paganini and Malibran were +the two others) at that time shining in the musical heavens. The story +goes that Lipinski asked Chopin to prepare the ground for him in Paris. +The latter promised to do all in his power if Lipinski would give a +concert for the benefit of the Polish refugees. The violinist at first +expressed his willingness to do so, but afterwards drew back, giving as +his reason that if he played for the Polish refugees he would spoil his +prospects in Russia, where he intended shortly to make an artistic tour. +Enraged at this refusal, Chopin declined to do anything to further +his countryman's plans in Paris. But whether the story is true or not, +Lipinski's concert at the Hotel de Ville, on March 3, was one of the +most brilliant and best-attended of the season. [FOOTNOTE: Revue et +Gazette musicale of March 13, 1836. Mainzer had a report to the same +effect in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik.] + +The virtuoso, however, whose appearance caused the greatest sensation +was Thalberg. The Gazette musicale announced his arrival on November +8, 1835. He was first heard at M. Zimmermann's; Madame Viardot-Garcia, +Duprez, and De Beriot being the other artists that took active parts in +the soiree. The enthusiasm which Thalberg on this occasion as well as +subsequently excited was immense. The Menestrel expressed the all but +unanimous opinion when, on March 13, 1836, it said: "Thalberg is not +only the first pianist in the world, but he is also a most distinguished +composer." His novel effects astonished and delighted his hearers. +The pianists showed their appreciation by adopting their confrere's +manipulations and treatment of the piano as soon as these ceased to +puzzle them; the great majority of the rising Parisian pianists became +followers of Thalberg, nor were some of the older ones slow in profiting +by his example. The most taking of the effects which Thalberg brought +into vogue was the device of placing the melody in the middle--i.e., +the most sonorous part of the instrument--and dividing it so between the +hands that they could at the same time accompany it with full chords +and brilliant figures. Even if he borrowed the idea from the harpist +Parish-Alvars, or from the pianist Francesco G. Pollini, there remains +to him the honour of having improved the invention of his forerunners +and applied it with superior ability. His greatness, however, does not +solely or even mainly rest on this or any other ingeniously-contrived +and cleverly-performed trick. The secret of his success lay in the +aristocratic nature of his artistic personality, in which exquisite +elegance and calm self-possession reigned supreme. In accordance with +this fundamental disposition were all the details of his style of +playing. His execution was polished to the highest degree; the evenness +of his scales and the clearness of his passages and embellishments could +not be surpassed. If sensuous beauty is the sole end of music, his touch +must be pronounced the ideal of perfection, for it extracted the essence +of beauty. Strange as the expression "unctuous sonorousness" may sound, +it describes felicitously a quality of a style of playing from which +roughness, harshness, turbulence, and impetuosity were altogether +absent. Thalberg has been accused of want of animation, passion, in +short, of soul; but as Ambros remarked with great acuteness-- + + Thalberg's compositions and playing had soul, a salon soul to + be sure, somewhat like that of a very elegant woman of the + world, who, nevertheless, has really a beautiful disposition + [Gemueth], which, however, is prevented from fully showing + itself by the superexquisiteness of her manners. + +This simile reminds me of a remark of Heine's, who thought that Thalberg +distinguished himself favourably from other pianists by what he (Heine) +felt inclined to call "his musical conduct [Betragen]." Here are some +more of the poet-critic's remarks on the same subject:-- + + As in life so also in art, Thalberg manifests innate tact; + his execution is so gentlemanlike, so opulent, so decorous, + so entirely without grimace, so entirely without forced + affectation of genius [forcirtes Genialthun], so entirely + without that boastful boorishness which badly conceals the + inner pusillanimity...He enchants by balsamic euphony, by + sobriety and gentleness....There is only one I prefer. That + is Chopin. + +As a curiosity I must quote a passage from a letter dated July 10, +1836, and addressed by George Sand to the Comtesse d'Agoult. Feelings +of friendship, and, in one case at least, of more than friendship, made +these ladies partial to another prince of the keyboard:-- + + I have heard Thalberg in Paris. He made on me the impression + of a good little child, very nice and very well-behaved. + There are hours when Franz [Liszt], while amusing himself, + trifles [badine], like him, on some notes in order to let the + furious elements afterwards loose on this gentle breeze. + +Liszt, who was at the time of Thalberg's visit to Paris in Switzerland, +doubted the correctness of the accounts which reached him of this +virtuoso's achievements. Like Thomas he would trust only his own senses; +and as his curiosity left him no rest, he betook himself in March, +1836, to Paris. But, unfortunately, he arrived too late, Thalberg having +quitted the capital on the preceding day. The enthusiastic praises which +were everywhere the answer to his inquiries about Thalberg irritated +Liszt, and seemed to him exaggerations based on delusions. To challenge +criticism and practically refute the prevalent opinion, he gave two +private soirees, one at Pleyel's and another at Erard's, both of which +were crowded, the latter being attended by more than four hundred +people. The result was a brilliant victory, and henceforth there were +two camps. The admiration and stupefaction of those who heard him were +extraordinary; for since his last appearance Liszt had again made such +enormous progress as to astonish even his most intimate friends. In +answer to those who had declared that with Thalberg a new era began, +Berlioz, pointing to Liszt's Fantasia on I Pirati and that on themes +from La Juive, now made the counter-declaration that "this was the new +school of pianoforte-playing." Indeed, Liszt was only now attaining to +the fulness of his power as a pianist and composer for his instrument; +and when after another sojourn in Switzerland he returned in December, +1836, to Paris, and in the course of the season entered the lists with +Thalberg, it was a spectacle for the gods. "Thalberg," writes Leon +Escudier, "est la grace, comme Liszt la force; le jeu de l'un est blond, +celui de l'autre est brun." A lady who heard the two pianists at a +concert for the Italian poor, given in the salons of the Princess +Belgiojoso, exclaimed: "Thalberg est le premier pianiste du monde."--"Et +Liszt?" asked the person to whom the words were addressed--"Liszt! +Liszt--c'est le seul!" was the reply. This is the spirit in which great +artists should be judged. It is oftener narrowness of sympathy than +acuteness of discrimination which makes people exalt one artist and +disparage another who differs from him. In the wide realm of art there +are to be found many kinds of excellence; one man cannot possess them +all and in the highest degree. Some of these excellences are indeed +irreconcilable and exclude each other; most of them can only be combined +by a compromise. Hence, of two artists who differ from each other, one +is not necessarily superior to the other; and he who is the greater on +the whole may in some respects be inferior to the lesser. Perhaps the +reader will say that these are truisms. To be sure they are. And yet if +he considers only the judgments which are every day pronounced, he may +easily be led to believe that these truisms are most recondite truths +now for the first time revealed. When Liszt after his first return +from Switzerland did not find Thalberg himself, he tried to satisfy his +curiosity by a careful examination of that pianist's compositions. The +conclusions he came to be set forth in a criticism of Thalberg's Grande +Fantaisie, Op. 22, and the Caprices, Op. 15 and 19, which in 1837 made +its appearance in the Gazette musicale, accompanied by an editorial +foot-note expressing dissent. I called Liszt's article a criticism, but +"lampoon" or "libel" would have been a more appropriate designation. In +the introductory part Liszt sneers at Thalberg's title of "Pianist to +His Majesty the Emperor of Austria," and alludes to his rival's distant +(i.e., illegitimate) relationship to a noble family, ascribing his +success to a great extent to these two circumstances. The personalities +and abusiveness of the criticism remind one somewhat of the manner +in which the scholars of earlier centuries, more especially of the +sixteenth and seventeenth, dealt critically with each other. Liszt +declares that love of truth, not jealousy, urged him to write; but he +deceived himself. Nor did his special knowledge and experience as a +musician and virtuoso qualify him, as he pretended, above others for the +task he had undertaken; he forgot that no man can be a good judge in his +own cause. No wonder, therefore, that Fetis, enraged at this unprovoked +attack of one artist on a brother-artist, took up his pen in defence of +the injured party. Unfortunately, his retort was a lengthy and pedantic +dissertation, which along with some true statements contained many +questionable, not to say silly, ones. In nothing, however, was he so far +off the mark as in his comparative estimate of Liszt and Thalberg. +The sentences in which he sums up the whole of his reasoning show this +clearly: "You are the pre-eminent man of the school which is effete and +which has nothing more to do, but you are not the man of a new school! +Thalberg is this man--herein lies the whole difference between you two." +Who can help smiling at this combination of pompous authoritativeness +and wretched short-sightedness? It has been truly observed by Ambros +that there is between Thalberg and Liszt all the difference that +exists between a man of talent and a man of genius; indeed, the former +introduced but a new fashion, whereas the latter founded really a new +school. The one originated a few new effects, the other revolutionised +the whole style of writing for the pianoforte. Thalberg was perfect +in his genre, but he cannot be compared to an artist of the breadth, +universality, and, above all, intellectual and emotional power of Liszt. +It is possible to describe the former, but the latter, Proteus-like, is +apt to elude the grasp of him who endeavours to catch hold of him. The +Thalberg controversy did not end with Fetis's article. Liszt wrote a +rejoinder in which he failed to justify himself, but succeeded in giving +the poor savant some hard hits. I do not think Liszt would have approved +of the republication of these literary escapades if he had taken the +trouble to re-read them. It is very instructive to compare his criticism +of Thalberg's compositions with what Schumann--who in this case is by no +means partial--said of them. In the opinion of the one the Fantaisie sur +Les Huguenots is not only one of the most empty and mediocre works, but +it is also so supremely monotonous that it produces extreme weariness. +In the opinion of the other the Fantaisie deserves the general +enthusiasm which it has called forth, because the composer proves +himself master of his language and thoughts, conducts himself like a man +of the world, binds and loosens the threads with so much ease that it +seems quite unintentional, and draws the audience with him wherever he +wishes without either over-exciting or wearying it. The truth, no +doubt, is rather with Schumann than with Liszt. Although Thalberg's +compositions cannot be ranked with the great works of ideal art, they +are superior to the morceaux of Czerny, Herz, and hoc genus omne, their +appearance marking indeed an improvement in the style of salon music. + +But what did Chopin think of Thalberg? He shared the opinion of +Liszt, whose side he took. In fact, Edouard Wolff told me that Chopin +absolutely despised Thalberg. To M. Mathias I owe the following +communication, which throws much light on Chopin's attitude:-- + + I saw Chopin with George Sand at the house of Louis Viardot, + before the marriage of the latter with Pauline Garcia. I was + very young, being only twelve years old, but I remember it as + though it had been yesterday. Thalberg was there, and had + played his second fantasia on Don Giovanni (Op. 42), and upon + my word Chopin complimented him most highly and with great + gravity; nevertheless, God knows what Chopin thought of it in + his heart, for he had a horror of Thalberg's arrangements, + which I have seen and heard him parody in the most droll and + amusing manner, for Chopin had the sense of parody and + ridicule in a high degree. + +Thalberg had not much intercourse with Chopin, nor did he exercise the +faintest shadow of an influence over him; but as one of the foremost +pianist-composers--indeed, one of the most characteristic phenomena +of the age--he could not be passed by in silence. Moreover, the noisy +careers of Liszt and Thalberg serve as a set-off to the noiseless one of +Chopin. + +I suspect that Chopin was one of that race of artists and poets "qui +font de la passion un instrument de l'art et de la poesie, et dont +l'esprit n'a d'activite qu'autant qu'il est mis en mouvement par +les forces motrices du coeur." At any rate, the tender passion was a +necessary of his existence. That his disappointed first love did not +harden his heart and make him insensible to the charms of the fair sex +is apparent from some remarks of George Sand, who says that although +his heart was ardent and devoted, it was not continuously so to any one +person, but surrendered itself alternately to five or six affections, +each of which, as they struggled within it, got by turns the mastery +over all the others. He would passionately love three women in the +course of one evening party and forget them as soon as he had turned his +back, while each of them imagined that she had exclusively charmed him. +In short, Chopin was of a very impressionable nature: beauty and grace, +nay, even a mere smile, kindled his enthusiasm at first sight, and +an awkward word or equivocal glance was enough to disenchant him. But +although he was not at all exclusive in his own affections, he was so +in a high degree with regard to those which he demanded from others. +In illustration of how easily Chopin took a dislike to anyone, and how +little he measured what he accorded of his heart with what he exacted +from that of others, George Sand relates a story which she got from +himself. In order to avoid misrepresenting her, I shall translate her +own words:-- + + He had taken a great fancy to the granddaughter of a + celebrated master. He thought of asking her in marriage at + the same time that he entertained the idea of another + marriage in Poland--his loyalty being engaged nowhere, and + his fickle heart floating from one passion to the other. The + young Parisian received him very kindly, and all went as well + as could be till on going to visit her one day in company + with another musician, who was of more note in Paris than he + at that time, she offered a chair to this gentleman before + thinking of inviting Chopin to be seated. He never called on + her again, and forgot her immediately. + +The same story was told me by other intimate friends of Chopin's, who +evidently believed in its genuineness; their version differed from that +of George Sand only in this, that there was no allusion to a lady-love +in Poland. Indeed, true as George Sand's observations are in the main, +we must make allowance for the novelist's habit of fashioning and +exaggerating, and the woman's endeavour to paint her dismissed and +aggrieved lover as black as possible. Chopin may have indulged in +innumerable amorous fancies, but the story of his life furnishes at +least one instance of his having loved faithfully as well as deeply. +Nor will it be denied that Chopin's love for Constantia Gladkowska was a +serious affair, whether the fatal end be attributable to him or her, +or both. And now I have to give an account of another love-affair which +deserves likewise the epithet "serious." + +As a boy Chopin contracted a friendship with the brothers Wodzinski, +who were boarders at his father's establishment. With them he went +repeatedly to Sluzewo, the property of their father, and thus became +also acquainted with the rest of the family. The nature of the relation +in which Chopin and they stood to each other is shown by a letter +written by the former on July 18, 1834, to one of the brothers who with +his mother and other members of the family was at that time staying at +Geneva, whither they had gone after the Polish revolution of 1830-31, in +which the three brothers--Anthony, Casimir, and Felix--had taken part:-- + + My dear Felix,--Very likely you thought "Fred must be moping + that he does not answer my letter!" But you will remember + that it was always my habit to do everything too late. Thus I + went also too late to Miss Fanche, and consequently was + obliged to wait till honest Wolf had departed. Were it not + that I have only recently come back from the banks of the + Rhine and have an engagement from which I cannot free myself + just now, I would immediately set out for Geneva to thank + your esteemed mamma and at the same time accept her kind + invitation. But cruel fate--in one word, it cannot be done. + Your sister was so good as to send me her composition. It + gives me the greatest pleasure, and happening to improvise + the veryevening of its arrival in one of our salons, I took + for my subject the pretty theme by a certain Maria with whom + in times gone by I played at hide and seek in the house of + Mr. Pszenny...To-day! Je prends la liberte d'envoyer a mon + estimable collegue Mile Marie une petite valse que je viens + de publier. May it afford her a hundredth part of the + pleasure which I felt on receiving her variations. In + conclusion, I once more thank your mamma most sincerely for + kindly remembering her old and faithful servant in whose + veins also there run some drops of Cujavian blood. + [Footnote: Cujavia is the name of a Polish district.] + + F. CHOPIN. + + P.S.--Embrace Anthony, stifle Casimir with caresses if you + can; as for Miss Maria make her a graceful and respectful + bow. Be surprised and say in a whisper, "Dear me, how tall + she has grown!" + +The Wodzinskis, with the exception of Anthony, returned in the summer of +1835 to Poland, making on their way thither a stay at Dresden. Anthony, +who was then in Paris and in constant intercourse with Chopin, kept the +latter informed of his people's movements and his people of Chopin's. +Thus it came about that they met at Dresden in September, 1835, whither +the composer went after his meeting with his parents at Carlsbad, +mentioned in the preceding chapter (p. 288). Count Wodzinski says in his +Les trois Romans de Frederic Chopin that Chopin had spoken to his father +about his project of marrying Maria Wodzinska, and that this idea had +sprung up in his soul by the mere force of recollections. The young +lady was then nineteen years of age, and, according to the writer just +mentioned, tall and slender in figure, and light and graceful in gait. +The features, he tells us, were distinguished neither by regularity nor +classical beauty, but had an indefinable charm. Her black eyes were +full of sweetness, reverie, and restrained fire; a smile of ineffable +voluptuousness played around her lips; and her magnificent hair was as +dark as ebony and long enough to serve her as a mantle. Chopin and Maria +saw each other every evening at the house of her uncle, the Palatine +Wodzinski. The latter concluded from their frequent tete-a-tete at the +piano and in corners that some love-making was going on between them. +When he found that his monitory coughs and looks produced no effect on +his niece, he warned his sister-in-law. She, however, took the matter +lightly, saying that it was an amitie d'enfance, that Maria was fond of +music, and that, moreover, there would soon be an end to all this--their +ways lying in opposite directions, hers eastward to Poland, his westward +to France. And thus things were allowed to go on as they had begun, +Chopin passing all his evenings with the Wodzinskis and joining them +in all their walks. At last the time of parting came, the clock of the +Frauenkirche struck the hour of ten, the carriage was waiting at the +door, Maria gave Chopin a rose from a bouquet on the table, and he +improvised a waltz which he afterwards sent her from Paris, and which +she called L'Adieu. Whatever we may think of the details of this scene +of parting, the waltz composed for Maria at Dresden is an undeniable +fact. Facsimiles may be seen in Szulc's Fryderyk Chopin and Count +Wodziriski's Les trois Romans de Frederic Chopin. The manuscript bears +the superscription: "Tempo de Valse" on the left, and "pour Mile. +Marie" on the right; and the subscription: "F. Chopin, Drezno [Dresden], +September, 1835." [FOOTNOTE: It is Op. 69, No. 1, one of the posthumous +works published by Julius Fontana.] + +The two met again in the following summer, this time at Marienbad, where +he knew she and her mother were going. They resumed their walks, music, +and conversations. She drew also his portrait. And then one day Chopin +proposed. Her answer was that she could not run counter to her parents' +wishes, nor could she hope to be able to bend their will; but she would +always preserve for him in her heart a grateful remembrance.[FOOTNOTE: +Count Wodzinski relates on p. 255 of his book that at a subsequent +period of her life the lady confided to him the above-quoted answer.] +This happened in August, 1836; and two days after mother and daughter +left Marienbad. Maria Wodzinska married the next year a son of Chopin's +godfather, Count Frederick Skarbek. The marriage turned but an unhappy +one, and was dissolved. Subsequently the Countess married a Polish +gentleman of the name of Orpiszewski, who died some years ago in +Florence. She, I think, is still alive. + +Karasowski relates the affair very differently. He says Chopin, who knew +the brothers Wodzinski in Poland, met them again in Paris, and through +them made the acquaintance of their sister Maria, whose beauty and +amiability inspired him at once with an interest which soon became +ardent love. But that Chopin had known her in Poland may be gathered +from the above letter to Felix Wodzinski, quite apart from the distinct +statements of the author of Les trois Romans that Chopin was a frequent +visitor at Sluzewo, and a great friend of Maria's. Further, Karasowski, +who does not mention at all the meeting of Chopin and the Wodzinskis at +Dresden in 1835, says that Chopin went in the middle of July, 1836, to +Marienbad, where he knew he would find Maria and her mother, and that +there he discovered that she whom he loved reciprocated his affection, +the consequence being an engagement approved of by her relations. When +the sojourn in Marienbad came to an end, the whole party betook itself +to Dresden, where they remained together for some weeks, which they +spent most pleasantly. + +[FOOTNOTE: Karasowski relates that Chopin was at the zenith of +happiness. His good humour was irresistible. He imitated the most famous +pianists, and played his dreamy mazurkas in the manner much in +favour with Warsaw amateurs--i.e., strictly in time and with the +strongly-accented rhythm of common dance-tunes. And his friends reminded +him of the tricks which, as a boy, he had played on his visits to the +country, and how he took away his sisters' kid gloves when he was going +to an evening-party, and could not buy himself new ones, promising to +send them dozens as soon as he had gained a good position in Paris. +Count Wodzinski, too, bears witness to Chopin's good humour while in the +company of the Wodzinskis. In the course of his account of the sojourn +at Marienbad, this writer speaks of Chopin's polichinades: "He imitated +then this or that famous artist, the playing of certain pupils or +compatriots, belabouring the keyboard with extravagant gestures, a wild +[echevele] and romantic manner, which he called aller a la chasse aux +pigeons."] + +Unless Chopin was twice with the Wodzinskis in Dresden, Karasowski must +be mistaken. That Chopin sojourned for some time at Dresden in 1835 +is evidenced by Wieck's letter, quoted on p. 288, and by the +above-mentioned waltz. The latter seems also to confirm what Count +Wodzinski says about the presence of the Wodzinskis at Dresden in that +year. On the other hand, we have no such documents to prove the presence +at Dresden in 1836 either of Chopin or the Wodzinskis. According to +Karasowski, the engagement made at Marienbad remained in force till the +middle of 1837, when Chopin received at Paris the news that the lady +withdrew from it. [FOOTNOTE: In explanation of the breaking-off of this +supposed engagement, it has also been said that the latter was favoured +by the mother, but opposed by the father.] The same authority informs +us that before this catastrophe Chopin had thoughts of settling with his +future wife in the neighbourhood of Warsaw, near his beloved parents +and sisters. There he would cultivate his art in retirement, and found +schools for the people. How, without a fortune of his own, and with a +wife who, although belonging to a fairly wealthy family, would not come +into the possession of her portion till after the death of her parents, +he could have realised these dreams, I am at a loss to conjecture. + +[FOONOTE: To enable his readers to measure the social distance that +separated Chopin from his beloved one, Count Wodzinski mentions among +other details that her father possessed a domain of about 50,000 +acres (20,000 hectares). It is hardly necessary to add that this large +acreage, which we will suppose to be correctly stated, is much less a +measure of the possessor's wealth than of his social rank.] + +Chopin's letters, which testify so conclusively to the cordial +friendship existing between him and the Wodzinskis, unfortunately +contain nothing which throws light on his connection with the young +lady, although her name occurs in them several times. On April 2, 1837, +Chopin wrote to Madame Wodzinska as follows:-- + + I take advantage of Madame Nakwaska's permission and enclose + a few words. I expect news from Anthony's own hand, and shall + send you a letter even more full of details than the one + which contained Vincent's enclosure. I beg of you to keep + your mind easy about him. As yet all are in the town. I am + not in possession of any details, because the correspondents + only give accounts of themselves. My letter of the same date + must certainly be in Sluzewo; and, as far as is possible, it + will set your mind at rest with regard to this Spaniard who + must, must write me a few words. I am not going to use many + words in expressing the sorrow I felt on learning the news of + your mother's death--not for her sake whom I did not know, + but for your sake whom I do know. (This is a matter of + course!) I have to confess, Madam, that I have had an attack + like the one I had in Marienbad; I sit before Miss Maria's + book, and were I to sit a hundred years I should be unable to + write anything in it. For there are days when I am out of + sorts. To-day I would prefer being in Sluzewo to writing to + Sluzewo. Then would I tell you more than I have now written. + My respects to Mr. Wodzinski and my kind regards to Miss + Maria, Casimir, Theresa, and Felix. + +The object of another letter, dated May 14, 1837, is likewise to give +news of Anthony Wodzinski, who was fighting in Spain. Miss Maria is +mentioned in the P.S. and urged to write a few words to her brother. + +After a careful weighing of the evidence before us, it appears to me +that--notwithstanding the novelistic tricking-out of Les trois Romans de +Frederic Chopin--we cannot but accept as the true account the author's +statement as to Chopin's proposal of marriage and Miss Wodzinska's +rejection at Marienbad in 1836. The testimony of a relation with direct +information from one of the two chief actors in the drama deserves more +credit than that of a stranger with, at best, second-hand information; +unless we prefer to believe that the lady misrepresented the facts +in order to show herself to the world in a more dignified and amiable +character than that of a jilt. The letters can hardly be quoted in +support of the engagement, for the rejection would still admit of the +continuation of the old friendship, and their tone does not indicate the +greater intimacy of a closer relationship. + +Subsequent to his stay at Marienbad Chopin again visited Leipzig. But +the promises which Mendelssohn and Chopin had so solemnly made to each +other in the preceding year had not been kept; the latter did not go +in the course of the winter to Leipzig, and if he had gone, the former +could not have performed a new symphony of his in honour of the guest. +Several passages in letters written by Schumann in the early part +of 1836 show, however, that Chopin was not forgotten by his Leipzig +friends, with whom he seems to have been in correspondence. On March 8, +1836, Schumann wrote to Moscheles:-- + + Mendelssohn sends you his hearty greetings. He has finished + his oratorio, and will conduct it himself at the Dusseldorf + Musical Festival. Perhaps I shall go there too, perhaps also + Chopin, to whom we shall write about it. + +The first performance of Mendelssohn's St. Paul took place at Dusseldorf +on May 22, and was a great success. But neither Schumann nor Chopin +was there. The latter was, no doubt, already planning his excursion to +Marienbad, and could not allow himself the luxury of two holidays within +so short a time. + +Here is another scrap from a letter of Schumann's, dated August +28, 1836, and addressed to his brother Edward and his sister-in-law +Theresa:-- + + I have just written to Chopin, who is said to be in + Marienbad, in order to learn whether he is really there. In + any case, I should visit you again in autumn. But if Chopin + answers my letter at once, I shall start sooner, and go to + Marienbad by way of Carlsbad. Theresa, what do you think! you + must come with me! Read first Chopin's answer, and then we + will fully discuss the rest. + +Chopin either had left or was about to leave Marienbad when he received +Schumann's letter. Had he received it sooner, his answer would not have +been very encouraging. For in his circumstances he could not but have +felt even the most highly-esteemed confrere, the most charming of +companions, in the way.[FOOTNOTE: Mendelscohn's sister, Rebecka +Dirichlet, found him completely absorbed in his Polish Countess. (See +The Mendelssohn Family, Vol. II, p. 15.)] But although the two musicians +did not meet at Marienbad, they saw each other at Leipzig. How much one +of them enjoyed the visit may be seen in the following extract from a +letter which Schumann wrote to Heinrich Dorn on September 14, 1836:-- + + The day before yesterday, just after I had received your + letter and was going to answer it, who should enter?--Chopin. + This was a great pleasure. We passed a very happy day + together, in honour of which I made yesterday a holiday...I + have a new ballade by Chopin. It appears to me his + genialischstes (not genialstes) work; and I told him that I + liked it best of all. + + [FOOTNOTE: "Sein genialischstes (nicht genialstes) Werk." I + take Schumann to mean that the ballade in question (the one + in G minor) is Chopin's most spirited, most daring work, but + not his most genial--i.e., the one fullest of genius. + Schumann's remark, in a criticism of Op. 37, 38, and 42, that + this ballade is the "wildest and most original" of Chopin's + compositions, confirms my conjecture.] + + After a long meditative pause he said with great emphasis: "I + am glad of that, it is the one which I too like best." He + played besides a number of new etudes, nocturnes, and + mazurkas--everything incomparable. You would like him very + much. But Clara [Wieck] is greater as a virtuoso, and gives + almost more meaning to his compositions than he himself. + Imagine the perfection, a mastery which seems to be quite + unconscious of itself! + +Besides the announcement of September 16, 1836, that Chopin had been +a day in Leipzig, that he had brought with him among other things new +"heavenly" etudes, nocturnes, mazurkas, and a new ballade, and that he +played much and "very incomparably," there occur in Schumann's writings +in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik unmistakable reminiscences of this +visit of the Polish musician. Thus, for instance, in a review of +dance-music, which appeared in the following year, and to which he +gave the fantastic form of a "Report to Jeanquirit in Augsburg of +the editor's last artistico-historical ball," the writer relates a +conversation he had with his partner Beda:-- + + I turned the conversation adroitly on Chopin. Scarcely had + she heard the name than she for the first time fully looked + at me with her large, kindly eyes. "And you know him?" I + answered in the affirmative. "And you have heard him?" Her + form became more and more sublime. "And have heard him + speak?" And when I told her that it was a never-to-be- + forgotten picture to see him sitting at the piano like a + dreaming seer, and how in listening to his playing one seemed + to one's self like the dream he created, and how he had the + dreadful habit of passing, at the end of each piece, one + finger quickly over the whizzing keyboard, as if to get rid + of his dream by force, and how he had to take care of his + delicate health--she clung to me with ever-increasing + timorous delight, and wished to know more and more about him. + +Very interesting is Schumann's description of how Chopin played some +etudes from his Op. 25; it is to be found in another criticism of the +same year (1837):-- + + As regards these etudes, I have the advantage of having heard + most of them played by Chopin himself, and, as Florestan + whispered in my ear at the time, "He plays them very much a + la Chopin." Imagine an AEolian harp that had all the scales, + and that these were jumbled together by the hand of an artist + into all sorts of fantastic ornaments, but in such a manner + that a deeper fundamental tone and a softly-singing higher + part were always audible, and you have an approximate idea of + his playing. No wonder that we have become fondest of those + pieces which we heard him play himself, and therefore we + shall mention first of all the first one in A flat, which is + rather a poem than an etude. It would be a mistake, however, + to suppose that he brought out every one of the little notes + with distinctness; it was more like a billowing of the A flat + major chord, swelled anew here and there by means of the + pedal; but through the harmonies were heard the sustained + tones of a wondrous melody, and only in the middle of it did + a tenor part once come into greater prominence amid the + chords along with that principal cantilena. 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. He soon came to the one in F minor, the second in + the book, likewise one which impresses one indelibly with his + originality; it is so charming, dreamy, and soft, somewhat + like the singing of a child in its sleep. Beautiful also, + although less new in character than in the figure, was the + following one in F major; here the object was more to exhibit + bravura, the most charming bravura, and we could not but + praise the master highly for it....But of what use are + descriptive words? + +This time we cannot cite a letter of Mendelssohn's; he was elsewhere +similarly occupied as Chopin in Marienbad. After falling in love with +a Frankfort lady, Miss Jeanrenaud, he had gone to Scheweningen to +see whether his love would stand the test of absence from the beloved +object. It stood the test admirably, and on September 9, a few days +before Chopin's arrival in Leipzig, Mendelssohn's engagement to the lady +who became his wife on March 28, 1837, took place. + +But another person who has been mentioned in connection with Chopin's +first visit to Leipzig, Henrietta Voigt, [FOOTNOTE: The editor of "Acht +Briefe und ein Facsimile van Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy" speaks of her +as "the artistic wife of a Leipzig merchant, whose house stood open +to musicians living in and passing through Leipzig."] has left us +an account of the impression made upon her. An entry in her diary on +September 13, 1836, runs thus:-- + + Yesterday Chopin was here and played an hour on my piano--a + fantasia and new etude of his--interesting man and still more + interesting playing; he moved me strangely. The over- + excitement of his fantastic manner is imparted to the keen- + eared; it made me hold my breath. Wonderful is the ease with + which his velvet fingers glide, I might almost say fly, over + the keys. He has enraptured me--I cannot deny it--in a way + which hitherto had been unknown to me. What delighted me was + the childlike, natural manner which he showed in his + demeanour and in his playing. + +After this short break of his journey at Leipzig, which he did not leave +without placing a wreath of flowers on the monument of Prince Joseph +Poniatowski, who in 1812 met here with an early death, being drowned +in the river Elster, Chopin proceeded on his homeward journey, that is +toward Paris, probably tarrying again for a day or two at Heidelberg. + +The non-artistic events of this period are of a more stirring nature +than the artistic ones. First in time and importance comes Chopin's +meeting with George Sand, which more than any other event marks an epoch +in the composer's life. But as this subject has to be discussed fully +and at some length we shall leave it for another chapter, and conclude +this with an account of some other matters. + +Mendelssohn, who arrived in London on August 24, 1837, wrote on +September 1 to Hiller:-- + + Chopin is said to have suddenly turned up here a fortnight + ago; but he visited nobody and made no acquaintances. He + played one evening most beautifully at Broadwood's, and then + hurried away again. I hear he is still suffering very much. + +Chopin accompanied by Camille Pleyel and Stanislas Kozmian, the elder, +came to London on the 11th of July and stayed till the 22nd. Pleyel +introduced him under the name of M. Fritz to his friend James Broadwood, +who invited them to dine with him at his house in Bryanston Square. The +incognito, however, could only be preserved as long as Chopin kept his +hands off the piano. When after dinner he sat down to play, the ladies +of the family suspected, and, suspicion being aroused, soon extracted a +confession of the truth. + +Moscheles in alluding in his diary to this visit to London adds an item +or two to its history:-- + + Chopin, who passed a few days in London, was the only one of + the foreign artists who visited nobody and also did not wish + to be visited, as every conversation aggravates his chest- + complaint. He went to some concerts and disappeared. + +Particularly interesting are the reminiscences of the writer of an +enthusiastic review [Footnote: Probably J. W. Davison.]of some of +Chopin's nocturnes and a scherzo in the "Musical World" of February 23, +1838:-- + + Were he [Chopin] not the most retiring and unambitious of all + living musicians, he would before this time have been + celebrated as the inventor of a new style, or school, of + pianoforte composition. During his short visit to the + metropolis last season, but few had the high gratification of + hearing his extemporaneous performance. Those who experienced + this will not readily lose its remembrance. He is, perhaps, + par eminence, the most delightful of pianists in the drawing- + room. The animation of his style is so subdued, its + tenderness so refined, its melancholy so gentle, its niceties + so studied and systematic, the tout-ensemble so perfect, and + evidently the result of an accurate judgment and most + finished taste, that when exhibited in the large concert- + room, or the thronged saloon, it fails to impress itself on + the mass. The "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik" of September 8, + 1837, brought the piece of news that Chopin was then at a + Bohemian watering-place. I doubt the correctness of this + statement; at any rate, no other information to that effect + has come to my knowledge, and the ascertained facts do not + favour the assumption of its truth. + +Never robust, Chopin had yet hitherto been free from any serious +illness. Now, however, the time of his troubles begins. In a letter, +undated, but very probably written in the summer of 1837, which he +addressed to Anthony Wodzinski, who had been wounded in Spain, where +civil war was then raging, occur remarks confirmatory of Mendelssohn's +and Moscheles' statements:-- + + My dearest life! Wounded! Far from us--and I can send you + nothing....Your friends are thinking only of you. For mercy's + sake recover as soon as possible and return. The newspaper + accounts say that your legion is completely annihilated. + Don't enter the Spanish army....Remember that your blood may + serve a better purpose....Titus [Woyciechowski] wrote to ask + me if I could not meet him somewhere in Germany. During the + winter I was again ill with influenza. They wanted to send me + to Ems. Up to the present, however, I have no thought of + going, as I am unable to move. I write and prepare + manuscript. I think far more of you than you imagine, and + love you as much as ever. + + F. C. + + Believe me, you and Titus are enshrined in my memory. + +On the margin, Chopin writes-- + + I may perhaps go for a few days to George Sand's, but keep + your mind easy, this will not interfere with the forwarding + of your money, for I shall leave instructions with Johnnie + [Matuszynski]. + +With regard to this and to the two preceding letters to members of the +Wodzinski family, I have yet to state that I found them in M. A. Szulc's +"Fryderyk Chopin." + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + + +GEORGE SAND: HER EARLY LIFE (1804--1836); AND HER CHARACTER AS A WOMAN, +THINKER, AND LITERARY ARTIST. + + + +It is now necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with +Madame Dudevant, better known by her literary name, George Sand, whose +coming on the scene has already been announced in the preceding chapter. +The character of this lady is so much a matter of controversy, and a +correct estimate of it so essential for the right understanding of the +important part she plays in the remaining portion of Chopin's life, that +this long chapter--an intermezzo, a biography in a biography--will not +be regarded as out of place or too lengthy. If I begin far off, as it +were before the beginning, I do so because the pedigree has in this case +a peculiar significance. + +The mother of George Sand's father was the daughter of the Marschal de +Saxe (Count Maurice of Saxony, natural son of August the Strong, King +of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and the Countess Maria Aurora von +Konigsmark) and the dame de l'opera, Mdlle. de Verrieres, whose real +name was Madame de la Riviere, nee Marie Rinteau. This daughter, Marie +Aurore, married at the age of fifteen Comte de Home, a natural son of +Louis XV., who died soon after; and fifteen years later she condescended +to accept the hand of M. Dupin de Francueil, receveur general, who, +although of an old and well-connected family, did not belong to the +high nobility. The curious may read about Mdlle. de Verrieres in the +"Memoires" of Marmontel, who was one of her many lovers, and about +M. Dupin, his father, mother-in-law, first wife &c., in Rousseau's +"Confessions," where, however, he is always called De Francueil. +Notwithstanding the disparity of age, the husband being twice as old as +his wife, the marriage of M. Dupin and the Comtesse de Home proved to be +a very happy one. They had one child, a son, Maurice Francois Elisabeth +Dupin. He entered the army in 1798, and two years later, in the course +of the Italian campaign, became first lieutenant and then aide-de-camp +to General Dupont. + +In Italy and about the same time Maurice Dupin saw and fell in love +with Sophie Victoire Antoinette Delaborde, the daughter of a Paris +bird-seller, who had been a supernumerary at some small theatre, and +whose youth, as George Sand delicately expresses it, "had by the +force of circumstances been exposed to the most frightful hazards." +Sacrificing all the advantages she was then enjoying, she followed +Maurice Dupin to France. From this liaison sprang several children, all +of whom, however, except one, died very young. A month before the +birth of her in whom our interest centres, Maurice Dupin married Sophie +Delaborde. The marriage was a civil one and contracted without the +knowledge of his mother, who was opposed to this union less on account +of Sophie's plebeian origin than of her doubtful antecedents. + +It was on July 5, 1804, that Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, who under the +name of George Sand became famous all the world over, saw for the first +time the light of day. The baby, which by a stratagem was placed in the +arms of her grandmother, mollified the feelings of the old lady, whom +the clandestine marriage had put in a great rage, so effectually that +she forgave her son, received his wife, and tried to accommodate herself +to the irremediable. After the Spanish campaign, during which he acted +as aide-de-camp to Murat, Maurice Dupin and his family came to Nohant, +his mother's chateau in Berry. There little Aurora lost her father when +she was only four years old. Returning home one evening from La Chatre, +a neighbouring town, he was thrown off his horse, and died almost +instantly. + +This was an event that seriously affected the future of the child, +for only the deceased could keep in check the antagonism of two such +dissimilar characters as those of Aurora's mother and grandmother. +The mother was "dark-complexioned, pale, ardent, awkward and timid in +fashionable society, but always ready to explode when the storm +was growling too strongly within"; her temperament was that "of a +Spaniard--jealous, passionate, choleric, and weak, perverse and kindly +at the same time." Abbe Beaumont (a natural son of Mdlle. de Verrieres +and the Prince de Turenne, Duke de Bouillon, and consequently +grand-uncle of Aurora) said of her that she had a bad head but a good +heart. She was quite uneducated, but had good natural parts, sang +charmingly, and was clever with her hands. The grandmother, on the other +hand, was "light-complexioned, blonde, grave, calm, and dignified in +her manners, a veritable Saxon of noble race, with an imposing demeanour +full of ease and patronising goodness." She had been an assiduous +student of the eighteenth century philosophers, and on the whole was +a lady of considerable culture. For about two years these two women +managed to live together, not, however, without a feeling of discord +which was not always successfully suppressed, and sometimes broke out +into open dissension. At last they came to an arrangement according to +which the child was to be left in the keeping of the grandmother, who +promised her daughter-in-law a yearly allowance which would enable her +to take up her abode in Paris. This arrangement had the advantage for +the younger Madame Dupin that she could henceforth devote herself to +the bringing-up of another daughter, born before her acquaintance with +Aurora's father. + +From her mother Aurora received her first instruction in reading and +writing. The taste for literary composition seems to have been innate in +her, for already at the age of five she wrote letters to her grandmother +and half-brother (a natural son of her father's). When she was seven, +Deschartres, her grandmother's steward, who had been Maurice Dupin's +tutor, began to teach her French grammar and versification, Latin, +arithmetic, botany, and a little Greek. But she had no liking for any +of these studies. The dry classifications of plants and words were +distasteful to her; arithmetic she could not get into her head; and +poetry was not her language. History, on the other hand, was a source +of great enjoyment to her; but she read it like a romance, and did not +trouble herself about dates and other unpleasant details. She was also +fond of music; at least she was so as long as her grandmother taught +her, for the mechanical drilling she got from the organist of La Chatre +turned her fondness into indifference. That subject of education, +however, which is generally regarded as the foundation of all +education--I mean religion--was never even mentioned to her. The Holy +Scriptures were, indeed, given into the child's hands, but she was left +to believe or reject whatever she liked. Her grandmother, who was a +deist, hated not only the pious, but piety itself, and, above all, Roman +Catholicism. Christ was in her opinion an estimable man, the gospel +an excellent philosophy, but she regretted that truth was enveloped in +ridiculous fables. The little of religion which the girl imbibed she +owed to her mother, by whose side she was made to kneel and say her +prayers. "My mother," writes George Sand in her "Histoire de ma Vie," +from which these details are taken, "carried poetry into her religious +feeling, and I stood in need of poetry." Aurora's craving for religion +and poetry was not to remain unallayed. One night there appeared to her +in a dream a phantom, Corambe by name. The dream-created being took hold +of her waking imagination, and became the divinity of her religion +and the title and central figure of her childish, unwritten romance. +Corambe, who was of no sex, or rather of either sex just as occasion +might require--for it underwent numberless metamorphoses--had "all the +attributes of physical and moral beauty, the gift of eloquence, and +the all-powerful charm of the arts, especially the magic of musical +improvisation," being in fact an abstract of all the sacred and secular +histories with which she had got acquainted. + +The jarrings between her mother and grandmother continued; for of +course their intercourse did not entirely cease. The former visited her +relations at Nohant, and the latter and her grandchildren occasionally +passed some weeks in Paris. Aurora, who loved both, her mother even +passionately, was much harassed by their jealousy, which vented itself +in complaints, taunts, and reproaches. Once she determined to go to +Paris and live with her mother, and was only deterred from doing so by +the most cruel means imaginable--namely, by her grandmother telling +her of the dissolute life which her mother had led before marrying her +father. + + I owe my first socialistic and democratic instincts to the + singularity of my position, to my birth a cheval so to speak + on two classes--to my love for my mother thwarted and broken + by prejudices which made me suffer before I could comprehend + them. I owe them also to my education, which was by turns + philosophical and religious, and to all the contrasts which + my own life has presented to me from my earliest years. + +At the age of thirteen Aurora was sent to the convent of English +Augustines in Paris, the only surviving one of the three or four +institutions of the kind that were founded during the time of Cromwell. +There she remained for the next three years. Her knowledge when she +entered this educational as well as religious establishment was not of +the sort that enables its possessor to pass examinations; consequently +she was placed in the lowest class, although in discussion she could +have held her own even against her teachers. Much learning could not be +acquired in the convent, but the intercourse with other children, many +of them belonging, like the nuns, to English-speaking nations, was not +without effect on the development of her character. There were three +classes of pupils, the diables, betes, and devotes (the devils, +blockheads, and devout). Aurora soon joined the first, and became one of +their ringleaders. But all of a sudden a change came over her. From one +extreme she fell into the other. From being the wildest of the wild she +became the most devout of the devout: "There was nothing strong in me +but passion, and when that of religion began to break out, it devoured +everything in my heart; and nothing in my brain opposed it." The +acuteness of this attack of religious mania gradually diminished; still +she harboured for some time the project of taking the veil, and perhaps +would have done so if she had been left to herself. + +After her return-to Nohant her half-brother Hippolyte, who had recently +entered the army, gave her riding lessons, and already at the end of a +week she and her mare Colette might be seen leaping ditches and hedges, +crossing deep waters, and climbing steep inclines. "And I, the eau +dormante of the convent, had become rather more daring than a hussar and +more robust than a peasant." The languor which had weighed upon her +so long had all of once given way to boisterous activity. When she was +seventeen she also began seriously to think of self-improvement; and as +her grandmother was now paralytic and mentally much weakened, Aurora +had almost no other guidance than that of chance and her own instinct. +Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ," which had been her guide since +her religious awakening, was now superseded, not, however, without some +struggles, by Chateaubriand's "Le Genie du Christianisme." The book was +lent her by her confessor with a view to the strengthening of her faith, +but it produced quite the reverse effect, detaching her from it for +ever. After reading and enjoying Chateaubriand's book she set to work +on the philosophers and essayists Mably, Locke, Condillac, Montesquieu, +Bacon, Bossuet, Aristotle, Leibnitz, Pascal, Montaigne, and then turned +to the poets and moralists La Bruyere, Pope, Milton, Dante, Virgil, +Shakespeare, &c. But she was not a metaphysician; the tendencies of her +mind did not impel her to seek for scientific solutions of the great +mysteries. "J'etais," she says, "un etre de sentiment, et le sentiment +seul tranchait pour moi les questions a man usage, qui toute experience +faite, devinrent bientot les seules questions a ma, portee." This +"le sentiment seul tranchait pour moi les questions" is another +self-revelation, or instance of self-knowledge, which it will be useful +to remember. What more natural than that this "being of sentiment" +should prefer the poets to the philosophers, and be attracted, not by +the cold reasoners, but by Rousseau, "the man of passion and sentiment." +It is impossible to describe here the various experiences and doings of +Aurora. Without enlarging on the effects produced upon her by Byron's +poetry, Shakespeare's "Hamlet," and Chateaubriand's "Rene"; on her +suicidal mania; on the long rides which, clad in male attire, she took +with Deschartres; on the death of her grandmother, whose fortune she +inherited; on her life in Paris with her extravagantly-capricious +mother; on her rupture with her father's family, her aristocratic +relations, because she would not give up her mother--I say, without +enlarging on all this we will at once pass on to her marriage, about +which there has been so much fabling. + +Aurore Dupin married Casimir Dudevant in September, 1822, and did so +of her own free will. Nor was her husband, as the story went, a +bald-headed, grey-moustached old colonel, with a look that made all his +dependents quake. On the contrary, Casimir Dudevant, a natural son of +Colonel Dudevant (an officer of the legion of honour and a baron of the +Empire), was, according to George Sand's own description, "a slender, +and rather elegant young man, with a gay countenance and a military +manner." Besides good looks and youth--he was twenty-seven--he must +also have possessed some education, for, although he did not follow +any profession, he had been at a military school, served in the army as +sub-lieutenant, and on leaving the army had read for the bar and been +admitted a barrister. There was nothing romantic in the courtship, but +at the same time it was far from commonplace. + + He did not speak to me of love [writes George Sand], and + owned that he was little inclined to sudden passion, to + enthusiasm, and in any case no adept in expressing it in an + attractive manner. He spoke of a friendship that would stand + any test, and compared the tranquil happiness of our hosts + [she was then staying with some friends] to that which he + believed he could swear to procure me. + +She found sincerity not only in his words, but also in his whole +conduct; indeed, what lady could question a suitor's sincerity +after hearing him say that he had been struck at first sight by her +good-natured and sensible look, but that he had not thought her either +beautiful or pretty? + +Shortly after their marriage the young couple proceeded to Nohant, where +they spent the winter. In June, 1823, they went to Paris, and there +their son Maurice was born. Their only other offspring, the daughter +Solange, did not come into the world till fiveyears later. The +discrepancies of the husband and wife's character, which became soon +apparent, made themselves gradually more and more felt. His was a +practical, hers a poetic nature. Under his management Nohant assumed an +altogether different aspect--there was now order, neatness, and economy, +where there was previously confusion, untidiness, and waste. She +admitted that the change was for the better, but could not help +regretting the state of matters that had been--the old dog Phanor taking +possession of the fire-place and putting his muddy paws upon the carpet; +the old peacock eating the strawberries in the garden; and the wild +neglected nooks, where as a child she had so often played and dreamed. +Both loved the country, but they loved it for different reasons. He was +especially fond of hunting, a consequence of which was that he left his +wife much alone. And when he was at home his society may not always have +been very entertaining, for what liveliness he had seems to have been +rather in his legs than in his brain. Writing to her mother on April +i, 1828, Madame Dudevant says: "Vous savez comme il est paresseux de +l'esprit et enrage des jambes." On the other hand, her temper, which +was anything but uniformly serene, must have been trying to her husband. +Occasionally she had fits of weeping without any immediate cause, and +one day at luncheon she surprised her husband by a sudden burst of +tears which she was unable to account for. As M. Dudevant attributed +his wife's condition to the dulness of Nohant, the recent death of her +grandmother, and the air of the country, he proposed a change of scene, +which he did the more readily as he himself did not in the least like +Berry. The pleasant and numerous company they found in the house of the +friends with whom they went to stay at once revived her spirits, and +she became us frolicsome as she had before been melancholy. George +Sand describes her character as continually alternating between +"contemplative solitude and complete giddiness in conditions of +primitive innocence." It is hardly to be wondered at that one who +exhibited such glaring and unaccountable contrasts of character was +considered by some people whimsical (bizarre) and by her husband an +idiot. She herself admits the possibility that he may not have been +wrong. At any rate, little by little he succeeded in making her feel +the superiority of reason and intelligence so thoroughly that for a long +time she was quite crushed and stupefied in company. Afraid of finding +themselves alone at Nohant, the ill-matched pair continued their +migration on leaving their friends. Madame Dudevant made great efforts +to see through her husband's eyes and to think and act as he wished, but +no sooner did she accord with him than she ceased to accord with her +own instincts. Whatever they undertook, wherever they went, that sadness +"without aim and name" would from time to time come over her. Thinking +that the decline of her religiousness was the cause of her lowness of +spirits, she took counsel with her old confessor, the Jesuit Abbe de +Premord, and even passed, with her husband's consent, some days in the +retirement of the English convent. After staying during the spring of +1825 at Nohant, M. and Madame Dudevant set out for the south of France +on July 5, the twenty-first anniversary of the latter's birthday. In +what George Sand calls the "History of my Life," she inserted some +excerpts from a diary kept by her at this time, which throw much light +on the relation that existed between wife and husband. If only we could +be sure that it is not like so much in the book the outcome of her +powerful imagination! Besides repeated complaints about her husband's +ill-humour and frequent absences, we meet with the following ominous +reflections on marriage:-- + + Marriage is beautiful for lovers and useful for saints. + + Besides saints and lovers there are a great many ordinary + minds and placid hearts that do not know love and cannot + attain to sanctity. + + Marriage is the supreme aim of love. When love has left it, + or never entered it, sacrifice remains. This is very well for + those who understand sacrifice. The latter presupposes a + measure of heart and a degree of intelligence which are not + frequently to be met with. + + For sacrifice there are compensations which the vulgar mind + can appreciate. The approbation of the world, the routine + sweetness of custom, a feeble, tranquil, and sensible + devotion that is not bent on rapturous exaltation, or money, + that is to say baubles, dress, luxury--in short, a thousand + little things which make one forget that one is deprived of + happiness. + +The following extracts give us some glimpses which enable us to realise +the situation:-- + + I left rather sad. ____ said hard things to me, having been told + by a Madame ____ that I was wrong in making excursions without + my husband. I do not think that this is the case, seeing that + my husband goes first, and I go where he intends to go. + + My husband is one of the most intrepid of men. He goes + everywhere, and I follow him. He turns round and rebukes me. + He says that I affect singularity. I'll be hanged if I think + of it. I turn round, and I see Zoe following me. I tell her + that she affects singularity. My husband is angry because Zoe + laughs. + + ...We quickly leave the guides and the caravan behind us. + We ride over the most fantastic roads at a gallop. Zoe is mad + with courage. This intoxicates me, and I at once am her + equal. + +In addition to the above, we must read a remark suggested by certain +entries in the diary:-- + + Aimee was an accomplished person of an exquisite distinction. + She loved everything that in any way is elegant and ornate in + society: names, manners, talents, titles. Madcap as I + assuredly was, I looked upon all this as vanity, and went in + quest of intimacy and simplicity combined with poesy. Thanks + to God, I found them in Zoe, who was really a person of + merit, and, moreover, a woman with a heart as eager for + affection as my own. + +M. and Madame Dudevant spent the greater part of autumn and the whole +winter at Guillery, the chateau of Colonel Dudevant. Had the latter not +died at this time, he might perhaps have saved the young people from +those troubles towards which they were drifting, at least so his +daughter-in-law afterwards thought. In the summer of 1826 the +ill-matched couple returned to Nohant, where they continued to live, a +few short absences excepted, till 1831. Hitherto their mutual relation +had left much to be desired, henceforth it became worse and worse +every day. It would, however, be a mistake to account for this state of +matters solely by the dissimilarity of their temperaments--the poetic +tendency on the one side, the prosaic on the other--for although +it precluded an ideal matrimonial union, it by no means rendered an +endurable and even pleasant companionship impossible. The real cause +of the gathering clouds and imminent storm is to be sought elsewhere. +Madame Dudevant was endowed with great vitality; she was, as it were, +charged with an enormous amount of energy, which, unless it found an +outlet, oppressed her and made her miserable. Now, in her then position, +all channels were closed up. The management of household affairs, which, +if her statement may be trusted, she neither considered beneath her +dignity nor disliked, might have served as a safety-valve; but her +administration came to an untimely end. When, after the first year of +their married life, her husband examined the accounts, he discovered +that she had spent 14,000 francs instead of 10,000, and found +himself constrained to declare that their purse was too light for her +liberality. Not having anything else to do, and her uselessness vexing +her, she took to doctoring the poor and concocting medicines. Hers, +however, was not the spirit that allows itself to be fettered by the +triple vow of obedience, silence, and poverty. No wonder, therefore, +that her life, which she compared to that of a nun, was not to her +taste. She did not complain so much of her husband, who did not +interfere with her reading and brewing of juleps, and was in no way a +tyrant, as of being the slave of a given situation from which he could +not set her free. The total lack of ready money was felt by her +to constitute in our altogether factitious society an intolerable +situation, frightful misery or absolute powerlessness. What she missed +was some means of which she might dispose, without compunction and +uncontrolled, for an artistic treat, a beautiful book, a week's +travelling, a present to a poor friend, a charity to a deserving person, +and such like trifles, which, although not indispensable, make life +pleasant. "Irresponsibility is a state of servitude; it is something +like the disgrace of the interdict." But servitude and disgrace are +galling yokes, and it was not likely that so strong a character would +long and meekly submit to them. We have, however, not yet exhausted the +grievances of Madame Dudevant. Her brother Hippolyte, after mismanaging +his own property, came and lived for the sake of economy at Nohant. His +intemperance and that of a friend proved contagious to her husband, and +the consequence was not only much rioting till late into the night, +but occasionally also filthy conversations. She began, therefore, to +consider how the requisite means might be obtained--which would enable +her to get away from such undesirable surroundings, and to withdraw her +children from these evil influences. For four years she endeavoured +to discover an employment by which she could gain her livelihood. A +milliner's business was out of the question without capital to begin +with; by needlework no more than ten sous a day could be earned; she was +too conscientious to make translation pay; her crayon and water-colour +portraits were pretty good likenesses, but lacked originality; and in +the painting of flowers and birds on cigar-cases, work-boxes, fans, +&c., which promised to be more successful, she was soon discouraged by a +change of fashion. + +At last Madame Dudevant made up her mind to go to Paris and try her luck +in literature. She had no ambition whatever, and merely hoped to be able +to eke out in this way her slender resources. As regards the capital +of knowledge she was possessed of she wrote: "I had read history and +novels; I had deciphered scores; I had thrown an inattentive eye over +the newspapers....Monsieur Neraud [the Malgache of the "Lettres d'un +Voyageur"] had tried to teach me botany. According to the "Histoire de +ma Vie" this new departure was brought about by an amicable arrangement; +her letters, as in so many cases, tell, however, a very different tale. +Especially important is a letter written, on December 3, 1830, to Jules +Boucoiran, who had lately been tutor to her children, and whom, after +the relation of what had taken place, she asks to resume these duties +for her sake now that she will be away from Nohant and her children part +of the year. Boucoiran, it should be noted, was a young man of about +twenty, who was a total stranger to her on September 2, 1829, but whom +she addressed on November 30 of that year as "Mon cher Jules." Well, she +tells him in the letter in question that when looking for something in +her husband's writing-desk she came on a packet addressed to her, and +on which were further written by his hand the words "Do not open it till +after my death." Piqued by curiosity, she did open the packet, and found +in it nothing but curses upon herself. "He had gathered up in it," she +says, "all his ill-humour and anger against me, all his reflections on +my perversity." This was too much for her; she had allowed herself to be +humiliated for eight years, now she would speak out. + + Without waiting a day longer, still feeble and ill, I + declared my will and mentioned my motives with an aplomb and + coolness which petrified him. He hardly expected to see a + being like me rise to its full height in order to face him. + He growled, disputed, beseeched. I remained immovable. I want + an allowance, I shall go to Paris, my children will remain at + Nohant. + +She feigned intractability on all these points, but after some time +relented and consented to return to Nohant if her conditions were +accepted. From the "Histoire de ma Vie" we learn what these conditions +were. She demanded her daughter, permission to pass twice three months +every year in Paris, and an allowance of 250 francs per month during +the time of her absence from Nohant. Her letters, however, show that her +daughter was not with her during her first three months at Paris. + +Madame Dudevant proceeded to Paris at the beginning of 1831. Her +establishment there was of the simplest. It consisted of three +little rooms on the fifth story (a mansarde) in a house on the Quai +Saint-Michel. She did the washing and ironing herself, the portiere +assisting her in the rest of the household work. The meals came from +a restaurant, and cost two francs a day. And thus she managed to keep +within her allowance. I make these and the following statements on her +own authority. As she found her woman's attire too expensive, little +suited for facing mud and rain, and in other respects inconvenient, +she provided herself with a coat (redingote-guerite), trousers, and +waistcoat of coarse grey cloth, a hat of the same colour, a large +necktie, and boots with little iron heels. This latter part of her +outfit especially gave her much pleasure. Having often worn man's +clothes when riding and hunting at Nohant, and remembering that her +mother used to go in the same guise with her father to the theatre +during their residence in Paris, she felt quite at home in these +habiliments and saw nothing shocking in donning them. Now began what she +called her literary school-boy life (vie d'ecolier litteraire), her vie +de gamin. She trotted through the streets of Paris at all times and in +all weathers, went to garrets, studios, clubs, theatres, coffee-houses, +in fact, everywhere except to salons. The arts, politics, the romance +of society and living humanity, were the studies which she passionately +pursued. But she gives those the lie who said of her that she had the +"curiosite du vice." + +The literary men with whom she had constant intercourse, and with whom +she was most closely connected, came, like herself, from Berry. Henri de +Latouche (or Delatouche, as George Sand writes), a native of La Chatre, +who was editor of the Figaro, enrolled her among the contributors to +this journal. But she had no talent for this kind of work, and at the +end of the month her payment amounted to perhaps from twelve to fifteen +francs. Madame Dudevant and the two other Berrichons, Jules Sandeau and +Felix Pyat, were, so to speak, the literary apprentices of Delatouche, +who not only was much older than they, having been born in 1785, but +had long ago established his reputation as a journalist, novelist, and +dramatic writer. The first work which Madame Dudevant produced was +the novel "Rose et Blanche"; she wrote it in collaboration with Jules +Sandeau, whose relation to her is generally believed to have been not +only of a literary nature. The novel, which appeared in 1831, was so +successful that the publishers asked the authors to write them another. +Madame Dudevant thereupon wrote "Indiana", but without the assistance of +Jules Sandeau. She was going to have it published under the nom de plume +Jules Sand, which they had assumed on the occasion of "Rose et Blanche." +But Jules Sandeau objected to this, saying that as she had done all the +work, she ought to have all the honour. To satisfy both, Jules Sandeau, +who would not adorn himself with another's plumes, and the publishers, +who preferred a known to an unknown name, Delatouche gave Madame +Dudevant the name of George Sand, under which henceforth all her +works were published, and by which she was best known in society, +and generally called among her friends. "Valentine" appeared, like +"Indiana," in 1832, and was followed in 1833 by Lelia. For the first two +of these novels she received 3,000 francs. When Buloz bought the Revue +des deux Mondes, she became one of the contributors to that +journal. This shows that a great improvement had taken place in her +circumstances, and that the fight she had to fight was not a very hard +one. Indeed, in the course of two years she had attained fame, and was +now a much-praised and much-abused celebrity. + +All this time George Sand had, according to agreement, spent alternately +three months in Paris and three months at Nohant. A letter written by +M. Dudevant to his wife in 1831 furnishes a curious illustration of the +relation that existed between husband and wife. The accommodating spirit +which pervades it is most charming:-- + + I shall go to Paris; I shall not put up at your lodgings, for + I do not wish to inconvenience you any more than I wish you + to inconvenience me (parceque je ne veux pas vous gener, pas + plus que je ne veux que vous me geniez). + +In August, 1833, George Sand and Alfred de Musset met for the first time +at a dinner which the editor Buloz gave to the contributors to the Revue +des deux Mondes. The two sat beside each other. Musset called on +George Sand soon after, called again and again, and before long was +passionately in love with her. She reciprocated his devotion. But the +serene blissfulness of the first days of their liaison was of short +duration. Already in the following month they fled from the Parisian +surroundings and gossipings, which they regarded as the disturbers of +their harmony. After visiting Genoa, Florence, and Pisa, they settled +at Venice. Italy, however, did not afford them the hoped-for peace and +contentment. It was evident that the days of "adoration, ecstasy, and +worship" were things of the past. Unpleasant scenes became more and more +frequent. How, indeed, could a lasting concord be maintained by two such +disparate characters? The woman's strength and determination contrasted +with the man's weakness and vacillation; her reasoning imperturbation, +prudent foresight, and love of order and activity, with his excessive +irritability and sensitiveness, wanton carelessness, and unconquerable +propensity to idleness and every kind of irregularity. While George Sand +sat at her writing-table engaged on some work which was to bring her +money and fame, Musset trifled away his time among the female singers +and dancers of the noiseless city. In April, 1834, before the poet had +quite recovered from the effects of a severe attack of typhoid fever, +which confined him to his bed for several weeks, he left George Sand +after a violent quarrel and took his departure from Venice. This, +however, was not yet the end of their connection. Once more, in spite +of all that had happened, they came together; but it was only for a +fortnight (at Paris, in the autumn of 1834), and then they parted for +ever. + +It is impossible, at any rate I shall not attempt, to sift the true +from the false in the various accounts which have been published of +this love-drama. George Sand's version may be read in her Lettres d'un +Voyageur and in Elle et Lui; Alfred de Musset's version in his brother +Paul's book Lui et Elle. Neither of these versions, however, is a plain, +unvarnished tale. Paul de Musset seems to keep on the whole nearer +the truth, but he too cannot be altogether acquitted of the charge of +exaggeration. Rather than believe that by the bedside of her lover, whom +she thought unconscious and all but dead, George Sand dallied with the +physician, sat on his knees, retained him to sup with her, and drank +out of one glass with him, one gives credence to her statement that +what Alfred de Musset imagined to be reality was but the illusion of +a feverish dream. In addition to George Sand's and Paul de Musset's +versions, Louise Colet has furnished a third in her Lui, a publication +which bears the stamp of insincerity on almost every page, and which +has been described, I think by Maxime du Camp, as worse than a lying +invention--namely, as a systematic perversion of the truth. A passage +from George Sand's Elle et Lui, in which Therese and Laurent, both +artists, are the representatives of the novelist and poet, will indicate +how she wishes the story to be read:-- + + Therese had no weakness for Laurent in the mocking and + libertine sense that one gives to this word in love. It was + by an act of her will, after nights of sorrowful meditation, + that she said to him--"I wish what thou wishest, because we + have come to that point where the fault to be committed is + the inevitable reparation of a series of committed faults. I + have been guilty towards thee in not having the egotistical + prudence to shun thee; it is better that I should be guilty + towards myself in remaining thy companion and consolation at + the expense of my peace and of my pride."..."Listen," she + added, holding his hand in both of hers with all the strength + she possessed, "never draw back this hand from me, and, + whatever happens, preserve so much honour and courage as not + to forget that before being thy mistress I was thy + FRIEND....I ask of thee only, if thou growest weary of my + Jove as thou now art of my friendship, to recollect that it + was not a moment of delirium that threw me into thy arms, but + a sudden impulse of my heart, and a more tender and more + lasting feeling than the intoxication of voluptuousness." + +I shall not continue the quotation, the discussion becomes too +nauseous. One cannot help sympathising with Alfred de Musset's impatient +interruption of George Sand's unctuous lecturing reported in his +brother's book--"My dear, you speak so often of chastity that it becomes +indecent." Or this other interruption reported by Louise Colet:-- + + When one gives the world what the world calls the scandale of + love, one must have at least the courage of one's passion. In + this respect the women of the eighteenth century are better + than you: they did not subtilise love in metaphysics [elles + n'alambiquaient pas l'amour dans la metaphysique]. + +It is hardly necessary to say that George Sand had much intercourse with +men of intellect. Several litterateurs of some distinction have already +been mentioned. Sainte-Beuve and Balzac were two of the earliest of her +literary friends, among whom she numbered also Heine. With Lamartine +and other cultivators of the belles-lettres she was likewise acquainted. +Three of her friends, men of an altogether different type and calibre, +have, however, a greater claim on the attention of the student of +George Sand's personality than any of those just named, because +their speculations and teachings gave powerful impulses to her mind, +determined the direction of her thoughts, and widened the sphere of her +intellectual activity. The influences of these three men--the advocate +Michel of Bourges, an earnest politician; the philosopher and political +economist: Pierre Leroux, one of the founders of the "Encyclopedie +Nouvelle," and author of "De l'humanite, de son principe et de +son avenir"; and the Abbe Lamennais, the author of the "Essai sur +l'indifference en matiere de religion," "Paroles d'un Croyant," &c.--are +clearly traceable in the "Lettres a Marcie, Spiridion," "Les sept +Cordes de la Lyre," "Les Compagnons du tour de France," "Consuelo," +"La Comtesse de Rudolstadt," "Le Peche de M. Antoine," "Le Meunier +d'Angibault," &c. George Sand made the acquaintance of Pierre Leroux +and the Abbe Lammenais in 1835. The latter was introduced to her by her +friend Liszt, who knew all the distinguished men of the day, and seems +to have often done her similar services. George Sand's friendship with +Michel of Bourges, the Everard of her "Lettres d'un Voyageur," dates +farther back than 1835. + +During George Sand's stay in Venice M. Dudevant had continued to write +to her in an amicable and satisfied tone. On returning in the summer of +1834 to France she therefore resumed her periodical sojourns at Nohant; +but the pleasure of seeing her home and children was as short-lived as +it was sweet, for she soon discovered that neither the former nor the +latter, "morally speaking," belonged to her. M. Dudevant's ideas of how +they ought to be managed differed entirely from those of his wife, and +altogether things had become very uncongenial to her. George Sand, whose +view of the circumstances I am giving, speaks mysteriously of abnormal +and dangerous influences to which the domestic hearth was exposed, +and of her inability to find in her will, adverse as it was to daily +struggles and family quarrels, the force to master the situation. From +the vague and exceedingly brief indications of facts which are scattered +here and there between eloquent and lengthy dissertations on marriage +in all its aspects, on the proper pride of woman, and more of the same +nature, we gather, however, thus much: she wished to be more independent +than she had been hitherto, and above all to get a larger share of her +revenues, which amounted to about 15,000 francs, and out of which her +husband allowed her and her daughter only 3,000 francs. M. Dudevant, it +must be noted, had all along been living on his wife's income, having +himself only expectations which would not be realised till after his +stepmother's death. By the remonstrances of his wife and the advice +of her brother he was several times prevailed upon to agree to a more +equitable settlement. But no sooner had he given a promise or signed +a contract than he revoked what he had done. According to one of these +agreements George Sand and her daughter were to have a yearly allowance +of 6,000 francs; according to another M. Dudevant was to have a yearly +allowance of 7,000 francs and leave Nohant and the remainder of the +revenues to his wife. The terms of the latter of these agreements were +finally accepted by both parties, but not till after more than a year's +quarrelling and three lawsuits. George Sand sued for a divorce, and the +Court of La Chatre gave judgment in her favour on February 16, 1836. +This judgment was confirmed after a second trial by the same Court on +May 11, 1836. + +[Footnote: What George Sand calls her "matrimonial biography" can +be read in "Le Droit" ("Journal des Tribunaux") of May 18, 1836. The +account there given, no doubt inspired by her advocate if not directly +by herself, contains some interesting items, but leaves others +unmentioned. One would have liked to learn something more of the +husband's pleadings. + +The proceedings began on October 30, 1835, when "Madame D----- a forme +centre son mari une demande en separation de corps. Cette demande etait +fondee sur les injures graves, sevices et mauvais traitements dont elle +se plaignait de la part de son mari." + +The following is a passage from Michel of Bourges, her advocate's +defence: "Des 1824, la vie intime etait devenue difficile; les egards +auxquels toute femme a droit furent oublies, des actes d'emportement et +de violence revelerent de la part de M. D----- un caractere peu facile, +peu capable d'apprecier le devouement et la delicatesse qu'on lui avail +temoignes. Les mauvais traitements furent d'abord plus rares que les +mauvais precedes, ainsi les imputations d'imbecillite, de stupidite, +furent prodiguees a Madame D----- le droit de raisonner, de prendre +l'art a la conversation lui fut interdit... des relations avec d'autres +femmes furent connues de l'epouse,et vers le mois de Decembre, 1828, +toute cohabitation intime cessa. + +"Les enfants eux-memes eurent quelque part dans les mauvais +traitements."] + +M. Dudevant then appealed to the Court of Cassation at Bourges, where +the case was tried on July 25; but he withdrew his appeal before +judgment was given. The insinuations and revelations made in the course +of these lawsuits were anything but edifying. George Sand says that she +confined herself to furnishing the proofs strictly demanded by the law, +and revealed only such facts as were absolutely necessary. But these +facts and proofs must have been of a very damaging nature, for M. +Dudevant answered them by imputations to merit one hundred-thousandth +part of which would have made her tremble. "His attorney refused to read +a libel. The judges would have refused to listen to it." Of a deposition +presented by M. Dudevant to the Court, his wife remarks that it was +"dictated, one might have said, drawn up," by two servants whom she had +dismissed. She maintains that she did not deserve this treatment, as she +betrayed of her husband's conduct only what he himself was wont to boast +of. + +George Sand's letters [Footnote: George Sand: Correspondence 1812-1876; +Six volumes (Paris: Calman Levy).] seem to me to show conclusively +that her chief motives for seeking a divorce were a desire for greater +independence and above all for more money. Complaints of ill-treatment +are not heard of till they serve to justify an action or to attain a +purpose. And the exaggeration of her varying statements must be obvious +to all but the most careless observer. George Sand is slow in making +up her mind; but having made it up she acts with fierce promptitude, +obstinate vigour, and inconsiderate unscrupulousness, in one word, with +that concentration of self which sees nothing but its own desires. On +the whole, I should say that M. Dudevant was more sinned against than +sinning. George Sand, even as she represents herself in the Histoire +de ma Vie and in her letters, was far from being an exemplary wife, or +indeed a woman with whom even the most angelic of husbands would have +found it easy to live in peace and happiness. + +From the letters, which reveal so strikingly the ungentlewomanlikeness +(not merely in a conventional sense) of her manners and her numerous and +curious intimacies with men of all ages, more especially with young men, +I shall now cull a few characteristic passages in proof of what I have +said. + + One must have a passion in life. I feel ennui for the want of + one. The agitated and often even rather needy life I am + leading here drives spleen far away. I am very well, and you + will see me in the best of humours. [To her friend A. M. + Duteil. Paris, February 15, 1831.] + + I have an object, a task, let me say the word, a passion. The + profession of writing is a violent and almost indestructible + one. [To Jules Boucoiran. Paris, March 4, 1831.] + + I cannot bear the shadow of a constraint, this is my + principal fault. Everything that is imposed upon me as a duty + becomes hateful to me. + +After saying that she leaves her husband full liberty to do what he +likes--"qu'il a des maitresses ou n'en a pas, suivant son appetit,"--and +speaking highly of his management of their affairs, she writes in the +same letter as follows:-- + + Moreover, it is only just that this great liberty which my + husband enjoys should be reciprocal; otherwise, he would + become to me odious and contemptible; that is what he does + not wish to be. I am therefore quite independent; I go to bed + when he rises, I go to La Chatre or to Rome, I come in at + midnight or at six o'clock; all this is my business. Those + who do not approve of this, and disparage me to you, judge + them with your reason and your mother's heart; the one and + the other ought to be with me. [To her mother. Nohant, May + 31, 1831.] + + Marriage is a state so contrary to every kind of union and + happiness that I have good reason to fear for you. [To Jules + Boucoiran, who had thoughts of getting married. Paris, March + 6, 1833.] + + You load me with very heavy reproaches, my dear child... you + reproach me with my numerous liaisons, my frivolous + friendships. I never undertake to clear myself from the + accusations which bear on my character. I can explain facts + and actions; but never defects of the mind or perversities of + the heart. [To Jules Boucoiran. Paris, January 18, 1833.] + + Thou hast pardoned me when I committed follies which the + world calls faults. [To her friend Charles Duvernet. Paris, + October 15, 1834.] + + But I claim to possess, now and for ever, the proud and + entire independence which you believe you alone have the + right to enjoy. I shall not advise it to everyone; but I + shall not suffer that, so far as I am concerned, any love + whatever shall in the least fetter it. I hope to make my + conditions so hard and so clear that no man will be bold and + vile enough to accept them. [To her friend Adolphe Gueroult. + Paris, May 6, 1835.] + + Nothing shall prevent me from doing what I ought to and what + I will do. I am the daughter of my father, and I care not for + prejudices when my heart enjoins justice and courage. [To her + mother. Nohant, October 25, 1835.] + + Opinion is a prostitute which must be sent about her business + with kicks when one is in the right. [To her friend Adolphe + Gueroult. La Chatre, November 9, 1835.] + +The materials made use of in the foregoing sketch of George Sand's life +up to 1836 consist to a very considerable extent of her own DATA, and in +part even of her own words. From this fact, however, it ought not to +be inferred that her statements can always be safely accepted without +previous examination, or at any time be taken au pied de la lettre. +Indeed, the writer of the Histoire de ma Vie reveals her character +indirectly rather than directly, unawares rather than intentionally. +This so-called "history" of her life contains some truth, although +not all the truth; but it contains it implicitly, not explicitly. What +strikes the observant reader of the four-volumed work most forcibly, is +the attitude of serene self-admiration and self-satisfaction which +the autobiographer maintains throughout. She describes her nature as +pre-eminently "confiding and tender," and affirms that in spite of the +great and many wrongs she was made to suffer, she never wronged anyone +in all her life. Hence the perfect tranquillity of conscience she always +enjoyed. Once or twice, it is true, she admits that she may not be an +angel, and that she as well as her husband may have had faults. Such +humble words, however, ought not to be regarded as penitent confessions +of a sinful heart, but as generous concessions of a charitable mind. In +short, a thorough belief in her own virtuousness and superior excellence +was the key-note of her character. The Pharisaical tendency to thank +God for not having made her like other people pervades every page of her +autobiography, of which Charles Mazade justly says that it is-- + + a kind of orgy of a personality intoxicated with itself, an + abuse of intimate secrets in which she slashes her friends, + her reminiscences, and--truth. + +George Sand declares again and again that she abstains from speaking +of certain matters out of regard for the feelings or memories of other +persons, whereas in reality she speaks recklessly of everybody as long +as she can do so without compromising herself. What virtuous motives +can have prompted her to publish her mother's shame? What necessity +was there to expatiate on her brother's drunkenness? And if she was +the wronged and yet pitiful woman she pretended to be, why, instead of +burying her husband's, Musset's, and others' sins in silence, does she +throw out against them those artful insinuations and mysterious hints +which are worse than open accusations? Probably her artistic instincts +suggested that a dark background would set off more effectively her own +glorious luminousness. However, I do not think that her indiscretions +and misrepresentations deserve always to be stigmatised as intentional +malice and conscious falsehood. On the contrary, I firmly believe that +she not only tried to deceive others, but that she actually deceived +herself. The habit of self-adoration had given her a moral squint, a +defect which was aggravated by a powerful imagination and excellent +reasoning faculties. For, swayed as these were by her sentiments and +desires, they proved themselves most fertile in generating flattering +illusions and artful sophisms. George Sand was indeed a great sophist. +She had always in readiness an inexhaustible store of interpretations +and subterfuges with which to palliate, excuse, or even metamorphose +into their contraries the most odious of her words and actions. It +is not likely that any one ever equalled, much less surpassed, +her expertness in hiding ugly facts or making innocent things look +suspicious. To judge by her writings and conversations she never acted +spontaneously, but reasoned on all matters and on all occasions. + + At no time whatever [writes Paul Lindau in his "Alfred de + Musset"] is there to be discovered in George Sand a trace of + a passion and inconsiderateness, she possesses an + imperturbable calmness. Love sans phrase does not exist for + her. That her frivolity may be frivolity, she never will + confess. She calculates the gifts of love, and administers + them in mild, well-measured doses. She piques herself upon + not being impelled by the senses. She considers it more + meritorious if out of charity and compassion she suffers + herself to be loved. She could not be a Gretchen [a Faust's + Margaret], she would not be a Magdalen, and she became a Lady + Tartuffe. + +George Sand's three great words were "maternity," "chastity," and +"pride." She uses them ad nauseam, and thereby proves that she did not +possess the genuine qualities. No doubt, her conceptions of the words +differed from those generally accepted: by "pride" (orgueil), for +instance, she seems to have meant a kind of womanly self-respect debased +by a supercilious haughtiness and self-idolatry. But, as I have said +already, she was a victim to self-deception. So much is certain, the +world, with an approach to unanimity rarely attained, not only does not +credit her with the virtues which she boasts of, but even accuses her of +the very opposite vices. None of the writers I have consulted arrives, +in discussing George Sand's character, at conclusions which tally with +her own estimate; and every person, in Paris and elsewhere, with whom I +have conversed on the subject condemned her conduct most unequivocally. +Indeed, a Parisian--who, if he had not seen much of her, had seen much +of many who had known her well--did not hesitate to describe her to me +as a female Don Juan, and added that people would by-and-by speak more +freely of her adventures. Madame Audley (see "Frederic Chopin, sa vie +et ses oeuvres," p. 127) seems to me to echo pretty exactly the general +opinion in summing up her strictures thus:-- + + A woman of genius, but a woman with sensual appetites, with + insatiable desires, accustomed to satisfy them at any price, + should she even have to break the cup after draining it, + equally wanting in balance, wisdom, and purity of mind, and + in decorum, reserve, and dignity of conduct. + +Many of the current rumours about her doings were no doubt inventions of +idle gossips and malicious enemies, but the number of well-ascertained +facts go far to justify the worst accusations. And even though the +evidence of deeds were wanting, have we not that of her words and +opinions as set forth in her works? I cannot help thinking that George +Sand's fondness for the portraiture of sensual passion, sometimes even +of sensual passion in its most brutal manifestations, is irreconcilable +with true chastity. Many a page in her novels exhibits indeed a +surprising knowledge of the physiology of love, a knowledge which +presupposes an extensive practical acquaintance with as wellas attentive +study of the subject. That she depicts the most repulsive situations +with a delicacy of touch which veils the repulsiveness and deceives the +unwary rather aggravates the guilt. Now, though the purity of a work +of art is no proof of the purity of the artist (who may reveal only the +better part of his nature, or give expression to his aspirations), the +impurity of a work of art always testifies indubitably to the presence +of impurity in the artist, of impurity in thought, if not in deed. It +is, therefore, not an unwarranted assumption to say that the works +of George Sand prove conclusively that she was not the pure, loving, +devoted, harmless being she represents herself in the "Histoire de ma +Vie." Chateaubriand said truly that: "le talent de George Sand a +quelque ratine dans la corruption, elle deviendrait commune en devenant +timoree." Alfred Nettement, who, in his "Histoire de la litterature +franqaise sous le gouvernement de Juillet," calls George Sand a "painter +of fallen and defiled natures," remarks that-- + + most of her romances are dazzling rehabilitations of + adultery, and in reading their burning pages it would seem + that there remains only one thing to be done--namely, to break + the social chains in order that the Lelias and Sylvias may go + in quest of their ideal without being stopped by morality and + the laws, those importune customs lines which religion and + the institutions have opposed to individual whim and + inconstancy. + +Perhaps it will be objected to this that the moral extravagances and +audacious sophistries to be met with in "Lelia," in "Leoni," and other +novels of hers, belong to the characters represented, and not to the +author. Unfortunately this argument is untenable after the publication +of George Sand's letters, for there she identifies herself with Lelia, +and develops views identical with those that shocked us in Leoni and +elsewhere. + +[Footnote: On May 26, 1833, she writes to her friend Francois Rollinat +with regard to this book: "It is an eternal chat between us. We are the +gravest personages in it." Three years later, writing to the Comtesse +d'Agoult, her account differs somewhat: "I am adding a volume to +'Lelia.' This occupies me more than any other novel has as yet +done. Lelia is not myself, je suis meilleure enfant; but she is my +ideal."--Correspondance, vol. I., pp. 248 and 372.] + +These letters, moreover, contain much that is damaging to her claim +to chastity. Indeed, one sentence in a letter written in June, 1835 +(Correspondance, vol. I., p. 307), disposes of this claim decisively. +The unnecessarily graphic manner in which she here deals with an +indelicate subject would be revolting in a man addressing a woman, in a +woman addressing a man it is simply monstrous. + +As a thinker, George Sand never attained to maturity; she always +remained the slave of her strong passions and vitiated principles. +She never wrote a truer word than when she confessed that she judged +everything by sympathy. Indeed, what she said of her childhood +applies also to her womanhood: "Il n'y avait de fort en moi que la +passion... rien dans man cerveau fit obstacle." George Sand often lays +her finger on sore places, fails, however, not only to prescribe the +right remedy, but even to recognise the true cause of the disease. She +makes now and then acute observations, but has not sufficient strength +to grapple successfully with the great social, philosophical, and +religious problems which she so boldly takes up. In fact, reasoning +unreasonableness was a very frequent condition of George Sand's mind. +That the unreasonableness of her reasoning remains unseen by many, +did so at any rate in her time, is due to the marvellous beauty and +eloquence of her language. The best that can be said of her subversive +theories was said by a French critic--namely, that they were in reality +only "le temoignage d'aspirations genereuses et de nobles illusions." +But even this is saying too much, for her aspirations and illusions are +far from being always generous and noble. If we wish to see George Sand +at her best we must seek her out in her quiet moods, when she contents +herself with being an artist, and unfolds before us the beauties of +nature and the secrets of the human heart. Indeed, unless we do this, +we cannot form a true idea of her character. Not all the roots of her +talent were imbedded in corruption. She who wrote Lelia wrote also +Andre, she who wrote Lucrezia Floriani wrote also La petite Fadette. +And in remembering her faults and shortcomings justice demands that we +should not forget her family history, with its dissensions and +examples of libertinism, and her education without system, continuity, +completeness, and proper guidance. + +The most precious judgment pronounced on George Sand is by one who was +at once a true woman and a great poet. Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett Browning +saw in her the "large-brained woman and large-hearted man... whose soul, +amid the lions of her tumultuous senses, moans defiance and answers roar +for roar, as spirits can"; but who lacked "the angel's grace of a pure +genius sanctified from blame." This is from the sonnet to George Sand, +entitled "A Desire." In another sonnet, likewise addressed to George +Sand and entitled "A Recognition," she tells her how vain it was to deny +with a manly scorn the woman's nature... while before + + The world thou burnest in a poet-fire, + We see thy woman-heart beat evermore + Through the large flame. Beat purer, heart, and higher, + Till God unsex thee on the heavenly shore + Where unincarnate spirits purely aspire! + + + + + + + END OF VOLUME I. + + + + + + + +VOLUME II. + + + +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 gite]. + 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 are 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 the +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 20th 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." [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. I 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 30th +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 30th 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. 171.) + + + +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. 177.) + + + +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 VOLUME II. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, by +Frederick Niecks + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREDERICK CHOPIN *** + +***** This file should be named 4973.txt or 4973.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/9/7/4973/ + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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