Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician

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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.