Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician

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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:--