Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician

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[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.