Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician

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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.