Chopin: The Man and His Music

Chopin: The Man and His Music

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Title: Chopin: The Man and His Music
Author: James Huneker
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CHOPIN: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I.--THE MAN.
I. POLAND:--YOUTHFUL IDEALS II. PARIS:--IN THE
MAELSTROM III. ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND FERE LA
CHAISE IV. THE ARTIST V. POET AND PSYCHOLOGIST

PART II.--HIS MUSIC.
VI. THE STUDIES:--TITANIC EXPERIMENTS VII. MOODS IN
MINIATURE: THE PRELUDES VIII. IMPROMPTUS AND
VALSES IX. NIGHT AND ITS MELANCHOLY MYSTERIES: THE
NOCTURNES X. THE BALLADES: FAERY DRAMAS XI.
CLASSICAL CURRENTS XII. THE POLONAISES: HEROIC
HYMNS OF BATTLE XIII. MAZURKAS: DANCES OF THE SOUL
XIV. CHOPIN THE CONQUEROR
BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS BY JAMES HUNEKER

PART I.--THE MAN

I. POLAND:--YOUTHFUL IDEALS

Gustave Flaubert, pessimist and master of cadenced lyric prose, urged
young writers to lead ascetic lives that in their art they might be violent.
Chopin's violence was psychic, a travailing and groaning of the spirit;
the bright roughness of adventure was missing from his quotidian
existence. The tragedy was within. One recalls Maurice Maeterlinck:
"Whereas most of our life is passed far from blood, cries and swords,
and the tears of men have become silent, invisible and almost spiritual."
Chopin went from Poland to France--from Warsaw to Paris--where,
finally, he was borne to his grave in Pere la Chaise. He lived, loved and
died; and not for him were the perils, prizes and fascinations of a hero's
career. He fought his battles within the walls of his soul- -we may note
and enjoy them in his music. His outward state was not niggardly of
incident though his inner life was richer, nourished as it was in the
silence and the profound unrest of a being that irritably resented every
intrusion. There were events that left ineradicable impressions upon his
nature, upon his work: his early love, his sorrow at parting from parents
and home, the shock of the Warsaw revolt, his passion for George Sand,
the death of his father and of his friend Matuszynski, and the rupture
with Madame Sand--these were crises of his history. All else was but
an indeterminate factor in the scheme of his earthly sojourn. Chopin
though not an anchorite resembled Flaubert, being both proud and
timid; he led a detached life, hence his art was bold and violent. Unlike
Liszt he seldom sought the glamor of the theatre, and was never in such
public view as his maternal admirer, Sand. He was Frederic Francois
Chopin, composer, teacher of piano and a lyric genius of the highest
range.
Recently the date of his birth has been again discussed by Natalie
Janotha, the Polish pianist. Chopin was born in Zelazowa- Wola, six
miles from Warsaw, March 1, 1809. This place is sometimes spelled
Jeliasovaya-Volia. The medallion made for the tomb by Clesinger--the
son-in-law of George Sand--and the watch given by the singer Catalan!

in 1820 with the inscription "Donne par Madame Catalan! a Frederic
Chopin, age de dix ans," have incited a conflict of authorities.
Karasowski was informed by Chopin's sister that the correct year of his
birth was 1809, and Szulc, Sowinski and Niecks agree with him. Szulc
asserts that the memorial in the Holy Cross Church, Warsaw--where
Chopin's heart is preserved--bears the date March 2, 1809. Chopin, so
Henry T. Finck declares, was twenty-two years of age when he wrote to
his teacher Elsner in 1831. Liszt told Niecks in 1878 that Karasowski
had published the correct date in his biography. Now let us consider
Janotha's arguments. According to