Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician, vol 1 | Page 3

My researches had for their object the whole life of Chopin, and his
historical, political, artistical, social, and personal surroundings, but
they were chiefly directed to the least known and most interesting
period of his career--his life in France, and his visits to Germany and
Great Britain. My chief sources of information are divisible into two
classes--newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, correspondences, and
books; and conversations I held with, and letters I received from,
Chopin's pupils, friends, and acquaintances. Of his pupils, my warmest
thanks are due to Madame Dubois (nee Camille O'Meara), Madame

Rubio (nee Vera de Kologrivof), Mdlle. Gavard, Madame Streicher
(nee Friederike Muller), Adolph Gutmann, M. Georges Mathias,
Brinley Richards, and Lindsay Sloper; of friends and acquaintances, to
Liszt, Ferdinand Hiller, Franchomme, Charles Valentin Alkan, Stephen
Heller, Edouard Wolff, Mr. Charles Halle, Mr. G. A. Osborne, T.
Kwiatkowski, Prof. A. Chodzko, M. Leonard Niedzwiecki (gallice,
Nedvetsky), Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, Mr. A. J. Hipkins, and
Dr. and Mrs. Lyschinski. I am likewise greatly indebted to Messrs.
Breitkopf and Hartel, Karl Gurckhaus (the late proprietor of the firm of
Friedrich Kistner), Julius Schuberth, Friedrich Hofmeister, Edwin
Ashdown, Richault & Cie, and others, for information in connection
with the publication of Chopin's works. It is impossible to enumerate
all my obligations--many of my informants and many furtherers of my
labours will be mentioned in the body of the book; many, however, and
by no means the least helpful, will remain unnamed. To all of them I
offer the assurance of my deep-felt gratitude. Not a few of my kind
helpers, alas! are no longer among the living; more than ten years have
gone by since I began my researches, and during that time Death has
been reaping a rich harvest.
The Chopin letters will, no doubt, be regarded as a special feature of
the present biography. They may, I think, be called numerous, if we
consider the master's dislike to letter-writing. Ferdinand Hiller--whose
almost unique collection of letters addressed to him by his famous
friends in art and literature is now, and will be for years to come, under
lock and key among the municipal archives at Cologne--allowed me to
copy two letters by Chopin, one of them written conjointly with Liszt.
Franchomme, too, granted me the privilege of copying his friend's
epistolary communications. Besides a number of letters that have here
and there been published, I include, further, a translation of Chopin's
letters to Fontana, which in Karasowski's book (i.e., the Polish edition)
lose much of their value, owing to his inability to assign approximately
correct dates to them.
The space which I give to George Sand is, I think, justified by the part
she plays in the life of Chopin. To meet the objections of those who
may regard my opinion of her as too harsh, I will confess that I entered
upon the study of her character with the impression that she had
suffered much undeserved abuse, and that it would be incumbent upon

a Chopin biographer to defend her against his predecessors and the
friends of the composer. How entirely I changed my mind, the sequel
will show.
In conclusion, a few hints as to the pronunciation of Polish words,
which otherwise might puzzle the reader uninitiated in the mysteries of
that rarely-learned language. Aiming more at simplicity than at
accuracy, one may say that the vowels are pronounced somewhat like
this: a as in "arm," aL like the nasal French "on," e as in "tell," e/ with
an approach to the French "e/" (or to the German "u [umlaut]" and "o
[umlaut]"), eL like the nasal French "in," i as in "pick," o as in "not," o/
with an approach to the French "ou," u like the French ou, and y with
an approach to the German "i" and "u." The following consonants are
pronounced as in English: b, d, f, g (always hard), h, k, I, m, n, p, s, t,
and z. The following single and double consonants differ from the
English pronunciation: c like "ts," c/ softer than c, j like "y," l/ like "ll"
with the tongue pressed against the upper row of teeth, n/ like "ny" (i.e.,
n softened by i), r sharper than in English, w like "v," z/ softer than z, z.
and rz like the French "j," ch like the German guttural "ch" in "lachen"
(similar to "ch" in the Scotch "loch"), cz like "ch" in "cherry," and sz
like "sh" in "sharp." Mr. W. R. Morfill ("A Simplified Grammar of the
Polish Language") elucidates the combination szcz, frequently to be
met with, by the English expression "smasht china," where the
italicised letters give the pronunciation. Lastly, family names
terminating in take a instead of i when applied to women.
April, 1888.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The second