Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician, vol 1 | Page 5

of exquisite beauty; his songs,
though always acceptable, and sometimes charming, are not. We
should know nothing of them and the composer, if of his works they
alone had been published. In not publishing them himself, Chopin gave
us his own opinion, an opinion confirmed by the singers in rarely
performing them and by the public in little caring for them. In short,
Chopin's songs add nothing to his fame. To mention them in one breath

with those of Schubert and Schumann, or even with those of Robert
Franz and Adolf Jensen, is the act of an hero-worshipping enthusiast,
not of a discriminating critic.
On two points, often commented upon by critics, I feel regret, although
not repentance--namely, on any "anecdotic iconoclasm" where fact
refuted fancy, and on my abstention from pronouncing judgments
where the evidence was inconclusive. But how can a conscientious
biographer help this ungraciousness and inaccommodativeness? Is it
not his duty to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, in order that his
subject may stand out unobstructed and shine forth unclouded?
In conclusion, two instances of careless reading. One critic, after
attributing a remark of Chopin's to me, exclaims: "The author is fond of
such violent jumps to conclusions." And an author, most benevolently
inclined towards me, enjoyed the humour of my first "literally ratting"
George Sand, and then saying that I "abstained from pronouncing
judgment because the complete evidence did not warrant my doing so."
The former (in vol. i.) had to do with George Sand's character; the latter
(in vol. ii.) with the moral aspect of her connection with Chopin.
An enumeration of the more notable books dealing with Chopin,
published after the issue of the earlier editions of the present book will
form an appropriate coda to this preface--"Frederic Francois Chopin,"
by Charles Willeby; "Chopin, and Other Musical Essays," by Henry T.
Finck; "Studies in Modern Music" (containing an essay on Chopin), by
W. H. Hadow; "Chopin's Greater Works," by Jean Kleczynski,
translated by Natalie Janotha; and "Chopin: the Man and his Music," by
James Huneker.
Edinburgh, February, 1902.

PROEM.

POLAND AND THE POLES.

THE works of no composer of equal importance bear so striking a
national impress as those of Chopin. It would, however, be an error to
attribute this simply and solely to the superior force of the Polish
musician's patriotism. The same force of patriotism in an Italian,
Frenchman, German, or Englishman would not have produced a similar

result. Characteristics such as distinguish Chopin's music presuppose a
nation as peculiarly endowed, constituted, situated, and conditioned, as
the Polish--a nation with a history as brilliant and dark, as fair and
hideous, as romantic and tragic. The peculiarities of the peoples of
western Europe have been considerably modified, if not entirely
levelled, by centuries of international intercourse; the peoples of the
eastern part of the Continent, on the other hand, have, until recent times,
kept theirs almost intact, foreign influences penetrating to no depth,
affecting indeed no more than the aristocratic few, and them only
superficially. At any rate, the Slavonic races have not been moulded by
the Germanic and Romanic races as these latter have moulded each
other: east and west remain still apart--strangers, if not enemies. Seeing
how deeply rooted Chopin's music is in the national soil, and
considering how little is generally known about Poland and the Poles,
the necessity of paying in this case more attention to the land of the
artist's birth and the people to which he belongs than is usually done in
biographies of artists, will be admitted by all who wish to understand
fully and appreciate rightly the poet- musician and his works. But while
taking note of what is of national origin in Chopin's music, we must be
careful not to ascribe to this origin too much. Indeed, the fact that the
personal individuality of Chopin is as markedly differentiated, as
exclusively self-contained, as the national individuality of Poland, is
oftener overlooked than the master's national descent and its
significance with regard to his artistic production. And now, having
made the reader acquainted with the raison d'etre of this proem, I shall
plunge without further preliminaries in medias res.
The palmy days of Poland came to an end soon after the extinction of
the dynasty of the Jagellons in 1572. So early as 1661 King John
Casimir warned the nobles, whose insubordination and want of solidity,
whose love of outside glitter and tumult, he deplored, that, unless they
remedied the existing evils, reformed their pretended free elections, and
renounced their personal privileges, the noble kingdom would become
the prey of other nations. Nor was this the first warning. The Jesuit
Peter Skarga (1536--1612), an indefatigable denunciator of the vices of
the ruling classes, told them in 1605 that their dissensions would