Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician, vol 2

Frederic Chopin as a Man and
Musician, vol 2

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Musician,
Volume 2, by Frederick Niecks #2 in our series by Frederick Niecks
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Title: Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, Volume 2
Author: Frederick Niecks
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4972] [Yes, we are more than

one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 8,
2002]
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FREDERICK CHOPIN VOLUME 2 ***

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Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, Volume 2 (of 2)
Frederick Niecks
Third Edition (1902)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTERS XX-XXXII APPENDICES I-IX REMARKS
PRELIMINARY TO THE LIST OF CHOPIN'S WORKS. LIST OF
CHOPIN'S PUBLISHED WORKS

CHAPTER XX
.

1836--1838.

THE LOVES OF CELEBRITIES.--VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF
CHOPIN AND GEORGE SAND'S FIRST MEETING.--CHOPIN'S
FIRST IMPRESSION OF HER.--A COMPARISON OF THE TWO
CHARACTERS.--PORTRAYALS OF CHOPIN AND GEORGE
SAND.--HER POWER OF PLEASING.--CHOPIN'S

PUBLICATIONS IN 1837 AND 1838.--HE PLAYS AT COURT AND
AT CONCERTS IN PARIS AND ROUEN.--CRITICISM.

THE loves of famous men and women, especially of those connected
with literature and the fine arts, have always excited much curiosity. In
the majority of cases the poet's and artist's choice of a partner falls on a
person who is incapable of comprehending his aims and sometimes
even of sympathising with his striving. The question "why poets are so
apt to choose their mates, not for any similarity of poetical endowment,
but for qualities which might make the happiness of the rudest
handicrafts-man as well as that of the ideal craftsman" has perhaps
never been better answered than by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who remarks
that "at his highest elevation the poet needs no human intercourse; but
he finds it dreary to descend, and be a stranger." Still, this is by no
means a complete solution of the problem which again and again
presents itself and challenges our ingenuity. Chopin and George Sand's
case belongs to the small minority of loves where both parties are
distinguished practitioners of ideal crafts. Great would be the mistake,
however, were we to assume that the elective affinities of such lovers
are easily discoverable On the contrary, we have here another problem,
one which, owing to the higher, finer, and more varied factors that
come into play, is much more difficult to solve than the first. But
before we can engage in solving the problem, it must be properly
propounded. Now, to ascertain facts about the love-affairs of poets and
artists is the very reverse of an easy task; and this is so partly because
the parties naturally do not let outsiders into all their secrets, and partly
because romantic minds and imaginative litterateurs are always busy
developing plain facts and unfounded rumours into wonderful myths.
The picturesqueness of the story, the piquancy of the anecdote, is
generally in inverse proportion to the narrator's knowledge of the
matter in question. In short, truth is only too often most unconscionably
sacrificed to effect. Accounts, for instance, such as L. Enault and
Karasowski have given of Chopin's first meeting with George Sand can
be recommended only to those who care for amusing gossip about the
world of art, and do not mind whether what they read is the simple
truth or not, nay, do not mind even whether it has any verisimilitude.
Nevertheless, we will give these gentlemen a hearing, and then try if

we cannot find some firmer ground to stand on.
L. Enault relates that Chopin and George Sand met for the first time at
one of the fetes of the Marquis de C., where the aristocracy of Europe
assembled--the aristocracy of genius, of birth, of wealth, of beauty,
&c.:--
The last knots of the chaine anglaise had already been untied, the
brilliant crowd had left the ball-room, the