Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician, vol 2 | Page 8

promised to comply with her
request: "If one must weep, it shall not be you," he said. In the evening
George Sand came in a carriage to the door and asked for Madame
Musset; the latter came out, and after a short interview gave her consent
to her son's departure. Chopin's unsuccessful wooing of Miss
Wodzinska and her marriage with Count Skarbek in this year (1837)

may not have been without effect on the composer. His heart being left
bruised and empty was as it were sensitised (if I may use this
photographic term) for the reception of a new impression by the action
of love. In short, the intimacy between Chopin and George Sand grew
steadily and continued to grow till it reached its climax in the autumn
of 1838, when they went together to Majorca. Other matters, however,
have to be adverted to before we come to this passage of Chopin's life.
First I shall have to say a few words about his artistic activity during
the years 1837 and 1838.
Among the works composed by Chopin in 1837 was one of the
Variations on the March from I Puritani, which were published under
the title Hexameron: Morceau de Concert. Grandes variations de
bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini, composees pour le
concert de Madame la Princesse Belgiojoso au benefice des pauvres,
par M.M. Liszt, Thalberg, Pixis, H. Herz, Czerny, et Chopin. This
co-operative undertaking was set on foot by the Princess, and was one
of her many schemes to procure money for her poor exiled countrymen.
Liszt played these Variations often at his concerts, and even wrote
orchestral accompaniments to them, which, however, were never
published.
Chopin's publications of the year 1837 are: in October, Op. 25, Douze
Etudes, dedicated to Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult; and in December,
Op. 29, Impromptu (in A flat major), dedicated to Mdlle. la Comtesse
de Lobau; Op. 30, Quatre Mazurkas, dedicated to Madame la Princesse
de Wurtemberg, nee Princesse Czartoryska; Op. 31, Deuxieme Scherzo
(B flat minor), dedicated to Mdlle. la Comtesse Adele de Furstenstein;
and Op. 32, Deux Nocturnes (B major and A flat major), dedicated to
Madame la Baronne de Billing. His publications of the year 1838 are:
in October, Op. 33, Quatre Mazurkas, dedicated to Mdlle. la Comtesse
Mostowska; and, in December, Op. 34, Trois Valses brillantes (A flat
major, A minor, and F major), respectively dedicated to Mdlle. de
Thun- Hohenstein, Madame G. d'Ivri, and Mdlle. A. d'Eichthal. This
last work appeared at Paris first in an Album des Pianistes, a collection
of unpublished pieces by Thalberg, Chopin, Doehler, Osborne, Liszt,
and Mereaux. Two things in connection with this album may yet be
mentioned--namely, that Mereaux contributed to it a Fantasia on a
mazurka by Chopin, and that Stephen Heller reviewed it in the Gazette

musicale. Chopin was by no means pleased with the insertion of the
waltzes in Schlesinger's Album des Pianistes. But more of this and his
labours and grievances as a composer in the next chapter.
There are also to be recorded some public and semi-public appearances
of Chopin as a virtuoso. On February 25, 1838, the Gazette musicale
informs its readers that Chopin, "that equally extraordinary and modest
pianist," had lately been summoned to Court to be heard there en cercle
intime. His inexhaustible improvisations, which almost made up the
whole of the evening's entertainment, were particularly admired by the
audience, which knew as well as a gathering of artists how to
appreciate the composer's merits. At a concert given by Valentin Alkan
on March 3, 1838, Chopin performed with Zimmermann, Gutmann,
and the concert-giver, the latter's arrangement of Beethoven's A major
Symphony (or rather some movements from it) for two pianos and
eight hands. And in the Gazette musicale of March 25, 1838, there is a
report by M. Legouve of Chopin's appearance at a concert given by his
countryman Orlowski at Rouen, where the latter had settled after some
years stay in Paris. From a writer in the Journal de Rouen (December 1,
1849) we learn that ever since this concert, which was held in the
town-hall, and at which the composer played his E minor Concerto
with incomparable perfection, the name of Chopin had in the musical
world of Rouen a popularity which secured to his memory an
honourable and cordial sympathy. But here is what Legouve says about
this concert. I transcribe the notice in full, because it shows us both
how completely Chopin had retired from the noise and strife of
publicity, and how high he stood in the estimation of his
contemporaries.
Here is an event which is not without importance in the musical world.
Chopin, who has not been heard in public for several years; Chopin,
who imprisons his charming genius in an audience of five