Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician | Page 3

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 edition differs from the first by little more than the
correction of some misprints and a few additions. These latter are to be
found among the Appendices. The principal addition consists of
interesting communications from Madame Peruzzi, a friend of Chopin's
still living at Florence. Next in importance come Madame Schumann's
diary notes bearing on Chopin's first visit to Leipzig. The remaining
additions concern early Polish music, the first performances of
Chopin's works at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, his visit to Marienbad
(remarks by Rebecca Dirichlet), the tempo rubato, and his portraits. To
the names of Chopin's friends and acquaintances to whom I am
indebted for valuable assistance, those of Madame Peruzzi and
Madame Schumann have, therefore, to be added. My apologies as well
as my thanks are due to Mr. Felix Moscheles, who kindly permitted a
fac-simile to be made from a manuscript, in his possession, a kindness
that ought to have been acknowledged in the first edition. I am glad that

a second edition affords me an opportunity to repair this much regretted
omission. The manuscript in question is an