In the autumn of Chopin arrived in Paris where he met many fellow countrymen. Following the national defeat, thousands of exiles, including participants of the armed struggle, politicians, representatives of Polish culture, such as the writer Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Romantic poets A.
Mickiewicz and Juliusz Slowacki, and the Warsaw friends of Chopin, the poets Stefan Witwicki and Bohdan Zaleski, sought refuge from the Russian occupation in a country and city which they found most friendly.
Chopin made close contacts with the so-called Great Emigration, befriended its leader Prince Adam Czartoryski, and became a member of the Polish Literary Society, which he supported financially. In Paris, his reputation as an artist grew rapidly. Letters of recommendation which the composer brought from Vienna allowed him immediately to join the local musical milieu, which welcomed him cordially. Later on, in , in Leipzig, he also met Schumann who held his works in great esteem and wrote enthusiastic articles about the Polish composer.
Upon hearing the performance of the unknown arrival from Warsaw, the great pianist Friedrich Kalkbrenner, called the king of the piano, organised a concert for Chopin which took place on the 26th of February in the Salle Pleyel. The ensuing success was enormous, and he quickly became a famous musician, renowned throughout Paris.
This rise to fame aroused the interest of publishers and by the summer of , Chopin had signed a contract with the leading Parisian publishing firm of Schlesinger. At the same time, his compositions were published in Leipzig by Probst, and then Breitkopf, and in London by Wessel. The most important source of Chopin's income in Paris was, however, from giving lessons.
He became a popular teacher among the Polish and French aristocracy and Parisian salons were his favourite place for performances. As a pianist, Chopin was ranked among the greatest artists of his epoch, such as Kalkbrenner, Liszt, Thalberg and Herz, but, in contrast to them, he disliked public performances and appeared rarely and rather unwillingly.
In a friendly, intimate group of listeners he disclosed supreme artistry and the full scale of his pianistic and expressive talents. Despite the requests of his father, he did not obey the Tsarist regulations, issued in subjugated Poland, and never extended his passport in the Russian embassy. Consequently, being regarded as a political refugee, Chopin deprived himself of the possibility of legally revisiting his homeland.
He longed to see his family and friends and, seeking refuge against loneliness, decided to share accommodation with the physician Aleksander Hoffman, another Polish exile, and after the latter's departure from Paris, with his Warsaw friend, former insurgent and physician, Jan Matuszynski. In this situation, the composer could meet his parents only outside Poland and when in August they went to Karlsbad for a cure, Chopin soon followed.
Afterwards, while in nearby Dresden, he renewed his acquaintance with the Wodzinski family. Years earlier, the three young Wodzinski sons had stayed in the boarding house managed by Mikolaj Chopin. Their younger sister, Maria, now an adolescent, showed considerable musical and artistic talent and Chopin fell in love with her and wanted to marry her and set up a family home of his own in exile.
Chopin found this rejection an extremely painful experience, and labelled the letters from the Wodzinski family, tied into a small bundle, "My sorrow". In July , Chopin travelled to London in the company of Camille Pleyel in the hope of forgetting all unpleasant memories. Soon afterwards, he entered into a close liaison with the famous French writer George Sand.
This author of daring novels, older by six years, and a divorcee with two children, offered the lonely artist what he missed most from the time when he left Warsaw: extraordinary tenderness, warmth and maternal care. While in Paris, Chopin found his delicate style didn't always enthrall the larger concert audiences, who had been exposed to the works of Franz Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven.
A fortuitous introduction to the Rothschild family opened new doors, however, and Chopin soon found employment in the great parlors of Paris as both recitalist and teacher. His increased income allowed him to live well and compose such pieces as Nocturnes of Opp. Though Chopin had had youthful love affairs and was at one time engaged, none of his relationships lasted more than a year.
The couple spent a harsh winter on the Spanish island of Majorca, where Chopin became ill. In March , Sand realized that Chopin needed medical attention and took him to Marseille, where he was diagnosed with consumption tuberculosis. The next seven years proved to be the happiest and most productive period of Chopin's life. The growing demand for his new works and his greater understanding of the publishing business also brought increased income and provided Chopin an elegant lifestyle.
By the mids, both Chopin's health and his relationship with Sand were deteriorating. His behavior had also become erratic, possibly due to an undiagnosed form of epilepsy.
Scarecrow Press. Hamilton, Kenneth Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hedley, Arthur and Maurice Brown Sadie ed. Hutchings, A. Jakubowski, Jan Zygmunt, ed. Jones, J. Barrie a. Barrie b. Kallberg, Jeffrey Kennedy, Michael The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. In Polish. English summary. Article and summary accessed 28 December Lanza, Andrea n. Latham, Alison n. Liszt, Franz, tr. Cook Life of Chopin 4th edition.
E-text in Kindle version at Project Gutenberg accessed 27 December Mantle, D. Norman In German. Niecks, Frederick Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician , 3rd edition. E-text in Kindle version at Project Gutenberg accessed 4 January Reiss, Jozef and Maurice Brown Rosen, Charles The Romantic Generation. Rottermund, Krzysztof Samson, Jim 8 December The Cambridge Companion to Chopin.
Samson, Jim The Oxford Companion to Music. Schonberg, Harold C. Great Pianists. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Schumann, Robert , tr. Henry Pleasants. Schumann on Music: A Selection from the Writings. New York: Dover Publications. Szklener, Artur Szulc, Tad New York: Scribner. Taruskin, Richard Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions. Music in the Nineteenth Century. Temperley, Nicholas London: Macmillan, pp. Turnbull, Michael T. Monuments and Statues of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh: Chambers. Wheeldon, Marianne Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Zamoyski, Adam Chopin: Prince of the Romantics. London: HarperCollins.
ISBN e-book edition. Licenses and Attributions. CC licensed content, Shared previously. Mazurka in A minor, Op. Giorgi Latso, piano Waltz in D-flat major, Op. Giorgi Latso, piano. Problems playing these files?
It was in this room that Chopin gave the first performances of this concerto. The windows look down onto Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street, Warsaw's most elegant, and the wrought-iron gate of the city's university where Frederic studied and a church were he played organ during Mass.
The Church of the Holy Cross is a few steps down the street. Inside a pillar on the left-hand side of the nave is an urn containing Chopin's heart, which according to his wishes was smuggled home by his elder sister, Ludwika. The young Frederic would often walk down the Royal Way, visiting friends or going to cafes and bookstores.
The route is marked by black granite benches which play different Chopin compositions. If you follow the Royal Way you will arrive at the Lazienki Park. If you visit during summer you can attend the free open air concerts on Sundays given by pianists from all over the world.
0コメント