FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
WRITTEN BY GÎŢ BIANCA MILENA RISE-ENGLISH, I YEAR, GROUP 1 BABES BOLYAI UNIVERSITY, CLUJ
Frederic Chopin was a Polish composer and a piano virtuoso of the Romantic period and he is widely regarded as one of music`s greatest tone poets. “His work is dedicated almost
entirely to the piano but there are some exceptions like his voice melodies (published after his death), a trio and a sonata for the cello and the piano”1.In his compositions, boldness is always jusitfied; ” richness, even exuberance, never interferes with clearness; singularity never degenerates into uncouth fantasticalness; the sculpturing is never disorderly; the luxury of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence of the principal lines. His best works abound in combinations which may be said to form an epoch in the handling of musical styles”2. It is simply daring, brilliant and attractive.
Childhood and education Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was born on March 1, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola in Sochaczew County, fifty kilometers west of Warsaw, in what was then part of the Duchy of Warsaw. Even since his birth, some contreverses around the seemingly normal child, later to become a prodigy-child, existed. Despite the fact that in Chopin`s birth certificate the birth date 22 April 1810 is written, later, his true birth date was found from his corespondences: March 1. Frederic`s father was Mikolaj Chopin, originally a Frenchman (this subject was long time disputated until a relevant document was discovered 3) from Lorraine, who had emigrated to Poland in 1787 at the age of 16. He rapidly got himself attached to this country and in 1794 he served in Poland`s National Guard during the Kosciuszko Uprising. The elder Chopin subsequently worked in Zelazowa Wola as a tutor for the Count of Skarbek`s children. He had moved with the aristocratic family in 1802 and this choice changed his life by marrying one of their long relatives, Justyna Krzyznowska in 1806. The Chopin family moved after a month of Frederic`s birth, in Warsaw where they lived on the grounds of the Saxon Palace, receiving this acommodation because of Mikolaj`s post as a French professor . In 1817 he began to work, still teaching French, at the Warsaw Lyceum, housed in Warsaw University's Kazimierz Palace. The family lived in a spacious second-floor apartment in an adjacent building. The son himself would attend the Warsaw Lyceum from 1823 to 1826. And because of such a big space, Mikolaj transformed a part of it in a lodging for boys, becoming one of the most famous in Warsaw. At the cultural spirit of the house contributed Justina, Mikolajs wife, as well, by teaching the boys and her children piano lessons. This artistic atmosphere and the domination of the female presence, 3 sisters (Louise, Izabela-Justina and Emily) and his mother, influenced Frederic`s character. He was a sensitive boy and the sound of music provoked him nervous attacks in his first years of life.Thus, Chopin`s existence started upon the sign of this peculiar paradox. By six, he was already trying to reproduce what he heard or to make up new melodies, based on what he saw around him. Hence, his mother started to give him technical instructions for the piano. Chopin's first professional piano tutor, from 1816 to 1822, was the respected, elderly Czech, Wojciech Żywny.He was a strange man, but he was the first person who presented Chopin what a sonata was, a trio and he tried to make him understand the secrets of music. Although the youngster's skills soon surpassed those of his teacher, Chopin later spoke highly of him. Eight-year-old "Little Chopin" began to give public concerts that soon prompted comparison with Mozart as a child, and with Chopin's older contemporary, Beethoven. Despite these apreciations, Chopin remained the same child with abilities in observation and sketching, a keen wit and sense of humour and an uncommon talent for mimicry and other 1
Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p. 216 Franz Liszt, Life of Chopin, The Project Gutenburg eText 3 Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p.5 2
2
times, a serious, dreamy and sad boy. He sometimes showed a precocious maturity, illustrated in his dedication for his father : „Dear father, although it would have been easier to confess my feelings throughout music, if that is possible – but, as the best concert could not express my whole and true love for you, dearest father, i have to use the simple words of my heart so that i can offer you the homage of the most affectionate gratitude and of filial devotion.”4 That same year, Chopin composed two polonaises, in G minor and B-flat major. The first was published in the engraving workshop of Father Izydor Józef Cybulski (composer, engraver, director of an organists' school, and one of the few music publishers in Poland); the second survives as a manuscript prepared by Mikołaj Chopin. These small works were said to rival not only the popular polonaises of leading Warsaw composers, but the famous polonaises of Michał Kleofas Ogiński. A substantial development of melodic and harmonic invention, and of piano technique, was shown in Chopin's next known polonaise (in A-flat major), which the young artist offered, in 1821, as a name-day present to Żywny. About this time, at the age of eleven, Chopin performed in the presence of Russian Tsar Alexander I, who was in Warsaw, opening the Sejm (Polish parliament). In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began a three-year course of studies with the composer Józef Elsner at the Warsaw Conservatory, which was affiliated with Warsaw University (hence Chopin is counted among that university's alumni). Chopin's first contact with the Polish composer may have been as early as 1822; it is certain that Elsner was giving Chopin informal guidance by 1823, and in 1826 Chopin officially commenced the study of music theory, figured bass, and composition with Elsner. In year-end evaluations, Elsner noted Chopin's "remarkable talent" and "musical genius." As had Żywny, Elsner observed, rather than influenced or directed, the development of Chopin's blossoming talent. Elsner's teaching style was based on his reluctance to "constrain" Chopin with "narrow, academic, outdated" rules, and to allow the young artist to mature "according to the laws of his own nature."5 While in his mid-teens, he spent his vacations at the Mazowsze village of Szafarnia (where he was a guest of Prince Antoni Radziwiłł), Chopin was exposed to folk melodies that he would later transmute into original compositions that would become a trademark of his work. His letters home from Szafarnia (the famous "Szafarnia Courier" letters) amused his family with their spoofing of the Warsaw newspapers and demonstrated the „youngster's literary talent”.6 During that period, because of his and his sister Emily’s bad health, he had to go on a trip to the Reinertz spa, in order to have recovery treatments. But his artist's soul was also enriched by friendships such as leading lights of Warsaw's artistic and intellectual world as Maurycy Mochnacki, Józef Bohdan Zaleski and Julian Fontana. With them, Chopin discovered the social life, the polish cafés, animated by different characters with whom he discussed about the changes that occured in their country. All these aspects helped him develop a unique personality and attitude.
Initiation journeys 4
Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p 19 Frederick Niecks, Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, The Project Gutenburg eText 6 Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p. 26 5
3
Mikolaj now, has no doubt in what concerns the great talent of his son and his future musician career. Therefore, he thinks that the staying of Chopin in Warsaw would imply his genius limitation, so he considers to send his child for further studies in Italy, France, Germany and Austria. So he requests material support from the Minister of Culture but surprisingly his request is denied. However this didn`t stop Chopin to travel to Vienna in August 1829, three weeks after completing his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory.There he made a brilliant debut and gave two piano concerts and received many favorable reviews — in addition to some that criticized the small tone that he drew from the piano. After leaving Vienna he didn`t return home, but visited Prague, Teplitz, Drezda and German Switzerland, with stops in Wroclaw, Kalisz and Antonin, accompanied by his friends. Chopin loved journeys. It was also the desire to see, to know as many places as he could, „it was the fretting of the genius willing to know everything in a faster way”7.This period was followed by a concert, in December 1829, at the War Saw Merchants' Club, where Chopin premiered his Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, and by his first performance, on March 17, 1830, at the National Theater, of his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor. Those days he also began writing his first études (1829–32). Chopin's successes as a performer and composer opened the professional door for him to Western Europe, and on November 2, 1830, seen off by friends and admirers, with a ring from Konstancja Gładkowska on his finger and carrying with him a silver cup containing soil from his native land, Chopin set out, writes Jachimecki, "into the wide world, with no very clearly defined aim, forever." In his way to Vienna he had to make a stop at Kalisz in order to meet Titus Woiceychowski, his very good friend with whom, Chopin will spend his time in Austria`s capital. Here he had a hard time, partly because of his Polish origins, knowing that the austrians were reluctant to Poland`s position in world power. And after the November Uprising broke out his plans were ruined because his friend and traveling companion, Tytus, returned to Poland to enlist. Chopin, now alone in Vienna, writes Jachimecki, "afflicted by nostalgia, disappointed in his hopes of giving concerts and publishing, matured and acquired spiritual depth. From a romantic... poet... he grew into an inspired national bard who intuited the past, present and future of his country. Only now, at this distance, did he see all of Poland from the proper perspective, and understand what was great and truly beautiful in her, the tragedy and heroism of her vicissitudes."Therefore, forced to remain in Vienna between November 24, 1830 and July 20, 1831, he was heard there in some concerts, but the Viennese public, generally so cultivated, so prompt to seize the most delicate shades of execution, the finest subtleties of thought, during this winter were disturbed and abstracted. The young artist did not produce there the effect he had the right to anticipate. When in September 1831 Chopin learned, while traveling from Vienna to Paris, that the uprising had been crushed, he poured "profanities and blasphemies"8 in his native Polish language into the pages of a little journal known as „The Stuttgart Journal” that he kept secret to the end of his life(exhibited to the 1932 Warsaw Exhibition). These outcries of a tormented heart found musical expression in his Scherzo in B Minor, Op. 20, and his Revolutionary Étude. He left Vienna with the desire of going to London, but he came first to Paris, where he intended to remain only for a short while. Upon his passport drawn up for England, he had caused to be inserted: "passing through Paris." These words sealed his fate. Long years afterwards, when he seemed not only acclimated, but naturalized in France, he would smilingly say: I am "passing through Paris."9
7
Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p. 48 ibidem 9 Franz Liszt, Life of Chopin, The Project Gutenburg eText 8
4
Chopin arrived in Paris in the first part of September, still uncertain whether he would settle there for good. But he surprinsingly found Paris the city of all oportunities where „you can have fun, you can get bored, you can laugh and cry, you can do everything you like”10. For the first time, after a long time of sorrow, he was content with the going of his life, especially because of the great artists he met here (Rossini, Cherubini, Liszt etc) and the Polish families with whom he will make a strong connection. In his letters he also mentions Kalkbrenner for whom he has a great respect and veneration and with whom he will develop a great friendship „rewarded” with a Concert in Mi Minor. The great master offered to teach Chopin new techniques in order to improve his style. But this offer intrigued Elsner because he always thought that a true and genius artist should not be influented by others’ rules and he said that „the instrumental play in the domain of music is just a means to reach the expression of feelings.” These words express the best of Chopin`s conception and attitude. He was a poet of the piano, not a „pianist”11. Hence, Chopin abandoned the project of taking piano lessons with Kalkbrenner. This time was the celebrating of Parisian artistic life with all its celebrities. But this was shadowed by the material deprivation and the miserable state of the city. So, there remained the biggest challenge of all : a concerto, through which he will affirm and show his great qualities. The concert took place on February, 26, 1832 at the Playel Saloon of which Franz Liszt recounts that there „ the most enthusiastic and redoubled applause seemed scarcely sufficient to express our enchantment for the genius which had revealed new phases of poetic feeling, and made such happy, yet bold, innovations in the form of musical art.” Also the influential musicologist and critic François-Joseph Fétis, wrote in Revue musicale: "Here is a young man who, taking nothing as a model, has found, if not a complete renewal of piano music, then in any case, part of what has long been sought in vain, namely, an extravagance of original ideas that are unexampled anywhere...”. And only three months earlier, in December of 1831, Robert Schumann, in reviewing Chopin's Variations on "La ci darem la mano," Opus 2 (from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni), had written: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius.” Unlike the greater part of young debutants, he was not intoxicated or dazzled for a moment by his triumph, but accepted it without pride or false modesty, evincing none of the puerile enjoyment of gratified vanity exhibited by the parvenus of success. His countrymen, who were then in Paris, gave him a most affectionate reception. He was intimate in the house of Prince Czartoryski, of the Countess Plater, of Madame de Komar, and in that of her daughters, the Princess de Beauveau and the Countess Delphine Potocka, whose beauty, together with her indescribable and spiritual grace, made her one of the most admired sovereigns of the society of Paris. But the incident that changed his plans to leave Paris was the invitation to attend a reception given by the Rothschild family which soon opened doors for him to other private salons and where the aristocracy asked him to give private piano lessons. He accepted and in short time became the most famous and well paid piano professor in Paris, though he never enjoyed his new occupation. He was disgusted with the aristocracy but at the same time needed this job in order to survive although he had little time for his studies and creation. In his first years in Paris he published four mazourkas (op.6), the collection of five mazourkas (op7), the Trio in sol minor for the piano, violin and cello (op 8), three nocturnes (op 9) dedicated to Camille Pleyel, his first „etude cahiers” dedicated to his friend Franz Liszt and the Concerto in mi minor dedicated to Kalkbrenner.
The rise and wane 10 11
Frederic Chopin apud Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucuresti, Tineretului Publishing, p. 80 Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p. 81
5
The Romantic climate in which Frederic Chopin lived, from the perspective given by time, it is revealed today as an important background of the scene where the great artists of the epoque performed. Though, at that time they did not suspect that they will create a new passionate style, romanticism. Chopin's music is, however, considered by many to epitomize the Romantic style. The relative classical purity and discretion in his music, with little extravagant exhibitionism, partly reflects his reverence for Bach and Mozart. Chopin also never indulged in explicit "scene-painting" in his music, or used programmatic titles, castigating publishers who renamed his pieces in this way. During his years in Paris, Chopin participated in a small number of public concerts. The list of the programs' participants provides an idea of the richness of Parisian artistic life during this period. Examples include a performance on April 24, 1833 with Liszt and the Hertz brothers in the saloon of Lady Lannes; a concert on December 15, 1833, in which Chopin, Liszt and Hiller performed Johann Sebastian Bach's concerto for three harpsichords;two concerts in 1834 and other two in 1835; and on March 3, 1838, a concert in which Chopin, Chopin's pupil Adolphe Gutman, Charles-Valentin Alkan, and Alkan's teacher Pierre Joseph Zimmerman performed Alkan's arrangement, for eight hands, of Beethoven's 7th symphony; in the same year gives a concert at Rouen where he was very appreciated. Although „he was so abundantly provided with friends, for, he could not do without company”12 (such as Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Vincenzo Bellini, Ferdinand Hiller, Felix Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine, Eugène Delacroix,) this period means too a more stressed feeling of missing his home (in Polish this feeling is expressed with the word „Zal” as in Romanian we say „Dor”). In 1835, Chopin went to Carlsbad, where, for the last time in his life, he met with his parents this time being very happy for him even if he forgot about his very poor health condition. After the dramatic separation of his parents he went to Dresda, where he met an old friend, Felix Wodzinski who was with his family. There Chopin had met again their daughter Maria, now sixteen, and fell in love with the charming, artistically talented, intelligent young woman. Before he left he dedicated her a waltz (op 69 nr.1) and Maria named it „The Farewell Waltz". On his return to Paris, he composed the "Étude in F minor," the second in the Opus 25 cycle, which he referred to as "a portrait of Maria's soul."13 Along with this, he sent Maria seven songs that he had set to the words of Polish Romantic poets Stefan Witwicki, Józef Zaleski and Adam Mickiewicz. His journey did not stop, he went afterwards in Leipzig where he met Frederic Wieck, the father of Clara, the future wife of Robert Schumann and also a great performer of Chopin`s work. Later in September 1836, upon returning to Dresden after having vacationed with the Wodzińskis at Marienbad, Chopin proposed marriage to Maria. She accepted, and her mother Countess Wodzińska approved in principle but her father din not approved this relationship because he thought that a young and ill artist is not suitable for a young lady. Chopin`s sadness was so emphatic that he finally placed the letters from Maria and her mother in a large envelope, on which he wrote the Polish words "Moja bieda" ("My sorrow"). It followed a period of 6 years untill the next concert in 1941, but with a short journey to London where he kept his anonymity. During this time he wrote the first Scherzo in mi minor, the four mazourkas dedicated to the Count of Perthuis, the Concert in Fa minor dedicated to Delphina Potocka – „Which appeared episodically in Chopin's life as muse and romantic interest”14- , Andante spinato and The Great Polonaise in E flat major, two polonaises in C sharp and E flat minor, two nocturnes and the second book for studies dedicated to Marie d`Agoult. 12
Frederick Niecks, Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, The Project Gutenburg eText Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p.116 14 James Huneker, The Man and His Music, The Project Gutenburg eText 13
6
Chopin`s celebrity is the best envinced by Franz Liszt`s words „Let us remember the ancient prayer of the Dorians whose simple formula is so full of pious poetry, asking only of their gods: `To give them the Good, in return for the Beautiful!` „15. Liszt was not the only person that had such a great appreciation for the artist but there was a woman, Amandine Aurore Lucille Dupin, the Baroness Dudevant, better known by her pseudonym, George Sand who was trying to capture his attention. Chopin met her in 1836, at a party hosted by Countess Marie d'Agoult, friend of the composer Franz Liszt and at other saloon parties. Initially he did not like her and told Ferdinand Hiller : "What a repulsive woman Sand is! But is she really a woman? I am inclined to doubt it." Sand, however, in a candid thirty-two page letter to her and Chopin's friend, Count Wojciech Grzymała, admitted strong feelings for Chopin. Though she had many relations with different men, she maintained strong relations of friendship with Latouche, Planche, Musset, Lamenais, Liszt, Bocage et Balzac.16 She was described by Madame Audley as „ a woman of genius, but a woman with sensual appetites, with insatiable desires, accustomed to satisfy them at any price, should she even have to break the cup after draining it equally wanting in balance, wisdom, and purity of mind, and in decorum, reserve, and dignity of conduct”17. Though they had different personalities, by the summer of 1838 Chopin's and Sand's involvement was an open secret. In that summer too, they were models for a Delacroix painting in which Chopin plays the piano and Sand is listening to him. The picture became famous but was split into two, and nowadays the portrait of Chopin can be found at Louvre and Sand`s portrait at Glyptoteca, Copenhagen. Delacroix and Chopin became good friends even though they had some differences in their views but agreed on the subject of double reflection, which characterizes the both artists. A notable episode in their time together was a turbulent and miserable winter on Majorca (8 November 1838 to 13 February 1839), where the four (including Sand`s two children) had gone in the hope of improving Chopin's deteriorating health. They had difficulty finding accommodations and ended up lodging in a scenic but stark and cold former Carthusian monastery in Valldemossa. On 3 December he complained about his bad health and the incompetence of the doctors in Majorca: "I have been sick as a dog during these past two weeks. Three doctors have visited me. The first said I was going to die; the second said I was breathing my last; and the third said I was already dead."18 He also had problems with receiving his Pleyel piano, meanwhile he played a rickety rented piano. This winter in Majorca is considered one of the most productive periods in Chopin's life because he had the time, even if he was sick, to complete some works: Preludes (Op28), a revision of Ballade No. 2 (Op38), two Polonaises (Op40), Scherzo No. 3 (Op39), a Mazurka (Op41) and he probably revisited his Sonata No. 2 (Op35). During that winter, the bad weather had such a serious effect on Chopin's health and chronic lung disease that, in order to save his life, the entire party were compelled to leave the island and went to Barcelona and after that to Marseille. Here Chopin fully recovered and paid more attention to his contracts with his editors and from here went to Sand`s estate at Nohant for the summer. From 1839 until 1846 (with the exception of 1840) Chopin had split his life between Nohant and Paris, and here had found quiet but productive days during which he had composed many works. They included his great Polonaise in A flat major (Op.53), the "Heroic," one of his most famous pieces. Though he enjoyed the country life with its fresh air, he coudn`t escape from Paris so he bought himself a flat on rue Pigalle no.16 but in 1842, they moved to 80 rue Taitbout in the square d'Orléans, living in adjacent buildings.
15
Franz Liszt, Life of Chopin, The Project Gutenburg eText Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p.121 17 Ganche Edouard, Frederic Chopin, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Mercure de France Publishing,p.127 18 Theodor Balan, Chopin,poetul pianului, Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing, p.131 16
7
As the composer's illness progressed, Sand gradually became less of a lover and more of a nurse to Chopin, whom she called her "third child." Despite his condition, he continued to teach piano lessons and on 26 April 1841 he had a concert. He was very appreciated and the reviews of that time noted that everyone expected his return and another concert followed on 21 February 1942. Even though he was recognized as being the most famous piano teacher in Paris he accepted students from all the social levels. Among these, there were two boys of Romanian nationality, Carol Filtsch and Carol Miculi. The first one, was very appreciated by Chopin and he had foreseen him a great future but the boy died at the age of 15. Miculi is regarded as being a great composer and his memories are often used for describing Chopin`s style. He and Liszt emphasize Chopin`s displeasure of giving concerts : ”I am not suited for concert giving; the public intimidate me; their looks, only stimulated by curiosity, paralyze me; their strange faces oppress me; their breath stifles me: but you—you are destined for it, for when you do not gain your public, you have the force to assault, to overwhelm, to control, to compel them."19 In 1845, even as a further deterioration occurred in Chopin's health, a serious problem emerged in his relations with Sand. Those relations were further soured in 1846 by problems involving her daughter Solange and the young sculptor Jean Baptiste Auguste Clésinger. In 1847 Sand published her novel Lucrezia Floriani, whose main characters, a rich actress and a prince in weak health, could be interpreted as Sand and Chopin; the story was uncomplimentary to Chopin, who could not have missed the allusions as he helped Sand correct the printer's galleys. In 1847 he did not visit Nohant. Mutual friends attempted to reconcile them, but the composer was unyielding. That year, 1847, brought to an end, without any dramatics or formalities, the relations between Sand and Chopin that had lasted ten years, from 1837. But it can not be denied the great impact and influence that George Sand had upon Chopin`s life and works. Though some argue that she destroyed him, others claim that she represented a continuos source of inspiration, whose energetic personality and electric genius inspired the frail and delicate organization of Chopin with an intensity of admiration which though, consumed him until his death. Chopin's public popularity as a virtuoso waned, as did the number of his pupils.Convinced by his friends, Camille Pleyel, Auguste Leo, Count De Perthuis and August Franchomme, Chopin gave his last Paris concert in February 1848 which seemed to anticipate his end. In April, with revolution underway in Paris, he left for London, where he performed at several concerts and at numerous receptions in great houses. Toward the end of the summer he went to Scotland, staying at the castle of his former pupil and great admirer Jane Wilhelmina Stirling and her elder sister, the widowed Mrs. Katherine Erskine. Miss Stirling proposed marriage to him but Chopin, sensing that he was not long for this world, set greater store by his freedom than by the prospect of living on the generosity of a wife. In late October 1848 in Edinburgh, at the home of a Polish physician, Dr. Adam Łyszczyński, Chopin wrote his last will and testament—"a kind of disposition to be made of my stuff in the future, if I should drop dead somewhere," he wrote his friend Wojciech Grzymała. In his thoughts he was now constantly with his mother and sisters, and conjured up for himself scenes of his native land by playing his adaptations of its folk music on cool Scottish evenings at Miss Stirling's castle. From his letters it can be observed his pain and his conscious of dying surrounded by vails of melancholy and some times outbursts of pain and anger towards life. He returned in Paris at the end of November. He passed the winter in unremitting illness, his pulmonary tuberculosis being more acute, but in spite of it he continued seeing friends and visited the ailing Adam Mickiewicz, soothing the Polish poet's nerves with his playing. He no longer had the strength to give lessons, but he was still keen to compose. He lacked money for the most essential expenses 19
Franz Liszt, Life of Chopin, The Project Gutenburg eText
8
and for his physicians. He had to sell off his more valuable furnishings and belongings. Feeling ever more poorly, Chopin desired to have one of his family with him therefore in June 1849 his sister Ludwika Jędrzejewicz, agreed to come to Paris. She had a positive influence and created a suitable atmosphere by making plans with Chopin, for the future months. Though he was aware of his health condition he had taken up residence in a very beautiful, sunny apartment at Place Vendôme 12. Starting with October from week to week, and soon from day to day, the cold shadow of death gained upon him but M. Gutman and his sister were in constant attendance upon him, never for a single moment leaving him. The Countess Delphine Potocka, who was then absent from Paris, returned as soon as she was informed of his imminent danger and also the Abbe Jelowicki was besides him to give him the last confession. He called his friends a short time afterwards, one by one, to his bedside, to give each of them his last earnest blessing and he requested that good music should be played around him,therefore, Delphine Potocka had sang until his last breath on 17 October 1849. He died as he lived – surrounded by love and friendship. Later that morning, Auguste Clésinger made Chopin's death mask and casts of his hands. Before the funeral, pursuant to Chopin's dying wish (which stemmed from a fear of being buried alive), his heart was removed and preserved in alcohol. His sister later took it in an urn to Warsaw, where it was sealed within a pillar of the Holy Cross Church on Krakowskie Przedmieście, beneath an inscription from Matthew VI:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The funeral was held on October 30, 1849, attended by nearly three thousand people. Chopin had requested that Mozart's Requiem be sung at his funeral. The Requiem has major parts for female voices, but the Church of the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The funeral was delayed almost two weeks until the church relented, provided the female singers remained behind a black velvet curtain. The soloists in the Requiem included the bass Luigi Lablache, who had sung the same work at Beethoven's funeral and had also sung at Bellini's funeral. Also played were Chopin's preludes no. 4 in E minor and no. 6 in B minor.Chopin was buried, in accordance with his wishes, at Père Lachaise Cemetery. At the graveside, the Funeral March from his Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 was played, in Napoléon Henri Reber's instrumentation. „His creative genius was imperious, fantastic and impulsive. His beauties were only manifested fully in entire freedom”20. This statement represents the best Chopin`s life and work and we have the flattering duty to keep his memory alive for those who come.
20
Franz Liszt, Life of Chopin, The Project Gutenburg eText
9
Bibliography : • Balan, Theodor, Chopin, poetul pianului, Bucharest,Tineretului Publishing, 1968 • Edouard, Ganche , Frederic Chopin, sa vie et ses oeuvres 1810-1849, Mercure de France Publishing, 1949 • Huneker, James, The Man and His Music, The Project Gutenburg eText • Liszt, Franz, Life of Chopin, The Project Gutenburg eText • Niecks, Frederick , Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, The Project Gutenburg eText
10
