Chopin
The definitive biography of Chopin by one of the finest of contemporary European historians.Two centuries have passed since Chopin’s birth, yet his legacy is all around us today. The quiet revolution he wrought influenced the development of Western music profoundly, and he is still among the most widely studied and revered composers. For many, he is the object of a cult. Yet most people know little of his life, of the man, his thoughts and his feelings; his public image is a sugary blur of sentimentality and melodrama.Adam Zamoyski cuts through the myths and legends to tell the story of Chopin’s life, and to reveal all that can be discovered about him as a person. He pays particular attention to recent revelations about the composer's health, and places him within the intellectual and spiritual environment of his day.
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Chopin
Prince of the Romantics
Adam Zamoyski
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperPress in 2010
Copyright © Adam Zamoyski 2010
Adam Zamoyski asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007341849
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2010 ISBN: 9780007351824 Version: 2017-04-25
To Emma
Justyna Chopin.
Nicolas Chopin.
The house at Żelazowa Wola in which Chopin was born.
Ludwika Chopin.
Izabela Chopin.
Emilia Chopin.
The Warsaw Lycée.
The Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw.
Wojciech Żywny.
The drawing room of the Chopin apartment.
Józef Elsner.
Tytus Woyciechowski.
Chopin drawn by Eliza Radziwiłł, 1826.
Chopin at the age of twenty, by Ambroży Mieroszewski.
Konstancja Gładkowska.
Jan Matuszyński.
Chopin, portrait by an unknown artist, early 1830s.
Hector Berlioz.
Franz Liszt.
Felix Mendelssohn.
Hiller and Chopin, a contemporary medal.
Vincenzo Bellini.
Chopin in the mid-1830s.
Delfina Potocka.
Chopin’s apartment on the rue de la Chaussée d’Antin.
Astolphe de Custine.
Wojciech Grzymała.
Julian Fontana.
Maria Wodzińska.
Chopin, watercolour by Maria Wodzińska, 1836.
George Sand.
Marie d’Agoult.
George Sand’s house at Nohant.
Chopin in the early 1840s.
Chopin, drawing by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1847.
Ignaz Moscheles.
Pauline Garcia-Viardot.
Auguste Franchomme.
Adam Mickiewicz, sketch by Delacroix.
Stefan Witwicki.
Bohdan Zaleski.
Eugène Delacroix.
Chopin, caricature by Pauline Viardot, 1844.
Marcelina Czartoryska.
Maria Kalergis.
Chopin, photograph taken during the last months of his life.
Jane Stirling.
Two centuries have passed since Chopin came into this world, yet his legacy is all around us today. The quiet revolution he wrought influenced the development of Western music profoundly, and he is still one of the very few most widely studied and revered composers. For many, he is the object of a cult. Yet most people know little of his life, of the man, his thoughts and his feelings; his public image is a sugary blur of sentimentality and melodrama.
The aim of this book is to cut through the myths and legends, to delve into everyday reality in order to tell the story of his life, and to reveal all that can be discovered of Chopin as a person. I had already attempted this in a previous book, published in 1979, and since this has been out of print for many years, I decided to update it, taking into account all the new material that has come to light and the many excellent studies on specific aspects of Chopin’s life that have appeared since then.
I also decided that some of these were worth exploring further. I felt I should devote more space to the composer’s state of health, which has been the subject of professional study in recent years. And I wished to place him within the intellectual and spiritual environment of his day, about which I had learnt much in the intervening period. In the process, I found myself reworking the text thoroughly. So, although I held to my original approach and did not fundamentally alter the structure, I believe this to be in many respects a different book, and that is why I have issued it under a new title.
Adam Zamoyski
London, 2009
On 30 October 1849 a large crowd gathered at the church of La Madeleine in Paris, and hundreds of carriages clogged the surrounding streets, causing a jam that stretched as far as the place de la Concorde. The front of the enormous temple-like church was draped with panels of black velvet bearing the initials ‘F.C.’ embroidered in silver. Entry was by ticket only, and those who had not managed to obtain one thronged the monumental steps.
