Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times

by Alan Walker

Based on ten years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., Alan Walker's monumental Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English. Walker's work is a corrective biography, intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin. Fryderyk Chopin is an intimate look into a dramatic life; of particular focus are Chopin's childhood and youth in Poland, which are brought into line with the latest scholarly findings, and Chopin's romantic life with George Sand, with whom he lived for nine years.

Comprehensive and engaging, and written in highly readable prose, the biography wears its scholarship lightly: this is a book suited as much for the professional pianist as it is for the casual music lover. Just as he did in his definitive biography of Liszt, Walker illuminates Chopin and his music with unprecedented clarity in this magisterial biography, bringing to life one of the nineteenth century's most confounding, beloved, and legendary artists.

Genres: Music, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Classical Music, Biography Memoir, Art

768 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2018

About the author

Alan Walker’s definitive three-volume biography of Liszt, Franz Liszt, received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in Biography and the Royal Philharmonic Society Book Award, among others. His writing has appeared in journals such as The Musical Quarterly, The Times Literary Supplement, and Times Educational Supplement. A professor emeritus at McMaster University, Walker was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1986 and was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2012.

Reviews

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chopin is a detailed biography of a man whose life was shaped by wars with his native country being partitioned. In order not to lose the Polish identity, some people became very patriotic and that influenced Chopin and what he composed. His music reflects the love for his country, despite spending almost half of his life in France, his father’s country.

The point of this biography is to shed some light on people who influenced Chopin, his friends and teachers. Some of his friends became exiles and many arrived in Paris after the November Uprising. Thus, their paths crossed again. Also, from his early years, he was invited to aristocratic homes to play for the families. Thus, from childhood, he was exposed to nobility, which influenced his character and the audience he was most comfortable with.

It’s amazing to learn what his satirical journal of Szafarnia Courier reveals. At fourteen, while spending summer at the village of Szafarnia, he created and became the editor and sole contributor, using the penname Mr. Pichon, which was an anagram of his last name. He was very creative for his age. It “springs from the same source as his talent for mimicry.” In this satirical journal, he reported his daily observations of the countryside. It was fun to read some of his reporting.

He was very gifted at mimicry. “He had a quick eye for the ridiculous and could adapt his facial expression and distort his body into almost any shape, depending on the character he wished to convey. In his youth his limbs were so flexible that he was able to put his feet around his neck whenever he wished to play the clown. He could move his spectators to laughter one moment and reduce them to tears the next. (…) Had he not been a musician Chopin could easily have become an actor, as George Sand confirmed years later when he used to entertain her guests at Nohant with his impersonations.”

The book discusses his compositions in a manner that is informative, but doesn’t feel tedious.

His last years, also reveal his financial situation, which was deteriorating quickly. His aristocratic friends helped him financially. During his successful years, he developed great taste for finer things, which he was exposed to pretty much his whole life as he was a frequent visitor at aristocratic houses. It seems as he acquired their taste, but wasn’t in the same position to support his extravagant taste.

The biography is interestingly written and has a good flow. It doesn’t feel too descriptive with so many pages. Chopin was a man of many talents with great sense of humor. He was a social person, who lived in very interesting circles. He was surrounded by other artists, and aristocrats. Thus, meeting a bit closer some of those people is a fascinating journey.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book on the 2018 Economist Books of the Year and selected it because it appeared rich enough for a week long immersion with Chopin and a deeper understanding of Poland in his time. Author Alan Walker did not disappoint.

You see Fryderyk Chopin’s development as a composer and performer at a young age. He became known as the “Polish Mozart”. Because he had performed nationalistic music in the homes of his patrons and had friends in Poland’s resistance he was known to the Russians occupying Poland. He was performing in Germany during the 1830 Warsaw Uprising. Returning to Poland would be dangerous; hence, he began his life of exile.

Most of his short (he died at age 39) but eventful life was spent suffering from tuberculosis, navigating unsatisfactory relationships and living on a financial edge. His first romantic disappointment’s mother took advantage of Chopin’s desire, milking him for his reputation and for a piano (and its shipping) that he could not afford. There is a lot of detail on his long and dysfunctional relationship with George Sand, but given Chopin’s health and her resources, it may have been necessary for him. There are other liaisons actual or rumored. In the end his dependence on a star-struck “fan”, Jane Stirling, may parallel, in a different guise, the Sand relationship.

Of all the interesting parts of the book, the last chapters on Chopin’s death are the most gripping. There is the story of his sister Ludwika’s sacrifice (which exposes her horrible marriage), the odd case of Jane Stirling’s anonymous gift and the transport to Poland of Chopin's heart. The Epilogue covers what became of all the papers Ludwika rescued from her trip to Paris and that of the heart.

The narrative is chronological with Walker discussing the music and the circumstances under which the pieces were written. There are short scores – surely a treat for those who can read music. There is a chapter on Chopin’s pedagogy and his study of the hand. Other biographical material is cited and critiqued.

The Table of Contents has a summary of each chapter. Chopin’s Family Tree appears on p. xxxi. George Sand’s which appears on p. 349 shows her descent from King Augustus II of Poland 1670-1733. There are B & W photos of significant people and places. In the Appendix there is a reproduction Ludwika's (Fryderyk’s sister’s) answers to the questions posed by Franz Liszt for his Chopin biography. There is a catalog of Chopin’s works and a list of the author’s sources. The Index did not work for me (no entry for the Warsaw Uprising) but I was able to trace names/places/time when I needed them through the Table of Contents chapter summaries.

This book will surely stand as the definitive biography for some time to come. If you are a fan of classical music you will not want to miss it.

[Philip Koslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Walker, author of the monumental biography of Franz Liszt (3 volumes) has struck gold again. Chopin's life, times and music have been previously surveyed by such luminaries as James Huneker, Arthur Hedley, Ferdynand Hoesick (4 volumes) and Sir Charles Halle among others. What could be added to illuminate an extraordinary life of one of the Romantic era's most esteemed composers and piano virtuosi? Details of a life lived is the answer Mr. Walker provides. And they are presented in a fashion that gives the reader the most clear picture of an artist who dwelled in the middle to upper social classes in Poland and France. Preferring to perform in the most intimate of settings rather than before large audiences probably denied him the financial resources that may have made his life more materially comfortable. Not to worry however, his father continued to underwrite much of his daily expenses. That left Chopin teaching and publishing as his main resource for revenue. All this while suffering from tuberculosis that would eventually take his life before the age of forty. Family, friends, the George Sand affair and an early heartbreak are all presented making this tome the ideal "go to" book for trained musicians as well as casual listeners pursuing the "Life and Times" of the piano's most creative imagination in the 19th century. Highly recommended.

[Carmen Miller]

What an accomplishment. 😅

Very interesting, detailed life and times of Chopin, my favorite composer.

No star rating however. It’s difficult to give star ratings to biographical works. :)

[Paltia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly detailed and thoroughly researched biography of the “Raphael of the piano.” Listening to and playing music have offered me many years of passion and solace. My alleged good ear and musical memory have done little in the way of mastering Chopin’s music. I approached this lengthy book thinking it would somehow provide me with whatever element I seem to be missing. No such luck. I continue to be frustrated with my lack of expertise but I sure learned a great deal about this musical genius. Chopin’s lack of interest in technique as an end in itself offers the first key to understanding his approach. He subscribed to no dogma. All he knew of piano playing had been self discovered. It is said that his music was instantly recognizable. He lived a short but amazingly full and exciting life. He was under surveillance by the Russians in 1835 whereupon he assumed a French identity. He considered his love life to be a failure after suffering numerous rejections related to his illness and lack of financial resources. It was in his music that he shined like the brightest star and this shine has lasted. There are more sketches for his polonaise fantasie op 61 than any other he wrote for solo piano. Indeed, he was poised to give birth to a new genre but his early death would ensure this would not happen. His music is written from his harvest of sorrows - his ill health, his failed proposals, his tumultuous relationship with George Sand and the death of his family. A complex being - he didn’t like to read, except newspapers never liked or consumed alcohol and through his life remained a proud Pole whose deep love for country never wavered. One critic described his piano playing this way -“ it is not a piano that speaks but a soul. And what a soul.” Much of this book is dedicated to details re: his techniques, background in each piece of music he wrote, and his psychological states of mind when facing a terminal illness and his world at war around him. If you love his music, or like me, hope that learning about him will potentially improve your efforts to play his complicated and challenging pieces, this is the biography for you.

[Sigmund Aarvik-Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg fullførte denne for en god stund siden, men som vanlig i de siste pinefulle månedene har jeg ikke tatt meg tiden til å oppdatere GoodReads (som jo er et fantastisk verktøy, ettersom det gir meg muligheten til å skrive om bøker og komme med ymse utgytelser om mitt følelsesliv - og alt dette uten bistand av Kong Alkohol, som Sandemose en gang skrev om).

Chopin levde litt av et liv, og Walker har en glimrende polemisk stil; ikke bare virker han her som en fremragende biograf, men han tar også - med et aldri så lite glimt i øyet - for seg uenigheter innenfor forskningen, og presterer så vel å bygge som å ødelegge en rekke stråmenn.

Dette kunne nok mine medsammensvorne i masterskrivingen lært mye av!

Men, akk! vi tillater oss å la norsk akademia og generell meningsutveksling forfalle slik at det på nær sagt uunngåelig vis vil nå et punkt hvoretter det vil bære symptomer nokså like de hvilke kjennetegner dette bunnpunktet for samtidige sivilisasjoners evne til offentlig debatt, nemlig Amerikas forente stater; lite byr meg mer imot enn denne skaren med udannede jyplinger som - uten å noen gang ha hatt en eneste selvstendig tanke, uten å noen gang ha utfordret seg selv til å lære noe nytt - agerer som lærde, dette til tross for at de selv skorter såpass på noen form for dannelse at man må undres hvilke selvvalgte stener de har valgt å gjemme seg under. Og ingenting er verre når de våger å late som om de på noe som helst tidspunkt har turt å gå imot strømmen, å gjøre noe uventet; nei, fysj! Les før du tenker, og tenk før du uttaler deg om noe som helst - dette oppgulpet må opphøre!

Å være suffisant er så absolutt ikke det samme som å være tilstrekkelig; en slik tolkning er nemlig basert på en anglisisme.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poh! Wat een boek, en wat een man. Biografieën lezen is echt leuk! Alsof je meerdere levens leeft. Chopin is niet mijn favoriete persoon; hij was koppig, niet heel sympathiek en roddelde over hoe slecht al zijn mede-componisten en -musici waren, maar het was zo boeiend om te leren over zijn leven en de context waarin hij leefde, met het rumoerige Frankrijk, Polen en Pruisen om hem heen waarin revoluties en oorlogen heersten en Engeland, waar alles stonk naar fabrieken. Ik heb goed genoten!

[Randall Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior books on Chopin had bored me so I was stoked to read this new 700 pager on his life. Chopin first used bi-metrical notation in 1830 but then rewrote the piece to make it easier for others to play. But some of his best stuff rhythmically uses it: he wrote sevens against threes, nines against fours, and even elevens or nines against sixes. Meanwhile, most Americans have trouble beating the floor with their foot in common time like a horse. The Warsaw Uprising 0f 1830 was a big deal to Chopin because it “effectively wiped Poland off the map, absorbed into the Russian empire, and ruled by military decree.” Of it he wrote, I am…only able to pour out my grief at the piano.” Listen to his Revolutionary Etude written at that time to understand his heart-wrenching response to the loss of his homeland.

When I finally learned piano scales, to my amazement I found that C was the hardest major scale to play fast while B was the easiest. From this book, I have just learned Chopin felt the same way. Chopin was looking for a comfortable lie of the hand, rather than straitjacketing himself to the all-white key of C like seemingly 99% of all people learning piano. I often smile at beginners taking extreme care to avoid every single black key when improvising. And so, Chopin started his students on the B major scale for its comfort and ease; Chopin felt the hand was most relaxed when placed on the E, F#, G#, A#, and B keys. Chopin said, “the third finger is a great singer” - I can’t print here what he said about the second finger. I was really happy to learn Chopin approved of “finger sliding” (sliding the finger from a black key down to a lower white one) which purists disliked. I always use a finger slide on the Revolutionary Etude because I thought it worked but now I am happy know it is Chopin approved. I think of Chopin as Barrios (classical guitar) for the Piano; Barrios was also writing dense gorgeous original solo music that requires a deep rethinking of fingering possibilities. Sometimes Chopin passes one finger over another like in the Berceuse. Strange at first, assume Chopin’s fingerings are logical albeit sometimes difficult.

Did you know that the most famous funeral march, written by Chopin, was never played for any funeral in his lifetime? In Chopin’s time, the piano only had 78 notes, ten keys less than what we today are used to. Thus, we can add an extra low Bb to his Scherzo in C-sharp minor. Scherzo is supposed to mean “joke” but Chopin’s scherzos have no connection to humor. Chopin made constant use of the pedal to the point that he only would play the Secondo part in 4 handed piano music soirees because he would control the pedal. The author suggests we half-dampen the end of the D-flat Minor Nocturne to imitate Chopin’s earlier piano. Chopin’s piano had a noticeably lighter action than today’s pianos and when playing “he leaned back slightly, hardly ever forward.” “Chopin was always practicing on the piano, usually reworking phrases, and sometimes improvising.” Chopin’s music is filled with “harmonic innovations” that came as “chance discoveries” as he improvised. “Chopin the composer was ruthless in dealing with Chopin the improviser”. He was an expert at “loading his melodies with increasing amounts of ornamentation”. His music is one of the few which resists arrangement for other instruments. “The Preludes unfold all twenty-four major and minor keys in a rising circle of fifths – with every alternating Prelude in the relative minor key of its predecessor.” Chopin taught his students to practice Clementi’s Gradus, Bach’s 48, the sonatas of Mozart, and possibly excerpts from The Lion King.

More than 200 pages of Chopin manuscript sketches still exist; they show clearly that many pieces were not born quietly but with great struggle. Structurally, the Fantaisie-Polonaise Op.61 is Chopin’s most complex work. At one point in Chopin’s place in London, he had three grand pianos to choose from – a Pleyel, and Erhard and a Broadwood. Luckily for the world, a few great Chopin pieces, which he didn’t think were good enough, were spared the axe at his death, among them: the Fantaisie-Impromptu, eight of the Mazurkas, five of the Waltzes, the E-minor Nocturne, the Rondo for two pianos, most of the Seventeen Polish Songs, and some say an organ fugue based on In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaargh! I read it. All 600 pages.

If you're a pianist, or a lover of Chopin, there is a lot to be learned from this book.

However, it's in the worst tradition of academic biography. A lot of it--most of it--is arcane details that make no difference to anyone or anything. "Maria Gurdalooski was Chopin's wet nurse, who also had the blessed duty of changing Fryderyk's smelly diapers. They were so noxious that she eventually ran off with the palace gardener Gurdy Gurjyevsky, who happened to play a role in Chopin's later life. When Chopin was staying at an obscure hotel outside of Lyon, Gurjyevsky was the Polish ex-patriot who had been hired as a gardener. There is no evidence that they spoke, but Chopin wrote in a letter to his sister Ludwika that the flowers smelled nice. Those flower may have been the origin of Chopin's 'Floral' Etude, of which all trace has, unfortunately, been lost." Well, Walker didn't write that. I did. But he could have. And if you're going to read this biography you've got to be prepared to read a lot that's like that.

It gets worse as the book gets on. There's very little sense of direction, very little theme, just a narration of every fact about Chopin's life that Walker can dig up. It feels like you're being told, in great detail, about every insignificant wealth British dude who imposed on Chopin in Scotland. You certainly get a (fairly one-sided) interpretation Chopin's relations with George Sand, and their eventual breakup. You certainly get a lot of information about Chopin's tuberculosis (I'm surprised he survived as long as he did; tuberculosis combined with an epidemic flu sounds miserable), and the stories of the doctors who treated him, who were largely homeopaths, which is a good thing; while homeopathy is worthless, it at least isn't harmful. The contemporary standard of care would have bled and starved Chopin to death.

There's a lot in Walker's discussions of Chopin's piano playing that's wonderful; it's important to rethink how radically different he was from his contemporaries (Liszt in particular). It's important to rethink why some of his Etudes are so difficult: Chopin was not after technical fireworks, he aimed something completely different, a level of musicianship that's much harder to achieve. Unfortunately, a lot of the commentary on the music turns rather quickly to "This is brilliant. Who can say anything about true brilliance? So I won't." So Walker gets a qualified "pretty good" on his discussions of Chopin's music.

So, there's a lot to be learned. Still, 3 stars is pushing it. Really pushing it. Walker is not Maynard Solomon, whose biographies of Beethoven and Mozart are masterpieces. I'm glad I read it, but I wish I had read a better biography.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times [2018] – ★★★1/2

A comprehensive biography of Chopin, though also a tad over-written and insensitive.

This book on Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin is the culmination of a ten years’ research project. Fryderyk or Frédéric Chopin is considered to be the greatest composer of the Romantic period, and this biography details his life from his early education and success in native Poland to his move and conquest of Paris through salon appearances, concerts and published works. Much in this book is about Chopin’s long-term relationship with female French novelist George Sand, but Chopin’s musical masterpieces, technique and piano theories are also dissected. Walker employs an engaging story-format to tell us about Chopin, a composer who was also largely self-taught and perpetually ill, providing invaluable insights into Chopin’s relationships with others. And, this well-researched book would have been a “must-read” biography if not for the fact that it is also over-written, with the author making some insensitive faux pas as he proceeds with his over-zealous narration.

Beginning

Chopin was born on 1 March 1810 in Żelazowa Wola, Poland. He spent his childhood in Warsaw as his father gained the position of a teacher at a lyceum. From the early age, Chopin was deemed a “Polish Mozart” and introduced early to playing for the Polish aristocracy. His music teacher from the ages of 6 to 12 was eccentric pianist and composer Wojciech Żywny who encouraged young Chopin to improvise and compose at the piano and who instilled in the boy the love for Bach and Mozart. Chopin later attended the Warsaw High School of Music, where he was taught by Józef Elsner, and was already composing his great pieces of music. The author even provides some of the quotes from the said Professor Elsner, such as: “one should never expose a pupil to just one method, or just one point of view,” “it is a bad master who is not surpassed by his pupil” and “to think only of playing the piano is a false idea. It should rather be regarded as a means towards a more complete understanding of music” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 107].

The problem with the book’s narrative here, as elsewhere in the book, is that Walker’s engaging narrative is often lost in too much detail. Just because the author knows this or that obscure detail pertaining to Chopin or his relatives it does mean that it should all be included in the book. However, Alan Walker does precisely that, and we read about everything under the sun related to Chopin, from the tantrums of Sand’s maidservant to Chopin father’s eccentric funeral arrangements.

Chopin departed Poland after his studies in 1930, going first to Vienna and Germany, before landing in Paris.

Paris

Chopin arrived in Paris in 1831. He soon found himself in the midst of the Parisian high society, though he did experience a year of financial struggle: “Chopin had barely been in Paris for two years and he was already being compared with the leading pianists of his time. He was only twenty-three years old, was virtually self-taught, and was composing a body of work that has meanwhile found a permanent place in the repertoire” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 442]. He was friends with Mendelssohn, and was present and played at soirees attended by such celebrities as novelists Balzac and Stendhal, and painter Delacroix. Chopin was also more than acquainted with virtuoso pianist and composer Franz Liszt, but the relationship was “difficult”: “Liszt…had come to represent everything in the sphere of music making that Chopin scorned – shallow virtuosity, the roar of the crowd, and the pursuit of newspaper glory” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 442].

Chopin continued to teach, and it was his teaching and not concerts or published works that provided the bulk of his money. Alan Walker cites child prodigy Carl Filtsch aged 12 as his most gifted student, and Chopin even said of the boy that he was “the most worthy interpreter of his music”. Sadly, the gifted boy died at the age of 15 in 1845.

Piano Technique

Alan Walker provides many insights into Chopin as a composer (see my posts Chopin: Waltz in A Minor and Chopin: Nocturne op, 9 No. 2) and a music teacher. For one thing, improvisation and composition were indistinguishable for Chopin, and he could not compose away from his piano. He also preferred “intimate” music-making, that kind of playing that is to be found in salons of the aristocracy and for a select few who are able to appreciate the subtle nuances of the composer’s playing [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 55]. It was also interesting to find out about the influence of Italian opera on Chopin’s music, such as operas of Vincenzo Bellini: “one influence on Chopin that held him daily in its thrall: the human voice…Chopin attempted to enshrine the memory of [opera singing] in his melodies. This love affair with the human voice comes out especially in his nocturnes, whose inner spirit comes from the world of opera and that style of singing we call bel canto”[Walker, 2018: 234, 244]. Chopin understood better than anyone that the “illusion of singing” must be created at the piano, and “it remains the case that inside every successful Chopin interpreter is a singer trying to get out” [Walker, 2018: 244, 245].

What distinguished Chopin and his music from other composers is also that he belonged to no music school and subscribed to no dogma. He was not interested in the piano technique as an end in itself. Walker writes: “It was colour, nuance, and phrasing that set him apart and made his playing unique…the kaleidoscopic range of tone colour that he drew from the instrument was immense” [Walker, 2018: 244, 254]. Another distinctive feature of his playing was “smoothness and ease of execution…his default position [at the piano] was simplicity itself” [Walker, 2018: 264].

Personal Life

In 1829, in Warsaw, Chopin became infatuated with his “distant beloved”, an in-training opera singer Konstancja Gładkowska, and the result was one tormented, but largely unrequited love, which inspired Chopin’s Larghetto movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor. Then, there was Chopin’s infatuation with his ex-pupil and artist Maria Wodzińska and many months’ correspondence, with engaged Chopin considering himself a worthy suitor, only for Wodzińska’s family to break off this engagement. Novelist George Sand entered his life swiftly sometime in 1836, and the pair shared “less than idyllic honeymoon” in Majorca, where they stayed at a monastery in Valldemossa in 1839, and then many summers at Sand’s estate in Nohant. That relationship soon transformed as Sand’s role changed from a lover to a caregiver due to Chopin’s tuberculosis and his need of almost constant care. Incidentally, it is in Majorca and during his depressing stay at a monastery there Chopin wrote most of his heart-wrenching Preludes. Commenting on them (op. 28), Walker says: “Chopin’s preludes are unique compositions…they are poetic preludes similar to those of a great contemporary poet that gently ease the soul into a golden world of dreams and then carry it aloft to the highest realms of the ideal” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 382].

Despite the author’s displays of erudition in this book, he also makes some eyebrow-raising statements, and the irony with which he manages to subtly mock most women he describes in his book exasperates. It is George Sand who is a butt of not so hidden ridicule by Alan Walker, and the way he treats the subject of Maria Wodzińska is quite inconsiderate. Walker expresses pleasure that Maria was out of the picture as a wife for Chopin as he says in his book “Maria was an ordinary girl, lacking in sophistication” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 306]. That is one unfounded statement. In comparison to God-level Chopin, almost everyone will be “ordinary” and “lacking in sophistication”. And, then what is “ordinary”? What is “sophistication”? Who is the judge of that? And, how are both necessary for love and happiness? Maria was beautiful and charming enough to capture Chopin’s heart, doesn’t that count? She was a painter and accomplished enough, having studied piano with composer John Field and art at the Geneva Academy. Her accomplishments must have impressed Chopin, too, and Maria’s portrait of Chopin some consider very true to life.

However, Alan Walker does not stop there with Maria and, shockingly, proceeds with the following line: “once a slender beauty (before Walker called her “ordinary”), Maria became stout and matronly in later life”, adding “a photograph of [Maria] taken in her sunset years bears out this observation” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 307]. The author cannot even hide his implied glee that Maria turned out “that way”, and his remark could be interpreted as rather sexist and insensitive. No matter how Maria could have emotionally hurt Chopin, there is no excuse in shaming her looks simply because she got old. Maria’s later circumstances and mental state were also not the best as she lost son Tadeusz who was just four years old. Walker concludes on Maria Wodzińska by adding that it is to Chopin that Maria “owes her only claim to the attention of posterity” [Walker, Faber & Faber, 2018: 307]. There are many people mentioned in this biography whose “only claim to posterity” was their connection to Chopin and, yet, it is only Maria Wodzińska, whose life was virtually controlled by her overbearing mother, who gets this line in this book. Unlike so many other people Chopin met in his lifetime, Maria is actually still listed as a “Polish artist” first, even if she is best known as an ex-fiancée of Chopin.

Chopin’s final trip to England and Scotland happened in 1848, and, when he returned back to Paris, his health took a turn for the worse, and he died on 17 October 1849 at the age of 39.

🎹 The merit of the book is that it places the life of the great composer in the historical context, providing some valuable commentary on Chopin’s personality, piano technique and his relationships with others. However, these insights are often mingled with much factual and anecdotal trivia, and the result is a book which is thorough, but also over-written, insightful, but also at times quite insensitive.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superbly absorbing and enthralling biography which captures the genius of perhaps the greatest and most originally creative keyboard composer who ever lived. And Chopin was without peer as a witty observer of social life. When Chopin, after visiting the British Isles, said of the literally hundreds of titled class & aristocracy he met there that ..."every one of these creatures has a screw loose..."; apparently not much has changed in the ensuing 170 years with Britain's eccentric, idle and a bit inbred rich. Battered then and ever since, Poland remained his beloved but god forsaken homeland where he could not permanently live due to political turmoil. A huge number of priceless Chopin artifacts were lost in the senseless attack on Poland ordered by Hitler in 1939. With Paris as his adopted new home, Chopin met and maintained a relationship with the cigar chomping, cross dressing George Sand. If there was an overblown, mediocre play or novel to be written, Sand would happily write it. However, she dozens of times helped him regain his health as far as that goes with tuberculosis for which there was no cure in that time. Amazingly, neither she nor her two children got TB from Chopin. Sand's delinquent daughter Solange was famously unmanageable, but that's a story for another time.

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fryderyk Chopin is one of my favorite composers of classical music, so when I saw this book on the shelves of my local library, I felt I had to snatch it up and read it. I have never heard of Alan Walker but apparently, he also did a definitive biography of Franz Liszt, so if I can find that I will be quite satisfied.

As with most biographies that I have read, Walker begins at the beginning, with Chopin’s family heritage and where his father and mother were from. The book has enjoyable extras in the little tidbits that come in the form of both original music sheets from Chopin’s pen and pictures of the period he lived in. There is other information to be excited about as well; since the author had access to original manuscripts and birth records of the time, he was able to piece together Chopin’s family.

The only real problem I have with the book is the matter of Chopin’s given name. It is spelled in many different ways, and I find it somewhat annoying, but with this book, I will go with the title of the book itself. The other thing is that the book is a bit long. On the one hand, that makes it heavy, but on the other hand, that probably means that the book could have been even longer.

[Tavner Delcamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the latest biography of the famous musician, Frederic Chopin, published at the end of 2018. The author is Alan Walker who is a very well-known scholar in the field of musical history. He has written about several Romantic composers, namely, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and now Chopin. Between 1987 and 1997 he published a magisterial 3-volume biography of Liszt. This biography is an in-depth examination of Chopin's life and also includes incisive analyses of his many piano compositions. Walker builds upon the facts of Chopin's life that have been known for many years, but he not only re-examines the questionable truthfulness of some of these facts, but also gives a very interesting perspective on how Chopin's personality profoundly affected his life as a composer. I have read several previous biographies (Jim Samson, Adam Zamoyski) but I have to say that this biography will certainly become the benchmark study in English. To start, Walker gives an interesting overview of Chopin's family history and explains how his father emigrated from the Alsace region of France to Poland to accept a job as a French teacher. His son was born on March 1, 1810, in the Duchy of Warsaw. He had three sisters, two of whom survived to adulthood. His youngest sister, Emilia, succumbed to tuberculosis as a teenager. This disease was a scourge in 19th century Europe and prematurely took the lives of many prominent composers, authors, and artists. Chopin himself began to exhibit symptoms of TB when he was a teenager. This was to profoundly affect his health over the next 20 years and eventually caused his death at age 39. Walker goes into detail about Chopin's musical education in Warsaw and the many friends he made during this time of his life. Several of them migrated to Paris along with Chopin and helped him in many ways throughout the years in Paris. Chopin never lost his deep love of his home country even after he left permanently in 1830. He never returned because of two reasons: he was able to have a successful career as a teacher and a composer in Paris and because Poland was wiped off the map of Europe due to the invasion of Russia. Walker recounts the relative successes of Chopin in his career while living in Paris. Like most artists Chopin was dependent on the upper classes for much of his income through giving piano lessons. But, additional income came from the sale of Chopin's many marvelous compositions to several prominent publishers. The famous affair with George Sand is given a very detailed description. I knew about the disastrous 4-month trip to Majorca in 1838-39 which Sand initiated in order to help improve Chopin's health. The opposite occurred; he nearly died during this trip. Walker explains why the affair eventually fell apart after 6 years. Also, other individuals who played a prominent part in Chopin's life are described by Walker. I can highly recommend this biography to anyone who has an interest in Chopin's life and wants to better understand why he has had such a prominent position in the history of the piano.

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chopin was perhaps the greatest pianist of his time and he wrote some of the most beautiful music of all time. In this biography, Alan Walker relates his life with respect and care, and he gives us a Chopin who was not only a musical genius, but a likable man who spent much of his life suffering from the tuberculosis that would kill him.

Chopin was, predictably, a child prodigy. Was there any great composer who wasn't? I've read books about a handful of composers and the first chapter of every one of them could be titled: CHILD PRODIGY. When it comes to composing classical music, you either have it right off the bat, or you're never going to get it all all.

He was born and raised in a Poland that was oppressed, occupied, and sometimes torn by violence. Despite living almost his entire adult life in France, he was always a patriot, proud of his Polish heritage and the friend of Polish refugees. He spent most of his life living as an exile who was dying of tb, but he struggled on, composing one lovely piece of music after another.

Walker gives us the story of Chopin's music, but doesn't neglect to tell us about his personal life, which had its interesting moments. The big romance of Chopin's life was with the French writer George Sand. Sand was quite a character in her own right, wearing men's clothing, smoking big cigars, refusing to be relegated to second class status because of her sex. Chopin was more conservative, but they spent nine happy years together before their relationship abruptly exploded.

This is a solid biography for lovers of classical music, or for anyone who is interested in the history of Europe in the first half of the 19th century.

I listened to this in the audiobook format, and it was very well read, although I would have loved it if the audiobook could have incorporated snippits of the relevant music, as some audiobooks about classical composers do.

[Sher · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of good information in this book about the life of this great composer, but I have to say, if I were not a musician, I would have given up on it. Any biographer needs to be thorough, and Dr. Walker was that! I enjoyed most of what he had to say, but even for me, the minutiae became a little overwhelming.

I have always thought Chopin’s music sounds fresh, almost as if he just sat down and improvised his music, and then quickly wrote it down before he forgot what he had played. So I was most surprised to find that he labored over every bit of music he wrote, even sometimes spending weeks on one measure. He was a perfectionist who asked that all of his unpublished music be burned upon his death, because he did not have a chance to go over and over it to make sure it was up to his high standards. His untimely death at age thirty-nine would have left a treasure-trove of music to be destroyed, had it not been for his sister, who did not allow that to happen, but rather made sure that those yet-to-be-published masterpieces be published. Blessings on your head, my dear! The world is all the richer for having all of Chopin’s music.

Like Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn, Fryderyk Chopin died way too soon. One cannot help but wonder what masterpieces were left unwritten, but we can all thank heaven for the ones we have. He truly left the world a better place.

[Andrew H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walker's biography is lucid and finely written in a literary style without lots of flourishes. His view of Chopin is based on a view that he was a gentle pianist, not given to thunder and over-elaboration, and this is the style adopted, in tribute. Walker is a competent biographer, well able to sort out fiction from fact, with an added dimension-- he is perfectly suited to the task of analysing Chopin's musical achievements. The only false note in the book is his explanation of the The Preludes and a mistaken notion that they were composed on a quality Pleyel piano: some were and some were not and this has a bearing on the tonal qualities of the pieces. Walker examines the Sand-Chopin relationship rationally, accepting that prime sources are lost: Sand burnt all of her correspondence to Chopin having acquired all of his letters after his death. This is a sympathetic biography with grace and attention to detail, a masterpiece, superior to much of what appears in this genre today.

[David Koerner · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a pianist returning to the keyboard later in life, I am perforce returning to Chopin. This is almost certainly the definitive modern biography of Chopin. The meaning and interpretation of Chopin's music is brought into the light of his "Life and Times" as meticulously documented by Alan Walker. Chopin's music was forged as respite from revolutions, epidemics, and social chaos. The need for such solace has never waned even if styles have changed. Chopin's music has never been more compelling than in this challenging year of 2020 and I re-listened to all of it while reading this book. Walker compellingly reveals Chopin the person in a continuing series of crises that extend from his youth to his 1830 expatriation and on to his death in 1849. The genius and emotional impact of his music was, for me, greatly enhanced by reading this book.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote quite a detailed appreciation of this book on my blog:
https://musicnarts.blogspot.com/2018/...

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those not already enamored of or possibly besotted with Chopin's music, this massive book might just get you there. Walker brings the great Polish composer/pianist to life, which is the basic goal of any good biographer. Walker toggles between close readings of some of Chopin's major, and most revolutionary compositions and descriptions of his life (and "times"). Those without any music training might find the close reading passages difficult, but they are deftly woven into accounts of Chopin's activities beyond the keyboard, whether in his native Poland, France (where he came into his fame, and where he died), or Scotland (where he performed some of his final concerts). Walker is especially adept at bringing to life not only Chopin but the composer's family, his many friends (and some enemies), and, importantly, his decade-long relationship with the French author George Sand, which though tempestuous was also the period in which he composed most of his greatest works. One quibble is the relative inattention to Chopin's intellectual life (that he was agnostic, or at least became so, is something one learns only very late in the book). But this is a quibble. A fantastic read.

[Ally Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

My conclusion is the same at the finish as it was at the start: Fryderyk Chopin was a human in need of a hug! He music continues to captivate us and always will, for in its depths it expresses a man in pain and turmoil. For ages to come, we will always be able to relate. His life was a continuous nocturne, a sweet, sorrowful song that rings out in the depths of the night. I am captivated, enchanted, and I’m afraid I always will be. Thank you Chopin, and thank you Alan Walker for you marvelous work yet again!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The balance between narrative storytelling and a meta-discussion on the uncertain facts about Chopin's life could not be better, and the musicology was amazing. There were several Chopin pieces that, when put into the context of Chopin's life, felt incredibly more meaningful. In particular, his Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" and Chopin's Krakowiak are standout early works that deserve more mainstream attention. This book is a must read for any Chopin lover. I highly recommend listening to a performance of the compositions as they chronologically arise in the narrative.

[Rachel L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the life, times, and music of one of my favorite composers. Biography, history and music analysis.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography, researched well and in depth.

[Andrew]

It seems that, as historical figures fall further back into the past, we lose touch with their humanity. Particularly with Chopin, whose esteemed reputation has also helped to render him somewhat impenetrable as a biographical subject.

This book caught my attention as soon as I saw it was on one of The Economist’s book lists. As a composer, Chopin’s work took time to grow on me compared to that of Debussy or Ravel. All the same, I’d become familiar with a vague sketch of his life courtesy of some documentary on CuriosityStream, and he continued to fascinate me since then.

I was impressed with both the author’s care for historical context and his attempts at analyzing the music itself, even if I lack the theory knowledge to understand those parts as well. Putting his work in its time and place helps to appreciate the music and associate it with the living, breathing human being responsible for bringing it into existence. Certainly in its time it was a plaything for the rich, inaccessible to the vast majority of people; but that is more of a social commentary than a criticism of Chopin himself, who was simply born in 19th century Poland and had to get on with his life.

This book has helped me access classical music in a way I wasn’t able to before, and I’m excited about my chances of further widening my musical pallette with the best biography has to offer of these titans of classical music.

[Nathan Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked

Understanding Chopin's musical priorities. In a letter to Mikuli, Chopin writes about the effect of bad phrasing:

It is as if someone were reciting in a language not understood by the speaker, a speech carefully learned by rote, in the course of which the speaker not only neglected the natural quantity of the syllables, but even stopped in the middle of words. The pseudo-musician shows in a similar way, by his wrong phrasing, that music is not his mother tongue.

Chopin attaches similar importance to quiet dynamics. Of Jenny Lind's dynamics control, he said, "her piano is as smooth and even as a thread of hair." Like me, Chopin prefers chamber music; he rejects large concert halls because "My playing will be lost in such a large room, and my compositions will be ineffective." On the rare occasions that he did perform for a large audience, he still insisted on subtle piano to such an extent that "Blahetka thought that Chopin played too quietly—the sort of criticism that the pianist encountered all his life."

On the other hand, he paid no mind to the flailing showiness of many of his contemporary performers. It was once "reported to Chopin that one of the ladies in the audience expressed regret that he looked somewhat unimpressive on the stage. Doubtless they were used to seeing more 'activity' at the keyboard and Chopin's repose disconcerted them."

Tips for interpreting Chopin's music. In the "Chopin and the Keyboard" chapter, Walker points out Chopin's careful attention to fingerings, his limited use of metronome markings, the strong similarities between his piano writing and techniques used by opera singers (such as trills and portamento), and the limited range of older pianos (which leads some modern performers to modify parts of Chopin's scores).

Other chapters also include interpretive tidbits. For example, Halle and Meyerbeer observed that Chopin played his mazurkas almost in 4/4 instead of 3/4 time, due to a pause after the first beat which according to Chopin is "part of the national character of the dance."

Learning about Chopin's composition process. This quote from George Sand makes me feel better about how slowly I composed in college:

[Chopin's] composing was spontaneous, miraculous. He found ideas without looking for them, without foreseeing them. They came to his piano, sudden, complete, sublime—or sang in his head while he was taking a walk, and he had to hurry and throw himself at the instrument to make himself hear them. But then began a labor more heartbreaking than I have ever seen. This was a series of efforts, of irresolution and impatience to grasp again certain details of the themes he had heard: what he had conceived as a whole he overanalyzed in putting on paper, and his retreat in not recapturing it whole (according to him) threw him into a kind of despair. He shut himself up in his room for whole days, weeping, walking about, breaking his pens, repeating or altering a measure a hundred times, writing it down and erasing it as often, and starting over the next day with a scrupulous and desperate perseverance. He would spend six weeks on one page, only to return to it and write it just as he had on the first draft.

Chopin insisted that his unfinished compositions be burnt after his death, saying, "I have always had a great respect for the public and whatever I have published has always been as perfect as I could make it." Thank goodness, his sister ignored his wishes!

In the "Chopin and the Keyboard" chapter, Walker points out several techniques that Chopin didn't include in his compositions.

Learning about Chopin's teaching process. "For repertoire," Walker reports, "he recommended above all Bach's 48 together with the sonatas of Mozart." According to primary source Friederike Muller, "Single lessons often lasted literally for hours at a stretch, until exhaustion overcame master and pupil."

Moral lessons from Chopin. A proud, independent thinker, Chopin stood by his decisions. He accepted some formal instruction: namely, piano lessons at ages 6 to 12 from the parochial teacher Zwyny, and a few years of harmony, counterpoint, and composition instruction from Elsner at the Warsaw High School for Music. After that, he consciously and determinedly forged his own path. Even on his deathbed, he refused the Catholic last rites, because "For many years he had neglected his Catholic faith and thought it hypocritical to return to its final rituals in his hour of desperation." I would summarize Chopin's moral philosophy thus: speak quietly and with nuance, believe in your own sense of taste, and have good posture.

Model relationships. Mikolaj Chopin is a wonderful father—the kind who could bring out the talents of a son like Fryderyk.

Eugeniusz Skrodzki tells us that while living under the guidance of Mikolaj Chopin one was taught to be civilized, to be polite, and to develop good work habits: 'The belief was that if one was not a good human being, whatever awards one possessed were worthless.' Fryderyk Skarbek echoed these sentiments in his memoirs, adding that those students who were privileged to board with the Chopins invariably did something with their lives and were forever grateful.

Chopin also had a heartwarming friendship with the cellist Auguste Franchomme:

They dined often together, enjoyed occasional outings to the theater or the opera, and once made a joint excursion to Enghien-les-Bains to take the waters. Above all, they played chamber music together. Franchomme admired Chopin's nuanced piano playing and found in him a perfect partner, responsive to the inflections in his own performance. ... He was one of the pallbearers at Chopin's funeral.

Bibliographical details. After arriving at Chopin's death, Walker relates how Chopin's letters and living acquaintances went on to contribute (or not contribute) to his early biographies. He also explains which parts of those early biographies and letters are still considered reliable sources, and why.

Historical context. The book shows how artists were patronized back then, and the influence of disease, epidemics, and political revolutions.

What I didn't like

It's rather too long. If you want a book that contains just about every known fact about Chopin, Walker's your guy. For my taste, though, the book is too densely packed with musically irrelevant detail. I don't care exactly which little towns Chopin visited on his travels, or who he almost met while he was there. In the bibliographical chapter, I do not need a complete chronological review of the scholarly arguments for and against some of Chopin's letters being hoaxes.

I made so many highlights that my Kindle eventually bugged out and will not allow me to scroll all the way to the end of my highlights.

Walker's citation format for quotes from letters does not include the addressee of the letter. I'm sure I could eventually figure that out by tracking down the cited work, but that's too much effort. It makes me a bit sad when I'm extremely curious about the addressee, such as for some of Chopin's spicier criticisms of contemporary pianists like Liszt. ("As regards the themes from his compositions, well, they will remain buried with the newspapers....")

Walker has a strange penchant for euphemisms for mortality. He notes that Chopin's Funeral March from the Sonata in B flat minor "would be used to mark [Chopin's] own passing from this vale of tears." Within a single paragraph, Walker says of various members of the Radziwill family that they "died," "followed him to the grave," "slipped into the arms of death," and "went to meet her maker." The variety is impressive but excessive.

I was similarly bemused by Walker's final sentence: "The composer's posthumous Odyssey will meanwhile continue on its journey into the boundless realms of the future, while his music brings pleasure and solace to generations as yet unborn." A bit much, hey? But it's clear that Walker really, truly, deeply loves Chopin.

[Evan Hurley O'Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great biography of the great composer. It does the job so well that there seems to be no need for another biography for the time being. Walker artfully blends the events of Chopin's life with musicological examples and discussions of his music. He brought attention to some references within Chopin's music to some of his other pieces, ones I had never noticed before. Walker is a great scholar and left no stone unturned in his effort to piece together the composer's life.

One can't help but feel sad at the story of Chopin's life. There is rarely any moment post adolescence where the spectre of TB is far away. It is one of the great injustices of music history that he died so young, especially when one considers the majesty of his later compositions, such as the Barcarolle, the Sonata no 3 and the Polonaise-Fantasie. If this were a novel, it would not be a satisfying ending - that the composer die in the middle of such a productive decade. Liszt lived into old age, to a time where he could reflect on his life in it's entirety, whereas Chopin left "in the middle of the play."

It was interesting to read about some of the flaws that were apparent from his correspondence with various friends. If there is any flaw that seems most glaring, it is his general disregard for other people who were devoted to him. He was generally had nothing good to say about many of the composers who he was friends with that adored him in turn. The most glaring example is probably of Liszt - Chopin had many disparaging things to say about him, whereas one gets the impression that Liszt held Chopin in the highest regard. It also seemed unfair how much work Chopin expected his friend Fontana to carry out copying manuscripts, etc for little in return.

The description of his time with George Sand was interesting and the relationship dynamic described is very difficult to define. While George Sand deserves sympathy for the situation she was in, and should be commended for acting as primary caretaker for so long, towards the end one can't help but feel like she went too far in her publication of Lucrezia Floriani. Her treatment of her daughter Solange was harsh. Walker quite clearly points out various ways in which Sand was dishonest in some of her writings about her time with Chopin.

Ludwika's husband Kalasanty came out of this biography terribly, and it's difficult to believe how someone could be so petty. This is especially the case when one considers that there is a reasonable chance the composer's belongings, including letters and manuscripts would have survived the centuries if Ludwika had not been forbidden by her husband to create a museum in dedication of her husband.

All in all, this book is an extremely well written and documented account of the life of the composer that is most dear to pianists everywhere.

[Brent Woo · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a pianist, I have spent at least twenty, probably closer to twenty-five, years with Chopin's music. Playing the fun waltzes, hammering out the polonaises, wrestling with the titanic ballades and etudes. I successfully 'auditioned' to my second and final piano teacher with Fantaisie-Impromptu, and won Los Angeles regional honors playing his Etude in A-flat major 25/1. For the last two weeks, I have lived Chopin's life from Poland to Paris and Nohant, thanks to this scintillating biography that I could not put down. Walker achieves the perfect balance between biography and musico-graphy, narrating the important dramatic acts of his life without hyperbole, and analyzing his compositions with both musical and social rigor, without getting lost in the weeds. I'll probably continue playing Chopin forever, and I'm comforted and overwhelmed by the book's reminder that he was just a human. By playing or listening to his music, I now feel the slightest thread linking me to this extraordinary musician who lived 200 years ago halfway across the globe, who I have nothing in common with—except our mere humanity, celebrated through his universal music.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great biography. Walker is cautious as always, navigating through the false evidences and the myths surrounding Chopin is no mean feat. Has a good balance between details of people around him, his music and his life. I was surprised at how much detail he could get from Chopin's childhood.

Of his music - each of the genres are discussed in sufficient detail, but not as much as it will confuse non-experts.

Of all the people around him, I found George Sand to be the most fascinating. Many of her works become celebrated even when a lot of them don't survive the judgment of subsequent generations - I even come across Joseph Frank's biography on Dostoevsky, noting that Dostoevsky was deeply influenced by Sand's novels, some of which she wrote when she was nursing Chopin to health, and numerous other struggles.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive biography we Chopin fans have been waiting for! Alan Walker’s work is not only magisterial and impeccably documented, but also highly readable. Put this on your holiday gift list for yourself or your favorite 19th century music buff, or hie yourself to your local public library to check it out!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding in every way!