Evening With Chopin at Amazon
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Everyone knows that Chopin was doomed to die from tuberculosis, but that’s not what the social set in Paris knew in those days. It was mutual noesis that Chopin was in love with novelist George Sand, and even more mutual psychological result of perception learning and reasoning that Sand was a social climber bent on attracting each powerful man she could to further her insatiable ambition. Chopin was just one more casualty on her way to immortality, but he was fool sufficient to genuinely fall in love with her. Society gossips said that Chopin’s death was hastened by her cruel treatment and infidelities. A list of George Sand’s conquests reads like an artistic who’s who of European culture at the time. Liszt, Victor Hugo, Dumas (pere) and the painter Delacroix were all the targets of her naughty network, but a good deal of say she failed with each one. Many writers of the day remarked that Sand was a woman of low morals, and indicated surprise that a delicate talent such as Chopin could have fallen for her. Many found her heavy and obvious. Chopin and Sand took up residence at her estate at Nohant, where Chopin composed a good deal of of his outstanding late works. And how did George Sand receive these great masterworks? She had soundproofing panels installed so she wouldn’t have to listen. Pictures of Nohant disclose a sylvan fairyland, with likeable formal gardens and a huge wild area in the English manner. At least Chopin may have had a few years of peace there. Finally Chopin had sufficient of her affairs, and two years before he died, he left her. Chopin was never with any woman again, and passed from physical life alone, miserable and sick. And yet he left us with one of the biggest musical legacies ever written. By John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2008 Walden Pond Press All Rights Reserved |
