Zoom into a Chopin's Letter
What can a single letter tell us about the world of Fryderyk Chopin? Take a glimpse at things that grasped the composer's attention and explore the world seen with his eyes.
By The Fryderyk Chopin Institute
Paweł Siechowicz (Chopin Institute)
A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw, Page 1 (18-20 July 1845) by Fryderyk ChopinThe Fryderyk Chopin Institute
One letter. Look at it carefully.
How much one can read out of it? About the man who wrote it? And about the world he lived in?
A letter to family... and friends
The letter is addresed to Chopin's family. However, we can be almost sure that it was shown or read to many of his friends living in Warsaw. Indeed, Chopin explicitly asks the first readers to remind others about him.
The two pages are filled from top to bottom.
The man who wrote that letter wanted to encompass as much of his world as he could on the limited space of the single sheet of paper he used.
There are numerous crosses and corrections.
We can see that Chopin wrote it spontaneously following his thoughts as they came to his mind one after the other.
Notice the right hand side of the page.
There are words added that are woven between the lines and bent upwards so they can fit into the limited space. An additilonal remark that came to mind a little too late.
A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw, Page 2 (18-20 July 1845) by Fryderyk ChopinThe Fryderyk Chopin Institute
One can trace the steady diminishing of the script.
When the available space shrinks, the script becomes smaller and smaller.
A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw, Page 1 (18-20 July 1845) by Fryderyk ChopinThe Fryderyk Chopin Institute
Chopin wanted to make use of the whole available space.
When there was no space left, he turned the page upside down and filled the last empty area that he had originally left blank.
A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw A letter from Fryderyk Chopin to family in Warsaw, Page 2 (18-20 July 1845) by Fryderyk ChopinThe Fryderyk Chopin Institute
What did Chopin write about on those two pages?
George Sand's Garden at Nohant (ca. 1842–43) by Eugène DelacroixThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
THE GARDEN OF REPOSE
I am not made for the countryside, but I do enjoy fresh air.
George Sand's Garden in Nohant
Chopin enjoyed the fresh air in the garden of Nohant. Look at it as seen by the painter Eugène Delacroix.
Can you feel the fragrant air of the lush garden?
Pauline Viardot Gambling at Baden-Baden (1862) by Gustave DoréThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
OPERATIC SUPERSTAR
We have already been here for more than a month. Mrs Viardot came along with us and stayed for 3 weeks.
A superstar friend
Pauline Viardot was a superstar of Chopin's time who was admired by the public gathered in the opera houses. Chopin was enchanted by his singing and acting. She belonged to the most warmly welcomed guests in Nohant.
Viardot gambling in Baden-Baden
Here, we can see her in a crowded casino. She draws our attention and stands out from the crowd in her marvelous dress, hat and earings.
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TRIBUTE TO BEETHOVEN
Franchomme writes that Habeneck is going to Bonn for that inauguration; that Liszt has written a cantata, which they are going to sing under Liszt's baton. - Spohr is directing a great concert, which they will perform in the evening. There will be 3 days of music.
Statue de Beethoven à Bonn. (1853) by Charles Marville and Louis Désiré Blanquart-EvrardThe J. Paul Getty Museum
The greatest predecessor
The Beethoven Monument in Bonn was erected in 1845 by the common effort of many musicians leaded by Franz Liszt. The monument reflected the growing status of Beethoven as a classic figure in the history of music.
Chopin Frederik Francois 1810-1849.LIFE Photo Collection
SPACES OF CREATION
I am always one foot with you - one foot in the room next door, where the Lady of the House works - and not at all in my own place at that moment - only, as usual, in some strange space.
Those are no doubt those espaces imaginaires [imaginary spaces] - but I am not ashamed of this; after all, it has become a proverb for us that 'he went to the coronation in his imagination', and I am a genuine blind Mazovian.
And so, not seeing far, I have written 3 new Mazurkas.
Musical portal to motherland
Let us take a moment to listen to the Mazurka in a minor, Op. 59. The letter suggests that Chopin's Mazurkas allowed him to feel close to his motherland - the Mazovia region in central Poland opening up the imaginary spaces encoded in the sounds of music.
Iowa Indians Who Visited London and Paris (1861/1869) by George CatlinNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
EXOTIC VISTORS
Les sauvages indiens [The wild red indians] (Ioways) have already departed on the ship Le Versailles from Havre.
The wife of one of them [...] called Oke-we-mi in Indian, and in French l'ours femelle qui marche sur le dos d'une autre [the she-bear who walks on the back of another], died, the poor creature, du mal du pays [of homesickness].
The wild red indians
Chopin describes the story of Iowa indians who visited France.
Homesickness
He expresses a particular empathy towards a women who died, as it is said, of homesickness, the kind of sickness that Chopin knew particularly well, having lived in a foreign country for 15 years already.
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GOSSIPS FROM PARIS
And what to tell you about Paris? [...] Albert [...] has written me only what the newspapers wrote, without mentioning names, about Victor Hugo [...].
L'abside de Notre-Dame de Paris (The Apse of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris) (1854) by Charles MeryonNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Mr Billard [...], himself ugly, had a pretty wife, whom Mr Hugo seduced.
Mr Billard caught his wife with the poet - and so Hugo had to show his medal as a peer of France to the one who wanted to arrest him, before he immediately left him alone.
Victor Hugo dans un discours en trois points... (1849) by Honoré DaumierLos Angeles County Museum of Art
Celebrated artist
The writer Victor Hugo was an early 19th century celebrity. Newspapers, salons and streets were eager to gossip about him. Chopin describes in detail his affair that was on the lips of Parisians at that time.
Carefully observed
Hugo was carefully observed by his admirators and critiques as is confirmed by the many caricatures exagerating the most characteristic features of his appearence.
Tel Telegraph Cable (Inc Atlantic Cable)LIFE Photo Collection
CURIOUS INVENTIONS
Tell Barteczek that the electro-magnetic telegraph between Baltimore and Washington gives exceptional results.
Tel Telegraph Cable (Inc Atlantic Cable)LIFE Photo Collection
Orders given at 1 o'clock in the afternoon from Baltimore are often carried out, and the goods and packages are ready to depart from Washington at 3 o'clock [...] I think that is quick!
It has already been a year since we saw the Jędrzejewiczes; it went by as if along an electric telegraph wire!
The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat. (1876) by Currier & IvesThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
The speed of telegraph
Chopin was fascinated by the newest inventions that allowed a faster communication. He marvels on the speed of the message transmitted via electric telegraph wires.
The durability of a letter
Chopin's massage traveled via post at much slower pace. Its durability, however, was not surpassed by any newer media. The single page of paper kept Chopin's world untouched for almost two centuries carrying a promise that the reader can look at it through Chopin's own eyes.
Like the steam
'I am like the steam on a steamboat, I melt into the air and feel as if a part of myself was journeying to my homeland, and the other to Paris, to You' wrote Chopin to Regina Hiller in 1834. Like the steam, a part of Chopin's self travels to us through time in his letters.
These are only few of the numerous things that Chopin wrote about on the two pages of this single letter.
Every letter carries within it a fragment of Chopin's world. It is not only the sense of the words that matters. The way they were blotted on paper is equally telling. Take a closer look at the letters from the collection of Chopin Museum in Warsaw.
Paweł Siechowicz (Chopin Institute)
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