Life of Chopin
He lived in the shadow of death, painfully aware of the tuberculosis that would kill him prematurely. But Frédéric Chopin attained immortality with his piano works, which endure as pinnacles of the instrument's repertoire. This biography by one of the nineteenth century's foremost pianists -- Chopin's friend and fellow artist, Franz Liszt -- offers a highly informed assessment of the Polish composer's musical legacy. It is further enlivened by the author's personal acquaintance with Chopin's other friends, who constituted the very cream of Parisian intellectual and artistic society.
Born a year apart, Chopin and Liszt came of age in an era favorable to musical change, when audiences as well as performers were receptive to Romanticism's innovations. Liszt surveys the technical brilliance as well as the poetry of Chopin's masterpieces, including the "Adagio" from Piano Concerto No. 2 and Polonaise in F-sharp Minor. He also chronicles Chopin's progress from child prodigy to the darling of Parisian salons. A source of rare and unparalleled insights into Chopin's world of private anguish and public triumph, this memoir recounts the composer's loneliness as a Polish emigré, his tempestuous romance with George Sand, and his life among a glittering social set that included Balzac, Hugo, Berlioz, Delacroix, and Schumann.
1100189301
Life of Chopin
He lived in the shadow of death, painfully aware of the tuberculosis that would kill him prematurely. But Frédéric Chopin attained immortality with his piano works, which endure as pinnacles of the instrument's repertoire. This biography by one of the nineteenth century's foremost pianists -- Chopin's friend and fellow artist, Franz Liszt -- offers a highly informed assessment of the Polish composer's musical legacy. It is further enlivened by the author's personal acquaintance with Chopin's other friends, who constituted the very cream of Parisian intellectual and artistic society.
Born a year apart, Chopin and Liszt came of age in an era favorable to musical change, when audiences as well as performers were receptive to Romanticism's innovations. Liszt surveys the technical brilliance as well as the poetry of Chopin's masterpieces, including the "Adagio" from Piano Concerto No. 2 and Polonaise in F-sharp Minor. He also chronicles Chopin's progress from child prodigy to the darling of Parisian salons. A source of rare and unparalleled insights into Chopin's world of private anguish and public triumph, this memoir recounts the composer's loneliness as a Polish emigré, his tempestuous romance with George Sand, and his life among a glittering social set that included Balzac, Hugo, Berlioz, Delacroix, and Schumann.
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Life of Chopin

Life of Chopin

by Franz Liszt
Life of Chopin

Life of Chopin

by Franz Liszt

Paperback

$8.95 
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Overview

He lived in the shadow of death, painfully aware of the tuberculosis that would kill him prematurely. But Frédéric Chopin attained immortality with his piano works, which endure as pinnacles of the instrument's repertoire. This biography by one of the nineteenth century's foremost pianists -- Chopin's friend and fellow artist, Franz Liszt -- offers a highly informed assessment of the Polish composer's musical legacy. It is further enlivened by the author's personal acquaintance with Chopin's other friends, who constituted the very cream of Parisian intellectual and artistic society.
Born a year apart, Chopin and Liszt came of age in an era favorable to musical change, when audiences as well as performers were receptive to Romanticism's innovations. Liszt surveys the technical brilliance as well as the poetry of Chopin's masterpieces, including the "Adagio" from Piano Concerto No. 2 and Polonaise in F-sharp Minor. He also chronicles Chopin's progress from child prodigy to the darling of Parisian salons. A source of rare and unparalleled insights into Chopin's world of private anguish and public triumph, this memoir recounts the composer's loneliness as a Polish emigré, his tempestuous romance with George Sand, and his life among a glittering social set that included Balzac, Hugo, Berlioz, Delacroix, and Schumann.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780486446257
Publisher: Dover Publications
Publication date: 12/27/2005
Series: Dover Books on Music Series
Pages: 144
Product dimensions: 5.33(w) x 8.24(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Composer, conductor, and teacher Franz Liszt (1811–86) was renowned throughout Europe for his skills as a concert pianist. The quintessential romantic, he created an extensive and diverse oeuvre that ranges from influential experiments in musical form to more conventional pieces as well as transcriptions of works by other composers.

Table of Contents

Dedication
Preface
Chapter I. Chopin--Style and Improvements--The Adagio of the Second Concerto--Funeral March--Psychological Character of the Compositions of Chopin
Chapter II. National Character of the Polonaise--Oginsky--Meyseder--Weber--Chopin--His Polonaise in F sharp Minor--Polonaise Fantaisie
Chapter III. Chopin's Mazourkas--Polish Ladies--Mazourka in Poland Tortured Motives--Early Life of Chopin--Zal
Chapter IV. Chopin's Mode of Playing--Concerts--The Elite--Fading Bouquets and Immortal Crowns--Hospitality--Heine--Meyerbeer--Adolphe Nourrit--Eugène Delacroix--Niemcevicz--Mickiewicz--George Sand
Chapter V. The Lives of Artists--Pure Fame of Chopin--Reserve--Classic and Romantic Art--Language of the Slavs--Chopin's Love of Home--Memories
Chapter VI. Birth and Early Life of Chopin--National Artists--Chopin Embodies in Himself the Poetic Sense of his Whole Nation--Opinion of Beethoven
Chapter VII. Madame Sand--Lélia--Visit to Majorca--Exclusive Ideals
Chapter VIII. Disappointment--Ill Health--Visit to England--Devotion of Friends--Last Sacraments--Delphine Potocka--Louise--M. Gutman--Death
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