Chopin's Funeral

American author Benita Eisler’s biography Chopin's Funeral (2003) chronicles the life of Frederic Chopin, a 19th-century virtuoso pianist widely considered to be one of the greatest composers of all time. Much of the book focuses on Chopin's tumultuous and ill-fated romantic relationship with the French author Amantine Dupin, known by her pseudonym George Sand. Chopin's Funeral  is an "elegant retelling of the Chopin story which, while it does not pretend to offer new scholarship, is vivid, uncluttered and highly readable" (The Guardian).

Born in 1810 in a village 30 miles west of Warsaw, Poland, Chopin is the son of Nicolas Chopin, a struggling, self-made immigrant from France who claws his way out of a peasant's existence by tutoring children of Polish aristocrats. Eisler suggests that young Chopin's proximity to the aristocracy without possessing wealth himself might account for the composer's reactionary attitudes toward equality later in life. At the age of six, Chopin receives his first piano lessons from a teacher who quickly realizes the young musician's potential as a prodigy. Within a year, Chopin is playing public concerts, and before long, the Polish intelligentsia fetes him as a "second Mozart." His talents earn him a spot alongside children of the Polish aristocracy at some of the best schools. Throughout his education, Chopin continues to compose and perform, drawing praise first within Poland and later throughout Europe.

In 1830, a mere month before the November Uprising sparks a war between Poland and the Russian Empire, Chopin leaves Poland. Quoting the Polish historian Zdzislaw Jachimecki, Eisler  characterizes Chopin's departure as a venture "into the wide world, with no very clearly defined aim, forever." Finding Paris a hotbed of cultural activity, over the next few years, Chopin becomes acquainted with the composers Franz Lizst and Hector Berlioz, the poet Heinrich Heine, and the painter Eugene Delacroix. On February 25, 1832, Chopin delivers his Paris debut, inspiring widespread acclaim. Despite the admiration he wins from critics and fellow artists alike, the concert causes Chopin to see that his intimate, delicate keyboard technique is ill-suited for large spaces. With the patronage of the wealthy Rothschild banking family, Chopin begins to perform exclusively in private salons to small audiences of aristocrats and members of the artistic elite.



Around this time, Chopin and Liszt become closer friends, although their friendship is not always an easy one. Possessing a great amount of mutual respect, each man considers the other to be his only equal. At the same time, this causes a great deal of jealousy and spite to develop between them. Moreover, Eisler suggests that the two have very divergent dispositions, as Liszt savors his ever-growing celebrity status among the masses, while Chopin prefers to play in intimate settings for elite ears.

In 1836, Chopin proposes to Maria Wodzinska, an artist and the daughter of a Polish Countess. Maria agrees, as does her mother in principle. Nevertheless, an unenthusiastic letter Chopin receives from Maria at the end of 1836 proves to be the last he ever receives from her. Devastated by the aborted engagement, Chopin begins to spend more time with the French author George Sand. Six years older than Chopin and with two children from a previous marriage, Sand is far more experienced than Chopin. Eisler goes so far as to suggest that Chopin—perpetually stuck in a childlike state owing to his early fame and status as a prodigy—sees in Sand a maternal figure. This is likely reinforced by Chopin's small stature and frame, along with Sand's tendency to refer to him as "my little Chip-Chip." Over the winter of 1838-1839, Chopin and Sand stay in Majorca in an effort to stave off the incipient tuberculosis from which the composer already suffers. However, when the island's intensely devout Catholic population discovers Chopin and Sand are unmarried, they are forced to take shelter in a former monastery.

Although Chopin's health continues to suffer, he remains productive. In 1941, Sand convinces the notoriously crowd-shy Chopin to play at the Salle Pleyel, an enormous concert hall in Paris. Sand is quoted as saying, "He's so terrified by the whole thing that I suggested he play in the dark, with no one present, on a dumb keyboard." An enormous success, the performance would serve as a high-water mark in Chopin's life, as his health and relationships begin to decline quickly. Sand begins to tire of Chopin, going so far as to base an exceptionally pathetic character in her 1946 novel Lucrezia Floriani on Chopin and then reading the manuscript aloud to Chopin in the company of a mortified Delacroix. The following year, Sand severs ties with Chopin after accusing him of lusting after her daughter, Solange. Eisler proposes that Chopin had little to no romantic interest in Solange; this gambit is merely an attempt by Sand to exert control over Solange, with whom she already has a tempestuous relationship.



On October 17, 1849, Chopin dies at the age of 39, likely from the combined effects of tuberculosis and pericarditis. Although his funeral is limited to ticket holders, over 3,000 people arrive from all over Europe to pay their respects.