Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician — Complete

by Frederick Niecks

I thank you for all your efforts. Pleyel is a scoundrel,
Probst a scape-grace. He never gave me 1,000 francs for three
manuscripts. Very likely you have received my long letter
about Schlesinger, therefore I wish you and beg of you to give
that letter of mine to Pleyel, who thinks my manuscripts too
dear. If I have to sell them cheap, I would rather do so to
Schlesinger than look for new and improbable connections. For
Schlesinger can always count upon England, and as I am square
with Wessel, he may sell them to whomsoever he likes. The same
with the Polonaises in Germany, for Probst is a bird whom I
have known a long time. As regards the money, you must make an
unequivocal agreement, and do not give the manuscripts except
for cash. I send you a reconnaissance for Pleyel, it
astonishes me that he absolutely wants it, as if he could not
trust me and you.
Dear me, this Pleyel who said that Schlesinger paid me badly!
500 francs for a manuscript for all the countries seems to him
too dear! I assure you I prefer to deal with a real Jew. And
Probst, that good-for-nothing fellow, who pays me 300 francs
for my mazurkas! You see, the last mazurkas brought me with
ease 800 francs—namely, Probst 300 francs, Schlesinger 400,
and Wessel 100. I prefer giving my manuscripts as formerly at
a very low price to stooping before these...I prefer being
submissive to one Jew to being so to three. Therefore go to
Schlesinger, but perhaps you settled with Pleyel.
Oh, men, men! But this Mrs. Migneron, she too is a good one!
However, Fortune turns round, I may yet live and hear that
this lady will come and ask you for some leather; if, as you
say, you are aiming at being a shoemaker. I beg of you to make
shoes neither for Pleyel nor for Probst.
Do not yet speak to anyone of the Scherzo [Op. 39]. I do not
know when I shall finish it, for I am still weak and cannot
write.
As yet I have no idea when I shall see you. My love to
Grzymala; and give him such furniture as he will like, and let
Johnnie take the rest from the apartments. I do not write to
him, but I love him always. Tell him this, and give him my
love.
Wodzinski still astonishes me.
When you receive the money from Pleyel, pay first the
landlord's rent, and send me immediately 500 francs. I left on
the receipt for Pleyel the Op. blank, for I do not remember
the following number.

Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Marseilles, April 22, 1839:—

...I was also occupied with the removal from one hotel to
another. Notwithstanding all his efforts and inquiries, the good
doctor was not able to find me a corner in the country where to
pass the month of April.
I am pretty tired of this town of merchants and shopkeepers,
where the intellectual life is wholly unknown; but here I am
still shut up for the month of April.

Further on in the letter, after inviting Madame Marliani and her husband to come to Nohant in May, she proceeds thus:—

He [M. Marliani] loves the country, and I shall be a match for
him as regards rural pleasures, while you [Madame Marliani]
will philosophise at the piano with Chopin. It can hardly be
said that he enjoys himself in Marseilles; but he resigns
himself to recover patiently.

The following letter of Chopin to Fontana, which Karasowski thinks was written at Valdemosa in the middle of February, ought to be dated Marseilles, April, 1839:—

As they are such Jews, keep everything till my return. The
Preludes I have sold to Pleyel (I received from him 500
francs). He is entitled to do with them what he likes. But as
to the Ballades and Polonaises, sell them neither to
Schlesinger nor to Probst. But whatever may happen, with no
Schonenberger [FOOTNOTE: A Paris music-publisher] will I have
anything to do. Therefore, if you gave the Ballade to Probst,
take it back, even though he offered a thousand. You may tell
him that I have asked you to keep it till my return, that when
I am back we shall see.
Enough of these...Enough for me and for you.
My very life, I beg of you to forgive me all the trouble; you
have really been busying yourself like a friend, and now you
will have still on your shoulders my removal. I beg Grzymala
to pay the cost of the removal. As to the portier, he very
likely tells lies, but who will prove it? You must give, in
order to stop his barking.
My love to Johnnie, I will write to him when I am in better
spirits. My health is improved, but I am in a rage. Tell
Johnnie that from Anthony as well as from me he will have
neither word nor money.
Yesterday I received your letter, together with letters from
Pleyel and Johnnie.
If Clara Wieck pleased you, that is good, for nobody can play
better than she does. When you see her give her my
compliments, and also to her father.
Did I happen to lend you Witwicki's songs? I cannot find them.
I only ask for them in case you should chance to have them.

Chopin to Fontana; Marseilles, March 25 [should no doubt be April 25], 1839:—

I received your letter, in which you let me know the
particulars of the removal. I have no words to thank you for
your true, friendly help. The particulars were very
interesting to me. But I am sorry that you complain, and that
Johnnie is spitting blood. Yesterday I played for Nourrit on
the organ, you see by this that I am better. Sometimes I play
to myself at home, but as yet I can neither sing nor dance.
Although the news of my mother is welcome, its having been
originated by Plat... is enough to make one consider it a
falsehood.
The warm weather has set in here, and I shall certainly not
leave Marseilles before May, and then go somewhere else in the
south of France.
It is not likely that we shall soon have news from Anthony.
Why should he write? Perhaps to pay his debts? But this is not
customary in Poland. The reason Raciborski appreciates you so
much is that you have no Polish habits, nota bene, not those
Polish habits you know and I mean.
You are staying at No. 26 [Chaussee d'Antin]. Are you
comfortable? On what floor, and how much do you pay? I take
more and more interest in these matters, for I also shall be
obliged to think of new apartments, but not till after my
return to Paris.
I had only that letter from Pleyel which he sent through you—
it is a month ago or more. Write to the same address, Rue et
Hotel Beauveau.
Perhaps you did not understand what I said above about my
having played for Nourrit. His body was brought from Italy and
carried to Paris. There was a Requiem Mass for his soul. I was
asked by his friends to play on the organ during the
Elevation.
Did Miss Wieck play my Etude well? Could she not select
something better than just this etude, the least interesting
for those who do not know that it is written for the black
keys? It would have been far better to do nothing at all.
[FOOTNOTE: Clara Wieck gave a concert in Paris on April 16,
1839. The study in question is No. 5 of Op. 10 (G flat major).
Only the right hand plays throughout on black keys.]
In conclusion, I have nothing more to write, except to wish
you good luck in the new house. Hide my manuscripts, that they
may not appear printed before the time. If the Prelude is
printed, that is Pleyel's trick. But I do not care.
Mischievous Germans, rascally Jews...! Finish the litany, for
you know them as well as I do.
Give my love to Johnnie and Grzymaia if you see them.—Your
FREDERICK.

One subject mentioned in this letter deserves a fuller explanation than Chopin vouchsafes. Adolphe Nourrit, the celebrated tenor singer, had in a state of despondency, caused by the idea that since the appearance of his rival Duprez his popularity was on the wane, put an end to his life by throwing himself out of a window at Naples on the 8th of March, 1839. [FOOTNOTE: This is the generally-accepted account of Nourrit's death. But Madame Garcia, the mother of the famous Malibran, who at the time was staying in the same house, thought it might have been an accident, the unfortuante artist having in the dark opened a window on a level with the floor instead of a door. (See Fetis: Biographie universelle des Musiciens.)] Madame Nourrit brought her husband's body to Paris, and it was on the way thither that a funeral service was held at Marseilles for the much-lamented man and singer.