Chopin on arriving in Paris had taken up his lodgings in the Rue Tronchet, No. 5, and resumed teaching. One of his pupils there was Brinley Richards, who practised under him one of the books of studies. Chopin also assisted the British musician in the publication, by Troupenas, of his first composition, having previously looked over and corrected it. Brinley Richards informed me that Chopin, who played rarely in these lessons, making his corrections and suggestions rather by word of mouth than by example, was very languid, indeed so much so that he looked as if he felt inclined to lie down, and seemed to say: "I wish you would come another time."
About this time, that is in the autumn or early in the winter of 1839, Moscheles came to Paris. We learn from his diary that at Leo's, where he liked best to play, he met for the first time Chopin, who had just returned from the country, and whose acquaintance he was impatient to make. I have already quoted what Moscheles said of Chopin's appearance—namely, that it was exactly like [identificirt mit] his music, both being delicate and dreamy [schwarmerisch]. His remarks on his great contemporary's musical performances are, of course, still more interesting to us.
He played to me at my request, and now for the first time I
understand his music, and can also explain to myself the
enthusiasm of the ladies. His ad libitum playing, which with
the interpreters of his music degenerates into disregard of
time, is with him only the most charming originality of
execution; the dilettantish harsh modulations which strike me
disagreeably when I am playing his compositions no longer
shock me, because he glides lightly over them in a fairy-like
way with his delicate fingers; his piano is so softly breathed
forth that he does not need any strong forte in order to
produce the wished-for contrasts; it is for this reason that
one does not miss the orchestral-like effects which the German
school demands from a pianoforte-player, but allows one's self
to be carried away, as by a singer who, little concerned about
the accompaniment, entirely follows his feeling. In short, he
is an unicum in the world of pianists. He declares that he
loves my music very much, and at all events he knows it very
well. He played me some studies and his latest work, the
"Preludes," and I played him many of my compositions.
In addition to this characterisation of the artist Chopin, Moscheles' notes afford us also some glimpses of the man. "Chopin was lively, merry, nay, exceedingly comical in his imitations of Pixis, Liszt, and a hunchbacked pianoforte-player." Some days afterwards, when Moscheles saw him at his own house, he found him an altogether different Chopin:—
I called on him according to agreement with Ch. and E., who
are also quite enthusiastic about him, and who were
particularly struck with the "Prelude" in A flat major in 6/8
time with the ever-recurring pedal A flat. Only the Countess
O. [Obreskoff] from St. Petersburg, who adores us artists en
bloc, was there, and some gentlemen. Chopin's excellent pupil
Gutmann played his master's manuscript Scherzo in C sharp
minor. Chopin himself played his manuscript Sonata in B flat
minor with the Funeral March.
Gutmann relates that Chopin sent for him early in the morning of the day following that on which he paid the above-mentioned visit to George Sand, and said to him:—
Pardon me for disturbing you so early in the morning, but I
have just received a note from Moscheles, wherein he expresses
his joy at my return to Paris, and announces that he will
visit me at five in the afternoon to hear my new compositions.
Now I am unfortunately too weak to play my things to him; so
you must play. I am chiefly concerned about this Scherzo.
Gutmann, who did not yet know the work (Op. 39), thereupon sat down at Chopin's piano, and by dint of hard practising managed to play it at the appointed hour from memory, and to the satisfaction of the composer. Gutmann's account does not tally in several of its details with Moscheles'. As, however, Moscheles does not give us reminiscences, but sober, business-like notes taken down at the time they refer to, and without any attempt at making a nice story, he is the safer authority. Still, thus much at least we may assume to be certain:—Gutmann played the Scherzo, Op. 39, on this occasion, and his rendering of it was such as to induce his master to dedicate it to him.
Comte de Perthuis, the adjutant of King Louis Philippe, who had heard Chopin and Moscheles repeatedly play the latter's Sonata in E flat major for four hands, spoke so much and so enthusiastically about it at Court that the royal family, wishing "to have also the great treat," invited the two artists to come to St. Cloud. The day after this soiree Moscheles wrote in his diary:—
Yesterday was a memorable day... at nine o'clock Chopin and I,
with Perthuis and his amiable wife, who had called for us,
drove out to St. Cloud in the heaviest showers of rain, and
felt so much the more comfortable when we entered the
brilliant, well-lighted palace. We passed through many state-
rooms into a salon carre, where the royal family was assembled
en petit comite. At a round table sat the queen with an
elegant work-basket before her (perhaps to embroider a purse
for me?); near her were Madame Adelaide, the Duchess of
Orleans, and ladies-in-waiting. The noble ladies were as
affable as if we had been old acquaintances...Chopin played
first a number of nocturnes and studies, and was admired and
petted like a favourite. After I also had played some old and
new studies, and been honoured with the same applause, we
seated ourselves together at the instrument—he again playing
the bass, which he always insists on doing. The close
attention of the little circle during my E flat major Sonata
was interrupted only by the exclamations "divine!"
"delicious!" After the Andante the queen whispered to a lady-
in-waiting: "Would it not be indiscreet to ask them to play it
again?" which naturally was equivalent to a command to repeat
it, and so we played it again with increased abandon. In the
Finale we gave ourselves up to a musical delirium. Chopin's
enthusiasm throughout the whole piece must, I believe, have
infected the auditors, who now burst forth into eulogies of
us. Chopin played again alone with the same charm, and called
forth the same sympathy as before; then I improvised...
[FOOTNOTE: In the "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik" of November 12,
1839, we read that Chopin improvised on Grisar's "La Folle,"
Moscheles on themes by Mozart. La Folle is a romance the
success of which was so great that a wit called it une folie
de salon. It had for some years an extraordinary popularity,
and made the composer a reputation.]