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Vienna, the 11th of August, 1829.

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Vienna, the home of Hayden,
Beethoven, Schubert, and Mozart.

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Vienna, the home of opera,

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opera such as Mozart's famous Don Giovanni.

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On this summer's night in 1829,

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a teenager, shy and
sickly took to the stage

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to play a variation of Mozart's melody.

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Ladies and gentlemen, Frederic Chopin.

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In the countryside to the
west of Warsaw in this house,

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Frederic Chopin was born early in 1810.

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His French father, Nicolas,
came to Poland in 1787

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when he was 16.

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When revolution then swept France,

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Nicolas stayed, married,

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and taught French to aristocratic families.

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Now he had a son.

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This house was on the grounds
of the Skarbek family estate,

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to whom Chopin's mother
Justyna was related.

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But the year Frederic was born,

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Nicolas was offered a
position teaching French

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at a leading secondary school in Warsaw.

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Warsaw then was the
capital of a minor state

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on the fringes of Napoleon's empire.

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For decades, it had been
carved up by Russia,

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Austria, and Prussia.

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Now under Napoleon French
language and culture reigned.

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The Poles had thrown their
lot in with Napoleon,

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hoping for the reward
of an independent state.

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But Napoleon's downfall would see Poland

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swallowed up by the Russian Empire.

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Discontent was never far from the surface,

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yet at the same time,

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this was one of the great
cities of Eastern Europe.

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Warsaw was an artistically
sophisticated city.

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In 1817, Chopin's parents
moved with Frederic

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and his three sisters to an apartment

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in a wing of the school
where Nicolas taught.

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To supplement his income,

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Nicolas started a boarding
house for students.

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It was a very musical home.

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Chopin was born to music.

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His father himself said
that he had never had

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any trouble playing the piano.

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It's very hard to understand

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how one can be born with a
talent for playing the piano,

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which is an extremely unnatural activity,

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but he apparently was.

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His father said, "The problem
of technique at the piano

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"never detained you
for more than an hour."

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For me, when it comes to Frederic Chopin,

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one has to look at the very beginnings

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of his compositional career.

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He was completely natural pianist,

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he was a completely natural composer,

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even from a very young age.

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If you think back to his first composition,

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which was a polonaise, he
wasn't born an aristocrat,

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and a polonaise is an aristocratic dance.

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He captured it completely and idiomatically

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from the time he was seven.

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Already it's regal.

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I think when you look at
Chopin and you ask yourself

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where does something like this come from,

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perhaps the only answer could be

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that such a thing comes from God.

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As an eight-year-old,

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Chopin gave his first public performance

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at the Radziwillow Palace,
today's Presidential Palace.

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The young boy was soon in demand

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to play in fashionable
homes in and around Warsaw.

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Chopin's parents decided
that this precocious talent

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needed proper tuition.

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By this point, the Chopin family was living

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on the Krakowskie Przedmiescie,

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which is Warsaw's main street,

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and Father was teaching
French at the Warsaw Lyceum.

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Down the street was the
church, and on weekends,

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on Sunday, the family would to church,

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they would make friends, and of course,

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Father makes friends with other men there.

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His name was Wojciech Zywny,

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and Zywny was a music teacher.

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You know how it is, you
bring a music teacher home,

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he tells you, I have a son, he plays piano,

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he has an aptitude for the keyboard,

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he likes to compose, maybe
you can teach him something.

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Well, Chopin had described
Zywny in one of his letters,

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and I always imagined Zywny to
have this huge bulbous nose,

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to be rather hefty, to drink too much,

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Chopin described him as someone

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who didn't bathe all that often.

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I had in my imagination that
you touch Zywny like this

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and the dust would come out of his coat.

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But I saw a drawing of him,
and he wasn't like that at all.

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In fact, he was quite slim,

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and in the drawing at least
he was very well put together.

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And so Father brings him home

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and there they are about
to have music lessons.

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The only trouble was Zywny was a violinist,

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and thankfully this was
probably responsible

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for him staying out of Chopin's way

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so that Chopin could create his own way

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to play the pianoforte.

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Violin teacher or not,

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Zywny was certainly influential,

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not least in encouraging
Chopin to study in depth

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the works of the classical masters,

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above all, Bach and Mozart.

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Chopin owed a great debt to Bach.

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There's a lot of counterpoint,

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which you often don't
hear when pianists play

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because they're only
concerned with the right hand

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and it makes them sound thin

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and without the richness of the harmony,

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but there's a lot of counterpoint in Chopin

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and you feel his debt to Bach.

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There's something in the melodic line

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that comes directly out of Mozart.

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In fact, the principle of the rubato

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that is necessary for Chopin

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is in a certain way also
necessary for Mozart,

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a different kind of rubato
and a different style,

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but the fact that the right hand plays

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with a certain amount of freedom,

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but not so much so that it influences

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the regularity of the accompaniment.

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Chopin the piano pupil was exposed to music

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which had a continuous sound.

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The violin can of course
keep the sound going

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and it can even increase
the sound on any given note.

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The piano goes in the opposite direction.

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With the piano, it starts at its loudest

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and then inevitably diminishes,

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so these two instruments are
actually polar opposites,

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but in terms of Chopin's early exposure

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to the playing of melody, for instance,

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he imbibed this singing sense

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of a supple line full of
changes of tone and color

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that a violinist has
at his or her disposal,

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and so guided partly
by the example of Zywny

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and his violin,

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and partly by the music
which Zywny favored,

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Bach and Mozart,

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Chopin devised I would say
only semi-consciously perhaps

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an entirely new way of playing the piano,

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a concept of piano sound

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which had never been approached before.

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In 1825, the 15-year-old schoolboy

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took a piece he had written
to a local music publisher.

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It was accepted and printed as Opus 1.

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The rondo Opus 1 in C minor,

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this one for me, this shows a really young

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and energetic, versatile musician

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that really explores different ideas

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that come up to his
mind while just playing.

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He was 15, 16 when he composed this piece.

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Dear friend, I am well and jolly.

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I can now ride,

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though the horse goes
slowly wherever he prefers

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while I sit fearfully on his
back like a monkey on a bear.

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Flies often land on my lofty
nose, but that's unimportant.

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Dear friend, I am sorry
if you've been wondering

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about my long silence,

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but do remember how many
hundreds of pieces of music

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all in disorder on the
piano, like peas and cabbage,

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lie in wait for me.

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The Barber of Seville was played
on Saturday in the theater.

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I liked it very much.

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Also a certain Mr. Rembielinski
had come from Paris

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and plays the piano as I have
never yet heard it played.

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You can imagine what a joy that is for us.

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We never hear anything
of real excellence here.

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His left hand is as strong as his right,

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which is an unusual thing
to find in one person.

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Dear friend, I am appointed
organist for the school church,

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so you see my future
wife and all my children

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will have double cause to respect me,

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after the priest, the most
important person there.

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Every Sunday I play organ.

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Yet always in the background

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were weaknesses in his health,
above all tuberculosis.

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Dear friend, everyone's fallen ill,

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and I too.

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You may have thought
that all this scribbling

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is being done at a table, but you're wrong.

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It's from under my quilt
and comes out of a head

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that's been aching for the last four days.

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They have put leeches on my throat

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because the glands have swelled.

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Chopin had outgrown Zywny

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and had been receiving
occasional instruction

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from Jozef Elsner,

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composer and principal conductor
at the National Theater.

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At 16, Chopin became a full-time student

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at his music conservatory

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based at the University of Warsaw.

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People tend to think that
Warsaw was a modest place

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because we remember the ruins
after the Second World War.

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Actually, in the lifetime of Chopin,

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it was a really beautiful place.

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Chopin grew up among scholars.

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He grew up among books.

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The university library was filled

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with some 130,000 books.

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This was place filled
with culture, with music.

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Because of the Napoleonic Period,

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many musicians came to Warsaw,

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so Chopin was born in best possible period

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in the Polish history of the 19th century.

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It had theaters, opera
houses, opera companies,

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orchestras, famous musicians
came and played in Warsaw.

212
00:16:03,007 --> 00:16:05,573
Chopin heard Paganini in Warsaw.

213
00:16:05,583 --> 00:16:10,253
Chopin was exposed to enormous
amounts of opera in Warsaw.

214
00:16:10,263 --> 00:16:15,103
Bach and Mozart were played,
they were certainly taught.

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Beethoven was well-known,

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00:16:16,687 --> 00:16:20,010
though not as well-known
as in Vienna, obviously,

217
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but certainly the idea that Chopin grew up

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in a kind of provincial, deprived community

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is absolute nonsense.

220
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It was an immensely sophisticated city.

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2nd of November, 1826.

222
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Dear friend, the doctors are telling me

223
00:16:40,355 --> 00:16:42,731
to walk as much as possible.

224
00:16:42,741 --> 00:16:45,295
Meanwhile I go to Elsner
for strict counterpoint

225
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six hours a week.

226
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I go to bed at 9 p.m.

227
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All teas, soirees, and balls are off.

228
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I live off oatmeal like a horse.

229
00:16:55,111 --> 00:16:58,653
Maybe Paris would be better for me.

230
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Tuberculosis took its toll in 1827,

231
00:17:03,181 --> 00:17:07,348
but it claimed Chopin's adored
14-year-old sister Emilia.

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Emilia was the house poet,

233
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and he said that she was
masterful at writing little plays,

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and they would perform them,

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and then he would accompany and direct,

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and I can only imagine what it was like

237
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when she fell ill and he suddenly lost her,

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his friend, his sister, the
younger sister, no less,

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and the miraculous talent,
everybody thought, in the house.

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And I think the only time

241
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that I have felt so deeply for Chopin,

242
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more than I feel on a daily basis

243
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when I encounter his music,

244
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and I do every day at the piano,

245
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was when I visited
Powazki Cemetery in Warsaw

246
00:17:43,622 --> 00:17:46,372
and came upon his sister's grave.

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To stand there and
imagine the kind of pain,

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I somehow thought I understood

249
00:17:55,841 --> 00:17:57,433
what that must have been like.

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I wondered where did it lead in his music

251
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and what would have come out of that pain.

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The family couldn't bear to live

253
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where Emilia had died.

254
00:18:20,444 --> 00:18:23,143
They moved to a large third floor apartment

255
00:18:23,153 --> 00:18:25,820
in this central Warsaw building.

256
00:18:29,747 --> 00:18:33,824
Here Chopin continued to study and compose.

257
00:20:07,377 --> 00:20:10,516
Chopin's teacher was impressed.

258
00:20:10,526 --> 00:20:14,197
Elsner thought his student
had amazing capabilities

259
00:20:14,207 --> 00:20:16,874
and was simply a musical genius.

260
00:20:18,925 --> 00:20:23,665
In July, 1829, Chopin left
the Warsaw Conservatory,

261
00:20:23,675 --> 00:20:25,972
and like any teenage school-leaver,

262
00:20:25,982 --> 00:20:28,065
wondered what to do next.

263
00:20:30,176 --> 00:20:34,343
Where else to go but the heart
of popular music, Vienna?

264
00:20:39,767 --> 00:20:43,902
After a pilgrimage to Mozart's
birthplace in Salzburg,

265
00:20:43,912 --> 00:20:47,662
Chopin arrived in Vienna
on the 31st of July.

266
00:20:48,749 --> 00:20:51,832
11 days later he performed in public.

267
00:21:09,426 --> 00:21:11,023
Haslinger, my publisher,

268
00:21:11,033 --> 00:21:13,101
told me it would be
better for my compositions

269
00:21:13,111 --> 00:21:15,612
if I gave concerts in Vienna,

270
00:21:15,622 --> 00:21:17,215
that no one knows my name,

271
00:21:17,225 --> 00:21:19,536
that the compositions are difficult.

272
00:21:19,546 --> 00:21:22,261
I felt I was not ready
to do myself justice,

273
00:21:22,271 --> 00:21:25,487
but they hammered at me till I consented,

274
00:21:25,497 --> 00:21:28,664
and the posters were out the next day.

275
00:21:30,863 --> 00:21:35,031
When we hear this, we
realize it is so varying.

276
00:21:35,041 --> 00:21:38,924
It is a very early piece,
very fresh, very spontaneous,

277
00:21:38,934 --> 00:21:43,017
but a lot of Chopin
qualities that we are used to

278
00:21:45,563 --> 00:21:49,730
notice in later works are
already present in this.

279
00:21:54,988 --> 00:21:58,499
The concert of the 11th of August, 1829,

280
00:21:58,509 --> 00:22:00,176
was a great success.

281
00:22:01,248 --> 00:22:03,116
I played out of desperation,

282
00:22:03,126 --> 00:22:05,353
but the variations produced such an effect

283
00:22:05,363 --> 00:22:07,868
that I was obliged to return to the stage.

284
00:22:07,878 --> 00:22:10,457
The Viennese papers
praised me enthusiastically

285
00:22:10,467 --> 00:22:13,626
and I played a second
concert as they begged me to.

286
00:22:13,636 --> 00:22:16,402
That second time I played
the Krakowiak Rondo.

287
00:22:16,412 --> 00:22:18,662
It too was a great success.

288
00:22:21,674 --> 00:22:24,225
About the second concert,
one newspaper wrote,

289
00:22:24,235 --> 00:22:27,062
"This is a young man who goes his own road

290
00:22:27,072 --> 00:22:28,699
"on which he knows how to please

291
00:22:28,709 --> 00:22:31,282
"and which differs from all others.

292
00:22:31,292 --> 00:22:34,625
"Mr. Chopin gives universal satisfaction."

293
00:23:56,376 --> 00:23:59,128
Chopin returned briefly to Poland,

294
00:23:59,138 --> 00:24:01,031
but the 19-year-old already knew

295
00:24:01,041 --> 00:24:03,291
that his future lay abroad.

296
00:24:05,281 --> 00:24:06,566
Dear friend,

297
00:24:06,576 --> 00:24:09,616
I'm sure you will see that
I must go back to Vienna,

298
00:24:09,626 --> 00:24:13,415
not for Miss Blahetka, who is
young, pretty, and a pianist.

299
00:24:13,425 --> 00:24:16,803
Actually I have my eyes
on another of whom I dream

300
00:24:16,813 --> 00:24:19,105
and have served faithfully,
though silently,

301
00:24:19,115 --> 00:24:20,922
for half a year.

302
00:24:20,932 --> 00:24:24,663
Anyway, I shall go from
Vienna to Italy to study,

303
00:24:24,673 --> 00:24:28,006
and next winter I expect to be in Paris.

304
00:24:29,415 --> 00:24:31,915
Warsaw, 20th of October, 1829.

305
00:24:32,984 --> 00:24:35,844
Kessler gives little
musical evenings on Fridays.

306
00:24:35,854 --> 00:24:39,626
Last Friday week we had
Beethoven's last quartet.

307
00:24:39,636 --> 00:24:43,795
I haven't heard anything
so great for a long time.

308
00:24:43,805 --> 00:24:47,087
Beethoven snaps his
fingers at the whole world.

309
00:24:58,362 --> 00:25:01,534
You can't think how much I
feel something is missing

310
00:25:01,544 --> 00:25:02,711
in Warsaw now.

311
00:25:14,900 --> 00:25:19,083
Chopin needed a broader portfolio.

312
00:25:19,093 --> 00:25:22,343
In 1830, he completed a piano concerto.

313
00:28:41,260 --> 00:28:43,585
He has a sense for this melancholy,

314
00:28:43,595 --> 00:28:46,762
for this drama, for pain in his music.

315
00:28:47,914 --> 00:28:49,876
Apparently over a lot of his pieces

316
00:28:49,886 --> 00:28:53,074
he wrote the Polish word,

317
00:28:53,084 --> 00:28:57,251
which I am told means something
like regret, like pain,

318
00:28:59,380 --> 00:29:02,539
and to find this
expression is the key thing

319
00:29:02,549 --> 00:29:04,233
for the performer really,

320
00:29:04,243 --> 00:29:07,660
but a personality either has this ability

321
00:29:09,253 --> 00:29:12,086
to sense these deep human emotions

322
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:16,555
or they don't,

323
00:29:16,565 --> 00:29:20,732
and it's a mixture of their
personal relationships,

324
00:29:21,580 --> 00:29:23,845
of their surrounding also,

325
00:29:23,855 --> 00:29:25,958
maybe the political circumstance

326
00:29:25,968 --> 00:29:29,051
of their home country, their culture,

327
00:29:30,061 --> 00:29:31,478
and their talent.

328
00:29:46,066 --> 00:29:49,388
Warsaw, 27th of March, 1830.

329
00:29:49,398 --> 00:29:51,241
The hall was full.

330
00:29:51,251 --> 00:29:53,319
Both boxes and stalls had been sold out

331
00:29:53,329 --> 00:29:55,792
three days in advance.

332
00:29:55,802 --> 00:29:57,709
I can't endure the misery

333
00:29:57,719 --> 00:30:00,249
of those last days before a concert.

334
00:30:00,259 --> 00:30:03,298
Elsner complained he couldn't
hear my bass passages.

335
00:30:03,308 --> 00:30:06,782
The orchestra complained
that I played too quietly.

336
00:30:06,792 --> 00:30:08,983
The concerts didn't earn me much.

337
00:30:08,993 --> 00:30:10,889
All the money went to
the theater's cashier,

338
00:30:10,899 --> 00:30:13,154
and he does as he likes.

339
00:30:13,164 --> 00:30:14,612
The official bulletin declared

340
00:30:14,622 --> 00:30:16,596
that the Poles should be as proud of me

341
00:30:16,606 --> 00:30:19,333
as the Germans are of Mozart.

342
00:30:19,343 --> 00:30:20,760
Obvious nonsense.

343
00:31:11,095 --> 00:31:14,556
Composers have developed
at very different times.

344
00:31:14,566 --> 00:31:18,083
Some composers are really
fully developed in their teens,

345
00:31:18,093 --> 00:31:19,640
like Mendelssohn,

346
00:31:19,650 --> 00:31:22,150
and others take a longer time.

347
00:31:24,401 --> 00:31:26,781
But Chopin when he is 19 or 20

348
00:31:26,791 --> 00:31:28,807
is at the full height of his creativity.

349
00:31:28,817 --> 00:31:30,451
We see that in his piano concertos

350
00:31:30,461 --> 00:31:34,716
or in such a simple piece
like this, Nocturne,

351
00:31:34,726 --> 00:31:38,967
which quotes a lot from
the second piano concerto.

352
00:31:38,977 --> 00:31:40,437
We don't know which came first,

353
00:31:40,447 --> 00:31:42,106
the nocturne or the piano concerto,

354
00:31:42,116 --> 00:31:46,113
but they in any case refer to each other.

355
00:31:46,123 --> 00:31:50,030
The expression is so clear and so round

356
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:51,290
and so intense.

357
00:31:55,105 --> 00:31:59,359
The nocturne starts with a simple cadence.

358
00:32:07,217 --> 00:32:08,467
Being repeated.

359
00:32:17,577 --> 00:32:20,655
And then we've got this simple tune

360
00:32:20,665 --> 00:32:23,415
over a very simple accompaniment.

361
00:32:56,207 --> 00:32:57,576
And that's basically it,

362
00:32:57,586 --> 00:33:02,067
and then the tune, it's
getting more elaborated,

363
00:33:02,077 --> 00:33:04,984
there's this three-way part in the middle.

364
00:33:04,994 --> 00:33:05,994
It returns,

365
00:33:08,542 --> 00:33:10,833
makes quite a heartbreaking turn

366
00:33:10,843 --> 00:33:14,178
in terms of the melodic development,

367
00:33:14,188 --> 00:33:16,771
and then ends in C-sharp major,

368
00:33:19,795 --> 00:33:22,795
which is really a heartbreaking turn

369
00:33:23,804 --> 00:33:26,244
after this slightly,

370
00:33:26,254 --> 00:33:29,421
C-sharp minor is a quite icy tonality,

371
00:33:31,748 --> 00:33:33,210
and I really feel sometimes

372
00:33:33,220 --> 00:33:35,887
that your heart is being frozen.

373
00:33:38,032 --> 00:33:41,699
There's sadness, very
touching, very moving,

374
00:33:43,134 --> 00:33:46,384
but altogether the sense of melancholy.

375
00:33:47,948 --> 00:33:50,674
Here it still seems like
it's all going to end

376
00:33:50,684 --> 00:33:54,101
without much hope, and then he does this.

377
00:34:09,298 --> 00:34:13,328
And what if this is an
outlook into a better world

378
00:34:13,338 --> 00:34:14,421
or some hope?

379
00:34:31,542 --> 00:34:33,535
In October, 1830,

380
00:34:33,545 --> 00:34:37,045
Chopin performed his other piano concerto.

381
00:34:54,615 --> 00:34:57,109
The E minor concerto is, yes,

382
00:34:57,119 --> 00:34:58,631
it is very difficult to play.

383
00:34:58,641 --> 00:35:01,753
In its own way it has its own challenges.

384
00:35:01,763 --> 00:35:03,705
Technically it is very difficult

385
00:35:03,715 --> 00:35:06,854
to manage all that fingerwork.

386
00:35:06,864 --> 00:35:09,713
The passagework is not so natural.

387
00:35:09,723 --> 00:35:11,342
I think Chopin's hand must have been

388
00:35:11,352 --> 00:35:13,859
really quite extraordinary,

389
00:35:13,869 --> 00:35:16,013
and in some ways the F minor concerto's

390
00:35:16,023 --> 00:35:19,141
even more awkward in some of its placement,

391
00:35:19,151 --> 00:35:22,288
although it does suit
these old instruments.

392
00:35:22,298 --> 00:35:26,184
The notes seem to just glide more easily

393
00:35:26,194 --> 00:35:27,438
when you're playing on an instrument

394
00:35:27,448 --> 00:35:29,404
that has a lighter touch

395
00:35:29,414 --> 00:35:32,497
and more shallow depth on the action.

396
00:35:38,848 --> 00:35:40,917
I think the greatest
challenge in the concerto

397
00:35:40,927 --> 00:35:44,460
is to be able to find
that beautiful balance

398
00:35:44,470 --> 00:35:48,789
of lyricism and virtuosity
at the same time,

399
00:35:48,799 --> 00:35:51,005
and this kind of subtle,

400
00:35:51,015 --> 00:35:53,407
it has a rather classical base,

401
00:35:53,417 --> 00:35:56,750
but at the same it just breathes Poland,

402
00:35:57,771 --> 00:36:00,104
and that's a real challenge.

403
00:36:10,510 --> 00:36:13,270
The challenge isn't to play Chopin or not,

404
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,468
so much the technical
challenge is in the idea,

405
00:36:16,478 --> 00:36:19,042
in the rubato for instance,

406
00:36:19,052 --> 00:36:21,385
in the quality of the sound,

407
00:36:22,823 --> 00:36:27,588
and in that spontaneous
improvisational quality.

408
00:36:27,598 --> 00:36:29,500
For me that's the most difficult,

409
00:36:29,510 --> 00:36:32,568
to play the music as if
it's not been studied,

410
00:36:32,578 --> 00:36:35,244
as if it's your own piece of music

411
00:36:35,254 --> 00:36:37,604
that you've just written at that moment

412
00:36:37,614 --> 00:36:41,724
and it's just coming out of
your heart at that moment.

413
00:36:41,734 --> 00:36:43,567
That's very difficult.

414
00:37:13,207 --> 00:37:15,723
As pianists we might be tempted

415
00:37:15,733 --> 00:37:19,566
to go at it with full
force on a modern piano,

416
00:37:20,658 --> 00:37:22,185
often with a marking fortissimo

417
00:37:22,195 --> 00:37:24,166
that would sound something like this maybe.

418
00:37:31,438 --> 00:37:33,630
But I really firmly believe

419
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:38,227
that often from what we know
how Chopin played the piano

420
00:37:38,237 --> 00:37:42,319
that it was never very
harsh or in your face

421
00:37:42,329 --> 00:37:44,746
but quite noble in the sound,

422
00:37:47,497 --> 00:37:51,710
that this has more inner drama and tragedy,

423
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:55,165
and for me it would more sound like this.

424
00:38:02,468 --> 00:38:05,135
So much more inwardly turbulent.

425
00:38:16,670 --> 00:38:19,917
Chopin's debt to opera was enormous.

426
00:38:19,927 --> 00:38:22,444
He encountered it not
only in the performances

427
00:38:22,454 --> 00:38:24,204
and scores of Mozart,

428
00:38:25,168 --> 00:38:29,684
but he heard a great deal of
opera growing up in Warsaw.

429
00:38:29,694 --> 00:38:33,861
Chopin actually was luckier
than his operatic colleagues

430
00:38:35,405 --> 00:38:38,602
in that the piano doesn't run out of breath

431
00:38:38,612 --> 00:38:42,779
and he could sustain his lines
even longer than a singer.

432
00:38:43,799 --> 00:38:46,971
But nevertheless, he conceived those lines

433
00:38:46,981 --> 00:38:48,814
in terms of the voice,

434
00:38:49,787 --> 00:38:52,029
and even though the piano
doesn't have to breathe

435
00:38:52,039 --> 00:38:54,490
and he could spin these
things out over a long time

436
00:38:54,500 --> 00:38:56,763
but the singer couldn't,

437
00:38:56,773 --> 00:38:59,200
they are still modeled

438
00:38:59,210 --> 00:39:02,377
on the physicality of operatic melody,

439
00:39:03,776 --> 00:39:06,563
and therefore he allows his lines,

440
00:39:06,573 --> 00:39:09,906
which don't have to breathe, to breathe.

441
00:39:24,569 --> 00:39:27,720
By 1830, Chopin had revealed

442
00:39:27,730 --> 00:39:29,811
he had fallen in love.

443
00:39:29,821 --> 00:39:33,638
Konstancja Gladkowska
was a talented soprano

444
00:39:33,648 --> 00:39:37,233
also studying at the music conservatory.

445
00:39:37,243 --> 00:39:40,729
Some believe she inspired
the slow romantic movements

446
00:39:40,739 --> 00:39:42,454
of both concertos.

447
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,572
He realized he was a great virtuoso.

448
00:40:00,582 --> 00:40:03,085
In his writings he seemed to indicate

449
00:40:03,095 --> 00:40:06,928
that he certainly knew
what he was capable of,

450
00:40:07,787 --> 00:40:09,363
and at the same time I think

451
00:40:09,373 --> 00:40:11,602
he was rather naive in some ways.

452
00:40:11,612 --> 00:40:14,596
There is a kind of naivety that
comes through in his music,

453
00:40:14,606 --> 00:40:17,705
and he was also experiencing a wonderful

454
00:40:17,715 --> 00:40:20,729
kind of puppy love affair
with Konstancja Gladkowska

455
00:40:20,739 --> 00:40:23,618
that certainly is very clear in the romance

456
00:40:23,628 --> 00:40:25,545
in the second movement.

457
00:40:39,610 --> 00:40:41,865
You can't possibly
compose something like this

458
00:40:41,875 --> 00:40:43,708
if you're not in love.

459
00:40:46,837 --> 00:40:49,170
Or even something like this.

460
00:41:06,706 --> 00:41:11,362
You see, Chopin, I think
he could fall in love

461
00:41:11,372 --> 00:41:14,806
with Polish women at the drop of a hat,

462
00:41:14,816 --> 00:41:16,620
and as it turns out,

463
00:41:16,630 --> 00:41:18,339
these Polish women that
he fell in love with,

464
00:41:18,349 --> 00:41:19,980
they didn't quite want him.

465
00:41:19,990 --> 00:41:21,898
You know, he was diminutive, he was small,

466
00:41:21,908 --> 00:41:23,239
he was a little bit sickly.

467
00:41:23,249 --> 00:41:24,508
We have this idea that he was

468
00:41:24,518 --> 00:41:28,016
this wonderful, incredible romantic figure,

469
00:41:28,026 --> 00:41:30,778
but the truth is the hunk
of the lot was Franz Liszt.

470
00:41:30,788 --> 00:41:32,443
The women were chasing him all the time,

471
00:41:32,453 --> 00:41:34,125
and Chopin wasn't showy that way,

472
00:41:34,135 --> 00:41:35,805
and besides the fact, you know,

473
00:41:35,815 --> 00:41:38,096
these were women whose
parents were involved

474
00:41:38,106 --> 00:41:39,584
in every aspect of their lives,

475
00:41:39,594 --> 00:41:41,274
and they didn't want them to be involved

476
00:41:41,284 --> 00:41:44,161
with this sickly young boy

477
00:41:44,171 --> 00:41:47,074
who you wouldn't know
what would happen to him

478
00:41:47,084 --> 00:41:48,887
in the upcoming years,

479
00:41:48,897 --> 00:41:53,091
and I think Chopin turned
that kind of torture

480
00:41:53,101 --> 00:41:56,355
into writing these absolutely perfect

481
00:41:56,365 --> 00:41:57,806
beautiful pieces of music

482
00:41:57,816 --> 00:42:00,256
that really sing to the soul.

483
00:43:11,300 --> 00:43:14,484
Those concertos were great successes,

484
00:43:14,494 --> 00:43:18,875
but the love he felt for
Konstancja was not returned.

485
00:43:18,885 --> 00:43:21,672
It was time to leave Warsaw.

486
00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:39,706
On November 2nd, 1830, Chopin
headed south towards Austria,

487
00:43:39,716 --> 00:43:43,883
planning then to spend the
winter studying in Italy.

488
00:43:47,843 --> 00:43:51,689
Dresden, 14th of November, 1830.

489
00:43:51,699 --> 00:43:54,886
Dear family, I have been
asked to appear in public,

490
00:43:54,896 --> 00:43:56,280
but I am deaf to it.

491
00:43:56,290 --> 00:43:57,781
I have no time to lose,

492
00:43:57,791 --> 00:44:00,607
and Dresden will give me
neither fame nor money.

493
00:44:00,617 --> 00:44:04,636
Yesterday I was at the Italian
opera, Rossini's Tancredi,

494
00:44:04,646 --> 00:44:06,004
but it was badly done,

495
00:44:06,014 --> 00:44:08,679
and also in church at a high mass today.

496
00:44:08,689 --> 00:44:10,071
I liked the voices,

497
00:44:10,081 --> 00:44:12,972
but the composition was nothing much.

498
00:44:12,982 --> 00:44:14,763
Except the art galleries,

499
00:44:14,773 --> 00:44:18,522
I have not looked at anything in Dresden.

500
00:44:18,532 --> 00:44:21,881
Prague, 21st of November, 1830.

501
00:44:21,891 --> 00:44:23,422
I met the Saxon princesses,

502
00:44:23,432 --> 00:44:25,525
the daughters of the former king.

503
00:44:25,535 --> 00:44:27,342
I played in their presence.

504
00:44:27,352 --> 00:44:30,439
They promised me letters
of introduction to Italy.

505
00:44:30,449 --> 00:44:32,914
Klengel gave me a letter for Vienna.

506
00:44:32,924 --> 00:44:36,960
He drank my health in champagne
at Mrs. Niesolowska's.

507
00:44:36,970 --> 00:44:39,887
She insisted on calling me Chopski.

508
00:44:55,345 --> 00:44:57,428
Vienna, 22nd of November.

509
00:44:58,652 --> 00:45:01,977
How glad I am to be here, that I am making

510
00:45:01,987 --> 00:45:05,510
so many interesting and
useful acquaintances,

511
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:08,520
that I may be going to fall in love.

512
00:45:13,163 --> 00:45:15,394
Vienna, 1st of December.

513
00:45:15,404 --> 00:45:16,959
The local papers have written a lot

514
00:45:16,969 --> 00:45:19,362
about my F-minor concerto,

515
00:45:19,372 --> 00:45:20,828
what exactly I don't know

516
00:45:20,838 --> 00:45:23,963
and have no curiosity to find out.

517
00:45:23,973 --> 00:45:28,614
I will give a concert, but
when, where, what I don't know.

518
00:45:28,624 --> 00:45:30,542
There are so many good pianists here

519
00:45:30,552 --> 00:45:34,347
that one needs a great
reputation to gain anything.

520
00:45:34,357 --> 00:45:38,524
During this week I have heard
three entirely new operas.

521
00:45:40,043 --> 00:45:42,376
Vienna, Christmas Day, 1830.

522
00:45:43,253 --> 00:45:45,567
Yesterday it was Christmas Eve.

523
00:45:45,577 --> 00:45:48,992
At midnight I went by
myself to St. Stephen's.

524
00:45:49,002 --> 00:45:52,148
When I entered there was no one there.

525
00:45:52,158 --> 00:45:53,915
I can't describe the greatness,

526
00:45:53,925 --> 00:45:57,069
the magnificence of those huge arches.

527
00:45:57,079 --> 00:46:00,962
It was quiet, a mournful
harmony all around.

528
00:46:00,972 --> 00:46:04,878
I never felt my loneliness so clearly.

529
00:46:04,888 --> 00:46:07,255
Let me describe to you my life here.

530
00:46:07,265 --> 00:46:10,713
I am on the fourth floor, it's
true it's in the best street.

531
00:46:10,723 --> 00:46:13,202
My room is big and comfortable.

532
00:46:13,212 --> 00:46:17,084
In the morning I am woken by
an insufferably stupid servant.

533
00:46:17,094 --> 00:46:19,435
I get up, they bring me coffee, I play,

534
00:46:19,445 --> 00:46:20,866
then have a cold breakfast.

535
00:46:20,876 --> 00:46:22,831
About nine comes my German tutor.

536
00:46:22,841 --> 00:46:24,608
After that I play again.

537
00:46:24,618 --> 00:46:26,948
All this in a dressing gown till 12.

538
00:46:26,958 --> 00:46:30,423
Then a walk, lunch, black
coffee in the best cafe house.

539
00:46:30,433 --> 00:46:32,683
I pay visits, return home at dusk,

540
00:46:32,693 --> 00:46:35,755
curl my hair, change my shoes,
and go out for the evening.

541
00:46:35,765 --> 00:46:39,932
About 10, 11, or sometimes
12, never later, I come back,

542
00:46:41,013 --> 00:46:43,513
play, weep, read, look, laugh,

543
00:46:44,695 --> 00:46:48,862
go to bed, put the light out,
and always dream of home.

544
00:47:05,793 --> 00:47:09,057
Chopin hadn't
planned to leave Poland forever,

545
00:47:09,067 --> 00:47:10,955
but at the end of 1830,

546
00:47:10,965 --> 00:47:13,581
news reached of him of
the November Uprising

547
00:47:13,591 --> 00:47:15,698
against Russian rule.

548
00:47:15,708 --> 00:47:18,021
Chopin was persuaded that he physically

549
00:47:18,031 --> 00:47:20,038
could be of no help in Warsaw,

550
00:47:20,048 --> 00:47:23,048
and, frustrated, remained in Vienna.

551
00:47:24,899 --> 00:47:28,399
Chopin had in him a tremendous violence,

552
00:47:31,344 --> 00:47:32,927
a tremendous anger.

553
00:47:33,917 --> 00:47:35,898
When he was marooned

554
00:47:35,908 --> 00:47:38,624
and he heard of the
Russian crushing of Warsaw

555
00:47:38,634 --> 00:47:40,582
and realized that he couldn't go back,

556
00:47:40,592 --> 00:47:44,425
he was driven almost to
the point of insanity.

557
00:47:45,874 --> 00:47:48,113
He didn't often scream in music,

558
00:47:48,123 --> 00:47:50,748
but when he did, my god, he did,

559
00:47:50,758 --> 00:47:55,663
and one of the works written
in the shadow of that invasion

560
00:47:55,673 --> 00:48:00,017
and his awareness of his
own exile at the age of 20

561
00:48:00,027 --> 00:48:02,240
is the B-minor scherzo.

562
00:48:06,506 --> 00:48:10,713
The very opening two chords
of that work are a scream.

563
00:48:10,723 --> 00:48:13,451
I don't think they should
be played beautifully.

564
00:48:13,461 --> 00:48:15,711
I think they should scream.

565
00:48:22,050 --> 00:48:26,482
This is a savage work and
it's an anguished work.

566
00:48:26,492 --> 00:48:30,659
I think here you find Chopin
unbuttoned, despairing.

567
00:48:33,005 --> 00:48:37,363
Though there are moments
of enormous tenderness,

568
00:48:37,373 --> 00:48:42,138
they are tinged with an
almost unbearable nostalgia

569
00:48:42,148 --> 00:48:43,731
for what he's lost.

570
00:49:19,051 --> 00:49:22,464
Chopin decided he'd had enough of Vienna.

571
00:49:22,474 --> 00:49:25,946
The place to establish his
credentials as a composer

572
00:49:25,956 --> 00:49:26,956
was Paris.

573
00:49:29,801 --> 00:49:33,301
In September, 1831, Chopin first set sight

574
00:49:34,290 --> 00:49:38,807
on the city that would be
home for the rest of his life.

575
00:49:38,817 --> 00:49:41,560
Paris was well-known
as the cultural capital

576
00:49:41,570 --> 00:49:43,123
of the whole of Europe,

577
00:49:43,133 --> 00:49:45,814
and as such it was the place

578
00:49:45,824 --> 00:49:49,991
that most composers,
particularly operatic composers,

579
00:49:51,021 --> 00:49:54,782
and many performers felt they
needed to make a success.

580
00:49:54,792 --> 00:49:57,082
Chopin arrived there in 1831

581
00:49:57,092 --> 00:49:59,771
and very quickly you
can see from his letters

582
00:49:59,781 --> 00:50:03,592
how excited he is by some
of the musical culture.

583
00:50:03,602 --> 00:50:05,515
I arrived here fairly comfortably,

584
00:50:05,525 --> 00:50:09,607
though expensively, and I'm
glad that I am remaining here.

585
00:50:09,617 --> 00:50:12,357
Here one has the best
musicians in the world

586
00:50:12,367 --> 00:50:14,606
and the best opera in the world,

587
00:50:14,616 --> 00:50:18,885
and I am gradually launching
myself in this world.

588
00:50:18,895 --> 00:50:22,769
There is the utmost luxury,
the utmost swinishness,

589
00:50:22,779 --> 00:50:25,828
the utmost virtue, the utmost ostentation,

590
00:50:25,838 --> 00:50:28,826
at every step warnings of venereal disease,

591
00:50:28,836 --> 00:50:31,066
shouting, racket, and bustle,

592
00:50:31,076 --> 00:50:33,925
and more mud than it
is possible to imagine.

593
00:50:33,935 --> 00:50:36,602
One can perish in this paradise.

594
00:50:37,470 --> 00:50:41,787
I am on the fifth floor at
Boulevard Poissoniere, number 27.

595
00:50:41,797 --> 00:50:45,493
You wouldn't believe what
a delightful lodging.

596
00:50:45,503 --> 00:50:48,979
I have a little room beautifully
furnished with mahogany

597
00:50:48,989 --> 00:50:50,968
and a balcony over the boulevard

598
00:50:50,978 --> 00:50:54,709
from which I can see from
Montmartre to the Pantheon.

599
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:58,469
Many persons envy me my
view, none my stairs.

600
00:51:01,250 --> 00:51:03,750
Paris, 14th of December, 1831.

601
00:51:04,784 --> 00:51:07,899
Dear Mr. Elsner, I must
think of clearing a path

602
00:51:07,909 --> 00:51:10,370
for myself in the world as a pianist.

603
00:51:10,380 --> 00:51:13,331
To be a great composer one
must have enormous knowledge

604
00:51:13,341 --> 00:51:15,222
which, as you have taught me,

605
00:51:15,232 --> 00:51:17,561
demands not only listening
to the work of others

606
00:51:17,571 --> 00:51:20,435
but still more listening to one's own.

607
00:51:20,445 --> 00:51:22,349
Over a dozen able young men,

608
00:51:22,359 --> 00:51:24,166
pupils of a Paris conservatoire,

609
00:51:24,176 --> 00:51:26,739
are waiting with folded
hands for the performance

610
00:51:26,749 --> 00:51:30,187
of their operas, symphonies, and cantatas.

611
00:51:30,197 --> 00:51:32,002
There is an amazing collection here

612
00:51:32,012 --> 00:51:36,671
of interesting musical
folk of every description.

613
00:51:36,681 --> 00:51:38,676
The period of the 1830s and '40s

614
00:51:38,686 --> 00:51:40,574
when Chopin was in Paris is in a way

615
00:51:40,584 --> 00:51:43,323
a time of relative stability.

616
00:51:43,333 --> 00:51:45,748
In terms of the aristocracy though,

617
00:51:45,758 --> 00:51:48,672
the old aristocracy are generally living

618
00:51:48,682 --> 00:51:51,907
on the Left Bank in
villas in Saint Germain.

619
00:51:51,917 --> 00:51:54,640
They have become more or less irrelevant,

620
00:51:54,650 --> 00:51:56,405
are sort of fading from the scene,

621
00:51:56,415 --> 00:51:59,426
but there's a new aristocracy
who are incredibly important

622
00:51:59,436 --> 00:52:01,192
to the success of the new regime.

623
00:52:01,202 --> 00:52:03,318
They're based largely on the Right Bank,

624
00:52:03,328 --> 00:52:05,338
which is also where the opera house was,

625
00:52:05,348 --> 00:52:06,950
it's where the Italian theater was,

626
00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:09,427
it's where Chopin had his own apartments,

627
00:52:09,437 --> 00:52:12,786
and that new aristocracy is an aristocracy

628
00:52:12,796 --> 00:52:16,283
based partly on title but partly on wealth,

629
00:52:16,293 --> 00:52:17,808
and some of those people,

630
00:52:17,818 --> 00:52:21,466
these are the aristocrats
familiar from Balzac's novels.

631
00:52:21,476 --> 00:52:23,671
They've made their money in
all sorts of different ways

632
00:52:23,681 --> 00:52:24,923
in the 18th century

633
00:52:24,933 --> 00:52:27,301
and are now happy to spend it,

634
00:52:27,311 --> 00:52:32,114
and one of the best ways to
signal your cultural class

635
00:52:32,124 --> 00:52:36,291
is to pay attention to the
arts and particularly to music.

636
00:52:37,907 --> 00:52:39,828
Despite his love of opera,

637
00:52:39,838 --> 00:52:41,989
his appreciation of quartets,

638
00:52:41,999 --> 00:52:46,370
his prowess with concertos,
his awe of symphonies,

639
00:52:46,380 --> 00:52:48,794
Chopin decided to write sonatas

640
00:52:48,804 --> 00:52:53,275
for just one instrument
and just one performer.

641
00:52:53,285 --> 00:52:57,452
Chopin was the most uniquely
pianistic of all composers,

642
00:52:59,410 --> 00:53:03,351
even though he never had a piano teacher.

643
00:53:03,361 --> 00:53:05,775
He thought in terms of the piano,

644
00:53:05,785 --> 00:53:07,842
he felt in terms of the piano,

645
00:53:07,852 --> 00:53:11,797
his aesthetic world was
conceived in terms of the piano.

646
00:53:11,807 --> 00:53:14,887
He was basically indifferent
to the orchestra.

647
00:53:14,897 --> 00:53:16,876
It's not that he didn't have the capacity

648
00:53:16,886 --> 00:53:18,495
to write well for it, of course he did.

649
00:53:18,505 --> 00:53:21,088
Look, we're talking about
one of the great geniuses

650
00:53:21,098 --> 00:53:22,361
in musical history.

651
00:53:22,371 --> 00:53:24,472
He just didn't care.

652
00:53:24,482 --> 00:53:25,553
I think Chopin would have said

653
00:53:25,563 --> 00:53:27,699
in his delightful Polish accent,

654
00:53:27,709 --> 00:53:29,744
"You don't need anything but the piano.

655
00:53:29,754 --> 00:53:31,837
"The piano's absolutely
everything you need.

656
00:53:31,847 --> 00:53:34,513
"You do not need the headache of musicians

657
00:53:34,523 --> 00:53:36,388
"who are playing out of
tune in the orchestra,

658
00:53:36,398 --> 00:53:37,792
"and besides, if you treat the piano

659
00:53:37,802 --> 00:53:42,174
"like it is an instrument
with a soul and that it sings,

660
00:53:42,184 --> 00:53:43,367
"it will be wonderful,

661
00:53:43,377 --> 00:53:44,601
"and there's always question about

662
00:53:44,611 --> 00:53:48,278
"whether the orchestra
actually has a soul."

663
00:53:49,625 --> 00:53:52,502
I think Chopin knew that in the piano,

664
00:53:52,512 --> 00:53:54,728
he had everything he needed.

665
00:53:54,738 --> 00:53:57,571
That said, to carve out a career

666
00:53:58,685 --> 00:54:02,385
as a virtuoso pianist at this time in Paris

667
00:54:02,395 --> 00:54:04,686
would have been extraordinarily difficult,

668
00:54:04,696 --> 00:54:06,902
first of all, because you're up against

669
00:54:06,912 --> 00:54:08,627
all the other hundreds of pianists

670
00:54:08,637 --> 00:54:10,718
who were trying to do the same thing,

671
00:54:10,728 --> 00:54:15,688
but secondly because there
tends to be an element,

672
00:54:15,698 --> 00:54:19,047
and this is embodied always
by the figure of Liszt,

673
00:54:19,057 --> 00:54:21,177
there tends to be an element of showmanship

674
00:54:21,187 --> 00:54:24,768
in how a pianist would present themselves

675
00:54:24,778 --> 00:54:26,585
so that a big enough audience

676
00:54:26,595 --> 00:54:28,700
was prepared to come and watch.

677
00:54:28,710 --> 00:54:33,383
Paris at that time was
absolutely crawling with pianists,

678
00:54:33,393 --> 00:54:37,286
and of course the best of
them were very good indeed.

679
00:54:37,296 --> 00:54:40,222
Two names stood out above all others,

680
00:54:40,232 --> 00:54:44,253
and those two names were Liszt and Chopin,

681
00:54:44,263 --> 00:54:46,216
and they could hardly
have been more different.

682
00:54:46,226 --> 00:54:51,050
Chopin was almost desperately
afraid of appearing in public.

683
00:54:51,060 --> 00:54:55,728
He loathed it and he saw no
reason to court the public.

684
00:54:55,738 --> 00:55:00,481
Liszt lapped it up, Liszt
caused absolute hysteria

685
00:55:00,491 --> 00:55:03,305
in the audiences that he played for.

686
00:55:03,315 --> 00:55:05,732
Liszt thundered at the piano.

687
00:55:06,665 --> 00:55:10,251
He went three or four pianos
in a single recital sometimes.

688
00:55:10,261 --> 00:55:12,531
No piano of that time could withstand

689
00:55:12,541 --> 00:55:16,138
the power at this fire-breathing virtuoso.

690
00:55:27,431 --> 00:55:30,978
Chopin shunned this kind of thing.

691
00:55:30,988 --> 00:55:34,321
He could not bear coarseness in any way,

692
00:55:35,243 --> 00:55:38,667
and when it came to music, his very soul,

693
00:55:38,677 --> 00:55:42,971
the very idea of a coarse
sound was anathema to him,

694
00:55:42,981 --> 00:55:46,544
and this is one of the
great myths about Chopin,

695
00:55:46,554 --> 00:55:49,502
that he played relatively softly

696
00:55:49,512 --> 00:55:52,512
because he was always so weak and frail.

697
00:55:52,522 --> 00:55:54,168
This is not the case.

698
00:55:54,178 --> 00:55:58,345
He played within this relatively
constricted dynamic compass

699
00:56:00,166 --> 00:56:02,211
because on the pianos of his day,

700
00:56:02,221 --> 00:56:05,418
if you exceeded a certain
intensity of sound,

701
00:56:05,428 --> 00:56:09,435
a certain loudness, you lost
the control of the tone,

702
00:56:09,445 --> 00:56:11,364
and the result was something

703
00:56:11,374 --> 00:56:15,061
which could border on the
raucous, on the harsh.

704
00:56:15,071 --> 00:56:17,469
This Chopin could not abide.

705
00:56:17,479 --> 00:56:21,646
In many ways Chopin was
the most original composer

706
00:56:22,534 --> 00:56:24,324
in pianistic history.

707
00:56:24,334 --> 00:56:28,503
He found the most fruitful
and wonderful interplay

708
00:56:28,513 --> 00:56:31,846
between the piano's percussive character

709
00:56:32,933 --> 00:56:34,683
and its singing soul.

710
00:56:37,071 --> 00:56:41,238
In a sense, it was Chopin who
taught the piano how to sing.

711
00:56:44,617 --> 00:56:47,433
I am confident that if
Chopin had stayed in Poland,

712
00:56:47,443 --> 00:56:48,524
he hadn't come to Paris,

713
00:56:48,534 --> 00:56:51,951
and he hadn't played the beautiful pianos

714
00:56:53,923 --> 00:56:55,756
built by Ignaz Pleyel,

715
00:56:56,769 --> 00:56:59,086
probably his music would
have sounded differently.

716
00:56:59,096 --> 00:57:03,838
I think it's the specific
qualities of the Pleyel pianos

717
00:57:03,848 --> 00:57:07,848
that fed his imagination,
fed his piano writing,

718
00:57:08,976 --> 00:57:13,143
and it's this symbiosis between
the piano and the composer

719
00:57:14,486 --> 00:57:17,789
that created this
incredible beautiful music,

720
00:57:17,799 --> 00:57:19,501
and I think without Chopin

721
00:57:19,511 --> 00:57:21,691
the Pleyel pianos wouldn't
have sounded so wonderful,

722
00:57:21,701 --> 00:57:23,117
and without the pianos,

723
00:57:23,127 --> 00:57:25,472
his music wouldn't have been what it was.

724
00:57:25,482 --> 00:57:28,467
The instruments that he played on

725
00:57:28,477 --> 00:57:30,087
had a direct impact

726
00:57:30,097 --> 00:57:34,030
on the kind of music that he composed.

727
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:35,722
When he was in Warsaw,

728
00:57:35,732 --> 00:57:37,452
he was playing on Viennese instruments

729
00:57:37,462 --> 00:57:39,862
that had an extremely light action.

730
00:57:39,872 --> 00:57:42,039
You could play very quick,

731
00:57:43,116 --> 00:57:45,184
and of course that lends itself

732
00:57:45,194 --> 00:57:49,361
to music that has a lot of
virtuoso, acrobatic passages,

733
00:57:50,724 --> 00:57:53,014
so you find that in a
lot of his concert music,

734
00:57:53,024 --> 00:57:56,157
lots of ornamentation,
lightness, quickness,

735
00:57:56,167 --> 00:57:57,577
that's typical.

736
00:57:57,587 --> 00:57:59,841
But when Chopin came to Paris,

737
00:57:59,851 --> 00:58:03,534
his music changed rather
radically just in a few years.

738
00:58:03,544 --> 00:58:05,784
I think he was writing music

739
00:58:05,794 --> 00:58:09,305
that dealt more with the
quality of the sound.

740
00:58:09,315 --> 00:58:11,469
A lot of his nocturnes are

741
00:58:11,479 --> 00:58:14,878
from the French period in his life.

742
00:58:14,888 --> 00:58:19,055
The figure of 60,000 pianos
in Paris during the 1840s

743
00:58:20,136 --> 00:58:22,988
at a time when the city had a
population of around a million

744
00:58:22,998 --> 00:58:25,786
is a remarkable statistic.

745
00:58:25,796 --> 00:58:29,406
It's not entirely clear how
the statistic was reached.

746
00:58:29,416 --> 00:58:34,321
It's quoted in an article in
1845 in a Parisian journal,

747
00:58:34,331 --> 00:58:36,748
and perhaps it overestimates,

748
00:58:38,051 --> 00:58:40,020
but probably not by that much,

749
00:58:40,030 --> 00:58:42,357
because we do also have
statistics of, for instance,

750
00:58:42,367 --> 00:58:45,774
how many factories there
were making pianos,

751
00:58:45,784 --> 00:58:48,337
and by the 1840s, by that same period,

752
00:58:48,347 --> 00:58:50,019
the second half of the 1840s,

753
00:58:50,029 --> 00:58:54,099
there was something like 180
piano manufacturers in Paris.

754
00:58:54,109 --> 00:58:56,211
So we're talking about an enormous growth

755
00:58:56,221 --> 00:58:59,845
in the production of pianos
and the sale of piano music

756
00:58:59,855 --> 00:59:03,279
and necessarily the number
of people who were playing.

757
00:59:03,289 --> 00:59:05,644
And that's a lot of piano teachers.

758
00:59:05,654 --> 00:59:07,233
You know, when Chopin arrived at Paris,

759
00:59:07,243 --> 00:59:11,194
he said, "There are only two
types of pianists in Paris.

760
00:59:11,204 --> 00:59:13,741
"There are asses and there are virtuosi,

761
00:59:13,751 --> 00:59:14,823
"and most of the time

762
00:59:14,833 --> 00:59:17,671
"it's impossible to tell the difference."

763
00:59:17,681 --> 00:59:22,066
You have to think with all that
need for learning the piano,

764
00:59:22,076 --> 00:59:25,408
and here comes a perfect piano musician,

765
00:59:25,418 --> 00:59:27,796
he had a lot of students
that he could teach,

766
00:59:27,806 --> 00:59:30,497
and there's also the fact
that he began to play

767
00:59:30,507 --> 00:59:31,838
,

768
00:59:31,848 --> 00:59:34,541
and if he said in his Polish accent,

769
00:59:34,551 --> 00:59:36,316
"Once you play by the ambassador,

770
00:59:36,326 --> 00:59:39,415
"suddenly you have a
great much more talent."

771
00:59:39,425 --> 00:59:42,485
And because of it he
made his way into society

772
00:59:42,495 --> 00:59:43,755
and he became recognized

773
00:59:43,765 --> 00:59:45,782
and he dressed in the fashion,

774
00:59:45,792 --> 00:59:48,480
and so he was able to
begin to charge 20 francs,

775
00:59:48,490 --> 00:59:52,174
which at the time was a king's
ransom for piano lessons,

776
00:59:52,184 --> 00:59:55,651
and so he had all of fashionable
Paris studying with him,

777
00:59:55,661 --> 00:59:58,006
and it was really quite remarkable

778
00:59:58,016 --> 01:00:00,878
that he built his career in that way.

779
01:00:07,252 --> 01:00:10,725
Paris, Christmas Day, 1831.

780
01:00:10,735 --> 01:00:13,810
Dearest friend, I wish you were here.

781
01:00:13,820 --> 01:00:15,816
You know how easily I make acquaintances,

782
01:00:15,826 --> 01:00:17,244
how I like to gossip.

783
01:00:17,254 --> 01:00:19,941
Though I have no end to such acquaintance,

784
01:00:19,951 --> 01:00:23,122
not one with whom I can be sad.

785
01:00:23,132 --> 01:00:25,820
You would not believe
how I long for a pause,

786
01:00:25,830 --> 01:00:29,278
to have no one come near me all day long.

787
01:00:29,288 --> 01:00:32,088
I cannot bear to hear the doorbell.

788
01:00:32,098 --> 01:00:35,583
Some person in whiskers,
huge, tall, superb,

789
01:00:35,593 --> 01:00:37,910
comes in, sits down at the piano,

790
01:00:37,920 --> 01:00:40,252
and improvises he doesn't know what,

791
01:00:40,262 --> 01:00:44,525
bangs and pounds without any
meaning, throws himself about,

792
01:00:44,535 --> 01:00:48,368
crosses his hands, clatters
on one key for five minutes

793
01:00:48,378 --> 01:00:52,460
with an enormous thumb that
once belonged in the Ukraine.

794
01:00:52,470 --> 01:00:54,296
My health is bad.

795
01:00:54,306 --> 01:00:55,977
I am happy on the outside,

796
01:00:55,987 --> 01:01:00,154
but inside something gnaws at
me, melancholy, indifference.

797
01:01:08,604 --> 01:01:11,578
I have been accepted into
the highest of society.

798
01:01:11,588 --> 01:01:14,615
I sit with ambassadors, princes, ministers,

799
01:01:14,625 --> 01:01:16,230
and even don't know how it came about,

800
01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:18,049
because I did not try for it,

801
01:01:18,059 --> 01:01:21,107
but it is a most necessary thing.

802
01:01:21,117 --> 01:01:22,663
You are considered a bigger talent

803
01:01:22,673 --> 01:01:25,746
if you have been heard at the
English or Austrian embassy,

804
01:01:25,756 --> 01:01:30,164
yet I know how much I still
lack to reach perfection.

805
01:01:30,174 --> 01:01:32,550
I have five lessons to give today.

806
01:01:32,560 --> 01:01:34,629
You think I am making a fortune?

807
01:01:34,639 --> 01:01:37,015
Carriages and white gloves cost more,

808
01:01:37,025 --> 01:01:41,817
and without them, one
would not be in good taste.

809
01:01:41,827 --> 01:01:44,702
It always stuck in Chopin's craw

810
01:01:44,712 --> 01:01:47,452
that he was born on the
farm in Zelazowa Wola,

811
01:01:47,462 --> 01:01:48,845
because I think Chopin really believed

812
01:01:48,855 --> 01:01:52,266
that anybody who had this
absolutely natural ability

813
01:01:52,276 --> 01:01:53,906
at the piano was somebody

814
01:01:53,916 --> 01:01:57,252
who had the divine right
of being born royal,

815
01:01:57,262 --> 01:01:59,204
and because he wasn't,

816
01:01:59,214 --> 01:02:02,019
when he got to Paris and
he started to be accepted

817
01:02:02,029 --> 01:02:04,655
among ambassadors and play in such places,

818
01:02:04,665 --> 01:02:07,230
he had to dress with unbelievable finery,

819
01:02:07,240 --> 01:02:09,559
have a beautiful coat, elegant gloves.

820
01:02:09,569 --> 01:02:11,490
He had to have an apartment
on the right street

821
01:02:11,500 --> 01:02:13,130
facing the right way,

822
01:02:13,140 --> 01:02:15,623
and of course because of this
he was always out of money,

823
01:02:15,633 --> 01:02:17,111
so he would write home to his father

824
01:02:17,121 --> 01:02:19,057
and his father would
write back angry letters,

825
01:02:19,067 --> 01:02:21,193
"Why don't you save
money for a rainy day?"

826
01:02:21,203 --> 01:02:23,181
Well, he couldn't save
money for a rainy day,

827
01:02:23,191 --> 01:02:26,292
because he somehow had
to keep up appearances

828
01:02:26,302 --> 01:02:28,453
so that he could fit into society.

829
01:02:31,551 --> 01:02:34,254
Chopin reveled in the company of artists

830
01:02:34,264 --> 01:02:36,563
and became acquainted with Berlioz,

831
01:02:36,573 --> 01:02:38,740
Hiller, Heine, and others.

832
01:02:39,578 --> 01:02:41,901
Schumann called him a genius.

833
01:02:41,911 --> 01:02:46,078
A debut concert in February,
1832 was a great success.

834
01:02:47,138 --> 01:02:49,886
His music was extensively published.

835
01:02:49,896 --> 01:02:51,940
After only a handful of years,

836
01:02:51,950 --> 01:02:54,289
Chopin had become firmly established

837
01:02:54,299 --> 01:02:57,376
in the Paris musical hierarchy,

838
01:02:57,386 --> 01:02:59,719
but he was far from content.

839
01:03:02,223 --> 01:03:04,925
Though Chopin frequently wrote home,

840
01:03:04,935 --> 01:03:07,553
he knew he could not return.

841
01:03:07,563 --> 01:03:12,066
A successful career was only
achievable outside of Poland.

842
01:03:12,076 --> 01:03:14,691
He even became a French citizen.

843
01:03:14,701 --> 01:03:18,059
Nevertheless, the keenly
felt absence of family,

844
01:03:18,069 --> 01:03:20,819
friends, and country haunted him.

845
01:03:24,900 --> 01:03:26,406
Despite the fact that Chopin's father

846
01:03:26,416 --> 01:03:28,186
was a French teacher,

847
01:03:28,196 --> 01:03:32,371
Chopin didn't speak French
properly, he never quite learned,

848
01:03:32,381 --> 01:03:34,769
and in fact when he came to Paris

849
01:03:34,779 --> 01:03:37,529
one would imagine that
Chopin was running around

850
01:03:37,539 --> 01:03:40,501
speaking a very perfect
and beautiful French,

851
01:03:40,511 --> 01:03:42,244
being the great,

852
01:03:42,254 --> 01:03:44,010
but in fact it was described

853
01:03:44,020 --> 01:03:46,774
how he actually pronounced
things in French.

854
01:03:46,784 --> 01:03:48,279
Instead of saying

855
01:03:48,289 --> 01:03:50,594
the way it would be said,

856
01:03:50,604 --> 01:03:53,269
the actual accent came out from him

857
01:03:53,279 --> 01:03:55,705
.

858
01:03:55,715 --> 01:03:57,958
You know, Chopin was very exotic,

859
01:03:57,968 --> 01:04:01,441
and he brought Poland
wherever he went with him.

860
01:04:01,451 --> 01:04:04,534
The fact is, Chopin was an immigrant.

861
01:04:13,996 --> 01:04:15,478
He felt himself, I would say,

862
01:04:15,488 --> 01:04:17,579
very much a Polish composer.

863
01:04:17,589 --> 01:04:20,391
Otherwise he wouldn't have
written all these mazurkas,

864
01:04:20,401 --> 01:04:24,151
all these polonaises,
the Rondo a la mazurka,

865
01:04:26,263 --> 01:04:28,046
there's a lot of these titles

866
01:04:28,056 --> 01:04:31,306
that sort of reflect on his Polishness.

867
01:04:38,602 --> 01:04:39,787
Take a mazurka, for instance.

868
01:04:39,797 --> 01:04:42,107
They said he was incredibly descriptive.

869
01:04:49,882 --> 01:04:52,396
He would probably say in his Polish accent,

870
01:04:52,406 --> 01:04:54,733
"The rhythm of the
mazurka is very specific.

871
01:04:54,743 --> 01:04:58,180
"You must stop on the two
or the three of each bar."

872
01:04:58,190 --> 01:04:59,773
♫ One, two, three

873
01:04:59,783 --> 01:05:01,426
♫ One, two, three

874
01:05:01,436 --> 01:05:03,146
♫ One, two, three

875
01:05:03,156 --> 01:05:06,052
♫ One, two, three

876
01:05:06,062 --> 01:05:08,121
"This is the national
character of the dance.

877
01:05:08,131 --> 01:05:10,258
"It is somehow more peasant-like.

878
01:05:10,268 --> 01:05:13,330
"It brings us closer to the art."

879
01:05:13,340 --> 01:05:15,846
The polonaises of Chopin have something

880
01:05:15,856 --> 01:05:18,504
terribly proud and Polish about it,

881
01:05:18,514 --> 01:05:22,576
and they never sound military,
they never sound fascistic.

882
01:05:22,586 --> 01:05:26,586
Maybe because Poland was
so afraid for centuries

883
01:05:27,733 --> 01:05:29,927
and centuries and centuries

884
01:05:29,937 --> 01:05:33,382
to be attacked either
by Russia or by Germany

885
01:05:33,392 --> 01:05:36,828
and therefore the feeling of national pride

886
01:05:36,838 --> 01:05:38,982
is a very healthy feeling,

887
01:05:38,992 --> 01:05:43,930
but I think it is an integral
part of Chopin's music,

888
01:05:43,940 --> 01:05:46,357
this very, very proud nature,

889
01:05:47,983 --> 01:05:50,712
which in music is expressed

890
01:05:50,722 --> 01:05:54,200
through a very strong sense of rhythm.

891
01:07:38,537 --> 01:07:40,794
In August, 1835,

892
01:07:40,804 --> 01:07:45,384
Chopin traveled to Bohemia
for a family reunion.

893
01:07:45,394 --> 01:07:48,104
We are happier than we can describe.

894
01:07:48,114 --> 01:07:51,351
We hug each other and hug
again, it's wonderful.

895
01:07:51,361 --> 01:07:53,529
How good God is to us.

896
01:07:53,539 --> 01:07:55,754
The same parents, just the same as ever,

897
01:07:55,764 --> 01:07:57,448
only a little older.

898
01:07:57,458 --> 01:08:00,728
We walk, I take my mummy
on my arm, we talk,

899
01:08:00,738 --> 01:08:02,759
we eat and drink together.

900
01:08:02,769 --> 01:08:04,852
I am happy, happy, happy.

901
01:08:08,526 --> 01:08:11,233
In Dresden en route back to Paris,

902
01:08:11,243 --> 01:08:15,160
he met old friends from
Warsaw, the Wodzinskis.

903
01:08:16,014 --> 01:08:19,347
Chopin sat for Maria Wodzinska, aged 16.

904
01:08:21,707 --> 01:08:23,561
They fell in love.

905
01:08:23,571 --> 01:08:26,883
He asked her to marry
him, and she accepted,

906
01:08:26,893 --> 01:08:28,710
but her father thought she could do better

907
01:08:28,720 --> 01:08:31,887
than a sickly pianist living in Paris.

908
01:08:51,985 --> 01:08:54,429
The wedding was not to be,

909
01:08:54,439 --> 01:08:56,542
and the letters he had received from her

910
01:08:56,552 --> 01:08:59,969
were placed in a bundle marked my sorrow.

911
01:10:21,778 --> 01:10:24,277
I think one of the essential concepts

912
01:10:24,287 --> 01:10:26,954
of the romantic piano literature

913
01:10:28,194 --> 01:10:31,256
is the composer as a single person,

914
01:10:31,266 --> 01:10:32,861
a little bit as a suffering person,

915
01:10:32,871 --> 01:10:34,193
especially in the case of Chopin.

916
01:10:34,203 --> 01:10:38,432
It's not about the composer
writing music for others,

917
01:10:38,442 --> 01:10:41,525
it's the composer being sort of found

918
01:10:42,672 --> 01:10:44,949
in one of his most intimate moments

919
01:10:44,959 --> 01:10:48,173
sitting at the piano playing to himself,

920
01:10:48,183 --> 01:10:51,284
and you feel a little bit like intruders,

921
01:10:51,294 --> 01:10:53,559
we shouldn't be there listening to it.

922
01:10:53,569 --> 01:10:57,069
It's very personal, highly personal music.

923
01:12:06,467 --> 01:12:09,829
The first ballade was an incredible drama,

924
01:12:09,839 --> 01:12:14,821
and what a journey from this
invitation to a waltz is that.

925
01:12:28,450 --> 01:12:31,533
And we go through different episodes,

926
01:12:33,642 --> 01:12:35,406
and towards the end, this has become.

927
01:13:00,593 --> 01:13:04,760
And there comes the most crazy
episode in any piano piece,

928
01:13:06,068 --> 01:13:08,829
his coda with this ballade is, what is it,

929
01:13:08,839 --> 01:13:10,172
it's pure anger,

930
01:13:13,143 --> 01:13:14,819
incredible drama,

931
01:13:14,829 --> 01:13:17,152
and you just have to risk
it and go to the end.

932
01:13:17,162 --> 01:13:18,254
There's no way,

933
01:13:18,264 --> 01:13:22,181
and when people talk
about Chopin being pretty,

934
01:13:25,719 --> 01:13:27,403
I want to show them this piece,

935
01:13:27,413 --> 01:13:29,223
just the passage I played, this one.

936
01:13:32,997 --> 01:13:34,004
He writes in this chord,

937
01:13:34,014 --> 01:13:37,347
it should be played as loud as possible.

938
01:14:24,336 --> 01:14:26,212
Life in Paris was, however,

939
01:14:26,222 --> 01:14:28,303
in many ways pleasant.

940
01:14:28,313 --> 01:14:31,972
Chopin composed, taught extremely well,

941
01:14:31,982 --> 01:14:35,045
mixed at length with Polish exiles,

942
01:14:35,055 --> 01:14:39,313
but above all he spent time
with musicians and artists.

943
01:14:39,323 --> 01:14:42,584
The painter Eugene Delacroix
became a good friend

944
01:14:42,594 --> 01:14:46,761
and was another that considered
Chopin's music sublime.

945
01:14:49,795 --> 01:14:54,737
In October, 1836, Chopin was
invited by Liszt's mistress

946
01:14:54,747 --> 01:14:58,059
to a party that changed his life.

947
01:14:58,069 --> 01:15:01,413
There he met the most
notorious woman in France,

948
01:15:01,423 --> 01:15:06,378
Aurore Dupin, who published
under the name George Sand.

949
01:15:06,388 --> 01:15:10,758
She had a reputation as an
outspoken, uncouth adulterer.

950
01:15:10,768 --> 01:15:13,768
Chopin was not, at first, impressed.

951
01:15:16,290 --> 01:15:20,793
This is Chopin at 28, painted
by his friend Delacroix,

952
01:15:20,803 --> 01:15:22,803
and this is George Sand.

953
01:15:23,889 --> 01:15:25,532
After Delacroix's death,

954
01:15:25,542 --> 01:15:29,588
the unfinished painting
was cut in two and sold.

955
01:15:29,598 --> 01:15:30,995
Had it been finished,

956
01:15:31,005 --> 01:15:32,737
it might have captured the moment

957
01:15:32,747 --> 01:15:35,247
when Chopin had fallen in love

958
01:15:36,232 --> 01:15:37,649
with George Sand.

959
01:15:47,291 --> 01:15:50,808
George Sand is obviously
the most important woman

960
01:15:50,818 --> 01:15:52,119
in his life,

961
01:15:52,129 --> 01:15:56,399
the only one whose full-blown
affair is well-documented.

962
01:15:56,409 --> 01:16:00,217
They were the odd couple
to end all odd couples.

963
01:16:00,227 --> 01:16:03,727
Here was this very restrained, meticulous,

964
01:16:04,940 --> 01:16:08,940
fastidious, charming
gentleman, so well-dressed,

965
01:16:09,967 --> 01:16:14,608
so conventional as a man,
as conventional as a man

966
01:16:14,618 --> 01:16:17,021
as he was unconventional in his music,

967
01:16:17,031 --> 01:16:20,281
and on the other hand, he falls in love

968
01:16:21,272 --> 01:16:24,973
with the most scandalous writer of her age.

969
01:16:24,983 --> 01:16:28,316
For a start, her pseudonym, George Sand,

970
01:16:30,178 --> 01:16:34,345
and she dressed as a man,
top hat and cigar included.

971
01:16:35,227 --> 01:16:38,042
So here is this outrageous woman

972
01:16:38,052 --> 01:16:42,190
who would never fall
shy of shocking anyone,

973
01:16:42,200 --> 01:16:45,039
tranvestite, sharing her bed

974
01:16:45,049 --> 01:16:47,962
with this funny little elegant Pole.

975
01:16:47,972 --> 01:16:50,286
This was a very unusual liaison,

976
01:16:50,296 --> 01:16:53,310
but we have here a joining together

977
01:16:53,320 --> 01:16:55,320
for a significant period

978
01:16:56,316 --> 01:16:58,816
of two quite amazing creators.

979
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:17,670
In 1838, the 28-year-old Chopin

980
01:18:17,680 --> 01:18:20,594
traveled with George Sand
and her two children,

981
01:18:20,604 --> 01:18:23,690
Solange and Maurice, to Majorca.

982
01:18:23,700 --> 01:18:27,867
They were in search of sun,
solitude, and clean air.

983
01:18:30,111 --> 01:18:34,042
Palma, 19th of November.

984
01:18:34,052 --> 01:18:37,327
I am among palms, cedars, cacti,

985
01:18:37,337 --> 01:18:40,920
olives, pomegranates, a sky like turquoise,

986
01:18:41,870 --> 01:18:45,810
a sea like lapis lazuli,
mountains like emeralds,

987
01:18:45,820 --> 01:18:49,987
air like heaven, at night
guitars and singing for hours.

988
01:18:51,415 --> 01:18:53,582
My piano has not yet come.

989
01:18:58,359 --> 01:19:00,776
Palma, 3rd of December, 1838.

990
01:19:01,666 --> 01:19:05,107
I have been as sick as a
dog these last two weeks.

991
01:19:05,117 --> 01:19:08,153
I caught cold in spite
of 18 degrees of heat,

992
01:19:08,163 --> 01:19:10,746
roses, oranges, sharlyns, figs,

993
01:19:11,808 --> 01:19:14,943
and the three most famous
doctors of the island.

994
01:19:14,953 --> 01:19:17,037
One sniffed at what I spat up,

995
01:19:17,047 --> 01:19:19,299
the second tapped where I spat it from,

996
01:19:19,309 --> 01:19:22,284
the third poked about and
listened to how I spattled.

997
01:19:22,294 --> 01:19:25,648
One said I had died, the
second that I am dying,

998
01:19:25,658 --> 01:19:27,908
the third that I shall die.

999
01:19:29,019 --> 01:19:32,242
Chopin survived his diagnoses.

1000
01:19:32,252 --> 01:19:35,300
He enjoyed his time with
Sand and her children,

1001
01:19:35,310 --> 01:19:39,393
and once a piano arrived,
he composed feverishly.

1002
01:19:40,762 --> 01:19:43,845
George Sand gave herself to Chopin.

1003
01:19:46,147 --> 01:19:50,780
George Sand made it possible
for Chopin to blossom

1004
01:19:50,790 --> 01:19:53,250
as he had never blossomed before.

1005
01:19:59,160 --> 01:20:00,838
The weather worsened,

1006
01:20:00,848 --> 01:20:03,031
and so did Chopin's health.

1007
01:20:03,041 --> 01:20:05,804
His tuberculosis returned.

1008
01:20:05,814 --> 01:20:08,128
The locals feared his sickness

1009
01:20:08,138 --> 01:20:11,064
and were offended by his strange companion.

1010
01:20:11,074 --> 01:20:13,488
They forced the couple to move to the hills

1011
01:20:13,498 --> 01:20:17,381
and take bare rooms in
an abandoned monastery.

1012
01:20:17,391 --> 01:20:21,089
Eventually, public
antipathy and winter rain

1013
01:20:21,099 --> 01:20:23,766
forced them to leave the island.

1014
01:20:26,338 --> 01:20:30,702
Marseille, 17th of March, 1839.

1015
01:20:30,712 --> 01:20:34,467
The last mazurkas brought me
800 francs the first of Lent.

1016
01:20:34,477 --> 01:20:37,168
I would rather sell my
manuscripts for nothing,

1017
01:20:37,178 --> 01:20:41,269
as in the old days, than have
to bow and scrape to fools,

1018
01:20:41,279 --> 01:20:45,446
and I'd rather be humiliated
by one Jew than by three.

1019
01:20:46,751 --> 01:20:48,987
Marseille, 12th of April.

1020
01:20:48,997 --> 01:20:52,511
My angel is finishing a new novel, Gabriel.

1021
01:20:52,521 --> 01:20:55,257
Today she is writing in bed all day.

1022
01:20:55,267 --> 01:20:59,434
You would love her even more
if you knew her as I know her.

1023
01:21:02,141 --> 01:21:04,246
George Sand owned a country house

1024
01:21:04,256 --> 01:21:07,805
in the village of Nohant in central France.

1025
01:21:07,815 --> 01:21:10,867
For the next decade she
and Chopin would spend

1026
01:21:10,877 --> 01:21:12,960
almost every summer here.

1027
01:22:08,171 --> 01:22:10,587
Nohant was paradise,

1028
01:22:10,597 --> 01:22:14,841
clean air, no money
worries, prepared meals,

1029
01:22:14,851 --> 01:22:16,518
peace, and solitude.

1030
01:22:18,046 --> 01:22:20,700
George Sand sometimes
wrote through the night,

1031
01:22:20,710 --> 01:22:22,401
sleeping all day.

1032
01:22:22,411 --> 01:22:24,891
Chopin, however, rose with the sun,

1033
01:22:24,901 --> 01:22:28,039
worked, walked with the children, napped,

1034
01:22:28,049 --> 01:22:31,716
and met George and
guests for dinner at six.

1035
01:22:33,900 --> 01:22:36,020
We know a good deal about
how Chopin lived at Nohant

1036
01:22:36,030 --> 01:22:38,142
because of the letters he
wrote to both his family

1037
01:22:38,152 --> 01:22:39,786
and to his friends,

1038
01:22:39,796 --> 01:22:41,787
and those letters indicate
that he was involved

1039
01:22:41,797 --> 01:22:43,581
in every aspect of daily life.

1040
01:22:43,591 --> 01:22:45,433
He would go to market with the family,

1041
01:22:45,443 --> 01:22:47,148
he would take carriage rides,

1042
01:22:47,158 --> 01:22:48,531
he would visit friends,

1043
01:22:48,541 --> 01:22:50,671
he would have friends over for tea.

1044
01:22:50,681 --> 01:22:52,849
He was also involved in family politics.

1045
01:22:52,859 --> 01:22:55,535
You know, Madame Sand, she
was very close to Maurice,

1046
01:22:55,545 --> 01:22:58,430
she loved her son, but she was
not so fond of her daughter.

1047
01:22:58,440 --> 01:23:01,317
He then commented that there
was all this kind of tension

1048
01:23:01,327 --> 01:23:03,805
between them that would often go on,

1049
01:23:03,815 --> 01:23:07,060
that he felt that Madame
Sand was probably jealous

1050
01:23:07,070 --> 01:23:08,645
of her daughter,

1051
01:23:08,655 --> 01:23:11,254
but the fact remains that here was Chopin

1052
01:23:11,264 --> 01:23:14,612
living with the most famous
woman in all of France,

1053
01:23:14,622 --> 01:23:16,442
and we see from the letters

1054
01:23:16,452 --> 01:23:18,804
that even though he was
very polite at the table

1055
01:23:18,814 --> 01:23:20,173
and he was very quiet,

1056
01:23:20,183 --> 01:23:22,273
he had what to say about everyone.

1057
01:23:22,283 --> 01:23:25,931
He was highly opinionated
and often very funny

1058
01:23:25,941 --> 01:23:28,441
and very picante, so to speak.

1059
01:23:30,133 --> 01:23:32,737
However, it did stick in his craw

1060
01:23:32,747 --> 01:23:35,279
that he was not born royal,

1061
01:23:35,289 --> 01:23:37,702
so perhaps the next best thing for him

1062
01:23:37,712 --> 01:23:39,293
would be to be the partner

1063
01:23:39,303 --> 01:23:40,971
of the most famous woman in the country

1064
01:23:40,981 --> 01:23:42,230
that he lived in.

1065
01:23:42,240 --> 01:23:44,105
He was shy, but he was very sociable.

1066
01:23:44,115 --> 01:23:46,644
He made friends easily,
he adored his friends

1067
01:23:46,654 --> 01:23:49,626
and they had a good time together.

1068
01:23:49,636 --> 01:23:52,136
He was also very entertaining.

1069
01:23:53,927 --> 01:23:56,118
He was a gifted caricaturist,

1070
01:23:56,128 --> 01:23:57,917
which not many people realize.

1071
01:23:57,927 --> 01:24:00,122
That gift of caricature

1072
01:24:00,132 --> 01:24:03,729
translated itself into impersonations

1073
01:24:03,739 --> 01:24:06,289
which had his friends in stitches.

1074
01:24:06,299 --> 01:24:09,037
He was enormously amusing,

1075
01:24:09,047 --> 01:24:10,255
and this is not something

1076
01:24:10,265 --> 01:24:12,909
that one tends to find in his music

1077
01:24:12,919 --> 01:24:14,137
is this sense of humor,

1078
01:24:14,147 --> 01:24:18,314
this really almost subversive,
mocking sense of humor.

1079
01:24:26,497 --> 01:24:28,093
For sheer output,

1080
01:24:28,103 --> 01:24:29,761
Chopin's summers at Nohant are

1081
01:24:29,771 --> 01:24:32,854
the most productive days of his life.

1082
01:24:52,846 --> 01:24:55,956
I really like this B-flat minor sonata.

1083
01:24:55,966 --> 01:24:59,633
It's an amazing journey
from the nervousness

1084
01:25:00,832 --> 01:25:02,665
of the first movement,

1085
01:25:15,198 --> 01:25:18,448
the slightly angry dance of the second,

1086
01:25:26,904 --> 01:25:29,404
that then leads into the quiet

1087
01:25:31,970 --> 01:25:35,625
and absolutely still
atmosphere of the funeral march

1088
01:25:35,635 --> 01:25:39,332
with an incredible outlook
into a different world

1089
01:25:39,342 --> 01:25:40,925
in the middle part,

1090
01:25:58,780 --> 01:26:01,687
and then the last movement,

1091
01:26:01,697 --> 01:26:06,234
which for me is just
like a big question mark,

1092
01:26:06,244 --> 01:26:08,244
how do you follow death?

1093
01:26:09,556 --> 01:26:11,556
And he writes this piece

1094
01:26:12,910 --> 01:26:15,077
that hardly has a tonality

1095
01:26:17,126 --> 01:26:19,543
and that it's just two voices

1096
01:26:23,956 --> 01:26:24,956
rumbling by.

1097
01:26:43,360 --> 01:26:45,827
Rubinstein apparently compared this one

1098
01:26:45,837 --> 01:26:47,920
to wind across the grave,

1099
01:26:51,731 --> 01:26:54,148
and I really like that image.

1100
01:26:55,277 --> 01:26:57,047
It's quite extreme, this sonata,

1101
01:26:57,057 --> 01:26:59,557
and a really great masterwork.

1102
01:28:18,607 --> 01:28:22,368
I think what is remarkable
with Chopin is how

1103
01:28:22,378 --> 01:28:24,878
a character changes so rapidly

1104
01:28:26,783 --> 01:28:29,411
into something else emotionally.

1105
01:28:29,421 --> 01:28:32,469
I mean, it can seem idyllic

1106
01:28:32,479 --> 01:28:35,142
and then there is a moment of darkness.

1107
01:28:35,152 --> 01:28:39,524
This reminds us of Mozart,
how rapid it can turn.

1108
01:28:39,534 --> 01:28:41,213
Let's take the third ballade.

1109
01:28:54,418 --> 01:28:56,212
Suddenly there's sadness.

1110
01:29:03,961 --> 01:29:05,378
Quite passionate.

1111
01:29:13,427 --> 01:29:17,144
This incredible loneliness
suddenly, and then.

1112
01:29:20,949 --> 01:29:22,604
Again, trying to find its way.

1113
01:29:22,614 --> 01:29:24,419
I mean, these emotions,

1114
01:29:24,429 --> 01:29:27,504
these very, very deep and strong emotions,

1115
01:29:27,514 --> 01:29:30,095
so rapidly going from
one place to the other.

1116
01:29:30,105 --> 01:29:33,186
That's fascinating to me.

1117
01:29:33,196 --> 01:29:35,760
When I was first introduced
to the music of Chopin

1118
01:29:35,770 --> 01:29:37,422
as a young child,

1119
01:29:37,432 --> 01:29:41,280
I followed the myth, like most people,

1120
01:29:41,290 --> 01:29:44,538
that Chopin was this
light, ethereal character

1121
01:29:44,548 --> 01:29:46,981
who somehow floated around some lawns

1122
01:29:46,991 --> 01:29:49,589
while ladies were fanning themselves

1123
01:29:49,599 --> 01:29:51,810
and eating bonbons and pastries

1124
01:29:51,820 --> 01:29:53,766
and he would just saunter
over to the keyboard

1125
01:29:53,776 --> 01:29:56,776
and lightly float some beautiful melody out

1126
01:29:56,786 --> 01:29:58,279
with an ethereal harmony,

1127
01:29:58,289 --> 01:30:00,805
but as I came to understand
Chopin's music more

1128
01:30:00,815 --> 01:30:03,567
and certainly Chopin the
man through his own letters

1129
01:30:03,577 --> 01:30:05,646
and also the letters of his students,

1130
01:30:05,656 --> 01:30:08,092
I began to understand that here was a man

1131
01:30:08,102 --> 01:30:09,500
with fire in his soul,

1132
01:30:09,510 --> 01:30:13,582
this was a man who had
very deep convictions

1133
01:30:13,592 --> 01:30:15,431
and a man who wasn't afraid

1134
01:30:15,441 --> 01:30:18,493
to express those convictions in his music,

1135
01:30:18,503 --> 01:30:20,496
and I think it is very important

1136
01:30:20,506 --> 01:30:24,515
not to pretend that his
music is sort of just light,

1137
01:30:24,525 --> 01:30:26,926
salon accompaniment while people dine

1138
01:30:26,936 --> 01:30:28,902
or chat or have tea,

1139
01:30:28,912 --> 01:30:32,365
that in fact there's a great
deal of fire and passion in it,

1140
01:30:32,375 --> 01:30:34,166
and what I came to understand

1141
01:30:34,176 --> 01:30:38,533
is that Chopin is a man who
had very strong opinions

1142
01:30:38,543 --> 01:30:41,376
and he let people know about them.

1143
01:30:43,094 --> 01:30:45,739
Dear long-suffering friend,

1144
01:30:45,749 --> 01:30:47,850
please move the furniture
to my new apartment

1145
01:30:47,860 --> 01:30:49,092
in rue Pigalle.

1146
01:30:49,102 --> 01:30:53,422
Take care with the crockery
in the drawing room.

1147
01:30:53,432 --> 01:30:57,168
The little sofas are shabby,
so please use the covers.

1148
01:30:57,178 --> 01:30:58,615
I'll need a new valet,

1149
01:30:58,625 --> 01:30:59,877
someone who won't be quarrelsome

1150
01:30:59,887 --> 01:31:02,507
and upset Madame Sand's country circles.

1151
01:31:02,517 --> 01:31:05,163
Don't forget to give
the porter instructions

1152
01:31:05,173 --> 01:31:09,458
that people and letters should
be sent on to rue Pigalle.

1153
01:31:09,468 --> 01:31:13,782
Now about Wessel, he's
a windbag and a cheat.

1154
01:31:13,792 --> 01:31:16,357
Tell him I have no intention
of giving my rights

1155
01:31:16,367 --> 01:31:18,187
over the Tarantella.

1156
01:31:18,197 --> 01:31:20,811
Also have fires in the
fireplace for two or three days

1157
01:31:20,821 --> 01:31:24,641
before we arrive so it's not
cold, dusty, smelly, or damp.

1158
01:31:24,651 --> 01:31:26,614
Oh, and go to the hatmaker Dupont

1159
01:31:26,624 --> 01:31:29,791
and have him make me a hat for Monday.

1160
01:31:30,940 --> 01:31:33,220
To Chopin, everything had to be beautiful,

1161
01:31:33,230 --> 01:31:35,795
and George Sand said of him, she said,

1162
01:31:35,805 --> 01:31:37,391
"He's not of this earth.

1163
01:31:37,401 --> 01:31:40,684
"There is something just
too angelic about him,

1164
01:31:40,694 --> 01:31:42,874
"his soul, his approach to music."

1165
01:31:42,884 --> 01:31:45,200
There is such a delicacy about Chopin

1166
01:31:45,210 --> 01:31:48,358
that bleeds into absolutely
everything he did,

1167
01:31:48,368 --> 01:31:51,260
so to be that kind of person

1168
01:31:51,270 --> 01:31:55,984
and to be embroiled in a
relationship with George Sand

1169
01:31:55,994 --> 01:31:58,134
fighting and screaming and yelling

1170
01:31:58,144 --> 01:32:00,646
and high emotions and low emotions,

1171
01:32:00,656 --> 01:32:02,972
this constant back and forth,

1172
01:32:02,982 --> 01:32:05,325
is really such a juxtaposition

1173
01:32:05,335 --> 01:32:09,502
in terms of who Chopin was
as a man and as an artist.

1174
01:32:15,263 --> 01:32:18,991
Nohant, September, 1841.

1175
01:32:19,001 --> 01:32:20,808
Let the publisher Masset have

1176
01:32:20,818 --> 01:32:24,284
the Allegro maestoso for 600 francs,

1177
01:32:24,294 --> 01:32:26,989
the Fantasie in F minor for 500,

1178
01:32:26,999 --> 01:32:30,150
and the C minor and
F-sharp minor nocturnes,

1179
01:32:30,160 --> 01:32:32,734
the ballade, and the
Polonaise in F-sharp minor

1180
01:32:32,744 --> 01:32:37,324
all for 300 francs each,
thus a total of 2,000,

1181
01:32:37,334 --> 01:32:38,667
for France only.

1182
01:32:47,960 --> 01:32:51,595
The C-minor nocturne and the fourth ballade

1183
01:32:51,605 --> 01:32:55,064
are probably his two darkest pieces,

1184
01:32:55,074 --> 01:32:56,618
and I have loved this music so much

1185
01:32:56,628 --> 01:32:59,915
since I was 11 and first heard this.

1186
01:32:59,925 --> 01:33:03,574
Chopin feels different,
Chopin is so enigmatic,

1187
01:33:03,584 --> 01:33:05,222
you know, there will be passages,

1188
01:33:05,232 --> 01:33:08,325
there are like improvisations in a salon

1189
01:33:08,335 --> 01:33:09,527
and in the next one,

1190
01:33:09,537 --> 01:33:13,768
there is a turn which is
so existential and so deep

1191
01:33:13,778 --> 01:33:17,636
and gives harmony which
is so full of suffering.

1192
01:33:17,646 --> 01:33:21,813
This music is really full
of suffering, unbelievable.

1193
01:33:23,639 --> 01:33:26,130
I find I have to step back sometimes

1194
01:33:26,140 --> 01:33:27,386
when I'm performing it

1195
01:33:27,396 --> 01:33:29,487
because I get too involved emotionally.

1196
01:33:29,497 --> 01:33:31,563
It can be dangerous, you know.

1197
01:33:31,573 --> 01:33:35,382
You're not a good actor if you
get too much into your role.

1198
01:33:35,392 --> 01:33:38,679
I'm more a classical person
than a romantic person,

1199
01:33:38,689 --> 01:33:41,503
and I think that's the whole difference.

1200
01:33:41,513 --> 01:33:44,759
Sometimes if it's is highly romantic music,

1201
01:33:44,769 --> 01:33:46,761
it gets for me a little bit too personal

1202
01:33:46,771 --> 01:33:48,462
and I just like a little distance

1203
01:33:48,472 --> 01:33:50,777
between myself and the composer.

1204
01:33:50,787 --> 01:33:52,870
I feel more at ease than,

1205
01:33:54,232 --> 01:33:56,969
I feel an intruder when
I play Chopin's music.

1206
01:33:56,979 --> 01:33:58,253
I think I shouldn't be there,

1207
01:33:58,263 --> 01:33:59,770
he should be sitting there
playing his own music.

1208
01:33:59,780 --> 01:34:02,608
It's not meant to be played by others.

1209
01:34:02,618 --> 01:34:05,031
It's too personal for me.

1210
01:34:12,902 --> 01:34:15,961
I think Chopin just
wrote the music for himself

1211
01:34:15,971 --> 01:34:19,645
and maybe not even to be
heard by somebody else,

1212
01:34:19,655 --> 01:34:22,281
maybe by some very intimate friends,

1213
01:34:22,291 --> 01:34:24,482
George Sand, maybe Delacroix,

1214
01:34:24,492 --> 01:34:28,817
these people who were
part of his inner circle,

1215
01:34:28,827 --> 01:34:32,624
but I think he wasn't someone
who liked to sit onstage

1216
01:34:32,634 --> 01:34:36,132
and play in front of an enormous audience.

1217
01:34:36,142 --> 01:34:39,553
It was often too painful for
him and too embarrassing.

1218
01:34:39,563 --> 01:34:43,722
I think he was a very
shy and private person,

1219
01:34:43,732 --> 01:34:46,649
and you can hear that in the music.

1220
01:35:07,626 --> 01:35:10,314
It's such a sensual
feeling to play his music.

1221
01:35:10,324 --> 01:35:12,243
You know, if you play like this waltz.

1222
01:35:27,972 --> 01:35:31,305
This is all about caressing the keyboard

1223
01:35:32,193 --> 01:35:33,847
and about the movement,

1224
01:35:33,857 --> 01:35:36,357
how the hand can tell a story.

1225
01:35:37,315 --> 01:35:40,142
It's unbelievably
well-written for the piano

1226
01:35:40,152 --> 01:35:43,235
and with an understanding of anatomy.

1227
01:35:45,996 --> 01:35:48,744
He was just a unique man.

1228
01:35:48,754 --> 01:35:53,315
If you compare Chopin to
other romantic piano composers,

1229
01:35:53,325 --> 01:35:56,687
I think his music is extremely difficult.

1230
01:35:56,697 --> 01:35:58,689
It's virtuoso in a good sense.

1231
01:35:58,699 --> 01:36:02,699
I mean, it's not virtuosity
in order to show off

1232
01:36:04,075 --> 01:36:05,121
to your audience.

1233
01:36:05,131 --> 01:36:06,860
I think when Chopin wants to show off,

1234
01:36:06,870 --> 01:36:10,356
he does it in the very
quiet, very soft pieces

1235
01:36:10,366 --> 01:36:12,086
like the nocturne or the Berceuse.

1236
01:36:12,096 --> 01:36:15,643
It's showing off his sort of velvety touch,

1237
01:36:15,653 --> 01:36:18,016
the way he can make a piano sound

1238
01:36:18,026 --> 01:36:20,783
that no other pianist could do.

1239
01:36:20,793 --> 01:36:25,463
I think that's much more
his look at or listen to me,

1240
01:36:25,473 --> 01:36:26,858
how soft I can play,

1241
01:36:26,868 --> 01:36:29,803
rather than listen to
me how fast I can play.

1242
01:36:29,813 --> 01:36:32,764
I think he wasn't bothered by virtuosity.

1243
01:36:32,774 --> 01:36:34,405
Sometimes when the music asks for it,

1244
01:36:34,415 --> 01:36:37,296
when it's a pure musical reason,

1245
01:36:37,306 --> 01:36:40,166
then he can write extremely difficult,

1246
01:36:40,176 --> 01:36:44,343
but it's never to show off,
it's just when it's needed.

1247
01:37:30,750 --> 01:37:33,477
And then what happens is basically

1248
01:37:33,487 --> 01:37:35,280
it's quite a radical piece in a sense

1249
01:37:35,290 --> 01:37:38,018
because I don't know
if I know another piece

1250
01:37:38,028 --> 01:37:40,887
where sort of the bass
line stays really slow,

1251
01:37:40,897 --> 01:37:44,855
consequently the same,
up to nearly the end,

1252
01:37:44,865 --> 01:37:48,588
and it's all a variation
on that simple line,

1253
01:37:48,598 --> 01:37:50,728
actually technically quite demanding.

1254
01:37:50,738 --> 01:37:53,071
I find it quite hard to play

1255
01:37:55,026 --> 01:37:59,193
because he changes pattern
every two bars basically,

1256
01:38:00,088 --> 01:38:04,505
but the sentiment is
supposed to remain the same,

1257
01:38:04,515 --> 01:38:08,432
of this comforting sort
of dreaming away state.

1258
01:38:59,319 --> 01:39:02,319
The key thing is the singing quality

1259
01:39:05,538 --> 01:39:08,038
and the slight needles of pain

1260
01:39:11,410 --> 01:39:13,660
that are in the cantilenas,

1261
01:39:16,032 --> 01:39:20,585
and that we should really
always try to bring out,

1262
01:39:20,595 --> 01:39:24,020
and it's very hard to find the tone quality

1263
01:39:24,030 --> 01:39:25,398
in the Berceuse for

1264
01:39:27,859 --> 01:39:31,776
of this melody as opposed
to the accompaniment.

1265
01:39:40,322 --> 01:39:44,015
How much light do we add to the right hand,

1266
01:39:44,025 --> 01:39:48,192
as opposed to this gentle
rocking sound in the left hand,

1267
01:39:49,848 --> 01:39:52,228
and how much do we make it a line,

1268
01:39:52,238 --> 01:39:54,617
do we form it into a phrase,

1269
01:39:54,627 --> 01:39:57,738
how much do we let it simply happen?

1270
01:39:57,748 --> 01:40:01,767
Those are all the questions
that need to be decided

1271
01:40:01,777 --> 01:40:03,657
and it changes also every time.

1272
01:40:03,667 --> 01:40:08,250
That's also something that
I find very attractive

1273
01:40:08,260 --> 01:40:10,010
about Chopin's music.

1274
01:40:10,972 --> 01:40:13,211
There is a certain sense of improvisation.

1275
01:40:13,221 --> 01:40:14,393
It's written music,

1276
01:40:14,403 --> 01:40:18,570
but there's a sense of this
comes to me in the moment.

1277
01:40:20,369 --> 01:40:22,733
Winters in Paris were spent teaching,

1278
01:40:22,743 --> 01:40:27,506
socializing, composing,
but very rarely performing.

1279
01:40:27,516 --> 01:40:29,822
Publishing brought in extra money,

1280
01:40:29,832 --> 01:40:33,270
enough to dress well,
be transported in style,

1281
01:40:33,280 --> 01:40:36,113
to dine out, and live comfortably.

1282
01:40:37,534 --> 01:40:41,701
His relationship with George
Sand seemed comfortable too.

1283
01:40:42,916 --> 01:40:46,227
Dear George, how are you?

1284
01:40:46,237 --> 01:40:48,020
Here I am in Paris.

1285
01:40:48,030 --> 01:40:49,451
I have seen Delacroix.

1286
01:40:49,461 --> 01:40:51,287
We talked for 2 1/2 hours of music,

1287
01:40:51,297 --> 01:40:54,769
of painting, and especially of you.

1288
01:40:54,779 --> 01:40:57,007
Friday I shall be with you.

1289
01:40:57,017 --> 01:40:58,974
Here is a leaf from your garden.

1290
01:40:58,984 --> 01:41:01,935
I will say nothing more
except that I am well

1291
01:41:01,945 --> 01:41:05,028
and I am your most fossilized fossil.

1292
01:41:17,357 --> 01:41:19,607
Nohant, 20th of July, 1845.

1293
01:41:21,486 --> 01:41:25,153
Dear family, I was not
made for the country,

1294
01:41:26,409 --> 01:41:29,513
though fresh air is good for me.

1295
01:41:29,523 --> 01:41:33,628
I don't play much, as
my piano is out of tune.

1296
01:41:33,638 --> 01:41:36,033
I'm always with one foot among you,

1297
01:41:36,043 --> 01:41:37,309
with the other in the next room

1298
01:41:37,319 --> 01:41:40,047
where the lady of the house works.

1299
01:41:40,057 --> 01:41:41,966
I have written three new mazurkas,

1300
01:41:41,976 --> 01:41:45,226
which will probably come out in Berlin.

1301
01:41:51,543 --> 01:41:54,043
Nohant, 11th of October, 1846.

1302
01:41:55,820 --> 01:41:58,409
Dear family, no doubt you are

1303
01:41:58,419 --> 01:42:00,946
already back from your holiday.

1304
01:42:00,956 --> 01:42:04,579
Here we have had such a beautiful summer.

1305
01:42:04,589 --> 01:42:08,523
Yesterday the lady of the
house made jam from grapes.

1306
01:42:08,533 --> 01:42:10,176
The whole summer has been spent here

1307
01:42:10,186 --> 01:42:13,497
on various drives and excursions.

1308
01:42:13,507 --> 01:42:15,289
I was not that involved,

1309
01:42:15,299 --> 01:42:19,683
for these things tire me
more than they're worth.

1310
01:42:19,693 --> 01:42:21,924
I am so weary, so depressed

1311
01:42:21,934 --> 01:42:23,614
that it reacts on the mood of the others,

1312
01:42:23,624 --> 01:42:27,791
and the young folk enjoy
things better without me.

1313
01:42:30,330 --> 01:42:32,845
Among other news, you have probably heard

1314
01:42:32,855 --> 01:42:35,477
of Monsieur Le Verrier
of the Paris Observatory

1315
01:42:35,487 --> 01:42:38,228
and his discovery of a new planet.

1316
01:42:38,238 --> 01:42:40,104
What a triumph of science,

1317
01:42:40,114 --> 01:42:42,258
to be able to arrive at such a discovery

1318
01:42:42,268 --> 01:42:44,226
by means of calculation.

1319
01:42:44,236 --> 01:42:47,698
Its name is to be Le Verrier, or Janus,

1320
01:42:47,708 --> 01:42:50,732
though Le Verrier himself prefers Neptune.

1321
01:42:50,742 --> 01:42:52,485
I have new works.

1322
01:42:52,495 --> 01:42:54,685
I'm not sure they are
as good as in the past,

1323
01:42:54,695 --> 01:42:56,158
but time will tell.

1324
01:42:56,168 --> 01:42:58,687
When one does a thing it appears good.

1325
01:42:58,697 --> 01:43:00,940
Otherwise one would not write it.

1326
01:43:14,215 --> 01:43:15,798
Paris, April, 1847.

1327
01:43:17,489 --> 01:43:21,094
Dear family, Solange is
not to be married yet.

1328
01:43:21,104 --> 01:43:23,418
After they had arrived
here for the contract,

1329
01:43:23,428 --> 01:43:25,558
she changed her mind.

1330
01:43:25,568 --> 01:43:28,928
I am sorry about it and sorry for the boy.

1331
01:43:28,938 --> 01:43:31,129
You asked what I shall do this summer.

1332
01:43:31,139 --> 01:43:32,819
Just the same as always.

1333
01:43:32,829 --> 01:43:34,949
I shall go to Nohant as soon as it is warm

1334
01:43:34,959 --> 01:43:36,973
and meanwhile I shall stay here

1335
01:43:36,983 --> 01:43:39,150
and give a lot of lessons.

1336
01:43:45,364 --> 01:43:48,633
In 1847, the complicated relationship

1337
01:43:48,643 --> 01:43:51,785
with George Sand finally ended.

1338
01:43:51,795 --> 01:43:54,543
It had already turned platonic,

1339
01:43:54,553 --> 01:43:58,114
more nurse and patient than two lovers.

1340
01:43:58,124 --> 01:43:59,965
Tensions finally boiled over

1341
01:43:59,975 --> 01:44:04,643
when Chopin took the side of
Solange against her mother.

1342
01:44:04,653 --> 01:44:06,236
All contact ceased.

1343
01:44:14,589 --> 01:44:16,994
Christmas, 1847.

1344
01:44:17,004 --> 01:44:20,500
Dear sister, George is a strange creature

1345
01:44:20,510 --> 01:44:22,342
for all her intellect.

1346
01:44:22,352 --> 01:44:26,148
She longs to find something
against those who care for her.

1347
01:44:26,158 --> 01:44:28,838
She will not come to Paris this winter.

1348
01:44:28,848 --> 01:44:32,765
What has been and no
longer is leaves no trace.

1349
01:44:37,764 --> 01:44:42,020
1848, revolution rolled over Europe

1350
01:44:42,030 --> 01:44:44,437
and broke out in Paris.

1351
01:44:44,447 --> 01:44:47,359
Chopin accepted an offer
from a Scottish student,

1352
01:44:47,369 --> 01:44:49,972
Jane Stirling, to escape the bloodshed

1353
01:44:49,982 --> 01:44:52,188
and earn some much-needed money

1354
01:44:52,198 --> 01:44:55,448
by sailing to Britain to give concerts.

1355
01:45:03,712 --> 01:45:06,195
6th of May, 1848.

1356
01:45:06,205 --> 01:45:10,347
I am installed in the abyss
that is called London.

1357
01:45:10,357 --> 01:45:14,192
Erard was very courteous and
placed a piano at my disposal.

1358
01:45:14,202 --> 01:45:16,254
I have also one instrument of Broadwood

1359
01:45:16,264 --> 01:45:18,755
and one of Pleyel, three in a row,

1360
01:45:18,765 --> 01:45:19,999
but what is the use

1361
01:45:20,009 --> 01:45:21,903
when I have not the time to play on them.

1362
01:45:21,913 --> 01:45:23,721
I have innumerable visits to play

1363
01:45:23,731 --> 01:45:27,179
and my days flash past like lightning.

1364
01:45:27,189 --> 01:45:30,067
I have been asked to
play in the Philharmonic,

1365
01:45:30,077 --> 01:45:32,022
but don't want to play there.

1366
01:45:32,032 --> 01:45:34,000
The orchestra is like their roast beef

1367
01:45:34,010 --> 01:45:35,506
or their turtle soup,

1368
01:45:35,516 --> 01:45:39,166
excellent, strong, but nothing more.

1369
01:45:39,176 --> 01:45:43,009
There is only one rehearsal
and that's public.

1370
01:45:44,621 --> 01:45:47,426
We know that in Chopin's
professional adult life

1371
01:45:47,436 --> 01:45:49,782
he only gave 30 concerts,

1372
01:45:49,792 --> 01:45:51,999
and most of those
concerts were for a public

1373
01:45:52,009 --> 01:45:53,749
of less than 300 people,

1374
01:45:53,759 --> 01:45:56,015
which would be something that
would be unheard of today.

1375
01:45:56,025 --> 01:45:58,092
That would be a small little concert,

1376
01:45:58,102 --> 01:46:01,651
but we also know that for a
good many of those concerts

1377
01:46:01,661 --> 01:46:04,704
George Sand and her friends had to buy up

1378
01:46:04,714 --> 01:46:05,904
a number of the tickets

1379
01:46:05,914 --> 01:46:08,123
and hand them out secretly to friends

1380
01:46:08,133 --> 01:46:10,641
because Chopin couldn't
fill a hall on his own.

1381
01:46:10,651 --> 01:46:12,671
He wasn't the kind of marquis name

1382
01:46:12,681 --> 01:46:15,993
that Franz Liszt was or perhaps Kalkbrenner

1383
01:46:16,003 --> 01:46:17,609
or any of these other characters,

1384
01:46:17,619 --> 01:46:20,820
the asses and virtuosi
of Paris, as he said,

1385
01:46:20,830 --> 01:46:24,330
but he also didn't like to play in public.

1386
01:46:25,262 --> 01:46:27,974
He believed that the
only way to make real art

1387
01:46:27,984 --> 01:46:30,864
was to actually be in a salon
with four or five people,

1388
01:46:30,874 --> 01:46:35,175
each really listening and the
artist communing with God,

1389
01:46:35,185 --> 01:46:37,064
and that was the way to create art.

1390
01:46:37,074 --> 01:46:41,580
He said, "In a hall with
people in the front row,

1391
01:46:41,590 --> 01:46:44,541
"ugly monsters breathing at you

1392
01:46:44,551 --> 01:46:46,955
"as if they are going to eat you alive."

1393
01:46:46,965 --> 01:46:49,516
He said, "How can you
possibly make art that way?

1394
01:46:49,526 --> 01:46:51,026
"Simply not done."

1395
01:46:53,072 --> 01:46:57,705
London, 2nd of June, 1848.

1396
01:46:57,715 --> 01:47:01,269
If I could have a few days
without blood-spitting,

1397
01:47:01,279 --> 01:47:03,133
if I were younger,

1398
01:47:03,143 --> 01:47:06,143
I might be able to start life again.

1399
01:47:10,795 --> 01:47:12,378
London, July, 1848.

1400
01:47:14,105 --> 01:47:17,522
I am depressed, I can't find any comfort.

1401
01:47:18,471 --> 01:47:20,565
I have worn out all feeling.

1402
01:47:20,575 --> 01:47:24,242
I only vegetate and
wait for it to end soon.

1403
01:47:25,714 --> 01:47:26,797
August, 1848.

1404
01:47:28,191 --> 01:47:30,067
I left London a few days ago

1405
01:47:30,077 --> 01:47:32,842
and made the journey to
Edinburgh in 12 hours.

1406
01:47:32,852 --> 01:47:34,984
I have given two musical matinees

1407
01:47:34,994 --> 01:47:37,393
which people apparently enjoyed.

1408
01:47:37,403 --> 01:47:41,570
This doesn't prevent my
having been equally bored.

1409
01:47:44,818 --> 01:47:48,739
The population here is ugly
but apparently good-natured.

1410
01:47:48,749 --> 01:47:52,416
On the other hand, the
cows are magnificent.

1411
01:47:53,476 --> 01:47:56,059
Scotland, 1st of October, 1848.

1412
01:47:57,806 --> 01:48:01,974
Dear friend, until 2 p.m.
I am fit for nothing,

1413
01:48:01,984 --> 01:48:04,366
and then when I dress,
everything strains me,

1414
01:48:04,376 --> 01:48:07,226
and I gasp that way till dinnertime.

1415
01:48:07,236 --> 01:48:09,559
Afterwards one has to
sit two hours at table

1416
01:48:09,569 --> 01:48:11,892
with the men, look at them talking

1417
01:48:11,902 --> 01:48:13,626
and listen to them thinking.

1418
01:48:13,636 --> 01:48:15,867
I am bored to death.

1419
01:48:15,877 --> 01:48:19,256
Then my good Daniel
carries me up to my bedroom

1420
01:48:19,266 --> 01:48:22,183
and I am free to dream and breathe.

1421
01:48:24,604 --> 01:48:26,437
London, October, 1848.

1422
01:48:27,528 --> 01:48:30,130
I have been ill the last 18 days,

1423
01:48:30,140 --> 01:48:31,979
ever since I reached London.

1424
01:48:31,989 --> 01:48:34,739
I have not left the house at all.

1425
01:48:35,832 --> 01:48:39,219
I have had such a cold and such headaches,

1426
01:48:39,229 --> 01:48:42,416
short breath, and all my bad symptoms.

1427
01:48:42,426 --> 01:48:45,192
My head is very painful.

1428
01:48:45,202 --> 01:48:47,560
Why should God kill me this way,

1429
01:48:47,570 --> 01:48:50,320
not at once but little by little?

1430
01:48:52,278 --> 01:48:54,195
London, November, 1848.

1431
01:48:55,074 --> 01:48:57,520
Even if I could fall in love with someone,

1432
01:48:57,530 --> 01:49:01,002
as I should be glad to do,
still I would not marry.

1433
01:49:01,012 --> 01:49:03,857
We would have nothing to
eat and nowhere to live,

1434
01:49:03,867 --> 01:49:06,297
and a rich woman expects a rich man,

1435
01:49:06,307 --> 01:49:09,693
or if a poor man, at
least not a sickly one,

1436
01:49:09,703 --> 01:49:13,140
but one who is young and handsome.

1437
01:49:13,150 --> 01:49:16,150
Meanwhile what has become of my art?

1438
01:49:19,748 --> 01:49:22,847
Chopin returned to a calmer Paris.

1439
01:49:22,857 --> 01:49:25,647
The winter proved long and sickly.

1440
01:49:25,657 --> 01:49:29,490
Only the return of summer
could ease his pain.

1441
01:49:33,873 --> 01:49:37,344
Paris, 18th of June, 1849.

1442
01:49:37,354 --> 01:49:40,044
I am stronger, for I have been eating

1443
01:49:40,054 --> 01:49:42,230
and have dropped the medicine,

1444
01:49:42,240 --> 01:49:45,192
but I gasp and cough just the same,

1445
01:49:45,202 --> 01:49:47,035
only I bear it better.

1446
01:49:47,927 --> 01:49:50,204
I have not yet begun to play.

1447
01:49:50,214 --> 01:49:51,547
I can't compose.

1448
01:49:53,437 --> 01:49:54,520
22nd of June.

1449
01:49:55,937 --> 01:49:58,897
I had two hemorrhages last night.

1450
01:49:58,907 --> 01:50:00,407
I just spit blood.

1451
01:50:03,683 --> 01:50:05,183
17th of September.

1452
01:50:06,171 --> 01:50:09,076
I am not to travel but to take
a lodging with south windows

1453
01:50:09,086 --> 01:50:10,715
and stay in Paris.

1454
01:50:10,725 --> 01:50:11,837
After much searching,

1455
01:50:11,847 --> 01:50:13,377
one has been found for me at last,

1456
01:50:13,387 --> 01:50:15,946
very expensive, 'tis true,

1457
01:50:15,956 --> 01:50:18,579
Place Vendome number 12.

1458
01:50:18,589 --> 01:50:20,536
My sister, who has come from Poland,

1459
01:50:20,546 --> 01:50:22,162
will remain with me,

1460
01:50:22,172 --> 01:50:26,142
unless she shall be urgently
sent for to go home.

1461
01:50:26,152 --> 01:50:29,985
I am ready to faint from
fatigue and weakness.

1462
01:50:32,594 --> 01:50:36,630
As this next cough will no doubt kill me,

1463
01:50:36,640 --> 01:50:40,362
I implore you to have my body cut open

1464
01:50:40,372 --> 01:50:43,205
so that I may not be buried alive.

1465
01:50:45,661 --> 01:50:49,369
On October the 17th, 1849,

1466
01:50:49,379 --> 01:50:51,129
Frederic Chopin died.

1467
01:50:52,999 --> 01:50:54,874
He was just 39.

1468
01:50:54,884 --> 01:50:59,051
()

1469
01:51:02,927 --> 01:51:07,456
His sister, Ludwika, was with
him, as were a few friends.

1470
01:51:07,466 --> 01:51:09,432
Solange was there.

1471
01:51:09,442 --> 01:51:11,109
George Sand was not.

1472
01:51:13,004 --> 01:51:15,990
A mass was held at the
Church of the Madeleine.

1473
01:51:16,000 --> 01:51:17,832
It's believed that Chopin requested

1474
01:51:17,842 --> 01:51:19,675
the requiem by Mozart.

1475
01:51:22,968 --> 01:51:26,802
A few days later, Ludwika
returned to Warsaw.

1476
01:51:26,812 --> 01:51:31,491
She carried a small urn that
contained her brother's heart.

1477
01:51:31,501 --> 01:51:34,401
It was placed in the
Church of the Holy Cross

1478
01:51:34,411 --> 01:51:36,889
within sight of the streets and apartments

1479
01:51:36,899 --> 01:51:41,066
where, as a child, he had
first taken up the piano.

1480
01:51:43,235 --> 01:51:46,318
For the Poles, he is a national hero.

1481
01:52:01,074 --> 01:52:05,241
For music, he is one of the
greatest composers of all time.