Around Chopin
Three recent works dedicated to the Polish composer: a comparison with Liszt, a fictional diary and friendly links with a number of Parisian artists.
What more dissimilar personalities could there be than the reserved, modest Chopin, raised in aristocratic circles and quickly discovering his own musical language, and the exuberant, expansive Liszt, of modest extraction and lacking in education, whose pieces long resembled improvisations? Introverted, favoring the intimacy of a salon cenacle, the former mainly played his own perfectly balanced works, reflections of a rich inner life, a synthesis of lyricism and complex harmony; extroverted, promoter of the modern concert given in large halls, the latter never tired of publicizing the scores of his contemporaries, including Chopin, while his compositions were often inspired by extra-musical subjects (nature, literature or metaphysics). At the time of the Pole's death, the Hungarian was only halfway through his life, at a time when he was abandoning his career as a virtuoso-traveler and reaching creative maturity. In a work that forms a mirror portrait, Jean-Yves Clément exposes the differences and symmetries, the similarities and oppositions to be found in the biography and pianistic and compositional aesthetics of the two musicians, whose destinies frequently crossed.
A booklet by the same author, published by Le Passeur, takes the form of a fictitious diary, which Chopin could have written both as a cathartic retrospection of his generally disappointing stay on Mallorca, and as a reminder of the feelings behind the writing of his collection of 24 preludes Op.28, a mosaic of diverse moods. Also interwoven in 33 short chapters are numerous reflections and considerations on art, as well as an account of the journey from the damp chartreuse of Valldemossa to Georges Sand's Berrichon haven of Nohant, interspersed with long stopovers in Marseilles and Genoa. The style of this fictionalized account, based on real events, was modeled on that of the Polish composer's letters.
In a precious, concise book, complete with a booklet of hors-texte illustrations, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger reveals the friendly ties Chopin forged with Alkan, Delacroix, Pauline Viardot, the tenor Nourrit, the devoted cellist Franchomme and the publisher and builder of his favorite pianos, Camille Pleyel. Addressing a number of Chopinian themes (musical affinities and reticences, the relationship between song and piano, the influence of the cello on left-hand writing), the musicologist reveals many little-known aspects of the incomparable piano poet.
Jean-Ives Clément: Chopin and Liszt. La magnificence des contraires, 180 p., € 18.00, Editions Premières Loges, Paris 2021, ISBN 978-2-84385-388-3
Jean-Ives Clément: Le retour de Majorque. Diary of Frédéric Chopin, 168 p., € 7.90, Le Passeur Editeur, Paris 2022, ISBN 978-2-36890-989-8
Jean- Jacques Eigeldinger: Frédéric Chopin et ses amis musiciens français, 96 p., Fr. 35.00, Ditesheim & Maffei, Neuchâtel 2021, ISBN 978-2-8399-3306-.
