Eternal Sonata

(Raindrops)

George Sand. It is impossible to tell the story of Chopin’s life without the mention of this woman. George Sand was an extremely famous author in Paris who had already published numerous books. Her real name was Aurore Dudevant. George Sand was her pseudonym.

From 1838, Chopin would share his life with her for a long period, but when they first met, he commented to a friend, “Is that really a woman?” Sand was a somewhat masculine woman who wore pants and smoked cigars in public. Even her pseudonym, “George Sand,” was masculine.

She was unswayed by society’s mores and expressed herself unabashedly. The romance novels she wrote were extremely popular. Of course Chopin himself was also famous as a pianist in Paris by this time. The relationship between the genius pianist and the popular author must surely have been the talk of the town.

At the time, Chopin was not in the best of health, and perhaps the attention paid to them by society aggravated his condition. During this time, Sand took Chopin to the Spanish island of Mallorca to allow him to rest. To avoid attention, they left Paris separately and rendezvoused at a village near the border.

They found a place to live on Mallorca, and Chopin lived a happy life amongst the palm trees, orange trees, and pomegranates. Chopin’s health appeared to be improving, but the island entered its rainy season and the warm weather vanished. Chopin caught a cold that eventually led to a relapse of his tuberculosis symptoms.

At the time, tuberculosis was a terminal illness, and Chopin and Sand’s landlord evicted them, fearing contagion. After being forced from their home in December of 1838, Chopin and Sand arrived at the Valldemossa monastery. And rain continued to fall outside…

The sound of falling rain continued incessantly. The simple sound of raindrops, blended together to form a dreary rhythm. It was under these circumstances that this song is said to have been born in a room in Valldemossa. A work created by Chopin age twenty-nine. The journey to find rest ironically resulted in the worsening of Chopin’s health.

But George Sand devotedly stayed by Chopin’s side, never fearing infection. There is little doubt that she was an invaluable source of comfort for Chopin.

(Revolution)

On November 29th, 1830, an insurrection occurred in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It was the November Uprising. At the time, most of Poland was Russian territory, and the desire for independence had been growing.

About four weeks before the insurgence, on November 2nd, Chopin left the increasingly dangerous Warsaw and headed for Vienna. It is said that Chopin's friends encouraged him to leave the country, because they knew rebellion was certain. But Chopin was unaware of this, and his trip had been planned many months in advance.

Chopin was unusually talented, as well as physically weak, so his friends wanted him to use the piano as a weapon to fight for Poland. On November 23rd, approximately twenty days later, Chopin arrived in Vienna. And six days after that, the insurrection in Warsaw started. It went on for almost a year. Then, on September 8th, 1831, Warsaw fell. Ten months of fighting had ended in defeat.

Chopin, then age twenty-one, learned of the insurrection's failure while in Stuttgart, Germany. The feelings with which he played the piano at this time took the form of this composition. "The Revolutionary Etude."

To Chopin, who genuinely loved his homeland of Poland, the insurrection's failure was difficult to bear. But perhaps he found it even more difficult to bear the fact that he was safe in a foreign country. Chopin would never set foot in his native land again.

(Fantaisie-Impromptu)

This is a beautifully flowing melody in C-sharp minor composed around 1835. Despite its beauty and fantasy--true to its name--Chopin did not intend to release this piece to the public. In fact, it's possible that he had asked his friend, Julian Fontana, to burn the score after his death.

It is said that the reason for this was that it resembled Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Chopin might have been aware of that fact and refrained from publishing the piece to avoid such criticism.

But six years after Chopin's death, it was published by Julian Fontana as opus 66. This must have been a difficult decision for Fontana to make. He probably spent a great deal of time worrying if it was best to respect the wished of his friend, or if it was right for him to keep this masterpiece from the rest of the world.

In any case, we should be grateful for Fontana's decision. If he had not published that score, we who live in the present day would never have been able to immerse ourselves in this wonderful world of fantasy.

There might have been other compositions that were threatened with destruction just like this one. Though Chopin's request might have seemed reasonable at the time, we should consider ourselves fortunate that pieces like Fantaisie-Impromptu were spared.

(Grande Valse Brillante)

This is a work composed in 1833, when Chopin was twenty-three years old. In Chopin's homeland of Poland, the insurrection that started in Warsaw in 1830, had ended in defeat.

At this time, Chopin was in Paris, and a strong supporter of Poland. In our discussion of "The Revolutionary Etude," we learned that Chopin received the news of the fall of Warsaw, while en route to Vienna, in Stuttgart, Germany. This song was composed after Chopin had left Vienna to live in Paris.

At the time, Austria was opposed to Polish independence. It was partly because Austria was one of the nations that had divided up Poland, but also because they feared the uprising would spread to Austria. Because of this, living in Vienna had been difficult for the Polish Chopin.

In Vienna, waltzes designed for dancing were in fashion. This piece, while unquestionably a masterpiece, is something of a contrast to Chopin's other works. It seems to reflect the atmosphere in Vienna at that time. Though it was probably not meant to be danced to.

In order for the Polish Chopin to live in the adverse winds of that time, he may have made an effort to be popular.  Chopin appeared at salons and dinner parties, performing music for small audiences.  It is said that after these performances, Chopin returned to his room and played his piano furiously.

He must have felt a frustrating anger towards himself, forced to suppress his true feelings, put on a mask, and perform music to please people.  In contrast to the cheerful style of this piece.  Chopin's heart was most likely not nearly as high-spirited

(Nocturne)

This is a work that was composed around 1830, when Chopin was twenty years old.  In November of this year, the November Uprising took place in Warsaw, and Chopin left the country just before the chaos.  This piece might have been one Chopin composed prior to that, while he was still in Warsaw.

Chopin himself escaped the first of the November Uprising because he was in Austria.  But may of this family members and friends remained in the chaos of Warsaw.

As a Pol, Chopin has wanted to fight together with them and was frustrated at his inability to do so.  It is hard to imagine that Chopin could have written so sweet a melody while experiencing such emotions.

From this composition we feel something that conjures an image of Chopin’s heart, peaceful and fulfilled.  Perhaps the reason for that lay with Konstancja Gladkowaska, a woman for whom Chopin had a secret affection.

Konstancja attended the same music school as Chopin and was training to become a singer.  Chopin was unable to confess his love for her and spend nearly a year feeling this unrequited love.  The two of them suddenly grew close just before Chopin left Warsaw.

They performed a piece together from Rossini's musical "La Donna del Lago" to great success.  Konstancja's voice blended with Chopin’s piano and reverberated through the concert hall.  It must have given Chopin a feeling of connection to Konstancja as well as a dream like experience that he never wanted to end.

Chopin is called the "poet of the piano".  But if we look inside his heart, he was just a normal twenty year old young man.  Perhaps Chopin was simply more skilled at expressing his true feelings through the piano.

(Tristesse)

In 1832, the year after the fall of Warsaw, Chopin was in Paris.  At the time, France was friendly toward Poland and was the only country that openly welcomed exiles from Poland.  For that reason Paris was filled with Polish refugees.

Meanwhile, back in Poland, the leaders and central figures of the insurrection were judged in court without being present and sentenced to death.  With the rebel forces defeated, it was now certain that Chopin could not return to his mother country.  This melancholy melody portrays both his homesickness and eternal farewell to his homeland.

But why could he never return?  Chopin left Poland before the insurrection and was outside the country the entire time it took place.  In other words, he had a perfect alibi proving that he had not been involved.  In spite of that, Chopin never returned to Poland.  The key to this mystery lies in Chopin's patriotism.

It is likely that he had felt the same feelings as the rebels even though he had not been able to participate in the fighting.  He probably felt guilty about having been living safely in foreign countries.  Chopin became a political refugee of this own choosing and burned his bridges behind him.

In so doing he probably wanted to demonstrate that he was a comrade to the rebels and shared their feelings.  To Chopin who loved Poland, the decision not to return to his home must have been a painful one.  But it was because he loved Poland that he decided not to return to it.

The twenty-two-year-old Chopin may have composed this song as a way to burn his homeland into his heart.  It is rumored that Chopin himself said, "In my entire life, I have never written another melody as beautiful".

Perhaps these words speak of the view from the village of Zelazowa Wola, the place where he was born.

(Heroic)

The word polonaise means “Polish.” In other words, the hero Polonaise represents the greatness of Poland. Chopin composed this piece in 1842 at the age of thirty-two, seven years before his death.

During this period, Chopin's tuberculosis flared up and he was sometimes overcome by fierce coughing and forced into bed for weeks at a time. It was amidst these difficulties that this great composition in praise of his homeland was born.

Majestic, strong, and proud. Unabashedly bold. The courage of his comrades who had bound together. The unwavering faith of the Polish people. The pride Chopin felt for the country of his birth could be expressed in no grander or more heroic music than this.

In central France, about two hundred miles south of Paris, in the province of Berry, lies a village called Nohant. The pastoral landscape that spreads across the land there resembled the village of Zelazowa Wola, where Chopin had been born.

When he left Mallorca and returned to France through Marseille, he was in very poor health. The atmosphere in Nohant gave him strength. On the outskirts of Nohant there lay a mansion. It was a relatively large stone building with a sparse outward appearance, that was purchased by Marie-Aurore Dupin, George Sand's grandmother.

Chopin and Sand spent the summer in that mansion in Nohant. Chopin was given a room on the second floor where he lived an idyllic life, never needing to worry about anything but his piano playing. By this time he had become a celebrity known to all, and in Paris was kept busy with social parties, performances, and lessons.

It was difficult for him to focus on composing while in Paris. But he lived a contented life away from all that in Nohant with Sand and her family. The power of Nohant temporarily staved off Chopin's terrible illness and revived the memories of his homeland.

And in that pleasant environment, he composed many famous pieces. It was there that this masterpiece was born. Perhaps it is a cumulation of the feelings that Chopin had for his homeland, but one can feel a kind of power and persuasiveness in this piece that is hard to imagine originating from a performance on a single piano.

It's almost as if one can feel the invisible power of the entire nation of Poland behind it. If one ever wondered just how proud Chopin was of his home country, this piece answers that question eloquently.