# Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times by Alan Walker



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Alan Walker's _Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times_ published last year is long but worthwhile. The book addresses myths and distortions about Chopin directly. I'm still reading it; so far I'll just mention one thing -- that Chopin's "French connection" was his father Nicolas who was born in Lorraine. This area of France had strong connections to members of the Polish aristocracy, who were apt to go there if their homeland was disrupted. Nicolas moved to Poland where he became a successful French teacher and administrator. With this background Fryderyk adapted to like in Paris having fled Poland after the unsuccessful 1830 revolution.

Should we start using Fryderyk rather than Frédéric? He spent nearly equal amounts of time in Poland and France.


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## Felix Mendelssohn (Jan 18, 2019)

I think both names would be fine. Chopin's professional career began in Paris after all, and he adapted to both spellings. Fryderyk would be a little more convenient than Frédéric though, regarding the accent marks.

The book is very interesting and dispels a lot of myths about the composer (I won't spoil it for you, since you are still reading it.) He doesn't hesitate to talk about the bad as well as the good in Chopin's personality. Also I like the musical analysis that comes with the biographical information. Some people tend to brush Chopin off as a mere composer of miniatures, incapable of large forms, but Walker shows how musically revolutionary Chopin was. 

I've read everything Alan Walker has written, including the three volumes on Liszt. Liszt's personality comes off very differently here though. In the previous volumes, Liszt was a gargantuan personality, creating ripples everywhere he went. However from Chopin's point of view, he probably found him musically incapable and shallow. It's kind of sad that Chopin didn't live to see Liszt mature as a composer.

Feel free to discuss more about the book!


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Definitely going to look for this one... Chopin is one of my favorite composers, and no doubt most of what I know of his life has probably been distorted by romantic mythologizing. Re: Fryderyk, isn't it true that after he took up residence in his adopted home of France, he never returned to Poland? Though it sounds like he longed for it like crazy and only avoided going home due to the revolutionary violence that had been going on, on and off, since he left. My orchestra director in high school was Polish, and she said when she first discovered Chopin's music as a kid she felt proud to have one of her compatriots to look up to as a composer, but that she lost interest after finding out that he was really "more French than Polish". I don't really agree with that, and it's true that he spent about an equal amount of time in Poland as in France, but yeah, from what I know he never went back I guess.


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## Guest (Feb 23, 2019)

The same Alan Walker who wrote the Liszt biographies? If so, I'm definitely getting this book. His attention to detail is amazing, without losing the big picture.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Felix Mendelssohn said:


> The book is very interesting and dispels a lot of myths about the composer (I won't spoil it for you, since you are still reading it.) He doesn't hesitate to talk about the bad as well as the good in Chopin's personality. Also I like the musical analysis that comes with the biographical information. Some people tend to brush Chopin off as a mere composer of miniatures, incapable of large forms, but Walker shows how musically revolutionary Chopin was.


Thanks for your interest! I'm 3/4 of the way through the book and don't worry about spoiling it! Your comments are spot on in my view. Correction: In my earlier post I said Chopin "fled" Poland, but actually he left before the revolution for an extended concert tour. Already a known supporter of Polish independence, he couldn't go back after the failed 1830 uprising. There's evidence that the Tsar's spies kept an eye on him.

Full disclosure: I have personal (though not recent) acquaintance with Alan Walker, a British writer, scholar and BBC classical music producer who came to Canada as Chair of the new music department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Many years ago I had a sabbatical replacement position in music theory there and became acquainted with Dr. Walker. He is a positive and encouraging gentleman with particular expertise in the Romantic period, who early on published books on music analysis and criticism. Reading the recent Chopin biography, whose "Life and Times" subtitle more than hints at a traditional approach to biography, I'll say it's refreshing to read a book of this type.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

flamencosketches said:


> My orchestra director in high school was Polish, and she said when she first discovered Chopin's music as a kid she felt proud to have one of her compatriots to look up to as a composer, but that she lost interest after finding out that he was really "more French than Polish".


Yes he never went back to Poland though he kept up-to-date with his family, and also through many Polish visitors to France. As for your high school director's comment, Chopin's adult life was French but his soul was Polish.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

HSW said:


> The same Alan Walker who wrote the Liszt biographies? If so, I'm definitely getting this book. His attention to detail is amazing, without losing the big picture.


Yes, the Liszt biographer. I agree with your comments. Also the book reads well and is set up with the relevant photos and musical quotations within the text -- thank God for word processing!


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## Felix Mendelssohn (Jan 18, 2019)

I've actually read biographies that claimed Chopin was politically indifferent. The fact that Chopin was a part of the Polish circle in Paris, and that he attended lectures about Polish literature makes it clear that such a notion was ridiculous.

I like how Alan Walker chooses his sources. Lots of biographies out there extensively cite George Sand's autobiography in order to create a picture of Chopin's Parisian years, often resulting in inaccuracies. However, Walker manages to give every source his careful scrutiny before presenting them to the readers. For instance, he questions the naming of the Preludes, as well as their time of creation. There are much more examples, but I can't think of any at this moment.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Felix Mendelssohn said:


> I like how Alan Walker chooses his sources.


I agree. For example, I think that Walker sums up well the case that the "erotic Delfina Potacka-Chopin correspondence" is fraudulent. But on the internet, erroneus sources continue to be cited and outright frauds kept alive.


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## Felix Mendelssohn (Jan 18, 2019)

Roger Knox said:


> But on the internet, erroneus sources continue to be cited and outright frauds kept alive.


There's this quote that is often attributed to Chopin, but is actually from the Delfina-Potocka letters.


> Bach is an astronomer, discovering the most marvellous stars. Beethoven challenges the universe. I only try to express the soul and the heart of man.


Anyone familiar with Chopin would know that he'd never claim himself to be above Bach (and maybe Beethoven). Moreover he really wasn't the type to wax lyrical about his opinions on music, unlike contemporaries like Schumann and Liszt. In one sense of the word, Chopin was the least romantic of the Romantics.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

I definitely find it interesting that Chopin is probably the most conservative of his generation, as a person and to a degree in musical form, yet the end result is that his music is perhaps the most personal of all of his contemporaries. And definitely in a way the most Romantic.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

flamencosketches said:


> I definitely find it interesting that Chopin is probably the most conservative of his generation, as a person and to a degree in musical form, yet the end result is that his music is perhaps the most personal of all of his contemporaries. And definitely in a way the most Romantic.


I agree that he is perhaps the most personal and Romantic of his contemporaries, possibly excepting Schumann -- and Chopin's personal voice is very distinctive. Walker makes a case that in the B-Flat Minor and B Minor Sonatas Chopin was an innovator in sonata form, in contrast to commentators who criticize those works for romantic content unsuited to the classical form.


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