the latter dedicated his Op. 1,
and who died in 1814.]
Among the letters of introduction which Chopin brought with him
there was also one for Schuppanzigh, whose name is in musical history
indissolubly connected with those of Beethoven and Lichnowski. The
eminent quartet leader, although his quartet evenings were over, held
out to Chopin hopes of getting up another during his visitor's stay in
Vienna--he would do so, he said, if possible. To no one, however, either
professional or amateur, was Chopin so much indebted for guidance and
furtherance as to his old obliging friend Wurfel, who introduced him not
only to Count Gallenberg, Count Lichnowski, and Capellmeister Seyfried,
but to every one of his acquaintances who either was a man of influence
or took an interest in musical matters. Musicians whose personal
acquaintance Chopin said he was glad to make were: Gyrowetz, the author
of the concerto with which little Frederick made his debut in Warsaw at
the age of nine, an estimable artist, as already stated, who had the sad
misfortune to outlive his popularity; Capellmeister Seyfried, a prolific
but qualitatively poor composer, best known to our generation as the
editor of Albrechtsberger's theoretical works and Beethoven's studies;
Conradin Kreutzer, who had already distinguished himself as a virtuoso
on the clarinet and pianoforte, and as a conductor and composer, but had
not yet produced his "Nachtlager"; Franz Lachner, the friend of Franz
Schubert, then a young active conductor and rising composer, now one
of the most honoured veterans of his art. With Schuppanzigh's pupil
Mayseder, the prince of the Viennese violinists of that day, and indeed
one of the neatest, most graceful, and elegant, although somewhat cold,
players of his instrument, Chopin had a long conversation. The only
critical comments to be found in Chopin's letters on the musicians he
came in contact with in the Austrian capital refer to Czerny, with whom
he got well acquainted and often played duets for two pianos. Of him the
young Polish musician said, "He is a good man, but nothing more." And
after having bidden him farewell, he says, "Czerny was warmer than
all his compositions." However, it must not be supposed that Chopin's
musical acquaintances were confined to the male sex; among them there
was at least one belonging to the better and fairer half of humanity--a
pianist-composer, a maiden still in her teens, and clever and pretty
to boot, who
|