a member of
the Dresden orchestra, published his Friedrich Chopin: sein Leben, seine
Werke und seine Briefe (Dresden: F. Ries.--Translated into English by
E. Hill, under the title Frederick Chopin: "His Life, Letters, and Work,"
and published by William Reeves, London, in 1879). This was the first
serious attempt at a biography of Chopin. The author reproduced in
the book what had been brought to light in Polish magazines and other
publications regarding Chopin's life by various countrymen of the
composer, among whom he himself was not the least notable. But the most
valuable ingredients are, no doubt, the Chopin letters which the author
obtained from the composer's relatives, with whom he was acquainted.
While gratefully acknowledging his achievements, I must not omit to
indicate his shortcomings--his unchecked partiality for, and boundless
admiration of his hero; his uncritical acceptance and fanciful
embellishments of anecdotes and hearsays; and the extreme paucity of his
information concerning the period of Chopin's life which begins with
his settlement in Paris. In 1878 appeared a second edition of the work,
distinguished from the first by a few additions and many judicious
omissions, the original two volumes being reduced to one. But of more
importance than the second German edition is the first Polish edition,
"Fryderyk Chopin: Zycie, Listy, Dziela," two volumes (Warsaw: Gebethner
and Wolff, 1882), which contains a series of, till then, unpublished
letters from Chopin to Fontana. Of Madame A. Audley's short and readable
"Frederic Chopin, sa vie et ses oeuvres" (Paris: E. Plon et Cie., 1880),
I need only say that for the most part it follows Karasowski, and where
it does not is not always correct. Count Wodzinski's "Les trois Romans
de Frederic Chopin" (Paris: Calmann Levy, 1886)--according to the title
treating only of the composer's love for Constantia Gladkowska, Maria
Wodzinska, and George Sand, but in reality having a wider scope--cannot
be altogether ignored, though it is more of the nature of a novel than
of a biography. Mr. Joseph Bennett, who based his "Frederic Chopin" (one
of Novello's Primers of Musical Biography) on Liszt's and Karasowski's
works, had in the parts dealing with Great Britain the advantage of
notes by Mr. A.J. Hipkins, who inspired also, to some extent at least,
Mr. Hueffer in his essay Chopin ("Fortnightly Review," September, 1877;
and reprinted in "Musical Studies"--Edinburgh: A. & C.