The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-05-06
l.,

We CONT now to the George Sand affair.
the duration Of which seems extraordinary
when one learns that Chopin had disliked the
woman with the omhre eve" before he had
met her. M course. her reputation was not
good. although George Eliot. Matthew Arnold.
Elizabeth Barrett ROWING and some others
chose TO believe her an injured saint. They
alleged that the affair was not a haison. and.
perhaps. il was not in one sense. There are
several kinds of laisons, some more carral
and vulgar than others. Idealists may see
in the relation of the composer and the novelist
a union Of souls, but ~realists, OF whom there
was no lack in Paris from 1897 10 ls47. took a
different view of the matter. According to
the present biographer, the truth lies midway,
and he would pat IL As follows. Chopin, a
~neurotic being. met the polyandrous Sand. a
trampler on all the social and ethical standards
albeit a woman Of great gifts. Repellsd
at first, he gave way TO the ardent passion she
manifested toward him, She was the elder.
so could veil the situation with the maternal
mask. and she was the stronger and more
celebrated intellect, Chopin being only a pianist
in the eyes OF the many" At all events. by her
magnetism she won the man she desired.
Artistic Paris was full OF such relationships.
LASH DIOlS'lFu ~ UNIV " sou WV
bore him children. among the rest Cosima,
who was to marry successfully Won Bnlow and
Wagner. Balzac was ostensibly leading the
life Of n saint, but his best Informed biorrapher
tells a different story: eyen. the ascetic Flaubert
had a romance with Nine. Louise Colet that
lasted from is.s to 1854. Frederic Chopin
was comparatively a rigorous moralis': with the
exception of the Sand episode, his life was not
a., irroo,Ior oDa and ba triAd IN ,apao,l ,k.,
infa,uation from hi. parents, In Mr., Huneker's
opinion, the intimacy did the pair no harm
artistically. not withstapdins the sorrow and
heartburninss that attended its close. Chopin
needed some one to look after him. and in the
society Of the brilliant French woman he
,hrovc. His best achievements may be traced
10 Nohant and Msjorcn, where he was her COM
panion. She, on her side. profted as well
After the bitterness OF her separation from
Alfred de Musset. about 1893. she had been
lonely. for the Pdoslo ,niermsszo vas Of short
duration.
It is the present biographer's opinion that
George Sand left Chopin because she was bored
by him. In her love affairs she was always
the man. She treated Chopin rs a child. a toy.
used him for literary copy. and threw him over
after she had wrune all the emotional possibilities
OiI 81 me TfldllOUSHlD. III luD not DeleNP nny
more in tears. it Ia because I saw thee CRYING
exclaimed Chopin. She dominated the Polish
| composer al she had dominated Jules Sandeau.
| Calmatta. the mezzotinter; De Musset; Franz
List; Delacroix; Michel de Bourges and. later
F1aubert. There is no doubt that her old-age
affair with Flaubert was purely platonic. The
correspondence shows her to have been in this
case maternal" 70 the last,
Chopin met Sand nj a musical matinee in
1897. She was antipathetic to him, but her
technique for overcoming masculine coyness
was ~ mastery IN its way as was Chopin =
! proficiency AZ the keyboard. They were soon
seen together and everywhere. She was no,
musical in the sense Of being a trained NIL
sician, but her appreciation for all art forms
| being sNarthy and rather heavy-set in figure.
but our author quotes Edouard Grenier's de-
scription to show precisely tho impression
! she produced. She was short and stout, but
her face compelled my attention, the eyes es-
! pecially. They were wonderful eyes, n little
too close together. it may be, large with full
eyelids, black, very black, but by no means
l~u.trous: they reminded me Of polished marble.
or rather Of velvet, and this gave a strange.
dull. even cold expression TO her countenance.
Her fine eyebrows and thsee great placid eyes
gave her an air Of strength and dignity which
was not borne out By the lower paIt Of her face.