The sun., 1916-10-07

Frederic chopin. A Record" in the
Criterion October, 1901.
The stories are all translated into
German by Helene wiesenthal and APP
peared in various German publications.
The story Of Chopin. which Is writ
ten in the form of extracts from a diary.
was published in the Neme M~nsik-zeit-
uno. TIL editor. Oswald Kuhn, who
supposed the material to represent genu-
Inc extracts from n hitherto undiscov-
cred diary Of Chopin. sent them to Adolf
Chybinski. a young Polish musical
critic. to be edited for the Ncue Mustt-
2ei'mng. They appeared In the seventh
number of volume 2s January 3. 1907.
under the title Frederic Chopin's Tage-
buchblatter." with explanatory material
and notes by Chybinski.
CASTOR Knosp. n French musical critic.
translated the article from the Neuc
Musik-zeitun0 for the Guide Musical OF
Paris. And 1t was then retranslated
from the Guide Musical into German for
the BerHner Tdoebidtt and became n
subject OF general discussion in musical
and among the biographers of
Chopin. many OF whom agreed in believ-
Ing 1t to be a translation Of a genuine
Chopin document. Liechtentritt. the
musical critic and biographer OF Chopin.
wrote to Otto Lessmann: II ave ex-
amined the letters OF Chopin and con-
slider them absolutely genuine. The con-
tent as we'll as the style of expression
agree entirely with what I already knew
about the events concerned"
A controversy followed in Ger
man musical journals. A similar con-
troversy appears to have gone on among
musicians and critics In France. ! re-
ceived a letter from the secretary Of the
National Chopin Society asking me to
upnf MIN ~ npaaihlA "a rpnx. NJ tho A,V,nVi-
can magazine In which the diary frst
appeared, to be deposited in the records
OF the society.
The diary was published in Germany
with the following introduction
The dairy is of peculiar Importance
for its contribution to the question OF
Women In Chopin's Life" From the
earlier biographies of the master. for
example. We are not able TO learn at
how early a date tho Scotch lady Jane
Stirling. his distinguished benefactress.
first took piano lessons OF him. Her
name does not appear before the year
lSio-4l. From the diary we now know
That abe studied with him before the
year 1887, and indeed that she visited
him and George sand In 1895 in VALDEZ
mosa. on the island Of Majorca.
The Scotch lady was enamored OF her
teacher. but there was no trace of envy
In her heart she counted herself for
tunate merely In being permitted to re-
main near the master. She Is. in fact,
one Of the noblest characters who played
a part in Chopin's life. We who are 80
well acquainted with chopin's individu-
aNty and his work and life are naturally
surprised that the name OF the Scotch
lady In the masters diary should be Re-
becca. since in all the letters OF every
biography she In spoken Of as wv. Jane
Stirling The older sister Of "Rebecca.'
Frau Erskine. IL certainly not the one
meant. "Rebecca" IL perhaps a special
name for W. J. Stirling. the meaning OF
which was clear only to Chopin.
The diary entry Of October 8, 1897, ia
particularly important. The former biog-
raphers Of Chopin have been OF the
opinion that Chopin thought no more Of
his first love, Conrtantia G~ladkowska
WARSAW. Isa0). We see tina he still
thought Of her In 1887. although In the
meantime he had played the role OF I'M
happy and rejected lover to the Countess
Marie Wodzinska.
From further entries II Is evident that
Chopin made the acquaintance Of George
Sane some time between the 9TH and the
10th of October, 1887. II may have
happened on the 7th Of October. for on
the 10th OF that month he writes Since
then ] have seen her again three times"
All legends and the ''authe ntic'' tes.i-
inony OF "eye witnesses" (including even
that OF Franz Liszt) are supernuous and
doubtful In the face OF this diary Of
Chopin. Also We ind II confirmed that
List was the author of the acquaintance
which yas to prove for Chopin so fate
ful and significant a relation.
When did the break with George
Sand come? Probably In lSt7. What
karasowski writes in his Chopin blog-
raphy Is certainly as Niecks has proved
"A fantastic invention for the purpose
OF throwing the entire blame on George
Sand. Also "the arguments brought
forward by George Sand" which Niecks
tsecond volume, page 2l4) looks upon
as anything but convincing" are
stripped Of their significance, George
sand well knew that her "H!stoire de
Ma Vie" would be published after her
death. She. therefore, considered II ex-
pedient to put what may easily have
seemed her inconsiderate treatment OF
the sick Chopin in a better light. Chopin's
Diary, on the other hand, was written
by the artist for his own benefit only.
and without any Interior motive. In
deed. Chopin commanded, before his
death. that all his papers and his manu-
script compositions should be burned.
And for this reason these leave from his
diary are particularly authoritative The
break came June 1, 1s+7. or a little be-
fore. Between the LIST and the 10th of
June, possibly near the very LIST, Chopin
left Nohant. the estate OF Nine. Sand,
and returned to Paris. 1t seems prob
able that a formal separation between
Chopin and George Sand was avoided,
When Chopin saw that he was a burden
that he was powerless to protect
the daughter of Nine. Sand against the
INSCRIPTIONS attacks of the latter upon
her-and when. moreover. he saw tina,
he could no longer sanction many OF
the improprietles OF Nine. Sand. he left
Nohant without saying farewell. The
immediate cause of the step we're harst
words Of Nine. sand. which caused him
twofold pain. He did not think tina,
she could be so hard" and OF women
he writes: "A woman should be gentle