Przedpiekle sławy. Rzecz o Chopinie (review)

Only a handful of letters survive from the first fifteen months after Chopin arrived in Paris in October 1831; this period, before he became the most sought-after pianist and teacher, still remains one about which we know very little. Historian Piotr Witt sheds new light on this neglected chapter in Chopin's biography in his book, Przed-piekle slawy. Rzecz o Chopinie (The Night Chopin Became Famous). Witt tells the story of struggle and impending success, focusing on Chopin's transition into adulthood as he journeys from Vienna via Stuttgart to Paris and his rite of passage as a pianist in the French capital. As Witt presses on with the story, he also explores concurrent topics and the historical backdrop to Chopin's Parisian debut. The book culminates with Witt's uncovering of the Hotel de Monaco concert on 30 December 1832, which he argues was the turning point in Chopin's career.

This is a story Witt is particularly well placed to tell after years of research into the history of the Hotel de Monaco, the current Polish embassy. In the journal of Rodolphe Apponyi, the nephew of the Austrian ambassador then based at the Hotel de Monaco, Witt found a mention of the now largely forgotten Chopin concert alongside Liszt, Rossini, and others. The remark led Witt to revisit Chopin's undated letter in which the pianist describes doing well for himself in the aristocratic salons. Based on these two documents, Witt set out first to date the letter and second, to establish the importance of the concert. Chopin biographers never agreed on the letter's date but Frederick Niecks (Frederick Chopin as a Man and Musician, 2 vols. [London: Novello, 1888]) used as a clue Chopin's comment that Princess Vaudemont had died the previous week—a crucial detail Witt omits when he quotes from the letter—to date the correspondence to mid-January, a week after her obituary was published on 6 January. Here Witt points back to Apponyi's note of 30 December, where it is stated that the princess had been paralyzed for two days and was not at the concert, and concludes that Chopin learned she had died that evening and wrote his letter most certainly on 7 January 1833. This detective work is surely captivating, yet the historical reasons remain largely inconclusive. Chopin may have learned about Vaudemont's death at the Apponyis' salon as well as from the papers or common acquaintances later in the week. Witt's larger case about the career-altering concert is equally hard to make because all the facts combined open more than one possibility of interpretation, including that Chopin was already doing well—building on his talent, invaluable contacts, and performing opportunities—by the time he played at the Hotel de Monaco. In the same letter, Chopin writes that other composers had dedicated their works to him, indicating he had inspired respect before 30 December.

The book's underlying assumption, however, is that Chopin's fame came overnight. To prove this, Witt downplays the impact of Chopin's first Parisian concert at the Salle Pleyel in February 1832 and, in doing so, dismantles the myths propagated by Chopin biographers Maurycy Karasowski (Fryderyk Chopin: zycie, listy, dzieła [Warsaw: Gebethnera i Wolffa, 1882]), Niecks, and Adam Zamoyski (Chopin: A Biography [London: Collins, 1979]), who had tied Chopin's success to the piano manufacturer Pleyel or, alternatively, to his benefactor Walenty Radziwiłł and the banker Rothschild. Witt then proceeds to construct yet another version of the same myth of success. He shows that Chopin's earlier concert aimed at foregrounding Pleyel's pianos instead of the pianist; the venue itself was smaller than the hall later built for it in 1855; attendance was negligible due to competing events in Paris that week; and the press coverage was minimal and overall indistinct. As a result, Witt...