Editing Frédéric Chopin (section)

===Career===
====Travel and domestic success====
[[File:Chopin concert.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.75|Chopin plays for the [[Antoni Radziwiłł|Radziwiłłs]], 1829 (painting by [[Henryk Siemiradzki|Siemiradzki]], 1887)]]
In September 1828, Chopin, while still a student, visited Berlin with a family friend, zoologist [[Feliks Paweł Jarocki|Feliks Jarocki]], enjoying operas directed by [[Gaspare Spontini]] and attending concerts by [[Carl Friedrich Zelter]], [[Felix Mendelssohn]], and other celebrities. On an 1829 return trip to Berlin, he was a guest of Prince [[Antoni Radziwiłł]], governor of the [[Grand Duchy of Posen]]{{snd}}himself an accomplished composer and aspiring cellist. For the prince and his pianist daughter Wanda, he composed his [[Introduction and Polonaise brillante (Chopin)|Introduction and Polonaise brillante in C major for cello and piano]], Op.&nbsp;3.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=45}}

Back in Warsaw that year, Chopin heard [[Niccolò Paganini]] play the violin, and composed a set of variations, {{lang|fr|Souvenir de Paganini}}. It may have been this experience that encouraged him to commence writing his first [[Études (Chopin)|Études]] (1829–1832), exploring the capacities of his own instrument.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=35}} After completing his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory, he made his debut in [[Vienna]]. He gave two piano concerts and received many favourable reviews{{snd}}in addition to some commenting (in Chopin's own words) that he was "too delicate for those accustomed to the piano-bashing of local artists". In the first of these concerts, he premiered his [[Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" (Chopin)|Variations on {{lang|it|italic=no|cat=no|"Là ci darem la mano"}}]], Op.&nbsp;2 (variations on a duet from [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s opera ''[[Don Giovanni]]'') for piano and orchestra.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=37–39}} He returned to Warsaw in September 1829,{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=43}} where he premiered his [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Chopin)|Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor]], Op.&nbsp;21 on 17 March 1830.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§1 ¶5}}

Chopin's successes as a composer and performer opened the door to western Europe for him, and on 2 November 1830, he set out, in the words of [[Zdzisław Jachimecki]], "into the wide world, with no very clearly defined aim, forever".{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=422}} With Woyciechowski, he headed for Austria again, intending to go on to Italy. Later that month, in Warsaw, the [[November Uprising|November 1830 Uprising]] broke out, and Woyciechowski returned to Poland to enlist. Chopin, now alone in Vienna, was nostalgic for his homeland, and wrote to a friend, "I curse the moment of my departure."{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§2 ¶1}} When in September 1831 he learned, while travelling from Vienna to Paris, that the uprising had been crushed, he expressed his anguish in the pages of his private journal: "Oh God!&nbsp;... You are there, and yet you do not take vengeance!".{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§2 ¶3}} The journal is now in the [[National Library of Poland]]. Jachimecki ascribes to these events the composer's maturing "into an inspired [[national bard]] who intuited the past, present and future of his native Poland".{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=422}}

====Paris====
[[File:Chopin, by Wodzinska.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|Chopin at 25, by his fiancée [[Maria Wodzińska]], 1835]]
When he left Warsaw on 2 November 1830, Chopin had intended to go to Italy, but violent unrest there made that a dangerous destination. His next choice was Paris; difficulties obtaining a visa from Russian authorities resulted in him obtaining transit permission from the French. In later years he would quote the passport's endorsement {{lang|fr|"Passeport en passant par Paris à Londres"}} ("In transit to London via Paris"), joking that he was in the city "only in passing".{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=202}} Chopin arrived in Paris on 5 October 1831;
<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Helman|first1=Zofia|last2=Wróblewska-Straus|first2=Hanna|date=2007|title=The Date of Chopin's Arrival in Paris|journal=Musicology Today|publisher=Sciendo|volume=4|pages=95–103|issn=1734-1663}}</ref> he would never return to Poland,{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§1 ¶6}} thus becoming one of many expatriates of the Polish [[Great Emigration]]. In France, he used the French versions of his given names, and after receiving French citizenship in 1835, he travelled on a French passport.{{refn|A French passport used by Chopin is shown at the website "Chopin – musicien français"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://diaph16.free.fr/chopin//chopin7.htm |title=Passeport français de Chopin |last=Langavant |first=Emmanuel |date= |website=Chopin&nbsp;– musicien français website |access-date=28 March 2021 |archive-date=13 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713074357/http://diaph16.free.fr/chopin/chopin7.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>|group=n}} Chopin remained close to his fellow Poles in exile as friends and confidants. He never felt fully comfortable speaking French or considered himself to be French, despite his father's French origins. He always saw himself as a Pole, [[Adam Zamoyski]] wrote.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=128}}

In Paris, Chopin encountered artists and other distinguished figures and found many opportunities to exercise his talents and achieve celebrity. During his years in Paris, he was to become acquainted with, among many others, [[Hector Berlioz]], [[Franz Liszt]], [[Ferdinand Hiller]], [[Heinrich Heine]], [[Eugène Delacroix]], [[Alfred de Vigny]],{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=106}} and [[Friedrich Kalkbrenner]], who introduced him to the piano manufacturer [[Camille Pleyel]].{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=219}} This was the beginning of a long and close association between the composer and Pleyel's instruments.{{sfn|Eigeldinger|2001|loc=passim}} Chopin was also acquainted with the poet [[Adam Mickiewicz]], principal of the Polish Literary Society, some of whose verses he set as songs.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=128}} He also was more than once guest of Marquis [[Marquis de Custine|Astolphe de Custine]], one of his fervent admirers, playing his works in Custine's salon.{{sfn|Walker|2018|pp=302 ff., 309, 365}}

Two Polish friends in Paris were also to play important roles in Chopin's life there. A fellow student at the Warsaw Conservatory, Julian Fontana, had originally tried unsuccessfully to establish himself in England; Fontana was to become, in the words of the music historian Jim Samson, Chopin's "general [[servant|factotum]] and copyist".{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§3 ¶2}} [[Wojciech Grzymała|Albert Grzymała]], who in Paris became a wealthy financier and society figure, often acted as Chopin's adviser and, in Zamoyski's words, "gradually began to fill the role of elder brother in [his] life".{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=106–107}}

On 7 December 1831, Chopin received the first major endorsement from an outstanding contemporary when [[Robert Schumann]], reviewing the Op. 2 Variations in the {{lang|de|Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung}} (his first published article on music), declared: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius."{{sfn|Schumann|1988|pp=15–17}} On 25 February 1832 Chopin gave a debut Paris concert in the {{lang|fr|"salons de MM Pleyel"}} at 9 rue Cadet, which drew universal admiration. The critic [[François-Joseph Fétis]] wrote in the {{lang|fr|[[Revue et gazette musicale]]}}: "Here is a young man who&nbsp;... taking no model, has found, if not a complete renewal of piano music,&nbsp;... an abundance of original ideas of a kind to be found nowhere else&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=88}} After this concert, Chopin realised that his essentially intimate keyboard technique was not optimal for large concert spaces. Later that year he was introduced to the wealthy [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] banking family, whose [[patronage]] also opened doors for him to other private [[salon (gathering)|salons]] (social gatherings of the aristocracy and artistic and literary elite).{{sfn|Hedley|2005|pp=263–264}} By the end of 1832 Chopin had established himself among the Parisian musical elite and had earned the respect of his peers such as Hiller, Liszt, and Berlioz. He no longer depended financially upon his father, and in the winter of 1832, he began earning a handsome income from publishing his works and teaching piano to affluent students from all over Europe.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§2, paras. 4–5}} This freed him from the strains of public concert-giving, which he disliked.{{sfn|Hedley|2005|pp=263–264}}

Chopin seldom performed publicly in Paris. In later years he generally gave a single annual concert at the Salle Pleyel, a venue that seated three hundred. He played more frequently at salons but preferred playing at his own Paris apartment for small groups of friends. The musicologist [[Arthur Hedley]] has observed that "As a pianist Chopin was unique in acquiring a reputation of the highest order on the basis of a minimum of public appearances{{snd}}few more than thirty in the course of his lifetime."{{sfn|Hedley|2005|pp=263–264}} The list of musicians who took part in some of his concerts indicates the richness of Parisian artistic life during this period. Examples include a concert on 23 March 1833, in which Chopin, Liszt, and Hiller performed (on pianos) a [[Harpsichord concertos (J. S. Bach)#Concertos for three harpsichords|concerto by J. S. Bach for three keyboards]]; and, on 3 March 1838, a concert in which Chopin, his pupil [[Adolphe Gutmann]], [[Charles-Valentin Alkan]], and Alkan's teacher [[Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann|Joseph Zimmermann]] performed Alkan's arrangement, for eight hands, of two movements from [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|7th symphony]].{{sfn|Conway|2012|p=226 & note 9}} Chopin was also involved in the composition of Liszt's ''[[Hexameron (musical composition)|Hexameron]]''; he wrote the sixth (and final) variation on [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]'s theme. Chopin's music soon found success with publishers, and in 1833 he contracted with [[Maurice Schlesinger]], who arranged for it to be published not only in France but, through his family connections, also in Germany and England.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§2 ¶5}}{{refn|For Schlesinger's international network see Conway(2012), pp. 185–187, 238–239{{sfn|Conway|2012}}|group=n}}

[[File:Maria Wodzińska.jpeg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|[[Maria Wodzińska]], self-portrait]]
In the spring of 1834, Chopin attended the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in [[Aachen|Aix-la-Chapelle]] with Hiller, and it was there that Chopin met Felix Mendelssohn. After the festival, the three visited [[Düsseldorf]], where Mendelssohn had been appointed musical director. They spent what Mendelssohn described as "a very agreeable day", playing and discussing music at his piano, and met [[Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow]], director of the Academy of Art, and some of his eminent pupils such as [[Karl Friedrich Lessing|Lessing]], [[Eduard Bendemann|Bendemann]], [[Eduard Hildebrandt|Hildebrandt]] and [[Karl Ferdinand Sohn|Sohn]].{{sfn|Niecks|1902|loc= vol. 1, p. 274}} In 1835 Chopin went to [[Karlovy Vary|Carlsbad]], where he spent time with his parents; it was the last time he would see them. On his way back to Paris, he met old friends from Warsaw, the Wodzińskis, their sons, and their daughters, amongst which [[Maria Wodzińska|Maria]], whom he occasionally had given piano lessons in Poland.{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=279}} This meeting prompted him to stay for two weeks in Dresden, when he had previously intended to return to Paris via [[Leipzig]].{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=118–119}} The sixteen-year-old girl's portrait of the composer has been considered, along with Delacroix's, as among the best likenesses of Chopin.{{sfn|Szulc|1998|p=137}}
In October he finally reached Leipzig, where he met Schumann, [[Clara Schumann|Clara Wieck]], and Mendelssohn, who organised for him a performance of his own oratorio ''[[St. Paul (oratorio)|St. Paul]]'', and who considered him "a perfect musician".{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=119–120}} In July 1836 Chopin travelled to [[Marienbad]] and [[Dresden]] to be with the Wodziński family, and in September he proposed to Maria, whose mother Countess Wodzińska approved in principle. Chopin went on to Leipzig, where he presented Schumann with his [[Ballade No. 1 (Chopin)|G minor Ballade]].{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=126–127}} At the end of 1836, he sent Maria an album in which his sister Ludwika had inscribed seven of his songs, and his 1830 [[Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. posth. (Chopin)|Nocturne in C-sharp minor, ''Lento con gran espresisione'']].{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=423}}{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=299}} The anodyne thanks he received from Maria proved to be the last letter he was to have from her.{{sfn|Chopin|1962|p=144}} Chopin placed the letters he had received from Maria and her mother into a large envelope, wrote on it the words "My sorrow" ({{lang|pl|"Moja bieda"}}), and to the end of his life retained in a desk drawer this keepsake of the second love of his life.{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=423}}{{refn|A photo of the letters packet survives, though the originals seem to have been lost during World War II.{{sfn|Walker|2018|p = 307}}|group=n}}

====Franz Liszt====
[[File:Franz-liszt-in-hungarian-costume-watercolour-by-josef-friehuber-1838.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Franz Liszt]], 1838]]
Although it is not known exactly when Chopin first met [[Franz Liszt]] after arriving in Paris, on 12 December 1831 he mentioned in a letter to his friend Woyciechowski that "I have met [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini]], [[Pierre Baillot|Baillot]], etc.{{snd}}also Kalkbrenner. You would not believe how curious I was about [[Henri Herz|Herz]], Liszt, Hiller, etc."{{sfn|Hall-Swadley|2011|p=31}} Liszt was in attendance at Chopin's Parisian debut on 26 February 1832 at the [[Salle Pleyel]], which led him to remark: "The most vigorous applause seemed not to suffice to our enthusiasm in the presence of this talented musician, who revealed a new phase of poetic sentiment combined with such happy innovation in the form of his art."{{sfn|Hall-Swadley|2011|p=32}}

The two became friends, and for many years lived close to each other in Paris, Chopin at 38 {{lang|fr|italic=no|[[Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin]]}}, and Liszt at the {{lang|fr|italic=no|Hôtel de France}} on the {{lang|it|italic=no|[[Rue Laffitte]]}}, a few blocks away.{{sfn|Schonberg|1987|p=151}} They performed together on seven occasions between 1833 and 1841. The first, on 2 April 1833, was at a benefit concert organised by Hector Berlioz for his bankrupt Shakespearean actress wife [[Harriet Smithson]], during which they played [[George Onslow (composer)|George Onslow]]'s ''Sonata in F minor'' for piano duet. Later joint appearances included a benefit concert for the Benevolent Association of Polish Ladies in Paris. Their last appearance together in public was for a charity concert conducted for the [[Beethoven Monument]] in Bonn, held at the Salle Pleyel and the Paris Conservatory on 25 and 26 April 1841.{{sfn|Hall-Swadley|2011|p=32}}

Although the two displayed great respect and admiration for each other, their friendship was uneasy and had some qualities of a love–hate relationship. [[Harold C. Schonberg]] believes that Chopin displayed a "tinge of jealousy and spite" towards Liszt's virtuosity on the piano,{{sfn|Schonberg|1987|p=151}} and others have also argued that he had become enchanted with Liszt's theatricality, showmanship, and success.{{sfn|Hall-Swadley|2011|p=33}} Liszt was the dedicatee of Chopin's Op. 10 {{lang|fr|italic=no|Études}}, and his performance of them prompted the composer to write to Hiller, "I should like to rob him of the way he plays my studies."{{sfn|Walker|1988|p=184}} However, Chopin expressed annoyance in 1843 when Liszt performed one of his nocturnes with the addition of numerous intricate embellishments, at which Chopin remarked that he should play the music as written or not play it at all, forcing an apology. Most biographers of Chopin state that after this the two had little to do with each other, although in his letters dated as late as 1848 he still referred to him as "my friend Liszt".{{sfn|Schonberg|1987|p=151}} Some commentators point to events in the two men's romantic lives which led to a rift between them; there are claims that Liszt had displayed jealousy of his mistress [[Marie d'Agoult]]'s obsession with Chopin, while others believe that Chopin had become concerned about Liszt's growing relationship with [[George Sand]].{{sfn|Hall-Swadley|2011|p=32}}

====George Sand====
[[File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 043.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Chopin, 28, at piano, from [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]]'s [[Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand|joint portrait of Chopin and Sand]], 1838]]
In 1836, at a party hosted by Marie d'Agoult, Chopin met the French author George Sand (born [Amantine] Aurore [Lucile] Dupin). Short (under five feet, or 152&nbsp;cm), dark, big-eyed and a cigar smoker,{{sfn|Schonberg|1987|pp=151–152}} she initially repelled Chopin, who remarked, "What an unattractive person ''la Sand'' is. Is she really a woman?"{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§3 ¶3}} However, by early 1837 Maria Wodzińska's mother had made it clear to Chopin in correspondence that a marriage with her daughter was unlikely to proceed.{{sfn|Chopin|1962|p=141}} It is thought that she was influenced by his poor health and possibly also by rumours about his associations with women such as d'Agoult and Sand.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=137–138}} Chopin finally placed the letters from Maria and her mother in a package on which he wrote, in Polish, "My Sorrow".{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=147}} Sand, in a letter to Grzymała of June 1838, admitted strong feelings for the composer and debated whether to abandon a current affair to begin a relationship with Chopin; she asked Grzymała to assess Chopin's relationship with Maria Wodzińska, without realising that the affair, at least from Maria's side, was over.{{sfn|Chopin|1962|pp=151–161}}

In June 1837, Chopin visited London incognito in the company of the piano manufacturer Camille Pleyel, where he played at a musical soirée at the house of English piano maker [[James Broadwood]].{{sfn|Załuski|Załuski|1992|p=226}} On his return to Paris his association with Sand began in earnest, and by July 1838 they had become lovers.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§3 ¶4}} Sand, who was six years older than the composer and had had a series of lovers, wrote at this time: "I must say I was confused and amazed at the effect this little creature had on me&nbsp;... I have still not recovered from my astonishment, and if I were a proud person I should be feeling humiliated at having been carried away&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=154}} The two spent a miserable winter on [[Mallorca]] (8 November 1838 to 13 February 1839), where, together with Sand's two children, they had journeyed in the hope of improving Chopin's health and that of Sand's 15-year-old son [[Maurice Sand|Maurice]], and also to escape the threats of Sand's former lover [[Félicien Mallefille]].{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=159}} After discovering that the couple were not married, the deeply traditional Catholic people of Mallorca became inhospitable,{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=161–162}} making accommodation difficult to find. This compelled the group to take lodgings in a former [[Carthusian]] monastery in [[Valldemossa]], which gave little shelter from the cold winter weather.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§3 ¶5}}

[[File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 041.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[George Sand]] sewing, from [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]]'s [[Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand|joint portrait of Chopin and Sand]], 1838]]
On 3 December 1838, Chopin complained about his bad health and the incompetence of the doctors in Mallorca, commenting: "The three most celebrated doctors on the island have seen me&nbsp;... The first said I was dead, the second that I am dying, and the third that I'm going to die"{{sfn|Chopin|1962|p=164}} He also had problems having his [[Pleyel et Cie|Pleyel piano]] sent to him, having to rely in the meantime on a piano made in [[Palma de Mallorca|Palma]] by Juan Bauza.{{sfn|Kildea|2018|pp=20–21}}{{refn|The Bauza piano eventually entered the collection of [[Wanda Landowska]] in Paris{{sfn|Kildea|2018|p=168}} and was seized following the [[Battle of France|Fall of Paris]] in 1940 and transported by the invaders to [[Leipzig]] in 1943.{{sfn|Kildea|2018|p=230}} It was returned to France in 1946, but subsequently went missing.{{sfn|Kildea|2018|p=295}}|group=n}} The Pleyel piano finally arrived from Paris in December, just shortly before Chopin and Sand left the island. Chopin wrote to Pleyel in January 1839: "I am sending you my [[Preludes (Chopin)|Preludes]] [Op. 28]. I finished them on your little piano, which arrived in the best possible condition in spite of the sea, the bad weather and the Palma customs."{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§3 ¶4}} Chopin was also able to undertake work while in Mallorca on his [[Ballade No. 2 (Chopin)|Ballade No. 2]], Op. 38; on two Polonaises, Op. 40; and on the [[Scherzo No. 3 (Chopin)|Scherzo No. 3]], Op. 39.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=168}}

Although this period had been productive, the bad weather had such a detrimental effect on Chopin's health that Sand determined to leave the island. To avoid further customs duties, Sand sold the piano to a local French couple, the Canuts.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=169}}{{refn|Two neighbouring apartments at the Valldemossa monastery, each long hosting a Chopin museum, have been claimed to be the retreat of Chopin and Sand, and to hold Chopin's Pleyel piano. In 2011 a Spanish court on Mallorca, partly by ruling out a piano that had been built after Chopin's visit there{{snd}}probably after his death{{snd}}decided which was the correct apartment.<ref>{{cite web |last=Govan |first=Fiona |date=1 February 2011 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8296219/Row-over-Chopins-Majorcan-residence-solved-by-piano.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8296219/Row-over-Chopins-Majorcan-residence-solved-by-piano.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Row over Chopin's Majorcan residence solved by piano |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=31 August 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>|group=n}} The group travelled first to [[Barcelona]], then to [[Marseille]], where they stayed for a few months while Chopin convalesced.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§3 ¶5}} While in Marseille, Chopin made a rare appearance at the organ during a requiem mass for the tenor [[Adolphe Nourrit]] on 24 April 1839, playing a transcription of [[Franz Schubert]]'s {{lang|de|[[Lied]] Die Sterne}} (D. 939).{{sfn|Chopin|1988|p=200, letter to Fontana of 25 April 1839}}{{refn|Nourrit's body was being escorted via Marseille to his funeral in Paris, following his suicide in Naples.{{sfn|Rogers|1939|p=25}}|group=n}} George Sand gives a description of Chopin's playing in a letter of 28 April 1839:

{{quote|Chopin sacrificed himself by playing the organ at the Elevation – and what an organ! Anyhow our boy made the best of it by using the less discordant stops, and he played Schubert's {{lang|de|Die Sterne}}, not with a passionate and glowing tone that Nourrit used, but with a plaintive sound as soft as an echo from another world. Two or three at most among those present felt its meaning and had tears in their eyes.{{sfn|Chopin|1962|p= 177, letter from George Sand to Carlotta Marliani, Marseilles, 28 April 1839}}}}

In May 1839, they headed to Sand's estate at [[Nohant-Vic|Nohant]] for the summer, where they spent most of the following summers until 1846. In autumn they returned to Paris, where Chopin's apartment at 5 rue Tronchet was close to Sand's rented accommodation on the rue Pigalle. He frequently visited Sand in the evenings, but both retained some independence.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§4 ¶1}} (In 1842 he and Sand moved to the [[Square d'Orléans]], living in adjacent buildings.){{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§4 ¶4}}

On 26 July 1840, Chopin and Sand were present at the dress rehearsal of Berlioz's {{lang|fr|[[Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale]]}}, composed to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the [[July Revolution]]. Chopin was reportedly unimpressed with the composition.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§4 ¶1}} 

During the summers at Nohant, particularly in the years 1839–1843 (except 1840), Chopin found quiet, productive days during which he composed many works, including his [[Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 (Chopin)|Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53]].{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=197}} Sand compellingly describes Chopin's creative process: an inspiration, its painstaking elaboration – sometimes amid tormented weeping and complaining, with hundreds of changes in concept – only to return finally to the initial idea.{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=424}}

Among the visitors to Nohant were Delacroix and the mezzo-soprano [[Pauline Viardot]], whom Chopin had advised on piano technique and composition.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=197}} Delacroix gives an account of staying at Nohant in a letter of 7 June 1842:

{{quote|The hosts could not be more pleasant in entertaining me. When we are not all together at dinner, lunch, playing billiards, or walking, each of us stays in his room, reading or lounging around on a couch. Sometimes, through the window which opens on the garden, a gust of music wafts up from Chopin at work. All this mingles with the songs of nightingales and the fragrance of roses.{{sfn|Atwood|1999|p=315}}}}

====Decline====
{{main|Health of Frédéric Chopin}}
[[File:Frédéric Chopin.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Chopin, 1838]]
From 1842 onwards, Chopin showed signs of serious illness. After a solo recital in Paris on 21 February 1842, he wrote to Grzymała: "I have to lie in bed all day long, my mouth and tonsils are aching so much."{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=212}} He was forced by illness to decline a written invitation from Alkan to participate in a repeat performance of the Beethoven 7th Symphony arrangement at [[Sébastien Érard|Érard]]'s on 1 March 1843.{{sfn|Eddie|2013|p=8}} Late in 1844, [[Charles Hallé]] visited Chopin and found him "hardly able to move, bent like a half-opened penknife and evidently in great pain", although his spirits returned when he started to play the piano for his visitor.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=227}} Chopin's health continued to deteriorate, particularly from this time onwards. Modern research suggests that apart from any other illnesses, he may also have suffered from [[temporal lobe epilepsy]].<ref>Sara Reardon, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/31/AR2011013104713.html "Chopin's hallucinations may have been caused by epilepsy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722012952/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/31/AR2011013104713.html |date=22 July 2018 }}, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 31 January 2011, accessed 10 January 2014.</ref>

Chopin's output as a composer throughout this period declined in quantity year by year. Whereas in 1841 he had written a dozen works, only six were written in 1842 and six shorter pieces in 1843. In 1844 he wrote only the [[Piano Sonata No. 3 (Chopin)|Op. 58 sonata]]. 1845 saw the completion of three mazurkas (Op. 59). Although these works were more refined than many of his earlier compositions, Zamoyski concludes that "his powers of concentration were failing and his inspiration was beset by anguish, both emotional and intellectual".{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=233}} Chopin's relations with Sand were soured in 1846 by problems involving her daughter [[Solange Dudevant|Solange]] and Solange's fiancé, the young fortune-hunting sculptor [[Auguste Clésinger]].{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§5 ¶2}} The composer frequently took Solange's side in quarrels with her mother; he also faced jealousy from Sand's son Maurice.{{sfn|Samson|1996|p=194}} Moreover, Chopin was indifferent to Sand's radical political pursuits, including her enthusiasm for the [[French Revolution of 1848|February Revolution]] of 1848.{{sfn|Walker|2018|pp=552–554}}

As the composer's illness progressed, Sand had become less of a lover and more of a nurse to Chopin, whom she called her "third child". In letters to third parties she vented her impatience, referring to him as a "child", a "poor angel", a "sufferer", and a "beloved little corpse".{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=424}}{{sfn|Kallberg|2006|p=56}} In 1847 Sand published her novel ''Lucrezia Floriani'', whose main characters{{snd}}a rich actress and a prince in weak health{{snd}}could be interpreted as Sand and Chopin. In Chopin's presence, Sand read the manuscript aloud to Delacroix, who was both shocked and mystified by its implications, writing that "Madame Sand was perfectly at ease and Chopin could hardly stop making admiring comments".{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=529}}{{sfn|Miller|2003|loc=§8}} That year their relationship ended following an angry correspondence which, in Sand's words, made "a strange conclusion to nine years of exclusive friendship".{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§5 ¶3}} Grzymała, who had followed their romance from the beginning, commented, "If [Chopin] had not had the misfortune of meeting G. S. [George Sand], who poisoned his whole being, he would have lived to be Cherubini's age." Chopin would die two years later at thirty-nine; the composer Luigi Cherubini had died in Paris in 1842 at the age of 81.{{sfn|Szulc|1998|p=403}}

====Tour of Great Britain====
[[File:Jane stirling par deveria.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Jane Stirling]] with young Fanny Elgin, {{circa|1830|lk=no}}]]
Chopin's public popularity as a virtuoso began to wane, as did the number of his pupils, and this, together with the political strife and instability of the time, caused him to struggle financially.{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=556}} In February 1848, with the cellist [[Auguste Franchomme]], he gave his last Paris concert, which included three movements of the [[Cello Sonata (Chopin)|Cello Sonata Op. 65]].{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=424}}

In April, during the 1848 Revolution in Paris, he left for London, where he performed at several concerts and numerous receptions in great houses.{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=424}} This tour was suggested to him by his Scottish pupil [[Jane Stirling]] and her elder sister. Stirling also made all the logistical arrangements and provided much of the necessary funding.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§5 ¶3}}

In London, Chopin took lodgings at [[Dover Street]], where the firm of [[John Broadwood and Sons|Broadwood]] provided him with a grand piano. At his first engagement, on 15 May at [[Stafford House]], the audience included [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]]. The Prince, who was himself a talented musician, moved close to the keyboard to view Chopin's technique. Broadwood also arranged concerts for him; among those attending were the author [[William Makepeace Thackeray]] and the singer [[Jenny Lind]]. Chopin was also sought after for piano lessons, for which he charged the high fee of one [[Guinea (British coin)|guinea]] per hour, and for private recitals for which the fee was 20 guineas. At a concert on 7 July he shared the platform with Viardot, who sang arrangements of some of his mazurkas to Spanish texts.{{sfn|Załuski|Załuski|1992|pp=227–229}} A few days later, he performed for [[Thomas Carlyle]] and his wife [[Jane Carlyle|Jane]] at [[Carlyle's House|their home]] in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]].<ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Nvdx-4-CzoC |title=The Carlyle Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8386-3792-0 |editor-last=Cumming |editor-first=Mark |location=Madison and Teaneck, New Jersey |pages=91–92 |chapter=Chopin, Frédérick |url-access=limited}}</ref> On 28 August he played at a concert in Manchester's Gentlemen's Concert Hall, sharing the stage with [[Marietta Alboni]] and [[Lorenzo Salvi]].{{sfn|Walker|2018|pp=579–581}}

In late summer he was invited by Jane Stirling to visit Scotland, where he stayed at Calder House near [[Edinburgh]] and at [[Johnstone Castle]] in Renfrewshire, both owned by members of Stirling's family.{{sfn|Załuski|Załuski|1993}} She clearly had a notion of going beyond mere friendship, and Chopin was obliged to make it clear to her that this could not be so. He wrote at this time to Grzymała: "My Scottish ladies are kind, but such bores", and responding to a rumour about his involvement, answered that he was "closer to the grave than the nuptial bed".{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|p=279–280|loc=Letter of 30 October 1848}} He gave a public concert in Glasgow on 27 September,{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=276–278}} and another in Edinburgh at the Hopetoun Rooms on Queen Street (now Erskine House) on 4 October.{{sfn|Walker|2018|p=593}} In late October 1848, while staying at 10 Warriston Crescent in Edinburgh with the Polish physician Adam Łyszczyński, he wrote out his last will and testament{{snd}}"a kind of disposition to be made of my stuff in the future, if I should drop dead somewhere", he wrote to Grzymała.{{sfn|Jachimecki|1937|p=424}}

Chopin made his last public appearance on a concert platform at London's [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]] on 16 November 1848, when, in a final patriotic gesture, he played for the benefit of Polish refugees. This gesture proved to be a mistake, as most of the participants were more interested in the dancing and refreshments than in Chopin's piano artistry, which drained him.{{sfn|Szulc|1998|p=383}} By this time he was very seriously ill, weighing under 45&nbsp;kg (99 lb), and his doctors were aware that his sickness was at a terminal stage.{{sfn|Samson|2001|loc=§5 ¶4}}

At the end of November Chopin returned to Paris. He passed the winter in unremitting illness, but gave occasional lessons and was visited by friends, including Delacroix and Franchomme. Occasionally he played, or accompanied the singing of [[Delfina Potocka]], for his friends. During the summer of 1849, his friends found him an apartment in [[Chaillot]], out of the centre of the city, for which the rent was secretly subsidised by an admirer, Princess Yekaterina Dmitrievna Soutzos-Obreskova. He was visited here by Jenny Lind in June 1849.{{sfn|Zamoyski|2010|pp=283–286}}