Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times

by Alan Walker

Presents an examination of the life and work of the Polish composer, discussing his childhood, his troubled romantic life with George Sand, and his untimely death at age thirty-nine. One of the world’s leading authorities on Chopin and his time presents this groundbreaking biography in which the great Polish composer’s dramatic life is examined and the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin are dispelled. "Alan Walker's monumental Fryderk Chopin: A Life and Times is the most comprehensive biography of the great Polish composer to appear in English in more than a century. Based on ten years of research and a vast cache of primary sources located in archives in Warsaw, Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., it is a corrective work intended to dispel the many myths and legends that continue to surround Chopin, and an intimate look into a dramatic life. Of particular focus are Chopin's childhood and youth in Poland, which are brought into line with the latest scholarly findings; his oftentimes troubled romantic life with George Sand, with whom he lived for nine years; and his untimely death at age thirty-nine, which inspired three thousand people to flock to the Madeleine Church in Paris for his funeral. Thorough and engaging, and written in highly readable prose, Fryderyk Chopin wears its scholarship lightly: this is a book suited as much for the professional pianist as it is for the casual music lover. Just as he did in his definitive biography of Franz Liszt, Walker illuminated his subject with unprecedented clarity. This magisterial work brings to life one of the nineteenth century's most confounding, beloved, and legendary artists"--Dust jacket flap.