Chopin's Funeral

(I originally wrote this review on April 9, 2003 for Amazon.)

I was disappointed by this book. Its title and slight size might suggest that it deals almost exclusively with Chopin's last days and burial. Not so. Eisler's description of Chopin's funeral comprises the first nine pages of this book. Another two at the end tell of Chopin's last minutes. (She sheds no new light on either event.) In between, you will find a Reader's Digest version of Chopin's life with particular emphasis on his relationship with George Sand. The book ends when Chopin does: the aftermath of his demise, it's effects on those around him, are not discussed.

I assume the author's intent was to quickly distill the couple's relationship so that she could speculate on its unraveling. But the pair's quirky "association" lasted for twenty-one years. So this abridgment leaves much to be desired.

If you want a brief recap of the Chopin-Sand story, or are totally unfamiliar with their singular relationship, I suppose this book wouldn't be a bad place to start. However, it's not written particularly well. The convoluted, ungainly sentences were difficult to forgive after a while. If you want a better written and more detailed book on the composer, I recommend "Chopin in Paris" by Tad Szulc. ( )

In this new highly touted biography, the author paints the career and downfall of the composer Chopin. Born of a Polish mother and French father, he arrived in Paris as an unknown and was taken in as the lover of arguably one of the most controversial and colorful literary figure, the author George Sand, née Aurore Dupin. In their torrid but brief relationship argues the author, Chopin composed best, and as they fell apart, so his flame gave out. The author also touches upon Chopin as a frail and flawed genius, snobbish and conservative, and introduces us to some of his contemporaries, Liszt in particular, whose role as a latter day Antonio Salieri à la Amadeus the movie, awed by the brilliance but riven by envy, could be debated.

I do not know why I bothered with this one. It was a useless and disappointing read, which failed to capitalize on a griping story with a celebrated cast of characters. I found it unstructured, poorly written, and lacking in musical or literary contextual analysis. Music and literature were Chopin and Sand’s raison d’être, and if those aspects are disregarded, what remains is a sordid but very ordinary story ripped from the back pages of any society paper. ( )