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Drawing Room in the Czapskich (for-merly Krasinskich) Palace at 5 KrakowskiePrzedmiescie Street in Warsaw.

The Frederick Chopin Society pursuesconcert, exhibition, scientific and publish-ing activities, such as The Collected Works ofFrederick Chopin (Dziela wszystkie), editedby Ignacy Paderewski, Ludwik Bronarski

and Jozef Turczynski (in cooperation withthe Polish Music Publishers PWM), theannual "Rocznik Chopinowski" (25 vol-umes up to date), "Chopin Studies" (sevenvolumes from 1985 to 2002), a Catalogue ofthe Works of Frederick Chopin (KatalogDziel Fryderyka Chopina, together with thePolish Music Publishers in Cracow), and the

10 volumes containing facsimile autographsof Chopin's works and letters.

Among other international events,the Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaworganises the Frederick Chopin PianoCompetition.

Meeting of theBoard of the IFCS

In 2003 the Board met twice. The firstsession took place in February in Vienna,simultaneously with the meeting of ChopinSocieties. The following issues were dis-cussed:

The following Societies joined theFederation: Centre de Recherche CulturelChopin (Charmes, France), represented byFranchise Berger, and Chopin-GesellschaftSalzburg, represented by Roland Schistek.

The membership fee was set at EUR 250or USD 250.

Representatives of Societies discussedtheir activities. They stressed difficulties

encountered in their activities and asked forbrief information on the output of FryderykChopin, broken down into individual genres.

Elzbieta Artysz presented a proposalby Grzegorz Michalski, Director of theFryderyk Chopin Institute to make avail-able to the International Federation ofChopin Societies a room in the Institute'sOffice at 44 Nowogrodzka Street in Warsaw.All those attending unanimously agreed tothe proposal and expressed their warmestthanks to Mr. Michalski.

The second session took place inGaming, during the 19th InternationalChopin Festival. Four Societies joined theFederation: from Vlaanderen (Belgium),Houston (United States), St. Petersburg(Russia) and Helsinki (Finland). The

Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw andthe Chopin Foundation of the United States(Miami) have returned to the Federation.

The first part of the Symposiumentitled "The Role of Classical Music inContemporary Europe with an Emphasis onthe Music of Chopin" took place. The sec-ond part of the Symposium is planned forthe year 2004. Vice-President Ivan Klanskyhas proposed that the next meeting of theFederation Board take place in August of2004 in Marianske Lazne in the CzechRepublic.

Elzbieta Artysz

New ChopinPublications

Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen - Chopinand the Swedish Nightingale. The Lifeand Times of Chopin and a RomanceUnveiled 154 Years Later. Icons of Europeasbl, Brussels, 2003.

This is a novelty in the book market notonly because of the beautiful quality of thepublication, but also because of content.The book consists of 8 chapters, of whichthe first five recount Chopin's life, start-ing with a biography of his father Nicolas,who came from Lorraine. The story is fullof facts, supported by colour illustrations- portraits of the most important persons inChopin's life, important personalities of theperiod, facsimiles of Chopin's manuscripts,photographs of places he visited etc. Chaptersix is where the revelation begins - a tale ofChopin's acquaintance with Jenny Lind, thetitle "Swedish Nightingale". The authors

suggest that this was the last romance,or perhaps the last dream of a love affairbetween Chopin and the Swedish singerin the years 1848-1849. They interpret andanalyse in depth the allusions in her lettersand go as far so as to suggest that the pairdiscussed marriage. All this despite thefact that correspondence between Chopinand Jenny Lind does not exist. Chopin'sdeteriorating health and external circum-stances laid waste to these plans. Cecilia andJens Jorgensen refer to this as a "drama ofShakespearean proportions". The letters ofJenny Lind are written in code, full of sym-bols. It is difficult for us to verify their truecontent and intention, as only the book'sauthors know these letters. They have delvedinto their style, and into the personalityof the singer. On the other hand, Chopin'sletters written in England in 1848 describehis wonder at her opera performances, butthere are no allusions whatsoever as to love,romance or marriage. The authors quote,among others, Chopin's letter dated June2nd, 1848, in which he writes that he has no

strength, and yet he could begin life anew.Can this be interpreted unambiguously?

The second revelation is the discoverythat the sum of 25 000 francs which Chopinreceived anonymously in the last period ofhis life was given by Jenny Lind, not, as pre-viously thought, from Jane Stirling. Jennydonated large sums of money to charity. Shewas paid great sums for her performances.Jane Stirling did love Chopin, but she ratherhad no access to such sums.

As we can see, there are still many factsto be discovered 154 years after Chopin'sdeath, or our view of facts thought to beknown can change. There is another, veryimportant piece of information: Starting inthe year 1855, Jenny Lind sang four mazur-kas with Italian words and piano accom-paniment, which were based on Chopin'smazurkas. The authors quote the words ofthe last of these, op. 24 no. 3: "Mio pover cor,lascia il dolor". I recommend this book to allwho love Chopin and his music.

The book was presented on 11 October2003 in Lasne, Belgium. A concert perform-

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ance featured singers Biljana Staffanssonand Ljiljana Jovanovic, accompanied bypianist Daniel Blumenthal performingworks by Chopin and Bellini.

Ulrich Erckenbrecht - Brief tiber Chopin.Erlauterung einer Vorliebe, Kassel, 2002.

This book was written for the love ofthe music of Chopin. In the introductionthe author recalls his first encounter withChopin's music while learning to playthe piano. After hearing the Nocturne inF-sharp major, op. 15 no. 2, he understoodthat Chopin is his composer. Chopin'sbiography is outlined briefly, listing onlythe most important details. The authorthen goes on to review the musical genrescomposed by Chopin. What's surprising isthat he considers the composer's chamberworks as inferior, including those for pianoand cello. While the Duo Concertant is notone of Chopin's greatest works, his Sonatain G minor for piano and cello cannot becalled a "meaningless work", even in a greatperformance. The Sonata is a marvellouswork, which brought in a new quality ofsound in Chopin's output. Erckenbrechtthen discusses Chopin's piano techniqueand his ability to parody Liszt or Bellini.He writes about Chopin's teaching. A largepart of the book is devoted to others' writ-ings about Chopin, starting from his con-temporaries - Liszt, Schumann, Moscheles,George Sand, Balzac and Heine to Gide,Proust, Baudelaire and on to Germanphilosophers, writers and poets: Nietzsche,Adorno, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann,Gottfried Benn, Hans M. Enzensberger andCarl Zuckmayer. These writings, some ofthem well known, are put together to forma panorama of Chopin seen as an extraor-dinary, one of a kind musician, a "Raphaelof the piano". The author than muses aboutChopin and Karl Marx. What would hap-pen if Marx, who lived in Paris in 1843-45,1848 and 1849 met the anti-communistChopin instead of Engels (in 1844), asksErckenbrecht. He then answers that beingan avid music lover, he would probablytake piano lessons together with his wife.What purpose do these musings serve? Whoare they for? Chopin did not need to meetMarx, but Chopin's influence could not begreat enough to change or shape the viewsof young philosophers.

The Chopin Year in 1999 was commem-orated in the Ukraine with a small bookabout the composer, published by ASTONin the year 2000: Fonepianne mistestvoShopena. Naukovo-metodichni napis [ThePianistic Mastery of Chopin].

The book contains a number of reflec-tions on Chopin's teaching and pianistictechnique, supported with analyses of some

Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen together with artists after the concert in Lasne

genres, forms and explanations of perform-ing difficulties connected with Chopin'sworks and a reminiscence about some pian-ists, such as Aleksander Michalowski andRaoul Koczalski.

Edition Argus published in Schliengenin the year 2003 materials from the interna-tional conference devoted to Chopin, heldin Diisseldorf in 1999. It must be stressedthat the publication was financed largelyby the Polish Institute in Dusseldorf, theMinistry of Culture and by the PolishCultural Foundation. The book is calledChopin 1849/1999. Aspekte der Rezeptionsund Interpretationsgeschichte, AndreasBallstaedt, editor. It has been publishedwith great care, on beautiful paper, witha beautiful cover. The book is divided intofour parts. The first part discusses Chopin'spiano playing (L. Fink) and the history ofthe interpretation of his works, namely theconcertos (J. Rink), the Fantaisie in Fminor(W. Kirsch), Ignaz Friedman's sheet musiceditions and recordings (Z. Chechlinska)and recording media as documents ofmusical interpretation (A. Ballstaedt).The second part focuses on arrangementsand reworking of Chopin's works: a typologyof transcriptions (M. Golajj), vocal transcrip-tions of mazurkas done by Pauline Viardot(I. Poniatowska), arrangements by Henselt(L. Schiwietz) and the use of Chopin's musicin choreographies (D. Philippi). The thirdpart discusses Chopin's influence on thecomposition of mazurkas (Z. Helman), onthe works of F. Killer (K.W. Niemoller) andGabriel Faure (A. Edler). The fourth parttakes up the problem of the way Chopin was

perceived e.g. in the writings of L. Rellstab(J. Kallberg), poses the question whetherChopin was a classicist (V. Kalisch) andtouches upon funeral ceremony issues basedon Chopin's funeral (L. Kramer). Theseare scientific papers, based on most recentliterature and sources, but music lovers willalso find issues to draw their interest.

Irena Poniatowska

Stanislaw Dybowski - Slownik pia-nistoiv polskich [A Dictionary of PolishPianists].

This is the first book of its kind inPoland, devoted entirely to the performingactivities of Polish pianists, from FrantisekLessel (18th century) to contemporary times.The book contains profiles of 344 pianistsinvolved in concert activities, as well as inteaching and composition. Each profile con-sists of a biographical note and an assessmentof artistic activity based on available docu-ments. The book is richly illustrated (about100 illustrations) and is 880 pages long.The profiles are preceded by comprehensiveinformation on Polish piano-playing tradi-tion, the beginnings of piano recordings,the Chopin idiom in piano performanceand an artistic family tree deriving histori-cal tradition all the way to Joseph Haydn.The book also contains a bibliography andan index of 3700 names, including MariaSzymanowska, Joseph Hofmann, IgnacyJan Paderewski, Ignaz Friedman, RaoulKoczalski, Witold Matcuzynski, KrystianZimerman and others.

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