Life of Chopin

This biography of Frederic Chopin by his friend and fellow artist, Franz Liszt, offers a highly informed assessment of the Polish composer's musical legacy. It's further enlivened by the author's personal acquaintance with Chopin's other friends, who included Sand, Balzac, Hugo, Berlioz, Delacroix, and Schumann. Liszt surveys the technical brilliance as well as the poetry of Chopin's masterpieces, including the "Adagio" from Piano Concerto No. 2 and Polonaise in F-sharp Minor. He also chronicles Chopin's meteoric rise from Poland's child prodigy to the darling of Parisian salons who created works of lasting renown.