![]() ![]() While outwardly, these were happy times, there is an unexplained melancholy and sadness in Chopin's music. Known as George Sand, Madame Dupin dressed as a man, wore a top hat, smoked cigars, and was reputed to be eclectic in her choice of companions. The film touches on Chopin's personal life including his failed courtships with Delphina Potocka, Constantia Gladkowska, and Maria Wodzinska, but spends more time discussing his long, complicated relationship with the feminist writer Amantine-Lucille-Aurore Dupin and her two children, Maurice and Saronga. After his death at the early age of 39, his sister Ludwika carried his heart to Warsaw where it is buried in the Church of the Holy Cross. Though he did not return to Poland because of the political unrest and became a French citizen, Chopin was passionate about his homeland and his Mazurkas and Polonaises reflect the influence of Polish dances and folk music. Chopin's father, then a teacher, boarded children of the most affluent families in the region and the assumption is that Chopin learned his elegant manners from the aristocratic boys. Grabsky does not hesitate to point out that Warsaw at that time was not a provincial backwater but a city of considerable artistic accomplishment. The film takes us from Chopin's boyhood and teenage years in Warsaw to his life in Vienna and Paris where he lived for ten years, with time spent in Mallorca and summers in the village of Nohant in France. There is also commentary by Chopin expert, author Jeremy Siepmann, who wrote The Life and Works of Chopin. ![]() These pieces are performed on historic pianos such as the Pleyel et Cie by pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Vogt, Kevin Kenner, and Ronald Brautigam who explain and comment on Chopin's works. Narrated by stage and screen actress Juliet Stevenson with the voice of David Dawson quoting from Chopin's letters, the film was four years in the making and features partial performances of Chopin's works including his Piano Concertos 1 & 2, the Sonata in B-flat minor, as well as selections from his short pieces, the Mazurkas, Ballades, Polonaises, and Waltzes. The documentary, In Search of Chopin, follows the same format as the other films, sampling sequential compositions of the artist interspersed with the comments of music historians and soloists who specialize in Chopin's music. Philip Grabsky, who previously documented the life and work of Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, returns with an illuminating study of the great 19th century Polish composer and pianist, Frederic (Fryderyk) Chopin. ![]()
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