This is true! But I still enjoyed reading it. For all that things between them in life were somewhat tense, Liszt really does sing Chopin's praises in that book. And it's short!

That's what I like about Liszt. He could be mean and sarcastic just like anybody, but he always had kind words to say about Chopin - in his writings, anyway. (I don't think Chopin was that nice to Liszt.)

A short book - that would definitely be a nice change.

MonMon, I saw a new sign on a billboard:


1810- op.2010

And it had a picture of his death mask as well

I'm sure you dont see much of that in chicagoland

That is awesome! I wish I could be there for his 200th. But we will be having a bit of a Chopin festival at my school. Unfortunately, they've decided to be fair and include Schumann, but at least they have made Chopin a main focus.

Nope. Guess I'll just have my own private little birthday party for FC. Wonder what flavor cake I should bake...

Thanks for the update.

CHOCOLATE.

It's not my favorite, but he seemed to like chocolate a lot. Or maybe you were being facetious.

Chocolate is my favorite! And no, I'm not being facetious. (the sad smiley is because I'm serious)

btw - I picked up that book tonight - The Lioness and the Little One. It's 290 pages long and looks like it is full of interesting and juicy morsels. Can't read it now - going to bed - I know, it's only 10:00 - something I drank made me very sleepy. I'll read tomorrow...

Theresa, if you're still here, I read a little of my book this evening. So far I have not learned any really juicy stuff, but I did read one thing that caught my eye. It deals with Liszt's biography on Chopin, and I think I may have read this in the Liszt bio, but now I'm getting a bit mixed up. You know how we mentioned that Liszt many times used flowery words in his writings? Well, that is true, but supposedly his mistress, the Princess Carolyn Sayn-Wittgenstein (she came after Marie d'Agoult), wrote much of the Chopin bio, and when you see her writings you can see that she sometimes goes on and on and on.

Another tidbit that I either didn't know or didn't remember, Solange may have had a different father than Maurice.

Not a new thing, but I read about Chopin's trip to England when he wanted to remain incognito and told his friends not to say anything about being there. I love this story - he went to a dinner party at James Broadwood's home (famous English piano maker) but went under the guise of Mr. Fritz. Later in the evening, Chopin (Mr. Fritz) couldn't resist playing the large Broadwood grand piano in the home and sat down and played in his usual wonderful way and the ruse was up; the other dinner guests knew he was actually Chopin. Wish I was one of those in attendance!

Really? I knew that she wrote the article about Chopin's last (or was it second-to-last) concert in Paris, but I hadn't heard that she wrote the biography! If you look in the 'Correspondence' book when you get it, there are some snippets from letters of Liszt and Marie d'Agoult around the time that concert, to show part of the evidence that she wrote that article, and why. lol, I remember a line from her letter....'the Chopin-Sands...are trying to resuscitate Chopin...' I have a feeling 'resuscitate' was translated exactly....what a horrible thing to say! Of course, he was already in dangerous health at that point in his life.

40 year tawny port!!!

You're close

Theresa - no time to read today, maybe tonight. I'll let you know if I learn more about that Liszt/Princess/Chopin bio stuff.

20yr tawnyt or a 50+ year vintage port?