Chopin in Britain

Chopin in Britain In 1848, the penultimate year of his life, Chopin visited England and Scotland at the instigation of his aristocratic Scots pupil, Jane Stirling. In the autumn of that year, he returned to Paris. The following autumn he was dead. Despite the fascination the composer continues to hold for scholars, this brief but important period, and his previous visit to London in 1837, remain little known. In this richly illustrated study, Peter Willis draws on extensive original documentary evidence, as well as cultural artefacts, to tell the story of these two visits and to place them into aristocratic and artistic life in mid-nineteenth-century England and Scotland. In addition to filling a significant hole in our knowledge of the composer’s life, the book adds to our understanding of a number of important figures, including Jane Stirling and the painter Ary Scheffer. The social and artistic milieux of London, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh are brought to vivid life. Peter Willis was an architect and Reader in the History of Architecture at Newcastle University. He completed a PhD in Music at Durham University in 2010. His pub- lications include Charles Bridgeman and the Landscape Garden, New Architecture in Scotland, and Chopin in Manchester. Chopin in Britain Peter Willis First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Peter Willis The right of Peter Willis to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested. ISBN: 978-1-4724-5127-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-57182-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Bach musicological font developed by © Yo Tomita Every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders. Please advise the publisher of any errors or omissions, and these will be corrected in subsequent editions. FREDERICK CHOPIN (1810–49) Stanisław Stattler, based on portrait by Ary Scheffer, circa 1847 (destroyed) Print from the ‘Corpus Imaginum’ of the Photographic Society Private collection Other books by Peter Willis (Editor) Furor hortensis: essays on the history of the English landscape garden in memory of H.F. Clark (Edinburgh: Elysium Press, 1974) New architecture in Scotland (London: Lund Humphries, 1974) (Editor, with John Dixon Hunt) The genius of the place: the English landscape garden, 1620–1820 (London: Paul Elek, 1975). Second edition (Cambridge, MA, and London: MIT Press, 1988) Charles Bridgeman and the English landscape garden. Studies in Architecture, volume XVII (London: A. Zwemmer, 1977). Second edition, reprinted with supplementary plates and a catalogue of additional documents, drawings and attributions (Newcastle upon Tyne: Elysium Press, 2002) Dom Paul Bellot: architect and monk, and the publication of ‘Propos d’un bâtisseur du Bon Dieu’, 1949 (Newcastle upon Tyne: Elysium Press, 1996) Chopin in Manchester (Newcastle upon Tyne: Elysium Press, 2011) For Jenny, Magnus, Gemma, Imogen, and Erin and my parents Robert Willis (1902–1967) and Mary Ormston Willis (1903–1983) in devotion Contents List of figures xi List of colour plates xxi Preface xxv Acknowledgements xxviii Introduction: Paris 1830s: prologue 1 1 London: summer 1837 17 2 Paris 1840s: interlude 37 3 London 1848: Chopin in London 58 4 London 1848: recitals 91 5 Edinburgh 128 6 Scottish Country Seats 147 7 Manchester: concert in Gentlemen’s Concert Hall, Monday 28 August 1848 175 8 Glasgow: concert in Merchants’ Hall, Wednesday 27 September 1848 195 9 Edinburgh: concert in Hopetoun Rooms, Wednesday 4 October 1848 206 x Contents 10 London: concert in Guildhall, Thursday 16 November 1848 215 Conclusion: Paris 1849: Epilogue 226 Bibliography 241 Index 271 Figures Cover Chopin. Bronze head by Józef Markiewicz, presented by the Frederick Chopin Society of Warsaw to the citizens of Edinburgh, Friday 28 February 1975. Usher Hall, Edinburgh. Photograph: Paul Zanre, 2014 Frontispiece Frederick Chopin (1810–49). Stanisław Stattler, based on portrait by Ary Scheffer, circa 1847 (destroyed). Print from the ‘Corpus Imaginum’ of the Photographic Society. Private collection v P.1 British Isles. Sidney Hall, A New General Atlas [1849], plate V. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh xxvi I.1 Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1770–1861). Engraving by Andrew Duncan, after Louis Rubio, 1831. Private collection 3 I.2 Harriet Grote (née Lewin) (1792–1878). Lithograph by Charles George Lewis, printed by Jérémie Graf, after Charles Landseer (circa 1840). Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London 6 I.3 ‘Italian Opera House, Paris’ (Salle Ventadour), home of the Théâtre-Italien, 1841–76. Engraving of auditorium by Charles Mottram, after Eugène Lami, from Jules Janin, Summer and winter in Paris (1844). Private collection 7 I.4 Camille Pleyel (1788–1855). Print by Boileau. Cité de la Musique, Paris 8 I.5 Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843). Engraving by L. Beyer, after J. Schöppe, senior, 1831. Mary Evans Picture Library/Interfoto/Sammlung Rauch 12 1.1 Chopin. Bronze medal, by Jean François Antoine Bovy, 1837. Mary Evans Picture Library/SZ Photo/Scherl 17 1.2 Quay at Dover, Kent, showing Wright’s Hotel in the centre. Drawn by George Sidney Shepherd, engraved by Thomas Garner, circa 1830. Private collection 19 1.3 Part of the West Side of Regent Street, London. Drawn by Thomas H. Shepherd, engraved by W. Watkins, 1828. Private collection 20 xii Figures 1.4 Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart (1803–54). Engraved portrait. Illustrated London News, 1843, left of page 325. Mary Evans Picture Library 21 1.5 Julian Fontana (1810–69). Bronze medal by Władisław Oleszcyński, 1837. Bibliothèque Polonaise de Paris. Akg- images/De Agostini Picture Library/G. Dagli Orti 22 1.6 The King’s Theatre, Haymarket, London (from 1837, Her Majesty’s Theatre). Engraved view, showing exterior remodelling by John Nash and G.S. Repton, 1816–18, from Dugdale, England and Wales delineated (circa 1848). Private collection 25 1.7 James Shudi Broadwood (1772–1851). Anonymous watercolour portrait (detail), circa 1820. Broadwood Trust, from Wainwright, Broadwood by appointment (1982), between pp. 184 and 185. Broadwood Trust, Surrey History Centre, Woking 27 1.8 Detail of contract of 20 July 1837, signed by Chopin and Pleyel, with Wessel & Co, then of Frith Street, Soho Square, for the publication of the Twelve Études or Studies (Op.25), ‘conjointly in France & Germany’. Sotheby’s sale catalogue, London, 5 December 2003, lot 57 (p. 56) 30 1.9 Twelve études or Studies (Op.25). Title page to Wessel & Co, ed., London, [October 1837], from CFEO online (www.cfeo.org.uk) 31 1.10 Chopin, Trois Nocturnes (Op.9, book 2), ‘Les murmures de la Seine’. Title page to Wessel & Co, ed., London, [1833], from Platzman, Chicago catalogue 1, p. 48. University of Chicago Library 32 2.1 George Sand (1804–76). Engraved portrait by August Weger, from a photograph. Private collection 38 2.2 Maison de George Sand, Nohant. Entrance front. Copyright, Centre des monuments nationaux/Monum, Editions du patrimoine, Paris, 2002 39 2.3 Hôtel Lambert, ‘Ball des Fürsten Czartoryski im Hotel Lambert zu Paris’, Illustrirte Zeitung, vol.6, no.151, Leipzig, 23 May 1846, p. 340. Akg-images 41 2.4 Princess Marcelina Czartoryska (née Radziwill) (1817–94). Lithograph by Auguste Sandoz, 1850. Mirska and Hordyński, Chopin na obczyżnie (1965), p. 113 42 2.5 Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808–72). Portrait in pencil and chalk by Alfred, Count D’Orsay, 1841. Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London 43 2.6 Jane Wilhelmina Stirling (1804–59), with Lady Frances Anne [Fanny] Bruce (1831–94), daughter of the 7th Earl of Elgin. Lithograph by Achille Devéria, circa 1842, from Ganche, Figures xiii Frédéric Chopin: sa vie et ses oeuvres, 1810–1849, 3rd ed. (1913), opposite p. 418. Private collection 45 2.7 Thomas Dyke Acland Tellefsen (1823–74). Portrait from Tellefsen, Thomas Tellefsens familiebreve (1923), frontispiece (circa 1860). Private collection 50 3.1 Admiralty Pier, Dover, showing the Lord Warden Hotel. Engraving published by Rock and Co, London, 1869. Private collection 61 3.2 Pavilion Hotel, Folkestone. Published by W. Tiffen, engraved by J. Newman, circa 1850. Private collection 62 3.3 Wojciech Grzymała (1793–1871). Photograph by Etienne Carjat. Bibliothèque Polonaise, Paris. Akg-images/DeAgostini Picture Library/G. Dagli Orti 63 3.4 Piccadilly, London, and adjacent streets, from Jackson, John Tallis’s London street views, 1838–1840 (2002 reprint), part 14, p. 68. Private collection 64 3.5 Bentinck Street, London. Pencil sketch by Thomas Colman Dibdin, circa 1850 (detail). London Metropolitan Archives 65 3.6 Wigmore Street, Welbeck Street, and Bentinck Street, London, from Jackson, John Tallis’s London street views, 1838–1840 (2002 reprint), part 50, p. 141. Private collection 66 3.7 Henry Fowler Broadwood (1811–93). Undated portrait, by unknown photographer. Broadwood Trust. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey 71 3.8 Alfred James Hipkins (1826–1903). Undated portrait, by unknown photographer. Broadwood Trust, from Wainwright, Broadwood by appointment (1982), p. 217. Private collection 73 3.9 James William Davison (1813–85).

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