Frederic Chopin [Paperback] Review

This book is a biography of Chopin, written by his dear confidant and fellow musician, Franz Liszt. It is engaging and contains some interesting stories, though the validity of some of them is questionable. If you are looking for a serious biography of Chopin, I would advise you look elsewhere.
It is very likely that Liszt wrote this as an almost remorseful homage to Chopin after his untimely death. Liszt and Chopin were close friends for a while, but sadly, their friendship ended bitterly for a number of reasons -- namely, their own connections to George Sand, and differences in opinion regarding things in music and otherwise. (Chopin never did consider Liszt a real composer.) Also, these two had a tense relationship due to their temperamental dispositions, as well as their constant rivalry. Chopin's death came before they were ever to reconcile their differences, which I am certain weighed very heavily upon Liszt't conscience.
Consequently, we have a charming, affectionate biography, written in a reverent tone but not very insightful. It includes some basic information about Chopin, as well as anecdotes (some which were probably just rumors, as Liszt did not do a very extensive amount of research, besides trying to contact relatives of Chopin unwilling to give any interviews). It is a lot of soft, happy memories, but does not explore Chopin on a deeper level. Also, Liszt supposedly let various people tamper with his writing, resulting in an "improved" edition -- actually just a more sentimental, wordy writing resulting in an even larger amount of fluff than before. Nonetheless, this book still makes for an enjoyable bit of reading; however, it is not of enough value to merit an actual purchase. My advice: check it out from the library if you're really interested.

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