Chopin: The Man and His Music

James Gibbon Huneker (1857–1921) was a distinguished American newspaper critic, an essayist, and a prolific author. His writing style is remarkable — unrestrained, informal, full of brilliant insight — and this style plus Huneker's wide knowled ... Read more

James Gibbon Huneker (1857–1921) was a distinguished American newspaper critic, an essayist, and a prolific author. His writing style is remarkable — unrestrained, informal, full of brilliant insight — and this style plus Huneker's wide knowledge of art and literature as well as music has kept his literacy work alive. Chopin: The Man and His Music reflects the intimate, thorough knowledge of Chopin's music that Huneker acquired while studying to be a concert pianist and his unusually keen insight into the character of the great Polish composer whose music he adored. The book is divided into two parts. The first treats Chopin's life — his youth in Poland, his emigration to Paris, the famous George Sand episode, his sickness and death — and comments on Chopin as a teacher and as a pianist and performer. The second part discusses the entire body of Chopin's music, piece by piece. Huneker notes his own overall impression of the individual compositions as well as the impressions of Schumann, George Sand, Chopin's biographer Frederick Niecks, many of the great pianists, and others.  Less