Szulc asserts that the
memorial in the Holy Cross Church, Warsaw--where Chopin's heart
is preserved--bears the date March 2, 1809. Chopin, so Henry T.
Finck declares, was twenty-two years of age when he wrote to his
teacher Elsner in 1831. Liszt told Niecks in 1878 that Karasowski
had published the correct date in his biography. Now let us
consider Janotha's arguments. According to her evidence the
composer's natal day was February 22, 1810 and his christening
occurred April 28 of the same year. The following baptismal
certificate, originally in Latin and translated by Finck, is
adduced. It is said to be from the church in which Chopin was
christened: "I, the above, have performed the ceremony of
baptizing in water a boy with the double name Frederic Francois,
on the 22d day of February, son of the musicians Nicolai Choppen,
a Frenchman, and Justina de Krzyzanowska his legal spouse. God-
parents: the musicians Franciscus Grembeki and Donna Anna
Skarbekowa, Countess of Zelazowa-Wola." The wrong date was
chiselled upon the monument unveiled October 14, 1894, at
Chopin's birthplace--erected practically through the efforts of
Milia Balakireff the Russian composer.
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