She has been the dupe of la Dorval, Bocage, Lamenais, etc.;
through the same sentiment she is the dupe of Liszt and Madame
d'Agoult.
So let us accept without too much questioning as did Balzac, a
reader of souls, the Sand-Chopin partnership and follow its
sinuous course until 1847.
Chopin met Sand at a musical matinee in 1837. Niecks throttles
every romantic yarn about the pair that has been spoken or
printed. He got his facts viva voce from Franchomme. Sand was
antipathetic to Chopin but her technique for overcoming masculine
coyness was as remarkable in its particular fashion as Chopin's
proficiency at the keyboard. They were soon seen together, and
everywhere. She was not musical, not a trained musician, but her
appreciation for all art forms was highly sympathetic. Not a
beautiful woman, being swarthy and rather heavy-set in figure,
this is what she was, as seen by Edouard Grenier:--
She was short and stout, but her face attracted all my
attention, the eyes especially. They were wonderful eyes, a
little too close together, it may be, large, with full
eyelids, and black, very black, but by no means lustrous; they
reminded me of unpolished marble, or rather of velvet, and
this gave a strange, dull, even cold expression to her
countenance.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67