Chasing Chopin

May 1, 2020

A book centered on a funeral march? The subtitle of this engaging volume almost says it all. LaFarge (On the High Line: Exploring America's Most Original Urban Park) became fascinated by Fr�d�ric Chopin's Sonata No. 2, op. 35, popularly called the "Funeral March," and set off on an exploration of Chopin's music, viewed especially through the sonata. This "chasing" after the composer led her to a probing examination of his long-term relationship with writer George Sand, as well as with luminaries such as artist Eug�ne Delacroix. She investigates the art of piano making and delves into Chopin's preferences for the instrument, his teaching techniques, and his method of composing. The author also provides extensive information on the cultural scene and the political situation as they influenced the composer's music. This slender but wide-ranging volume is impeccably researched, with copious notes and a bibliography, but never seems overly scholarly and will appeal to a variety of general readers. VERDICT Well recommended to anyone with an interest in Chopin, though those seeking a definitive study of the composer's life and music are directed to Alan Walker's Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times.--Edward B. Cone, New York

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Starred review from May 15, 2020
LaFarge delves passionately into the history and culture--up to the present day--surrounding Chopin's legendary Opus 35 sonata, whose third movement contains "the world's most famous funeral march." In a singular work combining historical research and personal and musical passion, the author, who is also an accomplished pianist, demonstrates how Opus 35 encapsulated many components of the brief and stormy life (1810-1849) of its composer. Exiled from his native Poland, the innovative young pianist, teacher, and composer set out on a series of "peregrinations" throughout Europe, finally settling in the piano capital of the world, Paris, where he was swept off his feet by author George Sand. As LaFarge makes abundantly clear, Chopin's time living with Sand and her family deeply informed his best work. Both artists were visionaries in their chosen mediums: Sand effectively challenged the misogynistic literary formulas of her day, and Chopin pioneered a distinct style via a diligent search for a new tone, made possible by the technological advances in the piano at the time. LaFarge is at her best writing about the techniques of piano playing, and while certain passages will be challenging for nonmusicians, the author points to an accompanying website, whychopin.com, which offers a host of relevant musical selections for each chapter of the book. Moreover, the author embarked on the requisite pilgrimages to the lovers' haunts in Majorca, Paris, and Nohant, Sand's country estate in central France, where Chopin completed his sonata. In addition to her engaging history, LaFarge energetically pursues Chopin's continued influence on musicians today--especially jazz musicians, who have relished his liberating style, best described by Sand as a unique combination of "severity and grace, melancholy and magnificence." Indeed, it's apparent that Chopin endures today, "as fresh, inspiring, and inventive as ever." A seamless blend of the musical and literary verve, with just enough research to ground and elucidate.

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June 8, 2020
In this entertaining dual music history and memoir, LaFarge (On the High Line) explores her love of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin’s music, as well as his enduring contributions to music. In 1998, “falling deeply in love with Chopin,” LaFarge set out to discover all she could about the life and work of Chopin (1810–1849). Focusing primarily on Chopin’s Opus 35, which contains his famous funeral march, LaFarge traces Chopin from his self-exile from Poland— which began during the 1831 Russian occupation of Warsaw—to his tempestuous relationship with novelist George Sand and his veneration of Bach. LaFarge explains that Chopin was composing during the evolution of the modern piano in the 1830s and that he became “an outlier: as everyone else was trying to get louder and bigger, he perfected a tone that was often so subtle audiences complained he was weak.” The Chopin that emerges from LaFarge’s portrait is an independent spirit who shunned the limelight, was a generous teacher and friend, and encouraged his students to develop their own voices. LaFarge’s affectionate fan’s notes flow as melodiously as a Chopin opus.