everything hilariously wrong about Life of Chopin by Liszt, aka one of the greatest fanfiction in classical music history:
-Lisztâs âinvestigative journalismâ abt Chopin pissed Ludwika (Chopinâs sister) off so bad she passed it to Jane Stirling who also got pissed off so bad that she half assed her entire response and to top it off Liszt didnât even use her answers to write his book. He straight up wrote something that goes âMy intimate association with Chopin gives me the right to ask incredibly personal questions that, by the way, is a great invasion of his private lifeâ. Totally doesnât sound tone deaf to the 2 people who are heavily grieving his recent death. Yup. Way to go Franz.
-Hell thereâs a good chance he didnât even write the thing himself.
-After it was published, the book also pissed Fontana (Chopinâs roommate and lifelong friend) off so bad that he just gave up on the idea of writing another Chopin biography because he thought it wouldnât stand a chance against Lisztâs popularity.
-It was the only popular interpretation of Chopinâs life for a good 30ish years . Even Tchaikovsky read it and was amazed by how incomprehensible it is, saying : âIt is full of empty phrases and waffleâ.
Imagine grieving a friend so hard that you managed to write a book that flipped off nearly every single one of his close ones and your rose tinted view of his character influenced a popular one sided misrepresentation of the man you wished to honor.
