Chopin's Visit to Teplice Spa
Polish Composer Played Teplice Castle on 1st Trip to Czechoslovakia
A brief summary of Frederic Chopin's sojourn in Teplice Spa, the renowned Czech resort and his concert at Teplice Castle, home of the Clary family.
Teplice Spa was a very famous watering place and piqued Chopin's curiosity enough that he made it a stop on his first visit to Bohemia in 1829. On Monday, August 24, he embarked from Prague in a special coach with his travelling companions and reached the Spa that evening. Upon his arrival he discovered several Polish names on the register and proceeded to contact Ludwig Lempicki, Joseph Kochler and a man named Kretkowski. The next evening he was introduced to the Clary family at thieir chateau, wearing his white gloves that "had already dazzled viewers on the occasion of my Vienna concert."
Clary Chateau Concert
Chopin was asked, during the evening, by ' three pretty young princesses,' to improvise on the principal theme from Rossini's ' Moses.' He was commanded to sit at the piano four times and was given a letter of introduction to Baron von Friesen, Master of Ceremonies for His Majesty the King of Saxony. The writer of the letter, General von Leisser, added in German the words, " Mr.Chopin is one of the best pianists I have ever met." Heady praise for a nineteen-year old.
Chopin's Concert at Teplice has been described in the letter Chopin sent home, and is the only concert he gave in Bohemia where we can be sure of the programme. Rossini was one of Chopin's favorite composers and he often used themes from Rossini's operas on which to improvise at public concerts. We can be sure that he used these themes that evening as well as his ' Improvisations on Polish Songs.' A critic for the Allgemeine Theatre-Zeitung of August 20, speaks of the "pecularities of his compositions, of new figures and forms.
While the young man, through repeated changes of themes aimed excellently at entertainment, the calm, flow of ideas, their secure linking and the pure rendition were sufficient proof of his aptitude for this rare gift." His concert was attended by Prince Karl Clary, his wife and mother-in-law, as well as three of his four daughters, one of whom, Eufemia, later married the governor of Poznan, Antoni Radziwill. Chopin would later dedicate his Trio in g minor for Piano, Violin and Cello to Radziwill.
This trip to Teplice Spa was Chopin's first but not last. He would return in November of 1830, again in September of 1835 and his final visit would be in August of 1836.
For further reading about Czech music see Czech pianist Rudolf Firkusny.
Source
Chopin and Bohemia, by Jaroslav Prochazka ARTIA Praha 1969
