Frederic Chopin's Piano Students
Keyboard Pupils of the Great Polish Composer Chopin
A look at the people who took piano lessons from Frederic Chopin in Poland and France in the 1800's.
When asked about Chopin's teaching Franz Liszt said, "Chopin was unfortunate in his pupils." This was not a criticism of the talent of the students or the efficacy of Chopcaroline hartmann, carl filtsch, in's teaching, but rather a sad commentary on the early deaths of several young people taking instruction from Chopin. Caroline Hartmann, Carl Filtsch (probably the most gifted) and Paul Gunsburg died in their prime and two others, Friederike Streicher (1816-1895) and Emilie von Gretsch (1821-1877) gave up their careers while they were still very young. Others like Vera de Kologrivoff Rubio (1816-1880) and Camille O'Meara Dubois (1830-1907) decided to concentrate on teaching. Karl Mikuli (1821-1897) and Georges Mathias (1826-1910) went on to have concert careers and to carry on the teaching of their master. MIkuli also edited the complete piano works of Chopin.
Chopin made a place for himself in the musical society of Paris and through this found himself teaching Princesses and Duchesses, one of whom, Princess Marcelina Czartoryska (1817-1894) was apparently very talented but unable to concertize owing to her position in society. She remained Chopin's most faithful disciple, however, and her name can be seen as the dedicatee of some of his compositions.
While still a youth in Warsaw, Chopin did have a few students but only under duress. He was too busy composing and trying to make a name for himself on the concert stage to have much time left over to devote to teaching.
In Paris, during the years 1832 to 1849, Chopin would receive his students in the morning or early afternoon and the lessons would last from forty-five minutes to an hour with a fee of twenty gold francs. He taught five students a day and often gave each student two lessons per week. Because of his precarious health he would often lie on a couch in an adjoining room to teach.
Emilie von Timm Gretsch (1821-1877) was another student who came to Chopin after having lessons with Adolf Henselt. She received exactly thirty-three lessons from Chopin while she lived in Paris (1842-1844). Another student, the Scottish Jane Stirling, studied with Chopin and became his most fervent follower. The works Op.9,35, 37, 64/1 and 65 were all dedicated to Jane. There was talk of a romantic relationship with Stirling, but there is no proof of this ever having happened. Pauline Viardot also studied with Chopin, but later concentrated on her voice studies and went on to become one of the most famous singers of her time.
Source: Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Cambridge University Press, 1986
