Paul Kildea

It’s time to leave Chopin in peace

The lurid fantasies foisted on the composer since his death have made him almost unrecognisable — though Annik LaFarge does much to dispel them

A characteristically lurid portrayal of Chopin. Credit: Alamy
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  • Chasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries and Half a Dozen Revolutions

    Annik LaFarge

    Simon & Schuster, pp. 240, £20

There’s a scene early on in A Song to Remember — Charles Vidor’s clunky Technicolor film of 1945 — in which the young Frédéric Chopin (Cornel Wilde) provides background music for a banquet hosted by Count Wyszynska in his Warsaw palace, plates of rubbery pig and candy-coloured vegetables in heady supply.

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