e he declared that he would devote himself without stint to the
maintenance of the Republic. In well-worded generalities something was
promised to all the classes and parties of France. The other candidates
were Cavaignac and Lamartine. Out of seven millions of votes cast in this
election, five million went to Louis Napoleon. The mere glamour of an
imperial name cast a new spell over France.

[Sidenote: Death of Chopin]

[Sidenote: The pianist's career]

In the midst of these stirring events in Paris, Frederick Chopin, the piano
composer, died on October 17. Born at Jelisovaya-Volia in Poland, he
received his early musical education at Warsaw. At the age of nine he
played a pianoforte concerto with improvisations in public. His first
compositions were Polish dances. In his fifteenth year he published a rondo
and a fantasie. Having perfected himself as a pianist, he set out on a
concert tour through Vienna, Munich, Paris and London. After his first
appearance in Vienna, the foremost musical critic there wrote of him: "From
the outset Chopin took place in the front rank of masters. The perfect
delicacy of his touch, his indescribable mechanical dexterity, the
melancholy tints in his style of shading, and the rare clearness of his
delivery are in him qualities which bear the stamp of genius. He must be
regarded as one of the most remarkable meteors blazing on the musical
horizon." In Paris he gave a concert at Pleyel's house. His reception was
such that he gave up all idea of proceeding further and made Paris his home
for life. He was welcomed to the intimacy of men like Liszt, Berlioz,
Meyerbeer, Bellini, Balzac and Heine. As one after another of his unique
compositions for the piano appeared, he took rank as the foremost composer
for that instrument. On the publication of his preludes and new Polish
dances, Schumann wrote of Chopin: "He is and ever will be the most daring
and proud poetic spirit of the time."

[Sidenote: Chopin and Georges Sand]

In 1836, Chopin met Madame Dudevant, better known as the celebrated
novelist Georges Sand. Their attachment was mutual. For her he wrote some
of his most inspired pieces. They spent the winter of 1838-39 together on
the Island of Majorca, where Georges Sand nursed Chopin through a severe
attack of bronchitis. Of this episode, which had its profound effect on
Chopin's music, Georges Sand has left an unengaging record in the novel
"Lucreticia Floriani," published shortly after