A new edition of the definitive biography of Chopin by Adam Zamoyski, first published in 1979 and unavailable in English for many years. Few composers provoke such strong emotional reactions as Chopin. Few have been more recognized and loved. And few have acquired so many emotional myths surrounding them.

Published to coincide with Chopin's 200th anniversary, this new biography by Adam Zamoyski clears away the mass of narratives and myths that have developed around the composer's life, as well as the vivid and impressive personalities of Parisian Romanticism, including Liszt, Berlioz, Victor Hugo, and George Sand, seeking the true Chopin.

Zamoyski brings to the subject an unrivaled knowledge of the historical, social, and cultural background of the composer's homeland, Poland, as well as France, where he spent most of his creative life. He has researched the archives of Warsaw, Krakow, Paris, and London in his search for the truth, basing his narrative exclusively on primary sources and contemporary records.

The result is a biography of authority, perception, and humor. Chopin emerges from the sweet romantic haze in which he has been enveloped as a real, tangible personality – a man of intelligence and humor. In music, an innovative genius; in finances, a spendthrift; in love, hesitant and tender; in friendship, passionately loyal but often extremely demanding. Through careful reading of his letters and the use of everyday details, Zamoyski brings the reader into the private world of this most complex and hesitant man – "a man made for intimacy," as the poet Heinrich Heine calls him – and reveals the true passions, sufferings, and ultimate tragedy of his life.

Pages: 368, Year of Publication: 0428, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm