CHOPIN: NEW BIOGRAPHICAL INSIGHTS

Chopin has been the subject of several good biographies in recent years, most notably those by Bernard Gavoty and George Marek and Maria Gordon-Smith. Two recent biographies, The Lioness and the Little One: The Liaison of George Sand and Frederic Chopin by William Atwood and Chopin: A New Biography by Adam Zamoyski, make further significant contributions both to the scholarship about and to the romantic allure of the great Polish composer. While Zamoyski's book provides a good overview of Chopin's life, from his Polish birth to his final years in Paris, Atwood's ac count concentrates on Chopin's later years, from his first meeting with George Sand until his death. As Zamoyski states, Chopin's name, like Byron's, conjures the image of the quintessential Romantic artist.