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Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician — Volume 1 by Frederick Niecks
page 53 of 465 (11%)
the age of 12 to his own instincts, and follow instead of
directing him." The progress of Frederick must indeed have been
considerable, for in Clementina Tanska-Hofmanowa's Pamiatka po
dobrej matce (Memorial of a good Mother) [FOOTNOTE: Published in
1819.] the writer relates that she was at a soiree at Gr----'s,
where she found a numerous party assembled, and heard in the
course of the evening young Chopin play the piano--"a child not
yet eight years old, who, in the opinion of the connoisseurs of
the art, promises to replace Mozart." Before the boy had
completed his ninth year his talents were already so favourably
known that he was invited to take part in a concert which was got
up by several persons of high rank for the benefit of the poor.
The bearer of the invitation was no less a person than Ursin
Niemcewicz, the publicist, poet, dramatist, and statesman, one of
the most remarkable and influential men of the Poland of that
day. At this concert, which took place on February 24, 1818, the
young virtuoso played a concerto by Adalbert Gyrowetz, a composer
once celebrated, but now ignominiously shelved--sic transit
gloria mundi--and one of Riehl's "divine Philistines." An
anecdote shows that at that time Frederick was neither an
intellectual prodigy nor a conceited puppy, but a naive, modest
child that played the pianoforte, as birds sing, with unconscious
art. When he came home after the concert, for which of course he
had been arrayed most splendidly and to his own great
satisfaction, his mother said to him: "Well, Fred, what did the
public like best?"--"Oh, mamma," replied the little innocent,
"everybody was looking at my collar."

The debut was a complete success, and our Frederick--Chopinek
(diminutive of Chopin) they called him--became more than ever the
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