Chronicle of life and works

1810 - 1816. PROLOGUE
1826 - 1835. METAMORPHOSIS
1835 - 1846. APOGEE
1846 - 1849. EPILOGUE

Solitary years, 1846 - 49

1846
28 XI - Chopin acts as a witness at a wedding of his pupil Z. Rosengardt with B. Zaleski; supposedly a performance of the (non-extant) Veni Creator dedicated to the young couple
- L. A. Bisson executes a daguerreotype portrait of Chopin

1847
23 III - a music soirée at Chopin given in honour of D. Potocka, Chopin plays the Sonata in G minor together with A. Franchomme
16 IV - a portrait of Chopin is made by Ary Scheffer, on 19 April one by Charles H. Lehmann and another on 2 May by Franz X. Winterhalter
17 IV - "I spent the evening playing and humming songs from the banks of the Vistula" - from a letter written by Chopin to his family
2 - 12 V - Chopin is seriously ill; G. Sand to W. Grzymala: "I know that many people accuse me; some say that I harmed him with my violent sensuality, others that ... with excesses"
V/VI - a convalescence in Ville d'Avray in the Albrecht residence
14 VII - Chopin sides with Solange and assists her in an acute conflict with her mother
- copious correspondence between Chopin and Solange
VI/VII (?) - supplements and completes opus 64 with three Valses; they are published in Paris at the end of the year together with Mazurkas, op. 63 and Sonata op. 65
- the Prelude in A major and the song Z gór, gdzie dzwigali strasznych krzyzów brzemie (From the hills where they carried the burden of terrible crosses) to words by Z. Krasinski, are written down in an album of D. Potocka

1848
16 II - performs last Parisian concert in Salle Pleyel: etudes, preludes, mazurkas, valses, the Berceuse and the Barcarolle, as well as his own Cello Sonata in G minor and the Trio in G minor by Mozart; an enthusiastic review in "Gazette Musicale"
22 II - the outbreak of the February Revolution in Paris
4 III - the last, chance meeting with G. Sand at the home of Ch. Marliani
4 IV - "terrible things will happen but at the end of all this there is magnificent, great Poland, in a word: Poland" - from a letter to J. Fontana
20 IV - 23 XI - a stay in England, where Chopin teaches and gives concerts
after 20 IV - in London, Chopin performs for a small audience at the residence of Lady Gainsborough; at the beginning of May - a similar performance for the Marquis of Douglas
12 V - a dinner with Jenny Lind; "afterwards, she sang Swedish airs until midnight"
15 V - Chopin plays in the salon of the Duchess of Sutherland in the presence of Queen Victoria and Duke of Wellington
1 VI - listens to J. Lind in Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
23 VI - Chopin gives a concert for 150 guests at Lady Adélaide Sartoris's house
7 VII - at Lord E. Falmouth's house, Chopin gives a concert together with P. Viardot-Garcia
5 VIII - departs from London for several weeks in Scotland where he stays with the family of J. W. Stirling
28 VIII - gives a concert before an audience of 1,200 listeners in Manchester
9 IX - "I feel alone, alone, alone, although surrounded by people" - from a letter to W. Grzymala
27 IX - in Glasgow, plays at matinée given by the singer M. Adelasio
IX - opus 64 is published in London
4 X - gives a concert in Edinburgh
30 X - "Where has my art gone to? Where have I wasted my heart? I barely remember how people sing back home. This world seems to pass me by" - from a letter to W. Grzymala
3 XI - returns to London
16 XI - gives his last public performance at a charity concert for veterans of the November 1830 Polish Uprising
23 XI - departure from London; "Have a posy of violets bought on Friday so that their fragrance would fill the salon" - from a letter to W. Grzymala
24 XI - arrives in Paris

1848/49
- writes the penultimate works: the Valse in A minor and the Mazurka in G minor l

1849
29 I - Delacroix becomes a constant guest of Chopin; endless conversations recorded in the painter's diary (up to June)
30 III - a visit by D. Potocka and Maria Kalergis
4 IV - a conversation with E. Delacroix about counterpoint
11 IV - Delacroix: "Once again, I saw Mme Potocka at Chopin's home, once again the same enchanting voice"
14 IV - Delacroix:" I found him very frail, almost breathless"
22 IV - Chopin attends a premiere of Le Prophète by G. Meyerbeer
IV - VI (?) - a summer in Chaillot, on the outskirts of Paris; possibly here Chopin writes sketches of the last unfinished composition - the Mazurka in F minor (op. posth. 68, no. 4)
- a poet, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, is a frequent guest of Chopin, as recounted in Czarne kwiaty (Black Flowers); poetic reflections in Fortepian Chopina (Chopin's Piano)
25 VI - "I am ill, and no doctor will do so much for me as some of you" - from a letter written to sister Ludwika Jedrzejewiczowa, born Chopin
16 VII - D. Potocka: "I regret that you are so solitary in illness and grief"
9 VIII - Ludwika Chopin-Jedrzejewiczowa arrives in Paris with her husband and daughter
9 IX - Chopin moves to Place Vendôme 12
X - Chopin orders all his unpublished and unfinished works to be burnt
about 15 X - according to diverse sources, D. Potocka sings for Chopin a hymn by Alessandro Stradella, a psalm by Benedetto Marcello, arias by Pergolesi and Bellini, a fragment of the Te Deum by G. F. Haendel, and the Chopin's nocturne with words "O salutaris"
- a visit by Father Aleksander Jelowicki: conversations, last sacrament
17 X - Chopin dies at about 2 a.m.
18 X - C. K. Norwid in an obituary published in "Dziennik Polski": "Born a native of Warsaw, a Pole in his heart, and a citizen of the world due to his talent ..."
30 X - funeral ceremonies in the St. Madeleine church (the Mozart Requiem) and burial in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery.