In the company of I Puritani's author, Vincenzo Bellini, who became his personal friend and whom he deeply admired, Frédéric Chopin travelled in July 1835 to the town of Enghien, in northern France, to "take the baths", an obligation that the disease imposed on all who suffered from tuberculosis, or anyone who was in the process of getting the condition.
A few days later he received a letter from his parents, announcing his forthcoming arrival in Karlsbad, about three days' journey away. Chopin had not seen Nicholas and his mother since he had left Warsaw for Vienna five years earlier. And it had been precisely his parents who had suggested to him not to return to Poland, after Warsaw capitulated before the advance of the Russian troops, on September 8, 1831.
The Chopin family in Karlsbad
A few hours apart, Frederic and his parents arrive in Karlsbad on the same day, August 16, 1835. It was to be three weeks of overflowing joy and emotional exaltation. Chopin Sr. scribbles a couple of notes to his daughters, who have remained in Warsaw, telling them of the joy. Frederic decides to add a postscript for his sisters:
"Our joy is inexpressible, we hug and we keep hugging each other ... We walk, we take your mother by the arm, we talk about you, we drink, we eat together, we joke, I feel full of joy..."The stay came to an end, and his parents had to return to Warsaw. Neither they nor Frédéric knows it, but this is the final goodbye. They will not see each other again.
Shortly after the farewell, Frédéric set off to Paris. On the way, he stopped in Dresden to spend a few days with the Wodzinsky family. There, he found his childhood friends, the Wodzinsky children, and among them, the young Maria.
He spends a week with them and everything goes wonderfully. The three male siblings don't take a dim view of the fact that their former playmate, now a talented pianist and refined artist, may marry their sister Maria in the not too distant future.
It was the year of affection. In mid-October, Frédéric is back in Paris, blissful.
Nocturne Op. 27 N° 2, in D flat major
The two Nocturnes of Opus 27 were composed in 1835, in Paris, around the time of the trip to Karlsbad. The second of them is the most known and appreciated by the audiences.
In our modest opinion, this nocturne is probably the only one that can get started and maintain its simple beauty without harmonic change for four bars and then some. In the first 25 seconds, the left hand arpeggios do not leave the D-flat major chord.
The rendition, remarkable, is by the Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva.
