Adelaide Murgia

This work is a large- format book of 75 pages, one in a series called "Portraits of Greatness" published in Italy in 1966. Having known almost nothing about Chopin (beyond his works of genius), I found this biography an enlightening account of his life and times. It is replete with illustrations --mainly paintings and lithographs of relevant people, places and events, as well as photographs of relevant historical buildings that are still standing. The new reader (such as myself) will see Chopin as a real person, with passions, insecurities, loves, jealousies, a man who experienced tumultuous political and personal changes over the course of his life and career. Readers who would like to know something of Chopin the man without devoting time to one of the full- length biographies will likely find this book to their liking.… (mer)