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INTRODUCTION
Ihaveplacedthisphenomenoninthecontextofperformativeandtheatrean-
thropologystudies(mostlytheworkofEugenioBarba,1VictorTurner2andRichard
Schechner3)fromthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury.ThechoiceofChopinas
themainreferencewasdictatedbytheextremelyconventionalimageofthisiconic
figure:theexistenceofsentimentalportraits,venerablesacredimages,orstudies
whicharemorestrikingthanaccurate.
Mystudyencompassesthethirty-nineyearsofhislife(1810-1849)anddraws
onarichsourcebaseofvisualandverbalartifacts,witnessaccounts,letters(archi-
valresearchonthewholecorpusoflettersexchangedbetweenChopinandvarious
recipients),journals(mainlythoseofGeorgeSandandEugèneDelacroix),press
articles,literature,aswellasrecollectionsofjournalistsandChopin’sdoctors,stu-
dentsandfriends.
Theconvictionabouttheimmanentco-dependencyofhumanactions,inspired
bythethoughtofNorbertElias,playsakeyroleinthiswork.Followingthisthread,
Ihavetriedtodelineatewhatfunctionsareattributedtoagenius,orfurthermore
-ageniusinpermanentmalaise:towhatextentcanbeingsuchanindividuallead
tosocialtransgressions,andtowhatextentisheorshesimplyanalienatedhuman
being,extremelydifferentfromeveryoneelse?
Aristotledistinguishesbetweenthehistorianandthepoetonthegroundsthat
theformerdescribesuthethingthathasbeen”,andthelatteruakindofthingthat
mightbe”.
4
Poetry,saysAristotle,isthusbothmorephilosophicalandmoreimpor-
tantthanhistory,sinceitdealsnotwithusingulars”butratherwithuuniversals”.
Chopin’slifeshowsthathewasbothapoetandahistorian.
HaydenWhitearguesinMetahistorythatinordertounderstandtheintellectual
pointofanygivenhistory,wemustfirstdistinguishbetweentheuchronicle”and
theustory”thattogetherconstitutethehistory.Thechronicleissimplythelinear,
temporalrecordofevents,whereasthestoryisanarrangedconstructthatprovides
thechroniclewiththeappearanceofcontinuity-withabeginning,amiddleandan
ending.5ThisiswhatAristotle’shistorianwrites.Arrangingtheirmaterialafterthe
fact,historiansoftheAristotelianmoldconcludewithanuending”whoseactual
achievementorperformancepredatesthecompositionofthehistory.
1IanWatson,TowardsaThirdTheatre:EugenioBarbaandTheOdinTeatret,pref.RichardSchechner,
Routledge,London,NewYork,1993;EugenioBarba,OnDirectingandDramaturgy:BurningDown
theHouse,trans.JudyBarba,Routledge,London,NewYork,2009.
2VictorTurner,TheAnthropologyofPerformance,pref.RichardSchechner,PAJPublications,New
York,1988;VictorTurner,Dramas,Fields,andMetaphors:SymbolicActioninHumanSociety,Cornell
UniversityPress,Ithaca,1975.
3
RichardSchechner,TheFutureofRitual:WritingonCultureandPerformance,Routledge,London,
NewYork,1993.
4Aristotle,Poetics,in:TheBasicWorksofAristotle,ed.RichardMcKeon,RandomHouse,NewYork,
1941,p.1464.
5HaydenWhite,Metahistory:TheHistoricalImaginationinNineteenthCenturyEurope,JohnsHopkins
UniversityPress,Baltimore,1973,p.5-7.
