At the end of his time in Italy he returned to Paris, visiting his parents on the way. He started organizing concerts of his music. This is when he got to know Harriet Smithson. They had a strange courtship and he married her in 1833. The next year they had a son. The marriage was never easy. Their personalities were different, they were poor, and they did not speak one another’s language. In 1842 they separated and Harriet died in great poverty in 1854.