Chopin and his Europe Chopin and his Europe The International Music Festival ‘Chopin and his Europe’ – an international music festival organised in Warsaw since 2005 by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, presenting European music within the context of its links with the life and work of the Polish pianist, composer and teacher Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849). The project is realised as part of the government programme ‘Fryderyk Chopin Heritage 2010’. It is one of the annual cultural events of the summer in Poland, devised by artistic director Stanisław Leszczyński. One important strand to the festival programme is historical performance – presenting works as they were
Frédéric Chopin repelled Chopin, who remarked, "What an unattractive person "la Sand" is. Is she really a woman?" However, by early 1837 Maria Wodzińska's mother had made it clear to Chopin in correspondence that a marriage with her daughter was unlikely to proceed. It is thought that she was influenced by his poor health and possibly also by rumours about his associations with women such as d'Agoult and Sand. Chopin finally placed the letters from Maria and her mother in a package on which he wrote, in Polish, "My tragedy". Sand, in a letter to Grzymała of June 1838, admitted strong feelings