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But Chopin's high opinion of Beethoven was neither unlimited nor unqualified. His attitude as regards this master, which Franchomme briefly indicated by saying that his friend loved Beethoven, but had his dislikes in connection with him, is more fully explained by Liszt. However great his admiration for the works of Beethoven might be, certain parts of them seemed to him too rudely fashioned.
I have a Broadwood piano in my room, the Pleyel of Miss Stirling in my salon. I lack neither paper nor pens. I hope that you also will compose something, and may God grant that I hear it soon newly born. I have friends in London who advise me to pass there the winter. Adieu dear, dear friend! My most sincere wishes to Madame Franchomme for her children.
The little he had saved in England and Scotland was soon gone, gone unawares; indeed, the discovery of the fact came to him as a surprise. What was to be done? Franchomme, his right hand, and his head too, in business and money matters and now, of course, more than ever was at his wits' end.
According to Madame Rubio, he kept only 1,000 francs, returning the rest to Miss Stirling, whilst Franchomme, on the other hand, said that his friend kept 12,000 francs. During Chopin's short stay in the Rue Chaillot, M. Charles Gavard, then a very young man, in fact, a youth, spent much of his time with the suffering composer:
Of the musicians of whom we heard so much in the first years after his coming to Paris, he remained in close connection only with one- namely, with Franchomme. Osborne soon disappeared from his circle. Chopin's intercourse with Berlioz was in after years so rare that some of their common friends did not even know of its existence.
The three Ecossaises, published as op. 73, No. 3, are little dances, schottisches, nothing more. No. 2 in G is highly popular in girls' boarding schools. The Grand Duo Concertant for 'cello and piano is jointly composed by Chopin and Franchomme on themes from "Robert le Diable." It begins in E and ends in A major, and is without opus number.
Dearest, I relied indeed on your friendship therefore the celerity with which you have arranged the Schlesinger affair for me does not surprise me at all. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and await the moment when I shall be able to do as much for you. I imagine all is well in your home that Madame Franchomme and your dear children are well and that you love me as I love you.
When you deliver it to him, be so kind as to ask him for a line in reply, which you will have the goodness to send to me; because if any unforeseen event occurs, I shall have to apply to Meissonnier, their offers being equal. Write to me. I love you as much as ever. A thousand kind regards to Madame Franchomme, and many compliments from my sister Louise. I embrace your dear children.
Hence the kind of isolation in which he wished to pass the last months of his life, an isolation which many people wrongly interpreted some attributing it to a scornful pride, others to a melancholic temper, the one as well as the other equally foreign to the character of this, charming artist. During his stay in the Rue Chaillot Chopin wrote the following note and letter to Franchomme:
On the other hand, if she had called, Chopin's friends would have kept her away from him, from the man who told Franchomme two days before his death, "She said to me that I would die in no arms but hers." Surely unless she was monstrous in her egotism, and she was not George Sand did not hear this sad speech without tears and boundless regrets. Alas! all things come too late for those who wait.
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