Paris Pianopolis

In 1830 the French king was dethroned, and a bourgeois government took the reins. This brought about a shift in Paris' artistic landscape and the Romantic movement swept through Paris, foregrounding writers, artists, and musicians with more liberal views who saw the artist as a hero. In music that hero was the piano virtuoso.

The new Romantic generation of pianists, like Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt cast a shadow over the previous greats like Herz and Kalkbrenner. Charles Valentin Alkan and Marie Pleyel were part of this generation of musicians who saw piano playing and composing as serious art, not frivolous entertainment.

In 1835 Liszt gave a brilliant concert, setting the bar for all others to follow. But in the same year he left Paris with his mistress, the married Countess Marie d'Agoult, who was pregnant with his child. They journeyed to Switzerland to avoid a scandal in Paris.

With Liszt hiding out in Switzerland the field was open for a new virtuoso hero. Chopin who barely appeared in public, and then only in salons, was not the candidate.

Sigismond Thalberg was the candidate. He arrived in 1836 and took Paris by storm. Itching for a fight Liszt and the Countess returned to Paris and in the spring of 1837 the scene was set for a piano showdown between Thalberg and Liszt.

Once again Liszt leaves Paris with the Countess and new up-and-coming pianists from the young German Clara Wieck to Stephen Heller try to make it in Paris. Heller even moved to Paris to capture this opportunity, but then changed his mind.

Liszt couldn't resist the limelight and ended up giving concerts in Vienna. Marie Pleyel who had been seen in concert since the mid-1830's also triumphed in Vienna.

Back in Paris Camille Pleyel opened a new piano manufactory complete with a concert hall. Henri Herz went one better, and his new piano manufactory included a large concert hall and a piano school.

Finally, in 1841 Liszt returned to Paris to give the first-ever piano recital - a concert unlike anything Paris had ever seen. No singers, no other musicians, just Liszt and his piano. Perhaps spurred on by Liszt's triumphant solo concerts, a pianist who had not been seen in concert in over 6 years made a public appearance; Chopin performed in Pleyel Hall.

After Liszt's triumphant Paris recitals, a flood of wanna-be virtuosos descended on Paris. First, Thalberg returned after several years. Then Theodore Döhler the elegant charmer, followed by Alexander Dreyschock who could play a rocket of notes, meaning fast and loud, and Leopold de Meyer who stunned audiences with the way he literally overwhelmed the piano.

Even the recluse Alkan put in an appearance and actually had a hit tune over the summer of 1844. Marie Pleyel who had success in Vienna in 1839, made a triumphant comeback in Paris in 1845. Herz's business was suffering and he followed de Meyer's example and toured in the United States where money was to be made.

Chopin returned to the cocoon of the salon, but his health was deteriorating as his tuberculosis advanced. In the last year of his life he would neither compose nor touch a piano.