During his stay in Valldemossa, Chopin maintained a prolific correspondence with his friend Julian Fontana.
You may imagine me this: between the sea and the mountains in an enormous abandoned Carthusian monastery, in a cell with doors larger than those of the largest coach houses in Paris. Imagine me without white gloves, without my hair curled, pale as ever. My cell is in the shape of a large coffin, with vaults covered in dust and a small window that looks out over orange trees, palms and cypresses. Opposite my window, below a rosette in a Moorish style, is my bed. Beside it, a writing desk, which is old, sunken, with a lead candlestick - a great luxury - and its tallow candle. Bach's works, my manuscripts, my notes and some other papers, here you have all that I possess. An absolute calm reigns over all; you could shout at the top of your voice without anybody hearing you. In short, I'm writing to you form a very strange place.
Lettres écrites à Julian Fontana (1838-1839)
Translated by Richard Mansell. Performed by Jean-Pierre Clapés.
(Polònia, 1810 – París, 1849). Born into a cultured family in Poland, Frédéric Chopin very soon stood out for his gift for music, which he studied professionally. He left Poland to travel around Europe and settled in Paris, the world’s cultural epicentre, where he came into contact with major artists of the time. In Paris, he became a well-acclaimed musician and composer, with Listz and Mendelssohn forming part of the audience at some of his concerts. It was also in Paris that he met the writer George Sand, with whom he had a love affair that lasted until shortly before his death in 1849.
A person of delicate health since his childhood, Chopin caught tuberculosis. He decided to travel to Mallorca with George Sand in search of a more favourable climate for his illness and they went to stay at Valldemossa’s Carthusian Monastery. The cultural gap between a backward rural Mallorca and the Paris of the early 19th century did not make their stay on the island an easy one. They only spent two months at Valldemossa Monastery from November 1838 to January 1839, but the cell that Chopin stayed in inspired some of his major works. During this period at the monastery, he corresponded with friends in Paris, particularly with Julian Fontana, a close friend who shared many of his interests, edited his manuscripts and went on to publish posthumous work by the composer. These letters offer a closer insight into Chopin, helping us to understand the composer’s discontent during his stay on the island.
In 1930 the Majorca composer Joan Maria Thomàs founded the Festival Chopin – the first in the world – with the support of the Boutroux-Ferrà family, which provided use of cell number two at the monastery as a home for the festival. For many years the festival could not be held due to the political situation in Spain, but since 1981 the association created to continue the initiative has held the festival every year, bringing together some of the most important international musicians of the moment. The cloister of the monastery is the ideal place to pay tribute to this great musician.
