One hundred years ago this week Composer Frederic Chopin died in Paris, aged 39. For the great man's funeral in the Madeleine, admission was by card only: 3,000 crowded into the chapel. Theophile Gautier wrote his epitaph: "Rest in peace, beautiful soul, noble artist! Immortality has begun for you . . ." History has confirmed Gautier. This week, on the centenary of Chopin's death, the western world honored him on a scale matched only by the plaudits he knew in his lifetime.
In Manhattan, thousands packed the Metropolitan Opera House to hear his foremost living interpreter and Polish compatriot, Artur Rubinstein, play...
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