Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Chopin Funerary Monument

Euterpe, muse of Music by Auguste Clésinger, Frédéric Chopin funerary monument, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Euterpe, muse of Music by Auguste Clésinger
Funerary monument at the grave of Frédéric Chopin
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, (Père Lachaise Cemetery)
Quartier du Père-Lachaise, 20th arrondissement
Paris, July 2002

“Chopin's tombstone, featuring the muse of music, Euterpe, weeping over a broken lyre, was designed and sculpted by Clésinger and installed on the anniversary of his death in 1850. The expenses of the monument, amounting to 4,500 francs, were covered by Jane Stirling, who also paid for the return of the composer's sister Ludwika to Warsaw. As requested by Chopin, Ludwika took his heart (which had been removed by his doctor Jean Cruveilhier and preserved in alcohol in a vase) back to Poland in 1850. She also took a collection of 200 letters from Sand to Chopin; after 1851 these were returned to Sand, who destroyed them.” (Frédéric Chopin, Wikipedia)

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