Those are the words that Robert Schumann (also born in 1810) used to describe Frederick Chopin’s music. Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal contained a terrific article on Chopin by classical pianist Byron Janis. The piece contains some interesting insights of the man from a performer who, at age seven,  first “met” Chopin through his music. Janis recalls how he learned that Chopin, like his music, was “filled with intense emotions and tender poetry”. I’m always fascinated by quotes and descriptions of great composers contemporaries and Janis passes on a gem from Franz Liszt. He captured Chopin’s “otherworldly” quality by introducing him to friends with the words “I’d like you meet a man who comes from another planet”. This planet never saw his like before and will never again, I imagine. Read the whole article here.

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