Chopin's Funeral

Only one photograph of Chopin is known to exist. Taken around 1846, the photo depicts a taken aback Chopin, flinching from the camera. Why Chopin sat for the portrait, no one knows. The identity of the photographer, too, remains a mystery. It's probably safe to say that Chopin didn't embrace the new medium. Intriguingly though, the end of Chopin's life dovetailed with the birth of a new breed of spectator fathered by the camera. The paparazzi. Moments after the composer died in Paris, two photographers were found attempting to move his body into better light so they might take a photo of the famous man, presumably to sell on. Interrupted mid-move, the pair fled. Having recently visited Chopin's grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris - definitely an expedition to be followed up with a pick-me-up coffee - this anecdote, as recounted in Benita Eisler's biography of Chopin, jumped out at me. Perhaps it's pushing the point too far to suggest Chopin disliked the camera - though anyone facing the lens for the first time in the nineteenth century must surely have been wary - but it seems a shame that so many of those clustering round his grave felt it necessary to take a photo. Is it just me, or is it a bit strange to take a photo of a grave, however famous the person? Stick to placing vividly coloured flowers on the memorial instead.