The Wrong Box: Chopin didn't live here

Mallorca doesn't do famous people. Or it didn't until along came the sporting trio of Moya, Nadal and Lorenzo (and only one of these is truly famous). The island does do the famous for not being famous, e.g. Ramon Llull and Fray Juniper, whose fame is known only by a knowing minority. In the absence of the genuine historically famous, Mallorca grabs whomsoever it can from elsewhere, builds them up as "adopted" sons and succeeds in getting egg on its face.

Mallorca's claim on Frederic Chopin has always smacked of opportunism. The promotional use of Chopin, given that the composer was far from enamoured of the island, has long been somewhat questionable. The fact that he endured a pretty miserable few weeks in Valldemossa (a period not even as long as the odd north European pensioner spends nowadays during the winter), was shunned by prudish locals who objected to his not having made a good woman of George Sand, and couldn't find a doctor capable of treating his TB gets rather conveniently overlooked in the Mallorcan bigging up of the Polish piano-player.

Chopin was sold a bit of a pup when it was suggested that a winter in Mallorca might be good for his lungs. Like many a contemporary visitor, he was unaware as to how cold and damp it can get. Over the years, a succession of visitors, to the Chopin-Sand accommodation in Valldemossa, has also been sold a pup. As one headline has put it: "Engaño en Do Mayor". A swindle in C Major. The Great Rock and Roll Swindle has become The Great Baroque and Pole Swindle. (Ok, Chopin was not baroque - another swindle therefore - but it sounds good.)

Swindle is a bit over the top. Chopin did reside at the charterhouse in Valldemossa, but it turns out that what is charmingly referred to as his "cell" was not number two but number four. For years, visitors have gone to number two, when they shouldn't have done. Just to make things more confusing, number four used to be number three and number two used to be number one. That there might have been a muddle as to the exact cell doesn't seem totally surprising.

The judge who has ruled that number four it was - and, yes, it takes a judge to decide such matters - has also insisted that the owners of number two correct all publicity material and take away the piano from the cell. Unfortunately, the Joanna in question was not, as has been claimed, one that Chopin used. It couldn't have been as it wasn't made until some years after Chopin's wretched short break in Valldemossa, say experts in such matters.

So, some sizeable grants later and some eighty years on from when visitors first started making the Chopin pilgrimage, visitors as from now will presumably be directed to a different cell to that which they previously were, and wherein is the piano which Chopin did use. (They in fact seem to now be being directed to both, as staff are either as confused as everyone else, are hedging their bets or have come to the conclusion, as have others, that Chopin was not a single-cell composer.)

This is all, of course, somewhat embarrassing. During 2010, the bicentenary of Chopin's birth, there was considerable hullabaloo commemorating the anniversary, and Mallorca got in on the act big time. The revelation as to the wrong box at the charterhouse does not, in itself, demean those celebrations, but there is a bit more to it.

The owners of number two are a family by the name of Capllonch. One of the family, Rosa, happens also to be the president of the Chopin Festival. To make matters slightly more embarrassing, in October last year, Sra. Capllonch, with "surprise, emotion and thanks" (said a report), was honoured by the Polish minister of culture. She received the gold medal of cultural merit, an award granted to those who protect cultural heritage. At the time of the award, Sra. Capllonch spoke of the important support and "dose of energy" it gave in the dispute surrounding the piano and the cell. Oops.

Sra. Capllonch, who will be appealing against the ruling, says that publicity has not been misleading as "no one has said that Chopin and Sand lived exclusively (in number two)". An appeal will mean that the dispute between the owners of two and four, that has already gone on for over 30 years, will continue, though if he didn't live exclusively in one or the other, then you might well ask what the fuss is all about. You might also ask, if no one has said that he lived only in one cell, quite how it ever came to be suggested that he did. Maybe he didn't live in either. The whole thing's been made up.

Number two, number four, or even number one and number three. Does it really matter? If the mix-up has an impact on visitor numbers, it does, though this is unlikely; visitors don't go just because of Chopin and Sand, which is just as well. A quarter of a million of them each year are reckoned to bring in some five million euros to Valldemossa. But the mystery as to which cell it was is nothing compared with the greater mystery as to quite how Chopin in Mallorca has ever assumed such significance. Number two, number four, number one, number three. It doesn't matter. He couldn't wait to get the hell out of his cell. Whichever one it was.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.