Chopin in Paris & Edna Stern performs on a Pleyel piano

Last week in the Cité de la musique in Paris was opened the exhibition Chopin à Paris [it will run through June 6]. If you're in Paris or plan to come, I would wholeheartedly recommend you to visit the place (on the same go you may visit their very interesting Musée de la musique; it's in the same building).

It's a nicely organized exhibition with many Chopin's manuscripts, his correspondence with Eugène Delacroix and George Sand. There are plenty of drawings, many of which emphasize Chopin's  constant feeling of being in exile despite the fact that his father was French.  He grew up in Poland and most of his work was in one way or another dedicated to Poland.

Fred loved Norma by Bellini, and especially Act 3 of Robert le Diable by Meyerbeer. Since his work is intimately related to the Pleyel pianos, there is a section describing his contact with Pleyel (the son).  In one section of the exhibiting hall there is a large Pleyel piano and there was a man playing various pieces by Chopin, who'd explain the details concerning the variety of structures in Chopin's music, relating them to various periods of his life.  

Pleyel piano from 1842, in the Amphitheater of the Cité de la musique in Paris.