A priceless collection of Chopin memorabilia has been donated to the Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw by Marek Keller, a Polish art dealer who left Warsaw in 1972 and has lived mostly in Mexico and France since.

The collection is comprised of forty seven items, the most important of which are the six letters written by the composer to his family in the years 1845-48.

According to the director of the Chopin Museum, Alicja Knast, they are an invaluable source of information about Chopin’s daily occupations and life style, including such things as his penchant for drinking chocolate, which he liked unflavoured.

At one stage the letters belonged to Maria and Laura Ciechomska, the granddaughters of one of Chopin’s sisters.

They were last exibited in 1939 and subsequently went missing. It was in 2003 that the Chopin Museum in Warsaw became aware of their existence. Marek Keller bought them from a collector who wished to remain anonymous.

His donation also includes letters from Jane Stirling, Chopin’s pupil in Scotland, written to the composer’s sister Ludwika after Chopin’s death, as well as the autograph manuscript of the Sonata in G minor for piano and cello, two drawings once belonging to Chopin and an invitation for a rehearsal concert of Berlioz’s Military Symphony on July 26, 1840.

The entire collection is on display in the Chopin Museum until 24 April.

Since 1999 Marek Keller has donated to the Chopin Museum in Warsaw a total of 35 of the composer’s letters purchased at various auctions. (mk)