The young woman in the picture is the Polish countess Delfina Potocka, at the age of 23. Five years before she had married Count Potocki, thus acquiring both the surname and the title.
But Delfina was unhappy in her marriage, and she divorced the count in 1830. Afterwards, she began her traveling.
First, she toured across Europe, and after living for a while in London, finally settled in Paris.
Sensitive by nature, Delfina gathered in her salons the musicians, poets, painters and novelists of her time. There she reencountered Frédérick Chopin in 1831, just when he was considering that giving piano lessons was the only option he had to earn a living. And he took her as a pupil. It is still rumored that there was more than teaching going on, but there is no evidence to support those rumors. A year earlier, Chopin wrote a friend about a dinner he attended at home of "the beautiful wife of Count Potocki", but this is all there is to it.
However, they maintained a regular correspondence for many years, no matter where they happened to be at any one time. In 1847, one of those letters could have revealed to Delfina that Chopin had been dedicated one of his compositions to her, a short waltz.
Delfina had been a diligent and able student with Chopin, so it is fair to assume that she was able to play the waltz at the speed specified by her teacher, i.e., molto vivace, which means very lively and animated. The little waltz became popular and came to be called "The Minute Waltz" because of its short duration.
Valentina Lisitsa rendering:
Valentina Igoshina rendering:
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