"Piano virtuoso Vladimir de Pachmann (1848-1933) is remembered today more often than not for the comic and sometimes bizarre on-stage behavior that earned him the epithet "Chopinzee." Yet during his years as a performer, Pachmann was regarded as one of the four or five greatest pianists in the world, and as the outstanding exponent of the music of Chopin.".

"Beginning with Pachmann's childhood in Odessa, Mitchell follows the process by which the youngest of thirteen children evolved into one of the finest - and most colorful - artists in the history of the piano, one who was able to fill London's Albert Hall for a recital.

Particular emphasis is placed on the two principal relationships of Pachmann's life: with the pianist Maggie Okey, to whom he was married for a decade, and with Francesco Pallottelli, the waiter-turned-impresario under whose influence he eventually settled in Fascist-era Italy."--BOOK JACKET.