Translating the ideal (of music)

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The phenomena of ‘translating’ music, ‘vocal transcriptions’ of instrumental compositions were not exceptional in the 19th century culture. Th is form of literary reception fl ourished throughout the century particularly as regards the music of Chopin which enjoyed great fame and popularity (Paulina Viardot’s transcriptions of the mazurkas from late 1850s, Kornel Ujejski’s cycle Tłumaczenia Szopena). The literary texts are not only a proof of the cult of Chopin’s music and a tribute to it but also a contribution to the discussion about the idea of music. Is it pure and absolute, as Chopin would have liked it to be or does it have specifi c meaning and refers directly to the reality outside music (including literary reality), as others would rather interpret it? What are the eff ects of an attempt at the translating of the ideal?