ABSTRACT
There were several reasons for Chopin to flee Paris and spend the winter of 1838-39 on the island of Mallorca. Most of them had to do with Baroness Amantine Lucile Aurore Dudevant, née Dupin. Born in 1804, the mother of two was separated from her husband and launched a highly successful literary career. In 1831, she and another young writer, Jules Sandeau, with whom the baroness was romantically involved, together wrote and published a novel under the pseudonym J. Sand. A year later, when she was about to publish her own novel Indiana, she refused to sign it with her own name, despite Sandeau’s insistence; she wanted to continue using the same nom de plume as before. Sandeau suggested that she use the last name Sand, to commemorate their relationship, and the first name George, since their conversation took place on St George’s Day. Thus, on 23 April 1832 George Sand emerged into the world, and from that time on the baroness used this name both professionally and personally. Chopin, however, never called her ‘George,’ always addressing her as ‘Aurora’ (from the French ‘Aurore’).1
