Time's pupils

One of Berlioz's most famous quotes comes from a letter: "Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on; le malheur est qu'il soit un maître inhumain qui tue ses élèves." - Time is a great teacher, they say, the misfortune is that it is an inhuman teacher who kills his pupils.

I remember seeing a note from Berlioz in the Chopin museum, Warsaw, which began with the playful and punning "Chopinetto, mio".

Chopinetto mio, si fa una villégiatura da noi, à Montmartre rue St. Denis No 10; spero che Hiller, Liszt e Devigny seront accompagnés de Chopin. Enorme Bêtise Tant pis. H.B.

"Choupinette" is a term of endearment, like "sweetie", I guess it's a form of "choupette" which is also used as a pet-name for loved ones, and refers - I think - to a ribbon tied in a girl's hair to make a tuft of hair? - but it is also reminiscent of the pet-name "chou" - which literlally is not one presumes the cabbage, but rather the delicious knobbly sweet bun that is cut in half and stuffed with cream - the chou à la crème; with food like that no wonder there are terms of endearment such as "mon petit chou" and "mon gros"! Perhaps "honeybun" is a good translation of "choupinette".

It seems that the Chopin Museum has been relaunched as an up-to-date museum - which will no doubt attract many more visitors - but I remember fondly the very old-world style of the place - very cheap entry, a few rooms of exhibits under glass cases, watched over by elderly attendants. Although I see that some things in Poland don't change so quickly ... the "regulamin" or "rules" of the museum are posted on its new website, in that splendid Polish-for-contracts with the standard notariusz-approved translation into weird English. Hopefully Warsaw's Muzeum Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie still retains its dull old-world charm.