Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger ’s innovative study of the life of Chopin seeks to understand the world in which the composer, pianist and improviser lived in order to better understand the man. Divided into three parts, the work first situates Chopin according to esthetic influences—studying his musical education, his artistic heritage, and the evolution of his style—and also according to his musical taste. Secondly, Eigeldinger examines the Préludes, from both a philological and historical point of view. The third section, largely historical, presents the reader with Chopin’s career in Paris and his relationship with Liszt. Eigeldinger also focuses on one of Chopin’s prodigious students, Carl Filtsch, who died in 1845 at the age of 15, and of whom Liszt once said, «When the little one begins to travel, I’ll close up shop.» Based on unpublished documents and new approaches to previously known elements, L’univers musical de Chopin will appeal to the general public as much as to specialists.