Nevertheless, the biographer Niecks of 1888 is inaccurately called "Professor Niecks" by scholars from James Huneker to Arthur Hedley and by PG ebooks.  In 1987, a book by a well-known musicologist misrepresents Niecks as a "Scottish musician ... of German extraction".

Frederick Niecks:  The Life of Chopin -
Frederick Chopin As a Man and Musician
This two-volume Chopin biography was published in English by Novello, Ewer & Co.in both London and New York in 1888, 1890 and 1902;  and in German by F.E.C. Leuckart in Leipzig in 1890.  It was then unprecedented in format, information sources, detail, etching, volume, multinational distribution, and four rapid editions including the German translation. - It must have boosted Chopin's reputation.

Patron of the biography:  Jenny Lind
In the preface, Frederick Niecks names Jenny.Lind-Goldschmidt (1820-1887) among his few surviving "chief sources of information".  Icons of Europe's research shows that many of the other chief sources had known or been dependent on the wealthy and influential Jenny Lind (e.g. Lindsay Sloper), and that she commissioned Niecks and her Novello friends for the Chopin biography project.³

The title "... As a Man" sounds like a pun on the depth of Jenny Lind's relationship with Chopin - a subject expanded with: "... he had made the best possible impression upon her [Jenny Lind], not only as an artist, but also as a man" (vol. 2, p. 284).

Flawed sections of the biography
Icons of Europe's research also shows that Frederick Niecks' sections on 1841-1849 and the posthumous years are flawed with half-truths, hearsay, misinformation, omissions, hints and puns.

He also insists that Chopin only gave lessons in piano and omits to say that Chopin taught the Art of Singing since late 1832, apparently based on Manuel Garcia, Sr's method.  These sections have later been cited and sometimes 'adapted' by various writers, sowing significant and lasting inaccuracies in Chopin literature.

Apparently covering for Jenny Lind's doings, Niecks often misrepresents or plants.confusion about events involving.Jane Stirling, George Sand (e.g. Lucrezia, 200 letters), Delfina Potocka and other people (e.g. Chopin's funeral).  He sometimes cites 'witnesses', who were not present at the events (e.g. Liszt in 1849).  No.information has been found on whether Niecks could speak French with witnesses in Paris.

Frederick Niecks makes scant reference to Jenny Lind in the biography - in contrast with Chopin's upbeat letters about their many private meetings in 1848-1849, and with Niecks' preface naming her among his "chief sources of information".

Jenny Lind's Memoir 1820-1851 of 1891, edited by her German widower and also published widely in a similar format, is equally scant with information about Chopin.  It includes fabricated information on 1848-1849 and on Mendelssohn.