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+Project Gutenberg's Chopin: The Man and His Music, by James Huneker
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+Title: Chopin: The Man and His Music
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+Author: James Huneker
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+Release Date: Jan, 2004 [EBook #4939]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHOPIN: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC ***
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+CHOPIN: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+
+  PART I.--THE MAN.
+
+     I. POLAND:--YOUTHFUL IDEALS
+    II. PARIS:--IN THE MAELSTROM
+   III. ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND FERE LA CHAISE
+    IV. THE ARTIST
+     V. POET AND PSYCHOLOGIST
+
+  PART II.--HIS MUSIC.
+
+    VI. THE STUDIES:--TITANIC EXPERIMENTS
+   VII. MOODS IN MINIATURE: THE PRELUDES
+  VIII. IMPROMPTUS AND VALSES
+    IX. NIGHT AND ITS MELANCHOLY MYSTERIES: THE NOCTURNES
+     X. THE BALLADES: FAERY DRAMAS
+    XI. CLASSICAL CURRENTS
+   XII. THE POLONAISES: HEROIC HYMNS OF BATTLE
+  XIII. MAZURKAS: DANCES OF THE SOUL
+    XIV. CHOPIN THE CONQUEROR
+
+  BIBLIOGRAPHY
+  BOOKS BY JAMES HUNEKER
+
+
+
+PART I.--THE MAN
+
+
+
+I. POLAND:--YOUTHFUL IDEALS
+
+
+
+Gustave Flaubert, pessimist and master of cadenced lyric prose,
+urged young writers to lead ascetic lives that in their art they
+might be violent. Chopin's violence was psychic, a travailing and
+groaning of the spirit; the bright roughness of adventure was
+missing from his quotidian existence. The tragedy was within. One
+recalls Maurice Maeterlinck: "Whereas most of our life is passed
+far from blood, cries and swords, and the tears of men have
+become silent, invisible and almost spiritual." Chopin went from
+Poland to France--from Warsaw to Paris--where, finally, he was
+borne to his grave in Pere la Chaise. He lived, loved and died;
+and not for him were the perils, prizes and fascinations of a
+hero's career. He fought his battles within the walls of his soul-
+-we may note and enjoy them in his music. His outward state was
+not niggardly of incident though his inner life was richer,
+nourished as it was in the silence and the profound unrest of a
+being that irritably resented every intrusion. There were events
+that left ineradicable impressions upon his nature, upon his
+work: his early love, his sorrow at parting from parents and
+home, the shock of the Warsaw revolt, his passion for George
+Sand, the death of his father and of his friend Matuszynski, and
+the rupture with Madame Sand--these were crises of his history.
+All else was but an indeterminate factor in the scheme of his
+earthly sojourn. Chopin though not an anchorite resembled
+Flaubert, being both proud and timid; he led a detached life,
+hence his art was bold and violent. Unlike Liszt he seldom sought
+the glamor of the theatre, and was never in such public view as
+his maternal admirer, Sand. He was Frederic Francois Chopin,
+composer, teacher of piano and a lyric genius of the highest
+range.
+
+Recently the date of his birth has been again discussed by
+Natalie Janotha, the Polish pianist. Chopin was born in Zelazowa-
+Wola, six miles from Warsaw, March 1, 1809. This place is
+sometimes spelled Jeliasovaya-Volia. The medallion made for the
+tomb by Clesinger--the son-in-law of George Sand--and the watch
+given by the singer Catalan! in 1820 with the inscription "Donne
+par Madame Catalan! a Frederic Chopin, age de dix ans," have
+incited a conflict of authorities. Karasowski was informed by
+Chopin's sister that the correct year of his birth was 1809, and
+Szulc, Sowinski and Niecks agree with him. Szulc asserts that the
+memorial in the Holy Cross Church, Warsaw--where Chopin's heart
+is preserved--bears the date March 2, 1809. Chopin, so Henry T.
+Finck declares, was twenty-two years of age when he wrote to his
+teacher Elsner in 1831. Liszt told Niecks in 1878 that Karasowski
+had published the correct date in his biography. Now let us
+consider Janotha's arguments. According to her evidence the
+composer's natal day was February 22, 1810 and his christening
+occurred April 28 of the same year. The following baptismal
+certificate, originally in Latin and translated by Finck, is
+adduced. It is said to be from the church in which Chopin was
+christened: "I, the above, have performed the ceremony of
+baptizing in water a boy with the double name Frederic Francois,
+on the 22d day of February, son of the musicians Nicolai Choppen,
+a Frenchman, and Justina de Krzyzanowska his legal spouse. God-
+parents: the musicians Franciscus Grembeki and Donna Anna
+Skarbekowa, Countess of Zelazowa-Wola." The wrong date was
+chiselled upon the monument unveiled October 14, 1894, at
+Chopin's birthplace--erected practically through the efforts of
+Milia Balakireff the Russian composer. Janotha, whose father
+founded the Warsaw Conservatory, informed Finck that the later
+date has also been put on other monuments in Poland.
+
+Now Chopin's father was not a musician, neither was his mother. I
+cannot trace Grembeki, but we know that the Countess Skarbek,
+mother of Chopin's namesake, was not a musician; however, the
+title "musician" in the baptismal certificate may have signified
+something eulogistic at that time. Besides, the Polish clergy was
+not a particularly accurate class. But Janotha has more
+testimony: in her controversy with me in 1896 she quoted Father
+Bielawski, the present cure of Brochow parish church of Zelazowa-
+Wola; this reverend person consulted records and gave as his
+opinion that 1810 is authentic. Nevertheless, the biography of
+Wojcicki and the statement of the Chopin family contradict him.
+And so the case stands. Janotha continues firm in her belief
+although authorities do not justify her position.
+
+All this petty pother arose since Niecks' comprehensive biography
+appeared. So sure was he of his facts that he disposed of the
+pseudo-date in one footnote. Perhaps the composer was to blame;
+artists, male as well as female, have been known to make
+themselves younger in years by conveniently forgetting their
+birthdate, or by attributing the error to carelessness in the
+registry of dates. Surely the Chopin family could not have been
+mistaken in such an important matter! Regarding Chopin's ancestry
+there is still a moiety of doubt. His father was born August 17,
+1770--the same year as Beethoven--at Nancy, Lorraine. Some claim
+that he had Polish blood in his veins. Szulc claims that he was
+the natural son of a Polish nobleman, who followed King Stanislas
+Leszcinski to Lorraine, dropping the Szopen, or Szop, for the
+more Gallic Chopin. When Frederic went to Paris, he in turn
+changed the name from Szopen to Chopin, which is common in
+France.
+
+Chopin's father emigrated to Warsaw in 1787--enticed by the offer
+of a compatriot there in the tobacco business--and was the
+traditional Frenchman of his time, well-bred, agreeable and more
+than usually cultivated.
+
+He joined the national guard during the Kosciuszko revolution in
+1794. When business stagnated he was forced to teach in the
+family of the Leszynskis; Mary of that name, one of his pupils,
+being beloved by Napoleon I. became the mother of Count Walewski,
+a minister of the second French empire. Drifting to Zelazowa-
+Wola, Nicholas Chopin lived in the house of the Countess Skarbek,
+acting as tutor to her son, Frederic. There he made the
+acquaintance of Justina Krzyzanowska, born of "poor but noble
+parents." He married her in 1806 and she bore him four children:
+three girls, and the boy Frederic Francois.
+
+With a refined, scholarly French father, Polish in political
+sentiments, and an admirable Polish mother, patriotic to the
+extreme, Frederic grew to be an intelligent, vivacious, home-
+loving lad. Never a hearty boy but never very delicate, he seemed
+to escape most of the disagreeable ills of childhood. The
+moonstruck, pale, sentimental calf of many biographers, he never
+was. Strong evidence exists that he was merry, pleasure-loving
+and fond of practical jokes. While his father was never rich, the
+family after the removal to Warsaw lived at ease. The country was
+prosperous and Chopin the elder became a professor in the Warsaw
+Lyceum. His children were brought up in an atmosphere of charming
+simplicity, love and refinement. The mother was an ideal mother,
+and, as George Sand declared, Chopin's "only love." But, as we
+shall discover later, Lelia was ever jealous--jealous even of
+Chopin's past. His sisters were gifted, gentle and disposed to
+pet him. Niecks has killed all the pretty fairy tales of his
+poverty and suffering.
+
+Strong common sense ruled the actions of Chopin's parents, and
+when his love for music revealed itself at an early age they
+engaged a teacher named Adalbert Zwyny, a Bohemian who played the
+violin and taught piano. Julius Fontana, one of the first friends
+of the boy--he committed suicide in Paris, December 31, 1869,--
+says that at the age of twelve Chopin knew so much that he was
+left to himself with the usual good and ill results. He first
+played on February 24, 1818, a concerto by Gyrowetz and was so
+pleased with his new collar that he naively told his mother,
+"Everybody was looking at my collar." His musical precocity, not
+as marked as Mozart's, but phenomenal withal, brought him into
+intimacy with the Polish aristocracy and there his taste for
+fashionable society developed. The Czartoryskis, Radziwills,
+Skarbeks, Potockis, Lubeckis and the Grand Duke Constantine with
+his Princess Lowicka made life pleasant for the talented boy.
+Then came his lessons with Joseph Elsner in composition, lessons
+of great value. Elsner saw the material he had to mould, and so
+deftly did he teach that his pupil's individuality was never
+checked, never warped. For Elsner Chopin entertained love and
+reverence; to him he wrote from Paris asking his advice in the
+matter of studying with Kalkbrenner, and this advice he took
+seriously. "From Zwyny and Elsner even the greatest ass must
+learn something," he is quoted as having said.
+
+Then there are the usual anecdotes--one is tempted to call them
+the stock stories of the boyhood of any great composer. In
+infancy Chopin could not hear music without crying. Mozart was
+morbidly sensitive to the tones of a trumpet. Later the Polish
+lad sported familiarly with his talents, for he is related to
+have sent to sleep and awakened a party of unruly boys at his
+father's school. Another story is his fooling of a Jew merchant.
+He had high spirits, perhaps too high, for his slender physique.
+He was a facile mimic, and Liszt, Balzac, Bocage, Sand and others
+believed that he would have made an actor of ability. With his
+sister Emilia he wrote a little comedy. Altogether he was a
+clever, if not a brilliant lad. His letters show that he was not
+the latter, for while they are lively they do not reveal much
+literary ability. But their writer saw with open eyes, eyes that
+were disposed to caricature the peculiarities of others. This
+trait, much clarified and spiritualized in later life, became a
+distinct, ironic note in his character. Possibly it attracted
+Heine, although his irony was on a more intellectual plane.
+
+His piano playing at this time was neat and finished, and he had
+already begun those experimentings in technique and tone that
+afterward revolutionized the world of music and the keyboard. He
+being sickly and his sister's health poor, the pair was sent in
+1826 to Reinerz, a watering place in Prussian Silesia. This with
+a visit to his godmother, a titled lady named Wiesiolowska and a
+sister of Count Frederic Skarbek,--the name does not tally with
+the one given heretofore, as noted by Janotha,--consumed this
+year. In 1827 he left his regular studies at the Lyceum and
+devoted his time to music. He was much in the country, listening
+to the fiddling and singing of the peasants, thus laying the
+corner stone of his art as a national composer. In the fall of
+1828 he went to Berlin, and this trip gave him a foretaste of the
+outer world.
+
+Stephen Heller, who saw Chopin in 1830, described him as pale, of
+delicate health, and not destined, so they said in Warsaw, for a
+long life. This must have been during one of his depressed
+periods, for his stay in Berlin gives a record of unclouded
+spirits. However, his sister Emilia died young of pulmonary
+trouble and doubtless Frederic was predisposed to lung complaint.
+He was constantly admonished by his relatives to keep his coat
+closed. Perhaps, as in Wagner's case, the uncontrollable gayety
+and hectic humors were but so many signs of a fatal
+disintegrating process. Wagner outlived them until the Scriptural
+age, but Chopin succumbed when grief, disappointment and intense
+feeling had undermined him. For the dissipations of the "average
+sensual man" he had an abiding contempt. He never smoked, in fact
+disliked it. His friend Sand differed greatly in this respect,
+and one of the saddest anecdotes related by De Lenz accuses her
+of calling for a match to light her cigar: "Frederic, un
+fidibus," she commanded, and Frederic obeyed. Mr. Philip Hale
+mentions a letter from Balzac to his Countess Hanska, dated March
+15, 1841, which concludes: "George Sand did not leave Paris last
+year. She lives at Rue Pigalle, No. 16...Chopin is always there.
+Elle ne fume que des cigarettes, et pas autre chose" Mr. Hale
+states that the italics are in the letter. So much for De Lenz
+and his fidibus!
+
+I am impelled here to quote from Mr. Earnest Newman's "Study of
+Wagner" because Chopin's exaltation of spirits, alternating with
+irritability and intense depression, were duplicated in Wagner.
+Mr. Newman writes of Wagner: "There have been few men in whom the
+torch of life has burned so fiercely. In his early days he seems
+to have had that gayety of temperament and that apparently
+boundless energy which men in his case, as in that of Heine,
+Nietzsche, Amiel and others, have wrongly assumed to be the
+outcome of harmonious physical and mental health. There is a
+pathetic exception in the outward lives of so many men of genius,
+the bloom being, to the instructed eye, only the indication of
+some subtle nervous derangement, only the forerunner of decay."
+The overmastering cerebral agitation that obsessed Wagner's life,
+was as with Chopin a symptom, not a sickness; but in the latter
+it had not yet assumed a sinister turn.
+
+Chopin's fourteen days in Berlin,--he went there under the
+protection of his father's friend, Professor Jarocki, to attend
+the great scientific congress--were full of joy unrestrained. The
+pair left Warsaw September 9, 1828, and after five days travel in
+a diligence arrived at Berlin. This was a period of leisure
+travelling and living. Frederic saw Spontini, Mendelssohn and
+Zelter at a distance and heard "Freischutz." He attended the
+congress and made sport of the scientists, Alexander von Humboldt
+included. On the way home they stopped at a place called
+Zullichau, and Chopin improvised on Polish airs so charmingly
+that the stage was delayed, "all hands turning in" to listen.
+This is another of the anecdotes of honorable antiquity. Count
+Tarnowski relates that "Chopin left Warsaw with a light heart,
+with a mind full of ideas, perhaps full of dreams of fame and
+happiness. 'I have only twenty kreuzers in my pockets,' he writes
+in his note-book, 'and it seems to me that I am richer than
+Arthur Potocki, whom I met only a moment ago;' besides this,
+witty conceptions, fun, showing a quiet and cheerful spirit; for
+example, 'May it be permitted to me to sign myself as belonging
+to the circle of your friends,--F. Chopin.' Or, 'A welcome moment
+in which I can express to you my friendship.--F. Chopin, office
+clerk.' Or again, 'Ah, my most lordly sir, I do not myself yet
+understand the joy which I feel on entering the circle of your
+real friends.--F. Chopin, penniless'!"
+
+These letters have a Micawber ring, but they indicate Chopin's
+love of jest. Sikorski tells a story of the lad's improvising in
+church so that the priest, choir and congregation were forgotten
+by him.
+
+The travellers arrived at Warsaw October 6 after staying a few
+days in Posen where the Prince Radziwill lived; here Chopin
+played in private. This prince-composer, despite what Liszt
+wrote, did not contribute a penny to the youth's musical
+education, though he always treated him in a sympathetic manner.
+
+Hummel and Paganini visited Warsaw in 1829. The former he met and
+admired, the latter he worshipped. This year may have seen the
+composition, if not the publication of the "Souvenir de
+Paganini," said to be in the key of A major and first published
+in the supplement of the "Warsaw Echo Muzyczne." Niecks writes
+that he never saw a copy of this rare composition. Paderewski
+tells me he has the piece and that it is weak, having historic
+interest only. I cannot find much about the Polish poet, Julius
+Slowacki, who died the same year, 1849, as Edgar Allan Poe.
+Tarnowski declares him to have been Chopin's warmest friend and
+in his poetry a starting point of inspiration for the composer.
+
+In July 1829, accompanied by two friends, Chopin started for
+Vienna. Travelling in a delightful, old-fashioned manner, the
+party saw much of the country--Galicia, Upper Silesia and Moravia-
+-the Polish Switzerland. On July 31 they arrived in the Austrian
+capital. Then Chopin first began to enjoy an artistic atmosphere,
+to live less parochially. His home life, sweet and tranquil as it
+was, could not fail to hurt him as artist; he was flattered and
+coddled and doubtless the touch of effeminacy in his person was
+fostered. In Vienna the life was gayer, freer and infinitely more
+artistic than in Warsaw. He met every one worth knowing in the
+artistic world and his letters at that period are positively
+brimming over with gossip and pen pictures of the people he knew.
+The little drop of malice he injects into his descriptions of the
+personages he encounters is harmless enough and proves that the
+young man had considerable wit. Count Gallenberg, the lessee of
+the famous Karnthnerthor Theatre, was kind to him, and the
+publisher Haslinger treated him politely. He had brought with him
+his variations on "La ci darem la mano"; altogether the times
+seemed propitious and much more so when he was urged to give a
+concert. Persuaded to overcome a natural timidity, he made his
+Vienna debut at this theatre August 11, 1829, playing on a Stein
+piano his Variations, opus 2. His Krakowiak Rondo had been
+announced, but the parts were not legible, so instead he
+improvised. He had success, being recalled, and his improvisation
+on the Polish tune called "Chmiel" and a theme from "La Dame
+Blanche" stirred up much enthusiasm in which a grumbling
+orchestra joined. The press was favorable, though Chopin's
+playing was considered rather light in weight. His style was
+admired and voted original--here the critics could see through
+the millstone--while a lady remarked "It's a pity his appearance
+is so insignificant." This reached the composer's ear and caused
+him an evil quarter of an hour for he was morbidly sensitive; but
+being, like most Poles, secretive, managed to hide it.
+
+August 18, encouraged by his triumph, Chopin gave a second
+concert on the same stage. This time he played the Krakowiak and
+his talent for composition was discussed by the newspapers. "He
+plays very quietly, without the daring elan which distinguishes
+the artist from the amateur," said one; "his defect is the non-
+observance of the indication of accent at the beginning of
+musical phrases." What was then admired in Vienna was explosive
+accentuations and piano drumming. The article continues: "As in
+his playing he was like a beautiful young tree that stands free
+and full of fragrant blossoms and ripening fruits, so he
+manifested as much estimable individuality in his compositions
+where new figures and passages, new forms unfolded themselves."
+This rather acute critique, translated by Dr. Niecks, is from the
+Wiener "Theaterzeitung" of August 20, 1829. The writer of it
+cannot be accused of misoneism, that hardening of the faculties
+of curiousness and prophecy--that semi-paralysis of the organs of
+hearing which afflicts critics of music so early in life and
+evokes rancor and dislike to novelties. Chopin derived no money
+from either of his concerts.
+
+By this time he was accustomed to being reminded of the lightness
+and exquisite delicacy of his touch and the originality of his
+style. It elated him to be no longer mistaken for a pupil and he
+writes home that "my manner of playing pleases the ladies so very
+much." Thismanner never lost its hold over female hearts, and the
+airs, caprices and little struttings of Frederic are to blame for
+the widely circulated legend of his effeminate ways. The legend
+soon absorbed his music, and so it has come to pass that this
+fiction, begotten of half fact and half mental indolence, has
+taken root, like the noxious weed it is. When Rubinstein, Tausig
+and Liszt played Chopin in passional phrases, the public and
+critics were aghast. This was a transformed Chopin indeed, a
+Chopin transposed to the key of manliness. Yet it is the true
+Chopin. The young man's manners were a trifle feminine but his
+brain was masculine, electric, and his soul courageous. His
+Polonaises, Ballades, Scherzi and Etudes need a mighty grip, a
+grip mental and physical.
+
+Chopin met Czerny. "He is a good man, but nothing more," he said
+of him. Czerny admired the young pianist with the elastic hand
+and on his second visit to Vienna, characteristically inquired,
+"Are you still industrious?" Czerny's brain was a tireless
+incubator of piano exercises, while Chopin so fused the technical
+problem with the poetic idea, that such a nature as the old
+pedagogue's must have been unattractive to him. He knew Franz,
+Lachner and other celebrities and seems to have enjoyed a mild
+flirtation with Leopoldine Blahetka, a popular young pianist, for
+he wrote of his sorrow at parting from her. On August 19 he left
+with friends for Bohemia, arriving at Prague two days later.
+There he saw everything and met Klengel, of canon fame, a still
+greater canon-eer than the redoubtable Jadassohn of Leipzig.
+Chopin and Klengel liked each other. Three days later the party
+proceeded to Teplitz and Chopin played in aristocratic company.
+He reached Dresden August 26, heard Spohr's "Faust" and met
+capellmeister Morlacchi--that same Morlacchi whom Wagner
+succeeded as a conductor January 10, 1843--vide Finck's "Wagner."
+By September 12, after a brief sojourn in Breslau, Chopin was
+again safe at home in Warsaw.
+
+About this time he fell in love with Constantia Gladowska, a
+singer and pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory. Niecks dwells
+gingerly upon his fervor in love and friendship--"a passion with
+him" and thinks that it gives the key to his life. Of his
+romantic friendship for Titus Woyciechowski and John Matuszynski-
+-his "Johnnie"--there are abundant evidences in the letters. They
+are like the letters of a love-sick maiden. But Chopin's purity
+of character was marked; he shrank from coarseness of all sorts,
+and the Fates only know what he must have suffered at times from
+George Sand and her gallant band of retainers. To this
+impressionable man, Parisian badinage--not to call it anything
+stronger--was positively antipathetical. Of him we might indeed
+say in Lafcadio Hearn's words, "Every mortal man has been many
+million times a woman." And was it the Goncourts who dared to
+assert that, "there are no women of genius: women of genius are
+men"? Chopin needed an outlet for his sentimentalism. His piano
+was but a sieve for some, and we are rather amused than otherwise
+on reading the romantic nonsense of his boyish letters.
+
+After the Vienna trip his spirits and his health flagged. He was
+overwrought and Warsaw became hateful to him, for he loved but
+had not the courage to tell it to the beloved one. He put it on
+paper, he played it, but speak it he could not. Here is a point
+that reveals Chopin's native indecision, his inability to make up
+his mind. He recalls to me the Frederic Moreau of Flaubert's
+"L'Education Sentimentale." There is an atrophy of the will, for
+Chopin can neither propose nor fly from Warsaw. He writes letters
+that are full of self-reproaches, letters that must have both
+bored and irritated his friends. Like many other men of genius he
+suffered all his life from folie de doute, indeed his was what
+specialists call "a beautiful case." This halting and
+irresolution was a stumbling block in his career and is
+faithfully mirrored in his art.
+
+Chopin went to Posen in October, 1829, and at the Radziwills was
+attracted by the beauty and talent of the Princess Elisa, who
+died young. George Sand has noted Chopin's emotional versatility
+in the matter of falling in and out of love. He could accomplish
+both of an evening and a crumpled roseleaf was sufficient cause
+to induce frowns and capricious flights--decidedly a young man
+tres difficile. He played at the "Ressource" in November, 1829,
+the Variations, opus 2. On March 17, 1830, he gave his first
+concert in Warsaw, and selected the adagio and rondo of his first
+concerto, the one in F minor, and the Potpourri on Polish airs.
+His playing was criticised for being too delicate--an old
+complaint--but the musicians, Elsner, Kurpinski and the rest were
+pleased. Edouard Wolff said they had no idea in Warsaw of "the
+real greatness of Chopin." He was Polish, this the public
+appreciated, but of Chopin the individual they missed entirely
+the flavor. A week later, spurred by adverse and favorable
+criticism, he gave a second concert, playing the same excerpts
+from this concerto--the slow movement is Constance Gladowska
+musically idealized--the Krakowiak and an improvisation. The
+affair was a success. From these concerts he cleared six hundred
+dollars, not a small sum in those days for an unknown virtuoso. A
+sonnet was printed in his honor, champagne was offered him by an
+enthusiastic Paris bred, but not born, pianist named Dunst, who
+for this act will live in all chronicles of piano playing. Worse
+still, Orlowski served up the themes of his concerto into
+mazurkas and had the impudence to publish them.
+
+Then came the last blow: he was asked by a music seller for his
+portrait, which he refused, having no desire, he said with a
+shiver, to see his face on cheese and butter wrappers. Some of
+the criticisms were glowing, others absurd as criticisms
+occasionally are. Chopin wrote to Titus the same rhapsodical
+protestations and finally declared in meticulous peevishness, "I
+will no longer read what people write about me." This has the
+familiar ring of the true artist who cares nothing for the
+newspapers but reads them religiously after his own and his
+rivals' concerts.
+
+Chopin heard Henrietta Sontag with great joy; he was ever a lover
+and a connoisseur of singing. He advised young pianists to listen
+carefully and often to great singers. Mdlle. de Belleville the
+pianist and Lipinski the violinist were admired, and he could
+write a sound criticism when he chose. But the Gladowska is
+worrying him. "Unbearable longing" is driving him to exile. He
+attends her debut as Agnese in Paer's opera of that title and
+writes a complete description of the important function to Titus,
+who is at his country seat where Chopin visits him betimes.
+Agitated, he thinks of going to Berlin or Vienna, but after much
+philandering remains in Warsaw. On October 11, 1830, following
+many preparations and much emotional shilly-shallying, Chopin
+gave his third and last Warsaw concert. He played the E minor
+concerto for the first time in public but not in sequence. The
+first and last two movements were separated by an aria, such
+being the custom of those days. Later he gave the Fantasia on
+Polish airs. Best of all for him, Miss Gladowska sang a Rossini
+air, "wore a white dress and roses in her hair, and was
+charmingly beautiful." Thus Chopin; and the details have all the
+relevancy of a male besieged by Dan Cupid. Chopin must have
+played well. He said so himself, and he was always a cautious
+self-critic despite his pride. His vanity and girlishness peep
+out in his recital by the response to a quartet of recalls: "I
+believe I did it yesterday with a certain grace, for Brandt had
+taught me how to do it properly." He is not speaking of his
+poetic performance, but of his bow to the public. As he formerly
+spoke to his mother of his pretty collar, so as young man he
+makes much of his deportment. But it is all quite in the role;
+scratch an artist and you surprise a child.
+
+Of course, Constantia sang wonderfully. "Her low B came out so
+magnificently that Zielinski declared it alone was worth a
+thousand ducats." Ah, these enamored ones! Chopin left Warsaw
+November 1, 1830, for Vienna and without declaring his love. Or
+was he a rejected suitor? History is dumb. He never saw his
+Gladowska again, for he did not return to Warsaw. The lady was
+married in 1832--preferring a solid certainty to nebulous genius-
+-to Joseph Grabowski, a merchant at Warsaw. Her husband, so saith
+a romantic biographer, Count Wodzinski, became blind; perhaps
+even a blind country gentleman was preferable to a lachrymose
+pianist. Chopin must have heard of the attachment in 1831. Her
+name almost disappears from his correspondence. Time as well as
+other nails drove from his memory her image. If she was fickle,
+he was inconstant, and so let us waste no pity on this episode,
+over which lakes of tears have been shed and rivers of ink have
+been spilt.
+
+Chopin was accompanied by Elsner and a party of friends as far as
+Wola, a short distance from Warsaw. There the pupils of the
+Conservatory sang a cantata by Elsner, and after a banquet he was
+given a silver goblet filled with Polish earth, being adjured, so
+Karasowski relates, never to forget his country or his friends
+wherever he might wander. Chopin, his heart full of sorrow, left
+home, parents, friends, and "ideal," severed with his youth, and
+went forth in the world with the keyboard and a brain full of
+beautiful music as his only weapons.
+
+At Kaliz he was joined by the faithful Titus, and the two went to
+Breslau, where they spent four days, going to the theatre and
+listening to music. Chopin played quite impromptu two movements
+of his E minor concerto, supplanting a tremulous amateur. In
+Dresden where they arrived November 10, they enjoyed themselves
+with music. Chopin went to a soiree at Dr. Kreyssig's and was
+overwhelmed at the sight of a circle of dames armed with knitting
+needles which they used during the intervals of music-making in
+the most formidable manner. He heard Auber and Rossini operas and
+Rolla, the Italian violinist, and listened with delight to
+Dotzauer and Kummer the violoncellists--the cello being an
+instrument for which he had a consuming affection. Rubini, the
+brother of the great tenor, he met, and was promised important
+letters of introduction if he desired to visit Italy. He saw
+Klengel again, who told the young Pole, thereby pleasing him very
+much, that his playing was like John Field's. Prague was also
+visited, and he arrived at Vienna in November. There he
+confidently expected a repetition of his former successes, but
+was disappointed. Haslinger received him coldly and refused to
+print his variations or concerto unless he got them for nothing.
+Chopin's first brush with the hated tribe of publishers begins
+here, and he adopts as his motto the pleasing device, "Pay, thou
+animal," a motto he strictly adhered to; in money matters Chopin
+was very particular. The bulk of his extant correspondence is
+devoted to the exposure of the ways and wiles of music
+publishers. "Animal" is the mildest term he applies to them,
+"Jew" the most frequent objurgation. After all Chopin was very
+Polish.
+
+He missed his friends the Blahetkas, who had gone to Stuttgart,
+and altogether did not find things so promising as formerly. No
+profitable engagements could be secured, and, to cap his misery,
+Titus, his other self, left him to join the revolutionists in
+Poland November 30. His letters reflect his mental agitation and
+terror over his parents' safety. A thousand times he thought of
+renouncing his artistic ambitions and rushing to Poland to fight
+for his country. He never did, and his indecision--it was not
+cowardice--is our gain. Chopin put his patriotism, his wrath and
+his heroism into his Polonaises. That is why we have them now,
+instead of Chopin having been the target of some black-browed
+Russian. Chopin was psychically brave; let us not cavil at the
+almost miraculous delicacy of his organization. He wrote letters
+to his parents and to Matuszyriski, but they are not despairing--
+at least not to the former. He pretended gayety and had great
+hopes for the future, for he was living entirely on means
+supplied him by his father. News of Constantia gladdened him, and
+he decided to go to Italy, but the revolution early in 1831
+decided him for France. Dr. Malfatti was good to him and cheered
+him, and he managed to accomplish much social visiting. The
+letters of this period are most interesting. He heard Sarah
+Heinefetter sing, and listened to Thaiberg's playing of a
+movement of his own concerto. Thalberg was three years younger
+than Chopin and already famous. Chopin did not admire him:
+"Thalberg plays famously, but he is not my man...He plays forte
+and piano with the pedals but not with the hand; takes tenths as
+easily as I do octaves, and wears studs with diamonds."
+
+Thalberg was not only too much of a technician for Chopin, but he
+was also a Jew and a successful one. In consequence, both poet
+and Pole revolted.
+
+Hummel called on Frederic, but we hear nothing of his opinion of
+the elder man and his music; this is all the more strange,
+considering how much Chopin built on Hummel's style. Perhaps that
+is the cause of the silence, just as Wagner's dislike for
+Meyerbeer was the result of his obligations to the composer of
+"Les Huguenots." He heard Aloys Schmitt play, and uttered the
+very Heinesque witticism that "he is already over forty years
+old, and composes eighty years old music." This in a letter to
+Elsner. Our Chopin could be amazingly sarcastic on occasion. He
+knew Slavik the violin virtuoso, Merk the 'cellist, and all the
+music publishers. At a concert given by Madame Garzia-Vestris, in
+April, 1831, he appeared, and in June gave a concert of his own,
+at which he must have played the E minor concerto, because of a
+passing mention in a musical paper. He studied much, and it was
+July 20, 1831, before he left Vienna after a second, last, and
+thoroughly discouraging visit.
+
+Chopin got a passport vised for London, "passant par Paris &.
+Londres," and had permission from the Russian Ambassador to go as
+far as Munich. Then the cholera gave him some bother, as he had
+to secure a clean bill of health, but he finally got away. The
+romantic story of "I am only passing through Paris," which he is
+reported to have said in after years, has been ruthlessly shorn
+of its sentiment. At Munich he played his second concerto and
+pleased greatly. But he did not remain in the Bavarian capital,
+hastening to Stuttgart, where he heard of the capture of Warsaw
+by the Russians, September 8, 1831. This news, it is said, was
+the genesis of the great C minor etude in opus 10, sometimes
+called the "Revolutionary." Chopin exclaimed in a letter dated
+December 16, 1831, "All this caused me much pain--who could have
+foreseen it!" and in another letter he wrote, "How glad my mamma
+will be that I did not go back." Count Tarnowski in his
+recollections prints some extracts from a diary said to have been
+kept by Chopin. According to this his agitation must have been
+terrible. Here are several examples:
+
+"My poor father! My dearest ones! Perhaps they hunger? Maybe he
+has not anything to buy bread for mother? Perhaps my sisters have
+fallen victims to the fury of the Muscovite soldiers? Oh, father,
+is this the consolation of your old age? Mother, poor suffering
+mother, is it for this you outlived your daughter?"
+
+"And I here unoccupied! And I am here with empty hands! Sometimes
+I groan, suffer and despair at the piano! O God, move the earth,
+that it may swallow the humanity of this century! May the most
+cruel fortune fall upon the French, that they did not come to our
+aid." All this sounds a trifle melodramatic and quite unlike
+Chopin.
+
+He did not go to Warsaw, but started for France at the end of
+September, arriving early in October, 1831. Poland's downfall had
+aroused him from his apathy, even if it sent him further from
+her. This journey, as Liszt declares, "settled his fate." Chopin
+was twenty-two years old when he reached Paris.
+
+
+
+II. PARIS:--IN THE MAELSTROM
+
+
+
+Here, according to Niecks, is the itinerary of Chopin's life for
+the next eighteen years: In Paris, 27 Boulevard Poisonniere, to 5
+and 38 Chaussee d'Antin, to Aix-la-Chapelle, Carlsbad, Leipzig,
+Heidelberg, Marienbad, and London, to Majorca, to 5 Rue Tronchet,
+16 Rue Pigalle, and 9 Square d'Orleans, to England and Scotland,
+to 9 Square d'Orleans once more, Rue Chaillot and 12 Place
+Vendeme, and then--Pere la Chaise, the last resting-place. It may
+be seen that Chopin was a restless, though not roving nature. In
+later years his inability to remain settled in one place bore a
+pathological impress,--consumptives are often so.
+
+The Paris of 1831, the Paris of arts and letters, was one of the
+most delightful cities in the world for the culture-loving. The
+molten tide of passion and decorative extravagance that swept
+over intellectual Europe three score years and ten ago, bore on
+its foaming crest Victor Hugo, prince of romanticists. Near by
+was Henri Heine,--he left Heinrich across the Rhine,--Heine, who
+dipped his pen in honey and gall, who sneered and wept in the
+same couplet. The star of classicism had seemingly set. In the
+rich conflict of genius were Gautier, Schumann, and the rest. All
+was romance, fantasy, and passion, and the young men heard the
+moon sing silvery--you remember De Musset!--and the leaves rustle
+rhythms to the heart-beats of lovers. "Away with the gray-
+beards," cried he of the scarlet waistcoat, and all France
+applauded "Ernani." Pity it was that the romantic infant had to
+die of intellectual anaemia, leaving as a legacy the memories and
+work of one of the most marvellous groupings of genius since the
+Athens of Pericles. The revolution of 1848 called from the mud
+the sewermen. Flaubert, his face to the past, gazed sorrowfully
+at Carthage and wrote an epic of the French bourgeois. Zola and
+his crowd delved into a moral morass, and the world grew weary of
+them. And then the faint, fading flowers of romanticism were put
+into albums where their purple harmonies and subtle sayings are
+pressed into sweet twilight forgetfulness. Berlioz, mad Hector of
+the flaming locks, whose orchestral ozone vivified the scores of
+Wagnerand Liszt, began to sound garishly empty, brilliantly
+superficial; "the colossal nightingale" is difficult to classify
+even to-day. A romantic by temperament he unquestionably was. But
+then his music, all color, nuance, and brilliancy, was not
+genuinely romantic in its themes. Compare him with Schumann, and
+the genuine romanticist tops the virtuoso. Berlioz, I suspect,
+was a magnified virtuoso. His orchestral technique is supreme,
+but his music fails to force its way into my soul. It pricks the
+nerves, it pleases the sense of the gigantic, the strange, the
+formless, but there is something uncanny about it all, like some
+huge, prehistoric bird, an awful Pterodactyl with goggle eyes,
+horrid snout and scream. Berlioz, like Baudelaire, has the power
+of evoking the shudder. But as John Addington Symonds wrote: "The
+shams of the classicists, the spasms of the romanticists have
+alike to be abandoned. Neither on a mock Parnassus nor on a paste-
+board Blocksberg can the poet of the age now worship. The artist
+walks the world at large beneath the light of natural day." All
+this was before the Polish charmer distilled his sugared
+wormwood, his sweet, exasperated poison, for thirsty souls
+inmorbid Paris.
+
+Think of the men and women with whom the new comer associated--
+for his genius was quickly divined: Hugo, Lamartine, Pere
+Lamenais,--ah! what balm for those troubled days was in his
+"Paroles d'un Croyant,"--Chateaubriand, Saint-Simon, Merimee,
+Gautier, Liszt, Victor Cousin, Baudelaire, Ary Scheffer, Berlioz,
+Heine,--who asked the Pole news of his muse the "laughing nymph,"-
+-"If she still continued to drape her silvery veil around the
+flowing locks of her green hair, with a coquetry so enticing; if
+the old sea god with the long white beard still pursued this
+mischievous maid with his ridiculous love?"--De Musset, De Vigny,
+Rossini, Meyerbeer, Auber, Sainte-Beuve, Adolphe Nourrit,
+Ferdinand Hiller, Balzac, Dumas, Heller, Delacroix,--the Hugo of
+painters,--Michelet, Guizot, Thiers, Niemcevicz and Mickiewicz
+the Polish bards, and George Sand: the quintessence of the Paris
+of art and literature.
+
+The most eloquent page in Liszt's "Chopin" is the narrative of an
+evening in the Chaussee d'Antin, for it demonstrates the
+Hungarian's literary gifts and feeling for the right phrase. This
+description of Chopin's apartment "invaded by surprise" has a
+hypnotizing effect on me. The very furnishings of the chamber
+seem vocal under Liszt's fanciful pen. In more doubtful taste is
+his statement that "the glace which covers the grace of the elite,
+as it does the fruit of their desserts,...could not have been
+satisfactory to Chopin"! Liszt, despite his tendency to idealize
+Chopin after his death, is our most trustworthy witness at this
+period. Chopin was an ideal to Liszt though he has not left us a
+record of his defects. The Pole was ombrageux and easily
+offended; he disliked democracies, in fact mankind in the bulk
+stunned him. This is one reason, combined with a frail physique,
+of his inability to conquer the larger public. Thalberg could do
+it; his aristocratic tournure, imperturbability, beautiful touch
+and polished mechanism won the suffrage of his audiences. Liszt
+never stooped to cajole. He came, he played, he overwhelmed.
+Chopin knew all this, knew his weaknesses, and fought to overcome
+them but failed. Another crumpled roseleaf for this man of
+excessive sensibility.
+
+Since told of Liszt and first related by him, is the anecdote of
+Chopin refusing to play, on being incautiously pressed, after
+dinner, giving as a reason "Ah, sir, I have eaten so little!"
+Even though his host was gauche it cannot be denied that the
+retort was rude.
+
+Chopin met Osborne, Mendelssohn--who rather patronized him with
+his "Chopinetto,"--Baillot the violinist and Franchomme the
+'cellist. With the latter he contracted a lasting friendship,
+often playing duos with him and dedicating to him his G minor
+'cello Sonata. He called on Kalkbrenner, then the first pianist
+of his day, who was puzzled by the prodigious novelty of the
+young Pole's playing. Having heard Herz and Hiller, Chopin did
+not fear to perform his E minor concerto for him. He tells all
+about the interview in a letter to Titus: "Are you a pupil of
+Field's?" was asked by Kalkbrenner, who remarked that Chopin had
+the style of Cramer and the touch of Field. Not having a standard
+by which to gauge the new phenomenon, Kalkbrenner was forced to
+fall back on the playing of men he knew. He then begged Chopin to
+study three years with him--only three!--but Elsner in an earnest
+letter dissuaded his pupil from making any experiments that might
+hurt his originality of style. Chopin actually attended the class
+of Kalkbrenner but soon quit, for he had nothing to learn of the
+pompous, penurious pianist. The Hiller story of how Mendelssohn,
+Chopin, Liszt and Heller teased this grouty old gentleman on the
+Boulevard des Italiens is capital reading, if not absolutely
+true. Yet Chopin admired Kalkbrenner's finished technique despite
+his platitudinous manner. Heine said--or rather quoted Koreff--
+that Kalkbrenner looked like a bonbon that had been in the mud.
+Niecks thinks Chopin might have learned of Kalkbrenner on the
+mechanical side. Chopin, in public, was modest about his
+attainments, looking upon himself as self-taught. "I cannot
+create a new school, because I do not even know the old," he
+said. It is this very absence of scholasticism that is both the
+power and weakness of his music. In reality his true technical
+ancestor was Hummel.
+
+He played the E minor concerto first in Paris, February 26, 1832,
+and some smaller pieces. Although Kalkbrenner, Baillot and others
+participated, Chopin was the hero of the evening. The affair was
+a financial failure, the audience consisting mostly of
+distinguished and aristocratic Poles. Mendelssohn, who disliked
+Kalkbrenner and was angered at his arrogance in asking Chopin to
+study with him, "applauded furiously." "After this," Hiller
+writes, "nothing more was heard of Chopin's lack of technique."
+The criticisms were favorable. On May 20, 1832, Chopin appeared
+at a charity concert organized by Prince de la Moskowa. He was
+lionized in society and he wrote to Titus that his heart beat in
+syncopation, so exciting was all this adulation, social
+excitement and rapid gait of living. But he still sentimentalizes
+to Titus and wishes him in Paris.
+
+A flirtation of no moment, with Francilla Pixis, the adopted
+daughter of Pixis the hunchback pianist--cruelly mimicked by
+Chopin--aroused the jealousy of the elder artist. Chopin was
+delighted, for he was malicious in a dainty way. "What do you
+think of this?" he writes. "_I_, a dangerous seducteur!" The
+Paris letters to his parents were unluckily destroyed, as
+Karasowski relates, by Russian soldiers in Warsaw, September 19,
+1863, and with them were burned his portrait by Ary Scheffer and
+his first piano. The loss of the letters is irremediable.
+Karasowski who saw some of them says they were tinged with
+melancholy. Despite his artistic success Chopin needed money and
+began to consider again his projected trip to America. Luckily he
+met Prince Valentine Radziwill on the street, so it is said, and
+was persuaded to play at a Rothschild soiree. From that moment
+his prospects brightened, for he secured paying pupils. Niecks,
+the iconoclast, has run this story to earth and finds it built on
+airy, romantic foundations. Liszt, Hiller, Franchomme and
+Sowinski never heard of it although it was a stock anecdote of
+Chopin.
+
+Chopin must have broadened mentally as well as musically in this
+congenial, artistic environment. He went about, hobnobbed with
+princesses, and of the effect of this upon his compositions there
+can be no doubt. If he became more cosmopolitan he also became
+more artificial and for a time the salon with its perfumed,
+elegant atmosphere threatened to drug his talent into
+forgetfulness of loftier aims. Luckily the master-sculptor Life
+intervened and real troubles chiselled his character on tragic,
+broader and more passionate lines. He played frequently in public
+during 1832-1833 with Hiller, Liszt, Herz and Osborne, and much
+in private. There was some rivalry in this parterre of pianists.
+Liszt, Chopin and Hiller indulged in friendly contests and Chopin
+always came off winner when Polish music was essayed. He
+delighted in imitating his colleagues, Thalberg especially.
+Adolphe Brisson tells of a meeting of Sand, Chopin and Thalberg,
+where, as Mathias says, the lady "chattered like a magpie" and
+Thalberg, after being congratulated by Chopin on his magnificent
+virtuosity, reeled off polite phrases in return; doubtless he
+valued the Pole's compliments for what they were worth. The
+moment his back was presented, Chopin at the keyboard was mocking
+him. It was then Chopin told Sand of his pupil, Georges Mathias,
+"c'est une bonne caboche." Thalberg took his revenge whenever he
+could. After a concert by Chopin he astonished Hiller by shouting
+on the way home. In reply to questions he slily answered that he
+needed a forte as he had heard nothing but pianissimo the entire
+evening!
+
+Chopin was never a hearty partisan of the Romantic movement. Its
+extravagance, misplaced enthusiasm, turbulence, attacks on
+church, state and tradition disturbed the finical Pole while
+noise, reclame and boisterousness chilled and repulsed him. He
+wished to be the Uhland of Poland, but he objected to smashing
+idols and refused to wade in gutters to reach his ideal. He was
+not a fighter, yet as one reviews the past half century it is his
+still small voice that has emerged from the din, the golden voice
+of a poet and not the roar of the artistic demagogues of his day.
+Liszt's influence was stimulating, but what did not Chopin do for
+Liszt? Read Schumann. He managed in 1834 to go to Aix-la-Chapelle
+to attend the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. There he met Hiller
+and Mendelssohn at the painter Schadow's and improvised
+marvellously, so Hiller writes. He visited Coblenz with Hiller
+before returning home.
+
+Professor Niecks has a deep spring of personal humor which he
+taps at rare intervals. He remarks that "the coming to Paris and
+settlement there of his friend Matuszynski must have been very
+gratifying to Chopin, who felt so much the want of one with whom
+to sigh." This slanting allusion is matched by his treatment of
+George Sand. After literally ratting her in a separate chapter,
+he winds up his work with the solemn assurance that he abstains
+"from pronouncing judgment because the complete evidence did not
+seem to me to warrant my doing so." This is positively delicious.
+When I met this biographer at Bayreuth in 1896, I told him how
+much I had enjoyed his work, adding that I found it indispensable
+in the re-construction of Chopin. Professor Niecks gazed at me
+blandly--he is most amiable and scholarly-looking--and remarked,
+"You are not the only one." He was probably thinking of the many
+who have had recourse to his human documents of Chopin. But
+Niecks, in 1888, built on Karasowski, Liszt, Schumann, Sand and
+others, so the process is bound to continue. Since 1888 much has
+been written of Chopin, much surmised.
+
+With Matuszysnki the composer was happier. He devoutly loved his
+country and despite his sarcasm was fond of his countrymen. Never
+an extravagant man, he invariably assisted the Poles. After 1834-
+5, Chopin's activity as a public pianist began to wane. He was
+not always understood and was not so warmly welcomed as he
+deserved to be; on one occasion when he played the Larghetto of
+his F minor concerto in a Conservatoire concert, its frigid
+reception annoyed him very much. Nevertheless he appeared at a
+benefit concert at Habeneck's, April 26, 1835. The papers
+praised, but his irritability increased with every public
+performance. About this time he became acquainted with Bellini,
+for whose sensuous melodies he had a peculiar predilection.
+
+In July, 1835, Chopin met his father at Carlsbad. Then he went to
+Dresden and later to Leipzig, playing privately for Schumann,
+Clara Wieck, Wenzel and Mendelssohn. Schumann gushes over Chopin,
+but this friendliness was never reciprocated. On his return to
+Paris Chopin visited Heidelberg, where he saw the father of his
+pupil, Adolphe Gutmann, and reached the capital of the civilized
+world the middle of October.
+
+Meanwhile a love affair had occupied his attention in Dresden. In
+September, 1835, Chopin met his old school friends, the
+Wodzinskis, former pupils at his father's school. He fell in love
+with their sister Marie and they became engaged. He spoke to his
+father about the matter, and for the time Paris and his ambitions
+were forgotten. He enjoyed a brief dream of marrying and of
+settling near Warsaw, teaching and composing--the occasional
+dream that tempts most active artists, soothing them with the
+notion that there is really a haven of rest from the world's
+buffets. Again the gods intervened in the interest of music. The
+father of the girl objected on the score of Chopin's means and
+his social position--artists were not Paderewskis in those days--
+although the mother favored the romance. The Wodzinskis were
+noble and wealthy. In the summer of 1836, at Marienbad, Chopin
+met Marie again. In 1837, the engagement was broken and the
+following year the inconstant beauty married the son of Chopin's
+godfather, Count Frederic Skarbek. As the marriage did not prove
+a success--perhaps the lady played too much Chopin--a divorce
+ensued and later she married a gentleman by the name of
+Orpiszewski. Count Wodzinski wrote "Les Trois Romans de Frederic
+Chopin," in which he asserts that his sister rejected Chopin at
+Marienbad in 1836. But Chopin survived the shock. He went back to
+Paris, and in July 1837, accompanied by Camille Pleyel and
+Stanislas Kozmian, visited England for the first time. His stay
+was short, only eleven days, and his chest trouble dates from
+this time. He played at the house of James Broadwood, the piano
+manufacturer, being introduced by Pleyel as M. Fritz; but his
+performance betrayed his identity. His music was already admired
+by amateurs but the critics with a few exceptions were
+unfavorable to him.
+
+Now sounds for the first time the sinister motif of the George
+Sand affair. In deference to Mr. Hadow I shall not call it a
+liaison. It was not, in the vulgar sense. Chopin might have been
+petty--a common failing of artistic men--but he was never vulgar
+in word or deed. He disliked "the woman with the sombre eye"
+before he had met her. Her reputation was not good, no matter if
+George Eliot, Matthew Arnold, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and
+others believed her an injured saint. Mr. Hadow indignantly
+repudiates anything that savors of irregularity in the relations
+of Chopin and Aurore Dudevant. If he honestly believes that their
+contemporaries flagrantly lied and that the woman's words are to
+be credited, why by all means let us leave the critic in his
+Utopia. Mary, Queen of Scots, has her Meline; why should not Sand
+boast of at least one apologist for her life--besides herself? I
+do not say this with cynical intent. Nor do I propose to discuss
+the details of the affair which has been dwelt upon ad nauseam by
+every twanger of the romantic string. The idealists will always
+see a union of souls, the realists--and there were plenty of them
+in Paris taking notes from 1837 to 1847--view the alliance as a
+matter for gossip. The truth lies midway.
+
+Chopin, a neurotic being, met the polyandrous Sand, a trampler on
+all the social and ethical conventions, albeit a woman of great
+gifts; repelled at first he gave way before the ardent passion
+she manifested toward him. She was his elder, so could veil the
+situation with the maternal mask, and she was the stronger
+intellect, more celebrated--Chopin was but a pianist in the eyes
+of the many--and so won by her magnetism the man she desired.
+Paris, artistic Paris, was full of such situations. Liszt
+protected the Countess d'Agoult, who bore him children, Cosima
+Von Bulow-Wagner among the rest. Balzac--Balzac, that magnificent
+combination of Bonaparte and Byron, pirate and poet--was
+apparently leading the life of a saint, but his most careful
+student, Viscount Spelboerch de Lovenjoul--whose name is
+veritably Balzac-ian--tells us some different stories; even
+Gustave Flaubert, the ascetic giant of Rouen, had a romance with
+Madame Louise Colet, a mediocre writer and imitator of Sand,--as
+was Countess d'Agoult, the Frankfort Jewess better known as
+"Daniel Stern,"--that lasted from 1846 to 1854, according to
+Emile Faguet. Here then was a medium which was the other side of
+good and evil, a new transvaluation of morals, as Nietzsche would
+say. Frederic deplored the union for he was theoretically a
+Catholic. Did he not once resent the visit of Liszt and a
+companion to his apartments when he was absent? Indeed he may be
+fairly called a moralist. Carefully reared in the Roman Catholic
+religion he died confessing that faith. With the exception of the
+Sand episode, his life was not an irregular one, He abhorred the
+vulgar and tried to conceal this infatuation from his parents.
+
+This intimacy, however, did the pair no harm artistically,
+notwithstanding the inevitable sorrow and heart burnings at the
+close. Chopin had some one to look after him--he needed it--and
+in the society of this brilliant Frenchwoman he throve amazingly:
+his best work may be traced to Nohant and Majorca. She on her
+side profited also. After the bitterness of her separation from
+Alfred de Musset about 1833 she had been lonely, for the Pagello
+intermezzo was of short duration. The De Musset-Sand story was
+not known in its entirety until 1896. Again M. Spelboerch de
+Lovenjoul must be consulted, as he possessed a bundle of letters
+that were written by George Sand and M. Buloz, the editor of "La
+Revue des Deux Mondes," in 1858.
+
+De Musset went to Venice with Sand in the fall of 1833. They had
+the maternal sanction and means supplied by Madame de Musset. The
+story gives forth the true Gallic resonance on being critically
+tapped. De Musset returned alone, sick in body and soul, and
+thenceforth absinthe was his constant solace. There had been
+references, vague and disquieting, of a Dr. Pagello for whom Sand
+had suddenly manifested one of her extraordinary fancies. This
+she denied, but De Musset's brother plainly intimated that the
+aggravating cause of his brother's illness had been the
+unexpected vision of Sand coquetting with the young medical man
+called in to prescribe for Alfred. Dr. Pagello in 1896 was
+interviewed by Dr. Cabanes of the Paris "Figaro" and here is his
+story of what had happened in 1833. This story will explain the
+later behavior of "la merle blanche" toward Chopin.
+
+"One night George Sand, after writing three pages of prose full
+of poetry and inspiration, took an unaddressed envelope, placed
+therein the poetic declaration, and handed it to Dr. Pagello. He,
+seeing no address, did not, or feigned not, to understand for
+whom the letter was intended, and asked George Sand what he
+should do with it. Snatching the letter from his hands, she wrote
+upon the envelope: 'To the Stupid Pagello.' Some days afterward
+George Sand frankly told De Musset that henceforth she could be
+to him only a friend."
+
+De Musset died in 1857 and after his death Sand startled Paris
+with "Elle et Lui," an obvious answer to "Confessions of a Child
+of the Age, "De Musset's version--an uncomplimentary one to
+himself--of their separation. The poet's brother Paul rallied to
+his memory with "Lui et Elle," and even Louisa Colet ventured
+into the fracas with a trashy novel called "Lui." During all this
+mud-throwing the cause of the trouble calmly lived in the little
+Italian town of Belluno. It was Dr. Giuseppe Pagello who will go
+down in literary history as the one man that played Joseph to
+George Sand.
+
+Now do you ask why I believe that Sand left Chopin when she was
+bored with him? The words "some days afterwards" are significant.
+I print the Pagello story not only because it is new, but as a
+reminder that George Sand in her love affairs was always the man.
+She treated Chopin as a child, a toy, used him for literary copy-
+-pace Mr. Hadow!--and threw him over after she had wrung out all
+the emotional possibilities of the problem. She was true to
+herself even when she attempted to palliate her want of heart.
+Beware of the woman who punctuates the pages of her life with
+"heart" and "maternal feelings." "If I do not believe any more in
+tears it is because I saw thee crying!" exclaimed Chopin. Sand
+was the product of abnormal forces, she herself was abnormal, and
+her mental activity, while it created no permanent types in
+literary fiction, was also abnormal. She dominated Chopin, as she
+had dominated Jules Sandeau, Calmatta the mezzotinter, De Musset,
+Franz Liszt, Delacroix, Michel de Bourges--I have not the exact
+chronological order--and later Flaubert. The most lovable event
+in the life of this much loved woman was her old age affair--
+purely platonic--with Gustave Flaubert. The correspondence shows
+her to have been "maternal" to the last.
+
+In the recently published "Lettres a l'etrangere" of Honore de
+Balzac, this about Sand is very apropos. A visit paid to George
+Sand at Nohant, in March 1838, brought the following to Madame
+Hanska:
+
+  It was rather well that I saw her, for we exchanged
+  confidences regarding Sandeau. I, who blamed her to the last
+  for deserting him, now feel only a deep compassion for her, as
+  you will have for me, when you learn with whom we have had
+  relations, she of love, I of friendship.
+
+  But she has been even more unhappy with Musset. So here she
+  is, in retreat, denouncing both marriage and love, because in
+  both she has found nothing but delusion.
+
+  I will tell you of her immense and secret devotion to these
+  two men, and you will agree that there is nothing in common
+  between angels and devils. All the follies she has committed
+  are claims to glory in the eyes of great and beautiful souls.
+  She has been the dupe of la Dorval, Bocage, Lamenais, etc.;
+  through the same sentiment she is the dupe of Liszt and Madame
+  d'Agoult.
+
+So let us accept without too much questioning as did Balzac, a
+reader of souls, the Sand-Chopin partnership and follow its
+sinuous course until 1847.
+
+Chopin met Sand at a musical matinee in 1837. Niecks throttles
+every romantic yarn about the pair that has been spoken or
+printed. He got his facts viva voce from Franchomme. Sand was
+antipathetic to Chopin but her technique for overcoming masculine
+coyness was as remarkable in its particular fashion as Chopin's
+proficiency at the keyboard. They were soon seen together, and
+everywhere. She was not musical, not a trained musician, but her
+appreciation for all art forms was highly sympathetic. Not a
+beautiful woman, being swarthy and rather heavy-set in figure,
+this is what she was, as seen by Edouard Grenier:--
+
+  She was short and stout, but her face attracted all my
+  attention, the eyes especially. They were wonderful eyes, a
+  little too close together, it may be, large, with full
+  eyelids, and black, very black, but by no means lustrous; they
+  reminded me of unpolished marble, or rather of velvet, and
+  this gave a strange, dull, even cold expression to her
+  countenance. Her fine eyebrows and these great placid eyes
+  gave her an air of strength and dignity which was not borne
+  out by the lower part of her face. Her nose was rather thick
+  and not over shapely. Her mouth was also rather coarse and her
+  chin small. She spoke with great simplicity, and her manners
+  were very quiet.
+
+But she attracted with imperious power all that she met. Liszt
+felt this attraction at one time--and it is whispered that Chopin
+was jealous of him. Pouf! the woman who could conquer Franz Liszt
+in his youth must have been a sorceress. He, too, was versatile.
+
+In 1838, Sand's boy Maurice being ill, she proposed a visit to
+Majorca. Chopin went with the party in November and full accounts
+of the Mediterranean trip, Chopin's illness, the bad weather,
+discomforts and all the rest may be found in the "Histoire de Ma
+Vie" by Sand. It was a time of torment. "Chopin is a detestable
+invalid," said Sand, and so they returned to Nohant in June 1839.
+They saw Genoa for a few days in May, but that is as far as
+Chopin ever penetrated into the promised land--Italy, at one time
+a passion with him. Sand enjoyed the subtle and truly feminine
+pleasure of again entering the city which six years before she
+had visited in company with another man, the former lover of
+Rachel.
+
+Chopin's health in 1839 was a source of alarm to himself and his
+friends. He had been dangerously ill at Majorca and Marseilles.
+Fever and severe coughing proved to be the dread forerunners of
+the disease that killed him ten years later. He was forced to be
+very careful in his habits, resting more, giving fewer lessons,
+playing but little in private or public, and becoming frugal of
+his emotions. Now Sand began to cool, though her lively
+imagination never ceased making graceful, touching pictures of
+herself in the roles of sister of mercy, mother, and discreet
+friend, all merged into one sentimental composite. Her invalid
+was her one thought, and for an active mind and body like hers,
+it must have been irksome to submit to the caprices of a moody,
+ailing man. He composed at Nohant, and she has told us all about
+it; how he groaned, wrote and re-wrote and tore to pieces draft
+after draft of his work. This brings to memory another martyr to
+style, Gustave Flaubert, who for forty years in a room at
+Croisset, near Rouen, wrestled with the devils of syntax and
+epithet. Chopin was of an impatient, nervous disposition. All the
+more remarkable then his capacity for taking infinite pains. Like
+Balzac he was never pleased with the final "revise" of his work,
+he must needs aim at finishing touches. His letters at this
+period are interesting for the Chopinist but for the most part
+they consist of requests made to his pupils, Fontana, Gutmann and
+others, to jog the publishers, to get him new apartments, to buy
+him many things. Wagner was not more importunate or minatory than
+this Pole, who depended on others for the material comforts and
+necessities of his existence. Nor is his abuse of friends and
+patrons, the Leos and others, indicative of an altogether frank,
+sincere nature. He did not hesitate to lump them all as "pigs"
+and "Jews" if anything happened to jar his nerves. Money, money,
+is the leading theme of the Paris and Mallorean letters. Sand was
+a spendthrift and Chopin had often to put his hands in his pocket
+for her. He charged twenty francs a lesson, but was not a machine
+and for at least four months of the year he earned nothing. Hence
+his anxiety to get all he could for his compositions. Heaven-born
+geniuses are sometimes very keen in financial transactions, and
+indeed why should they not be?
+
+In 1839 Chopin met Moscheles. They appeared together at St.
+Cloud, playing for the royal family. Chopin received a gold cup,
+Moscheles a travelling case. "The King gave him this," said the
+amiable Frederic, "to get the sooner rid of him." There were two
+public concerts in 1841 and 1842, the first on April 26 at
+Pleyel's rooms, the second on February 20 at the same hall.
+Niecks devotes an engrossing chapter to the public accounts and
+the general style of Chopin's playing; of this more hereafter.
+From 1843 to 1847 Chopin taught, and spent the vacations at
+Nohant, to which charming retreat Liszt, Matthew Arnold,
+Delacroix, Charles Rollinat and many others came. His life was
+apparently happy. He composed and amused himself with Maurice and
+Solange, the "terrible children" of this Bohemian household.
+There, according to reports, Chopin and Liszt were in friendly
+rivalry--are two pianists ever friendly?--Liszt imitating
+Chopin's style, and once in the dark they exchanged places and
+fooled their listeners. Liszt denied this. Another story is of
+one or the other working the pedal rods--the pedals being broken.
+This too has been laughed to scorn by Liszt. Nor could he recall
+having played while Viardot-Garcia sang out on the terrace of the
+chateau. Garcia's memory is also short about this event.
+Rollinat, Delacroix and Sand have written abundant souvenirs of
+Nohant and its distinguished gatherings, so let us not attempt to
+impugn the details of the Chopin legend, that legend which coughs
+deprecatingly as it points to its aureoled alabaster brow. De
+Lenz should be consulted for an account of this period; he will
+add the finishing touches of unreality that may be missing.
+
+Chopin knew every one of note in Paris. The best salons were open
+to him. Some of his confreres have not hesitated to describe him
+as a bit snobbish, for during the last ten years of his life he
+was generally inaccessible. But consider his retiring nature, his
+suspicious Slavic temperament, above all his delicate health!
+Where one accuses him of indifference and selfishness there are
+ten who praise his unfaltering kindness, generosity and
+forbearance. He was as a rule a kind and patient teacher, and
+where talent was displayed his interest trebled. Can you fancy
+this Ariel of the piano giving lessons to hum-drum pupils!
+Playing in a charmed and bewitching circle of countesses,
+surrounded by the luxury and the praise that kills, Chopin is a
+much more natural figure, yet he gave lessons regularly and
+appeared to relish them. He had not much taste for literature. He
+liked Voltaire though he read but little that was not Polish--did
+he really enjoy Sand's novels?--and when asked why he did not
+compose symphonies or operas, answered that his metier was the
+piano, and to it he would stick. He spoke French though with a
+Polish accent, and also German, but did not care much for German
+music except Bach and Mozart. Beethoven--save in the C sharp
+minor and several other sonatas--was not sympathetic. Schubert he
+found rough, Weber, in his piano music, too operatic and Schumann
+he dismissed without a word. He told Heller that the "Carneval"
+was really not music at all. This remark is one of the
+curiosities of musical anecdotage.
+
+But he had his gay moments when he would gossip, chatter, imitate
+every one, cut up all manner of tricks and, like Wagner, stand on
+his head. Perhaps it was feverish, agitated gayety, yet somehow
+it seemed more human than that eternal Thaddeus of Warsaw
+melancholy and regret for the vanished greatness and happiness of
+Poland--a greatness and happiness that never had existed. Chopin
+disliked letter writing and would go miles to answer one in
+person. He did not hate any one in particular, being rather
+indifferent to every one and to political events--except where
+Poland was concerned. Theoretically he hated Jews and Russians,
+yet associated with both. He was, like his music, a bundle of
+unreconciled affirmations and evasions and never could have been
+contented anywhere or with any one. Of himself he said that "he
+was in this world like the E string of a violin on a contrabass."
+This "divine dissatisfaction" led him to extremes: to the
+flouting of friends for fancied affronts, to the snubbing of
+artists who sometimes visited him. He grew suspicious of Liszt
+and for ten years was not on terms of intimacy with him although
+they never openly quarrelled.
+
+The breach which had been very perceptibly widening became
+hopeless in 1847, when Sand and Chopin parted forever. A
+literature has grown up on the subject. Chopin never had much to
+say but Sand did; so did Chopin's pupils, who were quite virulent
+in their assertions that she killed their master. The break had
+to come. It was the inevitable end of such a friendship. The
+dynamics of free-love have yet to be formulated. This much we
+know: two such natures could never entirely cohere. When the
+novelty wore off the stronger of the two--the one least in love--
+took the initial step. It was George Sand who took it with
+Chopin. He would never have had the courage nor the will.
+
+The final causes are not very interesting. Niecks has sifted all
+the evidence before the court and jury of scandal-mongers. The
+main quarrel was about the marriage of Solange Sand with
+Clesinger the sculptor. Her mother did not oppose the match, but
+later she resented Clesinger's actions. He was coarse and
+violent, she said, with the true mother-in-law spirit--and when
+Chopin received the young woman and her husband after a terrible
+scene at Nohant, she broke with him. It was a good excuse. He had
+ennuied her for several years, and as he had completed his
+artistic work on this planet and there was nothing more to be
+studied,--the psychological portrait was supposedly painted--
+Madame George got rid of him. The dark stories of maternal
+jealousy, of Chopin's preference for Solange, the visit to Chopin
+of the concierge's wife to complain of her mistress' behavior
+with her husband, all these rakings I leave to others. It was a
+triste affair and I do not doubt in the least that it undermined
+Chopin's feeble health. Why not! Animals die of broken hearts,
+and this emotional product of Poland, deprived of affection, home
+and careful attention, may well, as De Lenz swears, have died of
+heart-break. Recent gossip declares that Sand was jealous of
+Chopin's friendships--this is silly.
+
+Mr. A. B. Walkley, the English dramatic critic, after declaring
+that he would rather have lived during the Balzac epoch in Paris,
+continues in this entertaining vein:
+
+  And then one might have had a chance of seeing George Sand in
+  the thick of her amorisms. For my part I would certainly
+  rather have met her than Pontius Pilate. The people who saw
+  her in her old age--Flaubert, Gautier, the Goncourts--have
+  left us copious records of her odd appearance, her perpetual
+  cigarette smoking, and her whimsical life at Nohant. But then
+  she was only an "extinct volcano;" she must have been much
+  more interesting in full eruption. Of her earlier career--the
+  period of Musset and Pagello--she herself told us something in
+  "Elle et Lui," and correspondence published a year or so ago
+  in the "Revue de Paris" told us more. But, to my mind, the
+  most fascinating chapter in this part of her history is the
+  Chopin chapter, covering the next decade, or, roughly
+  speaking, the 'forties. She has revealed something of this
+  time--naturally from her own point of view--in "Lucrezia
+  Floriana" (1847). For it is, of course, one of the most
+  notorious characteristics of George Sand that she invariably
+  turned her loves into "copy." The mixture of passion and
+  printer's ink in this lady's composition is surely one of the
+  most curious blends ever offered to the palate of the epicure.
+
+  But it was a blend which gave the lady an unfair advantage for
+  posterity. We hear too much of her side of the matter. This
+  one feels especially as regards her affair with Chopin. With
+  Musset she had to reckon a writer like herself; and against
+  her "Elle et Lui" we can set his "Confession d'un enfant du
+  siecle." But poor Chopin, being a musician, was not good at
+  "copy." The emotions she gave him he had to pour out in music,
+  which, delightful as sound, is unfortunately vague as a
+  literary "document." How one longs to have his full, true, and
+  particular account of the six months he spent with George Sand
+  in Majorca! M. Pierre Mille, who has just published in the
+  "Revue Bleue" some letters of Chopin (first printed, it seems,
+  in a Warsaw newspaper), would have us believe that the lady
+  was really the masculine partner. We are to understand that it
+  was Chopin who did the weeping, and pouting, and "scene"-
+  making while George Sand did the consoling, the pooh-poohing,
+  and the protecting. Liszt had already given us a
+  characteristic anecdote of this Majorca period. We see George
+  Sand, in sheer exuberance of health and animal spirits,
+  wandering out into the storm, while Chopin stays at home, to
+  have an attack of "nerves," to give vent to his anxiety (oh,
+  "artistic temperament"!) by composing a prelude, and to fall
+  fainting at the lady's feet when she returns safe and sound.
+  There is no doubt that the lady had enough of the masculine
+  temper in her to be the first to get tired. And as poor Chopin
+  was coughing and swooning most of the time, this is scarcely
+  surprising. But she did not leave him forthwith. She kept up
+  the pretence of loving him, in a maternal, protecting sort of
+  way, out of pity, as it were, for a sick child.
+
+  So much the published letters clearly show. Many of them are
+  dated from Nohant. But in themselves the letters are dull
+  enough. Chopin composed with the keyboard of a piano; with ink
+  and paper he could do little. Probably his love letters were
+  wooden productions, and George Sand, we know, was a fastidious
+  critic in that matter. She had received and written so many!
+  But any rate, Chopin did not write whining recriminations like
+  Mussel. His real view of her we shall never know--and, if you
+  like, you may say it is no business of ours. She once uttered
+  a truth about that (though not apropos of Chopin), "There are
+  so many things between two lovers of which they alone can be
+  the judges."
+
+Chopin gave his last concert in Paris, February 16, 1848, at
+Pleyel's. He was ill but played beautifully. Oscar Commettant
+said he fainted in the artist's room. Sand and Chopin met but
+once again. She took his hand, which was "trembling and cold,"
+but he escaped without saying a word. He permitted himself in a
+letter to Grzymala from London dated November 17-18, 1848, to
+speak of Sand. "I have never cursed any one, but now I am so
+weary of life that I am near cursing Lucrezia. But she suffers
+too, and suffers more because she grows older in wickedness. What
+a pity about Soli! Alas! everything goes wrong with the world!" I
+wonder what Mr. Hadow thinks of this reference to Sand!
+
+"Soli" is Solange Sand, who was forced to leave her husband
+because of ill-treatment. As her mother once boxed Clesinger's
+ears at Nohant, she followed the example. In trying to settle the
+affair Sand quarrelled hopelessly with her daughter. That
+energetic descendant of "emancipated woman" formed a partnership,
+literary of course, with the Marquis Alfieri, the nephew of the
+Italian poet. Her salon was as much in vogue as her mother's, but
+her tastes were inclined to politics, revolutionary politics
+preferred. She had for associates Gambetta, Jules Ferry, Floquet,
+Taine, Herve, Weiss, the critic of the "Debats," Henri Fouquier
+and many others. She had the "curved Hebraic nose of her mother
+and hair coal-black." She died in her chateau at Montgivray and
+was buried March 20, 1899, at Nohant where, as my informant says,
+"her mother died of over-much cigarette smoking." She was a
+clever woman and wrote a book "Masks and Buffoons." Maurice Sand
+died in 1883. He was the son of his mother, who was gathered to
+her heterogeneous ancestors June 8, 1876.
+
+In literature George Sand is a feminine pendant to Jean Jacques
+Rousseau, full of ill-digested, troubled, fermenting, social,
+political, philosophical and religious speculations and theories.
+She wrote picturesque French, smooth, flowing and full of color.
+The sketches of nature, of country life, have positive value, but
+where has vanished her gallery of Byronic passion-pursued women?
+Where are the Lelias, the Indianas, the Rudolstadts? She had not,
+as Mr. Henry James points out, a faculty for characterization. As
+Flaubert wrote her: "In spite of your great Sphinx eyes you have
+always seen the world as through a golden mist." She dealt in
+vague, vast figures, and so her Prince Karol in "Lucrezia
+Floriana," unquestionably intended for Chopin, is a burlesque--
+little wonder he was angered when the precious children asked him
+"Cher M. Chopin, have you read 'Lucrezia'? Mamma has put you in
+it." Of all persons Sand was pre-elected to give to the world a
+true, a sympathetic picture of her friend. She understood him,
+but she had not the power of putting him between the coversof a
+book. If Flaubert, or better still, Pierre Loti, could have known
+Chopin so intimately we should possess a memoir in which every
+vibration of emotion would be recorded, every shade noted, and
+all pinned with the precise adjective, the phrase exquisite.
+
+
+
+III. ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND PERE LA CHAISE.
+
+
+
+The remaining years of Chopin's life were lonely. His father died
+in 1844 of chest and heart complaint, his sister Emilia died of
+consumption--ill-omens these!--and shortly after, John
+Matuszynski died. Titus Woyciechowski was in far-off Poland on
+his estates and Chopin had but Grzymala and Fontana to confide
+in; they being Polish he preferred them, although he was
+diplomatic enough not to let others see this. Both Franchomme and
+Gutmann whispered to Niecks at different times that each was the
+particular soul, the alter ego, of Chopin. He appeared to give
+himself to his friends but it was usually surface affection. He
+had coaxing, coquettish ways, playful ways that cost him nothing
+when in good spirits. So he was "more loved than loving." This is
+another trait of the man, which, allied with his fastidiousness
+and spiritual brusquerie, made him difficult to decipher. The
+loss of Sand completed his misery and we find him in poor health
+when he arrived in London, for the second and last time, April
+21, 1848.
+
+Mr. A. J. Hipkins is the chief authority on the details of
+Chopin's visit to England. To this amiable gentleman and learned
+writer on pianos, Franz Hueffer, Joseph Bennett and Niecks are
+indebted for the most of their facts. From them the curious may
+learn all there is to learn. The story is not especially
+noteworthy, being in the main a record of ill-health,
+complainings, lamentations and not one signal artistic success.
+
+War was declared upon Chopin by a part of the musical world. The
+criticism was compounded of pure malice and stupidity. Chopin was
+angered but little for he was too sick to care now. He went to an
+evening party but missed the Macready dinner where he was to have
+met Thackeray, Berlioz, Mrs. Procter and Sir Julius Benedict.
+With Benedict he played a Mozart duet at the Duchess of
+Sutherland's. Whether he played at court the Queen can tell;
+Niecks cannot. He met Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt and liked her
+exceedingly--as did all who had the honor of knowing her. She
+sided with him, woman-like, in the Sand affair--echoes of which
+had floated across the channel--and visited him in Paris in 1849.
+Chopin gave two matinees at the houses of Adelaide Kemble and
+Lord Falmouth--June 23 and July 7. They were very recherche, so
+it appears. Viardot-Garcia sang. The composer's face and frame
+were wasted by illness and Mr. Solomon spoke of his "long
+attenuated fingers." He made money and that was useful to him,
+for doctors' bills and living had taken up his savings. There was
+talk of his settling in London, but the climate, not to speak of
+the unmusical atmosphere, would have been fatal to him. Wagner
+succumbed to both, sturdy fighter that he was.
+
+Chopin left for Scotland in August and stopped at the house of
+his pupil, Miss Stirling. Her name is familiar to Chopin
+students, for the two nocturnes, opus 55, are dedicated to her.
+He was nearly killed with kindness but continually bemoaned his
+existence. At the house of Dr. Lyschinski, a Pole, he lodged in
+Edinburgh and was so weak that he had to be carried up and down
+stairs. To the doctor's good wife he replied in answer to the
+question "George Sand is your particular friend?" "Not even
+George Sand." And is he to be blamed for evading tiresome
+reminders of the past? He confessed that his excessive thinness
+had caused Sand to address him as "My Dear Corpse." Charming, is
+it not? Miss Stirling was doubtless in love with him and Princess
+Czartoryska followed him to Scotland to see if his health was
+better. So he was not altogether deserted by the women--indeed he
+could not live without their little flatteries and agreeable
+attentions. It is safe to say that a woman was always within call
+of Chopin.
+
+He played at Manchester on the 28th of August, but his friend Mr.
+Osborne, who was present, says "his playing was too delicate to
+create enthusiasm and I felt truly sorry for him." On his return
+to Scotland he stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Salis Schwabe.
+
+Mr. J. Cuthbert Hadden wrote several years ago in the Glasgow
+"Herald" of Chopin's visit to Scotland in 1848. The tone-poet was
+in the poorest health, but with characteristic tenacity played at
+concerts and paid visits to his admirers. Mr. Hadden found the
+following notice in the back files of the Glasgow "Courier":
+
+  Monsieur Chopin has the honour to announce that his matinee
+  musicale will take place on Wednesday, the 27th September, in
+  the Merchant Hall, Glasgow. To commence at half-past two
+  o'clock. Tickets, limited in number, half-a-guinea each, and
+  full particulars to be had from Mr. Muir Wood, 42, Buchanan
+  street.
+
+He continues:
+
+  The net profits of this concert are said to have been exactly
+  L60--a ridiculously low sum when we compare it with the
+  earnings of later day virtuosi; nay, still more ridiculously
+  low when we recall the circumstance that for two concerts in
+  Glasgow sixteen years before this Paganini had L 1,400. Muir
+  Wood, who has since died, said: "I was then a comparative
+  stranger in Glasgow, but I was told that so many private
+  carriages had never been seen at any concert in the town. In
+  fact, it was the county people who turned out, with a few of
+  the elite of Glasgow society. Being a morning concert, the
+  citizens were busy otherwise, and half a guinea was considered
+  too high a sum for their wives and daughters."
+
+  The late Dr. James Hedderwick, of Glasgow, tells in his
+  reminiscences that on entering the hall he found it about one-
+  third full. It was obvious that a number of the audience were
+  personal friends of Chopin. Dr. Hedderwick recognized the
+  composer at once as "a little, fragile-looking man, in pale
+  gray suit, including frock coat of identical tint and texture,
+  moving about among the company, conversing with different
+  groups, and occasionally consulting his watch," which seemed
+  to be" no bigger than an agate stone on the forefinger of an
+  alderman." Whiskerless, beardless, fair of hair, and pale and
+  thin of face, his appearance was "interesting and
+  conspicuous," and when, "after a final glance at his miniature
+  horologe, he ascended the platform and placed himself at the
+  instrument, he at once commanded attention." Dr. Hedderwick
+  says it was a drawing-room entertainment, more piano than
+  forte, though not without occasional episodes of both strength
+  and grandeur. It was perfectly clear to him that Chopin was
+  marked for an early grave.
+
+  So far as can be ascertained, there are now living only two
+  members of that Glasgow audience of 1848. One of the two is
+  Julius Seligmann, the veteran president of the Glasgow Society
+  of Musicians, who, in response to some inquiries on the
+  subject, writes as follows:
+
+  "Several weeks before the concert Chopin lived with different
+  friends or pupils on their invitations, in the surrounding
+  counties. I think his pupil Miss Jane Stirling had something
+  to do with all the general arrangements. Muir Wood managed the
+  special arrangements of the concert, and I distinctly remember
+  him telling me that he never had so much difficulty in
+  arranging a concert as on this occasion. Chopin constantly
+  changed his mind. Wood had to visit him several times at the
+  house of Admiral Napier, at Milliken Park, near Johnstone. but
+  scarcely had he returned to Glasgow when he was summoned back
+  to alter something. The concert was given in the Merchant
+  Hall, Hutcheson street, now the County Buildings. The hall was
+  about three-quarters filled. Between Chopin's playing Madame
+  Adelasio de Margueritte, daughter of a well-known London
+  physician, sang, and Mr. Muir accompanied her. Chopin was
+  evidently very ill. His touch was very feeble, and while the
+  finish, grace, elegance and delicacy of his performances were
+  greatly admired by the audience, the want of power made his
+  playing somewhat monotonous. I do not remember the whole
+  programme, but he was encored for his well-known mazurka in B
+  flat (op. 7, No. 1), which he repeated with quite different
+  nuances from those of the first time. The audience was very
+  aristocratic, consisting mostly of ladies, among whom were the
+  then Duchess of Argyll and her sister, Lady Blantyre."
+
+  The other survivor is George Russell Alexander, son of the
+  proprietor of the Theatre Royal, Dunlop street, who in a
+  letter to the writer remarks especially upon Chopin's pale,
+  cadaverous appearance. "My emotion," he says, "was so great
+  that two or three times I was compelled to retire from the
+  room to recover myself. I have heard all the best and most
+  celebrated stars of the musical firmament, but never one has
+  left such an impress on my mind."
+
+Chopin played October 4 in Edinburgh, and returned to London in
+November after various visits. We read of a Polish ball and
+concert at which he played, but the affair was not a success. He
+left England in January 1849 and heartily glad he was to go. "Do
+you see the cattle in this meadow?" he asked, en route for Paris:
+"Ca a plus d'intelligence que des Anglais," which was not nice of
+him. Perhaps M. Niedzwiecki, to whom he made the remark took as
+earnest a pure bit of nonsense, and perhaps--! He certainly
+disliked England and the English.
+
+Now the curtain prepares to fall on the last dreary finale of
+Chopin's life, a life not for a moment heroic, yet lived
+according to his lights and free from the sordid and the soil of
+vulgarity. Jules Janin said: "He lived ten miraculous years with
+a breath ready to fly away," and we know that his servant Daniel
+had always to carry him to bed. For ten years he had suffered
+from so much illness that a relapse was not noticed by the world.
+His very death was at first received with incredulity, for, as
+Stephen Heller said, he had been reported dead so often that the
+real news was doubted. In 1847 his legs began to bother him by
+swelling, and M. Mathias described him as "a painful spectacle,
+the picture of exhaustion, the back bent, head bowed--but always
+amiable and full of distinction." His purse was empty, and his
+lodgings in the Rue Chaillot were represented to the proud man as
+being just half their cost,--the balance being paid by the
+Countess Obreskoff, a Russian lady. Like a romance is the
+sending, by Miss Stirling, of twenty-five thousand francs, but it
+is nevertheless true. The noble-hearted Scotchwoman heard of
+Chopin's needs through Madame Rubio, a pupil, and the money was
+raised. That packet containing it was mislaid or lost by the
+portress of Chopin's house, but found after the woman had been
+taxed with keeping it.
+
+Chopin, his future assured, moved to Place Vendome, No. 12. There
+he died. His sister Louise was sent for, and came from Poland to
+Paris. In the early days of October he could no longer sit
+upright without support. Gutmann and the Countess Delphine
+Potocka, his sister, and M. Gavard, were constantly with him. It
+was Turgenev who spoke of the half hundred countesses in Europe
+who claimed to have held the dying Chopin in their arms. In
+reality he died in Gutmann's, raising that pupil's hand to his
+mouth and murmuring "cher ami" as he expired. Solange Sand was
+there, but not her mother, who called and was not admitted--so
+they say. Gutmann denies having refused her admittance. On the
+other hand, if she had called, Chopin's friends would have kept
+her away from him, from the man who told Franchomme two days
+before his death, "She said to me that I would die in no arms but
+hers." Surely--unless she was monstrous in her egotism, and she
+was not--George Sand did not hear this sad speech without tears
+and boundless regrets. Alas! all things come too late for those
+who wait.
+
+Tarnowski relates that Chopin gave his last orders in perfect
+consciousness. He begged his sister to burn all his inferior
+compositions. "I owe it to the public," he said, "and to myself
+to publish only good things. I kept to this resolution all my
+life; I wish to keep to it now." This wish has not been
+respected. The posthumous publications are for the most part
+feeble stuff.
+
+Chopin died, October 17, 1849, between three and four in the
+morning, after having been shrived by the Abbe Jelowicki. His
+last word, according to Gavard, was "Plus," on being asked if he
+suffered. Regarding the touching and slightly melodramatic death
+bed scene on the day previous, when Delphine Potocka sang
+Stradella and Mozart--or was it Marcello?--Liszt, Karasowski, and
+Gutmann disagree.
+
+The following authentic account of the last hours of Chopin
+appears here for the first time in English, translated by Mr.
+Hugh Craig. In Liszt's well-known work on Chopin, second edition,
+1879, mention is made of a conversation that he had held with the
+Abbe Jelowicki respecting Chopin's death; and in Niecks'
+biography of Chopin some sentences from letters by the Abbe are
+quoted. These letters, written in French, have been translated
+and published in the "Allgemeine Musik Zeitung," to which they
+were given by the Princess Marie Hohenlohe, the daughter of
+Princess Caroline Sayn Wittgenstein, Liszt's universal legatee
+and executor, who died in 1887.
+
+  For many years [so runs the document] the life of Chopin was
+  but a breath. His frail, weak body was visibly unfitted for
+  the strength and force of his genius. It was a wonder how in
+  such a weak state, he could live at all, and occasionally act
+  with the greatest energy. His body was almost diaphanous; his
+  eyes were almost shadowed by a cloud from which, from time to
+  time, the lightnings of his glance flashed. Gentle, kind,
+  bubbling with humor, and every way charming, he seemed no
+  longer to belong to earth, while, unfortunately, he had not
+  yet thought of heaven. He had good friends, but many bad
+  friends. These bad friends were his flatterers, that is, his
+  enemies, men and women without principles, or rather with bad
+  principles. Even his unrivalled success, so much more subtle
+  and thus so much more stimulating than that of all other
+  artists, carried the war into his soul and checked the
+  expression of faith and of prayer. The teachings of the
+  fondest, most pious mother became to him a recollection of his
+  childhood's love. In the place of faith, doubt had stepped in,
+  and only that decency innate in every generous heart hindered
+  him from indulging in sarcasm and mockery over holy things and
+  the consolations of religion.
+
+  While he was in this spiritual condition he was attacked by
+  the pulmonary disease that was soon to carry him away from us.
+  The knowledge of this cruel sickness reached me on my return
+  from Rome. With beating heart I hurried to him, to see once
+  more the friend of my youth, whose soul was infinitely dearer
+  to me than all his talent. I found him, not thinner, for that
+  was impossible, but weaker. His strength sank, his life faded
+  visibly. He embraced me with affection and with tears in his
+  eyes, thinking not of his own pain but of mine; he spoke of my
+  poor friend Eduard Worte, whom I had just lost, you know how.
+  (He was shot, a martyr of liberty, at Vienna, November 10,
+  1848.)
+
+  I availed myself of his softened mood to speak to him about
+  his soul. I recalled his thoughts to the piety of his
+  childhood and of his beloved mother. "Yes," he said, "in order
+  not to offend my mother I would not die without the
+  sacraments, but for my part I do not regard them in the sense
+  that you desire. I understand the blessing of confession in so
+  far as it is the unburdening of a heavy heart into a friendly
+  hand, but not as a sacrament. I am ready to confess to you if
+  you wish it, because I love you, not because I hold it
+  necessary." Enough: a crowd of anti-religious speeches filled
+  me with terror and care for this elect soul, and I feared
+  nothing more than to be called to be his confessor.
+
+  Several months passed with similar conversations, so painful
+  to me, the priest and the sincere friend. Yet I clung to the
+  conviction that the grace of God would obtain the victory over
+  this rebellious soul, even if I knew not how. After all my
+  exertions, prayer remained my only refuge.
+
+  On the evening of October 12 I had with my brethren retired to
+  pray for a change in Chopin's mind, when I was summoned by
+  orders of the physician, in fear that he would not live
+  through the night. I hastened to him. He pressed my hand, but
+  bade me at once to depart, while he assured me he loved me
+  much, but did not wish to speak to me.
+
+  Imagine, if you can, what a night I passed! Next day was the
+  13th, the day of St. Edward, the patron of my poor brother. I
+  said mass for the repose of his soul and prayed for Chopin's
+  soul. "My God," I cried, "if the soul of my brother Edward is
+  pleasing to thee, give me, this day, the soul of Frederic."
+
+  In double distress I then went to the melancholy abode of our
+  poor sick man.
+
+  I found him at breakfast, which was served as carefully as
+  ever, and after he had asked me to partake I said: "My friend,
+  today is the name day of my poor brother." "Oh, do not let us
+  speak of it!" he cried. "Dearest friend," I continued, "you
+  must give me something for my brother's name day." "What shall
+  I give you?" "Your soul." "Ah! I understand. Here it is; take
+  it!"
+
+  At these words unspeakable joy and anguish seized me. What
+  should I say to him? What should I do to restore his faith,
+  how not to lose instead of saving this beloved soul? How
+  should I begin to bring it back to God? I flung myself on my
+  knees, and after a moment of collecting my thoughts I cried in
+  the depths of my heart, "Draw it to Thee, Thyself, my God!"
+
+  Without saying a word I held out to our dear invalid the
+  crucifix. Rays of divine light, flames of divine fire,
+  streamed, I might say, visibly from the figure of the
+  crucified Saviour, and at once illumined the soul and kindled
+  the heart of Chopin. Burning tears streamed from his eyes. His
+  faith was once more revived, and with unspeakable fervor he
+  made his confession and received the Holy Supper. After the
+  blessed Viaticum, penetrated by the heavenly consecration
+  which the sacraments pour forth on pious souls, he asked for
+  Extreme Unction. He wished to pay lavishly the sacristan who
+  accompanied me, and when I remarked that the sum presented by
+  him was twenty times too much he replied, "Oh, no, for what I
+  have received is beyond price."
+
+  From this hour he was a saint. The death struggle began and
+  lasted four days. Patience, trust in God, even joyful
+  confidence, never left him, in spite of all his sufferings,
+  till the last breath. He was really happy, and called himself
+  happy. In the midst of the sharpest sufferings he expressed
+  only ecstatic joy, touching love of God, thankfulness that I
+  had led him back to God, contempt of the world and its good,
+  and a wish for a speedy death.
+
+  He blessed his friends, and when, after an apparently last
+  crisis, he saw himself surrounded by the crowd that day and
+  night filled his chamber, he asked me, "Why do they not pray?"
+  At these words all fell on their knees, and even the
+  Protestants joined in the litanies and prayers for the dying.
+
+  Day and night he held my hand, and would not let me leave him.
+  "No, you will not leave me at the last moment," he said, and
+  leaned on my breast as a little child in a moment of danger
+  hides itself in its mother's breast.
+
+  Soon he called upon Jesus and Mary, with a fervor that reached
+  to heaven; soon he kissed the crucifix in an excess of faith,
+  hope and love. He made the most touching utterances. "I love
+  God and man," he said. "I am happy so to die; do not weep, my
+  sister. My friends, do not weep. I am happy. I feel that I am
+  dying. Farewell, pray for me!"
+
+  Exhausted by deathly convulsions he said to the physicians,
+  "Let me die. Do not keep me longer in this world of exile. Let
+  me die; why do you prolong my life when I have renounced all
+  things and God has enlightened my soul? God calls me; why do
+  you keep me back?"
+
+  Another time he said, "O lovely science, that only lets one
+  suffer longer! Could it give me back my strength, qualify me
+  to do any good, to make any sacrifice--but a life of fainting,
+  of grief, of pain to all who love me, to prolong such a life--
+  O lovely science!"
+
+  Then he said again: "You let me suffer cruelly. Perhaps you
+  have erred about my sickness. But God errs not. He punishes
+  me, and I bless him therefor. Oh, how good is God to punish me
+  here below! Oh, how good God is!"
+
+  His usual language was always elegant, with well chosen words,
+  but at last to express all his thankfulness and, at the same
+  time, all the misery of those who die unreconciled to God, he
+  cried, "Without you I should have croaked (krepiren) like a
+  pig."
+
+  While dying he still called on the names of Jesus, Mary,
+  Joseph, kissed the crucifix and pressed it to his heart with
+  the cry "Now I am at the source of Blessedness!"
+
+  Thus died Chopin, and in truth, his death was the most
+  beautiful concerto of all his life.
+
+The worthy abbe must have had a phenomenal memory. I hope that it
+was an exact one. His story is given in its entirety because of
+its novelty. The only thing that makes me feel in the least
+sceptical is that La Mara,--the pen name of a writer on musical
+subjects,--translated these letters into German. But every one
+agrees that Chopin's end was serene; indeed it is one of the
+musical death-beds of history, another was Mozart's. His face was
+beautiful and young in the flower-covered coffin, says Liszt. He
+was buried from the Madeleine, October 30, with the ceremony
+befitting a man of genius. The B flat minor Funeral march,
+orchestrated by Henri Reber, was given, and during the ceremony
+Lefebure-Wely played on the organ the E and B minor Preludes. The
+pall-bearers were distinguished men, Meyerbeer, Delacroix, Pleyel
+and Franchomme--at least Theophile Gautier so reported it for his
+journal. Even at his grave in Pere la Chaise no two persons could
+agree about Chopin. This controversy is quite characteristic of
+Chopin who was always the calm centre of argument.
+
+He was buried in evening clothes, his concert dress, but not at
+his own request. Kwiatowski the portrait painter told this to
+Niecks. It is a Polish custom for the dying to select their grave
+clothes, yet Lombroso writes that Chopin "in his will directed
+that he should be buried in a white tie, small shoes and short
+breeches," adducing this as an evidence of his insanity. He
+further adds "he abandoned the woman whom he tenderly loved
+because she offered a chair to some one else before giving the
+same invitation to himself." Here we have a Sand story raised to
+the dignity of a diagnosed symptom. It is like the other
+nonsense.
+
+
+
+IV. THE ARTIST
+
+
+
+Chopin's personality was a pleasant, persuasive one without being
+so striking or so dramatic as Liszt's. As a youth his nose was
+too large, his lips thin, the lower one protruding. Later,
+Moscheles said that he looked like his music. Delicacy and a
+certain aristrocratic bearing, a harmonious ensemble, produced a
+most agreeable sensation. "He was of slim frame, middle height;
+fragile but wonderfully flexible limbs, delicately formed hands,
+very small feet, an oval, softly outlined head, a pale
+transparent complexion, long silken hair of a light chestnut
+color, parted on one side, tender brown eyes, intelligent rather
+than dreamy, a finely-curved aquiline nose, a sweet subtle smile,
+graceful and varied gestures." This precise description is by
+Niecks. Liszt said he had blue eyes, but he has been overruled.
+Chopin was fond of elegant, costly attire, and was very correct
+in the matter of studs, walking sticks and cravats. Not the ideal
+musician we read of, but a gentleman. Berlioz told Legouve to see
+Chopin, "for he is something which you have never seen--and some
+one you will never forget." An orchidaceous individuality this.
+
+With such personal refinement he was a man punctual and precise
+in his habits. Associating constantly with fashionable folk his
+naturally dignified behavior was increased. He was an aristocrat-
+-there is no other word--and he did not care to be hail-fellow-
+well-met with the musicians. A certain primness and asperity did
+not make him popular. While teaching, his manner warmed, the
+earnest artist came to life, all halting of speech and polite
+insincerities were abandoned. His pupils adored him. Here at
+least the sentiment was one of solidarity. De Lenz is his most
+censorious critic and did not really love Chopin. The dislike was
+returned, for the Pole suspected that his pupil was sent by Liszt
+to spy on his methods. This I heard in Paris.
+
+Chopin was a remarkable teacher. He never taught but one genius,
+little Filtsch, the Hungarian lad of whom Liszt said, "When he
+starts playing I will shut up shop." The boy died in 1845, aged
+fifteen; Paul Gunsberg, who died the same year, was also very
+talented. Once after delivering in a lovely way the master's E
+minor concerto Filtsch was taken by Chopin to a music store and
+presented with the score of Beethoven's "Fidelio." He was much
+affected by the talents of this youthful pupil. Lindsay Sloper
+and Brinley Richards studied with Chopin. Caroline Hartmann,
+Gutmann, Lysberg, Georges Mathias, Mlle. O'Meara, many Polish
+ladies of rank, Delphine Potocka among the rest, Madame
+Streicher, Carl Mikuli, Madame Rubio, Madame Peruzzi, Thomas
+Tellefsen, Casimir Wernik, Gustav Schumann, Werner Steinbrecher,
+and many others became excellent pianists. Was the American
+pianist, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, ever his pupil? His friends say
+so, but Niecks does not mention him. Ernst Pauer questions it. We
+know that Gottschalk studied in Paris with Camille Stamaty, and
+made his first appearance there in 1847. This was shortly before
+Chopin's death when his interest in music had abated greatly. No
+doubt Gottschalk played for Chopin for he was the first to
+introduce the Pole's music in America.
+
+Chopin was very particular about the formation of the touch,
+giving dementi's Preludes at first. "Is that a dog barking?" was
+his sudden exclamation at a rough attack. He taught the scales
+staccato and legato beginning with E major. Ductility, ease,
+gracefulness were his aim; stiffness, harshness annoyed him. He
+gave Clementi, Moscheles and Bach. Before playing in concert he
+shut himself up and played, not Chopin but Bach, always Bach.
+Absolute finger independence and touch discrimination and color
+are to be gained by playing the preludes and fugues of Bach.
+Chopin started a method but it was never finished and his sister
+gave it to the Princess Czartoryska after his death. It is a mere
+fragment. Janotha has translated it. One point is worth quoting.
+He wrote:
+
+  No one notices inequality in the power of the notes of a scale
+  when it is played very fast and equally, as regards time. In a
+  good mechanism the aim is not to play everything with an equal
+  sound, but to acquire a beautiful quality of touch and a
+  perfect shading. For a long time players have acted against
+  nature in seeking to give equal power to each finger. On the
+  contrary, each finger should have an appropriate part assigned
+  it. The thumb has the greatest power, being the thickest
+  finger and the freest. Then comes the little finger, at the
+  other extremity of the hand. The middle finger is the main
+  support of the hand, and is assisted by the first. Finally
+  comes the third, the weakest one. As to this Siamese twin of
+  the middle finger, some players try to force it with all their
+  might to become independent. A thing impossible, and most
+  likely unnecessary. There are, then, many different qualities
+  of sound, just as there are several fingers. The point is to
+  utilize the differences; and this, in other words, is the art
+  of fingering.
+
+Here, it seems to me, is one of the most practical truths ever
+uttered by a teacher. Pianists spend thousands of hours trying to
+subjugate impossible muscles. Chopin, who found out most things
+for himself, saw the waste of time and force. I recommend his
+advice. He was ever particular about fingering, but his
+innovations horrified the purists. "Play as you feel," was his
+motto, a rather dangerous precept for beginners. He gave to his
+pupils the concertos and sonatas--all carefully graded--of
+Mozart, Scarlatti, Field, Dussek, Hummel, Beethoven, Mendelssohn,
+Weber and Hiller and, of Schubert, the four-hand pieces and
+dances. Liszt he did not favor, which is natural, Liszt having
+written nothing but brilliant paraphrases in those days. The
+music of the later Liszt is quite another thing. Chopin's genius
+for the pedal, his utilization of its capacity for the vibration
+of related strings, the overtones, I refer to later. Rubinstein
+said:
+
+  The piano bard, the piano rhapsodist, the piano mind, the
+  piano soul is Chopin. ... Tragic, romantic, lyric, heroic,
+  dramatic, fantastic, soulful, sweet, dreamy, brilliant, grand,
+  simple; all possible expressions are found in his compositions
+  and all are sung by him upon his instrument.
+
+Chopin is dead only fifty years, but his fame has traversed the
+half century with ease, and bids fair to build securely in the
+loves of our great-grandchildren. The six letters that comprise
+his name pursue every piano that is made. Chopin and modern piano
+playing are inseparable, and it is a strain upon homely prophecy
+to predict a time when the two shall be put asunder. Chopin was
+the greatest interpreter of Chopin, and following him came those
+giants of other days, Liszt, Tausig, and Rubinstein.
+
+While he never had the pupils to mould as had Liszt, Chopin made
+some excellent piano artists. They all had, or have--the old
+guard dies bravely--his tradition, but exactly what the Chopin
+tradition is no man may dare to say. Anton Rubinstein, when I
+last heard him, played Chopin inimitably. Never shall I forget
+the Ballades, the two Polonaises in F sharp minor and A flat
+major, the B flat minor Prelude, the A minor "Winter Wind" the
+two C minor studies, and the F minor Fantasie. Yet the Chopin
+pupils, assembled in judgment at Paris when he gave his
+Historical Recitals, refused to accept him as an interpreter. His
+touch was too rich and full, his tone too big. Chopin did not
+care for Liszt's reading of his music, though he trembled when he
+heard him thunder in the Eroica Polonaise. I doubt if even Karl
+Tausig, impeccable artist, unapproachable Chopin player, would
+have pleased the composer. Chopin played as his moods prompted,
+and his playing was the despair and delight of his hearers.
+Rubinstein did all sorts of wonderful things with the coda of the
+Barcarolle--such a page!--but Sir Charles Halle said that it was
+"clever but not Chopinesque." Yet Halle heard Chopin at his last
+Paris concert, February, 1848, play the two forte passages in the
+Barcarolle "pianissimo and with all sorts of dynamic finesse."
+This is precisely what Rubinstein did, and his pianissimo was a
+whisper. Von Bulow was too much of a martinet to reveal the
+poetic quality, though he appreciated Chopin on the intellectual
+side; his touch was not beautiful enough. The Slavic and Magyar
+races are your only true Chopin interpreters. Witness Liszt the
+magnificent, Rubinstein a passionate genius, Tausig who united in
+his person all the elements of greatness, Essipowa fascinating
+and feminine, the poetic Paderewski, de Pachmann the fantastic,
+subtle Joseffy, and Rosenthal a phenomenon.
+
+A world-great pianist was this Frderic Francois Chopin. He played
+as he composed: uniquely. All testimony is emphatic as to this.
+Scales that were pearls, a touch rich, sweet, supple and singing
+and a technique that knew no difficulties, these were part of
+Chopin's equipment as a pianist. He spiritualized the timbre of
+his instrument until it became transformed into something
+strange, something remote from its original nature. His
+pianissimo was an enchanting whisper, his forte seemed powerful
+by contrast so numberless were the gradations, so widely varied
+his dynamics. The fairylike quality of his play, his diaphanous
+harmonies, his liquid tone, his pedalling--all were the work of a
+genius and a lifetime; and the appealing humanity he infused into
+his touch, gave his listeners a delight that bordered on the
+supernatural. So the accounts, critical, professional and
+personal read. There must have been a hypnotic quality in his
+performances that transported his audience wherever the poet
+willed. Indeed the stories told wear an air of enthusiasm that
+borders on the exaggerated, on the fantastic. Crystalline pearls
+falling on red hot velvet-or did Scudo write this of Liszt?--
+infinite nuance and the mingling of silvery bells,--these are a
+few of the least exuberant notices. Was it not Heine who called
+"Thalberg a king, Liszt a prophet, Chopin a poet, Herz an
+advocate, Kalkbrenner a minstrel, Madame Pleyel a sibyl, and
+Doehler--a pianist"? The limpidity, the smoothness and ease of
+Chopin's playing were, after all, on the physical plane. It was
+the poetic melancholy, the grandeur, above all the imaginative
+lift, that were more in evidence than mere sensuous sweetness.
+Chopin had, we know, his salon side when he played with elegance,
+brilliancy and coquetry. But he had dark moments when the
+keyboard was too small, his ideas too big for utterance. Then he
+astounded, thrilled his auditors. They were rare moments. His
+mood-versatility was reproduced in his endless colorings and
+capricious rhythms. The instrument vibrated with these new,
+nameless effects like the violin in Paganini's hands. It was
+ravishing. He was called the Ariel, the Undine of the piano.
+There was something imponderable, fluid, vaporous, evanescent in
+his music that eluded analysis and illuded all but hard-headed
+critics. This novelty was the reason why he has been classed as a
+"gifted amateur" and even to-day is he regarded by many musicians
+as a skilful inventor of piano passages and patterned figures
+instead of what he really is--one of the most daring harmonists
+since Bach.
+
+Chopin's elastic hand, small, thin, with lightly articulated
+fingers, was capable of stretching tenths with ease. Examine his
+first study for confirmation of this. His wrist was very supple.
+Stephen Heller said that "it was a wonderful sight to see
+Chopin's small hands expand and cover a third of the keyboard. It
+was like the opening of the mouth of a serpent about to swallow a
+rabbit whole." He played the octaves in the A flat Polonaise with
+infinite ease but pianissimo. Now where is the "tradition" when
+confronted by the mighty crashing of Rosenthal in this particular
+part of the Polonaise? Of Karl Tausig, Weitzmann said that "he
+relieved the romantically sentimental Chopin of his Weltschmerz
+and showed him in his pristine creative vigor and wealth of
+imagination." In Chopin's music there are many pianists, many
+styles and all are correct if they are poetically musical,
+logical and individually sincere. Of his rubato I treat in the
+chapter devoted to the Mazurkas, making also an attempt to define
+the "zal" of his playing and music.
+
+When Chopin was strong he used a Pleyel piano, when he was ill an
+Erard--a nice fable of Liszt's! He said that he liked the Erard
+but he really preferred the Pleyel with its veiled sonority. What
+could not he have accomplished with the modern grand piano?
+In the artist's room of the Maison Pleyel there stands the piano
+at which Chopin composed the Preludes, the G minor nocturne, the
+Funeral March, the three supplementary fitudes, the A minor
+Mazurka, the Tarantelle, the F minor Fantasie and the B minor
+Scherzo. A brass tablet on the inside lid notes this. The piano
+is still in good condition as regards tone and action.
+
+Mikuli asserted that Chopin brought out an "immense" tone in
+cantabiles. He had not a small tone, but it was not the
+orchestral tone of our day. Indeed how could it be, with the
+light action and tone of the French pianos built in the first
+half of the century? After all it was quality, not quantity that
+Chopin sought. Each one of his ten fingers was a delicately
+differentiated voice, and these ten voices could sing at times
+like the morning stars.
+
+Rubinstein declared that all the pedal marks are wrong in Chopin.
+I doubt if any edition can ever give them as they should be, for
+here again the individual equation comes into play. Apart from
+certain fundamental rules for managing the pedals, no pedagogic
+regulations should ever be made for the more refined nuanciren.
+
+The portraits of Chopin differ widely. There is the Ary Scheffer,
+the Vigneron--praised by Mathias--the Bovy medallion, the Duval
+drawing, and the head by Kwiatowski. Delacroix tried his powerful
+hand at transfixing in oil the fleeting expressions of Chopin.
+Felix Barrias, Franz Winterhalter, and Albert Graefle are others
+who tried with more or less success. Anthony Kolberg painted
+Chopin in 1848-49. Kleczynski reproduces it; it is mature in
+expression. The Clesinger head I have seen at Pere la Chaise. It
+is mediocre and lifeless. Kwiatowski has caught some of the
+Chopin spirit in the etching that may be found in volume one of
+Niecks' biography. The Winterhalter portrait in Mr. Hadow's
+volume is too Hebraic, and the Graefle is a trifle ghastly. It is
+the dead Chopin, but the nose is that of a predaceous bird,
+painfully aquiline. The "Echo Muzyczne" Warsaw, of October 1899--
+in Polish "17 Pazdziernika"--printed a picture of the composer at
+the age of seventeen. It is that of a thoughtful, poetic, but not
+handsome lad, his hair waving over a fine forehead, a feminine
+mouth, large, aquiline nose, the nostrils delicately cut, and
+about his slender neck a Byronic collar. Altogether a novel
+likeness. Like the Chopin interpretation, a satisfactory Chopin
+portrait is extremely rare.
+
+As some difficulty was experienced in discovering the identity of
+Countess Delphine Potocka, I applied in 1899 to Mr. Jaraslow de
+Zielinski, a pianist of Buffalo, New York, for assistance; he is
+an authority on Polish and Russian music and musicians. Here are
+the facts he kindly transmitted: "In 1830 three beautiful Polish
+women came to Nice to pass the winter. They were the daughters of
+Count Komar, the business manager of the wealthy Count Potocki.
+They were singularly accomplished; they spoke half the languages
+of Europe, drew well, and sang to perfection. All they needed was
+money to make them queens of society; this they soon obtained,
+and with it high rank. Their graceful manners and loveliness won
+the hearts of three of the greatest of noblemen. Marie married
+the Prince de Beauvau-Craon; Delphine became Countess Potocka,
+and Nathalie, Marchioness Medici Spada. The last named died
+young, a victim to the zeal in favor of the cholera-stricken of
+Rome. The other two sisters went to live in Paris, and became
+famous for their brilliant elegance. Their sumptuous 'hotels' or
+palaces were thrown open to the most prominent men of genius of
+their time, and hither came Chopin, to meet not only with the
+homage due to his genius, but with a tender and sisterly
+friendship, which proved one of the greatest consolations of his
+life. To the amiable Princess de Beauvau he dedicated his famous
+Polonaise in F sharp minor, op. 44, written in the brilliant
+bravura style for pianists of the first force. To Delphine,
+Countess Potocka, he dedicated the loveliest of his valses, op.
+64, No. 1, so well transcribed by Joseffy into a study in
+thirds."
+
+Therefore the picture of the Grafin Potocka in the Berlin gallery
+is not that of Chopin's devoted friend.
+
+Here is another Count Tarnowski story. It touches on a Potocka
+episode. "Chopin liked and knew how to express individual
+characteristics on the piano. Just as there formerly was a rather
+widely-known fashion of describing dispositions and characters in
+so-called 'portraits,' which gave to ready wits a scope for
+parading their knowledge of people and their sharpness of
+observation; so he often amused himself by playing such musical
+portraits. Without saying whom he had in his thoughts, he
+illustrated the characters of a few or of several people present
+in the room, and illustrated them so clearly and so delicately
+that the listeners could always guess correctly who was intended,
+and admired the resemblance of the portrait. One little anecdote
+is related in connection with this which throws some light on his
+wit, and a little pinch of sarcasm in it.
+
+"During the time of Chopin's greatest brilliancy and popularity,
+in the year 1835, he once played his musical portraits in a
+certain Polish salon, where the three daughters of the house were
+the stars of the evening. After a few portraits had been
+extemporized, one of these ladies wished to have hers--Mme.
+Delphine Potocka. Chopin, in reply, drew her shawl from her
+shoulders, threw it on the keyboard and began to play, implying
+in this two things; first, that he knew the character of the
+brilliant and famous queen of fashion so well, that by heart and
+in the dark he was able to depict it; secondly, that this
+character and this soul is hidden under habits, ornamentations
+and decorations of an elegant worldly life, through the symbol of
+elegance and fashion of that day, as the tones of the piano
+through the shawl."
+
+Because Chopin did not label his works with any but general
+titles, Ballades, Scherzi, Studies, Preludes and the like, his
+music sounds all the better: the listener is not pinned down to
+any precise mood, the music being allowed to work its particular
+charm without the aid of literary crutches for unimaginative
+minds. Dr. Niecks gives specimens of what the ingenious
+publisher, without a sense of humor, did with some of Chopin's
+compositions: Adieu a Varsovie, so was named the Rondo, op. 1;
+Hommage a Mozart, the Variations, op. 2; La Gaite, Introduction
+and Polonaise, op. 3 for piano and 'cello; La Posiana--what a
+name!--the Rondo a la Mazur, op. 5; Murmures de la Seine,
+Nocturnes op. 9; Les Zephirs, Nocturnes, op. 15; Invitation a la
+Valse, Valse, op. 18; Souvenir d'Andalousie, Bolero, op. 19--a
+bolero which sounds Polish!--Le Banquet Infernal, the First
+Scherzo, op. 20--what a misnomer!--Ballade ohne Worte, the G
+minor Ballade--there is a polyglot mess for you!--Les Plaintives,
+Nocturnes, op. 27; La Meditation, Second Scherzo, B flat minor-
+meditation it is not!--II Lamento e la Consolazione, Nocturnes,
+op. 32; Les Soupirs, Nocturnes, op. 37, and Les Favorites,
+Polonaises, op. 40. The C minor Polonaise of this opus was never,
+is not now, a favorite. The mazurkas generally received the title
+of Souvenir de la Pologne.
+
+In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of
+Chopin, October 17, 1899, a medal was struck at Warsaw, bearing
+on one side an artistically executed profile of the Polish
+composer. On the reverse, the design represents a lyre,
+surrounded by a laurel branch, and having engraved upon it the
+opening bars of the Mazurka in A flat major. The name of the
+great composer with the dates of his birth and death, are given
+in the margin. Paderewski is heading a movement to remove from
+Paris to Warsaw the ashes of the pianist, but it is doubtful if
+it can be managed. Paris will certainly object to losing the
+bones of such a genius.
+
+Chopin's acoustic parallelisms are not so concrete, so vivid as
+Wagner's. Nor are they so theatrical, so obvious. It does not,
+however, require much fancy to conjure up "the drums and
+tramplings of three conquests" in the Eroica Polonaise or the F
+sharp major Impromptu. The rhythms of the Cradle Song and the
+Barcarolle are suggestive enough and if you please there are dew-
+drops in his cadenzas and there is the whistling of the wind in
+the last A minor Study. Of the A flat Study Chopin said: "Imagine
+a little shepherd who takes refuge in a peaceful grotto from an
+approaching storm. In the distance rushes the wind and the rain,
+while the shepherd gently plays a melody on his flute." This is
+quoted by Kleczynski. There are word-whisperings in the next
+study in F minor, whilst the symbolism of the dance--the Valse,
+Mazurka, Polonaise, Menuetto, Bolero, Schottische, Krakowiak and
+Tarantella--is admirably indicated in all of them. The bells of
+the Funeral March, the will o' wisp character of the last
+movement of the B flat minor Sonata, the dainty Butterfly Study
+in G flat, opus 25, the aeolian murmurs of the E flat Study, in
+opus 10, the tiny prancing silvery hoofs in the F major Study,
+opus 25, the flickering flame-like C major Study No. 7, opus 10,
+the spinning in the D flat Valse and the cyclonic rush of
+chromatic double notes in the E flat minor Scherzo--these are not
+studied imitations but spontaneous transpositions to the ideal
+plane of primary, natural phenomena.
+
+Chopin's system--if it be a system--of cadenzas, fioriture
+embellishment and ornamentation is perhaps traceable to the East.
+In his "Folk Music Studies," Mr. H. E. Krehbiel quotes the
+description of "a rhapsodical embellishment, called 'alap,' which
+after going through a variety of ad libitum passages, rejoins the
+melody with as much grace as if it had never been disunited, the
+musical accompaniment all the while keeping time. These passages
+are not reckoned essential to the melody, but are considered only
+as grace notes introduced according to the fancy of the singer,
+when the only limitations by which the performer is bound are the
+notes peculiar to that particular melody and a strict regard to
+time."
+
+Chopin founded no school, although the possibilities of the piano
+were canalized by him. In playing, as in composition, only the
+broad trend of his discoveries may be followed, for his was a
+manner not a method. He has had for followers Liszt, Rubinstein,
+Mikuli, Zarembski, Nowakowski, Xaver Scharwenka, Saint-Saens,
+Scholtz, Heller, Nicode, Moriz Moszkowski, Paderewski, Stojowski,
+Arenski, Leschetizki, the two Wieniawskis, and a whole group of
+the younger Russians Liadoff, Scriabine and the rest. Even Brahms-
+-in his F sharp major Sonata and E flat minor Scherzo--shows
+Chopin's influence. Indeed but for Chopin much modern music would
+not exist.
+
+But a genuine school exists not. Henselt was only a German who
+fell asleep and dreamed of Chopin. To a Thalberg-ian euphony he
+has added a technical figuration not unlike Chopin's, and a
+spirit quite Teutonic in its sentimentality. Rubinstein calls
+Chopin the exhalation of the third epoch in art. He certainly
+closed one. With a less strong rhythmic impulse and formal sense
+Chopin's music would have degenerated into mere overperfumed
+impressionism. The French piano school of his day, indeed of
+today, is entirely drowned by its devotion to cold decoration, to
+unemotional ornamentation. Mannerisms he had--what great artist
+has not?--but the Greek in him, as in Heine, kept him from
+formlessness. He is seldom a landscapist, but he can handle his
+brush deftly before nature if he must. He paints atmosphere, the
+open air at eventide, with consummate skill, and for playing
+fantastic tricks on your nerves in the depiction of the
+superhuman he has a peculiar faculty. Remember that in Chopin's
+early days the Byronic pose, the grandiose and the horrible
+prevailed--witness the pictures of Ingres and Delacroix--and
+Richter wrote with his heart-strings saturated in moonshine and
+tears. Chopin did not altogether escape the artistic vices of his
+generation. As a man he was a bit of poseur--the little whisker
+grown on one side of his face, the side which he turned to his
+audience, is a note of foppery--but was ever a detester of the
+sham-artistic. He was sincere, and his survival, when nearly all
+of Mendelssohn, much of Schumann and half of Berlioz have
+suffered an eclipse, is proof positive of his vitality. The fruit
+of his experimentings in tonality we see in the whole latter-day
+school of piano, dramatic and orchestral composers. That Chopin
+may lead to the development and adoption of the new enharmonic
+scales, the "Homotonic scales," I do not know. For these M. A. de
+Bertha claimed the future of music. He wrote:
+
+"Now vaporously illumined by the crepuscular light of a magical
+sky on the boundaries of the major and minor modes, now seeming
+to spring from the bowels of the earth with sepulchral
+inflexions, melody moves with ease on the serried degrees of the
+enharmonic scales. Lively or slow she always assumed in them the
+accents of a fatalist impossibility, for the laws of arithmetic
+have preceded her, and there still remains, as it were, an
+atmosphere of proud rigidity. Melancholy or passionate she
+preserves the reflected lines of a primitive rusticity, which
+clings to the homotones in despite of their artificial origin."
+But all this will be in the days to come when the flat keyboard
+will be superseded by a Janko many-banked clavier contrivance,
+when Mr. Krehbiel's oriental srootis are in use and Mr. Apthorp's
+nullitonic order, no key at all, is invented. Then too a new
+Chopin may be born, but I doubt it.
+
+Despite his idiomatic treatment of the piano it must be
+remembered that Chopin under Sontag's and Paganini's influence
+imitated both voice and violin on the keyboard. His lyricism is
+most human, while the portamento, the slides, trills and
+indescribably subtle turns--are they not of the violin? Wagner
+said to Mr. Dannreuther--see Finck's "Wagner and his Works"--that
+"Mozart's music and Mozart's orchestra are a perfect match; an
+equally perfect balance exists between Palestrina's choir and
+Palestrina's counterpoint, and I find a similar correspondence
+between Chopin's piano and some of his Etudes and Preludes--I do
+not care for the Ladies' Chopin; there is too much of the
+Parisian salon in that, but he has given us many things which are
+above the salon." Which latter statement is slightly
+condescending. Recollect, however, Chopin's calm depreciation of
+Schumann. Mr. John F. Runciman, the English critic, asserts that
+"Chopin thought in terms of the piano, and only the piano. So
+when we see Chopin's orchestral music or Wagner's music for the
+piano we realize that neither is talking his native tongue--the
+tongue which nature fitted him to speak." Speaking of "Chopin and
+the Sick Men" Mr. Runciman is most pertinent:
+
+"These inheritors of rickets and exhausted physical frames made
+some of the most wonderful music of the century for us. Schubert
+was the most wonderful of them all, but Chopin runs him very
+close. ... He wrote less, far less than Schubert wrote; but, for
+the quantity he did write, its finish is miraculous. It may be
+feverish, merely mournful, cadavre, or tranquil, and entirely
+beautiful; but there is not a phrase that is not polished as far
+as a phrase will bear polishing. It is marvellous music; but, all
+the same, it is sick, unhealthy music."
+
+"Liszt's estimate of the technical importance of Chopin's works,"
+writes Mr. W.J. Henderson, "is not too large. It was Chopin who
+systematized the art of pedalling and showed us how to use both
+pedals in combination to produce those wonderful effects of color
+which are so necessary in the performance of his music. ... The
+harmonic schemes of the simplest of Chopin's works are marvels of
+originality and musical loveliness, and I make bold to say that
+his treatment of the passing note did much toward showing later
+writers how to produce the restless and endless complexity of the
+harmony in contemporaneous orchestral music."
+
+Heinrich Pudor in his strictures on German music is hardly
+complimentary to Chopin: "Wagner is a thorough-going decadent, an
+off-shoot, an epigonus, not a progonus. His cheeks are hollow and
+pale--but the Germans have the full red cheeks. Equally decadent
+is Liszt. Liszt is a Hungarian and the Hungarians are confessedly
+a completely disorganized, self-outlived, dying people. No less
+decadent is Chopin, whose figure comes before one as flesh
+without bones, this morbid, womanly, womanish, slip-slop,
+powerless, sickly, bleached, sweet-caramel Pole!" This has a ring
+of Nietzsche--Nietzsche who boasted of his Polish origin.
+
+Now listen to the fatidical Pole Przybyszewski: "In the beginning
+there was sex, out of sex there was nothing and in it everything
+was. And sex made itself brain whence was the birth of the soul."
+And then, as Mr. Vance Thompson, who first Englished this "Mass
+of the Dead"--wrote: "He pictures largely in great cosmic
+symbols, decorated with passionate and mystic fervors, the
+singular combat between the growing soul and the sex from which
+it fain would be free." Arno Holz thus parodies Przybyszewski:
+"In our soul there is surging and singing a song of the
+victorious bacteria. Our blood lacks the white corpuscles. On the
+sounding board of our consciousness there echoes along the
+frightful symphony of the flesh. It becomes objective in Chopin;
+he alone, the modern primeval man, puts our brains on the green
+meadows, he alone thinks in hyper-European dimensions. He alone
+rebuilds the shattered Jerusalem of our souls."All of which shows
+to what comically delirious lengths this sort of deleterious soul-
+probing may go.
+
+It would be well to consider this word "decadent" and its morbid
+implications. There is a fashion just now in criticism to over-
+accentuate the physical and moral weaknesses of the artist.
+Lombroso started the fashion, Nordau carried it to its logical
+absurdity, yet it is nothing new. In Hazlitt's day he complains,
+that genius is called mad by foolish folk. Mr. Newman writes in
+his Wagner, that "art in general, and music in particular, ought
+not to be condemned merely in terms of the physical degeneration
+or abnormality of the artist. Some of the finest work in art and
+literature, indeed, has been produced by men who could not, from
+any standpoint, be pronounced normal. In the case of Flaubert, of
+De Maupassant, of Dostoievsky, of Poe, and a score of others,
+though the organic system was more or less flawed, the work
+remains touched with that universal quality that gives artistic
+permanence even to perceptions born of the abnormal." Mr. Newman
+might have added other names to his list, those of Michael Angelo
+and Beethoven and Swinburne. Really, is any great genius quite
+sane according to philistine standards? The answer must be
+negative. The old enemy has merely changed his mode of attack:
+instead of charging genius with madness, the abnormal used in an
+abnormal sense is lugged in and though these imputations of
+degeneracy, moral and physical, have in some cases proven true,
+the genius of the accused one can in no wise be denied. But then
+as Mr. Philip Hale asks: Why this timidity at being called
+decadent? What's in the name?
+
+Havelock Ellis in his masterly study of Joris Karl Huysmans,
+considers the much misunderstood phenomenon in art called
+decadence. "Technically a decadent style is only such in relation
+to a classic style. It is simply a further development of a
+classic style, a further specialization, the homogeneous in
+Spencerian phraseology having become heterogeneous. The first is
+beautiful because the parts are subordinated to the whole; the
+second is beautiful because the whole is subordinated to the
+parts." Then he proceeds to show in literature that Sir Thomas
+Browne, Emerson, Pater, Carlyle, Poe, Hawthorne and Whitman are
+decadents--not in any invidious sense--but simply in "the
+breaking up of the whole for the benefit of its parts." Nietzsche
+is quoted to the effect that "in the period of corruption in the
+evolution of societies we are apt to overlook the fact that the
+energy which in more primitive times marked the operations of a
+community as a whole has now simply been transferred to the
+individuals themselves, and this aggrandizement of the individual
+really produces an even greater amount of energy." And further,
+Ellis: "All art is the rising and falling of the slopes of a
+rhythmic curve between these two classic and decadent extremes.
+Decadence suggests to us going down, falling, decay. If we walk
+down a real hill we do not feel that we commit a more wicked act
+than when we walked up it....Roman architecture is classic to
+become in its Byzantine developments completely decadent, and St.
+Mark's is the perfected type of decadence in art. ... We have to
+recognize that decadence is an aesthetic and not a moral
+conception. The power of words is great but they need not befool
+us. ... We are not called upon to air our moral indignation over
+the bass end of the musical clef." I recommend the entire chapter
+to such men as Lombroso Levi, Max Nordau and Heinrich Pudor, who
+have yet to learn that "all confusion of intellectual substances
+is foolish."
+
+Oscar Bie states the Chopin case most excellently:--
+
+  Chopin is a poet. It has become a very bad habit to place this
+  poet in the hands of our youth. The concertos and polonaises
+  being put aside, no one lends himself worse to youthful
+  instruction than Chopin. Because his delicate touches
+  inevitably seem perverse to the youthful mind, he has gained
+  the name of a morbid genius. The grown man who understands how
+  to play Chopin, whose music begins where that of another
+  leaves off, whose tones show the supremest mastery in the
+  tongue of music--such a man will discover nothing morbid in
+  him. Chopin, a Pole, strikes sorrowful chords, which do not
+  occur frequently to healthy normal persons. But why is a Pole
+  to receive less justice than a German? We know that the
+  extreme of culture is closely allied to decay; for perfect
+  ripeness is but the foreboding of corruption. Children, of
+  course, do not know this. And Chopin himself would have been
+  much too noble ever to lay bare his mental sickness to the
+  world. And his greatness lies precisely in this: that he
+  preserves the mean between immaturity and decay. His greatness
+  is his aristocracy. He stands among musicians in his faultless
+  vesture, a noble from head to foot. The sublimest emotions
+  toward whose refinement whole genrations had tended, the last
+  things in our soul, whose foreboding is interwoven with the
+  mystery of Judgment Day, have in his music found their form.
+
+Further on I shall attempt--I write the word with a patibulary
+gesture--in a sort of a Chopin variorum, to analyze the salient
+aspects, technical and aesthetic, of his music. To translate into
+prose, into any language no matter how poetical, the images
+aroused by his music, is impossible. I am forced to employ the
+technical terminology of other arts, but against my judgment.
+Read Mr. W. F. Apthorp's disheartening dictum in "By the Way."
+"The entrancing phantasmagoria of picture and incident which we
+think we see rising from the billowing sea of music is in reality
+nothing more than an enchanting fata morgana, visible at no other
+angle than that of our own eye. The true gist of music it never
+can be; it can never truly translate what is most essential and
+characteristic in its expression. It is but something that we
+have half unconsciously imputed to music; nothing that really
+exists in music."
+
+The shadowy miming of Chopin's soul has nevertheless a
+significance for this generation.  It is now the reign of the
+brutal, the realistic, the impossible in music. Formal excellence
+is neglected and programme-music has reduced art to the level of
+an anecdote. Chopin neither preaches nor paints, yet his art is
+decorative and dramatic--though in the climate of the ideal. He
+touches earth and its emotional issues in Poland only; otherwise
+his music is a pure aesthetic delight, an artistic enchantment,
+freighted with no ethical or theatric messages. It is poetry made
+audible, the "soul written in sound." All that I can faintly
+indicate is the way it affects me, this music with the petals of
+a glowing rose and the heart of gray ashes. Its analogies to Poe,
+Verlaine, Shelley, Keats, Heine and Mickiewicz are but critical
+sign-posts, for Chopin is incomparable, Chopin is unique. "Our
+interval," writes Walter Pater, "is brief." Few pass it
+recollectedly and with full understanding of its larger rhythms
+and more urgent colors. Many endure it in frivol and violence,
+the majority in bored, sullen submission. Chopin, the New Chopin,
+is a foe to ennui and the spirit that denies; in his exquisite
+soul-sorrow, sweet world-pain, we may find rich impersonal
+relief.
+
+
+
+V. POET AND PSYCHOLOGIST
+
+
+
+Music is an order of mystic, sensuous mathematics. A sounding
+mirror, an aural mode of motion, it addresses itself on the
+formal side to the intellect, in its content of expression it
+appeals to the emotions. Ribot, admirable psychologist, does not
+hesitate to proclaim music as the most emotional of the arts. "It
+acts like a burn, like heat, cold or a caressing contact, and is
+the most dependent on physiological conditions."
+
+Music then, the most vague of the arts in the matter of
+representing the concrete, is the swiftest, surest agent for
+attacking the sensibilities. The CRY made manifest, as Wagner
+asserts, it is a cry that takes on fanciful shapes, each soul
+interpreting it in an individual fashion. Music and beauty are
+synonymous, just as their form and substance are indivisible.
+
+Havelock Ellis is not the only aesthetician who sees the marriage
+of music and sex.  "No other art tells us such old forgotten
+secrets about ourselves...It is in the mightiest of all
+instincts, the primitive sex traditions of the race before man
+was, that music is rooted...Beauty is the child of love." Dante
+Gabriel Rossetti has imprisoned in a sonnet the almost intangible
+feeling aroused by music, the feeling of having pursued in the
+immemorial past the "route of evanescence."
+
+    Is it this sky's vast
+    vault or ocean's
+    sound,
+    That is Life's self
+     and draws my life from me,
+    And by instinct ineffable decree
+    Holds my breath
+    Quailing on the bitter bound?
+    Nay, is it Life or Death, thus thunder-crown'd,
+    That 'mid the tide of all emergency
+    Now notes my separate wave, and to what sea
+    Its difficult eddies labor in the ground?
+    Oh! what is this that knows the road I came,
+    The flame turned cloud, the cloud returned to flame,
+    The lifted, shifted steeps and all the way?
+    That draws around me at last this wind-warm space,
+    And in regenerate rapture turns my face
+    Upon the devious coverts of dismay?
+
+During the last half of the nineteenth century two men became
+rulers of musical emotion, Richard Wagner and Frederic Francois
+Chopin. The music of the latter is the most ravishing gesture
+that art has yet made. Wagner and Chopin, the macrocosm and the
+microcosm! "Wagner has made the largest impersonal synthesis
+attainable of the personal influences that thrill our lives,"
+cries Havelock Ellis. Chopin, a young man slight of frame,
+furiously playing out upon the keyboard his soul, the soul of his
+nation, the soul of his time, is the most individual composer
+that has ever set humming the looms of our dreams. Wagner and
+Chopin have a motor element in their music that is fiercer,
+intenser and more fugacious than that of all other composers. For
+them is not the Buddhistic void, in which shapes slowly form and
+fade; their psychical tempo is devouring. They voiced their age,
+they moulded their age and we listen eagerly to them, to these
+vibrile prophetic voices, so sweetly corrosive, bardic and
+appealing. Chopin being nearer the soil in the selection of
+forms, his style and structure are more naive, more original than
+Wagner's, while his medium, less artificial, is easier filled
+than the vast empty frame of the theatre. Through their intensity
+of conception and of life, both men touch issues, though widely
+dissimilar in all else. Chopin had greater melodic and as great
+harmonic genius as Wagner; he made more themes, he was, as
+Rubinstein wrote, the last of the original composers, but his
+scope was not scenic, he preferred the stage of his soul to the
+windy spaces of the music-drama. His is the interior play, the
+eternal conflict between body and soul. He viewed music through
+his temperament and it often becomes so imponderable, so bodiless
+as to suggest a fourth dimension in the art. Space is
+obliterated. With Chopin one does not get, as from Beethoven, the
+sense of spiritual vastness, of the overarching sublime. There is
+the pathos of spiritual distance, but it is pathos, not
+sublimity. "His soul was a star and dwelt apart," though not in
+the Miltonic or Wordsworthian sense. A Shelley-like tenuity at
+times wings his thought, and he is the creator of a new thrill
+within the thrill. The charm of the dying fall, the unspeakable
+cadence of regret for the love that is dead, is in his music;
+like John Keats he sometimes sees:--
+
+  Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
+  Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
+
+Chopin, "subtle-souled psychologist," is more kin to Keats than
+Shelley, he is a greater artist than a thinker. His philosophy is
+of the beautiful, as was Keats', and while he lingers by the
+river's edge to catch the song of the reeds, his gaze is oftener
+fixed on the quiring planets. He is nature's most exquisite
+sounding-board and vibrates to her with intensity, color and
+vivacity that have no parallel. Stained with melancholy, his joy
+is never that of the strong man rejoicing in his muscles. Yet his
+very tenderness is tonic and his cry is ever restrained by an
+Attic sense of proportion. Like Alfred De Vigny, he dwelt in a
+"tour d'ivoire" that faced the west and for him the sunrise was
+not, but O! the miraculous moons he discovered, the sunsets and
+cloud-shine! His notes cast great rich shadows, these chains of
+blown-roses drenched in the dew of beauty. Pompeian colors are
+too restricted and flat; he divulges a world of half-tones, some
+"enfolding sunny spots of greenery," or singing in silvery shade
+the song of chromatic ecstasy, others "huge fragments vaulted
+like rebounding hail" and black upon black. Chopin is the color
+genius of the piano, his eye was attuned to hues the most fragile
+and attenuated; he can weave harmonies that are as ghostly as a
+lunar rainbow. And lunar-like in their libration are some of his
+melodies--glimpses, mysterious and vast, as of a strange world.
+
+His utterances are always dynamic, and he emerges betimes, as if
+from Goya's tomb, and etches with sardonic finger Nada in dust.
+But this spirit of denial is not an abiding mood; Chopin throws a
+net of tone over souls wearied with rancors and revolts, bridges
+"salty, estranged seas" of misery and presently we are viewing a
+mirrored, a fabulous universe wherein Death is dead, and Love
+reigns Lord of all.
+
+
+II
+
+
+Heine said that "every epoch is a sphinx which plunges into the
+abyss as soon as its problem is solved." Born in the very
+upheaval of the Romantic revolution--a revolution evoked by the
+intensity of its emotion, rather than by the power of its ideas--
+Chopin was not altogether one of the insurgents of art. Just when
+his individual soul germinated, who may tell? In his early music
+are discovered the roots and fibres of Hummel and Field. His
+growth, involuntary, inevitable, put forth strange sprouts, and
+he saw in the piano, an instrument of two dimensions, a third,
+and so his music deepened and took on stranger colors. The
+keyboard had never sung so before; he forged its formula. A new
+apocalyptic seal of melody and harmony was let fall upon it.
+Sounding scrolls, delicious arabesques gorgeous in tint, martial,
+lyric, "a resonance of emerald," a sobbing of fountains--as that
+Chopin of the Gutter, Paul Verlaine, has it--the tear
+crystallized midway, an arrested pearl, were overheard in his
+music, and Europe felt a new shudder of sheer delight.
+
+The literary quality is absent and so is the ethical--Chopin may
+prophesy but he never flames into the divers tongues of the upper
+heaven. Compared with his passionate abandonment to the dance,
+Brahms is the Lao-tsze of music, the great infant born with gray
+hair and with the slow smile of childhood. Chopin seldom smiles,
+and while some of his music is young, he does not raise in the
+mind pictures of the fatuous romance of youth. His passion is
+mature, self-sustained and never at a loss for the mot propre.
+And with what marvellous vibration he gamuts the passions,
+festooning them with carnations and great white tube roses, but
+the dark dramatic motive is never lost in the decorative wiles of
+this magician. As the man grew he laid aside his pretty garlands
+and his line became sterner, its traceries more gothic; he made
+Bach his chief god and within the woven walls of his strange
+harmonies he sings the history of a soul, a soul convulsed by
+antique madness, by the memory of awful things, a soul lured by
+Beauty to secret glades wherein sacrificial rites are performed
+to the solemn sounds of unearthly music. Like Maurice de Guerin,
+Chopin perpetually strove to decipher Beauty's enigma and
+passionately demanded of the sphinx that defies:
+
+"Upon the shores of what oceans have they rolled the stone that
+hides them, O Macareus?"
+
+His name was as the stroke of a bell to the Romancists; he
+remained aloof from them though in a sympathetic attitude. The
+classic is but the Romantic dead, said an acute critic. Chopin
+was a classic without knowing it; he compassed for the dances of
+his land what Bach did for the older forms. With Heine he led the
+spirit of revolt, but enclosed his note of agitation in a frame
+beautiful. The color, the "lithe perpetual escape" from the
+formal deceived his critics, Schumann among the rest. Chopin,
+like Flaubert, was the last of the idealists, the first of the
+realists. The newness of his form, his linear counterpoint,
+misled the critics, who accused him of the lack of it. Schumann's
+formal deficiency detracts from much of his music, and because of
+their formal genius Wagner and Chopin will live.
+
+To Chopin might be addressed Sar Merodack Peladan's words:
+
+"When your hand writes a perfect line the Cherubim descend to
+find pleasure therein as in a mirror." Chopin wrote many perfect
+lines; he is, above all, the faultless lyrist, the Swinburne, the
+master of fiery, many rhythms, the chanter of songs before
+sunrise, of the burden of the flesh, the sting of desire and
+large-moulded lays of passionate freedom. His music is, to quote
+Thoreau, "a proud sweet satire on the meanness of our life." He
+had no feeling for the epic, his genius was too concentrated, and
+though he could be furiously dramatic the sustained majesty of
+blank verse was denied him. With musical ideas he was ever gravid
+but their intensity is parent to their brevity. And it must not
+be forgotten that with Chopin the form was conditioned by the
+idea. He took up the dancing patterns of Poland because they
+suited his vivid inner life; he transformed them, idealized them,
+attaining to more prolonged phraseology and denser architecture
+in his Ballades and Scherzi--but these periods are passionate,
+never philosophical.
+
+All artists are androgynous; in Chopin the feminine often
+prevails, but it must be noted that this quality is a
+distinguishing sign of masculine lyric genius, for when he
+unbends, coquets and makes graceful confessions or whimpers in
+lyric loveliness at fate, then his mother's sex peeps out, a
+picture of the capricious, beautiful tyrannical Polish woman.
+When he stiffens his soul, when Russia gets into his nostrils,
+then the smoke and flame of his Polonaises, the tantalizing
+despair of his Mazurkas are testimony to the strong man-soul in
+rebellion. But it is often a psychical masquerade. The sag of
+melancholy is soon felt, and the old Chopin, the subjective
+Chopin, wails afresh in melodic moodiness.
+
+That he could attempt far flights one may see in his B flat minor
+Sonata, in his Scherzi, in several of the Ballades, above all in
+the F minor Fantasie. In this great work the technical invention
+keeps pace with the inspiration. It coheres, there is not a flaw
+in the reverberating marble, not a rift in the idea. If Chopin,
+diseased to death's door, could erect such a Palace of Dreams,
+what might not he have dared had he been healthy? But forth from
+his misery came sweetness and strength, like honey from the lion.
+He grew amazingly the last ten years of his existence, grew with
+a promise that recalls Keats, Shelley, Mozart, Schubert and the
+rest of the early slaughtered angelic crew. His flame-like spirit
+waxed and waned in the gusty surprises of a disappointed life. To
+the earth for consolation he bent his ear and caught echoes of
+the cosmic comedy, the far-off laughter of the hills, the lament
+of the sea and the mutterings of its depths. These things with
+tales of sombre clouds and shining skies and whisperings of
+strange creatures dancing timidly in pavonine twilights, he
+traced upon the ivory keys of his instrument and the world was
+richer for a poet. Chopin is not only the poet of the piano, he
+is also the poet of music, the most poetic of composers. Compared
+with him Bach seems a maker of solid polyphonic prose, Beethoven
+a scooper of stars, a master of growling storms, Mozart a weaver
+of gay tapestries, Schumann a divine stammerer. Schubert, alone
+of all the composers, resembles him in his lyric prodigality.
+Both were masters of melody, but Chopin was the master-workman of
+the two and polished, after bending and beating, his theme fresh
+from the fire of his forge. He knew that to complete his "wailing
+Iliads" the strong hand of the reviser was necessary, and he also
+realized that nothing is more difficult for the genius than to
+retain his gift. Of all natures the most prone to pessimism,
+procrastination and vanity, the artist is most apt to become
+ennuied. It is not easy to flame always at the focus, to burn
+fiercely with the central fire. Chopin knew this and cultivated
+his ego. He saw too that the love of beauty for beauty's sake was
+fascinating but led to the way called madness. So he rooted his
+art, gave it the earth of Poland and its deliquescence is put off
+to the day when a new system of musical aestheticism will have
+routed the old, when the Ugly shall be king and Melody the
+handmaiden of science. But until that most grievous and undesired
+time he will catch the music of our souls and give it cry and
+flesh.
+
+
+III
+
+
+Chopin is the open door in music. Besides having been a poet and
+giving vibratory expression to the concrete, he was something
+else--he was a pioneer. Pioneer because in youth he had bowed to
+the tyranny of the diatonic scale and savored the illicit joys of
+the chromatic. It is briefly curious that Chopin is regarded
+purely as a poet among musicians and not as a practical musician.
+They will swear him a phenomenal virtuoso, but your musician,
+orchestral and theoretical, raises the eyebrow of the
+supercilious if Chopin is called creative. A cunning finger-
+smith, a moulder of decorative patterns, a master at making new
+figures, all this is granted, but speak of Chopin as path-breaker
+in the harmonic forest--that true "forest of numbers"--as the
+forger of a melodic metal, the sweetest, purest in temper, and
+lo! you are regarded as one mentally askew. Chopin invented many
+new harmonic devices, he untied the chord that was restrained
+within the octave, leading it into the dangerous but delectable
+land of extended harmonies. And how he chromaticized the prudish,
+rigid garden of German harmony, how he moistened it with flashing
+changeful waters until it grew bold and brilliant with promise! A
+French theorist, Albert Lavignac, calls Chopin a product of the
+German Romantic school. This is hitching the star to the wagon.
+Chopin influenced Schumann; it can be proven a hundred times. And
+Schumann under stood Chopin else he could not have written the
+"Chopin" of the Carneval, which quite out-Chopins Chopin.
+
+Chopin is the musical soul of Poland; he incarnates its political
+passion. First a Slav, by adoption a Parisian, he is the open
+door because he admitted into the West, Eastern musical ideas,
+Eastern tonalities, rhythms, in fine the Slavic, all that is
+objectionable, decadent and dangerous. He inducted Europe into
+the mysteries and seductions of the Orient. His music lies
+wavering between the East and the West. A neurotic man, his
+tissues trembling, his sensibilities aflame, the offspring of a
+nation doomed to pain and partition, it was quite natural for him
+to go to France--Poland had ever been her historical client--the
+France that overheated all Europe. Chopin, born after two
+revolutions, the true child of insurrection, chose Paris for his
+second home. Revolt sat easily upon his inherited aristocratic
+instincts--no proletarian is quite so thorough a revolutionist as
+the born aristocrat, witness Nietzsche--and Chopin, in the
+bloodless battle of the Romantics, in the silent warring of Slav
+against Teuton, Gaul and Anglo-Saxon, will ever stand as the
+protagonist of the artistic drama.
+
+All that followed, the breaking up of the old hard-and-fast
+boundaries on the musical map is due to Chopin. A pioneer, he has
+been rewarded as such by a polite ignorement or bland
+condescension. He smashed the portals of the convention that
+forbade a man baring his soul to the multitude. The psychology of
+music is the gainer thereby. Chopin, like Velasquez, could paint
+single figures perfectly, but to great massed effects he was a
+stranger. Wagner did not fail to profit by his marvellously drawn
+soul-portraits. Chopin taught his century the pathos of
+patriotism, and showed Grieg the value of national ore. He
+practically re-created the harmonic charts, he gave voice to the
+individual, himself a product of a nation dissolved by
+overwrought individualism. As Schumann assures us, his is "the
+proudest and most poetic spirit of his time." Chopin, subdued by
+his familiar demon, was a true specimen of Nietzsche's
+Ubermensch,--which is but Emerson's Oversoul shorn of her wings.
+Chopin's transcendental scheme of technics is the image of a
+supernormal lift in composition. He sometimes robs music of its
+corporeal vesture and his transcendentalism lies not alone in his
+striving after strange tonalities and rhythms, but in seeking the
+emotionally recondite. Self-tormented, ever "a dweller on the
+threshold" he saw visions that outshone the glories of Hasheesh
+and his nerve-swept soul ground in its mills exceeding fine
+music. His vision is of beauty; he persistently groped at the hem
+of her robe, but never sought to transpose or to tone the
+commonplace of life. For this he reproved Schubert. Such
+intensity cannot be purchased but at the cost of breadth, of
+sanity, and his picture of life is not so high, wide, sublime, or
+awful as Beethoven's. Yet is it just as inevitable, sincere and
+as tragically poignant.
+
+Stanislaw Przybyszewski in his "Zur Psychologie des Individuums"
+approaches the morbid Chopin--the Chopin who threw open to the
+world the East, who waved his chromatic wand to Liszt,
+Tschaikowsky, Saint-Saens, Goldmark, Rubinstein, Richard Strauss,
+Dvorak and all Russia with its consonantal composers. This Polish
+psychologist--a fulgurant expounder of Nietzsche--finds in Chopin
+faith and mania, the true stigma of the mad individualist, the
+individual "who in the first instance is naught but an oxidation
+apparatus." Nietzsche and Chopin are the most outspoken
+individualities of the age--he forgets Wagner--Chopin himself the
+finest flowering of a morbid and rare culture. His music is a
+series of psychoses--he has the sehnsucht of a marvellously
+constituted nature--and the shrill dissonance of his nerves, as
+seen in the physiological outbursts of the B minor Scherzo, is
+the agony of a tortured soul. The piece is Chopin's Iliad; in it
+are the ghosts that lurk near the hidden alleys of the soul, but
+here come out to leer and exult.
+
+Horla! the Horla of Guy de Maupassant, the sinister Doppelganger
+of mankind, which races with him to the goal of eternity, perhaps
+to outstrip and master him in the next evolutionary cycle, master
+as does man, the brute creation. This Horla, according to
+Przybyszewski, conquered Chopin and became vocal in his music--
+this Horla has mastered Nietzsche, who, quite mad, gave the world
+that Bible of the Ubermensch, that dancing lyric prose-poem,
+"Also Sprach Zarathustra."
+
+Nietzsche's disciple is half right. Chopin's moods are often
+morbid, his music often pathological; Beethoven too is morbid,
+but in his kingdom, so vast, so varied, the mood is lost or
+lightly felt, while in Chopin's province, it looms a maleficent
+upas-tree, with flowers of evil and its leaves glistering with
+sensuousness. But so keen for symmetry, for all the term formal
+beauty implies, is Chopin, that seldom does his morbidity madden,
+his voluptuousness poison. His music has its morass, but also its
+upland where the gale blows strong and true. Perhaps all art is,
+as the incorrigible Nordau declares, a slight deviation from the
+normal, though Ribot scoffs at the existence of any standard of
+normality. The butcher and the candle-stick-maker have their
+Horla, their secret soul convulsions, which they set down to
+taxation, the vapors, or weather.
+
+Chopin has surprised the musical malady of the century. He is its
+chief spokesman. After the vague, mad, noble dreams of Byron,
+Shelley and Napoleon, the awakening found those disillusioned
+souls, Wagner, Nietzsche and Chopin. Wagner sought in the epical
+rehabilitation of a vanished Valhalla a surcease from the world-
+pain. He consciously selected his anodyne and in "Die
+Meistersinger" touched a consoling earth. Chopin and Nietzsche,
+temperamentally finer and more sensitive than Wagner--the one
+musically, the other intellectually--sang themselves in music and
+philosophy, because they were so constituted. Their nerves rode
+them to their death. Neither found the serenity and repose of
+Wagner, for neither was as sane and both suffered mortally from
+hyperaesthesia, the penalty of all sick genius.
+
+Chopin's music is the aesthetic symbol of a personality nurtured
+on patriotism, pride and love; that it is better expressed by the
+piano is because of that instrument's idiosyncrasies of
+evanescent tone, sensitive touch and wide range in dynamics. It
+was Chopin's lyre, the "orchestra of his heart," from it he
+extorted music the most intimate since Sappho. Among lyric
+moderns Heine closely resembles the Pole. Both sang because they
+suffered, sang ineffable and ironic melodies; both will endure
+because of their brave sincerity, their surpassing art. The
+musical, the psychical history of the nineteenth century would be
+incomplete without the name of Frederic Francois Chopin. Wagner
+externalized its dramatic soul; in Chopin the mad lyricism of the
+Time-spirit is made eloquent. Into his music modulated the poesy
+of his age; he is one of its heroes, a hero of whom Swinburne
+might have sung:
+
+  O strong-winged soul with prophetic
+  Lips hot with the blood-beats of song;
+  With tremor of heart-strings magnetic,
+  With thoughts as thunder in throng;
+  With consonant ardor of chords
+  That pierce men's souls as with swords
+  And hale them hearing along.
+
+
+
+PART II:--HIS MUSIC
+
+
+
+VI. THE STUDIES:--TITANIC EXPERIMENTS
+
+
+
+October 20, 1829, Frederic Chopin, aged twenty, wrote to his
+friend Titus Woyciechowski, from Warsaw: "I have composed a study
+in my own manner;" and November 14, the same year: "I have
+written some studies; in your presence I would play them well."
+
+Thus, quite simply and without booming of cannon or brazen
+proclamation by bell, did the great Polish composer announce an
+event of supreme interest and importance to the piano-playing
+world. Niecks thinks these studies were published in the summer
+of 1833, July or August, and were numbered op. 10. Another set of
+studies, op. 25, did not find a publisher until 1837, although
+some of them were composed at the same time as the previous work;
+a Polish musician who visited the French capital in 1834 heard
+Chopin play the studies contained in op. 25. The C minor study,
+op. 10, No. 12, commonly known as the Revolutionary, was born at
+Stuttgart, September, 1831, "while under the excitement caused by
+the news of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians, on September 8,
+1831." These dates are given so as to rout effectually any
+dilatory suspicion that Liszt influenced Chopin in the production
+of his masterpieces. Lina Ramann, in her exhaustive biography of
+Franz Liszt, openly declares that Nos. 9 and 12 of op. 10 and
+Nos. 11 and 12 of op. 25 reveal the influence of the Hungarian
+virtuoso. Figures prove the fallacy of her assertion. The
+influence was the other way, as Liszt's three concert studies
+show--not to mention other compositions. When Chopin arrived in
+Paris his style had been formed, he was the creator of a new
+piano technique.
+
+The three studies known as Trois Nouvelles Etudes, which appeared
+in 1840 in Moscheles and Fetis Method of Methods were published
+separately afterward. Their date of composition we do not know.
+
+Many are the editions of Chopin's studies, but after going over
+the ground, one finds only about a dozen worthy of study and
+consultation. Karasowski gives the date of the first complete
+edition of the Chopin works as 1846, with Gebethner & Wolff,
+Warsaw, as publishers. Then, according to Niecks, followed
+Tellefsen, Klindworth--Bote & Bock--Scholtz--Peters--Breitkopf &
+Hartel, Mikuli, Schuberth, Kahnt, Steingraber--better known as
+Mertke's--and Schlesinger, edited by the great pedagogue Theodor
+Kullak. Xaver Scharwenka has edited Klindworth for the London
+edition of Augener & Co. Mikuli criticised the Tellefsen edition,
+yet both men had been Chopin pupils. This is a significant fact
+and shows that little reliance can be placed on the brave talk
+about tradition. Yet Mikuli had the assistance of a half dozen of
+Chopin's "favorite" pupils, and, in addition, Ferdinand Hiller.
+Herman Scholtz, who edited the works for Peters, based his
+results on careful inspection of original French, German and
+English editions, besides consulting M. Georges Mathias, a pupil
+of Chopin. If Fontana, Wolff, Gutmann, Mikuli and Tellefsen, who
+copied from the original Chopin manuscripts under the supervision
+of the composer, cannot agree, then upon what foundation are
+reared the structures of the modern critical editions? The early
+French, German and Polish editions are faulty, indeed useless,
+because of misprints and errata of all kinds. Every succeeding
+edition has cleared away some of these errors, but only in Karl
+Klindworth has Chopin found a worthy, though not faultless,
+editor. His edition is a work of genius and was called by Von
+Bulow "the only model edition." In a few sections others, such as
+Kullak, Dr. Hugo Riemann and Hans von Bulow, may have outstripped
+him, but as a whole his editing is amazing for its exactitude,
+scholarship, fertility in novel fingerings and sympathetic
+insight in phrasing. This edition appeared at Moscow from 1873 to
+1876.
+
+The twenty-seven studies of Chopin have been separately edited by
+Riemann and Von Bulow.
+
+Let us narrow our investigations and critical comparisons to
+Klindworth, Von Bulow, Kullak and Riemann. Carl Reinecke's
+edition of the studies in Breitkopf & Hartel's collection offers
+nothing new, neither do Mertke, Scholtz and Mikuli. The latter
+one should keep at hand because of the possible freedom from
+impurities in his text, but of phrasing or fingering he
+contributes little. It must be remembered that with the studies,
+while they completely exhibit the entire range of Chopin's
+genius, the play's the thing after all. The poetry, the passion
+of the Ballades and Scherzi wind throughout these technical
+problems like a flaming skein. With the modern avidity for
+exterior as well as interior analysis, Mikuli, Reinecke, Mertke
+and Scholtz evidence little sympathy. It is then from the
+masterly editing of Kullak, Von Bulow, Riemann and Klindworth
+that I shall draw copiously. They have, in their various ways,
+given us a clue to their musical individuality, as well as their
+precise scholarship. Klindworth is the most genially
+intellectual, Von Bulow the most pedagogic, and Kullak is poetic,
+while Riemann is scholarly; the latter gives more attention to
+phrasing than to fingering. The Chopin studies are poems fit for
+Parnassus, yet they also serve a very useful purpose in pedagogy.
+Both aspects, the material and the spiritual, should be studied,
+and with four such guides the student need not go astray.
+
+In the first study of the first book, op. 10, dedicated to Liszt,
+Chopin at a leap reached new land. Extended chords had been
+sparingly used by Hummel and Clementi, but to take a dispersed
+harmony and transform it into an epical study, to raise the chord
+of the tenth to heroic stature--that could have been accomplished
+by Chopin only. And this first study in C is heroic. Theodore
+Kullak writes of it: "Above a ground bass proudly and boldly
+striding along, flow mighty waves of sound. The etude--whose
+technical end is the rapid execution of widely extended chord
+figurations exceeding the span of an octave--is to be played on
+the basis of forte throughout. With sharply dissonant harmonies
+the forte is to be increased to fortissimo, diminishing again
+with consonant ones. Pithy accents! Their effect is enhanced when
+combined with an elastic recoil of the hand."
+
+The irregular, black, ascending and descending staircases of
+notes strike the neophyte with terror. Like Piranesi's marvellous
+aerial architectural dreams, these dizzy acclivities and descents
+of Chopin exercise a charm, hypnotic, if you will, for eye as
+well as ear. Here is the new technique in all its nakedness, new
+in the sense of figure, design, pattern, web, new in a harmonic
+way. The old order was horrified at the modulatory harshness, the
+young sprigs of the new, fascinated and a little frightened. A
+man who could explode a mine that assailed the stars must be
+reckoned with. The nub of modern piano music is in the study, the
+most formally reckless Chopin ever penned. Kullak gives Chopin's
+favorite metronome sign, 176 to the quarter, but this editor
+rightly believes that "the majestic grandeur is impaired," and
+suggests 152 instead. The gain is at once apparent. Indeed
+Kullak, a man of moderate pulse, is quite right in his strictures
+on the Chopin tempi, tempi that sprang from the expressively
+light mechanism of the prevailing pianos of Chopin's day. Von
+Bulow declares that "the requisite suppleness of the hand in
+gradual extension and rapid contraction will be most quickly
+attained if the player does not disdain first of all to impress
+on the individual fingers the chord which is the foundation of
+each arpeggio;" a sound pedagogic point. He also inveighs against
+the disposition to play the octave basses arpeggio. In fact,
+those basses are the argument of the play; they must be granitic,
+ponderable and powerful. The same authority calls attention to a
+misprint C, which he makes B flat, the last note treble in the
+twenty-ninth bar. Von Bulow gives the Chopin metronomic marking.
+
+It remained for Riemann to make some radical changes. This
+learned and worthy doctor astonished the musical world a few
+years by his new marks of phrasing in the Beethoven symphonies.
+They topsy-turvied the old bowing. With Chopin, new dynamic and
+agogic accents are rather dangerous, at least to the peace of
+mind of worshippers of the Chopin fetish. Riemann breaks two bars
+into one. It is a finished period for him, and by detaching
+several of the sixteenths in the first group, the first and
+fourth, he makes the accent clearer,--at least to the eye. He
+indicates alla breve with 88 to the half. In later studies
+examples will be given of this phrasing, a phrasing that becomes
+a mannerism with the editor. He offers no startling finger
+changes. The value of his criticism throughout the volume seems
+to be in the phrasing, and this by no means conforms to accepted
+notions of how Chopin should be interpreted. I intend quoting
+more freely from Riemann than from the others, but not for the
+reason that I consider him as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire
+by night in the desirable land of the Chopin fitudes, rather
+because his piercing analysis lays bare the very roots of these
+shining examples of piano literature. Klindworth contents himself
+with a straightforward version of the C major study, his
+fingering being the clearest and most admirable. The Mikuli
+edition makes one addition: it is a line which binds the last
+note of the first group to the first of the second. The device is
+useful, and occurs only on the upward flights of the arpeggio.
+
+This study suggests that its composer wished to begin the
+exposition of his wonderful technical system with a skeletonized
+statement. It is the tree stripped of its bark, the flower of its
+leaves, yet, austere as is the result, there is compensating
+power, dignity and unswerving logic. This study is the key with
+which Chopin unlocked--not his heart, but the kingdom of
+technique. It should be played, for variety, unisono, with both
+hands, omitting, of course, the octave bass.
+
+Von Bulow writes cannily enough, that the second study in A minor
+being chromatically related to Moscheles' etude, op. 70, No. 3,
+that piece should prepare the way for Chopin's more musical
+composition. In different degrees of tempo, strength and rhythmic
+accent it should be practised, omitting the thumb and first
+finger. Mikuli's metronome is 144 to the quarter, Von Bulow's,
+114; Klindworth's, the same as Mikuli, and Riemann is 72 to the
+half, with an alla breve. The fingering in three of these
+authorities is almost identical. Riemann has ideas of his own,
+both in the phrasing and figuration. Look at these first two
+bars: [Musical score excerpt without caption: ]
+
+Von Bulow orders "the middle harmonies to be played throughout
+distinctly, and yet transiently"--in German, "fluchtig." In fact,
+the entire composition, with its murmuring, meandering, chromatic
+character, is a forerunner to the whispering, weaving, moonlit
+effects in some of his later studies. The technical purpose is
+clear, but not obtrusive. It is intended for the fourth and fifth
+finger of the right hand, but given in unison with both hands it
+becomes a veritable but laudable torture for the thumb of the
+left. With the repeat of the first at bar 36 Von Bulow gives a
+variation in fingering. Kullak's method of fingering is this:
+"Everywhere that two white keys occur in succession the fifth
+finger is to be used for C and F in the right hand, and for F and
+E in the left." He has also something to say about holding "the
+hand sideways, so that the back of the hand and arm form an
+angle. "This question of hand position, particularly in Chopin,
+is largely a matter of individual formation. No two hands are
+alike, no two pianists use the same muscular movements. Play
+along the easiest line of resistance.
+
+We now have reached a study, the third, in which the more
+intimately known Chopin reveals himself. This one in E is among
+the finest flowering of the composer's choice garden. It is
+simpler, less morbid, sultry and languorous, therefore saner,
+than the much bepraised study in C sharp minor, No. 7, op. 25.
+Niecks writes that this study "may be counted among Chopin's
+loveliest compositions." It combines "classical chasteness of
+contour with the fragrance of romanticism." Chopin told his
+faithful Gutmann that "he had never in his life written another
+such melody," and once when hearing it raised his arms aloft and
+cried out: "Oh, ma patrie!"
+
+I cannot vouch for the sincerity of Chopin's utterance for as
+Runciman writes: "They were a very Byronic set, these young men;
+and they took themselves with ludicrous seriousness."
+
+Von Bulow calls it a study in expression--which is obvious--and
+thinks it should be studied in company with No. 6, in E flat
+minor. This reason is not patent. Emotions should not be hunted
+in couples and the very object of the collection, variety in mood
+as well as mechanism, is thus defeated. But Von Bulow was ever an
+ardent classifier. Perhaps he had his soul compartmentized. He
+also attempts to regulate the rubato--this is the first of the
+studies wherein the rubato's rights must be acknowledged. The
+bars are even mentioned 32, 33, 36 and 37, where tempo license
+may be indulged. But here is a case which innate taste and
+feeling must guide. You can no more teach a real Chopin rubato--
+not the mawkish imitation,--than you can make a donkey comprehend
+Kant. The metronome is the same in all editions, 100 to the
+eighth.
+
+Kullak rightly calls this lovely study "ein wunderschones,
+poetisches Tonstuck," more in the nocturne than study style. He
+gives in the bravura-like cadenza, an alternate for small hands,
+but small hands should not touch this piece unless they can
+grapple the double sixths with ease. Klindworth fingers the study
+with great care. The figuration in three of the editions is the
+same, Mikuli separating the voices distinctly. Riemann exercises
+all his ingenuity to make the beginning clear to the eye.
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+What a joy is the next study, No. 4! How well Chopin knew the
+value of contrast in tonality and sentiment! A veritable classic
+is this piece, which, despite its dark key color, C sharp minor
+as a foil to the preceding one in E, bubbles with life and spurts
+flame. It reminds one of the story of the Polish peasants, who
+are happiest when they sing in the minor mode. Kullak calls this
+"a bravura study for velocity and lightness in both hands.
+Accentuation fiery!" while Von Bulow believes that "the
+irresistible interest inspired by the spirited content of this
+truly classical and model piece of music may become a stumbling
+block in attempting to conquer the technical difficulties."
+Hardly. The technics of this composition do not lie beneath the
+surface. They are very much in the way of clumsy fingers and
+heavy wrists. Presto 88 to the half is the metronome indication
+in all five editions. Klindworth does not comment, but I like his
+fingering and phrasing best of all. Riemann repeats his trick of
+breaking a group, detaching a note for emphasis; although he is
+careful to retain the legato bow. One wonders why this study does
+not figure more frequently on programmes of piano recitals. It is
+a fine, healthy technical test, it is brilliant, and the coda is
+very dramatic. Ten bars before the return of the theme there is a
+stiff digital hedge for the student. A veritable lance of tone is
+this study, if justly poised.
+
+Riemann has his own ideas of the phrasing of the following one,
+the fifth and familiar "Black Key" etude. Examine the first bar:
+
+[Musical Illustration without caption]
+
+Von Bulow would have grown jealous if he had seen this rather
+fantastic phrasing. It is a trifle too finical, though it must be
+confessed looks pretty. I like longer breathed phrasing. The
+student may profit by this analysis. The piece is indeed, as
+Kullak says, "full of Polish elegance." Von Bulow speaks rather
+disdainfully of it as a Damen-Salon Etude. It is certainly
+graceful, delicately witty, a trifle naughty, arch and roguish,
+and it is delightfully invented. Technically, it requires smooth,
+velvet-tipped fingers and a supple wrist. In the fourth bar,
+third group, third note of group, Klindworth and Riemann print E
+flat instead of D flat. Mikuli, Kullak and Von Bulow use the D
+flat. Now, which is right? The D flat is preferable. There are
+already two E flats in the bar. The change is an agreeable one.
+Joseffy has made a concert variation for this study. The
+metronome of the original is given at 116 to the quarter.
+
+A dark, doleful nocturne is No. 6, in E flat minor. Niecks
+praises it in company with the preceding one in E. It is
+beautiful, if music so sad may be called beautiful, and the
+melody is full of stifled sorrow. The study figure is ingenious,
+but subordinated to the theme. In the E major section the piece
+broadens to dramatic vigor. Chopin was not yet the slave of his
+mood. There must be a psychical programme to this study, some
+record of a youthful disillusion, but the expression of it is
+kept well within chaste lines. The Sarmatian composer had not yet
+unlearned the value of reserve. The Klindworth reading of this
+troubled poem is the best though Kullak used Chopin's autographic
+copy. There is no metronomic sign in this autograph. Tellefsen
+gives 69 to the quarter; Klindworth, 60; Riemann, 69; Mikuli, the
+same; Von Bulow and Kullak, 60. Kullak also gives several
+variante from the text, adding an A flat to the last group in bar
+II. Riemann and the others make the same addition. The note must
+have been accidentally omitted from the Chopin autograph. Two
+bars will illustrate what Riemann can accomplish when he makes up
+his mind to be explicit, leaving little to the imagination:
+
+[Illustration without caption]
+
+A luscious touch, and a sympathetic soul is needed for this
+nocturne study.
+
+We emerge into a clearer, more bracing atmosphere in the C major
+study, No. 7. It is a genuine toccata, with moments of tender
+twilight, serving a distinct technical purpose--the study of
+double notes and changing on one key--and is as healthy as the
+toccata by Robert Schumann. Here is a brave, an undaunted Chopin,
+a gay cavalier, with the sunshine shimmering about him. There are
+times when this study seems like light dripping through the trees
+of a mysterious forest; with the delicato there are Puck-like
+rustlings, and all the while the pianist without imagination is
+exercising wrist and ringers in a technical exercise! Were ever
+Beauty and Duty so mated in double harness? Pegasus pulling a
+cloud charged with rain over an arid country! For study, playing
+the entire composition with a wrist stroke is advisable. It will
+secure clear articulation, staccato and finger-memory. Von Bulow
+phrases the study in groups of two, Kullak in sixes, Klindworth
+and Mikuli the same, while Riemann in alternate twos, fours and
+sixes. One sees his logic rather than hears it. Von Bulow
+plastically reproduces the flitting, elusive character of the
+study far better than the others.
+
+It is quite like him to suggest to the panting and ambitious
+pupil that the performance in F sharp major, with the same
+fingering as the next study in F, No. 8, would be beneficial. It
+certainly would. By the same token, the playing of the F minor
+Sonata, the Appassionata of Beethoven, in the key of F sharp
+minor, might produce good results. This was another crotchet of
+Wagner's friend and probably was born of the story that Beethoven
+transposed the Bach fugues in all keys. The same is said of Saint-
+Saens.
+
+In his notes to the F major study Theodor Kullak expatiates at
+length upon his favorite idea that Chopin must not be played
+according to his metronomic markings. The original autograph
+gives 96 to the half, the Tellefsen edition 88, Klindworth 80,
+Von Bulow 89, Mikuli 88, and Riemann the same. Kullak takes the
+slower tempo of Klindworth, believing that the old Herz and
+Czerny ideals of velocity are vanished, that the shallow dip of
+the keys in Chopin's day had much to do with the swiftness and
+lightness of his playing. The noble, more sonorous tone of a
+modern piano requires greater breadth of style and less speedy
+passage work. There can be no doubt as to the wisdom of a broader
+treatment of this charming display piece. How it makes the piano
+sound--what a rich, brilliant sweep it secures! It elbows the
+treble to its last euphonious point, glitters and crests itself,
+only to fall away as if the sea were melodic and could shatter
+and tumble into tuneful foam! The emotional content is not
+marked. The piece is for the fashionable salon or the concert
+hall. One catches at its close the overtones of bustling plaudits
+and the clapping of gloved palms. Ductility, an aristocratic
+ease, a delicate touch and fluent technique will carry off this
+study with good effect. Technically it is useful; one must speak
+of the usefulness of Chopin, even in these imprisoned, iridescent
+soap bubbles of his. On the fourth line and in the first bar of
+the Kullak version, there is a chord of the dominant seventh in
+dispersed position that does not occur in any other edition. Yet
+it must be Chopin or one of his disciples, for this autograph is
+in the Royal Library at Berlin. Kullak thinks it ought to be
+omitted, moreover he slights an E flat, that occurs in all the
+other editions situated in the fourth group of the twentieth bar
+from the end.
+
+The F minor study, No. 9, is the first one of those tone studies
+of Chopin in which the mood is more petulant than tempestuous.
+The melody is morbid, almost irritating, and yet not without
+certain accents of grandeur. There is a persistency in repetition
+that foreshadows the Chopin of the later, sadder years. The
+figure in the left hand is the first in which a prominent part is
+given to that member. Not as noble and sonorous a figure as the
+one in the C minor study, it is a distinct forerunner of the bass
+of the D minor Prelude. In this F minor study the stretch is the
+technical object. It is rather awkward for close-knit fingers.
+The best fingering is Von Bulow's. It is 5, 3, 1, 4, 1, 3 for the
+first figure. All the other editions, except Riemann's, recommend
+the fifth finger on F, the fourth on C. Von Billow believes that
+small hands beginning with his system will achieve quicker
+results than by the Chopin fingering. This is true. Riemann
+phrases the study with a multiplicity of legato bows and dynamic
+accents. Kullak prefers the Tellefsen metronome 80, rather than
+the traditional 96. Most of the others use 88 to the quarter,
+except Riemann, who espouses the more rapid gait of 96.
+Klindworth, with his 88, strikes a fair medium.
+
+The verdict of Von Bulow on the following study in A flat, No.
+10, has no uncertainty of tone in its proclamation:
+
+  He who can play this study in a really finished manner may
+  congratulate himself on having climbed to the highest point of
+  the pianist's Parnassus, as it is perhaps the most difficult
+  piece of the entire set. The whole repertory of piano music
+  does not contain a study of perpetuum mobile so full of genius
+  and fancy as this particular one is universally acknowledged
+  to be, except perhaps Liszt's Feux Follets. The most important
+  point would appear to lie not so much in the interchange of
+  the groups of legato and staccato as in the exercise of
+  rhythmic contrasts--the alternation of two and three part
+  metre (that is, of four and six) in the same bar. To overcome
+  this fundamental difficulty in the art of musical reproduction
+  is the most important thing here, and with true zeal it may
+  even be accomplished easily.
+
+Kullak writes: "Harmonic anticipations; a rich rhythmic life
+originating in the changing articulation of the twelve-eights in
+groups of three and two each. ... This etude is an exceedingly
+piquant composition, possessing for the hearer a wondrous,
+fantastic charm, if played with the proper insight." The
+metronomic marking is practically the same in all editions, 152
+to the quarter notes. The study is one of the most charming of
+the composer. There is more depth in it than in the G flat and F
+major studies, and its effectiveness in the virtuoso sense is
+unquestionable. A savor of the salon hovers over its perfumed
+measures, but there is grace, spontaneity and happiness. Chopin
+must have been as happy as his sensitive nature would allow when
+he conceived this vivacious caprice.
+
+In all the editions, Riemann's excepted, there is no doubt left
+as to the alternations of metres. Here are the first few bars of
+Von Billow's, which is normal phrasing:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Read Riemann's version of these bars:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Riemann is conducive to clear-sighted phrasing, and will set the
+student thinking, but the general effect of accentuation is
+certainly different. All the editors quoted agree with Von Bulow,
+Klindworth and Kullak. But if this is a marked specimen of
+Riemann, examine his reading of the phrase wherein Chopin's
+triple rhythm is supplanted by duple. Thus Von Bulow--and who
+will dare cavil?
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Riemann:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+The difference is more imaginary than real, for the stems of the
+accented notes give us the binary metre. But the illustration
+serves to show how Dr. Riemann is disposed to refine upon the
+gold of Chopin.
+
+Kullak dilates upon a peculiarity of Chopin: the dispersed
+position of his underlying harmonies. This in a footnote to the
+eleventh study of op. 10. Here one must let go the critical
+valve, else strangle in pedagogics. So much has been written, so
+much that is false, perverted sentimentalism and unmitigated cant
+about the nocturnes, that the wonder is the real Chopin lover has
+not rebelled. There are pearls and diamonds in the jewelled
+collection of nocturnes, many are dolorous, few dramatic, and
+others are sweetly insane and songful. I yield to none in my
+admiration for the first one of the two in G minor, for the
+psychical despair in the C sharp minor nocturne, for that noble
+drama called the C minor nocturne, for the B major, the Tuberose
+nocturne; and for the E, D flat and G major nocturnes, it remains
+unabated. But in the list there is no such picture painted, a
+Corot if ever there was one, as this E flat study.
+
+Its novel design, delicate arabesques--as if the guitar had been
+dowered with a soul--and the richness and originality of its
+harmonic scheme, gives us pause to ask if Chopin's invention is
+not almost boundless. The melody itself is plaintive; a plaintive
+grace informs the entire piece. The harmonization is far more
+wonderful, but to us the chord of the tenth and more remote
+intervals, seem no longer daring; modern composition has devilled
+the musical alphabet into the very caverns of the grotesque, yet
+there are harmonies in the last page of this study that still
+excite wonder. The fifteenth bar from the end is one that Richard
+Wagner might have made. From that bar to the close, every group
+is a masterpiece.
+
+Remember, this study is a nocturne, and even the accepted
+metronomic markings in most editions, 76 to the quarter, are not
+too slow; they might even be slower. Allegretto and not a shade
+speedier! The color scheme is celestial and the ending a sigh,
+not unmixed with happiness. Chopin, sensitive poet, had his
+moments of peace, of divine content--lebensruhe. The dizzy
+appoggiatura leaps in the last two bars set the seal of
+perfection upon this unique composition.
+
+Touching upon the execution, one may say that it is not for small
+hands, nor yet for big fists. The former must not believe that
+any "arrangements" or simplified versions will ever produce the
+aerial effect, the swaying of the tendrils of tone, intended by
+Chopin. Very large hands are tempted by their reach to crush the
+life out of the study in not arpeggiating it. This I have heard,
+and the impression was indescribably brutal. As for fingering,
+Mikuli, Von Bulow, Kullak, Riemann and Klindworth all differ, and
+from them must most pianists differ. Your own grasp, individual
+sense of fingering and tact will dictate the management of
+technics. Von Bulow gives a very sensible pattern to work from,
+and Kullak is still more explicit. He analyzes the melody and,
+planning the arpeggiating with scrupulous fidelity, he shows why
+the arpeggiating "must be affected with the utmost rapidity,
+bordering upon simultaneousness of harmony in the case of many
+chords." Kullak has something to say about the grace notes and
+this bids me call your attention to Von Bulow's change in the
+appoggiatura at the last return of the subject. A bad misprint is
+in the Von Bulow edition: it is in the seventeenth bar from the
+end, the lowest note in the first bass group and should read E
+natural, instead of the E flat that stands.
+
+Von Bulow does not use the arpeggio sign after the first chord.
+He rightly believes it makes unclear for the student the
+subtleties of harmonic changes and fingering. He also suggests--
+quite like the fertile Hans Guido--that "players who have
+sufficient patience and enthusiasm for the task would find it
+worth their while to practise the arpeggi the reverse way, from
+top to bottom; or in contrary motion, beginning with the top note
+in one hand and the bottom note in the other. A variety of
+devices like this would certainly help to give greater finish to
+the task."
+
+Doubtless, but consider: man's years are but threescore and ten!
+
+The phrasing of the various editions examined do not vary much.
+Riemann is excepted, who has his say in this fashion, at the
+beginning:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+More remarkable still is the diversity of opinion regarding the
+first three bass chord groups in the fifteenth bar from the
+close: the bottom notes in the Von Bulow and Klindworth editions
+are B flat and two A naturals, and in the Riemann, Kullak and
+Mikuli editions the notes are two B flats and one A natural. The
+former sounds more varied, but we may suppose the latter to be
+correct because of Mikuli. Here is the particular bar, as given
+by Riemann:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Yet this exquisite flight into the blue, this nocturne which
+should be played before sundown, excited the astonishment of
+Mendelssohn, the perplexed wrath of Moscheles and the contempt of
+Rellstab, editor of the "Iris," who wrote in that journal in 1834
+of the studies in op. 10:--
+
+"Those who have distorted fingers may put them right by
+practising these studies; but those who have not, should not play
+them, at least not without having a surgeon at hand." What
+incredible surgery would have been needed to get within the skull
+of this narrow critic any savor of the beauty of these
+compositions! In the years to come the Chopin studies will be
+played for their music, without any thought of their technical
+problems.
+
+Now the young eagle begins to face the sun, begins to mount on
+wind-weaving pinions. We have reached the last study of op. 10,
+the magnificent one in C minor. Four pages suffice for a
+background upon which the composer has flung with overwhelming
+fury the darkest, the most demoniac expressions of his nature.
+Here is no veiled surmise, no smothered rage, but all sweeps
+along in tornadic passion. Karasowski's story may be true
+regarding the genesis of this work, but true or not, it is one of
+the greatest dramatic outbursts in piano literature. Great in
+outline, pride, force and velocity, it never relaxes its grim
+grip from the first shrill dissonance to the overwhelming chordal
+close. This end rings out like the crack of creation. It is
+elemental. Kullak calls it a "bravura study of the very highest
+order for the left hand. It was composed in 1831 in Stuttgart,
+shortly after Chopin had received tidings of the taking of Warsaw
+by the Russians, September 8, 1831." Karasowski wrote: "Grief,
+anxiety and despair over the fate of his relatives and his dearly-
+beloved father filled the measure of his sufferings. Under the
+influence of this mood he wrote the C minor Etude, called by many
+the Revolutionary Etude. Out of the mad and tempestuous storm of
+passages for the left hand the melody rises aloft, now passionate
+and anon proudly majestic, until thrills of awe stream over the
+listener, and the image is evoked of Zeus hurling thunderbolts at
+the world."
+
+Niecks thinks it "superbly grand," and furthermore writes: "The
+composer seems fuming with rage; the left hand rushes impetuously
+along and the right hand strikes in with passionate
+ejaculations." Von Bulow said: "This C minor study must be
+considered a finished work of art in an even higher degree than
+the study in C sharp minor." All of which is pretty, but not
+enough to the point.
+
+Von Bulow fingers the first passage for the left hand in a very
+rational manner; Klindworth differs by beginning with the third
+instead of the second finger, while Riemann--dear innovator--
+takes the group: second, first, third, and then, the fifth finger
+on D, if you please! Kullak is more normal, beginning with the
+third. Here is Riemann's phrasing and grouping for the first few
+bars. Notice the half note with peculiar changes of fingering at
+the end. It gives surety and variety. Von Bulow makes the changes
+ring on the second and fifth, instead of third and fifth,
+fingers. Thus Riemann: [Musical score excerpt]
+
+In the above the accustomed phrasing is altered, for in all other
+editions the accent falls upon the first note of each group. In
+Riemann the accentuation seems perverse, but there is no question
+as to its pedagogic value. It may be ugly, but it is useful
+though I should not care to hear it in the concert room. Another
+striking peculiarity of the Riemann phrasing is his heavy accent
+on the top E flat in the principal passage for the left hand. He
+also fingers what Von Bulow calls the "chromatic meanderings," in
+an unusual manner, both on the first page and the last. His idea
+of the enunciation of the first theme is peculiar:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Mikuli places a legato bow over the first three octaves--so does
+Kullak--Von Bulow only over the last two, which gives a slightly
+different effect, while Klindworth does the same as Kullak. The
+heavy dynamic accents employed by Riemann are unmistakable. They
+signify the vital importance of the phrase at its initial
+entrance. He does not use it at the repetition, but throughout
+both dynamic and agogic accents are unsparingly used, and the
+study seems to resound with the sullen booming of a park of
+artillery. The working-out section, with its anticipations of
+"Tristan and Isolde," is phrased by all the editors as it is
+never played. Here the technical figure takes precedence over the
+law of the phrase, and so most virtuosi place the accent on the
+fifth finger, regardless of the pattern. This is as it should be.
+In Klindworth there is a misprint at the beginning of the
+fifteenth bar from the end in the bass. It should read B natural,
+not B flat. The metronome is the same in all editions, 160 to the
+quarter, but speed should give way to breadth at all hazards. Von
+Bulow is the only editor, to my knowledge, who makes an
+enharmonic key change in this working-out section. It looks
+neater, sounds the same, but is it Chopin? He also gives a
+variant for public performance by transforming the last run in
+unisono into a veritable hurricane by interlocked octaves. The
+effect is brazen. Chopin needs no such clangorous padding in this
+etude, which gains by legitimate strokes the most startling
+contrasts.
+
+The study is full of tremendous pathos; it compasses the sublime,
+and in its most torrential moments the composer never quite loses
+his mental equipoise. He, too, can evoke tragic spirits, and at
+will send them scurrying back to their dim profound. It has but
+one rival in the Chopin studies--No. 12, op. 25, in the same key.
+
+
+II
+
+
+Opus 25, twelve studies by Frederic Chopin, are dedicated to
+Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult. The set opens with the familiar
+study in A flat, so familiar that I shall not make further ado
+about it except to say that it is delicious, but played often and
+badly. All that modern editing can do since Miluki is to hunt out
+fresh accentuation. Von Bullow is the worst sinner in this
+respect, for he discovers quaint nooks and dells for his dynamics
+undreamed of by the composer. His edition should be respectfully
+studied and, when mastered, discarded for a more poetic
+interpretation. Above all, poetry, poetry and pedals. Without
+pedalling of the most varied sort this study will remain as dry
+as a dog-gnawed bone. Von Bulow says the "figure must be treated
+as a double triplet--twice three and not three times two--as
+indicated in the first two bars." Klindworth makes the group a
+sextolet. Von Bulow has set forth numerous directions in
+fingering and phrasing, giving the exact number of notes in the
+bass trill at the end. Kullak uses the most ingenious fingering.
+Look at the last group of the last bar, second line, third page.
+It is the last word in fingering. Better to end with Robert
+Schumann's beautiful description of this study, as quoted by
+Kullak:
+
+  In treating of the present book of Etudes, Robert Schumann,
+  after comparing Chopin to a strange star seen at midnight,
+  wrote as follows: "Whither his path lies and leads, or how
+  long, how brilliant its course is yet to be, who can say? As
+  often, however, as it shows itself, there is ever seen the
+  same deep dark glow, the same starry light and the same
+  austerity, so that even a child could not fail to recognize
+  it. But besides this, I have had the advantage of hearing most
+  of these Etudes played by Chopin himself, and quite a la
+  Chopin did he play them!"
+
+  Of the first one especially he writes: "Imagine that an
+  aeolian harp possessed all the musical scales, and that the
+  hand of an artist were to cause them all to intermingle in all
+  sorts of fantastic embellishments, yet in such a way as to
+  leave everywhere audible a deep fundamental tone and a soft
+  continuously-singing upper voice, and you will get the right
+  idea of his playing. But it would be an error to think that
+  Chopin permitted every one of the small notes to be distinctly
+  heard. It was rather an undulation of the A flat major chord,
+  here and there thrown aloft anew by the pedal. Throughout all
+  the harmonies one always heard in great tones a wondrous
+  melody, while once only, in the middle of the piece, besides
+  that chief song, a tenor voice became prominent in the midst
+  of chords. After the Etude a feeling came over one as of
+  having seen in a dream a beatific picture which when half
+  awake one would gladly recall."
+
+  After these words there can be no doubt as to the mode of
+  delivery. No commentary is required to show that the melodic
+  and other important tones indicated by means of large notes
+  must emerge from within the sweetly whispering waves, and that
+  the upper tones must be combined so as to form a real melody
+  with the finest and most thoughtful shadings.
+
+The twenty-fourth bar of this study in A major is so Lisztian
+that Liszt must have benefited by its harmonies.
+
+"And then he played the second in the book, in F minor, one in
+which his individuality displays itself in a manner never to be
+forgotten. How charming, how dreamy it was! Soft as the song of a
+sleeping child." Schumann wrote this about the wonderful study in
+F minor, which whispers, not of baleful deeds in a dream, as does
+the last movement of the B flat minor sonata, but is--"the song
+of a sleeping child." No comparison could be prettier, for there
+is a sweet, delicate drone that sometimes issues from childish
+lips, having a charm for ears not attuned to grosser things.
+
+This must have been the study that Chopin played for Henrietta
+Voigt at Leipsic, September 12, 1836. In her diary she wrote:
+"The over excitement of his fantastic manner is imparted to the
+keen eared. It made me hold my breath. Wonderful is the ease with
+which his velvet fingers glide, I might almost say fly, over the
+keys. He has enraptured me--in a way which hitherto had been
+unknown to me. What delighted me was the childlike, natural
+manner which he showed in his demeanor and in his playing." Von
+Bulow believes the interpretation of this magical music should be
+without sentimentality, almost without shading--clearly,
+delicately and dreamily executed. "An ideal pianissimo, an
+accentless quality, and completely without passion or rubato."
+There is little doubt this was the way Chopin played it. Liszt is
+an authority on the subject, and M. Mathias corroborates him.
+Regarding the rhythmical problem to be overcome, the combination
+of two opposing rhythms, Von Bulow indicates an excellent method,
+and Kullak devotes part of a page to examples of how the right,
+then the left, and finally both hands, are to be treated. Kullak
+furthermore writes: "Or, if one will, he may also betake himself
+in fancy to a still, green, dusky forest, and listen in profound
+solitude to the mysterious rustling and whispering of the
+foliage. What, indeed, despite the algebraic character of the
+tone-language, may not a lively fancy conjure out of, or, rather,
+into, this etude! But one thing is to be held fast: it is to be
+played in that Chopin-like whisper of which, among others,
+Mendelssohn also affirmed that for him nothing more enchanting
+existed." But enough of subjective fancies. This study contains
+much beauty, and every bar rules over a little harmonic kingdom
+of its own. It is so lovely that not even the Brahms' distortion
+in double notes or the version in octaves can dull its magnetic
+crooning. At times so delicate is its design that it recalls the
+faint fantastic tracery made by frost on glass. In all instances
+save one it is written as four unbroken quarter triplets in the
+bar--right hand. Not so Riemann. He has views of his own, both as
+to fingering and phrasing:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Jean Kleczynski's interesting brochure, "The Works of Frederic
+Chopin and Their Proper Interpretation," is made up of three
+lectures delivered at Warsaw. While the subject is of necessity
+foreshortened, he says some practical things about the use of the
+pedals in Chopin's music. He speaks of this very study in F minor
+and the enchanting way Rubinstein and Essipowa ended it--the echo-
+like effects on the four C's, the pedal floating the tone. The
+pedals are half the battle in Chopin playing. ONE CAN NEVER PLAY
+CHOPIN BEAUTIFULLY ENOUGH. Realistic treatment dissipates his
+dream palaces, shatters his aerial architecture. He may be played
+broadly, fervently, dramatically but coarsely, never. I deprecate
+the rose-leaf sentimentalism in which he is swathed by nearly all
+pianists. "Chopin is a sigh, with something pleasing in it,"
+wrote some one, and it is precisely this notion which has created
+such havoc among his interpreters. But if excess in feeling is
+objectionable, so too is the "healthy" reading accorded his works
+by pianists with more brawn than brain. The real Chopin player is
+born and can never be a product of the schools.
+
+Schumann thinks the third study in F less novel in character,
+although "here the master showed his admirable bravura powers."
+"But," he continues," they are all models of bold, indwelling,
+creative force, truly poetic creations, though not without small
+blots in their details, but on the whole striking and powerful.
+Yet, if I give my complete opinion, I must confess that his
+earlier collection seems more valuable to me. Not that I mean to
+imply any deterioration, for these recently published studies
+were nearly all written at the same time as the earlier ones, and
+only a few were composed a little while ago--the first in A flat
+and the last magnificent one in C minor, both of which display
+great mastership."
+
+One may be permitted to disagree with Schumann, for op. 25
+contains at least two of Chopin's greater studies--A minor and C
+minor. The most valuable point of the passage quoted is the
+clenching of the fact that the studies were composed in a bunch.
+That settles many important psychological details. Chopin had
+suffered much before going to Paris, had undergone the
+purification and renunciation of an unsuccessful love affair, and
+arrived in Paris with his style fully formed--in his case the
+style was most emphatically the man.
+
+Kullak calls the study in F "a spirited little caprice, whose
+kernel lies in the simultaneous application of four different
+little rhythms to form a single figure in sound, which figure is
+then repeated continuously to the end. In these repetitions,
+however, changes of accentuation, fresh modulations, and piquant
+antitheses, serve to make the composition extremely vivacious and
+effective." He pulls apart the brightly colored petals of the
+thematic flower and reveals the inner chemistry of this delicate
+growth. Four different voices are distinguished in the kernel.
+
+"The third voice is the chief one, and after it the first,
+because they determine the melodic and harmonic contents":
+
+[Musical score excerpt of 'four different voices']
+
+Kullak and Mikuli dot the C of the first bar. Klindworth and Von
+Bulow do not. As to phrasing and fingering I pin my faith to
+Riemann. His version is the most satisfactory. Here are the first
+bars. The idea is clearly expressed:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Best of all is the careful accentuation, and at a place indicated
+in no other edition that I have examined. With the arrival of the
+thirty-second notes, Riemann punctuates the theme this way:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+The melody, of course in profile, is in the ghth [sic: eighth]
+notes. This gives meaning to the decorative pattern of the
+passage. And what charm, buoyancy, and sweetness there is in this
+caprice! It has the tantalizing, elusive charm of a humming bird
+in full flight. The human element is almost eliminated. We are in
+the open, the sun blazes in the blue, and all is gay,
+atmospheric, and illuding. Even where the tone deepens, where the
+shadows grow cooler and darker in the B major section, there is
+little hint of preoccupation with sadness. Subtle are the
+harmonic shifts, admirable the ever changing devices of the
+figuration. Riemann accents the B, the E, A, B flat, C and F, at
+the close--perilous leaps for the left hand, but they bring into
+fine relief the exquisite harmonic web. An easy way of avoiding
+the tricky position in the left hand at this spot--thirteen bars
+from the close--is to take the upper C in bass with the right
+hand thumb and in the next bar the upper B in bass the same way.
+This minimizes the risk of the skip, and it is perfectly
+legitimate to do this--in public at least. The ending, to be
+"breathed" away, according to Kullak, is variously fingered. He
+also prescribes a most trying fingering for the first group,
+fourth finger on both hands. This is useful for study, but for
+performance the third finger is surer. Von Bulow advises the
+player to keep the "upper part of the body as still as possible,
+as any haste of movement would destroy the object in view, which
+is the acquisition of a loose wrist." He also suggests certain
+phrasing in bar seventeen, and forbids a sharp, cutting manner in
+playing the sforzati at the last return of the subject. Kullak is
+copious in his directions, and thinks the touch should be light
+and the hand gliding, and in the B major part "fiery, wilful
+accentuation of the inferior beats." Capricious, fantastic, and
+graceful, this study is Chopin in rare spirits. Schumann has the
+phrase--the study should be executed with "amiable bravura."
+There is a misprint in the Kullak edition: at the beginning of
+the thirty-second notes an A instead of an F upsets the tonality,
+besides being absurd.
+
+Of the fourth study in A minor there is little to add to Theodor
+Kullak, who writes:
+
+  "In the broadest sense of the word, every piece of music is an
+  etude. In a narrower sense, however, we demand of an etude
+  that it shall have a special end in view, promote facility in
+  something, and lead to the conquest of some particular
+  difficulty, whether of technics, of rhythm, expression or
+  delivery." (Robert Schumann, Collected Writings, i., 201.) The
+  present study is less interesting from a technical than a
+  rhythmical point of view. While the chief beats of the measure
+  (1st, 3d, 5th and 7th eighths) are represented only by single
+  tones (in the bass part), which are to a certain extent "free
+  and unconcerned, and void of all encumbrance," the inferior
+  parts of the measure (2d, 4th, 6th and 8th eighths) are
+  burdened with chords, the most of which, moreover, are
+  provided with accents in opposition to the regular beats of
+  the measure. Further, there is associated with these chords,
+  or there may be said to grow out of them, a cantilene in the
+  upper voice, which appears in syncopated form opposite to the
+  strong beats of the bass. This cantilene begins on a weak
+  beat, and produces numerous suspensions, which, in view of the
+  time of their entrance, appear as so many retardations and
+  delayals of melodic tones.
+
+  All these things combine to give the composition a wholly
+  peculiar coloring, to render its flow somewhat restless and to
+  stamp the etude as a little characteristic piece, a capriccio,
+  which might well be named "Inquietude."
+
+  As regards technics, two things are to be studied: the
+  staccato of the chords and the execution of the cantilena. The
+  chords must be formed more by pressure than by striking. The
+  fingers must support themselves very lightly upon the chord
+  keys and then rise again with the back of the hand in the most
+  elastic manner. The upward movement of the hand must be very
+  slight. Everything must be done with the greatest precision,
+  and not merely in a superficial manner. Where the cantilena
+  appears, every melodic tone must stand apart from the tones of
+  the accompaniment as if in "relief." Hence the fingers for the
+  melodic tones must press down the keys allotted to them with
+  special force, in doing which the back of the hand may be
+  permitted to turn lightly to the right (sideward stroke),
+  especially when there is a rest in the accompaniment. Compare
+  with this etude the introduction to the Capriccio in B minor,
+  with orchestra, by Felix Mendelssohn, first page. Aside from a
+  few rallentando places, the etude is to be played strictly in
+  time.
+
+I prefer the Klindworth editing of this rather sombre, nervous
+composition, which may be merely an etude, but it also indicates
+a slightly pathologic condition. With its breath-catching
+syncopations and narrow emotional range, the A minor study has
+nevertheless moments of power and interest. Riemann's phrasing,
+while careful, is not more enlightening than Klindworth's. Von
+Bulow says: "The bass must be strongly marked throughout--even
+when piano--and brought out in imitation of the upper part."
+Singularly enough, his is the only edition in which the left hand
+arpeggios at the close, though in the final bar "both hands may
+do so." This is editorial quibbling. Stephen Heller remarked that
+this study reminded him of the first bar of the Kyrie--rather the
+Requiem Aeternam of Mozart's Requiem.
+
+It is safe to say that the fifth study in E minor is less often
+heard in the concert room than any one of its companions. I
+cannot recall having heard it since Annette Essipowa gave that
+famous recital during which she played the entire twenty-seven
+studies. Yet it is a sonorous piano piece, rich in embroideries
+and general decorative effect in the middle section. Perhaps the
+rather perverse, capricious and not altogether amiable character
+of the beginning has caused pianists to be wary of introducing it
+at a recital. It is hugely effective and also difficult,
+especially if played with the same fingering throughout, as Von
+Bulow suggests. Niecks quotes Stephen Heller's partiality for
+this very study. In the "Gazette Musicale," February 24, 1839,
+Heller wrote of Chopin's op. 25:
+
+  What more do we require to pass one or several evenings in as
+  perfect a happiness as possible? As for me, I seek in this
+  collection of poesy--this is the only name appropriate to the
+  works of Chopin--some favorite pieces which I might fix in my
+  memory, rather than others. Who could retain everything? For
+  this reason I have in my notebook quite particularly marked
+  the numbers four, five and seven of the present poems. Of
+  these twelve much loved studies--every one of which has a
+  charm of its own--the three numbers are those I prefer to all
+  the rest.
+
+The middle part of this E minor study recalls Thalberg. Von Bulow
+cautions the student against "the accenting of the first note
+with the thumb--right hand--as it does not form part of the
+melody, but only comes in as an unimportant passing note." This
+refers to the melody in E. He also writes that the addition of
+the third in the left hand, Klindworth edition, needs no special
+justification. I discovered one marked difference in the
+Klindworth edition. The leap in the left hand--first variant of
+the theme, tenth bar from beginning--is preceded by an
+appoggiatura, E natural. The jump is to F sharp, instead of G, as
+in the Mikuli, Kullak and Riemann editions. Von Bulow uses the F
+sharp, but without the ninth below. Riemann phrases the piece so
+as to get the top melody, B, E and G, and his stems are below
+instead of above, as in Mikuli and Von Bulow. Kullak dots the
+eighth note. Riemann uses a sixteenth, thus:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Kullak writes that the figure 184 is not found on the older
+metronomes. This is not too fast for the capriccio, with its
+pretty and ingenious rhythmical transformations. As regards the
+execution of the 13Oth bar, Von Bulow says: "The acciaccature--
+prefixes--are to be struck simultaneously with the other parts,
+as also the shake in bar 134 and following bars; this must begin
+with the upper auxiliary note." These details are important.
+Kullak concludes his notes thus:
+
+  Despite all the little transformations of the motive member
+  which forms the kernel, its recognizability remains
+  essentially unimpaired. Meanwhile out of these little
+  metamorphoses there is developed a rich rhythmic life, which
+  the performer must bring out with great precision. If in
+  addition, he possesses a fine feeling for what is graceful,
+  coquettish, or agreeably capricious, he will understand how to
+  heighten still further the charm of the chief part, which, as
+  far as its character is concerned, reminds one of Etude, op.
+  25, No. 3.
+
+  The secondary part, in major, begins. Its kernel is formed of
+  a beautiful broad melody, which, if soulfully conceived and
+  delivered, will sing its way deep into the heart of the
+  listener. For the accompaniment in the right hand we find
+  chord arpeggiations in triplets, afterward in sixteenths,
+  calmly ascending and descending, and surrounding the melody as
+  with a veil. They are to be played almost without
+  accentuation.
+
+It was Louis Ehlert who wrote of the celebrated study in G sharp
+minor op. 25, No. 6: "Chopin not only versifies an exercise in
+thirds; he transforms it into such a work of art that in studying
+it one could sooner fancy himself on Parnassus than at a lesson.
+He deprives every passage of all mechanical appearance by
+promoting it to become the embodiment of a beautiful thought,
+which in turn finds graceful expression in its motion."
+
+And indeed in the piano literature no more remarkable merging of
+matter and manner exists. The means justifies the end, and the
+means employed by the composer are beautiful, there is no other
+word to describe the style and architectonics of this noble
+study. It is seldom played in public because of its difficulty.
+With the Schumann Toccata, the G sharp minor study stands at the
+portals of the delectable land of Double Notes. Both compositions
+have a common ancestry in the Czerny Toccata, and both are the
+parents of such a sensational offspring as Balakirew's "Islamey."
+In reading through the double note studies for the instrument it
+is in the nature of a miracle to come upon Chopin's
+transfiguration of such a barren subject. This study is first
+music, then a technical problem. Where two or three pianists are
+gathered together in the name of Chopin, the conversation is
+bound to formulate itself thus: "How do you finger the double
+chromatic thirds in the G sharp minor study?" That question
+answered, your digital politics are known. You are classified,
+ranged. If you are heterodox you are eagerly questioned; if you
+follow Von Bulow and stand by the Czerny fingering, you are
+regarded as a curiosity. As the interpretation of the study is
+not taxing, let us examine the various fingerings. First, a
+fingering given by Leopold Godowsky. It is for double chromatic
+thirds:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+You will now be presented with a battalion of authorities, so
+that you may see at a glance the various efforts to climb those
+slippery chromatic heights. Here is Mikuli:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Kullak's is exactly the same as above. It is the so-called Chopin
+fingering, as contrasted with the so-called Czerny fingering--
+though in reality Clementi's, as Mr. John Kautz contends. "In the
+latter the third and fifth fingers fall upon C sharp and E and F
+sharp and A in the right hand, and upon C and E flat and G and B
+flat in the left." Klindworth also employs the Chopin fingering.
+Von Bulow makes this statement: "As the peculiar fingering
+adopted by Chopin for chromatic scales in thirds appears to us to
+render their performance in legatissimo utterly unattainable on
+our modern instruments, we have exchanged it, where necessary,
+for the older method of Hummel. Two of the greatest executive
+artists of modern times, Alexander Dreyschock and Carl Tausig,
+were, theoretically and practically, of the same opinion. It is
+to be conjectured that Chopin was influenced in his method of
+fingering by the piano of his favorite makers, Pleyel and Wolff,
+of Paris--who, before they adopted the double echappement,
+certainly produced instruments with the most pliant touch
+possible--and therefore regarded the use of the thumb in the
+ascending scale on two white keys in succession--the semitones EF
+and BC--as practicable. On the grand piano of the present day we
+regard it as irreconcilable with conditions of crescendo legato."
+This Chopin fingering in reality derives directly from Hummel.
+See his "Piano School."
+
+So he gives this fingering:
+
+[Musical score excerpt] He also suggests the following phrasing
+for the left hand. This is excellent:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Riemann not only adopts new fingering for the double note scale,
+but also begins the study with the trill on first and third,
+second and fourth, instead of the usual first and fourth, second
+and fifth fingers, adopted by the rest. This is his notion of the
+run in chromatic thirds:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+For the rest the study must be played like the wind, or, as
+Kullak says: "Apart from a few places and some accents, the Etude
+is to be played almost throughout in that Chopin whisper. The
+right hand must play its thirds, especially the diatonic and
+chromatic scales, with such equality that no angularity of motion
+shall be noticeable where the fingers pass under or over each
+other. The left hand, too, must receive careful attention and
+special study. The chord passages and all similar ones must be
+executed discreetly and legatissimo. Notes with double stems must
+be distinguished from notes with single stems by means of
+stronger shadings, for they are mutually interconnected."
+
+Von Bulow calls the seventh study, the one in C sharp minor, a
+nocturne--a duo for 'cello and flute. He ingeniously smooths out
+the unequal rhythmic differences of the two hands, and justly
+says the piece does not work out any special technical matter.
+This study is the most lauded of all. Yet I cannot help agreeing
+with Niecks, who writes of it--he oddly enough places it in the
+key of E: "A duet between a He and a She, of whom the former
+shows himself more talkative and emphatic than the latter, is,
+indeed, very sweet, but, perhaps, also somewhat tiresomely
+monotonous, as such tete-a-tetes naturally are to third parties."
+
+For Chopin's contemporaries this was one of his greatest efforts.
+Heller wrote: "It engenders the sweetest sadness, the most
+enviable torments, and if in playing it one feels oneself
+insensibly drawn toward mournful and melancholy ideas, it is a
+disposition of the soul which I prefer to all others. Alas! how I
+love these sombre and mysterious dreams, and Chopin is the god
+who creates them." In this etude Kleczynski thinks there are
+traces of weariness of life, and quotes Orlowski, Chopin's
+friend," He is only afflicted with homesickness." Willeby calls
+this study the most beautiful of them all. For me it is both
+morbid and elegiac. There is nostalgia in it, the nostalgia of a
+sick, lacerated soul. It contains in solution all the most
+objectionable and most endearing qualities of the master. Perhaps
+we have heard its sweet, highly perfumed measures too often. Its
+interpretation is a matter of taste. Kullak has written the most
+ambitious programme for it. Here is a quotation from Albert R.
+Parsons' translation in Schirmer's edition of Kullak.
+
+  Throughout the entire piece an elegiac mood prevails. The
+  composer paints with psychologic truthfulness a fragment out
+  of the life of a deeply clouded soul. He lets a broken heart,
+  filled with grief, proclaim its sorrow in a language of pain
+  which is incapable of being misunderstood. The heart has lost--
+  not something, but everything. The tones, however, do not
+  always bear the impress of a quiet, melancholy resignation.
+  More passionate impulses awaken, and the still plaint becomes
+  a complaint against cruel fate. It seeks the conflict, and
+  tries through force of will to burst the fetters of pain, or
+  at least to alleviate it through absorption in a happy past.
+  But in vain! The heart has not lost something--it has lost
+  everything. The musical poem divides into three, or if one
+  views the little episode in B major as a special part, into
+  four parts (strophes), of which the last is an elaborated
+  repetition of the first with a brief closing part appended.
+  The whole piece is a song, or, better still, an aria, in which
+  two principal voices are to be brought out; the upper one is
+  in imitation of a human voice, while the lower one must bear
+  the character throughout of an obligato violoncello. It is
+  well known that Chopin was very fond of the violoncello and
+  that in his piano compositions he imitated the style of
+  passages peculiar to that instrument. The two voices
+  correspond closely, supplementing and imitating each other
+  reciprocally. Between the two a third element exists: an
+  accompaniment of eighths in uniform succession without any
+  significance beyond that of filling out the harmony. This
+  third element is to be kept wholly subordinate. The little,
+  one-voiced introduction in recitative style which precedes the
+  aria reminds one vividly of the beginning of the Ballade in G
+  minor, op. 23.
+
+The D flat study, No. 8, is called by Von Bulow "the most useful
+exercise in the whole range of etude literature. It might truly
+be called 'l'indispensable du pianiste,' if the term, through
+misuse, had not fallen into disrepute. As a remedy for stiff
+fingers and preparatory to performing in public, playing it six
+times through is recommended, even to the most expert pianist."
+Only six times! The separate study of the left hand is
+recommended. Kullak finds this study "surprisingly euphonious,
+but devoid of depth of content." It is an admirable study for the
+cultivation of double sixths. It contains a remarkable passage of
+consecutive fifths that set the theorists by the ears. Riemann
+manages to get some new editorial comment upon it.
+
+The nimble study, No. 9, which bears the title of "The
+Butterfly," is in G flat Von Bulow transposes it enharmonically
+to F sharp, avoiding numerous double flats. The change is not
+laudable. He holds anything but an elevated opinion of the piece,
+classing it with a composition of the Charles Mayer order. This
+is unjust; the study if not deep is graceful and certainly very
+effective. It has lately become the stamping ground for the
+display of piano athletics. Nearly all modern virtuosi pull to
+pieces the wings of this gay little butterfly. They smash it,
+they bang it, and, adding insult to cruelty, they finish it with
+three chords, mounting an octave each time, thus giving a
+conventional character to the close--the very thing the composer
+avoids. Much distorted phrasing is also indulged in. The
+Tellefsen's edition and Klindworth's give these differences:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Mikuli, Von Bulow and Kullak place the legato bow over the first
+three notes of the group. Riemann, of course, is different:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+The metronomic markings are about the same in all editions.
+
+Asiatic wildness, according to Von Bulow, pervades the B minor
+study, op. 25, No. 10, although Willeby claims it to be only a
+study in octaves "for the left hand"! Von Bulow furthermore
+compares it, because of its monophonic character, to the Chorus
+of Dervishes in Beethoven's "Ruins of Athens." Niecks says it is
+"a real pandemonium; for a while holier sounds intervene, but
+finally hell prevails." The study is for Kullak "somewhat far
+fetched and forced in invention, and leaves one cold, although it
+plunges on wildly to the end." Von Bulow has made the most
+complete edition. Klindworth strengthens the first and the
+seventh eighth notes of the fifth bar before the last by filling
+in the harmonics of the left hand. This etude is an important
+one, technically; because many pianists make little of it that
+does not abate its musical significance, and I am almost inclined
+to group it with the last two studies of this opus. The opening
+is portentous and soon becomes a driving whirlwind of tone.
+Chopin has never penned a lovelier melody than the one in B--the
+middle section of this etude--it is only to be compared to the
+one in the same key in the B minor Scherzo, while the return to
+the first subject is managed as consummately as in the E flat
+minor Scherzo, from op. 35. I confess to being stirred by this B
+minor study, with its tempo at a forced draught and with its
+precipitous close. There is a lushness about the octave melody;
+the tune may be a little overripe, but it is sweet, sensuous
+music, and about it hovers the hush of a rich evening in early
+autumn.
+
+And now the "Winter Wind"--the study in A minor, op. 25, No. 11.
+Here even Von Bulow becomes enthusiastic:
+
+"It must be mentioned as a particular merit of this, the longest
+and, in every respect, the grandest of Chopin's studies, that,
+while producing the greatest fulness of sound imaginable, it
+keeps itself so entirely and utterly unorchestral, and represents
+piano music in the most accurate sense of the word. To Chopin is
+due the honor and credit of having set fast the boundary between
+piano and orchestral music, which through other composers of the
+romantic school, especially Robert Schumann, has been defaced and
+blotted out, to the prejudice and damage of both species."
+
+Kullak is equally as warm in his praise of it:
+
+  One of the grandest and most ingenious of Chopin's etudes, and
+  a companion piece to op. 10, No. 12, which perhaps it even
+  surpasses. It is a bravura study of the highest order; and is
+  captivating through the boldness and originality of its
+  passages, whose rising and falling waves, full of agitation,
+  overflow the entire keyboard; captivating through its harmonic
+  and modulatory shadings; and captivating, finally, through a
+  wonderfully invented little theme which is drawn like a "red
+  thread" through all the flashing and glittering waves of tone,
+  and which, as it were, prevents them from scattering to all
+  quarters of the heavens. This little theme, strictly speaking
+  only a phrase of two measures, is, in a certain sense, the
+  motto which serves as a superscription for the etude,
+  appearing first one voiced, and immediately afterward four
+  voiced. The slow time (Lento) shows the great importance which
+  is to be attached to it. They who have followed thus far and
+  agree with what has been said cannot be in doubt concerning
+  the proper artistic delivery. To execute the passages quite in
+  the rapid time prescribed one must possess a finished
+  technique. Great facility, lightness of touch, equality,
+  strength and endurance in the forte passages, together with
+  the clearest distinctness in the piano and pianissimo--all of
+  this must have been already achieved, for the interpreter must
+  devote his whole attention to the poetic contents of the
+  composition, especially to the delivery of the march-like
+  rhythms, which possess a life of their own, appearing now calm
+  and circumspect, and anon bold and challenging. The march-like
+  element naturally requires strict playing in time.
+
+This study is magnificent, and moreover it is music.
+
+In bar fifteen Von Bulow makes B natural the second note of the
+last group, although all other editions, except Klindworth, use a
+B flat. Von Bulow has common sense on his side. The B flat is a
+misprint. The same authority recommends slow staccato practice,
+with the lid of the piano closed. Then the hurly-burly of tone
+will not intoxicate the player and submerge his critical faculty.
+
+Each editor has his notion of the phrasing of the initial
+sixteenths. Thus Mikuli's--which is normal:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Klindworth fingers this passage more ingeniously, but phrases it
+about the same, omitting the sextolet mark. Kullak retains it.
+Von Bulow makes his phrase run in this fashion:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+As regards grouping, Riemann follows Von Bulow, but places his
+accents differently.
+
+The canvas is Chopin's largest--for the idea and its treatment
+are on a vastly grander scale than any contained in the two
+concertos. The latter are after all miniatures, precious ones if
+you will, joined and built with cunning artifice; in neither work
+is there the resistless overflow of this etude, which has been
+compared to the screaming of the winter blasts. Ah, how Chopin
+puts to flight those modern men who scheme out a big decorative
+pattern and then have nothing wherewith to fill it! He never
+relaxes his theme, and its fluctuating surprises are many. The
+end is notable for the fact that scales appear. Chopin very
+seldom uses scale figures in his studies. From Hummel to Thalberg
+and Herz the keyboard had glittered with spangled scales. Chopin
+must have been sick of them, as sick of them as of the left-hand
+melody with arpeggiated accompaniment in the right, a la
+Thalberg. Scales had been used too much, hence Chopin's sparing
+employment of them. In the first C sharp minor study, op. 10,
+there is a run for the left hand in the coda. In the seventh
+study, same key, op. 25, there are more. The second study of op.
+10, in A minor, is a chromatic scale study; but there are no
+other specimens of the form until the mighty run at the
+conclusion of this A minor study.
+
+It takes prodigious power and endurance to play this work,
+prodigious power, passion and no little poetry. It is open air
+music, storm music, and at times moves in processional splendor.
+Small souled men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid
+it.
+
+The prime technical difficulty is the management of the thumb.
+Kullak has made a variant at the end for concert performance. It
+is effective. The average metronomic marking is sixty-nine to the
+half.
+
+Kullak thinks the twelfth and last study of op. 25 in C minor "a
+grand, magnificent composition for practice in broken chord
+passages for both hands, which requires no comment." I differ
+from this worthy teacher. Rather is Niecks more to my taste: "No.
+12, C minor, in which the emotions rise not less high than the
+waves of arpeggios which symbolize them."
+
+Von Bulow is didactic:
+
+  The requisite strength for this grandiose bravura study can
+  only be attained by the utmost clearness, and thus only by a
+  gradually increasing speed. It is therefore most desirable to
+  practise it piano also by way of variety, for otherwise the
+  strength of tone might easily degenerate into hardness, and in
+  the poetic striving after a realistic portrayal of a storm on
+  the piano the instrument, as well as the piece, would come to
+  grief.
+
+  The pedal is needful to give the requisite effect, and must
+  change with every new harmony; but it should only be used in
+  the latter stages of study, when the difficulties are nearly
+  mastered.
+
+We have our preferences. Mine in op. 25 is the C minor study,
+which, like the prelude in D minor, is "full of the sound of
+great guns." Willeby thinks otherwise. On page 81 in his life of
+Chopin he has the courage to write: "Had Professor Niecks applied
+the term monotonous to No. 12 we should have been more ready to
+indorse his opinion, as, although great power is manifested, the
+very 'sameness' of the form of the arpeggio figure causes a
+certain amount of monotony to be felt. "The C minor study is, in
+a degree, a return to the first study in C. While the idea in the
+former is infinitely nobler, more dramatic and tangible, there is
+in the latter naked, primeval simplicity, the larger eloquence,
+the elemental puissance. Monotonous? A thousand times no!
+Monotonous as is the thunder and spray of the sea when it tumbles
+and roars on some sullen, savage shore. Beethov-ian, in its
+ruggedness, the Chopin of this C minor study is as far removed
+from the musical dandyisms of the Parisian drawing rooms as is
+Beethoven himself. It is orchestral in intention and a true epic
+of the piano.
+
+Riemann places half notes at the beginning of each measure, as a
+reminder of the necessary clinging of the thumbs. I like Von
+Bulow's version the best of all. His directions are most minute.
+He gives the Liszt method of working up the climax in octave
+triplets. How Liszt must have thundered through this tumultuous
+work! Before it all criticism should be silenced that fails to
+allow Chopin a place among the greatest creative musicians. We
+are here in the presence of Chopin the musician, not Chopin the
+composer for piano.
+
+
+III
+
+
+In 1840, Trois Nouvelles Etudes, by Frederic Chopin, appeared in
+the "Methode des Methodes pour le piano," by F. J. Fetis and I.
+Moscheles. It was odd company for the Polish composer. "Internal
+evidence seems to show," writes Niecks, "that these weakest of
+the master's studies--which, however, are by no means
+uninteresting and certainly very characteristic--may be regarded
+more than op. 25 as the outcome of a gleaning."
+
+The last decade has added much to the artistic stature of these
+three supplementary studies. They have something of the concision
+of the Preludes. The first is a masterpiece. In F minor the theme
+in triplet quarters, broad, sonorous and passionate, is unequally
+pitted against four-eight notes in the bass. The technical
+difficulty to be overcome is purely rhythmic, and Kullak takes
+pains to show how it may be overcome. It is the musical, the
+emotional content of the study that fascinates. The worthy editor
+calls it a companion piece to the F minor study in op. 25. The
+comparison is not an apt one. Far deeper is this new study, and
+although the doors never swing quite open, we divine the tragic
+issues concealed.
+
+Beautiful in a different way is the A flat study which follows.
+Again the problem is a rhythmical one, and again the composer
+demonstrates his exhaustless invention and his power of evoking a
+single mood, viewing all its lovely contours and letting it melt
+away like dream magic. Full of gentle sprightliness and lingering
+sweetness is this study. Chopin has the hypnotic quality more
+than any composer of the century, Richard Wagner excepted. After
+you have enjoyed playing this study read Kullak and his
+"triplicity in biplicity." It may do you good, and it will not
+harm the music.
+
+In all the editions save one that I have seen the third study in
+D flat begins on A flat, like the famous Valse in D flat. The
+exception is Klindworth, who starts with B flat, the note above.
+The study is full of sunny, good humor, spiritualized humor, and
+leaves the most cheering impression after its performance. Its
+technical object is a simultaneous legato and staccato. The
+result is an idealized Valse in allegretto tempo, the very
+incarnation of joy, tempered by aristocratic reserve. Chopin
+never romps, but he jests wittily, and always in supremely good
+taste. This study fitly closes his extraordinary labors in this
+form, and it is as if he had signed it "F. Chopin, et ego in
+Arcady."
+
+Among the various editions let me recommend Klindworth for daily
+usage, while frequent reference to Von Bulow, Riemann and Kullak
+cannot fail to prove valuable, curious and interesting.
+
+Of the making of Chopin editions there is seemingly no end. In
+1894 I saw in manuscript some remarkable versions of the Chopin
+Studies by Leopold Godowsky. The study in G sharp minor was the
+first one published and played in public by this young pianist
+Unlike the Brahms derangements, they are musical but immensely
+difficult. Topsy-turvied as are the figures, a Chopin, even if
+lop-sided, hovers about, sometimes with eye-brows uplifted,
+sometimes with angry, knitted forehead and not seldom amused to
+the point of smiling. You see his narrow shoulders, shrugged in
+the Polish fashion as he examines the study in double-thirds
+transposed to the left hand! Curiously enough this transcription,
+difficult as it is, does not tax the fingers as much as a
+bedevilment of the A minor, op. 25, No. 4, which is extremely
+difficult, demanding color discrimination and individuality of
+finger.
+
+More breath-catching, and a piece at which one must cry out:
+"Hats off, gentlemen! A tornado!" is the caprice called
+"Badinage." But if it is meant to badinage, it is no sport for
+the pianist of everyday technical attainments. This is formed of
+two studies. In the right hand is the G flat study, op. 25, No.
+9, and in the left the black key study, op. 10, No. 5. The two go
+laughing through the world like old friends; brother and sister
+they are tonally, trailing behind them a cloud of iridescent
+glory. Godowsky has cleverly combined the two, following their
+melodic curves as nearly as is possible. In some places he has
+thickened the harmonies and shifted the "black key" figures to
+the right hand. It is the work of a remarkable pianist. This is
+the way it looks on paper at the beginning:
+
+[Musical llustration]
+
+The same study G flat, op. 10, No. 5, is also treated separately,
+the melody being transferred to the treble. The Butterfly
+octaves, in another study, are made to hop nimbly along in the
+left hand, and the C major study, op. 10, No. 7, Chopin's
+Toccata, is arranged for the left hand, and seems very practical
+and valuable. Here the adapter has displayed great taste and
+skill, especially on the third page. The pretty musical idea is
+not destroyed, but viewed from other points of vantage. Op. 10,
+No. 2, is treated like a left hand study, as it should be. Chopin
+did not always give enough work to the left hand, and the first
+study of this opus in C is planned on brilliant lines for both
+hands. Ingenious is the manipulation of the seldom played op. 25,
+No. 5, in E minor. As a study in rhythms and double notes it is
+very welcome. The F minor study, op. 25, No. 2, as considered by
+the ambidextrous Godowsky, is put in the bass, where it whirrs
+along to the melodic encouragement of a theme of the
+paraphraser's own, in the right. This study has suffered the most
+of all, for Brahms, in his heavy, Teutonic way, set it grinding
+double sixths, while Isidor Philipp, in his "Studies for the Left
+Hand," has harnessed it to sullen octaves. This Frenchman, by the
+way, has also arranged for left hand alone the G sharp minor, the
+D flat double sixths, the A minor--"Winter Wind"--studies, the B
+flat minor prelude, and, terrible to relate, the last movement of
+the Chopin B flat minor Sonata.
+
+Are the Godowsky transcriptions available? Certainly. In ten
+years--so rapid is the technical standard advancing--they will be
+used in the curriculum of students. Whether he has treated Chopin
+with reverence I leave my betters to determine. What has
+reverence to do with the case, anyhow? Plato is parsed in the
+schoolroom, and Beethoven taught in conservatories! Therefore why
+worry over the question of Godowsky's attitude! Besides, he is
+writing for the next generation--presumably a generation of
+Rosenthals.
+
+And now, having passed over the salt and stubbly domain of
+pedagogics, what is the dominant impression gleaned from the
+twenty-seven Chopin studies? Is it not one of admiration, tinged
+with wonder at such a prodigal display of thematic and technical
+invention? Their variety is great, the aesthetic side is nowhere
+neglected for the purely mechanical, and in the most poetic of
+them stuff may be found for delicate fingers. Astounding,
+canorous, enchanting, alembicated and dramatic, the Chopin
+studies are exemplary essays in emotion and manner. In them is
+mirrored all of Chopin, the planetary as well as the secular
+Chopin. When most of his piano music has gone the way of all
+things fashioned by mortal hands, these studies will endure, will
+stand for the nineteenth century as Beethoven crystallized the
+eighteenth, Bach the seventeenth centuries in piano music. Chopin
+is a classic.
+
+
+
+VII. MOODS IN MINIATURE:--THE PRELUDES.
+
+
+
+The Preludes bear the opus number 28 and are dedicated to J. C.
+Kessler, a composer of well-known piano studies. It is only the
+German edition that bears his name, the French and English being
+inscribed by Chopin "a son ami Pleyel." As Pleyel advanced the
+pianist 2,000 francs for the Preludes he had a right to say:
+"These are my Preludes." Niecks is authority for Chopin's remark:
+"I sold the Preludes to Pleyel because he liked them." This was
+in 1838, when Chopin's health demanded a change of climate. He
+wished to go to Majorca with Madame Sand and her children, and
+had applied for money to the piano maker and publisher, Camille
+Pleyel. He received but five hundred francs in advance, the
+balance being paid on delivery of the manuscript.
+
+The Preludes were published in 1839, yet there is internal
+evidence which proves that most of them had been composed before
+the trip to the Balearic Islands. This will upset the very pretty
+legend of music making at the monastery of Valdemosa. Have we not
+all read with sweet credulity the eloquent pages in George Sand
+in which the storm is described that overtook the novelist and
+her son Maurice? After terrible trials, dangers and delays, they
+reached their home and found Chopin at the piano. Uttering a cry,
+he arose and stared at the pair. "Ah! I knew well that you were
+dead." It was the sixth prelude, the one in B minor, that he
+played, and dreaming, as Sand writes, that "he saw himself
+drowned in a lake; heavy, ice cold drops of water fell at regular
+intervals upon his breast; and when I called his attention to
+those drops of water which were actually falling upon the roof,
+he denied having heard them. He was even vexed at what I
+translated by the term, imitative harmony. He protested with all
+his might, and he was right, against the puerility of these
+imitations for the ear. His genius was full of mysterious
+harmonies of nature."
+
+Yet this prelude was composed previous to the Majorcan episode.
+"The Preludes," says Niecks, "consist--to a great extent, at
+least--of pickings from the composer's portfolios, of pieces,
+sketches and memoranda written at various times and kept to be
+utilized when occasion might offer."
+
+Gutmann, Chopin's pupil, who nursed him to the last, declared the
+Preludes to have been composed before he went away with Madame
+Sand, and to Niecks personally he maintained that he had copied
+all of them. Niecks does not credit him altogether, for there are
+letters in which several of the Preludes are mentioned as being
+sent to Paris, so he reaches the conclusion that "Chopin's labors
+at Majorca on the Preludes were confined to selecting, filing and
+polishing." This seems to be a sensible solution.
+
+Robert Schumann wrote of these Preludes: "I must signalize them
+as most remarkable. I will confess I expected something quite
+different, carried out in the grand style of his studies. It is
+almost the contrary here; these are sketches, the beginning of
+studies, or, if you will, ruins, eagles' feathers, all strangely
+intermingled. But in every piece we find in his own hand,
+'Frederic Chopin wrote it.' One recognizes him in his pauses, in
+his impetuous respiration. He is the boldest, the proudest poet
+soul of his time. To be sure the book also contains some morbid,
+feverish, repellant traits; but let everyone look in it for
+something that will enchant him. Philistines, however, must keep
+away."
+
+It was in these Preludes that Ignaz Moscheles first comprehended
+Chopin and his methods of execution. The German pianist had found
+his music harsh and dilettantish in modulation, but Chopin's
+originality of performance--"he glides lightly over the keys in a
+fairy-like way with his delicate fingers"--quite reconciled the
+elder man to this strange music.
+
+To Liszt the Preludes seem modestly named, but "are not the less
+types of perfection in a mode created by himself, and stamped
+like all his other works with the high impress of his poetic
+genius. Written in the commencement of his career, they are
+characterized by a youthful vigor not to be found in some of his
+subsequent works, even when more elaborate, finished and richer
+in combinations; a vigor which is entirely lost in his latest
+productions, marked by an overexcited sensibility, a morbid
+irritability, and giving painful intimations of his own state of
+suffering and exhaustion."
+
+Liszt, as usual, erred on the sentimental side. Chopin, being
+essentially a man of moods, like many great men, and not
+necessarily feminine in this respect, cannot always be pinned
+down to any particular period. Several of the Preludes are very
+morbid--I purposely use this word--as is some of his early music,
+while he seems quite gay just before his death.
+
+"The Preludes follow out no technical idea, are free creations on
+a small basis, and exhibit the musician in all his versatility,"
+says Louis Ehlert. "No work of Chopin's portrays his inner
+organization so faithfully and completely. Much is embryonic. It
+is as though he turned the leaves of his fancy without completely
+reading any page. Still, one finds in them the thundering power
+of the Scherzi, the half satirical, half coquettish elegance of
+the Mazurkas, and the southern, luxuriously fragrant breath of
+the Nocturnes. Often it is as though they were small falling
+stars dissolved into tones as they fall."
+
+Jean Kleczynski, who is credited with understanding Chopin,
+himself a Pole and a pianist, thinks that "people have gone too
+far in seeking in the Preludes for traces of that misanthropy, of
+that weariness of life to which he was prey during his stay in
+the Island of Majorca...Very few of the Preludes present this
+character of ennui, and that which is the most marked, the second
+one, must have been written, according to Count Tarnowski, a long
+time before he went to Majorca. ... What is there to say
+concerning the other Preludes, full of good humor and gaiety--No.
+18, in E flat; No. 21, in B flat; No. 23, in F, or the last, in D
+minor? Is it not strong and energetic, concluding, as it does,
+with three cannon shots?"
+
+Willeby in his "Frederic Francois Chopin" considers at length the
+Preludes. He agrees in the main with Niecks, that certain of
+these compositions were written at Valdemosa--Nos. 4, 6, 9, 13,
+20 and 21--and that "Chopin, having sketches of others with him,
+completed the whole there, and published them under one opus
+number. ... The atmosphere of those I have named is morbid and
+azotic; to them there clings a faint flavor of disease, a
+something which is overripe in its lusciousness and febrile in
+its passion. This in itself inclines me to believe they were
+written at the time named."
+
+This is all very well, but Chopin was faint and febrile in his
+music before he went to Majorca, and the plain facts adduced by
+Gutmann and Niecks cannot be passed over. Henry James, an old
+admirer of Madame Sand, admits her utter unreliability, and so we
+may look upon her evidence as romantic but by no means
+infallible. The case now stands: Chopin may have written a few of
+the Preludes at Majorca, filed them, finished them, but the
+majority of them were in his portfolio in 1837 and 1838. Op. 45,
+a separate Prelude in C sharp minor, was published in December,
+1841. It was composed at Nohant in August of that year. It is
+dedicated to Mme. la Princesse Elizabeth Czernicheff, whose name,
+as Chopin confesses in a letter, he knows not how to spell.
+
+
+II
+
+
+Theodore Kullak is curt and pedagogic in his preface to the
+Preludes. He writes:
+
+  Chopin's genius nowhere reveals itself more charmingly than
+  within narrowly bounded musical forms. The Preludes are, in
+  their aphoristic brevity, masterpieces of the first rank. Some
+  of them appear like briefly sketched mood pictures related to
+  the nocturne style, and offer no technical hindrance even to
+  the less advanced player. I mean Nos. 4, 6, 7, 9, 15 and 20.
+  More difficult are Nos. 17, 25 and 11, without, however,
+  demanding eminent virtuosity. The other Preludes belong to a
+  species of character-etude. Despite their brevity of outline
+  they are on a par with the great collections op. 10 and op.
+  25. In so far as it is practicable--special cases of
+  individual endowments not being taken into consideration--I
+  would propose the following order of succession: Begin with
+  Nos. 1, 14, 10, 22, 23, 3 and 18. Very great bravura is
+  demanded by Nos. 12, 8, 16 and 24. The difficulty of the other
+  Preludes, Nos. 2, 5, 13, 19 and 21, lies in the delicate piano
+  and legato technique, which, on account of the extended
+  positions, leaps and double notes, presupposes a high degree
+  of development.
+
+This is eminently a common sense grouping. The first prelude,
+which, like the first etude, begins in C, has all the
+characteristics of an impromptu. We know the wonderful Bach
+Preludes, which grew out of a free improvisation to the
+collection of dance forms called a suite, and the preludes which
+precede his fugues. In the latter Bach sometimes exhibits all the
+objectivity of the study or toccata, and often wears his heart in
+full view. Chopin's Preludes--the only preludes to be compared to
+Bach's--are largely personal, subjective, and intimate. This
+first one is not Bach-ian, yet it could have been written by no
+one but a devout Bach student. The pulsating, passionate,
+agitated, feverish, hasty qualities of the piece are modern; so
+is the changeful modulation. It is a beautiful composition,
+rising to no dramatic heights, but questioning and full of life.
+Klindworth writes in triplet groups, Kullak in quintolets.
+Breitkopf & Hartel do not. Dr. Hugo Riemann, who has edited a few
+of the Preludes, phrases the first bars thus:
+
+Desperate and exasperating to the nerves is the second prelude in
+A minor. It is an asymmetric tune. Chopin seldom wrote ugly
+music, but is this not ugly, forlorn, despairing, almost
+grotesque, and discordant? It indicates the deepest depression in
+its sluggish, snake-like progression. Willeby finds a resemblance
+to the theme of the first nocturne. And such a theme! The
+tonality is vague, beginning in E minor. Chopin's method of
+thematic parallelism is here very clear. A small figure is
+repeated in descending keys until hopeless gloom and depraved
+melancholy are reached in the closing chords. Chopin now is
+morbid, here are all his most antipathetic qualities. There is
+aversion to life--in this music he is a true lycanthrope. A self-
+induced hypnosis, a mental, an emotional atrophy are all present.
+
+Kullak divides the accompaniment, difficult for small hands,
+between the two. Riemann detaches the eighth notes of the bass
+figures, as is his wont, for greater clearness. Like Klindworth,
+he accents heavily the final chords. He marks his metronome 50 to
+the half note. All the editions are lento with alla breve.
+
+That the Preludes are a sheaf of moods, loosely held together by
+the rather vague title, is demonstrated by the third, in the key
+of G. The rippling, rain-like figure for the left hand is in the
+nature of a study. The melody is delicate in sentiment, Gallic in
+its esprit. A true salon piece, this prelude has no hint of
+artificiality. It is a precise antithesis to the mood of the
+previous one. Graceful and gay, the G major prelude is a fair
+reflex of Chopin's sensitive and naturally buoyant nature. It
+requires a light hand and nimble fingers. The melodic idea
+requires no special comment. Kullak phrases it differently from
+Riemann and Klindworth. The latter is the preferable. Klindworth
+gives 72 to the half note as his metronomic marking, Riemann only
+60--which is too slow--while Klindworth contents himself by
+marking a simple Vivace. Regarding the fingering one may say that
+all tastes are pleased in these three editions. Klindworth's is
+the easiest. Riemann breaks up the phrase in the bass figure, but
+I cannot see the gain on the musical side.
+
+Niecks truthfully calls the fourth prelude in E minor "a little
+poem, the exquisitely sweet, languid pensiveness of which defies
+description. The composer seems to be absorbed in the narrow
+sphere of his ego, from which the wide, noisy world is for the
+time shut out." Willeby finds this prelude to be "one of the most
+beautiful of these spontaneous sketches; for they are no more
+than sketches. The melody seems literally to wail, and reaches
+its greatest pitch of intensity at the stretto." For Karasowski
+it is a "real gem, and alone would immortalize the name of Chopin
+as a poet." It must have been this number that impelled
+Rubinstein to assert that the Preludes were the pearls of his
+works. In the Klindworth edition, fifth bar from the last, the
+editor has filled in the harmonies to the first six notes of the
+left hand, added thirds, which is not reprehensible, although
+uncalled for. Kullak makes some new dynamic markings and several
+enharmonic changes. He also gives as metronome 69 to the quarter.
+This tiny prelude contains wonderful music. The grave reiteration
+of the theme may have suggested to Peter Cornelius his song "Ein
+Ton." Chopin expands a melodic unit, and one singularly pathetic.
+The whole is like some canvas by Rembrandt, Rembrandt who first
+dramatized the shadow in which a single motif is powerfully
+handled; some sombre effect of echoing light in the profound of a
+Dutch interior. For background Chopin has substituted his soul;
+no one in art, except Bach or Rembrandt, could paint as Chopin
+did in this composition. Its despair has the antique flavor, and
+there is a breadth, nobility and proud submission quite free from
+the tortured, whimpering complaint of the second prelude. The
+picture is small, but the subject looms large in meanings.
+
+The fifth prelude in D is Chopin at his happiest. Its arabesque
+pattern conveys a most charming content; and there is a dewy
+freshness, a joy in life, that puts to flight much of the morbid
+tittle-tattle about Chopin's sickly soul. The few bars of this
+prelude, so seldom heard in public, reveal musicianship of the
+highest order. The harmonic scheme is intricate; Klindworth
+phrases the first four bars so as to bring out the alternate B
+and B flat. It is Chopin spinning his finest, his most iridescent
+web.
+
+The next prelude, the sixth, in B minor, is doleful, pessimistic.
+As George Sand says: "It precipitates the soul into frightful
+depression." It is the most frequently played--and oh! how
+meaninglessly--prelude of the set; this and the one in D flat.
+Classical is its repression of feeling, its pure contour. The
+echo effect is skilfully managed, monotony being artfully
+avoided. Klindworth rightfully slurs the duple group of eighths;
+Kullak tries for the same effect by different means. The duality
+of the voices should be clearly expressed. The tempo, marked in
+both editions, lento assai, is fast. To be precise, Klindworth
+gives 66 to the quarter.
+
+The plaintive little mazurka of two lines, the seventh prelude,
+is a mere silhouette of the national dance. Yet in its measures
+is compressed all Mazovia. Klindworth makes a variant in the
+fourth bar from the last, a G sharp instead of an F sharp. It is
+a more piquant climax, perhaps not admissible to the Chopin
+purist. In the F sharp minor prelude No. 7, Chopin gives us a
+taste of his grand manner. For Niecks the piece is jerky and
+agitated, and doubtless suggests a mental condition bordering on
+anxiety; but if frenzy there is, it is kept well in check by the
+exemplary taste of the composer. The sadness is rather elegiac,
+remote, and less poignant than in the E minor prelude. Harmonic
+heights are reached on the second page--surely Wagner knew these
+bars when he wrote "Tristan and Isolde"--while the ingenuity of
+the figure and avoidance of a rhythmical monotone are evidences
+of Chopin's feeling for the decorative. It is a masterly prelude.
+Klindworth accents the first of the bass triplets, and makes an
+unnecessary enharmonic change at the sixth and seventh lines.
+
+There is a measure of grave content in the ninth prelude in E. It
+is rather gnomic, and contains hints of both Brahms and
+Beethoven. It has an ethical quality, but that may be because of
+its churchly rhythm and color.
+
+The C sharp minor prelude, No. 10, must be the "eagle wings" of
+Schumann's critique. There is a flash of steel gray, deepening
+into black, and then the vision vanishes as though some huge bird
+aloft had plunged down through blazing sunlight, leaving a color-
+echo in the void as it passed to its quarry. Or, to be less
+figurative, this prelude is a study in arpeggio, with double
+notes interspersed, and is too short to make more than a vivid
+impression.
+
+No. II in B is all too brief. It is vivacious, dolce indeed, and
+most cleverly constructed. Klindworth gives a more binding
+character to the first double notes. Another gleam of the Chopin
+sunshine.
+
+Storm clouds gather in the G sharp minor, the twelfth prelude, so
+unwittingly imitated by Grieg in his Menuetto of the same key,
+and in its driving presto we feel the passionate clench of
+Chopin's hand. It is convulsed with woe, but the intellectual
+grip, the self-command are never lost in these two pages of
+perfect writing. The figure is suggestive, and there is a well
+defined technical problem, as well as a psychical character.
+Disputed territory is here: the editors do not agree about the
+twelfth and eleventh bars from the last. According to Breitkopf &
+Hartel the bass octaves are E both times. Mikuli gives G sharp
+the first time instead of E; Klindworth, G sharp the second time;
+Riemann, E, and also Kullak. The G sharp seems more various.
+
+In the thirteenth prelude, F sharp major, here is lovely
+atmosphere, pure and peaceful. The composer has found mental
+rest. Exquisitely poised are his pinions for flight, and in the
+piu lento he wheels significantly and majestically about in the
+blue. The return to earth is the signal for some strange
+modulatory tactics. It is an impressive close. Then, almost
+without pause, the blood begins to boil in this fragile man's
+veins. His pulse beat increases, and with stifled rage he rushes
+into the battle. It is the fourteenth prelude in the sinister key
+of E flat minor, and its heavy, sullen-arched triplets recalls
+for Niecks the last movement of the B flat minor Sonata; but
+there is less interrogation in the prelude, less sophistication,
+and the heat of conflict over it all. There is not a break in the
+clouds until the beginning of the fifteenth, the familiar prelude
+in D flat.
+
+This must be George Sand's: "Some of them create such vivid
+impressions that the shades of dead monks seem to rise and pass
+before the hearer in solemn and gloomy funereal pomp." The work
+needs no programme. Its serene beginning, lugubrious interlude,
+with the dominant pedal never ceasing, a basso ostinato, gives
+color to Kleczynski's contention that the prelude in B minor is a
+mere sketch of the idea fully elaborated in No. 15. "The
+foundation of the picture is the drops of rain falling at regular
+intervals"--the echo principle again--"which by their continual
+patter bring the mind to a state of sadness; a melody full of
+tears is heard through the rush of the rain; then passing to the
+key of C sharp minor, it rises from the depths of the bass to a
+prodigious crescendo, indicative of the terror which nature in
+its deathly aspect excites in the heart of man. Here again the
+form does not allow the ideas to become too sombre;
+notwithstanding the melancholy which seizes you, a feeling of
+tranquil grandeur revives you." To Niecks, the C sharp minor
+portion affects one as in an oppressive dream: "The re-entrance
+of the opening D flat, which dispels the dreadful nightmare,
+comes upon one with the smiling freshness of dear, familiar
+nature."
+
+The prelude has a nocturnal character. It has become slightly
+banal from frequent repetition, likewise the C sharp minor study
+in opus 25. But of its beauty, balance and exceeding chastity
+there can be no doubt. The architecture is at once Greek and
+Gothic.
+
+The sixteenth prelude in the relative key of B flat minor is the
+boldest of the set. Its scale figures, seldom employed by Chopin,
+boil and glitter, the thematic thread of the idea never being
+quite submerged. Fascinating, full of perilous acclivities and
+sudden treacherous descents, this most brilliant of preludes is
+Chopin in riotous spirits. He plays with the keyboard: it is an
+avalanche, anon a cascade, then a swift stream, which finally,
+after mounting to the skies, descends to an abyss. Full of
+imaginative lift, caprice and stormy dynamics, this prelude is
+the darling of the virtuoso. Its pregnant introduction is like a
+madly jutting rock from which the eagle spirit of the composer
+precipitates itself.
+
+In the twenty-third bar there is curious editorial discrepancy.
+Klindworth uses an A natural in the first of the four groups of
+sixteenths, Kullak a B natural; Riemann follows Kullak. Nor is
+this all. Kullak in the second group, right hand, has an E flat,
+Klindworth a D natural. Which is correct? Klindworth's texture is
+more closely chromatic and it sounds better, the chromatic
+parallelism being more carefully preserved. Yet I fancy that
+Kullak has tradition on his side.
+
+The seventeenth prelude Niecks finds Mendelssohn-ian. I do not.
+It is suave, sweet, well developed, yet Chopin to the core, and
+its harmonic life surprisingly rich and novel. The mood is one of
+tranquillity. The soul loses itself in early autumnal revery
+while there is yet splendor on earth and in the skies. Full of
+tonal contrasts, this highly finished composition is grateful to
+the touch. The eleven booming A flats on the last page are
+historical. Klindworth uses a B flat instead of a G at the
+beginning of the melody. It is logical, but is it Chopin?
+
+The fiery recitatives of No. 18 in F minor are a glimpse of
+Chopin, muscular and not hectic. In these editions you will find
+three different groupings of the cadenzas. It is Riemann's
+opportunity for pedagogic editing, and he does not miss it. In
+the first long breathed group of twenty-two sixteenth notes he
+phrases as shown on the following page.
+
+It may be noticed that Riemann even changes the arrangement of
+the bars. This prelude is dramatic almost to an operatic degree.
+Sonorous, rather grandiloquent, it is a study in declamation, the
+declamation of the slow movement in the F minor concerto.
+Schumann may have had the first phrase in his mind when he wrote
+his Aufschwung. This page of Chopin's, the torso of a larger
+idea, is nobly rhetorical.
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+What piano music is the nineteenth prelude in E flat! Its widely
+dispersed harmonies, its murmuring grace and June-like beauty,
+are they not Chopin, the Chopin we best love? He is ever the
+necromancer, ever invoking phantoms, but with its whirring melody
+and furtive caprice this particular shape is an alluring one. And
+difficult it is to interpret with all its plangent lyric freedom.
+
+No. 2O in C minor contains in its thirteen bars the sorrows of a
+nation. It is without doubt a sketch for a funeral march, and of
+it George Sand must have been thinking when she wrote that one
+prelude of Chopin contained more music than all the trumpetings
+of Meyerbeer.
+
+Of exceeding loveliness is the B flat major prelude, No. 21. It
+is superior in content and execution to most of the nocturnes. In
+feeling it belongs to that form. The melody is enchanting. The
+accompaniment figure shows inventive genius. Klindworth employs a
+short appoggiatura, Kullak the long, in the second bar. Judge of
+what is true editorial sciolism when I tell you that Riemann--who
+evidently believes in a rigid melodic structure--has inserted an
+E flat at the end of bar four, thus maiming the tender, elusive
+quality of Chopin's theme. This is cruelly pedantic. The prelude
+arrests one in ecstasy; the fixed period of contemplation of the
+saint or the hypnotized sets in, and the awakening is almost
+painful. Chopin, adopting the relative minor key as a pendant to
+the picture in B flat, thrills the nerves by a bold dissonance in
+the next prelude, No. 22. Again, concise paragraphs filled with
+the smoke of revolt and conflict The impetuosity of this largely
+moulded piece in G minor, its daring harmonics,--read the
+seventeenth and eighteenth bars,--and dramatic note make it an
+admirable companion to the Prelude in F minor. Technically it
+serves as an octave study for the left hand.
+
+In the concluding bar, but one, Chopin has in the F major Prelude
+attempted a most audacious feat in harmony. An E flat in the bass
+of the third group of sixteenths leaves the whole composition
+floating enigmatically in thin air. It deliciously colors the
+close, leaving a sense of suspense, of anticipation which is not
+tonally realized, for the succeeding number is in a widely
+divorced key. But it must have pressed hard the philistines. And
+this prelude, the twenty-third, is fashioned out of the most
+volatile stuff. Aerial, imponderable, and like a sun-shot spider
+web oscillating in the breeze of summer, its hues change at every
+puff. It is in extended harmonics and must be delivered with
+spirituality. The horny hand of the toilsome pianist would
+shatter the delicate, swinging fantasy of the poet. Kullak points
+out a variant in the fourteenth bar, G instead of B natural being
+used by Riemann. Klindworth prefers the latter.
+
+We have reached the last prelude of op. 28. In D minor, it is
+sonorously tragic, troubled by fevers and visions, and
+capricious, irregular and massive in design. It may be placed
+among Chopin's greater works: the two Etudes in C minor, the A
+minor, and the F sharp minor Prelude. The bass requires an
+unusual span, and the suggestion by Kullak, that the thumb of the
+right hand may eke out the weakness of the left is only for the
+timid and the small of fist. But I do not counsel following his
+two variants in the fifth and twenty-third bars. Chopin's text is
+more telling. Like the vast reverberation of monstrous waves on
+the implacable coast of a remote world is this prelude. Despite
+its fatalistic ring, its note of despair is not dispiriting. Its
+issues are larger, more impersonal, more elemental than the other
+preludes. It is a veritable Appassionata, but its theatre is
+cosmic and no longer behind the closed doors of the cabinet of
+Chopin's soul. The Seelenschrei of Stanislaw Przybyszewski is
+here, explosions of wrath and revolt; not Chopin suffers, but his
+countrymen. Kleczynski speaks of the three tones at the close.
+They are the final clangor of oppressed, almost overthrown,
+reason. After the subject reappears in C minor there is a shift
+to D flat, and for a moment a point of repose is gained, but this
+elusive rest is brief. The theme reappears in the tonic and in
+octaves, and the tension becomes too great; the accumulated
+passion discharges and dissolves in a fierce gust of double
+chromatic thirds and octaves. Powerful, repellant, this prelude
+is almost infernal in its pride and scorn. But in it I discern no
+vestige of uncontrolled hysteria. It is well-nigh as strong, rank
+and human as Beethoven. The various editorial phraseology is not
+of much moment. Riemann uses thirty-second notes for the
+cadenzas, Kullak eighths and Klindworth sixteenths.
+
+Niecks writes of the Prelude in C sharp minor, op. 45, that it
+"deserves its name better than almost any one of the twenty-four;
+still I would rather call it improvisata. It seems
+unpremeditated, a heedless outpouring, when sitting at the piano
+in a lonely, dreary hour, perhaps in the twilight. The quaver
+figure rises aspiringly, and the sustained parts swell out
+proudly. The piquant cadenza forestalls in the progression of
+diminished chords favorite effects of some of our more modern
+composers. The modulation from C sharp minor to D major and back
+again--after the cadenza--is very striking and equally
+beautiful."
+
+Elsewhere I have called attention to the Brahmsian coloring of
+this prelude. Its mood is fugitive and hard to hold after
+capture. Recondite it is and not music for the multitude.
+
+Niecks does not think Chopin created a new type in the Preludes.
+"They are too unlike each other in form and character." Yet
+notwithstanding the fleeting, evanescent moods of the Preludes,
+there is designedly a certain unity of feeling and contrasted
+tonalities, all being grouped in approved Bach-ian manner. This
+may be demonstrated by playing them through at a sitting, which
+Arthur Friedheim, the Russian virtuoso, did in a concert with
+excellent effect. As if wishing to exhibit his genius in
+perspective, Chopin carved these cameos with exceeding fineness,
+exceeding care. In a few of them the idea overbalances the form,
+but the greater number are exquisite examples of a just
+proportion of manner and matter, a true blending of voice and
+vision. Even in the more microscopic ones the tracery, echoing
+like the spirals in strange seashells, is marvellously measured.
+Much in miniature are these sculptured Preludes of the Polish
+poet.
+
+
+
+VIII. IMPROMPTUS AND VALSES
+
+
+
+To write of the four Impromptus in their own key of unrestrained
+feeling and pondered intention would not be as easy as
+recapturing the first "careless rapture" of the lark. With all
+the freedom of an improvisation the Chopin impromptu has a well
+defined form. There is structural impulse, although the patterns
+are free and original. The mood-color is not much varied in
+three, the first, third and fourth, but in the second there is a
+ballade-like quality that hints of the tragic. The A flat
+Impromptu, op. 29, is, if one is pinned down to the title, the
+happiest named of the set. Its seething, prankish, nimble,
+bubbling quality is indicated from the start; the D natural in
+the treble against the C and E flat--the dominant--in the bass is
+a most original effect, and the flowing triplets of the first
+part of this piece give a ductile, gracious, high-bred character
+to it. The chromatic involutions are many and interesting. When
+the F minor part is reached the ear experiences the relief of a
+strongly contrasted rhythm. The simple duple measure, so
+naturally ornamented, is nobly, broadly melodious. After the
+return of the first dimpling theme there is a short coda, a
+chiaroscura, and then with a few chords the composition goes to
+rest. A bird flew that way! Rubato should be employed, for, as
+Kleczynski says, "Here everything totters from foundation to
+summit, and everything is, nevertheless, so beautiful and so
+clear." But only an artist with velvety fingers should play this
+sounding arabesque.
+
+There is more limpidezza, more pure grace of line in the first
+Impromptu than in the second in F sharp, op. 36. Here symmetry is
+abandoned, as Kullak remarks, but the compensation of intenser
+emotional issues is offered. There is something sphinx-like in
+the pose of this work. Its nocturnal beginning with the carillon-
+like bass--a bass that ever recalls to me the faint, buried tones
+of Hauptmann's "Sunken Bell," the sweetly grave close of the
+section, the faint hoof-beats of an approaching cavalcade, with
+the swelling thunders of its passage, surely suggests a
+narrative, a programme. After the D major episode there are two
+bars of anonymous modulation--these bars creak on their hinges--
+and the first subject reappears in F, then climbs to F sharp,
+thence merges into a glittering melodic organ-point, exciting,
+brilliant, the whole subsiding into an echo of earlier harmonies.
+The final octaves are marked fortissimo which always seems
+brutal. Yet its logic lies in the scheme of the composer. Perhaps
+he wished to arouse us harshly from his dreamland, as was his
+habit while improvising for friends--a glissando would send them
+home shivering after an evening of delicious reverie.
+
+Niecks finds this Impromptu lacking the pith of the first. To me
+it is of more moment than the other three. It is irregular and
+wavering in outline, the moods are wandering and capricious, yet
+who dares deny its power, its beauty? In its use of accessory
+figures it does not reveal so much ingenuity, but just because
+the "figure in the carpet" is not so varied in pattern, its
+passion is all the deeper. It is another Ballade, sadder, more
+meditative of the tender grace of vanished days.
+
+The third Impromptu in G flat, op. 51, is not often played. It
+may be too difficult for the vandal with an average technique,
+but it is neither so fresh in feeling nor so spontaneous in
+utterance as its companions. There is a touch of the faded,
+blase, and it is hardly healthy in sentiment. Here are some
+ophidian curves in triplets, as in the first Impromptu, but with
+interludes of double notes, in coloring tropical and rich to
+morbidity. The E flat minor trio is a fine bit of melodic
+writing. The absence of simplicity is counterbalanced by greater
+freedom of modulation and complexity of pattern. The impromptu
+flavor is not missing, and there is allied to delicacy of design
+a strangeness of sentiment--that strangeness which Edgar Poe
+declared should be a constituent element of all great art.
+
+The Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, op. 66, was published
+by Fontana in 1855, and is one of the few posthumous works of
+Chopin worthy of consideration. It was composed about 1834. A
+true Impromptu, but the title of Fantaisie given by Fontana is
+superfluous. The piece presents difficulties, chiefly rhythmical.
+Its involuted first phrases suggest the Bellini-an fioriture so
+dear to Chopin, but the D flat part is without nobility. Here is
+the same kind of saccharine melody that makes mawkish the trio in
+the "Marche Funebre." There seems no danger that this Fantaisie-
+Impromptu will suffer from neglect, for it is the joy of the
+piano student, who turns its presto into a slow, blurred mess of
+badly related rhythms, and its slower movement into a long drawn
+sentimental agony; but in the hands of a master the C sharp minor
+Impromptu is charming, though not of great depth.
+
+The first Impromptu, dedicated to Mlle. la Comtesse de Lobau, was
+published December, 1837; the second, May, 1840; the third,
+dedicated to Madame la Comtesse Esterhazy, February, 1843. Not
+one of these four Impromptus is as naive as Schubert's; they are
+more sophisticated and do not smell of nature and her
+simplicities.
+
+Of the Chopin Valses it has been said that they are dances of the
+soul and not of the body. Their animated rhythms, insouciant airs
+and brilliant, coquettish atmosphere, the true atmosphere of the
+ballroom, seem to smile at Ehlert's poetic exaggeration. The
+valses are the most objective of the Chopin works, and in few of
+them is there more than a hint of the sullen, Sargasson seas of
+the nocturnes and scherzi. Nietzsche's la Gaya Scienza--the Gay
+Science--is beautifully set forth in the fifteen Chopin valses.
+They are less intimate, in the psychic sense, but exquisite
+exemplars of social intimacy and aristocratic abandon. As
+Schumann declared, the dancers of these valses should be at least
+countesses. There is a high-bred reserve despite their
+intoxication, and never a hint of the brawling peasants of
+Beethoven, Grieg, Brahms, Tschaikowsky, and the rest. But little
+of Vienna is in Chopin. Around the measures of this most popular
+of dances he has thrown mystery, allurement, and in them secret
+whisperings and the unconscious sigh. It is going too far not to
+dance to some of this music, for it is putting Chopin away from
+the world he at times loved. Certain of the valses may be danced:
+the first, second, fifth, sixth, and a few others. The dancing
+would be of necessity more picturesque and less conventional than
+required by the average valse, and there must be fluctuations of
+tempo, sudden surprises and abrupt languors. The mazurkas and
+polonaises are danced to-day in Poland, why not the valses?
+Chopin's genius reveals itself in these dance forms, and their
+presentation should be not solely a psychic one. Kullak, stern
+old pedagogue, divides these dances into two groups, the first
+dedicated to "Terpsichore," the second a frame for moods. Chopin
+admitted that he was unable to play valses in the Viennese
+fashion, yet he has contrived to rival Strauss in his own genre.
+Some of these valses are trivial, artificial, most of them are
+bred of candlelight and the swish of silken attire, and a few are
+poetically morbid and stray across the border into the rhythms of
+the mazurka. All of them have been edited to death, reduced to
+the commonplace by vulgar methods of performance, but are
+altogether sprightly, delightful specimens of the composer's
+careless, vagrant and happy moods.
+
+Kullak utters words of warning to the "unquiet" sex regarding the
+habitual neglect of the bass. It should mean something in valse
+tempo, but it usually does not. Nor need it be brutally banged;
+the fundamental tone must be cared for, the subsidiary harmonies
+lightly indicated. The rubato in the valses need not obtrude
+itself as in the mazurkas.
+
+Opus 18, in E flat, was published in June, 1834, and dedicated to
+Mile. Laura Harsford. It is a true ballroom picture, spirited and
+infectious in rhythms. Schumann wrote rhapsodically of it. The D
+flat section has a tang of the later Chopin. There is bustle,
+even chatter, in this valse, which in form and content is
+inferior to op. 34, No. I, A flat. The three valses of this set
+were published December, 1838. There are many editorial
+differences in the A flat Valse, owing to the careless way it was
+copied and pirated. Klindworth and Kullak are the safest for
+dynamic markings. This valse may be danced as far as its
+dithyrhambic coda. Notice in this coda as in many other places
+the debt Schumann owes Chopin for a certain passage in the
+Preambule of his "Carneval."
+
+The next Valse in A minor has a tinge of Sarmatian melancholy,
+indeed, it is one of Chopin's most desponding moods. The episode
+in C rings of the mazurka, and the A major section is of
+exceeding loveliness; Its coda is characteristic. This valse is a
+favorite, and who need wonder? The F major Valse, the last of
+this series, is a whirling, wild dance of atoms. It has the
+perpetuum mobile quality, and older masters would have prolonged
+its giddy arabesques into pages of senseless spinning. It is
+quite long enough as it is. The second theme is better, but the
+appoggiatures are flippant. It buzzes to the finish. Of it is
+related that Chopin's cat sprang upon his keyboard and in its
+feline flight gave him the idea of the first measures. I suppose
+as there is a dog valse, there had to be one for the cat.
+
+But as Rossini would have said, "Ca sent de Scarlatti!"
+
+The A minor Valse was, of the three, Chopin's favorite. When
+Stephen Heller told him this too was his beloved valse, Chopin
+was greatly pleased, inviting the Hungarian composer, Niecks
+relates, to luncheon at the Cafe Riche.
+
+Not improvised in the ballroom as the preceding, yet a marvellous
+epitome is the A flat Valse, op. 42, published July, 1840. It is
+the best rounded specimen of Chopin's experimenting with the
+form. The prolonged trill on E flat, summoning us to the
+ballroom, the suggestive intermingling of rhythms, duple and
+triple, the coquetry, hesitation, passionate avowal and the
+superb coda, with its echoes of evening--have not these episodes
+a charm beyond compare? Only Schumann in certain pages of his
+"Carneval" seizes the secret of young life and love, but his is
+not so finished, so glowing a tableau.
+
+Regarding certain phrasing of this valse Moriz Rosenthal wrote to
+the London "Musical Standard":
+
+  In Music there is Liberty and Fraternity, but seldom Equality,
+  and in music Social Democracy has no voice. Notes have a right
+  to the Aftertone (Nachton), and this right depends upon their
+  role in the key. The Vorhalt (accented passing note) will
+  always have an accent. On this point Riemann must without
+  question be considered right. Likewise the feeling player will
+  mark those notes that introduce the transition to another key.
+  We will consider now our example and set down my accents:
+
+  [Musical score excerpt]
+
+  In the first bar we have the tonic chord of its major key as
+  bass, and are thus not forced to any accent. In the second bar
+  we have the dominant harmony in the bass, and in the treble,
+  C, which falls upon the down beat as Vorhalt to the next tone
+  (B flat), so it must be accented. Also in the fourth bar the B
+  flat is Vorhalt to the B flat, and likewise requires an
+  accent. In bars 6, 7 and 8 the notes, A flat, B flat and C,
+  are without doubt the characteristic ones of the passage, and
+  the E flat has in each case only a secondary significance.
+
+  That a genius like Chopin did not indicate everything
+  accurately is quite explainable. He flew where we merely limp
+  after. Moreover, these accents must be felt rather than
+  executed, with softest touch, and as tenderly as possible.
+
+The D flat Valse--"le valse du petit chien"--is of George Sand's
+own prompting. One evening at her home in the Square d'Orleans,
+she was amused by her little pet dog, chasing its tail. She
+begged Chopin, her little pet pianist, to set the tail to music.
+He did so, and behold the world is richer for this piece. I do
+not dispute the story. It seems well grounded, but then it is so
+ineffably silly! The three valses of this op. 64 were published
+September, 1847, and are respectively dedicated to the Comtesse
+Delphine Potocka, the Baronne Nathaniel de Rothschild and the
+Baronne Bronicka.
+
+I shall not presume to speak of the execution of the D flat
+Valse; like the rich, it is always with us. It is usually taken
+at a meaningless, rapid gait. I have heard it played by a genuine
+Chopin pupil, M. Georges Mathias, and he did not take it
+prestissimo. He ran up the D flat scale, ending with a sforzato
+at the top, and gave a variety of nuance to the composition. The
+cantabile is nearly always delivered with sloppiness of
+sentiment. This valse has been served up in a highly indigestible
+condition for concert purposes by Tausig, Joseffy--whose
+arrangement was the first to be heard here--Theodore Ritter,
+Rosenthal and Isidor Philipp.
+
+The C sharp minor Valse is the most poetic of all. The first
+theme has never been excelled by Chopin for a species of veiled
+melancholy. It is a fascinating, lyrical sorrow, and what Kullak
+calls the psychologic motivation of the first theme in the
+curving figure of the second does not relax the spell. A space of
+clearer skies, warmer, more consoling winds are in the D flat
+interlude, but the spirit of unrest, ennui returns. The elegiac
+imprint is unmistakable in this soul dance. The A flat Valse
+which follows is charming. It is for superior souls who dance
+with intellectual joy, with the joy that comes of making
+exquisite patterns and curves. Out of the salon and from its
+brilliantly lighted spaces the dancers do not wander, do not
+dance into the darkness and churchyard, as Ehlert imagines of
+certain other valses.
+
+The two valses in op. 69, three valses, op. 70, and the two
+remaining valses in E minor and E major, need not detain us. They
+are posthumous. The first of op. 69 in F minor was composed in
+1836; the B minor in 1829; G flat, op. 70, in 1835; F minor in
+1843, and D flat major, 1830. The E major and E minor were
+composed in 1829. Fontana gave these compositions to the world.
+The F minor Valse, op. 69, No. 1, has a charm of its own. Kullak
+prints the Fontana and Klindworth variants. This valse is suavely
+melancholy, but not so melancholy as the B minor of the same
+opus. It recalls in color the B minor mazurka. Very gay and
+sprightly is the G flat Valse, op. 70, No. I. The next in F minor
+has no special physiognomy, while the third in D flat contains,
+as Niecks points out, germs of the op. 42 and the op. 34 Valses.
+It recalls to me the D flat study in the supplementary series.
+The E minor Valse, without opus, is beloved. It is very graceful
+and not without sentiment. The major part is the early Chopin.
+The E major Valse is published in the Mikuli edition. It is
+commonplace, hinting of its composer only in places. Thus ends
+the collection of valses, not Chopin's most signal success in
+art, but a success that has dignified and given beauty to this
+conventional dance form.
+
+
+
+IX. NIGHT AND ITS MELANCHOLY MYSTERIES:--THE NOCTURNES
+
+
+
+Here is the chronology of the nocturnes: Op. 9, three nocturnes,
+January, 1833; op. 15, three nocturnes, January, 1834; op. 27,
+two nocturnes, May, 1836; op. 32, two nocturnes, December, 1837;
+op. 37, two nocturnes, May, 1840; op. 48, two nocturnes,
+November, 1841; op. 55, two nocturnes, August, 1844; op. 62, two
+nocturnes, September, 1846. In addition there is a nocturne
+written in 1828 and published by Fontana, with the opus number
+72, No. 2, and the lately discovered one in C sharp minor,
+written when Chopin was young and published in 1895. This
+completes the nocturne list, but following Niecks' system of
+formal grouping I include the Berceuse and Barcarolle as full
+fledged specimens of nocturnes.
+
+John Field has been described as the forerunner of Chopin. The
+limpid style of this pupil and friend of Clementi, his beautiful
+touch and finished execution, were certainly admired and imitated
+by the Pole. Field's nocturnes are now neglected--so curious are
+Time's caprices--and without warrant, for not only is Field the
+creator of the form, but in both his concertos and nocturnes he
+has written charming, sweet and sane music. He rather patronized
+Chopin, for whose melancholy pose he had no patience. "He has a
+talent of the hospital," growled Field in the intervals between
+his wine drinking, pipe smoking and the washing of his linen--the
+latter economical habit he contracted from Clementi. There is
+some truth in his stricture. Chopin, seldom exuberantly cheerful,
+is morbidly sad and complaining in many of the nocturnes. The
+most admired of his compositions, with the exception of the
+valses, they are in several instances his weakest. Yet he
+ennobled the form originated by Field, giving it dramatic
+breadth, passion and even grandeur. Set against Field's naive and
+idyllic specimens, Chopin's efforts are often too bejewelled for
+true simplicity, too lugubrious, too tropical--Asiatic is a
+better word--and they have the exotic savor of the heated
+conservatory, and not the fresh scent of the flowers reared in
+the open by the less poetic Irishman. And, then, Chopin is so
+desperately sentimental in some of these compositions. They are
+not altogether to the taste of this generation; they seem to be
+suffering from anaemia. However, there are a few noble nocturnes;
+and methods of performance may have much to answer for the
+sentimentalizing of some others. More vigor, a quickening of the
+time-pulse, and a less languishing touch will rescue them from
+lush sentiment. Chopin loved the night and its soft mysteries as
+much as did Robert Louis Stevenson, and his nocturnes are true
+night pieces, some with agitated, remorseful countenance, others
+seen in profile only, while many are whisperings at dusk. Most of
+them are called feminine, a term psychologically false. The
+poetic side of men of genius is feminine, and in Chopin the
+feminine note was over emphasized--at times it was almost
+hysterical--particularly in these nocturnes.
+
+The Scotch have a proverb: "She wove her shroud, and wore it in
+her lifetime." In the nocturnes the shroud is not far away.
+Chopin wove his to the day of his death, and he wore it sometimes
+but not always, as many think.
+
+One of the most elegiac of his nocturnes is the first in B flat
+minor. It is one of three, op. 9, dedicated to Mme. Camille
+Pleyel. Of far more significance than its two companions, it is,
+for some reason, neglected. While I am far from agreeing with
+those who hold that in the early Chopin all his genius was
+completely revealed, yet this nocturne is as striking as the
+last, for it is at once sensuous and dramatic, melancholy and
+lovely. Emphatically a mood, it is best heard on a gray day of
+the soul, when the times are out of joint; its silken tones will
+bring a triste content as they pour out upon one's hearing. The
+second section in octaves is of exceeding charm. As a melody it
+has all the lurking voluptuousness and mystic crooning of its
+composer. There is flux and reflux throughout, passion peeping
+out in the coda.
+
+The E flat nocturne is graceful, shallow of content, but if it is
+played with purity of touch and freedom from sentimentality it is
+not nearly so banal as it usually seems. It is Field-like,
+therefore play it as did Rubinstein, in a Field-like fashion.
+
+Hadow calls attention to the "remote and recondite modulations"
+in the twelfth bar, the chromatic double notes. For him they only
+are one real modulation, "the rest of the passage is an
+iridescent play of color, an effect of superficies, not an effect
+of substance." It was the E flat nocturne that unloosed
+Rellstab's critical wrath in the "Iris." Of it he wrote: "Where
+Field smiles, Chopin makes a grinning grimace; where Field sighs,
+Chopin groans; where Field shrugs his shoulders, Chopin twists
+his whole body; where Field puts some seasoning into the food,
+Chopin empties a handful of cayenne pepper. In short, if one
+holds Field's charming romances before a distorting, concave
+mirror, so that every delicate impression becomes a coarse one,
+one gets Chopin's work. We implore Mr. Chopin to return to
+nature."
+
+Rellstab might have added that while Field was often commonplace,
+Chopin never was. Rather is to be preferred the sound judgment of
+J. W. Davison, the English critic and husband of the pianist,
+Arabella Goddard. Of the early works he wrote:
+
+  Commonplace is instinctively avoided in all the works of
+  Chopin--a stale cadence or a trite progression--a hum-drum
+  subject or a worn-out passage--a vulgar twist of the melody or
+  a hackneyed sequence--a meagre harmony or an unskilful
+  counterpoint--may in vain be looked for throughout the entire
+  range of his compositions, the prevailing characteristics of
+  which are a feeling as uncommon as beautiful; a treatment as
+  original as felicitous; a melody and a harmony as new, fresh,
+  vigorous and striking as they are utterly unexpected and out
+  of the original track. In taking up one of the works of Chopin
+  you are entering, as it were, a fairyland untrodden by human
+  footsteps--a path hitherto unfrequented but by the great
+  composer himself.
+
+Gracious, even coquettish, is the first part of the B major
+Nocturne of this opus. Well knit, the passionate intermezzo has
+the true dramatic Chopin ring. It should be taken alla breve. The
+ending is quite effective.
+
+I do not care much for the F major Nocturne, op. 15, No. I. The
+opus is dedicated to Ferdinand Hiller. Ehlert speaks of "the
+ornament in triplets with which he brushes the theme as with the
+gentle wings of a butterfly," and then discusses the artistic
+value of the ornament which may be so profitably studied in the
+Chopin music. "From its nature, the ornament can only beautify
+the beautiful." Music like Chopin's, "with its predominating
+elegance, could not forego ornament. But he surely did not
+purchase it of a jeweller; he designed it himself, with a
+delicate hand. He was the first to surround a note with diamond
+facets and to weave the rushing floods of his emotions with the
+silver beams of the moonlight. In his nocturnes there is a
+glimmering as of distant stars. From these dreamy, heavenly gems
+he has borrowed many a line. The Chopin nocturne is a dramatized
+ornament. And why may not Art speak for once in such symbols? In
+the much admired F sharp major Nocturne the principal theme makes
+its appearance so richly decorated that one cannot avoid
+imagining that his fancy confined itself to the Arabesque form
+for the expression of its poetical sentiments. Even the middle
+part borders upon what I should call the tragic style of
+ornament. The ground thought is hidden behind a dense veil, but a
+veil, too, can be an ornament."
+
+In another place Ehlert thinks that the F sharp major Nocturne
+seems inseparable from champagne and truffles. It is certainly more
+elegant and dramatic than the one in F major, which precedes it.
+That, with the exception of the middle part in F minor, is weak,
+although rather pretty and confiding. The F sharp Nocturne is
+popular. The "doppio movemento" is extremely striking and the
+entire piece is saturated with young life, love and feelings of
+good will to men. Read Kleczynski. The third nocturne of the three
+is in G minor, and contains some fine, picturesque writing. Kullak
+does not find in it aught of the fantastic. The languid,
+earth-weary voice of the opening and the churchly refrain of the
+chorale, is not this fantastic contrast! This nocturne contains in
+solution all that Chopin developed later in a nocturne of the same
+key. But I think the first stronger--its lines are simpler, more
+primitive, its coloring less complicated, yet quite as rich and
+gloomy. Of it Chopin said: "After Hamlet," but changed his mind.
+"Let them guess for themselves," was his sensible conclusion.
+Kullak's programme has a conventional ring. It is the lament for
+the beloved one, the lost Lenore, with the consolation of religion
+thrown in. The "bell-tones" of the plain chant bring to my mind
+little that consoles, although the piece ends in the major mode. It
+is like Foe's "Ulalume." A complete and tiny tone poem, Rubinstein
+made much of it. In the fourth bar and for three bars there is a
+held note F, and I heard the Russian virtuoso, by some miraculous
+means, keep this tone prolonged. The tempo is abnormally slow, and
+the tone is not in a position where the sustaining pedal can
+sensibly help it. Yet under Rubinstein's fingers it swelled and
+diminished, and went singing into D, as if the instrument were an
+organ. I suspected the inaudible changing of fingers on the note or
+a sustaining pedal. It was wonderfully done.
+
+The next nocturne, op. 27, No. I, brings us before a masterpiece.
+With the possible exception of the C minor Nocturne, this one in
+the sombre key of C sharp minor is the great essay in the form.
+Kleczynski finds it "a description of a calm night at Venice,
+where, after a scene of murder, the sea closes over a corpse and
+continues to serve as a mirror to the moonlight." This is
+melodramatic. Willeby analyzes it at length with the scholarly
+fervor of an English organist. He finds the accompaniment to be
+"mostly on a double pedal," and remarks that "higher art than
+this one could not have if simplicity of means be a factor of
+high art." The wide-meshed figure of the left hand supports a
+morbid, persistent melody that grates on the nerves. From the piu
+mosso the agitation increases, and here let me call to your
+notice the Beethoven-ish quality of these bars, which continue
+until the change of signature. There is a surprising climax
+followed by sunshine and favor in the D flat part, then after
+mounting dissonances a bold succession of octaves returns to the
+feverish plaint of the opening. Kullak speaks of a resemblance to
+Meyerbeer's song, Le Moine. The composition reaches exalted
+states. Its psychological tension is so great at times as to
+border on a pathological condition. There is unhealthy power in
+this nocturne, which is seldom interpreted with sinister
+subtlety. Henry T. Finck rightfully thinks it "embodies a greater
+variety of emotion and more genuine dramatic spirit on four pages
+than many operas on four hundred."
+
+The companion picture in D flat, op. 27, No. 2, has, as
+Karasowski writes, "a profusion of delicate fioriture." It really
+contains but one subject, and is a song of the sweet summer of
+two souls, for there is obvious meaning in the duality of voices.
+Often heard in the concert room, this nocturne gives us a surfeit
+of sixths and thirds of elaborate ornamentation and monotone of
+mood. Yet it is a lovely, imploring melody, and harmonically most
+interesting. A curious marking, and usually overlooked by
+pianists, is the crescendo and con forza of the cadenza. This is
+obviously erroneous. The theme, which occurs three times, should
+first be piano, then pianissimo, and lastly forte. This opus is
+dedicated to the Comtesse d'Appony.
+
+The best part of the next nocturne,--B major, op. 32, No. I,
+dedicated to Madame de Billing--is the coda. It is in the minor
+and is like the drum-beat of tragedy. The entire ending, a stormy
+recitative, is in stern contrast to the dreamy beginning. Kullak
+in the first bar of the last line uses a G; Fontana, F sharp, and
+Klindworth the same as Kullak. The nocturne that follows in A
+flat is a reversion to the Field type, the opening recalling that
+master's B flat Nocturne. The F minor section of Chopin's
+broadens out to dramatic reaches, but as an entirety this opus is
+a little tiresome. Nor do I admire inordinately the Nocturne in G
+minor, op. 37, No. 1. It has a complaining tone, and the choral
+is not noteworthy. This particular part, so Chopin's pupil
+Gutmann declared, is taken too slowly, the composer having
+forgotten to mark the increased tempo. But the Nocturne in G, op.
+37, No. 2, is charming. Painted with Chopin's most ethereal
+brush, without the cloying splendors of the one in D flat, the
+double sixths, fourths and thirds are magically euphonious. The
+second subject, I agree with Karasowski, is the most beautiful
+melody Chopin ever wrote. It is in true barcarolle vein; and most
+subtle are the shifting harmonic hues. Pianists usually take the
+first part too fast, the second too slowly, transforming this
+poetic composition into an etude. As Schumann wrote of this opus:
+
+"The two nocturnes differ from his earlier ones chiefly through
+greater simplicity of decoration and more quiet grace. We know
+Chopin's fondness in general for spangles, gold trinkets and
+pearls. He has already changed and grown older; decoration he
+still loves, but it is of a more judicious kind, behind which the
+nobility of the poetry shimmers through with all the more
+loveliness: indeed, taste, the finest, must be granted him."
+
+Both numbers of this opus are without dedication. They are the
+offspring of the trip to Majorca.
+
+Niecks, writing of the G major Nocturne, adjures us "not to tarry
+too long in the treacherous atmosphere of this Capua--it
+bewitches and unmans." Kleczynski calls the one in G minor
+"homesickness," while the celebrated Nocturne in C minor "is the
+tale of a still greater grief told in an agitated recitando;
+celestial harps"--ah! I hear the squeak of the old romantic
+machinery--"come to bring one ray of hope, which is powerless in
+its endeavor to calm the wounded soul, which...sends forth to
+heaven a cry of deepest anguish." It doubtless has its despairing
+movement, this same Nocturne in C minor, op. 48, No. I, but
+Karasowski is nearer right when he calls it "broad and most
+imposing with its powerful intermediate movement, a thorough
+departure from the nocturne style." Willeby finds it "sickly and
+labored," and even Niecks does not think it should occupy a
+foremost place among its companions. The ineluctable fact remains
+that this is the noblest nocturne of them all. Biggest in
+conception it seems a miniature music drama. It requires the
+grand manner to read it adequately, and the doppio movemento is
+exciting to a dramatic degree. I fully agree with Kullak that too
+strict adherence to the marking of this section produces the
+effect of an "inartistic precipitation" which robs the movement
+of clarity. Kleczynski calls the work The Contrition of a Sinner
+and devotes several pages to its elucidation. De Lenz chats most
+entertainingly with Tausig about it. Indeed, an imposing march of
+splendor is the second subject in C. A fitting pendant is this
+work to the C sharp minor Nocturne. Both have the heroic quality,
+both are free from mawkishness and are of the greater Chopin, the
+Chopin of the mode masculine.
+
+Niecks makes a valuable suggestion: "In playing these nocturnes--
+op. 48--there occurred to me a remark of Schumann's, when he
+reviewed some nocturnes by Count Wielhorski. He said that the
+quick middle movements which Chopin frequently introduced into
+his nocturnes are often weaker than his first conceptions;
+meaning the first portions of his nocturnes. Now, although the
+middle part in the present instances are, on the contrary, slower
+movements, yet the judgment holds good; at least with respect to
+the first nocturne, the middle part of which has nothing to
+recommend it but a full, sonorous instrumentation, if I may use
+this word in speaking of one instrument. The middle part of the
+second--D flat, molto piu lento--however, is much finer; in it we
+meet again, as we did in some other nocturnes, with soothing,
+simple chord progressions. When Gutmann studied the C sharp minor
+Nocturne with Chopin, the master told him that the middle section-
+-the molto piu lento in D flat major--should be played as a
+recitative. 'A tyrant commands'--the first two chords--he said,
+'and the other asks for mercy.'"
+
+Of course Niecks means the F sharp minor, not the C sharp minor
+Nocturne, op. 48, No. 2, dedicated, with the C minor, to Mlle. L.
+Duperre.
+
+Opus 55, two nocturnes in F minor and E flat major, need not
+detain us long. The first is familiar. Kleczynski devotes a page
+or more to its execution. He seeks to vary the return of the
+chief subject with nuances--as would an artistic singer the
+couplets of a classic song. There are "cries of despair" in it,
+but at last a "feeling of hope." Kullak writes of the last
+measures: "Thank God--the goal is reached!" It is the relief of a
+major key after prolonged wanderings in the minor. It is a nice
+nocturne, neat in its sorrow, yet not epoch-making. The one
+following has "the impression of an improvisation." It has also
+the merit of being seldom heard. These two nocturnes are
+dedicated to Mlle. J. W. Stirling.
+
+Opus 62 brings us to a pair in B major and E major inscribed to
+Madame de Konneritz. The first, the Tuberose Nocturne, is faint
+with a sick, rich odor. The climbing trellis of notes, that so
+unexpectedly leads to the tonic, is charming and the chief tune
+has charm, a fruity charm. It is highly ornate, its harmonies
+dense, the entire surface overrun with wild ornamentation and a
+profusion of trills. The piece--the third of its sort in the key
+of B--is not easy. Mertke gives the following explication of the
+famous chain trills:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+Although this nocturne is luxuriant in style, it deserves warmer
+praise than is accorded it. Irregular as its outline is, its
+troubled lyrism is appealing, is melting, and the A flat portion,
+with its hesitating, timid accents, has great power of
+attraction. The E major Nocturne has a bardic ring. Its song is
+almost declamatory and not at all sentimental--unless so
+distorted--as Niecks would have us imagine. The intermediate
+portion is wavering and passionate, like the middle of the F
+sharp major Nocturne. It shows no decrease in creative vigor or
+lyrical fancy. The Klindworth version differs from the original,
+as an examination of the following examples will show, the upper
+being Chopin's:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+The posthumous nocturne in E minor, composed in 1827, is weak and
+uninteresting. Moreover, it contains some very un-Chopin-like
+modulations. The recently discovered nocturne in C sharp minor is
+hardly a treasure trove. It is vague and reminiscent The
+following note was issued by its London publishers, Ascherberg &
+Co.:
+
+  The first question, suggested by the announcement of a new
+  posthumous composition of Chopin's, will be "What proof is
+  there of its authenticity?" To musicians and amateurs who
+  cannot recognize the beautiful Nocturne in C sharp minor as
+  indeed the work of Chopin, it may in the first place be
+  pointed out that the original manuscript (of which a facsimile
+  is given on the title-page) is in Chopin's well-known
+  handwriting, and, secondly, that the composition, which is
+  strikingly characteristic, was at once accepted as the work of
+  Chopin by the distinguished composer and pianist Balakireff,
+  who played it for the first time in public at the Chopin
+  Commemoration Concert, held in the autumn of 1894 at Zelazowa
+  Wola, and afterward at Warsaw. This nocturne was addressed by
+  Chopin to his sister Louise, at Warsaw, in a letter from
+  Paris, and was written soon after the production of the two
+  lovely piano concertos, when Chopin was still a very young
+  man. It contains a quotation from his most admired Concerto in
+  F minor, and a brief reference to the charming song known as
+  the Maiden's Wish, two of his sister's favorite melodies. The
+  manuscript of the nocturne was supposed to have been destroyed
+  in the sacking of the Zamojski Palace, at Warsaw, toward the
+  end of the insurrection of 1863, but it was discovered quite
+  recently among papers of various kinds in the possession of a
+  Polish gentleman, a great collector, whose son offered Mr.
+  Polinski the privilege of selecting from such papers. His
+  choice was three manuscripts of Chopin's, one of them being
+  this nocturne. A letter from Mr. Polinski on the subject of
+  this nocturne is in the possession of Miss Janotha.
+
+Is this the nocturne of which Tausig spoke to his pupil Joseffy
+as belonging to the Master's "best period," or did he refer to
+the one in E minor?
+
+The Berceuse, op. 57, published June, 1845, and dedicated to
+Mlle. Elise Gavard, is the very sophistication of the art of
+musical ornamentation. It is built on a tonic and dominant bass--
+the triad of the tonic and the chord of the dominant seventh. A
+rocking theme is set over this basso ostinato and the most
+enchanting effects are produced. The rhythm never alters in the
+bass, and against this background, the monotone of a dark, gray
+sky, the composer arranges an astonishing variety of fireworks,
+some florid, some subdued, but all delicate in tracery and
+design. Modulations from pigeon egg blue to Nile green, most
+misty and subtle modulations, dissolve before one's eyes, and for
+a moment the sky is peppered with tiny stars in doubles, each
+independently tinted. Within a small segment of the chromatic bow
+Chopin has imprisoned new, strangely dissonant colors. It is a
+miracle; and after the drawn-out chord of the dominant seventh
+and the rain of silvery fire ceases one realizes that the whole
+piece is a delicious illusion, but an ululation in the key of D
+flat, the apotheosis of pyrotechnical colorature.
+
+Niecks quotes Alexandre Dumas fils, who calls the Berceuse "muted
+music," but introduces a Turkish bath comparison, which crushes
+the sentiment. Mertke shows the original and Klindworth's reading
+of a certain part of the Berceuse, adding a footnote to the
+examples:
+
+[Two musical score excerpts from Op. 57, one from the original
+version, one from Klindworth's edition]
+
+[Footnote:  Das tr (flat) der Originale (Scholtz tr natural-flat)
+zeigt, dass Ch. den Triller mit Ganzton und nach Mikuli den
+Trilleranfang mit Hauptton wollte.] The Barcarolle, op. 60,
+published September, 1846, is another highly elaborated work.
+Niecks must be quoted here: "One day Tausig, the great piano
+virtuoso, promised W. de Lenz to play him Chopin's Barcarolle,
+adding, 'That is a performance which must not be undertaken
+before more than two persons. I shall play you my own self. I
+love the piece, but take it rarely.' Lenz got the music, but it
+did not please him--it seemed to him a long movement in the
+nocturne style, a Babel of figuration on a lightly laid
+foundation. But he found that he had made a mistake, and, after
+hearing it played by Tausig, confessed that the virtuoso had
+infused into the 'nine pages of enervating music, of one and the
+same long-breathed rhythm, so much interest, so much motion, so
+much action,' that he regretted the long piece was not longer."
+
+Tausig's conception of the barcarolle was this: "There are two
+persons concerned in the affair; it is a love scene in a discrete
+gondola; let us say this mise-en-scene is the symbol of a lover's
+meeting generally."
+
+"This is expressed in thirds and sixths; the dualism of two
+notes--persons--is maintained throughout; all is two-voiced, two-
+souled. In this modulation in C sharp major--superscribed dolce
+sfogato--there are kiss and embrace! This is evident! When, after
+three bars of introduction, the theme, 'lightly rocking in the
+bass solo,' enters in the fourth, this theme is nevertheless made
+use of throughout the whole fabric only as an accompaniment, and
+ON this the cantilena in two parts is laid; we have thus a
+continuous, tender dialogue."
+
+The Barcarolle is a nocturne painted on a large canvas, with
+larger brushes. It has Italian color in spots--Schumann said
+that, melodically, Chopin sometimes "leans over Germany into
+Italy"--and is a masterly one in sentiment, pulsating with
+amorousness. To me it sounds like a lament for the splendors, now
+vanished, of Venice the Queen. In bars 8, 9, and 10, counting
+backward, Louis Ehlert finds obscurities in the middle voices. It
+is dedicated to the Baronne de Stockhausen.
+
+The nocturnes--including the Berceuse and Barcarolle--should
+seldom be played in public and not the public of a large hall.
+Something of Chopin's delicate, tender warmth and spiritual voice
+is lost in larger spaces. In a small auditorium, and from the
+fingers of a sympathetic pianist, the nocturnes should be heard,
+that their intimate, night side may be revealed. Many are like
+the music en sourdine of Paul Verlaine in his "Chanson D'Automne"
+or "Le Piano que Baise une Main Frele." They are essentially for
+the twilight, for solitary enclosures, where their still,
+mysterious tones--"silent thunder in the leaves" as Yeats sings--
+become eloquent and disclose the poetry and pain of their
+creator.
+
+
+
+X. THE BALLADES:--FAERY DRAMAS
+
+
+
+W. H. Hadow has said some pertinent things about Chopin in
+"Studies in Modern Music." Yet we cannot accept unconditionally
+his statement that "in structure Chopin is a child playing with a
+few simple types, and almost helpless as soon as he advances
+beyond them; in phraseology he is a master whose felicitous
+perfection of style is one of the abiding treasures of the art."
+
+Chopin then, according to Hadow, is no "builder of the lofty
+rhyme," but the poet of the single line, the maker of the phrase
+exquisite. This is hardly comprehensive. With the more complex,
+classical types of the musical organism Chopin had little
+sympathy, but he contrived nevertheless to write two movements of
+a piano sonata that are excellent--the first half of the B flat
+minor Sonata. The idealized dance forms he preferred; the
+Polonaise, Mazurka and Valse were already there for him to
+handle, but the Ballade was not. Here he is not imitator, but
+creator. Not loosely-jointed, but compact structures glowing with
+genius and presenting definite unity of form and expression, are
+the ballades--commonly written in six-eight and six-four time.
+"None of Chopin's compositions surpasses in masterliness of form
+and beauty and poetry of contents his ballades. In them he
+attains the acme of his power as an artist," remarks Niecks.
+
+I am ever reminded of Andrew Lang's lines, "the thunder and surge
+of the Odyssey," when listening to the G minor Ballade, op. 23.
+It is the Odyssey of Chopin's soul. That 'cello-like largo with
+its noiseless suspension stays us for a moment in the courtyard
+of Chopin's House Beautiful. Then, told in his most dreamy tones,
+the legend begins. As in some fabulous tales of the Genii this
+Ballade discloses surprising and delicious things. There is the
+tall lily in the fountain that nods to the sun. It drips in
+cadenced monotone and its song is repeated on the lips of the
+slender-hipped girl with the eyes of midnight--and so might I
+weave for you a story of what I see in the Ballade and you would
+be aghast or puzzled. With such a composition any programme could
+be sworn to, even the silly story of the Englishman who haunted
+Chopin, beseeching him to teach him this Ballade. That Chopin had
+a programme, a definite one, there can be no doubt; but he has,
+wise artist, left us no clue beyond Mickiewicz's, the Polish bard
+Lithuanian poems. In Leipzig, Karasowski relates, that when
+Schumann met Chopin, the pianist confessed having "been incited
+to the creation of the ballades by the poetry" of his fellow
+countryman. The true narrative tone is in this symmetrically
+constructed Ballade, the most spirited, most daring work of
+Chopin, according to Schumann. Louis Ehlert says of the four
+Ballades: "Each one differs entirely from the others, and they
+have but one thing in common--their romantic working out and the
+nobility of their motives. Chopin relates in them, not like one
+who communicates something really experienced; it is as though he
+told what never took place, but what has sprung up in his inmost
+soul, the anticipation of something longed for. They may contain
+a strong element of national woe, much outwardly expressed and
+inwardly burning rage over the sufferings of his native land; yet
+they do not carry with a positive reality like that which in a
+Beethoven Sonata will often call words to our lips." Which means
+that Chopin was not such a realist as Beethoven? Ehlert is one of
+the few sympathetic German Chopin commentators, yet he did not
+always indicate the salient outlines of his art. Only the Slav
+may hope to understand Chopin thoroughly. But these Ballades are
+more truly touched by the universal than any other of his works.
+They belong as much to the world as to Poland.
+
+The G minor Ballade after "Konrad Wallenrod," is a logical, well
+knit and largely planned composition. The closest parallelism may
+be detected in its composition of themes. Its second theme in E
+flat is lovely in line, color and sentiment. The return of the
+first theme in A minor and the quick answer in E of the second
+are evidences of Chopin's feeling for organic unity. Development,
+as in strict cyclic forms, there is not a little. After the
+cadenza, built on a figure of wavering tonality, a valse-like
+theme emerges and enjoys a capricious, butterfly existence. It is
+fascinating. Passage work of an etherealized character leads to
+the second subject, now augmented and treated with a broad brush.
+The first questioning theme is heard again, and with a
+perpendicular roar the presto comes upon us. For two pages the
+dynamic energy displayed by the composer is almost appalling. A
+whirlwind I have called it elsewhere. It is a storm of the
+emotions, muscular in its virility. I remember de Pachmann--a
+close interpreter of certain sides of Chopin--playing this coda
+piano, pianissimo and prestissimo. The effect was strangely
+irritating to the nerves, and reminded me of a tornado seen from
+the wrong end of an opera glass. According to his own lights the
+Russian virtuoso was right: his strength was not equal to the
+task, and so, imitating Chopin, he topsy-turvied the shading. It
+recalled Moscheles' description of Chopin's playing: "His piano
+is so softly breathed forth that he does not require any strong
+forte to produce the wished for contrast."
+
+This G minor Ballade was published in June, 1836, and is
+dedicated to Baron Stockhausen. The last bar of the introduction
+has caused some controversy. Gutmann, Mikuli and other pupils
+declare for the E flat; Klindworth and Kullak use it. Xaver
+Scharwenka has seen fit to edit Klindworth, and gives a D natural
+in the Augener edition. That he is wrong internal testimony
+abundantly proves. Even Willeby, who personally prefers the D
+natural, thinks Chopin intended the E flat, and quotes a similar
+effect twenty-eight bars later. He might have added that the
+entire composition contains examples--look at the first bar of
+the valse episode in the bass. As Niecks thinks, "This dissonant
+E flat may be said to be the emotional keynote of the whole poem.
+It is a questioning thought that, like a sudden pain, shoots
+through mind and body."
+
+There is other and more confirmatory evidence. Ferdinand Von
+Inten, a New York pianist, saw the original Chopin manuscript at
+Stuttgart. It was the property of Professor Lebert (Levy), since
+deceased, and in it, without any question, stands the much
+discussed E flat. This testimony is final. The D natural robs the
+bar of all meaning. It is insipid, colorless.
+
+Kullak gives 60 to the half note at the moderato. On the third
+page, third bar, he uses F natural in the treble. So does
+Klindworth, although F sharp may be found in some editions. On
+the last page, second bar, first line, Kullak writes the passage
+beginning with E flat in eighth notes, Klindworth in sixteenths.
+The close is very striking, full of the splendors of glancing
+scales and shrill octave progressions. "It would inspire a poet
+to write words to it," said Robert Schumann.
+
+"Perhaps the most touching of all that Chopin has written is the
+tale of the F major Ballade. I have witnessed children lay aside
+their games to listen thereto. It appears like some fairy tale
+that has become music. The four-voiced part has such a clearness
+withal, it seems as if warm spring breezes were waving the lithe
+leaves of the palm tree. How soft and sweet a breath steals over
+the senses and the heart!"
+
+And how difficult it seems to be to write of Chopin except in
+terms of impassioned prose! Louis Ehlert, a romantic in feeling
+and a classicist in theory, is the writer of the foregoing. The
+second Ballade, although dedicated to Robert Schumann, did not
+excite his warmest praise. "A less artistic work than the first,"
+he wrote, "but equally fantastic and intellectual. Its
+impassioned episodes seem to have been afterward inserted. I
+recollect very well that when Chopin played this Ballade for me
+it finished in F major; it now closes in A minor." Willeby gives
+its key as F minor. It is really in the keys of F major--A minor.
+Chopin's psychology was seldom at fault. A major ending would
+have crushed this extraordinary tone-poem, written, Chopin
+admits, under the direct inspiration of Adam Mickiewicz's "Le Lac
+de Willis." Willeby accepts Schumann's dictum of the inferiority
+of this Ballade to its predecessor. Niecks does not. Niecks is
+quite justified in asking how "two such wholly dissimilar things
+can be compared and weighed in this fashion."
+
+In truth they cannot. "The second Ballade possesses beauties in
+no way inferior to those of the first," he continues. "What can
+be finer than the simple strains of the opening section! They
+sound as if they had been drawn from the people's store-house of
+song. The entrance of the presto surprises, and seems out of
+keeping with what precedes; but what we hear after the return of
+tempo primo--the development of those simple strains, or rather
+the cogitations on them--justifies the presence of the presto.
+The second appearance of the latter leads to an urging, restless
+coda in A minor, which closes in the same key and pianissimo with
+a few bars of the simple, serene, now veiled first strain."
+
+Rubinstein bore great love for this second Ballade. This is what
+it meant for him: "Is it possible that the interpreter does not
+feel the necessity of representing to his audience--a field
+flower caught by a gust of wind, a caressing of the flower by the
+wind; the resistance of the flower, the stormy struggle of the
+wind; the entreaty of the flower, which at last lies there
+broken; and paraphrased--the field flower a rustic maiden, the
+wind a knight."
+
+I can find "no lack of affinity" between the andantino and
+presto. The surprise is a dramatic one, withal rudely vigorous.
+Chopin's robust treatment of the first theme results in a strong
+piece of craftmanship. The episodical nature of this Ballade is
+the fruit of the esoteric moods of its composer. It follows a
+hidden story, and has the quality--as the second Impromptu in F
+sharp--of great, unpremeditated art. It shocks one by its abrupt
+but by no means fantastic transitions. The key color is
+changeful, and the fluctuating themes are well contrasted. It was
+written at Majorca while the composer was only too noticeably
+disturbed in body and soul.
+
+Presto con fuoco Chopin marks the second section. Kullak gives 84
+to the quarter, and for the opening 66 to the quarter. He also
+wisely marks crescendos in the bass at the first thematic
+development. He prefers the E--as does Klindworth--nine bars
+before the return of the presto. At the eighth bar, after this
+return, Kullak adheres to the E instead of F at the beginning of
+the bar, treble clef. Klindworth indicates both. Nor does Kullak
+follow Mikuli in using a D in the coda. He prefers a D sharp,
+instead of a natural. I wish the second Ballade were played
+oftener in public. It is quite neglected for the third in A flat,
+which, as Ehlert says, has the voice of the people.
+
+This Ballade, the "Undine" of Mickiewicz, published November,
+1841, and dedicated to Mlle. P. de Noailles, is too well known to
+analyze. It is the schoolgirls' delight, who familiarly toy with
+its demon, seeing only favor and prettiness in its elegant
+measures. In it "the refined, gifted Pole, who is accustomed to
+move in the most distinguished circles of the French capital, is
+pre-eminently to be recognized." Thus Schumann. Forsooth, it is
+aristocratic, gay, graceful, piquant, and also something more.
+Even in its playful moments there is delicate irony, a spiritual
+sporting with graver and more passionate emotions. Those broken
+octaves which usher in each time the second theme, with its
+fascinating, infectious, rhythmical lilt, what an ironically
+joyous fillip they give the imagination!
+
+"A coquettish grace--if we accept by this expression that half
+unconscious toying with the power that charms and fires, that
+follows up confession with reluctance--seems the very essence of
+Chopin's being."
+
+"It becomes a difficult task to transcribe the easy transitions,
+full of an irresistible charm, with which he portrays Love's
+game. Who will not recall the memorable passage in the A flat
+Ballade, where the right hand alone takes up the dotted eighths
+after the sustained chord of the sixth of A flat? Could a lover's
+confusion be more deliciously enhanced by silence and
+hesitation?" Ehlert above evidently sees a ballroom picture of
+brilliancy, with the regulation tender avowal. The episodes of
+this Ballade are so attenuated of any grosser elements that none
+but psychical meanings should be read into them.
+
+The disputed passage is on the fifth page of the Kullak edition,
+after the trills. A measure is missing in Kullak, who, like
+Klindworth, gives it in a footnote. To my mind this repetition
+adds emphasis, although it is a formal blur. And what an
+irresistible moment it is, this delightful territory, before the
+darker mood of the C sharp minor part is reached! Niecks becomes
+enthusiastic over the insinuation and persuasion of this
+composition: "the composer showing himself in a fundamentally
+caressing mood." The ease with which the entire work is floated
+proves that Chopin in mental health was not daunted by larger
+forms. There is moonlight in this music, and some sunlight, too.
+The prevailing moods are coquetry and sweet contentment.
+
+Contrapuntal skill is shown in the working out section. Chopin
+always wears his learning lightly; it does not oppress us. The
+inverted dominant pedal in the C sharp minor episode reveals,
+with the massive coda, a great master. Kullak suggests some
+variants. He uses the transient shake in the third bar, instead
+of the appoggiatura which Klindworth prefers. Klindworth attacks
+the trill on the second page with the upper tone--A flat. Kullak
+and Mertke, in the Steingraber edition, play the passage in this
+manner: [Musical score excerpt from the original version of the
+Op. 47. Ballade]
+
+Here is Klindworth:
+
+[Musical score excerpt of the same passage in Klindworth's
+edition]
+
+Of the fourth and glorious Ballade in F minor dedicated to
+Baronne C. de Rothschild I could write a volume. It is Chopin in
+his most reflective, yet lyric mood. Lyrism is the keynote of the
+work, a passionate lyrism, with a note of self-absorption,
+suppressed feeling--truly Slavic, this shyness!--and a
+concentration that is remarkable even for Chopin. The narrative
+tone is missing after the first page, a rather moody and
+melancholic pondering usurping its place. It is the mood of a man
+who examines with morbid, curious insistence the malady that is
+devouring his soul. This Ballade is the companion of the
+Fantaisie-Polonaise, but as a Ballade "fully worthy of its
+sisters," to quote Niecks. It was published December, 1843. The
+theme in F minor has the elusive charm of a slow, mournful valse,
+that returns twice, bejewelled, yet never overladen. Here is the
+very apotheosis of the ornament; the figuration sets off the idea
+in dazzling relief. There are episodes, transitional passage
+work, distinguished by novelty and the finest art. At no place is
+there display for display's sake. The cadenza in A is a pause for
+breath, rather a sigh, before the rigorously logical imitations
+which presage the re-entrance of the theme. How wonderfully the
+introduction comes in for its share of thoughtful treatment. What
+a harmonist! And consider the D flat scale runs in the left hand;
+how suave, how satisfying is this page. I select for especial
+admiration this modulatory passage:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+And what could be more evocative of dramatic suspense than the
+sixteen bars before the mad, terrifying coda! How the solemn
+splendors of the half notes weave an atmosphere of mystic
+tragedy! This soul-suspension recalls Maeterlinck. Here is the
+episode:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+A story of de Lenz that lends itself to quotation is about this
+piece:
+
+  Tausig impressed me deeply in his interpretation of Chopin's
+  Ballade in F minor. It has three requirements: The
+  comprehension of the programme as a whole,--for Chopin writes
+  according to a programme, to the situations in life best known
+  to, and understood by himself; and in an adequate manner; the
+  conquest of the stupendous difficulties in complicated
+  figures, winding harmonies and formidable passages.
+
+  Tausig fulfilled these requirements, presenting an embodiment
+  of the signification and the feeling of the work. The Ballade--
+  andante con moto, six-eighths--begins in the major key of the
+  dominant; the seventh measure comes to a stand before a
+  fermata on C major. The easy handling of these seven measures
+  Tausig interpreted thus: 'The piece has not yet begun;' in his
+  firmer, nobly expressive exposition of the principal theme,
+  free from sentimentality--to which one might easily yield--the
+  grand style found due scope. An essential requirement in an
+  instrumental virtuoso is that he should understand how to
+  breathe, and how to allow his hearers to take breath--giving
+  them opportunity to arrive at a better understanding. By this
+  I mean a well chosen incision--the cesura, and a lingering--
+  "letting in air," Tausig cleverly called it--which in no way
+  impairs rhythm and time, but rather brings them into stronger
+  relief; a LINGERING which our signs of notation cannot
+  adequately express, because it is made up of atomic time
+  values. Rub the bloom from a peach or from a butterfly--what
+  remains will belong to the kitchen, to natural history! It is
+  not otherwise with Chopin; the bloom consisted in Tausig's
+  treatment of the Ballade.
+
+  He came to the first passage--the motive among blossoms and
+  leaves--a figurated recurrence to the principal theme is in
+  the inner parts--its polyphonic variant. A little thread
+  connects this with the chorale-like introduction of the second
+  theme. The theme is strongly and abruptly modulated, perhaps a
+  little too much so. Tausig tied the little thread to a doppio
+  movimento in two-four time, but thereby resulted sextolets,
+  which threw the chorale into still bolder relief. Then
+  followed a passage a tempo, in which the principal theme
+  played hide and seek. How clear it all became as Tausig played
+  it! Of technical difficulties he knew literally nothing; the
+  intricate and evasive parts were as easy as the easiest--I
+  might say easier!
+
+  I admired the short trills in the left hand, which were
+  trilled out quite independently, as if by a second player; the
+  gliding ease of the cadence marked dolcissimo. It swung itself
+  into the higher register, where it came to a stop before A
+  major, just as the introduction stopped before C major. Then,
+  after the theme has once more presented itself in a modified
+  form--variant--it comes under the pestle of an extremely
+  figurate coda, which demands the study of an artist, the
+  strength of a robust man--the most vigorous pianistic health,
+  in a word! Tausig overcame this threatening group of terrific
+  difficulties, whose appearance in the piece is well explained
+  by the programme, without the slightest effect. The coda, in
+  modulated harp tones, came to a stop before a fermata which
+  corresponded to those before mentioned, in order to cast
+  anchor in the haven of the dominant, finishing with a witches'
+  dance of triplets, doubled in thirds. This piece winds up with
+  extreme bravura.
+
+The "lingering" mentioned by de Lenz is tempo rubato, so fatally
+misunderstood by most Chopin players. De Lenz in a note quotes
+Meyerbeer as saying--Meyerbeer, who quarrelled with Chopin about
+the rhythm of a mazurka--"Can one reduce women to notation? They
+would breed mischief, were they emancipated from the measure."
+
+There is passion, refined and swelling, in the curves of this
+most eloquent composition. It is Chopin at the supreme summit of
+his art, an art alembicated, personal and intoxicating. I know of
+nothing in music like the F minor Ballade. Bach in the Chromatic
+Fantasia--be not deceived by its classical contours, it is music
+hot from the soul--Beethoven in the first movement of the C sharp
+minor Sonata, the arioso of the Sonata op. 110, and possibly
+Schumann in the opening of his C major Fantaisie, are as
+intimate, as personal as the F minor Ballade, which is as subtly
+distinctive as the hands and smile of Lisa Gioconda. Its
+inaccessible position preserves it from rude and irreverent
+treatment. Its witchery is irresistible.
+
+
+
+XI. CLASSICAL CURRENTS
+
+
+
+Guy de Maupassant put before us a widely diverse number of novels
+in a famous essay attached to the definitive edition of his
+masterpiece, "Pierre et Jean," and puzzlingly demanded the real
+form of the novel. If "Don Quixote" is one, how can "Madame
+Bovary" be another? If "Les Miserables" is included in the list,
+what are we to say to Huysmans' "La Bas"?
+
+Just such a question I should like to propound, substituting
+sonata for novel. If Scarlatti wrote sonatas, what is the
+Appassionata? If the A flat Weber is one, can the F minor Brahms
+be called a sonata? Is the Haydn form orthodox and the Schumann
+heterodox? These be enigmas to make weary the formalists. Come,
+let us confess, and in the open air: there is a great amount of
+hypocrisy and cant in this matter. We can, as can any
+conservatory student, give the recipe for turning out a smug
+specimen of the form, but when we study the great examples, it is
+just the subtle eluding of hard and fast rules that distinguishes
+the efforts of the masters from the machine work of apprentices
+and academic monsters. Because it is no servile copy of the
+Mozart Sonata, the F sharp minor of Brahms is a piece of original
+art. Beethoven at first trod in the well blazed path of Haydn,
+but study his second period, and it sounds the big Beethoven
+note. There is no final court of appeal in the matter of musical
+form, and there is none in the matter of literary style. The
+history of the sonata is the history of musical evolution. Every
+great composer, Schubert included, added to the form, filed here,
+chipped away there, introduced lawlessness where reigned prim
+order--witness the Schumann F sharp minor Sonata--and then came
+Chopin.
+
+The Chopin sonata has caused almost as much warfare as the Wagner
+music drama. It is all the more ludicrous, for Chopin never wrote
+but one piano sonata that has a classical complexion: in C minor,
+op. 4, and it was composed as early as 1828. Not published until
+July, 1851, it demonstrates without a possibility of doubt that
+the composer had no sympathy with the form. He tried so hard and
+failed so dismally that it is a relief when the second and third
+sonatas are reached, for in them there are only traces of formal
+beauty and organic unity. But then there is much Chopin, while
+little of his precious essence is to be tasted in the first
+sonata.
+
+Chopin wrote of the C minor Sonata: "As a pupil I dedicated it to
+Elsner," and--oh, the irony of criticism!--it was praised by the
+critics because not so revolutionary as the Variations, op. 2.
+This, too, despite the larghetto in five-four time. The first
+movement is wheezing and all but lifeless. One asks in
+astonishment what Chopin is doing in this gallery. And it is
+technically difficult. The menuetto is excellent, its trio being
+a faint approach to Beethoven in color. The unaccustomed rhythm
+of the slow movement is irritating. Our young Chopin does not
+move about as freely as Benjamin Godard in the scherzo of his
+violin and piano sonata in the same bizarre rhythm. Niecks sees
+naught but barren waste in the finale. I disagree with him. There
+is the breath of a stirring spirit, an imitative attempt that is
+more diverting than the other movements. Above all there is
+movement, and the close is vigorous, though banal. The sonata is
+the dullest music penned by Chopin, but as a whole it hangs
+together as a sonata better than its two successors. So much for
+an attempt at strict devotion to scholastic form.
+
+From this schoolroom we are transported in op. 35 to the theatre
+of larger life and passion. The B flat minor Sonata was published
+May, 1840. Two movements are masterpieces; the funeral march that
+forms the third movement is one of the Pole's most popular
+compositions, while the finale has no parallel in piano music.
+Schumann says that Chopin here "bound together four of his
+maddest children," and he is not astray. He thinks the march does
+not belong to the work. It certainly was written before its
+companion movements. As much as Hadow admires the first two
+movements, he groans at the last pair, though they are admirable
+when considered separately.
+
+These four movements have no common life. Chopin says he intended
+the strange finale as a gossiping commentary on the march. "The
+left hand unisono with the right hand are gossiping after the
+march." Perhaps the last two movements do hold together, but what
+have they in common with the first two? Tonality proves nothing.
+Notwithstanding the grandeur and beauty of the grave, the power
+and passion of the scherzo, this Sonata in B flat minor is not
+more a sonata than it is a sequence of ballades and scherzi. And
+again we are at the de Maupassant crux. The work never could be
+spared; it is Chopin mounted for action and in the thick of the
+fight. The doppio movimento is pulse-stirring--a strong, curt and
+characteristic theme for treatment. Here is power, and in the
+expanding prologue flashes more than a hint of the tragic. The D
+flat Melody is soothing, charged with magnetism, and urged to a
+splendid fever of climax. The working out section is too short
+and dissonantal, but there is development, perhaps more technical
+than logical--I mean by this more pianistic than intellectually
+musical--and we mount with the composer until the B flat version
+of the second subject is reached, for the first subject, strange
+to say, does not return. From that on to the firm chords of the
+close there is no misstep, no faltering or obscurity. Noble pages
+have been read, and the scherzo is approached with eagerness.
+Again there is no disappointment. On numerous occasions I have
+testified my regard for this movement in warm and uncritical
+terms. It is simply unapproachable, and has no equal for
+lucidity, brevity and polish among the works of Chopin, except
+the Scherzo in C sharp minor; but there is less irony, more
+muscularity, and more native sweetness in this E flat minor
+Scherzo. I like the way Kullak marks the first B flat octave. It
+is a pregnant beginning. The second bar I have never heard from
+any pianist save Rubinstein given with the proper crescendo. No
+one else seems to get it explosive enough within the walls of one
+bar. It is a true Rossin-ian crescendo. And in what a wild
+country we are landed when the F sharp minor is crashed out!
+Stormy chromatic double notes, chords of the sixth, rush on with
+incredible fury, and the scherzo ends on the very apex of
+passion. A Trio in G flat is the song of songs, its swaying
+rhythms and phrase-echoings investing a melody at once sensuous
+and chaste. The second part and the return to the scherzo are
+proofs of the composer's sense of balance and knowledge of the
+mysteries of anticipation. The closest parallelisms are
+noticeable, the technique so admirable that the scherzo floats in
+mid-air--Flaubert's ideal of a miraculous style.
+
+And then follows that deadly Marche Funebre! Ernest Newman, in
+his remarkable "Study of Wagner," speaks of the fundamental
+difference between the two orders of imagination, as exemplified
+by Beethoven and Chopin on the one side, Wagner on the other.
+This regarding the funeral marches of the three. Newman finds
+Wagner's the more concrete imagination; the "inward picture" of
+Beethoven, and Chopin "much vaguer and more diffused." Yet Chopin
+is seldom so realistic; here are the bell-like basses, the morbid
+coloring. Schumann found "it contained much that is repulsive,"
+and Liszt raves rhapsodically over it; for Karasowski it was the
+"pain and grief of an entire nation," while Ehlert thinks "it
+owes its renown to the wonderful effect of two triads, which in
+their combination possess a highly tragical element. The middle
+movement is not at all characteristic. Why could it not at least
+have worn second mourning? After so much black crepe drapery one
+should not at least at once display white lingerie!" This is
+cruel.
+
+The D flat Trio is a logical relief after the booming and
+glooming of the opening. That it is "a rapturous gaze into the
+beatific regions of a beyond," as Niecks writes, I am not
+prepared to say. We do know, however, that the march, when
+isolated, has a much more profound effect than in its normal
+sequence. The presto is too wonderful for words. Rubinstein, or
+was it originally Tausig who named it "Night winds sweeping over
+the churchyard graves"? Its agitated, whirring, unharmonized
+triplets are strangely disquieting, and can never be mistaken for
+mere etude passage work. The movement is too sombre, its curves
+too full of half-suppressed meanings, its rush and sub-human
+growling too expressive of something that defies definition.
+Schumann compares it to a "sphinx with a mocking smile." To Henri
+Barbadette "C'est Lazare grattant de ses ongles la pierre de son
+tombeau," or, like Mendelssohn, one may abhor it, yet it cannot
+be ignored. It has Asiatic coloring, and to me seems like the
+wavering outlines of light-tipped hills seen sharply en
+silhouette, behind which rises and falls a faint, infernal glow.
+This art paints as many differing pictures as there are
+imaginations for its sonorous background; not alone the universal
+solvent, as Henry James thinks, it bridges the vast, silent gulfs
+between human souls with its humming eloquence. This sonata is
+not dedicated.
+
+The third Sonata in B minor, op. 58, has more of that undefinable
+"organic unity," yet, withal, it is not so powerful, so pathos-
+breeding or so compact of thematic interest as its forerunner.
+The first page, to the chromatic chords of the sixth, promises
+much. There is a clear statement, a sound theme for developing
+purposes, the crisp march of chord progressions, and then--the
+edifice goes up in smoke. After wreathings and curlings of
+passage work, and on the rim of despair, we witness the exquisite
+budding of the melody in D. It is an aubade, a nocturne of the
+morn--if the contradictory phrase be allowed. There is morning
+freshness in its hue and scent, and, when it bursts, a parterre
+of roses. The close of the section is inimitable. All the more
+sorrow at what follows: wild disorder and the luxuriance called
+tropical. When B major is compassed we sigh, for it augurs us a
+return of delight. The ending is not that of a sonata, but a love
+lyric. For Chopin is not the cool breadth and marmoreal majesty
+of blank verse. He sonnets to perfection, but the epical air does
+not fill his nostrils.
+
+Vivacious, charming, light as a harebell in the soft breeze is
+the Scherzo in E flat. It has a clear ring of the scherzo and
+harks back to Weber in its impersonal, amiable hurry. The largo
+is tranquilly beautiful, rich in its reverie, lovely in its tune.
+The trio is reserved and hypnotic. The last movement, with its
+brilliancy and force, is a favorite, but it lacks weight, and the
+entire sonata is, as Niecks writes, "affiliated, but not
+cognate." It was published June, 1845, and is dedicated to
+Comtesse E. de Perthuis.
+
+So these sonatas of Chopin are not sonatas at all, but, throwing
+titles to the dogs, would we forego the sensations that two of
+them evoke? There is still another, the Sonata in G minor, op.
+65, for piano and 'cello. It is dedicated to Chopin's friend,
+August Franchomme, the violoncellist. Now, while I by no means
+share Finck's exalted impression of this work, yet I fancy the
+critics have dealt too harshly with it. Robbed of its title of
+sonata--though sedulously aping this form--it contains much
+pretty music. And it is grateful for the 'cello. There is not an
+abundant literature for this kingly instrument, in conjunction
+with the piano, so why flaunt Chopin's contribution? I will admit
+that he walks stiffly, encased in his borrowed garb, but there is
+the andante, short as it is, an effective scherzo and a carefully
+made allegro and finale. Tonal monotony is the worst charge to be
+brought against this work.
+
+The trio, also in G minor, op. 8, is more alluring. It was
+published March, 1833, and dedicated to Prince Anton Radziwill.
+Chopin later, in speaking of it to a pupil, admitted that he saw
+things he would like to change. He regretted not making it for
+viola, instead of violin, 'cello and piano.
+
+It was worked over a long time, the first movement being ready in
+1833. When it appeared it won philistine praise, for its form
+more nearly approximates the sonata than any of his efforts in
+the cyclical order, excepting op. 4. In it the piano receives
+better treatment than the other instruments; there are many
+virtuoso passages, but again key changes are not frequent or
+disparate enough to avoid a monotone. Chopin's imagination
+refuses to become excited when working in the open spaces of the
+sonata form. Like creatures that remain drab of hue in
+unsympathetic or dangerous environment, his music is transformed
+to a bewildering bouquet of color when he breathes native air.
+Compare the wildly modulating Chopin of the ballades to the tame-
+pacing Chopin of the sonatas, trio and concertos! The trio opens
+with fire, the scherzo is fanciful, and the adagio charming,
+while the finale is cheerful to loveliness. It might figure
+occasionally on the programmes of our chamber music concerts,
+despite its youthful puerility.
+
+There remain the two concertos, which I do not intend discussing
+fully. Not Chopin at his very best, the E minor and F minor
+concertos are frequently heard because of the chances afforded
+the solo player. I have written elsewhere at length of the
+Klindworth, Tausig and Burmeister versions of the two concertos.
+As time passes I see no reason for amending my views on this
+troublous subject. Edgar S. Kelly holds a potent brief for the
+original orchestration, contending that it suits the character of
+the piano part. Rosenthal puts this belief into practice by
+playing the older version of the E minor with the first long
+tutti curtailed. But he is not consistent, for he uses the Tausig
+octaves at the close of the rondo. While I admire the Tausig
+orchestration, these particlar octaves are hideously cacaphonic.
+The original triplet unisons are so much more graceful and
+musical.
+
+The chronology of the concertos has given rise to controversy.
+The trouble arose from the F minor Concerto, it being numbered
+op. 21, although composed before the one in E minor. The former
+was published April, 1836; the latter September, 1833. The slow
+movement of the F minor Concerto was composed by Chopin during
+his passion for Constantia Gladowska. She was "the ideal" he
+mentions in his letters, the adagio of this concerto. This
+larghetto in A flat is a trifle too ornamental for my taste,
+mellifluous and serene as it is. The recitative is finely
+outlined. I think I like best the romanze of the E minor
+Concerto. It is less flowery. The C sharp minor part is imperious
+in its beauty, while the murmuring mystery of the close mounts to
+the imagination. The rondo is frolicksome, tricky, genial and
+genuine piano music. It is true the first movement is too long,
+too much in one set of keys, and the working-out section too much
+in the nature of a technical study. The first movement of the F
+minor far transcends it in breadth, passion and musical feeling,
+but it is short and there is no coda. Richard Burmeister has
+supplied the latter deficiency in a capitally made cadenza, which
+Paderewski plays. It is a complete summing up of the movement.
+The mazurka-like finale is very graceful and full of pure, sweet
+melody. This concerto is altogether more human than the E minor.
+
+Both derive from Hummel and Field. The passage work is superior
+in design to that of the earlier masters, the general character
+episodical,--but episodes of rare worth and originality. As
+Ehlert says, "Noblesse oblige--and thus Chopin felt himself
+compelled to satisfy all demands exacted of a pianist, and wrote
+the unavoidable piano concerto. It was not consistent with his
+nature to express himself in broad terms. His lungs were too weak
+for the pace in seven league boots, so often required in a score.
+The trio and 'cello sonata were also tasks for whose
+accomplishment Nature did not design him. He must touch the keys
+by himself without being called upon to heed the players sitting
+next him. He is at his best when without formal restraint, he can
+create out of his inmost soul."
+
+"He must touch the keys by himself!" There you have summed up in
+a phrase the reason Chopin never succeeded in impressing his
+individuality upon the sonata form and his playing upon the
+masses. His was the lonely soul. George Sand knew this when she
+wrote, "He made an instrument speak the language of the infinite.
+Often in ten lines that a child might play he has introduced
+poems of unequalled elevation, dramas unrivalled in force and
+energy. He did not need the great material methods to find
+expression for his genius. Neither saxophone nor ophicleide was
+necessary for him to fill the soul with awe. Without church organ
+or human voice he inspired faith and enthusiasm."
+
+It might be remarked here that Beethoven, too, aroused a
+wondering and worshipping world without the aid of saxophone or
+ophicleide. But it is needless cruelty to pick at Madame Sand's
+criticisms. She had no technical education, and so little
+appreciation of Chopin's peculiar genius for the piano that she
+could write, "The day will come when his music will be arranged
+for orchestra without change of the piano score;" which is
+disaster-breeding nonsense. We have sounded Chopin's weakness
+when writing for any instrument but his own, when writing in any
+form but his own.
+
+The E minor Concerto is dedicated to Frederick Kalkbrenner, the F
+minor to the Comtesse Deiphine Potocka. The latter dedication
+demonstrates that he could forget his only "ideal" in the
+presence of the charming Potocka! Ah! these vibratile and
+versatile Poles!
+
+Robert Schumann, it is related, shook his head wearily when his
+early work was mentioned. "Dreary stuff," said the composer,
+whose critical sense did not fail him even in so personal a
+question. What Chopin thought of his youthful music may be
+discovered in his scanty correspondence. To suppose that the
+young Chopin sprang into the arena a fully equipped warrior is
+one of those nonsensical notions which gains currency among
+persons unfamiliar with the law of musical evolution. Chopin's
+musical ancestry is easily traced; as Poe had his Holley Chivers,
+Chopin had his Field. The germs of his second period are all
+there; from op. 1 to opus 22 virtuosity for virtuosity's sake is
+very evident. Liszt has said that in every young artist there is
+the virtuoso fever, and Chopin being a pianist did not escape the
+fever of the footlights. He was composing, too, at a time when
+piano music was well nigh strangled by excess of ornament, when
+acrobats were kings, when the Bach Fugue and Beethoven Sonata
+lurked neglected and dusty in the memories of the few. Little
+wonder, then, we find this individual, youthful Pole, not timidly
+treading in the path of popular composition, but bravely carrying
+his banner, spangled, glittering and fanciful, and outstripping
+at their own game all the virtuosi of Europe. His originality in
+this bejewelled work caused Hummel to admire and Kalkbrenner to
+wonder. The supple fingers of the young man from Warsaw made
+quick work of existing technical difficulties. He needs must
+invent some of his own, and when Schumann saw the pages of op. 2
+he uttered his historical cry. Today we wonder somewhat at his
+enthusiasm. It is the old story--a generation seeks to know, a
+generation comprehends and enjoys, and a generation discards.
+
+Opus 1, a Rondo in C minor, dedicated to Madame de Linde, saw the
+light in 1825, but it was preceded by two polonaises, a set of
+variations, and two mazurkas in G and B flat major. Schumann
+declared that Chopin's first published work was his tenth, and
+that between op. 1 and 2 there lay two years and twenty works. Be
+this as it may, one cannot help liking the C minor Rondo. In the
+A flat section we detect traces of his F minor Concerto. There is
+lightness, joy in creation, which contrast with the heavy, dour
+quality of the C minor Sonata, op. 4. Loosely constructed, in a
+formal sense, and too exuberant for his strict confines, this op.
+1 is remarkable, much more remarkable, than Schumann's Abegg
+variations.
+
+The Rondo a la Mazur, in F, is a further advance. It is dedicated
+to Comtesse Moriolles, and was published in 1827 (?). Schumann
+reviewed it in 1836. It is sprightly, Polish in feeling and
+rhythmic life, and a glance at any of its pages gives us the
+familiar Chopin impression--florid passage work, chords in
+extensions and chromatic progressions. The Concert Rondo, op. 14,
+in F, called Krakowiak, is built on a national dance in two-four
+time, which originated in Cracovia. It is, to quote Niecks, a
+modified polonaise, danced by the peasants with lusty abandon.
+Its accentual life is usually manifested on an unaccented part of
+the bar, especially at the end of a section or phrase. Chopin's
+very Slavic version is spirited, but the virtuoso predominates.
+There is lushness in ornamentation, and a bold, merry spirit
+informs every page. The orchestral accompaniment is thin.
+Dedicated to the Princesse Czartoryska, it was published June,
+1834. The Rondo, op. 16, with an Introduction, is in great favor
+at the conservatories, and is neat rather than poetical, although
+the introduction has dramatic touches. It is to this brilliant
+piece, with its Weber-ish affinities, that Richard Burmeister has
+supplied an orchestral accompaniment.
+
+The remaining Rondo, posthumously published as op. 73, and
+composed in 1828, was originally intended, so Chopin writes in
+1828, for one piano. It is full of fire, but the ornamentation
+runs mad, and no traces of the poetical Chopin are present. He is
+preoccupied with the brilliant surfaces of the life about him.
+His youthful expansiveness finds a fair field in these
+variations, rondos and fantasias.
+
+Schumann's enthusiasm over the variations on "La ci darem la
+mano" seems to us a little overdone. Chopin had not much gift for
+variation in the sense that we now understand variation.
+Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms--one must include Mendelssohn's
+Serious Variations--are masters of a form that is by no means
+structurally simple or a reversion to mere spielerei, as Finck
+fancies. Chopin plays with his themes prettily, but it is all
+surface display, all heat lightning. He never smites, as does
+Brahms with his Thor hammer, the subject full in the middle,
+cleaving it to its core. Chopin is slightly effeminate in his
+variations, and they are true specimens of spielerei, despite the
+cleverness of design in the arabesques, their brilliancy and
+euphony. Op. 2 has its dazzling moments, but its musical worth is
+inferior. It is written to split the ears of the groundlings, or
+rather to astonish and confuse them, for the Chopin dynamics in
+the early music are never very rude. The indisputable superiority
+to Herz and the rest of the shallow-pated variationists caused
+Schumann's passionate admiration. It has, however, given us an
+interesting page of music criticism. Rellstab, grumpy old fellow,
+was near right when he wrote of these variations that "the
+composer runs down the theme with roulades, and throttles and
+hangs it with chains of shakes." The skip makes its appearance in
+the fourth variation, and there is no gainsaying the brilliancy
+and piquant spirit of the Alla Polacca. Op. 2 is orchestrally
+accompanied, an accompaniment that may be gladly dispensed with,
+and dedicated by Chopin to the friend of his youth, Titus
+Woyciechowski.
+
+Je Vends des Scapulaires is a tune in Herold and Halevy's
+"Ludovic." Chopin varied it in his op. 12. This rondo in B flat
+is the weakest of Chopin's muse. It is Chopin and water, and
+Gallic eau sucree at that. The piece is written tastefully, is
+not difficult, but woefully artificial. Published in 1833, it was
+dedicated to Miss Emma Horsford. In May, 1851, appeared the
+Variations in E, without an opus number. They are not worth the
+trouble. Evidently composed before Chopin's op. 1 and before
+1830, they are musically light waisted, although written by one
+who already knew the keyboard. The last, a valse, is the
+brightest of the set. The theme is German.
+
+The Fantaisie, op 13, in A, on Polish airs, preceded by an
+introduction in F sharp minor, is dedicated to the pianist J. P.
+Pixis. It was published in April, 1834. It is Chopin brilliant.
+Its orchestral background does not count for much, but the
+energy, the color and Polish character of the piece endeared it
+to the composer. He played it often, and as Kleczynski asks, "Are
+these brilliant passages, these cascades of pearly notes, these
+bold leaps the sadness and the despair of which we hear? Is it
+not rather youth exuberant with intensity and life? Is it not
+happiness, gayety, love for the world and men? The melancholy
+notes are there to bring out, to enforce the principal ideas. For
+instance, in the Fantaisie, op. 13, the theme of Kurpinski moves
+and saddens us; but the composer does not give time for this
+impression to become durable; he suspends it by means of a long
+trill, and then suddenly by a few chords and with a brilliant
+prelude leads us to a popular dance, which makes us mingle with
+the peasant couples of Mazovia. Does the finale indicate by its
+minor key the gayety of a man devoid of hope--as the Germans
+say?" Kleczynski then tells us that a Polish proverb, "A fig for
+misery," is the keynote of a nation that dances furiously to
+music in the minor key. "Elevated beauty, not sepulchral gayety,"
+is the character of Polish, of Chopin's music. This is a valuable
+hint. There are variations in the Fantaisie which end with a
+merry and vivacious Kujawiak.
+
+The F minor Fantaisie will be considered later. Neither by its
+magnificent content, construction nor opus number (49) does it
+fall into this chapter.
+
+The Allegro de Concert in A, op. 46, was published in November,
+1841, and dedicated to Mlle. Friederike Muller, a pupil of
+Chopin. It has all the characteristics of a concerto, and is
+indeed a truncated one--much more so than Schumann's F minor
+Sonata, called Concert Sans Orchestre. There are tutti in the
+Chopin work, the solo part not really beginning until the eighty-
+seventh bar. But it must not be supposed that these long
+introductory passages are ineffective for the player. The Allegro
+is one of Chopin's most difficult works. It abounds in risky
+skips, ambuscades of dangerous double notes, and the principal
+themes are bold and expressive. The color note is strikingly
+adapted for public performance, and perhaps Schumann was correct
+in believing that Chopin had originally sketched this for piano
+and orchestra. Niecks asks if this is not the fragment of a
+concerto for two pianos, which Chopin, in a letter written at
+Vienna, December 21, 1830, said he would play in public with his
+friend Nidecki, if he succeeded in writing it to his
+satisfaction. And is there any significance in the fact that
+Chopin, when sending this manuscript to Fontana, probably in the
+summer of 1841, calls it a concerto?
+
+While it adds little to Chopin's reputation, it has the
+potentialities of a powerful and more manly composition than
+either of the two concertos. Jean Louis Nicode has given it an
+orchestral garb, besides arranging it for two pianos. He has
+added a developing section of seventy bars. This version was
+first played in New York a decade ago by Marie Geselschap, a
+Dutch pianist, under the direction of the late Anton Seidl. The
+original, it must be acknowledged, is preferable.
+
+The Bolero, op. 19, has a Polonaise flavor. There is but little
+Spanish in its ingredients. It is merely a memorandum of Chopin's
+early essays in dance forms. It was published in 1834, four years
+before Chopin's visit to Spain. Niecks thinks it an early work.
+That it can be made effective was proven by Emil Sauer. It is for
+fleet-fingered pianists, and the principal theme has the
+rhythmical ring of the Polonaise, although the most Iberian in
+character. It is dedicated to Comtesse E. de Flahault. In the key
+of A minor, its coda ends in A major. Willeby says it is in C
+major!
+
+The Tarantella is in A flat, and is numbered op. 43. It was
+published in 1841 (?), and bears no dedication. Composed at
+Nohant, it is as little Italian as the Bolero is Spanish.
+Chopin's visit to Italy was of too short a duration to affect
+him, at least in the style of dance. It is without the necessary
+ophidian tang, and far inferior to Heller and Liszt's efforts in
+the constricted form. One finds little of the frenzy ascribed to
+it by Schumann in his review. It breathes of the North, not the
+South, and ranks far below the A flat Impromptu in geniality and
+grace.
+
+The C minor Funeral March, composed, according to Fontana, in
+1829, sounds like Mendelssohn. The trio has the processional
+quality of a Parisian funeral cortege. It is modest and in no
+wise remarkable. The three Ecossaises, published as op. 73, No.
+3, are little dances, schottisches, nothing more. No. 2 in G is
+highly popular in girls' boarding schools.
+
+The Grand Duo Concertant for 'cello and piano is jointly composed
+by Chopin and Franchomme on themes from "Robert le Diable." It
+begins in E and ends in A major, and is without opus number.
+Schumann thinks "Chopin sketched the whole of it, and that
+Franchomme said 'Yes' to everything." It is for the salon of
+1833, when it was published. It is empty, tiresome and only
+slightly superior to compositions of the same sort by De Beriot
+and Osborne. Full of rapid elegancies and shallow passage work,
+this duo is certainly a piece d'occasion--the occasion probably
+being the need of ready money.
+
+The seventeen Polish songs were composed between 1824 and 1844.
+In the psychology of the Lied Chopin was not happy. Karasowski
+writes that many of the songs were lost and some of them are
+still sung in Poland, their origin being hazy. The Third of May
+is cited as one of these. Chopin had a habit of playing songs for
+his friends, but neglected putting some of them on paper. The
+collected songs are under the opus head 74. The words are by his
+friends, Stephen Witwicki, Adam Mickiewicz, Bogdan Zaleski and
+Sigismond Krasinski. The first in the key of A, the familiar
+Maiden's Wish, has been brilliantly paraphrased by Liszt. This
+pretty mazurka is charmingly sung and played by Marcella Sembrich
+in the singing lesson of "The Barber of Seville." There are
+several mazurkas in the list. Most of these songs are mediocre.
+Poland's Dirge is an exception, and so is Horsemen Before the
+Battle. "Was ein junges Madchen liebt" has a short introduction,
+in which the reminiscence hunter may find a true bit of
+"Meistersinger" color. Simple in structure and sentiment, the
+Chopin lieder seem almost rudimentary compared to essays in this
+form by Schubert, Schumann, Franz, Brahms and Tschaikowsky.
+
+A word of recommendation may not be amiss here regarding the
+technical study of Chopin. Kleczynski, in his two books, gives
+many valuable hints, and Isidor Philipp has published a set of
+Exercises Quotidiens, made up of specimens in double notes,
+octaves and passages taken from the works. Here skeletonized are
+the special technical problems. In these Daily Studies, and his
+edition of the Etudes, are numerous examples dealt with
+practically. For a study of Chopin's ornaments, Mertke has
+discussed at length the various editorial procedure in the matter
+of attacking the trill in single and double notes, also the
+easiest method of executing the flying scud and vapors of the
+fioriture. This may be found in No. 179 of the Edition
+Steingraber. Philipp's collection is published in Paris by J.
+Hamelle, and is prefixed by some interesting remarks of Georges
+Mathias. Chopin's portrait in 1833, after Vigneron, is included.
+
+One composition more is to be considered. In 1837 Chopin
+contributed the sixth variation of the march from "I Puritani."
+These variations were published under the title: "Hexameron:
+Morceau de Concert. Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche
+des Puritans de Bellini, composees pour le concert de Madame la
+Princesse Belgiojoso au benefice des pauvres, par MM. Liszt,
+Thalberg, Pixis, H. Herz, Czerny et Chopin." Liszt wrote an
+orchestral accompaniment, never published. His pupil, Moriz
+Rosenthal, is the only modern virtuoso who plays the Hexameron in
+his concerts, and play it he does with overwhelming splendor.
+Chopin's contribution in E major is in his sentimental, salon
+mood. Musically, it is the most impressive of this extraordinary
+mastodonic survival of the "pianistic" past.
+
+The newly published Fugue--or fugato--in A minor, in two voices,
+is from a manuscript in the possession of Natalie Janotha, who
+probably got it from the late Princess Czartoryska, a pupil of
+the composer. The composition is ineffective, and in spots ugly--
+particularly in the stretta--and is no doubt an exercise during
+the working years with Elsner. The fact that in the coda the very
+suspicious octave pedal-point and trills may be omitted--so the
+editorial note urns--leads one to suspect that out of a fragment
+Janotha has evolved, Cuvier-like, an entire composition. Chopin
+as fugue-maker does not appear in a brilliant light. Is the
+Polish composer to become a musical Hugh Conway? Why all these
+disjecta membra of a sketch-book?
+
+In these youthful works may be found the beginnings of the
+greater Chopin, but not his vast subjugation of the purely
+technical to the poetic and spiritual. That came later. To the
+devout Chopinist the first compositions are so many proofs of the
+joyful, victorious spirit of the man whose spleen and pessimism
+have been wrongfully compared to Leopardi's and Baudelaire's.
+Chopin was gay, fairly healthy and bubbling over with a pretty
+malice. His first period shows this; it also shows how thorough
+and painful the processes by which he evolved his final style.
+
+
+
+XII. THE POLONAISES:--HEROIC HYMNS OF BATTLE.
+
+
+
+How is one to reconcile "the want of manliness, moral and
+intellectual," which Hadow asserts is "the one great limitation
+of Chopin's province," with the power, splendor and courage of
+the Polonaises? Here are the cannon buried in flowers of Robert
+Schumann, here overwhelming evidences of versatility, virility
+and passion. Chopin blinded his critics and admirers alike; a
+delicate, puny fellow, he could play the piano on occasion like a
+devil incarnate. He, too, had his demon as well as Liszt, and
+only, as Ehlert puts it, "theoretical fear" of this spirit
+driving him over the cliffs of reason made him curb its antics.
+After all the couleur de rose portraits and lollipop miniatures
+made of him by pensive, poetic persons it is not possible to
+conceive Chopin as being irascible and almost brutal. Yet he was
+at times even this. "Beethoven was scarce more vehement and
+irritable," writes Ehlert. And we remember the stories of friends
+and pupils who have seen this slender, refined Pole wrestling
+with his wrath as one under the obsession of a fiend. It is no
+desire to exaggerate this side of his nature that impels this
+plain writing. Chopin left compositions that bear witness to his
+masculine side. Diminutive in person, bad-temper became him ill;
+besides, his whole education and tastes were opposed to scenes of
+violence. So this energy, spleen and raging at fortune found
+escape in some of his music, became psychical in its
+manifestations.
+
+But, you may say, this is feminine hysteria, the impotent cries
+of an unmanly, weak nature. Read the E flat minor, the C minor,
+the A major, the F sharp minor and the two A flat major
+Polonaises! Ballades, Scherzi, Studies, Preludes and the great F
+minor Fantaisie are purposely omitted from this awing scheme.
+Chopin was weak in physique, but he had the soul of a lion.
+Allied to the most exquisite poetic sensibilities--one is
+reminded here of Balzac's "Ce beau genie est moins un musicien
+qu'une dine qui se rend sensible"--there was another nature,
+fiery, implacable. He loved Poland, he hated her oppressors.
+There is no doubt he idealized his country and her wrongs until
+the theme grew out of all proportion. Politically the Poles and
+Celts rub shoulders. Niecks points out that if Chopin was "a
+flattering idealist as a national poet, as a personal poet he was
+an uncompromising realist." So in the polonaises we find two
+distinct groups: in one the objective, martial side predominates,
+in the other is Chopin the moody, mournful and morose. But in all
+the Polish element pervades. Barring the mazurkas, these dances
+are the most Polish of his works. Appreciation of Chopin's wide
+diversity of temperament would have sparedthe world the false,
+silly, distorted portraits of him. He had the warrior in him,
+even if his mailed fist was seldom used. There are moments when
+he discards gloves and soft phrases and deals blows that
+reverberate with formidable clangor.
+
+By all means read Liszt's gorgeous description of the Polonaise.
+Originating during the last half of the sixteenth century, it was
+at first a measured procession of nobles and their womankind to
+the sound of music. In the court of Henry of Anjou, in 1574,
+after his election to the Polish throne, the Polonaise was born,
+and throve in the hardy, warlike atmosphere. It became a dance
+political, and had words set to it. Thus came the Kosciuszko, the
+Oginski, the Moniuszko, the Kurpinski, and a long list written by
+composers with names ending in "ski." It is really a march, a
+processional dance, grave, moderate, flowing, and by no means
+stereotyped. Liszt tells of the capricious life infused into its
+courtly measures by the Polish aristocracy. It is at once the
+symbol of war and love, a vivid pageant of martial splendor, a
+weaving, cadenced, voluptuous dance, the pursuit of shy,
+coquettish woman by the fierce warrior.
+
+The Polonaise is in three-four time, with the accent on the
+second beat of the bar. In simple binary form--ternary if a trio
+is added--this dance has feminine endings to all the principal
+cadences. The rhythmical cast of the bass is seldom changed.
+Despite its essentially masculine mould, it is given a feminine
+title; formerly it was called Polonais. Liszt wrote of it:
+
+"In this form the noblest traditional feelings of ancient Poland
+are represented. The Polonaise is the true and purest type of
+Polish national character, as in the course of centuries it was
+developed, partly through the political position of the kingdom
+toward east and west, partly through an undefinable, peculiar,
+inborn disposition of the entire race. In the development of the
+Polonaise everything co-operated which specifically distinguished
+the nation from others. In the Poles of departed times manly
+resolution was united with glowing devotion to the object of
+their love. Their knightly heroism was sanctioned by high-soaring
+dignity, and even the laws of gallantry and the national costume
+exerted an influence over the turns of this dance. The Polonaises
+are the keystone in the development of this form. They belong to
+the most beautiful of Chopin inspirations. With their energetic
+rhythm they electrify, to the point of excited demonstration,
+even the sleepiest indifferentism. Chopin was born too late, and
+left his native hearth too early, to be initiated into the
+original character of the Polonaise as danced through his own
+observation. But what others imparted to him in regard to it was
+supplemented by his fancy and his nationality."
+
+Chopin wrote fifteen Polonaises, the authenticity of one in G
+flat major being doubted by Niecks. This list includes the
+Polonaise for violoncello and piano, op. 3, and the Polonaise,
+op. 22, for piano and orchestra. This latter Polonaise is
+preceded by an andante spianato in G in six-eight time, and
+unaccompanied. It is a charming, liquid-toned, nocturne-like
+composition, Chopin in his most suave, his most placid mood: a
+barcarolle, scarcely a ripple of emotion, disturbs the mirrored
+calm of this lake. After sixteen bars of a crudely harmonized
+tutti comes the Polonaise in the widely remote key of E flat; it
+is brilliant, every note telling, the figuration rich and novel,
+the movement spirited and flowing. Perhaps it is too long and
+lacks relief. The theme on each re-entrance is varied
+ornamentally. The second theme, in C minor, has a Polish and
+poetic ring, while the coda is effective. This opus is vivacious,
+but not characterized by great depth. Crystalline, gracious, and
+refined, the piece is stamped "Paris," the elegant Paris of 1830.
+Composed in that year and published in July, 1836, it is
+dedicated to the Baronne D'Est. Chopin introduced it at a
+Conservatoire concert for the benefit of Habeneck, April 26,
+1835. This, according to Niecks, was the only time he played the
+Polonaise with orchestral accompaniment. It was practically a
+novelty to New York when Rafael Joseffy played it here,
+superlatively well, in 1879.
+
+The orchestral part seems wholly superfluous, for the scoring is
+not particularly effective, and there is a rumor that Chopin
+cannot be held responsible for it. Xaver Scharwenka made a new
+instrumentation that is discreet and extremely well sounding.
+With excellent tact he has managed the added accompaniment to the
+introduction, giving some thematic work of the slightest texture
+to the strings, and in the pretty coda to the wood-wind. A
+delicately managed allusion is made by the horns to the second
+theme of the nocturne in G. There are even five faint taps of the
+triangle, and the idyllic atmosphere is never disturbed.
+Scharwenka first played this arrangement at a Seidl memorial
+concert, in Chickering Hall, New York, April, 1898. Yet I cannot
+truthfully say the Polonaise sounds so characteristic as when
+played solo.
+
+The C sharp minor Polonaise, op. 26, has had the misfortune of
+being sentimentalized to death. What can be more "appassionata"
+than the opening with its "grand rhythmical swing"? It is usually
+played by timid persons in a sugar-sweet fashion, although fff
+stares them in the face. The first three lines are hugely heroic,
+but the indignation soon melts away, leaving an apathetic humor;
+after the theme returns and is repeated we get a genuine love
+motif tender enough in all faith wherewith to woo a princess. On
+this the Polonaise closes, an odd ending for such a fiery
+opening.
+
+In no such mood does No. 2 begin. In E flat minor it is variously
+known as the Siberian, the Revolt Polonaise. It breathes defiance
+and rancor from the start. What suppressed and threatening
+rumblings are there! Volcanic mutterings these:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+It is a sinister page, and all the more so because of the
+injunction to open with pianissimo. One wishes that the shrill,
+high G flat had been written in full chords as the theme suffers
+from a want of massiveness. Then follows a subsidiary, but the
+principal subject returns relentlessly. The episode in B major
+gives pause for breathing. It has a hint of Meyerbeer. But again
+with smothered explosions the Polonaise proper appears, and all
+ends in gloom and the impotent clanking of chains. It is an awe-
+provoking work, this terrible Polonaise in E flat minor, op. 26;
+it was published July, 1836, and is dedicated to M. J. Dessauer.
+
+Not so the celebrated A major Polonaise, op. 40, Le Militaire. To
+Rubinstein this seemed a picture of Poland's greatness, as its
+companion in C minor is of Poland's downfall. Although Karasowski
+and Kleczynski give to the A flat major Polonaise the honor of
+suggesting a well-known story, it is really the A major that
+provoked it--so the Polish portrait painter Kwiatowski informed
+Niecks. The story runs, that after composing it, Chopin in the
+dreary watches of the night was surprised--terrified is a better
+word--by the opening of his door and the entrance of a long train
+of Polish nobles and ladies, richly robed, who moved slowly by
+him. Troubled by the ghosts of the past he had raised, the
+composer, hollow eyed, fled the apartment. All this must have
+been at Majorca, for op. 40 was composed or finished there.
+Ailing, weak and unhappy as he was, Chopin had grit enough to
+file and polish this brilliant and striking composition into its
+present shape. It is the best known and, though the most muscular
+of his compositions, it is the most played. It is dedicated to J.
+Fontana, and was published November, 1840. This Polonaise has the
+festive glitter of Weber.
+
+The C minor Polonaise of the same set is a noble, troubled
+composition, large in accents and deeply felt. Can anything be
+more impressive than this opening?
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+It is indeed Poland's downfall. The Trio in A flat, with its
+kaleidoscopic modulations, produces an impression of vague unrest
+and suppressed sorrow. There is loftiness of spirit and daring in
+it.
+
+What can one say new of the tremendous F sharp minor Polonaise?
+Willeby calls it noisy! And Stanislaw Przybyszewski--whom Vance
+Thompson christened a prestidigious noctambulist-has literally
+stormed over it. It is barbaric, it is perhaps pathologic, and of
+it Liszt has said most eloquent things. It is for him a dream
+poem, the "lurid hour that precedes a hurricane" with a
+"convulsive shudder at the close." The opening is very
+impressive, the nerve-pulp being harassed by the gradually
+swelling prelude. There is defiant power in the first theme, and
+the constant reference to it betrays the composer's exasperated
+mental condition. This tendency to return upon himself, a
+tormenting introspection, certainly signifies a grave state. But
+consider the musical weight of the work, the recklessly bold
+outpourings of a mind almost distraught! There is no greater test
+for the poet-pianist than the F sharp minor Polonaise. It is
+profoundly ironical--what else means the introduction of that
+lovely mazurka, "a flower between two abysses"? This strange
+dance is ushered in by two of the most enigmatic pages of Chopin.
+The A major intermezzo, with its booming cannons and
+reverberating overtones, is not easily defensible on the score of
+form, yet it unmistakably fits in the picture. The mazurka is
+full of interrogation and emotional nuanciren. The return of the
+tempest is not long delayed. It bursts, wanes, and with the coda
+comes sad yearning, then the savage drama passes tremblingly into
+the night after fluid and wavering affirmations; a roar in F
+sharp and finally a silence that marks the cessation of an
+agitating nightmare. No "sabre dance" this, but a confession from
+the dark depths of a self-tortured soul. Op. 44 was published
+November, 1841, and is dedicated to Princesse de Beauvau. There
+are few editorial differences. In the eighteenth bar from the
+beginning, Kullak, in the second beat, fills out an octave. Not
+so in Klindworth nor in the original. At the twentieth bar
+Klindworth differs from the original as follows. The Chopin text
+is the upper one:
+
+[Musical score excerpts]
+
+The A flat Polonaise, op. 53, was published December, 1843, and
+is said by Karasowski to have been composed in 1840, after
+Chopin's return from Majorca. It is dedicated to A. Leo. This is
+the one Karasowski calls the story of Chopin's vision of the
+antique dead in an isolated tower of Madame Sand's chateau at
+Nohant. We have seen this legend disproved by one who knows. This
+Polonaise is not as feverish and as exalted as the previous one.
+It is, as Kleczynski writes, "the type of a war song." Named the
+Heroique, one hears in it Ehlert's "ring of damascene blade and
+silver spur." There is imaginative splendor in this thrilling
+work, with its thunder of horses' hoofs and fierce challengings.
+What fire, what sword thrusts and smoke and clash of mortal
+conflict! Here is no psychical presentation, but an objective
+picture of battle, of concrete contours, and with a cleaving
+brilliancy that excites the blood to boiling pitch. That Chopin
+ever played it as intended is incredible; none but the heroes of
+the keyboard may grasp its dense chordal masses, its fiery
+projectiles of tone. But there is something disturbing, even
+ghostly, in the strange intermezzo that separates the trio from
+the polonaise. Both mist and starlight are in it. Yet the work is
+played too fast, and has been nicknamed the "Drum" Polonaise,
+losing in majesty and force because of the vanity of virtuosi.
+The octaves in E major are spun out as if speed were the sole
+idea of this episode. Follow Kleczynski's advice and do not
+sacrifice the Polonaise to the octaves. Karl Tausig, so Joseffy
+and de Lenz assert, played this Polonaise in an unapproachable
+manner. Powerful battle tableau as it is, it may still be
+presented so as not to shock one's sense of the euphonious, of
+the limitations of the instrument. This work becomes vapid and
+unheroic when transferred to the orchestra.
+
+The Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat, op. 61, given to the world
+September, 1846, is dedicated to Madame A. Veyret. One of three
+great Polonaises, it is just beginning to be understood, having
+been derided as amorphous, febrile, of little musical moment,
+even Liszt declaring that "such pictures possess but little real
+value to art. ... Deplorable visions which the artist should
+admit with extreme circumspection within the graceful circle of
+his charmed realm." This was written in the old-fashioned days,
+when art was aristocratic and excluded the "baser" and more
+painful emotions. For a generation accustomed to the realism of
+Richard Strauss, the Fantaisie-Polonaise seems vaporous and
+idealistic, withal new. It recalls one of those enchanted flasks
+of the magii from which on opening smoke exhales that gradually
+shapes itself into fantastic and fearsome figures. This Polonaise
+at no time exhibits the solidity of its two predecessors; its
+plasticity defies the imprint of the conventional Polonaise,
+though we ever feel its rhythms. It may be full of monologues,
+interspersed cadenzas, improvised preludes and short phrases, as
+Kullak suggests, yet there is unity in the composition, the units
+of structure and style. It was music of the future when Chopin
+composed; it is now music of the present, as much as Richard
+Wagner's. But the realism is a trifle clouded. Here is the
+duality of Chopin the suffering man and Chopin the prophet of
+Poland. Undimmed is his poetic vision--Poland will be free!--
+undaunted his soul, though oppressed by a suffering body. There
+are in the work throes of agony blended with the trumpet notes of
+triumph. And what puzzled our fathers--the shifting lights and
+shadows, the restless tonalities--are welcome, for at the
+beginning of this new century the chromatic is king. The ending
+of this Polonaise is triumphant, recalling in key and climaxing
+the A flat Ballade. Chopin is still the captain of his soul--and
+Poland will be free! Are Celt and Slav doomed to follow ever the
+phosphorescent lights of patriotism? Liszt acknowledges the
+beauty and grandeur of this last Polonaise, which unites the
+characteristics of superb and original manipulation of the form,
+the martial and the melancholic.
+
+Opus 71, three posthumous Polonaises, given to the world by
+Julius Fontana, are in D minor, published in 1827, B flat major,
+1828, and F minor, 1829. They are interesting to Chopinists. The
+influence of Weber, a past master in this form, is felt. Of the
+three the last in F minor is the strongest, although if Chopin's
+age is taken into consideration, the first, in D minor, is a feat
+for a lad of eighteen. I agree with Niecks that the posthumous
+Polonaise, without opus number, in G sharp minor, was composed
+later than 1822--the date given in the Breitkopf & Hartel
+edition. It is an artistic conception, and in "light winged
+figuration" far more mature than the Chopin of op. 71. Really a
+graceful and effective little composition of the florid order,
+but like his early music without poetic depth. The Warsaw "Echo
+Musicale," to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Chopin's
+death, published a special number in October, 1899, with the
+picture of a farmer named Krysiak, born in 1810, the year after
+the composer. Thereat Finck remarked that it is not a case of
+survival of the fittest! A fac-simile reproduction of a hitherto
+unpublished Polonaise in A flat, written at the age of eleven, is
+also included in this unique number. This tiny dance shows, it is
+said, the "characteristic physiognomy" of the composer. In
+reality this polacca is thin, a tentative groping after a form
+that later was mastered so magnificently by the composer. Here is
+the way it begins--the autograph is Chopin's:
+
+[Musical score excerpt]
+
+The Alla Polacca for piano and 'cello, op. 3, was composed in
+1829, while Chopin was on a visit to Prince Radziwill. It is
+preceded by an introduction, and is dedicated to Joseph Merk, the
+'cellist. Chopin himself pronounced it a brilliant salon piece.
+It is now not even that, for it sounds antiquated and threadbare.
+The passage work at times smacks of Chopin and Weber--a hint of
+the Mouvement Perpetuel--and the 'cello has the better of the
+bargain. Evidently written for my lady's chamber.
+
+Two Polonaises remain. One, in B flat minor, was composed in
+1826, on the occasion of the composer's departure for Reinerz. A
+footnote to the edition of this rather elegiac piece tells this.
+Adieu to Guillaume Kolberg, is the title, and the Trio in D flat
+is accredited to an air of "Gazza Ladra," with a sentimental Au
+Revoir inscribed. Kleczynski has revised the Gebethner & Wolff
+edition. The little cadenza in chromatic double notes on the last
+page is of a certainty Chopin. But the Polonaise in G flat major,
+published by Schott, is doubtful. It has a shallow ring, a
+brilliant superficiality that warrants Niecks in stamping it as a
+possible compilation. There are traces of the master throughout,
+particularly in the E flat minor Trio, but there are some vile
+progressions and an air of vulgarity surely not Chopin's. This
+dance form, since the death of the great composer, has been
+chiefly developed on the virtuoso side. Beethoven, Schubert,
+Weber, and even Bach--in his B minor suite for strings and flute-
+-also indulged in this form. Wagner, as a student, wrote a
+Polonaise for four hands, in D, and in Schumann's Papillons there
+is a charming specimen. Rubinstein composed a most brilliant and
+dramatic example in E flat in Le Bal. The Liszt Polonaises, all
+said and done, are the most remarkable in design and execution
+since Chopin. But they are more Hungarian than Polish.
+
+
+
+XIII. MAZURKAS:--DANCES OF THE SOUL
+
+
+I
+
+
+"Coquetries, vanities, fantasies, inclinations, elegies, vague
+emotions, passions, conquests, struggles upon which the safety or
+favors of others depend, all, all meet in this dance."
+
+Thus Liszt. De Lenz further quotes him: "Of the Mazurkas, one
+must harness a new pianist of the first rank to each of them."
+Yet Liszt told Niecks he did not care much for Chopin's Mazurkas.
+"One often meets in them with bars which might just as well be in
+another place. But as Chopin puts them perhaps nobody could have
+put them." Liszt, despite the rhapsodical praise of his friend,
+is not always to be relied upon. Capricious as Chopin, he had
+days when he disliked not only the Mazurkas, but all music. He
+confessed to Niecks that when he played a half hour for amusement
+it was Chopin he took up.
+
+There is no more brilliant chapter than this Hungarian's on the
+dancing of the Mazurka by the Poles. It is a companion to his
+equally sensational description of the Polonaise. He gives a
+wild, whirling, highly-colored narrative of the Mazurka, with a
+coda of extravagant praise of the beauty and fascination of
+Polish women. "Angel through love, demon through fantasy," as
+Balzac called her. In none of the piano rhapsodies are there such
+striking passages to be met as in Liszt's overwrought, cadenced
+prose, prose modelled after Chateaubriand. Niema iak Polki--
+"nothing equals the Polish women" and their "divine coquetries;"
+the Mazurka is their dance--it is the feminine complement to the
+heroicand masculine Polonaise.
+
+An English writer describes the dancing of the Mazurka in
+contemporary Russia:
+
+  In the salons of St. Petersburg, for instance, the guests
+  actually dance; they do not merely shamble to and fro in a
+  crowd, crumpling their clothes and ruffling their tempers, and
+  call it a set of quadrilles. They have ample space for the
+  sweeping movements and complicated figures of all the orthodox
+  ball dances, and are generally gifted with sufficient plastic
+  grace to carry them out in style. They carefully cultivate
+  dances calling for a kind of grace which is almost beyond the
+  reach of art. The mazurka is one of the finest of these, and
+  it is quite a favorite at balls on the banks of the Neva. It
+  needs a good deal of room, one or more spurred officers, and
+  grace, grace and grace. The dash with which the partners rush
+  forward, the clinking and clattering of spurs as heel clashes
+  with heel in mid air, punctuating the staccato of the music,
+  the loud thud of boots striking the ground, followed by their
+  sibilant slide along the polished floor, then the swift
+  springs and sudden bounds, the whirling gyrations and dizzy
+  evolutions, the graceful genuflections and quick embraces, and
+  all the other intricate and maddening movements to the
+  accompaniment of one of Glinka's or Tschaikowsky's
+  masterpieces, awaken and mobilize all the antique heroism,
+  mediaeval chivalry and wild romance that lie dormant in the
+  depths of men's being. There is more genuine pleasure in being
+  the spectator of a soul thrilling dance like that than in
+  taking an active part in the lifeless make-believes performed
+  at society balls in many of the more Western countries of
+  Europe.
+
+Absolutely Slavonic, though a local dance of the province of
+Mazovia, the Mazurek or Mazurka, is written in three-four time,
+with the usual displaced accent in music of Eastern origin.
+Brodzinski is quoted as saying that in its primitive form the
+Mazurek is only a kind of Krakowiak, "less lively, less
+sautillant." At its best it is a dancing anecdote, a story told
+in a charming variety of steps and gestures. It is intoxicating,
+rude, humorous, poetic, above all melancholy. When he is happiest
+he sings his saddest, does the Pole. Hence his predilection for
+minor modes. The Mazurka is in three-four or three-eight time.
+Sometimes the accent is dotted, but this is by no means absolute.
+Here is the rhythm most frequently encountered, although Chopin
+employs variants and modifications. The first part of the bar has
+usually the quicker notes.
+
+The scale is a mixture of major and minor--melodies are
+encountered that grew out of a scale shorn of a degree.
+Occasionally the augmented second, the Hungarian, is encountered,
+and skips of a third are of frequent occurrence. This, with
+progressions of augmented fourths and major sevenths, gives to
+the Mazurkas of Chopin an exotic character apart from their novel
+and original content. As was the case with the Polonaise, Chopin
+took the framework of the national dance, developed it, enlarged
+it and hung upon it his choicest melodies, his most piquant
+harmonies. He breaks and varies the conventionalized rhythm in a
+half hundred ways, lifting to the plane of a poem the heavy
+hoofed peasant dance. But in this idealization he never robs it
+altogether of the flavor of the soil. It is, in all its wayward
+disguises, the Polish Mazurka, and is with the Polonaise,
+according to Rubinstein, the only Polish-reflective music he has
+made, although "in all of his compositions we hear him relate
+rejoicingly of Poland's vanished greatness, singing, mourning,
+weeping over Poland's downfall and all that, in the most
+beautiful, the most musical, way." Besides the "hard, inartistic
+modulations, the startling progressions and abrupt changes of
+mood" that jarred on the old-fashioned Moscheles, and dipped in
+vitriol the pen of Rellstab, there is in the Mazurkas the
+greatest stumbling block of all, the much exploited rubato.
+Berlioz swore that Chopin could not play in time--which was not
+true--and later we shall see that Meyerbeer thought the same.
+What to the sensitive critic is a charming wavering and swaying
+in the measure--"Chopin leans about freely within his bars,"
+wrote an English critic--for the classicists was a rank departure
+from the time beat. According to Liszt's description of the
+rubato "a wind plays in the leaves, Life unfolds and develops
+beneath them, but the tree remains the same--that is the Chopin
+rubato." Elsewhere, "a tempo agitated, broken, interrupted, a
+movement flexible, yet at the same time abrupt and languishing,
+and vacillating as the fluctuating breath by which it is
+agitated." Chopin was more commonplace in his definition:
+"Supposing," he explained, "that a piece lasts a given number of
+minutes; it may take just so long to perform the whole, but in
+detail deviations may differ."
+
+The tempo rubato is probably as old as music itself. It is in
+Bach, it was practised by the old Italian singers. Mikuli says
+that no matter how free Chopin was in his treatment of the right
+hand in melody or arabesque, the left kept strict time. Mozart
+and not Chopin it was who first said: "Let your left hand be your
+conductor and always keep time." Halle, the pianist, once
+asserted that he proved Chopin to be playing four-four instead of
+three-four measure in a mazurka. Chopin laughingly admitted that
+it was a national trait. Halle was bewildered when he first heard
+Chopin play, for he did not believe such music could be
+represented by musical signs. Still he holds that this style has
+been woefully exaggerated by pupils and imitators. If a Beethoven
+symphony or a Bach fugue be played with metronomical rigidity it
+loses its quintessential flavor. Is it not time the ridiculous
+falsehoods about the Chopin rubato be exposed? Naturally
+abhorring anything that would do violence to the structural part
+of his compositions, Chopin was a very martinet with his pupils
+if too much license of tempo was taken. His music needs the
+greatest lucidity in presentation, and naturally a certain
+elasticity of phrasing. Rhythms need not be distorted, nor need
+there be absurd and vulgar haltings, silly and explosive
+dynamics. Chopin sentimentalized is Chopin butchered. He loathed
+false sentiment, and a man whose taste was formed by Bach and
+Mozart, who was nurtured by the music of these two giants, could
+never have indulged in exaggerated, jerky tempi, in meaningless
+expression. Come, let us be done with this fetish of stolen time,
+of the wonderful and so seldom comprehended rubato. If you wish
+to play Chopin, play him in curves; let there be no angularities
+of surface, of measure, but in the name of the Beautiful do not
+deliver his exquisitely balanced phrases with the jolting, balky
+eloquence of a cafe chantant singer. The very balance and
+symmetry of the Chopin phraseology are internal; it must be
+delivered in a flowing, waving manner, never square or hard, yet
+with every accent showing like the supple muscles of an athlete
+beneath his skin. Without the skeleton a musical composition is
+flaccid, shapeless, weak and without character. Chopin's music
+needs a rhythmic sense that to us, fed upon the few simple forms
+of the West, seems almost abnormal. The Chopin rubato is rhythm
+liberated from its scholastic bonds, but it does not mean
+anarchy, disorder. What makes this popular misconception all the
+more singular is the freedom with which the classics are now
+being interpreted. A Beethoven, and even a Mozart symphony, no
+longer means a rigorous execution, in which the measure is
+ruthlessly hammered out by the conductor, but the melodic and
+emotional curve is followed and the tempo fluctuates. Why then is
+Chopin singled out as the evil and solitary representative of a
+vicious time-beat? Play him as you play Mendelssohn and your
+Chopin has evaporated. Again play him lawlessly, with his
+accentual life topsy-turvied, and he is no longer Chopin--his
+caricature only. Pianists of Slavic descent alone understand the
+secret of the tempo rubato.
+
+  I have read in a recently started German periodical that to
+  make the performance of Chopin's works pleasing it is
+  sufficient to play them with less precision of rhythm than the
+  music of other composers. I, on the contrary, do not know a
+  single phrase of Chopin's works--including even the freest
+  among them--in which the balloon of inspiration, as it moves
+  through the air, is not checked by an anchor of rhythm and
+  symmetry. Such passages as occur in the F minor Ballade, the B
+  flat minor Scherzo--the middle part--the F minor Prelude, and
+  even the A flat Impromptu, are not devoid of rhythm. The most
+  crooked recitative of the F minor Concerto, as can be easily
+  proved, has a fundamental rhythm not at all fantastic, and
+  which cannot be dispensed with when playing with orchestra.
+  ... Chopin never overdoes fantasy, and is always restrained by
+  a pronounced aesthetical instinct. ... Everywhere the
+  simplicity of his poetical inspiration and his sobriety saves
+  us from extravagance and false pathos.
+
+Kleczynski has this in his second volume, for he enjoyed the
+invaluable prompting of Chopin's pupil, the late Princess
+Marceline Czartoryska.
+
+Niecks quotes Mme. Friederike Stretcher, nee Muller, a pupil, who
+wrote of her master: "He required adherence to the strictest
+rhythm, hated all lingering and lagging, misplaced rubatos, as
+well as exaggerated ritardandos. 'Je vous prie de vous asseoir,'
+he said, on such an occasion, with gentle mockery. And it is just
+in this respect that people make such terrible mistakes in the
+execution of his works."
+
+And now to the Mazurkas, which de Lenz said were Heinrich Heine's
+songs on the piano. "Chopin was a phoenix of intimacy with the
+piano. In his nocturnes and mazurkas he is unrivalled, downright
+fabulous."
+
+No compositions are so Chopin-ish as the Mazurkas. Ironical, sad,
+sweet, joyous, morbid, sour, sane and dreamy, they illustrate
+what was said of their composer--"his heart is sad, his mind is
+gay." That subtle quality, for an Occidental, enigmatic, which
+the Poles call Zal, is in some of them; in others the fun is
+almost rough and roaring. Zal, a poisonous word, is a baleful
+compound of pain, sadness, secret rancor, revolt. It is a Polish
+quality and is in the Celtic peoples. Oppressed nations with a
+tendency to mad lyrism develop this mental secretion of the
+spleen. Liszt writes that "the Zal colors with a reflection now
+argent, now ardent the whole of Chopin's works. "This sorrow is
+the very soil of Chopin's nature. He so confessed when questioned
+by Comtesse d'Agoult. Liszt further explains that the strange
+word includes in its meanings--for it seems packed with them--
+"all the tenderness, all the humility of a regret borne with
+resignation and without a murmur;" it also signifies "excitement,
+agitation, rancor, revolt full of reproach, premeditated
+vengeance, menace never ceasing to threaten if retaliation should
+ever become possible, feeding itself meanwhile with a bitter if
+sterile hatred."
+
+Sterile indeed must be such a consuming passion. Even where his
+patriotism became a lyric cry, this Zal tainted the source of
+Chopin's joy. It made him irascible, and with his powers of
+repression, this smouldering, smothered rage must have well nigh
+suffocated him, and in the end proved harmful alike to his person
+and to his art. As in certain phases of disease it heightened the
+beauty of his later work, unhealthy, feverish, yet beauty without
+doubt. The pearl is said to be a morbid secretion, so the
+spiritual ferment called Zal gave to Chopin's music its morbid
+beauty. It is in the B minor Scherzo but not in the A flat
+Ballade. The F minor Ballade overflows with it, and so does the F
+sharp minor Polonaise, but not the first Impromptu. Its dark
+introspection colors many of the preludes and mazurkas, and in
+the C sharp minor Scherzo it is in acrid flowering--truly fleurs
+du mal. Heine and Baudelaire, two poets far removed from the
+Slavic, show traces of the terrible drowsy Zal in their poetry.
+It is the collective sorrow and tribal wrath of a down-trodden
+nation, and the mazurkas for that reason have ethnic value. As
+concise, even as curt as the Preludes, they are for the most part
+highly polished. They are dancing preludes, and often tiny single
+poems of great poetic intensity and passionate plaint.
+
+Chopin published during his lifetime forty-one Mazurkas in eleven
+cahiers of three, four and five numbers. Op. 6, four Mazurkas,
+and op. 7, five Mazurkas, were published December, 1832. Op. 6 is
+dedicated to Comtesse Pauline Plater; op. 7 to Mr. Johns. Op. 17,
+four Mazurkas, May 4, dedicated to Madame Lina Freppa; op. 24,
+four Mazurkas, November, 1835, dedicated to Comte de Perthuis;
+op. 30, four Mazurkas, December, 1837, dedicated to Princesse
+Czartoryska; op. 33, four Mazurkas, October, 1838, dedicated to
+Comtesse Mostowska; op. 41, four Mazurkas, December, 1840,
+dedicated to E. Witwicki; op. 50, three Mazurkas, November, 1841,
+dedicated to Leon Szmitkowski; op. 56, three Mazurkas, August,
+1844, dedicated to Mile. C. Maberly; op. 59, three Mazurkas,
+April, 1846, no dedication, and op. 63, three Mazurkas,
+September, 1847, dedicated to Comtesse Czosnowska.
+
+Besides there are op. 67 and 68 published by Fontana after
+Chopin's death, consisting of eight Mazurkas, and there are a
+miscellaneous number, two in A minor, both in the Kullak,
+Klindworth and Mikuli editions, one in F sharp major, said to be
+written by Charles Mayer--in Klindworth's--and four others, in G,
+B flat, D and C major. This makes in all fifty-six to be grouped
+and analyzed. Niecks thinks there is a well-defined difference
+between the Mazurkas as far as op. 41 and those that follow. In
+the latter he misses "savage beauties" and spontaneity. As Chopin
+gripped the form, as he felt more, suffered more and knew more,
+his Mazurkas grew broader, revealed more Weltschmerz, became
+elaborate and at times impersonal, but seldom lost the racial
+"snap" and hue. They are sonnets in their well-rounded mecanisme,
+and, as Schumann says, something new is to be found in each.
+Toward the last, a few are blithe and jocund, but they are the
+exceptions. In the larger ones the universal quality is felt, but
+to the detriment of the intimate, Polish characteristics. These
+Mazurkas are just what they are called, only some dance with the
+heart, others with the heels. Comprising a large and original
+portion of Chopin's compositions, they are the least known.
+Perhaps when they wander from the map of Poland they lose some of
+their native fragrance. Like hardy, simple wild flowers, they are
+mostly for the open air, the only out-of-doors music Chopin ever
+made. But even in the open, under the moon, the note of self-
+torture, of sophisticated sadness is not absent. Do not accuse
+Chopin, for this is the sign-manual of his race. The Pole suffers
+in song the joy of his sorrow.
+
+
+II
+
+
+The F sharp minor Mazurka of op. 6 begins with the characteristic
+triplet that plays such a role in the dance. Here we find a
+Chopin fuller fledged than in the nocturnes and variations, and
+probably because of the form. This Mazurka, first in publication,
+is melodious, slightly mournful but of a delightful freshness.
+The third section with the appoggiaturas realizes a vivid vision
+of country couples dancing determinedly. Who plays No. 2 of this
+set? It, too, has the "native wood note wild," with its dominant
+pedal bass, its slight twang and its sweet-sad melody in C sharp
+minor. There is hearty delight in the major, and how natural it
+seems. No. 3 in E is still on the village green, and the boys and
+girls are romping in the dance. We hear a drone bass--a favorite
+device of Chopin--and the chatter of the gossips, the bustle of a
+rural festival. The harmonization is rich, the rhythmic life
+vital. But in the following one in E flat minor a different note
+is sounded. Its harmonies are closer and there is sorrow abroad.
+The incessant circling around one idea, as if obsessed by fixed
+grief, is used here for the first, but not for the last time, by
+the composer.
+
+Opus 7 drew attention to Chopin. It was the set that brought down
+the thunders of Rellstab, who wrote: "If Mr. Chopin had shown
+this composition to a master the latter would, it is to be hoped,
+have torn it and thrown it at his feet, which we hereby do
+symbolically." Criticism had its amenities in 1833. In a later
+number of "The Iris," in which a caustic notice appeared of the
+studies, op. 10, Rellstab printed a letter, signed Chopin, the
+authenticity of which is extremely doubtful. In it Chopin is made
+to call the critic "really a very bad man." Niecks demonstrates
+that the Polish pianist was not the writer. It reads like the
+effusion of some indignant, well meaning female friend.
+
+The B flat major Mazurka which opens op. 7 is the best known of
+these dances. There is an expansive swing, a laissez-aller to
+this piece, with its air of elegance, that are very alluring. The
+rubato flourishes, and at the close we hear the footing of the
+peasant. A jolly, reckless composition that makes one happy to be
+alive and dancing. The next, which begins in A minor, is as if
+one danced upon one's grave; a change to major does not deceive,
+it is too heavy-hearted. No. 3, in F minor, with its rhythmic
+pronouncement at the start, brings us back to earth. The triplet
+that sets off the phrase has great significance. Guitar-like is
+the bass in its snapping resolution. The section that begins on
+the dominant of D flat is full of vigor and imagination; the left
+hand is given a solo. This Mazurka has the true ring.
+
+The following one, in A flat, is a sequence of moods. Its
+assertiveness soon melts into tenderer hues, and in an episode in
+A we find much to ponder. No. 5, in C, consists of three lines.
+It is a sort of coda to the opus and full of the echoes of lusty
+happiness. A silhouette with a marked profile.
+
+Opus 17, No. 1, in B flat, is bold, chivalric, and I fancy I hear
+the swish of the warrior's sabre. The peasant has vanished or
+else gapes through the open window while his master goes through
+the paces of a courtlier dance. We encounter sequential chords of
+the seventh, and their use, rhythmically framed as they are,
+gives a line of sternness to the dance. Niecks thinks that the
+second Mazurka might be called The Request, so pathetic, playful
+and persuasive is it. It is in E minor and has a plaintive,
+appealing quality. The G major part is very pretty. In the last
+lines the passion mounts, but is never shrill. Kullak notes that
+in the fifth and sixth bars there is no slur in certain editions.
+Klindworth employs it, but marks the B sforzando. A slur on two
+notes of the same pitch with Chopin does not always mean a tie.
+The A flat Mazurka, No. 3, is pessimistic, threatening and
+irritable. Though in the key of E major the trio displays a
+relentless sort of humor. The return does not mend matters. A
+dark page! In A minor the fourth is called by Szulc the Little
+Jew. Szulc, who wrote anecdotes of Chopin and collected them with
+the title of "Fryderyk Szopen," told the story to Kleczynski. It
+is this:
+
+  Chopin did not care for programme music, though more than one
+  of his compositions, full of expression and character, may be
+  included under that name. Who does not know the A minor
+  Mazurka of op. 17, dedicated to Lena Freppa? Itwas already
+  known in our country as the "Little Jew" before the departure
+  of our artist abroad. It is one of the works of Chopin which
+  are characterized by distinct humor. A Jew in slippers and a
+  long robe comes out of his inn, and seeing an unfortunate
+  peasant, his customer, intoxicated, tumbling about the road
+  and uttering complaints, exclaims from his threshold, "What is
+  this?" Then, as if by way of contrast to this scene, the gay
+  wedding party of a rich burgess comes along on its way from
+  church, with shouts of various kinds, accompanied in a lively
+  manner by violins and bagpipes. The train passes by, the tipsy
+  peasant renews his complaints--the complaints of a man who had
+  tried to drown his misery in the glass. The Jew returns
+  indoors, shaking his head and again asking, "What was this?"
+
+The story strikes one as being both childish and commonplace. The
+Mazurka is rather doleful and there is a little triplet of
+interrogation standing sentinel at the fourth bar. It is also the
+last phrase. But what of that? I, too, can build you a programme
+as lofty or lowly as you please, but it will not be Chopin's.
+Niecks, for example, finds this very dance bleak and joyless, of
+intimate emotional experience, and with "jarring tones that
+strike in and pitilessly wake the dreamer." So there is no
+predicating the content of music except in a general way; the
+mood key may be struck, but in Chopin's case this is by no means
+infallible. If I write with confidence it is that begot of
+desperation, for I know full well that my version of the story
+will not be yours. The A minor Mazurka for me is full of hectic
+despair, whatever that may mean, and its serpentining chromatics
+and apparently suspended close--on the chord of the sixth--gives
+an impression of morbid irresolution modulating into a sort of
+desperate gayety. Its tonality accounts for the moods evoked,
+being indeterminate and restless.
+
+Opus 24 begins with the G minor Mazurka, a favorite because of
+its comparative freedom from technical difficulties. Although in
+the minor mode there is mental strength in the piece, with its
+exotic scale of the augmented second, and its trio is hearty. In
+the next, in C, we find, besides the curious content, a mixture
+of tonalities--Lydian and mediaeval church modes. Here the trio
+is occidental. The entire piece leaves a vague impression of
+discontent, and the refrain recalls the Russian bargemen's songs
+utilized at various times by Tschaikowsky. Klindworth uses
+variants. There is also some editorial differences in the
+metronomic markings, Mikuli being, according to Kullak, too slow.
+Mention has not been made, as in the studies and preludes, of the
+tempi of the Mazurkas. These compositions are so capricious, so
+varied, that Chopin, I am sure, did not play any one of them
+twice alike. They are creatures of moods, melodic air plants,
+swinging to the rhythms of any vagrant breeze. The metronome is
+for the student, but metronome and rubato are, as de Lenz would
+have said, mutually exclusive.
+
+The third Mazurka of op. 24 is in A flat. It is pleasing, not
+deep, a real dance with an ornamental coda. But the next! Ah!
+here is a gem, a beautiful and exquisitely colored poem. In B
+flat minor, it sends out prehensile filaments that entwine and
+draw us into the centre of a wondrous melody, laden with rich
+odors, odors that almost intoxicate. The figuration is tropical,
+and when the major is reached and those glancing thirty-seconds
+so coyly assail us we realize the seductive charm of Chopin. The
+reprise is still more festooned, and it is almost a relief when
+the little, tender unison begins with its positive chord
+assertions closing the period. Then follows a fascinating,
+cadenced step, with lights and shades, sweet melancholy driving
+before it joy and being routed itself, until the annunciation of
+the first theme and the dying away of the dance, dancers and the
+solid globe itself, as if earth had committed suicide for loss of
+the sun. The last two bars could have been written only by
+Chopin. They are ineffable sighs.
+
+And now the chorus of praise begins to mount in burning octaves.
+The C minor Mazurka, op. 30, is another of those wonderful,
+heartfelt melodies of the master. What can I say of the deepening
+feeling at the con anima! It stabs with its pathos. Here is the
+poet Chopin, the poet who, with Burns, interprets the simple
+strains of the folk, who blinds us with color and rich
+romanticism like Keats and lifts us Shelley-wise to
+transcendental azure. And his only apparatus a keyboard. As
+Schumann wrote: "Chopin did not make his appearance by an
+orchestral army, as a great genius is accustomed to do; he only
+possesses a small cohort, but every soul belongs to him to the
+last hero."
+
+Eight lines is this dance, yet its meanings are almost endless.
+No. 2, in B minor, is called The Cuckoo by Kleczynski. It is
+sprightly and with the lilt, notwithstanding its subtle
+progressions, of Mazovia. No. 3 in D flat is all animation,
+brightness and a determination to stay out the dance. The
+alternate major-minor of the theme is truly Polish. The graceful
+trio and canorous brilliancy of this dance make it a favored
+number. The ending is epigrammatic. It comes so suddenly upon us,
+our cortical cells pealing with the minor, that its very
+abruptness is witty. One can see Chopin making a mocking moue as
+he wrote it. Tschaikowsky borrowed the effect for the conclusion
+of the Chinoise in a miniature orchestral suite. The fourth of
+this opus is in C sharp minor. Again I feel like letting loose
+the dogs of enthusiasm. The sharp rhythms and solid build of this
+ample work give it a massive character. It is one of the big
+Mazurkas, and the ending, raw as it is--consecutive, bare-faced
+fifths and sevenths--compasses its intended meaning.
+
+Opus 33 is a popular set. It begins with one in G sharp minor,
+which is curt and rather depressing. The relief in B major is
+less real than it seems--on paper. Moody, withal a tender-hearted
+Mazurka. No. 2, in D, is bustling, graceful and full of
+unrestrained vitality. Bright and not particularly profound, it
+was successfully arranged for voice by Viardot-Garcia. The third
+of the opus, in C, is the one described by de Lenz as almost
+precipitating a violent row between Chopin and Meyerbeer. He had
+christened it the Epitaph of the Idea.
+
+"Two-four," said Meyerbeer, after de Lenz played it. "Three-
+four," answered Chopin, flushing angrily. "Let me have it for a
+ballet in my new opera and I'll show you," retorted Meyerbeer.
+"It's three-four," scolded Chopin, and played it himself. De Lenz
+says they parted coolly, each holding to his opinion. Later, in
+St. Petersburg, Meyerbeer met this gossip and told him that he
+loved Chopin. "I know no pianist, no composer for the piano like
+him." Meyerbeer was wrong in his idea of the tempo. Though Chopin
+slurs the last beat, it is there, nevertheless. This Mazurka is
+only four lines long and is charming, as charming as the brief
+specimen in the Preludes. The next Mazurka is another famous
+warhorse. In B minor, it is full of veiled coquetries, hazardous
+mood transitions, growling recitatives and smothered plaints. The
+continual return to the theme gives rise to all manner of
+fanciful programmes. One of the most characteristic is by the
+Polish poet Zelenski, who, so Kleczynski relates, wrote a
+humorous poem on this mazurka. For him it is a domestic comedy in
+which a drunken peasant and his much abused wife enact a little
+scene. Returning home the worse for wear he sings "Oj ta dana"--
+"Oh dear me"--and rumbles in the bass in a figure that answers
+the treble. His wife reproaching him, he strikes her. Here we are
+in B flat. She laments her fate in B major. Then her husband
+shouts: "Be quiet, old vixen." This is given in the octaves, a
+genuine dialogue, the wife tartly answering: "Shan't be quiet."
+The gruff grumbling in the bass is heard, an imitation of the
+above, when suddenly the man cries out, the last eight bars of
+the composition: "Kitty, Kitty come--do come here, I forgive
+you," which is decidedly masculine in its magnanimity.
+
+If one does not care for the rather coarse realism of this
+reading Kleczynski offers the poem of Ujejeski, called The
+Dragoon. A soldier flatters a girl at the inn. She flies from
+him, and her lover, believing she has deceived him, despairingly
+drowns himself. The ending, with its "Ring, ring, ring the bell
+there! Horses carry me to the depths," has more poetic contour
+than the other. Without grafting any libretto on it, this Mazurka
+is a beautiful tone-piece in itself. Its theme is delicately
+mournful and the subject, in B major, simply entrancing in its
+broad, flowing melody.
+
+In C sharp minor, op. 41, is a Mazurka that is beloved of me. Its
+scale is exotic, its rhythm convincing, its tune a little
+saddened by life, but courage never fails. This theme sounds
+persistently, in the middle voices, in the bass, and at the close
+in full harmonies, unisons, giving it a startling effect. Octaves
+take it up in profile until it vanishes. Here is the very
+apotheosis of rhythm. No. 2, in E minor, is not very resolute of
+heart. It was composed, so Niecks avers, at Palma, when Chopin's
+health fully accounts for the depressed character of the piece,
+for it is sad to the point of tears. Of op. 41 he wrote to
+Fontana from Nohant in 1839, "You know I have four new Mazurkas,
+one from Palma, in E minor; three from here, in B major, A flat
+major and C sharp minor. They seem to me pretty, as the youngest
+children usually do when the parents grow old." No. 3 is a
+vigorous, sonorous dance. No. 4, over which the editors deviate
+on the serious matter of text, in A flat, is for the concert
+room, and is allied to several of his gracious Valses. Playful
+and decorative, but not profound in feeling.
+
+Opus 50, the first in G major, is healthy and vivacious. Good
+humor predominates. Kullak notes that in some editions it closes
+pianissimo, which seems a little out of drawing. No. 2 is
+charming. In A flat, it is a perfect specimen of the aristocratic
+Mazurka. The D flat Trio, the answering episode in B flat minor,
+and the grace of the return make this one to be studied and
+treasured. De Lenz finds Bach-ian influences in the following, in
+C sharp minor: "It begins as though written for the organ, and
+ends in an exclusive salon; it does him credit and is worked out
+more fully than the others. Chopin was much pleased when I told
+him that in the construction of this Mazurka the passage from E
+major to F major was the same as that in the Agatha aria in
+'Freischutz.'" De Lenz refers to the opening Bach-like mutations.
+The texture of this dance is closer and finer spun than any we
+have encountered. Perhaps spontaneity is impaired, mais que
+voulez vous? Chopin was bound to develop, and his Mazurkas,
+fragile and constricted as is the form, were sure to show a like
+record of spiritual and intellectual growth.
+
+Opus 56, in B major, is elaborate, even in its beginning. There
+is decoration in the ritornelle in E flat and one feels the
+absence of a compensating emotion, despite the display of
+contrapuntal skill. Very virtuoso-like, but not so intimate as
+some of the others. Karasowski selects No. 2 in C as an
+illustration. "It is as though the composer had sought for the
+moment to divert himself with narcotic intoxication only to fall
+back the more deeply into his original gloom." There is the
+peasant in the first bars in C, but the A minor and what follows
+soon disturb the air of bonhomie. Theoretical ease is in the
+imitative passages; Chopin is now master of his tools. The third
+Mazurka of op. 56 is in C minor. It is quite long and does not
+give the impression of a whole. With the exception of a short
+break in B major, it is composed with the head, not the heart,
+nor yet the heels.
+
+Not unlike, in its sturdy affirmation, the one in C sharp minor,
+op. 41, is the next Mazurka, in A minor, op. 59. That Chopin did
+not repeat himself is an artistic miracle. A subtle turn takes us
+off the familiar road to some strange glade, wherein the flowers
+are rare in scent and odor. This Mazurka, like the one that
+follows, has a dim resemblance to others, yet there is always a
+novel point of departure, a fresh harmony, a sudden melody or an
+unexpected ending. Hadow, for example, thinks the A flat of this
+opus the most beautiful of them all. In it he finds legitimately
+used the repetition in various shapes of a single phrase. To me
+this Mazurka seems but an amplification, an elaboration of the
+lovely one in the same key, op. 50, No. 2. The double sixths and
+more complicated phraseology do not render the later superior to
+the early Mazurka, yet there is no gainsaying the fact that this
+is a noble composition. But the next, in F sharp minor, despite
+its rather saturnine gaze, is stronger in interest, if not in
+workmanship. While it lacks Niecks' beautes sauvages, is it not
+far loftier in conception and execution than op. 6, in F sharp
+minor? The inevitable triplet appears in the third bar, and is a
+hero throughout. Oh, here is charm for you! Read the close of the
+section in F sharp major. In the major it ends, the triplet
+fading away at last, a mere shadow, a turn on D sharp, but victor
+to the last. Chopin is at the summit of his invention. Time and
+tune, that wait for no man, are now his bond slaves. Pathos,
+delicacy, boldness, a measured melancholy and the art of
+euphonious presentiment of all these, and many factors more,
+stamp this Mazurka a masterpiece.
+
+Niecks believes there is a return of the early freshness and
+poetry in the last three Mazurkas, op. 63. "They are, indeed,
+teeming with interesting matter," he writes. "Looked at from the
+musician's point of view, how much do we not see novel and
+strange, beautiful and fascinating withal? Sharp dissonances,
+chromatic passing notes, suspensions and anticipations,
+displacement of accent, progressions of perfect fifths--the
+horror of schoolmen--sudden turns and unexpected digressions that
+are so unaccountable, so out of the line of logical sequence,
+that one's following the composer is beset with difficulties. But
+all this is a means to an end, the expression of an individuality
+with its intimate experiences. The emotional content of many of
+these trifles--trifles if considered only by their size--is
+really stupendous." Spoken like a brave man and not a pedant!
+
+Full of vitality is the first number of op. 63. In B major, it is
+sufficiently various in figuration and rhythmical life to single
+it from its fellows. The next, in F minor, has a more elegiac
+ring. Brief and not difficult of matter or manner is this dance.
+The third, of winning beauty, is in C sharp minor--surely a
+pendant to the C sharp minor Valse. I defy anyone to withstand
+the pleading, eloquent voice of this Mazurka. Slender in
+technical configuration, yet it impressed Louis Ehlert so much
+that he was impelled to write: "A more perfect canon in the
+octave could not have been written by one who had grown gray in
+the learned arts."
+
+The four Mazurkas, published posthumously in 1855, that comprise
+op. 67 were composed by Chopin at various dates. To the first, in
+G, Klindworth affixes 1849 as the year of composition. Niecks
+gives a much earlier date, 1835. I fancy the latter is correct,
+as the piece sounds like one of Chopin's more youthful efforts.
+It is jolly and rather superficial. The next, in G minor, is
+familiar. It is very pretty, and its date is set down by Niecks
+as 1849, while Klindworth gives 1835. Here again Niecks is
+correct, although I suspect that Klindworth transposed his
+figures accidentally. No. 3, in C, was composed in 1835. On this
+both biographer and editor agree. It is certainly an early
+effusion of no great value, although a good dancing tune. No. 4 A
+minor, of this opus, composed in 1846, is more mature, but in no
+wise remarkable.
+
+Opus 68, the second of the Fontana set, was composed in 1830. The
+first, in C, is commonplace; the one in A minor, composed in
+1827, is much better, being lighter and well made; the third, in
+F major, 1830, weak and trivial, and the fourth, in F minor,
+1849, interesting because it is said by Julius Fontana to be
+Chopin's last composition. He put it on paper a short time before
+his death, but was too ill to try it at the piano. It is
+certainly morbid in its sick insistence in phrase repetition,
+close harmonies and wild departure--in A--from the first figure.
+But it completes the gloomy and sardonic loop, and we wish, after
+playing this veritable song of the tomb, that we had parted from
+Chopin in health, not disease. This page is full of the
+premonitions of decay. Too weak and faltering to be febrile,
+Chopin is here a debile, prematurely exhausted young man. There
+are a few accents of a forced gayety, but they are swallowed up
+in the mists of dissolution--the dissolution of one of the most
+sensitive brains ever wrought by nature. Here we may echo,
+without any savor of Liszt's condescension or de Lenz's irony:
+"Pauvre Frederic!"
+
+Klindworth and Kullak have different ideas concerning the end of
+this Mazurka. Both are correct. Kullak, Klindworth and Mikuli
+include in their editions two Mazurkas in A minor. Neither is
+impressive. One, the date of composition unknown, is dedicated "a
+son ami Emile Gaillard;" the other first appeared in a musical
+publication of Schotts' about 1842 or 1843--according to Niecks.
+Of this set I prefer the former; it abounds in octaves and ends
+with a long trill There is in the Klindworth edition a Mazurka,
+the last in the set, in the key of F sharp. It is so un-Chopinish
+and artificial that the doubts of the pianist Ernst Pauer were
+aroused as to its authenticity. On inquiry--Niecks quotes from
+the London monthly "Musical Record," July 1, 1882--Pauer
+discovered that the piece was identical with a Mazurka by Charles
+Mayer. Gotthard being the publisher of the alleged Chopin
+Mazurka, declared he bought the manuscript from a Polish countess-
+-possibly one of the fifty in whose arms Chopin died--and that
+the lady parted with Chopin's autograph because of her dire
+poverty. It is, of course, a clear case of forgery.
+
+Of the four early Mazurkas, in G major and B flat major--dating
+from 1825--D major--composed in 1829-30, but remodelled in 1832--
+and C major--of 1833--the latter is the most characteristic. The
+G major is of slight worth. As Niecks remarks, it contains a
+harmonic error. The one in B flat starts out with a phrase that
+recalls the A minor Mazurka, numbered 45 in the Breitkopf &
+Hartel edition. This B flat Mazurka, early as it was composed,
+is, nevertheless, pretty. There are breadth and decision in the C
+major Mazurka. The recasting improves the D major Mazurka. Its
+trio is lifted an octave and the doubling of notes throughout
+gives more weight and richness.
+
+"In the minor key laughs and cries, dances and mourns the Slav,"
+says Dr. J. Schucht in his monograph on Chopin. Chopin here
+reveals not only his nationality, but his own fascinating and
+enigmatic individuality. Within the tremulous spaces of this
+immature dance is enacted the play of a human soul, a soul that
+voices the sorrow and revolt of a dying race, of a dying poet.
+They are epigrammatic, fluctuating, crazy, and tender, these
+Mazurkas, and some of them have a soft, melancholy light, as if
+shining through alabaster--true corpse light leading to a morass
+of doubt and terror. But a fantastic, dishevelled, debonair
+spirit is the guide, and to him we abandon ourselves in these
+precise and vertiginous dances.
+
+
+
+XIV. CHOPIN THE CONQUEROR
+
+
+
+The Scherzi of Chopin are of his own creation; the type as
+illustrated by Beethoven and Mendelssohn had no meaning for him.
+Whether in earnest or serious jest, Chopin pitched on a title
+that is widely misleading when the content is considered. The
+Beethoven Scherzo is full of a robust sort of humor. In it he is
+seldom poetical, frequently given to gossip, and at times he
+hints at the mystery of life. The demoniacal element, the fierce
+jollity that mocks itself, the almost titanic anger of Chopin
+would not have been regarded by the composer of the Eroica
+Symphony as adapted to the form. The Pole practically built up a
+new musical structure, boldly called it a Scherzo, and, as in the
+case of the Ballades, poured into its elastic mould most
+disturbing and incomparable music.
+
+Chopin seldom compasses sublimity. His arrows are tipped with
+fire, yet they do not fly far. But in some of his music he skirts
+the regions where abide the gods. In at least one Scherzo, in one
+Ballade, in the F minor Fantaisie, in the first two movements of
+the B flat minor Sonata, in several of the Eludes, and in one of
+the Preludes, he compasses grandeur. Individuality of utterance,
+beauty of utterance, and the eloquence we call divine are his;
+criticism then bows its questioning brows before this anointed
+one. In the Scherzi Chopin is often prophet as well as poet. He
+fumes and frets, but upon his countenance is che precious fury of
+the sibyls. We see the soul that suffers from secret convulsions,
+but forgive the writhing for the music made. These four Scherzi
+are psychical records, confessions committed to paper of
+outpourings that never could have passed the lips. From these
+alone we may almost reconstruct the real Chopin, the inner
+Chopin, whose conventional exterior so ill prepared the world for
+the tragic issues of his music.
+
+The first Scherzo is a fair model. There are a few bars of
+introduction--the porch, as Niecks would call it--a principal
+subject, a trio, a short working-out section, a skilful return to
+the opening theme, and an elaborate coda. This edifice, not
+architecturally flawless, is better adapted to the florid
+beauties of Byzantine treatment than to the severe Hellenic line.
+Yet Chopin gave it dignity, largeness and a classic massiveness.
+The interior is romantic, is modern, personal, but the facade
+shows gleaming minarets, the strangely builded shapes of the
+Orient. This B minor Scherzo has the acid note of sorrow and
+revolt, yet the complex figuration never wavers. The walls stand
+firm despite the hurricane blowing through and around them.
+Ehlert finds this Scherzo tornadic. It is gusty, and the hurry
+and over-emphasis do not endear it to the pianist. The first
+pages are filled with wrathful sounds, there is much tossing of
+hands and cries to heaven, calling down its fire and brimstone. A
+climax mounts to a fine frenzy until the lyric intermezzo in B is
+reached. Here love chants with honeyed tongues. The widely
+dispersed figure of the melody has an entrancing tenderness. But
+peace does not long prevail against the powers of Eblis, and
+infernal is the Wilde Jagd of the finale. After shrillest of
+dissonances, a chromatic uproar pilots the doomed one across this
+desperate Styx.
+
+What Chopin's programme was we can but guess. He may have
+outlined the composition in a moment of great ebullition, a time
+of soul laceration arising from a cat scratch or a quarrel with
+Maurice Sand in the garden over the possession of the goat cart.
+
+The Klindworth edition is preferable. Kullak follows his example
+in using the double note stems in the B major part. He gives the
+A sharp in the bass six bars before the return of the first
+motif. Klindworth, and other editions, prescribe A natural, which
+is not so effective. This Scherzo might profit by being played
+without the repeats. The chromatic interlocked octaves at the
+close are very striking.
+
+I find at times--as my mood changes--something almost repellant
+in the B minor Scherzo. It does not present the frank physiognomy
+of the second Scherzo, op. 31, in B flat minor. Ehlert cries that
+it was composed in a blessed hour, although de Lenz quotes Chopin
+as saying of the opening, "It must be a charnel house." The
+defiant challenge of the beginning has no savor of the scorn and
+drastic mockery of its fore-runner. We are conscious that tragedy
+impends, that after the prologue may follow fast catastrophe. Yet
+it is not feared with all the portentous thunder of its index.
+Nor are we deceived. A melody of winning distinction unrolls
+before us. It has a noble tone, is of a noble type. Without
+relaxing pace it passes and drops like a thunderbolt into the
+bowels of the earth. Again the story is told, and tarrying not at
+all we are led to a most delectable spot in the key of A major.
+This trio is marked by genius. Can anything be more bewitching
+than the episode in C sharp minor merging into E major, with the
+overflow at the close? The fantasy is notable for variety of
+tonality, freedom in rhythmical incidents and genuine power. The
+coda is dizzy and overwhelming. For Schumann this Scherzo is
+Byronic in tenderness and boldness. Karasowski speaks of its
+Shakespearian humor, and indeed it is a very human and lovable
+piece of art. It holds richer, warmer, redder blood than the
+other three and like the A flat Ballade, is beloved of the
+public. But then it is easier to understand.
+
+Opus 39, the third Scherzo in C sharp minor, was composed or
+finished at Majorca and is the most dramatic of the set. I
+confess to see no littleness in the polished phrases, though
+irony lurks in its bars and there is fever in its glance--a
+glance full of enigmatic and luring scorn. I heartily agree with
+Hadow, who finds the work clear cut and of exact balance. And
+noting that Chopin founded whole paragraphs "either on a single
+phrase repeated in similar shapes or on two phrases in
+alternation"--a primitive practice in Polish folksongs--he
+asserts that "Beethoven does not attain the lucidity of his style
+by such parallelism of phraseology," but admits that Chopin's
+methods made for "clearness and precision...may be regarded as
+characteristic of the national manner." A thoroughly personal
+characteristic too.
+
+There is virile clangor in the firmly struck octaves of the
+opening pages. No hesitating, morbid view of life, but rank,
+harsh assertiveness, not untinged with splenetic anger. The
+chorale of the trio is admirably devised and carried out. Its
+piety is a bit of liturgical make-believe. The contrasts here are
+most artistic--sonorous harmonies set off by broken chords that
+deliciously tinkle. There is a coda of frenetic movement and the
+end is in major, a surprising conclusion when considering all
+that has gone before. Never to become the property of the
+profane, the C sharp minor Scherzo, notwithstanding its marked
+asperities and agitated moments, is a great work of art. Without
+the inner freedom of its predecessor, it is more sober and self-
+contained than the B minor Scherzo.
+
+The fourth Scherzo, op. 54, is in the key of E. Built up by a
+series of cunning touches and climaxes and without the mood depth
+or variety of its brethren, it is more truly a Scherzo than any
+of them. It has tripping lightness and there is sunshine
+imprisoned behind its open bars. Of it Schumann could not ask,
+"How is gravity to clothe itself if jest goes about in dark
+veils?" Here, then, is intellectual refinement and jesting of a
+superior sort. Niecks thinks it fragmentary. I find the fairy-
+like measures delightful after the doleful mutterings of some of
+the other Scherzi. There is the same "spirit of opposition," but
+of arrogance none. The C sharp minor theme is of lyric beauty,
+the coda with its scales, brilliant. It seems to be banned by
+classicists and Chopin worshippers alike. The agnostic attitude
+is not yet dead in the piano playing world.
+
+Rubinstein most admired the first two Scherzi. The B minor has
+been criticised for being too much in the etude vein. But with
+all their shortcomings these compositions are without peer in the
+literature of the piano.
+
+They were published and dedicated as follows: Op. 20, February,
+1835, to M. T. Albrecht; op. 31, December, 1837, Comtesse de
+Furstenstein; op. 39, October, 1840, Adolph Gutmann, and op. 54,
+December, 1843, Mile, de Caraman. De Lenz relates that Chopin
+dedicated the C sharp minor Scherzo to his pupil Gutmann, because
+this giant, with a prize fighter's fist, could "knock a hole in
+the table" with a certain chord for the left hand--sixth measure
+from the beginning--and adds quite naively: "Nothing more was
+ever heard of this Gutmann--he was a discovery of Chopin's."
+Chopin died in this same Gutmann's arms, and, despite de Lenz,
+Gutmann was in evidence until his death as a "favorite pupil."
+
+And now we have reached the grandest--oh, banal and abused word--
+of Chopin's compositions, the Fantaisie in F minor, op. 49.
+Robert Schumann, after remarking that the cosmopolitan must
+"sacrifice the small interests of the soil on which he was born,"
+notices that Chopin's later works "begin to lose something of
+their especial Sarmatian physiognomy, to approach partly more
+nearly the universal ideal cultivated by the divine Greeks which
+we find again in Mozart." The F minor Fantaisie has hardly the
+Mozartian serenity, but parades a formal beauty--not disfigured
+by an excess of violence, either personal or patriotic, and its
+melodies, if restless by melancholy, are of surprising nobility
+and dramatic grandeur. Without including the Beethoven Sonatas,
+not strictly born of the instrument, I do not fear to maintain
+that this Fantaisie is one of the greatest of piano pieces. Never
+properly appreciated by pianists, critics, or public, it is,
+after more than a half century of neglect, being understood at
+last. It was published November, 1843, and probably composed at
+Nohant, as a letter of the composer indicates. The dedication is
+to Princesse C. de Souzzo--these interminable countesses and
+princesses of Chopin! For Niecks, who could not at first discern
+its worth, it suggests a Titan in commotion. It is Titanic; the
+torso of some Faust-like dream, it is Chopin's Faust. A macabre
+march, containing some dangerous dissonances, gravely ushers us
+to ascending staircases of triplets, only to precipitate us to
+the very abysses of the piano. That first subject, is it not
+almost as ethically puissant and passionate as Beethoven in his F
+minor Sonata? Chopin's lack of tenaciousness is visible here.
+Beethoven would have built a cathedral on such a foundational
+scheme, but Chopin, ever prodigal in his melody making, dashes
+impetuously to the A flat episode, that heroic love chant,
+erroneously marked dolce and played with the effeminacies of a
+salon. Three times does it resound in this strange Hall of
+Glancing Mirrors, yet not once should it be caressed. The bronze
+fingers of a Tausig are needed. Now are arching the triplets to
+the great, thrilling song, beginning in C minor, and then the
+octaves, in contrary motion, split wide asunder the very earth.
+After terrific chordal reverberations there is the rapid retreat
+of vague armies, and once again is begun the ascent of the
+rolling triplets to inaccessible heights, and the first theme
+sounds in C minor. The modulation lifts to G flat, only to drop
+to abysmal depths. What mighty, desperate cause is being
+espoused? When peace is presaged in the key of B, is this the
+prize for which strive these agonized hosts? Is some forlorn
+princess locked behind these solemn, inaccessible bars? For a few
+moments there is contentment beyond all price. Then the warring
+tribe of triplets recommence, after clamorous G flat octaves
+reeling from the stars to the sea of the first theme. Another
+rush into D flat ensues, the song of C minor reappears in F
+minor, and the miracle is repeated. Oracular octaves quake the
+cellarage of the palace, the warriors hurry by, their measured
+tramp is audible after they vanish, and the triplets obscure
+their retreat with chromatic vapors. Then an adagio in this
+fantastic old world tale--the curtain prepares to descend--a
+faint, sweet voice sings a short, appealing cadenza, and after
+billowing A flat arpeggios, soft, great hummocks of tone, two
+giant chords are sounded, and the Ballade of Love and War is
+over. Who conquers? Is the Lady with the Green Eyes and Moon
+White Face rescued? Or is all this a De Quincey's Dream Fugue
+translated into tone--a sonorous, awesome vision? Like De
+Quincey, it suggests the apparition of the empire of fear, the
+fear that is secretly felt with dreams, wherein the spirit
+expands to the drummings of infinite space.
+
+Alas! for the validity of subjective criticism. Franz Liszt told
+Vladimir de Pachmann the programme of the Fantaisie, as related
+to him by Chopin. At the close of one desperate, immemorial day,
+the pianist was crooning at the piano, his spirits vastly
+depressed. Suddenly came a knocking at his door, a Poe-like,
+sinister tapping, which he at once rhythmically echoed upon the
+keyboard, his phono-motor centre being unusually sensitive. The
+first two bars of the Fantaisie describe these rappings, just as
+the third and fourth stand for Chopin's musical invitation,
+entrez, entrez! This is all repeated until the doors wide open
+swinging admit Liszt, George Sand, Madame Camille Pleyel nee
+Mock, and others. To the solemn measures of the march they enter,
+and range themselves about Chopin, who after the agitated
+triplets begins his complaint in the mysterious song in F minor.
+But Sand, with whom he has quarrelled, falls before him on her
+knees and pleads for pardon. Straightway the chant merges into
+the appealing A flat section--this sends skyward my theory of its
+interpretation--and from C minor the current becomes more
+tempestuous until the climax is reached and to the second march
+the intruders rapidly vanish. The remainder of the work, with the
+exception of the Lento Sostenuto in B--where it is to be hoped
+Chopin's perturbed soul finds momentary peace--is largely
+repetition and development. This far from ideal reading is an
+authoritative one, coming as it does from Chopin by way of Liszt.
+I console myself for its rather commonplace character with the
+notion that perhaps in the re-telling the story has caught some
+personal cadenzas of the two historians. In any case I shall
+cling to my own version.
+
+The F minor Fantaisie will mean many things to many people.
+Chopin has never before maintained so artistically, so free from
+delirium, such a level of strong passion, mental power and
+exalted euphony. It is his largest canvas, and though there are
+no long-breathed periods such as in the B flat minor Scherzo, the
+phraseology is amply broad, without padding of paragraphs. The
+rapt interest is not relaxed until the final bar. This
+transcendental work more nearly approaches Beethoven in its
+unity, its formal rectitude and its brave economy of thematic
+material.
+
+While few men have dared to unlock their hearts thus, Chopin is
+not so intimate here as in the mazurkas. But the pulse beats
+ardently in the tissues of this composition. As art for art, it
+is less perfect; the gain is on the human side. Nearing his end
+Chopin discerned, with ever widening, ever brighter vision, the
+great heart throb of the universe. Master of his material, if not
+of his mortal tenement, he passionately strove to shape his
+dreams into abiding sounds. He did not always succeed, but his
+victories are the precious prizes of mankind. One is loath to
+believe that the echo of Chopin's magic music can ever fall upon
+unheeding ears. He may become old-fashioned, but, like Mozart, he
+will remain eternally beautiful.
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+
+  Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician, by Frederick Niecks.
+  London, Novello, Ewer & Co.
+
+  Frederic Chopin, by Franz Liszt. London, W. Reeves.
+
+  Life and Letters of Frederic Chopin, by Moritz Karasowski,
+  translated from the Russian by Emily Hill. London, W. Reeves.
+
+  Chopin and Other Musical Essays, by Henry T. Finck. New York,
+  Charles Scribner's Sons.
+
+  The Works of Frederic Chopin and their Proper Interpretation,
+  by Jean Kleczynski, translated by A. Whittingham. London, W.
+  Reeves.
+
+  Chopin's Greater Works, by Jean Kleczynski, translated with
+  additions by Natalie Janotha. New York, Charles Scribner's
+  Sons.
+
+  Frederic Francois Chopin, by Charles Willeby. London, Sampson
+  Low, Marston & Co.
+
+  Frederic Chopin, by Joseph Bennett. Novello, Ewer & Co.
+
+  F. Chopin, la Tradicion de su Musica, por Eduardo Gariel. City
+  of Mexico, 1894.
+
+  Frederic Chopin, sa Vie et ses OEuvres, par Madame A. Audley.
+  Paris, E. Plon et Cie.
+
+  F. Chopin, Essai de Critique musicale, par H. Barbedette.
+  Friedrich Chopin und seine Werke, von Dr. J. Schucht. Leipzig,
+  C. F. Kahnt.
+
+  Friedrich Chopin's Leben und Werke, von A. Niggli. Leipzig,
+  Breitkopf & Hartel.
+
+  Chopin, by Francis Hueffer, in Musical Studies. Edinburgh, A.
+  & C. Black.
+
+  Frederic Chopin, by W. H. Hadow, in Studies in Modern Music.
+  New York, Macmillan Co.
+
+  Frederic Chopin, by Louis Ehlert, in From the Tone World,
+  translated by Helen D. Tretbar. New York.
+
+  Chopin, by W. de Lenz, from The Great Piano Virtuosos of our
+  Time, translated by Madeleine R. Baker. New York, G. Schirmer.
+
+  Chopin, in Robert Schumann's Music and Musicians, translated
+  by Fanny Raymond Ritter. New York, Schuberth & Co.
+
+  Chopin, in Anton Rubinstein's Conversation on Music,
+  translated by Mrs. John P. Morgan. Steinway Hall: Charles F.
+  Tretbar, publisher.
+
+  Les Musiciens Polonais, par Albert Sowinski. Paris, Le Clerc.
+
+  Les Trois Romans de Frederic Chopin, par le Comte Wodinski.
+  Paris, Calman Levy.
+
+  Une Contemporaine, par M. Brault.
+
+  Histoire de ma Vie et Correspondance, par George Sand. Paris,
+  Calman Levy.
+
+  George Sand, by Henry James in French Poets and Novelists. New
+  York, Macmillan Co.
+
+  G. Sand, par Stefane-Pol, from Trois Grandes Figures, preface
+  by D'Armand Silvestre. Paris, Ernest Flammarian.
+
+  George Sand, sa Vie et ses OEuvres, par Wladimir Kardnine.
+  Paris, Ollendorf.
+
+  Deux Eleves de Chopin, par Adolphe Brisson.
+
+  The Beautiful in Music, by Dr. Eduard Hanslick. Translated by
+  Gustave Cohen. Novello, Ewer & Co., London and New York.
+
+  How Music Developed, by W. J. Henderson. New York, Frederick
+  A. Stokes Co.
+
+  Wagner and His Works, by Henry T. Finck. New York, Charles
+  Scribner's Sons.
+
+  By the Way, by William F. Apthorp. Boston, Copeland & Day.
+
+  A Study of Wagner, by Ernest Newman. New York, G. P. Putnam's
+  Sons.
+
+  Folk-Music Studies, by H. E. Krehbiel. New York Tribune,
+  August, 1899.
+
+  Analytical Notes to Schlesinger Edition, by Theodor Kullak.
+
+  The New Spirit, by Havelock Ellis. London, Walter Scott, Ltd.
+
+  Flaubert, par Emile Faguet. Paris, Hachette et Cie.
+
+  Reisebilder, by Heinrich Heine.
+
+  Affirmations, by Havelock Ellis. London, Walter Scott.
+
+  The Psychology of the Emotions, by Th. Ribot. New York,
+  Charles Scribner's Sons.
+
+  The Man of Genius, by Cesare Lombroso. New York, Charles
+  Scribner's Sons.
+
+  The Musical Courier, New York. Files from 1889 to 1900.
+
+  Chopin's Works, by Rutland Boughton, in London Musical
+  Standard.
+
+  Chopin, by Stanislas Count Tarnowski. Translated from the
+  Polish by Natalie Janotha. 1899.
+
+  The School of Giorgione, An Essay by Walter Pater.
+
+  Chopin and the Sick Men, by John F. Runciman, in London
+  Saturday Review, September 9, 1899.
+
+  Frederick Chopin, by Edward Dannreuther from Famous Composers
+  and their Works. Boston, J. B. Millet Company.
+
+  Primitive Music, by Wallaschek.
+
+  Zur Psychologie des Individuums, Chopin und Nietzsche, by
+  Stanislaw Przybyszewski. Berlin, W. Fontaine & Co., 1892.
+
+  Musical Interpretation, by Adolph Carpe. Leipzig, London and
+  Paris, Bosworth & Co., Boston, B. F. Wood Music Co.
+
+  Pianistes Celebres, par Francois Marmontel.
+
+  Frederyka Chopina, in Echo Musicale, Warsaw, Poland, October
+  15, 1899.
+
+  OEuvres Poetiques Completes de Adam Mickiewicz, Traduction du
+  Polonais par Christien Ostrowski. Paris, Firmin Didot Freres,
+  Fils et Cie, 1859.
+
+  The World as Will and Idea, by Arthur Schopenhauer.
+
+  The Case of Richard Wagner, by Friedrich Nietzsche. New York,
+  Macmillan Co.
+
+  With the Immortals, by Marion Crawford. References to Chopin.
+
+  Preface to Isidor Philipp's Exercises Quotidiens tires des
+  OEuvres de Chopin, by Georges Mathias. Paris, J. Hamelle.
+
+  Pianoforte Study, by Alexander McArthur.
+
+  Chopin Ein Gedenkblatt, by August Spanuth, New York Staats-
+  Zeitung, October 15, 1899.
+
+  The Pianoforte Sonata, by J. B. Shedlock, London, Methuen &
+  Co.
+
+  A History of Pianoforte Playing and Pianoforte Literature, by
+  C. F. Weitzmann, translated by Dr. Th. Baker. New York, G.
+  Schirmer.
+
+  Der Letze Virtuoso, by C. F. Weitzmann. Leipzig, Kahnt.
+
+  Chopin--and Some Others, in London Musical News, October 14,
+  1899.
+
+  Chopin, in A History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players,
+  by Oscar Bie. New York, E. P. Dutton & Co.
+
+  Chopin, in Rubinstein's Die Meister des Klaviers. New York,
+  Schuberth.
+
+  Chopin, in Berliner Tageblatt, by Dr. Leopold Schmidt.
+
+  Chopin Juzgada por Schumann, in Gaceta Musical, City of
+  Mexico.
+
+  The Chopin Rubato and so-called Chopin Fingering, by John
+  Kautz, in The Musical Record, Boston, 1898.
+
+  Franz Liszt, by Lina Ramann. Breitkopf & Hartel.
+
+  Preface to Mikuli Edition by Carl Mikuli.
+
+  The AEsthetics of Pianoforte Playing, by Adolf Kullak. New
+  York, G. Schirmer.
+
+  Chopin und die Frauen, by Eugen Isolani. Berliner Courier,
+  October 17, 1899.
+
+  Chopin, by W. J. Henderson in The New York Times, October 29,
+  1899.
+
+  A Note on Chopin, by L. A. Corbeille, and Chopin, An
+  Irresponsibility, by "Israfel," in The Dome, October, 1899,
+  London, Unicorn Press.
+
+  Chopin and the Romantics, by John F. Runciman in The Saturday
+  Review (London), February 10,1900.
+
+  Chopiniana: in the February, 1900, issue of the London Monthly
+  Musical Record, including some new letters of Chopin's.
+
+  La maladie de Chopin (d'apres des documents inedits), par
+  Cabanes. Chronique medicale, Paris, 1899, vi., No. 21, 673-
+  685.
+
+  Also recollections in letters and diaries of Moscheles,
+  Hiller, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Henselt, Schumann, Rubinstein,
+  Mathias, Legouve, Tarnowski, Grenier and others.
+
+  The author begs to acknowledge the kind suggestions and
+  assistance of Rafael Joseffy, Vladimir de Pachmann, Moriz
+  Rosenthal, Jaraslow de Zielinski, Edwin W. Morse, Edward E.
+  Ziegler and Ignace Jan Paderewski.
+
+
+
+BOOKS BY JAMES HUNEKER
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