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Chopin The Man and His Music From a 1900 edition. ISBN 978-1-775411-52-9 © 2008 THE FLOATING PRESS. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
PART I—THE MAN I. Poland:—Youthful Ideals II. Paris:—In the Maelstrom III. England, Scotland and Pere 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
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
six miles from Warsaw. Chopin though not an anchorite resembled Flaubert. the Polish pianist. Chopin was born in Zelazowa. hence his art was bold and violent. March 1. age de dix ans. teacher of piano and a lyric genius of the highest range. This place is sometimes spelled Jeliasovaya-Volia. and Szulc. Sand. composer. his passion for George Sand. Warsaw—where Chopin's heart is 7 . being both proud and timid. Karasowski was informed by Chopin's sister that the correct year of his birth was 1809. he led a detached life. Unlike Liszt he seldom sought the glamor of the theatre." have incited a conflict of authorities. He was Frederic Francois Chopin. The medallion made for the tomb by Clesinger—the sonin-law of George Sand—and the watch given by the singer Catalan! in 1820 with the inscription "Donne par Madame Catalan! a Frederic Chopin. Szulc asserts that the memorial in the Holy Cross Church. and was never in such public view as his maternal admirer. and the rupture with Madame Sand—these were crises of his history. the death of his father and of his friend Matuszynski.Wola. Recently the date of his birth has been again discussed by Natalie Janotha. All else was but an indeterminate factor in the scheme of his earthly sojourn. the shock of the Warsaw revolt. 1809. his sorrow at parting from parents and home. upon his work: his early love. Sowinski and Niecks agree with him.nature.
Liszt told Niecks in 1878 that Karasowski had published the correct date in his biography. It is said to be from the church in which Chopin was christened: "I. According to her evidence the composer's natal day was February 22. and Justina de Krzyzanowska his legal spouse. neither was his mother. Janotha.parents: the musicians Franciscus Grembeki and Donna Anna Skarbekowa. so Henry T. Now let us consider Janotha's arguments. Chopin. 1810 and his christening occurred April 28 of the same year. was twenty-two years of age when he wrote to his teacher Elsner in 1831. on the 22d day of February. at Chopin's birthplace—erected practically through the efforts of Milia Balakireff the Russian composer." The wrong date was chiselled upon the monument unveiled October 14. the above. Now Chopin's father was not a musician. originally in Latin and translated by Finck. God. 1809. Countess of Zelazowa-Wola. whose father founded the Warsaw Conservatory. son of the musicians Nicolai Choppen. a Frenchman. have performed the ceremony of baptizing in water a boy with the double name Frederic Francois. 1894. but we know that the 8 . informed Finck that the later date has also been put on other monuments in Poland. The following baptismal certificate. is adduced. I cannot trace Grembeki.preserved—bears the date March 2. Finck declares.
the present cure of Brochow parish church of Zelazowa. mother of Chopin's namesake. 1770—the same year as Beethoven—at Nancy.Wola. And so the case stands. Szulc claims that he was the 9 . But Janotha has more testimony: in her controversy with me in 1896 she quoted Father Bielawski. was not a musician. male as well as female. or by attributing the error to carelessness in the registry of dates. the biography of Wojcicki and the statement of the Chopin family contradict him. Perhaps the composer was to blame. Lorraine. have been known to make themselves younger in years by conveniently forgetting their birthdate. the title "musician" in the baptismal certificate may have signified something eulogistic at that time. the Polish clergy was not a particularly accurate class. Besides.Countess Skarbek. 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. Some claim that he had Polish blood in his veins. artists. however. 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. this reverend person consulted records and gave as his opinion that 1810 is authentic. Nevertheless. His father was born August 17. Janotha continues firm in her belief although authorities do not justify her position.
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. patriotic to the extreme. dropping the Szopen. or Szop. scholarly French father. Drifting to Zelazowa. Frederic.natural son of a Polish nobleman. a minister of the second French empire. He joined the national guard during the Kosciuszko revolution in 1794. and the boy Frederic Francois. one of his pupils. Polish in political sentiments. which is common in France. for the more Gallic Chopin. agreeable and more than usually cultivated. became the mother of Count Walewski. and an admirable Polish mother. Mary of that name." He married her in 1806 and she bore him four children: three girls. born of "poor but noble parents. With a refined. who followed King Stanislas Leszcinski to Lorraine.Wola. There he made the acquaintance of Justina Krzyzanowska. acting as tutor to her son. he in turn changed the name from Szopen to Chopin. Frederic grew to be an 10 . Nicholas Chopin lived in the house of the Countess Skarbek. When Frederic went to Paris. wellbred. being beloved by Napoleon I. When business stagnated he was forced to teach in the family of the Leszynskis.
as George Sand declared. he never was. 1869. Strong common sense ruled the actions of Chopin's parents. December 31. a concerto by Gyrowetz and was so pleased with his new collar that he 11 . The country was prosperous and Chopin the elder became a professor in the Warsaw Lyceum. Niecks has killed all the pretty fairy tales of his poverty and suffering. gentle and disposed to pet him. a Bohemian who played the violin and taught piano. His children were brought up in an atmosphere of charming simplicity. Lelia was ever jealous—jealous even of Chopin's past. love and refinement. Strong evidence exists that he was merry. pleasureloving and fond of practical jokes. one of the first friends of the boy—he committed suicide in Paris.loving lad. Never a hearty boy but never very delicate. he seemed to escape most of the disagreeable ills of childhood. 1818. as we shall discover later. Chopin's "only love." But.— says that at the age of twelve Chopin knew so much that he was left to himself with the usual good and ill results. the family after the removal to Warsaw lived at ease. sentimental calf of many biographers. home. He first played on February 24. and when his love for music revealed itself at an early age they engaged a teacher named Adalbert Zwyny. While his father was never rich. Julius Fontana. The moonstruck. His sisters were gifted. pale. vivacious.intelligent. and. The mother was an ideal mother.
not as marked as Mozart's. Later the Polish lad sported familiarly with his talents. Lubeckis and the Grand Duke Constantine with his Princess Lowicka made life pleasant for the talented boy. Potockis." His musical precocity. For Elsner Chopin entertained love and reverence. Then there are the usual anecdotes—one is tempted to call them the stock stories of the boyhood of any great composer. The Czartoryskis. and this advice he took seriously. Radziwills. and so deftly did he teach that his pupil's individuality was never checked. He had high spirits. to him he wrote from Paris asking his advice in the matter of studying with Kalkbrenner.naively told his mother. "From Zwyny and Elsner even the greatest ass must learn something." he is quoted as having said. but phenomenal withal. Skarbeks. perhaps too high. 12 . for he is related to have sent to sleep and awakened a party of unruly boys at his father's school. Elsner saw the material he had to mould. brought him into intimacy with the Polish aristocracy and there his taste for fashionable society developed. Then came his lessons with Joseph Elsner in composition. "Everybody was looking at my collar. Mozart was morbidly sensitive to the tones of a trumpet. lessons of great value. never warped. In infancy Chopin could not hear music without crying. Another story is his fooling of a Jew merchant. for his slender physique.
His piano playing at this time was neat and finished. for while they are lively they do not reveal much literary ability. He being sickly and his sister's health poor. a titled lady named Wiesiolowska and a sister of Count Frederic Skarbek.—the name does not tally with the one given heretofore. if not a brilliant lad. Balzac. In 1827 he left his regular studies at the Lyceum and devoted his time to music. and this trip gave him a foretaste of the outer 13 . He was much in the country. —consumed this year. Altogether he was a clever.He was a facile mimic. much clarified and spiritualized in later life. With his sister Emilia he wrote a little comedy. thus laying the corner stone of his art as a national composer. and Liszt. a watering place in Prussian Silesia. Bocage. His letters show that he was not the latter. listening to the fiddling and singing of the peasants. In the fall of 1828 he went to Berlin. But their writer saw with open eyes. became a distinct. and he had already begun those experimentings in technique and tone that afterward revolutionized the world of music and the keyboard. although his irony was on a more intellectual plane. the pair was sent in 1826 to Reinerz. This trait. eyes that were disposed to caricature the peculiarities of others. ironic note in his character. This with a visit to his godmother. Possibly it attracted Heine. Sand and others believed that he would have made an actor of ability. as noted by Janotha.
Wagner outlived them until the Scriptural age. of delicate health. No. Hale states that the italics are in the letter. his sister Emilia died young of pulmonary trouble and doubtless Frederic was predisposed to lung complaint. Elle ne fume que des cigarettes. so they said in Warsaw. dated March 15. She lives at Rue Pigalle. Perhaps. 16. in fact disliked it... as in Wagner's case. His friend Sand differed greatly in this respect. for a long life. Philip Hale mentions a letter from Balzac to his Countess Hanska. un fidibus. He never smoked. Mr. the uncontrollable gayety and hectic humors were but so many signs of a fatal disintegrating process. He was constantly admonished by his relatives to keep his coat closed. disappointment and intense feeling had undermined him. for his stay in Berlin gives a record of unclouded spirits. However. et pas autre chose" Mr. For the dissipations of the "average sensual man" he had an abiding contempt. 1841. This must have been during one of his depressed periods.world. but Chopin succumbed when grief. who saw Chopin in 1830. and not destined. Stephen Heller." she commanded.Chopin is always there. and Frederic obeyed. which concludes: "George Sand did not leave Paris last year. described him as pale. So much for De 14 . and one of the saddest anecdotes related by De Lenz accuses her of calling for a match to light her cigar: "Frederic.
not a sickness. Chopin's fourteen days in Berlin. The pair left Warsaw September 9. In his early days he seems to have had that gayety of temperament and that apparently boundless energy which men in his case. was as with Chopin a symptom. to the instructed eye. only the forerunner of decay. 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. alternating with irritability and intense depression. 15 . 1828. Newman writes of Wagner: "There have been few men in whom the torch of life has burned so fiercely. were duplicated in Wagner." The overmastering cerebral agitation that obsessed Wagner's life. as in that of Heine. Nietzsche. the bloom being. Amiel and others. Mr.—he went there under the protection of his father's friend. but in the latter it had not yet assumed a sinister turn.Lenz and his fidibus! I am impelled here to quote from Mr. and after five days travel in a diligence arrived at Berlin. Professor Jarocki. This was a period of leisure travelling and living. only the indication of some subtle nervous derangement. Earnest Newman's "Study of Wagner" because Chopin's exaltation of spirits. to attend the great scientific congress—were full of joy unrestrained.
On the way home they stopped at a place called Zullichau.—F. office clerk.Frederic saw Spontini.—F. Alexander von Humboldt included. showing a quiet and cheerful spirit. witty conceptions.' Or again. penniless'!" These letters have a Micawber ring. This is another of the anecdotes of honorable antiquity.' he writes in his note-book. choir and congregation were forgotten by him. 'I have only twenty kreuzers in my pockets. but they indicate Chopin's love of jest." He attended the congress and made sport of the scientists. I do not myself yet understand the joy which I feel on entering the circle of your real friends. my most lordly sir. 'May it be permitted to me to sign myself as belonging to the circle of your friends. for example. 'Ah. Sikorski tells a story of the lad's improvising in church so that the priest. Chopin. and Chopin improvised on Polish airs so charmingly that the stage was delayed. 'and it seems to me that I am richer than Arthur Potocki. Chopin. 'A welcome moment in which I can express to you my friendship. perhaps full of dreams of fame and happiness. Count Tarnowski relates that "Chopin left Warsaw with a light heart. Mendelssohn and Zelter at a distance and heard "Freischutz. fun. whom I met only a moment ago. Chopin.' Or.—F. with a mind full of ideas.' besides this. "all hands turning in" to listen. 16 .
having historic interest only. the latter he worshipped. if not the publication of the "Souvenir de Paganini. The former he met and admired. oldfashioned manner. here Chopin played in private." said to be in the key of A major and first published in the supplement of the "Warsaw Echo Muzyczne. who died the same year. though he always treated him in a sympathetic manner. accompanied by two friends. did not contribute a penny to the youth's musical education. I cannot find much about the Polish poet. 1849. On July 31 they arrived in the Austrian capital." Niecks writes that he never saw a copy of this rare composition. Then Chopin first began to enjoy an artistic 17 .-the Polish Switzerland. This prince-composer. In July 1829. Tarnowski declares him to have been Chopin's warmest friend and in his poetry a starting point of inspiration for the composer. Chopin started for Vienna. as Edgar Allan Poe. despite what Liszt wrote. the party saw much of the country— Galicia. Hummel and Paganini visited Warsaw in 1829. Upper Silesia and Moravia. Julius Slowacki. Paderewski tells me he has the piece and that it is weak. This year may have seen the composition. Travelling in a delightful.The travellers arrived at Warsaw October 6 after staying a few days in Posen where the Prince Radziwill lived.
could not fail to hurt him as artist. playing on a Stein piano his Variations. he was flattered and coddled and doubtless the touch of effeminacy in his person was fostered. His style was admired 18 . He had brought with him his variations on "La ci darem la mano". though Chopin's playing was considered rather light in weight. Persuaded to overcome a natural timidity. 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. His Krakowiak Rondo had been announced. freer and infinitely more artistic than in Warsaw. In Vienna the life was gayer. 1829. sweet and tranquil as it was. the lessee of the famous Karnthnerthor Theatre. 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. he made his Vienna debut at this theatre August 11. was kind to him. He had success. to live less parochially. being recalled. but the parts were not legible. 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. so instead he improvised. altogether the times seemed propitious and much more so when he was urged to give a concert. and the publisher Haslinger treated him politely. Count Gallenberg. The press was favorable. His home life.atmosphere. opus 2.
" This rather acute critique. Chopin gave a second concert on the same stage. encouraged by his triumph. secretive. 1829. 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. is from the Wiener "Theaterzeitung" of August 20." What was then admired in Vienna was explosive accentuations and piano drumming. Niecks.and voted original—here the critics could see through the millstone—while a lady remarked "It's a pity his appearance is so insignificant. that hardening of the faculties of curiousness and prophecy—that semiparalysis of the organs of hearing which afflicts critics of music so early in life and evokes rancor and dislike to 19 ." 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. managed to hide it. "He plays very quietly. without the daring elan which distinguishes the artist from the amateur. The writer of it cannot be accused of misoneism. so he manifested as much estimable individuality in his compositions where new figures and passages. This time he played the Krakowiak and his talent for composition was discussed by the newspapers. "his defect is the nonobservance of the indication of accent at the beginning of musical phrases." said one. translated by Dr. August 18. new forms unfolded themselves.
" he said of him. "He is a good man. a Chopin transposed to the key of manliness. has taken root. and his soul courageous. Chopin derived no money from either of his concerts. but nothing more. By this time he was accustomed to being reminded of the lightness and exquisite delicacy of his touch and the originality of his style. This was a transformed Chopin indeed. Ballades. and so it has come to pass that this fiction. electric. The young man's manners were a trifle feminine but his brain was masculine. Czerny admired the young pianist with the elastic hand and on his second visit to Vienna. and the airs. characteristically inquired. Tausig and Liszt played Chopin in passional phrases. The legend soon absorbed his music." Thismanner never lost its hold over female hearts. Yet it is the true Chopin. "Are you still industrious?" 20 . Scherzi and Etudes need a mighty grip. like the noxious weed it is. When Rubinstein. begotten of half fact and half mental indolence. His Polonaises. Chopin met Czerny. 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. the public and critics were aghast.novelties. a grip mental and physical. caprices and little struttings of Frederic are to blame for the widely circulated legend of his effeminate ways.
after a brief sojourn in Breslau. There he saw everything and met Klengel. He reached Dresden August 26. Three days later the party proceeded to Teplitz and Chopin played in aristocratic company. Of his romantic friendship for Titus Woyciechowski and John Matuszynski. arriving at Prague two days later. of canon fame. a singer and pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory. heard Spohr's "Faust" and met capellmeister Morlacchi—that same Morlacchi whom Wagner succeeded as a conductor January 10. 21 .-his "Johnnie"—there are abundant evidences in the letters. On August 19 he left with friends for Bohemia. Lachner and other celebrities and seems to have enjoyed a mild flirtation with Leopoldine Blahetka. Chopin was again safe at home in Warsaw. Chopin and Klengel liked each other. About this time he fell in love with Constantia Gladowska. 1843—vide Finck's "Wagner. a still greater canon-eer than the redoubtable Jadassohn of Leipzig. Niecks dwells gingerly upon his fervor in love and friendship—"a passion with him" and thinks that it gives the key to his life. He knew Franz.Czerny's brain was a tireless incubator of piano exercises. that such a nature as the old pedagogue's must have been unattractive to him. a popular young pianist." By September 12. while Chopin so fused the technical problem with the poetic idea. for he wrote of his sorrow at parting from her.
" And was it the Goncourts who dared to assert that. His piano was but a sieve for some. He recalls to me the Frederic Moreau of Flaubert's "L'Education Sentimentale. his inability to make up his mind. Of him we might indeed say in Lafcadio Hearn's words. he played it. "there are no women of genius: women of genius are men"? Chopin needed an outlet for his sentimentalism. for he loved but had not the courage to tell it to the beloved one. and we are rather amused than otherwise on reading the romantic nonsense of his boyish letters. Like many other men of genius he suffered all his life from folie de 22 . He was overwrought and Warsaw became hateful to him. Here is a point that reveals Chopin's native indecision. He writes letters that are full of self-reproaches. But Chopin's purity of character was marked. To this impressionable man." There is an atrophy of the will. letters that must have both bored and irritated his friends. and the Fates only know what he must have suffered at times from George Sand and her gallant band of retainers. but speak it he could not. After the Vienna trip his spirits and his health flagged. "Every mortal man has been many million times a woman.They are like the letters of a love-sick maiden. Parisian badinage—not to call it anything stronger—was positively antipathetical. he shrank from coarseness of all sorts. for Chopin can neither propose nor fly from Warsaw. He put it on paper.
1829. he gave a second concert. Chopin went to Posen in October. the one in F minor. playing the same excerpts from this concerto—the slow movement is Constance Gladowska musically idealized—the Krakowiak and an improvisation. 1830. he gave his first concert in Warsaw." He was Polish. From these concerts he cleared six hundred 23 . Kurpinski and the rest were pleased. Elsner. A week later. George Sand has noted Chopin's emotional versatility in the matter of falling in and out of love. opus 2. He played at the "Ressource" in November. On March 17.doute. indeed his was what specialists call "a beautiful case. Edouard Wolff said they had no idea in Warsaw of "the real greatness of Chopin. who died young. the Variations. 1829. and selected the adagio and rondo of his first concerto." This halting and irresolution was a stumbling block in his career and is faithfully mirrored in his art. but of Chopin the individual they missed entirely the flavor. this the public appreciated. and the Potpourri on Polish airs. 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. The affair was a success. and at the Radziwills was attracted by the beauty and talent of the Princess Elisa. His playing was criticised for being too delicate—an old complaint—but the musicians. spurred by adverse and favorable criticism.
Chopin heard Henrietta Sontag with great joy. Orlowski served up the themes of his concerto into mazurkas and had the impudence to publish them. Chopin wrote to Titus the same rhapsodical protestations and finally declared in meticulous peevishness. who for this act will live in all chronicles of piano playing. he said with a shiver. to see his face on cheese and butter wrappers. he was ever a lover and a connoisseur of singing." 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. "I will no longer read what people write about me. Some of the criticisms were glowing. He advised young pianists to listen carefully and often to great singers. not a small sum in those days for an unknown virtuoso. pianist named Dunst. de Belleville the pianist and Lipinski the violinist were admired. Mdlle. "Unbearable longing" is driving him to exile.dollars. having no desire. Then came the last blow: he was asked by a music seller for his portrait. which he refused. Worse still. but not born. A sonnet was printed in his honor. But the Gladowska is worrying him. others absurd as criticisms occasionally are. champagne was offered him by an enthusiastic Paris bred. and he could write a sound criticism when he chose. He 24 .
The first and last two movements were separated by an aria. Miss Gladowska sang a Rossini air.attends her debut as Agnese in Paer's opera of that title and writes a complete description of the important function to Titus. such being the custom of those days. Chopin must have played well. he thinks of going to Berlin or Vienna. and he was always a cautious self-critic despite his pride. following many preparations and much emotional shilly-shallying. As he formerly spoke to his mother of his pretty collar. scratch an artist and you surprise a child." Thus Chopin. 1830. 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. who is at his country seat where Chopin visits him betimes. Chopin gave his third and last Warsaw concert. Best of all for him. But it is all quite in the role. for Brandt had taught me how to do it properly. so as young man he makes much of his deportment." He is not speaking of his poetic performance. Later he gave the Fantasia on Polish airs. but after much philandering remains in Warsaw. and was charmingly beautiful. 25 . "wore a white dress and roses in her hair. Agitated. He said so himself. but of his bow to the public. On October 11. and the details have all the relevancy of a male besieged by Dan Cupid. He played the E minor concerto for the first time in public but not in sequence.
over which lakes of tears have been shed and rivers of ink have been spilt. There the pupils of the Conservatory sang a cantata by Elsner. parents. perhaps even a blind country gentleman was preferable to a lachrymose pianist. and so let us waste no pity on this episode. The lady was married in 1832—preferring a solid certainty to nebulous genius. his heart full of sorrow. Constantia sang wonderfully. Time as well as other nails drove from his memory her image. became blind. and "ideal. being adjured. Count Wodzinski. 1830. left home. for Vienna and without declaring his love. He never saw his Gladowska again. a short distance from Warsaw. a merchant at Warsaw. never to forget his country or his friends wherever he might wander.to Joseph Grabowski. these enamored ones! Chopin left Warsaw November 1. Her husband. "Her low B came out so magnificently that Zielinski declared it alone was worth a thousand ducats. friends.Of course. Or was he a rejected suitor? History is dumb. he was inconstant." severed 26 . If she was fickle. Chopin was accompanied by Elsner and a party of friends as far as Wola. so saith a romantic biographer. Her name almost disappears from his correspondence. Chopin." Ah. so Karasowski relates. Chopin must have heard of the attachment in 1831. for he did not return to Warsaw. and after a banquet he was given a silver goblet filled with Polish earth.
but was disappointed. Prague was also visited. and was promised important letters of introduction if he desired to visit Italy. He saw Klengel again. and the two went to Breslau. that his playing was like John Field's. supplanting a tremulous amateur. Rubini. and he arrived at Vienna in November. At Kaliz he was joined by the faithful Titus. going to the theatre and listening to music. Chopin played quite impromptu two movements of his E minor concerto. where they spent four days. There he confidently expected a repetition of his former successes. and went forth in the world with the keyboard and a brain full of beautiful music as his only weapons. He heard Auber and Rossini operas and Rolla. In Dresden where they arrived November 10. who told the young Pole. Chopin went to a soiree at Dr. he met. Chopin's first 27 . the brother of the great tenor. Haslinger received him coldly and refused to print his variations or concerto unless he got them for nothing.with his youth. 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. and listened with delight to Dotzauer and Kummer the violoncellists—the cello being an instrument for which he had a consuming affection. they enjoyed themselves with music. thereby pleasing him very much. the Italian violinist.
his other self. A thousand times he thought of renouncing his artistic ambitions and rushing to Poland to fight for his country. and his indecision —it was not cowardice—is our gain. The bulk of his extant correspondence is devoted to the exposure of the ways and wiles of music publishers. his wrath and his heroism into his Polonaises. Chopin was psychically brave. and altogether did not find things so promising as formerly. He pretended gayety and had great hopes for the future." a motto he strictly adhered to. "Pay. in money matters Chopin was very particular. left him to join the revolutionists in Poland November 30. Chopin put his patriotism. His letters reflect his mental agitation and terror over his parents' safety. "Jew" the most frequent objurgation. thou animal. After all Chopin was very Polish. but they are not despairing— at least not to the former. and. let us not cavil at the almost miraculous delicacy of his organization. "Animal" is the mildest term he applies to them. Titus. instead of Chopin having been the target of some black-browed Russian. He wrote letters to his parents and to Matuszyriski. and he adopts as his motto the pleasing device. for he was 28 . who had gone to Stuttgart. He never did.brush with the hated tribe of publishers begins here. to cap his misery. That is why we have them now. He missed his friends the Blahetkas. No profitable engagements could be secured.
living entirely on means supplied him by his father.He plays forte and piano with the pedals but not with the hand. Chopin did not admire him: "Thalberg plays famously. Dr. but he is not my man. The letters of this period are most interesting. both poet and Pole revolted. Hummel called on Frederic." This in a 29 . considering how much Chopin built on Hummel's style. this is all the more strange. takes tenths as easily as I do octaves.." He heard Aloys Schmitt play. but he was also a Jew and a successful one. He heard Sarah Heinefetter sing.. In consequence. News of Constantia gladdened him. but the revolution early in 1831 decided him for France. and composes eighty years old music. Perhaps that is the cause of the silence. Thalberg was three years younger than Chopin and already famous." Thalberg was not only too much of a technician for Chopin. and he managed to accomplish much social visiting. and uttered the very Heinesque witticism that "he is already over forty years old. but we hear nothing of his opinion of the elder man and his music. and listened to Thaiberg's playing of a movement of his own concerto. and he decided to go to Italy. Malfatti was good to him and cheered him. just as Wagner's dislike for Meyerbeer was the result of his obligations to the composer of "Les Huguenots. and wears studs with diamonds.
and all the music publishers. "passant par Paris &. At Munich he played his second concerto and pleased greatly. 1831." and had permission from the Russian Ambassador to go as far as Munich. Our Chopin could be amazingly sarcastic on occasion. Londres. at which he must have played the E minor concerto. and it was July 20. and thoroughly discouraging visit. 1831. Then the cholera gave him some bother. sometimes called the "Revolutionary. because of a passing mention in a musical paper. "How glad 30 . 1831. At a concert given by Madame Garzia-Vestris. but he finally got away." which he is reported to have said in after years. where he heard of the capture of Warsaw by the Russians. "All this caused me much pain—who could have foreseen it!" and in another letter he wrote. This news. in April. was the genesis of the great C minor etude in opus 10." Chopin exclaimed in a letter dated December 16. 1831. as he had to secure a clean bill of health. has been ruthlessly shorn of its sentiment. Chopin got a passport vised for London. He knew Slavik the violin virtuoso. he appeared.letter to Elsner. it is said. He studied much. The romantic story of "I am only passing through Paris. hastening to Stuttgart. last. September 8. But he did not remain in the Bavarian capital. before he left Vienna after a second. Merk the 'cellist. and in June gave a concert of his own.
He did not go to Warsaw. 31 . that they did not come to our aid. 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.my mamma will be that I did not go back. as Liszt declares. suffer and despair at the piano! O God. "settled his fate. even if it sent him further from her. According to this his agitation must have been terrible. poor suffering mother. is this the consolation of your old age? Mother." All this sounds a trifle melodramatic and quite unlike Chopin. that it may swallow the humanity of this century! May the most cruel fortune fall upon the French. father. This journey. is it for this you outlived your daughter?" "And I here unoccupied! And I am here with empty hands! Sometimes I groan." Chopin was twenty-two years old when he reached Paris. arriving early in October. Poland's downfall had aroused him from his apathy. move the earth. 1831." Count Tarnowski in his recollections prints some extracts from a diary said to have been kept by Chopin. but started for France at the end of September.
to England and Scotland. and 9 Square d'Orleans. and then—Pere la Chaise. Leipzig. to 5 and 38 Chaussee d'Antin.— consumptives are often so. to 5 Rue Tronchet. In later years his inability to remain settled in one place bore a pathological impress. It may be seen that Chopin was a restless. Heidelberg. to Aix-laChapelle. Rue Chaillot and 12 Place Vendeme. is the itinerary of Chopin's life for the next eighteen years: In Paris. 27 Boulevard Poisonniere. The molten tide of passion and decorative extravagance that swept over intellectual Europe three score years and ten ago. The Paris of 1831. the Paris of arts and letters. 32 . Near by was Henri Heine. Marienbad. according to Niecks. though not roving nature. Paris:—In the Maelstrom * Here. the last restingplace. was one of the most delightful cities in the world for the cultureloving. to 9 Square d'Orleans once more. 16 Rue Pigalle.II. Carlsbad. and London. to Majorca. prince of romanticists. bore on its foaming crest Victor Hugo.
brilliantly superficial. Flaubert.—Heine. "Away with the gray. The revolution of 1848 called from the mud the sewermen. "the colossal nightingale" is difficult to classify even to-day. The star of classicism had seemingly set. Zola and his crowd delved into a moral morass. and passion. nuance. Schumann.beards. began to sound garishly empty. and all France applauded "Ernani. leaving as a legacy the memories and work of one of the most marvellous groupings of genius since the Athens of Pericles.—he left Heinrich across the Rhine. And then the faint. and the world grew weary of them. his face to the past. who dipped his pen in honey and gall. whose orchestral ozone vivified the scores of Wagnerand Liszt. fading flowers of romanticism were put into albums where their purple harmonies and subtle sayings are pressed into sweet twilight forgetfulness. A romantic by temperament he unquestionably was. and the young men heard the moon sing silvery—you remember De Musset!—and the leaves rustle rhythms to the heart-beats of lovers." Pity it was that the romantic infant had to die of intellectual anaemia. was not genuinely 33 . gazed sorrowfully at Carthage and wrote an epic of the French bourgeois. In the rich conflict of genius were Gautier. mad Hector of the flaming locks. fantasy. who sneered and wept in the same couplet. and brilliancy." cried he of the scarlet waistcoat. All was romance. Berlioz. and the rest. But then his music. all color.
I suspect. Berlioz."— Chateaubriand. prehistoric bird. but there is something uncanny about it all. Baudelaire. exasperated poison. Heine.-"If she still continued to drape her silvery veil 34 . the spasms of the romanticists have alike to be abandoned. Berlioz." All this was before the Polish charmer distilled his sugared wormwood. his sweet. —who asked the Pole news of his muse the "laughing nymph. was a magnified virtuoso. has the power of evoking the shudder. like Baudelaire. The artist walks the world at large beneath the light of natural day. Merimee. an awful Pterodactyl with goggle eyes. Compare him with Schumann. Pere Lamenais. Lamartine. Think of the men and women with whom the new comer associated— for his genius was quickly divined: Hugo.board Blocksberg can the poet of the age now worship. Berlioz. Ary Scheffer. But as John Addington Symonds wrote: "The shams of the classicists. horrid snout and scream.romantic in its themes.". like some huge. it pleases the sense of the gigantic. His orchestral technique is supreme. Gautier. and the genuine romanticist tops the virtuoso. the strange. Saint-Simon. the formless. Liszt. but his music fails to force its way into my soul.—ah! what balm for those troubled days was in his "Paroles d'un Croyant. It pricks the nerves. Victor Cousin. Neither on a mock Parnassus nor on a paste. for thirsty souls inmorbid Paris.
Delacroix. Thiers. Balzac. with a coquetry so enticing. in fact mankind in the bulk stunned him.—Michelet.. Ferdinand Hiller. Guizot. Auber. Chopin was an ideal to Liszt though he has not left us a record of his defects.could not have been satisfactory to Chopin"! Liszt. The very furnishings of the chamber seem vocal under Liszt's fanciful pen..— the Hugo of painters. Niemcevicz and Mickiewicz the Polish bards. This is one reason. This description of Chopin's apartment "invaded by surprise" has a hypnotizing effect on me. he disliked democracies. despite his tendency to idealize Chopin after his death.. Meyerbeer. if the old sea god with the long white beard still pursued this mischievous maid with his ridiculous love?"—De Musset. combined with a frail 35 . is our most trustworthy witness at this period. and George Sand: the quintessence of the Paris of art and literature. Sainte-Beuve.around the flowing locks of her green hair. for it demonstrates the Hungarian's literary gifts and feeling for the right phrase. Rossini. De Vigny. Heller. The most eloquent page in Liszt's "Chopin" is the narrative of an evening in the Chaussee d'Antin. Adolphe Nourrit. Dumas. In more doubtful taste is his statement that "the glace which covers the grace of the elite. The Pole was ombrageux and easily offended. as it does the fruit of their desserts.
Chopin knew all this. and fought to overcome them but failed. his aristocratic tournure. sir.physique. of his inability to conquer the larger public. Chopin did not fear to perform his E minor concerto for him. Since told of Liszt and first related by him. giving as a reason "Ah. Another crumpled roseleaf for this man of excessive sensibility. who was puzzled by the prodigious novelty of the young Pole's playing. who 36 . often playing duos with him and dedicating to him his G minor 'cello Sonata. With the latter he contracted a lasting friendship. knew his weaknesses. I have eaten so little!" Even though his host was gauche it cannot be denied that the retort was rude. he played. after dinner. He came. He called on Kalkbrenner. He tells all about the interview in a letter to Titus: "Are you a pupil of Field's?" was asked by Kalkbrenner. imperturbability. on being incautiously pressed. beautiful touch and polished mechanism won the suffrage of his audiences. Having heard Herz and Hiller."—Baillot the violinist and Franchomme the 'cellist. Chopin met Osborne. he overwhelmed. Liszt never stooped to cajole. then the first pianist of his day. Mendelssohn—who rather patronized him with his "Chopinetto. is the anecdote of Chopin refusing to play. Thalberg could do it.
Not having a standard by which to gauge the new phenomenon. because I do not even know the old. and some smaller pieces. He played the E minor concerto first in Paris." he said. Chopin actually attended the class of Kalkbrenner but soon quit. "I cannot create a new school. Kalkbrenner was forced to fall back on the playing of men he knew. for he had nothing to learn of the pompous. It is this very absence of scholasticism that is both the power and weakness of his music. Yet Chopin admired Kalkbrenner's finished technique despite his platitudinous manner. Niecks thinks Chopin might have learned of Kalkbrenner on the mechanical side. Although 37 .remarked that Chopin had the style of Cramer and the touch of Field. was modest about his attainments. In reality his true technical ancestor was Hummel. Heine said—or rather quoted Koreff— that Kalkbrenner looked like a bonbon that had been in the mud. Chopin. The Hiller story of how Mendelssohn. looking upon himself as self-taught. February 26. 1832. penurious pianist. if not absolutely true. in public. Liszt and Heller teased this grouty old gentleman on the Boulevard des Italiens is capital reading. Chopin. 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.
He was lionized in society and he wrote to Titus that his heart beat in syncopation. social excitement and rapid gait of living. by Russian soldiers in Warsaw. The loss of the letters is irremediable. Chopin was the hero of the evening. with Francilla Pixis. "nothing more was heard of Chopin's lack of technique. "applauded furiously. September 19." The criticisms were favorable. the audience consisting mostly of distinguished and aristocratic Poles. On May 20.Kalkbrenner. so exciting was all this adulation. as Karasowski relates. The affair was a financial failure. Baillot and others participated." Hiller writes. Mendelssohn. A flirtation of no moment. who disliked Kalkbrenner and was angered at his arrogance in asking Chopin to study with him. Karasowski who saw some of them says they were tinged with melancholy. a dangerous seducteur!" The Paris letters to his parents were unluckily destroyed. Despite his artistic success 38 . 1832. But he still sentimentalizes to Titus and wishes him in Paris. "What do you think of this?" he writes. 1863. Chopin appeared at a charity concert organized by Prince de la Moskowa. and with them were burned his portrait by Ary Scheffer and his first piano. "I. for he was malicious in a dainty way." "After this. the adopted daughter of Pixis the hunchback pianist—cruelly mimicked by Chopin—aroused the jealousy of the elder artist. Chopin was delighted.
Chopin needed money and began to consider again his projected trip to America. elegant atmosphere threatened to drug his talent into forgetfulness of loftier aims. Franchomme and Sowinski never heard of it although it was a stock anecdote of Chopin. Liszt. broader and more passionate lines. If he became more cosmopolitan he also became more artificial and for a time the salon with its perfumed. 39 . Hiller. Adolphe Brisson tells of a meeting of Sand. so it is said. artistic environment. Herz and Osborne. Chopin and Hiller indulged in friendly contests and Chopin always came off winner when Polish music was essayed. He went about. romantic foundations. and much in private. Chopin must have broadened mentally as well as musically in this congenial. Liszt. He played frequently in public during 1832-1833 with Hiller. From that moment his prospects brightened. Luckily the master-sculptor Life intervened and real troubles chiselled his character on tragic. He delighted in imitating his colleagues. Luckily he met Prince Valentine Radziwill on the street. for he secured paying pupils. has run this story to earth and finds it built on airy. Liszt. and of the effect of this upon his compositions there can be no doubt. There was some rivalry in this parterre of pianists. hobnobbed with princesses. Niecks. the iconoclast. Thalberg especially. and was persuaded to play at a Rothschild soiree.
Liszt's influence was stimulating. It was then Chopin told Sand of his pupil. Chopin at the keyboard was mocking him. misplaced enthusiasm. the lady "chattered like a magpie" and Thalberg. "c'est une bonne caboche. 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. state and tradition disturbed the finical Pole while noise. attacks on church. reeled off polite phrases in return. turbulence. After a concert by Chopin he astonished Hiller by shouting on the way home. He managed in 1834 to go to Aix-la-Chapelle 40 . after being congratulated by Chopin on his magnificent virtuosity. the golden voice of a poet and not the roar of the artistic demagogues of his day. The moment his back was presented. Its extravagance." Thalberg took his revenge whenever he could. Georges Mathias. He was not a fighter. where. doubtless he valued the Pole's compliments for what they were worth. but what did not Chopin do for Liszt? Read Schumann. but he objected to smashing idols and refused to wade in gutters to reach his ideal.Chopin and Thalberg. He wished to be the Uhland of Poland. yet as one reviews the past half century it is his still small voice that has emerged from the din. reclame and boisterousness chilled and repulsed him. as Mathias says.
adding that I found it indispensable in the re-construction of Chopin. But Niecks. in 1888.to attend the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. 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." He was probably thinking of the many who have had recourse to his human documents of Chopin. much surmised. "You are not the only one. Schumann. who felt so much the want of one with whom to sigh. Liszt. Sand and others. so Hiller writes. 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. Since 1888 much has been written of Chopin. He visited Coblenz with Hiller before returning home." This is positively delicious." This slanting allusion is matched by his treatment of George Sand. When I met this biographer at Bayreuth in 1896. After literally ratting her in a separate chapter. Professor Niecks gazed at me blandly—he is most amiable and scholarly-looking—and remarked. I told him how much I had enjoyed his work. built on Karasowski. so the process is bound to continue. 41 . There he met Hiller and Mendelssohn at the painter Schadow's and improvised marvellously.
Schumann gushes over Chopin. 1835. Clara Wieck. on one occasion when he played the Larghetto of his F minor concerto in a Conservatoire concert. but his irritability increased with every public performance. for whose sensuous melodies he had a peculiar predilection. Meanwhile a love affair had occupied his attention in Dresden. Never an extravagant man. In September. Nevertheless he appeared at a benefit concert at Habeneck's. After 1834. Chopin met his old school 42 . and reached the capital of the civilized world the middle of October. About this time he became acquainted with Bellini.With Matuszysnki the composer was happier. 1835. He was not always understood and was not so warmly welcomed as he deserved to be. its frigid reception annoyed him very much. playing privately for Schumann. Chopin met his father at Carlsbad. April 26. Then he went to Dresden and later to Leipzig. On his return to Paris Chopin visited Heidelberg. but this friendliness was never reciprocated. Adolphe Gutmann. he invariably assisted the Poles. In July. where he saw the father of his pupil. Wenzel and Mendelssohn.5. He devoutly loved his country and despite his sarcasm was fond of his countrymen. Chopin's activity as a public pianist began to wane. The papers praised. 1835.
In the summer of 1836. teaching and composing—the occasional dream that tempts most active artists.friends. He went back to Paris. only eleven days. Count Frederic Skarbek. the Wodzinskis. at Marienbad. the engagement was broken and the following year the inconstant beauty married the son of Chopin's godfather. 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." in which he asserts that his sister rejected Chopin at Marienbad in 1836. and in July 1837. and for the time Paris and his ambitions were forgotten. But Chopin survived the shock. He enjoyed a brief dream of marrying and of settling near Warsaw. He spoke to his father about the matter. Count Wodzinski wrote "Les Trois Romans de Frederic Chopin. He fell in love with their sister Marie and they became engaged. Chopin met Marie again. accompanied by Camille Pleyel and Stanislas Kozmian. Again the gods intervened in the interest of music. soothing them with the notion that there is really a haven of rest from the world's buffets. The Wodzinskis were noble and wealthy. 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. visited England for the first time. His stay was short. former pupils at his father's school. and his chest trouble dates from this 43 . In 1837.
Hadow I shall not call it a liaison. Mary. It was not. His music was already admired by amateurs but the critics with a few exceptions were unfavorable to him. the piano manufacturer. why should not Sand boast of at least one apologist for her life—besides herself? I do not say this with cynical intent. Matthew Arnold. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and others believed her an injured saint. He played at the house of James Broadwood. Mr. but his performance betrayed his identity. Hadow indignantly repudiates anything that savors of irregularity in the relations of Chopin and Aurore Dudevant. 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. Queen of Scots. Her reputation was not good. the realists— 44 . no matter if George Eliot. In deference to Mr. Chopin might have been petty—a common failing of artistic men—but he was never vulgar in word or deed. Fritz. in the vulgar sense. If he honestly believes that their contemporaries flagrantly lied and that the woman's words are to be credited. Now sounds for the first time the sinister motif of the George Sand affair.time. has her Meline. The idealists will always see a union of souls. He disliked "the woman with the sombre eye" before he had met her. being introduced by Pleyel as M. why by all means let us leave the critic in his Utopia.
and there were plenty of them in Paris taking notes from 1837 to 1847—view the alliance as a matter for gossip.—as was Countess d'Agoult. She was his elder. Chopin. the ascetic giant of Rouen. artistic Paris. a new transvaluation of morals. that magnificent combination of Bonaparte and Byron. albeit a woman of great gifts. so could veil the situation with the maternal mask. but his most careful student. who bore him children. met the polyandrous Sand. The truth lies midway. a mediocre writer and imitator of Sand. Paris. pirate and poet—was apparently leading the life of a saint. had a romance with Madame Louise Colet. Liszt protected the Countess d'Agoult. and she was the stronger intellect. as 45 ."—that lasted from 1846 to 1854. according to Emile Faguet. repelled at first he gave way before the ardent passion she manifested toward him. was full of such situations. a neurotic being. Viscount Spelboerch de Lovenjoul—whose name is veritably Balzac-ian—tells us some different stories. Cosima Von Bulow-Wagner among the rest. Here then was a medium which was the other side of good and evil. a trampler on all the social and ethical conventions. Balzac—Balzac. more celebrated—Chopin was but a pianist in the eyes of the many—and so won by her magnetism the man she desired. even Gustave Flaubert. the Frankfort Jewess better known as "Daniel Stern.
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. Frederic deplored the union for he was theoretically a Catholic. as he possessed a bundle of letters that were written by George Sand and M. The De Musset-Sand story was not known in its entirety until 1896. for the Pagello intermezzo was of short duration. De Musset went to Venice with Sand in the fall of 1833. Spelboerch de Lovenjoul must be consulted. notwithstanding the inevitable sorrow and heart burnings at the close. They had the maternal sanction and means supplied by 46 . He abhorred the vulgar and tried to conceal this infatuation from his parents. After the bitterness of her separation from Alfred de Musset about 1833 she had been lonely. Buloz. however. his life was not an irregular one. did the pair no harm artistically. She on her side profited also. Again M.Nietzsche would say. 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." in 1858. the editor of "La Revue des Deux Mondes. With the exception of the Sand episode. This intimacy.
placed therein the poetic declaration. she wrote upon the envelope: 'To the Stupid Pagello. after writing three pages of prose full of poetry and inspiration. Snatching the letter from his hands. did not. took an unaddressed envelope. He. and thenceforth absinthe was his constant solace. 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." 47 . There had been references. Pagello.Madame de Musset. vague and disquieting. and handed it to Dr. sick in body and soul. This she denied. "One night George Sand. of a Dr. The story gives forth the true Gallic resonance on being critically tapped. Pagello in 1896 was interviewed by Dr. Pagello for whom Sand had suddenly manifested one of her extraordinary fancies. This story will explain the later behavior of "la merle blanche" toward Chopin. and asked George Sand what he should do with it. or feigned not. Dr.' Some days afterward George Sand frankly told De Musset that henceforth she could be to him only a friend. seeing no address. Cabanes of the Paris "Figaro" and here is his story of what had happened in 1833. De Musset returned alone. to understand for whom the letter was intended.
Now do you ask why I believe that Sand left Chopin when she was bored with him? The words "some days afterwards" are significant." an obvious answer to "Confessions of a Child of the Age." During all this mud-throwing the cause of the trouble calmly lived in the little Italian town of Belluno. Beware of the woman who punctuates the pages of her life with "heart" and "maternal feelings.pace Mr." "If I do not believe any more in tears it is because I saw thee crying!" exclaimed Chopin. She was true to herself even when she attempted to palliate her want of heart.De Musset died in 1857 and after his death Sand startled Paris with "Elle et Lui. used him for literary copy. Hadow!—and threw him over after she had wrung out all the emotional possibilities of the problem. a toy. It was Dr. Sand was the product of abnormal forces. and her mental activity. Giuseppe Pagello who will go down in literary history as the one man that played Joseph to George Sand. while it created no 48 . The poet's brother Paul rallied to his memory with "Lui et Elle. she herself was abnormal. "De Musset's version —an uncomplimentary one to himself—of their separation. 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." and even Louisa Colet ventured into the fracas with a trashy novel called "Lui.
when you learn with whom we have had relations. was also abnormal. she of love. De Musset. as you will have for me. now feel only a deep compassion for her. Michel de Bourges—I have not the exact chronological order—and later Flaubert. and you will agree that there is nothing in 49 . brought the following to Madame Hanska: It was rather well that I saw her. as she had dominated Jules Sandeau. in retreat. The correspondence shows her to have been "maternal" to the last. Calmatta the mezzotinter. A visit paid to George Sand at Nohant. in March 1838. But she has been even more unhappy with Musset. I will tell you of her immense and secret devotion to these two men. I of friendship.permanent types in literary fiction. The most lovable event in the life of this much loved woman was her old age affair— purely platonic—with Gustave Flaubert. this about Sand is very apropos. Franz Liszt. denouncing both marriage and love. I. for we exchanged confidences regarding Sandeau. who blamed her to the last for deserting him. She dominated Chopin. Delacroix. because in both she has found nothing but delusion. So here she is. In the recently published "Lettres a l'etrangere" of Honore de Balzac.
All the follies she has committed are claims to glory in the eyes of great and beautiful souls. 50 . not a trained musician. and black. but her face attracted all my attention. They were soon seen together. it may be. They were wonderful eyes. with full eyelids. very black. but her appreciation for all art forms was highly sympathetic. Chopin met Sand at a musical matinee in 1837. He got his facts viva voce from Franchomme. but by no means lustrous. this is what she was. a little too close together. Lamenais. through the same sentiment she is the dupe of Liszt and Madame d'Agoult.. large. the eyes especially. She was not musical. a reader of souls. the Sand-Chopin partnership and follow its sinuous course until 1847. 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. and everywhere. Niecks throttles every romantic yarn about the pair that has been spoken or printed. etc.common between angels and devils. So let us accept without too much questioning as did Balzac. She has been the dupe of la Dorval. Bocage. Not a beautiful woman. being swarthy and rather heavy-set in figure. as seen by Edouard Grenier:— She was short and stout.
In 1838. 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. dull. Chopin's illness. discomforts and all the rest may be found in the "Histoire de Ma Vie" by Sand. at one time a passion with him. She spoke with great simplicity. "Chopin is a detestable invalid. Her nose was rather thick and not over shapely. He." said Sand. she proposed a visit to Majorca. the bad weather. They saw Genoa for a few days in May. Chopin went with the party in November and full accounts of the Mediterranean trip. even cold expression to her countenance. Sand enjoyed the subtle and truly feminine pleasure of again entering the city which six years before she had visited in company with 51 . was versatile. and so they returned to Nohant in June 1839. Sand's boy Maurice being ill. Her mouth was also rather coarse and her chin small. too. or rather of velvet. But she attracted with imperious power all that she met. and this gave a strange. It was a time of torment. Liszt felt this attraction at one time—and it is whispered that Chopin was jealous of him. but that is as far as Chopin ever penetrated into the promised land—Italy. Pouf! the woman who could conquer Franz Liszt in his youth must have been a sorceress. and her manners were very quiet.they reminded me of unpolished marble.
Like Balzac he was never pleased with the final "revise" of his work. all merged into one sentimental composite. He was forced to be very careful in his habits. This brings to memory another martyr to style. Now Sand began to cool. near Rouen. Chopin's health in 1839 was a source of alarm to himself and his friends. giving fewer lessons. he must needs aim at finishing touches. though her lively imagination never ceased making graceful. playing but little in private or public. All the more remarkable then his capacity for taking infinite pains. Fever and severe coughing proved to be the dread forerunners of the disease that killed him ten years later. resting more. and for an active mind and body like hers. how he groaned. Chopin was of an impatient. nervous disposition. mother. who for forty years in a room at Croisset. He had been dangerously ill at Majorca and Marseilles. and discreet friend. Her invalid was her one thought.another man. and becoming frugal of his emotions. the former lover of Rachel. touching pictures of herself in the roles of sister of mercy. His letters at this period are interesting for the Chopinist but 52 . ailing man. Gustave Flaubert. it must have been irksome to submit to the caprices of a moody. He composed at Nohant. and she has told us all about it. wrote and re-wrote and tore to pieces draft after draft of his work. wrestled with the devils of syntax and epithet.
" said the amiable Frederic. Sand was a spendthrift and Chopin had often to put his hands in his pocket for her.for the most part they consist of requests made to his pupils. Heaven-born geniuses are sometimes very keen in financial transactions. He did not hesitate to lump them all as "pigs" and "Jews" if anything happened to jar his nerves. Chopin received a gold cup. who depended on others for the material comforts and necessities of his existence. Nor is his abuse of friends and patrons. Cloud. indicative of an altogether frank. but was not a machine and for at least four months of the year he earned nothing. playing for the royal family. Niecks devotes an engrossing chapter to the public accounts and 53 ." There were two public concerts in 1841 and 1842. "to get the sooner rid of him. Hence his anxiety to get all he could for his compositions. the first on April 26 at Pleyel's rooms. Wagner was not more importunate or minatory than this Pole. Gutmann and others. sincere nature. He charged twenty francs a lesson. to buy him many things. and indeed why should they not be? In 1839 Chopin met Moscheles. the Leos and others. Moscheles a travelling case. to get him new apartments. to jog the publishers. "The King gave him this. They appeared together at St. Money. the second on February 20 at the same hall. money. Fontana. is the leading theme of the Paris and Mallorean letters.
Nor could he recall having played while Viardot-Garcia sang out on the terrace of the chateau. and spent the vacations at Nohant. His life was apparently happy. Matthew Arnold. the "terrible children" of this Bohemian household. he will add the finishing touches of unreality that may be missing. Some of his confreres have not 54 . according to reports. of this more hereafter. Another story is of one or the other working the pedal rods—the pedals being broken. He composed and amused himself with Maurice and Solange. From 1843 to 1847 Chopin taught. so let us not attempt to impugn the details of the Chopin legend. and once in the dark they exchanged places and fooled their listeners. Chopin and Liszt were in friendly rivalry—are two pianists ever friendly? —Liszt imitating Chopin's style. The best salons were open to him. Delacroix. There.the general style of Chopin's playing. De Lenz should be consulted for an account of this period. to which charming retreat Liszt. that legend which coughs deprecatingly as it points to its aureoled alabaster brow. Liszt denied this. Garcia's memory is also short about this event. Chopin knew every one of note in Paris. This too has been laughed to scorn by Liszt. Rollinat. Delacroix and Sand have written abundant souvenirs of Nohant and its distinguished gatherings. Charles Rollinat and many others came.
He told Heller that the "Carneval" was really not music at all. Can you fancy this Ariel of the piano giving lessons to humdrum pupils! Playing in a charmed and bewitching circle of countesses. He spoke French though with a Polish accent. in his piano music. Weber. Beethoven—save in the C sharp minor and several other sonatas—was not sympathetic. He was as a rule a kind and patient teacher. But consider his retiring nature. 55 . too operatic and Schumann he dismissed without a word. above all his delicate health! Where one accuses him of indifference and selfishness there are ten who praise his unfaltering kindness. and to it he would stick. his suspicious Slavic temperament. and where talent was displayed his interest trebled. surrounded by the luxury and the praise that kills.hesitated to describe him as a bit snobbish. but did not care much for German music except Bach and Mozart. 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. This remark is one of the curiosities of musical anecdotage. and also German. generosity and forbearance. for during the last ten years of his life he was generally inaccessible. yet he gave lessons regularly and appeared to relish them. He had not much taste for literature. answered that his metier was the piano. Chopin is a much more natural figure. Schubert he found rough.
agitated gayety. stand on his head. chatter. to the snubbing of artists who sometimes visited him. Perhaps it was feverish. Of himself he said that "he was in this world like the E string of a violin on a contrabass. A literature has grown up on the subject. like his music. when Sand and Chopin parted forever. The breach which had been very perceptibly widening became hopeless in 1847. like Wagner. Theoretically he hated Jews and Russians. so did Chopin's 56 . a bundle of unreconciled affirmations and evasions and never could have been contented anywhere or with any one. imitate every one.But he had his gay moments when he would gossip. He was. Chopin never had much to say but Sand did. He grew suspicious of Liszt and for ten years was not on terms of intimacy with him although they never openly quarrelled. cut up all manner of tricks and. being rather indifferent to every one and to political events—except where Poland was concerned. Chopin disliked letter writing and would go miles to answer one in person." This "divine dissatisfaction" led him to extremes: to the flouting of friends for fancied affronts. He did not hate any one in particular. 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. yet associated with both.
she broke with him. He was coarse and violent. It was George Sand who took it with Chopin. and as he had completed his artistic work on this planet and there was nothing more to be studied. who were quite virulent in their assertions that she killed their master. He would never have had the courage nor the will.pupils. The dark stories of maternal jealousy. Her mother did not oppose the match. The final causes are not very interesting. with the true mother-in-law spirit—and when Chopin received the young woman and her husband after a terrible scene at Nohant. The dynamics of freelove have yet to be formulated. but later she resented Clesinger's actions. When the novelty wore off the stronger of the two—the one least in love— took the initial step. she said. It was a good excuse. the visit to Chopin of the concierge's wife to complain of her mistress' behavior with her husband.—the psychological portrait was supposedly painted— Madame George got rid of him. Niecks has sifted all the evidence before the court and jury of scandal-mongers. He had ennuied her for several years. of Chopin's preference for Solange. It was the inevitable end of such a friendship. The break had to come. The main quarrel was about the marriage of Solange Sand with Clesinger the sculptor. all these rakings 57 . This much we know: two such natures could never entirely cohere.
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
War was declared upon Chopin by a part of the musical world. being in the main a record of ill-health. woman-like. Franz Hueffer. Hipkins is the chief authority on the details of Chopin's visit to England. He met Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt and liked her exceedingly—as did all who had the honor of knowing her. The story is not especially noteworthy. Berlioz. To this amiable gentleman and learned writer on pianos. in the Sand affair—echoes of which had floated across the channel—and visited him in Paris in 1849. He went to an evening party but missed the Macready dinner where he was to have met Thackeray. complainings. A. J. Whether he played at court the Queen can tell. Chopin was angered but little for he was too sick to care now. With Benedict he played a Mozart duet at the Duchess of Sutherland's. She sided with him. Mrs. for the second and last time. Procter and Sir Julius Benedict. Joseph Bennett and Niecks are indebted for the most of their facts. From them the curious may learn all there is to learn. 1848. The criticism was compounded of pure malice and stupidity. April 21. Chopin gave two matinees at the houses of Adelaide Kemble and Lord 65 . lamentations and not one signal artistic success.completed his misery and we find him in poor health when he arrived in London. Niecks cannot. Mr.
a Pole." He made money and that was useful to him. They were very recherche. sturdy fighter that he was. To the doctor's good wife he replied in answer to the question "George Sand is your particular friend?" "Not even George Sand." Charming. he lodged in Edinburgh and was so weak that he had to be carried up and down stairs. 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. not to speak of the unmusical atmosphere. opus 55. Her name is familiar to Chopin students. Solomon spoke of his "long attenuated fingers. are dedicated to her. so it appears. Wagner succumbed to both. So he was not altogether deserted by the women—indeed he could not live without their little flatteries and 66 . Chopin left for Scotland in August and stopped at the house of his pupil. for the two nocturnes.Falmouth—June 23 and July 7. for doctors' bills and living had taken up his savings. At the house of Dr. would have been fatal to him. There was talk of his settling in London. Viardot-Garcia sang. He was nearly killed with kindness but continually bemoaned his existence." 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. but the climate. Lyschinski. Miss Stirling. The composer's face and frame were wasted by illness and Mr.
agreeable attentions. but his friend Mr. Mr. Osborne. Buchanan street. but with characteristic tenacity played at concerts and paid visits to his admirers. Muir Wood. Tickets. J. 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. in the Merchant Hall. It is safe to say that a woman was always within call of Chopin. The tone-poet was in the poorest health. To commence at half-past two o'clock. who was present. limited in number. Cuthbert Hadden wrote several years ago in the Glasgow "Herald" of Chopin's visit to Scotland in 1848. Mr. Glasgow. Salis Schwabe. says "his playing was too delicate to create enthusiasm and I felt truly sorry for him. 42. He continues: The net profits of this concert are said to have been exactly L60—a ridiculously low sum when we compare 67 . He played at Manchester on the 28th of August. half-a-guinea each." On his return to Scotland he stayed with Mr. and Mrs. and full particulars to be had from Mr. the 27th September.
It was obvious that a number of the audience were personal friends of Chopin. but I was told that so many private carriages had never been seen at any concert in the town." The late Dr. and pale and thin of face. his appearance was "interesting and conspicuous. beardless." and when.400. In fact." Whiskerless. he ascended the platform and placed himself at the instrument. Dr. fair of hair. moving about among the company. Hedderwick recognized the composer at once as "a little. "after a final glance at his miniature horologe. Muir Wood. still more ridiculously low when we recall the circumstance that for two concerts in Glasgow sixteen years before this Paganini had L 1. the citizens were busy otherwise. tells in his reminiscences that on entering the hall he found it about one. and half a guinea was considered too high a sum for their wives and daughters. said: "I was then a comparative stranger in Glasgow. Being a morning concert. and occasionally consulting his watch. James Hedderwick.third full. nay." which seemed to be" no bigger than an agate stone on the forefinger of an alderman. it was the county people who turned out. conversing with different groups.it with the earnings of later day virtuosi. who has since died. in pale gray suit. of Glasgow. including frock coat of identical tint and texture. fragile-looking man. he at once commanded 68 . with a few of the elite of Glasgow society.
" Dr.attention. Hutcheson street. though not without occasional episodes of both strength and grandeur. Wood had to visit him several times at the house of Admiral Napier. in the surrounding counties. writes as follows: "Several weeks before the concert Chopin lived with different friends or pupils on their invitations. and I distinctly remember him telling me that he never had so much difficulty in arranging a concert as on this occasion. One of the two is Julius Seligmann. I think his pupil Miss Jane Stirling had something to do with all the general arrangements. now the County Buildings. Between Chopin's playing Madame Adelasio de 69 . The hall was about three-quarters filled. The concert was given in the Merchant Hall. in response to some inquiries on the subject. Muir Wood managed the special arrangements of the concert. Chopin constantly changed his mind. more piano than forte. Hedderwick says it was a drawing-room entertainment. So far as can be ascertained. the veteran president of the Glasgow Society of Musicians. there are now living only two members of that Glasgow audience of 1848. who. but scarcely had he returned to Glasgow when he was summoned back to alter something. It was perfectly clear to him that Chopin was marked for an early grave. at Milliken Park. near Johnstone.
" Chopin played October 4 in Edinburgh." he says. consisting mostly of ladies." The other survivor is George Russell Alexander. and returned to London in November after various visits. and while the finish. but the affair 70 . I do not remember the whole programme. the want of power made his playing somewhat monotonous. Chopin was evidently very ill. among whom were the then Duchess of Argyll and her sister. who in a letter to the writer remarks especially upon Chopin's pale. "My emotion. "was so great that two or three times I was compelled to retire from the room to recover myself. The audience was very aristocratic.Margueritte. Dunlop street. His touch was very feeble. elegance and delicacy of his performances were greatly admired by the audience. daughter of a well-known London physician. sang. but he was encored for his well-known mazurka in B flat (op. but never one has left such an impress on my mind. and Mr. son of the proprietor of the Theatre Royal. Lady Blantyre. grace. cadaverous appearance. 1). We read of a Polish ball and concert at which he played. which he repeated with quite different nuances from those of the first time. No. Muir accompanied her. 7. I have heard all the best and most celebrated stars of the musical firmament.
Niedzwiecki.—the balance being paid by the Countess Obreskoff. a Russian lady. For ten years he had suffered from so much illness that a relapse was not noticed by the world. Jules Janin said: "He lived ten miraculous years with a breath ready to fly away. he had been reported dead so often that the real news was doubted." and we know that his servant Daniel had always to carry him to bed. as Stephen Heller said. and M. Mathias described him as "a painful spectacle. and his lodgings in the Rue Chaillot were represented to the proud man as being just half their cost. for." His purse was empty. to whom he made the remark took as earnest a pure bit of nonsense. Like a romance is 71 . yet lived according to his lights and free from the sordid and the soil of vulgarity. and perhaps—! He certainly disliked England and the English. He left England in January 1849 and heartily glad he was to go. Perhaps M. His very death was at first received with incredulity. a life not for a moment heroic. head bowed—but always amiable and full of distinction. the picture of exhaustion.was not a success. In 1847 his legs began to bother him by swelling. "Do you see the cattle in this meadow?" he asked. en route for Paris: "Ca a plus d'intelligence que des Anglais. Now the curtain prepares to fall on the last dreary finale of Chopin's life." which was not nice of him. the back bent.
from the man who told Franchomme two days before his death. and she was not—George Sand did not hear this sad speech without tears and boundless regrets. In the early days of October he could no longer sit upright without support. but not her mother. Chopin's friends would have kept her away from him. The noble-hearted Scotchwoman heard of Chopin's needs through Madame Rubio. but found after the woman had been taxed with keeping it. Solange Sand was there. who called and was not admitted—so they say. but it is nevertheless true. and M. if she had called. "She said to me that I would die in no arms but hers. On the other hand. by Miss Stirling. Gavard. his future assured. Gutmann and the Countess Delphine Potocka. 12. There he died. Gutmann denies having refused her admittance. and came from Poland to Paris. his sister. moved to Place Vendome. of twenty-five thousand francs. That packet containing it was mislaid or lost by the portress of Chopin's house. His sister Louise was sent for.the sending. No. Alas! all 72 . It was Turgenev who spoke of the half hundred countesses in Europe who claimed to have held the dying Chopin in their arms. and the money was raised. Chopin." Surely—unless she was monstrous in her egotism. a pupil. In reality he died in Gutmann's. raising that pupil's hand to his mouth and murmuring "cher ami" as he expired. were constantly with him.
These letters. 1879. written in French. He begged his sister to burn all his inferior compositions. and in Niecks' biography of Chopin some sentences from letters by the Abbe are quoted. Tarnowski relates that Chopin gave his last orders in perfect consciousness. and Gutmann disagree. was "Plus. October 17. translated by Mr. "and to myself to publish only good things. Regarding the touching and slightly melodramatic death bed scene on the day previous." This wish has not been respected. mention is made of a conversation that he had held with the Abbe Jelowicki respecting Chopin's death. according to Gavard." he said. The following authentic account of the last hours of Chopin appears here for the first time in English. I wish to keep to it now. Chopin died. I kept to this resolution all my life. Hugh Craig. "I owe it to the public. Karasowski. second edition. after having been shrived by the Abbe Jelowicki. His last word. between three and four in the morning.things come too late for those who wait. The posthumous publications are for the most part feeble stuff." on being asked if he suffered. In Liszt's well-known work on Chopin. have 73 . 1849. when Delphine Potocka sang Stradella and Mozart—or was it Marcello?—Liszt.
and occasionally act with the greatest energy. weak body was visibly unfitted for the strength and force of his genius. He had good friends. For many years (so runs the document) the life of Chopin was but a breath. while. men and women without principles. His frail. or rather with bad principles. and only that decency innate in every generous heart hindered him from indulging in sarcasm 74 . The teachings of the fondest. the lightnings of his glance flashed. These bad friends were his flatterers. that is. His body was almost diaphanous. he seemed no longer to belong to earth. so much more subtle and thus so much more stimulating than that of all other artists. his enemies. Gentle. In the place of faith. most pious mother became to him a recollection of his childhood's love." to which they were given by the Princess Marie Hohenlohe. the daughter of Princess Caroline Sayn Wittgenstein. bubbling with humor. doubt had stepped in. he had not yet thought of heaven. he could live at all. from time to time. who died in 1887. and every way charming. Even his unrivalled success. his eyes were almost shadowed by a cloud from which.been translated and published in the "Allgemeine Musik Zeitung. but many bad friends. It was a wonder how in such a weak state. carried the war into his soul and checked the expression of faith and of prayer. unfortunately. Liszt's universal legatee and executor. kind.
a martyr of liberty. While he was in this spiritual condition he was attacked by the pulmonary disease that was soon to carry him away from us. for that was impossible. but not as a sacrament. but for my part I do not regard them in the sense that you desire. The knowledge of this cruel sickness reached me on my return from Rome. but weaker. at Vienna. to see once more the friend of my youth. "Yes. (He was shot. With beating heart I hurried to him. He embraced me with affection and with tears in his eyes.) I availed myself of his softened mood to speak to him about his soul. because I love you. you know how. 1848." Enough: a crowd 75 . November 10." he said. whom I had just lost. not because I hold it necessary.and mockery over holy things and the consolations of religion. I understand the blessing of confession in so far as it is the unburdening of a heavy heart into a friendly hand. thinking not of his own pain but of mine. I am ready to confess to you if you wish it. His strength sank. I recalled his thoughts to the piety of his childhood and of his beloved mother. whose soul was infinitely dearer to me than all his talent. not thinner. he spoke of my poor friend Eduard Worte. his life faded visibly. I found him. "in order not to offend my mother I would not die without the sacraments.
I hastened to him. so painful to me. if you can. but bade me at once to depart. "My God. but did not wish to speak to me. in fear that he would not live through the night. this day. After all my exertions." I cried. what a night I passed! Next day was the 13th. and I feared nothing more than to be called to be his confessor. the soul of Frederic. Imagine. Edward. even if I knew not how. "if the soul of my brother Edward is pleasing to thee. Several months passed with similar conversations. He pressed my hand. the day of St. I said mass for the repose of his soul and prayed for Chopin's soul. the patron of my poor brother. 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. while he assured me he loved me much. when I was summoned by orders of the physician. the priest and the sincere friend. give me." In double distress I then went to the melancholy abode of 76 .of anti-religious speeches filled me with terror and care for this elect soul. Yet I clung to the conviction that the grace of God would obtain the victory over this rebellious soul.
and at once illumined the soul and kindled the heart of Chopin. I found him at breakfast. After the blessed Viaticum. His faith was once more revived. streamed. and with unspeakable fervor he made his confession and received the Holy Supper. flames of divine fire. Thyself. take it!" At these words unspeakable joy and anguish seized me." "Oh. "you must give me something for my brother's name day. and after he had asked me to partake I said: "My friend." I continued. Here it is. visibly from the figure of the crucified Saviour. "Draw it to Thee." "What shall I give you?" "Your soul." "Ah! I understand. I might say. today is the name day of my poor brother. 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.our poor sick man. which was served as carefully as ever. penetrated by the heavenly consecration which the sacraments pour 77 . Burning tears streamed from his eyes. Rays of divine light. do not let us speak of it!" he cried. and after a moment of collecting my thoughts I cried in the depths of my heart. What should I say to him? What should I do to restore his faith. "Dearest friend. my God!" Without saying a word I held out to our dear invalid the crucifix.
he asked me. after an apparently last crisis. till the last breath. trust in God. "No. and even the Protestants joined in the litanies and prayers for the dying. and a wish for a speedy death. "Oh. and when I remarked that the sum presented by him was twenty times too much he replied. never left him. In the midst of the sharpest sufferings he expressed only ecstatic joy. thankfulness that I had led him back to God. Patience. and leaned on my breast as a little child in a moment of danger hides itself in its mother's breast. and called himself happy. he saw himself surrounded by the crowd that day and night filled his chamber. 78 . He blessed his friends. He was really happy." he said. He wished to pay lavishly the sacristan who accompanied me. even joyful confidence. The death struggle began and lasted four days. touching love of God. and when." From this hour he was a saint. in spite of all his sufferings. and would not let me leave him. you will not leave me at the last moment. Day and night he held my hand.forth on pious souls. for what I have received is beyond price. contempt of the world and its good. no. he asked for Extreme Unction. "Why do they not pray?" At these words all fell on their knees.
Do not keep me longer in this world of exile. "I love God and man. my sister. how good God is!" 79 . pray for me!" Exhausted by deathly convulsions he said to the physicians. "I am happy so to die. and I bless him therefor. qualify me to do any good. He punishes me. with a fervor that reached to heaven. Let me die. I feel that I am dying. He made the most touching utterances. I am happy. My friends. why do you keep me back?" Another time he said. Oh. do not weep. But God errs not. why do you prolong my life when I have renounced all things and God has enlightened my soul? God calls me." he said. of pain to all who love me. that only lets one suffer longer! Could it give me back my strength. Farewell. "Let me die. hope and love. how good is God to punish me here below! Oh. to prolong such a life— O lovely science!" Then he said again: "You let me suffer cruelly.Soon he called upon Jesus and Mary. Perhaps you have erred about my sickness. soon he kissed the crucifix in an excess of faith. "O lovely science. to make any sacrifice—but a life of fainting. of grief. do not weep.
his death was the most beautiful concerto of all his life. another was Mozart's. and during the ceremony Lefebure-Wely played on the organ the E and B minor Preludes. Mary. at the same time. all the misery of those who die unreconciled to God. says Liszt. The pall80 . but at last to express all his thankfulness and. "Without you I should have croaked (krepiren) like a pig. with the ceremony befitting a man of genius. The B flat minor Funeral march. The worthy abbe must have had a phenomenal memory. He was buried from the Madeleine. and in truth. I hope that it was an exact one. indeed it is one of the musical deathbeds of history. with well chosen words.—the pen name of a writer on musical subjects." While dying he still called on the names of Jesus. kissed the crucifix and pressed it to his heart with the cry "Now I am at the source of Blessedness!" Thus died Chopin. But every one agrees that Chopin's end was serene. orchestrated by Henri Reber.His usual language was always elegant. His story is given in its entirety because of its novelty. October 30. was given.—translated these letters into German. he cried. The only thing that makes me feel in the least sceptical is that La Mara. His face was beautiful and young in the flower-covered coffin. Joseph.
yet Lombroso writes that Chopin "in his will directed that he should be buried in a white tie. his concert dress. 81 . small shoes and short breeches.bearers were distinguished men." adducing this as an evidence of his insanity. Meyerbeer. It is a Polish custom for the dying to select their grave clothes. Delacroix. Kwiatowski the portrait painter told this to Niecks." Here we have a Sand story raised to the dignity of a diagnosed symptom. but not at his own request. Even at his grave in Pere la Chaise no two persons could agree about Chopin. Pleyel and Franchomme—at least Theophile Gautier so reported it for his journal. This controversy is quite characteristic of Chopin who was always the calm centre of argument. He was buried in evening clothes. It is like the other nonsense. 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.
delicately formed hands. "for he is something which you 82 . Moscheles said that he looked like his music. As a youth his nose was too large. persuasive one without being so striking or so dramatic as Liszt's. Liszt said he had blue eyes. the lower one protruding. long silken hair of a light chestnut color. Not the ideal musician we read of. but he has been overruled. parted on one side. very small feet. an oval. costly attire. middle height. The Artist * Chopin's personality was a pleasant. produced a most agreeable sensation. softly outlined head. but a gentleman. Later. tender brown eyes. Delicacy and a certain aristrocratic bearing. his lips thin. a harmonious ensemble. a pale transparent complexion. fragile but wonderfully flexible limbs. and was very correct in the matter of studs. intelligent rather than dreamy. a sweet subtle smile. "He was of slim frame." This precise description is by Niecks. graceful and varied gestures. walking sticks and cravats. Chopin was fond of elegant. Berlioz told Legouve to see Chopin. a finely-curved aquiline nose.IV.
" An orchidaceous individuality this. Here at least the sentiment was one of solidarity. While teaching. the Hungarian lad of whom Liszt said. who died the same year." The boy died in 1845. all halting of speech and polite insincerities were abandoned. He was an aristocrat." He was much affected by the talents of this youthful pupil. He never taught but one genius.well-met with the musicians. This I heard in Paris. was also very talented. A certain primness and asperity did not make him popular. Paul Gunsberg. De Lenz is his most censorious critic and did not really love Chopin.-there is no other word— and he did not care to be hail-fellow. 83 . aged fifteen. for the Pole suspected that his pupil was sent by Liszt to spy on his methods. little Filtsch. 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. his manner warmed. Associating constantly with fashionable folk his naturally dignified behavior was increased. His pupils adored him. The dislike was returned. the earnest artist came to life. "When he starts playing I will shut up shop. Chopin was a remarkable teacher. With such personal refinement he was a man punctual and precise in his habits.have never seen—and some one you will never forget.
O'Meara. He taught the scales staccato and legato beginning with E major. This was shortly before Chopin's death when his interest in music had abated greatly. giving dementi's Preludes at first. ever his pupil? His friends say so. Werner Steinbrecher. but Niecks does not mention him. Before playing in concert he shut himself up and played. harshness annoyed him. Ductility. Mlle. Gutmann. Casimir Wernik. Carl Mikuli. Madame Peruzzi. Lysberg. Chopin was very particular about the formation of the touch. Madame Rubio. Madame Streicher. and made his first appearance there in 1847. "Is that a dog barking?" was his sudden exclamation at a rough attack. Absolute finger independence and touch discrimination and color are to be gained by playing the 84 . No doubt Gottschalk played for Chopin for he was the first to introduce the Pole's music in America. gracefulness were his aim. stiffness. always Bach. Georges Mathias. and many others became excellent pianists. Louis Moreau Gottschalk.Lindsay Sloper and Brinley Richards studied with Chopin. Moscheles and Bach. Thomas Tellefsen. Ernst Pauer questions it. Gustav Schumann. Was the American pianist. We know that Gottschalk studied in Paris with Camille Stamaty. not Chopin but Bach. ease. Caroline Hartmann. many Polish ladies of rank. Delphine Potocka among the rest. He gave Clementi.
it seems to me. as regards time. The point is to utilize the differences. There are. A thing impossible. The thumb has the greatest power. is the art of fingering. Then comes the little finger. For a long time players have acted against nature in seeking to give equal power to each finger. some players try to force it with all their might to become independent. is one of the most practical truths 85 . The middle finger is the main support of the hand. On the contrary. each finger should have an appropriate part assigned it. in other words. Here. but to acquire a beautiful quality of touch and a perfect shading. Chopin started a method but it was never finished and his sister gave it to the Princess Czartoryska after his death. One point is worth quoting. and most likely unnecessary. It is a mere fragment. and is assisted by the first. the weakest one. at the other extremity of the hand. being the thickest finger and the freest. many different qualities of sound. just as there are several fingers. He wrote: No one notices inequality in the power of the notes of a scale when it is played very fast and equally.preludes and fugues of Bach. and this. then. Finally comes the third. In a good mechanism the aim is not to play everything with an equal sound. Janotha has translated it. As to this Siamese twin of the middle finger.
Rubinstein said: The piano bard." was his motto. romantic. which is natural.. his utilization of its capacity for the vibration of related strings. . Scarlatti. I recommend his advice. dreamy. lyric. dramatic. the piano rhapsodist. Chopin is dead only fifty years. Liszt having written nothing but brilliant paraphrases in those days. He gave to his pupils the concertos and sonatas—all carefully graded—of Mozart. Mendelssohn. The music of the later Liszt is quite another thing. Weber and Hiller and. Beethoven.ever uttered by a teacher. soulful. Tragic. the piano mind. Chopin's genius for the pedal. Chopin. "Play as you feel. brilliant. and bids fair to build 86 . Pianists spend thousands of hours trying to subjugate impossible muscles. the four-hand pieces and dances.. the piano soul is Chopin. Liszt he did not favor. simple. Dussek. of Schubert. grand. a rather dangerous precept for beginners. sweet. but his innovations horrified the purists. Field. but his fame has traversed the half century with ease. heroic. all possible expressions are found in his compositions and all are sung by him upon his instrument. fantastic. saw the waste of time and force. Hummel. I refer to later. He was ever particular about fingering. the overtones. who found out most things for himself.
unapproachable Chopin player. and the F minor Fantasie. but exactly what the Chopin tradition is no man may dare to say. the B flat minor Prelude. his tone too big. Rubinstein did all sorts of wonderful things 87 . Never shall I forget the Ballades. Chopin played as his moods prompted. I doubt if even Karl Tausig.securely in the loves of our great-grandchildren. the two Polonaises in F sharp minor and A flat major. or have—the old guard dies bravely—his tradition. Chopin was the greatest interpreter of Chopin. Tausig. played Chopin inimitably. the A minor "Winter Wind" the two C minor studies. impeccable artist. Chopin and modern piano playing are inseparable. Chopin did not care for Liszt's reading of his music. Yet the Chopin pupils. would have pleased the composer. refused to accept him as an interpreter. Liszt. and following him came those giants of other days. though he trembled when he heard him thunder in the Eroica Polonaise. While he never had the pupils to mould as had Liszt. Chopin made some excellent piano artists. The six letters that comprise his name pursue every piano that is made. assembled in judgment at Paris when he gave his Historical Recitals. and it is a strain upon homely prophecy to predict a time when the two shall be put asunder. when I last heard him. and his playing was the despair and delight of his hearers. and Rubinstein. Anton Rubinstein. His touch was too rich and full. They all had.
Tausig who united in his person all the elements of greatness. a touch rich. He played as he composed: uniquely. sweet. though he appreciated Chopin on the intellectual side. Witness Liszt the magnificent. Essipowa fascinating and feminine. February. de Pachmann the fantastic. and his pianissimo was a whisper. subtle Joseffy. Rubinstein a passionate genius. The Slavic and Magyar races are your only true Chopin interpreters.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. so widely 88 . All testimony is emphatic as to this. A world-great pianist was this Frderic Francois Chopin. these were part of Chopin's equipment as a pianist. Von Bulow was too much of a martinet to reveal the poetic quality." This is precisely what Rubinstein did. Scales that were pearls. the poetic Paderewski. supple and singing and a technique that knew no difficulties. his forte seemed powerful by contrast so numberless were the gradations. 1848. and Rosenthal a phenomenon. something remote from its original nature. His pianissimo was an enchanting whisper. play the two forte passages in the Barcarolle "pianissimo and with all sorts of dynamic finesse. his touch was not beautiful enough. He spiritualized the timbre of his instrument until it became transformed into something strange.
Herz an advocate. Kalkbrenner a minstrel. that were more in evidence than mere sensuous sweetness. They were rare moments. professional and personal read.varied his dynamics. above all the imaginative lift. So the accounts. Indeed the stories told wear an air of enthusiasm that borders on the exaggerated. critical. gave his listeners a delight that bordered on the supernatural. after all. Chopin had. thrilled his auditors. Madame Pleyel a sibyl. Crystalline pearls falling on red hot velvet-or did Scudo write this of Liszt?— infinite nuance and the mingling of silvery bells. his salon side when he played with elegance. and Doehler—a pianist"? The limpidity.—these are a few of the least exuberant notices. Then he astounded. on the fantastic. It was the poetic melancholy. his ideas too big for utterance. But he had dark moments when the keyboard was too small. we know. There must have been a hypnotic quality in his performances that transported his audience wherever the poet willed. Was it not Heine who called "Thalberg a king. the grandeur. Chopin a poet. His mood-versatility was reproduced in his endless colorings and capricious rhythms. and the appealing humanity he infused into his touch. his diaphanous harmonies. his liquid tone. the smoothness and ease of Chopin's playing were. brilliancy and coquetry. on the physical plane. The fairylike quality of his play. The 89 . Liszt a prophet. his pedalling—all were the work of a genius and a lifetime.
It was ravishing. Weitzmann said that "he relieved the romantically sentimental Chopin of his Weltschmerz and showed him in his pristine creative vigor and wealth of imagination. His wrist was very supple. Chopin's elastic hand. with lightly articulated fingers. was capable of stretching tenths with ease. 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. many styles and all are correct if they are poetically musical. Now where is the "tradition" when confronted by the mighty crashing of Rosenthal in this particular part of the Polonaise? Of Karl Tausig. Stephen Heller said that "it was a wonderful sight to see Chopin's small hands expand and cover a third of the keyboard. thin. small.instrument vibrated with these new. evanescent in his music that eluded analysis and illuded all but hardheaded critics. It was like the opening of the mouth of a serpent about to swallow a rabbit whole. vaporous. nameless effects like the violin in Paganini's hands. logical 90 . fluid. There was something imponderable. He was called the Ariel. the Undine of the piano. Examine his first study for confirmation of this." He played the octaves in the A flat Polonaise with infinite ease but pianissimo." In Chopin's music there are many pianists.
When Chopin was strong he used a Pleyel piano. Indeed how could it be. not quantity that Chopin sought. Mikuli asserted that Chopin brought out an "immense" tone in cantabiles. the Tarantelle. making also an attempt to define the "zal" of his playing and music. Rubinstein declared that all the pedal marks are wrong in 91 . A brass tablet on the inside lid notes this. with the light action and tone of the French pianos built in the first half of the century? After all it was quality. the F minor Fantasie and the B minor Scherzo. Of his rubato I treat in the chapter devoted to the Mazurkas. 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 A minor Mazurka. He had not a small tone. the Funeral March. Each one of his ten fingers was a delicately differentiated voice. but it was not the orchestral tone of our day. and these ten voices could sing at times like the morning stars.and individually sincere. The piano is still in good condition as regards tone and action. 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. the G minor nocturne. the three supplementary fitudes.
it is mature in expression. for here again the individual equation comes into play. Kwiatowski has caught some of the Chopin spirit in the etching that may be found in volume one of Niecks' biography. The Clesinger head I have seen at Pere la Chaise. and the head by Kwiatowski. and the Graefle is a trifle ghastly. poetic. aquiline nose. of October 1899— in Polish "17 Pazdziernika"—printed a picture of the composer at the age of seventeen.Chopin. Kleczynski reproduces it. large. Apart from certain fundamental rules for managing the pedals. The portraits of Chopin differ widely. but the nose is that of a predaceous bird. The "Echo Muzyczne" Warsaw. the Vigneron—praised by Mathias—the Bovy medallion. painfully aquiline. no pedagogic regulations should ever be made for the more refined nuanciren. It is that of a thoughtful. Felix Barrias. a feminine mouth. Delacroix tried his powerful hand at transfixing in oil the fleeting expressions of Chopin. the nostrils 92 . but not handsome lad. Hadow's volume is too Hebraic. It is the dead Chopin. the Duval drawing. Anthony Kolberg painted Chopin in 1848-49. The Winterhalter portrait in Mr. and Albert Graefle are others who tried with more or less success. I doubt if any edition can ever give them as they should be. Franz Winterhalter. his hair waving over a fine forehead. It is mediocre and lifeless. There is the Ary Scheffer.
Like the Chopin interpretation. he is an authority on Polish and Russian music and musicians.delicately cut. New York. and became famous for their brilliant elegance. I applied in 1899 to Mr. They were the daughters of Count Komar. and sang to perfection. and Nathalie. a victim to the zeal in favor of the cholera-stricken of Rome. As some difficulty was experienced in discovering the identity of Countess Delphine Potocka. drew well. The other two sisters went to live in Paris. a satisfactory Chopin portrait is extremely rare. Marie married the Prince de Beauvau-Craon. Jaraslow de Zielinski. they spoke half the languages of Europe. Their sumptuous 'hotels' or palaces were thrown open to the most prominent men of genius of their time. Their graceful manners and loveliness won the hearts of three of the greatest of noblemen. a pianist of Buffalo. the business manager of the wealthy Count Potocki. All they needed was money to make them queens of society. Marchioness Medici Spada. Here are the facts he kindly transmitted: "In 1830 three beautiful Polish women came to Nice to pass the winter. and hither 93 . and about his slender neck a Byronic collar. Delphine became Countess Potocka. Altogether a novel likeness. The last named died young. for assistance. They were singularly accomplished. this they soon obtained. and with it high rank.
"Chopin liked and knew how to express individual characteristics on the piano. 64." Therefore the picture of the Grafin Potocka in the Berlin gallery is not that of Chopin's devoted friend. op. he dedicated the loveliest of his valses. and admired the resemblance of the portrait. but with a tender and sisterly friendship. he illustrated the characters of a few or of several people present in the room.' which gave to ready wits a scope for parading their knowledge of people and their sharpness of observation. written in the brilliant bravura style for pianists of the first force. to meet not only with the homage due to his genius. so he often amused himself by playing such musical portraits. No. so well transcribed by Joseffy into a study in thirds. which proved one of the greatest consolations of his life. Just as there formerly was a rather widely-known fashion of describing dispositions and characters in so-called 'portraits. Countess Potocka. It touches on a Potocka episode. To the amiable Princess de Beauvau he dedicated his famous Polonaise in F sharp minor.came Chopin. op. To Delphine. 1. and illustrated them so clearly and so delicately that the listeners could always guess correctly who was intended. Here is another Count Tarnowski story. 44. One little anecdote is 94 . Without saying whom he had in his thoughts.
Niecks gives specimens of what the ingenious publisher. that by heart and in the dark he was able to depict it. Dr. After a few portraits had been extemporized. Ballades. Studies. without a sense of humor. the music being allowed to work its particular charm without the aid of literary crutches for unimaginative minds. first. his music sounds all the better: the listener is not pinned down to any precise mood. did with some of Chopin's 95 . threw it on the keyboard and began to play. "During the time of Chopin's greatest brilliancy and popularity. secondly. in the year 1835. as the tones of the piano through the shawl. he once played his musical portraits in a certain Polish salon. that he knew the character of the brilliant and famous queen of fashion so well. one of these ladies wished to have hers—Mme. through the symbol of elegance and fashion of that day. in reply. ornamentations and decorations of an elegant worldly life. where the three daughters of the house were the stars of the evening.related in connection with this which throws some light on his wit. Preludes and the like. Chopin. and a little pinch of sarcasm in it. Delphine Potocka. that this character and this soul is hidden under habits. drew her shawl from her shoulders. Scherzi. implying in this two things." Because Chopin did not label his works with any but general titles.
37. 5. 3 for piano and 'cello. are given in the margin. Nocturnes. op. a favorite. op. Bolero. and Les Favorites. is not now. On the reverse. the design represents a lyre. Introduction and Polonaise. Nocturnes.meditation it is not!—II Lamento e la Consolazione. The mazurkas generally received the title of Souvenir de la Pologne. Les Zephirs. Nocturnes op. op. op. October 17. op.compositions: Adieu a Varsovie. Murmures de la Seine. bearing on one side an artistically executed profile of the Polish composer. 32. op. op. the G minor Ballade—there is a polyglot mess for you!—Les Plaintives. Valse. La Meditation. op. B flat minor. op. 27. 15. Souvenir d'Andalousie. The C minor Polonaise of this opus was never. 19—a bolero which sounds Polish!—Le Banquet Infernal. Nocturnes. the Variations. 2. La Posiana—what a name!—the Rondo a la Mazur. 1899. 1. Second Scherzo. The name of the great composer with the dates of his birth and death. Nocturnes. surrounded by a laurel branch. In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Chopin. 9. Polonaises. 20—what a misnomer!—Ballade ohne Worte. Les Soupirs. Paderewski is heading a movement to remove from Paris 96 . Hommage a Mozart. Invitation a la Valse. a medal was struck at Warsaw. 18. op. op. the First Scherzo. so was named the Rondo. and having engraved upon it the opening bars of the Mazurka in A flat major. 40. La Gaite. op.
the aeolian murmurs of the E flat Study. There are word-whisperings in the next study in F minor." This is quoted by Kleczynski.to Warsaw the ashes of the pianist. the 97 . The bells of the Funeral March. require much fancy to conjure up "the drums and tramplings of three conquests" in the Eroica Polonaise or the F sharp major Impromptu. so obvious. Mazurka. Of the A flat Study Chopin said: "Imagine a little shepherd who takes refuge in a peaceful grotto from an approaching storm. so vivid as Wagner's. Menuetto. opus 10. It does not. the will o' wisp character of the last movement of the B flat minor Sonata. opus 25. Chopin's acoustic parallelisms are not so concrete. Bolero. however.drops in his cadenzas and there is the whistling of the wind in the last A minor Study. In the distance rushes the wind and the rain. but it is doubtful if it can be managed. opus 25. 7. Polonaise. Schottische. whilst the symbolism of the dance—the Valse. while the shepherd gently plays a melody on his flute. the tiny prancing silvery hoofs in the F major Study. the dainty Butterfly Study in G flat. Krakowiak and Tarantella—is admirably indicated in all of them. in opus 10. Nor are they so theatrical. Paris will certainly object to losing the bones of such a genius. the flickering flame-like C major Study No. The rhythms of the Cradle Song and the Barcarolle are suggestive enough and if you please there are dew.
Paderewski. Nicode. Scholtz. Saint-Saens. Chopin's system—if it be a system—of cadenzas.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." Chopin founded no school. the musical accompaniment all the while keeping time." Mr. as in composition. for his was a manner not a method. only the broad trend of his discoveries may be followed. Zarembski. rejoins the melody with as much grace as if it had never been disunited. called 'alap. In his "Folk Music Studies. Mikuli. although the possibilities of the piano were canalized by him. Moriz Moszkowski. E. fioriture embellishment and ornamentation is perhaps traceable to the East. when the only limitations by which the performer is bound are the notes peculiar to that particular melody and a strict regard to time.' which after going through a variety of ad libitum passages. These passages are not reckoned essential to the melody. He has had for followers Liszt. Xaver Scharwenka. Rubinstein. natural phenomena. Heller. but are considered only as grace notes introduced according to the fancy of the singer. 98 . Krehbiel quotes the description of "a rhapsodical embellishment. In playing. H. Nowakowski.
and for playing fantastic tricks on your nerves in the depiction of the superhuman he has a peculiar faculty. kept him from formlessness. Leschetizki. and a spirit quite Teutonic in its sentimentality. With a less strong rhythmic impulse and formal sense Chopin's music would have degenerated into mere overperfumed impressionism.-in his F sharp major Sonata and E flat minor Scherzo—shows Chopin's influence. Scriabine and the rest. Rubinstein calls Chopin the exhalation of the third epoch in art. But a genuine school exists not. indeed of today.Stojowski. He paints atmosphere. with consummate skill. Remember that in Chopin's early days the Byronic pose. is entirely drowned by its devotion to cold decoration. to unemotional ornamentation. Even Brahms. the open air at eventide. Mannerisms he had—what great artist has not?—but the Greek in him. Henselt was only a German who fell asleep and dreamed of Chopin. the grandiose and the horrible prevailed—witness the pictures of Ingres 99 . Arenski. The French piano school of his day. He is seldom a landscapist. and a whole group of the younger Russians Liadoff. but he can handle his brush deftly before nature if he must. He certainly closed one. as in Heine. the two Wieniawskis. Indeed but for Chopin much modern music would not exist. To a Thalberg-ian euphony he has added a technical figuration not unlike Chopin's.
much of Schumann and half of Berlioz have suffered an eclipse. Melancholy or passionate she preserves the reflected lines of a primitive rusticity. For these M. A. the "Homotonic scales. As a man he was a bit of poseur—the little whisker grown on one side of his face. and his survival. de Bertha claimed the future of music. and there still remains. That Chopin may lead to the development and adoption of the new enharmonic scales. when nearly all of Mendelssohn. which clings to the homotones in despite of their 100 . melody moves with ease on the serried degrees of the enharmonic scales. now seeming to spring from the bowels of the earth with sepulchral inflexions. He wrote: "Now vaporously illumined by the crepuscular light of a magical sky on the boundaries of the major and minor modes. as it were.and Delacroix—and Richter wrote with his heart-strings saturated in moonshine and tears. the side which he turned to his audience. is a note of foppery—but was ever a detester of the sham-artistic. Lively or slow she always assumed in them the accents of a fatalist impossibility. Chopin did not altogether escape the artistic vices of his generation. for the laws of arithmetic have preceded her." I do not know. an atmosphere of proud rigidity. The fruit of his experimentings in tonality we see in the whole latter-day school of piano. is proof positive of his vitality. He was sincere. dramatic and orchestral composers.
but I doubt it. His lyricism is most human." Which latter statement is slightly condescending. John F. So when we see Chopin's orchestral music or Wagner's music for the piano we realize that 101 . there is too much of the Parisian salon in that. but he has given us many things which are above the salon. and only the piano. Apthorp's nullitonic order.artificial origin. 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. Chopin's calm depreciation of Schumann. an equally perfect balance exists between Palestrina's choir and Palestrina's counterpoint. the English critic." But all this will be in the days to come when the flat keyboard will be superseded by a Janko many-banked clavier contrivance. is invented. the slides. while the portamento. when Mr. Runciman. asserts that "Chopin thought in terms of the piano. Dannreuther—see Finck's "Wagner and his Works"—that "Mozart's music and Mozart's orchestra are a perfect match. Then too a new Chopin may be born. Mr. no key at all. 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. however. trills and indescribably subtle turns—are they not of the violin? Wagner said to Mr. Krehbiel's oriental srootis are in use and Mr. Recollect.
and entirely beautiful." "Liszt's estimate of the technical importance of Chopin's works. "is not too large. It may be feverish.J. Schubert was the most wonderful of them all. it is sick. or tranquil. far less than Schubert wrote. unhealthy music. merely mournful. It is marvellous music. Runciman is most pertinent: "These inheritors of rickets and exhausted physical frames made some of the most wonderful music of the century for us. but there is not a phrase that is not polished as far as a phrase will bear polishing. Henderson. but." 102 .. for the quantity he did write.. He wrote less.neither is talking his native tongue—the tongue which nature fitted him to speak." Speaking of "Chopin and the Sick Men" Mr.. but Chopin runs him very close. cadavre. . but. its finish is miraculous. W. 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." writes Mr. all the same. .
103 . bleached. he alone. an off-shoot. No less decadent is Chopin. powerless. womanly. dying people. And sex made itself brain whence was the birth of the soul. slip-slop. not a progonus. an epigonus. Equally decadent is Liszt. On the sounding board of our consciousness there echoes along the frightful symphony of the flesh. out of sex there was nothing and in it everything was. decorated with passionate and mystic fervors. Liszt is a Hungarian and the Hungarians are confessedly a completely disorganized. His cheeks are hollow and pale—but the Germans have the full red cheeks. Our blood lacks the white corpuscles.Heinrich Pudor in his strictures on German music is hardly complimentary to Chopin: "Wagner is a thoroughgoing decadent. as Mr." Arno Holz thus parodies Przybyszewski: "In our soul there is surging and singing a song of the victorious bacteria. sickly. self-outlived. who first Englished this "Mass of the Dead"—wrote: "He pictures largely in great cosmic symbols. womanish. this morbid. 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. Vance Thompson. It becomes objective in Chopin. whose figure comes before one as flesh without bones. the singular combat between the growing soul and the sex from which it fain would be free." And then.
indeed. puts our brains on the green meadows. Newman might have added other names to his list. Nordau carried it to its logical absurdity. that genius is called mad by foolish folk."All of which shows to what comically delirious lengths this sort of deleterious soul. Some of the finest work in art and literature.accentuate the physical and moral weaknesses of the artist.the modern primeval man. be pronounced normal. from any standpoint. and music in particular. ought not to be condemned merely in terms of the physical degeneration or abnormality of the artist. Really. Newman writes in his Wagner. the work remains touched with that universal quality that gives artistic permanence even to perceptions born of the abnormal. of De Maupassant. In the case of Flaubert. of Dostoievsky. that "art in general. Lombroso started the fashion. and a score of others. In Hazlitt's day he complains. Mr. of Poe. yet it is nothing new." Mr. has been produced by men who could not. It would be well to consider this word "decadent" and its morbid implications.probing may go. is any great genius 104 . he alone thinks in hyper-European dimensions. those of Michael Angelo and Beethoven and Swinburne. There is a fashion just now in criticism to over. He alone rebuilds the shattered Jerusalem of our souls. though the organic system was more or less flawed.
Poe. Emerson." 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 105 . moral and physical. "Technically a decadent style is only such in relation to a classic style. The first is beautiful because the parts are subordinated to the whole. the second is beautiful because the whole is subordinated to the parts. a further specialization. the genius of the accused one can in no wise be denied.quite sane according to philistine standards? The answer must be negative. 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." Then he proceeds to show in literature that Sir Thomas Browne. have in some cases proven true. 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. It is simply a further development of a classic style. Pater. But then as Mr. The old enemy has merely changed his mode of attack: instead of charging genius with madness. considers the much misunderstood phenomenon in art called decadence. Carlyle. the homogeneous in Spencerian phraseology having become heterogeneous. the abnormal used in an abnormal sense is lugged in and though these imputations of degeneracy.
It has become a very bad habit to place this poet in the hands of our youth. and this aggrandizement of the individual really produces an even greater amount of energy. . falling.. and St. who have yet to learn that "all confusion of intellectual substances is foolish.operations of a community as a whole has now simply been transferred to the individuals themselves. Max Nordau and Heinrich Pudor.Roman architecture is classic to become in its Byzantine developments completely decadent. decay.." And further. We have to recognize that decadence is an aesthetic and not a moral conception. The concertos and polonaises being put aside. Ellis: "All art is the rising and falling of the slopes of a rhythmic curve between these two classic and decadent extremes. If we walk down a real hill we do not feel that we commit a more wicked act than when we walked up it." I recommend the entire chapter to such men as Lombroso Levi.. .. Because his delicate 106 .." Oscar Bie states the Chopin case most excellently:— Chopin is a poet. no one lends himself worse to youthful instruction than Chopin.. Mark's is the perfected type of decadence in art. We are not called upon to air our moral indignation over the bass end of the musical clef.. Decadence suggests to us going down. The power of words is great but they need not befool us.
strikes sorrowful chords. Chopin. to analyze the salient aspects. whose music begins where that of another leaves off. he has gained the name of a morbid genius. of course. To translate into prose. the last things in our soul. Children. have in his music found their form. a Pole. He stands among musicians in his faultless vesture. whose foreboding is interwoven with the mystery of Judgment Day. for perfect ripeness is but the foreboding of corruption. technical and aesthetic.touches inevitably seem perverse to the youthful mind. The sublimest emotions toward whose refinement whole genrations had tended. is 107 . which do not occur frequently to healthy normal persons. And his greatness lies precisely in this: that he preserves the mean between immaturity and decay. And Chopin himself would have been much too noble ever to lay bare his mental sickness to the world. whose tones show the supremest mastery in the tongue of music— such a man will discover nothing morbid in him. His greatness is his aristocracy. The grown man who understands how to play Chopin. into any language no matter how poetical. of his music. a noble from head to foot. the images aroused by his music. But why is a Pole to receive less justice than a German? We know that the extreme of culture is closely allied to decay. do not know this. Further on I shall attempt—I write the word with a patibulary gesture—in a sort of a Chopin variorum.
the realistic. Chopin neither preaches nor paints. It is poetry made audible. the impossible in music. otherwise his music is a pure aesthetic delight. it can never truly translate what is most essential and characteristic in its expression." "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." All that I can faintly indicate is the way it affects me. He touches earth and its emotional issues in Poland only. Its analogies to Poe. nothing that really exists in music. Read Mr. the "soul written in sound. an artistic enchantment. visible at no other angle than that of our own eye. The true gist of music it never can be. It is but something that we have half unconsciously imputed to music." The shadowy miming of Chopin's soul has nevertheless a significance for this generation. Verlaine. Shelley. F. but against my judgment. Formal excellence is neglected and programme-music has reduced art to the level of an anecdote. W. It is now the reign of the brutal. this music with the petals of a glowing rose and the heart of gray ashes. freighted with no ethical or theatric messages.impossible. yet his art is decorative and dramatic —though in the climate of the ideal. Keats. I am forced to employ the technical terminology of other arts. Apthorp's disheartening dictum in "By the Way. Heine and 108 .
in his exquisite soul-sorrow." Few pass it recollectedly and with full understanding of its larger rhythms and more urgent colors. "Our interval. Many endure it in frivol and violence. sullen submission. 109 . sweet world-pain. is a foe to ennui and the spirit that denies. the majority in bored. we may find rich impersonal relief." writes Walter Pater. Chopin. Chopin is unique. for Chopin is incomparable. the New Chopin. "is brief.Mickiewicz are but critical sign-posts.
an aural mode of motion. it addresses itself on the formal side to the intellect. does not hesitate to proclaim music as the most emotional of the arts. as Wagner asserts. the most vague of the arts in the matter of representing the concrete. and is the most dependent on physiological conditions. is the swiftest. cold or a caressing contact. Poet and Psychologist * I Music is an order of mystic. sensuous mathematics. like heat. admirable psychologist. each soul interpreting it in an individual fashion. Ribot. it is a cry that takes on fanciful shapes. in its content of expression it appeals to the emotions. just as their form and substance are indivisible. Music and beauty are synonymous. 110 . surest agent for attacking the sensibilities. "It acts like a burn." Music then. A sounding mirror. The CRY made manifest.V.
It is in the mightiest of all instincts. "No other art tells us such old forgotten secrets about ourselves.. And in regenerate rapture turns my face 111 . That is Life's self and draws my life from me.. The flame turned cloud. the feeling of having pursued in the immemorial past the "route of evanescence. that music is rooted." Is it this sky's vast vault or ocean's sound. is it Life or Death." Dante Gabriel Rossetti has imprisoned in a sonnet the almost intangible feeling aroused by music. and to what sea Its difficult eddies labor in the ground? Oh! what is this that knows the road I came. The lifted.Havelock Ellis is not the only aesthetician who sees the marriage of music and sex. the primitive sex traditions of the race before man was.. shifted steeps and all the way? That draws around me at last this wind-warm space. And by instinct ineffable decree Holds my breath Quailing on the bitter bound? Nay. That 'mid the tide of all emergency Now notes my separate wave.. thus thunder-crown'd.Beauty is the child of love. the cloud returned to flame.
though widely dissimilar in all else." cries Havelock Ellis. Richard Wagner and Frederic Francois Chopin. to these vibrile prophetic voices. their psychical tempo is devouring. the soul of his time. more original than Wagner's. For them is not the Buddhistic void. in which shapes slowly form and fade. the soul of his nation. is the most individual composer that has ever set humming the looms of our dreams. bardic and appealing. so sweetly corrosive. Chopin being nearer the soil in the selection of forms. while his medium. his style and structure are more naive.Upon the devious coverts of dismay? During the last half of the nineteenth century two men became rulers of musical emotion. they moulded their age and we listen eagerly to them. less artificial. both men touch issues. Chopin. is easier filled than the vast empty frame of the theatre. furiously playing out upon the keyboard his soul. intenser and more fugacious than that of all other composers. The music of the latter is the most ravishing gesture that art has yet made. They voiced their age. the macrocosm and the microcosm! "Wagner has made the largest impersonal synthesis attainable of the personal influences that thrill our lives. Wagner and Chopin. a young man slight of frame. Wagner and Chopin have a motor element in their music that is fiercer. Through their intensity of conception and of life. Chopin had greater melodic 112 .
of the overarching sublime. but his scope was not scenic. but it is pathos. as was Keats'. as Rubinstein wrote. 113 . he made more themes. Space is obliterated. so bodiless as to suggest a fourth dimension in the art." though not in the Miltonic or Wordsworthian sense. the last of the original composers. like John Keats he sometimes sees:— Charm'd magic casements. opening on the foam Of perilous seas. There is the pathos of spiritual distance. His philosophy is of the beautiful. he was. Chopin. "subtle-souled psychologist. not sublimity.and as great harmonic genius as Wagner. He viewed music through his temperament and it often becomes so imponderable. With Chopin one does not get. he is a greater artist than a thinker. his gaze is oftener fixed on the quiring planets. and while he lingers by the river's edge to catch the song of the reeds. His is the interior play. he preferred the stage of his soul to the windy spaces of the music-drama. A Shelley-like tenuity at times wings his thought. is in his music. the eternal conflict between body and soul. and he is the creator of a new thrill within the thrill. The charm of the dying fall. "His soul was a star and dwelt apart." is more kin to Keats than Shelley. the sense of spiritual vastness. in faery lands forlorn. the unspeakable cadence of regret for the love that is dead. as from Beethoven.
He is nature's most exquisite sounding-board and vibrates to her with intensity. others "huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail" and black upon black. And lunar-like in their libration are some of his melodies—glimpses. the sunsets and cloud-shine! His notes cast great rich shadows. some "enfolding sunny spots of greenery. Chopin throws a net of tone over souls wearied with rancors and revolts. his joy is never that of the strong man rejoicing in his muscles. he divulges a world of half-tones. his eye was attuned to hues the most fragile and attenuated. But this spirit of denial is not an abiding mood." or singing in silvery shade the song of chromatic ecstasy. Stained with melancholy. and he emerges betimes. these chains of blown-roses drenched in the dew of beauty. he can weave harmonies that are as ghostly as a lunar rainbow. Chopin is the color genius of the piano. Yet his very tenderness is tonic and his cry is ever restrained by an Attic sense of proportion. 114 . he dwelt in a "tour d'ivoire" that faced the west and for him the sunrise was not. color and vivacity that have no parallel. as of a strange world. bridges "salty. as if from Goya's tomb. and etches with sardonic finger Nada in dust. Pompeian colors are too restricted and flat. mysterious and vast. His utterances are always dynamic. Like Alfred De Vigny. but O! the miraculous moons he discovered.
lyric. The keyboard had never sung so before. His growth. an arrested pearl. and Love reigns Lord of all. put forth strange sprouts. delicious arabesques gorgeous in tint. Paul Verlaine. a fabulous universe wherein Death is dead. inevitable. II Heine said that "every epoch is a sphinx which plunges into the abyss as soon as its problem is solved. he forged its formula. rather than by the power of its ideas— Chopin was not altogether one of the insurgents of art. 115 . a third." a sobbing of fountains— as that Chopin of the Gutter. "a resonance of emerald. martial. and he saw in the piano.estranged seas" of misery and presently we are viewing a mirrored. has it—the tear crystallized midway. involuntary. an instrument of two dimensions." Born in the very upheaval of the Romantic revolution—a revolution evoked by the intensity of its emotion. who may tell? In his early music are discovered the roots and fibres of Hummel and Field. Just when his individual soul germinated. A new apocalyptic seal of melody and harmony was let fall upon it. and so his music deepened and took on stranger colors. Sounding scrolls. and Europe felt a new shudder of sheer delight. were overheard in his music.
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. the great infant born with gray hair and with the slow smile of childhood. by the memory of awful things. festooning them with carnations and great white tube roses. self-sustained and never at a loss for the mot propre. As the man grew he laid aside his pretty garlands and his line became sterner. And with what marvellous vibration he gamuts the passions. Brahms is the Laotsze of music. and while some of his music is young. but the dark dramatic motive is never lost in the decorative wiles of this magician. its traceries more gothic. Like Maurice de Guerin. he made Bach his chief god and within the woven walls of his strange harmonies he sings the history of a soul. a soul lured by Beauty to secret glades wherein sacrificial rites are performed to the solemn sounds of unearthly music. 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. Compared with his passionate abandonment to the dance. His passion is mature. a soul convulsed by antique madness. Chopin seldom smiles. he does not raise in the mind pictures of the fatuous romance of youth. O Macareus?" 116 .
the "lithe perpetual escape" from the formal deceived his critics. his linear counterpoint. the sting of desire and large-moulded lays of passionate freedom." He had 117 . said an acute critic. the first of the realists. The classic is but the Romantic dead. he is. the master of fiery. above all. he compassed for the dances of his land what Bach did for the older forms. was the last of the idealists.His name was as the stroke of a bell to the Romancists. Schumann's formal deficiency detracts from much of his music. and because of their formal genius Wagner and Chopin will live. but enclosed his note of agitation in a frame beautiful. he remained aloof from them though in a sympathetic attitude. the chanter of songs before sunrise. the Swinburne. The color. of the burden of the flesh. who accused him of the lack of it. With Heine he led the spirit of revolt. The newness of his form. Chopin was a classic without knowing it. misled the critics. many rhythms. to quote Thoreau. the faultless lyrist. "a proud sweet satire on the meanness of our life." Chopin wrote many perfect lines. Chopin. like Flaubert. His music is. Schumann among the rest. 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.
the subjective Chopin. 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. then his mother's sex peeps out. All artists are androgynous. the tantalizing despair of his Mazurkas are testimony to the strong man-soul in rebellion. he transformed them. But it is often a psychical masquerade. when Russia gets into his nostrils. his genius was too concentrated. then the smoke and flame of his Polonaises. a picture of the capricious. beautiful tyrannical Polish woman. and though he could be furiously dramatic the sustained majesty of blank verse was denied him. attaining to more prolonged phraseology and denser architecture in his Ballades and Scherzi—but these periods are passionate. coquets and makes graceful confessions or whimpers in lyric loveliness at fate. The sag of melancholy is soon felt. He took up the dancing patterns of Poland because they suited his vivid inner life. but it must be noted that this quality is a distinguishing sign of masculine lyric genius. in Chopin the feminine often prevails. never philosophical.no feeling for the epic. wails afresh in melodic moodiness. for when he unbends. When he stiffens his soul. That he could attempt far flights one may see in his B 118 . and the old Chopin. idealized them.
He grew amazingly the last ten years of his existence. not a rift in the idea. Mozart. in his Scherzi. resembles him in his lyric 119 . diseased to death's door. he is also the poet of music. To the earth for consolation he bent his ear and caught echoes of the cosmic comedy. If Chopin. Schubert and the rest of the early slaughtered angelic crew. Schubert. a master of growling storms. Shelley. His flame-like spirit waxed and waned in the gusty surprises of a disappointed life. Compared with him Bach seems a maker of solid polyphonic prose. grew with a promise that recalls Keats. above all in the F minor Fantasie.flat minor Sonata. the lament of the sea and the mutterings of its depths. in several of the Ballades. 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. Beethoven a scooper of stars. Schumann a divine stammerer. alone of all the composers. It coheres. the far-off laughter of the hills. like honey from the lion. there is not a flaw in the reverberating marble. the most poetic of composers. what might not he have dared had he been healthy? But forth from his misery came sweetness and strength. could erect such a Palace of Dreams. In this great work the technical invention keeps pace with the inspiration. Mozart a weaver of gay tapestries. These things with tales of sombre clouds and shining skies and whisperings of strange creatures dancing timidly in pavonine twilights.
when the Ugly shall be king and Melody the handmaiden of science. his theme fresh from the fire of his forge. the artist is most apt to become ennuied. Chopin knew this and cultivated his ego. he was something else—he was a pioneer. Of all natures the most prone to pessimism. But until that most grievous and undesired time he will catch the music of our souls and give it cry and flesh. Both were masters of melody. 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. after bending and beating. but Chopin was the master-workman of the two and polished. Pioneer because in youth he had bowed to the tyranny of the diatonic scale and savored the illicit joys of the chromatic. He knew that to complete his "wailing Iliads" the strong hand of the reviser was necessary. Besides having been a poet and giving vibratory expression to the concrete. 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. and he also realized that nothing is more difficult for the genius than to retain his gift.prodigality. III Chopin is the open door in music. It is 120 . procrastination and vanity. It is not easy to flame always at the focus. to burn fiercely with the central fire.
They will swear him a phenomenal virtuoso. by adoption a Parisian. all this is granted. And Schumann under stood Chopin else he could not have written the "Chopin" of the Carneval. and lo! you are regarded as one mentally askew. First a Slav.briefly curious that Chopin is regarded purely as a poet among musicians and not as a practical musician. leading it into the dangerous but delectable land of extended harmonies. raises the eyebrow of the supercilious if Chopin is called creative. it can be proven a hundred times. he untied the chord that was restrained within the octave. purest in temper. And how he chromaticized the prudish.smith. which quite out-Chopins Chopin. a master at making new figures. orchestral and theoretical. but your musician. he is the open door because he admitted into the West. Albert Lavignac. A cunning finger. Chopin influenced Schumann. he incarnates its political passion. Chopin invented many new harmonic devices. how he moistened it with flashing changeful waters until it grew bold and brilliant with promise! A French theorist. rigid garden of German harmony. This is hitching the star to the wagon. calls Chopin a product of the German Romantic school. a moulder of decorative patterns. 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. 121 . Chopin is the musical soul of Poland.
witness Nietzsche—and Chopin. he has been rewarded as such by a polite ignorement or bland condescension. He inducted Europe into the mysteries and seductions of the Orient. his tissues trembling. the offspring of a nation doomed to pain and partition. The psychology of music is the gainer thereby. like Velasquez. He smashed the portals of the convention that forbade a man baring his soul to the multitude. Eastern tonalities. All that followed. Chopin. rhythms. decadent and dangerous. born after two revolutions. all that is objectionable. in the silent warring of Slav against Teuton. Gaul and Anglo-Saxon. it was quite natural for him to go to France—Poland had ever been her historical client—the France that overheated all Europe. could paint single figures perfectly. His music lies wavering between the East and the West. A neurotic man. Wagner did not fail to profit by his 122 . his sensibilities aflame. A pioneer. in the bloodless battle of the Romantics.Eastern musical ideas. the true child of insurrection. but to great massed effects he was a stranger. will ever stand as the protagonist of the artistic drama. Chopin. 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. in fine the Slavic. the breaking up of the old hard-andfast boundaries on the musical map is due to Chopin.
For this he reproved Schubert. Self-tormented. Yet is it just as inevitable. he gave voice to the individual. Stanislaw Przybyszewski in his "Zur Psychologie des 123 . 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. he persistently groped at the hem of her robe. but never sought to transpose or to tone the commonplace of life. and his picture of life is not so high. or awful as Beethoven's. wide. He sometimes robs music of its corporeal vesture and his transcendentalism lies not alone in his striving after strange tonalities and rhythms. himself a product of a nation dissolved by overwrought individualism. He practically re-created the harmonic charts. of sanity. his is "the proudest and most poetic spirit of his time. and showed Grieg the value of national ore. His vision is of beauty.marvellously drawn soul-portraits. was a true specimen of Nietzsche's Ubermensch. As Schumann assures us.—which is but Emerson's Oversoul shorn of her wings. sublime. subdued by his familiar demon." Chopin. sincere and as tragically poignant. but in seeking the emotionally recondite. Chopin's transcendental scheme of technics is the image of a supernormal lift in composition. Such intensity cannot be purchased but at the cost of breadth. Chopin taught his century the pathos of patriotism.
which races with him to the goal of eternity. perhaps to outstrip and master him in the next evolutionary cycle. His music is a series of psychoses—he has the sehnsucht of a marvellously constituted nature—and the shrill dissonance of his nerves. is the agony of a tortured soul. Richard Strauss." 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. in it are the ghosts that lurk near the hidden alleys of the soul. master as does man. Tschaikowsky. the individual "who in the first instance is naught but an oxidation apparatus. the brute creation. the true stigma of the mad individualist. The piece is Chopin's Iliad. as seen in the physiological outbursts of the B minor Scherzo. who. Horla! the Horla of Guy de Maupassant. according to Przybyszewski. the sinister Doppelganger of mankind. but here come out to leer and exult. SaintSaens. conquered Chopin and became vocal in his music— this Horla has mastered Nietzsche. This Horla. Rubinstein. gave the 124 . quite mad.Individuums" approaches the morbid Chopin—the Chopin who threw open to the world the East. who waved his chromatic wand to Liszt. This Polish psychologist—a fulgurant expounder of Nietzsche —finds in Chopin faith and mania. Dvorak and all Russia with its consonantal composers. Goldmark.
but in his kingdom. He is its chief spokesman. Wagner sought in the epical rehabilitation of a vanished Valhalla a surcease from the world. Shelley and Napoleon. Chopin has surprised the musical malady of the century. "Also Sprach Zarathustra. is Chopin. but also its upland where the gale blows strong and true. mad. it looms a maleficent upas-tree. After the vague. his voluptuousness poison. Chopin's moods are often morbid. noble dreams of Byron. The butcher and the candle-stick-maker have their Horla. with flowers of evil and its leaves glistering with sensuousness.pain. so varied. the mood is lost or lightly felt. the vapors. But so keen for symmetry. Wagner. that seldom does his morbidity madden. a slight deviation from the normal. their secret soul convulsions. for all the term formal beauty implies. though Ribot scoffs at the existence of any standard of normality. so vast. or weather. Perhaps all art is. his music often pathological. which they set down to taxation." Nietzsche's disciple is half right. Beethoven too is morbid.world that Bible of the Ubermensch. while in Chopin's province. Nietzsche and Chopin. that dancing lyric prose-poem. the awakening found those disillusioned souls. He consciously selected his anodyne and in "Die 125 . His music has its morass. as the incorrigible Nordau declares.
for neither was as sane and both suffered mortally from hyperaesthesia." from it he extorted music the most intimate since Sappho. Both sang because they suffered. It was Chopin's lyre. Chopin's music is the aesthetic symbol of a personality nurtured on patriotism. that it is better expressed by the piano is because of that instrument's idiosyncrasies of evanescent tone. Neither found the serenity and repose of Wagner. pride and love. temperamentally finer and more sensitive than Wagner—the one musically. Among lyric moderns Heine closely resembles the Pole. sensitive touch and wide range in dynamics. their surpassing art. The musical. Into his music modulated the poesy of his age. Wagner externalized its dramatic soul. the "orchestra of his heart. Their nerves rode them to their death. the psychical history of the nineteenth century would be incomplete without the name of Frederic Francois Chopin. both will endure because of their brave sincerity. Chopin and Nietzsche. sang ineffable and ironic melodies. the penalty of all sick genius.Meistersinger" touched a consoling earth. in Chopin the mad lyricism of the Timespirit is made eloquent. because they were so constituted. he is one of its heroes. the other intellectually— sang themselves in music and philosophy. a hero of whom Swinburne might have sung: 126 .
With thoughts as thunder in throng. 127 . With tremor of heart-strings magnetic. With consonant ardor of chords That pierce men's souls as with swords And hale them hearing along.O strong-winged soul with prophetic Lips hot with the blood-beats of song.
" and November 14. the same year: "I have written some studies." Thus. The Studies:—Titanic Experiments * I October 20. although some of them were composed at the same time as the previous work. quite simply and without booming of cannon or brazen proclamation by bell. 1829.VI. op. from Warsaw: "I have composed a study in my own manner. and were numbered op. July or August. aged twenty. a Polish musician who visited the 129 . did the great Polish composer announce an event of supreme interest and importance to the piano-playing world. Another set of studies. 25. Frederic Chopin. wrote to his friend Titus Woyciechowski. 10. Niecks thinks these studies were published in the summer of 1833. did not find a publisher until 1837. in your presence I would play them well.
was born at Stuttgart. The three studies known as Trois Nouvelles Etudes. 10. The influence was the other way.French capital in 1834 heard Chopin play the studies contained in op. When Chopin arrived in Paris his style had been formed. one finds only about a dozen worthy of study and consultation. No. The C minor study. in her exhaustive biography of Franz Liszt. 25. 9 and 12 of op. on September 8. op. 1831. 1831. as Liszt's three concert studies show—not to mention other compositions. Many are the editions of Chopin's studies." These dates are given so as to rout effectually any dilatory suspicion that Liszt influenced Chopin in the production of his masterpieces. 10 and Nos. September. openly declares that Nos. but after going over the ground. commonly known as the Revolutionary. 12. he was the creator of a new piano technique. 11 and 12 of op. Lina Ramann. which appeared in 1840 in Moscheles and Fetis Method of Methods were published separately afterward. "while under the excitement caused by the news of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians. Figures prove the fallacy of her assertion. 25 reveal the influence of the Hungarian virtuoso. with 130 . Karasowski gives the date of the first complete edition of the Chopin works as 1846. Their date of composition we do not know.
Gebethner & Wolff. besides consulting M. Steingraber—better known as Mertke's—and Schlesinger. a pupil of Chopin. followed Tellefsen. Klindworth— Bote & Bock—Scholtz—Peters—Breitkopf & Hartel. edited by the great pedagogue Theodor Kullak. Kahnt. because of misprints and errata of all kinds. This is a significant fact and shows that little reliance can be placed on the brave talk about tradition." In a few 131 . Mikuli criticised the Tellefsen edition. His edition is a work of genius and was called by Von Bulow "the only model edition. Ferdinand Hiller. Warsaw. Herman Scholtz. then upon what foundation are reared the structures of the modern critical editions? The early French. though not faultless. yet both men had been Chopin pupils. who copied from the original Chopin manuscripts under the supervision of the composer. but only in Karl Klindworth has Chopin found a worthy. who edited the works for Peters. cannot agree. editor. Then. Mikuli. in addition. Georges Mathias. Every succeeding edition has cleared away some of these errors. Wolff. based his results on careful inspection of original French. Xaver Scharwenka has edited Klindworth for the London edition of Augener & Co. Mikuli and Tellefsen. as publishers. according to Niecks. Schuberth. Yet Mikuli had the assistance of a half dozen of Chopin's "favorite" pupils. Gutmann. and. German and Polish editions are faulty. German and English editions. indeed useless. If Fontana.
Mertke and Scholtz evidence little sympathy. but of phrasing or fingering he contributes little. The poetry. Let us narrow our investigations and critical comparisons to Klindworth. The twenty-seven studies of Chopin have been separately edited by Riemann and Von Bulow. Hugo Riemann and Hans von Bulow. Kullak and Riemann. The latter one should keep at hand because of the possible freedom from impurities in his text. scholarship. Scholtz and Mikuli. neither do Mertke. They have. may have outstripped him. given us a clue to their musical 132 . fertility in novel fingerings and sympathetic insight in phrasing. in their various ways. Dr. while they completely exhibit the entire range of Chopin's genius. It must be remembered that with the studies. Von Bulow. It is then from the masterly editing of Kullak. This edition appeared at Moscow from 1873 to 1876. Von Bulow. but as a whole his editing is amazing for its exactitude. Carl Reinecke's edition of the studies in Breitkopf & Hartel's collection offers nothing new. With the modern avidity for exterior as well as interior analysis. Mikuli.sections others. Riemann and Klindworth that I shall draw copiously. the play's the thing after all. the passion of the Ballades and Scherzi wind throughout these technical problems like a flaming skein. such as Kullak. Reinecke.
and with four such guides the student need not go astray. the latter gives more attention to phrasing than to fingering. while Riemann is scholarly. Theodore Kullak writes of it: "Above a ground bass proudly and boldly striding along. should be studied. and Kullak is poetic. as well as their precise scholarship. With sharply dissonant harmonies the forte is to be increased to fortissimo. And this first study in C is heroic. to raise the chord of the tenth to heroic stature—that could have been accomplished by Chopin only. The Chopin studies are poems fit for Parnassus. Klindworth is the most genially intellectual. In the first study of the first book. 10. Chopin at a leap reached new land. op. 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. Pithy accents! Their effect is enhanced when combined with an elastic recoil of the hand. but to take a dispersed harmony and transform it into an epical study. dedicated to Liszt. diminishing again with consonant ones. Von Bulow the most pedagogic. Both aspects. yet they also serve a very useful purpose in pedagogy. Extended chords had been sparingly used by Hummel and Clementi." 133 . flow mighty waves of sound.individuality. the material and the spiritual.
web. these dizzy acclivities and descents of Chopin exercise a charm. hypnotic. the most formally reckless Chopin ever penned. new in a harmonic way. tempi that sprang from the expressively light mechanism of the prevailing pianos of Chopin's day. those basses are the 134 . The gain is at once apparent. design. fascinated and a little frightened. black. 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. for eye as well as ear." and suggests 152 instead. new in the sense of figure." a sound pedagogic point. The nub of modern piano music is in the study. 176 to the quarter. pattern. In fact. ascending and descending staircases of notes strike the neophyte with terror. Like Piranesi's marvellous aerial architectural dreams. the young sprigs of the new. a man of moderate pulse. He also inveighs against the disposition to play the octave basses arpeggio. but this editor rightly believes that "the majestic grandeur is impaired. Indeed Kullak. if you will. is quite right in his strictures on the Chopin tempi.The irregular. A man who could explode a mine that assailed the stars must be reckoned with. Here is the new technique in all its nakedness. Kullak gives Chopin's favorite metronome sign. The old order was horrified at the modulatory harshness.
This learned and worthy doctor astonished the musical world a few years by his new marks of phrasing in the Beethoven symphonies.—at least to the eye. In later studies examples will be given of this phrasing. Riemann breaks two bars into one. a phrasing that becomes a mannerism with the editor. ponderable and powerful. they must be granitic. Von Bulow gives the Chopin metronomic marking.argument of the play. With Chopin. I intend quoting more freely from Riemann than from the others. the last note treble in the twenty-ninth bar. and this by no means conforms to accepted notions of how Chopin should be interpreted. He offers no startling finger changes. which he makes B flat. The same authority calls attention to a misprint C. It is a finished period for him. They topsy-turvied the old bowing. 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. It remained for Riemann to make some radical changes. new dynamic and agogic accents are rather dangerous. the first and fourth. and by detaching several of the sixteenths in the first group. The value of his criticism throughout the volume seems to be in the phrasing. he makes the accent clearer. He indicates alla breve with 88 to the half. at least to the peace of mind of worshippers of the Chopin fetish. rather because his piercing analysis 135 .
Mikuli's metronome is 144 to the quarter. It is the tree stripped of its bark. but the kingdom of technique. strength and rhythmic accent it should be practised. that piece should prepare the way for Chopin's more musical composition. Von Bulow's. for variety. Klindworth's. the octave bass. the flower of its leaves. omitting the thumb and first finger. In different degrees of tempo. omitting. the same as Mikuli. Von Bulow writes cannily enough. and Riemann is 72 to 136 . This study is the key with which Chopin unlocked—not his heart. 70. This study suggests that its composer wished to begin the exposition of his wonderful technical system with a skeletonized statement. No. with both hands. The device is useful. unisono. dignity and unswerving logic. yet. that the second study in A minor being chromatically related to Moscheles' etude. of course. austere as is the result.lays bare the very roots of these shining examples of piano literature. 3. there is compensating power. 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. It should be played. Klindworth contents himself with a straightforward version of the C major study. 114. op. and occurs only on the upward flights of the arpeggio. his fingering being the clearest and most admirable.
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 llustration 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 DamenSalon 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
The piece is for the fashionable salon or the concert hall. Ductility. even in these imprisoned. Von Bulow 89. an aristocratic ease. believing that the old Herz and Czerny ideals of velocity are vanished. Technically it is useful. the Tellefsen edition 88. a delicate touch and fluent technique will carry off this study with good effect. brilliant sweep it secures! It elbows the treble to its last euphonious point. On the fourth line and in the first bar of the Kullak version. The original autograph gives 96 to the half. glitters and crests itself. there is a chord of the dominant seventh in dispersed position that does not 144 .expatiates at length upon his favorite idea that Chopin must not be played according to his metronomic markings. The noble. How it makes the piano sound—what a rich. only to fall away as if the sea were melodic and could shatter and tumble into tuneful foam! The emotional content is not marked. One catches at its close the overtones of bustling plaudits and the clapping of gloved palms. one must speak of the usefulness of Chopin. and Riemann the same. There can be no doubt as to the wisdom of a broader treatment of this charming display piece. Kullak takes the slower tempo of Klindworth. that the shallow dip of the keys in Chopin's day had much to do with the swiftness and lightness of his playing. more sonorous tone of a modern piano requires greater breadth of style and less speedy passage work. Klindworth 80. Mikuli 88. iridescent soap bubbles of his.
Riemann phrases the study with a multiplicity of legato bows and dynamic accents. and yet not without certain accents of grandeur. This is true.occur in any other edition. There is a persistency in repetition that foreshadows the Chopin of the later. 9. All the other editions. 1. it is a distinct forerunner of the bass of the D minor Prelude. It is rather awkward for close-knit fingers. sadder years. 3. 1. for this autograph is in the Royal Library at Berlin. 3 for the first figure. Kullak thinks it ought to be omitted. Not as noble and sonorous a figure as the one in the C minor study. Most of the 145 . the fourth on C. 4. that occurs in all the other editions situated in the fourth group of the twentieth bar from the end. rather than the traditional 96. Von Billow believes that small hands beginning with his system will achieve quicker results than by the Chopin fingering. The best fingering is Von Bulow's. The figure in the left hand is the first in which a prominent part is given to that member. It is 5. The melody is morbid. The F minor study. Yet it must be Chopin or one of his disciples. almost irritating. is the first one of those tone studies of Chopin in which the mood is more petulant than tempestuous. Kullak prefers the Tellefsen metronome 80. moreover he slights an E flat. In this F minor study the stretch is the technical object. recommend the fifth finger on F. No. except Riemann's.
who espouses the more rapid gait of 96. and with true zeal it may even be accomplished easily. . To overcome this fundamental difficulty in the art of musical reproduction is the most important thing here.. with his 88. The verdict of Von Bulow on the following study in A flat. 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. a rich rhythmic life originating in the changing articulation of the twelveeights in groups of three and two each. strikes a fair medium. of four and six) in the same bar. 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 Riemann. No. as it is perhaps the most difficult piece of the entire set.others use 88 to the quarter. 10.. except perhaps Liszt's Feux Follets. This etude is 146 . 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. Kullak writes: "Harmonic anticipations. Klindworth.
Chopin must have been as happy as his sensitive nature would allow when he conceived this vivacious caprice. In all the editions. and will set the student thinking. which is normal phrasing: (Musical score excerpt) Read Riemann's version of these bars: (Musical score excerpt) Riemann is conducive to clear-sighted phrasing. fantastic charm. All the editors quoted agree with Von Bulow. there is no doubt left as to the alternations of metres. and its effectiveness in the virtuoso sense is unquestionable. but there is grace. spontaneity and happiness. but the general effect of accentuation is certainly different. if played with the proper insight. Riemann's excepted. The study is one of the most charming of the composer. Klindworth and Kullak. 152 to the quarter notes.an exceedingly piquant composition. But if 147 . A savor of the salon hovers over its perfumed measures." The metronomic marking is practically the same in all editions. Here are the first few bars of Von Billow's. There is more depth in it than in the G flat and F major studies. possessing for the hearer a wondrous.
Riemann is disposed to refine upon the gold of Chopin. that the wonder is the real Chopin lover has not rebelled. few dramatic. Thus Von Bulow—and who will dare cavil? (Musical score excerpt) Riemann: (Musical score excerpt) The difference is more imaginary than real. and others are sweetly insane and songful. perverted sentimentalism and unmitigated cant about the nocturnes.this is a marked specimen of Riemann. I yield to none in my admiration for the first one of the two in G minor. So much has been written. for the stems of the accented notes give us the binary metre. 10. so much that is false. This in a footnote to the eleventh study of op. many are dolorous. for 148 . Kullak dilates upon a peculiarity of Chopin: the dispersed position of his underlying harmonies. else strangle in pedagogics. examine his reading of the phrase wherein Chopin's triple rhythm is supplanted by duple. There are pearls and diamonds in the jewelled collection of nocturnes. Here one must let go the critical valve. But the illustration serves to show how Dr.
The melody itself is plaintive. Its novel design. Chopin. this study is a nocturne. 76 to the quarter. gives us pause to ask if Chopin's invention is not almost boundless. for that noble drama called the C minor nocturne. they might even be slower. seem no longer daring. as this E flat study. but to us the chord of the tenth and more remote intervals. The fifteenth bar from the end is one that Richard Wagner might have made. modern composition has devilled the musical alphabet into the very caverns of the grotesque. every group is a masterpiece. for the B major. a Corot if ever there was one.the psychical despair in the C sharp minor nocturne. From that bar to the close. sensitive poet. Remember. not unmixed with happiness. But in the list there is no such picture painted. the Tuberose nocturne. yet there are harmonies in the last page of this study that still excite wonder. and for the E. delicate arabesques—as if the guitar had been dowered with a soul—and the richness and originality of its harmonic scheme. The harmonization is far more wonderful. and even the accepted metronomic markings in most editions. a plaintive grace informs the entire piece. had his moments of 149 . Allegretto and not a shade speedier! The color scheme is celestial and the ending a sigh. are not too slow. it remains unabated. D flat and G major nocturnes.
bordering upon simultaneousness of harmony in the case of many chords. and Kullak is still more explicit. Von Bulow. planning the arpeggiating with scrupulous fidelity. one may say that it is not for small hands. he shows why the arpeggiating "must be affected with the utmost rapidity. This I have heard. As for fingering. He analyzes the melody and. Riemann and Klindworth all differ.peace. the swaying of the tendrils of tone. A bad misprint is in the Von Bulow edition: it is in the seventeenth bar from the end. Mikuli. of divine content—lebensruhe. Von Bulow gives a very sensible pattern to work from. intended by Chopin. Kullak. The former must not believe that any "arrangements" or simplified versions will ever produce the aerial effect. nor yet for big fists. the lowest note in the first bass group and should read E 150 . The dizzy appoggiatura leaps in the last two bars set the seal of perfection upon this unique composition. Very large hands are tempted by their reach to crush the life out of the study in not arpeggiating it. Touching upon the execution. Your own grasp. individual sense of fingering and tact will dictate the management of technics. and the impression was indescribably brutal." 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. and from them must most pianists differ.
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. 151 .natural. who has his say in this fashion. but consider: man's years are but threescore and ten! The phrasing of the various editions examined do not vary much. Von Bulow does not use the arpeggio sign after the first chord. instead of the E flat that stands. A variety of devices like this would certainly help to give greater finish to the task. He rightly believes it makes unclear for the student the subtleties of harmonic changes and fingering. beginning with the top note in one hand and the bottom note in the other. 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." Doubtless. from top to bottom. or in contrary motion. Riemann is excepted.
10:— "Those who have distorted fingers may put them right by practising these studies. Here is the particular bar. at least not without having a surgeon at hand. should not play them. Kullak and Mikuli editions the notes are two B flats and one A natural. Now the young eagle begins to face the sun." 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. the perplexed wrath of Moscheles and the contempt of Rellstab. The former sounds more varied. excited the astonishment of Mendelssohn. 10. editor of the "Iris. but we may suppose the latter to be correct because of Mikuli.and in the Riemann. as given by Riemann: (Musical score excerpt) Yet this exquisite flight into the blue. without any thought of their technical problems. but those who have not. 152 . begins to mount on wind-weaving pinions." who wrote in that journal in 1834 of the studies in op. We have reached the last study of op. the magnificent one in C minor. this nocturne which should be played before sundown.
the left 153 . it is one of the greatest dramatic outbursts in piano literature. This end rings out like the crack of creation. September 8. Under the influence of this mood he wrote the C minor Etude. shortly after Chopin had received tidings of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians. pride. 1831. force and velocity. Out of the mad and tempestuous storm of passages for the left hand the melody rises aloft. It is elemental. anxiety and despair over the fate of his relatives and his dearly. but true or not. Karasowski's story may be true regarding the genesis of this work. Kullak calls it a "bravura study of the very highest order for the left hand." Niecks thinks it "superbly grand. called by many the Revolutionary Etude. and the image is evoked of Zeus hurling thunderbolts at the world.beloved father filled the measure of his sufferings. it never relaxes its grim grip from the first shrill dissonance to the overwhelming chordal close. no smothered rage. but all sweeps along in tornadic passion. the most demoniac expressions of his nature.Four pages suffice for a background upon which the composer has flung with overwhelming fury the darkest. Here is no veiled surmise. It was composed in 1831 in Stuttgart." and furthermore writes: "The composer seems fuming with rage. now passionate and anon proudly majestic. Great in outline." Karasowski wrote: "Grief. until thrills of awe stream over the listener.
In Riemann the accentuation seems perverse. for in all other editions the accent falls upon the first note of each group. third. Von Bulow fingers the first passage for the left hand in a very rational manner. if you please! Kullak is more normal. Von Bulow makes the changes ring on the second and fifth. Another striking peculiarity of the Riemann phrasing is his heavy accent on the top E flat in the principal passage for the left hand. Thus Riemann: (Musical score excerpt) In the above the accustomed phrasing is altered. the fifth finger on D. fingers. It may be ugly. Here is Riemann's phrasing and grouping for the first few bars. It gives surety and variety. but there is no question as to its pedagogic value. instead of third and fifth. He also fingers 154 . first. while Riemann —dear innovator— takes the group: second. and then. but it is useful though I should not care to hear it in the concert room. Klindworth differs by beginning with the third instead of the second finger. but not enough to the point. Notice the half note with peculiar changes of fingering at the end. beginning with the third." 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.hand rushes impetuously along and the right hand strikes in with passionate ejaculations." All of which is pretty.
In Klindworth there is a misprint at the beginning of the fifteenth bar from the end in the bass. It should read B natural. which gives a slightly different effect. Here the technical figure takes precedence over the law of the phrase. It 155 . and the study seems to resound with the sullen booming of a park of artillery. to my knowledge. but throughout both dynamic and agogic accents are unsparingly used. Von Bulow is the only editor. while Klindworth does the same as Kullak. both on the first page and the last." in an unusual manner. who makes an enharmonic key change in this working-out section. 160 to the quarter.what Von Bulow calls the "chromatic meanderings. They signify the vital importance of the phrase at its initial entrance. He does not use it at the repetition. The working-out section. 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. The heavy dynamic accents employed by Riemann are unmistakable. with its anticipations of "Tristan and Isolde. The metronome is the same in all editions. but speed should give way to breadth at all hazards." is phrased by all the editors as it is never played. This is as it should be. and so most virtuosi place the accent on the fifth finger. not B flat. regardless of the pattern.
and at will send them scurrying back to their dim profound. His edition should be respectfully studied and.looks neater. 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. Above all. but played often and badly. II Opus 25. The effect is brazen. which gains by legitimate strokes the most startling contrasts. sounds the same. It has but one rival in the Chopin studies—No. 25. Chopin needs no such clangorous padding in this etude. The set opens with the familiar study in A flat. 12. and in its most torrential moments the composer never quite loses his mental equipoise. in the same key. too. when mastered. are dedicated to Madame la Comtesse d'Agoult. for he discovers quaint nooks and dells for his dynamics undreamed of by the composer. Von Bullow is the worst sinner in this respect. can evoke tragic spirits. 156 . twelve studies by Frederic Chopin. The study is full of tremendous pathos. discarded for a more poetic interpretation. it compasses the sublime. so familiar that I shall not make further ado about it except to say that it is delicious. He. op. All that modern editing can do since Miluki is to hunt out fresh accentuation.
second line. I have had the advantage of hearing most of these Etudes played by Chopin himself. however." Klindworth makes the group a sextolet. or how long. after comparing Chopin to a strange star seen at midnight. who can say? As often. Better to end with Robert Schumann's beautiful description of this study. the same starry light and the same austerity. Kullak uses the most ingenious fingering. It is the last word in fingering. 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. as quoted by Kullak: In treating of the present book of Etudes. as it shows itself. But besides this. Robert Schumann. Without pedalling of the most varied sort this study will remain as dry as a dog-gnawed bone. and that the hand of an artist were to cause them all to intermingle in 157 . 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. so that even a child could not fail to recognize it. Von Bulow has set forth numerous directions in fingering and phrasing. wrote as follows: "Whither his path lies and leads. poetry and pedals. third page. Look at the last group of the last bar. how brilliant its course is yet to be. there is ever seen the same deep dark glow. giving the exact number of notes in the bass trill at the end.poetry.
" After these words there can be no doubt as to the mode of delivery. here and there thrown aloft anew by the pedal. The twenty-fourth bar of this study in A major is so Lisztian that Liszt must have benefited by its harmonies. 158 . 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. Throughout all the harmonies one always heard in great tones a wondrous melody. in F minor. in the middle of the piece. It was rather an undulation of the A flat major chord. yet in such a way as to leave everywhere audible a deep fundamental tone and a soft continuously-singing upper voice.all sorts of fantastic embellishments. and that the upper tones must be combined so as to form a real melody with the finest and most thoughtful shadings. while once only. But it would be an error to think that Chopin permitted every one of the small notes to be distinctly heard. 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 you will get the right idea of his playing. "And then he played the second in the book.
which whispers. for there is a sweet. as does the last movement of the B flat minor sonata. How charming. In her diary she wrote: "The over excitement of his fantastic manner is imparted to the keen eared. and M." Von Bulow believes the interpretation of this magical music should be without sentimentality. almost without shading—clearly." No comparison could be prettier. natural manner which he showed in his demeanor and in his playing. Mathias corroborates 159 . Liszt is an authority on the subject.one in which his individuality displays itself in a manner never to be forgotten. He has enraptured me—in a way which hitherto had been unknown to me. September 12. It made me hold my breath. 1836. how dreamy it was! Soft as the song of a sleeping child." There is little doubt this was the way Chopin played it. and completely without passion or rubato. "An ideal pianissimo. delicate drone that sometimes issues from childish lips. but is—"the song of a sleeping child. over the keys. I might almost say fly. an accentless quality. Wonderful is the ease with which his velvet fingers glide. What delighted me was the childlike. having a charm for ears not attuned to grosser things. not of baleful deeds in a dream. delicately and dreamily executed. This must have been the study that Chopin played for Henrietta Voigt at Leipsic." Schumann wrote this about the wonderful study in F minor.
What. then the left. or. both as to fingering and phrasing: (Musical score excerpt) 160 . indeed. are to be treated. and listen in profound solitude to the mysterious rustling and whispering of the foliage. into. Regarding the rhythmical problem to be overcome. this etude! But one thing is to be held fast: it is to be played in that Chopinlike whisper of which.him. Von Bulow indicates an excellent method. and Kullak devotes part of a page to examples of how the right. At times so delicate is its design that it recalls the faint fantastic tracery made by frost on glass. rather. Not so Riemann. may not a lively fancy conjure out of. if one will. and every bar rules over a little harmonic kingdom of its own. Kullak furthermore writes: "Or. He has views of his own. dusky forest. among others. he may also betake himself in fancy to a still. In all instances save one it is written as four unbroken quarter triplets in the bar— right hand. It is so lovely that not even the Brahms' distortion in double notes or the version in octaves can dull its magnetic crooning. despite the algebraic character of the tone-language. Mendelssohn also affirmed that for him nothing more enchanting existed. green. the combination of two opposing rhythms." But enough of subjective fancies. and finally both hands. This study contains much beauty.
He speaks of this very study in F minor and the enchanting way Rubinstein and Essipowa ended it—the echo. While the subject is of necessity foreshortened." wrote some one. Realistic treatment dissipates his dream palaces. Schumann thinks the third study in F less novel in character." they are all models of bold. He may be played broadly. never." he continues." "But. dramatically but coarsely. indwelling. so too is the "healthy" reading accorded his works by pianists with more brawn than brain.like effects on the four C's. with something pleasing in it. But if excess in feeling is objectionable. I deprecate the rose-leaf sentimentalism in which he is swathed by nearly all pianists. ONE CAN NEVER PLAY CHOPIN BEAUTIFULLY ENOUGH. The real Chopin player is born and can never be a product of the schools. fervently. the pedal floating the tone. creative force. truly 161 . "The Works of Frederic Chopin and Their Proper Interpretation. "Chopin is a sigh. shatters his aerial architecture. although "here the master showed his admirable bravura powers. he says some practical things about the use of the pedals in Chopin's music.Jean Kleczynski's interesting brochure. The pedals are half the battle in Chopin playing. and it is precisely this notion which has created such havoc among his interpreters." is made up of three lectures delivered at Warsaw.
In these repetitions. serve to make 162 . however. for these recently published studies were nearly all written at the same time as the earlier ones. but on the whole striking and powerful. Yet. and arrived in Paris with his style fully formed— in his case the style was most emphatically the man. Not that I mean to imply any deterioration. and only a few were composed a little while ago—the first in A flat and the last magnificent one in C minor. if I give my complete opinion." One may be permitted to disagree with Schumann. changes of accentuation. which figure is then repeated continuously to the end. though not without small blots in their details. fresh modulations. whose kernel lies in the simultaneous application of four different little rhythms to form a single figure in sound. I must confess that his earlier collection seems more valuable to me. had undergone the purification and renunciation of an unsuccessful love affair. Kullak calls the study in F "a spirited little caprice.poetic creations. 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. both of which display great mastership. for op. and piquant antitheses. Chopin had suffered much before going to Paris.
" He pulls apart the brightly colored petals of the thematic flower and reveals the inner chemistry of this delicate growth. With the arrival of the thirty-second notes. Klindworth and Von Bulow do not. Four different voices are distinguished in the kernel. Here are the first bars. 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. The idea is clearly expressed: (Musical score excerpt) Best of all is the careful accentuation.the composition extremely vivacious and effective. "The third voice is the chief one. and after it the first. His version is the most satisfactory. As to phrasing and fingering I pin my faith to Riemann. and at a place indicated in no other edition that I have examined. Riemann punctuates the theme this way: (Musical score excerpt) 163 .
as any haste of movement would destroy the object in view. which is 164 . at the close—perilous leaps for the left hand. And what charm. The human element is almost eliminated. according to Kullak. fourth finger on both hands. He also prescribes a most trying fingering for the first group. A. but they bring into fine relief the exquisite harmonic web. Subtle are the harmonic shifts. and it is perfectly legitimate to do this—in public at least. buoyancy. atmospheric. and all is gay. This is useful for study. C and F. The ending. where the shadows grow cooler and darker in the B major section. the sun blazes in the blue. but for performance the third finger is surer. is variously fingered. Riemann accents the B. 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. and illuding. This gives meaning to the decorative pattern of the passage. admirable the ever changing devices of the figuration. B flat. to be "breathed" away.The melody. Von Bulow advises the player to keep the "upper part of the body as still as possible. and sweetness there is in this caprice! It has the tantalizing. We are in the open. the E. Even where the tone deepens. is in the ghth (sic: eighth) notes. there is little hint of preoccupation with sadness. elusive charm of a humming bird in full flight. of course in profile. This minimizes the risk of the skip.
whether of technics. While the chief beats of the measure (1st. and thinks the touch should be light and the hand gliding. Kullak is copious in his directions. of rhythm. fantastic. expression or delivery. we demand of an etude that it shall have a special end in view.. however. and forbids a sharp. wilful accentuation of the inferior beats. this study is Chopin in rare spirits. Collected Writings." (Robert Schumann. every piece of music is an etude. which are to a certain extent "free and 165 .the acquisition of a loose wrist. cutting manner in playing the sforzati at the last return of the subject.) The present study is less interesting from a technical than a rhythmical point of view. 3d. Schumann has the phrase—the study should be executed with "amiable bravura. 5th and 7th eighths) are represented only by single tones (in the bass part). promote facility in something. and in the B major part "fiery." He also suggests certain phrasing in bar seventeen. In a narrower sense." 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." Capricious. who writes: "In the broadest sense of the word. Of the fourth study in A minor there is little to add to Theodor Kullak. and lead to the conquest of some particular difficulty. and graceful. i. 201.
6th and 8th eighths) are burdened with chords. to render its flow somewhat restless and to stamp the etude as a little characteristic piece. This cantilene begins on a weak beat. 4th. which. a capriccio. a cantilene in the upper voice. are provided with accents in opposition to the regular beats of the measure. Everything must be done with the greatest precision. which appears in syncopated form opposite to the strong beats of the bass. 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. Further. in view of the time of their entrance. All these things combine to give the composition a wholly peculiar coloring. moreover." As regards technics. which might well be named "Inquietude. and not merely 166 . two things are to be studied: the staccato of the chords and the execution of the cantilena. or there may be said to grow out of them.unconcerned. The chords must be formed more by pressure than by striking. appear as so many retardations and delayals of melodic tones. The upward movement of the hand must be very slight." the inferior parts of the measure (2d. and void of all encumbrance. and produces numerous suspensions. the most of which. there is associated with these chords.
but it also indicates a slightly pathologic condition. Compare with this etude the introduction to the Capriccio in B minor.in a superficial manner. with orchestra. first page. Von Bulow says: "The bass must be strongly marked throughout— even when piano—and brought out in imitation of the upper part." Hence the fingers for the melodic tones must press down the keys allotted to them with special force. nervous composition. in doing which the back of the hand may be permitted to turn lightly to the right (sideward stroke). his is the only edition in which the left hand arpeggios at the close. With its breath-catching syncopations and narrow emotional range. Where the cantilena appears. every melodic tone must stand apart from the tones of the accompaniment as if in "relief. especially when there is a rest in the accompaniment. the etude is to be played strictly in time. Riemann's phrasing. while careful. Stephen Heller remarked that this study reminded him of the first bar of the Kyrie—rather the 167 ." Singularly enough. though in the final bar "both hands may do so. by Felix Mendelssohn. is not more enlightening than Klindworth's." This is editorial quibbling. the A minor study has nevertheless moments of power and interest. I prefer the Klindworth editing of this rather sombre. which may be merely an etude. Aside from a few rallentando places.
It is hugely effective and also difficult. rich in embroideries and general decorative effect in the middle section. 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. Niecks quotes Stephen Heller's partiality for this very study. Heller wrote of Chopin's op. Of these twelve much loved studies—every one of which 168 . 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. 25: What more do we require to pass one or several evenings in as perfect a happiness as possible? As for me. In the "Gazette Musicale. especially if played with the same fingering throughout. rather than others." February 24. 1839. as Von Bulow suggests. Perhaps the rather perverse. Who could retain everything? For this reason I have in my notebook quite particularly marked the numbers four. capricious and not altogether amiable character of the beginning has caused pianists to be wary of introducing it at a recital. five and seven of the present poems.Requiem Aeternam of Mozart's Requiem. Yet it is a sonorous piano piece.
instead of G. but without the ninth below. The jump is to F sharp. Von Bulow uses the F sharp. As regards the execution of the 13Oth bar. Von Bulow 169 . He also writes that the addition of the third in the left hand. The middle part of this E minor study recalls Thalberg. as in the Mikuli. tenth bar from beginning—is preceded by an appoggiatura. 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. as in Mikuli and Von Bulow. B. Kullak dots the eighth note. needs no special justification.has a charm of its own—the three numbers are those I prefer to all the rest. Riemann phrases the piece so as to get the top melody. with its pretty and ingenious rhythmical transformations. I discovered one marked difference in the Klindworth edition. thus: (Musical score excerpt) Kullak writes that the figure 184 is not found on the older metronomes. Klindworth edition." This refers to the melody in E. Kullak and Riemann editions. and his stems are below instead of above. This is not too fast for the capriccio. The leap in the left hand—first variant of the theme. E and G. E natural. but only comes in as an unimportant passing note. Riemann uses a sixteenth.
its recognizability remains essentially unimpaired. Its kernel is formed of a beautiful broad melody. which the performer must bring out with great precision. It was Louis Ehlert who wrote of the celebrated study in 170 . op. 3. as also the shake in bar 134 and following bars. he possesses a fine feeling for what is graceful. and surrounding the melody as with a veil. No. reminds one of Etude. calmly ascending and descending. which. Meanwhile out of these little metamorphoses there is developed a rich rhythmic life. coquettish. will sing its way deep into the heart of the listener. as far as its character is concerned. afterward in sixteenths. he will understand how to heighten still further the charm of the chief part. if soulfully conceived and delivered.says: "The acciaccature— prefixes—are to be struck simultaneously with the other parts. in major. which. 25. If in addition. The secondary part. begins." These details are important. or agreeably capricious. For the accompaniment in the right hand we find chord arpeggiations in triplets. Kullak concludes his notes thus: Despite all the little transformations of the motive member which forms the kernel. They are to be played almost without accentuation. this must begin with the upper auxiliary note.
No. This study is first music. Both compositions have a common ancestry in the Czerny Toccata. and the means employed by the composer are beautiful. the G sharp minor study stands at the portals of the delectable land of Double Notes. 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. He deprives every passage of all mechanical appearance by promoting it to become the embodiment of a beautiful thought. there is no other word to describe the style and architectonics of this noble study. 25. With the Schumann Toccata. then a technical problem. and both are the parents of such a sensational offspring as Balakirew's "Islamey. your digital politics are known.G sharp minor op. 171 ." And indeed in the piano literature no more remarkable merging of matter and manner exists. Where two or three pianists are gathered together in the name of Chopin. which in turn finds graceful expression in its motion. he transforms it into such a work of art that in studying it one could sooner fancy himself on Parnassus than at a lesson. It is seldom played in public because of its difficulty. 6: "Chopin not only versifies an exercise in thirds." 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. The means justifies the end.
As the interpretation of the study is not taxing. 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. ranged. John Kautz contends. 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 172 . you are regarded as a curiosity. let us examine the various fingerings. If you are heterodox you are eagerly questioned. "In the latter the third and fifth fingers fall upon C sharp and E and F sharp and A in the right hand. Here is Mikuli: (Musical score excerpt) Kullak's is exactly the same as above.You are classified. It is the so-called Chopin fingering. and upon C and E flat and G and B flat in the left. as Mr." Klindworth also employs the Chopin fingering. as contrasted with the so-called Czerny fingering— though in reality Clementi's. a fingering given by Leopold Godowsky. First. if you follow Von Bulow and stand by the Czerny fingering.
before they adopted the double echappement. This is excellent: (Musical score excerpt) Riemann not only adopts new fingering for the double 173 . theoretically and practically. of Paris—who. where necessary. See his "Piano School. Pleyel and Wolff. of the same opinion. for the older method of Hummel. we have exchanged it. Two of the greatest executive artists of modern times." So he gives this fingering: (Musical score excerpt) He also suggests the following phrasing for the left hand. were.instruments. 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. It is to be conjectured that Chopin was influenced in his method of fingering by the piano of his favorite makers." This Chopin fingering in reality derives directly from Hummel. Alexander Dreyschock and Carl Tausig. On the grand piano of the present day we regard it as irreconcilable with conditions of crescendo legato.
and justly says the piece does not work out any special technical matter. the one in C sharp minor. especially the diatonic and chromatic scales. as Kullak says: "Apart from a few places and some accents. or. with such equality that no angularity of motion shall be noticeable where the fingers pass under or over each other. The chord passages and all similar ones must be executed discreetly and legatissimo. second and fifth fingers. Yet I cannot help 174 . He ingeniously smooths out the unequal rhythmic differences of the two hands. instead of the usual first and fourth." Von Bulow calls the seventh study. Notes with double stems must be distinguished from notes with single stems by means of stronger shadings. a nocturne—a duo for 'cello and flute. adopted by the rest.note scale. the Etude is to be played almost throughout in that Chopin whisper. This study is the most lauded of all. This is his notion of the run in chromatic thirds: (Musical score excerpt) For the rest the study must be played like the wind. too. for they are mutually interconnected. but also begins the study with the trill on first and third. second and fourth. must receive careful attention and special study. The left hand. The right hand must play its thirds.
It contains in solution all the most objectionable and most endearing qualities of the master. as such tete-a-tetes naturally are to third parties. indeed." He is only afflicted with homesickness. highly perfumed measures too often. of whom the former shows himself more talkative and emphatic than the latter. Its interpretation is a matter of taste. There is nostalgia in it. perhaps. it is a disposition of the soul which I prefer to all others. who writes of it—he oddly enough places it in the key of E: "A duet between a He and a She. 175 ." In this etude Kleczynski thinks there are traces of weariness of life. very sweet. Parsons' translation in Schirmer's edition of Kullak. and Chopin is the god who creates them. For me it is both morbid and elegiac. Alas! how I love these sombre and mysterious dreams." Willeby calls this study the most beautiful of them all. Kullak has written the most ambitious programme for it. Here is a quotation from Albert R. is. the nostalgia of a sick.agreeing with Niecks. Chopin's friend. Perhaps we have heard its sweet. Heller wrote: "It engenders the sweetest sadness. the most enviable torments. also somewhat tiresomely monotonous. lacerated soul. but." For Chopin's contemporaries this was one of his greatest efforts. and quotes Orlowski. and if in playing it one feels oneself insensibly drawn toward mournful and melancholy ideas.
melancholy resignation. in which two principal voices are to be brought out. do not always bear the impress of a quiet. an aria. The musical poem divides into three. The heart has lost— not something. into four parts (strophes). But in vain! The heart has not lost something—it has lost everything. of which the last is an elaborated repetition of the first with a brief closing part appended. Between the two a third element exists: an 176 . The two voices correspond closely. the upper one is in imitation of a human voice. supplementing and imitating each other reciprocally. however. proclaim its sorrow in a language of pain which is incapable of being misunderstood. better still. The tones. It seeks the conflict. but everything. He lets a broken heart. and tries through force of will to burst the fetters of pain. and the still plaint becomes a complaint against cruel fate. while the lower one must bear the character throughout of an obligato violoncello.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. 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 whole piece is a song. More passionate impulses awaken. or. filled with grief. or if one views the little episode in B major as a special part. or at least to alleviate it through absorption in a happy past.
As a remedy for stiff fingers and preparatory to performing in public. playing it six times through is recommended.' if the term. Riemann manages to get some new editorial comment upon it. had not fallen into disrepute. 8. avoiding numerous double flats." It is an admirable study for the cultivation of double sixths. but devoid of depth of content. It might truly be called 'l'indispensable du pianiste. which bears the title of "The Butterfly. He holds anything but an elevated opinion of the piece. No. op.accompaniment of eighths in uniform succession without any significance beyond that of filling out the harmony. The change is not laudable. It contains a remarkable passage of consecutive fifths that set the theorists by the ears. The nimble study. one-voiced introduction in recitative style which precedes the aria reminds one vividly of the beginning of the Ballade in G minor. even to the most expert pianist. The little. 23. through misuse. is called by Von Bulow "the most useful exercise in the whole range of etude literature." is in G flat Von Bulow transposes it enharmonically to F sharp. No. 9. This third element is to be kept wholly subordinate. The D flat study." Only six times! The separate study of the left hand is recommended. classing it with a 177 . Kullak finds this study "surprisingly euphonious.
Nearly all modern virtuosi pull to pieces the wings of this gay little butterfly. and. The Tellefsen's edition and Klindworth's give these differences: (Musical score excerpt) Mikuli. they bang it. although Willeby claims it to be only a study in octaves "for the left hand"! Von Bulow furthermore compares it. Asiatic wildness. 10. op. they finish it with three chords. of course. the study if not deep is graceful and certainly very effective. is different: (Musical score excerpt) The metronomic markings are about the same in all editions.composition of the Charles Mayer order. mounting an octave each time. No. It has lately become the stamping ground for the display of piano athletics. Much distorted phrasing is also indulged in. adding insult to cruelty. Riemann. 25. thus giving a conventional character to the close—the very thing the composer avoids. This is unjust. They smash it. pervades the B minor study. because of its 178 . according to Von Bulow. Von Bulow and Kullak place the legato bow over the first three notes of the group.
" Von Bulow has made the most complete edition. I confess to being stirred by this B minor study. 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. technically. op. and I am almost inclined to group it with the last two studies of this opus. to the Chorus of Dervishes in Beethoven's "Ruins of Athens. 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. sensuous music. and leaves one cold.monophonic character. while the return to the first subject is managed as consummately as in the E flat minor Scherzo. and about it hovers the hush of a rich evening in early autumn." The study is for Kullak "somewhat far fetched and forced in invention. for a while holier sounds intervene. the tune may be a little overripe. There is a lushness about the octave melody. And now the "Winter Wind"—the study in A minor. but it is sweet. The opening is portentous and soon becomes a driving whirlwind of tone." Niecks says it is "a real pandemonium. 179 . with its tempo at a forced draught and with its precipitous close. This etude is an important one. from op. although it plunges on wildly to the end. but finally hell prevails. 35. because many pianists make little of it that does not abate its musical significance.
in every respect." Kullak is equally as warm in his praise of it: One of the grandest and most ingenious of Chopin's etudes. and which. captivating through its harmonic and modulatory shadings. overflow the entire keyboard.25. 12. the grandest of Chopin's studies. To Chopin is due the honor and credit of having set fast the boundary between piano and orchestral music. It is a bravura study of the highest order. to the prejudice and damage of both species. which perhaps it even surpasses. which through other composers of the romantic school. full of agitation. prevents them from scattering to all 180 . 11. the longest and. as it were. No. No. especially Robert Schumann. it keeps itself so entirely and utterly unorchestral. whose rising and falling waves. while producing the greatest fulness of sound imaginable. and is captivating through the boldness and originality of its passages. and a companion piece to op. that. and represents piano music in the most accurate sense of the word. has been defaced and blotted out. finally. Here even Von Bulow becomes enthusiastic: "It must be mentioned as a particular merit of this. 10. and captivating. through a wonderfully invented little theme which is drawn like a "red thread" through all the flashing and glittering waves of tone.
equality. The slow time (Lento) shows the great importance which is to be attached to it. especially to the delivery of the marchlike rhythms. The march-like element naturally requires strict playing in time. is. lightness of touch. although all other editions. strength and endurance in the forte passages. This study is magnificent. use a B flat. In bar fifteen Von Bulow makes B natural the second note of the last group.quarters of the heavens. strictly speaking only a phrase of two measures. appearing first one voiced. appearing now calm and circumspect. except Klindworth. The same authority 181 . Great facility. and anon bold and challenging. This little theme. in a certain sense. To execute the passages quite in the rapid time prescribed one must possess a finished technique. and immediately afterward four voiced. which possess a life of their own. the motto which serves as a superscription for the etude. They who have followed thus far and agree with what has been said cannot be in doubt concerning the proper artistic delivery. Von Bulow has common sense on his side. The B flat is a misprint. and moreover it is music. for the interpreter must devote his whole attention to the poetic contents of the composition. together with the clearest distinctness in the piano and pianissimo—all of this must have been already achieved.
recommends slow staccato practice. Ah. in neither work is there the resistless overflow of this etude. Riemann follows Von Bulow. but phrases it about the same. omitting the sextolet mark. with the lid of the piano closed. precious ones if you will. how Chopin puts to flight those modern men who scheme out 182 . Thus Mikuli's—which is normal: (Musical score excerpt) Klindworth fingers this passage more ingeniously. 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. 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. which has been compared to the screaming of the winter blasts. Kullak retains it. Von Bulow makes his phrase run in this fashion: (Musical score excerpt) As regards grouping. joined and built with cunning artifice.
From Hummel to Thalberg and Herz the keyboard had glittered with spangled scales. It is open air music. same key. is a chromatic scale study. should avoid it. Chopin very seldom uses scale figures in his studies. there are more. It is effective. prodigious power.a big decorative pattern and then have nothing wherewith to fill it! He never relaxes his theme. 10. storm music. The second study of op. hence Chopin's sparing employment of them. but there are no other specimens of the form until the mighty run at the conclusion of this A minor study. 25. The end is notable for the fact that scales appear. op. op. a la Thalberg. there is a run for the left hand in the coda. and at times moves in processional splendor. Scales had been used too much. The average metronomic marking is sixty-nine to the half. 183 . Chopin must have been sick of them. in A minor. The prime technical difficulty is the management of the thumb. Small souled men. It takes prodigious power and endurance to play this work. Kullak has made a variant at the end for concert performance. 10. as sick of them as of the left-hand melody with arpeggiated accompaniment in the right. In the first C sharp minor study. no matter how agile their fingers. In the seventh study. and its fluctuating surprises are many. passion and no little poetry.
Rather is Niecks more to my taste: "No. when the difficulties are nearly mastered." Von Bulow is didactic: The requisite strength for this grandiose bravura study can only be attained by the utmost clearness. is "full of the 184 . 25 is the C minor study. The pedal is needful to give the requisite effect. which requires no comment. which. and in the poetic striving after a realistic portrayal of a storm on the piano the instrument. for otherwise the strength of tone might easily degenerate into hardness. 25 in C minor "a grand. as well as the piece. Mine in op. and must change with every new harmony.Kullak thinks the twelfth and last study of op. magnificent composition for practice in broken chord passages for both hands. It is therefore most desirable to practise it piano also by way of variety. 12." I differ from this worthy teacher. but it should only be used in the latter stages of study. like the prelude in D minor. We have our preferences. C minor. in which the emotions rise not less high than the waves of arpeggios which symbolize them. and thus only by a gradually increasing speed. would come to grief.
How Liszt must have thundered through this tumultuous work! Before it all criticism should be silenced that fails to allow Chopin 185 . in its ruggedness. the larger eloquence. It is orchestral in intention and a true epic of the piano. He gives the Liszt method of working up the climax in octave triplets.sound of great guns. as a reminder of the necessary clinging of the thumbs. there is in the latter naked. the very 'sameness' of the form of the arpeggio figure causes a certain amount of monotony to be felt. although great power is manifested. Beethov-ian. I like Von Bulow's version the best of all. Monotonous? A thousand times no! Monotonous as is the thunder and spray of the sea when it tumbles and roars on some sullen. the elemental puissance. as." 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. more dramatic and tangible. savage shore. His directions are most minute. primeval simplicity. While the idea in the former is infinitely nobler. Riemann places half notes at the beginning of each measure. a return to the first study in C. 12 we should have been more ready to indorse his opinion. the Chopin of this C minor study is as far removed from the musical dandyisms of the Parisian drawing rooms as is Beethoven himself. "The C minor study is. in a degree.
the emotional content of the study that fascinates. sonorous and passionate. The technical difficulty to be overcome is purely rhythmic. Trois Nouvelles Etudes. by Frederic Chopin. It was odd company for the Polish composer. and Kullak takes pains to show how it may be overcome. It is the musical. broad. are by no means uninteresting and certainly very characteristic—may be regarded more than op. J. 25 as the outcome of a gleaning. Moscheles. In F minor the theme in triplet quarters. The first is a masterpiece. and although the 186 . The comparison is not an apt one. however. The worthy editor calls it a companion piece to the F minor study in op. appeared in the "Methode des Methodes pour le piano. They have something of the concision of the Preludes. III In 1840. "that these weakest of the master's studies —which." The last decade has added much to the artistic stature of these three supplementary studies." writes Niecks.a place among the greatest creative musicians. is unequally pitted against four-eight notes in the bass." by F. 25. not Chopin the composer for piano. Far deeper is this new study. Fetis and I. "Internal evidence seems to show. We are here in the presence of Chopin the musician.
and it will not harm the music. After you have enjoyed playing this study read Kullak and his "triplicity in biplicity. spiritualized humor. The exception is Klindworth. The result is an idealized Valse in allegretto tempo. Chopin has the hypnotic quality more than any composer of the century. the note above. Richard Wagner excepted. Full of gentle sprightliness and lingering sweetness is this study. and always in supremely good taste." It may do you good. and leaves the most cheering impression after its performance. Beautiful in a different way is the A flat study which follows. tempered by aristocratic reserve. In all the editions save one that I have seen the third study in D flat begins on A flat. good humor. The study is full of sunny. like the famous Valse in D flat. the very incarnation of joy. This study fitly closes his extraordinary labors in 187 . who starts with B flat. Chopin never romps. viewing all its lovely contours and letting it melt away like dream magic. but he jests wittily. and again the composer demonstrates his exhaustless invention and his power of evoking a single mood.doors never swing quite open. we divine the tragic issues concealed. Its technical object is a simultaneous legato and staccato. Again the problem is a rhythmical one.
demanding color discrimination and individuality of finger. they are musical but immensely difficult. hovers about. and a piece at which one must cry 188 . More breath-catching. and it is as if he had signed it "F. knitted forehead and not seldom amused to the point of smiling. curious and interesting. a Chopin. op. You see his narrow shoulders. does not tax the fingers as much as a bedevilment of the A minor. 4." Among the various editions let me recommend Klindworth for daily usage. sometimes with angry. The study in G sharp minor was the first one published and played in public by this young pianist Unlike the Brahms derangements. 25. shrugged in the Polish fashion as he examines the study in double-thirds transposed to the left hand! Curiously enough this transcription. sometimes with eye-brows uplifted. No. Of the making of Chopin editions there is seemingly no end. difficult as it is.this form. even if lop-sided. Riemann and Kullak cannot fail to prove valuable. Topsy-turvied as are the figures. In 1894 I saw in manuscript some remarkable versions of the Chopin Studies by Leopold Godowsky. which is extremely difficult. et ego in Arcady. Chopin. while frequent reference to Von Bulow.
Chopin's Toccata. It is the work of a remarkable pianist. Chopin did 189 . 7. The pretty musical idea is not destroyed.out: "Hats off. is also treated separately. gentlemen! A tornado!" is the caprice called "Badinage. No. the melody being transferred to the treble. is treated like a left hand study. and the C major study. op. No. 10. Here the adapter has displayed great taste and skill. This is the way it looks on paper at the beginning: (Musical llustration) The same study G flat. are made to hop nimbly along in the left hand. trailing behind them a cloud of iridescent glory. especially on the third page. 10. 10. No. op. The Butterfly octaves. In the right hand is the G flat study. 25. is arranged for the left hand. 2. The two go laughing through the world like old friends. it is no sport for the pianist of everyday technical attainments. 9. brother and sister they are tonally. 10. but viewed from other points of vantage. and in the left the black key study. This is formed of two studies. op. op. In some places he has thickened the harmonies and shifted the "black key" figures to the right hand. in another study. following their melodic curves as nearly as is possible. No. and seems very practical and valuable. No. Op. as it should be." But if it is meant to badinage. 5. 5. Godowsky has cleverly combined the two.
No. the D flat double sixths. as considered by the ambidextrous Godowsky. The F minor study. 5. This study has suffered the most of all. by the way. anyhow? Plato is parsed in the schoolroom. As a study in rhythms and double notes it is very welcome. in his "Studies for the Left Hand. the last movement of the Chopin B flat minor Sonata. No. in E minor. where it whirrs along to the melodic encouragement of a theme of the paraphraser's own. the A minor—"Winter Wind"— studies. while Isidor Philipp. has also arranged for left hand alone the G sharp minor. Are the Godowsky transcriptions available? Certainly." has harnessed it to sullen octaves. This Frenchman. and Beethoven taught in conservatories! Therefore why worry over the question of Godowsky's attitude! Besides. What has reverence to do with the case. 2.not always give enough work to the left hand. and. he is writing for the next generation—presumably a 190 . op. 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. is put in the bass. set it grinding double sixths. Teutonic way. 25. the B flat minor prelude. for Brahms. Ingenious is the manipulation of the seldom played op. in the right. terrible to relate. 25. and the first study of this opus in C is planned on brilliant lines for both hands. in his heavy.
alembicated and dramatic. In them is mirrored all of Chopin. And now. Chopin is a classic. and in the most poetic of them stuff may be found for delicate fingers. Astounding. Bach the seventeenth centuries in piano music. what is the dominant impression gleaned from the twenty-seven Chopin studies? Is it not one of admiration. 191 . canorous. having passed over the salt and stubbly domain of pedagogics. the aesthetic side is nowhere neglected for the purely mechanical.generation of Rosenthals. will stand for the nineteenth century as Beethoven crystallized the eighteenth. tinged with wonder at such a prodigal display of thematic and technical invention? Their variety is great. When most of his piano music has gone the way of all things fashioned by mortal hands. the planetary as well as the secular Chopin. the Chopin studies are exemplary essays in emotion and manner. enchanting. these studies will endure.
000 francs for the Preludes he had a right to say: "These are my Preludes. He received but five hundred francs in advance. the balance being paid on delivery of the manuscript." This was in 1838. Kessler. and had applied for money to the piano maker and publisher. the French and English being inscribed by Chopin "a son ami Pleyel. a composer of well-known piano studies. He wished to go to Majorca with Madame Sand and her children. It is only the German edition that bears his name. when Chopin's health demanded a change of climate. 192 . Camille Pleyel." Niecks is authority for Chopin's remark: "I sold the Preludes to Pleyel because he liked them. Moods in Miniature:—The Preludes * I The Preludes bear the opus number 28 and are dedicated to J. C.VII." As Pleyel advanced the pianist 2.
he arose and stared at the pair. the one in B minor. against the puerility of these imitations for the ear. "Ah! I knew well that you were dead. This will upset the very pretty legend of music making at the monastery of Valdemosa. He protested with all his might. "consist—to a great extent. at least—of pickings from the composer's portfolios. sketches and memoranda written at various times and kept to be utilized when occasion 193 ." It was the sixth prelude. "The Preludes. and dreaming. He was even vexed at what I translated by the term. and he was right. as Sand writes. and when I called his attention to those drops of water which were actually falling upon the roof. they reached their home and found Chopin at the piano. dangers and delays. 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." Yet this prelude was composed previous to the Majorcan episode. that he played. His genius was full of mysterious harmonies of nature. he denied having heard them.The Preludes were published in 1839. of pieces. Uttering a cry." says Niecks. that "he saw himself drowned in a lake. ice cold drops of water fell at regular intervals upon his breast. imitative harmony. heavy. yet there is internal evidence which proves that most of them had been composed before the trip to the Balearic Islands.
or. ruins. and to Niecks personally he maintained that he had copied all of them. Niecks does not credit him altogether. if you will." This seems to be a sensible solution." 194 . these are sketches. Robert Schumann wrote of these Preludes: "I must signalize them as most remarkable. I will confess I expected something quite different. must keep away. eagles' feathers. filing and polishing. so he reaches the conclusion that "Chopin's labors at Majorca on the Preludes were confined to selecting. Chopin's pupil. He is the boldest. however. But in every piece we find in his own hand. 'Frederic Chopin wrote it. the beginning of studies.' One recognizes him in his pauses. but let everyone look in it for something that will enchant him. feverish. in his impetuous respiration. To be sure the book also contains some morbid.might offer. Philistines. declared the Preludes to have been composed before he went away with Madame Sand." Gutmann. all strangely intermingled. the proudest poet soul of his time. who nursed him to the last. It is almost the contrary here. for there are letters in which several of the Preludes are mentioned as being sent to Paris. carried out in the grand style of his studies. repellant traits.
but "are not the less types of perfection in a mode created by himself. 195 .It was in these Preludes that Ignaz Moscheles first comprehended Chopin and his methods of execution. like many great men. and not necessarily feminine in this respect. even when more elaborate. erred on the sentimental side. finished and richer in combinations. To Liszt the Preludes seem modestly named. and stamped like all his other works with the high impress of his poetic genius. as usual. marked by an overexcited sensibility. while he seems quite gay just before his death." Liszt. cannot always be pinned down to any particular period. The German pianist had found his music harsh and dilettantish in modulation. and giving painful intimations of his own state of suffering and exhaustion. but Chopin's originality of performance—"he glides lightly over the keys in a fairylike way with his delicate fingers"—quite reconciled the elder man to this strange music. they are characterized by a youthful vigor not to be found in some of his subsequent works. a morbid irritability. being essentially a man of moods. Chopin. a vigor which is entirely lost in his latest productions. Written in the commencement of his career. Several of the Preludes are very morbid—I purposely use this word—as is some of his early music.
"No work of Chopin's portrays his inner organization so faithfully and completely. a long time before he went to Majorca. the half satirical. are free creations on a small basis. or the last. It is as though he turned the leaves of his fancy without completely reading any page. luxuriously fragrant breath of the Nocturnes. must have been written. as it does. 23. What is there to say concerning the other Preludes. and that which is the most marked. himself a Pole and a pianist. and exhibit the musician in all his versatility. concluding... thinks that "people have gone too far in seeking in the Preludes for traces of that misanthropy. No. with three cannon shots?" 196 . in E flat. half coquettish elegance of the Mazurkas." says Louis Ehlert. one finds in them the thundering power of the Scherzi. 21. the second one. Much is embryonic. and the southern."The Preludes follow out no technical idea.Very few of the Preludes present this character of ennui.. full of good humor and gaiety—No. No." Jean Kleczynski. in F.. Often it is as though they were small falling stars dissolved into tones as they fall. who is credited with understanding Chopin. Still. 18. . in B flat. of that weariness of life to which he was prey during his stay in the Island of Majorca. in D minor? Is it not strong and energetic. according to Count Tarnowski.
admits her utter unreliability. The atmosphere of those I have named is morbid and azotic. This in itself inclines me to believe they were written at the time named. 6. . was published in December.. 4. Op. He agrees in the main with Niecks. to them there clings a faint flavor of disease. a separate Prelude in C sharp minor. a something which is overripe in its lusciousness and febrile in its passion. that certain of these compositions were written at Valdemosa—Nos. 9." This is all very well. he knows not how to spell. as Chopin confesses in a letter. 20 and 21—and that "Chopin. an old admirer of Madame Sand. but the majority of them were in his portfolio in 1837 and 1838. but Chopin was faint and febrile in his music before he went to Majorca. 197 . la Princesse Elizabeth Czernicheff. It was composed at Nohant in August of that year. completed the whole there.Willeby in his "Frederic Francois Chopin" considers at length the Preludes. The case now stands: Chopin may have written a few of the Preludes at Majorca. finished them. It is dedicated to Mme. 45. and published them under one opus number. filed them. Henry James. 13.. and so we may look upon her evidence as romantic but by no means infallible. having sketches of others with him. 1841. whose name. and the plain facts adduced by Gutmann and Niecks cannot be passed over.
This is eminently a common sense grouping. on account of the extended positions. 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. 12. without. 19 and 21. 1. Despite their brevity of outline they are on a par with the great collections op. lies in the delicate piano and legato technique. demanding eminent virtuosity. The Preludes are. masterpieces of the first rank. Some of them appear like briefly sketched mood pictures related to the nocturne style. 9. 7. He writes: Chopin's genius nowhere reveals itself more charmingly than within narrowly bounded musical forms. however. 3 and 18. 6. 5. 16 and 24. 10. 25. I mean Nos. The other Preludes belong to a species of character-etude. 23. 25 and 11. in their aphoristic brevity. The difficulty of the other Preludes. 10 and op. 4. which. 13. leaps and double notes. presupposes a high degree of development. 17. 14. 8. More difficult are Nos. 2. The first 198 .II Theodore Kullak is curt and pedagogic in his preface to the Preludes. 22. and offer no technical hindrance even to the less advanced player. 15 and 20. Very great bravura is demanded by Nos. Nos.
despairing. subjective. begins in C. forlorn. phrases the first bars thus: Desperate and exasperating to the nerves is the second prelude in A minor. has all the characteristics of an impromptu. Chopin seldom wrote ugly music. and the preludes which precede his fugues. It is a beautiful composition. yet it could have been written by no one but a devout Bach student. and often wears his heart in full view. Kullak in quintolets. but questioning and full of life. Willeby finds a resemblance to the theme of the first nocturne. And such a theme! The tonality is vague. hasty qualities of the piece are modern.prelude. The pulsating. Klindworth writes in triplet groups. Chopin's Preludes—the only preludes to be compared to Bach's—are largely personal. and discordant? It indicates the deepest depression in its sluggish. who has edited a few of the Preludes. It is an asymmetric tune. This first one is not Bach-ian. almost grotesque. Dr. Breitkopf & Hartel do not. Hugo Riemann. passionate. so is the changeful modulation. Chopin's method of 199 . feverish. but is this not ugly. We know the wonderful Bach Preludes. which. like the first etude. which grew out of a free improvisation to the collection of dance forms called a suite. In the latter Bach sometimes exhibits all the objectivity of the study or toccata. beginning in E minor. and intimate. snake-like progression. rising to no dramatic heights. agitated.
Kullak phrases it differently from Riemann and Klindworth. Graceful and gay. Chopin now is morbid. loosely held together by the rather vague title. in the key of G. A self. this prelude has no hint of artificiality. for greater clearness. The latter is 200 . The melody is delicate in sentiment. It is a precise antithesis to the mood of the previous one. he accents heavily the final chords. All the editions are lento with alla breve. as is his wont. It requires a light hand and nimble fingers. The rippling. between the two. rain-like figure for the left hand is in the nature of a study. A true salon piece. difficult for small hands. a mental. A small figure is repeated in descending keys until hopeless gloom and depraved melancholy are reached in the closing chords. The melodic idea requires no special comment. Kullak divides the accompaniment. Like Klindworth. That the Preludes are a sheaf of moods.thematic parallelism is here very clear. an emotional atrophy are all present. Riemann detaches the eighth notes of the bass figures. here are all his most antipathetic qualities. is demonstrated by the third.induced hypnosis. There is aversion to life—in this music he is a true lycanthrope. He marks his metronome 50 to the half note. the G major prelude is a fair reflex of Chopin's sensitive and naturally buoyant nature. Gallic in its esprit.
from which the wide. Riemann only 60—which is too slow—while Klindworth contents himself by marking a simple Vivace. He also gives as metronome 69 to the quarter. for they are no more than sketches. Regarding the fingering one may say that all tastes are pleased in these three editions. Niecks truthfully calls the fourth prelude in E minor "a little poem." Willeby finds this prelude to be "one of the most beautiful of these spontaneous sketches." For Karasowski it is a "real gem. The composer seems to be absorbed in the narrow sphere of his ego. The melody seems literally to wail. although uncalled for. Klindworth's is the easiest. noisy world is for the time shut out. and reaches its greatest pitch of intensity at the stretto. the exquisitely sweet. but I cannot see the gain on the musical side. Klindworth gives 72 to the half note as his metronomic marking. languid pensiveness of which defies description.the preferable. Kullak makes some new dynamic markings and several enharmonic changes. which is not reprehensible. added thirds. fifth bar from the last. the editor has filled in the harmonies to the first six notes of the left hand. 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. Riemann breaks up the phrase in the bass figure. This tiny prelude contains 201 .
some sombre effect of echoing light in the profound of a Dutch interior. and one singularly pathetic. that puts to flight much of the morbid tittle-tattle about Chopin's sickly soul. and there is a breadth. The next prelude. whimpering complaint of the second prelude. except Bach or Rembrandt. could paint as Chopin did in this composition. is doleful. and there is a dewy freshness. The fifth prelude in D is Chopin at his happiest. reveal musicianship of the highest order. so seldom heard in public. Klindworth phrases the first four bars so as to bring out the alternate B and B flat. no one in art. The whole is like some canvas by Rembrandt. For background Chopin has substituted his soul. The grave reiteration of the theme may have suggested to Peter Cornelius his song "Ein Ton. but the subject looms large in meanings. Rembrandt who first dramatized the shadow in which a single motif is powerfully handled. It is Chopin spinning his finest. a joy in life. nobility and proud submission quite free from the tortured.wonderful music. 202 . The picture is small. The harmonic scheme is intricate. the sixth." Chopin expands a melodic unit. his most iridescent web. Its despair has the antique flavor. Its arabesque pattern conveys a most charming content. in B minor. The few bars of this prelude.
monotony being artfully avoided. marked in both editions.pessimistic. Kullak tries for the same effect by different means. The echo effect is skilfully managed. Yet in its measures is compressed all Mazovia. the seventh prelude. is fast. The sadness is rather elegiac. The duality of the voices should be clearly expressed." It is the most frequently played—and oh! how meaninglessly—prelude of the set. lento assai. The tempo. this and the one in D flat. and doubtless suggests a mental condition bordering on anxiety. remote. To be precise. is a mere silhouette of the national dance. Klindworth gives 66 to the quarter. Klindworth rightfully slurs the duple group of eighths. perhaps not admissible to the Chopin purist. Classical is its repression of feeling. but if frenzy there is. In the F sharp minor prelude No. and less poignant than in the E minor prelude. its pure contour. Klindworth makes a variant in the fourth bar from the last. it is kept well in check by the exemplary taste of the composer. For Niecks the piece is jerky and agitated. a G sharp instead of an F sharp. 7. Chopin gives us a taste of his grand manner. The plaintive little mazurka of two lines. Harmonic heights are reached on the second page—surely Wagner knew these bars when he wrote "Tristan and Isolde"—while the ingenuity of the 203 . It is a more piquant climax. As George Sand says: "It precipitates the soul into frightful depression.
It is a masterly prelude.echo in the void as it passed to its quarry. dolce indeed. and then the vision vanishes as though some huge bird aloft had plunged down through blazing sunlight. must be the "eagle wings" of Schumann's critique. leaving a color. It is rather gnomic. and most cleverly constructed.figure and avoidance of a rhythmical monotone are evidences of Chopin's feeling for the decorative. There is a measure of grave content in the ninth prelude in E. the twelfth 204 . Another gleam of the Chopin sunshine. No. 10. The C sharp minor prelude. It is vivacious. Klindworth gives a more binding character to the first double notes. to be less figurative. II in B is all too brief. Storm clouds gather in the G sharp minor. There is a flash of steel gray. and is too short to make more than a vivid impression. deepening into black. Or. and makes an unnecessary enharmonic change at the sixth and seventh lines. this prelude is a study in arpeggio. Klindworth accents the first of the bass triplets. It has an ethical quality. but that may be because of its churchly rhythm and color. with double notes interspersed. and contains hints of both Brahms and Beethoven. No.
The G sharp seems more various. the selfcommand are never lost in these two pages of perfect writing. Mikuli gives G sharp the first time instead of E. The figure is suggestive. and there is a well defined technical problem. almost without pause. and its heavy. pure and peaceful. Then. His pulse beat increases. and in the piu lento he wheels significantly and majestically about in the blue. so unwittingly imitated by Grieg in his Menuetto of the same key. The composer has found mental rest. Klindworth. E. sullen-arched triplets recalls for Niecks the last movement of the B flat minor Sonata. Exquisitely poised are his pinions for flight. and with stifled rage he rushes into the battle. Disputed territory is here: the editors do not agree about the twelfth and eleventh bars from the last. In the thirteenth prelude.prelude. as well as a psychical character. The return to earth is the signal for some strange modulatory tactics. less 205 . and also Kullak. G sharp the second time. here is lovely atmosphere. It is an impressive close. F sharp major. and in its driving presto we feel the passionate clench of Chopin's hand. It is the fourteenth prelude in the sinister key of E flat minor. It is convulsed with woe. the blood begins to boil in this fragile man's veins. According to Breitkopf & Hartel the bass octaves are E both times. but there is less interrogation in the prelude. but the intellectual grip. Riemann.
a feeling of tranquil grandeur revives you. familiar nature." The work needs no programme. "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. lugubrious interlude.sophistication. notwithstanding the melancholy which seizes you. a melody full of tears is heard through the rush of the rain. indicative of the terror which nature in its deathly aspect excites in the heart of man. a basso ostinato. Here again the form does not allow the ideas to become too sombre. 15. gives color to Kleczynski's contention that the prelude in B minor is a mere sketch of the idea fully elaborated in No. Its serene beginning. 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. There is not a break in the clouds until the beginning of the fifteenth. with the dominant pedal never ceasing. which dispels the dreadful nightmare. it rises from the depths of the bass to a prodigious crescendo. then passing to the key of C sharp minor. comes upon one with the smiling freshness of dear. and the heat of conflict over it all." To Niecks. the familiar prelude in D flat." 206 . the C sharp minor portion affects one as in an oppressive dream: "The re-entrance of the opening D flat.
Klindworth a D natural. the chromatic 207 . the thematic thread of the idea never being quite submerged. seldom employed by Chopin. boil and glitter. likewise the C sharp minor study in opus 25. Kullak a B natural. anon a cascade. Kullak in the second group. full of perilous acclivities and sudden treacherous descents. But of its beauty. then a swift stream. Fascinating. The architecture is at once Greek and Gothic. He plays with the keyboard: it is an avalanche. caprice and stormy dynamics. this prelude is the darling of the virtuoso. It has become slightly banal from frequent repetition. Riemann follows Kullak. Its pregnant introduction is like a madly jutting rock from which the eagle spirit of the composer precipitates itself. right hand. after mounting to the skies. Full of imaginative lift. Klindworth uses an A natural in the first of the four groups of sixteenths. Which is correct? Klindworth's texture is more closely chromatic and it sounds better. Its scale figures. Nor is this all. In the twenty-third bar there is curious editorial discrepancy. which finally. balance and exceeding chastity there can be no doubt. has an E flat.The prelude has a nocturnal character. descends to an abyss. this most brilliant of preludes is Chopin in riotous spirits. The sixteenth prelude in the relative key of B flat minor is the boldest of the set.
The seventeenth prelude Niecks finds Mendelssohn-ian. It may be noticed that Riemann even changes the arrangement of the bars. Full of tonal contrasts. yet Chopin to the core. It is logical. The mood is one of tranquillity. it is a study in declamation. It is Riemann's opportunity for pedagogic editing. sweet. This prelude is dramatic almost to an operatic degree. Schumann may have 208 . rather grandiloquent. Yet I fancy that Kullak has tradition on his side. Klindworth uses a B flat instead of a G at the beginning of the melody. muscular and not hectic. 18 in F minor are a glimpse of Chopin. I do not. In the first long breathed group of twenty-two sixteenth notes he phrases as shown on the following page. the declamation of the slow movement in the F minor concerto. this highly finished composition is grateful to the touch. well developed. In these editions you will find three different groupings of the cadenzas. and he does not miss it. and its harmonic life surprisingly rich and novel. but is it Chopin? The fiery recitatives of No.parallelism being more carefully preserved. The soul loses itself in early autumnal revery while there is yet splendor on earth and in the skies. The eleven booming A flats on the last page are historical. Sonorous. It is suave.
(Musical score excerpt) What piano music is the nineteenth prelude in E flat! Its widely dispersed harmonies. It is without doubt a sketch for a funeral march. This page of Chopin's. but with its whirring melody and furtive caprice this particular shape is an alluring one. 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. is nobly rhetorical. Of exceeding loveliness is the B flat major prelude. And difficult it is to interpret with all its plangent lyric freedom. 2O in C minor contains in its thirteen bars the sorrows of a nation. The accompaniment figure shows inventive genius. 21. It is superior in content and execution to most of the nocturnes. are they not Chopin. Klindworth employs a short 209 .had the first phrase in his mind when he wrote his Aufschwung. No. ever invoking phantoms. the torso of a larger idea. its murmuring grace and June-like beauty. In feeling it belongs to that form. The melody is enchanting. the Chopin we best love? He is ever the necromancer. No.
thrills the nerves by a bold dissonance in the next prelude. elusive quality of Chopin's theme. concise paragraphs filled with the smoke of revolt and conflict The impetuosity of this largely moulded piece in G minor. leaving a sense of suspense. for the succeeding number is in a widely divorced key. An E flat in the bass of the third group of sixteenths leaves the whole composition floating enigmatically in thin air. Kullak the long. No. of anticipation which is not tonally realized. In the concluding bar. the fixed period of contemplation of the saint or the hypnotized sets in. Again. But it must have pressed hard the philistines. And this prelude. 22. the twenty-third.—read the seventeenth and eighteenth bars. and the awakening is almost painful. Chopin has in the F major Prelude attempted a most audacious feat in harmony. Chopin. thus maiming the tender. The prelude arrests one in ecstasy. its daring harmonics. 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. It deliciously colors the close.—and dramatic note make it an admirable companion to the Prelude in F minor. adopting the relative minor key as a pendant to the picture in B flat. This is cruelly pedantic. Technically it serves as an octave study for the left hand.appoggiatura. is fashioned out of the most 210 . in the second bar. but one.
The horny hand of the toilsome pianist would shatter the delicate. swinging fantasy of the poet. and capricious. The bass requires an unusual span. The Seelenschrei of Stanislaw Przybyszewski is here. G instead of B natural being used by Riemann. 211 . irregular and massive in design. its note of despair is not dispiriting. It is a veritable Appassionata. Klindworth prefers the latter. more impersonal. and the suggestion by Kullak. Chopin's text is more telling.volatile stuff. It is in extended harmonics and must be delivered with spirituality. We have reached the last prelude of op. Aerial. and the F sharp minor Prelude. troubled by fevers and visions. its hues change at every puff. imponderable. It may be placed among Chopin's greater works: the two Etudes in C minor. Kullak points out a variant in the fourteenth bar. it is sonorously tragic. But I do not counsel following his two variants in the fifth and twenty-third bars. Like the vast reverberation of monstrous waves on the implacable coast of a remote world is this prelude. In D minor. Its issues are larger. 28. Despite its fatalistic ring. 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 its theatre is cosmic and no longer behind the closed doors of the cabinet of Chopin's soul. the A minor. and like a sun-shot spider web oscillating in the breeze of summer. more elemental than the other preludes.
It seems unpremeditated. this prelude is almost infernal in its pride and scorn. when sitting at the piano in a lonely. Kleczynski speaks of the three tones at the close. The modulation from C sharp minor to D major and back 212 . the accumulated passion discharges and dissolves in a fierce gust of double chromatic thirds and octaves.explosions of wrath and revolt. dreary hour. and the sustained parts swell out proudly. They are the final clangor of oppressed. Riemann uses thirty-second notes for the cadenzas. Powerful. and the tension becomes too great. The theme reappears in the tonic and in octaves. and for a moment a point of repose is gained. but his countrymen. The quaver figure rises aspiringly. repellant. that it "deserves its name better than almost any one of the twenty-four. reason. It is wellnigh as strong. almost overthrown. After the subject reappears in C minor there is a shift to D flat. 45. rank and human as Beethoven. Kullak eighths and Klindworth sixteenths. Niecks writes of the Prelude in C sharp minor. still I would rather call it improvisata. a heedless outpouring. but this elusive rest is brief. op. The various editorial phraseology is not of much moment. not Chopin suffers. The piquant cadenza forestalls in the progression of diminished chords favorite effects of some of our more modern composers. But in it I discern no vestige of uncontrolled hysteria. perhaps in the twilight.
Its mood is fugitive and hard to hold after capture. In a few of them the idea overbalances the form. exceeding care. is marvellously measured. Chopin carved these cameos with exceeding fineness. the Russian virtuoso. As if wishing to exhibit his genius in perspective. 213 . This may be demonstrated by playing them through at a sitting. all being grouped in approved Bach-ian manner. echoing like the spirals in strange seashells. Recondite it is and not music for the multitude. Much in miniature are these sculptured Preludes of the Polish poet." Elsewhere I have called attention to the Brahmsian coloring of this prelude. evanescent moods of the Preludes. which Arthur Friedheim.again—after the cadenza—is very striking and equally beautiful. but the greater number are exquisite examples of a just proportion of manner and matter. Even in the more microscopic ones the tracery. there is designedly a certain unity of feeling and contrasted tonalities. Niecks does not think Chopin created a new type in the Preludes. a true blending of voice and vision. "They are too unlike each other in form and character. did in a concert with excellent effect." Yet notwithstanding the fleeting.
bubbling quality is indicated from the start. high-bred character to it. third and fourth. Its seething.VIII. gracious. and the flowing triplets of the first part of this piece give a ductile. The simple duple 214 . When the F minor part is reached the ear experiences the relief of a strongly contrasted rhythm. There is structural impulse. prankish. The A flat Impromptu. With all the freedom of an improvisation the Chopin impromptu has a well defined form. if one is pinned down to the title. is. 29. but in the second there is a balladelike quality that hints of the tragic. The mood-color is not much varied in three. The chromatic involutions are many and interesting. 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. nimble. the first. although the patterns are free and original. op. the happiest named of the set. the D natural in the treble against the C and E flat—the dominant—in the bass is a most original effect.
Its nocturnal beginning with the carillon. the whole subsiding into an echo of earlier harmonies. but the compensation of intenser emotional issues is offered. a programme. There is something sphinx-like in the pose of this work. brilliant. a chiaroscura. surely suggests a narrative. the faint hoof-beats of an approaching cavalcade. then climbs to F sharp. thence merges into a glittering melodic organ-point.measure. After the return of the first dimpling theme there is a short coda. Here symmetry is abandoned. so beautiful and so clear. and everything is. The final octaves are marked 215 . as Kullak remarks." But only an artist with velvety fingers should play this sounding arabesque." the sweetly grave close of the section. There is more limpidezza. is nobly. more pure grace of line in the first Impromptu than in the second in F sharp. 36. buried tones of Hauptmann's "Sunken Bell. "Here everything totters from foundation to summit. with the swelling thunders of its passage. nevertheless. and then with a few chords the composition goes to rest.like bass—a bass that ever recalls to me the faint. exciting. as Kleczynski says. for. broadly melodious. so naturally ornamented. 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. op. A bird flew that way! Rubato should be employed.
is not often played. op. sadder. The absence of simplicity is counterbalanced by greater 216 . Niecks finds this Impromptu lacking the pith of the first. the moods are wandering and capricious. There is a touch of the faded. The third Impromptu in G flat. The E flat minor trio is a fine bit of melodic writing. and it is hardly healthy in sentiment. yet who dares deny its power. It is another Ballade. It is irregular and wavering in outline. 51. as in the first Impromptu. Yet its logic lies in the scheme of the composer. its beauty? In its use of accessory figures it does not reveal so much ingenuity.fortissimo which always seems brutal. blase. but it is neither so fresh in feeling nor so spontaneous in utterance as its companions. its passion is all the deeper. To me it is of more moment than the other three. as was his habit while improvising for friends—a glissando would send them home shivering after an evening of delicious reverie. but just because the "figure in the carpet" is not so varied in pattern. It may be too difficult for the vandal with an average technique. Here are some ophidian curves in triplets. Perhaps he wished to arouse us harshly from his dreamland. more meditative of the tender grace of vanished days. in coloring tropical and rich to morbidity. but with interludes of double notes.
was published December. and is one of the few posthumous works of Chopin worthy of consideration." There seems no danger that this Fantaisie. 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 second. dedicated to Madame la Comtesse 217 .Impromptu will suffer from neglect. Its involuted first phrases suggest the Bellini-an fioriture so dear to Chopin. The impromptu flavor is not missing. and its slower movement into a long drawn sentimental agony. dedicated to Mlle. It was composed about 1834. A true Impromptu. op. but the title of Fantaisie given by Fontana is superfluous. chiefly rhythmical. Here is the same kind of saccharine melody that makes mawkish the trio in the "Marche Funebre. but the D flat part is without nobility. 1837. The piece presents difficulties. who turns its presto into a slow. la Comtesse de Lobau.freedom of modulation and complexity of pattern. the third. though not of great depth. 1840. The Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor. for it is the joy of the piano student. blurred mess of badly related rhythms. May. 66. The first Impromptu. but in the hands of a master the C sharp minor Impromptu is charming. was published by Fontana in 1855.
allurement. for it is putting Chopin away from the world he at times loved. But little of Vienna is in Chopin. Certain of the valses may be danced: the first. Nietzsche's la Gaya Scienza— the Gay Science—is beautifully set forth in the fifteen Chopin valses. they are more sophisticated and do not smell of nature and her simplicities. second. in the psychic sense. Around the measures of this most popular of dances he has thrown mystery.Esterhazy. the dancers of these valses should be at least countesses. and the rest. There is a high-bred reserve despite their intoxication. Sargasson seas of the nocturnes and scherzi. and in them secret whisperings and the unconscious sigh. Their animated rhythms. Not one of these four Impromptus is as naive as Schubert's. They are less intimate. coquettish atmosphere. 218 . but exquisite exemplars of social intimacy and aristocratic abandon. It is going too far not to dance to some of this music. Tschaikowsky. insouciant airs and brilliant. 1843. The valses are the most objective of the Chopin works. Grieg. Brahms. seem to smile at Ehlert's poetic exaggeration. As Schumann declared. the true atmosphere of the ballroom. Of the Chopin Valses it has been said that they are dances of the soul and not of the body. February. and never a hint of the brawling peasants of Beethoven. and in few of them is there more than a hint of the sullen.
the subsidiary harmonies lightly indicated. reduced to the commonplace by vulgar methods of performance. The mazurkas and polonaises are danced today in Poland. Kullak utters words of warning to the "unquiet" sex regarding the habitual neglect of the bass. but are altogether sprightly. yet he has contrived to rival Strauss in his own genre. but it usually does not. All of them have been edited to death. most of them are bred of candlelight and the swish of silken attire. and their presentation should be not solely a psychic one. stern old pedagogue. divides these dances into two groups. sixth. Kullak. It should mean something in valse tempo. Nor need it be brutally banged.fifth. sudden surprises and abrupt languors. Some of these valses are trivial. and a few others. delightful specimens of the composer's careless. artificial. and there must be fluctuations of tempo." the second a frame for moods. and a few are poetically morbid and stray across the border into the rhythms of the mazurka. The dancing would be of necessity more picturesque and less conventional than required by the average valse. the first dedicated to "Terpsichore. Chopin admitted that he was unable to play valses in the Viennese fashion. vagrant and happy moods. why not the valses? Chopin's genius reveals itself in these dance forms. The rubato in the valses need not obtrude itself as in the 219 . the fundamental tone must be cared for.
The D flat section has a tang of the later Chopin. It is quite long enough as it is. and who need wonder? The F major Valse. and the A major section is of exceeding loveliness. in E flat. Its coda is characteristic. It has the perpetuum mobile quality. even chatter. was published in June. the last of this series. A flat. This valse is a favorite. Notice in this coda as in many other places the debt Schumann owes Chopin for a certain passage in the Preambule of his "Carneval. and older masters would have prolonged its giddy arabesques into pages of senseless spinning. and dedicated to Mile. Opus 18. No. The episode in C rings of the mazurka. Klindworth and Kullak are the safest for dynamic markings. in this valse. It is a true ballroom picture. The 220 . 34. 1834. wild dance of atoms. Laura Harsford. is a whirling." The next Valse in A minor has a tinge of Sarmatian melancholy. I. it is one of Chopin's most desponding moods. Schumann wrote rhapsodically of it. There is bustle. indeed. spirited and infectious in rhythms. which in form and content is inferior to op. The three valses of this set were published December. This valse may be danced as far as its dithyrhambic coda. 1838. There are many editorial differences in the A flat Valse.mazurkas. owing to the careless way it was copied and pirated.
op. "Ca sent de Scarlatti!" The A minor Valse was. the coquetry. so glowing a tableau. Chopin's favorite. to luncheon at the Cafe Riche. Regarding certain phrasing of this valse Moriz Rosenthal 221 . I suppose as there is a dog valse. duple and triple. Not improvised in the ballroom as the preceding. It is the best rounded specimen of Chopin's experimenting with the form. 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. hesitation. inviting the Hungarian composer. summoning us to the ballroom. But as Rossini would have said. Niecks relates. there had to be one for the cat. 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. yet a marvellous epitome is the A flat Valse. 42. The prolonged trill on E flat. Chopin was greatly pleased. of the three.second theme is better. passionate avowal and the superb coda. When Stephen Heller told him this too was his beloved valse. but his is not so finished. but the appoggiatures are flippant. published July. the suggestive intermingling of rhythms. 1840.
and are thus not forced to any accent. but seldom Equality. and likewise requires an accent. In bars 6. so it must be accented. Likewise the feeling player will mark those notes that introduce the transition to another key. C. are without doubt the characteristic ones of the passage. 7 and 8 the notes. and in the treble. which falls upon the down beat as Vorhalt to the next tone (B flat). B flat and C.wrote to the London "Musical Standard": In Music there is Liberty and Fraternity. Notes have a right to the Aftertone (Nachton). A flat. That a genius like Chopin did not indicate everything accurately is quite explainable. In the second bar we have the dominant harmony in the bass. and in music Social Democracy has no voice. Also in the fourth bar the B flat is Vorhalt to the B flat. The Vorhalt (accented passing note) will always have an accent. and this right depends upon their role in the key. On this point Riemann must without question be considered right. 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 the E flat has in each case only a secondary significance. He flew where we merely 222 .
and he did not take it prestissimo. He did so. chasing its tail. but then it is so ineffably silly! The three valses of this op. He ran up the D flat scale. Joseffy—whose arrangement was the first to be heard here—Theodore 223 . 1847.limp after. she was amused by her little pet dog. She begged Chopin. It is usually taken at a meaningless. rapid gait. It seems well grounded. I have heard it played by a genuine Chopin pupil. the Baronne Nathaniel de Rothschild and the Baronne Bronicka. The D flat Valse—"le valse du petit chien"—is of George Sand's own prompting. ending with a sforzato at the top. 64 were published September. M. I shall not presume to speak of the execution of the D flat Valse. and are respectively dedicated to the Comtesse Delphine Potocka. these accents must be felt rather than executed. with softest touch. and gave a variety of nuance to the composition. The cantabile is nearly always delivered with sloppiness of sentiment. I do not dispute the story. Moreover. This valse has been served up in a highly indigestible condition for concert purposes by Tausig. and as tenderly as possible. Georges Mathias. and behold the world is richer for this piece. it is always with us. like the rich. her little pet pianist. One evening at her home in the Square d'Orleans. to set the tail to music.
and what Kullak calls the psychologic motivation of the first theme in the curving figure of the second does not relax the spell. more consoling winds are in the D flat interlude. 70. The first of op. op. 1830. The C sharp minor Valse is the most poetic of all. No. Kullak prints the Fontana and Klindworth variants. op. The elegiac imprint is unmistakable in this soul dance. F minor in 1843. with the joy that comes of making exquisite patterns and curves. as Ehlert imagines of certain other valses. has a charm of its own. need not detain us. 69. and D flat major. op. warmer.Ritter. They are posthumous. It is for superior souls who dance with intellectual joy. the B minor in 1829. The E major and E minor were composed in 1829. but the spirit of unrest. 69. G flat. Out of the salon and from its brilliantly lighted spaces the dancers do not wander. Fontana gave these compositions to the world. lyrical sorrow. It is a fascinating. Rosenthal and Isidor Philipp. 69 in F minor was composed in 1836. The first theme has never been excelled by Chopin for a species of veiled melancholy. 70. The F minor Valse. and the two remaining valses in E minor and E major. 1. do not dance into the darkness and churchyard. The A flat Valse which follows is charming. A space of clearer skies. ennui returns. This 224 . in 1835. three valses. The two valses in op.
The E minor Valse. The next in F minor has no special physiognomy. 70.valse is suavely melancholy. It is very graceful and not without sentiment. I. is beloved. The E major Valse is published in the Mikuli edition. It recalls in color the B minor mazurka. 225 . The major part is the early Chopin. It is commonplace. 42 and the op. No. not Chopin's most signal success in art. without opus. but not so melancholy as the B minor of the same opus. Very gay and sprightly is the G flat Valse. while the third in D flat contains. germs of the op. op. It recalls to me the D flat study in the supplementary series. 34 Valses. as Niecks points out. Thus ends the collection of valses. hinting of its composer only in places. but a success that has dignified and given beauty to this conventional dance form.
op. two nocturnes. op. 37. January. two nocturnes. op. 1844. August. 2. and the lately discovered one in C sharp minor. two nocturnes. 62. John Field has been described as the forerunner of Chopin. 9. The limpid style of this pupil and friend of Clementi.IX. May. 48. 27. op. two nocturnes. 1837. op. but following Niecks' system of formal grouping I include the Berceuse and Barcarolle as full fledged specimens of nocturnes. May. 1846. 1836. three nocturnes. January. 1833. three nocturnes. two nocturnes. 1840. 1841. This completes the nocturne list. op. September. Night and Its Melancholy Mysteries:—The Nocturnes * Here is the chronology of the nocturnes: Op. 55. November. his beautiful touch and finished execution. two nocturnes. 1834. December. 226 . In addition there is a nocturne written in 1828 and published by Fontana. op. 15. 32. written when Chopin was young and published in 1895. with the opus number 72. No.
too tropical—Asiatic is a better word—and they have the exotic savor of the heated conservatory. He rather patronized Chopin. Chopin. they seem to be suffering from anaemia." growled Field in the intervals between his wine drinking. passion and even grandeur. And. too lugubrious. Chopin's efforts are often too bejewelled for true simplicity. seldom exuberantly cheerful. for not only is Field the creator of the form. there are a few noble nocturnes. The most admired of his compositions. and methods of performance may have much 227 . "He has a talent of the hospital. then. they are in several instances his weakest. Field's nocturnes are now neglected—so curious are Time's caprices—and without warrant. They are not altogether to the taste of this generation. is morbidly sad and complaining in many of the nocturnes. giving it dramatic breadth. with the exception of the valses.were certainly admired and imitated by the Pole. pipe smoking and the washing of his linen —the latter economical habit he contracted from Clementi. Set against Field's naive and idyllic specimens. However. Yet he ennobled the form originated by Field. sweet and sane music. There is some truth in his stricture. but in both his concertos and nocturnes he has written charming. Chopin is so desperately sentimental in some of these compositions. for whose melancholy pose he had no patience. and not the fresh scent of the flowers reared in the open by the less poetic Irishman.
a term psychologically false. yet this nocturne is as striking as the last. and a less languishing touch will rescue them from lush sentiment. The Scotch have a proverb: "She wove her shroud. for some reason. and wore it in her lifetime. and he wore it sometimes but not always. It is one of three. others seen in profile only. op. 9. Emphatically a mood. Of far more significance than its two companions. neglected. as many think. for it is at once sensuous and dramatic. melancholy and lovely. some with agitated. a quickening of the time-pulse. Most of them are called feminine. Camille Pleyel. dedicated to Mme. remorseful countenance.to answer for the sentimentalizing of some others. The poetic side of men of genius is feminine." In the nocturnes the shroud is not far away. More vigor. Chopin wove his to the day of his death. While I am far from agreeing with those who hold that in the early Chopin all his genius was completely revealed. One of the most elegiac of his nocturnes is the first in B flat minor. Chopin loved the night and its soft mysteries as much as did Robert Louis Stevenson. while many are whisperings at dusk. it is. it is best heard on a gray day of 228 . and his nocturnes are true night pieces. and in Chopin the feminine note was over emphasized—at times it was almost hysterical— particularly in these nocturnes.
the soul. There is flux and reflux throughout. Chopin twists his whole body. if one holds Field's charming romances before a distorting. when the times are out of joint. For him they only are one real modulation. Chopin groans. not an effect of substance. Chopin empties a handful of cayenne pepper. the chromatic double notes. The E flat nocturne is graceful. but if it is played with purity of touch and freedom from sentimentality it is not nearly so banal as it usually seems. shallow of content. It is Field-like. passion peeping out in the coda. its silken tones will bring a triste content as they pour out upon one's hearing. where Field sighs." Of it he wrote: "Where Field smiles. an effect of superficies. Hadow calls attention to the "remote and recondite modulations" in the twelfth bar. one gets Chopin's 229 . therefore play it as did Rubinstein. Chopin makes a grinning grimace. where Field puts some seasoning into the food." It was the E flat nocturne that unloosed Rellstab's critical wrath in the "Iris. concave mirror. As a melody it has all the lurking voluptuousness and mystic crooning of its composer. where Field shrugs his shoulders. in a Field-like fashion. The second section in octaves is of exceeding charm. so that every delicate impression becomes a coarse one. "the rest of the passage is an iridescent play of color. In short.
In taking up one of the works of Chopin you are entering. is the first part of the B major Nocturne of this opus. the prevailing characteristics of which are a feeling as uncommon as beautiful." Rellstab might have added that while Field was often commonplace.work. Chopin never was. The ending is quite effective. 230 . It should be taken alla breve. the passionate intermezzo has the true dramatic Chopin ring. Well knit. We implore Mr. Davison. W. a melody and a harmony as new. a treatment as original as felicitous. vigorous and striking as they are utterly unexpected and out of the original track. the English critic and husband of the pianist. Gracious. a fairyland untrodden by human footsteps—a path hitherto unfrequented but by the great composer himself. Chopin to return to nature. Of the early works he wrote: Commonplace is instinctively avoided in all the works of Chopin—a stale cadence or a trite progression—a humdrum 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. as it were. even coquettish. fresh. Arabella Goddard. Rather is to be preferred the sound judgment of J.
but a veil. No. he designed it himself." 231 . too. 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. with a delicate hand. In his nocturnes there is a glimmering as of distant stars. heavenly gems he has borrowed many a line. "From its nature. The Chopin nocturne is a dramatized ornament. the ornament can only beautify the beautiful." Music like Chopin's. From these dreamy. could not forego ornament. 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 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. "with its predominating elegance. I. But he surely did not purchase it of a jeweller." and then discusses the artistic value of the ornament which may be so profitably studied in the Chopin music. 15. The ground thought is hidden behind a dense veil. Even the middle part borders upon what I should call the tragic style of ornament. op. can be an ornament.I do not care much for the F major Nocturne.
" was his sensible conclusion. Kullak's programme has a conventional ring." A complete and tiny tone poem. But I think the first stronger—its lines are simpler. with the consolation of religion thrown in." but changed his mind. It is like Foe's "Ulalume. picturesque writing. The "doppio movemento" is extremely striking and the entire piece is saturated with young life. although rather pretty and confiding. The languid. That. In the fourth bar 232 . It is certainly more elegant and dramatic than the one in F major. earth-weary voice of the opening and the churchly refrain of the chorale. The "bell-tones" of the plain chant bring to my mind little that consoles. more primitive. the lost Lenore. Of it Chopin said: "After Hamlet. "Let them guess for themselves. its coloring less complicated. Rubinstein made much of it. is weak. with the exception of the middle part in F minor. love and feelings of good will to men. which precedes it. yet quite as rich and gloomy. although the piece ends in the major mode.In another place Ehlert thinks that the F sharp major Nocturne seems inseparable from champagne and truffles. Read Kleczynski. Kullak does not find in it aught of the fantastic. is not this fantastic contrast! This nocturne contains in solution all that Chopin developed later in a nocturne of the same key. The third nocturne of the three is in G minor. and contains some fine. It is the lament for the beloved one. The F sharp Nocturne is popular.
which continue until the change of signature. and I heard the Russian virtuoso. where. The tempo is abnormally slow. and here let me call to your notice the Beethoven-ish quality of these bars." and remarks that "higher art than this one could not have if simplicity of means be a factor of high art.and for three bars there is a held note F. With the possible exception of the C minor Nocturne. brings us before a masterpiece. and the tone is not in a position where the sustaining pedal can sensibly help it. by some miraculous means. No. The next nocturne. persistent melody that grates on the nerves. this one in the sombre key of C sharp minor is the great essay in the form. keep this tone prolonged. after a scene of murder. Kleczynski finds it "a description of a calm night at Venice." The widemeshed figure of the left hand supports a morbid. 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." This is melodramatic. the sea closes over a corpse and continues to serve as a mirror to the moonlight. From the piu mosso the agitation increases. It was wonderfully done. I. Willeby analyzes it at length with the scholarly fervor of an English organist. 27. There is a 233 . He finds the accompaniment to be "mostly on a double pedal. Yet under Rubinstein's fingers it swelled and diminished. op.
Henry T. then pianissimo. Kullak speaks of a resemblance to Meyerbeer's song. op. This opus is dedicated to the Comtesse d'Appony. as Karasowski writes." The companion picture in D flat. 234 .surprising climax followed by sunshine and favor in the D flat part. Yet it is a lovely. This is obviously erroneous. and harmonically most interesting. and lastly forte. Le Moine. There is unhealthy power in this nocturne. No. has. imploring melody. The theme. 27. The composition reaches exalted states. and usually overlooked by pianists. A curious marking." It really contains but one subject. Often heard in the concert room. is the crescendo and con forza of the cadenza. which occurs three times. for there is obvious meaning in the duality of voices. should first be piano. "a profusion of delicate fioriture. 2. and is a song of the sweet summer of two souls. Finck rightfully thinks it "embodies a greater variety of emotion and more genuine dramatic spirit on four pages than many operas on four hundred. Its psychological tension is so great at times as to border on a pathological condition. this nocturne gives us a surfeit of sixths and thirds of elaborate ornamentation and monotone of mood. then after mounting dissonances a bold succession of octaves returns to the feverish plaint of the opening. which is seldom interpreted with sinister subtlety.
and Klindworth the same as Kullak. The entire ending. I agree with Karasowski. is taken too slowly. without the cloying splendors of the one in D flat. is charming. It is in the minor and is like the drum-beat of tragedy. Painted with Chopin's most ethereal brush. But the Nocturne in G. the double sixths. 1. No. Pianists usually take the first part too fast. 37. 37. and the choral is not noteworthy. the opening recalling that master's B flat Nocturne. Kullak in the first bar of the last line uses a G. and most subtle are the shifting harmonic hues. The second subject. The F minor section of Chopin's broadens out to dramatic reaches. F sharp. the second too slowly. op. This particular part. As Schumann wrote of this opus: 235 . Fontana. a stormy recitative. is the most beautiful melody Chopin ever wrote. The nocturne that follows in A flat is a reversion to the Field type.The best part of the next nocturne. op. fourths and thirds are magically euphonious. dedicated to Madame de Billing—is the coda. I. 32. so Chopin's pupil Gutmann declared. is in stern contrast to the dreamy beginning. It is in true barcarolle vein. transforming this poetic composition into an etude.—B major. No. Nor do I admire inordinately the Nocturne in G minor. the composer having forgotten to mark the increased tempo. op. It has a complaining tone. 2. but as an entirety this opus is a little tiresome. No.
the finest." It doubtless has its despairing movement.." Kleczynski calls the one in G minor "homesickness. We know Chopin's fondness in general for spangles.sends forth to heaven a cry of deepest anguish. He has already changed and grown older. but Karasowski is nearer right when he calls it "broad and most imposing with its powerful intermediate movement."The two nocturnes differ from his earlier ones chiefly through greater simplicity of decoration and more quiet grace." while the celebrated Nocturne in C minor "is the tale of a still greater grief told in an agitated recitando. No. I. decoration he still loves.. taste. celestial harps"—ah! I hear the squeak of the old romantic machinery—"come to bring one ray of hope. op." Both numbers of this opus are without dedication. gold trinkets and pearls. writing of the G major Nocturne. 48. behind which the nobility of the poetry shimmers through with all the more loveliness: indeed. must be granted him. a thorough departure from the nocturne style. which. adjures us "not to tarry too long in the treacherous atmosphere of this Capua—it bewitches and unmans. They are the offspring of the trip to Majorca." Willeby finds it "sickly and labored. which is powerless in its endeavor to calm the wounded soul. Niecks. this same Nocturne in C minor." and even 236 . but it is of a more judicious kind.
48—there occurred to me a remark of Schumann's. yet the judgment holds good. and the doppio movemento is exciting to a dramatic degree. Now. The ineluctable fact remains that this is the noblest nocturne of them all. the Chopin of the mode masculine. on the contrary. 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. although the middle part in the present instances are. 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. Biggest in conception it seems a miniature music drama. Niecks makes a valuable suggestion: "In playing these nocturnes— op. Both have the heroic quality. meaning the first portions of his nocturnes. Kleczynski calls the work The Contrition of a Sinner and devotes several pages to its elucidation. A fitting pendant is this work to the C sharp minor Nocturne. slower movements. at least with 237 . De Lenz chats most entertainingly with Tausig about it. both are free from mawkishness and are of the greater Chopin. an imposing march of splendor is the second subject in C. Indeed.Niecks does not think it should occupy a foremost place among its companions. It requires the grand manner to read it adequately.
respect to the first nocturne. The middle part of the second—D flat. 2. It is a nice nocturne. the middle part of which has nothing to recommend it but a full. simple chord progressions. No. need not detain us long." 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. sonorous instrumentation. When Gutmann studied the C sharp minor Nocturne with Chopin. 'and the other asks for mercy. He seeks to vary the return of the chief subject with nuances—as would an artistic singer the couplets of a classic song. 48. to Mlle.-the molto piu lento in D flat major—should be played as a recitative. op.'" Of course Niecks means the F sharp minor. with soothing. L. The one 238 . molto piu lento—however. Duperre. if I may use this word in speaking of one instrument. two nocturnes in F minor and E flat major. yet not epoch-making. Kleczynski devotes a page or more to its execution. with the C minor. the master told him that the middle section. There are "cries of despair" in it. The first is familiar. is much finer. but at last a "feeling of hope. neat in its sorrow. not the C sharp minor Nocturne. as we did in some other nocturnes. 'A tyrant commands'—the first two chords—he said. in it we meet again. dedicated. Opus 55.
is melting. like the middle of the F sharp major Nocturne. W. It shows no decrease in creative vigor or 239 . and the A flat portion. timid accents. the entire surface overrun with wild ornamentation and a profusion of trills. it deserves warmer praise than is accorded it. The intermediate portion is wavering and passionate. its troubled lyrism is appealing. Mertke gives the following explication of the famous chain trills: (Musical score excerpt) Although this nocturne is luxuriant in style. It is highly ornate. J.following has "the impression of an improvisation. The first. has great power of attraction. that so unexpectedly leads to the tonic. is faint with a sick. the Tuberose Nocturne. its harmonies dense. These two nocturnes are dedicated to Mlle. Its song is almost declamatory and not at all sentimental—unless so distorted—as Niecks would have us imagine. The climbing trellis of notes. Stirling. The E major Nocturne has a bardic ring. is charming and the chief tune has charm. rich odor." It has also the merit of being seldom heard. Irregular as its outline is. with its hesitating. Opus 62 brings us to a pair in B major and E major inscribed to Madame de Konneritz. a fruity charm. The piece—the third of its sort in the key of B—is not easy.
: The first question. secondly. suggested by the announcement of a new posthumous composition of Chopin's. and. 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. that the composition. and afterward at Warsaw. the upper being Chopin's: (Musical score excerpt) The posthumous nocturne in E minor. The recently discovered nocturne in C sharp minor is hardly a treasure trove. The Klindworth version differs from the original. who played it for the first time in public at the Chopin Commemoration Concert. Moreover. 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. Ascherberg & Co. was at once accepted as the work of Chopin by the distinguished composer and pianist Balakireff. which is strikingly characteristic. It is vague and reminiscent The following note was issued by its London publishers. composed in 1827. it contains some very un-Chopin-like modulations. held in the autumn of 1894 at Zelazowa Wola. is weak and uninteresting.lyrical fancy. as an examination of the following examples will show. This nocturne 240 .
His choice was three manuscripts of Chopin's. The manuscript of the nocturne was supposed to have been destroyed in the sacking of the Zamojski Palace. but it was discovered quite recently among papers of various kinds in the possession of a Polish gentleman. is the very sophistication of the art of musical ornamentation. Polinski the privilege of selecting from such papers. toward the end of the insurrection of 1863. a great collector. Is this the nocturne of which Tausig spoke to his pupil Joseffy as belonging to the Master's "best period. when Chopin was still a very young man. one of them being this nocturne. Polinski on the subject of this nocturne is in the possession of Miss Janotha. A rocking 241 . two of his sister's favorite melodies. at Warsaw. at Warsaw." or did he refer to the one in E minor? The Berceuse. op. published June. and was written soon after the production of the two lovely piano concertos. 57. and dedicated to Mlle. Elise Gavard.was addressed by Chopin to his sister Louise. whose son offered Mr. A letter from Mr. It contains a quotation from his most admired Concerto in F minor. 1845. It is built on a tonic and dominant bass— the triad of the tonic and the chord of the dominant seventh. in a letter from Paris. and a brief reference to the charming song known as the Maiden's Wish.
Mertke shows the original and Klindworth's reading of a certain part of the Berceuse. Niecks quotes Alexandre Dumas fils. 57.theme is set over this basso ostinato and the most enchanting effects are produced. one from the original version. and for a moment the sky is peppered with tiny stars in doubles. adding a footnote to the examples: (Two musical score excerpts from Op. Modulations from pigeon egg blue to Nile green. Within a small segment of the chromatic bow Chopin has imprisoned new. gray sky. and against this background. dissolve before one's eyes. but an ululation in the key of D flat. some florid. strangely dissonant colors. but all delicate in tracery and design. It is a miracle. some subdued. which crushes the sentiment. the apotheosis of pyrotechnical colorature." but introduces a Turkish bath comparison. each independently tinted. who calls the Berceuse "muted music. one from Klindworth's edition) (Footnote: Das tr (flat) der Originale (Scholtz tr natural242 . most misty and subtle modulations. the composer arranges an astonishing variety of fireworks. 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. the monotone of a dark. The rhythm never alters in the bass.
souled. all is two-voiced. let us say this mise-en-scene is the symbol of a lover's meeting generally. but it did not please him—it seemed to him a long movement in the nocturne style. and.) The Barcarolle. I shall play you my own self.' that he regretted the long piece was not longer. 'That is a performance which must not be undertaken before more than two persons. a Babel of figuration on a lightly laid foundation. But he found that he had made a mistake. but take it rarely.' Lenz got the music. so much action. of one and the same long-breathed rhythm. two. Niecks must be quoted here: "One day Tausig. is another highly elaborated work. it is a love scene in a discrete gondola. In this modulation in C sharp major—superscribed dolce sfogato—there are kiss and 243 . published September. I love the piece. de Lenz to play him Chopin's Barcarolle. so much interest. the dualism of two notes—persons—is maintained throughout." "This is expressed in thirds and sixths.flat) zeigt. adding. 60. dass Ch. promised W. after hearing it played by Tausig. so much motion. confessed that the virtuoso had infused into the 'nine pages of enervating music." Tausig's conception of the barcarolle was this: "There are two persons concerned in the affair. 1846. op. the great piano virtuoso. den Triller mit Ganzton und nach Mikuli den Trilleranfang mit Hauptton wollte.
after three bars of introduction. Something of Chopin's delicate. Louis Ehlert finds obscurities in the middle voices. and 10. In a small auditorium. 'lightly rocking in the bass solo. where 244 . that their intimate. for solitary enclosures.embrace! This is evident! When. now vanished. counting backward. tender warmth and spiritual voice is lost in larger spaces. It is dedicated to the Baronne de Stockhausen. Chopin sometimes "leans over Germany into Italy"—and is a masterly one in sentiment. night side may be revealed. 9. and from the fingers of a sympathetic pianist. tender dialogue. with larger brushes. It has Italian color in spots— Schumann said that. In bars 8. this theme is nevertheless made use of throughout the whole fabric only as an accompaniment. we have thus a continuous." The Barcarolle is a nocturne painted on a large canvas." They are essentially for the twilight. melodically.' enters in the fourth. The nocturnes—including the Berceuse and Barcarolle— should seldom be played in public and not the public of a large hall. To me it sounds like a lament for the splendors. the theme. and ON this the cantilena in two parts is laid. the nocturnes should be heard. of Venice the Queen. Many are like the music en sourdine of Paul Verlaine in his "Chanson D'Automne" or "Le Piano que Baise une Main Frele. pulsating with amorousness.
mysterious tones—"silent thunder in the leaves" as Yeats sings— become eloquent and disclose the poetry and pain of their creator. 245 .their still.
Mazurka and Valse were already there for him 246 ." but the poet of the single line. Hadow has said some pertinent things about Chopin in "Studies in Modern Music. in phraseology he is a master whose felicitous perfection of style is one of the abiding treasures of the art. and almost helpless as soon as he advances beyond them.X. but he contrived nevertheless to write two movements of a piano sonata that are excellent—the first half of the B flat minor Sonata." Chopin then. The idealized dance forms he preferred. H. the Polonaise. the maker of the phrase exquisite. This is hardly comprehensive. The Ballades:—Faery Dramas * W. is no "builder of the lofty rhyme." Yet we cannot accept unconditionally his statement that "in structure Chopin is a child playing with a few simple types. according to Hadow. With the more complex. classical types of the musical organism Chopin had little sympathy.
Here he is not imitator. There is the tall lily in the fountain that nods to the sun. "None of Chopin's compositions surpasses in masterliness of form and beauty and poetry of contents his ballades. As in some fabulous tales of the Genii this Ballade discloses surprising and delicious things. "the thunder and surge of the Odyssey. told in his most dreamy tones. but creator. I am ever reminded of Andrew Lang's lines. 23." remarks Niecks. the legend begins. beseeching him to teach him this Ballade. 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. 247 . a definite one. Not loosely-jointed. It is the Odyssey of Chopin's soul. With such a composition any programme could be sworn to. In them he attains the acme of his power as an artist. op. Then. 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. there can be no doubt. That 'cello-like largo with its noiseless suspension stays us for a moment in the courtyard of Chopin's House Beautiful." when listening to the G minor Ballade. even the silly story of the Englishman who haunted Chopin. but the Ballade was not. That Chopin had a programme.to handle.
" Which means that Chopin was not such a realist as Beethoven? Ehlert is one of the few sympathetic German Chopin commentators.but he has. The true narrative tone is in this symmetrically constructed Ballade. wise artist. Karasowski relates. In Leipzig. yet he did not always indicate the salient outlines of his art. Louis Ehlert says of the four Ballades: "Each one differs entirely from the others. it is as though he told what never took place. But these Ballades are more truly touched by the universal than any other of his works. but what has sprung up in his inmost soul. most daring work of Chopin. Only the Slav may hope to understand Chopin thoroughly. according to Schumann. the Polish bard Lithuanian poems. the pianist confessed having "been incited to the creation of the ballades by the poetry" of his fellow countryman. the most spirited. 248 . much outwardly expressed and inwardly burning rage over the sufferings of his native land. They may contain a strong element of national woe. yet they do not carry with a positive reality like that which in a Beethoven Sonata will often call words to our lips. Chopin relates in them. the anticipation of something longed for. They belong as much to the world as to Poland. that when Schumann met Chopin. not like one who communicates something really experienced. left us no clue beyond Mickiewicz's. and they have but one thing in common—their romantic working out and the nobility of their motives.
After the cadenza. built on a figure of wavering tonality. imitating Chopin. The closest parallelism may be detected in its composition of themes. color and sentiment. A whirlwind I have called it elsewhere. pianissimo and prestissimo. It is fascinating.The G minor Ballade after "Konrad Wallenrod. he topsy-turvied the shading. as in strict cyclic forms. For two pages the dynamic energy displayed by the composer is almost appalling. there is not a little. well knit and largely planned composition. It is a storm of the emotions. Its second theme in E flat is lovely in line. It recalled Moscheles' description of Chopin's playing: "His piano is so softly breathed forth that he does not require 249 . and so. and reminded me of a tornado seen from the wrong end of an opera glass. Passage work of an etherealized character leads to the second subject. The effect was strangely irritating to the nerves. 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. I remember de Pachmann—a close interpreter of certain sides of Chopin—playing this coda piano. Development. and with a perpendicular roar the presto comes upon us. muscular in its virility. According to his own lights the Russian virtuoso was right: his strength was not equal to the task. The first questioning theme is heard again." is a logical. a valse-like theme emerges and enjoys a capricious. butterfly existence. now augmented and treated with a broad brush.
It is insipid. stands the much discussed E flat. without any question. It was the property of Professor Lebert (Levy). Even Willeby. thinks Chopin intended the E flat. The last bar of the introduction has caused some controversy. "This dissonant E flat may be said to be the emotional keynote of the whole poem. a New York pianist. This testimony is final. since deceased. Mikuli and other pupils declare for the E flat. It is a questioning thought that. He might have added that the entire composition contains examples— look at the first bar of the valse episode in the bass. 1836. and is dedicated to Baron Stockhausen. who personally prefers the D natural. Klindworth and Kullak use it." This G minor Ballade was published in June. shoots through mind and body." There is other and more confirmatory evidence. That he is wrong internal testimony abundantly proves. Xaver Scharwenka has seen fit to edit Klindworth. As Niecks thinks. The D natural robs the bar of all meaning. and gives a D natural in the Augener edition. 250 .any strong forte to produce the wished for contrast. Gutmann. colorless. and in it. Ferdinand Von Inten. saw the original Chopin manuscript at Stuttgart. and quotes a similar effect twenty-eight bars later. like a sudden pain.
it seems as if warm spring breezes were waving the lithe leaves of the palm tree. Klindworth in sixteenths. 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. third bar. The fourvoiced part has such a clearness withal. did not excite his warmest praise. first line. On the third page. Kullak writes the passage beginning with E flat in eighth notes. On the last page. although dedicated to Robert Schumann. So does Klindworth. although F sharp may be found in some editions. "but equally fantastic and intellectual. Its impassioned episodes seem to have been afterward inserted. I 251 ." he wrote. full of the splendors of glancing scales and shrill octave progressions. The second Ballade. "A less artistic work than the first. "It would inspire a poet to write words to it. he uses F natural in the treble." said Robert Schumann.Kullak gives 60 to the half note at the moderato. a romantic in feeling and a classicist in theory. I have witnessed children lay aside their games to listen thereto. The close is very striking. is the writer of the foregoing. It appears like some fairy tale that has become music. second bar. "Perhaps the most touching of all that Chopin has written is the tale of the F major Ballade.
serene. it now closes in A minor. or rather the cogitations on them—justifies the presence of the presto." Willeby gives its key as F minor. "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. written. The second appearance of the latter leads to an urging." he continues. and seems out of keeping with what precedes. Niecks does not. now veiled first strain. The entrance of the presto surprises. restless coda in A minor. "The second Ballade possesses beauties in no way inferior to those of the first. Chopin admits.recollect very well that when Chopin played this Ballade for me it finished in F major. A major ending would have crushed this extraordinary tone-poem. Chopin's psychology was seldom at fault. but what we hear after the return of tempo primo—the development of those simple strains. It is really in the keys of F major—A minor. which closes in the same key and pianissimo with a few bars of the simple." In truth they cannot." Willeby accepts Schumann's dictum of the inferiority of this Ballade to its predecessor. Niecks is quite justified in asking how "two such wholly dissimilar things can be compared and weighed in this fashion. under the direct inspiration of Adam Mickiewicz's "Le Lac de Willis." 252 .
He also wisely marks crescendos in the bass at the first thematic development. The surprise is a dramatic one. the stormy struggle of the wind. and the fluctuating themes are well contrasted. It shocks one by its abrupt but by no means fantastic transitions. The episodical nature of this Ballade is the fruit of the esoteric moods of its composer. and paraphrased—the field flower a rustic maiden. Presto con fuoco Chopin marks the second section. It was written at Majorca while the composer was only too noticeably disturbed in body and soul.Rubinstein bore great love for this second Ballade. the resistance of the flower. withal rudely vigorous. It follows a hidden story. The key color is changeful. which at last lies there broken. He prefers the E—as 253 . 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. and for the opening 66 to the quarter. the wind a knight. Kullak gives 84 to the quarter. and has the quality—as the second Impromptu in F sharp—of great. Chopin's robust treatment of the first theme results in a strong piece of craftmanship. the entreaty of the flower. a caressing of the flower by the wind." I can find "no lack of affinity" between the andantino and presto. unpremeditated art.
instead of a natural. the "Undine" of Mickiewicz. 1841. At the eighth bar. rhythmical lilt. treble clef. de Noailles. seeing only favor and prettiness in its elegant measures. This Ballade. and also something more.does Klindworth—nine bars before the return of the presto. after this return. has the voice of the people. with its fascinating. graceful. gay. it is aristocratic. what an ironically joyous fillip they give the imagination! "A coquettish grace—if we accept by this expression that 254 . In it "the refined. a spiritual sporting with graver and more passionate emotions. infectious. Even in its playful moments there is delicate irony. He prefers a D sharp. who is accustomed to move in the most distinguished circles of the French capital. It is quite neglected for the third in A flat. as Ehlert says. Nor does Kullak follow Mikuli in using a D in the coda. gifted Pole. is too well known to analyze. who familiarly toy with its demon." Thus Schumann. piquant. published November. P. Kullak adheres to the E instead of F at the beginning of the bar. which. I wish the second Ballade were played oftener in public. Forsooth. It is the schoolgirls' delight. Those broken octaves which usher in each time the second theme. is preeminently to be recognized. Klindworth indicates both. and dedicated to Mlle.
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. gives it in a footnote. like Klindworth." The ease with which the entire work is floated 255 . 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. with the regulation tender avowal. although it is a formal blur. Who will not recall the memorable passage in the A flat Ballade. The disputed passage is on the fifth page of the Kullak edition. that follows up confession with reluctance—seems the very essence of Chopin's being. this delightful territory." "It becomes a difficult task to transcribe the easy transitions.half unconscious toying with the power that charms and fires. with which he portrays Love's game. To my mind this repetition adds emphasis. And what an irresistible moment it is. A measure is missing in Kullak. after the trills. full of an irresistible charm. The episodes of this Ballade are so attenuated of any grosser elements that none but psychical meanings should be read into them. who.
this 256 . There is moonlight in this music. The inverted dominant pedal in the C sharp minor episode reveals. de Rothschild I could write a volume. 47. with the massive coda. and some sunlight. It is Chopin in his most reflective. Kullak suggests some variants. Lyrism is the keynote of the work. The prevailing moods are coquetry and sweet contentment. instead of the appoggiatura which Klindworth prefers. a passionate lyrism. with a note of self-absorption. Contrapuntal skill is shown in the working out section.proves that Chopin in mental health was not daunted by larger forms. Chopin always wears his learning lightly. in the Steingraber edition. Klindworth attacks the trill on the second page with the upper tone— A flat. it does not oppress us. He uses the transient shake in the third bar. suppressed feeling—truly Slavic. Kullak and Mertke. yet lyric mood. play the passage in this manner: (Musical score excerpt from the original version of the Op. a great master. 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. too.
The theme in F minor has the elusive charm of a slow. but as a Ballade "fully worthy of its sisters. Here is the very apotheosis of the ornament. that returns twice. This Ballade is the companion of the Fantaisie-Polonaise. how suave. At no place is there display for display's sake. curious insistence the malady that is devouring his soul. 1843.shyness!—and a concentration that is remarkable even for Chopin. It is the mood of a man who examines with morbid. The cadenza in A is a pause for breath. how satisfying is this page. How wonderfully the introduction comes in for its share of thoughtful treatment. rather a sigh. terrifying coda! 257 ." to quote Niecks. There are episodes. distinguished by novelty and the finest art. the figuration sets off the idea in dazzling relief. It was published December. 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. What a harmonist! And consider the D flat scale runs in the left hand. mournful valse. a rather moody and melancholic pondering usurping its place. transitional passage work. The narrative tone is missing after the first page. before the rigorously logical imitations which presage the re-entrance of the theme. yet never overladen. bejewelled.
' in his firmer. the seventh measure comes to a stand before a fermata on C major. It has three requirements: The comprehension of the programme as a whole.—for Chopin writes according to a programme. free from sentimentality—to which one might 258 . winding harmonies and formidable passages. six-eighths— begins in the major key of the dominant. presenting an embodiment of the signification and the feeling of the work. and in an adequate manner. 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.How the solemn splendors of the half notes weave an atmosphere of mystic tragedy! This soul-suspension recalls Maeterlinck. the conquest of the stupendous difficulties in complicated figures. The Ballade— andante con moto. nobly expressive exposition of the principal theme. to the situations in life best known to. and understood by himself. Tausig fulfilled these requirements. The easy handling of these seven measures Tausig interpreted thus: 'The piece has not yet begun.
the 259 . but thereby resulted sextolets. and a lingering— "letting in air. the bloom consisted in Tausig's treatment of the Ballade. Then followed a passage a tempo. A little thread connects this with the chorale-like introduction of the second theme. Tausig tied the little thread to a doppio movimento in two-four time. to natural history! It is not otherwise with Chopin. a LINGERING which our signs of notation cannot adequately express. because it is made up of atomic time values. An essential requirement in an instrumental virtuoso is that he should understand how to breathe. Rub the bloom from a peach or from a butterfly— what remains will belong to the kitchen. How clear it all became as Tausig played it! Of technical difficulties he knew literally nothing. but rather brings them into stronger relief. 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." Tausig cleverly called it—which in no way impairs rhythm and time. in which the principal theme played hide and seek.easily yield—the grand style found due scope. and how to allow his hearers to take breath—giving them opportunity to arrive at a better understanding. which threw the chorale into still bolder relief. By this I mean a well chosen incision—the cesura. The theme is strongly and abruptly modulated. perhaps a little too much so.
in modulated harp tones. without the slightest effect. came to a stop before a fermata which corresponded to those before mentioned. where it came to a stop before A major. which were trilled out quite independently. just as the introduction stopped before C major. The "lingering" mentioned by de Lenz is tempo rubato. the strength of a robust man—the most vigorous pianistic health. who quarrelled with Chopin about the rhythm of a mazurka—"Can one reduce women to notation? They 260 . finishing with a witches' dance of triplets. which demands the study of an artist. after the theme has once more presented itself in a modified form—variant—it comes under the pestle of an extremely figurate coda.intricate and evasive parts were as easy as the easiest—I might say easier! I admired the short trills in the left hand. so fatally misunderstood by most Chopin players. whose appearance in the piece is well explained by the programme. The coda. Then. This piece winds up with extreme bravura. De Lenz in a note quotes Meyerbeer as saying—Meyerbeer. in order to cast anchor in the haven of the dominant. It swung itself into the higher register. doubled in thirds. as if by a second player. in a word! Tausig overcame this threatening group of terrific difficulties. the gliding ease of the cadence marked dolcissimo.
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. This sonata is not dedicated. and can never be mistaken for mere etude passage work." To Henri Barbadette "C'est Lazare grattant de ses ongles la pierre de son tombeau. behind which rises and falls a faint. It has Asiatic coloring. The movement is too sombre. it is not so powerful. 58. it bridges the vast. or was it originally Tausig who named it "Night winds sweeping over the churchyard graves"? Its agitated." as Niecks writes. Schumann compares it to a "sphinx with a mocking smile. The third Sonata in B minor. This art paints as many differing pictures as there are imaginations for its sonorous background. yet it cannot be ignored. We do know. when isolated. silent gulfs between human souls with its humming eloquence. and to me seems like the wavering outlines of light-tipped hills seen sharply en silhouette. whirring. however. not alone the universal solvent. as Henry James thinks. that the march.breeding or so compact of thematic 268 . withal." yet." or. op. infernal glow. one may abhor it. its curves too full of half-suppressed meanings. like Mendelssohn. unharmonized triplets are strangely disquieting. its rush and sub-human growling too expressive of something that defies definition. has more of that undefinable "organic unity. so pathos. The presto is too wonderful for words. Rubinstein. has a much more profound effect than in its normal sequence. I am not prepared to say.
but the epical air does not fill his nostrils. rich in its reverie. It is an aubade. 269 ." It was published June. charming. The largo is tranquilly beautiful. but it lacks weight. The trio is reserved and hypnotic. but a love lyric. After wreathings and curlings of passage work. with its brilliancy and force. and then—the edifice goes up in smoke. and the entire sonata is. The ending is not that of a sonata. for it augurs us a return of delight. promises much. de Perthuis. The last movement. For Chopin is not the cool breadth and marmoreal majesty of blank verse. and is dedicated to Comtesse E. to the chromatic chords of the sixth. lovely in its tune. The first page. the crisp march of chord progressions. The close of the section is inimitable.interest as its forerunner. When B major is compassed we sigh. There is a clear statement. a parterre of roses. and. when it bursts. He sonnets to perfection. as Niecks writes. It has a clear ring of the scherzo and harks back to Weber in its impersonal. we witness the exquisite budding of the melody in D. a nocturne of the morn—if the contradictory phrase be allowed. a sound theme for developing purposes. All the more sorrow at what follows: wild disorder and the luxuriance called tropical. light as a harebell in the soft breeze is the Scherzo in E flat. and on the rim of despair. There is morning freshness in its hue and scent. amiable hurry. 1845. but not cognate. "affiliated. Vivacious. is a favorite.
Chopin later. yet I fancy the critics have dealt too harshly with it. the first movement being ready in 1833. There is not an abundant literature for this kingly instrument. And it is grateful for the 'cello. short as it is. so why flaunt Chopin's contribution? I will admit that he walks stiffly. It is dedicated to Chopin's friend. would we forego the sensations that two of them evoke? There is still another. op. 65. is more alluring.So these sonatas of Chopin are not sonatas at all. 'cello and piano. for piano and 'cello. encased in his borrowed garb. 1833. instead of violin. the Sonata in G minor. He regretted not making it for viola. but there is the andante. Tonal monotony is the worst charge to be brought against this work. It was published March. the violoncellist. 8. The trio. Now. Robbed of its title of sonata —though sedulously aping this form—it contains much pretty music. admitted that he saw things he would like to change. op. while I by no means share Finck's exalted impression of this work. 270 . in conjunction with the piano. an effective scherzo and a carefully made allegro and finale. When it appeared it won philistine praise. in speaking of it to a pupil. August Franchomme. also in G minor. but. throwing titles to the dogs. It was worked over a long time. and dedicated to Prince Anton Radziwill.
Chopin's imagination refuses to become excited when working in the open spaces of the sonata form. 4. there are many virtuoso passages. his music is transformed to a bewildering bouquet of color when he breathes native air.for its form more nearly approximates the sonata than any of his efforts in the cyclical order. which I do not intend discussing fully. the E minor and F minor concertos are frequently heard because of the chances afforded the solo player. As time passes I see no reason for amending my views on this troublous subject. trio and concertos! The trio opens with fire. despite its youthful puerility. I have written elsewhere at length of the Klindworth. It might figure occasionally on the programmes of our chamber music concerts. but again key changes are not frequent or disparate enough to avoid a monotone. There remain the two concertos. Kelly holds a potent brief for the original orchestration. Compare the wildly modulating Chopin of the ballades to the tame. Tausig and Burmeister versions of the two concertos.pacing Chopin of the sonatas. excepting op. while the finale is cheerful to loveliness. and the adagio charming. Like creatures that remain drab of hue in unsympathetic or dangerous environment. In it the piano receives better treatment than the other instruments. contending that it suits the 271 . Edgar S. the scherzo is fanciful. Not Chopin at his very best.
The trouble arose from the F minor Concerto. while the murmuring mystery of the close mounts to the imagination. it being numbered op. It is true the first movement is too long. genial and genuine piano music. While I admire the Tausig orchestration. The rondo is frolicksome. But he is not consistent. the adagio of this concerto. 21. 1836. although composed before the one in E minor. for he uses the Tausig octaves at the close of the rondo. The recitative is finely outlined. mellifluous and serene as it is. Rosenthal puts this belief into practice by playing the older version of the E minor with the first long tutti curtailed. these particlar octaves are hideously cacaphonic. The slow movement of the F minor Concerto was composed by Chopin during his passion for Constantia Gladowska. The C sharp minor part is imperious in its beauty. It is less flowery. the latter September.character of the piano part. 1833. and the working-out section too much in the nature of a technical study. The former was published April. I think I like best the romanze of the E minor Concerto. tricky. The original triplet unisons are so much more graceful and musical. too much in one set of keys. This larghetto in A flat is a trifle too ornamental for my taste. The first movement of the F minor far transcends it in 272 . She was "the ideal" he mentions in his letters. The chronology of the concertos has given rise to controversy.
—but episodes of rare worth and originality. but it is short and there is no coda. The trio and 'cello sonata were also tasks for whose accomplishment Nature did not design him. which Paderewski plays. The mazurka-like finale is very graceful and full of pure. 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 273 . His lungs were too weak for the pace in seven league boots. passion and musical feeling. sweet melody. It is a complete summing up of the movement. As Ehlert says. Both derive from Hummel and Field. The passage work is superior in design to that of the earlier masters. so often required in a score. the general character episodical. and wrote the unavoidable piano concerto. This concerto is altogether more human than the E minor. "Noblesse oblige—and thus Chopin felt himself compelled to satisfy all demands exacted of a pianist. He is at his best when without formal restraint. He must touch the keys by himself without being called upon to heed the players sitting next him. It was not consistent with his nature to express himself in broad terms. Richard Burmeister has supplied the latter deficiency in a capitally made cadenza.breadth.
Neither saxophone nor ophicleide was necessary for him to fill the soul with awe. She had no technical education.sonata form and his playing upon the masses. too. His was the lonely soul. The latter dedication demonstrates that he could forget his only "ideal" in the presence of the charming 274 . Often in ten lines that a child might play he has introduced poems of unequalled elevation. and so little appreciation of Chopin's peculiar genius for the piano that she could write." It might be remarked here that Beethoven. the F minor to the Comtesse Deiphine Potocka." which is disasterbreeding nonsense. when writing in any form but his own. But it is needless cruelty to pick at Madame Sand's criticisms. aroused a wondering and worshipping world without the aid of saxophone or ophicleide. George Sand knew this when she wrote. dramas unrivalled in force and energy. Without church organ or human voice he inspired faith and enthusiasm. The E minor Concerto is dedicated to Frederick Kalkbrenner. "The day will come when his music will be arranged for orchestra without change of the piano score. "He made an instrument speak the language of the infinite. We have sounded Chopin's weakness when writing for any instrument but his own. He did not need the great material methods to find expression for his genius.
Potocka! Ah! these vibratile and versatile Poles! Robert Schumann. Chopin's musical ancestry is easily traced. from op. 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. at a time when piano music was well nigh strangled by excess of ornament. as Poe had his Holley Chivers. glittering and fanciful. it is related. not timidly treading in the path of popular composition. we find this individual. and Chopin being a pianist did not escape the fever of the footlights. Chopin had his Field. What Chopin thought of his youthful music may be discovered in his scanty correspondence. Little wonder. The germs of his second period are all there. He was composing. whose critical sense did not fail him even in so personal a question." said the composer. Liszt has said that in every young artist there is the virtuoso fever. "Dreary stuff. too. youthful Pole. spangled. then. and outstripping at their own game all the virtuosi of Europe. but bravely carrying his banner. when acrobats were kings. shook his head wearily when his early work was mentioned. when the Bach Fugue and Beethoven Sonata lurked neglected and dusty in the memories of the few. 1 to opus 22 virtuosity for virtuosity's sake is very evident. His originality in this bejewelled work caused Hummel to admire and 275 .
joy in creation. dour quality of the C minor Sonata. 4. much more remarkable. one cannot help liking the C minor Rondo. and two mazurkas in G and B flat major. 1 and 2 there lay two years and twenty works. and too exuberant for his strict confines. 276 . and a generation discards. op. Schumann reviewed it in 1836. He needs must invent some of his own. and when Schumann saw the pages of op. Be this as it may. 1 is remarkable. The supple fingers of the young man from Warsaw made quick work of existing technical difficulties. 2 he uttered his historical cry. and was published in 1827 (?). Today we wonder somewhat at his enthusiasm. The Rondo a la Mazur. Schumann declared that Chopin's first published work was his tenth. than Schumann's Abegg variations.Kalkbrenner to wonder. Opus 1. this op. in a formal sense. It is dedicated to Comtesse Moriolles. dedicated to Madame de Linde. It is sprightly. There is lightness. In the A flat section we detect traces of his F minor Concerto. but it was preceded by two polonaises. It is the old story—a generation seeks to know. and that between op. a Rondo in C minor. which contrast with the heavy. a generation comprehends and enjoys. Loosely constructed. saw the light in 1825. a set of variations. is a further advance. in F.
It is. The Rondo. op. The remaining Rondo. but the virtuoso predominates. which originated in Cracovia. 1834. 16. although the introduction has dramatic touches. it was published June. 14. Chopin's very Slavic version is spirited. with its Weber-ish affinities. posthumously published as op. with an Introduction. He is preoccupied with the brilliant surfaces of the life about him.Polish in feeling and rhythmic life. in F. Its accentual life is usually manifested on an unaccented part of the bar. and no traces of the poetical Chopin are present. merry spirit informs every page. to quote Niecks. and composed in 1828. Dedicated to the Princesse Czartoryska. and is neat rather than poetical. 73. is in great favor at the conservatories. and a glance at any of its pages gives us the familiar Chopin impression—florid passage work. It is to this brilliant piece. op. There is lushness in ornamentation. The orchestral accompaniment is thin. for one piano. danced by the peasants with lusty abandon. but the ornamentation runs mad. It is full of fire. that Richard Burmeister has supplied an orchestral accompaniment. is built on a national dance in two-four time. called Krakowiak. a modified polonaise. The Concert Rondo. was originally intended. especially at the end of a section or phrase. so Chopin writes in 1828. chords in extensions and chromatic progressions. His youthful 277 . and a bold.
Op. Chopin plays with his themes prettily. the subject full in the middle. their brilliancy and euphony. but its musical worth is inferior. grumpy old fellow. or rather to astonish and confuse them. as Finck fancies. as does Brahms with his Thor hammer. 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. rondos and fantasias. given us an interesting page of music criticism. Beethoven. for the Chopin dynamics in the early music are never very rude.expansiveness finds a fair field in these variations. and throttles and 278 . 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. He never smites. all heat lightning. cleaving it to its core. however. despite the cleverness of design in the arabesques. Rellstab. The indisputable superiority to Herz and the rest of the shallow-pated variationists caused Schumann's passionate admiration. 2 has its dazzling moments. Chopin is slightly effeminate in his variations. but it is all surface display. and they are true specimens of spielerei. It is written to split the ears of the groundlings. was near right when he wrote of these variations that "the composer runs down the theme with roulades. It has.
This rondo in B flat is the weakest of Chopin's muse. P. 1834. Published in 1833. Its orchestral background does not count for much. in A. they are musically light waisted. 279 . Titus Woyciechowski. The Fantaisie. In May. is not difficult. op 13. 1851. It was published in April. appeared the Variations in E. is dedicated to the pianist J. 12. although written by one who already knew the keyboard. The piece is written tastefully. on Polish airs. and dedicated by Chopin to the friend of his youth. but the energy. It is Chopin and water. it was dedicated to Miss Emma Horsford. an accompaniment that may be gladly dispensed with.hangs it with chains of shakes. is the brightest of the set. 1 and before 1830. Je Vends des Scapulaires is a tune in Herold and Halevy's "Ludovic. The theme is German. Op. but woefully artificial. a valse. They are not worth the trouble. without an opus number. preceded by an introduction in F sharp minor. the color and Polish character of the piece endeared it to the composer." The skip makes its appearance in the fourth variation. Pixis. The last. and there is no gainsaying the brilliancy and piquant spirit of the Alla Polacca. and Gallic eau sucree at that. He played it often. Evidently composed before Chopin's op. 2 is orchestrally accompanied. It is Chopin brilliant." Chopin varied it in his op.
these cascades of pearly notes. "Are these brilliant passages. the theme of Kurpinski moves and saddens us. 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. 13. op. but the composer does not give time for this impression to become durable. and then suddenly by a few chords and with a brilliant prelude leads us to a popular dance. This is a valuable hint. op. construction nor opus number (49) does it fall into this chapter. Neither by its magnificent content. of Chopin's music. was published in 280 . For instance. The F minor Fantaisie will be considered later. love for the world and men? The melancholy notes are there to bring out." is the character of Polish. "A fig for misery. "Elevated beauty. 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.and as Kleczynski asks. in the Fantaisie. The Allegro de Concert in A. There are variations in the Fantaisie which end with a merry and vivacious Kujawiak. he suspends it by means of a long trill. not sepulchral gayety. 46. gayety. which makes us mingle with the peasant couples of Mazovia. to enforce the principal ideas." is the keynote of a nation that dances furiously to music in the minor key.
in a letter written at Vienna. it has the potentialities of a powerful and more manly composition than either of the two concertos. and is indeed a truncated one—much more so than Schumann's F minor Sonata. But it must not be supposed that these long introductory passages are ineffective for the player. and perhaps Schumann was correct in believing that Chopin had originally sketched this for piano and orchestra. when sending this manuscript to Fontana. He has added a developing section of seventy 281 . a pupil of Chopin. probably in the summer of 1841. Niecks asks if this is not the fragment of a concerto for two pianos. and the principal themes are bold and expressive.November. calls it a concerto? While it adds little to Chopin's reputation. The color note is strikingly adapted for public performance. The Allegro is one of Chopin's most difficult works. and dedicated to Mlle. 1841. It abounds in risky skips. which Chopin. the solo part not really beginning until the eighty.seventh bar. if he succeeded in writing it to his satisfaction. And is there any significance in the fact that Chopin. Jean Louis Nicode has given it an orchestral garb. December 21. 1830. besides arranging it for two pianos. ambuscades of dangerous double notes. said he would play in public with his friend Nidecki. It has all the characteristics of a concerto. There are tutti in the Chopin work. Friederike Muller. called Concert Sans Orchestre.
and bears no dedication. The Bolero.bars. is preferable. it is as little Italian as the Bolero is Spanish. It breathes of the North. a Dutch pianist. and is numbered op. Chopin's visit to Italy was of too short a duration to affect him. In the key of A minor. One finds little of the frenzy ascribed to it by Schumann in his review. There is but little Spanish in its ingredients. has a Polonaise flavor. although the most Iberian in character. 282 . 19. op. It is merely a memorandum of Chopin's early essays in dance forms. That it can be made effective was proven by Emil Sauer. and the principal theme has the rhythmical ring of the Polonaise. It is without the necessary ophidian tang. and far inferior to Heller and Liszt's efforts in the constricted form. This version was first played in New York a decade ago by Marie Geselschap. de Flahault. its coda ends in A major. at least in the style of dance. four years before Chopin's visit to Spain. It was published in 1834. It is for fleetfingered pianists. it must be acknowledged. Willeby says it is in C major! The Tarantella is in A flat. 43. Niecks thinks it an early work. It was published in 1841 (?). It is dedicated to Comtesse E. not the South. and ranks far below the A flat Impromptu in geniality and grace. The original. Composed at Nohant. under the direction of the late Anton Seidl.
2 in G is highly popular in girls' boarding schools. 3. are little dances. No. The Grand Duo Concertant for 'cello and piano is jointly composed by Chopin and Franchomme on themes from "Robert le Diable. composed. tiresome and only slightly superior to compositions of the same sort by De Beriot and Osborne. The trio has the processional quality of a Parisian funeral cortege." It is for the salon of 1833. according to Fontana. 73. their origin being hazy. published as op. and that Franchomme said 'Yes' to everything. nothing more. and is without opus number. this duo is certainly a piece d'occasion— the occasion probably being the need of ready money. Karasowski writes that many of the songs were lost and some of them are still sung in Poland. The three Ecossaises. Full of rapid elegancies and shallow passage work. No.The C minor Funeral March. schottisches. in 1829. Chopin had a habit of playing songs for his 283 . Schumann thinks "Chopin sketched the whole of it. when it was published." It begins in E and ends in A major. It is empty. The Third of May is cited as one of these. sounds like Mendelssohn. It is modest and in no wise remarkable. In the psychology of the Lied Chopin was not happy. The seventeen Polish songs were composed between 1824 and 1844.
and so is Horsemen Before the Battle. Schumann. "Was ein junges Madchen liebt" has a short introduction. made up of specimens in double notes. Bogdan Zaleski and Sigismond Krasinski. gives many valuable hints. For a study of Chopin's ornaments. The first in the key of A. The words are by his friends. Here skeletonized are the special technical problems. has been brilliantly paraphrased by Liszt." There are several mazurkas in the list. Kleczynski. are numerous examples dealt with practically. in his two books. in which the reminiscence hunter may find a true bit of "Meistersinger" color. but neglected putting some of them on paper. Adam Mickiewicz. octaves and passages taken from the works.friends. Franz. Brahms and Tschaikowsky. 284 . and Isidor Philipp has published a set of Exercises Quotidiens. the familiar Maiden's Wish. Most of these songs are mediocre. the Chopin lieder seem almost rudimentary compared to essays in this form by Schubert. A word of recommendation may not be amiss here regarding the technical study of Chopin. Poland's Dirge is an exception. This pretty mazurka is charmingly sung and played by Marcella Sembrich in the singing lesson of "The Barber of Seville. The collected songs are under the opus head 74. Stephen Witwicki. In these Daily Studies. Simple in structure and sentiment. and his edition of the Etudes.
is the only modern virtuoso who plays the Hexameron in his concerts. Moriz Rosenthal. after Vigneron. salon mood. it is the most impressive of this extraordinary mastodonic survival of the "pianistic" past. Chopin's contribution in E major is in his sentimental.Mertke has discussed at length the various editorial procedure in the matter of attacking the trill in single and double notes. This may be found in No. Philipp's collection is published in Paris by J. The newly published Fugue—or fugato—in A minor. Thalberg. composees pour le concert de Madame la Princesse Belgiojoso au benefice des pauvres. in 285 ." Liszt wrote an orchestral accompaniment. par MM. and is prefixed by some interesting remarks of Georges Mathias. In 1837 Chopin contributed the sixth variation of the march from "I Puritani." These variations were published under the title: "Hexameron: Morceau de Concert. Musically. and play it he does with overwhelming splendor. Chopin's portrait in 1833. One composition more is to be considered. also the easiest method of executing the flying scud and vapors of the fioriture. Pixis. Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritans de Bellini. 179 of the Edition Steingraber. Liszt. is included. Herz. H. never published. Czerny et Chopin. His pupil. Hamelle.
a pupil of the composer. Chopin was gay. an entire composition. it also shows how thorough and painful the processes by which he evolved his final style.two voices. Chopin as fuguemaker does not appear in a brilliant light. To the devout Chopinist the first compositions are so many proofs of the joyful. His first period shows this. Cuvier-like. That came later. 286 . 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. The composition is ineffective. but not his vast subjugation of the purely technical to the poetic and spiritual. who probably got it from the late Princess Czartoryska. fairly healthy and bubbling over with a pretty malice. 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. and in spots ugly— particularly in the stretta—and is no doubt an exercise during the working years with Elsner. victorious spirit of the man whose spleen and pessimism have been wrongfully compared to Leopardi's and Baudelaire's. is from a manuscript in the possession of Natalie Janotha.
and only. After all the couleur de rose portraits and lollipop miniatures made of him by pensive. He. virility and passion. The Polonaises:—Heroic Hymns of Battle * How is one to reconcile "the want of manliness." writes Ehlert. Chopin blinded his critics and admirers alike. a delicate. too. "theoretical fear" of this spirit driving him over the cliffs of reason made him curb its antics.XII. moral and intellectual. And we remember the stories of 287 ." which Hadow asserts is "the one great limitation of Chopin's province. had his demon as well as Liszt. as Ehlert puts it. here overwhelming evidences of versatility. Yet he was at times even this. puny fellow. "Beethoven was scarce more vehement and irritable. splendor and courage of the Polonaises? Here are the cannon buried in flowers of Robert Schumann." with the power. he could play the piano on occasion like a devil incarnate. poetic persons it is not possible to conceive Chopin as being irascible and almost brutal.
It is no desire to exaggerate this side of his nature that impels this plain writing. But. Politically the Poles and Celts rub shoulders. as a personal poet he was an 288 . besides. this is feminine hysteria. So this energy. spleen and raging at fortune found escape in some of his music. you may say. Preludes and the great F minor Fantaisie are purposely omitted from this awing scheme. Read the E flat minor. the impotent cries of an unmanly.friends and pupils who have seen this slender. There is no doubt he idealized his country and her wrongs until the theme grew out of all proportion. implacable. Niecks points out that if Chopin was "a flattering idealist as a national poet. 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. the F sharp minor and the two A flat major Polonaises! Ballades. Chopin left compositions that bear witness to his masculine side. his whole education and tastes were opposed to scenes of violence. Chopin was weak in physique. Studies. the A major. but he had the soul of a lion. Scherzi. became psychical in its manifestations. refined Pole wrestling with his wrath as one under the obsession of a fiend. the C minor. He loved Poland. Diminutive in person. bad-temper became him ill. he hated her oppressors. weak nature. fiery.
in the other is Chopin the moody. a processional dance. and had words set to it. Thus came the Kosciuszko. and by no means stereotyped. the Kurpinski." It is really a march. warlike atmosphere. By all means read Liszt's gorgeous description of the Polonaise. It became a dance political." So in the polonaises we find two distinct groups: in one the objective. Liszt tells of the capricious life infused into its courtly measures by the Polish aristocracy. the Polonaise was born. Barring the mazurkas. But in all the Polish element pervades.uncompromising realist. silly. It is at once the symbol of war and 289 . distorted portraits of him. There are moments when he discards gloves and soft phrases and deals blows that reverberate with formidable clangor. grave. it was at first a measured procession of nobles and their womankind to the sound of music. flowing. these dances are the most Polish of his works. the Oginski. and throve in the hardy. after his election to the Polish throne. He had the warrior in him. and a long list written by composers with names ending in "ski. martial side predominates. Appreciation of Chopin's wide diversity of temperament would have sparedthe world the false. In the court of Henry of Anjou. Originating during the last half of the sixteenth century. in 1574. mournful and morose. the Moniuszko. even if his mailed fist was seldom used. moderate.
Their knightly heroism was sanctioned by high-soaring dignity. a vivid pageant of martial splendor. cadenced. it is given a feminine title. partly through an undefinable. The Polonaise is the true and purest type of Polish national character. Despite its essentially masculine mould. The rhythmical cast of the bass is seldom changed. the pursuit of shy. and even the laws of gallantry and the national costume exerted an influence over the turns of this dance. The Polonaise is in three-four time. inborn disposition of the entire race. In the development of the Polonaise everything co-operated which specifically distinguished the nation from others. with the accent on the second beat of the bar. as in the course of centuries it was developed. partly through the political position of the kingdom toward east and west. Liszt wrote of it: "In this form the noblest traditional feelings of ancient Poland are represented. formerly it was called Polonais. The Polonaises are the keystone in the development of this form. They belong to 290 . a weaving. In the Poles of departed times manly resolution was united with glowing devotion to the object of their love. voluptuous dance.love. coquettish woman by the fierce warrior. peculiar. In simple binary form— ternary if a trio is added—this dance has feminine endings to all the principal cadences.
22. With their energetic rhythm they electrify. even the sleepiest indifferentism." Chopin wrote fifteen Polonaises. to be initiated into the original character of the Polonaise as danced through his own observation. and refined. Chopin in his most suave. After sixteen bars of a crudely harmonized tutti comes the Polonaise in the widely remote key of E flat. liquid-toned. 3. the authenticity of one in G flat major being doubted by Niecks. nocturne-like composition. Perhaps it is too long and lacks relief. and unaccompanied. Crystalline. This opus is vivacious. every note telling. Chopin was born too late. op.the most beautiful of Chopin inspirations. op. gracious. The second theme. disturbs the mirrored calm of this lake. while the coda is effective. to the point of excited demonstration. the figuration rich and novel. scarcely a ripple of emotion. and the Polonaise. The theme on each re-entrance is varied ornamentally. but not characterized by great depth. in C minor. it is brilliant. for piano and orchestra. But what others imparted to him in regard to it was supplemented by his fancy and his nationality. the movement spirited and flowing. the piece is 291 . It is a charming. and left his native hearth too early. has a Polish and poetic ring. This list includes the Polonaise for violoncello and piano. This latter Polonaise is preceded by an andante spianato in G in six-eight time. his most placid mood: a barcarolle.
has had the 292 . in Chickering Hall. A delicately managed allusion is made by the horns to the second theme of the nocturne in G. It was practically a novelty to New York when Rafael Joseffy played it here. The C sharp minor Polonaise. Xaver Scharwenka made a new instrumentation that is discreet and extremely well sounding. and in the pretty coda to the wood-wind.stamped "Paris. April 26." the elegant Paris of 1830. giving some thematic work of the slightest texture to the strings. for the scoring is not particularly effective. April. Composed in that year and published in July. Scharwenka first played this arrangement at a Seidl memorial concert. 1898. it is dedicated to the Baronne D'Est. superlatively well. Chopin introduced it at a Conservatoire concert for the benefit of Habeneck. in 1879. New York. according to Niecks. and the idyllic atmosphere is never disturbed. The orchestral part seems wholly superfluous. This. 1836. With excellent tact he has managed the added accompaniment to the introduction. There are even five faint taps of the triangle. 1835. op. and there is a rumor that Chopin cannot be held responsible for it. was the only time he played the Polonaise with orchestral accompaniment. Yet I cannot truthfully say the Polonaise sounds so characteristic as when played solo. 26.
and all ends in 293 . In E flat minor it is variously known as the Siberian. 2 begin. The episode in B major gives pause for breathing. It breathes defiance and rancor from the start.misfortune of being sentimentalized to death. but the indignation soon melts away. One wishes that the shrill. Then follows a subsidiary. 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. high G flat had been written in full chords as the theme suffers from a want of massiveness. an odd ending for such a fiery opening. and all the more so because of the injunction to open with pianissimo. It has a hint of Meyerbeer. On this the Polonaise closes. but the principal subject returns relentlessly. The first three lines are hugely heroic. although fff stares them in the face. In no such mood does No. What suppressed and threatening rumblings are there! Volcanic mutterings these: (Musical score excerpt) It is a sinister page. 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. But again with smothered explosions the Polonaise proper appears. the Revolt Polonaise.
this terrible Polonaise in E flat minor. and is dedicated to M.gloom and the impotent clanking of chains. who moved slowly by him. The story runs. it is really the A major that provoked it—so the Polish portrait painter Kwiatowski informed Niecks. It is dedicated to J. Le Militaire. weak and unhappy as he was. Fontana. 294 . To Rubinstein this seemed a picture of Poland's greatness. 1840. fled the apartment. 40 was composed or finished there. It is the best known and. op. J. Chopin had grit enough to file and polish this brilliant and striking composition into its present shape. Troubled by the ghosts of the past he had raised. for op. op. and was published November. It is an aweprovoking work. hollow eyed. as its companion in C minor is of Poland's downfall. it is the most played. 1836. Not so the celebrated A major Polonaise. it was published July. Ailing. Dessauer. 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. 26. though the most muscular of his compositions. Although Karasowski and Kleczynski give to the A flat major Polonaise the honor of suggesting a well-known story. richly robed. 40. All this must have been at Majorca. the composer. This Polonaise has the festive glitter of Weber.
troubled composition. and of it Liszt has said most eloquent things. the nerve-pulp being harassed by the gradually swelling prelude. a tormenting introspection. This tendency to return upon himself. 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. the "lurid hour that precedes a hurricane" with a "convulsive shudder at the close. certainly signifies a grave state. But consider the musical weight of the work." The opening is very impressive. large in accents and deeply felt.The C minor Polonaise of the same set is a noble. and the constant reference to it betrays the composer's exasperated mental condition. It is barbaric. Can anything be more impressive than this opening? (Musical score excerpt) It is indeed Poland's downfall. produces an impression of vague unrest and suppressed sorrow. The Trio in A flat. There is defiant power in the first theme. There is loftiness of spirit and daring in it. It is for him a dream poem. it is perhaps pathologic. the recklessly bold outpourings of a 295 . with its kaleidoscopic modulations.
a roar in F sharp and finally a silence that marks the cessation of an agitating nightmare. The return of the tempest is not long delayed. yet it unmistakably fits in the picture. The mazurka is full of interrogation and emotional nuanciren. 1841. then the savage drama passes tremblingly into the night after fluid and wavering affirmations. "a flower between two abysses"? This strange dance is ushered in by two of the most enigmatic pages of Chopin. was published December. It is profoundly ironical—what else means the introduction of that lovely mazurka. and with the coda comes sad yearning. in the second beat. but a confession from the dark depths of a self-tortured soul. with its booming cannons and reverberating overtones. 53. Not so in Klindworth nor in the original. is not easily defensible on the score of form. Op. No "sabre dance" this. The A major intermezzo. op. The Chopin text is the upper one: (Musical score excerpts) The A flat Polonaise. and is dedicated to Princesse de Beauvau. fills out an octave. 296 .mind almost distraught! There is no greater test for the poet-pianist than the F sharp minor Polonaise. At the twentieth bar Klindworth differs from the original as follows. It bursts. In the eighteenth bar from the beginning. There are few editorial differences. 44 was published November. wanes. Kullak.
and with a cleaving brilliancy that excites the blood to boiling pitch. Follow Kleczynski's advice and do not sacrifice the Polonaise to 297 ." There is imaginative splendor in this thrilling work." Named the Heroique. as Kleczynski writes. Both mist and starlight are in it. and is said by Karasowski to have been composed in 1840. That Chopin ever played it as intended is incredible. 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. What fire. The octaves in E major are spun out as if speed were the sole idea of this episode. It is. in the strange intermezzo that separates the trio from the polonaise. "the type of a war song. Leo. one hears in it Ehlert's "ring of damascene blade and silver spur. but an objective picture of battle. But there is something disturbing. losing in majesty and force because of the vanity of virtuosi. none but the heroes of the keyboard may grasp its dense chordal masses. even ghostly. and has been nicknamed the "Drum" Polonaise. Yet the work is played too fast. what sword thrusts and smoke and clash of mortal conflict! Here is no psychical presentation. of concrete contours. its fiery projectiles of tone. We have seen this legend disproved by one who knows. with its thunder of horses' hoofs and fierce challengings. It is dedicated to A. This Polonaise is not as feverish and as exalted as the previous one.1843. after Chopin's return from Majorca.
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
"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
is written in three-four time. the whirling gyrations and dizzy evolutions.gifted with sufficient plastic grace to carry them out in style. the Mazurek or Mazurka. 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. and it is quite a favorite at balls on the banks of the Neva. followed by their sibilant slide along the polished floor. the loud thud of boots striking the ground. awaken and mobilize all the antique heroism. Absolutely Slavonic. The mazurka is one of the finest of these. then the swift springs and sudden bounds. the graceful genuflections and quick embraces. mediaeval chivalry and wild romance that lie dormant in the depths of men's being. though a local dance of the province of Mazovia. the clinking and clattering of spurs as heel clashes with heel in mid air. and all the other intricate and maddening movements to the accompaniment of one of Glinka's or Tschaikowsky's masterpieces. and grace. It needs a good deal of room. grace and grace. with the usual displaced accent in 305 . one or more spurred officers. They carefully cultivate dances calling for a kind of grace which is almost beyond the reach of art. The dash with which the partners rush forward. punctuating the staccato of the music.
but this is by no means absolute. It is intoxicating. rude. Brodzinski is quoted as saying that in its primitive form the Mazurek is only a kind of Krakowiak. with progressions of augmented fourths and major sevenths. Sometimes the accent is dotted. The Mazurka is in three-four or threeeight time. When he is happiest he sings his saddest. This. He breaks and varies the conventionalized rhythm in a half hundred ways. Occasionally the augmented second. his most piquant harmonies. is encountered.music of Eastern origin. humorous." At its best it is a dancing anecdote. Here is the rhythm most frequently encountered. developed it. the Hungarian. and skips of a third are of frequent occurrence. Chopin took the framework of the national dance. above all melancholy. poetic. lifting to the plane of a poem the heavy hoofed 306 . less sautillant. The scale is a mixture of major and minor—melodies are encountered that grew out of a scale shorn of a degree. does the Pole. gives to the Mazurkas of Chopin an exotic character apart from their novel and original content. although Chopin employs variants and modifications. As was the case with the Polonaise. Hence his predilection for minor modes. enlarged it and hung upon it his choicest melodies. "less lively. The first part of the bar has usually the quicker notes. a story told in a charming variety of steps and gestures.
but the tree remains the same—that is the Chopin rubato. What to the sensitive critic is a charming wavering and swaying in the measure—"Chopin leans about freely within his bars. "a tempo agitated." wrote an English critic—for the classicists was a rank departure from the time beat." Chopin was more commonplace in his 307 . inartistic modulations. According to Liszt's description of the rubato "a wind plays in the leaves. and dipped in vitriol the pen of Rellstab. interrupted. singing. although "in all of his compositions we hear him relate rejoicingly of Poland's vanished greatness. mourning. a movement flexible.peasant dance. the Polish Mazurka. there is in the Mazurkas the greatest stumbling block of all. and vacillating as the fluctuating breath by which it is agitated. But in this idealization he never robs it altogether of the flavor of the soil. broken. the only Polishreflective music he has made. the startling progressions and abrupt changes of mood" that jarred on the old-fashioned Moscheles. in the most beautiful. the much exploited rubato." Besides the "hard. and is with the Polonaise. according to Rubinstein. the most musical. weeping over Poland's downfall and all that. way. in all its wayward disguises. It is." Elsewhere. Berlioz swore that Chopin could not play in time—which was not true—and later we shall see that Meyerbeer thought the same. yet at the same time abrupt and languishing. Life unfolds and develops beneath them.
nor need 308 . Still he holds that this style has been woefully exaggerated by pupils and imitators. Chopin laughingly admitted that it was a national trait. 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. It is in Bach. and naturally a certain elasticity of phrasing." Halle. it may take just so long to perform the whole." he explained." The tempo rubato is probably as old as music itself. for he did not believe such music could be represented by musical signs. but in detail deviations may differ. once asserted that he proved Chopin to be playing four-four instead of three-four measure in a mazurka. Mozart and not Chopin it was who first said: "Let your left hand be your conductor and always keep time. the pianist. "that a piece lasts a given number of minutes. His music needs the greatest lucidity in presentation. Halle was bewildered when he first heard Chopin play. Chopin was a very martinet with his pupils if too much license of tempo was taken. 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. Rhythms need not be distorted.definition: "Supposing. If a Beethoven symphony or a Bach fugue be played with metronomical rigidity it loses its quintessential flavor.
let us be done with this fetish of stolen time. waving manner. of the wonderful and so seldom comprehended rubato. A Beethoven. it must be delivered in a flowing. play him in curves. could never have indulged in exaggerated. Chopin sentimentalized is Chopin butchered. no longer means a rigorous execution. jerky tempi. who was nurtured by the music of these two giants. silly and explosive dynamics. What makes this popular misconception all the more singular is the freedom with which the classics are now being interpreted.there be absurd and vulgar haltings. and a man whose taste was formed by Bach and Mozart. of measure. but in the name of the Beautiful do not deliver his exquisitely balanced phrases with the jolting. and even a Mozart symphony. Come. in meaningless expression. Without the skeleton a musical composition is flaccid. never square or hard. If you wish to play Chopin. yet with every accent showing like the supple muscles of an athlete beneath his skin. disorder. shapeless. in which the measure is ruthlessly hammered out by the 309 . fed upon the few simple forms of the West. but it does not mean anarchy. weak and without character. Chopin's music needs a rhythmic sense that to us. seems almost abnormal. The very balance and symmetry of the Chopin phraseology are internal. balky eloquence of a cafe chantant singer. let there be no angularities of surface. The Chopin rubato is rhythm liberated from its scholastic bonds. He loathed false sentiment.
is not checked by an anchor of rhythm and symmetry. and even the A flat Impromptu. . Again play him lawlessly. but the melodic and emotional curve is followed and the tempo fluctuates. Everywhere the simplicity of his poetical inspiration and his sobriety saves us from 310 . and is always restrained by a pronounced aesthetical instinct. do not know a single phrase of Chopin's works—including even the freest among them—in which the balloon of inspiration. . and he is no longer Chopin—his caricature only. has a fundamental rhythm not at all fantastic. Chopin never overdoes fantasy.. The most crooked recitative of the F minor Concerto. I. with his accentual life topsy-turvied. as it moves through the air.. 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. the B flat minor Scherzo— the middle part—the F minor Prelude.. and which cannot be dispensed with when playing with orchestra. on the contrary. 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. are not devoid of rhythm. Such passages as occur in the F minor Ballade.conductor. Pianists of Slavic descent alone understand the secret of the tempo rubato.. as can be easily proved.
Niecks quotes Mme. is in some of them. 'Je vous prie de vous asseoir. In his nocturnes and mazurkas he is unrivalled. for he enjoyed the invaluable prompting of Chopin's pupil. the late Princess Marceline Czartoryska. misplaced rubatos. Zal. is a baleful compound of 311 . sour. "Chopin was a phoenix of intimacy with the piano. his mind is gay. who wrote of her master: "He required adherence to the strictest rhythm. joyous. sad. Kleczynski has this in his second volume.' he said." And now to the Mazurkas. morbid. enigmatic. Friederike Stretcher. nee Muller. sweet. for an Occidental. which the Poles call Zal. Ironical." No compositions are so Chopin-ish as the Mazurkas. on such an occasion. which de Lenz said were Heinrich Heine's songs on the piano.extravagance and false pathos. downright fabulous. as well as exaggerated ritardandos. a poisonous word. sane and dreamy." That subtle quality. they illustrate what was said of their composer —"his heart is sad. in others the fun is almost rough and roaring. with gentle mockery. And it is just in this respect that people make such terrible mistakes in the execution of his works. hated all lingering and lagging. a pupil.
premeditated vengeance. feverish. It is a Polish quality and is in the Celtic peoples. The pearl is said to be a morbid secretion. now ardent the whole of Chopin's works. smothered rage must have well nigh suffocated him. "This sorrow is the very soil of Chopin's nature. agitation.pain. sadness. unhealthy. and with his powers of repression. As in certain phases of disease it heightened the beauty of his later work. and in the end proved harmful alike to his person and to his art. yet beauty without doubt. menace never ceasing to threaten if retaliation should ever become possible. all the humility of a regret borne with resignation and without a murmur. this smouldering. Oppressed nations with a tendency to mad lyrism develop this mental secretion of the spleen." Sterile indeed must be such a consuming passion. It is in the B minor Scherzo but 312 . this Zal tainted the source of Chopin's joy. He so confessed when questioned by Comtesse d'Agoult. Even where his patriotism became a lyric cry. rancor. feeding itself meanwhile with a bitter if sterile hatred. revolt full of reproach. so the spiritual ferment called Zal gave to Chopin's music its morbid beauty." it also signifies "excitement. Liszt writes that "the Zal colors with a reflection now argent. secret rancor. revolt. Liszt further explains that the strange word includes in its meanings—for it seems packed with them— "all the tenderness. It made him irascible.
1832. 7 to Mr. dedicated to Princesse Czartoryska. November. dedicated to Madame Lina Freppa. 6. they are for the most part highly polished. December. 24. As concise. show traces of the terrible drowsy Zal in their poetry. and op. four Mazurkas. two poets far removed from the Slavic. op. op. 6 is dedicated to Comtesse Pauline Plater. 313 . dedicated to Leon Szmitkowski. The F minor Ballade overflows with it. 33. even as curt as the Preludes. It is the collective sorrow and tribal wrath of a down-trodden nation. Op. Heine and Baudelaire. and often tiny single poems of great poetic intensity and passionate plaint. 1838. 1837. four Mazurkas. three Mazurkas. op. They are dancing preludes. Its dark introspection colors many of the preludes and mazurkas.not in the A flat Ballade. Johns. Chopin published during his lifetime forty-one Mazurkas in eleven cahiers of three. Op. were published December. four Mazurkas. four Mazurkas. 1835. and the mazurkas for that reason have ethnic value. op. 1841. and so does the F sharp minor Polonaise. May 4. four and five numbers. 7. 30. op. dedicated to E. and in the C sharp minor Scherzo it is in acrid flowering—truly fleurs du mal. 41. 1840. dedicated to Comte de Perthuis. 50. November. 17. op. four Mazurkas. but not the first Impromptu. five Mazurkas. Witwicki. December. October. four Mazurkas. dedicated to Comtesse Mostowska. op. Op.
in G. but to the detriment of the intimate. Niecks thinks there is a well-defined difference between the Mazurkas as far as op. Polish characteristics. 63. As Chopin gripped the form. others with the heels. They are sonnets in their well-rounded mecanisme. April. 59. 1844. one in F sharp major. consisting of eight Mazurkas. something new is to be found in each. and op. as Schumann says. suffered more and knew more. but seldom lost the racial "snap" and hue. B flat. This makes in all fifty-six to be grouped and analyzed.56. C. Klindworth and Mikuli editions. but they are the exceptions. three Mazurkas. 1846. Besides there are op. and there are a miscellaneous number. only some dance with the heart. said to be written by Charles Mayer—in Klindworth's—and four others. Toward the last. dedicated to Comtesse Czosnowska. 1847. In the larger ones the universal quality is felt. op. These Mazurkas are just what they are called. three Mazurkas. D and C major. a few are blithe and jocund. 67 and 68 published by Fontana after Chopin's death. In the latter he misses "savage beauties" and spontaneity. became elaborate and at times impersonal. 41 and those that follow. August. and. as he felt more. Comprising a large and original 314 . no dedication. September. Maberly. both in the Kullak. two in A minor. dedicated to Mile. three Mazurkas. revealed more Weltschmerz. his Mazurkas grew broader.
and the boys and girls are romping in the dance. under the moon. 6 begins with the characteristic triplet that plays such a role in the dance." with its dominant pedal bass. too. the only out-of-doors music Chopin ever made. the note of selftorture. Perhaps when they wander from the map of Poland they lose some of their native fragrance. Like hardy. has the "native wood note wild. they are the least known. This Mazurka. The third section with the appoggiaturas realizes a vivid vision of country couples dancing determinedly. There is hearty delight in the major. Do not accuse Chopin. first in publication. its slight twang and its sweetsad melody in C sharp minor. We hear a drone bass—a favorite device of Chopin—and the chatter of the gossips. simple wild flowers. Who plays No. they are mostly for the open air. Here we find a Chopin fuller fledged than in the nocturnes and variations. the bustle of a 315 .portion of Chopin's compositions. is melodious. for this is the sign-manual of his race. II The F sharp minor Mazurka of op. slightly mournful but of a delightful freshness. 2 of this set? It. and probably because of the form. and how natural it seems. No. But even in the open. of sophisticated sadness is not absent. 3 in E is still on the village green. The Pole suffers in song the joy of his sorrow.
" Niecks demonstrates that the Polish pianist was not the writer. It was the set that brought down the thunders of Rellstab. A jolly. but not for the last time. op. as if obsessed by fixed grief. There is an expansive swing. The incessant circling around one idea. which we hereby do symbolically. Rellstab printed a letter. who wrote: "If Mr.rural festival. The B flat major Mazurka which opens op. the rhythmic life vital. reckless composition that makes one happy to be alive and 316 . The rubato flourishes. Opus 7 drew attention to Chopin. In a later number of "The Iris. 7 is the best known of these dances. signed Chopin. have torn it and thrown it at his feet. a laissez-aller to this piece. In it Chopin is made to call the critic "really a very bad man. with its air of elegance. The harmonization is rich. It reads like the effusion of some indignant." in which a caustic notice appeared of the studies." Criticism had its amenities in 1833. by the composer. that are very alluring. and at the close we hear the footing of the peasant. the authenticity of which is extremely doubtful. Chopin had shown this composition to a master the latter would. But in the following one in E flat minor a different note is sounded. well meaning female friend. 10. is used here for the first. Its harmonies are closer and there is sorrow abroad. it is to be hoped.
appealing quality. in C. No. The following one. is a sequence of moods. This Mazurka has the true ring. The section that begins on the dominant of D flat is full of vigor and imagination. It is a sort of coda to the opus and full of the echoes of lusty happiness. consists of three lines. is bold. Guitar-like is the bass in its snapping resolution. No. with its rhythmic pronouncement at the start. Niecks thinks that the second Mazurka might be called The Request. the left hand is given a solo. 1. and their use. The peasant has vanished or else gapes through the open window while his master goes through the paces of a courtlier dance. it is too heavy-hearted. which begins in A minor. The next. chivalric. The triplet that sets off the phrase has great significance. playful and persuasive is it. 5. A silhouette with a marked profile. 3. and I fancy I hear the swish of the warrior's sabre. gives a line of sternness to the dance. a change to major does not deceive. We encounter sequential chords of the seventh. in F minor. Its assertiveness soon melts into tenderer hues. in A flat. The G major part is very 317 . It is in E minor and has a plaintive.dancing. in B flat. so pathetic. No. rhythmically framed as they are. Opus 17. and in an episode in A we find much to ponder. is as if one danced upon one's grave. brings us back to earth.
3. It is this: Chopin did not care for programme music. his customer. but is never shrill. the gay wedding party of a rich burgess comes along on its way from church. Klindworth employs it. Kullak notes that in the fifth and sixth bars there is no slur in certain editions. and seeing an unfortunate peasant." told the story to Kleczynski. Szulc. No. In the last lines the passion mounts. Who does not know the A minor Mazurka of op. though more than one of his compositions. intoxicated. tumbling about the road and uttering complaints. A slur on two notes of the same pitch with Chopin does not always mean a tie.pretty. but marks the B sforzando. may be included under that name. with shouts of various kinds. A dark page! In A minor the fourth is called by Szulc the Little Jew. who wrote anecdotes of Chopin and collected them with the title of "Fryderyk Szopen. 318 . A Jew in slippers and a long robe comes out of his inn. is pessimistic. exclaims from his threshold. The A flat Mazurka. Though in the key of E major the trio displays a relentless sort of humor. The return does not mend matters. 17. dedicated to Lena Freppa? Itwas already known in our country as the "Little Jew" before the departure of our artist abroad. threatening and irritable. "What is this?" Then. as if by way of contrast to this scene. full of expression and character. It is one of the works of Chopin which are characterized by distinct humor.
It is also the last phrase. for example. for I know full well that my version of the story will not be yours. But what of that? I. being indeterminate and restless. too. Niecks. can build you a programme as lofty or lowly as you please. the tipsy peasant renews his complaints—the complaints of a man who had tried to drown his misery in the glass.accompanied in a lively manner by violins and bagpipes." So there is no predicating the content of music except in a general way. but in Chopin's case this is by no means infallible. The Jew returns indoors. The A minor Mazurka for me is full of hectic despair. shaking his head and again asking. but it will not be Chopin's. 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. If I write with confidence it is that begot of desperation. the mood key may be struck. The train passes by. finds this very dance bleak and joyless. whatever that may mean. of intimate emotional experience. The Mazurka is rather doleful and there is a little triplet of interrogation standing sentinel at the fourth bar. 319 . "What was this?" The story strikes one as being both childish and commonplace. Its tonality accounts for the moods evoked. and with "jarring tones that strike in and pitilessly wake the dreamer.
Here the trio is occidental. I am sure. They are creatures of moods. in C. besides the curious content. a real dance with an ornamental coda. In B flat minor. In the next. melodic air plants. we find. but metronome and rubato are. Klindworth uses variants. and the refrain recalls the Russian bargemen's songs utilized at various times by Tschaikowsky. and its trio is hearty. Mikuli being. It is pleasing. as de Lenz would have said. that Chopin. swinging to the rhythms of any vagrant breeze. But the next! Ah! here is a gem. Mention has not been made. of the tempi of the Mazurkas. so varied. a favorite because of its comparative freedom from technical difficulties. 24 is in A flat. The third Mazurka of op. not deep. These compositions are so capricious.Opus 24 begins with the G minor Mazurka. according to Kullak. it sends out prehensile filaments that entwine and draw us into the centre of a 320 . too slow. with its exotic scale of the augmented second. The metronome is for the student. mutually exclusive. a mixture of tonalities—Lydian and mediaeval church modes. as in the studies and preludes. There is also some editorial differences in the metronomic markings. a beautiful and exquisitely colored poem. Although in the minor mode there is mental strength in the piece. The entire piece leaves a vague impression of discontent. did not play any one of them twice alike.
dancers and the solid globe itself. Then follows a fascinating. laden with rich odors. And his only apparatus a keyboard. with Burns. 30. as a great genius is accustomed to do. op. is another of those wonderful. but every soul belongs to him to the last 321 . The last two bars could have been written only by Chopin. They are ineffable sighs. tender unison begins with its positive chord assertions closing the period. sweet melancholy driving before it joy and being routed itself. until the annunciation of the first theme and the dying away of the dance. as if earth had committed suicide for loss of the sun. the poet who. with lights and shades. who blinds us with color and rich romanticism like Keats and lifts us Shelley-wise to transcendental azure. cadenced step. Here is the poet Chopin. The C minor Mazurka. 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. What can I say of the deepening feeling at the con anima! It stabs with its pathos. odors that almost intoxicate. As Schumann wrote: "Chopin did not make his appearance by an orchestral army. And now the chorus of praise begins to mount in burning octaves. The reprise is still more festooned. he only possesses a small cohort. interprets the simple strains of the folk. heartfelt melodies of the master. and it is almost a relief when the little.wondrous melody.
Moody. 3 in D flat is all animation. yet its meanings are almost endless. is called The Cuckoo by Kleczynski. and the ending. 2. The alternate majorminor of the theme is truly Polish. notwithstanding its subtle progressions. It comes so suddenly upon us. Tschaikowsky borrowed the effect for the conclusion of the Chinoise in a miniature orchestral suite. that its very abruptness is witty. bare-faced fifths and sevenths —compasses its intended meaning.hero. Again I feel like letting loose the dogs of enthusiasm. The relief in B major is less real than it seems—on paper. brightness and a determination to stay out the dance. The graceful trio and canorous brilliancy of this dance make it a favored number. No. in D. 2. of Mazovia. raw as it is—consecutive. The ending is epigrammatic. One can see Chopin making a mocking moue as he wrote it. is bustling. The fourth of this opus is in C sharp minor. The sharp rhythms and solid build of this ample work give it a massive character. our cortical cells pealing with the minor. No. which is curt and rather depressing. It is one of the big Mazurkas. It is sprightly and with the lilt. withal a tender-hearted Mazurka. It begins with one in G sharp minor." Eight lines is this dance. Opus 33 is a popular set. in B minor. 322 . No.
"It's three-four. wrote a humorous poem on this mazurka. This Mazurka is only four lines long and is charming. De Lenz says they parted coolly. Meyerbeer met this gossip and told him that he loved Chopin. as charming as the brief specimen in the Preludes. "I know no pianist.four. so Kleczynski relates. who. "Three. each holding to his opinion. "Two-four.graceful and full of unrestrained vitality. The third of the opus. it was successfully arranged for voice by Viardot-Garcia." said Meyerbeer." answered Chopin. it is full of veiled coquetries." retorted Meyerbeer. nevertheless. after de Lenz played it." scolded Chopin. He had christened it the Epitaph of the Idea. "Let me have it for a ballet in my new opera and I'll show you. in C. flushing angrily. For him it is a domestic comedy in which a 323 . growling recitatives and smothered plaints. Later. One of the most characteristic is by the Polish poet Zelenski." Meyerbeer was wrong in his idea of the tempo. is the one described by de Lenz as almost precipitating a violent row between Chopin and Meyerbeer. hazardous mood transitions. no composer for the piano like him. Though Chopin slurs the last beat. In B minor. Petersburg. The next Mazurka is another famous warhorse. The continual return to the theme gives rise to all manner of fanciful programmes. and played it himself. Bright and not particularly profound. in St. it is there.
when suddenly the man cries out. 41. is a Mazurka that is beloved of 324 . ring the bell there! Horses carry me to the depths. op. the wife tartly answering: "Shan't be quiet. She laments her fate in B major. A soldier flatters a girl at the inn. simply entrancing in its broad. His wife reproaching him." has more poetic contour than the other. Then her husband shouts: "Be quiet. a genuine dialogue. If one does not care for the rather coarse realism of this reading Kleczynski offers the poem of Ujejeski. Its theme is delicately mournful and the subject. the last eight bars of the composition: "Kitty. called The Dragoon." which is decidedly masculine in its magnanimity. with its "Ring. this Mazurka is a beautiful tone-piece in itself.drunken peasant and his much abused wife enact a little scene." This is given in the octaves. despairingly drowns himself. old vixen. Kitty come—do come here. an imitation of the above. flowing melody. Here we are in B flat. and her lover. In C sharp minor. She flies from him. in B major. believing she has deceived him." The gruff grumbling in the bass is heard. 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. ring. I forgive you. Without grafting any libretto on it. The ending. he strikes her.
is for the concert room. No. when Chopin's health fully accounts for the depressed character of the piece. in B major. 2 is charming. It was composed. Kullak notes that in some editions it closes pianissimo. Octaves take it up in profile until it vanishes. They seem to me pretty. its rhythm convincing. is not very resolute of heart. in A flat. in E minor. unisons. De 325 . A flat major and C sharp minor. the first in G major. so Niecks avers. as the youngest children usually do when the parents grow old. Its scale is exotic. for it is sad to the point of tears. 4. its tune a little saddened by life. at Palma.me. 41 he wrote to Fontana from Nohant in 1839. in the middle voices." No. Playful and decorative. one from Palma. Here is the very apotheosis of rhythm. in E minor. "You know I have four new Mazurkas. In A flat. over which the editors deviate on the serious matter of text. No. the answering episode in B flat minor. The D flat Trio. sonorous dance. No. giving it a startling effect. three from here. it is a perfect specimen of the aristocratic Mazurka. Opus 50. and at the close in full harmonies. but courage never fails. 2. Good humor predominates. 3 is a vigorous. Of op. is healthy and vivacious. and is allied to several of his gracious Valses. in the bass. and the grace of the return make this one to be studied and treasured. but not profound in feeling. which seems a little out of drawing. This theme sounds persistently.
" There is the peasant in the first bars in C. even in its beginning. "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.'" De Lenz refers to the opening Bach-like mutations. Very virtuoso-like. 2 in C as an illustration.Lenz finds Bach-ian influences in the following. and ends in an exclusive salon. The third 326 . but not so intimate as some of the others. Karasowski selects No. 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. but the A minor and what follows soon disturb the air of bonhomie. it does him credit and is worked out more fully than the others. Theoretical ease is in the imitative passages. The texture of this dance is closer and finer spun than any we have encountered. in C sharp minor: "It begins as though written for the organ. is elaborate. and his Mazurkas. were sure to show a like record of spiritual and intellectual growth. Perhaps spontaneity is impaired. mais que voulez vous? Chopin was bound to develop. Chopin is now master of his tools. Opus 56. fragile and constricted as is the form. There is decoration in the ritornelle in E flat and one feels the absence of a compensating emotion. in B major. despite the display of contrapuntal skill.
has a dim resemblance to others. if not in workmanship. Not unlike. is stronger in interest. 50. No. an elaboration of the lovely one in the same key. yet there is no gainsaying the fact that this is a noble composition. for example. a sudden melody or an unexpected ending. op. A subtle turn takes us off the familiar road to some strange glade. is it not far loftier in conception and execution than op. While it lacks Niecks' beautes sauvages. a fresh harmony. nor yet the heels. 6. 2. thinks the A flat of this opus the most beautiful of them all. in F sharp minor. op. 41.Mazurka of op. 56 is in C minor. the one in C sharp minor. wherein the flowers are rare in scent and odor. That Chopin did not repeat himself is an artistic miracle. is the next Mazurka. and is a hero throughout. in A minor. 327 . in its sturdy affirmation. 59. To me this Mazurka seems but an amplification. In it he finds legitimately used the repetition in various shapes of a single phrase. The double sixths and more complicated phraseology do not render the later superior to the early Mazurka. Hadow. op. it is composed with the head. like the one that follows. But the next. not the heart. This Mazurka. It is quite long and does not give the impression of a whole. With the exception of a short break in B major. in F sharp minor? The inevitable triplet appears in the third bar. despite its rather saturnine gaze. yet there is always a novel point of departure.
indeed." he writes. stamp this Mazurka a masterpiece. "They are. a measured melancholy and the art of euphonious presentiment of all these. but victor to the last. boldness. displacement of accent. Niecks believes there is a return of the early freshness and poetry in the last three Mazurkas. Time and tune.Oh. a mere shadow. But all this is a means to an end. Chopin is at the summit of his invention. delicacy. progressions of perfect fifths—the horror of schoolmen—sudden turns and unexpected digressions that are so unaccountable. here is charm for you! Read the close of the section in F sharp major. that one's following the composer is beset with difficulties. teeming with interesting matter. "Looked at from the musician's point of view. Pathos. so out of the line of logical sequence. chromatic passing notes. In the major it ends. 63. a turn on D sharp. The emotional content of many of these trifles—trifles if considered only by their size—is really stupendous. and many factors more. that wait for no man. op. are now his bond slaves. beautiful and fascinating withal? Sharp dissonances. the triplet fading away at last. suspensions and anticipations. the expression of an individuality with its intimate experiences. how much do we not see novel and strange." Spoken like a brave man and not a pedant! 328 .
It is very pretty. although I suspect that Klindworth transposed his figures accidentally. as the piece sounds like one of Chopin's more youthful efforts. has a more elegiac ring. eloquent voice of this Mazurka. in F minor. Klindworth affixes 1849 as the year of composition. was composed in 1835. No. 63. It is certainly an early effusion of no great value. while Klindworth gives 1835. I fancy the latter is correct. of winning beauty. 1835. The next. The third. Here again Niecks is correct. On this both biographer and editor agree. In B major. It is jolly and rather superficial. Niecks gives a much earlier date. 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. 4 A minor." The four Mazurkas. 3. I defy anyone to withstand the pleading. in C. although a good dancing tune. No. Slender in technical configuration. published posthumously in 1855. is familiar. To the first. in G. that comprise op. of 329 .Full of vitality is the first number of op. 67 were composed by Chopin at various dates. it is sufficiently various in figuration and rhythmical life to single it from its fellows. in G minor. and its date is set down by Niecks as 1849. is in C sharp minor—surely a pendant to the C sharp minor Valse. Brief and not difficult of matter or manner is this dance. The next.
the one in A minor. that we had parted from Chopin in health. There are a few accents of a forced gayety. in C. the second of the Fontana set. was composed in 1830. interesting because it is said by Julius Fontana to be Chopin's last composition. Too weak and faltering to be febrile. not disease. close harmonies and wild departure—in A—from the first figure. Both are correct. but in no wise remarkable. composed in 1846. weak and trivial. composed in 1827. But it completes the gloomy and sardonic loop. is more mature. Opus 68. He put it on paper a short time before his death. in F minor. and we wish. and the fourth.this opus. This page is full of the premonitions of decay. but was too ill to try it at the piano. but they are swallowed up in the mists of dissolution—the dissolution of one of the most sensitive brains ever wrought by nature. in F major. 1849. Chopin is here a debile. It is certainly morbid in its sick insistence in phrase repetition. being lighter and well made. is much better. 1830. 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. after playing this veritable song of the tomb. the third. Here we may echo. Kullak. 330 . The first. is commonplace. prematurely exhausted young man.
-possibly one of the fifty in whose arms Chopin died—and that the lady parted with Chopin's autograph because of her dire poverty. Gotthard being the publisher of the alleged Chopin Mazurka. it contains a harmonic error. It is so un-Chopinish and artificial that the doubts of the pianist Ernst Pauer were aroused as to its authenticity. As Niecks remarks. Of the four early Mazurkas. in G major and B flat major —dating from 1825—D major—composed in 1829-30. declared he bought the manuscript from a Polish countess. a clear case of forgery. the last in the set. 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 G major is of slight worth. but remodelled in 1832— and C major—of 1833—the latter is the most characteristic. Neither is impressive. One. The one in B flat starts out with a phrase that recalls the A minor Mazurka. the date of composition unknown. It is. in the key of F sharp." July 1.Klindworth and Mikuli include in their editions two Mazurkas in A minor. 1882—Pauer discovered that the piece was identical with a Mazurka by Charles Mayer." the other first appeared in a musical publication of Schotts' about 1842 or 1843—according to Niecks. numbered 45 in the Breitkopf & 331 . is dedicated "a son ami Emile Gaillard. On inquiry—Niecks quotes from the London monthly "Musical Record. of course.
and tender.Hartel edition. dishevelled. They are epigrammatic. Its trio is lifted an octave and the doubling of notes throughout gives more weight and richness. fluctuating. This B flat Mazurka. Chopin here reveals not only his nationality. dances and mourns the Slav. crazy. and to him we abandon ourselves in these precise and vertiginous dances." says Dr. pretty. is. But a fantastic. The recasting improves the D major Mazurka. Schucht in his monograph on Chopin. Within the tremulous spaces of this immature dance is enacted the play of a human soul. nevertheless. debonair spirit is the guide. "In the minor key laughs and cries. these Mazurkas. and some of them have a soft. melancholy light. of a dying poet. early as it was composed. as if shining through alabaster—true corpse light leading to a morass of doubt and terror. There are breadth and decision in the C major Mazurka. a soul that voices the sorrow and revolt of a dying race. but his own fascinating and enigmatic individuality. J. 332 .
The Beethoven Scherzo is full of a robust sort of humor. Chopin the Conqueror * The Scherzi of Chopin are of his own creation. the fierce jollity that mocks itself. as in the case of the Ballades. and at times he hints at the mystery of life. In it he is seldom poetical. The demoniacal element. frequently given to gossip. In 333 . His arrows are tipped with fire. boldly called it a Scherzo. The Pole practically built up a new musical structure. yet they do not fly far. Chopin pitched on a title that is widely misleading when the content is considered. Chopin seldom compasses sublimity. the almost titanic anger of Chopin would not have been regarded by the composer of the Eroica Symphony as adapted to the form. Whether in earnest or serious jest. But in some of his music he skirts the regions where abide the gods. and.XIV. poured into its elastic mould most disturbing and incomparable music. the type as illustrated by Beethoven and Mendelssohn had no meaning for him.
He fumes and frets. the strangely builded shapes of the 334 . a skilful return to the opening theme. beauty of utterance. Yet Chopin gave it dignity. confessions committed to paper of outpourings that never could have passed the lips. the inner Chopin. and the eloquence we call divine are his. but the facade shows gleaming minarets. in the F minor Fantaisie. but upon his countenance is che precious fury of the sibyls. From these alone we may almost reconstruct the real Chopin. is modern.at least one Scherzo. This edifice. These four Scherzi are psychical records. a trio. a short working-out section. In the Scherzi Chopin is often prophet as well as poet. whose conventional exterior so ill prepared the world for the tragic issues of his music. Individuality of utterance. personal. but forgive the writhing for the music made. There are a few bars of introduction—the porch. not architecturally flawless. criticism then bows its questioning brows before this anointed one. We see the soul that suffers from secret convulsions. The interior is romantic. in one Ballade. and an elaborate coda. largeness and a classic massiveness. in the first two movements of the B flat minor Sonata. he compasses grandeur. as Niecks would call it—a principal subject. in several of the Eludes. is better adapted to the florid beauties of Byzantine treatment than to the severe Hellenic line. and in one of the Preludes. The first Scherzo is a fair model.
a chromatic uproar pilots the doomed one across this desperate Styx. The walls stand firm despite the hurricane blowing through and around them. But peace does not long prevail against the powers of Eblis. which is not so effective. What Chopin's programme was we can but guess. The Klindworth edition is preferable. calling down its fire and brimstone. It is gusty. and the hurry and over-emphasis do not endear it to the pianist. The first pages are filled with wrathful sounds. This B minor Scherzo has the acid note of sorrow and revolt. there is much tossing of hands and cries to heaven. and infernal is the Wilde Jagd of the finale. He may have outlined the composition in a moment of great ebullition. Ehlert finds this Scherzo tornadic. and other editions. prescribe A natural. Here love chants with honeyed tongues. The widely dispersed figure of the melody has an entrancing tenderness. He gives the A sharp in the bass six bars before the return of the first motif. Klindworth. This 335 . Kullak follows his example in using the double note stems in the B major part. After shrillest of dissonances.Orient. 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. A climax mounts to a fine frenzy until the lyric intermezzo in B is reached. yet the complex figuration never wavers.
It does not present the frank physiognomy of the second Scherzo.Scherzo might profit by being played without the repeats. The coda is dizzy and overwhelming. Can anything be more bewitching than the episode in C sharp minor merging into E major. A melody of winning distinction unrolls before us. and tarrying not at all we are led to a most delectable spot in the key of A major. Without relaxing pace it passes and drops like a thunderbolt into the bowels of the earth. The chromatic interlocked octaves at the close are very striking. although de Lenz quotes Chopin as saying of the opening. Ehlert cries that it was composed in a blessed hour. Nor are we deceived. For Schumann this Scherzo is Byronic in tenderness and boldness. "It must be a charnel house. I find at times—as my mood changes—something almost repellant in the B minor Scherzo." The defiant challenge of the beginning has no savor of the scorn and drastic mockery of its fore-runner. Again the story is told. This trio is marked by genius. that after the prologue may follow fast catastrophe. Yet it is not feared with all the portentous thunder of its index. It has a noble tone. freedom in rhythmical incidents and genuine power. Karasowski speaks of its Shakespearian 336 . in B flat minor. We are conscious that tragedy impends. op. with the overflow at the close? The fantasy is notable for variety of tonality. is of a noble type. 31.
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." A thoroughly personal characteristic too. but rank. But then it is easier to understand. harsh assertiveness. The chorale of the trio is admirably devised and carried out." but admits that Chopin's methods made for "clearness and precision. though irony lurks in its bars and there is fever in its glance—a glance full of enigmatic and luring scorn. the third Scherzo in C sharp minor. Opus 39. It holds richer. Its piety is a bit of liturgical make-believe. was composed or finished at Majorca and is the most dramatic of the set. who finds the work clear cut and of exact balance. not untinged with splenetic anger. No hesitating. 337 .humor.. I heartily agree with Hadow. and indeed it is a very human and lovable piece of art. There is virile clangor in the firmly struck octaves of the opening pages. warmer.. I confess to see no littleness in the polished phrases. redder blood than the other three and like the A flat Ballade.may be regarded as characteristic of the national manner. morbid view of life. is beloved of the public.
is a great work of art. "How is gravity to clothe itself if jest goes about in dark veils?" Here.contained than the B minor Scherzo. the C sharp minor Scherzo. Built up by a series of cunning touches and climaxes and without the mood depth or variety of its brethren.The contrasts here are most artistic—sonorous harmonies set off by broken chords that deliciously tinkle. is intellectual refinement and jesting of a superior sort. The fourth Scherzo. There is the same "spirit of opposition. then. the coda with its scales. notwithstanding its marked asperities and agitated moments. it is more truly a Scherzo than any of them. brilliant. is in the key of E." but of arrogance none. It has tripping lightness and there is sunshine imprisoned behind its open bars. 54. I find the fairy. a surprising conclusion when considering all that has gone before. The C sharp minor theme is of lyric beauty. op. 338 .like measures delightful after the doleful mutterings of some of the other Scherzi. Without the inner freedom of its predecessor. Niecks thinks it fragmentary. it is more sober and self. There is a coda of frenetic movement and the end is in major. Of it Schumann could not ask. It seems to be banned by classicists and Chopin worshippers alike. Never to become the property of the profane. The agnostic attitude is not yet dead in the piano playing world.
op. Gutmann was in evidence until his death as a "favorite pupil. 1837. Albrecht." Chopin died in this same Gutmann's arms. 20. The B minor has been criticised for being too much in the etude vein." notices that Chopin's later works "begin to lose something of their especial Sarmatian physiognomy. de Caraman. Adolph Gutmann. Comtesse de Furstenstein. February. after remarking that the cosmopolitan must "sacrifice the small interests of the soil on which he was born. despite de Lenz. December. because this giant. De Lenz relates that Chopin dedicated the C sharp minor Scherzo to his pupil Gutmann.Rubinstein most admired the first two Scherzi. 1835." And now we have reached the grandest—oh. But with all their shortcomings these compositions are without peer in the literature of the piano. to approach partly more nearly the universal ideal cultivated by the divine Greeks which 339 . op. Mile. October. the Fantaisie in F minor. 54. 39. Robert Schumann. 1843. with a prize fighter's fist. banal and abused word— of Chopin's compositions. T. and op. op. 1840. 49. to M. 31. They were published and dedicated as follows: Op. December. and. 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.
Beethoven would have built a cathedral on such a foundational scheme. A macabre march. ever prodigal in his melody making. or public. de Souzzo—these interminable countesses and princesses of Chopin! For Niecks. the torso of some Faust-like dream. That first subject. only to precipitate us to the very abysses of the piano. as a letter of the composer indicates." The F minor Fantaisie has hardly the Mozartian serenity. after more than a half century of neglect. and probably composed at Nohant. are of surprising nobility and dramatic grandeur. It is Titanic. it suggests a Titan in commotion. Never properly appreciated by pianists. dashes impetuously to the A flat episode. containing some dangerous dissonances.we find again in Mozart. gravely ushers us to ascending staircases of triplets. It was published November. and its melodies. either personal or patriotic. 1843. Without including the Beethoven Sonatas. who could not at first discern its worth. is it not almost as ethically puissant and passionate as Beethoven in his F minor Sonata? Chopin's lack of tenaciousness is visible here. but Chopin. I do not fear to maintain that this Fantaisie is one of the greatest of piano pieces. being understood at last. if restless by melancholy. The dedication is to Princesse C. it is Chopin's Faust. erroneously marked dolce and played with the 340 . it is. but parades a formal beauty—not disfigured by an excess of violence. not strictly born of the instrument. that heroic love chant. critics.
Oracular octaves quake the cellarage of the palace. and after billowing A flat arpeggios. Then an adagio in this fantastic old world tale—the curtain prepares to descend—a faint. their measured tramp is audible after they vanish. soft. thrilling song. desperate cause is being espoused? When peace is presaged in the key of B. after clamorous G flat octaves reeling from the stars to the sea of the first theme. and the miracle is repeated. the warriors hurry by. inaccessible bars? For a few moments there is contentment beyond all price. and once again is begun the ascent of the rolling triplets to inaccessible heights. sweet voice sings a short. Three times does it resound in this strange Hall of Glancing Mirrors.effeminacies of a salon. the song of C minor reappears in F minor. Now are arching the triplets to the great. appealing cadenza. in contrary motion. only to drop to abysmal depths. beginning in C minor. yet not once should it be caressed. and the triplets obscure their retreat with chromatic vapors. After terrific chordal reverberations there is the rapid retreat of vague armies. is this the prize for which strive these agonized hosts? Is some forlorn princess locked behind these solemn. What mighty. The modulation lifts to G flat. split wide asunder the very earth. great hummocks of tone. 341 . and then the octaves. The bronze fingers of a Tausig are needed. Another rush into D flat ensues. and the first theme sounds in C minor. Then the warring tribe of triplets recommence.
Madame Camille Pleyel nee Mock. Suddenly came a knocking at his door.two giant chords are sounded. and others. the fear that is secretly felt with dreams. a Poe-like. immemorial day. who after the agitated triplets begins his complaint in the mysterious song in F minor. his phono-motor centre being unusually sensitive. and range themselves about Chopin. just as the third and fourth stand for Chopin's musical invitation. sinister tapping. the pianist was crooning at the piano. George Sand. which he at once rhythmically echoed upon the keyboard. as related to him by Chopin. Franz Liszt told Vladimir de Pachmann the programme of the Fantaisie. falls before him on her knees and pleads for pardon. At the close of one desperate. The first two bars of the Fantaisie describe these rappings. Straightway the chant 342 . his spirits vastly depressed. But Sand. To the solemn measures of the march they enter. and the Ballade of Love and War is over. awesome vision? Like De Quincey. with whom he has quarrelled. Alas! for the validity of subjective criticism. it suggests the apparition of the empire of fear. entrez. entrez! This is all repeated until the doors wide open swinging admit Liszt. 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. wherein the spirit expands to the drummings of infinite space.
without padding of paragraphs. such a level of strong passion. This far from ideal reading is an authoritative one. This transcendental work more nearly approaches Beethoven in its unity. its formal rectitude and its brave economy of thematic material. Chopin has never before maintained so artistically. the phraseology is amply broad. 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. so free from delirium. coming as it does from Chopin by way of Liszt. It is his largest canvas. The F minor Fantaisie will mean many things to many people. and though there are no long-breathed periods such as in the B flat minor Scherzo. The rapt interest is not relaxed until the final bar.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. 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. 343 . mental power and exalted euphony. The remainder of the work. In any case I shall cling to my own version.
he passionately strove to shape his dreams into abiding sounds. One is loath to believe that the echo of Chopin's magic music can ever fall upon unheeding ears. if not of his mortal tenement. Nearing his end Chopin discerned. he will remain eternally beautiful. 344 . like Mozart. But the pulse beats ardently in the tissues of this composition. the great heart throb of the universe. but. Master of his material. He may become oldfashioned.While few men have dared to unlock their hearts thus. the gain is on the human side. it is less perfect. but his victories are the precious prizes of mankind. He did not always succeed. with ever widening. Chopin is not so intimate here as in the mazurkas. As art for art. ever brighter vision.
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Edwin W. Legouve. Edward E. Mathias. *** 354 . Morse. Vladimir de Pachmann. The author begs to acknowledge the kind suggestions and assistance of Rafael Joseffy.Rubinstein. Jaraslow de Zielinski. Grenier and others. Ziegler and Ignace Jan Paderewski. Tarnowski. Moriz Rosenthal.