CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MUSIC 
 
Cornell University Library 
 ML 410.C54J81 1908 
 
 3 1924 022 410 082 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402241 0082 
 
A HANDBOOK TO 
 CHOPIN'S WORKS 
 
A HANDBOOK 
 
 TO 
 
 CHOPIN'S WORKS 
 
 GIVING A 
 
 DETAILED ACCgUNT OF ALL THE COMPOSITIONS OF 
 
 CHOPIN, SHORT ANALYSES FOR THE PIANO 
 
 STUDENT, AND CRITICAL QUOTATIONS 
 
 FROM THE WRITINGS OF WELL-KNOWN 
 
 MUSICAL AUTHORS 
 
 THE WHOLE FORMING A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR CONCERT- 
 GOERS. PIANISTS AND PIANOLA-PLAYERS. ALSO A SHORT 
 BIOGRAPHY. CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND A 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS, &c. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. C. ASHTON JONSON 
 
 LONDON: WILLIAM REEVES, 
 83 Charing Cross Road, W.C. 
 
 Fuvthty issue 0/ Revised Second Edition. 
 
[All rights reserved.] 
 
TO MY WIFE 
 
 WITHOUT WHOSE SYMPATHY, BNCOTJBAOEMENT 
 
 AND ASSISTANCE 
 
 I COULD NEVER HAVE WRITTEN THIS BOOK. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 FAGS 
 
 I. What this Book is 13 
 
 II. Chopin's Position among the Great Masters 15 
 
 III. Chopin's Life and Work 21 
 
 IV. Chopin as a Virtuoso . 27 
 V. Chopin as a Teacher . . .31 
 
 VI. Chopin's Taste in Music . 32 
 
 VII. Editions of Chopin's Works 33 
 
 Bibliography ....... 35 
 
 Table of the Works of Frederick Chopin ... 45 
 Works published posthumously with Opus Numbers . . 52 
 Works without Opus Numbers published after the Com- 
 poser's Death 54 
 
 Works without Opus Numbers published during the Com- 
 poser's Lifetime .54 
 
 Chronological List of Chopin's Works in the Approximate 
 
 Order of their Composition . . ... 55 
 
 OPUS 1.— First Rondo. In C minor . . . 59 
 
 2. — Variations on "La ci darem sa mano.'' With 
 
 orchestral accompaniment. In B flat major . CI 
 „ 3. — IntToduction et Polonaise Brillante for Piano 
 
 and Violoncello. In C major . . .63 
 
 ,, 4. — Sonata in C minor ... . . 65 
 
 „ 5. — Rondo a la Mazur. In F major . . ,68 
 
8 Contents. 
 
 v'Th© Mazurkas '^ 
 
 OPUS e.— Four Mazurkas • ^3 
 
 , ^ ,, y?.— Five Mazurkas 78 ' 
 
 „ 8. — Trio for Piano, Violin and Violoncello. In Q j^,' 
 
 minor 81|??-'' 
 
 The Nocturnes 83 
 
 OPUS 9.— Three Nocturnes 86 
 
 „ 10.— 12 Grandes Etudes 92 
 
 J, 11. — Grand Concerto. In E minor. For Piano and 
 
 Orchestra . . . . . • \ • ^^"^ 
 
 ,, 12. — Variations on an air from the Opera of " Ludo- 
 vic," by Herold, " Je vends des Boapulaires." 
 
 In B flat major Ill 
 
 „ 13. — Grande Fantaisie on Polish airs. With orches- 
 tral accompaniment. In A major . . . 113 
 ,, 14. — Krakowiak. Grand Concert Rondo for Piano 
 
 with Orchestra ...... 115 
 
 ,, 15. — Three Nocturnes 117- 
 
 „ 16. — Rondo. In E flat majoj 122 
 
 „ 17. — Four Mazurkas 123 
 
 The Valses 
 
 OPUS 18.— Grande Valse Brillante. In E flat major 
 
 „ -ng.— Bolero. In C major . . .'fsi 
 
 -• The Scherzi 132 
 
 ,, 20. — First Scherzo in B minor . . . . 134 
 
 ,, 21. — Second Concerto in F minor. For Piano and 
 
 Orchestra . . .... 136 
 
 The Polonaises 13g 
 
 OPUS 22.— Grand Polonaise Brillante. In E flat major. 
 
 For Piano and Orchestra .... 141 
 ^ The Ballades 143 
 
Contents. q 
 
 nan 
 
 OPUS 8iP-Ballade in G minor 144 
 
 „ 24. — Four Mazurkas 147 
 
 ,, 25.— Twelve Etudes 148 
 
 „ 26.— Two Polonaises . . . . .163 
 
 ,, 27.— Two Nocturnes . ; .' " . . . .166 
 
 „ 28.— Twenty-four Preludes 169 
 
 The Impromptus 184 
 
 OPUS 29.— Impromptu. In A flat major . . . 185 
 
 ,, 30. — Four Mazurkas 187 
 
 '.,, 31. — Second Scherzo. In B flat minor . . . 189 
 
 ,, 32.— Two Nocturnes 191 
 
 „ 33. — Four Mazurkas 193 
 
 „ 34.— Trois Valses Brillantes .... (^^ 
 
 S, 35. — Sonata in B flat minor 198 
 
 ,, 36. — Second Impromptu. In F sharp minor . . 203 
 
 ,, 37.— Two Nocturnes 204 
 
 ,;ij|L3&— Seconde Ballade in F major . .210 
 
 „ 39. — ^Third Scherzo in C sharp minor . . . 212 
 
 iK 40.— Two Polonaises . . ... i^ . . .215 
 
 ,, 41. — Four Mazurkas 217 
 
 „ 42. — Valse in A flat major .... /21^ 
 
 „. w * 4 3. — Tarantelle in A flat major .... 220 
 
 ,, 44. — Polonaise in F sharp minor .... 222 
 
 „ 45. — Prelude in C sharp minor 223 
 
 ,, 46. — Allegro de Concert in A major .... 225 
 
 „.j^f47.— Third Ballade in A flat major . . .227 
 
 „ 48.— Two Nocturnes 229 
 
 ,, -^dft — Fantaisie in F minor 232 
 
 „ 60.— Three Mazurkas 236 , 
 
10 
 
 Contents. 
 
 OPUS 51. — Third Impromptu in G- flat major 
 ,j^ 62. — Fourth Ballade in P minor 
 
 53.— Polonaise in A flat major 
 
 54. — Scherzo No. 4 in E major 
 
 55. — Two Nocturnes . 
 
 56. — Three Mazurkas 
 *57. — Berceuse in D flat major 
 
 58. — Sonata in B minor . 
 
 59. — Three Mazurkas 
 ■"■•60. — Barcarolle in F sharp major 
 
 61. — Polonaise Fantaisie in A flat 
 
 62. — Two Nocturnes . 
 
 63. — Three Mazurkas 
 
 64. — Trois Valses 
 
 65. — Sonata for Piano and Violoncello in G minor 
 
 66. — Fantaisie Impromptu in C sharp minor . 
 
 67. — Pour Mazurkas 
 
 68. — Four Mazurkas 
 
 69.— Two Valses 
 
 70.— Three Valses 
 
 71. — Three Polonaises 
 
 72. — Nocturne in E minor 
 
 72b. — March Funebre. In C minor 
 
 72c. — Trois Ecossaises 
 
 73. — Rondo for two Pianos in C major 
 
 74. — Seventeen Polish Songs . 
 Grand Duo Concertante in E major for Piano and Violon- 
 cello, on themes fi-om " Robert le Diable," by F. Chopin 
 and A. Franchomme ..,.,., 
 
 279 
 
Contents. 
 
 II 
 
 Trois Nouvelles Etudes 
 Posthumous Works : 
 
 Variations on a Gterman Air in E major 
 
 Mazurkas without Opus Numbers 
 
 Valse in E minor 
 
 Valso in E major 
 
 Polonaise in G sharp minor 
 
 Polonaise in B flat minor 
 Various .... 
 
 FAOB 
 
 280 
 
I.— WHAT THIS BOOK IS. 
 
 TTHIS book is not intended to be read straight through 
 ^ and then placed upon the shelf. It is a hand- 
 book, a kind of musical " Baedeker," a guide through 
 the "Thoughtland and Dreamland" of Chopin's 
 kingdom. 
 
 Students of Chopin have already written volumin- 
 ously about him, and in their writings are many pearls 
 of criticism and gems of sympathetic insight ; but these 
 are scattered through innumerable volumes, magazine 
 articles, and newspapers, and are therefore inaccessible 
 to all but the most devoted students. 
 
 I have tried to collect all such passages of the great- 
 est value, and I have grouped them under the opus 
 numbers of the works to which they refer, so that they 
 are here presented for the first time in their natural 
 connection, and are available for instant reference. 
 
 The main portion of the book consists of a brief 
 account of each composition, its relative place amongst 
 Chopin's works, its distinguishing features, notes of 
 any special point of interest attaching to it and an 
 epitome of the comments or criticisms that have been 
 made upon it by all the great writers, critics, bio- 
 graphers, and virtuosi who have written about Chopin 
 and his works. 
 
 Although I have begun with a brief sketch of 
 Chopin's life, and short preliminary chapters on various 
 aspects of the composer, this book is in no sense in- 
 tended as a biography J whenever the events of Chopin's 
 career exercised a palpable influence over his works, I 
 
14 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 have endeavoured in my comments to emphasise the 
 fact, but any attempt to write a biography when such a 
 work as Professor Niecks's "Chopin" is in existence 
 would be lost labour. . , 
 
 Three years ago this book could only have met with, 
 a very limited demand, owing to the fact that the num- 
 ber of amateurs possessed of sufficient technique to play 
 Chopin's music (for the most part extremely difficult) is 
 very small. 
 
 But to-day, owing to the invention of the pianola and 
 the fact that all Chopin's works, including even the 
 least important of the posthumous compositions, are 
 now available for that instrument, the whole domain of 
 his music is for the first time open to all. Those who 
 wish may pass the portal hitherto guarded by the 
 dragon of technique, and roam at will in his entrancing 
 music-land. 
 
 Nobody who has tried it will deny that the sensuous 
 enjoyment of music like Chopin's is enormously in- 
 creased by the intellectual interest that springs from 
 systematic knowledge. But life is short and art is long, 
 and there are few, even amongst those capable of doing 
 so, who can devote the requisite time to familiarising 
 themselves at the piano with the complete works of a 
 composer, when they are dependent pn their own un- 
 aided efforts. But now the pianola has rendered it easy 
 for any one sufficiently interested to acquire quickly 
 and systematically an intimate knowledge of the works . 
 of the greatest masters. 
 
 Aided by the chronological table I have compiled of 
 the approximate dates of the compositions, the de- 
 velopment of the composer's individuality can be studi-i 
 ously followed, and whether for close study or for a" 
 passing reference to a particular work, such an epitome?!: 
 of the best critical opinions as is here contained must- 
 add new zest to the enjoyment of music. 
 
 I have only reproduced such of the comments of the' 
 writers I have quoted as are helpful to a fuller com- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 15 
 
 prehension and appreciation of the music, and I have 
 omitted as unessential to the purpose of the work in- 
 numerable passages referring solely to finger technique. 
 
 The book will, I trust, be found equally useful and 
 helpful to concert-goers, for whom it forms, a perman- 
 ent analytical programme, to pianists, aad to those 
 amateiurs of music who can now, owing to the pianola, 
 pursue for the first time a systematic and co-ordinated 
 study of Chopin's works, a delight hitherto denied to 
 them owing to their inability to read or play the more 
 difficult compositions. 
 
 So great have been the pleasure and profit to myself 
 of the task of preparing this book, that whether it 
 prove successful or not, I intend, and have indeed al- 
 ready begun, to write similar handbooks to the works 
 of Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg, and other great com- 
 posers. 
 
 Should there prove to be no demand for such a series, 
 I shall not conclude that such works are useless, but 
 rather that others have not realised, as I have, the far- 
 reaching educational value of the pianola, and the 
 vastly increased artistic pleasure to be obtained from 
 its intelligent use. 
 
 II.— CHOPIN'S POSITION AMONG THE GREAT 
 MASTERS. 
 
 T N one of the numerous sketch-books in which Beet- 
 hoven used to jot down the first ideas for his 
 compositions, we find scribbled in the margin : " Heaven 
 knows why my pianoforte music always makes the 
 worst impression on me, especially when it is played 
 badly." To modern audiences who have heard Go- 
 dowsky play the " Appassionata " on a modern concert 
 grand, this little-known piece of self-criticism sounds 
 strange, and to understand it one must go back for a 
 
1 6 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 moment to the history of the pianoforte. An Itahan 
 named Cristofori made the first piano in Florence in 
 1709. He called it the "pianoforte," because with the 
 new hammer action it could play both loud and soft. 
 Previous to this, the tone of the harpsichord, the keyed 
 instrument then in general use, could only be increased 
 by means of a swell, or shutters, as now used on an 
 organ. Three years before his death the great Bach 
 played on a German piano made by one Silbermann, 
 but his preludes and fugues were written in 1722 for 
 the clavichord. It was not till three years after Beet- 
 hoven was born that Clementi fjublished his three Son- 
 atas, Opus 2, which may be Sciid to be the first music 
 written specially for the pianoforte. But the kind of 
 piano for which Mozart wrote so much beautiful music 
 at the end of the eighteenth century was very different 
 from the magnificent instruments of to-day; for in- 
 stance, it was another hundred years before the loud 
 and soft pedals were invented by John Broadwood. 
 The absence of these on the instruments of that time is 
 the reason why the sonatas of Mozart and Haydn can 
 be played with very little loss of effect without using 
 the pedals, and it was to compensate for the lack of 
 singing power in the instrument that Mozart used to 
 embellish his music with the endless turns, trills and; . 
 ornaments that helped to fill in the intervals between 
 the notes of a melody. 
 
 With the improvement of the piano came a different 
 style of playing ; the staccato method was abandoned, 
 and the legato, of which Beethoven was the great ex- 
 ponent, came to the front. His noble series of sonata^ 
 will remain a priceless possession for all ages. But 
 full as they are of the most noble and beautiful ideas, 
 and abounding in sublime and inspiring melodies, Beet- 
 hoven by no means exhausted the possibilities of the 
 instrument. There are many passages in his sonatas^ 
 which do not sound as if they were intended for the 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 17 
 
 piano ; they are emphatically stringed instrument music, 
 and many of his noblest melodies seem to demand an 
 orchestra for their due expression. It is, therefore, not 
 surprising that, considering the value of their musical 
 content, he found the renderings of his sonatas on the 
 instruments of the period unsatisfactory. The genius 
 of Beethoven's contemporary, Schubert, that inexhaust- 
 ible well of musical inspiration, found its most perfect 
 expression in song ; want of restraint and concentration 
 , debarred him from perfection as a writer for the piano ; 
 ; but when we come to the next great name in music, 
 Frederic Chopin, we have arrived at one of the cul- 
 minating points of the art. Rubinstein, the greatest 
 artist among pianists, says : " The Pianoforte Bard, the 
 Pianoforte Rhapsodist, the Pianoforte Mind, the Piano- 
 forte Soul is Chopin. Whether the spirit of this in- 
 strument breathed upon him, or he wrote upon it — how 
 he wrote for it, I do not know, but only an entire going- 
 over of one into the other could call such composition 
 .into life. Tragic, romantic, lyric, heroic, dramatic, fan 
 tastic, soulful, sweet, dreamy, brilliant, grand, simple, 
 all possible expressions are found in his compositions, 
 and are all sung by him upon this instrument in per- 
 'fect beauty." 
 
 ' In Cfiopin the romantic school found its highest ex- 
 pression. The only other name worthy to stand beside 
 "his is that of Schumann, the genius whose almost pro- 
 "phetic insight led him to acclaim his fellow genius as 
 'the noblest poetic spirit of the age. 
 '' Than these two, said Rubinstein, the art of music can 
 tno further go, and as far as regards pianoforte music, 
 Ithere can be no gainsaying this dictum. Writing in 
 i<i850, a year after the death of Chopin, Liszt said that 
 posterity would rank him far higher than his contem- 
 aboraries had done, and the last fifty years have seen a 
 Steady increase in his popularity. Except in the case 
 Df recitals devoted entirely to Beethoven, no programme 
 
 2 
 
1 8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 is complete without its group of Chopin works; what- 
 ever other composer is omitted, he is always included, 
 and yet out of his two hundred and fourteen works how 
 many' can fairly be said to be famiUar to the genera! 
 public. A few of his easier compositions are perhaps 
 too well known as forming part of the gradus-ad-pm- 
 nassum of the young person. Some others are heard 
 too often at concerts; but there are many pieces, perhaps 
 not the most beautiful, but by no means the least inter- 
 esting, which are not heard from year's end to year's 
 end. Even in his easier works there generally occur one 
 or two rather difficult passages, as if Chopin had in- 
 tended to warn off bunglers, and the greater number of 
 his compositions are technically very difficult. It is not 
 too much to say that eighty per cent of his works are a 
 sealed book to the average amateur, and the knowledge 
 to be gained by hearing occasional isolated perform- 
 ances at concerts can give not the faintest idea of i the 
 range and power of Chopin's work. 
 
 There can be no greater mistake than to think that 
 because Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven were 
 great masters, therefore they must be superior to every-. 
 body in everything. Bach in his organ fugues, Handel 
 in his choral writing, Wagner in music drama, Beet- 
 hoven in his symphonies, each touched the highest pin- 
 nacles of art. Chopin in his pianoforte^ works, with the 
 sole exception of Beethoven, stands as the unchallenged 
 mcLster. Even then it is a case of honours divided, fori 
 if in fundamental brain-stuff and majesty of musical 
 material Beethoven is the superior, in the actual expS 
 sion and in the choice of subject most fitly to be ex- 
 pressed on the piano, Chopin has the decides 
 advantage. 
 
 The last fifty years have produced no rival to him ii 
 his own kingdom. Rubinstein maintained that Chopin 
 was the last of the great original composers, but in 
 Mendelssohn, Brahms, Grieg and Wagner, we have 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. ig 
 
 masters who each in his special department have been 
 as supreme as the older men. The delightfully uncon- 
 ventional American critic Finck, in a most stimulating 
 and sympathetic essay, declares that Chopin is as 
 superior to all other piano composers as Wagner is to 
 all other writers of dramatic music, and warns us 
 against what he calls "aesthetic Jumboism," or worship 
 of mere size as constituting superiority in art. If only 
 one work of Chopin's were left us, such as the first book 
 of etudes, or the preludes, his fame would be immortal. 
 If Chopin ranks below Bach, Beethoven and Wagner, 
 it is not because he wrote only for the piano and for the 
 most part small works, but because intrinsically he was-- 
 a man of lesser mental calibre. But the fact remains 
 that as a composer of works for the piano that are 
 matchless for ori_giiiality, sheer beauty and felicity of 
 expression, works which, to quote^ Finck, revealed for 
 the first time the infinite possibilities of varied and 
 beautiful tone-colour inherent in the piano, Chopin is 
 the supreme master. 
 
 — Chopin's chief superiority lies in this genius for tone 
 colour. He was the first composer who thoroughly 
 realised the subtleties of which the piano is capable in 
 the hands of an artist who understands the real use of 
 the sostenuto and una c'orda pedals. The evil habit of 
 describing these as the loud and soft pedals is respon- 
 sible for much misunderstanding on the part of the 
 average amateur. Chopin in one of his letters said 
 contemptuously of Thalberg, that he played " forte and 
 ■piano with the pedals, not with his hands." The pedals 
 should of course only be employed with a view to the 
 quality and not the quantity of tone desired. Chopin 
 was fully aware of his own limitations. When he was 
 pressed by the Comte de Perthuis to write an opera, he 
 said : " Ah, Count, let me compose nothing but music 
 for the pianoforte, I am not learned enough to compose 
 operas !" 
 
20 ' A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Sir Hubert Parry in his summary of musical history 
 says of Chopin: "He uttered his thought with com- 
 plete certainty only through the medium of the piano- 
 forte. He never became master of orchestration even 
 sufficiently to write the accompaniment to his concertos 
 with due effect. But his work for the pianoforte is so 
 marvellously perfect in its adaptation to the idiosyn- 
 crasies of the instrument, that it becomes historically 
 important on that ground alone. His work is not often 
 great in conception, or noteworthy in design, but it is 
 the spontaneous expression of a poetical, refined and 
 sensitive temperament." 
 
 _ Hueffer points out that this very oneness of theme, 
 which in a lesser man would have led to monotony, re- 
 sulted in Chopin in concentration of the highest order. 
 " Excepting Heine, and it may be Sappho, Chopin is 
 the most perfect embodiment of lyrical power, properly 
 so called, that the history of art or poetry can show." 
 
 Hadow at the end of his very delightful and sym- 
 pathetic essay on Chopin says : " To sum up, Chopin 
 can claim no place amo;*g the few greatest masters of 
 the world. He lacks tiie dignity, the breadth, the high 
 seriousness of Palestrina and Bach and Beetlaoven; he 
 no more ranks beside them than Shelley beside Shakes- . 
 peare, or Andrea beside Michael Angelo. But to say 
 this is not to disparage the value of the work that he 
 has done. ... In structure he is a child, playing with a 
 few simple types, and almost helpless as soon as he 
 advances beyond them; in phraseology he is a master, 
 whose felicitous perfection of style is one of the abid- 
 ing treasures of the art. There have been higher ideals ' 
 in music, but not one that has been more clearly seen 
 or more consistently followed. There have been nobler 
 messages, but none delivered with a sweeter or more 
 persuasive eloquence." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 21 
 
 III.— CHOPIN'S LIFE AND WORK. 
 
 r^ HQPIN was the only son of Nicholas Chopin and 
 his wife Justina Krzyanowska; he was born in 
 1 8 10 at Zelazowa Wola, a village near Warsaw. "This 
 date has been the subject of much dispute, but is now 
 finally settled. Chopin's father kept a private school, 
 and Frederic received a good education there and later 
 at the Warsaw Lyceum. 
 
 At a very early age he displayed great musical abil- 
 ity as a pianist and composer. When he was nine years 
 old he appeared with success at a charity concert. At 
 twelve he was already a composer, and a polonaise is 
 extant to which the date 1822 is attached. His Opus i, 
 a Rondo in C minor, was published in 1825, and his 
 Opus 2 appeared in 1828. This latter was the set of 
 variations on " La ci darem," which attracted the atten- 
 tion and earned the warm praise of Schumann. 
 
 During his boyhood Chopin's holidays were passed 
 in the country, where he absorbed the national song 
 'and dance forms in which he heard the peasants in- 
 dulging, for the Poles as a nation are almost as natur- 
 ally musical as the Hungarians. Two mazurkas bear 
 the date of 1825, Chopin's fifteenth year, and about 
 this time he wrote a set of variations on a popular 
 German air, and two polonaises. In all probability he 
 wrote a great many more pieces than have survived, 
 for he was always a severe critic of his own work. His 
 musical education was carried on first by one Zywny, 
 and then by Joseph Eisner, a composer of some repute. 
 Both his teachers seem to have recognised that they 
 had to deal with a boy of strikingly original genius, 
 and under Eisner Chopin was allowed to develop his 
 own musical individuality practically uncontrolled. 
 
 Young Frederic had had the advantage of asso- 
 ciating with the children of the Polish nobility who 
 attended his father's school, and amongst his intimate 
 
22 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 friends were the well-known family of the Radziwills. 
 To these aristocratic surroundings and associations 
 Chopin owed the delicate refinement for which he was 
 distinguished all his life. 
 
 His first long journey was a trip to Berlin in 1828, 
 and in July, 1829, he visited Vienna, where he gave two 
 concerts with conspicuous success. Chopin was an xm- 
 pressionable youth; he had a boyish affection for a 
 Miss Blahetka, but his first serious love affair was his 
 devotion to a beautiful young opera singer, Constantia. 
 Gladkowska, whom he met in Vienna. Nothing^ is 
 known of the unfortunate attachment, nor why it ter- 
 minated, but on Chopin's side it was a very pure and 
 genuine devotion, and undoubtedly had its influencefin 
 deepening the emotional side of his character. 
 
 He was again in Vienna in 1830, and this time he 
 remained there for eight months, till July, 1831. At 
 his concerts he had relied chiefly on the com.positions 
 he had written to show off his powers as a virtuoso. 
 These were the " La ci darem " variations, his two con- 
 certos, the Krakowiak, and a fantaisie on Polish 
 national airs. He went out a great deal into society, 
 and perhaps owing to this, the uncertainty of his plans, 
 and his unfortunate attachment to the beautiful Glad- 
 kowska, he composed very little. After prolonged 
 hesitation he finally set out for Paris, where he arrived- 
 early in October, 1831. 
 
 He already enjoyed a considerable reputation as a 
 virtuoso with a particularly refined and individual 
 style, and although he modestly intended to take les- 
 sons of Kalkbrenner, he decided after his first inter- 
 view not to do so. In a short time his position was 
 assured, and he became one of the most admired 
 pianists and fashionable teachers of the day. 
 
 In December, 1832, he published his first bookiof 
 mazurkas. Opus 6, and from that time till failing 
 health put an end to his creative powers in 1847,1 he 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 23 
 
 wrote one hundred and twenty-two separate works, 
 large and small, or every year an average of eight com- 
 positions, of which it is not too much to say that each is 
 a masterpiece. The only exceptions to this high level 
 are a few pieces composed about 1833, which seem to 
 reflect in their light and essentially French style, the 
 shallowness of the Parisian society Ufe into which 
 Chopin at first plunged con amore. These pieces in- 
 clude the Bolero, the variations on an air of Halevy's, 
 the third Rondo, and a Duo on airs from " Robert le 
 Diable." It seems as if Eis facile salon triumphs had 
 for a brief time lowered his ideals, and perhaps his 
 want of success as a performer before large audiences 
 at public concerts was the blessing in disguise that 
 drove him back upon himself, and led to the composi- 
 tion of his finer and more elevated work, which may be 
 said to begin anew with the B minor Scherzo and the 
 first Ballade. Chopin was never so much at his ease 
 before a large audience as he was when playing to a 
 select few in a 'drawing-room. The knowledge that 
 he was not doing himself justice led him to withdraw 
 increasingly from what he called " the intimidation of 
 the crowd." It was probably in the winter of 1831 that 
 he heard of the marriage of his "ideal," Constantia 
 Gladkowska, to a wealthy merchant of Warsaw. We 
 are told nothing of the way the news affected him, but 
 it is undeniable that from this time onward his music 
 shows a deeper note of feeling. 
 
 Chopin usually spent his annual holiday in travel- 
 ling. In 1835 he visited Dresden, and there fell in 
 love with Marie Wodzinska, the pretty daughter of a 
 wealthy Polish count. This was the Mile. Marie, to 
 whom he dedicated one of the smaller waltzes. In 1836 
 he proposed, but the family did not approve of the 
 engagement, and her refusal does not seem to have 
 caused Chopin very serious unhappiness. 
 
 At Leipzig about this time he njet Schumann, Clara 
 
24 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Wieck, and Mendelssohn, who used to call Chopin with 
 affectionate playfulness " Chopinetto." Schumann's en- 
 thusiastic admiration of Chopin's playing, and his 
 affection for the composer, was as great as that he had 
 already displayed for his music, but Chopin hardly 
 seemed to reciprocate this appreciation. When he re- 
 ceived a copy of Schumann's "Carnival," he put it 
 down after looking at the title-page only, and all he 
 said was : " How nicely they get up this style of thing 
 in Germany." 
 
 It was in 1837 that Chopin first met George Sand 
 His friendship with the celebrated authoress lasted for 
 eight years and is the most discussed episode of his 
 life. No two authorities agree either on the extent or 
 quality of the friendship, or as to the character of 
 George Sand, some presenting her as a dissolute heart- 
 less monster, and others as a charming woman, a good 
 mother, and a faithful friend. Even Niecks, although 
 no admirer of the authoress, whom he thinks incapable 
 of telling the exact truth, is bound to admit that no 
 one can pronounce authoritatively on the moral aspeci: 
 of this extraordinary friendship. Hadow accepts 
 George Sand's version that it was purely platonic, and 
 on her side exclusively a maternal affection ; but what- 
 ever the truth, there is no doubt as to the result. Chopia, 
 certainly suffered cruelly towards the end, although at 
 first and for long intervals he enjoyed a happiness and 
 a sense of completion in his life that had till now been 
 lacking; and this in spite of the first serious break- 
 down in his health, which occurred in the winter of 
 1838-9 after an attack of influenza. This winter he 
 spent at Majorca with George Sand and her children, - 
 Maurice and Solange. As usual, when people go 
 abroad for their health, the winter climate proved ex- 
 ceptional. After a fortnight of lovely gardens, orange 
 groves, olive woods, and beautiful and romantic 
 scenery, it turned cold and began to rain, and went on 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 25 
 
 raining for months, till in February, at the first oppor- 
 tunity, they took ship for Marseilles, where Chopin 
 spent the spring in convalescence, nursed devotedly by 
 his loving friend. After this he spent four months of 
 every summer at George Sand's chateau at Nohant, and 
 it was here that the bulk of his best work was pro- 
 duced. In 1 847 came the rupture between the friends, 
 and the ensuing winter was one of illness, inaction, and 
 consequent financial embarrassment. The revolution of 
 1848 broke out in Paris, and Chopin came to England. 
 He stayed in London till the summer, when he went 
 for a tour in Scotland. 
 
 It is a curious fact that he and Mendelssohn are the 
 only musical geniuses of the first rank who have visited 
 that country. Poor Chopin was very ill all this time. 
 When he played in London he had always to be carried 
 upstairs to the first floor, and in Scotland he complains 
 incessantly of the weather, which he said was killing 
 him. He found nothing to his taste and declared all 
 Scotch women were ugly. Mendelssohn, however, said 
 "he should like to become a Turk, and settle in Edin- 
 burgh." 
 
 During the whole of his stay in England his health 
 became steadily worse. Towards the end, the self- 
 control and reserve of the sick man began to give way. 
 He writes from Dover Street to his friend, Grzymala : 
 "A day longer here and I shall go mad or die"; and 
 again : " I have never cursed anyone, but now I am so 
 weary of life that I am near cursing Lucrezia (George 
 Sand). But she suffers too, and suffers more because 
 she grows daily older in wickedness." There is no 
 doubt that the rupture with George Sand hastened and 
 embittered his last days, and yet there are always two 
 sides to a quarrel, and in a letter of about the same 
 date, George Sand says : " I have exhausted all that 
 the cup of life contains of tribulation. I hoped at 
 least for the old age on which I was entering the re- 
 
26 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 compense of great sacrifices, of much work, fatigue, and 
 a whole life of devotion and abnegation. I asked for 
 nothing but to render happy the objects of my affecj 
 tion. Well, I have been repaid with ingratitude, and 
 evil has got the upper hand in a soul which I wished to 
 make the sanctuary and the hearth of the beautiful 
 and the good." 
 
 What is one to believe? All her biographers seem 
 to agree that the authoress had a marvellous capacity 
 for self-deception, and sympathy with Chopin leads 
 one to think the stinging epigram of Alfred de Musset 
 was not too severe on her : " If I no longer believe in 
 tears, it is because I have seen her weep." 
 
 The anonymous generosity of Miss Stirling, his 
 Scotch pupil and hostess, saved Chopin from actual 
 want and discomfort, for, of course, with the inability 
 to teach, compose, or play, his income had almost en- 
 tirely ceased. He resigned himself to the prospect of 
 death with a noble courage, and was tenderly nursed 
 by his sister and his faithful friends, Gutmann and 
 Franchomme. To the latter he murmured towards the 
 end : " She always said I should die in no other arms 
 than hers." When he was almost in extremis, George 
 Sand came to the landing outside his door, but Gut- 
 mann, fearing to agitate the dying man, refused her 
 entrance. 
 
 The anecdote of the Countess Delphine Potocka 
 singing to the composer is undoubtedly true, but there 
 is the most extraordinary discrepancy in the accounts of 
 those who were actually present, as to what she sang. 
 
 Sentiment and cheap romance, however, have made 
 the most of its opportunity. An anonymous writer in 
 an extinct periodical says: "There is still quite an 
 eager demand for a very bad engraving with the 
 Countess sweetly singing and Chopin sweetly dying. 
 Indeed, many people would seem to believe that 
 Chopin spent his life dying, with the composition of! 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 27 
 
 his own funeral march by way of recreation. At his 
 best they conceive him as an adorable invalid, an 
 anaemic sentimentalist. Therefore, it is always a 
 Chopin nocturne that the mooney women of second- 
 rate fiction dream over at black pianos in great dim 
 rooms with French windows." 
 
 Chopin's funeral with its service at the Madeleine 
 and the procession to Pfere-la-chaise was one of the 
 important events of Parisian life in 1849. His funeral 
 march was arranged for orchestra for the occasion, and 
 Lefebure Wely played two of the preludes on the 
 organ : those in E minor and B minor from the twenty- 
 four which make up Opus 28. 
 
 IV.— CHOPIN AS A VIRTUOSO. 
 
 "\\^HEN Chopin told Mendelssohn that he had been 
 to see Kalkbrenner with the idea of taking les- 
 sons from him, Mendelssohn said impulsively : " You 
 play better than Kalkbrenner," and it is on record that 
 he wrote to a friend : " How happy I am once again 
 hearing a real musician, not one of those half-classical 
 virtuosi who would so much like to combine the honours 
 of virtue with the pleasures of vice in music." 
 
 From his earliest youth Chopin was a distinguished 
 performer on the pianoforte. His first master, Zywny, 
 taught him up to the age of twelve, when his progress 
 was so extraordinary that they decided to allow him 
 to follow the dictates of his instinctive genius. Like 
 Schumann, he endeavoured to increase the flexibility 
 of his hands by a mechanical device, but fortunately it 
 was not attended in his case with the dire results that 
 befell Schumann, whose attempt in this direction ended 
 in a permanent crippling of his fingers, and stopped 
 his career as a virtuoso. Chopin positively created a 
 
28 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 new school of technique, and developed pianoforte 
 playing to a remarkable extent. The contemporary-. 
 criticisms on his playing when he gave concerts in 
 Vienna all go to prove that he was an artist of great 
 individuality and of fine artistic conscience. One of 
 the leading critics of the day wrote : " He is a young 
 man who goes his own way, although his style of play- 
 ing differs greatly from that of other virtuosi; and 
 indeed chiefly in this that the desire to make good 
 music predominates noticeably in his case over the 
 desire to please." 
 
 Moscheles has left us in his letters an interesting 
 critique of Chopin. He says : " He played to me, and 
 then for the first time I really understood his music 
 and saw an explanation of the ladies' enthusiasm. The 
 ad libitum, which with his interpreters degenerates into 
 bad time, is, when he himself performs, the most charm- 
 ing originality of execution; the harsh and dilettante- 
 like modulations, which I could never get over when 
 playing his compositions, ceased to offend when his 
 delicate fairy-like fingers glided over them; his fiano 
 is so delicate that no very strong forte is required to 
 give the desired contrast. Thus we do not miss the 
 orchestral effects which the German school demands 
 from a pianist, but feel ourselves carried away as by a 
 singer who, paying little heed to the accompaniment, 
 abandons himself to his feelings. He is quite unique 
 in the pianistic world." 
 
 Chopin, too, had a delightful disposition, free from 
 the pettiness and jealousy that so often mar artistic 
 natures. When he and Moscheles played to Louis 
 Philippe at St. Cloud, the latter wrote : " Chopin and 
 I revelled like brothers in the triumph achieved by the 
 individual talent of each; there was no tinge of 
 jealousy on either side." 
 
 Heine, who was one of Chopin's intimate circle in 
 Paris, said that genius in the full acceptation of the 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 29 
 
 , term must be allowed to Chopin. " He is not a vir- 
 tuoso only, he is also a poet ; he can make us apprehend 
 the poetry which lives in his heart; he is a 'tone-poet,' 
 and no enjoyment is equal to that which he bestows 
 upon us when he sits down at the piano and 
 improvises." 
 
 The veteran Kuhe heard Chopin play at the house 
 of Mrs. Sartoris in Eaton Place; he tells us he paid a 
 guinea for his ticket, and that Chopin's performance 
 was "the most perfect example of poetry in sound 
 which ever greeted my ears. Were Chopin alive now, 
 every seat would sell for five guineas within two hours 
 of the announcement of a recital by him." 
 
 Sir Charles Halle, who knew Chopin well in Paris, 
 has left in his autobiography an enthusiastic record of 
 his admiration of the composer as pianist. 
 
 " The same evening I heard him play, and was fas- 
 cinated beyond expression. I sat entranced, filled with 
 wonderment, and if the room had suddenly been 
 peopled with fairies I should not have been astonished. 
 The marvellous charm, the poetry and originality, the 
 perfect freedom and absolute lucidity of Chopin's 
 playing at that time cannot be described. It was per- 
 fection in every sense. ... In listening to him you 
 lost all power of analysis; you did not for a moment 
 think how perfect was his execution of this or that 
 difficulty ; you listened, as it were, to the improvisation 
 of a poem and were under the charm as long as it lasted. 
 . . . Chopin carried you with him into a dreamland, 
 in which you would have liked to dwell for ever." 
 
 Von Lenz, who often heard Chopin play, writes : 
 "That which particularly characterised Chopin's play- 
 ing was his rubato, whereby the rhythm and time 
 throughout the whole remained accurate. 'That left 
 hand,' I often heard him say, ' is the conductor ; it must 
 not waver, or lose ground, do with the right hand what 
 you can and will.' In the fluctuation of the tempo 
 
30 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Chopin was ravishing; every note stood on the highest 
 degree of taste, in the noblest sense of the term. When 
 he embellished — which he very rarely did — it was 
 always a species of miracle of good taste." 
 
 About Chopin's rubato playing, Berlioz said in his 
 autobiography : " Chopin could never bear the restraint 
 of time, and, I think, carried his independence too far; 
 he simply could not play in time. He was the delicate, 
 refined virtuoso of small gatherings of groups of in- 
 timate friends ; but Liszt was at his very best with two 
 thousand hearers to conquer." 
 
 With regard to this point Chopin said to Liszt : " I 
 am not at all &t for giving concerts, the crowd intimi- 
 dates me, its breath suffocates me, unknown faces make 
 me dumb. But you are destined for it, for when you 
 do not win your public you have the power to over- 
 whelm it." 
 
 These few quotations will serve to illustrate the uni- 
 versally favourable opinion of Chopin as a player. 
 A whole book of appreciations might be culled from 
 the writings of those who were fortunate enough to 
 have heard the poet-composer play his own com- 
 positions. 
 
 To conclude, we will take the evidence of an anony- 
 mous writer who heard Chopin play during his last 
 visit to London : 
 
 " Over himself his art exercised a great charm. I 
 have seen him look fifty when he took his place, and 
 twenty-five when he quitted it; sit down a meagre, 
 worn, livid, panting man (his face, as someone described- 
 it, seamed with pain and anxiety), and as he proceeded, 
 shadow after shadow gradually dissolve, and fold after 
 fold soften, and the flush of health come back into the 
 cheek, and the dim, glassy eyes brighten with a cheer- 
 ful and living intelligence." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 31 
 
 v.— CHOPIN AS A TEACHER. 
 
 ^ HOPIN increased the income he made from his 
 compositions and his rare appearances in public 
 by teaching. His fee for giving a lesson to pupils, of 
 whom he, as a rule, had as many as he wanted, was 
 twenty francs, but he never taught more than five hours 
 a day, and every year he spent several months in the 
 country. Although at one time he made quite a good 
 income, he was generous and unbusinesslike, and con- 
 sequently never saved money. It has been urged 
 against his merits as a teacher that none of his pupils 
 ever attained to the firnt rank amongst virtuosi. This, 
 however, can easily be accounted for by the fact that 
 a large majority of his pupils were amateurs. Two of 
 his most promising professional pupils died young, 
 Charles Filtsch and Paul Gunsberg. The former was 
 a prodigy of marvellous musical organisation, and, in- 
 deed, by contemporary accounts he was as a pianist 
 what the boy, Von Vecsey, is as a violinist. Amongst 
 his most prominent pupils were George Mathias, pro- 
 fessor of the piano at the Paris Conservatoire; Tel- 
 lefsen, a Norwegian; and Adolph Gutmann, the mas- 
 ter's favourite pupil far excellence as Niecks terms him. 
 Chopin also taught Brinley Richards and Lindsay 
 Sloper. He was always kind to his pupils, but occa- 
 sionally very irritable; and a pupil tells us that he 
 used, when teaching amateurs, to break up pencils as 
 a method of venting his annoyance. His pupils simply 
 idolised him. Smoothness of execution, beauty of tone, 
 and intelligent phrasing were the points on which he 
 most insisted. 
 
 In furtherance of the last two details, he always 
 urged his pupils to hear good singing, and even to take 
 singing lessons themselves, in order that they might 
 develop a true and expressive method of cantabile 
 playing. 
 
32 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 VL— CHOPIN'S TASTE IN MUSIC. 
 
 " T N the great models and masterworks of art Chopin 
 ■'• sought only what corresponded with his nature. 
 What resembled it pleased him, what differed from it 
 hardly received justice from him." 
 
 This was Liszt's dictum upon Chopin's preference in 
 the musical art ; and bearing this undeniably true state- 
 ment in mind, it is interesting and instructive to gather 
 from various sources which were the composers whom 
 Chopin greatly admired, and which again were anti- 
 pathetic to him. 
 
 V -Chopin esteemed Mozart above all other composers. 
 Liszt explains this by saying "that it was because 
 Mozart condescended more rarely than any other com- 
 poser to cross the steps which separate refinement from 
 vulgarity." Niecks amplifies this explanation : " But 
 what no doubt more especially stirred sympathetic 
 chords in the heart of Chopin, and inspired him with 
 that loving admiration for the earlier master, was the 
 ■'sweetness, the grace, and the harmoniousness which in 
 Mozart's works reign supreme and undisturbed." It 
 is said that Chopin never travelled without the score 
 of " Don Giovanni " or the Requiem, and Liszt tells us 
 that even in " Don Giovanni," Chopin discovered pas- 
 sages the presence of which he regretted. It is curious 
 that he adored Bach while seemingly neglecting Beet- 
 hoven. When he wished to prepare himself for one of 
 his concerts, it was not his own music that he played, 
 but that of the great organist, whilst he always 
 grounded his pupils on the Preludes and Fugues, and 
 adjured them always to study Bach. 
 
 Halle narrates how he played Chopin " at his request, 
 in his own room, Beethoven's Sonata in E flat, Op. 30, 
 No. 3, and after the finale he said that it was the first 
 time he had liked it, that it had always appeared to 
 him very vulgar." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 33 
 
 Probably it was want of familiarity with the works 
 of Beethoven which was at the root of Chopin's in- 
 difference. Von Lenz says : " He did not take a very 
 serious interest in Beethoven, he knew only his prin- 
 cipal compositions, the last works not at all. This was 
 in the Paris air! People knew the symphonies, the 
 quartets of the middle period but little, the last ones 
 not at all." 
 
 Of his contemporaries he played chiefly the composi- 
 tions of Hummel, Field and Moscheles. The former 
 had been an admiration of his youth, and the concertos 
 particularly show that Hummel exercised a formative 
 influence on Chopin. From Field, too, he adopted the 
 form of the nocturne, although he infused into it a 
 warmth, a distinction, that are absent from even the 
 best work of the Englishman. He was especially fond 
 of playing the duets of Moscheles, and certain pieces 
 of Schubert also found favour with him. 
 
 Of Weber he apparently did not entertain a high 
 opinion, and notwithstanding Schumann's extravagant 
 admiration and sincere affection for him, Chopin never 
 displayed the least admiration for the work of his 
 great romantic contemporary. 
 
 Chopin hated virtuoso music, and with the exception 
 of a few pieces of Liszt's, none of the efforts of this 
 school were ever to be found on his music desk. 
 
 Vn.— EDITIONS OF CHOPIN'S WORKS. 
 
 'T'HERE are a very great many editions of Chopin's 
 works from amongst which the arnateur or student 
 may take his choice. To avoid confusion it will be 
 advisable not to give a complete list of these, but to 
 say at once that the three best are those published by 
 Bote and Bock, edited by Karl Klindworth ; Schlesinger 
 (Robert Lienau), edited by Theodor Kullak; and 
 Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig. 
 
 3 
 
34 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The last is the most complete; it has several editors, 
 viz., Bargiel, Brahms, Franchomme, Liszt, Reinecke and 
 Rudorff. It contains the orchestral parts to the six 
 pieces with orchestra, the works for stringed instru- 
 ments, and the songs, besides more posthumous works 
 than any other edition. 
 
 Klindworth's is a purely pianoforte edition, and is 
 generally considered the best from an editorial point of 
 view, i.e., in the correctness of the text and the choice 
 in variants, when such exist. KuUak's edition has the 
 advantage of many notes and much interesting com- 
 ment on the works. It contains the songs but not the 
 trio and 'cello duets. Chopin, although he wrote and 
 re-wrote his pieces with the utmost pains until he was 
 satisfied with them, prepared his manuscript very neg- 
 ligently for his publishers. He often did not see the 
 proofs, which were sometimes corrected for him by his 
 friends. The consequence is that the original editions 
 are often full of mistakes and misprints. 
 
 Schumann, for instance, in reviewing the "Taran- 
 tella," said that " the first comprehension of this piece is 
 unfortunately rendered very difficult by the misprints 
 with which it is really swarming." The consequence is, 
 that there exist several important differences between 
 the various editions, and the editors, many of whom 
 were pupils of Chopin's, have disputed right royally 
 over the different readings. The first complete edition 
 of the works was issued in 1864 by Gebethner and 
 Wolff, of Warsaw, edited by Kleczynski. Amongst the 
 other editions are those edited by Tellefsen, Scholtz, 
 Mikuli, Richter, Jadassohn, Mertke, Kohler and 
 Bohn. 
 
 Breitkopf and Hartel have also issued a most com- 
 plete thematic catalogue of the works, with several in- 
 teresting lists and classifications. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 NIECKS, Professor Frederick. "Frederick Chopin as 
 a Man and Musician." Two Vols. Published by 
 Novello & Co. London and New York. 
 
 'TpHIS thorough and painstaking book is the standard 
 authority on Chopin's life and works. There is a 
 leisurely completeness about it, but the material is well 
 arranged and it is never diffuse. The professor not 
 only examined every scrap of documentary evidence in 
 existence, but he had the advantage of personally in- 
 terviewing the friends and pupils of Chopin who were 
 alive at the time he began his researches. As far as 
 dates and the facts of Chopin's life go, no other bio- 
 graphy of the composer is worth reading; Professor 
 Niecks's book not only embraces everything of value in 
 the works published before his, but all succeeding bio- 
 graphers have had perforce to follow in his footsteps, 
 and their books are but a rearrangement of his material. 
 
 The chief sources from which Professor Niecks drew 
 were Liszt's and Karasowski's biographies, and other 
 works then extant were a short life by Joseph Bennett 
 and a brief essay by Hueffer. 
 
 But apart from biographical details, it is always in- 
 teresting to read what a musician of critical insight 
 has to say about Chopin's position and capacities as a 
 composer, and here the essays of Hadow and Finck, 
 and the more elaborate works of Huneker, show their 
 value; whilst of variety of opinion in regard to the 
 actual works, there is naturally no end. Finck, for 
 instance, resenting Niecks's epithet of "decidedly 
 
36 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 commonplace," applied to some of Chopin's songs, is 
 stung into remarking that " Niecks's two volumes are 
 full of such preposterous opinions," and adds : It is 
 indeed a calamity that the task of writing the most 
 elaborate work on the life and compositions of Chopin 
 should have fallen into such hands." 
 
 Apart from the musical opinions, the fact remains 
 that the professor's work is monumental arid a model 
 of what a musical biography should be, concise but full, 
 appreciative, but free from the undiscriminating hero- 
 worship and exaggeration that, as a rule, disfigure this 
 class of work. 
 
 LISZT, Franz. " Life of Chopin," translated by John 
 Broadhouse. Published by Wm. Reeves, London, 
 
 Shortly after Chopin's death, Liszt published a 
 memoir of his friend of curiously unequal merit. As 
 far as regards facts and dates it is most inaccurate and 
 misleading, but as a sympathetic, critical appreciation 
 of his work and position as a composer it is invaluable, 
 It is the work of a great artist, and as full of insight, 
 delicate discrimination, and justifiable enthusiasm as 
 are Liszt's writings on Wagner. 
 
 George Sand described it as " un feu exubhant en 
 style, mais remfli de bonnes choses et de tres belles 
 pages." 1 ''I 
 
 Certain chapters, particularly those describing the 
 Mazurka and the Polonaise, are worse than exuberant 
 in style, they are positively grotesque and nauseating 
 in their sentimental extravagance. The researches of 
 Mr. Ashton Ellis have made it quite clear that it is to 
 the flowery pen of the Princess Carolyne Wittgenstein 
 that these blemishes are attributable. Liszt allowed 
 her to embellish his work at her own sweet will, with 
 the result that the book, at any rate, for English 
 readers, is quite spoilt. It cannot, however, be over- 
 looked by the Chopin student, for the personal reminis? 
 cences of one of the greatest composers by one of the 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 3; 
 
 greatest executive artists of the world must be in- 
 valuable. 
 
 SCHUMANN, Robert. " Music and Musicians," trans- 
 lated by Fanny Raymond Ritter. Two Vols. Pub- 
 lished by Wm. Reeves. London. 
 
 Scattered throughout the collected criticisms that 
 Schumann published in the musical papers which he 
 edited, are very many references to Chopin and his 
 various compositions. These will be found incorpor- 
 ated in their natural connection in the body of this'book. 
 Amongst those who have written about Chopin's music, 
 Schumann has the unchallenged right to the first place. 
 Himself a genius of the highest rank, he discerned 
 even in the earliest work of Chopin a kindred spirit. 
 His admiration never wavered, he greeted every new 
 composition of Chopin's with sympathetic appreciation, 
 and his critical remarks are not only interesting from 
 the point of view of musical history, but they are of 
 real value to the student of Chopin's works. They are 
 to be found in their translated form in the two volumes 
 mentioned above. 
 
 HUNEKER, James. " Chopin, the Man and his Music." 
 Published by Wm. Reeves. London. 1901. 
 
 Of works on Chopin published since Niecks's life, this 
 is by far the most important. From a biographical 
 point of view, like all who come after Niecks, Huneker 
 can have nothing new to say ; but his comments on the 
 works are fresh, varied and stimulating. The chief 
 faults of the book are a want of method in the arrange- 
 ment, rendering quick reference very difficult and a ten- 
 dency to exaggeration in style. 
 
 HUNEKER, James. "Mezzotints in Modern Music." 
 Published by Wm. Reeves. London. 
 
 The third essay in this book, a series of studies on 
 modern musicians, is devoted to a study of the Polish 
 
38 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 composer, entitled "The Greater Chopin." This is a 
 sympathetic essay, and discriminates between the 
 greater and smaller works of Chopin with nice critical 
 insight. The book is interesting throughout, and has 
 the gift of enthusiasm. 
 
 KARASOWSKI, Moritz. " Frederic Chopin, His Life, 
 Letters, and Works," translated from the German 
 by Emily Hill. Published by Wm. Reeves. Lon- 
 don. 1879. Second Edition, revised. 1906. 
 
 This was the first serious attempt at a biography of 
 Chopin, and the letters that the author obtained from 
 the composer's relatives give it value. In the Polish 
 edition published in 1882 are some till then unpub- 
 lished letters from Chopin to Fontana. Niecks criti- 
 cises Karasowski's "unchecked partiality and bound- 
 less admiration for his hero, his uncritical acceptance 
 and fanciful embellishments of anecdotes and hear- 
 says, and the extreme paucity of his information con- 
 cerning the period of Chopin's life which begins with 
 his settlement in Paris." Karasowski's comments on 
 the music are meagre and unsatisfactory. 
 
 FINCK, Henry T. "Chopin and other Musical Es- 
 says." Published by Charles Scribners' Sons. New 
 York. 1899. 
 
 This essay of Chopin, which gives its title to the 
 book, is a most brilliant bit of work. The writer is a 
 daring and unconventional critic, never hesitating to 
 give utterance to his most original ideas, whatever the 
 weight of authority against him, and, as a consequence, 
 he is always worth reading. Here, in a short space he 
 has put together more of value and interest than in 
 many long works on the subject. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 39 
 
 FINCK, Henry T. " Songs and Song-Writers." Pub- 
 lished by Jolin Murray. London. 1901. 
 
 In this fascinating book, covering a field in which 
 hardly anything has been accomplished in a similar 
 line, the student will find an admirably written chapter 
 on Chopin's songs. 
 
 BENNETT, Joseph. "Frederic Chopin." Published 
 by Novello & Co. London and New York. 
 
 This is a brief biography, in Novello's series 0I 
 Primers of Musical Biography, which can be com- 
 mended to those who have not the time to read Niecks' 
 substantial volumes. 
 
 HUEFFER, Francis. "Musical Studies." Published 
 by Adam and Charles Black. Edinburgh. 1880. 
 
 The second essay in this book on Chopin appeared 
 originally in the " Fortnightly Magazine" in September, 
 1877. It is brief, and has been quite superseded by 
 other and more important works. 
 
 WILLEBY, Charles. "Frederic Francois Chopin." 
 Published by Sampson Low, Marston & Co. 1892. 
 
 The arrangement of this book is rather unsatisfac- 
 tory. Descriptions of Chopin's music are introduced 
 rather arbitrarily into the biographical portion of the 
 volume. The criticisms are interesting from a per- 
 sonal point of view, but strangely unappreciative of 
 certain facets of Chopin's genius. 
 
 HADDEN, J. Cuthbert. "Chopin." Published by 
 J. M. Dent & Co., London; and E. P. Dutton & 
 Co., New York. 
 
 This volume is one of a series published under the 
 title of "The Master Musicians," a set of musical bio- 
 graphies of varying merit. This particular contribu- 
 tion is, however, one of the most satisfactory of the set. 
 
40 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 although hardly necessary to those who possess the 
 more expensive work of Niecks. 
 
 HADOW, W. H. "Studies in Modern Music." Second 
 series. Published by Seeley & Co. London. 1901. 
 
 The second study in this book on Frederic Chopin is 
 the most sympathetic, discriminating, and truly critical 
 essay that has appeared in England. It has personality 
 and distinction, and makes one wish that the writer 
 could see his way to a larger work on the subject. 
 
 KLECZYNSKI, Jean. "The Works of Frederic 
 Chopin, and their Proper Interpretation." Pub- 
 lished by Wm. Reeves. London. 
 
 This book consists of three valuable lectures, contain- 
 ing many interesting hints on " How to play Chopin." 
 
 KLECZYNSKI, Jean. "Chopin's Greater Works," 
 translated by Janotha. Published by Wm. Reeves, 
 London ; Charles Scribners' Sons, New York. 
 
 These three further lectures deal with the Preludes, 
 Ballades, Nocturnes, Polonaises and Mazurkas. It is 
 difficult to see why the Etudes, Scherzi and Sonatas 
 should be omitted in dealing with the " greater works," 
 but these lectures, though wanting in method, contain 
 much valuable instruction, and are by no means the 
 least interesting of the many works on Chopin. 
 
 AUDLEY, Madame A. " Frederic Chopin, sa vie et 
 ses CEuvres." Published by Plon and Cie. Paris. 
 
 This is a brief and readable life of the composer 
 founded on the work of Karasowski, but now of little 
 value. 
 
 WODZINSKI, Count. "Les trois Romans de Frederic 
 Chopin." Calmann Levy. Paris. 1886. 
 
 This book which, as Niecks says, is more of the nature 
 of a novel than of a biography, deals primarily with 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 41 
 
 Chopin's attachment to Constantia Gladkowska, Marie 
 Wodzinska, and George Sand, but has also a wider 
 scope, and cannot be altogether ignored. 
 
 BARBEDETTE, H. "F. Chopin. Essai de critique 
 musicale." 
 
 This brochure was published in Paris shortly after 
 Chopin's death. It is interesting as containing a de- 
 tailed contemporary criticism of the whole of the works 
 by one who had the advantage of often hearing Chopin 
 perform. 
 
 EHLERT, Louis. "Letters on Music to a Lady," 
 translated by Fanny Raymond Ritter. Published 
 by Wm. Reeves. London. 1877. 
 
 In this book will be found a rhapsody on Chopin's 
 mazurkas. 
 
 EHLERT, Louis. "Aus der Tonwelt." Two vols. 
 B. Behr's verlag (E. Bock). Berlin. 1898. 
 
 The concluding essay on Chopin is a valuable con- 
 tribution to the literature of the subject. 
 
 SCHUCHT, Dr. J. "Frederic Chopin und seine 
 werke." Leipzig. L. F.Kahnt. 
 
 This short volume contains many interesting com- 
 ments on the music. 
 
 VON BULOW, Hans. 
 
 This celebrated virtuoso edited an edition of the 
 Etudes and Impromptus in which there is much valu- 
 able instruction as to performance, and some interesting 
 critical opinions. 
 
 KULLAK, Theodore. 
 
 This well-known teacher edited an edition of Chopin, 
 published by Schlesinger. The professor's notes are 
 
42 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 valuable not only to the student of the piano, but from 
 the point of view of artistic and critical interest. 
 
 RUBINSTEIN, Anton. "Conversations on MuSxC," 
 
 translated by Mrs. J. P. Morgan. Published by 
 
 Charles F. Tretbar, New York. 
 
 This little book contains Rubinstein's opinions on 
 
 many composers ; naturally he had a very high opinion 
 
 of Chopin and expressed it very vigorously. 
 
 TARNOWSKI, Count Stanilas. "Chopin, as Re- 
 vealed by Extracts from his Diary." Translated 
 by Natalie Janotha. London. Wm. Reeves. 
 
 This is a brief but very interesting sketch of Chopin's 
 fascinating personality, illustrated by extracts from his 
 diaries and correspondence. 
 
 Of writers on musical history who have naturally 
 said more or less, interesting things about Chopin, it 
 will be sufficient to mention the names of Sir Hubert 
 Parry, who sums up Chopin with his usual felicity of 
 diction and unerring insight in his invaluable work, 
 " The Evolution of the Art of Music " ; Oscar Bie, who 
 has a good deal to say about Chopin in his "History 
 of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players " ; and H. H. 
 Statham, in his "My Thoughts on Music and Musi- 
 cians." 
 
 Sir Charles Halle, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Henselt, 
 Moscheles, Scholtz, Heine, Kuhe, and other contem- 
 poraries of Chopin have frequent references to the com- 
 poser and his works scattered throughout their auto- 
 biographies and letters. 
 
 Niecks has transmitted to us the personal reminis- 
 cences of Stephen Heller, Ferdinand Hiller, Ernst, and 
 other friends of Chopin, and also tells us of Chopin's 
 pupils and their remembrances of their beloved teacher. 
 Prominent amongst these are Mathias and Gutmann. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 43 
 
 Contemporary critics have left on record their appre- 
 ciation or depreciation of the great master. Our own 
 critics, Davison and Chorley, who wielded such power 
 in ^he forties, admired the Polish composer, but Rell- 
 stab, the German critic of the Berlin " Iris," earned for 
 himself unenviable fame by the retrograde and unap- 
 preciative nature of his criticism, which rivalled in 
 violence the diatribes to which Hanslick and his school 
 treated Wagner. 
 
 Von Lenz, a German, who made a cult of piano vir- 
 tuosi, has left us a very full account of Chopin's genius 
 as a jJianist. 
 
 Amongst critics who have incidentally said much that 
 is interesting about Chopin, one must mention J. A. 
 Fuller Maitland (especially with reference to Chopin's 
 sonatas), Arthur Hervey, and J. F. Runciman; whilst 
 in America, in addition to Huneker and Finck, H. E. 
 Krehbiel, W. F. Apthorp, and W. J. Henderson must 
 be remembered. 
 
 Amongst German and Polish writers whose con- 
 tributions to Chopin literature are of little value, may 
 be mentioned Niggli, La Mara, Sowinski, Tarnow- 
 ski, etc. 
 
 Of works dealing with George Sand, the most use- 
 ful are that lady's own memoirs, " Histoire de ma vie," 
 and her six volumes of correspondence. Henry James 
 has an interesting article on her in his " French Poets 
 and Novelists," and Bertha Thomas has written a life 
 of this extraordinary woman. 
 
 Other works are extant by Brault, Stefanie Pol, and 
 Wladimir Karenine. Charles Wood's "Letters from 
 Majorca" contain well-written descriptions of Valde- 
 mosa and Palma. 
 
 The thematic catalogue published by Breitkopf and 
 Hartel is a model compilation, and is invaluable to the 
 earnest student. 
 
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54 
 
 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBERS PUB- 
 LISHED AFTER THE COMPOSER'S DEATH. 
 
 Name of Piece and Key 
 
 Composed 
 
 Published 
 
 Variations. Emajor. OnaGermanAir 
 
 1824? 
 
 1851 
 
 Mazurka. G major 
 
 1825 
 
 
 Mazurka. B flat major 
 
 1825 
 
 
 Mazurka. D major 
 
 1829-1830 
 
 
 Mazurka. D major. A remodelling 
 
 1832 
 
 
 of the preceding Mazurka 
 
 
 
 Mazurka. C major 
 
 1833 
 
 
 Mazurka. A minor. D6di6e k son 
 
 
 
 ami Emile Gaillard 
 
 
 
 Valse. E minor 
 
 
 1868 
 
 Polonaise. G sharp minor, D6di6e 
 
 1822 
 
 1864 
 
 k Mme. Dupont 
 
 
 
 Polonaise, G flat major. Of doubtful 
 
 
 1872 
 
 authenticity 
 
 
 
 Polonaise. B flat minor. Adieu! 
 
 1826 
 
 
 an Wilhelm Kolberg 
 
 
 
 Valse. E major 
 
 1829 
 
 
 WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBERS PUB- 
 LISHED DURING THE COMPOSER'S LIFE-TIME 
 
 Name of Piece and Key 
 
 Composed 
 
 Published 
 
 Grand Duo Concertant. E major 
 For piano and violoncello, on 
 themes from " Robert le Diable." 
 
 Trois nouvelles Etudes. F minor, A 
 flat major, D flat major 
 
 Variations VI, E major (Largo), 
 From the " Hexameron." 
 
 Mazurka. A minor ("Notre temps") 
 
 1829, with 
 
 A. Franch- 
 
 omme 
 
 1833 
 
 1840 
 I84I 
 1842 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 55 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CHOPIN'S WORKS 
 
 IN THE APPROXIMATE ORDER OF 
 
 THEIR COMPOSITION. 
 
 Composed 
 
 Name ot Piece and Key 
 
 Opus No. 
 
 1823 
 
 Polonaise. G sharp minor 
 
 
 
 1834 
 
 Variations on-a German Air 
 
 
 
 1825 
 
 Mazurka. G major 
 
 
 
 
 -Mazurka. B flat major 
 
 
 
 
 Rondo. C minor 
 
 
 I 
 
 1826 
 
 Polonaise. B flat minor. Dedicated 
 to W. Kolberg 
 
 
 
 1827 
 
 Mazurka. A minor 
 
 68. 
 
 No. 2 
 
 
 Polonaise. I> minor 
 
 7'- 
 
 No. I 
 
 
 Nocturne. E minor 
 
 72. 
 
 No. I 
 
 
 Rondo a la Mazur 
 
 
 5 
 
 1828 
 
 Polonaise. B flat major 
 
 71' 
 
 No. 2 
 
 
 Rondo for two Pianos 
 
 
 73 
 
 
 Variations on " L^ ci darem" 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 Sonata. C minor 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 Trio for Piano, Violin, and 'Cello 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 Fantaisie on Polish Airs 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 Krakowiak 
 
 
 14 
 
 1829 
 
 -Valse. B minor 
 
 6g. 
 
 No. 2 
 
 
 Valse. D flat major 
 
 70. 
 
 No. 3 
 
 
 Valse. E major 
 
 
 
 
 Polonaise. F minor 
 
 71. 
 
 No. 3 
 
 
 March Funebre 
 
 72. 
 
 No. 2 
 
 
 Mazurka. Dmajor (remodelled 1832) 
 
 
 
 
 Polonaise for Piano and 'Cello 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 Second Concerto. F minor 
 
 
 21 
 
 1829-1831 
 1829- 1847 
 
 Twelve Etudes 
 
 
 10 
 
 Seventeen Polish Songs 
 
 
 74 
 68 
 
 1830 
 
 Mazurka. C major 
 
 
 Mazurka. F major 
 
 68. 
 
 No. 3 
 
 
 Trois Ecossaises 
 
 72 
 
 No. 3 
 
 
 Concerto. E minor 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 Grande Polonaise brillante 
 
 
 22 
 
 1830-1834 
 I8S2 
 
 Twelve Etudes 
 Four Mazurkas 
 
 
 25 
 6 
 
 • — J-* 
 
 Five Mazurkas 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 Three Nocturnes 
 
 
 9 
 
 183^ 
 
 Variations on an Air by Hal6vy 
 
 
 )2 
 
 * jj 
 
 Three Nocturnes 
 
 
 15 
 
56 
 
 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Composed 
 
 1833 
 1834 
 
 1B35 
 
 1836 
 
 1837 
 1838 
 
 Name of Piece and Key 
 
 1838-1839 
 
 1840 
 1841 
 
 1843 
 
 1843 
 1844 
 
 Mazurka. C major 
 
 Grand Duo for Piano and 'Cello 
 
 Fantaisie Impromptu 
 
 Rondo. E flat 
 
 Four Mazurkas 
 
 Valse. E flat major 
 -Bolero 
 
 First Scherzo. B minof 
 
 Mazurka. G major 
 
 Mazurka. C major 
 
 Valse. G flat major 
 
 Valse. F minor 
 
 Two Polonaises 
 
 Two Nocturnes 
 
 Second Scherzo. B flat minor 
 
 Two Nocturnes 
 
 First Impromptu. A flat 
 
 Four Mazurkas 
 
 Four Mazurkas 
 
 Sonata. B flat minor 
 
 Second Impromptu 
 
 Two Nocturnes 
 4»Second Ballade 
 
 Two Polonaises 
 
 Third Scherzo 
 
 Three Mazurkas 
 
 Twenty-four Preludes 
 
 Valse. A flat 
 *Tarantelle 
 
 Polonaise. F sharp minor 
 
 Prelude C sharp minor 
 Allegro de Concert 
 Third Prelude 
 Two Nocturnes 
 —Fantaisie. F minor 
 Three Mazurkas 
 Hexameron Variations 
 Third Impromptu 
 Fourth Ballade 
 
 Mazurka. A minor (" Notre temps") 
 Polonaise. A flat 
 Valse. F minor 
 
 Fourth Scherzo. 
 Two Nocturnes 
 Three Mazurkas 
 --Berceuse 
 
 '■ major 
 
 Opus No. 
 
 
 66 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 20 
 
 67. 
 
 No. I 
 
 67. 
 
 No. 3 
 
 70. 
 
 No. I 
 
 69. 
 
 No. I 
 
 70. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 5; 
 
 Composed 
 
 Name of Piece and Key 
 
 Opus No. 
 
 1844 
 
 Sonata, B minor 
 
 
 58 
 
 1846 
 
 Mazurka. A minor 
 
 67. 
 
 No. 4 
 
 
 Three Mazurkas 
 
 
 59 
 
 « 
 
 -fiarcarolle 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 Polonaise Fantaisie 
 
 
 61 
 
 
 Two Nocturnes 
 
 
 63 
 
 1847 
 
 Three Mazurkas 
 
 
 63 
 
 
 Three Valses 
 
 
 64 
 
 
 Sonata for Piano and 'Cello 
 
 
 65 
 
 1849 
 
 Mazurka. G minor 
 
 67. 
 
 No. 3 
 
 
 Mazurka. F minor 
 
 68. 
 
 No. 4 
 
 No date 
 
 Mazurka. A minor. Dedicated to 
 
 
 
 obtainable 
 
 E. Gaillard. Probably about 1839 
 Valse. E minor. Probably about 
 
 1829 
 Trois nouvelles Etudes. Probably 
 
 1 83 5- 1 840 
 
 
 
OPUS I.— First Rondo. C minor. 
 Dedicated to Mme. de Linda. Published 1825. 
 
 'IP HE Opus I of any well-known composer has always 
 ■*• a special interest of its own. Schumann, who had 
 in 1 83 1 reviewed Chopin's Opus 2 (the variations on 
 Mozart's air, " La ci darem ") with lyric fervour, evi- 
 dently inquired for and obtained his Opus i, for early 
 in the next year he wrote to Wieck (the father of Clara 
 Wieck, who subsequently became Madame Schumann) : 
 " Chopin's first work (I firmly believe that it is his tenth) 
 is in my hands; a lady would say that it was very 
 pretty, very piquant, almost Moschelesque. But I 
 believe you will make Clara study it, for there is plenty 
 of Geist in it and few difficulties. But I humbly ven- 
 ture to assert that there are between this composition 
 and Opus 2 two years and twenty works." 
 
 We know of two compositions that were composed 
 before 1825, the year in which this was presumably 
 written. These are the Polonaise in G sharp miiior, to 
 which the date 1823 is assigned, and the Variations on 
 a German national air, "Der Schweizerbub," dated in 
 the Breitkopf and Hartel edition, 1824. 
 
 There are also two mazurkas of the same year, 1825, 
 but doubtless there were several other early efforts that 
 Chopin destroyed. 
 
 The publication of this rondo was for Chopin ike 
 event of this year : " Only he who has experienced the 
 delicious sensation of seeing himself for the first time 
 in print can realise what our young author felt on this 
 
 occasion."* 
 
 * Niecks. 
 
6o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. ^ 
 
 Madame de Linde, to whom the piece was dedicated, 
 was the wife of his father's friend, the rector, and 
 Chopin often used to play duets with her. 
 
 The group of works to which this piece naturally 
 belongs consists of five rondos, of which it is the first 
 and simplest. The other four are Opus 5 — Rondo a la 
 Mazur, Opus 16 — Rondo in E flat, Opus 14 — Rondo or 
 Krakowiak, and Opus 73 — Rondo for two pianos. 
 
 The latter piece was composed in 1828, so that tfip 
 whole group belongs to Chopin's earlier work. Although 
 quite a boy when he wrote his first rondo (he was only 
 fifteen), there is immense promise shown in the inven- 
 tive power and in the technical ability displayed in the 
 writing; the leading subjects are well contrasted, and 
 we see at once that it is the work of one who thor- 
 oughly understands the instrument for which he is 
 writing. 
 
 Niecks says of these earlier works : " They have a 
 natural air which is alike free from affected profundity 
 and insipid childishness. They can hold their ground 
 without difficulty and honourably among the better 
 class of light drawing-room pieces." He points out the 
 want of cohesiveness as a weak point, "the different 
 subjects are too loosely strung together." 
 
 Although not strikingly original, it cannot be said 
 that Chopin in this rondo showed himself the imitator 
 of any particular master. There are traces of the in- 
 fluence of Weber, and perhaps even more of Hummel, 
 whom we know Chopin admired immensely. 
 
 Karasowski thinks this rondo Chopin's weakest work. 
 "His individuality was not at that time fully de- 
 veloped and Hummel's influence was unmistakable. It 
 is no disparagement of his talent to say this, for every 
 young pianist of that period made Hummel his model 
 and, moreover, every genius, however independent, 
 begins by unconsciously imitating his favourite com- 
 posers and artists. As an instance of this, we need 
 only mention Beethoven." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 6i 
 
 Hadow says : " This rondo is a singular example of 
 Chopin's strength and weakness in composition. No 
 doubt a concert rondo should not be criticised with the 
 same severity as the rondo movement of a sonata; yet 
 even with all laxity of concession we can find passages 
 and even pages through which Eisner ought to have 
 drawn his pencil." 
 
 We cannot help liking the C minor Rondo. There 
 is lightness, joy in creation, which contrast with the 
 heavy dour quality of the C minor Sonata, Opus 4. 
 Loosely constructed, in a formal sense, and too exuber- 
 ant for his strict confines, this Opus i is remarkable, 
 much more remarkable than Schumann's ' Abegg Varia- 
 tions.' " (Huneker). 
 
 OPUS 2. — Variations on: "'Lh ci darem sa mano." 
 With orchestral accompaniment. B flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Titus Woyciechowski. 
 Composed 1828. PubHshed March, 1830. 
 
 PERHAPS the chief interest attaching to these varia- 
 tions is that their mastery, grace, and novelty 
 roused in Schumann so great an admiration that they 
 caused him to write his celebrated critical essay entitled 
 "An Opus 2." This, he subsequently reprinted at the 
 commencement of his collected writings, and by this 
 immediate recognition of the work of an original genius 
 he proved himself gifted with an insight that can 
 almost be termed prophetic. He saw at once that here 
 was something entirely removed from the mere mechan- 
 ical trills and arpeggios of Kalkbrenner, Herz, and 
 their school. 
 
 Chopin undoubtedly wrote these variations in order 
 to show off his own powers as a virtuoso, but his genius 
 shone through the mere technical aim, and the various 
 
62 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 sections of the work are instinct with true grace and 
 poetical intention. In the concluding sentence of 
 Schumann's criticism lies its true value, " I bend before 
 Chopin's spontaneous genius, his lofty aim, his master- 
 ship." 
 
 It would not do to compare these variations with 
 such work as Brahms's superb studies oij an air of Paga- 
 nini's, nor even with Schumann's own "Etudes 
 Symphoniques." 
 
 We should see immediately that we are dealing with 
 the work of Chopin's earliest youth ; the want of depth 
 and emotional power would be at once felt. Chopin 
 unfortunately never attempted this form when he had 
 fully developed his powers. If he had, there is but 
 little doubt that he would have given us a supreme 
 example of the style. The orchestral accompaniment, 
 according to Niecks, " shows an inaptitude in writing 
 for any other instrument than the piano that is quite 
 surprising considering the great musical endowments 
 of Chopin in other respects." The orchestral accom- 
 paniments are, however, not necessary to a complete 
 enjoyment of the work. It begins with a long intro- 
 duction, a free improvisation on the air. Schumaiin 
 speaks of it admiringly as "so self -concentrated." Then 
 follows a theme, treated simply, though " Zerlina's 
 answer has a sufficiently enamoured character." 
 
 Between each variation an orchestral tutti intervenes 
 with great effect in a kind of ritornello. 
 
 The first variation, according to Schumann, "ex- 
 presses a kind of coquettish courteousness — the Spanish 
 grandee flirts amiably with the peasant girl in it." 
 
 The second variation is a wild rush of demisemi- 
 quavers. "It is comic, confidential, disputatious, as 
 though two lovers were chasing each other, and laugh- 
 ing more than usual about it."* 
 
 In the third variation all is changed. The demi- 
 
 * This variation is omitted in the existing pianola rolls. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 63 
 
 semiquavers are now in the bass only, in passages in 
 which Schumann sees Masetto at a distance, swearing 
 audibly without making any effect on Don Juan. The 
 movement is filled with "moonshine and fairy magic." 
 
 The fourth variation is of a brilliant bravura char- 
 acter. " How boldly, how wantonly it springs forward 
 to meet the man." 
 
 The fifth is the adagio. " It is in B flat minor, as it 
 should be, for its commencement it presents a moral 
 warning to Don Juan. It is at once mischievous and 
 beautiful that Leporello listens behind the hedge, 
 laughing and jesting, that oboes and clarionettes en- 
 chantingly allure, and that the B flat major in full 
 bloom correctly designates the first kiss of love." 
 
 In the finale the beautiful air is turned into a bril- 
 liant polacca. 
 
 " It is the whole of Mozart's finale, popping cham- 
 pagne corks, ringing glasses ! Leporello's voice be- 
 tween, the grasping, torturing demons, the fleeing Don 
 Juan — and then the end that beautifully soothes and 
 closes all." 
 
 OPUS 3. — Introduction et Polonaise Brillante for 
 Piano and Violoncello. C major. 
 
 Dedicated to Joseph Merk. 
 Composed 1829. Published 1833. 
 
 TN a letter from Warsaw, dated November 14, 1829, 
 -'■ , Chopin says to his dear friend, Titus Woycie- 
 chowski, " I wrote an ' Alia Polacca ' with 'cello accom- 
 paniment during my visit to Prince Radziwill. It is 
 nothing more than a brilliant drawing-room piece suit- 
 able for the ladies. I should like Princess Wanda to 
 practise it. I am supposed to have given her lessons. 
 
64 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 She is a beautiful girl of seventeen, and it was charm- 
 ing to direct her delicate fingers." 
 
 This extract shows us that we need not look for any 
 special merit in this work. "The leaning towards 
 Hummel is still evident; the motives are easily com- 
 prehensible, harmonious, clear, and simple in their 
 development." (Karasowski.) 
 
 It is dedicated to Joseph Merk, of whom we read in 
 one of Chopin's letters : " On Thursday there was a 
 soiree at Fuchs's, when Limmer introduced some of his 
 own compositions for four violoncellos. Merk, as usual, 
 made them more beautiful than they really were by his 
 playing, which' is so full of soul. He is the only vio- 
 loncellist I really respect." 
 
 " On the whole we may accept Chopin's criticism as 
 correct. The Polonaise is nothing but a brilliant salon 
 piece. Indeed, there is very little in this composition, 
 one or two pianoforte passages and a finesse here and 
 there excepted — that distinguishes it as Chopin's. The 
 opening theme verges even dangerously to the commons- 
 place. More of the Chopinesque than in the Polonaise 
 may be discovered in the introduction, which was less 
 of a piece d'occasion. What subdued the composer's 
 individuality was no doubt the violoncello, which, how- 
 ever, is well provided with grateful cantilene" (Niecks.) 
 
 " Chopin himself pronounced this 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 Per- 
 petuel), and the 'cello has the better of the bargain, 
 evidently written for my lady's chamber." (Huneker.) 
 
 "The only portion worthy of Chopin is the counter 
 theme for the 'cello in F naajor, this with its brilliant 
 piano accompaniment is the only redeeming feature of 
 the piece." (Willeby.) 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 65 
 
 OPUS 4. — Sonata in C minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. Joseph Eisner. 
 
 Composed 1828. Published posthumously 1851. 
 
 npHIS sonata, written at the age of eighteen, may be 
 •*• classed with the Trio, Opus 8, and the Rondo for 
 two pianos. Op. y^, as an example of the works Chopin 
 wrote as a student. He himself says of it : " As a 
 pupil of his, I dedicated it to Eisner." Between the 
 master and his pupil there existed a warm affection and 
 respect. Chopin learnt more from Eisner than he did 
 from his other teacher, Zwyny, although he had a good 
 opinion of both his meisters. 
 
 " From Messrs. Zwyny and Eisner even the greatest 
 ass must learn something," he is reported to have said 
 to some Viennese gentleman who told him that people 
 were astonished at his having learnt all he knew at 
 Warsaw. Liszt wrote of the master, "Joseph Eisner 
 taught Chopin those things that are most difficult to 
 learn and most rarely known : to be exacting to one- 
 self, and to value the advantages that are only obtained 
 by dint of patience and labour." 
 
 Of this sonata Niecks says : "It is indeed a pupil's 
 work, an exercise, and not a very successful one. The 
 exigencies of the form overburdened the composer and 
 crushed all individuality out of him. Nowhere is 
 Chopin so little himself, we may even say so unlike 
 himself. The distribution of keys and the character of 
 the themes show that the importance of contrast in the 
 construction of larger works was still unsuspected by 
 him. The two middle movements, a Minuetto and 
 Lar ghetto, although in the latter the self-imposed 
 fetters of the f time prevent the composer feeling quite 
 at his ease, are more attractive than the rest. In them 
 are discernible an approach to freedom and something 
 like a breath of life, whereas in the first and in the last 
 
 5 
 
66 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 movement there is almost nothing but painful labour 
 and dull monotony. The most curious thing, however, 
 about this work is the lumbering passage writing of our 
 graceful, light-winged Chopin." 
 
 In Karasowski's opinion this sonata " shows a striv- 
 ing after classic forms, but does not give us the idea 
 that the composer was working from inspiration, his 
 wishes and capacities do iiot seem always to correspond, 
 and the work altogether awakens no lasting interest. 
 The third movement is most worthy of notice, but this 
 does not satisfy us completely; it sounds rather forced 
 and laboured, probably on account of the unusual | 
 measure." 
 
 Barbedette considers the final movement the most 
 brilliant. " Chopin never wrote but one piano sonata 
 that has a classical complexion, in C minor. Opus 4," 
 writes Huneker. "It demonstrates without a possi- 
 bility of doubt that the composer has no sympathy with 
 the form. Little of Chopin's precious essence is to be 
 tasted in the first sonata. The first movement is 
 wheezing and all but lifeless . . . and it is technically 
 difficult. The Minuetto is excellent, its trio being a 
 faint approach to Beethoven in colour. The unaccus- 
 tomed rhythm of the slow movement is irritating." 
 
 He does not agree with Niecks that the finale is but 
 barren waste. " 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 better than its two successors. So much 
 for an attempt at strict devotion to scholastic form." 
 
 Chopin deliberately designed this sonata for pub- 
 lication, and sent it to Haslinger in Vienna, together 
 with the " La ci darem " variations. Opus 2. With one 
 excuse or another Haslinger deferred publishing it, and 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 6; 
 
 it was not till Chopin's death had given it a fictitious 
 value that it was at length brought out in 1851. 
 
 The first movement, Allegro maestoso, can unhesi- 
 tatingly be described as the only really dull composi- 
 tion in the whole range of Chopin's works. A few early 
 pieces may legitimately be termed weak, but they are 
 always brilliant. This Allegro, however, is tedious, 
 and the criticism showered on it with regard to lack of 
 contrast in key and thematic material is amply justified. 
 
 With the Minuetto things improve. It is derivative 
 but well written, and not uninteresting. The experi- 
 ment in the always difficult and risky j time of the 
 Larghetto is a failure. There is no rhythmic beat in it, 
 such as makes the barbaric second movement of Tchai- 
 kovsky's " Pathetic " Symphony so fascinating. It has 
 sitnply the effect of having no backbone, no structure, 
 and the chief thing to be thankful for is that Chopin 
 evidently felt this too, and brought the movement to a 
 rapid conclusion that cannot be considered untimely. 
 
 Barbedette and Huneker are more right about the 
 last movement, and the brilliant passages in the bass 
 do not deserve Niecks's epithet of lumbering. Never- 
 theless we have much to be thankful for to Eisner. 
 " Leave him in peace," he said of his gifted pupil, " his 
 is an uncommon way because his gifts are uncommon. 
 He does not strictly adhere to the customary method, 
 but he has one of his own, and he will reveal in his 
 works an originality such as has not been found in 
 any one." 
 
 Chopin made no more experiments in piano sonatas 
 in strict classical form, for his two masterpieces. Opus 
 35 and Opus 58, are of such different calibre that it 
 would serve no good purpose to group them arbitrarily 
 with this youthful effort, and the last published Sonata 
 in G minor, for piano and 'cello, simply because they 
 are all called sonatas. 
 
68 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 OPUS 5. — Rondo a la Mazur. F major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse Alexandrine de 
 Moriolles. Published in 1827. 
 
 T"^ HIS is the second of the group of five Rondos (for 
 -'■ particulars of which see page 60. Both this and 
 the first Rondo first saw the light at Warsaw, but they 
 did not become known outside Poland till they were 
 published in Germany in 1836. Schumann, reviewing 
 it then, thought it probable that it was the work of 
 Chopin's eighteenth year. " The extreme youth of the 
 composer is only to be guessed at in certain involved 
 passages, from which he has found it difficult to extri- 
 cate himself at once ; but the Rondo is, notwithstanding, 
 Chopin-like throughout, lovely, enthusiastic, full of 
 grace. He who does not yet know Chopin had best 
 begin the acquaintance with this piece." 
 
 The advance Chopin made in this Rondo, compared 
 with his Opus i, is very marked. It is the only one of 
 the rondos not written in the traditional f time. It is, 
 as the title implies, a maxurka in rondo form, and as 
 such it naturally has a touch of that national feeling 
 which was from now on to become so striking a char- 
 acteristic of much of Chopin's music. After his four- 
 teenth year Chopin passed his summer holidays in the 
 country round Warsaw, and there, listening to the 
 peasants singing and dancing their mazurkas, his sensi- 
 tive musical intelligence absorbed those national ele- 
 ments of the music of the countryside which, passing 
 through the alembic of his own personality, issued in 
 a refined and idealised form in the Mazurkas and 
 Polonaises. It is the work of a poetical and impres- 
 sionable youth, as opposed to the first Rondo, which is 
 that of a light-hearted boy. It has not the same mastery 
 pf effect nor the brilliant virtuosity of the Krakowiak, 
 but it is superior in feeling to the Rondo in E flat 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 69 
 
 major, which belongs to that short period of Chopin's 
 life during the early years of his residence in Paris, 
 when a kind of blight seemed to fall on the poetry and 
 idealism of his compositions. 
 
 The first subject has the rustic tang of a true mazurka 
 redolent of the countryside, while the secondary theme 
 is of refined and graceful beauty. It is highly indi- 
 vidual, there is no hint of imitation of any other com- 
 poser, and more than an indication of one of Chopin's 
 most marked characteristic — widespread chords and 
 skips. 
 
 The Comte de Moriolles, to whose daughter this 
 Rondo is dedicated, was tutor to the adopted son of 
 the Grand Duke Constantine, then governor of War- 
 saw. Chopin frequently visited at the palace, his 
 talents and charming manners rendering him always a 
 welcome guest amongst the most wealthy and culti- 
 vated people in the capital. This environment acting 
 on his innate refinement gave him the aristocratic tastes 
 and nature that he exhibited throughout his life in so 
 marked a degree. 
 
 Kleczynski, who is never tired of combating the idea 
 that Chopin's music is all melancholy, draws attention 
 to the " brilliant passages, cascades of pearly notes, and 
 bold leaps which we find in this Rondo." 
 
 " Is this the sadness and the despair of which we 
 hear spoken? Is it not rather youth exuberant with 
 intensity and life; is it not happiness, gaiety, love for 
 the world and men ?" 
 
 " Who could fail in this Rondo to recognise Chopin 
 in the peculiar, sweet, and persuasive flows of sound, 
 and the serpent-like winding of the melodic outline, 
 the wide-spread chords, the chromatic progressions, the 
 dissolving of the harmonies, and the linking of their 
 constituent parts. The harmonies are often novel and 
 the matter is more homogeneous and better welded into 
 oneness." (Niecks.) 
 
 "This Rondo is a further advance. It is sprightly, 
 
70 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Polish in feeling and rhythmic life, and a glance at 
 any of its pages gives us the familiar Chopin impres- 
 sion — florid passage work, chords in extensions and 
 chromatic progressions." (Huneker.) 
 
 THE MAZURKAS. 
 
 npHE Mazurka in its native home, the district of 
 
 -*■ Mazovia, was sometimes sung and sometimes 
 
 danced. " In the minor key, laughs and cries, dances 
 
 and mourns, the..Slayj" says a German' writer," and 
 
 'doubtless when Chopin spent his summer holidays in 
 the country he often heard the villagers expressing 
 their primitive emotions in their characteristic fashion. 
 In ballrooms the Mazurka became more animated and 
 
 -graceful, and although it has never been much in vogiie" 
 in England it is much affected- in St. Petersburg^jvliexe 
 its votaries display an anjazing grace an.d._ dexterity 
 In its essence, however, it is the dance of the people, as 
 opposed to the Valse, the dance of society. In Chopin's 
 hands, however, the Mazurka ceased to be artaitual 
 dance tune, and becamea tone poem, a mirror of moods, 
 an epitome of human" emotions, joy and sadness, love,, 
 and hate, tenderness and defiance, coquetry and passion. 
 "There is in them," says Finck, "an inexhaustible 
 variety of ideas, making each of them' unique"no'twitE^ 
 standing their strong family likeness. ^ They are like 
 fantastic orchids, or like the countless variety of hum- 
 ming-birds, 'those winged poems of the air,' of which 
 no two are alike, while all resemble one another." 
 
 Of all the works perhaps they are the least well 
 known, and least played, and yet they are full o| ex- 
 quisite melody, rhythmic and harmonic details of in- 
 tense interest, novelty and beauty. In them Chopin has" 
 concentrated, as Huneker points' out, "the. sorrow and 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 71 
 
 tribal wr ath of a down-trodden nation, and the 
 Mazurkas~Eave~for that rlp^orTan Jthme~value?' 'Some 
 of the earlier ones are quite short. and simple, 'but in the 
 later numbers Chopin elaborated the form considerably, 
 and both in emotional content and musical interest they 
 become very valuable. They lend themselves in the 
 most extraordinary way to the mood of the mprnent "In 
 most of Chopin's compositions the work evokes the 
 mood, but with a mazurka you may play it one day 
 merrily and lightly, and the next you may find it har- 
 monising with your most depressed spirits, which, how- 
 ever, it will not fail to soothe and comfort. We read 
 that Chopin never played them twice alike. In all of 
 them, nevertheless, there is that uiidercurrent of melan- 
 choly which caused it to be said of him, "his mind is 
 gay, but his heartis sad." Many of £hem contain in- 
 tervals and scales of Eastern origin which give them a 
 curious foreign fragance that is occasionally taken for 
 mannefism. "Mendelssohn, "for instaiiceV said ©f- a book 
 ' of the 'Mazurkas that they " are so mannered that they 
 are hard to understand." 
 
 It is on record that Chopin, who, especially in his 
 younger days, was full of fun and jokes, would occa- 
 sionally play one of his Mazurkas in strict metronomic 
 time, to the great amusement of those who had heard 
 him play them properly. 
 
 Liszt said that "to do justice to the Mazurkas one 
 would have to harness a new pianist of the first rank to 
 each one of them, f The latent and unknown poetry in 
 the original Polish" Mazurkas was only indicated, and 
 was by Chopin divined, developed, and brought to the 
 light of day. Whilst he preserved the rhythm of the 
 dance, he ennobled its melody and enlarged its pro- 
 portions, weaving into its tissues harmonic lights and 
 shades which were as new in themselves as the themes 
 to which he adapted theni." \ 
 
;2 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 In Liszt's book on Chopin will be found a most 
 elaborate, flowery and fanciful description of the 
 Mazurka and how it was danced in Poland. No 
 Englishman can read this extravagant, unrestrained 
 and almost indecent rhetoric without feeling sick. But 
 it is comforting to know that it is not to Wagner's 
 noble-minded friend, not to the great creative artist, 
 that we owe these highly-coloured pages. The re- 
 searches of Mr. Ashton Ellis have brought to light the 
 fact that the whole section was written by Princess 
 Carolyne Wittgenstein, whom Liszt with foolish fond- 
 ness constantly allowed to mutilate and disfigure his 
 work. 
 
 Finck says : " It seems strange at first sight that the 
 Mazurkas, those exquisite love-poems, should be so 
 much less popular than the Valses, for they are quite as 
 melodious and much easier. Perhaps the cause of their 
 compartive neglect is that they are so thoroughly Polish 
 in spirit; unless they are played with an exotic rubato 
 their fragrance vanishes." 
 
 They are of all Chopin's works the least known. 
 Even though they are mostly within the technical grasp 
 of the average amateur, they are neglected. Possibly 
 their very number, and the fact that they are so difficult 
 to identify by opus number and key, is partly 
 responsible. 
 
 There are in all fifty-six Mazurkas by Chopin. Only 
 forty-one were published during his lifetime, in eleven 
 different sets of three, four, or five each. Eight were 
 published by Fontana posthumously as Opus 67 and 
 Opus 68. One appeared in a musical magazine without 
 opus number during Chopin's life, and six others, 
 mostly of early dates, were discovered at various times. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 73 
 
 OPUS 6.— Four Mazurkas. 
 
 1st Set. — No. I in F sharp minor; No. 2 in C sharp 
 minor; No. 3 in E major; No. 4 in E flat minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse Pauline Plater. 
 Published December, 1832. 
 
 TV/TANY writers have said felicitous things about 
 -'■*-'■ Chopin's MazurkcLS, some of which have been 
 already quoted in the introductory chapter. In survey- 
 ing the four very characteristic specimens of the type 
 composing the first set, one is reminded of what Oscar 
 Bie has said : " The Mazurkas are bourgeois little joys, 
 half uathed in sorrow, half crushing their pain in the 
 jubilation of the rhythm in an unparalleled series of 
 intellectual inspiration." They are the first published 
 work of Chopin's in which the individual characteristics 
 ■ of his genius shone forth clearly and unmistakably ; 
 the first-fruits of Chopin as a poet. The five preceding 
 works have shown him to us as the boy, the youth, the 
 virtuoso, the salon composer, and the student. 
 
 The national dance form was always a favourite of 
 Chopin's. Some of his earliest efforts were Mazurkas, 
 which may be found amongst the posthumous composi- 
 tions, and a Mazurka was the last thing he wrote during 
 his final illness when he was too feeble even to try it on 
 the piano. This set is dedicated to Countess Plater, and 
 Karasowski tells us of an occasion at her house when 
 Liszt, Heller and Chopin were present, and a lively 
 discussion arose on national music. Chopin maintained 
 that no one who had not been in Poland and inhaled 
 the perfume of its meadows could have any true sym- 
 pathy with the folk-songs. As a test of this, it was 
 proposed to play the well-known Mazurka, " Poland is 
 not lost yet." Liszt, Heller, and other pianists per- 
 formed, but those present acknowledged that Chopin 
 
74 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 surpassed them all in comprehending the true spirit of 
 the Mazurka. 
 
 Karasowski wishes to combat the idea that the 
 mazurkas are too sad, too much in the minor. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, an analysis shows that of the total of fifty- 
 six, exactly half are in the major keys and half in the 
 minor. He says: "The propensity to melancholy, to 
 musing, is not in itself a weakness; a delicate nature is 
 not necessarily a feeble nature. Chopin, a Pole, could 
 not avoid that which is characteristic of our nation. 
 Our peasants like dances in minor keys; they return 
 often, and sometimes persistently, to th^t somewhat 
 monotonous tone which, nevertheless, with them indi- 
 cates so well the loving and generous depth of their 
 being." 
 
 Elsewhere in a lecture on the mazurkas, Kleczynski 
 becomes dithyrambic in their praise. "The book of 
 niazurkas is an inexhaustible well of poetry. Nearly 
 every one of these works is a masterpiece. In these first 
 mazurkas at once appears that national life from which, 
 as from an inexhaustible treasury, Chopin drew his in- 
 spirations." 
 
 The contemporary critic J. W. Davidson wrote: "If 
 Chopin had done no more than reveal to us through his 
 mazurkas the national musical feeling of the country — a 
 country at once so wedded to misfortune and so politi- 
 cally interesting as Poland — he would have achieved 
 enough to entitle him to unanimous sympathy," 
 
 Chorley, the critic of the "Athasneum," who heard 
 Chopin play some mazurkas in London, said : " They 
 lose half their meaning if played without a certain free- 
 dom and licence, impossible to imitate, but irresistible if 
 the player at all feels the music." 
 
 Hadow says that the mazurkas, in short, bear some- 
 what the same relation to the tunes of the peasantry as 
 the songs of Robert Burns to those of the forerunners 
 whom he superseded, 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 75 
 
 Huneker speaks of the mazurkas as " impish, morbid, 
 gay, sour, sweet little dances. They are a sealed book 
 to most pianists, and if you have not the savour of the 
 Slav in you, you should not touch them. Yet Chopin 
 has done some good things in this form." 
 
 Krehbiel lays stress on the fact that national colour 
 comes out more clearly in Chopin's mazurkas than in 
 any of his other compositions. " Unlike the polonaise 
 this was the dance of the common people, and even as 
 conventionalised and poetically refined by Chopin, there 
 is still in the mazurka some of the rude vigour which 
 lies in its propulsive rhythm." 
 
 No. I in F sharp minor. 
 
 This first mazurka is very characteristic of the type. 
 It begins with a triplet figure in the first beat of the bar, 
 which Kleczynski tells us is a detail which has since 
 been copied in all the mazurkas of other composers. 
 " It is to be observed that this must not be played too 
 quickly or it will thereby lose its characteristic. It is 
 almost invariably used in expressing feelings and ex- 
 hibiting different shades. Simple and natural in the 
 opening of the mazurka, it bends, immediately from the 
 fifth bar, into various effective shapes, permitting a free 
 execution. Later on, as if fatigued by so much repeti- 
 tion, it begins again slowly. At the end of the first 
 part, again, it smiles pleasingly, passing quietly by, and 
 resting with a country-like air of stupidity on the last 
 note. At the ninth bar of the second part it recurs with 
 a passionate and fiery character, and how many charac- 
 ters does it not take in the following mazurkas." 
 
 Huneker, who writes of this set : " They are perfect of 
 their kind," says : " This mazurka first in publication is 
 melodious, slightly mournful, but of a delightful fresh- 
 
76 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 ness. The third section with the appoggiaturas realises 
 a vivid vision of country couples dancing determinedly." 
 Hadow quotes it as an instance of the right use of a 
 single phrase repeated in similar shapes, which is a 
 characteristic of Polish national music, often, however, 
 carried to excess in their songs. The third section, 
 marked scherzando, forms a delightful contrast to the 
 rather melancholy tone of the mazurka as a whole. 
 
 No. 2 in C sharp minor. ' 
 
 Here we are introduced to another characteristic de- 
 vice much used by Chopin, especially in the earlier 
 mazurkas, a drone bass which gives a very rustic tone to 
 the dances in which it is used. The trio marked gajo 
 expresses real light-hearted country gaiety. 
 
 Kleczynski instances this mazurka and the following 
 one as exemplifying how Chopin discovered inexhausti- 
 ble treasures where no one before him had ever thought 
 of them. He calls it " equally picturesque and peasant- 
 like, yet each in quite a different style. In the first you 
 hear at the commencement the bass murmur in lovely 
 strains, while the violinist, preserving a firm tone on 
 the second chord, purrs quietly to himself, and wavers 
 somewhat roughly in the rhythm of the melody. Then 
 follows a song so sad, heartfelt, naive, diversified and 
 caressing, and so wonderfully constructed upon the two 
 contrasts of piano and forte, that one cannot listen long 
 enough to it, after which the middle is so gay and vil- 
 lage-like that it sets one's feet moving as though to a 
 dance. Then the former bass passages return, and the 
 first motive follows them with the wonderful change 
 (marked rubato), in which one sees the real ideal peasant 
 with his rather intoxicated fantasy and an eagerness to 
 expand the impulses of his soul." 
 
A Haj^dbook to Chopin's Works. 7; 
 
 Huneker quotes it as "having the native wood note 
 wild," and speaks of its " slight twang, and its sweet — ■ 
 sad melody. There is heeirty delight in the major, and 
 how natural it seems." 
 
 No. 3 in E major. 
 
 Here again we have a drone bass to commence with, 
 accompanied with a quaint irregular accent. This ma- 
 zurka should be played quicker and with less rubato 
 than the others of the set. 
 
 Huneker says : " We are still on the village green, and 
 the boys and girls are romping in the dance. The har- 
 monisation is rich, the rhythmic life vital." 
 
 Kleczynski sees in it the approach from a distance of 
 a wedding festival. " The music comes steadily nearer, 
 and the whole cavalcade hurries on the scene in leaps 
 and noisy movement. How true this is to life, how 
 natural, yet how largely endowed with musical riches 
 even if we refer only to the harmony of the third part 
 (marked risvegliato). This with its chromatic harmony 
 is so characteristic that it becomes a real model, fol- . 
 lowed inevitably by all Chopin's imitators from sheer / 
 necessity." 
 
 No. 4 in E flat minor. 
 
 This mazurka, which is very short and without any 
 definite end, is very plaintive and in the nature of a 
 sketch. It is a tone-picture of the kind of mood when 
 one cannot get one's thought away from some trouble 
 that is besetting the mind. 
 
 Huneker says : " The harmonies are closer and there is 
 sorrow abroad. The incessant circling around one idea, 
 as if obsessed by fixed grief, is used here for the first, 
 but not for the last time by the composer." 
 
;8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 OPUS 7.— Five Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in" B flat major; No. 2 in A minor; No. 3 in F 
 minor; No. 4 in A flat major; No. 5 in C major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. Johns. 
 Published December, 1832. 
 
 THE Mr. Johns to whom this set of mazurkas was 
 dedicated, was an American whom Chopin intro- 
 duced to Heller as " a distinguished amateur from New 
 Orleans." We may wonder now what the distinguished 
 amateur thought when he read some of the current criti- 
 cisms on the music Chopin dedicated to him. It was of 
 this set that Rellstab, the critic of the Berlin musical 
 paper, " Iris," wrote : " In the dances before us the author 
 satisfi.es the passion (of writing affectedly and unnatur- 
 ally) to a loathsome excess. He is indefatigable, and I 
 might say inexhaustible in his search for ear-splitting 
 discords, forced transitions, harsh modulations, ugly 
 distortions of melody and rhythjji. Everything it is 
 possible to think of is raked up to produce the effect of 
 odd originality, but especially strange- keys, the mogt 
 unnatural position o£ chords, the most perverse com- 
 binations with regard to fingering. ... If Mr. Chopin 
 had shown this composition to a master, the latter 
 would, it is to be hoped, have torn it and thrown it at 
 his feet, which we hereby do symbolically." 
 
 This style of criticism sounds very strange and ridicu- 
 lous to us now, for these very modulations and transi- 
 tions are what constitute the chief charm of the ma- 
 zurkas to modern ears. As Finck says modulation is an 
 even deeper source of emotional expression than 
 melody, and in every one of these mazurkas there are 
 some bars that are exquisite to linger over and play 
 again and again to oneself with different tone-colouring, 
 rolling them on one's tongue as it were to get the ex- 
 quisite flavour of them. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 79 
 
 Von Le'nz said that the mazurkas of Chopin were a 
 literature in themselves, and a systematic study of them 
 as a whole makes one realise the truth of this saying. 
 This set, though containing nothing of the importance 
 of the later opus numbers, is a microcosm of the series, 
 cCTi taininff pictures .of every mood, fjom the gay bon- 
 Iibmie"'of ,^16. opening, one, through the wild sadness of 
 the second, the rugged strength of the third, the ex- 
 quisite cheerfulness of the fourth, to the dainty vague- 
 ness of the coda^like fifth. 
 
 As Huneker says : " The mazurkas are dancing pre- 
 ludes, and often tiny single "poems of great poetic in- 
 tensity and passionate plaint." 
 
 No. I in B flat major (5). 
 
 This is perhaps the best known of all the mazurkas ; 
 for this popularity it is indebted to its technical simp li- 
 cit }[ and s traightforward cheerful mood. 
 ^ I'here is an expansive swing, a laissez-aller to this 
 piecepwith its air of elegance, that are very alluring 
 TEe rudatp flourishes and at the close we.heax-thc foot- 
 ing" of the peasant. A jolly, reckless composition that 
 makes one happy to be alive and dancing." (Huneker.) 
 
 " All exquisite Mazurka, buoyant and full of elegance. 
 What movement, what grace, and noble charm in the 
 later short notes. In the third part we have the popular 
 note again, in a characteristically monotonous bass and 
 with it the never-to-be-ignored ruda to,- -which, whatever 
 else it may be, is purely Polish-Slavonic and entirely 
 peasant-like. In these wavering strains one recognises 
 the whole soul of_a Slav, with its free impulses and its 
 expansion under emotion." (Kleczynski.) 
 
 No. 2 in A minor (6). 
 
 Karasowski considers this one of the best of the ma- 
 zurkas. Huneker says that " it is as if one danced upon 
 
8o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 one's grave; a change to major does not deceive, it is too 
 heavy-hearted." 
 
 The trio (marked dolce) in a major with its scher- 
 zando closing bars is beautiful, and notwithstanding 
 Huneker's remark, forms a sufficient contrast to the very 
 sad strains of the opening. 
 
 No. 3 in F minor (7). 
 
 Kleczynski and Karasowski unite in admiration of 
 this very beautiful mazurka, "where to a sort of sad 
 theme of violins the bass supports the. rhythm so cheer- 
 fully, and where the middle part is so original and full 
 of energetic fantasy." 
 
 "Guitar-like is the bass in its snapping resolutLOiJ. 
 The section that begins on the dominant of D flat is full 
 of vigour and imagination ; the left hand is given a. solo. 
 This mazurka has the true ring." (Huneker.) 
 
 No. 4 in A flat major (8). 
 
 "What is besides inexpressibly interesting, is the 
 variety of ideas. One mazurka laughs, another weeps, 
 one is thoughtful, another dances." Thus Kleczynski, 
 and what he says of all is true of this particular ma- 
 zurka. It is a veritable kaleidoscope of moods, and the 
 trio is a priceless treasure, with its characteristic Polish 
 repetition of a single phrase and then the sudden change 
 to A major, in which there is, as Huneker says, "much 
 to ponder." It is one of those episodes to which one 
 recurs again and again with ever increasing pleasure. 
 
 No. 5 in C major (9). 
 
 This is a sketch, a kind of coda to the set. It is a 
 little masterpiece with a single idea, but not so exquis- 
 itely delicate and gemlike as the seventh prelude, which 
 it somewhat resembles. Hurieker calls it a silhouette 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 8i 
 
 with a marked profile, and says it is full of the echoes 
 of lusty happiness. It has not any definite end and it 
 is difficult to leave off playing it. Kullak suggests clos- 
 ing on the first note of the twelfth bar, but the effect is 
 vastly greater and more poetical if the melody is al- 
 lowed to die away inaudibly on the dominant senza ime 
 as indicated by Klindworth. 
 
 OPUS 8. — Trio for Piano, Violin and Violoncello. G 
 minor. 
 
 Dedicated to M. le Prince Antoine Radziwill. 
 Composed 1828. Published 1833. 
 
 'TPHIS is one of the four works of Chopin in which the 
 ■'■ violoncello is concerned and the unique instance in 
 which he composed for the violin. 
 
 Niecks classes it with the early works of Chopin's 
 eighteenth year that he wrote as a student, and it seems 
 to be generally considered his most successful essay in 
 the classical form, although Hadow says that " the first 
 movement is as badly drawn as some of the later Cor- 
 reggios." " 
 
 In a letter of Chopin's to Titus Woyciechowski, 
 dated September, 1828, we read: "As to new composi- 
 tions I have nothing besides the still unfinished trio 
 which I began after your departure. The first allegro I 
 have already tried with accompaniments:" 
 
 In August, 1830, he wrote: "Last Saturday I tried 
 the trio, and, perhaps because I had not heard it for so 
 long was satisfied with myself. ' Happy man,' you will 
 say, won't you? It then struck me that it would be 
 better to use the viola instead of the violin, as the first 
 string predominates in the violin, and in my trio is 
 hardly used at all. The viola would, I think, accord 
 better with the 'cello." 
 
 This is one of the rare instances in which Chopin 
 discusses a technical musical question in his letters. 
 
 6 
 
82 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The trio was not published till five years after its 
 composition, and Schumann, in reviewing it, says : " In 
 regard to the trio by Chopin, I may remind my readers 
 that it appeared a few years ago and is already known 
 to many. Let no one take it amiss in Florestan that he 
 prides himself on having first introduced a youth from 
 an unknown world, to publicity, unfortunately in a very 
 somniferous spot.* And how finely Chopin has realised 
 his prophecy, how triumphantly he has issued from the 
 fight with the ignoramuses and Philistines, how nobly 
 he still strives onward, ever more simply and artistic- 
 ally ! Even this trio belongs to Chopin's earlier works, 
 when he still gave the preference to the virtuoso. But 
 who could have well foreseen the development of such 
 an anomalous originality, that such an energetic nature, 
 that would rather wear itself out than submit to the 
 laws of others ? Chopin has already left several periods 
 of development behind him ; the difficult has become so 
 easy to him that he throws it aside, and like all thorough 
 artists, turns with preference to the simple. What can I 
 say of this trio, that every one who understands it has 
 not already said to himself ? Is it not as noble as possi- 
 ble, more enthusiastic than the song of any poet, original 
 in detail as in the whole, every note life and music? 
 Wretched Berlinese reviewer, who couldest not compre- 
 hend anything of all this, and never willst. How I 
 despise, yet pity thee, miserable man !"t 
 
 Willeby, who is not often moved to enthusiasm, re- 
 gards this trio as : " One of the most perfect and, 
 unfortunately, most neglected of Chopin's works. It 
 is in sonata form, and has the four movements, Allegro, 
 Scherzo Adagio, and Finale." 
 
 The prevalence of the tonic key seems to him the 
 only blot marring the first movement. "The Scherzo 
 
 * The Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Cf. Op. 3. 
 t Rellstab, the Berlin critic of the Iris. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 83 
 
 is delightful and the movement so flowing and full of 
 life that it carries us along irresistibly, while it is difii- 
 cult in the domain of chamber-music to name a more 
 beautiful movement than the Adagio." 
 
 Finck, always original and interesting, thinks it " ad 
 mirably adapted to the instruments for which it is 
 written," and tells us how in an amateur trio clubj to 
 which he belonged, it was the universal favourite of 
 the members, and that with it they, always closed their 
 evening's entertainments. 
 
 " Twelve years after it was written, one of Chopin's 
 pupils, Mme. Streicher, tells us that when studying the 
 trio with him, he drew her attention to some passages 
 which displeased him, saying that he would write them 
 differently now." 
 
 Huneker seems to think that the sonata form 
 cramped Chopin's individuality and imagination, and 
 also notices the sameness of key complained of by 
 Willeby. However, he says : " The Trio opens witii 
 fire, the Scherzo is fanciful, and the Adagio charming, 
 while the Finale is cheerful to liveliness. Its classicism 
 you may dispute, nevertheless it contains lovely music." 
 Barbedette does not consider it equal to the master- 
 pieces of Beethoven and Schubert, but declares that it 
 contains such beautiful melodies, such happy modu- 
 lations, and effects so unexpected and arresting, that 
 one cannot help playing it with pleasure ; while Niecks 
 thinks "it has enough of nobility, enthusiasm, origin- 
 ality, music and life to deserve more attention than it 
 has hitherto obtained." 
 
 THE NOCTURNES. 
 
 T^HE Nocturnes are the form of composition with 
 ■^ which perhaps Chopin's name is most indelibly 
 associated. He did not, however, invent either the 
 name or the form. The term "nocturne" actually oc- 
 
84 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 curs in the preface to the Prayer Book as a service of 
 the Church intended originally to be celebrated at 
 night. John Field, the burly Englishman, who lived 
 chiefly in Paris and Russia, had already popularised 
 the name and form, but, as Ehlert said : " After Chopin 
 even noble John Field's nectar tastes to us but as ex- 
 cellent sugar and water." 
 
 There is in these; Nocturnes of Chopin infinite 
 variety : some are reveries instinct only with the still- 
 ness and solemnity of the night and the glamour of 
 moonlight; others are dramatic with a sense of the 
 emotions that sway the soul in the hours of darkness; 
 they are introspective like the one in which Chopin 
 originally wrote "after a performance of 'Hamlet'"; 
 or again, they are sensuous and luxuriant, heavy with 
 the scent of exotic flowers, and only to be compared 
 with the stanzas in Keats's " Ode to the Nightingale " 
 about the "embalmed darkness," the "verdurous 
 glooms and winding mossy ways." 
 
 Although Chopin's gift of melody is nowhere more 
 lavishly exhibited than in these Nocturnes, it is not 
 only in melody that they excel, but in exquisite grace 
 and beauty of detail, in subtleties of harmony and 
 modulation that are even a deeper source of emotional 
 expression than melody. So original and daring are 
 these harmonic flights that Schumann said of the G 
 minor Nocturne, "he saw in it a terrible declaration of 
 war against a whole musical past." It is probable that 
 many of the accusations of being morbid and unintel- 
 ligible are based on a theoretical study of these recon- 
 dite modulations, whereas when they are brought to 
 hearing in the way in which Chopin played them, they 
 become at once not only clear in meaning but beautiful 
 in expression. 
 
 There are eighteen Nocturnes that were published 
 during Chopin's lifetime in eight opus numbers. The 
 first two books contain three each, and the other six 
 two each. Beside these one in E minor was published 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works, 85 
 
 by Fontana as No. i of Opus 72. In 1895, a Nocturne 
 in C sharp minor, a work of Chopin's earliest youth, 
 was discovered and published, but it is in none of the 
 editions of the collected works. The Berceuse and the 
 Barcarolle can almost be looked upon as belonging to 
 the same class of pieces as the Nocturnes, with which 
 they have considerable affinity. 
 
 The earliest of the Nocturnes is the posthumous one 
 in E minor, which was written in 1827. The three of 
 Opus 9 can be approximately attributed to the year 
 1832, after which the year of composition probably 
 agrees very closely with the year of publication. 
 
 " Among Chopin's Nocturnes some of his most popu- 
 lar works are to be found. Nay, the most widely pre- 
 vailing idea of his character as a man and musician 
 seems to have been derived from them. But the idea 
 thus formed is an Erroneous one; these dulcet, effemin- 
 ate compositions illustrate only one side of the master's 
 character, and by no means the best or most interesting. 
 Notwithstanding such precious pearls as the two Noc- 
 turnes, Opus 37, and a few others, Chopin shows him- 
 self greater, both as a man and a musician, in every 
 other class of pieces he has originated and cultivated, 
 more especially in his polonaises, ballads and studies." 
 (Niecks.) 
 
 "Chopin, seldom exuberantly cheerful, is morbidly 
 sad and complaining in many of the Nocturnes. The 
 most admired of his compositions, with the exception 
 of the waltzes, they are in several instances his weakest. 
 Yet he ennobled the form originated by Field, giving 
 it dramatic breadth, passion, and even grandeur. Set 
 against Field's naive and idyllic specimens, Chopin's 
 efforts are often too bejewelled for true simplicity, too 
 lugubrious, too tropical — Asiatic is a better word — and 
 they have the exotic savour of the heated conservatory 
 and not the fresh scent of the flowers reared in the 
 open by the less poetic Irishman. And then Chopin is 
 so desperately sentimental in some of these composi- 
 
86 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 tions. They are not altogether to the taste of this 
 generation; they seem to be suffering from anasmia. 
 However, there are a few noble Nocturnes, and methods 
 of performance may have much to answer for the senti- 
 mentalising of some others. More vigour, a quicken- 
 ing of the time-pulse, and a less languishing touch will 
 rescue them from lush sentiment. Chopin loved the 
 night and its soft mysteries as much as did Robert 
 Louis Stevenson, and his Nocturnes are true night 
 pieces, some with agitated, remorseful countenances, 
 others seen in profile only, while many are whisperings 
 at dusk. Most of them are called feminine, a term 
 psychologically false. The poetic side of men of 
 genius is feminine, and in Chopin the feminine note 
 was over-emphasised — at times it was almost hysterical 
 — particularly in these Nocturnes." (Huneker.) 
 
 OPUS g. — Three Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I in B flat minor (Larghetto); No. 2 in E flat 
 major (Andante); No. 3 in B major (Allegretto). 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. Camille Pleyel. 
 Probably composed 1832. Published January, 1833. 
 
 No. I in B flat minor. 
 
 T T was only natural that Chopin's first published 
 -•■ essay in the form already popularised by Field 
 should have been extensively compared with the older 
 composer's works. Sikorski, one of the best and most 
 conscientious Polish critics, says : " On comparing 
 Field's Nocturnes with those of Chopin, it must be 
 candidly confessed that the former do not surpass the 
 latter; although it is not to be denied that in spite of 
 some striking Chopin traits. Opus g somewhat re- 
 sembles Field's works in depth of feeling and par- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 87 
 
 ticular turns of expression. These differences may be 
 thus described : Field's Nocturnes represent a cheerful 
 blooming landscape, bathed in sunshine, while Chopin's 
 depict a romantic mountainous region, with a 
 dark background and lowering clouds flashing forth 
 lightning." 
 
 Contemporary reviewers were rather inclined to put 
 their heads together and say "he has stolen it from 
 Field." They even went so far as to assert that 
 Chopin was a pupil of that composer, who was then 
 living in St. Petersburg. 
 
 Chopin, however, wrote : " I have the cognoscenti 
 and the poetic natures on my side." 
 
 Karasowski says : " Field was satisfied with writing 
 tender, poetical, and rather melancholy pieces; while 
 Chopin not only introduced the dramatic element, but 
 displayed, in a striking manner, a marvellous enrich- 
 ment of harmony and of the resources of pianoforte 
 composition." 
 
 Of Opus 9 he writes : " The three Nocturnes are true 
 Petrarchian sonnets, overflowing with grace, fairy-like 
 charm, and captivating sweetness ; they seem like whis- 
 perings in a still summer night, under the balcony of 
 the beloved one." 
 
 Niecks says of this Nocturne that it is pervaded by 
 a voluptuous dreaminess and cloying sweetness : it 
 suggests twilight, the stillness of night, and thoughts 
 engendered thereby, while Kleczynski is of opinion 
 that it exhibits a musical form unknown until that 
 time; a thrilling sadness, together with a novel ele- 
 gance of construction. In the middle part, which 
 should not be played too fast, the melody drags along 
 in heavy octaves as though the soul were sinking 
 beneath the weight of thought and the heat of a sum- 
 mer's night. 
 
 "One of the most elegiac of his Nocturnes is the 
 first in B flat minor. Of far more significance than 
 its two companions, it is for some reason neglected, 
 
88 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 While I am far from agreeing with those who hold 
 that in the early Chopin all his genius was completely 
 revealed, yet this Nocturne is as striking as the last, 
 for it is at once sensuous and dramatic, melancholy 
 and lively. Emphatically a mood, it is best heard on 
 a grey day of the soul, when the times are out of joint; 
 its silken tones will bring a triste content as they pour 
 out upon one's hearing. The second section in octaves 
 is of exceeding charm. As a melody it has all the 
 lurking voluptuousness and mystic crooning of its 
 composer. There is flux and reflux throughout, pas- 
 sion peeping out in the coda." (Huneker.) 
 
 " When Chopin took ' the Nocturne ' in hand he in- 
 vested it with an elegance and depth of meaning which 
 had never been given to it before. The No. i in B 
 flat minor is especially remarkable for this, and is by 
 turns voluptuous and dramatic ; it was certainly not in 
 the cold nature of Field to pen such bars as the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth of this work. A couple of bars 
 later there occurs a phrase, which we look upon as one 
 of the most purely ' Chopinesque ' that the master ever 
 wrote. As an example ot pure, unaffected, and beau- 
 tiful music, he has never surpassed this phrase. Notice 
 in the next bar how the sadness is intensified by the 
 enharmonic change. Again, what could be mOre triste 
 than the phrase in D flat, which occurs some thirty- 
 four bars later, marked legatissimo? After a return 
 to the initial theme, he brings the work to a close with 
 the chord of the tonic major." (Willeby.) 
 
 Kullak points out that this Nocturne is written in 
 " four larger divisions, which are related to each other, 
 not like chief and secondary subjects, but rather like 
 the strophes of a poem." The structure is very char- 
 acteristic of Chopin's Nocturnes. The accompaniment 
 figure in the bass is unchanged throughout. The first 
 stanza is decidedly melancholy, but the second subject 
 in octaves is beautiful and full of truth and expression. 
 It brings before one the atmosphere of a summer's 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 89 
 
 night, and reminds one of Matthew Arnold's lovely 
 lines : 
 
 " Roses that down the alleys shine afar, 
 And open, jasmine mufiHed lattices 
 And groups under the dreamy garden trees, 
 And the full moon, and the white evening star." 
 
 The third strophe (bar 52) is more cheerful, and 
 when the fourth section is reached the original theme 
 returns, but with less sadness and more resignation. 
 There is a burst of passionate energy in the coda, and 
 it ends with soft, sweet chords in the major. 
 
 Madame Camille Pleyel, nee Marie Moke, to whom 
 these Nocturnes are dedicated, was a brilliant young 
 pianist, with whom the composer, Ferdinand Heller, 
 was violently in love. She, however, did not recipro- 
 cate his affection, and became engaged to Hector 
 Berlioz. During his absence in Rome, Mile. Moke, at 
 Hie instigation of her mother, married Pleyel. Berlioz 
 in his memoirs tells us how he started for Paris with a 
 disguise, loaded pistols, and bottles of poison., bent on 
 murdering the faithless Marie and her mother, and in- 
 tending to commit suicide. The luggage containing 
 the disguise went astray, and during the consequent 
 delay his rage flickered out, and instead of wreaking 
 condign vengeance, he spent an enjoyable holiday on 
 the Riviera. 
 
 No. 2. — Nocturne in E flat (Andante). 
 
 This is probably the best known and most celebrated, 
 not only of the Nocturnes but of all Chopin's works. 
 It certainly did more for his popularity in Paris than 
 anything he had published up to that time. It is this 
 particular piece that sketchy amateurs generally mean 
 when. they ask one to play "Chopin's Nocturne." 
 
 It approximates more closely than any other to the 
 form of Field's Nocturnes, but this very fact only 
 
90 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 throws into greater relief the superiority of Chopin's 
 work. As a curiosity of criticism it is interesting to 
 read what Rellstab, a well-known German critic of the 
 thirties, said at the time : 
 
 "Where Field smiles, Chopin makes a grinning 
 grimace; where Field sighs, Chopin groans; where 
 Field shrugs his shoulders, Chopin twists his whole 
 body ; where Field puts some seasoning into the food, 
 Chopin empties a handful of Cayenne pepper. In 
 short, if one holds Field's charming romances before a 
 distorting concave mirror, so that every delicate expres- 
 sion becomes a coarse one, one gets Chopin's work. We 
 implore Mr. Chopin to return to nature." 
 
 Most of the critics are a little hard on this Nocturne. 
 Willeby says : " It is aesthetically and psychologically 
 inferior to its companions, and savours somewhat of 
 affectation." Niecks seems to think that because 
 fashionable salon composers have copied its tone and 
 phraseology that its tone must be one of sentimentality 
 and not true natural feeling. He allows, however, that 
 it has eloquence, grace and genuine refinement. 
 Huneker finds it graceful, shallow of content, but adds 
 that "if it is played with purity of touch and freedom 
 from sentimentality, it is not nearly so banal as it 
 usually seems. It is Field-like, therefore play it as 
 did Rubinstein in a Field-like fashion." 
 
 All agree that it can easily be spoilt in the render- 
 ing; that it should be played with simplicity and 
 naturalness ; the time not too slow. 
 
 " It has become essentially a domain of the younger 
 feminine world ; they do well in selecting it for making 
 their debut in the sphere of the finest salon music and 
 free delivery ; only let them beware of distorting it by 
 immoderate ruhatos and hyper-sentimentality. The 
 feelings which underlie the contents of this Nocturne 
 are too true and natural to require rouge." (Kullak.) 
 
 It is one of the shortest of the Nocturnes, written in 
 a simple two-part song form, with a fascinating coda. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 91 
 
 It reminds one critic of Keats's " Ode to a Nightingale," 
 but it has not the depth and variety of that immortal 
 lyric; it is a poem of tender and devoted love, and 
 reminds one of the lines from Tennyson's " Gardener's 
 Daughter," when : 
 
 "Every daisy slept, and Love's white star 
 
 Beamed through the thicken'd cedar in the dusk. 
 ♦ * » * * 
 
 Love at first sight, first born, and heir to all 
 Made the night thus." 
 
 No. 3. — Nocturne in B major (Allegretto). 
 
 This Nocturne has come in for remarkable little 
 mention by any of the critics, and yet it is by no means 
 the least interesting., 
 
 Niecks calls it " exquisite salon music. Little is said, 
 but that little very prettily. Although the atmosphere 
 is close, impregnated with musk and other perfumes, 
 there is here no affectation. The concluding cadenza, 
 that twirling line, reads plainly Frederic Chopin." 
 
 Barbedette finds the style of it a little precious. (Un 
 feu ckercki.) 
 
 Gracious, even coquettish, is the first part ; well knit, 
 "the passionate intermezzo has the true dramatic 
 Chopin ring. It should be taken alia breve. The 
 ending is quite effective." (Huneker.) 
 
 This Nocturne is the first of a type of which there 
 are several examples. There is a first subject which 
 opens brightly in the major, and is contrasted in the 
 middle section with an agitated and dramatic theme in 
 the minor. The chief subject is then resumed, and the 
 whole closes with one of those codas which, in Chopin's 
 works, are so often separate inspirations of extraor- 
 dinary beauty and charm. 
 
 The chief subject is divided into three strophes, 
 which, as Kullak points out, are different, but not essen- 
 
92 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 tially unlike in point of contents, and they constantly 
 alternate with each other. 
 
 The middle section is march-like in treatment and 
 must be played strictly in time. Its modulatory 
 changes and frequent dynamic nuances are very 
 interesting. 
 
 The coda begins with an arresting change of har- 
 mony, and the concluding cadenza is even more elabor- 
 ate and interesting than that of the E flat minor 
 Nocturne. 
 
 OPUS 10. — 12 Grandes Etudes. 
 
 No. I, C major (Arpeggios); No. 2, A minor (Chromatic 
 Scale); No. 3, E major (Melody); No. 4, C sharp minor 
 (Presto); No. 5, G flat major (Black Keys); No. 6, E 
 flat minor (Andante); No. 7, C major (Toccata); No. 8, 
 F major (Allegro); No. g, F minor (Molto Agitato); 
 No. 10, A flat major (Rhythm and Accent); No. 11, E 
 flat major (Extended Chords); No. 12, C minor (Revo- 
 lutionary Etude). 
 
 Dedicated "A son ami," Franz Liszt. 
 Composed 1829-1831. Published in 1833. 
 
 A S early as October, 1829, we read in one .of Chopin's 
 ■**■ letters to his friend, Titus Woyciechowski : " I 
 have composed a study in my own manner." The last 
 three words are pregnant with meaning; "his own 
 manner " meant that his nature, matured by experience 
 of life and stimulated by emotion, had obtained spon- 
 taneous self-expression in a series of works in a form 
 untrammelled by tradition, in which, despite their ob- 
 vious technical purpose, all the poetry and charm of 
 his nature revealed itself fully for the first time. Of 
 these Etudes there are in all twenty-seven, twelve in 
 Opus 10, published in 1833, another twelve in Opus 25, 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 93 
 
 published in 1837, and three more which appeared in 
 the " Methode des M6thodes," for the piano, by Mos- 
 cheles and F6tis in 1 840, and which were subsequently 
 republished separately as " Trois Nouvelles Etudes " 
 without opus number. Again, in a letter of November, 
 1829, Chopin wrote: "I have written some studies, in 
 your presence I would play them well." It seems well 
 established that No. 12 of Opus 10, "The Revolution- 
 ary Etude," was written under the stress of emotion 
 caused by the news of the taking of Warsaw by the 
 Russians, which took place in September, 1831, but 
 with this exception it is impossible to ascertain the 
 exact date of the composition of any of these studies. 
 It seems probable that they were all written between 
 1829 and 1834, and that they are therefore the work of 
 Chopin's nineteenth to his twenty-fourth years. Sowin- 
 ski tells us that Chopin brought the first book of his 
 Etudes with him to Paris in 1831, and a Polish musi- 
 cian heard Chopin play the studies contained in 
 Opus 25 in 1834. 
 
 Schumann, in reviewing this later set, and evidently 
 writing with authoritative knowledge, tells us that most 
 of them were written about the same time as those of 
 Opus 10, and that only the first and last were of later 
 date. 
 
 It would be a great mistake if we were misled by the 
 title Studies into thinking that the perfecting of tech- 
 nique is their sole aim. Each of them certainly has 
 its own special technical problem, but they are just as 
 much studies in melody, harmony, rhythm and emo- 
 tional expression as of pure technique, and indeed 
 Finck suggests that Chopin, finding them generally 
 misunderstood when he played them, gave them the 
 title of Studies with ironic intention. From whatever 
 point of view they are looked at, the Studies are likely 
 to remain the supreme examples of their kind. 
 
 Liszt remarks on the unassuming nature of the titles 
 of Chopin's " Studies and Preludes," and says : " Yet 
 
94 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 the compositions which are thus modestly named are 
 none the less types of perfection in a mode which he 
 himself erected and stamped, as he did all his other 
 works, with the deep impress of his poetic genius. 
 Written when his career was only just beginning, they 
 are marked by a youthful vigour not found in some of 
 his later works, even when they are more elaborate and 
 finished and richer in combinations." 
 
 Schumann, in an article on " Pianoforte Etudes," said 
 that amongst the younger men of his day Chopin was 
 the first to command public attention : " His Etudes, 
 nearly all giving proof of a remarkable mind, soon 
 resounded throughout Germany, where they will long 
 resound, since they are far in advance of general culti- 
 vation, and even if they were not so, they possess the 
 real geniality that has value at all times. With Chopin 
 difficulty is only a means to an end, and when he makes 
 the greatest use of it, it is only because the desired 
 effect requires it. Great means, great meaning, great 
 effect— in Chopin we nearly always fi.nd tliem united." 
 
 Huneker has devoted perhaps more attention to the 
 Etudes than to any other of the works. He calls them 
 Titanic experiments, and thinks they will live for ever. 
 He says : " They are enormously misunderstood and 
 misread. Studies in moods, as well as in mechanism, 
 they are harnessed with' the dull, unimaginative 
 creatures of the conservatory curriculum, and so in the 
 concert room we miss the flavour, the heroic freedom 
 of the form. When will these series of palpitating 
 music-pictures be played with all their range of emo- 
 tional dynamics?" 
 
 Later on he speaks of the Etudes as " that delightful 
 region where the technic-worn student discerns from 
 afar the glorious colours, the strangely plumaged birds, 
 the exquisite sparkle of falling waters, the odours so 
 graceful to nostrils forced to inhale Czerny, dementi 
 and Cramer." 
 
 Niecks says : " Whether looked at from the sestheti-. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 95 
 
 cal or technical point of view, Chopin's Studies will be 
 seen to be second to those of no composer. Were it 
 not wrong to speak of anything as absolutely best, 
 their excellences would induce one to call them un- 
 equalled. A striking feature in them compared Avith 
 Chopin's other works is their healthy freshness and 
 vigour. Even the slow, dreamy and elegiac ones have 
 none of the f aintness and sickliness to be found in not 
 a few of the composer's pieces, especially in several of 
 the Nocturnes. The diversity of character exhibited 
 by these Studies is very great. In some of them the 
 aesthetical, in others the technical purpose predomin- 
 ates; in a few the two are evenly balanced; in none is 
 either of them absent. They give a summary of 
 Chopin's ways and means, of his pianoforte language; 
 chords in extended position, widespread arpeggios, 
 chromatic progressions (simple, in thirds, and in oc- 
 taves), simultaneous combinations of contrasting 
 rhythms, etc. — nothing is wanting." 
 
 KuUak commences his edition of Chopin's works 
 with the Etudes, " for the very reason that in them 
 Chopin displays in concentrated form almost the entire 
 range of his technique." 
 
 He says : " The name of Frederic Chopin marks a 
 new epoch in the history of the Etude; for not only 
 does he offer us genuine pianoforte technique of sur- 
 prising boldness of invention, but in this form also — 
 although originally designed chiefly for an external 
 end — he pours forth the entire fullness of his trans- 
 porting poesy. But then the specific peculiarity of his 
 genius lay in his ability to give contents of incompara- 
 ble significance precisely in the smaller musical forms. 
 Hence, whenever we speak of the ideal of an Etude, 
 the name of Chopin almost involuntarily falls from 
 our lips, and this without any disposition to detract 
 from the great merits of others; as, for instance, 
 Cramer, Clementi, Moscheles, Liszt, etc. — not to forget 
 
96 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 either, on any account, those of old John Sebastian 
 Bach." 
 
 These first twelve Studies are dedicated by Chopin 
 "to his friend, Franz Liszt," and it has been asserted 
 by Lina Ramann, Liszt's biographer, that their style 
 was influenced by the great virtuoso. Dates, however, 
 are against this theory, and the influence indeed was 
 the other way. The works of the new school of roman- 
 tic composers for the piano demanded a new and in- 
 creased range of technique. It is no wonder, therefore, 
 that at first both performers and critics cried out 
 against the difficulties of these Etudes. Moscheles 
 complained that his fingers were constantly stumbling 
 over hard, inartistic, and to him incomprehensible 
 modulations; whilst Rellstab characteristically re- 
 marks : " Those who^ have distorted fingers may put 
 them right by practising these Studies; but those who 
 have not, should not play them, at least, not without 
 having a surgeon at hand." 
 
 There are numerous editions of the Etudes, but the 
 three best are Klindworth's, Kullak's, and Von Billow's. 
 There exist all sorts of perversions and transcriptions 
 of the Etudes, which are only of interest to students of 
 technique, and all allusions to these are therefore 
 omitted from this book. From an artistic point of view 
 they are to be deplored, although there is no denying 
 the cleverness of some of them; for instance, Godow- 
 sky's version of the Black Key Study and the G flat 
 ("Butterflies' Wings") combined together. Even 
 Brahms has made a version of the F minor, Op. 25, 
 No. 2, and, as Huneker says, " has broken it on the wheel 
 of double sixths and thirds." 
 
 No. I. — Etude in C major. 
 
 This study is intensely characteristic of Chopin's 
 piano technique; it is perhaps more technical and of 
 less emotional value than any of the others. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 97 
 
 Barbedette thinks it the least happy of any, and says 
 that it is difficult without being beautiful. It is formed 
 entirely of arpeggios on extended chords for the right 
 hand, whilst the left plays a melody in octaves. 
 
 Von Biilow says that these octaves should be struck 
 fully and with weight, but without hardness, and 
 therefore must be played by raising the tight-stretched 
 hand. 
 
 The metronome sign is 176 for a crotchet, but Kullak 
 thinks that 152 is quite fast enough; the faster time is 
 very proper for the highest bravura, but it impairs the 
 majestic grandeur of the character of the piece. He 
 says : " Above a ground bass, proudly and boldly 
 striding along, flow mighty waves of sound. The 
 Etude is to be played on a basis of forte throughout ; 
 with strongly dissonant harmonies; the forte is to be 
 increased to fortissimo, diminishing again with con- 
 sonant ones." 
 
 Huneker considers the Study heroic. He says : " Ex- 
 tended chords had been sparingly used by Hummel 
 and dementi, but to take a dispersed harmony and 
 transform it into an epical study, to raise the chord 
 of the tenth to heroic stature — that could have 
 been accomplished by Chopin only. The irregular, 
 black, ascending and descending staircases of notes 
 strike the neophyte with terror. Like Piranesi's mar- 
 vellous aerial architectural dreams, these dizzy acclivi- 
 ties and descents of Chopin exercise a charm, hypnotic 
 if you will, for eye as well as ear. Here is the new 
 technique in all its nakedness, new in the sense of 
 figure, design, pattern, web, new in a harmonic way. 
 The old order was horrified at the modulatory harsh- 
 ness, the young sprigs of the new, fascinated and a 
 little frightened. A man who could explode a mine 
 that assailed the stars must be reckoned with. The 
 hub of modern piano music is in the study, the most 
 formally reckless Chopin ever penned. . . . This study 
 suggests that its composer wished to begin the exposi- 
 
 7 
 
gS A Handbook to Chopin's Works 
 
 tion of his wonderful technical system with a skeleton- 
 ised statement. It is the tree stripped of its bark, the 
 flower of its leaves, yet, austere as is the result, there is 
 compensating power, dignity and unswerving logic." 
 
 y(No. 2. — Etude in A minor. 
 
 The purpose of this study is severely technical, but 
 for pianists a complete mastery of it is essential ; with- 
 out facility in the fingering it employs it is impossible 
 to render appropriately some of Chopin's most import- 
 ant compositions. The chromatic scale has to be played 
 with the third, fourth, and fifth fingers, whilst the 
 thumb and first finger play perfectly distinctly and 
 yet transiently (with strict observance of their value as 
 semiquavers only as Von Btilow directs), the harmonies 
 underneath the scale on each beat of the bar. As 
 Huneker says : " The entire composition, with its mur- 
 muring, meandering, chromatic character, is a fore- 
 runner to the whispering, weaving, moonlit effects in 
 some of his later studies." 
 
 In spite of its technical difficulties, it is when 
 properly rendered, as delicate as a silver-point draw- 
 ing, as rounded and finished as a lyric of Heine. The 
 treble ripples up and down over the lightly accentuated 
 harmonies, and the concluding scale drops as delicately 
 as a bird alighting on a swaying branch. 
 
 No. 3. — Etude in E major. 
 
 Von Bulow considers that this Etude in its essential 
 importance is a study of expression, and in his invalu- 
 able critical edition of the studies couples it with No. 6 
 in E flat minor. He gives most minute and elaborate 
 instructions as to the rendering of each particular 
 section, more especially in regard to the rubato to be 
 employed. 
 
 Kullak calls it a "wondrously beautiful tone-poem, 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works 99 
 
 more of a Nocturne than an Etude, and as regards 
 architecture and contents, comparable to the Nocturne 
 in F sharp major" (Opus 15, No. 2). 
 
 Gutmann has left us an interesting anecdote that 
 Chopin declared to him that he had never in his life 
 written another such a beautiful melody, and on one 
 occasion, when Gutmann was studying it, the master 
 lifted up his arms with his hands clasped and ex- 
 claimed, "Oh, niy fatherland!" 
 
 Niecks thinks that this composition may be reckoned 
 as among Chopin's loveliest; he also, like Von Biilow, 
 ranks it with the sixth number of the same opus, and 
 says that these two studies cogihine-ekcssicsti-ehasteness 
 oLeantoiuu-with the fjagan ce of romanticisra . 
 
 Huneker says, thSx lii this study 'The more intim- 
 ately 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 lan- 
 guorous, therefore saner, than the much bepraised 
 study in C sharp minor, No. 7, Opus 25." 
 
 Regarding Von Billow's remarks about the tempo 
 licence to be indulged in, he says : " It 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." 
 
 "If we might single out any particular Etude as 
 being more beautiful than its companions, it would be 
 this one ; it is one long chain of entrancing melody and 
 harmony throughout." (Willeby.) 
 
 No. 4. — Etude in C sharp minor. 
 
 KuUak calls this a bravura study of velocity and 
 lightness in both hands, and says the accentuation 
 should be fiery. Von Biilow considers that the interest 
 it inspires may easily become a stumbling-block in 
 attempting to conquer its technical difficulties, and 
 gives minute instructions as to the way it should be 
 
100 A Handbook to Chopin's Works 
 
 practised; he calls it "a purely classical and model 
 piece of music." 
 
 This Etude, if phrased properly, rushes along with 
 magni&cent swing, culminating in the seventieth bar 
 with a glorious crashing climax, ///. 
 
 Huneker calls it "a joy." "How well Chopin knew 
 the value of contrast in tonality and sentiment ! A 
 veritable classic is this piece, which, despite its dark 
 key colour, C sharp minor, as a foil to t3ie preceding 
 one in E, bubbles with life and spurts flame. . . . 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. ... A veritable lance of tone is this study, 
 if justly poised." 
 
 No. 5. — Etude in G flat. (Black key study.) 
 
 Chopin, in a letter that he wrote whilst at Marseilles 
 on his return from Majorca, said : " Did Miss Wieck 
 play my Etude well ? Could she not select something 
 better than just this Etude, the least interesting for 
 those who do not know that it is written for the black 
 keys ? It would have been far better to do nothing at 
 all." 
 
 Von Biilow seems to share Chopin's rather deprecia- 
 tory idea of this study, for he calls it a " Damensalon 
 Etude, which, even in its very pleasingness is ensnaring 
 and illusory." 
 
 Kullak says it is an "exceedingly piquant composi- 
 tion bubbling over with vivacity and humour, now 
 audacious and anon softly insinuating, restlessly 
 hurrying ever, tarrying never, its execution must be at 
 once coquettish and graceful and full of Polish 
 elegance." 
 
 This Etude is, perhaps, owing to what Barbedette 
 calls its bizarre combination (the right hand playing on 
 the black keys only), the best known of all the Etudes, 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works ioi 
 
 it is used as a show piece, performers vying with one 
 another to see how fast they can play it, but when used 
 thus, merely as a vehicle for display, it becomes rather 
 an empty thing. It has perhaps less depth of emotion 
 than any of the others. 
 
 Huneker says : " It is certainly graceful, delicately 
 witty, a trifle naughty, arch and roguish, and it is de- 
 lightfully invented. Technically, it requires smooth, 
 velvet-tipped hngers and a supple wrist." But even if 
 the main theme is a little commonplace, the concluding 
 section entirely redeems it; the melody falls over, as it 
 were, in a miniature silver waterfall (bar 65), and 
 spreads out into little pools of harmony in the left 
 hand (bars 67 to 72). 
 
 i*. No. 6. — Etude in E flat minor. 
 
 This etude approximates in its form to that of a noc- 
 turne, but leaves more the impression of a dark, cloudy 
 day, although relieved here and there by an occasional 
 gleam of watery sunshine. The gloom lightens a little 
 where the key changes to E major (bar 21), but speak- 
 ing generally, it appears throughout, as one commenta- 
 tor has said, as if it were written in a sort of double 
 minor, as much sadder than ordinary minor is sadder 
 than major. 
 
 Hadow speaks of Chopin's skill in keeping the re- 
 current shape of the accompaniment unchanged 
 throughout, preserving its unity without allowing it to 
 become wearisome or monotonous. 
 
 Both Niecks and Von Biilow couple this as a study in 
 expression, with No. 3 of Opus 10, and Huneker says : 
 "It is beautiful, if music so sad may be called beauti- 
 ful, and the melody is full of stifled sorrow. Ifi the E 
 major section, the piece broadens to dramatic vigour. 
 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 
 
102 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 well within chaste lines. The Sarmatian composer had 
 not yet unlearned the value of reserve. A luscious 
 touch, and a sympathetic soul is needed for this noc- 
 turne study." 
 
 In the fifth bar from the end, there is a change to the 
 major, which is' like a transient gleam of not over warm 
 sunshine, but the clouds gather again only to be dis- 
 pelled in the last bar by a change, as unexpected as it 
 is beautiful. 
 
 No. 7. — Etude in C major. 
 
 This bright and fascinating study is a striking con- 
 trast to the preceding one, and perhaps the most beauti- 
 ful of all. It is not as emotional as the Revolutionary 
 Etude (No. 1 2), nor has it the grand rush of the A minor 
 study known as the " Winter Wind " (No. 1 1), but it has 
 a freshness, a delicacy and a bewitching charm, the 
 sense of sunshine and fresh air, it suggests beauty, 
 health and lightheartedness, and all the time, from the 
 point of view of technique, it is an invaluable study of 
 the value of double notes and in learning how to 
 change the fingers on one key. 
 
 Huneker calls it a genuine toccata with moments of 
 tender twilight, and thinks it as healthy as the toccata 
 by Robert Schumann. "Were ever Beauty and Duty 
 so mated in double harness ?" At the seventeenth bar 
 (marked delicato) there is a delicious passage in the 
 bass, "puck-like rustlings in a mysterious forest," as 
 Huneker imaginatively calls it. 
 
 Kullak says : "The etude is to be executed with ele- 
 gance, the spirited tempo demands great lightness of 
 hand." 
 
 No. 8. — Etude in F major. 
 
 This, again, is one of the lighter of the studies from 
 the point of view of emotion. Von Biilow calls it "a 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 103 
 
 bravura study pax excellence" for cultivating fluency 
 of the right hand. Kullalc warns modern virtuosi 
 against playing it too fast; "since English mechanism 
 has supplanted the German, the piajioforte tone has 
 become nobler, more sonorous, and greater both, in 
 volume and its capacity in nuances. In my individual 
 opinion, pianoforte passages, even in the most fiery 
 tempo, must yield some of that former quick-fingered- 
 ness, which so easily degenerated into expressive trifling 
 and be executed with greater breadth of style." 
 
 One can never play Chopin beautifully enough, 
 therefore never play his music too fast. 
 
 Huneker says : " There can be no doubt as to the 
 wisdom of a broader treatment of this charming display 
 piece. How it makes the piano sound — what a rich, 
 brilliant sweep it secures ! It elbows the treble to its 
 last euphonious point, glitters and crests itself, only to 
 fall away as if the sea were melodic and could shatter 
 and tumble into tuneful foam ! The emotional con- 
 tent is not marked. The piece is for the fashionable 
 salon or the concert-hall. One catches at its close the 
 overtones of bustling plaudits and the clapping of 
 gloved palms. Ductility and aristocratic ease, a deli- 
 cate touch and fluent technique will carry off the study 
 with good effect. Technically it is useful; one must 
 speak of the usefulness of Chopin, even in these im- 
 prisoned, iridescent soap bubbles of his." 
 
 No. g. — Etude in F minor. 
 
 In this study we enter again into the realm of emo- 
 tion ; it is on record that Chopin wrote it especially for 
 Moscheles. The very beautiful, agitated, complaining 
 melody in the treble is supported by an unchanging 
 wide-stretched figure in the bass, which seems to antici- 
 plate its more marked and dramatic figure in the D 
 minor Prelude No. 24. The end dies away like a sigh. 
 Hunek:er finds its mood more petulant than tempestu- 
 
104 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 ous. The melody is morbid, almost irritating, and yet 
 not without certain accents of grandeur. There is a 
 persistency in repetition that foreshadows the Chopin 
 of the later, sadder years. 
 
 No. 10. — Etude in A flat. 
 
 Von Btilow considers this study the most typical 
 piece of the entire set. " He who can play this study 
 in a real finished manner may congratulate himself on 
 having climbed to the highest point of the pianist's 
 Parnassus. The whole repertoire of pianoforte music 
 does not contain a study of perpetual motion so full 
 of genius and fancy as this particular one is universally 
 acknowledged to be, except perhaps Liszt's 'Feux 
 Follets."' 
 
 Kullak calls it " an exceedingly piquant composition, 
 possessing for the hearer a wondrous fantastic charm; 
 if played with the proper insight the tempo is spirited, 
 but force flnds less scope here than pleasantness and 
 grace." 
 
 Almost above any, this etude needs careful phrasing, 
 its chief characteristic is the delicious contrasting play 
 of light and shade caused by the alternations of phras- 
 ing in doublets and triplets. Huneker says of it : " The 
 study is one of the most charming of the composer. 
 There is more depth in it than in the G flat and F major 
 studies, and its effectiveness in the virtuoso sense is un- 
 questionable. A savour of the salon hovers over its 
 perfumed measures, but there is grace, spontaneity and 
 happiness. Chopin must have been as happy as his 
 sensitive nature would allow when he conceived this 
 vivacious caprice." 
 
 No. 1 1. — Etude in E flat major. 
 
 Huneker considers that in the whole list of the noc- 
 turnes there is no such picture painted as this study. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 105 
 
 " A Corot, if ever there was one. Its novel design, deli- 
 cate arabesques — as if the guitar had been dowered 
 with a soul — and the richness and originality of its 
 "harmonic scheme gives us pause to ask if Chopin's in- 
 vention is not almost boundless. The melody itself is 
 plaintive; a plaintive grace informs the entire piece. 
 The harmonisation is far more wonderful, but to us 
 the chord of the tenth and more remote intervals, seems 
 no longer daring; yet there are harmonies in the last 
 page of this study that still excite wonder. The fif- 
 teenth bar from the end is one that Richard Wagner 
 might have made. From that bar to the close every 
 group is a masterpiece." 
 
 Later on he speaks of the aerial effect, the swaying 
 of the tendrils of tone, intended by Chopin, which is 
 exactly the kind of effect which should be aimed at in 
 performance. 
 
 It is marked allegretto, and must certainly not be 
 played faster than seventy-six to the crotchet. "The 
 colour scheme is celestial and the ending a sigh, not 
 unmixed with happiness." 
 
 No. 12. — Etude in C minor. Known as "The Revolu- 
 tionary Etude." '% <<r' 
 
 This is not only one of the finest of the etudes but 
 one of the most interesting of Chopin's works. We 
 have it on good authority that it was the direct musical 
 expressions of the emotions aroused in the composer on 
 hearing of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians in 
 1 83 1. In' these latter days, living in a generation in 
 scorn of whom Rossetti wrote that scathing sonnet " On 
 the Refusal of Aid between Nations," we can hardly 
 realise the wave of indignation and sympathy that ran 
 through England when the free kingdom of Poland 
 sank beneath the triple onslaught of Russia, Austria 
 and Germany. But we can well imagine the tornado 
 of emotion that overwhelmed the sensitive and patriotic 
 
io6 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 composer. In this great tone-poem he uttered the feel- 
 ings of every Pole who, hearing of the fall of the capi- 
 tal, realised that it was the death-knell of their inde- 
 pendent national life. 
 
 The music begins with a crash of passionate surprise, 
 followed by a downward swirl of indignation and 
 despair (bars 1-9), and then the melody rises proud, 
 defiant and majestic (bar 10). When the key changes to 
 G minor (bar 29), we realise how modern Chopin is in 
 the sense that all great art is modern. For just as in 
 Bach, we say every now and theii : " How like Wagner," 
 here in Chopin we get chords and progressions that 
 would be in place in " Tristan and Isolde," and that are 
 of the essence of all modern emotional melody. When 
 the return comes to the first th<=me (bar 50) its force is 
 broken, it stammers in its utterance, the rage dies out of 
 it, only the pathos is left, and it ends with a questioning 
 phrase like a broken sob as modern and as human as 
 Siegmund's questioning of Brunnhilde (bar 75). Then 
 with a dying effort it gathers itself up and rushes with a 
 defiant shout on the guns and bayonets of the enemy 
 (bars 80-4). 
 
 Von Biilow says : " This C minor study must be con- 
 sidered as a finished work of art in an even higher de- 
 gree than the study in C sharp minor (see page 99). 
 Among Chopin's contemporaries and successors, Franz 
 Liszt alone has shown an equal pre-eminence in his 
 great studies No. 5 in B flat major and No. 10 in F 
 minor. The chromatic meandering in bars i/^^and 18 
 (amplified in bar 73 and following bars) was first intro- 
 duced into pianoforte music by Beethoven in the first 
 movement of the Fifth Concerto, Op. 73, but intermin- 
 gled there with diatonic intervals, and it has since then 
 been commonly employed by many modern pianoforte 
 composers. 
 
 From the technical point of view Kullak considers it 
 " a bravura study of the very highest order for the left 
 hand." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 107 
 
 In Karasowski's " Life of Chopin," we read : " Grief, 
 anxiety and despair over the fate of his relatives and 
 his dearly beloved father filled the measure of his 
 sufferings. Under the influence of this inood he wrote 
 this C minor Etude; out of the mad and tempestuous 
 storm of passages for the left hand, the melody rises 
 aloft, now passionate and anon proudly majestic, until 
 thrills of awe stream over the listener, and the image is 
 evoked of Zeus hurling thunderbolts at the world." 
 
 " How superbly grand ! The composer seems to be 
 fuming with rage; the left hand rushes impetuously 
 along, and the right hand strikes in with passionate 
 ejaculations." (Niecks.) 
 
 " Four pages suffice for a background upon which the 
 composer has flung with overwhelming fury the dark- 
 est, the most demoniac expressions of his nature. Here 
 is no veiled surmise, no smothered rage, but all sweeps 
 along in tornadic passion — it is one of the greatest 
 dramatic outbursts in piano literature. Great in outline, 
 pride, force and velocity, it never relaxes its grim grip 
 from the first shrill dissonance to the overwhelming 
 chord at close. This end rings out like the crack of 
 creation. It is elemental." (Huneker.) 
 
 OPUS II. — Grand Concerto. In E minor. For piano 
 and orchestra. 
 
 Allegro maestoso, E minor; Romance, Larghetto, E 
 major; Rondo vivace, E major. 
 
 Dedicated to Fr. Kalkbrenner. 
 
 Composed 1830. Published September, 1833. 
 
 r^ HOPIN wrote two concertos, and their chronology 
 
 has been the cause of much misunderstanding. 
 
 The second in order of publication. Opus 21, in F 
 
 minor, which appeared in 1836, was composed the year 
 
io8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 before this one, in 1829. Karasowski is responsible by 
 a careless mistranslation for the muddle into which 
 some commentators have fallen. The matter is of some 
 importance, as in the slow movement of each we have 
 two of the rare instances in which Chopin has left on 
 record the poetic ideas which inspired him. He says 
 of the lirst : " The Adagio in E major is conceived in a 
 romantic, quiet, half melancholy spirit. It is to give 
 the impression of the eye resting on some much-loved 
 landscape which awakens pleasant recollections, such as 
 a lovely spring moonlight night." 
 
 And in a letter of October 3, 1 829, we read : " I have 
 — perhaps to my misfortune — already found my ideal, 
 whom 1 worship faithfully and sincerely. Six months 
 have elapsed, and I have not yet exchanged a syllable 
 with her of whom I dream every night. Whilst my 
 thoughts were with her I composed the Adagio of my 
 concerto." (The " second " in F minor.) 
 
 Both the movements are marked Larghetto, but 
 Chopin uses the term Adagio generically to indicate 
 the slow movement. 
 
 The "Ideal" was a young opera singer, Constantia 
 Gladkowska. 
 
 Willeby's comments, founded as they are on the mis- 
 understanding, are perhaps all the more interesting. 
 He says of the first : " When we remember the circum- 
 stances under which he wrote, and the ' Ideal ' who 
 inspired it, we wonder that there is so little of real in- 
 spiration in ihe Larghetto, for it cannot be compared 
 to the corresponding portion in the companion concerto 
 in F minor. It exhales a sickly sweetness, which causes 
 us to long for a purer atmosphere." 
 
 Whilst of the second he says : " It is far and away 
 the most spiritual piece of work Chopin has given us in 
 any of his compositions for piano and orchestra." This 
 says something for the Gladkowska as a source of 
 inspiration, and incidentally is a credit to Willeby's 
 intuition. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 109 
 
 Schumann reviewed both the concertos, but for once 
 what " Florestan " says is not much to the point. 
 
 A reviewer (probably Rellstab again) had said that 
 Chopin's compositions were fit for nothing but to tear 
 in pieces, and this upsets Schumann so much that he 
 rather neglects his subject. After a long tirade he 
 says : " But shall I remember these things to-day just 
 as I have fallen in with Chopin's F minor Concerto. 
 Heaven forbid ! Milk versus poison, cool blue milk ! 
 What is a whole yard of music paper compared to a 
 Chopin concerto? What is a magistrate's anger com- 
 pared to poetic rage? What are ten editorial crowns 
 compared to an adagio in the second concerto?" 
 
 Elsewhere he says : " Were a genius like Mozart to 
 arise in our day, he would rather write Chopin concertos 
 than Mozartean ones." 
 
 But Liszt thought that, though beautiful, the con- 
 certos reveal "more effort than inspiration." "His 
 creative genius was imperious, fantastic, impulsive, and 
 the beauties of his work were only fully manifested in 
 absolute freedom. We cannot help thinking that he 
 did violence to the peculiar nature of his genius when 
 he endeavoured to subject it to rules, to classifications, 
 and to regulations not of his own making, and which 
 he could not bind into harmony with the requirements 
 of his own mind." 
 
 There is a general concensus of opinion that Chopin's 
 orchestration is weak, and it is almost conclusive evi- 
 dence of this that Klindworth has published a version 
 of the F minor and Tausig one of the E minor con- 
 certo. 
 
 Huneker, in his " Mezzotints in Modern Music," de- 
 votes a section of his monograph on the Greater Chopin 
 to a masterly analysis of these different versions, and 
 quotes Krehbiel (author of the brilliant band of New 
 York critics) as saying : " It is more than anything else 
 a question of taste that is involved in this matter, and. 
 
no A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 as so often happens, individual likings, rather than 
 artistic principles, will carry the day." 
 
 No less an authority on instrumentation than 
 Berlioz says in his autobiography : " In Chopin's com- 
 positions all the interest centres in the piano; his 
 orchestral concerto accompaniments are cold and prac- 
 tically useless." 
 
 Both the concertos are modelled not only in form 
 but in general style on Hummel. Chopin was still a 
 very young man when he wrote them; they were the 
 work of his nineteenth and twentieth years, and it is 
 only natural that we should be able to trace the in- 
 fluence of the master for whom he had a declared 
 admiration. 
 
 Chopin frequently played these compositions at his 
 concerts, and it is a curious comment on the advance 
 of musical taste that in those days it was not at all 
 unusual for vocal solos to be sandwiched in between 
 the parts of a concerto. 
 
 Not that there was any lack of appreciation of these 
 works when they were produced. They invariably met 
 with applause and sympathetic criticism. In Vienna 
 one critic said : " The execution of his newest Concerto 
 in E minor, a serious composition, gives no cause to 
 revoke our former judgment. One who is so upright in 
 his dealings with genuine art is deserving our genuine 
 esteem." 
 
 The E minor Concerto opens with a vigorous orches- 
 tral introduction which rehearses at full length the 
 first and second subjects, which are subsequently re- 
 peated as piano solos. This is universally considered 
 a mistake, and even when the original orchestration 
 is used, this introduction of one hundred and thirty- 
 eight bars is usually curtailed. The piano enters most 
 effectively ; both the first and second themes are beauti- 
 ful and characteristically pianistic. There is an epi- 
 sode in semiquavers (twenty-four bars after the first 
 theme), marked tranquillo, which is peculiarly Chopin- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. hi 
 
 esque. But as Huneker says : " It is true the first move- 
 ment is too long, too much in one set of keys, and the 
 working out section too much in the nature of a tech- 
 nical study." 
 
 Von Lenz, who admired this first movement very 
 much, describes the second as a "tiresome Nocturne.' 
 A Nocturne it undoubtedly is, but it is very ungrate- 
 ful, not to say untrue, to speak of it as tiresome. A 
 little too unchanging in its sweetness it may be, but 
 throughout this and the brilliant lilting rondo, with 
 its infectious gaiety, one must say with Niecks : " Such 
 is the charm, loveliness, delicacy, elegance, and bril- 
 liance of the details that one again and again forgives 
 and forgets their shortcomings as wholes." 
 
 Friederich Kalkbrenner, to whom this concerto is 
 dedicated, was a celebrated virtuoso to whom Chopin 
 went to play on his arrival in Paris. Kalkbrenner was 
 horrified at Chopin's unorthodox and novel fingering, 
 and wanted him to study under him for three years. 
 Mendelssohn oh hearing this said, "Why, you play 
 better than Kalkbrenner," and Chopin finally decided 
 not to go to him, "as he did not want to play like 
 him," and started to give lessons himself. 
 
 OPUS 12. — ^Variations on an air from the opera of 
 "Ludovic," by Harold, " Je vends des scapulaires." 
 B flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. Emma Horsford. 
 Published in 1833. 
 
 T^HIS is by general consent one of the weakest of 
 Chopin's compositions. It is undeniably grace- 
 ful, not to say elegant, but belongs to the small group 
 of pieces composed about this time, which show a dis- 
 tinct falling off from the force and poetry of the 
 Etudes (see Opus 16). 
 
112 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The only critic who has a good word to say for them 
 is Barbedette, who finds them simple, sober, and ele- 
 gant, and prefers them to the decidedly superior 
 variations on " La ci darem." Schumann was kind, but 
 discriminating. He said : " They belong altogether to 
 the drawing-room or concert-hall, and with the excep- 
 tion of the last, are far removed from any poetic sphere. 
 For even in this style we must award the prize to 
 Chopin. Like that great actor who, though he merely 
 crossed the stage carrying laths, was recognised with 
 delight by the public, he cannot conceal or deny his 
 lofty mind in any position; what he is surrounded by 
 takes its colour from him and accommodates itself, be 
 it ever so coy, to his master hand. Still it must be con- 
 fessed that these variations ought not to be compared 
 to his original works." 
 
 Hadow finds in them only "graceful embroideries of 
 an exceedingly poor texture." 
 
 Niecks is analytical and crushing. . "If ever Chopin 
 is not Chopin in his music, it is in these variations." 
 Did we not know that he must have composed the work 
 about the middle of 1833, we should be tempted to 
 class it with the works which came into existence when 
 his individuality was as yet little developed. But know- 
 ing what we do, we can only wonder at the strange 
 phenomenon. It is as if Chopin had here thrown over- 
 board the Polish part of his natal inheritance, and 
 given himself up unrestrainedly and voluptuously to 
 the French part. Besides various diatonic runs of an 
 inessential and purely ornamental character, there is in 
 the finale actually a plain and full-toned C flat major 
 scale. What other work of the composer could be 
 pointed out exhibiting the like feature ? There can be 
 nothing more amusing than the contemporary critical 
 opinions regarding this work, nothing more amusing 
 than to see the, at other times, censorious Philistines 
 un\yrinkle their brows, relax generally the sternness of 
 their features, and welcome, as it were, the return of 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 113 
 
 the prodigal son. We wiser critics of to-day, who, of 
 course, think very differently about this matter, can 
 nevertheless enjoy and heartily applaud the prettiness 
 and elegance of the simple first variation, the playful 
 tripping second, the schwdrmerische, melodious third, 
 the merry, swinging fourth, and the brilliant finale." 
 
 Huneker is very decided. " This Rondo in B flat is 
 the weakest of Chopin's muse. It is Chopin and water, 
 and Gallic eau sucree at that. The piece is written 
 tastefully, is not difficult, but woefully artificial." 
 
 Kullak, with the outlook of a teacher, says : 
 "Although these variations by no means belong to 
 Chopin's most important creations, still they are con- 
 structed with so much taste and elegance that the teacher 
 will gladly employ them for the formation of a grace- 
 ful delivery." 
 
 Granted that these variations are Chopin's weakest 
 work, if everything by other composers inferior to them 
 had to be burnt, there would be a vast bonfire. The 
 air itself is very taking and by no means trivial. 
 
 OPUS 13. — Grande Fantaisie on Polish airs with or- 
 chestral accompaniment. In A major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. J. P. Pixis. 
 Composed 1828. Published 1834. 
 
 "■\X^HEN I had led the ladies from the stage I 
 played my Fantasia on National Airs. This 
 time I understood myself, the orchestra understood me, 
 and the public understood us both. The Mazovian air 
 at the end made a great sensation. I was so raptur- 
 ously applauded that I had to appear four times to 
 bow my tibanks." Thus, Chopin in a letter after a con- 
 cert at Warsaw in 1830. This was one of the works 
 he wrote to show off his powers as a virtuoso, and it 
 was for years a favourite piece in his repertoire. It is 
 
 8 
 
114 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 one of the six pieces with orchestral accompaniment, 
 which Willeby says fulfils its object here better than 
 in the other works. Barbedette also thought the in- 
 strumentation remarkable, but Niecks says "it shows 
 an inaptitude in writing for any other instrument than 
 the piano that is quite surprising considering the great 
 musical endowment of Chopin in other respects." It 
 is, however, never heard now at concerts, and when 
 Mile. Janotha played it some years ago it was not re- 
 ceived very encouragingly. From a pianist's point of 
 view it is interesting and grateful to play. After an 
 intrctfiuction, a simple, plaintive national Polish air is 
 introduced, and two brilliant variations ensue. A 
 characteristic rustic air allegro ushers in a theme by 
 Charles Kurpinski, which, according to Kleczynski, 
 " moves and saddens us ; but the composer does not give 
 time for this impression to become durable; he sus- 
 pends it by means of a long trill, and then suddenly, 
 by a few chords and with a brilliant prelude, he leads 
 us to a popular dance (the Kujawiak), which makes us 
 wish to mingle with the peasant couples of Mazovia. 
 Does the finale in F minor indicate by its minor key 
 the gaiety of a man devoid of hope, as the Germans 
 tell us ? It may perhaps be true that the minor key in 
 which the greater number of our national dances are 
 written may be accounted for by our proverb, ' a fig for 
 misery.' But this circumstance gives to these airs a 
 character of elevated beauty, not of sepulchral gaiety." 
 
 Huneker says : " It is Chopin brilliant. Its orches- 
 tral background does not count for much, but the 
 energy, the colour, and Polish character of the piece 
 endeared it to the composer." 
 
 Niecks says that this and the KraTcowiak are the 
 most overtly Polish of all Chopin's works. " After this 
 he never incorporates national airs and imitates so 
 closely national dances. Chopin remains a true Pole 
 to the end of his days, and his love of, and attachment 
 to, everything Polish increases with the time of absence 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 115 
 
 from his native country. But as the composer grows 
 in maturity he subjects the raw material to a more and 
 more thorough process of refinement and development, 
 before he considers it fit for artistic purposes. The 
 popular dances are spiritualised, the national charac- 
 teristics and their corresponding musical idioms are 
 subtilised and individualised." 
 
 Criticising this Fantasia he accounts for its present 
 neglect thus : " It is not altogether satisfactory in the 
 matter of form and appears somewhat patchy. The 
 connection of parts is anything but masterly. Here the 
 arabesque element predominates again quite unduly. 
 The best part is the exceedingly spirited Kujawiak." 
 
 OPUS 14. — Krakowiak. Grand Concert Rondo for 
 piano with orchestra. F major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Princesse Adam Czartoryska. 
 Composed 1828. Published July, 1834. 
 
 'T*HIS is the third (in order of opus numbers) of the 
 group of &ve Rondos.* It is one of the six works 
 for which Chopin wrote orchestral accompaniments, 
 and, according to Hadow, it is the most carefully scored 
 of all his orchestral compositions. Huneker, however, 
 considers it thin, although he admires the bold and 
 merry spirit, and the very Slavic feeling of the com- 
 position generally. We know from one of Chopin's let- 
 ters to his friend, Titus Woyciechowski, that it was 
 completed by December 27, 1828. "The score of my 
 Rondo Cracovienne is ready, the introduction is almost 
 as funny as I am in my great coat." (A very long win- 
 ter overcoat in which his friends said he cut a very 
 comical figure.) 
 
 It was one of the compositions that Chopin wrote to 
 show off his powers as a virtuoso, and it was always a 
 
 * See p. 60. 
 
ii6 A Handbook, to Chopin's Works. 
 
 favourite piece of his earlier concerts in Vienna and 
 Warsaw. In another letter we read : " The Cracovienne 
 produced a tremendous sensation; there were four 
 rounds of applause." 
 
 The piece takes its name from a dance indigenous 
 to the district of Cracovia. Casimir Brodzinski, the 
 Polish poet and critic, describes the Krakowiak "as a 
 simplified polonaise; it represents, compared with the 
 latter, a less advanced social state." 
 
 Sowinski, the Polish musician, says : " The Cracovians 
 dance it in a very agitated and expressive manner, sing- 
 ing at the same time words made for the occasion, of 
 which they multiply the stanzas and which they often 
 improvise." It is a lively dance in | time, and with the 
 accent on a usually unaccented part of the bar, especi- 
 ally at the end of a phrase. Paderewski has a rather 
 fascinating specimen in his " Humoresques de Concert." 
 
 Chopin was only once inspired by its lilting rhythm, 
 and Niecks terms the result the most overtly Polish of 
 his works. " In no other compositions of the master do 
 the national elements show themselves in the same de- 
 gree of crudity ; indeed, after this, he never incorporates 
 national airs and imitates so closely national dances. 
 The unrestrained merriment of the Krakowiak justifies, 
 or, if it does not justify, disposes us to forgive much. 
 Indeed, the rondo may be said to overflow with joyous- 
 ness; now the notes run at random hither and thither, 
 now tumble about head over heels, now surge in bold 
 arpeggios, now skip from octave to octave, now trip 
 along in chromatics, now vent their gamesomeness in the 
 most extravagant capers." 
 
 Although never heard in our concert-rooms the neglect 
 of this brilliant rondo is undeserved. Barbedette speaks 
 of it as une ceuvre grande et magistrate. Without going 
 quite as far as this, one can certainly say that it only re- 
 quires to be known to be popular. While demanding for 
 its adequate rendition the highest degree of virtuosity, it 
 
A Handbook TO Chopin's Works. 117 
 
 is, as music, infinitely better than the many bravoura 
 pieces of Liszt that meet with enthusiastic, if somewhat 
 indiscriminating, applause. 
 
 When Chopin first wanted to play the piece at one of 
 his Vienna concerts, he was obliged to abandon the idea 
 because the band parts were so badly written that the 
 players could not read them. Chopin had to substitute 
 an improvisation. At a second concert, however, it was 
 'given with great success. In the " Wiener Zeitschrift " a 
 contemporary critic wrote : " Chopin performed a new 
 rondo for pianoforte and orchestra of his own composi- 
 tion. This piece is written throughout in the chromatic 
 style, rarely rises to geniality, but has passages which 
 are distinguished by depth and thoughtful working 
 out." 
 
 On page 230 of Klindworth's edition, lines 2 and 3, 
 there is a passage that bears a curiously distinct likeness 
 to the climax of the C sharp minor Etude, Op. 10, No. 4. 
 
 OPUS 15.— Three Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I, F major (Andante cantabile); No. 2, F sharp 
 major (Larghetto) ; No. 3, G minor (Lento). 
 
 Dedicated to Ferdinand Hiller. 
 
 Probably composed 1833. Published January, 1834. 
 
 T^HIS set of three nocturnes shows a distinct advance 
 in Chopin's art when compared with the three of 
 Opus g. Niecks finds in them " a higher degree of in- 
 dependence and poetic power." 
 
 In depth of feeling, melodic beauty and craftsman- 
 ship, they are undoubtedly superior. They show us the 
 real Chopin as opposed to the virtuoso and salon fav- 
 ourite as we see him in a group of his other works, com- 
 posed during the same year.* 
 
 * See p. 122, Opus i6. 
 
1 18 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 In the first in F major, we have a specimen of the 
 type of Opus g, No. 3. A serene and tender andante is 
 followed by a stormy theme marked con fuoco, which, 
 after waves of emotion, dies down into the opening 
 theme, and on this occasion is brought to a close with- 
 out a coda, by two tender arpeggioed chords. 
 
 Earbedette sees in it a calm and beautiful lake, ruffled 
 by a sudden storm and becoming calm again. Certainly 
 this nocturne does not express night. There is sunlight 
 in it, and the middle section is storm, but not darkness. 
 
 KuUak quotes from Ossian, and says it is " like the 
 dream of the hunter on the hill or heath; he sleeps in 
 the mild beams of the sun; he awakes amidst a storm; 
 the red lightning flies around ; trees shake their heads to 
 the wind ! He looks back with joy on the day of the 
 sun, and the pleasant dreams of his rest." 
 
 Ehlert speaks of "the ornament in triplets with 
 which Chopin brushes the theme as with the gentle 
 wings of a butterfly"; and Kullak says they should be 
 played " as if breathed out." 
 
 The opening theme should be played simply without 
 much pedal and with but little rubato, whilst the mid- 
 dle section can be given with a restless fire. The con- 
 trast between the two sections is particularly marked 
 and of peculiar emotional power. 
 
 No. 2. — Nocturne in F sharp major (Larghetto). 
 
 This is certainly one of the most beautiful of the 
 nocturnes. All the commentators speak warmly of it. 
 Karasowski considers it "one of the best," and Willeby 
 classes it as one of the most important. Earbedette de- 
 clares it to be full of details of ravishing beauty, and 
 Kleczynski sees in it a revelation of Chopin's love of 
 maiikind, tracing its inspiration to the poems of the 
 Polish poet Mickiewicz. In it Chopin seems to say : 
 "All that I have is yours." It certainly has a generOus 
 
A Handbook TO Chopin's Works. 119 
 
 warmth of colour, that gives it almost an oriental 
 atmosphere. 
 
 An anonymous writer in an extinct magazine, " The 
 Dome," calls it "quite Persian in style; it paints the 
 palm and the cypress, the rose thicket and the great 
 stars burning low in the southern sky." 
 
 With the exception of some of the etudes of Opus 
 10, this is the first of Chopin's works which is equal to 
 his best efforts. It is a flawless gem, a true poem, in 
 that it satisfies Milton's definition of poetry as "sim- 
 ple, sensuous and passionate." 
 
 The chief subject is a melody of heavenly beauty, 
 tender and full of fervour, and yet most reposeful, 
 contrasting effectively with the second section which 
 is taken at double the pace. This suddenly increased 
 movement, coupled with a highly novel and original 
 figure in quintuplets beginning sotto voce with both 
 pedals, and climaxing with a brief but powerful cyes- 
 cendo, pictures the clashing of unfamiliar but soul- 
 stirring emotions. It moves rapidly and incessantly 
 through a chromatic series of the most daring modula- 
 tions, dies away as if exhausted, and is followed by a 
 recurrence of the first theme, the calm of which, Kullak 
 says, "touches one like a benediction." 
 
 The -fionturi with which this melody is so lavishly 
 bejewelled are not merely ornaments, they are an in- 
 tegral part of the melody, enriching it and strengthen- 
 ing its emotional power to a wonderful extent. The 
 coda is one of Chopin's happiest inspirations; it is a 
 sigh of absolute contentment. 
 
 Kleczynski devotes ten 5pages of his book, " Chopin's 
 Greater Works," to a detailed and most instructive 
 description of how this masterpiece should be played. 
 "The performer," he says, "has an opportunity for 
 the display of his intelligence in the way in which he 
 takes the first note of the composition. Chopin here 
 enters suddenly into the middle of his theme, and the 
 note requires a certain accent, a certain pressure of the 
 
120 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 fingers, to show that it is the commencement of an 
 expressive thought." 
 
 Niecks says of this nocturne: "The brightness and 
 warmth of the world without have penetrated into the 
 world within. The fionturi flit about us lightly as 
 gossamer threads. The sweetly-sad longing of the 
 first section becomes more disquieting in the dopfio 
 movimento, but the beneficial influence of the sun never 
 quite loses its power, and after a little there is a re- 
 lapse into the calmer mood, with a close like the hazy 
 distance on a summer day. 
 
 No. 3. — Nocturne in G minor (Lento). 
 Published January, 1834. 
 
 On the manuscript of this nocturne Chopin wrote 
 originally: "After a performance of Hamlet," but on 
 consideration he struck it out, saying : " No ! let them 
 guess for themselves." This is interesting as showing 
 that, sometimes at any rate, Chopin owed his inspira- 
 tion to some definite poetic idea. It is a striking 
 tribute to Shakespeare's overwhelming genius, that 
 composers of every nation have found in his plays 
 "the fundamental brain-stuff" round which some of 
 their finest music crystallised itself. In the present 
 instance, the profound philosophy and the subtle 
 psychology of the great Shakespearean tragedy are 
 clearly mirrored in Chopin's music, and this work 
 marks a distinct step forward in his development. 
 Schumann noted this unerringly. He saw that Chopin 
 had now definitely laid aside his virtuosity, and he 
 says of this nocturne that in it " he read a declaration 
 of war with the entire past" (i.e., Chopin's musical 
 past). We need not, of course, expect to find in the 
 music an objective description of the chief event of the 
 drama; it is a picture of the subjective mental mood, 
 into which a contemplation of the great tragedy threw 
 the sensitive composer. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 121 
 
 The first subject is marked languido e ruhato. It 
 might be a reflection of the mood in which Hamlet 
 says : 
 
 "O God, O God, 
 How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable 
 Seem to me all the uses of this world." 
 
 It halts and wavers; in it there are sighs, sobs and 
 protests, but after a feverish climax the music dies 
 down; and then three soft, bell-like notes usher in a 
 beautiful enharmonic change, and there supervenes 
 with the second theme a mood of consolation and hope, 
 of philosophy and resignation : 
 
 " There's a divinity that shapes our ends 
 Rough-hew them how we will." 
 
 There is no return to the first subject, there could 
 not be, so true and deeply felt is the poetical emotion, 
 that it would not be musically possible. 
 
 It is interesting to compare this masterpiece with the 
 one that Grieg wrote and called " After a Performance 
 of Macbeth" ("Lyrische Stucke," Book I). 
 
 Huneker tells us that Rubinstein made much of this 
 nocturne. " In the fourth bar, and for three bars, there 
 is a held note, F, and I heard the Russian virtuoso, by 
 some miraculous means, keep this tone prolonged. The 
 tempo is abnormally slow, and the tone is not in a 
 position where the sustaining pedal can sensibly help 
 it; yet under Rubinstein's fingers it swelled and dim- 
 inished, and went surging into D, as if the instrument 
 were an organ. I suspected the inaudible changing of 
 fingers on the note, or a sustaining pedal. It was 
 wonderfully done." 
 
 KuUak speaks of the "unostentatious simplicity 
 with which with but few strokes complete expression is 
 given to highly poetic contents." He sees in this noc- 
 turne a picture of grief for the loss of a beloved one 
 lulled by the consolations of religion. 
 
122 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Niecks considers it the finest of the three forming 
 Opus 15. "The words, languido e rubaio, describe 
 well the wavering pensiveness of the first portion of 
 the nocturne, which finds its expression in the inde- 
 cision of the melodic progressions, harmonies and 
 modulations. The second section is marked religioso, 
 and may be characterised as a trustful prayer, conduc- 
 ive to calm and comfort." 
 
 OPUS 16. — Rondo. E flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. Caroline Hartmann. 
 Published in 1834. 
 
 'T'HIS is the last of the group of rondos.* It is pre- 
 faced with an introduction that Niecks styles 
 dramatic, but which is without any special depth of 
 expression. The ensuing rondo, though brilliant and 
 containing some very graceful passage writing, is curi- 
 ously shallow and lacks poetry. It is perhaps the least 
 interesting of any of Chopin's works. It is difficult to 
 fix the exact date of its composition, but by internal 
 evidence it seems to belong tO' the year preceding its 
 publication, 1833. Chopin had been settled in Paris 
 for two years; he was the idol of fashionable salons, 
 and much sought after at concerts and parties. 
 
 The somewhat frivolous nature of his life in the 
 capital seems to be reflected in a group of his composi- 
 tions about this time. In the bolerOj the first waltz, 
 the variations on an air from Halevy's " Ludovic " and 
 the duo on airs from " Robert le Diable," we seem to 
 see a concession to the shallow taste of the public, a 
 falling off from the poetic ideals he had apparently 
 set before himself in the etudes and nocturnes. Per- 
 haps his want of success as a performer before large 
 audiences was the blessing in disguise that drove him 
 
 * See p. 60. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 123 
 
 back upon himself, and led to the composition of his 
 composition of his finer and more elevated work, which 
 may be said to begin anew with the first scherzo, the 
 first ballade and the C sharp minor Polonaise. 
 
 " Opus 16, a lightsome rondeau, with a dramatic in- 
 troduction, is, like the bolero, not without its beauties; 
 but in spite of greater individuality, ranks, like it, low 
 among the master's works, being patchy, unequal and 
 little poetical." (Niecks.) 
 
 Huneker tells us that Richard Burmeister has sup- 
 plied an orchestral accompaniment to this piece which 
 is in great favour at the conservatoires. He speaks of 
 it as " neat rather than poetical, although the introduc- 
 tion has dramatic touches," and draws attention to its 
 "Weber-ish affinities." 
 
 OPUS 17. — Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in B flat major; No. 2 in E minor; No. 3 in A 
 flat major; No. 4 in A minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. Lina Freppa. Published 1834. 
 
 No. I in B flat major. 
 
 npHIS is an important set amongst the mazurkas. A 
 distinct advance is marked in emotional inten- 
 sity, and ill structural development on the two earlier 
 numbers, Opus 6 and Opus 7. Karasowski thinks the 
 first two are amongst Chopin's best efforts in the form, 
 and Niecks selects this opus for special analysis, prob- 
 ably on account of its representative character. Here 
 we have the contrast of moods between the different 
 mazurkas that form one of the chief charms of these 
 brief poems. Chivalry, tenderness, pessimism, con- 
 templative resignation, are some of the notes struck. In 
 the first number we meet, says Niecks, "with the 
 marked chivalrous element that distinguishes the 
 
124 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Polish character. The three first parts are bold and 
 glittering, but not without regretful backward glances ; 
 in the last part the piquant melody and the strongly- 
 marked rhythm picture to us the graceful motions of 
 the dancers, and suggest the clashing of the spurs and 
 the striking of heels against the ground." 
 
 Willeby draws attention to the sequences of chords 
 of the seventh as a noticeable technical detail (see bars 
 15 and 16). 
 
 It is curious how the peasant note so prominent in 
 the earlier mazurkas here gives way to a more aristo- 
 cratic tone. 
 
 No. 2 in E minor. 
 
 Niecks suggests "The Request" as a suitable title 
 for this mazurka ; " all the arts of persuasion are tried, 
 from the pathetic to the playful, and a vein of longing, 
 not unmixed with sadness, runs through the whole, or 
 rather forms the basis of it." The G major section is 
 charming, and a wonderfully modulated passage 
 marked stretto takes us to the coda, wherein the first 
 theme mounts, as Huneker says, "with passion, but is 
 never shrill." 
 
 Some mazurkas can be made to express many differ- 
 ent emotions, but the trio of this one is emphatically 
 an expression of persuasiveness. At bars five to seven 
 it asks, with every shade of feeling, for the desired 
 boon. At bar thirteen it pleads. At bar fourteen it 
 implores. Disappointed, it returns at the stretto to its 
 original request, and ends unsatisfied with a vague 
 longing. 
 
 No. 3 in A flat major. 
 
 Niecks has hit off the mood of this mazurka very 
 aptly when he says "a helpless, questioning imcer- 
 tainty and indecision characterise it." 
 
A Handbook TO Chopin's Works. 125 
 
 Huneker calls it pessimistic, threatening and irrita- 
 ble, and says that the trio, although in E major (usu- 
 ally such a cheerful key) " displays a relentless sort of 
 humour. A dark pagel" 
 
 The second section exhibits a sudden burst of un- 
 availing anger ; the whole piece is exactly as if one was 
 horribly worried about something and could not make 
 up one's mind what was the best thing to do. " Syn- 
 copations, suspensions and chromatic notes form here 
 the composer's chief stock-in-trade; displacement of 
 everything in melody, harmony and rhythm is the 
 rule. Nobody did anything like this before Chopin, 
 and nobody has given to the world an equally minute 
 and distinct representation of the same intimate emo- 
 tional experiences." (Niecks.) 
 
 No. 4 in A minor. 
 
 So far this is the longest and most important of the 
 mazurkas. It is sometimes referred to as "The Little 
 Jew." Szulc, a Polish writer, who collected, and, shall 
 we say, possibly invented, anecdotes of Chopin, says 
 that this mazurka was known by this title before 
 Chopin left Warsaw. If so it would make it one of his 
 earliest works in the form; but, if this is the case, in- 
 ternal evidence goes for nothing. It belongs emphati- 
 cally to the period of Chopin's artistic development 
 after he had got over his first excitement of life in 
 Paris. Szulc's anecdote is silly, pointless and not 
 worth repeating. No definite programme could use- 
 fully be assigned to this mazurka, of which the chief 
 feature is its vague and elusive quality. Niecks finds 
 it "bleak and joyless, till with the entrance of the A 
 major a fairer prospect opens. But those jarring tones 
 that strike in wake the dreamer pitilessly. The com- 
 mencement as well as the close on the chord of the 
 sixth, the chromatic glidings of the harmonies, the 
 
126 A Handbook TO Chopin's Works. 
 
 strange twists and skips, give a weird character to this 
 piece." 
 
 Huneker finds it "full of hectic despair," whatever 
 that may mean, "and its serpentining chromatics, and 
 apparently suspended close, give an impression of 
 morbid irresolution modulating into a sort of desper- 
 ate gaiety. Its tonality accounts for the moods evoked, 
 being indeterminate and restless." 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the fascination that 
 this mazurka possesses. The opening, with its char- 
 acteristic triplet in the fourth bar, the appealing " help- 
 lessness" of bars 9-12, the exquisite grace of the bar 
 marked " delicatissimo" and the subsequent bars simi- 
 larly ornamented, are details one can linger over end- 
 lessly. In the A major trio the repetition of the D in 
 the second and fourth bars may be noted ; and towards 
 the end from where it is marked sotto voce, and the 
 little grace notes are added, every bar is a fresh study, 
 and a source of intimate delight. 
 
 THE WALTZES. 
 
 r^HOPIN left extant fifteen waltzes, eight of which 
 only were published during his lifetime. These 
 are : 
 
 (i) Opus 18. Grande Valse. E fiat major. Vivo. 
 1834. Opus 34. Trois Valses brillantes. 1838. 
 
 (2) No. I, A flat major. Vivace. 
 
 (3) ]SIo. 2, A minor. Lento. 
 
 (4) No. 3, F major. Vivace (the cat waltz). 
 
 (5) Opus 43. Valse, A flat major. Vivace. 1846. 
 Opus 64. Trois Valses. 1847. 
 
 (6) No. I, D flat major. Molto vivace (the dog 
 waltz). 
 
 (7) No. 2, C sharp minor. Tempo giusto. 
 
 (8) No. 3, A flat major. Moderate. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 127 
 
 These eight divide themselves naturally into two 
 classes : those that are really dances idealised, and 
 those that are lyric poems in the form of a waltz. In 
 the first division will be found the first, second, fifth 
 and sixth ; and in the second, the third, fourth, seventh 
 and eighth. 
 
 As pure dance tunes they are far finer than anything 
 of Strauss or Lanner; at the same time the very fact 
 that they are more poetical and more inspired would 
 unfit them for general use in the ballroom. Schumann 
 speaks of " Chopin's body and soul-inspiring waltz," 
 and says it must have been improvised in the ball- 
 room j and of the A flat (Opus 42) he says that, like 
 his earlier one, it is a salon piece of the noblest kind, 
 and that if it were played for dancers, half the ladies 
 should be countesses at least. This extravagant de- 
 claration, however, exactly hits off the distinguished 
 and elevated nature of these waltzes. 
 
 When Chopin was in Vienna, the publication of a 
 new set of dances by Strauss was a musical event of 
 the highest importance, and Chopin wrote in a letter 
 to his parents : " I have acquired nothing of that which 
 is specially Viennese by nature, and accordingly I am 
 still unable to play waltzes." 
 
 The ordinary popular waltz of the Viennese was in- 
 deed foreign to his natture; but he proved amply that 
 though he was unable to play down to the common 
 level of the ballroom he could write dance tunes, 
 which, to be worthily danced, would require Schu- 
 mann's symbolical countesses. 
 
 Of the masterpieces of the second group, one can 
 only say that, widiin the limits of the form, they attain 
 perfection. In these lyric poems some sections lose 
 their pure waltz rhythm and approach to that of the 
 mazurka. In this we trace the influence of Chopin's 
 nationality, and see the native strain of melancholy 
 and swift contrast of moods that distinguish the Slav 
 temperament. 
 
128 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 In 1855 Fontana published posthumously two 
 waltzes as Opus 69, and three waltzes, Opus jo. In 
 1868 a Waltz in E minor was published and later one 
 in E major, dating from 1829. 
 
 If, as some contend, all Chopin's MSS. left unpub- 
 lished at his death ought to have been destroyed, the 
 musical world would have sustained a severe loss in 
 these seven waltzes. 
 
 Kullak says of them that they waver between the 
 two groups, but they certainly have more of the nature 
 of the lyric poem than the dance. There are two of 
 the year 1829, one of which Chopin tells us was in- 
 spired by "her," Constantia Gladkowska, the ideal of 
 his nineteenth year. They are both very melancholy, 
 and like the others, which are of various and later 
 dates, are distinctly sketches. They all end abruptly, 
 and are much slighter than those he selected for pub- 
 lication, but they are, without exception, beautiful, and 
 they become intensely interesting, as in studying 
 Chopin's development they fall into their places in 
 line with his other work. 
 
 The following is a complete list of the waltzes in 
 the chronological order of their composition: 
 
 (i) 1829. Waltz. E major (without opus number). 
 
 (2) „ „ E minor „ „ „ 
 
 (3) „ Op. 69. No. 2. B minor. 
 
 (4) „ Op. 70. No. 3. D flat major (Constantia 
 Gladkowska). 
 
 (5) 1834. Op. 18. E flat major. 
 
 (6) 1835. Op. 70. No. I. G flat. 
 
 (7) „ Op. 69. No. I. F minor ("pour Mile. 
 Marie"). 
 
 (8) 1838. Op. 34. No. I. A flat. 
 
 (9) „ Op. 34. No. 2. A minor. 
 
 (10) „ Op. 34. No. 3. F major. 
 
 (11) 1840. Op. 42. A flat major. 
 
 (12) 1843. Op. 70. No. 2. F minor. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 129 
 
 (13^ 
 
 1847. Op. 64. 
 
 No. I. D flat. 
 
 (H) 
 
 Op. 64. 
 
 No. 2. C sharp minor. 
 
 (15) 
 
 Op. 64. 
 
 No. 3. A flat major. 
 
 "Of the Chopin waltzes, it has been said that they 
 are dances of the soul and not of the body. . . . They 
 are the most objective of all Chopin's works, . . . less 
 intimate in the psychic sense, but exquisite exemplars 
 of social intimacy and aristocratic abandon. ... It is 
 g'oing too far not to dance to some of this music, for it 
 is putting^ Chopin away from the world he at times 
 loved. Certain of the waltzes may be danced, the 
 fifth and sixth, and a few others. The dancing- would 
 be of necessity more picturesque and less conventional 
 than required by the average waltz, and there must be 
 fluctuations of tempo, sudden surprises, and abrupt 
 languors." (Huneker.) 
 
 " Chopin's waltzes, partly because they are least tech- 
 nically difficult, partly on accoimt of the popularity 
 of this dance form, have become most widely known. 
 Musically considered, they offer less of interest and 
 novelty than his other compositions. What they lose 
 in the rhythm of the dance they gain in innate grace 
 and outward brilliancy, such as no composer hitherto 
 has been able to impart to this form. The most inter- 
 esting- are those which are pervaded by that peculiar 
 melancholy, schwdrmerisch vein, which is one of the 
 chief charms of Chopin's music." (Karasowski.) 
 
 " Chopin's waltzes, the most popular of his composi- 
 tions, are not foSsie iniime, like the greater number of 
 his works. In them the composer mixes with the world ; 
 looks without him rather tfian within, and as a man 
 of the world conceals his sorrows and discontents 
 under smiles and graceful manners. The bright bril- 
 liancy and light pleasantness of the earlier years of 
 his artistic career, which are almost entirely lost in the 
 later years, rise to the surface in the waltzes. These 
 
 9 
 
130 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 waltzes are salon music of the most aristocratic kind.' 
 
 (Niecks.) 
 
 OPUS 1 8. — Grande Valse Brillante. E flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. Laura Horsford. 
 Published July, 1834. 
 
 'T*HIS waltz was the first of the eight that were pub- 
 lished during Chopin's lifetime. It is the most 
 dance-like of all the waltzes, and is the one that Schu- 
 mann called " Chopin's body and soul-inspiring waltz." 
 He speaks of it as "enveloping the dancer deeper and 
 deeper in its floods," but Niecks resents this "extrav- 
 agant and romantic criticism, and says : " It is alto- 
 gether out of proportion with the thing spoken of. It 
 differs from the master's best waltzes in being not a 
 dance poem but simply a dance, although it must be 
 admitted that it is an exceedingly spirited one, both 
 as regards piquancy and dash." 
 
 In 1834 Chopin had arranged to attend the Lower 
 Rhenish Music Festival at Aix-la-Chapelle with Hiller. 
 The Festival was postponed, and Chopin spent the 
 money he had put aside for the trip ; probably he had 
 given it away to some needy countryman, for he was 
 always exceedingly generous. Then news came that 
 the Festival was to take place after all. Hiller was 
 the guest of the committee, but Chopin could not afford 
 to go. Hiller urged him to see if he could not raise 
 the money somehow; and at last Chopin bethought 
 himself of the manuscript of this waltz. He took it to 
 Pleyel and returned with 500 francs. 
 
 The music calls for no special description or com- 
 ment. It dashes along with a fascinating entrain, an 
 originality, brightness and freshness, a gaiety and a 
 swing that make it ideal dance music. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 131 
 
 Huneker says of it : " It is a true ball-room picture, 
 spirited and infectious in rhythms. The D flat section 
 has a tang of the later Chopin. There is bustle, even 
 chatter, in this waltz," but he considers it inferior to 
 the one in A flat. Opus 34, No. i. In his "Mezzotints 
 in Modern Music," in a more depreciatory mood, the 
 same critic speaks of it as mediocre, and asks : " Is it 
 not actually vulgar?" 
 
 OPUS 19.— Bolero. In C major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse E. de Flahault. 
 Published in 1834. 
 
 T^HE actual date of this composition is conjectural. 
 It may have been written as late as the year of 
 publication, but Niecks thinks it dates from a good 
 many year^ earlier, " for it has so much of Chopin's 
 youthful style about it, and not only of his youthful 
 style, but also of his youthful character — by which I 
 mean that it is less intensely poetic." It is not im- 
 possible that Chopin was instigated to write it by 
 hearing the Bolero in Auber's " La Muette de Portici " 
 (Masaniello), which opera was first performed on 
 February 28, 1828. The Bolero opens with an intro- 
 duction developed in the style of a free fantasia. The 
 leading theme is Spanish in character, but not especi- 
 ally so; as Niecks says, it may be described as a Bolero 
 a la Polonaise. It is livelier and lighter than Chopin's 
 real Polonaises, but apart from the first theme, there is 
 very little local colour about it. Chopin's individuality 
 and the influence of his nationality, were too strong to 
 allow of his subordinating them to the imitative 
 faculty necessary to the production of music with 
 strong local colouring. The Bol6ro is a Spanish 
 national dance, which in its original form was sung as 
 
132 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 well as danced, and to this it owes its lyric grace and 
 passionate character. The rhythm of the bass is iden- 
 tical with that of the Polonaise form. 
 
 Huneker falls out with Willeby about the key _ in 
 which it is written. The introduction is in C major, 
 but the Bolero proper begins in A minor, and the coda 
 formed from the second subject ends in A major. He 
 says: "There is but little Spanish in its ingredients. 
 It is merely a memorandum of Chopin's early essays 
 in dance forms." 
 
 The Bol6ro strikes one, on close acquaintance, as too 
 finished a work to be relegated to Chopin's earlier 
 years. It seems to belong to the small group of pieces 
 composed about 1833 to suit the taste of the fashion- 
 able Paris public (see Opus 16), in which there is a 
 distinct falling off from the poetic ideal of the Etudes 
 and later works. 
 
 From a letter of Chopin's of later date, we learn 
 that he received 500 francs for the Bolero, which was 
 published under the fanciful title of "Souvenir d'An- 
 dalousie." The Comtesse de Flahault, to whom it was 
 dedicated, was one of Chopin's many aristocratic pupils. 
 
 THE SCHERZI. 
 
 T J NDER the title of Scherzo Chopin has left us four 
 ^ of his most individual and characteristic works. 
 In them he created a new type, and he must have ex- 
 perienced considerable difficulty in finding a generic 
 name to describe these compositions. 
 
 The word scherzo signifies a jest, but certainly these 
 works are not jests, and one has to ask with Schumann, 
 " how seriousness is to be clothed if jest is to go about 
 in dark-hued veils ?" Neither are they Capriccios, for 
 that title would seem to imply something playful and 
 light. Some new name seems to be wanted, some term 
 
A HANDBOOK TO CHOPIN'S WORKS. 1 33 
 
 which should include and comprehend scorn and irony, 
 with a touch of defiance and humour of a rather sar- 
 donic kind. They are perhaps the works in which 
 Chopin most expressed his own inner feelings. The 
 melancholy, the protest in them are personal, not 
 national, as in the Polonaises. 
 
 Liszt considered that it was in the Studies and 
 Scherzos that Chopin gave freest rein to the darker 
 moods of his usually placid nature. There are pas- 
 sages in them that seem like " the breathings of stifled 
 rage and of suppressed anger; they picture a concen- 
 trated exasperation and despair which are at one time 
 manifested in bitter irony, at another in intolerant 
 pride. These gloomy apostrophes of his muse have 
 not been so well understood or attracted so much at- 
 tention as his more tenderly coloured poems, and the 
 personal character of Chopin no doubt had much to 
 do with this general misconception. Being kind, cour- 
 teous, and affable, and of tranquil and almost joyful 
 manners, he would not allow those secret convulsions 
 which tormented him to be even suspected." 
 
 Karasowski says of the Scherzos : " They did not 
 exist before Chopin, or at least not in the same measure 
 of independence, daring boldness, and almost Shakes- 
 pearean humour. To appreciate to the full Chopin's 
 creative powers, his pianoforte pieces must be com- 
 pared with those of his contemporaries, for the Scherzi 
 still appear so modern that it might well be said they 
 were thirty years in advance of their time. The rhythm 
 of the Scherzi far more than of the Mazurkas expresses 
 a certain spirited opposition, a fascinating arrogance; 
 they may be regajrded as a wonderfully true expres- 
 sion of Chopin's courageous individuality, decisive both 
 outwardly and inwardly, noble, amiable, and poetic." 
 
 In his essay on " the greater Chopin," Huneker treats 
 the scherzo movements of the two sonatas as part -of 
 the group, and says : " These six compositions are the 
 finest evidences of Chopin's originality, variety, power 
 
134 A HAjstdbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 and delicacy." But the Scherzi of the Sonatas must 
 be considered as integral parts of the compositions in 
 which they appear; in form, character, and intention 
 they differ from the isolated masterpieces of this group. 
 The Scherzo in the sonata and symphony was prac- 
 tically developed by Beethoven from the' Minuet and 
 Trio, which, in the hands of Haydn and Mozart, was 
 the usual form of the third movement. From being 
 simply the lighter and shorter form of dance measure, 
 it became the vehicle of tlie robust and titanic humour 
 of the great German. Mendelssohn used the term as 
 synonymous with Capriccio when it was a question of 
 an individual instrumental piece, but his efforts in this 
 form were of a light, graceful, and fanciful nature, 
 and derived from the earlier Italian masters. Several 
 of Schumann's pieces in the " Kreisleriana," for in- 
 stance, are more nearly akin to Chopin's type, but as 
 Huneker says : " The Pole practically built up a new 
 structure, boldly called it a Scherzo, and, as in the case 
 of the Ballades, poured into its elastic mould most dis- 
 turbing and incomparable music." 
 
 OPUS 20. — First Scherzo in B minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. T. Albrecht. 
 Published 1835. 
 
 'T'HE B minor Scherzo begins with two crashing dis- 
 sonant chords that must have appeared audacious 
 in the extreme to Chopin's contemporaries. 
 
 "Is this not like a shriek of despair?" asks Niecks; 
 "and what follows, bewildered efforts of a soul shut 
 in by a wall of circumstances through which -it strives 
 in vain to break ? At last sinking down with fatigue, 
 dreaming a dream of idyllic beauty? But beginning 
 the struggle again as soon as its strength is recruited ?" 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 135 
 
 The first section is a whirl of stormy emotion; 
 Chopin seems to rage, to protest, to demand explana- 
 tions. Huneker points out here a spirited likeness to 
 the principal figure in the C sharp minor Fantaisie 
 Impromptu. 
 
 The second section of the first part, marked agitato, 
 contains some of those curious harmonies which sound 
 quite wrong if played slowly and determinedly, and 
 yet are wonderfully interesting and beautiful if 
 skimmed over rapidly in the way they are intended to 
 be played. This section and the first, divided by a 
 very striking and original passage of chords and oc- 
 taves, are repeated alternately till the slow movement 
 is reached (molto piu lento). Of the last two lines 
 Huneker writes : " The questioning chords at the close 
 of the section are as imaginative as any Chopin ever 
 wrote." And he instances the affoggiaturas as evi- 
 dences of his originality in minor details. 
 
 The slow movement, with its wide-stretching bass 
 figure, and its " lapping, lilting tenths, in the richly 
 coloured, luscious key of B major, is by consent one 
 of Chopin's masterpieces." 
 
 It contrasts wonderfully with the feverish agitation 
 of the first part;, the re-entry of the opening dissonant 
 chord breaks in with dramatic effect on the dreamy 
 contemplative mood of the trio, but the composer is so 
 enrapt that the one interruption is insufficient to break 
 the charm. 
 
 The interrupted figure continues for a bar, then the 
 second chord strikes in inexorably. Still the mood 
 lingers, and a passage of ineffable sadness, strangely 
 akin to the mournful piping of the shepherd in " Tris- 
 tan," is finally interrupted by the re-entry of the first 
 theme, molto con fuoco. 
 
 This Scherzo is perhaps a little over long, and it is 
 often shortened by virtuosi by omitting the repeat of 
 the section marked agitato, and going straight to the 
 coda, a miracle of passion and fury, ending with a 
 
136 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 chromatic scale which Liszt used to play in interlocked 
 octaves, an innovation which should only be followed 
 when technique is faultless. 
 
 A noble virile work — perhaps a record of Chopin's 
 protest against a body toe weak to allow the greatness 
 of his soul full play. 
 
 Ehlert, in his " Letters on Music," says : " I once 
 heard the B minor Scherzo played among such a com- 
 pany of common buffoons (that is, on a programme of 
 trivial show pieces) that it seemed to me hke a rose 
 bound in a bunch of thistles. For you will not sup- 
 pose that the same taste that has an instinctive sense 
 of the poetry of a Chopin work, also perceives the vul- 
 garity of a bad virtuoso piece ?" 
 
 "This Scherzo is a proof of that regard for forms 
 which even the most intense passion never prevented 
 Chopin from observing." (Kleczynski.) 
 
 Of the coda Huneker says : " The heavy accentua- 
 tion on the first note of every bar must not blind one's 
 rhythmical sense to the second beat in the left hand 
 which is likewise accented. This produces a musical 
 rhythm that greatly adds to the general murkiness and 
 despair of the finale." 
 
 OPUS 21. — Second Concerto in F minor. For piano 
 and orchestra. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Comtesse Delphine Potocka. 
 Composed 1829. Published April, 1836. 
 
 'pHE tost allegro of the F minor Concerto (not in- 
 telligible to all) received indeed the reward of 
 a 'Bravo,' but I believe this was given because the 
 public wished to show that it understands and knows 
 how to appreciate serious music. There are people 
 enough in all countries who like to assume the air of 
 connoisseurs ! The Adagio and Rondo produced a 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 137 
 
 very good effect." This is a characteristic extract from 
 ons^of Chopin's letters, dated March 17, 1830, after 
 ont, of his concerts at Warsaw. (For the chronology 
 and general review of the concertos see Opus 11.) 
 
 The first movement, maestoso, is more compact and 
 direct than that of the E minor Concerto. 
 
 Huneker says that it " fax transcends it in breadth, 
 passion, and musical feeling, but it is short and there 
 is no coda. Richard Burmeister has supplied the latter 
 deficiency in a capitally made cadenza which Pader- 
 ewski plays. It is a complete summing up of the 
 movement." The Larghetto which Chopin wrote when 
 "his thoughts were with his ideal" (see Opus 11) is 
 very beautiful. Liszt says of it that it " is resplendent 
 with rare dignity of style, and contains passages of 
 wondrous interest and astonishing grandeur. Chopin 
 played it frequently, and showed for it a decided pre- 
 ference. The principal phrase is of admirable breadth, 
 and the accessory details are in his best style. It alter- 
 nates with a recitative in a minor key, which seems to 
 be its antistrophe. The whole movement is of an 
 almost ideal perfection; its expression is now radiant 
 with light and anon full of tender pathos." 
 
 Hermann Scholtz, another celebrated pianist, said : 
 " It is a piece full of poetic charm. In it all the attri- 
 butes of a perfect work of art appear in the happiest 
 union : noble melody, choice harmonies, agreeable 
 figures, and the perfection of form, while the thor- 
 oughly original ideas are finely contrasted." 
 
 Kleczynski calls this middle movement an exquisite 
 idyll, and draws attention to the very beautiful orna- 
 menting that the original form of the melody in bars 
 7 to 10 undergoes in bars 26 to 29, and again to the 
 indescribable richness of detail when the theme recurs 
 for the third time after the recitative. These beautiful 
 ornamentations, however, must not be too much dwelt 
 upon; and enlargement of the details or sentiment- 
 alism would entirely spoil them. 
 
138 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Huneker thinks the final movement {allegro vivace, 
 in f time) "Mazurka-like, very graceful and ful^of 
 pure sweet melody." But Willeby finds it impossible 
 to speak of it in terms of unqualified praise. It is 
 certainly not as good as the finale of the E minor, and 
 so helps to redress the balance which, as far as regards 
 the two first movements, is in favour of the former work. 
 
 It is a pity that Chopin never attempted to write a 
 third concerto when his powers were more fully de- 
 veloped. It might have been a masterpiece as supreme 
 amongst its kind as his piano works in the smaller 
 forms. But perhaps the genius knew his own limita- 
 tions and was wise not to essay something which was a 
 little beyond his powers. The weakness of his orches- 
 tration, and his resentment of the constraint of clas- 
 sical form, probably prevented his ever attempting it, 
 and although the supreme master when writing for the 
 piano alone, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Grieg have 
 each surpassed him in the concerto form. 
 
 The Countess Delphine Potocka was one of the very 
 few people to whom Chopin dedicated more than one 
 of his works. Her name appears on number one of the 
 three Waltzes, Opus 64. She had a beautiful soprano 
 voice, and sang to Chopin on his death-bed, having 
 hurried from Nice to Paris on hearing of his fatal ill- 
 ness. Kwiatkowski said that she took as much trouble 
 and pride in giving choice musical entertainments as 
 other people did in giving choice dinners. She was a 
 very talented amateur, and gave Mikuli considerable 
 assistance in editing his edition of Chopin's works. 
 
 THE POLONAISES. 
 
 TF we include the Polonaise Fantaisie, Chopin pub- 
 lished during his lifetime eight works in this form. 
 To these must be added the three forming Opus 71, 
 which were written in 1827, 1828 and 1829 respectively. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 139 
 
 There is also extant a Polonaise in G sharp minor, 
 which was published in 1864 and to which the date 
 1822 is appended. Chopin was only twelve years old 
 when this was written, if the date is correct, but Niecks 
 thinks that it was probably composed a few years later. 
 A fifth posthumous Polonaise, dedicated as an adieu 
 to William Kolberg, is attributed to the year 1826. 
 Opus 3, a Polonaise for piano and violoncello, has been 
 treated in its place as one of the three works composed 
 as duets for the two instruments. 
 
 A Polonaise in G flat major, published in 1872, is of 
 more than doubtful authenticity. There are, therefore, 
 thirteen of these characteristically national works to be 
 considered. 
 
 They are wonderfully individual and distinct, and 
 reflect in a curious manner the events in Chopin's life 
 and the changes in his character. 
 
 In the works of 1822 and 1826 a boyish grace is the 
 leading chajacteristic, whilst in the three forming 
 Opus 71 we can trace the deepening poetical and emo- 
 tional value which became so marked in the two Polon- 
 aises of Opus 26. Between these came Opus 22, 
 probably written in Vienna just before Chopin came 
 to Paris; it is a very good example of the music Chopin 
 wrote to show off his own powers as a virtuoso. In 
 Opus 40 we have two works of Chopin's prime, and 
 Opus 44 and Opus 53 are masterpieces, and two of his 
 great achievements. In the Polonaise Fantaisie, which 
 WcLS written in 1846, the year before his health finally 
 failed, we can read signs of his approaching end. 
 Although it shows no falling off in inspiration and 
 musical beauty, it exhibits traces of a broken spirit. 
 
 Appended is a list of the Polonaises in the chrono- 
 logical order of their composition : 
 
 1822 G sharp minor. 
 
 1826 B flat minor. (Adieu to William Kolberg.) 
 
 1827 Opus 71. No. I, B minor. 
 
1 828 
 1829 
 1830 
 
 Opus 71. 
 Opus 71. 
 Opus 22. 
 
 1836 
 1836 
 
 Opus 26. 
 Opus 26. 
 
 1838 
 
 Opus 40. 
 
 1838 
 
 Opus 40. 
 
 1841 
 
 1843 
 1846 
 
 Opus 44. 
 Opus 53. 
 Opus 61. 
 
 140 A HANDBOOK TO CHOPIN'S WORKS, 
 
 No. 2, B flat major. 
 
 No. 3, F minor. 
 
 Grande Polonaise Brillante, E flat 
 major. (Precedee d'un Andante 
 spianato — for piano and orchestra.) 
 
 No. I, C sharp minor. 
 
 No. 2, E flat minor. ("Siberian" or 
 " Revolt.") 
 
 No. I, A major. (Poland's Great- 
 ness.) 
 
 No. 2, C minor. (Poland's Down- 
 fall.) 
 
 F sharp minor. 
 
 A flat major. (Heroic). 
 
 Polonaise Fantaisie, A flat major. 
 
 One of the most brilliant chapters of Liszt's book is 
 devoted to the description of the origin and nature of 
 the polonaise. Its beginnings are lost in antiquity, 
 but it is popularly supposed to have first taken definite 
 shape when, after the election of Henry HI of France 
 to the throne of Poland, the Polish nobles and their 
 wives defiled before their new sovereign to stately and 
 measured music. From that it became first a cere- 
 monial, then a political dance. Polonaises were written 
 with words, and so it gradually grew into a national 
 expression, not only of the political feelings and as- 
 pirations of the people, but a' mirror of tiieir chafacter- 
 istics, their love of fighting, their chivalry, gallantry, 
 and fondness for display. The palmy days of the 
 polonaise as a dance were over before Chopin's time, 
 and the type of music had become conventionalised 
 when Weber suddenly revived its glories. Chopin fol- 
 lowed, and whilst eclipsing Weber in his rendering of 
 the warlike and distinguished phases of the dance, he 
 succeeded in expressing not only the glories of the past 
 JDut the sorrows and wrath of the present, and the 
 melancholy foreboding of the future. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 141 
 
 The distinguishing rhythm of the polonaise is an 
 imposing and majestic triple time that ten^ds to em- 
 phasise the second beat of the bar, frequeijtly synco- 
 pating it and accentuating the second half of the first 
 beat. 
 
 OPUS 22. — Grand Polonaise Brillante, E flat major. 
 Pr^c6dee d'un Andante spianato. For piano and 
 orchestra. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Baronne D'Est. 
 Composed 1830. Published 1836. 
 
 •yHIS polonaise was probably written in Vienna 
 ^ shortly before Chopin came to Paris. It is the 
 sixth and last composition for which he wrote orches- 
 tral accompaniments, and after this he evidently de- 
 cided that he had better confine his efforts to compos- 
 ing for the piano alone. Chopin played this polonaise 
 in Paris with the orchestra in 1835, but this is the only 
 occasion on record when he did so. It is preceded by 
 an andante spianato, an Italian term signifying equal- 
 ised. It is in G major and f time. Niecks says of it : 
 "It makes one think of a lake on a calm bright sum- 
 mer day. A boat glides over the pellucid, unruffled 
 surface of the water, by and by halts at a shady spot 
 by the shore, or by the side of some island (| time), 
 then continues its course (f time), and finally returns 
 to its moorings (f )." 
 
 Huneker alsb sees a lake in the andante : " It is a 
 charming, liquid-toned, nocturne-like composition, 
 Chopin in his most suave, his most placid mood : a 
 barcarolle, scarcely a ripple of emotion disturbs the 
 mirrored calm of this lake." 
 
 Karasowski describes this andante as "marvellously 
 tender and imaginative." Its beauty must be left to 
 
142 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 speak for itself. It requires no excessive pathos or 
 exaggerated expression. 
 
 A short orchestral introduction ushers in the polon- 
 aise; Chopin evidently wrote it to provide himself with 
 a showy piece for the display of his powers as a vir- 
 tuoso. Although it is lacking in emotional depth it is 
 a most brilliant piece of work. Perhaps it is a little 
 long and lacking in variety; but as Huneker says, 
 every note tells, "the figuration is rich and novel, the 
 movement spirited and flowing. The theme on each 
 re-entrance is varied ornamentally, the second theme in 
 C minor has a Polish and poetic ring, while the coda 
 is effective." 
 
 Scharwenka has re-scored the orchestral accompani- 
 ments, but it is on record that the polonaise did not 
 sound as characteristic as when played as a solo. 
 
 Niecks speaks of the general airiness of the style, 
 and his remarks are rather slighting; but if we take it 
 for what it is, and do not compare it with Chopin's 
 maturer efforts, it stands out as a work of genius. As 
 a specimen of Chopin's compositions at the age of 
 twenty, writing for himself as a virtuoso, it is intensely 
 characteristic and interesting. 
 
 THE BALLADES. 
 
 nPHE four ballades of Chopin are amongst his 
 
 greatest works. As in the scherzos we here see 
 
 in him the creator of a new type. It is generally be- 
 
 •lieved that Chopin owed the inspiration of these works 
 
 to the poems of the Polish poet Mickiewicz. 
 
 There is not in them the same personal revelation 
 that there is in the scherzi, nor have they the exclusively 
 national Polish feeling of the polonaises; these bal- 
 lades are more universal, more broadly human.. The 
 kernel of each is distinctly a legend; there is a story. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 143 
 
 a narrative to be expressed, and more than one com- 
 i mentator has postulated as necessary that a performer 
 must have a definite idea of the story he thinks the 
 music conveys before he can give a clear and consistent 
 rendering of it. 
 
 Rubinstein, who had a very definite story in mind 
 which he found expressed in the Ballade in F major, 
 was, however, careful to insist that a performer must 
 not be fettered to any particular interpretation. He 
 said : " I am for the to-be-divined, and to-be-imagined, 
 not for the given programme of a composition; I am 
 convinced that every composer writes not merely notes 
 in a given key, tempo and rhythm, but, on the con- 
 trary, encloses a mood of the soul (that is a programme) 
 in his composition, in the rational hope that the inter- 
 preter and hearer may apprehend it. Sometimes he 
 gives his composition a general name as a guide, and 
 more than this is not necessary, for an extended pro- 
 gramme of emotion is not to be reproduced in words." 
 
 Karasowski tells us that contemporary critics were 
 puzzled at the novelty of the form of the ballades; 
 some of them regarded them as a variety of the rondo, 
 whilst others, with more accuracy, called them "poeti- 
 I cal stories." They are all in triple (f or f ) time, which 
 something in the nature of music seems to render in- 
 separable from the idea of narration. 
 
 Ehlert says of them : " E,ach one differs entirely from 
 the others, and they have but one thing in common, 
 their romantic working out and the nobility of their 
 motives. Chopin relates in them; he does not speak 
 like one who communicates something really experi- 
 enced; it is as though he told what never took place, 
 but what has sprung up in his inmost soul, the anticipa- 
 tion of something longed for." 
 
 Oscar Bie thinks that Chopin found his true form in 
 the ballades and scherzi; "this is the extempore form. 
 
144 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 which even in the impromptus has for so long not been 
 so unfettered. The dividing lines of the sections are 
 'drawn from free invention and the thought is con- 
 "strained by no scheme. In these ballades we reach 
 again one of those solitary peaks of piano literature in 
 which improvisatorial invention and artistic construc- 
 tion meet again in a higher unity." 
 
 Niecks thinks that "none of Chopin's compositions 
 surpass in masterliness of form and beauty and poetry 
 of content his ballades. In them he attains, I think, 
 the acme of his power as an artist." 
 
 Kleczynski says that the ballades are certainly 
 Chopin's " most complete and finished works, the works 
 which, have the greatest musical value. . . . They are ver- 
 itable dramatic recitations, always changing and full 
 of surprises." 
 
 Krehbiel considers the ballades among Chopin's fin- 
 est inspirations, and Huneker describes them as "not 
 loosely-jointed, but compact structures glowing with 
 genius and presenting definite unity of form and ex- 
 pression"; in short, all the commentators are agreed 
 that in these four ballades we have the finest flower of 
 Chopin's genius and a priceless artistic possession. 
 
 OPUS 23. — Ballade in G minor. 
 
 Dedicated to M. le Baron de Stockhausen. 
 Published 1836. 
 
 'VA/'HEN Schumann told Chopin that he liked this 
 ballade the best of all his compositions, Chopin, 
 after a long, meditative pause, said, with great em- 
 phasis, " I am glad of that, it is the one I too like best." 
 This anecdote is from a letter written by Schumann 
 to Capellmeister Heinrich Dorn, and is therefore abso- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 145 
 
 lutely authentic. In the letter referring to the ballade 
 he writes : " It seems to me the most pleasing, but not 
 the cleverest of his works." Elsewhere, when reviewing 
 the second Ballade in F, Schumann spoke of this one 
 in G minor as one of Chopin's wil dest and most ori - 
 g inal compositions. This expression leads JNiecks to 
 believe that Schumann, in the letter quoted above, 
 meant that the ballade was Chopin's "most spirited, 
 most daring work, but not his most genial, i.e., the one 
 fullest of genius." (The German is certainly ambigu- 
 ous, " sein genialischtes, nicht genialstes, werk.") 
 
 Karasowski speaks of this ballade as perhaps the 
 best known, and says it is inflamed by wild passion, 
 and claims special admiration for its finish of detai l. 
 
 Kleczynski, in his "Chopin's Greater Works," ana- 
 lyses it at considerable length and speaks of its strong 
 dramatic pathos, "while answering the requirements of 
 aesthetic beauty, it lacks neither grandeur nor serious- 
 ness." He wastes considerable space over an absolutely 
 apocryphal anecdote of a mysterious Englishman who 
 kidnapped Chopin and kept him a prisoner for a 
 month whilst he taught his captor to play this ballade. 
 
 It shares with the third Ballade in A flat an extreme 
 of popularity. Huneker says : " They (these two bal- 
 lades) are hopelessly vulgarised; they have been 
 butchered to make a concert-goer's holiday. The G 
 minor, full of dramatic fire and almost sensual ex- 
 pression, is a whirl-wind; unsexed by women and 
 womanish men, it is a byword and a reproach. Little 
 wonder that Liszt shuddered when asked to listen to 
 this abused piece." Elsewhere he says: "I am re- 
 minded of Andrew Lang's lines, 'the thunder and 
 surge of the Odyssey,' when listening to the G minor 
 Ballade. It is the Odyssey of Chopin's soul." He 
 then gives a glowing but very fanciful description of 
 what he sees in the music, and continues : " With such 
 
 10 
 
146 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 a composition any programme could be sworn to ... . 
 That Chopin had a programme, a definite one, there 
 can be no doubt. . . . The true narrative tone is in this 
 symmetrically constructed ballade. It is a logical, 
 well-knit and largely planned composition; the closest 
 parallelism may be detected in its composition of 
 themes." He does not mention his authority for saying 
 it is "after Konrad Wallenrod" (presumably one of 
 Mickiewicz's poems). 
 
 The ballade opens with a short introduction of seven 
 bars, a 'cello-like phrase of recitative in unison, closed 
 by a wonderful suspended chord with a dissonant E 
 fiat in the bass, which forms the subject of much dis- 
 pute among the commentators. A comparison of a simi- 
 lar device in the thirty-fourth bar, however, leaves no 
 doubt that the effect was intended by the composer. 
 At the moderato the legend begins in a beautifully jm- 
 dulatory melody. This is followed at bar thirty-six by 
 a more animated theme in the nature of an interlude 
 between the first and second chief melodies, the latter 
 beginning at bar sixty-eight (meno mosso). This is a 
 theme of great beauty, broad and full of a delicious 
 langour. Another interlude (bar eighty-two) leads 
 back to the first theme in A minor with a dominant 
 pedal E in the bass. At bar 106 this gives way to the 
 second theme harmonically varied and strengthened, 
 climaxing ffz with great power and followed by a 
 sudden lull. A long and beautiful quaver passage 
 leads to a/third recurrence of the second theme fol- 
 lowed by the interlude and a third return to the first 
 theme. A sudden passionate phrase leads to the coda 
 in common time, -presto con fuoco concluding with 
 weighty chords and brilliant scale passages. 
 
 Throughout the narrative and dramatic spirit is self- 
 evident. The introduction seems to say : " Listen, I 
 will tell you how it happened." Then the various 
 themes and interludes, recurring in fuller and more 
 
A Hakdbook OF Chopin's Works. 147^ 
 
 developed forms, seem to tell the story ; one can almost 
 follow the development of character from, incident, 
 and the coda seems to detail the inevitable catastrophe, 
 which, however, does not appear wholly tragic for all 
 concerned. 
 
 OPUS 24.— Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in G minor; No. 2 in C major; No. 3 in A flat; 
 No. 4 in B flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to M. le Comte de Perthuis. 
 Published 1835. 
 
 No. I in G minor. 
 
 T/'LECZYNSKI calls this mazurka "a wonderful 
 poem in its simplicity and with its characteristic 
 scale" (at the end of the first phrase of eight bars). 
 
 Huneker describes this scale as " an exotic scale of 
 the augmented second," and says the mazurka is a 
 favourite because of its comparative freedom from 
 technical difficulties. The same might be said of the 
 whole set, which is certainly the easiest to play of any. 
 
 This mazurka marks a return to the rustic feeling of 
 the earlier numbers, and the trio is full of hearty coun- 
 try gaiety. 
 
 No. 2 in C major. 
 
 Here again Chopin indulges in an unusual scale. 
 The fifteen bars from bar twenty-one are in the Eydian 
 mode, which leaves a very curious effect of tonality on 
 our ears. Huneker says : " The trio is occidental, and 
 the entire piece leaves a vague impression of discon- 
 tent; the refrain recalls the Russian bargeman's songs 
 utilised at various times by Tchaikovsky." The open- 
 ing phrase, marked soito voce, is highly original; is 
 
148 A HANDBOOK TO Chopin's Works. . 
 
 used in an amplified form as a coda with extraordinary 
 effect. This number is a favourite of Karasowski's. 
 
 No. 3 in A- flat. 
 
 A beautiful little mazurka of undeniable attractions. 
 The pauses in the sixth and tenth bars are most effec- 
 tive, reminding one of the seventh prelude. Its chief 
 charm is the exquisite coda, which dies away with in- 
 effable sweetness. 
 
 No. 4 in B flat minor, 
 
 This is the most important of the set, and indeed 
 marks another step in the evolution of the mazurka in 
 Chopin's hands. As Isaacs says, it contains some of 
 Chopin's choicest melody, and is developed into a 
 masterpiece. Huneker calls it a beautiful and ex- 
 quisitely coloured poem. 
 
 The second edition in the major contains a phrase 
 curiously prophetic of the third part of the waltz. Opus 
 34, No. I. The first theme is much elaborated in repeti- 
 tion, so much so that the unison, marked sotto voce, 
 followed by simple chords comes as a relief. Then 
 begins con animo the most beautiful melody forming 
 the trio, after which the first theme recurs to be fol- 
 lowed by a coda of extraordinary charm. It is one of 
 those separate inspirations of Chopin which he occa- 
 sionally reserves for the close of his pieces; it is a 
 " dying away " in excelsis. The tone colour should be 
 largely helped with the soft pedal. If any one could 
 be in doubt as to the merits of Chopin's mazurkas, this 
 coda should convert them instantly. 
 
 OPUS 25.— Twelve Etudes. 
 
 No. I, A flat major. (The Shepherd Boy}; No. 2, F 
 minor (Presto); No, 3, F majo'r (Allegro); No. 4, A 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 149 
 
 minor (Syncopations); No. 5, E minor (Scherzo); No. 
 6, G sharp minor (double notes) ; No. 7, C sharp minor 
 (Duo); No. 8, D flat (Rhythm); No. 9, G flat (Butter- 
 fly's Wings); No. 10, B minor (Octaves); No. 11, A 
 minor (Winter Wind); No. 12, C minor (Arpeggios). 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Comtesse d'Agoult. 
 Composed 1830-4. Published 1837. 
 
 TTHIS is the second set of twelve studies (see Opus 
 10). Barbedette considers them more original 
 than those of the flrst book : " In them Chopin's indi- 
 viduality developed itself." Schumann devoted an 
 interesting article to these etudes. Writing as Eusebius 
 he says : " The name to which we have so often pointed, 
 as to a rare star at a late hour of the night, must not 
 be wanting in our museum. Whither its course may 
 lead, how long may last its sparkling light, who can 
 tell? But it can always be distinguished whenever it 
 shows itself, even by a child, for it always displays the 
 same core of flame, the same deeply dark glow, the 
 same brilliancy. And thus I remember that I have 
 heard Chopin play nearly all of them, ' and very much 
 a la Chopin he plays them,' whispers Florestan in my 
 ear. Imagine that an aeolian harp possessed all the 
 scales, and that an artist's hand struck these with all 
 kinds of fantastic, elegant embellishments, ever render- 
 ing audible a deep fundamental tone, and a softly 
 flowing upper voice — and you will have some idea of 
 his playing. . . . These studies are all models of bold, in- 
 dwelling, creative force, truly poetic creations, though 
 not without small blots in their details, but on the 
 whole striking and powerful. Yet if I give my com- 
 plete opinion, I must confess that his earlier large col- 
 lection seems more valuable to me. Not that I mean 
 to imply any narrowness in Chopin's artistic nature, or 
 any deterioration, for these recently published studies 
 were nearly all written at the same time as the earlier 
 
ISO A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 ones, and only a few were composed a little while ago 
 — the first in A flat, and the last magnificent one in C 
 minor, both of which display great mastership." 
 
 Stephen Heller was especially enthusiastic about this 
 set of the studies. Writing in "The Gazette Musicale" 
 of February 24, 1839, he says: "What more do we 
 require to pass one or several evenings in as perfect 
 happiness as possible? As for me, I seek in this col- 
 lection of poesy (this is the only name appropriate to 
 the works of Chopin) some favourite pieces which I 
 might fix in my memory rather than others. Who 
 could retain everything ? For this reason I have in my 
 note-book quite particularly marked the numbers 4, 5 
 and 7 of the present poems. Of these twelve much- 
 loved studies (every one of which has a charm of its 
 own) these three numbers are those I prefer to all the 
 rest." 
 
 Reviewing the Chopin etudes at the close of his in- 
 teresting and exhaustive chapter, Huneker says : 
 "Astounding, canorous, enchanting, alembicated and 
 dramatic, the Chopin studies are exemplary essays in 
 emotion and manner. In them is mirrored all of 
 Chopin, the planetary as well as the secular Chopin. 
 When most of his piano music has gone the way of all 
 things fashioned by mortal hands, these studies will 
 endure, will stand for the nineteenth century, as Beet- 
 hoven crystallised the eighteenth and Bach the 
 seventeenth centuries in piano music. Chopin is a 
 classic." 
 
 These studies are dedicated to the Comtesse 
 d'Agoult. This lady, who afterwards became known 
 in literature as Daniel Stern, had left her husband, the 
 Comte d'Agoult, in 1835 to live with Liszt. By this 
 lady he had three children, one of whom, Cosima, be- 
 came the wife of Von Biilow, and subsequently of 
 Richard Wagner. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 151 
 
 5_No. I. — Etude in A flat. 
 
 We have Schumann's authority, presumably derived 
 directly from Chopin, that this first etude in the second 
 set and the twelfth in C minor were composed later 
 than the rest of the Opus, and presumably this brings 
 the date of composition to 1834. Schumann, in review- 
 ing this set, said : " No wonder then that we were 
 charmed with the pieces at once, hearing them played 
 by himself, and most of all with the first, in A flat 
 major, rather a poem than a study. But it would be a 
 mistake to suppose that he allowed us to hear every 
 small note in it; it was r ather an undula tion.of,,the A 
 flat, major_chord, brought out mofe loudly here and 
 there with tE e^edalr'but-exqnisiteiy'entarflgteTJ:" in 'the 
 ha£mony j_vre_ToTTowe3ra^ 
 
 tamedjtqneSj^ while^injhe middle" a teiior " vbice~bro Jke 
 rlparTy frnmj the xFords^'and^ fomed theprincipal 
 melody . And when the etude WcLS ended we felt as 
 though we had seen a lovely form iii' a dream, and, half 
 awake, we strove to seize it again ; but such things can- 
 not be described, still less can they be fitly praised." 
 
 Of this etude, Kleczynski tells us that Chopin ex- 
 plained to one of his pupils the manner in which this 
 study should be executed. " I imagine," he said, " a 
 little shepherd who takes refuge in a peaceful grotto 
 from approaching storm. In the distance rushes the 
 wind and the rain, while the shepherd gently plays a 
 melody on his flute." 
 
 This is very interesting as being one of the few in- 
 stances in which Chopin himself provided a pro- 
 gramme; that is to say, he suggested a poetical and 
 romantic idea, which an interpreter might bear in mind 
 during the performance. 
 
 Niecks agrees with Schumann in the latter's estimate 
 of the value of these studies, namely, that the total 
 weight of Opus 10 amounts to more than that of Opus 
 25, and that of the latter set, Nos. 1 and 12 are the 
 
152 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 most important items. Of this one he says that the 
 impression left upon us is that of a tremulous mist 
 below, a beautiful breezy melody floating above, and 
 once or twice a more opaque body becoming discerni- 
 ble within the vaporous element. 
 
 Von Biilow says that a frequent use and change of 
 the pedal, even during one continuous harmony, is 
 almost indispensable. A slight delay on the first note 
 of each group; and secondly, a slight quickening of 
 the other notes is not merely admissible, but even 
 requisite to avoid a dryness in bringing out the melody. 
 
 KuUak says that the melodic and important tones 
 must emerge, as it were, from within the sweetly whis- 
 pering waves, and that the upper tones must be com- 
 bined so as to form the real melody with the finest and 
 most faithful shadings. 
 
 Moscheles has left on record his unlimited admira- 
 tion of the manner in which Chopin played this study; 
 the melody is certainly one of the most entrancing 
 sweetness ; at the same time it has a rain-washed fresh- 
 ness. The tenor melody, which appears at intervals, 
 leaves a kind of feeling of the harmonies of nature. In 
 this study, use of the pedal is all important. Huneker 
 says "above all poetry, poetry and pedals. Without 
 pedalling of the most varied sort this study will re- 
 main as dry as a dog-gnawed bone." He alludes to 
 the twenty-fourth bar as being so Lisztian, that Liszt 
 must have been benefited by its harmonies. 
 
 No. 2. — Etude in F mmor (Presto). 
 
 Schumann heard Chopin play this etude, and 
 speaks of it as one "in which his individuality displays 
 itself in a manner never to be forgotten. How charm- 
 ing, how dreamy it was ! Soft as the song of a sleeping 
 child." 
 
 Von Biilow warns players "that all sentimentality 
 would be bad taste. The piece produces its most 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 153 
 
 charming effect when played almost entirely without 
 shading, clearly, delicately, and, to a certain extent, 
 dreamily." It should be played completely without 
 passion, and without any rubato. 
 
 Huneker says : " There is little doubt this was the 
 way Chopin played it. Liszt is an authority on the 
 subject, and M. Mathias corroborates him. This study 
 contains much beauty, and every bar rules over a little 
 harmonic kingdom of its own. It is so lovely that not 
 even Brahms's distortion in double notes or the version 
 in octaves can dull its magnetic crooning. At times so 
 delicate is its design that it recalls the faint fantastic 
 tracery made by frost on glass." 
 
 Kullak says : " As the fundamental tone is piano, 
 the artistic delivery requires an accentuation so light 
 that it shall not force itself upon the attention, but 
 make itself more felt than heard. If one will, one may 
 betcike oneself in fancy to a still, green, dusky forest, 
 and listen in profound solitude to the mysterious rust- 
 ling of the foliage. What, indeed — despite the alge- 
 braic character of the tone-language — may not a lively 
 fancy conjure out of, or rather into, this etude? But 
 one thing is to be held fast : it is to be played in that 
 Chopin-like whisper of which, among others, Mendels- 
 sohn also affirmed that for him nothing more enchanting 
 existed." 
 
 No. 3. — Etude in F major. 
 
 Schumann heard Chopin play this Etude also. He 
 said that it was " fine again, but less novel in character; 
 here the master showed his bravura powers — ^ut what 
 are words for all this?" As executed by de Pachmann, 
 this Etude enjoys a popularity second to none. Kullak 
 calls it "a spirited little caprice, whose kernel lies in 
 the simultaneous application of four different little 
 rhythms to form a single figure in sound, which figure 
 is then repeated continuously to the end. In these 
 
154 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 repetitions, however, changes of accentuation, fresh 
 modulations, and piquant antithesis, serve to make the 
 composition extremely vivacious and effective." 
 
 The temfo should be very lively ; it must be executed 
 with care but " amiable bravura." 
 
 Von Billow cautions performers against playing the 
 sforzati on the light staccato quavers in a sharp, cutting 
 manner. Huneker says : " What charm, buoyancy, and 
 sweetness there is in this caprice ! It has the tantalis- 
 ing, elusive charm of a humming bird in full flight. 
 The human element is almost eliminated. We are in 
 the open, the sun blazes in the blue, and all is gay, at- 
 mospheric, and illuding. Even where the tone deepens, 
 where the shadows grow cooler and darker in the B 
 major section, there is little hint of preoccupation with 
 sadness. Subtle are the harmonic shifts, admirable the 
 ever changing devices of the figuration." 
 
 No. 4. — Etude in A minor (Agitato). 
 
 This Etude was one of Stephen Heller's favourites, 
 and he points out that it reminds him of the first bar 
 of the Kyrie of Mozart's Requiem. 
 
 Kullak says this "study is more interesting from a 
 technical than a rhythmical point of view. It is a study 
 in syncopation, the chief beats of the bar are marked 
 by single notes only in the bass, whilst the secondary 
 beats are burdened with chords which have to be accen- 
 tuated in opposition to the regular beats of the bar. 
 Associated with the chords and seeming to grow out of 
 them, there is a melody in the upper part which begins 
 on a weak beat and produces numerous suspensions, 
 which, in view of the time of their entrance, appear so 
 many retardations and delayals of melodic tones. All 
 these things combine to give the composition a wholly 
 peculiar colouring, to render its flow somewhat restless 
 and to stamp the Etude as a capriccio, which might 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 155 
 
 well be named 'Inquietude.' With the exception of a 
 rallentando, the Etude is to be played strictly in time." 
 Huneker speaks of its breath-catching syncopations 
 and narrow emotional range, but admits that it has 
 moments of power and interest. This study should give 
 the impression of agitation, but not of confusion, as, 
 alas ! it so often does in incompetent hands. On the 
 first hearing it appears as, perhaps, the least attractive 
 of all the Studies, but it has a curious fascination, and 
 when properly performed, Heller's preference for it can 
 be easily understood. 
 
 No. 5. — Etude in E minor (Vicace). 
 
 This Etude has the character of a Scherzo, but its 
 difficulty is a terrible stumbling-block. It may not be 
 a.s difficult as some to play, but the first part, which is 
 repeated after the trio, sounds almost more difficult 
 than anything that Chopin ever wrote. 
 
 KuUak says that a performer should possess a fine 
 feeling for what is coquettish or agreeably capricious, 
 and he will then understand how to heighten the charm 
 of the chief part. The piu lento section, which is in E 
 major, consists of a beautiful broad melody, which, " if 
 soulfuUy conceived and delivered, will sing its way 
 deep into the heart of the listener." Surrounding the 
 melody as with a veil are arpeggios in triplets of semi- 
 quavers, which are to be played almost without accen- 
 tuation. These die away till they become almost in- 
 audible and then the chief part is repeated with 
 piquant little changes. Chopin is just as admirable in 
 the finest painting of details as where the problem is 
 to design grand contours with bold strokes. There is 
 a short coda with brilliant trills and arpeggios rising 
 majestically in crotchets to the final tone. Huneker 
 says it is safe to say that this study is less often heard 
 in the concert-room than any one of its companions, 
 "yet it is a sonorous piano piece, rich in embroideries 
 
156 A Handbook to Chopin's Works, 
 
 and general decorative effect in the middle section. 
 Perhaps the rather perverse, capricious, and not alto- 
 gether amiable character of the beginning has caused 
 pianists to be wary of introducing it at a recital. It is 
 hugely effective and also difficult." 
 
 No. 6. — Etude in G sharp minor. (Allegro. Double 
 notes.) 
 
 More than any other this Etude shows Chopin's won- 
 derful power of making a technical problem artistically 
 interesting. The player should concentrate his atten- 
 tion on the passages for the left hand, leaving the treble 
 to ripple on and look after itself. 
 
 Ehlert says of it : " Chopin not only versifies an ex- 
 ercise in thirds, he transforms it into such a work of art 
 that in studying it one can sooner fancy oneself on 
 Parnassus than at a lesson. He deprives every passage 
 of all mechanical appearance by promoting it to become 
 the embodiment of a beautiful thought, which in turn 
 finds graceful expression in its motion." 
 
 Huneker considers that in " piano literature no more 
 remarkable merging of matter and manner exists. The 
 means justifies the end, and the means employed by the 
 composer are beautiful. There is no other word to 
 describe the style and architectonics of this noble study. 
 With the Schumann Toccata it stands at the portals of 
 the delectable land of double notes. . . . This study is 
 first music and then a technical problem." 
 
 It should be played throughout in the Chopin-like 
 whisper which Kullak mentions in reference to the 
 Etude in F minor, Op. 25, No. 2. 
 
 No. 7. — Etude in C sharp minor. 
 
 This very beautiful and poetic Etude is not so much 
 concerned with technique in the ordinary sense of 
 difficulty. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 157 
 
 As Kullak says : " It was created to serve as a study 
 in delivery, but one must be able to rise above the prose 
 of ordinary feeling and perception and to enter fully 
 and entirely into the rich and deep soulfulness of the 
 divinely endowed composer." 
 
 It is sad throughout. Karasowski adopts as a kind 
 of motto for it: The heart has not lost something, it 
 has lost everything." 
 
 The study is written throughout in a kind of duet, 
 in which one seems to Hear a human voice sustained by 
 a violoncello obbligato. A writer in "Temple Bar" 
 says : " The appreciative listener may hear if he will a 
 lover's quarrel, where love alternates with keen regrets 
 and tender rebukes with stormy denunciations. The 
 same idea seems to have occurred to Niecks, but he is 
 more prosaic about it. He calls it 'A Duet between a 
 He and a She,' of whom the former shows himself more 
 talkative and emphatic than the latter. It is indeed 
 very sweet, but perhaps also somewhat tiresomely mono- 
 tonous, as such tites-a-tetes naturally are to third 
 parties." 
 
 Kleczynski thinks it "one of the most dignified 
 among the compositions of the master," and says it 
 should be numbered among the Nocturnes. 
 
 This study met with considerable contemporary ap- 
 preciation. The English critic, Chorley, thought it was 
 a masterpiece, original, expressive and grand, whilst 
 Heller said : " It engenders the sweetest sadness, the 
 most enviable torments ; and if in playing it one feels 
 one's self insensibly drawn towards mournful and 
 melancholy ideas, it is a disposition of the soul which 
 I prefer to all others. Alas ! how I love those sombre 
 and mysterious dreams, and Chopin is the god who 
 creates them." 
 
 The opening phrase reminds one of the beginning 
 of the G minor Ballade, but it is more emphatically a 
 'cello phrase, and it is impossible to agree with Willeby 
 
158 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 in his dictum that : " The requisite interpretation of this 
 phrase could not be given by any other instrument than 
 the piano." 
 
 Huneker finds it " both morbid and elegiac. It con- 
 tains in solution all the most objectionable and most 
 endearing qualities of the master." 
 
 " Perhaps there is no more poetical adagio than what 
 Chopin modestly calls the Etude in C sharp (Op. 25, 
 No. 7), which we may class with the Nocturnes. What a 
 noble and elevated simplicity is observable in this duo; 
 what melancholy, what exquisite form in the melodious 
 turns ! That this work is often played badly and with 
 mannerism is not astonishing. To those who are not 
 specially acquainted with Chopin's style it is very diffi- 
 cult. It requires deep perception, and notwithstanding 
 its powerful dramatic character, must not be rendered 
 with undue roughness or sharpness. One must here 
 consider the bass to be the chief melody. The right 
 hand, in this duo, usually answers with a degree of 
 discretion, though at the same time very expressively. 
 It must be played very slowly, with much sadness and 
 great simplicity. The execution of the accompaniment 
 in the repeated chords should be extremely soft and 
 poetical. At the end of the first part the performer 
 must avoid affectation, into which he can easily fall 
 on account of the beautiful turns of melody. It is ex- 
 tremely important that he should not caress their beau- 
 tiful thoughts too much, but that he should play with 
 naturalness and simplicity." 
 
 No. 8.— Etude in D flat (Double Sixths). 
 
 Von Billow considers this study the most useful ex- 
 ercise in the whole range of etude literature. "It 
 might truly be called ' I'indispensable du pianiste,' if 
 the term through misuse had not fallen into disrepute. 
 As a remedy for stiff fingers and preparatory to per- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 159 
 
 forming in public, playing it six times through is 
 recommended even to the most expert pianists." 
 
 Hadow, speaking of Chopin's independence of the 
 conventional laws which governed harmony in his day, 
 says that Chopin, like Grieg or Dvorak, "takes our 
 recognised system of harmonic laws and literally 
 honours it more in the breach than in the observance. 
 Are consecutive fifths and octaves forbidden? There 
 is in one of the Etudes a delightful passage which 
 consists exclusively of the prohibited intervals." 
 
 There is a delicious freshness and abandon about 
 this study, and the concluding passage seems almost 
 cheekily defiant of technical difficulty. 
 
 No. 9.— Etude in G flat (Butterfly's Wings). 
 
 This is one of the shortest, but at the same time 
 one of the most graceful and attractive of the Etudes. 
 The German professors affect not to think much of it. 
 
 Kullak calls it a charming little salon piece in Etude 
 form, and says that it requires a graceful light touch, 
 while Von Biilow considers it musically of little worth 
 and that " the amiable commonplaceness of its irielodic 
 content reminds one of the style of the late Charles 
 Meyer. It is, however, so deftly put together that by 
 a neat performance it can still make a brilliant 
 effect." 
 
 Huneker considers it if not deep, graceful and cer- 
 tainly very effective. "It has lately become the 
 stamping-ground for the display of piano athletics. 
 Nearly all modern virtuosi pull to pieces the wings of 
 this pMDor little butterfly. They smash it, they bang 
 it, and, adding insult to cruelty, they finish it with 
 three chords, mounting an octave each time, thus giving 
 a conventional character to the close, the very thing 
 the composer avoids." 
 
i6o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 No. 10. — Etude in B minor (Octaves). 
 
 The last three studies of Opus 25 -are of greater 
 emotional importance. Von Biilow finds in this one a 
 certain Asiatic wildness similar to the Chorus of Der- 
 vishes in Beethoven's " Ruins of Athens." Its technical 
 end is the cultivation of legato octave playing. 
 
 Kullak says of it: "The chief part is wild and 
 agitated. The secondary part should exercise a tran- 
 quilising influence. It fulfils, indeed, its technical 
 end, but it is somewhat far-fetched and forced in in- 
 tention and leaves one cold, though it plunges on 
 wildly enough to the end." 
 
 Niecks calls it "a real pandemonium. For a while 
 holier sounds intervene, but finally hell prevails." 
 
 Huneker says that because many pianists make little 
 of it that does not abate its musical significance. "The 
 opening is* portentous and soon becomes a driving 
 whirlwind of tone. Chopin has never penned a . 
 lovelier melody than the one in B, the middle section 
 of this Etude. It is only to be compared with the one 
 in the same key in the B minor Scherzo. There is a 
 lushness about the octave melody. The tune may be a 
 little over-ripe but it is sweet sensuous music, and about 
 it hovers the hush of a rich evening in early autumn." 
 
 ' No. II. — Etude in A minor. 
 
 This is the longest and most important of the 
 Studies. It is usually known as "The Winter Wind." 
 It has not, however, a wintry chill about it. It is more 
 a reflection of late autumn. The opening lines of 
 George Meredith's magnificent poem seem to fit the 
 music very closely : 
 
 "The Great South-West drives o'er the Earth, 
 And loosens all his roaring robes behind him 
 Over moor and field." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. i6i 
 
 Von Billow says of it that "its particular merit is 
 that while producing the greatest fullness of sound 
 imaginable it keeps itself entirely unorchestral and 
 represents pianoforte music in the most accurate sense 
 of the word. To Chopin is due the honour and the 
 credit of having set fast the boundary between piano- 
 forte and orchestral music, which through other com- 
 posers of the romantic school, especially Robert 
 Schumann, has been defaced and blotted out to the 
 prejudice and damage of both species." 
 
 KuUak says : " It is a bravura study of the highest 
 order; and is captivating through the boldness and 
 originality of its passages, whose rising and falling 
 waves, full of agitation, overflow the entire keyboard; 
 captivating through its harmonic and modulatory 
 shadings; and captivating, finally, through a wonder- 
 fully invented little theme which is drawn like a ' red 
 thread' through all the flashing and glittering waves 
 of tone, and which, as it were, prevents them from 
 scattering to all quarters of the heavens." 
 
 The air is given out to commence with in single 
 notes, then whispered again with fuller harmony. As 
 in Opus 25, No. 6, attention should be given by the 
 performer chiefly to the left hand passages which form 
 the poetic content of the composition. The march-like 
 rhythm must be played in strict time. The scale with 
 which the Etude ends is a rare feature in Chopin's work. 
 
 Huneker says : " It takes prodigious power and en- 
 durance to play this work, prodigious power, passion and 
 no little poetry. It is open air music, storm music, and 
 at times moves in processional splendour. Small-souled 
 men, no matter how agile their fingers, should avoid it." 
 
 No. 12. — Etude in C minor (Arpeggios). 
 
 Elemental warfare holds sway in this, the last and 
 in some senses the greatest of the Studies. It seldom 
 receives justice at the hands of performers. 
 
 II 
 
i62 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 As Niecks says : " In it the emotions rise not less 
 than the waves of arpeggios which symbolise them." 
 
 The great billows of sound sway up and down like 
 the ground swell of the ocean after some terrific storm. 
 If one could imagine the first Study of Opus lo in 
 Arpeggios in C major, No. 12 of Opus 10, the revolu- 
 tionary Etude in C minor, and No. 11 of Opus 25 in 
 A minor, melted and poured together in a crucible, one 
 feels that the result would be something like this study. 
 
 Willeby says that the sameness of the form of the 
 arpeggio figure causes a certain amount of monotony 
 to be felt, but this can only be the result of having 
 heard it inadequately rendered. As Huneker points 
 out, it is only monotonous in the sense that the thunder 
 and spray of the sea when it tumbles and roars on 
 some sullen, savage shore is monotonous. 
 
 "Beethovean in its ruggedness, the Chopin of this 
 C minor Study is as far removed from the musical 
 dandyisms of the Parisian drawing-rooms as is Beet- 
 hoven himself. It is orchestral in intention and a true 
 epic of the piano. How Liszt must have thundered 
 through this tumultuous work. Before it all criticism 
 should be silenced that fails to allow Chopin a place 
 among the greatest creative musicians. We are here in 
 the presence of Chopin the musician, not Chopin the 
 composer for piano." 
 
 One would think it was impossible to look upon this 
 emotional masterpiece prosaically, but Kullak only 
 says of it that it is a grand, magnificent composition 
 for practice in broken chord passages for both hands, 
 which requires no comments. 
 
 In Von Biilow's edition there are important hints as 
 to the proper rendering of this piece. He warns per- 
 formers against allowing the strength of tone to de- 
 generate into hardness, and that in the poetic striving 
 after a realistic portrayal of a storm on the piano, 
 the instrument as well as the piece may come to grief. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 163 
 
 The pedal is needful to give the requisite effect and 
 must change with every new harmony. 
 
 OPUS 26. — Two Polonaises. 
 
 No. I, C sharp minor; No. 2, E flat minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. J. Dessauer. 
 Published in 1836. 
 
 CIX years elapsdd after the publication of Chopin's 
 first Polonaise (Opus 22, q.v?) before he gave these 
 two to the public. In the interval he had settled in 
 Paris, had suffered the loss of bis " ideal " lady (Con- 
 stantia Gladkowska), had loved and been refused by 
 the pretty Marie Wodzinska, had travelled, experi- 
 enced disappointments at his comparative non-success 
 as a pianist before large audiences, and had brooded 
 much over the wrongs and oppression of Poland. 
 These two Polonaises show clearly by their increased 
 depth and emotional expression the result on Chopin's 
 character. 
 
 In tne Polonaise in E flat major the composer was 
 occupied chiefly with its aspect as a dance, and the 
 possibilities of providing an effective display of vir- 
 tuosity within the limits of the form. But just as he 
 treated the national dance form of the waltz, turning it 
 from a brilliant dance into a lyric poem, so in these 
 two Polonaises we find the form modified until it 
 becomes a subtly expressive vehicle of emotion. 
 Although the rhythm is preserved the dancing char- 
 acter has disappeared. Whether Chopin so intended 
 it one cannot say, but certainly it is easy to read into 
 this Polonaise a complete love romance. The first four 
 bars, fortissimo and allegro appassionato, are of superb 
 strength and open the piece with a grand rhythmical 
 swing. The second four bars are an earnest question 
 
1 64 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 delivered with emphasis and insistence, and bars nine 
 to twelve are quite as clearly an answrer, timid and 
 hesitating. This section is repeated, and then comes a 
 rhythmical figure, at first played sotto voce, but con- 
 stantly increasing to fortissimo, and broken in upon by 
 curious lightning-like flashes in the right hand; this is 
 followed by a melody, simple and tender, and then the 
 question and answer of the opening are repeated. 
 
 At the meno mosso the trio begins. Kleczynski 
 says : " Here simplicity and exquisiteness are com- 
 bined in a really Chopinesque and characteristic way." 
 He also points out that bars nine to twelve gain im- 
 mensely in effect if played with bothi loud and soft 
 pedals, and that the beautiful modulatory bars should 
 be played very rubato. The first part of the trio is a 
 solo voice; but in the second part a tenor joins the 
 treble with expressive cantilena passages like a 'cello 
 obbligato. This Polonaise has no definite end, a pecu- 
 liarity which is characteristic of much of Chopin's 
 earlier work in all the dance forms. In the later works, 
 however, whether mazurka, waltz, or polonaise, the 
 codas are often fresh inspirations of great beauty and 
 form most effective endings. 
 
 No. 2. — Polonaise in E flat minor. 
 
 This Polonaise forms a strong contrast to the pre- 
 ceding one. In it we seem to hear Chopin brooding 
 over the wrongs and oppression of Poland. It opens 
 with a phrase as of sullen murmurs of discontent, and 
 the fact that it is played pianissimo when the natural 
 pianistic interpretation would be forte, gives a curious 
 feeling of suppression. The very numerous ritenutos 
 and accellerandos serve to mark the unsettled state of 
 feeling throughout the piece. 
 
 Niecks says that it "speaks of physical force and 
 self-reliance. It is full of conspiracy and sedition. 
 The ill-suppressed murmurs of discontent, which may 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 165 
 
 be compared to the ominous growls of a volcano, grow 
 in loudness and intensity, till at last, with a rush and 
 a wild shriek, there follows an explosion, the thoughts 
 flutter hither and thither, in anxious, helpless agitation. 
 Then martial sounds are heard — a secret gathering of 
 a few, which soon grows in number and boldness. Now 
 they draw nearer; you distinguish the clatter of spurs 
 and weapons, the clang of trumpets (D flat major). 
 Revenge and death are their watchwords, and with 
 sullen determination they stare desolation in the face 
 (the pedal F with the trebled part above). After an 
 interesting transition the first section returns. In the 
 meno mosso (B major) again a martial rhythm is 
 heard; this time, however, the gathering is not one for 
 revenge and death, but for battle and victory. From 
 the far-off distance the winds carry the message that 
 tells of freedom and glory. But what is this (the four 
 bars before the tempo I) ? Alas ! the awakening from 
 a dream. Once more we hear those sombre sounds, the 
 shriek and explosion, and so on. Of the two Polon- 
 aises, Op. 26, the second is the grander, and the de- 
 finiteness which distinguishes it from the vague first 
 shows itself also in the form." 
 
 Huneker, who says that this Polonaise is variously 
 known as the Siberian or the Revolt Polonaise, calls it 
 an awe-provoking work. " The episode in B major 
 (meno mosso) gives pause for breathing. It has a hint 
 of Meyerbeer. But again with smothered explosions 
 the Polonaise proper appears, and all ends in gloom 
 and the impotent clanking of chains." 
 
 To Karasowski it is " mysterious, gloomy, and shud- 
 dering. It seems to picture the suffering Poles 
 banished in chains to Siberia." 
 
 Kullak says that "the beginning of the second part 
 seems to silence for a moment the mental struggles. It 
 sounds like military (cavalry) music passing by, and is 
 to be kept strictly in time, but this is only a passing 
 
1 66 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 moment and does not hinder the previous discon- 
 nectedness and passionateness from .resuming sway. 
 Calm and peace are afforded by the secondary subject 
 only, which also sounds like military music." 
 
 This Polonaise, unlike the preceding one, has a short 
 but definite and very expressive coia. 
 
 OPUS 27. — Two Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I in C sharp minor, Larghetto; No. 2 in D flat. 
 Lento sostenuto. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Comtesse d'Appony. 
 Published May, 1836. 
 
 'T'HESE two Nocturnes are amongst the most inter- 
 esting of the whole group, being only equalled by 
 the two forming Opus 37 and the No. i of Opus 48. 
 Of the first in C sharp minor Pluneker says : " It is the 
 gloomiest and grandest- of Chopin's moody canvasses. 
 Its middle section is Beethovian in breadth." 
 
 Kleczynski thinks that it marks the culminating 
 point of Chopin's creative genius. "An entire world 
 separates us here from Field; the thought of a poetry 
 profoundly felt clothes itself in magic form." Willeby 
 considers it the most dramatic of all the Nocturnes, 
 and Huneker says it is a masterpiece and the great 
 essay in the form. "The wide meshed figure of the 
 left hand supports a morbid, persistent melody that 
 grates on the nerves." Niecks has nothing to say of it 
 except to remark on this accompaniment figure as its 
 most noteworthy feature. It certainly is wonderfully 
 in keeping with the anxious and distressed character of 
 the opening theme, and the way in which it changes to 
 support the agitation of the middle section is masterly. 
 At the close we have one of those marvellous codas of 
 Chopin which constantly make the endings of his com- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 167 
 
 position so interesting and beautiful, that they appear 
 to be separate inspirations, and one regrets that they 
 are not the basis of a new work to be developed and 
 amplified at leisure. KuUak speaks of it as ecclesiastic 
 in colouring, and beneficent and conciliatory in effect. 
 He finds in this Nocturne a psychological resemblance 
 to Meyerbeer's song, " The Monk." " The chief subject 
 is gloomy in colouring; it is like the melancholy lament 
 of one who is done with life. In the secondary sub- 
 ject, bar twenty-nine, fiu mosso, silent resignation 
 gives way to bitterness and resentment, which, after 
 climaxing in the first two strophes (beirs twenty-nine to 
 fifty-three and fifty-four to sixty-four, in the third 
 (bars sixty-five con anima) veers to extremes, to covet- 
 ous desires, to passionate longing for the pleasures 
 of the world. To greatest ecstasy succeeds, weak and 
 exhausted, the repetition of the chief subject" (bar 
 eighty-four, tempo prima). 
 
 This is the train of ideas that this Nocturne suggests 
 to Kullak, and it is interesting to compare it with 
 Kleczynski's somewhat melodramatic impression of its 
 meaning. It appears to him "to be the description of 
 a calm night in Venice, when, after a scene of murder, 
 the sea closes over a corpse and continues to serve as a 
 mirror to the moonlight." 
 
 The music is certainly very moving and dramatic, 
 and every one will have their own ideas as to its possi- 
 ble meaning. It is very interesting to see how it ap- 
 peals to different temperaments, resulting as it does in 
 very wide variations of reading. There is no doubt 
 that Finck is right when he says that "it embodies a 
 greater variety of emotion and more genuine dramatic 
 spirit in four pages than many operas in four hundred." 
 
 No. 2. — Nocturne in D flat (Lento sostenuto). 
 
 Just as the Nocturne in E flat (Op. g. No. 2) is the 
 favourite of the amateur, so this one in D flat is the 
 
i68 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 cheval de hataille of the professional. It exhibits in 
 an extreme form all the sweetness, the refinement, the 
 exquisite ornamentation and the luscious melody of 
 Avhich Chopin was capable. At the same time it de- 
 mands very perfect technique and consummate taste 
 for its adequate rendition. There are two chief sub- 
 jects in it which are each repeated in strophes three 
 times in transposed and enriched forms. There is a 
 lavish use of sixths in the right hand, and a profusion 
 of delicate fioriture. Kleczynski is of opinion that the 
 leading theme should be played fiano and repeated 
 the second time ■pianissimo with both pedals, and the 
 third time should be taken forte, in opposition to the 
 markings in the music of some of the older editions. 
 He objects, however, to the cadenza in the seventh bar 
 of the third repetition being taken con forza, as 
 directed, and thinks it should be played con deli- 
 catezza. It should really be a matter of choice, de- 
 pending on the reading of the piece as a whole. It 
 remains for every performer to be able to convince his 
 audience that his particular reading is the right one. 
 It is for him to make his version — (that blessed word 
 of musical criticism) — "convincing." 
 
 Kleczynski quotes Fontana, Chopin's friend and 
 published, in support of his theory that the third repeti- 
 tion of the theme loses all effect after the crescendo of 
 the second repetition, unless it is taken forte. He con- 
 siders it "an immensely rich composition, possessing 
 distinction of form independently of the nobility of its 
 main conception." Elsewhere he says that it " has been 
 compared to the highest creations of contemporary 
 poets. His concluding bars are inimitable, they are 
 sighs with truth stamped upon them, which rise in the 
 air to lose themselves in the entrance of the heavens. 
 The whole work shows the full development of the 
 composer's youthful dreams and enchantments." 
 
 Huneker says : " It contains but one subject and is a 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 169 
 
 song of the sweet summer of Iwo souls, for there is 
 obvious meaning in the duality of voices. It is a lovely 
 imploring melody, and harmonically most interesting." 
 
 In Klindworth's edition, attention is drawn in the 
 fourth bar of the second repetition of the leading 
 theme to one of the harmonically interesting points 
 that lay concealed in the unchanged homogeneous 
 figure of the accompaniment. If the D flat, D natural, 
 and E flat are lightly dwelt upon, a very original and 
 beautiful effect is disclosed. 
 
 Kullak's otherwise very interesting edition does not 
 draw attention to this or similar points. 
 
 Niecks has a word of caution about its enervating 
 style. "Nothing can equal the finish and delicacy of 
 execution, the flow of gentle feeling lightly rippled by 
 melancholy, and spreading out here and there in smooth 
 expansiveness. But all this sweetness enervates, there 
 is poison in it. We should not drink in these thirds, 
 sixths, etc., without taking an antidote of Bach or Beet- 
 hoven." The Professor is right ; beautiful and entranc- 
 ing as is the melody, it is with a feeling of relief, as of 
 coming out into the open air from a conservatory, that 
 we turn to the fresh, broad, and noble sweep of such a 
 theme as the leading subject of Beethoven's "Appas- 
 sionata Sonata," the towering strength of the first move- 
 ment of the " Eroica " Symphony, or the simple majesty 
 of the pianoforte trio. Opus 97. 
 
 OPUS 28.— Twenty-four Preludes. 
 
 No. I, C major (Agitato) ; No. 2, A minor (Lento) ; No. 
 3, G major (Vivace); No. 4, E minor (Largo); No. 5, D 
 major (Allegro Molto); No. 6, B minor (Lento Assai); 
 No. 7, A major (Andantino); No. 8, F sharp minor 
 (Molto Agitato); No. 9, E major (Largo); No. 10, C 
 sharp minor (Allegro Molto); No. 11, B major (Vivace); 
 
170 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 No. 12, G sharp minor (Presto); No. 13, F sharp 
 (Lento); No. 14, E flat minor (Allegro); No. 15, D flat 
 (Sostenuto); No. 16, B flat minor (Presto con fuoco); 
 No. 17, A flat (Allegretto); No. 18, F minor (Allegro 
 Molto); No. 19, E flat (Vivace); No. 20, C minor 
 (Largo); No. 21, B flat (Cantabile); No. 22, G minor 
 (Molto Agitato); No. 23, F major (Moderato); No. 24, 
 D minor (Allegro Appassionato), 
 
 Dedicated " A Son Ami Pleyel " and to Mr. J. C. Kess- 
 ler (in the German edition). 
 Published September, 1839. 
 
 Twenty-four Preludes. 
 
 A S Niecks says in discussing the title Preludes, no 
 one name could adequately describe the infinitely 
 varied contents of this opus. He writes : " This 
 heterogeneous collection of pieces reminds me of 
 nothing so much as of an artist's portfolio, filled with 
 drawings in all stages of advancement, finished and 
 unfinished, complete and incomplete compositions, 
 sketches and mere memoranda, all mixed indiscrimin- 
 ately together." 
 
 When examined carefully, however, it will be seen 
 that each Prelude is a musical thought absolutely 
 rightly expressed, never a line too long or a bar too 
 short. They are quatrains and lyrics perfectly fin- 
 ished, rounded and poli.shed, never fragmentary or 
 incomplete. There are twenty-four in the twenty-four 
 different keys from C major to D minor, a fact which 
 in itself seems rather to tell against Niecks's theory of 
 a fortuitous concourse of atoms. 
 
 Rubinstein calls them the pearls of Chopin's work; 
 and Huneker says : " The twenty-five Preludes alone 
 would make good Chopin's claim to immortality. Such 
 range, such vision, such humanity ! All shades of 
 feeling are divined, all depths and altitudes of passion 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. i;i 
 
 explored. If all Chopin, all music, were to be de- 
 stroyed I should plead for the Preludes." This is also 
 Finck's choice, and would probably be the choice of 
 the majority of pianists, for it would be difficult to 
 find any music of the same length which contains so 
 much that would harmonise with every possible mood 
 and in which grace, beauty, distinction and interest 
 were so happily blended. 
 
 Schumann, in reviewing them, said : " I must signal- 
 ise the Preludes as most remarkable. I will confess that 
 I expected something quite different, carried out in the 
 grand style, like his Etudes. It is almost the contrary 
 here; these are sketches, the beginnings of studies, or, 
 if you will, ruins, eagles' feathers, all wildly, varie- 
 gated ly intermingled. But in every piece we find, in 
 his own refined hand, written in pearls, 'This is by 
 Frederic Chopin ' ; we recognise him even in his pauses, 
 and by his impetuous respiration. He is the boldest, 
 the proudest, poet-soul of to-day. To be sure, the book 
 also contains some morbid, feverish, repellent traits; 
 but let every one look in it for something that will en- 
 chant him. Philistines, however, must keep away." 
 
 Finck says of them : " There are among Chopin's 
 Preludes a few which breathe the spirit of contentment 
 and peace, or of religious grandeur; but most of them 
 are outbursts of the saddest anguish and heartrending 
 pathos. If tears could be heard they would sound like 
 these Preludes." 
 
 But this seems to me only another attempt to force 
 upon the memory of Chopin this hard-to-kill tradition 
 of effeminate sentimentality. Carried away by a facile 
 phrase, Finck labels these Preludes wholesale. But 
 what is really the case? Fourteen out of the twenty- 
 four are expressions of happiness, content and gaiety. 
 Seven depict conflict, protest, impulse, even rage. Only 
 three are really sad or sorrowful, and even in these it 
 
i;2 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 is a manly self-contained grief, nothing hysterical or 
 morbid. 
 
 Rightly does Niecks speak of the "almost infinite 
 and infinitely varied beauties collected in this treasure 
 trove." 
 
 Much has been written about the probable date of 
 their composition, and many are the disputes as to 
 which of them, if any were composed during the winter 
 that Chopin and George Sand spent together at 
 Majorca. A careful study of Chopin's letters, in which 
 there are references to the Preludes, leads one to believe 
 that the majority of them were composed in 1837 and' 
 1838, before the journey to the island. It is just possi- 
 ble, however, that three or four may have been written 
 at Palma or Valdemosa; whilst it is certainly the case 
 that Chopin revised the whole Opus at the latter place 
 before forwarding it to his publisher, Camille Pleyel, 
 who had paid him 2,000 francs for the copyright. It is 
 on record that Chopin said: "I sold the Preludes to 
 Pleyel because he liked them," and that Pleyel ex- 
 claimed on one occasion, " These are my Preludes." 
 
 The term Prelude, which strictly signifies an intro- 
 duction or a piece played before a more important 
 composition, is, however, frequently used in music for a 
 work of intrinsic and independent value, and it is in 
 the latter sense that we must look at the title as used to 
 describe these varied tone poems. 
 
 Kullak says of them that : " Chopin's genius nowhere 
 reveals itself more charmingly than within narrowly 
 bounded musical forms. The Preludes also are in 
 their aphoristic brevity masterpieces of the first rank." 
 
 Liszt comments on the unassuming nature of the 
 title " Preludes," and adds ; " Yet the compositions 
 which are thus modestly named are none the less types 
 of perfection in a mode which he himself created, and 
 stamped, as he did all his other works, with the deep 
 impress of his poetic genius. Written when his career 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 173 
 
 was only just beginning, they are marked by a youthful 
 vigour not found in some of his later works even when 
 they are more elaborate and finished, and richer in 
 combinations." 
 
 The meeting with George Sand would seem to have 
 at first hindered the composer in his work, as the Pre- 
 ludes are the only publication of the year 1839. It is 
 noteworthy that the next six opus numbers were all 
 published in 1838. This in itself would seem to prove 
 that most of the Preludes were composed in 1837 and 
 1838. 
 
 No. I. — Prelude in C major (Agitato). 
 
 This beautiful little impromptu has perhaps more the 
 nature of a prelude than any of the others, and there- 
 fore is particularly in place as the first of the twenty- 
 four. 
 
 Kleczynski recommends that it should be played 
 twice, the first time with less, the second with greater 
 haste in the middle part, the speed becoming slower 
 towards the end. 
 
 Huneker says, after speaking of the Bach Preludes, 
 that although this one is not Bach-ian, yet it could have 
 been written by no one but a devout Bach student. 
 "The pulsating, passionate, agitated, feverish, hasty 
 qualities of the piece are modern; so is the changeful 
 modulation. It is a beautiful composition, rising to no 
 dramatic heights, but questioning and full of life." 
 
 No. 2. — Prelude in A minor (Lento). 
 
 Kleczynski dismisses tliis Prelude very briefly and 
 in a most arbitrary fashion. He thinks it "ought not 
 to be played, as it is bizarre " ; but this is a most 
 gratuitous and unfounded assertion. It is difficult also 
 to agree with Huneker, who finds it desperate, exas- 
 perating to the nerves, ugly, despairing, almost 
 
1/4 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 grotesque and discordant. He says : " A small figure 
 is repeated in descending keys until hopeless gloom 
 and depraved melancholy are reached in the closing 
 chords. Chopin now is morbid; here are all his most 
 antipathetic qualities. There is aversion to life — m 
 this music he is a true lycanthrope. A self -induced 
 hypnosis, a mental, an emotional atrophy are all 
 present." 
 
 This Prelude appears to have an extraordinary effect 
 upon Huneker, for in his "Mezzotints in Modern 
 Music," he says : " No. 2, with its almost brutal 
 quality and enigmatic beginning, is for a rainy day — a 
 day when the soul is racked by doubts and defeats. It 
 is shuddersome and sinister. About it hovers the grisly 
 something which we all fear in the dark but dare not 
 define." 
 
 It is a piece that will appeal differently to varying 
 temperaments, and it certainly is of extreme originality. 
 It has by some commentators been seized upon as an 
 evidence that Chopin must have written the Preludes 
 during his illness at Majorca, because it is so morbid 
 and febrile in tone, but the evidence of Tarnowski 
 proves clearly that it was written before that time. 
 
 Notwithstanding its eccentric reputation it will be 
 found by no' means the least interesting of the Preludes. 
 
 No. 3. — Prelude in G major (Vivace). 
 
 The contrast of the fresh and delicate grace of this 
 Prelude, compared with the gloom of the preceding 
 number, is most characteristic. No two pieces could 
 be more unlike, and yet one of the salient features of 
 these Preludes is that when they are played consecu- 
 tively as a whole there appears to be a distinct relation- 
 ship running through them. One feels, for instance', 
 that if in playing them through, one of the Nocturnes 
 or one of the Etudes was inserted that it would at once 
 appear strange and throw out the balance of the work. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 175 
 
 Huneker speaks of the rippling rain-like figure of 
 the accompaniment, "graceful and gay; the G major 
 Prelude is a fair reflex of Chopin's sensitive and natur- 
 ally buoyant nature. ... A ray of sunshine, but a sun 
 that slants in the West, is this Prelude." 
 
 Willeby thinks the flowing semiquaver figure of the 
 accompaniment is essentially French. Some commen- 
 tator, badly equipped with imagination, has given this 
 delicate little study the curiously ill-chosen name of 
 " Le Ruisseau." This kind of publisher's title, when 
 bestowed without the most sensitive care, is only mis- 
 leading. 
 
 This Prelude is a fleeting vision of beauty, barely 
 apprehended before it floats away. It passes like 
 thistle-down on a summer breeze. 
 
 No. 4. — Prelude in E minor (Largo). ' 
 
 This Prelude with No. 6 was played at Chopin's 
 funeral service in the Madeleine. Niecks calls it " a 
 little poem, the exquisitely sweet languid pensiveness 
 of which defies description. The composer seems to be 
 absorbed in the narrow sphere of his ego, from which 
 the wide, noisy world is for the time being shut out." 
 
 It is one of the three Preludes which can truly be 
 called sad, and it certainly justifies Shelley's line : 
 
 I" Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." 
 
 As Willeby says, the melody seems literally to wail, 
 and its sadness is exquisite. 
 
 Karasowski refers to it as a real gem which alone 
 would immortalise the name of Chopin as a poet. 
 ; Huneker thinks that it must have been this number 
 that impelled Rubinstein to assert that the Preludes 
 were the pearls of Chopin's work. "Its despair has 
 the antique flavour, and there is a breadth, nobility, 
 and proud submission quite free from the tortured, 
 
1/6 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 whimpering complaint of the second prelude. The 
 picture is small, but the subject looms large in 
 meanings." 
 
 No. 5.— Prelude in D major (Allegro Molto). 
 
 This short Prelude is seldom heard in public. It is 
 very difficult and curiously intricate in accent and 
 phrasing. It is like some beautiful fabric, shot with 
 gold thread in a curious arabesque pattern, which is 
 waved before our eyes and whisked away before we 
 have had time to apprehend its mazy texture. For 
 Huneker "it is Chopin at his happiest, spinning his 
 finest, his most iridescent web, and reveals musician- 
 ship of the highest order." 
 
 No. 6. — Prelude in B minor (Lento Assai). 
 
 With No. 15 this is perhaps the most played of the 
 Preludes. Witif amateturs this is probably on: account 
 of their being two of the easiest. 
 
 In George Sand's " Histoire de ma Vie " the authoress 
 narrates that they were detained and their lives placed 
 in considerable danger by a heavy storm. Arriving 
 late at the monastery at Valdeimosa they found the 
 composer seated at the piano playing this Prelude. The 
 rain had just ceased, but heavy drops were falling 
 steadily from the eaves, and the depressing and mono- 
 tonous sound is supposed to be reflected in the reiterated 
 dropping notes of this Prelude. George Sand says: 
 "When I called his attention to those drops of water 
 which were actually falling upon the roof he denied 
 having heard them. He was even vexed at what I 
 translated by the term imitative harmony. He pro- 
 tested with all his might, and he was right, against the 
 puerility of these imitations for the ear. His genius 
 was full of mysterious harmonies of nature." 
 
 Kleczynski points out that if this idea is taken as 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Work. i;; 
 
 the musical foundation of the piece it is only fully 
 developed in the Prelude No. 15, in B flat, compared 
 with which the present example is a mere sketch. Liszt, 
 again, who tells the same story in a different way, con- 
 nects the same idea with Prelude No. 8, in F sharp 
 minor, but certainly with less foundation. George Sand 
 said of this one that "it precipitates the soul into 
 frightful depression." Huneker thinks it doleful and 
 pessimistic, although classical in its repression of feel- 
 ing and its pure contour. For Willeby it expresses 
 prostration of soul. 
 
 Though certainly sad, it will hardly convey to most 
 people such an exaggerated feeling of gloom, and 
 there is no disputing its extreme beauty. 
 
 No. 7. — Prelude in A major (Andantino). 
 
 Set like a gem between the sorrow of the sixth and 
 the feverish agitated anxiety of the eighth Preludes, 
 this little miniature of a Mazurka never fails to exer- 
 cise an enthralling charm. As Huneker says : " It is 
 a mere silhouette of the national dance, yet in its 
 measures is compressed all Mazovia." 
 
 No. 8. — Prelude in F sharp minor (Molto Agitato). 
 
 " How wonderfully the 'contending rhythms of the 
 accompaniment and the fitful, jerky course of the 
 melody depict a state of anxiety and agitation." 
 (Niecks.) 
 
 All through, as far as the climax (the fortissimo after 
 the streito) this Prelude displa)^ a feverish, agitated 
 anxiety, which, however, dies down and is succeeded 
 by calmer feelings. 
 
 It is noteworthy how Chopin, though using through^- 
 out a recurrent figure of semiquavers, has avoided 
 monotony. Hadow considers it the most astonishing 
 instance in music of this form of decorative effect. 
 
 12 
 
178 A Handbook to Chopin's WoRiis, 
 
 No. 9. — Prelude in E major (Largo). 
 
 Mulittm in parvo. Though only four lines loiig this 
 is one of the biggest and broadest pieces of music ever 
 written. It is as majestic and as sonorous as Tenny- 
 son's Alcaics: 
 
 "O mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies, 
 O skilled to sing of Time or Eternity, 
 God-gifted organ-voice of England, 
 Milton, a name to resound for ages." 
 
 It has the grandeur of a cathedral isle. Barbedette 
 says that it is an evocation of sovereign majesty. 
 
 Willeby thinks it might almost be termed Schumann- 
 ish, but admits that it shows all over it the individu- 
 ality of its creator. Huneker finds in it a measure of 
 grave content, with hints of both Brahms and Beet- 
 hoven. 
 
 No. 10. — Prelude in C sharp minor (Allegro Molto). 
 
 The next, No. 10, must surely have been the one 
 which suggested to Schumann the simile of eagles', 
 feathers that he used in reviewing the Preludes. He 
 said that on each one was written in pearls, "This is 
 by Frederic Chopin"; "we recognise him even in his 
 pauses, and by his impetuous respiration." 
 
 This sentence seems to apply more to this short Pre- 
 lude than to any other. 
 
 No. II. — Prelude in B major (Vivace). 
 
 This Prelude is a miracle of concentrated grace and 
 beauty, but it is so short that it is gone almost before 
 one has time to enjoy it. Huneker calls it "another 
 gleam of the Chopin sunshine"; and Willeby says: 
 " No one who hears the first four bars could help ex- 
 claiming, 'That is Chopinu'" 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 179 
 
 No. i2.^Prelude in G sharp minor (Presto) 
 
 After the sunshine of the last Prelude storm-clouds 
 gather in this. Barbedette dwells on its passionate 
 cliaracter. In its position between the simny charm of 
 the last and the calm beauty of the next, this Prelude 
 passes like a summer storm on the Lake of Como. 
 
 No. 13. — Prelude in F sharp major (Lento). 
 
 The most exquisite peace reigns in this Prelude. The 
 opening section is devotional, almost prayerful. The 
 fiii lento expresses an almost ecstatic happiness, while 
 the modulations in the coda are so strangely original, 
 unexpected and beautiful, that they are of perennial 
 interest. Willeby exclaims : " Here is the most beauti- 
 ful of all," and brackets it with No. 15 as his choice. 
 Niecks thinks it beautifully melodious, and Kleczynski 
 recommends that it should be played in almost re- 
 ligious style. 
 
 No. 14. — Prelude in E flat minor (Allegro). 
 
 There is a superficial resemblance in this Prelude to 
 the finale of the B flat minor Sonata, inasmuch as it is 
 in unbroken triplets, but instead of " sweeping by cold 
 and unfriendly like the wind over a newly-made 
 grave," this Prelude is hot with anger, and should be 
 played with powerful emphasis. Huneker speaks of its 
 sinister key and its heavy sullen-arched triplets. " The 
 heat of conflict is over it all." 
 
 No. 15.- — Prelude in D flat major (Sostenuto). 
 
 This is by many considered the most beautiful of 
 the Preludes. The opening phrase is only to be 
 matched by such melodies as those of the F sharp and 
 D flat Nocturnes, while the middle section is impres- 
 sively dramatic. 
 
i8o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Niecks says that in hearing it there "rises before 
 one's mind the cloistered court of the monastery of 
 Valdemosa, and a procession of monks chanting lugu- 
 brious prayers, and carrying in the dark hours of the 
 night their departed brother to his last resting-place. 
 It reminds one of the words of George Sand that the 
 monastery was to Chopin full of terrors and phantoms. 
 This C sharp minor portion of No. 15 affects one like 
 an oppressive dream ; the re-entrance of the opening D 
 flat major, which dispels the dreadful nightmare, comes 
 upon one with the smiling freshness of dear, familiar 
 nature — only after these horrors of imagination can its 
 serene beauty be fully appreciated." 
 
 Kleczynski thinks that in. this Prelude Chopin elab- 
 orated the idea of the constant falling of rain drops 
 which appeared in the sixth Prelude, and throughout 
 the dominant pedal is almost continually used. It must 
 have been the middle section of this Prelude of which 
 George Sand was thinking when she said : " Some of 
 them create such vivid impressions that the shades of 
 the dead monks seem to rise and pass before the hearer 
 in solemn and gloomy funeral pomp." 
 
 No. 16. — Prelude in B flat minor (Presto con fuoco). 
 
 This Prelude was a great favourite with Rubinstein, 
 who used to play it with extraordinary fire and bravura. 
 
 It is a marvellous expression of determined impul- 
 siveness. The first six chords sound like the declara- 
 tion of some fixed intention, followed by a pause of 
 concentration on the aim in view. Then an impetuous 
 rush of resistless energy in the treble passages of un- 
 broken semiquavers, supported by a dogged persistent 
 rhythmic figure in the bass. At the siretio, the left 
 hand, as it were, stops for a moment to shout encour- 
 agement in spreading chords, once more resumes its 
 'active support, gives a final rousing cheer, and then 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. i8i 
 
 both hands rush upwards together in successful attain- 
 ment. 
 
 For Huneker this is the boldest of the set. It is 
 Chopin in riotous spirits. " The introduction is like a 
 madly jutting rock from which the eagle spirit of the 
 composer precipitates itself." 
 
 No. 17. — Prelude in A flat major (Allegretto). 
 
 This is another general favourite. With this Prelude 
 Chopin won over Moscheles, who was at first not quite 
 sympathetic to the composer. We read in his 
 " Memoirs " : "I called on him according to agreement 
 with Charlotte and Emily, who are also quite enthusi- 
 astic about him, and who were particularly struck with 
 the Prelude in A flat major, in the -| time, with the ever- 
 recurring pedal A flat. 
 
 " His ad libitum playing, which with the interpreters 
 of his music degenerates into disregard of time, is with 
 him only the most charming originality of execution; 
 the dilettantish harsh modulations which strike me dis- 
 agreeably when I am playing his compositions no 
 longer shock me, because he glides lightly over them in 
 a fairy-like way with his delicate fingers; his piano is 
 so softly breathed forth that he does not need any 
 strong forte in order to produce the wished-for 
 contrasts." 
 
 Kleczynski calls this Prelude a beautiful romance, 
 and Niecks thinks it akin to Mendelssohn's " Songs 
 Without Words," but when some one spoke slightingly 
 to Mendelssohn about it, the generous composer replied 
 with unusual warmth, " I love it ! I cannot tell you 
 how much, or why, except perhaps that it is something 
 which I could never at all have written." 
 
 As Huneker says, the eleven booming A flats on the 
 last page are historical, but this effect is often grossly 
 exaggerated in performance. 
 
1 82 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 No. 1 8.— Prelude in F minor (Allegro Molto). 
 
 There is a curiously close resemblance in this Prelude 
 to Schumann's "Aufschwung" (Soaring). Huneker 
 finds it " dramatic almost to an operatic degree, sonor- 
 ous, rather grandiloquent, it is a study in declamation. 
 This page of Chopin's, the torso of a larger idea, is 
 nobly rhetorical." 
 
 No. 19. — Prelude in E flat major (Vivace). 
 
 " What is so rare as a day in June ? 
 Then if ever come perfect days." 
 
 These lines of Lowell's would be a fitting poetical 
 motto for this exquisite Prelude. 
 
 It is the expression of contented happiness; the 
 melody goes singing along in unbroken triplets, with 
 but a single sudden pause, as if to allow the soul to 
 recognise that most exquisite of all joys, the conscious 
 realisation that one is happy, a golden moment of life; 
 and then again back to the complete abandonment, to 
 the enjoyment of the hour with' just the delicate change 
 of accent towards the end, by which Chopin seems to 
 indicate that in this ideal happiness there is no shade 
 of monotony or satiety. Not all tears are sad, for, as 
 Edgar Allan Poe said : " Beauty of whatever kind in 
 its supreme development inevitably excites a sensitive 
 soul to tears " ; and this Prelude is supremely beautiful 
 and happy enough to excite the tribute of emotion. 
 
 No. 20. — Prelude in C mmor (Largo). * 
 
 Twelve bars of some of the most beautiful chords 
 ever written make up the sum of this Prelude. Bar- 
 bedette says that it is a magnificent Chorale which 
 would make a great effect on the organ. Commencing 
 fortissimo it dies away to a piano, and the second half 
 is repeated in a whisper. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 183 
 
 Willeby finds a comparison with Schumann's 
 " Nachtstuck," Opus 23, No. i, interesting. There is a 
 curious resemblance in form, but it is only a coinci- 
 dence, and it would be unfair to Schumann to carry 
 the comparison further, as the "Nachtstuck" is dis- 
 tinctly inferior in scope and power to this Prelude. 
 
 No. 21. — Prelude in B flat major (Cantabile). 
 
 Once again, as in No. 15, we have in this Prelude a 
 melody difficult to match even from the Elysian fields 
 of the Nocturnes. Specially interesting, too, is the 
 novel diverging quaver figure of the accompaniment, 
 which half-way through is taken up by both hands. 
 Huneker thinks it superior in content and execution to 
 most of the Nocturnes, while in feeling it belongs to 
 that form. 
 
 Niecks says it is one of the finest of the collection. 
 
 No. 22. — Prelude in G minor (Molto Agitato). 
 
 This Prelude represents a short but triumphant 
 struggle. It is in wonderful contrast to the calm 
 beauty of the preceding one, and the delicate grace and 
 fancy of the next. In fact, in studying these Preludes 
 consecutively, one cannot but be struck by the genius 
 with which Chopin has used contrast to heighten the 
 effect of his work. 
 
 The octave passages in the bass are most effective. 
 
 No. 23. — Prelude in F major (Moderato). 
 
 For delicate graciousness and airy charm this Pre- 
 lude must carry off the prize. As in No. 19, exquisite 
 happiness is here again the note, not so buoyant per- 
 haps, but quite as contented, with just a sudden touch 
 of vagueness and elusiveness in an E flat in the last 
 bar, that seems to float the melody off into infinity, 
 
184 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 one of those convincing touches of genius that hall- 
 marks everything that Chopin wrote. 
 
 Huneker says : " It deliciously colours the close, 
 leaving a sense of suspense, of anticipation, which is 
 not totally realised, for the succeeding number is in a 
 widely divorced key; but it must have pressed hard 
 the Philistines. Aerial, imponderable, and like a sun- 
 shot spider-web oscillating in the breeze of summer, 
 its hues change at every puff. It is in extended har- 
 monics and must be delivered with spirituality. The 
 horny hand of the toilsome pianist would shatter the 
 delicate swinging fantasy of the poet." 
 
 No. 24. — Prelude in D minor (Allegro Appassionato)r 
 
 With this last Prelude we go back to a mood akin 
 to that of the C minor Etude (Op. 10, No. 12), and the 
 fall of Warsaw, to which it is a companion picture. 
 It is the protest and struggle of a nation against op- 
 pression; the sense of conflict is in the wide stretching 
 figure in the bass, while the passionate melody continu- 
 ally urges to renewed strife. Just before the final out- 
 burst, in a phrase of unmatched and eloquent beauty, 
 we feel the foreboding of ultimate defeat and the 
 pathos of fruitless struggle, whilst all through, and in 
 the three concluding sullen single notes, we seem to 
 hear, as did Longfellow in the "Arsenal at Spring- 
 field," "the loud diapason of the cannonade." 
 
 THE IMPROMPTUS. 
 
 ^HOPIN wrote four Impromptus, and in this small 
 group of pieces his genius is displayed as con- 
 vincingly as in any of his other compositions. The 
 term Impromptu has been used so often by composers 
 to describe works which are nothing if they are not 
 laboured and obviously carefully thought-out com- 
 positions, that it is refreshing to find in Chopin's Im- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 185 
 
 promptus that their leading features are spontaneity 
 and untrammelled development; they are day pieces 
 as opposed to Nocturnes ; they are not narrative in form 
 as the Ballades ; they have no kinship with the national 
 dance forms; they have not the technical purpose of 
 the Etudes, nor the personal revelation of the Scherzi ; 
 they are and could be nothing but Impromptus. 
 
 Niecks finds their contents of a more pleasing nature 
 than the Scherzi, and speaks of their charming, lovable 
 waywardness. 
 
 Huneker points out that "with all the freedom of 
 an improvisation the Chopin Impromptu has a well- 
 defined form. There is a structural impulse although 
 the patterns are free and original." Later on he says : 
 "Not one of these Impromptus is as naive as Schu- 
 bert's; they are more sophisticated and do not smell 
 of nature and her simplicities." 
 
 The fourth of the group, which was published post- 
 humously by Fontana, has been called by him a Fan- 
 taisie-Impromptu, though it is difficult to guess the 
 reasons which led him to affix the term Fantaisie to a 
 piece already sufficiently distinguished by the term 
 Impromptu, and so obviously belonging to the same 
 class of piece as the others of that name. It was writ- 
 ten in 1834, which makes it the first of the group in 
 point of time, the next. Opus 29, not being written till 
 late in 1837. 
 
 OPUS 29. — Impromptu. A flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse de Loban. 
 Published January, 1838. 
 
 l/'ULLAK excuses himself from giving an analysis 
 of the structure of the Impromptus in his anno- 
 tated edition of Chopin's works, "because the small 
 dimensions of these charming and emotional pieces 
 facilitates their survey." 
 
1 86 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 But although these Impromptus have not the length 
 and importance of the Ballades or Scherzi, Ben Jon- 
 son's lines occur to us as we survey the exquisite balance 
 and perfect grace of this little masterpiece : 
 
 "In small proportions we just beauties see ; 
 And in short measure life may perfect be." 
 
 The perusal of this Impromptu moved Schumann to 
 write : " Chopin will soon be unable to write anything 
 more without making people cry out, at the seventh or 
 eighth bars already, 'That is indeed by him.' People 
 have called this mannerism, declaring that he makes 
 no progress. They should be less ungrateful. Is not 
 this the same original force that dazzled you so sur- 
 prisingly in his first works, that in the first moment 
 perplexed and then enraptured you? And now that 
 he has given you a succession of rare creations, and 
 that you understand him more easily, do you ask some- 
 thing different from him ? That would be like cutting 
 down a tree because it produces the same fruit every 
 year. But his productions are not alike; the trunk is 
 indeed the same, but its fruits vary wonderfully in 
 growth and flavour. The above Impromptu so little 
 resembles anything in the whole circle of his works 
 that I can scarcely compare it with any other Chopin 
 composition; it is so refined in form; its cantilena is 
 from beginning to end so enclosed in charming figura- 
 tion; it is nothing more nor less than so unique an 
 Impromptu that it cannot be placed beside any of his 
 other compositions." 
 
 The opening phrases are of amazing spontaneity and 
 freshness. Du Maurier made Trilby sing this piece 
 under the hypnotic influence of Svengali, and certainly 
 for a vocalist to sing such phrases as these perfectly 
 requires supra-normal influence. 
 
 Niecks says : " This Impromptu has quite the air of 
 a spontaneous unconstrained outpouring. The first sec- 
 tion with its triplets bubbles forth and sparkles like 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 187 
 
 a fountain on which the sunbeams that steal through 
 the interstices of the overhanging foliage are playing. 
 The F minor section is sung out clearly and heartily, 
 with graces as beautiful as Nature's. The song over, 
 our attention is again attracted by the harmonious mur- 
 muring and the changing light of the water." 
 
 Willeby, who considers this Impromptu one of the 
 most spontaneous and beautiful of Chopin's works, 
 draws attention to the peculiar whirring effect obtained 
 by the use of the D natural against the dominant E 
 flat in the left hand. Wagner has obtained the same 
 effect in his spinning-wheel chorus in the " Flying 
 Dutchman" by the same means. 
 
 Huneker notes the relief to the ear of the strongly 
 contrasted rhythms of the first and second parts. 
 "The simple duple measure, so naturally ornamented, 
 is nobly, broadly melodious." 
 
 Rubato should be very freely employed in the ren- 
 dering of this section. Kleczynski says : " Here every- 
 thing totters from foundation to summit, and every- 
 thing is, nevertheless, so beautiful and so clear." 
 
 OPUS 30.— Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in C minor; No. 2 in B minor; No. 3 in D flat 
 major; No. 4 in C sharp minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Princesse de Wurtemberg, nie 
 
 Princesse Czartoryska. 
 Published January, 1835. 
 
 No. I in C minor. 
 
 CCHUMANN reviewed this set of the Mazurkas. 
 
 He said : " Chopin has elevated the Mazurka to 
 
 a small art form ; he has written many, yet few among 
 
 them resemble each other. Almost every one contains 
 
1 88 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 some poetic trait, something new in form and expres- 
 sion." 
 
 Of the first, Huneker says it is "another of those 
 wonderful heartfelt melodies of the master." 
 
 The passage marked con anhna is especially beauti- 
 ful. This Mazurka is short but full of intense feeling. 
 
 No. 2 in B minor. 
 
 The special feature of this Mazurka is its curious 
 insistence, especially in the trio, where Kleczynski, 
 whom we suppose wrote with authority, mentions that 
 the constantly recurring phrase "perfectly realised the 
 character of Ujejeski in his little poem, ' The Cuckoo.' " 
 
 Huneker says : " It is sprightly and with the lilt, 
 notwithstanding its subtle progressions, of Mazovia." 
 
 No. 3 in D flat major. 
 
 This Mazurka introduces us to a brighter, fuller tone 
 than any that have gone before. Chopin is here in his 
 aristocratic, almost ceremonious mood. For once the 
 nation or the nation's joys and sorrows are abandoned. 
 There is a wholly French ring about this brilliant and 
 elaborate dance; although the alternate major and 
 minor betrays its Polish origin. At the very end, just 
 as one has decided that Chopin means to end in the 
 minor, he startles us with an abrupt return to the major. 
 Huneker terms this witty and epigrammatic, and says : 
 "One can see Chopin making a mocking moue as he 
 wrote it. Tchaikovsky borrowed the effect for the con- 
 clusion of the Chinoise in a miniature orchestral 
 suite." 
 
 No. 4 in C sharp minor. 
 
 Again, as in the two preceding books, the last of the 
 set is the most important. Himeker says : " The sharp 
 rhythms and solid build of this ampler work give it a 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 189 
 
 massive chajacter. It is one of the big Mazurkas, and 
 the ending, raw as it is — consecutive bare-faced fifths 
 and sevenths — compasses its intended meaning." 
 
 OPUS 31. — Second Scherzo. B flat minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse Adele de Furstenstein. 
 Published December, 1837. 
 
 T^HIS is the best known and most popular of the 
 four Scherzi. A survey of the programmes of 
 the Saturday to Monday Popular Concerts from 1851 
 to iSgi shows that this Scherzo enjoyed nine perform- 
 ances against seven of the B minor, and none of Opus 
 39 and Opus 54. 
 
 Schumann in reviewing it said : " The impassioned 
 character of the Scherzo reminds us more of its pre- 
 decessors ; it is a highly attractive piece, so overflowing 
 with tenderness, boldness, love and contempt, that it 
 may be compared, not inappropriately, to a Byron 
 poem. Such a one does not please every one to be 
 sure." 
 
 It opens with a very striking phrase, -presto and sotto 
 voce, which Niecks quotes as an instance of scorn in 
 music. Von Lenz, however, tells us that Chopin him-i 
 sfelf taught that it was a question, and the second 
 phrase is as distinctly an answer. " For Chopin it was 
 never question enough, never piano enough, never 
 vaulted (tombe) enough, never important enough. It 
 must be a charnel-house,'' he said on one occasion. 
 
 These personal reminiscences of the composer's ideas 
 are extremely valuable. If this phrase is studied care- 
 fully in the light of this teaching the right spirit of 
 the opening movement can hardly be missed. It is a 
 weighty question, a question of the riddle of existence 
 asked of fate with bated breath by some perplexed 
 soul sta,nding in a vaulted antechamber to the grave. 
 
iQo A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The answer is indeed scornful, and though the suc- 
 ceeding mood is lighter, even its most beautiful phrases 
 are, as Niecks points out, clouded with sadness. 
 
 The melody, marked con anima, is so beautiful that 
 it was probably the cause of Ehlert's exclamation, that 
 "this Scherzo was composed in a blessed hour!" 
 Huneker speaks of its winning distinction, and says : 
 " It has a noble tone, is of a noble type." 
 
 The trio, or middle section, in A, marked sosienuto, 
 reminds Niecks of Leonardo da Vinci's "La Gioconda." 
 "It is a pondering and wondering, full of longing." 
 
 This and the continuing episode in C sharp minor 
 must be taken slower than the first part, and when the 
 arpeggio passage in E major, marked leggiero, enters 
 the former pace may be resumed. As in the B minor 
 Scherzo, it is permissible to shorten this one by omit- 
 ting the repetition of the secondary subject. 
 
 The coda is of superb strength and energy. It has 
 in it a ring of triumph. The questioning phrase recurs 
 in an altered form, followed by the answer; but this 
 time we feel that the two are in accord, the scorn has 
 vanished, the question is answered, and one of Chopin's 
 greatest and most original works comes to a brilliant 
 and satisfying end. 
 
 "How supremely welded is the style with the sub- 
 ject ! What masterly writing, and it lies in the very 
 heart of the piano ! A hundred generations may not 
 improve on these pages." (Huneker.) 
 
 "A very important composition, richer and more 
 varied in emotional incidents than the other works of 
 Chopin which bear the same name." (Niecks.) 
 
 "More highly finished than the Scherzo in B minor 
 and equally impassioned, Chopin never loses the feel- 
 ing of equilibrium; always refined, he feels that pas- 
 sion should never descend to the prose of realism. He 
 suffers, he has his fits of madness, but he never forgets 
 to preserve his dignity ; he knows that it is not for him 
 
A Handbook to- Chopin's Works. 191 
 
 to exhibit to strangers the extreme depths of his heart." 
 (Kleczynski.) 
 
 OPUS 32. — Two Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I in B major (Andante Sostenuto) ; No. 2 in A flat 
 major (Lento). 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Baronne de Bilhng. 
 Published 1837. 
 
 TN these two Nocturnes there is a kind of reaction 
 from the drajnatic height and melodic beauty of 
 the two forming Opus 27. They are seldom played. 
 Neither in Willeby's list of Chopin's works performed 
 at the Pops," nor in the programmes of the Halle 
 concerts at Manchester do they appear, and this is a 
 fairly representative test of their popularity. It was, 
 however, with Chopin a case of reculer four mieux 
 sauter, for in Opus 37 he touches the high-water mark 
 of his efforts in this line. 
 
 There are three Nocturnes in this key of B major, 
 but of the three by far the most celebrated is Opus 62, 
 No. I, fantastically known as the "Tuberose" Noc- 
 turne. To identify this one, therefore, the Opus num- 
 ber should be quoted on programmes. The prevailing 
 notes of this Nocturne are sweetness, dreaminess, and 
 simplicity. Kleczynski says it should be played as 
 simply as an air by Mozart, and with very little pedal. 
 A feature throughout is the way the melody is broken 
 off and interrupted by a sudden pause several times, 
 after which a beautiful cadence leads us to the close of 
 the phrase. The point, however, which lends the 
 greatest interest to this Nocturne is the abrupt intro- 
 duction of a coda, dramatic in form and of powerful 
 energy. As Huneker says, it is the best part of the 
 piece. "It is in the minor, and is like the drum-beat 
 
192 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 of a tragedy. The entire ending, a stormy recitative, 
 is in stern contrast to the dreamy beginning." 
 
 Kullak says : " The Nocturne expresses feelings, 
 such as awaken in quiet hours of solitude far from the 
 noisy world, when one is absorbed in thought and 
 reverie and dear familiar images arise in memory. The 
 tender lyric mood continues to the coda. The latter 
 is strangely and overpoweringly dramatic in effect. 
 It is as if something coming from without (perhaps 
 repeated strokes of the clock, or a rapping at the door) 
 suddenly made em end of all reveries. In corres- 
 pondence with the prevailing mood of the Nocturne, 
 the delivery must be tenderly dreamy and tranquil 
 throughout. The more passionate outpourings must 
 be rendered with moderation so as to avoid glaring 
 contrasts. The coda is to be executed dramatically 
 (recitativo). 
 
 Niecks thinks that both these Nocturnes are pretty 
 specimens of Chopin's style of writing in the tender, 
 calm and dreamy moods. He prefers the quiet pel- 
 lucid first one. "It is very simple, ornaments being 
 very sparingly introduced. The quietness and sim- 
 plicity are, however, at last disturbed by an interrupted 
 cadence, sombre sounds as of a kettle drum and a pas- 
 sionate recitative with intervening abrupt chords." 
 
 No. 2. — Nocturne in A flat. 
 
 Here again we have simplicity as the dominant note 
 (see Opus 32, No. i), but when the second subject ap- 
 pears, the mood changes and works up to a stormy and 
 passionate expression of emotion. This passes and the 
 first theme recurs, but it now swells and surges as if 
 still under the influence of the stormy mood. It is 
 some time before it recovers its calm tenderness and 
 dies away with a jnanissimo repetition of the two open- 
 ing bars, the spreading chords of which thus form both 
 an introduction and a coda. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 193 
 
 Kleczynski recommends that a more drawing-room 
 style should be employed in this Nocturne in contrast 
 to the Mozartean simplicity recommended for the pre- 
 ceding one. The ornaments in the fourteenth and 
 twenty-second bars should be played rapidly and very 
 softly. He urges caution against the excessive use of 
 the tempo rubato in the middle section. 
 
 There is in this Nocturne a distinct reversion to the 
 Field type, the opening reminding us of that master's 
 Nocturne in B flat, which is the reason possibly why 
 Huneker, notwithstanding the dramatic nature of the 
 second section, finds the work in its entirety a little 
 tiresome. 
 
 Niecks dismisses it briefly as having less originality 
 and pith than its companion. Nevertheless, it forms 
 a very clear and definite picture of a mental mood, and 
 there will be times when it will appeal irresistibly to 
 nearly every one. 
 
 OPUS 33. — Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in G sharp minor; No. 2 in D major; No. 3 in C 
 major; No. 4 in B minor. 
 
 T N reviewing these Mazurkas Schumann wrote : " His 
 forms seem to grow ever brighter and lighter — or 
 are we becoming accustomed to his style? These 
 Mazurkas will charm every one instantly, and seem to 
 us more popular in character than his earlier ones." 
 
 As a whole they are perhaps simpler in emotional 
 content, and brighter than any other set. 
 
 No. I in G sharp minor. 
 
 This is a simple and plaintive melody. Huneker 
 calls it moody but tender-hearted, epithets which 
 describe it far more accurately than others he employs, 
 " curt and rather depressing." 
 
 13 
 
194 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 It is brief, but the phrases are well rounded, and it 
 is not really melancholy. 
 
 No. 2 in D major. 
 
 A vocal setting of this bright, brilliant, and taking 
 Mazurka has ensured it even a wider popularity than 
 it would in any case have attained. The song, ar- 
 ranged by Viardot-Garcia, is a favourite of light 
 sopranos of the French school. There is a curious in- 
 termezzo where the same phrase is repeated sixteen 
 times, giving, as Kleczynski remarks, a character of 
 determined enjoyment, dancing, notwithstanding mis- 
 ery and trouble, or of childish naivete with constant 
 returning to and moving round one idea. 
 
 Huneker describes this Mazurka as " bustling, grace- 
 ful, and unrestrained vitality — bright and not particu- 
 larly profound." 
 
 It fairly bubbles with high spirits, and has such a 
 lilting, babbling character that it is not to be wondered 
 at that it attracted attempts to set it vocally. It is 
 almost the only instance of a Chopin transcription 
 being more than moderately successful. 
 
 No. 3 in C major. 
 
 Short but very beautiful, this Mazurka is best known 
 as having been, according to. Von Lenz, the cause of a 
 sharp quarrel between Chopin and Meyerbeer. The 
 latter, entering Chopin's room while the composer was 
 playing this Mazurka, remarked that it was in | time; 
 "J," replied Chopin flushing angrily, and Meyerbeer 
 insisting, the two actually quarrelled about this trifling 
 matter. Meyerbeer must, however, have been rather 
 offensive in his manner, as a similar remark is chron- 
 icled by Charles Hall6 as having been made by him- 
 self. "Chopin denied it stoutly, until I made him 
 play, and counted audibly four in the bar, which fitted 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 195 
 
 perfectly. Then he laughed and explained that it was 
 the national character of the dance which created the 
 oddity." Halle explains that the illusion arose from 
 his dwelling so much longer on the first note of the bar. 
 
 No. 4 in B minor. 
 
 There is a distinct vein of htunour in this Mazurka, 
 for which two " programmes " have been put forward. 
 It inspired a Polish poet, Zelenski, to write a comic 
 poem, which, however, like the anecdote of the little 
 Jew, is pointless and coarse and totally unfitted for 
 association with the delicate charm and quaint turns of 
 the music. Kleczynski associated it with a poem called 
 "The Dragoon," by another poet, U jejeski, which again 
 seems even less fitted to the music, although less un- 
 worthy in subject. 
 
 It is perhaps not unnatural that an attempt should 
 have been made to foist a story on to this Mazurka, 
 for it has a narrative tone. It seems to express some 
 comedy of peasant manners, a half-humorous, half- 
 cyiiical outlook on life; but such an interpretation is 
 yet to seek. 
 
 OPUS 34. — Trois Valses Brillantes. 
 
 No. I, A flat (Vivace); No. 2, A minor (Lento); No. 3, 
 F major (Vivace. The Cat Valse). 
 Published 1838. 
 
 No. I.— A flat. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, de Thun-Hohenstein. 
 
 T_TERE, as Niecks says, "We find ourselves face to 
 face with true dance poems. How brisk the in- 
 troductory bars of the first of these three waltzes ! And 
 what a striking manifestation of the spirit of that 
 dance all that follows ! We feel the whirling motions; 
 
196 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 and when at the seventeenth bar of the second part, the 
 quaver figure enters, we think we see the flowing 
 dresses sweeping round. Again, what vigour in the 
 third part, and how coaxingly tender the fourth. And 
 lastly, the brilliant conclusion, the quavers intertwined 
 with triplets." 
 
 Of these three Waltzes also Schumann writes enthus- 
 iastically. He says they "will delight above all things, 
 so different in type as they are, from the ordinary ones, 
 and of such a kind as only Chopin dared to venture on 
 or even invent, while gazing inspired among the 
 dancers whom he has just called up by his Preludes, 
 and while thinking of far different things than those 
 that are to be danced there. Such a wave of life flows 
 through them, that they seem to have been improvised 
 in the dancing-room. 
 
 Huneker considers that this Waltz may be danced as 
 far as its coda, which he calls " dithyrambic," and he 
 draws attention to a passage in the coda (bars 
 eighteen-twenty-four) which resembles one in the Pre- 
 amble of Schumann's " Carnival." He calls it a debt 
 that Schumann owes Chopin, but considering that the 
 "Carnival" was written in 1834, and the Waltz in 
 1838, the debt is presumably the other way. 
 
 At the commencement of the Waltz, after the intro- 
 duction, some editions have dolce and some forte as 
 the expression mark. Klindworth and Kullak, how- 
 ever, agree that the latter is preferable as harmonising 
 in mood with the brilliantly climaxing passages of the 
 introduction. This Waltz, whilst equally brilliant, 
 shows more inspiration and poetic quality than the, 
 first, Opus 18, in E flat. 
 
 No. 2. — ^Valse in A minor (Lento). 
 Dedicated to Mme. d'lvri. 
 
 Stephen Heller told Niecks an interesting anecdote 
 about this Waltz. Chopin was at his publisher's 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 197 
 
 (Schlesinger) when Heller came in and ordered all the 
 Waltzes. The composer asked him which he liked 
 best. Heller mentioned this one, and Chopin said, " I 
 am glad you like that one, it is aJso my favourite," 
 and he straightway invited Heller to lunch with him 
 at the Cafe Riche. 
 
 It is the least waltz-like of all the Waltzes, which 
 perhaps accounts for Chopin's preference. The open- 
 ing is a contemplative, melanclioly, slow waltz; there is 
 nothing danceable about it. At the thirty-seventh bar 
 the tempo should be quickened, the rhythm here be- 
 coming more that of a Mazurka than a Waltz, but at 
 the change of. key to A major {sostenuto, bar fifty- 
 three) the melody which Huneker describes as of "ex- 
 ceeding loveliness," should be played as slowly as the 
 opening section. At bar sixty-nine, the echo of this 
 melody in the minor has a peculiarly haunting effect. 
 The different sections recur with continually increasing 
 charm, and as Huneker says, " It is elegiac in tone even 
 unto the Mendelssohn point." The coda commences 
 with a fascinating quaver passage in the left hand, 
 which should be played in rather quicker time and with 
 exquisite attention to the gradations of tone. 
 
 There is no occasion to force the sentiment here, the 
 phrases sing themselves naturally, and the Waltz closes 
 with the opening passage in dreamy melancholy. As 
 Niecks says : " The composer evidently found pleasure 
 in giving way to this delicious languor, in indulging in 
 these melancholy thoughts full of sweetest, tenderest 
 loving and longing." 
 
 No. 3. — ^Valse in F major (Vivace). 
 Dedicated to Mile. A. d'Eichthal. 
 
 "Improvised in the ball-room." This saying of 
 Schumann's might perhaps more appropriately be 
 written over this Waltz than any of the others. At 
 the same time, it is an improvised " dance poem " and 
 
1 98 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 not a waltz to dance to. There is so much energy 
 about the introduction, such a wild whirling and turn- 
 ing when the melody enters at bar seventeen, that Bar- 
 bedette terms it savage and fantastic, a veritable in- 
 spiration "a la Weber." A greater contrast to the 
 tender melancholy of the preceding Waltz could hardly 
 be imagined. The appoggiatura passage in the fourth 
 section is probably responsible for the somewhat ab- 
 surd nickname occasionally bestowed on this piece, 
 "the Cat Waltz." The legend is that Chopin's cat 
 leapt upon the keyboard as he was composing, and 
 running up and down gave him the idea of this par- 
 ticular phrase; possibly the similarity of the quaver 
 passage at the commencement to that at the beginning 
 of the well-known "Dog Waltz," coupled with the 
 amateur's preference for some title by which to iden- 
 tify a composition more easily than by key or opus 
 number, is equally responsible for its name. 
 
 Keeping up its character of an improvisation, this 
 Waltz is very brief ; it is over in a flash of energy and 
 high spirits. Huneker calls it " a whirling wild dance 
 of atoms. It has the perpetuum mobile quality, and 
 older masters would have prolonged its giddy ara- 
 besques into pages of senseless spinning. It is quite 
 long enough as it is. The second theme is better, but 
 the appoggiatmas are flippant. It buzzes to the finish." 
 
 OPUS 35. — Sonata in B flat minor. 
 Composed 1838; published 1840. 
 
 A BOUT this B flat minor Sonata, Opus 35, which 
 contains the celebrated Funeral March as a slow 
 movement, there are as many opinions as men. Schu- 
 mann is often quoted, or rather misrepresented by par- 
 tial, quotation, in support of the theory that Chopin 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 199 
 
 was not great enough to master the sonata form. This 
 theory causes Finck, original and daring as ever, to 
 flash out : " Chopin not great enough ! The fact is, 
 that the sonata form could not master him." What 
 Schumann really said was, "that the idea of calling 
 this work a sonata was a caprice, if not a jest, for 
 Chopin has simply bound together four of his wildest 
 children, to smuggle them under this name into a place 
 to which they could not else have penetrated." 
 
 But surely Schumann never meant to say that these 
 four wildest children were not related and were only 
 bound together fortuitously ; it is the calling the work a 
 sonata that he describes as a jest, not the juxtaposition 
 of the four movements. It is true that later on he says 
 an adagio in D flat would have been more effective than 
 the Funeral March, which has some repellent points, 
 and that the finale sounds more like a joke than a 
 piece of music. To one of Schumann's morbid tem- 
 perament the March may have been unendurably poig- 
 nant, so that we are bound to consider the personal 
 equation in considering his epithet repellant, whilst his 
 dictum as to the finale must be read with the context. 
 He goes on to say : " Yet we must confess that even 
 from this joyless, unmelodious movement, an original, 
 a terrible mind breathes forth, the preponderance of 
 which annihilates resistance, so that we listen, fascin- 
 ated and uncomplaining, to the end — for this is not 
 music. The sonata commences enigmatically and 
 closes with an ironical smile — a sphinx." 
 
 This last quotation is a curious commentary on what 
 he said at first, namely, that the finale was a joke; and 
 when Schumann says it is not music, it fills one with a 
 haunting fear that never can a critic, even when himself 
 a man of genius, keep abreast of the Zeitgeist, the first 
 breath of which is always felt in the work of that most 
 sensitive of electric recorders, the brain of a musician. 
 For which of us, with Wagner or Richard Strauss in our 
 
200 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 minds, will venture to deny that this finale is music, 
 and music of the highest poetical value. But it must be 
 heard in its right place at the end of this so-called 
 Sonata, which is not a sonata in the classical sense, but 
 is an orgajiic and indivisible whole, a tone poem, a 
 reading of life on earth, even such a life as that of 
 Chopin himself. An inner life of strenuous fighting 
 against drawbacks, over-sensitiveness, ill-health, and 
 physical weakness, starting from the first, as it were, 
 with a sigh, almost a groan, of resignation, then conflict 
 and struggle, but not without moments of rest and per- 
 fect happiness, this extending through the two first 
 movements, which all admit are organically connected 
 with each other. Then comes the stumbling-block, the 
 sudden abrupt clang and toll of the funeral march, just 
 as we might have been looking for the fruition of the 
 earlier stress and striving. After all, what is it but the 
 too oft repeated tale of untimely death. There had 
 been no hint of the catastrophe in the idyllic close of 
 the second movement. As ever, death came suddenly, 
 blighting the fairest promise, and though in the trio 
 sweet memories of the past blend with hopes of immor- 
 tality or the everlasting peace of Nirvana, for the sur- 
 vivors there is only, as in Chopin's own version of the 
 meaning of the finale, the subdued talk of surface 
 trifles, which masks the aching heart below ; or as Kul- 
 lak more poetically, but metaphorically suggests : " The 
 autumn wind whirling away the withered leaves over the 
 fresh grave." " It must be played," he says, " gloomily, 
 and with self-absorbed expression. It must rush by, 
 cold and unfriendly. Then, to be sure, it will not en- 
 rapture the hearer, but no one will fail to perceive the 
 logic of its connection with the Funeral March." It is 
 
 " The ground whirl of the perishable leaves of hope, 
 The wind of death's imperishable wing," 
 
 All Chopin's commentators and biographers have 
 written at such length about this Sonata that exigencies 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 201 
 
 of space prevait full quotation. This work is perhaps 
 the most interesting, and certainly the most discussed, 
 of Chopin's works. 
 
 The first movement opens with a brief introduction 
 of four bars marked grave, passing at the double bar to 
 an agitated accompaniment figure in the bass doppio 
 movimento, and after four more bars the main theme 
 enters marked agitato. After a climax #, with a strong 
 syncopated accent, the second theme enters piano sos- 
 tenuto. Chopin by this time certainly understood the 
 value of contrast of themes in sonata writing. It is a 
 beautiful broad melody, demanding, as Kullak points 
 out, a quieter tempo than the anxious haste of the first 
 theme. At the stretto the time is quickened up again 
 to the repeat. 
 
 The working out, commencing sotto voce, is exquisite 
 in detail, and leads to a resumption of the second theme 
 in B flat major. The movement comes to a brilliant 
 and exciting close with a powerful stretto and a briet 
 coda of twelve bars. 
 
 The Scherzo opens with an impetuous gloomy and 
 powerful movement with swirling crescendos demand- 
 ing enormous wrist power. At the double bar the as- 
 cending chromatic passages on chords of the sixth are 
 wonderfully suggestive of the whistling of the wind, 
 with a series of crashing chords and octaves, the storm 
 dies down and is succeeded by a melody of heavenly 
 beauty, piu lento. The first movement returns and is 
 closed with a marvellous effect by a brief coda formed 
 from the melody of the trio. The storm and calm 
 represented are, however, contrasts of human emotion; 
 notwithstanding the wind-like passages no one could 
 mistake this music for a transcript of nature. 
 
 Then follows the well-known Funeral March. Schu- 
 mann's idea that the March is not an integral portion 
 of the Sonata obtains some justification from a letter 
 written by Chopin from Nohant in the summer of 1839. 
 
202 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 " I am composing here a Sonata in B fiat minor, in 
 which will be the Funeral March which you have 
 already. There is an Allegro, then a Scherzo, in E flat 
 minor, the March, and a short finale of about three 
 pages. The left hand unisono with the right hand are 
 gossiping after the March." 
 
 This March is too well known to require detailed 
 description. Kullak considers the bass of the first part 
 is an imitation of the tolling of the bell with which the 
 funeral cortege begins to move, and even suggests that 
 the left hand may play two bars of the bass alone 
 before the theme of the March commences. Karasowski 
 says : " Such a funeral march could only have been 
 written by him in whose soul the pain and grief of the 
 entire nation resounded as an echo." 
 
 There are chords and harmonies here which tear the 
 heart strings, but the melody of the trio with, its pecu- 
 liar detached serenity brings calmness and consolation 
 in its train. 
 
 The resumption of the March once more precipitates 
 us into the very luxury of woe; as the last bars die 
 away we are left in the mocM to appreciate the weird 
 poetry of the finale. It would be a waste of words to 
 try and make any one see the poetic value of this won- 
 derful movement, to whom it does not at once appeal 
 as the only possible end to the work. (Mendelssohn, 
 for instance, when asked his opinion of it, said briefly, 
 " Oh, I abhor it.") 
 
 Kullak has hit upon exactly the right terms to de- 
 scribe how it should be rendered if the effect is not to 
 be missed. It " is to be played gloomily and with self- 
 absorbed expression without special regard to the 
 etude-like brilliancy. It must rush by cold and un- 
 friendly." The rest of the comment has already been 
 quoted above. 
 
 This Sonata is one of the priceless possessions of 
 music. It must for ever rank with the masterpieces of 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 203 
 
 all ages. It may not be, it is not, a model of classical 
 form, but in depth and beauty of poetic content it is 
 second to none. 
 
 OPUS 36. — Second Impromptu. F sharp minor. 
 Composed 1838. Published 1840. 
 
 T^HIS is an Impromptu suggested by memory rather 
 than anticipation. There is a touch of the Bal- 
 lade-like quality of narration about it, a suggestion of 
 the sensuous contemplation of the Nocturnes. 
 
 Niecks and Huneker differ as to its relative import- 
 ance. The former, while admitting its tender sweetness 
 and euphony; finds it inferior to the first, having less 
 pith in it, while the latter considers it of more moment 
 than the other three. Both of them, however, feel the 
 obviously dramatic nature of the poetic content. 
 
 To Huneker, " its nocturnal beginning with the caril- 
 lon-like bass recalling Hauptmann's ' Sunken Bell,' the 
 sweetly grave close of the section, the faint hoof-beats 
 of an approaching cavalcade, with the swelling thunders 
 of its passage, surely suggest a narrative, a programme." 
 
 Niecks says that " without such assistance (a pro- 
 gramme) the D major section of the Impromptu is in- 
 significant. We want to see, or at least to know, who 
 are the persons that walk in the procession which the 
 music accompanies." 
 
 Both commentators notice the very curious modula- 
 tion from D major to F major, two bars which Huneker 
 happily describes as "creaking on their hinges." 
 
 The coda is celebrated for what the French call " le 
 jeu ferle " of the scale passages in the treble, but Von 
 Billow cautions players against exhibiting their skill 
 by playing them too fast when he says the " jeu perle " 
 becomes the "jeu cockonne." 
 
204 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Kullak says: "This piece makes greater demands 
 upon the imitative poetic fancy of the player than the 
 other Impromptus. The dreamy, song-like beginning; 
 the immediate contrast with which the march in D major 
 enters; the fantastic retrogression to the afterwards 
 varied first theme ; finally, the passages quietly gliding 
 away, with their expressive accompaniment — all these 
 things bear the impress of an improvisation seemingly 
 suggested by scenes from real life. Symmetry of 
 musical form is wholly abandoned." 
 
 It is certainly less in the nature of an Impromptu 
 than any of the others; but perhaps for that very 
 reason it is musically of greater importance. 
 
 OPUS 37.— Two Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I in G minor (Andante Sostenuto); No. 2 in G 
 major (Andantino). 
 
 Composed 1838 and 1839. Published in 1840. 
 
 'T*HE actual date of the composition of these two 
 Nocturnes is a moot point. They are often attri- 
 buted to the winter of 1838, when Chopin spent Novem- 
 ber and December with George Sand. Niecks says: 
 "They may have had their origin in the da)^ of 
 Chopin's sojourn in the Balearic island, although a 
 letter of Chopin's written from Nohant in the summer 
 of 1839 leaves scarcely room for such a conjecture." 
 
 "I have a new Nocturne in G major, which will go 
 along with the Nocturne in G minor, if you remember 
 such a one." 
 
 It is probable, however, that the first in G minor was 
 composed in the summer of 1838, and that the second, 
 in G major, even if, owing its inspiration, as has been 
 suggested, to the impressions of the calm, warm voyage 
 to Majorca, was not actually finished till after his 
 return. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 205 
 
 Niecks says of them that they " are two of the fi.nest ; 
 I am inclined to say, the two finest of this class of 
 Chopin's pieces. The first and last sections of the one 
 in G minor are plaintive and longing, and have a wail- 
 ing accompaniment; the chord progressions of the 
 middle section glide along hymn-like. Were it possible 
 to praise one part more emphatically than another with- 
 out committing an injustice, I would speak of the 
 melodic exquisiteness of the first motive. But already 
 I see other parts rise reproachfully before my repentant 
 conscience." 
 
 Kleczynski suggests for it the title of " Heimweh," 
 unromantically translatable in one word only as 
 " Home-sickness." 
 
 "The poet weeps at the remembrance of his native 
 soil, a remembrance which we perceive in the middle 
 part of the piece in the form of a prayer played, upon 
 the organ of a country church. This prayer soothes 
 the mind of the artist, who concludes with a last modu- 
 lation into G major." 
 
 Karasowski speaks of it as "keeping up a ceaseless 
 moan, as of harping on some sad thought, until inter- 
 rupted by a church-like movement in chords, whose 
 sadly comforting strains resemble the peacefulness of 
 the grave." 
 
 Huneker does not admire it " inordinately." It has a 
 complaining tone, and the chorale is not noteworthy. 
 This particular part, so Chopin's pupil, Gutmann, de- 
 clared, is taken too slowly, the composer having for- 
 gotten to mark the increased tempo. 
 
 The Nocturne consists of a chief and secondary sub- 
 ject, followed by a repetition of the first theme and a 
 brief coda of two bars closing in the major key. It is 
 interesting to compare this composition with the Noc- 
 turne No. 3 of Opus 15 (q.v.). Kullak says: "Here, 
 too, the chief subject is the expression of deep melan- 
 choly, though in comparison with the passion of the 
 
2o6 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 former Nocturne, the present one discloses a touch of 
 still resignation. In both there follows a secondary 
 subject of religious character, which moves along full 
 of nobility and dignity, and bestows comfort and tran- 
 quillity. Opus 15 closes with its seco;ndary subject. 
 In the present Nocturne, on the other hand, the chief 
 subject is repeated. This is indeed justifiable in point 
 of form, but at the same time, it weakens the poetic con- 
 tents of the work; for the secondary subject, with its 
 beautiful intimation, that for deep suffering of soul 
 religion is the best and highest consolation, is lowered 
 to a merely passing moment." 
 
 On this occasion, the worthy pedagogue's theological 
 views have interfered with his artistic insight. Just as 
 in the Opus 15, the opening movement could not have 
 been repeated after the completely satisfying and final 
 close of the second section, so here it would have been 
 just as impossible to finish with the chorale. In the 
 most natural manner the mood of the opening theme 
 returns, and the inevitable close is reached by the coda 
 modulating into the major. 
 
 In the middle section a beautiful and organ-like 
 effect is produced by putting down the pedal and 
 taking it up between each chord (Kleczynski). 
 
 Schumann reviewed these two Nocturnes, and his 
 luminous criticism is of such value in its bearing on all 
 Chopin's work, that it is appended in full. 
 
 " Chopin may now publish anything without putting 
 his name to it; his works will always be recognised. 
 This remark includes praise and blame; that for his 
 genius, this for his endeavour. He possesses such re- 
 markable original power that, whenever it displays 
 itself, it is impossible to be for a moment uncertain as 
 to its source; and he adds to this an abundance of novel 
 forms that astonish us as much by their tenderness as 
 their boldness. But, though ever new and inventive in 
 the outward forms of his compositions, he remains the 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 207 
 
 same within ; and we are almost beginning to fear that 
 he will not rise any higher than he has so far risen. And 
 although this is high enough to render his name 
 immortal in the modern history of art, he limits his 
 sphere to the narrow one of pianoforte music, when, 
 sWith his powers, he might climb to so great an eleva- 
 tion, and from thence exercise an immense influence on 
 the general progress of our art. But we must fain con- 
 
 J ourselves. He has already created such noble 
 gs, he gives us so much at present, that we ought to 
 atisfied; for we should certainly congratulate any 
 it who could accomplish merely the half of what he 
 accomplished. It is not necessary to write thick 
 volumes to deserve the name of poet; two true poems 
 are enough for that, and Chopin has written many 
 more. The above named notturnos are also poems; 
 they are essentially distinguished from his earlier ones 
 by simpler decoration and more gentle grace. We all 
 know how Chopin was formerly strewn with pearls, 
 spangles and golden trinkets. He has altered and 
 grown older; he still loves decoration, but now of that 
 nobler kind under which poetic ideality gleams more 
 transparently. We must allow that he possesses the 
 most refined taste possible, but it will not be under- 
 stood by thorough bassists, for they give their thoughts 
 entirely to the detection of consecutive fifths, and 
 every succession of these exasperates them. But even 
 they may learn much from Chopin, about consecutive 
 fifths above all." 
 
 No. 2. — Nocturne in G major (Andantino). 
 
 If we adopt the theory that this Nocturne was written 
 in Majorca, there is a passage in George Sand's diary 
 describing the voyage thither, which might well serve 
 as a programme to the work. 
 
 "The night was warm and dark, illumined only by 
 an extraordinary phosphorescence in the wake of the 
 
2o8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 ship ; everybody was asleep on board except the steers- 
 man, who, in order to keep himself awake, sang all 
 night, but in a voice so soft and subdued that one might 
 have thought that he feared to awake the men of the 
 watch, or that he himself was half asleep. We did not 
 weary of listening to him, for his singing was of the 
 strangest kind. He observed a rhythm and modulation 
 totally different from those we are accustomed to, and 
 seemed to allow his voice to go at random, like the 
 smoke of the vessel carried away and swayed by the 
 breeze. It was a reverie rather than a song, a kind of 
 careless floating of the voice, with which the mind had 
 little to do, but which kept time with the swaying of the 
 ship, the faint sound of tne dark water, and resembled 
 a vague improvisation, restrained nevertheless by sweet 
 and monotonous forms." 
 
 This excellent translation is by Miss Eleonor 
 d'Esterre-Keeling, who goes on to say : ' Any one who 
 plays the G major Nocturne after reading this passage 
 will be struck by the singular likeness that the music 
 bears to the written description of the scene. The sway- 
 ing of the double notes over the undulating bass 
 accompaniment, suggests the gliding motion of the 
 vessel, while the richness of the harmonies carry out the 
 idea of the brilliancy of the water scintillating with 
 phosphorescent lights. Then comes the vague song of 
 the steersman, rather a reverie than a song. 
 
 " The mind has indeed little to do here, but the pulse 
 of the poet throbs through every note. The song dies 
 away and the boat floats over the sea once more, then 
 we hear the steersman again ; this time .he starts on a 
 lower tone, and the melody is worked up chromatically 
 to a truly Chopinesque climax ; that done, to quote old 
 Herrick, it sinks down again into a silvery strain, and 
 makes us smooth as balm and oil again; then more 
 repetition of the swaying motive, and as the vessel 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 209 
 
 passes out of sight we hear in the dim distance the mur- 
 muring song of the steersman across the dark waters." 
 
 The melody of the second subject is, according to 
 Kleczynski, possibly taken from the motive of a French 
 song sung in Normandy; perhaps the steersman came 
 from the northern coast. In any case, whether entirely 
 original or not, Karasowski considers it " the most beau- 
 tiful melody Chopin ever wrote, to which one can never 
 listen without a sense of the deepest emotion and happi- 
 ness." In this Huneker agrees with him, and although 
 we know that Chopin personally thought he had never 
 written another such a melody as that of the Etude in 
 E major, Opus 10, No. 3, yet it is probable that if a vote 
 could be taken on the subject, the theme of the second 
 part of this Nocturne would be adjudged the prize. 
 
 Huneker says : " Painted with Chopin's most ethereal 
 brush, without the cloying splendours of the one in D 
 flat, the double sixths, fourths and thirds are magically 
 euphonious- It is in true barcarolle vein, and most 
 subtle are the shifting harmonic tones. Pianists usually 
 take the first part too fast, the second too slowly, trans- 
 forming this poetic composition into an etude." 
 
 Speaking of the second section, Willeby says : " It is 
 a very lovely theme this, and if we look into it we find 
 it is simplicity itself. I think a careful study of such 
 works of Chopin's as these Nocturnes will go far to do 
 away with a very prevalent notion that his musical 
 thoughts were complicated; on the contrary, we find 
 here, as with many others of the masters of music, that 
 the most beautiful are frequently the most simple." 
 
 Niecks finds in this Nocturne "a beautiful sensuous- 
 ness, it is luscious, soft, rounded, and not without a 
 certain degree of languor. But let us- not tarry too long 
 in the treacherous atmosphere of this Capua — it be- 
 witches and unmans." 
 
 14 
 
210 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 OPUS 38. — Second Ballade in F major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. R. Schumann. 
 Composed 1838. Published 1840. 
 
 'T'HIS is one of the compositions mentioned in 
 Chopin's letters written from Majorca. There was 
 some question as to whether this Ballade or the Pre- 
 ludes should be dedicated to Pleyel or Schumann. 
 Ultimately the Preludes were allotted to Pleyel and 
 the Ballade to Schumann. It was sold to the publishers 
 for 500 or 600 francs. Schumann in reviewing it said : 
 "We must direct attention to the Ballade as a most 
 remarkable work. Chopin has already written one 
 composition of the same name — one of his wildest and 
 most original compositions ; the new one is different, a 
 less artistic work than the first, but equally fantastic 
 and intellectual. Its impassioned episodes seem to 
 have -been afterwards inserted. I recollect very well 
 when Chopin played the ' Ballade ' here ; it finished in F 
 major, now it closes in A minor. He then said that he 
 had been inspired by some poems of Mickiewicz to 
 write this Ballade. On the other hand, his music would 
 inspire a poet to write words to it. It thrills one's in- 
 most heart?'' 
 
 The point as to the way Chopin altered this composi- 
 tion is interesting as showing the care with which he 
 revised his work before finally giving it to the public. 
 Hadow instances the change of key from F major to A 
 minor as an instance of the way Chopin occasionally 
 deliberately strays away from a logical conclusion. If 
 Schumann is right in thinking that "the impassioned 
 episodes" were inserted as an afterthought, Chopin 
 must have changed the whole tenour of the piece. After 
 the shuddering terror and tragedy of the coda, this 
 Ballade could no longer have ended in the major in this 
 fashion. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 211 
 
 "The second Ballade possesses beauties in no way 
 inferior to those of the first. What can be finer than 
 the simple strains of the opening section. ! They sound 
 as if they had been drawn from the people's storehouse 
 of song." 
 
 How any one can write of this marvellous, vivid, 
 pathetic poem in the cold, slighting, pedantic fashion 
 adopted by Willeby is amazing. The only possible 
 explanation is that he has never heard an adequate in- 
 terpretation of the work. He is not even correct as to 
 the key, which he gives as F minor. Undoubtedly its 
 technical difficulty, as in the case of the fourth Ballade 
 in F minor, has prevented it becoming so well known 
 and overplayed as the first and third. 
 
 Rubinstein, in his " Conversations on Music," has left 
 us his own interesting idea of the poetic content of this 
 Ballade. " Is it possible," he says, " that the interpreter 
 does not feel the necessity of representing to his hearers 
 a field flower caught by a gust of wind, a caressing of 
 the flower by the wind ; the resistance of the flower, the 
 stormy struggle of the wind, the entreaty of the flower 
 which at last lies there broken; and paraphrased — the 
 field flower a rustic maiden, the wind a knight, and so 
 almost in every instrumental composition." 
 
 Kleczynski analyses this Ballade at some length and 
 gives useful hints as to the proper phrasing. Accord- 
 ing to Huneker, Chopin admitted that it was written 
 under the direct inspiration of Mickiewicz's poem, "Le 
 Lac de Willis." He says : " The episodical nature of 
 this Ballade is the finest of the esoteric moods of its 
 composer. It follows a hidden story and has the qual- 
 ity of great, unpremeditated art." 
 
 The first there, Andantino, is described by all the 
 commentators as "idyllic." Barbedette even says 
 "pastoral," and undoubtedly this Ballade is a story 
 of the country, a love tragedy, with a betrayal, and a 
 terribly tragic ending. 
 
212 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The theme dies away and we are left pondering on a 
 softly reiterated A natural. Suddenly and without the 
 slightest warning the storm bursts #, presto con fuoco. 
 Its first onslaught is, however, brief, and the first theme 
 recurs. "But life is never the same again," and the 
 innocent simplicity of the beginning never returns. 
 Other moods follow in rapid succession, thoughtful, 
 argumentative, passionate, and then once more the 
 storm, but this time culminating with sullen rolling of 
 thunder in the terrific shuddering catastrophe of the 
 coda. 
 
 An abrupt sudden pause like A. catch of the breath, 
 and then the sobbing broken reference to the first theme 
 with its questioning close, and the deep, deep sigh of 
 the closing bars — " But yet the pity of it, O, the pity 
 of it." 
 
 OPUS 39. — Third Scherzo in C sharp minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. A. Gutmann. 
 Composed 1838-9. Published 1840. 
 
 |7 ARLY in the winter of 1839 Moscheles called on 
 Chopin in Paris. Describing his visit in a letter, 
 he wrote, " Chopin's excellent pupil, Gutmann, played 
 his master's manuscript Scherzo in C sharp minor." 
 
 This is one of the few pieces of which Chopin speaks 
 in his letters from Majorca. It was undoubtedly begun 
 during his stay on the island, but was not finished till 
 his convalescence in the summer of 1839. "Do not 
 speak to any one of the Scherzo, I do not know when I 
 shall finish it, for I am still weak and cannot write." 
 This he wrote to Fontana on March 17, 1839. 
 
 Niecks calls it "the peevish, fretful, and fiercely- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 213 
 
 scornful Scherzo," and says it is " quite in keeping with 
 the moods one imagines the composer to have been in at 
 the time." He spealcs elsewhere of its capricious starts 
 and changes, its rudderless drifting, and considers the 
 name capriccio would be more suitable to this than to 
 any of the other Scherzi. Hadow, however, speaks of 
 "its short, clear-cut phrases and exact balance; an ex- 
 actitude due to an intense desire for clearness, and pre- 
 cision," which he considers a national Polish characteris- 
 tic, and especially Chopinesque. 
 
 The two opinions seem somewhat hard to reconcile, 
 but although the form of its phrases is precise, its har- 
 monies and modulations are intensely original and un- 
 expected. Karasowski speaks of " its demonianism and 
 drastic power," and Willeby calls it " fitful " if not 
 exactly capricious. Huneker writes ^bout this Scherzo 
 at considerable length; he considers it "the most dra- 
 matic, the most finely moulded of the 9t»'4-It is 
 capricious to madness, but the dramatic quality is un- 
 mistakable. It seethes with scorn, if such an extrava- 
 gant figure is permissible. It is all extravagance, fire, 
 and fury, but it signifies something." 
 
 The tempo is marked -presto con fuoco, but Kullak is 
 never tired of pointing out that for modern pianos 
 Chopin's extremely quick tempi should be moderated, 
 or else with the increased power and heavier action of 
 modern grands there is a tendency to blur the outlines 
 and to lose power. If this Scherzo is started too fast 
 there will be a sense of effort, and a lack of contrast on 
 arriving at the coda, which should be played as fast as 
 possible. 
 
 Kullak calls the introduction " more prelude-like than 
 independent in character." The use of four crotchets in 
 triple time is an instance of the caprice of which Niecks 
 speaks. The sixth bar is a tremendous crashing chord, 
 and von Lenz says that Chopin dedicated this Scherzo 
 to Gutmann because, with his immense power, he was 
 
214 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 able to "knock a hole in the table" with this chord. 
 The leading subject (bar twenty-five) is of great energy 
 and power; at bar fifty -seven the second section is per- 
 haps more like Beethoven than anything else of 
 Chopin's. At the change of key to D flat, marked meno 
 mosso, the chief subject is a kind of chorale; every four 
 bars it is interrupted by a lace-like fall of broken ar- 
 feggios. Through their delicate veil the last chord of 
 each section of the chorale must be heard sounding, 
 being sustained by the continuation pedal. 
 
 Kleczynski warns us against too great an equality of 
 rhythm, " a matter wherein virtuosi err so often, playing 
 as they do, the chords too slow and the subsequent pas- 
 sages too quick." 
 
 The second section (marked leggierd) is especially 
 beautiful. The sweeping arpeggios of changing har- 
 monies are like 
 
 " The lovely laughter of the wind-swept wheat," 
 
 and the return to the chorale seems an expression of 
 gratitude for so much beauty. The impetuous first 
 theme is repeated, with its Beethoven-like trio. Then 
 there is a resumption of the chorale, and at the thirty- 
 third bar after the fiu lento, there is a weird and most 
 fascinating modulation stranger than anything in Grieg 
 or Wagner, which leads to an episode, fifteen bars 
 further on, of ravishing beauty. A wild stretto leads 
 to a coda of superb frenzy, closing in the major key, 
 which, as Huneker says, "is a surprising conclusion 
 considering all that has gone before. Never to become 
 the property of the profane, the C sharp minor Scherzo, 
 notwithstanding its marked asperities and agitated 
 moments, is a grand work of art. Without the inner 
 freedom of its predecessors, it is more sober and self- 
 contained than the B minor Scherzo." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 215 
 
 OPUS 40.— Two Polonaises. 
 
 No. I in A major; No. 2 in C minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. J. Fontana. 
 Composed 1838. Published 1840. 
 
 T^HIS is throughout the most consistently bright and 
 brilliant piece that Chopin ever wrote. Both the 
 first and second subjects are of the same proud," boid, 
 imWt^t2T^aKcrtc^;;5ii^1*e"whole piece thoaW°be played 
 in stric t time. It reminds 'Kuniirof''Wfeb'efs"Polacca in 
 E inaj'cifrSMTie says " it is full of festal uproar with- 
 out romanticism." It is a striking contrast to the fol- 
 lowing number in C minor. 
 
 Rubinstein said that for him these two Polonaises 
 were synonymous with Poland's greatness and Poland's 
 downfall. 
 
 According to Kleczynski the appearance of this Pol- 
 onaise marked an epoch. Liszt used to play it at all 
 his concerts. "In this dance, which may be called 
 glorious in the full significance of the word, the Polish 
 type appears in all its sumptuousness and with a 
 splendour somewhat theatrical. Each note, each accent, 
 glows with life and- power." 
 
 He points out that thetrie]£tja.^5gj§g£fiad.bar, should 
 always be accented, anHsa\^.thg^ tt h,€;, sudden modula- 
 tlQn.iQ-C^(^5!^ui"th£ fi^tli.bar^is^fJSggajjg,, It certainly 
 has an electrifying effect. The seventh and eighth bars 
 are important as showing the characteristic robustness 
 of the Polonaise. " Each of the six quavers has a solid 
 weight of its own, an accent, a significance .... the 
 tempo of this ' march ' ought to be buoyant indeed, but 
 never too fast or too flying, as we should then entirely 
 lose the accents in the two last bars, ... In the third 
 part trumpets are heard and the music in general de- 
 ceives the ear. The pianO' seems to change into an or- 
 chestra, but it is curious that this part when arranged 
 for an actual orchestra shows to least advantage." 
 
2i6 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The eighth bar of this part should imitate the rolling 
 of a drum. It is a great pity that Chopin wrote no coda 
 for this Polonaise, as, owing to its brilliant character, this 
 deficiency seems more marked than usual. The approach 
 of the ending should be indicated by a rallentando. 
 
 A Polish painter, Kwiatkowski, told Niecks that it 
 was this Polonaise to which the following anecdote is 
 attached, although it has often been mentioned in con- 
 nection with the A flat major Polonaise. The story 
 goes, that Chopin, while playing it one evening when 
 alone, was so carried away by the ideas that it evoked 
 that he had a vision of a train of Polish ladies and 
 nobles suddenly entering his room. These phantoms 
 were so real to him that he rushed from the apartment 
 in terror and dared not return the whole night. 
 
 It is possible that Chopin composed this Polonaise 
 during his stay at Majorca. He certainly mentions it 
 often in his letters from there, but it is quite possible 
 that, like the Preludes, it was only revised at that time. 
 Niecks says: "If the sadly ailing composer really 
 created and not merely elaborated and finished in 
 Majorca the superlatively healthy, vigorously-martial, 
 brilliantly-chivalrous Polonaise in A major, we have 
 here a remarkable instance of the mind's ascendancy 
 over the body, of its independence of it." Later, he 
 speaks of it as the simplest, though not the easiest, com- 
 position of Chopin, and says that it is the most popular 
 of the Polonaises. " The mind of the composer is fixed 
 on one elating thought. He sees the gallantly ad- 
 vancing chivalry of Poland, determination in every 
 look and gesture; he hears rising above the noise of 
 stamping horses and the clash of arms their bold chal- 
 lenge scornfully hurled at the enemy." 
 
 No. 2 in C minor (Allegro maestoso). 
 
 In the dignified but gloomy colouring of this Polon- 
 aise Rubinstein saw a picture of Poland's downfall. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 217 
 
 Seldom has fortitude under suffering found such poig- 
 nant expression as in the noble melody of the first 
 theme in the bass. Kullak says it should be executed 
 with dignity, melancholy, nobility,, and strictly in time. 
 
 Niecks sees in it the mind of the composer turning 
 from one depressing or exasperating thought to another. 
 "He seems to review the different aspects of his coun- 
 try's unhappy state, its sullen discontent, fretful agita- 
 tion, and uncertain hopes." He draws attention to " the 
 chafing agitation of the second part, the fitful play be- 
 tween light and shade of the trio-like part in A flat 
 major, and the added wailing voice in the recurring 
 first portion at the end of the piece." 
 
 For Huneker it is "a noble, troubled composition, 
 large in accents and deeply felt. The trio in A flat with 
 its kaleidoscopic modulations produces an impression 
 of vague unrest and suppressed sorrow. There is lofti- 
 ness of spirit and daring in it." 
 
 Willeby's criticism is that though the whole piece pre- 
 sents more variety of emotion than the preceding Pol- 
 onaise, the second portion in A flat major is wanting in 
 conciseness, and he finds its continuous enharmonic 
 changes somewhat irritating. 
 
 OPUS 41. — Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in C sharp minor ; No. 2 in E minor ; No. 3 in B 
 major; No. 4 in A flat. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. E. Witwicki. 
 Composed 1835-g. Published 1840. 
 
 " VOU know that I have four new Mazurkas : one 
 from Palma in E minor, three from here. They 
 seem to me pretty, as the youngest children usually do 
 when the parents grow old." 
 
 Chopin wrote thus to Fontana in the summer of 1839, 
 
2i8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 and his opinion of this set is more than justified. Again 
 we have the most complete contrast of moods, fascin- 
 ating modulations, exquisite unexpected harmonies, and 
 the whole gamut of human emotions. 
 
 No. I in C sharp minor. 
 
 Huneker calls this Mazurka the apotheosis of rhythm, 
 and it certainly requires less rubato than any other of 
 the Mazurkas. "Its scale is exotic, its rhythm con- 
 vincing, its tune a little saddened by life, but courage 
 never fails. This theme sounds persistently in the 
 middle voices, in the bass, and at the close in full har- 
 monies, unisons, giving it a startling effect. Octaves 
 take it up in profile until it vanishes." 
 
 This "exotic scale" is one of the most original and 
 fascinating of Chopin's devices, and its bold use 
 coupled with the quality of the melody, such wonderful 
 passages of modulation and tone-colour as the one 
 marked tranquillo, una corda, and the grand climax 
 make this one of the greatest of the Mazurkas. 
 
 No. 2 in E minor. 
 
 This is the Mazurka that Chopin himself tells us he 
 wrote at Palma, in Majorca, and it is hardly to be, won- 
 dered at that it should reflect the somewhat melancholy 
 episodes of the composer's stay in the island. Huneker 
 calls it " sad to the point of tears." The first three lines 
 are full of a feeling of self-pity, but the second section 
 brings with a lovely change a happier mood. It is a 
 gem, and compared with these two the next are unin- 
 teresting. 
 
 No. 3 in B major. 
 
 This is one of the least interesting and least distin- 
 guished of the Mazurkas. Huneker calls it " a vigorous 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 219 
 
 sonorous dance." The persistent recurrence of the 
 rather heavy-footed opening phrase becomes monoton- 
 ous. There is comparatively little to dwell on here. 
 
 No. 4 in A flat 
 
 This, again, although prettier and more graceful, can 
 hardly rank with the other Mazurkas of this period of 
 Chopin's development. Huneker styles it " playful and 
 decorative, but not profound in feeling." The rhythm 
 is almost waltz-like, and the ending is unsatisfactory. 
 
 OPUS 42.— Valse in A flat major. 
 Published in 1840. 
 
 'T'HIS is one of the few pieces of Chopin's with no 
 dedication. Schumann says of it that " like his 
 earlier waltzes it is a salon piece of the noblest kind " ; 
 if he played for danc^&j Florestan thinks "half the 
 ladies should be countesseS at least." And he is right, 
 for Chopin's Waltz is aristocratic through and through. 
 
 Huneker calls this Waltz Chopin at his dancing best, 
 and with its combination of duple and triple rhythm 
 (bar nine), the constantly recurring riiournelle-like pas- 
 sage (bar forty-one), and the lilting melody marked 
 sostenuto, it would make a most fascinating dance for 
 those who can appreciate the subtleties of rhythmic 
 accent. 
 
 Later on Chopin employed a similar combination of 
 duple and triple rhythm in the fourth Scherzo, Op. 54. 
 To Niecks this device is " indicative of the loving, nest- 
 ling and tender embracing of the dancing couples. 
 Then after the smooth gyrations of the first period, come 
 those sweeping motions, free and graceful, like those of 
 birds (the ritournelle passage) that intervene again and 
 again between the different portions of the Waltz." 
 
 The professor describes this paissage as "a self-sur- 
 
220 A HANDBOOK TO CHOPIN'S WORKS. 
 
 rendering heaven and earth-forgetting joy ousness"; 
 and instances as a stroke of genius as delightful as it is 
 clever, the way in which Chopin breaks off from the 
 sentimental ardour of the passage marked sostenuio, 
 and plunges back into the abandon of the ritournelle. 
 For Huneker this Waltz is a " marvellous epitome, the 
 best rounded specimen of Chopin's experimenting with 
 the form. The prolonged trill on E flat, summoning us 
 to the ball-room, the suggesting intermingling of 
 rhythms, duple and triple, the coquetry, hesitation, pas- 
 sionate avowal, and the superb coda with its echoes of 
 evening, have not these episodes a charm beyond com- 
 pare ! Only Schumann in certain pages of his ' Carni- 
 val ' seizes the secret of young life and hope; but his is 
 not so finished, so glowing a tableau." 
 
 OPUS 43. — Tarantelle in A flat major. 
 Published 1841. 
 
 r\ HOPIN wrote in a letter from Nohant, in 1841 : "I 
 send you the Tarantella. Please to copy it, but 
 first go to Schlesinger, or better still to Troupenas, and 
 see the collection of Rossini's songs published by him. 
 In it there is a Tarantella in F. I do not know whether 
 it is written in f or -y- time. As to my composition, it 
 does not matter which way it is written, but I should 
 prefer it to be like Rossini's." The composer finally de- 
 cided on f time, which is fortunate, for Niecks justly 
 remarks that "this is a characteristic instance of 
 Chopin's carelessness in the notation of his music; to 
 write his Tarantella in ^ or common time with triplets 
 would have been an egregious mistake. How Chopin 
 failed to see this is inexplicable to me." 
 
 Schumann reviewed this Tarantella : " This is in 
 Chopin's most daring manner ; we see the madly-whirl- 
 ing dancers before us, until our own senses seem to reel. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 221 
 
 We can scarcely term this lovely music, but we will- 
 ingly forgive the master for the wildness of his imagin- 
 ation, the night side of which he may certainly be 
 allowed to dsplay sometimes. However, Chopin did 
 not write this for severe reviewers. A correct first under- 
 standing of the piece is rendered still more difficult 
 from the press errors with which the edition swarms." 
 
 Niecks, however, protests against Schumaim saying 
 that it is not beautiful music. He says " that it is full 
 of life, indeed, spirited in every respect, in movement, 
 and in boldness of harmonic and melodic conception. 
 The Tarantelle is a translation from Italian into Polish, 
 a transmutation of Rossini into Chopin, a Neapolitan 
 scene painted with opaque colours, the south without its 
 transparent sky, balmy air, and general brightness. 
 That this composition was inspired by impressions re- 
 ceived from Rossini's Tarantella, and not from impres- 
 sions received in Italy (of which, as has already been 
 related, he had a short glimpse in 1839), is evident. A 
 comparison of Chopin's Op. 43, with Liszt's glowing 
 and intoxicating transcription of Rossini's composition, 
 may be recommended as a study equally pleasant and 
 instructive." 
 
 " Composed at Nohant, it is as little Italian as the 
 Bolero is Spanish. Chopin's visit to Italy was of too 
 short a duration to affect him, at least in the style of 
 dance. It is without the necessary ophidian tang, and 
 far inferior to Heller and Liszt's efforts in the con- 
 stricted form. One finds little of the frenzy ascribed 
 to it by Schumann in his review. It breathes of the 
 North, not the South, and ranks far below the A flat 
 Impromptu in geniality and grace." (Huneker.) 
 
 There is no doubt that this Tarantella, although not 
 without a certain measure of excitement, leaves one cold. 
 The form was not a sympathetic one to Chopin, and it 
 is only too evident that the inspiration to compose it 
 came to him at second hand. It is evidently not the 
 
222 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 result of the direct impression produced by his brief 
 visit to Italy iii 1839, when, however, he did not go 
 further south than Genoa. The references in his letters 
 to Rossini's Tarantella show that it was composed as 
 the result of his admiration of the great Italian's work. 
 
 OPUS 44. — Polonaise in F sharp minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Princesse Charles de Beauvau. 
 Published 1841. 
 
 T^HIS, and the better-known Polonaise in A flat major, 
 Opus S3, are Chopin's two greatest compositions 
 in the Polonaise form. This one is not as well known as 
 the latter, as it is much less often played. It is of 
 colossal difficulty, and requires a giant's strength to do 
 it justice. Even the strongest wrists and fingers are apt 
 to flinch before the end. It opens with a rush of ex- 
 asperation and surprise — an indignant pause — and then 
 a roar of defiance — a tossing sea of emotion, conflict, 
 strain, and stress ; then a dream-like change, and we are 
 on a battlefield; cannon shots boom out with rhythmical 
 insistence, while a curious figure of reverberating over- 
 tones completes a page that is purposely rasping to the 
 nerves. For Chopin, as if to accentuate our gloom and 
 distress, now introduces a Mazurka, pure, idyllic, tender 
 and graceful as a flower, of which Liszt says, that " so 
 far from effacing the memory of the deep grief which 
 hcLS gone before serves by the bitter irony of contrast to 
 augment our painful emotions." Then, with the insist- 
 ence of a nightmare, back comes the first passionate 
 rush and the thunderous and lurid theme of the Polon- 
 aise. After a wild flight upwards of two octaves in the 
 bass, the music dies away suddenly, and ends with a 
 single loud octave like a convulsive shudder. 
 
 Liszt says " the whole production is one of great ori- 
 ginality, and excites us like the story of some broken 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 223 
 
 dream, told after a night of restless wakefulness, in the 
 first dull, grey, cold leaden rays of a winter sunrise. It 
 is a dream poem, in which impressions and objects fol- 
 low each other with startling incoherence and with the 
 wildest transitions. . . ." 
 
 Huneker considers that there is no greater test for the 
 \poet-pianist than the F sharp minor Polonaise. " It is 
 ptofetmdly ironical — what else means the introduction 
 of that lovely Mazurka, a flower between two abysses ? 
 .... No sabre dance this, but a confession from the 
 dark depths of a self-tortured soul. . . . To me the piece 
 far surpasses in grandeur all of Chopin's Polonaises, 
 even the 'Heroic,' with its thunderous cannon and 
 rattling of horses' hoofs. It may be morbid, but it is 
 also magnificent" 
 
 Niecks writes rather unsympathetically about this 
 Polonaise. He says that " what we find in it cannot be 
 art; we look in vain for beauty of melody and harmony. 
 Dreamy unisons, querulous melodic phrases, hollow- 
 eyed chords, hard progressions and modulations 
 throughout every part of the Polonaise proper. We 
 receive a pathological rather than aesthetical impression. 
 Nevertheless, no one can deny the grandeur and origin- 
 ality that shine through this gloom." 
 
 OPUS 45. — Prelude in C sharp minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Princesse Elisabeth Czernicheff. 
 Published November 28, 1841. 
 
 T N one of Chopin's letters to his friend Fontana, un- 
 dated, but written from Nohant in 1 841, we read : 
 " For Schlesinger* I have composed a Prelude in C 
 sharp minor, which is short, as he wished it. It is well 
 modulated, and I can send it without hesitation. He 
 ought to give me 300 francs for it, n'est-ce-pas." 
 
 * The Paris music publisher. 
 
224 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 And in a second letter he begs Fontana to ask the 
 governess of the young Princess Elisabeth Czernicheff, 
 to whom he wanted to dedicate the piece, how the name 
 is spelt. 
 
 The Prelude is certainly beautifully modulated, and 
 a rare bargain for £\2. It stands isolated from the 
 twenty-four Preludes of Opus 28, and is the only other 
 composition of Chopin to which he has given this name. 
 
 When no other generic title that he was wont to use 
 fitted his composition Chopin apparently called it a 
 Prelude. Niecks thinks it more like a Prelude than any 
 of the twenty-four, but says he would rather call it an 
 Improvisata. " It seems unpremeditated, a heedless out- 
 pouring when sitting at the piano in a lonely dreamy 
 hour, perhaps in the twilight." 
 
 It opens with a phrase curiously reminiscent of one of 
 Mendelssohn's " Lieder Ohne Wdrte " (No. 2), and then 
 goes on with a melody that, both in quality and treat- 
 ment, is a great deal more like Brahms than anything 
 that Chopin ever write. This Prelude vindicates 
 Chopin's reputation as a path-finder in harmony. Hun- 
 eker has also been struck by this resemblance, and says 
 of this melody that it is " Oh, so Brahmsian, that bitter- 
 sweet lingering, that spiritual reverie in which the musi- 
 cal idea is gently propelled, as if in some elusive dream." 
 
 Towards the end there is a wonderful cadenza, played 
 pianissimo and a fiacere, the last two bars of which 
 anticipate by some fifteen years a leitmotiv of Wag- 
 ner's. It is almost identical with the phrase that accom- 
 panies the threatening gesture of Alberich just before 
 the rays of the rising sun strike upon the Rheingold. 
 
 The concluding bars modulate from C sharp minor to 
 D major and back again in a passage of haunting 
 though elusive beauty. 
 
 It is not one of the composer's most popular works, 
 for it is too uncommonj and one requires to be very fami- 
 liar with it before one can appreciate its subtle charm. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 225 
 
 OPUS 46. — Allegro de Concert in A major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. F. Muller. 
 
 Composed 1841. Published January, 1842. 
 
 C CHUMANN states possibly that this Concert Alle- 
 gro (which he describes as having the complete 
 form of a first movement of a concerto) was originally 
 written with an orchestral accompaniment. Presumably 
 he had his information direct from the composer. 
 Niecks thinks it probable that it is worked up from 
 sketches for a Concerto for two pianos that Chopin in a 
 letter, written from Vienna in December, 1830, said he 
 would play in public with his friend Nidecki if he suc- 
 ceeded in writing it to his satisfaction. It is significant 
 also that the composer, when sending the manuscript of 
 the work to Fontana, calls it a concerto. Schumann 
 says further : " A fine middle melody is wanting, though 
 the cantilena is rich in new and brilliant passages ; but 
 it floats past us too restlessly, and we feel the absence of 
 a slow after-movement, an adagio^ — for the entire plan 
 suggests a complete Concerto in three movements. The 
 idea of raising the pianoforte to the highest point of 
 independence possible, and of rendering the orchestra 
 unnecessary, is a favourite one with young composers, 
 and it seems to have influenced Chopin in the publica- 
 tion of his Allegro in this form ; but this new attempt 
 again proves the difficulty of the task, though it will by 
 no means serve as a warning against future endeavour." 
 
 Kleczynski, who says it is full of life and gaiety, finds 
 some resemblance to the introduction to the Fantaisie 
 on National Airs which was composed in 1828. Niecks 
 says that " the principal subject and some of the passage 
 work remind one of the time of the concertos; other 
 things again belong undeniably to a later period." 
 
 Nicode has published an arrangement for piano and 
 orchestra, but both Niecks and Huneker condemn this, 
 
 IS 
 
226 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 especially his addition of seventy bars of a working-out 
 section. 
 
 Huneker calls this Allegro a "truncated Concerto, 
 much more so than Schumann's F minor Sonata, called 
 Concert sans Orchestre. While it adds little to Chopin's 
 reputation, it has the potentialities of a powerful and 
 more manly composition than either of the two Con- 
 certos." The Mile. Friederike Muller, to whom it is 
 dedicated, was one of the most gifted of Chopin's 
 pupils, and assisted Carl Mikuli in the preparation of 
 his edition of the works. 
 
 Kullak in his annotated edition marks the passages 
 which are evidently orchestral in intention with the 
 direction, Tutti; but the veriest tyro could tell with his 
 eyes shut when the orchestra is supposed to be playing 
 and when the solo instrument enters, which it does at 
 the eighty^seventh bar with an elaborate cadenza. It is 
 the second theme of this solo part which has the most 
 important share in the development of the movement. 
 It is a bright, tuneful melody, exceedingly character- 
 istic of Chopin's earlier period, and it is preceded by 
 some of Eis most modern-sounding harmonies. One 
 passage might certainly have given Wagner the idea of 
 the fire music of Loge, and immediately preceding the 
 air there are four bars exactly like the music in " Sieg- 
 fried," where Mime is terrified by the flickering of the 
 sunlight through the trees outside his forge. After 
 much brilliant passage work, a long shake ushers in a 
 brief resumption of the Tuiti, to be followed by the 
 main theme in the minor, which mode suits it wonder- 
 fully. Then back it goes to the major, and still more 
 brilliant passages lead up to a prolonged and elaborate 
 trill, and a magnificent ascending climax lands us in 
 a triumphant closing Tutti. 
 
 Niecks rather under-estimates its value, and certainly 
 its interest, which, owing to the circumstances of its 
 composition, is absorbing. It is astonishing that it is so 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 227 
 
 neglected by modern virtuosi; nothing that Liszt has 
 written surpasses it in pianistic bril lance; it is difficult 
 enough to make it interesting even to the greatest tech- 
 nician, and it gives scope for the highest artistic intelli- 
 gence in its rendering. Huneker says : " The Allegro is 
 one of Chopin's most difficult works. It abounds in 
 risky skips, ambuscades of dangerous double notes, and 
 the principal themes are bold and expressive. The colour 
 note is strikingly adapted for public performance." 
 
 OPUS 4;.— Third Ballade in A flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. P. de Noailles. 
 Composed 1841. Published January, 1842. 
 
 ■yHE distinguishing characteristic of this Ballade is 
 its high-spirited light-heartedness as compared 
 with the three other compostions in this form. Schu- 
 mann says : " This Ballade, Chopin's third, differs in a 
 striking manner, in form and character, from his earlier 
 ones, and must be counted among his most original 
 creations. The finely intellectual Pole accustomed to 
 move in the most courtly circles of the French capital, 
 will be distinctly recognised in it. We shall not attempt 
 to analyse its poetic atmosphere any further." 
 
 Niecks speaks of its fundamentally caressing mood, 
 and says : " It does not equal its sisters in emotional in- 
 tensity, at any rate, not in emotional tumultuousness. 
 The fine gradations, the iridescence of feeling, mocks at 
 verbal definition. Over everything in melody, harmony 
 and rhythm there is suffused a most exquisite elegance. 
 A quiver of excitement runs through the whole piece. 
 ^The syncopations, reversions of accent, silences on ac- 
 cented parts of the bar (sighs and suspended respira- 
 tion felicitously expressed), which occur very frequently 
 in this Ballade, give much charm and piquancy to it." 
 
228 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Willeby, who is much more sympathetic in dealing 
 with this work than he is with the F major Ballade, 
 draws attention to the similarity of the opening bars to 
 a phrase in the fourth Scherzo, Op. 54. These bars 
 " contain a complete question and answer ; while the syn- 
 copations which follow are essentially characteristic of 
 the whole Ballade throughout which they are main- 
 tained. Especially is this so with the lovely theme in F 
 major, one of the most delicate ajid idealistic to be found 
 even amongst the many idealities he has given us." 
 
 A pseudonymous writer, "Israfel," in an extinct 
 periodical called " The Dome," says : " One of Chopin's 
 compositions has never ceased to puzzle me. Under 
 what alien influence did he write it — the Ballade in A 
 flat ? — it is so peculiarly unlike himself in its boyish 
 swagger and its gallant light-heartedness ; it is so 
 young, so cocksure, and so successful, drawing to a 
 logical happy close, instead of ceasing gloomily in the 
 customary manner." 
 
 Huneker says this Ballade is too well known to 
 analyse. " It is the schoolgirl's delight, who familiarly 
 toys with its demon, seeing only favour and prettiness 
 in its elegant measures. Graceful, charming, it appeals 
 even to the lovers of music-hall ditties (and like the G 
 minor), it too has been worried to death. It is aris- 
 tocratic, gay, graceful, piquant, and also something 
 more. Even in its playful moments there is delicate 
 irony, a spiritual sporting with graver and more pas- 
 sionate emotions." 
 
 Only Kleczynski reads into this Ballade anything 
 approaching a tragedy. He says it is evidently in- 
 spired by Mickiewicz's poem of Undine. He finds in 
 the concluding pages "a picture of dark horror, in- 
 creasing in intensity, suggestive of a whirlpool," and so 
 on. But this is beside the mark. The triumphant song 
 of the last pages is but the first naively poetic cheerful 
 theme, broadened and ennobled, and in the concluding 
 
(D 
 O) 
 CO 
 CL 
 
 (Ji 
 

 CQ 
 
 Tl 
 
 (Q 
 CD 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 231 
 
 says : " This dignified and expressive work is very often 
 played coldly and phrased colourlessly or falsely. Yet 
 every note in this composition is full of meaning. I do 
 not know if the legend be true that this Nocturne repre- 
 sents the contrition of a sinner. The reproaches of con- 
 science are, according to this idea, followed in the 
 middle part by heavenly harps and angelic choirs, and 
 later on by a growing disquietude ending with death 
 and a yearning flight to heaven." 
 
 Kullak says : " The design and poetic contents of 
 this Nocturne make it the most important one that 
 Chopin created ; the chief subject is a masterly expres- 
 sion of a great powerful grief, for instance, at a grave 
 misfortune occurring to one's beloved fatherland. Upon 
 such cin occasion and in such a mood, it is but a step to 
 self-sacrificing deeds. The secondary subject makes 
 upon me an impression as if heroic men had banded 
 themselves together and solemnly went forth to the 
 holy war to conquer or die for their native land. 
 
 "In correspondence with the character of a grand 
 heroic march, the harmonic masses finally tower aloft 
 in imposing splendour and majesty." 
 
 Schumann reviewed these Nocturnes, but for once his 
 opinion seems to have been rather perfunctory : " These 
 Notturnos must be placed, from their melancholy and 
 graceful manner, among Chopin's earlier ones. The 
 second especially will speak to many hearts." 
 
 We may agree with the judgment on the second, but 
 the first belongs distinctly to Chopin's most mature 
 period of development. 
 
 No. 2. — Nocturne in F sharp minor. 
 
 This Nocturne has not the importance of the preced- 
 ing one. It is peculiarly Chopinesque, particularly in 
 the introductory bars, which recall the opening of the 
 A flat Nocturne, Opus 32, No. 2, and also in the chief 
 theme, the commencement of which is closely paralleled 
 
232 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 in the succeeding Nocturne, Opus 55, No. i. It is in a 
 soft elegiac mood, and Niecks speaks of its ilebile dol- 
 cezza (tear-laden sweetness). 
 
 Barbedette refers to it as " d'une tristesse navrante." 
 The first theme is repeated twice, transposed and en- 
 riched, and then the second subject enters. This is 
 marked piu lento, and is very different in character. 
 
 Willeby says it is fragmentary, and the relief is not 
 sufficient, but Niecks considers it is much finer, " in it we 
 meet again, as we did in some other Nocturnes, with 
 soothing simple chord progressions." When Gutmaxin 
 studied it with Chopin, the master told him the middle 
 section should be played as a recitative, " a tyrant com- 
 mands " (the first two chords), he said, " and the other 
 asks for mercy." Kullal< says : " The short, concen- 
 trated phrases of the new subject, the change of key 
 (major instead of minor) and of time, all indicate a 
 change of mood. In place of weeping and lamentation, 
 appears the resolve to endure courageously and nobly." 
 
 In a letter Chopin tells us he sold the French rights 
 of these two Nocturnes, with the Allegro de Concert, 
 the F sharp minor Polonaise and the Fantaisie, for two 
 thousand francs. 
 
 OPUS 49. — Fantaisie m F minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Madame la Princess L. de Souzzo. 
 
 npfllS Fantaisie ranks by general consent as one of 
 the highest expressions of the composer's genius. 
 It was written at George Sand's Chateau at Nohant 
 in 1 841, the time when his iriendsKip with the authoress 
 was at its happiest. As Niecks says : " Chopin's genius 
 had now reached the most perfect stage of its develop- 
 ment and was radiating with all the intensity of which 
 its nature was capable." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 233 
 
 Of this particular work he says : " It is one of his 
 best compositions ; nothing more common than the name 
 of Fantaisie, here we have the thing" The very flower 
 oi the great imaginative works, it is the nearest akin to 
 the Ballades, but in those the narrative feeling is so 
 strong that you realise that Chopin is telling you some 
 old-world legend or romance that he has heard. 
 
 The triple time common to all the Ballades, and that 
 seems inseparable in music from the idea of a story 
 told, is here replaced by common time, with the result 
 that, although it is unmistakably narrative in form^ we 
 feel that Chopin is revealing to us some dramatic and 
 moving incident in his own life. Is not a revelation 
 of personal moods, as are the Scherzi, but a narrative 
 of events in which the composer himself has borne a 
 part. It has more of the universal and less of the, 
 Polish national feeling than the Polonaises. 
 
 It opens with a march-like theme of serene gravity : 
 according to Chopin, if we may credit the statements at 
 third-hand of Liszt, the actual exciting cause of this 
 composition was a quarrel and reconciliation between 
 the composer and George Sand. The first two bars re- 
 present the knocking at the door of the room in which 
 the composer is dreaming at the piano, and the next two 
 stand for his invitation to come in. Enter George Sand 
 with Liszt, Madame Camille Pleyel, and other friends; 
 she kneels for pardon ; then come scenes of intercession, 
 reproaches, piteous appeals, and finally reconciliation. 
 
 Very possibly Chopin may have had some such epi- 
 sode in his mind, but this is music into which everybody 
 will read their own meaning; the themes are of such 
 self-sufficing beauty and variety that no programme is 
 necessary for its full enjoyment. 
 
 The treatment of this introduction is full of interest 
 and novelty. Hadow has pointed out how Chopin 
 leaves us in doubt as to whether he intends " the melody 
 to be entirely homogeneous in style, and whether the 
 
234 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 concluding strain of the stanza can possibly get back 
 without awkwardness to the key from which it has 
 strayed. Both these doubts are solved in the most 
 masterly fashion in the concluding line, which not only 
 carries the modulation with consummate ease, but com- 
 pletes the organic outline of the melody with the 
 daintiest delicacy and finish." 
 
 In the next section a series of ascending triplet pas- 
 sages gradually increasing in force and velocity usher 
 in an agitated theme (bar sixty-eight, agitato^ which 
 leads to a very beautiful passage, the proper interpreta- 
 tion of which is much discussed (bar seventy-seven). 
 
 In the "Klindworth" edition it is marked dolce, but 
 Kullak says that he does not consider this "authentic, 
 nor does it correspond with the heroic, highly dramatic 
 character of the subject." 
 
 Huneker calls it "that heroic love-chant erroneously 
 marked 'dolce,' and played with the effeminacies of a 
 salon. Three times does it resound, yet not once should 
 it be caressed; the bronze fingers of a Tausig are 
 needed." It is emphatically a case where every player 
 should be guided by his own feeling as to what is right. 
 It remains for him to convince his hearers by the artistic 
 completion of his reading of the whole piece that the 
 way in which he has played the passage is the only 
 possible rendering. 
 
 These various themes recur several times in different 
 keys, and then, after three dropping fianissimo octaves, 
 there comes a heavenly melody in B major (Lento sos- 
 tenuto), a reverie which after dreaming along for 
 twenty-four bars is broken in upon by a sudden sfor- 
 zando with dramatic effect.* 
 
 The former themes are repeated; two bars reminis- 
 cent of the lento ushers in a sweet and plaintive recita- 
 tive, soft billowy arpeggios swell up and die away; 
 
 * C/. Scherzo in B minor. End of lento section. Opus ao. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 235 
 
 then crashing chords once more bring us back with a 
 start to everyday life.* 
 
 " In the Fantaisie we again meet with the bold stormy 
 tone-poet, as we have learnt to know him. It is filled 
 with genial traits in detail, though the whole did not 
 choose to subject itself to the limits of a fine form. We 
 can only make suppositions as to the figures that floated 
 before Chopin when he wrote this, but the pictures were 
 certainly not cheerful ones." (Schumann.) 
 
 " This work is one of Chopin's best compositions — 
 unfettered by the scheme of a definite form such as the 
 sonata or the concerto, the composer develops his 
 thought with masterly freedom. There is an enthral- 
 ling weirdness about this work, a weirdness made up of 
 force of- passion and an indescribable fantastic way- 
 wardness. The music falls on our ears like the insup- 
 pressible outpouring of a being stirred to its heart's core, 
 and full of immeasurable love and longing. Who 
 would suspect the composer's fragility and sickliness in 
 this work ? Does it not rather suggest a Titan in com- 
 motion ? There was a time when I spoke of the Fan- 
 taisia in a less complimentary tone, now I bow doWn 
 my head regretfully and exclaim feccavi." (Niecks.) 
 
 "It parades a formal beauty — not disfigured by an 
 excess of violence, either personal or patriotic, and its 
 melodies, if restless by melancholy, are of surprising 
 nobility and dramatic grandeur. Without including 
 the Beethoven Sonatas, not strictly born of the instru- 
 ment, I do not fear to maintain that this Fantaisie is 
 one of the greatest of piano pieces. Never properly 
 appreciated by pianists, critics, or public, it is, after 
 more than half a century of neglect, being understood 
 at last." (Huneker.) 
 
 * C/. End of Opus 6i. Polonaise Fantaisie. 
 
236 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 OPUS so.— Three Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in G major; No. 2 in A flat major; No. 3 in C 
 sharp ininor. 
 
 Dedicated to M. Leon Szmitkowski. 
 Composed 1841. Published 1842. 
 
 r^ HOPIN published this and the next three books of 
 Mazurkas in sets of three, possibly because, taking 
 them as a whole, from now on, the form shows a greater 
 amount of development, and, on an average, greater 
 length and importance. 
 
 No. I in G major. 
 
 This is a beautiful, melodious, happy-hearted 
 Mazurka, straightforward in treatment, calling for no 
 special comment. 
 
 Klindworth marks the close pianissimo, while Kullak 
 prefers forte. It is unimportant, the method of playing 
 it being entirely a question of the mood of the moment. 
 
 Huneker says, " healthy and vivacious, good humour 
 predominates." 
 
 No. 2 in A flat major. 
 
 This Mazurka is even more melodious, more interest- 
 ing and more beautiful than its predecessor. Huneker 
 calls it " a perfect specimen of the aristocratic Mazurka." 
 The trio in D flat, with its episode in B flat minor, and 
 its decisive rhythm, is a well marked contrast to the 
 lightness and grace of the opening theme. 
 
 No. 3 in C sharp minor. 
 
 Harmonically this is one of the most interestingi_but 
 emotionally one of the least' so^of the Mazurkas. There^ 
 is a curious classical feeling about its opening section. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 237 
 
 Chopin's careful study of, and his predilections for 
 BacETEefe "appear TrnmistakaBly. Von Lenz says of this 
 piece : " It begins as though written for Jhe organ, and. 
 ends in an exclusive salon \ it does him credit, a.nd is 
 worked out more fully than the others. Chopin was 
 much pleased when I told him that in the construction 
 of this Mazurka, the passage from E major to F major 
 was the same as that in the Agatha aria in ' Freis- 
 chiitz.' " Huneker refers to the Bach-like imitations of 
 the opening : "The texture of this dance is closer and 
 finer„jp.un^ than any"we have "encountered. Perhaps 
 spontaneity is impaired, mats que voulez-vous? Chopin 
 was bound to develop, and his Mazurkas, fragile and 
 constricted as is the form, were sure to show a like 
 record of spiritual and intellectual growth." 
 
 OPUS 51. — Third Impromptu (Allegro vivace) in G 
 flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse Esterhazy. 
 Composed 1842. Published 1843. 
 
 'TTHIS is the least known of the Impromptus; Hune- 
 ker even says it is practically undiscovered. 
 
 It opens with two bars that Von Biilow directs 
 should be played as an improvisation, " at first some- 
 what riienuto, so that the allusion they contain to the 
 opening passage in the Impromptu, Opus 29 (which is 
 assuredly not unintentional) may be perceptible. Then 
 a slight accelerando leading into the lively Tempo 
 giusto, which, however, must not be too lively; giusto 
 to be understood in contrast to rubato." 
 
 The opening phrase has a most curious effect of 
 winding and twirling. Huneker describes the curves 
 in triplets as ophidian, and speaks of their tropical 
 colouring and rich morbidity. The trio in E flat minor 
 
238 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 has the melody in a 'cello-like passage in the bass, re- 
 calling the C sharp minor Etude. 
 
 Niecks speaks of its feverish restlessness and faint 
 plaintiveness. "After the irresolute flutter of the re- 
 laxing and enervating chromatic progressions and suc- 
 cessions of thirds and sijcths, the greater steadiness of 
 the middle section, more especially the subdued 
 strength and passionate eloquence at the D flat major, 
 has a good effect. But here, too, the languid, lamenting 
 chromatic passing and auxiliary notes are not wanting, 
 and the anxious, breathless accompaniment does not 
 make things more cheerful. In short, the piece is very 
 fine in its way, but the unrelieved, or at least very in- 
 sufficiently relieved, morbidezza is anything but healthy." 
 
 Huneker, too, feels this " morbidity." He says : " It 
 is neither so fresh in feeling nor so spontaneous in 
 utterance as its companions. There is a touch of the 
 faded, blask, and it is hardly healthy in sentiment. 
 The absence of simplicity is counterbalanced by 
 greater freedom of modulation and complexity of pat- 
 tern. The impromptu flavour is not missing, and 
 there is allied to delicacy of design a strangeness of 
 sentiment; that strangeness which Edgar Poe declared 
 should be a constituent element of all great art." 
 
 OPUS 52.— Fourth Ballade in F minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Baronne C. de Rothschild. 
 Composed 1842. Published 1843. 
 
 AS Niecks says : "It would be foolish and presump- 
 tuous to pronounce this or that one of the Bal- 
 lades the finest ; but one may safely say that the fourth 
 is fully worthy of her sisters." 
 
 Karasowski tells us that contemporary -critics, who, 
 with the exception of Schumann, unanimously con- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 239 
 
 demned Chopin's larger works, made a fierce onslaught 
 on this Ballade. He holds, however, that : " It dis- 
 plays the most poetry and intelligence of them all; 
 and for a satisfactory interpretation of its manifold 
 beauties, not only considerable mechanical skill, but 
 also subtle musical perception are required." 
 
 Kleczynski is less sympathetic to it. Apparently its 
 technical difliculties repelled him, for he speaks of the 
 final passages containing ostentation of difficulties 
 rather than organic development of the idea, and passes 
 over its many obvious beauties with almost slighting 
 brevity. It is throughout as sad and melancholy as the 
 preceding Ballade in A flat is light-hearted and cheer- 
 ful. Niecks says : " The emotional keynote of the piece 
 is longing sadness, and this keynote is well preserved 
 throughout; there are no long or distant excursions 
 from it. The variations of the principal subject are 
 more emphatic restatements of it; the first is more im- 
 pressive than the original, the second more eloquently 
 beseeching than either of them." 
 
 Huneker writes of this masterpiece witli character- 
 istic hyperbole, but he understands and appreciates its 
 value. It is to him a sanctuary : " Its inaccessible posi- 
 tion preserves it from rude and irreverent treatment ; it 
 is a masterpiece in piano literature, as the Mona Lisa 
 and Madame Bovary are masterpieces in painting and 
 prose. Its melody, which probes the very coverts of the 
 soul, is haunting in its chromatic colouring. . . . The 
 narrative tone is missing after the first page, a rather 
 moody and melancholy pondering usurping its place." 
 It is undoubtedly more introspective than the other 
 Ballades. There is perhaps in it an almost personal ' 
 note, as if Chopin had been reminded by something in 
 the story of some event in his own life and had aban- 
 doned himself to the mood of the moment. 
 • The opening seven bars form a kind of introduction, 
 the main theme has, as Huneker puts it, "the elusive 
 
240 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 charm of a slow, mournful waltz, that returns twice, 
 bejewelled, yet never overladen." 
 
 A close analysis of this masterpiece would be of 
 little value without an annotated edition of the music 
 to follow it with, but attention must be drawn to the 
 -second theme with its wonderful modulations, to the 
 elaborate but brief little cadenza, with its telling pauses, 
 the harmonic progressions at the stretto before the 
 furious and passionate coda, and the ■pianissimo chords 
 descending softly and ending in a long sustained sus- 
 pension before the final outburst. 
 
 OPUS 53. — Polonaise in A flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. A. Leo. 
 Published 1843. 
 
 T^HIS Polonaise is called the eighth on the original 
 title-page, but to arrive at this number it is neces- 
 sary to include the Polonaise, Opus 3, for piano and 
 violoncello. It is usually known as the "Heroic" 
 Polenajse. 
 
 Niecks says : " Only pianoforte giants can do justice 
 to this martial tone-picture. The physical strength of 
 the composer certainly did not suffice." 
 
 Chopin's pupil, Gutmann, said that "in this Polon- 
 aise Chopin could not thunder forth in the way we are 
 accustomed to hear it. As for the famous octave pas- 
 sages which occur in it, he began them fianissimo and 
 continued them without much increase in Ipudnigs. 
 And then, Chopin never thumped^" Would that we 
 could say the same of some of "diir modern virtuosi ! 
 But this is a piece that constantly tempts many of them 
 to extravagance. 
 
 Sir Charles Halle in his interesting reminiscences 
 tells us that Chopin resented sharply any deliberate 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 241 
 
 mis-reading of his compositions. " I remember how, on 
 one occasion, in his gentle way he laid his hand upon 
 my shoulder, saying how unhappy he felt because he 
 had heard his ' Grande Polonaise' in A flat, jouee vite.' 
 thereby destroying all the grandeur, the majesty, of 
 this noble inspiration. Poor Chopin must be rolling 
 round and round in his grave nowadays, for this mis- 
 reading has unfortunately become the fashion." 
 
 It is the descending semiquaver octave figure in the 
 bass which virtuosi usually play too fast, making too 
 prominent what is only an accompaniment figure, and 
 thereby destroying the essential nobility of the theme 
 in the right hand. Niecks, Karasowski, Huneker, and 
 Willeby all give currency to the idea that in this pas- 
 sage Chopin meant to suggest the trampling of horses. 
 If, however, the passage is played in correct time, it will 
 be found that there is no such suggestion. It is not in 
 the right rhythm, as will be seen on comparing it with 
 the wonderful orchestral interlude at the commencement 
 of the third scene in the last act of " Lohengrin." Klec- 
 zynski's analysis of this Polonaise and the remarks he 
 makes incidentally about programme music in coimec- 
 tion with it form the most valuable portion of his lec- 
 tures on Chopin's Greater Works. He says that even 
 among Chopin's compositions'this Polonaise is a cul- 
 minating point. " It exhibits a most majestic and 
 finished style. It is" a glorious apotheosis of the past." 
 He points out the dignity that the opening theme talces 
 on when eadh quaver in the bass is given its full value 
 and accent Between the trio and the resumption of 
 the fifst'part there are "strange and most charming pas- 
 sages whose connection with the main idea is not easily 
 peixeptible and which present no little difficulty of. 
 style to the performer. . . . What are the particular 
 principles of this phrase of the Polonaise ? Jn the right 
 hand a creeping passage sufficiently representing; quiet 
 aBcI mondfonous movement ; iri'the left hand the rhythm 
 
 16 
 
242 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 of the Polp.naise_eQnsJtardIjLasaatsJtse[f an^ not 
 
 stop "fox a momeni.. Moreover, the moyem«it of Jhe 
 right hand becomes gradually more and more silent, as 
 though dying away in the distance, while in the Icist 
 few bars, with a kind of assault and in a very rapid 
 crescendo, it returns and bursts out with the principal 
 theme. But what is this part doing in the whole pic- 
 ture? Imagine a gorgeous castle of ancient structure, 
 with many towers, halls, passages and bridges. In it, in 
 the centre ball-room, a fine band plays a majestic Pol- 
 onaise. The couples in national dress, war-like with 
 swords, glide dignified, accentuating with the step the 
 rhythm. In the middle part, E major, we may see the 
 approach of a cavalcade, maybe after a triumph; no 
 matter, we shall only give our attention to that part of 
 the Polonaise where all the buoyant march following 
 the first couple passes gaily into adjacent halls, then 
 glides over the distant bridges, enters the park, and 
 only after such an excursion when they all seem lost, 
 do we hear them approaching by another entrajice, and 
 with them the strains of triumphal music. Does not 
 this explanation help us to play the piece? Do we not 
 feel more sure of our way in consequence of it ? Shall 
 we not shade the pianissimo passages with a more 
 charming delicacy, knowing the significance of the 
 music, and will not the fortissimo phrases appear after- 
 wards with greater splendour?" 
 
 There is no doubt that Kleczynski is right in his 
 powerful plea that there is much in modern music which 
 we cannot understand and therefore render intelligible 
 without an exercise of our imagination. " It is imagina- 
 tion which must create in our soul a certain whole which 
 will bring into harmony the various contrasts, a whole 
 with which the parts are sometimes connected only 
 obliquely, by a combination of sounds only." 
 
 It is on record that in the trio Tausig used to hold 
 down the loud pedal for a length of time without in- 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 243 
 
 terruptioa Kleczynski points out that this is only 
 allowable in grand crescendos, when the sonority of 
 the instrument attains prodigious proportions. At the 
 seventeenth^ bar of the trio, where the key suddenly 
 cKaHgesagainlntQ7A~J9;gt; there is a very curious effect. 
 The.iist.eles;en..hars of the octave passage a.ie.fianis- 
 .shiS, then as if one heard the procession approaching 
 without seeing it, there is a xs.^\d crescendo, and at the 
 diange of key the" \yhole body of sound is dropped a 
 semitone, which^giyes exactly the effect of the caval- 
 cade having jiiat, rounded a corner and come suddenly 
 into view. 
 
 OPUS 54. — Scherzo No. 4 in E major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. J. de Caraman. 
 Published 1843. 
 
 T F we look upon the Scherzi as affording a more per- 
 sonal revelation of Chopin than any other of the 
 composer's works, we shall be consoled to find that, not- 
 withstanding his increasing ill-health, we find him here 
 in a happier, lighter-hearted, more contented frame of 
 mind than eight years before, when he published his 
 first Scherzo in B minor. The mood too is quite differ- 
 ent from that of the fierce scorn of the third Scherzo. 
 Here a delightful independence replaces defiance, and 
 a gentle raillery reigns instead of the sarcasm and in- 
 vective of the earlier work. It is a delightful composi- 
 tion, so full of charm and delicate beauty of detail 
 that it is impossible to agree with Willeby, who finds 
 it of inordinate length. 
 
 He draws attention to the similarity of the ascending 
 phrase at bar seventeen, to the opening of the Ballade 
 in A flat, on which he bases the statement that he finds 
 the Scherzo more valuable for its exquisite treatment 
 of detail than for its absolute originality of idea. 
 
244 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The resemblance is, however, more striking on papa: 
 than in performance, for in tonality, rhythni and feel- 
 ing, the two phrases are widely distinct. 
 
 Kullak draws attention to the fact that this Scherzo 
 differs from the others inasmuch as the rhythmic anima- 
 tion, peculiarly appropriate to the Scherzo style, is much 
 less prominent than the long drawn out, soft cantilenas. 
 
 Niecks does not seem to have been in a very happy 
 frame of mind when he set down his opinions of this 
 genial work. He finds that "although less closely 
 wrapped (like the other Scherzi) it wears dark veils," 
 and he considers it inferior to its brothers, and to have 
 the appearance of being laboured, painfully hammered 
 and welded together. However, he ackriowledges the 
 beauty of many of the details ; " indeed, the harmonic 
 finesses, the melodic cunning, and rhythmical piquancy, 
 are too potent to be ignored. The resting-place and 
 redeeming part of this Scherzo is the sweetly-melodi- 
 ous second section, with its long, smooth, gently and 
 beautifully curved lines." 
 
 Karasowski speaks of its "kindlier face"; and Hune- 
 ker, as usual, does it full justice, seizing the character 
 of the work, and mirroring it, as it were, in the style of 
 his description. He says it "can be described by no 
 better or more commonplace a word than delightful. 
 It is delightful sunny music, and its swiftness, direct- 
 ness and sweep are compelling. The five preluding 
 bars of half-notes, unisono, at once strike the keynote 
 of optimism and sweet faith. What follows is the 
 ruffling of the tree-tops by warm south winds." He 
 tells us that the ascending passage at the seventeenth 
 bar has been boldly utilised by Saint-Saens in the 
 Scherzo of his G minor piano Concerto, and draws at- 
 tention to the episode in E of contrasted duple and 
 triple rhythm which is reminiscent of the A flat Valse, 
 Op. 42. Elsewhere he says : " Built up by a series of 
 cuiming touches and climaxes, and without the mood. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 245 
 
 depth, or variety of its brethren, it is more truly a 
 Scherzo than any of them. It has tripping lightness, 
 and there is sunshine imprisoned behind its open bars. 
 Here is intellectual refinement and jesting of a superior 
 sort ; I find the fairy-like measures delightful after the 
 doleful mutterings of some of the other Scherzi. There 
 is the same spirit of opposition, but of arrogance none. 
 It seems to be banned by classicists and Chopin wor- 
 shippers alike. The agnostic attitude is not yet dead 
 in the piano-playing world." 
 
 It certainly would be as well if some of our drawing- 
 room virtuosi would give the G minor and A flat Bal- 
 lades a rest, and devote some attention to making this 
 delightful work more familiar to the general run of 
 amateurs. It is full of beauties, which are, however, so 
 obvious that they require no special comment. One 
 may, however, particularise the stretto, and recitative- 
 like passage leading up to the beautiful cantabile 
 melody marked fiii lento, the re-entry of the first sub- 
 ject with the double pedal-point, and the fascinating 
 coda with its billowy ascending passage, the contrasted 
 vigour of the closing phrases and its silvery concluding 
 scale. 
 
 OPUS 55.— Two Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I in F minor; No. 2 in E flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. J. W. Stirling. 
 Published in 1844. 
 
 npHESE two Nocturnes are distinctly less interesting 
 than any of the others ; the first is well known to 
 amateurs, as it is one of the least difficult, but the 
 second is the most unfamiliar of the whole group. 
 
 Kullak finds the chief subject of the first gloomy and 
 melancholy, but Niecks refers to its flebtle dolcezza 
 
246 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 (tear-laden sweetness). Kleczynski gives elaborate 
 directions how this Nocturne should be played. He 
 opposes the theories of Hanslick — ^who pronounces 
 music to be powerless for the production of sentiments 
 — and declares that if the work is to be grasped in its 
 entirety it is necessary to " apply it to the words of an 
 imaginary poem created by our own mind; the details 
 will then come spontaneously and without difficulty." 
 
 To him this Nocturne represents "a sadness which 
 rises by different degrees to a cry of despair, and is 
 then tranquillised by a feeling of hope." 
 
 Kullak acting on this theory says : "We may be per- 
 mitted to imagine a wanderer, who goes his way soli- 
 tary and sad, after taking leave of his beloved home 
 and all his dear ones." 
 
 The second section, which Niecks considers inferior, 
 though more impassioned, is "march-like in character, 
 as if the wanderer had resolved henceforth to go on 
 more courageously." In the ninth bar of the second 
 subject the movement becomes more passionate and ex- 
 cited. A passage in the treble which seems like an 
 abandonment to despair, should be played molto 
 yubato, and leads through an effective passage stretto 
 to a resumption of the first subject. This, however, 
 breaks off into an agitated movement, which gradually 
 calms down and floats off into a passage that rises 
 over a firmly-held chord in the bass, and is played 
 always softer and faster till it seems to vanish. Two 
 beautiful chords lead from the minor to the major, 
 and three arpeggio chords, " strong, long, and majestic, 
 as though proceeding from an organ," bring the Noc- 
 turne to a grateful close. 
 
 Kullak says the coda sounds to him like "Thank 
 God, the goal is reached." 
 
 Huneker says : "It is the relief of a major key after 
 prolonged wanderings in the minor. It is a nice Noc- 
 turne, neat in its sorrow, yet not epoch-making." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 24; 
 No. 2, Nocturne in E flat. 
 
 This Nocturne does not lend itself easily to analysis. 
 KuUak says "that it makes the impression of an im- 
 provisation. One and the same mood breathes through 
 the entire piece, but the ideas follow each other as in 
 free improvisation, following the impulse of the moment 
 only, and paying no heed to strict laws of form in 
 either articulation or arrangement." 
 
 Niecks draws attention to its difference in form from 
 the other Nocturnes in "that it has no contrasting 
 second section, the melody flowing onward from begin- 
 ning to end in a uniform manner, the monotony of 
 the unrelieved sentimentality does not fail to make 
 itself felt. One is seized by an ever-increasing longing 
 to get out of this oppressive atmosphere, to feel the 
 fresh breezes and warm sunshine, to see smiling faces, 
 and the many-coloured dress of Nature, to hear the 
 rustling of leaves, the murmuring of streams and voices 
 which have not yet lost the clear, sonorous ring that 
 joy in the present and hope in the future impart." 
 
 The fact is the commentators seem to have become a 
 little tired of their detailed examination of the group 
 of Nocturnes, for Huneker only says, " it has the merit 
 of being seldom heard," and Kleczynski merely re- 
 marks that " the style is somewhat grandiose, by reason 
 of an extended phrasing." Barbedette speaks of it as 
 written in a style "un feu tourmente" 
 
 It will, however, repay careful study, being full of 
 interesting harmonic details. The coda is a gem; be- 
 ginning from the twelfth bar from the end, there is a 
 wonderful modulation to the eleventh bar, followed by 
 a phrase as original, distinguished and beautiful as 
 anything Chopin ever wrote. The fame, however, of 
 this Nocturne in E flat is quite eclipsed by the more 
 popular one in the same key. Opus 9, No. 2. 
 
 These two Nocturnes were offered, with the three 
 Mazurkas forming Opus 56, to a Paris publisher for 
 
248 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 six hundred francs, and they are dedicated to Miss 
 Stirling, the kind and generous Scotch friend and pupil 
 to whom Chopin owed it that his last months were not 
 spent in poverty. 
 
 OPUS 56.— Three Mazurkas. ^^ 
 
 No. I in B major; No. 2 in C major; No. 3 in C minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. C. Maberly. 
 Published 1844. 
 
 C\^ the whole this set shows a falling off in Chopin's 
 ^^ inspiration, and in this particular it is curiously 
 matched by the two Nocturnes, Opus 55, which, written 
 about the same time, are decidedly the least interesting 
 of the pieces of that group. 
 
 No. I in B major. 
 
 This is one of the most elaborate of the Mazurkas. 
 Huneker calls it " very virtuoso-like, but not so intricate 
 as some of the others. There is decoration in the ritor- 
 nelle in E flat, and one feels the absence of a compen- 
 sating emotion despite the display of contrapuntal skill." 
 
 No. 2 in C major. 
 
 Karasowski selects this Mazurka as the one which 
 illustrates most strikingly the way in which Chopin 
 displays '" a tinge of melancholy, as if the composer 
 had only indulged in a momentary diversion and nar- 
 cotic intoxication to return the more sadly to his ori- 
 ginal gloom." 
 
 Huneker says : " There is the peasant in the first bars 
 in C, but the A minor which follows soon disturbs the 
 air of bonhomie. Theoretical ease is in the imitative 
 passages ; Chopin is now master of his tools." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 249 
 No. 3 in C minor. 
 
 This Mazurka is a pendant to No. i of the set. It 
 shows the same elaboration and somewhat monotonous, 
 "^oientlv relieved length. 
 
 ., ks it does not give the impression of a 
 whole : e exception of a short break in B major, 
 
 it is composed with the head, not the heart, nor yet 
 the heels." 
 
 Some of the harmonies are quite Wagnerian. It 
 suits some moods, especially if one has leisure for con- 
 templation. It rather grows on one. 
 
 OPUS 57. — Berceuse in D fiat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. Elise Gavard. 
 Composed 1844. Published 1845. 
 
 'T'HIS Berceuse is perhaps the most marvellous in- 
 stance of "filagree" work in music. Chopin, 
 starting with two bars of a simple rocking figure in the/ 
 bass, takes a naive little melody of four bars, and with 
 these two phrases performs miracles. The bass remains 
 in unaltered rhythm throughout the whole seventy bars, 
 on the tonic and dominant harmonies, except at the 
 twelfth and thirteenth bars from the end, when the 
 chord of the sub-dominant gives a moment's change. 
 
 After the first four bars, the melody is joined by 
 what Niecks happily styles " a self-willed second part," 
 and thence onwards every repetition of the phrase is 
 the subject of some exquisite variation, of sudi delicate 
 beauty and charm that the senses become hypnotised, 
 and in listening to it we pass into a kind of trance. 
 Alexandre Dumas felt this charm, and wrote in the 
 " Affaire Clemenoeau " : " This muted music (musique 
 en sourdine) which penetrated little by little the atmos- 
 phere and enveloped us in one and the same sensation, 
 
250 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 comparable, perhaps, to that which follows a Turkish 
 bath, when all the senses are confounded in a general 
 apaisement, when the body, harmoniously broken, has 
 no longer any other wish than rest, and when the soul, 
 seeing all the doors of its prison open, goes wherever it 
 lists, but always towards the Blue, into the Dreamland." 
 
 The " fineness, subtlety, loveliness, and gracefulness " 
 of the "iionture, coloratura and other trickeries" re- 
 mind Niecks of Queen Mab, and Shakespeare's fairy- 
 like passage describing her coach in " Romeo and 
 Juliet." 
 
 Willeby thinks that "never was music written more 
 happily bearing out its title," and in the last eight bars 
 sees " the nurse, who has been rocking the child, herself 
 succumbing to the drowsy influence of the music." 
 
 But a finer appreciation is that of " Israfel " writing 
 in the " Dome." He calls it " a little wrought ivory piece 
 of exquisiteness just sufficiently trivial, which is, how- 
 ever, so delicately and ecstatically amorous that it misses 
 its mark as a cradle-song." It is hardly a Berceuse in 
 the sense of a lullaby ; it is rather the reverie of a young 
 mother over the cradle of her child, more occupied with 
 her own dreams and eloquent fancies than the lulling 
 of the infant. Kullak evidently finds the same thing, 
 for in his directions as to performance he says : " The 
 melody at the beginning is to be played very tenderly, 
 in keeping with the character of a cradle song; the fol- 
 lowing passages in that dreamy, half -vanishing way 
 which suggest picture on picture to the fancy without 
 sketching a single one in firmer outlines." 
 
 Huneker speaks of its " modulations from pigeon-egg 
 blue to pale green, most misty and subtle modulations 
 that dissolve before one's eyes, and for a moment the 
 sky is peppered with tiny stars in doubles, each inde- 
 pendently treated. Within a small segment of the 
 chromatic bow Chopin has imprisoned new, strangely 
 dissonant colours. It is a miracle, and after the drawn- 
 out chord of the dominant seventh and the rain of 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 251 
 
 silvery fire ceases, one realises that the whole piece is a 
 delicious illusion, but an ululation in the key of D flat, 
 the apotheosis of pyrotechnical coloratureV Elsewhere 
 he speaks of the " delicate and aristocratic child " that 
 must be the recipient of such a lullaby, and contrasts 
 it with the homelier but no less precious babe of 
 Bralims's music in the same style. 
 
 Kleczynski thinks this Berceuse should be numbered 
 with the Nocturnes. This seems rather a superficial 
 and undiscriminating classification. Its one ideal, 
 fanciful and contemplative quality differentiates it 
 radically from the more varied lyric and dramatic 
 strength of the Nocturnes. It is interesting to com- 
 pare this masterpiece with the first variation of the 
 Polish folk song in the Fantaisie on National Airs, 
 Op. 13, when the idea of the unchanged rocking bass 
 with the variations on the air above is clearly 
 foreshadowed. 
 
 OPUS 58. — Sonata in B minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Comtesse E. de Perthuis. 
 Composed 1844. Published June, 1845. 
 
 " 'T'HE psychology of the sonata form is false," says 
 Fincic. "Men and women do not feel happy 
 for ten minutes as in the opening allegro of a sonata, 
 then melancholy for another ten minutes as in the fol- 
 lowing adagio, then frisky as in the scherzo, and fin- 
 ally fiery and impetuous for ten minutes as in the 
 ■finale. The movements of our minds are seldom so 
 systematic as this. Sad and happy thoughts and 
 moods chase one another incessantly and irregularly, 
 as they do in the compositions of Chopin, which, there- 
 fore, are much truer echoes of our modern romantic 
 feelings than the stiff and formal classical sonatas. 
 And thus it is that Chopin's habitual neglect of the 
 
252 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 sonata form, instead of being a defect, reveals his rare 
 artistic subtlety and grandeur." 
 
 The same writer, in his admirable essay on Chopin, 
 quotes Dr. Hanslick, the celebrated German critic, as 
 saying of Chopin : " This composer, although highly 
 and peculiarly gifted, was never able to unite the frag- 
 rant flowers which he scattered by handfuls into beau- 
 tiful wreaths." 
 
 Finck says Hanslick intends this as censure, but he 
 regards it as the greatest compliment Chopin could 
 have been paid. "A wreath may be very pretty in its 
 way, but it is artificial. The flowers are crushed, and 
 their fragrance does not blend." 
 
 Chopin certainly put enough flowers into the wreath 
 of this Sonata. The first movement contains such a 
 profusion of themes and such a wealth of details that 
 two movements might be made out of them. 
 
 Karasowski says : " The composer seems to have 
 found it difficult to keep the profusion of thought 
 within due proportions. In the development of the 
 first theme there is a want of repose which is only 
 made up for by the wonderful cantilene in D major." 
 Huneker calls this melody "an aubade, a Nocturne 
 of the morn. There is a morning freshness in its hue 
 and scent, and when it bursts a parterre of roses." JJlU 
 the commentators regret the. confus.ed. WieaJth- pf 
 matexial .and the tropical luxuriance of its handling 
 that iritervenes between the clearrcut opening phrases 
 and the exquisite melody of the second ^subject. 
 
 But this reproach cannot be brought against the 
 graceful, airy, restrained perfection of the scherzo. A 
 beautiful quaver figure winds in and out, up and down, 
 untiringly and without pause till the trio is reached, 
 which is delicious in contrast, but yet in exquisite ac- 
 cord with the mood of the first section. 
 
 Huneker speaks of it as "vivacious, charming, light 
 as a harebell in the soft breeze. It has a clear ring of 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 253 
 
 the scherzo, and harks back to Weber in its impersonal, 
 amiable hurry." Elsewhere, in comparison with the 
 great Scherzi, he speaks of it in a more slighting tone, 
 and says : " The resolution is not intellectual and is 
 purely one of tonality. It might go on for ever. It 
 must be considered as an intermezzo, and also as a 
 prelude to the lyric measures of the beautiful largo 
 that follows. This largo is one of Chopin's less happy 
 ■ inspirations. The melody has a ring of the common- 
 place, and the accompanying figure in the.hass is jerky 
 and in ill accord, with it." 
 
 Kullak speaks of the self-absorbed, religious char- 
 acter of the second subject in E major. It is so self- 
 absorbed that it goes on too long with its almost un- 
 broken quaver figure and unrelieved sweetness. It 
 must be taken as a typical instance of what Liszt said 
 when he spoke of Chopin's efforts in the larger forms 
 as showing plus de volonie que d' inspiration. 
 
 The -finale, however, is brilliant, or should be so when 
 properly played. It takes a giant's strength to play 
 it, and is probably responsible for Professor Hans 
 Schmidt, of the Vienna Conservatoire, placing this Son- 
 ata at the head of all Chopin's compositions for tech- 
 nical difficulty. The other two Sonatas and the 
 Allegro de Concert share the next three places in this 
 interesting classification. It opens with eight bars of 
 a vigorous introduction, and then the melody enters, 
 marked agitata. Twice again we get this fine theme. 
 The first time it is accompanied in the bass by quavers 
 in groups of three; the second time the quavers are in 
 groups of four," and at the last reprise the melody is 
 in octaves accompanied by galloping groups of six 
 semiquavers. Between each section there are wonder- 
 ful pages of brilliant passage work, and the coda in 
 B major is of thrilling brio, and brings the whole work 
 to an aboundingly happy conclusion. 
 
254 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 It is a magnificent Sonata taken as a whole, but 
 nothing like as poetical as Opus 35, although more of 
 a sonata in the usual classical sense. 
 
 OPUS 59. — Three Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in A minor; No. 2 in A flat major; No. 3 in F 
 sharp minor. 
 
 Published January, 1846. 
 
 A FTER the halt in interest and inspiration of the 
 Mazurkas forming Opus 56, it is refreshing to 
 find Chopin's genius again leaping forward; and as 
 we could compare the uninteresting Nocturnes of Opus 
 55 with that set of Mazurkas, we can now compare the 
 success of the present set with the rich and melodious 
 mood of the Nocturnes forming Opus 62. 
 
 No. I in A minor. 
 
 This Mazurka contains some of Chopin's most self- 
 willed and original modulations. If Rellstab wanted 
 to tear up Opus 7, what would he have not done to this 
 wild and wayward composition of Chopin's prime? 
 
 Huneker compares it with its quality of sturdy 
 affirmation to the one in C sharp minor. No. I of Opus 
 41. It is quite as strange in its harmonies, but much 
 less decided and consistent. Huneker says : " That 
 Chopin did not repeat himself is an artistic miracle. 
 A subtle turn takes us off the familiar road to some 
 strange, glade wherein the flowers are rare in scent and 
 odour. This Mazurka, like the one that follows, has 
 a dim resemblance to others, yet there is always a novel 
 point of departure, a fresh harmony, a sudden melody, 
 or an unexpected ending." 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 255 
 No. 2 in A flat major. 
 
 "Perhaps the most beautiful of all the Mazurkas," 
 says Hadow, and the majority of people will agree 
 with him. It may not be the strongest, the most ori- 
 ginal, or the most fascinating, but it certainly is the 
 most exquisitely tuneful and graceful. 
 
 Huneker says : " There is no gainsaying the fact that 
 this is a noble composition." It appeals to him as an 
 amplification of the lovely Mazurka in the same key. 
 Opus 50, No. 2. 
 
 , The leading melocly is exquisite, and the trio worthy 
 of it, and the passage marked marcato, where the air is 
 given the left hand is entrancing. At the a tempo 
 fresh charm is added by the sub-melody of the top 
 notes of the chords in the bass, as indicated by Klind- 
 worth. 
 
 No. 3 in F sharp minor. 
 
 Huneker raves, and deservedly, about this Mazurka : 
 " Chopin is at the summit of his invention. Time and 
 tune that wait for nO man, are now his bond slaves. 
 Pathos, delicacy, boldness, a measured melancholy, 
 and the art of euphonious presentment of all these, 
 and many factors now stamp this Mazurka a master- 
 piece." 
 
 It is intensely characteristic and interesting through- 
 out. The coda is a gem; it has humour, freshness, 
 spontaneity. It is one of those separate inspirations 
 of Chopin that, as in the Nocturnes, he occasionally 
 reserves with prodigal extravagance for his codas only. 
 
256 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 OPUS 60. — Barcarolle in F sharp major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Baronne de Stockhausen. 
 Published 1846. 
 
 'T'HrS is Chopin's only essay in the popular and 
 essentially Venetian form of the Barcarolle. The 
 word means a boat song, and is used to designate 
 pieces written in imitation of the songs of Venetian 
 barcarolli as, they urge their gondolas along the silent 
 canals. The essential characteristic of the form is the 
 alternation of a strong and light beat in f time; 
 Chopin's Barcarolle is an exception, being written in ^ 
 time. A triplet figure pervades the entire composition, 
 the object being to convey the idea of the rise and fall 
 of the boat, or the regular rhythmic strokes of the oars. 
 There is a certain amount of local colour in this piece, 
 and the melody is of such a character that we are re- 
 minded of Schumann's saying that Chopin in his melo- 
 dies leans sometimes over Germany towards Italy. 
 
 But even in this purely local form Chopin is occu- 
 pied not so much with a transcript of nature, a render- 
 ing of the charm of the canals and lagoons of Venice, 
 with their shifting, opalescent light and colours, as 
 with human emotions. He concentrates our attention 
 on what is evidently a dramatic duet between two 
 lovers in a gondola, absorbed in themselves and their 
 own affairs. This piece requires consummate skill in 
 handling, otherwise the unbroken long-breathed 
 rhythm and the want of contrast in the middle section 
 will make it appear rather long, and, in spite of the 
 great beauty of much of the detail, monotonous. This 
 was the view held by Von Lenz until he heard the great 
 virtuoso Tausig play the piece when they were alone 
 together. He had offered to do so, saying : " That is 
 a performance which must not be undertaken before 
 more than two persons; I shall play you my own self 
 (meinen menschen). I love the piece, but take it up 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 257 
 
 only very rarely." He diescribes the piece as a con- 
 tinuous tender dialogue with a two-part cantilena 
 superimposed on a lightly-rocking theme in the bass. 
 
 Kullak says the melody of the chief subject should 
 be graceful and fragrant in delivery, but that the 
 second subject at the change to A major requires more 
 definite treatment. The bass here in contrast to the 
 soft wavelike motion of the first part has the mono- 
 tonous steadiness of oar-strokes. 
 
 Tausig considered that the affairs of the lovers came 
 to a crisis at the cadenza-like phrases marked dolce 
 sfogato (softly breathed out), which he took to sym- 
 bolise an embrace and a kiss. Certainly after this the 
 melody is resumed with an emotion somewhat height- 
 ened and filled, as it were, with a sense of love 
 triumphant. 
 
 The coda dies away in a happy dream, and closes 
 with fortissimo octaves, a favourite device of Chopin's, 
 who sought thereby to bring his hearers back from his 
 music-dreamland to the world of every day. 
 
 Halle in his memoirs narrates how he heard Chopin 
 play this Barcarolle at his last public concert in Paris, 
 when, on account of his lack of physical strength 
 owing to increasing illness, Chopin " played it from the 
 point when it demands the utmost energy, in the op- 
 posite style pianissimo, but with such wonderful 
 nuances that one remained in doubt if this new render- 
 ing were not preferable to the accustomed one." 
 
 OPUS 61. — Polonaise Fantaisie in A flat. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. A. Veyret. 
 Published 1846. 
 
 TN this wonderfully beautiful and interesting piece 
 Chopin still further emancipated himself from ad- 
 herence to the strict form of the Polonaise, so much 
 
 17 
 
258 A Handbook to Chopin'5 Works. 
 
 so that the qualifying title "Fantaisie" became abso- 
 lutely necessary. The distinguishing rhythm of the 
 Polonaise, although prominent in the leading subject, 
 often becomes disguised and is frequently absent alto- 
 gether; but the piece remains very distinctly Polish 
 in character and filing. Chopin here is in an entirely 
 different mood to that of the F sharp minor Polonaise 
 (Op. 44) and the A flat Polonaise (Op. 53). His mood 
 here is more contemplative, and an elegiac sadness per- 
 vades the greater part of the piece. It is practically 
 his last important work, and throughout we seem to 
 see the shadow of his approaching end. The intro- 
 duction with its abrupt pause and its contemplative 
 cadenzas is strikingly original. The chief and 
 secondary subjects are full of character and charm. 
 The piu lento in the B major episode is as beautiful as 
 the slow movement in the great F minor Fantaisie. 
 The succeeding page becomes certainly more Fantaisie 
 than Polonaise, with its chain of shakes, its references 
 to the slow movement and its return to the introduc- 
 tion. There is a curious indecision at the change of 
 key to A flat ; but then, as if suddenly inspired, Chopin 
 breaks off, and the hesitation and uncertainty vanish in 
 a triumphant outburst, in which we seem to hear Chopin 
 prophesying the ultimate recovery of freedom by his 
 oppressed country ; cind in the contented contemplation 
 of this the music dies away, getting softer and softer, 
 until a single loud chord brings us back to the world of 
 every day. Niecks calls this the most affecting com- 
 position among all the productions of Chopin, but he 
 reads into it " unspeakable, unfathomable wretchedness 
 — ^boundless desolation — lamentations and cries of de- 
 spair," and he says that on account of its pathological 
 contents the work stands outside the sphere of art. 
 This, however, is a very extreme view. The Pro- 
 fessor seems to have been infected by some of Liszt's 
 exaggeration. The great pianist, after reading into the 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 259 
 
 work restless, feverish anxiety and a kind of hysterical 
 despair, says that "such pictures as these are of little 
 value to art. They only serve to torture the soul, like 
 all descriptions of extreme moments, of agonies, of 
 death rattles," and so on. 
 
 This work has received scant justice at the hands of 
 nearly all the critics, but Huneker says : " It is one of 
 the three great Polonaises, and is just beginning to be 
 understood. It unites the characteristics of superb and 
 original manipulation of the form, the martial and the 
 melancholic." Elsewhere he compares it with Foe's 
 poem, "Ulalume," with its haunting, harrowing har- 
 
 monies ; 
 
 ' Then my heart it grew ashen and sober,. 
 As the leaves that were crisped and sere — 
 As the leaves that were withering and sere." 
 
 OPUS 62. — Two Nocturnes. 
 
 No. I in B major (Andante) ; No. 2 in E major (Lento). 
 
 Dedicated to Mile. R. de Konneritz. 
 Published in 1846. 
 
 npHERE seems to be a consensus of opinion amongst 
 •^ the critics that these last two Nocturnes of 
 Chopin's are lacking in spontaneity, and reflect to a 
 certain extent the ravages that illness had made upon 
 his constitution. 
 
 Niecks says, "that they seem to owe their existence 
 rather to the sweet habit of activity than to inspiration ; 
 at any rate, the tender flutings, trills, roulades, synco- 
 pations, etc., of the first in B major and the sentimental 
 declarations and confused monotonous agitation of the 
 second in E major do not interest me sufficiently to 
 induce me to discuss their merits and demerits." 
 Kleczynski sees in them the evidences of a broken spirit, 
 
26o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 and thinks that by their somewhat too affected form, 
 they " furnish an indication of the ravages made upon 
 the heart of the poet by deception and physical suf- 
 fering." 
 
 Willeby finds the "opening two bars of the first 
 sufficiently original, and the melody which follows, 
 although hardly one of the best, inexpressibly sweet." 
 
 Considerable harmonic cunning is evinced in this 
 Nocturne, but the whole lacks that spontaneity which 
 so distinguishes some of the earlier ones. 
 
 Huneker is warmer in his appreciation. He calls it 
 the " Tuberose Nocturne," and says : " It is faint with a 
 sick, rich odour. The climbing trellis of notes, that so 
 unexpectedly leads to the tonic, is charming, and the 
 chief tune has charm, a fruity charm. It is highly or- 
 nate, its harmonies dense, the entire surface overrun 
 with wild ornamentation, and a profusion of trills. Al- 
 though this Nocturne is luxuriant in style, it deserves 
 warmer praise than is accorded it. Irregular as its out- 
 line is, its troubled lyricism is appealing, is melting, 
 and the A flat portion, with its hesitating, timid ac- 
 cents, has great power of attraction." 
 
 Finck, however, always daring and unconventional 
 as a critic, " speaks out loud and bold." He says it is 
 the sublimest of the Nocturnes, and waxes eloquent on 
 the wonderful modulation from B major to A flat, and 
 later about the delicious series of chords in the fourth 
 and fifth bars after the tempo frimo, which lead to the 
 final section (fourteen bars from the end). 
 
 There are three Nocturnes in this key of B major, of 
 which this is the most celebrated, and as it offers con- 
 siderable technical difficulties in the proper execution 
 of the chain of trills which are such a feature of the last 
 part, it is now often played at concerts, although for 
 many years it was unaccountably neglected. Kullak 
 says : "The Nocturne is like a beautiful lyric poem 
 created in a consecrated hour free from trouble. The 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 261 
 
 chief subject reminds one of Opus 32, No. i. In the 
 secondary subject, with the change of key, a change of 
 mood is perceptible; it becomes a shade more earnest, 
 but also more elevated and serene. On the return of 
 the chief subject it appears arrayed in such a profusion 
 of chain trills and fiorituras that its effect, when exe- 
 cuted with taste and elegance, is magical." 
 
 If this Nocturne has a fault, it is that the two chief 
 subjects are not sufficiently contrasted, and therefore 
 there is a slight tendency for the sweetness of the melo- 
 dies to become monotonous. It is night in this Noc- 
 turne, a warm moonlit, tree-shaded night in an Italian 
 garden, with the heavy scent of daturas on the air, and 
 the nightingale singing in "full-throated ease." 
 
 No. 2. Nocturne in E major (Lento). 
 
 Notwithstanding the depreciatory remarks of some 
 critics (see Op. 62, No. i) there is no falling off in 
 either power or charm in this last Nocturne from 
 Chopin's pen. Karasowski says that " although written 
 shortly before Chopin's death (really three years 
 before), it is full of refinement of harmony, sweet mel- 
 ody cind reverie ; " and Bcirbedette considers that " both 
 in harmony and counterpoint it offers an infinite amount 
 of interest." 
 
 Huneker defends it, and says that it is not at all 
 sentimental, as Niecks avers, unless so distorted in the 
 playing. " It has a Bardic ring, its song is almost de- 
 clamatory. The intermediate portion is wavering and 
 passionate like the middle of the F sharp major Noc- 
 turne. It shows no decrease in creative vigour or lyri- 
 cal fancy." 
 
 The chief subject recalls distinctly the beginning of 
 the Nocturne in C minor. Opus 48, No. i. It leads 
 through an interlude to a second subject which "is more 
 passionate and animated in character. The upper and 
 bass voices form a sort of dialogue in lively contro- 
 
262 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 versy. The incidental imitations are to be made pro- 
 minent in delivery. The Nocturne is no less rich in 
 fine points of harmony and melody, than all preceding 
 works of the same species " (Kullak). 
 
 There is a lingering pathos about the coda, as if 
 Chopin was loth to end what he perhaps felt would be 
 his last inspiration in this form. 
 
 OPUS 63.— Three Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in B major; No. 2 in F minor; No. 3 in C sharp 
 minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Comtesse L. Czosnowska. 
 Published 1847. 
 
 TN 1847 there appeared the last three works that 
 Chopin published during his life. Niecks find it 
 strafige that the last book of Mazurkas should have 
 something of the early freshness and poetry of the 
 composer. Why strange? With the exception of Opus 
 55 and 56, which apparently marked only a passing 
 phase, there is no evidence of any falling-off in the in- 
 spiration of Chopin's later works. There is especially 
 in the first of these Mazurkas a winning charm, whilst 
 the contrapuntal skill displayed in the third is evidence 
 of the development of Chopin's technical resources. 
 
 No. I in B major. 
 
 Huneker speaks of this as "full of vitality" — suffi- 
 ciently various in figuration and rhythmical life to 
 single it out from its fellows. 
 
 The opening theme is vivacious, bright and full of 
 freshriess of feeling; the trio is quaint and curiously 
 reminiscent of the persistent monotonous music we are 
 accustomed to associate with the Savoyards. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 263 
 
 No. 2 in F minor. 
 
 " Brief and not difficult of matter or manner is this 
 dance; it has a more elegiac ring," says Huneker. Ele- 
 giac happily expresses the dominant expression of this 
 slightly mournful Mazurka. 
 
 No. 3 in C sharp minor. 
 
 Ehlert was so much impressed with the technical skill 
 displayed at the close of this Mazurka that he was 
 moved to say : " A more perfect canon on the octave 
 could not have been written by one who has grown grey 
 in the learned art." 
 
 Huneker says it is of winning beauty ; he calls it a 
 pendant to the C sharp minor Valse, and defies anyone 
 to withstcind its pleading, eloquent voice. 
 
 OPUS 64.— Trois Valses. 
 
 No. I in D flat major (Molto vivace) ; Nd. 2 in C sharp 
 minor (Tempo giusto); No. 3 in A flat major (Moder- 
 ato). Published 1847. 
 
 No. I in D flat major. 
 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Comtesse Potocka. 
 
 'T'HIS is the best known, easiest and most popular of 
 all the Chopin waltzes, indeed it is so familiar 
 that if one hears it badly played one is tempted to 
 apply to. it the term " hackneyed." 
 
 But properly handled, and when not used merely as 
 a vehicle for the display of agility, this little waltz with 
 its banal anecdotal title, "Valse du petit chien," is still 
 as attractive and graceful as ever. The story goes that 
 George Sand had a little dog that used to run after its 
 own tail, and one evening she said to the composer, "If 
 I had your talent I would improvise a waltz for that 
 dog," and Chopin promptly sat down to the piano and 
 played this fascinating little improvisation. 
 
264 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 It was a piece peculiarly suited to show off Chopin's 
 technique, and when he played it at his last concert in 
 Paris in 1848, a lady asked, "Quel est le secret de 
 Chopin pour que les gammes fussent si coulees sur le 
 piano?" — "coulees" being an adjective that expresses 
 more exactly than any single word in English the exact 
 quality of Chopin's scale technique so often admiringly 
 described by his contemporaries. 
 
 Huneker, who had the advantage of hearing it played 
 by Mathias, one of Chopin's favourite pupils, says that 
 the first section is nearly always played too fast and 
 the second too slow, and with sloppy sentiment. 
 Mathias said that "the master took the tempo rather 
 moderately, making an accelerando on the up run, 
 ending with a little sforzando click on the B flat." 
 
 The cantabile section is perhaps the most graceful and 
 spontaneous melody in the whole range of the waltzes.. 
 
 A comparison of the treatment of the cadence in the 
 eighth and twenty-third bars of this section will give 
 some idea of the originality, delicate variety and charm 
 of Chopin's handling of detail. The waltz has no coda, 
 but ends with a rapid run, a deliciously unexpected 
 amplification of a quaver passage that concludes each 
 section. It is Parisian in its grace, coquetry and play- 
 ful defiance. The end reminds one of the rhythmic 
 tap of the foot with which, some graceful dancer con- 
 cludes a cleverly executed pas. 
 
 No. 2 in C sharp minor. Tempo giusto. 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Baronne de Rothschild. 
 
 Chopin's nationality shows more clearly in this waltz 
 than in any of the others. There is in it more of the 
 Slav temperament. Repeatedly the time sways from 
 the waltz rhythm to that of the Mazurka, and in con- 
 trast of moods it is strikingly Polish. 
 
 This dance poem might represent the feelings of an 
 unhappy lover at a ball. The first section is wildly 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 265 
 
 melincholy, full of sadness and yearning. At the piii 
 Mosso the whirling dance urges him to forget bis sor- 
 row. The third sec±ion (piu lento in D flat) is tender 
 and consoling, but the last three bars indicate despair- 
 ing doubts, and again there is the whirl of the dance; 
 then a resumption of the first mood, and though once 
 more there is the anodyne of the waltz, the lover's 
 doubts are only half stilled as the music dies away. 
 
 The recurring waltz section should be taken in fairly 
 strict time and rapidly, whilst the lyric quality of the 
 other sections demands a slower tempo and consider- 
 able rubato. 
 
 Niecks thinks that tender lovesick longing cannot be 
 depicted more truthfully, sweetly and entrancingly 
 than in this waltz, whilst Huneker says : "It is the most 
 poetic of all. The first theme has never been excelled 
 by Chopin for a species of veiled melancholy. It is a 
 fascinating lyrical sorrow, a space of clecirer skies : 
 warmer more consoling winds are in the D flat inter- 
 lude, but the spirit of unrest, ennui, returns. The ele- 
 giac imprint is unmistakable in this soul dance." 
 
 No. 3. Valse in A flat Moderato. 
 Dedicated to Mme. la Baronne Bronicka. 
 
 It is difficult to believe when listening to this ex- 
 quisite, graceful, and apparently light-hearted com- 
 position, that it was almost the last that issued from 
 Chopin's pen at a time when the shadows of a fatal ill- 
 ness were closing in upon him. The feverish melan- 
 choly of the preceding number has disappeared en- 
 tirely, and in its place we have a fascinating dance 
 which, as Huneker says, is "for superior souls who 
 dance with intellectual joy, with the joy that comes of 
 making exquisite patterns and curves. Out of the salon 
 and from its brilliantly lighted spaces the dancers do 
 not wander, do not dance into the darkness and church- 
 yard, as Ehlert imagines of certain other waltzes." 
 
266 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Niecks evidently thinks it inferior to the two pre- 
 ceding ones in spite of its "exquisite serpentining' 
 melodic lines, and other beautiful details." 
 
 Willeby thinks the middle section in C major the 
 most notable and virile portion, and rightly finds a 
 suggestion in it of the informing genius of the Polon- 
 aise. The time should be moderate throughout, with 
 towards the end increasing animation." The middle 
 section is decidedly a conversation in the pauses of the 
 dance, and the two voices must be kept distinct. 
 
 OPUS 65. — Sonata for piano and violoncello in G 
 minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Mr. C. Franchomme. 
 Published October, 1847. 
 
 TpHIS was the last composition published during 
 Chopin's lifetime. Niecks calls it one of his most 
 strenuous efforts in the larger forms, and, although 
 written at a time when he was very weak and ill, it 
 shows no falling off in power. Sir Charles Halle gives 
 an interesting account of his hearing Chopin and 
 Franchomme play this sonata soon after it was written. 
 
 " Chopin grew weaker and weaker to such a degree 
 that when we dined together at Leo's or other friends' 
 houses, he had to be carried upstairs, even to the first 
 floor. His spirits and his mental energy remained 
 nevertheless unimpaired. . . . On our arrival we found 
 him hardly able to move, bent like a half-opened pen- 
 knife, and evidently in great pain. We entreated him 
 to postpone the performance, but he would not hear of 
 it ; soon he sat down to the piano, and as he warmed to 
 his work, his body gradually resumed its normal posi- 
 tion, the spirit having mastered the flesh." 
 
 Karasowski considers the first movement to be of 
 surpassing beauty, and yet an account given by a con- 
 temporary of Chopin's, Madame Dubois, shows us that 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 26; 
 
 even by artists and intimate friends this movement was 
 not .understood. "It appeared to the hearers olascure, 
 involved by too taany ideas, in short, it had no suc- 
 cess. At the last moment Chopin dared not play the 
 whole Sonata before so worldly and elegant an audi- 
 ence, but confined himself to the Scherzo, Adagio and 
 Finale." Moscheles, who never really understood or 
 appreciated Chopin's true greatness, wrote of this Son- 
 ata : " In composition Chopin proves that he has only 
 isolated happy thoughts which he does not know how 
 to work up into a rounded whole. In this Sonata I 
 find often passages which sound as if some one were 
 preluding on the piano and knocked at all the keys to 
 learn whether euphony was at home." 
 
 He subsequently arranged the Sonata for four hands 
 and called it a trial of patience. 
 
 "To me it is a tangled forest, through which now 
 and then penetrates a gleam of the sun." 
 
 Niecks is very unsparing in his criticism. He says 
 that "Liszt's dictum, ' flus de volonte que d' inspira- 
 tion^ applies in all its force to this Sonata, in which 
 hardly anything but effort, painful effort, manifests 
 itself. The first and last movements are immense 
 wildernesses with only here and there a small flower. 
 The middle movements do not rise to the dignity of a 
 Sonata, and moreover lack distinction, especially the 
 slow movement, a Nocturne-like dialogue between the 
 two instruments." 
 
 He admits certain beauties, e.g., the first subject of 
 the first movement at the entrance of the 'cello, the 
 opening bars of the scherzo, etc.; but "they are merely 
 beginnings, springs that lose themselves in a sandy 
 waste." 
 
 Huneker speaks of the 'cello Sonata as a task for 
 whose accomplishment Nature did not design Chopin. 
 "He must touch the keys by himself without being 
 called upon to heed the players sitting next him. He 
 
268 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 is at his best when without formal restraint he can 
 create out of his inmost soul." 
 
 Elsewhere he says : " I fancy the critics have dealt 
 too hardly with this work. Robbed of its title of 
 Sonata, though sedulously aping this form, it contains 
 much pretty music. And it is grateful for the 'cello. 
 Tonal monotony is the worst charge to be brought 
 against this work." Finck, however, in his whole- 
 hearted and generous fashion' when a work pleases 
 him, says : " The 'cello Sonata was the last of his 
 larger works, and in my opinion it is superior to any 
 of the 'cello Sonatas of Mendelssohn, Brahms, and 
 even Beethoven and Rubinstein." 
 
 Had we only the youthful C minor Sonata to put 
 beside this, there might be some shadow of an excuse 
 for the repetition of the parrot cry that Chopin could 
 not write Sonatas; but with the masterpieces of the B 
 flat minor and B minor Sonatas before us, it is aston- 
 ishing how this legend seems to have blinded both 
 critics and performers to the obvious merits of this 
 most interesting work. Barbedette speaks most ap- 
 preciatively of it : " Sa belle Sonate .... page re- 
 mar quablement ecrite en -point de vue scientifique ap- 
 propriee au genie des deux instruments, remplie de 
 details d'une exquisite delicatesse, sensibilite el grace 
 touchante." 
 
 It is true that Kleczynski professes to find in it evi- 
 dence of a broken spirit, but this is probably because 
 he started with a preconceived idea that he ought to 
 find this in Chopin's latest works. 
 
 OPUS 66. — Fantaisie Impromptu in C sharp minor. 
 Composed 1834; published posthumously 1855. 
 
 17 VEN Niecks, who is so against the publication of 
 works which Chopin himself withheld from pub- 
 lication, admits that he would not like to have lost this 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 269 
 
 Fantaisie-Impromptu, and he styles it the most valu- 
 able of all the compositions published posthumously 
 by Fontana. He asks, "Why did Chopin keep it in 
 his portfolio ?" and answers himself thus : " I suspect 
 he missed in it, especially in the middle section, that 
 degree of distinction and perfection of detail which 
 alone satisfied his fastidious taste." 
 
 Barbedette, however, prefers it to all the other im- 
 promptus; he calls it a chef-d'oeuvre, and is at a loss 
 to imagine why Chopin " left in his portfolio this piece 
 so worthy of publicity." 
 
 Huneker is sarcastic about the saccharine and 
 mawkish qiaality of the trio, but properly handled there 
 should be only sweetness and beauty in this lovely 
 melody. The opening is as fresh as anything in 
 Chopin; its rhythmical difficulties require beautifully 
 clear playing. The trio is a little over long and can 
 be brought to a better balance by omitting the last 
 twelve bars before the return of the first movement. 
 
 The coda, where the melody of the slow movement 
 is taken up in the bass under a pianissimo accompani- 
 ment of semiquavers, brings this delightful work to a 
 most satisfying conclusion. 
 
 OPUS 67.— Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in G major, 1835;* No. 2 in G minor, 1849;* No. 
 3 in C major, 1835; No. 4 in A minor, 1846. 
 
 Published posthumously by J. Fontana, 1855. 
 
 TT is a puzzle why Fontana, when deciding to pub- 
 
 lish the eight Mazurkas of Chopin which make up 
 
 this and Opus 68, did not arrange them in chrono- 
 
 * Apparently some copies of Klindworths edition have the 
 dates of these two Mazurkas transposed. Those given agree 
 with Nieclts's dates, but Huneker would seem to have an edition 
 where the dates are reversed. 
 
2/0 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 logical order of their composition. This would seem 
 the only logical course to pursue, as their chief interest 
 lies in the aid they give us in tracing Chopin's develop- 
 ment. 
 
 There is little to be said about these four. Niecks 
 thinks Fontana should not have published the manu- 
 scripts that Chopin had deliberately withheld from 
 publication. Of all the posthumous works this set of 
 Mazurkas might best be spared. 
 
 The first in G major, dated 1835, is not specially 
 distinguished, and if we compare it with the four form- 
 ing Opus 24 of the same date, we shall see at once why 
 Chopin rejected it. Huneker calls it "jolly and rather 
 superficial." 
 
 The second in G minor, which is gssigned to the year 
 of Chopin's death, 1849, is very pretty, but Chopin does 
 not seem to have taken much trouble over it. 
 
 The third in C major is also of 1835, and the same 
 remarks apply as to the first of the same date. 
 
 The fourth in A minor, of 1846, is much the best of 
 the set, and possibly Chopin might have included it 
 when next publishing a book of Mazurkas. It would 
 not have added to his reputation, but it would have 
 done it no harm. 
 
 OPUS 68.— Four Mazurkas. 
 
 No. I in C major, 1830; No. 2 in A minor, 1827; No. 3 
 in F major, 1830; No. 4 in F minor, 1849. 
 
 Published posthumously by J. Fontana in 1855. 
 
 'pHIS Opus contains three youthful efforts, and the 
 very last composition Chopin wrote. 
 
 The first is, as Huneker justly remarks, commonplace. 
 
 The second is the best of all the posthumous 
 Mazurkas. Niecks says of it : " It is simple and rustic, 
 and at the same time graceful. The trio (foco fiu 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 271 
 
 mosso), the more original portion of the Mazurka, re- 
 appears in a slightly altered form in later Mazurkas. 
 It is these f oreshadowings of future beauties that make 
 those early works so interesting." 
 
 Huneker refers to it as much better than No. i, 
 "being lighter and well made." 
 
 No. 3 he dismisses as weak and trivial. This is not 
 undeserved, although the trio is interesting with its 
 drone bass and curious countrified effect. 
 
 To the fourth Fontana affixed the following pathetic 
 note: "Cette Mazitrka est la dernihe inspiration que 
 Chopin ait jetee sur le papier peu de temps avant sa 
 mart; il etait deja trap malade pour Vessayer au piano'' 
 
 Huneker says : " It is certainly morbid in its sick in- 
 sistence in phrase repetition, close harmonies and wild 
 departure — in A — from the first figure." 
 
 Here we may echo, without any savour of Liszt's con- 
 descension or Von Lenz's irony, " Pauvre Frederic!" 
 
 In his " greater Chopin," Huneker refers again to this 
 Mazurka: "Its singular idea, almost a fixed one, its 
 gaiety and astounding gloom, show us the sick brain of 
 the dying man." 
 
 Karasowski says : " It is sad, very sad, like the last 
 days of the great master. He showed by this swan- 
 song, and by his yearning after the home of his happy 
 youth, that in the very last hour of his creative inspira- 
 tion he remained faithful to his national music and to 
 his sorely-tried Fatherland." 
 
 Finck refers to this Mazurka as of "heartrending 
 sadriess and exquis;ite pathos," " perhaps it was a patri- 
 otic rather than an aesthetic feeling, which led him thus 
 to favour the Mazurka. His love for his country was 
 exceeded only by his devotion to his art." 
 
2/2 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 OPUS 69.— Two Valses. 
 
 No. I in F minor, composed in 1835 ; No. 2 in B minor, 
 composed in 1829. 
 
 Published posthumously 1855. 
 No. I in F minor. 
 
 (^N the manuscript of this waltz appears the inscrip- 
 ^^ tion "Pour Mile. Marie," and it is signed F. 
 Chopin. Drezno (Dresden), 1835. (Notwithstanding 
 this clear date, 1836 is given as the date of composition 
 both in Niecks's and Breitkopf and Hartel's catalogue.) 
 
 " Mile. Marie " was the beautiful daughter of Count 
 Wodzinski, with whom Chopin fell deeply in love dur- 
 ing one of his holiday trips. In 1836 he proposed and 
 was rejected, as Marie's parents objected to the match. 
 The disappointment does not seem to have affected 
 Chopin very deeply, and the next year the lady married 
 a son of Chopin's godfather, Count Frederick 
 Skarbek. 
 
 This is the waltz that Camille Pleyel called the his- 
 tory of D flat. Huneker says it has a charm of its 
 own, and is suavely melancholy, though not so melan- 
 choly as the one in B minor that follows it. It has 
 more the nature of a lyric poem than of a dance, and 
 Chopin showed his usual judgment in not publishing 
 it. It is slight and far mferior to the next waltz of this 
 lyric nature, the A minor. Op. 34, No. i. The second 
 section might almost be a Mazurka. 
 
 No. 2. Valse in B minor. 
 
 This is a very early effort, dating from 1829, and it 
 is chiefly interesting as one of the compositions which 
 Chopin allowed his poetic inspiration full play, and 
 wrote regardless of his position as a virtuoso and 
 without considering the Parisian public, whom he 
 wished to conquer. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 273 
 
 Its chief feature is its querulous, pathetic, appealing, 
 helpless melancholy. The middle section seems to in- 
 dulge in a wan smile, but all through the music seems 
 to indicate a reiterated nervous collapse. 
 
 OPUS 70.— Three Valses. 
 
 No. I, G flat major, composed 1835; No. 2, F minor, 
 composed 1843; No. 3, D flat major, composed 1829. 
 
 'T'HESE three waltzes, composed at various dates, 
 differ much in merit. The first is distinctly the 
 weakest, one of the least distinguished of Chopin's 
 works. Huneker describes it as "very gay and 
 sprightly," but there is nothing more to be said of it. 
 The second is perhaps the most successful of all the 
 posthumous waltzes; the middle portion is of great 
 beauty and charm. 
 
 The third waltz is interesting as containing the germs 
 of ideas subsequently developed in later waltzes. The 
 first bars should be compared with the opening of Op. 
 42, in A flat, and the third section with Op. 34, No. i, 
 third part. It dates from October 3, 1829. In a letter 
 of this date to his friend, Titus Woyciechowski, Chopin 
 writes : " While thinking of this lovely being (Con- 
 stantia Gladkowska, the ideal of his youthful passion), 
 I composed early this morning the waltz which I send 
 you. Notice the marked passage; nobody knows of it 
 but yourself. How glad I should be if I could play 
 my newest composition to you ! In the fifth bar of the 
 trio the bass melody up to E flat dominates, which, 
 however, I need not tell you, as you are sure to feel it 
 without being told." 
 
 Willeby considers this the best of the posthumous 
 waltzes on account of its easy writing, and the intense 
 amount of movement and life contained in it. 
 
 18 
 
2/4 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Niecks says, that although by no means equal to any 
 of the waltzes published by Chopin himself, one may 
 admit that it is pretty. 
 
 Huneker says that it has no special physiognomy, and 
 that it recalls to him the D flat study in the "Trois 
 Nouvelles Etudes." 
 
 OPUS 71. — Three Polonaises. 
 
 No. I in D minor, 1827; No. 2 in B flat major, 1828; 
 
 No. 3 in F minor, 1829. 
 
 Published posthumously by J. Fontana, 1855. 
 
 No. I. Polonaise in D minor. 
 
 T N these three Polonaises dating from Chopin's seven- 
 teenth, eighteenth and nineteenth years, we have 
 the most important specimens of his youthful work 
 from the point of view of his development as a poetical 
 composer. As Niecks says, it is wonderful, truly won- 
 derful, that a youth of eighteen should have attained 
 such a strongly developed individuality. Although 
 there are traces of Weber's influence all three num- 
 bers are of a striking originality. " Beside Chopin's 
 peculiar handling we find in them more of his peculiar 
 sentiment. The bravura character is still prominent, but 
 instead of ruling supreme it becomes in every succes- 
 sive work more and more subordinate to thought 
 and emotion. These Polonaises, although thoroughly 
 Chopinesque, nevertheless differ very much from his 
 later ones, those published by himself, which are gen- 
 erally more compact and fuller of poetry." 
 
 Willeby considers that although the last two exhibit 
 no less emotional power, the first is the most spon- 
 taneous. 
 
 The germ of the opening of the heroic Polonaise can 
 be traced in the first bars of this one in D minor. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 275 
 Polonaise in B flat major, No. 2. 
 
 This interesting work foreshadows the melancholy 
 dignity of the C minor, Op. 40, No. 2. 
 
 No. 3. Polonaise in F minor. 
 
 In one of Chopin's early letters we read : " Princess 
 Elise (Radziwill) was so much interested in my Polon- 
 aise in F minor that I could not refuse to send for it. 
 Please let me have it by return of post. You can pic- 
 ture to yourself the character of the Princess from the 
 fact that she makes me play the Polonaise to her every 
 day. The Trio in A flat major always pleases her 
 particularly." 
 
 OPUS 72. — Nocturne in E minor (Andante). 
 Composed 1827. Published posthumously 1855. 
 
 *T*HIS Nocturne was composed in Chopin's seven- 
 teenth year, the date of the completion of his 
 studies at the Warsaw Lyceum. According to Kara- 
 sowski it bears evident traces of that youthful period. 
 Huneker dismisses it as weak and uninteresting, and 
 Barbedette finds it wanting in distinction. Niecks 
 says : " It is probably the poorest of the early com- 
 positions, but excites one's curiosity as the first speci- 
 men of the kind by the incomparable composer of 
 Nocturnes." He draws attention "to the wide-meshed 
 chords and light-winged flights of notes and the fore- 
 shadowing of the coda of Opus g, No. i ," as distinctive 
 of Chopin. 
 
 As Kullak says, whatever its merits, " a comparison of 
 the first and last Nocturnes (Op. 62, No. 2) will be in- 
 teresting to the admiTers of the great composer. Ex 
 ungue leonem!" 
 
276 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 The Nocturne is simple and melodious, the figure of 
 the accompaniment unchanged throughout, but slight 
 as it is we would not willingly exchange it for the 
 whole of Field's works bound in full morocco. 
 
 OPUS 72b. — Marche Funebre. In C minor. 
 Composed 1829. Published posthumously 1855. 
 
 npHIS little known work, which was published post- 
 humously by J. Fontana, must not be confused 
 with the world-famed Funeral March tliat forms the 
 third movement of the B fiat minor Sonata. 
 
 " In the legacy of a less rich man the Funeral March 
 in C minor would be a notable item, in that of Chopin 
 it counts for little. Whatever the shortcomings of this 
 composition are, the quiet simplicity and sweet melan- 
 choly which pervade it must touch the hearer. But the 
 master stands in his own light. The famous Funeral 
 March in B flat minor eclipses the more modest one in 
 C minor. Beside the former, with its sublime force 
 and fervency of passion and imposing mastery of the 
 resources of the art, the latter sinks into weak insignifi- 
 cance, indeed appears a mere puerility. Let us note in 
 the earlier work the anticipation (bar twelve) of a 
 motive of the chef-d'wuvre (bar seven), and reminis- 
 cences of the Funeral March from Beethoven's Sonata 
 in A flat major. Op. 26." (Niecks.) 
 
 Huneker says that this march sounds like Mendels- 
 sohn. "The trio has the processional quality of a 
 Parisian funeral cortege. It is modest and in no wise 
 remarkable." 
 
 Had the posthumous works been destroyed we should 
 have lost in this march a most interesting musical 
 document, invaluable in tracing the evolution of 
 Chopin's musical genius. This work of the youth of 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 27; 
 
 nineteen is full of promise; a promise which develops 
 in glorious fruition in a short ten years in the master- 
 piece of the B fiat minor Funeral March. 
 
 OPUS 72c. — Trois Ecossaises. 
 
 No. I in D major; No. 2 in G major; No. 3 in D flat 
 major. 
 
 Composed 1830. Published posthumously 1855. 
 
 T^HIS is the one work of Chopin's that might, with 
 advantage to his reputation, have been destroyed. 
 They are merely three little Schottisches, pure dance 
 forms, without any emotional or poetical value, and 
 they have neither the simplicity or melody necessary to 
 make up for their deficiency in more serious qualities. 
 Huneker says "that No. 2 in G is highly popular in 
 girls' boarding schools," and Niecks considers them the 
 least individual of Chopin's compositions, " almost the 
 only dances of his which may be described as dance 
 music pure and simple — rhythm and melody without 
 poetry, matter with a minimum of soul." 
 
 OPUS 73. — Rondo for two pianos in C major. 
 Composed 1828. Published posthumously 1855. 
 
 ORIGINALLY this Rondo* was written for one 
 ^'^ piano only, but Chopin, in a letter dated Sep- 
 tember 9, 1828, tells his friend Woyciechowski that he 
 arranged it for two pianos during the summer he spent 
 at Strzyewo : " To-day I tried it with Ernemann, at 
 Buchholtz's, and it came out pretty well." And later 
 in the year he writes again : " That orphan child, the 
 
 * See page 60. 
 
2;8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Rondo for two pianos, has found a step-father in Fon- 
 tana ; he has learnt it after a month's study." 
 
 Huneker says: "It is full of fire, but the ornamenta- 
 tion runs mad, and no traces of the poetical Chopin are 
 present." 
 
 Niecks classes it with the early Sonata, Opus 4, and 
 the Duo, Opus 8, as student's work : " Granting certain 
 prettiness, an unusual dash and vigour, and some points 
 of interest in the working out, there remains the fact 
 that the stunted melodies signifies little and the too 
 luxuriant passage work signifies less, neither the 
 former nor the latter possessing much of the charm 
 that distinguishes them in the composer's later works. 
 The original in this piece is confined to the passage 
 work, and has not yet got out of the rudimentary 
 stage." 
 
 Any one thinking that owing to the opus number 
 this must be a late work of Chopin's, will necessarily 
 experience a keen sense of disappointment, for it is em- 
 phatically of his earliest work, and has none of the 
 poetry, the exquisite style, nor deep melodic beauty of 
 his masterpieces. 
 
 OPUS 74. — Seventeen Polish Songs. 
 
 T^HESE songs were composed by Chopin at various 
 dates. Karasowski tells us that if Chopin "met 
 with any new and beautiful poetry in his native tongue, 
 he would set it to music, not for publication, but for 
 his own pleasure. Thus these songs gradually accumu- 
 lated between 1824 and 1844. Many have been lost 
 because, in spite of the request of his friends, the com- 
 poser constantly put off committing them to paper; 
 others were sung in Poland without anything positive 
 being known as to their origin, but it is pretty certainly 
 conjectured that Chopin was their composer. Among 
 these must be mentioned the popular and formerly 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 279 
 
 much sung ' The Third of May.' .... They are simple 
 flowers which do not dazzle, but by their sweet perfume 
 and peculiar delicacy delight sympathetic hearts." 
 
 Niecks tells us that the words of most of these songs 
 are by Stephen Witwicki, others are by Mickiewicz, 
 Zaleski and Krasinski ; poets with all of whom Chopin 
 was personally acquainted. He considers the "musi- 
 cal settings very unequal, a considerable number of 
 them decidedly commonplace; several exceedingly 
 
 simple, and in the style of folk songs In the 
 
 symphonies of the songs we meet now and then with 
 reminiscences from his instrumental pieces." 
 
 Perhaps the best known are No. i, "The Maiden's 
 Wish," which has been brilliantly paraphrased by 
 Liszt; this is in Mazurka form. It is, however, hardly 
 within the limits of this book to describe these songs at 
 length. They are all intensely national and simple. 
 The form of the art-song does not seem to have ap- 
 pealed to Chopin, and these folk-songs must depend 
 for their effect on the pathos and dramatic power with 
 which the simple tunes can be made to express the 
 meaning of the words. 
 
 Grand Duo Concertante in E major, for piano and 
 violoncello, on theme from " Robert le Diable," by 
 F. Chopin and A. Franchomme. 
 
 Composed 1832. Published 1833. 
 
 "yniS is one of the four works published without an 
 opus number during the composer's lifetime. 
 Schumann says of this Duo : " This is a composition for 
 drawing-rooms, in which, behind the lovely shoulders 
 of Countesses, the head of a famous artist appears 
 here and there ; it is therefore not fitted for tea-parties, 
 at which people play a little in the intervals of con- 
 versation. It is essentially a work for the most Tefined 
 
28o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 of circles, in which the artist receives the respect and 
 attention his position deserves. It seems to me that 
 Chopin must have sketched it throughout while 
 Franchomme said a gentle 'Yes' to everything; for 
 whatever Chopin touches takes his form and spirit, 
 and even in this small salon style he asserts himself 
 with a grace and elegance, compared to which all the 
 finish of other brilliant writers is lost on the winds. 
 If the whole of ' Robert le Diable ' were filled with such 
 ideas as Chopin has selected from it for his Duo, it 
 would need re-baptism, and Chopin's fantastic finger 
 plays hither and thither, veiling, unveiling, so that ear 
 and heart long retain the tones. The reproach of ex- 
 treme length, which anxious virtuosi may bestow on 
 the piece, was perhaps not unjust, for at the twelfth 
 page there is a sort of lameness in the movement; but 
 already on the thirteenth the strings are grasped with 
 true Chopin-like impatience, and on the music flies 
 again to the end, with a wave-like figure. Is it neces- 
 sary for us to say that we recommend this Duo with 
 our very best will ?" 
 
 Huneker does not think much of this work. He says : 
 "It is for the salon of 1833, when it was published. It 
 is empty, tiresome, and only slightly superior to com- 
 positions of the same sort by De Beriot and Osborne. 
 Full of rapid elegancies and shallow passage work, this 
 Duo is certainly a -piece d'occasion — the occasion pro- 
 bably being the need of ready money." 
 
 Karasowski also calls it a work without any special 
 merit, written in accordance with the taste of the day. 
 
 TROIS NOUVELLES ETUDES. 
 
 npHERE is no means by which we can arrive at the 
 
 exact date of the composition of these studies. 
 
 Niecks thinks that internal evidence shows that they 
 
 may be regarded as the outcome of a gleaning. It is 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 281 
 
 possible that they were composed about the same time 
 as the studies of Opus 25, but Kullak appears to think 
 that they were written to order about the year 1 840, the 
 date in which they were first published in the Piano- 
 forte Method of Moscheles and Fetis. 
 
 Niecks thinks they are the weakest of the master's 
 studies, although by no means uninteresting and cer- 
 tainly very characteristic, while Kullak says that 
 although "composed to order and devoted to instruc- 
 tive purposes, circumstances which usually hamper free 
 artistic creation, these Etudes nevertheless take equal 
 rank with the majority of Chopin's similar works, in 
 which brevity of form is united with wealth of poetic 
 contents." 
 
 Huneker says that " the last decade has added much 
 to the artistic stature of these three supplementary 
 studies. They have something of the concision of the 
 Preludes." 
 
 No. I. Etude in F minor. 
 
 Kullak compares this study in respect of poetic con- 
 tents and magical effect with the one in the same key 
 in Opus 25, No. 2, but it is far more emotional than 
 the " magnetic crooning " of the latter. 
 
 The technical difficulty consists in playing groups of 
 triplet crotchets in the right hand against eight quavers 
 in the bass. 
 
 No. 2. Etude in A flat. Allegretto. 
 
 Referring to the time designation Kullak says : " Al- 
 legreito designates not merely the tempo, but at the 
 same time the character of a piece. Composers use the 
 word for compositions in which passion, dazzling anti- 
 theses, and deep emotion, are not to find a place, but, 
 instead, cheerfulness, naivete, harmless idyllic life, or 
 even a light elegiac mood. 
 
282 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 Compositions of this genre are to be treated like 
 tender plants, and not grasped with rude hands. Thus 
 it is with the present Etude. 
 
 This is the best known of the three studies, and so 
 completely is the technical purpose, which is again to 
 overcome the difficulties of rhythm, disguised, that it 
 might have formed part of Opus 28 (the Preludes). 
 
 Huneker says of it: "Again the composer demon- 
 strates his exhaustless invention and his power of 
 evoking a single mood, viewing all its lovely contours 
 and letting it melt away like dream magic. Full of 
 gentle spriteliness and lingering sweetness is this 
 study." 
 
 Elsewhere he compares it with Opus i ig of Brahms, 
 and says : " But Chopin is so sad, and Brahms so merry, 
 yet the general architechtonic is not dissimilar." 
 
 Hadow again uses this study as an example of how 
 Chopin can make unconventional harmonies sound 
 magically correct. He says : " Are consecutive major 
 thirds justly regarded as harsh and dissonant? Chopin 
 at his dreamiest and most contemplative can employ 
 them with unfailing effect." 
 
 No. 3. Etude in D flat. Allegretto. 
 
 In this study the technical problem is the playing of 
 legato and staccato simultaneously in one and the same 
 hand. As Huneker says : " The result is an idealised 
 waltz in allegretto tempo, the very incarnation of joys 
 tempered by aristocratic reserve. Chopin never romps, 
 but he jests wittily and always in supremely good 
 taste. This study fitly closes his extraordinary labours 
 in this form, and it is as if he had signed it ' F. Chopin, 
 et ego in Arcady.' " 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 283 
 
 POSTHUMOUS WORKS.— Variations on a German 
 air in E major. 
 
 Composed 1824; published in 1851. 
 
 •THIS work is distinguished amongst those that ap- 
 *■ peared posthumously by the tact that Chopin 
 evidently intended to publish it. It was in Haslinger's 
 hands as early as 1830, and it was ultimately published 
 by him at the same time as the Sonata, Opus 4. The 
 theme is a familiar German air known as "Der 
 Schweizerbub," and according to Szulc the variations 
 were composed between Chopin's twelfth and seven- 
 teenth years, in a " few quarter hours." 
 
 On accoimt of their greater simplicity and inferior 
 interest, Niecks thinks that they must be of an earlier 
 date than Opus i, composed m 1825. He says: "In 
 these variations (which Chopin wrote in his fourteenth 
 year) the treatment of the instrument not only proves 
 that he was already as much in his element on the piano- 
 forte as a hsh in the water, but also shows that an as 
 yet vaguely perceived ideal began to beckon him on- 
 ward." He instances as a weak point the introduction 
 to the variations with their interminable sequences of 
 dominant and tonic chords accompanying a stereotyped 
 run : " Although they leave behind them a pleasurable 
 impression they Ccin lay only a small claim to origin- 
 ality. Still there are slight indications of it in the 
 temfo di valse, the concluding portion of the varia- 
 tions. Chopin's love of widespread chords and skips, 
 if marked at all, is not strongly marked in the varia- 
 tions; they can hold their own without difficulty and 
 honourably among the better class of light drawing- 
 room pieces." 
 
 Huneker calls them " musically light waisted " (what- 
 ever that may mean), "although written by one who 
 already knew the keyboard. The last, a Waltz, is the 
 
284 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 brig^htest of the set," but he thinks they were not worth 
 the trouble of publishing. 
 
 Although not difficult they show that their composer 
 even at the early age of fourteen must have been pos- 
 sessed of considerable technique. 
 
 Posthumous Mazurkas without Opus numbers. 
 
 A MAZURKA in A minor was published in 1842 in 
 ■**■ No. 2 of a musical periodical called "Notre 
 Temps," a kind of Christmas album of the period. 
 
 Another Mazurka in A minor is dedicated " a son ami 
 Emile Gaillard." Of these two Huneker prefers the 
 latter, " it abounds with octaves and ends with a long 
 trill." 
 
 Both these two are published by Klindworth and 
 KuUak. The former adds another Mazurka in F sharp, 
 which the researches of Pauer have identified beyond 
 doubt as the work of Charles Mayer. How any amount 
 of forged signatures could ever have led any one to 
 believe this a genuine work of Chopin's is a mystery. 
 In two bars of Chopin's weakest mazurka there is more 
 poetry than in the whole of this common dance tune. 
 
 Breitkopf and Hartel's edition gives this Mazurka in 
 the key of F. Also four other Mazurkas, one in G 
 major, dated 1825, "of slight worth" (Huneker), one in 
 B major of the same date, " early as it was composed, it 
 is nevertheless pretty" (Huneker), one in D major, 
 which was written in 1829 or 1830, and remodelled in 
 
 1832. "The recasting improves it. The trio is lifted 
 an octave and the doubling of notes throughout gives 
 more weight and richness." The last is in C major of 
 
 1833. "There are breadth and decision in it" 
 (Huneker). 
 
 The chief interest of these posthumous Mazurkas is 
 to let us see how in his slightest effort, Chopin's indi- 
 viduality stands out, and how even his rejected pieces 
 are better than the admired efforts of lesser men. 
 
A Handbook to Chopin's Works.. 285 
 
 Valse in E minor. 
 
 Composed 1829. Published posthumously 1868. 
 
 " npHE E minor Waltz without opus is beloved. It is 
 very graceful and not without sentiment. The 
 major part is early Chopin." (Huneker.) 
 
 Henselt has paraphrased this waltz for concert pur- 
 poses, but it is far more attractive as it is, and distinctly 
 interesting as a forerunner of the two brilliant Valses, 
 Op. 18, and Opus 34, No. i. 
 
 It has a coda, and is altogether more ambitious than 
 the other three waltzes of the same date. 
 
 Valse in E major. 
 
 Composed 1829. Published posthumously 1872. 
 
 'T'HIS waltz is not included either in the Klindworth 
 or in Kullak's edition, but appears in No. 11 of 
 the posthumous works without opus number in Breit- 
 kopf and Hartel's catalogue. 
 
 Niecks refers to certain rhythmical motives, melodic 
 inflections and harmonic progressions that occur again 
 in a more perfect form in waltzes of later dates. It is 
 just these hints and foreshadowings of later perfection 
 that make a chronological study of these early waltzes 
 so fascinating to the intelligent student. 
 
 Polonaise in G sharp minor. 
 
 Dedicated to Madame Ditpont. 
 Composed 1822. Published 1864. 
 
 C\? this Polonaise, said to be of the year 1822, Niecks 
 says that on account of the savoir f aire ~a.nd in- 
 vention exhibited in it he holds it to be of a consider- 
 ably later time. " Chopin's individuality, it is true, is 
 here still in a rudimentary state, chiefly manifested in 
 
286 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. 
 
 the light-winged figuration; the thoughts and the ex- 
 pression, however, are natural and even graceful, bear- 
 ing thus the divine impress. The echoes of Weber 
 should be noted." 
 
 Polonaise in B flat minor. 
 Adieu to William Kolberg. 
 
 TpHIS Polonaise, which is not included in Klind- 
 worth's edition, but is numbered lo in the Post- 
 humous Works published without Opus numbers in 
 Breitkopf and Hartel's edition, is superscribed as an 
 Adieu to William Kolberg, while the Trio is headed 
 " Au Revoir ! after an air from ' Gazza Ladra.' " Of it 
 Niecks says that " it has not less naturalness and grace 
 than the Polonaise of 1822, and in addition to these 
 qualities it has also at least one thought (Part I) which 
 contains something of the sweet ring of Chopinian 
 melancholy." A footnote tells us that the Polonaise 
 was composed "at Chopin's departure from [should be 
 ' for '] Reinerz ;'' while a second in connection with the 
 Trio, says that some days before Chopin's departure 
 the two friends had been present at a performance of 
 Rossini's opera. 
 
 VARIOUS. 
 
 TN 1837 a charity concert was given in Paris by the 
 Princess Belgiojoso, at which the chief attraction 
 was an air from "I Puritani," on which Chopin, Liszt, 
 Thalberg, Pixis, Henri Herz and Czemy, each wrote a 
 variation. It was published in 1841 under the title of 
 " Hexameron." It is only interesting in so far as it shows 
 Chopin superior to his contemporaries in grace and 
 style. " Liszt often played these variations at his con- 
 certs, and even wrote orchestral accompaniments to 
 them, which, however, were neiver published." (Niecks.) 
 
A. Handbook to Chopin's Works. 287 
 
 Huneker says that " Rosenthal is the only modern 
 virtuoso who plays the 'Hexameron' in his concerts;" 
 and play it he does with overwhelming splendour. 
 Chopin's contribution in E major is in his sentimental 
 salon mood. Musically it is the most impressive of 
 this extraordinary mastodonic survival of the "pian- 
 istic" past. 
 
 A Polonaise in G flat major exists, but it is of very 
 doubtful authenticity. Niecks says : " Nothing but the 
 composer's autograph could convince one of the gen- 
 uineness of this piece. There are here and there pas- 
 sages which have the Chopin ring, indeed seem to be 
 almost bodily taken from some other of his works ; but 
 there is also a great deal which it is impossible to im- 
 agine to have come at any time from his pen — the very 
 opening bars may be instanced." 
 
 A piece called " Souvenir de Paganini " in A major 
 was published in the supplement of the Warsaw " Echo," 
 "Muzyczne," but neither of these pieces are in any of 
 the collected editions. It was published in facsimile, 
 and was supposed to have been written by Chopin at 
 the age of eleven. 
 
 In the Klindworth edition is included a Mazurka in 
 F major, which Mr. E. Pauer has shown conclusively is 
 by Charles Mayer. 
 
 "Deux Valses Melancholiques in F minor and B 
 minor, ecrites sur I'Album de Mme. la Comtesse P., 
 1844," are the same as Opus 70, No. 2, and Opus 69, 
 No. 2. 
 
 No. I of the Seventeen Polish Songs appealed in 
 the Paris "Journal de Musique" in 1876, with French 
 words by George Sand, under the title of "La Reine 
 des Songes." 
 
 Printed by The New Temple Press, Nortury Crescent, London, S.W.16,