een on his first visit. Haslinger was
unwilling to publish more of his compositions, though there were the
two concertos, etudes and many short pieces. The way did not open to
give a concert. He was lonely and unhappy, constantly dreaming of home
and the beloved Constantia. From graphic letters to one of his dearest
friends, a few sentences will reveal his inner life.

"To-day is the first of January (1831). Oh, how sadly this year begins
for me! I love you all above all things. My poor parents! How are my
friends faring? I could die for you all. Why am I doomed to be here so
lonely and forsaken? You can at least open your hearts to each other.
Go and see my parents--and--Constantia."

Although it did not seem advisable to give concerts in Vienna, yet
Chopin made many pleasant acquaintances among the musicians and
prominent people, and was constantly invited. He had planned to
go from Vienna to either Italy or France. As there were political
troubles in the former country, he decided to start for Paris,
stopping on the way at a few places. In Munich he gave a morning
concert, in the hall of the Philharmonie, which won him renown. From
Munich he proceeded to Stuttgart, and during a short stay there, heard
the sad news of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians. This event, it
is said, inspired him to compose the C minor Etude, Op. 10, No. 12.

The Poles and everything Polish were at that time the rage in Paris.
The young Polish master found ready entrance into the highest musical
and literary circles of this most delightful city of the world. All
was romance, fantasy, passion, which fitted with Chopin's sensitive
and romantic temperament. Little wonder that he became inspired by
contact with some of the greatest in the world of arts and letters.

There were Victor Hugo. King of the romanticists, Heine, poet and
novelist; De Musset, Flaubert, Zola, Lamartine, Chateaubriand,
Baudelaire, Ary Scheffer, Merimee, Gautier, Berlioz, Balzac, Rossini,
Meyerbeer, Hiller, Nourrit, to mention a few. Liszt was there too, and
George Sand, Mendelssohn and Kalkbrenner. Chopin called on the last
named, who was considered the first pianist of the day, and played for
him. Kalkbrenner remarked he had the style of Cramer and the touch of
Field. He proposed that Chopin should study three years with him,
and he would then become a great virtuoso. Of course the young artist
might have learned something-on the mechanical side, but at the risk
of