, in the middle of the piece, besides that
chief song, a tenor voice became prominent. After the etude a feeling
came over one as of having seen in a dream a beatific picture which,
when already half awake, one would gladly once more recall."

MAZURKA IN F-SHARP MINOR, OP. 6, NO. 1.

As Franz Liszt says in his life of Chopin, "The Mazurka is not only a
dance, it is a national poem, and like all poems of conquered nations,
is shaped so as to let the blazing flames of patriotic feeling shimmer
out through the transparent veil of popular melody." The chief
peculiarity of the Mazurka (which is always in triple rhythm, with a
latitude in speed from Presto to Mesto) is the scheme of
accentuation--the normal accent on the first beat being systematically
transferred to the second and third beats. We also find in the Mazurka
frequent indications for the use of the so-called "tempo rubato," a
proper conception of which is so essential in the performance of
Chopin's music. Tempo rubato--so often abused!--literally meaning
borrowed time, is simply free rhythm emancipated from rigid,
scholastic bonds. As Huneker well says, "Chopin must be played in
curves" with emotional freedom; just as the heart, when excited,
increases the speed of its pulsations, and in moments of calm and
depression slows down. The jerky, really unrhythmical playing of
certain performers reminds us of a person suffering from _palpitation_
of the heart. Liszt's description of the rubato is most suggestive: "A
wind plays in the leaves, life unfolds and develops beneath them, but
the tree remains the same." In Chopin, accordingly, the ground rhythm
should always be preserved, though varied with subtle, and yet logical
fluctuations.

POLONAISE IN E-FLAT MINOR, OP. 26, NO. 11.

The Polonaise[225] is the great national dance of the Poles; an
impassioned and yet stately pageant in which, as Liszt says, "The
noblest traditional feelings of ancient Poland are represented." This
dance--or rather, processional march--is always in triple rhythm and
based on a definite rhythmic formula: either [Music] or [Music]. The
frequent feminine endings are also a characteristic feature, _e.g._,
the cadence in the well known military Polonaise in A major:

[Music]

To return to the example being considered,--it is in Three-part form
(A, B, A, with Coda) the first part in the minor mode; the second part
beautifully contrasted by being in B major--introduced by the implied
e