uch
of modern and dramatic forms; one finds in them facility and a natural
manner of making the parts sing, but little originality and variety in
his ideas. Elsner writes with sufficient purity, although he shows in
his fugues that his studies have not been severe."]

For the pupils of the Conservatorium he wrote vocal pieces in from one
to ten parts, and he composed also a number of canons in four and five
parts, which fact seems to demonstrate that he had no ill-will against
the scholastic forms. And now I shall quote a passage from an apparently
well-informed writer [FOOTNOTE: The writer of the article Elsner in
Schilling's Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst] (to whom I am, moreover,
otherwise indebted in this sketch), wherein Elsner is blamed for certain
shortcomings with which Chopin has been often reproached in a less
charitable spirit. The italics, which are mine, will point out the words
in question:--

One forgives him readily [in consideration of the general
excellence of his style] THE OFFENCES AGAINST THE LAW OF
HARMONIC CONNECTION THAT OCCUR HERE AND THERE, AND THE
FACILITY WITH WHICH HE SOMETIMES DISREGARDS THE FIXED RULES
OF STRICT PART-WRITING, especially in the dramatic works,
where he makes effect apparently the ultimate aim of his
indefatigable endeavours.

The wealth of melody and technical mastery displayed in "The Passion
of our Lord Jesus Christ" incline Karasowski to think that it is the
composer's best work. When the people at Breslau praised Elsner's
"Echo Variations" for orchestra, Chopin exclaimed: "You must hear his
Coronation Mass, then only can you judge of him as a composer." To
characterise Elsner in a few words, he was a man of considerable musical
aptitude and capacity, full of nobleness of purpose, learning, industry,
perseverance, in short, possessing all qualities implied by talent, but
lacking those implied by genius.

A musician travelling in 1841 in Poland sent at the time to the Neue
Zeitschrift fur Musik a series of "Reiseblatter" (Notes of Travel),
which contain so charming and vivid a description of this interesting
personality that I cannot resist the temptation to translate and insert
it here almost without any abridgment. Two noteworthy opinions of the
writer may be fitly prefixed to this quotation--namely, that Elsner was
a Pole with all his heart and soul, indeed, a better one than thousands
that are natives of the country, and that, like Haydn, he