f-negation (a rare quality with teachers)
enough to act up to his theory, and give free play to the natural
tendencies of his pupil's powers. That this was really the case is seen
from his reply to one who blamed Frederick's disregard of rules and
custom:--

Leave him in peace [he said], 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 which in such a degree has
not been found in anyone.

The letters of master and pupil testify to their unceasing mutual esteem
and love. Those of the master are full of fatherly affection and advice,
those of the pupil full of filial devotion and reverence. Allusions to
and messages for Elsner are very frequent in Chopin's letters. He seems
always anxious that his old master should know how he fared, especially
hear of his success. His sentiments regarding Elsner reveal themselves
perhaps nowhere more strikingly than in an incidental remark which
escapes him when writing to his friend Woyciechowski. Speaking of a new
acquaintance he has made, he says, "He is a great friend of Elsner's,
which in my estimation means much." No doubt Chopin looked up with more
respect and thought himself more indebted to Elsner than to Zywny; but
that he had a good opinion of both his masters is evident from his pithy
reply to the Viennese gentleman who told him that people were astonished
at his having learned all he knew at Warsaw: "From Messrs. Zywny and
Elsner even the greatest ass must learn something."

CHAPTER III

FREDERICK ENTERS THE WARSAW LYCEUM.--VARIOUS EDUCATIONAL
INFLUENCES.--HIS FATHER'S FRIENDS.--RISE OF ROMANTICISM IN POLISH
LITERATURE.--FREDERICK'S STAY AT SZAFARNIA DURING HIS FIRST SCHOOL
HOLIDAYS.--HIS TALENT FOR IMPROVISATION.--HIS DEVELOPMENT AS A COMPOSER
AND PIANIST.--HIS PUBLIC PERFORMANCES.--PUBLICATION OF OP. I.--EARLY
COMPOSITIONS.--HIS PIANOFORTE STYLE.

FREDERICK, who up to the age of fifteen was taught at home along with
his father's boarders, became in 1824 a pupil of the Warsaw Lyceum, a
kind of high-school, the curriculum of which comprised Latin, Greek,
modern languages, mathematics, history, &c. His education was so
far advanced that he could at once enter the fourth class, and the
liveliness of his parts, combined with application to work, enabled him
to distinguish himself in the following years as a student