tripping fairy steps which we find in
bars 17-20 and in other places are a new feature in Chopin. As to the
comparative value of the work, it seems to me inferior to its brothers.
The first section is too fragmentary to give altogether satisfaction.
One is hustled from one phrase to another, and they are as unlike
each other as can well be imagined. The beauty of many of the details,
however, must be acknowledged; 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-melodious second section, with its long, smooth, gently and
beautifully-curved lines. Also the return to the repetition of the first
section is very interesting. This scherzo has the appearance of being
laboured, painfully hammered and welded together. But as the poet is
born, not made-which "being born" is not brought about without travail,
nor makes the less desirable a careful bringing-up--so also does a
work of art owe what is best in it to a propitious concurrence of
circumstances in the natal hour.

The contents of Chopin's impromptus are of a more pleasing nature than
those of the scherzos. Like the latter they are wayward, but theirs is
a charming, lovable waywardness. The composer's three first impromptus
were published during his lifetime: Op. 29 in December, 1837; Op. 36
in May, 1840; and Op. 51 in February, 1843. The fourth impromptu
("Fantaisie-Impromptu"), Op. 66, is a posthumous publication. What name
has been more misapplied than that of impromptu? Again and again we meet
with works thus christened which bear upon them the distinct marks of
painful effort and anxious filing, which maybe said to smell of the
mid-night lamp, and to be dripping with the hard-working artificer's
sweat. How Chopin produced the "Impromptu," Op. 29 (in A flat major), I
do not know. Although an admired improviser, the process of composition
was to him neither easy nor quick. But be this as it may, this impromptu
has quite the air of a spontaneous, unconstrained outpouring. The first
section with its triplets bubbles forth and sparkles like 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 beautiful as nature's. The song over, our
attention is again attracted by the harmonious murmuring and the
changing lights of the water. Th