the window by his singing and guitar-playing, while at the
same time a chorale is heard from the neighbouring church.
This is sure to produce a great effect at a performance. I
mention this only that you may form an idea of his musical
conceptions. He is a great admirer of Gluck. Theatrical music
has, in his opinion, significance only in so far as it
illustrates the situation and emotion; the overture,
therefore, has no close, and leads at once into the
introduction. The orchestra is placed behind the stage and is
always invisible, in order that the attention of the audience
may not be diverted by external, such as the movements of the
conductor and executants.

Chopin enjoyed himself so much at Antonin that if he had consulted only
his pleasure he would have stayed till turned out by his host. But,
although he was asked to prolong his visit, he left this "Paradise" and
the "two Eves" after a sojourn of eight days. It was his occupations,
more especially the F minor Concerto, "impatiently waiting for its
Finale," that induced him to practise this self-denial. When Chopin
had again taken possession of his study, he no doubt made it his first
business, or at least one of the first, to compose the wanting movement,
the Rondo, of his Concerto; as, however, there is an interval of more
than four months in his extant letters, we hear no more about it till
he plays it in public. Before his visit to Antonin (October 20, 1829) he
writes to his friend that he has composed "a study in his own manner,"
and after the visit he mentions having composed "some studies."

Chopin seems to have occasionally played at the Ressource. The reader
will remember the composer's intention of playing there with Fontana his
Rondo for two pianos. On November 14, 1829, Chopin informs his friend
Titus that on the preceding Saturday Kessler performed Hummel's E major
Concerto at the Ressource, and that on the following Saturday he himself
would perhaps play there, and in the case of his doing so choose for his
piece his Variations, Op. 2. Thus composing, playing, and all the time
suffering from a certain loneliness--"You cannot imagine how everywhere
in Warsaw I now find something wanting! I have nobody with whom I can
speak, were it only two words, nobody whom I can really trust"--the day
came when he gave his first concert in his native city. This great event
took place on March 17, 1830, and the programme contain