, where he had to
wait some weeks for supplies from home. His stay in the capital of
Bavaria, however, was not lost time, for he made there the acquaintance
of several clever musicians, and they, charmed by his playing and
compositions, induced him to give a concert. Karasowski tells us that
Chopin played his E minor Concerto at one of the Philharmonic Society's
concerts--which is not quite correct, as we shall see presently--and
adds that

the audience, carried away by the beauty of the composition
and his excellent, poetic rendering, overwhelmed the young
virtuoso with loud applause and sincere admiration.

In writing this the biographer had probably in his mind the following
passage from Chopin's letter to Titus Woyciechowski, dated Paris,
December 16, 1831:--"I played [to Kalkbrenner, in Paris] the E minor
Concerto, which charmed the people of the Bavarian capital so much." The
two statements are not synonymous. What the biographer says may be true,
and if it is not, ought to be so; but I am afraid the existing documents
do not bear it out in its entirety. Among the many local and other
journals which I have consulted, I have found only one notice of
Chopin's appearance at Munich, and when I expectantly scanned a resume
of Munich musical life, from the spring to the end of the year 1831,
in the "Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung," I found mention made of
Mendelssohn and Lafont, but not of Chopin. Thus, unless we assume that
Karasowski--true to his mission as a eulogising biographer, and most
vigorous when unfettered by definite data--indulged in exaggeration, we
must seek for a reconciliation of the enthusiasm of the audience with
the silence of the reporter in certain characteristics of the Munich
public. Mendelssohn says of it:--

The people here [in Munich] have an extraordinary receptivity
for music, which is much cultivated. But it appears to me
that everything makes an impression and that the impressions
do not last.

Speaking of Mendelssohn, it is curious to note how he and Chopin were
again and again on the point of meeting, and again and again failed to
meet. In Berlin Chopin was too bashful and modest to address his already
famous young brother-artist, who in 1830 left Vienna shortly before
Chopin arrived, and in 1831 arrived in Munich shortly after Chopin had
left. The only notice of Chopin's public appearance in Munich I have
been able to discover, I found in No. 87 (August 30, 18