t in the case of Chopin. Karasowski, speaking as if he had the gift
of reading the inmost thoughts of men, remarks: "Chopin did not suspect
what was passing in Kalkbrenner's mind when he was playing to him."
After all, I should like to ask, is there anything surprising in the
fact that the admired virtuoso and author of a "Methode pour apprendre
le Piano a l'aide du Guide-mains; contenant les principes de musique;
un systems complet de doigter; des regles sur l'expression," &c.,
found fault with Chopin's strange fingering and unconventional style?
Kalkbrenner could not imagine anything superior to his own method,
anything finer than his own style. And this inability to admit the
meritoriousness or even the legitimacy of anything that differed
from what he was accustomed to, was not at all peculiar to this great
pianist; we see it every day in men greatly his inferiors. Kalkbrenner's
lament that when he ceased to play there would be no representative left
of the grand pianoforte school ought to call forth our sympathy.
Surely we cannot blame him for wishing to perpetuate what he held to be
unsurpassable! According to Hiller, Chopin went a few times to the class
of advanced pupils which Kalkbrenner had advised him to attend, as he
wished to see what the thing was like. Mendelssohn, who had a great
opinion of Chopin and the reverse of Kalkbrenner, was furious when
he heard of this. But were Chopin's friends correct in saying that he
played better than Kalkbrenner, and could learn nothing from him? That
Chopin played better than Kalkbrenner was no doubt true, if we consider
the emotional and intellectual qualities of their playing. But I think
it was not correct to say that Chopin could learn nothing from the
older master. Chopin was not only a better judge of Kalkbrenner than his
friends, who had only sharp eyes for his short-comings, and overlooked
or undervalued his good qualities, but he was also a better judge of
himself and his own requirements. He had an ideal in his mind, and he
thought that Kalkbrenner's teaching would help him to realise it. Then
there is also this to be considered: unconnected with any school, at
no time guided by a great master of the instrument, and left to his own
devices at a very early age, Chopin found himself, as it were, floating
free in the air without a base to stand on, without a pillar to lean
against. The consequent feeling of isolation inspires at times even
the strongest and most ind