rge,
and is for Kalkbrenner; the other is small (a so-called mono-
chord), and is for me. On the other large ones, which are as
loud as an orchestra, Hiller, Osborne, Stamati, and Sowinski
are to play. Besides these performers, Norblin, Vidal, and
the celebrated viola-player Urban will take part in the
concert.

The singers of the evening were Mdlles. Isambert and Tomeoni, and
M. Boulanger. I have not been able to discover the programme of the
concert. Hiller says that Chopin played his E minor Concerto and some
of his mazurkas and nocturnes. Fetis, in the Revue musicale (March
3, 1832), mentions only in a general way that there were performed a
concerto by Chopin, a composition for six pianos by Kalkbrenner, some
vocal pieces, an oboe solo, and "a quintet for violin [sic], executed
with that energy of feeling and that variety of inspiration which
distinguish the talent of M. Baillot." The concert, which took place in
Pleyel's rooms, was financially a failure; the receipts did not cover
the expenses. The audience consisted chiefly of Poles, and most of
the French present had free tickets. Hiller says that all the musical
celebrities of Paris were there, and that Chopin's performances took
everybody by storm. "After this," he adds, "nothing more was heard
of want of technique, and Mendelssohn applauded triumphantly." Fetis
describes this soiree musicale as one of the most pleasant that had been
given that year. His criticism contains such interesting and, on the
whole, such excellent remarks that I cannot resist the temptation to
quote the more remarkable passages:--

Here is a young man who, abandoning himself to his natural
impressions and without taking a model, has found, if not a
complete renewal of pianoforte music, at least a part of what
has been sought in vain for a long time--namely, an abundance
of original ideas of which the type is to be found nowhere.
We do not mean by this that M. Chopin is endowed with a
powerful organisation like that of Beethoven, nor that there
are in his music such powerful conceptions as one remarks in
that of this great man. Beethoven has composed pianoforte
music, but I speak here of pianists' music, and it is by
comparison with the latter that I find in M. Chopin's
inspirations the indication of a renewal of forms which may
exercise in time much influence over this department of the
art.

Of Chopin's concerto Fetis