Nohant, and Chopin seems
to have passed most of, if not all, the time in Paris. From a letter
addressed to her half-brother, we learn that the reason of her staying
away from her country-seat was a wish to economise:--

If you will guarantee my being able to pass the summer at
Nohant for 4,000 francs, I will go. But I have never been
there without spending 1,500 francs per month, and as I do not
spend here the half of this, it is neither the love of work,
nor that of spending, nor that of glory, which makes me
stay...

George Sand's fits of economy never lasted very long. At any rate,
in the summer of 1841 we find her again at Nohant. But as it is my
intention to treat of Chopin's domestic life at Nohant and in Paris
with some fulness in special chapters, I shall now turn to his artistic
doings.

In 1839 there appeared only one work by Chopin, Op. 28, the "Preludes,"
but in the two following years as many as sixteen--namely, Op. 35-50.
Here is an enumeration of these compositions, with the dates of
publication and the dedications.

[FOOTNOTE: Both the absence of dedications in the case of some
compositions, and the persons to whom others are dedicated, have a
biographical significance. They tell us of the composer's absence from
Paris and aristocratic society, and his return to them.]

The "Vingt-quatre Preludes," Op. 28, published in September, 1839, have
a twofold dedication, the French and English editions being dedicated a
son ami Pleyel, and the German to Mr. J. C. Kessler. The publications
of 1840 are: in May--Op. 35, "Sonate" (B flat minor); Op. 36, "Deuxieme
Impromptu" (F sharp minor); Op. 37, "Deux Nocturnes" (G minor and G
major); in July--Op. 42, "Valse" (A flat major); in September--Op.
38, "Deuxieme Ballade" (F major), dedicated to Mr. R. Schumann; in
October--Op. 39, "Troisieme Scherzo" (C sharp minor), dedicated to
Mr. A. Gutmann; in November--Op. 40, "Deux Polonaises" (A major and C
minor), dedicated to Mr. J. Fontana; and in December--Op. 41, "Quatre
Mazurkas" (C sharp and E minor, B and A flat major), dedicated to E.
Witwicki. Those of 1841 are: in October--Op. 43, "Tarantelle" (A flat
major), without any dedication; and in November--Op. 44, "Polonaise" (F
sharp minor), dedicated to Madame la Princesse Charles de Beauvau;
Op. 45, "Prelude" (C sharp minor), dedicated to Madame la Princesse
Elizabeth Czernicheff; Op. 46, "Allegro de Concert" (A major), dedicated
to Mdlle. F. Muller; Op