will give me an opportunity to
talk to you a great deal about the correct expression in playing, and
about its innumerable beauties, shades, and delicacies; while I shall
pay constant attention to the production of a beautiful singing tone.
The next piece will be Chopin's Notturno in E flat; for your touch has
already gained in fulness, and is now unobjectionable.

This is the tyranny with regard to correct execution, which stupidity
and folly have taxed me with having exercised towards my daughters.
"Expression must come of itself!" How cheap is this lazy subterfuge of
the followers of routine, and of teachers wanting in talent! We see and
hear a great many _virtuosos_, old and young, with and without talent,
renowned and obscure. They either play in an entirely mechanical manner
and with faulty and miserable touch, or else, which is less bearable,
they strut with unendurable affectation and produce musical
monstrosities. In order to conceal their indistinct mode of execution,
they throw themselves upon the two pedals, and are guilty of
inconceivable perversions.

But let us proceed with your instruction. You already play your piece
intelligently, with interest and enthusiasm, and without any of the
modern, empty affectations. If any other passage should occur to you at
the _fermata_ in the second part, which shall lead appropriately to the
dominant, try it; and combine it, perhaps, with that which is written.
You may make two passing shakes upon the four final sixteenth notes; but
you must play them very distinctly and clearly, and the last one weaker
than the first, in order to give it a delicate effect, as is done by
singers. With light variations of this kind, it is allowable to
introduce various ornaments, provided they are in good taste and nicely
executed. The case is quite different in the performance of the
compositions of Beethoven, Mozart, Weber, and others, where reverence
for the composer requires a stricter interpretation, although even this
is sometimes carried to a point of exaggeration and pedantry. Now try
the first variation once more. That is better: you already play the
skipping bass with more precision, more briskly and evenly. We begin to
perceive the correct speaking tone in the bass, and a certain delicacy
and freedom in the treble. You need not play both hands together in the
second variation, which is the most difficult, until the next lesson.
To-day you may first play the bass alone, while