erto in E minor is a very beautiful
nocturne-like movement, and if given with an accompaniment of second
piano, or, better still, a very soft accompaniment of organ, it
produces the most delightful effect.

The Impromptu in A-flat, opus 29, might just as well have been called a
study, since the essential part of it is a rapid movement in eighth
notes having for its object, in part at least, the freer and more
delicate treatment of the left hand in accompaniments. It will require
a great deal of practice to play well, but when so played it produces a
very pleasing pianoforte effect. It belongs to the same class of
Chopin's works as the Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor, already
mentioned. The middle part of this impromptu, as in the case of the
other, is essentially a nocturne-like movement.

The Nocturne in D-flat, opus 27, No. 2, is very often played. It is a
very beautiful composition, and while representing a number of serious
technical difficulties, esthetically considered, it is perhaps
sufficiently plain to any student capable of mastering it. In all
these cases it is to be observed that Chopin takes the implication of
the term "nocturne" somewhat freely, often developing the idea with
considerable force and dramatic spirit.

One of the most celebrated of all the compositions of Chopin is the
famous Polonaise in A-flat major, which seems in the fullest manner to
illustrate the description of the polonaise already quoted above, from
Liszt's Chopin. This remarkable work opens with a rather striking
introduction, the principal subject entering in the seventeenth
measure, very bold and strong. In the forty-ninth measure an extremely
forcible and dramatic idea begins which presently, in the fifty-seventh
measure, gives place to a more quiet melody. The most remarkable part
of this piece, and the one which has had much to do with its use by
virtuoso pianists, is the middle part in E major. Here, after a series
of heavy chords, a sixteenth-note motion enters in octaves for the left
hand, and for the right hand a melody, which is at first soft and
afterward built up. This octave middle figure continues without
interruption for sixteen measures, and then, after the chords are
repeated, is continued again for the same length of time. When this is
properly done, the passage begins quite softly and works up by degrees
until the very imposing climax at the end, and in the repetition the
same thing takes place a