d their forms, but their original
characteristics ought to be known. The Polonaise was the stately dance
of the Polish nobility, more a march or procession than a dance, full
of gravity and courtliness, with an imposing and majestic rhythm in
triple time that tends to emphasize the second beat of the measure,
frequently syncopating it and accentuating the second half of the
first beat:

[Music illustration]

[Sidenote: _The Mazurka._]

National color comes out more clearly in his Mazurkas. Unlike the
Polonaise this was the dance of the common people, and even as
conventionalized and poetically refined by Chopin there is still in
the Mazurka some of the rude vigor which lies in its propulsive
rhythm:

[Music illustration] or [Music illustration]

[Sidenote: _The Krakowiak._]

The Krakowiak (French _Cracovienne_, Mr. Paderewski has a fascinating
specimen in his "Humoresques de Concert," op. 14) is a popular dance
indigenous to the district of Cracow, whence its name. Its rhythmical
elements are these:

[Music illustration] and [Music illustration]

[Sidenote: _Idiomatic music._]

[Sidenote: _Content higher than idiom._]

In the music of this period there is noticeable a careful attention on
the part of the composers to the peculiarities of the pianoforte. No
music, save perhaps that of Liszt, is so idiomatic. Frequently in
Beethoven the content of the music seems too great for the medium of
expression; we feel that the thought would have had better expression
had the master used the orchestra instead of the pianoforte. We may
well pause a moment to observe the development of the instrument and
its technique from then till now, but as condemnation has already been
pronounced against excessive admiration of technique for technique's
sake, so now I would first utter a warning against our appreciation of
the newer charm. "Idiomatic of the pianoforte" is a good enough phrase
and a useful, indeed, but there is danger that if abused it may bring
something like discredit to the instrument. It would be a pity if
music, which contains the loftiest attributes of artistic beauty,
should fail of appreciation simply because it had been observed that
the pianoforte is not the most convenient, appropriate, or effective
vehicle for its publication--a pity for the pianoforte, for therein
would lie an exemplification of its imperfection. So, too, it would be
a pity if the opinion should gain ground that music which had been
c