f
that day, as the tones of the piano through the shawl."

Because Chopin did not label his works with any but general titles,
Ballades, Scherzi, Studies, Preludes and the like, his music sounds all
the better: the listener is not pinned down to any precise mood, the
music being allowed to work its particular charm without the aid of
literary crutches for unimaginative minds. Dr. Niecks gives specimens
of what the ingenious publisher, without a sense of humor, did with
some of Chopin's compositions: Adieu a Varsovie, so was named the
Rondo, op. 1; Hommage a Mozart, the Variations, op. 2; La Gaite,
Introduction and Polonaise, op. 3 for piano and 'cello; La
Posiana--what a name!--the Rondo a la Mazur, op. 5; Murmures de la
Seine, Nocturnes op. 9; Les Zephirs, Nocturnes, op. 15; Invitation a la
Valse, Valse, op. 18; Souvenir d'Andalousie, Bolero, op. 19--a bolero
which sounds Polish!--Le Banquet Infernal, the First Scherzo, op.
20--what a misnomer!--Ballade ohne Worte, the G minor Ballade--there is
a polyglot mess for you!--Les Plaintives, Nocturnes, op. 27; La
Meditation, Second Scherzo, B flat minor-meditation it is not!--II
Lamento e la Consolazione, Nocturnes, op. 32; Les Soupirs, Nocturnes,
op. 37, and Les Favorites, Polonaises, op. 40. The C minor Polonaise of
this opus was never, is not now, a favorite. The mazurkas generally
received the title of Souvenir de la Pologne.

In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Chopin,
October 17, 1899, a medal was struck at Warsaw, bearing on one side an
artistically executed profile of the Polish composer. On the reverse,
the design represents a lyre, surrounded by a laurel branch, and having
engraved upon it the opening bars of the Mazurka in A flat major. The
name of the great composer with the dates of his birth and death, are
given in the margin. Paderewski is heading a movement to remove from
Paris to Warsaw the ashes of the pianist, but it is doubtful if it can
be managed. Paris will certainly object to losing the bones of such a
genius.

Chopin's acoustic parallelisms are not so concrete, so vivid as
Wagner's. Nor are they so theatrical, so obvious. It does not, however,
require much fancy to conjure up "the drums and tramplings of three
conquests" in the Eroica Polonaise or the F sharp major Impromptu. The
rhythms of the Cradle Song and the Barcarolle are suggestive enough and
if you please there are dew-drops in his cadenzas and there is the
whist