e jests wittily, and always in
supremely good taste. This study fitly closes his extraordinary labors
in this form, and it is as if he had signed it "F. Chopin, et ego in
Arcady."

Among the various editions let me recommend Klindworth for daily usage,
while frequent reference to Von Bulow, Riemann and Kullak cannot fail
to prove valuable, curious and interesting.

Of the making of Chopin editions there is seemingly no end. In 1894 I
saw in manuscript some remarkable versions of the Chopin Studies by
Leopold Godowsky. The study in G sharp minor was the first one
published and played in public by this young pianist Unlike the Brahms
derangements, they are musical but immensely difficult. Topsy-turvied
as are the figures, a Chopin, even if lop-sided, hovers about,
sometimes with eye-brows uplifted, sometimes with angry, knitted
forehead and not seldom amused to the point of smiling. You see his
narrow shoulders, shrugged in the Polish fashion as he examines the
study in double-thirds transposed to the left hand! Curiously enough
this transcription, difficult as it is, does not tax the fingers as
much as a bedevilment of the A minor, op. 25, No. 4, which is extremely
difficult, demanding color discrimination and individuality of finger.

More breath-catching, and a piece at which one must cry out: "Hats off,
gentlemen! A tornado!" is the caprice called "Badinage." But if it is
meant to badinage, it is no sport for the pianist of everyday technical
attainments. This is formed of two studies. In the right hand is the G
flat study, op. 25, No. 9, and in the left the black key study, op. 10,
No. 5. The two go laughing through the world like old friends; brother
and sister they are tonally, trailing behind them a cloud of iridescent
glory. Godowsky has cleverly combined the two, following their melodic
curves as nearly as is possible. In some places he has thickened the
harmonies and shifted the "black key" figures to the right hand. It is
the work of a remarkable pianist. This is the way it looks on paper at
the beginning:

[Musical llustration]

The same study G flat, op. 10, No. 5, is also treated separately, the
melody being transferred to the treble. The Butterfly octaves, in
another study, are made to hop nimbly along in the left hand, and the C
major study, op. 10, No. 7, Chopin's Toccata, is arranged for the left
hand, and seems very practical and valuable. Here the adapter has
displayed great taste and skill, esp