dicated to Mme. la Princesse Elizabeth Czernicheff, whose name, as
Chopin confesses in a letter, he knows not how to spell.

II

Theodore Kullak is curt and pedagogic in his preface to the Preludes.
He writes:

Chopin's genius nowhere reveals itself more charmingly than
within narrowly bounded musical forms. The Preludes are, in
their aphoristic brevity, masterpieces of the first rank. Some
of them appear like briefly sketched mood pictures related to
the nocturne style, and offer no technical hindrance even to
the less advanced player. I mean Nos. 4, 6, 7, 9, 15 and 20.
More difficult are Nos. 17, 25 and 11, without, however,
demanding eminent virtuosity. The other Preludes belong to a
species of character-etude. Despite their brevity of outline
they are on a par with the great collections op. 10 and op.
25. In so far as it is practicable--special cases of
individual endowments not being taken into consideration--I
would propose the following order of succession: Begin with
Nos. 1, 14, 10, 22, 23, 3 and 18. Very great bravura is
demanded by Nos. 12, 8, 16 and 24. The difficulty of the other
Preludes, Nos. 2, 5, 13, 19 and 21, lies in the delicate piano
and legato technique, which, on account of the extended
positions, leaps and double notes, presupposes a high degree
of development.

This is eminently a common sense grouping. The first prelude, which,
like the first etude, begins in C, has all the characteristics of an
impromptu. We know the wonderful Bach Preludes, which grew out of a
free improvisation to the collection of dance forms called a suite, and
the preludes which precede his fugues. In the latter Bach sometimes
exhibits all the objectivity of the study or toccata, and often wears
his heart in full view. Chopin's Preludes--the only preludes to be
compared to Bach's--are largely personal, subjective, and intimate.
This first one is not Bach-ian, yet it could have been written by no
one but a devout Bach student. The pulsating, passionate, agitated,
feverish, hasty qualities of the piece are modern; so is the changeful
modulation. It is a beautiful composition, rising to no dramatic
heights, but questioning and full of life. Klindworth writes in triplet
groups, Kullak in quintolets. Breitkopf & Hartel do not. Dr. Hugo
Riemann, who has edited a few of the Preludes, phrases the first bars
thus:

Desperate and exasperating to the nerves is the second prelude in A