is a well defined technical problem, as well as a
psychical character. Disputed territory is here: the editors do not
agree about the twelfth and eleventh bars from the last. According to
Breitkopf & Hartel the bass octaves are E both times. Mikuli gives G
sharp the first time instead of E; Klindworth, G sharp the second time;
Riemann, E, and also Kullak. The G sharp seems more various.

In the thirteenth prelude, F sharp major, here is lovely atmosphere,
pure and peaceful. The composer has found mental rest. Exquisitely
poised are his pinions for flight, and in the piu lento he wheels
significantly and majestically about in the blue. The return to earth
is the signal for some strange modulatory tactics. It is an impressive
close. Then, almost without pause, the blood begins to boil in this
fragile man's veins. His pulse beat increases, and with stifled rage he
rushes into the battle. It is the fourteenth prelude in the sinister
key of E flat minor, and its heavy, sullen-arched triplets recalls for
Niecks the last movement of the B flat minor Sonata; but there is less
interrogation in the prelude, less sophistication, and the heat of
conflict over it all. There is not a break in the clouds until the
beginning of the fifteenth, the familiar prelude in D flat.

This must be George Sand's: "Some of them create such vivid impressions
that the shades of dead monks seem to rise and pass before the hearer
in solemn and gloomy funereal pomp." The work needs no programme. Its
serene beginning, lugubrious interlude, with the dominant pedal never
ceasing, a basso ostinato, gives color to Kleczynski's contention that
the prelude in B minor is a mere sketch of the idea fully elaborated in
No. 15. "The foundation of the picture is the drops of rain falling at
regular intervals"--the echo principle again--"which by their continual
patter bring the mind to a state of sadness; a melody full of tears is
heard through the rush of the rain; then passing to the key of C sharp
minor, it rises from the depths of the bass to a prodigious crescendo,
indicative of the terror which nature in its deathly aspect excites in
the heart of man. Here again the form does not allow the ideas to
become too sombre; notwithstanding the melancholy which seizes you, a
feeling of tranquil grandeur revives you." To Niecks, the C sharp minor
portion affects one as in an oppressive dream: "The re-entrance of the
opening D flat, which dispels the dreadful nightmare