an as
Beethoven. The various editorial phraseology is not of much moment.
Riemann uses thirty-second notes for the cadenzas, Kullak eighths and
Klindworth sixteenths.

Niecks writes of the Prelude in C sharp minor, op. 45, that it
"deserves its name better than almost any one of the twenty-four; still
I would rather call it improvisata. It seems unpremeditated, a heedless
outpouring, when sitting at the piano in a lonely, dreary hour, perhaps
in the twilight. The quaver figure rises aspiringly, and the sustained
parts swell out proudly. The piquant cadenza forestalls in the
progression of diminished chords favorite effects of some of our more
modern composers. The modulation from C sharp minor to D major and back
again--after the cadenza--is very striking and equally beautiful."

Elsewhere I have called attention to the Brahmsian coloring of this
prelude. Its mood is fugitive and hard to hold after capture. Recondite
it is and not music for the multitude.

Niecks does not think Chopin created a new type in the Preludes. "They
are too unlike each other in form and character." Yet notwithstanding
the fleeting, evanescent moods of the Preludes, there is designedly a
certain unity of feeling and contrasted tonalities, all being grouped
in approved Bach-ian manner. This may be demonstrated by playing them
through at a sitting, which Arthur Friedheim, the Russian virtuoso, did
in a concert with excellent effect. As if wishing to exhibit his genius
in perspective, Chopin carved these cameos with exceeding fineness,
exceeding care. In a few of them the idea overbalances the form, but
the greater number are exquisite examples of a just proportion of
manner and matter, a true blending of voice and vision. Even in the
more microscopic ones the tracery, echoing like the spirals in strange
seashells, is marvellously measured. Much in miniature are these
sculptured Preludes of the Polish poet.

VIII. IMPROMPTUS AND VALSES

To write of the four Impromptus in their own key of unrestrained
feeling and pondered intention would not be as easy as recapturing the
first "careless rapture" of the lark. With all the freedom of an
improvisation the Chopin impromptu has a well defined form. There is
structural impulse, although the patterns are free and original. The
mood-color is not much varied in three, the first, third and fourth,
but in the second there is a ballade-like quality that hints of the
tragic. The A flat Impromptu,