on becomes a coarse one, one gets Chopin's work.
We implore Mr. Chopin to return to nature."

Rellstab might have added that while Field was often commonplace,
Chopin never was. Rather is to be preferred the sound judgment of J. W.
Davison, the English critic and husband of the pianist, Arabella
Goddard. Of the early works he wrote:

Commonplace is instinctively avoided in all the works of
Chopin--a stale cadence or a trite progression--a hum-drum
subject or a worn-out passage--a vulgar twist of the melody or
a hackneyed sequence--a meagre harmony or an unskilful
counterpoint--may in vain be looked for throughout the entire
range of his compositions, the prevailing characteristics of
which are a feeling as uncommon as beautiful; a treatment as
original as felicitous; a melody and a harmony as new, fresh,
vigorous and striking as they are utterly unexpected and out
of the original track. In taking up one of the works of Chopin
you are entering, as it were, a fairyland untrodden by human
footsteps--a path hitherto unfrequented but by the great
composer himself.

Gracious, even coquettish, is the first part of the B major Nocturne of
this opus. Well knit, the passionate intermezzo has the true dramatic
Chopin ring. It should be taken alla breve. The ending is quite
effective.

I do not care much for the F major Nocturne, op. 15, No. I. The opus is
dedicated to Ferdinand Hiller. Ehlert speaks of "the ornament in
triplets with which he brushes the theme as with the gentle wings of a
butterfly," and then discusses the artistic value of the ornament which
may be so profitably studied in the Chopin music. "From its nature, the
ornament can only beautify the beautiful." Music like Chopin's, "with
its predominating elegance, could not forego ornament. But he surely
did not purchase it of a jeweller; he designed it himself, with a
delicate hand. He was the first to surround a note with diamond facets
and to weave the rushing floods of his emotions with the silver beams
of the moonlight. In his nocturnes there is a glimmering as of distant
stars. From these dreamy, heavenly gems he has borrowed many a line.
The Chopin nocturne is a dramatized ornament. And why may not Art speak
for once in such symbols? In the much admired F sharp major Nocturne
the principal theme makes its appearance so richly decorated that one
cannot avoid imagining that his fancy confined itself to the Arabesque
form for the exp