in A major. Willeby
says it is in C major!

The Tarantella is in A flat, and is numbered op. 43. It was published
in 1841 (?), and bears no dedication. Composed at Nohant, it is as
little Italian as the Bolero is Spanish. Chopin's visit to Italy was of
too short a duration to affect him, at least in the style of dance. It
is without the necessary ophidian tang, and far inferior to Heller and
Liszt's efforts in the constricted form. One finds little of the frenzy
ascribed to it by Schumann in his review. It breathes of the North, not
the South, and ranks far below the A flat Impromptu in geniality and
grace.

The C minor Funeral March, composed, according to Fontana, in 1829,
sounds like Mendelssohn. The trio has the processional quality of a
Parisian funeral cortege. It is modest and in no wise remarkable. The
three Ecossaises, published as op. 73, No. 3, are little dances,
schottisches, nothing more. No. 2 in G is highly popular in girls'
boarding schools.

The Grand Duo Concertant for 'cello and piano is jointly composed by
Chopin and Franchomme on themes from "Robert le Diable." It begins in E
and ends in A major, and is without opus number. Schumann thinks
"Chopin sketched the whole of it, and that Franchomme said 'Yes' to
everything." It is for the salon of 1833, when it was published. It is
empty, tiresome and only slightly superior to compositions of the same
sort by De Beriot and Osborne. Full of rapid elegancies and shallow
passage work, this duo is certainly a piece d'occasion--the occasion
probably being the need of ready money.

The seventeen Polish songs were composed between 1824 and 1844. In the
psychology of the Lied Chopin was not happy. Karasowski writes that
many of the songs were lost and some of them are still sung in Poland,
their origin being hazy. The Third of May is cited as one of these.
Chopin had a habit of playing songs for his friends, but neglected
putting some of them on paper. The collected songs are under the opus
head 74. The words are by his friends, Stephen Witwicki, Adam
Mickiewicz, Bogdan Zaleski and Sigismond Krasinski. The first in the
key of A, the familiar Maiden's Wish, has been brilliantly paraphrased
by Liszt. This pretty mazurka is charmingly sung and played by Marcella
Sembrich in the singing lesson of "The Barber of Seville." There are
several mazurkas in the list. Most of these songs are mediocre.
Poland's Dirge is an exception, and so is Horsemen Before the Battle