ne, gracious, and refined, the piece is stamped "Paris," the
elegant Paris of 1830. Composed in that year and published in July,
1836, it is dedicated to the Baronne D'Est. Chopin introduced it at a
Conservatoire concert for the benefit of Habeneck, April 26, 1835.
This, according to Niecks, was the only time he played the Polonaise
with orchestral accompaniment. It was practically a novelty to New York
when Rafael Joseffy played it here, superlatively well, in 1879.

The orchestral part seems wholly superfluous, for the scoring is not
particularly effective, and there is a rumor that Chopin cannot be held
responsible for it. Xaver Scharwenka made a new instrumentation that is
discreet and extremely well sounding. With excellent tact he has
managed the added accompaniment to the introduction, giving some
thematic work of the slightest texture to the strings, and in the
pretty coda to the wood-wind. A delicately managed allusion is made by
the horns to the second theme of the nocturne in G. There are even five
faint taps of the triangle, and the idyllic atmosphere is never
disturbed. Scharwenka first played this arrangement at a Seidl memorial
concert, in Chickering Hall, New York, April, 1898. Yet I cannot
truthfully say the Polonaise sounds so characteristic as when played
solo.

The C sharp minor Polonaise, op. 26, has had the misfortune of being
sentimentalized to death. What can be more "appassionata" than the
opening with its "grand rhythmical swing"? It is usually played by
timid persons in a sugar-sweet fashion, although fff stares them in the
face. The first three lines are hugely heroic, but the indignation soon
melts away, leaving an apathetic humor; after the theme returns and is
repeated we get a genuine love motif tender enough in all faith
wherewith to woo a princess. On this the Polonaise closes, an odd
ending for such a fiery opening.

In no such mood does No. 2 begin. In E flat minor it is variously known
as the Siberian, the Revolt Polonaise. It breathes defiance and rancor
from the start. What suppressed and threatening rumblings are there!
Volcanic mutterings these:

[Musical score excerpt]

It is a sinister page, and all the more so because of the injunction to
open with pianissimo. One wishes that the shrill, high G flat had been
written in full chords as the theme suffers from a want of massiveness.
Then follows a subsidiary, but the principal subject returns
relentlessly. The episode in B m