ur new Mazurkas, one
from Palma, in E minor; three from here, in B major, A flat major and C
sharp minor. They seem to me pretty, as the youngest children usually
do when the parents grow old." No. 3 is a vigorous, sonorous dance. No.
4, over which the editors deviate on the serious matter of text, in A
flat, is for the concert room, and is allied to several of his gracious
Valses. Playful and decorative, but not profound in feeling.

Opus 50, the first in G major, is healthy and vivacious. Good humor
predominates. Kullak notes that in some editions it closes pianissimo,
which seems a little out of drawing. No. 2 is charming. In A flat, it
is a perfect specimen of the aristocratic Mazurka. The D flat Trio, the
answering episode in B flat minor, and the grace of the return make
this one to be studied and treasured. De Lenz finds Bach-ian influences
in the following, in C sharp minor: "It begins as though written for
the organ, and ends in an exclusive salon; it does him credit and is
worked out more fully than the others. Chopin was much pleased when I
told him that in the construction of this Mazurka the passage from E
major to F major was the same as that in the Agatha aria in
'Freischutz.'" De Lenz refers to the opening Bach-like mutations. The
texture of this dance is closer and finer spun than any we have
encountered. Perhaps spontaneity is impaired, mais que voulez vous?
Chopin was bound to develop, and his Mazurkas, fragile and constricted
as is the form, were sure to show a like record of spiritual and
intellectual growth.

Opus 56, in B major, is elaborate, even in its beginning. There is
decoration in the ritornelle in E flat and one feels the absence of a
compensating emotion, despite the display of contrapuntal skill. Very
virtuoso-like, but not so intimate as some of the others. Karasowski
selects No. 2 in C as an illustration. "It is as though the composer
had sought for the moment to divert himself with narcotic intoxication
only to fall back the more deeply into his original gloom." There is
the peasant in the first bars in C, but the A minor and what follows
soon disturb the air of bonhomie. Theoretical ease is in the imitative
passages; Chopin is now master of his tools. The third Mazurka of op.
56 is in C minor. It is quite long and does not give the impression of
a whole. With the exception of a short break in B major, it is composed
with the head, not the heart, nor yet the heels.

Not unlike, in