must have been very gratifying to
Chopin, who felt so much the want of one with whom to sigh." This
slanting allusion is matched by his treatment of George Sand. After
literally ratting her in a separate chapter, he winds up his work with
the solemn assurance that he abstains "from pronouncing judgment
because the complete evidence did not seem to me to warrant my doing
so." This is positively delicious. When I met this biographer at
Bayreuth in 1896, I told him how much I had enjoyed his work, adding
that I found it indispensable in the re-construction of Chopin.
Professor Niecks gazed at me blandly--he is most amiable and
scholarly-looking--and remarked, "You are not the only one." He was
probably thinking of the many who have had recourse to his human
documents of Chopin. But Niecks, in 1888, built on Karasowski, Liszt,
Schumann, Sand and others, so the process is bound to continue. Since
1888 much has been written of Chopin, much surmised.

With Matuszysnki the composer was happier. He devoutly loved his
country and despite his sarcasm was fond of his countrymen. Never an
extravagant man, he invariably assisted the Poles. After 1834-5,
Chopin's activity as a public pianist began to wane. He was not always
understood and was not so warmly welcomed as he deserved to be; on one
occasion when he played the Larghetto of his F minor concerto in a
Conservatoire concert, its frigid reception annoyed him very much.
Nevertheless he appeared at a benefit concert at Habeneck's, April 26,
1835. The papers praised, but his irritability increased with every
public performance. About this time he became acquainted with Bellini,
for whose sensuous melodies he had a peculiar predilection.

In July, 1835, Chopin met his father at Carlsbad. Then he went to
Dresden and later to Leipzig, playing privately for Schumann, Clara
Wieck, Wenzel and Mendelssohn. Schumann gushes over Chopin, but this
friendliness was never reciprocated. On his return to Paris Chopin
visited Heidelberg, where he saw the father of his pupil, Adolphe
Gutmann, and reached the capital of the civilized world the middle of
October.

Meanwhile a love affair had occupied his attention in Dresden. In
September, 1835, Chopin met his old school friends, the Wodzinskis,
former pupils at his father's school. He fell in love with their sister
Marie and they became engaged. He spoke to his father about the matter,
and for the time Paris and his ambitions were forgotten. He