October 3, 1829.—­I have—­perhaps to my misfortune—­already found my ideal, whom I worship faithfully and sincerely.  Six months have elapsed and I have not yet exchanged a syllable with her of whom I dream every night.  Whilst my thoughts were with her I composed the Adagio of my Concerto.

The Adagio here mentioned is that of the F minor Concerto, Op. 21, which he composed before but published after the F. minor Concerto, Op. 11—­the former appearing in print in April, 1836, the latter in September, 1833. [Footnote:  The slow movements of Chopin’s concertos are marked Larglietto, the composer uses here the word Adagio generically—­i.e., in the sense of slow movement generally.] Karasowski says mistakingly that the movement referred to is the Adagio of the E minor Concerto.  He was perhaps misled by a mistranslation of his own.  In the German version of his Chopin biography he gives the concluding words of the above quotation as “of my new Concerto,” but there is no new in the Polish text (na ktorego pamiatke skomponowalem Adagio do mojego Koncertu).

October 20, 1829.—­Elsner has praised the Adagio of the Concerto.  He says that there is something new in it.  As to the Rondo I do not wish yet to hear a judgment, for I am not yet satisfied with it myself.  I am curious whether I shall finish this work when I return [from a visit to Prince Radziwill].

November 14, 1829.—­I received your last letter at Antonin at Radziwill’s.  I was there a week; you cannot imagine how quickly and pleasantly the time passed to me.  I left by the last coach, and had much trouble in getting away.  As for me I should have stayed till they had turned me out; but my occupations and, above all things, my Concerto, which is impatiently waiting for its Finale, have compelled me to take leave of this Paradise.

On March 17, 1830, Chopin played the F minor Concerto at the first concert he gave in Warsaw.  How it was received by the public and the critics on this occasion and on that of a second concert has been related in the ninth chapter (p.131).

March 27, 1830.—­I hope yet to finish before the holidays the first Allegro of my second Concerto [i.e., the one in E minor], and therefore I should in any case wait till after the holidays [to give a third concert], although I am convinced that I should have this time a still larger audience than formerly; for the haute volee has not yet heard me.

On April 10, 1830, Chopin writes that his Concerto is not yet finished; and on May 15, 1830:—­