To learn what impression Chopin made on Schumann, we must once more turn to the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, where we find the Polish artist’s visit to Leipzig twice mentioned:—­

   October 6, 1835.  Chopin was here, but only for a few hours,
   which he passed in private circles.  He played just as he
   composes, that is, uniquely.

The second mention is in the P.S. of a transcendental Schwarmerbrief addressed by Eusebius (the personification of the gentle, dreamy side of Schumann’s character) to Chiara (Clara Wieck):—­

October 20, 1835.  Chopin was here.  Florestan [the personification of the strong, passionate side of Schumann’s character] rushed to him.  I saw them arm in arm glide rather than walk.  I did not speak with him, was quite startled at the thought.

On his way to Paris, Chopin stopped also at Heidelberg, where he visited the father of his pupil Adolph Gutmann, who treated him, as one of his daughters remarked, not like a prince or even a king, but like somebody far superior to either.  The children were taught to look up to Chopin as one who had no equal in his line.  And the daughter already referred to wrote more than thirty years afterwards that Chopin still stood out in her memory as the most poetical remembrance of her childhood and youth.

Chopin must have been back in Paris in the first half or about the middle of October, for the Gazette musicale of the 18th of that month contains the following paragraph:—­

One of the most eminent pianists of our epoch, M. Chopin, has returned to Paris, after having made a tour in Germany which has been for him a real ovation.  Everywhere his admirable talent obtained the most flattering reception and excited enthusiasm.  It was, indeed, as if he had not left our capital at all.

CHAPTER XVIII

1835—­1837.

Publications in 1835 and 1836.—­First performance of les Huguenots.—­ Gusikow, Lipinski, Thalberg.—­Chopin’s impressionableness and fickleness in regard to the fair sex.—­The family Wodzinski.—­Chopin’s love for Maria Wodzinska (Dresden, 1835; Marienbad, 1836).—­Another visit to Leipzig (1836).—­ Character of the chief events in 1837.—­Mention of his first meeting with George Sand.—­His visit to London.—­Newspaper announcement of another visit to Marienbad.—­State of his health in 1837.