If we leave out of account his playing in the salons, Chopin’s artistic activity during the period comprised in this chapter was confined to teaching and composition. [Footnote:  A Paris correspondent wrote in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik of May 17, 1836, that Chopin had not been heard at all that winter, meaning, of course, that he had not been heard in public.] The publication of his works enables us to form an approximate idea of how he was occupied as a creative musician.  In the year 1835 were published:  in February, Op. 20, Premier Scherzo (in B minor), dedicated to Mr. T. Albrecht, and in November, Op. 24, Quatre Mazurkas, dedicated to M. le Comte de Perthuis.  In 1836 appeared:  in April, Op. 21, Second Concerto (in F minor), dedicated to Madame la Comtesse Delphine Potocka:  in May, Op. 27, Deux Nocturnes (in C sharp minor and D flat major), dedicated to Madame la Comtesse d’Appony; in June, Op. 23, Ballade (in G minor), dedicated to M. le Baron de Stockhausen; in July, Op. 22, Grande Polonaise brillante (E flat major) precedee d’un Andante spianato for pianoforte and orchestra, dedicated to Madame la Baronne d’Est; and Op. 26, Deux Polonaises (in C sharp minor and E flat minor), dedicated to Mr. J. Dessauer.  It is hardly necessary to point out that the opus numbers do not indicate the order of succession in which the works were composed.  The Concerto belongs to the year 1830; the above notes show that Op. 24 and 27 were sooner in print than Op. 23 and 26; and Op. 25, although we hear of its being played by the composer in 1834 and 1835, was not published till 1837.

The indubitably most important musical event of the season 1835- 1836, was the production of Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, which took place on February 29, 1836, and had an extraordinary success.  The concert-rooms, however, concern us more than the opera-houses.  This year brought to Paris two Polish musicians:  Lipinski, the violinist, and Gusikow, the virtuoso on the Strohfiedel, [footnote:  “Straw-fiddle,” Gigelira, or Xylophone, an instrument consisting of a graduated series of bars of wood that lie on cords of twisted straw and are struck with sticks.] whom Mendelssohn called “a true genius,” and another contemporary pointed out as one of the three great stars (Paganini and Malibran were the two others) at that time shining in the musical heavens.  The story goes that Lipinski asked Chopin to prepare the ground for him in Paris.  The latter promised to do all in his power if Lipinski would give a concert for the benefit of the Polish refugees.  The violinist at first expressed his willingness to do so, but afterwards drew back, giving as his reason that if he played for the Polish refugees he would spoil his prospects in Russia, where he intended shortly to make an artistic tour.  Enraged at this refusal, Chopin declined to do anything to further his countryman’s plans in Paris.  But whether the story is true or not, Lipinski’s concert at the Hotel de Ville, on March 3, was one of the most brilliant and best-attended of the season. [Footnote:  Revue et Gazette musicale of March 13, 1836.  Mainzer had a report to the same effect in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik.]