The concert which Chopin gave in 1841, after several years of retirement, took place at Pleyel’s rooms on Monday, the 26th of April.  It was like his subsequent concerts a semi-public rather than a public one, for the audience consisted of a select circle of pupils, friends, and partisans who, as Chopin told Lenz, took the tickets in advance and divided them among themselves.  As most of the pupils belonged to the aristocracy, it followed as a matter of course that the concert was emphatically what Liszt calls it, “un concert de fashion.”  The three chief musical papers of Paris:  the “Gazette Musicale,” the “France Musicale,” and the “Menestrel” were unanimous in their high, unqualified praise of the concert-giver, “the king of the fete, who was overwhelmed with bravos.”  The pianoforte performances of Chopin took up by far the greater part of the programme, which was varied by two arias from Adam’s “La Rose de Peronne,” sung by Mdme. Damoreau—­ Cinti, who was as usual “ravissante de perfection,” and by Ernst’s “Elegie,” played by the composer himself “in a grand style, with passionate feeling and a purity worthy of the great masters.”  Escudier, the writer of the notice in the “France Musicale,” says of Ernst’s playing:  “If you wish to hear the violin weep, go and hear Ernst; he produces such heart-rending, such passionate sounds, that you fear every moment to see his instrument break to pieces in his hands.  It is difficult to carry farther the expression of sadness, of suffering, and of despair.”

To give the reader an idea of the character of the concert, I shall quote largely from Liszt’s notice, in which he not only sets forth the merits of the artists, but also describes the appearance of the room and the audience.  First, however, I must tell a pretty anecdote of which this notice reminds me.  When Liszt was moving about among the audience during the intervals of the concert, paying his respects here and there, he came upon M. Ernest Legouve.  The latter told him of his intention to give an account of the concert in the “Gazette Musicale.”  Liszt thereupon said that he had a great wish to write one himself, and M. Legouve, although reluctantly, gave way.  When it came to the ears of Chopin that Liszt was going to report on the concert, he remarked:  “Il me donnera un petit royaume dans son empire” (He will give me a little kingdom in his empire).

[Footnote:  Since I wrote the above, M. Legouve has published his “Soixante ans de Souvenirs,” and in this book gives his version of the story, which, it is to be hoped, is less. incorrect than some other statements of his relating to Chopin:  “He [Chopin] had asked me to write a report of the concert.  Liszt claimed the honour.  I hastened to announce this good news to Chopin, who quietly said to me:  “I should have liked better if it had been you.”  “What are you thinking of my dear friend!  An article by Liszt, that is a fortunate thing for the public and for you.  Trust in his admiration for your talent.  I promise you qu’il vous fera un beau royaume.’—­’Oui, me dit-il en souriant, dans son empire!’”]