Chopin [she said] had always a cottage piano [pianino] by the side of the grand piano on which he gave his lessons.  It was marvellous to hear him accompany, no matter what compositions, from the concertos of Hummel to those of Beethoven.  He performed the role of the orchestra most wonderfully [d’une facon prodigieuse].  When I played his own concertos, he accompanied me in this way.

Judging from various reports, Chopin seems to have regarded his Polish pupils as more apt than those of other nationalities to do full justice to his compositions.  Karasowski relates that when one of Chopin’s French pupils played his compositions and the auditors overwhelmed the performer with their praise, the master used often to remark that his pupil had done very well, but that the Polish element and the Polish enthusiasm had been wanting.  Here it is impossible not to be reminded of the contention between Chopin on the one hand and Liszt and Hiller on the other hand about the possibility of foreigners comprehending Polish national music (See Vol. 1., p. 256).  After revealing the mystery of Chopin’s tempo rubato, Liszt writes in his book on this master:—­

All his compositions have to be played with this sort of balancement accentue et prosodie, this morbidezza, of which it was difficult to seize the secret when one had not heard him often.  He seemed desirous to teach this manner to his numerous pupils, especially to his compatriots, to whom he wished, more than to others, to communicate the breath of his inspiration.  These [ceux-ci, ou plutot celles-la] seized it with that aptitude which they have for all matters of sentiment and poesy.  An innate comprehension of his thought permitted them to follow all the fluctuations of his azure wave.

There is one thing which is worth inquiring into before we close this chapter, for it may help us to a deeper insight into Chopin’s character as a teacher—­I mean his teaching repertoire.  Mikuli says that, carefully arranged according to their difficulty, Chopin placed before his pupils the following compositions:  the concertos and sonatas of Clementi, Mozart, Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Dussek, Field, Hummel, Ries, Beethoven; further, Weber, Moscheles, Mendelssohn, Hiller, Schumann, and his own works.  This enumeration, however, does not agree with accounts from other equally authentic sources.  The pupils of Chopin I have conversed and corresponded with never studied any Schumann under their master.  As to the cultivation of Beethoven, it was, no doubt, limited.  M. Mathias, it is true, told me that Chopin showed a preference for Clementi (Gradus ad Parnassum), Bach, Field (of him much was played, notably his concertos), and naturally for Beethoven, Weber, &c.—­Clementi, Bach, and Field being always the composers most laid under contribution in the case of debutants.  Madame Rubio, on the other hand, confined herself to stating that Chopin put her through Hummel, Moscheles, and Bach; and did