this—­I do not remember just now a propos of which composition, but it is very appropriate to those we are now discussing:—­“The whole striving of the composer must be regarded as an aberration, based on decided talent, we admit, but nevertheless an aberration.”  You see the most hostile of Chopin’s critics does not deny his talent; indeed, Rellstab sometimes, especially subsequently, speaks quite patronisingly about him.  I shall take this opportunity to contradict the current notion that Chopin had just cause to complain of backwardness in the recognition of his genius, and even of malicious attacks on his rising reputation.  The truth of this is already partly disproved by the foregoing, and it will be fully so by the sequel.

The pieces which I have formed into a third group show us the composer free from the fetters that ambition and other preoccupations impose.  Besides Chopin’s peculiar handling we find in them more of his peculiar sentiment.  If the works of the first group were interesting as illustrating the development of the student, those of the second group that of the virtuoso, and those of both that of the craftsman, the works of the third group furnish us most valuable documents for the history of the man and poet.  The foremost in importance of the pieces comprised in this group are no doubt the three polonaises, composed respectively in the years 1827, 1828, and 1829.  The bravura character is still prominent, but, instead of ruling supreme, it becomes in every successive work more and more subordinate to thought and emotion.  These polonaises, although thoroughly Chopinesque, nevertheless differ very much from his later ones, those published by himself, which are generally more compact and fuller of poetry.  Moreover, I imagine I can see in several passages the influence of Weber, whose Polonaise in E flat minor, Polacca in E major, Sonata in A flat major, and Invitation a la Valse (to mention a few apposite instances), respectively published in 1810, 1819, 1816, and 1821, may be supposed to have been known to Chopin.  These reminiscences, if such they are, do not detract much from the originality of the compositions; indeed, that a youth of eighteen should have attained such a strongly-developed individuality as the D minor Polonaise exhibits, is truly wonderful.

The Nocturne of the year 1827 (Op. 72, No. 1, E minor) is probably the poorest of the early compositions, but excites one’s curiosity as the first specimen of the kind by the incomparable composer of nocturnes.  Do not misunderstand me, however, and imagine that I wish to exalt Chopin at the expense of another great musician.  Field has the glory not only of having originated the genre, but also of having produced examples that have as yet lost nothing, or very little, of their vitality.  His nocturnes are, indeed, a rich treasure, which, undeservedly neglected by the present generation, cannot be superseded by those of his illustrious, and now favoured successor.