On the other hand, although Field’s priority and influence on Chopin must be admitted, the unprejudiced cannot but perceive that the latter is no imitator.  Even where, as for instance in Op. 9, Nos. 1 and 2, the mejody or the form of the accompaniment shows a distinct reminiscence of Field, such is the case only for a few notes, and the next moment Chopin is what nobody else could be.  To watch a great man’s growth, to trace a master’s noble achievements from their humble beginnings, has a charm for most minds.  I, therefore, need not fear the reader’s displeasure if I direct his attention to some points, notable on this account—­in this case to the wide-meshed chords and light-winged flights of notes, and the foreshadowing of the Coda of Op. 9.

Of 1827 we have also a Mazurka in A minor, Op. 68, No. 2.  It is simple and rustic, and at the same time graceful.  The trio (poco piu mosso), the more original portion of the Mazurka, reappears in a slightly altered form in later mazurkas.  It is these foreshadowings of future beauties, that make these early works so interesting.  The above-mentioned three polonaises are full of phrases, harmonic, progressions, &c., which are subsequently reutilised in a. purer, more emphatic, more developed, more epigrammatic, or otherwise more perfect form.  We notice the same in the waltzes which remain yet to be discussed here.

Whether these Waltzes (in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2; and in E major, without opus number) were really written in the early part of 1829, or later on in the year, need not be too curiously inquired into.  As I have already remarked, they may certainly be classed along with the above-discussed works.  The first is the more interesting of them.  In both we meet with passages that point to more perfect specimens of the kind—­for instance, certain rhythmical motives, melodic inflections, and harmonic progressions, to the familiar Waltzes in E flat major (Op. 18) and in A flat major (Op. 34, No. 1); and the D major portion of the Waltz in B minor, to the C major part of the Waltz in A minor (Op. 34, No. 2).  This concludes our survey of the compositions of Chopin’s first period.

In the legacy of a less rich man, the Funeral March in C minor, Op. 72b, composed (according to Fontana) in 1829, [footnote:  In Breitkopf and Hartel’s Gesammtausgabe of Chopin’s works will be found 1826 instead of 1829.  This, however, is a misprint, not a correction.]would be a notable item; in that of Chopin it counts for little.  Whatever the shortcomings of this composition are, the quiet simplicity and sweet melancholy which pervade it must touch the hearer.  But the master stands in his own. light; the famous Funeral March in B flat minor, from the Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35, composed about ten years later, eclipses the more modest one in C minor.  Beside the former, with its sublime force and fervency of passion and imposing mastery of the resources of the art, the latter sinks into weak insignificance, indeed, appears a mere puerility.  Let us note in the earlier work the anticipation, (bar 12) of a motive of the chef-d’ceuvre (bar 7), and reminiscences of the Funeral March from Beethoven’s.  Sonata in A flat major, Op. 26.