" Thus Chopin; and the details have all the
relevancy of a male besieged by Dan Cupid. Chopin must have
played well. He said so himself, and he was always a cautious
self-critic despite his pride. His vanity and girlishness peep
out in his recital by the response to a quartet of recalls: "I
believe I did it yesterday with a certain grace, for Brandt had
taught me how to do it properly." He is not speaking of his
poetic performance, but of his bow to the public. As he formerly
spoke to his mother of his pretty collar, so as young man he
makes much of his deportment. But it is all quite in the role;
scratch an artist and you surprise a child.
Of course, Constantia sang wonderfully. "Her low B came out so
magnificently that Zielinski declared it alone was worth a
thousand ducats." Ah, these enamored ones! Chopin left Warsaw
November 1, 1830, for Vienna and without declaring his love. Or
was he a rejected suitor? History is dumb. He never saw his
Gladowska again, for he did not return to Warsaw. The lady was
married in 1832--preferring a solid certainty to nebulous genius-
-to Joseph Grabowski, a merchant at Warsaw.
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