Indeed how could it be, with the
light action and tone of the French pianos built in the first
half of the century? After all it was quality, not quantity that
Chopin sought. Each one of his ten fingers was a delicately
differentiated voice, and these ten voices could sing at times
like the morning stars.
Rubinstein declared that all the pedal marks are wrong in Chopin.
I doubt if any edition can ever give them as they should be, for
here again the individual equation comes into play. Apart from
certain fundamental rules for managing the pedals, no pedagogic
regulations should ever be made for the more refined nuanciren.
The portraits of Chopin differ widely. There is the Ary Scheffer,
the Vigneron--praised by Mathias--the Bovy medallion, the Duval
drawing, and the head by Kwiatowski. Delacroix tried his powerful
hand at transfixing in oil the fleeting expressions of Chopin.
Felix Barrias, Franz Winterhalter, and Albert Graefle are others
who tried with more or less success. Anthony Kolberg painted
Chopin in 1848-49. Kleczynski reproduces it; it is mature in
expression.
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