To the amiable Princess de Beauvau he dedicated his famous
Polonaise in F sharp minor, op. 44, written in the brilliant
bravura style for pianists of the first force. To Delphine,
Countess Potocka, he dedicated the loveliest of his valses, op.
64, No. 1, so well transcribed by Joseffy into a study in
thirds."
Therefore the picture of the Grafin Potocka in the Berlin gallery
is not that of Chopin's devoted friend.
Here is another Count Tarnowski story. It touches on a Potocka
episode. "Chopin liked and knew how to express individual
characteristics on the piano. Just as there formerly was a rather
widely-known fashion of describing dispositions and characters in
so-called 'portraits,' which gave to ready wits a scope for
parading their knowledge of people and their sharpness of
observation; so he often amused himself by playing such musical
portraits. Without saying whom he had in his thoughts, he
illustrated the characters of a few or of several people present
in the room, and illustrated them so clearly and so delicately
that the listeners could always guess correctly who was intended,
and admired the resemblance of the portrait.
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