Chopin invented many
new harmonic devices, he untied the chord that was restrained
within the octave, leading it into the dangerous but delectable
land of extended harmonies. And how he chromaticized the prudish,
rigid garden of German harmony, how he moistened it with flashing
changeful waters until it grew bold and brilliant with promise! A
French theorist, Albert Lavignac, calls Chopin a product of the
German Romantic school. This is hitching the star to the wagon.
Chopin influenced Schumann; it can be proven a hundred times. And
Schumann under stood Chopin else he could not have written the
"Chopin" of the Carneval, which quite out-Chopins Chopin.
Chopin is the musical soul of Poland; he incarnates its political
passion. First a Slav, by adoption a Parisian, he is the open
door because he admitted into the West, Eastern musical ideas,
Eastern tonalities, rhythms, in fine the Slavic, all that is
objectionable, decadent and dangerous. He inducted Europe into
the mysteries and seductions of the Orient. His music lies
wavering between the East and the West.
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