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Huneker, James, 1860-1921

"Chopin : the Man and His Music"

Mikuli's metronome is 144 to the quarter, Von Bulow's,
114; Klindworth's, the same as Mikuli, and Riemann is 72 to the
half, with an alla breve. The fingering in three of these
authorities is almost identical. Riemann has ideas of his own,
both in the phrasing and figuration. Look at these first two
bars: [Musical score excerpt without caption: ]
Von Bulow orders "the middle harmonies to be played throughout
distinctly, and yet transiently"--in German, "fluchtig." In fact,
the entire composition, with its murmuring, meandering, chromatic
character, is a forerunner to the whispering, weaving, moonlit
effects in some of his later studies. The technical purpose is
clear, but not obtrusive. It is intended for the fourth and fifth
finger of the right hand, but given in unison with both hands it
becomes a veritable but laudable torture for the thumb of the
left. With the repeat of the first at bar 36 Von Bulow gives a
variation in fingering. Kullak's method of fingering is this:
"Everywhere that two white keys occur in succession the fifth
finger is to be used for C and F in the right hand, and for F and
E in the left.


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