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Huneker, James, 1860-1921

"Chopin : the Man and His Music"


This minimizes the risk of the skip, and it is perfectly
legitimate to do this--in public at least. The ending, to be
"breathed" away, according to Kullak, is variously fingered. He
also prescribes a most trying fingering for the first group,
fourth finger on both hands. This is useful for study, but for
performance the third finger is surer. Von Bulow advises the
player to keep the "upper part of the body as still as possible,
as any haste of movement would destroy the object in view, which
is the acquisition of a loose wrist." He also suggests certain
phrasing in bar seventeen, and forbids a sharp, cutting manner in
playing the sforzati at the last return of the subject. Kullak is
copious in his directions, and thinks the touch should be light
and the hand gliding, and in the B major part "fiery, wilful
accentuation of the inferior beats." Capricious, fantastic, and
graceful, this study is Chopin in rare spirits. Schumann has the
phrase--the study should be executed with "amiable bravura."
There is a misprint in the Kullak edition: at the beginning of
the thirty-second notes an A instead of an F upsets the tonality,
besides being absurd.


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