The left hand, too, must receive careful attention and
special study. The chord passages and all similar ones must be
executed discreetly and legatissimo. Notes with double stems must
be distinguished from notes with single stems by means of
stronger shadings, for they are mutually interconnected."
Von Bulow calls the seventh study, the one in C sharp minor, a
nocturne--a duo for 'cello and flute. He ingeniously smooths out
the unequal rhythmic differences of the two hands, and justly
says the piece does not work out any special technical matter.
This study is the most lauded of all. Yet I cannot help agreeing
with Niecks, who writes of it--he oddly enough places it in the
key of E: "A duet between a He and a She, of whom the former
shows himself more talkative and emphatic than the latter, is,
indeed, very sweet, but, perhaps, also somewhat tiresomely
monotonous, as such tete-a-tetes naturally are to third parties."
For Chopin's contemporaries this was one of his greatest efforts.
Heller wrote: "It engenders the sweetest sadness, the most
enviable torments, and if in playing it one feels oneself
insensibly drawn toward mournful and melancholy ideas, it is a
disposition of the soul which I prefer to all others.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208