His genius was full of mysterious
harmonies of nature."
Yet this prelude was composed previous to the Majorcan episode.
"The Preludes," says Niecks, "consist--to a great extent, at
least--of pickings from the composer's portfolios, of pieces,
sketches and memoranda written at various times and kept to be
utilized when occasion might offer."
Gutmann, Chopin's pupil, who nursed him to the last, declared the
Preludes to have been composed before he went away with Madame
Sand, and to Niecks personally he maintained that he had copied
all of them. Niecks does not credit him altogether, for there are
letters in which several of the Preludes are mentioned as being
sent to Paris, so he reaches the conclusion that "Chopin's labors
at Majorca on the Preludes were confined to selecting, filing and
polishing." This seems to be a sensible solution.
Robert Schumann wrote of these Preludes: "I must signalize them
as most remarkable. I will confess I expected something quite
different, carried out in the grand style of his studies. It is
almost the contrary here; these are sketches, the beginning of
studies, or, if you will, ruins, eagles' feathers, all strangely
intermingled.
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