"
Liszt, as usual, erred on the sentimental side. Chopin, being
essentially a man of moods, like many great men, and not
necessarily feminine in this respect, cannot always be pinned
down to any particular period. Several of the Preludes are very
morbid--I purposely use this word--as is some of his early music,
while he seems quite gay just before his death.
"The Preludes follow out no technical idea, are free creations on
a small basis, and exhibit the musician in all his versatility,"
says Louis Ehlert. "No work of Chopin's portrays his inner
organization so faithfully and completely. Much is embryonic. It
is as though he turned the leaves of his fancy without completely
reading any page. Still, one finds in them the thundering power
of the Scherzi, the half satirical, half coquettish elegance of
the Mazurkas, and the southern, luxuriously fragrant breath of
the Nocturnes. Often it is as though they were small falling
stars dissolved into tones as they fall."
Jean Kleczynski, who is credited with understanding Chopin,
himself a Pole and a pianist, thinks that "people have gone too
far in seeking in the Preludes for traces of that misanthropy, of
that weariness of life to which he was prey during his stay in
the Island of Majorca.
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