"
Elsewhere I have called attention to the Brahmsian coloring of
this prelude. Its mood is fugitive and hard to hold after
capture. Recondite it is and not music for the multitude.
Niecks does not think Chopin created a new type in the Preludes.
"They are too unlike each other in form and character." Yet
notwithstanding the fleeting, evanescent moods of the Preludes,
there is designedly a certain unity of feeling and contrasted
tonalities, all being grouped in approved Bach-ian manner. This
may be demonstrated by playing them through at a sitting, which
Arthur Friedheim, the Russian virtuoso, did in a concert with
excellent effect. As if wishing to exhibit his genius in
perspective, Chopin carved these cameos with exceeding fineness,
exceeding care. In a few of them the idea overbalances the form,
but the greater number are exquisite examples of a just
proportion of manner and matter, a true blending of voice and
vision. Even in the more microscopic ones the tracery, echoing
like the spirals in strange seashells, is marvellously measured.
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