The
valses are the most objective of the Chopin works, and in few of
them is there more than a hint of the sullen, Sargasson seas of
the nocturnes and scherzi. Nietzsche's la Gaya Scienza--the Gay
Science--is beautifully set forth in the fifteen Chopin valses.
They are less intimate, in the psychic sense, but exquisite
exemplars of social intimacy and aristocratic abandon. As
Schumann declared, the dancers of these valses should be at least
countesses. There is a high-bred reserve despite their
intoxication, and never a hint of the brawling peasants of
Beethoven, Grieg, Brahms, Tschaikowsky, and the rest. But little
of Vienna is in Chopin. Around the measures of this most popular
of dances he has thrown mystery, allurement, and in them secret
whisperings and the unconscious sigh. It is going too far not to
dance to some of this music, for it is putting Chopin away from
the world he at times loved. Certain of the valses may be danced:
the first, second, fifth, sixth, and a few others. The dancing
would be of necessity more picturesque and less conventional than
required by the average valse, and there must be fluctuations of
tempo, sudden surprises and abrupt languors.
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