The rubato in the valses need not obtrude
itself as in the mazurkas.
Opus 18, in E flat, was published in June, 1834, and dedicated to
Mile. Laura Harsford. It is a true ballroom picture, spirited and
infectious in rhythms. Schumann wrote rhapsodically of it. The D
flat section has a tang of the later Chopin. There is bustle,
even chatter, in this valse, which in form and content is
inferior to op. 34, No. I, A flat. The three valses of this set
were published December, 1838. There are many editorial
differences in the A flat Valse, owing to the careless way it was
copied and pirated. Klindworth and Kullak are the safest for
dynamic markings. This valse may be danced as far as its
dithyrhambic coda. Notice in this coda as in many other places
the debt Schumann owes Chopin for a certain passage in the
Preambule of his "Carneval."
The next Valse in A minor has a tinge of Sarmatian melancholy,
indeed, it is one of Chopin's most desponding moods. The episode
in C rings of the mazurka, and the A major section is of
exceeding loveliness; Its coda is characteristic.
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