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Huneker, James, 1860-1921

"Chopin : the Man and His Music"

It recalls in color the B minor mazurka. Very gay and
sprightly is the G flat Valse, op. 70, No. I. The next in F minor
has no special physiognomy, while the third in D flat contains,
as Niecks points out, germs of the op. 42 and the op. 34 Valses.
It recalls to me the D flat study in the supplementary series.
The E minor Valse, without opus, is beloved. It is very graceful
and not without sentiment. The major part is the early Chopin.
The E major Valse is published in the Mikuli edition. It is
commonplace, hinting of its composer only in places. Thus ends
the collection of valses, not Chopin's most signal success in
art, but a success that has dignified and given beauty to this
conventional dance form.

IX. NIGHT AND ITS MELANCHOLY MYSTERIES:--THE NOCTURNES

Here is the chronology of the nocturnes: Op. 9, three nocturnes,
January, 1833; op. 15, three nocturnes, January, 1834; op. 27,
two nocturnes, May, 1836; op. 32, two nocturnes, December, 1837;
op. 37, two nocturnes, May, 1840; op. 48, two nocturnes,
November, 1841; op.


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