X. THE BALLADES:--FAERY DRAMAS
W. H. Hadow has said some pertinent things about Chopin in
"Studies in Modern Music." Yet we cannot accept unconditionally
his statement that "in structure Chopin is a child playing with a
few simple types, and almost helpless as soon as he advances
beyond them; in phraseology he is a master whose felicitous
perfection of style is one of the abiding treasures of the art."
Chopin then, according to Hadow, is no "builder of the lofty
rhyme," but the poet of the single line, the maker of the phrase
exquisite. This is hardly comprehensive. With the more complex,
classical types of the musical organism Chopin had little
sympathy, but he contrived nevertheless to write two movements of
a piano sonata that are excellent--the first half of the B flat
minor Sonata. The idealized dance forms he preferred; the
Polonaise, Mazurka and Valse were already there for him to
handle, but the Ballade was not. Here he is not imitator, but
creator. Not loosely-jointed, but compact structures glowing with
genius and presenting definite unity of form and expression, are
the ballades--commonly written in six-eight and six-four time.
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