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Huneker, James, 1860-1921

"Chopin : the Man and His Music"

By this
I mean a well chosen incision--the cesura, and a lingering--
"letting in air," Tausig cleverly called it--which in no way
impairs rhythm and time, but rather brings them into stronger
relief; a LINGERING which our signs of notation cannot
adequately express, because it is made up of atomic time
values. Rub the bloom from a peach or from a butterfly--what
remains will belong to the kitchen, to natural history! It is
not otherwise with Chopin; the bloom consisted in Tausig's
treatment of the Ballade.
He came to the first passage--the motive among blossoms and
leaves--a figurated recurrence to the principal theme is in
the inner parts--its polyphonic variant. A little thread
connects this with the chorale-like introduction of the second
theme. The theme is strongly and abruptly modulated, perhaps a
little too much so. Tausig tied the little thread to a doppio
movimento in two-four time, but thereby resulted sextolets,
which threw the chorale into still bolder relief. Then
followed a passage a tempo, in which the principal theme
played hide and seek.


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