Jean Louis Nicode has given it an
orchestral garb, besides arranging it for two pianos. He has
added a developing section of seventy bars. This version was
first played in New York a decade ago by Marie Geselschap, a
Dutch pianist, under the direction of the late Anton Seidl. The
original, it must be acknowledged, is preferable.
The Bolero, op. 19, has a Polonaise flavor. There is but little
Spanish in its ingredients. It is merely a memorandum of Chopin's
early essays in dance forms. It was published in 1834, four years
before Chopin's visit to Spain. Niecks thinks it an early work.
That it can be made effective was proven by Emil Sauer. It is for
fleet-fingered pianists, and the principal theme has the
rhythmical ring of the Polonaise, although the most Iberian in
character. It is dedicated to Comtesse E. de Flahault. In the key
of A minor, its coda ends in A major. Willeby says it is in C
major!
The Tarantella is in A flat, and is numbered op. 43. It was
published in 1841 (?), and bears no dedication. Composed at
Nohant, it is as little Italian as the Bolero is Spanish.
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