We have seen this legend disproved by one who knows. This
Polonaise is not as feverish and as exalted as the previous one.
It is, as Kleczynski writes, "the type of a war song." Named the
Heroique, one hears in it Ehlert's "ring of damascene blade and
silver spur." There is imaginative splendor in this thrilling
work, with its thunder of horses' hoofs and fierce challengings.
What fire, what sword thrusts and smoke and clash of mortal
conflict! Here is no psychical presentation, but an objective
picture of battle, of concrete contours, and with a cleaving
brilliancy that excites the blood to boiling pitch. That Chopin
ever played it as intended is incredible; none but the heroes of
the keyboard may grasp its dense chordal masses, its fiery
projectiles of tone. But there is something disturbing, even
ghostly, in the strange intermezzo that separates the trio from
the polonaise. Both mist and starlight are in it. Yet the work is
played too fast, and has been nicknamed the "Drum" Polonaise,
losing in majesty and force because of the vanity of virtuosi.
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