It is
preceded by an introduction, and is dedicated to Joseph Merk, the
'cellist. Chopin himself pronounced it a brilliant salon piece.
It is now not even that, for it sounds antiquated and threadbare.
The passage work at times smacks of Chopin and Weber--a hint of
the Mouvement Perpetuel--and the 'cello has the better of the
bargain. Evidently written for my lady's chamber.
Two Polonaises remain. One, in B flat minor, was composed in
1826, on the occasion of the composer's departure for Reinerz. A
footnote to the edition of this rather elegiac piece tells this.
Adieu to Guillaume Kolberg, is the title, and the Trio in D flat
is accredited to an air of "Gazza Ladra," with a sentimental Au
Revoir inscribed. Kleczynski has revised the Gebethner & Wolff
edition. The little cadenza in chromatic double notes on the last
page is of a certainty Chopin. But the Polonaise in G flat major,
published by Schott, is doubtful. It has a shallow ring, a
brilliant superficiality that warrants Niecks in stamping it as a
possible compilation. There are traces of the master throughout,
particularly in the E flat minor Trio, but there are some vile
progressions and an air of vulgarity surely not Chopin's.
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