It is in the B minor Scherzo but not in the A flat
Ballade. The F minor Ballade overflows with it, and so does the F
sharp minor Polonaise, but not the first Impromptu. Its dark
introspection colors many of the preludes and mazurkas, and in
the C sharp minor Scherzo it is in acrid flowering--truly fleurs
du mal. Heine and Baudelaire, two poets far removed from the
Slavic, show traces of the terrible drowsy Zal in their poetry.
It is the collective sorrow and tribal wrath of a down-trodden
nation, and the mazurkas for that reason have ethnic value. As
concise, even as curt as the Preludes, they are for the most part
highly polished. They are dancing preludes, and often tiny single
poems of great poetic intensity and passionate plaint.
Chopin published during his lifetime forty-one Mazurkas in eleven
cahiers of three, four and five numbers. Op. 6, four Mazurkas,
and op. 7, five Mazurkas, were published December, 1832. Op. 6 is
dedicated to Comtesse Pauline Plater; op. 7 to Mr. Johns. Op. 17,
four Mazurkas, May 4, dedicated to Madame Lina Freppa; op.
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