An Opus 2!' How our faces
glowed as we wondered, exclaiming, 'That is something reasonable once
more! Chopin? I never heard of the name--who can he be? In any case, a
genius. Is not that _Zerlina's_ smile, And _Leporello_, etc' I could not
describe the scene. Heated with wine, Chopin, and our own enthusiasm,
we went to Master Raro, who with a smile, and displaying but little
curiosity for Chopin, said, 'Bring me the Chopin! I know you and your
enthusiasm.' We promised to bring it the next day. Eusebius soon bade us
good-night. I remained a short time with Master Raro. Florestan, who had
been for some time without a habitation, hurried to my house through the
moonlit streets. 'Chopin's variations,' he began, as if in a dream,
'are constantly running through my head; the whole is so dramatic
and Chopin-like; the introduction is so concentrated. Do you remember
_Leporello's_ springs in thirds? That seems to me somewhat unfitted
to the theme; but the theme--why did he write that in A flat? The
variations, the finale, the adagio, these are indeed something; genius
burns through every measure. Naturally, dear Julius, _Don Juan, Zerlina,
Leporello, Massetto_, are the _dramatis persona; Zerlina's_ answer in
the theme has a sufficiently enamored character; the first variation
expresses, a kind of coquettish coveteousness: the Spanish Grandee
flirts amiably with the peasant girl in it. This leads of itself to the
second, which is at once confidential, disputative, and comic, as though
two lovers were chasing each other and laughing more than usual about
it. How all this is changed in the third! It is filled with fairy music
and moonshine; _Masetto_ keeps at a distance, swearing audibly, but
without any effect on _Don Juan_. And now the fourth--what do you
think of it? Eusebius played it altogether correctly. How boldly, how
wantonly, it springs forward to meet the man! though the adagio (it
seems quite natural to me that Chopin repeats the first part) is in
B flat minor, as it should be, for in its commencement it presents a
beautiful moral warning to _Don Juan_. It is at once so mischievous
and beautiful that _Leporello_ listens behind the hedge, laughing and
jesting that oboes and clarionettes enchantingly allure, and that the
B flat major in full bloom correctly designates the first kiss of love.
But all this is nothing compared to the last (have you any more wine,
Julius?). That is the whole of Mozart's finale, popping champagn