ment with the enthusiasm of a sibyl
and the grasp of a man." Since Schumann's death, Mme. Schumann has been
known as the exponent of her husband's works, which she has performed in
Germany and England with an insight, a power of conception, and a beauty
of treatment which have contributed much to the recognition of his
remarkable genius.

V.

The name of Frederic Francis Chopin is so closely linked in the minds
of musical students with that of Schumann in that art renaissance which
took place almost simultaneously in France and Germany, when so many
daring and original minds broke loose from the petrifactions of custom
and tradition, that we shall not venture to separate them here. Chopin
was too timid and gentle to be a bold aggressor, like Berlioz, Liszt,
and Schumann, but his whole nature responded to the movement, and his
charming and most original compositions, which glow with the fire of a
genius perhaps narrow in its limits, have never been surpassed for their
individuality and poetic beauty. The present brief sketch of Chopin
does not propose to consider his life biographically, full of pathos and
romance as that life may be.*

* See article Chopin, in "Great German Composers."

Schumann, in his "N'eue Zeitschrift," sums up the characteristics of the
Polish composer admirably; "Genius creates kingdoms, the smaller states
of which are again divided by a higher hand among talents, that these
may organize details which the former, in its thousand-fold activity,
would be unable to perfect. As Hummel, for example, followed the call
of Mozart, clothing the thoughts of that master in a flowing, sparkling
robe, so Chopin followed Beethoven. Or, to speak more simply, as Hummel
imitated the style of Mozart in detail, rendering it enjoyable to the
virtuoso on one particular instrument, so Chopin led the spirit of
Beethoven into the concert-room.

"Chopin did not make his appearance accompanied by an orchestral army,
as great genius is accustomed to do; he only possessed a small cohort,
but every soul belongs to him to the last hero.

"He is the pupil of the first masters--Beethoven, Schubert, Field. The
first formed his mind in boldness, the second his heart in tenderness,
the third his hand to its flexibility. Thus he stood well provided with
deep knowledge in his art, armed with courage in the full consciousness
of his power, when in the year 1830 the great voice of the people arose
in the West. Hundreds of