that
they seemed no longer to belong to our nature, but to reveal to us the
indiscreet confidences of the Undines, Titanias, Ariels, Queen Mabs, and
Oberons, Liszt proceeds thus:--

When this kind of inspiration laid hold of Chopin his playing
assumed a distinctive character, whatever the kind of music he
executed might be--dance-music or dreamy music, mazurkas or
nocturnes, preludes or scherzos, waltzes or tarantellas,
studies or ballades. He imprinted on them all one knows not
what nameless colour, what vague appearance, what pulsations
akin to vibration, that had almost no longer anything material
about them, and, like the imponderables, seemed to act on
one's being without passing through the senses. Sometimes one
thought one heard the joyous tripping of some amorously-
teasing Peri; sometimes there were modulations velvety and
iridescent as the robe of a salamander; sometimes one heard
accents of deep despondency, as if souls in torment did not
find the loving prayers necessary for their final deliverance.
At other times there breathed forth from his fingers a despair
so mournful, so inconsolable, that one thought one saw Byron's
Jacopo Foscari come to life again, and contemplated the
extreme dejection of him who, dying of love for his country,
preferred death to exile, being unable to endure the pain of
leaving Venezia la bella!

It is interesting to compare this description with that of another poet,
a poet who sent forth his poetry daintily dressed in verse as well
as carelessly wrapped in prose. Liszt tells us that Chopin had in his
imagination and talent something "qui, par la purete de sa diction, par
ses accointances avec La Fee aux Miettes et Le Lutin d'Argail, par ses
rencon-tres de Seraphine et de Diane, murmurant a son oreille leurs plus
confidentielles plaintes, leurs reves les plus innommes," [FOOTNOTE: The
allusions are to stories by Charles Nodier. According to Sainte-Beuve,
"La Fee aux Miettes" was one of those stories in which the author was
influenced by Hoffmann's creations.] reminded him of Nodier. Now, what
thoughts did Chopin's playing call up in Heine?

Yes, one must admit that Chopin has genius in the full sense
of the word; he is not only a virtuoso, he is also a poet; he
can embody for us the poesy which lives within his soul, he is
a tone-poet, and nothing can be compared to the pleasure which
he gives us when he sits at the piano an