ng undoubtedly to a later period.
The tutti and solo parts are unmistakable, so different is the treatment
of the pianoforte: in the former the style has the heaviness of an
arrangement, in the latter it has Chopin's usual airiness. The work, as
a whole, is unsatisfactory, nay, almost indigestible. The subjects are
neither striking nor important. Of the passage-work, that which follows
the second subject contains the most interesting matter. Piquant traits
and all sorts of fragmentary beauties are scattered here and there over
the movement. But after we have considered all, we must confess that
this opus adds little or nothing to the value of our Chopin inheritance.

[FOOTNOTE: In justice to the composer I must here quote a criticism
which since I wrote the above appeared in the Athenaum (January 21,
1888):--"The last-named work [the Allegro de Concert, Op. 46] is
not often heard, and is generally regarded as one of Chopin's least
interesting and least characteristic pieces. Let us hasten to say that
these impressions are distinctly wrong; the executive difficulties of
the work are extremely great, and a mere mastery of them is far from
all that is needed. When M. de Pachmann commenced to play it was quickly
evident that his reading would be most remarkable, and in the end it
amounted to an astounding revelation. That which seemed dry and involved
became under his fingers instinct with beauty and feeling; the musicians
and amateurs present listened as if spellbound, and opinion was
unanimous that the performance was nothing short of an artistic
creation. For the sake of the composer, if not for his own reputation,
the pianist should repeat it, not once, but many times." Notwithstanding
this decided judgment of a weighty authority--for such everyone will,
without hesitation, acknowledge the critic in question to be--I am
unable, after once more examining the work, to alter my previously
formed opinion.]

As a further confirmation of the supposed origin of the Allegro de
Concert, I may mention the arrangement of it for piano and orchestra
(also for two pianos) by Jean Louis Nicode.

[FOOTNOTE: Nicode has done his work well so far as he kept close to the
text of Chopin; but his insertion of a working-out section of more than
seventy bars is not justifiable, and, moreover, though making the work
more like an orthodox first movement of a concerto, does not enhance its
beauty and artistic value.]

To the Sonata in B flat