ts.

One day Tausig, the great pianoforte-virtuoso, promised W. von Lenz to
play him Chopin's "Barcarolle," Op. 60 (published in September, 1846),
adding, "That is a performance which must not be undertaken before more
than two persons. I shall play you my own self (meinen Menschen). I
love the piece, but take it up only rarely." Lenz, who did not know
the barcarolle, thereupon went to a music-shop and read it through
attentively. The piece, however, did not please him at all; it seemed
to him a long movement in the nocturne-style, a Babel of figuration on
a lightly-laid foundation. But he found that he had made a mistake,
and, after hearing it played by Tausig, confessed that the virtuoso had
infused into the "nine pages of enervating music, of one and the same
long-breathed rhythm (12/8), so much interest, so much motion, and so
much action," that he regretted the long piece was not longer. And now
let us hear what remarks Tausig made with regard to the barcarolle:--

There are two persons concerned in the affair; it is a love-
scene in a discrete gondola; let us say this mise en scene is
the symbol of a lovers' meeting generally. This is expressed
in the thirds and sixths; the dualism of two notes (persons)
is maintained throughout; all is two-voiced, two-souled. In
this modulation here in C sharp major (superscribed dolce
sfogato), there are kiss and embrace! This is evident! When,
after three bars of introduction, the theme, lightly rocking
in the bass solo, enters in the fourth, this theme is
nevertheless made use of throughout the whole fabric only as
an accompaniment, and on this the cantilena in two parts is
laid; we have thus a continuous, tender dialogue.

Both Lenz's first and last impressions were correct. The form of the
barcarolle is that of most of Chopin's nocturnes--consisting of three
sections, of which the third is a modified repetition of the first--only
everything is on a larger scale, and more worked out. Unfortunately,
the contrast of the middle section is not great enough to prevent the
length, in spite of the excellence of the contents, from being felt.
Thus we must also subscribe to the "nine pages of enervating music."
Still, the barcarolle is one of the most important of Chopin's
compositions in the nocturne-style. It has distinctive features which
decidedly justify and make valuable its existence. Local colouring is
not wanting. The first section reminded me of Sc