ve been of no
assistance to him. Chopin fared better with his letter of introduction
to Capellmeister Morlacchi, who returned the visit paid him and made
himself serviceable. And now mark this touch of boyish vanity: "Tomorrow
morning I expect Morlacchi, and I shall go with him to Miss Pechwell's.
That is to say, I do not go to him, but he comes to me. Yes, yes,
yes!" Miss Pechwell was a pupil of Klengel's, and the latter had asked
Morlacchi to introduce Chopin to her. She seems to have been not only a
technically skilful, fine-feeling, and thoughtful musician, but also in
other respects a highly-cultivated person. Klengel called her the best
pianist in Dresden. She died young, at the age of 35, having some time
previously changed her maiden name for that of Madame Pesadori. We shall
meet her again in the course of this biography.
Of the rest of Chopin's journey nothing is known except that it led him
to Breslau, but when he reached and left it, and what he did there,
are open questions, and not worth troubling about. So much, however, is
certain, that on September 12, 1829, he was settled again in his native
city, as is proved by a letter bearing that date.
CHAPTER VIII
THE WORKS OF CHOPIN'S FIRST PERIOD.
The only works of Chopin we have as yet discussed are--if we leave out
of account the compositions which the master neither published himself
nor wished to be published by anybody else--the "Premier Rondeau," Op.
1, the "Rondeau a la Mazur," Op. 5, and "Variations sur un air allemand"
(see Chapter III). We must retrace our steps as far back as 1827, and
briefly survey the composer's achievements up to the spring of 1829,
when a new element enters into his life and influences his artistic
work. It will be best to begin with a chronological enumeration of those
of Chopin's compositions of the time indicated that have come down to
us. In 1827 came into existence or were finished: a Mazurka (Op. 68, No.
2), a Polonaise (Op. 71, No. 1), and a Nocturne (Op. 72); in 1828, "La
ci darem la mano, varie" for piano and orchestra (Op. 2), a Polonaise
(Op. 71, No. 2), a Rondo for two pianos (Op. 73), a Sonata (Op. 4), a
Fantasia on Polish airs for piano and orchestra (Op. 13), a Krakowiak,
"Grand Rondeau de Concert," likewise for piano and orchestra (Op.
14), and a Trio for piano, violin, and violoncello (Op. 8); in 1829, a
Polonaise (Op. 71, No. 3), a Waltz (Op. 69, No. 2), another Waltz (in E
major, without op
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