e on the scene he has
taken so high a stand, both by his pianoforte-playing and by
his compositions for this instrument, that he is to the
multitude an inexplicable phenomenon which it looks on in
passing with astonishment, and which stupid egoism regards
with a smile of pity, while the small number of connoisseurs,
led by a sure judgment, rather by an instinct of progress
than by a reasoned sentiment of enjoyment, follow this artist
in his efforts and in his creations, if not closely, at least
at a distance, admiring him, learning from him, and trying to
imitate him. For this reason Chopin has not found a critic,
although his works are already known everywhere. They have
either excited equivocal smiles and have been disparaged, or
have provoked astonishment and an overflow of unlimited
praise; but nobody has as yet come forward to say in what
their peculiar character and merit consists, by what they are
distinguished from so many other compositions, what assigns
to them a superior rank, &c.

No important events are to be recorded of the season 1833-1834, but
that Chopin was making his way is shown by a passage from a letter which
Orlowski wrote to one of his friends in Poland:--

Chopin [he says] is well and strong; he turns the heads of
all the Frenchwomen, and makes the men jealous of him. He is
now the fashion, and the elegant world will soon wear gloves
a la Chopin, Only the yearning after his country consumes
him.

In the spring of 1834 Chopin took a trip to Aix-la-Chapelle, where
at Whitsuntide the Lower Rhenish Music Festival was held. Handel's
"Deborah," Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, and part of Beethoven's Ninth
were on the programme, and the baton was in the hand of Ferdinand Ries.
Hiller, who had written additional accompaniments to the oratorio and
translated the English words into German, had received an invitation
from the committee, and easily persuaded Chopin to accompany him.
But this plan very nearly came to naught. While they were making
preparations for the journey, news reached them that the festival was
postponed; and when a few days later they heard that it would take place
after all, poor Chopin was no longer able to go, having in the meantime
spent the money put aside for travelling expenses, probably given it
away to one of his needy countrymen, to whom, as Hiller says, his purse
was always open. But what was to be done now? H