rks in his paper.
Indeed, in connection with all the Chopin notices and criticisms in
the "Gazette musicale" we must keep in mind the relations between the
publisher and composer, and the fact that several of the writers in
the paper were Chopin's intimate friends, and many of them were of the
clique, or party, to which he also belonged. Sowinski, a countryman
and acquaintance of Chopin's, says of this concert that the theatre
was crowded and all went well, but that Chopin's expectations were
disappointed, the E minor Concerto not producing the desired effect. The
account in Larousse's "Grand Dictionnaire" is so graphic that it
makes one's flesh creep. After remarking that Chopin obtained only a
demi-success, the writer of the article proceeds thus: "The bravos of
his friends and a few connoisseurs alone disturbed the cold and somewhat
bewildered attitude of the majority of the audience." According to
Sowinski and others Chopin's repugnance to play in public dates from
this concert; but this repugnance was not the outcome of one but of
many experiences. The concert at the Theatre-Italien may, however, have
brought it to the culminating point. Liszt told me that Chopin was
most deeply hurt by the cold reception he got at a concert at the
Conservatoire, where he played the Larghetto from the F minor Concerto.
This must have been at Berlioz's concert, which I mentioned on one of
the foregoing pages of this chapter.

Shortly after the concert at the Theatre-Italien, Chopin ventured once
more to face that terrible monster, the public. On Sunday, April 26,
1835, he played at a benefit concert of Habeneck's, which is notable as
the only concert of the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire in which
he took part. The programme was as follows:--1. The "Pastoral Symphony,"
by Beethoven; 2. "The Erl-King," by Schubert, sung by M. Ad. Nourrit;
3. Scherzo from the "Choral Symphony," by Beethoven; 4. "Polonaise
avec introduction" [i.e., "Polonaise brillante precedee d'un Andante
spianato"], composed and played by M. Chopin; 5. Scena, by Beethoven,
sung by Mdlle. Falcon; 6. Finale from the C minor Symphony, by
Beethoven. The writer of the article Chopin in Larousse's "Grand
Dictionnaire" says that Chopin had no reason to repent of having taken
part in the concert, and others confirm this statement. In Elwart's
"Histoire des Concerts du Conservatoire" we read:--"Le compositeur
reveur, l'elegiaque pianiste, produisit a ce concert un effe