me to state that it is
wholly fictitious. Chopin's liking for Bellini and his music, how ever,
was true and real enough. Hiller relates that he rarely saw him so
deeply moved as at a performance of Norma, which they attended together,
and that in the finale of the second act, in which Rubini seemed to sing
tears, Chopin had tears in his eyes. A liking for the Italian operatic
music of the time, a liking which was not confined to Bellini's works,
but, as Franchomme, Wolff, and others informed me, included also those
of Rossini, appears at first sight rather strange in a musician of
Chopin's complexion; the prevalent musical taste at Warsaw, and a
kindred trait in the national characters of the Poles and Italians,
however, account for it. With regard to Bellini, Chopin's sympathy was
strengthened by the congeniality of their individual temperaments. Many
besides Leon Escudier may have found in the genius of Chopin points of
resemblance with Bellini as well as with Raphael--two artists who, it is
needless to say, were heaven-wide apart in the mastery of the craft of
their arts, and in the width, height, and depth of their conceptions.
The soft, rounded Italian contours and sweet sonorousness of some of
Chopin's cantilene cannot escape the notice of the observer. Indeed,
Chopin's Italicisms have often been pointed out. Let me remind the
reader here only of some remarks of Schumann's, made apropos of the
Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35:--

It is known that Bellini and Chopin were friends, and that
they, who often made each other acquainted with their
compositions, may perhaps have had some artistic influence on
each other. But, as has been said, there is [on the part of
Chopin] only a slight leaning to the southern manner; as soon
as the cantilena is at an end the Sarmatian flashes out
again.

To understand Chopin's sympathy we have but to picture to ourselves
Bellini's personality--the perfectly well-proportioned, slender figure,
the head with its high forehead and scanty blonde hair, the well-formed
nose, the honest, bright look, the expressive mouth; and within this
pleasing exterior, the amiable, modest disposition, the heart that felt
deeply, the mind that thought acutely. M. Charles Maurice relates a
characteristic conversation in his "Histoire anecdotique du Theatre."
Speaking to Bellini about "La Sonnambula," he had remarked that there
was soul in his music. This expression pleased the composer