pin (1809-1849) combined within himself two natures,
each complementing the other, both uniting to form a personality not
understood by every casual observer. He is described as kind, courteous,
possessed of the most captivating grace and ease of manner, now inclined
to languorous melancholy, now scintillating with a joyous vivacity that
was contagious. His sensitive nature, like the most exquisitely
constructed sounding-board, vibrated with the despairing sadness, the
suppressed wrath, and the sublime fortitude of the brave, haughty,
unhappy people he loved, and with his own homesickness when afar from
his cherished native land.

Patriot and tone-poet in every fibre of his being, his genius inevitably
claimed as its own the soul's divinest language, pure music, unfettered
by words. The profound reserve of his nature made it peculiarly
agreeable to him to gratify the haunting demands of his lyric muse
through the medium of the one musical instrument that lends itself in
privacy to the exploitation of all the mysteries of harmony. Strong
conviction in regard to his own calling and clear perception of the
hidden powers and future mission of the piano early compelled him to
consecrate to it his unfaltering devotion. He evolved from its more
intimate domain effects in sympathy with those of the orchestra, yet
purely individual. He enriched it with new melodic, harmonic and
rhythmic devices adapted to itself alone, and endowed it with a warmth
of tone-coloring that spiritualized it for all time.

To the piano he confided all the conflicts that raged within him, all
the courage and living hope that sustained him. In giving tonal form to
the deep things of the soul, which are universal in their essence and
application, he embodied universal rather than merely individual
emotional experiences, and thus unbared what was most sacred to himself
without jarring on the innate reticence which made purely personal
confidences impossible. Although his mode of expression was peculiarly
his own, he had received a strong impulse from the popular music of
Poland. As a child he had become familiar with the folk-songs and dances
heard in the harvest-fields and at market and village festivals. They
were his earliest models; on them were builded his first themes. As Bach
glorified the melodies of the German people, so Chopin glorified those
of the Poles. The national tonality became to him a vehicle to be
freighted with his own individual con