may be concentrated
in a more limited space, elaborated at less expense of means, and
condensed in time!

Far from being ambitious of the uproar of an orchestra, Chopin was
satisfied to see his thought integrally produced upon the ivory of the
key-board; succeeding in his aim of losing nothing in power, without
pretending to orchestral effects, or to the brush of the scene-painter.
Oh! we have not yet studied with sufficient earnestness and attention
the designs of his delicate pencil, habituated as we are, in these
days, to consider only those composers worthy of a great name, who have
written at least half-a-dozen Operas, as many Oratorios, and various
Symphonies: vainly requiring every musician to do every thing, nay, a
little more than every thing. However widely diffused this idea may be,
its justice is, to say the least, highly problematical. We are far
from contesting the glory more difficult of attainment, or the real
superiority of the Epic poets, who display their splendid creations upon
so large a plan; but we desire that material proportion in music should
be estimated by the same measure which is applied to dimension in other
branches of the fine arts; as, for example, in painting, where a canvas
of twenty inches square, as the Vision of Ezekiel, or Le Cimetiere by
Ruysdael, is placed among the chefs d'oeuvre, and is more highly valued
than pictures of a far larger size, even though they might be from the
hands of a Rubens or a Tintoret. In literature, is Beranger less a great
poet, because he has condensed his thoughts within the narrow limits
of his songs? Does not Petrarch owe his fame to his Sonnets? and among
those who most frequently repeat their soothing rhymes, how many know
any thing of the existence of his long poem on Africa? We cannot doubt
that the prejudice which would deny the superiority of an artist--though
he should have produced nothing but such Sonatas as Franz Schubert has
given us--over one who has portioned out the insipid melodies of many
Operas, which it were useless to cite, will disappear; and that in
music, also, we will yet take into account the eloquence and ability
with which the thoughts and feelings are expressed, whatever may be
the size of the composition in which they are developed, or the means
employed to interpret them.

In making an analysis of the works of Chopin, we meet with beauties of a
high order, expressions entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original
as