n the Waltz. Weber's "Invitation to the Dance" is the source
of the modern idealized waltz, because it was not written for the feet
alone, but also for the heart and the imagination. Like Chopin's
waltzes, it contains chivalrous passages, amorous episodes, and subtle
changes of movement. And it seems as if the fact that there was less
room for formal and emotional innovations in the waltz than in the
other forms, had somewhat affected Chopin's imagination. For, although
the most popular of his works, his waltzes are, with a few exceptions
in which the _rubato_ prevails, less characteristic than his other
pieces. Nevertheless, they are charming, every one of them. But they
are fairy dances--mortals are too clumsy to keep time to them.

Next to the waltzes in popularity come the polonaises; and they fully
deserve their popularity. Liszt has given us a charming description of
the polonaise as it was formerly danced in Chopin's native country. It
was less a dance than a promenade in which courtly pomps and
aristocratic splendor were on exhibition. It was a chivalrous but not
an amorous dance, precedence being given to age and rank, before youth
and beauty. And whereas, in other dances, the place of honor is
always given to the fair sex, in the polonaise the men are in the
foreground. In a word, the polonaise represents, both in its subject
and the style of music, the masculine side of Chopin's genius.

The feminine side is chiefly embodied in the mazurkas and the
nocturnes. It has been said that the highest genius must combine
masculine with feminine traits, and it is a remarkable fact that the
works of two of the most spontaneous composers--Chopin and
Schubert--are often characterized by an exquisite feminine tenderness
and grace; as if, seeing that women have not done their duty as
composers, they had tried to introduce the feminine spirit in music.
Yet it is unfair to place too much emphasis on this side of their
genius. In their bolder moments, Chopin and Schubert are thoroughly
masculine.

It seems strange at first sight that the mazurkas, these exquisite
love poems, should be so much less popular than the waltzes, for they
are quite as melodious and much easier--although here, as elsewhere,
Chopin often introduces a few very difficult bars in an otherwise easy
composition, as if to keep away bunglers. Perhaps the cause of their
comparative neglect is, that they are so thoroughly Polish in spirit;
unless they are pl