dreams
are sometimes agitated and dramatic, so some of these nocturnes are
complete little dramas with stormy, tragic episodes, and the one in C
sharp minor, _e.g._, embodies a greater variety of emotion and more
genuine dramatic spirit on four pages than many popular operas on four
hundred.

One of Chopin's enchanting innovations, which he introduced
frequently in the nocturnes, consists in those unique and exquisite
_fioriture_, or dainty little notes which suddenly descend on the
melody like a spray of dew drops glistening in all the colors of the
rainbow. No less unique and original are the exquisite modulations
into foreign keys which abound in the nocturnes, as, indeed, in all
his works. Schucht calls attention to the fact that in his very opus 1
Chopin permits himself a freedom of modulation which Beethoven rarely
indulged in. But this is a mere trifle compared with the works of his
last period. Here we find a striking originality and boldness of
modulation that has no parallel in music, except in Wagner's last
music-dramas. Now we have seen that Moscheles, and other
contemporaries of Chopin, found his modulations harsh and
disagreeable; and doubtless there are amateurs to-day who regard them
in the same way. It seems, indeed, as if musical people must be
divided into two classes--those who find their chief delight in melody
pure and simple, and those who think that rich and varied harmony is
the soul of music. Chopin fortunately wrote for both classes. Italy
has produced no melodist equal to him, and Germany only one--Franz
Schubert. No one has written melodies more soulful than those of the
nocturne, opus 37, No. 2, the second ballad, the etudes, opus 10, No.
3; opus 25, No. 7, etc. I distinctly remember the thrill with which I
heard each of these melodies for the first time; but it was a deeper
emotion still which I felt when I played for the first time the
sublimest of his nocturnes--the last but one he wrote--and came across
that wonderful modulation from five sharps to four flats, and, later
on, the delicious series of modulations in the fourth and fifth bars
after the Tempo Primo. I realized then that modulation is a deeper
source of emotional expression than melody.

In speaking of Chopin's melancholy character, the nocturnes are often
referred to as illustrations of it. They do, indeed, breathe a spirit
of sadness, but the majority represent, as I have said, the dreamy
side of his genius. The real ang