A message directly from him would have been
invaluable to students, and might have averted many unlucky
misapprehensions of himself and his works. Those of his contemporaries
who have harkened with rapture to his playing have declared that he
alone could adequately interpret his tone-creations, or make perfectly
intelligible his method. Pupils of his and their pupils have faithfully
endeavored to transmit to the musical world the tradition of his
individual style. The elect few have come into touch with his vision of
beauty, but it has been mercilessly misinterpreted by thousands of
ruthless aspirants to musical honors, in the schoolroom, the students'
recital and the concert hall.
Whoever plays Chopin with sledge-hammer fingers will deaden all sense of
his poetry, charm and grace. Whoever approaches him with weak
sentimentalism will miss altogether his dignity and strength. It has
been said of him that he was Woman in his tenderness and realization of
the beautiful; and Man in his energy and force of mind.
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