Schumann relates that he
had the good fortune to hear Chopin play some of his etudes. "And he
played them very much _a la Chopin_," he says: "Imagine an AEolian harp
provided with all the scales, commingled by an artist's hand into all
manner of fantastic, ornamental combinations, yet in such a way that
you can always distinguish a deeper ground tone and a sweet continuous
melody above--and you have an approximate idea of his playing. No
wonder that I liked best those of the etudes which he played for me,
and I wish to mention specially the first one, in A flat major, a poem
rather than an etude. It would be a mistake to imagine that he allowed
each of the small notes to be distinctly audible; it was rather a
surging of the A flat major chord, occasionally raised to a new billow
by the pedal; but amid these harmonies a wondrous melody asserted
itself in large tones, and only once, toward the middle of the piece,
a tenor part came out prominently beside the principal melody. After
hearing this etude you feel as you do when you have seen a ravishing
picture in your dreams and, half awake, would fain recall it.
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