with the greatest of the German composers, I cannot say, for he avoids
direct comparisons. But if imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery, then Schumann flattered Chopin more than any other master,
for his pianoforte works are much more in the manner of Chopin than of
Bach or Beethoven. I do not mean direct imitation, but that
unconscious adoption of Chopin's numerous innovations in the treatment
of the piano and of musical style, which are better evidence of
influence than the borrowing of an idea or two. He himself testified
to the "intimate artistic relations" between him and Chopin.
Moreover, his praise of Chopin is always pitched in such a high key
that it would seem as if praise could no higher go. It was he who
first proclaimed Chopin's genius authoritatively, and to this fact he
often referred subsequently, with special pride. The very first
article in his volumes of criticisms is devoted to Chopin's variations
on "La Ci Darem'," published as "opus 2." In those days, Schumann used
to give his criticisms a semi-dramatic form. On this occasion he
represents his _alter ego_, Eusebius, as rushing into the room with a
new composition, and the exclamation "Hats off, gentlemen! a genius!"
He then analyzes the variations in glowing poetic language and
rapturously exclaims at the end that "there is genius in every bar."
And this was only one of the _early_ works of Chopin, in which he has
by no means attained his full powers. Of another quite early work, the
second concerto, he writes that it is a composition "which none of us
can approach except it be with the lips to kiss the hem;" and later
on, the Preludes, the most inspired of his works, led Schumann to
exclaim that Chopin "is and remains the boldest and noblest artistic
spirit of the time."

Schumann would have found it difficult to induce any of his countrymen
to endorse his exalted opinion of Chopin, but the Hungarian Liszt