papers said about him.

Chopin's want of confidence in the judgment of his countrymen showed
that, after all, the national Polish element in his compositions was
not the main cause why they were not rated at once at their true
value. It was their novelty of form, harmonic depth and freedom of
modulation, that made them for a long time cavïare to the general.
This was again proved when he went to Paris. Chopin was a Pole only on
his mother's side, his father having been a Frenchman, who had
emigrated to Poland. It might have been supposed, therefore, that
there would be a French element in Chopin's genius which would make it
palatable to the Parisians. But this did not prove to be the case. In
the remarkable group of musicians, poets, and artists who were
assembled at that time in Paris, and who mutually inspired one
another--a group which included Liszt, Meyerbeer, Hiller,
Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Heine, George Sand, the Countess D'Agoult,
Delacroix, etc.--there were no doubt not a few who knew what a rare
genius their friend Chopin was. George Sand wrote in her
autobiography: "He has not been understood hitherto, and to the
present day he is underestimated. Great progress will have to be made
in taste and in the appreciation of music before it will be possible
for Chopin's work to become popular." Heine also wrote that his
favorite pianist was Chopin, "who, however," he adds, "is more of a
composer than a virtuoso. When Chopin is at the piano I forget all
about the technical side of playing and become absorbed in the sweet
profundity, the sad loveliness of his creations, which are as deep as
they are elegant. Chopin is the great inspired tone-poet who properly
should be named only in company with Mozart, Beethoven, and Rossini."

But aside from these select spirits and a small circle of aristocratic