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Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician — Volume 1 by Frederick Niecks
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concerts for charitable purposes in the large hall of the
Conservatorium. At one of these Frederick appeared again in
public. A Warsaw correspondent of the "Leipzig Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung" says in the course of one of his letters:--

The Academist Chopin performed the first Allegro of
Moscheles' Pianoforte Concerto in F [G ?] minor, and an
improvisation on the aeolopantaleon. This instrument,
invented by the cabinet-maker Dlugosz, of this town, combines
the aeolomelodicon [FOOTNOTE: An instrument of the organ
species, invented by Professor Hoffmann, and constructed by
the mechanician Brunner, of Warsaw.] with the piano-
forte....Young Chopin distinguished himself in his
improvisation by wealth of musical ideas, and under his hands
this instrument, of which he is a thorough master, made a
great impression.

Unfortunately we learn nothing of Chopin's rendering of the
movement from Moscheles' Concerto. Still, this meagre notice,
written by a contemporary--an ear-witness, who wrote down his
impressions soon after the performance--is very precious, indeed
more precious than the most complete and elaborate criticism
written fifty years after the occurrence would be. I cannot help
thinking that Karasowski somewhat exaggerates when he says that
Chopin's pianoforte playing transported the audience into a state
of enthusiasm, and that no concert had a brilliant success unless
he took part in it. The biographer seems either to trust too much
to the fancy-coloured recollections of his informants, or to
allow himself to be carried away by his zeal for the exaltation
of his hero. At any rate, the tenor of the above-quoted notice,
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