Moriolles (a daughter of the Comte de Moriolles mentioned in
Chapter II), which, like the Rondo, Op. 1, was first published in
Warsaw, and made its appearance in Germany some years later. I do
not know the exact time of its composition, but I presume it was
a year or two after that of the previously mentioned works.
Schumann, who reviewed it in 1836, thought it had perhaps been
written in the eighteenth year of the composer, but he found in
it, some confused passages excepted, no indications of the
author's youth. In this Rondeau a la Mazur the individuality of
Chopin and with it his nationality begin to reveal themselves
unmistakably. Who could fail to recognise him in the peculiar
sweet and persuasive flows of sound, and the serpent-like winding
of the melodic outline, the wide-spread chords, the chromatic
progressions, the dissolving of the harmonies and the linking of
their constituent parts! And, as I have said elsewhere in
speaking of this work: "The harmonies are often novel, and the
matter is more homogeneous and better welded into oneness."

Chopin's pianoforte lessons, as has already been stated, came to
an end when he was twelve years old, and thenceforth he was left
to his own resources.

The school of that time [remarks Fontana] could no longer
suffice him, he aimed higher, and felt himself impelled
towards an ideal which, at first vague, before long grew into
greater distinctness. It was then that, in trying his
strength, he acquired that touch and style, so different from
those of his predecessors, and that he succeeded in creating
at last that execution which since then has been the
admiration of the artistic world.