Chopin's love of wide-spread chords and skips, if marked at all,
is not strongly marked in the Variations on the German air and
the first Rondo. Let the curious examine with regard to this
matter the Tempo di Valse of the former work, and bars 38-43 of
the Piu lento of the latter. In the Rondeau a la Mazur, the next
work in chronological order, this peculiarity begins to show
itself distinctly, and it continues to grow in the works that
follow. It is not my intention to weaiy the reader with
microscopical criticism, but I thought the first manifestations
of Chopin's individuality ought not to be passed over in silence.
As to his style, it will be more fully discussed in a subsequent
chapter, where also the seeds from which it sprang will be
pointed out.



CHAPTER IV.



FREDERICK WORKS TOO HARD.--PASSES PART OF HIS HOLIDAYS (1826) IN
REINERZ.--STAYS ALSO AT STRZYZEWO, AND PAYS A VISIT TO PRINCE
RADZIWILL.--HE TERMINATES HIS STUDIES AT THE LYCEUM (1827).
ADOPTION OF MUSIC AS HIS PROFESSION.--EXCURSIONS.--FOLK-MUSIC AND
THE POLISH PEASANTRY.--SOME MORE COMPOSITIONS.--PROJECTED TRAVELS
FOR HIS IMPROVEMENT.--HIS OUTWARD APPEARANCE AND STATE OF HEALTH.



THE art which had attracted the child took every day a stronger