Court to be heard there en cercle intime. His inexhaustible
improvisations, which almost made up the whole of the evening's
entertainment, were particularly admired by the audience, which
knew as well as a gathering of artists how to appreciate the
composer's merits. At a concert given by Valentin Alkan on March
3, 1838, Chopin performed with Zimmermann, Gutmann, and the
concert-giver, the latter's arrangement of Beethoven's A major
Symphony (or rather some movements from it) for two pianos and
eight hands. And in the Gazette musicale of March 25, 1838, there
is a report by M. Legouve of Chopin's appearance at a concert
given by his countryman Orlowski at Rouen, where the latter had
settled after some years stay in Paris. From a writer in the
Journal de Rouen (December 1, 1849) we learn that ever since this
concert, which was held in the town-hall, and at which the
composer played his E minor Concerto with incomparable
perfection, the name of Chopin had in the musical world of Rouen
a popularity which secured to his memory an honourable and
cordial sympathy. But here is what Legouve says about this
concert. I transcribe the notice in full, because it shows us
both how completely Chopin had retired from the noise and strife
of publicity, and how high he stood in the estimation of his
contemporaries.

Here is an event which is not without importance in the
musical world. Chopin, who has not been heard in public for
several years; Chopin, who imprisons his charming genius in an
audience of five or six persons; Chopin, who resembles those
enchanted isles where so many marvels are said to abound that
one regards them as fabulous; Chopin, whom one can never
forget after having once heard him; Chopin has just given a