self has never posed as anything other than an artist teacher employing any justifiable means to reach a given end. In the case of Paderewski, he had wonderful material with which to work as there can be no question that Paderewski would have been a great virtuoso irrespective of who might have been his teacher.

Paderewski's first recital at the Salle Erard in Paris (1888) was attended by a very slender audience. Fortunately the great orchestral conductors Colonne and Lamoureux were present and realized at once that a master pianist had appeared upon the horizon. They engaged him immediately for important orchestral concerts and almost before he knew it, the artist who had waited so long and worked so hard for success was the lion of the hour in Paris. A later appearance at the Conservatoire established him as one of the great pianists of the day-the compeer of Liszt and Rubinstein.

London, like Paris, was a trifle apathetic at first but Paderewski soon became the idol of the hour in England, and has since been enormously popular with both the public and the musicians. The attitude of the conservative English critics of the time was doubtless influenced by the sensational manner in which Paderewski had been received in Paris and by the constant reference to his manner of wearing his hair,

a matter due to his own taste and not to an attempt to secure publicity. The pianist formed the habit of not reading criticism of his playing or his personality whether favorable or unfavorable, and went calmly along the even tenor of his way, letting the critics fight among themselves as to his ability.

Paderewski's American début was made November 17, 1891, in New York. His first audience was representative and brilliant but here again most of the critics were loath to accept the famous pianist at his real artistic worth. The public, however, found his playing so remarkable that his success grew "like an avalanche." Here was a pianist with high artistic ideals, abundant technic, who could speak to his audience through the keyboard so that they would find a newer and richer meaning in the messages of the masters. His consequent success in America is now a part of our musical history. While this has often been estimated in huge sums of money, such a criterion is perhaps unfair to American musical audiences and American musical standards. It is better to say that people actually went hundreds of miles in order to be present at his recitals. Not even Rubinstein was received with such astonishing favor.

Probably no pianist had more difficulty in breaking through conventions in Germany than had Paderewski. It seemed a part of the German musical life to con

demn any attempt to avoid the stereotyped in technical methods. Indeed, when Paderewski played in Berlin, he followed the performance of his own remarkable concerto by an encore from Chopin. Von Bülow, it is said, was so disgruntled at the ovation given to the Polish pianist that he showed his feeling by sneezing violently during the encore. The unsympathetic attitude of a few carping critics of the "Vaterland" affected the pianist so greatly that he refused to appear in Germany for some years. When he did appear, however, the public ovation given to him was exceptional in every way.

If one were asked to define Paderewski's greatness as a pianist, the best phrase to employ would doubtless be, "It is because his grasp of his art is all-comprehensive." One does not speak of "the technic of Paderewski," the "pedaling of Paderewski," the "bravoura of Paderewski," as all these and other characteristics are merged into his art so that no one feature of his work at the keyboard outshadows any other. Perhaps one of the most intelligent of all appreciations is that of Dr. William Mason, who knew the pianist intimately, and was in turn greatly admired by Paderewski. Dr. Mason writes: "The heartfelt sincerity of the man is noticeable in all that he does, and his intensity of utterance easily accounts for the strong hold he has over his audiences. Paderewski's playing

presents the beautiful contour of a living vital organism. It possesses that subtle quality expressed in some measure by the German word Sehnsucht and in English as intensity of aspiration. This quality Chopin had and Liszt frequently spoke of it. It is the undefinable poetic haze with which Paderewski invests and surrounds all that he plays that renders him so unique."

Mr. Henry T. Finck, an intimate of Paderewski, in his excellent brochure Paderewski and His Art (now unfortunately out of print), makes the following statement: "Of Paderewski it must be said as of Chopin, Liszt and Rubinstein, that great as is his skill as a pianist, his creative power is even more remarkable. Although he is a Pole and Chopin his idol, yet his music is not an echo of Chopin's." It has been noted that Paderewski's first ambition was to become a composer; his whole life work has in fact been focused upon this firm desire. He became a pianist in order that he might purchase the leisure for composition. However, there can be no doubt that his epoch-making success as a virtuoso has so colored the public mind that it refuses to consider the master works of Paderewski while it readily admits those of less worthy composers not afflicted with a great reputation as a performer. Serious-minded musicians who have become intimately acquainted with Paderewski's compo

sitions for orchestra, the stage, the voice, the piano, etc., do not hesitate to declare him not only among the foremost musical creators of the present, but among the great masters of all times.

The little Minuet in G, known as "Paderewski's Minuet," although a bagatelle, is probably one of the five most popular pieces ever written, yet very few of Paderewski's other more noteworthy piano pieces are widely known. His concerto for piano and orchestra is one of the finest works of its description and readily ranks with the great concertos of Chopin, Beethoven and Brahms. The Chants du Voyageur are extremely melodious and full of character. Many of the piano pieces in the set known as Six Humoresques de Concert, particularly the Caprice in the Style of Scarlatti and the Burleska, are singularly distinctive and interesting. The Burleska, has a "bite" to it which makes it one of the most fascinating piano pieces of its class. The Toccata Dans le Désert is full of atmosphere, but demands a very skillful interpreter to bring out its full meaning. Of the four Morceaux-Légende, Mélodie, Theme Varié in A and Nocturne in B Flat, the last named is possibly the most played. The Concerto for piano and orchestra in A minor is easily one of the greatest works in larger forms written for piano. One critic has rated it as the greatest concerto since Schumann. Paderewski's songs are rich and full of