Vol. 16 No. 5 1949 - page 541

CHOPIN RECONSIDERED
541
have Mr. Weinstock's (or anybody else's) purely subjective reaction
that one work "produces the sense of potpourri rather than of integra–
tion" or that another section of eight measures "serves its purpose
in that time and would have been unwelcome for one measure more."
These statements may be perfectly true, but without the requisite term–
inology to define the formal procedures of music, we have no reliable
means of checking them. One could, of course, say that the music
"speaks for itself"-but in that case no book at all would have been
necessary. As it is, we are confronted with unsupported assertions at
almost every turn-propositions without their corollaries. A typical
example is this passage criticizing the finale of the E minor concerto:
" .. . he held his fancy in the tight reins of an inept conception of the
key relationships of the classical concerto, or-more accurately-of the
concertos of Gyrowetz, Hummel, and perhaps Kalkbrenner." Which
key relationships are meant here? How do the key relationships of Gyro–
wetz, Hummel, and Kalkbrenner differ from those of the "classical con–
certo"? (Which "classical concerto"?) Why is Chopin's conception of
the key-relationships "inept"? These questions, the responses to which
might indeed have produced a piece of "distinguished and detailed"
analysis, remain unanswered, and so we are left with nothing much
except Mr. Weinstock's personal conclusion that the E minor concerto is
a "botched piece," which mayor may not correspond to our feelings.
A special merit of the book should not be overlooked. Mr. Wein–
stock did well to react against that attitude which would fail to concede
the possibility of a "bad" work by a "good" composer. Of one minor
work he says, "There is no reason, simply because it is by Chopin, for
giving it a respect it could not win on its inherent quality." In an an–
niversary year, there must have been some temptation to make a life of
Chopin read like a Chamber of Commerce brochure. Mr. Weinstock's
resistance to the temptation revea ls a commendable intellectual honesty;
one wishes that this might have been paired with a more far-reaching
appreciation of the requirements of musical analysis.
Dika Newlin
WEBER AND HOFMA NN
MAX WEBER. By Lloyd Goodrich. Macmillan. $2.00.
SEARCH FOR THE REAL.
By
Hans Hofmann. Edited
by
Sarah T. Weeks
a nd Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. Addison Gallery of American Art. $4.50.
A circumstance of publication dates has brought about, in
these books, the uneasy confrontation of two American painters, both of
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