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Chopin wrote of the C minor Sonata: "As a pupil I dedicated it to Elsner," and oh, the irony of criticism! it was praised by the critics because not so revolutionary as the Variations, op. 2. This, too, despite the larghetto in five-four time. The first movement is wheezing and all but lifeless. One asks in astonishment what Chopin is doing in this gallery. And it is technically difficult.
"Come on, Nan. Time, seven-four " "Sandy, don't be ridiculous!" "Why not seven-four?" innocently. "You have five-four. Come along. One, two, three, four, five, six, sev'n; one, two, three, four, five " And the next moment the two were improvising a farcical duet that in its way was a masterpiece of ingenious musicianship.
He would lay down a domino before the boy a five-four, for example. He would require the boy to tell him the combined number at once, without allowing him to stop to count the spots, one by one. "Nine" the boy would answer after a moment's hesitation. Then another domino, a three-four, would be added. "That makes sixteen," cried the boy. Two dominoes at a time was the second day's task.
Nancy, meanwhile, who surmised what was troubling Judith, was watching her anxiously, and because she knew her so well she saw that Judith was not putting her whole self into the game, although she had won the first set by a very narrow margin. Nelly's score was climbing steadily now five-three, five-four.
The mere fact that it is written in five-four time counts for little nothing is easier than to write in five-four time when once you have got the trick; the remarkable thing is the skill and tact with which Tschaikowsky has used precisely the best rhythm he could have chosen a free, often ambiguous, rhythm to express that particular shade of feeling.
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