aristocraticalness

Updated: June 30, 2026

These waltzes are salon music of the most aristocratic kind. Schumann makes Florestan say of one of them, and he might have said it of all, that he would not play it unless one half of the female dancers were countesses. But the aristocraticalness of Chopin's waltzes is real, not conventional; their exquisite gracefulness and distinction are natural, not affected.

Frederick Niecks - Frederick Chopin, as a Man and Musician — Volume 2