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The dotted rhythmical motive alluded to by Sowinski is this, or similar to this But the dotted notes are by no means de rigueur. As motives like the following are of frequent occurrence, I would propose a more comprehensive definition namely, that the first part of the bar consists mostly of quicker notes than the latter part. Several others, however, exist.

The medallion made for the tomb by Clesinger the son-in-law of George Sand and the watch given by the singer Catalan! in 1820 with the inscription "Donne par Madame Catalan! a Frederic Chopin, age de dix ans," have incited a conflict of authorities. Karasowski was informed by Chopin's sister that the correct year of his birth was 1809, and Szulc, Sowinski and Niecks agree with him.

The dates of their publication, as in the case of many other works, do not indicate the approximate dates of their composition. Sowinski tells us, for instance, that Chopin brought the first book of his studies with him to Paris in 1831. A Polish musician who visited the French capital in 1834 heard Chopin play the studies contained in Op. 25.

For Sowinski, who was already settled in Paris when Chopin arrived there, and who assisted him at his first concert, he did not care. Consequently they had afterwards less and less intercourse, which, indeed, in the end may have ceased altogether.

Niecks, the iconoclast, has run this story to earth and finds it built on airy, romantic foundations. Liszt, Hiller, Franchomme and Sowinski never heard of it although it was a stock anecdote of Chopin. Chopin must have broadened mentally as well as musically in this congenial, artistic environment.