Life and letters of Sir Charles Hallé; being an autobiography (1819-1860)

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

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text excerpt

It must have been in 1845 or 1846 that I once ventured to observe to him [Chopin] that most of his mazurkas (those dainty jewels), when played by himself, appeared to be written, not in 3-4, but in 4-4 time, the result of his dwelling so much longer on the first note in the bar. He denied it strenuously, until I made him play one of them and counted audibly four in the bar, which fitted perfectly. Then he laughed and explained that it was the national character of the dance which created the oddity. The more remarkable fact was that you received the impression of a 3-4 rhythm whilst listening to common time. Of course this was not the case with every mazurka, but with many.

excerpt from 'Life and letters of Sir Charles Hallé; being an autobiography (1819-1860)' pp. 34 (125 words)

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