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exaggerated. Chopin and George Sand were no longer very good friends in the 1840s. Cortot may have summed matter best when he pointed out that Chopin expressed himself more easily in music than in words.

Chopins musical thinking The majority of material reviewed for this paper generally agrees that the ideal and the connection between the art of singing and playing an instrument, was for Chopin something very important. He also linked phrasing with the fact that we use words to make a language. Chopins thoughts about phrasing are very similar to todays thoughts on correct phrasing. His strong bounds with the contemporary opera singers must have played a great part in his thinking when he played and when he composed. I also think it is important when playing the piano to be aware of the strong connection between the instrument and the voice,. It is interesting that Chopin wanted the trill to begin generally on the upper note. I think this shows how close Chopin was to the Baroque and classical tradition. But I do not think one must take it as a rule to always begin on the upper note. I think you must listen to the sound too, and not always trust in your knowledge of what is right or wrong. Chopin wanted the trills to be played with great evenness; and who among musicians does not? It is also interesting that Chopin wanted the trill, with the ending, to be played tranquilly and not at all precipitously. Too, it is very interesting that Chopin is known to have said that every person understands a piece differently, and that every person just can express what is inside their mind. I think it is a problem when pupils are forced to play as their teachers desire. The pupil can become insecure, and stop trusting in themselves. I think it is a problem in the academic music world that something is supposed to be played in one or another way. It is also interesting that Chopin was aware of problems associated with the aesthetics of interpretation. It is a question that continues to provoke intense debate among those affected. While there were many who heard Chopin play, there is no recording of Chopins playing. Now, over 150 years after his death no one who heard him is still living. I think that these factors make it difficult to create a true picture of, or say how Chopin actually played. The general opinion also did not stabilize until 1900, more than fifty years after Chopins death. The description of Chopins playing is also from different years. One can imagine how different the descriptions may have been, if you compare Chopins playing with the periods of illness and his periods of better health. Anyway, if Chopin was known as an extremely quiet player there are some things that you can say. He must have been a very good improviser and his piano technique must have been excellent. It is generally agreed that he could execute all of his studies with absolute perfection. I also have the impression that he could play with dramatic fire if he wanted to. It also seems that Chopin always could play cantabile, both in ff and pp passages. What I think is most interesting is that it seems that Chopin never played the same composition twice with the same expression. Rather, he played according to the inspiration and the mood of the moment. He could change the tempo, timbre of sound and even nuances, and he also sometimes improvised ornaments. It is interesting that the key-word for Polish songs, according to Niecks (!973), is melancholy. Whether or not Chopin ever used the word Zal, I think there is in his music an association with this Polish word. Chopin must sometimes have been dreaming of his past in Poland and felt melancholy about family, friends, people, and even the land itself. It is, of course, a possibility that Liszt created an exaggerated picture of Chopins melancholy. Still, given all that