125.—CHOPIN'S TECHNIC.
The coming of Chopin into the field of piano composition marked a new era in the treatment of that instrument, both in the technic of composition and in the technic of interpretation. While nearly every great composer felt called on to essay the various forms of composition and for a variety of instruments, Chopin devoted himself exclusively to the piano, using the orchestra only as incidental to his piano works.
The technic of the schools that had preceded him was inadequate to the performance of his compositions, so much so that even as great a player as Moscheles confessed himself unequal to the task of properly playing Chopin's music.
In this connection, it is related that Chopin went to Kalkbrenner, a celebrated pianist and teacher of Paris, hoping to get some valuable technical instruction from a man of such celebrity. Kalkbrenner criticised his playing severely and advised Chopin to attend his classes in the Conservatoire to learn the proper fingering. Chopin answered this advice by placing one of his own "Études" on the piano and asking Kalkbrenner to play it. But the arrogant old fellow was utterly unable to do it, for he found his old style of technic inadequate to the demands made upon it by the music of the younger composer.