INTRODUCTION TO CORTOT EDITION OF CHOPIN

Robert Schumann wrote of Chopin's Preludes " they are Sketches, beginnings of studies or, if you will ruins, a mad medley of eagles feathers. But in each one we find his refined, pearly writing, it is the work of Frederick Chopin, we recognize him, even in his pauses, in the ardour of his breath. He is the boldest and the proudest poetic spirit of today. Of course the volume also contains feverish and morbid passages: let each one seek in it what he likes, and what enchants him, at any rate it will only be the Philistine, who finds nothing."