12 MARCH 1904, Page 24

Mr. J. Cuthbert Hadden's Chopin in the "Master Musicians" series

(J. M. Dent and Co., 3s. 6d. net) is a painstaking com- pilation, showing a careful assimilation of the literature of the subject, from which the writer borrows freely, but with full acknowledgment of his indebtedness. The George Sand episode is treated at perhaps disproportionate length, and the same remark applies to the account of Chopin's last illness. Mr. Hadden writes clearly and sensibly, but without any distinction, a quality the absence of which is peculiarly noticeable in a work on so eminently aristocratic a composer as Chopin. The book is well illustrated with a number of portraits, and its utility is enhanced by a list of Chopin's works and a bibliography.