simply remarked:  “Chopin was unfortunate in his pupils—­ none of them has become a player of any importance, although some of his noble pupils played very well.”  If we compare Liszt’s pianistic offspring with Chopin’s, the difference is indeed striking.  But here we have to keep in mind several considerations--Chopin taught for a shorter period than Liszt; most of his pupils, unlike Liszt’s, were amateurs; and he may not have met with the stuff out of which great virtuosos are made.  That Chopin was unfortunate in his pupils may be proved by the early death of several very promising ones.  Charles Filtsch, born at Hermannstadt, Transylvania (Hungary), about 1830, of whom Liszt and Lenz spoke so highly (see Chapter XXVI.), died on May 11, 1845, at Venice, after having in 1843 made a sensation in London and Vienna, both by the poetical and technical qualities of his playing.  In London “little Filtsch” played at least twice in public (on June 14 at the St. James’s Theatre between two plays, and on July 4 at a matinee of his own at the Hanover Square Rooms), repeatedly in private, and had also the honour to appear before the Queen at Buckingham Palace.  J. W. Davison relates in his preface to Chopin’s mazurkas and waltzes (Boosey & Co.) a circumstance which proves the young virtuoso’s musicianship.  “Engaged to perform Chopin’s second concerto in public, the orchestral parts not being obtainable, Filtsch, nothing dismayed, wrote out the whole of them from memory.”  Another short-lived great talent was Paul Gunsberg.  “This young man,” Madame Dubois informed me, “was endowed with an extraordinary organisation.  Chopin had made of him an admirable executant.  He died of consumption, otherwise he would have become celebrated.”  I do not know in which year Gunsberg died.  He was still alive on May 11, 1855.  For on that day he played with his fellow-pupil Tellefsen, at a concert given by the latter in Paris, a duet of Schumann’s.  A third pupil of Chopin prematurely snatched away by death was Caroline Hartmann, the daughter of a manufacturer, born at Munster, near Colmar, in 1808.  She came to Paris in 1833, and died the year after—­of love for Chopin, as Edouard Wolff told me.  Other authorities, however, ascribe the sad effect to a less romantic cause.  They say that through persevering study under the direction of Chopin and Liszt she became an excellent pianist, but that the hard work brought on a chest complaint to which she succumbed on July 30, 1834.  The Gazette musicale of August 17, 1834, which notices her death, describes her as a pupil of Liszt, Chopin, and Pixis, without commenting on her abilities.  Spohr admired her as a child.  But if Chopin has not turned out virtuosos of the calibre of Tausig and Hans von Bulow, he has nevertheless formed many very clever pianists.  It would serve no purpose except that of satisfying idle curiosity to draw up a list of all the master’s ascertainable pupils.  Those who wish, however, to satisfy this idle curiosity can do so to some extent by scanning the dedications of Chopin’s works, as the names therein to be found—­with a few and mostly obvious exceptions—­ are those of pupils.  The array of princesses, countesses, &c., will, it is to be hoped, duly impress the investigator.  Let us hear what the illustrious master Marmontel has to say on this subject:—­