Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/784

* CHONDROSTEXrS. 686 CHOPIN. in the presence of a series of branchiostegal rays, which latter character is reminiscent of the Pahvoniseida. Tlie body was free from scales, except on the upper edge of the caudal fin, where thick rhombic scales like those of the sturgeon were i)resent. The type species, Chotnlrustcus acipenseroides, was only 3 feet in length. An- other species was about feet long ; and an asso- ciated genus, Gyrosteus, is known only by frag- ments that indicate for it a length of 20 to 25 feet. See SrruiiEox. CHONEK, orTZONEKA ('men'). The name by which the Indians of Patagonia call them- selves. They are of various tribes, all savage nomads, and constituting a distinct linguistic stock. They are noted for their large size, aver- aging, it is "said, over six feet in height, and being built in proportion. By the Paini)as tribes they are known as Tehuelche, 'southerners.' CHONETES, kfi-ne'tez (Xeo-Lat. nora. pi., from Gk. x"^'V, c'idiie, x""*^, choanc, funnel, from Xf(i', c/iei)i, to pour). A genus of fossil Brachio- jioda. of the order Protremata, which may be recognized by the semicircular outline of the much-compressed concavo-convex shell, and by the row of hollow spines on the upper margin of the hinge-area of the ventral valve. The outer surface of the shell is ornamented by radiating striations in most of the species, while in some Carboniferous species there is also a mesial fold and sinus. The species are mostly small, seldom exceeding an inch in transverse diameter. In America the genus appears first in the Silurian voeks, it attains its maximiun evolution in the Devonian and Carboniferous, and it became ex- tinct with the close of the Permian; thus it is a valuable index fossil for the Upper Paleozoic rocks. About sixty American species are known, and there is probably an equal number known fiom Europe and Asia. 'See Braciiiopoda ; De- voMAX System ; Carboniferous System. CHONODENDRON, ko'n6-dgn'dr6n. See ClSSAMl'ELOS. CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO, cho'n6s ar'kl- pel'A-gft. A group of islands aggregating 4700 square miles, off the west coast of Chile, ex- tending from about latitude 44° to 46° S. and from about longitude 74° to 75° W. (Map: Chile, B 12.) Many of the islands are barren, and tha total population is small, being chiefly Indians. Administratively the group belongs to the Prov- ince of Chilof-. ' CHONS, kOnz, or KHONSTT, kon'sft. ^Vn Egyptian deity worshiped at Tliebes, where he had a special "temple, built by Rameses III., at Karnak. Of his original character little is knovn. The si)arrow-hawk was his sacred animal. Later he was associated with the two principal gods of Thebes — Ammon and Mtlt. He was failed their son, and is usually represented as a child or youth, wearing the side l(K'k, the badge of prince- ly rank. As Ammon and Mflt were solar deities, Clions, their child, had to take a lunar part, and he is therefore depicted bearing the moon on his head. This led to his identification with other moon gods— e.g. Thout. The Greeks identified him with Heracles, as son of Ammon-Zcus. CHOPIN, shA'pa.v', J'RfeufiRic I''iiANCOis (1809-49). The greatest modem master of pianoforte composition. He was Imrn at Zela- zowa Wola, near Warsaw, Poland, March 1, 1809. The son of refined parents, his nmsical education began as soon as his predilection for nuisic manifested itself. Adalbert Zwyny was his ])iano-teaclier, and later he had lessons in composition from .Joseph Eisner. When not quite nine years old he played in public a con- certo by Gyrowetz. Boy-like, he thought more of his new collar than of the impression made by his playing. "Everybody was looking at it," was his" remark to his mother. The father was a professor in the Warsaw gynmasium, and the family in comfortable circumstances. From the arisloci-atic social entourage of his younger years Chopin inherited the liking for fashionable society which was one of his characteristics. A delicate bov, he seems nevertheless to have en- joyed a jest, and he had a talent for mimicry which convinced his friends of later years (Liszt, George Sand, and Balzac among them) that he could have succeedeil as an actor. He greatly admired Paganini, who visited Warsaw in 1829. In August, 1829, he gave two concerts in Vien- na. "My manner of playing gi-eatly pleased the ladies." "he wrote home. His first concert in Warsaw was given in March, 1830. and was fol- lowed by a second, the net receipts from both being .$600, by no means an inconsiderable sum for a young pianist in those days. He had a love romance with Constantia Gladowska, a vocal pupil at the Warsaw conservatory, who, how- ever, married a merchant. While giving concerts in ilunich, in September, 1831, he heard of the Russian occupation of Warsaw. As a result he settled, in October of the same year, in Paris, which was his home for the remaining eighteen years of his life. He had composed, but not published, several of his "Etudes," among them the great C minor, Op. 10, No. 12, sometimes called the 'Revolu- tionary,' because inspired by his wrath at the fall of Warsaw liefore the Russians : his first sonata: and his "F minor Concerto." The '"Adagio" (said to be Constantia Gladowska set to music) and the "Rondo" had been publicly plaved by him. (It may be said, in passing, that the" dales of publication of Chopin's works are misleading as to the years of composition, ilost of them were composed much earlier.) During his life in Paris he was surrounded by men of genius and women at least of talent, among them Liszt, Heine, Berlioz. Mfrimfe, Meyerlieer, Balzac, Dumas, De ]Musset, Ary Seheffer (who painted his portrait, destroyed in Warsaw by Russian soldiers, in September, 1803) .and George Sand. He made frequent public appearances as a pianist. His "E minor Concerto" he played in February, 1832. Jfendelssohn was among those who applauded him. Kalkbrenner was eager to have Chopin study with him — on the mechanical side. Chopin by" letter consulted his former teacher. Eisner, who wisely counseled against it, for fear it might impair his originality. Great delicacy and a singing qualitj' of tone seem to have been the characteristics of his playing. His own virile pieces, as some of the "Polonaises," "Ballades," "Scherzos," and "Etudes," probably were beyond his physical powers. "Young man." he is reported to have said to a budding virtuoso who apologized to Chopin for having broken a string while playing the famous 'Polonaise Mili- taire." "if I cfiuld play that 'Polonaise' as it should be interpreted, there would not l)C a string left in the piano," Dr. William Mason, in his