Chopin’s waltzes were ╩ contrary to, say, those by Schubert ╩ no longer conceived for dancing or for the ballroom. These pieces assumed the form and function of idealized concert waltzes, which Chopin enjoyed performing in the elegant and exclusive art-loving salons of Paris. A particularly eloquent example is the ''Grande Valse brillante'' op. 18 which, with its multiplicity of charming melodic ideas and moods ╩ now gently rocking, now overwhelming, now again triumphantly jubilant ╩ became one