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diff --git a/old/13291-h/13291-h.htm b/old/13291-h/13291-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11291dd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13291-h/13291-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10314 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of the World's Great Men of Music, by Harriette Brower +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + HR{ border: 0; + width: 33%; + height: 4px;} + PRE{ + font-size: 100%; + margin-left: 1.0em;} + PRE.notes{ + font-size: 80%;} +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The World's Great Men of Music, by Harriette Brower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World's Great Men of Music + Story-Lives of Master Musicians + +Author: Harriette Brower + +Release Date: August 25, 2004 [EBook #13291] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD'S GREAT MEN OF MUSIC *** + + + + +Produced by Ronald Holder and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<div align="center"> +<h1>THE WORLD'S GREAT MEN OF MUSIC</h1> +<br> +BY +<br> +<h3>HARRIETTE BROWER</h3> + <i>Author of "Piano Mastery, First and Second Series," <br> + "Home-Help in Music Study," "Self-Help in Piano Study," "Vocal Mastery," etc</i>.</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div align="center">Also Published Under the Title of <br>"Story-Lives of Master Musicians"</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div align="center">1922 +<br> <br> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +<br> <br> +Printed in the United States of America +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="FOR"><!-- FOR --></a> +<h2> + FOREWORD +</h2> + +<p> +The preparation of this volume began with a period of delightful research +work in a great musical library. As a honey-bee flutters from flower to +flower, culling sweetness from many blossoms, so the compiler of such +stories as these must gather facts from many sources—from biography, +letters, journals and musical history. Then, impressed with the personality +and individual achievement of each composer, the author has endeavored to +present his life story. +</p> +<p> +While the aim has been to make the story-sketches interesting to young +people, the author hopes that they may prove valuable to musical readers of +all ages. Students of piano, violin or other instruments need to know how +the great composers lived their lives. In every musical career described +in this book, from the old masters represented by Bach and Beethoven to +the musical prophets of our own day, there is a wealth of inspiration and +practical guidance for the artist in any field. Through their struggles, +sorrows and triumphs, divine melody and harmony came into being, which will +bless the world for all time to come. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<p> </p> +<p><a href="#FOR">FOREWORD</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_1">I PALESTRINA</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_2">II JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_3">III GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_4">IV CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_5">V JOSEF HAYDN</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_6">VI WOLFGANG MOZART</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_7">VII LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_8">VIII CARL MARIA VON WEBER</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_9">IX FRANZ SCHUBERT</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_10">X FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_11">XI ROBERT SCHUMANN</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_12">XII FREDERIC CHOPIN</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_13">XIII HECTOR BERLIOZ</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_14">XIV FRANZ LISZT</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_15">XV GIUSEPPE VERDI</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_16">XVI RICHARD WAGNER</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_17">XVII CÉSAR FRANCK</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_18">XVIII JOHANNES BRAHMS</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_19">XIX EDWARD GRIEG</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_20">XX PETER ILYITCH TSCHAIKOWSKY</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_21">XXI EDWARD MACDOWELL</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_22">XXII CLAUDE ACHILLE DEBUSSY</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_23">XXIII ARTURO TOSCANINI</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_24">XXIV LEOPOLD STOKOWSKY</a></p> +<p><a href="#RULE4_25">XXV SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY</a></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<div align="center"><h2> +STORY-LIVES OF<br> +MASTER MUSICIANS +</h2></div> + +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +I<br> + <br> +PALESTRINA +</h3></div> + +<p> +To learn something of the life and labors of Palestrina, one of the +earliest as well as one of the greatest musicians, we must go back in the +world's history nearly four hundred years. And even then we may not be able +to discover all the events of his life as some of the records have been +lost. But we have the main facts, and know that Palestrina's name will +be revered for all time as the man who strove to make sacred music the +expression of lofty and spiritual meaning. +</p> +<p> +Upon a hoary spur of the Apennines stands the crumbling town of Palestrina. +It is very old now; it was old when Rome was young. Four hundred years +ago Palestrina was dominated by the great castle of its lords, the proud +Colonnas. Naturally the town was much more important in those days than it +is to-day. +</p> +<p> +At that time there lived in Palestrina a peasant pair, Sante Pierluigi and +his wife Maria, who seem to have been an honest couple, and not grindingly +poor, since the will of Sante's mother has lately been found, in which she +bequeathed a house in Palestrina to her two sons. Besides this she left +behind a fine store of bed linen, mattresses and cooking utensils. Maria +Gismondi also had a little property. +</p> +<p> +To this pair was born, probably in 1526, a boy whom they named Giovanni +Pierluigi, which means John Peter Louis. This boy, from a tiniest child, +loved beauty of sight and sound. And this is not at all surprising, for a +child surrounded from infancy by the natural loveliness and glory of old +Palestrina, would unconsciously breathe in a sense of beauty and grandeur. +</p> +<p> +It was soon discovered the boy had a voice, and his mother is said to have +sold some land she owned to provide for her son's musical training. +</p> +<p> +From the rocky heights on which their town was built, the people of +Palestrina could look across the Campagna—the great plain between—and see +the walls and towers of Rome. At the time of our story, Saint Peter's had +withstood the sack of the city, which happened a dozen years before, and +Bramante's vast basilica had already begun to rise. The artistic life of +Rome was still at high tide, for Raphael had passed away but twenty years +before, and Michael Angelo was at work on his Last Judgment. +</p> +<p> +Though painting and sculpture flourished, music did not keep pace with +advance in other arts. The leading musicians were Belgian, Spanish or +French, and their music did not match the great achievements attained in +the kindred art of the time—architecture, sculpture and painting. There +was needed a new impetus, a vital force. Its rise began when the peasant +youth John Peter Louis descended from the heights of Palestrina to the +banks of the Tiber. +</p> +<p> +It is said that Tomasso Crinello was the boy's master; whether this is true +or not, he was surely trained in the Netherland manner of composition. +</p> +<p> +The youth, whom we shall now call Palestrina, as he is known by the name +of his birthplace, returned from Rome at the age of eighteen to his native +town, in 1544, as a practising musician, and took a post at the Cathedral +of Saint Agapitus. Here he engaged himself for life, to be present every +day at mass and vespers, and to teach singing to the canons and choristers. +Thus he spent the early years of his young manhood directing the daily +services and drumming the rudiments of music into the heads of the little +choristers. It may have been dry and wearisome labor; but afterward, when +Palestrina began to reform the music of the church, it must have been of +great advantage to him to know so absolutely the liturgy, not only of Saint +Peter's and Saint John Lateran, but also that in the simple cathedral of +his own small hill-town. +</p> +<p> +Young Palestrina, living his simple, busy life in his home town, never +dreamed he was destined to become a great musician. He married in 1548, +when he was about twenty-two. If he had wished to secure one of the great +musical appointments in Rome, it was a very unwise thing for him to marry, +for single singers were preferred in nine cases out of ten. Palestrina did +not seem to realize this danger to a brilliant career, and took his bride, +Lucrezia, for pure love. She seems to have been a person after his own +heart, besides having a comfortable dowry of her own. They had a happy +union, which lasted for more than thirty years. +</p> +<p> +Although he had agreed to remain for life at the cathedral church of Saint +Agapitus, it seems that such contracts could be broken without peril. Thus, +after seven years of service, he once more turned his steps toward the +Eternal City. +</p> +<p> +He returned to Rome as a recognized musician. In 1551 he became master of +the Capella Giulia, at the modest salary of six scudi a month, something +like ten dollars. But the young chapel master seemed satisfied. Hardly +three years after his arrival had elapsed, when he had written and printed +a book containing five masses, which he dedicated to Pope Julius III. This +act pleased the pontiff, who, in January, 1555, appointed Palestrina one of +the singers of the Sistine Chapel, with an increased salary. +</p> +<p> +It seems however, that the Sistine singers resented the appointment of a +new member, and complained about it. Several changes in the Papal chair +occurred at this time, and when Paul IV, as Pope, came into power, he began +at once with reforms. Finding that Palestrina and two other singers were +married men, he put all three out, though granting an annuity of six scudi +a month for each. +</p> +<p> +The loss of this post was a great humiliation, which Palestrina found it +hard to endure. He fell ill at this time, and the outlook was dark indeed, +with a wife and three little children to provide for. +</p> +<p> +But the clouds soon lifted. Within a few weeks after this unfortunate +event, the rejected singer of the Sistine Chapel was created Chapel Master +of Saint John Lateran, the splendid basilica, where the young Orlandus +Lassus had so recently directed the music. As Palestrina could still keep +his six scudi pension, increased with the added salary of the new position, +he was able to establish his family in a pretty villa on the Coelian Hill, +where he could be near his work at the Lateran, but far enough removed from +the turmoil of the city to obtain the quiet he desired, and where he lived +in tranquillity for the next five years. +</p> +<p> +Palestrina spent forty-four years of his life in Rome. All the eleven popes +who reigned during this long period honored Palestrina as a great musician. +Marcellus II spent a part of his three weeks' reign in showing kindness +to the young Chapel master, which the composer returned by naming for this +pontiff a famous work, "Mass of Pope Marcellus." Pius IV, who was in power +when the mass was performed, praised it eloquently, saying John Peter Louis +of Palestrina was a new John, bringing down to the church militant the +harmonies of that "new song" which John the Apostle heard in the Holy City. +The musician-pope, Gregory XIII, to whom Palestrina dedicated his grandest +motets, entrusted him with the sacred task of revising the ancient chant. +Pope Sixtus V greatly praised his beautiful mass, "Assumpta est Maria" and +promoted him to higher honors. +</p> +<p> +With this encouragement and patronage, Palestrina labored five years at +the Lateran, ten years at Santa Maria Maggiore and twenty three at Saint +Peter's. At the last named it was his second term, of course, but it +continued from 1571 to his death. He was happy in his work, in his home and +in his friends. He also saved quite a little money and was able to give his +daughter-in-law, in 1577, 1300 scudi; he is known indeed, to have bought +land, vineyards and houses in and about Rome. +</p> +<p> +All was not a life of sunshine for Palestrina, for he suffered many +domestic sorrows. His three promising sons died one after another. They +were talented young men, who might have followed in the footsteps of their +distinguished father. In 1580 his wife died also. Yet neither poignant +sorrow, worldly glory nor ascetic piety blighted his homely affections. At +the Jubilee of Pope Gregory XIII, in 1575, when 1500 pilgrims from the +town of Palestrina descended the hills on the way to Rome, it was their +old townsman, Giovanni Pierluigi, who led their songs, as they entered +the Eternal City, their maidens clad in white robes, and their young men +bearing olive branches. +</p> +<p> +It is said of Palestrina that he became the "savior of church music," at a +time when it had almost been decided to banish all music from the service +except the chant, because so many secular subjects had been set to music +and used in church. Things had come to a very difficult pass, until at last +the fathers turned to Palestrina, desiring him to compose a mass in which +sacred words should be heard throughout. Palestrina, deeply realizing +his responsibility, wrote not only one but three, which, on being heard, +pleased greatly by their piety, meekness, and beautiful spirit. Feeling +more sure of himself, Palestrina continued to compose masses, until he +had created ninety-three in all. He also wrote many motets on the Song of +Solomon, his Stabat Mater, which was edited two hundred and fifty years +later by Richard Wagner, and his lamentations, which were composed at the +request of Sixtus V. +</p> +<p> +Palestrina's end came February 2, 1594. He died in Rome, a devout +Christian, and on his coffin were engraved the simple but splendid words: +"Prince of Music." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +II<br> + <br> +JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH +</h3><br> +<img src="images/gmm009.jpg" alt="Johann Sebastian Bach" width="414" height="593" border="0"> +</div> + +<p> +Away back in 1685, almost two hundred and fifty years ago, one of the +greatest musicians of the world first saw the light, in the little town of +Eisenach, nestling on the edge of the Thuringen forest. The long low-roofed +cottage where little Johann Sebastian Bach was born, is still standing, and +carefully preserved. +</p> +<p> +The name Bach belonged to a long race of musicians, who strove to elevate +the growing art of music. For nearly two hundred years there had been +organists and composers in the family; Sebastian's father, Johann Ambrosius +Bach was organist of the Lutheran Church in Eisenach, and naturally a love +of music was fostered in the home. It is no wonder that little Sebastian +should have shown a fondness for music almost from infancy. But, beyond +learning the violin from his father, he had not advanced very far in his +studies, when, in his tenth year he lost both his parents and was taken +care of by his brother Christoph, fourteen years older, a respectable +musician and organist in a neighboring town. To give his little brother +lessons on the clavier, and send him to the Lyceum to learn Latin, singing +and other school subjects seemed to Christoph to include all that could +be expected of him. That his small brother possessed musical genius of the +highest order, was an idea he could not grasp; or if he did, he repressed +the boy with indifference and harsh treatment. +</p> +<p> +Little Sebastian suffered in silence from this coldness. Fortunately the +force of his genius was too great to be crushed. He knew all the simple +pieces by heart, which his brother set for his lessons, and he longed for +bigger things. There was a book of manuscript music containing pieces by +Buxtehude and Frohberger, famous masters of the time, in the possession of +Christoph. Sebastian greatly desired to play the pieces in that book, but +his brother kept it under lock and key in his cupboard, or bookcase. One +day the child mustered courage to ask permission to take the book for a +little while. Instead of yielding to the boy's request Christoph became +angry, told him not to imagine he could study such masters as Buxtehude and +Frohberger, but should be content to get the lessons assigned him. +</p> +<p> +The injustice of this refusal fired Sebastian with the determination to +get possession of the coveted book at all costs. One moonlight night, long +after every one had retired, he decided to put into execution a project he +had dreamed of for some time. +</p> +<p> +Creeping noiselessly down stairs he stood before the bookcase and sought +the precious volume. There it was with the names of the various musicians +printed in large letters on the back in his brother's handwriting. To get +his small hands between the bars and draw the book outward took some time. +But how to get it out. After much labor he found one bar weaker than the +others, which could be bent. +</p> +<p> +When at last the book was in his hands, he clasped it to his breast and +hurried quickly back to his chamber. Placing the book on a table in front +of the window, where the moonlight fell full upon it, he took pen and music +paper and began copying out the pieces in the book. +</p> +<p> +This was but the beginning of nights of endless toil. For six months +whenever there were moonlight nights, Sebastian was at the window working +at his task with passionate eagerness. +</p> +<p> +At last it was finished, and Sebastian in the joy of possessing it for his +very own, crept into bed without the precaution of putting away all traces +of his work. Poor boy, he had to pay dearly for his forgetfulness. As he +lay sleeping, Christoph, thinking he heard sounds in his brother's room, +came to seek the cause. His glance, as he entered the room, fell on the +open books. There was no pity in his heart for all this devoted labor, only +anger that he had been outwitted by his small brother. He took both books +away and hid them in a place where Sebastian could never find them. But +he did not reflect that the boy had the memory of all this beautiful +music indelibly printed on his mind, which helped him to bear the bitter +disappointment of the loss of his work. +</p> +<p> +When he was fifteen Sebastian left his brother's roof and entered the Latin +school connected with the Church of St. Michael at Lüneburg. It was found +he had a beautiful soprano voice, which placed him with the scholars who +were chosen to sing in the church service in return for a free education. +There were two church schools in Lüneburg, and the rivalry between them +was so keen, that when the scholars sang in the streets during the winter +months to collect money for their support, the routes for each had to be +carefully marked out, to prevent collision. +</p> +<p> +Soon after he entered St. Michael's, Bach lost his beautiful soprano voice; +his knowledge of violin and clavier, however, enabled him to keep his place +in the school. The boy worked hard at his musical studies, giving his spare +time to the study of the best composers. He began to realize that he cared +more for the organ than for any other instrument; indeed his love for +it became a passion. He was too poor to take lessons, for he was almost +entirely self-dependent—a penniless scholar, living on the plainest of +fare, yet determined to gain a knowledge of the music he longed for. +</p> +<p> +One of the great organists of the time was Johann Adam Reinken. When +Sebastian learned that this master played the organ in St. Katharine's +Church in Hamburg, he determined to walk the whole distance thither to hear +him. Now Hamburg was called in those days the "Paradise of German music," +and was twenty-five good English miles from the little town of Lüneburg, +but what did that matter to the eager lad? Obstacles only fired him to +strive the harder for what he desired to attain. +</p> +<p> +The great joy of listening to such a master made him forget the long tramp +and all the weariness, and spurred him on to repeat the journey whenever he +had saved a few shillings to pay for food and lodging. On one occasion +he lingered a little longer in Hamburg than usual, until his funds were +well-nigh exhausted, and before him was the long walk without any food. As +he trudged along he came upon a small inn, from the open door of which +came a delightful savory odor. He could not resist looking in through the +window. At that instant a window above was thrown open and a couple of +herrings' heads were tossed into the road. The herring is a favorite +article of food in Germany and poor Sebastian was glad to pick up these +bits to satisfy the cravings of hunger. What was his surprise on pulling +the heads to pieces to find each one contained a Danish ducat. When he +recovered from his astonishment, he entered the inn and made a good meal +with part of the money; the rest ensured another visit to Hamburg. +</p> +<p> +After remaining three years in Lüneburg, Bach secured a post as violinist +in the private band of Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar; but this was +only to fill the time till he could find a place to play the instrument he +so loved. An opportunity soon came. The old Thuringian town Arnstadt had a +new church and a fine new organ. The consistory of the church were +looking for a capable organist and Bach's request to be allowed to try the +instrument was readily granted. +</p> +<p> +As soon as they heard him play they offered him the post, with promise +of increasing the salary by a contribution from the town funds. Bach thus +found himself at the age of eighteen installed as organist at a salary +of fifty florins, with thirty thalers in addition for board and lodging, +equal, all in all, to less than fifty dollars. In those days this amount +was considered a fair sum for a young player. On August 14, 1703, the young +organist entered upon his duties, promising solemnly to be diligent and +faithful to all requirements. +</p> +<p> +The requirements of the post fortunately left him plenty of leisure to +study. Up to this time he had done very little composing, but now he set +about teaching himself the art of composition. +</p> +<p> +The first thing he did was to take a number of concertos written for the +violin by Vivaldi, and set them for the harpsichord. In this way he learned +to express himself and to attain facility in putting his thoughts on paper +without first playing them on an instrument. He worked alone in this way +with no assistance from any one, and often studied till far into the night +to perfect himself in this branch of his art. +</p> +<p> +From the very beginning, his playing on the new organ excited admiration, +but his artistic temperament frequently threatened to be his undoing. +For the young enthusiast was no sooner seated at the organ to conduct the +church music than he forgot that the choir and congregation were depending +on him and would begin to improvise at such length that the singing had to +stop altogether, while the people listened in mute admiration. Of course +there were many disputes between the new organist and the elders of the +church, but they overlooked his vagaries because of his genius. +</p> +<p> +Yet he must have been a trial to that well-ordered body. Once he asked for +a month's leave of absence to visit Lübeck, where the celebrated Buxtehude +was playing the organ in the Marien Kirche during Advent. Lübeck was fifty +miles from Arnstadt, but the courageous boy made the entire journey on +foot. He enjoyed the music at Lübeck so much that he quite forgot his +promise to return in one month until he had stayed three. His pockets being +quite empty, he thought for the first time of returning to his post. Of +course there was trouble on his return, but the authorities retained him in +spite of all, for the esteem in which they held his gifts. +</p> +<p> +Bach soon began to find Arnstadt too small and narrow for his soaring +desires. Besides, his fame was growing and his name becoming known in the +larger, adjacent towns. When he was offered the post of organist at St. +Blasius at Mülhausen, near Eisenach, he accepted at once. He was told he +might name his own salary. If Bach had been avaricious he could have asked +a large sum, but he modestly named the small amount he had received at +Arnstadt with the addition of certain articles of food which should be +delivered at his door, gratis. +</p> +<p> +Bach's prospects were now so much improved that he thought he might make a +home for himself. He had fallen in love with a cousin, Maria Bach, and they +were married October 17, 1707. +</p> +<p> +The young organist only remained in Mülhausen a year, for he received a +more important offer. He was invited to play before Duke Wilhelm Ernst of +Weimar, and hastened thither, hoping this might lead to an appointment at +Court. He was not disappointed, for the Duke was so delighted with Bach's +playing that he at once offered him the post of Court organist. +</p> +<p> +A wider outlook now opened for Sebastian Bach, who had all his young life +struggled with poverty and privation. He was now able to give much time to +composition, and began to write those masterpieces for the organ which have +placed his name on the highest pinnacle in the temple of music. +</p> +<p> +In his comfortable Weimar home the musician had the quiet and leisure that +he needed to perfect his art on all sides, not only in composition but +in organ and harpsichord playing. He felt that he had conquered all +difficulties of both instruments, and one day boasted to a friend that he +could play any piece, no matter how difficult, at sight, without a mistake. +In order to test this statement the friend invited him to breakfast shortly +after. On the harpsichord were several pieces of music, one of which, +though apparently simple, was really very difficult. His host left the room +to prepare the breakfast, while Bach began to try over the music. All went +well until he came to the difficult piece which he began quite boldly +but stuck in the middle. It went no better after several attempts. As his +friend entered, bringing the breakfast, Bach exclaimed:—"You are right. +One cannot play everything perfectly at sight,—it is impossible!" +</p> +<p> +Duke Wilhelm Ernst, in 1714, raised him to the position of Head-Concert +Master, a position which offered added privileges. Every autumn he used his +annual vacation in traveling to the principal towns to give performances +on organ and clavier. By such means he gained a great reputation both as +player and composer. +</p> +<p> +On one of these tours he arrived in Dresden in time to learn of a French +player who had just come to town. Jean Marchand had won a great reputation +in France, where he was organist to the King at Versailles, and regarded +as the most fashionable musician of the day. All this had made him very +conceited and overbearing. Every one was discussing the Frenchman's +wonderful playing and it was whispered he had been offered an appointment +in Dresden. +</p> +<p> +The friends of Bach proposed that he should engage Marchand in a contest, +to defend the musical honor of the German nation. Both musicians were +willing; the King promised to attend. +</p> +<p> +The day fixed for the trial arrived; a brilliant company assembled. Bach +made his appearance, and all was ready, but the adversary failed to come. +After a considerable delay it was learned that Marchand had fled the city. +</p> +<p> +In 1717, on his return from Dresden, Bach was appointed Capellmeister to +the young Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. The Prince was an enthusiastic +lover of music, and at Cöthen Bach led a happy, busy life. The Prince often +journeyed to different towns to gratify his taste for music, and always +took Bach with him. On one of these trips he was unable to receive the +news that his wife had suddenly passed away, and was buried before he could +return to Cöthen. This was a severe blow to the whole family. +</p> +<p> +Four years afterward, Bach married again, Anna Magdalena Wülkens was in +every way suited for a musician's wife, and for her he composed many of the +delightful dances which we now so greatly enjoy. He also wrote a number of +books of studies for his wife and his sons, several of whom later became +good musicians and composers. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps no man ever led a more crowded life, though outwardly a quiet one. +He never had an idle moment. When not playing, composing or teaching, he +would be found engraving music on copper, since that work was costly in +those days. Or he would be manufacturing some kind of musical instrument. +At least two are known to be of his invention. +</p> +<p> +Bach began to realize that the Cöthen post, while it gave him plenty of +leisure for his work, did not give him the scope he needed for his art. The +Prince had lately married, and did not seem to care as much for music as +before. +</p> +<p> +The wider opportunity which Bach sought came when he was appointed director +of music in the churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas in Leipsic, and +Cantor of the Thomas-Schule there. With the Leipsic period Bach entered +the last stage of his career, for he retained this post for the rest of +his life. He labored unceasingly, in spite of many obstacles and petty +restrictions, to train the boys under his care, and raise the standard of +musical efficiency in the Schule, as choirs of both churches were recruited +from the scholars of the Thomas School. +</p> +<p> +During the twenty-seven years of life in Leipsic, Bach wrote some of his +greatest works, such as the Oratorios of St. Matthew and St. John, and +the Mass in B Minor. It was the Passion according to St. Matthew that +Mendelssohn, about a hundred years later discovered, studied with so much +zeal, and performed in Berlin, with so much devotion and success. +</p> +<p> +Bach always preferred a life of quiet and retirement; simplicity had ever +been his chief characteristic. He was always very religious; his greatest +works voice the noblest sentiments of exaltation. +</p> +<p> +Bach's modesty and retiring disposition is illustrated by the following +little incident. Carl Philip Emmanuel, his third son, was cembalist in the +royal orchestra of Frederick the Great. His Majesty was very fond of music +and played the flute to some extent. He had several times sent messages to +Bach by Philip Emmanuel, that he would like to see him. But Bach, intent on +his work, ignored the royal favor, until he finally received an imperative +command, which could not be disobeyed. He then, with his son Friedmann, set +out for Potsdam. +</p> +<p> +The King was about to begin the evening's music when he learned that Bach +had arrived. With a smile he turned to his musicians: "Gentlemen, old Bach +has come." Bach was sent for at once, without having time to change his +traveling dress. His Majesty received him with great kindness and respect, +and showed him through the palace, where he must try the Silbermann +pianofortes, of which there were several. Bach improvised on each and the +King gave a theme which he treated as a fantasia, to the astonishment +of all. Frederick next asked him to play a six part fugue, and then +Bach improvised one on a theme of his own. The King clapped his hands, +exclaiming over and over, "Only one Bach! Only one Bach!" It was a great +evening for the master, and one he never forgot. +</p> +<p> +Just after completing his great work, The Art of Fugue, Bach became totally +blind, due no doubt, to the great strain he had always put upon his eyes, +in not only writing his own music, but in copying out large works of the +older masters. Notwithstanding this handicap he continued at work up to +the very last. On the morning of the day on which he passed away, July +28, 1750, he suddenly regained his sight. A few hours later he became +unconscious and passed in sleep. +</p> +<p> +Bach was laid to rest in the churchyard of St. John's at Leipsic, but no +stone marks his resting place. Only the town library register tells that +Johann Sebastian Bach, Musical Director and Singing Master of the St. +Thomas School, was carried to his grave July 30, 1750. +</p> +<p> +But the memory of Bach is enduring, his fame immortal and the love his +beautiful music inspires increases from year to year, wherever that music +is known, all over the world. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_3"><!-- RULE4 3 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +III<br> + <br> +GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL +</h3></div> + +<p> +While little Sebastian Bach was laboriously copying out music by pale +moonlight, because of his great love for it, another child of the same age +was finding the greatest happiness of his life seated before an old spinet, +standing in a lumber garret. He was trying to make music from those half +dumb keys. No one had taught him how to play; it was innate genius that +guided his little hands to find the right harmonies and bring melody out of +the old spinet. +</p> +<p> +The boy's name was George Frederick Handel, and he was born in the +German town of Halle, February 23, 1685. Almost from infancy he showed a +remarkable fondness for music. His toys must be able to produce musical +sounds or he did not care for them. The child did not inherit a love for +music from his father, for Dr. Handel, who was a surgeon, looked on music +with contempt, as something beneath the notice of a gentleman. He had +decided his son was to be a lawyer, and refused to allow him to attend +school for fear some one might teach him his notes. The mother was a sweet +gentle woman, a second wife, and much younger than her husband, who seemed +to have ruled his household with a rod of iron. +</p> +<p> +When little George was about five, a kind friend, who knew how he longed to +make music, had a spinet sent to him unbeknown to his father, and placed +in a corner of the old garret. Here the child loved to come when he could +escape notice. Often at night, when all were asleep, he would steal away to +the garret and work at the spinet, mastering difficulties one by one. The +strings of the instrument had been wound with cloth to deaden the sound, +and thus made only a tiny tinkle. +</p> +<p> +After this secret practising had been going on for some time, it was +discovered one night, when little George was enjoying his favorite pastime. +He had been missed and the whole house went in search. Finally the father, +holding high the lantern in his hand and followed by mother and the rest of +the inmates, reached the garret, and there found the lost child seated at +his beloved spinet, quite lost to the material world. There is no record of +any angry outburst on the father's part and it is likely little George was +left in peace. +</p> +<p> +One day when the boy was seven years old, the father was about to start for +the castle of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, to see his son, a stepbrother +of George, who was a <i>valet de chambre</i> to the Duke. Little George +begged to go too, for he knew there was music to be heard at the castle. +In spite of his father's refusal he made up his mind to go if he had to run +every step of the way. So watching his chance, he started to run after the +coach in which his father rode. The child had no idea it was a distance of +forty miles. He strove bravely to keep pace with the horses, but the roads +were rough and muddy. His strength beginning to fail, he called out to the +coachman to stop. His father, hearing the boy's voice looked out of the +window. Instead of scolding the little scamp roundly, he was touched by +his woebegone appearance, had him lifted into the coach and carried on to +Weissenfels. +</p> +<p> +George enjoyed himself hugely at the castle. The musicians were very kind +to him, and his delight could hardly be restrained when he was allowed to +try the beautiful organ in the chapel. The organist stood behind him and +arranged the stops, and the child put his fingers on the keys that made the +big pipes speak. During his stay, George had several chances to play; one +was on a Sunday at the close of the service. The organist lifted him upon +the bench and bade him play. Instead of the Duke and all his people leaving +the chapel, they stayed to listen. When the music ceased the Duke asked: +"Who is that child? Does anybody know his name?" The organist was sent +for, and then little George was brought. The Duke patted him on the head, +praised his playing and said he was sure to become a good musician. The +organist then remarked he had heard the father disapproved of his musical +studies. The Duke was greatly astonished. He sent for the father and after +speaking highly of the boy's talent, said that to place any obstacle in the +child's way would be unworthy of the father's honorable profession. +</p> +<p> +And so it was settled that George Frederick should devote himself to music. +Frederick Zachau, organist of the cathedral at Halle, was the teacher +chosen to instruct the boy on the organ, harpsichord and violin. He +also taught him composition, and showed him how different countries and +composers differed in their ideas of musical style. Very soon the boy was +composing the regular weekly service for the church, besides playing the +organ whenever Zachau happened to be absent. At that time the boy could not +have been more than eight years old. +</p> +<p> +After three years' hard work his teacher told him he must seek another +master, as he could teach him nothing more. So the boy was sent to Berlin, +to continue his studies. Two of the prominent musicians there were Ariosti +and Buononcini; the former received the boy kindly and gave him great +encouragement; the other took a dislike to the little fellow, and tried to +injure him. Pretending to test his musicianship, Buononcini composed a very +difficult piece for the harpsichord and asked him to play it at sight. This +the boy did with ease and correctness. The Elector was delighted with the +little musician, offered him a place at Court and even promised to send +him to Italy to pursue his studies. Both offers were refused and George +returned to Halle and to his old master, who was happy to have him back +once more. +</p> +<p> +Not long after this the boy's father passed away, and as there was but +little money left for the mother, her son decided at once that he must +support himself and not deprive her of her small income. He acted as deputy +organist at the Cathedral and Castle of Halle, and a few years later, when +the post was vacant, secured it at a salary of less than forty dollars a +year and free lodging. George Frederick was now seventeen and longed for a +broader field. Knowing that he must leave Halle to find it, he said +good-by to his mother, and in January 1703, set out for Hamburg to seek his +fortune. +</p> +<p> +The Opera House Orchestra needed a supplementary violin. It was a very +small post, but he took it, pretending not to be able to do anything +better. However a chance soon came his way to show what he was capable of. +One day the conductor, who always presided at the harpsichord, was absent, +and no one was there to take his place. Without delay George came forward +and took his vacant seat. He conducted so ably, that he secured the +position for himself. +</p> +<p> +The young musician led a busy life in Hamburg, filled with teaching, study +and composition. As his fame increased he secured more pupils, and he was +not only able to support himself, but could send some money to his mother. +He believed in saving money whenever he could; he knew a man should not +only be self supporting, but somewhat independent, in order to produce +works of art. +</p> +<p> +Handel now turned his attention to opera, composing "Almira, Queen of +Castile," which was produced in Hamburg early in January 1705. This success +encouraged him to write others; indeed he was the author of forty operas, +which are only remembered now by an occasional aria. During these several +years of hard work he had looked forward to a journey to Italy, for study. +He was now a composer of some note and decided it was high time to carry +out his cherished desire. +</p> +<p> +He remained some time in Florence and composed the opera "Rodrigo," which +was performed with great success. While in Venice he brought out another +opera, "Agrippina," which had even greater success. Rome delighted him +especially and he returned for a second time in 1709. Here he composed +his first oratorio, the "Resurrection," which was produced there. Handel +returned to Germany the following year. The Elector of Hanover was kind +to him, and offered him the post of Capellmeister, with a salary of about +fifteen hundred dollars. He had long desired to visit England, and the +Elector gave him leave of absence. First, however, he went to Halle to see +his mother and his old teacher. We can imagine the joy of the meeting, and +how proud and happy both were at the success of the young musician. After a +little time spent with his dear ones, he set out for England. +</p> +<p> +Handel came to London, preceded by the fame of his Italian success. Italian +opera was the vogue just then in the English capital, but it was so badly +produced that a man of Handel's genius was needed to properly set it before +the people. He had not been long on English soil when he produced his +opera "Rinaldo," at the Queen's Theater; it had taken him just two weeks +to compose the opera. It had great success and ran night after night. There +are many beautiful airs in "Rinaldo," some of which we hear to-day with the +deepest pleasure. "Lascia ch'jo pianga" and "Cara si's sposa" are two of +them. The Londoners had welcomed Handel with great cordiality and with +his new opera he was firmly established in their regard. With the young +musician likewise there seemed to be a sincere affection for England. He +returned in due time to his duties in Hanover, but he felt that London was +the field for his future activities. +</p> +<p> +It was not very long after his return to Germany that he sought another +leave of absence to visit England, promising to return within a "reasonable +time." London received him with open arms and many great people showered +favors upon him. Lord Burlington invited him to his residence in +Piccadilly, which at that time consisted of green fields. The only return +to be made for all this social and home luxury was that he should conduct +the Earl's chamber concerts. Handel devoted his abundant leisure to +composition, at which he worked with much ardor. His fame was making +great strides, and when the Peace of Utrecht was signed and a Thanksgiving +service was to be held in St. Paul's, he was commissioned to compose a Te +Deum and Jubilate. To show appreciation for his work and in honor of the +event, Queen Anne awarded Handel a life pension of a thousand dollars. +</p> +<p> +The death of the Queen, not long after, brought the Elector of Hanover to +England, to succeed her as George I. It was not likely that King George +would look with favor on his former Capellmeister, who had so long deserted +his post. But an opportunity soon came to placate his Majesty. A royal +entertainment, with decorated barges on the Thames was arranged. An +orchestra was to furnish the music, and the Lord Chamberlain commissioned +Handel to compose music for the fête. He wrote a series of pieces, since +known as "Water Music." The king was greatly delighted with the music, had +it repeated, and learning that Handel conducted in person, sent for him, +forgave all and granted him another pension of a thousand dollars. He was +also appointed teacher to the daughters of the Prince of Wales, at a salary +of a thousand a year. With the combined sum (three thousand dollars) which +he now received, he felt quite independent, indeed a man of means. +</p> +<p> +Not long after this Handel was appointed Chapel master to the Duke of +Chandos, and was expected to live at the princely mansion he inhabited. The +size and magnificence of The Cannons was the talk of the country for miles +around. Here the composer lived and worked, played the organ in the chapel, +composed church music for the service and wrote his first English oratorio, +"Esther." This was performed in the Duke's chapel, and the Duke on this +occasion handed the composer five thousand dollars. Numerous compositions +for the harpsichord belong to this period, among them the air and +variations known as "The Harmonious Blacksmith." The story goes that Handel +was walking to Cannons through the village of Edgeware, and being overtaken +by a heavy shower, sought shelter in the smithy. The blacksmith was singing +at his work and his hammer kept time with his song. The composer was struck +with the air and its accompaniment, and as soon as he reached home, wrote +out the tune with the variations. This story has been disputed, and it is +not known whether it is true or not. +</p> +<p> +When Handel first came to London, he had done much to encourage the +production of opera in the Italian style. Later these productions had to +be given up for lack of money, and the King's Theater remained closed for a +long time. Finally a number of rich men formed a society to revive opera +in London. The King subscribed liberally to the venture. Handel was at once +engaged as composer and impressario. He started work on a new opera and +when that was well along, set out for Germany, going to Dresden to select +singers. On his return he stopped at Halle, where his mother was still +living, but his old teacher had passed away. +</p> +<p> +The new opera "Radamisto" was ready early in 1720, and produced at the +Royal Academy of Music, as the theater was now called. The success of the +production was tremendous. But Handel, by his self-will had stirred up envy +and jealousy, and an opposition party was formed, headed by his old enemy +from Hamburg, Buononcini, who had come to London to try his fortunes. A +test opera was planned, of which Handel wrote the third act, Buononcini the +second and a third musician the first. When the new work was performed, +the third act was pronounced by the judges much superior to the second. But +Buononcini's friends would not accept defeat, and the battle between all +parties was violent. Newspapers were full of it, and many verses were +written. Handel cared not a whit for all this tempest, but calmly went his +way. +</p> +<p> +In 1723, his opera "Ottone" was to be produced. The great singer Cuzzoni +had been engaged, but the capricious lady did not arrive in England till +the rehearsals were far advanced, which of course did not please the +composer. When she did appear she refused to sing the aria as he had +composed it. He flew into a rage, took her by the arm and threatened to +throw her out of the window unless she obeyed. The singer was so frightened +by his anger that she sang as he directed, and made a great success of the +aria. +</p> +<p> +Handel's industry in composing for the Royal Academy of Music was untiring. +For the first eight years from the beginning of the Society's work he had +composed and produced fourteen operas. During all this time, his enemies +never ceased their efforts to destroy him. The great expense of operatic +production, the troubles and quarrels with singers, at last brought the +Academy to the end of its resources. At this juncture, the famous +"Beggar's Opera," by John Gay, was brought out at a rival theater. It was a +collection of most beautiful melodies from various sources, used with +words quite unworthy of them. But the fickle public hailed the piece with +delight, and its success was the means of bringing total failure to the +Royal Academy. Handel, however, in spite of the schemes of his enemies, +was determined to carry on the work with his own fortune. He went again to +Italy to engage new singers, stopping at Halle to see his mother who was +ill. She passed away the next year at the age of eighty. +</p> +<p> +Handel tried for several years to keep Italian opera going in London, in +spite of the lack of musical taste and the opposition of his enemies; but +in 1737, he was forced to give up the struggle. He was deeply in debt, his +whole fortune of ten thousand pounds had been swept away and his health +broken by anxiety. He would not give up; after a brief rest, he returned +to London to begin the conflict anew. The effort to re-awaken the English +public's interest in Italian opera seemed useless, and the composer at last +gave up the struggle. He was now fifty-five, and began to think of turning +his attention to more serious work. Handel has been called the father of +the oratorio; he composed at least twenty-eight works in this style, the +best known being "Samson," "Israel in Egypt," "Jephtha," "Saul," "Judas +Maccabæus" and greatest of all, the "Messiah." +</p> +<p> +The composer conceived the idea of writing the last named work in 1741. +Towards the end of this year he was invited to visit Ireland to make known +some of his works. On the way there he was detained at Chester for several +days by contrary winds. He must have had the score of the "Messiah" with +him, for he got together some choir boys to try over a few of the choral +parts. "Can you sing at sight?" was put to each boy before he was asked +to sing. One broke down at the start. "What de devil you mean!" cried the +impetuous composer, snatching the music from him. "Didn't you say you could +sing at sight?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes sir, but not at <i>first</i> sight." +</p> +<p> +The people of Dublin warmly welcomed Handel, and the new oratorio, the +"Messiah," was performed at Music Hall, with choirs of both cathedrals, and +with some concertos on the organ played by the composer. The performance +took place, April 13, 1742. Four hundred pounds were realized, which were +given to charity. The success was so great that a second performance +was announced. Ladies were requested to come without crinoline, thereby +providing a hundred more seats than at the first event. +</p> +<p> +The Irish people were so cordial, that the composer remained almost a year +among them. For it was not till March 23, 1743, that the "Messiah" was +performed in London. The King was one of the great audience who heard +it. All were so deeply impressed by the Hallelujah chorus, that with the +opening words, "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," the whole audience, +including the King, sprang to their feet, and remained standing through +the entire chorus. From that time to this it has always been the custom to +stand during this chorus, whenever it is performed. +</p> +<p> +Once started on this line of thought, one oratorio after another flowed +from his prolific pen, though none of them proved to be as exalted in +conception as the "Messiah." The last work of this style was "Jephtha," +which contains the beautiful song, "Waft her, angels." While engaged in +composing this oratorio, Handel became blind, but this affliction did +not seem to lessen his power for work. He was now sixty-eight, and had +conquered and lived down most of the hostility that had been so bitter +against him. His fortunes also constantly improved, so that when he passed +away he left twenty thousand pounds. +</p> +<p> +The great composer was a big man, both physically and mentally. A friend +describes his countenance as full of fire; "when he smiled it was like the +sun bursting out of a black cloud. It was a sudden flash of intelligence, +wit and good humor, which illumined his countenance, which I have hardly +ever seen in any other." He could relish a joke, and had a keen sense of +humor. Few things outside his work interested him; but he was fond of the +theater, and liked to go to picture sales. His fiery temper often led him +to explode at trifles. No talking among the listeners could be borne by him +while he was conducting. He did not hesitate to visit violent abuse on the +heads of those who ventured to speak while he was directing and not even +the presence of royalty could restrain his anger. +</p> +<p> +Handel was always generous in assisting those who needed aid, and he helped +found the Society for Aiding Distressed Musicians. His last appearance in +public, was at a performance of the "Messiah," at Covent Garden, on April +6, 1759. His death occurred on the 14th of the same month, at the house +in Brook Street where he had lived for many years. Thus, while born in +the same year as Sebastian Bach, he outlived him by about a decade. He was +buried in Westminster Abbey, and later a fine monument was erected to his +memory. The most of his manuscripts came into the possession of King George +III, and are preserved in the musical library of Buckingham Palace. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_4"><!-- RULE4 4 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +IV<br> + +CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK +</h3></div> + +<p> +Christoph Willibald Gluck has been called the "regenerator of the +opera" for he appeared just at the right moment to rescue opera from the +deplorable state into which it had fallen. At that time the composers often +yielded to the caprices of the singers and wrote to suit them, while the +singers themselves, through vanity and ignorance, made such requirements +that opera itself often became ridiculous. Gluck desired "to restrict the +art of music to its true object, that of aiding the effect of poetry by +giving greater expression to words and scenes, without interrupting the +action or the plot." He wrote only operas, and some of his best works keep +the stage to-day. They are simple in design yet powerful in appeal: very +original and stamped with refinement and true feeling. +</p> +<p> +The boy Christoph, like many another lad who became a great musician, had +a sorrowful childhood, full of poverty and neglect. His home was in the +little town of Weissenwangen, on the borders of Bohemia, where he was born +July 2, 1714. As a little lad he early manifested a love for music, but his +parents were in very straitened circumstances and could not afford to +pay for musical instruction. He was sent to one of the public schools. +Fortunately the art of reading music from notes, formation of scales and +fundamentals, was taught along with general school subjects. +</p> +<p> +While his father lived the boy was sure of sympathy and affection, though +circumstances were of the poorest. But the good man passed away when the +boy was quite young, and then matters were much worse. He was gradually +neglected until he was at last left to shift for himself. +</p> +<p> +He possessed not only talent but perseverance and the will to succeed. The +violoncello attracted him, and he began to teach himself to play it, with +no other help than an old instruction book. Determination conquered many +difficulties however, and before long he had made sufficient progress to +enable him to join a troop of traveling minstrels. From Prague they made +their way to Vienna. +</p> +<p> +Arrived in Vienna, that rich, gay, laughter-loving city, where the people +loved music and often did much for it, the youth's musical talent together +with his forlorn appearance and condition won sympathy from a few generous +souls, who not only provided a home and took care of his material needs, +but gave him also the means to continue his musical studies. Christoph +was overcome with gratitude and made the best possible use of his +opportunities. For nearly two years he gave himself up to his musical +studies. +</p> +<p> +Italy was the goal of his ambition, and at last the opportunity to visit +that land of song was within his grasp. At the age of twenty-four, in the +year 1738, Gluck bade adieu to his many kind friends in Vienna, and set out +to complete his studies in Italy. Milan was his objective point. Soon +after arriving there he had the good fortune to meet Padre Martini, the +celebrated master of musical theory. Young Gluck at once placed himself +under the great man's guidance and labored diligently with him for about +four years. How much he owed to the careful training Martini was able to +give, was seen in even his first attempts at operatic composition. +</p> +<p> +At the conclusion of this long period of devoted study, Gluck began to +write an opera, entitled "Artaxerxes." When completed it was accepted at +the Milan Theater, brought out in 1741 and met with much success. This +success induced one of the managers in Venice to offer him an engagement +for that city if he would compose a new opera. Gluck then produced +"Clytemnestra." This second work had a remarkable success, and the managers +arranged for the composition of another opera, which was "Demetrio," which, +like the others was most favorably received. Gluck now had offers from +Turin, so that the next two years were spent between that city and Milan, +for which cities he wrote five or six operas. By this time the name of +Gluck had become famous all over Italy; indeed his fame had spread to other +countries, with the result that tempting offers for new operas flowed in +to him from all directions. Especially was a London manager, a certain Lord +Middlesex, anxious to entice the young composer from Italy to come over +to London, and produce some of his works at the King's Theater in the +Haymarket. +</p> +<p> +The noble manager made a good offer too, and Gluck felt he ought to accept. +He reached London in 1745, but owing to the rebellion which had broken +out in Scotland all the theaters were closed, and the city in more or less +confusion. However a chance to hear the famous German composer, who had +traveled such a distance, was not to be lost, and Lord Middlesex besought +the Powers to re-open the theater. After much pleading his request was +finally granted. The opening opera, written on purpose to introduce Gluck +to English audiences, was entitled "La Caduta del Giganti,"—"Fall of the +Giants"—and did not seem to please the public. But the young composer was +undaunted. His next opera, "Artamene," pleased them no better. The mind of +the people was taken up at that period with politics and political events, +and they cared less than usual for music and the arts. Then, too, Handel, +at the height of his fame, was living in London, honored and courted by the +aristocracy and the world of fashion. +</p> +<p> +Though disappointed at his lack of success, Gluck remained in England +several years, constantly composing operas, none of which seemed to win +success. At last he took his way quietly back to Vienna. In 1754, he was +invited to Rome, where he produced several operas, among them "Antigone"; +they were all successful, showing the Italians appreciated his work. He now +proceeded to Florence, and while there became acquainted with an Italian +poet, Ranieri di Calzabigi. They were mutually attracted to each other, and +on parting had sworn to use their influence and talents to reform Italian +opera. +</p> +<p> +Gluck returned to Vienna, and continued to compose operas. In 1764, "Orfeo" +was produced,—an example of the new reform in opera! "Orfeo" was received +most favorably and sung twenty-eight times, a long run for those days. The +singing and acting of Guadagni made the opera quite the rage, and the work +began to be known in England. Even in Paris and Parma it became a great +favorite. The composer was now fifty, and his greatest works had yet—with +the exception or "Orfeo"—to be written. He began to develop that purity +of style which we find in "Alceste," "Iphigénie en Tauride" and others. +"Alceste" was the second opera on the reformed plan which simplified the +music to give more prominence to the poetry. It was produced in Vienna in +1769, with the text written by Calzabigi. The opera was ahead of "Orfeo" +in simplicity and nobility, but it did not seem to please the critics. The +composer himself wrote: "Pedants and critics, an infinite multitude, +form the greatest obstacle to the progress of art. They think themselves +entitled to pass a verdict on 'Alceste' from some informal rehearsals, +badly conducted and executed. Some fastidious ear found a vocal passage too +harsh, or another too impassioned, forgetting that forcible expression and +striking contrasts are absolutely necessary. It was likewise decided in +full conclave, that this style of music was barbarous and extravagant." +</p> +<p> +In spite of the judgment of the critics, "Alceste" increased the fame of +Gluck to a great degree. Paris wanted to see the man who had revolutionized +Italian opera. The French Royale Académie had made him an offer to visit +the capital, for which he was to write a new opera for a début. A French +poet, Du Rollet, living in Vienna, offered to write a libretto for the new +opera, and assured him there was every chance for success in a visit +to France. The libretto was thereupon written, or rather arranged from +Racine's "Iphigénie en Aulide," and with this, Chevalier Gluck, lately made +Knight of the papal order of the Golden Spur, set out for Paris. +</p> +<p> +And now began a long season of hard work. The opera "Iphigénie" took about +a year to compose, besides a careful study of the French language. He had +even more trouble with the slovenly, ignorant orchestra, than he had with +the French language. The orchestra declared itself against foreign music; +but this opposition was softened down by his former pupil and patroness, +the charming Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. +</p> +<p> +After many trials and delays, "Iphigénie" was produced August 19, 1774. +The opera proved an enormous success. The beautiful Queen herself gave the +signal for applause in which the whole house joined. The charming Sophie +Arnould sang the part of Iphigénie and seemed to quite satisfy the +composer. Larrivée was the Agamemnon, and other parts were well sung. The +French were thoroughly delighted. They fêted and praised Gluck, declaring +he had discovered the music of the ancient Greeks, that he was the only man +in Europe who could express real feelings in music. Marie Antoinette wrote +to her sister: "We had, on the nineteenth, the first performance of Gluck's +'Iphigénie,' and it was a glorious triumph. I was quite enchanted, and +nothing else is talked of. All the world wishes to see the piece, and Gluck +seems well satisfied." +</p> +<p> +The next year, 1775, Gluck brought out an adaptation suitable for +the French stage, of his "Alceste," which again aroused the greatest +enthusiasm. The theater was crammed at every performance. Marie +Antoinette's favorite composer was again praised to the skies, and was +declared to be the greatest composer living. +</p> +<p> +But Gluck had one powerful opponent at the French Court, who was none other +than the famous Madame du Barry, the favorite of Louis XV. Since the Queen +had her pet musical composer, Mme. du Barry wished to have hers. An Italian +by birth, she could gather about her a powerful Italian faction, who were +bent upon opposition to the Austrian Gluck. She had listened to his praises +long enough, and the tremendous success of "Alceste" had been the last +straw and brought things to a climax. Du Barry would have some one to +represent Italian music, and applied to the Italian ambassador to desire +Piccini to come to Paris. +</p> +<p> +On the arrival of Piccini, Madame du Barry began activities, aided by Louis +XV himself. She gathered a powerful Italian party about her, and their +first act was to induce the Grand Opera management to make Piccini an offer +for a new opera, although they had already made the same offer to Gluck. +This breach of good faith led to a furious war, in which all Paris joined; +it was fierce and bitter while it lasted. Even politics were forgotten for +the time being. Part of the press took up one side and part the other. +Many pamphlets, poems and satires appeared, in which both composers were +unmercifully attacked. Gluck was at the time in Germany, and Piccini had +come to Paris principally to secure the tempting fee offered him. The +leaders of the feud kept things well stirred up, so that a stranger could +not enter a café, hotel or theater without first answering the question +whether he stood for Gluck or Piccini. Many foolish lies were told of Gluck +in his absence. It was declared by the Piccinists that he went away on +purpose, to escape the war; that he could no longer write melodies because +he was a dried up old man and had nothing new to give France. These lies +and false stories were put to flight one evening when the Abbé Arnaud, one +of Gluck's most ardent adherents, declared in an aristocratic company, that +the Chevalier was returning to France with an "Orlando" and an "Armide" in +his portfolio. +</p> +<p> +"Piccini is also working on an 'Orlando,'" spoke up a follower of that +redoubtable Italian. +</p> +<p> +"That will be all the better," returned the abbé, "for we shall then have +an 'Orlando' and also an 'Orlandino.'" +</p> +<p> +When Gluck arrived in Paris, he brought with him the finished opera of +"Armide," which was produced at the Paris Grand Opera on September 23, +1777. At first it was merely a <i>succès d'estime</i>, but soon became +immensely popular. On the first night many of the critics were against the +opera, which was called too noisy. The composer, however, felt he had done +some of his best work in "Armide"; that the music was written in such style +that it would not grow old, at least not for a long time. He had taken the +greatest pains in composing it, and declared that if it were not properly +rehearsed at the Opera he would not let them have it at all, but would +retain the work himself for his own pleasure. He wrote to a friend: "I have +put forth what little strength is left in me, into 'Armide'; I confess I +should like to finish my career with it." +</p> +<p> +It is said the Gluck composed "Armide" in order to praise the beauty of +Marie Antoinette, and she for her part showed the deepest interest in the +success of the piece, and really "became quite a slave to it." Gluck often +told her he "rearranged his music according to the impression it made upon +the Queen." +</p> +<p> +"Great as was the success of 'Armide,'" wrote the Princess de Lamballe, "no +one prized this beautiful work more highly than the composer of it. He +was passionately enamored of it; he told the Queen the air of France had +rejuvenated his creative powers, and the sight of her majesty had given +such a wonderful impetus to the flow of ideas, that his composition had +become like herself, angelic, sublime." +</p> +<p> +The growing success of "Armide" only added fuel to the flame of controversy +which had been stirred up. To cap the climax, Piccini had finished his +opera, which was duly brought out and met with a brilliant reception. +Indeed its success was greater than that won by "Armide," much to the +delight of the Piccinists. Of course the natural outcome was that the +other party should do something to surpass the work of their rivals. Marie +Antoinette was besought to prevail on Gluck to write another opera. +</p> +<p> +A new director was now in charge of the Opera House. He conceived the +bright idea of setting the two composers at work on the same subject, which +was to be "Iphigénie en Tauride." This plan made great commotion in the +ranks of the rival factions, as each wished to have their composer's work +performed first. The director promised that Piccini's opera should be first +placed in rehearsal. Gluck soon finished his and handed it in, but the +Italian, trusting to the director's word of honor, was not troubled when he +heard the news, though he determined to complete his as soon as possible. +A few days later, when he went to the Opera House with his completed score, +he was horrified to find the work of his rival already in rehearsal. There +was a lively scene, but the manager said he had received orders to produce +the work of Gluck at once, and he must obey. On the 18th of May, 1779, the +Gluck opera was first performed. It produced the greatest excitement and +had a marvelous success. Even Piccini succumbed to the spell, for the music +made such an impression on him that he did not wish his own work to be +brought out. +</p> +<p> +The director, however, insisted, and soon after the second Iphigénie +appeared. The first night the opera did not greatly please; the next night +proved a comic tragedy, as the prima donna was intoxicated. After a couple +of days' imprisonment she returned and sang well. But the war between +the two factions continued till the death of Gluck, and the retirement of +Piccini. +</p> +<p> +The following year, in September, Gluck finished a new opera, "Echo et +Narcisse," and with this work decided to close his career, feeling he was +too old to write longer for the lyric stage. He was then nearly seventy +years old, and retired to Vienna, to rest and enjoy the fruits of all his +years of incessant toil. He was now rich, as he had earned nearly thirty +thousand pounds. Kings and princes came to do him honor, and to tell him +what pleasure his music had always given them. +</p> +<p> +Gluck passed away on November 15, 1787, honored and beloved by all. The +simple beauty and purity of his music are as moving and expressive to-day +as when it was written, and the "Michael of Music" speaks to us still in +his operas, whenever they are adequately performed. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_5"><!-- RULE4 5 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +V<br> + <br> +JOSEF HAYDN +</h3></div> + +<p> +In Josef Haydn we have one of the classic composers, a sweet, gentle +spirit, who suffered many privations in early life, and through his own +industrious efforts rose to positions of respect and honor, the result +of unremitting toil and devotion to a noble ideal. Like many of the other +great musicians, through hardship and sorrow he won his place among the +elect. +</p> +<p> +Fifteen leagues south of Vienna, amid marshy flats along the river Leitha, +lies the small village of Rehrau. At the end of the straggling street which +constitutes the village, stood a low thatched cottage and next to it a +wheelwright's shop, with a small patch of greensward before it. The master +wheelwright, Mathias Haydn, was sexton, too, of the little church on the +hill. He was a worthy man and very religious. A deep love for music was +part of the man's nature, and it was shared to a large extent by his wife +Maria. Every Sunday evening he would bring out his harp, on which he had +taught himself to play, and he and his wife would sing songs and hymns, +accompanied by the harp. The children, too, would add their voices to the +concert. The little boy Josef, sat near his father and watched his playing +with rapt attention. Sometimes he would take two sticks and make believe +play the violin, just as he had seen the village schoolmaster do. And when +he sang hymns with the others, his voice was sweet and true. The father +watched the child with interest, and a new hope rose within him. His own +life had been a bitter disappointment, for he had been unable to satisfy +his longing for a knowledge of the art he loved. Perhaps Josef might one +day become a musician—indeed he might even rise to be Capellmeister. +</p> +<p> +Little Josef was born March 31, 1732. The mother had a secret desire that +the boy should join the priesthood, but the father, as we have seen, hoped +he would make a musical career, and determined, though poor in this world's +goods, to aid him in every possible way. +</p> +<p> +About this time a distant relative, one Johann Mathias Frankh by name, +arrived at the Haydn cottage on a visit. He was a schoolmaster at Hainburg, +a little town four leagues away. During the regular evening concert he +took particular notice of Josef and his toy violin. The child's sweet voice +indicated that he had the makings of a good musician. At last he said: "If +you will let me take Sepperl, I will see he is properly taught; I can see +he promises well." +</p> +<p> +The parents were quite willing and as for little Sepperl, he was simply +overjoyed, for he longed to learn more about the beautiful music which +filled his soul. He went with his new cousin, as he called Frankh, without +any hesitation, and with the expectation that his childish day dreams were +to be realized. +</p> +<p> +A new world indeed opened to the six year old boy, but it was not all +beautiful. Frankh was a careful and strict teacher; Josef not only was +taught to sing well, but learned much about various instruments. He had +school lessons also. But his life in other ways was hard and cheerless. The +wife of his cousin treated him with the utmost indifference, never looking +after his clothing or his well being in any way. After a time his destitute +and neglected appearance was a source of misery to the refined, sensitive +boy, but he tried to realize that present conditions could not last +forever, and he bravely endeavored to make the best of them. Meanwhile the +training of his voice was well advanced and when not in school he could +nearly always be found in church, listening to the organ and the singing. +Not long after, he was admitted to the choir, where his sweet young voice +joined in the church anthems. Always before his mind was a great city where +he knew he would find the most beautiful music—the music of his dreams. +That city was Vienna, but it lay far away. Josef looked down at his ragged +clothing and wondered if he would ever see that magical city. +</p> +<p> +One morning his cousin told him there would be a procession through the +town in honor of a prominent citizen who had just passed away. A drummer +was needed and the cousin had proposed Josef. He showed the boy how to +make the strokes for a march, with the result that Josef walked in the +procession and felt quite proud of this exhibition of his skill. The very +drum he used that day is preserved in the little church at Hamburg. +</p> +<p> +A great event occurred in Josef's prospects at the end of his second year +of school life at Hamburg. The Capellmeister, Reutter by name, of St. +Stephen's cathedral in Vienna, came to see his friend, the pastor of +Hamburg. He happened to say he was looking for a few good voices for the +choir. "I can find you one at least," said the pastor; "he is a scholar of +Frankh, the schoolmaster, and has a sweet voice." +</p> +<p> +Josef was sent for and the schoolmaster soon returned leading him by the +hand. +</p> +<p> +"Well my little fellow," said the Capellmeister, drawing him to his knee, +"can you make a shake?" +</p> +<p> +"No sir, but neither can my cousin Frankh." +</p> +<p> +Reutter laughed at this frankness, and then proceeded to show him how the +shake was done. Josef after a few trials was able to perform the shake to +the entire satisfaction of his teacher. After testing him on a portion of +a mass the Capellmeister was willing to take him to the Cantorei or Choir +school of St. Stephen's in Vienna. The boy's heart gave a great leap. +Vienna, the city of his dreams. And he was really going there! He could +scarcely believe in his good fortune. If he could have known all that was +to befall him there, he might not have been so eager to go. But he was only +a little eight-year-old boy, and childhood's dreams are rosy. +</p> +<p> +Once arrived at the Cantorei, Josef plunged into his studies with great +fervor, and his progress was most rapid. He was now possessed with a desire +to compose, but had not the slightest idea how to go about such a feat. +However, he hoarded every scrap of music paper he could find and covered it +with notes. Reutter gave no encouragement to such proceedings. One day he +asked what the boy was about, and when he heard the lad was composing a +"Salve Regina," for twelve voices, he remarked it would be better to write +it for two voices before attempting it in twelve. "And if you must try your +hand at composition," added Reutter more kindly, "write variations on the +motets and vespers which are played in church." +</p> +<p> +As neither the Capellmeister nor any of the teachers offered to show Josef +the principles of composition, he was thrown upon his own resources. With +much self denial he scraped together enough money to buy two books which +he had seen at the second hand bookseller's and which he had longed to +possess. One was Fox's "Gradus ad Parnassum," a treatise on composition and +counterpoint; the other Matheson's "The Complete Capellmeister." Happy in +the possession of these books, Josef used every moment outside of school +and choir practise to study them. He loved fun and games as well as any +boy, but music always came first. The desire to perfect himself was +so strong that he often added several hours each day to those already +required, working sixteen or eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. +</p> +<p> +And thus a number of years slipped away amid these happy surroundings. +Little Josef was now a likely lad of about fifteen years. It was arranged +that his younger brother Michael was to come to the Cantorei. Josef looked +eagerly forward to this event, planning how he would help the little one +over the beginning and show him the pleasant things that would happen to +him in the new life. But the elder brother could not foresee the sorrow +and privation in store for him. From the moment Michael's pure young voice +filled the vast spaces of the cathedral, it was plain that Josef's singing +could not compete with it. His soprano showed signs of breaking, and +gradually the principal solo parts, which had always fallen to him, were +given to the new chorister. On a special church day, when there was more +elaborate music, the "Salve Regina," which had always been given to Josef, +was sung so beautifully by the little brother, that the Emperor and Empress +were delighted, and they presented the young singer with twenty ducats. +</p> +<p> +Poor Josef! He realized that his place was virtually taken by the brother +he had welcomed so joyously only a short time before. No one was to blame +of course; it was one of those things that could not be avoided. But what +actually caused him to leave St. Stephen's was a boyish prank played on one +of the choir boys, who sat in front of him. Taking up a new pair of shears +lying near, he snipped off, in a mischievous moment, the boy's pigtail. +For this jest he was punished and then dismissed from the school. He could +hardly realize it, in his first dazed, angry condition. Not to enjoy +the busy life any more, not to see Michael and the others and have a +comfortable home and sing in the Cathedral. How he lived after that he +hardly knew. But several miserable days went by. One rainy night a young +man whom he had known before, came upon him near the Cathedral, and was +struck by his white, pinched face. He asked where the boy was living. +"Nowhere—I am starving," was the reply. Honest Franz Spangler was touched +at once. +</p> +<p> +"We can't stand here in the rain," he said. "You know I haven't a palace +to offer, but you are welcome to share my poor place for one night anyway. +Then we shall see." +</p> +<p> +It was indeed a poor garret where the Spanglers lived, but the cheerful +fire and warm bread and milk were luxuries to the starving lad. Best of +all was it to curl up on the floor, beside the dying embers and fall into +refreshing slumber. The next morning the world looked brighter. He had made +up his mind not to try and see his brother; he would support himself by +music. He did not know just how he was going to do this, but determined to +fight for it <i>and never give in</i>. +</p> +<p> +Spangler, deeply touched by the boy's forlorn case, offered to let +him occupy a corner of his garret until he could find work, and Josef +gratefully accepted. The boy hoped he could quickly find something to do; +but many weary months were spent in looking for employment and in seeking +to secure pupils, before there was the slightest sign of success. Thinly +clad as he was and with the vigorous appetite of seventeen, which was +scarcely ever appeased, he struggled on, hopeful that spring would bring +some sort of good cheer. +</p> +<p> +But spring came, yet no employment was in sight. His sole earnings had been +the coppers thrown to him as he stood singing in the snow covered streets, +during the long cold winter. Now it was spring, and hope rose within him. +He had been taught to have simple faith in God, and felt sure that in some +way his needs would be met. +</p> +<p> +At last the tide turned slightly. A few pupils attracted by the small fee +he charged, took lessons on the clavier; he got a few engagements to play +violin at balls and parties, while some budding composers got him to revise +their manuscripts for a small fee. All these cheering signs of better times +made Josef hopeful and grateful. One day a special piece of good fortune +came his way. A man who loved music, at whose house he had sometimes +played, sent him a hundred and fifty florins, to be repaid without interest +whenever convenient. +</p> +<p> +This sum seemed to Haydn a real fortune. He was able to leave the Spanglers +and take up a garret of his own. There was no stove in it and winter was +coming on; it was only partly light, even at midday, but the youth was +happy. For he had acquired a little worm-eaten spinet, and he had added to +his treasures the first six sonatas of Emmanuel Bach. +</p> +<p> +On the third floor of the house which contained the garret, lived a +celebrated Italian poet, Metastasio. Haydn and the poet struck up an +acquaintance, which resulted in the musician's introduction to the poet's +favorite pupil, Marianne Martinez. Also through Metastasio, Haydn met +Nicolo Porpora, an eminent teacher of singing and composition. About this +time another avenue opened to him. It was a fashion in Vienna to pick up +a few florins by serenading prominent persons. A manager of one of the +principal theaters in Vienna, Felix Kurz, had recently married a beautiful +woman, whose loveliness was much talked of. It occurred to Haydn to take a +couple of companions along and serenade the lady, playing some of his own +music. Soon after they had begun to play the house door opened and Kurz +himself stood there in dressing gown and slippers. "Whose music was that +you were playing?" he asked. "My own," was the answer. "Indeed; then just +step inside." The three entered, wondering. They were presented to Madame, +then were given refreshments. "Come and see me to-morrow," said Kurz when +the boys left; "I think I have some work for you." +</p> +<p> +Haydn called next day and learned the manager had written a libretto of a +comic opera which he called "The Devil on two Sticks," and was looking for +some one to compose the music. In one place there was to be a tempest at +sea, and Haydn was asked how he would represent that. As he had never seen +the sea, he was at a loss how to express it. The manager said he himself +had never seen the ocean, but to his mind it was like this, and he began +to toss his arms wildly about. Haydn tried every way he could think of to +represent the ocean, but Kurz was not satisfied. At last he flung his hands +down with a crash on each end of the keyboard and brought them together +in the middle. "That's it, that's it," cried the manager and embraced the +youth excitedly. All went well with the rest of the opera. It was finished +and produced, but did not make much stir, a fact which was not displeasing +to the composer, as he was not proud of his first attempt. +</p> +<p> +His acquaintance with Porpora promised better things. The singing master +had noticed his skill in playing the harpsichord, and offered to engage +him as accompanist. Haydn gladly accepted at once, hoping to pick up much +musical knowledge in this way. Old Porpora was very harsh and domineering +at first, treating him more like a valet than a musician. But at last he +was won over by Haydn's gentleness and patience, until he was willing to +answer all his questions and to correct his compositions. Best of all +he brought Haydn to the attention of the nobleman in whose house he was +teaching, so that when the nobleman and his family went to the baths of +Mannersdorf for several months, Haydn was asked to go along as accompanist +to Porpora. +</p> +<p> +The distinguished musicians he met at Mannersdorf were all very kind to him +and showed much interest in his compositions, many of which were performed +during this visit. The nobleman, impressed with Haydn's desire to succeed, +allotted him a pension of a sum equal to fifteen dollars a month. The young +musician's first act on receiving this was to buy himself a neat suit of +black. +</p> +<p> +Good fortune followed him on his return to Vienna. More pupils came, until +he was able to raise his prices and move into better lodgings. A wealthy +patron of music, the Countess of Thun, sent for him to come and see her. +She had heard one of his clavier sonatas played, found it charming and +wished to see the composer. Her manner was so sympathetic, that Haydn was +led to tell her the story of his struggles. Tears came into her eyes as she +listened. She promised her support as friend and pupil, and Haydn left her +with a happy, grateful heart. +</p> +<p> +His compositions were heard in the best musical circles in Vienna, and the +future was bright with promise. A wealthy music patron persuaded him to +write a string quartet, the first of many to follow. Through this man he +received, in 1759, an appointment of music director to a rich Bohemian, +Count Morzin, who had a small orchestra at his country seat. In the same +year the first Symphony was composed. +</p> +<p> +As brighter days dawned, Haydn procured all the works on theory obtainable, +and studied them deeply. He had mastered the difficulties of the "Gradus," +one of the books purchased years before, and without any outside help had +worked out his musical independence, uninfluenced by any other musician. +He was now twenty-six, and his fame was growing. Meanwhile an affair of the +heart had great influence on his life. Sometime previously Haydn had been +engaged to give lessons on the harpsichord to two daughters of a wig-maker +named Keller. An attachment soon sprang up between the teacher and the +younger of the girls. His poverty had stood in the way of making his +feelings known. But as prosperity began to dawn, he grew courageous and +asked the maiden to become his wife. His disappointment was keen when he +found the girl had in the meantime decided to take the veil. The wig-maker +proved to be a matchmaker, for when he learned how matters stood he urged +the composer to take the sister, who was only three years older. The gentle +Haydn was unable to withstand the pressure brought to bear, and consented. +After his bride was his he found he had won a virago, one who cared nothing +for art or for her husband's ideals, if only she could have enough money to +spend. +</p> +<p> +The composer was in sad straits for a while, but fortunately a way opened +by means of which he could be free. Count Morzin, where he had conducted +the orchestra, was obliged to reduce his establishment and dismissed his +band and its director. As soon as this was known, the reigning Prince +of Hungary, Paul Anton Esterházy offered Haydn the post of assistant +Capellmeister at his country seat of Eisenstadt. The head Capellmeister, +Werner, was old, but the Prince kept him on account of his long service. +Haydn, however, was to have entire control of the orchestra, and also of +most of the musical arrangements. +</p> +<p> +Haydn was blissfully happy over the realization of his highest hopes. In +his wildest dreams he had never imagined such magnificence as he found +at the palace of Eisenstadt. The great buildings, troops of servants, the +wonderful parks and gardens, with their flowers, lakes and fountains almost +made him believe he was in fairyland. Of course there would be some hard +work, though it would not seem hard amid such fascinating surroundings and +there would be plenty of leisure for his own creative activities. Best of +all his wife could not be with him. +</p> +<p> +Prince Paul Anton passed away after a year and his brother Nikolaus +succeeded him. He advanced Haydn still further, and increased his salary. +Werner, the old Capellmeister, died in 1766, and Haydn succeeded to the +full title. This was the father's dream for his boy Josef, and it had been +abundantly realized. His mother had passed away, but his father was living, +and had come, on one occasion, to Eisenstadt to see him. His brother +Michael who had now become Concertmeister in Salzburg, spent several happy +days with him also. +</p> +<p> +The summer residence of Prince Nikolaus at Esterházy had been rebuilt, +enlarged and was more magnificent than Eisenstadt. The music was more +elaborate. The Prince was so fond of the life there that he postponed his +return to town till late in the autumn. +</p> +<p> +In order to give him a hint through music, Haydn composed what he called +the "Farewell Symphony," in which, toward the close each pair of players in +turn rose, extinguished their candles and passed out, until only the first +violinist remained. He last of all blew out his light and left, while Haydn +prepared to follow. The Prince at last understood, and treating the whole +as a joke, gave orders for the departure of the household. +</p> +<p> +In 1790 Haydn lost the master to whom he was so devotedly attached. He +received a pension of a thousand florins on condition that he would retain +his post. But Prince Anton, who succeeded his brother, cared nothing for +music; Haydn was not obliged to live at the palace and returned to Vienna. +Several attempts had already been made to induce him to visit London, but +he always had refused. Now there seemed to be no obstacle in the way. One +day a visitor called. "My name is Salomon; I have come from London to fetch +you; we will settle terms to-morrow." On the sail from Calais to Dover, +the composer first saw the sea and was reminded of his boyish efforts to +describe it in tones. +</p> +<p> +London welcomed Haydn warmly, for his fame had preceded him and his music +was familiar. The first concert was given March 11, 1790 at the Hanover +Square Rooms, and was a great success. This was followed by a series of +concerts, and at last a benefit for the composer on May 16, which was an +ovation and realized three hundred and fifty pounds. He heard the "Messiah" +for the first time and when, at the "Hallelujah Chorus," the audience +sprang to its feet, he burst into tears, exclaiming "He is the master of us all!" +</p> +<p> +At Oxford, in July, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music, +and three great concerts were given in his honor, with special performers +brought from London. In fact the whole visit to England had been such +a success that he repeated the trip in 1794, and received even greater +honors. His symphonies were heard on all London programs. He was the lion +of the season, and was frequently invited to Buckingham Palace to play for +the King and Queen, who always urged him to live in England. Haydn was now +sixty-five; he had composed quantities of music, but his greatest work, +"The Creation," was not yet written. While in London, Salomon had shown him +a poem founded on "Paradise Lost," written years before in the hope that +Handel would use it for an oratorio. Haydn decided to try his hand at +oratorio on this subject. As he went on, it grew to be a labor of love and +prayer. It was finished and performed in Vienna, March 19, 1799, and made a +profound impression. The composer at once began work on a second oratorio, +founded on Thompson's "Seasons." The desire for work was strong within, +but his health was failing. "'The Seasons' gave me my finishing stroke," he +often remarked to friends. +</p> +<p> +Haydn was acknowledged on every hand as the father of instrumental music. +He laid great stress on melody. "It is the air which is the charm of +music," he said, "and it is the air which is the most difficult to produce. +The invention of a fine melody is a work of genius." +</p> +<p> +Full of years and honors, respected and beloved, Father Haydn passed away. +As Vienna was at that time in the hands of the French, he was given a very +simple burial. In 1820 Prince Esterhazy had the remains reinterred in +the upper parish church at Eisenstadt, where a simple stone with Latin +inscription is placed in the wall above the vault to mark the spot. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_6"><!-- RULE4 6 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +VI<br> + <br> +WOLFGANG MOZART +</h3></div> + +<p> +The early December dusk was closing in over the quaint old city of +Salzburg. Up on the heights above the town the battlements of the great +castle caught a reflection of the last gleams of light in the sky. But the +narrow streets below were quite in shadow. +</p> +<p> +In one of the substantial looking houses on a principal thoroughfare, +called the Getreide Gasse, lights gleamed from windows on the third floor. +Within, all was arranged as if for some special occasion. The larger +room, with its three windows looking on the street, was immaculate in its +neatness. The brass candlesticks shone like gold, the mahogany table was +polished like a mirror, the simple furniture likewise. For today was Father +Mozart's birthday and the little household was to celebrate the event. +</p> +<p> +Mother Mozart had been busy all day putting everything in order while +Nannerl, the seven year old daughter, had been helping. Little Wolfgang, +now three years old, in his childish eagerness to be as busy as the others, +had only hindered, and had to be reprimanded once in a while. One could +never be vexed with the little elf, even if he turned somersaults in new +clean clothes, or made chalk figures all over the living-room chairs. He +never meant to do any harm, and was always so tenderhearted and lovable, it +was hard to scold him. +</p> +<p> +And this was the Father's birthday, about the most important of all the +family celebrations. Already the roast on the spit was nearing perfection, +while in the oven a fine cake was browning. +</p> +<p> +When all was ready and Leopold Mozart had received the good wishes of the +little household, baby Wolfgang was mounted on a footstool to recite a +poem, in honor of the occasion. When he had finished it he stood quietly +a moment then reaching out his tiny arms, clasped them tightly about his +father's neck, and said: +</p> +<p> +"Dear papa, I love you very, very much; after God, next comes my papa." +</p> +<p> +Leopold Mozart was a musician and held the post of Vice-Capellmeister. +Music was honored in this simple home, and when two of the Court musicians, +friends of Father Mozart, came in to join the festivities on this birthday +night, a toast was drunk to the honor of <i>Musica</i>, the divine goddess +of tones. +</p> +<p> +"I wonder if even a little of my own musical knowledge and love for the art +will overflow upon the two dear children," remarked Father Mozart, gazing +down tenderly on the little ones. +</p> +<p> +"Why not," answered the mother; "you long ago promised to begin lessons +with Nannerl; can she not start this very night?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, indeed, Papachen, may I not learn to play the piano? I promise to +work very hard." +</p> +<p> +"Very well," answered the father; "you shall see I am grateful for all +the love you have showed me tonight, and I will begin to teach Nannerl at +once." +</p> +<p> +"I want to learn music too," broke in little Wolfgang, looking at his +father with beaming eyes. +</p> +<p> +Every one laughed at this, while the father said baby Wolfgang would have +to grow some inches before he could reach the keys. +</p> +<p> +The lesson began, and the little girl showed both quickness and patience to +grasp the ideas. No one at first noticed the tiny child who planted himself +at his sister's elbow, the light of the candles falling on his delicate, +sensitive features and bright brown hair. His glance never left Nannerl's +fingers as they felt hesitatingly among the white and black keys, while his +ear easily understood the intervals she tried to play. +</p> +<p> +When the little girl left the piano, or the harpsichord, as it was called +in those days, Wolfgang slipped into her place and began to repeat with +his tiny fingers what his father had taught her. He sought the different +intervals, and when at last he found them, his little face beamed with joy. +In a short time he was able to play all the simple exercises that had been +given his sister. +</p> +<p> +The parents listened to their wonder-child with ever increasing +astonishment, mingled with tears of emotion. It was plain to be seen that +Wolfgang must have lessons as well as Nannerl. And what joy it would be to +teach them both. +</p> +<p> +It was a happy household that retired that night. Nannerl was happy +because she at last had the chance to take piano lessons. Wolfgang, little +"Starbeam," dreamed of the wonderful Goddess of Music, who carried him away +to fairyland which was filled with beautiful music. The parents were filled +with joy that heaven had granted them such blessings in their children. +</p> +<p> +The musical progress of the children was quite remarkable. Marianne, which +was Nannerl's real name, soon began to play very well indeed, while little +Wolfgang hardly had to be told anything in music, for he seemed to know it +already. The father would write Minuets for the little girl to study; her +tiny brother would learn them in half an hour. Soon Wolfgang was able to +compose his own Minuets. Several have come down to us which he wrote when +he was five years old; and they are quite perfect in form and style. +</p> +<p> +One day Father Mozart brought home Schachtner, the Court trumpeter, to +dinner. Coming suddenly into the living-room, they found the tiny elf +busily writing at his father's desk. +</p> +<p> +"Whatever are you doing, Wolferl?" cried his father, gazing at the ink +stained fingers of his little son and then at the paper covered with blots. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Papa, a piano sonata, but it isn't finished yet." +</p> +<p> +"Never mind that," said Leopold Mozart, "let us see it, it must be +something very fine." Taking up the paper the father and his friend looked +at it curiously. The sheets were bedaubed with ink stains that almost +concealed the notes. For the child had thrust his pen each time to the +bottom of the ink well, so that frequent blots on the paper were the +result. These did not trouble him in the least, for he merely rubbed his +hand over the offending blot and proceeded with his writing. +</p> +<p> +At first the two friends laughed heartily to see how the little composer +had written the notes over smudges, but soon the father's eyes filled with +happy tears. +</p> +<p> +"Look, my dear Schachtner!" he cried. "See how correct and orderly it all +is, all written according to rule. Only one could never play it for it +seems to be too difficult." +</p> +<p> +"But it's a sonata, Papa, and one must practice it first, of course, but +this is the way it should go." +</p> +<p> +He sprang to the piano and began to play. The small fingers could not +master the more intricate parts, but gave sufficient idea of how he +intended the piece to sound. +</p> +<p> +They stood in speechless astonishment at this proof of the child's powers; +then Leopold Mozart caught up the little composer and kissing him cried, +"My Wolfgang, you will become a great musician." +</p> +<p> +Wolfgang, not content with merely learning the piano, begged to study +the violin also. His violin lessons had hardly begun when one evening his +father and two friends were about to play a set of six trios, composed +by Wentzl, one of the players. Wolfgang begged to be allowed to play the +second violin. Needless to say his request was refused. At last he was told +he might sit next to Schachtner and make believe play, though he must make +no sound. +</p> +<p> +The playing began, when before long it was seen the boy was actually +playing the second violin part and doing it correctly. The second violin +ceased bowing in amazement and allowed Wolfgang to go on alone. After +this he was permitted to play all the second violin part of the whole six +pieces. Emboldened by this success, he volunteered to attempt the first +violin part, an offer which was greeted with laughter; but nothing daunted, +he took up his violin and began. There were mistakes here and there, of +course, but he persisted to the end, to the astonishment of all. +</p> +<p> +Three years had passed swiftly by since little Wolfgang Mozart began +to study music the night of his father's fortieth birthday. He had made +marvelous progress and already the fame of his powers had passed beyond the +narrow limits of his native town. Leopold Mozart had no means other than +the salary which he received from the Court. His children's musical gifts +induced the father to turn them to advantage, both to supply the family +needs and to provide the children a broad education in music. He determined +to travel with the children. A first experiment in January, 1762, had +proved so successful that the following September they set out for Vienna. +Wolfgang was now six years old and Marianne eleven. +</p> +<p> +At Linz they gave a successful concert and every one was delighted with the +playing of the children. From here they continued their journey as far as +the monastery of Ips, where they expected to stay for the night. It had +been a wonderful day, spent in sailing down the majestic Danube, till they +reached the grey old building with its battlemented walls. Soon after they +arrived, Father Mozart took Wolfgang into the chapel to see the organ. +</p> +<p> +The child gazed with awe at the great pipes, the keyboard and the pedals. +He begged his father to explain their working, and then as the father +filled the great bellows the tiny organist pushed aside the organ bench, +stood upon the pedals and trod them, as though he had always known how. The +monks in the monastery hastened to the chapel, holding their breath as one +pointed to the figure of a tiny child in the organ loft. Was it possible, +they asked themselves, that a child could produce such beautiful music? +They remained rooted to the spot, till Wolfgang happened to see them and +crept meekly down from his perch. +</p> +<p> +All the rest of the journey to Vienna, Wolfgang was the life of the +party, eager to know the name and history of everything they met. At the +custom-house on the frontier, he made friends with the officials by playing +for them on his violin, and thus secured an easy pass for the party. +</p> +<p> +Arrived at Vienna, Leopold Mozart found the fame of the children's playing +had preceded them. A kind and gracious welcome awaited the little party +when they went to the palace of Schönbrunn. The Emperor Franz Josef took to +Wolfgang at once, was delighted with his playing and called him his "little +magician." The boy's powers were tested by being required to read difficult +pieces at sight, and playing with one finger, as the Emperor jestingly +asked him to do. Next, the keyboard was covered with a cloth, as a final +test, but little Wolfgang played as finely as before, to the great delight +of the company who applauded heartily. The little magician was so pleased +with the kindness of both the Emperor and Empress that he returned it in +his own childish way, by climbing into the lap of the Empress and giving +her a hug and a kiss, just as though she were his own mother. He was also +greatly attracted by the little Princess Marie Antoinette, a beautiful +child of about his own age, with long fair curls and laughing blue eyes. +The two struck up an immediate friendship. +</p> +<p> +After the favor shown them at Court, the gifted children became the rage +in Vienna society. Invitations poured in from every side, and many gifts. +Those bestowed by the royal family were perhaps the most valued. Wolfgang's +present was a violet colored suit, trimmed with broad gold braid, while +Nannerl received a pretty white silk dress. Each of the children also +received a beautiful diamond ring from the Emperor. A portrait of the boy +in his gala suit, which was painted at the time, is still preserved. +</p> +<p> +The following year the Mozarts took the children on a longer journey, this +time with Paris in view. They stopped at many towns and cities on the way. +At Frankfort the first performance was so successful that three more were +given. A newspaper of the time says "little Mozart is able to name all +notes played at a distance, whether single or in chords, whether played +on the piano, or any other instrument, bell, glass or clock." The father +offered as an additional attraction that Wolfgang would play with the +keyboard covered. +</p> +<p> +The family stayed five months in Paris; the children played before the +Court at Versailles, exciting surprise and enthusiasm there and wherever +they appeared. From Paris they traveled to London, in April, 1764. +</p> +<p> +Leopold Mozart's first care on reaching the great English metropolis was +to obtain an introduction at Court. King George III and the Queen were +very fond of music, and it was not long before an invitation came for the +children to attend at the Palace. The King showed the greatest interest in +Wolfgang, asking him to play at sight difficult pieces by Bach and Handel. +Then the boy, after accompanying the Queen in a song, selected the bass +part in a piece by Handel, and improvised a charming melody to it. The King +was so impressed that he wished him to play the organ, in the playing of +which Wolfgang won a further triumph. +</p> +<p> +The King's birthday was to be celebrated on June 4 and London was crowded +with people from all parts of the country. Leopold Mozart had chosen June +5 as the date for his first public concert. The hall was filled to +overflowing; one hundred guineas being taken in. Many of the assisting +performers would take no fee for their services, which added to the +father's gratitude and happiness. +</p> +<p> +Not long after this Leopold Mozart fell ill, and the little family moved +to Chelsea, for the quiet and good air. Later they were given another +reception at Court, where, after Wolfgang's wonderful performances, the +children won much applause by playing some piano duets composed by the +boy—a style of composition then quite new. +</p> +<p> +In July, 1765, the family left London and traveled in Holland, after which +came a second visit to Paris, where they added to their former triumphs, +in addition to playing in many towns on the way back. Finally the long tour +was brought to a close by the return to Salzburg in November, 1766. +</p> +<p> +At the period of musical history in which the gifted boy lived, a +musician's education was not complete unless he went to Italy, for this +country stood first as the home of music. Leopold Mozart had made a couple +of trips to Vienna with his children, the account of which need not detain +us here. He had decided that Wolfgang must go to Italy, and breathe in the +atmosphere of that land of song. And so in December, 1769, father and son +set out for the sunny south, with high hopes for success. +</p> +<p> +Mozart's happy nature was jubilant over the journey. He watched eagerly +the peasants as they danced on the vine-clad terraces, overlooking the deep +blue lakes,—or listened as they sang at their work in the sunny fields. He +gazed at the wonderful processions of priests through narrow streets of the +towns, but above all there was the grand music in the cathedrals. +</p> +<p> +The young musician had plenty of work to do, more than most boys of +thirteen. For, besides the concerts he had to give, he was set difficult +problems by the various professors who wished to test his powers. The fame +of his playing constantly spread, so the further he traveled into Italy +there were more demands to hear him. At Roveredo, where it was announced +he would play the organ in St. Thomas's Church, the crowd was so great +he could scarcely get to the organ-loft. The vast audience listened +spellbound, and then refused to disperse till they had caught a glimpse of +the boy player. At Verona he had another triumph; one of his symphonies was +performed, and his portrait was ordered to be painted. +</p> +<p> +When they reached Milan the Chief musician of the city subjected the boy to +severe tests, all of which he accomplished to the astonishment and delight +of everybody. It was at Bologna however, where he met the most flattering +reception. Here was the home of the famous Padre Martini, the aged composer +of church music. Father Martini was almost worshiped by the Italians; he +was a most lovable man and looked up to as a great composer. He had long +ago given up attending concerts, so that every one was astonished when +he was present in the brilliant audience gathered at Count Pallavicini's +mansion to listen to the boy's playing. Wolfgang did his best, for he +realized the importance of the event. Father Martini took the boy to his +heart at once, invited him to visit him as often as possible during his +stay, and gave him several fugue subjects to work out. These the boy +accomplished with ease, and the Padre declared he was perfectly satisfied +with his knowledge of composition. +</p> +<p> +The journey to Rome was now continued, and for Wolfgang it was a succession +of triumphs. At Florence he played before the Court of the Archduke +Leopold, and solved every problem put to him by the Court music director as +easily as though he were eating a bit of bread. +</p> +<p> +It was Holy Week when young Mozart and his father entered Rome, and the +city lay under the spell of the great festival of the year. They soon +joined the throngs that filled the vast temple of St. Peter's, to which all +turn during this solemn season. After attending a service and viewing the +treasures of the Cathedral, they turned their steps to the Sistine Chapel, +which contains the wonderful painting of the Last Judgment by Michael +Angelo. It was here that the celebrated Miserere by Allegri was performed. +Wolfgang had been looking forward to this moment all through the latter +part of his journey. His father had told him how jealously guarded this +music was; it could never be performed in any other place, and the singers +could never take their parts out of the chapel. He was intensely eager to +hear this work. And indeed it would be difficult to imagine anything more +beautiful and impressive than the singing of the Miserere, which means +"Have Mercy." It follows the solemn service called Tenebrae, (Darkness) +during which the six tall candles on the altar are extinguished one by +one,—till but one is left, which is removed to a space behind the altar. +Then in almost complete darkness the Miserere begins. A single voice is +heard singing the antiphon, or short introduction,—and then comes silence, +a silence so profound that the listener scarcely dares to breathe for fear +of disturbing it. At length the first sad notes of the supplication are +heard, like the softest wailing of an anguished spirit; they gradually gain +force till the whole building seems to throb with the thrilling intensity +of the music. +</p> +<p> +The young musician was profoundly moved; the father too was much affected +by the solemn service. Neither spoke as they left the chapel and sought +their lodgings. After they had retired the boy could not sleep; his +thoughts were filled with the wonderful music he had heard. He arose, lit +the lamp, and got out pens and music paper. He worked industriously the +long night through. When morning dawned the boy sat with his beautiful head +upon his folded arms, asleep, while before him on the table lay a score of +the Miserere of Allegri, entirely written from memory. +</p> +<p> +The next day, Good Friday, the Miserere was performed for the second time. +Wolfgang, the boy of fourteen, who had performed the wonderful feat of +writing this work out after one hearing, again attended the service, +keeping the score in his hat, and found his work was nearly perfect, +needing but a couple of trifling corrections. +</p> +<p> +The news of this startling feat gained for the young musician a cordial +welcome into the houses of the great in Rome; during their stay father and +son were fêted to their hearts' content. +</p> +<p> +At Naples, their next stopping place, Wolfgang played before a brilliant +company, and excited so much astonishment, that people declared his power +in playing came from a ring he wore on his finger. "He wears a charm," they +cried. Mozart smiled, took off the ring and played more brilliantly than +ever. Then the enthusiasm was redoubled. The Neapolitans showed them every +attention and honor. A carriage was provided for their use, and we have an +account of how they drove through the best streets, the father wearing a +maroon-colored coat with light blue facings, and Wolfgang in one of apple +green, with rose-colored facings and silver buttons. +</p> +<p> +It was indeed a wonderful tour which they made in Italy, though there is +not time to tell of many things that happened. On their return to Rome, +the Pope gave him the order of the Golden Spur, which made him Chevalier +de Mozart. Arriving at Bologna the young musician was made a member of the +Accademia Filharmonica. The test for this admission was setting an antiphon +in four parts. Wolfgang was locked in a room till the task should be +finished. To the astonishment of everybody he asked to be let out at the +end of half an hour,—having completed the work. +</p> +<p> +The travelers now proceeded to Milan, where Mozart was to work on his first +opera, for which he had received a commission. It was a great task for a +boy to accomplish and we find the young composer writing to his mother and +sister to pray for his success. The opera was called "Mitridate," and was +finished after three months' hard work. The first performance was given in +Milan, December 26, 1770, and was conducted by Wolfgang himself. It was a +proud, happy day for the father, indeed for the whole family. "Mitridate" +succeeded beyond their hopes; it was given twenty times before crowded +houses; and its success brought an election to the Accademia, and also a +commission to write a dramatic Serenata for an approaching royal wedding. +This work also was a great success. The Empress who had commissioned Mozart +to compose the work was so pleased, that besides the promised fee, she gave +the composer a gold watch with her portrait set in diamonds on the back. +</p> +<p> +Sunshine and success had followed the gifted boy through all his travels; +but now shadows and disappointments were to come, due to jealousy, intrigue +and indifference of those in power who might have helped him but failed +to recognize his genius. Shortly after the return of the father and son +to their home town of Salzburg, their protector and friend, the good +Archbishop of Salzburg, died. His successor was indifferent to art and held +in contempt those who followed it as a profession. He persistently refused +to appoint the young musician to any office worthy his talent or to +recognize his gifts in any way. While Mozart remained at home in Salzburg, +hoping his prospects would improve, he worked at composing with untiring +diligence. By the time he was twenty-one he had accumulated a mass of music +that embraced every branch of the art. He had a growing reputation as a +composer but no settled future. He had the post of concertmaster, it is +true, but the salary was but a trifle and he was often pressed for money. +Leopold therefore decided to undertake another professional tour with his +son. The Archbishop however prevented the father leaving Salzburg. So +the only course left open was to allow Wolfgang and his mother to travel +together. They set out on the morning of September 23, 1777. Wolfgang's +spirits rose as the town of Salzburg faded into the haze of that September +morning; the sense of freedom was exhilarating; he had escaped the place +associated in his mind with tyranny and oppression, to seek his fortune in +new and wider fields. +</p> +<p> +At Munich where they first halted, Wolfgang sought an engagement at the +Elector's Court. He had an audience at the Nymphenburg, a magnificent +palace on the outskirts of the city. The Elector said there was no vacancy; +he did not know but later it might be possible to make one, after Mozart +had been to Italy and had made a name for himself. With these words the +Elector turned away. Mozart stood as if stunned. To Italy, when he had +concertized there for about seven years, and had been showered with honors! +It was too much. He shook off the dust of Munich and he and his mother +went on to Mannheim. Here was a more congenial atmosphere. The Elector +maintained a fine orchestra, and with the conductor, Cannabich, Mozart +became great friends, giving music lessons to his daughter. But he could +not seem to secure a permanent appointment at Court, worthy his genius and +ability. Money became more scarce and the father and sister must make many +sacrifices at home to send money to maintain mother and son. With the best +of intentions Wolfgang failed to make his way except as a piano teacher. +The father had resorted to the same means of securing the extra sums +required, and wrote quite sharply to the son to bestir himself and get +something settled for the future. +</p> +<p> +For the young genius, Mannheim possessed a special attraction of which +the father knew nothing. Shortly after their arrival in the city, Wolfgang +became acquainted with the Weber family. The two oldest daughters, Aloysia, +fifteen, and Constanza, fourteen, were charming girls just budding into +womanhood. Aloysia had a sweet, pure voice, and was studying for the stage; +indeed she had already made her début in opera. It was not at all strange +that young Mozart, who often joined the family circle, should fall in love +with the girl's fair beauty and fresh voice, should write songs for her +and teach her to sing them as he wished. They were much together and their +early attraction fast ripened into love. Wolfgang formed a project for +helping the Webers, who were in rather straitened circumstances, by +undertaking a journey to Italy in company with Aloysia and her father; he +would write an opera in which Aloysia should appear as prima donna. Of this +brilliant plan he wrote his father, saying they could stop in Salzburg on +the way, when the father and Nannerl could meet the fair young singer, whom +they would be sure to love. +</p> +<p> +Leopold Mozart was distracted at news of this project. He at once wrote, +advising his son to go to Paris and try there to make a name and fame for +himself. The son dutifully yielded at once. With a heavy heart he prepared +to leave Mannheim, where he had spent such a happy winter, and his love +dream came to an end. It was a sad parting with the Weber household, for +they regarded Wolfgang as their greatest benefactor. +</p> +<p> +The hopes Leopold Mozart had built on Wolfgang's success in Paris were not +to be realized. The enthusiasm he had aroused as a child prodigy was not +awarded to the matured musician. Three months passed away in more or less +fruitless endeavor. Then the mother, who had been his constant companion in +these trials and travels, fell seriously ill. On July 3, 1778, she passed +away in her son's arms. +</p> +<p> +Mozart prepared to leave Paris at once, and his father was the more +willing, since the Archbishop of Salzburg offered Wolfgang the position +of Court organist, at a salary of 500 florins, with permission to absent +himself whenever he might be called upon to conduct his own operas. Leopold +urged Wolfgang's acceptance, as their joint income would amount to one +thousand florins a year—a sum that would enable them to pay their debts +and live in comparative comfort. +</p> +<p> +To Mozart the thought of settling down in Salzburg under the conditions +stated in his father's letter was distasteful, but he had not the heart +to withstand his father's appeal. He set out from Paris at once, promising +himself just one indulgence before entering the bondage which lay before +him, a visit to his friends the Webers at Mannheim. When he arrived there +he found they had gone to Munich to live. Therefore he pushed on to Munich. +The Weber family received him as warmly as of old, but in Aloysia's eyes +there was only a friendly greeting, nothing more. A few short months had +cooled her fickle attachment for the young composer. This discovery was a +bitter trial to Wolfgang and he returned to his Salzburg home saddened by +disappointed love and ambition. +</p> +<p> +Here in his old home he was cheered by a rapturous welcome; it was little +short of a triumph, this greeting and homage showered on him by father, +sister and friends. In their eyes his success was unshadowed by failure; to +them he was Mozart the great composer, the genius among musicians. He was +very grateful for these proofs of affection and esteem, but he had +still the same aversion to Salzburg and his Court duties. So it was with +new-kindled joy that he set out once more for Munich, in November, 1780, +to complete and produce the opera he had been commissioned to write for the +carnival the following year. +</p> +<p> +The new opera, "Idomeneo," fulfilled the high expectations his Munich +friends had formed of the composer's genius. Its reception at the +rehearsals proved success was certain, and the Elector who was present, +joined the performers in expressing his unqualified approval. At home +the progress of the work was followed with deepest interest. The first +performance of "Idomeneo" took place on January 29, 1781. Leopold and +Marianne journeyed to Munich to witness Wolfgang's triumph. It was a +proud, happy moment for all three; the enthusiastic acclaim which shook the +theater seemed to the old father, who watched with swimming eyes the sea of +waving hands around him, to set the seal of greatness on his son's career. +</p> +<p> +The Archbishop, under whom Mozart held the meager office we have spoken +of, grew more overbearing in his treatment; he was undoubtedly jealous that +great people of Vienna were so deferential to one of his servants, as he +chose to call him. At last the rupture came; after a stormy scene Mozart +was dismissed from his service, and was free. +</p> +<p> +Father Mozart was alarmed when he heard the news of the break, and +endeavored to induce Wolfgang to reconsider his decision and return to +Salzburg. But the son took a firm stand for his independence. "Do not ask +me to return to Salzburg," he wrote his father; "ask me anything but that." +</p> +<p> +And now came a time of struggling for Mozart. His small salary was cut off +and he had but one pupil. He had numerous friends, however, and soon his +fortunes began to mend. He was lodging with his old friends the Webers. +Aloysia, his former beloved, had married; Madame Weber and her two +unmarried daughters were now in Vienna and in reduced circumstances. +Mozart's latest opera, "The Elopement," had brought him fame both in Vienna +and Prague, and he had the patronage of many distinguished persons, as well +as that of Emperor Josef. +</p> +<p> +Mozart had now decided to make a home for himself, and chose as his bride +Constanza Weber, a younger sister of Aloysia, his first love. In spite of +Leopold Mozart's remonstrance, the young people were married August 16, +1782. +</p> +<p> +Constanza, though a devoted wife, was inexperienced in home keeping. The +young couple were soon involved in many financial troubles from which there +seemed no way out, except by means of some Court appointment. This +the Emperor in spite of his sincere interest in the composer, seemed +disinclined to give. +</p> +<p> +Mozart now thought seriously of a journey to London and Paris, but his +father's urgent appeal that he would wait and exercise patience, delayed +him. Meanwhile he carried out an ardent desire to pay a visit to his father +and sister in Salzburg, to present to them his bride. It was a very happy +visit, and later on, when Mozart and his wife were again settled in Vienna, +they welcomed the father on a return visit. Leopold found his son immersed +in work, and it gladdened his heart to see the appreciation in which his +playing and compositions were held. One happy evening they spent with Josef +Haydn who, after hearing some of Mozart's quartets played, took the father +aside, saying: "I declare before God, as a man of honor, that your son is +the greatest composer I know, either personally or by reputation. He has +taste, but more than that the most consummate knowledge of the art of +composition." +</p> +<p> +This happy time was to be the last meeting between father and son. Soon +after Leopold's return to Salzburg, he was stricken with illness, and +passed away May 28, 1787. The news reached the composer shortly after he +had achieved one of the greatest successes of his life. The performances of +his latest opera, "The Marriage of Figaro," had been hailed with delight +by enthusiastic crowds in Vienna and Prague; its songs were heard at every +street corner, and village ale house. "Never was anything more complete +than the triumph of Mozart and his 'Nozze di Figaro,'" wrote a singer +and friend.—"And for Mozart himself, I shall never forget his face when +lighted up with the glowing rays of genius; it is as impossible to describe +as to paint sunbeams." +</p> +<p> +Despite the success of Figaro, Mozart was still a poor man, and must earn +his bread by giving music lessons. Finally the Emperor, hoping to keep +him in Germany, appointed him Chamber-composer at a salary of about eighty +pounds a year. It must have seemed to Mozart and his friends a beggarly sum +for the value his Majesty professed to set upon the composer's services to +art. "Too much for the little I am asked to produce, too little for what +I could produce," were the bitter words he penned on the official return +stating the amount of his salary. +</p> +<p> +Mozart was inclined to be somewhat extravagant in dress and household +expenditure, also very generous to any one who needed assistance. These +trials, added to the fact that his wife was frequently in ill health, +and not very economical, served to keep the family in continual straits. +Occasionally they were even without fire or food, though friends always +assisted such dire distress. Mozart's father had declared procrastination +was his son's besetting sin. Yet the son was a tireless worker, never idle. +In September, 1787, he was at Prague, writing the score of his greatest +opera, "Don Giovanni"; the time was short, as the work was to be produced +October 29. On the evening of the 28th it was found he had not yet written +the overture. It only had to be written down, for this wonderful genius had +the music quite complete in his head. He set to work, while his wife +read fairy tales aloud to keep him awake, and gave him strong punch at +intervals. By seven o'clock next morning the score was ready for the +copyist. It was played in the evening without rehearsal, with the ink +scarcely dry on the paper. +</p> +<p> +Even the successes of "Don Giovanni," which was received with thunders of +applause, failed to remedy his desperate financial straits. Shortly after +this his pupil and patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, proposed he should +accompany him to Berlin. Mozart gladly consented, hoping for some +betterment to his fortunes. The King of Prussia received him with honor +and respect and offered him the post of Capellmeister, at a salary equal +to about three thousand dollars. This sum would have liberated him from all +his financial embarrassments, and he was strongly tempted to accept. But +loyalty to his good Emperor Josef caused him to decline the offer. +</p> +<p> +The month of July, 1791, found Mozart at home in Vienna at work on a magic +opera to help his friend Salieri, who had taken a little theater in the +suburb of Wieden. One day he was visited by a stranger, a tall man, who +said he came to commission Mozart to compose a Requiem. He would neither +give his own name nor that of the person who had sent him. +</p> +<p> +Mozart was somewhat depressed by this mysterious commission; however he set +to work on the Requiem at once. The composing of both this and the fairy +opera was suddenly interrupted by a pressing request that he would write +an opera for the coronation of Leopold II at Prague. The ceremony was fixed +for September 6, so no time was to be lost. Mozart set out at once for +Prague. The traveling carriage was at the door. As he was about to enter +it, the mysterious stranger suddenly appeared and enquired for the Requiem. +The composer could only promise to finish on his return, when hastily +entering his carriage, he drove away. +</p> +<p> +The new opera, "La Clemenza di Tito," was finished in time and performed, +but was received somewhat indifferently. Mozart returned to Vienna with +spirits depressed and body exhausted by overwork. However, he braced +himself anew, and on September 30th, the new fairy opera, the "Magic +Flute," was produced, and its success increased with each performance. +</p> +<p> +The Requiem was not yet finished and to this work Mozart now turned. But +the strain and excitement he had undergone for the past few months had done +their work: a succession of fainting spells overcame him, and the marvelous +powers which had always been his seemed no longer at his command. He feared +he would not live to complete the work. "It is for myself I am writing the +Requiem," he said sadly to Constanza, one day. +</p> +<p> +On the evening of December 4, friends who had gathered at his bedside, +handed him, at his desire, the score of the Requiem, and, propped up by +pillows he tried to sing one of the passages. The effort was too great; the +manuscript slipped from his nerveless hand and he fell back speechless with +emotion. A few hours later, on the morning of December 5, 1791, this great +master of whom it was prophesied that he would cause all others to +be forgotten, passed from the scene of his many struggles and greater +triumphs. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_7"><!-- RULE4 7 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +VII<br> + <br> +LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN +</h3><br> +<img src="images/gmm008.jpg" alt="Ludwig Van Beethoven" width="445" height="592" border="0"> +</div> + +<p> +The Shakespeare of the realm of music, as he has been called, first saw the +light on December 16, 1770, in the little University town of Bonn, on the +Rhine. His father, Johann Beethoven, belonged to the court band of the +Elector of Cologne. The family were extremely poor. The little room, where +the future great master was born, was so low, that a good-sized man could +barely stand upright in it. Very small it was too, and not very light +either, as it was at the back of the building and looked out on a walled +garden. +</p> +<p> +The fame of young Mozart, who was acclaimed everywhere as a marvelous +prodigy, had naturally reached the father's ears. He decided to train the +little Ludwig as a pianist, so that he should also be hailed as a prodigy +and win fame and best of all money for the poverty-stricken family. So +the tiny child was made to practice scales and finger exercises for +hours together. He was a musically gifted child, but how he hated those +everlasting tasks of finger technic, when he longed to join his little +companions, who could run and play in the sunshine. If he stopped his +practice to rest and dream a bit, the stern face of his father would appear +at the doorway, and a harsh voice would call out, "Ludwig! what are you +doing? Go on with your exercises at once. There will be no soup for you +till they are finished." +</p> +<p> +The father, though harsh and stern, wished his boy to have as thorough a +knowledge of music as his means would permit. The boy was also sent to the +public school, where he picked up reading and writing, but did not make +friends very quickly with the other children. The fact was the child +seemed wholly absorbed in music; of music he dreamed constantly; in the +companionship of music he never could be lonely. +</p> +<p> +When Ludwig was nine his father, regarding him with satisfaction and some +pride, declared he could teach him no more—and another master must be +found. Those childhood years of hard toil had resulted in remarkable +progress, even with the sort of teaching he had received. The circumstances +of the family had not improved, for poverty had become acute, as the father +became more and more addicted to drink. Just at this time, a new lodger +appeared, who was something of a musician, and arranged to teach the boy +in part payment for his room. Ludwig wondered if he would turn out to be a +more severe taskmaster than his father had been. The times and seasons when +his instruction was given were at least unusual. Tobias Pfeiffer, as the +new lodger was called, soon discovered that father Beethoven generally +spent his evenings at the tavern. As an act of kindness, to keep his +drunken landlord out of the way of the police, Tobias used to go to the +tavern late at night and bring him safely home. Then he would go to the +bedside of the sleeping boy, and awake him by telling him it was time +for practice. The two would go to the living room, where they would play +together for several hours, improvising on original themes and playing +duets. This went on for about a year; meanwhile Ludwig studied Latin, +French, Italian and logic. He also had organ lessons. +</p> +<p> +Things were going from bad to worse in the Beethoven home, and in the hope +of bettering these unhappy conditions, Frau Beethoven undertook a trip +through Holland with her boy, hoping that his playing in the homes of +the wealthy might produce some money. The tour was successful in that +it relieved the pressing necessities of the moment, but the sturdy, +independent spirit of the boy showed itself even then. "The Dutch are very +stingy, and I shall take care not to trouble them again," he remarked to a +friend. +</p> +<p> +The boy Ludwig could play the organ fairly well, as he had studied it with +Christian Neefe, who was organist at the Court church. He also could play +the piano with force and finish, read well at sight and knew nearly the +whole of Bach's "Well Tempered Clavichord." This was a pretty good record +for a boy of 11, who, if he went on as he had begun, it was said, would +become a second Mozart. +</p> +<p> +Neefe was ordered to proceed with the Elector and Court to Münster, which +meant to leave his organ in Bonn for a time. Before starting he called +Ludwig to him and told him of his intended absence. "I must have an +assistant to take my place at the organ here. Whom do you think I should +appoint?" Seeing the boy had no inkling of his meaning, he continued: "I +have thought of an assistant, one I am sure I can trust,—and that is you, +Ludwig." +</p> +<p> +The honor was great, for a boy of eleven and a half. To conduct the +service, and receive the respect and deference due the position, quite +overwhelmed the lad. Honors of this kind were very pleasant, but, alas, +there was no money attached to the position, and this was what the +straitened family needed most sorely. The responsibilities of the position +and the confidence of Neefe spurred Ludwig on to a passion of work which +nothing could check. He began to compose; three sonatas for the pianoforte +were written about this time. Before completing his thirteenth year, Ludwig +obtained his first official appointment from the Elector; he became what +is called cembalist in the orchestra, which meant that he had to play +the piano in the orchestra, and conduct the band at rehearsals. With this +appointment there was no salary attached either, and it was not until a +year later when he was made second organist to the Court, under the new +Elector, Max Franz, that he began to receive a small salary, equal to about +sixty-five dollars a year. We have seen that the straits of the family had +not prevented Ludwig from pursuing his musical studies with great ardor. +With his present attainments and his ambition for higher achievements, he +longed to leave the little town of Bonn, and see something of the great +world. Vienna was the center of the musical life of Germany; the boy +dreamed of this magical city by day as he went about his routine of work, +and by night as he lay on his poor narrow cot. Like Haydn, Vienna was the +goal of his ambition. When a kind friend, knowing his great longing, came +forward with an offer to pay the expenses of the journey, the lad knew his +dream was to become a reality. In Vienna he would see the first composers +of the day; best of all he would see and meet the divine Mozart, the +greatest of them all. +</p> +<p> +Ludwig, now seventeen, set out for the city of his dreams with the +brightest anticipations. On his arrival in Vienna he went at once to +Mozart's house. He was received most kindly and asked to play, but Mozart +seemed preoccupied and paid but little attention. Ludwig, seeing this +stopped playing and asked for a theme on which to improvise. Mozart gave a +simple theme, and Beethoven, taking the slender thread, worked it up with +so much feeling and power, that Mozart, who was now all attention and +astonishment, stepped into the next room, where some friends were waiting +for him, and said, "Pay attention to this young man; he will make a noise +in the world some day." +</p> +<p> +Shortly after his return home he was saddened by the loss of his good, +kind, patient mother, and a few months later his little sister Margaretha +passed away. No doubt these sorrows were expressed in some of his most +beautiful compositions. But brighter days followed the dark ones. He became +acquainted with the Breuning family, a widow lady and four children, three +boys and a girl, all young people. The youngest boy and the girl became +his pupils, and all were very fond of him. He would stay at their house +for days at a time and was always treated as one of the family. They were +cultured people, and in their society Beethoven's whole nature expanded. +He began to take an interest in the literature of his own country and +in English authors as well. All his spare time was given to reading and +composition. A valuable acquaintance with the young Count Von Waldstein was +made about this time. The Count called one day and found the composer at +his old worn out piano, surrounded by signs of abject poverty. It went +to his heart to see that the young man, whose music he so greatly admired +should have to struggle for the bare necessities of life while he himself +enjoyed every luxury. It seemed to him terribly unjust. He feared to offend +the composer's self-respect by sending him money, but shortly after the +call Beethoven was made happy by the gift of a fine new piano, in place of +his old one. He was very grateful for this friendship and later dedicated +to the Count one of his finest sonatas, the Op. 53, known as the "Waldstein +Sonata." +</p> +<p> +With a view of aiding the growth of the opera, and operatic art, the +Elector founded a national theater, and Beethoven was appointed viola +player in the orchestra besides still being assistant organist in the +chapel. In July, 1792, the band arranged a reception for Haydn, who was +to pass through Bonn on his way from London, where he had had a wonderful +success, to his home in Vienna. Beethoven seized the opportunity to show +the master a cantata he had just composed. Haydn praised the work and +greatly encouraged the young musician to go forward in his studies. The +Elector, hearing of Haydn's words of praise, felt that Beethoven should +have the chance to develop his talents that he might be able to produce +greater works. Therefore he decided to send the young composer, at his own +expense, to study strict counterpoint with Haydn. He was now twenty-two and +his compositions already published had brought him considerable fame and +appreciation in his vicinity. Now he was to have wider scope for his gifts. +</p> +<p> +He bade farewell to Bonn in November of this year and set out a second +time for the city of his dreams—Vienna. He was never to see Bonn again. +He arrived in Vienna comparatively unknown, but his fine piano playing +and wonderful gift for improvising greatly impressed all who heard him. He +constantly played in the homes of the wealthy aristocracy. Many who heard +him play, engaged lessons and he was well on the road to social success. +Yet his brusque manners often antagonized his patrons. He made no effort +to please or conciliate; he was obstinate and self-willed. In spite of all +this, the innate nobleness and truth of his character retained the regard +of men and women belonging to the highest ranks of society. With the Prince +and Princess Lichnowsky Beethoven shortly became very intimate, and was +invited to stay at the Palace. The Princess looked after his personal +comfort with as motherly an affection as Madame Breuning had done. The +etiquette of the Palace however, offended Ludwig's love of Bohemianism, +especially the dressing for dinner at a certain time. He took to dining at +a tavern quite frequently, and finally engaged lodgings. The Prince and his +good lady, far from taking offense at this unmannerly behavior, forgave it +and always kept for Beethoven a warm place in their hearts, while he, on +his part was sincere in his affection for his kind friends. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven began his lessons with Haydn, but they did not seem to get on +well together. The pupil thought the master did not give him enough time +and attention. When Haydn went to England, about a year after the lessons +began, Beethoven studied with several of the best musicians of the city, +both in playing and composition. Albrechtsberger, one of these, was a +famous contrapuntist of his time, and the student gained much from his +teaching. The young musician was irresistible when he seated himself at the +piano to extemporize. "His improvisating was most brilliant and striking," +wrote Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven. "In whatever company he might be, +he knew how to produce such an effect upon the listeners that frequently +all eyes would be wet, and some listeners would sob; there was something +wonderful in his expressive style, the beauty and originality of his ideas +and his spirited way of playing." Strange to say the emotion he roused +in his hearers seemed to find no response in Beethoven himself. He would +sometimes laugh at it, at other times he would resent it, saying, "We +artists don't want tears, we want applause." These expressions however +only concealed his inner feelings—for he was very sympathetic with those +friends he loved. His anger, though sharp, was of short duration, but his +suspicions of those whose confidence he had won by his genius and force of +character, were the cause of much suffering to himself and others. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven in appearance was short and stockily built; his face was not +at all good looking. It is said he was generally meanly dressed and was +homely, but full of nobility, fine feeling and highly cultivated. The eyes +were black and bright, and they dilated, when the composer was lost +in thought, in a way that made him look inspired. A mass of dark hair +surmounted a high broad forehead. He often looked gloomy, but when he +smiled it was with a radiant brightness. His hands were strong and the +fingers short and pressed out with much practise. He was very particular +about hand position when playing. As a conductor he made many movements, +and is said to have crouched below the desk in soft passages; in Crescendos +he would gradually lift himself up until at the loudest parts he would +rise to his full height with arms extended, even springing into the air, as +though he would float in space. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven as a teacher, showed none of the impatience and carelessness +that were seen in his personal habits. He insisted on a pupil repeating +the passage carefully a number of times, until it could be played to his +satisfaction. He did not seem to mind a few wrong notes, but the pupil must +not fail to grasp the meaning or put in the right expression, or his anger +would be aroused. The first was an accident, the other would be a lack of +knowledge of feeling. +</p> +<p> +Beethoven loved nature as much or more than any musician ever did. How he +hailed the spring because he knew the time would soon come when he could +close the door of his lodgings in the hot city, and slip away to some quiet +spot and hold sweet communion with nature. A forest was a paradise, where +he could ramble among the trees and dream. Or he would select a tree where +a forking branch would form a seat near the ground. He would climb up and +sit in it for hours, lost in thought. Leaning against the trunk of a lime +tree, his eyes fixed upon the network of leaves and branches above him, he +sketched the plan of his oratorio "The Mount of Olives"; also that of his +one opera "Fidelio," and the third Symphony, known as the "Eroica." He +wrote to a friend, "No man loves the country more than I. Woods, trees and +rocks give the response which man requires. Every tree seems to say 'Holy, +holy.'" +</p> +<p> +Already, as a young man, symptoms of deafness began to appear, and the fear +of becoming a victim of this malady made the composer more sensitive than +ever. He was not yet thirty when this happened, and believing his life work +at an end, he became deeply depressed. Various treatments were tried for +increasing deafness; at one time it seemed to be cured by the skill of Dr. +Schmidt, to whom out of gratitude he dedicated his Septet, arranged as a +Trio. By his advice the composer went for the summer of 1820 to the little +village of Heiligenstadt (which means Holy City) in the hope that the calm, +sweet environment would act as a balm to his troubled mind. During this +period of rest and quiet his health improved somewhat, but from now on he +had to give up conducting his works, on account of his deafness. +</p> +<p> +It may be thought that one so reticent and retiring, of such hasty temper +and brusque manners, would scarcely be attracted to women. But Beethoven, +it is said, was very susceptible to the charm of the opposite sex. He was +however, most careful and high-souled in all his relations with women. He +was frequently in love, but it was usually a Platonic affection. For the +Countess Julie Guicciardi he protested the most passionate love, which was +in a measure returned. She was doubtless his "immortal beloved," whose name +vibrates through the Adagio of the "Moonlight Sonata," which is dedicated +to her. He wrote her the most adoring letters; but the union, which he +seemed to desire so intensely, was never brought about, though the reason +is not known. For Bettina von Arnim, Goethe's little friend, he conceived a +tender affection. Another love of his was for the Countess Marie Erdödy, +to whom he dedicated the two fine Trios, Op. 70, but this was also a purely +Platonic affection. The composer was unfortunate in his attachments, for +the objects were always of a much higher social standing than himself. As +he constantly associated with people of rank and culture, it was natural +that the young girl nobly born, with all the fascinations of the high bred +aristocrat, should attract him far more than the ordinary woman of his own +class. And thus it happened that several times he staked his chances of +happiness on a love he knew could never be consummated. Yet no one needed a +kind, helpful, sympathetic wife more than did our poet-musician. She would +have soothed his sensitive soul when he suffered from fancied wrongs, +shielded him from intrusion, shared his sorrows and triumphs, and attended +to his house-keeping arrangements, which were always in a sad state of +confusion. This blissful state was seemingly not for him. It was best for +the great genius to devote himself wholly to his divine art, and to create +those masterpieces which will always endure. +</p> +<p> +In 1804 Beethoven completed one of his greatest symphonies, the "Eroica." +He made a sketch, as we have seen, two years before. He had intended it to +honor Napoleon, to whose character and career he was greatly attracted. +But when Napoleon entered Paris in triumph and was proclaimed Emperor, +Beethoven's worship was turned to contempt. He seized the symphony, tore +the little page to shreds and flung the work to the other end of the room. +It was a long time before he would look at the music again, but finally, he +consented to publish it under the title by which it is now known. +</p> +<p> +When we consider the number and greatness of Beethoven's compositions we +stand aghast at the amount of labor he accomplished. "I live only in my +music," he wrote, "and no sooner is one thing done than the next is begun. +I often work at two or three things at once." Music was his language of +expression, and through his music we can reach his heart and know the man +as he really was. At heart he was a man capable of loving deeply and most +worthy to be loved. +</p> +<p> +Of the composer's two brothers, one had passed away and had left his boy +Carl, named after himself, as a solemn charge, to be brought up by Uncle +Ludwig as his own son. The composer took up this task generously and +unselfishly. He was happy to have the little lad near him, one of his own +kin to love. But as Carl grew to young manhood he proved to be utterly +unworthy of all this affection. He treated his good uncle shamefully, stole +money from him, though he had been always generously supplied with it, +and became a disgrace to the family. There is no doubt that his nephew's +dissolute habits saddened the master's life, estranged him from his friends +and hastened his death. +</p> +<p> +How simple and modest was this great master, in face of his mighty +achievements! He wrote to a friend in 1824: "I feel as if I had scarcely +written more than a few notes." These later years had been more than full +of work and anxiety. Totally deaf, entirely thrown in upon himself, often +weak and ill, the master kept on creating work after work of the highest +beauty and grandeur. +</p> +<p> +Ludwig van Beethoven passed from this plane March 26, 1827, having recently +completed his fifty-sixth year, and was laid to rest in the Währing +Cemetery near Vienna. Unlike Mozart, he was buried with much honor. Twenty +thousand people followed him to his grave. Among them was Schubert, who had +visited him on his deathbed, and was one of the torch bearers. Several of +the Master's compositions were sung by a choir of male voices, accompanied +by trombones. At the grave Hummel laid three laurel wreaths on the casket. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_8"><!-- RULE4 8 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +VIII<br> + <br> +CARL MARIA VON WEBER +</h3></div> + +<p> +As we have already seen in the life stories of a number of musicians, the +career they were to follow was often decided by the father, who determined +to form them into wonder children, either for monetary gain or for the +honor and glory of the family. The subject of this story is an example of +such a preconceived plan. +</p> +<p> +Franz Anton von Weber, who was a capable musician himself, had always +cherished the desire to give a wonder child to the world. In his idea +wonder children need not be born such, they could be made by the proper +care and training. He had been a wealthy man, but at the time of our story, +was in reduced circumstances, and was traveling about Saxony at the head of +a troupe of theatrical folk, called "Weber's Company of Comedians." +</p> +<p> +Little Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst, to give his full name, was born December +18, 1786, at Eutin, a little town in Lower Saxony. He was the first child +of a second marriage, and before the baby boy could speak, his career had +been planned; the father had made up his mind to develop his son into an +extraordinary musical genius. It is not recorded what his young mother, a +delicate girl of seventeen, thought about it; probably her ideas for +her baby son did not enter into the father's plan. Mother and child were +obliged to follow in the train of the wandering comedians, so baby Carl was +brought up amid the properties of stage business. Scenery, canvas, paints +and stage lights were the materials upon which Carl's imagination was fed. +He learned stage language with his earliest breath; it is no wonder he +turned to writing for the stage as to the manner born. +</p> +<p> +As a child he was neither robust nor even healthy, which is not surprising, +since he was not allowed to run afield with other children, enjoying the +sweet air of nature, the flowers, the sunshine and blue sky. No, he must +stay indoors much of the time and find his playmates among cardboard +castles and painted canvas streets. This treatment was not conducive to +rosy cheeks and strong, sturdy little legs. Then, before the delicate child +was six years old, a violin was put into his hand, and if his progress on +it was thought to be too slow by his impatient father, he was treated to +raps and blows by way of incentive to work yet harder. His teachers, too, +were continually changing, as the comedians had to travel about from place +to place. After awhile he was taken in hand by Michael Haydn, a brother +of the great Josef. Michael was a famous musician himself and seldom gave +lessons to any one. But he was interested in Carl and took charge of his +musical education for some time. +</p> +<p> +It was not long before Carl Maria's genius began definitely to show itself, +for he started to write for the lyric stage. Two comic operas appeared, +"The Dumb Girl of the Forest," and "Peter Schmoll and his Neighbors." They +were both performed, but neither made a hit. +</p> +<p> +When Carl was seventeen, the father decided he should go to Vienna, for +there he would meet all the great musicians of the time. The boy was at the +most impressionable age: he was lively, witty, with pleasant manners and +amiable disposition; he soon became a favorite in the highest musical +circles. It was a gay life and the inexperienced youth yielded to its +allurements. In the meantime he did some serious studying under the +famous Abbé Vogler. The following year the Abbé recommended him to the +conductorship of the Breslau Opera House. This was a very difficult post +for a boy of eighteen, and he encountered much jealousy and opposition +from the older musicians, who did not relish finding themselves under the +leadership of such a youth. A year served to disgust him with the work and +he resigned. During the year he had found time to compose most of his opera +"Rubezahl." +</p> +<p> +For the next few years there were many "ups and downs" in Carl's life. From +Breslau he went to Carlsruhe, and entered the service of Prince Eugene. +For about a year he was a brilliant figure at the Court. Then war clouds +gathered and the gay Court life came to an end. Music under the present +conditions could no longer support him, as the whole social state of +Germany had altered. The young composer was forced to earn his livelihood +in some way, and now became private secretary to Prince Ludwig of +Wurtemburg, whose Court was held at Stuttgart. The gay, dissolute life +at the Court was full of temptation for our young composer, yet he found +considerable time for composition; his opera "Sylvana" was the result, +besides several smaller things. During the Stuttgart period, his finances +became so low, that on one occasion he had to spend several days in prison +for debt. Determined to recruit his fortunes, he began traveling to other +towns to make known his art. In Mannheim, Darmstadt and Baden, he gave +concerts, bringing out in each place some of his newer pieces, and earning +enough at each concert to last a few weeks, when another concert would keep +the wolf from the door a little longer. +</p> +<p> +In 1810, when he was twenty-four, he finished his pretty opera "Abu +Hassan," which, on the suggestion of his venerable master, Vogler, he +dedicated to the Grand Duke. The Duke accepted the dedication with evident +pleasure, and sent Carl a purse of gold, in value about two hundred +dollars. The opera was performed on February 6, 1811, and its reception was +very gratifying to the composer. The Grand Duke took one hundred and twenty +tickets and the performance netted over two hundred florins clear profit. +It was after this that Carl Maria went on a tour of the principal German +cities and gave concerts in Munich, Prague, Berlin, Dresden and other +places. He was everywhere welcomed, his talents and charming manners +winning friends everywhere. Especially in Prague he found the highest and +noblest aristocracy ready to bid him welcome. +</p> +<p> +Weber paid a visit to Liebich, director of the Prague theater, almost as +soon as he arrived in town. The invalid director greeted him warmly. +</p> +<p> +"So, you are <i>the</i> Weber! I suppose you want me to buy your operas. +One fills an evening, the other doesn't. Very well, I will give fifteen +hundred florins for the two. Is it a bargain?" Weber accepted, and promised +to return the next spring to conduct the operas. He kept his promise, and +the result was much better than he ever dreamed. For beyond the performance +of his operas, he was offered the post of music director of the Prague +theater, which post was just then vacant. The salary was two thousand +florins, with a benefit concert at a guaranteed sum of one thousand more, +and three months leave of absence every year. This assured sum gave young +Weber the chance of paying his debts and starting afresh, which, he writes +"was a delight to him." +</p> +<p> +The composer now threw himself heart and soul into improving the orchestra +placed in his charge. Before long he had drilled it to a high state of +excellence. Many new operas were put on the stage in quick succession. +Thus Weber worked on with great industry for three years. The success he +achieved created enemies, and perhaps because of intrigues, envy and ill +feeling which had arisen, he resigned his post in 1816. The three years in +Prague had been fruitful in new compositions. Several fine piano sonatas, +a set of "National Songs," and the Cantata, "Kampf und Sieg," (Struggle and +Victory). This last work soon became known all over Germany and made the +gifted young composer very popular. During this period Weber became engaged +to Caroline Brandt, a charming singer, who created the title rôle in his +opera of "Sylvana." +</p> +<p> +Weber had many kind, influential friends in Prague, who admired his zeal +and efficiency as music director. One of them, Count Vitzhum, did all he +could to secure Weber for Dresden. On Christmas morning, 1816, he received +the appointment. He wrote to Caroline: "Long did I look on Count Vitzhum's +letter without daring to open it. Did it contain joy or sorrow? At length +I took courage and broke the seal. It was joy! I am Capellmeister to his +Majesty the King of Saxony. I must now rig myself out in true Court style. +Perhaps I ought to wear a pigtail to please the Dresdeners. What do you +say? I ought at least to have an extra kiss from you for this good news." +</p> +<p> +He went to Dresden, and at first looked over the situation. On nearer view +the prospect was not as bright as it had appeared at first. There was a +rival faction, strongly opposed to his plans for the promotion of German +opera. There had never been anything tolerated at Dresden but Italian +opera, and there were many talented Italian singers to interpret them. +Weber was encouraged by a new national spirit, which he felt would favor +German opera, and was determined to conquer at all costs. He finally +succeeded, for, as he wrote to a friend, "The Italians have moved heaven, +earth and hell also, to swallow up the whole German opera and its promoter. +But they have found in me a precious tough morsel; I am not easily +swallowed." It was the same kind of fight that Handel waged in England, and +that Gluck fought against the Piccinists. +</p> +<p> +"Joseph and his Brethren," by Mehul, was the first opera to be taken up by +the new conductor. He drilled the orchestra much more carefully than they +had been accustomed, and while, in the beginning, some were sulky at the +strictness they were subjected to, yet they finally saw the justice of it +and at last took pride in doing their work well. "Joseph" was brought out +January 30, 1817. The King and Court were present, and everything passed +off well, indeed remarkably well. His majesty was greatly pleased and did +not cough once during the whole performance, as he used to do when things +did not go to suit him. +</p> +<p> +In spite of Italian opposition which still continued, Weber's efforts +to establish German opera kept right on, until at last it became a State +institution, and the composer was appointed musical director for life. With +this bright prospect in view he was able to wed his beloved Caroline. They +were married on November 4. A quotation from his diary shows the talented +musician had become a serious, earnest man. "May God bless our union, and +grant me strength and power to make my beloved Lina as happy and contented +as my inmost heart would desire. May His mercy lead me in all things." +</p> +<p> +Weber was now entering the most prolific and brilliant period of his life. +His music became richer, more noble and beautiful. The happy union with +Caroline seemed to put new life and energy into him, and as a result his +works became quickly known all over Europe. His mind was literally teeming +with original themes, which crowded each other, struggling to be expressed. +First there was the "Mass in E flat," a beautiful, original work; then +a festal Cantata, "Nature and Love," written to celebrate the Queen of +Saxony's birthday. After this the "Jubilee Cantata," composed to celebrate +the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of Augustus, of Saxony. The Italian +faction prevented a performance of the whole work, and only the Overture +was given. When the entire work was heard it made a great sensation. Now +came a Jubilee Mass and some piano pieces, among them the charming and +famous "Invitation to the Dance," with which every one is familiar. While +writing all these works, the composer was busy with one of his greatest +operas, "Der Freischütz." On May 8, 1820, a hundred years ago, the score +of "Der Freischütz," was sent to the director of the Berlin theater, and +directly put in rehearsal. The rehearsals had not proceeded very far before +Weber, the tireless ceaseless worker, had finished his important opera, +"Preciosa," which was also despatched to Berlin. "Preciosa" was brought +out before "Der Freischütz," which was just as it should be, as the public +needed to be educated up to the "Freischütz" music. "Preciosa" was founded +on a Spanish story, "The Gypsy of Madrid," and Weber has written for +it some of his most charming melodies, full of Spanish color, life and +vivacity. Nowadays the opera is neglected, but we often hear the overture. +It is to be noted that the overtures to each of Weber's operas contain the +leading themes and melodies of the operas themselves, showing with what +skill the artist wrought. When Weber's widow presented the original score +of "Der Freischütz" to the Royal Library in Berlin, it was found there was +not a single erasure or correction in the whole work. +</p> +<p> +On June 18, 1821, came the first performance of Weber's masterpiece, "Der +Freischütz." The theater was beseiged for hours by eager crowds, and when +the doors were at last opened, there was a grand rush to enter. The whole +house from pit to galleries was soon filled, and when the composer entered +the orchestra, there was a roar of applause, which it seemed would never +end. As the performance proceeded, the listeners became more charmed and +carried away, and at the close there was a wild scene of excitement. The +success had been tremendous, and the frequent repetitions demanded soon +filled the treasury of the theater. Everybody was happy, the composer most +of all. The melodies were played on every piano in Germany and whistled +by every street urchin. Its fame spread like lightning over Europe, and +quickly reached England. In London the whole atmosphere seemed to vibrate +with its melodies. In Paris, however, it did not please on first hearing, +perhaps because it was so thoroughly German. But somewhat later, when +renamed "Robin des Bois,"—"Robin of the Forest,"—it was performed some +three hundred and fifty times before being withdrawn. +</p> +<p> +Weber kept ever at work. Two years after the production of "Der Freischütz" +the opera of "Euryanthe" was completed. The libretto was the work of a half +demented woman, Helmine von Chezy, but Weber set out to produce the best +opera he was capable of, and to this story he has joined some wonderful +music. It was his favorite work; he wrote to his beloved wife two hours +before the first performance: "I rely on God and my 'Euryanthe.'" The opera +was produced at the Kärnthnertor Theater, in Vienna, on October 25, 1823. +The composer, though weak and ill, made the long journey to the great city, +that he might personally introduce his favorite to the Viennese. He wrote +his wife after the performance: "Thank God, as I do, beloved wife, for the +glorious success of 'Euryanthe.' Weary as I am, I must still say a sweet good night +to my beloved Lina, and cry Victory! All the company seemed in a state of ecstasy; +singers, chorus, orchestra;—all were drunk, as it were, with joy." +</p> +<p> +The title rôle was taken by Henrietta Sontag, a young girl, still in her +teens, though giving high promise of the great things she achieved a few +years later. Strange to say, a short time after its first appearance, +"Euryanthe" failed to draw. One reason might have been laid to the +poor libretto, another to the rumor, started, it is said, by no less an +authority than the great master Beethoven, that the music of the opera was +"only a collection of diminished sevenths." +</p> +<p> +The composer lost no time in laying his score before Beethoven, who said he +should have visited him <i>before</i>, not <i>after</i> the performance. He +advised him to do what he himself had done to "Fidelio," cut out nearly a +third of the score. Weber took this advice, and remade parts of the opera, +where he deemed it necessary. +</p> +<p> +The strain of the production of "Euryanthe" told severely on the composer's +delicate health, and he returned to Dresden in an exhausted state. There +was no rest for him here, as official duties were pressing. The malady +afflicting his lungs had made rapid progress and he began to fear he should +not be long spared to his wife and little ones. +</p> +<p> +He shook off the apathy and took up his pen once more. His fame was known +all over Europe and many tempting offers came in from all directions. One +of these was from Covent Garden Theater, London, in the summer of 1824, +which resulted in a visit to the English capital. Charles Kemble, +the director of Covent Garden, desired Weber to write a new opera for +production there. "Oberon" was the subject at last decided upon; it was +taken from an old French romance. Weber at once set to work on the music of +this fairy opera, and with the exception of the overture, had finished the +work in time to bring it to London in 1826. He was ill and suffering at the +time he left home, February 7, and it seemed as though he were bidding a +final good-by to his wife and little ones. +</p> +<p> +Arrived in London, Sir George Smart invited him to take up his residence in +his house. Here he had every comfort, a beautiful piano too was placed at +his disposal by one of the first makers in London. "No King could be served +with greater love and affection in all things," he wrote; "I cannot be +sufficiently grateful to heaven for the blessings which surround me." Here +he composed the beautiful Overture to "Oberon" which was only completed a +few days before the first performance of the opera. +</p> +<p> +"Oberon" was given at Covent Garden on April 12. The house was packed from +pit to dome, and the success was tremendous. Next morning the composer was +in a highly nervous and exhausted state, but felt he must keep his promise +to Kemble and conduct the first twelve performances of "Oberon." He was to +have a benefit concert, and hoped through this to have a goodly sum to take +back to his little family. Sad to relate, on the evening chosen, May 26, a +heavy rain fell and the hall was nearly empty. After the concert he was +so weak he had to be assisted from the room. The physician ordered +postponement of the journey home, but he cried continually, "I must go to +my own—I must! Let me see them once more and then God's will be done." +</p> +<p> +The next morning, when they came to call him, all was still in his chamber; +he had passed away peacefully in sleep. +</p> +<p> +Weber was buried in London. His last wish—to return home,—was finally +fulfilled. Eighteen years after, his remains were brought to Dresden, and +the composer was at last at home. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_9"><!-- RULE4 9 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +IX<br> + <br> +FRANZ SCHUBERT +</h3></div> + +<p> +In the old Lichtenthal quarter of the city of Vienna, in the vicinity of +the fortifications, there still stands an old house. It is evidently a +public house, for there hangs the sign—"At the Red Crab." Beside this +there is a marble tablet fastened above the doorway, which says that Franz +Schubert was born in this house. At the right of his name is placed a lyre +crowned with a star, and at the left a laurel wreath within which is placed +the date, January 31, 1797. +</p> +<p> +This then was the birthplace of the "most poetical composer who ever +lived," as Liszt said of him; the man who created over six hundred songs, +eight symphonies, operas, masses, chamber works and much beautiful piano +music, and yet only lived to be thirty-one. It is almost unbelievable. Let +us get a nearer view of this remarkable musician. +</p> +<p> +His father kept a school here; there were five children, four boys and +a girl to provide for, and as there was nothing to depend on but +the school-master's pay, it is easy to see the family was in poor +circumstances, though the wife managed most carefully to make ends meet. +They were a very devoted family altogether. Little Franz early showed a +decided fondness for music, and tried to pick out bits of tunes of his own +by ear on an old dilapidated piano the family possessed. He made friends +with a young apprentice who took him sometimes to a piano wareroom in the +city, where he was allowed to play his little tunes on a fine piano. +</p> +<p> +When Franz was seven he began to have music lessons at home, the father +teaching him violin and his big brother Ignaz, the piano. Franz, in his +eagerness to learn soon outstripped his home teachers, and told them he +could go on alone. It was then decided he should go to the parish choir +master, Holzer, to learn piano, violin, organ, singing and thorough bass. +Soon Holzer was astonished at the boy's progress. "Whenever I begin to +teach him anything I find he knows it already; I never had such a pupil +before." By the time Franz was eleven, his voice had come out so well that +he was given the place of head soprano in the parish church, and played +violin solos whenever they occurred in the service. He had even begun at +home to compose and write down little piano pieces and songs. The parents +considered that this remarkable talent should be cultivated further, if +possible, in order that it might assist the slender purse of the family. +There was a choir school, called the Convict, which trained its boys for +the Imperial Chapel. If Franz could prove his ability to enter this school, +he would receive free education in return for his services. +</p> +<p> +One fine morning in October, 1808, Franz in his homespun grey suit, +spectacles shielding his bright, near-sighted eyes, his bushy black hair +covered by an old fashioned hat, presented himself for examination by the +Court Capellmeister and the singing master. The other boys jeered at his +odd appearance, but he kept his good humor. When his turn came to sing, +after solving all the problems given, his singing of the trial pieces was +so astonishing that he was passed in at once, and ordered to put on the +uniform of the imperial choristers. +</p> +<p> +The boy soon found plenty to fill his time and occupy his mind. There was +the school orchestra, in which he was able to take a prominent place. There +was daily practise, in which the boys learned the overtures and symphonies +of Mozart and Haydn, and even Beethoven. He loved best Mozart's "Symphony +in G minor," in which he said he heard angels singing. The leader of the +orchestra was attracted to the lad's playing the very first day he entered, +for he played with such precision and understanding. One day Franz mustered +courage to talk a little to the big conductor, whose name was Spaun, and +confessed he had composed quite a good deal already, adding he would like +to do it every day, only he could not afford to get the music paper. Spaun +received this burst of confidence with sympathy, and saw to it that the boy +was, in the future, supplied with the necessary music paper. +</p> +<p> +Franz had soon made such progress on the violin, that he began to take the +first violin parts and when the conductor was absent he was asked to lead +the orchestra. Indeed by his deep earnestness and sincerity, as well as +ability, the gifted boy had become a power in the school. When he went home +to see his people, which could only be on Sundays and holidays, it was a +happy reunion for all. If he brought home a new string quartet, the father +would get out his 'cello, Ignaz and Ferdinand would take first and second +violins and the young composer the viola. After it had been played through, +then all the players discussed it and offered their criticism. Indeed Franz +was composing at such an astonishing rate, that it was difficult to keep +him supplied with music paper. One of his works of this time was a fantasia +for four hands, in twelve movements. Then came a first attempt at song +writing, a long affair which also contained twelve movements, and was in +melancholy mood. +</p> +<p> +Five years the boy Franz Schubert remained at the Convict School and as he +had decided to give himself entirely to music, there was no reason for his +remaining longer in the school. At the end of the year 1813, he left, and +his departure was celebrated by the composition of his first Symphony, in +honor of Dr. Lang, the musical director. The lad, now seventeen, stood at +the beginning of his career; he was full of hope and energy, and determined +to follow in the footsteps of the great masters of music. Of all his +compositions so far produced, his songs seemed to be the most spontaneous. +He probably did not guess that he was to open up new paths in this field. +</p> +<p> +Hardly had he left the school when he was drafted for the army. This meant +several years of virtual captivity, for conscription could not be avoided. +The only other thing he could do was to return home and become a teacher +in his father's school. He chose the lesser evil and qualified at once to +become his father's assistant, which would also assure him a certain amount +of leisure. We can imagine him installed as teacher of the infant class, +and realize how distasteful was the daily round of school work, and how he +longed to have it over, that he might put on paper all the lovely themes +that had come to him through the school day. Other bright spots were the +happy hours he spent with the Grob family, who lived also in the district +of Lichtenthal. The family consisted of a mother, a son and daughter. They +were all musical. Therese Grob had a fine voice and she enjoyed the songs +Schubert brought her to sing, while her brother Heinrich could play both +piano and 'cello. Many evenings filled with music were passed by the young +people. His friends at the Convict too, welcomed each new piece he wrote. +Nor did he forget his old master Holzer, the organist of the little church +where the composer himself regularly attended. During 1814, Schubert +composed his first mass, which was performed October 16. It excited so much +interest that it was repeated ten days later at the Augustine church. Franz +conducted, the choir was led by Holzer, Ferdinand sat at the organ, and +Therese sang the soprano solos. In the audience sat old Salieri, Court +Capellmeister of Vienna, with whom Beethoven had studied. Salieri praised +Schubert for his work, and said that he should become his pupil. He kept +his word and gave the young composer daily lessons for some time. The +father was so proud and happy that he bought a five octave piano for his +boy, to celebrate the event. +</p> +<p> +Schubert added many compositions to his list this year, among them +seventeen songs, including "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel." His +acquaintance with the poet Johann Mayrhofer, with whom he soon became +intimate, was of benefit to both. The poet produced verses that his friend +might set to music. The following year, 1815, he wrote a hundred and +thirty-seven songs, to say nothing of six operas, and much music for church +and piano. Twenty-nine of these songs were written in the month of August. +One day in August eight songs were created; on another day seven. Some +of the songs were quite long, making between twenty and thirty pages when +printed. +</p> +<p> +A new friend came into Schubert's life the next year. His name was Franz +Schober, and he intended entering the University in Vienna. Being a great +lover of music and also familiar with some of Schubert's manuscript songs, +he lost no time, on arriving in Vienna, in seeking out the composer. He +found the young musician at his desk very busily writing. School work was +over for the day, and he could compose in peace. The two young men became +friends at once, for they felt the sympathetic bond between them. They were +soon talking as though they had always known each other. In a few words +Schubert told his new friend how he was situated at home, and how he +disliked the daily drudgery of school teaching. On hearing of these trials +Schober suggested they should make a home together, which arrangement would +free the composer from the grinding life he was living and enable him +to give his whole time to his art. The proposal delighted Franz, and the +father willingly gave his consent. And so it came about that the composer +was free at last, and took up his abode at his friend's lodgings. He +insisted on giving him musical instruction, to make some return for all his +kindness, though this did not last long, owing to the dislike Franz always +had for teaching of any sort. +</p> +<p> +Schubert, at the age of twenty-four, had composed a great quantity of +music, but none of it had as yet been published. He was almost unknown, and +publishers were unwilling to undertake issuing the work of an unknown man. +When his songs were performed by good artists, as had been done a number of +times, they won instant recognition and success. Seeing that the publishers +were unwilling to print the work of an unknown musician, two of Schubert's +friends undertook to publish the "Erlking," one of his first songs, at +their own risk. At the Sonnleithner mansion, where musicals were regularly +held, the "Erlking" had been much applauded, and when it was decided to +have it published, the decision was announced. A hundred copies were at +once subscribed for, and with this encouragement the engraving of the +"Erlking" and "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel" was forthwith begun. The +pieces were sold by the music publishers on commission. The plan succeeded +beyond expectation, so that other songs were issued in the same way, until, +when seven had appeared the publishers were willing to risk the engraving +of other songs themselves. Before all this had taken place, Johann Vogl, +an admired opera singer in Vienna at the time, had learned Schubert's +"Erlking," and had sung it in March, 1821, at a public concert patronized +by royalty. The song was received with storms of applause. Schober, who +knew the singer, constantly talked to him about the gifts of his friend +and begged him to come and see Schubert. At last one day he consented. They +found the composer hard at work as usual, music sheets covering the floor +as well as the table and chair. Vogl, used to the highest society, made +himself quite at home and did his best to put Schubert at his ease, but +the composer remained shy and confused. The singer began looking over +some manuscripts. When he left he shook Schubert's hand warmly, remarking; +"There is stuff in you, but you squander your fine thoughts instead of +making the most of them." +</p> +<p> +Vogl had been much impressed by what he had seen that day, and repeated +his visit. Before long the two were close friends. Schubert wrote to his +brother: "When Vogl sings and I accompany him, we seem for the moment to +be one." Vogl wrote of Schubert's songs that they were "truly divine +inspirations." +</p> +<p> +Schubert's residence with his friend Schober only lasted six months, for +Schober's brother came to live with him, and the composer had to shift for +himself. Teaching was exceedingly distasteful to him, yet as his music did +not bring in anything for years after he left home, he had to find some +means of making a living. In these straits he accepted a position as music +teacher in the family of Count Johann Esterházy. This meant that he must +live with the family in their Vienna home in winter, and go with them to +their country seat in the summer. The change from the free life he had +enjoyed with his friends who idolized him and his beautiful music, to the +etiquette of aristocratic life, was great. But there were many comforts +amid his new surroundings; the family was musical, the duties were not +heavy, and so Schubert was not unhappy. +</p> +<p> +At the Esterházy country estate of Zelész, he heard many Hungarian melodies +sung or played by the gipsies, or by servants in the castle. He has +employed some of these tunes in his first set of Valses. In his present +position he had much leisure for composition. Indeed Franz Schubert's whole +life was spent in giving out the vast treasures of melody with which he had +been so richly endowed. These flowed from his pen in a constant stream, one +beautiful work after another. He wrote them down wherever he happened to be +and when a scrap of paper could be had. The exquisite song "Hark, Hark the +Lark" was jotted down on the back of a bill of fare, in a beer garden. The +beautiful works which he produced day after day brought him little or no +money, perhaps because he was so modest and retiring, modestly undervaluing +everything he did. He had no desire to push himself, but wrote because +impelled to by the urge within. So little did he sometimes value his work +that a fine composition would be tucked away somewhere and quite forgotten. +His physical strength was not robust enough to stand the strain of constant +composition. Then too, when funds were very low, as they often were, he +took poor lodgings, and denied himself the necessary nourishing food. If he +could have had a dear companion to look after his material needs and share +his aims and aspirations, his earthly life might have been prolonged for +many a year. With no one to advise him, and often pressed with hunger and +poverty, he was induced to sell the copyrights of twelve of his best songs, +including the "Erlking" and the "Wanderer," for a sum equal to about four +hundred dollars. It is said the publishers made on the "Wanderer" alone, up +to the year 1861, a sum of about five thousand five hundred dollars. It is +true that "everything he touched turned to music," as Schumann once said of +him. The hours of sleep were more and more curtailed, for he wrote late +at night and rose early the next day. It is even said he slept in his +spectacles, to save the trouble and time of putting them on in the morning. +</p> +<p> +In Schubert's boyhood, the music of Mozart influenced him most. This is +seen in his earlier compositions. Beethoven was a great master to him then, +but as time went on the spell of his music always grew stronger. In 1822, +he wrote and published a set of variations on a French air, and dedicated +them to Beethoven. He greatly desired to present them in person to the +master he adored, but was too shy to go alone. Diabelli, the publisher, +finally went with him. Beethoven was courteous but formal, pushing paper +and pencil toward his guest, as he was totally deaf. Schubert was too +shy to write a single word. However he produced his Variations. Beethoven +seemed pleased with the dedication, and looked through the music. Soon he +found something in it he did not approve of and pointed it out. The young +author, losing his presence of mind, fled from the house. But Beethoven +really liked the music and often played it to his nephew. +</p> +<p> +Five years later, during his last illness, a collection of some sixty of +Schubert's songs was placed in his hands. He turned them over and over with +amazement and delight. "Truly Schubert has the divine fire," he exclaimed. +He wanted to see the composer of such beautiful music. Schubert came and +was allowed to have a talk with him first, before other friends who were +waiting. When Schubert paid another visit to the bedside of the master, +it was almost the end of his life, though he could recognize all who stood +about him. Overcome with emotion, Schubert left the room. +</p> +<p> +A couple of weeks after this Schubert was one of the torch bearers who +accompanied the great master to the last resting place. Little did the +young man of thirty dream that he would soon follow after. His life at this +time was full of disappointments. He had always longed to write for the +lyric stage. He composed numerous operas; but they were always rejected, +for one reason or another. The last, "Fierabras," which was on the point +of being produced, was finally given up. The composer became very dejected, +and believed himself to be the most unfortunate, the most miserable being +on earth. But, fortunately for Schubert, his cheerfulness again asserted +itself and the stream of production resumed its flow. With his temperament, +at one moment he would be utterly despairing, the next his troubles would +seem to be forgotten, and he would be writing a song, a symphony or a +sonata. At all events, constant work filled his days. The last year of his +life was productive of some of his finest works. +</p> +<p> +About the end of October, 1828, he began to show signs of a serious +breakdown. He was living at the home of his brother Ferdinand, in one of +the suburbs of the city. Although he revived a little during the early +part of November, so that he could resume walks in the neighborhood, the +weakness increased, and eleven days passed without food or drink. Lingering +till the nineteenth of November, he passed peacefully away, still in his +early manhood. The old father, the schoolmaster at the old home, hoped to +have his son buried in the little cemetery near by. But Ferdinand knew +his brother's wish, to be placed near Beethoven in Währinger Cemetery. The +monument, erected by his friends and admirers the following year, bears, +above the name, this inscription: +</p> +<pre> + "Music has here entombed a rich treasure, but much fairer hopes." +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_10"><!-- RULE4 10 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +X<br> + <br> +FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY +</h3></div> + +<p> +Mendelssohn has often been named "Felix the Happy," and he truly deserved +the title. Blest with a most cheerful disposition, with the power to +make friends of every one he met, and wherever he went, the son of a rich +banker, surrounded with everything that wealth could give, it was indeed no +wonder that Felix Mendelssohn was happy. He did not have to struggle with +poverty and privation as most of the other great musicians were forced to +do. Their music was often the expression of struggle and sorrow. He had +none of these things to bear; he was carefree and happy, and his music +reflects the joyous contentment of his life. +</p> +<p> +The Mendelssohn family originally lived in Hamburg. Their house faced one +of the fine squares of the city, with a handsome church on the opposite +side. The building is still there and well preserved, although the +principal story is used as public dining rooms. A large tablet has been +placed above the doorway, with a likeness of the composer encircled by a +wreath of laurel. Here little Felix was born, February 3, 1809. There were +other children, Fanny a year or two older, then after Felix came Rebekka +and little Paul. When French soldiers occupied the town in 1811, life +became very unpleasant for the German residents, and whoever could, sought +refuge in other cities and towns. Among those who successfully made their +escape was the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family, the second name belonged to +the family and was used to distinguish their own from other branches of the +Mendelssohn family. With his wife and children, Abraham Mendelssohn fled +to Berlin, and made his home for some years with the grandmother, who had +a house on the Neue Promenade, a fine broad street, with houses only on +one side, the opposite side descended in a grassy slope to the canal, which +flowed lazily by. +</p> +<p> +It was a happy life the children led, amid ideal surroundings. Felix very +early showed a great fondness for music, and everything was done to +foster his budding talent. With his sister Fanny, to whom he was devotedly +attached, he began to have short music lessons from his mother when he +was only four years old. Their progress was so satisfactory, that after a +while, professional musicians were engaged to teach them piano, violin and +composition, as a regular part of their education. Besides these, they must +study Greek, Latin, drawing and school subjects. With so much study to +be done each day, it was necessary to begin work at five o'clock in the +morning. But in spite of hard work all were happy, and as for Felix nothing +could dampen the flow of his high spirits; he enjoyed equally work and +play, giving the same earnest attention to each. Both he and Fanny were +beginning to compose, and Felix's attempts at improvising upon some comical +incident in their play time would call forth peals of laughter from the +inseparable children. +</p> +<p> +Soon more ambitious attempts at composition were made, the aim being to +write little operas. But unless they could be performed, it was useless to +try and make operas. This was a serious difficulty; but Felix was deeply in +earnest in whatever he undertook, and decided he must have an orchestra to +try out his operatic efforts. It looked like an impossibility, but love +and money can accomplish wonders. A small orchestra was duly selected from +among the members of the Court band. The lad Felix was to conduct these +sedate musicians, which he did modestly but without embarrassment, standing +on a footstool before his men, waving the baton like a little general. +Before the first performance was quite ready, Felix felt there must be some +one present who could really judge of the merits of his little piece. Who +would do so better than his old professor of thorough bass and composition, +Carl Zelter, the director of the Berlin Singakademie. Zelter agreed to +accept this delicate office, and a large number of friends were invited for +the occasion. +</p> +<p> +This was only the beginning of a series of weekly musical evenings at +the Mendelssohn home. Felix, with his dark curls, his shining eyes, and +charming manners, was the life of anything he undertook. He often conducted +his little pieces, but did not monopolize the time. Sometimes all four +children took part, Fanny at the piano, Rebekka singing, Paul playing the +'cello and Felix at the desk. Old Zelter was generally present, and though +averse to praising pupils, would often say a few words of encouragement at +the close. +</p> +<p> +Felix was at this time but little more than twelve years old. He had within +the last year composed fifty or sixty pieces, including a trio for piano +and strings, containing three movements, several sonatas for the piano, +some songs and a musical comedy in three scenes, for piano and voices. All +these were written with the greatest care and precision, and with the date +of each neatly added. He collected his pieces into volumes; and the more +work he did the more neatly he wrote. +</p> +<p> +The boy Felix had a wonderful gift for making friends. One day he suddenly +caught sight of Carl Maria von Weber walking along the streets of Berlin, +near his home. He recognized the famous composer at once, as he had lately +visited his parents. The boy's dark eyes glowed with pleasure at the +recognition, and tossing back his curls, he sprang forward and threw +his arms about Weber's neck, begging him to go home with him. When the +astonished musician recovered himself, he presented the boy to Jules +Benedict, his young friend and pupil who walked at his side, saying, "This +is Felix Mendelssohn." For response Felix, with a bright look, seized +the young man's hand in both his own. Weber stood by smiling at the boy's +enthusiasm. Again Felix besought them to come home with him, but Weber had +to attend a rehearsal. "Is it for the opera?" the boy cried excitedly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," answered the composer. +</p> +<p> +"Does he know all about it?" asked Felix, pointing to Benedict. +</p> +<p> +"Indeed he does," answered the composer laughing, "or if he doesn't he +ought to for he has been bored enough with it already." The boy's eyes +flashed. +</p> +<p> +"Then <i>you</i>, will come with me to my home, which is quite near, will +you not?" There was no refusing those appealing dark eyes. Felix again +embraced Weber, and then challenged his new friend, Mr. Benedict, to race +him to the door of his house. On entering he dragged the visitor upstairs +to the drawing-room, exclaiming, "Mama, Mama, here is a gentleman, a pupil +of Carl Weber, who knows all about the new opera, 'Der Freischütz.'" +</p> +<p> +The young musician received a warm welcome, and was not able to leave +until he had played on the piano all the airs he could remember from +the wonderful new opera, which Weber had come to Berlin to superintend. +Benedict was so pleased with his first visit that he came again. This time +he found Felix writing music and asked what it was. "I am finishing my new +quartet for piano and strings," was the simple reply. To say that Benedict +was surprised at such an answer from a boy of twelve hardly expresses what +he felt. It was quite true he did not yet know Felix Mendelssohn. "And +now," said the boy, laying down his pen, "I will play to you, to prove how +grateful I am that you played to us last time." He then sat down at the +piano and played correctly several melodies from "Der Freischütz," which +Benedict had played on his first visit. After that they went into the +garden, and Felix for the moment, became a rollicking boy, jumping fences +and climbing trees like a squirrel. +</p> +<p> +Toward the close of this year, 1821, his teacher Zelter announced he +intended going to Wiemar, to see Goethe, the aged poet of Wiemar, and was +willing to take Felix with him. The poet's house at Wiemar was indeed a +shrine to the elect, and the chance of meeting the object of so much hero +worship, filled the impressionable mind of Felix with reverential awe. +Zelter on his part, felt a certain pride in bringing his favorite pupil to +the notice of the great man, though he would not have permitted Felix to +guess what he felt for anything he possessed. +</p> +<p> +When they arrived, Goethe was walking in his garden. He greeted both with +kindness and affection, and it was arranged that Felix should play for him +next day. Zelter had told Goethe much about his pupil's unusual talents, +but the poet wished to prove these accounts by his own tests. Selecting +piece after piece of manuscript music from his collection, he asked the boy +to play them at sight. He was able to do so with ease, to the astonishment +of the friends who had come in to hear him. They were more delighted when +he took a theme from one of the pieces and improvised upon it. Withholding +his praise, Goethe announced he had a final test, and placed on the music +desk a sheet which seemed covered with mere scratches and blotches. The boy +laughingly exclaimed, "Who could ever read such writing as that?" +Zelter rose and came to the piano to look at this curiosity. "Why, it is +Beethoven's writing; one can see that a mile off! He always wrote as if he +used a broomstick for a pen, then wiped his sleeve over the wet ink!" +</p> +<p> +The boy picked out the strange manuscript bit by bit; when he came to the +end he cried, "Now I will play it through for you," which he did without +a mistake. Goethe was well pleased and begged Felix to come every day +and play, while he was in the city. The two became fast friends; the poet +treated him as a son, and at parting begged he would soon return to Wiemar, +that they might again be together. During the following summer the whole +family made a tour through Switzerland, much to the delight of Felix, who +enjoyed every moment. There was little time for real work in composition, +but a couple of songs and the beginning of a piano quartet were inspired by +the view of Lake Geneva and its exquisite surroundings. +</p> +<p> +When Felix returned to Berlin, he had grown much, physically as well as +mentally. He was now tall and strong, his curling locks had been clipped, +and he seemed at a single bound to have become almost a man. His happy, +boyish spirits, however, had not changed in the least. About this time the +family removed from their home on the Neue Promenade, to a larger and more +stately mansion, No. 3 Leipsiger Strasse, then situated on the outskirts of +the town, near the Potsdam Gate. As those who know the modern city realize, +this house, now no longer a private residence, stands in the very heart +of traffic and business. The rooms of the new home were large and elegant, +with a spacious salon suitable for musicals and large functions. A fine +garden or park belonged to the house, where were lawns shaded by forest +trees, winding paths, flowering shrubs and arbors in shady nooks, offering +quiet retreats. Best of all there was a garden house, with a central hall, +which would hold several hundred people, having long windows and glass +doors looking out upon the trees and flowers. Sunday concerts were soon +resumed and given in the garden house, where, on week days the young people +met, with friends and elders, to play, and act and enjoy the social life +of the home. The mansion and its hospitality became famous, and every +great musician, at one time or another, came to pay his respects and become +acquainted with this art-loving family. +</p> +<p> +At a family party in honor of Felix's fifteenth birthday, his teacher +Zelter saluted him as no longer an apprentice, but as an "assistant" and +member of the Brotherhood of Art. Very soon after this the young composer +completed two important works. The first was an Octet for strings. He was +not yet seventeen when the Octet was finished, which was pronounced the +most fresh and original work he had yet accomplished. It marked a distinct +stage in the gifted youth's development. The composition which followed was +the beautiful "Midsummer Night's Dream" music. He and his sister Fanny had +lately made the acquaintance of Shakespeare through a German translation, +and had been fascinated by this fairy play. The young people spent much +of their time in the lovely garden that summer, and amid these delightful +surroundings the music was conceived. +</p> +<p> +The Overture was first to spring into being. When it was written out, Felix +and Fanny often played it as a duet. In this form the composer-pianist +Moscheles heard it and was impressed by its beauty. The fascinating Scherzo +and dreamy Nocturne followed. When all were elaborated and perfected, the +complete work was performed by the garden house orchestra for a crowded +audience, who abundantly expressed their delight. Sir G. Macfarren has +said of it: "No one musical work contains so many points of harmony and +orchestration that are novel yet none of them have the air of experiment, +but all seem to have been written with a certainty of their success." +</p> +<p> +And now a great plan occupied Mendelssohn's mind, a project which had been +forming for some time; this was nothing less than to do something to arouse +people to know and appreciate the great works of Johann Sebastian Bach. +Two years before Felix had been presented with a manuscript score of Bach's +"Passion according to St. Matthew," which Zelter had allowed to be copied +from the manuscript preserved in the Singakademie. The old man was a +devoted lover of Bach's music, and had taught his pupil in the same spirit. +When Felix found himself the possessor of this wonderful book, he set to +work to master it, until he knew every bit of it by heart. As he studied +it deeply he was more and more impressed with its beauty and sublimity. He +could hardly believe that this great work was unknown throughout Germany, +since more than a hundred years had passed since it had been written. He +determined to do something to arouse people from such apathy. +</p> +<p> +Talking the matter over with musicians and friends, he began to interest +them in the plan to study the music of the Passion. Soon he had secured +sixteen good voices, who rehearsed at his home once a week. His enthusiasm +fired them to study the music seriously, and before very long they were +anxious to give a public performance. There was a splendid choir of nearly +four hundred voices conducted by Zelter, at the Singakademie; if he would +only lend his chorus to give a trial performance, under Mendelssohn's +conducting, how splendid that would be! But Felix knew that Zelter had +no faith in the public taking any interest in Bach, so there was no +use asking. This opinion was opposed by one of his little choir, named +Devrient, who insisted that Zelter should be approached on the subject. +As he himself had been a pupil of Zelter, he persuaded Mendelssohn to +accompany him to the director's house. +</p> +<p> +Zelter was found seated at his instrument, enveloped by a cloud of smoke +from a long stemmed pipe. Devrient unfolded the plan of bringing this great +work of Bach to the knowledge of the public. The old man listened to their +plea with growing impatience, until he became quite excited, rose from his +chair and paced the floor with great strides, exclaiming, "No, it is not to +be thought of—it is a mad scheme." To Felix argument then seemed useless +and he beckoned his friend to come away, but Devrient refused to move, +and kept up his persuasive argument. Finally, as though a miracle had been +wrought, Zelter began to weaken, and at last gave in, and besides promised +all the aid in his power. +</p> +<p> +How this youth, not yet twenty, undertook the great task of preparing this +masterpiece, and what he accomplished is little short of the marvelous. The +public performance, conducted by Mendelssohn, took place March 11, 1829, +with every ticket sold and more than a thousand persons turned away. A +second performance was given on March 21, the anniversary of Bach's birth, +before a packed house. These performances marked the beginning of a great +Bach revival in Germany and England, and the love for this music has never +been lost, but increases each year. +</p> +<p> +And now it seemed best for Felix to travel and see something of other +countries. He had long wished to visit England, and the present seemed a +favorable time, as his friends there assured him of a warm welcome. The +pleasure he felt on reaching London was increased by the enthusiastic +greeting he received at the hands of the musical public. He first appeared +at a Philharmonic concert on May 25, when his Symphony in C minor was +played. The next day he wrote to Fanny: "The success of the concert last +night was beyond all I had ever dreamed. It began with my Symphony. I was +led to the desk and received an immense applause. The Adagio was encored, +but I went on; the Scherzo was so vigorously applauded that I had to repeat +it. After the Finale there was lots more applause, while I was thanking the +orchestra and shaking hands, till I left the room." +</p> +<p> +A continual round of functions interspersed with concerts at which he +played or conducted, filled the young composer's time. The overture to +"Midsummer Night's Dream" was played several times and always received +with enthusiasm. On one occasion a friend was so careless as to leave the +manuscript in a hackney coach on his way home and it was lost. "Never mind, +I will write another," said Mendelssohn, which he was able to do, without +making a single error. +</p> +<p> +When the London season closed, Mendelssohn and his friend Klingemann went +up to Scotland, where he was deeply impressed with the varied beauty of +the scenery. Perhaps the Hebrides enthralled him most, with their lonely +grandeur. His impressions have been preserved in the Overture to "Fingal's +Cave," while from the whole trip he gained inspiration for the Scottish +Symphony. +</p> +<p> +On his return to London and before he could set out for Berlin, Felix +injured his knee, which laid him up for several weeks, and prevented his +presence at the home marriage of his sister Fanny, to William Hensel, the +young painter. This was a keen disappointment to all, but Fanny was not +to be separated from her family, as on Mendelssohn's return, he found the +young couple had taken up their residence in the Gartenhaus. +</p> +<p> +Mendelssohn had been greatly pleased with his London visit, and though the +grand tour he had planned was really only begun, he felt a strong desire +to return to England. However, other countries had to be visited first. The +following May he started south, bound for Vienna, Florence and Rome. His +way led through Wiemar and gave opportunity for a last visit to Goethe. +They passed a number of days in sympathetic companionship. The poet always +wanted music, but did not seem to care for Beethoven's compositions, +which he said did not touch him at all, though he felt they were great, +astonishing. +</p> +<p> +After visiting numerous German cities, Switzerland was reached and its +wonderful scenery stirred Mendelssohn's poetic soul to the depths. +Yet, though his passionate love of nature was so impressed by the great +mountains, forests and waterfalls, it was the sea which he loved best of +all. As he approached Naples, and saw the sea sparkling in the sun lighted +bay, he exclaimed: "To me it is the finest object in nature! I love it +almost more than the sky. I always feel happy when I see before me the wide +expanse of water." Rome, of course, was a center of fascination. Every day +he picked out some special object of interest to visit, which made that +particular day one never to be forgotten. The tour lasted until the spring +of 1832, before Mendelssohn returned to his home in Berlin, only to leave +it shortly afterwards to return to London. This great city, in spite of its +fogs, noises and turmoil, appealed to him more than the sunshine of Naples, +the fascination of Florence or the beauty of Rome. +</p> +<p> +The comment on Mendelssohn that "he lived years where others only lived +weeks," gives a faint idea of the fulness with which his time was occupied. +It is only possible to touch on his activities in composition, for he +was always at work. In May 1836 when he was twenty-seven, he conducted in +Düsseldorf the first performance of his oratorio of "St. Paul." At this +period he wrote many of those charming piano pieces which he called "Songs +without Words." This same year brought deepest happiness to Mendelssohn, +in his engagement to Cécile Jean-Renaud, the beautiful daughter of a +French Protestant clergyman. The following spring they were married, a true +marriage of love and stedfast devotion. +</p> +<p> +The greatest work of Mendelssohn's career was his oratorio of "Elijah" +which had long grown in his mind, until it was on the eve of completion +in the spring of 1846. In a letter to the famous singer Jenny Lind, an +intimate friend, he writes: "I am jumping about my room for joy. If my work +turns out half as good as I fancy it is, how pleased I shall be." +</p> +<p> +During these years in which he conceived the "Elijah," his fame had spread +widely. Honors had been bestowed on him by many royalties. The King of +Saxony had made him Capellmeister of his Court, and Queen Victoria had +shown him many proofs of personal regard, which endeared him more than ever +to the country which had first signally recognized his genius. +</p> +<p> +It was Leipsic perhaps which felt the power of his genius most +conclusively. The since famous Leipsic Conservatory was founded by him, and +he was unceasing in his labors to advance art in every direction. He also +found time to carry out a long cherished plan to erect, at the threshold of +the Thomas School, Leipsic, a monument to the memory of Sebastian Bach. +</p> +<p> +Let us take one more glimpse of our beloved composer. It was the morning of +August 26, 1846. The Town Hall of Birmingham, England, was filled with an +expectant throng, for today the composer of the "Elijah" was to conduct +his greatest work, for the first time before an English audience. When +Mendelssohn stepped upon the platform, he was greeted by a deafening shout; +the reception was overwhelming, and at the close the entire audience sprang +to its feet in a frenzy of admiration. He wrote to his brother Paul that +evening: "No work of mine ever went so admirably at the first performance, +or was received with such enthusiasm both by musicians and public." During +April the following year, four performances of the "Elijah" took place in +Exeter Hall, the composer conducting, the Queen and Prince Albert being +present on the second occasion. This visit to England which was to be his +last, had used his strength to the limit of endurance, and there was +a shadow of a coming breakdown. Soon after he rejoined his family in +Frankfort, his sister Fanny suddenly passed away in Berlin. The news was +broken to him too quickly, and with a shriek he fell unconscious to the +floor. +</p> +<p> +From this shock he never seemed to rally, though at intervals for a while, +he still composed. His death occurred November 4, 1847. It can be said of +him that his was a beautiful life, in which "there was nothing to tell that +was not honorable to his memory and profitable to all men." +</p> +<p> +Mendelssohn's funeral was imposing. The first portion was solemnized at +Leipsic, attended by crowds of musicians and students, one of the latter +bearing on a cushion a silver crown presented by his pupils of the +Conservatory. Beside the crown rested the Order "Pour le Mérite," conferred +on him by the King of Prussia. The band, during the long procession, played +the E minor "Song without Words," and at the close of the service the choir +sang the final chorus from Bach's "Passion." The same night the body was +taken to Berlin and placed in the family plot in the old Dreifaltigkeit +Kirch-hof, beside that of his devoted sister Fanny. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_11"><!-- RULE4 11 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XI<br> + <br> +ROBERT SCHUMANN +</h3></div> + +<p> +Many of the composers whose life stories we have read were surrounded by +musical atmosphere from their earliest years; Robert Schumann seems to +have been an exception. His father, August Schumann, was the son of a poor +pastor, and the boy August was intended to be brought up a merchant. At the +age of fifteen he was put into a store in Nonneburg. He was refined in his +tastes, loved books, and tried even in boyhood to write poetry. He seemed +destined, however, to live the life marked out for him, at least for a +time. It grew so distasteful, that later he gave it up and, on account of +extreme poverty, returned to his parents' home, where he had the leisure +to write. At last he secured a position in a book store in Zeitz. In this +little town he met the daughter of his employer. The engagement was allowed +on the condition that he should leave the book store and set up his own +business. But where was the money to come from? He left the store, returned +home and in a year and a half had earned a thousand thalers, then quite a +handsome sum. +</p> +<p> +He now claimed the hand of his chosen love and established in the book +business, labored so unceasingly, that the business increased. Then he +moved to a more favorable location, choosing the mining town of Zwickau, in +Saxony. +</p> +<p> +Here, this industrious, honorable man and his attractive, intelligent, but +rather narrow and uneducated young wife lived out their lives, and brought +up their children, of whom Robert, born June 8, 1810, was the youngest; +before him there were three brothers and a sister. All passed away before +Robert himself. +</p> +<p> +He was the so-called "handsome child" of the family, and much petted by the +women. Besides his mother there was his god-mother, who was very fond of +him, and at her home he would spend whole days and nights. As his talents +developed, the boy became the spoilt darling of everybody. This lay at the +foundation of his extreme susceptibility, even the obstinacy of his riper +years. +</p> +<p> +Little Robert at six was sent to a popular private school and now for the +first time mingled with a number of children of his own age. The first +symptoms of ambition, the source of much of his later achievement, began +to show itself, though quite unconsciously. It made him the life of all +childish games. If the children played "soldiers," little Robert was always +captain. The others loved his good nature and friendliness, and always +yielded to him. +</p> +<p> +He was a good student in the primary school, but in no way distinguished +himself in his studies. The following year he was allowed to take piano +lessons of an old pedantic professor from Zwickau High School. This man had +taught himself music, but had heard little of it. The kind of instruction +he was able to give may be imagined, yet Robert was faithful all his life +to this kind old friend. +</p> +<p> +In spite of inadequate guidance, music soon kindled the boy's soul. He +began to try to make music himself, though entirely ignorant of the rules +of composition. The first of these efforts, a set of little dances, were +written during his seventh or eighth year. It was soon discovered that he +could improvise on the piano; indeed he could sketch the disposition of his +companions by certain figures on the piano, so exactly and comically that +every one burst out laughing at the portraits. He was fond of reading too, +much to his father's delight, and early tried his hand at authorship. He +wrote robber plays, which he staged with the aid of the family and such of +his youthful friends as were qualified. The father now began to hope his +favorite son would become an author or poet; but later Robert's increasing +love for music put this hope to flight. +</p> +<p> +The father happened to take his boy with him to Carlsbad in the summer +of 1819, and here he heard for the first time a great pianist, Ignatz +Moscheles. His masterful playing made a great impression on the nine year +old enthusiast, who began now to wish to become a musician, and applied +himself to music with redoubled zeal. He also made such good progress at +school that at Easter 1820 he was able to enter the Zwickau Academy. +</p> +<p> +The love for music grew with each day. With a boy of his own age, +as devoted as himself to music, four-hand works of Haydn, Mozart and +Beethoven, as well as pieces by Weber, Hummel and Czerny, were played +almost daily. The greatest ecstasy was caused by the arrival of a Steck +piano at the Schumann home, which showed that father Schumann endeavored to +further his boy's taste for music. About this time Robert found by chance, +the orchestral score of an old Italian overture. He conceived the bold idea +of performing it. So a bit of an orchestra was gathered among the boys he +knew, who could play an instrument. There were two violins, two flutes, a +clarinet and two horns. Robert, who conducted with great fervor, supplied +as best he could the other parts on the piano. +</p> +<p> +This effort was a great incentive to the boys, principally to Robert, who +began to arrange things for his little band and composed music for the one +hundred fiftieth Psalm. This was in his twelfth year. +</p> +<p> +August Schumann was more and more convinced that Providence had intended +his son to become a musician, and though the mother struggled against it, +he resolved to see that Robert had a musical education. Carl Maria von +Weber, then living in Dresden, was written to, and answered he was willing +to accept the boy as a student. The plan never came to anything however, +for what reason is not known. The boy was left now to direct his own +musical studies, just when he needed an expert guiding hand. He had no +rivals in his native town, where he sometimes appeared as a pianist. It was +no wonder he thought he was on the right road, and that he tried more than +ever to win his mother's consent to his following music as a life work. +</p> +<p> +And now a great change took place in the lively, fun-loving boy. He seemed +to lose his gay spirits and become reflective, silent and reserved. This +condition of mind never left him, but grew into a deeper reserve as the +years passed. +</p> +<p> +Two events deeply stirred Robert's nature with great force—the death of +his father in 1826, and his acquaintance with the works of Jean Paul. +The Jean Paul fever attacked him in all its transcendentalism, and this +influence remained through life, with more or less intensity. +</p> +<p> +After his father left him, Robert found he must make a choice of a +profession. His mother had set her heart on his making a study of law, +while his heart was set on music. Yielding to her wishes for a time he went +to Leipsic in March 1828 to prepare to enter the University as a student +of law. He also gained consent to study piano at the same time, and began +lessons with Frederick Wieck. The desire to study with Wieck was inspired +by the piano playing of his little daughter, Clara, then nine years +old, who had already gained a considerable degree of musical culture and +promised to make her mark as a pianist. +</p> +<p> +Under his new teacher, Robert for the first time was obliged to study a +rational system of technic and tone production. He was also expected to +learn harmony correctly, but strangely enough he seemed to take no interest +in it, even saying he thought such knowledge useless. He held to this +foolish idea for some time, not giving it up till forced to by realizing +his total ignorance of this branch of the art. +</p> +<p> +Robert now became greatly impressed by the genius of Franz Schubert. He +eagerly played everything the master had composed for the piano, both for +two and four hands, and Schubert's death during this year, filled him +with profound grief. The young musical friends with whom Robert had become +intimate, while living in Leipsic, shared his enthusiasm about his hero +of German song, and they desired to enlarge their knowledge of Schubert's +work. They did more, for they decided to take one representative +composition and practise together till they had reached the highest +perfection. The choice fell on the Trio in B flat major, Op. 99, +whose beauties had greatly impressed them. After much loving labor the +performance was well nigh perfect. Schumann arranged a musical party at +which the Trio was played. Besides students and friends, Wieck was invited +and given the seat of honor. +</p> +<p> +This musical evening was the forerunner of many others. Weekly meetings +were held in Robert's room, where much music was played and discussed. The +talk often turned to grand old Bach and his "Well-tempered Clavichord," to +which in those early days, he gave ardent study. +</p> +<p> +With all this music study and intercourse with musical friends there +was very little time left for the study of law. Yet he still kept up +appearances by attending the lectures, and had intended for some months to +enter the Heidelberg University. This decision was put into execution in +May 1829, when he started by coach for Heidelberg. +</p> +<p> +We find Robert Schumann at nineteen domiciled in the beautiful city of +Heidelberg, and surrounded by a few musical friends, who were kindred +spirits. With a good piano in his room, the "life of flowers," as he called +it, began. Almost daily they made delightful trips in a one-horse carriage +into the suburbs. For longer trips they went to Baden-Baden, Wurms, Spires +and Mannheim. Whenever Robert went with his friends he always carried a +small "dumb piano" on which he industriously practised finger exercises, +meanwhile joining in the conversation. During the following August and +September, Robert and two or three chosen companions made a delightful +journey through Italy, the young man preparing himself by studying Latin, +in which he became so fluent that he could translate poems from one +language to the other. +</p> +<p> +The next winter Robert devoted himself to music more than ever—"played the +piano much," as he says. His skill as a pianist gradually became known +in Heidelberg and he frequently played in private houses. But he was not +content with the regular study of the piano. He wanted to get ahead faster +and invented some sort of a device to render his fourth finger more firm +and supple. It did not have the desired effect however, but was the means +in time of injuring his hands so that he never could attain the piano +virtuosity he dreamed of. +</p> +<p> +Before starting on the trip to Italy just mentioned, he felt that a +decision must be reached about his music. It had become as the breath of +life to him. He wrote his mother and laid bare his heart to her. "My whole +life has been a twenty years struggle between poetry and prose, or let +us say—between music and law. If I follow my own bent, it points, as I +believe correctly, to music. Write yourself to Wieck at Leipsic and ask +him frankly what he thinks of me and my plan. Beg him to answer at once and +decisively." The letter was duly written to Wieck, who decided in favor of +Robert and his plans. +</p> +<p> +Robert on hearing his decision was wild with joy. He wrote an exuberant +letter to Wieck promising to be most submissive as a piano pupil and saying +"whole pailfuls of very very cold theory can do me no harm and I will work +at it without a murmur. I give myself up wholly to you." +</p> +<p> +With a heart full of hope, young Schumann returned to Leipsic, which he had +gladly left more than a year before. It was during this early resumption of +piano lessons with Wieck that he began the treatment which he thought would +advance his technic in such a marvelously short time. He fastened his third +finger into a machine, of his own invention, then practised unceasingly +with the other four. At last he lost control over the muscles of the right +hand, to his great distress. He now practised unremittingly with the left +hand, which gained great facility, remarkable long after he had given up +piano playing. +</p> +<p> +Under these difficulties piano lessons with Wieck had to be given up and +were never resumed. He studied theory for a short time with Kupach, but +soon relinquished this also. He was now free to direct his own path in +music and to study—study, and compose. +</p> +<p> +One of the first pieces he wrote was "The +Papillons"—"Butterflies,"—published as Op. 2. It was dedicated to his +three sisters-in-law, of all of whom he was very fond. In the various +scenes of the Butterflies there are allusions to persons and places known +to the composer; the whimsical spirit of Jean Paul broods over the whole. +</p> +<p> +Robert began to realize more and more his lack of thorough theoretical +knowledge and applied to Dorn, who stood high in the musical profession +in Leipsic. On his introduction, in spite of his lame hand he played his +"Abegg Variations," published as Op. 1, and Dorn was willing to accept the +timid quiet youth as pupil. He studied with great ardor, going from the +A.B.C. to the most involved counterpoint. +</p> +<p> +Thus passed two or three busy years. Part of the time Schumann had a room +in the house of his teacher Wieck and thus was thrown more or less in the +society of Clara Wieck, now a young girl of thirteen or fourteen. Later he +gave up his room—though not his intimate relations with the family—and +moved to a summer residence in Riedel's Garden, where he spent the days in +music and the evenings with his friends. +</p> +<p> +The year 1833, was one of the most remarkable in his life so far. Not the +least important event was the establishment of the "Neue Zeitschrift für +Musik." Schumann himself says of this:— +</p> +<p> +"At the close of the year '33, a number of musicians, mostly young, met in +Leipsic every evening, apparently by accident at first, but really for the +interchange of ideas on all musical subjects. One day the young hot +heads exclaimed: 'Why do we look idly on? Let's take hold and make things +better.' Thus the new Journal for music began. +</p> +<p> +"The youthful, fresh and fiery tone of the Journal is to be in sharp +contrast to the characterless, worn-out Leipsic criticism. The elevation of +German taste, the encouragement of young talent must be our goal. We write +not to enrich tradespeople, but to honor artists." +</p> +<p> +Schumann took up arms in favor of the younger generation of musicians +and helped make the fame of many now held in the world's highest esteem. +Sometimes, he admits, his ardor carried him too far in recognition of +youthful talent, but in the main he was very just in his estimates. We do +not forget how his quick commendation aided Brahms. +</p> +<p> +The young musicians who founded the paper had formed themselves also into +an alliance, which they called the Davidsbündlerschaft. The idea of this +alliance, which was derived from David's war with the Philistines, seemed +to exist only in the mind of Schumann himself. It gave him a chance to +write under the name of different characters, chief of whom were Florestan +and Eusebius, between whom stood Master Raro. In Florestan Schumann +expressed the powerful, passionate side of his nature, and in Eusebius the +mild and dreamy side. +</p> +<p> +He wrote to a friend: "Florestan and Eusebius are my double nature, which +I would gladly—like Raro—melt down into one man." As time passed however, +he made less and less use of these fanciful images until they finally +seemed to fade out of his mind. +</p> +<p> +An important event of 1834, was Schumann's acquaintance with Ernestine von +Fricken, who came to Leipsic from the little town of Asch, on the Bohemian +border. She lived at the Wiecks', expecting to become a pianist under Papa +Wieck's tuition. Schumann became greatly interested in Ernestine and +for some time he had in mind an engagement with her. The noble "Études +Symphoniques" were written this year. The theme was suggested by +Ernestine's father. The "Carnival" was partly written in this year, but +not completed till the following year. In this collection of charming short +pieces he brings in the characters of his dreams,—Florestan, Eusebius, +Chiarina (Clara), Estrella (Ernestine). There is the March against +the Philistines, and the titles of many other of the little pieces are +characteristic. It is a true Schumann composition, full of his traits. +Here we have the sweet, graceful, elegant and the very humorous and comical +finale. +</p> +<p> +The tone creations of 1835 consist of the two Sonatas, F sharp minor, Op. +11 and G minor, Op. 22, which are held by pianists to be among his most +interesting and poetical works. +</p> +<p> +By the next year Schumann had suffered a deep sorrow in the loss of his +mother, and also his love for Ernestine began to cool, until the partial +bond was amicably dissolved. Meanwhile his affection for Clara Wieck, who +was just budding into womanhood, began to ripen into devoted love. This, +too, was the beginning of the long struggle for the possession of his +beloved, since the father had opposed such a connection from beginning to +end. Schumann wrote a friend in 1839: "Truly from the struggle Clara has +cost me, much music has been caused and created; the Concerto, Sonatas, +Davidsbündler Dances, Kreisleriana and Novellettes are the result." Beyond +the compositions just mentioned, he relieved his oppressed heart by a +composition rich in meaning—nothing less than the great Fantaisie, Op. +17. He meant to contribute the profits from its sale to the fund for the +erection of a monument to Beethoven. The titles to the three movements were +"Ruins," "Triumphal Arch," "Starry Crown." He afterwards gave up the whole +idea, and dedicated the work to Franz Liszt. +</p> +<p> +Schumann lived a quiet, busy life, and if he could have gained the consent +of Clara's father for their union, he would have been supremely happy. +He feared the principal reason of Wieck's refusal was that the young man +should earn more money first, before thinking of settling down with a wife. +Robert therefore reverted more seriously to a plan he had thought of, to go +to Vienna, and move his paper to that city, hoping to better his fortunes. +He felt, too, that he ought to travel, as he had remained in Leipsic for +eight years without change. +</p> +<p> +Thus, by the end of September, 1838, Schumann started for Vienna with many +high hopes. A friend invited him to remain at his house, which was of much +advantage. He made many calls and visits, saw musicians and publishers, +and really learned to know the city for itself. He found it would not be +profitable for him to publish the Journal there, also that the Austrian +capital was a no more propitious place to make one's fortune than the +smaller town of Leipsic. However he was able to compose a number of works +which have become among the best known and beloved of all, including the +"Arabesque," "Faschingsschwank," or "Carnival Strains from Vienna," the +"Night Pieces," Op. 24, and other short compositions. +</p> +<p> +When Robert discovered Vienna was not the city to prosper in, he thought +of a return to Leipsic, to win his bride. He came back in April, and +succeeded, with the help of legal proceedings, in securing Clara's hand in +marriage. This was in 1840. From now on Schumann began to write songs. In +this one year he composed as many as a hundred and thirty-eight songs, both +large and small. He writes at this time: "The best way to cultivate a taste +for melody, is to write a great deal for the voice and for independent +chorus." +</p> +<p> +He now began to express himself not only in song but in orchestral music. +His first effort was the beautiful B flat major Symphony, which, with the +songs of that time seems to embody all the happiness he enjoyed in winning +his Clara. She proved a most admirable helpmate, trying to shield him +from interruptions and annoyance of every sort, so he should have his time +undisturbed for his work. Thus many of his best compositions came into +being in the early years of wedded happiness. +</p> +<p> +This retirement was interrupted in 1844, by a long concert tour planned +by Clara. She was firmly decided to go and made Robert solemnly promise to +accompany her to St. Petersburg. He was loath to leave the quiet he loved, +but it had to be done. Clara had great success everywhere, as a pianist, +giving many recitals during their travels from place to place. From Russia +the artist pair went to Helsingfors, Stockholm and Copenhagen. They started +on their tour in January and did not reach home till the first of June. +</p> +<p> +Schumann now seemed to lose interest in the Journal and expressed a wish to +withdraw from it and live only for his creative art. An alarming state +of health—both mind and body—seemed to make this retirement desirable. +Perhaps owing to this condition of health he decided to leave Leipsic for +good and make his home in Dresden. He and his wife took formal leave of +Leipsic in a Matinée musical given on the eighth of December. +</p> +<p> +But life in Dresden became even more strenuous and more racking than it had +been in Leipsic. He threw himself into the labor of composing the epilogue +of Goethe's "Faust" with such ardor that he fell into an intensely nervous +state where work was impossible. However, with special medical treatment +he so far recovered that he was able to resume the work, but still was not +himself. We can divine from brief remarks he let drop from time to time, +that he lived in constant fear—fear of death, insanity or disaster of some +kind. He could not bear the sight of Sonnenstein, an insane asylum near +Dresden. Mendelssohn's sudden death in November, 1847, was a great shock +and preyed on his mind. +</p> +<p> +Schumann had intervals of reprieve from these morbid dreams, and he again +began to compose with renewed—almost abnormal—vigor and productiveness. +</p> +<p> +The artist pair took a trip to Vienna where Clara gave several concerts. +They spent some weeks there and before returning to Dresden, gave two +splendid concerts in Prague, where Schumann received a perfect ovation for +his piano quintette and some songs. A little later the two artists made a +trip north. In Berlin Robert conducted a performance of "Paradise and the +Peri" at the Singakademie, while Clara gave two recitals. +</p> +<p> +This year of 1847 was a very active one outside of the musical journeys. +The master composed several piano trios, much choral music, and began the +opera "Genevieve," which was not completed however, until the middle of +1848. All the compositions of the previous year were perfectly lucid and +sane. The opera unfortunately had a text from which all the beauty and +romance had been left out. +</p> +<p> +The music, however, revealed a rare quality of creative power, combined +with deep and noble feeling. Schumann's nature was more lyric than +dramatic; he was not born to write for the stage. The lyric portions of his +opera are much the best. He did not realize that he failed on the dramatic +side in his work, indeed seemed quite unconscious of the fact. +</p> +<p> +"Genevieve" was given in Leipsic in June 1850, directed by the composer. +Two more performances were given and then the work was laid away. +</p> +<p> +In 1848, Schumann, who loved children dearly and often stopped his more +serious work to write for them, composed the "Album for the Young," Op. 68, +a set of forty-two pieces. The title originally was: "Christmas Album for +Children who like to play the Piano." How many children, from that day +to this have loved those little pieces, the "Happy Farmer," "Wild Rider," +"First Loss," "Reaper's Song," and all the rest. Even the great pianists of +our time are not above performing these little classics in public. They are +a gift, unique in musical literature, often imitated, but never equaled +by other writers. Schumann wrote of them: "The first thing in the Album I +wrote for my oldest child's birthday. It seems as if I were beginning my +life as a composer anew, and there are traces of the old human here and +there. They are decidedly different from 'Scenes from Childhood' which are +retrospective glances by a parent, and for elders, while 'Album for the +Young' contains hopes, presentments and peeps into futurity <i>for the +young</i>." +</p> +<p> +After the children's Album came the music to Byron's "Manfred." This +consists of an overture and fifteen numbers. The whole work, with one +exception, is deep in thought and masterly in conception. The overture +especially is one of his finest productions, surpassing other orchestral +works in intellectual grandeur. +</p> +<p> +A choral club of sixty-seven members, of which Schumann was the director, +inspired him to compose considerable choral music, and his compositions of +this time, 1848-9, were numerous. +</p> +<p> +The intense creative activity of 1849 was followed by a period of rest +when the artist pair made two trips from Dresden, early in 1850. Leipsic, +Bremen, and Hamburg were visited. Most of the time in Hamburg was spent +with Jenny Lind, who sang at his last two concerts. +</p> +<p> +The late summer of 1850 brought Schumann an appointment of director of +music in Düsseldorf, left vacant by the departure of Ferdinand Hiller +for Cologne. Schumann and his wife went to Düsseldorf the first week of +September and were received with open arms. A banquet and concert were +arranged, at which some of the composer's important works were performed. +His duties in the new post were conducting the subscription concerts, +weekly rehearsals of the Choral Club and other musical performances. He +seemed well content with the situation and it did not require too much of +his physical strength. +</p> +<p> +Outside of his official duties his passion for work again gained the +ascendent. From November 2, to December 9, he sketched and completed the +Symphony in E flat in five parts, a great work, equal to any of the other +works in this form. +</p> +<p> +From this time on, one important composition followed another, until +increasing illness forshadowed the sad catastrophe of the early part of +1854. He wrote in June 1851, "we are all tolerably well, except that I am +the victim of occasional nervous attacks; a few days ago I fainted after +hearing Radecke play the organ." These nervous attacks increased in 1852. +He could not think music in rapid tempo and wished everything slow. He +heard special tones to the exclusion of all others. +</p> +<p> +The close of 1853, brought two joyful events to Schumann. In October he met +Johann Brahms, whom he had introduced to the world through his Journal, +as the "Messiah of Art." In November he and his wife took a trip through +Holland, which was a triumphal procession. He found his music almost +as well known in Holland as at home. In Rotterdam and Utrecht his third +symphony was performed; in The Hague the second was given, also "The +Pilgrimage of the Rose." Clara also played at many concerts. +</p> +<p> +Just before Christmas the artist pair returned to Düsseldorf. +</p> +<p> +The hallucinations which had before obsessed him now returned with alarming +force. He could no longer sleep—he seemed to be lost in mental darkness. +</p> +<p> +One day in February 1854, his physician made a noon call upon him. They sat +chatting when suddenly Schumann left the room without a word. The doctor +and his friends supposed he would return. His wife went in search of him. +It seems he had left the house in dressing-gown, gone to the Rhine bridge +and thrown himself into the river. Some sailors rescued him. +</p> +<p> +He now received constant care, and it was found best to place him in a +private hospital near Bonn. Here he remained till the end of July, 1856, +when the end came. +</p> +<p> +In his death the world of music lost one of the most highly gifted spirits. +His life was important and instructive for its moral and intellectual +grandeur, its struggles for the noblest, loftiest subjects as well as for +its truly great results. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_12"><!-- RULE4 12 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XII<br> + <br> +FREDERIC CHOPIN +</h3></div> + +<p> +What would the piano playing world do without the music of Frederic Chopin? +We can hardly think of the piano without thinking of Chopin, since he wrote +almost exclusively for the universal instrument. His music touches the +heart always rather than the head, the emotional message far outweighs the +intellectual meaning. It is vital music—love music, winning the heart +by its tenderness, voicing the highest sentiments by its refinement, its +purity, its perfection of detail and finish. +</p> +<p> +And the man who could compose with such refinement, with such appealing +eloquence, must have possessed those qualities which shine out in his +music. He must have been gentle, chivalrous, high-thoughted. We cannot +avoid expressing ourselves in our work—in whatever we do. +</p> +<p> +The father of this beloved composer was a Frenchman, born in Nancy, +Lorraine, in 1770, the same year Beethoven saw the light in Bonn. He was +carefully brought up, well-bred and well-educated. When a friend of his in +Warsaw, Poland, in the tobacco and snuff trade, then in high repute +with the nobility, needed help with his book-keeping, he sent for the +seventeen-year-old lad. Thus it happened that Nicholas Chopin came to +Warsaw in 1787. It was a time of unrest, when the nation was struggling +for liberty and independence. The young man applied himself to master the +language, and study the character and needs of his adopted country, that +he might be well informed. During the period of insecurity in political +affairs, the tobacco factory had to be closed and Nicholas Chopin looked +for other activity. A few years later we find him in the household of +Countess Skarbek, as a tutor to her son, Frederic. Here he met his bride, +Justina de Krzyzanowska, a young lady of noble but poor family, whom he +married in 1806. She became the mother of his four children, three girls +and a boy. +</p> +<p> +The boy Frederic Chopin, was born on March 1, 1809, in the little village +of Zelazowa Wola, belonging to the Countess Skarbek, about twenty-eight +miles from Warsaw. It is probable the family did not remain here long, for +the young husband was on the lookout for more profitable employment. He was +successful, for on October 1, 1810, he was appointed Professor of French +in the newly founded Lyceum in Warsaw. He also soon organized a boarding +school for boys in his own home, which was patronized by the best Polish +families of the country. +</p> +<p> +Surrounded by refined, cultivated people, in an atmosphere at once moral +and intellectual, little Frederic passed a fortunate childhood. He soon +manifested such fondness for music, especially for the piano, that his +parents allowed him to have lessons, his teacher being Adalbert Zywny, the +best-known master of the city. It is related that Zywny only taught +his little pupil first principles, for the child's progress was so +extraordinary that before long he had mastered all his teacher could +impart, and at twelve he was left to shape his own musical destiny. +</p> +<p> +He early gave proofs of his talents. Before he was eight years old he +played at a large evening company, with such surprising cleverness that it +was predicted he would become another Mozart. The next year he was invited +to take part in a large concert given under distinguished patronage. The +boy was a simple, modest child, and played the piano as the bird sings, +with unconscious art. When he returned home after this concert, his mother +asked: "What did the people like best?" and he answered naïvely: "Oh, mama, +every one was looking at my collar." +</p> +<p> +After this, little Frederic became more than ever the pet of the +aristocracy of Warsaw; his charming manners, his unspoiled nature, his +musical gifts made him welcome in princely homes. He had also begun to +compose; indeed these efforts started soon after he began piano lessons, +and before he could handle a pen. His teacher had to write down what the +little composer played. Among those early pieces were mazurkas, polonaises, +valses and the like. At the age of ten he dedicated a march to Grand Duke +Constantine, who had it scored for band and played on parade. He started +lessons in composition with Joseph Eisner, a celebrated teacher, who became +a life-long adviser and friend. +</p> +<p> +Up to the age of fifteen, Frederic was taught at home, in his father's +school. He now entered the Warsaw Lyceum, and proved a good student, +twice carrying off a prize. With this studiousness was joined a gaiety and +sprightliness that manifested itself in all sorts of fun and mischief. +He loved to play pranks on his sisters, comrades and others, and had a +fondness for caricature, taking off the peculiarities of those about him +with pose and pen. Indeed it was the opinion of a clever member of the +profession, that the lad was born to become a great actor. All the young +Chopins had a great fondness for literature and writing; they occasionally +tried their hand at poetry, and the production of original one-act plays, +written for birthday fêtes and family parties. +</p> +<p> +The most important event of Frederic's fifteenth year was the publication +of his first composition for piano, a Rondo in C minor. This was soon +followed by a set of Variations, Op. 2, on an air from Mozart's "Don +Giovanni." In these early pieces, written perhaps even before he was +fifteen, we find the first stages of his peculiar style. Even at this early +time he was pleased with chords that had the tones spread apart in extended +harmony. As his hands were small he invented a contrivance which separated +the fingers as far apart as possible, in order that he might reach the new +chords more easily. This he wore even during the night. The contrivance +however, did not result in injury to his hands, as did Schumann's efforts +to strengthen his fourth finger. +</p> +<p> +In 1827, Chopin finished his studies at the Lyceum and determined to adopt +music as his profession. He was now seventeen, of slender figure, finely +cut features, high forehead, delicate brows above dreamy, soulful eyes. +Though not weak or sickly, as some accounts make out, he was never very +robust; he would far rather lie under beautiful trees in delightful day +dreams, than take long excursions afoot. One of his aversions was smoking +or tobacco in any form; he never used it in his whole life. He was +vivacious, active, hard working at music and reasonably healthy in early +youth, but not of a hardy organism. His mother and sisters constantly +cautioned him to wrap up in cold or damp weather, and like an obedient son +and good brother, he obeyed. +</p> +<p> +Young Chopin greatly wished to travel and see something of the world. A +much longed-for opportunity to visit Berlin came to him the following +year. An old friend of his father's, Dr. Jarocki, Professor in the Warsaw +University, was invited to attend a Philosophic Congress, presided over +by Alexander von Humboldt, to be held in that city. The good Professor was +willing to take his friend's son under his wing, and Frederic was quite +beside himself with joy, for now he believed he could meet some of the +musical celebrities of Berlin, and hear some great music. As to the latter +his hopes were realized, but he did not meet many musicians, and could +only gaze at them from a distance. It may have been a certain shyness and +reticence that stood in the way, for he wrote home about a concert in the +Singakademie: "Spontini, Zelter and Felix Mendelssohn were all there, but +I spoke to none of these gentlemen, as I did not think it becoming to +introduce myself." Music and things connected with music, music-shops and +piano factories, took up most of his time, as he declined to attend the +meetings of the Congress. +</p> +<p> +"At the time of the Berlin visit," writes Niecks, his biographer, "Chopin +was a lively, well-educated, well-mannered youth, who walked through life, +pleased with its motley garb, but as yet unconscious of the deeper truths, +the immensities of joy and sadness, of love and hate, which lie beneath the +surface." +</p> +<p> +After a stay of two weeks in the Prussian capital, Professor Jarocki and +Frederic started on their return to Poland. During the journey they were +obliged to halt an hour for fresh horses. Chopin began to look about the +little inn for some sort of amusement to while away the time. He soon +discovered in a corner, an old piano, which proved to be in tune. Of course +he lost no time, but sat down and began to improvise on Polish melodies. +Soon his fellow passengers of the stage-coach began to drop in one after +another; at last came the post master with his wife and pretty daughter. +Even when the hour was up and the horses had been put to the chaise, they +begged the young musician to go on and on. Although he remonstrated, saying +it was now time to go, they protested so convincingly that the boy sat down +again and resumed his playing. Afterwards wine was brought in and they all +drank to the health of the young master. Chopin gave them a mazurka for +farewell, then the tall post master caught him up and carried him out to +the coach, and all travelers started away in high spirits. +</p> +<p> +About the middle of July, 1829, Chopin with three young friends, started +out for Vienna. In those days an artist, in order to make himself and his +work known, had to travel about the world and arrange concerts here and +there, introduce himself to prominent people in each place and make them +acquainted with his gifts. The present journey had for its object Vienna, +the city of Beethoven and Schubert and other great masters. +</p> +<p> +Of course the young musician carried many letters of introduction, both to +publishers and influential persons, for whom he played. Every one told +him he ought to give a concert, that it would be a disgrace to parents, +teachers and to himself not to appear in public. At last Frederic overcame +his hesitation. In a letter home he writes; "I have made up my mind; they +tell me I shall create a furore, that I am an artist of the first rank, +worthy of a place beside Moscheles, Herz and Kalbrenner," well-known +musicians of the day. One must forgive the nineteen year old boy, if he +felt a little pride in being classed with these older and more famous +musicians. +</p> +<p> +The concert took place in the Imperial Opera House, just ten days after his +arrival, and from all accounts was a great success. Chopin was more than +satisfied, he was delighted. Indeed his success was so emphatic that a +second concert was given the following week. In both he played some of his +own compositions and improvised as well. +</p> +<p> +"It goes crescendo with my popularity here, and this gives me much +pleasure," he wrote home, at the end of the fortnight, and on the eve of +starting to return. On the way back the travelers visited Prague, Teplitz +and Dresden. A couple of days were spent in each, and then the party +arrived safely in Warsaw. +</p> +<p> +With such an intense nature, friendship and love were two vital forces +controlling life and action. Chopin was devoted to his friends; he clung +to them with effusive ardor, incomprehensible to those less sensitive +and romantic. With Titus Woyciechowski he was heart to heart in closest +intimacy, and wrote him the most adoring letters when they chanced to be +separated. Titus was less demonstrative, but always remained devoted. +</p> +<p> +Love for women was destined to play a large part in the inner life of +Chopin. The first awakening of this feeling came from his admiration of +Constantia Gladowska, a beautiful girl and vocal pupil at the Conservatory +at Warsaw. Strangely enough he admired the young lady for some time at a +distance, and if report be true, never really declared himself to her. But +she filled his thoughts by day, and he confessed to dreaming of her each +night. When she made her début in opera, he hung on every note she sang +and rejoiced in her success but did not make his feelings known to her. +All this pent-up emotion was confined to his piano, in impassioned +improvisations. +</p> +<p> +Seeing no suitable field for his genius in Warsaw and realizing he ought to +leave home and strike out for himself, he yet delayed making the break. He +continued putting off the evil day of parting from home and friends, and +especially putting a wide distance between himself and the object of his +adoration, Constantia. +</p> +<p> +The two years of indecision were fruitful in producing much piano music +and in completing the beautiful E minor Concerto, which was rehearsed with +orchestra and was performed at the third and last concert he ever gave in +Warsaw. This concert was arranged for October 11, 1830. Chopin requested +Constantia Gladowska, whom he had never met, to sing an aria. In the +success of the evening sorrow was forgotten. He wrote to his friend: "Miss +Gladowska wore a white gown with roses in her hair and was wondrously +beautiful; she had never sung so well." +</p> +<p> +After this event, Chopin decided the time had come for him to depart. His +trunk was bought, his clothing ready, pocket-handkerchiefs hemmed; in fact +nothing remained but the worst of all, the leave-taking. On November I, +1830, Elsner and a number of friends accompanied him to Wola, the first +village beyond Warsaw. There they were met by a group of students from the +Conservatory, who sang a cantata, composed by Elsner for the occasion. Then +there was a banquet. During this last meal together, a silver goblet filled +with Polish earth was presented to Chopin in the name of them all. +</p> +<p> +We can imagine the tender leave-takings after that. "I am convinced," +he said, "I am saying an eternal farewell to my native country; I have a +presentiment I shall never return." And so indeed it proved. +</p> +<p> +Again to Vienna, by way of Breslau, Dresden and Prague. In Vienna all was +not as rosy as it had been on his first visit. Haslinger was unwilling +to publish more of his compositions, though there were the two concertos, +études and many short pieces. The way did not open to give a concert. +He was lonely and unhappy, constantly dreaming of home and the beloved +Constantia. From graphic letters to one of his dearest friends, a few +sentences will reveal his inner life. +</p> +<p> +"To-day is the first of January (1831). Oh, how sadly this year begins for +me! I love you all above all things. My poor parents! How are my friends +faring? I could die for you all. Why am I doomed to be here so lonely and +forsaken? You can at least open your hearts to each other. Go and see my +parents—and—Constantia." +</p> +<p> +Although it did not seem advisable to give concerts in Vienna, yet Chopin +made many pleasant acquaintances among the musicians and prominent people, +and was constantly invited. He had planned to go from Vienna to either +Italy or France. As there were political troubles in the former country, he +decided to start for Paris, stopping on the way at a few places. In Munich +he gave a morning concert, in the hall of the Philharmonie, which won him +renown. From Munich he proceeded to Stuttgart, and during a short stay +there, heard the sad news of the taking of Warsaw by the Russians. This +event, it is said, inspired him to compose the C minor Etude, Op. 10, No. +12. +</p> +<p> +The Poles and everything Polish were at that time the rage in Paris. The +young Polish master found ready entrance into the highest musical and +literary circles of this most delightful city of the world. All was +romance, fantasy, passion, which fitted with Chopin's sensitive and +romantic temperament. Little wonder that he became inspired by contact with +some of the greatest in the world of arts and letters. +</p> +<p> +There were Victor Hugo. King of the romanticists, Heine, poet and novelist; +De Musset, Flaubert, Zola, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Baudelaire, Ary +Scheffer, Mérimée, Gautier, Berlioz, Balzac, Rossini, Meyerbeer, +Hiller, Nourrit, to mention a few. Liszt was there too, and George Sand, +Mendelssohn and Kalkbrenner. Chopin called on the last named, who was +considered the first pianist of the day, and played for him. Kalkbrenner +remarked he had the style of Cramer and the touch of Field. He proposed +that Chopin should study three years with him, and he would then become a +great virtuoso. Of course the young artist might have learned something-on +the mechanical side, but at the risk of injuring the originality and style +of his playing. His old friend and teacher Elsner, kept him from doing +this. +</p> +<p> +The first year in Paris Chopin played at a number of concerts and +functions, with ever increasing success. But in spite of the artistic +success, his finances ran low, and he began to consider a trip to America. +Fortunately he met Prince Radziwill on the street at this time, and was +persuaded to play at a Rothschild soirée in the evening. From this moment, +it is said, his prospects brightened, and he secured a number of wealthy +patrons as pupils. Whether this be true or not, he came to know many titled +personages. One has only to turn the pages of his music to note how many +pieces are dedicated to Princess This and Countess That. This mode of life +was reflected in his music, which became more elegant and aristocratic. +</p> +<p> +During the season of 1833 and 1834, Chopin continued to make his way +as composer, pianist and teacher. A letter to friends in Poland, says: +"Frederic looks well and strong; he turns the heads of all the French +women, and makes the men jealous. He is now the fashion." +</p> +<p> +In the spring of 1834 Chopin had been persuaded by Ferdinand Hiller to +accompany him to Aix-la-Chapelle, to attend the Lower Rhine Music Festival. +Before they started Chopin found he had not the money to go, as it had been +spent or given to some needy countryman. Hiller did not like to go alone, +and asked if his friend could think of no way out of the dilemma. At last +Chopin took the manuscript of the E flat Valse, Op. 18, went with it to +Pleyel the publisher, and returned with five hundred francs. They could now +go and enjoy the trip they had planned. +</p> +<p> +In July, 1835, Chopin met his parents at Carlsbad, where his father had +been sent by the Warsaw physicians to take the cure. The young musician, +now famous, had not seen his parents in nearly five years, and the reunion +must have been a happy one. From here he went to Dresden and Leipsic, +meeting Schumann and Mendelssohn. Schumann admired the young Pole greatly +and wrote much about him in his musical magazine. Mendelssohn considered +him a "really perfect virtuoso, whose piano playing was both original +and masterly," but he was not sure whether his compositions were right or +wrong. Chopin also stopped in Heidelberg on the way to Paris, visiting the +father of his pupil Adolph Gutman. He must have been back in Paris about +the middle of October, for the papers mention that "M. Chopin, one of the +most eminent pianists of our epoch, has just made a tour of Germany, which +has been for him a real ovation. Everywhere his admirable talent obtained +the most flattering reception and excited much enthusiasm." +</p> +<p> +The story of Chopin's attraction for Marie Wodzinski and his reported +engagement to her, is soon told. During his visit in Dresden, after leaving +his parents in Carlsbad, he saw much of his old friends, Count Wodzinski +and his family. The daughter, Marie, aged nineteen, was tall and slender, +not beautiful but charming, with soft dark hair and soulful eyes. Chopin +spent all his evenings at their home and saw much of Marie. The last +evening the girl gave him a rose, and he composed a valse for her. +</p> +<p> +The next summer the two met again at Marienbad, and resumed their walks, +talks and music. She drew his portrait, and one day Chopin proposed. She +assured him she would always remain his friend, but her family would never +consent to their marriage. So that brief romance was over. +</p> +<p> +An attachment of a different sort was that with Mme. Dudevant, known in +literature as George Sand. Books have been written about this remarkable +woman. The family at Nohant where she had spent her childhood, where her +two children, Maurice and Solange, lived, and where her husband sometimes +came, became distasteful to her; she wanted to see life. Paris offered it. +Although possessing ample means, she arranged to spend six months in Paris +each year, and live on two hundred and fifty francs a month. She came in +1831. Her <i>ménage</i> was of the simplest—three small rooms, with meals +from a near-by restaurant at two francs; she did the washing herself. +Woman's attire was too expensive, so, as she had worn man's attire when +riding and hunting at Nohant, she saw nothing shocking in wearing it in +Paris. +</p> +<p> +Her literary student life, as she called it, now began. She went about the +streets at all times, in all weathers; went to garrets, studios, clubs, +theaters, coffee-houses, everywhere but the <i>salons</i>. The romance of +society-life as it was lived in the French capital, were the studies she +ardently pursued. From these studies of life grew the several novels she +produced during the years that followed. +</p> +<p> +It is said that Chopin met Mme. Sand at a musical matinée, given by the +Marquis of C, where the aristocracy of genius, wealth and beauty +had assembled. Chopin had gone to the piano and was absorbed in an +improvisation, when lifting his eyes from the keys he encountered the fiery +glances of a lady standing near. Perhaps the truer account of their first +meeting is that given by Chopin's pupil Gutman. Mme. Sand, who had the +faculty of subjugating every man of genius she came in contact with, asked +Liszt repeatedly to introduce her. +</p> +<p> +One morning, early in the year 1837, Liszt called on his brother artist +and found him in good spirits over some new compositions. He wished to play +them to some friends, so it was arranged that a party of them should +come to his rooms that evening. Liszt came with his special friend, +Mme. d'Agoult and George Sand. Afterwards these meetings were frequently +repeated. Liszt poetically describes one such evening, in his "Life of +Chopin." +</p> +<p> +The fastidious musician was not at first attracted to the rather +masculine-looking woman, addicted to smoking, who was short, stout, with +large nose, coarse mouth and small chin. She had wonderful eyes, though, +and her manners were both quiet and fascinating. +</p> +<p> +Her influence over Chopin began almost at once; they were soon seen +together everywhere. Sand liked to master a reserved, artistic nature +such as that of the Polish musician. She was not herself musical, but +appreciated all forms of art. +</p> +<p> +In 1838 Mme. Sand's son Maurice became ill, and she proposed a trip to +Majorca. Chopin went with the party and fell ill himself. There were +many discomforts during their travels, due to bad weather and other +inconveniences. +</p> +<p> +Chopin's health now began to be a source of anxiety to his friends. He had +to be very careful, gave fewer lessons during the season, and spent his +vacations at Nohant. He played rarely in public, though there were two +public concerts in 1841 and '42 at Pleyel's rooms. From 1843 to 1847 he +lived quietly and his life was apparently happy. He was fond of the Sand +children, and amused himself with them when at Nohant. +</p> +<p> +But the breach, which had started some years before, between Mme. Sand +and Chopin, widened as time passed, and they parted in 1847. It was the +inevitable, of course. Chopin never had much to say about it; Sand said +more, while the students asserted she had killed their beloved master. +Probably it all helped to undermine the master's feeble health. His father +passed away in 1844, his sister also, of pulmonary trouble; he was lonely +and ill himself. He gave his last concert in Paris, February 16, 1848. +Though weak he played beautifully. Some one said he fainted in the artist's +room. The loss of Sand, even though he had long wearied of her was the last +drop. +</p> +<p> +To secure rest and change, he undertook a trip to London, for the second +and last time, arriving April 21, 1848. He played at different great houses +and gave two matinées, at the homes of Adelaide Kemble and Lord Falmouth, +June 23, and July 7. These were attended by many titled personages. Viardot +Garcia sang. The composer was thin, pale, and played with "wasted fingers," +but the money helped replenish his depleted purse. +</p> +<p> +Chopin visited Scotland in August of the same year, and stayed with his +pupil Miss Jane Stirling, to whom he dedicated the two Nocturnes, Op. +55. He played in Manchester, August 28; his playing was rather weak, +but retained all its elegance, finish and grace. He was encored for his +familiar Mazurka, Op. 7, No. 1, and repeated it with quite different +nuances. One survivor of this audience remarked subsequently in a letter +to a friend: "My emotion was so great I was compelled to retire to recover +myself. I have heard all the celebrated stars of the musical firmament, but +never has one left such an impression on my mind." +</p> +<p> +Chopin returned to London in November, and left England in January 1849. +His purse was very low and his lodgings in the Rue Chaillot, Paris, were +represented as costing half their value, the balance being paid by a +Russian Countess, who was touched by his need. The generous hearted Miss +Stirling raised 25,000 francs for the composer, so his last days were +cheered by every comfort. He passed away October 17, 1849, and every writer +agrees it was a serene passing. His face was beautiful and young, in +the flower-covered casket, says Liszt, for friends filled his rooms with +blossoms. He was buried from the Madeleine, October thirtieth. The B flat +minor Funeral March, orchestrated by Reber, was given, and during the +service Lefebure Wely played on the organ the E and B minor Preludes. His +grave in Père Lachaise is sought out by many travelers who admire his great +art. It is difficult to find the tomb in that crowded White City, but +no doubt all music lovers seek to bring away at least a leaf—as did +the writer—from the earthly resting place of the most ideal pianist and +composer who ever lived. +</p> +<p> +Chopin was preeminently a composer for the piano. With the exception of +the Trio, Op. 8 and a book of Polish songs, everything he wrote was for his +favorite instrument. There are seventy-one opus numbers in the list, but +often whole sets of pieces are contained in one opus number, as is the case +with the Études, of which there are twelve in Op. 10, and the same in +Op. 25. These Études take up every phase of piano technic; each one has +a definite aim, yet each is a beautiful finished work as music. They have +been edited and re-edited by the greatest masters. +</p> +<p> +The twenty-four Preludes were composed before the trip to Majorca, though +they were perfected and polished while there. Written early in his career, +they have a youthful vigor not often found in later works. "Much in +miniature are these Preludes of the Polish poet," says Huneker. +</p> +<p> +There are four Impromptus and four Ballades, also four Scherzos. In +them the composer is free, fascinating, often bold and daring. The great +Fantaisie, Op. 49, is an epic poem, much as the Barcarolle is a poem of +love. The two Sonatas, not to mention an early effort in this form, are +among the modern classics, which are bound to appear on the programs of +every great pianist of the present, and doubtless of the future. The two +Concertos are cherished by virtuosi and audience alike, and never fail to +make an instant and lasting appeal. +</p> +<p> +And think of the eleven Polonaises, those courtly dances, the most +characteristic and national of his works; the fourteen Valses, beloved of +every young piano student the world over; the eighteen Nocturnes, of starry +night music; the entrancing Mazurkas, fifty-two in number. One marvels, +in merely glancing over the list, that the composer, who lived such a +super-sensitive hectic life, whose days were so occupied with lesson +giving, ever had the time to create such a mass of music, or the energy to +write it. +</p> +<p> +When one considers the amount of it, the beauty, originality and glory +of it, one must acknowledge Frederic Chopin as one of the greatest piano +geniuses of all time. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_13"><!-- RULE4 13 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XIII<br> + <br> +HECTOR BERLIOZ +</h3></div> + +<p> +In the south of France, near Grenoble, is found a romantic spot, La Côte +Saint-André. It lies on a hillside overlooking a wide green and golden +plain, and its dreamy majesty is accentuated by the line of mountains that +bounds it on the southeast. These in turn are crowned by the distant glory +of snowy peaks and Alpine glaciers. Here one of the most distinguished men +of the modern movement in French musical art, Hector Berlioz, first saw the +light, on December 11, 1803. +</p> +<p> +He was an only son of a physician. His father, a learned man, with +the utmost care, taught his little boy history, literature, geography, +languages, even music. Hector was a most romantic, impressionable child, +who peopled nature with fairies and elves, as he lay under great trees and +dreamed fantastic day dreams. Poetry and romantic tales were his delight +and he found much to feed his imagination in his father's large library. +</p> +<p> +His mother's father lived at Meylan, a little village not far from +Grenoble, and there, in this picturesque valley, the family used to spend a +part of each summer. +</p> +<p> +Above Meylan, in a crevice of the mountain, stood a white house amid its +vineyards and gardens. It was the home of Mme. Gautier and her two nieces, +of whom the younger was called Estelle. When the boy Hector saw her for the +first time, he was twelve, a shy, retiring little fellow. Estelle was just +eighteen, tall, graceful, with beautiful dusky hair and large soulful eyes. +Most wonderful of all, with her simple white gown, she wore pink slippers. +The shy boy of twelve fell in desperate love with this white robed +apparition in pink slippers. He says himself: +</p> +<p> +"Never do I recall Estelle, but with the flash of her large dark eyes +comes the twinkle of her dainty pink shoes. To say I loved her comprises +everything. I was wretched, dumb, despairing. By night I suffered +agonies—by day I wandered alone through the fields of Indian corn, or, +like a wounded bird, sought the deepest recesses of my grandfather's +orchard. +</p> +<p> +"One evening there was a party at Mme. Gautier's and various games were +played. In one of them I was told to choose first. But I dared not, my +heart-beats choked me. Estelle, smiling, caught my hand, saying: 'Come, I +will begin; I choose Monsieur Hector.' But, ah, she laughed! +</p> +<p> +"I was thirteen when we parted. I was thirty when, returning from Italy, I +passed through this district, so filled with early memories. My eyes filled +at sight of the white house: I loved her still. On reaching my old home I +learned she was married!" +</p> +<p> +With pangs of early love came music, that is, attempts at musical +composition. His father had taught him the rudiments of music, and soon +after gave him a flute. On this the boy worked so industriously that in +seven or eight months he could play fairly well. He also took singing +lessons, as he had a pretty soprano voice. Harmony was likewise studied by +this ambitious lad, but it was self taught. He had found a copy of Rameau's +"Harmony" among some old books and spent many hours poring over those +labored theories in his efforts to reduce them to some form and sense. +</p> +<p> +Inspired by these studies he tried his hand at music making in earnest. +First came some arrangements of trios and quartettes. Then finally he was +emboldened to write a quintette for flute, two violins, viola and 'cello. +Two months later he had produced another quintette, which proved to be a +little better. At this time Hector was twelve and a half. His father had +set his heart on the boy's following his footsteps and becoming a doctor; +the time was rapidly approaching when a decision had to be made. Doctor +Berlioz promised if his son would study anatomy and thoroughly prepare +himself in this branch of the profession, he should have the finest flute +that could be bought. His cousin Robert shared these anatomical lessons; +but as Robert was a good violinist, the two boys spent more time over music +than over osteology. The cousin, however, really worked over his anatomy, +and was always ready at the lessons with his demonstrations, while Hector +was not, and thus drew upon himself many a reprimand. However he managed to +learn all his father could teach him, and when he was nineteen consented +to go to Paris, with Robert, and—though much against his will—become a +doctor. +</p> +<p> +When the boys reached Paris, in 1822, Hector loyally tried to keep his +promise to his father and threw himself into the studies which were so +repugnant to him. He says he might have become a common-place physician +after all, had he not one night gone to the opera. That night was a +revelation; he became half frantic with excitement and enthusiasm. He went +again and again. Learning that the Conservatoire library, with its wealth +of scores, was open to the public, he began to study the scores of his +adored Gluck. He read, re-read and copied long parts and scenes from these +wonderful scores, even forgetting to eat, drink or sleep, in his wild +enthusiasm. Of course, now, the career of doctor must be given up; there +was no question of that. He wrote home that in spite of father, mother, +relations and friends, a musician he would be and nothing else. +</p> +<p> +A short time after this the choir master of Saint Roch, suggested that +Hector should write a mass for Innocents' Day, promising a chorus and +orchestra, with ample rehearsals, also that the choir boys would copy the +parts. He set to work with enthusiasm. But alas, after one trial of the +completed work, which ended in confusion owing to the countless mistakes +the boys had made in copying the score, he rewrote the whole composition. +Fearing another fiasco from amateur copyists, the young composer wrote out +all the parts himself. This took three months. With the help of a friend +who advanced funds, the mass was performed at Saint Roch, and was well +spoken of by the press. +</p> +<p> +The hostility of Hector's family to music as a profession, died down a bit, +owing to the success of the mass, but started up with renewed vigor +when the son and brother failed to pass the entrance examinations at the +Conservatoire. His father wrote that if he persisted in staying on in Paris +his allowance would be stopped. Lesueur, his teacher, promised to intercede +and wrote an appealing letter, which really made matters worse instead of +better. Then Hector went home himself, to plead his cause in person. He was +coldly received by his family; his father at last consented to his return +to Paris for a time, but his mother forbade it absolutely. In case he +disobeyed her will, she would disown him and never again wished to see his +face. So Hector at last set out again for Paris with no kind look or word +from his mother, but reconciled for the time being with the rest of the +family. +</p> +<p> +The young enthusiast began life anew in Paris, by being very economical, +as he must pay back the loan made for his mass. He found a tiny fifth floor +room, gave up restaurant dinners and contented himself with plain bread, +with the addition of raisins, prunes or dates. He also secured some pupils, +which helped out in this emergency, and even got a chance to sing in +vaudeville, at the enormous sum of 50 francs per month! +</p> +<p> +These were strenuous days for the eager ardent musician. Teaching from +necessity, in order to live, spending every spare moment on composing; +attending opera whenever he got a free ticket; yet, in spite of many +privations there was happiness too. With score under arm, he always made it +a point to follow the performance of any opera he heard. And so in time, +he came to know the sound—the voice as it were, of each instrument in the +orchestra. The study of Beethoven, Weber and Spontini—watching for rare +and unusual combinations of sounds, being with artists who were kind enough +to explain the compass and powers of their instruments, were the ways and +means he used to perfect his art. +</p> +<p> +When the Conservatoire examinations of 1827, came on, Hector tried again, +and this time passed the preliminary test. The task set for the general +competition was to write music for Orpheus torn by the Bacchantes. An +incompetent pianist, whose duty it was to play over the compositions, for +the judges, could seem to make nothing of Hector's score. The six judges, +headed by Cherubini, the Director of the Conservatoire, voted against the +aspirant, and he was thrown out a second time. +</p> +<p> +And now came to Berlioz a new revelation—nothing less than the revelation +of the art of Shakespeare. An English company of actors had come to Paris, +and the first night Hamlet was given, with Henrietta Smithson—who five +years later became his wife—as Ophelia. +</p> +<p> +In his diary Berlioz writes: "Shakespeare, coming upon me unawares, struck +me down as with a thunderbolt. His lightning spirit opened to me the +highest heaven of Art, and revealed to me the best and grandest and truest +that earth can give." He began to worship both the genius of Shakespeare +and the art of the beautiful English actress. Every evening found him at +the theater, but days were spent in a kind of dumb despair, dreaming of +Shakespeare and of Miss Smithson, who had now become the darling of Paris. +</p> +<p> +At last this sort of dumb frenzy spent itself and the musician in him awoke +and he returned to his normal self. A new plan began to take shape in his +mind. He would give a concert of his own works: up to that time no French +musician had done so. Thus he would compel her to hear of him, although he +had not yet met the object of his devoted admiration. +</p> +<p> +It was early spring of the year 1828, when he set to work with frantic +energy, writing sixteen hours a day, in order to carry through the +wonderful plan. The concert, the result of so much labor, was given the +last of May, with varying success. But alas, Miss Smithson, adsorbed in +her own affairs, had not even heard of the excitable young composer who had +dared and risked so much to make a name that might attract her notice. +</p> +<p> +As Berlioz père again stopped his allowance, Hector began to write for +musical journals. At first ignorant of the ways of journalism, his wild +utterances were the despair of his friends; later his trenchant pen was +both admired and feared. +</p> +<p> +For the third time, in June of this year, he entered the Conservatoire +contest, and won a second prize, in this case a gold medal. Two years later +he won the coveted Prix de Rome, which gives the winner five years' study, +free of expense, in the Eternal City. +</p> +<p> +Before this honor was achieved, however, a new influence came into his +life, which for a time overshadowed the passion for Shakespeare and Miss +Smithson. It happened on this wise. +</p> +<p> +Ferdinand Hiller, composer, pianist and one of Hector's intimate friends, +fell deeply in love with Marie Moke, a beautiful, talented girl who, later +on, won considerable fame as a pianist. She became interested in the young +French composer, through hearing of his mental suffering from Hiller. They +were thrown together in a school where both gave lessons, she on the piano +and he on the—guitar! Meeting so constantly, her dainty beauty won a warm +place in the affections of the impressionable Hector. She was but eighteen, +while her admirer was twenty-five. +</p> +<p> +Hiller saw how things were going and behaved admirably. He called it fate, +wished the pair every happiness, and left for Frankfort. +</p> +<p> +Then came the Prix de Rome, which the poor boy had struggled so long to +win, and now did not care so much for, as going to Italy would mean to +leave Paris. On August 23, 1830, he wrote to a friend: +</p> +<p> +"I have gained the Prix de Rome. It was awarded unanimously—a thing never +known before. My sweet Ariel was dying of anxiety when I told her the news; +her dainty wings were all ruffled, till I smoothed them with a word. Even +her mother, who does not look too favorably on our love, was touched to +tears. +</p> +<p> +"On November 1, there is to be a concert at the Theater Italien. I am asked +to write an Overture and am going to take as subject Shakespeare's Tempest; +it will be quite a new style of thing. My great concert, with the Symphonie +Fantastique, will take place November 14, but I must have a theatrical +success; Camille's parents insist on that, as a condition of our marriage. +I hope I shall succeed." +</p> +<p> +These concerts were both successful and the young composer passed from +deepest anxiety to exuberant delight. He wrote to the same friend; +</p> +<p> +"The Tempest is to be played a second time at the opera. It is new, +fresh, strange, grand, sweet, tender, surprising. Fétis wrote two splendid +articles about it for the Revue Musicale.—My marriage is fixed for Easter, +1832, on condition that I do not lose my pension, and that I go to Italy +for one year. My blessed Symphonie has done the deed." +</p> +<p> +The next January Berlioz went home to his family, who were now reconciled +to his choice of music as a profession, and deluged him with compliments, +caresses and tender solicitude. The parents had fully forgiven their gifted +son. +</p> +<p> +"There is Rome, Signore." +</p> +<p> +It was true. The Eternal City lay spread out in purple majesty before the +young traveler, who suddenly realized the grandeur, the poetry of this +heart of the world. The Villa Medici, the venerable ancient palace, +centuries old, had been reserved by the Academié of France as home for her +students, whose sole obligation was to send, once a year, a sample of their +work to the Academié in Paris. +</p> +<p> +When Hector Berlioz arrived in Rome he was twenty-seven, and of striking +appearance. A mass of reddish auburn hair crowned a high forehead; the +features were prominent, especially the nose; the expression was full of +sensitive refinement. He was of an excitable and ardent temperament, but in +knowledge of the world's ways often simple as a child. +</p> +<p> +Berlioz, who was welcomed with many humorous and friendly jests on his +appearance among the other students, had just settled down to work, when +he learned that his Ariel—otherwise Marie Moke—had forsaken him and had +married Pleyel. In a wild state of frenzy he would go to Paris at once and +seek revenge. He started, got as far as Nice, grew calmer, remained at Nice +for a month, during which time the Overture to "King Lear" was written, +then returned to Rome by the way of Genoa and Florence. +</p> +<p> +By July 1832, Berlioz had returned to La Côte Saint André for a home visit. +He had spent a year in Italy, had seen much, composed a number of important +things, but left Rome without regrets, and found the familiar landscape +near his home more fascinating than anything Italy could show. +</p> +<p> +The rest of the summer was spent in the beautiful Dauphiny country, working +on the "Damnation of Faust." In the fall he returned to Paris. The vision +of his Ophelia, as he used to call Miss Smithson, was seldom long absent +from his thoughts, and he now went to the house where she used to live, +thinking himself very lucky to be able to find lodging there. Meeting the +old servant, he learned Miss Smithson was again in Paris, and would manage +a new English theater, which was to open in a few days. But Berlioz was +planning a concert of his own compositions, and did not trust himself +to see the woman he had so long adored until this venture was over. It +happened, however, that some friends induced her to attend the concert, +the success of which is said to have been tremendous. The composer had the +happiness of meeting the actress the same evening. The next day he called +on her. Their engagement lasted nearly a year, opposed by her mother +and sister, and also by Hector's family. The following summer Henrietta +Smithson, all but ruined from her theatrical ventures, and weak from +a fall, which made her a cripple for some years, was married to Hector +Berlioz, in spite of the opposition of their two families. +</p> +<p> +And now there opened to Berlioz a life of stress and struggle, inseparable +from such a nature as his. At one moment he would be in the highest heaven +of happiness, and the next in the depths of despair. His wife's heavy debts +were a load to carry, but he manfully did his best to pay them. We can +be sure that every work he ever produced was composed under most trying +circumstances, of one kind or another. One of his happiest ventures was a +concert of his own compositions, given at the Conservatoire on October +22, 1833. Of it he wrote: "The concert, for which I engaged the very +best artists, was a triumphant success. My musicians beamed with joy all +evening, and to crown all, I found waiting for me a man with long black +hair, piercing eyes and wasted form. Catching my hand, he poured forth a +flood of burning praise and appreciation. It was Paganini!" +</p> +<p> +Paganini commissioned Berlioz to write a solo for his beautiful Strad. +viola. The composer demurred for a time, and then made the attempt. While +the result was not just what the violinist wished, yet the themes afterward +formed the basis for Berlioz' composition "Childe Harold." +</p> +<p> +The next great work undertaken by Berlioz was the Requiem. It seems that, +in 1836, the French Minister of the Interior set aside yearly, 3,000 francs +to be given to a native composer, chosen by the Minister, to compose +a religious work, either a mass or an oratorio, to be performed at the +expense of the Government. +</p> +<p> +"I shall begin with Berlioz," he announced: "I am sure he could write a +good Requiem." +</p> +<p> +After many intrigues and difficulties, this work was completed and +performed in a way the composer considered "a magnificent triumph." +</p> +<p> +Berlioz, like most composers, always wished to produce an opera. "Benvenuto +Cellini" was the subject finally chosen. It took a long time to write, +and perhaps would never have been finished, since Berlioz was so tied to +bread-winning journalistic labors, if a kind friend—Ernest Legouvé—had +not offered to lend him two thousand francs. This loan made him independent +for a little time, and gave him the necessary leisure in which to compose. +</p> +<p> +The "Harold" music was now finished and Berlioz advertised both this and +the Symphonie Fantastique for a concert at the Conservatoire, December +16, 1838. Paganini was present, and declared he had never been so moved by +music before. He dragged the composer back on the platform, where some of +the musicians still lingered, and there knelt and kissed his hand. The next +day he sent Berlioz a check for twenty thousand francs. +</p> +<p> +Berlioz and his wife, two of the most highly strung individuals to be found +anywhere, were bound to have plenty of storm and stress in their daily +life. And so it came about that a separation, at least for a time, seemed +advisable. Berlioz made every provision in his power for her comfort, and +then started out on various tours to make his compositions known. Concerts +were given in Stuttgart, Heckingen, Weimar, Leipsic, and in Dresden two, +both very successful. Others took place in Brunswick, Hamburg, Berlin, +Hanover, finishing at Darmstadt, where the Grand Duke insisted not only on +the composer taking the full receipts for the concert, but, in addition, +refused to let him pay any of the expenses. +</p> +<p> +And now back in Paris, at the treadmill of writing again. Berlioz had +the sort of mentality which could plan, and also execute, big musical +enterprises on a grand scale. It was proposed that he and Strauss should +give a couple of monster concerts in the Exhibition Building. He got +together a body of 1022 performers, all paid except the singers from the +lyric theaters, who volunteered to help for the love of music. +</p> +<p> +It was a tremendous undertaking, and though an artistic success, the +exertion nearly finished Berlioz, who was sent south by his physician. +Resting on the shores of the Mediterranean, he afterwards gave concerts in +Marseilles, Lyons, and Lille and then traveled to Vienna. He writes of this +visit: +</p> +<p> +"My reception by all in Vienna—even by my fellow-plowmen, the critics—was +most cordial; they treated me as a man and a brother, for which I am +heartily grateful. +</p> +<p> +"After my third concert, there was a grand supper, at which my friends +presented me with a silver-gilt baton, and the Emperor sent me eleven +hundred francs, with the odd compliment: 'Tell Berlioz I was really +amused.'" +</p> +<p> +His way now led through Hungary. Performances were given in Pesth and +Prague, where he was royally entertained and given a silver cup. +</p> +<p> +On returning to Paris, he had much domestic trouble to bear. His wife +was paralyzed and his only son, Louis, wished to leave home and become +a sailor—which he did eventually, though much against the wishes of his +parents. +</p> +<p> +The "Damnation of Faust," now finished, was given at the Opéra, and was not +a success. Berlioz then conceived the idea of going to Russia to retrieve +his fortunes. With the help of kind friends, who advanced the money, he was +able to carry out the plan. He left for Russia on February 14, 1847. The +visits to both St. Petersburg and Moscow proved to be very successful +financially as well as artistically. To cap the climax, "Romeo and +Juliette" was performed at St. Petersburg. Then the King of Prussia, +wishing to hear the "Faust," the composer arranged to spend ten days in +Berlin: then to Paris and London, where success was also achieved. +</p> +<p> +Shadows as well as sunshine filled the next few years. The composer was +saddened by the passing of his father. Then a favorite sister also left, +and last of all his wife passed quietly away, March 3, 1854. With all these +sorrows Berlioz was at times nearly beside himself. But as he became +calmer he decided, after half a year, to wed a woman who had been of great +assistance to him in his work for at least fourteen years. +</p> +<p> +The remaining span of Berlioz' life was outwardly more peaceful and happy. +He continued to travel and compose. Everywhere he went he was honored and +admired. +</p> +<p> +Among his later compositions were the Te Deum, "Childhood of Christ," +"Lelio," "Beatrice and Benedict" and "The Trojans." +</p> +<p> +At last, after what he called thirty years of slavery, he was able to +resign his post of critic. "Thanks to 'The Trojans,' the wretched quill +driver is free!" +</p> +<p> +A touching episode, told in his vivid way, was the meeting, late in life, +with his adored Estelle of the pink shoes. He called on her and found a +quiet widow, who had lost both husband and children. They had a poignant +hour of reminiscence and corresponded for some time afterwards. +</p> +<p> +Hector Berlioz passed away March 8, 1869. The French Institute sent a +deputation, the band of the National Guard played selections from his +Funeral Symphony; on the casket lay wreaths from the Saint Cécilia Society, +from the youths of Hungary, from Russian nobles and from the town of +Grenoble, his old home. +</p> +<p> +The music of Berlioz is conceived on large lines, in broad masses of tone +color, with new harmonies and imposing effects. He won a noble place in +art through many trials and hardships. His music is the expression, the +reflection of the mental struggles of a most intense nature. The future +will surely witness a greater appreciation of its merits than has up to now +been accorded it. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_14"><!-- RULE4 14 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XIV<br> + <br> +FRANZ LISZT +</h3></div> + +<p> +Franz Liszt, in his day the king of pianists, a composer whose compositions +still glow and burn with the fire he breathed into them; Liszt the +diplomat, courtier, man of the world—always a conqueror! How difficult to +tell, in a few pages, the story of a life so complex and absorbing! +</p> +<p> +A storm outside: but all was warmth and simple comfort in the large +sitting-room of a steward's cottage belonging to the small estate of +Raiding, in Hungary. +</p> +<p> +It was evening and father Liszt, after the labors of the day were over, +could call these precious hours his own. He was now at the old piano, for +with him music was a passion. He used all his leisure time for study and +had some knowledge of most instruments. He had taught himself the piano, +indeed under the circumstances had become quite proficient on it. To-night +he was playing something of Haydn, for he greatly venerated that master. +Adam Liszt made a striking figure as he sat there, his fine head, with its +mass of light hair, thrown back, his stern features softened by the music +he was making. +</p> +<p> +At a table near sat his wife, her dark head with its glossy braids bent +over her sewing. Hers was a sweet, kindly face, and she endeared herself to +every one by her simple, unassuming manners. +</p> +<p> +Quite near the old piano stood little Franz, not yet six. He was absolutely +absorbed in the music. The fair curls fell about his childish face and his +deep blue eyes were raised to his father, as though the latter were some +sort of magician, creating all this beauty. +</p> +<p> +When the music paused, little Franz awoke as from a trance. +</p> +<p> +"Did you like that, Franzerl?" asked his father, looking down at him. The +child bent his curly head, hardly able to speak. +</p> +<p> +"And do you want to be a musician when you grow up?" Franzerl nodded, then, +pointing to a picture of Beethoven hanging on the wall, exclaimed with +beaming eyes: "I want to be such a musician as he is!" +</p> +<p> +Adam Liszt had already begun to teach his baby son the elements of music, +at the child's earnest and oft-repeated request. He had no real method, +being self-taught himself, but in spite of this fact Franz made remarkable +progress. He could read the notes and find the keys with as much ease as +though he had practised for years. He had a wonderful ear, and his memory +was astonishing. The father hoped his boy would become a great musician, +and carry out the dream which he had failed to realize in himself. +</p> +<p> +Little Franz was born in the eventful year of 1811,—the "year of the +comet." The night of October 21, the night of his birth, the tail of the +meteor seemed to light up the roof of the Liszt home and was regarded as +an omen of destiny. His mother used to say he was always cheerful, loving, +never naughty but most obedient. The child seemed religious by nature, +which feeling was fostered by his good mother. He loved to go to church on +Sundays and fast days. The midnight mass on Christmas eve, when Adam Liszt, +carrying a lantern, led the way to church along the country road, through +the silent night, filled the child's thoughts with mystic awe. +</p> +<p> +Those early impressions have doubtless influenced the creations of Liszt, +especially that part of his "Christus" entitled "Christmas Oratorio." +</p> +<p> +Before Franz was six, as we have seen, he had already begun his musical +studies. If not sitting at the piano, he would scribble notes—for he +had learned without instruction how to write them long before he knew the +letters of the alphabet, or rudiments of writing. His small hands were +a source of trouble to him, and he resorted to all kinds of comical +expedients, such as sometimes playing extra notes with the tip of his nose. +Indeed his ingenuity knew no bounds, when it came to mastering some musical +difficulty. +</p> +<p> +Franz was an open minded, frank, truth-loving child, always ready to +confess his faults, though he seemed to have but few. Strangely enough, +though born an Hungarian, he was never taught to speak his native tongue, +which indeed was only used by the peasants. German, the polite language of +the country, was alone used in the Liszt home. +</p> +<p> +The pronounced musical talent of his boy was a source of pride to Adam +Liszt, who spoke of it to all his friends, so that the little fellow began +to be called "the artist." The result was that when a concert was to be +given at the neighboring Oldenburg, Adam was requested to allow his wonder +child to play. +</p> +<p> +When Franz, now a handsome boy of nine, heard of the concert, he was +overjoyed at the prospect of playing in public. It was a happy day for +him when he started out with his father for Oldenburg. He was to play a +Concerto by Reis, and a Fantaisie of his own, accompanied by the orchestra. +In this his first public attempt Franz proved he possessed two qualities +necessary for success—talent and will. All who heard him on this occasion +were so delighted, that Adam then and there made arrangements to give a +second concert on his own account, which was attended with as great success +as the first. +</p> +<p> +The father had now fully made up his mind Franz was to be a musician. He +decided to resign his post of steward at Raiding and take the boy to Vienna +for further study. +</p> +<p> +On the way to Pressburg, the first stop, they halted to call at Eisenstadt, +on Prince Esterhazy. The boy played for his delighted host, who gave +him every encouragement, even to placing his castle at Pressburg at his +disposal for a concert. The Princess, too, was most cordial, and gave the +boy costly presents when they left. +</p> +<p> +At Pressburg Adam Liszt succeeded in arranging a concert which interested +all the Hungarian aristocracy of the city. It was given in the spacious +drawing-rooms of the Prince's palace, and a notable audience was present. +Little Franz achieved a triumph that night, because of the fire and +originality of his playing. Elegant women showered caresses upon the child +and the men were unanimous that such gifts deserved to be cultivated to the +utmost without delay. +</p> +<p> +When it was learned that father Liszt had not an ample purse, and there +would be but little for Franz's further musical education, six Hungarian +noblemen agreed to raise a subscription which would provide a yearly income +for six years. With this happy prospect in view, which relieved him of +further anxiety, the father wrote to Hummel, now in employ of the Court at +Weimar, asking him to undertake Franz's musical education. Hummel, though a +famous pianist, was of a grasping nature; he wrote back that he was willing +to accept the talented boy as a pupil, but would charge a louis d'or per +lesson! +</p> +<p> +As soon as the father and his boy arrived in Vienna, the best teachers were +secured for Franz. Carl Czerny was considered head of the piano profession. +Czerny had been a pupil of Beethoven, and was so overrun with pupils +himself, that he at first declined to accept another. But when he heard +Franz play, he was so impressed that he at once promised to teach him. His +nature was the opposite of Hummel's, for he was most generous to struggling +talent. At the end of twelve lessons, when Adam Liszt wished to pay +the debt, Czerny would accept nothing, and for the whole period of +instruction—a year and a half—he continued to teach Franz gratuitously. +</p> +<p> +At first the work with such a strict master of technic as Czerny, was very +irksome to the boy, who had been brought up on no method at all, but was +allowed free and unrestrained rein. He really had no technical foundation; +but since he could read rapidly at sight and could glide over the keys with +such astonishing ease, he imagined himself already a great artist. Czerny +soon showed him his deficiencies; proving to him that an artist must have +clear touch, smoothness of execution and variety of tone. The boy rebelled +at first, but finally settled down to hard study, and the result soon +astonished his teacher. For Franz began to acquire a richness of feeling +and beauty of tone wonderful for such a child. Salieri became his teacher +of theory. He was now made to analyze and play scores, also compose little +pieces and short hymns. In all these the boy made fine progress. +</p> +<p> +He now began to realize he needed to know something besides music, and set +to work by himself to read, study and write. He also had great opportunity, +through his noble Hungarian patrons, to meet the aristocracy of Vienna. His +talents, vivacity and grace, his attractive personality, all helped to win +the notice of ladies—even in those early days of his career. +</p> +<p> +After eighteen busy months in Vienna, father Liszt decided to bring his +boy out in a public concert. The Town Hall was placed at his disposal and a +number of fine artists assisted. With beaming face and sparkling eyes, +the boy played with more skill, fire and confidence than he had ever done +before. The concert took place December 1, 1822. On January 12, 1823, Franz +repeated his success in another concert, again at the Town Hall. +</p> +<p> +It was after this second concert that Franz's reputation reached the ears +of Beethoven, always the object of the boy's warmest admiration. Several +times Franz and his father had tried to see the great master, but without +success. Schindler was appealed to and promised to do his best. He wrote in +Beethoven's diary, as the master was quite deaf: +</p> +<p> +"Little Liszt has entreated me to beg you to write him a theme for +to-morrow's concert. He will not break the seal till the concert begins. +Czerny is his teacher—the boy is only eleven years old. Do come to his +concert, it will encourage the child. Promise me you will come." +</p> +<p> +It was the thirteenth of April, 1823. A very large audience filled the +Redouten Saal. When Franz stepped upon the platform, he perceived the great +Beethoven seated near. A great joy filled him. Now he was to play for the +great man, whom all his young life he had worshiped from afar. He put forth +every effort to be worthy of such an honor. Never had he played with such +fire; his whole being seemed thrilled—never had he achieved such success. +In the admiration which followed, Beethoven rose, came upon the platform, +clasped the boy in his arms and kissed him repeatedly, to the frantic +cheers of the audience. +</p> +<p> +The boy Franz Liszt had now demonstrated that already at eleven years old, +he was one of the leading virtuosi of the time; indeed his great reputation +as a pianist dates from this third Vienna concert. The press praised him +highly, and many compared him to the wonderful genius, Mozart. Adam Liszt +wished him now to see more of the world, and make known his great talents, +also to study further. He decided to take the boy to Paris, for there lived +the celebrated composer, Cherubini, at that time Director of the Paris +Conservatoire. +</p> +<p> +On the way to Paris, concerts were given in various cities. In Munich he +was acclaimed "a second Mozart." In Strassburg and Stuttgart he had great +success. +</p> +<p> +Arrived in Paris, father and son visited the Conservatoire at once, for it +would have been a fine thing for the boy to study there for a time, as +it was the best known school for counterpoint and composition. Cherubini, +however, refused to even read the letters of recommendation, saying no +foreigner, however talented, could be admitted to the French National +School of Music. Franz was deeply hurt by this refusal, and begged with +tears to be allowed to come, but Cherubini was immovable. +</p> +<p> +However they soon made the acquaintance of Ferdinand Paër, who offered to +give the child lessons in composition. +</p> +<p> +Franz made wonderful progress, both in this new line of study, and in +becoming known as a piano virtuoso. Having played in a few of the great +houses, he soon found himself the fashion; everybody was anxious for "le +petit Litz" as he was called, to attend and play at their soirées. Franz +thus met the most distinguished musicians of the day. When he played in +public the press indulged in extravagant praise, calling him "the eighth +wonder of the world," "another Mozart," and the like. Of course the father +was overjoyed that his fondest hopes were being realized. Franz stood at +the head of the virtuosi, and in composition he was making rapid strides. +He even attempted an operetta, "Don Sancho," which later had several +performances. +</p> +<p> +The eminent piano maker, Erard, who had a branch business in London and +was about to start for that city, invited Liszt to accompany him and +bring Franz. They accepted this plan, but in order to save expense, it was +decided that mother Liszt, who had joined them in Paris, should return to +Austria and stay with a sister till the projected tours were over. +</p> +<p> +Franz was saddened by this decision, but his entreaties were useless; his +father was stern. The separation was a cruel one for the boy. For a long +time thereafter the mere mention of his mother's name would bring tears. +</p> +<p> +In May, 1824, father and son, with Erard, started for England, and on June +21 Franz gave his first public concert in London. He had already played for +the aristocracy in private homes, and had appeared at Court by command of +King George IV. The concert won him great success, though the English +were more reserved in their demonstrations, and not like the impulsive, +open-hearted French people. He was happy to return to Paris, after the +London season, and to resume his playing in the French salons. +</p> +<p> +The next spring, accompanied by his father, he made a tour of the French +provinces, and then set out for a second trip to England. He was now +fourteen; a mere boy in years, but called the greatest pianist of the day. +He had developed so quickly and was so precocious that already he disliked +being called "le petit Litz," for he felt himself full grown. He wished to +be free to act as he wished. Adam, however, kept a strict watch on all his +movements, and this became irksome to the boy, who felt he was already a +man. +</p> +<p> +But father Liszt's health became somewhat precarious; constant traveling +had undermined it. They remained in Paris quietly, till the year 1826, when +they started on a second tour of French cities till Marseilles was reached, +where the young pianist's success was overwhelming. +</p> +<p> +Returning to Paris, Franz devoted much of his time to ardent study of +counterpoint, under Anton Reicha. In six months' study he had mastered the +difficulties of this intricate art. +</p> +<p> +Adam Liszt and Franz spent the winter of 1826-7 in Switzerland, the boy +playing in all important cities. They returned to Paris in the spring, and +in May, set out again for England on a third visit. Franz gave his first +concert in London on June ninth and proved how much he had gained in power +and brilliancy. Moscheles, who was present, wrote: "Franz Liszt's playing +surpasses in power and the overcoming of difficulties anything that has yet +been heard." +</p> +<p> +The strain of constant travel and concert playing was seriously telling +on the boy's sensitive, excitable nature. He lost his sunny gaiety, grew +quiet, sometimes almost morose. He went much to church, and wanted to +take orders, but his father prevented this step. Indeed the father became +alarmed at the boy's pale face and changed condition, and took him to the +French watering place of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Here both father and son were +benefited by the sea baths and absolute rest. Franz recovered his genial +spirits and constantly gained in health and strength. +</p> +<p> +But with Adam Liszt the gain was only temporary. He was attacked with a +fever, succumbed in a few days and was buried at Boulogne. The loss of his +father was a great blow to Franz. He was prostrated for days, but youth at +last conquered. Aroused to his responsibilities, he began to think for the +future. He at once wrote his mother, telling her what had happened, saying +he would give up his concert tours and make a home for her in Paris, by +giving piano lessons. +</p> +<p> +Looking closer into his finances, of which he had no care before, Franz +found the expenses of his father's illness and death had exhausted their +little savings, and he was really in debt. He decided to sell his grand +piano, so that he should be in debt to no one. This was done, every one was +paid off and on his arrival in Paris his old friend Erard invited him to +his own home till the mother came. +</p> +<p> +It was a sweet and happy meeting of mother and son, after such a long +separation. The two soon found a modest apartment in the Rue Montholon. +</p> +<p> +As soon as his intention to give lessons became known, many aristocratic +pupils came and found him a remarkable teacher. Among his new pupils was +Caroline Saint Cricq, youngest daughter of Count Saint Cricq, then Minister +of the Interior, and Madame his wife. +</p> +<p> +Caroline, scarcely seventeen, the same age as her young teacher, was a +beautiful girl, as pure and refined as she was talented. Under the eyes of +the Countess, the lessons went on from month to month, and the mother did +not fail to see the growing attachment between the young people. But love's +young dream was of short duration. The Countess fell ill and the lessons +had to be discontinued. Caroline did not see her devoted teacher till all +was over. +</p> +<p> +There was now another bond between them, the sympathy over the loss +of their dear ones. The Count had requested that the lessons should be +resumed. But when the young teacher remained too long in converse with his +pupil after the lessons, he was dismissed by the Count, and all their sweet +intercourse came to an abrupt end. +</p> +<p> +Mme. Liszt did all she could to soothe the grief and despair of her son. +For days and weeks he remained at home, neglecting his piano and his work. +He again thought of the church with renewed ardor and told his mother he +now had decided to become a monk. His spirits sank very low; he became +ill, unable to leave the house and it was reported everywhere he had passed +away. +</p> +<p> +Again he rallied and his strong constitution conquered. As strength slowly +returned, so also did his activity and love of life. +</p> +<p> +During his long convalescence he was seized with a great desire for +knowledge, and read everything he could lay hands on. He would often sit +at the piano, busying his fingers with technic while reading a book on the +desk before him. He had formerly given all his time to music and languages; +now he must know literature, politics, history and exact sciences. A word +casually dropped in conversation, would start him on a new line of reading. +Then came the revolution of 1830. Everybody talked politics, and Franz, +with his excitable spirits, would have rushed into the conflict if his +mother had not restrained him. +</p> +<p> +With all this awakening he sought to broaden his art, to make his +instrument speak of higher things. Indeed the spirit must speak through +the form. This he realized the more as he listened to the thrilling +performances of that wizard of the violin, Paganini, who appeared in Paris +in 1831. This style of playing made a deep impression on Liszt. He now +tried to do on the piano what Paganini accomplished on the violin, in +the matter of tone quality and intensity. He procured the newly published +Caprices for violin and tried to learn their tonal secrets, also +transcribing the pieces for piano. +</p> +<p> +Liszt became fast friends with the young composer, Hector Berlioz, and +much influenced by his compositions, which were along new harmonic lines. +Chopin, the young Polish artist, now appeared in Paris, playing his E minor +Concerto, his Mazurkas and Nocturnes, revealing new phases of art. Chopin's +calm composure tranquilized Liszt's excitable nature. From Chopin, Liszt +learned to "express in music the poetry of the aristocratic salon." Liszt +ever remained a true and admiring friend of the Pole, and wrote the poetic +study sketch of him in 1849. +</p> +<p> +Liszt was now twenty-three. Broadened and chastened by all he had passed +through, he resumed his playing in aristocratic homes. He also appeared in +public and was found to be quite a different artist from what the Parisians +had previously known. His bold new harmonies in his own compositions, the +rich effects, showed a deep knowledge of his art. He had transcribed a +number of Berlioz's most striking compositions to the piano and performed +them with great effect. +</p> +<p> +The handsome and gifted young artist was everywhere the object of +admiration. He also met George Sand, and was soon numbered among that +wonderful and dangerous woman's best friends. Later he met the young and +beautiful Countess Laprunarède, and a mutual attraction ensued. The elderly +Count, her husband, pleased with the dashing young musician, invited him to +spend the winter at his chateau, in Switzerland, where the witty Countess +virtually kept him prisoner. +</p> +<p> +The following winter, 1833-34, when the salons opened again, Liszt +frequented them as before. He was in the bloom of youth and fame, when he +met the woman who was to be linked with his destiny for the next ten years. +</p> +<p> +We have sketched the childhood and youth of this wonderful artist up to +this point. We will pass lightly over this decade of his career, merely +stating briefly that the lady—the beautiful Countess d'Agoult, captivated +by the brilliant talents of the Hungarian virtuoso, left her husband and +child, and became for ten years the faithful companion of his travels and +tours over Europe. Many writers agree that Liszt endeavored to dissuade +her from this attraction, and behaved as honorably as he could under the +circumstances. A part of the time they lived in Switzerland, and it was +there that many of Liszt's compositions were written. +</p> +<p> +Of their three children, the boy died very young. Of the girls, Blandine +became the wife of Émile Ollivier, a French literary man and statesman. Her +sister, Cosima, married first Hans von Bülow and later Richard Wagner. +</p> +<p> +In 1843 Liszt intended to take Madame with him to Russia, but instead, +left her and her children in Paris, with his mother, as the Countess was in +failing health. His first concert, in St. Petersburg, realized the enormous +sum of fifty thousand francs—ten thousand dollars. Instead of giving one +concert in Moscow, he gave six. Later he played in Bavaria, Saxony and +other parts of Germany. He then settled in Weimar for a time, being made +Grand Ducal Capellmeister. Then, in 1844-45, longing for more success, he +toured Spain and Portugal. +</p> +<p> +A generous act was his labor in behalf of the Beethoven monument, to be +erected in the master's birthplace, Bonn. The monument was to be given by +subscriptions from the various Princes of Germany. Liszt helped make up the +deficit and came to Bonn to organize a Festival in honor of the event. He +also composed a Cantata for the opening day of the Festival, and in his +enthusiasm nearly ruined himself by paying the heavy expenses of the +Festival out of his own pocket. +</p> +<p> +The political events of 1848 brought him back to Weimar, and he resumed his +post of Court Music Director. He now directed his energies toward making +Weimar the first musical city of Germany. Greatly admiring Wagner's genius, +he undertook to perform his works in Weimar, and to spread his name +and fame. Indeed it is not too much to say that without Liszt's devoted +efforts, Wagner would never have attained his vogue and fame. Wagner +himself testified to this. +</p> +<p> +While living in Weimar, Liszt made frequent journeys to Rome and to Paris. +In 1861 there was a rumor that the object of his visits to Rome was to gain +Papal consent to his marriage with the Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein. During +a visit to Rome in 1864, the musician was unable to resist longer the +mysticism of the church. He decided to take orders and was made an Abbé. +</p> +<p> +Since that time, Abbé Franz Liszt did much composing. He also continued +to teach the piano to great numbers of pupils, who flocked to him from all +parts of the world. Many of the greatest artists now before the public were +numbered among his students, and owe much of their success to his artistic +guidance. +</p> +<p> +In 1871, the Hungarian Cabinet created him a noble, with a yearly pension +of three thousand dollars. In 1875, he was made Director of the Academy at +Budapest. In addition, Liszt was a member of nearly all the European Orders +of Chivalry. +</p> +<p> +Franz Liszt passed away August 1, 1886, in the house of his friend, +Herr Frohlich, near Wagner's Villa Wahnfried, Bayreuth, at the age of +seventy-five. As was his custom every summer, Liszt was in Bayreuth, +assisting in the production of Wagner's masterpieces, when he succumbed to +pneumonia. Thus passed a great composer, a world famous piano virtuoso, and +a noble and kindly spirit. +</p> +<p> +For the piano, his chosen instrument, Liszt wrote much that was beautiful +and inspiring. He created a new epoch for the virtuoso. His fifteen +Hungarian Rhapsodies, B minor Sonata, Concert Études and many +transcriptions, appear on all modern programs, and there are many pieces +yet to be made known. He is the originator of the Symphonic Poem, for +orchestra; while his sacred music, such as the Oratorio "Christus," and +the beautiful "Saint Elizabeth," a sacred opera, are monuments to his great +genius. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_15"><!-- RULE4 15 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XV<br> + <br> +GIUSEPPE VERDI +</h3></div> + +<p> +In the little hamlet of Le Roncole, at the foot of the Apeninnes, a place +that can hardly be found on the map, because it is just a cluster of +workmen's houses, Giuseppe Verdi, one of the greatest operatic composers, +was born, October 9, 1813. +</p> +<p> +There were great wars going on in Europe during that time. When Giuseppe +was a year old, the Russian and Austrian soldiers marched through Italy, +killing and destroying everywhere. Some of them came to Le Roncole for +a few hours. All the women and children ran to the church and locked +themselves in for safety. But these savage men had no respect for the house +of God. They took the hinges off the doors and rushing in murdered and +wounded the helpless ones. Luigia Verdi, with the baby Giuseppe in her +arms, escaped, ran up a narrow staircase to the belfry, and hid herself and +child among some old lumber. Here she stayed in her hiding place, until the +drunken troops were far away from the little village. +</p> +<p> +The babe Giuseppe was born among very poor, ignorant working people, though +his father's house was one of the best known and most frequented among the +cluster of cottages. His parents Carlo Verdi and Luigia his wife, kept +a small inn at Le Roncole and also a little shop, where they sold sugar, +coffee, matches, spirits, tobacco and clay pipes. Once a week the good +Carlo would walk up to Busseto, three miles away, with two empty baskets +and would return with them filled with articles for his store, carrying +them slung across his strong shoulders. +</p> +<p> +Giuseppe Verdi who was to produce such streams of beautiful, sparkling +music,—needing an Act of Parliament to stop them, as once happened,—was +a very quiet, thoughtful little fellow, always good and obedient; sometimes +almost sad, and seldom joined in the boisterous games of other children. +That serious expression found in all of Verdi's portraits as a man was even +noticeable in the child. The only time he would rouse up, was when a hand +organ would come through the village street; then he would follow it as +far as his little legs would carry him, and nothing could keep him in the +house, when he heard this music. Intelligent, reserved and quiet, every one +loved him. +</p> +<p> +In 1820, when Giuseppe was seven years old, Carlo Verdi committed a great +extravagance for an innkeeper; he bought a spinet for his son, something +very unheard of for so poor a man to do. +</p> +<p> +Little Giuseppe practised very diligently on his spinet. At first he could +only play the first five notes of the scale. Next he tried very hard to +find out chords, and one day was made perfectly happy at having sounded the +major third and fifth of C. But the next day he could not find the chord +again, and began to fret and fume and got into such a temper, that he +took a hammer and tried to break the spinet in pieces. This made such a +commotion that it brought his father into the room. When he saw what the +child was doing, he gave a blow on Giuseppe's ear that brought the little +fellow to his senses at once. He saw he could not punish the good spinet +because he did not know enough to strike a common chord. +</p> +<p> +His love of music early showed itself in many ways. One day he was +assisting the parish priest at mass in the little church of Le Roncole. At +the moment of the elevation of the Host, such sweet harmonies were sounding +from the organ, that the child stood perfectly motionless, listening to the +beautiful music, all unconscious of everything else about him. +</p> +<p> +"Water," said the priest to the altar boy. Giuseppe, not hearing him, the +priest repeated the call. Still the child, who was listening to the music, +did not hear. "Water," said the priest a third time and gave Giuseppe such +a sharp kick that he fell down the steps of the altar, hitting his head on +the stone floor, and was taken unconscious into the sacristy. +</p> +<p> +After this Giuseppe was allowed to have music lessons with Baistrocchi, the +organist of the village church. At the end of a year Baistrocchi said there +was nothing more he could teach his young pupil, so the lessons came to an +end. +</p> +<p> +Two years later, when old Baistrocchi died, Giuseppe, who was then only +ten, was made organist in his place. This pleased his parents very much, +but his father felt the boy should be sent to school, where he could learn +to read and write and know something of arithmetic. This would have been +quite impossible had not Carlo Verdi had a good friend living at Busseto, a +shoemaker, named Pugnatta. +</p> +<p> +Pugnatta agreed to give Giuseppe board and lodging and send him to the best +school in the town, all for a small sum of three pence a day. Giuseppe went +to Pugnatta's; and while he was always in his place in school and studied +diligently, he still kept his situation as organist of Le Roncole, walking +there every Sunday morning and back again to Busseto after the evening +service. +</p> +<p> +His pay as organist was very small, but he also made a little money playing +for weddings, christenings and funerals. He also gained a few lire from a +collection which it was the habit of artists to make at harvest time, for +which he had to trudge from door to door, with a sack upon his back. The +poor boy's life had few comforts, and this custom of collections brought +him into much danger. One night while he was walking toward Le Roncole, +very tired and hungry, he did not notice he had taken a wrong path, when +suddenly, missing his footing, he fell into a deep canal. It was very dark +and very cold and his limbs were so stiff he could not use them. Had it not +been for an old woman who was passing by the place and heard his cries, the +exhausted and chilled boy would have been carried away by the current. +</p> +<p> +After two years' schooling, Giuseppe's father persuaded his friend, Antonio +Barezzi of Busseto, from whom he was in the habit of buying wines and +supplies for his inn and shop,—to take the lad into his warehouse. That +was a happy day for Giuseppe when he went to live with Barezzi, who was an +enthusiastic amateur of music. The Philharmonic Society, of which Barezzi +was the president, met, rehearsed and gave all its concerts at his house. +</p> +<p> +Giuseppe, though working hard in the warehouse, also found time to attend +all the rehearsals of the Philharmonics, and began the task of copying out +separate parts from the score. His earnestness in this work attracted +the notice of the conductor, Ferdinando Provesi, who began to take great +interest in the boy, and was the first one to understand his talent and +advised him to devote himself to music. A Canon in the Cathedral offered +to teach him Latin, and tried to make a priest of him, saying, "What do +you want to study music for? You have a gift for Latin and it would be much +better for you to become a priest. What do you expect from your music? +Do you think that some day you will become organist of Busseto? Stuff and +nonsense! That can never be." +</p> +<p> +A short time after this, there was a mass at a chapel in Busseto, where +the Canon had the service. The organist was unable to attend, and Verdi was +called at the last moment to take his place. Very much impressed with the +unusually beautiful organ music, the priest, at the close of the service +desired to see the organist. His astonishment was great when he saw his +scholar whom he had been seeking to turn from the study of music. "Whose +music did you play?" he asked. "It was most beautiful." +</p> +<p> +"Why," timidly answered the boy, "I had no music, I was playing +extempore—just as I felt." +</p> +<p> +"Ah, indeed," replied the Canon; "well I am a fool and you cannot do better +than to study music, take my word for it." +</p> +<p> +Under the good Provesi, Verdi studied until he was sixteen and made such +rapid progress that both Provesi and Barezzi felt he must be sent to Milan +to study further. The lad had often come to the help of his master, both at +the organ and as conductor of the Philharmonic. The records of the society +still have several works written by Verdi at that time—when he was +sixteen—composed, copied, taught, rehearsed and conducted by him. +</p> +<p> +There was an institution in Busseto called the Monte di Pietà, which gave +four scholarships of three hundred francs a year, each given for four +years to promising young men needing money to study science or art. Through +Barezzi one of these scholarships was given to Verdi, it being arranged +that he should have six hundred francs a year for two years, instead of +three hundred francs for four years. Barezzi himself advanced the money +for the music lessons, board and lodging in Milan and the priest gave him +a letter of introduction to his nephew, a professor there, who received him +with a hearty welcome, and insisted upon his living with him. +</p> +<p> +Like all large music schools, there were a great many who presented +themselves for admittance by scholarship and only one to be chosen. +And Verdi did not happen to be that one, Basili not considering his +compositions of sufficient worth. This was not because Verdi was really +lacking in his music, but because Basili had other plans. This did not in +the least discourage Giuseppe, and at the suggestion of Alessando Rolla, +who was then conductor of La Scala, he asked Lavigna to give him lessons in +composition and orchestration. +</p> +<p> +Lavigna was a former pupil of the Conservatoire of Naples and an able +composer. Verdi showed him some of the same compositions he had shown +Basili. After examining them he willingly accepted the young aspirant as a +pupil. +</p> +<p> +Verdi spent most of his evenings at the home of the master, when Lavigna +was not at La Scala and there met many artists. One night it chanced that +Lavigna, Basili and Verdi were alone, and the two masters were speaking +of the deplorable result of a competition for the position of Maître +di Capelle and organist of the Church of San Giovanni di Monza. Out of +twenty-eight young men who had taken part in the competition, not one +had known how to develop correctly the subject given by Basili for the +construction of a fugue. Lavigna, with a bit of mischief in his eyes, +began to say to his friend:—"It is really a remarkable fact. Well, look +at Verdi, who has studied fugue for two short years. I lay a wager he would +have done better than your eight and twenty candidates." +</p> +<p> +"Really?" replied Basili, in a somewhat vexed tone. +</p> +<p> +"Certainly. Do you remember your subject? Yes, you do? Well, write it +down." +</p> +<p> +Basili wrote and Lavigne, giving the theme to Verdi, said: +</p> +<p> +"Sit down there at the table and just begin to work out this subject." +</p> +<p> +Then the two friends resumed their conversation, until Verdi, coming to +them said simply: "There, it is done." +</p> +<p> +Basili took the paper and examined it, showing signs of astonishment as he +continued to read. When he came to the conclusion he complimented the +lad and said: "But how is it that you have written a double canon on my +subject?" +</p> +<p> +"It is because I found it rather poor and wished to embellish it," Verdi +replied, remembering the reception he had had at the Conservatoire. +</p> +<p> +In 1833 his old master Provesi died. Verdi felt the loss keenly, for +Provesi was the one who first taught him music and who showed him how +to work to become an artist. Though he wished to do greater things, he +returned to Busseto to fulfill his promise to take Provesi's place as +organist of the Cathedral and conductor of the Philharmonic, rather big +positions to fill for a young man of twenty. +</p> +<p> +And now Verdi fell in love with the beautiful Margherita, the oldest +daughter of Barezzi, who did not mind giving his daughter to a poor young +man, for Verdi possessed something worth far more than money, and that was +great musical talent. The young people were married in 1836, and the whole +Philharmonic Society attended. +</p> +<p> +About the year 1833-34 there flourished in Milan a vocal society called the +Philharmonic, composed of excellent singers under the leadership of +Masini. Soon after Verdi came to the city, the Society was preparing for +a performance of Haydn's "Creation." Lavigna, with whom the young composer +was studying composition, suggested his pupil should attend the rehearsals, +to which he gladly agreed. It seems that three Maestri shared the +conducting during rehearsals. One day none of them were present at the +appointed hour and Masini asked young Verdi to accompany from the full +orchestral score, adding, "It will be sufficient if you merely play the +bass." Verdi took his place at the piano without the slightest hesitation. +The slender, rather shabby looking stranger was not calculated to inspire +much confidence. However he soon warmed to his work, and after a while +grew so excited that he played the accompaniment with the left hand while +conducting vigorously with the right. The rehearsal went off splendidly, +and many came forward to greet the young conductor, among them were Counts +Pompeo Belgiojoso and Remato Borromes. After this proof of his ability, +Verdi was appointed to conduct the public performance, which was such a +success that it was repeated by general request, and was attended by the +highest society. +</p> +<p> +Soon after this Count Borromes engaged Verdi to write a Cantata for chorus +and orchestra, to honor the occasion of a marriage in the family. Verdi did +so but was never paid a sou for his work. The next request was from Masini, +who urged Verdi to compose an opera for the Teatro Filodramatico, where he +was conductor. He handed him a libretto, which with a few alterations here +and there became "Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio." Verdi accepted the offer +at once, and being obliged to move to Busseto, where he had been appointed +organist, remained there nearly three years, during which time the opera +was completed. On returning to Milan he found Masini no longer conductor, +and lost all hope of seeing the new opera produced. After long waiting +however, the impressario sent for him, and promised to bring out the work +the next season, if the composer would make a few changes. Young and as yet +unknown, Verdi was quite willing. "Oberto" was produced with a fair amount +of success, and repeated several times. On the strength of this propitious +beginning, the impressario, Merelli, made the young composer an excellent +offer—to write three operas, one every eight months, to be performed +either in Milan or in Vienna, where he was impressario of both the +principal theaters. He promised to pay four thousand lire—about six +hundred and seventy dollars—for each, and share the profits of the +copyright. To young Verdi this seemed an excellent chance and he accepted +at once. Rossi wrote a libretto, entitled "Proscritto," and work on the +music was about to begin. In the spring of 1840, Merelli hurried from +Vienna, saying he needed a comic opera for the autumn season, and wanted +work begun on it at once. He produced three librettos, none of them very +good. Verdi did not like them, but since there was no time to lose, chose +the least offensive and set to work. +</p> +<p> +The Verdis were living in a small house near the Porta Ticinesa; the family +consisted of the composer, his wife and two little sons. Almost as soon as +work was begun on the comic opera, Verdi fell ill and was confined to his +bed several days. He had quite forgotten that the rent money, which +he always liked to have ready on the very day, was due, and he had not +sufficient to pay. It was too late to borrow it, but quite unknown to him +the wife had taken some of her most valuable trinkets, had gone out and +brought back the necessary amount. This sweet act of devotion greatly +touched her husband. +</p> +<p> +And now sudden sorrow swept over the little family. At the beginning of +April one of the little boys fell ill. Before the doctors could understand +what was the matter, the little fellow breathed his last in the arms of his +desperate mother. A few days after this, the other child sickened and died. +In June the young wife, unable to bear the strain, passed away and Verdi +saw the third coffin leave his door carrying the last of his dear ones. And +in the midst of these crushing trials he was expected to compose a comic +opera! But he bravely completed his task. "Un Giorno di Regno" naturally +proved a dead failure. In the despondency that followed, the composer +resolved to give up composition altogether. Merelli scolded him roundly +for such a decision, and promised if, some day, he chose to take up his pen +again, he would, if given two months' notice, produce any opera Verdi might +write. +</p> +<p> +At that time the composer was not ready to change his mind. He could not +live longer in the house filled with so many sad memories, but moved to a +new residence near the Corsia di Servi. One evening on the street, he +ran against Merelli, who was hurrying to the theater. Without stopping he +linked his arm in that of the composer and made him keep pace. The manager +was in the depths of woe. He had secured a libretto by Solera, which was +"wonderful, marvelous, extraordinary, grand," but the composer he had +engaged did not like it. What was to be done? Verdi bethought him of the +libretto "Proscritto," which Rossi had once written for him, and he had not +used. He suggested this to Merelli. Rossi was at once sent for and produced +a copy of the libretto. Then Merelli laid the other manuscript before +Verdi. "Look, here is Solera's libretto; such a beautiful subject! Take +it home and read it over." But Verdi refused. "No, no, I am in no humor to +read librettos." +</p> +<p> +"It won't hurt you to look at it," urged Merelli, and thrust it into the +coat pocket of the reluctant composer. +</p> +<p> +On reaching home, Verdi pulled the manuscript out and threw it on the +writing table. As he did so a stanza from the book caught his eye; it was +almost a paraphrase from the Bible, which had been such a solace to him +in his solitary life. He began to read the story and was more and more +enthralled by it, yet his resolution to write no more was not altered. +However, as the days passed there would be here a line written down, there +a melody—until at last, almost unconsciously the opera of "Nabucco" came +into being. +</p> +<p> +The opera once finished, Verdi hastened to Merelli, and reminded him of his +promise. The impressario was quite honorable about it, but would not agree +to bring the opera out until Easter, for the season of 1841-42, was already +arranged. Verdi refused to wait until Easter, as he knew the best singers +would not then be available. After many arguments and disputes, it was +finally arranged that "Nabucco" should be put on, but without extra outlay +for mounting. At the end of February 1842, rehearsals began and on March +ninth the first performance took place. +</p> +<p> +The success of "Nabucco" was remarkable. No such "first night" had been +known in La Scala for many years. "I had hoped for success," said the +composer, "but such a success—never!" +</p> +<p> +The next day all Italy talked of Verdi. Donizetti, whose wealth of +melodious music swayed the Italians as it did later the English, was so +impressed by it that he continually repeated, "It is fine, uncommonly +fine." +</p> +<p> +With the success of "Nabucco" Verdi's career as a composer may be said to +have begun. In the following year "I Lombardi" was produced, followed +by "Ernani." Then came in quick succession ten more operas, among them +"Attila" and "Macbeth." +</p> +<p> +In 1847, we find Verdi in London, where on July 2, at Her Majesty's +Theater, "I Masnadieri" was brought out, with a cast including Lablanche, +Gardoni, Colletti, and above all Jenny Lind, in a part composed expressly +for her. All the artists distinguished themselves; Jenny Lind acted +admirably and sang her airs exquisitely, but the opera was not a success. +No two critics could agree as to its merits. Verdi left England in disgust +and took his music to other cities. +</p> +<p> +The advantage to Verdi of his trips through Europe and to England is shown +in "Rigoletto," brought out in Vienna in 1851. In this opera his true power +manifests itself. The music shows great advance in declamation, which lifts +it above the ordinary Italian style of that time. With this opera Verdi's +second period begins. Two years later "Trovatore" was produced in Rome and +had a tremendous success. Each scene brought down thunders of applause, +until the very walls resounded and outside people took up the cry, "Long +live Verdi, Italy's greatest composer! Vive Verdi!" It was given in Paris +in 1854, and in London the following year. In 1855, "La Traviata" was +produced in Vienna. This work, so filled with delicate, beautiful music, +nearly proved a failure, because the consumptive heroine, who expires on +the stage, was sung by a prima donna of such extraordinary stoutness +that the scene was received with shouts of laughter. After a number of +unsuccessful operas, "Un Ballo in Maschera" scored a success in Rome in +1859, and "La Forza del Destino," written for Petrograd, had a recent +revival in New York. +</p> +<p> +When Rossini passed away, November 13, 1868, Verdi suggested a requiem +should be written jointly by the best Italian composers. The work was +completed, but was not satisfactory on account of the diversity of styles. +It was then proposed that Verdi write the entire work himself. The death of +Manzoni soon after this caused the composer to carry out the idea. Thus the +great "Manzoni Requiem" came into being. +</p> +<p> +In 1869, the Khedive of Egypt had a fine opera house built in Cairo, and +commissioned Verdi to write an opera having an Egyptian subject, for the +opening. The ever popular "Aida" was then composed and brought out in 1871, +with great success. This proved to be the beginning of the master's third +period, for he turned from his earlier style which was purely lyric, to one +with far more richness of orchestration. +</p> +<p> +Verdi had now retired to his estate of Sant'Agata, and it was supposed his +career as composer had closed, as he gave his time principally to the care +of his domain. From time to time it was rumored he was writing another +opera. The rumor proved true, for on February 5, 1887, when Verdi was +seventy-four years old, "Otello" was produced at La Scala, Milan, amid +indescribable enthusiasm. Six years later the musical world was again +startled and overjoyed by the production of another Shakespearean opera, +"Falstaff," composed in his eightieth year. In all, his operas number over +thirty, most of them serious, all of them containing much beautiful music. +</p> +<p> +At Sant'Agata the master lived a quiet, retired life. The estate was +situated about two miles from Busseto, and was very large, with a great +park, a large collection of horses and other live stock. The residence was +spacious, and the master's special bedroom was on the first floor. It was +large, light and airy and luxuriously furnished. Here stood a magnificent +grand piano, and the composer often rose in the night to jot down the +themes which came to him in the silence of the midnight hours. Here "Don +Carlos" was written. In one of the upper rooms stood the old spinet that +Verdi hacked at as a child. +</p> +<p> +Verdi was one of the noblest of men as well as one of the greatest of +musical composers. He passed away in Milan, January 27, 1901, at the age of +eighty-eight. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_16"><!-- RULE4 16 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XVI<br> + <br> +RICHARD WAGNER +</h3></div> + +<p> +One of the most gigantic musical geniuses the world has yet known was +Richard Wagner. Words have been exhausted to tell of his achievements; +books without number have been written about him; he himself, in his +Autobiography, and in his correspondence, has told with minutest detail how +he lived and what his inner life has been. What we shall strive for is the +simple story of his career, though in the simple telling, it may read like +a fairy tale. +</p> +<p> +Richard Wagner first saw the light on May 22, 1813, in Leipsic. Those were +stirring times in that part of the world, for revolution was often on the +eve of breaking out. The tiny babe was but six months old when the father +passed away. There were eight other children, the eldest son being only +fourteen. The mother, a sweet, gentle little woman, found herself quite +unable to support her large family of growing children. No one could blame +her for accepting the hand of her husband's old friend, Ludwig Geyer, in +less than a year after the loss of her first husband. Geyer was a man of +much artistic talent, an actor, singer, author and painter. He thought +little Richard might become a portrait painter, or possibly a musician, +since the child had learned to play two little pieces on the piano. +</p> +<p> +Geyer found employment in a Dresden theater, so the family removed to that +city. But he did not live to see the blossoming of his youngest step-son's +genius, as he passed away on September 30, 1821, when the child was eight +years old. +</p> +<p> +Little Richard showed wonderful promise even in those years of childhood. +At the Kreuzschule, where his education began, he developed an ardent +love for the Greek classics, and translated the first twelve books of the +Odyssey, outside of school hours. He devoured all stories of mythology he +could lay hands on, and soon began to create vast tragedies. He revelled +in Shakespeare, and finally began to write a play which was to combine the +ideas of both Hamlet and King Lear. Forty-two persons were killed off in +the course of the play and had to be brought back as ghosts, as otherwise +there would have been no characters for the last act. He worked on this +play for two years. +</p> +<p> +Everything connected with the theater was of absorbing interest to this +precocious child. Weber, who lived in Dresden, often passed their house +and was observed with almost religious awe by little Richard. Sometimes +the great composer dropped in to have a chat with the mother, who was well +liked among musicians and artists. Thus Weber became the idol of the +lad's boyhood, and he knew "Der Freischütz" almost by heart. If he was not +allowed to go to the theater to listen to his favorite opera, there would +be scenes of weeping and beseeching, until permission was granted for him +to run off to the performance. +</p> +<p> +In 1827 the family returned to Leipsic, and it was at the famous Gewandhaus +concerts that the boy first heard Beethoven's music. He was so fired by +the Overture to "Egmont," that he decided at once to become a musician. But +how—that was the question. He knew nothing of composition, but, borrowing +a treatise on harmony, tried to learn the whole contents in a week. +</p> +<p> +It was a struggle, and one less determined than the fourteen-year-old boy +would have given up in despair. He was made of different stuff. Working +alone by himself, he composed a sonata, a quartette and an aria. At last +he ventured to announce the result of his secret studies. At this news his +relatives were up in arms; they judged his desire for music to be a passing +fancy, especially as they knew nothing of any preparatory studies, and +realized he had never learned to play any instrument, not even the piano. +</p> +<p> +The family, however, compromised enough to engage a teacher for him. But +Richard would never learn slowly and systematically. His mind shot +far ahead, absorbing in one instance the writings of Hoffmann, whose +imaginative tales kept the boy's mind in a continual state of nervous +excitement. He was not content to climb patiently the mountain; he tried +to reach the top at a bound. So he wrote overtures for orchestras, one of +which was really performed in Leipsic—a marvelous affair indeed, with its +tympani explosions. +</p> +<p> +Richard now began to realize the need of solid work, and settled down to +study music seriously, this time under Theodor Weinlig, who was cantor in +the famous Thomas School. +</p> +<p> +In less than six months the boy was able to solve the most difficult +problems in counterpoint. He learned to know Mozart's music, and tried to +write with more simplicity of style. A piano sonata, a polonaise for four +hands and a fantaisie for piano belong to this year. After that he aspired +to make piano arrangements of great works, such as Beethoven's "Ninth +Symphony." Then came his own symphony, which was really performed at +Gewandhaus, and is said to have shown great musical vigor. +</p> +<p> +Instrumental music no longer satisfied this eager, aspiring boy; he must +compose operas. He was now twenty, and went to Würzburg, where his brother +Albert was engaged at the Würzburg Theater as actor, singer and stage +manager. Albert secured for him a post as chorus master, with a salary of +ten florins a month. +</p> +<p> +The young composer now started work on a second opera, the first, called +"The Marriage," was found impracticable. The new work was entitled "The +Fairies." This he finished, and the work, performed years later, was +found to be imitative of Beethoven, Weber, and Marschner; the music was +nevertheless very melodious. +</p> +<p> +Wagner returned to Leipsic in 1834. Soon there came another impetus to this +budding genius: he heard for the first time the great singer Wilhelmina +Schroeder-Devrient, whose art made a deep impression on him. +</p> +<p> +It was a time for rapid impressions to sway the ardent temperament of this +boy genius of twenty-one. He read the works of Wilhelm Heinse, who depicts +both the highest artistic pleasures and those of the opposite sort. Other +authors following the same trend made him believe in the utmost freedom in +politics, literature and morals. Freedom in everything—the pleasures of +the moment—seemed to him the highest good. +</p> +<p> +Under the sway of such opinions he began to sketch the plot of his next +opera, "Prohibition of Love" (Liebesverbot), founded on Shakespeare's +"Measure for Measure." This was while he was in Teplitz on a summer +holiday. In the autumn he took a position as conductor in a small operatic +theater in Magdeburg. Here he worked at his new opera, hoping he could +induce the admired Schroeder-Devrient to be his heroine. +</p> +<p> +Wagner remained in this place about two years and finished his opera there. +The performance of it, for which he labored with great zeal, was a fiasco. +The theater, too, failed soon after and the young composer was thrown +out of work. His sojourn there influenced his after career, as he met +Wilhelmina Planer, who was soon to become his wife. +</p> +<p> +Hearing there was an opening for a musical director at Königsberg, he +traveled to that town, and in due course secured the post. Minna Planer +also found an engagement at the theater, and the two were married on +November 24, 1836; he was twenty-three and she somewhat younger. Kind, +gentle, loving, she was quite unable to understand she was linked with a +genius. Wagner was burdened with debts, begun in Magdeburg and increased +in Königsberg. She was almost as improvident as he. They were like two +children playing at life, with fateful consequences. It was indeed her +misfortune, as one says, that this gentle dove was mismated with an eagle. +But Minna learned later, through dire necessity, to be more economical and +careful, which is more than can be said of her gifted husband. +</p> +<p> +After a year the Königsberg Theater failed and again Wagner was out +of employment. Through the influence of his friend Dorn, he secured a +directorship at Riga, Minna also being engaged at the theater. At first +everything went well; the salary was higher and the people among whom they +were placed were agreeable. But before long debts began to press again, +and Wagner was dissatisfied with the state of the lyric drama, which he was +destined to reform in such a wonderful way. He was only twenty-four, and +had seen but little of the world. Paris was the goal toward which he looked +with longing eyes, and to the gay French capital he determined to go. +</p> +<p> +When he tried to get a passport for Paris, he found it impossible because +of his debts. Not to be turned from his purpose, he, Minna and the great +Newfoundland dog, his pet companion, all slipped away from Riga at night +and in disguise. At the port of Pillau the trio embarked on a sailing +vessel for Paris, the object of all his hopes. The young composer carried +with him one opera and half of a second work—"Rienzi," which he had +written during the years of struggle in Magdeburg and Königsberg. In Riga +he had come upon Heine's version of the Flying Dutchman legend, and the sea +voyage served to make the story more vital. +</p> +<p> +He writes: "This voyage I shall never forget as long as I live; it lasted +three weeks and a half, and was rich in mishaps. Thrice we endured the most +violent storms, and once the captain had to put into a Norwegian haven. The +passage among the crags of Norway made a wonderful impression on my fancy, +the legends of the Flying Dutchman, as told by the sailors, were clothed +with distinct and individual color, heightened by the ocean adventures +through which we passed." +</p> +<p> +After stopping a short time in London, the trio halted for several weeks in +Boulogne, because the great Meyerbeer was summering there. Wagner met +the influential composer and confided his hopes and longings. Meyerbeer +received the poor young German kindly, praised his music, gave him several +letters to musicians in power in Paris, but told him persistence was the +most important factor in success. +</p> +<p> +With a light heart, and with buoyant trust in the future, though with +little money for present necessities, Wagner and his companions arrived in +Paris in September, 1839. Before him lay, if he had but known it, two +years and a half of bitter hardship and privation; but—"out of trials and +tribulations are great spirits molded." +</p> +<p> +There were many noted musicians in the French capital at that time, and +many opportunities for success. The young German produced his letters of +introduction and received many promises of assistance from conductors and +directors. Delighted with his prospects he located in the "heart of elegant +and artistic Paris," without regarding cost. +</p> +<p> +Soon the skies clouded; one hope after another failed. His compositions +were either too difficult for conductors to grasp, or theaters failed on +which he depended for assistance. He became in great distress and could not +pay for the furniture of the apartment, which he had bought on credit. It +was now that he turned to writing for musical journals, to keep the wolf +from the door, meanwhile working on the score of "Rienzi," which was +finished in November, 1840 and sent to Dresden. In later years it was +produced in that city. +</p> +<p> +But the Wagners, alas, were starving in Paris. One of Richard's articles +at this time was called "The End of a Musician in Paris," and he makes the +poor musician die with the words; "I believe in God—Mozart and Beethoven." +It was almost as bad as this for Wagner himself. He determined to turn his +back on all the intrigues and hardships he had endured for over two years, +and set out for the homeland, which seemed the only desirable spot on +earth. +</p> +<p> +The rehearsals for "Rienzi" began in Dresden in July 1842. Wagner had +now finished "The Flying Dutchman," and had completed the outline of +"Tannhäuser," based on Hoffmann's story of the Singers' Contest at the +Wartburg. +</p> +<p> +And now Wagner's star as a composer began to rise and light was seen ahead. +On October 20, 1842 "Rienzi" was produced in the Dresden Opera House and +the young composer awoke the next morning to find himself famous. The +performance was a tremendous success, with singers, public and critics +alike. The performance lasted six hours and Wagner, next day, decided the +work must be cut in places, but the singers loudly protested: "The work was +heavenly," they assured him, "not a measure could be spared." +</p> +<p> +With this first venture Wagner was now on the high road to success, and +spent a happy winter in the Saxon capital. He could have gone on writing +operas like "Rienzi," to please the public, but he aimed far higher. To +fuse all the arts in one complete whole was the idea that had been forming +in his mind. He first illustrated this in "The Flying Dutchman," and it +became the main thought of his later works. This theory made both vocal and +instrumental music secondary to the dramatic plan, and this, at that time, +seemed a truly revolutionary idea. +</p> +<p> +"The Flying Dutchman" was produced at the Dresden Opera House January +2. 1843, with Mme. Schroeder-Devrient as Senta. Critics and public +had expected a brilliant and imposing spectacle like "Rienzi" and were +disappointed. In the following May and June "The Dutchman" was heard in +Riga and Cassel, conducted by the famous violinist and composer, Spohr. +</p> +<p> +In spite of the fact that "The Flying Dutchman" was not then a success, and +in Dresden was shelved for twenty years, Wagner secured the fine post of +Head Capellmeister, at a salary of nearly twelve hundred dollars. This +post he retained for seven years, gaining a great deal of experience in +orchestral conducting, and producing Beethoven's symphonies with great +originality, together with much that was best in orchestral literature. +</p> +<p> +"Tannhäuser" was now complete, and during the following summer, at +Marienbad, sketches for "Lohengrin" and "Die Meistersinger" were +made. During the winter, the book being made he began on the music of +"Lohengrin." In March of the exciting year 1848, the music of "Lohengrin" +was finished. There was a wide difference in style between that work and +"Tannhäuser." And already the composer had in mind a new work to be called +"The Death of Siegfried." He wrote to Franz Liszt, with whom he now began +to correspond, that within six months he would send him the book of the new +work complete. As he worked at the drama, however, it began to spread out +before him in a way that he could not condense into one opera, or even +two; and thus-it finally grew into the four operas of the "Ring of the +Nibelungen." +</p> +<p> +It must not be imagined that Wagner had learned the lesson of carefulness +in money matters, or that, with partial success he always had plenty for +his needs. He had expensive tastes, loved fine clothing and beautiful +surroundings. Much money, too, was needed to produce new works; so that +in reality, the composer was always in debt. The many letters which passed +between Wagner and Liszt, which fill two large volumes, show how Liszt +clearly recognized the brilliant genius of his friend, and stood ready to +help him over financial difficulties, and how Wagner came to lean more and +more on Liszt's generosity. +</p> +<p> +Just what part Wagner played in the revolution of 1848 is not quite clear. +He wrote several articles which were radical protests for freedom of +thought. At all events he learned it would be better for him to leave +Dresden in time. In fact he remained in exile from his country for over +eleven years. +</p> +<p> +Wagner fled to Switzerland, leaving Minna still in Dresden, though in +due time he succeeded in scraping together funds for her to follow him +to Zurich. He was full of plans for composing "Siegfried," while she +continually urged him to write pleasing operas that Paris would like. +Wagner believed the world should take care of him while he was composing +his great works, whereas Minna saw this course meant living on the charity +of friends, and at this she rebelled. But Wagner grew discouraged over +these petty trials, and for five years creative work was at a standstill. +</p> +<p> +How to meet daily necessities was the all absorbing question. A kind +friend, who greatly admired his music, Otto Wesendonck, made it possible +for him to rent, at a low price, a pretty chalet near Lake Zurich, and +there he and Minna lived in retirement, and here he wrote many articles +explaining his theories. +</p> +<p> +During the early years at Zurich Wagner's only musical activity was +conducting a few orchestral concerts. Then, one day, he took out the score +of his "Lohengrin," and read it, something he rarely did with any of his +works. Seized with a deep desire to have this opera brought out, he sent a +pleading letter to Liszt, begging him to produce the work. Liszt faithfully +accomplished this task at Weimar, where he was conducting the Court Opera. +The date chosen was Goethe's birthday, August 28, and the year 1850. Wagner +was most anxious to be present, but the risk of arrest prevented him +from venturing on German soil. It was not till 1861, in Vienna, that +the composer heard this the most popular of all his operas. Liszt was +profoundly moved by the beautiful work, and wrote his enthusiasm to the +composer. +</p> +<p> +Wagner now took up his plan of the Nibelung Trilogy, that is the three +operas and a prologue. Early in 1853 the poem in its new form was complete, +and in February he sent a copy to Liszt, who answered: "You are truly a +wonderful man, and your Nibelung poem is surely the most incredible thing +you have ever done!" +</p> +<p> +So Wagner was impelled by the inner flame of creative fire, to work +incessantly on the music of the great epic he had planned. And work he +must, in spite of grinding poverty and ill health. It was indeed to be the +"Music of the Future." +</p> +<p> +After a brief visit to London, to conduct some concerts for the London +Philharmonic, Wagner was back again in Zurich, hard at work on the +"Walküre," the first opera of the three, as the "Rheingold" was considered +the introduction. By April 1856, the whole opera was finished and sent to +Liszt for his opinion. Liszt and his great friend, Countess Wittgenstein, +studied out the work together, and both wrote glowing letters to the +composer of the deep effect his music made upon them. +</p> +<p> +And now came a halt in the composition of these tremendous music dramas. +Wagner realized that to produce such great works, a special theater +should be built, of adaptable design. But from where would the funds be +forthcoming? While at work on the "Walküre," the stories of "Tristan" and +"Parsifal" had suggested themselves, and the plan of the first was already +sketched. He wrote to Liszt: "As I have never in life felt the bliss of +real love, I must erect a monument to the most beautiful of all my dreams." +The first act of "Tristan and Isolde" was finished on the last day of +the year 1857. In his retreat in Switzerland, the composer longed for +sympathetic, intellectual companionship, which, alas, Minna could not +give him. He found it in the society of Marie Wesendonck, wife of the +kind friend and music lover, who had aided him in many ways. This marked +attention to another aroused Minna's jealousy and an open break was +imminent. The storm, however, blew over for a time. +</p> +<p> +In June, 1858, Wagner was seized with a desire for luxury and quiet, and +betook himself to Venice, where he wrote the second act of "Tristan." +Then came the trouble between Wagner and the Wesendoncks which caused the +composer to leave Zurich finally, on August 17, 1859. Minna returned to +Dresden while Wagner went to Paris, where Minna joined him for a time, +before the last break came. +</p> +<p> +What promised to be a wonderful stroke of good luck came to him here. His +art was brought to the notice of the Emperor, Napoleon III, who requested +that one of his operas should be produced, promising carte blanche for +funds. All might have gone well with music of the accepted pattern. But +"Tannhäuser" was different, its composer particular as to who sang and how +it was done. The rehearsals went badly, an opposing faction tried to drown +the music at the first performance. Matters were so much worse at the +second performance that Wagner refused to allow it to proceed. In spite of +the Emperor's promises, he had borne much of the expense, and left Paris in +disgust, burdened with debt. +</p> +<p> +From Paris Wagner went to Vienna, where he had the great happiness of +hearing his "Lohengrin" for the first time. He hoped to have "Tristan" +brought out, but the music proved too difficult for the singers of that +time to learn. After many delays and disappointments, the whole thing was +given up. Reduced now to the lowest ebb, Wagner planned a concert tour to +earn a living. Minna now left him finally; she could no longer endure life +with this "monster of genius." She went back to her relatives in Leipsic, +and passed away there in 1866. +</p> +<p> +The concert tours extended over a couple of years, but brought few returns, +except in Russia. Wagner became despondent and almost convinced he ought +to give up trying to be a composer. People called him a freak, a madman and +ridiculed his efforts at music making. And yet, during all this troublesome +time, he was at work on his one humorous opera, "Die Meistersinger." On +this he toiled incessantly. +</p> +<p> +And now, when he was in dire need, and suffering, a marvelous boon was +coming to him, as wonderful as any to be found in fairy tale. A fairy +Prince was coming to the rescue of this struggling genius. This Prince was +the young monarch of Bavaria, who had just succeeded to the throne left by +the passing of his father. The youthful Prince, ardent and generous, had +long worshiped in secret the master and his music. One of his first acts on +becoming Ludwig of Bavaria, was to send for Wagner to come to his capital +at once and finish his life work in peace. "He wants me to be with him +always, to work, to rest, to produce my works," wrote Wagner to a friend in +Zurich, where he had been staying. "He will give me everything I need; I +am to finish my Nibelungen and he will have them performed as I wish. All +troubles are to be taken from me; I shall have what I need, if I only stay +with him." +</p> +<p> +The King placed a pretty villa on Lake Starnberg, near Munich, at Wagner's +disposal, and there he spent the summer of 1864. The King's summer palace +was quite near, and monarch and composer were much together. In the autumn +a residence in the quiet part of Munich was set apart for Wagner. Hans von +Bülow was sent for as one of the conductors; young Hans Richter lived +in Munich and later became one of the most distinguished conductors of +Wagner's music. +</p> +<p> +The Bülows arrived in Munich in the early autumn, and almost at once began +the attraction of Mme. Cosima von Bülow and Wagner. She, the daughter +of Liszt, was but twenty five, of deeply artistic temperament, and could +understand the aims of the composer as no other woman had yet done. This +ardent attraction led later to Cosima's separation from her husband and +finally to her marriage with Wagner. +</p> +<p> +The first of the Wagner Festivals under patronage of the King, took place +in Munich June 10, 13, 19, and July 1, 1865. The work was "Tristan and +Isolde," perhaps the finest flower of Wagner's genius, and already eight +years old. Von Bülow was a superb conductor and Ludwig an inspired Tristan. +Wagner was supremely happy. Alas, such happiness did not last. Enemies +sprang up all about him. The King himself could not stem the tide of false +rumors, and besought the composer to leave Munich for a while, till public +opinion calmed down. So Wagner returned to his favorite Switzerland and +settled in Triebschen, near Lucerne, where he remained till he removed to +Bayreuth in 1872. +</p> +<p> +In 1866, the feeling against Wagner had somewhat declined and the King +decided to have model performances of "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin" +at Munich. The Festival began June 11, 1867. The following year "Die +Meistersinger" was performed—June 21, 1868. +</p> +<p> +And now the King was eager to hear the "Ring." It was not yet complete but +the monarch could not wait and ordered "Das Rheingold," the Introduction to +the Trilogy, to be prepared. It was poorly given and was not a success. Not +at all discouraged, he wished for "Die Walküre," which was performed the +following year, June 26, 1870. +</p> +<p> +It had long been Wagner's desire to have a theater built, in which his +creations could be properly given under his direction. Bayreuth had been +chosen, as a quiet spot where music lovers could come for the sole purpose +of hearing the music. He went to live there with his family in April, +1872. Two years later they moved into Villa Wahnfried, which had been built +according to the composer's ideas. Meanwhile funds were being raised +on both sides of the water, through the Wagner Societies, to erect the +Festival Theater. The corner stone was laid on Wagner's birthday—his +fifty-ninth—May 22, 1872. It was planned to give the first performances +in the summer of 1876; by that time Wagner's longed-for project became a +reality. +</p> +<p> +The long-expected event took place in August, 1876. The Festival opened on +the thirteenth with "Das Rheingold," first of the Ring music dramas. On +the following night "Die Walküre" was heard; then came "Siegfried" and +"Götterdämmerung," the third and fourth dramas being heard for the first +time. Thus the Ring of the Nibelungen, on which the composer had labored +for a quarter of a century at last found a hearing, listened to by Kings +and Potentates, besides a most distinguished audience of musicians from all +parts of the world. +</p> +<p> +At last one of Wagner's dreams was realized and his new gospel of art +vindicated. +</p> +<p> +One music drama remained to be written—his last. Failing health prevented +the completion of the drama until 1882. The first performance of this noble +work was given on July 26, followed by fifteen other hearings. After the +exertions attending these, Wagner and his wife, their son Siegfried, Liszt +and other friends, went to Italy and occupied the Vendramin Palace, on the +Grand Canal, Venice. Here he lived quietly and comfortably, surrounded by +those he loved. His health failed more and more, the end coming February +13, 1883. +</p> +<p> +Thus passed from sight one of the most astonishing musicians of all time. +He lives in his music more vitally than when his bodily presence was on +earth, since the world becomes more familiar with his music as time goes +on. And to know this music is to admire and love it. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_17"><!-- RULE4 17 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XVII<br> + <br> +CÉSAR FRANCK +</h3></div> + +<p> +Whatever we learn of César Franck endears him to all who would know and +appreciate the beautiful character which shines through his art. He was +always kind, loving, tender, and these qualities are felt in the music he +composed. Some day we shall know his music better. It has been said of this +unique composer: "Franck is enamored of gentleness and consolation; his +music rolls into the soul in long waves, as on the slack of a moonlit tide. +It is tenderness itself." +</p> +<p> +In Liège, Belgium, it was that César Franck was born, December 10, 1822. +Chopin had come a dozen years earlier, so had Schumann, Liszt and other +gifted ones; it was a time of musical awakening. +</p> +<p> +The country about Liège was peculiarly French, not only in outward +appearance, but in language and sentiment. Here were low hills covered +with pines and beeches, here charming valleys; there wide plains where the +flowering broom flourished in profusion. It was the Walloon country, and +the Francks claimed descent from a family of early Walloon painters of the +same name. The earliest of these painters was Jérome Franck, born away back +in 1540. Thus the name Franck had stood for art ideals during a period of +more than two and a half centuries. +</p> +<p> +When César and his brother were small children, the father, a man of stern +and autocratic nature—a banker, with many friends in the artistic and +musical world—decided to make both his sons professional musicians. +</p> +<p> +His will had to be obeyed, there was no help for it. In the case of César, +however, a musician was what he most desired to become, so that music study +was always a delight. +</p> +<p> +Before he was quite eleven years old, his father took him on a tour of +Belgium. It looked then as though he had started on a virtuoso career, as +the wonder children—Mozart, Chopin, Thalberg, Liszt and others who had +preceded him, had done. The future proved, however, that César's life work +was to be composing, teaching and organ playing, with a quiet life, even in +busy Paris, instead of touring the world to make known his gifts. +</p> +<p> +During this youthful tour of Belgium, he met a child artist, a year or two +older than himself, a singer, also touring as a virtuoso. The little girl +was called Pauline Garcia, who later became famous as Mme. Pauline Viardot +Garcia. +</p> +<p> +When César was twelve he had learned what they could teach him at the Liège +Conservatory, and finished his studies there. His father, ambitious for the +musical success of his sons, emigrated with his family to Paris, in 1836. +César applied for entrance to the Conservatoire, but it was not until the +following year, 1837, that he gained admission, joining Leborne's class in +composition, and becoming Zimmermann's pupil in piano playing. At the end +of the year the boy won a prize for a fugue he had written. In piano he +chose Hummel's Concerto in A minor for his test, and played it off in fine +style. When it came to sight reading, he suddenly elected to transpose the +piece selected a third below the key in which it was written, which he was +able to do at sight, without any hesitation or slip. +</p> +<p> +Such a feat was unheard of and quite against the time-honored rules of +competition. And to think it had been performed by an audacious slip of a +boy of fifteen! The aged Director, none other than Maestro Cherubini, was +shocked out of the even tenor of his way, and declared that a first prize +could not be awarded, although he must have realized the lad deserved it. +To make amends, however, he proposed a special award to the audacious young +pianist, outside the regular competition, to be known as "The Grand Prize +of Honor." This was the first time, and so far as is known, the only time +such a prize has been awarded. +</p> +<p> +César Franck won his second prize for fugue composition in 1839. Fugue +writing had become so natural and easy for him, that he was able to finish +his task in a fraction of the time allotted by the examiners. When he +returned home several hours before the other students had finished, his +father reproached him roundly for not spending more time on the test upon +which so much depended. With his quiet smile the boy answered he thought +the result would be all right. And it was! The next year he again secured +the first prize for fugue; this was in July 1840. The year following he +entered the organ contest, which was a surprise to the examiners. +</p> +<p> +The tests for organ prizes have always been four. First, the accompaniment +of a plain chant, chosen for the occasion; second, the performance of +an organ piece with pedals; third, the improvising of a fugue; fourth, +improvising a piece in sonata form. Both the improvisations to be on themes +set by the examiners. César at once noticed that the two themes could be +combined in such a way that one would set off the other. He set to work, +and soon became so absorbed in this interweaving of melodies that the +improvisation extended to unaccustomed lengths, which bewildered the +examiners and they decided to award nothing to such a tiresome boy. +Benoist, teacher of this ingenious pupil, explained matters with the result +that César was awarded a second prize for organ. +</p> +<p> +He now began to prepare for the highest honor, the Prix de Rome. But here +parental authority interfered. For some unexplained reason, his father +compelled him to leave the Conservatoire before the year was up. It may +have been the father desired to see his son become a famous virtuoso +pianist and follow the career of Thalberg and Liszt. At any rate he +insisted his boy should make the most of his talents as a performer and +should also compose certain pieces suitable for public playing. To this +period of his life belong many of the compositions for piano solo, the +showy caprices, fantaisies and transcriptions. Being obliged to write this +kind of music, the young composer sought for new forms in fingering and +novel harmonic effects, even in his most insignificant productions. Thus +among the early piano works, the Eclogue, Op. 3, and the Ballade, Op. 9, +are to be found innovations which should attract the pianist and musician +of to-day. +</p> +<p> +His very first compositions, a set of three Trios, Op. 1, were composed +while he was still at the Conservatoire, and his father wished them +dedicated "To His Majesty, Leopold I, King of the Belgians." He wished to +secure an audience with the King and have his son present the composition +to his Majesty in person. It may have been for this reason he withdrew the +boy so suddenly from the Conservatoire. However this may have been, the +Franck family returned to Belgium for two years. At the end of that time, +they all returned to Paris, with almost no other resources than those +earned by the two young sons, Josef and César, by private teaching and +concert engagements. +</p> +<p> +And now began for César Franck that life of regular and tireless industry, +which lasted nearly half a century. This industry was expressed in +lesson-giving and composing. +</p> +<p> +One of the first works written after his return to Paris, was a musical +setting to the Biblical story of "Ruth." The work was given in the concert +room of the Conservatoire, on January 4, 1846, when the youthful composer +was twenty-three. The majority of the critics found little to praise in the +music, which, they said, was but a poor imitation of "Le Desert," by David. +One critic, more kindly disposed than the others, said: "M. César Franck is +exceedingly naïve, and this simplicity we must confess, has served him +well in the composition of his sacred oratorio of 'Ruth.'" A quarter of +a century later, a second performance of "Ruth" was given, and the same +critic wrote: "It is a revelation! This score, which recalls by its charm +and melodic simplicity Mehul's 'Joseph,' but with more tenderness and +modern feeling, is certainly a masterpiece." +</p> +<p> +But alas, hard times came upon the Franck family. The rich pupils, who +formed the young men's chief clientèle, all left Paris, alarmed by the +forebodings of the revolution of 1848. Just at this most inopportune +moment, César decided to marry. He had been in love for some time with +a young actress, the daughter of a well-known tragedienne, Madame +Desmousseaux, and did not hesitate to marry in the face of bad times and +the opposition of his parents, who strongly objected to his bringing a +theatrical person into the family. +</p> +<p> +César Franck was then organist in the church of Notre Dame de Lorette, and +the marriage took place there, February 22, 1848, in the very thick of the +revolution. Indeed, to reach the church, the wedding party were obliged to +climb a barricade, helped over by the insurgents, who were massed behind +this particular fortification. +</p> +<p> +Soon after the wedding, Franck, having now lost his pupils—or most of +them—and being continually blamed by his father, whom he could no longer +supply with funds, decided to leave the parental roof and set up for +himself in a home of his own. Of course he had now to work twice as hard, +get new pupils and give many more lessons. But with all this extra labor, +he made a resolve, which he always kept sacredly, which was to reserve an +hour or two each day for composition, or for the study of such musical +and literary works as would improve and elevate his mind. Nothing was ever +allowed to interfere with this resolution, and to it we owe all his great +works. +</p> +<p> +Franck made his first attempt at a dramatic work in 1851, with a libretto +entitled "The Farmer's Man." As he must keep constantly at his teaching +during the day, he devoted the greater part of the night to composition. He +worked so hard that the opera, begun in December 1851, was finished in two +years, but he paid dearly for all this extra labor. He fell ill—a state of +nervous prostration—and was unable for some time to compose at all. +</p> +<p> +It was indeed a time of shadows for the young musician, but the skies +brightened after a while. He had the great good fortune to secure the post +of organist and choir master in the fine new basilica of Sainte Clothilde, +which had lately been erected, and which had an organ that was indeed a +masterpiece. This wonderful instrument kept all its fulness of tone and +freshness of timbre after fifty years of use. "If you only knew how I +love this instrument," Father Franck used to say to the curé of Sainte +Clothilde; "it is so supple beneath my fingers and so obedient to all my +thoughts." +</p> +<p> +As Vincent d'Indy, one of Franck's most gifted and famous pupils, writes: +</p> +<p> +"Here, in the dusk of this organ-loft, which I can never think of without +emotion, he spent the best part of his life. Here he came every Sunday +and feast day—and toward the end of his life, every Friday morning too, +fanning the fire of his genius by pouring out his spirit in wonderful +improvisations, which were often far more lofty in thought than many +skilfully elaborated compositions. And here, too, he must have conceived +the sublime melodies which afterward formed the groundwork of his +'Beatitudes.'" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, we knew it well, we who were his pupils, the way up to that +thrice-blessed organ loft, a way as steep and difficult as that which the +Gospels tell us leads to Paradise. But when we at last reached the little +organ chamber, all was forgotten in the contemplation of that rapt profile, +the intellectual brow, from which seemed to flow without effort a stream of +inspired melody and subtle, exquisite harmonies." +</p> +<p> +César Franck was truly the genius of improvisation. It is said no other +modern organist, not excepting the most renowned players, could hold any +comparison to him in this respect. Whether he played for the service, for +his pupils or for some chosen musical guest, Franck's improvisations were +always thoughtful and full of feeling. It was a matter of conscience to do +his best always. "And his best was a sane, noble, sublime art." +</p> +<p> +For the next ten years Franck worked and lived the quiet life of a teacher +and organist; his compositions during this time were organ pieces and +church music. But a richer inner life was the outgrowth of this period of +calm, which was to blossom into new, deeper and more profoundly beautiful +compositions. +</p> +<p> +One of these new works was "The Beatitudes." For years he had had the +longing to compose a religious work on the Sermon on the Mount. In 1869, he +set to work on the poem, and when that was well under way, began to create, +with great ardor, the musical setting. +</p> +<p> +In the very midst of this absorbing work came the Franco-Prussian war, and +many of his pupils must enter the conflict, in one way or another. Then +early in 1872, he was appointed Professor of Organ at the Conservatoire, +which was an honor he appreciated. +</p> +<p> +The same year, while occupied with the composition of the "Beatitudes," he +wrote and completed his "Oratorio of the Redemption." After this he devoted +six years to the finishing of the "Beatitudes," which occupied ten years +of his activity, as it was completed in 1879. A tardy recognition of his +genius by the Government granted him the purple ribbon as officer of the +Academy, while not until five or six years later did he receive the ribbon +of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. +</p> +<p> +In consequence of this event his pupils and friends raised a fund to cover +expenses of a concert devoted entirely to the master's compositions. These +works were given—conducted by Pasdeloup: Symphonic Poem—"Le Chasseur +Maudit," Symphonic Variations, piano and orchestra, Second Part of "Ruth." +Part II was conducted by the composer and consisted of March and Air de +Ballet, with chorus, from "Hulda" and the Third and Eighth Beatitudes. +</p> +<p> +The Franck Festival occurred January 30, 1887, and was not a very +inspiring performance. The artist pupils of the master voiced to him their +disappointment that his works should not have been more worthily performed. +But he only smiled on them and comforted them with the words: "No, no, you +are too exacting, dear boys; for my part I am quite satisfied." +</p> +<p> +No wonder his pupils called him "Father Franck," for he was ever kind, +sympathetic and tender with them all. +</p> +<p> +During the later years of César Franck's earthly existence, he produced +several masterpieces. Among them the Violin Sonata, composed for Eugene +and Théophile Ysaye, the D minor Symphony, the String Quartet, the two +remarkable piano pieces, Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, Prelude, Aria and +Finale, and finally the Three Chorales for organ, his swan song. His health +gradually declined, due to overwork and an accident, and he passed quietly +away, November 8, 1890. +</p> +<p> +Chabrier, who only survived Franck a few years, ended his touching remarks +at the grave with these words: +</p> +<p> +"Farewell, master, and take our thanks, for you have done well. In you +we salute one of the greatest artists of the century, the incomparable +teacher, whose wonderful work has produced a whole generation of forceful +musicians and thinkers, armed at all points for hard-fought and prolonged +conflicts. We salute, also, the upright and just man, so humane, so +distinguished, whose counsel was sure, as his words were kind. Farewell!" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_18"><!-- RULE4 18 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XVIII<br> + <br> +JOHANNES BRAHMS +</h3><br> +<img src="images/gmm010.jpg" alt="Johannes Brahms" width="431" height="595" border="0"> +</div> + +<p> +It has been truly said that great composers cannot be compared one with +another. Each is a solitary star, revolving in his own orbit. For instance +it is impossible to compare Wagner and Brahms; the former could not have +written the German Requiem or the four Symphonies any more than Brahms +could have composed "Tristan." In the combination of arts which Wagner +fused into a stupendous whole, he stands without a rival. But Brahms is +also a mighty composer in his line of effort, for he created music that +continually grows in beauty as it is better known. +</p> +<p> +Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833. The house at 60 +Speckstrasse still stands, and doubtless looks much as it did seventy years +ago. A locality of dark, narrow streets with houses tall and gabled and +holding as many families as possible. Number 60 stands in a dismal court, +entered by a close narrow passage. A steep wooden staircase in the center, +used to have gates, closed at night. Jakob and Johanna lived in the +first floor dwelling to the left. It consisted of a sort of lobby or half +kitchen, a small living room and a tiny sleeping closet—nothing else. In +this and other small tenements like it, the boy's early years were spent. +It certainly was an ideal case of low living and high thinking. +</p> +<p> +The Brahms family were musical but very poor in this world's goods. The +father was a contra bass player in the theater; he often had to play in +dance halls and beer gardens, indeed where he could. Later he became a +member of the band that gave nightly concerts at the Alster Pavillion. The +mother, much older than her husband, tried to help out the family finances +by keeping a little shop where needles and thread were sold. +</p> +<p> +Little Johannes, or Hannes as he was called, was surrounded from his +earliest years by a musical atmosphere, and must have shown a great desire +to study music. We learn that his father took him to Otto Cossel, to +arrange for piano lessons. Hannes was seven years old, pale and delicate +looking, fair, with blue eyes and a mass of flaxen hair. The father said: +</p> +<p> +"Herr Cossel, I wish my son to become your pupil; he wants so much to learn +the piano. When he can play as well as you do it will be enough." +</p> +<p> +Hannes was docile, eager and quick to learn. He had a wonderful memory +and made rapid progress. In three years a concert was arranged for him, at +which he played in chamber music with several other musicians of Hamburg. +The concert was both a financial and artistic success. Not long after this, +Cossel induced Edward Marxsen, a distinguished master and his own teacher, +to take full charge of the lad's further musical training. Hannes was about +twelve at the time. +</p> +<p> +Marxsen's interest in the boy's progress increased from week to week, as +he realized his talents. "One day I gave him a composition of Weber's," he +says. "The next week he played it to me so blamelessly that I praised him. +'I have also practised it in another way,' he answered, and played me the +right hand part with the left hand." Part of the work of the lessons was +to transpose long pieces at sight; later on Bach's Preludes and Fugues were +done in the same way. +</p> +<p> +Jakob Brahms, who as we have seen was in very poor circumstances, was ready +to exploit Hannes' gift whenever occasion offered. He had the boy play in +the band concerts in the Alster Pavillion, which are among the daily events +of the city's popular life, as all know who are acquainted with Hamburg, +and his shillings earned in this and similar ways, helped out the family's +scanty means. But late hours began to tell on the boy's health. His father +begged a friend of his, a wealthy patron of music, to take the lad to his +summer home, in return for which he would play the piano at any time of day +desired and give music lessons to the young daughter of the family, a girl +of about his own age. +</p> +<p> +Thus it came about that early in May, 1845, Hannes had his first taste +of the delights of the country. He had provided himself with a small dumb +keyboard, to exercise his fingers upon. Every morning, after he had +done what was necessary in the house, Hannes was sent afield by the kind +mistress of the household, and told not to show himself till dinner time. +Perhaps the good mistress did not know that Hannes had enjoyed himself out +of doors hours before. He used to rise at four o'clock and begin his day +with a bath in the river. Shortly after this the little girl, Lischen, +would join him and they would spend a couple of hours rambling about, +looking for bird's nests, hunting butterflies and picking wild flowers. +Hannes' pale cheeks soon became plump and ruddy, as the result of fresh air +and country food. Musical work went right on as usual. Studies in theory +and composition, begun with Marxsen, were pursued regularly in the fields +and woods all summer. +</p> +<p> +When the summer was over and all were back in Hamburg again, Lischen used +to come sometimes to Frau Brahms, of whom she soon grew very fond. But it +troubled her tender heart to see the poor little flat so dark and dreary; +for even the living room had but one small window, looking into the +cheerless courtyard. She felt very sorry for her friends, and proposed to +Hannes they should bring some scarlet runners to be planted in the court. +He fell in with the idea at once and it was soon carried out. But alas, +when the children had done their part, the plants refused to grow. +</p> +<p> +Johannes had returned home much improved in health, and able to play in +several small concerts, where his efforts commanded attention. The winter +passed uneventfully, filled with severe study by day and equally hard labor +at night in playing for the "lokals." But the next summer in Winsen brought +the country and happiness once more. +</p> +<p> +Hannes began to be known as a musician among the best families of Winsen, +and often played in their homes. He also had the chance to conduct a small +chorus of women's voices, called the Choral Society of Winsen. He was +expected to turn his theoretical studies to account by composing something +for this choir. It was for them he produced his "A B C" song for four +parts, using the letters of the alphabet. The composition ended with +the words "Winsen, eighteen-hundred seven and forty," sung slowly and +fortissimo. The little piece was tuneful and was a great favorite with the +teachers, from that day to this. +</p> +<p> +The boy had never heard an opera. During the summer, when Carl Formes, then +of Vienna, was making a sensation in Hamburg, Lischen got her father to +secure places and take them. The opera was the "Marriage of Figaro." Hannes +was almost beside himself with delight. "Lischen, listen to the music! +there was never anything like it," he cried over and over again. The +father, seeing it gave so much pleasure, took the children again to hear +another opera, to their great delight. +</p> +<p> +But the happy summer came to an end and sadness fell, to think Johannes +must leave them, for he had found many kind friends in Winsen. He was over +fifteen now and well knew he must make his way as a musician, help support +the family, and pay for the education of his brother Fritz, who was to +become a pianist and teacher. There was a farewell party made for him in +Winsen, at which there was much music, speech making and good wishes for +his future success and for his return to Winsen whenever he could. +</p> +<p> +Johannes made his new start by giving a concert of his own on September 21, +1848. The tickets for this concert were one mark; he had the assistance of +some Hamburg musicians. In April next, 1849, he announced a second concert, +for which the tickets were two marks. At this he played the Beethoven +"Waldstein Sonata," and the brilliant "Don Juan Fantaisie." These two works +were considered about the top of piano virtuosity. Meanwhile the boy was +always composing and still with his teacher Marxsen. +</p> +<p> +The political revolution of 1848, was the cause of many refugees crowding +into Hamburg on their way to America. One of these was the violinist, +Edward Remenyi, a German Hungarian Jew, whose real name was Hofmann. But it +seemed Remenyi was really in no haste to leave Hamburg. Johannes, engaged +as accompanist at the house of a wealthy patron, met the violinist and was +fascinated by his rendering of national Hungarian music. Remenyi, on his +side, saw the advantage of having such an accompanist for his own use. +So it happened the two played together frequently for a time, until the +violinist disappeared from Germany, for several years. He reappeared in +Hamburg at the close of the year 1852. He was then twenty-two, while Brahms +was nineteen. It was suggested that the two musicians should do a little +concert work together. They began to plan out the trip which became quite a +tour by the time they had included all the places they wished to visit. +</p> +<p> +The tour began at Winsen, then came Cella. Here a curious thing happened. +The piano proved to be a half tone below pitch, but Brahms was equal to the +dilemma. Requesting Remenyi to tune his violin a half tone higher, +making it a whole tone above the piano, he then, at sight, transposed +the Beethoven Sonata they were to play. It was really a great feat, but +Johannes performed it as though it were an every day affair. +</p> +<p> +The next place was Luneburg and there the young musician had such success +that a second concert was at once announced. Two were next given at +Hildesheim. Then came Leipsic, Hanover and after that Weimer, where Franz +Liszt and his retinue of famous pupils held court. Here Johannes became +acquainted with Raff, Klindworth, Mason, Prükner and other well-known +musicians. +</p> +<p> +By this time his relations with Remenyi had become somewhat irksome and +strained and he decided to break off this connection. One morning he +suddenly left Weimar, and traveled to Göttingen. There he met Joseph +Joachim, whom he had long wished to know, and who was the reigning +violinist of his time. Without any announcement, Johannes walked in on +the great artist, and they became fast friends almost at once. Joachim +had never known what it was to struggle; he had had success from the very +start; life had been one long triumph, whereas Johannes had come from +obscurity and had been reared in privation. At this time Johannes was a +fresh faced boy, with long fair hair and deep earnest blue eyes. Wüllner, +the distinguished musician of Cologne, thus describes him: "Brahms, at +twenty, was a slender youth, with long blond hair and a veritable St. +John's head, from whose eyes shone energy and spirit." +</p> +<p> +Johannes was at this time deeply engaged on his piano Sonata in F minor, +Op. 5. He had already written two other piano sonatas, as yet little known. +The Op. 5, is now constantly heard in concert rooms, played by the greatest +artists of our time. +</p> +<p> +In disposition Hannes was kindly and sincere; as a youth merry and gay. A +friend in Düsseldorf, where he now spent four weeks, thus describes him: +</p> +<p> +"He was a most unusual looking young musician, hardly more than a boy, +in his short summer coat, with his high-pitched voice and long fair hair. +Especially fine was his energetic, characteristic mouth, and his earnest, +deep gaze. His constitution was thoroughly healthy; the most strenuous +mental exercise hardly fatigued him and he could go to sleep at any hour of +the day he pleased. He was apt to be full of pranks, too. At the piano +he dominated by his characteristic, powerful, and when necessary, +extraordinarily tender playing." Schumann, whom he now came to know +in Düsseldorf, called him the "young eagle—one of the elect." In fact +Schumann, in his musical journal, praised the young musician most highly. +And his kindness did not stop there. He wrote to Hannes' father, Jakob +Brahms, in Hamburg, commending in glowing terms his son's compositions. +This letter was sent to Johannes and the result was the offering of some +of his compositions to Breitkopf and Härtel for publication. He had already +written two Sonatas, a Scherzo, and a Sonata for piano and violin. The +Sonata in C, now known as Op. I, although not his first work, was the one +in which he introduced himself to the public. For, as he said: "When one +first shows one's self, it is to the head and not to the heels that one +wishes to draw attention." +</p> +<p> +Johannes made his first appearance in Leipsic, as pianist and composer, at +one of the David Quartet Concerts, at which he played his C major Sonata +and the Scherzo. His success was immediate, and as a result, he was able to +secure a second publisher for his Sonata Op. 5. +</p> +<p> +And now, after months of traveling, playing in many towns and meeting with +many musicians and distinguished people, Johannes turned his steps toward +Hamburg, and was soon in the bosom of the home circle. It is easy to +imagine the mother's joy, for Hannes had always been the apple of her eye, +and she had kept her promise faithfully, to write him a letter every week. +But who shall measure the father's pride and satisfaction to have his boy +return a real musical hero? +</p> +<p> +The concert journey just completed was the bridge over which Johannes +Brahms passed from youth to manhood. With the opening year of 1854, he may +be said to enter the portals of a new life. +</p> +<p> +He now betook himself to Hanover, to be near his devoted friend Joachim, +plunged into work and was soon absorbed in the composition of his B major +Piano Trio. Later Schumann and his charming wife, the pianist, came to +Hanover for a week's visit, which was the occasion for several concerts +in which Brahms, Joachim and Clara Schumann took part. Soon after this +Schumann's health failed and he was removed to a sanatorium. In sympathy +for the heavy trial now to be borne by Clara Schumann, both young artists +came to Düsseldorf, to be near the wife of their adored master, Robert +Schumann. There they remained and by their encouragement so lifted the +spirits of Frau Clara that she was able to resume her musical activities. +</p> +<p> +Johann had been doing some piano teaching when not occupied with +composition. But now, on the advice of his musical friends, he decided to +try his luck again as a concert pianist. He began by joining Frau Clara +and Joachim in a concert at Danzig. Each played solos. Johann's were Bach's +"Chromatic Fantaisie" and several manuscript pieces of his own. After this +the young artist went his own way. He played with success in Bremen, also +in Hamburg. It is said he was always nervous before playing, but especially +so in his home city. However all passed off well. He now settled definitely +in Hamburg, making musical trips to other places when necessary. +</p> +<p> +Robert Schumann rallied for a while from his severe malady, and hopes were +held out of his final recovery. Frau Clara, having her little family to +support, resumed her concert playing in good earnest, and appeared with +triumphant success in Vienna, London and many other cities. When possible +Brahms and Joachim accompanied her. Then Schumann's malady took an +unfavorable turn. When the end was near, Brahms and Frau Clara went to +Endenich and were with the master till all was over. On July 31, 1856, a +balmy summer evening, the mortal remains of the great composer were laid to +rest in the little cemetery at Bonn, on the Rhine. The three chief mourners +were: Brahms—who carried a laurel wreath from the wife—Joachim and +Dietrich. +</p> +<p> +Frau Schumann returned to Düsseldorf the next day, accompanied by Brahms +and Joachim. Together they set in order the papers left by the composer, +and assisted the widow in many little ways. A little later she went to +Switzerland to recover her strength, accompanied by Brahms and his sister +Elise. A number of weeks were spent in rest and recuperation. By October +the three musicians were ready to take up their ordinary routine again. +Frau Clara began practising for her concert season, Joachim returned to +his post in Hanover, and Johann turned his face toward Hamburg, giving some +concerts on the way, in which he achieved pronounced success. +</p> +<p> +The season of 1856-7, was passed uneventfully by Brahms, in composing, +teaching and occasional journeys. He may be said to have had four homes, +besides that of his parents in Hamburg. In Düsseldorf, Hanover, Göttingen +and Bonn he had many friends and was always welcome. +</p> +<p> +It may be asked why Brahms, who had the faculty of endearing himself so +warmly to his friends, never married. It is true he sometimes desired +to found a home of his own, but in reality the mistress of his absorbing +passion was his art, to which everything else remained secondary. He never +swerved a hair's breadth from this devotion to creative art, but accepted +poverty, disappointment, loneliness and often failure in the eyes of the +world, for the sake of this, his true love. +</p> +<p> +Johannes was now engaged as conductor of a Choral Society in Detmold, also +as Court Pianist and teacher in the royal family. The post carried with it +free rooms and living, and he was lodged at the Hotel Stadt Frankfort, a +comfortable inn, exactly opposite the Castle, and thus close to the scene +of his new labors. +</p> +<p> +He began his duties by going through many short choral works of the older +and modern masters. With other musicians at Court much chamber music was +played, in fact almost the entire repertoire. The young musician soon +became a favorite at Court, not only on account of his musical genius but +also because of the general culture of his mind. He could talk on almost +any subject. "Whoever wishes to play well must not only practise a great +deal but read many books," was one of his favorite sayings. One of +his friends said, of meetings in Brahms' rooms at night, when his boon +companions reveled in music: "And how Brahms loved the great masters! How +he played Haydn and Mozart! With what beauty of interpretation and delicate +shading of tone. And then his transposing!" Indeed Johann thought nothing +of taking up a new composition and playing it in <i>any</i> key, without a +mistake. His score reading was marvelous. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, all +seemed to flow naturally from under his fingers. +</p> +<p> +The post in Detmold only required Brahms' presence a part of the year, but +he was engaged for a term of years. The other half of the year was spent +in Hamburg, where he resumed his activities of composing and teaching. The +summer after his first winter in Detmold was spent in Göttingen with warm +friends. Clara Schumann was there with her children, and Johann was always +one of the family—as a son to her. He was a famous playfellow for the +children, too. About this time he wrote a book of charming Children's Folk +Songs, dedicated to the children of Robert and Clara Schumann. Johann was +occupied with his Piano Concerto in D minor. His method of working was +somewhat like Beethoven's, as he put down his ideas in notebooks. Later on +he formed the habit of keeping several compositions going at once. +</p> +<p> +The prelude to Johann's artistic life was successfully completed. Then +came a period of quiet study and inward growth. A deeper activity was to +succeed. It opened early in the year 1859, when the young musician traveled +to Hanover and Leipsic, bringing out his Concerto in D minor. He performed +it in the first named city, while Joachim conducted the orchestra. It was +said the work "with all its serious striving, its rejection of the trivial, +its skilled instrumentation, seemed difficult to understand; but the +pianist was considered not merely a virtuoso but a great artist of piano +playing." +</p> +<p> +The composer had now to hurry to Leipsic, as he was to play with the famous +Gewandhaus orchestra. How would Leipsic behave towards this new and serious +music? Johann was a dreamer, inexperienced in the ways of the world; he +was an idealist—in short, a genius gifted with an "imagination, profound, +original and romantic." The day after the concert he wrote Joachim he had +made a brilliant and decided failure. However he was not a whit discouraged +by the apathy of the Leipsigers toward his new work. He wrote: "The +Concerto will please some day, when I have made some improvements, and a +second shall sound quite different." +</p> +<p> +It has taken more than half a century to establish the favor of the +Concerto, which still continues on upward wing. The writer heard the +composer play this Concerto in Berlin, toward the end of his life. He made +an unforgettable figure, as he sat at the piano with his long hair and +beard, turning to gray; and while his technic was not of the virtuoso type, +he created a powerful impression by his vivid interpretation. +</p> +<p> +After these early performances of the Concerto, Johann returned to Hamburg, +to his composing and teaching. He, however, played the Concerto in his +native city on a distinguished occasion, when Joachim was a soloist in +Spohr's Gesang-Scene, Stockhausen in a magnificent Aria, and then Johann, +pale, blond, slight, but calm and self controlled. The Concerto scored a +considerable success at last, and the young composer was content. +</p> +<p> +In the autumn of this year, Johann paid his third visit to Detmold, and +found himself socially as well as musically the fashion. It was the correct +thing to have lessons from him and his presence gave distinction to any +assemblage. But Johann did not wish to waste his time at social functions; +when obliged to be present at some of these events he would remain silent +the entire evening, or else say sharp or biting things, making the hosts +regret they had asked him. His relations with the Court family, however, +remained very pleasant. Yet he began to chafe under the constant demands on +his time, and the rigid etiquette of the little Court. The next season he +definitely declined the invitation to revisit Detmold, the reason given was +that he had not the time, as he was supervising the publication of a number +of his works. Brahms had become interested in writing for the voice, and +had already composed any number of beautiful vocal solos and part songs. +</p> +<p> +We are told that Frau Schumann, Joachim and Stockhausen came frequently to +Hamburg during the season of 1861, and all three made much of Johannes. +All four gave concerts together, and Johannes took part in a performance +of Schumann's beautiful Andante and Variations, for two pianos, while +Stockhausen sang entrancingly Beethoven's Love Songs, accompanied by +Brahms. On one occasion Brahms played his Variations on a Handel Theme, +"another magnificent work, splendidly long, the stream of ideas flowing +inexhaustibly. And the work was wonderfully played by the composer; it +seemed like a miracle. The composition is so difficult that none but a +great artist can attempt it." So wrote a listener at the time. That was in +1861. We know this wonderful work in these days, for all the present time +artists perform it. At each of Frau Schumann's three appearances in +Hamburg during the autumn of this year, she performed one of Brahms' larger +compositions; one of them was the Handel Variations. +</p> +<p> +Although one time out of ten Johann might be taciturn or sharp, the other +nine he would be agreeable, always pleased—good humored, satisfied, like +a child with children. Every one liked his earnest nature, his gaiety and +humor. +</p> +<p> +Johann had had a great longing to see Vienna, the home of so many great +musicians; but felt that when the right time came, the way would open. +And it did. Early in September, 1862, he wrote a friend: "I am leaving on +Monday, the eighth, for Vienna. I look forward to it like a child." +</p> +<p> +He felt at home in Vienna from the start, and very soon met the leading +lights of the Austrian capital. On November 16, he gave his first concert, +with the Helmesberger Quartet, and before a crowded house. It was a +real success for "Schumann's young prophet." Although concert giving was +distasteful, he appeared again on December 20, and then gave a second +concert on January 6, 1863, when he played Bach's Chromatic Fantaisie, +Beethoven's Variations in C minor, his own Sonata Op. 5, and Schumann's +Sonata OP. 11. +</p> +<p> +Johann returned home in May, and shortly after was offered the post of +Conductor of the Singakademie, which had just become vacant. He had many +plans for the summer, but finally relinquished them and sent an acceptance. +By the last of August he was again in Vienna. +</p> +<p> +Now followed years of a busy musical life. Brahms made his headquarters in +Vienna, and while there did much composing. The wonderful Piano Quintette, +one of his greatest works, the German Requiem, the Cantata Rinaldo and +many beautiful songs came into being during this period. Every little while +concert tours and musical journeys were undertaken, where Brahms often +combined with other artists in giving performances of his compositions. A +series of three concerts in Vienna in February and March, 1869, given by +Brahms and Stockhausen, were phenomenally successful, the tickets being +sold as soon as the concerts were announced. The same series was given in +Budapest with equal success. +</p> +<p> +Early in the year 1872, when our composer was nearly forty, we find him +installed in the historic rooms in the third floor of Number 4 Carl's +Gasse, Vienna, which were to remain to the end of his life the nearest +approach to an establishment of his own. There were three small rooms. The +largest contained his grand piano, writing table, a sofa with another table +in front of it. The composer was still smooth of face and looked much as +he did at twenty, judging from his pictures. It was not until several years +later, about 1880, that he was adorned by the long heavy beard, which gave +his face such a venerable appearance. +</p> +<p> +The year 1874, was full of varied excitement. Many invitations were +accepted to conduct his works in North Germany, the Rhine, Switzerland, and +other countries. A tour in Holland in 1876, brought real joy. He played his +D minor Concerto in Utrecht and other cities, conducted his works and was +everywhere received with honors. But the greatest event of this year was +the appearance of his first Symphony. It was performed for the first time +from manuscript in Carlsruhe and later in many other cities. In this work +"Brahms' close affinity with Beethoven must become clear to every musician, +who has not already perceived it," wrote Hanslick, the noted critic. +</p> +<p> +We have now to observe the unwearied energy with which Brahms, during the +years that followed added one after another to his list, in each and every +branch of serious music; songs, vocal duets, choral and instrumental works. +In the summer of 1877 came the Second Symphony. In 1879 appeared the great +Violin Concerto, now acclaimed as one of the few masterpieces for that +instrument. It was performed by Joachim at the Gewandhaus, Leipsic, early +in the year. There were already four Sonatas for Piano and Violin. The +Sonata in G, the Rhapsodies Op. 79 and the third and fourth books of +Hungarian Dances, as duets, were the publications of 1880. He now wrote a +new Piano Concerto, in B flat, which he played in Stuttgart for the +first time, November 22, 1881. In 1883 the Third Symphony appeared, which +revealed him at the zenith of his powers. This work celebrated his fiftieth +birthday. +</p> +<p> +The Fourth Symphony was completed during the summer of 1885. Then came the +Gipsy Songs. +</p> +<p> +From 1889 onward, Brahms chose for his summer sojourn the town of Ischl, in +the Salzkammergut. The pretty cottage where he stayed was on the outskirts +of the town, near the rushing river Traun. He always dined at the "Keller" +of the Hotel Elizabeth, which was reached by a flight of descending steps. +In this quiet country, among mountain, valley and stream, he could compose +at ease and also see his friends at the end of the day. +</p> +<p> +A visit to Italy in the spring of 1890, afforded rest, refreshment and many +pleasant incidents. +</p> +<p> +The "Four Serious Songs," were published in the summer of 1896. At this +time Brahms had been settled in his rooms at Ischl scarcely a fortnight +when he was profoundly shaken by news of Clara Schumann's death. She passed +peacefully away in Frankfort, and was laid beside her husband, in Bonn, May +24. Brahms was present, together with many musicians and celebrities. +</p> +<p> +The master felt this loss keenly. He spent the summer in Ischl as usual, +composing, among other things, the Eleven Choral Preludes. Most of these +have death for their subject, showing that his mind was taken up with +the idea. His friends noticed he had lost his ruddy color and that his +complexion was pale. In the autumn he went to Carlsbad for the cure. +</p> +<p> +After six weeks he returned to Vienna, but not improved, as he had become +very thin and walked with faltering step. He loved to be with his friends, +the Fellingers, as much as possible, as well as with other friends. He +spent Christmas eve with them, and dined there the next day. From this +time on he grew worse. He was very gentle the last months of his life, and +touchingly grateful for every attention shown him. Every evening he +would place himself at the piano and improvise for half an hour. When too +fatigued to continue, he would sit at the window till long after darkness +had fallen. He gradually grew weaker till he passed peacefully away, April +3, 1897. +</p> +<p> +The offer of an honorary grave was made by the city of Vienna, and he has +found resting place near Beethoven and Mozart, just as he had wished. +</p> +<p> +Memorial tablets have been placed on the houses in which Brahms lived in +Vienna, Ischl and Thun, also on the house of his birth, in Hamburg. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_19"><!-- RULE4 19 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XIX<br> + <br> +EDWARD GRIEG +</h3></div> + +<pre> + "<i>From every point of view Grieg is one of the most original + geniuses in the musical world of the present or past. His songs are + a mine of melody, surpassed in wealth only by Schubert, and that + only because there are more of Schubert's. In originality of + harmony and modulation he has only six equals. Bach, Schubert, + Chopin, Schumann, Wagner and Liszt. In rhythmic invention and + combination he is inexhaustible, and as orchestrator he ranks among + the most fascinating</i>." +</pre> +<div align="center">HENRY T. FINCK</div> +<p> </p> + +<p> +Edward Hargarup Grieg, "the Chopin of the North," was a unique personality, +as well as an exceptional musician and composer. While not a "wonder +child," in the sense that Mozart, Chopin and Liszt were, he early showed +his love for music and his rapt enjoyment of the music of the home circle. +Fortunately he lived and breathed in a musical atmosphere from his earliest +babyhood. His mother was a fine musician and singer herself, and with +loving care she fostered the desire for it and the early studies of it in +her son. She was his first teacher, for she kept up her own musical studies +after her marriage, and continued to appear in concerts in Bergen, where +the family lived. Little Edward, one of five children, seemed to inherit +the mother's musical talent and had vivid recollections of the rhythmic +animation and spirit with which she played the works of Weber, who was one +of her favorite composers. +</p> +<p> +The piano was a world of mystery to the sensitive musical child. His baby +fingers explored the white keys to see what they sounded like. When he +found two notes together, forming an interval of a third, they pleased him +better than one alone. Afterwards three keys as a triad, were better yet, +and when he could grasp a chord of four or five tones with both hands, he +was overjoyed. Meanwhile there was much music to hear. His mother practised +daily herself, and entertained her musical friends in weekly soirées. Here +the best classics were performed with zeal and true feeling, while little +Edward listened and absorbed music in every pore. +</p> +<p> +When he was six years old piano lessons began. Mme. Grieg proved a strict +teacher, who did not allow any trifling; the dreamy child found he could +not idle away his time. As he wrote later: "Only too soon it became clear +to me I had to practise just what was unpleasant. Had I not inherited my +mother's irrepressible energy as well as her musical capacity, I should +never have succeeded in passing from dreams to deeds." +</p> +<p> +But dreams were turned into deeds before long, for the child tried to set +down on paper the little melodies that haunted him. It is said he began to +do this at the age of nine. A really serious attempt was made when he was +twelve or thirteen. This was a set of variations for piano, on a German +melody. He brought it to school one day to show one of the boys. The +teacher caught sight of it and reprimanded the young composer soundly, for +thus idling his time. It seems that in school he was fond of dreaming away +the hours, just as he did at the piano. +</p> +<p> +The truth was that school life was very unsympathetic to him, very narrow +and mechanical, and it is no wonder that he took every opportunity to +escape and play truant. He loved poetry and knew all the poems in the +reading books by heart; he was fond, too, of declaiming them in season and +out of season. +</p> +<p> +With the home atmosphere he enjoyed, the boy Grieg early became familiar +with names of the great composers and their works. One of his idols was +Chopin, whose strangely beautiful harmonies were just beginning to be +heard, though not yet appreciated. His music must have had an influence +over the lad's own efforts, for he always remained true to this ideal. +</p> +<p> +Another of his admirations was for Ole Bull, the famous Norwegian +violinist. One day in summer, probably in 1858, when Edward was about +fifteen, this "idol of his dreams" rode up to the Grieg home on horseback. +The family had lived for the past five years at the fine estate of Landaas, +near Bergen. The great violinist had just returned from America and was +visiting his native town, for he too was born in Bergen. That summer he +came often to the Griegs' and soon discovered the great desire of young +Edward for a musical career. He got the boy to improvise at the piano, +and also to show him the little pieces he had already composed. There were +consultations with father and mother, and then, finally, the violinist came +to the boy, stroked his cheek and announced; "You are to go to Leipsic and +become a musician." +</p> +<p> +Edward was overjoyed. To think of gaining his heart's desire so easily and +naturally; it all seemed like a fairy tale, too good to be true. +</p> +<p> +The Leipsic Conservatory, which had been founded by Mendelssohn, and later +directed for a short time by Schumann, was now in the hands of Moscheles, +distinguished pianist and conductor. Richter and Hauptmann, also Papperitz, +taught theory; Wenzel, Carl Reinecke and Plaidy, piano. +</p> +<p> +Some of these later gained the reputation of being rather dry and pedantic; +they certainly were far from comprehending the romantic trend of the +impressionable new pupil, for they tried to curb his originality and square +it with rules and customs. This process was very irksome, for the boy +wanted to go his own gait. +</p> +<p> +Among his fellow students at the Conservatory were at least a half dozen +who later made names for themselves. They were: Arthur Sullivan, Walter +Bache, Franklin Taylor, Edward Dannreuther and J.F. Barnett. All these were +making rapid progress in spite of dry methods. So Edward Grieg began to +realize that if he would also accomplish anything, he must buckle down to +work. He now began to study with frantic ardor, with scarcely time left +for eating and sleeping. The result of this was a complete breakdown in +the spring of 1860, with several ailments, incipient lung trouble being the +most serious. Indeed it was serious enough to deprive Grieg of one lung, +leaving him for the remainder of his life somewhat delicate. +</p> +<p> +When his mother learned of his illness, she hurried to Leipsic and took him +back to Bergen, where he slowly regained his health. His parents now begged +him to remain at home, but he wished to return to Leipsic. He did so, +throwing himself into his studies with great zeal. In the spring of 1862, +after a course of four years, he passed his examinations with credit. On +this occasion he played some of his compositions—the four which have been +printed as Op. 1—and achieved success, both as composer and pianist. +</p> +<p> +After a summer spent quietly with his parents at Landaas, he began to +prepare for coming musical activities. The next season he gave his first +concert in Bergen, at which the piano pieces of Op. 1, Four Songs for Alto, +and a String Quartet were played. With the proceeds of this concert he +bought orchestral and chamber music, and began to study score, which he had +not previously learned to do. In the spring of 1863—he was hardly twenty +then—he left home and took up his residence in Copenhagen, a much larger +city, offering greater opportunities for an ambitious young musician. It was +also the home of Niels W. Gade, the foremost Scandinavian composer. +</p> +<p> +Of course Grieg was eager to meet Gade, and an opportunity soon occurred. +Gade expressed a willingness to look at some of his compositions, and asked +if he had anything to show him. Edward modestly answered in the negative. +"Go home and write a symphony," was the retort. This the young composer +started obediently to do, but the work was never finished in this form. It +became later Two Symphonic Pieces for Piano, Op. 14. +</p> +<p> +Two sources of inspiration for Grieg were Ole Bull and Richard Nordraak. +We remember that Ole Bull was the means of influencing his parents to send +Edward to Leipsic. That was in 1858. Six years later, when Ole Bull was +staying at his country home, near Bergen, where he always tried to pass the +summers, the two formed a more intimate friendship. They played frequently +together, sonatas by Mozart and others, or trios, in which Edward's brother +John played the 'cello parts. Or they wandered together to their favorite +haunts among mountains, fjords or flower clad valleys. They both worshiped +nature in all her aspects and moods, and each, the one on his instrument, +the other in his music, endeavored to reproduce these endless influences. +</p> +<p> +Richard Nordraak was a young Norwegian composer of great talent, who, in +his brief career, created a few excellent works. The two musicians met +in the winter of 1864 and were attracted to each other at once. Nordraak +visited Grieg in his home, where they discussed music and patriotism to +their hearts' content. Nordraak was intensely patriotic, and wished to +see the establishment of Norse music. Grieg, who had been more or less +influenced by German ideas, since Leipsic days, now cast off the fetters +and placed himself on the side of Norwegian music. To prove this he +composed the Humoresken, Op. 6, and dedicated them to Nordraak. From now on +he felt free to do as he pleased in music—to be himself. +</p> +<p> +In 1864 Grieg became engaged to his cousin, Nina Hargerup, a slender girl +of nineteen, who had a lovely voice and for whom he wrote many of his +finest songs. He returned to Christiania from a visit to Rome, and decided +to establish himself in the Norwegian capital. Soon after his arrival, in +the autumn of 1856, he gave a concert, assisted by his fiancée and Mme. +Norman Neruda, the violinist. The program was made up entirely of Norwegian +music, and contained his Violin Sonata Op. 8, Humoresken, Op. 6, Piano +Sonata, Op. 7. There were two groups of songs, by Nordraak and Kjerulf +respectively. The concert was a success with press and public and the young +composer's position seemed assured. He secured the appointment of Conductor +of the Philharmonic Society, and was quite the vogue as a teacher. He +married Nina Hargerup the following June, 1867, and they resided in +Christiania for the next eight years. +</p> +<p> +Grieg could not endure "amateurish mediocrity," and made war upon it, thus +drawing jealous attacks upon himself. His great friend and ally, Nordraak, +passed away in 1868, and the next year his baby daughter, aged thirteen +months, the only child he ever had, left them. +</p> +<p> +In spite of these discouragements, some of his finest compositions came +into being about this period of his life. Songs, piano pieces and the +splendid Concerto followed each other in quick succession. +</p> +<p> +Another satisfaction to Grieg was a most sympathetic and cordial letter +from Liszt on making acquaintance with his Sonata for violin and piano, Op. +8, which he praised in high terms. He invited Grieg to come and visit him, +that they might become better acquainted. This unsolicitated appreciation +from the famous Liszt was a fine honor for the young composer, and was the +means of inducing the Norwegian Government to grant him an annuity. +This sum enabled him the following year, to go to Rome and meet Liszt +personally. +</p> +<p> +He set out on this errand in October, and later wrote his parents of his +visits to Liszt. The first meeting took place at a monastery near the Roman +Forum, where Liszt made his home when in town. +</p> +<p> +"I took with me my last violin Sonata, the Funeral March on the death of +Nordraak and a volume of songs. I need not have been anxious, for Liszt +was kindness itself. He came smiling towards me and said in the most genial +manner: +</p> +<p> +"'We have had some little correspondence, haven't we?' +</p> +<p> +"I told him it was thanks to his letters that I was now here. He eyed +somewhat hungrily the package under my arm, his long, spider-like fingers +approaching it in such an alarming manner that I thought it advisable to +open at once. He turned over the leaves, reading through the Sonata. He had +now become interested, but my courage dropped to zero when he asked me to +play the Sonata, but there was no help for it. +</p> +<p> +"So I started on his splendid American Chickering grand. Right in the +beginning, where the violin starts in, he exclaimed: 'How bold that is! +Look here, I like that; once more please.' And where the violin again +comes in <i>adagio</i>, he played the part on the upper octaves with an +expression so beautiful, so marvelously true and singing, it made me smile +inwardly. My spirits rose because of his lavish approval, which did me +good. After the first movement, I asked his permission to play a solo, and +chose the Minuet, from the Humoresken." +</p> +<p> +At this point Grieg was brave enough to ask Liszt to play for him. This the +master did in a superb manner. To go on with the letter: +</p> +<p> +"When this was done, Liszt said jauntily, 'Now let us go on with the +Sonata'; to which I naturally retorted, 'No thank you, not after this.' +</p> +<p> +"'Why not? Then give it to me, I'll do it.' And what does Liszt do? He +plays the whole thing, root and branch, violin and piano; nay more, for he +plays it fuller and more broadly. He was literally over the whole piano at +once, without missing a note. And how he did play! With grandeur, beauty, +unique comprehension. +</p> +<p> +"Was this not geniality itself? No other great man I have met is like him. +I played the Funeral March, which was also to his taste. Then, after a +little talk, I took leave, with the consciousness of having spent two of +the most interesting hours of my life." +</p> +<p> +The second meeting with Liszt took place soon after this. Of it he writes +in part: +</p> +<p> +"I had fortunately received the manuscript of my Concerto from Leipsic, and +took it with me. A number of musicians were present. +</p> +<p> +"'Will you play?' asked Liszt. I answered in the negative, as you know I +had never practised it. Liszt took the manuscript, went to the piano, and +said to the assembled guests: 'Very well, then, I will show you that I also +cannot.' Then he began. I admit that he took the first part too fast, but +later on, when I had a chance to indicate the tempo, he played as only he +can play. His demeanor is worth any price to see. Not content with playing, +he at the same time converses, addressing a bright remark now to one, now +to another of his guests, nodding from right to left, particularly when +something pleases him. In the Adagio, and still more in the Finale, he +reached a climax, both in playing and in the praise he bestowed. +</p> +<p> +"When all was over, he handed me the manuscript, and said, in a peculiarly +cordial tone: 'Keep steadily on; you have the ability, and—do not let them +intimidate you!' +</p> +<p> +"This final admonition was of tremendous importance to me; there was +something in it like a sanctification. When disappointment and bitterness +are in store for me, I shall recall his words, and the remembrance of that +hour will have a wonderful power to uphold me in days of adversity." +</p> +<p> +When Edward Grieg was a little over thirty, in the year 1874, the Norwegian +Government honored him with an annuity of sixteen hundred crowns a year, +for life. Another good fortune was a request from the distinguished poet, +Henrik Ibsen, to produce music for his drama of "Peer Gynt." +</p> +<p> +With the help of the annuity Grieg was able to give up teaching and +conducting and devote himself to composition. He left Christiania, where +he and Mme. Grieg had resided for eight years, and came back for a time to +Bergen. Here, in January 1874, Ibsen offered him the proposition of writing +music for his work, for which he was arranging a stage production. +</p> +<p> +Grieg was delighted with the opportunity, for such a task was very +congenial. He completed the score in the autumn of 1875. The first +performance was given on February 24, 1876, at Christiania. Grieg himself +was not present, as he was then in Bergen. The play proved a real +success and was given thirty-six times that season, for which success the +accompanying original and charming music was largely responsible. +</p> +<p> +Norway is a most picturesque country, and no one could be more passionately +fond of her mountains, fjords, valleys and waterfalls than Edward Grieg. +For several years he now chose to live at Lofthus, a tiny village, situated +on a branch of the Hardanger Fjord. It is said no spot could have been more +enchanting. The little study, consisting of one room, where the composer +could work in perfect quiet, was perched among the trees above the fjord, +with a dashing waterfall near by. No wonder Grieg could write of the +"Butterfly," the "Little Bird," and "To the Spring," in such poetical, +vivid harmonies. He had only to look from his window and see the marvels of +nature about him. +</p> +<p> +A few years later he built a beautiful villa at Troldhaugen, not far from +Bergen, where he spent the rest of his life. Some American friends who +visited them in 1901, speak of the ideal existence of the artist pair. +Grieg himself is described as very small and frail looking, with a face as +individual, as unique and attractive as his music—the face of a thinker, +a genius. His eyes were keen and blue; his hair, almost white, was brushed +backward like Liszt's. His hands were thin and small; they were wonderful +hands and his touch on the piano had the luscious quality of Paderewski's. +Mme. Grieg received them with a fascinating smile and won all hearts by her +appearance and charm of manner. She was short and plump, with short wavy +gray hair and dark blue eyes. Her sister, who resembled her strongly, made +up the rest of the family. Grieg called her his "second wife" and they +seemed a most united family. +</p> +<p> +Here, too, Grieg had his little work cabin away from the house, down a +steep path, among the trees of the garden. In this tiny retreat he composed +many of his unique pieces. +</p> +<p> +As a pianist, there are many people living who have heard Grieg play, and +all agree that his performance was most poetical and beautiful. He never +had great power, for a heavy wagon had injured one of his hands, and he had +lost the use of one of his lungs in youth. But he always brought out lyric +parts most expressively, and had a "wonderfully crisp and buoyant execution +in rhythmical passages." He continued to play occasionally in different +cities, and with increased frequency made visits to England, France and +Germany, to make known his compositions. He was in England in the spring of +1888, for on May 3, the London Philharmonic gave almost an entire program +of Grieg's music. He acted in the three-fold capacity of composer, +conductor and pianist. It was said by one of the critics: "Mr. Grieg played +his own Concerto in A minor, after his own manner; it was a revelation." +Another wrote; "The Concerto is very beautiful. The dreamy charm of the +opening movement, the long-drawn sweetness of the Adagio, the graceful, +fairy music of the final Allegro—all this went straight to the hearts of +the audience. Grieg as a conductor gave equal satisfaction. It is to be +hoped the greatest representative of 'old Norway' will come amongst us +every year." +</p> +<p> +Grieg did return the next year and appeared with the Philharmonic, March +14, 1889. The same critic then wrote: +</p> +<p> +"The hero of the evening was unquestionably Mr. Grieg, the heroine being +Madame Grieg, who sang in her own unique and most artistic fashion, a +selection of her husband's songs, he accompanying with great delicacy +and poetic feeling. Grieg is so popular in London, both as composer and +pianist, that when he gave his last concert, people were waiting in the +street before the doors from eleven in the morning, quite as in the old +Rubinstein days." +</p> +<p> +In only a few cities did the artist pair give their unique piano and song +recitals. These were: Christiania, Copenhagen, Leipsic, Rome, Paris, London +and Edinburgh. They were indeed artistic events, in which Nina Grieg was +also greatly admired. While not a great singer, it was said she had the +captivating abandon, dramatic vivacity and soulful treatment of the poem, +which reminded of Jenny Lind. +</p> +<p> +Mme. Grieg made her last public appearance in London in 1898. After that +she sang only for her husband and his friends. Grieg's sixtieth birthday, +June 15, 1903, was celebrated in the cities of Scandanavia, throughout +Europe and also in America: thus he lived to see the recognition of his +unique genius in many parts of the world. +</p> +<p> +Grieg was constantly using up his strength by too much exertion. To a +friend in 1906, he wrote: "Yes, at your age it is ever hurrah-vivat. At my +age we say, sempre diminuendo. And I can tell you it is not easy to make +a beautiful diminuendo." Yet he still gave concerts, saying he had not the +strength of character to refuse. Indeed he had numerous offers to go to +America, which he refused as he felt he could not endure the sea voyage. +Always cheerful, even vivacious, he kept up bravely until almost the end of +his life, but finally, the last of August, 1907, he was forced to go to +a hospital in Bergen. On the night of September 3, his life ebbed away in +sleep. +</p> +<p> +The composer who through his music had endeared himself to the whole world, +was granted a touching funeral, at which only his own music was heard, +including his Funeral March, which he had composed for his friend Nordraak. +The burial place is as romantic as his music. Near his home there is a +steep cliff, about fifty feet high, projecting into the fjord. Half way +up there is a natural grotto, which can only be reached by water. In this +spot, chosen by Grieg himself, the urn containing his ashes was deposited +some weeks after the funeral. Then the grotto was closed and a stone slab +with the words "Edward Grieg" cut upon it, was cemented in the cliff. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_20"><!-- RULE4 20 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XX<br> + <br> +PETER ILYITCH TSCHAIKOWSKY +</h3><br> +<img src="images/gmm011.jpg" alt="Peter Ilyich Tschaikowsky" width="368" height="593" border="0"> +</div> + +<p> +Russian composers and Russian music are eagerly studied by those who would +keep abreast of the time. This music is so saturated with strong, +vigorous life that it is inspiring to listen to. Its rugged strength, its +fascinating rhythms, bring a new message. It is different from the music +of other countries and at once attracts by its unusual melodies and its +richness of harmony. +</p> +<p> +Among the numerous composers of modern Russia, the name of Peter Ilyitch +Tschaikowsky stands out most prominently. This distinctive composer was +born on April 28, 1840, in Votinsk, where his father, who was a mining +engineer, had been appointed inspector of the mines at Kamsko-Votinsk. The +position of manager of such important mines carried with it much luxury, a +fine house, plenty of servants and an ample salary. Thus the future young +musician's home life was not one of poverty and privation, as has been the +lot of so many gifted ones, who became creators in the beautiful art of +music. +</p> +<p> +Peter Ilyitch was less than five years old when a new governess came into +the family, to teach his elder brother Nicholas and his cousin Lydia. As a +little boy he was apt to be untidy, with buttons missing and rumpled hair. +But his nature was so affectionate and sympathetic that he charmed every +one with his pretty, loving ways. This natural gift he always retained. +The governess was a very superior person and her influence over her young +charges was healthful and beneficial. The child Peter was most industrious +at his lessons; but for recreation often preferred playing the piano, +reading, or writing poetry, to playing with other children. +</p> +<p> +When Peter was eight, the family moved to St. Petersburg, and the two +younger boys were sent to boarding school. The parting from his home but +especially from his mother—though he saw her once a week—nearly broke +his heart. Such a school was no place for a sensitive, high-strung boy like +Peter, who needed the most tender fostering care. The work of the school +was very heavy, the hours long. The boys often sat over their books till +far into the night. Besides the school work, Peter had music lessons of the +pianist Philipov, and made rapid progress. At this time music in general +excited the boy abnormally; a hand organ in the street would enchant him, +an orchestra strangely agitated him. He seemed to live at a high strung, +nervous tension, and had frequent ailments, which kept him out of school. +</p> +<p> +In 1849 the father secured another appointment, this time at Alapaiev, a +little town, where, though there was not so much luxury, the family tried +to revive the home life of Votinsk. +</p> +<p> +No one at Alapaiev seemed to take any interest in the boy Peter's music. He +was really making great progress, for he had learned much in the lessons he +had taken in St. Petersburg. He studied many pieces by himself, and often +improvised at the piano. His parents did nothing to further his musical +education; this may have been because they were afraid of a return of +the nervous disorders that the quiet of the present home surroundings had +seemed to cure. +</p> +<p> +From the fact that the father had held government appointments, his sons +were eligible for education at the School of Jurisprudence. Peter was +accordingly entered there as a scholar, and completed his course at the age +of nineteen. In those nine years the child Peter developed into maturity. +During this period he suffered the loss of his mother, a handsome and very +estimable woman, whom he adored with passionate devotion, and from whom he +could never bear to be separated. +</p> +<p> +While attending the Law School, music had to be left in the background. His +family and companions only considered it as a pastime at best, and without +serious significance; he therefore kept his aspirations to himself. The +old boyish discontent and irritability, which were the result of his +former nervous condition, had now given place to his natural frankness of +character and charm of manner, which attracted all who came in contact with +him. +</p> +<p> +In 1859, when Peter had finished his studies at the School of +Jurisprudence, he received an appointment in the Ministry of Justice, as +clerk of the first class. This would have meant much to some young men, +but did not greatly impress Peter, as he did not seem to take his work very +seriously. During the three years in which he held the post, he followed +the fashion of the day, attended the opera and theater, meanwhile receiving +many impressions which molded his character and tastes. The opera "Don +Giovanni," Mozart's masterpiece, made a deep impression upon him, also the +acting of Adelaide Ristori and the singing of Lagrona. +</p> +<p> +The new Conservatoire of Music was founded at St. Petersburg in 1862, with +Anton Rubinstein as director, and Tschaikowsky lost no time in entering as +a pupil, studying composition and kindred subjects with Professor Zaremba. +His progress was so rapid in the several branches he took up—piano, organ +and flute—that Rubinstein advised him to make music his profession, and +throw his law studies to the winds. Thanks to Rubinstein, he secured +some pupils and also engagements as accompanist. Meanwhile he worked +industriously at composition, and one of his pieces was a Concert Overture +in F, scored for small orchestra. In 1865 he took his diploma as a musician +and also secured a silver medal for a cantata. One year after this the +Moscow Conservatoire was founded, with Nicholas Rubinstein at its head. +The position of Professor of Composition and Musical History was offered to +Tschaikowsky, then only twenty-six. It was a flattering offer for so young +a man, when many older heads would have liked to secure such an honor. +He moved to Moscow, and retained his position in the Conservatoire for at +least twelve years, in the meantime making many friends for himself and his +art, as his fame as a composer grew. One of these friends was the publisher +Jurgenson, who was to play rather an important part in the composer's life, +through accepting and putting forth his compositions. +</p> +<p> +During those first years in Moscow, Tschaikowsky made his home with +Nicholas Rubinstein. His life was of the simplest, his fare always so. +Later on when money was more abundant, and he had his own house in the +country, he lived with just the same simplicity. One would think that all +this care and thought for expense would have taught him the value of money. +Not at all. He never could seem to learn its value, never cared for it, +and never could keep it. He liked to toss his small change among groups +of street boys, and it is said he once spent his last roubles in sending +a cablegram to von Bülow in America, to thank him for his admirable +performance of his first Piano Concerto. Often his friends protested +against this prodigality, but it was no use to protest, and at last they +gave up in despair. +</p> +<p> +Soon after he began his professorship in Moscow, he composed a Concert +Overture in C minor. To his surprise and disappointment, Rubinstein +disapproved of the work in every way. This was a shock, after the lack of +encouragement in St. Petersburg. But he recovered his poise, though he made +up his mind to try his next work in St. Petersburg instead of Moscow. He +called the new piece a Symphonic Poem, "Winter Daydreams," but it is now +known as the First Symphony, Op. 13. About the end of 1866, he started out +with it, only to be again rebuffed and cast down. The two men whose good +opinion he most desired, Anton Rubinstein and Professor Zaremba, could find +nothing good in his latest work, and the young composer returned to Moscow +to console himself with renewed efforts in composition. Two years later the +"Winter Daydreams" Symphony was produced in Moscow with great success, +and its author was much encouraged by this appreciation. He was, like +most composers, very sensitive to criticism and had a perfect dread of +controversy. Efforts to engage him in arguments of this sort only made him +withdraw into himself. +</p> +<p> +Tschaikowsky held the operas of Mozart before him as his ideal. He cared +little for Wagner, considering his music dramas to be built on false +principles. Thus his first opera, "Voivoda," composed in 1866, evidently +had his ideal, Mozart, clearly in mind. It is a somewhat curious fact that +Tschaikowsky, who was almost revolutionary in other forms of music, should +go back to the eighteenth century for his ideal of opera. Soon after it +was completed "Voivoda" was accepted to be produced at the Moscow Grand +Theater. The libretto was written by Ostrowsky, one of the celebrated +dramatists of the day. The first performance took place on January 30, +1869. We are told it had several performances and considerable popular +success. But the composer was dissatisfied with its failure to win a great +artistic success, and burnt the score. He did the same with his next work, +an orchestral fantaisie, entitled "Fatum." Again he did the same with the +score of a complete opera, "Undine," finished in 1870, and refused at the +St. Petersburg Opera, where he had offered it. +</p> +<p> +"The Snow Queen," a fairy play with music, was the young Russian's next +adventure; it was mounted and produced with great care, yet it failed to +make a favorable impression. But these disappointments did not dampen the +composer's ardor for work. Now it was in the realm of chamber music. Up to +this time he had not seemed to care greatly for this branch of his art, for +he had always felt the lack of tone coloring and variety in the strings. +The first attempt at a String Quartet resulted in the one in D major, +Op. 11. To-day, fifty years after, we enjoy the rich coloring, the +characteristic rhythms of this music; the Andante indeed makes special +appeal. A bit of history about this same Andante shows how the composer +prized national themes and folk tunes, and strove to secure them. It +is said that morning after morning he was awakened by the singing of a +laborer, working on the house below his window. The song had a haunting +lilt, and Tschaikowsky wrote it down. The melody afterwards became that +touching air which fills the Andante of the First String Quartet. Another +String Quartet, in F major, was written in 1814, and at once acclaimed by +all who heard it, with the single exception of Anton Rubinstein. +</p> +<p> +Tschaikowsky wrote six Symphonies in all. The Second, in C minor was +composed in 1873; in this he used themes in the first and last movements, +which were gathered in Little Russia. The work was produced with great +success in Moscow in 1873. The next orchestral composition was a Symphonic +Poem, called "The Tempest," with a regular program, prepared by Stassow. It +was brought out in Paris at the same time it was heard in Moscow. Both +at home and in France it made a deep impression. The next work was the +splendid piano Concerto in B flat minor, Op. 23, the first of three works +of this kind. At a trial performance of it, his friend and former master, +Nicholas Rubinstein, to whom it was dedicated, and who had promised to play +the piano part, began to criticize it unmercifully and ended by saying it +was quite unplayable, and unsuited to the piano. +</p> +<p> +No one could blame the composer for being offended and hurt. He at once +erased the name of Nicholas Rubinstein from the title page and dedicated +the work to Hans von Billow, who not long after performed it with +tremendous success in America, where he was on tour. When we think of all +the pianists who have won acclaim in this temperamental, inspiring work, +from Carreno to Percy Grainger, to mention two who have aroused special +enthusiasm by their thrilling performance of it, we can but wonder that his +own countrymen were so short sighted at the time it was composed. Later on +Nicholas Rubinstein gave a superb performance of the Concerto in Moscow, +thus making some tardy amends for his unkindness. +</p> +<p> +Tschaikowsky was now thirty-five. Most of his time was given to the +Conservatoire, where he often worked nine hours a day. Besides, he had +written a book on harmony, and was contributing articles on music to two +journals. In composition he had produced large works, including up to this +time, two Symphonies, two Operas, the Concerto, two String Quartets and +numerous smaller pieces. To accomplish such an amount of work, he must have +possessed immense energy and devotion to his ideals. +</p> +<p> +One of the operas just mentioned was entitled "Vakoula the Smith." It bears +the date of 1874, and was first offered in competition with others. The +result was that it not only was considered much the best work of them +all but it won both the first and second prizes. "Vakoula" was splendidly +mounted and performed in St. Petersburg, at the Marinsky Theater at least +seventeen times. Ten years later, in January 1887, it appeared again. The +composer meanwhile had re-written a good part of it and now called it "Two +Little Shoes." This time Tschaikowsky was invited to conduct his own work. +The invitation filled him with alarm, for he felt he had no gift in that +direction, as he had tried a couple of times in the early years of his +career and had utterly failed. However, he now, through the cordial +sympathy of friends, decided to make the attempt. Contrary to his own +fears, he obtained a successful performance of the opera. +</p> +<p> +It proved an epoch-making occasion. For this first success as conductor led +him to undertake a three months' tour through western Europe in 1888. On +his return to St. Petersburg he conducted a program of his own compositions +for the Philharmonic Society, which was also successful, in spite of the +intense nervousness which he always suffered. As a result of his concert he +received offers to conduct concerts in Hamburg, Dresden, Leipsic, Vienna, +Copenhagen and London, many of which he accepted. +</p> +<p> +To go back a bit in our composer's life story, to an affair of the heart +which he experienced in 1868. He became engaged to the well-known singer +Désirée Artôt; the affair never went further, for what reason is not known. +He was not yet thirty, impressionable and intense. Later on, in the +year 1877, at the age of thirty-seven, he became a married man. How this +happened was doubtless told in his diaries, which were written with great +regularity: but unfortunately he destroyed them all a few years before his +death. The few facts that have been gleaned from his intimate friend, M. +Kashkin, are that he was engaged to the lady in the spring of this year, +and married her a month or so afterward. It was evidently a hasty affair +and subsequently brought untold suffering to the composer. When the +professors of his Conservatoire re-assembled in the autumn, Tschaikowsky +appeared among them a married man, but looking the picture of despair. +A few weeks later he fled from Moscow, and when next heard of was +lying dangerously ill in St. Petersburg. One thing was evident, the +ill-considered marriage came very near ruining his life. The doctors +ordered rest and change of scene, and his brother Modeste Ilyitch took +him to Switzerland and afterward to Italy. The peaceful life and change of +scene did much to restore his shattered nerves. Just at this time a wealthy +widow lady, Madame von Meek, a great admirer of Tschaikowsky's music, +learning of his sad condition, settled on him a generous yearly allowance +for life. He was now independent and could give his time to composition. +</p> +<p> +The following year he returned to Moscow and seemed quite his natural self. +A fever of energy for work took possession of him. He began a new opera, +"Eugen Onégin," and completed his Fourth Symphony, in F minor. The score of +the opera was finished in February, 1878, and sent at once to Moscow, where +the first performance was given in March 1879. In the beginning the opera +had only a moderate success, but gradually grew in favor till, after five +years, it was performed in St. Petersburg and had an excellent reception. +It is considered Tschaikowsky's most successful opera, sharing with +Glinka's "Life of the Tsar" the popularity of Russian opera. In 1881 he was +invited to compose an orchestral work for the consecration of the Temple +of Christ in Moscow. The "Solemn Overture 1812," Op. 49, was the outcome of +this. Later in the year he completed the Second Piano Concerto. The Piano +Trio in A minor, "To the memory of a great artist," Op. 50, refers to his +friend and former master, Nicholas Rubinstein, who passed away in Paris, in +1881. +</p> +<p> +Tschaikowsky's opera, "Mazeppa," was his next important work. In the same +year the Second Orchestral Suite, Op. 53, and the Third, Op. 55, followed. +Two Symphonic Poems, "Manfred" and "Hamlet" came next. The latter of these +was written at the composer's country house, whose purchase had been made +possible by the generosity of his benefactress, and to which he retired at +the age of forty-five, to lead a peaceful country life. He had purchased +the old manor house of Frovolo, on the outskirts of the town of Klin, near +Moscow. Here his two beautiful ballets and two greatest Symphonies, the +Fifth and Sixth, were written. The Fifth Symphony was composed in 1888 and +published the next year. On its first hearing it made little impression and +was scarcely heard again till Nikisch, with unerring judgment, rescued +it from neglect; then the world discovered it to be one of the composer's +greatest works. +</p> +<p> +Tschaikowsky's two last operas, the "Pique Dame" (Queen of Spades), Op. +68, and "King Rene's Daughter" are not considered in any way distinctive, +although the former was performed in New York, at the Metropolitan. The +Third Piano Concerto, Op. 75, occupied the master during his last days at +Frovolo; it was left unfinished by him and was completed by the composer +Taneiev. The wonderful Sixth Symphony, Op. 74, is a superb example of +Tschaikowsky's genius. It was composed in 1893, and the title "Pathetic" +was given it by the composer after its first performance, in St. +Petersburg, shortly before his death, as the reception of it by the public +did not meet his anticipations. In this work the passion and despair which +fill so many of the master's finest compositions, rise to the highest +tragic significance. The last movement, with its prophetic intimation of +his coming death, is heart-breaking. One cannot listen to its poignant +phrases without deep emotion. The score is dated August 81, 1893. On +October twelfth, Tschaikowsky passed away in St. Petersburg, a victim of +cholera. +</p> +<p> +A couple of years before he passed away, Tschiakowsky came to America. In +May, 1891, he conducted four concerts connected with the formal opening of +Carnegie Hall, New York. We well remember his interesting personality, as +he stood before the orchestra, conducting many of his own works, with Adele +Aus der Ohe playing his famous Concerto in B flat minor. +</p> +<p> +The music of this representative Russian composer has made rapid headway +in the world's appreciation, during the last few years. Once heard it will +always be remembered. For we can never forget the deeply human and +touching message which is brought to us through the music of Peter Ilyitch +Tschaikowsky. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_21"><!-- RULE4 21 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XXI<br> + <br> +EDWARD MACDOWELL +</h3></div> + +<p> +Edward MacDowell has been acclaimed America's greatest composer. If we try +to substitute another name in its place, one of equal potency cannot be +found. +</p> +<p> +Our composer's ancestors were Irish and Scotch, though his father was born +in New York City and his mother was an American girl. Edward was their +third son, and appeared December 18, 1861; this event happened at the home +of his parents, 220 Clinton Street, New York. +</p> +<p> +The father was a man of artistic instincts, and as a youth, fond of drawing +and painting. His parents had been Quakers of a rather severe sort and +had discouraged all such artistic efforts. Little Edward seems to have +inherited his father's artistic gifts, added to his own inclination toward +music. +</p> +<p> +The boy had his first piano lessons when he was about eight years old, from +a family friend, Mr. Juan Buitrago, a native of Bogota, South America. Mr. +Buitrago became greatly interested in Edward and asked permission to teach +him his notes. At that time the boy was not considered a prodigy, or even +precocious, though he seemed to have various gifts. He was fond of covering +his music and exercise books with little drawings, which showed he had the +innate skill of a born artist. Then he liked to scribble bits of verses +and stories and invent fairy tales. He could improvise little themes at the +piano, but was not fond of technical drudgery at the instrument in those +early days. +</p> +<p> +The lessons with Mr. Buitrago continued for several years, and then he +was taken to a professional piano teacher, Paul Desvernine, with whom +he remained till he was fifteen. During this time he received occasional +lessons from the brilliant Venezuelan pianist, Teresa Carreño, who admired +his gifts and later played his piano concertos. +</p> +<p> +Edward was now fifteen, and his family considered he was to become a +musician. In those days and for long after, even to the present moment, it +was thought necessary for Americans to go to Europe for serious study and +artistic finish. It was therefore determined the boy should go to Paris +for a course in piano and theory at the Conservatoire. In April, 1876, +accompanied by his mother, he left America for France. +</p> +<p> +He passed the examinations and began the autumn term as a pupil of +Marmontel in piano and of Savard in theory and composition. +</p> +<p> +Edward's knowledge of French was very uncertain, and while he could get +along fairly well in the piano class, he had considerable trouble in +following the lessons in theory. He determined to make a special study of +the language, and a teacher was engaged to give him private lessons. +</p> +<p> +His passion for drawing was liable to break out at any moment. During one +of the lesson hours he was varying the monotony by drawing, behind his +book, a picture of his teacher, whose special facial characteristic was a +very large nose. Just as the sketch was finished he was detected and was +asked to show the result. The professor, instead of being angry, considered +it a remarkable likeness and asked to keep it. Shortly after this the +professor called on Mrs. MacDowell, telling her he had shown the drawing +to an eminent painter, also an instructor at the école des Beaux Arts. The +painter had been so greatly impressed with the boy's talent that he offered +him a three years' course of free instruction, under his own supervision. +He also promised to be responsible for Edward's support during that time. +</p> +<p> +This was a vital question to decide; the boy's whole future hung in the +balance. Mrs. MacDowell, in her perplexity, laid the whole matter before +Marmontel, who strongly advised against diverting her son from a musical +career. The decision was finally left to Edward himself, and he chose to +remain at the Conservatoire. +</p> +<p> +Conditions there, however, were not just to his liking, and after two years +he began to think the school was not the place for him. It was the summer +of 1878, the year of the Exposition. Edward and his mother attended a +festival concert and heard Nicholas Rubinstein play the Tschaikowsky B flat +minor piano Concerto. His performance was a revelation. "I can never learn +to play the piano like that if I stay here," exclaimed Edward, as they left +the hall. +</p> +<p> +They began to consider the merits of the different European schools of +music, and finally chose Stuttgart. Mrs. MacDowell and her son went there +in November hoping that in this famous Conservatory could be found the +right kind of instruction. +</p> +<p> +But alas, MacDowell soon found out his mistake. He discovered that he would +have to unlearn all he had acquired and begin from the beginning. And even +then the instruction was not very thorough. +</p> +<p> +They now thought of Frankfort, where the composer Joachim Raff was the +director and Carl Heymann, a very brilliant pianist, was one of the +instructors. +</p> +<p> +After months of delay, during which young MacDowell worked under the +guidance of Ehlert, he at last entered the Frankfort Conservatory, studying +composition with Raff, and piano with Heymann. Both proved very inspiring +teachers. For Heymann he had the greatest admiration, calling him a marvel, +whose technic was equal to anything. "In hearing him practise and play, I +learned more in a week than I ever knew before." +</p> +<p> +Edward MacDowell remained in close study at the Frankfort Conservatory for +two years, his mother having in the meantime returned to America. He +had hoped to obtain a place as professor on the teaching staff of the +institution. Failing to do this he took private pupils. One of these, Miss +Marian Nevins, he afterwards married. He must have been a rather striking +looking youth at this time. He was nineteen. Tall and vigorous, with blue +eyes, fair skin, rosy cheeks, very dark hair and reddish mustache, he was +called "the handsome American." He seemed from the start, to have success +in teaching, though he was painfully shy, and always remained so. +</p> +<p> +In 1881, when he was twenty, he applied for the position of head piano +teacher in the Darmstadt Conservatory, and was accepted. It meant forty +hours a week of drudgery, and as he preferred to live in Frankfort, he made +the trip each day between the two towns. Besides this he went once a week +to a castle about three hours away, and taught some little counts and +countesses, really dull and sleepy children, who cared but little if +anything for music. However the twelve hours spent in the train each week, +were not lost, as he composed the greater part of his Second Modern Suite +for piano, Op. 14; the First Modern Suite had been written in Frankfort +the year before. He was reading at this period a great deal of poetry, both +German and English, and delving into the folk and fairy lore of romantic +Germany. All these imaginative studies exerted great influence on his +subsequent compositions, both as to subject and content. +</p> +<p> +MacDowell found that the confining labors at Darmstadt were telling on his +strength, so he gave up the position and remained in Frankfort, dividing +his time between private teaching and composing. He hoped to secure a few +paying concert engagements, as those he had already filled had brought in +no money. +</p> +<p> +One day, as he sat dreaming before his piano, some one knocked at the door, +and the next instant in walked his master Raff, of whom the young American +stood in great awe. In the course of a few moments, Raff suddenly asked +what he had been writing. In his confusion the boy stammered he had been +working on a concerto. When Raff started to go, he turned back and told +the boy to bring the concerto to him the next Sunday. As even the first +movement was not finished, its author set to work with vigor. When Sunday +came only the first movement was ready. Postponing the visit a week or two, +he had time to complete the work, which stands today, as he wrote it then, +with scarcely a correction. +</p> +<p> +At Raff's suggestion, MacDowell visited Liszt in the spring of 1882. The +dreaded encounter with the master proved to be a delightful surprise, as +Liszt treated him with much kindness and courtesy. Eugen D'Albert, who was +present, was asked to accompany the orchestral part of the concerto on +a second piano. Liszt commended the work in warm terms: "You must bestir +yourself," he warned D'Albert, "if you do not wish to be outdone by +our young American." Liszt praised his piano playing too, and MacDowell +returned to Frankfort in a happy frame of mind. +</p> +<p> +At a music Convention, held that year in Zurich, in July, MacDowell played +his First Piano Suite, and won a good success. The following year, upon +Liszt's recommendation, both the First and Second Modern Suites were +brought out by Breitkopf and Haertel. "Your two Piano Suites are +admirable," wrote Liszt from Budapest, in February, 1883, "and I accept +with sincere pleasure and thanks the dedication of your piano Concerto." +</p> +<p> +The passing of Raff, on June 25, 1882, was a severe blow to MacDowell. It +was in memory of his revered teacher that he composed the "Sonata Tragica," +the first of the four great sonatas he has left us. The slow movement of +this Sonata especially embodies his sorrow at the loss of the teacher who +once said to him: "Your music will be played when mine is forgotten." +</p> +<p> +For the next two years MacDowell did much composing. Then in June 1884 +he returned to America, and in July was married to his former pupil, Miss +Marian Nevins, a union which proved to be ideal for both. Shortly after +this event the young couple returned to Europe. +</p> +<p> +The next winter was spent in Frankfort, instructing a few private pupils, +but mostly in composing, with much reading of the literature of various +countries, and, in the spring, with long walks in the beautiful woods about +Frankfort. Wiesbaden became their home during the winter of 1885-6. The +same year saw the completion of the second. Piano Concerto, in D minor. +</p> +<p> +In the spring of 1887, MacDowell, in one of his walks about the town, +discovered a deserted cottage on the edge of the woods. It overlooked the +town, with the Rhine beyond, and woods on the other side of the river. +Templeton Strong, an American composer, was with him at the time, and both +thought the little cottage an ideal spot for a home. It was soon purchased, +and the young husband and wife lived an idyllic life for the next year. +A small garden gave them exercise out of doors, the woods were always +enticing and best of all, MacDowell was able to give his entire time to +composition. Many beautiful songs and piano pieces were the result, besides +the symphonic poem "Lamia," "Hamlet and Ophelia," the "Lovely Aida," +"Lancelot and Elaine," and other orchestral works. +</p> +<p> +In September, 1888, the MacDowells sold their Wiesbaden cottage and +returned to America, settling in Boston. Here MacDowell made himself felt +as a pianist and teacher. He took many pupils, and made a conspicuous +number of public appearances. He also created some of his best work, among +which were the two great Sonatas, the "Tragica" and "Eroica." One of the +important appearances was his playing of the Second Concerto with the +Philharmonic Orchestra of New York, under Anton Seidl, in December, 1894. +</p> +<p> +In the spring of 1896 a Department of Music was founded at Columbia +University, of New York, the professorship of which was offered to +MacDowell. He had now been living eight years in Boston; his fame as a +pianist and teacher was constantly growing; indeed more pupils came to him +than he could accept. The prospect of organizing a new department from the +very beginning was a difficult task to undertake. At first he hesitated; +he was in truth in no hurry to accept the offer, and wished to weigh both +sides carefully. But the idea of having an assured income finally caused +him to decide in favor of Columbia, and he moved from Boston to New York +the following autumn. +</p> +<p> +He threw himself into this new work with great ardor and entire devotion. +With the founding of the department there were two distinct ideas to be +carried out. First, to train musicians who would be able to teach and +compose. Second, to teach musical history and aesthetics. +</p> +<p> +All this involved five courses, with many lectures each week, taking up +form, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, composition, vocal and instrumental +music, both from the technical and interpretative side. It was a tremendous +labor to organize and keep all this going, unaided. After two years he was +granted an assistant, who took over the elementary classes. But even with +this help, MacDowell's labors were increasingly arduous. He now had six +courses instead of five, which meant more classes and lectures each week. +Perhaps the most severe drain on his time and strength was the continual +correction of exercise books and examination papers, a task which he +performed with great patience and thoroughness. Added to all this, he +devoted every Sunday morning to his advanced students, giving them help and +advice in their piano work and in composition. +</p> +<p> +Amid all this labor his public playing had to be given up, but composition +went steadily on. During the eight years of the Columbia professorship, +some of the most important works of his life were produced; among them +were, Sea Pieces the two later Sonatas, the Norse and the Keltic, Fireside +Tales, and New England Idyls. The Woodland Sketches had already been +published and some of his finest songs. Indeed nearly one quarter of all +his compositions were the fruit of those eight years while he held the post +at Columbia. +</p> +<p> +In 1896 he bought some property near Peterboro, New Hampshire—fifteen +acres with a small farmhouse and other buildings, and fifty acres of +forest. The buildings were remodeled into a rambling but comfortable +dwelling, and here, amid woods and hills he loved, he spent the summer of +each year. He built a little log cabin in the woods near by, and here he +wrote some of his best music. +</p> +<p> +In 1904 MacDowell left Columbia, but continued his private piano classes, +and sometimes admitted free such students as were unable to pay. After his +arduous labors at Columbia, which had been a great drain on his vitality, +he should have had a complete rest and change. Had he done so, the collapse +which was imminent might have been averted. But he took no rest though +in the spring of 1905 he began to show signs of nervous breakdown. The +following summer was spent, as usual, in Peterboro but it seemed to bring +no relief to the exhausted composer. In the fall of that year his ailment +appeared worse. Although he seemed perfectly well in body, his mind +gradually became like that of a child. The writer was privileged to see him +on one occasion, and retains an ineffaceable memory of the composer in his +white flannels, seated in a large easy chair, taking little notice of what +was passing about him, seldom recognizing his friends or visitors, but +giving the hand of his devoted wife a devoted squeeze when she moved to his +side to speak to him. +</p> +<p> +This state continued for over two years, until his final release, +January 23, 1908, as he had just entered his forty-seventh year. The old +Westminster Hotel had been the MacDowell home through the long illness. +From here is but a step to St. George's Episcopal Church, where a simple +service was held. On the following day the composer was taken to Peterboro, +his summer home, a spot destined to play its part, due to the untiring +efforts of Mrs. MacDowell, in the development of music in America. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Gilman tells us: +</p> +<p> +"His grave is on an open hill-top, commanding one of the spacious and +beautiful views he had loved. On a bronze tablet are these lines of his +own, used as a motto for his 'From a Log Cabin,' the last music he ever +wrote: +</p> +<pre> + 'A house of dreams untold + It looks out over the whispering tree-tops + And faces the setting sun.'" +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_22"><!-- RULE4 22 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XXII<br> + <br> +CLAUDE ACHILLE DEBUSSY +</h3></div> + +<pre> + "<i>I love music too much to speak of it otherwise than + passionately</i>." +</pre> +<div align="center">DEBUSSY</div> +<p> </p> + +<pre> + "<i>Art is always progressive; it cannot return to the past, which + is definitely dead. Only imbeciles and cowards look backward. + Then—Let us work</i>!" +</pre> +<div align="center">DEBUSSY</div> +<p> </p> + +<p> +It is difficult to learn anything of the boyhood and youth of this rare +French composer. Even his young manhood and later life were so guarded and +secluded that few outside his intimate circle knew much of the man, except +as mirrored in his music. After all that is just as the composer wished, +to be known through his compositions, for in them he revealed himself. They +are transparent reflections of his character, his aims and ideals. +</p> +<p> +Only the barest facts of his early life can be told. We know that he was +born at Saint Germain-en-Laye, France, August 22, 1862. From the very +beginning he seemed precociously gifted in music, and began at a very early +age to study the piano. His first lessons on the instrument were received +from Mme. de Sivry, a former pupil of Chopin. At ten he entered the Paris +Conservatoire, obtaining his Solfège medals in 1874, '75, and '76, under +Lavignac; a second prize for piano playing from Marmontel in 1877, a first +prize for accompanying in 1880; an accessory prize for counterpoint and +fugue in 1882, and finally the Grande Prix de Rome, with his cantata, +"L'Enfant Prodigue," in 1884, as a pupil of Guirand. +</p> +<p> +Thus in twelve years, or at the age of twenty-two, the young musician was +thoroughly furnished for a career. He had worked through carefully, from +the beginning to the top, with thoroughness and completeness, gaining his +honors, slowly, step by step. All this painstaking care, this overcoming +of the technical difficulties of his art, is what gave him such complete +command and freedom in using the medium of tone and harmony, in his unique +manner. +</p> +<p> +While at work in Paris, young Debussy made an occasional side trip to +another country. In 1879 he visited Russia, where he learned to know the +music of that land, yet undreamed of by the western artists. When his turn +came to go to Rome, for which honor he secured the prize, he sent home the +required compositions, a Symphonic Suite "Spring," and a lyric poem for a +woman's voice, with chorus and orchestra, entitled "La Demoiselle Elue." +</p> +<p> +From the first Claude Debussy showed himself a rare spirit, who looked at +the subject of musical art from a different angle than others had done. +For one thing he must have loved nature with whole souled devotion, for he +sought to reflect her moods and inspirations in his compositions. Once he +said: "I prefer to hear a few notes from an Egyptian shepherd's flute, +for he is in accord with his scenery and hears harmonies unknown to your +treatises. Musicians too seldom turn to the music inscribed in nature. It +would benefit them more to watch a sunrise than to listen to a performance +of the Pastorale Symphony. Go not to others for advice but take counsel of +the passing breezes, which relate the history of the world to those who can +listen." +</p> +<p> +Again he says, in a way that shows what delight he feels in beauty that is +spontaneous and natural: +</p> +<p> +"I lingered late one autumn evening in the country, irresistibly fascinated +by the magic of old world forests. From yellowing leaves, fluttering +earthward, celebrating the glorious agony of the trees, from the clangorous +angelus bidding the fields to slumber, rose a sweet persuasive voice, +counseling perfect oblivion. The sun was setting solitary. Beasts and men +turned peacefully homeward, having accomplished their impersonal tasks." +</p> +<p> +When as a youth Debussy was serving with his regiment in France, he relates +of the delight he experienced in listening to the tones of the bugles and +bells. The former sounded over the camp for the various military duties; +the latter belonged to a neighboring convent and rang out daily for +services. The resonance of the bugles and the far-reaching vibrations of +the bells, with their overtones and harmonics, were specially noted by the +young musician, and used by him later in his music. It is a well-known fact +that every tone or sound is accompanied by a whole series of other sounds; +they are the vibrations resulting from the fundamental tone. If the tone C +is played in the lower octave of the piano, no less than sixteen overtones +vibrate with it. A few of these are audible to the ordinary listener, but +very keen ears will hear more of them. In Claude Debussy's compositions, +his system of harmony and tonality is intimately connected with these laws +of natural harmonics. His chords, for instance, are remarkable for their +shifting, vapory quality; they seem to be on the border land between major +and minor—consonance and dissonance; again they often appear to float in +the air, without any resolution whatever. It was a new aspect of music, +a new style of chord progression. At the same time the young composer was +well versed in old and ancient music; he knew all the old scales, eight +in number, and used them in his compositions with compelling charm. +The influence of the old Gregorian chant has given his music a certain +fluidity, free rhythm, a refinement, richness and variety peculiarly its +own. +</p> +<p> +We can trace impressions of early life in Debussy's music, through his +employment of the old modes, the bell sounds which were familiar to his +boyhood, and also circumstances connected with his later life. As a student +in Rome, he threw himself into the study of the music of Russian composers, +especially that of Moussorgsky; marks of the Oriental coloring derived from +these masters appear in his own later music. When he returned to Paris for +good, he reflected in music the atmosphere of his environment. By interest +and temperament he was in sympathy with the impressionistic school in art, +whether it be in painting, literature or in music. In Debussy's music the +qualities of impressionism and symbolism are very prominent. He employs +sounds as though they were colors, and blends them in such a way as +literally to paint a picture in tones, through a series of shaded, +many-hued chord progressions. Fluid, flexible, vivid, these beautiful +harmonies, seemingly woven of refracted rays of light, merge into shadowy +melody, and free, flowing rhythm. +</p> +<p> +What we first hear in Debussy's music, is the strangeness of the harmony, +the use of certain scales, not so much new as unfamiliar. Also the +employment of sequences of fifths or seconds. He often takes his subjects +from nature, but in this case seems to prefer a sky less blue and a +landscape more atmospheric than those of Italy, more like his native +France. His music, when known sufficiently, will reveal a sense of +proportion, balance and the most exquisite taste. It may lack strength +at times, it may lack outbursts of passion and intensity, but it is the +perfection of refinement. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Ernest Newman, in writing of Debussy, warmly praises the delightful +naturalness of his early compositions. "One would feel justified in +building the highest hopes on the young genius who can manipulate so easily +the beautiful shapes his imagination conjures up." +</p> +<p> +The work of the early period shows Debussy developing freely and naturally. +The independence of his thinking is unmistakable, but it does not run +into wilfulness. There is no violent break with the past, but simply +the quickening of certain French qualities by the infusion of a new +personality. It seemed as if a new and charming miniaturist had appeared, +who was doing both for piano and song what had never been done before. +The style of the two Arabesques and the more successful of the Ariettes +oubliées is perfect. A liberator seemed to have come into music, to take +up, half a century later, the work of Chopin—the work of redeeming the art +from the excessive objectivity of German thought, of giving it not only +a new soul but a new body, swift, lithe and graceful. And that this +exquisitely clear, pellucid style could be made to carry out not only +gaiety and whimsicality but emotion of a deeper sort, is proved by the +lovely "Clair de Lune." +</p> +<p> +Among Debussy's best known compositions are "The Afternoon of a Faun," +composed in 1894 and called his most perfect piece for orchestra, which he +never afterward surpassed. There are also Three Nocturnes for orchestra. +In piano music, as we have briefly shown, he created a new school for +the player. All the way from the two Arabesques just mentioned, through +"Gardens in the Rain," "The Shadowy Cathedral," "A Night in Granada," "The +Girl with Blond Hair," up to the two books of remarkable Preludes, it is a +new world of exotic melody and harmony to which he leads the way. "Art must +be hidden by art," said Rameau, long ago, and this is eminently true in +Debussy's music. +</p> +<p> +Debussy composed several works for the stage, one of which was "Martyrdom +of Saint Sebastien," but his "Pélleas and Mélisande" is the one supreme +achievement in the lyric drama. As one of his critics writes: "The reading +of the score of 'Pélleas and Mélisande' remains for me one of the most +marvelous lessons in French art: it would be impossible for him to +express more with greater restraint of means." The music, which seems +so complicated, is in reality very simple. It sounds so shadowy and +impalpable, but it is really built up with as sure control as the most +classic work. It is indeed music which appeals to refined and sensitive +temperaments. +</p> +<p> +This mystical opera was produced in Paris, at the Opéra Comique, in April, +1902, and at once made a sensation. It had any number of performances and +still continues as one of the high lights of the French stage. Its fame +soon reached America, and the first performance was given in New York in +1907, with a notable cast of singing actors, among whom Mary Garden, as the +heroine gave an unforgettable, poetic interpretation. +</p> +<p> +Many songs have been left us by this unique composer. He was especially +fond of poetry and steeped himself in the verse of Verlaine, Villon, +Baudelaire and Mallarmé. He chose the most unexpected, the most subtle, +and wedded it to sounds which invariably expressed the full meaning. He +breathed the breath of life into these vague, shadowy poems, just as he +made Maeterlinck's "Pélleas" live again. +</p> +<p> +As the years passed, Claude Debussy won more and more distinction as a +unique composer, but also gained the reputation of being a very unsociable +man. Physically it has been said that in his youth he seemed like an +Assyrian Prince; through life he retained his somewhat Asiatic appearance. +His eyes were slightly narrowed, his black hair curled lightly over an +extremely broad forehead. He spoke little and often in brusque phrase. For +this reason he was frequently misunderstood, as the irony and sarcasm with +which he sometimes spoke did not tend to make friends. But this attitude +was only turned toward those who did not comprehend him and his ideals, or +who endeavored to falsify what he believed in and esteemed. +</p> +<p> +A friend of the artist writes: +</p> +<p> +"I met Claude Debussy for the first time in 1906. Living myself in a +provincial town, I had for several years known and greatly admired some +of the songs and the opera, 'Pélleas and Mélisande,' and I made each of +my short visits to Paris an opportunity of improving my acquaintance with +these works. A young composer, André Caplet, with whom I had long been +intimate, proposed to introduce me to Debussy; but the rumors I had heard +about the composer's preferred seclusion always made me refuse in spite +of my great desire to know him. I now had a desire to express the feelings +awakened in me, and to communicate to others, by means of articles and +lectures, my admiration for, and my belief in, the composer and his work. +The result was that one day, in 1906, Debussy let me know through a friend, +that he would like to see me. From that day began our friendship." +</p> +<p> +Later the same friend wrote: +</p> +<p> +"Debussy was invited to appear at Queen's Hall with the London Symphony +Orchestra, on February 1, 1908, to conduct his 'Afternoon of a Faun,' and +'The Sea.' The ovation he received from the English public was exceptional. +I can still see him in the lobby, shaking hands with friends after the +concert, trying to hide his emotion, and saying repeatedly: 'How nice they +are—how nice they are!'" +</p> +<p> +He went again the next year to London, but the state of his health +prevented his going anywhere else. For a malady, which finally proved +fatal, seemed to attack the composer when in his prime, and eventually +put an end to his work. We cannot guess what other art works he might have +created. But there must be some that have not yet seen the light. It is +known that he was wont to keep a composition for some time in his desk, +correcting and letting it ripen, until he felt it was ready to be brought +out. +</p> +<p> +One of his cherished dreams had been to compose a "Tristan." +</p> +<p> +The characters of Tristan and Iseult are primarily taken from a French +legend. Debussy felt the story was a French heritage and should be restored +to its original atmosphere and idea. This it was his ardent desire to +accomplish. +</p> +<p> +Debussy passed away March 26, 1918. +</p> +<p> +Since his desire to create a Tristan has been made impossible, let us +cherish the rich heritage of piano, song and orchestral works, which this +original French artist and thinker has left behind, to benefit art and his +fellow man. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_23"><!-- RULE4 23 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XXIII<br> + <br> +ARTURO TOSCANINI +</h3></div> + +<p> +The sharp rap of Arturo Toscanini's baton that cuts the ear like a whiplash +brought the rehearsal of the NBC Symphony Orchestra to a sudden, shocking +stop. Overtones from chords of Wagner's "Faust Overture," killed in +mid-career, vibrated through the throat-gripping silence. +</p> +<p> +The men stared at their music, bowed their heads a little in anticipation +of the storm. "Play that again," the Maestro commanded William Bell, the +bass tuba player, who had just finished a solo. On Mr. Bell's face there +was an expression of mixed worry and wonderment. Mr. Toscanini noticed the +troubled anxious look. +</p> +<p> +"No, no, no," he said, with that childlike smile of his that suffuses his +whole face with an irresistible light. "There is nothing wrong. Play it +again; please, play it again, just for me. It is so beautiful. I have never +heard these solo passages played with such a lovely tone." +</p> +<p> +There you have a side of Mr. Toscanini that the boys have forgotten to tell +you about. For years newspaper and magazine writers (in the last couple of +seasons the Maestro has even "made" the Broadway columns!) have doled out +anecdotes concerning his terrible temper. +</p> +<p> +From these stories there emerged a demoniacal little man with the tantrums +of a dozen prima donnas, a temperamental tyrant who, at the dropping of a +stitch in the orchestral knitting, tore his hair, screamed at the top of +his inexhaustible Latin lungs, doused his trembling players with streams of +blistering invective. +</p> +<p> +That's how you learned that, to the king of conductors, a musician playing +an acid note is a "shoemaker," a "swine," an "assassin" or even something +completely unprintable. +</p> +<p> +So far as they went the stories were true. Mr. Toscanini, as all the world +knows by now, is the world's No. 1 musical purist. Nothing but perfection +satisfies him. He hates compromise, loathes the half-baked and mediocre, +refuses to put up with "something almost as good." +</p> +<p> +As Stefan Zweig puts it: "In vain will you remind him that the perfect, the +absolute, are rarely attainable in this world; that, even to the sublimest +will, no more is possible than an approach to perfection.... His glorious +unwisdom makes it impossible to recognize this wise dispensation." +</p> +<p> +His rages, then, are the spasms of pain of a perfectionist wounded by +imperfection. It was his glorious unwisdom that caused him, at a rehearsal +not long ago, to fling a platinum watch to the floor, where, of course, it +was smashed into fragments. +</p> +<p> +In the shadows of the studio that afternoon lurked John F. Royal, program +director of NBC. Next day he presented the Maestro with two $1 watches, +both inscribed, "For Rehearsals Only." Mr. Toscanini was so amused that he +forgot to get angry with Mr. Royal for breaking the grimly enforced rule +barring all but orchestra members from rehearsals. +</p> +<p> +The sympathetic program director also had the shattered platinum watch put +together by what must have been a Toscanini among watchmakers. By that time +the incident had become such a joke that the orchestra men dared to +give the Maestro a chain, of material and construction guaranteed to be +unbreakable, to attach the brace of Ingersolls to the dark, roomy jacket +which for years he has worn at rehearsals. +</p> +<p> +Less than a week later that same choleric director, with the burning +deep-set black eyes, the finely chiseled features and the halo of silver +hair surrounding a bald spot that turns purple in his passions, walked into +a room where a girl of this reporter's acquaintance stood beside a canary +cage, making a rather successful attempt at whistling, in time and tune +with the bird. +</p> +<p> +For a moment the man who can make music like no one else on earth listened +to the girl and her pet. Then he sighed and said: +</p> +<p> +"Oh, if I could only whistle!" +</p> +<p> +Those who know Mr. Toscanini intimately find in those six simple words the +key to his character. He is, they say, the most modest man who ever lived, +a man sincerely at a loss to understand the endless fuss that is made about +him. +</p> +<p> +Time and again he has told his friends that he has no fonder desire than to +be able to walk about undisturbed, to saunter along the avenue, look +into shop-windows, do the thousand-and-one common little things that are +permitted other human beings. +</p> +<p> +That same humility, that same incurable bewilderment at public acclaim must +have been apparent to all who ever attended a Toscanini concert, saw him at +the close of a superb interpretation bowing as one of the group of players +and making deprecating gestures that seemed to say: "What you have heard +was a great score brought to life by these excellent musicians—why applaud +me?" +</p> +<p> +At rehearsals he is the strictest of disciplinarians but not a prima donna +conductor. He demands the utmost attention and concentration from his men, +brooks no disturbance or interruption. On the other hand, he is punctual +to a fault, arrives fifteen minutes ahead of time, never asks for special +privileges of any kind. +</p> +<p> +He has been described as the world's most patient and impatient orchestral +director. In rehearsal he will take the men through a passage, a mere +phrase, innumerable times to achieve a certain tonal or dynamic effect. But +he explodes when he feels that he is faced with stupidity or stubbornness. +</p> +<p> +Some famous conductors have added the B of Barnum to the three immortal B's +of music—Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Those wielders of the stick are great +showmen as well as great musicians. +</p> +<p> +Not so Mr. Toscanini. In his platform manner there is nothing calculated +for theatrical effect. He doesn't care in the least what he looks like +"from out front." His gestures are designed not to impress, enrapture or +englamour the musical groundlings, but to convey his sharply defined wishes +to his men and transmit to them the flaming enthusiasm that consumes him. +</p> +<p> +His motions are patiently sincere, almost unconscious. He enters carrying +his baton under his right arm, like a riding crop. Orchestra and audience +rise. He acknowledges this mark of respect and the tumultuous applause with +a quick bow, an indulgent smile and a gesture that plainly say: "Thanks, +thanks, all this is very nice, you're a lot of kind, good children, but for +heaven's sake let's get down to business." +</p> +<p> +While waiting a few seconds for listeners and players to settle themselves +he rests his baton against his right shoulder, like a sword. Then the sharp +rap. The Maestro closes his eyes. Another rap, sharper than the first. +Oppressive, electrical silence. He lifts the baton as if saluting the +orchestra. The concert begins. +</p> +<p> +As a rule the right hand gives the tempo and tracks down every smallest +melody, wherever it may hide in the score. In passages for the strings, the +baton indicates the type of bowing the conductor wants from the violins, +violas or cellos. +</p> +<p> +The left hand, with the long thumb separate from the other fingers, is the +orchestra's guide to the Maestro's interpretative desires. It wheedles the +tone from the men. It coaxes, hushes, demands increased volume. It moves, +trembling, to the heart to ask for feeling, closes into a fist to get sound +and fury from the brasses, thunder from the drums. Through it all, the +Maestro talks, sings, whistles and blows out his cheeks for the benefit of +trumpeters and trombonists. +</p> +<p> +After a concert, keyed to feverish excitement, he often plays over piano +scores of every number that appeared on the program. Then he may lie awake +all night, worrying over two possible tempi in which he might have taken +some passage—shadings in rhythm that the average listener would not, could +not discern. +</p> +<p> +He is never satisfied with himself. Some years ago, when he was still +conducting at the Scala in Milan, he came home one night after the opera. +Mr. Toscanini does not eat before a performance, and his family wait with +the evening meal until he joins them. +</p> +<p> +As he stepped into the hall he saw his wife and daughters walking into +the dining room. "Where are you going?" he asks them. "In to supper, of +course," one of them told him. The Maestro exploded: "What? After THAT +performance? Oh, no, you're not. It shall never be said of my family that +they could eat after such a horrible show!" All of them, including the +great man himself, went to bed without supper that night. +</p> +<p> +It stands to reason that a man of this type detests personal publicity. +The interviews he has granted in the fifty-six years of his career—Mr. +Toscanini, who is seventy-five, began conducting at nineteen—can be +counted on the fingers of one hand. He feels and has often told friends +that all he has to say he can say in musical terms; that he gladly leaves +to others what satisfaction they may derive from publicly bandying words. +</p> +<p> +But his frequent brushes with news photographers don't come under this +head. The existence of numerous fine camera studies of the Maestro +proves that he doesn't dislike being photographed. Nor does he dislike +photographers. But he hates flashlights because they hurt his eyes. +</p> +<p> +This has bolstered the popular notion—based on the fact that he conducts +from memory—that his sight is so poor as to amount almost to blindness. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Toscanini is neither blind nor half-blind. He does not use a strong +magnifying glass to study his scores, note by note. He is near-sighted, +but not more so than millions of others, and reads with the aid of ordinary +spectacles. +</p> +<p> +He has always conducted from memory because he believes that having the +score in his head gives a conductor greater freedom and authority to impose +his musical will upon his men. At rehearsals the score is kept on a stand +a few feet from the Maestro. From time to time he consults it to verify a +point at dispute. He has never been known to be wrong. +</p> +<p> +His memory is, of course, phenomenal. Anything he has once seen, read and +particularly, heard, he not only remembers but is unable to forget. The +other day he and a friend were discussing the concerto played by a certain +pianist on his American debut in 1911. Mr. Toscanini remembered it as +Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto; the friend maintained it was the Second. +</p> +<p> +The Maestro said: "I recall the concert very well. He was soloist with the +Philharmonic." And he reeled off all the other compositions on that program +of twenty-seven years ago. +</p> +<p> +To settle the argument the skeptical friend called the office of the +Philharmonic. Mr. Toscanini had been right about the Beethoven Concerto and +had correctly remembered the purely orchestral numbers as well. +</p> +<p> +He is a profound student, not only of music but of all available literature +bearing upon it. A music critic who visited him in Salzburg a few years +ago, just before he was to conduct Wagner's "Die Meistersinger," found him +in a room littered with books on the opera, books on Wagner, volumes of the +composer's correspondence. +</p> +<p> +The Maestro, who has been coming to this country since 1908, speaks better +English than most of us. He knows his English literature and is in the +sometimes disconcerting habit of quoting by the yard from the works of +Shakespeare, Keats, Shelley and Swinburne. +</p> +<p> +Almost as great a linguist as he is a musician, he coaxes and curses his +men in perfect, idiomatic French, German and Spanish as well as English and +Italian. +</p> +<p> +He likes reading, listening to the radio—he is fond of good jazz—and +driving out in the country. He loves speed. An American friend who some +years ago accompanied him on a motor trip from Milan to Venice groaned when +the speedometer began hovering around 78. "What's the matter with you?" the +Maestro wanted to know. "We're only jogging along." Whenever possible he +flies. +</p> +<p> +Since 1926 he and Mrs. Toscanini have occupied an apartment in the +Astor—the same suite of four smallish rooms. The place is furnished by the +hotel, but the Maestro always brings his beloved knickknacks—his miniature +of Beethoven, his Wagner and Verdi manuscripts, his family photographs. +</p> +<p> +He has no valet and dislikes being pawed by barbers. He shaves himself, +and Mrs. Toscanini or one of the daughters cuts his hair. He eats very +little—two plates of soup (preferably minestrone), a piece of bread and a +glass of chianti do him nicely for dinner. +</p> +<p> +He begrudges the time spent in eating and sleeping. Like the child he is at +heart, he loves staying up late. Occasionally he takes a nocturnal prowl. +</p> +<p> +The other night, after a concert, he asked a friend to take him +somewhere—"some place where they won't know me and make a fuss over me." +</p> +<p> +The friend took him to a little place in the Village. The moment Mr. +Toscanini entered, the proprietor dashed forward, bowed almost to the +ground and said: "Maestro, I am greatly honored ... I'll never forget this +hour ..." Then he led the party to the most conspicuous spot in the room. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Toscanini wanted a nip of brandy, but the innkeeper insisted that he +try some very special wine of the house's own making. From a huge jug +he poured a brownish-red, viscous liquid into a couple of tumblers. The +Maestro's companion says it tasted like a mixture of castor oil, hair tonic +and pitch. +</p> +<p> +Turning white at the first sip, Mr. Toscanini drained his glass at a gulp. +Outside, his friend asked him: "Why did you drink that vile stuff?" +</p> +<p> +The Maestro said: "The poor fellow meant well, and I didn't want to refuse. +A man can do anything." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_24"><!-- RULE4 24 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XXIV<br> + <br> +LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI +</h3></div> + +<p> +Many years ago this reporter was traveling, as a non-fiddling, non-tooting +member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, on a train that carried the +organization on one of its Pennsylvania-Maryland-Ohio tours. +</p> +<p> +It was 2 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Stokowski, the conductor, was secluded +in his drawing room, perhaps asleep, but more likely trying to digest three +helpings of creamed oysters in which he had indulged at the home of an +effusive Harrisburg hostess. Mr. Stokowski in those days couldn't let +creamed oysters alone, but neither could he take them. +</p> +<p> +In the Pullman smoker sat the handsome gentleman who was then manager of +the orchestra and your correspondent. "Tell me," said the reporter, "just +between you and me—where did Stoky get that juicy accent?" +</p> +<p> +The manager removed his cigar to reply: +</p> +<p> +"God alone knows." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Stokowski then had been in this country nearly twenty years. He has +been here now more than thirty years, and still no one on earth, with the +possible exception of Mr. Stokowski himself, can tell you where he dug up +his rich luscious accent that trickles down the portals of the ear as the +sauce of creamed oysters trickles down the gullet. +</p> +<p> +Surely he didn't get it in London where, on April 18, 1882, he was born. +Nor did he learn it in Queens College, Oxford, where he was considered a +bright student, or on Park Avenue, New York, where he landed in 1905 to +play the organ at St. Bartholomew's. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Stokowski's dialectic vagaries are among the mysteries in which, for +his own good reasons, he has chosen to wrap himself. Another one concerns +his name and origin. Is he really Leopold Antoni Stanislaw Stokowski? Was +his father one Joseph Boleslaw Kopernicus Stokowski, a Polish emigre +who became a London stockbroker? Was his mother an Irish colleen and the +granddaughter of Tom Moore, who wrote "Believe Me If All Those Endearing +Young Charms"? Or is Stoky just plain Lionel Stokes, the sprout of a humble +cockney family? +</p> +<p> +Nobody knows. But everybody knows that Leopold Stokowski is one of the +world's really great orchestra conductors, a true poet of the stick (though +he has dispensed with the baton in recent years), and that he has made the +name of the Philadelphia Orchestra synonymous with superb singing, beauty +of tone and dazzling brilliance. +</p> +<p> +Everybody knows, too, that he has few peers as an interpreter of Bach, many +of whose compositions he unearthed from the organ repertoire and gave to +the general public in shimmering orchestral arrangements, and that critics +trot out their choicest adjectives to praise his playing of Brahms and all +Russian composers. +</p> +<p> +Everybody knows, further, that he and his orchestra have made a larger +number of phonograph recordings of symphonic music than any other conductor +and band, and that the Philadelphia organization was the first of its kind +to dare the raised eyebrows of the musical tories by going on the air as a +commercially sponsored attraction. +</p> +<p> +The list, here necessarily condensed, is one of impressive musical +achievements, which many an artist of a more placid temperament than Mr. +Stokowski's would have considered ample to insure his fame. +</p> +<p> +But the slender, once golden-locked, now white-thatched Leopold is and +always was a restless fellow, a bundle of nervous energy, an insatiable +lover of experiment, innovation and—the limelight. +</p> +<p> +Those traits began to come to the surface in 1922, when he had been bossing +the Philadelphia band for ten years. About that time he seemed no longer +satisfied with merely playing to his audiences—he started talking to them. +</p> +<p> +There were (and still are) two groups of Philadelphia Orchestra +subscribers—the Friday afternoon crowd, consisting largely of stuffy +dowagers, and the Saturday night clientele, composed mostly of persons +genuinely interested in music. +</p> +<p> +The old society gals went to the Friday matinees because it was the thing +to do. While "that dear, handsome boy" and his men on the platform were +discoursing Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner, the ladies swapped gossip, +recipes and lamented the scarcity of skillful, loyal but inexpensive +domestics. +</p> +<p> +It was at one of those whispering bees (your reporter, who was there, +swears it really happened) that, during the playing of a gossamer +pianissimo passage, a subscriber informed her neighbor in a resonant +contralto: +</p> +<p> +"I always mix butter with MINE!" Mr. Stokowski did not address the audience +on that occasion. He gave his first lecture at another concert, and then he +scolded the women not for talking but for applauding. +</p> +<p> +Many of the Friday afternoon customers were in such a rush to catch trains +for their Main Line suburbs that they seldom remained long enough to give +conductor and orchestra a well-deserved ovation. So nobody ever quite knew +whether the dead-pan Stoky was in earnest or moved by an impish sense of +humor when, following the usual thin smattering of applause, he said: +</p> +<p> +"This strange beating together of hands has no meaning, and to me it is +very disturbing. I do not like it. It destroys the mood my colleagues and I +have been trying to create with our music." +</p> +<p> +Shortly afterward, the Philadelphia Orchestra and its blond, romantic +conductor invaded New York. Their Tuesday night concerts at Carnegie +Hall became the rage. The uninhibited music lovers of this town not only +applauded Stoky but cheered, yelled and stamped to express their frenzied +approval. He never lectured THEM. +</p> +<p> +But in Philadelphia he continued his extra-conductorial antics. When the +audience hissed an ultra-modern composition, he told them: "I am glad you +are hissing. It is so much better than apathy." Another time, when they +booed an atonal piece, he repeated it immediately. +</p> +<p> +He scolded the audience for coming late. He scolded them for leaving early. +Once he scolded them for coughing. They continued the rasping noise. After +the intermission, on Stoky's orders, the 100-odd men of the orchestra +walked out on the stage barking as if in the last stages of an epidemic +bronchial disease. +</p> +<p> +All those didoes promptly made the front page. Thereafter Mr. Stokowski, +who had tasted blood, or rather, printer's ink, came out on the average of +once a month with a new notion to astound the Quakers. +</p> +<p> +He shocked them with a demand for Sunday concerts—then a heresy in +Philadelphia. He changed the seating arrangement of the orchestra. He +discarded the wooden amphitheatre on which, since the dark symphonic ages, +the players had sat in tiers, and put them on chairs directly on the stage. +Then he shuffled the men, making the cellos change places with the second +violins, the battery with the basses. There must have been some merit in +all this switching, for several conductors copied it. +</p> +<p> +Next he announced that light was a distraction at a concert. Henceforth, +the Philadelphia Orchestra would play in darkness. Wails of dismay from the +Friday afternoon dowagers. How on earth was any one going to see what her +friends were wearing? +</p> +<p> +At the next matinee the Academy of Music was black as a crypt. On the +stage, at each of the players' desks, hung a small, green-shaded light. +Then Mr. Stokowski walked out on the podium. The moment he had mounted +the dais, a spotlight was trained on his head, turning his hair into a +glittering golden halo. The ladies forgot all about their friends' dresses. +Why, the darling boy looked like an angel descended into a tomb to waken +the dead! +</p> +<p> +Stoky explained to the press that the spot was necessary to enable his men +to follow the play of his facial expressions. +</p> +<p> +Most conductors make their appearance in a leisurely manner. Carrying +the stick, they stride out on the platform, acknowledge the audience's +reception with a courtly bow, say a few kind words to the men, and when +musicians and listeners have composed themselves, begin the concert. +</p> +<p> +Leopold changed all that. Leander-like, he leaped from the wings, dashed to +the center of the stage, nodded curtly to the customers, then accepted +the baton which was handed to him, with a flourish, by one of the viola +players, and, before you could say "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," plunged into +the opening number. +</p> +<p> +His audiences, particularly the ladies, doted on his conducting technique. +His slim, youthful, virile figure was held erect, his feet remained +still as if nailed to the floor, while his arms went through a series of +sensuously compelling, always graceful motions. The view from the back was +enhanced by the fact that the tailor who cut his morning and evening coats +was almost as great as Stoky himself. And his hands! Ah, my dear, those +hands——! +</p> +<p> +There was so much ecstatic comment on those slender, nervous, expressive +hands that Mr. Stokowski decided to give the gals a full, unhampered view. +He did away with the baton. +</p> +<p> +About the same time he invented a new way of rehearsing the orchestra—the +remote-control method. An assistant conductor wielded the stick while +Stoky sat in the rear of the dark hall manipulating an intricate system +of colored lights that made known his wishes to his understudy on the +platform. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Stokowski is inordinately fond of gadgets and fancies himself as quite +a technical expert. When he first conducted for the radio he strenuously +objected to the arrangement whereby the engineers in the control room had +the last word as to the volume of sound that was to go out on the air. +</p> +<p> +Radio executives pacified him by rigging up an elaborate set of dials on +his desk. These he happily twirled, completely unaware that the doodads +were dead. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile—and please don't lose sight of this cardinal fact—he made +transcendently beautiful music. His stature as a conductor grew with the +years and so did the repertoire of scores he conducted from memory. This +feat involved heartbreaking work, for his memory, while good, is not +unusually retentive. In the middle years of his career, he devoted from ten +to twelve hours a day to studying scores. +</p> +<p> +In periods when the Stokowski brain was unproductive of new stunts, his +private life and his recurrent rows with the directors of the orchestra +about matters of salary and control kept him in the papers. +</p> +<p> +His divorce from Mme. Olga Samaroff, the pianist, a Texan born as Lucy +Hickenlooper, whom he married in the dim days when he conducted in +Cincinnati, provided Rittenhouse Square with chit-chat for a whole winter. +So did his marriage to Evangeline Brewster Johnson, an extremely wealthy, +eccentric and independent young woman, who later divorced him. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Stokowski's doings of the last few years can no longer be classed as +minor-league musical sensations. They have become Hot Hollywood Stuff. +First, there was his appearance in films. Then his collaboration with +Mickey Mouse. Then his friendship with Greta Garbo. Then his five-month +sentimental journey over half of Europe with the Duse of the screen. Today +he is as big a feature of the fan magazines as Clark Gable and Robert +Taylor. +</p> +<p> +Upon his return from Europe in August, Stoky made the most amusing remark +of a long amusing career. He told this reporter: +</p> +<p> +"I am not interested in publicity." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_25"><!-- RULE4 25 --></a> +<div align="center"><h3> +XXV<br> + <br> +SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY +</h3></div> + +<p> +In the official biographies of Serge Alexandrovitch Koussevitzky you will +find that the boss of the Boston Symphony learned the art and mystery of +conducting at the Royal Hochschule in Berlin under the great Artur Nikisch, +but in this town there lives and breathes a rather well-known Russian +pianist who tells a different story. +</p> +<p> +Long ago, says this key-tickler, when he was a youth, he was hired by +Koussevitzky, then also a young fellow, to play the piano scores of the +entire standard symphony repertoire. +</p> +<p> +He pounded away by the hour, the day and the week, while Koussevitzky +conducted, watching himself in a set of three tall mirrors in a corner of +the drawing room of his Moscow home. +</p> +<p> +The job lasted just about a year, and our pianist has never looked at a +conductor since. +</p> +<p> +There's also an anecdote to the effect that, much earlier, when Serge was +still a little boy in his small native town in the province of Tver, in +northern Russia, he would arrange the parlor chairs in rows and, with some +score open in front of him, conduct them. Once in a while he'd stop short +and berate the chairs. Then little Serge's language was something awful. +</p> +<p> +Whether these stories are true or not, the fact remains that Mr. +Koussevitzky became a conductor and a great one—one of the greatest. +The yarn of the mirrors is the most credible of the lot, for the Russian +batonist's platform appearance is so meticulous and his movements are so +obviously studied to produce the desired effects that he seems to conduct +before an imaginary pier glass. +</p> +<p> +For elegant tailoring he has no peer among orchestral chiefs, except, +perhaps, Mr. Stokowski. It's a toss-up between the two. Both are as sleek +as chromium statues. Mr. Stokowski, slim, lithe, romantic in a virile +way, looks as a poet should look, but never does. Mr. Koussevitzky, +broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, extremely military and virile in a +dramatic way, looks as a captain of dragoons in civvies should have looked +but never did. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Koussevitzy's conductorial gestures are literally high, wide and +handsome. His wing-spread, so to speak, is much larger than that of +either Mr. Stokowski or Mr. Toscanini, and he has a greater repertoire of +unpredictable motions than both of them put together. Time cannot wither, +nor custom stale, the infinite variety of his shadow boxing. +</p> +<p> +Those who knew his history look upon Mr. Koussevitzky's joyous, +unrestrained gymnastics with tolerant eyes. They realize that, for years, +he was forced to hide his fine figure and athletic prowess from thousands +of potential admirers. +</p> +<p> +For Mr. Koussevitzky, before he became a conductor, was a world-famous +performer on the double bass, that big growling brute of an instrument +popularly known as the bull fiddle. In those days all that was visible of +his impressive person was his head, one of his shoulders and his arms. +</p> +<p> +He didn't want to be a bull fiddler any more than you or you or you, and +it's greatly to his credit and indicative of his iron will, consuming +ambition and extraordinary musicianship that he developed, according to +authoritative opinion, into the best bull fiddler of his time. +</p> +<p> +Here's what happened: +</p> +<p> +Serge was the son of a violinist who scratched away for a meager living in +a third-rate theatre orchestra. The boy, intensely musical, wished to be +a fiddler like his father. When he was fourteen, his family gave him their +blessing, which was all they had to give, and sent him to Moscow to try for +a scholarship at the Philharmonic School. +</p> +<p> +He arrived with three rubles in his pocket. At the school he was told that +the only available scholarship was one in bull fiddling. Serge tried for it +and won. He was, so far as is known, the first musician to make the barking +monster into a solo instrument. +</p> +<p> +An overburdened troubadour, he dragged the cumbersome thing all over +Russia and played it in recitals with amazing success. In 1903, when Mr. +Koussevitzky was twenty-nine (he's sixty-eight now but looks a mettlesome +fifty), the Czar decorated him—the only instance in history of a +decoration bestowed for bull fiddling. +</p> +<p> +That same year, while giving a concert in Moscow, the virtuoso happened to +look into the audience and his eyes met those of a stunning brunette in +the front row. The owner of the lovely eyes, Natalya Konstantinova Ushkova, +became his wife two years later. +</p> +<p> +Natalya, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and a rich girl in her own +right, promised him anything he wanted for a wedding gift. "Give me a +symphony orchestra." was Koussevitzky's startling request. The bride was +taken aback, for it was with the bull fiddle that he had wooed and won her +and she hated to see him give it up, but she kept her word. +</p> +<p> +Now here is where our old pianist comes in. It was at that time, he says, +that Mr. Koussevitzky sent for him and began an intensive course of study +before the triple mirror. +</p> +<p> +A year or so later Natalya hired eighty-five of the best musicians in +Moscow. After a season of rehearsals Mr. Koussevitzky took his band on tour +aboard a steamer—a little gift from his father-in-law. +</p> +<p> +They rode up and down the Volga. Every evening the vessel—a sort of +musical showboat—tied up at a different city, town or village and the +orchestra gave a concert, often before peasants and small-town folk who had +never heard symphony music before. In seven years Mr. Koussevitzky and his +men traveled some 3,000 miles. +</p> +<p> +Came the revolution. Kerensky ordered Koussevitzy and his men: "Keep up +with your music." They did, but it wasn't easy. It was a terribly severe +winter; the country was in the killing grip of cold and famine. +</p> +<p> +Koussevitzky and his players starved for weeks on end. The boss conducted +in mittens. The men wore mittens, too, but they had holes in them, so they +could finger the strings and keys of their instruments. +</p> +<p> +The Bolsheviks made Mr. Koussevitzky director of the state orchestras +which, in those early Soviet days, were at low musical ebb. He labored in +that job for three years, from 1917 to 1920, but he was out of sympathy +with the Lenin-Trotzky regime and asked permission to leave the country. It +was refused because officials said, "Russia needs your music." +</p> +<p> +The fiery Koussevitzky told the Government that, unless he were allowed to +travel abroad, he'd never play or conduct another note in Russia. They let +him go. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Koussevitzky says that the Bolsheviks robbed him of about a million in +money, land and other property. In illustration of the state of things that +impelled him to leave his native land, he likes to tell this story: +</p> +<p> +A minor Bolshevik official came in one day to check up on the affairs of +the orchestra. "Who are those people?" he asked, pointing to a group of +players at the conductor's left. "Those," said Koussevitzky, "are the first +violins." +</p> +<p> +"And those over there?" asked the inspector, indicating a group at the +conductor's right. "The second violins," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +"What!" yelled the official. "Second violins in a Soviet state orchestra? +Clear them out!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Koussevitzky went to Paris, where he conducted a series of orchestral +concerts and performances of Moussorgsky's "Boris Godounoff" and +Tschaikowsky's "Pique Dame" at the Opera. Between 1921 and 1924 he also +appeared in Barcelona, Rome and Berlin. In Paris he established a music +publishing house (still in existence), which issued the works of such +modern Russian composers as Stravinsky, Scriabine, Medtner, Prokofieff and +Rachmaninoff. +</p> +<p> +In 1924, the offer of a $50,000 salary and the opportunity of rebuilding +the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which had sadly deteriorated since the days +of Dr. Karl Muck, lured him to this country. +</p> +<p> +American customs, he now admits, at first appalled him. He was amazed to +find musicians smoking in intermissions at rehearsals and concert. This he +called "an insult to art." He forbade smoking. The players raised an +unholy rumpus, but Koussevitzky persisted. The men haven't taken a puff in +Symphony Hall since that time. +</p> +<p> +The next unpopular move he made was to fire a number of the old standbys +who had sat in the orchestra for most of its forty-four-year history. "I +vant yongk blott!" he cried in his then still very thick accent. "If dose +old chentlemen vant to sleep, let dem sleep in deir houses!" +</p> +<p> +The Boston music lovers didn't like it. To them the Symphony is a sacred +cow and they regarded the older members in the light of special pets. But +when, at the opening of the new season, they heard a brilliant, completely +rejuvenated orchestra, they forgave the new conductor. Since then, he +has restored the Symphony to its old-time glory. Today Beacon Hill has no +greater favorite than Serge Alexandrovitch Koussevitzky. +</p> +<p> +The orchestra men, too, learned to like him. They discovered that, with +all his public histrionics, he was on the level as a musician. He is a +merciless task master, but in rehearsals he gives himself no airs. Dressed +in an old pair of pants and a disreputable brown woolen sweater, which +he has worn in private since the day he landed in Boston, he works like a +stevedore. When he, the pants and the sweater had been with the Symphony +ten years, the men gave him a testimonial dinner. +</p> +<p> +Next to Mr. Toscanini he's the world's most temperamental conductor, but he +has the ability to keep himself in check—when he wants to. "Koussevitzky," +says Ernest Newman, the eminent English music critic, "has a volcanic +temperament, yet never have I known it to run away with him. It is +precisely when his temperament is at the boiling point that his hand on the +regulator is steadiest." +</p> +<p> +At a concert in Carnegie Hall four years ago he gave a dramatic +demonstration of self-control. He was conducting Debussy's "Prelude to the +Afternoon of a Faun," when smoke from an incinerator fire in a neighboring +building penetrated the hall. The smoke grew dense. People rose, rushed for +the exits in near-panic. Women screamed. +</p> +<p> +He stopped the orchestra, turned to the audience, held up his hand and +shouted: +</p> +<p> +"Come back! Sit down! Sit down—all of you! Everything is all right!" +</p> +<p> +The customers meekly resumed their seats. Mr. Koussevitzky swung 'round and +continued playing Debussy's brooding, sensuous dreampiece as if nothing had +happened. +</p> +<p> +Because he has done so much, both as conductor and publisher, for living +composers (he is the high priest of the Sibelius cult), he has been called +a modernist. The label infuriates him. +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense!" he snarls. "I'm not a modernist and I'm not a classicist. I'm +a musician! The first movement of the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven is the +greatest music ever written and George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' is a +masterpiece." +</p> +<p> +"There you are! Make the best of it!" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<pre class="notes"> +[Transcriber's Notes: +a. The spelling of names and places are noted as having changed +between the publication of this book and the year 2004: +Chapter I (Palestrina): +'Michael Angelo' vs. 'Michaelangelo' (also in Chapter VI) +Chapter II (Bach): +Leipsic vs. Leipzig (repeated in following chapters) +Lüneberg vs. Lüneburg +Chapter X (Mendelssohn): +'Dreifaltigkeit Kirch-hof' vs. 'Dreifaltigkeit Kirchhof' +Wiemar vs. Weimar +Chapter XIII (Berlioz): +Academié vs. Académie +Chapter XIV (Verdi): +'Sant' Agata' vs. 'Sant'Agata' +'Apeninnes' vs. 'Apennines' +'Corsia di Servi' vs. 'Corsia dei Servi' +Chpater XXI (McDowell): +Frankfort vs. Frankfurt (Germany) +Peterboro vs. Peterborough (New Hampshire) + * * * * * +b. Spelling errors found, not corrected: +beseiged (besieged); +Esterhazy (spelled unaccented twice) vs. Esterházy (spelled with accent 6 times) +Carreno vs. Carreño (Teresa; each spelling used once.) +Academié (Académie) +Scandanavia (Scandinavia) + * * * * * +c. Obvious spelling errors corrected: +Lüneberg (in 1 place) to Lüneburg (this spelling found in 3 places) +Febuary to February (One day in February ...); +obsorbed to absorbed (... soon became so absorbed ...); +polish to Polish (... a Polish emigre ...); +Intrumental to Instrumental (Instrumental music no longer satisfied ...); +Opportunties to opportunities (... greater opportunties for an +ambitious ...); +financée to fiancée (... assisted by his +financée ...); +turing to turning (... turing his hair ...) + * * * * * +d. Chapter numbers (Roman numerals) omitted +for start of chapters on Toscanini, Stokowski and Koussevitzky, +but were present in the Table of Contents; +so the proper numbers (XXIII, XXIV, XXV) were entered in the proper places.] +</pre> + +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The World's Great Men of Music, by Harriette Brower + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD'S GREAT MEN OF MUSIC *** + +***** This file should be named 13291-h.htm or 13291-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/9/13291/ + +Produced by Ronald Holder and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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