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diff --git a/29361.txt b/29361.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7ac2ed --- /dev/null +++ b/29361.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1199 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Day with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, by George Sampson + +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: A Day with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy + +Author: George Sampson + +Release Date: July 9, 2009 [EBook #29361] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAY WITH FELIX MENDELSSOHN *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: _Painting by N. M. Price._ FIRST WALPURGIS NIGHT. + "Through the night-gloom lead and follow + In and out each rocky hollow."] + + + + +A DAY WITH FELIX +MENDELSSOHN +BARTHOLDY + +BY GEORGE SAMPSON + + +HODDER & STOUGHTON + + + _In the same Series._ + _Beethoven._ + _Schubert._ + + + + +A DAY WITH MENDELSSOHN. + + +During the year 1840 I visited Leipzig with letters of introduction from +Herr Klingemann of the Hanoverian Legation in London. I was a singer, +young, enthusiastic, and eager--as some singers unfortunately are +not--to be a musician as well. Klingemann had many friends among the +famous German composers, because of his personal charm, and because his +simple verses had provided them with excellent material for the sweet +little songs the Germans love so well. I need scarcely say that the man +I most desired to meet in Leipzig was Mendelssohn; and so, armed +with Klingemann's letter, I eagerly went to his residence--a quiet, +well-appointed house near the Promenade. I was admitted without delay, +and shown into the composer's room. It was plainly a musician's +work-room, yet it had a note of elegance that surprised me. Musicians +are not a tidy race; but here there was none of the admired disorder +that one instinctively associates with an artist's sanctum. There was no +litter. The well-used pianoforte could be approached without circuitous +negotiation of a rampart of books and papers, and the chairs were free +from encumbrances. On a table stood some large sketch-books, one open +at a page containing an excellent landscape drawing; and other spirited +sketches hung framed upon the walls. The abundant music paper was perhaps +the most strangely tidy feature of the room, for the exquisitely neat +notation that covered it suggested the work of a careful copyist rather +than the original hand of a composer. I could not refrain from looking +at one piece. It was a very short and very simple Adagio cantabile in +the Key of F for a solo pianoforte. It appealed at once to me as a +singer, for its quiet, unaffected melody seemed made to be sung rather +than to be played. The "cantabile" of its heading was superfluous--it +was a Song without Words, evidently one of a new set, for I knew it was +none of the old. But the sound of a footstep startled me and I guiltily +replaced the sheet. The door opened, and I was warmly greeted in +excellent English by the man who entered. I had no need to be told that +it was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy himself. + +Nature is strangely freakish in her choice of instruments for noble +purposes. Sometimes the delicate spirit of creative genius is housed in +a veritable tenement of clay, so that what is within seems ever at war +with what is without. At times the antagonism is more dreadful still, +and the artist-soul is sent to dwell in the body of a beast, coarse +in speech and habit, ignorant and dull in mind, vile and unclean in +thought. But sometimes Nature is generous, and makes the body itself an +expression of the informing spirit. Mendelssohn was one of these almost +rare instances. In him, artist and man were like a beautiful picture +appropriately framed. He was then thirty-one. In figure he was slim and +rather below the middle height, and he moved with the easy grace of +an accomplished dancer. Masses of long dark hair crowned his finely +chiselled face; but what I noticed first and last was the pair of +lustrous, dark brown eyes that glowed and dilated with every deep +emotion. He had the quiet, assured manner of a master; yet I was not so +instantly conscious of that, as of an air of reverence and benignity, +which, combined with the somewhat Oriental tendency of feature and +colour, made his whole personality suggest that of a young poet-prophet +of Israel. + +"So," he said, his English gaining piquancy from his slight lisp, "you +come from England--from dear England. I love your country greatly. It +has fog, and it is dark, too, for the sun forgets to shine at times; +but it is beautiful--like a picture, and when it smiles, what land is +sweeter?" + +"You have many admirers in England, sir," I replied; "perhaps I may +rather say you have many friends there." + +"Yes," he said, with a bright smile, "call them friends, for I am a +friend to all England. Even in the glowing sun of Italy I have thought +with pleasure of your dear, smoky London, which seems to wrap itself +round one like a friendly cloak. It was England that gave me my first +recognition as a serious musician, when Berlin was merely inclined to +think that I was an interesting young prodigy with musical gifts that +were very amusing in a young person of means." + +"You have seen much of England, have you not, sir?" I asked. + +"A great deal," he replied, "and of Scotland and Wales, too. I have +heard the Highland pipers in Edinburgh, and I have stood in Queen Mary's +tragic palace of Holyrood. Yes, and I have been among the beautiful +hills that the great Sir Walter has described so wonderfully." + +"And," I added, "music-lovers do not need to be told that you have also +penetrated + + 'The silence of the seas + Among the farthest Hebrides.'" + +"Ah!" he said, smiling, "you like my Overture, then?" + +I hastened to assure him that I admired it greatly; and he continued, +with glowing eyes: "What a wonder is the Fingal's Cave--that vast +cathedral of the seas, with its dark, lapping waters within, and the +brightness of the gleaming waves outside!" + +Almost instinctively he sat down at the piano, and began to play, as +if his feelings must express themselves in tones rather than words. His +playing was most remarkable for its orchestral quality. Unsuspected +power lay in those delicate hands, for at will they seemed able to draw +from the piano a full orchestral volume, and to suggest, if desired, the +peculiar tones of solo instruments. + +This Overture of his is made of the sounds of the sea. There is first a +theme that suggests the monotonous wash of the waters and the crying of +sea-birds within the vast spaces of the cavern. Then follows a noble +rising passage, as if the spirit of the place were ascending from the +depths of the sea and pervading with his presence the immensity of his +ocean fane. This, in its turn, is succeeded by a movement that seems to +carry us into the brightness outside, though still the plaint of crying +birds pursues us in haunting monotony. It is a wonderful piece, this +Hebrides Overture, with all the magic and the mystery of the Islands +about it. + +"That is but one of my Scottish impressions," said Mendelssohn; "I have +many more, and I am trying to weave them into a Scottish Symphony to +match the Italian." + +"You believe in a programme then?" I asked. + + [Illustration: _Painting by N. M. Price._ SPRING SONG (Lied Ohne Worte) + "To think of it is to be happy with the innocence of pure joy."] + +"Oh, yes!" he answered; "moreover I believe that most composers have a +programme implicit in their minds, even though they may not recognise +it. But always one must keep within the limits of the principle +inscribed by Beethoven at the head of his Pastoral Symphony, 'More an +expression of the feelings than a painting.' Music cannot paint. It is +on a different plane of time. A painting must leap to the eye, but a +musical piece unfolds itself slowly. If music tries to paint it loses +its greatest glory--the power of infinite, immeasurable suggestion. +Beethoven, quite allowably, and in a purely humorous fashion, used a +few touches of realism; but his Pastoral Symphony is not a painting, +it is not even descriptive; it is a musical outpouring of emotion, and +enshrines within its notes all the sweet peaceful brightness of an early +summer day. To think of it," he added, rising in his enthusiasm, "is to +be happy with the innocence of pure joy." + +I was relieved of the necessity of replying by a diversion without the +door. Two male voices were heard declaiming in a sort of +mock-melodramatic duet, "Are you at home, are you at home? May we enter, +may we enter?" + +"Come in, you noisy fellows," exclaimed Mendelssohn gaily; and two men +entered. The elder, who was of Mendelssohn's age, carried a violin case, +and saluted the composer with a flourish of the music held in his other +hand. "Hail you second Beethoven!" he exclaimed. Suddenly he observed +my presence and hushed his demonstrations, giving me a courteous, and +humorously penitent salutation. Mendelssohn introduced us. + +"This," he said to me "is Mr. Ferdinand David, the great violinist and +leader of our orchestra; and this," indicating the younger visitor, "is +a countryman of yours, Mr. Sterndale Bennett. We think a great deal of +Mr. Bennett in Leipzig." + +"Ah, ha!" said David to me; "you've come to the right house in Leipzig +if you're an Englishman. Mendelssohn dotes on you all, doesn't he, +Bennett?" + +"Yes," said Bennett, "and we dote on him. I left all the young ladies in +England singing 'Ist es wahr.'" + +"Ist es wahr? ist es wahr?" carolled David, in lady-like falsetto, with +comic exaggeration of anguish sentiment. + +Bennett put his hands to his ears with an expression of anguish, saying, +"Spare us, David; you play like an angel, but you sing like--well, I +leave it to you?" + +"And I forgot to mention," said Mendelssohn with a gay laugh, "that our +young English visitor is a singer bringing ecstatic recommendations from +Klingemann." + +"Ah! a rival!" said David, with a dramatic gesture; "but since we're all +of a trade, perhaps our friend will show he doesn't mind my nonsense by +singing this song to us." + +"Yes," said Mendelssohn, with a graceful gesture, "I shall be greatly +pleased if you will." + +I could not refuse. Mendelssohn sat down at the piano and I began the +simple song that has helped so many English people to appreciate the +beauties of the German _lied_. + + "Can it be? Can it be? + Dost thou wander through the bower, + Wishing I was there with thee? + Lonely, midst the moonlight's splendour, + Dost thou seek for me? + Can it be? Say! + But the secret rapturous feeling + Ne'er in words must be betrayed; + True eyes will tell what love conceals!" + +"Thank you very much," said Mendelssohn with a smile. + +"Bravo!" exclaimed David; "but our Mendelssohn can do more than make +pretty songs. This," he continued, indicating the music he had brought, +"is going to be something great!" + +"Do you think so?" asked Mendelssohn quietly, yet with eyes that gleamed +intensely. + +"I'm sure of it," said David emphatically. "There is plenty of music for +violin and orchestra--oceans of it; but there has been hitherto only one +real great big Concerto,"--he spread his arms wide as he spoke. "Now +there will be two." + +"No, no!" exclaimed Mendelssohn quickly; "if I finish this Concerto it +will be with no impious intention of competing with Beethoven. You see, +for one thing, I have begun it quite differently." + +"Yes," nodded David, and he began to drum on the table in the rhythm of +Beethoven's fateful knocking at the door; "yes, Beethoven was before all +a symphonist--his Concerto is a Symphony in D major with violin +obbligato." + +"Observe," murmured Bennett, "the blessing of a musical temperament. A +drunken man thumps monotonously at his door in the depths of night. To +an Englishman it suggests calling the police; to Beethoven it suggests a +symphony." + +"Well, David," said Mendelssohn, "it's to be your Concerto, so I want +you to discuss it with me in all details. I am the most devoted admirer +of your playing, but I have, as well, the sincerest respect for your +musicianship." + +"Thank you," said David with a smile of deep pleasure; and turning to me +he added, "I really called to play this over with the master. Shall you +mind if I scratch it through?" + +I tried to assure him of the abiding pleasure that I, a young stranger, +would receive from being honoured by permission to remain. + +"Oh, that's all right," he said unaffectedly; "we are all in the trade, +you know; you sing, I play." + +Mendelssohn sat at the piano and David tuned his instrument. Mendelssohn +used no copy. His memory was prodigious. The violin gave out a +beautiful melody that soared passionately, yet gracefully, above an +accompaniment, simple at first, but growing gradually more intense and +insistent till a great climax was reached, after which the solo voice +sank slowly to a low, whispering murmur, while the piano played above it +a succession of sweetly delicate and graceful phrases. The movement was +worked out with the utmost complexity and brilliance, but came suddenly +to an end. The playing of the two masters was beyond description. + +"The cadenza is subject to infinite alteration," remarked Mendelssohn; +and turning to me, he continued, "the movement is unfinished, you see; +and even what is written may be greatly changed. I fear I am a +fastidious corrector. I am rarely satisfied with my first thoughts." + +"Well, I don't think much change is wanted here," said David. "I'm +longing to have the rest of it. When will it be ready?" + +Mendelssohn shook his head with a smile. "Ask me for it in five years, +David." + +"What do you think of it, Bennett?" asked the violinist. + +"I was thinking that we are in the garden of Eden," said Bennett, +oracularly. + +"What do you mean?" asked Mendelssohn. + +"This," explained Bennett: "there seems to me something essentially and +exquisitely feminine about this movement, just as in Beethoven's +Concerto there is something essentially and heroically masculine. In +other words, he has made the Adam of Concertos, and you have mated it +with the Eve. Henceforth," he continued, waving his hands in +benediction, "the tribe of Violin Concertos shall increase and multiply +and become as the stars of heaven in multitude." + +"The more the merrier," cried David, "at least for fiddlers--I don't +know what the audiences will think." + +"Audiences don't think--at least, not in England," said Bennett. + +"Come, come!" interposed Mendelssohn; and turning to me with a smile he +said, "Will you allow Mr. Bennett to slander your countrymen like this?" + +"But Mr. Bennett doesn't mean it," I replied; "he knows that English +audiences love, and are always faithful to, what stirs them deeply." + +"Yes; but what does stir them deeply?" he asked; "look at the enormous +popularity of senseless sentimental songs." + +"On the other hand," I retorted, "look at our old affection for Handel +and our new affection for Mr. Mendelssohn himself." + +"Thank you," said Mendelssohn, with a smile; "Handel is certainly yours +by adoption. You English love the Bible, and Handel knew well how to wed +its beautiful words to noble music. He was happy in having at his +command the magnificent prose of the Bible and the magnificent verses of +Milton. I, too, am fascinated by the noble language of the Scriptures, +and I have used it both in the vernacular and in the sounding Latin of +the Vulgate. And I am haunted even now by the words of one of the Psalms +which seem to call for an appropriate setting. You recall the verses? + + "Hear my prayer; O God; + and hide not thyself from my petition. + + Take heed unto me, and hear me, + how I mourn in my prayer and am vexed. + + The enemy crieth so, + and the ungodly cometh on so fast; + for they are minded to do me some mischief, + so maliciously are they set against me. + + My heart is disquieted within me; + and the fear of death is fallen upon me. + + Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me; + and a horrible dread hath overwhelmed me. + + And I said, O that I had wings like a dove; + for then would I flee away, and be at rest. + + Lo, then would I get me away far off; + and remain in the wilderness. + + I would make haste to escape; + because of the stormy wind and tempest." + +"Yes," said David, nodding emphatically; "they are wonderful words; you +must certainly set them." + +"The Bible is an inexhaustible mine of song and story for musical +setting," continued Mendelssohn; "I have one of its stories in my mind +now; but only one man, a greater even than Handel, was worthy to touch +the supreme tragedy of all." + +The last words were murmured as if to himself rather than to us, and he +accompanied them abstractedly with tentative, prelusive chords, which +gradually grew into the most strangely moving music I have ever heard. + +Its complex, swelling phrases presently drew together and rose up in +one great major chord. No one spoke. I felt as if some mighty spirit +had been evoked and that its unseen presence overshadowed us. + +"What was it?" I presently whispered to Bennett; but he shook his head +and said, "Wait; he will tell you." + +At length I turned to Mendelssohn and said, "Is that part of the new +work of yours you mentioned just now?" + +"Of mine!" he exclaimed; "of mine! I could never write such music. No, +no! That was Bach, John Sebastian Bach--part of his St. Matthew Passion. +I was playing not so much the actual notes of any chorus, but rather the +effect of certain passages as I could feel them in my mind." + +"So that was by Bach!" I said in wonder. + +"Yes," said Mendelssohn; "and people know so little of him. They either +think of him as the composer of mathematical exercises in music, or else +they confuse him with others of his family. He was Cantor of the St. +Thomas School here in Leipzig, the perfect type of a true servant of +our glorious art. He wrote incessantly, but the greatest of his works +lay forgotten after his death; and it was I, I, who disinterred this +marvellous music-drama of the Passion, and gave it in Berlin ten years +ago--its first performance since Bach's death almost a century before. +But there," he added, with an apologetic smile, "I talk too much! Let us +speak of something else." + +"Yes," said David, "you will talk of Bach for ever if no one stops you. +Not that I mind. I am a disciple, too." + +"And I, too," added Bennett. "I mean to emulate Mendelssohn. He was the +first to give the 'Passion' in Germany, I will be the first to give it +in England." + +"Then I'll be recording angel," said David, "and register your vow. +You'll show him up, if he breaks his word, won't you?" he added, turning +to me. + +"Now this will really change the subject," said Mendelssohn, producing a +sheet of manuscript. "Here is a little song I wrote last year to some +old verses. Perhaps our new friend will let us hear it." + +In great trepidation I took the sheet. It was headed simply "Volkslied." +I saw at once that there would be no difficulty in reading it, for the +music was both graceful and simple. + +"Shall we try?" asked Mendelssohn, with his quiet, reassuring smile. + +"If you are willing to let me," I answered. + + _Parting._ + + "It is decreed by heaven's behest + That man from all he loves the best + Must sever. + That soon or late with breaking heart + With all his dear ones he must part + For ever. + + How oft we cull a budding flower, + To see it bloom a transient hour; + 'Tis gathered. + The bud becomes a lovely rose, + Its morning blush at evening goes; + 'Tis withered. + + And has it pleased our God to lend + His cheering smile in child or friend? + To-morrow-- + To-morrow if reclaimed again + The parting hour will prove how vain + Is sorrow. + + Oft hope beguiles the friends who part; + With happy smiles, and heart to heart, + 'To meet,' they cry, 'we sever.' + It proves good-bye for ever. + For ever!" + + [Illustration: _Painting by N. M. Price._ PARTING. + "It is decreed by heaven's behest + That man from all he loves the best + Must sever."] + +"Bravo!" cried Bennett. + +"Say rather, 'Bravi,'" said David, "for the song was as sweet as the +singer." + +"Yes," said Bennett; "the simple repetition of the closing words of each +verse is like a sigh of regret." + +"And the whole thing," added David, "has the genuine simplicity of the +true folk-melody." + +Further discussion was prevented by a characteristic knock at the door. + +The visitor who entered in response to Mendelssohn's call was a sturdily +built man of thirty, or thereabouts, with an air of mingled courage, +resolution, and good humour. His long straight hair was brushed back +from a broad, intellectual brow, and his thoughtful, far-looking eyes +intensified the impression he gave of force and original power. He +smiled humorously. "All the youth, beauty and intellect of Leipzig in +one room. I leave you to apportion the qualities. Making much noise, +too! And did I hear the strains of a vocal recital?" + +"You did," replied Bennett; "that was my young countryman here, who has +just been singing a new song of Mendelssohn's." + +"Pardon me," said the new-comer to me; "you see Mendelssohn so fills the +stage everywhere, that even David gets overlooked sometimes, don't +you, my inspired fiddler?" he added, slapping the violinist on the back. + +"Yes I do," said David, "and so do the manners of all of you, for no one +introduces our singer;" and turning to me he added, "this is Mr. Robert +Schumann who divides the musical firmament of Leipzig with Mendelssohn." + +"You forget to add," said Mendelssohn, "that Schumann conquers in +literature as well as in music. No one has written better musical +critiques." + +"Yes, yes," grumbled David; "I wish he wouldn't do so much of it. If he +scribbled less he'd compose more. The cobbler should stick to his last, +and the musician shouldn't relinquish the music-pen for the goose +quill." + +"But what of Mendelssohn himself," urged Schumann; "he, in a special +sense, is a man of letters; for if there's one thing as good as being +with him, it is being away from him, and receiving his delightful +epistles." + +"Not the same thing," said David, shaking his head. + +"And then," said Schumann, waving his hand comprehensively around the +room, "observe his works of art." + +I was about to express my astonishment at finding that Mendelssohn +himself had produced these admirable pictures; but David suddenly +addressed me: "By the way, don't let Mendelssohn decoy you into playing +billiards with him; or if you do weakly yield, insist on fifty in the +hundred--unless, of course, you have misspent your time, too, in gaining +disreputable proficiency;" and he shook his head at the thought of many +defeats. + +"Certainly," exclaimed Schumann, "Mendelssohn does all things well." + +"That's a handsome admission from a rival," said David. + +"A rival!" answered Schumann with spirit. "There can be no talk of +rivalry between us. I know my place. Mendelssohn and I differ about +things, sometimes; but who could quarrel with him?" + +"I could!" exclaimed David, jumping up, and striking an heroic attitude. + +"You!" laughed Schumann; "You quarrel, you dear old scraper of +unmentionable strings!" + +"Ah, ha! my boy," chuckled David, "you can't write for them." + +"You mean I don't write for them," said Schumann; "I admit that I don't +provide much for you to do. I leave that to my betters." + +"Never mind," said David, giving his shoulder a friendly pat; "at least +you can write for the piano. I believe in you, and your queer music." + +"That's nice of you, David," replied Schumann, "but as to Mendelssohn +and me, who shall decide which of us is right? He believes in making +music as pellucid to the hearers as clear water. Now I like to baffle +them--to leave them something to struggle with. Music is never the worse +for being obscure at first." + +Mendelssohn shook his head and smiled. "You state your case eloquently, +Schumann," he said, "but my feelings revolt against darkness and +indefiniteness." + +"Yes, yes," assented Schumann; "you are the Fairies' Laureate." + +"Hear, hear!" cried David. "Now could anything be finer in its way than +the Midsummer Night's Dream music? And the wondrous brat wrote it at +seventeen!" + +Mendelssohn laughingly acknowledged the compliments. + +"That is a beautiful fairy song of yours," I said, "the one to Heine's +verses about the fairies riding their tiny steeds through the wood." + +"Oh, yes," said Schumann; "will you sing it to us?" + +"I am afraid it requires much lighter singing than I can give it," I +replied; "but I will try, if you wish." + +"We shall all be glad if you will," said Mendelssohn, as he turned once +more to the key-board. The bright staccato rhythm flashed out from his +fingers so gaily that I was swept into the song without time for +hesitation: + + _The Fairy Love._ + + "Through the woods the moon was glancing; + There I saw the Fays advancing; + On they bounded, gaily singing, + Horns resounded, bells were ringing. + Tiny steeds with antlers growing + On their foreheads brightly glowing, + Bore them swift as falcons speeding + Fly to strike the game receding. + Passing, Queen Titania sweetly + Deigned with nods and smiles to greet me. + Means this, love will be requited? + Or, will hope by death be blighted?" + +"You have greatly obliged us," said Schumann courteously. + +"It reminds me, though I don't know why," said David, "of that +fairy-like duet about Jack Frost and the dancing flowers." + +"Come along and play it with me," said Mendelssohn to Bennett; "you've +been hiding your talents all day." + +Bennett joined him at the piano, and the two began to romp like +schoolboys. + +The simple duet was woven into a brilliant fantasia, but always in the +gay spring-like spirit of the poem. + + [Illustration: _Painting by N. M. Price._ THE FAIRY LOVE. + "Through the woods the moon was glancing + There I saw the fays advancing. + * * * * * + Tiny steeds with antlers growing + on their foreheads brightly glowing."] + + + _The Maybells and the Flowers._ + + "Young Maybells ring throughout the vale + And sound so sweet and clear, + The dance begins, ye flowers all, + Come with a merry cheer! + The flowers red and white and blue, + Merrily flock around, + Forget-me-nots of heavenly hue, + And violets, too, abound. + + Young Maybells play a sprightly tune, + And all begin to dance, + While o'er them smiles the gentle moon, + With her soft silvery glance. + This Master Frost offended sore; + He in the vale appeared: + Young Maybells ring the dance no more-- + Gone are the flowers seared! + + But Frost has scarcely taken flight, + When well-known sounds we hear: + The Maybells with renewed delight, + Are ringing doubly clear! + Now I no more can stay at home, + The Maybells call me so: + The flowers to the dance all roam, + Then why should I not go?" + +"Really," said David; "it's quite infectious"; and jumping up he began +to pirouette, exclaiming, "Then why should I not go!" + +"David, this is unseemly," exclaimed Schumann, with mock severity. +"There's another pretty fairy-like piece of yours, Mendelssohn, the +Capriccio in E minor." + +"Yes," said Bennett, beginning to touch its opening fanfare of tiny +trumpet-notes; "someone told me a pretty story of this piece, to the +effect that a young lady gave you some flowers, and you undertook, +gallantly, to write the music the Fairies played on the little +trumpet-like blooms." + +"Yes," said Mendelssohn, with a smile, "it was in Wales, and I wrote the +piece for Miss Taylor." + +"By-the-by," said Schumann, "David's antics remind me that Mendelssohn +can make Witches and other queer creatures, dance, as well as Fairies." + +"Villain," exclaimed David, and he began to recite dramatically the +invocation from the "First Walpurgis Night," while Mendelssohn played +the flashing accompaniment. + + "Come with flappers, + Fire and clappers; + Hop with hopsticks, + Brooms and mopsticks; + Through the night-gloom lead and follow + In and out each rocky hollow. + Owls and ravens + Howl with us and scare the cravens." + +"Ah," said Mendelssohn, "I don't think the old poet would really have +cared for my setting, though he admired my playing, and was always most +friendly to me." + +"Yes," said Schumann, warmly; "Goethe liked you because you were +successful, and prosperous. Now Beethoven was poor: therefore Beethoven +must first be loftily patronised and then contemptuously snubbed. I can +never forgive Goethe for that. And as for poor Schubert, well, Goethe +ignored him, and actually thought he had misinterpreted the Erl-king! It +would be comic if it were not painful." + +"Poor Schubert!" said Mendelssohn with a sigh; "he met always Fortune's +frown, never her smile." + +"Don't you think," said Bennett, "that his genius was the better for his +poverty--that he learned in suffering what he taught in song?" + +"No, I do not!" replied Mendelssohn warmly. "That is a vile doctrine +invented by a callous world to excuse its cruelty." + +"I believe there's something in it, though," said Bennett. + +"There is some truth in it, but not much," answered Mendelssohn, his +eyes flashing as he spoke. "It is true that the artist learns by +suffering, because the artist is more sensitive and feels more deeply +than others. But enough of suffering comes to all of us, even the most +fortunate, without the sordid, gratuitous misery engendered by poverty." + +"I agree with Mendelssohn," said Schumann. "To say that poverty is the +proper stimulus of genius is to talk pernicious nonsense. Poverty slays, +it does not nourish; poverty narrows the vision, it does not ennoble; +poverty lowers the moral standard and makes a man sordid. You can't get +good art out of that." + + [Illustration: _Painting by N. M. Price._ THE MAYBELLS AND THE FLOWERS. + "Now I no more can stay at home. + The Maybells call me so. + The flowers to the dance all roam, + Then, why should I not go?"] + +"Perhaps I have been more fortunate than most artists," said +Mendelssohn softly. "When I think of all that my dear father and mother +did for us, I can scarcely restrain tears of gratitude. Almost more +valuable than their careful encouragement was their noble, serious +common-sense. My mother, whom Heaven long preserve to me, was not the +woman to let me, or any of us, live in a fool's paradise, and my dear +dead father was too good a man of business to set me walking in a blind +alley. Ah!" he continued, with glistening eyes, "the great musical times +we had in the dear old Berlin house!" + +"Yes," said David; "Your house was on the Leipzig Road. You see, even +then, the finger of fate pointed the way to this place." + +"Indeed," said Schumann, with a sigh, "You certainly had extraordinary +opportunities. Not that I've been badly used, though." + +"Your father was genuinely proud of you," said David. "I remember his +epigram: 'Once I was the son of my father; now I am the father of my +son.'" + +Mendelssohn nodded with a smile, and, turning to me, said in +explanation, "You must know that my father's father was a famous +philosopher." + +"Well!" said Schumann, rising, "I must be going." + +Bennett and David also prepared to leave, and I rose with them. + +"Wait a moment," said Mendelssohn; and going to the door he called +softly, "Cecile, are you there?" + +He went out for a moment, and returned with a beautiful and charming +girl, who greeted the three visitors warmly. + +Mendelssohn then presented me, saying, gently and almost proudly, "This +is my wife." + +I bowed deeply. + +"You are from England?" said the lady, with the sweetest of smiles; "I +declare I am quite jealous of your country, my husband loves it so +much." + +"We are very proud of his affection," I replied. + +She turned to Schumann and said softly, "And how is Clara?" + +"Oh, she is well;" he replied with a glad smile. + +"And the father?" she added. + +"We have been much worried," he said gravely; "but we shall marry this +year in spite of all he may do." + +"She is worth all your struggles," said Mendelssohn warmly; "she is a +charming lady, and an excellent musician. You will be very happy." + +"Thanks, thanks," replied Schumann, with evident pleasure. + +Mendelssohn turned to me and shook my hand warmly. "I have been glad to +meet you, and to hear you; for you sing like a musician. I shall not say +good-bye. You will call again, I hope, before you leave Leipzig. Perhaps +we may meet, too, in England. I am now writing something that I hope my +English friends will like." + +"What is it, sir?" I asked. + +"It is an oratorio on the subject of Elijah," he replied. + +"It is bound to be good," said Schumann enthusiastically. "Posterity +will call you the man who never failed." + +"Ah!" said Mendelssohn almost sadly, "you are all good and kind, but you +praise me too much. Perhaps posterity will remember me for my little +pieces rather than for my greater efforts. Perhaps it will remember me +best, not as the master, but as the servant; for in my way I have tried +very hard to glorify the great men who went before me--Bach, Mozart, +Beethoven, Schubert--Bach most of all. Even if every note of my writing +should perish, perhaps future generations will think kindly of me, +remembering that it was I, the Jew by birth, who gave back to +Christianity that imperishable setting of its tragedy and glory." + +With these words in my ears I passed out into the pleasant streets of +Mendelssohn's chosen city. + + + _Printed by The Bushey Colour Press (Andre & Sleigh, Ltd.)._ + _Bushey, Herts._ + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + +Contemporary spellings have been retained even when inconsistent. In a +small number of cases, missing punctuation has been silently added. + +The following additional changes have been made: + + Lied ohne Woerte Lied ohne _Worte_ + + grateful and simple _graceful_ and simple + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Day with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, by +George Sampson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DAY WITH FELIX MENDELSSOHN *** + +***** This file should be named 29361.txt or 29361.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/6/29361/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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