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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34381-8.txt b/34381-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da70541 --- /dev/null +++ b/34381-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13496 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Great Musical Composers, by George T. Ferris, +Edited by Elizabeth Amelia (Mrs. William) Sharp + + +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: Great Musical Composers + German, French, and Italian + + +Author: George T. Ferris + +Editor: Elizabeth Amelia (Mrs. William) Sharp + +Release Date: November 20, 2010 [eBook #34381] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS*** + + +E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Sam W., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +The Camelot Series. +Edited by Ernest Rhys. + +GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS + +German, French, and Italian + +by + +GEORGE T. FERRIS + +Edited, with an Introduction by Mrs. William Sharp + + + + + + + +London +Walter Scott, 24 Warwick Lane +Paternoster Row +1887 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION vii + + BACH 1 + + HANDEL 7 + + GLUCK 36 + + HAYDN 46 + + MOZART 59 + + BEETHOVEN 70 + + SCHUBERT AND SCHUMANN 87 + + CHOPIN 103 + + WEBER 115 + + MENDELSSOHN 124 + + WAGNER 131 + + PALESTRINA 147 + + PICCINI, PAISIELLO, AND CIMAROSA 154 + + ROSSINI 175 + + DONIZETTI AND BELLINI 200 + + VERDI 213 + + CHERUBINI AND HIS PREDECESSORS 226 + + MÉHUL, SPONTINI, AND HALÉVY 260 + + BOÏELDIEU AND AUBER 273 + + MEYERBEER 281 + + GOUNOD 297 + + BERLIOZ 310 + + APPENDIX: CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 335 + + + + +[Decoration] + +_Introduction._ + + +The following biographical sketches were originally published in +America by Mr. George T. Ferris, in two volumes, separately entitled +_The Great German Composers_ and _The Great Italian and French +Composers_. They have achieved the success they deserved: for while we +have whole libraries of books upon the history and technicalities of +music in general, upon musical theories and schools, and upon the +exponents thereof in their artistic capacity, there has been a +distinct dearth of treatises dealing in a brief and popular fashion +with the lives of eminent composers themselves. Now, when music is +"mastered and murdered" in almost every house throughout the length +and breadth of the land, there can be no doubt that compilations of +this kind must be welcome to a very large number--we will not say of +musical students, but of lovers of music. There are, it would be +needless to attempt to prove, great numbers of the music-loving +public, who practically have no facilities towards making acquaintance +with the leading facts in the lives of those men whose compositions +they have such a genuine delight in rendering: to these mainly is such +a book as _Great Composers_ addressed. But, indeed, to every one +interested in music and musicians the volume can hardly fail to be of +interest. In his preface to _The Great Italian and French Composers_, +Mr. Ferris explained that--as was very manifest--"the task of +compressing into one small volume suitable sketches of the more famous +Italian and French composers was, in view of the extent of field and +the wealth of material, a somewhat embarrassing one, especially as the +purpose was to make the sketches of interest to the general +music-loving public, and not merely to the critic and scholar. The +plan pursued has been to devote the bulk of space to composers of the +higher rank, and to pass over those less known with such brief mention +as sufficed to outline their lives, and fix their place in the history +of music." + +To _The Great German Composers_ he prefaces a few words which may be +quoted--"The sketches of composers contained in this volume may seem +arbitrary in the space allotted to them. The special attention given +to certain names has been prompted as much by their association with +great art epochs, as by the consideration of their absolute rank as +composers. The introduction of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large +part of his life a resident of France, among German composers, may +require an explanatory word. Chopin's whole early training was in the +German school, and he may be looked on as one of the founders of the +latest school of pianoforte composition, whose highest development is +in contemporary Germany. He represents German music by his affinities +and his influences in art, and bears too close a relation to important +changes in musical forms to be omitted from this series." + +Various important events have occurred since the publication of these +volumes in America: _inter alia_, the performance of Wagner's last +great work "Parsifal," and the death of the great German musician; +the production of new works by Gounod and Verdi; and so forth. The +editor has endeavoured, as briefly as practicable, to supplement Mr. +Ferris's _causeries_ with the addenda necessary to bring _Great +Composers_ down to date. Mr. Ferris further acknowledges his +obligation to the following authorities for the facts embodied in +these sketches:--Hullah's _History of Modern Music_; Fétis' +_Biographie Universelle des Musiciens_; Clementi's _Biographie des +Musiciens_; Hogarth's _History of the Opera_; Sutherland Edwards' +_History of the Opera_; Schlüter's _History of Music_; Chorley's +_Thirty Years' Musical Reminiscences_; Stendhall's _Vie de Rossini_; +Bellasy's _Memorials of Cherubini_; Grove's _Musical Dictionary_; +Crowestl's _Musical Anecdotes_; Schoelcher's _Life of Handel_; +Liszt's _Life of Chopin_; Elsie Polko's _Reminiscences_; Lampadius' +_Life of Mendelssohn_; Urbino's _Musical Composers_; Franz Hueffer's +_Wagner and the Music of the Future_; Haweis' _Music and Morals_; +and the various articles in the leading cyclopædias. + +To this volume the present editor has appended a chronological table +of the musicians referred to in the following sketches. + +In reading the lives of these great musical composers, we can trace +the gradual development of music from its earliest days as an art and +as a science. Unlike the other arts which have flourished, decayed, +and had rebirth, music, as we now understand it, sprang into being out +of the ferment of the Renaissance, and therefore is the youngest of +the arts--a modern growth belonging particularly to the later phases +of civilisation. Music in a rude, undeveloped condition has existed +doubtless "since the world began." In all nations, and in the records +of past civilisations, indications of music are to be found; martial +strains for the encouragement of warriors on the march; sacred hymns +and sacrificial chants in religious ceremonials; and song accompanied +by some rude instrument--we find to have been known and practised +among remote tribes as well as among potent races. The bards of divers +peoples and many countries in ancient days played upon the harp not +merely for delight, but for the exorcism of evil spirits, the +dispersion of melancholy, the soothing and cure of mental and physical +disorders. Here we find music as the direct expression of feeling, but +not as a science. The Greeks made further use of music by +incorporating it into their dramas, but it was chiefly declamatory, +and was used solely in the choruses. To modern ears such music would +sound very inefficient, more especially as the antique instruments +were of the crudest--and although musical sounds, to a limited extent, +could be produced from them, all attempts at _expression_ must have +been unsuccessful. + +In Europe in the early middle ages there existed two kinds of music: +that of the people, spontaneous, impulsive, the song of the +Troubadour, unwritten and orally transmitted from father to son; that +of the Church, which had been greatly encouraged since the days of +Constantine, and especially owed much to St. Ambrose and St. Gregory. +For a time music became the handmaid of the Church, but it thereby, to +a certain extent, also gave voice to the lyrical feelings of the +people; for the chorister and composer not only embodied popular songs +into the chants, but in many instances interpolated the words +themselves. This incongruity at length necessitated the reform, +brought about by Palestrina--the father of sacred music as we now know +it--whose _Missa Papae Marcelli_, performed in 1565, established a +type which has been more or less adhered to ever since. The services +of the Church gave rise to the oratorio, which, however, chiefly owes +its development to Protestant genius, more especially to Handel. In +1540 San Filippo Neri formed in Milan a Society called "Le +congregazione dei Padri dell' Oratorio" (from _orare_ to pray), and we +are told by Crescembini that "The oratorio, a poetical composition, +formerly a commixture of the dramatic and narrative styles, but now +entirely a musical drama, had its origin from San Filippo Neri, who in +his chapel, after sermons and other devotions, in order to allure +young people to pious offices, and to detain them from earthly +pleasures, had hymns, psalms, and such like prayers sung by one or +more voices." "Among these spiritual songs were dialogues; and these +entertainments, becoming more frequent and improving every year, were +the occasion that, in the seventeenth century, oratorios were +invented, so called from their origin."[A] + +Then came the fulness of the Renaissance, quickening dead forms into +new life, laying its vivifying touch on the new-born art, music, and +making it its nursling. At first the change was hardly perceptible. It +was church music out of church, fine, stately, what may with seeming +paradox be called statuesque, which came to bear the name of +_L'Opera_, signifying _The Work_:--but, though born to a heritage of +good aims, possessed of very inadequate means for their fulfilment. +Once liberated from its presumed function of expressing religious +feeling, and thus subjected to other impelling forces, music could not +long remain in the old forms. It began to feel its way into new +channels, and in the form of the opera became a national institution. +Its growth at first was weak and faulty; but finally it developed into +a perfect art. It was as the novice, who, freed from the sanctity of +the convent with its calm lights and shadows, enters at last the +portals of the life of the world--a varied world full of turmoil, +passion, and strife. A greater world, after all, than that quitted, +because composed of so many possibilities in so many directions, and +comprising the sufferings, the joys, the aspirations of such +innumerably differentiated beings; a world wherein the novice learns +to widen her sympathies, to feel with and for the people, and to +express for them the never-ceasing craving for something beyond the +fleeting moment. At first, therefore, the stately art and the musical +needs of the people were dissimilar and apart; but little by little +each gave to and took from the other, till at length, out of the +marriage of these elementaries, a third arose to become the expression +of the life of the people, partaking in likeness of both, having lost +certain qualities, having gained many more, becoming richer, broader, +more eclectic--in short, developing into the more fitting expression +of the manifold aspirations of modern days, when life is varied and +intense, and the mind gropes blindly in every direction. + +This development is traceable in all art, and in the sphere of music +it is most manifest in the opera. Like all great movements the opera +began humbly. Towards the end of the sixteenth century a number of +amateurs in Florence, dissatisfied with the polyphonic school of +music, combined "to revive the musical declamation of the Greeks," to +wed poetry and music--so long dissevered--to make the music follow the +inflexion of the voice and the sense of the words. The first opera was +"Il Conte Ugolino," composed by Vicenzio Galileo--father of the famous +astronomer--and it was followed by various others, the titles of which +need not here be recorded. At first, such performances took place in +the palaces of nobles on grand occasions, when frequently both +performers and musicians were of high rank. At length, however, in +1637 a famous theorbo player, Benedetto Farrari, and Francesco +Manetti, the composer, opened in Venice an opera-house at their own +risk, and a little later brought out with great success "Le nozzi di +Peleo e di Telide" by Cavalli, a disciple of Monteverde, and it was +henceforth that the opera became, as we have said, a national +institution. Schools for singing were opened in Rome, Naples, and +Venice--the science of music made rapid strides--instruments for +orchestral purposes naturally likewise improved in quality and in +variety; and the opera developed continuously in breadth of treatment +and form in the hands of Scarlatti, Leo, Jommelli, and Cimarosa. + +About the beginning of the eighteenth century a rival to the _serious_ +opera sprang up in Naples--the _comic_ opera, the direct offspring of +the people, and of lower artistic standing. But as the serious opera +became more stately, more scientific, more purely formal, less human, +less the expression of direct feeling, cultivated more for art's sake +solely, the comic opera throve on the very qualities that its elder +sister rejected, till at length the greatest musicians of the day, +Pergolesi, Cimarosa, Mozart, wrote their masterpieces for it. +Ultimately the two were fused into one, that is, into the modern +Italian opera. The comic opera, as we now understand it, is of French +origin. + +From Italy the opera found its way into other countries with varying +results. In England it took early root, and assimilated itself with +the earlier _masques_ which were played at Whitehall and at Inns of +Court. In the early productions in this country, however, the music +was merely incidental. During the Commonwealth, an opera entitled "The +Siege of Rhodes," composed by Dr. Charles Colman, Captain Henry Cook, +Henry Lawes, and George Hudson, was performed in 1655, under the +express license of Cromwell. Purcell seems, however, to have been the +first to see the possibility of a national English opera;--his music +to Dryden's "King Arthur," and to the "Indian Queen," is considered +very beautiful; "his recitative was as rhetorically perfect as +Lulli's, but infinitely more natural, and frequently impassioned to +the last degree; his airs are not in the Italian form, but breathe +rather the spirit of unfettered natural melody, and stand forth as +models of refinement and freedom." "The Beggar's Opera," set to music +by Dr. Pepusch, and Dr. Arne's "Artaxerxes," a translation from +Metastasia's libretto, adapted to melodious music, were deservedly +popular, and long retained a place on the stage. Nevertheless, when +the Italian opera became an institution in England, the national opera +made no further progress. During the last few years the former seems +to have practically died out in England, and it remains to be seen in +what form the English opera will revive and flourish once more as a +national product. We have good promise in the works of such musicians +as Balfe, Wallace, Sterndale Bennet, Sir G. A. Macfarren, Dr. A. C. +Mackenzie, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Mr. C. V. Stanford, and others. + +The end of the sixteenth and end of the seventeenth centuries form +what has been called "the golden age of English music--aye for all +musical Europe--of the madrigal. Nowhere was the cultivation of that +noble form of pure vocal music, whether in composition or in +performance, followed with more zeal or success than in England." The +Hon. Roger North, Attorney-General to James II., in his _Memories of +Musick_, speaks thus of the state of music in the first half of the +seventeenth century--"Afterwards these (Italian _fantazias_) were +imitated by the English, who, working more elaborately, improved upon +their patterne, which gave occasion to an observation, that in vocall +the Italians, and in instrumental music the English excelled." Again +he alludes to "those authors whose performance gained the nation the +credit in excelling the Italians in all but vocall." In instrumental +music, then, in the madrigal, the cantata, and in ecclesiastical +music, England prospered. Among her most important composers were John +Dowland, Ford, Henry Lawes, John Jenkens, Pelham Humphreys, Wise, +Blow, Henry Purcell--great in secular and ecclesiastical works, in +instrumental and in vocal--Croft and Weldon; all were predecessors of +Handel, who, though one of the greatest of German composers, lived +nearly fifty years in England, composed several operas and all his +famous oratorios for England, and is therefore not unjustifiably added +to the list of English composers. + +The opera was first introduced into France by Cardinal Mazarin early +in the seventeenth century, but the lyrical drama owes its origin in +that country to Lulli, who also introduced into it the ballet, which +was a favourite pastime of the young king Louis XIV. The ballet has +since become an integral part of the French and also of the later +Italian operas. It was Lulli, again, who extended the "meagre prelude" +of the Italian opera into the overture as we now know it. But as the +rise and progress of the French opera is fully portrayed in the +following musical sketches, it is needless to trace it further here. + +Germany--equally with Italy the land of music, but of harmonious in +contra-distinction to melodic music, which belongs most properly to +Italy, well named the land of song--was much later in developing her +musical powers than Italy, but she cultivated them to grander and +nobler proportions; for to Germany we owe the magnificent development +of instrumental music, which culminates in the form of the sonata for +the piano, and in that of the symphony for the orchestra, in the hands +of such masters as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. In Germany the +opera took root by means of a translation of Rinaccini's "Dafne," set +to music by Henry Schütz in 1627, with Italian airs and German +recitative. The first German opera or _singspiel_, "Adam und Eva," by +Johann Theil, was performed in 1678, but it became national through +the works of Reinhard Keiser, whose opera "Basilino" was performed in +1693. "His style was purely German, less remarkable for its rhetorical +perfection than that of Lulli, but exhibiting far greater variety of +expression, and more earnest endeavour to attain that spirit of +Dramatic Truth which alone can render such music worthy of its +intended purpose." He was worthily followed by Hasse, Grann, by +Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro," "Die Zauberflöte," "Don Giovanni," and +by Beethoven's one opera "Fidelio." + +The growth of a national opera in Germany and France, competing with +that of Italy, induced also the rise of party quarrels between the +adherents of the several schools; and the history of music +demonstrates the fact, often seen in the history of politics, that in +such contentions the real point at issue--the _excellence_ of the +subject in question--is lost sight of in the fierce strife of +opponents; the broader issues are obscured in the narrowing +influences of mere partizanship, wherein each side on principle shuts +its eyes equally to the merits of its adversary and to its own faults. +Thus in the following sketches are recorded the quarrels between the +adherents of Lulli and Rameau, Handel and Bonacini, Piccini and Gluck, +Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, and in the present day between +the advocates of Wagner's "Music of the Future" and those of the +"Music of the Past." "The old order changes, giving place to new," but +only after a long protracted struggle, a struggle that will not be +productive of good as long as the bitterness of partizanship exists, +whose aim is wholly to annihilate its adversary, though thereby much +that is good and fine be lost. This is not, however, the place to +discuss the importance of such strife, nor the comparative advantages +and disadvantages of its existence or non-existence--but it is as well +to draw attention to it in order to point out that in the history of +music the belligerents are usually blind to the important fact that, +inasmuch as nations differ essentially in ways of thought and action, +in character, temperament, and fundamental nature, so also must the +various phases of art differ which are their mediums of expression. + +The history of the art of music is divisible into two great +epochs--the first dating from its birth about three centuries ago +under the impelling influences of the Renaissance, to the end of the +eighteenth century, when pseudo-classicism had given all it had to +give; the second dating from the rise of Romanticism in the beginning +of the nineteenth century to the present day. The revival of the +"forgotten world of old romance--that world of wonder and mystery and +spiritual beauty," no longer crippled by lack of science, and fettered +by asceticism, was to music, that youngest of the arts, a novel +influence, which pushed it vigorously in a new direction, towards the +more direct expression of the cravings of humanity--making it more +_human_, more the fitting medium expression of this democratic age. +The true romantic feeling has been described as "the ever present +apprehension of the spiritual world, and of that struggle of the soul +with earthly conditions." This later period gave "new seeing to our +eyes, which were once more opened to the mysteries and the wonder of +the universe, and the romance of man's destiny; it revived, in short, +the romantic spirit enriched by the clarity and sanity that the +renascence was able to lend." + +In the opera Gluck was one of the earliest masters who came under the +influence of the new movement, and he anticipated Wagner in many of +his reforms. He decreased the importance of the singer, and increased +that of the orchestra, elaborated the recitative, and made the music +to follow the rhythm of the words, and he also gave importance to the +dramatic expression of the human emotions. In Germany Weber is styled +the Father of the Romantic opera, as in France the most noteworthy +figure is Berlioz, and the new method was further developed in the +instrumental music by Schumann, and demonstrated by other musicians, +dead and living, who, from the limited space of this volume, have not +been specially noticed--Liszt, Franz, Thomas, Brahms, Rubenstein, +Dvorák, Massinet, Bizet, Jensen, Grieg, and others. Gounod, is, of +course, unmistakably under the same influence, and may be considered +as the direct descendant of Gluck, and there is every reason to +suppose that he is the last great composer of the grand opera of +France, as Verdi is undeniably that of the Italian opera. The most +remarkable figure of the movement, he who has carried it to its utmost +limits, is Richard Wagner. At first he refused for his compositions +the name of "Music of the Future," and desired for them the more +comprehensive term of "Work of Art of the Future." It is impossible to +predict to what extent his theories will be followed: it is not +desirable that they should be blindly worked out by musicians of power +inferior to his; but they are in the right direction, and may +ultimately bring about a new art mode in music. The resources of art +are endless, being, as the Abbé Lamennais tells us, to man what +creation is to God; and music may safely be trusted to develop in such +a way as to ever be the most fitting expression of the inarticulate +cravings and aspirations of the human soul. Wagner has attempted to +unite the three arts of Painting, Poetry, and Music: and of his work a +competent judge has written--"The musical drama is undoubtedly the +highest manifestation of which men are capable. All the most refined +arts are called in to contribute to the idea. The author of a musical +drama is no more a musician, or a poet, or a painter; he is the +supreme _artist_, not fettered by the limits of one art, but able to +step over the boundaries of all the different branches of æsthetic +composition, and find the proper means for rendering his thought +wherever he wants it. This was Wagner's aim. His latter works, +'Tristram and Isolde,' the 'Niebelungen Ring,' and 'Parsifal,' are the +actuation of the theory, or at least are works showing what is the way +towards the aim." Another eminent critic, Mr. Walter Pater, writing +upon the fine arts, tells us that "_All art constantly aspires towards +the condition of music_.... It is the art of music which most +completely realises this artistic ideal, this perfect identification +of form and matter. In its ideal consummate moments, the end is not +distinct from the means, the form from the matter, the subject from +the expression; they inhere in and completely saturate each other; and +to it, therefore, to the condition of its perfect moments, all the +arts may be supposed constantly to tend and aspire. Music, then, and +not poetry, as is so often supposed, is the true type or measure of +consummate art. Therefore, although each art has its incommunicable +element, its untranslatable order of impressions, its unique mode of +reaching the 'imaginative reason,' yet the arts may be represented as +continually struggling after the law or principle of music, to a +condition which music alone completely realises." + +We may rest assured--as assured as Emerson or Matthew Arnold +concerning the illimitable possibilities of poetry--that the future +has great riches in store for all lovers of music. Giants, indeed, are +they who are no longer among us, but it is not derogatory to these +great ones to believe and hope that--life being "moving music" +according to the definition of the Syrian Gnostics--the world will yet +be electrified by the genius of successors worthy of such royal +ancestry as Handel and Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner. + + ELIZABETH A. SHARP. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] Hawkin's _Musical History_, vol. iii., p. 441. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +THE GREAT COMPOSERS. + +[GERMAN.] + + + + +_BACH._ + + +I. + +The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthy +facts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a century +and a-half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its +progress being so consecutive and regular that the composers who +illustrated its well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in +one connected series. + +To JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH must be accorded the title of "father of +modern music." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence +before his name, and acknowledged in him the creative mind which not +only placed music on a deep scientific basis, but perfected the form +from which have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases +of orchestral composition. Handel, who was his contemporary, having +been born the same year, spoke of him with sincere admiration, and +called him the giant of music. Haydn wrote--"Whoever understands me +knows that I owe much to Sebastian Bach, that I have studied him +thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him only as my model." +Mozart's unceasing research brought to light many of his unpublished +manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation of this great +master. In like manner have the other luminaries of music placed on +record their sense of obligation to one whose name is obscure to the +general public in comparison with many of his brother composers. + +Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March 1685, the son +of one of the court musicians. Left in the care of his elder brother, +who was an organist, his brilliant powers displayed themselves at an +early period. He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even +at that date the wide-spread branches of the family held annual +gatherings of a musical character. Young Bach mastered for himself, +without much assistance, a thorough musical education at Lüneburg, +where he studied in the gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and +at the age of eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a +few years later he became organist and director of concerts. He had in +the meantime studied the organ at Lübeck under the celebrated +Buxtehude, and made himself thoroughly a master of the great Italian +composers of sacred music--Palestrina, Lotti, Vivaldi, and others. + +At this period Germany was beginning to experience its musical +_renaissance_. The various German courts felt that throb of life and +enthusiasm which had distinguished the Italian principalities in the +preceding century in the direction of painting and sculpture. Every +little capital was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general +spirit of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the arts +of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become known as a gifted +musician, not only by his wonderful powers as an organist, but by two +of his earlier masterpieces--"Gott ist mein König" and "Ich hatte viel +Bekümmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic, +Bach's ardour for study increased with his success, and his rapid +advancement in musical power met with warm appreciation. + +While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of Prince +Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, which he assumed about the year 1720, he +went to Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see old Reinke, then nearly a +centenarian, whose fame as an organist was national, and had long been +the object of Bach's enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his +youthful rival improvised on the old choral, "Upon the Rivers of +Babylon." He shed tears of joy while he tenderly embraced Bach, and +said--"I did think that this art would die with me; but I see that you +will keep it alive." + +Our musician rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical +centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant +improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these +last two capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was +the most marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to fully +enlighten the world in regard to his creative powers as a musical +thinker. + + +II. + +Though Bach's life was mostly spent at Weimar and Leipsic, he was at +successive periods chapel-master and concert-director at several of +the German courts, which aspired to shape public taste in matters of +musical culture and enthusiasm. But he was by nature singularly +retiring and unobtrusive, and recoiled from several brilliant offers +which would have brought him too much in contact with the gay world of +fashion, apparently dreading any diversion from a severe and exclusive +art-life; for within these limits all his hopes, energies, and wishes +were focalised. Yet he was not without that keen spirit of rivalry, +that love of combat, which seems to be native to spirits of the more +robust and energetic type. + +In the days of the old Minnesingers, tournaments of music shared the +public taste with tournaments of arms. In Bach's time these public +competitions were still in vogue. One of these was held by Augustus +II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, one of the most munificent +art-patrons of Europe, but best known to fame from his intimate part +in the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. +Here Bach's principal rival was a French _virtuoso_, Marchand, who, an +exile from Paris, had delighted the king by the lightness and +brilliancy of his execution. They were both to improvise on the same +theme. Marchand heard Bach's performance and signalised his own +inferiority by declining to play, and secretly leaving the city of +Dresden. Augustus sent Bach a hundred louis d'or, but this splendid +_douceur_ never reached him, as it was appropriated by one of the +court officials. + +In Bach's half-century of a studious musical life there is but little +of stirring incident to record. The significance of his career was +interior, not exterior. Twice married, and the father of twenty +children, his income was always small even for that age. Yet, by +frugality, the simple wants of himself and his family never +overstepped the limit of supply; for he seems to have been happily +mated with wives who sympathised with his exclusive devotion to art, +and united with this the virtues of old-fashioned German thrift. + +Three years before his death, Bach, who had a son in the service of +the King of Prussia, yielded to the urgent invitation of that monarch +to go to Berlin. Frederick II., the conqueror of Rossbach, and one of +the greatest of modern soldiers, was a passionate lover of literature +and art, and it was his pride to collect at his court all the leading +lights of European culture. He was not only the patron of Voltaire, +whose connection with the Prussian monarch has furnished such rich +material to the anecdote-history of literature, but of all the +distinguished painters, poets, and musicians whom he could persuade by +his munificent offers (but rarely fulfilled) to suffer the burden of +his eccentricities. Frederick was not content with playing the part of +patron, but must himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and +composer. + +On the night of Bach's arrival Frederick was taking part in a concert +at his palace, and, on hearing that the great musician whose name was +in the mouths of all Germany had come, immediately sent for him +without allowing him to don a court dress, interrupting his concert +with the enthusiastic announcement, "Gentlemen, Bach is here." The +cordial hospitality and admiration of Frederick was gratefully +acknowledged by Bach, who dedicated to him a three-part fugue on a +theme composed by the king, known under the name of "A Musical +Offering." But he could not be persuaded to remain long from his +Leipsic home. + +Shortly before Bach's death, he was seized with blindness, brought on +by incessant labour; and his end was supposed to have been hastened by +the severe inflammation consequent on two operations performed by an +English oculist. He departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried +in St. John's churchyard, universally mourned by musical Germany, +though his real title to exceptional greatness was not to be read +until the next generation. + + +III. + +Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known musical +family, but was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the +best-known organists and church composers of Germany. As a master of +organ-playing, tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with +the possible exception of Handel. He was also an able performer on +various stringed instruments, and his preference for the clavichord[B] +led him to write a method for that instrument, which has been the +basis of all succeeding methods for the piano. Bach's teachings and +influence may be said to have educated a large number of excellent +composers and organ and piano players, among whom were Emanuel Bach, +Cramer, Hummel, and Clementi; and on his school of theory and practice +the best results in music have been built. + +That Bach's glory as a composer should be largely posthumous is +probably the result of his exceeding simplicity and diffidence, for +he always shrank from popular applause; therefore we may believe his +compositions were not placed in the proper light during his life. It +was through Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, that the musical world +learned what a master-spirit had wrought in the person of John +Sebastian Bach. The first time Mozart heard one of Bach's hymns, he +said, "Thank God! I learn something absolutely new." + +Bach's great compositions include his "Preludes and Fugues" for the +organ, works so difficult and elaborate as perhaps to be above the +average comprehension, but sources of delight and instruction to all +musicians; the "Matthäus Passion," for two choruses and two +orchestras, one of the masterpieces in music, which was not produced +till a century after it was written; the "Oratorio of the Nativity of +Jesus Christ;" and a very large number of masses, anthems, cantatas, +chorals, hymns, etc. These works, from their largeness and dignity of +form, as also from their depth of musical science, have been to all +succeeding composers an art-armoury, whence they have derived and +furbished their brightest weapons. In the study of Bach's works the +student finds the deepest and highest reaches in the science of music; +for his mind seems to have grasped all its resources, and to have +embodied them with austere purity and precision of form. As Spenser is +called the poet for poets, and Laplace the mathematician for +mathematicians, so Bach is the musician for musicians. While Handel +may be considered a purely independent and parallel growth, it is not +too much to assert that without Sebastian Bach and his matchless +studies for the piano, organ, and orchestra, we could not have had the +varied musical development in sonata and symphony from such masters as +Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Three of Sebastian Bach's sons became +distinguished musicians, and to Emanuel we owe the artistic +development of the sonata, which in its turn became the foundation of +the symphony. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[B] An old instrument, which may be called the nearest prototype of +the modern square piano. + + + + +_HANDEL._ + + +I. + +To the modern Englishman Handel is almost a contemporary. Paintings +and busts of this great minstrel are scattered everywhere throughout +the land. He lies in Westminster Abbey among the great poets, +warriors, and statesmen, a giant memory in his noble art. A few hours +after death the sculptor Roubiliac took a cast of his face, which he +wrought into imperishable marble; "moulded in colossal calm," he +towers above his tomb, and accepts the homage of the world benignly +like a god. Exeter Hall and the Foundling Hospital in London are also +adorned with marble statues of him. + +There are more than fifty known pictures of Handel, some of them by +distinguished artists. In the best of these pictures Handel is seated +in the gay costume of the period, with sword, shot-silk breeches, and +coat embroidered with gold. The face is noble in its repose. +Benevolence is seated about the finely-shaped mouth, and the face +wears the mellow dignity of years, without weakness or austerity. +There are few collectors of prints in England and America who have not +a woodcut or a lithograph of him. His face and his music are alike +familiar to the English-speaking world. + +Handel came to England in the year 1710, at the age of twenty-five. +Four years before he had met, at Naples, Scarlatti, Porpora, and +Corelli. That year had been the turning-point in his life. With one +stride he reached the front rank, and felt that no musician alive +could teach him anything. + +GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL (or Händel, as the name is written in German) +was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, in the year 1685. Like German +literature, German music is a comparatively recent growth. What little +feeling existed for the musical art employed itself in cultivating the +alien flowers of Italian song. Even eighty years after this Mozart +and Haydn were treated like lackeys and vagabonds, just as great +actors were treated in England at the same period. Handel's father +looked on music as an occupation having very little dignity. + +Determined that his young son should become a doctor like himself, and +leave the divine art to Italian fiddlers and French buffoons, he did +not allow him to go to a public school even, for fear he should learn +the gamut. But the boy Handel, passionately fond of sweet sounds, had, +with the connivance of his nurse, hidden in the garret a poor spinet, +and in stolen hours taught himself how to play. At last the senior +Handel had a visit to make to another son in the service of the Duke +of Saxe-Weissenfels, and the young George was taken along to the ducal +palace. The boy strayed into the chapel, and was irresistibly drawn to +the organ. His stolen performance was made known to his father and the +duke, and the former was very much enraged at such a direct evidence +of disobedience. The duke, however, being astonished at the +performance of the youthful genius, interceded for him, and +recommended that his taste should be encouraged and cultivated instead +of repressed. + +From this time forward fortune showered upon him a combination of +conditions highly favourable to rapid development. Severe training, +ardent friendship, the society of the first composers, and incessant +practice were vouchsafed him. As the pupil of the great organist +Zachau, he studied the whole existing mass of German and Italian +music, and soon exacted from his master the admission that he had +nothing more to teach him. Thence he went to Berlin to study the +opera-school, where Ariosti and Bononcini were favourite composers. +The first was friendly, but the latter, who with a first-rate head had +a cankered heart, determined to take the conceit out of the Saxon boy. +He challenged him to play at sight an elaborate piece. Handel played +it with perfect precision, and thenceforward Bononcini, though he +hated the youth as a rival, treated him as an equal. + +On the death of his father Handel secured an engagement at the +Hamburg opera-house, where he soon made his mark by the ability with +which, on several occasions, he conducted rehearsals. + +At the age of nineteen Handel received the offer of the Lübeck organ, +on condition that he would marry the daughter of the retiring +organist. He went down with his friend Mattheson, who it seems had +been offered the same terms. They both returned, however, in single +blessedness to Hamburg. + +Though the Lübeck maiden had stirred no bad blood between them, +musical rivalry did. A dispute in the theatre resulted in a duel. The +only thing that saved Handel's life was a great brass button that +shivered his antagonist's point, when they were parted to become firm +friends again. + +While at Hamburg Handel's first two operas were composed, "Almira" and +"Nero." Both of these were founded on dark tales of crime and sorrow, +and, in spite of some beautiful airs and clever instrumentation, were +musical failures, as might be expected. + +Handel had had enough of manufacturing operas in Germany, and so in +July 1706 he went to Florence. Here he was cordially received; for +Florence was second to no city in Italy in its passion for encouraging +the arts. Its noble specimens of art creations in architecture, +painting, and sculpture produced a powerful impression upon the young +musician. In little more than a week's time he composed an opera, +"Rodrigo," for which he obtained one hundred sequins. His next visit +was to Venice, where he arrived at the height of the carnival. +Whatever effect Venice, with its weird and mysterious beauty, with its +marble palaces, façades, pillars, and domes, its magnificent shrines +and frescoes, produced on Handel, he took Venice by storm. Handel's +power as an organist and a harpsichord player was only second to his +strength as a composer, even when, in the full zenith of his maturity, +he composed the "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabæus." + +"Il caro Sassone," the dear Saxon, found a formidable opponent as +well as dear friend in the person of Scarlatti. One night at a masked +ball, given by a nobleman, Handel was present in disguise. He sat at +the harpsichord, and astonished the company with his playing; but no +one could tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. +Presently another masquerader came into the room, walked up to the +instrument, and called out: "It is either the devil or the Saxon!" +This was Scarlatti, who afterwards had with Handel, in Florence and +Rome, friendly contests of skill, in which it seemed difficult to +decide which was victor. To satisfy the Venetian public, Handel +composed the opera "Agrippina," which made a _furore_ among all the +connoisseurs of the city. + +So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival in Venice, he +must hurry on to be in time for the great Easter celebrations in Rome. +Here he lived under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni, one of the +wealthiest and most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was a +modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living himself in +princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and surgeries for the public. He +distributed alms, patronised men of science and art, and entertained +the public with comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and +academic disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel composed +three operas and two oratorios. Even at this early period the young +composer was parting company with the strict old musical traditions, +and his works showed an extraordinary variety and strength of +treatment. + +From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his second Italian summer, +and composed the original Italian "Aci e Galatea," which in its +English version, afterwards written for the Duke of Chandos, has +continued a marked favourite with the musical world. Thence, after a +lingering return through the sunny land where he had been so warmly +welcomed, and which had taught him most effectually, in convincing him +that his musical life had nothing in common with the traditions of +Italian musical art, he returned to Germany, settling at the court of +George of Brunswick, Elector of Hanover, and afterwards King of +England. He received commission in the course of a few months from the +elector to visit England, having been warmly invited thither by some +English noblemen. On his return to Hanover, at the end of six months, +he found the dull and pompous little court unspeakably tiresome after +the bustle of London. So it is not to be marvelled at that he took the +earliest opportunity of returning to the land which he afterwards +adopted. At this period he was not yet twenty-five years old, but +already famous as a performer on the organ and harpsichord, and as a +composer of Italian operas. + +When Queen Anne died and Handel's old patron became King of England, +Handel was forbidden to appear before him, as he had not forgotten the +musician's escapade; but his peace was at last made by a little ruse. +Handel had a friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from whom he learned +that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an excursion on the +Thames. So he set to work to compose music for the occasion, which he +arranged to have performed on a boat which followed the king's barge. +As the king floated down the river he heard the new and delightful +"Water-Music." He knew that only one man could have composed such +music; so he sent for Handel, and sealed his pardon with a pension of +two hundred pounds a-year. + + +II. + +Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer moved in the +heyday of his youth. His greatness was to be perfected in after-years +by bitter rivalries, persecution, alternate oscillations of poverty +and affluence, and a multitude of bitter experiences. But at this time +Handel's life was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not +been organised to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much at his +mansion, which was then out of town, although the house is now in the +heart of Piccadilly. The intimate friendship of this nobleman helped +to bring the young musician into contact with many distinguished +people. + +It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily without knowing that +their names and his would be in a century famous. The following +picture sketches Handel and his friends in a sprightly fashion:-- + +"Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the corner of Regent +Street, with a slight and rather more refined-looking companion, is +the obscure Samuel Johnson, quite unknown to fame. He is walking with +Richard Savage. As Signor Handel, 'the composer of Italian music,' +passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his friend, who takes +only a languid interest in the foreigner. Johnson did not care for +music; of many noises he considered it the least disagreeable. + +"Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, the renowned +ecclesiastic, Dean Swift. He has just nodded patronisingly to +Bononcini in the Strand, and suddenly meets Handel, who cuts him dead. +Nothing disconcerted, the dean moves on, muttering his famous +epigram-- + + 'Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + While others vow that to him Handel + Is hardly fit to hold a candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.' + +"As Handel enters the 'Turk's Head' at the corner of Regent Street, a +noble coach and four drives up. It is the Duke of Chandos, who is +inquiring for Mr. Pope. Presently a deformed little man, in an +iron-grey suit, and with a face as keen as a razor, hobbles out, makes +a low bow to the burly Handel, who, helping him into the chariot, gets +in after him, and they drive off together to Cannons, the duke's +mansion at Edgeware. There they meet Mr. Addison, the poet Gay, and +the witty Arbuthnot, who have been asked to luncheon. The last number +of the _Spectator_ is on the table, and a brisk discussion soon arises +between Pope and Addison concerning the merits of the Italian opera, +in which Pope would have the better if he only knew a little more +about music, and could keep his temper. Arbuthnot sides with Pope in +favour of Mr. Handel's operas; the duke endeavours to keep the peace. +Handel probably uses his favourite exclamation, 'Vat te tevil I care!' +and consumes the _recherché_ wines and rare viands with undiminished +gusto. + +"The Magnificent, or the Grand Duke, as he was called, had built +himself a palace for £230,000. He had a private chapel, and appointed +Handel organist in the room of the celebrated Dr. Pepusch, who retired +with excellent grace before one manifestly his superior. On week-days +the duke and duchess entertained all the wits and grandees in town, +and on Sundays the Edgeware Road was thronged with the gay equipages +of those who went to worship at the ducal chapel and hear Mr. Handel +play on the organ. + +"The Edgeware Road was a pleasant country drive, but parts of it were +so solitary that highwaymen were much to be feared. The duke was +himself attacked on one occasion; and those who could afford it never +travelled so far out of town without armed retainers. Cannons was the +pride of the neighbourhood, and the duke--of whom Pope wrote, + + 'Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight'-- + +was as popular as he was wealthy. But his name is made still more +illustrious by the Chandos anthems. They were all written at Cannons +between 1718 and 1720, and number in all eleven overtures, thirty-two +solos, six duets, a trio, quartet, and forty-seven choruses. Some of +the above are real masterpieces; but, with the exception of 'The waves +of the sea rage horribly,' and 'Who is God but the Lord?' few of them +are ever heard now. And yet these anthems were most significant in the +variety of the choruses and in the range of the accompaniments; and it +was then, no doubt, that Handel was feeling his way toward the great +and immortal sphere of his oratorio music. Indeed, his first +oratorio, 'Esther,' was composed at Cannons, as also the English +version of 'Acis and Galatea.'" + +But Handel had other associates, and we must now visit Thomas Britton, +the musical coal-heaver. "There goes the famous small-coal man, a +lover of learning, a musician, and a companion of gentlemen." So the +folks used to say as Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver of Clerkenwell +Green, paced up and down the neighbouring streets with his sack of +small coal on his back, destined for one of his customers. Britton was +great among the great. He was courted by the most fashionable folk of +his day. He was a cultivated coal-heaver, who, besides his musical +taste and ability, possessed an extensive knowledge of chemistry and +the occult sciences. + +Britton did more than this. He gave concerts in Aylesbury Street, +Clerkenwell, where this singular man had formed a dwelling-house, with +a concert-room and a coal-store, out of what was originally a stable. +On the ground-floor was the small-coal repository, and over that the +concert-room--very long and narrow, badly lighted, and with a ceiling +so low that a tall man could scarcely stand upright in it. The stairs +to this room were far from pleasant to ascend, and the following +facetious lines by Ward, the author of the "London Spy," confirm +this:-- + + "Upon Thursdays repair + To my palace, and there + Hobble up stair by stair, + But I pray ye take care + That you break not your shins by a stumble; + + "And without e'er a souse + Paid to me or my spouse, + Sit as still as a mouse + At the top of the house, + And there you shall hear how we fumble." + +Nevertheless, beautiful duchesses and the best society in town flocked +to Britton's on Thursdays--not to order coals, but to sit out his +concerts. + +Let us follow the short, stout little man on a concert-day. The +customers are all served, or as many as can be. The coal-shed is made +tidy and swept up, and the coal-heaver awaits his company. There he +stands at the door of his stable, dressed in his blue blouse, +dustman's hat, and maroon kerchief tightly fastened round his neck. +The concert-room is almost full, and, pipe in hand, Britton awaits a +new visitor--the beautiful Duchess of B----. She is somewhat late (the +coachman, possibly, is not quite at home in the neighbourhood). + +Here comes a carriage, which stops at the coal-shop; and, laying down +his pipe, the coal-heaver assists her grace to alight, and in the +genteelest manner escorts her to the narrow staircase leading to the +music-room. Forgetting Ward's advice, she trips laughingly and +carelessly up the stairs to the room, from which proceed faint sounds +of music, increasing to quite an _olla podrida_ of sound as the +apartment is reached--for the musicians are tuning up. The beautiful +duchess is soon recognised, and as soon in deep gossip with her +friends. But who is that gentlemanly man leaning over the +chamber-organ? That is Sir Roger L'Estrange, an admirable performer on +the violoncello, and a great lover of music. He is watching the +subtile fingering of Mr. Handel, as his dimpled hands drift leisurely +and marvellously over the keys of the instrument. + +There, too, is Mr. Bannister with his fiddle--the first Englishman, +by-the-by, who distinguished himself upon the violin; there is Mr. +Woolaston, the painter, relating to Dr. Pepusch of how he had that +morning thrown up his window upon hearing Britton crying "Small coal!" +near his house in Warwick Lane, and, having beckoned him in, had made +a sketch for a painting of him; there, too, is Mr. John Hughes, author +of the "Siege of Damascus." In the background also are Mr. Philip +Hart, Mr. Henry Symonds, Mr. Obadiah Shuttleworth, Mr. Abiell +Whichello; while in the extreme corner of the room is Robe, a justice +of the peace, letting out to Henry Needler of the Excise Office the +last bit of scandal that has come into his court. And now, just as +the concert has commenced, in creeps "Soliman the Magnificent," also +known as Mr. Charles Jennens, of Great Ormond Street, who wrote many +of Handel's librettos, and arranged the words for the "Messiah." + +"Soliman the Magnificent" is evidently resolved to do justice to his +title on this occasion, with his carefully-powdered wig, frills, +maroon-coloured coat, and buckled shoes; and as he makes his progress +up the room, the company draw aside for him to reach his favourite +seat near Handel. A trio of Corelli's is gone through; then Madame +Cuzzoni sings Handel's last new air; Dr. Pepusch takes his turn at the +harpsichord; another trio of Hasse, or a solo on the violin by +Bannister; a selection on the organ from Mr. Handel's new oratorio; +and then the day's programme is over. Dukes, duchesses, wits and +philosophers, poets and musicians, make their way down the satirised +stairs to go, some in carriages, some in chairs, some on foot, to +their own palaces, houses, or lodgings. + + +III. + +We do not now think of Handel in connection with the opera. To the +modern mind he is so linked to the oratorio, of which he was the +father and the consummate master, that his operas are curiosities but +little known except to musical antiquaries. Yet some of the airs from +the Handel operas are still cherished by singers as among the most +beautiful songs known to the concert-stage. + +In 1720 Handel was engaged by a party of noblemen, headed by his Grace +of Chandos, to compose operas for the Royal Academy of Music at the +Haymarket. An attempt had been made to put this institution on a firm +foundation by a subscription of £50,000, and it was opened on May 2nd +with a full company of singers engaged by Handel. In the course of +eight years twelve operas were produced in rapid succession: +"Floridante," December 9, 1721; "Ottone," January 12, 1723; "Flavio" +and "Giulio Cesare," 1723; "Tamerlano," 1724; "Rodelinda," 1725; +"Scipione," 1726; "Alessandro," 1726; "Admeto," 1727; "Siroe," 1728; +and "Tolommeo," 1728. They made as great a _furore_ among the musical +public of that day as would an opera from Gounod or Verdi in the +present. The principal airs were sung throughout the land, and +published as harpsichord pieces; for in these halcyon days of our +composers the whole atmosphere of the land was full of the flavour and +colour of Handel. Many of the melodies in these now forgotten operas +have been worked up by modern composers, and so have passed into +modern music unrecognised. It is a notorious fact that the celebrated +song, "Where the Bee sucks," by Dr. Arne, is taken from a movement in +"Rinaldo." Thus the new life of music is ever growing rich with the +dead leaves of the past. The most celebrated of these operas was +entitled "Otto." It was a work composed of one long string of +exquisite gems, like Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Gounod's "Faust." Dr. +Pepusch, who had never quite forgiven Handel for superseding him as +the best organist in England, remarked of one of the airs, "That great +bear must have been inspired when he wrote that air." The celebrated +Madame Cuzzoni made her _début_ in it. On the second night the tickets +rose to four guineas each, and Cuzzoni received two thousand pounds +for the season. + +The composer had already begun to be known for his irascible temper. +It is refreshing to learn that operatic singers of the day, however +whimsical and self-willed, were obliged to bend to the imperious +genius of this man. In a spirit of ill-timed revolt Cuzzoni declined +to sing an air. She had already given him trouble by her insolence and +freaks, which at times were unbearable. Handel at last exploded. He +flew at the wretched woman and shook her like a rat. "Ah! I always +knew you were a fery tevil," he cried, "and I shall now let you know +that I am Beelzebub, the prince of de tevils!" and, dragging her to +the open window, was just on the point of pitching her into the +street, when, in every sense of the word, she recanted. So, when +Carestini, the celebrated tenor, sent back an air, Handel was furious. +Rushing into the trembling Italian's house, he said, in his four- or +five-language style--"You tog! don't I know better as yourself vaat it +pest for you to sing? If you vill not sing all de song vaat I give +you, I vill not pay you ein stiver." Among the anecdotes told of +Handel's passion is one growing out of the composer's peculiar +sensitiveness to discords. The dissonance of the tuning-up period of +an orchestra is disagreeable to the most patient. Handel, being +peculiarly sensitive to this unfortunate necessity, always arranged +that it should take place before the audience assembled, so as to +prevent any sound of scraping or blowing. Unfortunately, on one +occasion, some wag got access to the orchestra where the ready-tuned +instruments were lying, and with diabolical dexterity put every string +and crook out of tune. Handel enters. All the bows are raised +together, and at the given beat all start off _con spirito_. The +effect was startling in the extreme. The unhappy _maestro_ rushes +madly from his place, kicks to pieces the first double-bass he sees, +and, seizing a kettle-drum, throws it violently at the leader of the +band. The effort sends his wig flying, and, rushing bareheaded to the +footlights, he stands a few moments amid the roars of the house, +snorting with rage and choking with passion. Like Burleigh's nod, +Handel's wig seemed to have been a sure guide to his temper. When +things went well, it had a certain complacent vibration; but when he +was out of humour, the wig indicated the fact in a very positive way. +The Princess of Wales was wont to blame her ladies for talking instead +of listening. "Hush, hush!" she would say. "Don't you see Handel's +wig?" + +For several years after the subscription of the nobility had been +exhausted, our composer, having invested £10,000 of his own in the +Haymarket, produced operas with remarkable affluence, some of them +_pasticcio_ works, composed of all sorts of airs, in which the singers +could give their _bravura_ songs. These were "Lotario," 1729; +"Partenope," 1730; "Poro," 1731; "Ezio," 1732; "Sosarme," 1732; +"Orlando," 1733; "Ariadne," 1734; and also several minor works. +Handel's operatic career was not so much the outcome of his choice as +dictated to him by the necessity of time and circumstance. As time +went on, his operas lost public interest. The audiences dwindled, and +the overflowing houses of his earlier experience were replaced by +empty benches. This, however, made little difference with Handel's +royal patrons. The king and the Prince of Wales, with their respective +households, made it an express point to show their deep interest in +Handel's success. In illustration of this, an amusing anecdote is told +of the Earl of Chesterfield. During the performance of "Rinaldo" this +nobleman, then an equerry of the king, was met quietly retiring from +the theatre in the middle of the first act. Surprise being expressed +by a gentleman who met the earl, the latter said, "I don't wish to +disturb his Majesty's privacy." + +Handel paid his singers in those days what were regarded as enormous +prices. Senisino and Carestini had each twelve hundred pounds, and +Cuzzoni two thousand, for the season. Towards the end of what may be +called the Handel season nearly all the singers and nobles forsook +him, and supported Farinelli, the greatest singer living, at the rival +house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. + + +IV. + +From the year 1729 the career of Handel was to be a protracted battle, +in which he was sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, but always +undaunted and animated with a lofty sense of his own superior power. +Let us take a view of some of the rival musicians with whom he came in +contact. Of all these Bononcini was the most formidable. He came to +England in 1720 with Ariosti, also a meritorious composer. Factions +soon began to form themselves around Handel and Bononcini, and a +bitter struggle ensued between these old foes. The same drama repeated +itself, with new actors, about thirty years afterwards, in Paris. +Gluck was then the German hero, supported by Marie Antoinette, and +Piccini fought for the Italian opera under the colours of the king's +mistress, Du Barry, while all the _littérateurs_ and nobles ranged +themselves on either side in bitter contest. The battle between Handel +and Bononcini, as the exponents of German and Italian music, was also +repeated in after-years between Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, +and to-day is seen in the acrimonious disputes going on between Wagner +and the Italian school. Bononcini's career in England came to an end +very suddenly. It was discovered that a madrigal brought out by him +was pirated from another Italian composer; whereupon Bononcini left +England, humiliated to the dust, and finally died obscure and alone, +the victim of a charlatan alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all +his savings. + +Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as Handel used to +call him, "Old Borbora." Without Bononcini's fire or Handel's daring +originality, he represented the dry contrapuntal school of Italian +music. He was also a great singing master, famous throughout Europe, +and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. He came +to London in 1733, under the patronage of the Italian faction, +especially to serve as a thorn in the side of Handel. His first opera, +"Ariadne," was a great success; but when he had the audacity to +challenge the great German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so +overwhelming that he candidly admitted his rival's superiority. But he +believed that no operas in the world were equal to his own, and he +composed fifty of them during his life, extending to the days of +Haydn, whom he had the honour of teaching, while the father of the +symphony, on the other hand, cleaned Porpora's boots and powdered his +wig for him. + +Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true genius, who in his +old age instructed some of the most splendid singers in the history of +the lyric stage. He also married one of the most gifted and most +beautiful divas of Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote +does equal credit to Hasse's heart and penetration: In after-years, +when he had left England, he was again sent for to take Handel's place +as conductor of opera and oratorio. Hasse inquired, "What! is Handel +dead?" On being told no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not +worthy to tie Handel's shoe-latchets. + +There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicised Prussian, and Dr. Greene, +both names well known in English music. Pepusch had had the leading +place, before Handel's arrival, as organist and conductor, and made a +distinct place for himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured +all of his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the "Beggar's Opera," +which was the great sensation of the times, and which still keeps +possession of the stage. Pepusch was chiefly notable for his skill in +arranging the popular songs of the day, and probably did more than any +other composer to give the English ballad its artistic form. + +The name of Dr. Greene is best known in connection with choral +compositions. His relations with Handel and Bononcini are hardly +creditable to him. He seems to have flattered each in turn. He upheld +Bononcini in the great madrigal controversy, and appears to have +wearied Handel by his repeated visits. The great Saxon easily saw +through the flatteries of a man who was in reality an ambitious rival, +and joked about him, not always in the best taste. When he was told +that Greene was giving concerts at the "Devil Tavern," near Temple +Bar, "Ah!" he exclaimed, "mein poor friend, Toctor Greene--so he is +gone to de Tevil!" + +From 1732 to 1740 Handel's life presents the suggestive and +often-repeated experience in the lives of men of genius--a soul with a +great creative mission, of which it is half unconscious, partly +yielding to and partly struggling against the tendencies of the age, +yet gradually crystallising into its true form, and getting +consecrated to its true work. In these eight years Handel presented to +the public ten operas and five oratorios. It was in 1731 that the +great significant fact, though unrecognised by himself and others, +occurred, which stamped the true bent of his genius. This was the +production of his first oratorio in England. He was already playing +his operas to empty houses, the subject of incessant scandal and abuse +on the part of his enemies, but holding his way with steady +cheerfulness and courage. Twelve years before this he had composed the +oratorio of "Esther," but it was still in manuscript, uncared for and +neglected. It was finally produced by a society called Philharmonic, +under the direction of Bernard Gates, the royal-chapel master. Its +fame spread wide, and we read these significant words in one of the +old English newspapers--"'Esther,' an English oratorio, was performed +six times, and very full." + +Shortly after this Handel himself conducted "Esther" at the Haymarket +by royal command. His success encouraged him to write "Deborah," +another attempt in the same field, and it met a warm reception from +the public, March 17, 1733. + +For about fifteen years Handel had struggled heroically in the +composition of Italian operas. With these he had at first succeeded; +but his popularity waned more and more, and he became finally the +continued target for satire, scorn, and malevolence. In obedience to +the drift of opinion, all the great singers, who had supported him at +the outset, joined the rival ranks or left England. In fact, it may be +almost said that the English public were becoming dissatisfied with +the whole system and method of Italian music. Colley Cibber, the actor +and dramatist, explains why Italian opera could never satisfy the +requirement of Handel, or be anything more than an artificial luxury +in England: "The truth is, this kind of entertainment is entirely +sensational." Still both Handel and his friends and his foes, all the +exponents of musical opinion in England, persevered obstinately in +warming this foreign exotic into a new lease of life. + +The quarrel between the great Saxon composer and his opponents raged +incessantly both in public and private. The newspaper and the +drawing-room rang alike with venomous diatribes. Handel was called a +swindler, a drunkard, and a blasphemer, to whom Scripture even was not +sacred. The idea of setting Holy Writ to music scandalised the +Pharisees, who revelled in the licentious operas and love-songs of the +Italian school. All the small wits of the time showered on Handel +epigram and satire unceasingly. The greatest of all the wits, however, +Alexander Pope, was his firm friend and admirer; and in the "Dunciad," +wherein the wittiest of poets impaled so many of the small fry of the +age with his pungent and vindictive shaft, he also slew some of the +most malevolent of Handel's foes. + +Fielding, in _Tom Jones_, has an amusing hit at the taste of the +period--"It was Mr. Western's custom every afternoon, as soon as he +was drunk, to hear his daughter play on the harpsichord; for he was a +great lover of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have +passed as a connoisseur, for he always excepted against the finest +compositions of Mr. Handel." + +So much had it become the fashion to criticise Handel's new effects in +vocal and instrumental composition, that some years later Mr. Sheridan +makes one of his characters fire a pistol simply to shock the +audience, and makes him say in a stage whisper to the gallery, "This +hint, gentlemen, I took from Handel." + +The composer's Oxford experience was rather amusing and suggestive. We +find it recorded that in July 1733, "one Handell, a foreigner, was +desired to come to Oxford to perform in music." Again the same writer +says--"Handell, with his lousy crew, a great number of foreign +fiddlers, had a performance for his own benefit at the theatre." One +of the dons writes of the performance as follows:--"This is an +innovation; but everyone paid his five shillings to try how a little +fiddling would sit upon him. And, notwithstanding the barbarous and +inhuman combination of such a parcel of unconscionable scamps, he +[Handel] disposed of the most of his tickets." + +"Handel and his lousy crew," however, left Oxford with the prestige +of a magnificent victory. His third oratorio, "Athaliah," was received +with vast applause by a great audience. Some of his university +admirers, who appreciated academic honours more than the musician did, +urged him to accept the degree of Doctor of Music, for which he would +have to pay a small fee. The characteristic reply was a Parthian +arrow: "Vat te tevil I trow my money away for dat vich the blockhead +vish? I no vant!" + + +V. + +In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and suspend payment. +He had made and spent during his operatic career the sum of £10,000 +sterling, besides dissipating the sum of £50,000 subscribed by his +noble patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, and the +Duchess of Marlborough and her friends, who ruled the opposition +clique and imported Bononcini, paid £12,000 for the pleasure of +ruining Handel. His failure as an operatic composer is due in part to +the same causes which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. +It is a little significant to notice that, alike by the progress of +his own genius and by the force of conditions, he was forced out of +the operatic field at the very time when he strove to tighten his grip +on it. + +His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, his creation +of new forms and remodelling of old ones, his entire subordination of +the words in the story to a pure musical purpose, offended the singers +and retarded the action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet +it was by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public +mind was being moulded to understand and love the form of the +oratorio. + +From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a number of operatic +works, the principal ones of which were "Alcina," 1735; "Arminio," +1737; and "Berenice," 1737. He also during these years wrote the +magnificent music to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and the great +funeral anthem on the occasion of Queen Caroline's death in the +latter part of the year 1737. + +We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which Handel +persevered in the composition of operatic music after it had ruined +him; but it was still some time before he fully appreciated the true +turn of his genius, which could not be trifled with or ignored. In his +adversity he had some consolation. His creditors were patient, +believing in his integrity. The royal family were his firm friends. + +Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful Prince of +Wales, then a child, and afterward George the Third, if he loved +music, answered, when the prince expressed his pleasure, "A good boy, +a good boy! You shall protect my fame when I am dead." Afterwards, +when the half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public +misfortunes, he found his chief solace in the Waverley novels and +Handel's music. + +It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers of the age +were Handel's firm admirers. Such men as Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, +Colley Cibber, Pope, Fielding, Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognised +the deep, struggling tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. +They defended him in print, and never failed to attend his +performances, and at his benefit concerts their enthusiastic support +always insured him an overflowing house. + +The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic classes +sneered at his oratorios and complained at his innovations. His music +was found to be good bait for the popular gardens and the +holiday-makers of the period. Jonathan Tyers was one of the most +liberal managers of this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, +and Handel (_incognito_) supplied him with nearly all his music. The +composer did much the same sort of thing for Marylebone Gardens, +furbishing up old and writing new strains with an ease that well +became the urgency of the circumstances. + +"My grandfather," says the Rev. J. Fountagne, "as I have been told, +was an enthusiast in music, and cultivated most of all the friendship +of musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often, and had a +great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an +anecdote which I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens +were flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of +Arne, was often heard from the orchestra there. One evening, as my +grandfather and Handel were walking together and alone, a new piece +was struck up by the band. 'Come, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'let us +sit down and listen to this piece; I want to know your opinion about +it.' Down they sat, and after some time the old parson, turning to his +companion, said, 'It is not worth listening to; it's very poor stuff.' +'You are right, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'it is very poor stuff; I +thought so myself when I had finished it.' The old gentleman, being +taken by surprise, was beginning to apologise; but Handel assured him +there was no necessity, that the music was really bad, having been +composed hastily, and his time for the production limited; and that +the opinion given was as correct as it was honest." + + +VI. + +The period of Handel's highest development had now arrived. For seven +years his genius had been slowly but surely maturing, in obedience to +the inner law of his being. He had struggled long in the bonds of +operatic composition, but even here his innovations showed +conclusively how he was reaching out toward the form with which his +name was to be associated through all time. The year 1739 was one of +prodigious activity. The oratorio of "Saul" was produced, of which the +"Dead March" is still recognised as one of the great musical +compositions of all time, being one of the few intensely solemn +symphonies written in a major key. Several works now forgotten were +composed, and the great "Israel in Egypt" was written in the +incredibly short space of twenty-seven days. Of this work a +distinguished writer on music says--"Handel was now fifty-five years +old, and had entered, after many a long and weary contest, upon his +last and greatest creative period. His genius culminates in the +'Israel.' Elsewhere he has produced longer recitatives and more +pathetic arias; nowhere has he written finer tenor songs than 'The +enemy said,' or finer duets than 'The Lord is a man of war;' and there +is not in the history of music an example of choruses piled up like so +many Ossas on Pelions in such majestic strength, and hurled in open +defiance at a public whose ears were itching for Italian love-lays and +English ballads. In these twenty-eight colossal choruses we perceive +at once a reaction against and a triumph over the tastes of the age. +The wonder is, not that the 'Israel' was unpopular, but that it should +have been tolerated; but Handel, while he appears to have been for +years driven by the public, had been, in reality, driving them. His +earliest oratorio, 'Il Trionfo del Tempo' (composed in Italy), had but +two choruses; into his operas more and more were introduced, with +disastrous consequences; but when, at the zenith of his strength, he +produced a work which consisted almost entirely of these unpopular +peculiarities, the public treated him with respect, and actually sat +out three performances in one season!" In addition to these two great +oratorios, our composer produced the beautiful music to Dryden's "St. +Cæcilia Ode," and Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." Henceforth +neither praise nor blame could turn Handel from his appointed course. +He was not yet popular with the musical _dilettanti_, but we find no +more catering to an absurd taste, no more writing of silly operatic +froth. + +Our composer had always been very fond of the Irish, and, at the +invitation of the lord-lieutenant and prominent Dublin amateurs, he +crossed the channel in 1741. He was received with the greatest +enthusiasm, and his house became the resort of all the musical people +in the city of Dublin. One after another his principal works were +produced before admiring audiences in the new Music Hall in Fishamble +Street. The crush to hear the "Allegro" and "Penseroso" at the +opening performances was so great that the doors had to be closed. The +papers declared there never had been seen such a scene before in +Dublin. + +Handel gave twelve performances at very short intervals, comprising +all of his finest works. In these concerts the "Acis and Galatea" and +"Alexander's Feast" were the most admired; but the enthusiasm +culminated in the rendition of the "Messiah," produced for the first +time on 13th April 1742. The performance was a beneficiary one in aid +of poor and distressed prisoners for debt in the Marshalsea in Dublin. +So, by a remarkable coincidence, the first performance of the +"Messiah" literally meant deliverance to the captives. The principal +singers were Mrs. Cibber (daughter-in-law of Colley Cibber, and +afterwards one of the greatest actresses of her time), Mrs. Avoglio, +and Mr. Dubourg. The town was wild with excitement. Critics, poets, +fine ladies, and men of fashion tore rhetoric to tatters in their +admiration. A clergyman so far forgot his Bible in his rapture as to +exclaim to Mrs. Cibber, at the close of one of her airs, "Woman, for +this be all thy sins forgiven thee." The penny-a-liners wrote that +"words were wanting to express the exquisite delight," etc. +And--supreme compliment of all, for Handel was a cynical bachelor--the +fine ladies consented to leave their hoops at home for the second +performance, that a couple of hundred or so extra listeners might be +accommodated. This event was the grand triumph of Handel's life. Years +of misconception, neglect, and rivalry were swept out of mind in the +intoxicating delight of that night's success. + + +VII. + +Handel returned to London, and composed a new oratorio, "Samson," for +the following Lenten season. This, together with the "Messiah," heard +for the first time in London, made the stock of twelve performances. +The fashionable world ignored him altogether; the newspapers kept a +contemptuous silence; comic singers were hired to parody his noblest +airs at the great houses; and impudent Horace Walpole had the audacity +to say that he "had hired all the goddesses from farces and singers of +roast-beef, from between the acts of both theatres, with a man with +one note in his voice, and a girl with never a one; and so they sang +and made brave hallelujahs." + +The new field into which Handel had entered inspired his genius to its +greatest energy. His new works for the season of 1744 were the +"Dettingen Te Deum," "Semele," and "Joseph and his Brethren;" for the +next year (he had again rented the Haymarket Theatre), "Hercules," +"Belshazzar," and a revival of "Deborah." All these works were +produced in a style of then uncommon completeness; and the great +expense he incurred, combined with the active hostility of the +fashionable world, forced him to close his doors and suspend payment. +From this time forward Handel gave concerts whenever he chose, and +depended on the people, who so supported him by their gradually +growing appreciation, that in two years he had paid off all his debts, +and in ten years had accumulated a fortune of £10,000. The works +produced during these latter years were "Judas Maccabæus," 1747; +"Alexander," 1748; "Joshua," 1748; "Susannah," 1749; "Solomon," 1749; +"Theodora," 1750; "Choice of Hercules," 1751; "Jephthah," 1752, +closing with this a stupendous series of dramatic oratorios. While at +work on the last, his eyes suffered an attack which finally resulted +in blindness. + +Like Milton in the case of "Paradise Lost," Handel preferred one of +his least popular oratorios, "Theodora." It was a great favourite with +him, and he used to say that the chorus, "He saw the lovely youth," +was finer than anything in the "Messiah." The public were not of this +opinion, and he was glad to give away tickets to any professors who +applied for them. When the "Messiah" was again produced, two of these +gentlemen who had neglected "Theodora" applied for admission. "Oh! +your sarvant, meine Herren!" exclaimed the indignant composer. "You +are tamnable dainty! You would not go to 'Theodora'--dere was room +enough to dance dere when dat was perform." When Handel heard that an +enthusiast had offered to make himself responsible for all the boxes +the next time the despised oratorio should be given--"He is a fool," +said he; "the Jews will not come to it as to 'Judas Maccabæus,' +because it is a Christian story; and the ladies will not come, because +it is a virtuous one." + +Handel's triumph was now about to culminate in a serene and +acknowledged pre-eminence. The people had recognised his greatness, +and the reaction at last conquered all classes. Publishers vied with +each other in producing his works, and their performance was greeted +with great audiences and enthusiastic applause. His last ten years +were a peaceful and beautiful ending of a stormy career. + + +VIII. + +Thought lingers pleasantly over this sunset period. Handel throughout +life was so wedded to his art, that he cared nothing for the delights +of woman's love. His recreations were simple--rowing, walking, +visiting his friends, and playing on the organ. He would sometimes try +to play the people out of St. Paul's Cathedral, and hold them +indefinitely. He would resort at night to his favourite tavern, the +Queen's Head, where he would smoke and drink beer with his chosen +friends. Here he would indulge in roaring conviviality and fun, and +delight his friends with sparkling satire and pungent humour, of which +he was a great master, helped by his amusing compound of English, +Italian, and German. Often he would visit the picture galleries, of +which he was passionately fond. His clumsy but noble figure could be +seen almost any morning rolling through Charing Cross; and everyone +who met old Father Handel treated him with the deepest reverence. + +The following graphic narrative, taken from the _Somerset House +Gazette_, offers a vivid portraiture. Schoelcher, in his _Life of +Handel_, says that "its author had a relative, Zachary Hardcastle, a +retired merchant, who was intimately acquainted with all the most +distinguished men of his time, artists, poets, musicians, and +physicians." This old gentleman, who lived at Paper Buildings, was +accustomed to take his morning walk in the garden of Somerset House, +where he happened to meet with another old man, Colley Cibber, and +proposed to him to go and hear a competition which was to take place +at midday for the post of organist to the Temple, and he invited him +to breakfast, telling him at the same time that Dr. Pepusch and Dr. +Arne were to be with him at nine o'clock. They go in; Pepusch arrives +punctually at the stroke of nine; presently there is a knock, the door +is opened, and Handel unexpectedly presents himself. Then follows the +scene:-- + +"Handel: 'Vat! mein dear friend Hardgasdle--vat! you are merry py +dimes! Vat! and Misder Golley Cibbers, too! aye, and Togder Peepbush +as vell! Vell, dat is gomigal. Vell, mein friendts, andt how vags the +vorldt wid you, mein tdears? Bray, bray, do let me sit town a momend.' + +"Pepusch took the great man's hat, Colley Cibber took his stick, and +my great-uncle wheeled round his reading-chair, which was somewhat +about the dimensions of that in which our kings and queens are +crowned; and then the great man sat him down. + +"'Vell, I thank you, gentlemen; now I am at mein ease vonce more. Upon +mein vord, dat is a picture of a ham. It is very pold of me to gome to +preak my fastd wid you uninvided; and I have brought along wid me a +nodable abbetite; for the wader of old Fader Dems is it not a fine +pracer of the stomach?' + +"'You do me great honour, Mr. Handel,' said my great-uncle. 'I take +this early visit as a great kindness.' + +"'A delightful morning for the water,' said Colley Cibber. + +"'Pray, did you come with oars or scullers, Mr. Handel?' said Pepusch. + +"'Now, how gan you demand of me dat zilly question, you who are a +musician and a man of science, Togder Peepbush? Vat gan it concern you +whether I have one votdermans or two votdermans--whether I bull out +mine burce for to pay von shilling or two? Diavolo! I gannot go here, +or I gannot go dere, but some one shall send it to some newsbaber, as +how Misder Chorge Vrederick Handel did go somedimes last week in a +votderman's wherry, to preak his fastd wid Misder Zac. Hardgasdle; but +it shall be all the fault wid himeself, if it shall be but in print, +whether I was rowed by one votdermans or by two votdermans. So, Togder +Peepbush, you will blease to excuse me from dat.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch was for a moment disconcerted, but it was soon +forgotten in the first dish of coffee. + +"'Well, gentlemen,' said my great-uncle Zachary, looking at his +tompion, 'it is ten minutes past nine. Shall we wait more for Dr. +Arne?' + +"'Let us give him another five minutes' chance, Master Hardcastle,' +said Colley Cibber; 'he is too great a genius to keep time.' + +"'Let us put it to the vote,' said Dr. Pepusch, smiling. 'Who holds up +hands?' + +"'I will segond your motion wid all mine heardt,' said Handel. 'I will +hold up mine feeble hands for mine oldt friendt Custos (Arne's name +was Augustine), for I know not who I wouldt waidt for, over andt above +mine oldt rival, Master Dom (meaning Pepusch). Only by your +bermission, I vill dake a snag of your ham, andt a slice of French +roll, or a modicum of chicken; for to dell you the honest fagd, I am +all pote famished, for I laid me down on mine billow in bed the lastd +nightd widout mine supper, at the instance of mine physician, for +which I am not altogeddere inglined to extend mine fastd no longer.' +Then, laughing: 'Berhaps, Mister Golley Cibbers, you may like to pote +this to the vote? But I shall not segond the motion, nor shall I holdt +up mine hand, as I will, by bermission, embloy it some dime in a +better office. So, if you please, do me the kindness for to gut me a +small slice of ham.' + +"At this instant a hasty footstep was heard on the stairs, accompanied +by the humming of an air, all as gay as the morning, which was +beautiful and bright. It was the month of May. + +"'Bresto! be quick,' said Handel; he knew it was Arne; 'fifteen +minutes of dime is butty well for an _ad libitum_.' + +"'Mr. Arne,' said my great-uncle's man. + +"A chair was placed, and the social party commenced their _déjeuner_. + +"'Well, and how do you find yourself, my dear sir?' inquired Arne, +with friendly warmth. + +"'Why, by the mercy of Heaven, andt the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, +andt the addentions of mine togders andt physicians, and oggulists, of +lade years, under Providence, I am surbrizingly pedder--thank you +kindly, Misder Custos. Andt you have also been doing well of lade, as +I am bleased to hear. You see, sir,' pointing to his plate, 'you see, +sir, dat I am in the way for to regruit mine flesh wid the good viands +of Misder Zachary Hardgasdle.' + +"'So, sir, I presume you are come to witness the trial of skill at the +old round church? I understand the amateurs expect a pretty sharp +contest,' said Arne. + +"'Gondest,' echoed Handel, laying down his knife and fork. 'Yes, no +doubt; your amadeurs have a bassion for gondest. Not vot it vos in our +remembrance. Hey, mine friendt? Ha, ha, ha!' + +"'No, sir, I am happy to say those days of envy and bickering, and +party feeling, are gone and past. To be sure we had enough of such +disgraceful warfare: it lasted too long.' + +"'Why, yes; it tid last too long, it bereft me of mine poor limbs: it +tid bereave of that vot is the most blessed gift of Him vot made us, +andt not wee ourselves. And for vot? Vy, for noding in the vorldt pode +the bleasure and bastime of them who, having no widt, nor no want, set +at loggerheads such men as live by their widts, to worry and destroy +one andt anodere as wild beasts in the Golloseum in the dimes of the +Romans.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch during this conversation, as my great-uncle +observed, was sitting on thorns; he was in the confederacy +professionally only. + +"'I hope, sir,' observed the doctor, 'you do not include me among +those who did injustice to your talents?' + +"'Nod at all, nod at all; God forbid! I am a great admirer of the airs +of the "Peggar's Obera," andt every professional gendtleman must do +his best for to live.' + +"This mild return, couched under an apparent compliment, was well +received; but Handel, who had a talent for sarcastic drolling, added-- + +"'Pute why blay the Peggar yourself, Togder, andt adapt oldt pallad +humsdrum, ven, as a man of science, you could gombose original airs of +your own? Here is mine friendt, Custos Arne, who has made a road for +himself, for to drive along his own genius to the demple of fame.' +Then, turning to our illustrious Arne, he continued, 'Min friendt +Custos, you and I must meed togeder somedimes before it is long, and +hold a _têde-à-têde_ of old days vat is gone; ha, ha! Oh! it is +gomigal now dat id is all gone by. Custos, to nod you remember as it +was almost only of yesterday dat she-devil Guzzoni, andt dat other +brecious taughter of iniquity, Pelzebub's spoiled child, the +bretty-faced Faustina? Oh! the mad rage vot I have to answer for, vot +with one and the oder of these fine latdies' airs andt graces. Again, +to you nod remember dat ubstardt buppy Senesino, and the goxgomb +Farinelli? Next, again, mine somedimes nodtable rival Bononcini, and +old Borbora? Ha, ha, ha! all at war wid me, andt all at war wid +themselves. Such a gonfusion of rivalshibs, andt double-facedness, +andt hybocrisy, and malice, vot would make a gomigal subject for a +boem in rhymes, or a biece for the stage, as I hopes to be saved.'" + + +IX. + +We now turn from the man to his music. In his daily life with the +world we get a spectacle of a quick, passionate temper, incased in a +great burly frame, and raging into whirlwinds of excitement at small +provocation; a gourmand devoted to the pleasure of the table, +sometimes indeed gratifying his appetite in no seemly fashion, +resembling his friend Dr. Samuel Johnson in many notable ways. Handel +as a man was of the earth, earthly, in the extreme, and marked by many +whimsical and disagreeable faults. But in his art we recognise a +genius so colossal, massive, and self-poised as to raise admiration to +its superlative of awe. When Handel had disencumbered himself of +tradition, convention, the trappings of time and circumstances, he +attained a place in musical creation, solitary and unique. His genius +found expression in forms large and austere, disdaining the luxuriant +and trivial. He embodied the spirit of Protestantism in music; and a +recognition of this fact is probably the key of the admiration felt +for him by the Anglo-Saxon races. + +Handel possessed an inexhaustible fund of melody of the noblest order; +an almost unequalled command of musical expression; perfect power over +all the resources of his science; the faculty of wielding huge masses +of tone with perfect ease and felicity; and he was without rival in +the sublimity of ideas. The problem which he so successfully solved in +the oratorio was that of giving such dramatic force to the music, in +which he clothed the sacred texts, as to be able to dispense with all +scenic and stage effects. One of the finest operatic composers of the +time, the rival of Bach as an instrumental composer, and performer on +the harpsichord or organ, the unanimous verdict of the musical world +is that no one has ever equalled him in completeness, range of effect, +elevation and variety of conception, and sublimity in the treatment of +sacred music. We can readily appreciate Handel's own words when +describing his own sensations in writing the "Messiah"--"I did think I +did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself." + +The great man died on Good Friday night, 1759, aged seventy-five +years. He had often wished "he might breathe his last on Good Friday, +in hope," he said, "of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and +Saviour, on the day of his resurrection." The old blind musician had +his wish. + + + + +_GLUCK._ + + +I. + +Gluck is a noble and striking figure in musical history, alike in the +services he rendered to his art and the dignity and strength of his +personal character. As the predecessor of Wagner and Meyerbeer, who +among the composers of this century have given opera its largest and +noblest expression, he anticipated their important reforms, and in his +musical creations we see all that is best in what is called the new +school. + +The man, the Ritter CHRISTOPH WILIBALD VON GLUCK, is almost as +interesting to us as the musician. He moved in the society of princes +with a calm and haughty dignity, their conscious peer, and never +prostituted his art to gain personal advancement or to curry favour +with the great ones of the earth. He possessed a majesty of nature +which was the combined effect of personal pride, a certain lofty +self-reliance, and a deep conviction that he was the apostle of an +important musical mission. + +Gluck's whole life was illumined by an indomitable sense of his own +strength, and lifted by it into an atmosphere high above that of his +rivals, whom the world has now almost forgotten, except as they were +immortalised by being his enemies. Like Milton and Bacon, who put on +record their knowledge that they had written for all time, Gluck had a +magnificent consciousness of himself. "I have written," he says, "the +music of my 'Armida' in such a manner as to prevent its soon growing +old." This is a sublime vanity inseparable from the great aggressive +geniuses of the world, the wind of the speed which measures their +force of impact. + +Duplessis's portrait of Gluck almost takes the man out of paint to put +him in flesh and blood. He looks down with wide-open eyes, swelling +nostrils, firm mouth, and massive chin. The noble brow, dome-like and +expanded, relieves the massiveness of his face; and the whole +countenance and figure express the repose of a powerful and passionate +nature schooled into balance and symmetry: altogether the presentment +of a great man, who felt that he could move the world and had found +the _pou sto_. Of a large and robust type of physical beauty, Nature +seems to have endowed him on every hand with splendid gifts. Such a +man as this could say with calm simplicity to Marie Antoinette, who +inquired one night about his new opera of "Armida," then nearly +finished--"_Madame, il est bientôt fini, et vraiment ce sera +superbe._" + +One night Handel listened to a new opera from a young and unknown +composer, the "Caduta de' Giganti," one of Gluck's very earliest +works, written when he was yet corrupted with all the vices of the +Italian method. "Mein Gott! he is an idiot," said Handel; "he knows no +more of counterpoint then mein cook." Handel did not see with +prophetic eyes. He never met Gluck afterwards, and we do not know his +later opinion of the composer of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia +in Tauris." But Gluck had ever the profoundest admiration for the +author of the "Messiah." There was something in these two strikingly +similar, as their music was alike characterised by massive simplicity +and strength, not rough-hewn, but shaped into austere beauty. + +Before we relate the great episode of our composer's life, let us take +a backward glance at his youth. He was the son of a forester in the +service of Prince Lobkowitz, born at Weidenwang in the Upper +Palatinate, 2nd July 1714. Gluck was devoted to music from early +childhood, but received, in connection with the musical art, an +excellent education at the Jesuit College of Kommotau. Here he learned +singing, the organ, the violin and harpsichord, and had a mind to get +his living by devoting his musical talents to the Church. The Prague +public recognised in him a musician of fair talent, but he found but +little encouragement to stay at the Bohemian capital. So he decided to +finish his musical education at Vienna, where more distinguished +masters could be had. Prince Lobkowitz, who remembered his +gamekeeper's son, introduced the young man to the Italian Prince +Melzi, who induced him to accompany him to Milan. As the pupil of the +Italian organist and composer, Sammartini, he made rapid progress in +operatic composition. He was successful in pleasing Italian audiences, +and in four years produced eight operas, for which the world has +forgiven him in forgetting them. Then Gluck must go to London to see +what impression he could make on English critics; for London then, as +now, was one of the great musical centres, where every successful +composer or singer must get his brevet. + +Gluck's failure to please in London was, perhaps, an important epoch +in his career. With a mind singularly sensitive to new impressions, +and already struggling with fresh ideas in the laws of operatic +composition, Handel's great music must have had a powerful effect in +stimulating his unconscious progress. His last production in England, +"Pyramus and Thisbe," was a _pasticcio_ opera, in which he embodied +the best bits out of his previous works. The experiment was a glaring +failure, as it ought to have been; for it illustrated the Italian +method, which was designed for mere vocal display, carried to its +logical absurdity. + + +II. + +In 1748 Gluck settled in Vienna, where almost immediately his opera of +"Semiramide" was produced. Here he conceived a passion for Marianne, +the daughter of Joseph Pergin, a rich banker; but on account of the +father's distaste for a musical son-in-law, the marriage did not occur +till 1750. "Telemacco" and "Clemenza di Tito" were composed about this +time, and performed in Vienna, Rome, and Naples. In 1755 our composer +received the order of the Golden Spur from the Roman pontiff in +recognition of the merits of two operas performed at Rome, called "Il +Trionfo di Camillo" and "Antigono." Seven years were now actively +employed in producing operas for Vienna and Italian cities, which, +without possessing great value, show the change which had begun to +take place in this composer's theories of dramatic music. In Paris he +had been struck with the operas of Rameau, in which the declamatory +form was strongly marked. His early Italian training had fixed in his +mind the importance of pure melody. From Germany he obtained his +appreciation of harmony, and had made a deep study of the uses of the +orchestra. So we see this great reformer struggling on with many +faltering steps towards that result which he afterwards summed up in +the following concise description--"My purpose was to restrict music +to its true office, that of ministering to the expression of poetry, +without interrupting the action." + +In Calzabigi Gluck had met an author who fully appreciated his ideas, +and had the talent of writing a libretto in accordance with them. This +coadjutor wrote all the librettos that belonged to Gluck's greatest +period. He had produced his "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Alceste" in +Vienna with a fair amount of success; but his tastes drew him strongly +to the French stage, where the art of acting and declamation was +cultivated then, as it is now, to a height unknown in other parts of +Europe. So we find him gladly accepting an offer from the managers of +the French Opera to migrate to the great city, in which were +fermenting with much noisy fervour those new ideas in art, literature, +politics, and society, which were turning the eyes of all Europe to +the French capital. + +The world's history has hardly a more picturesque and striking +spectacle, a period more fraught with the working of powerful forces, +than that exhibited by French society in the latter part of Louis +XV.'s reign. We see a court rotten to the core with indulgence in +every form of sensuality and vice, yet glittering with the veneer of a +social polish which made it the admiration of the world. A dissolute +king was ruled by a succession of mistresses, and all the courtiers +vied in emulating the vice and extravagance of their master. Yet in +this foul compost-heap art and literature flourished with a tropical +luxuriance. Voltaire was at the height of his splendid career, the +most brilliant wit and philosopher of his age. The lightnings of his +mockery attacked with an incessant play the social, political, and +religious shams of the period. People of all classes, under the +influence of his unsparing satire, were learning to see with clear +eyes what an utterly artificial and polluted age they lived in, and +the cement which bound society in a compact whole was fast melting +under this powerful solvent. + +Rousseau, with his romantic philosophy and eloquence, had planted his +new ideas deep in the hearts of his contemporaries, weary with the +artifice and the corruption of a time which had exhausted itself and +had nothing to promise under the old social _régime_. The ideals +uplifted in the _Nouvelle Héloïse_ and the _Confessions_ awakened +men's minds with a great rebound to the charms of Nature, simplicity, +and a social order untrammelled by rules or conventions. The eloquence +with which these theories were propounded carried the French people by +storm, and Rousseau was a demigod at whose shrine worshipped alike +duchess and peasant. The Encyclopædists stimulated the ferment by +their literary enthusiasm, and the heartiness with which they +co-operated with the whole current of revolutionary thought. + +The very atmosphere was reeking with the prophecy of imminent change. +Versailles itself did not escape the contagion. Courtiers and +aristocrats, in worshipping the beautiful ideals set up by the new +school, which were as far removed as possible from their own effete +civilisation, did not realise that they were playing with the fire +which was to burn out the whole social edifice of France with such a +terrible conflagration; for, back and beneath all this, there was a +people groaning under long centuries of accumulated wrong, in whose +imbruted hearts the theories applauded by their oppressors with a sort +of _doctrinaire_ delight were working with a fatal fever. + + +III. + +In this strange condition of affairs Gluck found his new sphere of +labour--Gluck, himself overflowing with the revolutionary spirit, full +of the enthusiasm of reform. At first he carried everything before +him. Protected by royalty, he produced, on the basis of an admirable +libretto by Du Rollet, one of the great wits of the time, "Iphigenia +in Aulis." It was enthusiastically received. The critics, delighted to +establish the reputation of one especially favoured by the Dauphiness +Marie Antoinette, exhausted superlatives on the new opera. The Abbé +Arnaud, one of the leading _dilettanti_, exclaimed--"With such music +one might found a new religion!" To be sure, the connoisseurs could +not understand the complexities of the music; but, following the rule +of all connoisseurs before or since, they considered it all the more +learned and profound. So led, the general public clapped their hands, +and agreed to consider Gluck as a great composer. He was called the +Hercules of music; the opera-house was crammed night after night; his +footsteps were dogged in the streets by admiring enthusiasts; the wits +and poets occupied themselves with composing sonnets in his praise; +brilliant courtiers and fine ladies showered valuable gifts on the new +musical oracle; he was hailed as the exponent of Rousseauism in music. +We read that it was considered to be a priceless privilege to be +admitted to the rehearsal of a new opera, to see Gluck conduct in +nightcap and dressing-gown. + +Fresh adaptations of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and of "Alceste" were +produced. The first, brought out in 1784, was received with an +enthusiasm which could be contented only with forty-nine consecutive +performances. The second act of this work has been called one of the +most astonishing productions of the human mind. The public began to +show signs of fickleness, however, on the production of the "Alceste." +On the first night a murmur arose among the spectators--"The piece has +fallen." Abbé Arnaud, Gluck's devoted defender, arose in his box and +replied, "Yes! fallen from heaven." While Mademoiselle Levasseur was +singing one of the great airs, a voice was heard to say, "Ah! you tear +out my ears;" to which the caustic rejoinder was, "How fortunate, if +it is to give you others!" + +Gluck himself was badly bitten, in spite of his hatred of shams and +shallowness, with the pretences of the time, which professed to dote +on nature and simplicity. In a letter to his old pupil, Marie +Antoinette, wherein he disclaims any pretension of teaching the French +a new school of music, he says--"I see with satisfaction that the +language of Nature is the universal language." + +So, here on the crumbling crust of a volcano, where the volatile +French court danced and fiddled and sang, unreckoning of what was soon +to come, our composer and his admirers patted each other on the back +with infinite complacency. + +But after this high tide of prosperity there was to come a reverse. A +powerful faction, that for a time had been crushed by Gluck's triumph, +after a while raised their heads and organised an attack. There were +second-rate composers whose scores had been laid on the shelf in the +rage for the new favourite; musicians who were shocked and enraged at +the difficulties of his instrumentation; wits who, having praised +Gluck for a while, thought they could now find a readier field for +their quills in satire; and a large section of the public who changed +for no earthly reason but that they got tired of doing one thing. + +Therefore, the Italian Piccini was imported to be pitted against the +reigning deity. The French court was broken up into hostile ranks. +Marie Antoinette was Gluck's patron, but Madame Du Barry, the king's +mistress, declared for Piccini. Abbé Arnaud fought for Gluck; but the +witty Marmontel was the advocate of his rival. The keen-witted Du +Rollet was Gluckist; but La Harpe, the eloquent, was Piccinist. So +this battle-royal in art commenced and raged with virulence. The +green-room was made unmusical with contentions carried out in polite +Billingsgate. Gluck tore up his unfinished score in rage when he +learned that his rival was to compose an opera on the same libretto. +La Harpe said--"The famous Gluck may puff his own compositions, but he +can't prevent them from boring us to death." Thus the wags of Paris +laughed and wrangled over the musical rivals. Berton, the new +director, fancied he could soften the dispute and make the two +composers friends; so at a dinner-party, when they were all in their +cups, he proposed that they should compose an opera jointly. This was +demurred to; but it was finally arranged that they should compose an +opera on the same subject. + +"Iphigenia in Tauris," Gluck's second "Iphigenia," produced in 1779, +was such a masterpiece that his rival shut his own score in his +portfolio, and kept it two years. All Paris was enraptured with this +great work, and Gluck's detractors were silenced in the wave of +enthusiasm which swept the public. Abbé Arnaud's opinion was the echo +of the general mind--"There was but one beautiful part, and that was +the whole of it." This opera may be regarded as the most perfect +example of Gluck's school in making the music the full reflex of the +dramatic action. While Orestes sings in the opera, "My heart is calm," +the orchestra continues to paint the agitation of his thoughts. During +the rehearsal the musician failed to understand the exigency and +ceased playing. The composer cried out, in a rage, "Don't you see he +is lying? Go on, go on; he has just killed his mother." + +On one occasion, when he was praising Rameau's chorus of "Castor and +Pollux," an admirer of his flattered him with the remark, "But what a +difference between this chorus and that of your 'Iphigenia!'" "Yet it +is very well done," said Gluck; "one is only a religious ceremony, the +other is a real funeral." He was wont to say that in composing he +always tried to forget he was a musician. + +Gluck, however, a few months subsequent to this, was so much +humiliated at the non-success of "Echo and Narcissus," that he left +Paris in bitter irritation, in spite of Marie Antoinette's pleadings +that he should remain at the French capital. + +The composer was now advanced in years, and had become impatient and +fretful. He left Paris for Vienna in 1780, having amassed considerable +property. There, as an old, broken-down man, he listened to the young +Mozart's new symphonies and operas, and applauded them with great +zeal: for Gluck, though fiery and haughty in the extreme, was +singularly generous in recognising the merits of others. + +This was exhibited in Paris in his treatment of Méhul, the Belgian +composer, then a youth of sixteen, who had just arrived in the gay +city. It was on the eve of the first representation of "Iphigenia in +Tauris," when the operatic battle was agitating the public. With all +the ardour of a novice and a devotee, the young musical student +immediately threw himself into the affray, and by the aid of a friend +he succeeded in gaining admittance to the theatre for the final +rehearsal of Gluck's opera. This so enchanted him that he resolved to +be present at the public performance. But, unluckily for the resolve, +he had no money, and no prospect of obtaining any; so, with a +determination and a love for art which deserve to be remembered, he +decided to hide himself in one of the boxes and there to wait for the +time of representation. + +"At the end of the rehearsal," writes George Hogarth in his _Memoirs +of the Drama_, "he was discovered in his place of concealment by the +servants of the theatre, who proceeded to turn him out very roughly. +Gluck, who had not left the house, heard the noise, came to the spot, +and found the young man, whose spirit was roused, resisting the +indignity with which he was treated. Méhul, finding in whose presence +he was, was ready to sink with confusion; but, in answer to Gluck's +questions, he told him that he was a young musical student from the +country, whose anxiety to be present at the performance of the opera +had led him into the commission of an impropriety. Gluck, as may be +supposed, was delighted with a piece of enthusiasm so flattering to +himself, and not only gave his young admirer a ticket of admission, +but desired his acquaintance." From this artistic _contretemps_, then, +arose a friendship alike creditable to the goodness and generosity of +Gluck, as it was to the sincerity and high order of Méhul's musical +talent. + +Gluck's death, in 1787, was caused by over-indulgence in wine at a +dinner which he gave to some of his friends. The love of stimulants +had grown upon him in his old age, and had become almost a passion. An +enforced abstinence of some months was succeeded by a debauch, in +which he drank an immense quantity of brandy. The effects brought on a +fit of apoplexy, of which he died, aged seventy-three. + +Gluck's place in musical history is peculiar and well marked. He +entered the field of operatic composition when it was hampered with a +great variety of dry forms, and utterly without soul and poetic +spirit. The object of composers seemed to be to show mere contrapuntal +learning, or to furnish singers opportunity to display vocal agility. +The opera, as a large and symmetrical expression of human emotions, +suggested in the collisions of a dramatic story, was utterly an +unknown quantity in art. Gluck's attention was early called to this +radical inconsistency; and, though he did not learn for many years to +develop his musical ideas according to a theory, and never carried +that theory to the logical results insisted on by his great +after-type, Wagner, he accomplished much in the way of sweeping +reform. He elaborated the recitative or declamatory element in opera +with great care, and insisted that his singers should make this the +object of their most careful efforts. The arias, duos, quartets, etc., +as well as the choruses and orchestral parts, were made consistent +with the dramatic motive and situations. In a word, Gluck aimed with a +single-hearted purpose to make music the expression of poetry and +sentiment. + +The principles of Gluck's school of operatic writing may be briefly +summarised as follows:--That dramatic music can only reach its highest +power and beauty when joined to a simple and poetic text, expressing +passions true to Nature; that music can be made the language of all +the varied emotions of the heart; that the music of an opera must +exactly follow the rhythm and melody of the words; that the orchestra +must be only used to strengthen and intensify the feeling embodied in +the vocal parts, as demanded by the text or dramatic situation. We get +some further light on these principles from Gluck's letter of +dedication to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany on the publication of +"Alceste." He writes:--"I am of opinion that music must be to poetry +what liveliness of colour and a happy mixture of light and shade are +for a faultless and well-arranged drawing, which serve to add life to +the figures without injuring the outlines; ... that the overture +should prepare the auditors for the character of the action which is +to be presented, and hint at the progress of the same; that the +instruments must be employed according to the degree of interest and +passion; that the composer should avoid too marked a disparity in the +dialogue between the air and recitative, in order not to break the +sense of a period, or interrupt the energy of the action.... Finally, +I have even felt compelled to sacrifice rules to the improvement of +the effect." + +We find in this composer's music, therefore, a largeness and dignity +of treatment which have never been surpassed. His command of melody is +quite remarkable, but his use of it is under severe artistic +restraint; for it is always characterised by breadth, simplicity, and +directness. He aimed at and attained the symmetrical balance of an old +Greek play. + + + + +_HAYDN._ + + +I. + +"Papa Haydn!" Thus did Mozart ever speak of his foster-father in +music, and the title, transmitted to posterity, admirably expressed +the sweet, placid, gentle nature, whose possessor was personally +beloved no less than he was admired. His life flowed, broad and +unruffled, like some great river, unvexed for the most part by the +rivalries, jealousies, and sufferings, oftentimes self-inflicted, +which have harassed the careers of other great musicians. He remained +to the last the favourite of the imperial court of Vienna, and princes +followed his remains to their last resting-place. + +JOSEPH HAYDN was the eldest of the twenty children of Matthias Haydn, +a wheelwright at Rohrau, Lower Austria, where he was born in 1732. At +the age of twelve years he was engaged to sing in Vienna. He became a +chorister in St. Stephen's Church, but offended the choir-master by +the revolt on the part of himself and parents from submitting to the +usual means then taken to perpetuate a fine soprano in boys. So Haydn, +who had surreptitiously picked up a good deal of musical knowledge +apart from the art of singing, was at the age of sixteen turned out on +the world. A compassionate barber, however, took him in, and Haydn +dressed and powdered wigs downstairs, while he worked away at a little +worm-eaten harpsichord at night in his room. Unfortunate boy! he +managed to get himself engaged to the barber's daughter, Anne Keller, +who was for a good while the Xantippe of his gentle life, and he paid +dearly for his father-in-law's early hospitality. + +The young musician soon began to be known, as he played the violin in +one church, the organ in another, and got some pupils. His first rise +was his acquaintance with Metastasio, the poet-laureate of the court. +Through him Haydn got introduced to the mistress of the Venetian +ambassador, a great musical enthusiast, and in her circle he met +Porpora, the best music-master in the world, but a crusty, snarling old +man. Porpora held at Vienna the position of musical dictator and censor, +and he exercised the tyrannical privileges of his post mercilessly. +Haydn was a small, dark-complexioned, insignificant-looking youth, and +Porpora, of course, snubbed him most contemptuously. But Haydn wanted +instruction, and no one in the world could give it so well as the savage +old _maestro_. So he performed all sorts of menial services for him, +cleaned his shoes, powdered his wig, and ran all his errands. The +result was that Porpora softened and consented to give his young admirer +lessons--no great hardship, for young Haydn proved a most apt and gifted +pupil. And it was not long either before the young musician's +compositions attracted public attention and found a sale. The very +curious relations between Haydn and Porpora are brilliantly sketched in +George Sand's _Consuelo_. + +At night Haydn, accompanied by his friends, was wont to wander about +Vienna by moonlight, and serenade his patrons with trios and quartets +of his own composition. He happened one night to stop under the window +of Bernardone Kurz, a director of a theatre and the leading clown of +Vienna. Down rushed Kurz very excitedly. "Who are you?" he shrieked. +"Joseph Haydn." "Whose music is it?" "Mine." "The deuce it is! And at +your age, too!" "Why, I must begin with something." "Come along +upstairs." + +The enthusiastic director collared his prize, and was soon deep in +explaining a wonderful libretto, entitled "The Devil on Two Sticks." +To write music for this was no easy matter; for it was to represent +all sorts of absurd things, among others a tempest. The tempest made +Haydn despair, and he sat at the piano, banging away in a reckless +fashion, while the director stood behind him, raving in a disconnected +way as to his meaning. At last the distracted pianist brought his +fists simultaneously down upon the key-board, and made a rapid sweep +of all the notes. + +"Bravo! bravo! that is the tempest!" cried Kurz. + +The buffoon also laid himself on a chair, and had it carried about the +room, during which he threw out his limbs in imitation of the act of +swimming. Haydn supplied an accompaniment so suitable that Kurz soon +landed on _terra firma_, and congratulated the composer, assuring him +that he was the man to compose the opera. By this stroke of good luck +our young musician received one hundred and thirty florins. + + +II. + +At the age of twenty-eight Haydn composed his first symphony. Soon +after this he attracted the attention of the old Prince Esterhazy, all +the members of whose family have become known in the history of music +as generous Mæcenases of the art. + +"What! you don't mean to say that little blackamoor" (alluding to +Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that symphony?" + +"Surely, prince," replied the director Friedburg, beckoning to Joseph +Haydn, who advanced towards the orchestra. + +"Little Moor," says the old gentleman, "you shall enter my service. I +am Prince Esterhazy. What's your name?" + +"Haydn." + +"Ah! I've heard of you. Get along and dress yourself like a +_Kapellmeister_. Clap on a new coat, and mind your wig is curled. +You're too short. You shall have red heels; but they shall be high, +that your stature may correspond with your merit." + +So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, and +received a salary of four hundred florins, which was afterwards raised +to one thousand by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Haydn continued the +intimate friend and associate of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and +death only dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household +the life of Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant and happy +industry; for he poured out an incredible number of works, among them +not a few of his most famous ones. So he spent a happy life in hard +labour, alternated with delightful recreations at the Esterhazy +country-seat, mountain rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air +concerts, musical evenings, etc. + +A French traveller who visited Esterhazy about 1782 says--"The château +stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials +and servants, and strangers who come hither from curiosity. He has a +puppet-theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the +grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or +to laugh at seeing 'Alceste,' 'Alcides,' etc., put on the stage with +all due solemnity and played by puppets. His orchestra is one of the +best I ever heard, and the great Haydn is his court and theatre +composer. He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humour and +skill in suiting the grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying +the gravest effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a +troupe of wandering players for months at a time, and he himself and +his retinue form the entire audience. They are allowed to come on the +stage uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half dressed. +The prince is not for the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when +the players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humour." + +Yet Haydn was not perfectly contented. He would have been had it not +been for his terrible wife, the hair-dresser's daughter, who had a +dismal, mischievous, sullen nature, a venomous tongue, and a savage +temper. She kept Haydn in hot water continually, till at last he broke +loose from this plague by separating from her. Scandal says that +Haydn, who had a very affectionate and sympathetic nature, found ample +consolation for marital infelicity in the charms and society of the +lovely Boselli, a great singer. He had her picture painted, and +humoured all her whims and caprices, to the sore depletion of his +pocket. + +In after-years again he was mixed up in a little affair with the great +Mrs. Billington, whose beautiful person was no less marked than her +fine voice. Sir Joshua Reynolds was painting her portrait for him, and +had represented her as St. Cecilia listening to celestial music. Haydn +paid her a charming compliment at one of the sittings. + +"What do you think of the charming Billington's picture?" said Sir +Joshua. + +"Yes," said Haydn, "it is indeed a beautiful picture. It is just like +her, but there's a strange mistake." + +"What is that?" + +"Why, you have painted her listening to the angels, when you ought to +have painted the angels listening to her." + +At one time, during Haydn's connection with Prince Esterhazy, the +latter, from motives of economy, determined to dismiss his celebrated +orchestra, which he supported at great expense. Haydn was the leader, +and his patron's purpose caused him sore pain, as indeed it did all +the players, among whom were many distinguished instrumentalists. +Still, there was nothing to be done but for all concerned to make +themselves as cheerful as possible under the circumstances; so, with +that fund of wit and humour which seems to have been concealed under +the immaculate coat and formal wig of the strait-laced Haydn, he set +about composing a work for the last performance of the royal band, a +work which has ever since borne the appropriate title of the "Farewell +Symphony." + +On the night appointed for the last performance a brilliant company, +including the prince, had assembled. The music of the new symphony +began gaily enough--it was even merry. As it went on, however, it +became soft and dreamy. The strains were sad and "long drawn out." At +length a sorrowful wailing began. One instrument after another left +off, and each musician, as his task ended, blew out his lamp and +departed with his music rolled up under his arm. + +Haydn was the last to finish, save one, and this was the prince's +favourite violinist, who said all that he had to say in a brilliant +violin cadenza, when, behold! he made off. + +The prince was astonished. "What is the meaning of all this?" cried +he. + +"It is our sorrowful farewell," answered Haydn. + +This was too much. The prince was overcome, and, with a good laugh, +said: "Well, I think I must reconsider my decision. At any rate we +will not say 'good-bye' now." + + +III. + +During the thirty years of Haydn's quiet life with the Esterhazys he +had been gradually acquiring an immense reputation in France, England +and Spain, of which he himself was unconscious. His great symphonies +had stamped him world-wide as a composer of remarkable creative +genius. Haydn's modesty prevented him from recognising his own +celebrity. Therefore, we can fancy his astonishment when, shortly +after the death of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, a stranger called on him +and said, "I am Salomon, from London, and must strike a bargain with +you for that city immediately." + +Haydn was dazed with the suddenness of the proposition, but the old +ties were broken up, and his grief needed recreation and change. +Still, he had many beloved friends, whose society it was hard to +leave. Chief among these was Mozart. "Oh, papa," said Mozart, "you +have had no training for the wide world, and you speak so few +languages." "Oh, my language is understood all over the world," said +Papa Haydn, with a smile. When he departed for England, December 15, +1790, Mozart could with difficulty tear himself away, and said, with +pathetic tears, "We shall doubtless now take our last farewell." + +Haydn and Mozart were perfectly in accord, and each thought and did +well towards the other. Mozart, we know, was born when Haydn had just +reached manhood, so that when Mozart became old enough to study +composition the earlier works of Haydn's chamber music had been +written; and these undoubtedly formed the studies of the boy Mozart, +and greatly influenced his style; so that Haydn was the model, and, in +a sense, the instructor of Mozart. Strange is it then to find, in +after-years, the master borrowing (perhaps with interest!) from the +pupil. Such, however, was the fact, as every amateur knows. At this we +can hardly wonder, for Haydn possessed unbounded admiration not only +for Mozart, but also for his music, which the following shows. Being +asked by a friend at Prague to send him an opera, he replied:-- + +"With all my heart, if you desire to have it for yourself alone, but +if you wish to perform it in public, I must be excused; for, being +written specially for my company at the Esterhazy Palace, it would not +produce the proper effect elsewhere. I would do a new score for your +theatre, but what a hazardous step it would be to stand in comparison +with Mozart! Oh, Mozart! If I could instil into the soul of every +lover of music the admiration I have for his matchless works, all +countries would seek to be possessed of so great a treasure. Let +Prague keep him, ah! and well reward him, for without that the history +of geniuses is bad; alas! we see so many noble minds crushed beneath +adversity. Mozart is incomparable, and I am annoyed that he is unable +to obtain any court appointment. Forgive me if I get excited when +speaking of him, I am so fond of him." + +Mozart's admiration for Haydn's music, too, was very marked. He and +Herr Kozeluch were one day listening to a composition of Haydn's which +contained some bold modulations. Kozeluch thought them strange, and +asked Mozart whether he would have written them. "I think not," +smartly replied Mozart, "and for this reason: because they would not +have occurred either to you or me!" + +On another occasion we find Mozart taking to task a Viennese professor +of some celebrity, who used to experience great delight in turning to +Haydn's compositions to find therein any evidence of the master's want +of sound theoretical training--a quest in which the pedant +occasionally succeeded. One day he came to Mozart with a great crime +to unfold. Mozart as usual endeavoured to turn the conversation, but +the learned professor still went chattering on, till at last Mozart +shut his mouth with the following pill--"Sir, if you and I were both +melted down together, we should not furnish materials for one Haydn." + +It was one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of art, +full of tender offices, and utterly free from the least taint of envy +or selfishness. + + +IV. + +Haydn landed in England after a voyage which delighted him in spite of +his terror of the sea--a feeling which seems to be usual among people +of very high musical sensibilities. In his diary we find +recorded--"By four o'clock we had come twenty miles. The large vessel +stood out to sea five hours longer, till the tide carried it into the +harbour. I remained on deck the whole passage, in order to gaze my +fill at that huge monster--the ocean." + +The novelty of Haydn's concerts--of which he was to give twenty at +fifty pounds apiece--consisted of their being his own symphonies, +conducted by himself in person. Haydn's name, during his serene, +uneventful years with the Esterhazys, had become world-famous. His +reception was most brilliant. Dinner parties, receptions, invitations +without end, attested the enthusiasm of the sober English; and his +appearance at concerts and public meetings was the signal for stormy +applause. How, in the press of all this pleasure in which he was +plunged, he continued to compose the great number of works produced at +this time, is a marvel. He must have been little less than a Briareus. +It was in England that he wrote the celebrated Salomon symphonies--the +"twelve grand," as they are called. They may well be regarded as the +crowning-point of Haydn's efforts in that form of writing. He took +infinite pains with them, as, indeed, is well proved by an examination +of the scores. More elaborate, more beautiful, and scored for a fuller +orchestra than any others of the one hundred and twenty or thereabouts +which he composed, the Salomon set also bears marks of the devout and +pious spirit in which Haydn ever laboured. + +It is interesting to see how, in many of the great works which have +won the world's admiration, the religion of the author has gone +hand-in-hand with his energy and his genius; and we find Haydn not +ashamed to indorse his score with his prayer and praise, or to offer +the fruits of his talents to the Giver of all. Thus, the symphony in D +(No. 6) bears on the first page of the score the inscription, "_In +nomine Domini: di me Giuseppe Haydn, maia 1791, in London_;" and on +the last page, "_Fine, Laus Deo, 238_." + +That genius may sometimes be trusted to judge of its own work may be +gathered from Haydn's own estimate of these great symphonies. + +"Sir," said the well-satisfied Salomon, after a successful performance +of one of them, "I am strongly of opinion that you will never surpass +these symphonies." + +"No!" replied Haydn; "I never mean to try." + +The public, as we have said, was enthusiastic; but such a full banquet +of severe orchestral music was a severe trial to many, and not a few +heads would keep time to the music by steady nods during the slow +movements. Haydn, therefore, composed what is known as the "Surprise" +symphony. The slow movement is of the most lulling and soothing +character, and about the time the audience should be falling into its +first snooze, the instruments having all died away into the softest +_pianissimo_, the full orchestra breaks out with a frightful BANG. It +is a question whether the most vigorous performance of this symphony +would startle an audience nowadays, accustomed to the strident effects +of Wagner and Liszt. A wag in a recent London journal tells us, +indeed, that at the most critical part in the work a gentleman opened +one eye sleepily and said, "Come in." + +Simple-hearted Haydn was delighted at the attention lavished on him in +London. He tells us how he enjoyed his various entertainments and +feastings by such dignitaries as William Pitt, the Lord Chancellor, +and the Duke of Lids (Leeds). The gentlemen drank freely the whole +night, and the songs, the crazy uproar, and smashing of glasses were +very great. He went down to stay with the Prince of Wales (George +IV.), who played on the violoncello, and charmed the composer by his +kindness. "He is the handsomest man on God's earth. He has an +extraordinary love of music, and a great deal of feeling, but very +little money." + +To stem the tide of Haydn's popularity, the Italian faction had +recourse to Giardini; and they even imported a pet pupil of Haydn, +Pleyel, to conduct the rival concerts. Our composer kept his temper, +and wrote, "He [Pleyel] behaves himself with great modesty." Later we +read, "Pleyel's presumption is a public laughing-stock;" but he adds, +"I go to all his concerts and applaud him." + +Far different were the amenities that passed between Haydn and +Giardini. "I won't know the German hound," says the latter. Haydn +wrote, "I attended his concert at Ranelagh, and he played the fiddle +like a hog." + +Among the pleasant surprises Haydn had in England was his visit to +Herschel, the great astronomer, in whom he recognised one of his old +oboe-players. The big telescope amazed him, and so did the patient +star-gazer, who often sat out-of-doors in the most intense cold for +five or six hours at a time. + +Our composer returned to Vienna in May 1795, with the little fortune +of 12,000 florins in his pocket. + + +V. + +In his charming little cottage near Vienna Haydn was the centre of a +brilliant society. Princes and nobles were proud to do honour to him; +and painters, poets, scholars, and musicians made a delightful +coterie, which was not even disturbed by the political convulsions of +the time. The baleful star of Napoleon shot its disturbing influences +throughout Europe, and the roar of his cannon shook the established +order of things with the echoes of what was to come. Haydn was +passionately attached to his country and his emperor, and regarded +anxiously the rumblings and quakings of the period; but he did not +intermit his labour, or allow his consecration to his divine art to be +in the least shaken. Like Archimedes of old, he toiled serenely at his +appointed work, while the political order of things was crumbling +before the genius and energy of the Corsican adventurer. + +In 1798 he completed his great oratorio of "The Creation," on which he +had spent three years of toil, and which embodied his brightest +genius. Haydn was usually a very rapid composer, but he seems to have +laboured at the "Creation" with a sort of reverential humility, which +never permitted him to think his work worthy or complete. It soon went +the round of Germany, and passed to England and France, everywhere +awakening enthusiasm by its great symmetry and beauty. Without the +sublimity of Handel's "Messiah," it is marked by a richness of melody, +a serene elevation, a matchless variety in treatment, which make it +the most characteristic of Haydn's works. Napoleon, the first consul, +was hastening to the opera-house to hear this, 24th January 1801, when +he was stopped by an attempt at assassination. + +Two years after "The Creation" appeared "The Seasons," founded on +Thomson's poem, also a great work, and one of his last; for the grand +old man was beginning to think of rest, and he only composed two or +three quartets after this. He was now seventy years old, and went but +little from his own home. His chief pleasure was to sit in his shady +garden, and see his friends, who loved to solace the musical patriarch +with cheerful talk and music. Haydn often fell into deep melancholy, +and he tells us that God revived him; for no more sweet, devout nature +ever lived. His art was ever a religion. A touching incident of his +old age occurred at a grand performance of "The Creation" in 1808. +Haydn was present, but he was so old and feeble that he had to be +wheeled in a chair into the theatre, where a princess of the house of +Esterhazy took her seat by his side. This was the last time that Haydn +appeared in public, and a very impressive sight it must have been to +see the aged father of music listening to "The Creation" of his +younger days, but too old to take any active share in the performance. +The presence of the old man roused intense enthusiasm among the +audience, which could no longer be suppressed as the chorus and +orchestra burst in full power upon the superb passage, "And there was +light." + +Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old composer was seen +striving to raise himself. Once on his feet, he mustered up all his +strength, and, in reply to the applause of the audience, he cried out +as loud as he was able--"No, no! not from me, but," pointing to +heaven, "from thence--from heaven above--comes all!" saying which, he +fell back in his chair, faint and exhausted, and had to be carried out +of the room. + +One year after this Vienna was bombarded by the French, and a shot +fell in Haydn's garden. He requested to be led to his piano, and +played the "Hymn to the Emperor" three times over with passionate +eloquence and pathos. This was his last performance. He died five days +afterwards, aged seventy-seven, and lies buried in the cemetery of +Gumpfenzdorf, in his own beloved Vienna. + + +VI. + +The serene, genial face of Haydn, as seen in his portraits, measures +accurately the character of his music. In both we see healthfulness, +good-humour, vivacity, devotional feeling, and warm affections; a mind +contented, but yet attaching high importance to only one thing in +life, the composing of music. Haydn pursued this with a calm, +insatiable industry, without haste, without rest. His works number +eight hundred, comprising cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, masses, +concertos, trios, sonatas, quartets, minuets, etc., and also +twenty-two operas, eight German and fourteen Italian. + +As a creative mind in music, Haydn was the father of the quartet and +symphony. Adopting the sonata form as scientifically illustrated by +Emanuel Bach, he introduced it into compositions for the orchestra and +the chamber. He developed these into a completeness and full-orbed +symmetry, which have never been improved. Mozart is richer, Beethoven +more sublime, Schubert more luxuriant, Mendelssohn more orchestral and +passionate; but Haydn has never been surpassed in his keen perception +of the capacities of instruments, his subtile distribution of parts, +his variety in treating his themes, and his charmingly legitimate +effects. He fills a large space in musical history, not merely from +the number, originality, and beauty of his compositions, but as one +who represents an era in art-development. + +In Haydn genius and industry were happily united. With a marvellously +rich flow of musical ideas, he clearly knew what he meant to do, and +never neglected the just elaboration of each one. He would labour on a +theme till it had shaped itself into perfect beauty. + +Haydn is illustrious in the history of art as a complete artistic +life, which worked out all of its contents as did the great Goethe. In +the words of a charming writer: "His life was a rounded whole. There +was no broken light about it; it orbed slowly, with a mild, unclouded +lustre, into a perfect star. Time was gentle with him, and Death was +kind, for both waited upon his genius until all was won. Mozart was +taken away at an age when new and dazzling effects had not ceased to +flash through his brain: at the very moment when his harmonies began +to have a prophetic ring of the nineteenth century, it was decreed +that he should not see its dawn. Beethoven himself had but just +entered upon an unknown 'sea whose margin seemed to fade forever and +forever as he moved;' but good old Haydn had come into port over a +calm sea and after a prosperous voyage. The laurel wreath was this +time woven about silver locks; the gathered-in harvest was ripe and +golden." + + + + +_MOZART._ + + +I. + +The life of WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, one of the immortal names in +music, contradicts the rule that extraordinary youthful talent is apt +to be followed by a sluggish and commonplace maturity. His father +entered the room one day with a friend, and found the child bending +over a music score. The little Mozart, not yet five years old, told +his father he was writing a concerto for the piano. The latter +examined it, and tears of joy and astonishment rolled down his face on +perceiving its accuracy. + +"It is good, but too difficult for general use," said the friend. + +"Oh," said Wolfgang, "it must be practised till it is learned. This is +the way it goes." So saying, he played it with perfect correctness. + +About the same time he offered to take the violin at a performance of +some chamber music. His father refused, saying, "How can you? You have +never learned the violin." + +"One needs not study for that," said this musical prodigy; and taking +the instrument, he played second violin with ease and accuracy. Such +precocity seems almost incredible, and only in the history of music +does it find any parallel. + +Born in Salzburg, 27th January 1756, he was carefully trained by his +father, who resigned his place as court musician to devote himself +more exclusively to his family. From the earliest age he showed an +extraordinary passion for music and mathematics, scrawling notes and +diagrams in every place accessible to his insatiate pencil. + +Taken to Vienna, the six-year-old virtuoso astonished the court by his +brilliant talents. The future Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was +particularly delighted with him, and the little Mozart naïvely said he +would like to marry her, for she was so good to him. His father +devoted several years to an artistic tour, with him and his little +less talented sister, through the German cities, and it was also +extended to Paris and London. Everywhere the greatest enthusiasm was +evinced in this charming bud of promise. The father writes home--"We +have swords, laces, mantillas, snuff-boxes, gold cases, sufficient to +furnish a shop; but as for money, it is a scarce article, and I am +positively poor." + +At Paris they were warmly received at the court, and the boy is said +to have expressed his surprise when Mdme. Pompadour refused to kiss +him, saying, "Who is she, that she will not kiss me? Have I not been +kissed by the queen?" In London his improvisations and piano sonatas +excited the greatest admiration. Here he also published his third +work. These journeys were an uninterrupted chain of triumphs for the +child-virtuoso on the piano, organ, violin, and in singing. He was +made honorary member of the Academies of Bologna and Verona, decorated +with orders, and received at the age of thirteen an order to write the +opera of "Mithridates," which was successfully produced at Milan in +1770. Several other fine minor compositions were also written to order +at this time for his Italian admirers. At Rome Mozart attended the +Sistine Chapel and wrote the score of Allegri's great mass, forbidden +by the Pope to be copied, from the memory of a single performance. + +The record of Mozart's youthful triumphs might be extended at great +length; but aside from the proof they furnish of his extraordinary +precocity, they have lent little vital significance in the great +problem of his career, except so far as they stimulated the marvellous +boy to lay a deep foundation for his greater future, which, short as +it was, was fruitful in undying results. + + +II. + +Mozart's life in Paris, where he lived with his mother in 1778 and +1779, was a disappointment, for he despised the French nation. His +deep, simple, German nature revolted from Parisian frivolity, in which +he found only sensuality and coarseness, disguised under a thin +veneering of social grace. He abhorred French music in these bitter +terms--"The French are and always will be downright donkeys. They +cannot sing, they scream." It was just at this time that Gluck and +Piccini were having their great art-duel. We get a glimpse of the +pious tendency of the young composer in his characterisation of +Voltaire--"The ungodly arch-villain, Voltaire, has just died like a +dog." Again he writes--"Friends who have no religion cannot long be my +friends.... I have such a sense of religion that I shall never do +anything that I would not do before the whole world." + +With Mozart's return to Germany in 1779, being then twenty-three years +of age, comes the dawn of his classical period as a composer. The +greater number of his masses had already been written, and now he +settled himself in serious earnest to the cultivation of a true German +operatic school. This found its dawn in the production of "Idomeneo," +his first really great work for the lyric stage. + +The young composer had hard struggles with poverty in these days. His +letters to his father are full of revelations of his friction with the +little worries of life. Lack of money pinched him close, yet his +cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. "I have only one small room; it is +quite crammed with a piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers," +he writes. + +Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty in the +companionship of a loving woman who dared to face it with him. At +Mannheim he had met a beautiful young singer, Aloysia Weber, and he +went to Munich to offer her marriage. She, however, saw nothing +attractive in the thin, pale young man, with his long nose, great +eyes, and little head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A +younger sister, Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he soon +transferred his repelled affections to this charming woman, whom he +married in 1782 at the house of Baroness Waldstetten. His _naïve_ +reasons for marrying show Mozart's ingenuous nature. He had no one to +take care of his linen, he would not live dissolutely like other young +men, and he loved Constance Weber. His answer to his father, who +objected on account of his poverty, is worth quoting:-- + +"Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable parentage, +and I am in a position to earn at least _daily bread_ for her. We love +each other, and are resolved to marry. All that you have written or +may possibly write on the subject can be nothing but well-meant +advice, which, however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man +who has gone so far with a girl." + +Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that +he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his +chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of +right and wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote "Il +Seraglio," and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a +deep interest in him and warmly praised his genius. Haydn, too, +recognised his brilliant powers. "I tell you, on the word of an honest +man," said the author of the "Creation" to Leopold Mozart, the father, +who asked his opinion, "that I consider your son the greatest composer +I have ever heard. He writes with taste, and possesses a thorough +knowledge of composition." + +Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless +energy. His life had no lull in its creative industry. His splendid +genius, insatiable and tireless, broke down his body, like a sword +wearing out its scabbard. He poured out symphonies, operas, and +sonatas with such prodigality as to astonish us, even when +recollecting how fecund the musical mind has often been. Alike as +artist and composer, he never ceased his labours. Day after day and +night after night he hardly snatched an hour's rest. We can almost +fancy he foreboded how short his brilliant life was to be, and was +impelled to crowd into its brief compass its largest measure of +results. + +Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want. Oftentimes his sick +wife could not obtain needed medicines. He made more money than most +musicians, yet was always impoverished. But it was his glory that he +was never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, and +riotous living, but by his lavish generosity to those who in many +instances needed help less than himself. Like many other men of genius +and sensibility, he could not say "no" to even the pretence of +distress and suffering. + + +III. + +The culminating point of Mozart's artistic development was in 1786. +The "Marriage of Figaro" was the first of a series of masterpieces +which cannot be surpassed alike for musical greatness and their hold +on the lyric stage. The next year "Don Giovanni" saw the light, and +was produced at Prague. The overture of this opera was composed and +scored in less than six hours. The inhabitants of Prague greeted the +work with the wildest enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart +better than the Viennese. + +During this period he made frequent concert tours to recruit his +fortunes, but with little financial success. Presents of watches, +snuff-boxes, and rings were common, but the returns were so small that +Mozart was frequently obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner +and lodging. What a comment on the period which adored genius, but +allowed it to starve! His audiences could be enthusiastic enough to +carry him to his hotel on their shoulders, but probably never thought +that the wherewithal of a hearty supper was a more seasonable homage. +So our musician struggled on through the closing years of his life +with the wolf constantly at his door, and an invalid wife whom he +passionately loved, yet must needs see suffer from the want of common +necessaries. In these modern days, when distinguished artists make +princely fortunes by the exercise of their musical gifts, it is not +easy to believe that Mozart, recognised as the greatest pianoforte +player and composer of his time by all of musical Germany, could +suffer such dire extremes of want as to be obliged more than once to +beg for a dinner. + +In 1791 he composed the score of the "Magic Flute" at the request of +Schikaneder, a Viennese manager, who had written the text from a fairy +tale, the fantastic elements of which are peculiarly German in their +humour. Mozart put great earnestness into the work, and made it the +first German opera of commanding merit, which embodied the essential +intellectual sentiment and kindly warmth of popular German life. The +manager paid the composer but a trifle for a work whose transcendent +success enabled him to build a new opera-house, and laid the +foundation of a large fortune. We are told, too, that at the time of +Mozart's death in extreme want, when his sick wife, half-maddened with +grief, could not buy a coffin for the dead composer, this hard-hearted +wretch, who owed his all to the genius of the great departed, rushed +about through Vienna bewailing the loss to music with sentimental +tears, but did not give the heart-broken widow one kreutzer to pay the +expense of a decent burial. + +In 1791 Mozart's health was breaking down with great rapidity, though +he himself would never recognise his own swiftly advancing fate. He +experienced, however, a deep melancholy which nothing could remove. +For the first time his habitual cheerfulness deserted him. His wife +had been enabled through the kindness of her friends to visit the +healing waters of Baden, and was absent. + +An incident now occurred which impressed Mozart with an ominous chill. +One night there came a stranger, singularly dressed in grey, with an +order for a requiem to be composed without fail within a month. The +visitor, without revealing his name, departed in mysterious gloom, as +he came. Again the stranger called, and solemnly reminded Mozart of +his promise. The composer easily persuaded himself that this was a +visitor from the other world, and that the requiem would be his own; +for he was exhausted with labour and sickness, and easily became the +prey of superstitious fancies. When his wife returned, she found him +with a fatal pallor on his face, silent and melancholy, labouring with +intense absorption on the funereal mass. He would sit brooding over +the score till he swooned away in his chair, and only come to +consciousness to bend his waning energies again to their ghastly work. +The mysterious visitor, whom Mozart believed to be the precursor of +his death, we now know to have been Count Walseck, who had recently +lost his wife, and wished a musical memorial. + +His final sickness attacked the composer while labouring at the +requiem. The musical world was ringing with the fame of his last +opera. To the dying man was brought the offer of the rich appointment +of organist of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Most flattering propositions +were made him by eager managers, who had become thoroughly awake to +his genius when it was too late. The great Mozart was dying in the +very prime of his youth and his powers, when success was in his grasp +and the world opening wide its arms to welcome his glorious gifts with +substantial recognition; but all too late, for he was doomed to die in +his spring-tide, though "a spring mellow with all the fruits of +autumn." + +The unfinished requiem lay on the bed, and his last efforts were to +imitate some peculiar instrumental effects, as he breathed out his +life in the arms of his wife and his friend, Süssmaier. + +The epilogue to this life-drama is one of the saddest in the history +of art: a pauper funeral for one of the world's greatest geniuses. "It +was late one winter afternoon," says an old record, "before the coffin +was deposited on the side aisles on the south side of St. Stephen's. +Van Swieten, Salieri, Süssmaier, and two unknown musicians were the +only persons present besides the officiating priest and the +pall-bearers. It was a terribly inclement day; rain and sleet came +down fast; and an eye-witness describes how the little band of +mourners stood shivering in the blast, with their umbrellas up, round +the hearse, as it left the door of the church. It was then far on in +the dark, cold December afternoon, and the evening was fast closing in +before the solitary hearse had passed the Stubenthor, and reached the +distant graveyard of St. Marx, in which, among the 'third class,' the +great composer of the 'G minor Symphony' and the 'Requiem' found his +resting-place. By this time the weather had proved too much for all +the mourners; they had dropped off one by one, and Mozart's body was +accompanied only by the driver of the carriage. There had been already +two pauper funerals that day--one of them a midwife--and Mozart was +to be the third in the grave and the uppermost. + +"When the hearse drew up in the slush and sleet at the gate of the +graveyard, it was welcomed by a strange pair--Franz Harruschka, the +assistant grave-digger, and his mother, Katharina, known as 'Frau +Katha,' who filled the quaint office of official mendicant to the +place. + +"The old woman was the first to speak: 'Any coaches or mourners +coming?' + +"A shrug from the driver of the hearse was the only response. + +"'Whom have you got there, then?' continued she. + +"'A bandmaster,' replied the other. + +"'A musician? they're a poor lot; then I've no more money to look for +to-day. It is to be hoped we shall have better luck in the morning.' + +"To which the driver said, with a laugh, 'I'm devilish thirsty, +too--not a kreutzer of drink-money have I had.' + +"After this curious colloquy the coffin was dismounted and shoved into +the top of the grave already occupied by the two paupers of the +morning; and such was Mozart's last appearance on earth." + +To-day no stone marks the spot where were deposited the last remains +of one of the brightest of musical spirits; indeed, the very grave is +unknown, for it was the grave of a pauper. + + +IV. + +Mozart's charming letters reveal to us such a gentle, sparkling, +affectionate nature, as to inspire as much love for the man as +admiration for his genius. Sunny humour and tenderness bubble in +almost every sentence. A clever writer says that "opening these is +like opening a painted tomb.... The colours are all fresh, the figures +are all distinct." + +No better illustration of the man Mozart can be had than in a few +extracts from his correspondence. He writes to his sister from Rome +while yet a mere lad:-- + + "I am, thank God! except my miserable pen, well, and send + you and mamma a thousand kisses. I wish you were in Rome; I + am sure it would please you. Papa says I am a little fool, + but that is nothing new. Here we have but one bed; it is + easy to understand that I can't rest comfortably with papa. + I shall be glad when we get into new quarters. I have just + finished drawing the Holy Peter with his keys, the Holy Paul + with his sword, and the Holy Luke with my sister. I have had + the honour of kissing St. Peter's foot; and because I am so + small as to be unable to reach it, they had to lift me up. I + am the same old + + "Wolfgang." + +Mozart was very fond of this sister Nannerl, and he used to write to +her in a playful mosaic of French, German, and Italian. Just after his +wedding he writes:-- + + "My darling is now a hundred times more joyful at the idea + of going to Salzburg, and I am willing to stake--ay, my very + life, that you will rejoice still more in my happiness when + you know her; if, indeed, in your estimation, as in mine, a + high-principled, honest, virtuous, and pleasing wife ought + to make a man happy." + +Late in his short life he writes the following characteristic note to +a friend, whose life does not appear to have been one of the most +regular:-- + + "Now tell me, my dear friend, how you are. I hope you are + all as well as we are. You cannot fail to be happy, for you + possess everything that you can wish for at your age and in + your position, especially as you now seem to have entirely + given up your former mode of life. Do you not every day + become more convinced of the truth of the little lectures I + used to inflict on you? Are not the pleasures of a + transient, capricious passion widely different from the + happiness produced by rational and true love? I feel sure + that you often in your heart thank me for my admonitions. I + shall feel quite proud if you do. But, jesting apart, you + do really owe me some little gratitude if you are become + worthy of Fräulein N----, for I certainly played no + insignificant part in your improvement or reform. + + "My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my + great-grandmother, who in turn told it to her daughter, my + grandmother, who again repeated it to her daughter, my + mother, who repeated it to her daughter, my own sister, that + it was a very great art to talk eloquently and well, but an + equally great one to know the right moment to stop. I + therefore shall follow the advice of my sister, thanks to + our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and thus + end, not only my moral ebullition, but my letter." + +His playful tenderness lavished itself on his wife in a thousand +quaint ways. He would, for example, rise long before her to take his +horseback exercise, and always kiss her sleeping face and leave a +little note like the following resting on her forehead--"Good-morning, +dear little wife! I hope you have had a good sleep and pleasant +dreams. I shall be back in two hours. Behave yourself like a good +little girl, and don't run away from your husband." + +Speaking of an infant child, our composer would say merrily, "That boy +will be a true Mozart, for he always cries in the very key in which I +am playing." + +Mozart's musical greatness, shown in the symmetry of his art as well +as in the richness of his inspirations, has been unanimously +acknowledged by his brother composers. Meyerbeer could not restrain +his tears when speaking of him. Weber, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and +Wagner always praise him in terms of enthusiastic admiration. Haydn +called him the greatest of composers. In fertility of invention, +beauty of form, and exactness of method, he has never been surpassed, +and has but one or two rivals. The composer of three of the greatest +operas in musical history, besides many of much more than ordinary +excellence; of symphonies that rival Haydn's for symmetry and melodic +affluence; of a great number of quartets, quintets, etc.; and of +pianoforte sonatas which rank high among the best; of many masses that +are standard in the service of the Catholic Church; of a great variety +of beautiful songs--there is hardly any form of music which he did not +richly adorn with the treasures of his genius. We may well say, in the +words of one of the most competent critics:-- + +"Mozart was a king and a slave--king in his own beautiful realm of +music; slave of the circumstances and the conditions of this world. +Once over the boundaries of his own kingdom, and he was supreme; but +the powers of the earth acknowledged not his sovereignty." + + + + +_BEETHOVEN._ + + +I. + +The name and memory of this composer awaken, in the heart of the lover +of music, sentiments of the deepest reverence and admiration. His life +was so marked with affliction and so isolated as to make him, in his +environment of conditions as a composer, an unique figure. + +The principal fact which made the exterior life of Beethoven so bare +of the ordinary pleasures that brighten and sweeten existence, his +total deafness, greatly enriched his spiritual life. Music finally +became to him a purely intellectual conception, for he was without any +sensual enjoyment of its effects. To this Samson of music, for whom +the ear was like the eye to other men, Milton's lines may indeed well +apply:-- + + "Oh! dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! + Irrecoverably dark--total eclipse, + Without all hope of day! + Oh first created Beam, and thou, great Word, + 'Let there be light,' and light was over all, + Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree? + The sun to me is dark." + +To his severe affliction we owe alike many of the defects of his +character and the splendours of his genius. All his powers, +concentrated into a spiritual focus, wrought such things as lift him +into a solitary greatness. The world has agreed to measure this man as +it measures Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. We do not compare him with +others. + +Beethoven had the reputation among his contemporaries of being harsh, +bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is much to justify this in +the circumstances of his life; yet our readers will discover much to +show, on the other hand, how deep, strong, and tender was the heart +which was so wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by-- + + "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." + +Weber gives a picture of Beethoven--"The square Cyclopean figure +attired in a shabby coat with torn sleeves." Everybody will remember +his noble, austere face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, +massive head, with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so +furrowed with the marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, with their +look of introspection and insight; the whole expression of the +countenance as of an ancient prophet. Such was the impression made by +Beethoven on all who saw him, except in his moods of fierce wrath, +which towards the last were not uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely +tried, sublimely gifted man, he met his fate stubbornly, and worked +out his great mission with all his might and main, through long years +of weariness and trouble. Posterity has rewarded him by enthroning him +on the highest peaks of musical fame. + + +II. + +LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN was born at Bonn in 1770. It is a singular fact +that at an early age he showed the deepest distaste for music, unlike +the other great composers, who evinced their bent from their earliest +years. His father was obliged to whip him severely before he would +consent to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was +past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. His first +compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard him play them, and +said, "Mind, you will hear that boy talked of." Haydn, too, met +Beethoven for the first and only time when the former was on his way +to England, and recognised his remarkable powers. He gave him a few +lessons in composition, and was after that anxious to claim the young +Titan as a pupil. + +"Yes," growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason never liked Haydn, +"I had some lessons of him, indeed, but I was not his disciple. I +never learned anything from him." + +Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth on all who knew +him. Aside from the palpable marks of his power, there was an +indomitable _hauteur_, a mysterious, self-wrapped air as of one +constantly communing with the invisible, an unconscious assertion of +mastery about him, which strongly impressed the imagination. + +At the very outset of his career, when life promised all fair and +bright things to him, two comrades linked themselves to him, and ever +after that refused to give him up--grim poverty and still grimmer +disease. About the same time that he lost a fixed salary through the +death of his friend, the Elector of Cologne, he began to grow deaf. +Early in 1800, walking one day in the woods with his devoted friend +and pupil, Ferdinand Ries, he disclosed the sad secret to him that the +whole joyous world of sound was being gradually closed up to him; the +charm of the human voice, the notes of the woodland birds, the sweet +babblings of Nature, jargon to others, but intelligible to genius, the +full-born splendours of _heard_ music--all, all were fast receding +from his grasp. + +Beethoven was extraordinarily sensitive to the influences of Nature. +Before his disease became serious he writes--"I wander about here with +music-paper among the hills, and dales, and valleys, and scribble a +good deal. No man on earth can love the country as I do." But one of +Nature's most delightful modes of speech to man was soon to be utterly +lost to him. At last he became so deaf that the most stunning crash of +thunder or the _fortissimo_ of the full orchestra were to him as if +they were not. His bitter, heart-rending cry of agony, when he became +convinced that the misfortune was irremediable, is full of eloquent +despair--"As autumn leaves wither and fall, so are my hopes blighted. +Almost as I came, I depart. Even the lofty courage, which so often +animated me in the lovely days of summer, is gone forever. O +Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure felicity! How long have I +been estranged from the glad echo of true joy! When, O my God! when +shall I feel it again in the temple of Nature and man? Never!" + +And the small-souled, mole-eyed gossips and critics called him hard, +churlish, and cynical--him, for whom the richest thing in Nature's +splendid dower had been obliterated, except a soul, which never in its +deepest sufferings lost its noble faith in God and man, or allowed its +indomitable courage to be one whit weakened. That there were periods +of utterly rayless despair and gloom we may guess; but not for long +did Beethoven's great nature cower before its evil genius. + + +III. + +Within three years, from 1805 to 1808, Beethoven composed some of his +greatest works--the oratorio of "The Mount of Olives," the opera of +"Fidelio," and the two noble symphonies, "Pastorale" and "Eroica," +besides a large number of concertos, sonatas, songs, and other +occasional pieces. However gloomy the externals of his life, his +creative activities knew no cessation. + +The "Sinfonia Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest of +the immortal nine, and is one of the greatest examples of musical +portraiture extant. All the great composers from Handel to Wagner have +attempted, what is called descriptive music with more or less success, +but never have musical genius and skill achieved a result so +admirable in its relation to its purpose and by such strictly +legitimate means as in this work. + +"The 'Eroica,'" says a great writer, "is an attempt to draw a musical +portrait of an historical character--a great statesman, a great +general, a noble individual; to represent in music--Beethoven's own +language--what M. Thiers has given in words, and Paul Delaroche in +painting." Of Beethoven's success another writer has said--"It wants +no title to tell its meaning, for throughout the symphony the hero is +visibly portrayed." + +It is anything but difficult to realise why Beethoven should have +admired the first Napoleon. Both the soldier and musician were made +of that sturdy stuff which would and did defy the world; and it is +not strange that Beethoven should have desired in some way--and he +knew of no better course than through his art--to honour one so +characteristically akin to himself, and who at that time was the most +prominent man in Europe. Beethoven began the work in 1802, and in 1804 +it was completed, and bore the following title:-- + + Sinfonia grand + "Napoleon Bonaparte" + 1804 in August + del Sigr + Louis van Beethoven + Sinfonia 3. + Op. 55. + +This was copied and the original score despatched to the ambassador for +presentation, while Beethoven retained the copy. Before the composition +was laid before Napoleon, however, the great general had accepted the +title of Emperor. No sooner did Beethoven hear of this from his pupil +Ries than he started up in a rage, and exclaimed--"After all, then, +he's nothing but an ordinary mortal! He will trample the rights of men +under his feet!" saying which, he rushed to his table, seized the copy +of the score, and tore the title-page completely off. From this time +Beethoven hated Napoleon, and never again spoke of him in connection +with the symphony until he heard of his death in St. Helena, when he +observed, "I have already composed music for this calamity," evidently +referring to the "Funeral March" in this symphony. + +The opera of "Fidelio," which he composed about the same time, may be +considered, in the severe sense of a great and symmetrical musical +work, the finest lyric drama ever written, with the possible exception +of Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." It is +rarely performed, because its broad, massive, and noble effects are +beyond the capacity of most singers, and belong to the domain of pure +music, demanding but little alliance with the artistic clap-trap of +startling scenery and histrionic extravagance. Yet our composer's +conscience shows its completeness in his obedience to the law of +opera; for the music he has written to express the situations cannot +be surpassed for beauty, pathos, and passion. Beethoven, like +Mendelssohn, revolted from the idea of lyric drama as an +art-inconsistency, but he wrote "Fidelio" to show his possibilities in +a direction with which he had but little sympathy. He composed four +overtures for this opera at different periods, on account of the +critical caprices of the Viennese public--a concession to public taste +which his stern independence rarely made. + + +IV. + +Beethoven's relations with women were peculiar and characteristic, as +were all the phases of a nature singularly self-poised and robust. +Like all men of powerful imagination and keen (though perhaps not +delicate) sensibility, he was strongly attracted towards the softer +sex. But a certain austerity of morals, and that purity of feeling +which is the inseparable shadow of one's devotion to lofty aims, +always kept him within the bounds of Platonic affection. Yet there is +enough in Beethoven's letters, as scanty as their indications are in +this direction, to show what ardour and glow of feeling he possessed. + +About the time that he was suffering keenly with the knowledge of his +fast-growing infirmity, he was bound by a strong tie of affection to +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his "immortal beloved," "his angel," +"his all," "his life," as he called her in a variety of passionate +utterances. It was to her that he dedicated his song "Adelaida," +which, as an expression of lofty passion, is world-famous. Beethoven +was very much dissatisfied with the work even in the glow of +composition. Before the notes were dry on the music paper, the +composer's old friend Barth was announced. "Here," said Beethoven, +putting a roll of score paper in Barth's hands, "look at that. I have +just finished it, and don't like it. There is hardly fire enough in +the stove to burn it, but I will try." Barth glanced through the +composition, then sang it, and soon grew into such enthusiasm as to +draw from Beethoven the expression, "No? then we will not burn it, old +fellow." Whether it was the reaction of disgust, which so often comes +to genius after the tension of work, or whether his ideal of its +lovely theme was so high as to make all effort seem inadequate, the +world came very near losing what it could not afford to have missed. + +The charming countess, however, preferred rank, wealth, and unruffled +ease to being linked even with a great genius, if, indeed, the affair +ever looked in the direction of marriage. She married another, and +Beethoven does not seem to have been seriously disturbed. It may be +that, like Goethe, he valued the love of woman not for itself or its +direct results, but as an art-stimulus which should enrich and +fructify his own intellectual life. + +We get glimpses of successors to the fair countess. The beautiful +Marie Pachler was for some time the object of his adoration. The +affair is a somewhat mysterious one, and the lady seems to have +suffered from the fire through which her powerful companion passed +unscathed. Again, quaintest and oddest of all, is the fancy kindled by +that "mysterious sprite of genius," as one of her contemporaries calls +her, Bettina Brentano, the gifted child-woman, who fascinated all who +came within her reach, from Goethe and Beethoven down to princes and +nobles. Goethe's correspondence with this strange being has embalmed +her life in classic literature. + +Our composer's intercourse with women--for he was always alive to the +charms of female society--was for the most part homely and practical +in the extreme, after his deafness destroyed the zest of the more +romantic phases of the divine passion. He accepted adoration, as did +Dean Swift, as a right. He permitted his female admirers to knit him +stockings and comforters, and make him dainty puddings and other +delicacies, which he devoured with huge gusto. He condescended, in +return, to go to sleep on their sofas, after picking his teeth with +the candle-snuffers (so says scandal), while they thrummed away at his +sonatas, the artistic slaughter of which Beethoven was mercifully +unable to hear. + + +V. + +The friendship of the Archduke Rudolph relieved Beethoven of the +immediate pressure of poverty; for in 1809 he settled a small +life-pension upon him. The next ten years were passed by him in +comparative ease and comfort, and in this time he gave to the world +five of his immortal symphonies, and a large number of his finest +sonatas and masses. His general health improved very much; and in his +love for his nephew Karl, whom Beethoven had adopted, the lonely man +found an outlet for his strong affections, which was medicine for his +soul, though the object was worthless and ungrateful. + +We get curious and amusing insights into the daily tenor of +Beethoven's life during this period--things sometimes almost +grotesque, were they not so sad. The composer lived a solitary life, +and was very much at the mercy of his servants on account of his +self-absorption and deafness. He was much worried by these prosaic +cares. One story of a slatternly servant is as follows:--The master +was working at the mass in D, the great work which he commenced in +1819 for the celebration of the appointment of the Archduke Rudolph as +Archbishop of Olmütz, and which should have been completed by the +following year. Beethoven, however, became so engrossed with his work, +and increased its proportions so much, that it was not finished until +some two years after the event which it was intended to celebrate. +While Beethoven was engaged upon this score, he one day woke up to the +fact that some of his pages were missing. "Where on earth could they +be?" he asked himself, and the servant too; but the problem remained +unsolved. Beethoven, beside himself, spent hours and hours in +searching, and so did the servant, but it was all in vain. At last +they gave up the task as a useless one, and Beethoven, mad with +despair, and pouring the very opposite to blessings upon the head of +her who, he believed, was the author of the mischief, sat down with +the conclusion that he must rewrite the missing part. He had no sooner +commenced a new Kyrie--for this was the movement which was not to be +found--than some loose sheets of score paper were discovered in the +kitchen! Upon examination they proved to be the identical pages that +Beethoven so much desired, and which the woman, in her anxiety to be +"tidy" and to "keep things straight," had appropriated at some time or +other for wrapping up, not only old boots and clothes, but also some +superannuated pots and pans that were greasy and black! + +Thus he was continually fretted by the carelessness or the rascality +of the servants in whom he was obliged to trust. He writes in his +diary--"Nancy is too uneducated for a housekeeper--indeed, quite a +beast." "My precious servants were occupied from seven o'clock till +ten trying to kindle a fire." "The cook's off again." "I shied +half-a-dozen books at her head." They made his dinner so nasty he +couldn't eat it. "No soup to-day, no beef, no eggs. Got something from +the inn at last." + +His temper and peculiarities, too, made it difficult for him to live +in peace with landlords and fellow-lodgers. As his deafness increased, +he struck and thumped harder at the keys of his piano, the sound of +which he could scarcely hear. Nor was this all. The music that filled +his brain gave him no rest. He became an inspired madman. For hours he +would pace the room "howling and roaring" (as his pupil Ries puts it); +or he would stand beating time with hand and foot to the music which +was so vividly present to his mind. This soon put him into a feverish +excitement, when, to cool himself, he would take his water-jug, and, +thoughtless of everything, pour its contents over his hands, after +which he could sit down to his piano. With all this it can easily be +imagined that Beethoven was frequently remonstrated with. The landlord +complained of a damaged ceiling, and the fellow-lodgers declared that +either they or the madman must leave the house, for they could get no +rest where he was. So Beethoven never for long had a resting-place. +Impatient at being interfered with, he immediately packed up and went +off to some other vacant lodging. From this cause he was at one time +paying the rent of four lodgings at once. At times he would get tired +of this changing from one place to another--from the suburbs to the +town--and then he would fall back upon the hospitable home of a +patron, once again taking possession of an apartment which he had +vacated, probably without the least explanation or cause. One admirer +of his genius, who always reserved him a chamber in his establishment, +used to say to his servants--"Leave it empty; Beethoven is sure to +come back again." + +The instant that Beethoven entered the house he began to write and +cipher on the walls, the blinds, the table, everything, in the most +abstracted manner. He frequently composed on slips of paper, which he +afterwards misplaced, so that he had great difficulty in finding them. +At one time, indeed, he forgot his own name and the date of his birth. + +It is said that he once went into a Viennese restaurant, and, instead +of giving an order, began to write a score on the back of the +bill-of-fare, absorbed and unconscious of time and place. At last he +asked how much he owed. "You owe nothing, sir," said the waiter. +"What! do you think I have not dined?" "Most assuredly." "Very well, +then, give me something." "What do you wish?" "Anything." + +These infirmities do not belittle the man of genius, but set off his +greatness as with a foil. They illustrate the thought of Goethe: "It +is all the same whether one is great or small, he has to pay the +reckoning of humanity." + + +VI. + +Yet beneath these eccentricities what wealth of tenderness, sympathy, +and kindliness existed! His affection for his graceless nephew Karl is +a touching picture. With the rest of his family he had never been on +very cordial terms. His feeling of contempt for snobbery and pretence +is very happily illustrated in his relations with his brother Johann. +The latter had acquired property, and he sent Ludwig his card, +inscribed "Johann von Beethoven, land-owner." The caustic reply was a +card, on which was written, "Ludwig von Beethoven, brain-owner." But +on Karl all the warmest feelings of a nature which had been starving +to love and be loved poured themselves out. He gave the scapegrace +every luxury and indulgence, and, self-absorbed as he was in an ideal +sphere, felt the deepest interest in all the most trivial things that +concerned him. Much to the uncle's sorrow, Karl cared nothing for +music; but, worst of all, he was an idle, selfish, heartless fellow, +who sneered at his benefactor, and valued him only for what he could +get from him. At last Beethoven became fully aware of the lying +ingratitude of his nephew, and he exclaims--"I know now you have no +pleasure in coming to see me, which is only natural, for my atmosphere +is too pure for you. God has never yet forsaken me, and no doubt some +one will be found to close my eyes." Yet the generous old man forgave +him, for he says in the codicil of his will, "I appoint my nephew Karl +my sole heir." + +Frequently, glimpses of the true vein showed themselves in such little +episodes as that which occurred when Moscheles, accompanied by his +brother, visited the great musician for the first time. + +"Arrived at the door of the house," writes Moscheles, "I had some +misgivings, knowing Beethoven's strong aversion to strangers. I +therefore told my brother to wait below. After greeting Beethoven, I +said, 'Will you permit me to introduce my brother to you?' + +"'Where is he?' he suddenly replied. + +"'Below.' + +"'What, downstairs?' and Beethoven immediately rushed off, seized hold +of my brother, saying, 'Am I such a savage that you are afraid to come +near me?' + +"After this he showed great kindness to us." + +While referring to the relations of Moscheles and Beethoven, the +following anecdote related by Mdme. Moscheles will be found +suggestive. The pianist had been arranging some numbers of "Fidelio," +which he took to the composer. He, _à la_ Haydn, had inscribed the +score with the words, "By God's help." Beethoven did not fail to +perceive this, and he wrote underneath this phylactory the +characteristic advice--"O man, help thyself." + +The genial and sympathetic nature of Beethoven is illustrated in this +quaint incident:-- + +It was in the summer of 1811 that Ludwig Löwe, the actor, first met +Beethoven in the dining-room of the Blue Star at Töplitz. Löwe was +paying his addresses to the landlord's daughter; and conversation +being impossible at the hour he dined there, the charming creature one +day whispered to him, "Come at a later hour, when the customers are +gone and only Beethoven is here. He cannot hear, and will therefore +not be in the way." This answered for a time; but the stern parents, +observing the acquaintanceship, ordered the actor to leave the house +and not to return. "How great was our despair!" relates Löwe. "We both +desired to correspond, but through whom? Would the solitary man at the +opposite table assist us? Despite his serious reserve and seeming +churlishness, I believe he is not unfriendly. I have often caught a +kind smile across his bold, defiant face." Löwe determined to try. +Knowing Beethoven's custom, he contrived to meet the master when he +was walking in the gardens. Beethoven instantly recognised him, and +asked the reason why he no longer dined at the Blue Star. A full +confession was made, and then Löwe timidly asked if he would take +charge of a letter to give to the girl. + +"Why not?" pleasantly observed the rough-looking musician. "You mean +what is right." So pocketing the note, he was making his way onward +when Löwe again interfered. + +"I beg your pardon, Herr von Beethoven, that is not all." + +"So, so," said the master. + +"You must also bring back the answer," Löwe went on to say. + +"Meet me here at this time to-morrow," said Beethoven. + +Löwe did so, and there found Beethoven awaiting him, with the coveted +reply from his lady-love. In this manner Beethoven carried the letters +backward and forward for some five or six weeks--in short, as long as +he remained in the town. + +His friendship with Ferdinand Ries commenced in a way which testified +how grateful he was for kindness. When his mother lay ill at Bonn, he +hurried home from Vienna just in time to witness her death. After the +funeral he suffered greatly from poverty, and was relieved by Ries, +the violinist. Years afterwards young Ries waited on Beethoven with a +letter of introduction from his father. The composer received him with +cordial warmth, and said, "Tell your father I have not forgotten the +death of my mother." Ever afterwards he was a helpful and devoted +friend to young Ries, and was of inestimable value in forwarding his +musical career. + +Beethoven in his poverty never forgot to be generous. At a concert +given in aid of wounded soldiers, where he conducted, he indignantly +refused payment with the words, "Say Beethoven never accepts anything +where humanity is concerned." To an Ursuline convent he gave an +entirely new symphony to be performed at their benefit concert. +Friend or enemy never applied to him for help that he did not freely +give, even to the pinching of his own comfort. + + +VII. + +Rossini could write best when he was under the influence of Italian +wine and sparkling champagne. Paisiello liked the warm bed in which to +jot down his musical notions, and we are told that "it was between the +sheets that he planned the 'Barber of Seville,' the 'Molinara,' and so +many other _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of ease and gracefulness." Mozart could +chat and play at billiards or bowls at the same time that he composed +the most beautiful music. Sacchini found it impossible to write +anything of any beauty unless a pretty woman was by his side, and he +was surrounded by his cats, whose graceful antics stimulated and +affected him in a marked fashion. "Gluck," Bombet says, "in order to +warm his imagination and to transport himself to Aulis or Sparta, was +accustomed to place himself in the middle of a beautiful meadow. In +this situation, with his piano before him, and a bottle of champagne +on each side, he wrote in the open air his two 'Iphigenias,' his +'Orpheus,' and some other works." The agencies which stimulated +Beethoven's grandest thoughts are eminently characteristic of the man. +He loved to let the winds and storms beat on his bare head, and see +the dazzling play of the lightning. Or, failing the sublimer moods of +Nature, it was his delight to walk in the woods and fields, and take +in at every pore the influences which she so lavishly bestows on her +favourites. His true life was his ideal life in art. To him it was a +mission and an inspiration, the end and object of all things; for +these had value only as they fed the divine craving within. + +"Nothing can be more sublime," he writes, "than to draw nearer to the +Godhead than other men, and to diffuse here on earth these Godlike +rays among mortals." Again: "What is all this compared to the grandest +of all Masters of Harmony--above, above?" + + "All experience seemed an arch, wherethrough + Gleamed that untravelled world, whose margin fades + Forever and forever as we move." + +The last four years of our composer's life were passed amid great +distress from poverty and feebleness. He could compose but little; +and, though his friends solaced his latter days with attention and +kindness, his sturdy independence would not accept more. It is a +touching fact that Beethoven voluntarily suffered want and privation +in his last years, that he might leave the more to his selfish and +ungrateful nephew. He died in 1827, in his fifty-seventh year, and is +buried in the Wahring Cemetery near Vienna. Let these extracts from a +testamentary paper addressed to his brothers in 1802, in expectation +of death, speak more eloquently of the hidden life of a heroic soul +than any other words could:-- + + "O ye, who consider or declare me to be hostile, obstinate, + or misanthropic, what injustice ye do me! Ye know not the + secret causes of that which to you wears such an appearance. + My heart and my mind were from childhood prone to the tender + feelings of affection. Nay, I was always disposed even to + perform great actions. But, only consider that, for the last + six years, I have been attacked by an incurable complaint, + aggravated by the unskilful treatment of medical men, + disappointed from year to year in the hope of relief, and at + last obliged to submit to the endurance of an evil the cure + of which may last perhaps for years, if it is practicable at + all. Born with a lively, ardent disposition, susceptible to + the diversions of society, I was forced at an early age to + renounce them, and to pass my life in seclusion. If I strove + at any time to set myself above all this, oh how cruelly was + I driven back by the doubly painful experience of my + defective hearing! and yet it was not possible for me to say + to people, 'Speak louder--bawl--for I am deaf!' Ah! how + could I proclaim the defect of a sense that I once possessed + in the highest perfection--in a perfection in which few of + my colleagues possess or ever did possess it? Indeed, I + cannot! Forgive me, then, if ye see me draw back when I + would gladly mingle among you. Doubly mortifying is my + misfortune to me, as it must tend to cause me to be + misconceived. From recreation in the society of my + fellow-creatures, from the pleasures of conversation, from + the effusions of friendship, I am cut off. Almost alone in + the world, I dare not venture into society more than + absolute necessity requires. I am obliged to live as an + exile. If I go into company, a painful anxiety comes over + me, since I am apprehensive of being exposed to the danger + of betraying my situation. Such has been my state, too, + during this half year that I have spent in the country. + Enjoined by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing as + much as possible, I have been almost encouraged by him in my + present natural disposition, though, hurried away by my + fondness for society, I sometimes suffered myself to be + enticed into it. But what a humiliation when any one + standing beside me could hear at a distance a flute that I + could not hear, or any one heard the shepherd singing, and I + could not distinguish a sound! Such circumstances brought me + to the brink of despair, and had well-nigh made me put an + end to my life--nothing but my art held my hand. Ah! it + seemed to me impossible to quit the world before I had + produced all that I felt myself called to accomplish. And so + I endured this wretched life--so truly wretched, that a + somewhat speedy change is capable of transporting me from + the best into the worst condition. Patience--so I am told--I + must choose for my guide. Steadfast, I hope, will be my + resolution to persevere, till it shall please the inexorable + Fates to cut the thread. + + "Perhaps there may be an amendment--perhaps not; I am + prepared for the worst--I, who so early as my twenty-eighth + year was forced to become a philosopher--it is not easy--for + the artist more difficult than for any other. O God! thou + lookest down upon my misery; thou knowest that it is + accompanied with love of my fellow-creatures, and a + disposition to do good! O men! when ye shall read this, + think that ye have wronged me; and let the child of + affliction take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in + spite of all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay + in his power to obtain admittance into the rank of worthy + artists and men.... I go to meet Death with joy. If he comes + before I have had occasion to develop all my professional + abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite of my hard + fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his arrival. But + even then I am content, for he will release me from a state + of endless suffering. Come when thou wilt, I shall meet thee + with firmness. Farewell, and do not quite forget me after I + am dead; I have deserved that you should think of me, for in + my lifetime I have often thought of you to make you happy. + May you ever be so!" + + +VIII. + +The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on art. In speaking +of his genius it is difficult to keep expression within the limits of +good taste. For who has so passed into the very inner _penetralia_ of +his great art, and revealed to the world such heights and depths of +beauty and power in sound? + +Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one voice, are ranked as +the greatest ever written, reaching in the last, known as the +"Choral," the full perfection of his power and experience. Other +musicians have composed symphonic works remarkable for varied +excellences, but in Beethoven this form of writing seems to have +attained its highest possibilities, and to have been illustrated by +the greatest variety of effects, from the sublime to such as are +simply beautiful and melodious. His hand swept the whole range of +expression with unfaltering mastery. Some passages may seem obscure, +some too elaborately wrought, some startling and abrupt, but on all is +stamped the die of his great genius. + +Beethoven's compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are no less +notable for range and power of expression, their adaptation to meet +all the varied moods of passion and sentiment. Other pianoforte +composers have given us more warm and vivid colour, richer sensual +effects of tone, more wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even +greater sweetness in melody; but we look in vain elsewhere for the +spiritual passion and poetry, the aspiration and longing, the lofty +humanity, which make the Beethoven sonatas the _suspiria de profundis_ +of the composer's inner life. In addition to his symphonies and +sonatas, he wrote the great opera of "Fidelio," and in the field of +oratorio asserted his equality with Handel and Haydn by composing "The +Mount of Olives." A great variety of chamber music, masses, and songs +bear the same imprint of power. He may be called the most original and +conscientious of all the composers. Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, +and Mendelssohn were inveterate thieves, and pilfered the choicest +gems from old and forgotten writers without scruple. Beethoven seems +to have been so fecund in great conceptions, so lifted on the wings of +his tireless genius, so austere in artistic morality, that he stands +for the most part above the reproach deservedly borne by his brother +composers. + +Beethoven's principal title to fame is in his superlative place as a +symphonic composer. In the symphony music finds its highest +intellectual dignity; in Beethoven the symphony has found its loftiest +master. + + + + +_SCHUBERT AND SCHUMANN._ + + +I. + +Heinrich Heine, in his preface to a translation of _Don Quixote_, +discusses the creative powers of different peoples. To the Spaniard +Cervantes is awarded the first place in novel-writing, and to our own +Shakespeare, of course, the transcendent rank in drama. + +"And the Germans," he goes on to say, "what palm is due to them? Well, +we are the best writers of songs in the world. No people possesses +such beautiful _Lieder_ as the Germans. Just at present the nations +have too much political business on hand; but, after that has once +been settled, we Germans, English, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Italians +will all go to the green forest and sing, and the nightingale shall be +umpire. I feel sure that in this contest the song of Wolfgang Goethe +will gain the prize." + +There are few, if any, who will be disposed to dispute the verdict of +the German poet, himself no mean rival, in depth and variety of lyric +inspiration, even of the great Goethe. But a greater poet than either +one of this great pair bears the suggestive and impersonal name of +"The People." It is to the countless wealth of the German race in +folk-songs, an affluence which can be traced back to the very dawn of +civilisation among them, that the possibility of such lyric poets as +Goethe, Heine, Rückert, and Uhland is due. From the days of the +"Nibelungenlied," that great epic which, like the Homeric poems, can +hardly be credited to any one author, every hamlet has rung with +beautiful national songs, which sprung straight from the fervid heart +of the people. These songs are balmy with the breath of the forest, +the meadow, and river, and have that simple and bewitching freshness +of motive and rhythm which unconsciously sets itself to music. + +The German _Volkslied_, as the exponent of the popular heart, has a +wide range, from mere comment on historical events, and quaint, droll +satire, such as may be found in Hans Sachs, to the grand protest +against spiritual bondage which makes the burden of Luther's hymn, +"Ein' feste Burg." But nowhere is the beauty of the German song so +marked as in those _Lieder_ treating of love, deeds of arms, and the +old mystic legends so dear to the German heart. Tieck writes of the +"Minnesinger period"--"Believers sang of faith, lovers of love; +knights described knightly actions and battles, and loving, believing +knights were their chief audiences. The spring, beauty, gaiety, were +objects that could never tire; great duels and deeds of arms carried +away every hearer, the more surely the stronger they were painted; and +as the pillars and dome of the church encircled the flock, so did +Religion, as the highest, encircle poetry and reality, and every heart +in equal love humbled itself before her." + +A similar spirit has always inspired the popular German song, a simple +and beautiful reverence for the unknown, the worship of heroism, a +vital sympathy with the various manifestations of Nature. Without the +fire of the French _chansons_, the sonorous grace of the Tuscan +_stornelli_, these artless ditties, with their exclusive reliance on +true feeling, possess an indescribable charm. + +The German _Lied_ always preserved its characteristic beauty. Goethe, +and the great school of lyric poets clustered around him, simply +perfected the artistic form, without departing from the simplicity and +soulfulness of the stock from which it came. Had it not been for the +rich soil of popular song, we should not have had the peerless lyrics +of modern Germany. Had it not been for the poetic inspiration of such +word-makers as Goethe and Heine, we should not have had such +music-makers in the sphere of song as Schubert and Franz. + +The songs of these masters appeal to the interest and admiration of +the world, then, not merely in virtue of musical beauty, but in that +they are the most vital outgrowths of Teutonic nationality and +feeling. + +The immemorial melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were set +display great simplicity of rhythm, even monotony, with frequent +recurrence of the minor keys, so well adapted to express the +melancholy tone of many of the poems. The strictly strophic treatment +is used, or, in other words, the repetition of the melody of the first +stanza in all the succeeding ones. The chasm between this and the +varied form of the artistic modern song is deep and wide, yet it was +overleaped in a single swift bound by the remarkable genius of Franz +Schubert, who, though his compositions were many and matchless of +their kind, died all too young; for, as the inscription on his +tombstone pathetically has it, he was "rich in what he gave, richer in +what he promised." + + +II. + +The great masters of the last century tried their hands in the domain +of song with only comparative success, partly because they did not +fully realise the nature of this form of art, partly because they +could not limit the sweep of the creative power within such narrow +limits. Schubert was a revelation to his countrymen in his musical +treatment of subjective passion, in his instinctive command over +condensed, epigrammatic expression. This rich and gifted life, however +quiet in its exterior facts, was great in its creative and spiritual +manifestation. Born at Vienna of humble parents, January 31, 1797, the +early life of Franz Schubert was commonplace in the extreme, the most +interesting feature being the extraordinary development of his genius. +At the age of fourteen he had made himself a master of counterpoint +and harmony, and composed a large mass of chamber-music and works for +the piano. His poverty was such that he was oftentimes unable to +obtain the music-paper with which to fasten the immortal thoughts that +thronged through his brain. It was two years later that his special +creative function found exercise in the production of the two great +songs, the "Erl-King" and the "Serenade," the former of which proved +the source of most of the fame and money emolument he enjoyed during +life. It is hardly needful to speak of the power and beauty of this +composition, the weird sweetness of its melodies, the dramatic +contrasts, the wealth of colour and shading in its varying phrases, +the subtilty of the accompaniment, which elaborates the spirit of the +song itself. The piece was composed in less than an hour. One of +Schubert's intimates tells us that he left him reading Goethe's great +poem for the first time. He instantly conceived and arranged the +melody, and when the friend returned after a short absence Schubert +was rapidly noting the music from his head on paper. When the song was +finished he rushed to the Stadtconvict school, his only _alma mater_, +and sang it to the scholars. The music-master, Rucziszka, was +overwhelmed with rapture and astonishment, and embraced the young +composer in a transport of joy. When this immortal music was first +sung to Goethe, the great poet said, "Had music, instead of words, +been my instrument of thought, it is so I would have framed the +legend." + +The "Serenade" is another example of the swiftness of Schubert's +artistic imagination. He and a lot of jolly boon-companions sat one +Sunday afternoon in an obscure Viennese tavern, known as the Biersack. +The surroundings were anything but conducive to poetic fancies--dirty +tables, floor, and ceiling, the clatter of mugs and dishes, the loud +dissonance of the beery German roisterers, the squalling of children, +and all the sights and noises characteristic of the beer-cellar. One +of our composer's companions had a volume of poems, which Schubert +looked at in a lazy way, laughing and drinking the while. Singling out +some verses, he said, "I have a pretty melody in my head for these +lines, if I could only get a piece of ruled paper." Some staves were +drawn on the back of a bill-of-fare, and here, amid all the confusion +and riot, the divine melody of the "Serenade" was born, a tone-poem +which embodies the most delicate dream of passion and tenderness that +the heart of man ever conceived. + +Both these compositions were eccentric and at odds with the old canons +of song, fancied with a grace, warmth, and variety of colour hitherto +characteristic only of the more pretentious forms of music, which had +already been brought to a great degree of perfection. They inaugurate +the genesis of the new school of musical lyrics, the golden wedding of +the union of poetry with music. + +For a long time the young composer was unsuccessful in his attempts to +break through the barren and irritating drudgery of a schoolmaster's +life. At last a wealthy young dilettante, Franz von Schober, who had +become an admirer of Schubert's songs, persuaded his mother to offer +him a fixed home in her house. The latter gratefully accepted the +overture of friendship, and thence became a daily guest at Schober's +house. He made at this time a number of strong friendships with +obscure poets, whose names only live through the music of the composer +set to verses furnished by them; for Schubert, in his affluence of +creative power, merely needed the slightest excuse for his genius to +flow forth. But, while he wrote nothing that was not beautiful, his +masterpieces are based only on themes furnished by the lyrics of such +poets as Goethe, Heine, and Rückert. It is related, in connection with +his friendship with Mayrhofer, one of his rhyming associates of these +days, that he would set the verses to music much faster than the other +could compose them. + +The songs of the obscure Schubert were gradually finding their way to +favour among the exclusive circles of Viennese aristocracy. A +celebrated singer of the opera, Vogl, though then far advanced in +years, was much sought after for the drawing-room concerts so popular +in Vienna, on account of the beauty of his art. Vogl was a warm +admirer of Schubert's genius, and devoted himself assiduously to the +task of interpreting it--a friendly office of no little value. Had it +not been for this, our composer would have sunk to his early grave +probably without even the small share of reputation and monetary +return actually vouchsafed to him. The strange, dreamy unconsciousness +of Schubert is very well illustrated in a story told by Vogl after his +friend's death. One day Schubert left a new song at the singer's +apartments, which, being too high, was transposed. Vogl, a fortnight +afterwards, sang it in the lower key to his friend, who remarked: +"Really, that _Lied_ is not bad; who composed it?" + + +III. + +Our great composer, from the peculiar constitution of his gifts, the +passionate subjectiveness of his nature, might be supposed to have +been peculiarly sensitive to the fascinations of love, for it is in +this feeling that lyric inspiration has found its most fruitful root. +But not so. Warmly susceptible to the charms of friendship, Schubert +for the most part enacted the _rôle_ of the woman-hater, which was not +all affected; for the Hamlet-like mood is only in part a simulated +madness with souls of this type. In early youth he would sneer at the +amours of his comrades. It is true he fell a victim to the charms of +Theresa Gröbe, a beautiful soprano, who afterwards became the spouse +of a master-baker. But the only genuine love-sickness of Schubert was +of a far different type, and left indelible traces on his nature, as +its very direction made it of necessity unfortunate. This was his +attachment to Countess Caroline Esterhazy. + +The Count Esterhazy, one of those great feudal princes still extant +among the Austrian nobility, took a traditional pride in encouraging +genius, and found in Franz Schubert a noble object for his generous +patronage. He was almost a boy (only nineteen), except in the +prodigious development of his genius, when he entered the Esterhazy +family as teacher of music, though always treated as a dear and +familiar friend. During the summer months, Schubert went with the +Esterhazys to their country seat at Zelész, in Hungary. Here, amid +beautiful scenery, and the sweetness of a social life perfect of its +kind, our poet's life flew on rapid wings, the one bright, green spot +of unalloyed happiness, for the dream was delicious while it lasted. +Here, too, his musical life gathered a fresh inspiration, since he +became acquainted with the treasures of the national Hungarian music, +with its weird, wild rhythms and striking melodies. He borrowed the +motives of many of his most characteristic songs from these +reminiscences of hut and hall, for the Esterhazys were royal in their +hospitality, and exercised a wide patriarchal sway. + +The beautiful Countess Caroline, an enthusiastic girl of great beauty, +became the object of a romantic passion. A young, inexperienced +maiden, full of _naïve_ sweetness, the finest flower of the haughty +Austrian caste, she stood at an infinite distance from Schubert, +while she treated him with childlike confidence and fondness, laughing +at his eccentricities, and worshipping his genius. He bowed before +this idol, and poured out all the incense of his heart. Schubert's +exterior was anything but that of the ideal lover. Rude, unshapely +features, thick nose, coarse, protruding mouth, and a shambling, +awkward figure, were redeemed only by eyes of uncommon splendour and +depth, aflame with the unmistakable light of the soul. + +The inexperienced maiden hardly understood the devotion of the artist, +which found expression in a thousand ways peculiar to himself. Only +once he was on the verge of a full revelation. She asked him why he +had dedicated nothing to her. With abrupt, passionate intensity of +tone Schubert answered, "What's the use of that? Everything belongs to +you!" This brink of confession seems to have frightened him, for it is +said that after this he threw much more reserve about his intercourse +with the family, till it was broken off. Hints in his letters, and the +deep despondency which increased after this, indicate, however, that +the humbly-born genius never forgot his beautiful dream. + +He continued to pour out in careless profusion songs, symphonies, +quartets, and operas, many of which knew no existence but in the score +till after his death, hardly knowing of himself whether the +productions had value or not. He created because it was the essential +law of his being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the +beauties of his own work. Schubert's body had been mouldering for +several years, when his wonderful symphony in C major, one of the +_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of orchestral composition, was brought to the +attention of the world by the critical admiration of Robert Schumann, +who won the admiration of lovers of music, not less by his prompt +vindication of neglected genius than by his own creative powers. + +In the contest between Weber and Rossini which agitated Vienna, +Schubert, though deeply imbued with the seriousness of art, and by +nature closely allied in sympathies with the composer of "Der +Freischütz," took no part. He was too easy-going to become a volunteer +partisan, too shy and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be +sought after. Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, +and damned an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured Franz +Schubert could not easily forgive. + +The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to musicians, +contain a wealth of beautiful melody which could easily be spread over +a score of ordinary works. The purely lyric impulse so dominated him +that dramatic arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies +were likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. Even under +the operatic form he remained essentially the song-writer. So in the +symphony his affluence of melodic inspiration seems actually to +embarrass him, to the detriment of that breadth and symmetry of +treatment so vital to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric +that our composer stands matchless. + +During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, Schubert lived +fighting a stern battle with want and despondency, while the +publishers were commencing to make fortunes by the sale of his +exquisite _Lieder_. At that time a large source of income for the +Viennese composers was the public performance of their works in +concerts under their own direction. From recourse to this, Schubert's +bashfulness and lack of skill as a _virtuoso_ on any instrument helped +to bar him, though he accompanied his own songs with exquisite effect. +Once only his friends organised a concert for him, and the success was +very brilliant. But he was prevented from repeating the good fortune +by that fatal illness which soon set in. So he lived out the last +glimmers of his life, poverty-stricken, despondent, with few even of +the amenities of friendship to soothe his declining days. Yet those +who know the beautiful results of that life, and have even a faint +glow of sympathy with the life of a man of genius, will exclaim with +one of the most eloquent critics of Schubert-- + + "But shall we, therefore, pity a man who all the while + revelled in the treasures of his creative ore, and from the + very depths of whose despair sprang the sweetest flowers of + song? Who would not battle with the iciest blast of the + north if out of storm and snow he could bring back to his + chamber the germs of the 'Winterreise?' Who would grudge the + moisture of his eyes if he could render it immortal in the + strains of Schubert's 'Lob der Thräne?'" + +Schubert died in the flower of his youth, November 19, 1828; but he +left behind him nearly a thousand compositions, six hundred of which +were songs. Of his operas only the "Enchanted Harp" and "Rosamond" +were put on the stage during his lifetime. "Fierabras," considered to +be his finest dramatic work, has never been produced. His church +music, consisting of six masses, many offertories, and the great +"Hallelujah" of Klopstock, is still performed in Germany. Several of +his symphonies are ranked among the greatest works of this nature. His +pianoforte compositions are brilliant, and strongly in the style of +Beethoven, who was always the great object of Schubert's devoted +admiration, his artistic idol and model. It was his dying request that +he should be buried by the side of Beethoven, of whom the art-world +had been deprived the year before. + +Compared with Schubert, other composers seem to have written in prose. +His imagination burned with a passionate love of Nature. The lakes, +the woods, the mountain heights, inspired him with eloquent reveries +that burst into song; but he always saw Nature through the medium of +human passion and sympathy, which transfigured it. He was the faithful +interpreter of spiritual suffering, and the joy which is born thereof. + +The genius of Schubert seems to have been directly formed for the +expression of subjective emotion in music. That his life should have +been simultaneous with the perfect literary unfolding of the old +_Volkslied_ in the superb lyrics of Goethe, Heine, and their school, +is quite remarkable. Poetry and song clasped hands on the same lofty +summits of genius. Liszt has given to our composer the title of _le +musicien le plus poétique_, which very well expresses his place in +art. + +In the song as created by Schubert and transmitted to his successors, +there are three forms, the first of which is that of the simple +_Lied_, with one unchanged melody. A good example of this is the +setting of Goethe's "Haideröslein," which is full of quaint grace and +simplicity. A second and more elaborate method is what the Germans +call "through-composed," in which all the different feelings are +successively embodied in the changes of the melody, the sense of unity +being preserved by the treatment of the accompaniment, or the +recurrence of the principal motive at the close of the song. Two +admirable models of this are found in the "Lindenbaum" and "Serenade." + +The third and finest art-method, as applied by Schubert to lyric +music, is the "declamatory." In this form we detect the consummate +flower of the musical lyric. The vocal part is lifted into a species +of passionate chant, full of dramatic fire and colour, while the +accompaniment, which is extremely elaborate, furnishes a most +picturesque setting. The genius of the composer displays itself here +fully as much as in the vocal treatment. When the lyric feeling rises +to its climax it expresses itself in the crowning melody, this high +tide of the music and poetry being always in unison. As masterpieces +of this form may be cited "Die Stadt" and "Der Erlkönig," which stand +far beyond any other works of the same nature in the literature of +music. + + +IV. + +ROBERT SCHUMANN, the loving critic, admirer, and disciple of Schubert +in the province of song, was in most respects a man of far different +type. The son of a man of wealth and position, his mind and tastes +were cultivated from early youth with the utmost care. Schumann is +known in Germany no less as a philosophical thinker and critic than as +a composer. As the editor of the _Neue Zeitschrift für Musik_, he +exercised a powerful influence over contemporary thought in +art-matters, and established himself both as a keen and incisive +thinker and as a master of literary style. Schumann was at first +intended for the law, but his unconquerable taste for music asserted +itself in spite of family opposition. His acquaintance with the +celebrated teacher, Wieck, whose gifted daughter, Clara, afterwards +became his wife, finally established his career; for it was through +Wieck's advice that the Schumann family yielded their opposition to +the young man's bent. + +Once settled in his new career, Schumann gave himself up to work with +the most indefatigable ardour. The early part of the present century +was a halcyon time for the _virtuosi_, and the fame and wealth that +poured themselves on such players as Paganini and Liszt made such a +pursuit tempting in the extreme. Fortunately, the young musician was +saved from such a career. In his zeal of practice and desire to attain +a perfectly independent action for each finger on the piano, Schumann +devised some machinery, the result of which was to weaken the sinews +of his third finger by undue distension. By this he lost the effective +use of the whole right hand, and of course his career as a _virtuoso_ +practically closed. + +Music gained in its higher walks what it lost in a lower. Schumann +devoted himself to composition and æsthetic criticism, after he had +passed through a thorough course of preparatory studies. Both as a +writer and a composer Schumann fought against Philistinism in music. +Ardent, progressive, and imaginative, he soon became the leader of the +romantic school, and inaugurated the crusade which had its parallel in +France in that carried on by Victor Hugo in the domain of poetry. His +early pianoforte compositions bear the strong impress of this fiery, +revolutionary spirit. His great symphonic works belong to a later +period, when his whole nature had mellowed and ripened without losing +its imaginative sweep and brilliancy. Schumann's compositions for the +piano and orchestra are those by which his name is most widely +honoured, but nowhere do we find a more characteristic exercise of his +genius than in his songs, to which this article will call more special +attention. + +Such works as the "Études Symphoniques" and the "Kreisleriana" +express much of the spirit of unrest and longing aspiration, the +struggle to get away from prison-bars and limits, which seem to have +sounded the key-note of Schumann's deepest nature. But these feelings +could only find their fullest outlet in the musical form expressly +suited to subjective emotion. Accordingly, the "Sturm and Drang" epoch +of his life, when all his thoughts and conceptions were most unsettled +and visionary, was most fruitful in lyric song. In Heinrich Heine he +found a fitting poetical co-worker, in whose moods he seemed to see a +perfect reflection of his own--Heine, in whom the bitterest irony was +wedded to the deepest pathos, "the spoiled favourite of the Graces," +"the knight with the laughing tear in his scutcheon"--Heine, whose +songs are charged with the brightest light and deepest gloom of the +human heart. + +Schumann's songs never impress us as being deliberate attempts at +creative effort, consciously selected forms through which to express +thoughts struggling for speech. They are rather involuntary +experiments to relieve oneself of some woeful burden, medicine for the +soul. Schumann is never distinctively the lyric composer; his +imagination had too broad and majestic a wing. But in those moods, +peculiar to genius, where the soul is flung back on itself with a +sense of impotence, our composer instinctively burst into song. He did +not in the least advance or change its artistic form, as fixed by +Schubert. This, indeed, would have been irreconcilable with his use of +the song as a simple medium of personal feeling, an outlet and +safeguard. + +The peculiar place of Schumann as a song-writer is indicated by his +being called the musical exponent of Heine, who seems to be the other +half of his soul. The composer enters into each shade and detail of +the poet's meaning with an intensity and fidelity which one can never +cease admiring. It is this phase which gives the Schumann songs their +great artistic value. In their clean-cut, abrupt, epigrammatic force +there is something different from the work of any other musical +lyrist. So much has this impressed the students of the composer that +more than one able critic has ventured to prophesy that Schumann's +greatest claim to immortality would yet be found in such works as the +settings of "Ich grolle nicht" and the "Dichterliebe" series--a +perverted estimate, perhaps, but with a large substratum of truth. The +duration of Schumann's song-time was short, the greater part of his +_Lieder_ having been written in 1840. After this he gave himself up to +oratorio, symphony, and chamber-music. + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--The above account of Robert Schumann does not +give an adequate impression of the composer; the following remarks are +therefore appended, based in most part upon J. A. Fuller Maitland's +"Schumann" in _The Great Musicians_ Series. In 1832 the poet +Grillparzer, in a critical article published in the _Wiener +Musikalische Zeitung_, recognises that Schumann "belongs to no school, +but creates of himself without making parade of outlandish ideas, ... +he has made himself a new ideal world in which he moves about as he +wills, with a certain original _bizarrerie_." Moscheles, a friend of +Schumann, wrote in his diary--"For mind (Geist) give me Schumann. The +Romanticism in his works is a thing so completely new, his genius so +great, that to weigh correctly the peculiar qualities and weakness of +this new school I must go deeper and deeper into the study of his +works." In the _Gazette Musicale_ for November 12, 1837, Franz Liszt +wrote a thoroughly sympathetic criticism of the composer's works, as a +whole, and says--"The more closely we examine Schumann's ideas, the +more power and life do we discover in them; and the more we study +them, the more we are amazed at the wealth and fertility which had +before escaped us." And Hector Berlioz, the great French Romanticist, +looked upon him "as one of the most remarkable composers and critics +in Germany." As a musical critic Schumann ranks very high. In 1834 he, +with several friends, started a critical paper, _Neue Zeitschrift für +Music_, in order "no longer to look on idly, but to try and make +things better, so that the poetry of art may once more be duly +honoured." The paper was very successful, and had a considerable +influence in the musical world--more especially as it supplied a +distinct want, for at the time of its appearance "musical criticism in +Germany was of the most futile kind, silly, superficial admiration of +mediocrity--Schumann used to call it 'Honey-daubing'--or the +contemptuous depreciation of what was new or unknown; these were the +order of the day in such of the journals as deigned to notice music at +all." Schumann possessed all the qualities which are required in a +musical critic, and it is said of him that in that capacity he has +never been excelled. His aims were high and pure--to quote his own +words, "to send light into the depth of the human heart--that is the +artist's calling,"--and the chief object of his critical labour was +"the elevation of German taste and intellect by German art, whether by +pointing to the great models of old time, or by encouraging younger +talents." His connection with the paper lasted ten years as a constant +contributor, though he continued to write for it from time to time. +The last article published by him in it was one written in favour of +Johannes Brahms, who had been sent to him with a letter of +introduction by Joseph Joachim, the violinist, "recommending to his +notice a young composer of whose powers the writer had formed the +highest opinion." "At once Schumann recognised the surpassing +capabilities of the young man, and wrote to Joachim these words, and +nothing more--'Das ist der, der kommen musste' ('This is he was wanted +to come')." The article was entitled "New Paths," and is one of his +most remarkable writings. "In it Schumann seems to sing his 'Nunc +Dimittis,' hailing the advent of this young and ardent spirit, who was +to carry on the great line of composers, and to prove himself no +unworthy member of their glorious company." The concluding sentence of +the article, which contained the composer's last printed words, is not +a little remarkable, for it gives fullest expression to that principle +which had always governed his own criticism. "In every age there is a +secret band of kindred spirits. Ye who are of this fellowship, see +that ye weld the circle firmly, so that the truth of art may shine +ever more and more clearly, shedding joy and blessing far and near." + +As a man Schumann was kind-hearted, generous, devoid of jealousy, and +always ready and willing to recognise merit, great or small, in those +with whom he came in contact. It was always easier for him to praise +than to blame; so much so that in conducting an orchestra in +rehearsal, it became impossible for him to find fault with the +performers when necessity arose, and, if they did not find out their +mistakes themselves, he allowed them to remain uncorrected! Although a +faithful friend, he was eminently unsociable; he was very reserved and +silent, and this peculiarity became more marked towards the latter +part of his life, when his terrible malady was spreading its shadow +over him. An amusing account of his silence is given in E. Hanslick's +_Musikalischen Stationen_--"Wagner expressed himself thus to the +author in 1846--'Schumann is a highly gifted musician, but an +_impossible_ man. When I came from Paris I went to see Schumann; I +related to him my Parisian experiences, spoke of the state of music in +France, then of that in Germany, spoke of literature and politics; but +he remained as good as dumb for nearly an hour. One cannot go on +talking quite alone. An impossible man!'" Schumann's account, +apparently of the same interview, is as follows:--"I have seldom met +him; but he is a man of education and spirit; he talks, however, +unceasingly, and that one cannot endure for very long together." + +Schumann has been described "as a man of moderately tall stature, +well-built, and of a dignified and pleasant aspect. The outlines of +his face, with its intellectual brow, and with its lower part +inclining slightly to heaviness, are sufficiently familiar to us all; +but we cannot see the dreamy, half-shut eyes kindle into animation at +a word from some friend with whom he felt himself in sympathy." A +description of him by his friend, Sterndale Bennett, is amusing, on +the words of which S. Bennett wrote a little canon-- + + "Herr Schumann ist ein guter Mann, + Er raucht Tabak als Niemand kann; + Ein Mann vielleicht von dreissig Jahr, + Mit kurze Nas' und kurze Haar." + + ("Herr Schumann is a first-rate man, + He smokes as ne'er another can; + A man of thirty, I suppose, + Short is his hair, and short his nose.") + +Schumann's latter days were very sorrowful, for he was afflicted with +a great mental distress, caused, we are told by one of his +biographers, by ossification of the brain. He was haunted by +delusions--amongst others, by the constant hearing of a single musical +note. "On one occasion he was under the impression that Schubert and +Mendelssohn had visited him, and had given him a musical theme, which +he wrote down, and upon which he set himself to write variations." He +suffered from attacks of acute melancholy, and at length, during one +of them, threw himself into the Rhine, but was, fortunately, rescued. +At length it became necessary to confine him in a private asylum, +where he was visited by his friends when his condition permitted it. +He died on July 29, 1856, in presence of his wife, through whose +exertions, in great part, we, in England, have become acquainted with +his pianoforte works. + +[Decoration] + + + + +_CHOPIN._ + + +I. + +Never has Paris, the Mecca of European art, genius, and culture, +presented a more brilliant social spectacle than it did in 1832. +Hitherward came pilgrims from all countries, poets, painters, and +musicians, anxious to breathe the inspiring air of the French capital, +where society laid its warmest homage at the feet of the artist. Here +came, too, in dazzling crowds, the rich nobles and the beautiful women +of Europe to find the pleasure, the freedom, the joyous unrestraint, +with which Paris offers its banquet of sensuous and intellectual +delights to the hungry epicure. Then as now the queen of the +art-world, Paris absorbed and assimilated to herself the most +brilliant influences in civilisation. + +In all of brilliant Paris there was no more charming and gifted circle +than that which gathered around the young Polish pianist and composer, +Chopin, then a recent arrival in the gay city. His peculiarly original +genius, his weird and poetic style of playing, which transported his +hearers into a mystic fairy-land of sunlight and shadow, his strangely +delicate beauty, the alternating reticence and enthusiasm of his +manners, made him the idol of the clever men and women, who courted +the society of the shy and sensitive musician; for to them he was a +fresh revelation. Dr. Franz Liszt gives the world some charming +pictures of this art-coterie, which was wont often to assemble at +Chopin's rooms in the Chaussée d'Antin. + +His room, taken by surprise, is all in darkness except the luminous +ring thrown off by the candles on the piano, and the flashes +flickering from the fire-place. The guests gather around informally as +the piano sighs, moans, murmurs, or dreams under the fingers of the +player. Heinrich Heine, the most poetic of humorists, leans on the +instrument, and asks, as he listens to the music and watches the +firelight, "if the roses always glowed with a flame so triumphant? if +the trees at moonlight sang always so harmoniously?" Meyerbeer, one of +the musical giants, sits near at hand lost in reverie; for he forgets +his own great harmonies, forged with hammer of Cyclops, listening to +the dreamy passion and poetry woven into such quaint fabrics of sound. +Adolphe Nourrit, passionate and ascetic, with the spirit of some +mediæval monastic painter, an enthusiastic servant of art in its +purest, severest form, a combination of poet and anchorite, is also +there; for he loves the gentle musician, who seems to be a visitor +from the world of spirits. Eugène Delacroix, one of the greatest of +modern painters, his keen eyes half closed in meditation, absorbs the +vague mystery of colour which imagination translates from the harmony, +and attains new insight and inspiration through the bright links of +suggestion by which one art lends itself to another. The two great +Polish poets, Niemcewicz and Mickiewicz (the latter the Dante of the +Slavic race), exiles from their unhappy land, feed their sombre +sorrow, and find in the wild, Oriental rhythms of the player only +melancholy memories of the past. Perhaps Victor Hugo, Balzac, +Lamartine, or the aged Chateaubriand, also drop in by-and-by, to +recognise, in the music, echoes of the daring romanticism which they +opposed to the classic and formal pedantry of the time. + +Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, sits Mdme. +George Sand (that name so tragically mixed with Chopin's life), +"curiously attentive, gracefully subdued." With the second sight of +genius, which pierces through the mask, she saw the sweetness, the +passion, the delicate emotional sensibility of Chopin; and her +insatiate nature must unravel and assimilate this new study in human +enjoyment and suffering. She had then just finished "Lelia," that +strange and powerful creation, in which she embodied all her hatred of +the forms and tyrannies of society, her craving for an impossible +social ideal, her tempestuous hopes and desires, in such startling +types. Exhausted by the struggle, she panted for the rest and luxury +of a companionship in which both brain and heart could find sympathy. +She met Chopin, and she recognised in the poetry of his temperament +and the fire of his genius what she desired. Her personality, +electric, energetic, and imperious, exercised the power of a magnet on +the frail organisation of Chopin, and he loved once and forever, with +a passion that consumed him; for in Mdme. Sand he found the blessing +and curse of his life. This many-sided woman, at this point of her +development, found in the fragile Chopin one phase of her nature which +had never been expressed, and he was sacrificed to the demands of an +insatiable originality, which tried all things in turn, to be +contented with nothing but an ideal which could never be attained. + +About the time of Chopin's arrival in Paris the political +effervescence of the recent revolution had passed into art and +letters. It was the oft-repeated battle of Romanticism against +Classicism. There could be no truce between those who believed that +everything must be fashioned after old models, that Procrustes must +settle the height and depth, the length and breadth of art-forms, and +those who, inspired with the new wine of liberty and free creative +thought, held that the rule of form should always be the mere +expression of the vital, flexible thought. The one side argued that +supreme perfection already reached left the artist hope only in +imitation; the other, that the immaterial beautiful could have no +fixed absolute form. Victor Hugo among the poets, Delacroix among the +painters, and Berlioz among the musicians, led the ranks of the +romantic school. + +Chopin found himself strongly enlisted in this contest on the side of +the new school. His free, unconventional nature found in its teachings +a musical atmosphere true to the artistic and political proclivities +of his native Poland; for Chopin breathed the spirit and tendencies of +his people in every fibre of his soul, both as man and artist. Our +musician, however, in freeing himself from all servile formulas, +sternly repudiated the charlatanism which would replace old abuses +with new ones. + +Chopin, in his views of his art, did not admit the least compromise +with those who failed earnestly to represent progress, nor, on the +other hand, with those who sought to make their art a mere profitable +trade. With him, as with all the great musicians, his art was a +religion--something so sacred that it must be approached with +unsullied heart and hand. This reverential feeling was shown in the +following touching fact:--It was a Polish custom to choose the +garments in which one would be buried. Chopin, though among the first +of contemporary artists, gave fewer concerts than any other; but, +notwithstanding this, he left directions to be borne to the grave in +the clothes he had worn on such occasions. + + +II. + +FREDERICK FRANCIS CHOPIN was born near Warsaw, in 1810, of French +extraction. He learned music at the age of nine from Ziwny, a pupil of +Sebastian Bach, but does not seem to have impressed anyone with his +remarkable talent except Madame Catalani, the great singer, who gave +him a watch. Through the kindness of Prince Radziwill, an enthusiastic +patron of art, he was sent to Warsaw College, where his genius began +to unfold itself. He afterwards became a pupil of the Warsaw +Conservatory, and acquired there a splendid mastery over the science +of music. His labour was prodigious in spite of his frail health; and +his knowledge of contrapuntal forms was such as to exact the highest +encomiums from his instructors. + +Through his brother pupils he was introduced to the highest Polish +society, for his fellows bore some of the proudest names in Poland. +Chopin seems to have absorbed the peculiarly romantic spirit of his +race, the wild, imaginative melancholy, which, almost gloomy in the +Polish peasant, when united to grace and culture in the Polish noble, +offered an indescribable social charm. Balzac sketches the Polish +woman in these picturesque antitheses:--"Angel through love, demon +through fantasy; child through faith, sage through experience; man +through the brain, woman through the heart; giant through hope, +mother through sorrow; and poet through dreams." The Polish gentleman +was chivalrous, daring, and passionate; the heir of the most gifted +and brilliant of the Slavic races, with a proud heritage of memory +which gave his bearing an indescribable dignity, though the son of a +fallen nation. Ardently devoted to pleasure, the Poles embodied in +their national dances wild and inspiring rhythms, a glowing poetry of +sentiment as well as motion, which mingled with their Bacchanal fire a +chaste and lofty meaning that became at times funereal. Polish society +at this epoch pulsated with an originality, an imagination, and a +romance, which transfigured even the common things of life. + +It was amid such an atmosphere that Chopin's early musical career was +spent, and his genius received its lasting impress. One afternoon in +after years he was playing to one of the most distinguished women in +Paris, and she said that his music suggested to her those gardens in +Turkey where bright parterres of flowers and shady bowers were strewed +with gravestones and burial mounds. This underlying depth of +melancholy Chopin's music expresses most eloquently, and it may be +called the perfect artistic outcome of his people; for in his sweetest +tissues of sound the imagination can detect agitation, rancour, +revolt, and menace, sometimes despair. Chateaubriand dreamed of an Eve +innocent, yet fallen; ignorant of all, yet knowing all; mistress, yet +virgin. He found this in a Polish girl of seventeen, whom he paints as +a "mixture of Odalisque and Valkyr." The romantic and fanciful passion +of the Poles, bold, yet unworldly, is shown in the habit of drinking +the health of a sweetheart from her own shoe. + +Chopin, intensely spiritual by temperament and fragile in health, born +an enthusiast, was coloured through and through with the rich dyes of +Oriental passion; but with these were mingled the fantastic and ideal +elements which, + + "Wrapped in sense, yet dreamed of heavenlier joys." + +And so he went to Paris, the city of his fate, ripe for the tragedy +of his life. After the revolution of 1830, he started to go to London, +and, as he said, "passed through Paris." Yet Paris he did not leave +till he left it with Mdme. Sand to live a brief dream of joy in the +beautiful Isle of Majorca. + + +III. + +Liszt describes Chopin in these words--"His blue eyes were more +spiritual than dreamy; his bland smile never writhed into bitterness. +The transparent delicacy of his complexion pleased the eye; his fair +hair was soft and silky; his nose slightly aquiline; his bearing so +distinguished, and his manners stamped with such high breeding, that +involuntarily he was always treated _en prince_. His gestures were many +and graceful; the tones of his voiced veiled, often stifled. His stature +was low, his limbs were slight." Again, Mdme. Sand paints him even more +characteristically in her novel, _Lucrezia Floriani_--"Gentle, +sensitive, and very lovely, he united the charm of adolescence with the +suavity of a more mature age; through the want of muscular development +he retained a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, which, if we +may venture so to speak, belonged to neither age nor sex.... It was more +like the ideal creations with which the poetry of the Middle Ages +adorned the Christian temples. The delicacy of his constitution rendered +him interesting in the eyes of women. The full yet graceful cultivation +of his mind, the sweet and captivating originality of his conversation, +gained for him the attention of the most enlightened men; while those +less highly cultivated liked him for the exquisite courtesy of his +manners." + +All this reminds us of Shelley's dream of Hermaphroditus, or perhaps +of Shelley himself, for Chopin was the Shelley of music. + +His life in Paris was quiet and retired. The most brilliant and +beautiful women desired to be his pupils, but Chopin refused except +where he recognised in the petitioners exceptional earnestness and +musical talent. He gave but few concerts, for his genius could not +cope with great masses of people. He said to Liszt, "I am not suited +for concert-giving. The public intimidate me, their breath stifles me. +You are destined for it; for when you do not gain your public, you +have the force to assault, to overwhelm, to compel them." It was his +delight to play to a few chosen friends, and to evoke for them such +dreams from the ivory gate, which Virgil fabled to be the portal of +Elysium, as to make his music + + "The silver key of the fountain of tears, + Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild; + Softest grave of a thousand fears, + Where their mother, Care, like a weary child, + Is laid asleep in a bed of flowers." + +He avoided general society, finding in the great artists and those +sympathetic with art his congenial companions. His life was given up +to producing those unique compositions which make him, _par +excellence_, the king of the pianoforte. He was recognised by Liszt, +Kalkbrenner, Pleyel, Field, and Meyerbeer, as being the most wonderful +of players; yet he seemed to disdain such a reputation as a cheap +notoriety, ceasing to appear in public after the first few concerts, +which produced much excitement and would have intoxicated most +performers. He sought largely the society of the Polish exiles, men +and women of the highest rank who had thronged to Paris. + +His sister Louise, whom he dearly loved, frequently came to Paris from +Warsaw to see him; and he kept up a regular correspondence with his +own family. Yet he abhorred writing so much that he would go to any +shifts to avoid answering a note. Some of his beautiful countrywomen, +however, possess precious memorials in the shape of letters written in +Polish, which he loved much more than French. His thoughtfulness was +continually sending pleasant little gifts and souvenirs to his Warsaw +friends. This tenderness and consideration displayed itself too in his +love of children. He would spend whole evenings in playing +blind-man's-buff or telling them charming fairy stories from the +folk-lore in which Poland is singularly rich. + +Always gentle, he yet knew how to rebuke arrogance, and had sharp +repartees for those who tried to force him into musical display. On +one occasion, when he had just left the dining-room, an indiscreet +host, who had had the simplicity to promise his guests some piece +executed by him as a rare dessert, pointed him to an open piano. +Chopin quietly refused, but on being pressed said, with a languid and +sneering drawl:--"Ah, sir, I have just dined; your hospitality, I see, +demands payment." + + +IV. + +Mdme. Sand, in her _Lettres d'un Voyageur_, depicts the painful +lethargy which seizes the artist when, having incorporated the emotion +which inspired him in his work, his imagination still remains under +the dominance of the insatiate idea, without being able to find a new +incarnation. She was suffering in this way when the character of +Chopin excited her curiosity and suggested a healthful and happy +relief. Chopin dreaded to meet this modern Sibyl. The superstitious +awe he felt was a premonition whose meaning was hidden from him. They +met, and Chopin lost his fear in one of those passions which feed on +the whole being with a ceaseless hunger. + +In the fall of 1837 Chopin yielded to a severe attack of the disease +which was hereditary in his frame. In company with Mdme. Sand, who had +become his constant companion, he went to the isle of Majorca, to find +rest and medicine in the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean. All the +happiness of Chopin's life was gathered in the focus of this +experience. He had a most loving and devoted nurse, who yielded to all +his whims, soothed his fretfulness, and watched over him as a mother +does over a child. The grounds of the villa where they lived were as +perfect as Nature and art could make them, and exquisite scenes +greeted the eye at every turn. Here they spent long golden days. + +The feelings of Chopin for his gifted companion are best painted by +herself in the pages of _Lucrezia Floriani_, where she is the +"Floriani," Liszt "Count Salvator Albani," and Chopin "Prince +Karol"--"It seemed as if this fragile being was absorbed and consumed +by the strength of his affection.... But he loved for the sake of +loving.... His love was his life, and, delicious or bitter, he had not +the power of withdrawing himself a single moment from its domination." +Slowly she nursed him back into temporary health, and in the sunlight +of her love his mind assumed a gaiety and cheerfulness it had never +known before. + +It had been the passionate hope of Chopin to marry Mdme. Sand, but +wedlock was alien alike to her philosophy and preference. After a +protracted intimacy, she wearied of his persistent entreaties, or +perhaps her self-development had exhausted what it sought in the +poet-musician. An absolute separation came, and his mistress buried +the episode in her life with the epitaph--"Two natures, one rich in +its exuberance, the other in its exclusiveness, could never really +mingle, and a whole world separated them." Chopin said--"All the cords +that bind me to life are broken." His sad summary of all was that his +life had been an episode which began and ended in Paris. What a +contrast to the being of a few years before, of whom it is +written--"He was no longer on the earth; he was in an empyrean of +golden clouds and perfumes; his imagination, so full of exquisite +beauty, seemed engaged in a monologue with God himself!"[C] + +Both Liszt and Mdme. Dudevant have painted Chopin somewhat as a sickly +sentimentalist, living in an atmosphere of moonshine and unreality. +Yet this was not precisely true. In spite of his delicacy of frame and +romantic imagination, Chopin was never ill till within the last ten +years of his life, when the seeds of hereditary consumption developed +themselves. As a young man he was lively and joyous, always ready for +frolic, and with a great fund of humour, especially in caricature. +Students of human character know how consistent these traits are with +a deep undercurrent of melancholy, which colours the whole life when +the immediate impulse of joy subsides. + +From the date of 1840 Chopin's health declined; but through the seven +years during which his connection with Mdme. Sand continued, he +persevered actively in his work of composition. The final rupture with +the woman he so madly loved seems to have been his death-blow. He +spoke of Mdme. Sand without bitterness, but his soul pined in the +bitter-sweet of memory. He recovered partially, and spent a short +season of concert-giving in London, where he was fêted and caressed by +the best society as he had been in Paris. Again he was sharply +assailed by his fatal malady, and he returned to Paris to die. Let us +describe one of his last earthly experiences, on Sunday, the 15th of +October 1849. + +Chopin had lain insensible from one of his swooning attacks for some +time. His sister Louise was by his side, and the Countess Delphine +Potocka, his beautiful countrywoman and a most devoted friend, watched +him with streaming eyes. The dying musician became conscious, and +faintly ordered a piano to be rolled in from the adjoining room. He +turned to the countess, and whispered, feebly, "Sing." She had a +lovely voice, and, gathering herself for the effort, she sang that +famous canticle to the Virgin which, tradition says, saved Stradella's +life from assassins. "How beautiful it is!" he exclaimed. "My God! how +very beautiful!" Again she sang to him, and the dying musician passed +into a trance, from which he never fully aroused till he expired, two +days afterwards, in the arms of his pupil, M. Gutman. + +Chopin's obsequies took place at the Madeleine Church, and Lablache +sang on this occasion the same passage, the "Tuba Mirum" of Mozart's +Requiem Mass, which he had sung at the funeral of Beethoven in 1827; +while the other solos were given by Mdme. Viardot Garcia and Mdme. +Castellan. He lies in Père Lachaise, beside Cherubini and Bellini. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[C] _Lucrezia Floriani._ + + +V. + +The compositions of Chopin were exclusively for the piano; and alike +as composer and virtuoso he is the founder of a new school, or +perhaps may be said to share that honour with Robert Schumann--the +school which to-day is represented in its advanced form by Liszt and +Von Bülow. Schumann called him "the boldest and proudest poetic spirit +of the times." In addition to this remarkable poetic power, he was a +splendidly-trained musician, a great adept in style, and one of the +most original masters of rhythm and harmony that the records of music +show. All his works, though wanting in breadth and robustness of tone, +are characterised by the utmost finish and refinement. Full of +delicate and unexpected beauties, elaborated with the finest touch, +his effects are so quaint and fresh as to fill the mind of the +listener with pleasurable sensations, perhaps not to be derived from +grander works. + +Chopin was essentially the musical exponent of his nation; for he +breathed in all the forms of his art the sensibilities, the fires, the +aspirations, and the melancholy of the Polish race. This is not only +evident in his polonaises, his waltzes and mazurkas, in which the wild +Oriental rhythms of the original dances are treated with the creative +skill of genius; but also in the _études_, the preludes, nocturnes, +scherzos, ballads, etc., with which he so enriched musical literature. +His genius could never confine itself within classic bonds, but, +fantastic and impulsive, swayed and bent itself with easy grace to +inspirations that were always novel and startling, though his boldness +was chastened by deep study and fine art-sense. + +All of the suggestions of the quaint and beautiful Polish dance-music +were worked by Chopin into a variety of forms, and were greatly +enriched by his skill in handling. He dreamed out his early +reminiscences in music, and these national memories became embalmed in +the history of art. The polonaises are marked by the fire and ardour +of his soldier race, and the mazurkas are full of the coquetry and +tenderness of his countrywomen; while the ballads are a free and +powerful rendering of Polish folk-music, beloved alike in the +herdsman's hut and the palace of the noble. In deriving his +inspiration direct from the national heart, Chopin did what Schumann, +Schubert, and Weber did in Germany, what Rossini did in Italy, and +shares with them a freshness of melodic power to be derived from no +other source. Rather tender and elegiac than vigorous, the deep +sadness underlying the most sparkling forms of his work is most +notable. One can at times almost recognise the requiem of a nation in +the passionate melancholy on whose dark background his fancy weaves +such beautiful figures and colours. + +Franz Liszt, in characterising Chopin as a composer, furnishes an +admirable study--"We meet with beauties of a high order, expressions +entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original as erudite. In his +compositions boldness is always justified; richness, often exuberance, +never interferes with clearness; singularity never degenerates into +the uncouth and fantastic; the sculpturing is never disordered; the +luxury of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence of the +principal lines. His best works abound in combinations which may be +said to be an epoch in the handling of musical style. Daring, +brilliant, and attractive, they disguise their profundity under so +much grace, their science under so many charms, that it is with +difficulty we free ourselves sufficiently from their magical +enthralment, to judge coldly of their theoretical value." + +As a romance composer Chopin struck out his own path, and has no +rival. Full of originality, his works display the utmost dignity and +refinement. He revolted from the bizarre and eccentric, though the +peculiar influences which governed his development might well have +betrayed one less finely organised. + +As a musical poet, embodying the feelings and tendencies of a people, +Chopin advances his chief claim to his place in art. He did not task +himself to be a national musician; for he is utterly without pretence +and affectation, and sings spontaneously, without design or choice, +from the fullness of a rich nature. He collected "in luminous sheaves +the impressions felt everywhere through his country--vaguely felt, it +is true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts." + +Chopin was repelled by the lusty and almost coarse humour sometimes +displayed by Schubert, for he was painfully fastidious. He could not +fully understand nor appreciate Beethoven, whose works are full of +lion-marrow, robust and masculine alike in conception and treatment. +He did not admire Shakespeare, because his great delineations are too +vivid and realistic. Our musician was essentially a dreamer and +idealist. His range was limited, but within it he reached perfection +of finish and originality never surpassed. But, with all his +limitations, the art-judgment of the world places him high among those + + "... whom Art's service pure + Hallows and claims, whose hearts are made her throne, + Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure + To lead a priestly life and feed the ray + Of her eternal shrine; to them alone + Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown." + + + + +_WEBER._ + + +I. + +The genius which inspired the three great works, "Der Freischütz," +"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," has stamped itself as one of the most +original and characteristic in German music. Full of bold and +surprising strokes of imagination, these operas are marked by the true +atmosphere of national life and feeling, and we feel in them the +fresh, rich colour of the popular traditions and song-music which make +the German _Lieder_ such an inexhaustible treasure-trove. As Weber was +maturing into that fullness of power which gave to the world his +greater works, Germany had been wrought into a passionate patriotism +by the Napoleonic wars. The call to arms resounded from one end of +the Fatherland to the other. Every hamlet thrilled with fervour, and +all the resources of national tradition were evoked to heighten the +love of country into a puissance which should save the land. Germany +had been humiliated by a series of crushing defeats, and national +pride was stung to vindicate the grand old memories. France, in answer +to a similar demand for some art-expression of its patriotism, had +produced its Rouget de Lisle; Germany produced the poet Körner and the +musician Weber. + +It is not easy to appreciate the true quality and significance of +Weber's art-life without considering the peculiar state of Germany at +the time; for if ever creative imagination was forged and fashioned by +its environments into a logical expression of public needs and +impulses, it was in the case of the father of German romantic opera. +This inspiration permeated the whole soil of national thought, and its +embodiment in art and letters has hardly any parallel except in that +brilliant morning of English thought which we know as the Elizabethan +era. To understand Weber the composer, then, we must think of him not +only as the musician, but as the patriot and revivalist of ancient +tendencies in art, drawn directly from the warm heart of the people. + +KARL MARIA VON WEBER was born at Eutin, in Holstein, December 18, +1786. His father had been a soldier, but, owing to extravagance and +folly, had left the career of arms, and, being an educated musician, +had become by turns attached to an orchestra, director of a theatre, +Kapellmeister, and wandering player--never remaining long in one +position, for he was essentially vagrant and desultory in character. +Whatever Karl Maria had to suffer from his father's folly and +eccentricity, he was indebted to him for an excellent training in the +art of which he was to become so brilliant an ornament. He had +excellent masters in singing and the piano, as also in drawing and +engraving. So he grew up a melancholy, imaginative recluse, absorbed +in his studies, and living in a dream-land of his own, which he +peopled with ideal creations. His passionate love of Nature, tinged +with old German superstition, planted in his imagination those +fruitful germs which bore such rich results in after years. + +In 1797 Weber studied the piano and composition under Hanschkel, a +thoroughly scientific musician, and found in his severe drill a happy +counter-balancing influence to the more desultory studies which had +preceded. Major Weber's restless tendencies did not permit his family +to remain long in one place. In 1798 they moved to Salzburg, where +young Weber was placed at the musical institute of which Michael +Haydn, brother of the great Joseph, was director. Here a variety of +misfortunes assailed the Weber family. Major Franz Anton was +unsuccessful in all his theatrical undertakings, and extreme poverty +stared them all in the face. The gentle mother, too, whom Karl so +dearly loved, sickened and died. This was a terrible blow to the +affectionate boy, from which he did not soon recover. + +The next resting-place in the pilgrimage of the Weber family was +Munich, where Major Weber, who, however flagrant his shortcomings in +other ways, was resolved that the musical powers of his son should be +thoroughly trained, placed him under the care of the organist Kalcher +for studies in composition. + +For several years, Karl was obliged to lead the same shifting, nomadic +sort of life, never stopping long, but dragged hither and thither in +obedience to his father's vagaries and necessities, but always +studying under the best masters who could be obtained. While under +Kalcher, several masses, sonatas, trios, and an opera, "Die Macht der +Liebe und des Weins" ("The Might of Love and Wine"), were written. +Another opera, "Das Waldmädchen" ("The Forest Maiden"), was composed +and produced when he was fourteen; and two years later in Salzburg he +composed "Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn," an operetta, which +exacted warm praise from Michael Haydn. + +At the age of seventeen he became the pupil of the great teacher, Abbé +Vogler, under whose charge also Meyerbeer was then studying. Our +young composer worked with great assiduity under the able instruction +of Vogler, who was of vast service in bringing the chaos of his +previous contradictory teachings into order and light. All these +musical _Wanderjahre_, however trying, had steeled Karl Maria into a +stern self-reliance, and he found in his skill as an engraver the +means to remedy his father's wastefulness and folly. + + +II. + +A curious episode in Weber's life was his connection with the royal +family of Würtemberg, where he found a dissolute, poverty-stricken +court, and a whimsical, arrogant, half-crazy king. Here he remained +four years in a half-official musical position, his nominal duty being +that of secretary to the king's brother, Prince Ludwig. This part of +his career was almost a sheer waste, full of dreary and irritating +experiences, which Weber afterwards spoke of with disgust and regret. +His spirit revolted from the capricious tyranny which he was obliged +to undergo, but circumstances seem to have coerced him into a +protracted endurance of the place. His letters tell us how bitterly he +detested the king and his dull, pompous court, though Prince Ludwig in +a way seemed to have been attached to his secretary. One of his +biographers says:-- + + "Weber hated the king, of whose wild caprice and vices he + witnessed daily scenes, before whose palace-gates he was + obliged to slink bareheaded, and who treated him with + unmerited ignominy. Sceptre and crown had never been + imposing objects in his eyes, unless worn by a worthy man; + and consequently he was wont, in the thoughtless levity of + youth, to forget the dangers he ran, and to answer the king + with a freedom of tone which the autocrat was all unused to + hear. In turn he was detested by the monarch. As negotiator + for the spendthrift Prince Ludwig, he was already obnoxious + enough; and it sometimes happened that, by way of variety to + the customary torrent of invective, the king, after keeping + the secretary for hours in his antechamber, would receive + him only to turn him rudely out of the room, without hearing + a word he had to say." + +At last Karl Maria's indignation burst over bounds at some unusual +indignity; and he played a practical joke on the king. Meeting an old +woman in the palace one day near the door of the royal sanctum, she +asked him where she could find the court-washerwoman. "There," said +the reckless Weber, pointing to the door of the king's cabinet. The +king, who hated old women, was in a transport of rage, and, on her +terror-stricken explanation of the intrusion, had no difficulty in +fixing the mischief in the right quarter. Weber was thrown into +prison, and had it not been for Prince Ludwig's intercession he would +have remained there for several years. While confined he managed to +compose one of his most beautiful songs, "Ein steter Kampf ist unser +Leben." He had not long been released when he was again imprisoned on +account of some of his father's wretched follies, that arrogant old +gentleman being utterly reckless how he involved others, so long as he +carried out his own selfish purposes and indulgence. His friend Danzi, +director of the royal opera at Stuttgart, proved his good genius in +this instance; for he wrangled with the king till his young friend was +released. + +Weber's only consolations during this dismal life in Stuttgart were +the friendship of Danzi, and his love for a beautiful singer named +Gretchen. Danzi was a true mentor and a devoted friend. He was wont to +say to Karl--"To be a true artist, you must be a true man." But the +lovely Gretchen, however she may have consoled his somewhat arid life, +was not a beneficial influence, for she led him into many sad +extravagances and an unwholesome taste for playing the cavalier. + +In spite of his discouraging surroundings, Weber's creative power was +active during this period, and showed how, perhaps unconsciously to +himself, he was growing in power and depth of experience. He wrote the +cantata, "Der erste Ton," a large number of songs, the first of his +great piano sonatas, several overtures and symphonies, and the opera +"Sylvana" ("Das Waldmädchen" rewritten and enlarged), which, both in +its music and libretto, seems to have been the precursor of his great +works, "Der Freischütz" and "Euryanthe." At the first performance of +"Sylvana" in Frankfort, September 16, 1810, he met Miss Caroline +Brandt, who sang the principal character. She afterwards became his +wife, and her love and devotion were the solace of his life. + +Weber spent most of the year 1810 in Darmstadt, where he again met +Vogler and Meyerbeer. Vogler's severe artistic instructions were of +great value to Weber in curbing his extravagance, and impressing on +him that restraint was one of the most valuable factors in art. What +Vogler thought of Weber we learn from a letter in which he +writes--"Had I been forced to leave the world before I found these +two, Weber and Meyerbeer, I should have died a miserable man." + + +III. + +It was about this time, while visiting Mannheim, that the idea of "Der +Freischütz" first entered his mind. His friend the poet Kind was with +him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's _Ghost Stories_. One +of these dealt with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a +woodland myth ranking high in German folk-lore. They were both +delighted with the fantastic and striking story, full of the warm +colouring of Nature, and the balmy atmosphere of the forest and +mountain. They immediately arranged the framework of the libretto, +afterwards written by Kind, and set to such weird and enchanting music +by Weber. + +In 1811 Weber began to give concerts, for his reputation was becoming +known far and wide as a brilliant composer and virtuoso. For two years +he played a round of concerts in Munich, Leipsic, Gotha, Weimar, +Berlin, and other places. He was everywhere warmly welcomed. +Lichtenstein, in his _Memoir of Weber_, writes of his Berlin +reception--"Young artists fell on their knees before him; others +embraced him wherever they could get at him. All crowded around him, +till his head was crowned, not with a chaplet of flowers, but a +circlet of happy faces." The devotion of his friends, his happy family +relations, the success of his published works, conspired to make Weber +cheerful and joyous beyond his wont, for he was naturally of a +melancholy and serious turn, disposed to look at life from its tragic +side. + +In 1813 he was called to Prague to direct the music of the German +opera in that Bohemian capital. The Bohemians had always been a highly +musical race, and their chief city is associated in the minds of the +students of music as the place where many of the great operas were +first presented to the public. Mozart loved Prague, for he found in +its people the audiences who appreciated and honoured him the most. +Its traditions were honoured in their treatment of Weber, for his +three years there were among the happiest of his life. + +Our composer wrote his opera of "Der Freischütz" in Dresden. It was +first produced in the opera-house of that classic city, but it was not +till 1821, when it was performed in Berlin, that its greatness was +recognised. Weber can best tell the story of its reception himself. In +his letter to his co-author, Kind, he writes:-- + + "The free-shooter has hit the mark. The second + representation has succeeded as well as the first; there was + the same enthusiasm. All the places in the house are taken + for the third, which comes off to-morrow. It is the greatest + triumph one can have. You cannot imagine what a lively + interest your text inspires from beginning to end. How happy + I should have been if you had only been present to hear it + for yourself! Some of the scenes produced an effect which I + was far from anticipating; for example, that of the young + girls. If I see you again at Dresden, I will tell you all + about it; for I cannot do it justice in writing. How much I + am indebted to you for your magnificent poem! I embrace you + with the sincerest emotion, returning to your muse the + laurels I owe her. God grant that you may be happy. Love him + who loves you with infinite respect. + + "Your Weber." + +"Der Freischütz" was such a success as to place the composer in the +front ranks of the lyric stage. The striking originality, the fire, +the passion of his music, the ardent national feeling, and the +freshness of treatment, gave a genuine shock of delight and surprise +to the German world. + + +IV. + +The opera of "Preciosa," also a masterpiece, was given shortly after +with great _éclat_, though it failed to inspire the deep enthusiasm +which greeted "Der Freischütz." In 1823, "Euryanthe" was produced in +Berlin--a work on which Weber exhausted all the treasures of his +musical genius. Without the elements of popular success which made his +first great opera such an immediate favourite, it shows the most +finished and scholarly work which Weber ever attained. Its symmetry +and completeness, the elaboration of all the forms, the richness and +variety of the orchestration, bear witness to the long and thoughtful +labour expended on it. It gradually won its way to popular +recognition, and has always remained one of the favourite works of the +German stage. + +The opera of "Oberon" was Weber's last great production. The +celebrated poet Wieland composed the poem underlying the libretto, +from the mediæval romance of Huon of Bordeaux. The scenes are laid in +fairy-land, and it may be almost called a German "Midsummer-Night's +Dream," though the story differs widely from the charming phantasy of +our own Shakespeare. The opera of "Oberon" was written for Kemble, of +the Covent Garden theatre, in London, and was produced by Weber under +circumstances of failing health and great mental depression. The +composer pressed every energy to the utmost to meet his engagement, +and it was feared by his friends that he would not live to see it put +on the stage. It did, indeed, prove the song of the dying swan, for he +only lived four months after reaching London. "Oberon" was performed +with immense success under the direction of Sir George Smart, and the +fading days of the author were cheered by the acclamations of the +English public; but the work cost him his life. He died in London, +June 5, 1826. His last words were--"God reward you for all your +kindness to me.--Now let me sleep." + +Apart from his dramatic compositions, Weber is known for his many +beautiful overtures and symphonies for the orchestra, and his various +works for the piano, from sonatas to waltzes and minuets. Among his +most pleasing piano-works are the "Invitation to the Waltz," the +"Perpetual Rondo," and the "Polonaise in E major." Many of his songs +rank among the finest German lyrics. He would have been recognised as +an able composer had he not produced great operas; but the superior +excellence of these cast all his other compositions in the shade. + +Weber was fortunate in having gifted poets to write his dramas. As +rich as he was in melodic affluence, his creative faculty seems to +have had its tap-root in deep personal feelings and enthusiasms. One +of the most poetic and picturesque of composers, he needed a powerful +exterior suggestion to give his genius wings and fire. The Germany of +his time was alive with patriotic ardour, and the existence of the +nation gathered from its emergencies new strength and force. The heart +of Weber beat strong with the popular life. Romantic and serious in +his taste, his imagination fed on old German tradition and song, and +drew from them its richest food. The whole life of the Fatherland, +with its glow of love for home, its keen sympathies with the +influences of Nature, its fantastic play of thought, its tendency to +embody the primitive forces in weird myths, found in Weber an eloquent +exponent; and we perceive in his music all the colour and vividness of +these influences. + +Weber's love of Nature was singularly keen. The woods, the mountains, +the lakes, and the streams, spoke to his soul with voices full of +meaning. He excelled in making these voices speak and sing; and he +may, therefore, be entitled the father of the romantic and descriptive +school in German operatic music. With more breadth and robustness, he +expressed the national feelings of his people, even as Chopin did +those of dying Poland. Weber's motives are generally caught from the +immemorial airs which resound in every village and hamlet, and the +fresh beat of the German heart sends its thrill through almost every +bar of his music. Here is found the ultimate significance of his +art-work, apart from the mere musical beauty of his compositions. + + + + +_MENDELSSOHN._ + + +I. + +Few careers could present more startling contrasts than those of +Mozart and Mendelssohn, in many respects of similar genius, but +utterly opposed in the whole surroundings of their lives. FELIX +MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY was the grandson of the celebrated philosopher, +Moses Mendelssohn, and the son of a rich Hamburg banker. His uncles +were distinguished in literary and social life. His friends from early +childhood were eminent scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, and +his family moved in the most refined and wealthy circles. He was +nursed in the lap of luxury, and never knew the cold and hunger of +life. All the good fairies and graces seemed to have smiled benignly +on his birth, and to have showered on him their richest gifts. Many +successful wooers of the muse have been, fortunately for themselves, +the heirs of poverty, and became successful only to yield themselves +to fat and slothful ease. But, with every incitement to an idle and +contented life, Mendelssohn toiled like a galley-slave, and saw in his +wealth only the means of a more exclusive consecration to his art. A +passionate impulse to labour was the law of his life. + +Many will recollect the brilliant novel, _Charles Auchester_, in +which, under the names of Seraphael, Aronach, Charles Auchester, Julia +Bennett, and Starwood Burney, are painted the characters of +Mendelssohn, Zelter his teacher, Joachim the violinist, Jenny Lind, +and Sterndale Bennett, the English composer. The brilliant colouring +does not disguise nor flatter the lofty Christian purity, the splendid +genius, and the great personal charm of the composer, who shares in +largest measure the homage which the English public lays at the feet +of Handel. + +As child and youth Mendelssohn, born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, +displayed the same precocity of talent as was shown by Mozart. Sir +Julius Benedict relates his first meeting with him. He was walking in +Berlin with Von Weber, and the latter called his attention to a boy +about eleven years old, who, perceiving the author of "Der +Freischütz," gave him a hearty greeting. "'Tis Felix Mendelssohn," +said Weber, introducing the marvellous boy. Benedict narrates his +amazement to find the extraordinary attainments of this beautiful +youth, with curling auburn hair, brilliant clear eyes, and lips +smiling with innocence and candour. Five minutes after young +Mendelssohn had astonished his English friend by his admirable +performance of several of his own compositions, he forgot Weber, +quartets, and counterpoint, to leap over the garden hedges and climb +the trees like a squirrel. When scarcely twenty years old he had +composed his octet, three quartets for the piano and strings, two +sonatas, two symphonies, his first violin quartet, various operas, +many songs, and the immortal overture of "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." + +Mendelssohn received an admirable education, was an excellent +classicist and linguist, and during a short residence at Düsseldorf +showed such talent for painting as to excite much wonder. Before he +was twenty he was the friend of Goethe and Herder, who delighted in a +genius so rich and symmetrical. Some of Goethe's letters are full of +charming expressions of praise and affection, for the aged Jupiter of +German literature found in the promise of this young Apollo something +of the many-sided power which made himself so remarkable. + + +II. + +The Mendelssohn family had moved to Berlin when Felix was only three +years old, and the Berliners always claimed him as their own. Strange +to say, the city of his birth did not recognise his talent for many +years. At the age of twenty he went to England, and the high breeding, +personal beauty, and charming manner of the young musician gave him +the _entrée_ into the most fastidious and exclusive circles. His first +symphony and the "Midsummer-Night's Dream" overture stamped his power +with the verdict of a warm enthusiasm; for London, though cold and +conservative, is prompt to recognise a superior order of merit. + +His travels through Scotland inspired Mendelssohn with sentiments of +great admiration. The scenery filled his mind with the highest +suggestions of beauty and grandeur. He afterwards tells us that "he +preferred the cold sky and the pines of the north to charming scenes +in the midst of landscapes bathed in the glowing rays of the sun and +azure light." The vague Ossianic figures that raised their gigantic +heads in the fog-wreaths of clouded mountain-tops and lonely lochs had +a peculiar fascination for him, and acted like wine on his +imagination. The "Hebrides" overture was the fruit of this tour, one +of the most powerful and characteristic of his minor compositions. His +sister Fanny (Mrs. Hensel) asked him to describe the grey scenery of +the north, and he replied in music by improvising his impressions. +This theme was afterwards worked out in the elaborate overture. + +We will not follow him in his various travels through France and +Italy. Suffice it to say, that his keen and passionate mind absorbed +everything in art which could feed the divine hunger, for he was ever +discontented, and had his mind fixed on an absolute and determined +ideal. During this time of travel he became intimate with the sculptor +Thorwaldsen, and the painters Leopold Robert and Horace Vernet. This +period produced "Walpurgis Night," the first of the "Songs without +Words," the great symphony in A major, and the "Melusine" overture. He +is now about to enter on the epoch which puts to the fullest test the +varied resources of his genius. To Moscheles he writes, in answer to +his old teacher's warm praise--"Your praise is better than three +orders of nobility." For several years we see him busy in multifarious +ways, composing, leading musical festivals, concert-giving, directing +opera-houses, and yet finding time to keep up a busy correspondence +with the most distinguished men in Europe; for Mendelssohn seemed to +find in letter-writing a rest for his over-taxed brain. + +In 1835 he completed his great oratorio of "St. Paul," for Leipsic. +The next year he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy and the +Fine Arts; and in 1837 he married the charming Cécile Jeanrenaud, who +made his domestic life so gentle and harmonious. It has been thought +strange that Mendelssohn should have made so little mention of his +lovely wife in his letters, so prone as he was to speak of affairs of +his daily life. Be this as it may, his correspondence with Moscheles, +Devrient, and others, as well as the general testimony of his friends, +shows us unmistakably that his home-life was blessed in an exceptional +degree with intellectual sympathy, and the tenderest and most +thoughtful love. + +In 1841 Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the Prussian court. He now +wrote the "Athalie" music, the "Midsummer-Night's Dream," and a large +number of lesser pieces, including the "Songs without Words," and +piano sonatas, as well as much church music. The greatest work of +this period was the "Hymn of Praise," a symphonic cantata for the +Leipsic anniversary of the invention of printing, regarded by many as +his finest composition. + +Mendelssohn always loved England, and made frequent visits across the +Channel; for he felt that among the English he was fully appreciated, +both as man and composer. + +His oratorio of "Elijah" was composed for the English public, and +produced at the great Birmingham festival in 1846, under his own +direction, with magnificent success. It was given a second time in +April 1847, with his final refinements and revisions; and the event +was regarded in England as one of the greatest since the days of +Handel, to whom, as well as to Haydn and Beethoven, Mendelssohn showed +himself a worthy rival in the field of oratorio composition. Of this +visit to England Lampadius, his friend and biographer, writes--"Her +Majesty, who as well as her husband was a great friend of art, and +herself a distinguished musician, received the distinguished German in +her own sitting-room, Prince Albert being the only one present besides +herself. As he entered she asked his pardon for the somewhat +disorderly state of the room, and began to rearrange the articles with +her own hands, Mendelssohn himself gallantly offering his assistance. +Some parrots whose cages hung in the room she herself carried into the +next room, in which Mendelssohn helped her also. She then requested +her guest to play something, and afterwards sang some songs of his +which she had sung at a court concert soon after the attack on her +person. She was not wholly pleased, however, with her own performance, +and said pleasantly to Mendelssohn, 'I can do better--ask Lablache if +I cannot; but I am afraid of you!'" + +This anecdote was related by Mendelssohn himself to show the +graciousness of the English queen. It was at this time that Prince +Albert sent to Mendelssohn the book of the oratorio "Elijah" with +which he used to follow the performance, with the following +autographic inscription:-- + + "To the noble artist, who, surrounded by the Baal worship + of corrupted art, has been able by his genius and science to + preserve faithfully like another Elijah the worship of true + art, and once more to accustom our ear, lost in the whirl of + an empty play of sounds, to the pure notes of expressive + composition and legitimate harmony--to the great master, who + makes us conscious of the unity of his conception through + the whole maze of his creation, from the soft whispering to + the mighty raging of the elements: Written in token of + grateful remembrance by + + "Albert. + + "Buckingham Palace, _April 24, 1847_." + +An occurrence at the Birmingham festival throws a clear light on +Mendelssohn's presence of mind, and on his faculty of instant +concentration. On the last day, among other things, one of Handel's +anthems was given. The concert was already going on, when it was +discovered that the short recitative which precedes the "Coronation +Hymn," and which the public had in the printed text, was lacking in +the voice parts. The directors were perplexed. Mendelssohn, who was +sitting in an ante-room of the hall, heard of it, and said, "Wait, I +will help you." He sat down directly at a table, and composed the +music for the recitative and the orchestral accompaniment in about +half an hour. It was at once transcribed, and given without any +rehearsal, and went very finely. + +On returning to Leipsic he determined to pass the summer in Vevay, +Switzerland, on account of his failing health, which had begun to +alarm himself and his friends. His letters from Switzerland at this +period show how the shadow of rapidly approaching death already threw +a deep gloom over his habitually cheerful nature. He returned to +Leipsic, and resumed hard work. His operetta entitled "Return from +among Strangers" was his last production, with the exception of some +lively songs and a few piano pieces of the "Lieder ohne Worte," or +"Songs without Words," series. Mendelssohn was seized with an +apoplectic attack on October 9, 1847. Second and third seizures +quickly followed, and he died November 4th, aged thirty-eight years. + +All Germany and Europe sorrowed over the loss of this great musician, +and his funeral was attended by many of the most distinguished persons +from all parts of the land, for the loss was felt to be something like +a national calamity. + + +III. + +Mendelssohn was one of the most intelligent and scholarly composers of +the century. Learned in various branches of knowledge, and personally +a man of unusual accomplishments, his career was full of manly energy, +enlightened enthusiasm, and severe devotion to the highest forms of +the art of music. Not only his great oratorios, "St. Paul" and +"Elijah," but his music for the piano, including the "Songs without +Words," sonatas, and many occasional pieces, have won him a high place +among his musical brethren. As an orchestral composer, his overtures +are filled with strikingly original thoughts and elevated conceptions, +expressed with much delicacy of instrumental colouring. He was brought +but little in contact with the French and Italian schools, and there +is found in his works a severity of art-form which shows how closely +he sympathised with Bach and Handel in his musical tendencies. He died +while at the very zenith of his powers, and we may well believe that a +longer life would have developed much richer beauty in his +compositions. Short as his career was, however, he left a great number +of magnificent works, which entitle him to a place among the Titans of +music. + + + + +_RICHARD WAGNER._ + + +I. + +It is curious to note how often art-controversy has become edged with +a bitterness rivalling even the gall and venom of religious dispute. +Scholars have not yet forgotten the fiery war of words which raged +between Richard Bentley and his opponents concerning the authenticity +of the _Epistles of Phalaris_, nor how literary Germany was divided +into two hostile camps by Wolf's attack on the personality of Homer. +It is no less fresh in the minds of critics how that modern Jupiter, +Lessing, waged a long and bitter battle with the Titans of the French +classical drama, and finally crushed them with the thunderbolt of the +_Dramaturgie_; nor what acrimony sharpened the discussion between the +rival theorists in music, Gluck and Piccini, at Paris. All of the +intensity of these art-campaigns, and many of the conditions of the +last, enter into the contest between Richard Wagner and the +_Italianissimi_ of the present day. + +The exact points at issue were for a long time so befogged by the +smoke of the battle that many of the large class who are musically +interested, but never had an opportunity to study the question, will +find an advantage in a clear and comprehensive sketch of the facts and +principles involved. Until recently there were still many people who +thought of Wagner as a youthful and eccentric enthusiast, all afire +with misdirected genius, a mere carpet-knight on the sublime +battle-field of art, a beginner just sowing his wild-oats in works +like "Lohengrin," "Tristan and Iseult," or the "Rheingold." It is a +revelation full of suggestive value for these to realise that he is a +musical thinker, ripe with sixty years of labour and experience; that +he represents the rarest and choicest fruits of modern culture, not +only as musician, but as poet and philosopher; that he is one of the +few examples in the history of the art where massive scholarship and +the power of subtile analysis have been united, in a pre-eminent +degree, with great creative genius. Preliminary to a study of what +Wagner and his disciples entitled the "Art-work of the Future," let us +take a swift survey of music as a medium of expression for the +beautiful, and some of the forms which it has assumed. + +This Ariel of the fine arts sends its messages to the human soul by +virtue of a fourfold capacity--Firstly, the imitation of the voices of +Nature, such as the winds, the waves, and the cries of animals; +secondly, its potential delight as melody, modulation, rhythm, +harmony--in other words, its simple worth as a "thing of beauty," +without regard to cause or consequence; thirdly, its force of +boundless suggestion; fourthly, that affinity for union with the more +definite and exact forms of the imagination (poetry), by which the +intellectual context of the latter is raised to a far higher power of +grace, beauty, passion, sweetness, without losing individuality of +outline--like, indeed, the hazy aureole which painters set on the brow +of the man Jesus, to fix the seal of the ultimate Divinity. Though +several or all of these may be united in the same composition, each +musical work may be characterised in the main as descriptive, +sensuous, suggestive, or dramatic, according as either element +contributes most largely to its purpose. Simple melody or harmony +appeals mostly to the sensuous love of sweet sounds. The symphony does +this in an enlarged and complicated sense, but is still more marked by +the marvellous suggestive energy with which it unlocks all the secret +raptures of fancy, floods the border-lands of thought with a glory not +to be found on sea or land, and paints ravishing pictures, that come +and go like dreams, with colours drawn from the "twelve-tinted +tone-spectrum." Shelley describes this peculiar influence of music in +his "Prometheus Unbound," with exquisite beauty and truth-- + + "My soul is an enchanted boat, + Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float + Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; + And thine doth like an angel sit + Beside the helm conducting it, + While all the waves with melody are ringing. + It seems to float ever, for ever, + Upon that many-winding river, + Between mountains, woods, abysses, + A paradise of wildernesses." + +As the symphony best expresses the suggestive potency in music, the +operatic form incarnates its capacity of definite thought, and the +expression of that thought. The term "lyric," as applied to the +genuine operatic conception, is a misnomer. Under the accepted +operatic form, however, it has relative truth, as the main musical +purpose of opera seems, hitherto, to have been less to furnish +expression for exalted emotions and thoughts, or exquisite sentiments, +than to grant the vocal _virtuoso_ opportunity to display phenomenal +qualities of voice and execution. But all opera, however it may stray +from the fundamental idea, suggests this dramatic element in music, +just as mere lyricism in the poetic art is the blossom from which is +unfolded the full-blown perfection of the word-drama, the highest form +of all poetry. + + +II. + +That music, by and of itself, cannot express the intellectual element +in the beautiful dream-images of art with precision, is a palpable +truth. Yet, by its imperial dominion over the sphere of emotion and +sentiment, the connection of the latter with complicated mental +phenomena is made to bring into the domain of tone vague and shifting +fancies and pictures. How much further music can be made to assimilate +to the other arts in directness of mental suggestion, by wedding to it +the noblest forms of poetry, and making each the complement of the +other, is the knotty problem which underlies the great art-controversy +about which this article concerns itself. On the one side we have the +claim that music is the all-sufficient law unto itself; that its +appeal to sympathy is through the intrinsic sweetness of harmony and +tune, and the intellect must be satisfied with what it may +accidentally glean in this harvest-field; that, in the rapture +experienced in the sensuous apperception of its beauty, lies the +highest phase of art-sensibility. Therefore, concludes the syllogism, +it matters nothing as to the character of the libretto or poem to +whose words the music is arranged, so long as the dramatic framework +suffices as a support for the flowery festoons of song, which drape +its ugliness and beguile attention by the fascinations of bloom and +grace. On the other hand, the apostles of the new musical philosophy +insist that art is something more than a vehicle for the mere sense of +the beautiful, an exquisite provocation wherewith to startle the sense +of a selfish, epicurean pleasure; that its highest function--to follow +the idea of the Greek Plato, and the greatest of his modern disciples, +Schopenhauer--is to serve as the incarnation of the true and the good; +and, even as Goethe makes the Earth-Spirit sing in "Faust"-- + + "'Tis thus ever at the loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the garment thou seest him by"-- + +so the highest art is that which best embodies the immortal thought of +the universe as reflected in the mirror of man's consciousness; that +music, as speaking the most spiritual language of any of the +art-family, is burdened with the most pressing responsibility as the +interpreter between the finite and the infinite; that all its forms +must be measured by the earnestness and success with which they teach +and suggest what is best in aspiration and truest in thought; that +music, when wedded to the highest form of poetry (the drama), produces +the consummate art-result, and sacrifices to some extent its power of +suggestion, only to acquire a greater glory and influence, that of +investing definite intellectual images with spiritual raiment, through +which they shine on the supreme altitudes of ideal thought; that to +make this marriage perfect as an art-form and fruitful in result, the +two partners must come as equals, neither one the drudge of the +other; that in this organic fusion music and poetry contribute, each +its best, to emancipate art from its thraldom to that which is merely +trivial, commonplace, and accidental, and make it a revelation of all +that is most exalted in thought, sentiment, and purpose. Such is the +æsthetic theory of Richard Wagner's art-work. + + +III. + +It is suggestive to note that the earliest recognised function of +music, before it had learned to enslave itself to mere sensuous +enjoyment, was similar in spirit to that which its latest reformer +demands for it in the art of the future. The glory of its birth then +shone on its brow. It was the handmaid and minister of the religious +instinct. The imagination became afire with the mystery of life and +Nature, and burst into the flames and frenzies of rhythm. Poetry was +born, but instantly sought the wings of music for a higher flight than +the mere word would permit. Even the great epics of the "Iliad" and +"Odyssey" were originally sung or chanted by the Homeridæ, and the +same essential union seems to have been in some measure demanded +afterwards in the Greek drama, which, at its best, was always inspired +with the religious sentiment. There is every reason to believe that +the chorus of the drama of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides uttered +their comments on the action of the play with such a prolongation and +variety of pitch in the rhythmic intervals as to constitute a +sustained and melodic recitative. Music at this time was an essential +part of the drama. When the creative genius of Greece had set towards +its ebb, they were divorced, and music was only set to lyric forms. +Such remained the status of the art till, in the Italian Renaissance, +modern opera was born in the reunion of music and the drama. Like the +other arts, it assumed at the outset to be a mere revival of antique +traditions. The great poets of Italy had then passed away, and it was +left for music to fill the void. + +The muse, Polyhymnia, soon emerged from the stage of childish +stammering. Guittone di Arezzo taught her to fix her thoughts in +indelible signs, and two centuries of training culminated in the +inspired composers, Orlando di Lasso and Palestrina. Of the gradual +degradation of the operatic art as its forms became more elaborate and +fixed; of the arbitrary transfer of absolute musical forms like the +aria, duet, finale, etc., into the action of the opera without regard +to poetic propriety; of the growing tendency to treat the human voice +like any other instrument, merely to show its resources as an organ; +of the final utter bondage of the poet to the musician, till opera +became little more than a congeries of musico-gymnastic forms, wherein +the vocal soloists could display their art, it needs not to speak at +length, for some of these vices have not yet disappeared. In the +language of Dante's guide through the Inferno, at one stage of their +wanderings, when the sights were peculiarly mournful and desolate-- + + "Non raggioniam da lor, ma guarda e passa." + +The loss of all poetic verity and earnestness in opera furnished the +great composer Gluck with the motive of the bitter and protracted +contest which he waged with varying success throughout Europe, though +principally in Paris. Gluck boldly affirmed, and carried out the +principle in his compositions, that the task of dramatic music was to +accompany the different phases of emotion in the text, and give them +their highest effect of spiritual intensity. The singer must be the +mouthpiece of the poet, and must take extreme care in giving the full +poetical burden of the song. Thus, the declamatory music became of +great importance, and Gluck's recitative reached an unequalled degree +of perfection. + +The critics of Gluck's time hurled at him the same charges which are +familiar to us now as coming from the mouths and pens of the enemies +of Wagner's music. Yet Gluck, however conscious of the ideal unity +between music and poetry, never thought of bringing this about by a +sacrifice of any of the forms of his own peculiar art. His influence, +however, was very great, and the traditions of the great _maestro's_ +art have been kept alive in the works of his no less great disciples, +Méhul, Cherubini, Spontini, and Meyerbeer. + +Two other attempts to ingraft new and vital power on the rigid and +trivial sentimentality of the Italian forms of opera were those of +Rossini and Weber. The former was gifted with the greatest affluence +of pure melodiousness ever given to a composer. But even his sparkling +originality and freshness did little more than reproduce the old forms +under a more attractive guise. Weber, on the other hand, stood in the +van of a movement which had its fountain-head in the strong romantic +and national feeling, pervading the whole of society and literature. +There was a general revival of mediæval and popular poetry, with its +balmy odour of the woods, and fields, and streams. Weber's melody was +the direct offspring of the tunefulness of the German _Volkslied_, and +so it expressed, with wonderful freshness and beauty, all the range of +passion and sentiment within the limits of this pure and simple +language. But the boundaries were far too narrow to build upon them +the ultimate union of music and poetry, which should express the +perfect harmony of the two arts. While it is true that all of the +great German composers protested, by their works, against the spirit +and character of the Italian school of music, Wagner claims that the +first abrupt and strongly-defined departure towards a radical reform +in art is found in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with chorus. Speaking of +this remarkable leap from instrumental to vocal music in a professedly +symphonic composition, Wagner, in his _Essay on Beethoven_, says--"We +declare that the work of art, which was formed and quickened entirely +by that deed, must present the most perfect artistic form, _i.e._, +that form in which, as for the drama, so also and especially for +music, every conventionality would be abolished." Beethoven is +asserted to have founded the new musical school, when he admitted, by +his recourse to the vocal cantata in the greatest of his symphonic +works, that he no longer recognised absolute music as sufficient unto +itself. + +In Bach and Handel, the great masters of fugue and counterpoint; in +Rossini, Mozart, and Weber, the consummate creators of melody--then, +according to this view, we only recognise thinkers in the realm of +pure music. In Beethoven, the greatest of them all, was laid the basis +of the new epoch of tone-poetry. In the immortal songs of Schubert, +Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Franz, and the symphonies of the +first four, the vitality of the reformatory idea is richly +illustrated. In the music-drama of Wagner, it is claimed by his +disciples, is found the full flower and development of the art-work. + +WILLIAM RICHARD WAGNER, the formal projector of the great changes +whose details are yet to be sketched, was born at Leipsic in 1813. As +a child he displayed no very marked artistic tastes, though his ear +and memory for music were quite remarkable. When admitted to the +Kreuzschule of Dresden, the young student, however, distinguished +himself by his very great talent for literary composition and the +classical languages. To this early culture, perhaps, we are indebted +for the great poetic power which has enabled him to compose the +remarkable libretti which have furnished the basis of his music. His +first creative attempt was a blood-thirsty drama, where forty-two +characters are killed, and the few survivors are haunted by the +ghosts. Young Wagner soon devoted himself to the study of music, and, +in 1833, became a pupil of Theodor Weinlig, a distinguished teacher of +harmony and counterpoint. His four years of study at this time were +also years of activity in creative experiment, as he composed four +operas. + +His first opera of note was "Rienzi," with which he went to Paris in +1837. In spite of Meyerbeer's efforts in its favour, this work was +rejected, and laid aside for some years. Wagner supported himself by +musical criticism and other literary work, and soon was in a position +to offer another opera, "Der fliegende Holländer," to the authorities +of the Grand Opera-House. Again the directors refused the work, but +were so charmed with the beauty of the libretto that they bought it to +be reset to music. Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for +the indomitable young musician. "Rienzi" was then produced at Dresden, +so much to the delight of the King of Saxony that the composer was +made royal Kapellmeister and leader of the orchestra. The production +of "Der fliegende Holländer" quickly followed; next came "Tannhäuser" +and "Lohengrin," to be swiftly succeeded by the "Meistersinger von +Nürnberg." This period of our _maestro's_ musical activity also +commenced to witness the development of his theories on the philosophy +of his art, and some of his most remarkable critical writings were +then given to the world. + +Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of exile in +Zurich; thence he went to London, where he remained till 1861 as +conductor of the London Philharmonic Society. In 1861 the exile +returned to his native country, and spent several years in Germany and +Russia--there having arisen quite a _furore_ for his music in the +latter country. The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King Louis of +Bavaria by "Der fliegende Holländer" resulted in a summons to Wagner +to settle at Munich, and with the glories of the Royal Opera-House in +that city his name has been principally connected. The culminating +art-splendour of his life, however, was the production of his +stupendous tetralogy, the "Ring der Niebelungen," at the great +opera-house at Bayreuth, in the summer of the year 1876. + + +IV. + +The first element to be noted in Wagner's operatic forms is the +energetic protest against the artificial and conventional in music. +The utter want of dramatic symmetry and fitness in the operas we have +been accustomed to hear could only be overlooked by the force of +habit, and the tendency to submerge all else in the mere enjoyment of +the music. The utter variance of music and poetry was to Wagner the +stumbling-block which, first of all, must be removed. So he crushed at +one stroke all the hard, arid forms which existed in the lyrical drama +as it had been known. His opera, then, is no longer a congeries of +separate musical numbers, like duets, arias, chorals, and finales, set +in a flimsy web of formless recitative, without reference to dramatic +economy. His great purpose is lofty dramatic truth, and to this end he +sacrifices the whole framework of accepted musical forms, with the +exception of the chorus, and this he remodels. The musical energy is +concentrated in the dialogue as the main factor of the dramatic +problem, and fashioned entirely according to the requirements of the +action. The continuous flow of beautiful melody takes the place alike +of the dry recitative and the set musical forms which characterise the +accepted school of opera. As the dramatic _motif_ demands, this +"continuous melody" rises into the highest ecstasies of the lyrical +fervour, or ebbs into a chant-like swell of subdued feeling, like the +ocean after the rush of the storm. If Wagner has destroyed musical +forms, he has also added a positive element. In place of the aria we +have the _logos_. This is the musical expression of the principal +passion underlying the action of the drama. Whenever, in the course of +the development of the story, this passion comes into ascendency, the +rich strains of the _logos_ are heard anew, stilling all other sounds. +Gounod has, in part, applied this principle in "Faust." All +opera-goers will remember the intense dramatic effect arising from the +recurrence of the same exquisite lyric outburst from the lips of +Marguerite. + +The peculiar character of Wagner's word-drama next arouses critical +interest and attention. The composer is his own poet, and his creative +genius shines no less here than in the world of tone. The musical +energy flows entirely from the dramatic conditions, like the +electrical current from the cups of the battery; and the rhythmical +structure of the _melos_ (tune) is simply the transfiguration of the +poetical basis. The poetry, then, is all-important in the music-drama. +Wagner has rejected the forms of blank verse and rhyme as utterly +unsuited to the lofty purposes of music, and has gone to the metrical +principle of all the Teutonic and Slavonic poetry. This rhythmic +element of alliteration, or _staffrhyme_, we find magnificently +illustrated in the Scandinavian Eddas, and even in our own Anglo-Saxon +fragments of the days of Cædmon and Alcuin. By the use of this new +form, verse and melody glide together in one exquisite rhythm, in +which it seems impossible to separate the one from the other. The +strong accent of the alliterating syllables supply the music with +firmness, while the low-toned syllables give opportunity for the most +varied _nuances_ of declamation. + +The first radical development of Wagner's theories we see in "The +Flying Dutchman." In "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin" they find full sway. +The utter revolt of his mind from the trivial and commonplace +sentimentalities of Italian opera led him to believe that the most +heroic and lofty motives alone should furnish the dramatic foundation +of opera. For a while he oscillated between history and legend, as +best adapted to furnish his material. In his selection of the +dream-land of myth and legend, we may detect another example of the +profound and _exigeant_ art-instincts which have ruled the whole of +Wagner's life. There could be no question as to the utter incongruity +of any dramatic picture of ordinary events, or ordinary personages, +finding expression in musical utterance. Genuine and profound art must +always be consistent with itself, and what we recognise as general +truth. Even characters set in the comparatively near background of +history are too closely related to our own familiar surroundings of +thought and mood to be regarded as artistically natural in the use of +music as the organ of the every-day life of emotion and sentiment. But +with the dim and heroic shapes that haunt the border-land of the +supernatural, which we call legend, the case is far different. This +is the drama of the demigods, living in a different atmosphere from +our own, however akin to ours may be their passions and purposes. For +these we are no longer compelled to regard the medium of music as a +forced and untruthful expression, for do they not dwell in the magic +lands of the imagination? All sense of dramatic inconsistency +instantly vanishes, and the conditions of artistic illusion are +perfect. + + "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, + And clothes the mountains with their azure hue." + +Thus all of Wagner's works, from "Der fliegende Holländer" to the +"Ring der Niebelungen," have been located in the world of myth, in +obedience to a profound art-principle. The opera of "Tristan and +Iseult," first performed in 1865, announced Wagner's absolute +emancipation, both in the construction of music and poetry, from the +time-honoured and time-corrupted canons, and, aside from the last +great work, it may be received as the most perfect representation of +his school. + +The third main feature in the Wagner music is the wonderful use of the +orchestra as a factor in the solution of the art-problem. This is no +longer a mere accompaniment to the singer, but translates the passion +of the play into a grand symphony, running parallel and commingling +with the vocal music. Wagner, as a great master of orchestration, has +had few equals since Beethoven; and he uses his power with marked +effect to heighten the dramatic intensity of the action, and at the +same time to convey certain meanings which can only find vent in the +vague and indistinct forms of pure music. The romantic conception of +the mediæval love, the shudderings and raptures of Christian +revelation, have certain phases that absolute music alone can express. +The orchestra, then, becomes as much an integral part of the +music-drama, in its actual current movement, as the chorus or the +leading performers. Placed on the stage, yet out of sight, its strains +might almost be fancied the sound of the sympathetic communion of +good and evil spirits, with whose presence mystics formerly claimed +man was constantly surrounded. Wagner's use of the orchestra may be +illustrated from the opera of "Lohengrin." + +The ideal background, from which the emotions of the human actors in +the drama are reflected with supernatural light, is the conception of +the "Holy Graal," the mystic symbol of the Christian faith, and its +descent from the skies, guarded by hosts of seraphim. This is the +subject of the orchestral prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and +terrors of the Christian ecstasy been more potently expressed. The +prelude opens with long-drawn chords of the violins, in the highest +octaves, in the most exquisite _pianissimo_. The inner eye of the +spirit discerns in this the suggestion of shapeless white clouds, +hardly discernible from the aërial blue of the sky. Suddenly the +strings seem to sound from the farthest distance, in continued +_pianissimo_, and the melody, the Graal-motive, takes shape. +Gradually, to the fancy, a group of angels seem to reveal themselves, +slowly descending from the heavenly heights, and bearing in their +midst the _Sangréal_. The modulations throb through the air, +augmenting in richness and sweetness, till the _fortissimo_ of the +full orchestra reveals the sacred mystery. With this climax of +spiritual ecstasy the harmonious waves gradually recede and ebb away +in dying sweetness, as the angels return to their heavenly abode. This +orchestral movement recurs in the opera, according to the laws of +dramatic fitness, and its melody is heard also in the _logos_ of +Lohengrin, the knight of the Graal, to express certain phases of his +action. The immense power which music is thus made to have in dramatic +effect can easily be fancied. + +A fourth prominent characteristic of the Wagner music-drama is that, +to develop its full splendour, there must be a co-operation of all the +arts, painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as poetry and +music. Therefore, in realising its effects, much importance rests in +the visible beauties of action, as they may be expressed by the +painting of scenery and the grouping of human figures. Well may such +a grand conception be called the "Art-work of the Future." + +Wagner for a long time despaired of the visible execution of his +ideas. At last the celebrated pianist, Tausig, suggested an appeal to +the admirers of the new music throughout the world for means to carry +out the composer's great ideas--viz., to perform the "Niebelungen" at +a theatre to be erected for the purpose, and by a select company, in +the manner of a national festival, and before an audience entirely +removed from the atmosphere of vulgar theatrical shows. After many +delays Wagner's hopes were attained, and in the summer of 1876 a +gathering of the principal celebrities of Europe was present to +criticise the fully perfected fruit of the composer's theories and +genius. This festival was so recent, and its events have been the +subject of such elaborate comment, that further description will be +out of place here. + +As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his powers, +there can be no question as to Wagner's rank. The performance of the +"Niebelungenring," covering "Rheingold," "Die Walküren," "Siegfried," +and "Götterdämmerung," was one of the epochs of musical Germany. +However deficient Wagner's skill in writing for the human voice, the +power and symmetry of his conceptions, and his genius in embodying +them in massive operatic forms, are such as to storm even the +prejudices of his opponents. The poet-musician rightfully claims that +in his music-drama is found that wedding of two of the noblest of the +arts, pregnantly suggested by Shakespeare:-- + + "If Music and sweet Poetry both agree, + As they must needs, the sister and the brother; + . . . . . . + One God is God of both, as poets feign." + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--The knowledge of Wagner's music in England +originated chiefly with the masterly playing of Herr Von Bülow, with +the concerts given by Messrs. Dannreuther and Bache, and later on by +the Wagner festival held at the Albert Hall in 1877, where Wagner +himself presided at the performance of the music of his _Ring des +Niebelungen_. He was not quite satisfied with its reception; but this +is not altogether to be wondered at when we consider that the work was +divorced from its scenic adjuncts, and that in his operas--in +accordance with his own theory--the plastic arts as well as poetry and +music are equally required to produce a well-balanced result. None the +less, this festival greatly increased the interest in "the Music of +the Future;" and in 1880 _The Ring des Niebelungen_ was performed at +Covent Garden, while his other operas were given in their proper +sequence at Drury Lane. In 1882 his last great work, _Parsifal_, was +performed with striking éclat at Bayreuth. On the 18th of February +1883 he died of heart disease at Venice, whither he had gone to +recruit his health. A personal friend has recorded that Wagner's body +was laid in the coffin by the widow herself, who--as a last token of +her love and admiration--cut off the beautiful hair her husband had so +admired, and placed it on a red cushion under the head of the +departed. The body of the great musician was taken to Bayreuth and +buried, in accordance with the wishes he had himself expressed, in the +garden of his own house, "Vahnfried." A large wreath from the King of +Bavaria lay on the coffin, bearing the appropriate inscription--"To +the Deathless One." On the 24th of July in the same year, _Parsifal_ +was again performed at Bayreuth--a fitting requiem service over the +great master. _Parsifal_ is the culmination of Wagner's epic work. In +it he completes the cycle of myths by which he strove to express the +varied and fervent aspirations of humanity; and in particular "the two +burning questions of the day--1. The Tremendous Empire of the Senses. +2. The Immense Supremacy of Soul; and how to reconcile them." + +The Legend of the Sangrail, the _motif_ of his last work, is "the most +poetic and pathetic form of transubstantiation; ... it possesses the +true legendary power of attraction and assimilation." In Mr. Haweis' +words, "The _Tannhäuser_ and the _Lohengrin_ are the two first of the +legendary dramas which serve to illustrate the Christian Chivalry and +religious aspirations of the middle ages, in conflict on the one side +with the narrow ideals of Catholicism, and on the other with the free +instincts of human nature. _Parsifal_ forms with them a great Trilogy +of Christian legends, as the _Ring of the Niebelungen_ forms a +Tetralogy of Pagan, Rhine, and Norse legends. Both series of sacred +and profane myths in the hands of Wagner, whilst striking the great +key-notes, Paganism and Catholicism, become the fitting and +appropriate vehicles for the display of the ever-recurrent struggles +of the human heart--now in the grip of inexorable fate, now +passion-tossed, at war with itself and with time--soothed with spaces +of calm--flattered with the dream of ineffable joys--filled with +sublime hopes; and content at last with far-off glimpses of God." + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +ITALIAN AND FRENCH COMPOSERS. + + + + +_PALESTRINA._ + + +I. + +The Netherlands share other glories than that of having nursed the +most indomitable spirit of liberty known to mediæval Europe. The fine +as well as the industrial arts found among this remarkable people, +distinguished by Erasmus as possessed of the _patientia laboris_, an +eager and passionate culture. The early contributions of the Low +Countries to the growth of the pictorial art are well known to all. +But to most it will be a revelation that the Belgian school of music +was the great fructifying influence of the fifteenth century, to which +Italy and Germany owe a debt not easily measured. The art of +interweaving parts and that science of sound known as counterpoint +were placed by this school of musical scholars and workers on a solid +basis, which enabled the great composers who came after them to build +their beautiful tone fabrics in forms of imperishable beauty and +symmetry. For a long time most of the great Italian churches had +Belgian chapel-masters, and the value of their example and teachings +was vital in its relation to Italian music. + +The last great master among the Belgians, and, after Palestrina, the +greatest of the sixteenth century, was Orlando di Lasso, born in +Hainault, in the year 1520. His life of a little more than three score +years and ten was divided between Italy and Germany. He left the deep +imprint of his severe style, though but a young man, on his Italian +_confrères_, and the young Palestrina owed to him much of the +largeness and beauty of form through which he poured his genius in the +creation of such works as have given him so distinct a place in +musical history. The pope created Orlando di Lasso Knight of the +Golden Spur, and sought to keep him in Italy. Unconcerned as to fame, +the gentle, peaceful musician lived for his art alone, and the +flattering expressions of the great were not so much enjoyed as +endured by him. A musical historian, Heimsoeth, says of him--"He is +the brilliant master of the North, great and sublime in sacred +composition, of inexhaustible invention, displaying much breadth, +variety, and depth in his treatment; he delights in full and powerful +harmonies, yet, after all--owing to an existence passed in journeys, +as well as service at court, and occupied at the same time with both +sacred and secular music--he came short of that lofty, solemn tone +which pervades the works of the great master of the South, Palestrina, +who, with advancing years, restricted himself more and more to church +music." Of the celebrated penitential psalms of Di Lasso, it is said +that Charles IX. of France ordered them to be written "in order to +obtain rest for his soul after the terrible massacre of St. +Bartholomew." Aside from his works, this musician has a claim on fame +through his lasting improvements in musical form and method. He +illuminated, and at the same time closed, the great epoch of Belgian +ascendancy, which had given three hundred musicians of great science +to the times in which they lived. So much has been said of Orlando di +Lasso, for he was the model and Mentor of the greatest of early church +composers, Palestrina. + + +II. + +The melodious and fascinating style, soon to give birth to the +characteristic genius of the opera, was as yet unborn, though dormant. +In Rome, the chief seat of the Belgian art, the exclusive study of +technical skill had frozen music to a mere formula. The Gregorian +chant had become so overladen with mere embellishments as to make the +prescribed church-form difficult of recognition in its borrowed garb, +for it had become a mere jumble of sound. Musicians, indeed, carried +their profanation so far as to take secular melodies as the themes for +masses and motetts. These were often called by their profane titles. +So the name of a love-sonnet or a drinking-song would sometimes be +attached to a _miserere_. The Council of Trent, in 1562, cut at these +evils with sweeping axe, and the solemn anathemas of the church +fathers roused the creative powers of the subject of this sketch, who +raised his art to an independent national existence, and made it rank +with sculpture and painting, which had already reached their zenith in +Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, and Michael Angelo. +Henceforth Italian music was to be a vigorous, fruitful stock. + +GIOVANNI PERLUIGI ALOISIO DA PALESTRINA was born at Palestrina, the +ancient Præneste, in 1524.[D] The memorials of his childhood are +scanty. We know but little except that his parents were poor peasants, +and that he learned the rudiments of literature and music as a +choir-singer, a starting-point so common in the lives of great +composers. In 1540 he went to Rome and studied in the school of +Goudimel, a stern Huguenot Fleming, tolerated in the papal capital on +account of his superior science and method of teaching, and afterwards +murdered at Lyons on the day of the Paris massacre. Palestrina grasped +the essential doctrines of the school without adopting its +mannerisms. At the age of thirty he published his first compositions, +and dedicated them to the reigning pontiff, Julius III. In the +formation of his style, which moved with such easy, original grace +within the old prescribed rules, he learned much from the personal +influence and advice of Orlando di Lasso, his warm friend and constant +companion during these earlier days. + +Several of his compositions, written at this time, are still performed +in Rome on Good Friday, and Goethe and Mendelssohn have left their +eloquent tributes to the impression made on them by music alike simple +and sublime. The pope was highly pleased with Palestrina's noble +music, and appointed him one of the papal choristers, then regarded as +a great honour. But beyond Rome the new light of music was but little +known. The Council of Trent, in their first indignation at the abuse +of church music, had resolved to abolish everything but the simple +Gregorian chants, but the remonstrances of the Emperor Ferdinand and +the Roman cardinals stayed the austere fiat. The final decision was +made to rest on a new composition of Palestrina, who was permitted to +demonstrate that the higher forms of musical art were consistent with +the solemnities of church worship. + +All eyes were directed to the young musician, for the very existence +of his art was at stake. The motto of his first mass, "Illumina oculos +meos," shows the pious enthusiasm with which he undertook his labours. +Instead of one, he composed three six-part masses. The third of these +excited such admiration that the pope exclaimed in raptures, "It is +John who gives us here in this earthly Jerusalem a foretaste of that +new song which the holy Apostle John realised in the heavenly +Jerusalem in his prophetic trance." This is now known as the "mass of +Pope Marcel," in honour of a former patron of Palestrina. + +A new pope, Paul IV., on ascending the pontifical throne, carried his +desire of reforming abuses to fanaticism. He insisted on all the papal +choristers being clerical. Palestrina had married early in life a +Roman lady, of whom all we know is that her name was Lucretia. Four +children had blessed the union, and the composer's domestic happiness +became a bar to his temporal preferment. With two others he was +dismissed from the chapel because he was a layman, and a trifling +pension allowed him. Two months afterwards, though, he was appointed +chapel-master of St. John Lateran. His works now succeeded each other +rapidly, and different collections of his masses were dedicated to the +crowned heads of Europe. In 1571 he was appointed chapel-master of the +Vatican, and Pope Gregory XIII. gave special charge of the reform of +sacred music to Palestrina. + +The death of the composer's wife, whom he idolised, in 1580, was a +blow from which he never recovered. In his latter days he was +afflicted with great poverty, for the positions he held were always +more honourable than lucrative. Mental depression and physical +weakness burdened the last few years of his pious and gentle life, and +he died after a lingering and severe illness. The register of the +pontifical chapel contains this entry--"February 2, 1594. This morning +died the most excellent musician, Signor Giovanni Palestrina, our dear +companion and _maestro di capella_ of St. Peter's church, whither his +funeral was attended not only by all the musicians of Rome, but by an +infinite concourse of people, when his own 'Libera me, Domine' was +sung by the whole college." + +Such are the simple and meagre records of the life of the composer who +carved and laid the foundation of the superstructure of Italian music; +who, viewed in connection with his times and their limitations, must +be regarded as one of the great creative minds in his art; who shares +with Sebastian Bach the glory of having built an imperishable base for +the labours of his successors. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[D] Our composer, as was common with artists and scholars in those +days, took the name of his natal town, and by this he is known to +fame. Old documents also give him the old Latin name of the town with +the personal ending. + + +III. + +Palestrina left a great mass of compositions, all glowing with the +fire of genius, only part of which have been published. His simple +life was devoted to musical labour, and passed without romance, +diversion, or excitement. His works are marked by utter absence of +contrast and colour. Without dramatic movement, they are full of +melody and majesty--a majesty serene, unruffled by the slightest +suggestion of human passion. Voices are now and then used for +individual expression, but either in unison or harmony. As in all +great church music, the chorus is the key of the work. The general +judgment of musicians agrees that repose and enjoyment are more +characteristic of this music than that of any other master. The choir +of the Sistine chapel, by the inheritance of long-cherished tradition, +is the most perfect exponent of the Palestrina music. During the +annual performance of the "Improperie" and "Lamentations," the altar +and walls are despoiled of their pictures and ornaments, and +everything is draped in black. The cardinals dressed in serge, no +incense, no candles: the whole scene is a striking picture of trouble +and desolation. The faithful come in two by two and bow before the +cross, while the sad music reverberates through the chapel arches. +This powerful appeal to the imagination, of course, lends greater +power to the musical effect. But all minds who have felt the lift and +beauty of these compositions have acknowledged how far they soar above +words and creeds, and the picturesque framework of a liturgy. + +Mendelssohn, in a letter to Zelter on the Palestrina music as heard in +the Sistine chapel, says that nothing could exceed the effect of the +blending of the voices, the prolonged tones gradually merging from one +note and chord to another, softly swelling, decreasing, at last dying +out. "They understand," he writes, "how to bring out and place each +trait in the most delicate light, without giving it undue prominence; +one chord gently melts into another. The ceremony at the same time is +solemn and imposing; deep silence prevails in the chapel, only broken +by the re-echoing Greek 'holy,' sung with unvarying sweetness and +expression." The composer Paer was so impressed with the wonderful +beauty of the music and the performance, that he exclaimed, "This is +indeed divine music, such as I have long sought for, and my +imagination was never able to realise, but which, I knew, must exist." + +Palestrina's versatility and genius enabled him to lift ecclesiastical +music out of the rigidity and frivolity characterising on either hand +the opposing ranks of those that preceded him, and to embody the +religious spirit in works of the highest art. He transposed the +ecclesiastical melody (_canto fermo_) from the tenor to the soprano +(thus rendering it more intelligible to the ear), and created that +glorious thing choir song, with its refined harmony, that noble music +of which his works are the models, and the papal chair the oracle. No +individual pre-eminence is ever allowed to disturb and weaken the +ideal atmosphere of the whole work. However Palestrina's successors +have aimed to imitate his effects, they have, with the exception of +Cherubini, failed for the most part; for every peculiar genus of art +is the result of innate genuine inspiration, and the spontaneous +growth of the age which produces it. As a parent of musical form he +was the protagonist of Italian music, both sacred and secular, and +left an admirable model, which even the new school of opera so soon to +rise found it necessary to follow in the construction of harmony. The +splendid and often licentious music of the theatre built its most +worthy effects on the work of the pious composer, who lived, laboured, +and died in an atmosphere of almost anchorite sanctity. + +The great disciples of his school, Nannini and Allegri, continued his +work, and the splendid "Miserere" of the latter was regarded as such +an inestimable treasure that no copy of it was allowed to go out of +the Sistine chapel, till the infant prodigy, Wolfgang Mozart, wrote it +out from the memory of a single hearing. + + + + +_PICCINI, PAISIELLO, AND CIMAROSA._ + + +I. + +Music, as speaking the language of feeling, emotion, and passion, +found its first full expansion in the operatic form. There had been +attempts to represent drama with chorus, founded on the ancient Greek +drama, but it was soon discovered that dialogue and monologue could +not be embodied in choral forms without involving an utter absurdity. +The spirit of the renaissance had freed poetry, statuary, and painting +from the monopolising claims of the church. Music, which had become a +well-equipped and developed science, could not long rest in a similar +servitude. Though it is not the aim of the author to discuss operatic +history, a brief survey of the progress of opera from its birth cannot +be omitted. + +The oldest of the entertainments which ripened into Italian opera +belongs to the last years of the fifteenth century, and was the work +of the brilliant Politian, known as one of the revivalists of Greek +learning attached to the court of Cosmo de' Medici and his son +Lorenzo. This was the musical drama of "Orfeo." The story was written +in Latin, and sung in music principally choral, though a few solo +phrases were given to the principal characters. It was performed at +Rome with great magnificence, and Vasari tells us that Peruzzi, the +decorator of the papal theatre, painted such scenery for it that even +the great Titian was so struck with the _vraisemblance_ of the work +that he was not satisfied until he had touched the canvas to be sure +of its not being in relief. We may fancy indeed that the scenery was +one great attraction of the representation. In spite of spasmodic +encouragement by the more liberally-minded pontiffs, the general +weight of church influence was against the new musical tendency, and +the most skilled composers were at first afraid to devote their +talents to further its growth. + +What musicians did not dare undertake out of dread of the +thunderbolts of the church, a company of _literati_ at Florence +commenced in 1580. The primary purpose was the revival of Greek art, +including music. This association, in conjunction with the Medicean +Academy, laid down the rule that distinct individuality of expression +in music was to be sought for. As results, quickly came musical drama +with recitative (modern form of the Greek chorus) and solo melody for +characteristic parts of the legend or story. Out of this beginning +swiftly grew the opera. Composers in the new form sprung up in various +parts of Italy, though Naples, Venice, and Florence continued to be +its centres. + +Between 1637 and 1700 there were performed three hundred operas at +Venice alone. An account of the performance of "Berenice," composed by +Domenico Freschi, at Padua, in 1680, dwarfs all our present ideas of +spectacular splendour. In this opera there were choruses of a hundred +virgins and a hundred soldiers; a hundred horsemen in steel armour; a +hundred performers on trumpets, cornets, sackbuts, drums, flutes, and +other instruments, on horseback and on foot; two lions led by two +Turks, and two elephants led by two Indians; Berenice's triumphal car +drawn by four horses, and six other cars with spoils and prisoners, +drawn by twelve horses. Among the scenes in the first act was a vast +plain with two triumphal arches; another with pavilions and tents; a +square prepared for the entrance of the triumphal procession, and a +forest for the chase. In the second act there were the royal +apartments of Berenice's temple of vengeance, a spacious court with +view of the prison and a covered way with long lines of chariots. In +the third act there were the royal dressing-room, the stables with a +hundred live horses, porticoes adorned with tapestry, and a great +palace in the perspective. In the course of the piece there were +representations of the hunting of the boar, the stag, and the lions. +The whole concluded with a huge globe descending from the skies, and +dividing itself in lesser globes of fire, on which stood allegorical +figures of fame, honour, nobility, virtue, and glory. The theatrical +manager had princes and nobles for bankers and assistants, and they +lavished their treasures of art and money to make such spectacles as +the modern stagemen of London and Paris cannot approach. + +In Evelyn's diary there is an entry describing opera at Venice in +1645:--"This night, having with my lord Bruce taken our places before, +we went to the opera, where comedies and other plays are represented +in recitative music by the most excellent musicians, vocal and +instrumental, with variety of scenes painted and contrived with no +lesse art of perspective, and machines for flying in the aire, and +other wonderful motions; taken together it is one of the most +magnificent and expensive diversions the wit of man can invent. The +history was Hercules in Lydia. The sceanes changed thirteen times. The +famous voices, Anna Rencia, a Roman, and reputed the best treble of +women; but there was a Eunuch who in my opinion surpassed her; also a +Genoise that in my judgment sung an incomparable base. They held us by +the eyes and ears till two o'clock i' the morning." Again he writes of +the carnival of 1646:--"The comedians have liberty and the operas are +open; witty pasquils are thrown about, and the mountebanks have their +stages at every corner. The diversion which chiefly took me up was +three noble operas, where were most excellent voices and music, the +most celebrated of which was the famous and beautiful Anna Rencia, +whom we invited to a fish dinner after four daies in Lent, when they +had given over at the theatre." Old Evelyn then narrates how he and +his noble friend took the lovely diner out on a junketing, and got +shot at with blunderbusses from the gondola of an infuriated rival. + +Opera progressed towards a fixed status with a swiftness hardly +paralleled in the history of any art. The soil was rich and fully +prepared for the growth, and the fecund root, once planted, shot into +a luxuriant beauty and symmetry, which nothing could check. The Church +wisely gave up its opposition, and henceforth there was nothing to +impede the progress of a product which spread and naturalised itself +in England, France, and Germany. The inventive genius of Monteverde, +Carissimi, Scarlatti (the friend and rival of Handel), Durante, and +Leonardo Leo, perfected the forms of the opera nearly as we have them +to-day. A line of brilliant composers in the school of Durante and Leo +brings us down through Pergolesi, Derni, Terradiglias, Jomelli, +Traetta, Ciccio di Majo, Galluppi, and Giuglielmi, to the most +distinguished of the early Italian composers, Niccolo Piccini, who, +mostly forgotten in his works, is principally known to modern fame as +the rival of the mighty Gluck in that art controversy which shook +Paris into such bitter factions. Yet, overshadowed as Piccini was in +the greatness of his rival, there can be no question of his desert as +the most brilliant ornament and exponent of the early operatic school. +No greater honour could have been paid to him than that he should have +been chosen as their champion by the _Italianissimi_ of his day in the +battle royal with such a giant as Gluck, an honour richly deserved by +a composer distinguished by multiplicity and beauty of ideas, dramatic +insight, and ardent conviction. + + +II. + +NICCOLO PICCINI, who was not less than fifty years of age when he left +Naples for the purpose of outrivalling Gluck, was born at Bari, in the +kingdom of Naples, in 1728. His father, also a musician, had destined +him for holy orders, but Nature made him an artist. His great delight +even as a little child was playing on the harpsichord, which he +quickly learned. One day the bishop of Bari heard him playing, and was +amazed at the power of the little _virtuoso_. "By all means send him +to a conservatory of music," he said to the elder Piccini. "If the +vocation of the priesthood brings trials and sacrifices, a musical +career is not less beset with obstacles. Music demands great +perseverance and incessant labour. It exposes one to many chagrins and +toils." + +By the advice of the shrewd prelate, the precocious boy was placed at +the school of St. Onofrio at the age of fourteen. At first confided to +the care of an inferior professor, he revolted from the arid teachings +of a mere human machine. Obeying the dictates of his daring fancy, +though hardly acquainted with the rudiments of composition, he +determined to compose a mass. The news got abroad that the little +Niccolo was working on a grand mass, and the great Leo, the chief of +the conservatory, sent for the trembling culprit. + +"You have written a mass?" he commenced. + +"Excuse me, sir, I could not help it," said the timid boy. + +"Let me see it." + +Niccolo brought him the score and all the orchestral parts, and Leo +immediately went to the concert-room, assembled the orchestra, and +gave them the parts. The boy was ordered to take his place in front +and conduct the performance, which he went through with great +agitation. + +"I pardon you this time," said the grave _maestro_, at the end; "but, +if you do such a thing again, I will punish you in such a manner that +you will remember it as long as you live. Instead of studying the +principles of your art, you give yourself up to all the wildness of +your imagination; and, when you have tutored your ill-regulated ideas +into something like shape, you produce what you call a mass, and no +doubt think you have produced a masterpiece." + +When the boy burst into tears at this rebuke, Leo clasped him in his +arms, told him he had great talent, and after that took him under his +special instruction. Leo was succeeded by Durante, who also loved +Piccini, and looked forward to a future greatness for him. He was wont +to say the others were his pupils, but Piccini was his son. After +twelve years spent in the conservatory, Piccini commenced an opera. +The director of the principal Neapolitan theatre said to Prince +Vintimille, who introduced the young musician, that his work was sure +to be a failure. + +"How much can you lose by his opera," the prince replied, "supposing +it to be a perfect fiasco?" The manager named the sum. + +"There is the money, then," replied Piccini's generous patron, handing +him a purse. "If the 'Dorme Despetose'" (the name of the opera) +"should fail, you may keep the money, but otherwise return it to me." + +The friends of Lagroscino, the favourite composer of the day, were +enraged when they heard that the next new work was to be from an +obscure youth, and they determined to hiss the performance. So great, +however, was the delight of the public with the freshness and beauty +of Piccini's music, that even those who came to condemn remained to +applaud. The reputation of the composer went on increasing until he +became the foremost name of musical Italy, for his fertility of +production was remarkable; and he gave the theatres a brilliant +succession of comic and serious works. In 1758 he produced at Rome his +"Alessandro nell' Indie," whose success surpassed all that had +preceded it, and two years later a still finer masterpiece, "La Buona +Figluola," written to a text furnished by the poet Goldoni, and +founded on the story of Richardson's "Pamela." This opera was produced +at every playhouse on the Italian peninsula in the course of a few +years. + +A pleasant _mot_ by the Duke of Brunswick is worth preserving in this +connection. Piccini had married a beautiful singer named Vicenza +Sibilla, and his home was very happy. One day the German prince +visited Piccini, and found him rocking the cradle of his youngest +child, while the eldest was tugging at the paternal coat-tails. The +mother, being _en déshabille_, ran away at the sight of a stranger. +The duke excused himself for his want of ceremony, and added, "I am +delighted to see so great a man living in such simplicity, and that +the author of 'La Bonne Fille' is such a good father." Piccini's +placid and pleasant life was destined, however, to pass into stormy +waters. + +His sway over the stage and the popular preference continued until +1773, when a clique of envious rivals at Rome brought about his first +disaster. The composer was greatly disheartened, and took to his bed, +for he was ill alike in mind and body. The turning-point in his career +had come, and he was to enter into an arena which taxed his powers in +a contest such as he had not yet dreamed of. His operas having been +heard and admired in France, their great reputation inspired the royal +favourite, Mdme. du Barry, with the hope of finding a successful +competitor to the great German composer, patronised by Marie +Antoinette. Accordingly, Piccini was offered an indemnity of six +thousand francs, and a residence in the hotel of the Neapolitan +ambassador. When the Italian arrived in Paris, Gluck was in full sway, +the idol of the court and public, and about to produce his "Armide." + +Piccini was immediately commissioned to write a new opera, and he +applied to the brilliant Marmontel for a libretto. The poet rearranged +one of Quinault's tragedies, "Roland," and Piccini undertook the +difficult task of composing music to words in a language as yet +unknown to him. Marmontel was his unwearied tutor, and he writes in +his "Memoirs" of his pleasant yet arduous task--"Line by line, word by +word, I had everything to explain; and, when he had laid hold of the +meaning of a passage, I recited it to him, marking the accent, the +prosody, and the cadence of the verses. He listened eagerly, and I had +the satisfaction to know that what he heard was carefully noted. His +delicate ear seized so readily the accent of the language and the +measure of the poetry, that in his music he never mistook them. It was +an inexpressible pleasure to me to see him practice before my eyes an +art of which before I had no idea. His harmony was in his mind. He +wrote his airs with the utmost rapidity, and when he had traced its +designs, he filled up all the parts of the score, distributing the +traits of harmony and melody, just as a skilful painter would +distribute on his canvas the colours, lights, and shadows of his +picture. When all this was done, he opened his harpsichord, which he +had been using as his writing-table; and then I heard an air, a duet, +a chorus, complete in all its parts, with a truth of expression, an +intelligence, a unity of design, a magic in the harmony, which +delighted both my ear and my feelings." + +Piccini's arrival in Paris had been kept a close secret while he was +working on the new opera, but Abbé du Rollet ferreted it out, and +acquainted Gluck, which piece of news the great German took with +philosophical disdain. Indeed, he attended the rehearsal of "Roland;" +and when his rival, in despair over his ignorance of French and the +stupidity of the orchestra, threw down the baton in despair, Gluck +took it up, and by his magnetic authority brought order out of chaos +and restored tranquillity, a help as much, probably, the fruit of +condescension and contempt as of generosity. + +Still Gluck was not easy in mind over this intrigue of his enemies, +and wrote a bitter letter, which was made public, and aggravated the +war of public feeling. Epigrams and accusations flew back and forth +like hailstones.[E] + +"Do you know that the Chevalier (Gluck's title) has an Armida and +Orlando in his portfolio?" said Abbé Arnaud to a Piccinist. + +"But Piccini is also at work on an Orlando," was the retort. + +"So much the better," returned the abbé, "for then we shall have an +Orlando and also an Orlandino," was the keen answer. + +The public attention was stimulated by the war of pamphlets, lampoons, +and newspaper articles. Many of the great _literati_ were Piccinists, +among them Marmontel, La Harpe, D'Alembert, etc. Suard du Rollet and +Jean Jacques Rousseau fought in the opposite ranks. Although the +nation was trembling on the verge of revolution, and the French had +just lost their hold on the East Indies; though Mirabeau was +thundering in the tribune, and Jacobin clubs were commencing their +baleful work, soon to drench Paris in blood, all factions and discords +were forgotten. The question was no longer, "Is he a Jansenist, a +Molinist, an Encyclopædist, a philosopher, a free-thinker?" One +question only was thought of, "Is he a Gluckist or Piccinist?" and on +the answer often depended the peace of families and the cement of +long-established friendships. + +Piccini's opera was a brilliant success with the fickle Parisians, +though the Gluckists sneered at it as pretty concert music. The retort +was that Gluck had no gift of melody, though they admitted he had the +advantage over his rival of making more noise. The poor Italian was so +much distressed by the fierce contest that he and his family were in +despair on the night of the first representation. He could only say to +his weeping wife and son, "Come, my children, this is unreasonable. +Remember that we are not among savages; we are living with the +politest and kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a +musician, they will at all events respect me as a man and a stranger." +To do justice to Piccini, a mild and timid man, he never took part in +the controversy, and always spoke of his opponent with profound +respect and admiration. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[E] _See_ article on Gluck in "Great German Composers." + + +III. + +Marie Antoinette, whom Mdme. du Barry and her clique looked on as +Piccini's enemy, astonished both cabals by appointing Piccini her +singing-master--an unprofitable honour, for he received no pay, and +was obliged to give costly copies of his compositions to the royal +family. He might have quoted from the Latin poet in regard to this +favour from Marie Antoinette, whose faction in music, among other +names, was known as the Greek party, "_Timeo Danaos et dona +ferentes_."[F] Beaumarchais, the brilliant author of "Figaro," had +found the same inconvenience when acting as court teacher to the +daughters of Louis XV. The French kings were parsimonious except when +lavishing money on their vices. + +The action of the dauphiness, however, paved the way for a +reconciliation between Piccini and Gluck. Berton, the manager of the +opera, gave a luxurious banquet, and the musicians, side by side, +pledged each other in libations of champagne. Gluck got confidential +in his cups. "These French," he said, "are good enough people, but +they make me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they +can't sing." In fact, the quarrel was not between the musicians but +their adherents. In his own heart Piccini knew his inferiority to +Gluck. + +De Vismes, Berton's successor, proposed that both should write operas +on the same subject, "Iphigenia in Tauris," and gave him a libretto. +"The French public will have for the first time," he said, "the +pleasure of hearing two operas on the same theme, with the same +incidents, the same characters, but composed by two great masters of +totally different schools." + +"But," objected the alarmed Italian, "if Gluck's opera is played +first, the public will be so delighted that they will not listen to +mine." + +"To avoid that catastrophe," said the director, "we will play yours +first." + +"But Gluck will not permit it." + +"I give you my word of honour," said De Vismes, "that your opera shall +be put in rehearsal and brought out as soon as it is finished." + +Before Piccini had finished his opera, he heard that his rival was +back from Germany with his "Iphigenia" completed, and that it was in +rehearsal. The director excused himself on the plea of its being a +royal command. Gluck's work was his masterpiece, and produced an +unparalleled sensation among the Parisians. Even his enemies were +silenced, and La Harpe said it was the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of the world. +Piccini's work, when produced, was admired, but it stood no chance +with the profound, serious, and wonderfully dramatic composition of +his rival. + +On the night of the first performance Mdlle. Laguerre, to whom Piccini +had trusted the rôle of Iphigenia, could not stand straight from +intoxication. "This is not 'Iphigenia in Tauris,'" said the witty +Sophie Arnould, "but 'Iphigenia in champagne.'" She compensated +afterwards, though, by singing the part with exquisite effect. + +While the Gluck-Piccini battle was at its height, an amateur who was +disgusted with the contest returned to the country and sang the +praises of the birds and their gratuitous performances in the +following epigram:-- + + "La n'est point d'art, d'ennui scientifique; + Piccini, Gluck, n'ont point noté les airs. + Nature seule en dicta la musique, + Et Marmontel n'en a pas fait les vers." + +The sentiment of this was probably applauded by the many who were +wearied of the bitter recriminations, which degraded the art which +they professed to serve. + +During the period when Gluck and Piccini were composing for the French +opera, its affairs nourished liberally under the sway of De Vismes. +Gluck, Piccini, and Rameau wrote serious operas, while Piccini, +Sacchini, Anfossi, and Paisiello composed comic operas. The ballet +flourished with unsurpassed splendour, and on the whole it may be said +that never has the opera presented more magnificence at Paris than +during the time France was on the eve of the Reign of Terror. The gay +capital was thronged with great singers, the traditions of whose +artistic ability compare favourably with those of a more recent +period. + +The witty and beautiful Sophie Arnould, who had a train of princes at +her feet, was the principal exponent of Gluck's heroines, while Mdlle. +Laguerre was the mainstay of the Piccinists. The rival factions made +the names of these charming and capricious women their war-cries not +less than those of the composers. The public bowed and cringed before +these idols of the stage. Gaetan Vestris, the first of the family, +known as the "_Dieu de la Danse_" and who held that there were only +three great men in Europe, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Voltaire, +and himself, dared to dictate even to Gluck. "Write me the music of a +chaconne, Monsieur Gluck," said the god of dancing. + +"A chaconne!" said the enraged composer. "Do you think the Greeks, +whose manners we are endeavouring to depict, knew what a chaconne +was?" + +"Did they not?" replied Vestris, astonished at this news, and in a +tone of compassion continued, "then they are much to be pitied." + +Vestris did not obtain his ballet music from the obdurate German; but, +when Piccini's rival "_Iphigénie en Tauride_" was produced, such +beautiful dance measures were furnished by the Italian composer as +gave Vestris the opportunity for one of his greatest triumphs. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[F] I fear the Greeks, though offering gifts. + + +IV. + +The contest between Gluck and Piccini, or rather the cabals who +adopted the two musicians as their figure-heads, was brought to an end +by the death of the former. An attempt was made to set up Sacchini in +his place, but it proved unavailing, as the new composer proved to be +quite as much a follower of the prevailing Italian method as of the +new school of Gluck. The French revolution swept away Piccini's +property, and he retired to Italy. Bad fortune pursued him, however. +Queen Caroline of Naples conceived a dislike to him, and used her +influence to injure his career, out of a fit of wounded vanity. + +"Do you not think I resemble my sister, Marie Antoinette?" queried the +somewhat ill-favoured queen. Piccini, embarrassed but truthful, +replied, "Your majesty, there may be a family likeness, but no +resemblance." A fatality attended him even to Venice. In 1792 he was +mobbed and his house burned, because the populace regarded him as a +republican, for he had a French son-in-law. Some partial musical +successes, however, consoled him, though they flattered his _amour +propre_ more than they benefited his purse. On his return to Naples he +was subjected to a species of imprisonment during four years, for +royal displeasure in those days did not confine itself merely to lack +of court favour. Reduced to great poverty, the composer who had been +the favourite of the rich and great for so many years knew often the +actual pangs of hunger, and eked out his subsistence by writing +conventual psalms, as payment for the broken food doled out by the +monks. + +At last he was released, and the tenor, David, sent him funds to pay +his journey to Paris. Napoleon, the first consul, received him +cordially in the Luxembourg palace. + +"Sit down," said he to Piccini, who remained standing, "a man of your +greatness stands in no one's presence." His reception in Paris was, in +fact, an ovation. The manager of the opera gave him a pension of +twenty-four hundred francs, a government pension was also accorded, +and he was appointed sixth inspector at the Conservatory. But the +benefits of this pale gleam of wintry sunshine did not long remain. He +died at Passy in the year 1800, and was followed to the grave by a +great throng of those who loved his beautiful music and admired his +gentle life. + +In the present day Gluck appears to have vanquished Piccini, because +occasionally an opera of the former is performed, while Piccini's +works are only known to the musical antiquarian. But even the marble +temples of Gluck are moss-grown and neglected, and that great man is +known to the present day rather as one whose influence profoundly +coloured and changed the philosophy of opera, than through any +immediate acquaintance with his productions. The connoisseurs of the +eighteenth century found Piccini's melodies charming, but the works +that endure as masterpieces are not those which contain the greatest +number of beauties, but those of which the form is the most perfect. +Gluck had larger conceptions and more powerful genius than his Italian +rival, but the latter's sweet spring of melody gave him the highest +place which had so far been attained in the Italian operatic school. + +"Piccini," says M. Genguèné, his biographer, "was under the middle +size, but well made, with considerable dignity of carriage. His +countenance was very agreeable. His mind was acute, enlarged, and +cultivated. Latin and Italian literature was familiar to him when he +went to France, and afterwards he became almost as well acquainted +with French literature. He spoke and wrote Italian with great purity, +but among his countrymen he preferred the Neapolitan dialect, which he +considered the most expressive, the most difficult, and the most +figurative of all languages. He used it principally in narration, with +a gaiety, a truth, and a pantomimic expression after the manner of his +country, which delighted all his friends, and made his stories +intelligible even to those who knew Italian but slightly." + +As a musician Piccini was noticeable, according to the judgment of his +best critics, for the purity and simplicity of his style. He always +wished to preserve the supremacy of the voice, and, though he well +knew how to make his instrumentation rich and effective, he was a +resolute opponent to the florid and complex accompaniments which were +coming into vogue in his day. His recorded opinion on this subject may +have some interest for the musicians of the present day:-- + +"Were the employment which Nature herself assigns to the instruments +of an orchestra preserved to them, a variety of effects and a series +of infinitely diversified pictures would be produced. But they are all +thrown in at once and used incessantly, and they thus overpower and +indurate the ear, without presenting any picture to the mind, to which +the ear is the passage. I should be glad to know how they will arouse +it when it is accustomed to this uproar, which will soon happen, and +of what new witchcraft they will avail themselves.... It is well known +what occurs to palates blunted by the use of spirituous liquors. In a +few months everything may be learned which is necessary to produce +these exaggerated effects, but it requires much time and study to be +able to excite genuine emotion." Piccini followed strictly the canons +of the Italian school; and, though far inferior in really great +qualities to his rival Gluck, his compositions had in them so much of +fluent grace and beauty as to place him at the head of his +predecessors. Some curious critics have indeed gone so far as to +charge that many of the finest arias of Rossini, Donizetti, and +Bellini owe their paternity to this composer, an indictment not +uncommon in music, for most of the great composers have rifled the +sweets of their predecessors without scruple. + + +V. + +Paisiello and Cimarosa, in their style and processes of work, seem to +have more nearly caught the mantle of Piccini than any others, though +they were contemporaries as well as successors. GIOVANNI PAISIELLO, +born in 1741, was educated, like many other great musicians, at the +Conservatory of San Onofrio. During his early life he produced a great +number of pieces for the Italian theatres, and in 1776 accepted the +invitation of Catherine to become the court composer at St. +Petersburg, where he remained nine years, and produced several of his +best operas, chief among them, "Il Barbiere di Seviglia" (a different +version of Beaumarchais's celebrated comedy from that afterwards used +by Rossini). + +The empress was devotedly attached to him, and showed her esteem in +many signal ways. On one occasion, while Paisiello was accompanying +her in a song, she observed that he shuddered with the bitter cold. On +this Catherine took off her splendid ermine cloak, decorated with +clasps of brilliants, and threw it over her tutor's shoulders. In a +quarrel which Paisiello had with Marshal Beloseloky, the temporary +favourite of the Russian Messalina, her favour was shown in a still +more striking way. The marshal had given the musician a blow, on which +Paisiello, a very large, athletic man, drubbed the Russian general +most unmercifully. The latter demanded the immediate dismissal of the +composer for having insulted a dignitary of the empire. Catherine's +reply was similar to the one made by Francis the First of France in a +parallel case about Leonardo da Vinci-- + +"I neither can nor will attend to your request; you forgot your +dignity when you gave an unoffending man and a great artist a blow. +Are you surprised that he should have forgotten it too? As for rank, +it is in my power to make fifty marshals, but not one Paisiello." + +Some years after his return to Italy, he was engaged by Napoleon as +chapel-master; for that despot ruled the art and literature of his +times as autocratically as their politics. Though Paisiello did not +wish to obey the mandate, to refuse was ruin. The French ruler had +already shown his favour by giving him the preference over Cherubini +in several important musical contests, for the latter had always +displayed stern independence of courtly favour. On Paisiello's arrival +in Paris, several lucrative appointments indicated the sincerity of +Napoleon's intentions. The composer did not hesitate to stand on his +rights as a musician on all occasions. When Napoleon complained of the +inefficiency of the chapel service, he said, courageously, "I can't +blame people for doing their duty carelessly, when they are not justly +paid." The cunning Italian knew how to flatter, though, when occasion +served. He once addressed his master as "Sire." + +"'Sire,' what do you mean?" answered the first consul. "I am a general +and nothing more." + +"Well, General," continued the composer, "I have come to place myself +at your majesty's orders." + +"I must really beg you," rejoined Napoleon, "not to address me in this +manner." + +"Forgive me, General," said Paisiello. "But I cannot give up the habit +I have contracted in addressing sovereigns, who, compared with you, +are but pigmies. However, I will not forget your commands, and, if I +have been unfortunate enough to offend, I must throw myself on your +majesty's indulgence." + +Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass written for +Napoleon's coronation, and one thousand for all others. As he produced +masses with great rapidity, he could very well afford to neglect +operatic writing during this period. His masses were pasticcio work +made up of pieces selected from his operas and other compositions. +This could be easily done, for music is arbitrary in its associations. +Love songs of a passionate and sentimental cast were quickly made +religious by suitable words. Thus the same melody will depict equally +well the rage of a baffled conspirator, the jealousy of an injured +husband, the grief of lovers about to part, the despondency of a man +bent on suicide, the devotion of the nun, or the rapt adoration of +worship. A different text and a slight change in time effect the +marvel, and hardly a composer has disdained to borrow from one work to +enrich another. His only opera composed in Paris, "Proserpine," was +not successful. + +Failure of health obliged Paisiello to return to Naples, when he again +entered the service of the king. Attached to the fortunes of the +Bonaparte family, his prosperity fell with theirs. He had been crowned +with honours by all the musical societies of the world, but his +pensions and emoluments ceased with the fall of Joachim Murat from the +Neapolitan throne. He died June 5, 1816, and the court, which +neglected him living, gave him a magnificent funeral. + +"Paisiello," says the Chevalier Le Sueur, "was not only a great +musician, but possessed a large fund of general information. He was +well versed in the dead languages, acquainted with all branches of +literature, and on terms of friendship with the most distinguished +persons of the age. His mind was noble and above all mean passions; he +neither knew envy nor the feeling of rivalry.... He composed," says +the same writer, "seventy-eight operas, of which twenty-seven were +serious, and fifty-one comic, eight _intermezzi_, and an immense +number of cantatas, oratorios, masses, etc.; seven symphonies for King +Joseph of Spain, and many miscellaneous pieces for the court of +Russia." + +Paisiello's style, according to Fétis, was characterised by great +simplicity and apparent facility. His few and unadorned notes, full of +grace, were yet deep and varied in their expression. In his simplicity +was the proof of his abundance. It was not necessary for him to have +recourse to musical artifice and complication to conceal poverty of +invention. His accompaniments were similar in character, clear and +picturesque, without pretence of elaboration. The latter not only +relieved and sustained the voice, but were full of original effects, +novel to his time. He was the author, too, of important improvements +in instrumental composition. He introduced the viola, clarionet, and +bassoon into the orchestra of the Italian opera. Though voluminous +both in serious and comic opera, it was in the latter that he won his +chief laurels. His "Pazza per Amore" was one of the great Pasta's +favourites, and Catalani added largely to her reputation in the part +of _La Frascatana_. Several of Paisiello's comic operas still keep a +dramatic place on the German stage, where excellence is not sacrificed +to novelty. + + +VI. + +A still higher place must be assigned to another disciple and follower +of the school perfected by Piccini, DOMINIC CIMAROSA, born in Naples +in 1749. His life down to his latter years was an uninterrupted flow +of prosperity. His mother, a humble washerwoman, could do little for +her fatherless child, but an observant priest saw the promise of the +lad, and taught him till he was old enough to enter the Conservatory +of St. Maria di Loretto. His early works showed brilliant invention +and imagination, and the young Cimarosa, before he left the +Conservatory, had made himself a good violinist and singer. He worked +hard, during a musical apprenticeship of many years, to lay a solid +foundation for the fame which his teachers prophesied for him from the +onset. Like Paisiello, he was for several years attached to the court +of Catherine II. of Russia. He had already produced a number of +pleasing works, both serious and comic, for the Italian theatres, and +his faculty of production was equalled by the richness and variety of +his scores. During a period of four years spent at the imperial court +of the North, Cimarosa produced nearly five hundred works, great and +small, and only left the service of his magnificent patroness, who was +no less passionately fond of art than she was great as a ruler and +dissolute as a woman, because the severe climate affected his health, +for he was a typical Italian in his temperament. + +He was arrested in his southward journey by the urgent persuasions of +the Emperor Leopold, who made him chapel-master, with a salary of +twelve thousand florins. The taste for the Italian school was still +paramount at the musical capital of Austria. Though such composers as +Haydn, Salieri, and young Mozart, who had commenced to be welcomed as +an unexampled prodigy, were in Vienna, the court preferred the suave +and shallow beauties of Italian music to their own serious German +school, which was commencing to send down such deep roots into the +popular heart. + +Cimarosa produced "Il Matrimonio Segreto" (The Secret Marriage), his +finest opera, for his new patron. The libretto was founded on a +forgotten French operetta, which again was adapted from Garrick and +Colman's "Clandestine Marriage." The emperor could not attend the +first representation, but a brilliant audience hailed it with delight. +Leopold made amends, though, on the second night, for he stood in his +box, and said, aloud-- + +"Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is admirable, +delightful, enchanting! I did not applaud, that I might not lose a +single note of this masterpiece. You have heard it twice, and I must +have the same pleasure before I go to bed. Singers and musicians, pass +into the next room. Cimarosa will come, too, and preside at the +banquet prepared for you. When you have had sufficient rest, we will +begin again. I encore the whole opera, and in the meanwhile let us +applaud it as it deserves." + +The emperor gave the signal, and, midst a thunderstorm of plaudits, +the musicians passed into their midnight feast. There is no record of +any other such compliment, except that to the Latin dramatist, +Plautus, whose "Eunuchus" was performed twice on the same day. + +Yet the same Viennese public, six years before, had actually hissed +Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro," which shares with Rossini's "Il Barbiere" +the greatest rank in comic opera, and has retained, to this day, its +perennial freshness and interest. Cimarosa himself did not share the +opinion of his admirers in respect to Mozart. A certain Viennese +painter attempted to flatter him, by decrying Mozart's music in +comparison with his own. The following retort shows the nobility of +genius--"I, sir? What would you call the man who would seek to assure +you that you were superior to Raphael?" Another acute rejoinder, on +the respective merits of Mozart and Cimarosa, was made by the French +composer, Grétry, in answer to a criticism by Napoleon, when first +consul, that great man affecting to be a _dilettante_ in music-- + +"Sire, Cimarosa puts the statue on the theatre and the pedestal in the +orchestra, instead of which Mozart puts the statue in the orchestra +and the pedestal on the theatre." + +The composer's hitherto brilliant career was doomed to a gloomy close. +On returning to Naples, at the Emperor Leopold's death, Cimarosa +produced several of his finest works; among which musical students +place first--"Il Matrimonio per Susurro," "La Penelope," +"L'Olimpiade," "Il Sacrificio d'Abrama," "Gli Amanti Comici," and "Gli +Orazi." These were performed almost simultaneously in the theatres of +Paris, Naples, and Vienna. Cimarosa attached himself warmly to the +French cause in Italy, and when the Bourbons finally triumphed the +musician suffered their bitterest resentment. He narrowly escaped with +his life, and languished for a long time in a dungeon, so closely +immured that it was for a long time believed by his friends that his +head had fallen on the block. + +At length released, he quitted the Neapolitan territory, only to die +at Venice in a few months, "in consequence," Stendhall says, in his +_Life of Rossini_, "of the barbarous treatment he had met with in the +prison into which he had been thrown by Queen Caroline." He died +January 11, 1801. + +Cimarosa's genius embraced both the tragic and comic schools of +composition. He may be specially called a genuine master of musical +comedy. He was the finest example of the school perfected by Piccini, +and was indeed the link between the old Italian opera and the new +development of which Rossini is such a brilliant exponent. Schlüter, +in his _History of Music_, says of him--"Like Mozart, he excels in +those parts of an opera which decide its merits as a work of art, the +_ensembles_ and _finale_. His admirable and by no means antiquated +opera, 'Il Matrimonio Segreto' (the charming offspring of his 'secret +marriage' with the Mozart opera) is a model of exquisite and graceful +comedy. The overture bears a striking resemblance to that of 'Figaro,' +and the instrumentation of the whole opera is highly characteristic, +though not so prominent as in Mozart. Especially delightful are the +secret love-scenes, written evidently _con amore_, the composer having +practised them many a time in his youth." + +This opera is still performed in many parts of Europe to delighted +audiences, and is ranked by competent critics as the third finest +comic opera extant, Mozart and Rossini only surpassing him in their +masterpieces. It was a great favourite with Lablache, and its +magnificent performance by Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and the king of +bassos, is a gala reminiscence of English and French opera-goers. + +We quote an opinion also from another able authority--"The drama of +'Gli Orazi' is taken from Corneille's tragedy, 'Les Horaces.' The +music is full of noble simplicity, beautiful melody, and strong +expression. In the airs dramatic truth is never sacrificed to vocal +display, and the concerted pieces are grand, broad, and effective. +Taken as a whole, the piece is free from antiquated and obsolete +forms; and it wants nothing but an orchestral score of greater +fullness and variety to satisfy the modern ear. It is still frequently +performed in Germany, though in France and England, and even in its +native country, it seems to be forgotten." + +Cardinal Consalvi, Cimarosa's friend, caused splendid funeral honours +to be paid to him at Rome. Canova executed a marble bust of him, which +was placed in the gallery of the Capitol. + + + + +_ROSSINI._ + + +I. + +The "Swan of Pesaro" is a name linked with some of the most charming +musical associations of this age. Though forty years silence made +fruitless what should have been the richest creative period of +Rossini's life, his great works, poured forth with such facility, and +still retaining their grasp in spite of all changes in public opinion, +stamp him as being the most gifted composer ever produced by a country +so fecund in musical geniuses. The old set forms of Italian opera had +already yielded in large degree to the energy and pomp of French +declamation, when Rossini poured into them afresh such exhilaration +and sparkle as again placed his country in the van of musical Europe. +With no pretension to the grand, majestic, and severe, his fresh and +delightful melodies, flowing without stint, excited alike the critical +and the unlearned into a species of artistic craze, a mania which has +not yet subsided. The stiff and stately Oublicheff confesses, with +many compunctions of conscience, that, when listening for the first +time to one of Rossini's operas, he forgot for the time being all that +he had ever known, admired, played, or sung, for he was musically +drunk, as if with champagne. Learned Germans might shake their heads +and talk about shallowness and contrapuntal rubbish, his _crescendo_ +and _stretto_ passages, his tameness and uniformity even in melody, +his want of artistic finish; but, as Richard Wagner, his direct +antipodes, frankly confesses in his "Oper und Drama," such objections +were dispelled by Rossini's opera-airs as if they were mere delusions +of the fancy. Essentially different from Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, +Haydn, or even Weber, with whom he has some affinities, he stands a +unique figure in the history of art, an original both as man and +musician. + +GIOACCHINO ROSSINI was the son of a town-trumpeter and an operatic +singer of inferior rank, born in Pesaro, Romagna, February 29, 1792. +The child attended the itinerant couple in their visits to fairs and +musical gatherings, and was in danger, at the age of seven, of +becoming a thorough-paced little vagabond, when maternal alarm trusted +his education to the friendly hands of the music-master, Prinetti. At +this tender age even he had been introduced to the world of art, for +he sang the part of a child at the Bologna opera. "Nothing," said +Mdme. Georgi-Righetti, "could be imagined more tender, more touching, +than the voice and action of this remarkable child." + +The young Rossini, after a year or two, came under the notice of the +celebrated teacher Tesei, of Bologna, who gave him lessons in +pianoforte playing and the voice, and obtained him a good place as +boy-soprano at one of the churches. He now attracted the attention of +the Countess Perticari, who admired his voice, and she sent him to the +Lyceum to learn fugue and counterpoint at the feet of a very strict +Gamaliel, Padre Mattei. The youth was no dull student, and, in spite +of his capricious indolence, which vexed the soul of his tutor, he +made such rapid progress that at the age of sixteen he was chosen to +write the cantata, annually awarded to the most promising student. +Success greeted the juvenile effort, and thus we see Rossini fairly +launched as a composer. Of the early operas which he poured out for +five years it is not needful to speak, except that one of them so +pleased the austere Marshal Massena that he exempted the composer from +conscription. The first opera which made Rossini's name famous through +Europe was "Tancredi," written for the Venetian public. To this opera +belongs the charming "Di tanti palpiti," written under the following +circumstances:--Mdme. Melanotte, the _prima donna_, took the whim +during the final rehearsal that she would not sing the opening air, +but must have another. Rossini went home in sore disgust, for the +whole opera was likely to be put off by this caprice. There were but +two hours before the performance. He sat waiting for his macaroni, +when an exquisite air came into his head, and it was written in five +minutes. + +After his great success he received offers from almost every town in +Italy, each clamouring to be served first. Every manager was required +to furnish his theatre with an opera from the pen of the new idol. For +these earlier essays he received a thousand francs each, and he wrote +five or six a year. Stendhall, Rossini's spirited biographer, gives a +picturesque account of life in the Italian theatres at this time, a +status which remains in some of its features to-day-- + +"The mechanism is as follows:--The manager is frequently one of the +most wealthy and considerable persons of the little town he inhabits. +He forms a company, consisting of _prima donna_, _tenoro_, _basso +cantante_, _basso buffo_, a second female singer, and a third _basso_. +The _libretto_, or poem, is purchased for sixty or eighty francs from +some unlucky son of the muses, who is generally a half-starved abbé, +the hanger-on of some rich family in the neighbourhood. The character +of the parasite, so admirably painted by Terence, is still to be found +in all its glory in Lombardy, where the smallest town can boast of +some five or six families of some wealth. A _maestro_, or composer, is +then engaged to write a new opera, and he is obliged to adapt his own +airs to the voices and capacity of the company. The manager intrusts +the care of the financial department to a _registrario_, who is +generally some pettifogging attorney, who holds the position of his +steward. The next thing that generally happens is that the manager +falls in love with the _prima donna_; and the progress of this +important amour gives ample employment to the curiosity of the +gossips. + +"The company thus organised at length gives its first representation, +after a month of cabals and intrigues, which furnish conversation for +the town. This is an event in the simple annals of the town, of the +importance of which the residents of large places can form no idea. +During months together a population of eight or ten thousand people do +nothing but discuss the merit of the forthcoming music and singers +with the eager impetuosity which belongs to the Italian character and +climate. The first representation, if successful, is generally +followed by twenty or thirty more of the same piece, after which the +company breaks up.... From this little sketch of theatrical +arrangements in Italy some idea may be formed of the life which +Rossini led from 1810 to 1816." Between these years he visited all the +principal towns, remaining three or four months at each, the idolised +guest of the _dilettanti_ of the place. Rossini's idleness and love of +good cheer always made him procrastinate his labours till the last +moment, and placed him in dilemmas from which only his fluency of +composition extricated him. His biographer says:-- + +"The day of performance is fast approaching, and yet he cannot resist +the pressing invitations of these friends to dine with them at the +tavern. This, of course, leads to a supper, the champagne circulates +freely, and the hour of morning steals on apace. At length a +compunctious vision shoots across the mind of the truant composer. He +rises abruptly; his friends insist on seeing him home; and they parade +the silent streets bareheaded, shouting in chorus whatever comes +uppermost, perhaps a portion of a _miserere_, to the great scandal of +pious Catholics tucked snugly in their beds. At length he reaches his +lodging, and shutting himself up in his chamber is, at this, to +every-day mortals, most ungenial hour, visited by some of his most +brilliant inspirations. These he hastily scratches down on scraps of +paper, and next morning arranges them, or, in his own phrase, +instruments them, amid the renewed interruptions of his visitors. At +length the important night arrives. The _maestro_ takes his place at +the pianoforte. The theatre is overflowing, people having flocked to +the town from ten leagues distance. Every inn is crowded, and those +unable to get other accommodations encamp around the theatre in their +various vehicles. All business is suspended, and, during the +performances, the town has the appearance of a desert. The passions, +the anxieties, the very life of a whole population are centered in the +theatre." + +Rossini would preside at the first three representations, and, after +receiving a grand civic banquet, set out for the next place, his +portmanteau fuller of music-paper than of other effects, and perhaps a +dozen sequins in his pocket. His love of jesting during these gay +Bohemian wanderings made him perpetrate innumerable practical jokes, +not sparing himself when he had no more available food for mirth. On +one occasion, in travelling from Ancona to Reggio, he passed himself +off for a musical professor, a mortal enemy of Rossini, and sang the +words of his own operas to the most execrable music, in a cracked +voice, to show his superiority to that donkey, Rossini. An unknown +admirer of his was in such a rage that he was on the point of +chastising him for slandering the great musician, about whom Italy +raved. + +Our composer's earlier style was quite simple and unadorned, a fact +difficult for the present generation, only acquainted with the florid +beauties of his later works, to appreciate. Rossini only followed the +traditions of Italian music in giving singers full opportunity to +embroider the naked score at their own pleasure. He was led to change +this practice by the following incident. The tenor-singer Velluti was +then the favourite of the Italian theatres, and indulged in the most +unwarrantable tricks with his composers. During the first performance +of "L'Aureliano," at Naples, the singer loaded the music with such +ornaments that Rossini could not recognise the offspring of his own +brains. A fierce quarrel ensued between the two, and the composer +determined thereafter to write music of such a character that the most +stupid singer could not suppose any adornment needed. From that time +the Rossini music was marked by its florid and brilliant embroidery. +Of the same Velluti, spoken of above, an incident is told, +illustrating the musical craze of the country and the period. A +Milanese gentleman, whose father was very ill, met his friend in the +street--"Where are you going?" "To the Scala, to be sure." "How! your +father lies at the point of death." "Yes! yes! I know, but Velluti +sings to-night." + + +II. + +An important step in Rossini's early career was his connection with +the widely known impresario of the San Carlo, Naples, Barbaja. He was +under contract to produce two new operas annually, to rearrange all +old scores, and to conduct at all of the theatres ruled by this +manager. He was to receive two hundred ducats a month, and a share in +the profits of the bank of the San Carlo gambling-saloon. His first +opera composed here was "Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra," which was +received with a genuine Neapolitan _furore_. Rossini was fêted and +caressed by the ardent _dilettanti_ of this city to his heart's +content, and was such an idol of the "fickle fair" that his career on +more than one occasion narrowly escaped an untimely close, from the +prejudices of jealous spouses. The composer was very vain of his +handsome person, and boasted of his _escapades d'amour_. Many, too, +will recall his _mot_, spoken to a beauty standing between himself and +the Duke of Wellington--"Madame, how happy should you be to find +yourself placed between the two greatest men in Europe!" + +One of Rossini's adventures at Naples has in it something of romance. +He was sitting in his chamber, humming one of his own operatic airs, +when the ugliest Mercury he had ever seen entered and gave him a note, +then instantly withdrew. This, of course, was a tender invitation, and +an assignation at a romantic spot in the suburb. On arriving Rossini +sang his _aria_ for a signal, and from the gate of a charming park +surrounding a small villa appeared his beautiful and unknown +inamorata. On parting it was agreed that the same messenger should +bring notice of the second appointment. Rossini suspected that the +lady, in disguise, was her own envoy, and verified the guess by +following the light-footed page. He then discovered that she was the +wife of a wealthy Sicilian, widely noted for her beauty, and one of +the reigning toasts. On renewing his visit, he barely arrived at the +gate of the park, when a carbine-bullet grazed his head, and two +masked assailants sprang toward him with drawn rapiers, a proceeding +which left Rossini no option but to take to his heels, as he was +unarmed. + +During the composer's residence at Naples he was made acquainted with +many of the most powerful princes and nobles of Europe, and his name +became a recognised factor in European music, though his works were +not widely known outside of his native land. His reputation for genius +spread by report, for all who came in contact with the brilliant, +handsome Rossini were charmed. That which placed his European fame on +a solid basis was the production of "Il Barbiere di Seviglia" at Rome +during the carnival season of 1816. + +Years before Rossini had thought of setting the sparkling comedy of +Beaumarchais to music, and Sterbini, the author of the _libretto_ used +by Paisiello, had proposed to rearrange the story. Rossini, indeed, +had been so complaisant as to write to the older composer for +permission to set fresh music to the comedy; a concession not needed, +for the plays of Metastasio had been used by different musicians +without scruple. Paisiello intrigued against the new opera, and +organised a conspiracy to kill it on the first night. Sterbini made +the libretto totally different from the other, and Rossini finished +the music in thirteen days, during which he never left the house. "Not +even did I get shaved," he said to a friend. "It seems strange that +through the 'Barber' you should have gone without shaving." "If I had +shaved," Rossini exclaimed, "I should have gone out; and, if I had +gone out, I should not have come back in time." + +The first performance was a curious scene. The Argentina Theatre was +packed with friends and foes. One of the greatest of tenors, Garcia, +the father of Malibran and Pauline Viardot, sang Almaviva. Rossini had +been weak enough to allow Garcia to sing a Spanish melody for a +serenade, for the latter urged the necessity of vivid national and +local colour. The tenor had forgotten to tune his guitar, and in the +operation on the stage a string broke. This gave the signal for a +tumult of ironical laughter and hisses. The same hostile atmosphere +continued during the evening. Even Madame Georgi-Righetti, a great +favourite of the Romans, was coldly received by the audience. In +short, the opera seemed likely to be damned. + +When the singers went to condole with Rossini, they found him enjoying +a luxurious supper with the gusto of the _gourmet_ that he was. +Settled in his knowledge that he had written a masterpiece, he could +not be disturbed by unjust clamour. The next night the fickle Romans +made ample amends, for the opera was concluded amid the warmest +applause, even from the friends of Paisiello. + +Rossini's "Il Barbiere," within six months, was performed on nearly +every stage in Europe, and received universally with great admiration. +It was only in Paris, two years afterwards, that there was some +coldness in its reception. Every one said that after Paisiello's music +on the same subject it was nothing, when it was suggested that +Paisiello's should be revived. So the St. Petersburg "Barbiere" of +1788 was produced, and beside Rossini's it proved so dull, stupid, and +antiquated that the public instantly recognised the beauties of the +work which they had persuaded themselves to ignore. Yet for this work, +which placed the reputation of the young composer on a lofty pedestal, +he received only two thousand francs. + +Our composer took his failures with great phlegm and good-nature, +based, perhaps, on an invincible self-confidence. When his +"Sigismonde" had been hissed at Venice, he sent his mother a _fiasco_ +(bottle). In the last instance he sent her, on the morning succeeding +the first performance, a letter with a picture of a _fiaschetto_ +(little bottle). + + +III. + +The same year (1816) was produced at Naples the opera of "Otello," +which was an important point of departure in the reforms introduced by +Rossini on the Italian stage. Before speaking further of this +composer's career, it is necessary to admit that every valuable change +furthered by him had already been inaugurated by Mozart, a musical +genius so great that he seems to have included all that went before, +all that succeeded him. It was not merely that Rossini enriched the +orchestration to such a degree, but, revolting from the delay of the +dramatic movement, caused by the great number of arias written for +each character, he gave large prominence to the concerted pieces, and +used them where monologue had formerly been the rule. He developed the +basso and baritone parts, giving them marked importance in serious +opera, and worked out the choruses and finales with the most elaborate +finish. + +Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, a celebrated connoisseur and admirer of the old +school, wrote of these innovations, ignoring the fact that Mozart had +given the weight of his great authority to them before the daring +young Italian composer:-- + +"The construction of these newly-invented pieces is essentially +different from the old. The dialogue, which used to be carried on in +recitative, and which, in Metastasio's operas, is often so beautiful +and interesting, is now cut up (and rendered unintelligible if it were +worth listening to) into _pezzi concertati_, or long singing +conversations, which present a tedious succession of unconnected, +ever-changing motives, having nothing to do with each other; and if a +satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, which the ear would like +to dwell upon, to hear modulated, varied, and again returned to, it is +broken off, before it is well understood, by a sudden transition in an +entirely different melody, time, and key, and recurs no more, so that +no impression can be made, or recollection of it preserved. Single +songs are almost exploded.... Even the _prima donna_, who formerly +would have complained at having less than three or four airs allotted +to her, is now satisfied with having one single _cavatina_ given to +her during the whole opera." + +In "Otello," Rossini introduced his operatic changes to the Italian +public, and they were well received; yet great opposition was +manifested by those who clung to the time-honoured canons. Sigismondi, +of the Naples Conservatory, was horror-stricken on first seeing the +score of this opera. The clarionets were too much for him, but on +seeing third and fourth horn-parts, he exclaimed, "What does the man +want? The greatest of our composers have always been contented with +two. Shades of Pergolesi, of Leo, of Jomelli! How they must shudder at +the bare thought! Four horns! Are we at a hunting-party? Four horns! +Enough to blow us to perdition!" Donizetti, who was Sigismondi's pupil, +also tells an amusing incident of his preceptor's disgust. He was +turning over a score of "Semiramide" in the library, when the _maestro_ +came in and asked him what music it was. "Rossini's," was the answer. +Sigismondi glanced at the page and saw 1. 2. 3. trumpets, being the +first, second, and third trumpet parts. Aghast, he shouted, stuffing +his fingers in his ears, "One hundred and twenty-three trumpets! _Corpo +di Cristo!_ the world's gone mad, and I shall go mad too!" And so he +rushed from the room, muttering to himself about the hundred and +twenty-three trumpets. + +The Italian public, in spite of such criticism, very soon accepted the +opera of "Otello" as the greatest serious opera ever written for their +stage. It owed much, however, to the singers who illustrated its +rôles. Mdme. Colbran, afterwards Rossini's wife, sang Desdemona, and +David, Otello. The latter was the predecessor of Rubini as the finest +singer of the Rossinian music. He had the prodigious compass of three +octaves; and M. Bertin, a French critic, says of this singer, so +honourably linked with the career of our composer, "He is full of +warmth, _verve_, energy, expression, and musical sentiment; alone he +can fill up and give life to a scene; it is impossible for another +singer to carry away an audience as he does, and, when he will only be +simple, he is admirable. He is the Rossini of song; he is the greatest +singer I ever heard." Lord Byron, in one of his letters to Moore, +speaks of the first production at Milan, and praises the music +enthusiastically, while condemning the libretto as a degradation of +Shakespeare. + +"La Cenerentola" and "La Gazza Ladra" were written in quick +succession for Naples and Milan. The former of these works, based on +the old Cinderella myth, was the last opera written by Rossini to +illustrate the beauties of the contralto voice, and Madame +Georgi-Righetti, the early friend and steadfast patroness of the +musician during his early days of struggle, made her last great +appearance in it before retiring from the stage. In this composition, +Rossini, though one of the most affluent and rapid of composers, +displays that economy in art which sometimes characterised him. He +introduced in it many of the more beautiful airs from his earlier and +less successful works. He believed on principle that it was folly to +let a good piece of music be lost through being married to a weak and +faulty libretto. The brilliant opera of "La Gazza Ladra," set to the +story of a French melodrama, "La Pie Voleuse," aggravated the quarrel +between Paer, the director of the French opera, and the gifted +Italian. Paer had designed to have written the music himself, but his +librettist slyly turned over the poem to Rossini, who produced one of +his masterpieces in setting it. The audience at La Scala received the +work with the noisiest demonstrations, interrupting the progress of +the drama with constant cries of "_Bravo! Maestro!_" "_Viva Rossini!_" +The composer afterwards said that acknowledging the calls of the +audience fatigued him much more than the direction of the opera. When +the same work was produced four years after in London, under Mr. +Ebers's management, an incident related by that _impresario_ in his +_Seven Years of the King's Theatre_, shows how eagerly it was received +by an English audience:-- + +"When I entered the stage door, I met an intimate friend, with a long +face and uplifted eyes. 'Good God! Ebers, I pity you from my soul. +This ungrateful public,' he continued. 'The wretches! Why! my dear +sir, they have not left you a seat in your own house.' Relieved from +the fears he had created, I joined him in his laughter, and proceeded, +assuring him that I felt no ill towards the public for their conduct +towards me." + +Passing over "Armida," written for the opening of the new San Carlo +at Naples, "Adelaida di Borgogna," for the Roman Carnival of 1817, and +"Adina," for a Lisbon theatre, we come to a work which is one of +Rossini's most solid claims on musical immortality, "Mosé in Egitto," +first produced at the San Carlo, Naples, in 1818. In "Mosé," Rossini +carried out still further than ever his innovations, the two principal +rôles--_Mosé_ and _Faraoni_--being assigned to basses. On the first +representation, the crossing of the Red Sea moved the audience to +satirical laughter, which disconcerted the otherwise favourable +reception of the piece, and entirely spoiled the final effects. The +manager was at his wit's end, till Tottola, the librettist, suggested +a prayer for the Israelites before and after the passage of the host +through the cleft waters. Rossini instantly seized the idea, and, +springing from bed in his night-shirt, wrote the music with almost +inconceivable rapidity, before his embarrassed visitors recovered from +their surprise. The same evening the magnificent _Dal tuo stellato +soglio_ ("To thee, Great Lord") was performed with the opera. + +Let Stendhall, Rossini's biographer, tell the rest of the story--"The +audience was delighted as usual with the first act, and all went well +till the third, when, the passage of the Red Sea being at hand, the +audience as usual prepared to be amused. The laughter was just +beginning in the pit, when it was observed that Moses was about to +sing. He began his solo, the first verse of a prayer, which all the +people repeat in chorus after Moses. Surprised at this novelty, the +pit listened and the laughter entirely ceased. The chorus, exceedingly +fine, was in the minor. Aaron continues, followed by the people. +Finally, Eleia addresses to Heaven the same supplication, and the +people respond. Then all fall on their knees and repeat the prayer +with enthusiasm; the miracle is performed, the sea is opened to leave +a path for the people protected by the Lord. This last part is in the +major. It is impossible to imagine the thunders of applause that +resounded through the house; one would have thought it was coming +down. The spectators in the boxes, standing up and leaning over, +called out at the top of their voices, '_Bello, bello! O che bello!_' +I never saw so much enthusiasm nor such a complete success, which was +so much the greater, inasmuch as the people were quite prepared to +laugh.... I am almost in tears when I think of this prayer. This state +of things lasted a long time, and one of its effects was to make for +its composer the reputation of an assassin, for Dr. Cottogna is said +to have remarked--'I can cite to you more than forty attacks of +nervous fever or violent convulsions on the part of young women, fond +to excess of music, which have no other origin than the prayer of the +Hebrews in the third act, with its superb change of key.'" Thus, by a +stroke of genius, a scene which first impressed the audience as a +piece of theatrical burlesque, was raised to sublimity by the solemn +music written for it. + +M. Bochsa some years afterwards produced "Mosé" as an oratorio in +London, and it failed. A new libretto, however, "Pietro L'Eremito,"[G] +again transformed the music into an opera. Ebers tells us that Lord +Sefton, a distinguished connoisseur, only pronounced the general +verdict in calling it the greatest of serious operas, for it was +received with the greatest favour. A gentleman of high rank was not +satisfied with assuring the manager that he had deserved well of his +country, but avowed his determination to propose him for membership at +the most exclusive of aristocratic clubs--White's. + +"La Donna del Lago," Rossini's next great work, also first produced at +the San Carlo during the Carnival of 1820, though splendidly +performed, did not succeed well the first night. The composer left +Naples the same night for Milan, and coolly informed every one _en +route_ that the opera was very successful, which proved to be true +when he reached his journey's end, for the Neapolitans on the second +night reversed their decision into an enthusiasm as marked as their +coldness had been. + +Shortly after this Rossini married his favourite _prima donna_, Madame +Colbran. He had just completed two of his now forgotten operas, +"Bianca e Faliero" and "Matilda di Shabran," but did not stay to watch +their public reception. He quietly took away the beautiful Colbran, +and at Bologna was married by the archbishop. Thence the +freshly-wedded couple visited Vienna, and Rossini there produced his +"Zelmira," his wife singing the principal part. One of the most +striking of this composer's works in invention and ingenious +development of ideas, Carpani says of it--"It contains enough to +furnish not one but four operas. In this work, Rossini, by the new +riches which he draws from his prodigious imagination, is no longer +the author of 'Otello,' 'Tancredi,' 'Zoraide,' and all his preceding +works; he is another composer, new, agreeable, and fertile, as much as +at first, but with more command of himself, more pure, more masterly, +and, above all, more faithful to the interpretation of the words. The +forms of style employed in this opera, according to circumstances, are +so varied, that now we seem to hear Gluck, now Traetta, now Sacchini, +now Mozart, now Handel; for the gravity, the learning, the +naturalness, the suavity of their conceptions, live and blossom again +in 'Zelmira.' The transitions are learned, and inspired more by +considerations of poetry and sense than by caprice and a mania for +innovation. The vocal parts, always natural, never trivial, give +expression to the words without ceasing to be melodious. The great +point is to preserve both. The instrumentation of Rossini is really +incomparable by the vivacity and freedom of the manner, by the variety +and justness of the colouring." Yet it must be conceded that, while +this opera made a deep impression on musicians and critics, it did not +please the general public. It proved languid and heavy with those who +could not relish the science of the music and the skill of the +combinations. Such instances as this are the best answer to that +school of critics, who have never ceased clamouring that Rossini +could write nothing but beautiful tunes to tickle the vulgar and +uneducated mind. + +"Semiramide," first performed at the Fenice theatre in Venice on +February 3, 1823, was the last of Rossini's Italian operas, though it +had the advantage of careful rehearsals and a noble caste. It was not +well received at first, though the verdict of time places it high +among the musical masterpieces of the century. In it were combined all +of Rossini's ideas of operatic reform, and the novelty of some of the +innovations probably accounts for the inability of his earlier public +to appreciate its merits. Mdme. Rossini made her last public +appearance in this great work. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[G] The same music was set to a poem founded on the first crusade, all +the most effective situations being dramatically utilised for the +Christian legend. + + +IV. + +Henceforward the career of the greatest of the Italian composers, the +genius who shares with Mozart the honour of having impressed himself +more than any other on the style and methods of his successors, was to +be associated with French music, though never departing from his +characteristic quality as an original and creative mind. He modified +French music, and left great disciples on whom his influence was +radical, though perhaps we may detect certain reflex influences in his +last and greatest opera, "William Tell." But of this more hereafter. + +Before finally settling in the French capital, Rossini visited London, +where he was received with great honours. "When Rossini entered,"[H] +says a writer in a London paper of that date, "he was received with +loud plaudits, all the persons in the pit standing on the seats to get +a better view of him. He continued for a minute or two to bow +respectfully to the audience, and then gave the signal for the +overture to begin. He appeared stout and somewhat below the middle +height, with rather a heavy air, and a countenance which, though +intelligent, betrayed none of the vivacity which distinguishes his +music; and it was remarked that he had more of the appearance of a +sturdy beef-eating Englishman than a fiery and sensitive native of the +south." + +The king, George IV., treated Rossini with peculiar consideration. On +more than one occasion he walked with him arm-in-arm through a crowded +concert-hall to the conductor's stand. Yet the composer, who seems not +to have admired his English Majesty, treated the monarch with much +independence, not to say brusqueness, on one occasion, as if to +signify his disdain of even royal patronage. At a grand concert at St. +James's Palace, the king said, at the close of the programme, "Now, +Rossini, we will have one piece more, and that shall be the _finale_." +The other replied, "I think, sir, we have had music enough for one +night," and made his bow. + +He was an honoured guest at the most fashionable houses, where his +talents as a singer and player were displayed with much effect in an +unconventional, social way. Auber, the French composer, was present on +one of these occasions, and indicates how great Rossini could have +been in executive music had he not been a king in the higher sphere. +"I shall never forget the effect," writes Auber, "produced by his +lightning-like execution. When he had finished I looked mechanically +at the ivory keys. I fancied I could see them smoking." Rossini was +richer by seven thousand pounds by this visit to the English +metropolis. Though he had been under engagement to produce a new opera +as well as to conduct those which had already made him famous, he +failed to keep this part of his contract. Passages in his letters at +this time would seem to indicate that Rossini was much piqued because +the London public received his wife, to whom he was devotedly +attached, with coldness. Notwithstanding the beauty of her face and +figure, and the greatness of her style both as actress and singer, she +was pronounced _passée_ alike in person and voice, with a species of +brutal frankness not uncommon in English criticism. + +When Rossini arrived in Paris he was almost immediately appointed +director of the Italian Opera by the Duc de Lauriston. With this and +the Académie he remained connected till the revolution of 1830. "Le +Siége de Corinthe," adapted from his old work, "Maometto II.," was the +first opera presented to the Parisian public, and, though admired, did +not become a favourite. The French _amour propre_ was a little stung +when it was made known that Rossini had simply modified and reshaped +one of his early and immature productions as his first attempt at +composition in French opera. His other works for the French stage were +"Il Viaggio a Rheims," "Le Comte Ory," and "Guillaume Tell." + +The last-named opera, which will ever be Rossini's crown of glory as a +composer, was written with his usual rapidity while visiting the +château of M. Aguado, a country-seat some distance from Paris. This +work, one of the half-dozen greatest ever written, was first produced +at the Académie Royale on August 3, 1829. In its early form of +libretto it had a run of fifty-six representations, and was then +withdrawn from the stage; and the work of remodelling from five to +three acts, and other improvements in the dramatic framework, was +thoroughly carried out. In its new form the opera blazed into an +unprecedented popularity, for of the greatness of the music there had +never been but one judgment. Fétis, the eminent critic, writing of it +immediately on its production, said--"The work displays a new man in +an old one, and proves that it is in vain to measure the action of +genius," and follows with--"This production opens a new career to +Rossini," a prophecy unfortunately not to be realised, for Rossini was +soon to retire from the field in which he had made such a remarkable +career, while yet in the very prime of his powers. + +"Guillaume Tell" is full of melody, alike in the solos and the massive +choral and ballet music. It runs in rich streams through every part of +the composition. The overture is better known to the general public +than the opera itself, and is one of the great works of musical art. +The opening andante in triple time for the five violoncelli and +double basses at once carries the hearer to the regions of the upper +Alps, where, amid the eternal snows, Nature sleeps in a peaceful +dream. We perceive the coming of the sunlight, and the hazy atmosphere +clearing away before the new-born day. In the next movement the +solitude is all dispelled. The raindrops fall thick and heavy, and a +thunderstorm bursts. But the fury is soon spent, and the clouds clear +away. The shepherds are astir, and from the mountain-sides come the +peculiar notes of the "Ranz des Vaches" from their pipes. Suddenly all +is changed again. Trumpets call to arms, and with the mustering +battalions the music marks the quickstep, as the shepherd patriots +march to meet the Austrian chivalry. A brilliant use of the violins +and reeds depicts the exultation of the victors on their return, and +closes one of the grandest sound-paintings in music. + +The original cast of "Guillaume Tell" included the great singers then +in Paris, and these were so delighted with the music, that the morning +after the first production they assembled on the terrace before his +house and performed selections from it in his honour. + +With this last great effort Rossini, at the age of thirty-seven, may +be said to have retired from the field of music, though his life was +prolonged for forty years. True, he composed the "Stabat Mater" and +the "Messe Solennelle," but neither of these added to the reputation +won in his previous career. The "Stabat Mater," publicly performed for +the first time in 1842, has been recognised, it is true, as a +masterpiece; but its entire lack of devotional solemnity, its +brilliant and showy texture, preclude its giving Rossini any rank as a +religious composer. + +He spent the forty years of his retirement partly at Bologna, partly +at Passy, near Paris, the city of his adoption. His hospitality +welcomed the brilliant men from all parts of Europe who loved to visit +him, and his relations with other great musicians were of the most +kindly and cordial character. His sunny and genial nature never knew +envy, and he was quick to recognise the merits of schools opposed to +his own. He died, after intense suffering, on November 13, 1868. He +had been some time ill, and four of the greatest physicians in Europe +were his almost constant attendants. The funeral of "The Swan of +Pesaro," as he was called by his compatriots, was attended by an +immense concourse, and his remains rest in Père-Lachaise. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[H] His first English appearance in public was at the King's Theatre, +on the 24th of January 1824, when he conducted his own opera, +"Zelmira." + + +V. + +Moscheles, the celebrated pianist, gives us some charming pictures of +Rossini in his home at Passy, in his diary of 1860. He writes--"Felix +[his son] had been made quite at home in the villa on former +occasions. To me the _parterre salon_, with its rich furniture, was +quite new, and before the _maestro_ himself appeared we looked at his +photograph in a circular porcelain frame, on the sides of which were +inscribed the names of his works. The ceiling is covered with pictures +illustrating scenes out of Palestrina's and Mozart's lives; in the +middle of the room stands a Pleyel piano. When Rossini came in he gave +me the orthodox Italian kiss, and was effusive of expressions of +delight at my reappearance, and very complimentary on the subject of +Felix. In the course of our conversation he was full of hard-hitting +truths on the present study and method of vocalisation. 'I don't want +to hear anything more of it,' he said; 'they scream. All I want is a +resonant, full-toned voice, not a screeching voice. I care not whether +it be for speaking or singing, everything ought to sound melodious.'" +So, too, Rossini assured Moscheles that he hated the new school of +piano-players, saying the piano was horribly maltreated, for the +performers thumped the keys as if they had some vengeance to wreak on +them. When the great player improvised for Rossini, the latter says, +"It is music that flows from the fountain-head. There is reservoir +water and spring water. The former only runs when you turn the cock, +and is always redolent of the vase; the latter always gushes forth +fresh and limpid. Nowadays people confound the simple and the +trivial; a _motif_ of Mozart they would call trivial, if they dared." + +On other occasions Moscheles plays to the _maestro_, who insists on +having discovered barriers in the "humoristic variations," so boldly +do they seem to raise the standard of musical revolution; his title of +the "Grand Valse" he finds too unassuming. "Surely a waltz with some +angelic creature must have inspired you, Moscheles, with this +composition, and _that_ the title ought to express. Titles, in fact, +should pique the curiosity of the public." "A view uncongenial to me," +adds Moscheles; "however, I did not discuss it.... A dinner at +Rossini's is calculated for the enjoyment of a 'gourmet,' and he +himself proved to be the one, for he went through the very select +_menu_ as only a connoisseur would. After dinner he looked through my +album of musical autographs with the greatest interest, and finally we +became very merry, I producing my musical jokes on the piano, and +Felix and Clara figuring in the duet which I had written for her voice +and his imitation of the French horn. Rossini cheered lustily, and so +one joke followed another till we received the parting kiss and 'good +night.' ... At my next visit, Rossini showed me a charming 'Lied ohne +Worte,' which he composed only yesterday; a graceful melody is +embodied in the well-known technical form. Alluding to a performance +of 'Semiramide,' he said, with a malicious smile, 'I suppose you saw +the beautiful decorations in it?' He has not received the Sisters +Marchisio for fear they should sing to him, nor has he heard them in +the theatre; he spoke warmly of Pasta, Lablache, Rubini, and others, +then he added that I ought not to look with jealousy upon his budding +talent as a pianoforte-player, but that, on the contrary, I should +help to establish his reputation as such in Leipsic. He again +questioned me with much interest about my intimacy with Clementi, and, +calling me that master's worthy successor, he said he should like to +visit me in Leipsic, if it were not for those dreadful railways, which +he would never travel by. All this in his bright and lively way; but +when we came to discuss Chevet, who wishes to supplant musical notes +by ciphers, he maintained, in an earnest and dogmatic tone, that the +system of notation, as it had developed itself since Pope Gregory's +time, was sufficient for all musical requirements. He certainly could +not withhold some appreciation for Chevet, but refused to indorse the +certificate granted by the Institute in his favour; the system he +thought impracticable. + +"The never-failing stream of conversation flowed on until eleven +o'clock, when I was favoured with the inevitable kiss, which on this +occasion was accompanied by special farewell blessings." + +Shortly after Moscheles had left Paris, his son forwarded to him most +friendly messages from Rossini, and continues thus--"Rossini sends you +word that he is working hard at the piano, and, when you next come to +Paris, you shall find him in better practice.... The conversation +turning upon German music, I asked him 'which was his favourite among +the great masters?' Of Beethoven he said, 'I take him twice a-week, +Haydn four times, and Mozart every day. You will tell me that +Beethoven is a Colossus who often gives you a dig in the ribs, while +Mozart is always adorable; it is that the latter had the chance of +going very young to Italy, at a time when they still sang well.' Of +Weber he says, 'He has talent enough, and to spare' (_Il a du talent à +revendre, celui-là_). He told me in reference to him, that, when the +part of 'Tancred' was sung at Berlin by a bass voice, Weber had +written violent articles not only against the management, but against +the composer, so that, when Weber came to Paris, he did not venture to +call on Rossini, who, however, let him know that he bore him no grudge +for having made these attacks; on receipt of that message Weber called +and they became acquainted. + +"I asked him if he had met Byron in Venice? 'Only in a restaurant,' +was the answer, 'where I was introduced to him; our acquaintance, +therefore, was very slight; it seems he has spoken of me, but I don't +know what he says.' I translated for him, in a somewhat milder form, +Byron's words, which happened to be fresh in my memory--'They have +been crucifying Othello into an opera; the music good but lugubrious, +but, as for the words, all the real scenes with Iago cut out, and the +greatest nonsense instead, the handkerchief turned into a billet-doux, +and the first singer would not black his face--singing, dresses, and +music very good.' The _maestro_ regretted his ignorance of the English +language, and said, 'In my day I gave much time to the study of our +Italian literature. Dante is the man I owe most to; he taught me more +music than all my music-masters put together, and when I wrote my +"Otello," I would introduce those lines of Dante--you know the song of +the gondolier. My librettist would have it that gondoliers never sang +Dante, and but rarely Tasso, but I answered him, "I know all about +that better than you, for I have lived in Venice and you haven't. +Dante I must and will have."'" + + +VI. + +An ardent disciple of Wagner sums up his ideas of the mania for the +Rossini music, which possessed Europe for fifteen years, in the +following--"Rossini, the most gifted and spoiled of her sons [speaking +of Italy] sallied forth with an innumerable army of Bacchantic +melodies to conquer the world, the Messiah of joy, the breaker of +thought and sorrow. Europe, by this time, had tired of the empty pomp +of French declamation. It lent but too willing an ear to the new +gospel, and eagerly quaffed the intoxicating potion, which Rossini +poured out in inexhaustible streams." This very well expresses the +delight of all the countries of Europe in music which for a long time +almost monopolised the stage. + +The charge of being a mere tune-spinner, the denial of invention, +depth, and character, have been common watchwords in the mouths of +critics wedded to other schools. But Rossini's place in music stands +unshaken by all assaults. The vivacity of his style, the freshness of +his melodies, the richness of his combinations, made all the Italian +music that preceded him pale and colourless. No other writer revels +in such luxury of beauty, and delights the ear with such a succession +of delicious surprises in melody. + +Henry Chorley, in his _Thirty Years' Musical Recollections_, rebukes +the bigotry which sees nothing good but in its own kind--"I have never +been able to understand why this [referring to the Rossinian richness +of melody] should be contemned as necessarily false and +meretricious--why the poet may not be allowed the benefit of his own +period and time--why a lover of architecture is to be compelled to +swear by the _Dom_ at Bamberg, or by the Cathedral at Monreale--that +he must abhor and denounce Michael Angelo's church or the Baths of +Diocletian at Rome--why the person who enjoys 'Il Barbiere' is to be +denounced as frivolously faithless to Mozart's 'Figaro'--and as +incapable of comprehending 'Fidelio,' because the last act of 'Otello' +and the second of 'Guillaume Tell' transport him into as great an +enjoyment of its kind as do the duet in the cemetery between Don Juan +and Leporello and the 'Prisoners' Chorus.' How much good, genial +pleasure has not the world lost in music, owing to the pitting of +styles one against the other! Your true traveller will be all the more +alive to the beauty of Nuremberg because he has looked out over the +'Golden Shell' at Palermo; nor delight in Rhine and Danube the less +because he has seen the glow of a southern sunset over the broken +bridge at Avignon." + +As grand and true as are many of the essential elements in the Wagner +school of musical composition, the bitterness and narrowness of spite +with which its upholders have pursued the memory of Rossini is equally +offensive and unwarrantable. Rossini, indeed, did not revolutionise +the forms of opera as transmitted to him by his predecessors, but he +reformed and perfected them in various notable ways. Both in comic and +serious opera, music owes much to Rossini. He substituted genuine +singing for the endless recitative of which the Italian opera before +him largely consisted; he brought the bass and baritone voices to the +front, banished the pianoforte from the orchestra, and laid down the +principle that the singer should deliver the notes written for him +without additions of his own. He gave the chorus a much more important +part than before, and elaborated the concerted music, especially in +the _finales_, to a degree of artistic beauty before unknown in the +Italian opera. Above all, he made the operatic orchestra what it is +to-day. Every new instrument that was invented Rossini found a place +for in his brilliant scores, and thereby incurred the warmest +indignation of all writers of the old school. Before him the +orchestras had consisted largely of strings, but Rossini added an +equally imposing element of the brasses and reeds. True, Mozart had +forestalled Rossini in many if not all these innovations, a fact which +the Italian cheerfully admitted; for, with the simple frankness +characteristic of the man, he always spoke of his obligations to and +his admiration of the great German. To an admirer who was one day +burning incense before him, Rossini said, in the spirit of Cimarosa +quoted elsewhere, "My 'Barber' is only a bright farce, but in Mozart's +'Marriage of Figaro' you have the finest possible masterpiece of +musical comedy." + +With all concessions made to Mozart as the founder of the forms of +modern opera, an equally high place must be given to Rossini for the +vigour and audacity with which he made these available, and impressed +them on all his contemporaries and successors. Though Rossini's +self-love was flattered by constant adulation, his expressions of +respect and admiration for such composers as Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, +and Cherubini, display what a catholic and generous nature he +possessed. The judgment of Ambros, a severe critic, whose bias was +against Rossini, shows what admiration was wrung from him by the last +opera of the composer--"Of all that particularly characterises +Rossini's early operas nothing is discoverable in 'Tell;' there is +none of his usual mannerism; but, on the contrary, unusual richness of +form and careful finish of detail, combined with grandeur of outline. +Meretricious embellishment, shakes, runs, and cadences are carefully +avoided in this work, which is natural and characteristic throughout; +even the melodies have not the stamp and style of Rossini's earlier +times, but only their graceful charm and lively colouring." + +Rossini must be allowed to be unequalled in genuine comic opera, and +to have attained a distinct greatness in serious opera, to be the most +comprehensive, and, at the same time, the most national composer of +Italy--to be, in short, the Mozart of his country. After all has been +admitted and regretted--that he gave too little attention to musical +science; that he often neglected to infuse into his work the depth and +passion of which it was easily capable; that he placed too high a +value on merely brilliant effects _ad captandum vulgus_--there remains +the fact that his operas embody a mass of imperishable music, which +will live with the art itself. Musicians of every country now admit +his wondrous grace, his fertility and freshness of invention, his +matchless treatment of the voice, his effectiveness in arrangement of +the orchestra. He can never be made a model, for his genius had too +much spontaneity and individuality of colour. But he impressed and +modified music hardly less than Gluck, whose tastes and methods were +entirely antagonistic to his own. That he should have retired from the +exercise of his art while in the full flower of his genius is a +perplexing fact. No stranger story is recorded in the annals of art +with respect to a genius who filled the world with his glory, and then +chose to vanish, "not unseen." On finishing his crowning stroke of +genius and skill in "William Tell," he might have said with +Shakespeare's enchanter, Prospero-- + + "... But this magic + I here abjure; and when I have required + Some heavenly music (which even now I do) + To work mine end upon their senses that + This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff-- + Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, + And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, + I'll drown my book." + + + + +_DONIZETTI AND BELLINI._ + + +I. + +A bright English critic, whose style is as charming as his judgments +are good, says, in his study of the Donizetti music, "I find myself +thinking of his music as I do of Domenichino's pictures of 'St. Agnes' +and the 'Rosario' in the Bologna gallery, of the 'Diana' in the +Borghese Palace at Rome, as pictures equable and skilful in the +treatment of their subjects, neither devoid of beauty of form nor of +colour, but which make neither the pulse quiver nor the eye wet; and +then such a sweeping judgment is arrested by a work like the 'St. +Jerome' in the Vatican, from which a spirit comes forth so strong and +so exalted, that the beholder, however trained to examine and compare +and collect, finds himself raised above all recollections of manner by +the sudden ascent of talent into the higher world of genius. +Essentially a second-rate composer,[I] Donizetti struck out some +first-rate things in a happy hour, such as the last act of 'La +Favorita.'" + +Both Donizetti and Bellini, though far inferior to their master in +richness of resources, in creative faculty and instinct for what may +be called dramatic expression in pure musical form, were disciples of +Rossini in their ideas and methods of work. Milton sang of +Shakespeare-- + + "Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, + Warbles his native wood-notes wild!" + +In a similar spirit, many learned critics have written of Rossini, and +if it can be said of him in a musical sense that he had "little Latin +and less Greek," still more true is it of the two popular composers +whose works have filled so large a space in the opera-house of the +last thirty years, for their scores are singularly thin, measured by +the standard of advanced musical science. Specially may this be said +of Bellini, in many respects the greater of the two. There is scarcely +to be found in music a more signal example to show that a marked +individuality may rest on a narrow base. In justice to him, however, +it may be said that his early death prevented him from doing full +justice to his powers, for he had in him the material out of which the +great artist is made. Let us first sketch the career of Donizetti, the +author of sixty-four operas, besides a mass of other music, such as +cantatas, ariettas, duets, church music, etc., in the short space of +twenty-six years. + +GÄETANO DONIZETTI was born at Bergamo, 25th September 1798, his father +being a man of moderate fortune.[J] Receiving a good classical +education, the young Gäetano had three careers open before him: the +bar, to which the will of his father inclined; architecture, indicated +by his talent for drawing; and music, to which he was powerfully +impelled by his own inclinations. His father sent him, at the age of +seventeen, to Bologna to benefit by the instruction of Padre Mattei, +who had also been Rossini's master. The young man showed no +disposition for the heights of musical science as demanded by +religious composition, and, much to his father's disgust, avowed his +determination to write dramatic music. Paternal anger, for the elder +Donizetti seems to have had a strain of Scotch obstinacy and +austerity, made the youth enlist as a soldier, thinking to find time +for musical work in the leisure of barrack-life. His first opera, +"Enrico di Borgogna," was so highly admired by the Venetian manager, +to whom it was offered, that he induced friends of his to release +young Donizetti from his military servitude. He now pursued musical +composition with a facility and industry which astonished even the +Italians, familiar with feats of improvisation. In ten years +twenty-eight operas were produced. Such names as "Olivo e Pasquale," +"La Convenienze Teatrali," "Il Borgomaestro di Saardam," "Gianni di +Calais," "L'Esule di Roma," "Il Castello di Kenilworth," "Imelda di +Lambertazzi," have no musical significance, except as belonging to a +catalogue of forgotten titles. Donizetti was so poorly paid that need +drove him to rapid composition, which could not wait for the true +afflatus. + +It was not till 1831 that the evidence of a strong individuality was +given, for hitherto he had shown little more than a slavish imitation +of Rossini. "Anna Bolena" was produced at Milan and gained him great +credit, and even now, though it is rarely sung even in Italy, it is +much respected as a work of art as well as of promise. It was first +interpreted by Pasta and Rubini, and Lablache won his earliest London +triumph in it. "Marino Faliero" was composed for Paris in 1835, and +"L'Elisir d'Amore," one of the most graceful and pleasing of +Donizetti's works, for Milan in 1832. "Lucia di Lammermoor," based on +Sir Walter Scott's novel, was given to the public in 1835, and has +remained the most popular of the composer's operas. Edgardo was +written for the great French tenor, Duprez, Lucia for Persiani. + +Donizetti's kindness of heart was illustrated by the interesting +circumstances of his saving an obscure Neapolitan theatre from ruin. +Hearing that it was on the verge of suspension and the performers in +great distress, the composer sought them out and supplied their +immediate wants. The manager said a new work from the pen of +Donizetti would be his salvation. "You shall have one within a week," +was the answer. + +Lacking a subject, he himself rearranged an old French vaudeville, and +within the week the libretto was written, the music composed, the +parts learned, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. There could +be no greater proof of his generosity of heart and his versatility of +talent. In these days of bitter quarrelling over the rights of authors +in their works, it may be amusing to know that Victor Hugo contested +the rights of Italian librettists to borrow their plots from French +plays. When "Lucrezia Borgia," composed for Milan in 1834, was +produced at Paris in 1840, the French poet instituted a suit for an +infringement of copyright. He gained his action, and "Lucrezia Borgia" +became "La Rinegata," Pope Alexander the Sixth's Italians being +metamorphosed into Turks.[K] + +"Lucrezia Borgia," which, though based on one of the most dramatic of +stories and full of beautiful music, is not dramatically treated by +the composer, seems to mark the distance about half-way between the +styles of Rossini and Verdi. In it there is but little recitative, and +in the treatment of the chorus we find the method which Verdi +afterwards came to use exclusively. When Donizetti revisited Paris in +1840, he produced in rapid succession "I Martiri," "La Fille du +Regiment," and "La Favorita." In the second of these works Jenny Lind, +Sontag, and Alboni won bright triumphs at a subsequent period. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[I] Mr. Chorley probably means "second-rate" as compared with the few +very great names, which can be easily counted on the fingers. + +[J] Admirers of the author of "Don Pasquale" and "Lucia" may be +interested in knowing that Donizetti was of Scotch descent. His +grandfather was a native of Perthshire, named Izett. The young Scot +was beguiled by the fascinating tongue of a recruiting-sergeant into +his Britannic majesty's service, and was taken prisoner by General La +Hoche during the latter's invasion of Ireland. Already tired of a +private's life, he accepted the situation, and was induced to become +the French general's private secretary. Subsequently he drifted to +Italy, and married an Italian lady of some rank, denationalising his +own name into Donizetti. The Scottish predilections of our composer +show themselves in the music of "Don Pasquale," noticeably in "Com' e +gentil;" and the score of "Lucia" is strongly flavoured by Scottish +sympathy and minstrelsy. + +[K] Victor Hugo did the same thing with Verdi's "Ernani," and other +French authors followed with legal actions. The matter was finally +arranged on condition of an indemnity being paid to the original +French dramatists. The principle involved had been established nearly +two centuries before. In a privilege granted to St. Amant in 1653 for +the publication of his "Moïse Sauvé," it was forbidden to extract from +that epic materials for a play or poem. The descendants of +Beaumarchais fought for the same concession, and not very long ago it +was decided that the translators and arrangers of "Le Nozze di Figaro" +for the Théâtre Lyrique must share their receipts with the living +representatives of the author of "Le Mariage de Figaro." + + +II. + +"La Favorita," the story of which was drawn from "L'Ange de Nisida," +and founded in the first instance on a French play, "Le Comte de +Commingues," was put on the stage at the Académie with a magnificent +cast and scenery, and achieved a success immediately great, for as a +dramatic opera it stands far in the van of all the composer's +productions. The whole of the grand fourth act, with the exception of +one cavatina, was composed in three hours. Donizetti had been dining +at the house of a friend, who was engaged in the evening to go to a +ball. On leaving the house his host, with profuse apologies, begged +the composer to stay and finish his coffee, of which Donizetti was +inordinately fond. The latter sent out for music paper, and, finding +himself in the vein for composition, went on writing till the +completion of the work. He had just put the final stroke to the +celebrated "Viens dans un autre patrie" when his friend returned at +one in the morning to congratulate him on his excellent method of +passing the time, and to hear the music sung for the first time from +Donizetti's own lips. + +After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which last city he wrote +"Linda di Chamouni," our composer returned to Paris, and in 1843 wrote +"Don Pasquale" for the Théâtre Italien, and "Don Sebastian" for the +Académie. Its lugubrious drama was fatal to the latter, but the +brilliant gaiety of "Don Pasquale," rendered specially delightful by +such a cast as Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, made it one of +the great art attractions of Paris, and a Fortunatus purse for the +manager. The music of this work, perhaps, is the best ever written by +Donizetti, though it lacks the freshness and sentiment of his "Elisir +d'Amore," which is steeped in rustic poetry and tenderness like a rose +wet with dew. The production of "Maria di Rohan" in Vienna the same +year, an opera with some powerful dramatic effects and bold music, +gave Ronconi the opportunity to prove himself not merely a fine buffo +singer, but a noble tragic actor. In this work Donizetti displays +that rugged earnestness and vigour so characteristic of Verdi; and, +had his life been greatly prolonged, we might have seen him ripen into +a passion and power at odds with the elegant frivolity which for the +most part tainted his musical quality. Donizetti's last opera, +"Catarina Comaro," the sixty-third one represented, was brought out at +Naples in the year 1844, without adding aught to his reputation. Of +this composer's long list of works only ten or eleven retain any hold +on the stage, his best serious operas being "La Favorita," "Linda," +"Anna Bolena," "Lucrezia Borgia," and "Lucia;" the finest comic works, +"L'Elisir d'Amore," "La Fille du Regiment," and "Don Pasquale." + +In composing Donizetti never used the pianoforte, writing with great +rapidity and never making corrections. Yet curious to say, he could +not do anything without a small ivory scraper by his side, though +never using it. It was given him by his father when commencing his +career, with the injunction that, as he was determined to become a +musician, he should make up his mind to write as little rubbish as +possible, advice which Donizetti sometimes forgot. + +The first signs of the malady, which was the cause of the composer's +death, had already shown themselves in 1845. Fits of hallucination and +all the symptoms of approaching derangement displayed themselves with +increasing intensity. An incessant worker, overseer of his operas on +twenty stages, he had to pay the tax by which his fame became his +ruin. It is reported that he anticipated the coming scourge, for +during the rehearsals of "Don Sebastian" he said, "I think I shall go +mad yet." Still he would not put the bridle on his restless activity. +At last paralysis seized him, and in January 1846 he was placed under +the care of the celebrated Dr. Blanche at Ivry. In the hope that the +mild influence of his native air might heal his distempered brain, he +was sent to Bergamo, in 1848, but died in his brother's arms April +8th. The inhabitants of the Peninsula were then at war with Austria, +and the bells that sounded the knell of Donizetti's departure mingled +their solemn peals with the roar of the cannon fired to celebrate the +victory of Goïto. + +His faithful valet, Antoine, wrote to Adolphe Adam, describing his +obsequies:--"More than four thousand persons," he relates, "were +present at the ceremony. The procession was composed of the numerous +clergy of Bergamo, the most illustrious members of the community and +its environs, and of the civic guard of the town and the suburbs. The +discharge of musketry, mingled with the light of three or four +thousand torches, presented a fine effect; the whole was enhanced by +the presence of three military bands and the most propitious weather +it was possible to behold. The young gentlemen of Bergamo insisted on +bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-townsman, although the +cemetery was a league and a-half from the town. The road was crowded +its whole length by people who came from the surrounding country to +witness the procession; and to give due praise to the inhabitants of +Bergamo, never, hitherto, had such great honours been bestowed upon +any member of that city." + + +III. + +The future author of "Norma" and "La Sonnambula," Bellini, took his +first lessons in music from his father, an organist at Catania.[L] He +was sent to the Naples Conservatory by the generosity of a noble +patron, and there was the fellow-pupil of Mercadante, a composer who +blazed into a temporary lustre which threatened to outshine his +fellows, but is now forgotten except by the antiquarian and the lover +of church music. Bellini's early works, for he composed three before +he was twenty, so pleased Barbaja, the manager of the San Carlo and La +Scala, that he intrusted the youth with the libretto "Il Pirata," to +be composed for representation at Florence. The tenor part was written +for the great singer, Rubini, whose name has no peer among artists +since male sopranos were abolished by the outraged moral sense of +society. Rubini retired to the country with Bellini, and studied, as +they were produced, the simple touching airs with which he so +delighted the public on the stage. + +La Scala rang with plaudits when the opera was produced, and Bellini's +career was assured. "I Capuletti" was his next successful opera, +performed at Venice in 1829, but it never became popular out of Italy. + +The significant period of Bellini's life was in the year 1831, which +produced "La Sonnambula," to be followed by "Norma" the next season. +Both these were written for and introduced before the Neapolitan +public. In these works he reached his highest development, and by them +he is best known to fame. The opera-story of "La Sonnambula," by +Romani, an accomplished writer and scholar, is one of the most +artistic and effective ever put into the hands of a composer. M. +Scribe had already used the plot, both as the subject of a vaudeville +and a choregraphic drama; but in Romani's hands it became a +symmetrical story full of poetry and beauty. The music of this opera, +throbbing with pure melody and simple emotion, as natural and fresh as +a bed of wild flowers, went to the heart of the universal public, +learned and unlearned; and, in spite of its scientific faults, it will +never cease to delight future generations, as long as hearts beat and +eyes are moistened with human tenderness and sympathy. And yet, of +this work an English critic wrote, on its first London presentation:-- + +"Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of grandeur, no touch +of true pathos in the commonplace workings of his mind. He cannot +reach the _opera semiseria_; he should confine his powers to the +musical drama, the one-act _opera buffa_." But the history of +art-criticism is replete with such instances. + +"Norma" was also a grand triumph for the young composer from the +outset, especially as the lofty character of the Druid priestess was +sung by that unapproachable lyric tragedienne, the Siddons of the +opera, Madame Pasta. Bellini is said to have had this queen of +dramatic song in his mind in writing the opera, and right nobly did +she vindicate his judgment, for no European audience afterwards but +was thrilled and carried away by her masterpiece of acting and singing +in this part. + +Bellini himself considered "Norma" his _chef-d'oeuvre_. A beautiful +Parisienne attempted to extract from his reluctant lips his preference +of his own works. The lady finally overcame his evasions by the query, +"But if you were out at sea, and should be shipwrecked----" "Ah!" he +cried, without allowing her to finish. "I would leave all the rest and +try to save 'Norma.'" + +"I Puritani" was composed for and performed at Paris in 1834, by that +splendid quartette of artists, Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache. +Bellini compelled the singers to execute after _his_ style. While +Rubini was rehearsing the tenor part, the composer cried out in rage, +"You put no life into your music. Show some feeling. Don't you know +what love is?" Then changing his tone, "Don't you know your voice is a +gold-mine that has not been fully explored? You are an excellent +artist, but that is not sufficient. You must forget yourself and +represent Gualtiero. Let's try again." The tenor, stung by the +admonition, then gave the part magnificently. After the success of "I +Puritani," the composer received the Cross of the Legion of Honour, an +honour then not often bestowed. The "Puritani" season is still +remembered, it is said, with peculiar pleasure by the older +connoisseurs of Paris and London, as the enthusiasm awakened in +musical circles has rarely been equalled. + +Bellini had placed himself under contract to write two new works +immediately, one for Paris, the other for Naples, and retired to the +villa of a friend at Puteaux to insure the more complete seclusion. +Here, while pursuing his art with almost sleepless ardour, he was +attacked by his fatal malady, intestinal fever. + +"From his youth up," says his biographer Mould, "Vincenzo's eagerness +in his art was such as to keep him at the piano night and day, till he +was obliged forcibly to leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him +through his short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it +brought on the dysentery which closed his brilliant career, peopling +his last hours with the figures of those to whom his works owed so +much of their success. During the moments of delirium which preceded +his death, he was constantly speaking of Lablache, Tamburini, and +Grisi; and one of his last recognisable impressions was that he was +present at a brilliant representation of his last opera at the Salle +Favart." His earthly career closed September 23, 1835, at the age of +thirty-three. + +On the eve of his interment, the Théâtre Italien reopened with the +"Puritani." It was an occasion full of solemn gloom. Both the +musicians and audience broke from time to time into sobs. Tamburini, +in particular, was so oppressed by the death of his young friend that +his vocalisation, generally so perfect, was often at fault, while the +faces of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache too plainly showed their aching +hearts. + +Rossini, Cherubini, Paer, and Carafa had charge of the funeral, and M. +Habeneck, _chef d'orchestre_ of the Académie Royale, of the music. The +next remarkable piece on the funeral programme was a _Lacrymosa_ for +four voices without accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn +was united to the beautiful tenor melody in the third act of the +"Puritani." This was executed by Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and +Lablache. The services were performed at the Church of the Invalides, +and the remains were interred in Père Lachaise. + +Rossini had ever shown great love for Bellini, and Rosario Bellini, +the stricken father, wrote to him a touching letter, in which, after +speaking of his grief and despair, the old man said-- + +"You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labours; +you took him under your protection, you neglected nothing that could +increase his glory and his welfare. After my son's death, what have +you not done to honour my son's name and render it dear to posterity? +I learned this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude +for your excessive kindness as well as for that of a number of +distinguished artists, which also I shall never forget. Pray, sir, be +my interpreter, and tell these artists that the father and family of +Bellini, as well as of our compatriots of Catania, will cherish an +imperishable recollection of this generous conduct. I shall never +cease to remember how much you did for my son. I shall make known +everywhere, in the midst of my tears, what an affectionate heart +belongs to the great Rossini, and how kind, hospitable, and full of +feeling are the artists of France." + +Bellini was affable, sincere, honest, and affectionate. Nature gave +him a beautiful and ingenuous face, noble features, large, clear blue +eyes, and abundant light hair. His countenance instantly won on the +regards of all that met him. His disposition was melancholy; a secret +depression often crept over his most cheerful hours. We are told there +was a tender romance in his earlier life. The father of the lady he +loved, a Neapolitan judge, refused his suit on account of his inferior +social position. When Bellini became famous the judge wished to make +amends, but Bellini's pride interfered. Soon after the young lady, who +loved him unalterably, died, and it is said the composer never +recovered from the shock. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[L] Bellini was born in 1802, nine years after his contemporary and +rival, Donizetti, and died in 1835, thirteen years before. + + +IV. + +Donizetti and Bellini were peculiarly moulded by the great genius of +Rossini, but in their best works they show individuality, colour, and +special creative activity. The former composer, one of the most +affluent in the annals of music, seemed to become more fresh in his +fancies with increased production. He is an example of how little the +skill and touch, belonging to unceasing work, should be despised in +comparison with what is called inspiration. Donizetti arrived at his +freshest creations at a time when there seemed but little left for him +except the trite and threadbare. There are no melodies so rich and +well fancied as those to be found in his later works; and in sense of +dramatic form and effective instrumentation (always a faulty point +with Donizetti) he displayed great progress at the last. It is, +however, a noteworthy fact, that the latest Italian composers have +shown themselves quite weak in composing expressly for the orchestra. +No operatic overture since "William Tell" has been produced by this +school of music, worthy to be rendered in a concert-room. + +Donizetti lacked the dramatic instinct in conceiving his music. In +attempting it he became hollow and theatric; and beautiful as are the +melodies and concerted pieces in "Lucia," where the subject ought to +inspire a vivid dramatic nature with such telling effects, it is in +the latter sense one of the most disappointing of operas. + +He redeemed himself for the nonce, however, in the fourth act of "La +Favorita," where there is enough musical and dramatic beauty to +condone the sins of the other three acts. The solemn and affecting +church chant, the passionate romance for the tenor, the great closing +duet in which the ecstasy of despair rises to that of exaltation, the +resistless sweep of the rhythm--all mark one of the most effective +single acts ever written. He showed himself here worthy of +companionship with Rossini and Meyerbeer. + +In his comic operas, "L'Elisir d'Amore," "La Fille du Regiment," and +"Don Pasquale," there is a continual well-spring of sunny, bubbling +humour. They are slight, brilliant, and catching, everything that +pedantry condemns, and the popular taste delights in. Mendelssohn, the +last of the German classical composers, admired "L'Elisir," so much +that he said he would have liked to have written it himself. It may be +said that while Donizetti lacks grand conceptions, or even great +beauties for the most part, his operas contain so much that is +agreeable, so many excellent opportunities for vocal display, such +harmony between sound and situation, that he will probably retain a +hold on the stage when much greater composers are only known to the +general public by name. + +Bellini, with less fertility and grace, possessed far more +picturesqueness and intensity. His powers of imagination transcended +his command over the working tools of his art. Even more lacking in +exact and extended musical science than Donizetti, he could express +what came within his range with a simple vigour, grasp, and beauty, +which make him a truly dramatic composer. In addition to this, a +matter which many great composers ignore, Bellini had extraordinary +skill in writing music for the voice, not that which merely gave +opportunity for executive trickery and embellishment, but the genuine +accents of passion, pathos, and tenderness, in forms best adapted to +be easily and effectively delivered. + +He had no flexibility, no command over mirthful inspiration, such as +we hear in Mozart, Rossini, or even Donizetti. But his monotone is in +subtile _rapport_ with the graver aspects of nature and life. Chorley +sums up this characteristic of Bellini in the following words:-- + +"In spite of the inexperience with which the instrumental score is +filled up, the opening scene of 'Norma' in the dim druidical wood +bears the true character of ancient sylvan antiquity. There is +daybreak again--a fresh tone of reveille--in the prelude to 'I +Puritani.' If Bellini's genius was not versatile in its means of +expression, if it had not gathered all the appliances by which science +fertilises Nature, it beyond all doubt included appreciation of truth, +no less than instinct for beauty." + + + + +_VERDI._ + + +I. + +In 1872 the Khédive of Egypt, an oriental ruler, whose love of western +art and civilisation has since tangled him in economic meshes to +escape from which has cost him his independence, produced a new opera +with barbaric splendour of appointments, at Grand Cairo. The spacious +theatre blazed with fantastic dresses and showy uniforms, and the +curtain rose on a drama which gave a glimpse to the Arabs, Copts, and +Franks present of the life and religion, the loves and hates of +ancient Pharaonic times, set to music by the most celebrated of living +Italian composers. + +That an eastern prince should have commissioned Giuseppe Verdi to +write "Aida" for him, in his desire to emulate western sovereigns as a +patron of art, is an interesting fact, but not wonderful or +significant. + +The opera itself was freighted, however, with peculiar significance as +an artistic work, far surpassing that of the circumstances which gave +it origin, or which saw its first production in the mysterious land of +the Nile and Sphinx. + +Originally a pupil, thoroughly imbued with the method and spirit of +Rossini, though never lacking in original quality, Verdi as a young +man shared the suffrages of admiring audiences with Donizetti and +Bellini. Even when he diverged widely from his parent stem and took +rank as the representative of the melodramatic school of music, he +remained true to the instincts of his Italian training. + +The remarkable fact is that Verdi, at the age of fifty-eight, when it +might have been safely assumed that his theories and preferences were +finally crystallised, produced an opera in which he clasped hands with +the German enthusiast, who preached an art system radically opposed to +his own, and lashed with scathing satire the whole musical cult of the +Italian race. + +In "Aida" and the "Manzoni Mass," written in 1873, Verdi, the leader +among living Italian composers, practically conceded that, in the +long, bitterly fought battle between Teuton and Italian in music, the +former was the victor. In the opera we find a new departure, which, if +not embodying all the philosophy of the "new school," is stamped with +its salient traits--viz., the subordination of all the individual +effects to the perfection and symmetry of the whole; a lavish demand +on all the sister arts to contribute their rich gifts to the +heightening of the illusion; a tendency to enrich the harmonic value +in the choruses, the concerted pieces, and the instrumentation, to the +great sacrifice of the solo pieces; the use of the heroic and mythical +element as a theme. + +Verdi, the subject of this interesting revolution, has filled a very +brilliant place in modern musical art, and his career has been in some +ways as picturesque as his music. + +Verdi's parents were literally hewers of wood and drawers of water, +earning their bread, after the manner of Italian peasants, at a small +settlement called La Roncali, near Busseto, where the future composer +was born on October 9, 1813. + +His earliest recollections were with the little village church, where +the little Giuseppe listened with delight to the church organ, for, as +with all great musicians, his fondness for music showed itself at a +very early age. The elder Verdi, though very poor, gratified the +child's love of music when he was about eight by buying a small +spinet, and placing him under the instruction of Provesi, a teacher in +Busseto. The boy entered on his studies with ardour, and made more +rapid progress than the slender facilities which were allowed him +would ordinarily justify. + +An event soon occurred which was destined to wield a lasting influence +on his destiny. He one day heard a skilful performance on a fine +piano, while passing by one of the better houses of Busseto. From that +time a constant fascination drew him to the house; for day after day +he lingered and seemed unwilling to go away lest he should perchance +lose some of the enchanting sounds which so enraptured him. The owner +of the premises was a rich merchant, one Antonio Barezzi, a cultivated +and high-minded man, and a passionate lover of music withal. 'Twas his +daughter whose playing gave the young Verdi such pleasure. + +Signor Barezzi had often seen the lingering and absorbed lad, who +stood as if in a dream, oblivious to all that passed around him in the +practical work-a-day world. So one day he accosted him pleasantly and +inquired why he came so constantly and stayed so long doing nothing. + +"I play the piano a little," said the boy, "and I like to come here +and listen to the fine playing in your house." + +"Oh! if that is the case, come in with me that you may enjoy it more +at your ease, and hereafter you are welcome to do so whenever you feel +inclined." + +It may be imagined the delighted boy did not refuse the kind +invitation, and the acquaintance soon ripened into intimacy, for the +rich merchant learned to regard the bright young musician with much +affection, which it is needless to say was warmly returned. Verdi was +untiring in study and spent the early years of his youth in humble +quiet, in the midst of those beauties of nature which have so powerful +an influence in moulding great susceptibilities. At his seventeenth +year he had acquired as much musical knowledge as could be acquired at +a place like Busseto, and he became anxious to go to Milan to continue +his studies. The poverty of his family precluding any assistance from +this quarter, he was obliged to find help from an eleemosynary fund +then existing in his native town. This was an institution called the +Monte di Pietà, which offered yearly to four young men the sum of +twenty-five _lire_ a-month each, in order to help them to an +education; and Verdi, making an application and sustained by the +influence of his friend the rich merchant, was one of the four whose +good fortune it was to be selected. + +The allowance thus obtained, with some assistance from Barezzi, +enabled the ambitious young musician to go to Milan, carrying with him +some of his compositions. When he presented himself for examination +at the Conservatory, he was made to play on the piano, and his +compositions examined. The result fell on his hopes like a +thunderbolt. The pedantic and narrow-minded examiners not only scoffed +at the state of his musical knowledge, but told him he was incapable +of becoming a musician. To weaker souls this would have been a +terrible discouragement, but to his ardour and self-confidence it was +only a challenge. Barezzi had equal confidence in the abilities of his +_protégé_, and warmly encouraged him to work and hope. Verdi engaged +an excellent private teacher and pursued his studies with unflagging +energy, denying himself all but the barest necessities, and going +sometimes without sufficient food. + +A stroke of fortune now fell in his way; the place of organist fell +vacant at the Busseto church, and Verdi was appointed to fill it. He +returned home, and was soon afterwards married to the daughter of the +benefactor to whom he owed so much. He continued to apply himself with +great diligence to the study of his art, and completed an opera early +in 1839. He succeeded in arranging for the production of this work, +"L'Oberto, Conte de San Bonifacio," at La Scala, Milan; but it excited +little comment and was soon forgotten, like the scores of other +shallow or immature compositions so prolifically produced in Italy. + +The impresario, Merelli, believed in the young composer though, for he +thought he discovered signs of genius. So he gave him a contract to +write three operas, one of which was to be an _opera buffa_, and to be +ready in the following autumn. With hopeful spirits Verdi set to work +on the opera, but that year of 1840 was to be one of great trouble and +trial. Hardly had he set to work all afire with eagerness and hope, +when he was seized with severe illness. His recovery was followed by +the successive sickening of his two children, who died, a terrible +blow to the father's fond heart. Fate had the crowning stroke though +still to give, for the young mother, agonised by this loss, was seized +with a fatal inflammation of the brain. Thus within a brief period +Verdi was bereft of all the sweet consolations of home, and his life +became a burden to him. Under these conditions he was to write a comic +opera, full of sparkle, gaiety, and humour. Can we wonder that his +work was a failure? The public came to be amused by bright, joyous +music, for it was nothing to them that the composer's heart was dead +with grief at his afflictions. The audience hissed "Un Giorno di +Regno," for it proved a funereal attempt at mirth. So Verdi sought to +annul the contract. + +To this the impresario replied-- + +"So be it, if you wish; but, whenever you want to write again on the +same terms, you will find me ready." + +To tell the truth, the composer was discouraged by his want of +success, and wholly broken down by his numerous trials. He now +withdrew from all society, and, having hired a small room in an +out-of-the-way part of Milan, passed most of his time in reading the +worst books that could be found, rarely going out, unless occasionally +in the evening, never giving his attention to study of any kind, and +never touching the piano. Such was his life from October 1840 to +January 1841. One evening, early in the new year, while out walking, +he chanced to meet Merelli, who took him by the arm; and, as they +sauntered towards the theatre, the impresario told him that he was in +great trouble, Nicolai, who was to write an opera for him, having +refused to accept a _libretto_ entitled "Nabucco." + +To this Verdi replied-- + +"I am glad to be able to relieve you of your difficulty. Don't you +remember the libretto of 'Il Proscritto,' which you procured for me, +and for which I have never composed the music? Give that to Nicolai in +place of 'Nabucco.'" + +Merelli thanked him for his kind offer, and, as they reached the +theatre, asked him to go in, that they might ascertain whether the +manuscript of "Il Proscritto" was really there. It was at length +found, and Verdi was on the point of leaving, when Merelli slipped +into his pocket the book of "Nabucco," asking him to look it over. For +want of something to do, he took up the drama the next morning and +read it through, realising how truly grand it was in conception. But, +as a lover forces himself to feign indifference to his coquettish +_innamorata_, so he, disregarding his inclinations, returned the +manuscript to Merelli that same day. + +"Well?" said Merelli, inquiringly. + +"_Musicabilissimo!_" he replied; "full of dramatic power and telling +situations!" + +"Take it home with you, then, and write the music for it." + +Verdi declared that he did not wish to compose, but the worthy +impresario forced the manuscript on him, and persisted that he should +undertake the work. The composer returned home with the libretto, but +threw it on one side without looking at it, and for the next five +months continued his reading of bad romances and yellow-covered +novels. + +The impulse of work soon came again, however. One beautiful June day +the manuscript met his eye, while looking listlessly over some old +papers. He read one scene and was struck by its beauty. The instinct +of musical creation rushed over him with irresistible force; he seated +himself at the piano, so long silent, and began composing the music. +The ice was broken. Verdi soon entered into the spirit of the work, +and in three months "Nabucco" was entirely completed. Merelli gladly +accepted it, and it was performed at La Scala in the spring of 1842. +As a result Verdi was besieged with petitions for new works from every +impresario in Italy. + + +II. + +From 1842 to 1851 Verdi's busy imagination produced a series of +operas, which disputed the palm of popularity with the foremost +composers of his time. "I Lombardi," brought out at La Scala in 1843; +"Ernani," at Venice in 1844; "I Due Foscari," at Rome in 1844; +"Giovanna D'Arco," at Milan, and "Alzira," at Naples in 1845; +"Attila," at Venice in 1846; and "Macbetto," at Florence in 1847, +were--all of them--successful works. The last created such a genuine +enthusiasm that he was crowned with a golden laurel-wreath and +escorted home from the theatre by an enormous crowd. "I Masnadieri" +was written for Jenny Lind, and performed first in London in 1847 with +that great singer, Gardoni, and Lablache, in the cast. His next +productions were "Il Corsaro," brought out at Trieste in 1848; "La +Battaglia di Legnano" at Rome in 1849; "Luisa Miller" at Naples in the +same year; and "Stiffelio" at Trieste in 1850. By this series of works +Verdi impressed himself powerfully on his age, but in them he +preserved faithfully the colour and style of the school in which he +had been trained. But he had now arrived at the commencement of his +transition period. A distinguished French critic marks this change in +the following summary:--"When Verdi began to write, the influences of +foreign literature and new theories on art had excited Italian +composers to seek a violent expression of the passions, and to leave +the interpretation of amiable and delicate sentiments for that of +sombre flights of the soul. A serious mind gifted with a rich +imagination, Verdi became chief of the new school. His music became +more intense and dramatic; by vigour, energy, _verve_, a certain +ruggedness and sharpness, by powerful effects of sound, he conquered +an immense popularity in Italy, where success had hitherto been +attained only by the charm, suavity, and abundance of the melodies +produced." + +In "Rigoletto," produced in Venice in 1851, the full flowering of his +genius into the melodramatic style was signally shown. The opera story +adapted from Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'amuse" is itself one of the most +dramatic of plots, and it seemed to have fired the composer into music +singularly vigorous, full of startling effects and novel treatment. +Two years afterwards were brought out at Rome and Venice respectively +two operas, stamped with the same salient qualities, "Il Trovatore" +and "La Traviata," the last a lyric adaptation of Dumas _fils's_ "Dame +aux Camélias." These three operas have generally been considered his +masterpieces, though it is more than possible that the riper judgment +of the future will not sustain this claim. Their popularity was such +that Verdi's time was absorbed for several years in their production +at various opera-houses, utterly precluding new compositions. Of his +later operas may be mentioned "Les Vêpres Siciliennes," produced in +Paris in 1855; "Un Ballo in Maschera," performed at Rome in 1859; "La +Forza del Destino," written for St. Petersburg, where it was sung in +1863; "Don Carlos," produced in London in 1867; and "Aida" in Grand +Cairo in 1872. When the latter work was finished, Verdi had composed +twenty-nine operas, besides lesser works, and attained the aged of +fifty-seven. + +Verdi's energies have not been confined to music. An ardent patriot, +he has displayed the deepest interest in the affairs of his country, +and taken an active part in its tangled politics. After the war of +1859 he was chosen a member of the Assembly of Parma, and was one of +the most influential advocates for the annexation to Sardinia. Italian +unity found in him a passionate advocate, and, when the occasion came, +his artistic talent and earnestness proved that they might have made a +vigorous mark in political oratory as well as in music. + +The cry of "Viva Verdi" often resounded through Sardinia and Italy, +and it was one of the war-slogans of the Italian war of liberation. +This enigma is explained in the fact that the five letters of his name +are the initials of those of Vittorio Emanuele Rè D'Italia. His +private resources were liberally poured forth to help the national +cause, and in 1861 he was chosen a deputy in Parliament from Parma. +Ten years later he was appointed by the Minister of Public Instruction +to superintend the reorganisation of the National Musical Institute. + +The many decorations and titular distinctions lavished on him show the +high esteem in which he is held. He is a member of the Legion of +Honour, corresponding member of the French Academy of Fine Arts, grand +cross of the Prussian order of St. Stanislaus, of the order of the +Crown of Italy, and of the Egyptian order of Osmanli. He divides his +life between a beautiful residence at Genoa, where he overlooks the +waters of the sparkling Mediterranean, and a country villa near his +native Busseto, a house of quaint artistic architecture, approached by +a venerable, moss-grown stone bridge, at the foot of which are a large +park and artificial lake. When he takes his evening walks, the +peasantry, who are devotedly attached to him, unite in singing +choruses from his operas. + +In Verdi's bedroom, where alone he composes, is a fine piano--of which +instrument, as well as of the violin, he is a master--a modest +library, and an oddly-shaped writing-desk. Pictures and statuettes, of +which he is very fond, are thickly strewn about the whole house. Verdi +is a man of vigorous and active habits, taking an ardent interest in +agriculture. But the larger part of his time is taken up in composing, +writing letters, and reading works on philosophy, politics, and +history. His personal appearance is very distinguished. A tall figure +with sturdy limbs and square shoulders, surmounted by a finely-shaped +head; abundant hair, beard, and moustache, whose black is sprinkled +with grey; dark-grey eyes, regular features, and an earnest, sometimes +intense, expression make him a noticeable-looking man. Much sought +after in the brilliant society of Florence, Rome, and Paris, our +composer spends most of his time in the elegant seclusion of home. + + +III. + +Verdi is the most nervous, theatric, sensuous composer of the present +century. Measured by the highest standard, his style must be +criticised as often spasmodic, tawdry, and meretricious. He +instinctively adopts a bold and eccentric treatment of musical themes; +and, though there are always to be found stirring movements in his +scores as well as in his opera stories, he constantly offends refined +taste by sensation and violence. + +With a redundancy of melody, too often of the cheap and shallow kind, +he rarely fails to please the masses of opera-goers, for his works +enjoy a popularity not shared at present by any other composer. In +Verdi a sudden blaze of song, brief spirited airs, duets, trios, etc., +take the place of the elaborate and beautiful music, chiselled into +order and symmetry, which characterises most of the great composers of +the past. Energy of immediate impression is thus gained at the expense +of that deep, lingering power, full of the subtile side-lights and +shadows of suggestion, which is the crowning benison of great music. +He stuns the ear and captivates the senses, but does not subdue the +soul. + +Yet, despite the grievous faults of these operas, they blaze with +gems, and we catch here and there true swallow-flights of genius, that +the noblest would not disown. With all his puerilities there is a +mixture of grandeur. There are passages in "Ernani," "Rigoletto," +"Traviata," "Trovatore," and "Aida," so strong and dignified, that it +provokes a wonder that one with such capacity for greatness should +often descend into such bathos. + +To better illustrate the false art which mars so much of Verdi's +dramatic method, a comparison between his "Rigoletto," so often +claimed as his best work, and Rossini's "Otello" will be opportune. +The air sung by Gilda in the "Rigoletto," when she retires to sleep on +the eve of the outrage, is an empty, sentimental yawn; and in the +quartet of the last act, a noble dramatic opportunity, she ejects a +chain of disconnected, unmusical sobs, as offensive as Violetta's +consumptive cough. Desdemona's agitated air, on the other hand, under +Rossini's treatment, though broken short in the vocal phrase, is +magnificently sustained by the orchestra, and a genuine passion is +made consistently musical; and then the wonderful burst of bravura, +where despair and resolution run riot without violating the bounds of +strict beauty in music--these are master-strokes of genius restrained +by art. + +In Verdi, passion too often misses intensity and becomes hysterical. +He lacks the elements of tenderness and humour, but is frequently +picturesque and charming by his warmth and boldness of colour. His +attempts to express the gay and mirthful, as for instance in the +masquerade music of "Traviata" and the dance music of "Rigoletto," are +dreary, ghastly, and saddening; while his ideas of tenderness are apt +to take the form of mere sentimentality. Yet generalities fail in +describing him, for occasionally he attains effects strong in their +pathos, and artistically admirable; as, for example, the slow air for +the heroine, and the dreamy song for the gipsy mother in the last act +of "Trovatore." An artist who thus contradicts himself is a perplexing +problem, but we must judge him by the habitual, not the occasional. + +Verdi is always thoroughly in earnest, never frivolous. He walks on +stilts indeed, instead of treading the ground or cleaving the air, but +is never timid or tame in aim or execution. If he cannot stir the +emotions of the soul he subdues and absorbs the attention against even +the dictates of the better taste; while genuine beauties gleaming +through picturesque rubbish often repay the true musician for what he +has undergone. + +So far this composer has been essentially representative of +melodramatic music, with all the faults and virtues of such a style. +In "Aida," his last work, the world remarked a striking change. The +noble orchestration, the power and beauty of the choruses, the +sustained dignity of treatment, the seriousness and pathos of the +whole work, reveal how deeply new purposes and methods have been +fermenting in the composer's development. Yet in the very prime of his +powers, though no longer young, his next work ought to settle the +value of the hopes raised by the last. + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--In 1874 Verdi composed his "Requiem Mass." It is +written in a popular style, and received unanimous praise from the +Italian critics, and as thorough condemnation from those of Germany, +in particular from Herr Hans von Bülow, the celebrated pianist. It was +chance which induced the composer to attempt sacred music. On the +death of Rossini, Verdi suggested that a "Requiem" should be written +in memory of the dead master, by thirteen Italian composers in +combination, and that the mass should be performed on every hundredth +anniversary of the death in the cathedral of Bologna. The attempt +naturally proved a complete failure, owing to the impossibility of +unity in the method of such a composition. On the death, however, of +Alessandro Manzoni at Milan, Verdi wrote for the anniversary of the +great man's death a Requiem, into which he incorporated the movement +_Libera me_ which he had previously written for the Rossini Requiem. + +In 1881 "Simon Boccanegra" was performed at Milan, with very partial +success. It was a revival of an opera Verdi had written ten years +previously, but which had failed owing to a confused libretto and a +bad interpretation. It, however, in its present form, falls short in +merit when compared with the composer's finest operas--"Rigoletto," +"Il Trovatore," and "Aida." + +Verdi's last work, "Otello," has been brought out since this volume +went to press; its brilliant success at the theatre of La Scala, +Milan, on the 5th of February, is a matter of such recent date that it +is unnecessary to enlarge upon it at present. Verdi has accepted an +invitation from the managers of the Grand Opera at Paris to produce +"Otello" at their theatre in the course of the year; the libretto will +be translated by M. du Loche, and a ballet will be introduced in the +second act, according to the traditions of the French opera. In all +probability it will also be performed in London, but as yet no public +intimation on the subject has been made. + +It is of course impossible at present for any definite decision to be +pronounced on the merits of this latest work compared with the +composer's other operas; the few following facts, however, concerning +"Otello," excerpted from the reports of the musical critics of our +leading journals, may prove of interest. + +Verdi was first induced to undertake the composition of "Otello" on +the occasion of the performance of his "Messa da Requiem," at the +Scala, for the benefit of the sufferers by the inundations at Ferrara. +The next day he gave a dinner to the four principal solo singers, at +which were present several friends, among them Signor Faccio and +Signor Ricordi. The latter laid siege to the _maestro_, trying to +persuade him to undertake a new work. For a long time Verdi resisted, +and his wife declared that probably only a Shakespearian subject could +induce him to take up his pen again. A few hours later Faccio and +Ricordi went to Boïto, who at once agreed to make the third in the +generous conspiracy, and two days after sent to Verdi a complete +sketch of the plan for the opera, following strictly the Shakespearian +tragedy. Verdi approved of the sketch, and from that moment it fell to +the part of Giulia Ricordi to urge on the composer and the poet by +constant reminders. Every Christmas he sent to Verdi's house an +"Othello" formed of chocolate, which, at first very small, grew larger +as the opera progressed. + +Rossini's famous opera on the same subject, in which Pasta and +Malibran won renown in their day, was produced in Naples in the autumn +of 1816. How it impressed Lord Byron, who saw it in Venice soon +afterwards, we learn from an amusing postscript to his letter to +Samuel Rogers, wherein he says:--"They have been crucifying 'Othello' +into an opera; the music good but lugubrious; but as for the +words--all the real scenes with Iago cut out and the greatest nonsense +instead. The handkerchief turned into a billet-doux, and the first +singer would not black his face, for some exquisite reason assigned in +the preface." In this curiously maimed and mangled version, Roderigo +became of far more importance than the Moor's crafty lieutenant. Odder +still was the modified French version played in 1823, when the leading +tenor, David, thinking the final duet with Desdemona unsuited to his +voice, substituted the soft and pretty duet, "Amor, possente nume," +from Rossini's later opera "Armida." A contemporary French critic, who +witnessed this curious performance, observes--"As it was impossible to +kill Desdemona to such a tune, the Moor, after giving way to the most +violent jealousy, sheathed his dagger, and began the duet in the most +tender and graceful manner; after which he took Desdemona politely by +the hand and retired, amidst the applause and bravos of the public, +who seemed to think it quite natural that the piece should finish in +this fashion." + +Verdi, with that healthy horror of tiring the public which has always +distinguished him, declined Signor Boïto's proposal to treat the +subject in five acts; and, Shakespeare's introductory act being +discarded, the first act of the opera corresponds with the second act +of the tragedy. After that the musical drama marches scene by scene, +and situation by situation, on parallel lines with the play, with this +important exception only--namely, that the "Willow Song," as in +Rossini's opera, is transferred from the last act but one to the last +act. There are no symphonic pieces in "Otello," unless the brief +orchestral presentation of the "Willow Song" before the fourth act can +be so considered. The work is a drama set to music, in which there are +no repetitions, no detached or detachable airs written specially for +the singers, no passages of display, nothing whatever in the way of +music but what is absolutely necessary for the elucidation of the +piece. The influence of Wagner is perceptible here and there, but +there are no leading motives, and the general style is that of Verdi +at his best, as in "Aida." + + "It is well for the Italians that, in hailing Verdi as a + great man of genius, they are not honouring one who moves + the profane world to compassion, scarcely distinguished from + contempt, by weakness of character. His work is so good + throughout, so full of method, so complete, because his + nature is complete and his life methodical; for the same + reason, no doubt, he has preserved to a ripe old age all the + essential qualities of the genius of his manhood. The leaves + that remain on the Autumnal trees are yet green, and the + birds still sing among them. 'Otello' itself will, in some + form or other, soon be heard in London; and it is pleasant + to think that the subject is taken from one of the greatest + works of the greatest of all literary Englishmen. The theme + is noble, and so, apparently, is the treatment. Nor should + we forget that so distinguished a composer as Signor Boïto + has not disdained, nay, has elected, to compose the libretto + for the old _maestro_. That is a form and sample of + co-operation we can all admire. Will Italy One and Free + continue to produce great and original musicians? Verdi is + the product of other and more melancholy times. Be that as + it may, better national freedom, civil activity, and + personal dignity, than all the operas that were ever + written." + + + + +_CHERUBINI AND HIS PREDECESSORS._ + + +I. + +In France, as in Italy, the regular musical drama was preceded by +mysteries, masks, and religious plays, which introduced short musical +parts, as also action, mechanical effects, and dancing. The ballet, +however, where dancing was the prominent feature, remained for a long +time the favourite amusement of the French court until the advent of +Jean Baptiste Lulli. The young Florentine, after having served in the +king's band, was promoted to be its chief, and the composer of the +music of the court ballets. Lulli, born in 1633, was bought of his +parents by Chevalier de Guise, and sent to Paris as a present to +Mdlle. de Montpensier, the king's niece. His capricious mistress, +after a year or two, deposed the boy of fifteen from the position of +page to that of scullion; but Count Nogent, accidentally hearing him +sing and struck by his musical talent, influenced the princess to +place him under the care of good masters. Lulli made such rapid +progress that he soon commenced to compose music of a style superior +to that before current in divertisements of the French court. + +The name of Philippe Quinault is closely associated with the musical +career of Lulli; for to the poet the musician was indebted for his +best librettos. Born at Paris in 1636, Quinault's genius for poetry +displayed itself at an early age. Before he was twenty he had written +several successful comedies. Though he produced many plays, both +tragedies and comedies, well known to readers of French poetry, his +operatic poems are those which have rendered his memory illustrious. +He died on November 29, 1688. It is said that during his last illness +he was extremely penitent on account of the voluptuous tendency of his +works. All his lyrical dramas are full of beauty, but "Atys," +"Phaëton," "Isis," and "Armide" have been ranked the highest. "Armide" +was the last of the poet's efforts, and Lulli was so much in love with +the opera, when completed, that he had it performed over and over +again for his own pleasure without any other auditor. When "Atys" was +performed first in 1676, the eager throng began to pour in the theatre +at ten o'clock in the morning, and by noon the building was filled. +The King and the Count were charmed with the work in spite of the +bitter dislike of Boileau, the Aristarchus of his age. "Put me in a +place where I shall not be able to hear the words," said the latter to +the box-keeper; "I like Lulli's music very much, but have a sovereign +contempt for Quinault's words." Lulli obliged the poet to write +"Armide" five times over, and the felicity of his treatment is proved +by the fact that Gluck afterwards set the same poem to the music which +is still occasionally sung in Germany. + +Lulli in the course of his musical career became so great a favourite +with the King that the originally obscure kitchen-boy was ennobled. He +was made one of the King's secretaries in spite of the loud murmurs of +this pampered fraternity against receiving into their body a player +and a buffoon. The musician's wit and affability, however, finally +dissipated these prejudices, especially as he was wealthy and of +irreproachable character. + +The King having had a severe illness in 1686, Lulli composed a "Te +Deum" in honour of his recovery. When this was given, the musician, in +beating time with great ardour, struck his toe with his baton. This +brought on a mortification, and there was great grief when it was +announced that he could not recover. The Princes de Vendôme lodged +four thousand pistoles in the hands of a banker, to be paid to any +physician who would cure him. Shortly before his death his confessor +severely reproached him for the licentiousness of his operas, and +refused to give him absolution unless he consented to burn the score +of "Achille et Polyxène," which was ready for the stage. The +manuscript was put into the flames, and the priest made the musician's +peace with God. One of the young princes visited him a few days after, +when he seemed a little better. + +"What, Baptiste," the former said, "have you burned your opera? You +were a fool for giving such credit to a gloomy confessor and burning +good music." + +"Hush, hush!" whispered Lulli, with a satirical smile on his lip. "I +cheated the good father. I only burned a copy." + +He died singing the words, "_Il faut mourir, pécheur, il faut +mourir_," to one of his own opera airs. + +Lulli was not only a composer, but created his own orchestra, trained +his artists in acting and singing, and was machinist as well as +ballet-master and music-director. He was intimate with Corneille, +Molière, La Fontaine, and Boileau; and these great men were proud to +contribute the texts to which he set his music. He introduced female +dancers into the ballet, disguised men having hitherto served in this +capacity, and in many essential ways was the father of early French +opera, though its foundation had been laid by Cardinal Mazarin. He had +to fight against opposition and cabals, but his energy, tact, and +persistence made him the victor, and won the friendship of the leading +men of his time. Such of his music as still exists is of a pleasing +and melodious character, full of vivacity and fire, and at times +indicates a more deep and serious power than that of merely creating +catching and tuneful airs. He was the inventor of the operatic +overture, and introduced several new instruments into the orchestra. +Apart from his splendid administrative faculty, he is entitled to rank +as an original and gifted, if not a great composer. + +A lively sketch of the French opera of this period is given by Addison +in No. 29 of the _Spectator_. "The music of the French," he says, "is +indeed very properly adapted to their pronunciation and accent, as +their whole opera wonderfully favours the genius of such a gay, airy +people. The chorus in which that opera abounds gives the parterre +frequent opportunities of joining in concert with the stage. This +inclination of the audience to sing along with the actors so prevails +with them that I have sometimes known the performer on the stage to do +no more in a celebrated song than the clerk of a parish church, who +serves only to raise the psalm, and is afterwards drowned in the music +of the congregation. Every actor that comes on the stage is a beau. +The queens and heroines are so painted that they appear as ruddy and +cherry-cheeked as milkmaids. The shepherds are all embroidered, and +acquit themselves in a ball better than our English dancing-masters. I +have seen a couple of rivers appear in red stockings; and Alpheus, +instead of having his head covered with sedge and bulrushes, making +love in a fair, full-bottomed periwig, and a plume of feathers; but +with a voice so full of shakes and quavers, that I should have thought +the murmur of a country brook the much more agreeable music. I +remember the last opera I saw in that merry nation was the 'Rape of +Proserpine,' where Pluto, to make the more tempting figure, puts +himself in a French equipage, and brings Ascalaphus along with him as +his _valet de chambre_. This is what we call folly and impertinence, +but what the French look upon as gay and polite." + + +II. + +The French musical drama continued without much change in the hands of +the Lulli school (for the musician had several skilful imitators and +successors) till the appearance of Jean Philippe Rameau, who +inaugurated a new era. This celebrated man was born in Auvergne in +1683, and was during his earlier life the organist of the Clermont +cathedral church. Here he pursued the scientific researches in music +which entitled him in the eyes of his admirers to be called the Newton +of his art. He had reached the age of fifty without recognition as a +dramatic composer, when the production of "Hippolyte et Aricie" +excited a violent feud by creating a strong current of opposition to +the music of Lulli. He produced works in rapid succession, and finally +overcame all obstacles, and won for himself the name of being the +greatest lyric composer which France up to that time had produced. His +last opera, "Les Paladins," was given in 1760, the composer being then +seventy-seven. + +The bitterness of the art-feuds of that day, afterwards shown in the +Gluck-Piccini contest, was foreshadowed in that waged by Rameau +against Lulli, and finally against the Italian new-comers, who sought +to take possession of the French stage. The matter became a national +quarrel, and it was considered an insult to France to prefer the music +of an Italian to that of a Frenchman--an insult which was often +settled by the rapier point, when tongue and pen had failed as +arbitrators. The subject was keenly debated by journalists and +pamphleteers, and the press groaned with essays to prove that Rameau +was the first musician in Europe, though his works were utterly +unknown outside of France. Perhaps no more valuable testimony to the +character of these operas can be adduced than that of Baron Grimm:-- + +"In his operas Rameau has overpowered all his predecessors by dint of +harmony and quantity of notes. Some of his choruses are very fine. +Lulli could only sustain his vocal psalmody by a simple bass; Rameau +accompanied almost all his recitatives with the orchestra. These +accompaniments are generally in bad taste; they drown the voice rather +than support it, and force the singers to scream and howl in a manner +which no ear of any delicacy can tolerate. We come away from an opera +of Rameau's intoxicated with harmony and stupified with the noise of +voice and instruments. His taste is always Gothic, and, whether his +subject is light or forcible, his style is equally heavy. He was not +destitute of ideas, but did not know what use to make of them. In his +recitatives the sound is continually in opposition to the sense, +though they occasionally contain happy declamatory passages.... If he +had formed himself in some of the schools of Italy, and thus acquired +a notion of musical style and habits of musical thought, he never +would have said (as he did) that all poems were alike to him, and that +he could set the _Gazette de France_ to music." + +From this it may be gathered that Rameau, though a scientific and +learned musician, lacked imagination, good taste, and dramatic +insight--qualities which in the modern lyric school of France have +been so pre-eminent. It may be admitted, however, that he inspired a +taste for sound musical science, and thus prepared the way for the +great Gluck, who to all and more of Rameau's musical knowledge united +the grand genius which makes him one of the giants of his art. + +Though Rameau enjoyed supremacy over the serious opera, a great +excitement was created in Paris by the arrival of an Italian company, +who in 1752 obtained permission to perform Italian burlettas and +intermezzi at the opera-house. The partisans of the French school took +alarm, and the admirers of Lulli and Rameau forgot their bickerings to +join forces against the foreign intruders. The battle-field was +strewed with floods of ink, and the literati pelted each other with +ferocious lampoons. + +Among the literature of this controversy, one pamphlet has an +imperishable place, Rousseau's famous "Lettre sur la Musique +Française," in which the great sentimentalist espoused the cause of +Italian music with an eloquence and acrimony rarely surpassed. The +inconsistency of the author was as marked in this as in his private +life. Not only did he at a later period become a great advocate of +Gluck against Piccini, but, in spite of his argument that it was +impossible to compose music to French words, that the language was +quite unfit for it, that the French never had music and never would, +he himself had composed a good deal of music to French words and +produced a French opera, "Le Devin du Village." Diderot was also a +warm partisan of the Italians. Pergolesi's beautiful music having been +murdered by the French orchestra-players at the Grand Opera-House, +Diderot proposed for it the following witty and laconic +inscription:--"Hic Marsyas Apollinem."[M] + +Rousseau's opera, "Le Devin du Village," was performed with +considerable success, in spite of the repugnance of the orchestral +performers, of whom Rousseau always spoke in terms of unmeasured +contempt, to do justice to the music. They burned Rousseau in effigy +for his scoffs. "Well," said the author of the _Confessions_, "I don't +wonder that they should hang me now, after having so long put me to +the torture." + +The eloquence and abuse of the wits, however, did not long impair the +supremacy of Rameau; for the Italian company returned to their own +land, disheartened by their reception in the French capital. Though +this composer commenced so late in life, he left thirty-six dramatic +works. His greatest work was "Castor et Pollux." Thirty years later +Grimm recognised its merits by admitting, in spite of the great faults +of the composer, "It is the pivot on which the glory of French music +turns." When Louis XIV. offered Rameau a title, he answered, touching +his breast and forehead, "My nobility is here and here." This composer +marked a step forward in French music, for he gave it more boldness +and freedom, and was the first really scientific and well-equipped +exponent of a national school. His choruses were full of energy and +fire, his orchestral effects rich and massive. He died in 1764, and +the mortuary music, composed by himself, was performed by a double +orchestra and chorus from the Grand Opera. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[M] Here Marsyas flayed Apollo. + + +III. + +A distinguished place in the records of French music must be assigned +to ANDRÉ ERNEST GRÉTRY, born at Liége in 1741. His career covered the +most important changes in the art as coloured and influenced by +national tastes, and he is justly regarded as the father of comic +opera in his adopted country. His childish life is one of much severe +discipline and tribulation, for he was dedicated to music by his +father, who was first violinist in the college of St. Denis, when he +was only six years old. He afterwards wrote of this time in his +_Essais sur la Musique_--"The hour for the lesson afforded the teacher +an opportunity to exercise his cruelty. He made us sing each in turn, +and woe to him who made the least mistake; he was beaten unmercifully, +the youngest as well as the oldest. He seemed to take pleasure in +inventing torture. At times he would place us on a short round stick, +from which we fell head over heels if we made the least movement. But +that which made us tremble with fear was to see him knock down a pupil +and beat him; for then we were sure he would treat some others in the +same manner, one victim being insufficient to gratify his ferocity. To +maltreat his pupils was a sort of mania with him; and he seemed to +feel that his duty was performed in proportion to the cries and sobs +which he drew forth." + +In 1759 Grétry went to Rome, where he studied counterpoint for five +years. Some of his works were received favourably by the Roman public, +and he was made a member of the Philharmonic Society of Bologna. +Pressed by pecuniary necessity, Grétry determined to go to Paris; but +he stopped at Geneva on the route to earn money by singing-lessons. +Here he met Voltaire at Ferney. "You are a musician and have genius," +said the great man; "it is a very rare thing, and I take much interest +in you." In spite of this, however, Voltaire would not write him the +text for an opera. The philosopher of Ferney feared to trust his +reputation with an unknown musician. When Grétry arrived in Paris he +still found the same difficulty, as no distinguished poet was disposed +to give him a libretto till he had made his powers recognised. After +two years of starving and waiting, Marmontel gave him the text of "The +Huron," which was brought out in 1769 and well received. Other +successful works followed in rapid succession. + +At this time Parisian frivolity thought it good taste to admire the +rustic and naïve. The idyls of Gessner and the pastorals of Florian +were the favourite reading, and Watteau the popular painter. +Gentlefolks, steeped in artifice, vice, and intrigue, masked their +empty lives under the assumption of Arcadian simplicity, and minced +and ambled in the costumes of shepherds and shepherdesses. Marie +Antoinette transformed her chalet of Petit Trianon into a farm, where +she and her courtiers played at pastoral life--the farce preceding the +tragedy of the Revolution. It was the effort of dazed society seeking +change. Grétry followed the fashionable bent by composing pastoral +comedies, and mounted on the wave of success. + +In 1774 "Fausse Magie" was produced with the greatest applause. +Rousseau was present, and the composer waited on him in his box, +meeting a most cordial reception. On their way home after the opera, +Grétry offered his new friend his arm to help him over an obstruction. +Rousseau with a burst of rage said, "Let me make use of my own +powers," and henceforward the sentimental misanthrope refused to +recognise the composer. About this time Grétry met the English +humorist Hales, who afterwards furnished him with many of his comic +texts. The two combined to produce the "Jugement de Midas," a satire +on the old style of music, which met with remarkable popular favour, +though it was not so well received by the court. + +The crowning work of this composer's life was given to the world in +1785. This was "Richard Coeur de Lion," and it proved one of the great +musical events of the period. Paris was in ecstasies, and the judgment +of succeeding generations has confirmed the contemporary verdict, as +it is still a favourite opera in France and Germany. The works +afterwards composed by Grétry showed decadence in power. Singularly +rich in fresh and sprightly ideas, he lacked depth and grandeur, and +failed to suit the deeper and sounder taste which Cherubini and Méhul, +great followers in the footsteps of Gluck, gratified by a series of +noble masterpieces. Grétry's services to his art, however, by his +production of comic operas full of lyric vivacity and sparkle, have +never been forgotten nor underrated. His bust was placed in the +opera-house during his lifetime, and he was made a member of the +French Academy of Fine Arts and Inspector of the Conservatory. Grétry +possessed qualities of heart which endeared him to all, and his death +in 1813 was the occasion of a general outburst of lamentation. +Deputations from the theatres and the Conservatory accompanied his +remains to the cemetery, where Méhul pronounced an eloquent eulogium. +In 1828 a nephew of Grétry caused the heart of him who was one of the +glorious sons of Liége to be returned to his native city. + +Grétry founded a school of musical composition in France which has +since been cultivated with signal success--that of lyric comedy. The +efforts of Lulli and Rameau had been turned in another direction. The +former had done little more than set courtly pageants to music, though +he had done this with great skill and tact, enriching them with a +variety of concerted and orchestral pieces, and showing much fertility +in the invention alike of pathetic and lively melodies. Rameau +followed in the footsteps of Lulli, but expanded and crystallised his +ideas into a more scientific form. He had indeed carried his love of +form to a radical extreme. Jean Jacques Rousseau, who extended his +taste for nature and simplicity to music, blamed him severely as one +who neglected genuine natural tune for far-fetched harmonies, on the +ground that "music is a child of nature, and has a language of its own +for expressing emotional transports, which cannot be learned from +thorough-bass rules." Again, Rousseau, in his forcible tract on +French music, says of Rameau, from whose school Grétry's music was +such a significant departure-- + +"One must confess that M. Rameau possesses very great talent, much +fire and euphony, and a considerable knowledge of harmonious +combinations and effects; one must also grant him the art of +appropriating the ideas of others by changing their character, +adorning and developing them, and turning them around in all manner of +ways. On the other hand, he shows less facility in inventing new ones. +Altogether he has more skill than fertility, more knowledge than +genius, or rather genius smothered by knowledge, but always force, +grace, and very often a beautiful _cantilena_. His recitative is not +as natural but much more varied than that of Lulli; admirable in a few +scenes, but bad as a rule." Rousseau continues to reproach Rameau with +a too powerful instrumentation, compared with Italian simplicity, and +sums up that nobody knew better than Rameau how to conceive the spirit +of single passages and to produce artistic contrasts, but that he +entirely failed to give his operas "a happy and much-to-be-desired +unity." In another part of the quoted passage Rousseau says that +Rameau stands far beneath Lulli in _esprit_ and artistic tact, but +that he is often superior to him in dramatic expression. + +A clear understanding of the musical position of Rameau is necessary +to fully appreciate the place of Grétry, his antithesis as a composer. +For a short time the popularity of Rameau had been shaken by an +Italian opera company, called by the French _Les Bouffons_, who had +created a genuine sensation by their performance of airy and sparkling +operettas, entirely removed in spirit from the ponderous productions +of the prevailing school. Though the Italian comedians did not meet +with permanent success, the suave charm of their music left behind it +memories which became fruitful.[N] It furnished the point of departure +for the lively and facile genius of Grétry, who laid the foundation +stones for that lyric comedy which has flourished in France with so +much luxuriance. From the outset merriment and humour were by no means +the sole object of the French comic opera, as in the case of its +Italian sister. Grétry did not neglect to turn the nobler emotions to +account, and by a judicious admixture of sentiment he gave an ideal +colouring to his works, which made them singularly fascinating and +original. Around Grétry flourished several disciples and imitators, +and for twenty years this charming hybrid between opera and vaudeville +engrossed French musical talent, to the exclusion of other forms of +composition. It was only when Gluck[O] appeared on the scene, and by +his commanding genius restored serious opera to its supremacy, that +Grétry's repute was overshadowed. From this decline in public favour +he never fully recovered, for the master left behind him gifted +disciples, who embodied his traditions, and were inspired by his lofty +aims--pre-eminently so in the case of Cherubini, perhaps the greatest +name in French music. While French comic opera, since the days of +Grétry, has become modified in some of its forms, it preserves the +spirit and colouring which he so happily imparted to it, and looks +back to him as its founder and lawgiver. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[N] In its infancy Italian comic opera formed the _intermezzo_ between +the acts of a serious opera, and--similar to the Greek sylvan drama +which followed the tragic trilogy--was frequently a parody on the +piece which preceded it; though more frequently still (as in +Pergolesi's "Serva Padrona") it was not a satire on any particular +subject, but designed to heighten the ideal artistic effect of the +serious opera by broad comedy. Having acquired a complete form on the +boards of the small theatres, it was transferred to the larger stage. +Though it lacked the external splendour and consummate vocalisation of +the elder sister, its simpler forms endowed it with a more +characteristic rendering of actual life. + +[O] See article on "Gluck," in _The Great German Composers_ (the first +part of this work), in which his connection with French music is +discussed. + + +IV. + +One of the most accomplished of historians and critics, Oulibischeff, +sums up the place of Cherubini in musical art in these words--"If on +the one hand Gluck's calm and plastic grandeur, and on the other the +tender and voluptuous charm of the melodies of Piccini and Zacchini, +had suited the circumstances of a state of society sunk in luxury and +nourished with classical exhibitions, this could not satisfy a society +shaken to the very foundations of its faith and organisation. The +whole of the dramatic music of the eighteenth century must naturally +have appeared cold and languid to men whose minds were profoundly +moved with troubles and wars; and even at the present day the word +languor best expresses that which no longer touches us in the operas +of the last century, without even excepting those of Mozart himself. +What we require for the pictures of dramatic music is larger frames, +including more figures, more passionate and moving song, more sharply +marked rhythms, greater fulness in the vocal masses, and more sonorous +brilliancy in the instrumentation. All these qualities are to be found +in 'Lodoïska' and 'Les Deux Journées;' and Cherubini may not only be +regarded as the founder of the modern French opera, but also as that +musician who, after Mozart, has exerted the greatest general influence +on the tendency of the art. An Italian by birth and the excellence of +his education, which was conducted by Sarti, the great teacher of +composition; a German by his musical sympathies as well as by the +variety and profundity of his knowledge; and a Frenchman by the school +and principles to which we owe his finest dramatic works, Cherubini +strikes me as being the most accomplished musician, if not the +greatest genius, of the nineteenth century." + +Again, the English composer, Macfarren, observes--"Cherubini's +position is unique in the history of his art; actively before the +world as a composer for threescore years and ten, his career spans +over more vicissitudes in the progress of music than that of any other +man. Beginning to write in the same year with Cimarosa, and even +earlier than Mozart, and being the contemporary of Verdi and Wagner, +he witnessed almost the origin of the two modern classical schools of +France and Germany, their rise to perfection, and, if not their +decline, the arrival of a time when criticism would usurp the place of +creation, and when to propound new rules for art claims higher +consideration than to act according to its ever unalterable +principles. His artistic life indeed was a rainbow based on the two +extremes of modern music which shed light and glory on the great +art-cycle over which it arched.... His excellence consists in his +unswerving earnestness of purpose, in the individuality of his manner, +in the vigour of his ideas, and in the purity of his harmony." + +"Such," says M. Miel, "was Cherubini; a colossal and incommensurable +genius, an existence full of days, of masterpieces, and of glory. +Among his rivals he found his most sincere appreciators. The Chevalier +Seyfried has recorded, in a notice on Beethoven, that that grand +musician regarded Cherubini as the first of his contemporary +composers. We will add nothing to this praise: the judgment of such a +rival is, for Cherubini, the voice itself of posterity." + +LUIGI CARLO ZANOBE SALVADORE MARIA CHERUBINI was born at Florence on +September 14, 1760, the son of a harpsichord accompanist at the +Pergola Theatre. Like so many other great composers, young Cherubini +displayed signs of a fertile and powerful genius at an early age, +mastering the difficulties of music as if by instinct. At the age of +nine he was placed under the charge of Felici, one of the best Tuscan +professors of the day; and four years afterwards he composed his first +work, a mass. His creative instinct, thus awakened, remained active, +and he produced a series of compositions which awakened no little +admiration, so that he was pointed at in the streets of Florence as +the young prodigy. When he was about sixteen the attention of the +Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany was directed to him, and through that +prince's liberality he was enabled to become a pupil of the most +celebrated Italian master of the age, Giuseppe Sarti, of whom he soon +became the favourite pupil. Under the direction of Sarti, the young +composer produced a series of operas, sonatas, and masses, and wrote +much of the music which appeared under the _maestro's_ own name--a +practice then common in the music and painting schools of Italy. At +the age of nineteen Cherubini was recognised as one of the most +learned and accomplished musicians of the age, and his services were +in active demand at the Italian theatres. In four years he produced +thirteen operas, the names and character of which it is not necessary +now to mention, as they are unknown except to the antiquary whose zeal +prompts him to defy the dust of the Italian theatrical libraries. +Halévy, whose admiration of his master led him to study these early +compositions, speaks of them as full of striking beauties, and, though +crude in many particulars, distinguished by those virile and daring +conceptions which from the outset stamped the originality of the man. + +Cherubini passed through Paris in 1784, while the Gluck-Piccini +excitement was yet warm, and visited London as composer for the Royal +Italian Opera. Here he became a constant visitor in courtly circles, +and the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Queensbury, and other noble +amateurs, conceived the warmest admiration for his character and +abilities. For some reason, however, his operas written for England +failed, and he quitted England in 1786, intending to return to Italy. +But the fascinations of Paris held him, as they have done so many +others, noticeably so among the great musicians; and what was designed +as a flying visit became a life-long residence, with the exception of +brief interruptions in Germany and Italy, whither he went to fill +professional engagements. + +Cherubini took up his residence with his friend Viotti, who introduced +him to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, and the highest society of the +capital, then as now the art-centre of the world. He became an +intimate of the brilliant salons of Mdme. de Polignac, Mdme. +d'Etioles, Mdme. de Richelieu, and of the various bright assemblies +where the wit, rank, and beauty of Paris gathered in the days just +prior to the Revolution. The poet Marmontel became his intimate +friend, and gave him the opera story of "Demophon" to set to music. +It was at this period that Cherubini became acquainted with the works +of Haydn, and learned from him how to unite depth with lightness, +grace with power, jest with earnestness, and toying with dignity. + +A short visit to Italy for the carnival of 1788 resulted in the +production of the opera of "Ifigenia in Aulide" at La Scala, Milan. +The success was great, and this work, the last written for his native +country, was given also at Florence and Parma with no less delight and +approbation on the part of the public. Had Cherubini died at this +time, he would have left nothing but an obscure name for Fétis's +immense dictionary. Unlike Mozart and Schubert, who at the same age +had reached their highest development, this robust and massive genius +ripened slowly. With him as with Gluck, with whom he had so many +affinities, a short life would have been fatal to renown. His last +opera showed a turning point in his development. Halévy, his great +disciple, speaks of this period as follows:--"He is already more +nervous; there peeps out I know not exactly how much of force and +virility of which the Italian musicians of his day did not know or did +not seek the secret. It is the dawn of a new day. Cherubini was +preparing himself for the combat. Gluck had accustomed France to the +sublime energy of his masterpieces. Mozart had just written 'Le Nozze +di Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni.' He must not lag behind. He must not be +conquered. In that career which he was about to dare to enter, he met +two giants. Like the athlete who descends into the arena, he anointed +his limbs and girded his loins for the fight." + + +V. + +Marmontel had furnished the libretto of an opera to Cherubini, and the +composer shortly after his return from Turin to Paris had it produced +at the Royal Academy of Music. Vogel's opera on the same text, +"Demophon," was also brought out, but neither one met with great +success. Cherubini's work, though full of vigour and force, wanted +colour and dramatic point. He was disgusted with his failure, and +resolved to eschew dramatic music; so for the nonce he devoted himself +to instrumental music and cantata. Two works of the latter class, +"Amphion" and "Circe," composed at this time, were of such excellence +as to retain a permanent hold on the French stage. Cherubini, too, +became director of the Italian opera troupe, "Les Bouffons," organised +under the patronage of Léonard, the Queen's performer, and exercised +his taste for composition by interpolating airs of his own into the +works of the Italian composers, which were then interesting the French +public as against the operas of Rameau. + +"At this time," we are told by Lafage, "Cherubini had two distinct +styles, one of which was allied to Paisiello and Cimarosa by the +grace, elegance, and purity of the melodic forms; the other, which +attached itself to the school of Gluck and Mozart, more harmonic than +melodious, rich in instrumental details." This manner was the then +unappreciated type of a new school destined to change the forms of +musical art. + +In 1790 the Revolution broke out and rent the established order of +things into fragments. For a time all the interests of art were +swallowed up in the frightful turmoil which made Paris the centre of +attention for astonished and alarmed Europe. Cherubini's connection +had been with the aristocracy, and now they were fleeing in a mad +panic or mounting the scaffold. His livelihood became precarious, and +he suffered severely during the first five years of anarchy. His +seclusion was passed in studying music, the physical sciences, +drawing, and botany; and his acquaintance was wisely confined to a few +musicians like himself. Once, indeed, his having learned the violin as +a child was the means of saving his life. Independently venturing out +at night, he was arrested by a roving band of drunken _Sansculottes_, +who were seeking musicians to conduct their street chants. Somebody +recognised Cherubini as a favourite of court circles, and, when he +refused to lead their obscene music, the fatal cry, "The Royalist, +the Royalist!" buzzed through the crowd. At this critical moment +another kidnapped player thrust a violin in Cherubini's hands and +persuaded him to yield. So the two musicians marched all day amid the +hoarse yells of the drunken revolutionists. He was also enrolled in +the National Guard, and obliged to accompany daily the march of the +unfortunate throngs who shed their blood under the axe of the +guillotine. Cherubini would have fled from these horrible +surroundings, but it was difficult to evade the vigilance of the +French officials; he had no money; and he would not leave the +beautiful Cécile Tourette, to whom he was affianced. + +One of the theatres opened during the revolutionary epoch was the +Théâtre Feydeau. The second opera performed was Cherubini's "Lodoïska" +(1791), at which he had been labouring for a long time, and which was +received throughout Europe with the greatest enthusiasm and delight, +not less in Germany than in France and Italy. The stirring times +aroused a new taste in music, as well as in politics and literature. +The dramas of Racine and the operas of Lulli were akin. No less did +the stormy genius of Schiller find its counterpart in Beethoven and +Cherubini. The production of "Lodoïska" was the point of departure +from which the great French school of serious opera, which has given +us "Robert le Diable," "Les Huguenots," and "Faust," got its primal +value and significance. Two men of genius, Gluck and Grétry, had +formed the tastes of the public in being faithful to the accents of +nature. The idea of reconciling this taste, founded on strict truth, +with the seductive charm of the Italian forms, to which the French +were beginning to be sensible, suggested to Cherubini a system of +lyric drama capable of satisfying both. Wagner himself even says, in +his _Tendencies and Theories_, speaking of Cherubini and his great +co-labourers, Méhul and Spontini--"It would be difficult to answer +them, if they now perchance came among us and asked in what respect we +had improved on their mode of musical procedure." + +"Lodoïska," which cast the old Italian operas into permanent +oblivion, and laid the foundation of the modern French dramatic school +in music, has a libretto similar to that of "Fidelio" and Grétry's +"Coeur de Lion" combined, and was taken from a romance of Faiblas by +Fillette Loraux. The critics found only one objection: the music was +all so beautiful that no breathing time was granted the listener. In +one year the opera was performed two hundred times, and at short +intervals two hundred more representations took place. + +The Revolution culminated in the crisis of 1793, which sent the King +to the scaffold. Cherubini found a retreat at La Chartreuse, near +Rouen, the country-seat of his friend, the architect Louis. Here he +lived in tranquillity, and composed several minor pieces and a +three-act opera, never produced, but afterwards worked over into "Ali +Baba" and "Faniska." In his Norman retreat Cherubini heard of the +death of his father, and while suffering under this infliction, just +before his return to Paris in 1794, he composed the opera of "Elisa." +This work was received with much favour at the Feydeau theatre, though +it did not arouse the admiration called out by "Lodoïska." + +In 1795 the Paris Conservatory was founded, and Cherubini appointed +one of the five inspectors, as well as professor of counterpoint, his +associates being Lesueur, Grétry, Gossec, and Méhul. The same year +also saw him united to Cécile Tourette, to whom he had been so long +and devotedly attached. Absorbed in his duties at the Conservatory, he +did not come before the public again till 1797, when the great tragic +masterpiece of "Médée" was produced at the Feydeau theatre. "Lodoïska" +had been somewhat gay; "Elisa," a work of graver import, followed; but +in "Médée" was sustained the profound tragic power of Gluck and +Beethoven. Hoffman's libretto was indeed unworthy of the great music, +but this has not prevented its recognition by musicians as one of the +noblest operas ever written. It has probably been one of the causes, +however, why it is so rarely represented at the present time, its +overture alone being well known to modern musical audiences. This +opera has been compared by critics to Shakespeare's "King Lear," as +being a great expression of anguish and despair in their more stormy +phases. Chorley tells us that, when he first saw it, he was +irresistibly reminded of the lines in Barry Cornwall's poem to Pasta-- + + "Now thou art like some wingèd thing that cries + Above some city, flaming fast to death." + +The poem which Chorley quotes from was inspired by the performance of +the great Pasta in Simone Mayer's weak musical setting of the fable of +the Colchian sorceress, which crowded the opera-houses of Europe. The +life of the French classical tragedy, too, was powerfully assisted by +Rachel. Though the poem on which Cherubini worked was unworthy of his +genius, it could not be from this or from lack of interest in the +theme alone that this great work is so rarely performed; it is because +there have been not more than three or four actresses in the last +hundred years combining the great tragic and vocal requirements +exacted by the part. If the tragic genius of Pasta could have been +united with the voice of a Catalania, made as it were of adamant and +gold, Cherubini's sublime musical creation would have found an +adequate interpreter. Mdlle. Tietjens, indeed, has been the only late +dramatic singer who dared essay so difficult a task. Musical students +rank the instrumental parts of this opera with the organ music of +Bach, the choral fugues of Handel, and the symphonies of Beethoven, +for beauty of form and originality of ideas. + +On its first representation, on the 13th of March 1797, one of the +journals, after praising its beauty, professed to discover imitations +of Méhul's manner in it. The latter composer, in an indignant +rejoinder, proclaimed himself and all others as overshadowed by +Cherubini's genius: a singular example of artistic humility and +justice. Three years after its performance in Paris, it was given at +Berlin and Vienna, and stamped by the Germans as one of the world's +great musical masterpieces. This work was a favourite one with +Schubert, Beethoven, and Weber, and there have been few great +composers who have not put on record their admiration of it. + +As great, however, as "Médée" is ranked, "Les Deux Journées,"[P] +produced in 1800, is the opera on which Cherubini's fame as a dramatic +composer chiefly rests. Three hundred consecutive performances did not +satisfy Paris; and at Berlin and Frankfort, as well as in Italy, it +was hailed with acclamation. Bouilly was the author of the +opera-story, suggested by the generous action of a water-carrier +towards a magistrate who was related to the author. The story is so +interesting, so admirably written, that Goethe and Mendelssohn +considered it the true model for a comic opera. The musical +composition, too, is nearly faultless in form and replete with +beauties. In this opera Cherubini anticipated the reforms of Wagner, +for he dispensed with the old system which made the drama a web of +beautiful melodies, and established his musical effects for the most +part by the vigour and charm of the choruses and concerted pieces. It +has been accepted as a model work by composers, and Beethoven was in +the habit of keeping it by him on his writing-table for constant study +and reference. + +Spohr, in his autobiography, says, "I recollect, when the 'Deux +Journées' was performed for the first time, how, intoxicated with +delight and the powerful impression the work had made on me, I asked +on that very evening to have the score given me, and sat over it the +whole night; and that it was that opera chiefly that gave me my first +impulse to composition." Weber, in a letter from Munich written in +1813, says, "Fancy my delight when I beheld lying upon the table of +the hotel the play-bill with the magic name _Armand_. I was the first +person in the theatre, and planted myself in the middle of the pit, +where I waited most anxiously for the tones which I knew beforehand +would elevate and inspire me. I think I may assert boldly that 'Les +Deux Journées' is a really great dramatic and classical work. +Everything is calculated so as to produce the greatest effect; all the +various pieces are so much in their proper place that you can neither +omit one nor make any addition to them. The opera displays a pleasing +richness of melody, vigorous declamation, and all-striking truth in +the treatment of situations, ever new, ever heard and retained with +pleasure." Mendelssohn, too, writing to his father of a performance of +this opera, speaks of the enthusiasm of the audience as extreme, as +well as of his own pleasure as surpassing anything he had ever +experienced in a theatre. Mendelssohn, who never completed an opera, +because he did not find until shortly before his death a theme which +properly inspired him to dramatic creation, corresponded with Planché, +with the hope of getting from the latter a libretto which should unite +the excellences of "Fidelio" with those of "Les Deux Journées." He +found, at last, a libretto, which, if it did not wholly satisfy him, +at least overcame some of his prejudices, in a story based on the +Rhine myth of Lorelei. A fragment of it only was finished, and the +finale of the first act is occasionally performed in England. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[P] In German known as "Die Wasserträger," in English, "The +Water-Carriers." + + +VI. + +Before Napoleon became First Consul, he had been on familiar terms +with Cherubini. The soldier and the composer were seated in the same +box listening to an opera by the latter. Napoleon, whose tastes for +music were for the suave and sensuous Italian style, turned to him and +said, "My dear Cherubini, you are certainly an excellent musician; but +really your music is so noisy and complicated that I can make nothing +of it;" to which Cherubini replied, "My dear general, you are +certainly an excellent soldier; but in regard to music you must excuse +me if I don't think it necessary to adapt my music to your +comprehension." This haughty reply was the beginning of an +estrangement. Another illustration of Cherubini's sturdy pride and +dignity was his rejoinder to Napoleon, when the latter was praising +the works of the Italian composers, and covertly sneering at his own. +"Citizen General," he replied, "occupy yourself with battles and +victories, and allow me to treat according to my talent an art of +which you are grossly ignorant." Even when Napoleon became Emperor, +the proud composer never learned "to crook the pregnant hinges of his +knee" to the man before whom Europe trembled. + +On the 12th of December 1800, a grand performance of "The Creation" +took place at Paris. Napoleon on his way to it narrowly escaped being +killed by an infernal machine. Cherubini was one of the deputation, +representing the various corporations and societies of Paris, who +waited on the First Consul to congratulate him upon his escape. +Cherubini kept in the background, when the sarcasm, "I do not see +Monsieur Cherubini," pronounced in the French way, as if to indicate +that Cherubini was not worthy of being ranked with the Italian +composers, brought him promptly forward. "Well," said Napoleon, "the +French are in Italy." "Where would they not go," answered Cherubini, +"led by such a hero as you?" This pleased the First Consul, who, +however, soon got to the old musical quarrel. "I tell you I like +Paisiello's music immensely; it is soft and tranquil. You have much +talent, but there is too much accompaniment." Said Cherubini, "Citizen +Consul, I conform myself to French taste." "Your music," continued the +other, "makes too much noise. Speak to me in that of Paisiello; that +is what lulls me gently." "I understand," replied the composer; "you +like music which doesn't stop you from thinking of state affairs." +This witty rejoinder made the arrogant soldier frown, and the talk +suddenly ceased. + +As a result of this alienation Cherubini found himself persistently +ignored and ill-treated by the First Consul. In spite of his having +produced such great masterpieces, his income was very small, apart +from his pay as Inspector of the Conservatory. The ill-will of the +ruler of France was a steady check to his preferment. When Napoleon +established his consular chapel in 1802, he invited Paisiello from +Naples to become director at a salary of 12,000 francs a year. It +gave great umbrage to the Conservatory that its famous teachers should +have been slighted for an Italian foreigner, and musical circles in +Paris were shaken by petty contentions. Paisiello, however, found the +public indifferent to his works, and soon wearied of a place where the +admiration to which he had been accustomed no longer flattered his +complacency. He resigned, and his position was offered to Méhul, who +is said to have declined it because he regarded Cherubini as far more +worthy of it, and to have accepted it only on condition that his +friend could share the duties and emoluments with him. Cherubini, +fretted and irritated by his condition, retired for a time from the +pursuit of his art, and devoted himself to flowers. The opera of +"Anacreon," a powerful but unequal work, which reflected the +disturbance and agitation of his mind, was the sole fruit of his +musical efforts for about four years. + +While Cherubini was in the deepest depression--for he had a large +family depending on him and small means with which to support them--a +ray of sunshine came in 1805 in the shape of an invitation to compose +for the managers of the opera at Vienna. His advent at the Austrian +capital produced a profound sensation, and he received a right royal +welcome from the great musicians of Germany. The aged Haydn, Hummel, +and Beethoven became his warm friends with the generous freemasonry of +genius, for his rank as a musician was recognised throughout Europe. + +The war which broke out after our musician's departure from Paris +between France and Austria ended shortly in the capitulation of Ulm, +and the French Emperor took up his residence at Schönbrunn. Napoleon +received Cherubini kindly when he came in answer to his summons, and +it was arranged that a series of twelve concerts should be given +alternately at Schönbrunn and Vienna. The pettiness which entered into +the French Emperor's nature in spite of his greatness continued to be +shown in his ebullitions of wrath because Cherubini persisted in +holding his own musical views against the imperial opinion. Napoleon, +however, on the eve of his return to France, urged him to accompany +him, offering the long-coveted position of musical director; but +Cherubini was under contract to remain a certain length of time at +Vienna, and he would not break his pledge. + +The winter of 1805 witnessed two remarkable musical events at the +Austrian capital, the production of Beethoven's "Fidelio" and the last +great opera written by Cherubini, "Faniska." Haydn and Beethoven were +both present at the latter performance. The former embraced Cherubini +and said to him "You are my son, worthy of my love." Beethoven +cordially hailed him as "the first dramatic composer of the age." It +is an interesting fact that two such important dramatic compositions +should have been written at the same time, independently of each +other; that both works should have been in advance of their age; that +they should have displayed a striking similarity of style; and that +both should have suffered from the reproach of the music being too +learned for the public. The opera of "Faniska" is based on a Polish +legend of great dramatic beauty, which, however, was not very +artistically treated by the librettist. Mendelssohn in after years +noted the striking resemblance between Beethoven and our composer in +the conception and method of dramatic composition. In one of his +letters to Edouard Devrient he says, speaking of "Fidelio," "On +looking into the score, as well as on listening to the performance, I +everywhere perceive Cherubini's dramatic style of composition. It is +true that Beethoven did not ape that style, but it was before his mind +as his most cherished pattern." The unity of idea and musical colour +between "Faniska" and "Fidelio" seems to have been noted by many +critics both of contemporary and succeeding times. + +Cherubini would gladly have written more for the Viennese, by whom he +had been so cordially treated; but the unsettled times and his +home-sickness for Paris conspired to take him back to the city of his +adoption. He exhausted many efforts to find Mozart's tomb in Vienna, +and desired to place a monument over his neglected remains, but failed +to locate the resting-place of one he loved so much. Haydn, Beethoven, +Hummel, Salieri, and the other leading composers reluctantly parted +with him, and on April 1, 1806, his return to Paris was celebrated by +a brilliant fête improvised for him at the Conservatory. Fate, +however, had not done with her persecutions, for fate in France took +the shape of Napoleon, whose hostility, easily aroused, was +implacable; who aspired to rule the arts and letters as he did armies +and state policy; who spared neither Cherubini nor Madame de Staël. +Cherubini was neglected and insulted by authority, while honours were +showered on Méhul, Grétry, Spontini, and Lesueur. He sank into a state +of profound depression, and it was even reported in Vienna that he was +dead. He forsook music and devoted himself to drawing and botany. Had +he not been a great musician, it is probable he would have excelled in +pictorial art. One day the great painter David entered the room where +he was working in crayon on a landscape of the Salvator Rosa style. So +pleased was the painter that he cried, "Truly admirable! Courage!" In +1808 Cherubini found complete rest in a visit to the country-seat of +the Prince de Chimay in Belgium, whither he was accompanied by his +friend and pupil, Auber. + + +VII. + +With this period Cherubini closed his career practically as an +operatic composer, though several dramatic works were produced +subsequently, and entered on his no less great sphere of +ecclesiastical composition. At Chimay for a while no one dared to +mention music in his presence. Drawing and painting flowers seemed to +be his sole pleasure. At last the president of the little music +society at Chimay ventured to ask him to write a mass for St. +Cecilia's feast-day. He curtly refused, but his hostess noticed that +he was agitated by the incident, as if his slumbering instincts had +started again into life. One day the Princess placed music paper on +his table, and Cherubini on returning from his walk instantly began to +compose, as if he had never ceased it. It is recorded that he traced +out in full score the "Kyrie" of his great mass in F during the +intermission of a single game of billiards. Only a portion of the mass +was completed in time for the festival, but, on Cherubini's return to +Paris in 1809, it was publicly given by an admirable orchestra, and +hailed with a great enthusiasm, that soon swept through Europe. It was +perceived that Cherubini had struck out for himself a new path in +church music. Fétis, the musical historian, records its reception as +follows:--"All expressed an unreserved admiration for this composition +of a new order, whereby Cherubini has placed himself above all +musicians who have as yet written in the concerted style of church +music. Superior to the masses of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and the +masters of the Neapolitan school, that of Cherubini is as remarkable +for originality of idea as for perfection in art." Picchiante, a +distinguished critic, sums up the impressions made by this great work +in the following eloquent and vigorous passage:--"All the musical +science of the good age of religious music, the sixteenth century of +the Christian era, was summed up in Palestrina, who flourished at that +time, and by its aid he put into form noble and sublime conceptions. +With the grave Gregorian melody, learnedly elaborated in vigorous +counterpoint and reduced to greater clearness and elegance without +instrumental aid, Palestrina knew how to awaken among his hearers +mysterious, grand, deep, vague sensations, that seemed caused by the +objects of an unknown world, or by superior powers in the human +imagination. With the same profound thoughtfulness of the old Catholic +music, enriched by the perfection which art has attained in two +centuries, and with all the means which a composer nowadays can make +use of, Cherubini perfected another conception, and this consisted in +utilising the style adapted to dramatic composition when narrating the +church text, by which means he was able to succeed in depicting man in +his various vicissitudes, now rising to the praises of Divinity, now +gazing on the Supreme Power, now suppliant and prostrate. So that, +while Palestrina's music places God before man, that of Cherubini +places man before God." Adolphe Adam puts the comparison more +epigrammatically in saying "If Palestrina had lived in our own times, +he would have been Cherubini." The masters of the old Roman school of +church music had received it as an emanation of pure sentiment, with +no tinge of human warmth and colour. Cherubini, on the contrary, aimed +to make his music express the dramatic passion of the words, and in +the realisation of this he brought to bear all the resources of a +musical science unequalled except perhaps by Beethoven. The noble +masses in F and D were also written in 1809, and stamped themselves on +public judgment as no less powerful works of genius and knowledge. + +Some of Cherubini's friends in 1809 tried to reconcile the composer +with the Emperor, and in furtherance of this an opera was written +anonymously, "Pimmalione." Napoleon was delighted, and even affected +to tears. Instantly, however, that Cherubini's name was uttered, he +became dumb and cold. Nevertheless, as if ashamed of his injustice, he +sent Cherubini a large sum of money, and a commission to write the +music for his marriage ode. Several fine works followed in the next +two years, among them the Mass in D, regarded by some of his admirers +as his ecclesiastical masterpiece. Miel claims that in largeness of +design and complication of detail, sublimity of conception and +dramatic intensity, two works only of its class approach it, +Beethoven's Mass in D and Niedermeyer's Mass in D minor. + +In 1811 Halévy, the future author of "La Juive," became Cherubini's +pupil, and a devoted friendship ever continued between the two. The +opera of "La Abencérages" was also produced, and it was pronounced +nowise inferior to "Médée" and "Les Deux Journées." Mendelssohn, many +years afterwards, writing to Moscheles in Paris, asked, "Has Onslow +written anything new? And old Cherubini? There's a matchless fellow! I +have got his 'Abencérages,' and can not sufficiently admire the +sparkling fire, the clear original phrasing, the extraordinary +delicacy and refinement with which it is written, or feel grateful +enough to the grand old man for it. Besides, it is all so free and +bold and spirited." The work would have had a greater immediate +success, had not Paris been in profound gloom from the disastrous +results of the Moscow campaign and the horrors of the French retreat, +where famine and disease finished the work of bayonet and cannon-ball. + +The unsettled and disheartening times disturbed all the relations of +artists. There is but little record of Cherubini for several years. A +significant passage in a letter written in 1814, speaking of several +military marches written for a Prussian band, indicates the occupation +of Paris by the allies and Napoleon's banishment in Elba. The period +of "The Hundred Days" was spent by Cherubini in England; and the +world's wonder, the battle of Waterloo, was fought, and the Bourbons +were permanently restored, before he again set foot in Paris. The +restored dynasty delighted to honour the man whom Napoleon had +slighted, and gifts were showered on him alike by the Court and by the +leading academies of Europe. The walls of his studio were covered with +medals and diplomas; and his appointment as director of the King's +chapel (which, however, he refused unless shared with Lesueur, the old +incumbent) placed him above the daily demands of want. So, at the age +of fifty-five, this great composer for the first time ceased to be +anxious on the score of his livelihood. Thenceforward the life of +Cherubini was destined to flow with a placid current, its chief +incidents being the great works in church music, which he poured forth +year after year, to the admiration and delight of the artistic world. +These remarkable masses, by their dramatic power, greatness of design, +and wealth of instrumentation, excited as much discussion and interest +throughout Europe as the operas of other composers. That written in +1816, the C minor requiem mass, is pronounced by Berlioz to be the +greatest work of this description ever composed. + + +VIII. + +As a man Cherubini presented himself in many different aspects. +Extremely nervous, _brusque_, irritable, and absolutely independent, +he was apt to offend and repel. But under his stern reserve of +character there beat a warm heart and generous sympathies. This is +shown by the fact that, in spite of the unevenness of his temper, he +was almost worshipped by those around him. Auber, Halévy, Berton, +Boïeldieu, Méhul, Spontini, and Adam, who were so intimately +associated with him, speak of him with words of the warmest affection. +Halévy, indeed, rarely alluded to him without tears rushing to his +eyes; and the slightest term of disrespect excited his warmest +indignation. It is recorded that, after rebuking a pupil with +sarcastic severity, his fine face would relax with a smile so +affectionate and genial that his whilom victim could feel nothing but +enthusiastic respect. Without one taint of envy in his nature, +conscious of his own extraordinary powers, he was quick to recognise +genius in others; and his hearty praise of the powers of his rivals +shows how sound and generous the heart was under his irritability. His +proneness to satire and power of epigram made him enemies, but even +these yielded to the suavity and fascination which alternated with his +bitter moods. His sympathies were peculiarly open for young musicians. +Mendelssohn and Liszt were stimulated by his warm and encouraging +praise when they first visited Paris; and even Berlioz, whose +turbulent conduct in the Conservatory had so embittered him at various +times, was heartily applauded when his first great mass was produced. +Arnold gives us the following pleasant picture of Cherubini:-- + +"Cherubini in society was outwardly silent, modest, unassuming, +pleasing, obliging, and possessed of the finest manners. At the same +time, he who did not know that he was with Cherubini would think him +stern and reserved, so well did the composer know how to conceal +everything, if only to avoid ostentation. He truly shunned brag or +speaking of himself. Cherubini's voice was feeble, probably from +narrow-chestedness, and somewhat hoarse, but was otherwise soft and +agreeable. His French was Italianised.... His head was bent forward, +his nose was large and aquiline; his eyebrows were thick, black, and +somewhat bushy, overshadowing his eyes. His eyes were dark, and +glittered with an extraordinary brilliancy that animated in a +wonderful way the whole face. A thin lock of hair came over the centre +of his forehead, and somehow gave to his countenance a peculiar +softness." + +The picture painted by Ingres, the great artist, now in the Luxembourg +gallery, represents the composer with Polyhymnia in the background +stretching out her hand over him. His face, framed in waving silvery +hair, is full of majesty and brightness, and the eye of piercing +lustre. Cherubini was so gratified by this effort of the painter that +he sent him a beautiful canon set to words of his own. Thus his latter +years were spent in the society of the great artists and wits of +Paris, revered by all, and recognised, after Beethoven's death, as the +musical giant of Europe. Rossini, Meyerbeer, Weber, Schumann--in a +word, the representatives of the most diverse schools of +composition--bowed equally before this great name. Rossini, who was +his antipodes in genius and method, felt his loss bitterly, and after +his death sent Cherubini's portrait to his widow with these touching +words--"Here, my dear madam, is the portrait of a great man, who is as +young in your heart as he is in my mind." + +A mutual affection between Cherubini and Beethoven existed through +life, as is shown by the touching letter written by the latter just +before his death, but which Cherubini did not receive till after that +event. The letter was as follows:-- + + Vienna, _March 15, 1823_. + + Highly esteemed Sir--I joyfully take advantage of the + opportunity to address you. + + I have done so often in spirit, as I prize your theatrical + works beyond others. The artistic world has only to lament + that in Germany, at least, no new dramatic work of yours + has appeared. Highly as all your works are valued by true + connoisseurs, still it is a great loss to art not to possess + any fresh production of your great genius for the theatre. + + True art is imperishable, and the true artist feels + heartfelt pleasure in grand works of genius, and that is + what enchants me when I hear a new composition of yours; in + fact, I take greater interest in it than in my own; in + short, I love and honour you. Were it not that my continued + bad health stops my coming to see you in Paris, with what + exceeding delight would I discuss questions of art with you! + Do not think that this is meant merely to serve as an + introduction to the favour I am about to ask of you. I hope + and feel sure that you do not for a moment suspect me of + such base sentiments. I recently completed a grand solemn + Mass, and have resolved to offer it to the various European + courts, as it is not my intention to publish it at present. + I have therefore asked the King of France, through the + French embassy here, to subscribe to this work, and I feel + certain that his Majesty would at your recommendation agree + to do so. + + My critical situation demands that I should not solely fix + my eyes upon heaven, as is my wont; on the contrary, it + would have me fix them also upon earth, here below, for the + necessities of life. + + Whatever may be the fate of my request to you, I shall for + ever continue to love and esteem you; and you for ever + remain of all my contemporaries that one whom I esteem the + most. + + If you should wish to do me a very great favour, you would + effect this by writing to me a few lines, which would solace + me much. Art unites all; how much more, then, true artists! + and perhaps you may deem me worthy of being included in that + number. + + With the highest esteem, your friend and servant, + + Ludwig van Beethoven. + + Ludwig Cherubini. + +Cherubini's admiration of the great German is indicated in an anecdote +told by Professor Ella. The master rebuked a pupil who, in referring +to a performance of a Beethoven symphony, dwelt mostly on the +executive excellence--"Young man, let your sympathies be first wedded +to the creation, and be you less fastidious of the execution; accept +the interpretation, and think more of the creation of these musical +works which are written for all time and all nations, models for +imitation, and above all criticism." + +Actively engaged as Director of the Conservatory, which he governed +with consummate ability, his old age was further employed in producing +that series of great masses which rank with the symphonies of +Beethoven. His creative instinct and the fire of his imagination +remained unimpaired to the time of his death. Mendelssohn, in a letter +to Moscheles, speaks of him as "that truly wonderful old man, whose +genius seems bathed in immortal youth." His opera of "Ali Baba," +composed at seventy-six, though inferior to his other dramatic works, +is full of beautiful and original music, and was immediately produced +in several of the principal capitals of Europe; and the second Requiem +mass, written in his eightieth year, is one of his masterpieces. + +On the 12th of March 1842 the old composer died, surrounded by his +affectionate family and friends. His fatal illness had been brought on +in part by grief for the death of his son-in-law, M. Turcas, to whom +he was most tenderly attached. His funeral was one of great military +and civic magnificence, and royalty itself could not have been +honoured with more splendid obsequies. The congregation of men great +in arms and state, in music, painting, and literature, who did honour +to the occasion, has rarely been equalled. His own noble Requiem mass, +composed the year before his death, was given at the funeral services +in the church of St. Roch by the finest orchestra and voices in +Europe. Similar services were held throughout Europe, and everywhere +the opera-houses were draped in black. Perhaps the death of no +musician ever called forth such universal exhibitions of sorrow and +reverence. + +Cherubini's life extended from the early part of the reign of Louis +XVI. to that of Louis Philippe, and was contemporaneous with many of +the most remarkable events in modern history. The energy and passion +which convulsed society during his youth and early manhood undoubtedly +had much to do in stimulating that robust and virile quality in his +mind which gave such character to his compositions. The fecundity of +his intellect is shown in the fact that he produced four hundred and +thirty works, out of which only eighty have been published. In this +catalogue there are twenty-five operas and eleven masses. + +As an operatic composer he laid the foundation of the modern French +school. Uniting the melody of the Italian with the science of the +German, his conceptions had a dramatic fire and passion which were, +however, free from anything appertaining to the sensational and +meretricious. His forms were indeed classically severe, and his style +is defined by Adolphe Adam as the resurrection of the old Italian +school, enriched by the discoveries of modern harmony. Though he was +the creator of French opera as we know it now, he was free from its +vagaries and extravagances. He set its model in the dramatic vigour +and picturesqueness, the clean-cut forms, and the noble +instrumentation which mark such masterpieces as "Faniska," "Médée," +"Les Deux Journées," and "Lodoïska." The purity, classicism, and +wealth of ideas in these works have always caused them to be cited as +standards of ideal excellence. The reforms in opera of which Gluck was +the protagonist, and Wagner the extreme modern exponent, characterise +the dramatic works of Cherubini, though he keeps them within that +artistic limit which a proper regard for melodic beauty prescribes. In +the power and propriety of musical declamation his operas are conceded +to be without a superior. His overtures hold their place in classical +music as ranking with the best ever written, and show a richness of +resource and knowledge of form in treating the orchestra which his +contemporaries admitted were only equalled by Beethoven. + +Cherubini's place in ecclesiastical music is that by which he is best +known to the musical public of to-day; for his operas, owing to the +immense demands they make on the dramatic and vocal resources of the +artist, are but rarely presented in France, Germany, and England, and +never in America. They are only given where music is loved on account +of its noble traditions, and not for the mere sake of idle and +luxurious amusement. As a composer of masses, however, Cherubini's +genius is familiar to all who frequent the services of the Roman +Church. His relation to the music of Catholicism accords with that of +Sebastian Bach to the music of Protestantism. Haydn, Mozart, and even +Beethoven, are held by the best critics to be his inferiors in this +form of composition. His richness of melody, sense of dramatic colour, +and great command of orchestral effects, gave him commanding power in +the interpretation of religious sentiments; while an ardent faith +inspired with passion, sweetness, and devotion what Place styles his +"sublime visions." Miel, one of his most competent critics, writes of +him in this eloquent strain--"If he represents the passion and death +of Christ, the heart feels itself wounded with the most sublime +emotion; and when he recounts the 'Last Judgment' the blood freezes +with dread at the redoubled and menacing calls of the exterminating +angel. All those admirable pictures that the Raphaels and Michael +Angelos have painted with colours and the brush, Cherubini brings +forth with the voice and orchestra." + +In brief, if Cherubini is the founder of a later school of opera, and +the model which his successors have always honoured and studied if +they have not always followed, no less is he the chief of a later, and +by common consent the greatest, school of modern church music. + + + + +_MÉHUL, SPONTINI, AND HALÉVY._ + + +I. + +The influence of Gluck was not confined to Cherubini, but was hardly +less manifest in moulding the style and conceptions of Méhul and +Spontini,[Q] who held prominent places in the history of the French +opera. HENRI ÉTIENNE MÉHUL was the son of a French soldier stationed +at the Givet barracks, where he was born June 24, 1763. His early +love of music secured for him instructions from the blind organist of +the Franciscan church at that garrison town, under whom he made +astonishing progress. He soon found he had outstripped the attainments +of his teacher, and contrived to place himself under the tuition of +the celebrated Wilhelm Hemser, who was organist at a neighbouring +monastery. Here Méhul spent a number of happy and useful years, +studying composition with Hemser and literature with the kind monks, +who hoped to persuade their young charge to devote himself to +ecclesiastical life. + +Méhul's advent in Paris, whither he went at the age of sixteen, soon +opened his eyes to his true vocation, that of a dramatic composer. The +excitement over the contest between Gluck and Piccini was then at its +height, and the youthful musician was not long in espousing the side +of Gluck with enthusiasm. He made the acquaintance of Gluck +accidentally, the great chevalier interposing one night to prevent his +being ejected from the theatre, into one of whose boxes Méhul had +slipped without buying a ticket. Thenceforward the youth had free +access to the opera, and the friendship and tuition of one of the +master minds of the age. + +An opera, "Cora et Alonzo," had been composed at the age of twenty and +accepted at the opera; but it was not till 1790 that he got a hearing +in the comic opera of "Euphrasque et Coradin," composed under the +direction of Gluck. This work was brilliantly successful, and +"Stratonice," which appeared two years afterwards, established his +reputation. The French critics describe both these early works as +being equally admirable in melody, orchestral accompaniment, and +dramatic effect. The stormiest year of the revolution was not +favourable to operatic composition, and Méhul wrote but little music +except pieces for republican festivities, much to his own disgust, for +he was by no means a warm friend of the republic. + +In 1797 he produced his "Le Jeune Henri," which nearly caused a riot +in the theatre. The story displeased the republican audience, who +hissed and hooted till the turmoil compelled the fall of the curtain. +They insisted, however, on the overture, which is one of great beauty, +being performed over and over again, a compliment which has rarely +been accorded to any composer. Méhul's appointment as inspector and +professor in the newly organised Conservatory, at the same time with +Cherubini, left him but little leisure for musical composition; but he +found time to write the spectacular opera "Adrian," which was fiercely +condemned by a republican audience, not as a musical failure, but +because their alert and suspicious tempers suspected in it covert +allusions to the dead monarchy. Even David, the painter, said he would +set the torch to the opera-house rather than witness the triumph of a +king. In 1806 Méhul produced the opera "Uthal," a work of striking +vigour founded on an Ossianic theme, in which he made the innovation +of banishing the violins from the orchestra, substituting therefor the +violas. + +It was in "Joseph," however, composed in 1807, that this composer +vindicated his right to be called a musician of great genius, and +entered fully into a species of composition befitting his grand style. +Most of his contemporaries were incapable of appreciating the +greatness of the work, though his gifted rival Cherubini gave it the +warmest praise. In Germany it met with instant and extended success, +and it is one of the few French operas of the old school which still +continue to be given on the German stage. In England it is now +frequently sung as an oratorio. It is on this remarkable work that +Méhul's lasting reputation as a composer rests outside of his own +nation. The construction of the opera of "Joseph" is characterised by +admirable symmetry of form, dramatic power, and majesty of the choral +and concerted passages, while the sustained beauty of the +orchestration is such as to challenge comparison with the greatest +works of his contemporaries. Such at least is the verdict of Fétis, +who was by no means inclined to be over-indulgent in criticising +Méhul. The fault in this opera, as in all of Méhul's works, appears to +have been a lack of bright and graceful melody, though in the modern +tendencies of music this defect is rapidly being elevated into a +virtue. + +The last eight years of Méhul's life were depressed by melancholy and +suffering, proceeding from pulmonary disease. He resigned his place in +the Conservatory, and retired to a pleasant little estate near Paris, +where he devoted himself to raising flowers, and found some solace in +the society of his musical friends and former pupils, who were +assiduous in their attentions. Finally becoming dangerously ill, he +went to the island of Hyères to find a more genial climate. But here +he pined for Paris and the old companionships, and suffered more +perhaps by fretting for the intellectual cheer of his old life than he +gained by balmy air and sunshine. He writes to one of his friends +after a short stay at Hyères--"I have broken up all my habits; I am +deprived of all my old friends; I am alone at the end of the world, +surrounded by people whose language I scarcely understand; and all +this sacrifice to obtain a little more sun. The air which best agrees +with me is that which I breathe among you." He returned to Paris for a +few weeks only, to breathe his last on October 18, 1817, aged +fifty-four. + +Méhul was a high-minded and benevolent man, wrapped up in his art, and +singularly childlike in the practical affairs of life. Abhorring +intrigue, he was above all petty jealousies, and even sacrificed the +situation of chapel-master under Napoleon, because he believed it +should have been given to the greatest of his rivals, Cherubini. When +he died Paris recognised his goodness as a man as well as greatness as +a musician by a touching and spontaneous expression of grief, and +funeral honours were given him throughout Europe. In 1822 his statue +was crowned on the stage of the Grand Opera, at a performance of his +"Valentine de Rohan." Notwithstanding his early death, he composed +forty-two operas, and modern musicians and critics give him a notable +place among those who were prominent in building up a national stage. +A pupil and disciple of Gluck, a cordial co-worker with Cherubini, he +contributed largely to the glory of French music, not only by his +genius as a composer, but by his important labours in the +reorganisation of the Conservatory, that nursery which has fed so much +of the highest musical talent of the world. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[Q] It is a little singular that some of the most distinguished names +in the annals of French music were foreigners. Thus Gluck was a +German, as also was Meyerbeer, while Cherubini and Spontini were +Italians. + + +II. + +LUIGI GASPARO PACIFICO SPONTINI, born of peasant parents at Majolati, +Italy, November 14, 1774, displayed his musical passion at an early +age. Designed for holy orders from childhood, his priestly tutors +could not make him study; but he delighted in the service of the +church, with its organ and choir effects, for here his true vocation +asserted itself. He was wont, too, to hide in the belfry, and revel in +the roaring orchestra of metal, when the chimes were rung. On one +occasion a stroke of lightning precipitated him from his dangerous +perch to the floor below, and the history of music nearly lost one of +its great lights. The bias of his nature was intractable, and he was +at last permitted to study music, at first under the charge of his +uncle Joseph, the curé of Jesi, and finally at the Naples +Conservatory, where he was entered at the age of sixteen. + +His first opera, "I Puntigli delle Donne," was composed at the age of +twenty-one, and performed at Rome, where it was kindly received. The +French invasion unsettled the affairs of Italy, and Spontini wandered +somewhat aimlessly, unable to exercise his talents to advantage till +he went to Paris in 1803, where he found a large number of brother +Italian musicians, and a cordial reception, though himself an obscure +and untried youth. He produced several minor works on the French +stage, noticeably among them the one-act opera of "Milton," in which +he stepped boldly out of his Italian mannerism, and entered on that +path afterwards pursued with such brilliancy and boldness. Yet, though +his talents began to be recognised, life was a trying struggle, and it +is doubtful if he could have overcome the difficulties in his way +when he was ready to produce "La Vestale," had he not enlisted the +sympathies of the Empress Josephine, who loved music, and played the +part of patroness as gracefully as she did all others. + +By Napoleon's order "La Vestale" was rehearsed against the wish of the +manager and critics of the Academy of Music, and produced December 15, +1807. Previous to this some parts of it had been performed privately +at the Tuileries, and the Emperor had said, "M. Spontini, your opera +abounds in fine airs and effective duets. The march to the place of +execution is admirable. You will certainly have the great success you +so well deserve." The imperial prediction was justified by consecutive +performances of one hundred nights. His next work, "Fernand Cortez," +sustained the impression of genius earned for him by its predecessor. +The scene of the revolt is pronounced by competent critics to be one +of the finest dramatic conceptions in operatic music. + +In 1809 Spontini married the niece of Erard, the great +pianoforte-maker, and was called to the direction of the Italian +opera; but he retained this position only two years, from the +disagreeable conditions he had to contend with, and the cabals that +were formed against him. The year 1814 witnessed the production of +"Pélage," and two years later "Les Dieux Rivaux" was composed, in +conjunction with Persuis, Berton, and Kreutzer; but neither work +attracted much attention. The opera of "Olympie," worked out on the +plan of "La Vestale" and "Cortez," was produced in 1819. Spontini was +embittered by its poor success, for he had built many hopes on it, and +wrought long and patiently. That he was not in his best vein, and like +many other men of genius was not always able to estimate justly his +own work, is undeniable; for Spontini, contrary to the opinion of his +contemporaries and of posterity, regarded this as his best opera. His +acceptance of the Prussian King's offer to become musical director at +Berlin was the result of his chagrin. Here he remained for twenty +years. "Olympie" succeeded better at Berlin, though the +boisterousness of the music seems to have called out some sharp +strictures even among the Berlinese, whose penchant for noisy operatic +effects was then as now a butt for the satire of the musical wits. +Apropos of the long run of "Olympie" at Berlin, an amusing anecdote is +told on the authority of Castel-Blaze. A wealthy amateur had become +deaf, and suffered much from his deprivation of the enjoyment of his +favourite art. After trying many physicians, he was treated in a novel +fashion by his latest doctor. "Come with me to the opera this +evening," wrote down the doctor. "What's the use? I can't hear a +note," was the impatient rejoinder. "Never mind," said the other; +"come, and you will see something at all events." So the twain +repaired to the theatre to hear Spontini's "Olympie." All went well +till one of the overwhelming finales, which happened to be played that +evening more _fortissimo_ than usual. The patient turned around +beaming with delight, exclaiming, "Doctor, I can hear." As there was +no reply, the happy patient again said, "Doctor, I tell you, you have +cured me." A blank stare alone met him, and he found that the doctor +was as deaf as a post, having fallen a victim to his own prescription. +The German wits had a similar joke afterwards at Halévy's expense. The +_Punch_ of Vienna said that Halévy made the brass play so loudly that +the French horn was actually blown quite straight. + +Among the works produced at Berlin were "Nurmahal," in 1825; +"Alcidor," the same year; and 1829, "Agnes von Hohenstaufen." Various +other new works were given from time to time, but none achieved more +than a brief hearing. Spontini's stiff-necked and arrogant will kept +him in continual trouble, and the Berlin press aimed its arrows at him +with incessant virulence: a war which the composer fed by his bitter +and witty rejoinders, for he was an adept in the art of invective. Had +he not been singularly adroit, he would have been obliged to leave his +post. But he gloried in the disturbance he created, and was proof +against the assaults of his numerous enemies, made so largely by his +having come of the French school, then as now an all-sufficient cause +of Teutonic dislike. Spontini's unbending intolerance, however, at +last undermined his musical supremacy, so long held good with an iron +hand; and an intrigue headed by Count Brühl, intendant of the Royal +Theatre, at last obliged him to resign after a rule of a score of +years. His influence on the lyric theatre of Berlin, however, had been +valuable, and he had the glory of forming singers among the Prussians, +who until his time had thought more of cornet-playing than of +beautiful and true vocalisation. The Prussian King allowed him on his +departure a pension of 16,000 francs. + +When Spontini returned to Paris, though he was appointed member of the +Academy of Fine Arts, he was received with some coldness by the +musical world. He had no little difficulty in getting a production of +his operas; only the Conservatory remained faithful to him, and in +their hall large audiences gathered to hear compositions to which the +opera-house denied its stage. New idols attracted the public, and +Spontini, though burdened with all the orders of Europe, was obliged +to rest in the traditions of his earlier career. A passionate desire +to see his native land before death made him leave Paris in 1850, and +he went to Majolati, the town of his birth, where he died after a +residence of a few months in 1851. His cradle was his tomb. + + +III. + +A well-known musical critic sums up his judgment of Halévy in these +words--"If in France a contemporary of Louis XIV., an admirer of +Racine, could return to us, and, full of the remembrance of his +earthly career under that renowned monarch, he should wish to find the +nobly pathetic, the elevated inspiration, the majestic arrangements of +the olden times upon a modern stage, we would not take him to the +Théâtre Français, but to the Opera on the day in which one of Halévy's +works was given." + +Unlike Méhul and Spontini, with whom in point of style and method +Halévy must be associated, he was not in any direct sense a disciple +of Gluck, but inherited the influence of the latter through his great +successor Cherubini, of whom Halévy was the favourite pupil and the +intimate friend. FROMENTAL HALÉVY, a scion of the Hebrew race, which +has furnished so many geniuses to the art world, left a deep impress +on his times, not simply by his genius and musical knowledge, which +was profound, varied, and accurate, but by the elevation and nobility +which lifted his mark up to a higher level than that which we accord +to mere musical gifts, be they ever so rich and fertile. The motive +that inspired his life is suggested in his devout saying that music is +an art that God has given us, in which the voices of all nations may +unite their prayers in one harmonious rhythm. + +Halévy was a native of Paris, born May 27, 1799. He entered the +Conservatory at the age of eleven years, where he soon attracted the +particular attention of Cherubini. When he was twenty the Institute +awarded him the grand prize for the composition of a cantata; and he +also received a government pension which enabled him to dwell at Rome +for two years, assiduously cultivating his talents in composition. +Halévy returned to Paris, but it was not till 1827 that he succeeded +in having an opera produced. This portion of his life was full of +disappointment and chilled ambitions; for, in spite of the warm +friendship of Cherubini, who did everything to advance his interests, +he seemed to make but slow progress in popular estimation, though a +number of operas were produced. + +Halévy's full recognition, however, was found in the great work of "La +Juive," produced February 23, 1835, with lavish magnificence. It is +said that the managers of the Opera expended 150,000 francs in putting +it on the stage. This opera, which surpasses all his others in +passion, strength, and dignity of treatment, was interpreted by the +greatest singers in Europe, and the public reception at once assured +the composer that his place in music was fixed. Many envious critics, +however, declaimed against him, asserting that success was not the +legitimate desert of the opera, but of its magnificent presentation. +Halévy answered his detractors by giving the world a delightful comic +opera, "L'Éclair," which at once testified to the genuineness of his +musical inspiration and the versatility of his powers, and was +received by the public with even more pleasure than "La Juive." + +Halévy's next brilliant stroke (three unsuccessful works in the +meanwhile having been written) was "La Reine de Chypre," produced in +1841. A somewhat singular fact occurred during the performance of this +opera. One of the singers, every time he came to the passage, + + "Ce mortel qu'on remarque + Tient-il + Plus que nous de la Parque + Le fil?" + +was in the habit of fixing his eyes on a certain proscenium box +wherein were wont to sit certain notabilities in politics and finance. +As several of these died during the first run of the work, +superstitious people thought the box was bewitched, and no one cared +to occupy it. Two fine works, "Charles VI." and "Le Val d'Andorre," +succeeded at intervals of a few years; and in 1849 the noble music to +Æschylus's "Prometheus Bound" was written with an idea of reproducing +the supposed effects of the enharmonic style of the Greeks. + +Halévy's opera of "The Tempest," written for London, and produced in +1850, rivalled the success of "La Juive." Balfe led the orchestra, and +its popularity caused the basso Lablache to write the following +epigram:-- + + "The 'Tempest' of Halévy + Differs from other tempests. + These rain hail, + That rains gold." + +The Academy of Fine Arts elected the composer secretary in 1854, and +in the exercise of his duties, which involved considerable literary +composition, Halévy showed the same elegance of style and good taste +which marked his musical writings. He did not, however, neglect his +own proper work, and a succession of operas, which were cordially +received, proved how unimpaired and vigorous his intellectual +faculties remained. + +The composer's death occurred at Nice, whither he had gone on account +of failing strength, March 17, 1862. His last moments were cheered by +the attentions of his family and the consolations of philosophy and +literature, which he dearly loved to discuss with his friends. His +ruling passion displayed itself shortly before his end in +characteristic fashion. Trying in vain to reach a book on the table, +he said, "Can I do nothing now in time?" On the morning of his death, +wishing to be turned on his bed, he said to his daughter, "Lay me down +like a gamut," at each movement repeating, with a soft smile, "_Do_, +_re_, _mi_," etc., until the change was made. These were his last +words. + +The celebrated French critic Sainte-Beuve pays a charming tribute to +Halévy, whom he knew and loved well:-- + +"Halévy had a natural talent for writing, which he cultivated and +perfected by study, by a taste for reading which he always +gratified in the intervals of labour, in his study, in public +conveyances--everywhere, in fine, when he had a minute to spare. He +could isolate himself completely in the midst of the various noises +of his family, or the conversation of the drawing-room if he had no +part in it. He wrote music, poetry, and prose, and he read with +imperturbable attention while people around him talked. + +"He possessed the instinct of languages, was familiar with German, +Italian, English, and Latin, knew something of Hebrew and Greek. He +was conversant with etymology, and had a perfect passion for +dictionaries. It was often difficult for him to find a word; for on +opening the dictionary somewhere near the word for which he was +looking, if his eye chanced to fall on some other, no matter what, he +stopped to read that, then another and another, until he sometimes +forgot the word he sought. It is singular that this estimable man, so +fully occupied, should at times have nourished some secret sadness. +Whatever the hidden wound might be, none, not even his most intimate +friends, knew what it was. He never made any complaint. Halévy's +nature was rich, open, and communicative. He was well organised, +accessible to the sweets of sociability and family joys. In fine, he +had, as one may say, too many strings to his bow to be very unhappy +for any length of time. To define him practically, I would say he was +a bee that had not lodged himself completely in his hive, but was +seeking to make honey elsewhere too." + + +IV. + +Méhul laboured successfully in adapting the noble and severe style of +Gluck to the changing requirements of the French stage. The turmoil +and passions of the revolution had stirred men's souls to the very +roots, and this influence was perpetuated and crystallised in the new +forms given to French thought by Napoleon's wonderful career. Méhul's +musical conceptions, which culminated in the opera of "Joseph," were +characterised by a stir, a vigour, and largeness of dramatic movement, +which came close to the familiar life of that remarkable period. His +great rival, Cherubini, on the other hand, though no less truly +dramatic in fitting musical expression to thought and passion, was so +austere and rigid in his ideals, so dominated by musical form and an +accurate science which would concede nothing to popular prejudice and +ignorance, that he won his laurels, not by force of the natural flow +of popular sympathy, but by the sheer might of his genius. Cherubini's +severe works made them models and foundation-stones for his successors +in French music; but Méhul familiarised his audiences with strains +dignified yet popular, full of massive effects and brilliant +combinations. The people felt the tramp of the Napoleonic armies in +the vigour and movement of his measures. + +Spontini embodied the same influences and characteristics in still +larger degree, for his musical genius was organised on a more massive +plan. Deficient in pure, graceful melody alike with Méhul, he +delighted in great masses of tone and vivid orchestral colouring. His +music was full of the military fire of his age, and dealt for the most +part with the peculiar tastes and passions engendered by a condition +of chronic warfare. Therefore dramatic movement in his operas was +always of the heroic order, and never touched the more subtile and +complex elements of life. Spontini added to the majestic repose and +ideality of the Gluck music-drama (to use a name now naturalised in +art by Wagner) the keenest dramatic vigour. Though he had a strong +command of effects by his power of delineation and delicacy of detail, +his prevalent tastes led him to encumber his music too often with +overpowering military effects, alike tonal and scenic. Riehl, a great +German critic, says--"He is more successful in the delineation of +masses and groups than in the pourtrayal of emotional scenes; his +rendering of the national struggle between the Spaniards and Mexicans +in 'Cortez' is, for example, admirable. He is likewise most successful +in the management of large masses in the instrumentation. In this +respect he was, like Napoleon, a great tactician." In "La Vestale" +Spontini attained his _chef-d'oeuvre_. Schlüter, in his _History of +Music_, gives it the following encomium--"His pourtrayal of character +and truthful delineation of passionate emotion in this opera are +masterly indeed. The subject of 'La Vestale' (which resembles that of +'Norma,' but how differently treated!) is tragic and sublime as well +as intensely emotional. Julia, the heroine, a prey to guilty passion; +the severe but kindly high priestess; Licinius, the adventurous lover, +and his faithful friend Cinna; pious vestals, cruel priests, bold +warriors, and haughty Romans, are represented with statuesque relief +and finish. Both these works, 'La Vestale' (1807) and 'Cortez' (1809), +are among the finest that have been written for the stage; they are +remarkable for naturalness and sublimeness, qualities lost sight of in +the noisy instrumentation of his later works." + +Halévy, trained under the influences of Cherubini, was largely +inspired by that great master's musical purism and reverence for the +higher laws of his art. Halévy's powerful sense of the dramatic always +influenced his methods and sympathies. Not being a composer of +creative imagination, however, the melodramatic element is more +prominent than the purely tragic or comic. His music shows remarkable +resources in the production of brilliant and captivating, though +always tasteful, effects, which rather please the senses and the fancy +than stir the heart and imagination. Here and there scattered through +his works, notably so in "La Juive," are touches of emotion and +grandeur; but Halévy must be characterised as a composer who is rather +distinguished for the brilliancy, vigour, and completeness of his art +than for the higher creative power, which belongs in such pre-eminent +degree to men like Rossini and Weber, or even to Auber, Meyerbeer, and +Gounod. It is nevertheless true that Halévy composed works which will +retain a high rank in French art "La Juive," "Guido," "La Reine de +Chypre," and "Charles VI." are noble lyric dramas, full of beauties, +though it is said they can never be seen to the best advantage off the +French stage. Halévy's genius and taste in music bear much the same +relation to the French stage as do those of Verdi to the Italian +stage; though the former composer is conceded by critics to be a +greater purist in musical form, if he rarely equals the Italian +composer in the splendid bursts of musical passion with which the +latter redeems so much that is meretricious and false, and the +charming melody which Verdi shares with his countrymen. + + + + +_BOÏELDIEU AND AUBER._ + + +I. + +The French school of light opera, founded by Grétry, reached its +greatest perfection in the authors of "La Dame Blanche" and "Fra +Diavolo," though to the former of these composers must be accorded the +peculiar distinction of having given the most perfect example of this +style of composition. FRANÇOIS ADRIEN BOÏELDIEU, the scion of a Norman +family, was born at Rouen, December 16, 1775. He received his early +musical training at the hands of Broche, a great musician and the +cathedral organist, but a drunkard and brutal taskmaster. At the age +of sixteen he had become a good pianist and knew something of +composition. At all events, his passionate love of the theatre +prompted him to try his hand at an opera, which was actually performed +at Rouen. The revolution which made such havoc with the clergy and +their dependants ruined the Boïeldieu family (the elder Boïeldieu had +been secretary of the archiepiscopal diocese), and young François, at +the age of nineteen, was set adrift on the world, his heart full of +hope and his ambition bent on Paris, whither he set his feet. Paris, +however, proved a stern stepmother at the outset, as she always has +been to the struggling and unsuccessful. He was obliged to tune pianos +for his living, and was glad to sell his brilliant _chansons_, which +afterwards made a fortune for his publisher, for a few francs apiece. + +Several years of hard work and bitter privation finally culminated in +the acceptance of an opera, "La Famille Suisse," at the Théâtre +Faydeau in 1796, where it was given on alternate nights with +Cherubini's "Médée." Other operas followed in rapid succession, among +which may be mentioned "La Dot de Suzette" (1798) and "Le Calife de +Bagdad" (1800). The latter of these was remarkably popular, and drew +from the severe Cherubini the following rebuke--"Malheureux! Are you +not ashamed of such undeserved triumph?" Boïeldieu took the brusque +criticism meekly and preferred a request for further instruction from +Cherubini--a proof of modesty and good sense quite remarkable in one +who had attained recognition as a favourite with the musical public. +Boïeldieu's three years' studies under the great Italian master were +of much service, for his next work, "Ma Tante Aurore," produced in +1803, showed noticeable artistic progress. + +It was during this year that Boïeldieu, goaded by domestic misery +(for he had married the danseuse Clotilde Mafleuray, whose notorious +infidelity made his name a bye-word), exiled himself to Russia, even +then looked on as an El Dorado for the musician, where he spent eight +years as conductor and composer of the Imperial Opera. This was all +but a total eclipse in his art-life, for he did little of note during +the period of his St. Petersburg career. + +He returned to Paris in 1811, where he found great changes. Méhul and +Cherubini, disgusted with the public, kept an obstinate silence; and +Nicolo was not a dangerous rival. He set to work with fresh zeal, and +one of his most charming works, "Jean de Paris," produced in 1812, was +received with a storm of delight. This and "La Dame Blanche" are the +two masterpieces of the composer in refined humour, masterly +delineation, and sustained power both of melody and construction. The +fourteen years which elapsed before Boïeldieu's genius took a still +higher flight were occupied in writing works of little value except as +names in a catalogue. The long-expected opera "La Dame Blanche" saw +the light in 1825, and it is to-day a stock opera in Europe, one +Parisian theatre alone having given it nearly two thousand times. +Boïeldieu's latter years were uneventful and unfruitful. He died in +1834 of pulmonary disease, the germs of which were planted by St. +Petersburg winters. "Jean de Paris" and "La Dame Blanche" are the two +works, out of nearly thirty operas, which the world cherishes as +masterpieces. + + +II. + +DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT AUBER was born at Caen, Normandy, January 29, +1784. He was destined by his parents for a mercantile career, and was +articled to a French firm in London to perfect himself in commercial +training. As a child he showed his passion and genius for music, a +fact so noticeable in the lives of most of the great musicians. He +composed ballads and romances at the age of eleven, and during his +London life was much sought after as a musical prodigy alike in +composition and execution. In consequence of the breach of the treaty +of Amiens in 1804, he was obliged to return to Paris, and we hear no +more of the counting-room as a part of his life. His resetting of an +old libretto in 1811 attracted the attention of Cherubini, who +impressed himself so powerfully on French music and musicians, and the +master offered to superintend his further studies, a chance eagerly +seized by Auber. To the instruction of Cherubini Auber owed his +mastery over the technical difficulties of his art. Among the pieces +written at this time was a mass for the Prince of Chimay, of which the +prayer was afterwards transferred to "Masaniello." The comic opera "Le +Séjour Militaire," produced in 1813, when Auber was thirty, was really +his début as a composer. It was coldly received, and it was not till +the loss of private fortune set a sharp spur to his creative activity +that he set himself to serious work. "La Bergère Châtelaine," produced +in 1820, was his first genuine success, and equal fortune attended +"Emma" in the following season. + +The duration and climax of Auber's musical career were founded on his +friendship and artistic alliance with Scribe, one of the most fertile +librettists and playwrights of modern times. To this union, which +lasted till Scribe's death, a great number of operas, comic and +serious, owe their existence: not all of equal value, but all evincing +the apparently inexhaustible productive genius of the joint authors. +The works on which Auber's claims to musical greatness rest are as +follows:--"Leicester," 1822; "Le Maçon," 1825, the composer's +_chef-d'oeuvre_ in comic opera; "La Muette de Portici," otherwise +"Masaniello," 1828; "Fra Diavolo," 1830; "Lestocq," 1835; "Le Cheval +de Bronze," 1835; "L'Ambassadrice," 1836; "Le Domino Noir," 1837; "Les +Diamants de la Couronne," 1841; "Carlo Braschi," 1842; "Haydée," 1847; +"L'Enfant Prodigue," 1850; "Zerline," 1851, written for Madame Alboni; +"Manon Lescaut," 1856; "La Fiancée du Roi de Garbe," 1867; "Le +Premier Jour de Bonheur," 1868; and "Le Rêve d'Amour," 1869. The last +two works were composed after Auber had passed his eightieth year. + +The indifference of this Anacreon of music to renown is worthy of +remark. He never attended the performance of his own pieces, and +disdained applause. The highest and most valued distinctions were +showered on him; orders, jewelled swords, diamond snuff-boxes, were +poured in from all the courts of Europe. Innumerable invitations urged +him to visit other capitals, and receive honour from imperial hands. +But Auber was a true Parisian, and could not be induced to leave his +beloved city. He was a Member of the Institute, Commander of the +Legion of Honour, and Cherubini's successor as Director of the +Conservatory. He enjoyed perfect health up to the day of his death in +1871. Assiduous in his duties at the Conservatory, and active in his +social relations, which took him into the most brilliant circles of an +extended period, covering the reigns of Napoleon I., Charles X., Louis +Philippe, and Napoleon III., he yet always found time to devote +several hours a day to composition. Auber was a small, delicate man, +yet distinguished in appearance, and noted for wit. His _bons mots_ +were celebrated. While directing a musical _soirée_ when over eighty, +a gentleman having taken a white hair from his shoulder, he said, +laughingly, "This hair must belong to some old fellow who passed near +me." + +A good anecdote is told _à propos_ of an interview of Auber with +Charles X. in 1830. "Masaniello," a bold and revolutionary work, had +just been produced, and stirred up a powerful popular ferment. "Ah, M. +Auber," said the King, "you have no idea of the good your work has +done me." "How, sire?" "All revolutions resemble each other. To sing +one is to provoke one. What can I do to please you?" "Ah, sire! I am +not ambitious." "I am disposed to name you director of the court +concerts. Be sure that I shall remember you. But," added he, taking +the artist's arm with a cordial and confidential air, "from this day +forth you understand me well, M. Auber, I expect you to bring out the +'Muette' but _very seldom_." It is well known that the Brussels riots +of 1830, which resulted in driving the Dutch out of the country, +occurred immediately after a performance of this opera, which thus +acted the part of "Lillibulero" in English political annals. It is a +striking coincidence that the death of the author of this +revolutionary inspiration, May 13, 1871, was partly caused by the +terrors of the Paris Commune. + + +III. + +Boïeldieu and Auber are by far the most brilliant representatives of +the French school of Opéra Comique. The work of the former which shows +his genius at its best is "La Dame Blanche." It possesses in a +remarkable degree dramatic _verve_, piquancy of rhythm, and beauty of +structure. Mr. Franz Hueffer speaks of this opera as follows:-- + +"Peculiar to Boïeldieu is a certain homely sweetness of melody which +proves its kinship to that source of all truly national music, the +popular song. The 'Dame Blanche' might be considered as the artistic +continuation of the _chanson_, in the same sense as Weber's 'Der +Freischütz' has been called a dramatised _Volkslied_. With regard to +Boïeldieu's work, this remark indicates at the same time a strong +development of what has been described as the 'amalgamating force of +French art and culture;' for it must be borne in mind that the subject +treated is Scotch. The plot is a compound of two of Scott's +novels--the 'Monastery' and 'Guy Mannering.' Julian, _alias_ George +Brown, comes to his paternal castle unknown to himself. He hears the +songs of his childhood, which awaken old memories in him; but he seems +doomed to misery and disappointment, for on the day of his return his +hall and his broad acres are to become the property of a villain, the +unfaithful steward of his own family. Here is a situation full of +gloom and sad foreboding. But Scribe and Boïeldieu knew better. Their +hero is a dashing cavalry officer, who makes love to every pretty +woman he comes across, the 'White Lady of Avenel' among the number. +Yet no one who has witnessed the impersonation of George Brown by the +great Roger can have failed to be impressed with the grace and noble +gallantry of the character." + +The tune of "Robin Adair," introduced by Boïeldieu and described as +"le chant ordinaire de la tribu d'Avenel," would hardly be recognised +by a genuine Scotchman; but what it loses in homely vigour it has +gained in sweetness. The musician's taste is always gratified in +Boïeldieu's two great comic operas by the grace and finish of the +instrumentation, and the carefully composed _ensembles_, while the +public is delighted with the charming ballads and songs. The airs of +"La Dame Blanche" are more popular in classic Germany than those of +any other opera. Boïeldieu may then be characterised as the composer +who carried the French operetta to its highest development, and +endowed it in the fullest sense with all the grace, sparkle, dramatic +symmetry, and gamesome touch so essentially the heritage of the +nation. + +Auber's position in art may be defined as that of the last great +representative of French comic opera, the legitimate successor of +Boïeldieu, whom he surpasses in refinement and brilliancy of +individual effects, while he is inferior in simplicity, breadth, and +that firm grasp of details which enables the composer to blend all the +parts into a perfect whole. In spite of the fact that "La Muette," +Auber's greatest opera, is a romantic and serious work, full of bold +strokes of genius that astonish no less than they please, he must be +held to be essentially a master in the field of operatic comedy. In +the great opera to which allusion has been made, the passions of +excited public feeling have their fullest sway, and heroic sentiments +of love and devotion are expressed in a manner alike grand and +original. The traditional forms of the opera are made to expand with +the force of the feeling bursting through them. But this was the sole +flight of Auber into the higher regions of his art, the offspring of +the thoroughly revolutionised feeling of the time (1828), which +within two years shook Europe with such force. Aside from this outcome +of his Berserker mood, Auber is a charming exponent of the grace, +brightness, and piquancy of French society and civilisation. If rarely +deep, he is never dull, and no composer has given the world more +elegant and graceful melodies of the kind which charm the drawing-room +and furnish a good excuse for young-lady pianism. + +The following sprightly and judicious estimate of Auber by one of the +ablest of modern critics, Henry Chorley, in the main fixes him in his +right place:-- + +"He falls short of his mark in situations of profound pathos (save +perhaps in his sleep-song of 'Masaniello'). He is greatly behind his +Italian brethren in those mad scenes which they so largely affect. He +is always light and piquant for voices, delicious in his treatment of +the orchestra, and at this moment of writing--though I believe the +patriarch of opera-writers (born, it is said, in 1784), having begun +to compose at an age when other men have died exhausted by precocious +labour--is perhaps the lightest-hearted, lightest-handed man still +pouring out fragments of pearl and spangles of pure gold on the +stage.... With all this it is remarkable as it is unfair, that among +musicians--when talk is going around, and this person praises that +portentous piece of counterpoint, and the other analyses some new +chord the ugliness of which has led to its being neglected by former +composers--the name of this brilliant man is hardly if ever heard at +all. His is the next name among the composers belonging to the last +thirty years which should be heard after that of Rossini, the number +and extent of the works produced by him taken into account, and with +these the beauties which they contain." + + + + +_MEYERBEER._ + + +I. + +Few great names in art have been the occasion of such diversity of +judgment as Giacomo Meyerbeer, whose works fill so large a place in +French music. By one school of critics he is lauded beyond all measure +as one "whose scientific skill and gorgeous orchestration are only +equalled by his richness of melody and genius for dramatic and scenic +effects; by far the greatest composer of recent years;" by another +class we hear him stigmatised as "the very caricature of the universal +Mozart ... the Cosmopolitan Jew, who hawks his wares among all nations +indifferently, and does his best to please customers of every kind." +The truth lies between the two, as is wont to be the case in such +extremes of opinion. Meyerbeer's remarkable talent so nearly +approaches genius as to make the distinction a difficult one. He +cannot be numbered among those great creative artists who by force of +individuality have moulded musical epochs and left an undying imprint +on their own and succeeding ages. On the other hand, his remarkable +power of combining the resources of the lyric stage in a grand mosaic +of all that can charm the eye and ear, of wedding rich and gorgeous +music with splendid spectacle, gives him an unique place in music; +for, unlike Wagner, whose ideas of stage necessities are no less +exacting, Meyerbeer aims at no reforms in lyric music, but only to +develop the old forms to their highest degree of effect, under +conditions that shall gratify the general artistic sense. To +accomplish this, he spares no means either in or out of music. Though +a German, there is but little of the Teutonic _genre_ in the music of +Weber's fellow-pupil. When at the outset he wrote for Italy, he showed +but little of that easy assumption of the genius of Italian art which +many other foreign composers have attained. It was not till he formed +his celebrated art partnership with Scribe, the greatest of +librettists, and succeeded in opening the gates of the Grand Opera of +Paris with all its resources, more vast than exist anywhere else, that +Meyerbeer found his true vocation, the production of elaborate dramas +in music of the eclectic school. He inaugurated no clearly defined +tendencies in his art; he distinctively belongs to no national school +of music; but his long and important connection with the French lyric +stage classifies him unmistakably with the composers of this nation. + +The subject of this sketch belonged to a family of marked ability. +Jacob Beer was a rich Jewish banker of Berlin, highly honoured for his +robust intellect and scholarly culture, as well as his wealth. +William, one of the sons, became a distinguished astronomer; another, +Michael, achieved distinction as a dramatic poet; while the eldest, +Jacob, was the composer, who gained his renown under the Italianised +name of Giacomo Meyerbeer, a part of the surname having been adopted +from that of the rich banker Meyer, who left the musician a great +fortune. + +MEYERBEER was born at Berlin, September 5, 1791, and was a musical +prodigy from his earliest years. When only four years old he would +repeat on the piano the airs he heard from the hand-organs, composing +his own accompaniment. At five he took lessons of Lanska, a pupil of +Clementi, and at six he made his appearance at a concert. Three years +afterwards the critics spoke of him as one of the best pianists in +Berlin. He studied successively under the greatest masters of the +time, Clementi, Bernhard Anselm Weber, and Abbé Vogler. While in the +latter's school at Darmstadt, he had for fellow-pupils Carl von Weber, +Winter, and Gansbacher. Every morning the abbé called together his +pupils after mass, gave them some theoretical instruction, then +assigned each one a theme for composition. There was great emulation +and friendship between Meyerbeer and Weber, which afterwards cooled, +however, owing to Weber's disgust at Meyerbeer's lavish catering to +an extravagant taste. Weber's severe and bitter criticisms were not +forgiven by the Franco-German composer. + +Meyerbeer's first work was the oratorio "Gott und die Natur," which +was performed before the Grand Duke with such success as to gain for +him the appointment of court composer. Meyerbeer's concerts at +Darmstadt and Berlin were brilliant exhibitions; and Moscheles, no +mean judge, has told us that if Meyerbeer had devoted himself to the +piano, no performer in Europe could have surpassed him. By advice of +Salieri, whom Meyerbeer met in Vienna, he proceeded to Italy to study +the cultivation of the voice; for he seems in early life to have +clearly recognised how necessary it is for the operatic composer to +understand this, though, in after-years, he treated the voice as +ruthlessly in many of his most important arias and scenas as he would +a brass instrument. He arrived in Vienna just as the Rossini madness +was at its height, and his own blood was fired to compose operas _à la +Rossini_ for the Italian theatres. So he proceeded with prodigious +industry to turn out operas. In 1818 he wrote "Romilda e Costanza" for +Padua; in 1819, "Semiramide" for Turin; in 1820, "Emma di Resburgo" +for Venice; in 1822, "Margherita d'Anjou" for Milan; and in 1823, +"L'Esule di Granata," also for Milan. These works of the composer's +'prentice hand met with the usual fate of the production of the +thousand and one musicians who pour forth operas in unremitting flow +for the Italian theatres; but they were excellent drill for the future +author of "Robert le Diable" and "Les Huguenots." On returning to +Germany Meyerbeer was very sarcastically criticised on the one side as +a fugitive from the ranks of German music, on the other as an imitator +of Rossini. + +Meyerbeer returned to Venice, and in 1824 brought out "Il Crociato in +Egitto" in that city, an opera which made the tour of Europe, and +established a reputation for the author as the coming rival of +Rossini, no one suspecting from what Meyerbeer had then accomplished +that he was about to strike boldly out in a new direction. "Il +Crociato" was produced in Paris in 1825, and the same year in London. +In the latter city, Velluti, the last of the male sopranists, was one +of the principal singers in the opera; and it was said by some of the +ill-natured critics that curiosity to see and hear this singer of a +peculiar kind, of whom it was said, "Non vir sed Veluti," had as much +to do with the success of the opera as its merits. Lord +Mount-Edgcumbe, however, an excellent critic, wrote of it "as quite of +the new school, but not copied from its founder, Rossini; original, +odd, flighty, and it might be termed fantastic, but at times +beautiful. Here and there most delightful melodies and harmonies +occurred, but it was unequal, solos being as rare as in all the modern +operas." This was the last of Meyerbeer's operas written in the +Italian style. + +In 1827 the composer married, and for several years lived a quiet, +secluded life. The loss of his first two children so saddened him as +to concentrate his attention for a while on church music. During this +period he composed only a "Stabat," a "Miserere," a "Te Deum," and +eight of Klopstock's songs. But he was preparing for that new +departure on which his reputation as a great composer now rests, and +which called forth such bitter condemnation on the one hand, such +thunders of eulogy on the other. His old fellow-pupil, Weber, wrote of +him in after-years--"He prostituted his profound, admirable, and +serious German talent for the applause of the crowd which he ought to +have despised." And Mendelssohn wrote to his father in words of still +more angry disgust--"When in 'Robert le Diable' nuns appear one after +the other and endeavour to seduce the hero, till at length the lady +abbess succeeds; when the hero, aided by a magic branch, gains access +to the sleeping apartment of his lady, and throws her down, forming a +tableau which is applauded here, and will perhaps be applauded in +Germany; and when, after that, she implores for mercy in an aria; +when, in another opera, a girl undresses herself, singing all the +while that she will be married to-morrow, it may be effective, but I +find no music in it. For it is vulgar, and if such is the taste of +the day, and therefore necessary, I prefer writing sacred music." + + +II. + +"Robert le Diable" was produced at the Académie Royale in 1831, and +inaugurated the brilliant reign of Dr. Véron as manager. The bold +innovations, the powerful situations, the daring methods of the +composer, astonished and delighted Paris, and the work was performed +more than a hundred consecutive times. The history of "Robert le +Diable" is in some respects curious. It was originally written for the +Ventadour Theatre, devoted to comic opera; but the company were found +unable to sing the difficult music. Meyerbeer was inspired by Weber's +"Der Freischütz" to attempt a romantic, semi-fantastic legendary +opera, and trod very closely in the footsteps of his model. It was +determined to so alter the libretto and extend and elaborate the music +as to fit it for the stage of the Grand Opera. MM. Scribe and +Delavigne, the librettists, and Meyerbeer, devoted busy days and +nights to hurrying on the work. The whole opera was remodelled, +recitative substituted for dialogue, and one of the most important +characters, Raimbaud, cut out in the fourth and fifth acts--a +suppression which is claimed to have befogged a very clear and +intelligible plot. Highly suggestive in its present state of Weber's +opera, the opera of "Robert le Diable" is said to have been +marvellously similar to "Der Freischütz" in the original form, though +inferior in dignity of motive. + +Paris was all agog with interest at the first production. The critics +had attended the rehearsals, and it was understood that the libretto, +the music, and the ballet were full of striking interest. Nourrit +played the part of Robert; Levasseur, Bertram; Mdme. Cinti Damoreau, +Isabelle; and Mdlle. Dorus, Alice. The greatest dancers of the age +were in the ballet, and the brilliant Taglioni led the band of +resuscitated nuns. Habeneck was conductor, and everything had been +done in the way of scenery and costumes. The success was a remarkable +one, and Meyerbeer's name became famous throughout Europe. + +Dr. Véron, in his _Mémoires d'un Bourgeois de Paris_, describes a +thrilling yet ludicrous accident that occurred on the first night's +performance. After the admirable trio, which is the _dénoûment_ of the +work, Levasseur, who personated Bertram, sprang through the trap to +rejoin the kingdom of the dead, whence he came so mysteriously. +Robert, on the other hand, had to remain on the earth, a converted +man, and destined to happiness in marriage with his princess, +Isabelle. Nourrit, the Robert of the performance, misled by the +situation and the fervour of his own feelings, threw himself into the +trap, which was not properly set. Fortunately the mattresses beneath +had not all been removed, or the tenor would have been killed, a doom +which those on the stage who saw the accident expected. The audience +supposed it was part of the opera, and the people on the stage were +full of terror and lamentation, when Nourrit appeared to calm their +fears. Mdlle. Dorus burst into tears of joy, and the audience, +recognising the situation, broke into shouts of applause. + +The opera was brought out in London the same year, with nearly the +same cast, but did not excite so much enthusiasm as in Paris. Lord +Mount-Edgcumbe, who represented the connoisseurs of the old school, +expressed the then current opinion of London audiences--"Never did I +see a more disagreeable or disgusting performance. The sight of the +resurrection of a whole convent of nuns, who rise from their graves +and begin dancing like so many bacchantes, is revolting; and a sacred +service in a church, accompanied by an organ on the stage, not very +decorous. Neither does the music of Meyerbeer compensate for a fable +which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability."[R] + +M. Véron was so delighted with the great success of "Robert" that he +made a contract with Meyerbeer for another grand opera, "Les +Huguenots," to be completed by a certain date. Meanwhile, the failing +health of Mdme. Meyerbeer obliged the composer to go to Italy, and +work on the opera was deferred, thus causing him to lose thirty +thousand francs as the penalty of his broken contract. At length, +after twenty-eight rehearsals, and an expense of more than one hundred +and sixty thousand francs in preparation, "Les Huguenots" was given to +the public, February 26, 1836. Though this great work excited +transports of enthusiasm in Paris, it was interdicted in many of the +cities of Southern Europe on account of the subject being a +disagreeable one to ardent and bigoted Catholics. In London it has +always been the most popular of Meyerbeer's three great operas, owing +perhaps partly to the singing of Mario and Grisi, and more lately of +Titiens and Giuglini. + +When Spontini resigned his place as chapel-master at the Court of +Berlin, in 1832, Meyerbeer succeeded him. He wrote much music of an +accidental character in his new position, but a slumber seems to have +fallen on his greater creative faculties. The German atmosphere was +not favourable to the fruitfulness of Meyerbeer's genius. He seems to +have needed the volatile and sparkling life of Paris to excite him +into full activity. Or perhaps he was not willing to produce one of +his operas, with their large dependence on elaborate splendour of +production, away from the Paris Grand Opera. During Meyerbeer's stay +in Berlin he introduced Jenny Lind to the Berlin public, as he +afterwards did indeed to Paris, her _début_ there being made in the +opening performance of "Das Feldlager in Schlesien," afterwards +remodelled into "L'Étoile du Nord." + +Meyerbeer returned to Paris in 1849, to present the third of his great +operas, "La Prophète." It was given with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and +Castellan in the principal characters. Mdme. Viardot-Garcia achieved +one of her greatest dramatic triumphs in the difficult part of Fides. +In London the opera also met with splendid success, having, as Chorley +tells us, a great advantage over the Paris presentation in "the +remarkable personal beauty of Signor Mario, whose appearance in his +coronation robes reminded one of some bishop-saint in a picture by Van +Eyck or Dürer, and who could bring to bear a play of feature without +grimace into the scene of false fascination, entirely beyond the reach +of the clever French artist Roger, who originated the character." + +"L'Étoile du Nord" was given to the public February 16, 1854. Up to +this time the opera of "Robert" had been sung three hundred and +thirty-three times, "Les Huguenots" two hundred and twenty-two, and +"Le Prophète" a hundred and twelve. The "Pardon de Ploërmel," also +known as "Dinorah," was offered to the world of Paris April 4, 1859. +Both these operas, though beautiful, are inferior to his other works. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[R] Yet Lord Mount-Edgcumbe is inconsistent enough to be an ardent +admirer of Mozart's "Zauberflöte." + + +III. + +Meyerbeer, a man of handsome private fortune, like Mendelssohn, made +large sums by his operas, and was probably the wealthiest of the great +composers. He lived a life of luxurious ease, and yet laboured with +intense zeal a certain number of hours each day. A friend one day +begged him to take more rest, and he answered smilingly, "If I should +leave work, I should rob myself of my greatest pleasure; for I am so +accustomed to work that it has become a necessity." Probably few +composers have been more splendidly rewarded by contemporary fame and +wealth, or been more idolised by their admirers. No less may it be +said that few have been the object of more severe criticism. His youth +was spent amid the severest classic influences of German music, and +the spirit of romanticism and nationality, which blossomed into such +beautiful and characteristic works as those composed by his friend and +fellow-pupil Weber, also found in his heart an eloquent echo. But +Meyerbeer resolutely disenthralled himself from what he appeared to +have regarded as trammels, and followed out an ambition to be a +cosmopolitan composer. In pursuit of this purpose he divested himself +of that fine flavour of individuality and devotion to art for its own +sake which marks the highest labours of genius. He can not be exempted +from the criticism that he regarded success and the immediate plaudits +of the public as the only satisfactory rewards of his art. He had but +little of the lofty content which shines out through the vexed and +clouded lives of such souls as Beethoven and Gluck in music, of Bacon +and Milton in literature, who looked forward to immortality of fame as +the best vindication of their work. A marked characteristic of the man +was a secret dissatisfaction with all that he accomplished, making him +restless and unhappy, and extremely sensitive to criticism. With this +was united a tendency at times to oscillate to the other extreme of +vain-gloriousness. An example of this was a reply to Rossini one night +at the opera when they were listening to "Robert le Diable." The "Swan +of Pesaro" was a warm admirer of Meyerbeer, though the latter was a +formidable rival, and his works had largely replaced those of the +other in popular repute. Sitting together in the same box, Rossini, in +his delight at one portion of the opera, cried out in his impulsive +Italian way, "If you can write anything to surpass this, I will +undertake to dance upon my head." "Well, then," said Meyerbeer, "you +had better soon commence practising, for I have just commenced the +fourth act of 'Les Huguenots.'" Well might he make this boast, for +into the fourth act of his musical setting of the terrible St. +Bartholomew tragedy he put the finest inspirations of his life. + +Singular to say, though he himself represented the very opposite pole +of art spirit and method, Mozart was to him the greatest of his +predecessors. Perhaps it was this very fact, however, which was at the +root of his sentiment of admiration for the composer of "Don Giovanni" +and "Le Nozze di Figaro." A story is told to the effect that Meyerbeer +was once dining with some friends, when a discussion arose respecting +Mozart's position in the musical hierarchy. Suddenly one of the guests +suggested that "certain beauties of Mozart's music had become stale +with age. I defy you," he continued, "to listen to 'Don Giovanni' +after the fourth act of the 'Huguenots.'" "So much the worse, then, +for the fourth act of the 'Huguenots,'" said Meyerbeer, furious at the +clumsy compliment paid to his own work at the expense of his idol. + +Critics wedded to the strict German school of music never forgave +Meyerbeer for his dereliction from the spirit and influences of his +nation, and the prominence which he gave to melodramatic effects and +spectacular show in his operas. Not without some show of reason, they +cite this fact as proof of poverty of musical invention. Mendelssohn, +who was habitually generous in his judgment, wrote to the poet +Immermann from Paris of "Robert le Diable"--"The subject is of the +romantic order; _i.e._, the devil appears in it (which suffices the +Parisians for romance and imagination). Nevertheless, it is very bad, +and, were it not for two brilliant seduction scenes, there would not +even be effect.... The opera does not please me; it is devoid of +sentiment and feeling.... People admire the music, but where there is +no warmth and truth, I cannot even form a standard of criticism." + +Schlüter, the historian of music, speaks even more bitterly of +Meyerbeer's irreverence and theatric sensationalism--"'Les Huguenots' +and the far weaker production 'Le Prophète' are, we think, all the +more reprehensible (nowadays especially, when too much stress is laid +on the subject of a work, and consequently on the libretto of an +opera), because the Jew has in these pieces ruthlessly dragged before +the footlights two of the darkest pictures in the annals of +Catholicism, nor has he scrupled to bring high mass and chorale on the +boards." + +Wagner, the last of the great German composers, cannot find words too +scathing and bitter to mark his condemnation of Meyerbeer. Perhaps +his extreme aversion finds its psychological reason in the +circumstance that his own early efforts were in the sphere of +Meyerbeer and Halévy, and from his present point of view he looks +back with disgust on what he regards as the sins of his youth. The +fairest of the German estimates of the composer, who not only cast +aside the national spirit and methods, but offended his countrymen by +devoting himself to the French stage, is that of Vischer, an eminent +writer on æsthetics--"Notwithstanding the composer's remarkable +talent for musical drama, his operas contain sometimes too much, +sometimes too little--too much in the subject-matter, external +adornment, and effective 'situations'--too little in the absence of +poetry, ideality, and sentiment (which are essential to a work of +art), as well as in the unnatural and constrained combinations of the +plot." + +But despite the fact that Meyerbeer's operas contain such strange +scenes as phantom nuns dancing, girls bathing, sunrise, skating, +gunpowder explosions, a king playing the flute, and the prima donna +leading a goat, dramatic music owes to him new accents of genuine +pathos and an addition to its resources of rendering passionate +emotions. Though much that is merely showy and meretricious there come +frequent bursts of genuine musical power and energy, which give him a +high and unmistakable rank, though he has had less permanent influence +in moulding and directing the development of musical art than any +other composer who has had so large a place in the annals of his time. + +The last twelve years of Meyerbeer's life were spent, with the +exception of brief residences in Germany and Italy, in Paris, the city +of his adoption, where all who were distinguished in art and letters +paid their court to him. When he was seized with his fatal illness he +was hard at work on "L'Africaine," for which Scribe had also furnished +the libretto. His heart was set on its completion, and his daily +prayer was that his life might be spared to finish it. But it was not +to be. He died May 2, 1864. The same morning Rossini called to inquire +after the health of the sick man, equally his friend and rival. When +he heard the sad news he sank into a fit of profound despondency and +grief, from which he did not soon recover. All Paris mourned with him, +and even Germany forgot its critical dislike to join in regret at the +loss of one who, with all his defects, was so great an artist and so +good a man. + +Meyerbeer seems to have been greatly afraid of being buried alive. In +his pocket-book after his death was found a paper giving directions +that small bells should be attached to his hands and feet, and that +his body should be carefully watched for four days, after which it +should be sent to Berlin to be interred by the side of his mother, to +whom he had been most tenderly attached. + +The composer was the intimate friend of most of the celebrities of his +time in art and literature. Victor Hugo, Lamartine, George Sand, +Balzac, Alfred de Musset, Delacroix, Jules Janin, and Théophile +Gautier were his familiar intimates; and the reunions between these +and other gifted men, who then made Paris so intellectually brilliant, +are charmingly described by Liszt and Moscheles. Meyerbeer's +correspondence, which was extensive, deserves publication, as it +displays marked literary faculty, and is full of bright sympathetic +thought, vigorous criticism, and playful fancy. The following letter +to Jules Janin, written from Berlin a few years before his death, +gives some pleasant insight into his character:-- + + "Your last letter was addressed to me at Königsberg; but I + was in Berlin working--working away like a young man, + despite my seventy years, which somehow certain people, with + a peculiar generosity, try to put upon me. As I am not at + Königsberg, where I am to arrange for the Court concert for + the eighteenth of this month, I have now leisure to answer + your letter, and will immediately confess to you how greatly + I was disappointed that you were so little interested in + Rameau; and yet Rameau was always the bright star of your + French opera, as well as your master in the music. He + remained to you after Lulli, and it was he who prepared the + way for the Chevalier Gluck: therefore his family have a + right to expect assistance from the Parisians, who on + several occasions have cared for the descendants of Racine + and the grandchildren of the great Corneille. If I had been + in Paris, I certainly would have given two hundred francs + for a seat; and I take this opportunity to beg you to hand + that sum to the poor family, who cannot fail to be unhappy + in their disappointment. At the same time I send you a power + of attorney for M. Guyot, by which I renounce all claims to + the parts of my operas which may be represented at the + benefit for the celebrated and unfortunate Rameau family. + Why will you not come to Königsberg at the festival? Why, in + other words, are you not in Berlin? What splendid music we + have in preparation! As to myself, it is not only a source + of pleasure to me, but I feel it a duty, in the position I + hold, to compose a grand march, to be performed at + Königsberg while the royal procession passes from the castle + into the church, where the ceremony of crowning is to take + place. I will even compose a hymn, to be executed on the day + that our king and master returns to his good Berlin. + Besides, I have promised to write an overture for the great + concert of the four nations, which the directors of the + London exhibition intend to give at the opening of the same, + next spring, in the Crystal Palace. All this keeps me back: + it has robbed me of my autumn, and will also take a good + part of next spring; but with the help of God, dear friend, + I hope we shall see each other again next year, free from + all cares, in the charming little town of Spa, listening to + the babbling of its waters and the rustling of its old grey + oaks. + + "Truly your friend, + + "Meyerbeer." + + +IV. + +Meyerbeer's operas are so intricate in their elements, and travel so +far out of the beaten track of precedent and rule, that it is +difficult to clearly describe their characteristics in a few words. +His original flow of melody could not have been very rich, for none of +his tunes have become household words, and his excessive use of that +element of opera which has nothing to do with music, as in the case of +Wagner, can have but one explanation. It is in the treatment of the +orchestra that he has added most largely to the genuine treasures of +music. His command of colour in tone-painting and power of dramatic +suggestion have rarely been equalled, and never surpassed. His genius +for musical rhythm is the most marked element in his power. This is +specially noticeable in his dance music, which is very bold, +brilliant, and voluptuous. The vivacity and grace of the ballets in +his operas save more than one act which otherwise would be +insufferably heavy and tedious. It is not too much to say that the +most spontaneous side of his creative fancy is found in these +affluent, vigorous, and stirring measures. + +Meyerbeer appears always to have been uncertain of himself and his +work. There was little of that masterly prevision of effect in his +mind which is one of the attributes of the higher imagination. His +operas, though most elaborately constructed, were often entirely +modified and changed in rehearsal, and some of the finest scenes, both +in the dramatic and musical sense, were the outcome of some happy +accidental suggestion at the very last moment. "Robert," "Les +Huguenots," "Le Prophète," in the forms we have them, are quite +different from those in which they were first cast. These operas have +therefore been called "the most magnificent patchwork in the history +of art," though this is a harsh phrasing of the fact, which somewhat +outrides justice. Certain it is, however, that Meyerbeer was largely +indebted to the chapter of accidents. + +The testimony of Dr. Véron, who was manager of the Grand Opera during +the most of the composer's brilliant career, is of great interest, as +illustrating this trait of Meyerbeer's composition. He tells us in his +_Mémoires_, before alluded to, that "Robert" was made and remade +before its final production. The ghastly but effective colour of the +resuscitation scene in the graveyard of the ruined convent was a +change wrought by a stage manager, who was disgusted with the chorus +of simpering women in the original. This led Meyerbeer to compose the +weird ballet music which is such a characteristic feature of "Robert +le Diable." So, too, we are told on the same authority, the fourth act +of "Les Huguenots," which is the most powerful single act in +Meyerbeer's operas, owes its present shape to Nourrit, the most +intellectual and creative tenor singer of whom we have record. It was +originally designed that the St. Bartholomew massacre should be +organised by Queen Marguerite, but Nourrit pointed out that the +interest centering in the heroine, Valentine, as an involuntary and +horrified witness, would be impaired by the predominance of another +female character. So the plot was largely reconstructed, and fresh +music written. Another still more striking attraction was the addition +of the great duet with which the act now closes--a duet which critics +have cited as an evidence of unequalled power, coming as it does at +the very heels of such an astounding chorus as "The Blessing of the +Swords." Nourrit felt that the parting of the two lovers at such a +time and place demanded such an outburst and confession as would be +wrung from them by the agony of the situation. Meyerbeer acted on the +suggestion with such felicity and force as to make it the crowning +beauty of the work. Similar changes are understood to have been made +in "Le Prophète" by advice of Nourrit, whose poetical insight seems to +have been unerring. It was left to Duprez, Nourrit's successor, +however, to be the first exponent of John of Leyden. + +These instances suffice to show how uncertain and how unequal was the +grasp of Meyerbeer's genius, and to explain in part why he was so +prone to gorgeous effects, aside from that tendency of the Israelitish +nature which delights in show and glitter. We see something in it akin +to the trick of the rhetorician, who seeks to hide poverty of thought +under glittering phrases. Yet Meyerbeer rose to occasions with a force +that was something gigantic. Once his work was clearly defined in a +mind not powerfully creative, he expressed it in music with such +vigour, energy, and warmth of colour as cannot be easily surpassed. +With this composer there was but little spontaneous flow of musical +thought, clothing itself in forms of unconscious and perfect beauty, +as in the case of Mozart, Beethoven, Cherubini, Rossini, and others +who could be cited. The constitution of his mind demanded some +external power to bring forth the gush of musical energy. + +The operas of Meyerbeer may be best described as highly artistic and +finished mosaic work, containing much that is precious with much that +is false. There are parts of all his operas which cannot be surpassed +for beauty of music, dramatic energy, and fascination of effect. In +addition, the strength and richness of his orchestration, which +contains original strokes not found in other composers, give him a +lasting claim on the admiration of the lovers of music. No other +composer has united so many glaring defects with such splendid power; +and were it not that Meyerbeer strained his ingenuity to tax the +resources of the singer in every possible way, not even the mechanical +difficulty of producing these operas in a fashion commensurate with +their plan would prevent their taking a high place among popular +operas. + + + + +_GOUNOD._ + + +I. + +Moscheles, one of the severe classical pianists of the German school, +writes as follows, in 1861, in a letter to a friend--"In Gounod I hail +a real composer. I have heard his 'Faust' both at Leipsic and Dresden, +and am charmed with that refined, piquant music. Critics may rave if +they like against the mutilation of Goethe's masterpiece; the opera is +sure to attract, for it is a fresh, interesting work, with a copious +flow of melody and lovely instrumentation." + +Henry Chorley in his _Thirty Years' Musical Recollections_, writing of +the year 1851, says--"To a few hearers, since then grown into a +European public, neither the warmest welcome nor the most bleak +indifference could alter the conviction that among the composers who +have appeared during the last twenty-five years, M. Gounod was the +most promising one, as showing the greatest combination of sterling +science, beauty of idea, freshness of fancy, and individuality. Before +a note of 'Sappho' was written, certain sacred Roman Catholic +compositions and some exquisite settings of French verse had made it +clear to some of the acutest judges and profoundest musicians living, +that in him at last something true and new had come--may I not say, +the most poetical of French musicians that has till now written?" The +same genial and acute critic, in further discussing the envy, +jealousy, and prejudice that Gounod awakened in certain musical +quarters, writes in still more decided strains--"The fact has to be +swallowed and digested that already the composer of 'Sappho,' the +choruses to 'Ulysse,' 'Le Médecin malgré lui,' 'Faust,' 'Philemon et +Baucis,' a superb Cecilian mass, two excellent symphonies, and half a +hundred songs and romances, which may be ranged not far from +Schubert's and above any others existing in France, is one of the very +few individuals left to whom musical Europe is now looking for its +pleasure." Surely it is enough praise for a great musician that, in +the domain of opera, church music, symphony, and song, he has risen +above all others of his time in one direction, and in all been +surpassed by none. + +It was not till "Faust" was produced that Gounod's genius evinced its +highest capacity. For nineteen years the exquisite melodies of this +great work have rung in the ears of civilisation without losing one +whit of the power with which they first fascinated the lovers of +music. The verdict which the aged Moscheles passed in his Leipsic +home--Moscheles, the friend of Beethoven, Weber, Schumann, and +Mendelssohn; which was re-echoed by the patriarchal Rossini, who came +from his Passy retirement to offer his congratulations; which Auber +took up again, as with tears of joy in his eyes he led Gounod, the +ex-pupil of the Conservatory, through the halls wherein had been laid +the foundation of his musical skill--that verdict has been affirmed +over and over again by the world. For in "Faust" we recognise not only +some of the most noble music ever written, but a highly dramatic +expression of spiritual truth. It is hardly a question that Gounod has +succeeded in an unrivalled degree in expressing the characters and +symbolisms of "Mephistopheles," "Faust," and "Gretchen" in music not +merely beautiful, but spiritual, humorous, subtile, and voluptuous, +accordingly as the varied meanings of Goethe's masterpiece demand. + +Visitors at Paris, while the American civil war was at its height, +might frequently have observed at the beautiful Théâtre Lyrique, +afterwards burned by the Vandals of the Commune, a noticeable-looking +man, of blonde complexion and tawny beard, clear-cut features, and +large, bright, almost sombre-looking eyes. As the opera of "Faust" +progresses, his features eloquently express his varying emotions, now +of approval, now of annoyance at different parts of the performance. +M. Gounod is criticising the interpretation of the great opera, which +suddenly lifted him into fame as perhaps the most imaginative and +creative of late composers. + +An aggressive disposition, an energy and faith that accepted no +rebuffs, and the power of "toiling terribly," had enabled Gounod to +battle his way into the front rank. Unlike Rossini and Auber, he +disdained social recreation, and was so rarely seen in the fashionable +quarters of Paris and London that only an occasional musical +announcement kept him before the eyes of the public. Gounod seems to +have devoted himself to the strict sphere of his art-life with an +exclusive devotion quite foreign to the general temperament of the +musician, into which something luxurious and pleasure-loving is so apt +to enter. This composer, standing in the very front rank of his +fellows, has injected into the veins of the French school to which he +belongs a seriousness, depth, and imaginative vigour, which prove to +us how much he is indebted to German inspiration and German models. + +CHARLES GOUNOD, born in Paris, June 17, 1818, betrayed so much passion +for music during tender years, that his father gave him every +opportunity to gratify and improve this marked bias. He studied under +Reicha and Le Sueur, and finally under Halévy, completing under the +latter the preparation which fitted him for entrance into the +Conservatory. The talents he displayed there were such as to fix on +him the attention of his most distinguished masters. He carried off +the second prize at nineteen, and at twenty-one received the grand +prize for musical composition awarded by the French Institute. His +first published work was a mass performed at the Church of St. +Eustache, which, while not specially successful, was sufficiently +encouraging to both the young composer and his friends. + +Gounod now proceeded to Rome, where there seems to have been some +inclination on his part to study for holy orders. But music was not +destined to be cheated of so gifted a votary. In 1841 he wrote a +second mass, which was so well thought of in the papal capital as to +gain for the young composer the appointment of an honorary +chapel-master for life. This recognition of his genius settled his +final conviction that music was his true life-work, though the +religious sentiment, or rather a sympathy with mysticism, is +strikingly apparent in all of his compositions. The next goal in the +composer's art pilgrimage was the music-loving city of Vienna, the +home of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, though its people +waited till the last three great geniuses were dead before it accorded +them the loving homage which they have since so freely rendered. The +reception given by the capricious Viennese to a requiem and a Lenten +mass (for as yet Gounod only thought of sacred music as his vocation) +was not such as to encourage a residence. Paris, the queen of the +world, towards which every French exile ever looks with longing eyes, +seemed to beckon him back; so at the age of twenty-five he turned his +steps again to his beloved Lutetia. His education was finished; he had +completed his "Wanderjahre;" and he was eager to enter on the serious +work of life. + +He was appointed chapel-master at the Church of Foreign Missions, in +which office he remained for six years, in the meanwhile marrying a +charming woman, the daughter of Herr Zimmermann, the celebrated +theologian and orator. In 1849 he composed his third mass, which made +a powerful impression on musicians and critics, though Gounod's +ambition, which seems to have been powerfully stimulated by his +marriage, began to realise that it was in the field of lyric drama +only that his powers would find their full development. He had been an +ardent student in literature and art as well as in music; his style +had been formed on the most noble and serious German models, and his +tastes, awakened into full activity, carried him with great zeal into +the loftier field of operatic composition. + +The dominating influence of Gluck, so potent in shaping the tastes and +methods of the more serious French composers, asserted itself from the +beginning in the work of Gounod, and no modern composer has been so +brilliant and effective a disciple in carrying out the formulas of +that great master. More free, flexible, and melodious than Spontini +and Halévy, measuring his work by a conception of art more lofty and +ideal than that of Meyerbeer, and in creative power and originality by +far their superior, Gounod's genius, as shown in the one opera of +"Faust," suffices to stamp his great mastership. + +But he had many years of struggle yet before this end was to be +achieved. His early lyric compositions fell dead. Score after score +was rejected by the managers. No one cared to hazard the risk of +producing an opera by this unknown composer. His first essay was a +pastoral opera, "Philemon and Baucis," and it did not escape from the +manuscript for many a long year, though it has in more recent times +been received by critical German audiences with great applause. A +catalogue of Gounod's failures would have no significance except as +showing that his industry and energy were not relaxed by public +neglect. His first decided encouragement came in 1851, when "Sappho" +was produced at the French Opera through the influence of Madame +Pauline Viardot, the sister of Malibran, who had a generous belief in +the composer's future, and such a position in the musical world of +Paris as to make her requests almost mandatory. This opera, based on +the fine poem of Emile Augier, was well received, and cheered Gounod's +heart to make fresh efforts. In 1852 he composed the choruses for +Poussard's classical tragedy of "Ulysse," performed at the Théâtre +Français. The growing recognition of the world was evidenced in his +appointment as director of the Normal Singing School of Paris, the +primary school of the Conservatory. In 1854 a five-act opera, with a +libretto from the legend of the "Bleeding Nun," was completed and +produced, and Gounod was further gratified to see that musical +authorities were willing to grant him a distinct place in the ranks of +art, though as yet not a very high one. + +For years Gounod's serious and elevated mind had been pondering on +Goethe's great poem as the subject of an opera, and there is reason to +conjecture that parts of it were composed and arranged, if not fully +elaborated, long prior to its final crystallisation. But he was not +yet quite ready to enter seriously on the composition of the +masterpiece. He must still try his hand on lesser themes. Occasional +pieces for the orchestra or choruses strengthened his hold on these +important elements of lyric composition, and in 1858 he produced "Le +Médecin malgré lui," based on Molière's comedy, afterwards performed +as an English opera under the title of "The Mock Doctor." Gounod's +genius seems to have had no affinity for the graceful and sparkling +measures of comic music, and his attempt to rival Rossini and Auber in +the field where they were pre-eminent was decidedly unsuccessful, +though the opera contained much fine music. + + +II. + +The year of his triumph had at last arrived. He had waited and toiled +for years over "Faust," and it was now ready to flash on the world +with an electric brightness that was to make his name instantly +famous. One day saw him an obscure, third-rate composer, the next one +of the brilliant names in art. "Faust," first performed 19th March +1859, fairly took the world by storm. Gounod's warmest friends were +amazed by the beauty of the masterpiece, in which exquisite melody, +great orchestration, and a dramatic passion never surpassed in +operatic art, were combined with a scientific skill and precision +which would vie with that of the great masters of harmony. Carvalho, +the manager of the Théâtre Lyrique, had predicted that the work would +have a magnificent reception by the art world, and lavished on it +every stage resource. Madame Miolan-Carvalho, his brilliant wife, one +of the leading sopranos of the day, sang the rôle of the heroine, +though five years afterwards she was succeeded by Nilsson, who +invested the part with a poetry and tenderness which have never been +quite equalled. + +"Faust" was received at Berlin, Vienna, Milan, St. Petersburg, and +London, with an enthusiasm not less than that which greeted its +Parisian début. The clamour of dispute between the different schools +was for the moment hushed in the delight with which the musical +critics and public of universal Europe listened to the magical +measures of an opera which to classical chasteness and severity of +form and elevation of motive united such dramatic passion, richness of +melody, and warmth of orchestral colour. From that day to the present +"Faust" has retained its place as not only the greatest but the most +popular of modern operas. The proof of the composer's skill and sense +of symmetry in the composition of "Faust" is shown in the fact that +each part is so nearly necessary to the work, that but few "cuts" can +be made in presentation without essentially marring the beauty of the +work; and it is therefore given with close faithfulness to the +author's score. + +After the immense success of "Faust," the doors of the Academy were +opened wide to Gounod. On February 28, 1862, the "Reine de Saba" was +produced, but was only a _succès d'estime_, the libretto by Gérard de +Nerval not being fitted for a lyric tragedy.[S] Many numbers of this +fine work, however, are still favourites on concert programmes, and it +has been given in English under the name of "Irene." Gounod's love of +romantic themes, and the interest in France which Lamartine's glowing +eulogies had excited about "Mireio," the beautiful national poem of +the Provençal, M. Frédéric Mistral, led the former to compose an opera +on a libretto from this work, which was given at the Théâtre Lyrique, +March 19, 1864, under the name of "Mireille." The music, however, was +rather descriptive and lyric than dramatic, as befitted this lovely +ideal of early French provincial life; and in spite of its containing +some of the most captivating airs ever written, and the fine +interpretation of the heroine by Miolan-Carvalho, it was accepted with +reservations. It has since become more popular in its three-act form +to which it was abridged. It is a tribute to the essential beauty of +Gounod's music that, however unsuccessful as operas certain of his +works have been, they have all contributed charming _morceaux_ for the +enjoyment of concert audiences. Not only did the airs of "Mireille" +become public favourites, but its overture is frequently given as a +distinct orchestral work. + +The opera of "La Colombe," known in English as "The Pet Dove," +followed in 1866; and the next year was produced the five-act opera of +"Roméo et Juliette," of which the principal part was again taken by +Madame Miolan-Carvalho. The favourite pieces in this work, which is a +highly poetic rendering of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, are the +song of _Queen Mab_, the garden duet, a short chorus in the second +act, and the duel scene in the third act. For some occult reason, +"Roméo et Juliette," though recognised as a work of exceptional beauty +and merit, and still occasionally performed, has no permanent hold on +the operatic public of to-day. + +The evils that fell on France from the German war and the horrors of +the Commune drove Gounod to reside in London, unlike Auber, who +resolutely refused to forsake the city of his love, in spite of the +suffering and privation which he foresaw, and which were the indirect +cause of the veteran composer's death. Gounod remained several years +in England, and lived a retired life, seemingly as if he shrank from +public notice and disdained public applause. His principal appearances +were at the Philharmonic, the Crystal Palace, and at Mrs. Weldon's +concerts, where he directed the performances of his own compositions. +The circumstances of his London residence seem to have cast a cloud +over Gounod's life and to have strangely unsettled his mind. Patriotic +grief probably had something to do with this at the outset. But even +more than this as a source of permanent irritation may be reckoned the +spell cast over Gounod's mind by a beautiful adventuress, who was +ambitious to attain social and musical recognition through the _éclat_ +of the great composer's friendship. Though newspaper report may be +credited with swelling and distorting the naked facts, enough appears +to be known to make it sure that the evil genius of Gounod's London +life was a woman, who traded recklessly with her own reputation and +the French composer's fame. + +However untoward the surroundings of Gounod, his genius did not lie +altogether dormant during this period of friction and fretfulness, +conditions so repressive to the best imaginative work. He composed +several masses and other church music; a "Stabat Mater" with +orchestra; the oratorio of "Tobie"; "Gallia," a lamentation for +France; incidental music for Legouvé's tragedy of "Les Deux Reines," +and for Jules Barbier's "Jeanne d'Arc;" a large number of songs and +romances, both sacred and secular, such as "Nazareth," and "There is a +Green Hill;" and orchestral works, "Salterello in A," and the "Funeral +March of a Marionette." + +At last he broke loose from the bonds of Delilah, and, remembering +that he had been elected to fill the place of Clapisson in the +Institute, he returned to Paris in 1876 to resume the position which +his genius so richly deserved. On the 5th of March of the following +year his "Cinq-Mars" was brought out at the Théâtre de l'Opéra +Comique; but it showed the traces of the haste and carelessness with +which it was written, and therefore commanded little more than a +respectful hearing. His last opera, "Polyeucte," produced at the Grand +Opera, October 7, 1878, though credited with much beautiful music, and +nobly orchestrated, is not regarded by the French critics as likely to +add anything to the reputation of the composer of "Faust." Gounod, +now at the age of sixty, if we judge him by the prolonged fertility of +so many of the great composers, may be regarded as not having largely +passed the prime of his powers. The world still has a right to expect +much from his genius. Conceded even by his opponents to be a great +musician and a thorough master of the orchestra, more generous critics +in the main agree to rank Gounod as the most remarkable contemporary +composer, with the possible exception of Richard Wagner. The +distinctive trait of his dramatic conceptions seems to be an +imagination hovering between sensuous images and mystic dreams. +Originally inspired by the severe Greek sculpture of Gluck's music, he +has applied that master's laws in the creation of tone-pictures full +of voluptuous colour, but yet solemnised at times by an exaltation +which recalls the time when as a youth he thought of the spiritual +dignity of priesthood. The use he makes of his religious reminiscences +is familiarly illustrated in "Faust." The contrast between two +opposing principles is marked in all of Gounod's dramatic works, and +in "Faust" this struggle of "a soul which invades mysticism and which +still seeks to express voluptuousness" not only colours the music with +a novel fascination, but amounts to an interesting psychological +problem. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[S] It has been a matter of frequent comment by the ablest musical +critics that many noble operas, now never heard, would have retained +their place in the repertoires of modern dramatic music, had it not +been for the utter rubbish to which the music has been set. + + +III. + +Gounod's genius fills too large a space in contemporary music to be +passed over without a brief special study. In pursuit of this no +better method suggests itself than an examination of the opera of +"Faust," into which the composer poured the finest inspirations of his +life, even as Goethe embodied the sum and flower of his long career, +which had garnered so many experiences, in his poetic masterpiece. + +The story of "Faust" has tempted many composers. Prince Radziwill +tried it, and then Spohr set a version of the theme at once coarse and +cruel, full of vulgar witchwork and love-making only fit for a +chambermaid. Since then Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz have +treated the story orchestrally with more or less success. Gounod's +treatment of the poem is by far the most intelligible, poetic, and +dramatic ever attempted, and there is no opera since the days of Gluck +with so little weak music, except Beethoven's "Fidelio." + +In the introduction the restless gloom of the old philosopher and the +contrasted joys of youth engaged in rustic revelry outside are +expressed with graphic force; and the Kirmes music in the next act is +so quaint and original, as well as melodious, as to give the sense of +delightful comedy. When Marguerite enters on the scene, we have a +waltz and chorus of such beauty and piquancy as would have done honour +to Mozart. Indeed, in the dramatic use of dance music Gounod hardly +yields in skill and originality to Meyerbeer himself, though the +latter composer specially distinguished himself in this direction. The +third and fourth acts develop all the tenderness and passion of +Marguerite's character, all the tragedy of her doom. + +After Faust's beautiful monologue in the garden come the song of the +"King of Thule" and Marguerite's delight at finding the jewels, which +conjoined express the artless vanity of the child in a manner alike +full of grace and pathos. The quartet that follows is one of great +beauty, the music of each character being thoroughly in keeping, while +the admirable science of the composer blends all into thorough +artistic unity. It is hardly too much to assert that the love scene +which closes this act has nothing to surpass it for fire, passion, and +tenderness, seizing the mind of the hearer with absorbing force by its +suggestion and imagery, while the almost cloying sweetness of the +melody is such as Rossini and Schubert only could equal. The full +confession of the enamoured pair contained in the brief _adagio_ +throbs with such rapture as to find its most suggestive parallel in +the ardent words commencing + + "Gallop apace, ye fiery-footed steeds," + +placed by Shakespeare in the mouth of the expectant Juliet. + +Beauties succeed each other in swift and picturesque succession, +fitting the dramatic order with a nicety which forces the highest +praise of the critic. The march and the chorus marking the return of +Valentine's regiment beat with a fire and enthusiasm to which the +tramp of victorious squadrons might well keep step. The wicked music +of Mephistopheles in the sarcastic serenade, the powerful duel trio, +and Valentine's curse are of the highest order of expression; while +the church scene, where the fiend whispers his taunts in the ear of +the disgraced Marguerite, as the gloomy musical hymn and peals of the +organ menace her with an irreversible doom, is a weird and thrilling +picture of despair, agony, and devilish exultation. + +Gounod has been blamed for violating the reverence due to sacred +things, employing portions of the church service in this scene, +instead of writing music for it. But this is the last resort of +critical hostility, seeking a peg on which to hang objection. +Meyerbeer's splendid introduction of Luther's great hymn, "Ein' feste +Burg," in "Les Huguenots," called forth a similar criticism from his +German assailants. Some of the most dramatic effects in music have +been created by this species of musical quotation, so rich in its +appeal to memory and association. Who that has once heard can forget +the thrilling power of "La Marseillaise" in Schumann's setting of +Heinrich Heine's poem of "The Two Grenadiers?" The two French +soldiers, weary and broken-hearted after the Russian campaign, +approach the German frontier. The veterans are moved to tears as they +think of their humiliated Emperor. Up speaks one suffering with a +deadly hurt to the other, "Friend, when I am dead, bury me in my +native France, with my cross of honour on my breast, and my musket in +my hand, and lay my good sword by my side." Until this time the melody +has been a slow and dirge-like stave in the minor key. The old soldier +declares his belief that he will rise again from the clods when he +hears the victorious tramp of his Emperor's squadrons passing over his +grave, and the minor breaks into a weird setting of the +"Marseillaise" in the major key. Suddenly it closes with a few solemn +chords, and, instead of the smoke of battle and the march of the +phantom host, the imagination sees the lonely plain with its green +mounds and mouldering crosses. + +Readers will pardon this digression illustrating an artistic law, of +which Gounod has made such effective use in the church scene of his +"Faust" in heightening its tragic solemnity. The wild goblin symphony +in the fifth act has added some new effects to the gamut of deviltry +in music, and shows that Weber in the "Wolf's Glen" and Meyerbeer in +the "Cloisters of St. Rosalie" did not exhaust the somewhat limited +field. The whole of this part of the act, sadly mutilated and abridged +often in representation, is singularly picturesque and striking as a +musical conception, and is a fitting companion to the tragic prison +scene. The despair of the poor crazed Marguerite; her delirious joy in +recognising Faust; the temptation to fly; the final outburst of faith +and hope, as the sense of Divine pardon sinks into her soul--all these +are touched with the fire of genius, and the passion sweeps with an +unfaltering force to its climax. These references to the details of a +work so familiar as "Faust," conveying of course no fresh information +to the reader, have been made to illustrate the peculiarities of +Gounod's musical temperament, which sways in such fascinating contrast +between the voluptuous and the spiritual. But whether his accents +belong to the one or the other, they bespeak a mood flushed with +earnestness and fervour, and a mind which recoils from the frivolous, +however graceful it may be. + +In the Franco-German school, of which Gounod is so high an exponent, +the orchestra is busy throughout developing the history of the +emotions, and in "Faust" especially it is as busy a factor in +expressing the passions of the characters as the vocal parts. Not even +in the "garden scene" does the singing reduce the instruments to a +secondary importance. The difference between Gounod and Wagner, who +professes to elaborate the importance of the orchestra in dramatic +music, is that the former has a skill in writing for the voice which +the other lacks. The one lifts the voice by the orchestration, the +other submerges it. Gounod's affluence of lovely melody can only be +compared with that of Mozart and Rossini, and his skill and ingenuity +in treating the orchestra have wrung reluctant praise from his +bitterest opponents. + +The special power which makes Gounod unique in his art, aside from +those elements before alluded to as derived from temperament, is his +unerring sense of dramatic fitness, which weds such highly suggestive +music to each varying phase of character and action. To this perhaps +one exception may be made. While he possesses a certain airy +playfulness, he fails in rich broad humour utterly, and situations of +comedy are by no means so well handled as the more serious scenes. A +good illustration of this may be found in the "Le Médecin malgré lui," +in the couplets given to the drunken "Sganarelle." They are beautiful +music, but utterly unflavoured with the _vis comica_. + +Had Gounod written only "Faust," it should stamp him as one of the +most highly-gifted composers of his age. Noticeably in his other +works, pre-eminently in this, he has shown a melodic freshness and +fertility, a mastery of musical form, a power of orchestration, and a +dramatic energy, which are combined to the same degree in no one of +his rivals. Therefore it is just to place him in the first rank of +contemporary composers. + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--Gounod is a strongly religious man, and more than +once has been on the point of entering the Church. It is, therefore, +not surprising that he should have in his later life turned his +attention to the finest form of sacred music, the oratorio. His first +and greatest work of this class is his "Redemption," produced at the +Birmingham Festival of 1882, and conducted by himself. It was well +received, and has met with success at all subsequent performances. It +is intended to illustrate "three great facts (to quote the composer's +words in his prefatory commentary) on which the existence of the +Christian Church depends.... The Passion and death of the Saviour, +His glorious life on earth from His resurrection to His Ascension, and +finally the spread of Christianity in the world through the mission of +the apostles. These three parts of the present trilogy are preceded by +a Prologue on the Creation and Fall of our first parents, and the +promise of the Redeemer." In this work Gounod has discarded the +polyphonic method of the previous school of Italian and German sacred +music, and adopted the dramatic treatment. A competent critic has +written of this work in the following words:--"The 'Redemption' may be +classed among its author's noblest productions. It is a work of high +aim, written regardless of immediate popularity, and therefore all the +more likely to take rank among the permanent additions which sacred +music owes to modern music." In 1885 the oratorio of "Mors et Vita" +was produced at the Birmingham Festival, conducted by Herr Richter. +Though well received, it did not make as great an impression as its +predecessor, to which it stands in the light of a sequel. It consists +of four parts--a short Prologue, a Requiem Mass, the Last Judgment, +and Judex (or the Celestial City). In the Prologue a special +_leitmotive_ accompanying the words "Horrendum est in incidere in +Manus Dei" signifies the Death, not only of the body, but of the +unredeemed soul. A gleam of hope, however, pierces the darkness, and a +beautiful theme is heard frequently throughout the work expressive of +"the idea of justice tempered with mercy, and finally the happiness of +the blessed. The two opposing forces of the design, _Mors_ and _Vita_, +are thus well defined." The work, however, is unequal; the Requiem +Mass, in particular, does not rise in importance when compared with +the many fine examples of the Italian and German sacred music which +preceded it. "Compared with that truly inspired work, 'Redemption,' +partly written, it should be remembered, more than ten years +previously, Gounod's new effort shows a distinct decline, especially +as regards unity of style and genuine inspiration." + + + + +_BERLIOZ._ + + +I. + +In the long list of brilliant names which have illustrated the fine +arts, there is none attached to a personality more interesting and +impressive than that of Hector Berlioz. He stands solitary, a colossus +in music, with but few admirers and fewer followers. Original, +puissant in faculties, fiercely dogmatic and intolerant, bizarre, his +influence has impressed itself profoundly on the musical world both +for good and evil, but has failed to make disciples or to rear a +school. Notwithstanding the defects and extravagances of Berlioz, it +is safe to assert that no art or philosophy can boast of an example of +more perfect devotion to an ideal. The startling originality of +Berlioz as a musician rests on a mental and emotional organisation +different from and in some respects superior to that of any other +eminent master. He possessed an ardent temperament; a gorgeous +imagination, that knew no rest in its working, and at times became +heated to the verge of madness; a most subtile sense of hearing; an +intellect of the keenest analytic turn; a most arrogant will, full of +enterprise and daring, which clung to its purpose with unrelenting +tenacity; and passions of such heat and fervour that they rarely +failed when aroused to carry him beyond all bounds of reason. His +genius was unique, his character cast in the mould of a Titan, his +life a tragedy. Says Blaze de Bussy--"Art has its martyrs, its +forerunners crying in the wilderness, and feeding on roots. It has +also its spoiled children sated with bonbons and dainties." Berlioz +belongs to the former of these classes, and, if ever a prophet lifted +up his voice with a vehement and incessant outcry, it was he. + +HECTOR BERLIOZ was born on December 11, 1803, at Côte Saint André, a +small town between Grenoble and Lyons. His father was an excellent +physician of more than ordinary attainments, and he superintended his +son's studies with great zeal, in the hope that the lad would also +become an ornament of the healing profession. But young Hector, though +an excellent scholar in other branches, developed a special aptitude +for music, and at twelve he could sing at sight, and play difficult +concertos on the flute. The elder regarded music only as a graceful +ornament to life, and in nowise encouraged his son in thinking of +music as a profession. So it was not long before Hector found his +attention directed to anatomy, physiology, osteology, etc. In his +father's library he had already read of Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, etc., +and had found a manuscript score of an opera which he had committed to +memory. His soul revolted more and more from the path cut out for +him. "Become a physician!" he cried, "study anatomy; dissect; take +part in horrible operations? No! no! That would be a total subversion +of the natural course of my life." + +But parental resolution carried the day, and, after he had finished +the preliminary course of study, he was ordered up to Paris to join +the army of medical students. So at the age of nineteen we find him +lodged in the Quartier Latin. His first introduction to medical +studies had been unfortunate. On entering a dissecting-room he had +been so convulsed with horror as to leap from the window, and rush to +his lodgings in an agony of dread and disgust, whence he did not +emerge for twenty-four hours. At last, however, by dint of habit he +became somewhat used to the disagreeable facts of his new life, and, +to use his own words, "bade fair to add one more to the army of bad +physicians," when he went to the opera one night and heard "Les +Danaïdes," Salieri's opera, performed with all the splendid +completeness of the Académie Royale. This awakened into fresh life an +unquenchable thirst for music, and he neglected his medical studies +for the library of the Conservatoire, where he learned by heart the +scores of Gluck and Rameau. At last, on coming out one night from a +performance of "Iphigénie," he swore that henceforth music should have +her divine rights of him, in spite of all and everything. Henceforth +hospital, dissecting-room, and professor's lectures knew him no more. + +But to get admission to the Conservatoire was now the problem; Berlioz +set to work on a cantata with orchestral accompaniments, and in the +meantime sent the most imploring letters home asking his father's +sanction for this change of life. The inexorable parent replied by +cutting off his son's allowance, saying that he would not help him to +become one of the miserable herd of unsuccessful musicians. The young +enthusiast's cantata gained him admission to the classes of Le Sueur +and Reicha at the Conservatoire, but alas! dire poverty stared him in +the face. The history of his shifts and privations for some months is +a sad one. He slept in an old, unfurnished garret, and shivered under +insufficient bed-clothing, ate his bread and grapes on the Pont Neuf, +and sometimes debated whether a plunge into the Seine would not be the +easiest way out of it all. No mongrel cur in the capital but had a +sweeter bone to crunch than he. But the young fellow for all this +stuck to his work with dogged tenacity, managed to get a mass +performed at St. Roch church, and soon finished the score of an opera, +"Les Francs Juges." Flesh and blood would have given way at last under +this hard diet, if he had not obtained a position in the chorus of the +Théâtre des Noveauteaus. Berlioz gives an amusing account of his going +to compete with the horde of applicants--butchers, bakers, +shop-apprentices, etc.--each one with his roll of music under his arm. + +The manager scanned the raw-boned starveling with a look of wonder. +"Where's your music?" quoth the tyrant of a third-class theatre. "I +don't want any, I can sing anything you can give me at sight," was the +answer. "The devil!" rejoined the manager; "but we haven't any music +here." "Well, what do you want?" said Berlioz. "I sing every note of +all the operas of Gluck, Piccini, Salieri, Rameau, Spontini, Grétry, +Mozart, and Cimarosa, from memory." At hearing this amazing +declaration, the rest of the competitors slunk away abashed, and +Berlioz, after singing an aria from Spontini, was accorded the place, +which guaranteed him fifty francs per month--a pittance, indeed, and +yet a substantial addition to his resources. This pot-boiling +connection of Berlioz was never known to the public till after he +became a distinguished man, though he was accustomed to speak in vague +terms of his early dramatic career as if it were a matter of romantic +importance. + +At last, however, he was relieved of the necessity of singing on the +stage to amuse the Paris _bourgeoisie_, and in a singular fashion. He +had been put to great straits to get his first work, which had won him +his way into the Conservatoire, performed. An application to the great +Chateaubriand, who was noted for benevolence, had failed, for the +author of _La Génie de Christianisme_ was then almost as poor as +Berlioz. At last a young friend, De Pons, advanced him twelve hundred +francs. Part of this Berlioz had repaid, but the creditor, put to it +for money, wrote to Berlioz _père_, demanding a full settlement of the +debt. The father was thus brought again into communication with his +son, whom he found nearly sick unto death with a fever. His heart +relented, and the old allowance was resumed again, enabling the young +musician to give his whole time to his beloved art, instantly he +convalesced from his illness. + +The eccentric ways and heretical notions of Berlioz made him no +favourite with the dons of the Conservatoire, and by the irritable and +autocratic Cherubini he was positively hated. The young man took no +pains to placate this resentment, but on the other hand elaborated +methods of making himself doubly offensive. His power of stinging +repartee stood him in good stead, and he never put a button on his +foil. Had it been in old Cherubini's power to expel this bold pupil +from the Conservatoire, no scruple would have held him back. But the +genius and industry of Berlioz were undeniable, and there was no +excuse for such extreme measures. Prejudiced as were his judges, he +successively took several important prizes. + + +II. + +Berlioz's happiest evenings were at the Grand Opera, for which he +prepared himself by solemn meditation. At the head of a band of +students and amateurs, he took on himself the right of the most +outspoken criticism, and led the enthusiasm or the condemnation of the +audience. At this time Beethoven was barely tolerated in Paris, and +the great symphonist was ruthlessly clipped and shorn to suit the +French taste, which pronounced him "bizarre, incoherent, diffuse, +bustling with rough modulations and wild harmonies, destitute of +melody, forced in expression, noisy, and fearfully difficult," even as +England at the same time frowned down his immortal works as +"obstreperous roarings of modern frenzy." Berlioz's clear, stern +voice would often be heard, when liberties were taken with the score, +loud above the din of the instruments. "What wretch has dared to +tamper with the great Beethoven?" "Who has taken upon him to revise +Gluck?" This self-appointed arbiter became the dread of the operatic +management, for, as a pupil of the Conservatoire, he had some rights +which could not be infringed. + +Berlioz composed some remarkable works while at the Conservatoire, +amongst which were the "Ouverture des Francs Juges," and the +"Symphonie Fantastique," and in many ways indicated that the bent of +his genius had fully declared itself. His decided and indomitable +nature disdained to wear a mask, and he never sugar-coated his +opinion, however unpalatable to others. He was already in a state of +fierce revolt against the conventional forms of the music of his day, +and no trumpet-tones of protest were too loud for him. He had now +begun to write for the journals, though oftentimes his articles were +refused on account of their fierce assaults. "Your hands are too full +of stones, and there are too many glass windows about," was the excuse +of one editor, softening the return of a manuscript. But Berlioz did +not fully know himself or appreciate the tendencies fermenting within +him until in 1830 he became the victim of a grand Shakespearean +passion. The great English dramatist wrought most powerfully on Victor +Hugo and Hector Berlioz, and had much to do with their artistic +development. Berlioz gives a very interesting account of his +Shakespearean enthusiasm, which also involved one of the catastrophes +of his own personal life. "An English company gave some plays of +Shakespeare, at that time wholly unknown to the French public. I went +to the first performance of 'Hamlet' at the Odéon. I saw, in the part +of Ophelia, Harriet Smithson, who became my wife five years +afterwards. The effect of her prodigious talent, or rather of her +dramatic genius, upon my heart and imagination, is only comparable to +the complete overturning which the poet, whose worthy interpreter she +was, caused in me. Shakespeare, thus coming on me suddenly, struck me +as with a thunderbolt. His lightning opened the heaven of art to me +with a sublime crash, and lighted up its farthest depths. I recognised +true dramatic grandeur, beauty, and truth. I measured at the same time +the boundless inanity of the notions of Shakespeare in France, spread +abroad by Voltaire. + + '... ce singe de génie, + Chez l'homme en mission par le diable envoyé--' + +('that ape of genius, an emissary from the devil to man'), and the +pitiful poverty of our old poetry of pedagogues and ragged-school +teachers. I saw, I understood, I felt that I was alive and must arise +and walk." Of the influence of "Romeo and Juliet" on him, he says, +"Exposing myself to the burning sun and balmy nights of Italy, seeing +this love as quick and sudden as thought, burning like lava, +imperious, irresistible, boundless, and pure and beautiful as the +smile of angels, those furious scenes of vengeance, those distracted +embraces, those struggles between love and death, was too much. After +the melancholy, the gnawing anguish, the tearful love, the cruel +irony, the sombre meditations, the heart-rackings, the madness, tears, +mourning, the calamities and sharp cleverness of Hamlet; after the +grey clouds and icy winds of Denmark; after the third act, hardly +breathing, in pain as if a hand of iron were squeezing at my heart, I +said to myself with the fullest conviction, 'Ah! I am lost.' I must +add that I did not at that time know a word of English, that I only +caught glimpses of Shakespeare through the fog of Letourneur's +translation, and that I consequently could not perceive the poetic web +that surrounds his marvellous creations like a net of gold. I have the +misfortune to be very nearly in the same sad case to-day. It is much +harder for a Frenchman to sound the depths of Shakespeare than for an +Englishman to feel the delicacy and originality of La Fontaine or +Molière. Our two poets are rich continents; Shakespeare is a world. +But the play of the actors, above all of the actress, the succession +of the scenes, the pantomime and the accent of the voices, meant more +to me, and filled me a thousand times more with Shakespearean ideas +and passion than the text of my colourless and unfaithful translation. +An English critic said last winter in the _Illustrated London News_, +that, after seeing Miss Smithson in Juliet, I had cried out, 'I will +marry that woman and write my grandest symphony on this play.' I did +both, but never said anything of the sort." + +The beautiful Miss Smithson became the rage, the inspiration of poets +and painters, the idol of the hour, at whose feet knelt all the +_roués_ and rich idlers of the town. Delacroix painted her as the +Ophelia of his celebrated picture, and the English company made nearly +as much sensation in Paris as the Comédie Française recently aroused +in London. Berlioz's mind, perturbed and inflamed with the mighty +images of the Shakespearean world, swept with wide, powerful passion +towards Shakespeare's interpreter. He raged and stormed with his +accustomed vehemence, made no secret of his infatuation, and walked +the streets at night, calling aloud the name of the enchantress, and +cooling his heated brows with many a sigh. He, too, would prove that +he was a great artist, and his idol should know that she had no +unworthy lover. He would give a concert, and Miss Smithson should be +present by hook or by crook. He went to Cherubini and asked permission +to use the great hall of the Conservatoire, but was churlishly +refused. Berlioz, however, managed to secure the concession over the +head of Cherubini, and advertised his concert. He went to large +expense in copyists, orchestra, solo-singers, and chorus, and, when +the night came, was almost fevered with expectation. But the concert +was a failure, and the adored one was not there; she had not even +heard of it! The disappointment nearly laid the young composer on a +bed of sickness; but, if he oscillated between deliriums of hope and +despair, his powerful will was also full of elasticity, and not for +long did he even rave in the utter ebb of disappointment. Throughout +the whole of his life, Berlioz displayed this swiftness of recoil; +one moment crazed with grief and depression, the next he would bend to +his labour with a cool, steady fixedness of purpose, which would sweep +all interferences aside like cobwebs. But still, night after night, he +would haunt the Odéon, and drink in the sights and sounds of the magic +world of Shakespeare, getting fresh inspiration nightly for his genius +and love. If he paid dearly for this rich intellectual acquaintance by +his passion for La Belle Smithson, he yet gained impulses and +suggestions for his imagination, ravenous of new impressions, which +wrought deeply and permanently. Had Berlioz known the outcome, he +would not have bartered for immunity by losing the jewels and ingots +of the Shakespeare treasure-house. + +The year 1830 was for Berlioz one of alternate exaltation and misery; +of struggle, privation, disappointment; of all manner of torments +inseparable from such a volcanic temperament and restless brain. But +he had one consolation which gratified his vanity. He gained the Prix +de Rome by his cantata of "Sardanapalus." This honour had a practical +value also. It secured him an annuity of three thousand francs for a +period of five years, and two years' residence in Italy. Berlioz would +never let "well enough" alone, however. He insisted on adding an +orchestral part to the completed score, describing the grand +conflagration of the palace of Sardanapalus. When the work was +produced, it was received with a howl of sarcastic derision, owing to +the latest whim of the composer. So Berlioz started for Italy, +smarting with rage and pain, as if the Furies were lashing him with +their scorpion whips. + + +III. + +The pensioners of the Conservatoire lived at Rome in the Villa Medici, +and the illustrious painter, Horace Vernet, was the director, though +he exercised but little supervision over the studies of the young men +under his nominal charge. Berlioz did very much as he pleased--studied +little or much as the whim seized him, visited the churches, studios, +and picture-galleries, and spent no little of his time by starlight +and sunlight roaming about the country adjacent to the Holy City in +search of adventures. He had soon come to the conclusion that he had +not much to learn of Italian music; that he could teach rather than be +taught. He speaks of Roman art with the bitterest scorn, and Wagner +himself never made a more savage indictment of Italian music than does +Berlioz in his _Mémoires_. At the theatres he found the orchestra, +dramatic unity, and common sense all sacrificed to mere vocal display. +At St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel religious earnestness and +dignity were frittered away in pretty part-singing, in mere frivolity +and meretricious show. The word "symphony" was not known except to +indicate an indescribable noise before the rising of the curtain. +Nobody had heard of Weber and Beethoven, and Mozart, dead more than a +score of years, was mentioned by a well-known musical connoisseur as a +young man of great promise! Such surroundings as these were a species +of purgatory to Berlioz, against whose bounds he fretted and raged +without intermission. The director's receptions were signalised by the +performance of insipid cavatinas, and from these, as from his +companions' revels, in which he would sometimes indulge with the +maddest debauchery as if to kill his own thoughts, he would escape to +wander in the majestic ruins of the Coliseum and see the magic Italian +moonlight shimmer through its broken arches, or stroll on the lonely +Campagna till his clothes were drenched with dew. No fear of the +deadly Roman malaria could check his restless excursions, for, like a +fiery horse, he was irritated to madness by the inaction of his life. +To him the _dolce far niente_ was a meaningless phrase. His comrades +scoffed at him and called him "_Père la Joie_," in derision of the +fierce melancholy which despised them, their pursuits and pleasures. + +At the end of the year he was obliged to present something before the +Institute as a mark of his musical advancement, and he sent on a +fragment of his "Mass" heard years before at St. Roch, in which the +wise judges professed to find the "evidences of material advancement, +and the total abandonment of his former reprehensible tendencies." +One can fancy the scornful laughter of Berlioz at hearing this +verdict. But his Italian life was not altogether purposeless. He +revised his "Symphonie Fantastique," and wrote its sequel, "Lelio," a +lyrical monologue, in which he aimed to express the memories of his +passion for the beautiful Miss Smithson. These two parts comprised +what Berlioz named "An Episode in the Life of an Artist." Our composer +managed to get the last six months of his Italian exile remitted, and +his return to Paris was hastened by one of those furious paroxysms of +rage to which such ill-regulated minds are subject. He had adored Miss +Smithson as a celestial divinity, a lovely ideal of art and beauty, +but this had not prevented him from basking in the rays of the earthly +Venus. Before leaving Paris he had had an intrigue with a certain +Mdlle. M----, a somewhat frivolous and unscrupulous beauty, who had +bled his not overfilled purse with the avidity of a leech. Berlioz +heard just before returning to Paris that the coquette was about to +marry, a conclusion one would fancy which would have rejoiced his +mind. But, no! he was worked to a dreadful rage by what he considered +such perfidy! His one thought was to avenge himself. He provided +himself with three loaded pistols--one for the faithless one, one for +his rival, and one for himself--and was so impatient to start that he +could not wait for passports. He attempted to cross the frontier in +women's clothes, and was arrested. A variety of _contretemps_ occurred +before he got to Paris, and by that time his rage had so cooled, his +sense of the absurdity of the whole thing grown so keen, that he was +rather willing to send Mdlle. M---- his blessing than his curse. + +About the time of Berlioz's arrival, Miss Smithson also returned to +Paris after a long absence, with the intent of undertaking the +management of an English theatre. It was a necessity of our composer's +nature to be in love, and the flames of his ardour, fed with fresh +fuel, blazed up again from their old ashes. Berlioz gave a concert, in +which his "Episode in the Life of an Artist" was interpreted in +connection with the recitations of the text. The explanations of +"Lelio" so unmistakably pointed to the feeling of the composer for +herself, that Miss Smithson, who by chance was present, could not be +deceived, though she never yet had seen Berlioz. A few days afterwards +a benefit concert was arranged, in which Miss Smithson's troupe was to +take part, as well as Berlioz, who was to direct a symphony of his own +composition. At the rehearsal the looks of Berlioz followed Miss +Smithson with such an intent stare, that she said to some one, "Who is +that man whose eyes bode me no good?" This was the first occasion of +their personal meeting, and it may be fancied that Berlioz followed up +the introduction with his accustomed vehemence and pertinacity, though +without immediate effect, for Miss Smithson was more inclined to fear +than to love him. + +The young directress soon found out that the rage for Shakespeare, +which had swept the public mind under the influence of the romanticism +led by Victor Hugo, Dumas, Théophile Gautier, Balzac, and others, was +spurious. The wave had been frothing but shallow, and it ebbed away, +leaving the English actress and her enterprise gasping for life. With +no deeper tap-root than the Gallic love of novelty and the infectious +enthusiasm of a few men of great genius, the Shakespearean mania had a +short life, and Frenchmen shrugged their shoulders over their own +folly, in temporarily preferring the English barbarian to Racine, +Corneille, and Molière. The letters of Berlioz, in which he scourges +the fickleness of his countrymen in returning again to their "false +gods," are masterpieces of pointed invective. + +Miss Smithson was speedily involved in great pecuniary difficulty, +and, to add to her misfortunes, she fell down stairs and broke her +leg, thus precluding her own appearance on the stage. Affairs were in +this desperate condition, when Berlioz came to the fore with a +delicate and manly chivalry worthy of the highest praise. He offered +to pay Miss Smithson's debts, though a poor man himself, and to marry +her without delay. The ceremony took place immediately, and thus +commenced a connection which hampered and retarded Berlioz's career, +as well as caused him no little personal unhappiness. He speedily +discovered that his wife was a woman of fretful, imperious temper, +jealous of mere shadows (though Berlioz was a man to give her +substantial cause), and totally lacking in sympathy with his high-art +ideals. When Mdme. Berlioz recovered, it was to find herself unable +longer to act, as her leg was stiff and her movements unsuited to the +exigencies of the stage. Poor Berlioz was crushed by the weight of the +obligations he had assumed, and, as the years went on, the peevish +plaints of an invalid wife, who had lost her beauty and power of +charming, withered the affection which had once been so fervid and +passionate. Berlioz finally separated from his once beautiful and +worshipped Harriet Smithson, but to the very last supplied her wants +as fully as he could out of the meagre earnings of his literary work +and of musical compositions, which the Paris public, for the most +part, did not care to listen to. For his son, Louis, the only +offspring of this union, Berlioz felt a devoted affection, and his +loss at sea in after-years was a blow that nearly broke his heart. + + +IV. + +Owing to the unrelenting hostility of Cherubini, Berlioz failed to +secure a professorship at the Conservatoire, a place to which he was +nobly entitled, and was fain to take up with the position of librarian +instead. The paltry wage he eked out by journalistic writing, for the +most part as musical critic of the _Journal des Débats_, by occasional +concerts, revising proofs, in a word anything which a versatile and +desperate Bohemian could turn his hand to. In fact, for many years the +main subsistence of Berlioz was derived from feuilleton-writing and +the labours of a critic. His prose is so witty, brilliant, fresh, and +epigrammatic, that he would have been known to posterity as a clever +_littérateur_, had he not preferred to remain merely a great +musician. Dramatic, picturesque, and subtile, with an admirable sense +of art-form, he could have become a powerful dramatist, perhaps a +great novelist. But his soul, all whose aspirations set towards one +goal, revolted from the labours of literature, still more from the +daily grind of journalistic drudgery. In that remarkable book, +_Mémoires de Hector Berlioz_, he has made known his misery, and thus +recounts one of his experiences:--"I stood at the window gazing into +the gardens, at the heights of Montmartre, at the setting sun; reverie +bore me a thousand leagues from my accursed comic opera. And when, on +turning, my eyes fell upon the accursed title at the head of the +accursed sheet, blank still, and obstinately awaiting my word, despair +seized upon me. My guitar rested against the table; with a kick I +crushed its side. Two pistols on the mantel stared at me with great +round eyes. I regarded them for some time, then beat my forehead with +clinched hand. At last I wept furiously, like a school-boy unable to +do his theme. The bitter tears were a relief. I turned the pistols +towards the wall; I pitied my innocent guitar, and sought a few +chords, which were given without resentment. Just then my son of six +years knocked at the door [the little Louis whose death, years after, +was the last bitter drop in the composer's cup of life]; owing to my +ill-humour, I had unjustly scolded him that morning. 'Papa,' he cried, +'wilt thou be friends?' 'I _will_ be friends; come on, my boy;' and I +ran to open the door. I took him on my knee, and, with his blonde head +on my breast, we slept together.... Fifteen years since then, and my +torment still endures. Oh, to be always there!--scores to write, +orchestras to lead, rehearsals to direct. Let me stand all day with +_bâton_ in hand, training a chorus, singing their parts myself, and +beating the measure until I spit blood, and cramp seizes my arm; let +me carry desks, double basses, harps, remove platforms, nail planks +like a porter or a carpenter, and then spend the night in rectifying +the errors of engravers or copyists. I have done, do, and will do it. +That belongs to my musical life, and I bear it without thinking of +it, as the hunter bears the thousand fatigues of the chase. But to +scribble eternally for a livelihood----!" + +It may be fancied that such a man as Berlioz did not spare the lash, +once he gripped the whip-handle, and, though no man was more generous +than he in recognising and encouraging genuine merit, there was none +more relentless in scourging incompetency, pretentious commonplace, +and the blind conservatism which rests all its faith in what has been. +Our composer made more than one powerful enemy by this recklessness in +telling the truth, where a more politic man would have gained friends +strong to help in time of need. But Berlioz was too bitter and +reckless, as well as too proud, to debate consequences. + +In 1838 Berlioz completed his "Benvenuto Cellini," his only attempt at +opera since "Les Francs Juges," and, wonderful to say, managed to get +it done at the opera, though the director, Duponchel, laughed at him +as a lunatic, and the whole company already regarded the work as +damned in advance. The result was a most disastrous and _éclatant_ +failure, and it would have crushed any man whose moral backbone was +not forged of thrice-tempered steel. With all these back-sets Hector +Berlioz was not without encouragement. The brilliant Franz Liszt, one +of the musical idols of the age, had bowed before him and called him +master, the great musical protagonist. Spontini, one of the most +successful composers of the time, held him in affectionate admiration, +and always bade him be of good cheer. Paganini, the greatest of +violinists, had hailed him as equal to Beethoven. + +On the night of the failure of "Benvenuto Cellini," a strange-looking +man with dishevelled black hair and eyes of piercing brilliancy had +forced his way around into the green-room, and, seeking out Berlioz, +had fallen on his knees before him and kissed his hand passionately. +Then he threw his arms around him and hailed the astonished composer +as the master-spirit of the age in terms of glowing eulogium. The next +morning, while Berlioz was in bed, there was a tap at the door, and +Paganini's son, Achille, entered with a note, saying his father was +sick, or he would have come to pay his respects in person. On opening +the note Berlioz found a most complimentary letter, and a more +substantial evidence of admiration, a check on Baron Rothschild for +twenty thousand francs! Paganini also gave Berlioz a commission to +write a concerto for his Stradivarius viola, which resulted in a grand +symphony, "Harold en Italie," founded on Byron's "Childe Harold," but +still more an inspiration of his own Italian adventures, which had had +a strong flavour of personal if they lacked artistic interest. + +The generous gift of Paganini raised Berlioz from the slough of +necessity so far that he could give his whole time to music. Instantly +he set about his "Romeo and Juliet" symphony, which will always remain +one of his masterpieces--a beautifully chiselled work, from the hands +of one inspired by gratitude, unfettered imagination, and the sense of +blessed repose. Our composer's first musical journey was an extensive +tour in Germany in 1841, of which he gives charming memorials in his +letters to Liszt, Heine, Ernst, and others. His reception was as +generous and sympathetic as it had been cold and scornful in France. +Everywhere he was honoured and praised as one of the great men of the +age. Mendelssohn exchanged _bâtons_ with him at Leipsic, +notwithstanding the former only half understood this stalwart +Berserker of music. Spohr called him one of the greatest artists +living, though his own direct antithesis, and Schumann wrote glowingly +in the _Neue Zeitschrift_--"For myself, Berlioz is as clear as the +blue sky above. I really think there is a new time in music coming." +Berlioz wrote joyfully to Heine--"I came to Germany as the men of +ancient Greece went to the oracle at Delphi, and the response has been +in the highest degree encouraging." But his Germanic laurels did him +no good in France. The Parisians would have none of him except as a +writer of _feuilletons_, who pleased them by the vigour with which he +handled the knout, and tickled the levity of the million, who laughed +while they saw the half-dozen or more victims flayed by merciless +satire. Berlioz wept tears of blood because he had to do such +executioner's work, but did it none the less vigorously for all that. + +The composer made another musical journey in Austria and Hungary in +1844-45, where he was again received with the most enthusiastic praise +and pleasure. It was in Hungary, especially, that the warmth of his +audiences overran all bounds. One night, at Pesth, where he played the +"Rackoczy Indulé," an orchestral setting of the martial hymn of the +Magyar race, the people were worked into a positive frenzy, and they +would have flung themselves before him that he might walk over their +prostrate bodies. Vienna, Pesth, and Prague led the way, and the other +cities followed in the wake of an enthusiasm which has been accorded +to not many artists. The French heard these stories with amazement, +for they could not understand how this musical demigod could be the +same as he who was little better than a witty buffoon. During this +absence Berlioz wrote the greater portion of his "Damnation de Faust," +and, as he had made some money, he obeyed the strong instinct which +always ruled him, the hope of winning the suffrages of his own +countrymen. + +An eminent French critic claims that this great work, of which we +shall speak further on, contains that which Gounod's "Faust" +lacks--insight into the spiritual significance of Goethe's drama. +Berlioz exhausted all his resources in producing it at the Opéra +Comique in 1846, but again he was disappointed by its falling +still-born on the public interest. Berlioz was utterly ruined, and he +fled from France in the dead of winter as from a pestilence. + +The genius of this great man was recognised in Holland, Russia, +Austria, and Germany, but among his own countrymen, for the most part, +his name was a laughing-stock and a bye-word. He offended the pedants +and the formalists by his daring originality, he had secured the hate +of rival musicians by the vigour and keenness of his criticisms. +Berlioz was in the very heat of the artistic controversy between the +classicists and romanticists, and was associated with Victor Hugo, +Alexandre Dumas, Delacroix, Liszt, Chopin, and others, in fighting +that acrimonious art-battle. While he did not stand formally with the +ranks, he yet secured a still more bitter portion of hostility from +their powerful opponents, for, to opposition in principle, Berlioz +united a caustic and vigorous mode of expression. His name was a +target for the wits. "A physician who plays on the guitar and fancies +himself a composer," was the scoff of malignant gossips. The journals +poured on him a flood of abuse without stint. French malignity is the +most venomous and unscrupulous in the world, and Berlioz was selected +as a choice victim for its most vigorous exercise, none the less +willingly that he had shown so much skill and zest in impaling the +victims of his own artistic and personal dislike. + + +V. + +To continue the record of Berlioz's life in consecutive narrative +would be without significance, for it contains but little for many +years except the same indomitable battle against circumstance and +enmity, never yielding an inch, and always keeping his eyes bent on +his own lofty ideal. In all of art history is there no more masterful +heroic struggle than Berlioz waged for thirty-five years, firm in his +belief that some time, if not during his own life, his principles +would be triumphant, and his name ranked among the immortals. But what +of the meanwhile? This problem Berlioz solved, in his later as in +earlier years, by doing the distasteful work of the literary scrub. +But never did he cease composing; though no one would then have his +works, his clear eye perceived the coming time when his genius would +not be denied, when an apotheosis should comfort his spirit wandering +in Hades. + +Among Berlioz's later works was an opera of which he had composed both +words and music, consisting of two parts, "The Taking of Troy," and +"The Trojans at Carthage," the latter of which at last secured a few +representations at a minor theatre in 1863. The plan of this work +required that it should be carried out under the most perfect +conditions. "In order," says Berlioz, "to properly produce such a work +as 'Les Trojans,' I must be absolute master of the theatre, as of the +orchestra in directing a symphony. I must have the good-will of all, +be obeyed by all, from prima-donna to scene-shifter. A lyrical +theatre, as I conceive it, is a great instrument of music, which, if I +am to play, must be placed unreservedly in my hands." Wagner found a +King of Bavaria to help him carry out a similar colossal scheme at +Bayreuth, but ill luck followed a man no less great through life. His +grand "Trojans" was mutilated, tinkered, patched, and belittled, to +suit the Théâtre Lyrique. It was a butchery of the work, but still it +yielded the composer enough to justify his retirement from the +_Journal des Débats_, after thirty years of slavery. + +Berlioz was now sixty years old, a lonely man, frail in body, +embittered in soul by the terrible sense of failure. His wife, with +whom he had lived on terms of alienation, was dead; his only son far +away, cruising on a man-of-war. His courage and ambition were gone. To +one who remarked that his music belonged to the future, he replied +that he doubted if it ever belonged to the past. His life seemed to +have been a mistake, so utterly had he failed to impress himself on +the public. Yet there were times when audiences felt themselves moved +by the power of his music out of the ruts of preconceived opinion into +a prophecy of his coming greatness. There is an interesting anecdote +told by a French writer:-- + +"Some years ago M. Pasdeloup gave the _septuor_ from the 'Trojans' at +a benefit concert. The best places were occupied by the people of the +world, but the _élite intelligente_ were ranged upon the highest seats +of the Cirque. The programme was superb, and those who were there +neither for Fashion's nor Charity's sake, but for love of what was +best in art, were enthusiastic in view of all those masterpieces. The +worthless overture of the 'Prophète,' disfiguring this fine +_ensemble_, had been hissed by some students of the Conservatoire, +and, accustomed as I was to the blindness of the general public, +knowing its implacable prejudices, I trembled for the fate of the +magnificent _septuor_ about to follow. My fears were strangely +ill-founded; no sooner had ceased this hymn of infinite love and +peace, than these same students, and the whole assemblage with them, +burst into such a tempest of applause as I never heard before. Berlioz +was hidden in the further ranks, and, the instant he was discovered, +the work was forgotten for the man; his name flew from mouth to mouth, +and four thousand people were standing upright, with their arms +stretched towards him. Chance had placed me near him, and never shall +I forget the scene. That name, apparently ignored by the crowd, it had +learned all at once, and was repeating as that of one of its heroes. +Overcome as by the strongest emotion of his life, his head upon his +breast, he listened to this tumultuous cry of 'Vive Berlioz!' and +when, on looking up, he saw all eyes upon him and all arms extended +towards him, he could not withstand the sight; he trembled, tried to +smile, and broke into sobbing." + +Berlioz's supremacy in the field of orchestral composition, his +knowledge of technique, his novel combination, his insight into the +resources of instruments, his skill in grouping, his rich sense of +colour, are incontestably without a parallel, except by Beethoven and +Wagner. He describes his own method of study as follows:-- + +"I carried with me to the opera the score of whatever work was on the +bill, and read during the performance. In this way I began to +familiarise myself with orchestral methods, and to learn the voice and +quality of the various instruments, if not their range and mechanism. +By this attentive comparison of the effect with the means employed to +produce it, I found the hidden link uniting musical expression to the +special art of instrumentation. The study of Beethoven, Weber, and +Spontini, the impartial examination both of the _customs_ of +orchestration and of _unusual_ forms and combinations, the visits I +made to _virtuosi_, the trials I led them to make upon their +respective instruments, and a little instinct, did for me the rest." + +The principal symphonies of Berlioz are works of colossal character +and richness of treatment, some of them requiring several orchestras. +Contrasting with these are such marvels of delicacy as "Queen Mab," of +which it has been said that the "confessions of roses and the +complaints of violets were noisy in comparison." A man of magnificent +genius and knowledge, he was but little understood during his life, +and it was only when his uneasy spirit was at rest that the world +recognised his greatness. Paris, that stoned him when he was living, +now listens to his grand music with enthusiasm. Hector Berlioz to the +last never lost faith in himself, though this man of genius, in his +much suffering from depression and melancholy, gave good witness to +the truth of Goethe's lines:-- + + "Who never ate with tears his bread, + Nor, weeping through the night's long hours, + Lay restlessly tossing on his bed-- + He knows ye not, ye heavenly Powers." + +A man utterly without reticence, who, Gallic fashion, would shout his +wrongs and sufferings to the uttermost ends of the earth, yet without +a smack of Gallic posing and affectation, Berlioz talks much about +himself, and dares to estimate himself boldly. There was no small +vanity about this colossal spirit. He speaks of himself with outspoken +frankness, as he would discuss another. We cannot do better than to +quote one of these self-measurements:--"My style is in general very +daring, but it has not the slightest tendency to destroy any of the +constructive elements of art. On the contrary, I seek to increase the +number of these elements. I have never dreamed, as has foolishly been +supposed in France, of writing music without melody. That school +exists to-day in Germany, and I have a horror of it. It is easy for +any one to convince himself that, without confining myself to taking a +very short melody for a theme, as the very greatest masters have, I +have always taken care to invest my compositions with a real wealth of +melody. The value of these melodies, their distinction, their novelty, +and charm, can be very well contested; it is not for me to appraise +them. But to deny their existence is either bad faith or stupidity; +only as these melodies are often of very large dimensions, infantile +and short-sighted minds do not clearly distinguish their form; or else +they are wedded to other secondary melodies which veil their outlines +from those same infantile minds; or, upon the whole, these melodies +are so dissimilar to the little waggeries that the musical _plebs_ +call melodies that they cannot make up their minds to give the same +name to both. The dominant qualities of my music are passionate +expression, internal fire, rhythmic animation, and unexpected +changes." + +Heinrich Heine, the German poet, who was Berlioz's friend, called him +a "colossal nightingale, a lark of eagle-size, such as they tell us +existed in the primeval world." The poet goes on to say--"Berlioz's +music, in general, has in it something primeval if not antediluvian to +my mind; it makes me think of gigantic species of extinct animals, of +fabulous empires full of fabulous sins, of heaped-up impossibilities; +his magical accents call to our minds Babylon, the hanging gardens, +the wonders of Nineveh, the daring edifices of Mizraim, as we see them +in the pictures of the Englishman Martin." Shortly after the +publication of "Lutetia," in which this bold characterisation was +expressed, the first performance of Berlioz's "Enfance du Christ" was +given, and the poet, who was on his sick-bed, wrote a penitential +letter to his friend for not having given him justice. "I hear on all +sides," he says, "that you have just plucked a nosegay of the sweetest +melodious flowers, and that your oratorio is throughout a masterpiece +of _naïvetè_. I shall never forgive myself for having been so unjust +to a friend." + +Berlioz died at the age of sixty-five. His funeral services were held +at the Church of the Trinity, a few days after those of Rossini. The +discourse at the grave was pronounced by Gounod, and many eloquent +things were said of him, among them a quotation of the epitaph of +Marshal Trivulce, "_Hic tandem quiescit qui nunquam quievit_" (Here he +is quiet, at last, who never was quiet before). Soon after his death +appeared his _Mémoires_, and his bones had hardly got cold when the +performance of his music at the Conservatoire, the Cirque, and the +Chatelet began to be heard with the most hearty enthusiasm. + + +VI. + +Théophile Gautier says that no one will deny to Berlioz a great +character, though, the world being given to controversies, it may be +argued whether or not he was a great genius. The world of to-day has +but one opinion on both these questions. The force of Berlioz's +character was phenomenal. His vitality was so passionate and active +that brain and nerve quivered with it, and made him reach out towards +experience at every facet of his nature. Quietude was torture, rest a +sin, for this daring temperament. His eager and subtile intelligence +pierced every sham, and his imagination knew no bounds to its sweep, +oftentimes even disdaining the bounds of art in its audacity and +impatience. This big, virile nature, thwarted and embittered by +opposition, became hardened into violent self-assertion; this +naturally resolute will settled back into fierce obstinacy; this fine +nature, sensitive and sincere, got torn and ragged with passion under +the stress of his unfortunate life. But, at one breath of true +sympathy how quickly the nobility of the man asserted itself! All his +cynicism and hatred melted away, and left only sweetness, truth, and +genial kindness. + +When Berlioz entered on his studies, he had reached an age at which +Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and others, had already done +some of the best work of their lives. Yet it took only a few years to +achieve a development that produced such a great work as the +"Symphonie Fantastique," the prototype of modern programme music. + +From first to last it was the ambition of Berlioz to widen the domain +of his art. He strove to attain a more intimate connection between +instrumental music and poetry in the portrayal of intense passions, +and the suggestion of well-defined dramatic situations. In spite of +the fact that he frequently overshot his mark, it does not make his +works one whit less astonishing. An uncompromising champion of what +has been dubbed "programme" music, he thought it legitimate to force +the imagination of the hearer to dwell on exterior scenes during the +progress of the music, and to distress the mind in its attempt to find +an exact relation between the text and the music. The most perfect +specimens of the works of Berlioz, however, are those in which the +music speaks for itself, such as the "Scène aux Champs," and the +"Marche au Supplice," in the "Symphonie Fantastique," the "Marche des +Pèlerins," in "Harold;" the overtures to "King Lear," "Benvenuto +Cellini," "Carnaval Romain," "Le Corsaire," "Les Francs Juges," etc. + +As a master of the orchestra, no one has been the equal of Berlioz in +the whole history of music, not even Beethoven or Wagner. He treats +the orchestra with the absolute daring and mastery exercised by +Paganini over the violin, and by Liszt over the piano. No one has +showed so deep an insight into the individuality of each instrument, +its resources, the extent to which its capabilities could be carried. +Between the phrase and the instrument, or group of instruments, the +equality is perfect; and independent of this power, made up equally of +instinct and knowledge, this composer shows a sense of orchestral +colour in combining single instruments so as to form groups, or in the +combination of several separate groups of instruments by which he has +produced the most novel and beautiful effects--effects not found in +other composers. The originality and variety of his rhythms, the +perfection of his instrumentation, have never been disputed even by +his opponents. In many of his works, especially those of a religious +character, there is a Cyclopean bigness of instrumental means used, +entirely beyond parallel in art. Like the Titans of old, he would +scale the very heavens in his daring. In one of his works he does not +hesitate to use three orchestras, three choruses (all of full +dimensions), four organs, and a triple quartet. The conceptions of +Berlioz were so grandiose that he sometimes disdained detail, and the +result was that more than one of his compositions have rugged grandeur +at the expense of symmetry and balance of form. + +Yet, when he chose, Berlioz could write the most exquisite and dainty +lyrics possible. What could be more exquisitely tender than many of +his songs and romances, and various of the airs and choral pieces from +"Beatrice et Benedict," from "Nuits d'Été," "Irlande," and from +"L'Enfance du Christ?" + +Berlioz in his entirety, as man and composer, was a most extraordinary +being, to whom the ordinary scale of measure can hardly be applied. +Though he founded no new school, he pushed to a fuller development the +possibilities to which Beethoven reached out in the Ninth Symphony. He +was the great _virtuoso_ on the orchestra, and on this Briarean +instrument he played with the most amazing skill. Others have +surpassed him in the richness of the musical substance out of which +their tone-pictures are woven, in symmetry of form, in finish of +detail; but no one has ever equalled him in that absolute mastery over +instruments, by which a hundred become as plastic and flexible as one, +and are made to embody every phase of the composer's thought with that +warmth of colour and precision of form long believed to be necessarily +confined to the sister arts. + +[Decoration] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. + + 1520-1594 _Palestrina._ + 1633-1687 _Lulli._ + 1658-1695 _Purcell._ + 1659-1725 _A. Scarlatti._ + 1685-1750 _J. S. Bach._ + 1685-1759 _Handel._ + 1710-1736 _Pergolesi._ + 1714-1787 _Gluck._ + 1728-1800 _Piccini._ + 1732-1809 _Haydn._ + 1741-1816 _Paisiello._ + 1741-1813 _Grétry._ + 1749-1801 _Cimarosa._ + 1756-1791 _Mozart._ + 1760-1842 _Cherubini._ + 1763-1817 _Méhul._ + 1770-1827 _Beethoven._ + 1774-1851 _Spontini._ + 1775-1834 _Boïeldieu._ + 1782-1871 _Auber._ + 1786-1826 _Weber._ + 1791-1864 _Meyerbeer._ + 1792-1868 _Rossini._ + 1797-1828 _Schubert._ + 1798-1848 _Donizetti._ + 1799-1862 _Halévy._ + 1802-1835 _Bellini._ + 1803-1869 _Berlioz._ + 1809-1847 _Mendelssohn._ + 1809-1849 _Chopin._ + 1810-1856 _Schumann._ + 1813-1883 _Wagner._ + 1813 _Verdi._ + 1818 _Gounod._ + + + PRINTED BY WALTER SCOTT, FELLING, + NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. + + + + +_MONTHLY SHILLING VOLUMES._ + +GREAT WRITERS. + +A New Series of Critical Biographies. + +Edited by Professor ERIC S. ROBERTSON. + + +_ALREADY ISSUED_-- + +LIFE OF LONGFELLOW. By Professor ERIC S. ROBERTSON. + + "The story of the poet's life is well told.... 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By ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. Edited, with + Introduction, by William Sharp. + + LORD BYRON'S LETTERS. Edited by M. Blind. + + ESSAYS BY LEIGH HUNT. Edited by A. Symons. + + LONGFELLOW'S PROSE WORKS. Edited, with Introduction, by + William Tirebuck. + + THE GREAT COMPOSERS. Edited, with Introduction, by Mrs. + William Sharp. + + +The Series is issued in two styles of Binding--Red Cloth, Cut Edges; +and Dark Blue Cloth, Uncut Edges. Either Style, Price One Shilling. + + + + +A Poem on the Crofter Evictions. + +THE HEATHER ON FIRE. + +By MATHILDE BLIND. Price 1s. + + +"A subject of our own time fertile in what is pathetic and +awe-inspiring, and free from any taint of the vulgar and +conventional.... Positive subject-matter, the emotion which inheres in +actual life, the very smile and the very tear and heart-pang, are, +after all, precious to poetry, and we have them here. 'The Heather on +Fire' may possibly prove something of a new departure, and one that +was certainly not superfluous.... Even apart from the fascination of +its subject-matter, the poem is developed with spirit and energy, with +a feeling for homely truth of character and treatment, and with a +generally pervasive sense of beauty."--_Athenæum._ + +"Miss Blind has chosen for her new poem one of those terrible Highland +clearances which stain the history of Scotch landlordism. Though her +tale is a fiction, it is too well founded on fact.... It may be said +generally of the poem that the most difficult scenes are those in +which Miss Blind succeeds best; and on the whole we are inclined to +think that its greatest and most surprising success is the picture of +the poor old soldier, Rory, driven mad by the burning of his +wife."--_Academy._ + +"A subject which has painfully pre-occupied public opinion is, in the +poem entitled 'The Heather on Fire,' treated with characteristic power +by Miss Blind.... Both as a narrative and descriptive poem, 'The +Heather on Fire' is equally remarkable."--_Morning Post._ + +"A poem remarkable for beauty of expression and pathos of incidents +will be found in 'The Heather on Fire.' Exquisitely delicate are the +touches with which the progress of this tale of true love is +delineated up to its consummation amid the simple rejoicings of the +neighbourhood; and the flight of years of married life and daily toil, +as numerous as those of their courtship, is told in stanzas full of +music and soul.... This tale is one which, unless we are mistaken, may +so affect public feeling as to be an effectual bar to similar human +clearings in future."--_Leeds Mercury._ + +"Literature and poetry are never seen at their best save in contact with +actual life. This little book abounds in vivid delineation of character, +and is redolent with the noblest human sympathy."--_Newcastle Daily +Chronicle._ + +"'The Heather on Fire' is a poem that is rich not only in power and +beauty but in that 'enthusiasm of humanity' which stirs and moves us, +and of which so much contemporary verse is almost painfully +deficient.... Miss Blind is not a mere poetic trifler who considers +that the best poetry is that written by the man who has nothing to say +but can say that nothing gracefully.... We can best describe the kind +of her success by noting the fact that while engaged in the perusal of +her book we do not say, 'What a fine poem!' but 'What a terrible +story!' or more probably still say nothing at all but read on and on +under the spell of a great horror and an overpowering pity. Poetry of +which this can be said needs no other recommendation."--_The +Manchester Examiner and Times._ + +"A poem recently published in London ('The Heather on Fire; a Tale of +the Highland Clearances') is declared, in one of the articles which +have appeared in the German press on the Scottish Land Question, 'to +be based on terrible truth and undoubted real horrors; giving, in +noblest poetical language and thrilling words, a description which +ought to be a spur of action to thinking statesmen.'"--_North British +Daily Mail._ + + +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + +_PRICE SIXPENCE._ + + THE + MONTHLY + CHRONICLE + OF + NORTH-COUNTRY + LORE AND LEGEND. + + +CONTENTS. + +Address to the Reader, by the Editor; Men of Mark 'Twixt Tyne and +Tweed, by Richard Welford--Mark Akenside, Rev. 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Tennyson-Turner, etc.; and all the +Best Writers of the Century. + + + Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt, Price 2s. 6d. + + Life of General Gordon. + + With Photographic Portrait taken + at Khartoum. + + _By the Authors of "Our Queen," + "Grace Darling," etc._ + + + By the same Authors, Crown 8vo, Cloth + Gilt, Illustrated, Price 2s. 6d. + + NEW WORLD HEROES: + _Lincoln and Garfield_. + + _The Life Story of two self-made Men + whom the People made Presidents._ + + + NEW BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. + + Foolscap 8vo, Cloth Boards, price + One Shilling each. + + VERY SHORT STORIES + AND + VERSES FOR CHILDREN. + + By MRS. W. K. CLIFFORD. + + + _A NEW NATURAL HISTORY_ + OF BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES. + + By JOHN K. LEYS, M.A. + + + Life Stories of Famous Children. + ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH. + + _By the Author of "Spenser for Children."_ + + +LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + + * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor punctuation errors have been corrected. + +Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent. + +Spelling inconsistencies between the introduction and main text have +been preserved as printed, e.g. Jommelli, Jomelli; Metastasia, +Metastasio; Bonacini, Bononcini; etc. + +Typographic errors, including errors in consistency, have been +corrected as follows: + + Page x--parodox amended to paradox--"... what may with + seeming paradox be called statuesque, ..." + + Page xiv--psuedo amended to pseudo--"... when + pseudo-classicism had given all it had to give; ..." + + Page xv--Brahm amended to Brahms--"... Liszt, Franz, Thomas, + Brahms, Rubenstein, ..." + + Page xv--writen amended to written--"... and of his work a + competent judge has written ..." + + Page 30--Scheolcher amended to Schoelcher--"Schoelcher, in + his _Life of Handel_, says ..." + + Page 33--and amended to andt--"Why, by the mercy of Heaven, + andt the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, ..." + + Page 40--Encyclopedists amended to Encyclopædists--"The + Encyclopædists stimulated the ferment ..." + + Page 49--spmphony amended to symphony--"... (alluding to + Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that + symphony?"" + + Page 49--Hadyn amended to Haydn--"Haydn continued the + intimate friend and associate of Prince Nicholas ..." + + Page 57--Hadyn amended to Haydn--"Haydn was present, but he + was so old and feeble ..." + + Page 61--Mme. amended to Mdme.--"... when Mdme. Pompadour + refused to kiss him, ..." + + Page 73--expected amended to excepted--"The "Sinfonia + Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest ..." + + Page 81--Mme. amended to Mdme.--"... the following anecdote + related by Mdme. Moscheles ..." + + Page 83--Paesiello amended to Paisiello--"Paisiello liked + the warm bed in which to jot down his musical notions, ..." + + Page 89--medodies amended to melodies--"The immemorial + melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were set ..." + + Page 96--effertories amended to offertories--"His church + music, consisting of six masses, many offertories, ..." + + Page 100--Musikallische amended to Musikalische--"... in a + critical article published in the _Wiener Musikalische + Zeitung_, ..." + + Page 102--veilleicht amended to vielleicht--"Ein Mann + vielleicht von dreissig Jahr, ..." + + Page 113--noctures amended to nocturnes--"... the preludes, + nocturnes, scherzos, ballads, etc., ..." + + Page 134--harmouy amended to harmony--"... sweetness of + harmony and tune, ..." + + Page 139--Tanhäuser amended to Tannhäuser--"... next came + "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin," ..." + + Page 141--Tanhäuser amended to Tannhäuser--"In "Tannhäuser" + and "Lohengrin" they find full sway." + + Page 145--Büloz amended to Bülow--"... originated chiefly + with the masterly playing of Herr Von Bülow, ..." + + Page 149--Da amended to da, and Michel amended to + Michael--"... Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, + and Michael Angelo." + + Page 149--Perluigui amended to Perluigi--"GIOVANNI PERLUIGI + ALOISIO DA PALESTRINA was born at Palestrina, ..." + + Page 156--musiq amended to music--"... where comedies and + other plays are represented in recitative music ..." + + Page 165--opportuity amended to opportunity--"... as gave + Vestris the opportunity for one of his greatest triumphs." + + Page 168--Petersburgh amended to Petersburg--"... the + invitation of Catherine to become the court composer at St. + Petersburg, ..." + + Page 173--Stendhal amended to Stendhall--"... Stendhall + says, in his _Life of Rossini_, ..." + + Page 178--accomodations amended to accommodations--"... and + those unable to get other accommodations encamp ..." + + Page 181--totaly amended to totally--"Sterbini made the + libretto totally different ..." + + Page 184--Davide amended to David--"Mdme. Colbran, + afterwards Rossini's wife, sang Desdemona, and David, + Otello." + + Page 185--you amended to your--"... they have not left you + a seat in your own house." + + Page 202--Faleiro amended to Faliero--""Marino Faliero" was + composed for Paris in 1835, ..." + + Page 204--Nigida amended to Nisida--"... the story of which + was drawn from "L'Ange de Nisida," ..." + + Page 209--chief amended to chef--"... and M. Habeneck, _chef + d'orchestre_ of the Académie Royale, ..." + + Page 224--Skakespearian amended to Shakespearian--"... that + probably only a Shakespearian subject could induce him ..." + + Page 225--Othello amended to Otello--"There are no symphonic + pieces in "Otello," ..." + + Page 228--maurir amended to mourir--"_... pécheur, il faut + mourir_, ..." + + Page 229--fall amended to full--"... but with a voice so + full of shakes and quavers, ..." + + Page 261--La amended to Le--"In 1797 he produced his "Le + Jeune Henri," ..." + + Page 264--Gaspardo amended to Gasparo--"LUIGI GASPARO + PACIFICO SPONTINI, born of peasant parents ..." + + Page 266--rejoiner amended to rejoinder--""What's the use? I + can't hear a note," was the impatient rejoinder." + + Page 268--Formental amended to Fromental--"FROMENTAL HALÉVY, + a scion of the Hebrew race, ..." + + Page 282--Anslem amended to Anselm--"... Clementi, Bernhard + Anselm Weber, and Abbé Vogler." + + Page 284--Veluti amended to Velluti--"In the latter city, + Velluti, the last of the male sopranists, ..." + + Page 292--faancs amended to francs--"... I certainly would + have given two hundred francs for a seat; ..." + + Page 297--avried amended to varied--"... accordingly as the + varied meanings of Goethe's masterpiece demand." + + Page 326--by-word amended to bye-word--"... his name was a + laughing-stock and a bye-word." + + Page 335--S. Bach amended to J. S. Bach--"1685-1750 _J. S. + Bach._" + + Page 335--Cerubini amended to Cherubini--"1760-1842 + _Cherubini._" + + Page 335--1802 amended to 1827--"1770-1827 _Beethoven._" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 34381-8.txt or 34381-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/4/3/8/34381 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Ferris</title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + a {text-decoration: none;} + + img {border: none;} + + em {font-style: italic;} + + .hidden {display: none;} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 8%;} + + .bbox {border: 2px black solid; padding: 1em; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; margin-top: 2em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: .2em; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .cpoem {width: 60%; margin: 0 auto;} /* centers poem and maintains span indentation */ + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + .tdl {text-align: left; padding-right: 2em;} /* left align cell */ + .tdli {text-align: left; font-style: italic; padding-left: 2em;} /* left align cell italics */ + .tdr {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom; padding-left: 2em;} /* right align cell */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; vertical-align: top; font-variant: small-caps; padding-right: 2em;} /* left align cell small caps font */ + + .sig {text-align: right; margin-right: 4em;} /* signature aligned right */ + .address {margin-left: 4em;} /* address at end of letter */ + + .xlrgfont {font-size: 200%;} + .vlrgfont {font-size: 150%;} + .lrgfont {font-size: 120%;} + .smlfont {font-size: 90%;} + .vsmlfont {font-size: 75%;} + + .smlpadt {padding-top: 1.5em;} + .padtop {padding-top: 3em;} + .padbase {padding-bottom: 3em;} + .ipadboth {padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 2em;} + + .space {padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} /* for spacing */ + .lrgspace {padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 3em;} /* for spacing */ + + .hang {margin-left: 4em; text-indent: -4em;} + +/* widths for images */ + .imgw1 {width: 400px;} + .imgw2 {width: 150px;} + .imgw3 {width: 600px;} + .imgw4 {width: 175px;} + .imgw5 {width: 250px;} + .imgw6 {width: 125px;} + +/* illustrated dropcaps */ +span.dcap { display: none; } /* this goes around the first letter of the first word */ + +/* You need a unique span like this for each of your drop cap images */ +span.dcapt { float: left; + height: 120px; width: 127px; /* adjust for your image */ + margin: 0 1em 1em 0; + background: url("images/gmct.png") no-repeat top left; } +span.dcapt2 { float: left; + height: 120px; width: 120px; /* adjust for your image */ + margin: 0 1em 1em 0; + background: url("images/gmct2.png") no-repeat top left; } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Great Musical Composers, by George T. Ferris, +Edited by Elizabeth Amelia (Mrs. William) Sharp</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Great Musical Composers</p> +<p> German, French, and Italian</p> +<p>Author: George T. Ferris</p> +<p>Editor: Elizabeth Amelia (Mrs. William) Sharp</p> +<p>Release Date: November 20, 2010 [eBook #34381]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Sam W.,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team,<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter padtop imgw1"> +<img src="images/gmc01.png" width="400" height="38" +alt="The Camelot Series" title="The Camelot Series" /> +</div> + +<p class="center smcap">Edited by Ernest Rhys.</p> + + + +<h1 class="padtop padbase">GREAT MUSICAL<br /> +COMPOSERS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="vsmlfont">GERMAN, FRENCH, AND ITALIAN</span></h1> + + +<p class="center smcap vlrgfont">By GEORGE T. FERRIS</p> + + +<p class="center padtop padbase">EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION<br /> +<br /> +<span class="vsmlfont">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="lrgfont">MRS. WILLIAM SHARP</span></p> + + +<p class="center padtop padbase"><span class="lrgfont">LONDON</span><br /> +<span class="lrgfont">WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE</span><br /> +<span class="smlfont">PATERNOSTER ROW<br /> +1887</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc"> </td> + <td class="tdr"><small>PAGE</small></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Introduction</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#introduction">vii</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Bach</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#bach">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Handel</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#handel">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Gluck</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#gluck">36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Haydn</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#haydn">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Mozart</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#mozart">59</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Beethoven</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#beethoven">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Schubert and Schumann</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#schubert">87</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Chopin</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#chopin">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Weber</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#weber">115</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Mendelssohn</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#mendelssohn">124</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Wagner</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#wagner">131</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Palestrina</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#palestrina">147</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Piccini, Paisiello, and Cimarosa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#piccini">154</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Rossini</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#rossini">175</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Donizetti and Bellini</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#donizetti">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Verdi</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#verdi">213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Cherubini and his Predecessors</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#cherubini">226</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Méhul, Spontini, and Halévy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#mehul">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Boïeldieu and Auber</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#boieldieu">273</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Meyerbeer</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#meyerbeer">281</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Gounod</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#gounod">297</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Berlioz</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#berlioz">310</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Appendix: Chronological Table</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#appendix">335</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>vii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw3"> +<img src="images/gmc02.jpg" width="600" height="111" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="introduction" id="introduction"></a><i>Introduction.</i></h2> + + +<p><span class="dcapt"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HE following biographical sketches were +originally published in America by Mr. +George T. Ferris, in two volumes, separately +entitled <i>The Great German Composers</i> and +<i>The Great Italian and French Composers</i>. +They have achieved the success they deserved: +for while we have whole libraries of books upon the +history and technicalities of music in general, upon musical +theories and schools, and upon the exponents thereof in their +artistic capacity, there has been a distinct dearth of treatises +dealing in a brief and popular fashion with the lives of eminent +composers themselves. Now, when music is “mastered and +murdered” in almost every house throughout the length and +breadth of the land, there can be no doubt that compilations of +this kind must be welcome to a very large number—we will not +say of musical students, but of lovers of music. There are, it +would be needless to attempt to prove, great numbers of the +music-loving public, who practically have no facilities towards +making acquaintance with the leading facts in the lives of those +men whose compositions they have such a genuine delight in +rendering: to these mainly is such a book as <i>Great Composers</i> +addressed. But, indeed, to every one interested in music +and musicians the volume can hardly fail to be of interest. In +his preface to <i>The Great Italian and French Composers</i>, Mr. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>viii]</a></span> +Ferris explained that—as was very manifest—“the task of +compressing into one small volume suitable sketches of the +more famous Italian and French composers was, in view of the +extent of field and the wealth of material, a somewhat embarrassing +one, especially as the purpose was to make the sketches of +interest to the general music-loving public, and not merely to +the critic and scholar. The plan pursued has been to devote +the bulk of space to composers of the higher rank, and to pass +over those less known with such brief mention as sufficed to +outline their lives, and fix their place in the history of music.”</p> + +<p>To <i>The Great German Composers</i> he prefaces a few words +which may be quoted—“The sketches of composers contained +in this volume may seem arbitrary in the space allotted to them. +The special attention given to certain names has been prompted +as much by their association with great art epochs, as by the +consideration of their absolute rank as composers. The introduction +of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large part of his life a +resident of France, among German composers, may require an +explanatory word. Chopin’s whole early training was in the +German school, and he may be looked on as one of the founders +of the latest school of pianoforte composition, whose highest +development is in contemporary Germany. He represents +German music by his affinities and his influences in art, and +bears too close a relation to important changes in musical forms +to be omitted from this series.”</p> + +<p>Various important events have occurred since the publication +of these volumes in America: <i>inter alia</i>, the performance of +Wagner’s last great work “Parsifal,” and the death of the great +German musician; the production of new works by Gounod and +Verdi; and so forth. The editor has endeavoured, as briefly as +practicable, to supplement Mr. Ferris’s <i>causeries</i> with the +addenda necessary to bring <i>Great Composers</i> down to date. +Mr. Ferris further acknowledges his obligation to the following +authorities for the facts embodied in these sketches:—Hullah’s +<i>History of Modern Music</i>; Fétis’ <i>Biographie Universelle des +Musiciens</i>; Clementi’s <i>Biographie des Musiciens</i>; Hogarth’s +<i>History of the Opera</i>; Sutherland Edwards’ <i>History of the +Opera</i>; Schlüter’s <i>History of Music</i>; Chorley’s <i>Thirty Years’ +Musical Reminiscences</i>; Stendhall’s <i>Vie de Rossini</i>; Bellasy’s +<i>Memorials of Cherubini</i>; Grove’s <i>Musical Dictionary</i>; +Crowestl’s <i>Musical Anecdotes</i>; Schœlcher’s <i>Life of Handel</i>; +Liszt’s <i>Life of Chopin</i>; Elsie Polko’s <i>Reminiscences</i>; Lampadius’ +<i>Life of Mendelssohn</i>; Urbino’s <i>Musical Composers</i>; Franz +Hueffer’s <i>Wagner and the Music of the Future</i>; Haweis’ +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>ix]</a></span> +<i>Music and Morals</i>; and the various articles in the leading +cyclopædias.</p> + +<p>To this volume the present editor has appended a chronological +table of the musicians referred to in the following sketches.</p> + +<p>In reading the lives of these great musical composers, we +can trace the gradual development of music from its earliest +days as an art and as a science. Unlike the other arts which +have flourished, decayed, and had rebirth, music, as we now +understand it, sprang into being out of the ferment of the +Renaissance, and therefore is the youngest of the arts—a +modern growth belonging particularly to the later phases of +civilisation. Music in a rude, undeveloped condition has existed +doubtless “since the world began.” In all nations, and +in the records of past civilisations, indications of music are to be +found; martial strains for the encouragement of warriors on the +march; sacred hymns and sacrificial chants in religious ceremonials; +and song accompanied by some rude instrument—we +find to have been known and practised among remote tribes as +well as among potent races. The bards of divers peoples and +many countries in ancient days played upon the harp not +merely for delight, but for the exorcism of evil spirits, the dispersion +of melancholy, the soothing and cure of mental and +physical disorders. Here we find music as the direct expression +of feeling, but not as a science. The Greeks made further use +of music by incorporating it into their dramas, but it was chiefly +declamatory, and was used solely in the choruses. To modern +ears such music would sound very inefficient, more especially +as the antique instruments were of the crudest—and although +musical sounds, to a limited extent, could be produced from +them, all attempts at <em>expression</em> must have been unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>In Europe in the early middle ages there existed two kinds of +music: that of the people, spontaneous, impulsive, the song of +the Troubadour, unwritten and orally transmitted from father to +son; that of the Church, which had been greatly encouraged +since the days of Constantine, and especially owed much to St. +Ambrose and St. Gregory. For a time music became the +handmaid of the Church, but it thereby, to a certain extent, also +gave voice to the lyrical feelings of the people; for the chorister +and composer not only embodied popular songs into the chants, +but in many instances interpolated the words themselves. This +incongruity at length necessitated the reform, brought about +by Palestrina—the father of sacred music as we now know it—whose +<i>Missa Papae Marcelli</i>, performed in 1565, established +a type which has been more or less adhered to ever since. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>x]</a></span> +services of the Church gave rise to the oratorio, which, however, +chiefly owes its development to Protestant genius, more +especially to Handel. In 1540 San Filippo Neri formed in +Milan a Society called “Le congregazione dei Padri dell’ +Oratorio” (from <i>orare</i> to pray), and we are told by Crescembini +that “The oratorio, a poetical composition, formerly a commixture +of the dramatic and narrative styles, but now entirely +a musical drama, had its origin from San Filippo Neri, who in +his chapel, after sermons and other devotions, in order to allure +young people to pious offices, and to detain them from earthly +pleasures, had hymns, psalms, and such like prayers sung by +one or more voices.” “Among these spiritual songs were dialogues; +and these entertainments, becoming more frequent and +improving every year, were the occasion that, in the seventeenth +century, oratorios were invented, so called from their origin.”<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>Then came the fulness of the Renaissance, quickening dead +forms into new life, laying its vivifying touch on the new-born +art, music, and making it its nursling. At first the change was +hardly perceptible. It was church music out of church, fine, +stately, what may with seeming paradox be called statuesque, +which came to bear the name of <i>L’Opera</i>, signifying <i>The +Work</i>:—but, though born to a heritage of good aims, +possessed of very inadequate means for their fulfilment. +Once liberated from its presumed function of expressing +religious feeling, and thus subjected to other impelling forces, +music could not long remain in the old forms. It began to feel +its way into new channels, and in the form of the opera became +a national institution. Its growth at first was weak and faulty; +but finally it developed into a perfect art. It was as the +novice, who, freed from the sanctity of the convent with its calm +lights and shadows, enters at last the portals of the life of the +world—a varied world full of turmoil, passion, and strife. A +greater world, after all, than that quitted, because composed +of so many possibilities in so many directions, and comprising +the sufferings, the joys, the aspirations of such innumerably +differentiated beings; a world wherein the novice learns to +widen her sympathies, to feel with and for the people, and +to express for them the never-ceasing craving for something +beyond the fleeting moment. At first, therefore, the stately +art and the musical needs of the people were dissimilar and +apart; but little by little each gave to and took from the +other, till at length, out of the marriage of these elementaries, a +third arose to become the expression of the life of the people, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xi]</a></span> +partaking in likeness of both, having lost certain qualities, having +gained many more, becoming richer, broader, more eclectic—in +short, developing into the more fitting expression of the manifold +aspirations of modern days, when life is varied and intense, +and the mind gropes blindly in every direction.</p> + +<p>This development is traceable in all art, and in the sphere of +music it is most manifest in the opera. Like all great movements +the opera began humbly. Towards the end of the sixteenth +century a number of amateurs in Florence, dissatisfied +with the polyphonic school of music, combined “to revive +the musical declamation of the Greeks,” to wed poetry and +music—so long dissevered—to make the music follow the +inflexion of the voice and the sense of the words. The +first opera was “Il Conte Ugolino,” composed by Vicenzio +Galileo—father of the famous astronomer—and it was followed +by various others, the titles of which need not here be recorded. +At first, such performances took place in the palaces of nobles +on grand occasions, when frequently both performers and +musicians were of high rank. At length, however, in 1637 a +famous theorbo player, Benedetto Farrari, and Francesco +Manetti, the composer, opened in Venice an opera-house at +their own risk, and a little later brought out with great success +“Le nozzi di Peleo e di Telide” by Cavalli, a disciple of +Monteverde, and it was henceforth that the opera became, as +we have said, a national institution. Schools for singing were +opened in Rome, Naples, and Venice—the science of music made +rapid strides—instruments for orchestral purposes naturally +likewise improved in quality and in variety; and the opera +developed continuously in breadth of treatment and form in the +hands of Scarlatti, Leo, Jommelli, and Cimarosa.</p> + +<p>About the beginning of the eighteenth century a rival to the +<em>serious</em> opera sprang up in Naples—the <em>comic</em> opera, the direct +offspring of the people, and of lower artistic standing. But as +the serious opera became more stately, more scientific, more +purely formal, less human, less the expression of direct feeling, +cultivated more for art’s sake solely, the comic opera throve on +the very qualities that its elder sister rejected, till at length the +greatest musicians of the day, Pergolesi, Cimarosa, Mozart, +wrote their masterpieces for it. Ultimately the two were fused +into one, that is, into the modern Italian opera. The comic opera, +as we now understand it, is of French origin.</p> + +<p>From Italy the opera found its way into other countries with +varying results. In England it took early root, and assimilated +itself with the earlier <i>masques</i> which were played at Whitehall and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xii]</a></span> +at Inns of Court. In the early productions in this country, however, +the music was merely incidental. During the Commonwealth, +an opera entitled “The Siege of Rhodes,” composed by +Dr. Charles Colman, Captain Henry Cook, Henry Lawes, and +George Hudson, was performed in 1655, under the express +license of Cromwell. Purcell seems, however, to have been the +first to see the possibility of a national English opera;—his music +to Dryden’s “King Arthur,” and to the “Indian Queen,” is considered +very beautiful; “his recitative was as rhetorically perfect +as Lulli’s, but infinitely more natural, and frequently impassioned +to the last degree; his airs are not in the Italian form, +but breathe rather the spirit of unfettered natural melody, and +stand forth as models of refinement and freedom.” “The +Beggar’s Opera,” set to music by Dr. Pepusch, and Dr. Arne’s +“Artaxerxes,” a translation from Metastasia’s libretto, adapted to +melodious music, were deservedly popular, and long retained a +place on the stage. Nevertheless, when the Italian opera became +an institution in England, the national opera made no further progress. +During the last few years the former seems to have practically +died out in England, and it remains to be seen in what form +the English opera will revive and flourish once more as a national +product. We have good promise in the works of such musicians +as Balfe, Wallace, Sterndale Bennet, Sir G. A. Macfarren, Dr. +A. C. Mackenzie, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Mr. C. V. Stanford, and +others.</p> + +<p>The end of the sixteenth and end of the seventeenth centuries +form what has been called “the golden age of English music—aye +for all musical Europe—of the madrigal. Nowhere was +the cultivation of that noble form of pure vocal music, whether +in composition or in performance, followed with more zeal or +success than in England.” The Hon. Roger North, Attorney-General +to James II., in his <i>Memories of Musick</i>, speaks +thus of the state of music in the first half of the seventeenth +century—“Afterwards these (Italian <i>fantazias</i>) were imitated +by the English, who, working more elaborately, improved upon +their patterne, which gave occasion to an observation, that in +vocall the Italians, and in instrumental music the English +excelled.” Again he alludes to “those authors whose performance +gained the nation the credit in excelling the Italians in all +but vocall.” In instrumental music, then, in the madrigal, the +cantata, and in ecclesiastical music, England prospered. Among +her most important composers were John Dowland, Ford, +Henry Lawes, John Jenkens, Pelham Humphreys, Wise, Blow, +Henry Purcell—great in secular and ecclesiastical works, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xiii]</a></span> +instrumental and in vocal—Croft and Weldon; all were predecessors +of Handel, who, though one of the greatest of German +composers, lived nearly fifty years in England, composed +several operas and all his famous oratorios for England, and is +therefore not unjustifiably added to the list of English composers.</p> + +<p>The opera was first introduced into France by Cardinal +Mazarin early in the seventeenth century, but the lyrical drama +owes its origin in that country to Lulli, who also introduced into +it the ballet, which was a favourite pastime of the young king +Louis XIV. The ballet has since become an integral part of the +French and also of the later Italian operas. It was Lulli, +again, who extended the “meagre prelude” of the Italian opera +into the overture as we now know it. But as the rise and +progress of the French opera is fully portrayed in the following +musical sketches, it is needless to trace it further here.</p> + +<p>Germany—equally with Italy the land of music, but of harmonious +in contra-distinction to melodic music, which belongs +most properly to Italy, well named the land of song—was much +later in developing her musical powers than Italy, but she cultivated +them to grander and nobler proportions; for to Germany +we owe the magnificent development of instrumental music, which +culminates in the form of the sonata for the piano, and in that of +the symphony for the orchestra, in the hands of such masters +as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. In Germany the opera took +root by means of a translation of Rinaccini’s “Dafne,” set to +music by Henry Schütz in 1627, with Italian airs and German +recitative. The first German opera or <i>singspiel</i>, “Adam und +Eva,” by Johann Theil, was performed in 1678, but it became +national through the works of Reinhard Keiser, whose opera +“Basilino” was performed in 1693. “His style was purely +German, less remarkable for its rhetorical perfection than that +of Lulli, but exhibiting far greater variety of expression, and +more earnest endeavour to attain that spirit of Dramatic Truth +which alone can render such music worthy of its intended +purpose.” He was worthily followed by Hasse, Grann, by +Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Die Zauberflöte,” “Don +Giovanni,” and by Beethoven’s one opera “Fidelio.”</p> + +<p>The growth of a national opera in Germany and France, +competing with that of Italy, induced also the rise of party +quarrels between the adherents of the several schools; and the +history of music demonstrates the fact, often seen in the history +of politics, that in such contentions the real point at issue—the +<em>excellence</em> of the subject in question—is lost sight of in the fierce +strife of opponents; the broader issues are obscured in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xiv]</a></span> +narrowing influences of mere partizanship, wherein each side on +principle shuts its eyes equally to the merits of its adversary +and to its own faults. Thus in the following sketches are recorded +the quarrels between the adherents of Lulli and Rameau, +Handel and Bonacini, Piccini and Gluck, Mozart and Salieri, +Weber and Rossini, and in the present day between the +advocates of Wagner’s “Music of the Future” and those of +the “Music of the Past.” “The old order changes, giving +place to new,” but only after a long protracted struggle, a +struggle that will not be productive of good as long as the +bitterness of partizanship exists, whose aim is wholly to annihilate +its adversary, though thereby much that is good and +fine be lost. This is not, however, the place to discuss the +importance of such strife, nor the comparative advantages and +disadvantages of its existence or non-existence—but it is as well +to draw attention to it in order to point out that in the history +of music the belligerents are usually blind to the important +fact that, inasmuch as nations differ essentially in ways of +thought and action, in character, temperament, and fundamental +nature, so also must the various phases of art differ which are +their mediums of expression.</p> + +<p>The history of the art of music is divisible into two great +epochs—the first dating from its birth about three centuries +ago under the impelling influences of the Renaissance, to the +end of the eighteenth century, when pseudo-classicism had +given all it had to give; the second dating from the rise of Romanticism +in the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present +day. The revival of the “forgotten world of old romance—that +world of wonder and mystery and spiritual beauty,” no +longer crippled by lack of science, and fettered by asceticism, +was to music, that youngest of the arts, a novel influence, which +pushed it vigorously in a new direction, towards the more +direct expression of the cravings of humanity—making it more +<em>human</em>, more the fitting medium expression of this democratic +age. The true romantic feeling has been described as “the +ever present apprehension of the spiritual world, and of that +struggle of the soul with earthly conditions.” This later period +gave “new seeing to our eyes, which were once more opened to +the mysteries and the wonder of the universe, and the romance +of man’s destiny; it revived, in short, the romantic spirit enriched +by the clarity and sanity that the renascence was able to +lend.”</p> + +<p>In the opera Gluck was one of the earliest masters who came +under the influence of the new movement, and he anticipated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xv]</a></span> +Wagner in many of his reforms. He decreased the importance +of the singer, and increased that of the orchestra, elaborated the +recitative, and made the music to follow the rhythm of the words, +and he also gave importance to the dramatic expression of the +human emotions. In Germany Weber is styled the Father of +the Romantic opera, as in France the most noteworthy figure is +Berlioz, and the new method was further developed in the instrumental +music by Schumann, and demonstrated by other +musicians, dead and living, who, from the limited space of this +volume, have not been specially noticed—Liszt, Franz, Thomas, +Brahms, Rubenstein, Dvorák, Massinet, Bizet, Jensen, Grieg, and +others. Gounod, is, of course, unmistakably under the same influence, +and may be considered as the direct descendant of Gluck, +and there is every reason to suppose that he is the last great composer +of the grand opera of France, as Verdi is undeniably that +of the Italian opera. The most remarkable figure of the movement, +he who has carried it to its utmost limits, is Richard +Wagner. At first he refused for his compositions the name of +“Music of the Future,” and desired for them the more comprehensive +term of “Work of Art of the Future.” It is impossible +to predict to what extent his theories will be followed: it is +not desirable that they should be blindly worked out by +musicians of power inferior to his; but they are in the right +direction, and may ultimately bring about a new art mode in +music. The resources of art are endless, being, as the Abbé +Lamennais tells us, to man what creation is to God; and music +may safely be trusted to develop in such a way as to ever be +the most fitting expression of the inarticulate cravings and +aspirations of the human soul. Wagner has attempted to +unite the three arts of Painting, Poetry, and Music: and +of his work a competent judge has written—“The musical drama +is undoubtedly the highest manifestation of which men are capable. +All the most refined arts are called in to contribute +to the idea. The author of a musical drama is no more a +musician, or a poet, or a painter; he is the supreme <em>artist</em>, not +fettered by the limits of one art, but able to step over the +boundaries of all the different branches of æsthetic composition, +and find the proper means for rendering his thought wherever +he wants it. This was Wagner’s aim. His latter works, +‘Tristram and Isolde,’ the ‘Niebelungen Ring,’ and +‘Parsifal,’ are the actuation of the theory, or at least are +works showing what is the way towards the aim.” Another +eminent critic, Mr. Walter Pater, writing upon the fine arts, +tells us that “<i>All art constantly aspires towards the condition of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>xvi]</a></span> +music</i>.... It is the art of music which most completely +realises this artistic ideal, this perfect identification of form and +matter. In its ideal consummate moments, the end is not +distinct from the means, the form from the matter, the subject +from the expression; they inhere in and completely saturate +each other; and to it, therefore, to the condition of its perfect +moments, all the arts may be supposed constantly to tend and +aspire. Music, then, and not poetry, as is so often supposed, is +the true type or measure of consummate art. Therefore, +although each art has its incommunicable element, its untranslatable +order of impressions, its unique mode of reaching +the ‘imaginative reason,’ yet the arts may be represented as +continually struggling after the law or principle of music, to a +condition which music alone completely realises.”</p> + +<p>We may rest assured—as assured as Emerson or Matthew +Arnold concerning the illimitable possibilities of poetry—that +the future has great riches in store for all lovers of music. +Giants, indeed, are they who are no longer among us, but it is not +derogatory to these great ones to believe and hope that—life being +“moving music” according to the definition of the Syrian +Gnostics—the world will yet be electrified by the genius of +successors worthy of such royal ancestry as Handel and Mozart, +Beethoven and Wagner.</p> + +<p class="sig">ELIZABETH A. SHARP.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> +Hawkin’s <i>Musical History</i>, vol. iii., p. 441.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw2"> +<img src="images/gmc03.png" width="150" height="88" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>1]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw3"> +<img src="images/gmc04.jpg" width="600" height="104" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + +<p class="center padtop xlrgfont">THE GREAT COMPOSERS.</p> + +<p class="center vlrgfont">[GERMAN.]</p> + + + +<h2 class="padtop"><a name="bach" id="bach"></a><i>BACH.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="dcapt2"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HE growth and development of German music +are eminently noteworthy facts in the history +of the fine arts. In little more than a century +and a-half it reached its present high and +brilliant place, its progress being so consecutive +and regular that the composers who illustrated its well-defined +epochs might fairly have linked hands in one +connected series.</p> + +<p>To <span class="smcap">Johann Sebastian Bach</span> must be accorded the title +of “father of modern music.” All succeeding composers have +bowed with reverence before his name, and acknowledged +in him the creative mind which not only placed music on a +deep scientific basis, but perfected the form from which +have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases +of orchestral composition. Handel, who was his contemporary, +having been born the same year, spoke of him +with sincere admiration, and called him the giant of music. +Haydn wrote—“Whoever understands me knows that I +owe much to Sebastian Bach, that I have studied him +thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him only as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>2]</a></span> +my model.” Mozart’s unceasing research brought to light +many of his unpublished manuscripts, and helped Germany +to a full appreciation of this great master. In like manner +have the other luminaries of music placed on record their sense +of obligation to one whose name is obscure to the general +public in comparison with many of his brother composers.</p> + +<p>Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of +March 1685, the son of one of the court musicians. Left +in the care of his elder brother, who was an organist, his +brilliant powers displayed themselves at an early period. +He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even at +that date the wide-spread branches of the family held +annual gatherings of a musical character. Young Bach +mastered for himself, without much assistance, a thorough +musical education at Lüneburg, where he studied in the +gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and at the age +of eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a +few years later he became organist and director of concerts. +He had in the meantime studied the organ at Lübeck under +the celebrated Buxtehude, and made himself thoroughly a +master of the great Italian composers of sacred music—Palestrina, +Lotti, Vivaldi, and others.</p> + +<p>At this period Germany was beginning to experience its +musical <i>renaissance</i>. The various German courts felt that +throb of life and enthusiasm which had distinguished the +Italian principalities in the preceding century in the +direction of painting and sculpture. Every little capital +was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general spirit +of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the +arts of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become +known as a gifted musician, not only by his wonderful +powers as an organist, but by two of his earlier masterpieces—“Gott +ist mein König” and “Ich hatte viel +Bekümmerniss.” Under the influence of an atmosphere so +artistic, Bach’s ardour for study increased with his success, +and his rapid advancement in musical power met with +warm appreciation.</p> + +<p>While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>3]</a></span> +Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, which he assumed about +the year 1720, he went to Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see +old Reinke, then nearly a centenarian, whose fame as an +organist was national, and had long been the object of +Bach’s enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his +youthful rival improvised on the old choral, “Upon the +Rivers of Babylon.” He shed tears of joy while he tenderly +embraced Bach, and said—“I did think that this art would +die with me; but I see that you will keep it alive.”</p> + +<p>Our musician rapidly became known far and wide +throughout the musical centres of Germany as a learned and +recondite composer, as a brilliant improviser, and as an +organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these last two +capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was +the most marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to +fully enlighten the world in regard to his creative powers +as a musical thinker.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Though Bach’s life was mostly spent at Weimar and +Leipsic, he was at successive periods chapel-master and +concert-director at several of the German courts, which +aspired to shape public taste in matters of musical culture +and enthusiasm. But he was by nature singularly retiring +and unobtrusive, and recoiled from several brilliant offers +which would have brought him too much in contact with +the gay world of fashion, apparently dreading any diversion +from a severe and exclusive art-life; for within these limits +all his hopes, energies, and wishes were focalised. Yet he +was not without that keen spirit of rivalry, that love of +combat, which seems to be native to spirits of the more +robust and energetic type.</p> + +<p>In the days of the old Minnesingers, tournaments of +music shared the public taste with tournaments of arms. +In Bach’s time these public competitions were still in vogue. +One of these was held by Augustus II., Elector of Saxony +and King of Poland, one of the most munificent art-patrons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>4]</a></span> +of Europe, but best known to fame from his intimate part +in the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great +of Russia. Here Bach’s principal rival was a French +<i>virtuoso</i>, Marchand, who, an exile from Paris, had delighted +the king by the lightness and brilliancy of his execution. +They were both to improvise on the same theme. Marchand +heard Bach’s performance and signalised his own inferiority +by declining to play, and secretly leaving the city of +Dresden. Augustus sent Bach a hundred louis d’or, but +this splendid <i>douceur</i> never reached him, as it was +appropriated by one of the court officials.</p> + +<p>In Bach’s half-century of a studious musical life there is +but little of stirring incident to record. The significance +of his career was interior, not exterior. Twice married, and +the father of twenty children, his income was always small +even for that age. Yet, by frugality, the simple wants of +himself and his family never overstepped the limit of supply; +for he seems to have been happily mated with wives who +sympathised with his exclusive devotion to art, and united +with this the virtues of old-fashioned German thrift.</p> + +<p>Three years before his death, Bach, who had a son in the +service of the King of Prussia, yielded to the urgent invitation +of that monarch to go to Berlin. Frederick II., the +conqueror of Rossbach, and one of the greatest of modern +soldiers, was a passionate lover of literature and art, and it +was his pride to collect at his court all the leading lights of +European culture. He was not only the patron of Voltaire, +whose connection with the Prussian monarch has furnished +such rich material to the anecdote-history of literature, but +of all the distinguished painters, poets, and musicians whom +he could persuade by his munificent offers (but rarely +fulfilled) to suffer the burden of his eccentricities. Frederick +was not content with playing the part of patron, but must +himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and composer.</p> + +<p>On the night of Bach’s arrival Frederick was taking part +in a concert at his palace, and, on hearing that the great +musician whose name was in the mouths of all Germany +had come, immediately sent for him without allowing him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>5]</a></span> +to don a court dress, interrupting his concert with the +enthusiastic announcement, “Gentlemen, Bach is here.” +The cordial hospitality and admiration of Frederick was +gratefully acknowledged by Bach, who dedicated to him a +three-part fugue on a theme composed by the king, known +under the name of “A Musical Offering.” But he could +not be persuaded to remain long from his Leipsic home.</p> + +<p>Shortly before Bach’s death, he was seized with blindness, +brought on by incessant labour; and his end was supposed +to have been hastened by the severe inflammation consequent +on two operations performed by an English oculist. He +departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried in St. +John’s churchyard, universally mourned by musical +Germany, though his real title to exceptional greatness was +not to be read until the next generation.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known +musical family, but was himself the direct ancestor +of about sixty of the best-known organists and church +composers of Germany. As a master of organ-playing, +tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with the +possible exception of Handel. He was also an able +performer on various stringed instruments, and his +preference for the clavichord<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> led him to write a method +for that instrument, which has been the basis of all succeeding +methods for the piano. Bach’s teachings and influence +may be said to have educated a large number of excellent +composers and organ and piano players, among whom were +Emanuel Bach, Cramer, Hummel, and Clementi; and on +his school of theory and practice the best results in music +have been built.</p> + +<p>That Bach’s glory as a composer should be largely +posthumous is probably the result of his exceeding simplicity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>6]</a></span> +and diffidence, for he always shrank from popular applause; +therefore we may believe his compositions were not placed +in the proper light during his life. It was through Mozart, +Haydn, and Beethoven, that the musical world learned what +a master-spirit had wrought in the person of John Sebastian +Bach. The first time Mozart heard one of Bach’s hymns, +he said, “Thank God! I learn something absolutely new.”</p> + +<p>Bach’s great compositions include his “Preludes and +Fugues” for the organ, works so difficult and elaborate as +perhaps to be above the average comprehension, but sources +of delight and instruction to all musicians; the “Matthäus +Passion,” for two choruses and two orchestras, one of the +masterpieces in music, which was not produced till a century +after it was written; the “Oratorio of the Nativity of +Jesus Christ;” and a very large number of masses, anthems, +cantatas, chorals, hymns, etc. These works, from their +largeness and dignity of form, as also from their depth of +musical science, have been to all succeeding composers an +art-armoury, whence they have derived and furbished their +brightest weapons. In the study of Bach’s works the +student finds the deepest and highest reaches in the science +of music; for his mind seems to have grasped all its +resources, and to have embodied them with austere purity +and precision of form. As Spenser is called the poet for +poets, and Laplace the mathematician for mathematicians, +so Bach is the musician for musicians. While Handel may +be considered a purely independent and parallel growth, it +is not too much to assert that without Sebastian Bach and +his matchless studies for the piano, organ, and orchestra, we +could not have had the varied musical development in +sonata and symphony from such masters as Haydn, Mozart, +and Beethoven. Three of Sebastian Bach’s sons became +distinguished musicians, and to Emanuel we owe the +artistic development of the sonata, which in its turn became +the foundation of the symphony.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> +An old instrument, which may be called the nearest prototype of +the modern square piano.</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>7]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="handel" id="handel"></a><i>HANDEL.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">To</span> the modern Englishman Handel is almost a contemporary. +Paintings and busts of this great minstrel are +scattered everywhere throughout the land. He lies in +Westminster Abbey among the great poets, warriors, and +statesmen, a giant memory in his noble art. A few hours +after death the sculptor Roubiliac took a cast of his face, +which he wrought into imperishable marble; “moulded in +colossal calm,” he towers above his tomb, and accepts the +homage of the world benignly like a god. Exeter Hall +and the Foundling Hospital in London are also adorned +with marble statues of him.</p> + +<p>There are more than fifty known pictures of Handel, +some of them by distinguished artists. In the best of these +pictures Handel is seated in the gay costume of the period, +with sword, shot-silk breeches, and coat embroidered with +gold. The face is noble in its repose. Benevolence is +seated about the finely-shaped mouth, and the face wears +the mellow dignity of years, without weakness or austerity. +There are few collectors of prints in England and America +who have not a woodcut or a lithograph of him. His face +and his music are alike familiar to the English-speaking +world.</p> + +<p>Handel came to England in the year 1710, at the age of +twenty-five. Four years before he had met, at Naples, +Scarlatti, Porpora, and Corelli. That year had been the +turning-point in his life. With one stride he reached the +front rank, and felt that no musician alive could teach him +anything.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">George Frederick Handel</span> (or Händel, as the name +is written in German) was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, in +the year 1685. Like German literature, German music is +a comparatively recent growth. What little feeling existed +for the musical art employed itself in cultivating the alien +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>8]</a></span> +flowers of Italian song. Even eighty years after this +Mozart and Haydn were treated like lackeys and vagabonds, +just as great actors were treated in England at the +same period. Handel’s father looked on music as an +occupation having very little dignity.</p> + +<p>Determined that his young son should become a doctor like +himself, and leave the divine art to Italian fiddlers and French +buffoons, he did not allow him to go to a public school even, +for fear he should learn the gamut. But the boy Handel, +passionately fond of sweet sounds, had, with the connivance +of his nurse, hidden in the garret a poor spinet, and in +stolen hours taught himself how to play. At last the senior +Handel had a visit to make to another son in the service +of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and the young George +was taken along to the ducal palace. The boy strayed into +the chapel, and was irresistibly drawn to the organ. His +stolen performance was made known to his father and the +duke, and the former was very much enraged at such a direct +evidence of disobedience. The duke, however, being astonished +at the performance of the youthful genius, interceded for +him, and recommended that his taste should be encouraged +and cultivated instead of repressed.</p> + +<p>From this time forward fortune showered upon him a +combination of conditions highly favourable to rapid +development. Severe training, ardent friendship, the +society of the first composers, and incessant practice were +vouchsafed him. As the pupil of the great organist +Zachau, he studied the whole existing mass of German and +Italian music, and soon exacted from his master the +admission that he had nothing more to teach him. Thence +he went to Berlin to study the opera-school, where Ariosti +and Bononcini were favourite composers. The first was +friendly, but the latter, who with a first-rate head had a +cankered heart, determined to take the conceit out of the +Saxon boy. He challenged him to play at sight an elaborate +piece. Handel played it with perfect precision, and +thenceforward Bononcini, though he hated the youth as +a rival, treated him as an equal.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>9]</a></span> +On the death of his father Handel secured an +engagement at the Hamburg opera-house, where he soon +made his mark by the ability with which, on several +occasions, he conducted rehearsals.</p> + +<p>At the age of nineteen Handel received the offer of the +Lübeck organ, on condition that he would marry the +daughter of the retiring organist. He went down with his +friend Mattheson, who it seems had been offered the same +terms. They both returned, however, in single blessedness +to Hamburg.</p> + +<p>Though the Lübeck maiden had stirred no bad blood +between them, musical rivalry did. A dispute in the +theatre resulted in a duel. The only thing that saved +Handel’s life was a great brass button that shivered his +antagonist’s point, when they were parted to become firm +friends again.</p> + +<p>While at Hamburg Handel’s first two operas were +composed, “Almira” and “Nero.” Both of these were +founded on dark tales of crime and sorrow, and, in spite of +some beautiful airs and clever instrumentation, were +musical failures, as might be expected.</p> + +<p>Handel had had enough of manufacturing operas in +Germany, and so in July 1706 he went to Florence. +Here he was cordially received; for Florence was second +to no city in Italy in its passion for encouraging the arts. +Its noble specimens of art creations in architecture, painting, +and sculpture produced a powerful impression upon +the young musician. In little more than a week’s time he +composed an opera, “Rodrigo,” for which he obtained one +hundred sequins. His next visit was to Venice, where he +arrived at the height of the carnival. Whatever effect +Venice, with its weird and mysterious beauty, with its +marble palaces, façades, pillars, and domes, its magnificent +shrines and frescoes, produced on Handel, he took Venice +by storm. Handel’s power as an organist and a harpsichord +player was only second to his strength as a composer, +even when, in the full zenith of his maturity, he composed +the “Messiah” and “Judas Maccabæus.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>10]</a></span> +“Il caro Sassone,” the dear Saxon, found a formidable +opponent as well as dear friend in the person of Scarlatti. +One night at a masked ball, given by a nobleman, Handel +was present in disguise. He sat at the harpsichord, and +astonished the company with his playing; but no one could +tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. +Presently another masquerader came into the room, walked +up to the instrument, and called out: “It is either the +devil or the Saxon!” This was Scarlatti, who afterwards +had with Handel, in Florence and Rome, friendly contests +of skill, in which it seemed difficult to decide which was +victor. To satisfy the Venetian public, Handel composed +the opera “Agrippina,” which made a <i>furore</i> among all the +connoisseurs of the city.</p> + +<p>So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival +in Venice, he must hurry on to be in time for the great +Easter celebrations in Rome. Here he lived under the +patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni, one of the wealthiest and +most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was a +modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living +himself in princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and +surgeries for the public. He distributed alms, patronised +men of science and art, and entertained the public with +comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and academic +disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel +composed three operas and two oratorios. Even at this +early period the young composer was parting company +with the strict old musical traditions, and his works +showed an extraordinary variety and strength of treatment.</p> + +<p>From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his +second Italian summer, and composed the original Italian +“Aci e Galatea,” which in its English version, afterwards +written for the Duke of Chandos, has continued a marked +favourite with the musical world. Thence, after a lingering +return through the sunny land where he had been so +warmly welcomed, and which had taught him most +effectually, in convincing him that his musical life had +nothing in common with the traditions of Italian musical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>11]</a></span> +art, he returned to Germany, settling at the court of +George of Brunswick, Elector of Hanover, and afterwards +King of England. He received commission in the course +of a few months from the elector to visit England, having +been warmly invited thither by some English noblemen. +On his return to Hanover, at the end of six months, he +found the dull and pompous little court unspeakably tiresome +after the bustle of London. So it is not to be +marvelled at that he took the earliest opportunity of +returning to the land which he afterwards adopted. At this +period he was not yet twenty-five years old, but already +famous as a performer on the organ and harpsichord, and +as a composer of Italian operas.</p> + +<p>When Queen Anne died and Handel’s old patron became +King of England, Handel was forbidden to appear before +him, as he had not forgotten the musician’s escapade; but +his peace was at last made by a little ruse. Handel had a +friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from whom he learned +that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an +excursion on the Thames. So he set to work to compose +music for the occasion, which he arranged to have performed +on a boat which followed the king’s barge. As the king +floated down the river he heard the new and delightful +“Water-Music.” He knew that only one man could have +composed such music; so he sent for Handel, and sealed +his pardon with a pension of two hundred pounds a-year.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer +moved in the heyday of his youth. His greatness was to +be perfected in after-years by bitter rivalries, persecution, +alternate oscillations of poverty and affluence, and a multitude +of bitter experiences. But at this time Handel’s life +was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not +been organised to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much +at his mansion, which was then out of town, although the +house is now in the heart of Piccadilly. The intimate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>12]</a></span> +friendship of this nobleman helped to bring the young +musician into contact with many distinguished people.</p> + +<p>It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily +without knowing that their names and his would be in a +century famous. The following picture sketches Handel +and his friends in a sprightly fashion:—</p> + +<p>“Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the +corner of Regent Street, with a slight and rather more +refined-looking companion, is the obscure Samuel Johnson, +quite unknown to fame. He is walking with Richard +Savage. As Signor Handel, ‘the composer of Italian +music,’ passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his +friend, who takes only a languid interest in the foreigner. +Johnson did not care for music; of many noises he considered +it the least disagreeable.</p> + +<p>“Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, +the renowned ecclesiastic, Dean Swift. He has just nodded +patronisingly to Bononcini in the Strand, and suddenly +meets Handel, who cuts him dead. Nothing disconcerted, +the dean moves on, muttering his famous epigram—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Some say that Signor Bononcini,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Compared to Handel, is a ninny;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While others vow that to him Handel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is hardly fit to hold a candle.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Strange that such difference should be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.’<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>“As Handel enters the ‘Turk’s Head’ at the corner of +Regent Street, a noble coach and four drives up. It is the +Duke of Chandos, who is inquiring for Mr. Pope. Presently +a deformed little man, in an iron-grey suit, and with a face +as keen as a razor, hobbles out, makes a low bow to the +burly Handel, who, helping him into the chariot, gets in +after him, and they drive off together to Cannons, the +duke’s mansion at Edgeware. There they meet Mr. +Addison, the poet Gay, and the witty Arbuthnot, who have +been asked to luncheon. The last number of the <i>Spectator</i> +is on the table, and a brisk discussion soon arises between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>13]</a></span> +Pope and Addison concerning the merits of the Italian +opera, in which Pope would have the better if he only +knew a little more about music, and could keep his temper. +Arbuthnot sides with Pope in favour of Mr. Handel’s +operas; the duke endeavours to keep the peace. Handel +probably uses his favourite exclamation, ‘Vat te tevil I +care!’ and consumes the <i>recherché</i> wines and rare viands +with undiminished gusto.</p> + +<p>“The Magnificent, or the Grand Duke, as he was called, +had built himself a palace for £230,000. He had a private +chapel, and appointed Handel organist in the room of the +celebrated Dr. Pepusch, who retired with excellent grace +before one manifestly his superior. On week-days the duke +and duchess entertained all the wits and grandees in town, +and on Sundays the Edgeware Road was thronged with the +gay equipages of those who went to worship at the ducal +chapel and hear Mr. Handel play on the organ.</p> + +<p>“The Edgeware Road was a pleasant country drive, but +parts of it were so solitary that highwaymen were much to +be feared. The duke was himself attacked on one occasion; +and those who could afford it never travelled so far out of +town without armed retainers. Cannons was the pride of +the neighbourhood, and the duke—of whom Pope wrote,</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight’—<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>was as popular as he was wealthy. But his name is made +still more illustrious by the Chandos anthems. They were +all written at Cannons between 1718 and 1720, and +number in all eleven overtures, thirty-two solos, six duets, +a trio, quartet, and forty-seven choruses. Some of the +above are real masterpieces; but, with the exception of +‘The waves of the sea rage horribly,’ and ‘Who is God +but the Lord?’ few of them are ever heard now. And +yet these anthems were most significant in the variety of +the choruses and in the range of the accompaniments; and +it was then, no doubt, that Handel was feeling his way +toward the great and immortal sphere of his oratorio music. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>14]</a></span> +Indeed, his first oratorio, ‘Esther,’ was composed at +Cannons, as also the English version of ‘Acis and +Galatea.’”</p> + +<p>But Handel had other associates, and we must now visit +Thomas Britton, the musical coal-heaver. “There goes the +famous small-coal man, a lover of learning, a musician, +and a companion of gentlemen.” So the folks used to say +as Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver of Clerkenwell Green, +paced up and down the neighbouring streets with his sack +of small coal on his back, destined for one of his customers. +Britton was great among the great. He was courted by +the most fashionable folk of his day. He was a cultivated +coal-heaver, who, besides his musical taste and ability, +possessed an extensive knowledge of chemistry and the +occult sciences.</p> + +<p>Britton did more than this. He gave concerts in +Aylesbury Street, Clerkenwell, where this singular man +had formed a dwelling-house, with a concert-room and a +coal-store, out of what was originally a stable. On the +ground-floor was the small-coal repository, and over that +the concert-room—very long and narrow, badly lighted, +and with a ceiling so low that a tall man could scarcely +stand upright in it. The stairs to this room were far +from pleasant to ascend, and the following facetious lines +by Ward, the author of the “London Spy,” confirm this:—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Upon Thursdays repair<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To my palace, and there<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hobble up stair by stair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But I pray ye take care<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That you break not your shins by a stumble;<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And without e’er a souse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Paid to me or my spouse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sit as still as a mouse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the top of the house,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And there you shall hear how we fumble.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Nevertheless, beautiful duchesses and the best society in +town flocked to Britton’s on Thursdays—not to order coals, +but to sit out his concerts.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>15]</a></span> +Let us follow the short, stout little man on a concert-day. +The customers are all served, or as many as can be. The +coal-shed is made tidy and swept up, and the coal-heaver +awaits his company. There he stands at the door of his +stable, dressed in his blue blouse, dustman’s hat, and +maroon kerchief tightly fastened round his neck. The +concert-room is almost full, and, pipe in hand, Britton +awaits a new visitor—the beautiful Duchess of B——. +She is somewhat late (the coachman, possibly, is not quite +at home in the neighbourhood).</p> + +<p>Here comes a carriage, which stops at the coal-shop; +and, laying down his pipe, the coal-heaver assists her grace +to alight, and in the genteelest manner escorts her to the +narrow staircase leading to the music-room. Forgetting +Ward’s advice, she trips laughingly and carelessly up the +stairs to the room, from which proceed faint sounds of +music, increasing to quite an <i>olla podrida</i> of sound as the +apartment is reached—for the musicians are tuning up. +The beautiful duchess is soon recognised, and as soon in +deep gossip with her friends. But who is that gentlemanly +man leaning over the chamber-organ? That is Sir Roger +L’Estrange, an admirable performer on the violoncello, +and a great lover of music. He is watching the subtile +fingering of Mr. Handel, as his dimpled hands drift +leisurely and marvellously over the keys of the instrument.</p> + +<p>There, too, is Mr. Bannister with his fiddle—the first +Englishman, by-the-by, who distinguished himself upon the +violin; there is Mr. Woolaston, the painter, relating to +Dr. Pepusch of how he had that morning thrown up his +window upon hearing Britton crying “Small coal!” near +his house in Warwick Lane, and, having beckoned him in, +had made a sketch for a painting of him; there, too, is +Mr. John Hughes, author of the “Siege of Damascus.” +In the background also are Mr. Philip Hart, Mr. Henry +Symonds, Mr. Obadiah Shuttleworth, Mr. Abiell Whichello; +while in the extreme corner of the room is Robe, a justice +of the peace, letting out to Henry Needler of the Excise +Office the last bit of scandal that has come into his court. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>16]</a></span> +And now, just as the concert has commenced, in creeps +“Soliman the Magnificent,” also known as Mr. Charles +Jennens, of Great Ormond Street, who wrote many of +Handel’s librettos, and arranged the words for the +“Messiah.”</p> + +<p>“Soliman the Magnificent” is evidently resolved to do +justice to his title on this occasion, with his carefully-powdered +wig, frills, maroon-coloured coat, and buckled +shoes; and as he makes his progress up the room, the +company draw aside for him to reach his favourite seat +near Handel. A trio of Corelli’s is gone through; then +Madame Cuzzoni sings Handel’s last new air; Dr. Pepusch +takes his turn at the harpsichord; another trio of Hasse, +or a solo on the violin by Bannister; a selection on the +organ from Mr. Handel’s new oratorio; and then the day’s +programme is over. Dukes, duchesses, wits and philosophers, +poets and musicians, make their way down the +satirised stairs to go, some in carriages, some in chairs, +some on foot, to their own palaces, houses, or lodgings.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>We do not now think of Handel in connection with the +opera. To the modern mind he is so linked to the oratorio, +of which he was the father and the consummate master, that +his operas are curiosities but little known except to musical +antiquaries. Yet some of the airs from the Handel operas +are still cherished by singers as among the most beautiful +songs known to the concert-stage.</p> + +<p>In 1720 Handel was engaged by a party of noblemen, +headed by his Grace of Chandos, to compose operas for the +Royal Academy of Music at the Haymarket. An attempt +had been made to put this institution on a firm foundation +by a subscription of £50,000, and it was opened on May 2nd +with a full company of singers engaged by Handel. In the +course of eight years twelve operas were produced in rapid +succession: “Floridante,” December 9, 1721; “Ottone,” +January 12, 1723; “Flavio” and “Giulio Cesare,” 1723; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>17]</a></span> +“Tamerlano,” 1724; “Rodelinda,” 1725; “Scipione,” 1726; +“Alessandro,” 1726; “Admeto,” 1727; “Siroe,” 1728; +and “Tolommeo,” 1728. They made as great a <i>furore</i> +among the musical public of that day as would an opera +from Gounod or Verdi in the present. The principal airs +were sung throughout the land, and published as harpsichord +pieces; for in these halcyon days of our composers the whole +atmosphere of the land was full of the flavour and colour of +Handel. Many of the melodies in these now forgotten +operas have been worked up by modern composers, and so +have passed into modern music unrecognised. It is a +notorious fact that the celebrated song, “Where the Bee +sucks,” by Dr. Arne, is taken from a movement in +“Rinaldo.” Thus the new life of music is ever growing +rich with the dead leaves of the past. The most celebrated +of these operas was entitled “Otto.” It was a work composed +of one long string of exquisite gems, like Mozart’s +“Don Giovanni” and Gounod’s “Faust.” Dr. Pepusch, +who had never quite forgiven Handel for superseding him +as the best organist in England, remarked of one of the airs, +“That great bear must have been inspired when he wrote +that air.” The celebrated Madame Cuzzoni made her <i>début</i> +in it. On the second night the tickets rose to four guineas +each, and Cuzzoni received two thousand pounds for the +season.</p> + +<p>The composer had already begun to be known for his +irascible temper. It is refreshing to learn that operatic +singers of the day, however whimsical and self-willed, were +obliged to bend to the imperious genius of this man. In a +spirit of ill-timed revolt Cuzzoni declined to sing an air. +She had already given him trouble by her insolence and +freaks, which at times were unbearable. Handel at last +exploded. He flew at the wretched woman and shook her +like a rat. “Ah! I always knew you were a fery tevil,” +he cried, “and I shall now let you know that I am +Beelzebub, the prince of de tevils!” and, dragging her to +the open window, was just on the point of pitching her into +the street, when, in every sense of the word, she recanted. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>18]</a></span> +So, when Carestini, the celebrated tenor, sent back an air, +Handel was furious. Rushing into the trembling Italian’s +house, he said, in his four- or five-language style—“You +tog! don’t I know better as yourself vaat it pest for you to +sing? If you vill not sing all de song vaat I give you, I vill +not pay you ein stiver.” Among the anecdotes told of +Handel’s passion is one growing out of the composer’s +peculiar sensitiveness to discords. The dissonance of the +tuning-up period of an orchestra is disagreeable to the +most patient. Handel, being peculiarly sensitive to this +unfortunate necessity, always arranged that it should take +place before the audience assembled, so as to prevent any +sound of scraping or blowing. Unfortunately, on one +occasion, some wag got access to the orchestra where the +ready-tuned instruments were lying, and with diabolical +dexterity put every string and crook out of tune. Handel +enters. All the bows are raised together, and at the given +beat all start off <i>con spirito</i>. The effect was startling in the +extreme. The unhappy <i>maestro</i> rushes madly from his +place, kicks to pieces the first double-bass he sees, and, +seizing a kettle-drum, throws it violently at the leader of +the band. The effort sends his wig flying, and, rushing +bareheaded to the footlights, he stands a few moments amid +the roars of the house, snorting with rage and choking with +passion. Like Burleigh’s nod, Handel’s wig seemed to have +been a sure guide to his temper. When things went well, it +had a certain complacent vibration; but when he was out +of humour, the wig indicated the fact in a very positive +way. The Princess of Wales was wont to blame her ladies +for talking instead of listening. “Hush, hush!” she would +say. “Don’t you see Handel’s wig?”</p> + +<p>For several years after the subscription of the nobility +had been exhausted, our composer, having invested £10,000 +of his own in the Haymarket, produced operas with remarkable +affluence, some of them <i>pasticcio</i> works, composed of all +sorts of airs, in which the singers could give their <i>bravura</i> +songs. These were “Lotario,” 1729; “Partenope,” 1730; +“Poro,” 1731; “Ezio,” 1732; “Sosarme,” 1732; “Orlando,” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>19]</a></span> +1733; “Ariadne,” 1734; and also several minor works. +Handel’s operatic career was not so much the outcome of +his choice as dictated to him by the necessity of time and +circumstance. As time went on, his operas lost public +interest. The audiences dwindled, and the overflowing +houses of his earlier experience were replaced by empty +benches. This, however, made little difference with Handel’s +royal patrons. The king and the Prince of Wales, with +their respective households, made it an express point to +show their deep interest in Handel’s success. In illustration +of this, an amusing anecdote is told of the Earl of +Chesterfield. During the performance of “Rinaldo” this +nobleman, then an equerry of the king, was met quietly +retiring from the theatre in the middle of the first act. +Surprise being expressed by a gentleman who met the earl, +the latter said, “I don’t wish to disturb his Majesty’s +privacy.”</p> + +<p>Handel paid his singers in those days what were regarded +as enormous prices. Senisino and Carestini had each +twelve hundred pounds, and Cuzzoni two thousand, for the +season. Towards the end of what may be called the Handel +season nearly all the singers and nobles forsook him, and +supported Farinelli, the greatest singer living, at the rival +house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>From the year 1729 the career of Handel was to be a +protracted battle, in which he was sometimes victorious, +sometimes defeated, but always undaunted and animated +with a lofty sense of his own superior power. Let us take +a view of some of the rival musicians with whom he came +in contact. Of all these Bononcini was the most formidable. +He came to England in 1720 with Ariosti, also a +meritorious composer. Factions soon began to form themselves +around Handel and Bononcini, and a bitter struggle +ensued between these old foes. The same drama repeated +itself, with new actors, about thirty years afterwards, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>20]</a></span> +Paris. Gluck was then the German hero, supported by +Marie Antoinette, and Piccini fought for the Italian opera +under the colours of the king’s mistress, Du Barry, while +all the <i>littérateurs</i> and nobles ranged themselves on either +side in bitter contest. The battle between Handel and +Bononcini, as the exponents of German and Italian music, +was also repeated in after-years between Mozart and Salieri, +Weber and Rossini, and to-day is seen in the acrimonious +disputes going on between Wagner and the Italian school. +Bononcini’s career in England came to an end very +suddenly. It was discovered that a madrigal brought out +by him was pirated from another Italian composer; whereupon +Bononcini left England, humiliated to the dust, and +finally died obscure and alone, the victim of a charlatan +alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all his savings.</p> + +<p>Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as +Handel used to call him, “Old Borbora.” Without +Bononcini’s fire or Handel’s daring originality, he represented +the dry contrapuntal school of Italian music. He +was also a great singing master, famous throughout Europe, +and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. +He came to London in 1733, under the patronage of the +Italian faction, especially to serve as a thorn in the side of +Handel. His first opera, “Ariadne,” was a great success; +but when he had the audacity to challenge the great +German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so overwhelming +that he candidly admitted his rival’s superiority. +But he believed that no operas in the world were equal to +his own, and he composed fifty of them during his life, +extending to the days of Haydn, whom he had the honour +of teaching, while the father of the symphony, on the other +hand, cleaned Porpora’s boots and powdered his wig for +him.</p> + +<p>Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true +genius, who in his old age instructed some of the most +splendid singers in the history of the lyric stage. He also +married one of the most gifted and most beautiful divas of +Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote does +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>21]</a></span> +equal credit to Hasse’s heart and penetration: In after-years, +when he had left England, he was again sent for to +take Handel’s place as conductor of opera and oratorio. +Hasse inquired, “What! is Handel dead?” On being told +no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not worthy to tie +Handel’s shoe-latchets.</p> + +<p>There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicised Prussian, and +Dr. Greene, both names well known in English music. +Pepusch had had the leading place, before Handel’s arrival, +as organist and conductor, and made a distinct place for +himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured all of +his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the “Beggar’s +Opera,” which was the great sensation of the times, and +which still keeps possession of the stage. Pepusch was +chiefly notable for his skill in arranging the popular songs +of the day, and probably did more than any other composer +to give the English ballad its artistic form.</p> + +<p>The name of Dr. Greene is best known in connection +with choral compositions. His relations with Handel and +Bononcini are hardly creditable to him. He seems to have +flattered each in turn. He upheld Bononcini in the great +madrigal controversy, and appears to have wearied Handel +by his repeated visits. The great Saxon easily saw through +the flatteries of a man who was in reality an ambitious +rival, and joked about him, not always in the best taste. +When he was told that Greene was giving concerts at the +“Devil Tavern,” near Temple Bar, “Ah!” he exclaimed, +“mein poor friend, Toctor Greene—so he is gone to de +Tevil!”</p> + +<p>From 1732 to 1740 Handel’s life presents the suggestive +and often-repeated experience in the lives of men of genius—a +soul with a great creative mission, of which it is half +unconscious, partly yielding to and partly struggling +against the tendencies of the age, yet gradually crystallising +into its true form, and getting consecrated to its true work. +In these eight years Handel presented to the public ten +operas and five oratorios. It was in 1731 that the great +significant fact, though unrecognised by himself and others, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>22]</a></span> +occurred, which stamped the true bent of his genius. This +was the production of his first oratorio in England. He +was already playing his operas to empty houses, the subject +of incessant scandal and abuse on the part of his enemies, +but holding his way with steady cheerfulness and courage. +Twelve years before this he had composed the oratorio of +“Esther,” but it was still in manuscript, uncared for and +neglected. It was finally produced by a society called +Philharmonic, under the direction of Bernard Gates, the +royal-chapel master. Its fame spread wide, and we read +these significant words in one of the old English newspapers—“‘Esther,’ +an English oratorio, was performed six +times, and very full.”</p> + +<p>Shortly after this Handel himself conducted “Esther” at +the Haymarket by royal command. His success encouraged +him to write “Deborah,” another attempt in the same field, +and it met a warm reception from the public, March 17, +1733.</p> + +<p>For about fifteen years Handel had struggled heroically +in the composition of Italian operas. With these he had at +first succeeded; but his popularity waned more and more, +and he became finally the continued target for satire, scorn, +and malevolence. In obedience to the drift of opinion, all +the great singers, who had supported him at the outset, +joined the rival ranks or left England. In fact, it may be +almost said that the English public were becoming dissatisfied +with the whole system and method of Italian +music. Colley Cibber, the actor and dramatist, explains +why Italian opera could never satisfy the requirement of +Handel, or be anything more than an artificial luxury in +England: “The truth is, this kind of entertainment is +entirely sensational.” Still both Handel and his friends +and his foes, all the exponents of musical opinion in +England, persevered obstinately in warming this foreign +exotic into a new lease of life.</p> + +<p>The quarrel between the great Saxon composer and his +opponents raged incessantly both in public and private. +The newspaper and the drawing-room rang alike with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>23]</a></span> +venomous diatribes. Handel was called a swindler, a +drunkard, and a blasphemer, to whom Scripture even was +not sacred. The idea of setting Holy Writ to music +scandalised the Pharisees, who revelled in the licentious +operas and love-songs of the Italian school. All the small +wits of the time showered on Handel epigram and satire +unceasingly. The greatest of all the wits, however, +Alexander Pope, was his firm friend and admirer; and +in the “Dunciad,” wherein the wittiest of poets impaled +so many of the small fry of the age with his pungent and +vindictive shaft, he also slew some of the most malevolent +of Handel’s foes.</p> + +<p>Fielding, in <i>Tom Jones</i>, has an amusing hit at the +taste of the period—“It was Mr. Western’s custom every +afternoon, as soon as he was drunk, to hear his daughter +play on the harpsichord; for he was a great lover of music, +and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed as a +connoisseur, for he always excepted against the finest +compositions of Mr. Handel.”</p> + +<p>So much had it become the fashion to criticise Handel’s +new effects in vocal and instrumental composition, that +some years later Mr. Sheridan makes one of his characters +fire a pistol simply to shock the audience, and makes him +say in a stage whisper to the gallery, “This hint, gentlemen, +I took from Handel.”</p> + +<p>The composer’s Oxford experience was rather amusing +and suggestive. We find it recorded that in July 1733, +“one Handell, a foreigner, was desired to come to Oxford +to perform in music.” Again the same writer says—“Handell, +with his lousy crew, a great number of foreign +fiddlers, had a performance for his own benefit at the +theatre.” One of the dons writes of the performance as +follows:—“This is an innovation; but everyone paid his +five shillings to try how a little fiddling would sit upon him. +And, notwithstanding the barbarous and inhuman combination +of such a parcel of unconscionable scamps, he +[Handel] disposed of the most of his tickets.”</p> + +<p>“Handel and his lousy crew,” however, left Oxford with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>24]</a></span> +the prestige of a magnificent victory. His third oratorio, +“Athaliah,” was received with vast applause by a great +audience. Some of his university admirers, who appreciated +academic honours more than the musician did, urged him +to accept the degree of Doctor of Music, for which he +would have to pay a small fee. The characteristic reply +was a Parthian arrow: “Vat te tevil I trow my money +away for dat vich the blockhead vish? I no vant!”</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and +suspend payment. He had made and spent during his +operatic career the sum of £10,000 sterling, besides dissipating +the sum of £50,000 subscribed by his noble +patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, +and the Duchess of Marlborough and her friends, who +ruled the opposition clique and imported Bononcini, paid +£12,000 for the pleasure of ruining Handel. His failure +as an operatic composer is due in part to the same causes +which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. It +is a little significant to notice that, alike by the progress of +his own genius and by the force of conditions, he was +forced out of the operatic field at the very time when he +strove to tighten his grip on it.</p> + +<p>His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, +his creation of new forms and remodelling of old ones, his +entire subordination of the words in the story to a pure +musical purpose, offended the singers and retarded the +action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet it was +by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public +mind was being moulded to understand and love the form +of the oratorio.</p> + +<p>From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a +number of operatic works, the principal ones of which were +“Alcina,” 1735; “Arminio,” 1737; and “Berenice,” 1737. +He also during these years wrote the magnificent music to +Dryden’s “Alexander’s Feast,” and the great funeral +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>25]</a></span> +anthem on the occasion of Queen Caroline’s death in the +latter part of the year 1737.</p> + +<p>We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which +Handel persevered in the composition of operatic music +after it had ruined him; but it was still some time before +he fully appreciated the true turn of his genius, which +could not be trifled with or ignored. In his adversity he +had some consolation. His creditors were patient, believing +in his integrity. The royal family were his firm +friends.</p> + +<p>Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful +Prince of Wales, then a child, and afterward George the +Third, if he loved music, answered, when the prince expressed +his pleasure, “A good boy, a good boy! You shall +protect my fame when I am dead.” Afterwards, when the +half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public +misfortunes, he found his chief solace in the Waverley +novels and Handel’s music.</p> + +<p>It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers +of the age were Handel’s firm admirers. Such men as +Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, Colley Cibber, Pope, Fielding, +Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognised the deep, struggling +tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. They +defended him in print, and never failed to attend his performances, +and at his benefit concerts their enthusiastic +support always insured him an overflowing house.</p> + +<p>The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic +classes sneered at his oratorios and complained at his +innovations. His music was found to be good bait for the +popular gardens and the holiday-makers of the period. +Jonathan Tyers was one of the most liberal managers of +this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, and +Handel (<i>incognito</i>) supplied him with nearly all his music. +The composer did much the same sort of thing for Marylebone +Gardens, furbishing up old and writing new strains +with an ease that well became the urgency of the +circumstances.</p> + +<p>“My grandfather,” says the Rev. J. Fountagne, “as I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>26]</a></span> +have been told, was an enthusiast in music, and cultivated +most of all the friendship of musical men, especially of +Handel, who visited him often, and had a great predilection +for his society. This leads me to relate an anecdote which +I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens +were flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably +of Arne, was often heard from the orchestra there. +One evening, as my grandfather and Handel were walking +together and alone, a new piece was struck up by the band. +‘Come, Mr. Fountagne,’ said Handel, ‘let us sit down and +listen to this piece; I want to know your opinion about it.’ +Down they sat, and after some time the old parson, turning +to his companion, said, ‘It is not worth listening to; it’s +very poor stuff.’ ‘You are right, Mr. Fountagne,’ said +Handel, ‘it is very poor stuff; I thought so myself when +I had finished it.’ The old gentleman, being taken by surprise, +was beginning to apologise; but Handel assured him +there was no necessity, that the music was really bad, having +been composed hastily, and his time for the production +limited; and that the opinion given was as correct as it was +honest.”</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>The period of Handel’s highest development had now +arrived. For seven years his genius had been slowly but +surely maturing, in obedience to the inner law of his being. +He had struggled long in the bonds of operatic composition, +but even here his innovations showed conclusively how he +was reaching out toward the form with which his name was +to be associated through all time. The year 1739 was one +of prodigious activity. The oratorio of “Saul” was produced, +of which the “Dead March” is still recognised as +one of the great musical compositions of all time, being one +of the few intensely solemn symphonies written in a major +key. Several works now forgotten were composed, and the +great “Israel in Egypt” was written in the incredibly +short space of twenty-seven days. Of this work a distinguished +writer on music says—“Handel was now fifty-five +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>27]</a></span> +years old, and had entered, after many a long and +weary contest, upon his last and greatest creative period. +His genius culminates in the ‘Israel.’ Elsewhere he has +produced longer recitatives and more pathetic arias; nowhere +has he written finer tenor songs than ‘The enemy +said,’ or finer duets than ‘The Lord is a man of war;’ +and there is not in the history of music an example of +choruses piled up like so many Ossas on Pelions in such +majestic strength, and hurled in open defiance at a public +whose ears were itching for Italian love-lays and English +ballads. In these twenty-eight colossal choruses we perceive +at once a reaction against and a triumph over the +tastes of the age. The wonder is, not that the ‘Israel’ was +unpopular, but that it should have been tolerated; but +Handel, while he appears to have been for years driven by +the public, had been, in reality, driving them. His earliest +oratorio, ‘Il Trionfo del Tempo’ (composed in Italy), had +but two choruses; into his operas more and more were +introduced, with disastrous consequences; but when, at the +zenith of his strength, he produced a work which consisted +almost entirely of these unpopular peculiarities, the public +treated him with respect, and actually sat out three performances +in one season!” In addition to these two great +oratorios, our composer produced the beautiful music to +Dryden’s “St. Cæcilia Ode,” and Milton’s “L’Allegro” +and “Il Penseroso.” Henceforth neither praise nor blame +could turn Handel from his appointed course. He was not +yet popular with the musical <i>dilettanti</i>, but we find no more +catering to an absurd taste, no more writing of silly +operatic froth.</p> + +<p>Our composer had always been very fond of the Irish, +and, at the invitation of the lord-lieutenant and prominent +Dublin amateurs, he crossed the channel in 1741. He was +received with the greatest enthusiasm, and his house became +the resort of all the musical people in the city of Dublin. +One after another his principal works were produced before +admiring audiences in the new Music Hall in Fishamble +Street. The crush to hear the “Allegro” and “Penseroso” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>28]</a></span> +at the opening performances was so great that the doors +had to be closed. The papers declared there never had +been seen such a scene before in Dublin.</p> + +<p>Handel gave twelve performances at very short intervals, +comprising all of his finest works. In these concerts the +“Acis and Galatea” and “Alexander’s Feast” were the +most admired; but the enthusiasm culminated in the +rendition of the “Messiah,” produced for the first time on +13th April 1742. The performance was a beneficiary one +in aid of poor and distressed prisoners for debt in the +Marshalsea in Dublin. So, by a remarkable coincidence, +the first performance of the “Messiah” literally meant +deliverance to the captives. The principal singers were +Mrs. Cibber (daughter-in-law of Colley Cibber, and afterwards +one of the greatest actresses of her time), Mrs. +Avoglio, and Mr. Dubourg. The town was wild with excitement. +Critics, poets, fine ladies, and men of fashion +tore rhetoric to tatters in their admiration. A clergyman +so far forgot his Bible in his rapture as to exclaim to Mrs. +Cibber, at the close of one of her airs, “Woman, for this be +all thy sins forgiven thee.” The penny-a-liners wrote that +“words were wanting to express the exquisite delight,” etc. +And—supreme compliment of all, for Handel was a cynical +bachelor—the fine ladies consented to leave their hoops at +home for the second performance, that a couple of hundred +or so extra listeners might be accommodated. This event +was the grand triumph of Handel’s life. Years of misconception, +neglect, and rivalry were swept out of mind in the +intoxicating delight of that night’s success.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Handel returned to London, and composed a new +oratorio, “Samson,” for the following Lenten season. This, +together with the “Messiah,” heard for the first time in +London, made the stock of twelve performances. The +fashionable world ignored him altogether; the newspapers +kept a contemptuous silence; comic singers were hired to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>29]</a></span> +parody his noblest airs at the great houses; and impudent +Horace Walpole had the audacity to say that he “had hired +all the goddesses from farces and singers of roast-beef, from +between the acts of both theatres, with a man with one note +in his voice, and a girl with never a one; and so they sang +and made brave hallelujahs.”</p> + +<p>The new field into which Handel had entered inspired +his genius to its greatest energy. His new works for the +season of 1744 were the “Dettingen Te Deum,” “Semele,” +and “Joseph and his Brethren;” for the next year (he had +again rented the Haymarket Theatre), “Hercules,” “Belshazzar,” +and a revival of “Deborah.” All these works +were produced in a style of then uncommon completeness; +and the great expense he incurred, combined with the +active hostility of the fashionable world, forced him to close +his doors and suspend payment. From this time forward +Handel gave concerts whenever he chose, and depended on +the people, who so supported him by their gradually growing +appreciation, that in two years he had paid off all his debts, +and in ten years had accumulated a fortune of £10,000. +The works produced during these latter years were “Judas +Maccabæus,” 1747; “Alexander,” 1748; “Joshua,” 1748; +“Susannah,” 1749; “Solomon,” 1749; “Theodora,” 1750; +“Choice of Hercules,” 1751; “Jephthah,” 1752, closing +with this a stupendous series of dramatic oratorios. While +at work on the last, his eyes suffered an attack which finally +resulted in blindness.</p> + +<p>Like Milton in the case of “Paradise Lost,” Handel preferred +one of his least popular oratorios, “Theodora.” It +was a great favourite with him, and he used to say that the +chorus, “He saw the lovely youth,” was finer than anything +in the “Messiah.” The public were not of this opinion, +and he was glad to give away tickets to any professors who +applied for them. When the “Messiah” was again produced, +two of these gentlemen who had neglected “Theodora” +applied for admission. “Oh! your sarvant, meine +Herren!” exclaimed the indignant composer. “You are +tamnable dainty! You would not go to ‘Theodora’—dere +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>30]</a></span> +was room enough to dance dere when dat was perform.” +When Handel heard that an enthusiast had offered to make +himself responsible for all the boxes the next time the +despised oratorio should be given—“He is a fool,” said he; +“the Jews will not come to it as to ‘Judas Maccabæus,’ +because it is a Christian story; and the ladies will not come, +because it is a virtuous one.”</p> + +<p>Handel’s triumph was now about to culminate in a serene +and acknowledged pre-eminence. The people had recognised +his greatness, and the reaction at last conquered all +classes. Publishers vied with each other in producing his +works, and their performance was greeted with great audiences +and enthusiastic applause. His last ten years were a +peaceful and beautiful ending of a stormy career.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Thought lingers pleasantly over this sunset period. +Handel throughout life was so wedded to his art, that he +cared nothing for the delights of woman’s love. His recreations +were simple—rowing, walking, visiting his friends, +and playing on the organ. He would sometimes try to +play the people out of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and hold them +indefinitely. He would resort at night to his favourite +tavern, the Queen’s Head, where he would smoke and +drink beer with his chosen friends. Here he would indulge +in roaring conviviality and fun, and delight his friends with +sparkling satire and pungent humour, of which he was a +great master, helped by his amusing compound of English, +Italian, and German. Often he would visit the picture +galleries, of which he was passionately fond. His clumsy +but noble figure could be seen almost any morning rolling +through Charing Cross; and everyone who met old Father +Handel treated him with the deepest reverence.</p> + +<p>The following graphic narrative, taken from the <i>Somerset +House Gazette</i>, offers a vivid portraiture. Schœlcher, in +his <i>Life of Handel</i>, says that “its author had a relative, +Zachary Hardcastle, a retired merchant, who was intimately +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>31]</a></span> +acquainted with all the most distinguished men of his time, +artists, poets, musicians, and physicians.” This old gentleman, +who lived at Paper Buildings, was accustomed to take +his morning walk in the garden of Somerset House, where +he happened to meet with another old man, Colley Cibber, +and proposed to him to go and hear a competition which +was to take place at midday for the post of organist to the +Temple, and he invited him to breakfast, telling him at the +same time that Dr. Pepusch and Dr. Arne were to be with +him at nine o’clock. They go in; Pepusch arrives punctually +at the stroke of nine; presently there is a knock, the +door is opened, and Handel unexpectedly presents himself. +Then follows the scene:—</p> + +<p>“Handel: ‘Vat! mein dear friend Hardgasdle—vat! +you are merry py dimes! Vat! and Misder Golley Cibbers, +too! aye, and Togder Peepbush as vell! Vell, dat is gomigal. +Vell, mein friendts, andt how vags the vorldt wid you, +mein tdears? Bray, bray, do let me sit town a momend.’</p> + +<p>“Pepusch took the great man’s hat, Colley Cibber took his +stick, and my great-uncle wheeled round his reading-chair, +which was somewhat about the dimensions of that in which +our kings and queens are crowned; and then the great man +sat him down.</p> + +<p>“‘Vell, I thank you, gentlemen; now I am at mein ease +vonce more. Upon mein vord, dat is a picture of a ham. +It is very pold of me to gome to preak my fastd wid you +uninvided; and I have brought along wid me a nodable +abbetite; for the wader of old Fader Dems is it not a fine +pracer of the stomach?’</p> + +<p>“‘You do me great honour, Mr. Handel,’ said my great-uncle. +‘I take this early visit as a great kindness.’</p> + +<p>“‘A delightful morning for the water,’ said Colley +Cibber.</p> + +<p>“‘Pray, did you come with oars or scullers, Mr. Handel?’ +said Pepusch.</p> + +<p>“‘Now, how gan you demand of me dat zilly question, +you who are a musician and a man of science, Togder +Peepbush? Vat gan it concern you whether I have one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>32]</a></span> +votdermans or two votdermans—whether I bull out mine +burce for to pay von shilling or two? Diavolo! I gannot +go here, or I gannot go dere, but some one shall send it to +some newsbaber, as how Misder Chorge Vrederick Handel +did go somedimes last week in a votderman’s wherry, to +preak his fastd wid Misder Zac. Hardgasdle; but it shall be +all the fault wid himeself, if it shall be but in print, whether +I was rowed by one votdermans or by two votdermans. +So, Togder Peepbush, you will blease to excuse me from +dat.’</p> + +<p>“Poor Dr. Pepusch was for a moment disconcerted, but +it was soon forgotten in the first dish of coffee.</p> + +<p>“‘Well, gentlemen,’ said my great-uncle Zachary, looking +at his tompion, ‘it is ten minutes past nine. Shall we wait +more for Dr. Arne?’</p> + +<p>“‘Let us give him another five minutes’ chance, Master +Hardcastle,’ said Colley Cibber; ‘he is too great a genius +to keep time.’</p> + +<p>“‘Let us put it to the vote,’ said Dr. Pepusch, smiling. +‘Who holds up hands?’</p> + +<p>“‘I will segond your motion wid all mine heardt,’ said +Handel. ‘I will hold up mine feeble hands for mine oldt +friendt Custos (Arne’s name was Augustine), for I know not +who I wouldt waidt for, over andt above mine oldt rival, +Master Dom (meaning Pepusch). Only by your bermission, +I vill dake a snag of your ham, andt a slice of French roll, +or a modicum of chicken; for to dell you the honest fagd, I +am all pote famished, for I laid me down on mine billow in +bed the lastd nightd widout mine supper, at the instance of +mine physician, for which I am not altogeddere inglined to +extend mine fastd no longer.’ Then, laughing: ‘Berhaps, +Mister Golley Cibbers, you may like to pote this to the +vote? But I shall not segond the motion, nor shall I holdt +up mine hand, as I will, by bermission, embloy it some +dime in a better office. So, if you please, do me the +kindness for to gut me a small slice of ham.’</p> + +<p>“At this instant a hasty footstep was heard on the stairs, +accompanied by the humming of an air, all as gay as the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>33]</a></span> +morning, which was beautiful and bright. It was the month +of May.</p> + +<p>“‘Bresto! be quick,’ said Handel; he knew it was Arne; +‘fifteen minutes of dime is butty well for an <i>ad libitum</i>.’</p> + +<p>“‘Mr. Arne,’ said my great-uncle’s man.</p> + +<p>“A chair was placed, and the social party commenced +their <i>déjeuner</i>.</p> + +<p>“‘Well, and how do you find yourself, my dear sir?’ +inquired Arne, with friendly warmth.</p> + +<p>“‘Why, by the mercy of Heaven, andt the waders of +Aix-la-Chapelle, andt the addentions of mine togders andt +physicians, and oggulists, of lade years, under Providence, I +am surbrizingly pedder—thank you kindly, Misder Custos. +Andt you have also been doing well of lade, as I am bleased +to hear. You see, sir,’ pointing to his plate, ‘you see, sir, +dat I am in the way for to regruit mine flesh wid the good +viands of Misder Zachary Hardgasdle.’</p> + +<p>“‘So, sir, I presume you are come to witness the trial +of skill at the old round church? I understand the +amateurs expect a pretty sharp contest,’ said Arne.</p> + +<p>“‘Gondest,’ echoed Handel, laying down his knife and +fork. ‘Yes, no doubt; your amadeurs have a bassion for +gondest. Not vot it vos in our remembrance. Hey, mine +friendt? Ha, ha, ha!’</p> + +<p>“‘No, sir, I am happy to say those days of envy and +bickering, and party feeling, are gone and past. To be sure +we had enough of such disgraceful warfare: it lasted too +long.’</p> + +<p>“‘Why, yes; it tid last too long, it bereft me of mine +poor limbs: it tid bereave of that vot is the most blessed +gift of Him vot made us, andt not wee ourselves. And for +vot? Vy, for noding in the vorldt pode the bleasure and +bastime of them who, having no widt, nor no want, set at +loggerheads such men as live by their widts, to worry and +destroy one andt anodere as wild beasts in the Golloseum in +the dimes of the Romans.’</p> + +<p>“Poor Dr. Pepusch during this conversation, as my great-uncle +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>34]</a></span> +observed, was sitting on thorns; he was in the +confederacy professionally only.</p> + +<p>“‘I hope, sir,’ observed the doctor, ‘you do not include +me among those who did injustice to your talents?’</p> + +<p>“‘Nod at all, nod at all; God forbid! I am a great +admirer of the airs of the “Peggar’s Obera,” andt every +professional gendtleman must do his best for to live.’</p> + +<p>“This mild return, couched under an apparent compliment, +was well received; but Handel, who had a talent for +sarcastic drolling, added—</p> + +<p>“‘Pute why blay the Peggar yourself, Togder, andt adapt +oldt pallad humsdrum, ven, as a man of science, you could +gombose original airs of your own? Here is mine friendt, +Custos Arne, who has made a road for himself, for to drive +along his own genius to the demple of fame.’ Then, turning +to our illustrious Arne, he continued, ‘Min friendt Custos, +you and I must meed togeder somedimes before it is long, +and hold a <i>têde-à-têde</i> of old days vat is gone; ha, ha! Oh! +it is gomigal now dat id is all gone by. Custos, to nod you +remember as it was almost only of yesterday dat she-devil +Guzzoni, andt dat other brecious taughter of iniquity, +Pelzebub’s spoiled child, the bretty-faced Faustina? Oh! +the mad rage vot I have to answer for, vot with one and the +oder of these fine latdies’ airs andt graces. Again, to you +nod remember dat ubstardt buppy Senesino, and the goxgomb +Farinelli? Next, again, mine somedimes nodtable +rival Bononcini, and old Borbora? Ha, ha, ha! all at war +wid me, andt all at war wid themselves. Such a gonfusion +of rivalshibs, andt double-facedness, andt hybocrisy, and +malice, vot would make a gomigal subject for a boem in +rhymes, or a biece for the stage, as I hopes to be saved.’”</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>We now turn from the man to his music. In his daily +life with the world we get a spectacle of a quick, passionate +temper, incased in a great burly frame, and raging into +whirlwinds of excitement at small provocation; a gourmand +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>35]</a></span> +devoted to the pleasure of the table, sometimes indeed +gratifying his appetite in no seemly fashion, resembling his +friend Dr. Samuel Johnson in many notable ways. Handel +as a man was of the earth, earthly, in the extreme, and +marked by many whimsical and disagreeable faults. But in +his art we recognise a genius so colossal, massive, and self-poised +as to raise admiration to its superlative of awe. +When Handel had disencumbered himself of tradition, convention, +the trappings of time and circumstances, he attained +a place in musical creation, solitary and unique. His genius +found expression in forms large and austere, disdaining the +luxuriant and trivial. He embodied the spirit of Protestantism +in music; and a recognition of this fact is probably the +key of the admiration felt for him by the Anglo-Saxon races.</p> + +<p>Handel possessed an inexhaustible fund of melody of +the noblest order; an almost unequalled command of +musical expression; perfect power over all the resources of +his science; the faculty of wielding huge masses of tone +with perfect ease and felicity; and he was without rival in +the sublimity of ideas. The problem which he so successfully +solved in the oratorio was that of giving such dramatic +force to the music, in which he clothed the sacred texts, as +to be able to dispense with all scenic and stage effects. One +of the finest operatic composers of the time, the rival of +Bach as an instrumental composer, and performer on the +harpsichord or organ, the unanimous verdict of the musical +world is that no one has ever equalled him in completeness, +range of effect, elevation and variety of conception, and +sublimity in the treatment of sacred music. We can readily +appreciate Handel’s own words when describing his own +sensations in writing the “Messiah”—“I did think I did +see all heaven before me, and the great God himself.”</p> + +<p>The great man died on Good Friday night, 1759, aged +seventy-five years. He had often wished “he might breathe +his last on Good Friday, in hope,” he said, “of meeting his +good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on the day of his +resurrection.” The old blind musician had his wish.</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>36]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="gluck" id="gluck"></a><i>GLUCK.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gluck</span> is a noble and striking figure in musical history, +alike in the services he rendered to his art and the dignity +and strength of his personal character. As the predecessor +of Wagner and Meyerbeer, who among the composers of +this century have given opera its largest and noblest expression, +he anticipated their important reforms, and in his +musical creations we see all that is best in what is called the +new school.</p> + +<p>The man, the Ritter <span class="smcap">Christoph Wilibald von Gluck</span>, +is almost as interesting to us as the musician. He moved +in the society of princes with a calm and haughty dignity, +their conscious peer, and never prostituted his art to gain +personal advancement or to curry favour with the great ones +of the earth. He possessed a majesty of nature which was +the combined effect of personal pride, a certain lofty self-reliance, +and a deep conviction that he was the apostle of +an important musical mission.</p> + +<p>Gluck’s whole life was illumined by an indomitable sense +of his own strength, and lifted by it into an atmosphere high +above that of his rivals, whom the world has now almost +forgotten, except as they were immortalised by being his +enemies. Like Milton and Bacon, who put on record their +knowledge that they had written for all time, Gluck had a +magnificent consciousness of himself. “I have written,” he +says, “the music of my ‘Armida’ in such a manner as to +prevent its soon growing old.” This is a sublime vanity +inseparable from the great aggressive geniuses of the world, +the wind of the speed which measures their force of impact.</p> + +<p>Duplessis’s portrait of Gluck almost takes the man out of +paint to put him in flesh and blood. He looks down with +wide-open eyes, swelling nostrils, firm mouth, and massive +chin. The noble brow, dome-like and expanded, relieves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>37]</a></span> +the massiveness of his face; and the whole countenance and +figure express the repose of a powerful and passionate nature +schooled into balance and symmetry: altogether the +presentment of a great man, who felt that he could move the +world and had found the <i>pou sto</i>. Of a large and robust +type of physical beauty, Nature seems to have endowed him +on every hand with splendid gifts. Such a man as this could +say with calm simplicity to Marie Antoinette, who inquired +one night about his new opera of “Armida,” then nearly +finished—“<i>Madame, il est bientôt fini, et vraiment ce sera +superbe.</i>”</p> + +<p>One night Handel listened to a new opera from a young +and unknown composer, the “Caduta de’ Giganti,” one of +Gluck’s very earliest works, written when he was yet corrupted +with all the vices of the Italian method. “Mein Gott! he +is an idiot,” said Handel; “he knows no more of counterpoint +then mein cook.” Handel did not see with prophetic +eyes. He never met Gluck afterwards, and we do not know +his later opinion of the composer of “Orpheus and +Eurydice” and “Iphigenia in Tauris.” But Gluck had ever +the profoundest admiration for the author of the “Messiah.” +There was something in these two strikingly similar, as their +music was alike characterised by massive simplicity and +strength, not rough-hewn, but shaped into austere beauty.</p> + +<p>Before we relate the great episode of our composer’s life, +let us take a backward glance at his youth. He was the son +of a forester in the service of Prince Lobkowitz, born at +Weidenwang in the Upper Palatinate, 2nd July 1714. +Gluck was devoted to music from early childhood, but +received, in connection with the musical art, an excellent +education at the Jesuit College of Kommotau. Here he +learned singing, the organ, the violin and harpsichord, and +had a mind to get his living by devoting his musical talents +to the Church. The Prague public recognised in him a +musician of fair talent, but he found but little encouragement +to stay at the Bohemian capital. So he decided to finish +his musical education at Vienna, where more distinguished +masters could be had. Prince Lobkowitz, who remembered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>38]</a></span> +his gamekeeper’s son, introduced the young man to the +Italian Prince Melzi, who induced him to accompany him +to Milan. As the pupil of the Italian organist and composer, +Sammartini, he made rapid progress in operatic composition. +He was successful in pleasing Italian audiences, and in four +years produced eight operas, for which the world has forgiven +him in forgetting them. Then Gluck must go to London to +see what impression he could make on English critics; for +London then, as now, was one of the great musical centres, +where every successful composer or singer must get his +brevet.</p> + +<p>Gluck’s failure to please in London was, perhaps, an +important epoch in his career. With a mind singularly +sensitive to new impressions, and already struggling with +fresh ideas in the laws of operatic composition, Handel’s +great music must have had a powerful effect in stimulating +his unconscious progress. His last production in England, +“Pyramus and Thisbe,” was a <i>pasticcio</i> opera, in which he +embodied the best bits out of his previous works. The +experiment was a glaring failure, as it ought to have been; +for it illustrated the Italian method, which was designed for +mere vocal display, carried to its logical absurdity.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>In 1748 Gluck settled in Vienna, where almost immediately +his opera of “Semiramide” was produced. Here +he conceived a passion for Marianne, the daughter of Joseph +Pergin, a rich banker; but on account of the father’s distaste +for a musical son-in-law, the marriage did not occur +till 1750. “Telemacco” and “Clemenza di Tito” were +composed about this time, and performed in Vienna, Rome, +and Naples. In 1755 our composer received the order of +the Golden Spur from the Roman pontiff in recognition of +the merits of two operas performed at Rome, called “Il +Trionfo di Camillo” and “Antigono.” Seven years were +now actively employed in producing operas for Vienna and +Italian cities, which, without possessing great value, show +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>39]</a></span> +the change which had begun to take place in this composer’s +theories of dramatic music. In Paris he had been +struck with the operas of Rameau, in which the declamatory +form was strongly marked. His early Italian training had +fixed in his mind the importance of pure melody. From +Germany he obtained his appreciation of harmony, and had +made a deep study of the uses of the orchestra. So we see +this great reformer struggling on with many faltering steps +towards that result which he afterwards summed up in the +following concise description—“My purpose was to restrict +music to its true office, that of ministering to the expression +of poetry, without interrupting the action.”</p> + +<p>In Calzabigi Gluck had met an author who fully +appreciated his ideas, and had the talent of writing a +libretto in accordance with them. This coadjutor wrote all +the librettos that belonged to Gluck’s greatest period. He +had produced his “Orpheus and Eurydice” and “Alceste” +in Vienna with a fair amount of success; but his tastes +drew him strongly to the French stage, where the art of +acting and declamation was cultivated then, as it is now, to +a height unknown in other parts of Europe. So we find +him gladly accepting an offer from the managers of the +French Opera to migrate to the great city, in which were +fermenting with much noisy fervour those new ideas in art, +literature, politics, and society, which were turning the eyes +of all Europe to the French capital.</p> + +<p>The world’s history has hardly a more picturesque and +striking spectacle, a period more fraught with the working +of powerful forces, than that exhibited by French society in +the latter part of Louis XV.’s reign. We see a court rotten +to the core with indulgence in every form of sensuality and +vice, yet glittering with the veneer of a social polish which +made it the admiration of the world. A dissolute king was +ruled by a succession of mistresses, and all the courtiers +vied in emulating the vice and extravagance of their master. +Yet in this foul compost-heap art and literature flourished +with a tropical luxuriance. Voltaire was at the height of +his splendid career, the most brilliant wit and philosopher +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>40]</a></span> +of his age. The lightnings of his mockery attacked with an +incessant play the social, political, and religious shams of +the period. People of all classes, under the influence of +his unsparing satire, were learning to see with clear eyes +what an utterly artificial and polluted age they lived in, and +the cement which bound society in a compact whole was +fast melting under this powerful solvent.</p> + +<p>Rousseau, with his romantic philosophy and eloquence, +had planted his new ideas deep in the hearts of his contemporaries, +weary with the artifice and the corruption of a +time which had exhausted itself and had nothing to promise +under the old social <i>régime</i>. The ideals uplifted in the +<i>Nouvelle Héloïse</i> and the <i>Confessions</i> awakened men’s +minds with a great rebound to the charms of Nature, +simplicity, and a social order untrammelled by rules or conventions. +The eloquence with which these theories were +propounded carried the French people by storm, and +Rousseau was a demigod at whose shrine worshipped alike +duchess and peasant. The Encyclopædists stimulated the +ferment by their literary enthusiasm, and the heartiness +with which they co-operated with the whole current of +revolutionary thought.</p> + +<p>The very atmosphere was reeking with the prophecy of +imminent change. Versailles itself did not escape the +contagion. Courtiers and aristocrats, in worshipping the +beautiful ideals set up by the new school, which were as far +removed as possible from their own effete civilisation, did +not realise that they were playing with the fire which was to +burn out the whole social edifice of France with such a +terrible conflagration; for, back and beneath all this, there +was a people groaning under long centuries of accumulated +wrong, in whose imbruted hearts the theories applauded by +their oppressors with a sort of <i>doctrinaire</i> delight were +working with a fatal fever.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>41]</a></span></p> + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>In this strange condition of affairs Gluck found his +new sphere of labour—Gluck, himself overflowing with the +revolutionary spirit, full of the enthusiasm of reform. At +first he carried everything before him. Protected by +royalty, he produced, on the basis of an admirable libretto +by Du Rollet, one of the great wits of the time, “Iphigenia +in Aulis.” It was enthusiastically received. The critics, +delighted to establish the reputation of one especially +favoured by the Dauphiness Marie Antoinette, exhausted +superlatives on the new opera. The Abbé Arnaud, one of +the leading <i>dilettanti</i>, exclaimed—“With such music one +might found a new religion!” To be sure, the connoisseurs +could not understand the complexities of the music; but, +following the rule of all connoisseurs before or since, they +considered it all the more learned and profound. So led, +the general public clapped their hands, and agreed to +consider Gluck as a great composer. He was called the +Hercules of music; the opera-house was crammed night after +night; his footsteps were dogged in the streets by admiring +enthusiasts; the wits and poets occupied themselves with +composing sonnets in his praise; brilliant courtiers and fine +ladies showered valuable gifts on the new musical oracle; +he was hailed as the exponent of Rousseauism in music. +We read that it was considered to be a priceless privilege to +be admitted to the rehearsal of a new opera, to see Gluck +conduct in nightcap and dressing-gown.</p> + +<p>Fresh adaptations of “Orpheus and Eurydice” and of +“Alceste” were produced. The first, brought out in 1784, +was received with an enthusiasm which could be contented +only with forty-nine consecutive performances. The second +act of this work has been called one of the most astonishing +productions of the human mind. The public began to show +signs of fickleness, however, on the production of the +“Alceste.” On the first night a murmur arose among the +spectators—“The piece has fallen.” Abbé Arnaud, Gluck’s +devoted defender, arose in his box and replied, “Yes! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>42]</a></span> +fallen from heaven.” While Mademoiselle Levasseur was +singing one of the great airs, a voice was heard to say, +“Ah! you tear out my ears;” to which the caustic +rejoinder was, “How fortunate, if it is to give you others!”</p> + +<p>Gluck himself was badly bitten, in spite of his hatred +of shams and shallowness, with the pretences of the time, +which professed to dote on nature and simplicity. In a +letter to his old pupil, Marie Antoinette, wherein he +disclaims any pretension of teaching the French a new +school of music, he says—“I see with satisfaction that +the language of Nature is the universal language.”</p> + +<p>So, here on the crumbling crust of a volcano, where the +volatile French court danced and fiddled and sang, +unreckoning of what was soon to come, our composer and +his admirers patted each other on the back with infinite +complacency.</p> + +<p>But after this high tide of prosperity there was to come a +reverse. A powerful faction, that for a time had been +crushed by Gluck’s triumph, after a while raised their heads +and organised an attack. There were second-rate composers +whose scores had been laid on the shelf in the rage +for the new favourite; musicians who were shocked and +enraged at the difficulties of his instrumentation; wits who, +having praised Gluck for a while, thought they could now +find a readier field for their quills in satire; and a large +section of the public who changed for no earthly reason but +that they got tired of doing one thing.</p> + +<p>Therefore, the Italian Piccini was imported to be pitted +against the reigning deity. The French court was broken +up into hostile ranks. Marie Antoinette was Gluck’s +patron, but Madame Du Barry, the king’s mistress, declared +for Piccini. Abbé Arnaud fought for Gluck; but the witty +Marmontel was the advocate of his rival. The keen-witted +Du Rollet was Gluckist; but La Harpe, the eloquent, was +Piccinist. So this battle-royal in art commenced and raged +with virulence. The green-room was made unmusical with +contentions carried out in polite Billingsgate. Gluck tore +up his unfinished score in rage when he learned that his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>43]</a></span> +rival was to compose an opera on the same libretto. La +Harpe said—“The famous Gluck may puff his own compositions, +but he can’t prevent them from boring us to +death.” Thus the wags of Paris laughed and wrangled over +the musical rivals. Berton, the new director, fancied he +could soften the dispute and make the two composers +friends; so at a dinner-party, when they were all in their +cups, he proposed that they should compose an opera +jointly. This was demurred to; but it was finally arranged +that they should compose an opera on the same subject.</p> + +<p>“Iphigenia in Tauris,” Gluck’s second “Iphigenia,” produced +in 1779, was such a masterpiece that his rival shut +his own score in his portfolio, and kept it two years. +All Paris was enraptured with this great work, and Gluck’s +detractors were silenced in the wave of enthusiasm which +swept the public. Abbé Arnaud’s opinion was the echo of +the general mind—“There was but one beautiful part, and +that was the whole of it.” This opera may be regarded as +the most perfect example of Gluck’s school in making the +music the full reflex of the dramatic action. While Orestes +sings in the opera, “My heart is calm,” the orchestra +continues to paint the agitation of his thoughts. During +the rehearsal the musician failed to understand the exigency +and ceased playing. The composer cried out, in a rage, +“Don’t you see he is lying? Go on, go on; he has just +killed his mother.”</p> + +<p>On one occasion, when he was praising Rameau’s chorus +of “Castor and Pollux,” an admirer of his flattered him with +the remark, “But what a difference between this chorus and +that of your ‘Iphigenia!’” “Yet it is very well done,” +said Gluck; “one is only a religious ceremony, the other is +a real funeral.” He was wont to say that in composing he +always tried to forget he was a musician.</p> + +<p>Gluck, however, a few months subsequent to this, was +so much humiliated at the non-success of “Echo and Narcissus,” +that he left Paris in bitter irritation, in spite of +Marie Antoinette’s pleadings that he should remain at the +French capital.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>44]</a></span> +The composer was now advanced in years, and had +become impatient and fretful. He left Paris for Vienna in +1780, having amassed considerable property. There, as an +old, broken-down man, he listened to the young Mozart’s +new symphonies and operas, and applauded them with great +zeal: for Gluck, though fiery and haughty in the extreme, +was singularly generous in recognising the merits of others.</p> + +<p>This was exhibited in Paris in his treatment of Méhul, +the Belgian composer, then a youth of sixteen, who had just +arrived in the gay city. It was on the eve of the first +representation of “Iphigenia in Tauris,” when the operatic +battle was agitating the public. With all the ardour of a +novice and a devotee, the young musical student immediately +threw himself into the affray, and by the aid of a +friend he succeeded in gaining admittance to the theatre +for the final rehearsal of Gluck’s opera. This so enchanted +him that he resolved to be present at the public performance. +But, unluckily for the resolve, he had no money, and no +prospect of obtaining any; so, with a determination and a +love for art which deserve to be remembered, he decided to +hide himself in one of the boxes and there to wait for the +time of representation.</p> + +<p>“At the end of the rehearsal,” writes George Hogarth in +his <i>Memoirs of the Drama</i>, “he was discovered in his +place of concealment by the servants of the theatre, who +proceeded to turn him out very roughly. Gluck, who had +not left the house, heard the noise, came to the spot, and +found the young man, whose spirit was roused, resisting the +indignity with which he was treated. Méhul, finding in +whose presence he was, was ready to sink with confusion; +but, in answer to Gluck’s questions, he told him that he +was a young musical student from the country, whose +anxiety to be present at the performance of the opera had +led him into the commission of an impropriety. Gluck, as +may be supposed, was delighted with a piece of enthusiasm +so flattering to himself, and not only gave his young admirer +a ticket of admission, but desired his acquaintance.” From +this artistic <i>contretemps</i>, then, arose a friendship alike +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>45]</a></span> +creditable to the goodness and generosity of Gluck, as it was +to the sincerity and high order of Méhul’s musical talent.</p> + +<p>Gluck’s death, in 1787, was caused by over-indulgence in +wine at a dinner which he gave to some of his friends. +The love of stimulants had grown upon him in his old age, +and had become almost a passion. An enforced abstinence +of some months was succeeded by a debauch, in which he +drank an immense quantity of brandy. The effects brought +on a fit of apoplexy, of which he died, aged seventy-three.</p> + +<p>Gluck’s place in musical history is peculiar and well +marked. He entered the field of operatic composition when +it was hampered with a great variety of dry forms, and +utterly without soul and poetic spirit. The object of +composers seemed to be to show mere contrapuntal +learning, or to furnish singers opportunity to display vocal +agility. The opera, as a large and symmetrical expression +of human emotions, suggested in the collisions of a dramatic +story, was utterly an unknown quantity in art. Gluck’s +attention was early called to this radical inconsistency; and, +though he did not learn for many years to develop his +musical ideas according to a theory, and never carried that +theory to the logical results insisted on by his great after-type, +Wagner, he accomplished much in the way of sweeping +reform. He elaborated the recitative or declamatory +element in opera with great care, and insisted that his +singers should make this the object of their most careful +efforts. The arias, duos, quartets, etc., as well as the +choruses and orchestral parts, were made consistent with +the dramatic motive and situations. In a word, Gluck +aimed with a single-hearted purpose to make music the +expression of poetry and sentiment.</p> + +<p>The principles of Gluck’s school of operatic writing may +be briefly summarised as follows:—That dramatic music +can only reach its highest power and beauty when joined to +a simple and poetic text, expressing passions true to Nature; +that music can be made the language of all the varied +emotions of the heart; that the music of an opera must +exactly follow the rhythm and melody of the words; that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>46]</a></span> +the orchestra must be only used to strengthen and intensify +the feeling embodied in the vocal parts, as demanded by +the text or dramatic situation. We get some further light +on these principles from Gluck’s letter of dedication to the +Grand-Duke of Tuscany on the publication of “Alceste.” +He writes:—“I am of opinion that music must be to poetry +what liveliness of colour and a happy mixture of light and +shade are for a faultless and well-arranged drawing, which +serve to add life to the figures without injuring the outlines; +... that the overture should prepare the auditors for the +character of the action which is to be presented, and hint at +the progress of the same; that the instruments must be +employed according to the degree of interest and passion; +that the composer should avoid too marked a disparity in +the dialogue between the air and recitative, in order not to +break the sense of a period, or interrupt the energy of the +action.... Finally, I have even felt compelled to sacrifice +rules to the improvement of the effect.”</p> + +<p>We find in this composer’s music, therefore, a largeness +and dignity of treatment which have never been surpassed. +His command of melody is quite remarkable, but his use of +it is under severe artistic restraint; for it is always characterised +by breadth, simplicity, and directness. He aimed at +and attained the symmetrical balance of an old Greek play.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="haydn" id="haydn"></a><i>HAYDN.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Papa Haydn!</span>” Thus did Mozart ever speak of his +foster-father in music, and the title, transmitted to posterity, +admirably expressed the sweet, placid, gentle nature, whose +possessor was personally beloved no less than he was +admired. His life flowed, broad and unruffled, like some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>47]</a></span> +great river, unvexed for the most part by the rivalries, +jealousies, and sufferings, oftentimes self-inflicted, which +have harassed the careers of other great musicians. He +remained to the last the favourite of the imperial court of +Vienna, and princes followed his remains to their last +resting-place.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Joseph Haydn</span> was the eldest of the twenty children of +Matthias Haydn, a wheelwright at Rohrau, Lower Austria, +where he was born in 1732. At the age of twelve years he +was engaged to sing in Vienna. He became a chorister in +St. Stephen’s Church, but offended the choir-master by the +revolt on the part of himself and parents from submitting to +the usual means then taken to perpetuate a fine soprano in +boys. So Haydn, who had surreptitiously picked up a good +deal of musical knowledge apart from the art of singing, was +at the age of sixteen turned out on the world. A compassionate +barber, however, took him in, and Haydn dressed +and powdered wigs downstairs, while he worked away at a +little worm-eaten harpsichord at night in his room. Unfortunate +boy! he managed to get himself engaged to the +barber’s daughter, Anne Keller, who was for a good while +the Xantippe of his gentle life, and he paid dearly for his +father-in-law’s early hospitality.</p> + +<p>The young musician soon began to be known, as he +played the violin in one church, the organ in another, and +got some pupils. His first rise was his acquaintance with +Metastasio, the poet-laureate of the court. Through him +Haydn got introduced to the mistress of the Venetian +ambassador, a great musical enthusiast, and in her circle +he met Porpora, the best music-master in the world, but a +crusty, snarling old man. Porpora held at Vienna the +position of musical dictator and censor, and he exercised +the tyrannical privileges of his post mercilessly. Haydn was +a small, dark-complexioned, insignificant-looking youth, and +Porpora, of course, snubbed him most contemptuously. +But Haydn wanted instruction, and no one in the world +could give it so well as the savage old <i>maestro</i>. So he +performed all sorts of menial services for him, cleaned his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>48]</a></span> +shoes, powdered his wig, and ran all his errands. The +result was that Porpora softened and consented to give his +young admirer lessons—no great hardship, for young Haydn +proved a most apt and gifted pupil. And it was not long +either before the young musician’s compositions attracted +public attention and found a sale. The very curious relations +between Haydn and Porpora are brilliantly sketched +in George Sand’s <i>Consuelo</i>.</p> + +<p>At night Haydn, accompanied by his friends, was wont +to wander about Vienna by moonlight, and serenade his +patrons with trios and quartets of his own composition. He +happened one night to stop under the window of Bernardone +Kurz, a director of a theatre and the leading clown +of Vienna. Down rushed Kurz very excitedly. “Who are +you?” he shrieked. “Joseph Haydn.” “Whose music is +it?” “Mine.” “The deuce it is! And at your age, +too!” “Why, I must begin with something.” “Come +along upstairs.”</p> + +<p>The enthusiastic director collared his prize, and was soon +deep in explaining a wonderful libretto, entitled “The +Devil on Two Sticks.” To write music for this was no easy +matter; for it was to represent all sorts of absurd things, +among others a tempest. The tempest made Haydn +despair, and he sat at the piano, banging away in a reckless +fashion, while the director stood behind him, raving in a +disconnected way as to his meaning. At last the distracted +pianist brought his fists simultaneously down upon the +key-board, and made a rapid sweep of all the notes.</p> + +<p>“Bravo! bravo! that is the tempest!” cried Kurz.</p> + +<p>The buffoon also laid himself on a chair, and had it +carried about the room, during which he threw out his +limbs in imitation of the act of swimming. Haydn supplied +an accompaniment so suitable that Kurz soon landed on +<i>terra firma</i>, and congratulated the composer, assuring him +that he was the man to compose the opera. By this stroke +of good luck our young musician received one hundred and +thirty florins.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>49]</a></span></p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>At the age of twenty-eight Haydn composed his first +symphony. Soon after this he attracted the attention of the +old Prince Esterhazy, all the members of whose family have +become known in the history of music as generous Mæcenases +of the art.</p> + +<p>“What! you don’t mean to say that little blackamoor” +(alluding to Haydn’s brown complexion and small stature) +“composed that symphony?”</p> + +<p>“Surely, prince,” replied the director Friedburg, beckoning +to Joseph Haydn, who advanced towards the orchestra.</p> + +<p>“Little Moor,” says the old gentleman, “you shall enter +my service. I am Prince Esterhazy. What’s your name?”</p> + +<p>“Haydn.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! I’ve heard of you. Get along and dress yourself +like a <i>Kapellmeister</i>. Clap on a new coat, and mind your +wig is curled. You’re too short. You shall have red heels; +but they shall be high, that your stature may correspond +with your merit.”</p> + +<p>So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, +and received a salary of four hundred florins, which +was afterwards raised to one thousand by Prince Nicholas +Esterhazy. Haydn continued the intimate friend and associate +of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and death only +dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household +the life of Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant +and happy industry; for he poured out an incredible number +of works, among them not a few of his most famous ones. +So he spent a happy life in hard labour, alternated with +delightful recreations at the Esterhazy country-seat, mountain +rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air concerts, musical +evenings, etc.</p> + +<p>A French traveller who visited Esterhazy about 1782 says—“The +château stands quite solitary, and the prince sees +nobody but his officials and servants, and strangers who +come hither from curiosity. He has a puppet-theatre, which +is certainly unique in character. Here the grandest operas +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>50]</a></span> +are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to +laugh at seeing ‘Alceste,’ ‘Alcides,’ etc., put on the stage +with all due solemnity and played by puppets. His orchestra +is one of the best I ever heard, and the great Haydn is his +court and theatre composer. He employs a poet for his +singular theatre, whose humour and skill in suiting the +grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying the gravest +effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a +troupe of wandering players for months at a time, and he +himself and his retinue form the entire audience. They are +allowed to come on the stage uncombed, drunk, their parts +not half learned, and half dressed. The prince is not for +the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when the players, like +Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humour.”</p> + +<p>Yet Haydn was not perfectly contented. He would have +been had it not been for his terrible wife, the hair-dresser’s +daughter, who had a dismal, mischievous, sullen nature, a +venomous tongue, and a savage temper. She kept Haydn +in hot water continually, till at last he broke loose from this +plague by separating from her. Scandal says that Haydn, +who had a very affectionate and sympathetic nature, found +ample consolation for marital infelicity in the charms and +society of the lovely Boselli, a great singer. He had her +picture painted, and humoured all her whims and caprices, +to the sore depletion of his pocket.</p> + +<p>In after-years again he was mixed up in a little affair with +the great Mrs. Billington, whose beautiful person was no less +marked than her fine voice. Sir Joshua Reynolds was +painting her portrait for him, and had represented her as +St. Cecilia listening to celestial music. Haydn paid her a +charming compliment at one of the sittings.</p> + +<p>“What do you think of the charming Billington’s picture?” +said Sir Joshua.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Haydn, “it is indeed a beautiful picture. It +is just like her, but there’s a strange mistake.”</p> + +<p>“What is that?”</p> + +<p>“Why, you have painted her listening to the angels, when +you ought to have painted the angels listening to her.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>51]</a></span> +At one time, during Haydn’s connection with Prince +Esterhazy, the latter, from motives of economy, determined +to dismiss his celebrated orchestra, which he supported at +great expense. Haydn was the leader, and his patron’s +purpose caused him sore pain, as indeed it did all the +players, among whom were many distinguished instrumentalists. +Still, there was nothing to be done but for all +concerned to make themselves as cheerful as possible under +the circumstances; so, with that fund of wit and humour +which seems to have been concealed under the immaculate +coat and formal wig of the strait-laced Haydn, he set about +composing a work for the last performance of the royal band, +a work which has ever since borne the appropriate title of +the “Farewell Symphony.”</p> + +<p>On the night appointed for the last performance a +brilliant company, including the prince, had assembled. +The music of the new symphony began gaily enough—it +was even merry. As it went on, however, it became soft +and dreamy. The strains were sad and “long drawn out.” +At length a sorrowful wailing began. One instrument +after another left off, and each musician, as his task ended, +blew out his lamp and departed with his music rolled up +under his arm.</p> + +<p>Haydn was the last to finish, save one, and this was the +prince’s favourite violinist, who said all that he had to say +in a brilliant violin cadenza, when, behold! he made off.</p> + +<p>The prince was astonished. “What is the meaning of +all this?” cried he.</p> + +<p>“It is our sorrowful farewell,” answered Haydn.</p> + +<p>This was too much. The prince was overcome, and, with +a good laugh, said: “Well, I think I must reconsider my +decision. At any rate we will not say ‘good-bye’ now.”</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>During the thirty years of Haydn’s quiet life with the +Esterhazys he had been gradually acquiring an immense +reputation in France, England and Spain, of which he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>52]</a></span> +himself was unconscious. His great symphonies had +stamped him world-wide as a composer of remarkable +creative genius. Haydn’s modesty prevented him from +recognising his own celebrity. Therefore, we can fancy +his astonishment when, shortly after the death of Prince +Nicholas Esterhazy, a stranger called on him and said, “I +am Salomon, from London, and must strike a bargain with +you for that city immediately.”</p> + +<p>Haydn was dazed with the suddenness of the proposition, +but the old ties were broken up, and his grief needed +recreation and change. Still, he had many beloved friends, +whose society it was hard to leave. Chief among these was +Mozart. “Oh, papa,” said Mozart, “you have had no +training for the wide world, and you speak so few +languages.” “Oh, my language is understood all over the +world,” said Papa Haydn, with a smile. When he +departed for England, December 15, 1790, Mozart could +with difficulty tear himself away, and said, with pathetic +tears, “We shall doubtless now take our last farewell.”</p> + +<p>Haydn and Mozart were perfectly in accord, and each +thought and did well towards the other. Mozart, we know, +was born when Haydn had just reached manhood, so that +when Mozart became old enough to study composition the +earlier works of Haydn’s chamber music had been written; +and these undoubtedly formed the studies of the boy +Mozart, and greatly influenced his style; so that Haydn +was the model, and, in a sense, the instructor of Mozart. +Strange is it then to find, in after-years, the master +borrowing (perhaps with interest!) from the pupil. Such, +however, was the fact, as every amateur knows. At this +we can hardly wonder, for Haydn possessed unbounded +admiration not only for Mozart, but also for his music, +which the following shows. Being asked by a friend at +Prague to send him an opera, he replied:—</p> + +<p>“With all my heart, if you desire to have it for yourself +alone, but if you wish to perform it in public, I must be +excused; for, being written specially for my company at the +Esterhazy Palace, it would not produce the proper effect +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>53]</a></span> +elsewhere. I would do a new score for your theatre, but +what a hazardous step it would be to stand in comparison +with Mozart! Oh, Mozart! If I could instil into the +soul of every lover of music the admiration I have for his +matchless works, all countries would seek to be possessed of +so great a treasure. Let Prague keep him, ah! and well +reward him, for without that the history of geniuses is bad; +alas! we see so many noble minds crushed beneath adversity. +Mozart is incomparable, and I am annoyed that he is +unable to obtain any court appointment. Forgive me if I +get excited when speaking of him, I am so fond of him.”</p> + +<p>Mozart’s admiration for Haydn’s music, too, was very +marked. He and Herr Kozeluch were one day listening to +a composition of Haydn’s which contained some bold +modulations. Kozeluch thought them strange, and asked +Mozart whether he would have written them. “I think +not,” smartly replied Mozart, “and for this reason: +because they would not have occurred either to you or me!”</p> + +<p>On another occasion we find Mozart taking to task a +Viennese professor of some celebrity, who used to experience +great delight in turning to Haydn’s compositions to +find therein any evidence of the master’s want of sound +theoretical training—a quest in which the pedant occasionally +succeeded. One day he came to Mozart with a +great crime to unfold. Mozart as usual endeavoured to +turn the conversation, but the learned professor still went +chattering on, till at last Mozart shut his mouth with the +following pill—“Sir, if you and I were both melted down +together, we should not furnish materials for one Haydn.”</p> + +<p>It was one of the most beautiful friendships in the +history of art, full of tender offices, and utterly free from +the least taint of envy or selfishness.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Haydn landed in England after a voyage which delighted +him in spite of his terror of the sea—a feeling which seems +to be usual among people of very high musical sensibilities. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>54]</a></span> +In his diary we find recorded—“By four o’clock we had +come twenty miles. The large vessel stood out to sea five +hours longer, till the tide carried it into the harbour. I +remained on deck the whole passage, in order to gaze my +fill at that huge monster—the ocean.”</p> + +<p>The novelty of Haydn’s concerts—of which he was to +give twenty at fifty pounds apiece—consisted of their +being his own symphonies, conducted by himself in person. +Haydn’s name, during his serene, uneventful years with +the Esterhazys, had become world-famous. His reception +was most brilliant. Dinner parties, receptions, invitations +without end, attested the enthusiasm of the sober English; +and his appearance at concerts and public meetings was the +signal for stormy applause. How, in the press of all this +pleasure in which he was plunged, he continued to compose +the great number of works produced at this time, is a +marvel. He must have been little less than a Briareus. +It was in England that he wrote the celebrated Salomon +symphonies—the “twelve grand,” as they are called. They +may well be regarded as the crowning-point of Haydn’s +efforts in that form of writing. He took infinite pains with +them, as, indeed, is well proved by an examination of the +scores. More elaborate, more beautiful, and scored for a +fuller orchestra than any others of the one hundred and +twenty or thereabouts which he composed, the Salomon set +also bears marks of the devout and pious spirit in which +Haydn ever laboured.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to see how, in many of the great works +which have won the world’s admiration, the religion of the +author has gone hand-in-hand with his energy and his +genius; and we find Haydn not ashamed to indorse his +score with his prayer and praise, or to offer the fruits of +his talents to the Giver of all. Thus, the symphony in D +(No. 6) bears on the first page of the score the inscription, +“<i>In nomine Domini: di me Giuseppe Haydn, maia +1791, in London</i>;” and on the last page, “<i>Fine, Laus +Deo, 238</i>.”</p> + +<p>That genius may sometimes be trusted to judge of its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>55]</a></span> +own work may be gathered from Haydn’s own estimate of +these great symphonies.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said the well-satisfied Salomon, after a successful +performance of one of them, “I am strongly of opinion +that you will never surpass these symphonies.”</p> + +<p>“No!” replied Haydn; “I never mean to try.”</p> + +<p>The public, as we have said, was enthusiastic; but such +a full banquet of severe orchestral music was a severe trial +to many, and not a few heads would keep time to the music +by steady nods during the slow movements. Haydn, therefore, +composed what is known as the “Surprise” symphony. +The slow movement is of the most lulling and soothing +character, and about the time the audience should be falling +into its first snooze, the instruments having all died +away into the softest <i>pianissimo</i>, the full orchestra breaks +out with a frightful <small>BANG</small>. It is a question whether the +most vigorous performance of this symphony would startle +an audience nowadays, accustomed to the strident effects of +Wagner and Liszt. A wag in a recent London journal +tells us, indeed, that at the most critical part in the +work a gentleman opened one eye sleepily and said, +“Come in.”</p> + +<p>Simple-hearted Haydn was delighted at the attention +lavished on him in London. He tells us how he enjoyed +his various entertainments and feastings by such dignitaries +as William Pitt, the Lord Chancellor, and the Duke of +Lids (Leeds). The gentlemen drank freely the whole night, +and the songs, the crazy uproar, and smashing of glasses +were very great. He went down to stay with the Prince +of Wales (George IV.), who played on the violoncello, and +charmed the composer by his kindness. “He is the handsomest +man on God’s earth. He has an extraordinary love +of music, and a great deal of feeling, but very little +money.”</p> + +<p>To stem the tide of Haydn’s popularity, the Italian +faction had recourse to Giardini; and they even imported a +pet pupil of Haydn, Pleyel, to conduct the rival concerts. +Our composer kept his temper, and wrote, “He [Pleyel] +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>56]</a></span> +behaves himself with great modesty.” Later we read, +“Pleyel’s presumption is a public laughing-stock;” but he +adds, “I go to all his concerts and applaud him.”</p> + +<p>Far different were the amenities that passed between +Haydn and Giardini. “I won’t know the German hound,” +says the latter. Haydn wrote, “I attended his concert at +Ranelagh, and he played the fiddle like a hog.”</p> + +<p>Among the pleasant surprises Haydn had in England +was his visit to Herschel, the great astronomer, in whom +he recognised one of his old oboe-players. The big telescope +amazed him, and so did the patient star-gazer, who +often sat out-of-doors in the most intense cold for five or +six hours at a time.</p> + +<p>Our composer returned to Vienna in May 1795, with the +little fortune of 12,000 florins in his pocket.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>In his charming little cottage near Vienna Haydn was +the centre of a brilliant society. Princes and nobles were +proud to do honour to him; and painters, poets, scholars, +and musicians made a delightful coterie, which was not +even disturbed by the political convulsions of the time. +The baleful star of Napoleon shot its disturbing influences +throughout Europe, and the roar of his cannon shook the +established order of things with the echoes of what was to +come. Haydn was passionately attached to his country +and his emperor, and regarded anxiously the rumblings +and quakings of the period; but he did not intermit his +labour, or allow his consecration to his divine art to be in +the least shaken. Like Archimedes of old, he toiled +serenely at his appointed work, while the political order of +things was crumbling before the genius and energy of the +Corsican adventurer.</p> + +<p>In 1798 he completed his great oratorio of “The +Creation,” on which he had spent three years of toil, and +which embodied his brightest genius. Haydn was usually +a very rapid composer, but he seems to have laboured at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>57]</a></span> +the “Creation” with a sort of reverential humility, which +never permitted him to think his work worthy or complete. +It soon went the round of Germany, and passed to England +and France, everywhere awakening enthusiasm by its great +symmetry and beauty. Without the sublimity of Handel’s +“Messiah,” it is marked by a richness of melody, a serene +elevation, a matchless variety in treatment, which make it +the most characteristic of Haydn’s works. Napoleon, the +first consul, was hastening to the opera-house to hear this, +24th January 1801, when he was stopped by an attempt at +assassination.</p> + +<p>Two years after “The Creation” appeared “The +Seasons,” founded on Thomson’s poem, also a great work, +and one of his last; for the grand old man was beginning +to think of rest, and he only composed two or three +quartets after this. He was now seventy years old, and +went but little from his own home. His chief pleasure was +to sit in his shady garden, and see his friends, who loved to +solace the musical patriarch with cheerful talk and music. +Haydn often fell into deep melancholy, and he tells us that +God revived him; for no more sweet, devout nature ever +lived. His art was ever a religion. A touching incident +of his old age occurred at a grand performance of “The +Creation” in 1808. Haydn was present, but he was so old +and feeble that he had to be wheeled in a chair into +the theatre, where a princess of the house of Esterhazy took +her seat by his side. This was the last time that Haydn +appeared in public, and a very impressive sight it must +have been to see the aged father of music listening to +“The Creation” of his younger days, but too old to take +any active share in the performance. The presence of the +old man roused intense enthusiasm among the audience, +which could no longer be suppressed as the chorus and +orchestra burst in full power upon the superb passage, +“And there was light.”</p> + +<p>Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old +composer was seen striving to raise himself. Once on his +feet, he mustered up all his strength, and, in reply to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>58]</a></span> +applause of the audience, he cried out as loud as he was +able—“No, no! not from me, but,” pointing to heaven, +“from thence—from heaven above—comes all!” saying +which, he fell back in his chair, faint and exhausted, and +had to be carried out of the room.</p> + +<p>One year after this Vienna was bombarded by the +French, and a shot fell in Haydn’s garden. He requested +to be led to his piano, and played the “Hymn to the +Emperor” three times over with passionate eloquence and +pathos. This was his last performance. He died five days +afterwards, aged seventy-seven, and lies buried in the +cemetery of Gumpfenzdorf, in his own beloved Vienna.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>The serene, genial face of Haydn, as seen in his portraits, +measures accurately the character of his music. In both we +see healthfulness, good-humour, vivacity, devotional feeling, +and warm affections; a mind contented, but yet attaching +high importance to only one thing in life, the composing of +music. Haydn pursued this with a calm, insatiable +industry, without haste, without rest. His works number +eight hundred, comprising cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, +masses, concertos, trios, sonatas, quartets, minuets, etc., +and also twenty-two operas, eight German and fourteen +Italian.</p> + +<p>As a creative mind in music, Haydn was the father of +the quartet and symphony. Adopting the sonata form as +scientifically illustrated by Emanuel Bach, he introduced +it into compositions for the orchestra and the chamber. +He developed these into a completeness and full-orbed +symmetry, which have never been improved. Mozart is +richer, Beethoven more sublime, Schubert more luxuriant, +Mendelssohn more orchestral and passionate; but Haydn +has never been surpassed in his keen perception of the +capacities of instruments, his subtile distribution of parts, +his variety in treating his themes, and his charmingly +legitimate effects. He fills a large space in musical history, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>59]</a></span> +not merely from the number, originality, and beauty of +his compositions, but as one who represents an era in +art-development.</p> + +<p>In Haydn genius and industry were happily united. +With a marvellously rich flow of musical ideas, he clearly +knew what he meant to do, and never neglected the just +elaboration of each one. He would labour on a theme till +it had shaped itself into perfect beauty.</p> + +<p>Haydn is illustrious in the history of art as a complete +artistic life, which worked out all of its contents as did the +great Goethe. In the words of a charming writer: “His +life was a rounded whole. There was no broken light about +it; it orbed slowly, with a mild, unclouded lustre, into a +perfect star. Time was gentle with him, and Death was +kind, for both waited upon his genius until all was won. +Mozart was taken away at an age when new and dazzling +effects had not ceased to flash through his brain: at the +very moment when his harmonies began to have a prophetic +ring of the nineteenth century, it was decreed that he +should not see its dawn. Beethoven himself had but just +entered upon an unknown ‘sea whose margin seemed to +fade forever and forever as he moved;’ but good old Haydn +had come into port over a calm sea and after a prosperous +voyage. The laurel wreath was this time woven about +silver locks; the gathered-in harvest was ripe and golden.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="mozart" id="mozart"></a><i>MOZART.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> life of <span class="smcap">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</span>, one of the +immortal names in music, contradicts the rule that extraordinary +youthful talent is apt to be followed by a +sluggish and commonplace maturity. His father entered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>60]</a></span> +the room one day with a friend, and found the child bending +over a music score. The little Mozart, not yet five +years old, told his father he was writing a concerto for +the piano. The latter examined it, and tears of joy +and astonishment rolled down his face on perceiving its +accuracy.</p> + +<p>“It is good, but too difficult for general use,” said the +friend.</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Wolfgang, “it must be practised till it is +learned. This is the way it goes.” So saying, he played it +with perfect correctness.</p> + +<p>About the same time he offered to take the violin at +a performance of some chamber music. His father refused, +saying, “How can you? You have never learned +the violin.”</p> + +<p>“One needs not study for that,” said this musical prodigy; +and taking the instrument, he played second violin +with ease and accuracy. Such precocity seems almost +incredible, and only in the history of music does it find +any parallel.</p> + +<p>Born in Salzburg, 27th January 1756, he was carefully +trained by his father, who resigned his place as court +musician to devote himself more exclusively to his family. +From the earliest age he showed an extraordinary passion +for music and mathematics, scrawling notes and diagrams +in every place accessible to his insatiate pencil.</p> + +<p>Taken to Vienna, the six-year-old virtuoso astonished the +court by his brilliant talents. The future Queen of France, +Marie Antoinette, was particularly delighted with him, and +the little Mozart naïvely said he would like to marry her, +for she was so good to him. His father devoted several +years to an artistic tour, with him and his little less +talented sister, through the German cities, and it was also +extended to Paris and London. Everywhere the greatest +enthusiasm was evinced in this charming bud of promise. +The father writes home—“We have swords, laces, mantillas, +snuff-boxes, gold cases, sufficient to furnish a shop; but as +for money, it is a scarce article, and I am positively poor.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>61]</a></span> +At Paris they were warmly received at the court, and the +boy is said to have expressed his surprise when Mdme. Pompadour +refused to kiss him, saying, “Who is she, that she +will not kiss me? Have I not been kissed by the queen?” +In London his improvisations and piano sonatas excited the +greatest admiration. Here he also published his third +work. These journeys were an uninterrupted chain of +triumphs for the child-virtuoso on the piano, organ, violin, +and in singing. He was made honorary member of the +Academies of Bologna and Verona, decorated with orders, +and received at the age of thirteen an order to write the +opera of “Mithridates,” which was successfully produced at +Milan in 1770. Several other fine minor compositions were +also written to order at this time for his Italian admirers. +At Rome Mozart attended the Sistine Chapel and wrote +the score of Allegri’s great mass, forbidden by the Pope to +be copied, from the memory of a single performance.</p> + +<p>The record of Mozart’s youthful triumphs might be extended +at great length; but aside from the proof they +furnish of his extraordinary precocity, they have lent little +vital significance in the great problem of his career, except +so far as they stimulated the marvellous boy to lay a deep +foundation for his greater future, which, short as it was, +was fruitful in undying results.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Mozart’s life in Paris, where he lived with his mother in +1778 and 1779, was a disappointment, for he despised the +French nation. His deep, simple, German nature revolted +from Parisian frivolity, in which he found only sensuality +and coarseness, disguised under a thin veneering of social +grace. He abhorred French music in these bitter terms—“The +French are and always will be downright donkeys. +They cannot sing, they scream.” It was just at this time +that Gluck and Piccini were having their great art-duel. +We get a glimpse of the pious tendency of the young composer +in his characterisation of Voltaire—“The ungodly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>62]</a></span> +arch-villain, Voltaire, has just died like a dog.” Again he +writes—“Friends who have no religion cannot long be my +friends.... I have such a sense of religion that I shall +never do anything that I would not do before the whole +world.”</p> + +<p>With Mozart’s return to Germany in 1779, being then +twenty-three years of age, comes the dawn of his classical +period as a composer. The greater number of his masses +had already been written, and now he settled himself in +serious earnest to the cultivation of a true German operatic +school. This found its dawn in the production of +“Idomeneo,” his first really great work for the lyric stage.</p> + +<p>The young composer had hard struggles with poverty in +these days. His letters to his father are full of revelations +of his friction with the little worries of life. Lack of money +pinched him close, yet his cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. +“I have only one small room; it is quite crammed with a +piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers,” he writes.</p> + +<p>Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty +in the companionship of a loving woman who dared to face +it with him. At Mannheim he had met a beautiful young +singer, Aloysia Weber, and he went to Munich to offer her +marriage. She, however, saw nothing attractive in the thin, +pale young man, with his long nose, great eyes, and little +head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A younger +sister, Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he +soon transferred his repelled affections to this charming +woman, whom he married in 1782 at the house of Baroness +Waldstetten. His <i>naïve</i> reasons for marrying show +Mozart’s ingenuous nature. He had no one to take care of +his linen, he would not live dissolutely like other young +men, and he loved Constance Weber. His answer to his +father, who objected on account of his poverty, is worth +quoting:—</p> + +<p>“Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable +parentage, and I am in a position to earn at least <em>daily bread</em> +for her. We love each other, and are resolved to marry. +All that you have written or may possibly write on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>63]</a></span> +subject can be nothing but well-meant advice, which, +however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man +who has gone so far with a girl.”</p> + +<p>Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and +independence that he refused a most liberal offer from the +King of Prussia to become his chapel-master, for some +unexplained reason which involved his sense of right and +wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote “Il +Seraglio,” and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, +who took a deep interest in him and warmly praised his +genius. Haydn, too, recognised his brilliant powers. “I +tell you, on the word of an honest man,” said the author of +the “Creation” to Leopold Mozart, the father, who asked +his opinion, “that I consider your son the greatest composer +I have ever heard. He writes with taste, and possesses a +thorough knowledge of composition.”</p> + +<p>Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into +intense, restless energy. His life had no lull in its creative +industry. His splendid genius, insatiable and tireless, broke +down his body, like a sword wearing out its scabbard. He +poured out symphonies, operas, and sonatas with such +prodigality as to astonish us, even when recollecting how +fecund the musical mind has often been. Alike as artist +and composer, he never ceased his labours. Day after day +and night after night he hardly snatched an hour’s rest. +We can almost fancy he foreboded how short his brilliant +life was to be, and was impelled to crowd into its brief +compass its largest measure of results.</p> + +<p>Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want. +Oftentimes his sick wife could not obtain needed medicines. +He made more money than most musicians, yet was +always impoverished. But it was his glory that he was +never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, +and riotous living, but by his lavish generosity to those +who in many instances needed help less than himself. +Like many other men of genius and sensibility, he could +not say “no” to even the pretence of distress and suffering.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>64]</a></span></p> + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The culminating point of Mozart’s artistic development +was in 1786. The “Marriage of Figaro” was the first of +a series of masterpieces which cannot be surpassed alike +for musical greatness and their hold on the lyric stage. +The next year “Don Giovanni” saw the light, and was +produced at Prague. The overture of this opera was +composed and scored in less than six hours. The inhabitants +of Prague greeted the work with the wildest +enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart better +than the Viennese.</p> + +<p>During this period he made frequent concert tours to +recruit his fortunes, but with little financial success. +Presents of watches, snuff-boxes, and rings were common, +but the returns were so small that Mozart was frequently +obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner and +lodging. What a comment on the period which adored +genius, but allowed it to starve! His audiences could be +enthusiastic enough to carry him to his hotel on their +shoulders, but probably never thought that the wherewithal +of a hearty supper was a more seasonable homage. So +our musician struggled on through the closing years of his +life with the wolf constantly at his door, and an invalid +wife whom he passionately loved, yet must needs see +suffer from the want of common necessaries. In these +modern days, when distinguished artists make princely +fortunes by the exercise of their musical gifts, it is not +easy to believe that Mozart, recognised as the greatest +pianoforte player and composer of his time by all of musical +Germany, could suffer such dire extremes of want as to be +obliged more than once to beg for a dinner.</p> + +<p>In 1791 he composed the score of the “Magic Flute” at +the request of Schikaneder, a Viennese manager, who had +written the text from a fairy tale, the fantastic elements +of which are peculiarly German in their humour. Mozart +put great earnestness into the work, and made it the first +German opera of commanding merit, which embodied the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>65]</a></span> +essential intellectual sentiment and kindly warmth of popular +German life. The manager paid the composer but a trifle +for a work whose transcendent success enabled him to build +a new opera-house, and laid the foundation of a large fortune. +We are told, too, that at the time of Mozart’s death +in extreme want, when his sick wife, half-maddened with +grief, could not buy a coffin for the dead composer, this +hard-hearted wretch, who owed his all to the genius of the +great departed, rushed about through Vienna bewailing the +loss to music with sentimental tears, but did not give the +heart-broken widow one kreutzer to pay the expense of a +decent burial.</p> + +<p>In 1791 Mozart’s health was breaking down with great +rapidity, though he himself would never recognise his own +swiftly advancing fate. He experienced, however, a deep +melancholy which nothing could remove. For the first +time his habitual cheerfulness deserted him. His wife had +been enabled through the kindness of her friends to visit +the healing waters of Baden, and was absent.</p> + +<p>An incident now occurred which impressed Mozart with +an ominous chill. One night there came a stranger, singularly +dressed in grey, with an order for a requiem to be +composed without fail within a month. The visitor, without +revealing his name, departed in mysterious gloom, as +he came. Again the stranger called, and solemnly reminded +Mozart of his promise. The composer easily persuaded +himself that this was a visitor from the other world, and +that the requiem would be his own; for he was exhausted +with labour and sickness, and easily became the prey of +superstitious fancies. When his wife returned, she found +him with a fatal pallor on his face, silent and melancholy, +labouring with intense absorption on the funereal mass. +He would sit brooding over the score till he swooned away +in his chair, and only come to consciousness to bend his +waning energies again to their ghastly work. The mysterious +visitor, whom Mozart believed to be the precursor of +his death, we now know to have been Count Walseck, who had +recently lost his wife, and wished a musical memorial.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>66]</a></span> +His final sickness attacked the composer while labouring +at the requiem. The musical world was ringing with the +fame of his last opera. To the dying man was brought the +offer of the rich appointment of organist of St. Stephen’s +Cathedral. Most flattering propositions were made him +by eager managers, who had become thoroughly awake to +his genius when it was too late. The great Mozart was +dying in the very prime of his youth and his powers, when +success was in his grasp and the world opening wide its +arms to welcome his glorious gifts with substantial recognition; +but all too late, for he was doomed to die in his +spring-tide, though “a spring mellow with all the fruits of +autumn.”</p> + +<p>The unfinished requiem lay on the bed, and his last +efforts were to imitate some peculiar instrumental effects, +as he breathed out his life in the arms of his wife and his +friend, Süssmaier.</p> + +<p>The epilogue to this life-drama is one of the saddest in +the history of art: a pauper funeral for one of the world’s +greatest geniuses. “It was late one winter afternoon,” +says an old record, “before the coffin was deposited on the +side aisles on the south side of St. Stephen’s. Van Swieten, +Salieri, Süssmaier, and two unknown musicians were the +only persons present besides the officiating priest and the +pall-bearers. It was a terribly inclement day; rain and +sleet came down fast; and an eye-witness describes how +the little band of mourners stood shivering in the blast, +with their umbrellas up, round the hearse, as it left the +door of the church. It was then far on in the dark, cold +December afternoon, and the evening was fast closing in +before the solitary hearse had passed the Stubenthor, and +reached the distant graveyard of St. Marx, in which, among +the ‘third class,’ the great composer of the ‘G minor Symphony’ +and the ‘Requiem’ found his resting-place. By +this time the weather had proved too much for all the +mourners; they had dropped off one by one, and Mozart’s +body was accompanied only by the driver of the carriage. +There had been already two pauper funerals that day—one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>67]</a></span> +of them a midwife—and Mozart was to be the third in the +grave and the uppermost.</p> + +<p>“When the hearse drew up in the slush and sleet at the +gate of the graveyard, it was welcomed by a strange pair—Franz +Harruschka, the assistant grave-digger, and his +mother, Katharina, known as ‘Frau Katha,’ who filled the +quaint office of official mendicant to the place.</p> + +<p>“The old woman was the first to speak: ‘Any coaches +or mourners coming?’</p> + +<p>“A shrug from the driver of the hearse was the only +response.</p> + +<p>“‘Whom have you got there, then?’ continued she.</p> + +<p>“‘A bandmaster,’ replied the other.</p> + +<p>“‘A musician? they’re a poor lot; then I’ve no more +money to look for to-day. It is to be hoped we shall have +better luck in the morning.’</p> + +<p>“To which the driver said, with a laugh, ‘I’m devilish +thirsty, too—not a kreutzer of drink-money have I had.’</p> + +<p>“After this curious colloquy the coffin was dismounted +and shoved into the top of the grave already occupied by +the two paupers of the morning; and such was Mozart’s +last appearance on earth.”</p> + +<p>To-day no stone marks the spot where were deposited +the last remains of one of the brightest of musical spirits; +indeed, the very grave is unknown, for it was the grave of +a pauper.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Mozart’s charming letters reveal to us such a gentle, +sparkling, affectionate nature, as to inspire as much love +for the man as admiration for his genius. Sunny humour +and tenderness bubble in almost every sentence. A clever +writer says that “opening these is like opening a painted +tomb.... The colours are all fresh, the figures are all +distinct.”</p> + +<p>No better illustration of the man Mozart can be had +than in a few extracts from his correspondence. He +writes to his sister from Rome while yet a mere lad:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>68]</a></span> +“I am, thank God! except my miserable pen, well, and +send you and mamma a thousand kisses. I wish you were +in Rome; I am sure it would please you. Papa says I am +a little fool, but that is nothing new. Here we have but +one bed; it is easy to understand that I can’t rest comfortably +with papa. I shall be glad when we get into new +quarters. I have just finished drawing the Holy Peter +with his keys, the Holy Paul with his sword, and the Holy +Luke with my sister. I have had the honour of kissing +St. Peter’s foot; and because I am so small as to be +unable to reach it, they had to lift me up. I am the same +old</p> + +<p class="sig">“<span class="smcap">Wolfgang</span>.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Mozart was very fond of this sister Nannerl, and he +used to write to her in a playful mosaic of French, German, +and Italian. Just after his wedding he writes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“My darling is now a hundred times more joyful at the +idea of going to Salzburg, and I am willing to stake—ay, +my very life, that you will rejoice still more in my +happiness when you know her; if, indeed, in your estimation, +as in mine, a high-principled, honest, virtuous, and +pleasing wife ought to make a man happy.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Late in his short life he writes the following characteristic +note to a friend, whose life does not appear to have +been one of the most regular:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Now tell me, my dear friend, how you are. I hope +you are all as well as we are. You cannot fail to be happy, +for you possess everything that you can wish for at your +age and in your position, especially as you now seem to +have entirely given up your former mode of life. Do you +not every day become more convinced of the truth of the +little lectures I used to inflict on you? Are not the +pleasures of a transient, capricious passion widely different +from the happiness produced by rational and true love? I +feel sure that you often in your heart thank me for my +admonitions. I shall feel quite proud if you do. But, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>69]</a></span> +jesting apart, you do really owe me some little gratitude +if you are become worthy of Fräulein N——, for I certainly +played no insignificant part in your improvement or +reform.</p> + +<p>“My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, +who in turn told it to her daughter, my +grandmother, who again repeated it to her daughter, my +mother, who repeated it to her daughter, my own sister, +that it was a very great art to talk eloquently and well, but +an equally great one to know the right moment to stop. I +therefore shall follow the advice of my sister, thanks to our +mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and thus end, +not only my moral ebullition, but my letter.”</p> +</div> + +<p>His playful tenderness lavished itself on his wife in a +thousand quaint ways. He would, for example, rise long +before her to take his horseback exercise, and always kiss +her sleeping face and leave a little note like the following +resting on her forehead—“Good-morning, dear little wife! +I hope you have had a good sleep and pleasant dreams. I +shall be back in two hours. Behave yourself like a good +little girl, and don’t run away from your husband.”</p> + +<p>Speaking of an infant child, our composer would say +merrily, “That boy will be a true Mozart, for he always +cries in the very key in which I am playing.”</p> + +<p>Mozart’s musical greatness, shown in the symmetry of +his art as well as in the richness of his inspirations, has +been unanimously acknowledged by his brother composers. +Meyerbeer could not restrain his tears when speaking of +him. Weber, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Wagner always +praise him in terms of enthusiastic admiration. Haydn +called him the greatest of composers. In fertility of invention, +beauty of form, and exactness of method, he has +never been surpassed, and has but one or two rivals. The +composer of three of the greatest operas in musical history, +besides many of much more than ordinary excellence; of +symphonies that rival Haydn’s for symmetry and melodic +affluence; of a great number of quartets, quintets, etc.; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>70]</a></span> +and of pianoforte sonatas which rank high among the best; +of many masses that are standard in the service of the +Catholic Church; of a great variety of beautiful songs—there +is hardly any form of music which he did not richly +adorn with the treasures of his genius. We may well say, +in the words of one of the most competent critics:—</p> + +<p>“Mozart was a king and a slave—king in his own +beautiful realm of music; slave of the circumstances and the +conditions of this world. Once over the boundaries of his +own kingdom, and he was supreme; but the powers of the +earth acknowledged not his sovereignty.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="beethoven" id="beethoven"></a><i>BEETHOVEN.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> name and memory of this composer awaken, in the +heart of the lover of music, sentiments of the deepest +reverence and admiration. His life was so marked with +affliction and so isolated as to make him, in his environment +of conditions as a composer, an unique figure.</p> + +<p>The principal fact which made the exterior life of Beethoven +so bare of the ordinary pleasures that brighten and +sweeten existence, his total deafness, greatly enriched his +spiritual life. Music finally became to him a purely intellectual +conception, for he was without any sensual enjoyment +of its effects. To this Samson of music, for whom +the ear was like the eye to other men, Milton’s lines may +indeed well apply:—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Oh! dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Irrecoverably dark—total eclipse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Without all hope of day!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh first created Beam, and thou, great Word,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘Let there be light,’ and light was over all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sun to me is dark.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>71]</a></span> +To his severe affliction we owe alike many of the defects +of his character and the splendours of his genius. All his +powers, concentrated into a spiritual focus, wrought such +things as lift him into a solitary greatness. The world has +agreed to measure this man as it measures Homer, Dante, +and Shakespeare. We do not compare him with others.</p> + +<p>Beethoven had the reputation among his contemporaries +of being harsh, bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is +much to justify this in the circumstances of his life; yet +our readers will discover much to show, on the other hand, +how deep, strong, and tender was the heart which was so +wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Weber gives a picture of Beethoven—“The square +Cyclopean figure attired in a shabby coat with torn +sleeves.” Everybody will remember his noble, austere +face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, massive +head, with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so +furrowed with the marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, +with their look of introspection and insight; the whole +expression of the countenance as of an ancient prophet. +Such was the impression made by Beethoven on all who +saw him, except in his moods of fierce wrath, which towards +the last were not uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely +tried, sublimely gifted man, he met his fate stubbornly, and +worked out his great mission with all his might and main, +through long years of weariness and trouble. Posterity has +rewarded him by enthroning him on the highest peaks of +musical fame.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ludwig van Beethoven</span> was born at Bonn in 1770. It +is a singular fact that at an early age he showed the deepest +distaste for music, unlike the other great composers, who +evinced their bent from their earliest years. His father +was obliged to whip him severely before he would consent +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>72]</a></span> +to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was +past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. +His first compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard +him play them, and said, “Mind, you will hear that boy +talked of.” Haydn, too, met Beethoven for the first and +only time when the former was on his way to England, +and recognised his remarkable powers. He gave him a few +lessons in composition, and was after that anxious to claim +the young Titan as a pupil.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason +never liked Haydn, “I had some lessons of him, indeed, +but I was not his disciple. I never learned anything from +him.”</p> + +<p>Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth +on all who knew him. Aside from the palpable marks of +his power, there was an indomitable <i>hauteur</i>, a mysterious, +self-wrapped air as of one constantly communing with the +invisible, an unconscious assertion of mastery about him, +which strongly impressed the imagination.</p> + +<p>At the very outset of his career, when life promised all +fair and bright things to him, two comrades linked themselves +to him, and ever after that refused to give him up—grim +poverty and still grimmer disease. About the same +time that he lost a fixed salary through the death of his +friend, the Elector of Cologne, he began to grow deaf. +Early in 1800, walking one day in the woods with his +devoted friend and pupil, Ferdinand Ries, he disclosed the +sad secret to him that the whole joyous world of sound was +being gradually closed up to him; the charm of the human +voice, the notes of the woodland birds, the sweet babblings +of Nature, jargon to others, but intelligible to genius, the +full-born splendours of <em>heard</em> music—all, all were fast +receding from his grasp.</p> + +<p>Beethoven was extraordinarily sensitive to the influences +of Nature. Before his disease became serious he writes—“I +wander about here with music-paper among the hills, +and dales, and valleys, and scribble a good deal. No man +on earth can love the country as I do.” But one of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>73]</a></span> +Nature’s most delightful modes of speech to man was soon +to be utterly lost to him. At last he became so deaf that +the most stunning crash of thunder or the <i>fortissimo</i> of the +full orchestra were to him as if they were not. His bitter, +heart-rending cry of agony, when he became convinced +that the misfortune was irremediable, is full of eloquent +despair—“As autumn leaves wither and fall, so are my +hopes blighted. Almost as I came, I depart. Even the +lofty courage, which so often animated me in the lovely +days of summer, is gone forever. O Providence! vouchsafe +me one day of pure felicity! How long have I been +estranged from the glad echo of true joy! When, O my +God! when shall I feel it again in the temple of Nature +and man? Never!”</p> + +<p>And the small-souled, mole-eyed gossips and critics called +him hard, churlish, and cynical—him, for whom the richest +thing in Nature’s splendid dower had been obliterated, +except a soul, which never in its deepest sufferings lost its +noble faith in God and man, or allowed its indomitable +courage to be one whit weakened. That there were periods +of utterly rayless despair and gloom we may guess; but not +for long did Beethoven’s great nature cower before its evil +genius.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Within three years, from 1805 to 1808, Beethoven +composed some of his greatest works—the oratorio of “The +Mount of Olives,” the opera of “Fidelio,” and the two +noble symphonies, “Pastorale” and “Eroica,” besides +a large number of concertos, sonatas, songs, and other +occasional pieces. However gloomy the externals of his +life, his creative activities knew no cessation.</p> + +<p>The “Sinfonia Eroica,” the “Choral” only excepted, +is the longest of the immortal nine, and is one of the +greatest examples of musical portraiture extant. All the +great composers from Handel to Wagner have attempted, +what is called descriptive music with more or less success, +but never have musical genius and skill achieved a result so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>74]</a></span> +admirable in its relation to its purpose and by such strictly +legitimate means as in this work.</p> + +<p>“The ‘Eroica,’” says a great writer, “is an attempt to +draw a musical portrait of an historical character—a great +statesman, a great general, a noble individual; to represent +in music—Beethoven’s own language—what M. Thiers has +given in words, and Paul Delaroche in painting.” Of +Beethoven’s success another writer has said—“It wants no +title to tell its meaning, for throughout the symphony the +hero is visibly portrayed.”</p> + +<p>It is anything but difficult to realise why Beethoven +should have admired the first Napoleon. Both the soldier +and musician were made of that sturdy stuff which would +and did defy the world; and it is not strange that +Beethoven should have desired in some way—and he knew +of no better course than through his art—to honour one so +characteristically akin to himself, and who at that time was +the most prominent man in Europe. Beethoven began the +work in 1802, and in 1804 it was completed, and bore the +following title:—</p> + +<p class="center">Sinfonia grande<br /> +“Napoleon Bonaparte”<br /> +1804 in August<br /> +del Sigr<br /> +Louis van Beethoven<br /> +Sinfonia 3.<br /> +Op. 55.</p> + +<p>This was copied and the original score despatched to the +ambassador for presentation, while Beethoven retained the +copy. Before the composition was laid before Napoleon, +however, the great general had accepted the title of +Emperor. No sooner did Beethoven hear of this from his +pupil Ries than he started up in a rage, and exclaimed—“After +all, then, he’s nothing but an ordinary mortal! He +will trample the rights of men under his feet!” saying +which, he rushed to his table, seized the copy of the score, +and tore the title-page completely off. From this time +Beethoven hated Napoleon, and never again spoke of him +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>75]</a></span> +in connection with the symphony until he heard of his +death in St. Helena, when he observed, “I have already +composed music for this calamity,” evidently referring +to the “Funeral March” in this symphony.</p> + +<p>The opera of “Fidelio,” which he composed about the +same time, may be considered, in the severe sense of a great +and symmetrical musical work, the finest lyric drama ever +written, with the possible exception of Gluck’s “Orpheus +and Eurydice” and “Iphigenia in Tauris.” It is rarely +performed, because its broad, massive, and noble effects are +beyond the capacity of most singers, and belong to the +domain of pure music, demanding but little alliance with +the artistic clap-trap of startling scenery and histrionic +extravagance. Yet our composer’s conscience shows its +completeness in his obedience to the law of opera; for the +music he has written to express the situations cannot be +surpassed for beauty, pathos, and passion. Beethoven, like +Mendelssohn, revolted from the idea of lyric drama as an +art-inconsistency, but he wrote “Fidelio” to show his +possibilities in a direction with which he had but little sympathy. +He composed four overtures for this opera at +different periods, on account of the critical caprices of the +Viennese public—a concession to public taste which his +stern independence rarely made.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Beethoven’s relations with women were peculiar and +characteristic, as were all the phases of a nature singularly +self-poised and robust. Like all men of powerful imagination +and keen (though perhaps not delicate) sensibility, he +was strongly attracted towards the softer sex. But a certain +austerity of morals, and that purity of feeling which is the +inseparable shadow of one’s devotion to lofty aims, always +kept him within the bounds of Platonic affection. Yet +there is enough in Beethoven’s letters, as scanty as their +indications are in this direction, to show what ardour and +glow of feeling he possessed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>76]</a></span> +About the time that he was suffering keenly with the +knowledge of his fast-growing infirmity, he was bound by a +strong tie of affection to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his +“immortal beloved,” “his angel,” “his all,” “his life,” as +he called her in a variety of passionate utterances. It was +to her that he dedicated his song “Adelaida,” which, as an +expression of lofty passion, is world-famous. Beethoven +was very much dissatisfied with the work even in the glow +of composition. Before the notes were dry on the music +paper, the composer’s old friend Barth was announced. +“Here,” said Beethoven, putting a roll of score paper in +Barth’s hands, “look at that. I have just finished it, and +don’t like it. There is hardly fire enough in the stove to +burn it, but I will try.” Barth glanced through the composition, +then sang it, and soon grew into such enthusiasm +as to draw from Beethoven the expression, “No? then we +will not burn it, old fellow.” Whether it was the reaction +of disgust, which so often comes to genius after the tension +of work, or whether his ideal of its lovely theme was so +high as to make all effort seem inadequate, the world came +very near losing what it could not afford to have missed.</p> + +<p>The charming countess, however, preferred rank, wealth, +and unruffled ease to being linked even with a great genius, +if, indeed, the affair ever looked in the direction of marriage. +She married another, and Beethoven does not seem to have +been seriously disturbed. It may be that, like Goethe, he +valued the love of woman not for itself or its direct results, +but as an art-stimulus which should enrich and fructify his +own intellectual life.</p> + +<p>We get glimpses of successors to the fair countess. The +beautiful Marie Pachler was for some time the object of +his adoration. The affair is a somewhat mysterious one, +and the lady seems to have suffered from the fire through +which her powerful companion passed unscathed. Again, +quaintest and oddest of all, is the fancy kindled by that +“mysterious sprite of genius,” as one of her contemporaries +calls her, Bettina Brentano, the gifted child-woman, who +fascinated all who came within her reach, from Goethe and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>77]</a></span> +Beethoven down to princes and nobles. Goethe’s correspondence +with this strange being has embalmed her life +in classic literature.</p> + +<p>Our composer’s intercourse with women—for he was +always alive to the charms of female society—was for the +most part homely and practical in the extreme, after his +deafness destroyed the zest of the more romantic phases of +the divine passion. He accepted adoration, as did Dean +Swift, as a right. He permitted his female admirers to +knit him stockings and comforters, and make him dainty +puddings and other delicacies, which he devoured with huge +gusto. He condescended, in return, to go to sleep on their +sofas, after picking his teeth with the candle-snuffers (so +says scandal), while they thrummed away at his sonatas, +the artistic slaughter of which Beethoven was mercifully +unable to hear.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>The friendship of the Archduke Rudolph relieved +Beethoven of the immediate pressure of poverty; for in +1809 he settled a small life-pension upon him. The next +ten years were passed by him in comparative ease and comfort, +and in this time he gave to the world five of his +immortal symphonies, and a large number of his finest +sonatas and masses. His general health improved very +much; and in his love for his nephew Karl, whom +Beethoven had adopted, the lonely man found an outlet +for his strong affections, which was medicine for his soul, +though the object was worthless and ungrateful.</p> + +<p>We get curious and amusing insights into the daily tenor +of Beethoven’s life during this period—things sometimes +almost grotesque, were they not so sad. The composer +lived a solitary life, and was very much at the mercy of his +servants on account of his self-absorption and deafness. +He was much worried by these prosaic cares. One story of +a slatternly servant is as follows:—The master was working +at the mass in D, the great work which he commenced in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>78]</a></span> +1819 for the celebration of the appointment of the Archduke +Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz, and which should +have been completed by the following year. Beethoven, +however, became so engrossed with his work, and increased +its proportions so much, that it was not finished until some +two years after the event which it was intended to celebrate. +While Beethoven was engaged upon this score, he one day +woke up to the fact that some of his pages were missing. +“Where on earth could they be?” he asked himself, and +the servant too; but the problem remained unsolved. +Beethoven, beside himself, spent hours and hours in searching, +and so did the servant, but it was all in vain. At last +they gave up the task as a useless one, and Beethoven, mad +with despair, and pouring the very opposite to blessings +upon the head of her who, he believed, was the author of +the mischief, sat down with the conclusion that he must rewrite +the missing part. He had no sooner commenced a +new Kyrie—for this was the movement which was not to +be found—than some loose sheets of score paper were +discovered in the kitchen! Upon examination they proved +to be the identical pages that Beethoven so much desired, +and which the woman, in her anxiety to be “tidy” and to +“keep things straight,” had appropriated at some time or +other for wrapping up, not only old boots and clothes, but also +some superannuated pots and pans that were greasy and black!</p> + +<p>Thus he was continually fretted by the carelessness or +the rascality of the servants in whom he was obliged to +trust. He writes in his diary—“Nancy is too uneducated +for a housekeeper—indeed, quite a beast.” “My precious +servants were occupied from seven o’clock till ten trying to +kindle a fire.” “The cook’s off again.” “I shied half-a-dozen +books at her head.” They made his dinner so nasty +he couldn’t eat it. “No soup to-day, no beef, no eggs. +Got something from the inn at last.”</p> + +<p>His temper and peculiarities, too, made it difficult for +him to live in peace with landlords and fellow-lodgers. As +his deafness increased, he struck and thumped harder at +the keys of his piano, the sound of which he could scarcely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>79]</a></span> +hear. Nor was this all. The music that filled his brain +gave him no rest. He became an inspired madman. For +hours he would pace the room “howling and roaring” +(as his pupil Ries puts it); or he would stand beating +time with hand and foot to the music which was so vividly +present to his mind. This soon put him into a feverish +excitement, when, to cool himself, he would take his water-jug, +and, thoughtless of everything, pour its contents over +his hands, after which he could sit down to his piano. +With all this it can easily be imagined that Beethoven was +frequently remonstrated with. The landlord complained of +a damaged ceiling, and the fellow-lodgers declared that +either they or the madman must leave the house, for they +could get no rest where he was. So Beethoven never for +long had a resting-place. Impatient at being interfered +with, he immediately packed up and went off to some other +vacant lodging. From this cause he was at one time +paying the rent of four lodgings at once. At times he +would get tired of this changing from one place to another—from +the suburbs to the town—and then he would fall +back upon the hospitable home of a patron, once again +taking possession of an apartment which he had vacated, +probably without the least explanation or cause. One +admirer of his genius, who always reserved him a chamber +in his establishment, used to say to his servants—“Leave +it empty; Beethoven is sure to come back again.”</p> + +<p>The instant that Beethoven entered the house he began +to write and cipher on the walls, the blinds, the table, +everything, in the most abstracted manner. He frequently +composed on slips of paper, which he afterwards misplaced, +so that he had great difficulty in finding them. At one +time, indeed, he forgot his own name and the date of his +birth.</p> + +<p>It is said that he once went into a Viennese restaurant, +and, instead of giving an order, began to write a score on +the back of the bill-of-fare, absorbed and unconscious of +time and place. At last he asked how much he owed. +“You owe nothing, sir,” said the waiter. “What! do you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>80]</a></span> +think I have not dined?” “Most assuredly.” “Very +well, then, give me something.” “What do you wish?” +“Anything.”</p> + +<p>These infirmities do not belittle the man of genius, but +set off his greatness as with a foil. They illustrate the +thought of Goethe: “It is all the same whether one is great +or small, he has to pay the reckoning of humanity.”</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Yet beneath these eccentricities what wealth of tenderness, +sympathy, and kindliness existed! His affection for +his graceless nephew Karl is a touching picture. With the +rest of his family he had never been on very cordial terms. +His feeling of contempt for snobbery and pretence is very +happily illustrated in his relations with his brother Johann. +The latter had acquired property, and he sent Ludwig his +card, inscribed “Johann von Beethoven, land-owner.” The +caustic reply was a card, on which was written, “Ludwig +von Beethoven, brain-owner.” But on Karl all the warmest +feelings of a nature which had been starving to love and be +loved poured themselves out. He gave the scapegrace +every luxury and indulgence, and, self-absorbed as he was +in an ideal sphere, felt the deepest interest in all the most +trivial things that concerned him. Much to the uncle’s +sorrow, Karl cared nothing for music; but, worst of all, he +was an idle, selfish, heartless fellow, who sneered at his +benefactor, and valued him only for what he could get from +him. At last Beethoven became fully aware of the lying +ingratitude of his nephew, and he exclaims—“I know now +you have no pleasure in coming to see me, which is only +natural, for my atmosphere is too pure for you. God has +never yet forsaken me, and no doubt some one will be found +to close my eyes.” Yet the generous old man forgave him, +for he says in the codicil of his will, “I appoint my nephew +Karl my sole heir.”</p> + +<p>Frequently, glimpses of the true vein showed themselves +in such little episodes as that which occurred when +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>81]</a></span> +Moscheles, accompanied by his brother, visited the great +musician for the first time.</p> + +<p>“Arrived at the door of the house,” writes Moscheles, “I +had some misgivings, knowing Beethoven’s strong aversion +to strangers. I therefore told my brother to wait below. +After greeting Beethoven, I said, ‘Will you permit me to +introduce my brother to you?’</p> + +<p>“‘Where is he?’ he suddenly replied.</p> + +<p>“‘Below.’</p> + +<p>“‘What, downstairs?’ and Beethoven immediately +rushed off, seized hold of my brother, saying, ‘Am I such +a savage that you are afraid to come near me?’</p> + +<p>“After this he showed great kindness to us.”</p> + +<p>While referring to the relations of Moscheles and +Beethoven, the following anecdote related by Mdme. +Moscheles will be found suggestive. The pianist had +been arranging some numbers of “Fidelio,” which he took +to the composer. He, <i>à la</i> Haydn, had inscribed the score +with the words, “By God’s help.” Beethoven did not fail +to perceive this, and he wrote underneath this phylactory +the characteristic advice—“O man, help thyself.”</p> + +<p>The genial and sympathetic nature of Beethoven is +illustrated in this quaint incident:—</p> + +<p>It was in the summer of 1811 that Ludwig Löwe, the +actor, first met Beethoven in the dining-room of the Blue +Star at Töplitz. Löwe was paying his addresses to the +landlord’s daughter; and conversation being impossible at +the hour he dined there, the charming creature one day +whispered to him, “Come at a later hour, when the +customers are gone and only Beethoven is here. He cannot +hear, and will therefore not be in the way.” This answered +for a time; but the stern parents, observing the acquaintanceship, +ordered the actor to leave the house and not to +return. “How great was our despair!” relates Löwe. +“We both desired to correspond, but through whom? +Would the solitary man at the opposite table assist us? +Despite his serious reserve and seeming churlishness, I +believe he is not unfriendly. I have often caught a kind +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>82]</a></span> +smile across his bold, defiant face.” Löwe determined to try. +Knowing Beethoven’s custom, he contrived to meet the +master when he was walking in the gardens. Beethoven +instantly recognised him, and asked the reason why he +no longer dined at the Blue Star. A full confession was +made, and then Löwe timidly asked if he would take charge +of a letter to give to the girl.</p> + +<p>“Why not?” pleasantly observed the rough-looking +musician. “You mean what is right.” So pocketing the +note, he was making his way onward when Löwe again +interfered.</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, Herr von Beethoven, that is not all.”</p> + +<p>“So, so,” said the master.</p> + +<p>“You must also bring back the answer,” Löwe went on +to say.</p> + +<p>“Meet me here at this time to-morrow,” said Beethoven.</p> + +<p>Löwe did so, and there found Beethoven awaiting him, +with the coveted reply from his lady-love. In this manner +Beethoven carried the letters backward and forward for +some five or six weeks—in short, as long as he remained in +the town.</p> + +<p>His friendship with Ferdinand Ries commenced in a way +which testified how grateful he was for kindness. When +his mother lay ill at Bonn, he hurried home from Vienna +just in time to witness her death. After the funeral he +suffered greatly from poverty, and was relieved by Ries, the +violinist. Years afterwards young Ries waited on Beethoven +with a letter of introduction from his father. The composer +received him with cordial warmth, and said, “Tell +your father I have not forgotten the death of my mother.” +Ever afterwards he was a helpful and devoted friend to +young Ries, and was of inestimable value in forwarding his +musical career.</p> + +<p>Beethoven in his poverty never forgot to be generous. +At a concert given in aid of wounded soldiers, where he +conducted, he indignantly refused payment with the words, +“Say Beethoven never accepts anything where humanity +is concerned.” To an Ursuline convent he gave an entirely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>83]</a></span> +new symphony to be performed at their benefit concert. +Friend or enemy never applied to him for help that he did +not freely give, even to the pinching of his own comfort.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Rossini could write best when he was under the influence +of Italian wine and sparkling champagne. Paisiello liked +the warm bed in which to jot down his musical notions, and +we are told that “it was between the sheets that he planned +the ‘Barber of Seville,’ the ‘Molinara,’ and so many other <i>chefs-d’œuvre</i> +of ease and gracefulness.” Mozart could chat and +play at billiards or bowls at the same time that he composed +the most beautiful music. Sacchini found it impossible to +write anything of any beauty unless a pretty woman was by +his side, and he was surrounded by his cats, whose graceful +antics stimulated and affected him in a marked fashion. +“Gluck,” Bombet says, “in order to warm his imagination +and to transport himself to Aulis or Sparta, was accustomed +to place himself in the middle of a beautiful meadow. In +this situation, with his piano before him, and a bottle of +champagne on each side, he wrote in the open air his two +‘Iphigenias,’ his ‘Orpheus,’ and some other works.” The +agencies which stimulated Beethoven’s grandest thoughts +are eminently characteristic of the man. He loved to let +the winds and storms beat on his bare head, and see the dazzling +play of the lightning. Or, failing the sublimer moods +of Nature, it was his delight to walk in the woods and +fields, and take in at every pore the influences which she +so lavishly bestows on her favourites. His true life was +his ideal life in art. To him it was a mission and an +inspiration, the end and object of all things; for these had +value only as they fed the divine craving within.</p> + +<p>“Nothing can be more sublime,” he writes, “than to +draw nearer to the Godhead than other men, and to diffuse +here on earth these Godlike rays among mortals.” Again: +“What is all this compared to the grandest of all Masters +of Harmony—above, above?”</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>84]</a></span> +<span class="i0">“All experience seemed an arch, wherethrough<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gleamed that untravelled world, whose margin fades<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forever and forever as we move.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The last four years of our composer’s life were passed amid +great distress from poverty and feebleness. He could compose +but little; and, though his friends solaced his latter +days with attention and kindness, his sturdy independence +would not accept more. It is a touching fact that Beethoven +voluntarily suffered want and privation in his last +years, that he might leave the more to his selfish and ungrateful +nephew. He died in 1827, in his fifty-seventh +year, and is buried in the Wahring Cemetery near Vienna. +Let these extracts from a testamentary paper addressed to +his brothers in 1802, in expectation of death, speak more +eloquently of the hidden life of a heroic soul than any other +words could:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“O ye, who consider or declare me to be hostile, +obstinate, or misanthropic, what injustice ye do me! Ye +know not the secret causes of that which to you wears +such an appearance. My heart and my mind were from +childhood prone to the tender feelings of affection. Nay, I +was always disposed even to perform great actions. But, +only consider that, for the last six years, I have been +attacked by an incurable complaint, aggravated by the +unskilful treatment of medical men, disappointed from +year to year in the hope of relief, and at last obliged to +submit to the endurance of an evil the cure of which may +last perhaps for years, if it is practicable at all. Born with +a lively, ardent disposition, susceptible to the diversions of +society, I was forced at an early age to renounce them, and +to pass my life in seclusion. If I strove at any time to set +myself above all this, oh how cruelly was I driven back by +the doubly painful experience of my defective hearing! and +yet it was not possible for me to say to people, ‘Speak +louder—bawl—for I am deaf!’ Ah! how could I proclaim +the defect of a sense that I once possessed in the +highest perfection—in a perfection in which few of my +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>85]</a></span> +colleagues possess or ever did possess it? Indeed, I cannot! +Forgive me, then, if ye see me draw back when I +would gladly mingle among you. Doubly mortifying is my +misfortune to me, as it must tend to cause me to be +misconceived. From recreation in the society of my +fellow-creatures, from the pleasures of conversation, from +the effusions of friendship, I am cut off. Almost alone in +the world, I dare not venture into society more than +absolute necessity requires. I am obliged to live as an +exile. If I go into company, a painful anxiety comes over +me, since I am apprehensive of being exposed to the danger +of betraying my situation. Such has been my state, too, +during this half year that I have spent in the country. +Enjoined by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing +as much as possible, I have been almost encouraged by him +in my present natural disposition, though, hurried away by +my fondness for society, I sometimes suffered myself to be +enticed into it. But what a humiliation when any one +standing beside me could hear at a distance a flute that I +could not hear, or any one heard the shepherd singing, and +I could not distinguish a sound! Such circumstances +brought me to the brink of despair, and had well-nigh made +me put an end to my life—nothing but my art held my +hand. Ah! it seemed to me impossible to quit the world +before I had produced all that I felt myself called to +accomplish. And so I endured this wretched life—so truly +wretched, that a somewhat speedy change is capable of +transporting me from the best into the worst condition. +Patience—so I am told—I must choose for my guide. +Steadfast, I hope, will be my resolution to persevere, till it +shall please the inexorable Fates to cut the thread.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps there may be an amendment—perhaps not; I +am prepared for the worst—I, who so early as my twenty-eighth +year was forced to become a philosopher—it is not +easy—for the artist more difficult than for any other. O +God! thou lookest down upon my misery; thou knowest +that it is accompanied with love of my fellow-creatures, and +a disposition to do good! O men! when ye shall read this, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>86]</a></span> +think that ye have wronged me; and let the child of affliction +take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in spite +of all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay in +his power to obtain admittance into the rank of worthy +artists and men.... I go to meet Death with joy. If he +comes before I have had occasion to develop all my professional +abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite of +my hard fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his +arrival. But even then I am content, for he will release +me from a state of endless suffering. Come when thou wilt, +I shall meet thee with firmness. Farewell, and do not quite +forget me after I am dead; I have deserved that you should +think of me, for in my lifetime I have often thought of you +to make you happy. May you ever be so!”</p> +</div> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on +art. In speaking of his genius it is difficult to keep +expression within the limits of good taste. For who has so +passed into the very inner <i>penetralia</i> of his great art, and +revealed to the world such heights and depths of beauty and +power in sound?</p> + +<p>Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one +voice, are ranked as the greatest ever written, reaching in +the last, known as the “Choral,” the full perfection of his +power and experience. Other musicians have composed +symphonic works remarkable for varied excellences, but in +Beethoven this form of writing seems to have attained +its highest possibilities, and to have been illustrated +by the greatest variety of effects, from the sublime to +such as are simply beautiful and melodious. His hand +swept the whole range of expression with unfaltering +mastery. Some passages may seem obscure, some too +elaborately wrought, some startling and abrupt, but on all +is stamped the die of his great genius.</p> + +<p>Beethoven’s compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are +no less notable for range and power of expression, their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>87]</a></span> +adaptation to meet all the varied moods of passion and +sentiment. Other pianoforte composers have given us +more warm and vivid colour, richer sensual effects of tone, +more wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even greater +sweetness in melody; but we look in vain elsewhere for +the spiritual passion and poetry, the aspiration and longing, +the lofty humanity, which make the Beethoven sonatas the +<i>suspiria de profundis</i> of the composer’s inner life. In +addition to his symphonies and sonatas, he wrote the great +opera of “Fidelio,” and in the field of oratorio asserted his +equality with Handel and Haydn by composing “The +Mount of Olives.” A great variety of chamber music, +masses, and songs bear the same imprint of power. He +may be called the most original and conscientious of all +the composers. Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and +Mendelssohn were inveterate thieves, and pilfered the +choicest gems from old and forgotten writers without +scruple. Beethoven seems to have been so fecund in great +conceptions, so lifted on the wings of his tireless genius, so +austere in artistic morality, that he stands for the most +part above the reproach deservedly borne by his brother +composers.</p> + +<p>Beethoven’s principal title to fame is in his superlative +place as a symphonic composer. In the symphony music +finds its highest intellectual dignity; in Beethoven the +symphony has found its loftiest master.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="schubert" id="schubert"></a><i>SCHUBERT AND SCHUMANN.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Heinrich Heine</span>, in his preface to a translation of <i>Don +Quixote</i>, discusses the creative powers of different peoples. +To the Spaniard Cervantes is awarded the first place in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>88]</a></span> +novel-writing, and to our own Shakespeare, of course, the +transcendent rank in drama.</p> + +<p>“And the Germans,” he goes on to say, “what palm is +due to them? Well, we are the best writers of songs in the +world. No people possesses such beautiful <i>Lieder</i> as the +Germans. Just at present the nations have too much +political business on hand; but, after that has once been +settled, we Germans, English, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and +Italians will all go to the green forest and sing, and the +nightingale shall be umpire. I feel sure that in this contest +the song of Wolfgang Goethe will gain the prize.”</p> + +<p>There are few, if any, who will be disposed to dispute the +verdict of the German poet, himself no mean rival, in depth +and variety of lyric inspiration, even of the great Goethe. +But a greater poet than either one of this great pair bears +the suggestive and impersonal name of “The People.” It +is to the countless wealth of the German race in folk-songs, +an affluence which can be traced back to the very dawn of +civilisation among them, that the possibility of such lyric +poets as Goethe, Heine, Rückert, and Uhland is due. From +the days of the “Nibelungenlied,” that great epic which, +like the Homeric poems, can hardly be credited to any one +author, every hamlet has rung with beautiful national +songs, which sprung straight from the fervid heart of +the people. These songs are balmy with the breath of +the forest, the meadow, and river, and have that simple +and bewitching freshness of motive and rhythm which +unconsciously sets itself to music.</p> + +<p>The German <i>Volkslied</i>, as the exponent of the popular +heart, has a wide range, from mere comment on historical +events, and quaint, droll satire, such as may be found in +Hans Sachs, to the grand protest against spiritual bondage +which makes the burden of Luther’s hymn, “Ein’ feste +Burg.” But nowhere is the beauty of the German song so +marked as in those <i>Lieder</i> treating of love, deeds of arms, +and the old mystic legends so dear to the German heart. +Tieck writes of the “Minnesinger period”—“Believers sang +of faith, lovers of love; knights described knightly actions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>89]</a></span> +and battles, and loving, believing knights were their chief +audiences. The spring, beauty, gaiety, were objects that +could never tire; great duels and deeds of arms carried away +every hearer, the more surely the stronger they were painted; +and as the pillars and dome of the church encircled the flock, +so did Religion, as the highest, encircle poetry and reality, +and every heart in equal love humbled itself before her.”</p> + +<p>A similar spirit has always inspired the popular German +song, a simple and beautiful reverence for the unknown, the +worship of heroism, a vital sympathy with the various +manifestations of Nature. Without the fire of the French +<i>chansons</i>, the sonorous grace of the Tuscan <i>stornelli</i>, these +artless ditties, with their exclusive reliance on true feeling, +possess an indescribable charm.</p> + +<p>The German <i>Lied</i> always preserved its characteristic +beauty. Goethe, and the great school of lyric poets clustered +around him, simply perfected the artistic form, without +departing from the simplicity and soulfulness of the stock +from which it came. Had it not been for the rich soil of +popular song, we should not have had the peerless lyrics of +modern Germany. Had it not been for the poetic inspiration +of such word-makers as Goethe and Heine, we should not +have had such music-makers in the sphere of song as Schubert +and Franz.</p> + +<p>The songs of these masters appeal to the interest and +admiration of the world, then, not merely in virtue of musical +beauty, but in that they are the most vital outgrowths of +Teutonic nationality and feeling.</p> + +<p>The immemorial melodies to which the popular songs of +Germany were set display great simplicity of rhythm, even +monotony, with frequent recurrence of the minor keys, so +well adapted to express the melancholy tone of many of the +poems. The strictly strophic treatment is used, or, in other +words, the repetition of the melody of the first stanza in all +the succeeding ones. The chasm between this and the +varied form of the artistic modern song is deep and wide, +yet it was overleaped in a single swift bound by the remarkable +genius of Franz Schubert, who, though his compositions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>90]</a></span> +were many and matchless of their kind, died all too young; +for, as the inscription on his tombstone pathetically has it, +he was “rich in what he gave, richer in what he promised.”</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The great masters of the last century tried their hands in +the domain of song with only comparative success, partly +because they did not fully realise the nature of this form +of art, partly because they could not limit the sweep of the +creative power within such narrow limits. Schubert was a +revelation to his countrymen in his musical treatment of +subjective passion, in his instinctive command over condensed, +epigrammatic expression. This rich and gifted life, +however quiet in its exterior facts, was great in its creative +and spiritual manifestation. Born at Vienna of humble +parents, January 31, 1797, the early life of Franz Schubert +was commonplace in the extreme, the most interesting +feature being the extraordinary development of his genius. +At the age of fourteen he had made himself a master of +counterpoint and harmony, and composed a large mass of +chamber-music and works for the piano. His poverty was +such that he was oftentimes unable to obtain the music-paper +with which to fasten the immortal thoughts that +thronged through his brain. It was two years later that +his special creative function found exercise in the production +of the two great songs, the “Erl-King” and the +“Serenade,” the former of which proved the source of most +of the fame and money emolument he enjoyed during life. +It is hardly needful to speak of the power and beauty of +this composition, the weird sweetness of its melodies, the +dramatic contrasts, the wealth of colour and shading in its +varying phrases, the subtilty of the accompaniment, which +elaborates the spirit of the song itself. The piece was +composed in less than an hour. One of Schubert’s +intimates tells us that he left him reading Goethe’s great +poem for the first time. He instantly conceived and +arranged the melody, and when the friend returned after +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>91]</a></span> +a short absence Schubert was rapidly noting the music +from his head on paper. When the song was finished he +rushed to the Stadtconvict school, his only <i>alma mater</i>, and +sang it to the scholars. The music-master, Rucziszka, was +overwhelmed with rapture and astonishment, and embraced +the young composer in a transport of joy. When this +immortal music was first sung to Goethe, the great poet +said, “Had music, instead of words, been my instrument +of thought, it is so I would have framed the legend.”</p> + +<p>The “Serenade” is another example of the swiftness of +Schubert’s artistic imagination. He and a lot of jolly +boon-companions sat one Sunday afternoon in an obscure +Viennese tavern, known as the Biersack. The surroundings +were anything but conducive to poetic fancies—dirty +tables, floor, and ceiling, the clatter of mugs and dishes, the +loud dissonance of the beery German roisterers, the +squalling of children, and all the sights and noises characteristic +of the beer-cellar. One of our composer’s +companions had a volume of poems, which Schubert +looked at in a lazy way, laughing and drinking the while. +Singling out some verses, he said, “I have a pretty melody +in my head for these lines, if I could only get a piece of +ruled paper.” Some staves were drawn on the back of a +bill-of-fare, and here, amid all the confusion and riot, the +divine melody of the “Serenade” was born, a tone-poem +which embodies the most delicate dream of passion and +tenderness that the heart of man ever conceived.</p> + +<p>Both these compositions were eccentric and at odds with +the old canons of song, fancied with a grace, warmth, and +variety of colour hitherto characteristic only of the more +pretentious forms of music, which had already been brought +to a great degree of perfection. They inaugurate the genesis +of the new school of musical lyrics, the golden wedding of +the union of poetry with music.</p> + +<p>For a long time the young composer was unsuccessful in +his attempts to break through the barren and irritating +drudgery of a schoolmaster’s life. At last a wealthy young +dilettante, Franz von Schober, who had become an admirer +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>92]</a></span> +of Schubert’s songs, persuaded his mother to offer him a +fixed home in her house. The latter gratefully accepted +the overture of friendship, and thence became a daily guest +at Schober’s house. He made at this time a number of +strong friendships with obscure poets, whose names only +live through the music of the composer set to verses +furnished by them; for Schubert, in his affluence of creative +power, merely needed the slightest excuse for his genius to +flow forth. But, while he wrote nothing that was not +beautiful, his masterpieces are based only on themes +furnished by the lyrics of such poets as Goethe, Heine, and +Rückert. It is related, in connection with his friendship +with Mayrhofer, one of his rhyming associates of these +days, that he would set the verses to music much faster +than the other could compose them.</p> + +<p>The songs of the obscure Schubert were gradually finding +their way to favour among the exclusive circles of Viennese +aristocracy. A celebrated singer of the opera, Vogl, though +then far advanced in years, was much sought after for the +drawing-room concerts so popular in Vienna, on account of +the beauty of his art. Vogl was a warm admirer of +Schubert’s genius, and devoted himself assiduously to the +task of interpreting it—a friendly office of no little value. +Had it not been for this, our composer would have sunk to +his early grave probably without even the small share of +reputation and monetary return actually vouchsafed to him. +The strange, dreamy unconsciousness of Schubert is very +well illustrated in a story told by Vogl after his friend’s +death. One day Schubert left a new song at the singer’s +apartments, which, being too high, was transposed. Vogl, +a fortnight afterwards, sang it in the lower key to his +friend, who remarked: “Really, that <i>Lied</i> is not bad; who +composed it?”</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Our great composer, from the peculiar constitution of +his gifts, the passionate subjectiveness of his nature, might +be supposed to have been peculiarly sensitive to the fascinations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>93]</a></span> +of love, for it is in this feeling that lyric inspiration +has found its most fruitful root. But not so. Warmly +susceptible to the charms of friendship, Schubert for the +most part enacted the <i>rôle</i> of the woman-hater, which was +not all affected; for the Hamlet-like mood is only in part a +simulated madness with souls of this type. In early youth +he would sneer at the amours of his comrades. It is true +he fell a victim to the charms of Theresa Gröbe, a beautiful +soprano, who afterwards became the spouse of a master-baker. +But the only genuine love-sickness of Schubert was +of a far different type, and left indelible traces on his +nature, as its very direction made it of necessity unfortunate. +This was his attachment to Countess Caroline +Esterhazy.</p> + +<p>The Count Esterhazy, one of those great feudal princes +still extant among the Austrian nobility, took a traditional +pride in encouraging genius, and found in Franz Schubert a +noble object for his generous patronage. He was almost a +boy (only nineteen), except in the prodigious development +of his genius, when he entered the Esterhazy family as +teacher of music, though always treated as a dear and +familiar friend. During the summer months, Schubert +went with the Esterhazys to their country seat at Zelész, in +Hungary. Here, amid beautiful scenery, and the sweetness +of a social life perfect of its kind, our poet’s life flew on +rapid wings, the one bright, green spot of unalloyed +happiness, for the dream was delicious while it lasted. +Here, too, his musical life gathered a fresh inspiration, +since he became acquainted with the treasures of the +national Hungarian music, with its weird, wild rhythms +and striking melodies. He borrowed the motives of many +of his most characteristic songs from these reminiscences +of hut and hall, for the Esterhazys were royal in their +hospitality, and exercised a wide patriarchal sway.</p> + +<p>The beautiful Countess Caroline, an enthusiastic girl of +great beauty, became the object of a romantic passion. A +young, inexperienced maiden, full of <i>naïve</i> sweetness, the +finest flower of the haughty Austrian caste, she stood at an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>94]</a></span> +infinite distance from Schubert, while she treated him +with childlike confidence and fondness, laughing at his +eccentricities, and worshipping his genius. He bowed before +this idol, and poured out all the incense of his heart. +Schubert’s exterior was anything but that of the ideal lover. +Rude, unshapely features, thick nose, coarse, protruding +mouth, and a shambling, awkward figure, were redeemed +only by eyes of uncommon splendour and depth, aflame +with the unmistakable light of the soul.</p> + +<p>The inexperienced maiden hardly understood the devotion +of the artist, which found expression in a thousand ways +peculiar to himself. Only once he was on the verge of a +full revelation. She asked him why he had dedicated +nothing to her. With abrupt, passionate intensity of tone +Schubert answered, “What’s the use of that? Everything +belongs to you!” This brink of confession seems to have +frightened him, for it is said that after this he threw much +more reserve about his intercourse with the family, till it +was broken off. Hints in his letters, and the deep +despondency which increased after this, indicate, however, +that the humbly-born genius never forgot his beautiful +dream.</p> + +<p>He continued to pour out in careless profusion songs, +symphonies, quartets, and operas, many of which knew no +existence but in the score till after his death, hardly +knowing of himself whether the productions had value or +not. He created because it was the essential law of his +being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the +beauties of his own work. Schubert’s body had been +mouldering for several years, when his wonderful symphony +in C major, one of the <i>chefs-d’œuvre</i> of orchestral composition, +was brought to the attention of the world by the +critical admiration of Robert Schumann, who won the +admiration of lovers of music, not less by his prompt +vindication of neglected genius than by his own creative +powers.</p> + +<p>In the contest between Weber and Rossini which +agitated Vienna, Schubert, though deeply imbued with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>95]</a></span> +seriousness of art, and by nature closely allied in sympathies +with the composer of “Der Freischütz,” took no part. He +was too easy-going to become a volunteer partisan, too shy +and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be sought after. +Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, +and damned an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured +Franz Schubert could not easily forgive.</p> + +<p>The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to +musicians, contain a wealth of beautiful melody which +could easily be spread over a score of ordinary works. The +purely lyric impulse so dominated him that dramatic +arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies +were likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. +Even under the operatic form he remained essentially the +song-writer. So in the symphony his affluence of melodic +inspiration seems actually to embarrass him, to the detriment +of that breadth and symmetry of treatment so vital +to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric that our +composer stands matchless.</p> + +<p>During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, +Schubert lived fighting a stern battle with want and +despondency, while the publishers were commencing to +make fortunes by the sale of his exquisite <i>Lieder</i>. At that +time a large source of income for the Viennese composers +was the public performance of their works in concerts under +their own direction. From recourse to this, Schubert’s +bashfulness and lack of skill as a <i>virtuoso</i> on any instrument +helped to bar him, though he accompanied his own songs +with exquisite effect. Once only his friends organised a +concert for him, and the success was very brilliant. But he +was prevented from repeating the good fortune by that fatal +illness which soon set in. So he lived out the last glimmers +of his life, poverty-stricken, despondent, with few even of +the amenities of friendship to soothe his declining days. +Yet those who know the beautiful results of that life, and +have even a faint glow of sympathy with the life of a man +of genius, will exclaim with one of the most eloquent +critics of Schubert—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>96]</a></span> +“But shall we, therefore, pity a man who all the while revelled in +the treasures of his creative ore, and from the very depths of whose +despair sprang the sweetest flowers of song? Who would not battle +with the iciest blast of the north if out of storm and snow he could +bring back to his chamber the germs of the ‘Winterreise?’ Who +would grudge the moisture of his eyes if he could render it immortal +in the strains of Schubert’s ‘Lob der Thräne?’”</p> +</div> + +<p>Schubert died in the flower of his youth, November 19, +1828; but he left behind him nearly a thousand compositions, +six hundred of which were songs. Of his operas only +the “Enchanted Harp” and “Rosamond” were put on the +stage during his lifetime. “Fierabras,” considered to be his +finest dramatic work, has never been produced. His church +music, consisting of six masses, many offertories, and the +great “Hallelujah” of Klopstock, is still performed in +Germany. Several of his symphonies are ranked among the +greatest works of this nature. His pianoforte compositions +are brilliant, and strongly in the style of Beethoven, who +was always the great object of Schubert’s devoted admiration, +his artistic idol and model. It was his dying request +that he should be buried by the side of Beethoven, of whom +the art-world had been deprived the year before.</p> + +<p>Compared with Schubert, other composers seem to have +written in prose. His imagination burned with a passionate +love of Nature. The lakes, the woods, the mountain +heights, inspired him with eloquent reveries that burst into +song; but he always saw Nature through the medium of +human passion and sympathy, which transfigured it. He +was the faithful interpreter of spiritual suffering, and the +joy which is born thereof.</p> + +<p>The genius of Schubert seems to have been directly formed +for the expression of subjective emotion in music. That his +life should have been simultaneous with the perfect literary +unfolding of the old <i>Volkslied</i> in the superb lyrics of Goethe, +Heine, and their school, is quite remarkable. Poetry and +song clasped hands on the same lofty summits of genius. +Liszt has given to our composer the title of <i>le musicien le +plus poétique</i>, which very well expresses his place in art.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>97]</a></span> +In the song as created by Schubert and transmitted to his +successors, there are three forms, the first of which is that +of the simple <i>Lied</i>, with one unchanged melody. A good +example of this is the setting of Goethe’s “Haideröslein,” +which is full of quaint grace and simplicity. A second and +more elaborate method is what the Germans call “through-composed,” +in which all the different feelings are successively +embodied in the changes of the melody, the sense of unity +being preserved by the treatment of the accompaniment, or +the recurrence of the principal motive at the close of the +song. Two admirable models of this are found in the +“Lindenbaum” and “Serenade.”</p> + +<p>The third and finest art-method, as applied by Schubert +to lyric music, is the “declamatory.” In this form we +detect the consummate flower of the musical lyric. The +vocal part is lifted into a species of passionate chant, full +of dramatic fire and colour, while the accompaniment, +which is extremely elaborate, furnishes a most picturesque +setting. The genius of the composer displays itself here +fully as much as in the vocal treatment. When the lyric +feeling rises to its climax it expresses itself in the crowning +melody, this high tide of the music and poetry being always +in unison. As masterpieces of this form may be cited +“Die Stadt” and “Der Erlkönig,” which stand far beyond +any other works of the same nature in the literature of +music.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert Schumann</span>, the loving critic, admirer, and +disciple of Schubert in the province of song, was in most +respects a man of far different type. The son of a man of +wealth and position, his mind and tastes were cultivated +from early youth with the utmost care. Schumann is +known in Germany no less as a philosophical thinker and +critic than as a composer. As the editor of the <i>Neue +Zeitschrift für Musik</i>, he exercised a powerful influence +over contemporary thought in art-matters, and established +himself both as a keen and incisive thinker and as a master +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>98]</a></span> +of literary style. Schumann was at first intended for the +law, but his unconquerable taste for music asserted itself +in spite of family opposition. His acquaintance with the +celebrated teacher, Wieck, whose gifted daughter, Clara, +afterwards became his wife, finally established his career; +for it was through Wieck’s advice that the Schumann +family yielded their opposition to the young man’s bent.</p> + +<p>Once settled in his new career, Schumann gave himself +up to work with the most indefatigable ardour. The early +part of the present century was a halcyon time for the +<i>virtuosi</i>, and the fame and wealth that poured themselves +on such players as Paganini and Liszt made such a pursuit +tempting in the extreme. Fortunately, the young musician +was saved from such a career. In his zeal of practice and +desire to attain a perfectly independent action for each +finger on the piano, Schumann devised some machinery, +the result of which was to weaken the sinews of his third +finger by undue distension. By this he lost the effective +use of the whole right hand, and of course his career as a +<i>virtuoso</i> practically closed.</p> + +<p>Music gained in its higher walks what it lost in a lower. +Schumann devoted himself to composition and æsthetic +criticism, after he had passed through a thorough course of +preparatory studies. Both as a writer and a composer +Schumann fought against Philistinism in music. Ardent, +progressive, and imaginative, he soon became the leader of +the romantic school, and inaugurated the crusade which had +its parallel in France in that carried on by Victor Hugo in +the domain of poetry. His early pianoforte compositions +bear the strong impress of this fiery, revolutionary spirit. +His great symphonic works belong to a later period, when +his whole nature had mellowed and ripened without losing +its imaginative sweep and brilliancy. Schumann’s compositions +for the piano and orchestra are those by which +his name is most widely honoured, but nowhere do we +find a more characteristic exercise of his genius than in +his songs, to which this article will call more special +attention.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>99]</a></span> +Such works as the “Études Symphoniques” and the +“Kreisleriana” express much of the spirit of unrest and +longing aspiration, the struggle to get away from prison-bars +and limits, which seem to have sounded the key-note +of Schumann’s deepest nature. But these feelings could +only find their fullest outlet in the musical form expressly +suited to subjective emotion. Accordingly, the “Sturm +and Drang” epoch of his life, when all his thoughts and +conceptions were most unsettled and visionary, was most +fruitful in lyric song. In Heinrich Heine he found a fitting +poetical co-worker, in whose moods he seemed to see a +perfect reflection of his own—Heine, in whom the bitterest +irony was wedded to the deepest pathos, “the spoiled +favourite of the Graces,” “the knight with the laughing +tear in his scutcheon”—Heine, whose songs are charged +with the brightest light and deepest gloom of the human +heart.</p> + +<p>Schumann’s songs never impress us as being deliberate +attempts at creative effort, consciously selected forms +through which to express thoughts struggling for speech. +They are rather involuntary experiments to relieve oneself +of some woeful burden, medicine for the soul. Schumann is +never distinctively the lyric composer; his imagination had +too broad and majestic a wing. But in those moods, peculiar +to genius, where the soul is flung back on itself with a +sense of impotence, our composer instinctively burst into +song. He did not in the least advance or change its +artistic form, as fixed by Schubert. This, indeed, would +have been irreconcilable with his use of the song as a simple +medium of personal feeling, an outlet and safeguard.</p> + +<p>The peculiar place of Schumann as a song-writer is +indicated by his being called the musical exponent of Heine, +who seems to be the other half of his soul. The composer +enters into each shade and detail of the poet’s meaning with +an intensity and fidelity which one can never cease admiring. +It is this phase which gives the Schumann songs their +great artistic value. In their clean-cut, abrupt, epigrammatic +force there is something different from the work of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>100]</a></span> +any other musical lyrist. So much has this impressed the +students of the composer that more than one able critic has +ventured to prophesy that Schumann’s greatest claim to +immortality would yet be found in such works as the settings +of “Ich grolle nicht” and the “Dichterliebe” series—a +perverted estimate, perhaps, but with a large substratum +of truth. The duration of Schumann’s song-time was short, +the greater part of his <i>Lieder</i> having been written in 1840. +After this he gave himself up to oratorio, symphony, and +chamber-music.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note by the Editor.</span>—The above account of Robert Schumann +does not give an adequate impression of the composer; the following +remarks are therefore appended, based in most part upon J. A. Fuller +Maitland’s “Schumann” in <i>The Great Musicians</i> Series. In 1832 +the poet Grillparzer, in a critical article published in the <i>Wiener +Musikalische Zeitung</i>, recognises that Schumann “belongs to no +school, but creates of himself without making parade of outlandish +ideas, ... he has made himself a new ideal world in which +he moves about as he wills, with a certain original <i>bizarrerie</i>.” +Moscheles, a friend of Schumann, wrote in his diary—“For mind +(Geist) give me Schumann. The Romanticism in his works is a +thing so completely new, his genius so great, that to weigh correctly +the peculiar qualities and weakness of this new school +I must go deeper and deeper into the study of his works.” In the +<i>Gazette Musicale</i> for November 12, 1837, Franz Liszt wrote a +thoroughly sympathetic criticism of the composer’s works, as a whole, +and says—“The more closely we examine Schumann’s ideas, the more +power and life do we discover in them; and the more we study them, +the more we are amazed at the wealth and fertility which had before +escaped us.” And Hector Berlioz, the great French Romanticist, +looked upon him “as one of the most remarkable composers and +critics in Germany.” As a musical critic Schumann ranks very high. +In 1834 he, with several friends, started a critical paper, <i>Neue +Zeitschrift für Music</i>, in order “no longer to look on idly, but to try +and make things better, so that the poetry of art may once more +be duly honoured.” The paper was very successful, and had a +considerable influence in the musical world—more especially as it +supplied a distinct want, for at the time of its appearance “musical +criticism in Germany was of the most futile kind, silly, superficial +admiration of mediocrity—Schumann used to call it ‘Honey-daubing’—or +the contemptuous depreciation of what was new or unknown; +these were the order of the day in such of the journals as deigned to +notice music at all.” Schumann possessed all the qualities which are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>101]</a></span> +required in a musical critic, and it is said of him that in that capacity +he has never been excelled. His aims were high and pure—to quote +his own words, “to send light into the depth of the human heart—that +is the artist’s calling,”—and the chief object of his +critical labour was “the elevation of German taste and intellect +by German art, whether by pointing to the great models of +old time, or by encouraging younger talents.” His connection +with the paper lasted ten years as a constant contributor, though +he continued to write for it from time to time. The last article published +by him in it was one written in favour of Johannes Brahms, who +had been sent to him with a letter of introduction by Joseph Joachim, +the violinist, “recommending to his notice a young composer of whose +powers the writer had formed the highest opinion.” “At once +Schumann recognised the surpassing capabilities of the young man, +and wrote to Joachim these words, and nothing more—‘Das ist der, +der kommen musste’ (‘This is he was wanted to come’).” The +article was entitled “New Paths,” and is one of his most remarkable +writings. “In it Schumann seems to sing his ‘Nunc Dimittis,’ hailing +the advent of this young and ardent spirit, who was to carry on the +great line of composers, and to prove himself no unworthy member of +their glorious company.” The concluding sentence of the article, +which contained the composer’s last printed words, is not a little +remarkable, for it gives fullest expression to that principle which had +always governed his own criticism. “In every age there is a secret +band of kindred spirits. Ye who are of this fellowship, see that ye +weld the circle firmly, so that the truth of art may shine ever more +and more clearly, shedding joy and blessing far and near.”</p> + +<p>As a man Schumann was kind-hearted, generous, devoid of jealousy, +and always ready and willing to recognise merit, great or small, in +those with whom he came in contact. It was always easier for him to +praise than to blame; so much so that in conducting an orchestra in +rehearsal, it became impossible for him to find fault with the performers +when necessity arose, and, if they did not find out their mistakes +themselves, he allowed them to remain uncorrected! Although a +faithful friend, he was eminently unsociable; he was very reserved and +silent, and this peculiarity became more marked towards the latter +part of his life, when his terrible malady was spreading its shadow +over him. An amusing account of his silence is given in E. Hanslick’s +<i>Musikalischen Stationen</i>—“Wagner expressed himself thus to the +author in 1846—‘Schumann is a highly gifted musician, but an +<em>impossible</em> man. When I came from Paris I went to see Schumann; I +related to him my Parisian experiences, spoke of the state of music in +France, then of that in Germany, spoke of literature and politics; but +he remained as good as dumb for nearly an hour. One cannot +go on talking quite alone. An impossible man!’” Schumann’s +account, apparently of the same interview, is as follows:—“I have +seldom met him; but he is a man of education and spirit; he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>102]</a></span> +talks, however, unceasingly, and that one cannot endure for very +long together.”</p> + +<p>Schumann has been described “as a man of moderately tall stature, +well-built, and of a dignified and pleasant aspect. The outlines of his +face, with its intellectual brow, and with its lower part inclining +slightly to heaviness, are sufficiently familiar to us all; but +we cannot see the dreamy, half-shut eyes kindle into animation at a +word from some friend with whom he felt himself in sympathy.” A +description of him by his friend, Sterndale Bennett, is amusing, on +the words of which S. Bennett wrote a little canon—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Herr Schumann ist ein guter Mann,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Er raucht Tabak als Niemand kann;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ein Mann vielleicht von dreissig Jahr,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mit kurze Nas’ und kurze Haar.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">(“Herr Schumann is a first-rate man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He smokes as ne’er another can;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A man of thirty, I suppose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Short is his hair, and short his nose.”)<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Schumann’s latter days were very sorrowful, for he was afflicted with a +great mental distress, caused, we are told by one of his biographers, by +ossification of the brain. He was haunted by delusions—amongst +others, by the constant hearing of a single musical note. “On one +occasion he was under the impression that Schubert and Mendelssohn +had visited him, and had given him a musical theme, which he wrote +down, and upon which he set himself to write variations.” He suffered +from attacks of acute melancholy, and at length, during one of them, +threw himself into the Rhine, but was, fortunately, rescued. At length +it became necessary to confine him in a private asylum, where he was +visited by his friends when his condition permitted it. He died on +July 29, 1856, in presence of his wife, through whose exertions, in great +part, we, in England, have become acquainted with his pianoforte +works.</p> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw4"> +<img src="images/gmc05.png" width="175" height="121" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>103]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="chopin" id="chopin"></a><i>CHOPIN.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Never</span> has Paris, the Mecca of European art, genius, and +culture, presented a more brilliant social spectacle than it +did in 1832. Hitherward came pilgrims from all countries, +poets, painters, and musicians, anxious to breathe the inspiring +air of the French capital, where society laid its +warmest homage at the feet of the artist. Here came, too, +in dazzling crowds, the rich nobles and the beautiful women +of Europe to find the pleasure, the freedom, the joyous unrestraint, +with which Paris offers its banquet of sensuous +and intellectual delights to the hungry epicure. Then as +now the queen of the art-world, Paris absorbed and +assimilated to herself the most brilliant influences in +civilisation.</p> + +<p>In all of brilliant Paris there was no more charming and +gifted circle than that which gathered around the young +Polish pianist and composer, Chopin, then a recent arrival +in the gay city. His peculiarly original genius, his weird +and poetic style of playing, which transported his hearers +into a mystic fairy-land of sunlight and shadow, his strangely +delicate beauty, the alternating reticence and enthusiasm of +his manners, made him the idol of the clever men and +women, who courted the society of the shy and sensitive +musician; for to them he was a fresh revelation. Dr. Franz +Liszt gives the world some charming pictures of this art-coterie, +which was wont often to assemble at Chopin’s +rooms in the Chaussée d’Antin.</p> + +<p>His room, taken by surprise, is all in darkness except the +luminous ring thrown off by the candles on the piano, and +the flashes flickering from the fire-place. The guests gather +around informally as the piano sighs, moans, murmurs, or +dreams under the fingers of the player. Heinrich Heine, +the most poetic of humorists, leans on the instrument, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>104]</a></span> +asks, as he listens to the music and watches the firelight, +“if the roses always glowed with a flame so triumphant? if +the trees at moonlight sang always so harmoniously?” +Meyerbeer, one of the musical giants, sits near at hand lost +in reverie; for he forgets his own great harmonies, forged +with hammer of Cyclops, listening to the dreamy passion +and poetry woven into such quaint fabrics of sound. +Adolphe Nourrit, passionate and ascetic, with the spirit of +some mediæval monastic painter, an enthusiastic servant of +art in its purest, severest form, a combination of poet and +anchorite, is also there; for he loves the gentle musician, +who seems to be a visitor from the world of spirits. Eugène +Delacroix, one of the greatest of modern painters, his keen +eyes half closed in meditation, absorbs the vague mystery of +colour which imagination translates from the harmony, and +attains new insight and inspiration through the bright links +of suggestion by which one art lends itself to another. +The two great Polish poets, Niemcewicz and Mickiewicz +(the latter the Dante of the Slavic race), exiles from their +unhappy land, feed their sombre sorrow, and find in the +wild, Oriental rhythms of the player only melancholy +memories of the past. Perhaps Victor Hugo, Balzac, +Lamartine, or the aged Chateaubriand, also drop in by-and-by, +to recognise, in the music, echoes of the daring +romanticism which they opposed to the classic and formal +pedantry of the time.</p> + +<p>Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, +sits Mdme. George Sand (that name so tragically mixed with +Chopin’s life), “curiously attentive, gracefully subdued.” +With the second sight of genius, which pierces through the +mask, she saw the sweetness, the passion, the delicate +emotional sensibility of Chopin; and her insatiate nature +must unravel and assimilate this new study in human enjoyment +and suffering. She had then just finished “Lelia,” +that strange and powerful creation, in which she embodied +all her hatred of the forms and tyrannies of society, her +craving for an impossible social ideal, her tempestuous +hopes and desires, in such startling types. Exhausted by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>105]</a></span> +the struggle, she panted for the rest and luxury of a companionship +in which both brain and heart could find +sympathy. She met Chopin, and she recognised in the +poetry of his temperament and the fire of his genius what +she desired. Her personality, electric, energetic, and imperious, +exercised the power of a magnet on the frail +organisation of Chopin, and he loved once and forever, +with a passion that consumed him; for in Mdme. Sand he +found the blessing and curse of his life. This many-sided +woman, at this point of her development, found in the fragile +Chopin one phase of her nature which had never been expressed, +and he was sacrificed to the demands of an insatiable +originality, which tried all things in turn, to be contented +with nothing but an ideal which could never be attained.</p> + +<p>About the time of Chopin’s arrival in Paris the political +effervescence of the recent revolution had passed into art +and letters. It was the oft-repeated battle of Romanticism +against Classicism. There could be no truce between those +who believed that everything must be fashioned after old +models, that Procrustes must settle the height and depth, +the length and breadth of art-forms, and those who, inspired +with the new wine of liberty and free creative thought, held +that the rule of form should always be the mere expression +of the vital, flexible thought. The one side argued that +supreme perfection already reached left the artist hope only +in imitation; the other, that the immaterial beautiful could +have no fixed absolute form. Victor Hugo among the +poets, Delacroix among the painters, and Berlioz among +the musicians, led the ranks of the romantic school.</p> + +<p>Chopin found himself strongly enlisted in this contest on +the side of the new school. His free, unconventional +nature found in its teachings a musical atmosphere true to +the artistic and political proclivities of his native Poland; +for Chopin breathed the spirit and tendencies of his people +in every fibre of his soul, both as man and artist. Our +musician, however, in freeing himself from all servile formulas, +sternly repudiated the charlatanism which would +replace old abuses with new ones.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>106]</a></span> +Chopin, in his views of his art, did not admit the least +compromise with those who failed earnestly to represent +progress, nor, on the other hand, with those who sought to +make their art a mere profitable trade. With him, as with +all the great musicians, his art was a religion—something so +sacred that it must be approached with unsullied heart and +hand. This reverential feeling was shown in the following +touching fact:—It was a Polish custom to choose the garments +in which one would be buried. Chopin, though +among the first of contemporary artists, gave fewer concerts +than any other; but, notwithstanding this, he left directions +to be borne to the grave in the clothes he had worn on such +occasions.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frederick Francis Chopin</span> was born near Warsaw, in +1810, of French extraction. He learned music at the age +of nine from Ziwny, a pupil of Sebastian Bach, but does not +seem to have impressed anyone with his remarkable talent +except Madame Catalani, the great singer, who gave him a +watch. Through the kindness of Prince Radziwill, an +enthusiastic patron of art, he was sent to Warsaw College, +where his genius began to unfold itself. He afterwards +became a pupil of the Warsaw Conservatory, and acquired +there a splendid mastery over the science of music. His +labour was prodigious in spite of his frail health; and his +knowledge of contrapuntal forms was such as to exact the +highest encomiums from his instructors.</p> + +<p>Through his brother pupils he was introduced to the +highest Polish society, for his fellows bore some of the +proudest names in Poland. Chopin seems to have absorbed +the peculiarly romantic spirit of his race, the wild, imaginative +melancholy, which, almost gloomy in the Polish peasant, +when united to grace and culture in the Polish noble, +offered an indescribable social charm. Balzac sketches the +Polish woman in these picturesque antitheses:—“Angel +through love, demon through fantasy; child through faith, +sage through experience; man through the brain, woman +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>107]</a></span> +through the heart; giant through hope, mother through +sorrow; and poet through dreams.” The Polish gentleman +was chivalrous, daring, and passionate; the heir of the most +gifted and brilliant of the Slavic races, with a proud heritage +of memory which gave his bearing an indescribable dignity, +though the son of a fallen nation. Ardently devoted to +pleasure, the Poles embodied in their national dances wild +and inspiring rhythms, a glowing poetry of sentiment as +well as motion, which mingled with their Bacchanal fire a +chaste and lofty meaning that became at times funereal. +Polish society at this epoch pulsated with an originality, an +imagination, and a romance, which transfigured even the +common things of life.</p> + +<p>It was amid such an atmosphere that Chopin’s early +musical career was spent, and his genius received its lasting +impress. One afternoon in after years he was playing to +one of the most distinguished women in Paris, and she said +that his music suggested to her those gardens in Turkey +where bright parterres of flowers and shady bowers were +strewed with gravestones and burial mounds. This underlying +depth of melancholy Chopin’s music expresses most +eloquently, and it may be called the perfect artistic outcome +of his people; for in his sweetest tissues of sound the +imagination can detect agitation, rancour, revolt, and +menace, sometimes despair. Chateaubriand dreamed of +an Eve innocent, yet fallen; ignorant of all, yet knowing all; +mistress, yet virgin. He found this in a Polish girl of +seventeen, whom he paints as a “mixture of Odalisque and +Valkyr.” The romantic and fanciful passion of the Poles, +bold, yet unworldly, is shown in the habit of drinking the +health of a sweetheart from her own shoe.</p> + +<p>Chopin, intensely spiritual by temperament and fragile in +health, born an enthusiast, was coloured through and through +with the rich dyes of Oriental passion; but with these were +mingled the fantastic and ideal elements which,</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Wrapped in sense, yet dreamed of heavenlier joys.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>And so he went to Paris, the city of his fate, ripe for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>108]</a></span> +tragedy of his life. After the revolution of 1830, he started +to go to London, and, as he said, “passed through Paris.” +Yet Paris he did not leave till he left it with Mdme. Sand to +live a brief dream of joy in the beautiful Isle of Majorca.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Liszt describes Chopin in these words—“His blue eyes +were more spiritual than dreamy; his bland smile never +writhed into bitterness. The transparent delicacy of his complexion +pleased the eye; his fair hair was soft and silky; his +nose slightly aquiline; his bearing so distinguished, and his +manners stamped with such high breeding, that involuntarily +he was always treated <i>en prince</i>. His gestures were many and +graceful; the tones of his voiced veiled, often stifled. His +stature was low, his limbs were slight.” Again, Mdme. +Sand paints him even more characteristically in her novel, +<i>Lucrezia Floriani</i>—“Gentle, sensitive, and very lovely, he +united the charm of adolescence with the suavity of a more +mature age; through the want of muscular development he +retained a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, +which, if we may venture so to speak, belonged to neither +age nor sex.... It was more like the ideal creations with +which the poetry of the Middle Ages adorned the Christian +temples. The delicacy of his constitution rendered him +interesting in the eyes of women. The full yet graceful +cultivation of his mind, the sweet and captivating originality +of his conversation, gained for him the attention of the most +enlightened men; while those less highly cultivated liked +him for the exquisite courtesy of his manners.”</p> + +<p>All this reminds us of Shelley’s dream of Hermaphroditus, +or perhaps of Shelley himself, for Chopin was the Shelley of +music.</p> + +<p>His life in Paris was quiet and retired. The most brilliant +and beautiful women desired to be his pupils, but Chopin refused +except where he recognised in the petitioners exceptional +earnestness and musical talent. He gave but few concerts, +for his genius could not cope with great masses of people. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>109]</a></span> +He said to Liszt, “I am not suited for concert-giving. +The public intimidate me, their breath stifles me. You are +destined for it; for when you do not gain your public, you +have the force to assault, to overwhelm, to compel them.” +It was his delight to play to a few chosen friends, and to +evoke for them such dreams from the ivory gate, which +Virgil fabled to be the portal of Elysium, as to make his +music</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The silver key of the fountain of tears,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Softest grave of a thousand fears,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where their mother, Care, like a weary child,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is laid asleep in a bed of flowers.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>He avoided general society, finding in the great artists +and those sympathetic with art his congenial companions. +His life was given up to producing those unique compositions +which make him, <i>par excellence</i>, the king of the +pianoforte. He was recognised by Liszt, Kalkbrenner, +Pleyel, Field, and Meyerbeer, as being the most wonderful +of players; yet he seemed to disdain such a reputation as a +cheap notoriety, ceasing to appear in public after the first +few concerts, which produced much excitement and would +have intoxicated most performers. He sought largely the +society of the Polish exiles, men and women of the highest +rank who had thronged to Paris.</p> + +<p>His sister Louise, whom he dearly loved, frequently came +to Paris from Warsaw to see him; and he kept up a regular +correspondence with his own family. Yet he abhorred +writing so much that he would go to any shifts to avoid +answering a note. Some of his beautiful countrywomen, +however, possess precious memorials in the shape of letters +written in Polish, which he loved much more than French. +His thoughtfulness was continually sending pleasant little +gifts and souvenirs to his Warsaw friends. This tenderness +and consideration displayed itself too in his love of children. +He would spend whole evenings in playing blind-man’s-buff +or telling them charming fairy stories from the folk-lore in +which Poland is singularly rich.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>110]</a></span> +Always gentle, he yet knew how to rebuke arrogance, and +had sharp repartees for those who tried to force him into +musical display. On one occasion, when he had just left +the dining-room, an indiscreet host, who had had the +simplicity to promise his guests some piece executed by him +as a rare dessert, pointed him to an open piano. Chopin +quietly refused, but on being pressed said, with a languid +and sneering drawl:—“Ah, sir, I have just dined; your +hospitality, I see, demands payment.”</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Mdme. Sand, in her <i>Lettres d’un Voyageur</i>, depicts the +painful lethargy which seizes the artist when, having incorporated +the emotion which inspired him in his work, his +imagination still remains under the dominance of the +insatiate idea, without being able to find a new incarnation. +She was suffering in this way when the character of Chopin +excited her curiosity and suggested a healthful and happy +relief. Chopin dreaded to meet this modern Sibyl. The +superstitious awe he felt was a premonition whose meaning +was hidden from him. They met, and Chopin lost his fear +in one of those passions which feed on the whole being with +a ceaseless hunger.</p> + +<p>In the fall of 1837 Chopin yielded to a severe attack of +the disease which was hereditary in his frame. In company +with Mdme. Sand, who had become his constant companion, +he went to the isle of Majorca, to find rest and medicine in +the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean. All the happiness +of Chopin’s life was gathered in the focus of this experience. +He had a most loving and devoted nurse, who yielded to +all his whims, soothed his fretfulness, and watched over him +as a mother does over a child. The grounds of the villa +where they lived were as perfect as Nature and art could +make them, and exquisite scenes greeted the eye at every +turn. Here they spent long golden days.</p> + +<p>The feelings of Chopin for his gifted companion are best +painted by herself in the pages of <i>Lucrezia Floriani</i>, where +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>111]</a></span> +she is the “Floriani,” Liszt “Count Salvator Albani,” and +Chopin “Prince Karol”—“It seemed as if this fragile being +was absorbed and consumed by the strength of his affection.... +But he loved for the sake of loving.... His love +was his life, and, delicious or bitter, he had not the power +of withdrawing himself a single moment from its domination.” +Slowly she nursed him back into temporary health, and in +the sunlight of her love his mind assumed a gaiety and +cheerfulness it had never known before.</p> + +<p>It had been the passionate hope of Chopin to marry Mdme. +Sand, but wedlock was alien alike to her philosophy and +preference. After a protracted intimacy, she wearied of his +persistent entreaties, or perhaps her self-development had +exhausted what it sought in the poet-musician. An absolute +separation came, and his mistress buried the episode in her +life with the epitaph—“Two natures, one rich in its exuberance, +the other in its exclusiveness, could never really mingle, +and a whole world separated them.” Chopin said—“All +the cords that bind me to life are broken.” His sad summary +of all was that his life had been an episode which began and +ended in Paris. What a contrast to the being of a few years +before, of whom it is written—“He was no longer on the +earth; he was in an empyrean of golden clouds and perfumes; +his imagination, so full of exquisite beauty, seemed +engaged in a monologue with God himself!”<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p> + +<p>Both Liszt and Mdme. Dudevant have painted Chopin +somewhat as a sickly sentimentalist, living in an atmosphere +of moonshine and unreality. Yet this was not precisely true. +In spite of his delicacy of frame and romantic imagination, +Chopin was never ill till within the last ten years of his life, +when the seeds of hereditary consumption developed themselves. +As a young man he was lively and joyous, always +ready for frolic, and with a great fund of humour, especially +in caricature. Students of human character know how consistent +these traits are with a deep undercurrent of melancholy, +which colours the whole life when the immediate impulse of +joy subsides.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>112]</a></span> +From the date of 1840 Chopin’s health declined; but +through the seven years during which his connection with +Mdme. Sand continued, he persevered actively in his work of +composition. The final rupture with the woman he so madly +loved seems to have been his death-blow. He spoke of +Mdme. Sand without bitterness, but his soul pined in the +bitter-sweet of memory. He recovered partially, and spent +a short season of concert-giving in London, where he was +fêted and caressed by the best society as he had been in +Paris. Again he was sharply assailed by his fatal malady, +and he returned to Paris to die. Let us describe one of his +last earthly experiences, on Sunday, the 15th of October +1849.</p> + +<p>Chopin had lain insensible from one of his swooning +attacks for some time. His sister Louise was by his side, +and the Countess Delphine Potocka, his beautiful countrywoman +and a most devoted friend, watched him with streaming +eyes. The dying musician became conscious, and faintly +ordered a piano to be rolled in from the adjoining room. +He turned to the countess, and whispered, feebly, “Sing.” +She had a lovely voice, and, gathering herself for the effort, +she sang that famous canticle to the Virgin which, tradition +says, saved Stradella’s life from assassins. “How beautiful +it is!” he exclaimed. “My God! how very beautiful!” +Again she sang to him, and the dying musician passed into +a trance, from which he never fully aroused till he expired, +two days afterwards, in the arms of his pupil, M. Gutman.</p> + +<p>Chopin’s obsequies took place at the Madeleine Church, +and Lablache sang on this occasion the same passage, the +“Tuba Mirum” of Mozart’s Requiem Mass, which he had +sung at the funeral of Beethoven in 1827; while the other +solos were given by Mdme. Viardot Garcia and Mdme. +Castellan. He lies in Père Lachaise, beside Cherubini and +Bellini.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> +<i>Lucrezia Floriani.</i></p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>The compositions of Chopin were exclusively for the +piano; and alike as composer and virtuoso he is the founder +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>113]</a></span> +of a new school, or perhaps may be said to share that +honour with Robert Schumann—the school which to-day is +represented in its advanced form by Liszt and Von Bülow. +Schumann called him “the boldest and proudest poetic +spirit of the times.” In addition to this remarkable poetic +power, he was a splendidly-trained musician, a great adept +in style, and one of the most original masters of rhythm and +harmony that the records of music show. All his works, +though wanting in breadth and robustness of tone, are +characterised by the utmost finish and refinement. Full of +delicate and unexpected beauties, elaborated with the finest +touch, his effects are so quaint and fresh as to fill the mind +of the listener with pleasurable sensations, perhaps not to be +derived from grander works.</p> + +<p>Chopin was essentially the musical exponent of his nation; +for he breathed in all the forms of his art the sensibilities, +the fires, the aspirations, and the melancholy of the Polish +race. This is not only evident in his polonaises, his waltzes +and mazurkas, in which the wild Oriental rhythms of the +original dances are treated with the creative skill of genius; +but also in the <i>études</i>, the preludes, nocturnes, scherzos, +ballads, etc., with which he so enriched musical literature. +His genius could never confine itself within classic bonds, +but, fantastic and impulsive, swayed and bent itself with easy +grace to inspirations that were always novel and startling, +though his boldness was chastened by deep study and fine +art-sense.</p> + +<p>All of the suggestions of the quaint and beautiful Polish +dance-music were worked by Chopin into a variety of forms, +and were greatly enriched by his skill in handling. He +dreamed out his early reminiscences in music, and these +national memories became embalmed in the history of art. +The polonaises are marked by the fire and ardour of his +soldier race, and the mazurkas are full of the coquetry and +tenderness of his countrywomen; while the ballads are a +free and powerful rendering of Polish folk-music, beloved +alike in the herdsman’s hut and the palace of the noble. +In deriving his inspiration direct from the national heart, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>114]</a></span> +Chopin did what Schumann, Schubert, and Weber did in +Germany, what Rossini did in Italy, and shares with them +a freshness of melodic power to be derived from no other +source. Rather tender and elegiac than vigorous, the deep +sadness underlying the most sparkling forms of his work is +most notable. One can at times almost recognise the +requiem of a nation in the passionate melancholy on whose +dark background his fancy weaves such beautiful figures and +colours.</p> + +<p>Franz Liszt, in characterising Chopin as a composer, furnishes +an admirable study—“We meet with beauties of a +high order, expressions entirely new, and a harmonic tissue +as original as erudite. In his compositions boldness is +always justified; richness, often exuberance, never interferes +with clearness; singularity never degenerates into the +uncouth and fantastic; the sculpturing is never disordered; +the luxury of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence +of the principal lines. His best works abound in combinations +which may be said to be an epoch in the handling of +musical style. Daring, brilliant, and attractive, they disguise +their profundity under so much grace, their science +under so many charms, that it is with difficulty we free ourselves +sufficiently from their magical enthralment, to judge +coldly of their theoretical value.”</p> + +<p>As a romance composer Chopin struck out his own path, +and has no rival. Full of originality, his works display the +utmost dignity and refinement. He revolted from the +bizarre and eccentric, though the peculiar influences which +governed his development might well have betrayed one less +finely organised.</p> + +<p>As a musical poet, embodying the feelings and tendencies +of a people, Chopin advances his chief claim to his place in +art. He did not task himself to be a national musician; +for he is utterly without pretence and affectation, and sings +spontaneously, without design or choice, from the fullness +of a rich nature. He collected “in luminous sheaves the +impressions felt everywhere through his country—vaguely +felt, it is true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>115]</a></span> +Chopin was repelled by the lusty and almost coarse +humour sometimes displayed by Schubert, for he was painfully +fastidious. He could not fully understand nor appreciate +Beethoven, whose works are full of lion-marrow, +robust and masculine alike in conception and treatment. +He did not admire Shakespeare, because his great delineations +are too vivid and realistic. Our musician was essentially +a dreamer and idealist. His range was limited, but +within it he reached perfection of finish and originality never +surpassed. But, with all his limitations, the art-judgment of +the world places him high among those</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5">“... whom Art’s service pure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hallows and claims, whose hearts are made her throne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To lead a priestly life and feed the ray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of her eternal shrine; to them alone<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="weber" id="weber"></a><i>WEBER.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> genius which inspired the three great works, “Der +Freischütz,” “Euryanthe,” and “Oberon,” has stamped +itself as one of the most original and characteristic in +German music. Full of bold and surprising strokes of +imagination, these operas are marked by the true atmosphere +of national life and feeling, and we feel in them the +fresh, rich colour of the popular traditions and song-music +which make the German <i>Lieder</i> such an inexhaustible +treasure-trove. As Weber was maturing into that fullness of +power which gave to the world his greater works, Germany +had been wrought into a passionate patriotism by the Napoleonic +wars. The call to arms resounded from one end of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>116]</a></span> +the Fatherland to the other. Every hamlet thrilled with fervour, +and all the resources of national tradition were evoked +to heighten the love of country into a puissance which +should save the land. Germany had been humiliated by a +series of crushing defeats, and national pride was stung to +vindicate the grand old memories. France, in answer to a +similar demand for some art-expression of its patriotism, had +produced its Rouget de Lisle; Germany produced the poet +Körner and the musician Weber.</p> + +<p>It is not easy to appreciate the true quality and significance +of Weber’s art-life without considering the peculiar +state of Germany at the time; for if ever creative imagination +was forged and fashioned by its environments into a +logical expression of public needs and impulses, it was in +the case of the father of German romantic opera. This +inspiration permeated the whole soil of national thought, +and its embodiment in art and letters has hardly any parallel +except in that brilliant morning of English thought which +we know as the Elizabethan era. To understand Weber +the composer, then, we must think of him not only as the +musician, but as the patriot and revivalist of ancient tendencies +in art, drawn directly from the warm heart of the +people.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Karl Maria von Weber</span> was born at Eutin, in Holstein, +December 18, 1786. His father had been a soldier, but, +owing to extravagance and folly, had left the career of arms, +and, being an educated musician, had become by turns +attached to an orchestra, director of a theatre, Kapellmeister, +and wandering player—never remaining long in one position, +for he was essentially vagrant and desultory in character. +Whatever Karl Maria had to suffer from his father’s folly +and eccentricity, he was indebted to him for an excellent +training in the art of which he was to become so brilliant +an ornament. He had excellent masters in singing and the +piano, as also in drawing and engraving. So he grew +up a melancholy, imaginative recluse, absorbed in his +studies, and living in a dream-land of his own, which he +peopled with ideal creations. His passionate love of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>117]</a></span> +Nature, tinged with old German superstition, planted in his +imagination those fruitful germs which bore such rich +results in after years.</p> + +<p>In 1797 Weber studied the piano and composition under +Hanschkel, a thoroughly scientific musician, and found in +his severe drill a happy counter-balancing influence to the +more desultory studies which had preceded. Major Weber’s +restless tendencies did not permit his family to remain +long in one place. In 1798 they moved to Salzburg, +where young Weber was placed at the musical institute +of which Michael Haydn, brother of the great Joseph, was +director. Here a variety of misfortunes assailed the Weber +family. Major Franz Anton was unsuccessful in all his +theatrical undertakings, and extreme poverty stared them +all in the face. The gentle mother, too, whom Karl so +dearly loved, sickened and died. This was a terrible +blow to the affectionate boy, from which he did not soon +recover.</p> + +<p>The next resting-place in the pilgrimage of the Weber +family was Munich, where Major Weber, who, however +flagrant his shortcomings in other ways, was resolved that +the musical powers of his son should be thoroughly +trained, placed him under the care of the organist Kalcher +for studies in composition.</p> + +<p>For several years, Karl was obliged to lead the same +shifting, nomadic sort of life, never stopping long, but +dragged hither and thither in obedience to his father’s +vagaries and necessities, but always studying under the best +masters who could be obtained. While under Kalcher, +several masses, sonatas, trios, and an opera, “Die Macht +der Liebe und des Weins” (“The Might of Love and +Wine”), were written. Another opera, “Das Waldmädchen” +(“The Forest Maiden”), was composed and produced +when he was fourteen; and two years later in Salzburg he +composed “Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn,” an +operetta, which exacted warm praise from Michael Haydn.</p> + +<p>At the age of seventeen he became the pupil of the great +teacher, Abbé Vogler, under whose charge also Meyerbeer +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>118]</a></span> +was then studying. Our young composer worked with +great assiduity under the able instruction of Vogler, who +was of vast service in bringing the chaos of his previous +contradictory teachings into order and light. All these +musical <i>Wanderjahre</i>, however trying, had steeled Karl +Maria into a stern self-reliance, and he found in his skill as +an engraver the means to remedy his father’s wastefulness +and folly.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>A curious episode in Weber’s life was his connection +with the royal family of Würtemberg, where he found a +dissolute, poverty-stricken court, and a whimsical, arrogant, +half-crazy king. Here he remained four years in a half-official +musical position, his nominal duty being that of +secretary to the king’s brother, Prince Ludwig. This part +of his career was almost a sheer waste, full of dreary and +irritating experiences, which Weber afterwards spoke of with +disgust and regret. His spirit revolted from the capricious +tyranny which he was obliged to undergo, but circumstances +seem to have coerced him into a protracted endurance of +the place. His letters tell us how bitterly he detested the +king and his dull, pompous court, though Prince Ludwig in +a way seemed to have been attached to his secretary. One +of his biographers says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Weber hated the king, of whose wild caprice and vices +he witnessed daily scenes, before whose palace-gates he was +obliged to slink bareheaded, and who treated him with +unmerited ignominy. Sceptre and crown had never been +imposing objects in his eyes, unless worn by a worthy man; +and consequently he was wont, in the thoughtless levity of +youth, to forget the dangers he ran, and to answer the king +with a freedom of tone which the autocrat was all unused to +hear. In turn he was detested by the monarch. As +negotiator for the spendthrift Prince Ludwig, he was already +obnoxious enough; and it sometimes happened that, by +way of variety to the customary torrent of invective, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>119]</a></span> +king, after keeping the secretary for hours in his antechamber, +would receive him only to turn him rudely out of +the room, without hearing a word he had to say.”</p> +</div> + +<p>At last Karl Maria’s indignation burst over bounds at +some unusual indignity; and he played a practical joke on +the king. Meeting an old woman in the palace one day +near the door of the royal sanctum, she asked him where +she could find the court-washerwoman. “There,” said the +reckless Weber, pointing to the door of the king’s cabinet. +The king, who hated old women, was in a transport of rage, +and, on her terror-stricken explanation of the intrusion, had +no difficulty in fixing the mischief in the right quarter. +Weber was thrown into prison, and had it not been for +Prince Ludwig’s intercession he would have remained there +for several years. While confined he managed to compose +one of his most beautiful songs, “Ein steter Kampf ist unser +Leben.” He had not long been released when he was again +imprisoned on account of some of his father’s wretched +follies, that arrogant old gentleman being utterly reckless +how he involved others, so long as he carried out his own +selfish purposes and indulgence. His friend Danzi, director +of the royal opera at Stuttgart, proved his good genius in +this instance; for he wrangled with the king till his young +friend was released.</p> + +<p>Weber’s only consolations during this dismal life in Stuttgart +were the friendship of Danzi, and his love for a beautiful +singer named Gretchen. Danzi was a true mentor and +a devoted friend. He was wont to say to Karl—“To be a +true artist, you must be a true man.” But the lovely Gretchen, +however she may have consoled his somewhat arid +life, was not a beneficial influence, for she led him into many +sad extravagances and an unwholesome taste for playing the +cavalier.</p> + +<p>In spite of his discouraging surroundings, Weber’s creative +power was active during this period, and showed how, +perhaps unconsciously to himself, he was growing in power +and depth of experience. He wrote the cantata, “Der erste +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>120]</a></span> +Ton,” a large number of songs, the first of his great piano +sonatas, several overtures and symphonies, and the opera +“Sylvana” (“Das Waldmädchen” rewritten and enlarged), +which, both in its music and libretto, seems to have been +the precursor of his great works, “Der Freischütz” and +“Euryanthe.” At the first performance of “Sylvana” in +Frankfort, September 16, 1810, he met Miss Caroline +Brandt, who sang the principal character. She afterwards +became his wife, and her love and devotion were the solace +of his life.</p> + +<p>Weber spent most of the year 1810 in Darmstadt, where +he again met Vogler and Meyerbeer. Vogler’s severe +artistic instructions were of great value to Weber in curbing +his extravagance, and impressing on him that restraint was +one of the most valuable factors in art. What Vogler +thought of Weber we learn from a letter in which he writes—“Had +I been forced to leave the world before I found these +two, Weber and Meyerbeer, I should have died a miserable +man.”</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>It was about this time, while visiting Mannheim, that the +idea of “Der Freischütz” first entered his mind. His +friend the poet Kind was with him, and they were ransacking +an old book, Apel’s <i>Ghost Stories</i>. One of these dealt +with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a woodland +myth ranking high in German folk-lore. They were both +delighted with the fantastic and striking story, full of the +warm colouring of Nature, and the balmy atmosphere of +the forest and mountain. They immediately arranged the +framework of the libretto, afterwards written by Kind, and +set to such weird and enchanting music by Weber.</p> + +<p>In 1811 Weber began to give concerts, for his reputation +was becoming known far and wide as a brilliant composer +and virtuoso. For two years he played a round of concerts +in Munich, Leipsic, Gotha, Weimar, Berlin, and other places. +He was everywhere warmly welcomed. Lichtenstein, +in his <i>Memoir of Weber</i>, writes of his Berlin reception—“Young +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>121]</a></span> +artists fell on their knees before him; others +embraced him wherever they could get at him. All +crowded around him, till his head was crowned, not with a +chaplet of flowers, but a circlet of happy faces.” The +devotion of his friends, his happy family relations, the +success of his published works, conspired to make Weber +cheerful and joyous beyond his wont, for he was naturally +of a melancholy and serious turn, disposed to look at life +from its tragic side.</p> + +<p>In 1813 he was called to Prague to direct the music of +the German opera in that Bohemian capital. The Bohemians +had always been a highly musical race, and their chief city +is associated in the minds of the students of music as the +place where many of the great operas were first presented to +the public. Mozart loved Prague, for he found in its people +the audiences who appreciated and honoured him the most. +Its traditions were honoured in their treatment of Weber, +for his three years there were among the happiest of his life.</p> + +<p>Our composer wrote his opera of “Der Freischütz” in +Dresden. It was first produced in the opera-house of that +classic city, but it was not till 1821, when it was performed +in Berlin, that its greatness was recognised. Weber can +best tell the story of its reception himself. In his letter to +his co-author, Kind, he writes:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“The free-shooter has hit the mark. The second representation +has succeeded as well as the first; there was the +same enthusiasm. All the places in the house are taken +for the third, which comes off to-morrow. It is the +greatest triumph one can have. You cannot imagine what +a lively interest your text inspires from beginning to end. +How happy I should have been if you had only been +present to hear it for yourself! Some of the scenes +produced an effect which I was far from anticipating; for +example, that of the young girls. If I see you again at +Dresden, I will tell you all about it; for I cannot do it +justice in writing. How much I am indebted to you for +your magnificent poem! I embrace you with the sincerest +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>122]</a></span> +emotion, returning to your muse the laurels I owe her. +God grant that you may be happy. Love him who loves +you with infinite respect.</p> + +<p class="sig">“<span class="smcap">Your Weber.</span>”</p> +</div> + +<p>“Der Freischütz” was such a success as to place the +composer in the front ranks of the lyric stage. The +striking originality, the fire, the passion of his music, the +ardent national feeling, and the freshness of treatment, +gave a genuine shock of delight and surprise to the German +world.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The opera of “Preciosa,” also a masterpiece, was given +shortly after with great <i>éclat</i>, though it failed to inspire the +deep enthusiasm which greeted “Der Freischütz.” In +1823, “Euryanthe” was produced in Berlin—a work on +which Weber exhausted all the treasures of his musical +genius. Without the elements of popular success which +made his first great opera such an immediate favourite, it +shows the most finished and scholarly work which Weber +ever attained. Its symmetry and completeness, the elaboration +of all the forms, the richness and variety of the +orchestration, bear witness to the long and thoughtful +labour expended on it. It gradually won its way to +popular recognition, and has always remained one of the +favourite works of the German stage.</p> + +<p>The opera of “Oberon” was Weber’s last great production. +The celebrated poet Wieland composed the poem +underlying the libretto, from the mediæval romance of +Huon of Bordeaux. The scenes are laid in fairy-land, and +it may be almost called a German “Midsummer-Night’s +Dream,” though the story differs widely from the charming +phantasy of our own Shakespeare. The opera of “Oberon” +was written for Kemble, of the Covent Garden theatre, in +London, and was produced by Weber under circumstances +of failing health and great mental depression. The composer +pressed every energy to the utmost to meet his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>123]</a></span> +engagement, and it was feared by his friends that he would +not live to see it put on the stage. It did, indeed, prove +the song of the dying swan, for he only lived four months +after reaching London. “Oberon” was performed with +immense success under the direction of Sir George Smart, +and the fading days of the author were cheered by the +acclamations of the English public; but the work cost him +his life. He died in London, June 5, 1826. His last +words were—“God reward you for all your kindness to me.—Now +let me sleep.”</p> + +<p>Apart from his dramatic compositions, Weber is known +for his many beautiful overtures and symphonies for the +orchestra, and his various works for the piano, from +sonatas to waltzes and minuets. Among his most pleasing +piano-works are the “Invitation to the Waltz,” the +“Perpetual Rondo,” and the “Polonaise in E major.” +Many of his songs rank among the finest German lyrics. +He would have been recognised as an able composer had he +not produced great operas; but the superior excellence of +these cast all his other compositions in the shade.</p> + +<p>Weber was fortunate in having gifted poets to write his +dramas. As rich as he was in melodic affluence, his +creative faculty seems to have had its tap-root in deep +personal feelings and enthusiasms. One of the most poetic +and picturesque of composers, he needed a powerful +exterior suggestion to give his genius wings and fire. The +Germany of his time was alive with patriotic ardour, and +the existence of the nation gathered from its emergencies +new strength and force. The heart of Weber beat strong +with the popular life. Romantic and serious in his taste, +his imagination fed on old German tradition and song, and +drew from them its richest food. The whole life of the +Fatherland, with its glow of love for home, its keen +sympathies with the influences of Nature, its fantastic play +of thought, its tendency to embody the primitive forces in +weird myths, found in Weber an eloquent exponent; and +we perceive in his music all the colour and vividness of +these influences.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>124]</a></span> +Weber’s love of Nature was singularly keen. The +woods, the mountains, the lakes, and the streams, spoke to +his soul with voices full of meaning. He excelled in +making these voices speak and sing; and he may, therefore, +be entitled the father of the romantic and descriptive +school in German operatic music. With more breadth and +robustness, he expressed the national feelings of his people, +even as Chopin did those of dying Poland. Weber’s +motives are generally caught from the immemorial airs +which resound in every village and hamlet, and the fresh +beat of the German heart sends its thrill through almost +every bar of his music. Here is found the ultimate +significance of his art-work, apart from the mere musical +beauty of his compositions.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="mendelssohn" id="mendelssohn"></a><i>MENDELSSOHN.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Few</span> careers could present more startling contrasts than +those of Mozart and Mendelssohn, in many respects of +similar genius, but utterly opposed in the whole surroundings +of their lives. <span class="smcap">Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy</span> +was the grandson of the celebrated philosopher, Moses +Mendelssohn, and the son of a rich Hamburg banker. +His uncles were distinguished in literary and social life. +His friends from early childhood were eminent scholars, +poets, painters, and musicians, and his family moved in +the most refined and wealthy circles. He was nursed in +the lap of luxury, and never knew the cold and hunger of +life. All the good fairies and graces seemed to have +smiled benignly on his birth, and to have showered on him +their richest gifts. Many successful wooers of the muse +have been, fortunately for themselves, the heirs of poverty, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>125]</a></span> +and became successful only to yield themselves to fat and +slothful ease. But, with every incitement to an idle and +contented life, Mendelssohn toiled like a galley-slave, and +saw in his wealth only the means of a more exclusive +consecration to his art. A passionate impulse to labour +was the law of his life.</p> + +<p>Many will recollect the brilliant novel, <i>Charles +Auchester</i>, in which, under the names of Seraphael, +Aronach, Charles Auchester, Julia Bennett, and Starwood +Burney, are painted the characters of Mendelssohn, Zelter +his teacher, Joachim the violinist, Jenny Lind, and +Sterndale Bennett, the English composer. The brilliant +colouring does not disguise nor flatter the lofty Christian +purity, the splendid genius, and the great personal charm +of the composer, who shares in largest measure the homage +which the English public lays at the feet of Handel.</p> + +<p>As child and youth Mendelssohn, born at Hamburg, +February 3, 1809, displayed the same precocity of talent as +was shown by Mozart. Sir Julius Benedict relates his +first meeting with him. He was walking in Berlin with +Von Weber, and the latter called his attention to a boy +about eleven years old, who, perceiving the author of “Der +Freischütz,” gave him a hearty greeting. “’Tis Felix +Mendelssohn,” said Weber, introducing the marvellous boy. +Benedict narrates his amazement to find the extraordinary +attainments of this beautiful youth, with curling auburn +hair, brilliant clear eyes, and lips smiling with innocence +and candour. Five minutes after young Mendelssohn had +astonished his English friend by his admirable performance +of several of his own compositions, he forgot Weber, +quartets, and counterpoint, to leap over the garden hedges +and climb the trees like a squirrel. When scarcely twenty +years old he had composed his octet, three quartets for +the piano and strings, two sonatas, two symphonies, his +first violin quartet, various operas, many songs, and the +immortal overture of “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream.”</p> + +<p>Mendelssohn received an admirable education, was an +excellent classicist and linguist, and during a short residence +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>126]</a></span> +at Düsseldorf showed such talent for painting as to excite +much wonder. Before he was twenty he was the friend of +Goethe and Herder, who delighted in a genius so rich and +symmetrical. Some of Goethe’s letters are full of charming +expressions of praise and affection, for the aged Jupiter of +German literature found in the promise of this young +Apollo something of the many-sided power which made +himself so remarkable.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The Mendelssohn family had moved to Berlin when Felix +was only three years old, and the Berliners always +claimed him as their own. Strange to say, the city of his +birth did not recognise his talent for many years. At the +age of twenty he went to England, and the high breeding, +personal beauty, and charming manner of the young +musician gave him the <i>entrée</i> into the most fastidious and +exclusive circles. His first symphony and the “Midsummer-Night’s +Dream” overture stamped his power with +the verdict of a warm enthusiasm; for London, though +cold and conservative, is prompt to recognise a superior +order of merit.</p> + +<p>His travels through Scotland inspired Mendelssohn with +sentiments of great admiration. The scenery filled his +mind with the highest suggestions of beauty and grandeur. +He afterwards tells us that “he preferred the cold sky and +the pines of the north to charming scenes in the midst of +landscapes bathed in the glowing rays of the sun and azure +light.” The vague Ossianic figures that raised their +gigantic heads in the fog-wreaths of clouded mountain-tops +and lonely lochs had a peculiar fascination for him, and +acted like wine on his imagination. The “Hebrides” +overture was the fruit of this tour, one of the most +powerful and characteristic of his minor compositions. His +sister Fanny (Mrs. Hensel) asked him to describe the grey +scenery of the north, and he replied in music by improvising +his impressions. This theme was afterwards worked out +in the elaborate overture.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>127]</a></span> +We will not follow him in his various travels through +France and Italy. Suffice it to say, that his keen and +passionate mind absorbed everything in art which could +feed the divine hunger, for he was ever discontented, and +had his mind fixed on an absolute and determined ideal. +During this time of travel he became intimate with the +sculptor Thorwaldsen, and the painters Leopold Robert +and Horace Vernet. This period produced “Walpurgis +Night,” the first of the “Songs without Words,” the great +symphony in A major, and the “Melusine” overture. He +is now about to enter on the epoch which puts to the +fullest test the varied resources of his genius. To +Moscheles he writes, in answer to his old teacher’s warm +praise—“Your praise is better than three orders of +nobility.” For several years we see him busy in multifarious +ways, composing, leading musical festivals, concert-giving, +directing opera-houses, and yet finding time to keep +up a busy correspondence with the most distinguished men +in Europe; for Mendelssohn seemed to find in letter-writing +a rest for his over-taxed brain.</p> + +<p>In 1835 he completed his great oratorio of “St. Paul,” for +Leipsic. The next year he received the title of Doctor of +Philosophy and the Fine Arts; and in 1837 he married the +charming Cécile Jeanrenaud, who made his domestic life so +gentle and harmonious. It has been thought strange that +Mendelssohn should have made so little mention of his +lovely wife in his letters, so prone as he was to speak of +affairs of his daily life. Be this as it may, his correspondence +with Moscheles, Devrient, and others, as well as the general +testimony of his friends, shows us unmistakably that his +home-life was blessed in an exceptional degree with +intellectual sympathy, and the tenderest and most +thoughtful love.</p> + +<p>In 1841 Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the +Prussian court. He now wrote the “Athalie” music, the +“Midsummer-Night’s Dream,” and a large number of lesser +pieces, including the “Songs without Words,” and piano +sonatas, as well as much church music. The greatest work +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>128]</a></span> +of this period was the “Hymn of Praise,” a symphonic +cantata for the Leipsic anniversary of the invention of +printing, regarded by many as his finest composition.</p> + +<p>Mendelssohn always loved England, and made frequent +visits across the Channel; for he felt that among +the English he was fully appreciated, both as man and +composer.</p> + +<p>His oratorio of “Elijah” was composed for the English +public, and produced at the great Birmingham festival in +1846, under his own direction, with magnificent success. +It was given a second time in April 1847, with his final +refinements and revisions; and the event was regarded in +England as one of the greatest since the days of Handel, to +whom, as well as to Haydn and Beethoven, Mendelssohn +showed himself a worthy rival in the field of oratorio +composition. Of this visit to England Lampadius, his +friend and biographer, writes—“Her Majesty, who as well +as her husband was a great friend of art, and herself a +distinguished musician, received the distinguished German +in her own sitting-room, Prince Albert being the only one +present besides herself. As he entered she asked his pardon +for the somewhat disorderly state of the room, and began to +rearrange the articles with her own hands, Mendelssohn +himself gallantly offering his assistance. Some parrots +whose cages hung in the room she herself carried into the +next room, in which Mendelssohn helped her also. She +then requested her guest to play something, and afterwards +sang some songs of his which she had sung at a court +concert soon after the attack on her person. She was not +wholly pleased, however, with her own performance, and +said pleasantly to Mendelssohn, ‘I can do better—ask +Lablache if I cannot; but I am afraid of you!’”</p> + +<p>This anecdote was related by Mendelssohn himself to +show the graciousness of the English queen. It was +at this time that Prince Albert sent to Mendelssohn +the book of the oratorio “Elijah” with which he used +to follow the performance, with the following autographic +inscription:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>129]</a></span> +“To the noble artist, who, surrounded by the Baal +worship of corrupted art, has been able by his genius +and science to preserve faithfully like another Elijah the +worship of true art, and once more to accustom our ear, +lost in the whirl of an empty play of sounds, to the pure +notes of expressive composition and legitimate harmony—to +the great master, who makes us conscious of the unity of +his conception through the whole maze of his creation, from +the soft whispering to the mighty raging of the elements: +Written in token of grateful remembrance by</p> + +<p class="sig">“<span class="smcap">Albert</span>.</p> + +<p class="address">“<span class="smcap">Buckingham Palace</span>, <i>April 24, 1847</i>.”</p> +</div> + +<p>An occurrence at the Birmingham festival throws a clear +light on Mendelssohn’s presence of mind, and on his faculty +of instant concentration. On the last day, among other +things, one of Handel’s anthems was given. The concert +was already going on, when it was discovered that the short +recitative which precedes the “Coronation Hymn,” and +which the public had in the printed text, was lacking in the +voice parts. The directors were perplexed. Mendelssohn, +who was sitting in an ante-room of the hall, heard of it, and +said, “Wait, I will help you.” He sat down directly at a +table, and composed the music for the recitative and the +orchestral accompaniment in about half an hour. It was at +once transcribed, and given without any rehearsal, and went +very finely.</p> + +<p>On returning to Leipsic he determined to pass the +summer in Vevay, Switzerland, on account of his failing +health, which had begun to alarm himself and his friends. +His letters from Switzerland at this period show how the +shadow of rapidly approaching death already threw a deep +gloom over his habitually cheerful nature. He returned to +Leipsic, and resumed hard work. His operetta entitled +“Return from among Strangers” was his last production, +with the exception of some lively songs and a few piano +pieces of the “Lieder ohne Worte,” or “Songs without +Words,” series. Mendelssohn was seized with an apoplectic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>130]</a></span> +attack on October 9, 1847. Second and third seizures +quickly followed, and he died November 4th, aged thirty-eight +years.</p> + +<p>All Germany and Europe sorrowed over the loss of this +great musician, and his funeral was attended by many of +the most distinguished persons from all parts of the +land, for the loss was felt to be something like a national +calamity.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Mendelssohn was one of the most intelligent and scholarly +composers of the century. Learned in various branches of +knowledge, and personally a man of unusual accomplishments, +his career was full of manly energy, enlightened +enthusiasm, and severe devotion to the highest forms of +the art of music. Not only his great oratorios, “St. Paul” +and “Elijah,” but his music for the piano, including the +“Songs without Words,” sonatas, and many occasional +pieces, have won him a high place among his musical +brethren. As an orchestral composer, his overtures are +filled with strikingly original thoughts and elevated conceptions, +expressed with much delicacy of instrumental +colouring. He was brought but little in contact with the +French and Italian schools, and there is found in his works +a severity of art-form which shows how closely he sympathised +with Bach and Handel in his musical tendencies. +He died while at the very zenith of his powers, and we may +well believe that a longer life would have developed much +richer beauty in his compositions. Short as his career was, +however, he left a great number of magnificent works, +which entitle him to a place among the Titans of music.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>131]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="wagner" id="wagner"></a><i>RICHARD WAGNER.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is curious to note how often art-controversy has become +edged with a bitterness rivalling even the gall and venom +of religious dispute. Scholars have not yet forgotten the +fiery war of words which raged between Richard Bentley +and his opponents concerning the authenticity of the +<i>Epistles of Phalaris</i>, nor how literary Germany was divided +into two hostile camps by Wolf’s attack on the personality +of Homer. It is no less fresh in the minds of critics how +that modern Jupiter, Lessing, waged a long and bitter +battle with the Titans of the French classical drama, and +finally crushed them with the thunderbolt of the <i>Dramaturgie</i>; +nor what acrimony sharpened the discussion +between the rival theorists in music, Gluck and Piccini, +at Paris. All of the intensity of these art-campaigns, and +many of the conditions of the last, enter into the contest +between Richard Wagner and the <i>Italianissimi</i> of the +present day.</p> + +<p>The exact points at issue were for a long time so befogged +by the smoke of the battle that many of the large class +who are musically interested, but never had an opportunity +to study the question, will find an advantage in a clear and +comprehensive sketch of the facts and principles involved. +Until recently there were still many people who thought of +Wagner as a youthful and eccentric enthusiast, all afire +with misdirected genius, a mere carpet-knight on the +sublime battle-field of art, a beginner just sowing his wild-oats +in works like “Lohengrin,” “Tristan and Iseult,” or +the “Rheingold.” It is a revelation full of suggestive value +for these to realise that he is a musical thinker, ripe with +sixty years of labour and experience; that he represents +the rarest and choicest fruits of modern culture, not only +as musician, but as poet and philosopher; that he is one of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>132]</a></span> +the few examples in the history of the art where massive +scholarship and the power of subtile analysis have been +united, in a pre-eminent degree, with great creative genius. +Preliminary to a study of what Wagner and his disciples +entitled the “Art-work of the Future,” let us take a swift +survey of music as a medium of expression for the beautiful, +and some of the forms which it has assumed.</p> + +<p>This Ariel of the fine arts sends its messages to the +human soul by virtue of a fourfold capacity—Firstly, the +imitation of the voices of Nature, such as the winds, the +waves, and the cries of animals; secondly, its potential +delight as melody, modulation, rhythm, harmony—in other +words, its simple worth as a “thing of beauty,” without +regard to cause or consequence; thirdly, its force of boundless +suggestion; fourthly, that affinity for union with the +more definite and exact forms of the imagination (poetry), +by which the intellectual context of the latter is raised to a +far higher power of grace, beauty, passion, sweetness, without +losing individuality of outline—like, indeed, the hazy +aureole which painters set on the brow of the man Jesus, +to fix the seal of the ultimate Divinity. Though several or +all of these may be united in the same composition, each +musical work may be characterised in the main as descriptive, +sensuous, suggestive, or dramatic, according as either +element contributes most largely to its purpose. Simple +melody or harmony appeals mostly to the sensuous love of +sweet sounds. The symphony does this in an enlarged and +complicated sense, but is still more marked by the marvellous +suggestive energy with which it unlocks all the secret +raptures of fancy, floods the border-lands of thought with a +glory not to be found on sea or land, and paints ravishing +pictures, that come and go like dreams, with colours drawn +from the “twelve-tinted tone-spectrum.” Shelley describes +this peculiar influence of music in his “Prometheus +Unbound,” with exquisite beauty and truth—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“My soul is an enchanted boat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing;<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>133]</a></span> +<span class="i0">And thine doth like an angel sit<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beside the helm conducting it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While all the waves with melody are ringing.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It seems to float ever, for ever,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon that many-winding river,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Between mountains, woods, abysses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A paradise of wildernesses.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>As the symphony best expresses the suggestive potency +in music, the operatic form incarnates its capacity of +definite thought, and the expression of that thought. The +term “lyric,” as applied to the genuine operatic conception, +is a misnomer. Under the accepted operatic form, however, +it has relative truth, as the main musical purpose of +opera seems, hitherto, to have been less to furnish expression +for exalted emotions and thoughts, or exquisite sentiments, +than to grant the vocal <i>virtuoso</i> opportunity to display +phenomenal qualities of voice and execution. But all +opera, however it may stray from the fundamental idea, +suggests this dramatic element in music, just as mere +lyricism in the poetic art is the blossom from which is +unfolded the full-blown perfection of the word-drama, the +highest form of all poetry.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>That music, by and of itself, cannot express the intellectual +element in the beautiful dream-images of art with +precision, is a palpable truth. Yet, by its imperial dominion +over the sphere of emotion and sentiment, the connection of +the latter with complicated mental phenomena is made to +bring into the domain of tone vague and shifting fancies +and pictures. How much further music can be made to +assimilate to the other arts in directness of mental suggestion, +by wedding to it the noblest forms of poetry, and +making each the complement of the other, is the knotty +problem which underlies the great art-controversy about +which this article concerns itself. On the one side we +have the claim that music is the all-sufficient law unto +itself; that its appeal to sympathy is through the intrinsic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>134]</a></span> +sweetness of harmony and tune, and the intellect must be +satisfied with what it may accidentally glean in this +harvest-field; that, in the rapture experienced in the +sensuous apperception of its beauty, lies the highest phase +of art-sensibility. Therefore, concludes the syllogism, it +matters nothing as to the character of the libretto or poem +to whose words the music is arranged, so long as the +dramatic framework suffices as a support for the flowery +festoons of song, which drape its ugliness and beguile +attention by the fascinations of bloom and grace. On the +other hand, the apostles of the new musical philosophy +insist that art is something more than a vehicle for the +mere sense of the beautiful, an exquisite provocation wherewith +to startle the sense of a selfish, epicurean pleasure; +that its highest function—to follow the idea of the Greek +Plato, and the greatest of his modern disciples, Schopenhauer—is +to serve as the incarnation of the true and the +good; and, even as Goethe makes the Earth-Spirit sing in +“Faust”—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“’Tis thus ever at the loom of Time I ply,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And weave for God the garment thou seest him by”—<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>so the highest art is that which best embodies the immortal +thought of the universe as reflected in the mirror of man’s +consciousness; that music, as speaking the most spiritual +language of any of the art-family, is burdened with the +most pressing responsibility as the interpreter between the +finite and the infinite; that all its forms must be measured +by the earnestness and success with which they teach and +suggest what is best in aspiration and truest in thought; +that music, when wedded to the highest form of poetry (the +drama), produces the consummate art-result, and sacrifices +to some extent its power of suggestion, only to acquire a +greater glory and influence, that of investing definite intellectual +images with spiritual raiment, through which they +shine on the supreme altitudes of ideal thought; that to +make this marriage perfect as an art-form and fruitful in +result, the two partners must come as equals, neither one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>135]</a></span> +the drudge of the other; that in this organic fusion music +and poetry contribute, each its best, to emancipate art from +its thraldom to that which is merely trivial, commonplace, +and accidental, and make it a revelation of all that is most +exalted in thought, sentiment, and purpose. Such is the +æsthetic theory of Richard Wagner’s art-work.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>It is suggestive to note that the earliest recognised +function of music, before it had learned to enslave itself to +mere sensuous enjoyment, was similar in spirit to that +which its latest reformer demands for it in the art of the +future. The glory of its birth then shone on its brow. It +was the handmaid and minister of the religious instinct. +The imagination became afire with the mystery of life and +Nature, and burst into the flames and frenzies of rhythm. +Poetry was born, but instantly sought the wings of music +for a higher flight than the mere word would permit. Even +the great epics of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” were +originally sung or chanted by the Homeridæ, and the same +essential union seems to have been in some measure +demanded afterwards in the Greek drama, which, at its best, +was always inspired with the religious sentiment. There is +every reason to believe that the chorus of the drama of +Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides uttered their comments +on the action of the play with such a prolongation and +variety of pitch in the rhythmic intervals as to constitute a +sustained and melodic recitative. Music at this time was +an essential part of the drama. When the creative genius +of Greece had set towards its ebb, they were divorced, and +music was only set to lyric forms. Such remained the +status of the art till, in the Italian Renaissance, modern +opera was born in the reunion of music and the drama. +Like the other arts, it assumed at the outset to be a mere +revival of antique traditions. The great poets of Italy +had then passed away, and it was left for music to fill the +void.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>136]</a></span> +The muse, Polyhymnia, soon emerged from the stage of +childish stammering. Guittone di Arezzo taught her to fix +her thoughts in indelible signs, and two centuries of +training culminated in the inspired composers, Orlando di +Lasso and Palestrina. Of the gradual degradation of the +operatic art as its forms became more elaborate and fixed; +of the arbitrary transfer of absolute musical forms like the +aria, duet, finale, etc., into the action of the opera without +regard to poetic propriety; of the growing tendency to +treat the human voice like any other instrument, merely to +show its resources as an organ; of the final utter bondage +of the poet to the musician, till opera became little more +than a congeries of musico-gymnastic forms, wherein the +vocal soloists could display their art, it needs not to speak +at length, for some of these vices have not yet disappeared. +In the language of Dante’s guide through the Inferno, at +one stage of their wanderings, when the sights were +peculiarly mournful and desolate—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Non raggioniam da lor, ma guarda e passa.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The loss of all poetic verity and earnestness in opera +furnished the great composer Gluck with the motive of the +bitter and protracted contest which he waged with varying +success throughout Europe, though principally in Paris. +Gluck boldly affirmed, and carried out the principle in his +compositions, that the task of dramatic music was to +accompany the different phases of emotion in the text, and +give them their highest effect of spiritual intensity. The +singer must be the mouthpiece of the poet, and must take +extreme care in giving the full poetical burden of the song. +Thus, the declamatory music became of great importance, +and Gluck’s recitative reached an unequalled degree of +perfection.</p> + +<p>The critics of Gluck’s time hurled at him the same +charges which are familiar to us now as coming from the +mouths and pens of the enemies of Wagner’s music. Yet +Gluck, however conscious of the ideal unity between music +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>137]</a></span> +and poetry, never thought of bringing this about by a +sacrifice of any of the forms of his own peculiar art. His +influence, however, was very great, and the traditions of +the great <i>maestro’s</i> art have been kept alive in the works of +his no less great disciples, Méhul, Cherubini, Spontini, and +Meyerbeer.</p> + +<p>Two other attempts to ingraft new and vital power on +the rigid and trivial sentimentality of the Italian forms of +opera were those of Rossini and Weber. The former was +gifted with the greatest affluence of pure melodiousness +ever given to a composer. But even his sparkling originality +and freshness did little more than reproduce the old +forms under a more attractive guise. Weber, on the other +hand, stood in the van of a movement which had its +fountain-head in the strong romantic and national feeling, +pervading the whole of society and literature. There was +a general revival of mediæval and popular poetry, with its +balmy odour of the woods, and fields, and streams. +Weber’s melody was the direct offspring of the tunefulness +of the German <i>Volkslied</i>, and so it expressed, with wonderful +freshness and beauty, all the range of passion and +sentiment within the limits of this pure and simple +language. But the boundaries were far too narrow to +build upon them the ultimate union of music and poetry, +which should express the perfect harmony of the two arts. +While it is true that all of the great German composers +protested, by their works, against the spirit and character +of the Italian school of music, Wagner claims that the first +abrupt and strongly-defined departure towards a radical +reform in art is found in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony +with chorus. Speaking of this remarkable leap from +instrumental to vocal music in a professedly symphonic +composition, Wagner, in his <i>Essay on Beethoven</i>, says—“We +declare that the work of art, which was formed and +quickened entirely by that deed, must present the most +perfect artistic form, <i>i.e.</i>, that form in which, as for the +drama, so also and especially for music, every conventionality +would be abolished.” Beethoven is asserted to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>138]</a></span> +have founded the new musical school, when he admitted, +by his recourse to the vocal cantata in the greatest of his +symphonic works, that he no longer recognised absolute +music as sufficient unto itself.</p> + +<p>In Bach and Handel, the great masters of fugue and +counterpoint; in Rossini, Mozart, and Weber, the consummate +creators of melody—then, according to this view, we +only recognise thinkers in the realm of pure music. In +Beethoven, the greatest of them all, was laid the basis of +the new epoch of tone-poetry. In the immortal songs of +Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Franz, and +the symphonies of the first four, the vitality of the +reformatory idea is richly illustrated. In the music-drama +of Wagner, it is claimed by his disciples, is found the full +flower and development of the art-work.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Richard Wagner</span>, the formal projector of the +great changes whose details are yet to be sketched, was +born at Leipsic in 1813. As a child he displayed no +very marked artistic tastes, though his ear and memory +for music were quite remarkable. When admitted to the +Kreuzschule of Dresden, the young student, however, +distinguished himself by his very great talent for literary +composition and the classical languages. To this early +culture, perhaps, we are indebted for the great poetic +power which has enabled him to compose the remarkable +libretti which have furnished the basis of his music. His +first creative attempt was a blood-thirsty drama, where +forty-two characters are killed, and the few survivors are +haunted by the ghosts. Young Wagner soon devoted +himself to the study of music, and, in 1833, became a +pupil of Theodor Weinlig, a distinguished teacher of +harmony and counterpoint. His four years of study at this +time were also years of activity in creative experiment, +as he composed four operas.</p> + +<p>His first opera of note was “Rienzi,” with which he +went to Paris in 1837. In spite of Meyerbeer’s efforts in +its favour, this work was rejected, and laid aside for some +years. Wagner supported himself by musical criticism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>139]</a></span> +and other literary work, and soon was in a position to +offer another opera, “Der fliegende Holländer,” to the +authorities of the Grand Opera-House. Again the directors +refused the work, but were so charmed with the beauty of +the libretto that they bought it to be reset to music. +Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for the +indomitable young musician. “Rienzi” was then produced +at Dresden, so much to the delight of the King of Saxony +that the composer was made royal Kapellmeister and leader +of the orchestra. The production of “Der fliegende +Holländer” quickly followed; next came “Tannhäuser” +and “Lohengrin,” to be swiftly succeeded by the +“Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” This period of our +<i>maestro’s</i> musical activity also commenced to witness the +development of his theories on the philosophy of his art, +and some of his most remarkable critical writings were then +given to the world.</p> + +<p>Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of +exile in Zurich; thence he went to London, where he +remained till 1861 as conductor of the London Philharmonic +Society. In 1861 the exile returned to his native country, +and spent several years in Germany and Russia—there +having arisen quite a <i>furore</i> for his music in the latter +country. The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King +Louis of Bavaria by “Der fliegende Holländer” resulted +in a summons to Wagner to settle at Munich, and with the +glories of the Royal Opera-House in that city his name has +been principally connected. The culminating art-splendour +of his life, however, was the production of his stupendous +tetralogy, the “Ring der Niebelungen,” at the great opera-house +at Bayreuth, in the summer of the year 1876.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The first element to be noted in Wagner’s operatic +forms is the energetic protest against the artificial and +conventional in music. The utter want of dramatic +symmetry and fitness in the operas we have been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>140]</a></span> +accustomed to hear could only be overlooked by the force +of habit, and the tendency to submerge all else in the mere +enjoyment of the music. The utter variance of music and +poetry was to Wagner the stumbling-block which, first of +all, must be removed. So he crushed at one stroke all the +hard, arid forms which existed in the lyrical drama as it +had been known. His opera, then, is no longer a congeries +of separate musical numbers, like duets, arias, chorals, +and finales, set in a flimsy web of formless recitative, +without reference to dramatic economy. His great purpose +is lofty dramatic truth, and to this end he sacrifices the +whole framework of accepted musical forms, with the +exception of the chorus, and this he remodels. The musical +energy is concentrated in the dialogue as the main factor of +the dramatic problem, and fashioned entirely according to +the requirements of the action. The continuous flow of +beautiful melody takes the place alike of the dry recitative +and the set musical forms which characterise the accepted +school of opera. As the dramatic <i>motif</i> demands, this +“continuous melody” rises into the highest ecstasies of the +lyrical fervour, or ebbs into a chant-like swell of subdued +feeling, like the ocean after the rush of the storm. If +Wagner has destroyed musical forms, he has also added a +positive element. In place of the aria we have the <i>logos</i>. +This is the musical expression of the principal passion +underlying the action of the drama. Whenever, in the +course of the development of the story, this passion comes +into ascendency, the rich strains of the <i>logos</i> are heard +anew, stilling all other sounds. Gounod has, in part, +applied this principle in “Faust.” All opera-goers will +remember the intense dramatic effect arising from the +recurrence of the same exquisite lyric outburst from the +lips of Marguerite.</p> + +<p>The peculiar character of Wagner’s word-drama next +arouses critical interest and attention. The composer is +his own poet, and his creative genius shines no less here +than in the world of tone. The musical energy flows +entirely from the dramatic conditions, like the electrical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>141]</a></span> +current from the cups of the battery; and the rhythmical +structure of the <i>melos</i> (tune) is simply the transfiguration +of the poetical basis. The poetry, then, is all-important in +the music-drama. Wagner has rejected the forms of blank +verse and rhyme as utterly unsuited to the lofty purposes +of music, and has gone to the metrical principle of all the +Teutonic and Slavonic poetry. This rhythmic element of +alliteration, or <i>staffrhyme</i>, we find magnificently illustrated +in the Scandinavian Eddas, and even in our own Anglo-Saxon +fragments of the days of Cædmon and Alcuin. By +the use of this new form, verse and melody glide together +in one exquisite rhythm, in which it seems impossible to +separate the one from the other. The strong accent of the +alliterating syllables supply the music with firmness, while +the low-toned syllables give opportunity for the most varied +<i>nuances</i> of declamation.</p> + +<p>The first radical development of Wagner’s theories we +see in “The Flying Dutchman.” In “Tannhäuser” and +“Lohengrin” they find full sway. The utter revolt of his +mind from the trivial and commonplace sentimentalities of +Italian opera led him to believe that the most heroic and +lofty motives alone should furnish the dramatic foundation +of opera. For a while he oscillated between history and +legend, as best adapted to furnish his material. In his +selection of the dream-land of myth and legend, we may +detect another example of the profound and <i>exigeant</i> art-instincts +which have ruled the whole of Wagner’s life. +There could be no question as to the utter incongruity of +any dramatic picture of ordinary events, or ordinary personages, +finding expression in musical utterance. Genuine +and profound art must always be consistent with itself, and +what we recognise as general truth. Even characters set +in the comparatively near background of history are too +closely related to our own familiar surroundings of thought +and mood to be regarded as artistically natural in the use +of music as the organ of the every-day life of emotion and +sentiment. But with the dim and heroic shapes that haunt +the border-land of the supernatural, which we call legend, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>142]</a></span> +the case is far different. This is the drama of the demigods, +living in a different atmosphere from our own, however +akin to ours may be their passions and purposes. For +these we are no longer compelled to regard the medium of +music as a forced and untruthful expression, for do they +not dwell in the magic lands of the imagination? All +sense of dramatic inconsistency instantly vanishes, and the +conditions of artistic illusion are perfect.</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And clothes the mountains with their azure hue.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Thus all of Wagner’s works, from “Der fliegende Holländer” +to the “Ring der Niebelungen,” have been located +in the world of myth, in obedience to a profound art-principle. +The opera of “Tristan and Iseult,” first performed +in 1865, announced Wagner’s absolute emancipation, +both in the construction of music and poetry, from +the time-honoured and time-corrupted canons, and, aside +from the last great work, it may be received as the most +perfect representation of his school.</p> + +<p>The third main feature in the Wagner music is the wonderful +use of the orchestra as a factor in the solution of the +art-problem. This is no longer a mere accompaniment to +the singer, but translates the passion of the play into a +grand symphony, running parallel and commingling with +the vocal music. Wagner, as a great master of orchestration, +has had few equals since Beethoven; and he uses his +power with marked effect to heighten the dramatic intensity +of the action, and at the same time to convey certain +meanings which can only find vent in the vague and indistinct +forms of pure music. The romantic conception of the +mediæval love, the shudderings and raptures of Christian +revelation, have certain phases that absolute music alone +can express. The orchestra, then, becomes as much an +integral part of the music-drama, in its actual current +movement, as the chorus or the leading performers. Placed +on the stage, yet out of sight, its strains might almost be +fancied the sound of the sympathetic communion of good +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>143]</a></span> +and evil spirits, with whose presence mystics formerly +claimed man was constantly surrounded. Wagner’s use +of the orchestra may be illustrated from the opera of +“Lohengrin.”</p> + +<p>The ideal background, from which the emotions of the +human actors in the drama are reflected with supernatural +light, is the conception of the “Holy Graal,” the mystic +symbol of the Christian faith, and its descent from the +skies, guarded by hosts of seraphim. This is the subject of +the orchestral prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and +terrors of the Christian ecstasy been more potently expressed. +The prelude opens with long-drawn chords of the +violins, in the highest octaves, in the most exquisite <i>pianissimo</i>. +The inner eye of the spirit discerns in this the suggestion +of shapeless white clouds, hardly discernible from +the aërial blue of the sky. Suddenly the strings seem to +sound from the farthest distance, in continued <i>pianissimo</i>, +and the melody, the Graal-motive, takes shape. Gradually, +to the fancy, a group of angels seem to reveal themselves, +slowly descending from the heavenly heights, and bearing +in their midst the <i>Sangréal</i>. The modulations throb +through the air, augmenting in richness and sweetness, till +the <i>fortissimo</i> of the full orchestra reveals the sacred mystery. +With this climax of spiritual ecstasy the harmonious +waves gradually recede and ebb away in dying sweetness, +as the angels return to their heavenly abode. This orchestral +movement recurs in the opera, according to the laws +of dramatic fitness, and its melody is heard also in the +<i>logos</i> of Lohengrin, the knight of the Graal, to express +certain phases of his action. The immense power which +music is thus made to have in dramatic effect can easily be +fancied.</p> + +<p>A fourth prominent characteristic of the Wagner music-drama +is that, to develop its full splendour, there must be a +co-operation of all the arts, painting, sculpture, and architecture, +as well as poetry and music. Therefore, in realising +its effects, much importance rests in the visible beauties of +action, as they may be expressed by the painting of scenery +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>144]</a></span> +and the grouping of human figures. Well may such a grand +conception be called the “Art-work of the Future.”</p> + +<p>Wagner for a long time despaired of the visible execution +of his ideas. At last the celebrated pianist, Tausig, suggested +an appeal to the admirers of the new music +throughout the world for means to carry out the composer’s +great ideas—viz., to perform the “Niebelungen” at a +theatre to be erected for the purpose, and by a select company, +in the manner of a national festival, and before an +audience entirely removed from the atmosphere of vulgar +theatrical shows. After many delays Wagner’s hopes were +attained, and in the summer of 1876 a gathering of the +principal celebrities of Europe was present to criticise the +fully perfected fruit of the composer’s theories and genius. +This festival was so recent, and its events have been the +subject of such elaborate comment, that further description +will be out of place here.</p> + +<p>As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his +powers, there can be no question as to Wagner’s rank. +The performance of the “Niebelungenring,” covering +“Rheingold,” “Die Walküren,” “Siegfried,” and “Götterdämmerung,” +was one of the epochs of musical Germany. +However deficient Wagner’s skill in writing for the human +voice, the power and symmetry of his conceptions, and his +genius in embodying them in massive operatic forms, are +such as to storm even the prejudices of his opponents. The +poet-musician rightfully claims that in his music-drama is +found that wedding of two of the noblest of the arts, +pregnantly suggested by Shakespeare:—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“If Music and sweet Poetry both agree,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As they must needs, the sister and the brother;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">. <span class="space"> </span> . <span class="space"> </span> . <span class="space"> </span> . <span class="space"> </span> . <span class="space"> </span> . <br /></span> +<span class="i1">One God is God of both, as poets feign.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>145]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Note by the Editor.</span>—The knowledge of Wagner’s music in +England originated chiefly with the masterly playing of Herr Von +Bülow, with the concerts given by Messrs. Dannreuther and +Bache, and later on by the Wagner festival held at the Albert +Hall in 1877, where Wagner himself presided at the performance of +the music of his <i>Ring des Niebelungen</i>. He was not quite satisfied +with its reception; but this is not altogether to be wondered at when +we consider that the work was divorced from its scenic adjuncts, and +that in his operas—in accordance with his own theory—the plastic +arts as well as poetry and music are equally required to produce a +well-balanced result. None the less, this festival greatly increased the +interest in “the Music of the Future;” and in 1880 <i>The Ring des +Niebelungen</i> was performed at Covent Garden, while his other +operas were given in their proper sequence at Drury Lane. In 1882 +his last great work, <i>Parsifal</i>, was performed with striking éclat at +Bayreuth. On the 18th of February 1883 he died of heart disease at +Venice, whither he had gone to recruit his health. A personal friend +has recorded that Wagner’s body was laid in the coffin by the widow +herself, who—as a last token of her love and admiration—cut off the +beautiful hair her husband had so admired, and placed it on a red +cushion under the head of the departed. The body of the great +musician was taken to Bayreuth and buried, in accordance with the +wishes he had himself expressed, in the garden of his own house, +“Vahnfried.” A large wreath from the King of Bavaria lay on the +coffin, bearing the appropriate inscription—“To the Deathless One.” +On the 24th of July in the same year, <i>Parsifal</i> was again +performed at Bayreuth—a fitting requiem service over the great +master. <i>Parsifal</i> is the culmination of Wagner’s epic work. In +it he completes the cycle of myths by which he strove to express +the varied and fervent aspirations of humanity; and in particular +“the two burning questions of the day—1. The Tremendous Empire +of the Senses. 2. The Immense Supremacy of Soul; and how to +reconcile them.”</p> + +<p>The Legend of the Sangrail, the <i>motif</i> of his last work, is “the +most poetic and pathetic form of transubstantiation; ... it possesses +the true legendary power of attraction and assimilation.” In +Mr. Haweis’ words, “The <i>Tannhäuser</i> and the <i>Lohengrin</i> are the two +first of the legendary dramas which serve to illustrate the Christian +Chivalry and religious aspirations of the middle ages, in conflict +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>146]</a></span> +on the one side with the narrow ideals of Catholicism, and on the +other with the free instincts of human nature. <i>Parsifal</i> forms with +them a great Trilogy of Christian legends, as the <i>Ring of the +Niebelungen</i> forms a Tetralogy of Pagan, Rhine, and Norse legends. +Both series of sacred and profane myths in the hands of Wagner, whilst +striking the great key-notes, Paganism and Catholicism, become the +fitting and appropriate vehicles for the display of the ever-recurrent +struggles of the human heart—now in the grip of inexorable fate, now +passion-tossed, at war with itself and with time—soothed with spaces +of calm—flattered with the dream of ineffable joys—filled with sublime +hopes; and content at last with far-off glimpses of God.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw5"> +<img src="images/gmc06.png" width="250" height="104" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>147]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw3"> +<img src="images/gmc07.jpg" width="600" height="100" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + +<p class="center xlrgfont padtop">ITALIAN AND FRENCH COMPOSERS.</p> + + + +<h2 class="padtop"><a name="palestrina" id="palestrina"></a><i>PALESTRINA.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="dcapt2"><span class="dcap">T</span></span>HE Netherlands share other glories than that of +having nursed the most indomitable spirit of +liberty known to mediæval Europe. The fine +as well as the industrial arts found among this +remarkable people, distinguished by Erasmus +as possessed of the <i>patientia laboris</i>, an eager and passionate +culture. The early contributions of the Low +Countries to the growth of the pictorial art are well known +to all. But to most it will be a revelation that the Belgian +school of music was the great fructifying influence of the +fifteenth century, to which Italy and Germany owe a debt +not easily measured. The art of interweaving parts and +that science of sound known as counterpoint were placed by +this school of musical scholars and workers on a solid basis, +which enabled the great composers who came after them to +build their beautiful tone fabrics in forms of imperishable +beauty and symmetry. For a long time most of the great +Italian churches had Belgian chapel-masters, and the value +of their example and teachings was vital in its relation to +Italian music.</p> + +<p>The last great master among the Belgians, and, after +Palestrina, the greatest of the sixteenth century, was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>148]</a></span> +Orlando di Lasso, born in Hainault, in the year 1520. His +life of a little more than three score years and ten was +divided between Italy and Germany. He left the deep +imprint of his severe style, though but a young man, on his +Italian <i>confrères</i>, and the young Palestrina owed to him +much of the largeness and beauty of form through which +he poured his genius in the creation of such works as have +given him so distinct a place in musical history. The pope +created Orlando di Lasso Knight of the Golden Spur, and +sought to keep him in Italy. Unconcerned as to fame, the +gentle, peaceful musician lived for his art alone, and the +flattering expressions of the great were not so much enjoyed +as endured by him. A musical historian, Heimsoeth, says +of him—“He is the brilliant master of the North, great +and sublime in sacred composition, of inexhaustible invention, +displaying much breadth, variety, and depth in his +treatment; he delights in full and powerful harmonies, yet, +after all—owing to an existence passed in journeys, as well +as service at court, and occupied at the same time with both +sacred and secular music—he came short of that lofty, +solemn tone which pervades the works of the great master +of the South, Palestrina, who, with advancing years, +restricted himself more and more to church music.” Of +the celebrated penitential psalms of Di Lasso, it is said that +Charles IX. of France ordered them to be written “in +order to obtain rest for his soul after the terrible massacre +of St. Bartholomew.” Aside from his works, this musician +has a claim on fame through his lasting improvements in +musical form and method. He illuminated, and at the +same time closed, the great epoch of Belgian ascendancy, +which had given three hundred musicians of great science +to the times in which they lived. So much has been said +of Orlando di Lasso, for he was the model and Mentor of +the greatest of early church composers, Palestrina.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>149]</a></span></p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The melodious and fascinating style, soon to give birth +to the characteristic genius of the opera, was as yet unborn, +though dormant. In Rome, the chief seat of the Belgian art, +the exclusive study of technical skill had frozen music to a +mere formula. The Gregorian chant had become so overladen +with mere embellishments as to make the prescribed +church-form difficult of recognition in its borrowed garb, for +it had become a mere jumble of sound. Musicians, indeed, +carried their profanation so far as to take secular melodies +as the themes for masses and motetts. These were often +called by their profane titles. So the name of a love-sonnet +or a drinking-song would sometimes be attached to a +<i>miserere</i>. The Council of Trent, in 1562, cut at these evils +with sweeping axe, and the solemn anathemas of the church +fathers roused the creative powers of the subject of this +sketch, who raised his art to an independent national +existence, and made it rank with sculpture and painting, +which had already reached their zenith in Leonardo da +Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, and Michael Angelo. +Henceforth Italian music was to be a vigorous, fruitful +stock.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Giovanni Perluigi Aloisio da Palestrina</span> was born at +Palestrina, the ancient Præneste, in 1524.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> The memorials +of his childhood are scanty. We know but little except +that his parents were poor peasants, and that he learned +the rudiments of literature and music as a choir-singer, a +starting-point so common in the lives of great composers. +In 1540 he went to Rome and studied in the school of +Goudimel, a stern Huguenot Fleming, tolerated in the +papal capital on account of his superior science and method +of teaching, and afterwards murdered at Lyons on the day +of the Paris massacre. Palestrina grasped the essential +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>150]</a></span> +doctrines of the school without adopting its mannerisms. +At the age of thirty he published his first compositions, +and dedicated them to the reigning pontiff, Julius III. In +the formation of his style, which moved with such easy, +original grace within the old prescribed rules, he learned +much from the personal influence and advice of Orlando di +Lasso, his warm friend and constant companion during these +earlier days.</p> + +<p>Several of his compositions, written at this time, are still +performed in Rome on Good Friday, and Goethe and +Mendelssohn have left their eloquent tributes to the +impression made on them by music alike simple and +sublime. The pope was highly pleased with Palestrina’s +noble music, and appointed him one of the papal choristers, +then regarded as a great honour. But beyond Rome the +new light of music was but little known. The Council of +Trent, in their first indignation at the abuse of church +music, had resolved to abolish everything but the simple +Gregorian chants, but the remonstrances of the Emperor +Ferdinand and the Roman cardinals stayed the austere fiat. +The final decision was made to rest on a new composition +of Palestrina, who was permitted to demonstrate that the +higher forms of musical art were consistent with the +solemnities of church worship.</p> + +<p>All eyes were directed to the young musician, for the +very existence of his art was at stake. The motto of his +first mass, “Illumina oculos meos,” shows the pious +enthusiasm with which he undertook his labours. Instead +of one, he composed three six-part masses. The third of +these excited such admiration that the pope exclaimed +in raptures, “It is John who gives us here in this earthly +Jerusalem a foretaste of that new song which the holy +Apostle John realised in the heavenly Jerusalem in his +prophetic trance.” This is now known as the “mass of +Pope Marcel,” in honour of a former patron of Palestrina.</p> + +<p>A new pope, Paul IV., on ascending the pontifical +throne, carried his desire of reforming abuses to fanaticism. +He insisted on all the papal choristers being clerical. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>151]</a></span> +Palestrina had married early in life a Roman lady, of whom +all we know is that her name was Lucretia. Four children +had blessed the union, and the composer’s domestic happiness +became a bar to his temporal preferment. With two +others he was dismissed from the chapel because he was a +layman, and a trifling pension allowed him. Two months +afterwards, though, he was appointed chapel-master of St. +John Lateran. His works now succeeded each other +rapidly, and different collections of his masses were +dedicated to the crowned heads of Europe. In 1571 he +was appointed chapel-master of the Vatican, and Pope +Gregory XIII. gave special charge of the reform of sacred +music to Palestrina.</p> + +<p>The death of the composer’s wife, whom he idolised, in +1580, was a blow from which he never recovered. In his +latter days he was afflicted with great poverty, for the +positions he held were always more honourable than lucrative. +Mental depression and physical weakness burdened +the last few years of his pious and gentle life, and he died +after a lingering and severe illness. The register of the +pontifical chapel contains this entry—“February 2, 1594. +This morning died the most excellent musician, Signor +Giovanni Palestrina, our dear companion and <i>maestro di +capella</i> of St. Peter’s church, whither his funeral was +attended not only by all the musicians of Rome, but by an +infinite concourse of people, when his own ‘Libera me, +Domine’ was sung by the whole college.”</p> + +<p>Such are the simple and meagre records of the life of the +composer who carved and laid the foundation of the superstructure +of Italian music; who, viewed in connection with +his times and their limitations, must be regarded as one of +the great creative minds in his art; who shares with +Sebastian Bach the glory of having built an imperishable +base for the labours of his successors.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> +Our composer, as was common with artists and scholars in those +days, took the name of his natal town, and by this he is known to +fame. Old documents also give him the old Latin name of the town +with the personal ending.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>152]</a></span></p> + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Palestrina left a great mass of compositions, all glowing +with the fire of genius, only part of which have been +published. His simple life was devoted to musical labour, +and passed without romance, diversion, or excitement. +His works are marked by utter absence of contrast and +colour. Without dramatic movement, they are full of +melody and majesty—a majesty serene, unruffled by the +slightest suggestion of human passion. Voices are now +and then used for individual expression, but either in +unison or harmony. As in all great church music, the +chorus is the key of the work. The general judgment of +musicians agrees that repose and enjoyment are more +characteristic of this music than that of any other master. +The choir of the Sistine chapel, by the inheritance of long-cherished +tradition, is the most perfect exponent of the +Palestrina music. During the annual performance of the +“Improperie” and “Lamentations,” the altar and walls are +despoiled of their pictures and ornaments, and everything +is draped in black. The cardinals dressed in serge, no +incense, no candles: the whole scene is a striking picture +of trouble and desolation. The faithful come in two by +two and bow before the cross, while the sad music reverberates +through the chapel arches. This powerful appeal +to the imagination, of course, lends greater power to the +musical effect. But all minds who have felt the lift and +beauty of these compositions have acknowledged how far +they soar above words and creeds, and the picturesque +framework of a liturgy.</p> + +<p>Mendelssohn, in a letter to Zelter on the Palestrina +music as heard in the Sistine chapel, says that nothing +could exceed the effect of the blending of the voices, the +prolonged tones gradually merging from one note and chord +to another, softly swelling, decreasing, at last dying out. +“They understand,” he writes, “how to bring out and +place each trait in the most delicate light, without giving it +undue prominence; one chord gently melts into another. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>153]</a></span> +The ceremony at the same time is solemn and imposing; +deep silence prevails in the chapel, only broken by the +re-echoing Greek ‘holy,’ sung with unvarying sweetness and +expression.” The composer Paer was so impressed with the +wonderful beauty of the music and the performance, that +he exclaimed, “This is indeed divine music, such as I have +long sought for, and my imagination was never able to +realise, but which, I knew, must exist.”</p> + +<p>Palestrina’s versatility and genius enabled him to lift +ecclesiastical music out of the rigidity and frivolity characterising +on either hand the opposing ranks of those that +preceded him, and to embody the religious spirit in works +of the highest art. He transposed the ecclesiastical melody +(<i>canto fermo</i>) from the tenor to the soprano (thus rendering +it more intelligible to the ear), and created that glorious +thing choir song, with its refined harmony, that noble music +of which his works are the models, and the papal chair the +oracle. No individual pre-eminence is ever allowed to +disturb and weaken the ideal atmosphere of the whole +work. However Palestrina’s successors have aimed to +imitate his effects, they have, with the exception of +Cherubini, failed for the most part; for every peculiar +genus of art is the result of innate genuine inspiration, +and the spontaneous growth of the age which produces +it. As a parent of musical form he was the protagonist of +Italian music, both sacred and secular, and left an admirable +model, which even the new school of opera so soon to +rise found it necessary to follow in the construction of +harmony. The splendid and often licentious music of the +theatre built its most worthy effects on the work of the +pious composer, who lived, laboured, and died in an +atmosphere of almost anchorite sanctity.</p> + +<p>The great disciples of his school, Nannini and Allegri, +continued his work, and the splendid “Miserere” of the +latter was regarded as such an inestimable treasure that no +copy of it was allowed to go out of the Sistine chapel, till +the infant prodigy, Wolfgang Mozart, wrote it out from +the memory of a single hearing.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>154]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="piccini" id="piccini"></a><i>PICCINI, PAISIELLO, AND CIMAROSA.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Music</span>, as speaking the language of feeling, emotion, and +passion, found its first full expansion in the operatic form. +There had been attempts to represent drama with chorus, +founded on the ancient Greek drama, but it was soon discovered +that dialogue and monologue could not be embodied +in choral forms without involving an utter absurdity. The +spirit of the renaissance had freed poetry, statuary, and +painting from the monopolising claims of the church. +Music, which had become a well-equipped and developed +science, could not long rest in a similar servitude. Though +it is not the aim of the author to discuss operatic history, a +brief survey of the progress of opera from its birth cannot +be omitted.</p> + +<p>The oldest of the entertainments which ripened into +Italian opera belongs to the last years of the fifteenth +century, and was the work of the brilliant Politian, known +as one of the revivalists of Greek learning attached to the +court of Cosmo de’ Medici and his son Lorenzo. This was +the musical drama of “Orfeo.” The story was written in +Latin, and sung in music principally choral, though a few +solo phrases were given to the principal characters. It was +performed at Rome with great magnificence, and Vasari tells +us that Peruzzi, the decorator of the papal theatre, painted +such scenery for it that even the great Titian was so struck +with the <i>vraisemblance</i> of the work that he was not satisfied +until he had touched the canvas to be sure of its not being +in relief. We may fancy indeed that the scenery was one +great attraction of the representation. In spite of spasmodic +encouragement by the more liberally-minded pontiffs, +the general weight of church influence was against the new +musical tendency, and the most skilled composers were at +first afraid to devote their talents to further its growth.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>155]</a></span> +What musicians did not dare undertake out of dread of +the thunderbolts of the church, a company of <i>literati</i> at +Florence commenced in 1580. The primary purpose was +the revival of Greek art, including music. This association, +in conjunction with the Medicean Academy, laid down the +rule that distinct individuality of expression in music was +to be sought for. As results, quickly came musical drama +with recitative (modern form of the Greek chorus) and solo +melody for characteristic parts of the legend or story. Out +of this beginning swiftly grew the opera. Composers in +the new form sprung up in various parts of Italy, though +Naples, Venice, and Florence continued to be its centres.</p> + +<p>Between 1637 and 1700 there were performed three +hundred operas at Venice alone. An account of the performance +of “Berenice,” composed by Domenico Freschi, at +Padua, in 1680, dwarfs all our present ideas of spectacular +splendour. In this opera there were choruses of a hundred +virgins and a hundred soldiers; a hundred horsemen in steel +armour; a hundred performers on trumpets, cornets, sackbuts, +drums, flutes, and other instruments, on horseback and +on foot; two lions led by two Turks, and two elephants +led by two Indians; Berenice’s triumphal car drawn by +four horses, and six other cars with spoils and prisoners, +drawn by twelve horses. Among the scenes in the first act +was a vast plain with two triumphal arches; another with +pavilions and tents; a square prepared for the entrance of +the triumphal procession, and a forest for the chase. In +the second act there were the royal apartments of +Berenice’s temple of vengeance, a spacious court with +view of the prison and a covered way with long lines of +chariots. In the third act there were the royal dressing-room, +the stables with a hundred live horses, porticoes +adorned with tapestry, and a great palace in the perspective. +In the course of the piece there were representations +of the hunting of the boar, the stag, and the lions. +The whole concluded with a huge globe descending from +the skies, and dividing itself in lesser globes of fire, on +which stood allegorical figures of fame, honour, nobility, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>156]</a></span> +virtue, and glory. The theatrical manager had princes and +nobles for bankers and assistants, and they lavished their +treasures of art and money to make such spectacles as the +modern stagemen of London and Paris cannot approach.</p> + +<p>In Evelyn’s diary there is an entry describing opera at +Venice in 1645:—“This night, having with my lord Bruce +taken our places before, we went to the opera, where +comedies and other plays are represented in recitative +music by the most excellent musicians, vocal and instrumental, +with variety of scenes painted and contrived with +no lesse art of perspective, and machines for flying in the +aire, and other wonderful motions; taken together it is one +of the most magnificent and expensive diversions the wit +of man can invent. The history was Hercules in Lydia. +The sceanes changed thirteen times. The famous voices, +Anna Rencia, a Roman, and reputed the best treble of +women; but there was a Eunuch who in my opinion +surpassed her; also a Genoise that in my judgment sung +an incomparable base. They held us by the eyes and ears +till two o’clock i’ the morning.” Again he writes of the +carnival of 1646:—“The comedians have liberty and the +operas are open; witty pasquils are thrown about, and the +mountebanks have their stages at every corner. The +diversion which chiefly took me up was three noble operas, +where were most excellent voices and music, the most +celebrated of which was the famous and beautiful Anna +Rencia, whom we invited to a fish dinner after four daies +in Lent, when they had given over at the theatre.” Old +Evelyn then narrates how he and his noble friend took the +lovely diner out on a junketing, and got shot at with +blunderbusses from the gondola of an infuriated rival.</p> + +<p>Opera progressed towards a fixed status with a swiftness +hardly paralleled in the history of any art. The soil was +rich and fully prepared for the growth, and the fecund root, +once planted, shot into a luxuriant beauty and symmetry, +which nothing could check. The Church wisely gave up its +opposition, and henceforth there was nothing to impede the +progress of a product which spread and naturalised itself in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>157]</a></span> +England, France, and Germany. The inventive genius of +Monteverde, Carissimi, Scarlatti (the friend and rival of +Handel), Durante, and Leonardo Leo, perfected the forms +of the opera nearly as we have them to-day. A line of +brilliant composers in the school of Durante and Leo brings +us down through Pergolesi, Derni, Terradiglias, Jomelli, +Traetta, Ciccio di Majo, Galluppi, and Giuglielmi, to the +most distinguished of the early Italian composers, Niccolo +Piccini, who, mostly forgotten in his works, is principally +known to modern fame as the rival of the mighty Gluck in +that art controversy which shook Paris into such bitter +factions. Yet, overshadowed as Piccini was in the greatness +of his rival, there can be no question of his desert as +the most brilliant ornament and exponent of the early +operatic school. No greater honour could have been paid +to him than that he should have been chosen as their +champion by the <i>Italianissimi</i> of his day in the battle royal +with such a giant as Gluck, an honour richly deserved by a +composer distinguished by multiplicity and beauty of ideas, +dramatic insight, and ardent conviction.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Niccolo Piccini</span>, who was not less than fifty years of +age when he left Naples for the purpose of outrivalling +Gluck, was born at Bari, in the kingdom of Naples, in +1728. His father, also a musician, had destined him for +holy orders, but Nature made him an artist. His great +delight even as a little child was playing on the harpsichord, +which he quickly learned. One day the bishop of +Bari heard him playing, and was amazed at the power of +the little <i>virtuoso</i>. “By all means send him to a conservatory +of music,” he said to the elder Piccini. “If the +vocation of the priesthood brings trials and sacrifices, a +musical career is not less beset with obstacles. Music +demands great perseverance and incessant labour. It +exposes one to many chagrins and toils.”</p> + +<p>By the advice of the shrewd prelate, the precocious boy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>158]</a></span> +was placed at the school of St. Onofrio at the age of fourteen. +At first confided to the care of an inferior professor, +he revolted from the arid teachings of a mere human +machine. Obeying the dictates of his daring fancy, though +hardly acquainted with the rudiments of composition, he +determined to compose a mass. The news got abroad that +the little Niccolo was working on a grand mass, and the +great Leo, the chief of the conservatory, sent for the +trembling culprit.</p> + +<p>“You have written a mass?” he commenced.</p> + +<p>“Excuse me, sir, I could not help it,” said the timid boy.</p> + +<p>“Let me see it.”</p> + +<p>Niccolo brought him the score and all the orchestral +parts, and Leo immediately went to the concert-room, +assembled the orchestra, and gave them the parts. +The boy was ordered to take his place in front and conduct +the performance, which he went through with great +agitation.</p> + +<p>“I pardon you this time,” said the grave <i>maestro</i>, at the +end; “but, if you do such a thing again, I will punish you +in such a manner that you will remember it as long as you +live. Instead of studying the principles of your art, you +give yourself up to all the wildness of your imagination; +and, when you have tutored your ill-regulated ideas into +something like shape, you produce what you call a mass, +and no doubt think you have produced a masterpiece.”</p> + +<p>When the boy burst into tears at this rebuke, Leo +clasped him in his arms, told him he had great talent, and +after that took him under his special instruction. Leo +was succeeded by Durante, who also loved Piccini, and +looked forward to a future greatness for him. He was +wont to say the others were his pupils, but Piccini was his +son. After twelve years spent in the conservatory, Piccini +commenced an opera. The director of the principal +Neapolitan theatre said to Prince Vintimille, who introduced +the young musician, that his work was sure to be +a failure.</p> + +<p>“How much can you lose by his opera,” the prince replied, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>159]</a></span> +“supposing it to be a perfect fiasco?” The manager named +the sum.</p> + +<p>“There is the money, then,” replied Piccini’s generous +patron, handing him a purse. “If the ‘Dorme Despetose’” +(the name of the opera) “should fail, you may keep the +money, but otherwise return it to me.”</p> + +<p>The friends of Lagroscino, the favourite composer of the +day, were enraged when they heard that the next new work +was to be from an obscure youth, and they determined to +hiss the performance. So great, however, was the delight +of the public with the freshness and beauty of Piccini’s +music, that even those who came to condemn remained to +applaud. The reputation of the composer went on increasing +until he became the foremost name of musical Italy, for +his fertility of production was remarkable; and he gave the +theatres a brilliant succession of comic and serious works. +In 1758 he produced at Rome his “Alessandro nell’ +Indie,” whose success surpassed all that had preceded it, +and two years later a still finer masterpiece, “La Buona +Figluola,” written to a text furnished by the poet Goldoni, +and founded on the story of Richardson’s “Pamela.” This +opera was produced at every playhouse on the Italian +peninsula in the course of a few years.</p> + +<p>A pleasant <i>mot</i> by the Duke of Brunswick is worth preserving +in this connection. Piccini had married a beautiful +singer named Vicenza Sibilla, and his home was very +happy. One day the German prince visited Piccini, and +found him rocking the cradle of his youngest child, while +the eldest was tugging at the paternal coat-tails. The +mother, being <i>en déshabille</i>, ran away at the sight of a +stranger. The duke excused himself for his want of +ceremony, and added, “I am delighted to see so great a +man living in such simplicity, and that the author of ‘La +Bonne Fille’ is such a good father.” Piccini’s placid and +pleasant life was destined, however, to pass into stormy +waters.</p> + +<p>His sway over the stage and the popular preference +continued until 1773, when a clique of envious rivals at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>160]</a></span> +Rome brought about his first disaster. The composer was +greatly disheartened, and took to his bed, for he was ill +alike in mind and body. The turning-point in his +career had come, and he was to enter into an arena which +taxed his powers in a contest such as he had not yet +dreamed of. His operas having been heard and admired in +France, their great reputation inspired the royal favourite, +Mdme. du Barry, with the hope of finding a successful +competitor to the great German composer, patronised by +Marie Antoinette. Accordingly, Piccini was offered an +indemnity of six thousand francs, and a residence in the +hotel of the Neapolitan ambassador. When the Italian +arrived in Paris, Gluck was in full sway, the idol of the +court and public, and about to produce his “Armide.”</p> + +<p>Piccini was immediately commissioned to write a new +opera, and he applied to the brilliant Marmontel for a +libretto. The poet rearranged one of Quinault’s tragedies, +“Roland,” and Piccini undertook the difficult task of +composing music to words in a language as yet unknown to +him. Marmontel was his unwearied tutor, and he writes in +his “Memoirs” of his pleasant yet arduous task—“Line by +line, word by word, I had everything to explain; and, when +he had laid hold of the meaning of a passage, I recited it to +him, marking the accent, the prosody, and the cadence of +the verses. He listened eagerly, and I had the satisfaction +to know that what he heard was carefully noted. His +delicate ear seized so readily the accent of the language and +the measure of the poetry, that in his music he never +mistook them. It was an inexpressible pleasure to me to +see him practice before my eyes an art of which before +I had no idea. His harmony was in his mind. He +wrote his airs with the utmost rapidity, and when he had +traced its designs, he filled up all the parts of the score, +distributing the traits of harmony and melody, just as a +skilful painter would distribute on his canvas the colours, +lights, and shadows of his picture. When all this was +done, he opened his harpsichord, which he had been using +as his writing-table; and then I heard an air, a duet, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>161]</a></span> +chorus, complete in all its parts, with a truth of expression, +an intelligence, a unity of design, a magic in the harmony, +which delighted both my ear and my feelings.”</p> + +<p>Piccini’s arrival in Paris had been kept a close secret +while he was working on the new opera, but Abbé du Rollet +ferreted it out, and acquainted Gluck, which piece of news +the great German took with philosophical disdain. Indeed, +he attended the rehearsal of “Roland;” and when his rival, +in despair over his ignorance of French and the stupidity of +the orchestra, threw down the baton in despair, Gluck took +it up, and by his magnetic authority brought order out of +chaos and restored tranquillity, a help as much, probably, +the fruit of condescension and contempt as of generosity.</p> + +<p>Still Gluck was not easy in mind over this intrigue of his +enemies, and wrote a bitter letter, which was made public, +and aggravated the war of public feeling. Epigrams and +accusations flew back and forth like hailstones.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></p> + +<p>“Do you know that the Chevalier (Gluck’s title) has an +Armida and Orlando in his portfolio?” said Abbé Arnaud +to a Piccinist.</p> + +<p>“But Piccini is also at work on an Orlando,” was the +retort.</p> + +<p>“So much the better,” returned the abbé, “for then we +shall have an Orlando and also an Orlandino,” was the keen +answer.</p> + +<p>The public attention was stimulated by the war of +pamphlets, lampoons, and newspaper articles. Many of the +great <i>literati</i> were Piccinists, among them Marmontel, +La Harpe, D’Alembert, etc. Suard du Rollet and Jean +Jacques Rousseau fought in the opposite ranks. Although +the nation was trembling on the verge of revolution, and +the French had just lost their hold on the East Indies; +though Mirabeau was thundering in the tribune, and Jacobin +clubs were commencing their baleful work, soon to drench +Paris in blood, all factions and discords were forgotten. +The question was no longer, “Is he a Jansenist, a Molinist, +an Encyclopædist, a philosopher, a free-thinker?” One +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>162]</a></span> +question only was thought of, “Is he a Gluckist or +Piccinist?” and on the answer often depended the peace of +families and the cement of long-established friendships.</p> + +<p>Piccini’s opera was a brilliant success with the fickle +Parisians, though the Gluckists sneered at it as pretty +concert music. The retort was that Gluck had no gift of +melody, though they admitted he had the advantage over +his rival of making more noise. The poor Italian was so +much distressed by the fierce contest that he and his family +were in despair on the night of the first representation. +He could only say to his weeping wife and son, “Come, +my children, this is unreasonable. Remember that we are +not among savages; we are living with the politest and +kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a +musician, they will at all events respect me as a man and a +stranger.” To do justice to Piccini, a mild and timid man, +he never took part in the controversy, and always spoke of +his opponent with profound respect and admiration.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> +<i>See</i> article on <a href="#gluck">Gluck</a> in “Great German Composers.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Marie Antoinette, whom Mdme. du Barry and her clique +looked on as Piccini’s enemy, astonished both cabals by +appointing Piccini her singing-master—an unprofitable +honour, for he received no pay, and was obliged to give +costly copies of his compositions to the royal family. He +might have quoted from the Latin poet in regard to this +favour from Marie Antoinette, whose faction in music, +among other names, was known as the Greek party, “<i>Timeo +Danaos et dona ferentes</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_F_6" id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a> Beaumarchais, the brilliant +author of “Figaro,” had found the same inconvenience when +acting as court teacher to the daughters of Louis XV. +The French kings were parsimonious except when lavishing +money on their vices.</p> + +<p>The action of the dauphiness, however, paved the way +for a reconciliation between Piccini and Gluck. Berton, +the manager of the opera, gave a luxurious banquet, and +the musicians, side by side, pledged each other in libations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>163]</a></span> +of champagne. Gluck got confidential in his cups. “These +French,” he said, “are good enough people, but they make +me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they +can’t sing.” In fact, the quarrel was not between the +musicians but their adherents. In his own heart Piccini +knew his inferiority to Gluck.</p> + +<p>De Vismes, Berton’s successor, proposed that both should +write operas on the same subject, “Iphigenia in Tauris,” +and gave him a libretto. “The French public will have for +the first time,” he said, “the pleasure of hearing two operas +on the same theme, with the same incidents, the same +characters, but composed by two great masters of totally +different schools.”</p> + +<p>“But,” objected the alarmed Italian, “if Gluck’s opera is +played first, the public will be so delighted that they will +not listen to mine.”</p> + +<p>“To avoid that catastrophe,” said the director, “we will +play yours first.”</p> + +<p>“But Gluck will not permit it.”</p> + +<p>“I give you my word of honour,” said De Vismes, “that +your opera shall be put in rehearsal and brought out as +soon as it is finished.”</p> + +<p>Before Piccini had finished his opera, he heard that his +rival was back from Germany with his “Iphigenia” completed, +and that it was in rehearsal. The director excused +himself on the plea of its being a royal command. Gluck’s +work was his masterpiece, and produced an unparalleled +sensation among the Parisians. Even his enemies were +silenced, and La Harpe said it was the <i>chef-d’œuvre</i> of the +world. Piccini’s work, when produced, was admired, but it +stood no chance with the profound, serious, and wonderfully +dramatic composition of his rival.</p> + +<p>On the night of the first performance Mdlle. Laguerre, to +whom Piccini had trusted the rôle of Iphigenia, could not +stand straight from intoxication. “This is not ‘Iphigenia +in Tauris,’” said the witty Sophie Arnould, “but ‘Iphigenia +in champagne.’” She compensated afterwards, though, by +singing the part with exquisite effect.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>164]</a></span> +While the Gluck-Piccini battle was at its height, an +amateur who was disgusted with the contest returned to the +country and sang the praises of the birds and their +gratuitous performances in the following epigram:—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“La n’est point d’art, d’ennui scientifique;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Piccini, Gluck, n’ont point noté les airs.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nature seule en dicta la musique,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et Marmontel n’en a pas fait les vers.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The sentiment of this was probably applauded by the +many who were wearied of the bitter recriminations, which +degraded the art which they professed to serve.</p> + +<p>During the period when Gluck and Piccini were composing +for the French opera, its affairs nourished liberally +under the sway of De Vismes. Gluck, Piccini, and Rameau +wrote serious operas, while Piccini, Sacchini, Anfossi, and +Paisiello composed comic operas. The ballet flourished +with unsurpassed splendour, and on the whole it may be +said that never has the opera presented more magnificence +at Paris than during the time France was on the eve of the +Reign of Terror. The gay capital was thronged with great +singers, the traditions of whose artistic ability compare +favourably with those of a more recent period.</p> + +<p>The witty and beautiful Sophie Arnould, who had a train +of princes at her feet, was the principal exponent of Gluck’s +heroines, while Mdlle. Laguerre was the mainstay of the +Piccinists. The rival factions made the names of these +charming and capricious women their war-cries not less +than those of the composers. The public bowed and cringed +before these idols of the stage. Gaetan Vestris, the first of +the family, known as the “<i>Dieu de la Danse</i>” and who +held that there were only three great men in Europe, +Frederick the Great of Prussia, Voltaire, and himself, +dared to dictate even to Gluck. “Write me the music of a +chaconne, Monsieur Gluck,” said the god of dancing.</p> + +<p>“A chaconne!” said the enraged composer. “Do you +think the Greeks, whose manners we are endeavouring to +depict, knew what a chaconne was?”</p> + +<p>“Did they not?” replied Vestris, astonished at this news, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>165]</a></span> +and in a tone of compassion continued, “then they are +much to be pitied.”</p> + +<p>Vestris did not obtain his ballet music from the obdurate +German; but, when Piccini’s rival “<i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i>” +was produced, such beautiful dance measures were furnished +by the Italian composer as gave Vestris the opportunity for +one of his greatest triumphs.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> +I fear the Greeks, though offering gifts.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The contest between Gluck and Piccini, or rather the +cabals who adopted the two musicians as their figure-heads, +was brought to an end by the death of the former. An +attempt was made to set up Sacchini in his place, but it +proved unavailing, as the new composer proved to be quite +as much a follower of the prevailing Italian method as of +the new school of Gluck. The French revolution swept +away Piccini’s property, and he retired to Italy. Bad +fortune pursued him, however. Queen Caroline of Naples +conceived a dislike to him, and used her influence to injure +his career, out of a fit of wounded vanity.</p> + +<p>“Do you not think I resemble my sister, Marie +Antoinette?” queried the somewhat ill-favoured queen. +Piccini, embarrassed but truthful, replied, “Your majesty, +there may be a family likeness, but no resemblance.” A +fatality attended him even to Venice. In 1792 he was +mobbed and his house burned, because the populace +regarded him as a republican, for he had a French son-in-law. +Some partial musical successes, however, consoled +him, though they flattered his <i>amour propre</i> more than +they benefited his purse. On his return to Naples he was +subjected to a species of imprisonment during four years, +for royal displeasure in those days did not confine itself +merely to lack of court favour. Reduced to great poverty, +the composer who had been the favourite of the rich and +great for so many years knew often the actual pangs of +hunger, and eked out his subsistence by writing conventual +psalms, as payment for the broken food doled out +by the monks.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>166]</a></span> +At last he was released, and the tenor, David, sent him +funds to pay his journey to Paris. Napoleon, the first +consul, received him cordially in the Luxembourg palace.</p> + +<p>“Sit down,” said he to Piccini, who remained standing, +“a man of your greatness stands in no one’s presence.” +His reception in Paris was, in fact, an ovation. The +manager of the opera gave him a pension of twenty-four +hundred francs, a government pension was also accorded, +and he was appointed sixth inspector at the Conservatory. +But the benefits of this pale gleam of wintry sunshine did +not long remain. He died at Passy in the year 1800, and +was followed to the grave by a great throng of those who +loved his beautiful music and admired his gentle life.</p> + +<p>In the present day Gluck appears to have vanquished +Piccini, because occasionally an opera of the former is performed, +while Piccini’s works are only known to the +musical antiquarian. But even the marble temples of +Gluck are moss-grown and neglected, and that great man +is known to the present day rather as one whose influence +profoundly coloured and changed the philosophy of opera, +than through any immediate acquaintance with his productions. +The connoisseurs of the eighteenth century +found Piccini’s melodies charming, but the works that +endure as masterpieces are not those which contain the +greatest number of beauties, but those of which the form +is the most perfect. Gluck had larger conceptions and +more powerful genius than his Italian rival, but the latter’s +sweet spring of melody gave him the highest place which +had so far been attained in the Italian operatic school.</p> + +<p>“Piccini,” says M. Genguèné, his biographer, “was under +the middle size, but well made, with considerable dignity of +carriage. His countenance was very agreeable. His mind +was acute, enlarged, and cultivated. Latin and Italian +literature was familiar to him when he went to France, and +afterwards he became almost as well acquainted with +French literature. He spoke and wrote Italian with great +purity, but among his countrymen he preferred the Neapolitan +dialect, which he considered the most expressive, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>167]</a></span> +most difficult, and the most figurative of all languages. +He used it principally in narration, with a gaiety, a truth, +and a pantomimic expression after the manner of his country, +which delighted all his friends, and made his stories +intelligible even to those who knew Italian but slightly.”</p> + +<p>As a musician Piccini was noticeable, according to the +judgment of his best critics, for the purity and simplicity +of his style. He always wished to preserve the supremacy +of the voice, and, though he well knew how to make his +instrumentation rich and effective, he was a resolute +opponent to the florid and complex accompaniments which +were coming into vogue in his day. His recorded opinion +on this subject may have some interest for the musicians +of the present day:—</p> + +<p>“Were the employment which Nature herself assigns to +the instruments of an orchestra preserved to them, a variety +of effects and a series of infinitely diversified pictures would +be produced. But they are all thrown in at once and used +incessantly, and they thus overpower and indurate the ear, +without presenting any picture to the mind, to which the +ear is the passage. I should be glad to know how they will +arouse it when it is accustomed to this uproar, which will +soon happen, and of what new witchcraft they will avail +themselves.... It is well known what occurs to palates +blunted by the use of spirituous liquors. In a few months +everything may be learned which is necessary to produce +these exaggerated effects, but it requires much time and +study to be able to excite genuine emotion.” Piccini followed +strictly the canons of the Italian school; and, though +far inferior in really great qualities to his rival Gluck, his +compositions had in them so much of fluent grace and +beauty as to place him at the head of his predecessors. +Some curious critics have indeed gone so far as to charge +that many of the finest arias of Rossini, Donizetti, and +Bellini owe their paternity to this composer, an indictment +not uncommon in music, for most of the great composers +have rifled the sweets of their predecessors without scruple.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>168]</a></span></p> + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Paisiello and Cimarosa, in their style and processes of +work, seem to have more nearly caught the mantle of +Piccini than any others, though they were contemporaries +as well as successors. <span class="smcap">Giovanni Paisiello</span>, born in 1741, +was educated, like many other great musicians, at the Conservatory +of San Onofrio. During his early life he produced +a great number of pieces for the Italian theatres, and +in 1776 accepted the invitation of Catherine to become the +court composer at St. Petersburg, where he remained +nine years, and produced several of his best operas, chief +among them, “Il Barbiere di Seviglia” (a different version +of Beaumarchais’s celebrated comedy from that afterwards +used by Rossini).</p> + +<p>The empress was devotedly attached to him, and showed +her esteem in many signal ways. On one occasion, while +Paisiello was accompanying her in a song, she observed that +he shuddered with the bitter cold. On this Catherine took +off her splendid ermine cloak, decorated with clasps of +brilliants, and threw it over her tutor’s shoulders. In a +quarrel which Paisiello had with Marshal Beloseloky, the +temporary favourite of the Russian Messalina, her favour +was shown in a still more striking way. The marshal had +given the musician a blow, on which Paisiello, a very large, +athletic man, drubbed the Russian general most unmercifully. +The latter demanded the immediate dismissal of the +composer for having insulted a dignitary of the empire. +Catherine’s reply was similar to the one made by Francis +the First of France in a parallel case about Leonardo da +Vinci—</p> + +<p>“I neither can nor will attend to your request; you +forgot your dignity when you gave an unoffending man and +a great artist a blow. Are you surprised that he should +have forgotten it too? As for rank, it is in my power to +make fifty marshals, but not one Paisiello.”</p> + +<p>Some years after his return to Italy, he was engaged by +Napoleon as chapel-master; for that despot ruled the art +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>169]</a></span> +and literature of his times as autocratically as their politics. +Though Paisiello did not wish to obey the mandate, to +refuse was ruin. The French ruler had already shown his +favour by giving him the preference over Cherubini in +several important musical contests, for the latter had +always displayed stern independence of courtly favour. On +Paisiello’s arrival in Paris, several lucrative appointments +indicated the sincerity of Napoleon’s intentions. The +composer did not hesitate to stand on his rights as a +musician on all occasions. When Napoleon complained of +the inefficiency of the chapel service, he said, courageously, +“I can’t blame people for doing their duty carelessly, when +they are not justly paid.” The cunning Italian knew how +to flatter, though, when occasion served. He once addressed +his master as “Sire.”</p> + +<p>“‘Sire,’ what do you mean?” answered the first consul. +“I am a general and nothing more.”</p> + +<p>“Well, General,” continued the composer, “I have come +to place myself at your majesty’s orders.”</p> + +<p>“I must really beg you,” rejoined Napoleon, “not to +address me in this manner.”</p> + +<p>“Forgive me, General,” said Paisiello. “But I cannot +give up the habit I have contracted in addressing sovereigns, +who, compared with you, are but pigmies. However, I will +not forget your commands, and, if I have been unfortunate +enough to offend, I must throw myself on your majesty’s +indulgence.”</p> + +<p>Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass +written for Napoleon’s coronation, and one thousand for all +others. As he produced masses with great rapidity, he +could very well afford to neglect operatic writing during +this period. His masses were pasticcio work made up of +pieces selected from his operas and other compositions. +This could be easily done, for music is arbitrary in its +associations. Love songs of a passionate and sentimental +cast were quickly made religious by suitable words. Thus +the same melody will depict equally well the rage of a +baffled conspirator, the jealousy of an injured husband, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>170]</a></span> +grief of lovers about to part, the despondency of a man bent +on suicide, the devotion of the nun, or the rapt adoration of +worship. A different text and a slight change in time +effect the marvel, and hardly a composer has disdained to +borrow from one work to enrich another. His only opera +composed in Paris, “Proserpine,” was not successful.</p> + +<p>Failure of health obliged Paisiello to return to Naples, +when he again entered the service of the king. Attached +to the fortunes of the Bonaparte family, his prosperity fell +with theirs. He had been crowned with honours by all the +musical societies of the world, but his pensions and emoluments +ceased with the fall of Joachim Murat from the +Neapolitan throne. He died June 5, 1816, and the court, +which neglected him living, gave him a magnificent funeral.</p> + +<p>“Paisiello,” says the Chevalier Le Sueur, “was not only +a great musician, but possessed a large fund of general +information. He was well versed in the dead languages, +acquainted with all branches of literature, and on terms of +friendship with the most distinguished persons of the age. +His mind was noble and above all mean passions; he +neither knew envy nor the feeling of rivalry.... He +composed,” says the same writer, “seventy-eight operas, of +which twenty-seven were serious, and fifty-one comic, eight +<i>intermezzi</i>, and an immense number of cantatas, oratorios, +masses, etc.; seven symphonies for King Joseph of Spain, +and many miscellaneous pieces for the court of Russia.”</p> + +<p>Paisiello’s style, according to Fétis, was characterised by +great simplicity and apparent facility. His few and +unadorned notes, full of grace, were yet deep and varied in +their expression. In his simplicity was the proof of his +abundance. It was not necessary for him to have recourse +to musical artifice and complication to conceal poverty of +invention. His accompaniments were similar in character, +clear and picturesque, without pretence of elaboration. +The latter not only relieved and sustained the voice, but +were full of original effects, novel to his time. He was +the author, too, of important improvements in instrumental +composition. He introduced the viola, clarionet, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>171]</a></span> +bassoon into the orchestra of the Italian opera. Though +voluminous both in serious and comic opera, it was in the +latter that he won his chief laurels. His “Pazza per +Amore” was one of the great Pasta’s favourites, and +Catalani added largely to her reputation in the part of +<i>La Frascatana</i>. Several of Paisiello’s comic operas still +keep a dramatic place on the German stage, where +excellence is not sacrificed to novelty.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>A still higher place must be assigned to another disciple +and follower of the school perfected by Piccini, <span class="smcap">Dominic +Cimarosa</span>, born in Naples in 1749. His life down to his +latter years was an uninterrupted flow of prosperity. His +mother, a humble washerwoman, could do little for her +fatherless child, but an observant priest saw the promise of +the lad, and taught him till he was old enough to enter the +Conservatory of St. Maria di Loretto. His early works +showed brilliant invention and imagination, and the young +Cimarosa, before he left the Conservatory, had made himself +a good violinist and singer. He worked hard, during a +musical apprenticeship of many years, to lay a solid foundation +for the fame which his teachers prophesied for him +from the onset. Like Paisiello, he was for several years +attached to the court of Catherine II. of Russia. He had +already produced a number of pleasing works, both serious +and comic, for the Italian theatres, and his faculty of production +was equalled by the richness and variety of his +scores. During a period of four years spent at the imperial +court of the North, Cimarosa produced nearly five hundred +works, great and small, and only left the service of his +magnificent patroness, who was no less passionately fond of +art than she was great as a ruler and dissolute as a woman, +because the severe climate affected his health, for he was a +typical Italian in his temperament.</p> + +<p>He was arrested in his southward journey by the urgent +persuasions of the Emperor Leopold, who made him chapel-master, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>172]</a></span> +with a salary of twelve thousand florins. The taste +for the Italian school was still paramount at the musical +capital of Austria. Though such composers as Haydn, +Salieri, and young Mozart, who had commenced to be welcomed +as an unexampled prodigy, were in Vienna, the +court preferred the suave and shallow beauties of Italian +music to their own serious German school, which was +commencing to send down such deep roots into the popular +heart.</p> + +<p>Cimarosa produced “Il Matrimonio Segreto” (The Secret +Marriage), his finest opera, for his new patron. The libretto +was founded on a forgotten French operetta, which again +was adapted from Garrick and Colman’s “Clandestine +Marriage.” The emperor could not attend the first representation, +but a brilliant audience hailed it with delight. +Leopold made amends, though, on the second night, for he +stood in his box, and said, aloud—</p> + +<p>“Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is +admirable, delightful, enchanting! I did not applaud, that +I might not lose a single note of this masterpiece. You +have heard it twice, and I must have the same pleasure +before I go to bed. Singers and musicians, pass into the +next room. Cimarosa will come, too, and preside at the +banquet prepared for you. When you have had sufficient +rest, we will begin again. I encore the whole opera, and +in the meanwhile let us applaud it as it deserves.”</p> + +<p>The emperor gave the signal, and, midst a thunderstorm +of plaudits, the musicians passed into their midnight feast. +There is no record of any other such compliment, except +that to the Latin dramatist, Plautus, whose “Eunuchus” +was performed twice on the same day.</p> + +<p>Yet the same Viennese public, six years before, had +actually hissed Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro,” which shares +with Rossini’s “Il Barbiere” the greatest rank in comic +opera, and has retained, to this day, its perennial freshness +and interest. Cimarosa himself did not share the opinion +of his admirers in respect to Mozart. A certain Viennese +painter attempted to flatter him, by decrying Mozart’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>173]</a></span> +music in comparison with his own. The following retort +shows the nobility of genius—“I, sir? What would you +call the man who would seek to assure you that you were +superior to Raphael?” Another acute rejoinder, on the +respective merits of Mozart and Cimarosa, was made by the +French composer, Grétry, in answer to a criticism by +Napoleon, when first consul, that great man affecting to be +a <i>dilettante</i> in music—</p> + +<p>“Sire, Cimarosa puts the statue on the theatre and the +pedestal in the orchestra, instead of which Mozart puts the +statue in the orchestra and the pedestal on the theatre.”</p> + +<p>The composer’s hitherto brilliant career was doomed to a +gloomy close. On returning to Naples, at the Emperor +Leopold’s death, Cimarosa produced several of his finest +works; among which musical students place first—“Il +Matrimonio per Susurro,” “La Penelope,” “L’Olimpiade,” +“Il Sacrificio d’Abrama,” “Gli Amanti Comici,” and “Gli +Orazi.” These were performed almost simultaneously in +the theatres of Paris, Naples, and Vienna. Cimarosa +attached himself warmly to the French cause in Italy, and +when the Bourbons finally triumphed the musician suffered +their bitterest resentment. He narrowly escaped with his +life, and languished for a long time in a dungeon, so closely +immured that it was for a long time believed by his friends +that his head had fallen on the block.</p> + +<p>At length released, he quitted the Neapolitan territory, +only to die at Venice in a few months, “in consequence,” +Stendhall says, in his <i>Life of Rossini</i>, “of the barbarous +treatment he had met with in the prison into which he +had been thrown by Queen Caroline.” He died January +11, 1801.</p> + +<p>Cimarosa’s genius embraced both the tragic and comic +schools of composition. He may be specially called a +genuine master of musical comedy. He was the finest +example of the school perfected by Piccini, and was indeed +the link between the old Italian opera and the new development +of which Rossini is such a brilliant exponent. +Schlüter, in his <i>History of Music</i>, says of him—“Like +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>174]</a></span> +Mozart, he excels in those parts of an opera which decide +its merits as a work of art, the <i>ensembles</i> and <i>finale</i>. His +admirable and by no means antiquated opera, ‘Il Matrimonio +Segreto’ (the charming offspring of his ‘secret marriage’ +with the Mozart opera) is a model of exquisite and +graceful comedy. The overture bears a striking resemblance +to that of ‘Figaro,’ and the instrumentation of the whole +opera is highly characteristic, though not so prominent as +in Mozart. Especially delightful are the secret love-scenes, +written evidently <i>con amore</i>, the composer having practised +them many a time in his youth.”</p> + +<p>This opera is still performed in many parts of Europe to +delighted audiences, and is ranked by competent critics as +the third finest comic opera extant, Mozart and Rossini +only surpassing him in their masterpieces. It was a great +favourite with Lablache, and its magnificent performance +by Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and the king of bassos, is a +gala reminiscence of English and French opera-goers.</p> + +<p>We quote an opinion also from another able authority—“The +drama of ‘Gli Orazi’ is taken from Corneille’s tragedy, +‘Les Horaces.’ The music is full of noble simplicity, +beautiful melody, and strong expression. In the airs dramatic +truth is never sacrificed to vocal display, and the +concerted pieces are grand, broad, and effective. Taken as +a whole, the piece is free from antiquated and obsolete +forms; and it wants nothing but an orchestral score of +greater fullness and variety to satisfy the modern ear. It +is still frequently performed in Germany, though in France +and England, and even in its native country, it seems to be +forgotten.”</p> + +<p>Cardinal Consalvi, Cimarosa’s friend, caused splendid +funeral honours to be paid to him at Rome. Canova +executed a marble bust of him, which was placed in the +gallery of the Capitol.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>175]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="rossini" id="rossini"></a><i>ROSSINI.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> “Swan of Pesaro” is a name linked with some of +the most charming musical associations of this age. Though +forty years silence made fruitless what should have been the +richest creative period of Rossini’s life, his great works, +poured forth with such facility, and still retaining their +grasp in spite of all changes in public opinion, stamp him +as being the most gifted composer ever produced by a +country so fecund in musical geniuses. The old set forms +of Italian opera had already yielded in large degree to the +energy and pomp of French declamation, when Rossini +poured into them afresh such exhilaration and sparkle as +again placed his country in the van of musical Europe. +With no pretension to the grand, majestic, and severe, his +fresh and delightful melodies, flowing without stint, +excited alike the critical and the unlearned into a species +of artistic craze, a mania which has not yet subsided. +The stiff and stately Oublicheff confesses, with many compunctions +of conscience, that, when listening for the first +time to one of Rossini’s operas, he forgot for the time +being all that he had ever known, admired, played, or sung, +for he was musically drunk, as if with champagne. Learned +Germans might shake their heads and talk about shallowness +and contrapuntal rubbish, his <i>crescendo</i> and <i>stretto</i> +passages, his tameness and uniformity even in melody, +his want of artistic finish; but, as Richard Wagner, his +direct antipodes, frankly confesses in his “Oper und +Drama,” such objections were dispelled by Rossini’s opera-airs +as if they were mere delusions of the fancy. Essentially +different from Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, or even +Weber, with whom he has some affinities, he stands a +unique figure in the history of art, an original both as man +and musician.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>176]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Gioacchino Rossini</span> was the son of a town-trumpeter +and an operatic singer of inferior rank, born in Pesaro, +Romagna, February 29, 1792. The child attended the +itinerant couple in their visits to fairs and musical gatherings, +and was in danger, at the age of seven, of becoming a +thorough-paced little vagabond, when maternal alarm trusted +his education to the friendly hands of the music-master, +Prinetti. At this tender age even he had been introduced to +the world of art, for he sang the part of a child at the +Bologna opera. “Nothing,” said Mdme. Georgi-Righetti, +“could be imagined more tender, more touching, than the +voice and action of this remarkable child.”</p> + +<p>The young Rossini, after a year or two, came under the +notice of the celebrated teacher Tesei, of Bologna, who gave +him lessons in pianoforte playing and the voice, and +obtained him a good place as boy-soprano at one of the +churches. He now attracted the attention of the Countess +Perticari, who admired his voice, and she sent him to the +Lyceum to learn fugue and counterpoint at the feet of a +very strict Gamaliel, Padre Mattei. The youth was no dull +student, and, in spite of his capricious indolence, which +vexed the soul of his tutor, he made such rapid progress +that at the age of sixteen he was chosen to write the +cantata, annually awarded to the most promising student. +Success greeted the juvenile effort, and thus we see Rossini +fairly launched as a composer. Of the early operas which +he poured out for five years it is not needful to speak, +except that one of them so pleased the austere Marshal +Massena that he exempted the composer from conscription. +The first opera which made Rossini’s name famous through +Europe was “Tancredi,” written for the Venetian public. +To this opera belongs the charming “Di tanti palpiti,” +written under the following circumstances:—Mdme. +Melanotte, the <i>prima donna</i>, took the whim during the final +rehearsal that she would not sing the opening air, but must +have another. Rossini went home in sore disgust, for the +whole opera was likely to be put off by this caprice. There +were but two hours before the performance. He sat +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>177]</a></span> +waiting for his macaroni, when an exquisite air came into +his head, and it was written in five minutes.</p> + +<p>After his great success he received offers from almost +every town in Italy, each clamouring to be served first. +Every manager was required to furnish his theatre with an +opera from the pen of the new idol. For these earlier +essays he received a thousand francs each, and he wrote five +or six a year. Stendhall, Rossini’s spirited biographer, gives +a picturesque account of life in the Italian theatres at this +time, a status which remains in some of its features to-day—</p> + +<p>“The mechanism is as follows:—The manager is frequently +one of the most wealthy and considerable persons +of the little town he inhabits. He forms a company, +consisting of <i>prima donna</i>, <i>tenoro</i>, <i>basso cantante</i>, <i>basso buffo</i>, +a second female singer, and a third <i>basso</i>. The <i>libretto</i>, or +poem, is purchased for sixty or eighty francs from some +unlucky son of the muses, who is generally a half-starved +abbé, the hanger-on of some rich family in the neighbourhood. +The character of the parasite, so admirably painted +by Terence, is still to be found in all its glory in Lombardy, +where the smallest town can boast of some five or six families +of some wealth. A <i>maestro</i>, or composer, is then engaged +to write a new opera, and he is obliged to adapt his own +airs to the voices and capacity of the company. The +manager intrusts the care of the financial department to a +<i>registrario</i>, who is generally some pettifogging attorney, who +holds the position of his steward. The next thing that +generally happens is that the manager falls in love with the +<i>prima donna</i>; and the progress of this important amour +gives ample employment to the curiosity of the gossips.</p> + +<p>“The company thus organised at length gives its first +representation, after a month of cabals and intrigues, which +furnish conversation for the town. This is an event in the +simple annals of the town, of the importance of which the +residents of large places can form no idea. During months +together a population of eight or ten thousand people do +nothing but discuss the merit of the forthcoming music and +singers with the eager impetuosity which belongs to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>178]</a></span> +Italian character and climate. The first representation, if +successful, is generally followed by twenty or thirty more of +the same piece, after which the company breaks up.... +From this little sketch of theatrical arrangements in Italy +some idea may be formed of the life which Rossini led +from 1810 to 1816.” Between these years he visited all the +principal towns, remaining three or four months at each, the +idolised guest of the <i>dilettanti</i> of the place. Rossini’s idleness +and love of good cheer always made him procrastinate +his labours till the last moment, and placed him in dilemmas +from which only his fluency of composition extricated him. +His biographer says:—</p> + +<p>“The day of performance is fast approaching, and yet he +cannot resist the pressing invitations of these friends to dine +with them at the tavern. This, of course, leads to a supper, +the champagne circulates freely, and the hour of morning +steals on apace. At length a compunctious vision shoots +across the mind of the truant composer. He rises abruptly; +his friends insist on seeing him home; and they parade the +silent streets bareheaded, shouting in chorus whatever comes +uppermost, perhaps a portion of a <i>miserere</i>, to the great +scandal of pious Catholics tucked snugly in their beds. At +length he reaches his lodging, and shutting himself up in his +chamber is, at this, to every-day mortals, most ungenial hour, +visited by some of his most brilliant inspirations. These he +hastily scratches down on scraps of paper, and next morning +arranges them, or, in his own phrase, instruments them, +amid the renewed interruptions of his visitors. At length +the important night arrives. The <i>maestro</i> takes his place at +the pianoforte. The theatre is overflowing, people having +flocked to the town from ten leagues distance. Every inn +is crowded, and those unable to get other accommodations +encamp around the theatre in their various vehicles. All +business is suspended, and, during the performances, the +town has the appearance of a desert. The passions, the +anxieties, the very life of a whole population are centered in +the theatre.”</p> + +<p>Rossini would preside at the first three representations, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>179]</a></span> +and, after receiving a grand civic banquet, set out for the +next place, his portmanteau fuller of music-paper than of +other effects, and perhaps a dozen sequins in his pocket. +His love of jesting during these gay Bohemian wanderings +made him perpetrate innumerable practical jokes, not sparing +himself when he had no more available food for mirth. On +one occasion, in travelling from Ancona to Reggio, he +passed himself off for a musical professor, a mortal enemy of +Rossini, and sang the words of his own operas to the most +execrable music, in a cracked voice, to show his superiority +to that donkey, Rossini. An unknown admirer of his was +in such a rage that he was on the point of chastising him +for slandering the great musician, about whom Italy raved.</p> + +<p>Our composer’s earlier style was quite simple and unadorned, +a fact difficult for the present generation, only +acquainted with the florid beauties of his later works, to +appreciate. Rossini only followed the traditions of Italian +music in giving singers full opportunity to embroider the +naked score at their own pleasure. He was led to change +this practice by the following incident. The tenor-singer +Velluti was then the favourite of the Italian theatres, and +indulged in the most unwarrantable tricks with his composers. +During the first performance of “L’Aureliano,” at +Naples, the singer loaded the music with such ornaments +that Rossini could not recognise the offspring of his own +brains. A fierce quarrel ensued between the two, and the +composer determined thereafter to write music of such a +character that the most stupid singer could not suppose any +adornment needed. From that time the Rossini music was +marked by its florid and brilliant embroidery. Of the same +Velluti, spoken of above, an incident is told, illustrating the +musical craze of the country and the period. A Milanese +gentleman, whose father was very ill, met his friend in the +street—“Where are you going?” “To the Scala, to be +sure.” “How! your father lies at the point of death.” +“Yes! yes! I know, but Velluti sings to-night.”</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>180]</a></span></p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>An important step in Rossini’s early career was his connection +with the widely known impresario of the San Carlo, +Naples, Barbaja. He was under contract to produce two +new operas annually, to rearrange all old scores, and to +conduct at all of the theatres ruled by this manager. He +was to receive two hundred ducats a month, and a share in +the profits of the bank of the San Carlo gambling-saloon. +His first opera composed here was “Elisabetta, Regina +d’Inghilterra,” which was received with a genuine Neapolitan +<i>furore</i>. Rossini was fêted and caressed by the ardent <i>dilettanti</i> +of this city to his heart’s content, and was such an idol of the +“fickle fair” that his career on more than one occasion +narrowly escaped an untimely close, from the prejudices of +jealous spouses. The composer was very vain of his handsome +person, and boasted of his <i>escapades d’amour</i>. Many, +too, will recall his <i>mot</i>, spoken to a beauty standing between +himself and the Duke of Wellington—“Madame, how +happy should you be to find yourself placed between the +two greatest men in Europe!”</p> + +<p>One of Rossini’s adventures at Naples has in it something +of romance. He was sitting in his chamber, humming one +of his own operatic airs, when the ugliest Mercury he had +ever seen entered and gave him a note, then instantly withdrew. +This, of course, was a tender invitation, and +an assignation at a romantic spot in the suburb. On arriving +Rossini sang his <i>aria</i> for a signal, and from the gate of a +charming park surrounding a small villa appeared his beautiful +and unknown inamorata. On parting it was agreed that +the same messenger should bring notice of the second +appointment. Rossini suspected that the lady, in disguise, +was her own envoy, and verified the guess by following the +light-footed page. He then discovered that she was the wife +of a wealthy Sicilian, widely noted for her beauty, and one of +the reigning toasts. On renewing his visit, he barely arrived at +the gate of the park, when a carbine-bullet grazed his head, +and two masked assailants sprang toward him with drawn +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>181]</a></span> +rapiers, a proceeding which left Rossini no option but to +take to his heels, as he was unarmed.</p> + +<p>During the composer’s residence at Naples he was made +acquainted with many of the most powerful princes and +nobles of Europe, and his name became a recognised factor +in European music, though his works were not widely +known outside of his native land. His reputation for +genius spread by report, for all who came in contact with +the brilliant, handsome Rossini were charmed. That which +placed his European fame on a solid basis was the production +of “Il Barbiere di Seviglia” at Rome during the +carnival season of 1816.</p> + +<p>Years before Rossini had thought of setting the sparkling +comedy of Beaumarchais to music, and Sterbini, the author +of the <i>libretto</i> used by Paisiello, had proposed to rearrange +the story. Rossini, indeed, had been so complaisant as to +write to the older composer for permission to set fresh +music to the comedy; a concession not needed, for the +plays of Metastasio had been used by different musicians +without scruple. Paisiello intrigued against the new +opera, and organised a conspiracy to kill it on the first +night. Sterbini made the libretto totally different from the +other, and Rossini finished the music in thirteen days, +during which he never left the house. “Not even did I +get shaved,” he said to a friend. “It seems strange that +through the ‘Barber’ you should have gone without shaving.” +“If I had shaved,” Rossini exclaimed, “I should +have gone out; and, if I had gone out, I should not have +come back in time.”</p> + +<p>The first performance was a curious scene. The Argentina +Theatre was packed with friends and foes. One of the +greatest of tenors, Garcia, the father of Malibran and Pauline +Viardot, sang Almaviva. Rossini had been weak enough +to allow Garcia to sing a Spanish melody for a serenade, +for the latter urged the necessity of vivid national and local +colour. The tenor had forgotten to tune his guitar, and in +the operation on the stage a string broke. This gave the +signal for a tumult of ironical laughter and hisses. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>182]</a></span> +same hostile atmosphere continued during the evening. +Even Madame Georgi-Righetti, a great favourite of the +Romans, was coldly received by the audience. In short, +the opera seemed likely to be damned.</p> + +<p>When the singers went to condole with Rossini, they +found him enjoying a luxurious supper with the gusto of the +<i>gourmet</i> that he was. Settled in his knowledge that he had +written a masterpiece, he could not be disturbed by unjust +clamour. The next night the fickle Romans made ample +amends, for the opera was concluded amid the warmest +applause, even from the friends of Paisiello.</p> + +<p>Rossini’s “Il Barbiere,” within six months, was performed +on nearly every stage in Europe, and received universally +with great admiration. It was only in Paris, two years +afterwards, that there was some coldness in its reception. +Every one said that after Paisiello’s music on the same +subject it was nothing, when it was suggested that Paisiello’s +should be revived. So the St. Petersburg “Barbiere” of +1788 was produced, and beside Rossini’s it proved so dull, +stupid, and antiquated that the public instantly recognised +the beauties of the work which they had persuaded themselves +to ignore. Yet for this work, which placed the +reputation of the young composer on a lofty pedestal, he +received only two thousand francs.</p> + +<p>Our composer took his failures with great phlegm and +good-nature, based, perhaps, on an invincible self-confidence. +When his “Sigismonde” had been hissed at +Venice, he sent his mother a <i>fiasco</i> (bottle). In the last +instance he sent her, on the morning succeeding the first +performance, a letter with a picture of a <i>fiaschetto</i> (little +bottle).</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The same year (1816) was produced at Naples the opera +of “Otello,” which was an important point of departure in +the reforms introduced by Rossini on the Italian stage. +Before speaking further of this composer’s career, it is +necessary to admit that every valuable change furthered by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>183]</a></span> +him had already been inaugurated by Mozart, a musical +genius so great that he seems to have included all that went +before, all that succeeded him. It was not merely that +Rossini enriched the orchestration to such a degree, but, +revolting from the delay of the dramatic movement, caused +by the great number of arias written for each character, he +gave large prominence to the concerted pieces, and used +them where monologue had formerly been the rule. He +developed the basso and baritone parts, giving them marked +importance in serious opera, and worked out the choruses +and finales with the most elaborate finish.</p> + +<p>Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, a celebrated connoisseur and +admirer of the old school, wrote of these innovations, +ignoring the fact that Mozart had given the weight of his +great authority to them before the daring young Italian +composer:—</p> + +<p>“The construction of these newly-invented pieces is +essentially different from the old. The dialogue, which +used to be carried on in recitative, and which, in +Metastasio’s operas, is often so beautiful and interesting, +is now cut up (and rendered unintelligible if it were +worth listening to) into <i>pezzi concertati</i>, or long singing +conversations, which present a tedious succession of unconnected, +ever-changing motives, having nothing to do with +each other; and if a satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, +which the ear would like to dwell upon, to hear +modulated, varied, and again returned to, it is broken off, +before it is well understood, by a sudden transition in an +entirely different melody, time, and key, and recurs no +more, so that no impression can be made, or recollection of +it preserved. Single songs are almost exploded.... Even +the <i>prima donna</i>, who formerly would have complained at +having less than three or four airs allotted to her, is now +satisfied with having one single <i>cavatina</i> given to her during +the whole opera.”</p> + +<p>In “Otello,” Rossini introduced his operatic changes to +the Italian public, and they were well received; yet great +opposition was manifested by those who clung to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>184]</a></span> +time-honoured canons. Sigismondi, of the Naples Conservatory, +was horror-stricken on first seeing the score of this opera. +The clarionets were too much for him, but on seeing third +and fourth horn-parts, he exclaimed, “What does the man +want? The greatest of our composers have always been +contented with two. Shades of Pergolesi, of Leo, of +Jomelli! How they must shudder at the bare thought! +Four horns! Are we at a hunting-party? Four horns! +Enough to blow us to perdition!” Donizetti, who was +Sigismondi’s pupil, also tells an amusing incident of his +preceptor’s disgust. He was turning over a score of +“Semiramide” in the library, when the <i>maestro</i> came in +and asked him what music it was. “Rossini’s,” was the +answer. Sigismondi glanced at the page and saw 1. 2. 3. +trumpets, being the first, second, and third trumpet parts. +Aghast, he shouted, stuffing his fingers in his ears, “One +hundred and twenty-three trumpets! <em>Corpo di Cristo!</em> the +world’s gone mad, and I shall go mad too!” And so he +rushed from the room, muttering to himself about the +hundred and twenty-three trumpets.</p> + +<p>The Italian public, in spite of such criticism, very soon +accepted the opera of “Otello” as the greatest serious opera +ever written for their stage. It owed much, however, to the +singers who illustrated its rôles. Mdme. Colbran, afterwards +Rossini’s wife, sang Desdemona, and David, Otello. The +latter was the predecessor of Rubini as the finest singer of +the Rossinian music. He had the prodigious compass of +three octaves; and M. Bertin, a French critic, says of this +singer, so honourably linked with the career of our composer, +“He is full of warmth, <i>verve</i>, energy, expression, and +musical sentiment; alone he can fill up and give life to a +scene; it is impossible for another singer to carry away an +audience as he does, and, when he will only be simple, he +is admirable. He is the Rossini of song; he is the +greatest singer I ever heard.” Lord Byron, in one of his +letters to Moore, speaks of the first production at Milan, +and praises the music enthusiastically, while condemning +the libretto as a degradation of Shakespeare.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>185]</a></span> +“La Cenerentola” and “La Gazza Ladra” were written +in quick succession for Naples and Milan. The former of +these works, based on the old Cinderella myth, was the last +opera written by Rossini to illustrate the beauties of the +contralto voice, and Madame Georgi-Righetti, the early +friend and steadfast patroness of the musician during his +early days of struggle, made her last great appearance in it +before retiring from the stage. In this composition, +Rossini, though one of the most affluent and rapid of +composers, displays that economy in art which sometimes +characterised him. He introduced in it many of the more +beautiful airs from his earlier and less successful works. +He believed on principle that it was folly to let a good +piece of music be lost through being married to a weak and +faulty libretto. The brilliant opera of “La Gazza Ladra,” +set to the story of a French melodrama, “La Pie Voleuse,” +aggravated the quarrel between Paer, the director of the +French opera, and the gifted Italian. Paer had designed to +have written the music himself, but his librettist slyly turned +over the poem to Rossini, who produced one of his masterpieces +in setting it. The audience at La Scala received the +work with the noisiest demonstrations, interrupting the +progress of the drama with constant cries of “<em>Bravo! +Maestro!</em>” “<em>Viva Rossini!</em>” The composer afterwards +said that acknowledging the calls of the audience fatigued +him much more than the direction of the opera. When +the same work was produced four years after in London, +under Mr. Ebers’s management, an incident related by +that <i>impresario</i> in his <i>Seven Years of the King’s Theatre</i>, +shows how eagerly it was received by an English audience:—</p> + +<p>“When I entered the stage door, I met an intimate +friend, with a long face and uplifted eyes. ‘Good God! Ebers, +I pity you from my soul. This ungrateful public,’ he continued. +‘The wretches! Why! my dear sir, they have not +left you a seat in your own house.’ Relieved from the fears he +had created, I joined him in his laughter, and proceeded, +assuring him that I felt no ill towards the public for their +conduct towards me.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>186]</a></span> +Passing over “Armida,” written for the opening of the +new San Carlo at Naples, “Adelaida di Borgogna,” for the +Roman Carnival of 1817, and “Adina,” for a Lisbon +theatre, we come to a work which is one of Rossini’s most +solid claims on musical immortality, “Mosé in Egitto,” +first produced at the San Carlo, Naples, in 1818. In +“Mosé,” Rossini carried out still further than ever his +innovations, the two principal rôles—<i>Mosé</i> and <i>Faraoni</i>—being +assigned to basses. On the first representation, the +crossing of the Red Sea moved the audience to satirical +laughter, which disconcerted the otherwise favourable +reception of the piece, and entirely spoiled the final effects. +The manager was at his wit’s end, till Tottola, the librettist, +suggested a prayer for the Israelites before and after the +passage of the host through the cleft waters. Rossini +instantly seized the idea, and, springing from bed in his +night-shirt, wrote the music with almost inconceivable +rapidity, before his embarrassed visitors recovered from +their surprise. The same evening the magnificent <i>Dal +tuo stellato soglio</i> (“To thee, Great Lord”) was performed +with the opera.</p> + +<p>Let Stendhall, Rossini’s biographer, tell the rest of the +story—“The audience was delighted as usual with the first +act, and all went well till the third, when, the passage of the +Red Sea being at hand, the audience as usual prepared +to be amused. The laughter was just beginning in the pit, +when it was observed that Moses was about to sing. He +began his solo, the first verse of a prayer, which all the +people repeat in chorus after Moses. Surprised at this +novelty, the pit listened and the laughter entirely ceased. +The chorus, exceedingly fine, was in the minor. Aaron +continues, followed by the people. Finally, Eleia addresses +to Heaven the same supplication, and the people respond. +Then all fall on their knees and repeat the prayer with +enthusiasm; the miracle is performed, the sea is opened to +leave a path for the people protected by the Lord. This +last part is in the major. It is impossible to imagine the +thunders of applause that resounded through the house; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>187]</a></span> +one would have thought it was coming down. The +spectators in the boxes, standing up and leaning over, called +out at the top of their voices, ‘<em>Bello, bello! O che bello!</em>’ I +never saw so much enthusiasm nor such a complete success, +which was so much the greater, inasmuch as the people +were quite prepared to laugh.... I am almost in tears +when I think of this prayer. This state of things lasted +a long time, and one of its effects was to make for its +composer the reputation of an assassin, for Dr. Cottogna is +said to have remarked—‘I can cite to you more than forty +attacks of nervous fever or violent convulsions on the part +of young women, fond to excess of music, which have no +other origin than the prayer of the Hebrews in the third +act, with its superb change of key.’” Thus, by a stroke of +genius, a scene which first impressed the audience as a +piece of theatrical burlesque, was raised to sublimity by the +solemn music written for it.</p> + +<p>M. Bochsa some years afterwards produced “Mosé” as +an oratorio in London, and it failed. A new libretto, +however, “Pietro L’Eremito,”<a name="FNanchor_G_7" id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a> again transformed the +music into an opera. Ebers tells us that Lord Sefton, +a distinguished connoisseur, only pronounced the general +verdict in calling it the greatest of serious operas, for it was +received with the greatest favour. A gentleman of high +rank was not satisfied with assuring the manager that +he had deserved well of his country, but avowed his +determination to propose him for membership at the most +exclusive of aristocratic clubs—White’s.</p> + +<p>“La Donna del Lago,” Rossini’s next great work, also +first produced at the San Carlo during the Carnival of 1820, +though splendidly performed, did not succeed well the first +night. The composer left Naples the same night for Milan, +and coolly informed every one <i>en route</i> that the opera was +very successful, which proved to be true when he reached +his journey’s end, for the Neapolitans on the second night +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>188]</a></span> +reversed their decision into an enthusiasm as marked as +their coldness had been.</p> + +<p>Shortly after this Rossini married his favourite <i>prima +donna</i>, Madame Colbran. He had just completed two of +his now forgotten operas, “Bianca e Faliero” and “Matilda +di Shabran,” but did not stay to watch their public reception. +He quietly took away the beautiful Colbran, and at +Bologna was married by the archbishop. Thence the +freshly-wedded couple visited Vienna, and Rossini there +produced his “Zelmira,” his wife singing the principal part. +One of the most striking of this composer’s works in invention +and ingenious development of ideas, Carpani says of +it—“It contains enough to furnish not one but four operas. +In this work, Rossini, by the new riches which he draws +from his prodigious imagination, is no longer the author of +‘Otello,’ ‘Tancredi,’ ‘Zoraide,’ and all his preceding works; +he is another composer, new, agreeable, and fertile, as +much as at first, but with more command of himself, more +pure, more masterly, and, above all, more faithful to the +interpretation of the words. The forms of style employed +in this opera, according to circumstances, are so varied, +that now we seem to hear Gluck, now Traetta, now Sacchini, +now Mozart, now Handel; for the gravity, the learning, +the naturalness, the suavity of their conceptions, live +and blossom again in ‘Zelmira.’ The transitions are +learned, and inspired more by considerations of poetry and +sense than by caprice and a mania for innovation. The +vocal parts, always natural, never trivial, give expression to +the words without ceasing to be melodious. The great +point is to preserve both. The instrumentation of Rossini +is really incomparable by the vivacity and freedom of the +manner, by the variety and justness of the colouring.” +Yet it must be conceded that, while this opera made a deep +impression on musicians and critics, it did not please the +general public. It proved languid and heavy with those +who could not relish the science of the music and the skill +of the combinations. Such instances as this are the best +answer to that school of critics, who have never ceased +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>189]</a></span> +clamouring that Rossini could write nothing but beautiful +tunes to tickle the vulgar and uneducated mind.</p> + +<p>“Semiramide,” first performed at the Fenice theatre in +Venice on February 3, 1823, was the last of Rossini’s +Italian operas, though it had the advantage of careful +rehearsals and a noble caste. It was not well received at +first, though the verdict of time places it high among the +musical masterpieces of the century. In it were combined +all of Rossini’s ideas of operatic reform, and the novelty of +some of the innovations probably accounts for the inability +of his earlier public to appreciate its merits. Mdme. Rossini +made her last public appearance in this great work.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> +The same music was set to a poem founded on the first crusade, +all the most effective situations being dramatically utilised for the +Christian legend.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Henceforward the career of the greatest of the Italian +composers, the genius who shares with Mozart the honour +of having impressed himself more than any other on the +style and methods of his successors, was to be associated +with French music, though never departing from his characteristic +quality as an original and creative mind. He +modified French music, and left great disciples on whom +his influence was radical, though perhaps we may detect +certain reflex influences in his last and greatest opera, +“William Tell.” But of this more hereafter.</p> + +<p>Before finally settling in the French capital, Rossini +visited London, where he was received with great honours. +“When Rossini entered,”<a name="FNanchor_H_8" id="FNanchor_H_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_8" class="fnanchor">[H]</a> says a writer in a London paper +of that date, “he was received with loud plaudits, all the +persons in the pit standing on the seats to get a better view +of him. He continued for a minute or two to bow respectfully +to the audience, and then gave the signal for the +overture to begin. He appeared stout and somewhat below +the middle height, with rather a heavy air, and a countenance +which, though intelligent, betrayed none of the vivacity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>190]</a></span> +which distinguishes his music; and it was remarked that he +had more of the appearance of a sturdy beef-eating +Englishman than a fiery and sensitive native of the +south.”</p> + +<p>The king, George IV., treated Rossini with peculiar +consideration. On more than one occasion he walked with +him arm-in-arm through a crowded concert-hall to the conductor’s +stand. Yet the composer, who seems not to have +admired his English Majesty, treated the monarch with +much independence, not to say brusqueness, on one occasion, +as if to signify his disdain of even royal patronage. +At a grand concert at St. James’s Palace, the king said, at +the close of the programme, “Now, Rossini, we will have +one piece more, and that shall be the <i>finale</i>.” The other +replied, “I think, sir, we have had music enough for one +night,” and made his bow.</p> + +<p>He was an honoured guest at the most fashionable houses, +where his talents as a singer and player were displayed with +much effect in an unconventional, social way. Auber, the +French composer, was present on one of these occasions, +and indicates how great Rossini could have been in +executive music had he not been a king in the higher +sphere. “I shall never forget the effect,” writes Auber, +“produced by his lightning-like execution. When he had +finished I looked mechanically at the ivory keys. I fancied +I could see them smoking.” Rossini was richer by seven +thousand pounds by this visit to the English metropolis. +Though he had been under engagement to produce a new +opera as well as to conduct those which had already made +him famous, he failed to keep this part of his contract. +Passages in his letters at this time would seem to indicate +that Rossini was much piqued because the London public +received his wife, to whom he was devotedly attached, with +coldness. Notwithstanding the beauty of her face and +figure, and the greatness of her style both as actress and +singer, she was pronounced <i>passée</i> alike in person and voice, +with a species of brutal frankness not uncommon in English +criticism.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>191]</a></span> +When Rossini arrived in Paris he was almost immediately +appointed director of the Italian Opera by the Duc de +Lauriston. With this and the Académie he remained connected +till the revolution of 1830. “Le Siége de Corinthe,” +adapted from his old work, “Maometto II.,” was the first +opera presented to the Parisian public, and, though +admired, did not become a favourite. The French <i>amour +propre</i> was a little stung when it was made known that +Rossini had simply modified and reshaped one of his early +and immature productions as his first attempt at composition +in French opera. His other works for the French +stage were “Il Viaggio a Rheims,” “Le Comte Ory,” and +“Guillaume Tell.”</p> + +<p>The last-named opera, which will ever be Rossini’s crown +of glory as a composer, was written with his usual rapidity +while visiting the château of M. Aguado, a country-seat +some distance from Paris. This work, one of the half-dozen +greatest ever written, was first produced at the Académie +Royale on August 3, 1829. In its early form of libretto it had +a run of fifty-six representations, and was then withdrawn +from the stage; and the work of remodelling from five to +three acts, and other improvements in the dramatic framework, +was thoroughly carried out. In its new form the +opera blazed into an unprecedented popularity, for of the +greatness of the music there had never been but one judgment. +Fétis, the eminent critic, writing of it immediately +on its production, said—“The work displays a new man in +an old one, and proves that it is in vain to measure the +action of genius,” and follows with—“This production opens +a new career to Rossini,” a prophecy unfortunately not to +be realised, for Rossini was soon to retire from the field in +which he had made such a remarkable career, while yet in +the very prime of his powers.</p> + +<p>“Guillaume Tell” is full of melody, alike in the solos +and the massive choral and ballet music. It runs in rich +streams through every part of the composition. The overture +is better known to the general public than the opera +itself, and is one of the great works of musical art. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>192]</a></span> +opening andante in triple time for the five violoncelli and +double basses at once carries the hearer to the regions of +the upper Alps, where, amid the eternal snows, Nature sleeps +in a peaceful dream. We perceive the coming of the sunlight, +and the hazy atmosphere clearing away before the +new-born day. In the next movement the solitude is all +dispelled. The raindrops fall thick and heavy, and a +thunderstorm bursts. But the fury is soon spent, and the +clouds clear away. The shepherds are astir, and from the +mountain-sides come the peculiar notes of the “Ranz des +Vaches” from their pipes. Suddenly all is changed again. +Trumpets call to arms, and with the mustering battalions +the music marks the quickstep, as the shepherd patriots +march to meet the Austrian chivalry. A brilliant use +of the violins and reeds depicts the exultation of the +victors on their return, and closes one of the grandest +sound-paintings in music.</p> + +<p>The original cast of “Guillaume Tell” included the great +singers then in Paris, and these were so delighted with the +music, that the morning after the first production they +assembled on the terrace before his house and performed +selections from it in his honour.</p> + +<p>With this last great effort Rossini, at the age of thirty-seven, +may be said to have retired from the field of music, +though his life was prolonged for forty years. True, he +composed the “Stabat Mater” and the “Messe Solennelle,” +but neither of these added to the reputation won in his +previous career. The “Stabat Mater,” publicly performed +for the first time in 1842, has been recognised, it is true, +as a masterpiece; but its entire lack of devotional +solemnity, its brilliant and showy texture, preclude its +giving Rossini any rank as a religious composer.</p> + +<p>He spent the forty years of his retirement partly at +Bologna, partly at Passy, near Paris, the city of his adoption. +His hospitality welcomed the brilliant men from all +parts of Europe who loved to visit him, and his relations +with other great musicians were of the most kindly and +cordial character. His sunny and genial nature never +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>193]</a></span> +knew envy, and he was quick to recognise the merits of +schools opposed to his own. He died, after intense suffering, +on November 13, 1868. He had been some time ill, +and four of the greatest physicians in Europe were his +almost constant attendants. The funeral of “The Swan of +Pesaro,” as he was called by his compatriots, was +attended by an immense concourse, and his remains rest +in Père-Lachaise.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_H_8" id="Footnote_H_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_8"><span class="label">[H]</span></a> +His first English appearance in public was at the King’s Theatre, +on the 24th of January 1824, when he conducted his own opera, +“Zelmira.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Moscheles, the celebrated pianist, gives us some charming +pictures of Rossini in his home at Passy, in his diary of +1860. He writes—“Felix [his son] had been made quite +at home in the villa on former occasions. To me the +<i>parterre salon</i>, with its rich furniture, was quite new, and +before the <i>maestro</i> himself appeared we looked at his photograph +in a circular porcelain frame, on the sides of which +were inscribed the names of his works. The ceiling is +covered with pictures illustrating scenes out of Palestrina’s +and Mozart’s lives; in the middle of the room stands a +Pleyel piano. When Rossini came in he gave me the +orthodox Italian kiss, and was effusive of expressions of +delight at my reappearance, and very complimentary on the +subject of Felix. In the course of our conversation he was +full of hard-hitting truths on the present study and method +of vocalisation. ‘I don’t want to hear anything more of it,’ +he said; ‘they scream. All I want is a resonant, full-toned +voice, not a screeching voice. I care not whether it be for +speaking or singing, everything ought to sound melodious.’” +So, too, Rossini assured Moscheles that he hated the new +school of piano-players, saying the piano was horribly +maltreated, for the performers thumped the keys as if they +had some vengeance to wreak on them. When the great +player improvised for Rossini, the latter says, “It is music +that flows from the fountain-head. There is reservoir water +and spring water. The former only runs when you turn the +cock, and is always redolent of the vase; the latter always +gushes forth fresh and limpid. Nowadays people confound +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>194]</a></span> +the simple and the trivial; a <i>motif</i> of Mozart they would +call trivial, if they dared.”</p> + +<p>On other occasions Moscheles plays to the <i>maestro</i>, who +insists on having discovered barriers in the “humoristic +variations,” so boldly do they seem to raise the standard of +musical revolution; his title of the “Grand Valse” he finds +too unassuming. “Surely a waltz with some angelic creature +must have inspired you, Moscheles, with this composition, +and <em>that</em> the title ought to express. Titles, in fact, should +pique the curiosity of the public.” “A view uncongenial +to me,” adds Moscheles; “however, I did not discuss it.... +A dinner at Rossini’s is calculated for the enjoyment +of a ‘gourmet,’ and he himself proved to be the one, for he +went through the very select <i>menu</i> as only a connoisseur +would. After dinner he looked through my album of +musical autographs with the greatest interest, and finally we +became very merry, I producing my musical jokes on the +piano, and Felix and Clara figuring in the duet which I had +written for her voice and his imitation of the French horn. +Rossini cheered lustily, and so one joke followed another till +we received the parting kiss and ‘good night.’ ... At my +next visit, Rossini showed me a charming ‘Lied ohne +Worte,’ which he composed only yesterday; a graceful +melody is embodied in the well-known technical form. +Alluding to a performance of ‘Semiramide,’ he said, with a +malicious smile, ‘I suppose you saw the beautiful decorations +in it?’ He has not received the Sisters Marchisio for +fear they should sing to him, nor has he heard them in the +theatre; he spoke warmly of Pasta, Lablache, Rubini, and +others, then he added that I ought not to look with +jealousy upon his budding talent as a pianoforte-player, but +that, on the contrary, I should help to establish his reputation +as such in Leipsic. He again questioned me with +much interest about my intimacy with Clementi, and, calling +me that master’s worthy successor, he said he should like to +visit me in Leipsic, if it were not for those dreadful railways, +which he would never travel by. All this in his bright and +lively way; but when we came to discuss Chevet, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>195]</a></span> +wishes to supplant musical notes by ciphers, he maintained, +in an earnest and dogmatic tone, that the system of notation, +as it had developed itself since Pope Gregory’s time, was +sufficient for all musical requirements. He certainly could +not withhold some appreciation for Chevet, but refused to +indorse the certificate granted by the Institute in his favour; +the system he thought impracticable.</p> + +<p>“The never-failing stream of conversation flowed on +until eleven o’clock, when I was favoured with the inevitable +kiss, which on this occasion was accompanied by special +farewell blessings.”</p> + +<p>Shortly after Moscheles had left Paris, his son forwarded +to him most friendly messages from Rossini, and continues +thus—“Rossini sends you word that he is working hard at +the piano, and, when you next come to Paris, you shall +find him in better practice.... The conversation turning +upon German music, I asked him ‘which was his favourite +among the great masters?’ Of Beethoven he said, ‘I take +him twice a-week, Haydn four times, and Mozart every day. +You will tell me that Beethoven is a Colossus who often +gives you a dig in the ribs, while Mozart is always adorable; +it is that the latter had the chance of going very young to +Italy, at a time when they still sang well.’ Of Weber he +says, ‘He has talent enough, and to spare’ (<i>Il a du talent à +revendre, celui-là</i>). He told me in reference to him, that, +when the part of ‘Tancred’ was sung at Berlin by a bass +voice, Weber had written violent articles not only against +the management, but against the composer, so that, when +Weber came to Paris, he did not venture to call on Rossini, +who, however, let him know that he bore him no grudge for +having made these attacks; on receipt of that message +Weber called and they became acquainted.</p> + +<p>“I asked him if he had met Byron in Venice? ‘Only in +a restaurant,’ was the answer, ‘where I was introduced to +him; our acquaintance, therefore, was very slight; it seems +he has spoken of me, but I don’t know what he says.’ I +translated for him, in a somewhat milder form, Byron’s +words, which happened to be fresh in my memory—‘They +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>196]</a></span> +have been crucifying Othello into an opera; the music +good but lugubrious, but, as for the words, all the real +scenes with Iago cut out, and the greatest nonsense instead, +the handkerchief turned into a billet-doux, and the first +singer would not black his face—singing, dresses, and music +very good.’ The <i>maestro</i> regretted his ignorance of the +English language, and said, ‘In my day I gave much time +to the study of our Italian literature. Dante is the man I +owe most to; he taught me more music than all my music-masters +put together, and when I wrote my “Otello,” I +would introduce those lines of Dante—you know the song +of the gondolier. My librettist would have it that +gondoliers never sang Dante, and but rarely Tasso, but I +answered him, “I know all about that better than you, for +I have lived in Venice and you haven’t. Dante I must +and will have.”’”</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>An ardent disciple of Wagner sums up his ideas of the +mania for the Rossini music, which possessed Europe for +fifteen years, in the following—“Rossini, the most gifted +and spoiled of her sons [speaking of Italy] sallied forth +with an innumerable army of Bacchantic melodies to +conquer the world, the Messiah of joy, the breaker of +thought and sorrow. Europe, by this time, had tired of +the empty pomp of French declamation. It lent but too +willing an ear to the new gospel, and eagerly quaffed the +intoxicating potion, which Rossini poured out in inexhaustible +streams.” This very well expresses the delight of all +the countries of Europe in music which for a long time +almost monopolised the stage.</p> + +<p>The charge of being a mere tune-spinner, the denial of +invention, depth, and character, have been common watchwords +in the mouths of critics wedded to other schools. +But Rossini’s place in music stands unshaken by all assaults. +The vivacity of his style, the freshness of his melodies, the +richness of his combinations, made all the Italian music that +preceded him pale and colourless. No other writer revels +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>197]</a></span> +in such luxury of beauty, and delights the ear with such a +succession of delicious surprises in melody.</p> + +<p>Henry Chorley, in his <i>Thirty Years’ Musical +Recollections</i>, rebukes the bigotry which sees nothing good +but in its own kind—“I have never been able to understand +why this [referring to the Rossinian richness of melody] +should be contemned as necessarily false and meretricious—why +the poet may not be allowed the benefit of his own +period and time—why a lover of architecture is to be +compelled to swear by the <i>Dom</i> at Bamberg, or by the +Cathedral at Monreale—that he must abhor and denounce +Michael Angelo’s church or the Baths of Diocletian at +Rome—why the person who enjoys ‘Il Barbiere’ is to be +denounced as frivolously faithless to Mozart’s ‘Figaro’—and +as incapable of comprehending ‘Fidelio,’ because the +last act of ‘Otello’ and the second of ‘Guillaume Tell’ +transport him into as great an enjoyment of its kind as +do the duet in the cemetery between Don Juan and +Leporello and the ‘Prisoners’ Chorus.’ How much good, +genial pleasure has not the world lost in music, owing to +the pitting of styles one against the other! Your true +traveller will be all the more alive to the beauty of +Nuremberg because he has looked out over the ‘Golden +Shell’ at Palermo; nor delight in Rhine and Danube the +less because he has seen the glow of a southern sunset over +the broken bridge at Avignon.”</p> + +<p>As grand and true as are many of the essential elements +in the Wagner school of musical composition, the bitterness +and narrowness of spite with which its upholders have +pursued the memory of Rossini is equally offensive and +unwarrantable. Rossini, indeed, did not revolutionise the +forms of opera as transmitted to him by his predecessors, +but he reformed and perfected them in various notable +ways. Both in comic and serious opera, music owes much +to Rossini. He substituted genuine singing for the endless +recitative of which the Italian opera before him largely +consisted; he brought the bass and baritone voices to the +front, banished the pianoforte from the orchestra, and laid +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>198]</a></span> +down the principle that the singer should deliver the notes +written for him without additions of his own. He gave the +chorus a much more important part than before, and +elaborated the concerted music, especially in the <i>finales</i>, to +a degree of artistic beauty before unknown in the Italian +opera. Above all, he made the operatic orchestra what it is +to-day. Every new instrument that was invented Rossini +found a place for in his brilliant scores, and thereby incurred +the warmest indignation of all writers of the old school. +Before him the orchestras had consisted largely of strings, +but Rossini added an equally imposing element of the +brasses and reeds. True, Mozart had forestalled Rossini in +many if not all these innovations, a fact which the Italian +cheerfully admitted; for, with the simple frankness +characteristic of the man, he always spoke of his obligations +to and his admiration of the great German. To an admirer +who was one day burning incense before him, Rossini said, +in the spirit of Cimarosa quoted elsewhere, “My ‘Barber’ +is only a bright farce, but in Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’ +you have the finest possible masterpiece of musical comedy.”</p> + +<p>With all concessions made to Mozart as the founder of +the forms of modern opera, an equally high place must be +given to Rossini for the vigour and audacity with which he +made these available, and impressed them on all his contemporaries +and successors. Though Rossini’s self-love was +flattered by constant adulation, his expressions of respect +and admiration for such composers as Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, +and Cherubini, display what a catholic and generous +nature he possessed. The judgment of Ambros, a +severe critic, whose bias was against Rossini, shows what +admiration was wrung from him by the last opera of the +composer—“Of all that particularly characterises Rossini’s +early operas nothing is discoverable in ‘Tell;’ there is +none of his usual mannerism; but, on the contrary, unusual +richness of form and careful finish of detail, combined with +grandeur of outline. Meretricious embellishment, shakes, +runs, and cadences are carefully avoided in this work, which +is natural and characteristic throughout; even the melodies +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>199]</a></span> +have not the stamp and style of Rossini’s earlier times, but +only their graceful charm and lively colouring.”</p> + +<p>Rossini must be allowed to be unequalled in genuine +comic opera, and to have attained a distinct greatness in +serious opera, to be the most comprehensive, and, at the +same time, the most national composer of Italy—to be, in +short, the Mozart of his country. After all has been +admitted and regretted—that he gave too little attention +to musical science; that he often neglected to infuse into +his work the depth and passion of which it was easily +capable; that he placed too high a value on merely brilliant +effects <i>ad captandum vulgus</i>—there remains the fact that +his operas embody a mass of imperishable music, which will +live with the art itself. Musicians of every country now +admit his wondrous grace, his fertility and freshness of +invention, his matchless treatment of the voice, his effectiveness +in arrangement of the orchestra. He can never be +made a model, for his genius had too much spontaneity and +individuality of colour. But he impressed and modified +music hardly less than Gluck, whose tastes and methods +were entirely antagonistic to his own. That he should +have retired from the exercise of his art while in the full +flower of his genius is a perplexing fact. No stranger story +is recorded in the annals of art with respect to a genius +who filled the world with his glory, and then chose to +vanish, “not unseen.” On finishing his crowning stroke of +genius and skill in “William Tell,” he might have said +with Shakespeare’s enchanter, Prospero—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">“... But this magic<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I here abjure; and when I have required<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some heavenly music (which even now I do)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To work mine end upon their senses that<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I’ll drown my book.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>200]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="donizetti" id="donizetti"></a><i>DONIZETTI AND BELLINI.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">A bright</span> English critic, whose style is as charming as his +judgments are good, says, in his study of the Donizetti +music, “I find myself thinking of his music as I do of +Domenichino’s pictures of ‘St. Agnes’ and the ‘Rosario’ +in the Bologna gallery, of the ‘Diana’ in the Borghese +Palace at Rome, as pictures equable and skilful in the +treatment of their subjects, neither devoid of beauty of +form nor of colour, but which make neither the pulse quiver +nor the eye wet; and then such a sweeping judgment is +arrested by a work like the ‘St. Jerome’ in the Vatican, +from which a spirit comes forth so strong and so exalted, +that the beholder, however trained to examine and compare +and collect, finds himself raised above all recollections +of manner by the sudden ascent of talent into the higher +world of genius. Essentially a second-rate composer,<a name="FNanchor_I_9" id="FNanchor_I_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_9" class="fnanchor">[I]</a> +Donizetti struck out some first-rate things in a happy +hour, such as the last act of ‘La Favorita.’”</p> + +<p>Both Donizetti and Bellini, though far inferior to their +master in richness of resources, in creative faculty and +instinct for what may be called dramatic expression in pure +musical form, were disciples of Rossini in their ideas and +methods of work. Milton sang of Shakespeare—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Warbles his native wood-notes wild!”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In a similar spirit, many learned critics have written of +Rossini, and if it can be said of him in a musical sense that +he had “little Latin and less Greek,” still more true is it +of the two popular composers whose works have filled so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>201]</a></span> +large a space in the opera-house of the last thirty years, for +their scores are singularly thin, measured by the standard +of advanced musical science. Specially may this be said of +Bellini, in many respects the greater of the two. There is +scarcely to be found in music a more signal example to +show that a marked individuality may rest on a narrow +base. In justice to him, however, it may be said that his +early death prevented him from doing full justice to his +powers, for he had in him the material out of which the +great artist is made. Let us first sketch the career of +Donizetti, the author of sixty-four operas, besides a mass of +other music, such as cantatas, ariettas, duets, church music, +etc., in the short space of twenty-six years.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gäetano Donizetti</span> was born at Bergamo, 25th September +1798, his father being a man of moderate fortune.<a name="FNanchor_J_10" id="FNanchor_J_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_10" class="fnanchor">[J]</a> Receiving +a good classical education, the young Gäetano had +three careers open before him: the bar, to which the will +of his father inclined; architecture, indicated by his talent +for drawing; and music, to which he was powerfully impelled +by his own inclinations. His father sent him, at the +age of seventeen, to Bologna to benefit by the instruction +of Padre Mattei, who had also been Rossini’s master. The +young man showed no disposition for the heights of musical +science as demanded by religious composition, and, much to +his father’s disgust, avowed his determination to write +dramatic music. Paternal anger, for the elder Donizetti +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>202]</a></span> +seems to have had a strain of Scotch obstinacy and +austerity, made the youth enlist as a soldier, thinking to +find time for musical work in the leisure of barrack-life. +His first opera, “Enrico di Borgogna,” was so highly +admired by the Venetian manager, to whom it was offered, +that he induced friends of his to release young Donizetti +from his military servitude. He now pursued musical +composition with a facility and industry which astonished +even the Italians, familiar with feats of improvisation. In +ten years twenty-eight operas were produced. Such names +as “Olivo e Pasquale,” “La Convenienze Teatrali,” “Il Borgomaestro +di Saardam,” “Gianni di Calais,” “L’Esule di +Roma,” “Il Castello di Kenilworth,” “Imelda di Lambertazzi,” +have no musical significance, except as belonging to +a catalogue of forgotten titles. Donizetti was so poorly +paid that need drove him to rapid composition, which could +not wait for the true afflatus.</p> + +<p>It was not till 1831 that the evidence of a strong individuality +was given, for hitherto he had shown little more +than a slavish imitation of Rossini. “Anna Bolena” was +produced at Milan and gained him great credit, and even +now, though it is rarely sung even in Italy, it is much +respected as a work of art as well as of promise. It was +first interpreted by Pasta and Rubini, and Lablache won +his earliest London triumph in it. “Marino Faliero” was +composed for Paris in 1835, and “L’Elisir d’Amore,” one +of the most graceful and pleasing of Donizetti’s works, for +Milan in 1832. “Lucia di Lammermoor,” based on Sir +Walter Scott’s novel, was given to the public in 1835, and +has remained the most popular of the composer’s operas. +Edgardo was written for the great French tenor, Duprez, +Lucia for Persiani.</p> + +<p>Donizetti’s kindness of heart was illustrated by the interesting +circumstances of his saving an obscure Neapolitan +theatre from ruin. Hearing that it was on the verge of +suspension and the performers in great distress, the composer +sought them out and supplied their immediate wants. +The manager said a new work from the pen of Donizetti +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>203]</a></span> +would be his salvation. “You shall have one within a +week,” was the answer.</p> + +<p>Lacking a subject, he himself rearranged an old French +vaudeville, and within the week the libretto was written, +the music composed, the parts learned, the opera performed, +and the theatre saved. There could be no greater proof of +his generosity of heart and his versatility of talent. In +these days of bitter quarrelling over the rights of authors +in their works, it may be amusing to know that Victor +Hugo contested the rights of Italian librettists to borrow +their plots from French plays. When “Lucrezia Borgia,” +composed for Milan in 1834, was produced at Paris in +1840, the French poet instituted a suit for an infringement +of copyright. He gained his action, and “Lucrezia Borgia” +became “La Rinegata,” Pope Alexander the Sixth’s +Italians being metamorphosed into Turks.<a name="FNanchor_K_11" id="FNanchor_K_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_11" class="fnanchor">[K]</a></p> + +<p>“Lucrezia Borgia,” which, though based on one of the +most dramatic of stories and full of beautiful music, is not +dramatically treated by the composer, seems to mark the +distance about half-way between the styles of Rossini and +Verdi. In it there is but little recitative, and in the treatment +of the chorus we find the method which Verdi afterwards +came to use exclusively. When Donizetti revisited +Paris in 1840, he produced in rapid succession “I Martiri,” +“La Fille du Regiment,” and “La Favorita.” In the +second of these works Jenny Lind, Sontag, and Alboni won +bright triumphs at a subsequent period.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_I_9" id="Footnote_I_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_9"><span class="label">[I]</span></a> +Mr. Chorley probably means “second-rate” as compared with +the few very great names, which can be easily counted on the fingers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_J_10" id="Footnote_J_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_10"><span class="label">[J]</span></a> +Admirers of the author of “Don Pasquale” and “Lucia” may be +interested in knowing that Donizetti was of Scotch descent. His +grandfather was a native of Perthshire, named Izett. The young +Scot was beguiled by the fascinating tongue of a recruiting-sergeant +into his Britannic majesty’s service, and was taken prisoner by +General La Hoche during the latter’s invasion of Ireland. Already +tired of a private’s life, he accepted the situation, and was induced to +become the French general’s private secretary. Subsequently he +drifted to Italy, and married an Italian lady of some rank, denationalising +his own name into Donizetti. The Scottish predilections of +our composer show themselves in the music of “Don Pasquale,” +noticeably in “Com’ e gentil;” and the score of “Lucia” is strongly +flavoured by Scottish sympathy and minstrelsy.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_K_11" id="Footnote_K_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_11"><span class="label">[K]</span></a> +Victor Hugo did the same thing with Verdi’s “Ernani,” and +other French authors followed with legal actions. The matter was +finally arranged on condition of an indemnity being paid to the +original French dramatists. The principle involved had been established +nearly two centuries before. In a privilege granted to St. +Amant in 1653 for the publication of his “Moïse Sauvé,” it was forbidden +to extract from that epic materials for a play or poem. The +descendants of Beaumarchais fought for the same concession, and not +very long ago it was decided that the translators and arrangers of +“Le Nozze di Figaro” for the Théâtre Lyrique must share their +receipts with the living representatives of the author of “Le Mariage +de Figaro.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>204]</a></span></p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>“La Favorita,” the story of which was drawn from +“L’Ange de Nisida,” and founded in the first instance on +a French play, “Le Comte de Commingues,” was put on +the stage at the Académie with a magnificent cast and +scenery, and achieved a success immediately great, for as a +dramatic opera it stands far in the van of all the composer’s +productions. The whole of the grand fourth act, with the +exception of one cavatina, was composed in three hours. +Donizetti had been dining at the house of a friend, who was +engaged in the evening to go to a ball. On leaving the +house his host, with profuse apologies, begged the composer +to stay and finish his coffee, of which Donizetti was inordinately +fond. The latter sent out for music paper, and, +finding himself in the vein for composition, went on writing +till the completion of the work. He had just put the final +stroke to the celebrated “Viens dans un autre patrie” when +his friend returned at one in the morning to congratulate +him on his excellent method of passing the time, and to +hear the music sung for the first time from Donizetti’s own +lips.</p> + +<p>After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which last +city he wrote “Linda di Chamouni,” our composer returned +to Paris, and in 1843 wrote “Don Pasquale” for the +Théâtre Italien, and “Don Sebastian” for the Académie. +Its lugubrious drama was fatal to the latter, but the brilliant +gaiety of “Don Pasquale,” rendered specially delightful +by such a cast as Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, +made it one of the great art attractions of Paris, and a +Fortunatus purse for the manager. The music of this work, +perhaps, is the best ever written by Donizetti, though it +lacks the freshness and sentiment of his “Elisir d’Amore,” +which is steeped in rustic poetry and tenderness like a rose +wet with dew. The production of “Maria di Rohan” in +Vienna the same year, an opera with some powerful dramatic +effects and bold music, gave Ronconi the opportunity +to prove himself not merely a fine buffo singer, but a noble +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>205]</a></span> +tragic actor. In this work Donizetti displays that rugged +earnestness and vigour so characteristic of Verdi; and, had +his life been greatly prolonged, we might have seen him +ripen into a passion and power at odds with the elegant +frivolity which for the most part tainted his musical quality. +Donizetti’s last opera, “Catarina Comaro,” the sixty-third +one represented, was brought out at Naples in the year +1844, without adding aught to his reputation. Of this +composer’s long list of works only ten or eleven retain any +hold on the stage, his best serious operas being “La +Favorita,” “Linda,” “Anna Bolena,” “Lucrezia Borgia,” +and “Lucia;” the finest comic works, “L’Elisir d’Amore,” +“La Fille du Regiment,” and “Don Pasquale.”</p> + +<p>In composing Donizetti never used the pianoforte, writing +with great rapidity and never making corrections. Yet +curious to say, he could not do anything without a small +ivory scraper by his side, though never using it. It was +given him by his father when commencing his career, with +the injunction that, as he was determined to become a +musician, he should make up his mind to write as little +rubbish as possible, advice which Donizetti sometimes +forgot.</p> + +<p>The first signs of the malady, which was the cause of the +composer’s death, had already shown themselves in 1845. +Fits of hallucination and all the symptoms of approaching +derangement displayed themselves with increasing intensity. +An incessant worker, overseer of his operas on twenty +stages, he had to pay the tax by which his fame became +his ruin. It is reported that he anticipated the coming +scourge, for during the rehearsals of “Don Sebastian” he +said, “I think I shall go mad yet.” Still he would not +put the bridle on his restless activity. At last paralysis +seized him, and in January 1846 he was placed under the +care of the celebrated Dr. Blanche at Ivry. In the hope +that the mild influence of his native air might heal his +distempered brain, he was sent to Bergamo, in 1848, but +died in his brother’s arms April 8th. The inhabitants of +the Peninsula were then at war with Austria, and the bells +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>206]</a></span> +that sounded the knell of Donizetti’s departure mingled +their solemn peals with the roar of the cannon fired to +celebrate the victory of Goïto.</p> + +<p>His faithful valet, Antoine, wrote to Adolphe Adam, +describing his obsequies:—“More than four thousand +persons,” he relates, “were present at the ceremony. The +procession was composed of the numerous clergy of +Bergamo, the most illustrious members of the community +and its environs, and of the civic guard of the town and +the suburbs. The discharge of musketry, mingled with the +light of three or four thousand torches, presented a fine +effect; the whole was enhanced by the presence of three +military bands and the most propitious weather it was +possible to behold. The young gentlemen of Bergamo +insisted on bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-townsman, +although the cemetery was a league and a-half +from the town. The road was crowded its whole length by +people who came from the surrounding country to witness +the procession; and to give due praise to the inhabitants of +Bergamo, never, hitherto, had such great honours been +bestowed upon any member of that city.”</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The future author of “Norma” and “La Sonnambula,” +Bellini, took his first lessons in music from his father, an +organist at Catania.<a name="FNanchor_L_12" id="FNanchor_L_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_L_12" class="fnanchor">[L]</a> He was sent to the Naples Conservatory +by the generosity of a noble patron, and there was the +fellow-pupil of Mercadante, a composer who blazed into a +temporary lustre which threatened to outshine his fellows, +but is now forgotten except by the antiquarian and the +lover of church music. Bellini’s early works, for he composed +three before he was twenty, so pleased Barbaja, the +manager of the San Carlo and La Scala, that he intrusted +the youth with the libretto “Il Pirata,” to be composed for +representation at Florence. The tenor part was written for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>207]</a></span> +the great singer, Rubini, whose name has no peer among +artists since male sopranos were abolished by the outraged +moral sense of society. Rubini retired to the country with +Bellini, and studied, as they were produced, the simple +touching airs with which he so delighted the public on the +stage.</p> + +<p>La Scala rang with plaudits when the opera was +produced, and Bellini’s career was assured. “I Capuletti” +was his next successful opera, performed at Venice in 1829, +but it never became popular out of Italy.</p> + +<p>The significant period of Bellini’s life was in the year +1831, which produced “La Sonnambula,” to be followed by +“Norma” the next season. Both these were written for and +introduced before the Neapolitan public. In these works he +reached his highest development, and by them he is best +known to fame. The opera-story of “La Sonnambula,” by +Romani, an accomplished writer and scholar, is one of the +most artistic and effective ever put into the hands of a +composer. M. Scribe had already used the plot, both as +the subject of a vaudeville and a choregraphic drama; but +in Romani’s hands it became a symmetrical story full of +poetry and beauty. The music of this opera, throbbing +with pure melody and simple emotion, as natural and fresh +as a bed of wild flowers, went to the heart of the universal +public, learned and unlearned; and, in spite of its scientific +faults, it will never cease to delight future generations, as +long as hearts beat and eyes are moistened with human +tenderness and sympathy. And yet, of this work an +English critic wrote, on its first London presentation:—</p> + +<p>“Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of +grandeur, no touch of true pathos in the commonplace +workings of his mind. He cannot reach the <i>opera semiseria</i>; +he should confine his powers to the musical drama, +the one-act <i>opera buffa</i>.” But the history of art-criticism +is replete with such instances.</p> + +<p>“Norma” was also a grand triumph for the young +composer from the outset, especially as the lofty character +of the Druid priestess was sung by that unapproachable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>208]</a></span> +lyric tragedienne, the Siddons of the opera, Madame Pasta. +Bellini is said to have had this queen of dramatic song in +his mind in writing the opera, and right nobly did she +vindicate his judgment, for no European audience afterwards +but was thrilled and carried away by her masterpiece of +acting and singing in this part.</p> + +<p>Bellini himself considered “Norma” his <i>chef-d’œuvre</i>. +A beautiful Parisienne attempted to extract from his +reluctant lips his preference of his own works. The lady +finally overcame his evasions by the query, “But if you +were out at sea, and should be shipwrecked——” “Ah!” +he cried, without allowing her to finish. “I would leave +all the rest and try to save ‘Norma.’”</p> + +<p>“I Puritani” was composed for and performed at Paris +in 1834, by that splendid quartette of artists, Grisi, Rubini, +Tamburini, and Lablache. Bellini compelled the singers to +execute after <em>his</em> style. While Rubini was rehearsing the +tenor part, the composer cried out in rage, “You put no +life into your music. Show some feeling. Don’t you know +what love is?” Then changing his tone, “Don’t you +know your voice is a gold-mine that has not been fully +explored? You are an excellent artist, but that is not +sufficient. You must forget yourself and represent +Gualtiero. Let’s try again.” The tenor, stung by the +admonition, then gave the part magnificently. After the +success of “I Puritani,” the composer received the Cross +of the Legion of Honour, an honour then not often +bestowed. The “Puritani” season is still remembered, it +is said, with peculiar pleasure by the older connoisseurs of +Paris and London, as the enthusiasm awakened in musical +circles has rarely been equalled.</p> + +<p>Bellini had placed himself under contract to write two +new works immediately, one for Paris, the other for Naples, +and retired to the villa of a friend at Puteaux to insure the +more complete seclusion. Here, while pursuing his art +with almost sleepless ardour, he was attacked by his fatal +malady, intestinal fever.</p> + +<p>“From his youth up,” says his biographer Mould, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>209]</a></span> +“Vincenzo’s eagerness in his art was such as to keep him +at the piano night and day, till he was obliged forcibly to +leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him through his +short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it +brought on the dysentery which closed his brilliant career, +peopling his last hours with the figures of those to whom +his works owed so much of their success. During the +moments of delirium which preceded his death, he was constantly +speaking of Lablache, Tamburini, and Grisi; and +one of his last recognisable impressions was that he was +present at a brilliant representation of his last opera at the +Salle Favart.” His earthly career closed September 23, 1835, +at the age of thirty-three.</p> + +<p>On the eve of his interment, the Théâtre Italien reopened +with the “Puritani.” It was an occasion full of solemn +gloom. Both the musicians and audience broke from time +to time into sobs. Tamburini, in particular, was so +oppressed by the death of his young friend that his vocalisation, +generally so perfect, was often at fault, while the +faces of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache too plainly showed +their aching hearts.</p> + +<p>Rossini, Cherubini, Paer, and Carafa had charge of the +funeral, and M. Habeneck, <i>chef d’orchestre</i> of the Académie +Royale, of the music. The next remarkable piece on the +funeral programme was a <i>Lacrymosa</i> for four voices without +accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn was +united to the beautiful tenor melody in the third act of the +“Puritani.” This was executed by Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, +and Lablache. The services were performed at the +Church of the Invalides, and the remains were interred in +Père Lachaise.</p> + +<p>Rossini had ever shown great love for Bellini, and +Rosario Bellini, the stricken father, wrote to him a touching +letter, in which, after speaking of his grief and despair, the +old man said—</p> + +<p>“You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret +in his labours; you took him under your protection, you +neglected nothing that could increase his glory and his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>210]</a></span> +welfare. After my son’s death, what have you not done to +honour my son’s name and render it dear to posterity? I +learned this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated +with gratitude for your excessive kindness as well as for +that of a number of distinguished artists, which also I shall +never forget. Pray, sir, be my interpreter, and tell these +artists that the father and family of Bellini, as well as of +our compatriots of Catania, will cherish an imperishable +recollection of this generous conduct. I shall never cease +to remember how much you did for my son. I shall make +known everywhere, in the midst of my tears, what an +affectionate heart belongs to the great Rossini, and how +kind, hospitable, and full of feeling are the artists of +France.”</p> + +<p>Bellini was affable, sincere, honest, and affectionate. +Nature gave him a beautiful and ingenuous face, noble +features, large, clear blue eyes, and abundant light hair. +His countenance instantly won on the regards of all that +met him. His disposition was melancholy; a secret +depression often crept over his most cheerful hours. We +are told there was a tender romance in his earlier life. The +father of the lady he loved, a Neapolitan judge, refused his +suit on account of his inferior social position. When +Bellini became famous the judge wished to make amends, +but Bellini’s pride interfered. Soon after the young lady, +who loved him unalterably, died, and it is said the composer +never recovered from the shock.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_L_12" id="Footnote_L_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_L_12"><span class="label">[L]</span></a> +Bellini was born in 1802, nine years after his contemporary and +rival, Donizetti, and died in 1835, thirteen years before.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Donizetti and Bellini were peculiarly moulded by the +great genius of Rossini, but in their best works they show +individuality, colour, and special creative activity. The +former composer, one of the most affluent in the annals of +music, seemed to become more fresh in his fancies with +increased production. He is an example of how little the +skill and touch, belonging to unceasing work, should be +despised in comparison with what is called inspiration. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>211]</a></span> +Donizetti arrived at his freshest creations at a time when +there seemed but little left for him except the trite and +threadbare. There are no melodies so rich and well fancied +as those to be found in his later works; and in sense of +dramatic form and effective instrumentation (always a +faulty point with Donizetti) he displayed great progress at +the last. It is, however, a noteworthy fact, that the latest +Italian composers have shown themselves quite weak in +composing expressly for the orchestra. No operatic overture +since “William Tell” has been produced by this +school of music, worthy to be rendered in a concert-room.</p> + +<p>Donizetti lacked the dramatic instinct in conceiving +his music. In attempting it he became hollow and +theatric; and beautiful as are the melodies and concerted +pieces in “Lucia,” where the subject ought to inspire a +vivid dramatic nature with such telling effects, it is in the +latter sense one of the most disappointing of operas.</p> + +<p>He redeemed himself for the nonce, however, in the +fourth act of “La Favorita,” where there is enough +musical and dramatic beauty to condone the sins of the +other three acts. The solemn and affecting church chant, +the passionate romance for the tenor, the great closing duet +in which the ecstasy of despair rises to that of exaltation, +the resistless sweep of the rhythm—all mark one of the +most effective single acts ever written. He showed himself +here worthy of companionship with Rossini and +Meyerbeer.</p> + +<p>In his comic operas, “L’Elisir d’Amore,” “La Fille du +Regiment,” and “Don Pasquale,” there is a continual +well-spring of sunny, bubbling humour. They are slight, +brilliant, and catching, everything that pedantry condemns, +and the popular taste delights in. Mendelssohn, the last of +the German classical composers, admired “L’Elisir,” so +much that he said he would have liked to have written it +himself. It may be said that while Donizetti lacks grand +conceptions, or even great beauties for the most part, his +operas contain so much that is agreeable, so many excellent +opportunities for vocal display, such harmony between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>212]</a></span> +sound and situation, that he will probably retain a hold on +the stage when much greater composers are only known to +the general public by name.</p> + +<p>Bellini, with less fertility and grace, possessed far more +picturesqueness and intensity. His powers of imagination +transcended his command over the working tools of his art. +Even more lacking in exact and extended musical science +than Donizetti, he could express what came within his +range with a simple vigour, grasp, and beauty, which make +him a truly dramatic composer. In addition to this, a +matter which many great composers ignore, Bellini had +extraordinary skill in writing music for the voice, not that +which merely gave opportunity for executive trickery and +embellishment, but the genuine accents of passion, pathos, and +tenderness, in forms best adapted to be easily and effectively +delivered.</p> + +<p>He had no flexibility, no command over mirthful +inspiration, such as we hear in Mozart, Rossini, or even +Donizetti. But his monotone is in subtile <i>rapport</i> with the +graver aspects of nature and life. Chorley sums up this +characteristic of Bellini in the following words:—</p> + +<p>“In spite of the inexperience with which the instrumental +score is filled up, the opening scene of ‘Norma’ in +the dim druidical wood bears the true character of ancient +sylvan antiquity. There is daybreak again—a fresh tone +of reveille—in the prelude to ‘I Puritani.’ If Bellini’s +genius was not versatile in its means of expression, if it had +not gathered all the appliances by which science fertilises +Nature, it beyond all doubt included appreciation of truth, +no less than instinct for beauty.”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>213]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="verdi" id="verdi"></a><i>VERDI.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> 1872 the Khédive of Egypt, an oriental ruler, whose +love of western art and civilisation has since tangled him in +economic meshes to escape from which has cost him his +independence, produced a new opera with barbaric splendour +of appointments, at Grand Cairo. The spacious theatre +blazed with fantastic dresses and showy uniforms, and the +curtain rose on a drama which gave a glimpse to the Arabs, +Copts, and Franks present of the life and religion, the loves +and hates of ancient Pharaonic times, set to music by the +most celebrated of living Italian composers.</p> + +<p>That an eastern prince should have commissioned +Giuseppe Verdi to write “Aida” for him, in his desire +to emulate western sovereigns as a patron of art, is an +interesting fact, but not wonderful or significant.</p> + +<p>The opera itself was freighted, however, with peculiar +significance as an artistic work, far surpassing that of the +circumstances which gave it origin, or which saw its first +production in the mysterious land of the Nile and Sphinx.</p> + +<p>Originally a pupil, thoroughly imbued with the method +and spirit of Rossini, though never lacking in original +quality, Verdi as a young man shared the suffrages of +admiring audiences with Donizetti and Bellini. Even +when he diverged widely from his parent stem and took rank +as the representative of the melodramatic school of music, +he remained true to the instincts of his Italian training.</p> + +<p>The remarkable fact is that Verdi, at the age of fifty-eight, +when it might have been safely assumed that his +theories and preferences were finally crystallised, produced +an opera in which he clasped hands with the German +enthusiast, who preached an art system radically opposed +to his own, and lashed with scathing satire the whole +musical cult of the Italian race.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>214]</a></span> +In “Aida” and the “Manzoni Mass,” written in 1873, +Verdi, the leader among living Italian composers, practically +conceded that, in the long, bitterly fought battle +between Teuton and Italian in music, the former was the +victor. In the opera we find a new departure, which, if +not embodying all the philosophy of the “new school,” is +stamped with its salient traits—viz., the subordination of +all the individual effects to the perfection and symmetry of +the whole; a lavish demand on all the sister arts to +contribute their rich gifts to the heightening of the +illusion; a tendency to enrich the harmonic value in the +choruses, the concerted pieces, and the instrumentation, to +the great sacrifice of the solo pieces; the use of the heroic +and mythical element as a theme.</p> + +<p>Verdi, the subject of this interesting revolution, has +filled a very brilliant place in modern musical art, and his +career has been in some ways as picturesque as his music.</p> + +<p>Verdi’s parents were literally hewers of wood and +drawers of water, earning their bread, after the manner +of Italian peasants, at a small settlement called La Roncali, +near Busseto, where the future composer was born on +October 9, 1813.</p> + +<p>His earliest recollections were with the little village +church, where the little Giuseppe listened with delight to +the church organ, for, as with all great musicians, his +fondness for music showed itself at a very early age. The +elder Verdi, though very poor, gratified the child’s love of +music when he was about eight by buying a small spinet, +and placing him under the instruction of Provesi, a teacher +in Busseto. The boy entered on his studies with ardour, +and made more rapid progress than the slender facilities +which were allowed him would ordinarily justify.</p> + +<p>An event soon occurred which was destined to wield a +lasting influence on his destiny. He one day heard a +skilful performance on a fine piano, while passing by one +of the better houses of Busseto. From that time a constant +fascination drew him to the house; for day after day he +lingered and seemed unwilling to go away lest he should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>215]</a></span> +perchance lose some of the enchanting sounds which so +enraptured him. The owner of the premises was a rich +merchant, one Antonio Barezzi, a cultivated and high-minded +man, and a passionate lover of music withal. +’Twas his daughter whose playing gave the young Verdi +such pleasure.</p> + +<p>Signor Barezzi had often seen the lingering and absorbed +lad, who stood as if in a dream, oblivious to all that passed +around him in the practical work-a-day world. So one day +he accosted him pleasantly and inquired why he came so +constantly and stayed so long doing nothing.</p> + +<p>“I play the piano a little,” said the boy, “and I like to +come here and listen to the fine playing in your house.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! if that is the case, come in with me that you may +enjoy it more at your ease, and hereafter you are welcome +to do so whenever you feel inclined.”</p> + +<p>It may be imagined the delighted boy did not refuse the +kind invitation, and the acquaintance soon ripened into +intimacy, for the rich merchant learned to regard the +bright young musician with much affection, which it is +needless to say was warmly returned. Verdi was untiring +in study and spent the early years of his youth in humble +quiet, in the midst of those beauties of nature which have +so powerful an influence in moulding great susceptibilities. +At his seventeenth year he had acquired as much musical +knowledge as could be acquired at a place like Busseto, and he +became anxious to go to Milan to continue his studies. The +poverty of his family precluding any assistance from this quarter, +he was obliged to find help from an eleemosynary fund +then existing in his native town. This was an institution +called the Monte di Pietà, which offered yearly to four young +men the sum of twenty-five <i>lire</i> a-month each, in order to help +them to an education; and Verdi, making an application and +sustained by the influence of his friend the rich merchant, +was one of the four whose good fortune it was to be selected.</p> + +<p>The allowance thus obtained, with some assistance from +Barezzi, enabled the ambitious young musician to go to +Milan, carrying with him some of his compositions. When +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>216]</a></span> +he presented himself for examination at the Conservatory, +he was made to play on the piano, and his compositions +examined. The result fell on his hopes like a thunderbolt. +The pedantic and narrow-minded examiners not only scoffed +at the state of his musical knowledge, but told him he was +incapable of becoming a musician. To weaker souls this +would have been a terrible discouragement, but to his +ardour and self-confidence it was only a challenge. Barezzi +had equal confidence in the abilities of his <i>protégé</i>, and +warmly encouraged him to work and hope. Verdi engaged +an excellent private teacher and pursued his studies with +unflagging energy, denying himself all but the barest +necessities, and going sometimes without sufficient food.</p> + +<p>A stroke of fortune now fell in his way; the place of +organist fell vacant at the Busseto church, and Verdi was +appointed to fill it. He returned home, and was soon +afterwards married to the daughter of the benefactor to +whom he owed so much. He continued to apply himself +with great diligence to the study of his art, and completed +an opera early in 1839. He succeeded in arranging for the +production of this work, “L’Oberto, Conte de San Bonifacio,” +at La Scala, Milan; but it excited little comment and was +soon forgotten, like the scores of other shallow or immature +compositions so prolifically produced in Italy.</p> + +<p>The impresario, Merelli, believed in the young composer +though, for he thought he discovered signs of genius. So +he gave him a contract to write three operas, one of which +was to be an <i>opera buffa</i>, and to be ready in the following +autumn. With hopeful spirits Verdi set to work on the +opera, but that year of 1840 was to be one of great trouble +and trial. Hardly had he set to work all afire with +eagerness and hope, when he was seized with severe illness. +His recovery was followed by the successive sickening of +his two children, who died, a terrible blow to the father’s +fond heart. Fate had the crowning stroke though still to +give, for the young mother, agonised by this loss, was +seized with a fatal inflammation of the brain. Thus within +a brief period Verdi was bereft of all the sweet consolations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>217]</a></span> +of home, and his life became a burden to him. Under these +conditions he was to write a comic opera, full of sparkle, +gaiety, and humour. Can we wonder that his work was a +failure? The public came to be amused by bright, joyous +music, for it was nothing to them that the composer’s heart +was dead with grief at his afflictions. The audience hissed +“Un Giorno di Regno,” for it proved a funereal attempt at +mirth. So Verdi sought to annul the contract.</p> + +<p>To this the impresario replied—</p> + +<p>“So be it, if you wish; but, whenever you want to write +again on the same terms, you will find me ready.”</p> + +<p>To tell the truth, the composer was discouraged by his +want of success, and wholly broken down by his numerous +trials. He now withdrew from all society, and, having +hired a small room in an out-of-the-way part of Milan, +passed most of his time in reading the worst books that +could be found, rarely going out, unless occasionally in the +evening, never giving his attention to study of any kind, +and never touching the piano. Such was his life from +October 1840 to January 1841. One evening, early in +the new year, while out walking, he chanced to meet +Merelli, who took him by the arm; and, as they sauntered +towards the theatre, the impresario told him that he was in +great trouble, Nicolai, who was to write an opera for him, +having refused to accept a <i>libretto</i> entitled “Nabucco.”</p> + +<p>To this Verdi replied—</p> + +<p>“I am glad to be able to relieve you of your difficulty. +Don’t you remember the libretto of ‘Il Proscritto,’ which +you procured for me, and for which I have never composed +the music? Give that to Nicolai in place of ‘Nabucco.’”</p> + +<p>Merelli thanked him for his kind offer, and, as they +reached the theatre, asked him to go in, that they might +ascertain whether the manuscript of “Il Proscritto” was +really there. It was at length found, and Verdi was on the +point of leaving, when Merelli slipped into his pocket the +book of “Nabucco,” asking him to look it over. For want +of something to do, he took up the drama the next morning +and read it through, realising how truly grand it was in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>218]</a></span> +conception. But, as a lover forces himself to feign indifference +to his coquettish <i>innamorata</i>, so he, disregarding +his inclinations, returned the manuscript to Merelli that +same day.</p> + +<p>“Well?” said Merelli, inquiringly.</p> + +<p>“<em>Musicabilissimo!</em>” he replied; “full of dramatic power +and telling situations!”</p> + +<p>“Take it home with you, then, and write the music for it.”</p> + +<p>Verdi declared that he did not wish to compose, but the +worthy impresario forced the manuscript on him, and persisted +that he should undertake the work. The composer +returned home with the libretto, but threw it on one side +without looking at it, and for the next five months continued +his reading of bad romances and yellow-covered novels.</p> + +<p>The impulse of work soon came again, however. One +beautiful June day the manuscript met his eye, while +looking listlessly over some old papers. He read one scene +and was struck by its beauty. The instinct of musical +creation rushed over him with irresistible force; he seated +himself at the piano, so long silent, and began composing +the music. The ice was broken. Verdi soon entered into +the spirit of the work, and in three months “Nabucco” was +entirely completed. Merelli gladly accepted it, and it was +performed at La Scala in the spring of 1842. As a result +Verdi was besieged with petitions for new works from +every impresario in Italy.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>From 1842 to 1851 Verdi’s busy imagination produced +a series of operas, which disputed the palm of popularity +with the foremost composers of his time. “I Lombardi,” +brought out at La Scala in 1843; “Ernani,” at Venice in +1844; “I Due Foscari,” at Rome in 1844; “Giovanna +D’Arco,” at Milan, and “Alzira,” at Naples in 1845; +“Attila,” at Venice in 1846; and “Macbetto,” at Florence +in 1847, were—all of them—successful works. The last +created such a genuine enthusiasm that he was crowned +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>219]</a></span> +with a golden laurel-wreath and escorted home from the +theatre by an enormous crowd. “I Masnadieri” was +written for Jenny Lind, and performed first in London in +1847 with that great singer, Gardoni, and Lablache, in the +cast. His next productions were “Il Corsaro,” brought +out at Trieste in 1848; “La Battaglia di Legnano” at +Rome in 1849; “Luisa Miller” at Naples in the same +year; and “Stiffelio” at Trieste in 1850. By this series +of works Verdi impressed himself powerfully on his age, +but in them he preserved faithfully the colour and style of +the school in which he had been trained. But he had now +arrived at the commencement of his transition period. A +distinguished French critic marks this change in the following +summary:—“When Verdi began to write, the influences +of foreign literature and new theories on art had excited +Italian composers to seek a violent expression of the +passions, and to leave the interpretation of amiable and +delicate sentiments for that of sombre flights of the soul. +A serious mind gifted with a rich imagination, Verdi +became chief of the new school. His music became more +intense and dramatic; by vigour, energy, <i>verve</i>, a certain +ruggedness and sharpness, by powerful effects of sound, he +conquered an immense popularity in Italy, where success +had hitherto been attained only by the charm, suavity, and +abundance of the melodies produced.”</p> + +<p>In “Rigoletto,” produced in Venice in 1851, the full +flowering of his genius into the melodramatic style was +signally shown. The opera story adapted from Victor +Hugo’s “Le Roi s’amuse” is itself one of the most dramatic +of plots, and it seemed to have fired the composer into +music singularly vigorous, full of startling effects and novel +treatment. Two years afterwards were brought out at +Rome and Venice respectively two operas, stamped with +the same salient qualities, “Il Trovatore” and “La +Traviata,” the last a lyric adaptation of Dumas <i>fils’s</i> +“Dame aux Camélias.” These three operas have generally +been considered his masterpieces, though it is more than +possible that the riper judgment of the future will not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>220]</a></span> +sustain this claim. Their popularity was such that Verdi’s +time was absorbed for several years in their production at +various opera-houses, utterly precluding new compositions. +Of his later operas may be mentioned “Les Vêpres +Siciliennes,” produced in Paris in 1855; “Un Ballo in +Maschera,” performed at Rome in 1859; “La Forza del +Destino,” written for St. Petersburg, where it was sung in +1863; “Don Carlos,” produced in London in 1867; and +“Aida” in Grand Cairo in 1872. When the latter work +was finished, Verdi had composed twenty-nine operas, +besides lesser works, and attained the aged of fifty-seven.</p> + +<p>Verdi’s energies have not been confined to music. An +ardent patriot, he has displayed the deepest interest in +the affairs of his country, and taken an active part in +its tangled politics. After the war of 1859 he was chosen a +member of the Assembly of Parma, and was one of the +most influential advocates for the annexation to Sardinia. +Italian unity found in him a passionate advocate, and, +when the occasion came, his artistic talent and earnestness +proved that they might have made a vigorous mark in +political oratory as well as in music.</p> + +<p>The cry of “Viva Verdi” often resounded through +Sardinia and Italy, and it was one of the war-slogans of the +Italian war of liberation. This enigma is explained in the +fact that the five letters of his name are the initials of +those of Vittorio Emanuele Rè D’Italia. His private +resources were liberally poured forth to help the national +cause, and in 1861 he was chosen a deputy in Parliament +from Parma. Ten years later he was appointed by the +Minister of Public Instruction to superintend the reorganisation +of the National Musical Institute.</p> + +<p>The many decorations and titular distinctions lavished +on him show the high esteem in which he is held. He is a +member of the Legion of Honour, corresponding member of +the French Academy of Fine Arts, grand cross of the +Prussian order of St. Stanislaus, of the order of the Crown +of Italy, and of the Egyptian order of Osmanli. He +divides his life between a beautiful residence at Genoa, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>221]</a></span> +where he overlooks the waters of the sparkling Mediterranean, +and a country villa near his native Busseto, a house +of quaint artistic architecture, approached by a venerable, +moss-grown stone bridge, at the foot of which are a large +park and artificial lake. When he takes his evening walks, +the peasantry, who are devotedly attached to him, unite in +singing choruses from his operas.</p> + +<p>In Verdi’s bedroom, where alone he composes, is a fine +piano—of which instrument, as well as of the violin, he +is a master—a modest library, and an oddly-shaped writing-desk. +Pictures and statuettes, of which he is very fond, +are thickly strewn about the whole house. Verdi is a +man of vigorous and active habits, taking an ardent +interest in agriculture. But the larger part of his time +is taken up in composing, writing letters, and reading +works on philosophy, politics, and history. His personal +appearance is very distinguished. A tall figure with sturdy +limbs and square shoulders, surmounted by a finely-shaped +head; abundant hair, beard, and moustache, whose black is +sprinkled with grey; dark-grey eyes, regular features, and +an earnest, sometimes intense, expression make him a +noticeable-looking man. Much sought after in the brilliant +society of Florence, Rome, and Paris, our composer spends +most of his time in the elegant seclusion of home.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Verdi is the most nervous, theatric, sensuous composer +of the present century. Measured by the highest standard, +his style must be criticised as often spasmodic, tawdry, and +meretricious. He instinctively adopts a bold and eccentric +treatment of musical themes; and, though there are always +to be found stirring movements in his scores as well as in +his opera stories, he constantly offends refined taste by +sensation and violence.</p> + +<p>With a redundancy of melody, too often of the cheap +and shallow kind, he rarely fails to please the masses of +opera-goers, for his works enjoy a popularity not shared at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>222]</a></span> +present by any other composer. In Verdi a sudden blaze +of song, brief spirited airs, duets, trios, etc., take the place +of the elaborate and beautiful music, chiselled into order +and symmetry, which characterises most of the great composers +of the past. Energy of immediate impression is +thus gained at the expense of that deep, lingering power, +full of the subtile side-lights and shadows of suggestion, +which is the crowning benison of great music. He stuns +the ear and captivates the senses, but does not subdue the +soul.</p> + +<p>Yet, despite the grievous faults of these operas, they +blaze with gems, and we catch here and there true swallow-flights +of genius, that the noblest would not disown. With +all his puerilities there is a mixture of grandeur. There +are passages in “Ernani,” “Rigoletto,” “Traviata,” +“Trovatore,” and “Aida,” so strong and dignified, that +it provokes a wonder that one with such capacity for +greatness should often descend into such bathos.</p> + +<p>To better illustrate the false art which mars so much +of Verdi’s dramatic method, a comparison between his +“Rigoletto,” so often claimed as his best work, and Rossini’s +“Otello” will be opportune. The air sung by Gilda +in the “Rigoletto,” when she retires to sleep on the eve of +the outrage, is an empty, sentimental yawn; and in the +quartet of the last act, a noble dramatic opportunity, she +ejects a chain of disconnected, unmusical sobs, as offensive +as Violetta’s consumptive cough. Desdemona’s agitated +air, on the other hand, under Rossini’s treatment, though +broken short in the vocal phrase, is magnificently sustained +by the orchestra, and a genuine passion is made consistently +musical; and then the wonderful burst of +bravura, where despair and resolution run riot without +violating the bounds of strict beauty in music—these are +master-strokes of genius restrained by art.</p> + +<p>In Verdi, passion too often misses intensity and becomes +hysterical. He lacks the elements of tenderness and +humour, but is frequently picturesque and charming by his +warmth and boldness of colour. His attempts to express +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>223]</a></span> +the gay and mirthful, as for instance in the masquerade +music of “Traviata” and the dance music of “Rigoletto,” +are dreary, ghastly, and saddening; while his ideas of +tenderness are apt to take the form of mere sentimentality. +Yet generalities fail in describing him, for occasionally he +attains effects strong in their pathos, and artistically +admirable; as, for example, the slow air for the heroine, +and the dreamy song for the gipsy mother in the last act +of “Trovatore.” An artist who thus contradicts himself is +a perplexing problem, but we must judge him by the +habitual, not the occasional.</p> + +<p>Verdi is always thoroughly in earnest, never frivolous. +He walks on stilts indeed, instead of treading the ground +or cleaving the air, but is never timid or tame in aim or +execution. If he cannot stir the emotions of the soul he +subdues and absorbs the attention against even the dictates +of the better taste; while genuine beauties gleaming +through picturesque rubbish often repay the true musician +for what he has undergone.</p> + +<p>So far this composer has been essentially representative +of melodramatic music, with all the faults and virtues of +such a style. In “Aida,” his last work, the world remarked +a striking change. The noble orchestration, the +power and beauty of the choruses, the sustained dignity of +treatment, the seriousness and pathos of the whole work, +reveal how deeply new purposes and methods have been +fermenting in the composer’s development. Yet in the +very prime of his powers, though no longer young, his next +work ought to settle the value of the hopes raised by the +last.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note by the Editor.</span>—In 1874 Verdi composed his “Requiem +Mass.” It is written in a popular style, and received unanimous praise +from the Italian critics, and as thorough condemnation from those +of Germany, in particular from Herr Hans von Bülow, the celebrated +pianist. It was chance which induced the composer to attempt sacred +music. On the death of Rossini, Verdi suggested that a “Requiem” +should be written in memory of the dead master, by thirteen Italian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>224]</a></span> +composers in combination, and that the mass should be performed on +every hundredth anniversary of the death in the cathedral of Bologna. +The attempt naturally proved a complete failure, owing to the impossibility +of unity in the method of such a composition. On the death, +however, of Alessandro Manzoni at Milan, Verdi wrote for the anniversary +of the great man’s death a Requiem, into which he incorporated +the movement <i>Libera me</i> which he had previously written for the +Rossini Requiem.</p> + +<p>In 1881 “Simon Boccanegra” was performed at Milan, with very +partial success. It was a revival of an opera Verdi had written ten +years previously, but which had failed owing to a confused libretto +and a bad interpretation. It, however, in its present form, falls +short in merit when compared with the composer’s finest operas—“Rigoletto,” +“Il Trovatore,” and “Aida.”</p> + +<p>Verdi’s last work, “Otello,” has been brought out since this +volume went to press; its brilliant success at the theatre of La Scala, +Milan, on the 5th of February, is a matter of such recent date that it +is unnecessary to enlarge upon it at present. Verdi has accepted an +invitation from the managers of the Grand Opera at Paris to produce +“Otello” at their theatre in the course of the year; the libretto will +be translated by M. du Loche, and a ballet will be introduced in the +second act, according to the traditions of the French opera. In all +probability it will also be performed in London, but as yet no public +intimation on the subject has been made.</p> + +<p>It is of course impossible at present for any definite decision to be +pronounced on the merits of this latest work compared with the composer’s +other operas; the few following facts, however, concerning +“Otello,” excerpted from the reports of the musical critics of our +leading journals, may prove of interest.</p> + +<p>Verdi was first induced to undertake the composition of “Otello” +on the occasion of the performance of his “Messa da Requiem,” at +the Scala, for the benefit of the sufferers by the inundations at Ferrara. +The next day he gave a dinner to the four principal solo singers, at +which were present several friends, among them Signor Faccio and +Signor Ricordi. The latter laid siege to the <i>maestro</i>, trying to +persuade him to undertake a new work. For a long time Verdi +resisted, and his wife declared that probably only a Shakespearian +subject could induce him to take up his pen again. A few hours +later Faccio and Ricordi went to Boïto, who at once agreed to make +the third in the generous conspiracy, and two days after sent to +Verdi a complete sketch of the plan for the opera, following strictly +the Shakespearian tragedy. Verdi approved of the sketch, and from +that moment it fell to the part of Giulia Ricordi to urge on the +composer and the poet by constant reminders. Every Christmas he +sent to Verdi’s house an “Othello” formed of chocolate, which, at first +very small, grew larger as the opera progressed.</p> + +<p>Rossini’s famous opera on the same subject, in which Pasta and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>225]</a></span> +Malibran won renown in their day, was produced in Naples in the +autumn of 1816. How it impressed Lord Byron, who saw it in +Venice soon afterwards, we learn from an amusing postscript to his +letter to Samuel Rogers, wherein he says:—“They have been crucifying +‘Othello’ into an opera; the music good but lugubrious; but as +for the words—all the real scenes with Iago cut out and the greatest +nonsense instead. The handkerchief turned into a billet-doux, and +the first singer would not black his face, for some exquisite reason +assigned in the preface.” In this curiously maimed and mangled +version, Roderigo became of far more importance than the Moor’s +crafty lieutenant. Odder still was the modified French version +played in 1823, when the leading tenor, David, thinking the final +duet with Desdemona unsuited to his voice, substituted the soft and +pretty duet, “Amor, possente nume,” from Rossini’s later opera +“Armida.” A contemporary French critic, who witnessed this +curious performance, observes—“As it was impossible to kill Desdemona +to such a tune, the Moor, after giving way to the most violent +jealousy, sheathed his dagger, and began the duet in the most tender +and graceful manner; after which he took Desdemona politely by the +hand and retired, amidst the applause and bravos of the public, who +seemed to think it quite natural that the piece should finish in this +fashion.”</p> + +<p>Verdi, with that healthy horror of tiring the public which has +always distinguished him, declined Signor Boïto’s proposal to treat +the subject in five acts; and, Shakespeare’s introductory act being +discarded, the first act of the opera corresponds with the second act of +the tragedy. After that the musical drama marches scene by scene, +and situation by situation, on parallel lines with the play, with this +important exception only—namely, that the “Willow Song,” as in +Rossini’s opera, is transferred from the last act but one to the last act. +There are no symphonic pieces in “Otello,” unless the brief +orchestral presentation of the “Willow Song” before the fourth act +can be so considered. The work is a drama set to music, in which +there are no repetitions, no detached or detachable airs written +specially for the singers, no passages of display, nothing whatever in +the way of music but what is absolutely necessary for the elucidation +of the piece. The influence of Wagner is perceptible here and there, +but there are no leading motives, and the general style is that of Verdi +at his best, as in “Aida.”</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“It is well for the Italians that, in hailing Verdi as a great man of +genius, they are not honouring one who moves the profane world to +compassion, scarcely distinguished from contempt, by weakness of +character. His work is so good throughout, so full of method, so +complete, because his nature is complete and his life methodical; for +the same reason, no doubt, he has preserved to a ripe old age all the +essential qualities of the genius of his manhood. The leaves that +remain on the Autumnal trees are yet green, and the birds still +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>226]</a></span> +sing among them. ‘Otello’ itself will, in some form or other, +soon be heard in London; and it is pleasant to think that the +subject is taken from one of the greatest works of the greatest of +all literary Englishmen. The theme is noble, and so, apparently, +is the treatment. Nor should we forget that so distinguished +a composer as Signor Boïto has not disdained, nay, has elected, to +compose the libretto for the old <i>maestro</i>. That is a form and sample +of co-operation we can all admire. Will Italy One and Free continue +to produce great and original musicians? Verdi is the product of +other and more melancholy times. Be that as it may, better national +freedom, civil activity, and personal dignity, than all the operas that +were ever written.”</p> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="cherubini" id="cherubini"></a><i>CHERUBINI AND HIS PREDECESSORS.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> France, as in Italy, the regular musical drama was preceded +by mysteries, masks, and religious plays, which +introduced short musical parts, as also action, mechanical +effects, and dancing. The ballet, however, where dancing +was the prominent feature, remained for a long time the +favourite amusement of the French court until the advent +of Jean Baptiste Lulli. The young Florentine, after having +served in the king’s band, was promoted to be its chief, and +the composer of the music of the court ballets. Lulli, born +in 1633, was bought of his parents by Chevalier de Guise, +and sent to Paris as a present to Mdlle. de Montpensier, the +king’s niece. His capricious mistress, after a year or two, +deposed the boy of fifteen from the position of page to that +of scullion; but Count Nogent, accidentally hearing him +sing and struck by his musical talent, influenced the +princess to place him under the care of good masters. +Lulli made such rapid progress that he soon commenced to +compose music of a style superior to that before current in +divertisements of the French court.</p> + +<p>The name of Philippe Quinault is closely associated with +the musical career of Lulli; for to the poet the musician +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>227]</a></span> +was indebted for his best librettos. Born at Paris in 1636, +Quinault’s genius for poetry displayed itself at an early age. +Before he was twenty he had written several successful +comedies. Though he produced many plays, both tragedies +and comedies, well known to readers of French poetry, his +operatic poems are those which have rendered his memory +illustrious. He died on November 29, 1688. It is said +that during his last illness he was extremely penitent on +account of the voluptuous tendency of his works. All his +lyrical dramas are full of beauty, but “Atys,” “Phaëton,” +“Isis,” and “Armide” have been ranked the highest. +“Armide” was the last of the poet’s efforts, and Lulli was +so much in love with the opera, when completed, that he +had it performed over and over again for his own pleasure +without any other auditor. When “Atys” was performed +first in 1676, the eager throng began to pour in the theatre +at ten o’clock in the morning, and by noon the building was +filled. The King and the Count were charmed with the +work in spite of the bitter dislike of Boileau, the Aristarchus +of his age. “Put me in a place where I shall not be able +to hear the words,” said the latter to the box-keeper; “I like +Lulli’s music very much, but have a sovereign contempt +for Quinault’s words.” Lulli obliged the poet to write +“Armide” five times over, and the felicity of his treatment +is proved by the fact that Gluck afterwards set the +same poem to the music which is still occasionally sung in +Germany.</p> + +<p>Lulli in the course of his musical career became so great +a favourite with the King that the originally obscure +kitchen-boy was ennobled. He was made one of the King’s +secretaries in spite of the loud murmurs of this pampered +fraternity against receiving into their body a player and a +buffoon. The musician’s wit and affability, however, finally +dissipated these prejudices, especially as he was wealthy and +of irreproachable character.</p> + +<p>The King having had a severe illness in 1686, Lulli +composed a “Te Deum” in honour of his recovery. When +this was given, the musician, in beating time with great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>228]</a></span> +ardour, struck his toe with his baton. This brought on a +mortification, and there was great grief when it was +announced that he could not recover. The Princes de +Vendôme lodged four thousand pistoles in the hands of a +banker, to be paid to any physician who would cure him. +Shortly before his death his confessor severely reproached +him for the licentiousness of his operas, and refused to give +him absolution unless he consented to burn the score of +“Achille et Polyxène,” which was ready for the stage. The +manuscript was put into the flames, and the priest made the +musician’s peace with God. One of the young princes +visited him a few days after, when he seemed a little +better.</p> + +<p>“What, Baptiste,” the former said, “have you burned +your opera? You were a fool for giving such credit to a +gloomy confessor and burning good music.”</p> + +<p>“Hush, hush!” whispered Lulli, with a satirical smile +on his lip. “I cheated the good father. I only burned a +copy.”</p> + +<p>He died singing the words, “<i>Il faut mourir, pécheur, il +faut mourir</i>,” to one of his own opera airs.</p> + +<p>Lulli was not only a composer, but created his own +orchestra, trained his artists in acting and singing, and was +machinist as well as ballet-master and music-director. He +was intimate with Corneille, Molière, La Fontaine, and +Boileau; and these great men were proud to contribute the +texts to which he set his music. He introduced female +dancers into the ballet, disguised men having hitherto +served in this capacity, and in many essential ways was the +father of early French opera, though its foundation had +been laid by Cardinal Mazarin. He had to fight against +opposition and cabals, but his energy, tact, and persistence +made him the victor, and won the friendship of the leading +men of his time. Such of his music as still exists is of a +pleasing and melodious character, full of vivacity and fire, +and at times indicates a more deep and serious power than +that of merely creating catching and tuneful airs. He was +the inventor of the operatic overture, and introduced several +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>229]</a></span> +new instruments into the orchestra. Apart from his +splendid administrative faculty, he is entitled to rank as an +original and gifted, if not a great composer.</p> + +<p>A lively sketch of the French opera of this period is +given by Addison in No. 29 of the <i>Spectator</i>. “The music +of the French,” he says, “is indeed very properly adapted +to their pronunciation and accent, as their whole opera +wonderfully favours the genius of such a gay, airy people. +The chorus in which that opera abounds gives the parterre +frequent opportunities of joining in concert with the stage. +This inclination of the audience to sing along with the +actors so prevails with them that I have sometimes known +the performer on the stage to do no more in a celebrated +song than the clerk of a parish church, who serves only to +raise the psalm, and is afterwards drowned in the music of +the congregation. Every actor that comes on the stage is a +beau. The queens and heroines are so painted that they +appear as ruddy and cherry-cheeked as milkmaids. The +shepherds are all embroidered, and acquit themselves in a +ball better than our English dancing-masters. I have seen +a couple of rivers appear in red stockings; and Alpheus, +instead of having his head covered with sedge and bulrushes, +making love in a fair, full-bottomed periwig, and a plume of +feathers; but with a voice so full of shakes and quavers, +that I should have thought the murmur of a country brook +the much more agreeable music. I remember the last opera +I saw in that merry nation was the ‘Rape of Proserpine,’ +where Pluto, to make the more tempting figure, puts +himself in a French equipage, and brings Ascalaphus along +with him as his <i>valet de chambre</i>. This is what we call +folly and impertinence, but what the French look upon as +gay and polite.”</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The French musical drama continued without much +change in the hands of the Lulli school (for the musician +had several skilful imitators and successors) till the appearance +of Jean Philippe Rameau, who inaugurated a new era. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>230]</a></span> +This celebrated man was born in Auvergne in 1683, and +was during his earlier life the organist of the Clermont +cathedral church. Here he pursued the scientific researches +in music which entitled him in the eyes of his admirers to +be called the Newton of his art. He had reached the age +of fifty without recognition as a dramatic composer, when +the production of “Hippolyte et Aricie” excited a violent +feud by creating a strong current of opposition to the music +of Lulli. He produced works in rapid succession, and +finally overcame all obstacles, and won for himself the name +of being the greatest lyric composer which France up to +that time had produced. His last opera, “Les Paladins,” +was given in 1760, the composer being then seventy-seven.</p> + +<p>The bitterness of the art-feuds of that day, afterwards +shown in the Gluck-Piccini contest, was foreshadowed in +that waged by Rameau against Lulli, and finally against +the Italian new-comers, who sought to take possession of +the French stage. The matter became a national quarrel, +and it was considered an insult to France to prefer the +music of an Italian to that of a Frenchman—an insult +which was often settled by the rapier point, when tongue +and pen had failed as arbitrators. The subject was keenly +debated by journalists and pamphleteers, and the press +groaned with essays to prove that Rameau was the first +musician in Europe, though his works were utterly unknown +outside of France. Perhaps no more valuable testimony to +the character of these operas can be adduced than that of +Baron Grimm:—</p> + +<p>“In his operas Rameau has overpowered all his predecessors +by dint of harmony and quantity of notes. Some +of his choruses are very fine. Lulli could only sustain his +vocal psalmody by a simple bass; Rameau accompanied +almost all his recitatives with the orchestra. These accompaniments +are generally in bad taste; they drown the voice +rather than support it, and force the singers to scream and +howl in a manner which no ear of any delicacy can tolerate. +We come away from an opera of Rameau’s intoxicated +with harmony and stupified with the noise of voice and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>231]</a></span> +instruments. His taste is always Gothic, and, whether his +subject is light or forcible, his style is equally heavy. He +was not destitute of ideas, but did not know what use to +make of them. In his recitatives the sound is continually +in opposition to the sense, though they occasionally contain +happy declamatory passages.... If he had formed himself +in some of the schools of Italy, and thus acquired a notion +of musical style and habits of musical thought, he never +would have said (as he did) that all poems were alike to +him, and that he could set the <i>Gazette de France</i> to +music.”</p> + +<p>From this it may be gathered that Rameau, though a +scientific and learned musician, lacked imagination, good +taste, and dramatic insight—qualities which in the modern +lyric school of France have been so pre-eminent. It may be +admitted, however, that he inspired a taste for sound +musical science, and thus prepared the way for the great +Gluck, who to all and more of Rameau’s musical knowledge +united the grand genius which makes him one of the giants +of his art.</p> + +<p>Though Rameau enjoyed supremacy over the serious +opera, a great excitement was created in Paris by the +arrival of an Italian company, who in 1752 obtained permission +to perform Italian burlettas and intermezzi at the +opera-house. The partisans of the French school took +alarm, and the admirers of Lulli and Rameau forgot their +bickerings to join forces against the foreign intruders. The +battle-field was strewed with floods of ink, and the literati +pelted each other with ferocious lampoons.</p> + +<p>Among the literature of this controversy, one pamphlet +has an imperishable place, Rousseau’s famous “Lettre sur +la Musique Française,” in which the great sentimentalist +espoused the cause of Italian music with an eloquence and +acrimony rarely surpassed. The inconsistency of the +author was as marked in this as in his private life. Not +only did he at a later period become a great advocate of +Gluck against Piccini, but, in spite of his argument that it +was impossible to compose music to French words, that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>232]</a></span> +language was quite unfit for it, that the French never had +music and never would, he himself had composed a good +deal of music to French words and produced a French +opera, “Le Devin du Village.” Diderot was also a warm +partisan of the Italians. Pergolesi’s beautiful music having +been murdered by the French orchestra-players at the +Grand Opera-House, Diderot proposed for it the following +witty and laconic inscription:—“Hic Marsyas Apollinem.”<a name="FNanchor_M_13" id="FNanchor_M_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_M_13" class="fnanchor">[M]</a></p> + +<p>Rousseau’s opera, “Le Devin du Village,” was performed +with considerable success, in spite of the repugnance of the +orchestral performers, of whom Rousseau always spoke in +terms of unmeasured contempt, to do justice to the music. +They burned Rousseau in effigy for his scoffs. “Well,” +said the author of the <i>Confessions</i>, “I don’t wonder that +they should hang me now, after having so long put me to +the torture.”</p> + +<p>The eloquence and abuse of the wits, however, did not +long impair the supremacy of Rameau; for the Italian company +returned to their own land, disheartened by their +reception in the French capital. Though this composer +commenced so late in life, he left thirty-six dramatic works. +His greatest work was “Castor et Pollux.” Thirty years +later Grimm recognised its merits by admitting, in spite of +the great faults of the composer, “It is the pivot on which +the glory of French music turns.” When Louis XIV. +offered Rameau a title, he answered, touching his breast +and forehead, “My nobility is here and here.” This composer +marked a step forward in French music, for he gave +it more boldness and freedom, and was the first really +scientific and well-equipped exponent of a national school. +His choruses were full of energy and fire, his orchestral +effects rich and massive. He died in 1764, and the +mortuary music, composed by himself, was performed by a +double orchestra and chorus from the Grand Opera.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_M_13" id="Footnote_M_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_M_13"><span class="label">[M]</span></a> +Here Marsyas flayed Apollo.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>233]</a></span></p> + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>A distinguished place in the records of French music +must be assigned to <span class="smcap">André Ernest Grétry</span>, born at Liége +in 1741. His career covered the most important changes +in the art as coloured and influenced by national tastes, +and he is justly regarded as the father of comic opera in his +adopted country. His childish life is one of much severe +discipline and tribulation, for he was dedicated to music by +his father, who was first violinist in the college of St. Denis, +when he was only six years old. He afterwards wrote of +this time in his <i>Essais sur la Musique</i>—“The hour for +the lesson afforded the teacher an opportunity to exercise +his cruelty. He made us sing each in turn, and woe to +him who made the least mistake; he was beaten unmercifully, +the youngest as well as the oldest. He seemed to +take pleasure in inventing torture. At times he would +place us on a short round stick, from which we fell head +over heels if we made the least movement. But that which +made us tremble with fear was to see him knock down a +pupil and beat him; for then we were sure he would treat +some others in the same manner, one victim being insufficient +to gratify his ferocity. To maltreat his pupils was a +sort of mania with him; and he seemed to feel that his +duty was performed in proportion to the cries and sobs +which he drew forth.”</p> + +<p>In 1759 Grétry went to Rome, where he studied counterpoint +for five years. Some of his works were received +favourably by the Roman public, and he was made a +member of the Philharmonic Society of Bologna. Pressed +by pecuniary necessity, Grétry determined to go to Paris; +but he stopped at Geneva on the route to earn money by +singing-lessons. Here he met Voltaire at Ferney. “You +are a musician and have genius,” said the great man; “it +is a very rare thing, and I take much interest in you.” +In spite of this, however, Voltaire would not write him the +text for an opera. The philosopher of Ferney feared to +trust his reputation with an unknown musician. When +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>234]</a></span> +Grétry arrived in Paris he still found the same difficulty, as +no distinguished poet was disposed to give him a libretto +till he had made his powers recognised. After two years +of starving and waiting, Marmontel gave him the text +of “The Huron,” which was brought out in 1769 and +well received. Other successful works followed in rapid +succession.</p> + +<p>At this time Parisian frivolity thought it good taste +to admire the rustic and naïve. The idyls of Gessner and +the pastorals of Florian were the favourite reading, and +Watteau the popular painter. Gentlefolks, steeped in +artifice, vice, and intrigue, masked their empty lives under +the assumption of Arcadian simplicity, and minced and +ambled in the costumes of shepherds and shepherdesses. +Marie Antoinette transformed her chalet of Petit Trianon +into a farm, where she and her courtiers played at pastoral +life—the farce preceding the tragedy of the Revolution. +It was the effort of dazed society seeking change. Grétry +followed the fashionable bent by composing pastoral +comedies, and mounted on the wave of success.</p> + +<p>In 1774 “Fausse Magie” was produced with the greatest +applause. Rousseau was present, and the composer waited +on him in his box, meeting a most cordial reception. On +their way home after the opera, Grétry offered his new +friend his arm to help him over an obstruction. Rousseau +with a burst of rage said, “Let me make use of my own +powers,” and henceforward the sentimental misanthrope +refused to recognise the composer. About this time +Grétry met the English humorist Hales, who afterwards +furnished him with many of his comic texts. The two +combined to produce the “Jugement de Midas,” a satire +on the old style of music, which met with remarkable +popular favour, though it was not so well received by the +court.</p> + +<p>The crowning work of this composer’s life was given to +the world in 1785. This was “Richard Cœur de Lion,” +and it proved one of the great musical events of the period. +Paris was in ecstasies, and the judgment of succeeding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>235]</a></span> +generations has confirmed the contemporary verdict, as it +is still a favourite opera in France and Germany. The +works afterwards composed by Grétry showed decadence in +power. Singularly rich in fresh and sprightly ideas, he +lacked depth and grandeur, and failed to suit the deeper +and sounder taste which Cherubini and Méhul, great followers +in the footsteps of Gluck, gratified by a series of +noble masterpieces. Grétry’s services to his art, however, +by his production of comic operas full of lyric vivacity and +sparkle, have never been forgotten nor underrated. His +bust was placed in the opera-house during his lifetime, and +he was made a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts +and Inspector of the Conservatory. Grétry possessed qualities +of heart which endeared him to all, and his death in 1813 +was the occasion of a general outburst of lamentation. +Deputations from the theatres and the Conservatory accompanied +his remains to the cemetery, where Méhul pronounced +an eloquent eulogium. In 1828 a nephew of +Grétry caused the heart of him who was one of the glorious +sons of Liége to be returned to his native city.</p> + +<p>Grétry founded a school of musical composition in France +which has since been cultivated with signal success—that of +lyric comedy. The efforts of Lulli and Rameau had been +turned in another direction. The former had done little +more than set courtly pageants to music, though he had +done this with great skill and tact, enriching them with a +variety of concerted and orchestral pieces, and showing +much fertility in the invention alike of pathetic and lively +melodies. Rameau followed in the footsteps of Lulli, but +expanded and crystallised his ideas into a more scientific +form. He had indeed carried his love of form to a radical +extreme. Jean Jacques Rousseau, who extended his taste +for nature and simplicity to music, blamed him severely as +one who neglected genuine natural tune for far-fetched harmonies, +on the ground that “music is a child of nature, +and has a language of its own for expressing emotional +transports, which cannot be learned from thorough-bass +rules.” Again, Rousseau, in his forcible tract on French +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>236]</a></span> +music, says of Rameau, from whose school Grétry’s music +was such a significant departure—</p> + +<p>“One must confess that M. Rameau possesses very great +talent, much fire and euphony, and a considerable knowledge +of harmonious combinations and effects; one must +also grant him the art of appropriating the ideas of others +by changing their character, adorning and developing them, +and turning them around in all manner of ways. On the +other hand, he shows less facility in inventing new ones. +Altogether he has more skill than fertility, more knowledge +than genius, or rather genius smothered by knowledge, but +always force, grace, and very often a beautiful <i>cantilena</i>. +His recitative is not as natural but much more varied than +that of Lulli; admirable in a few scenes, but bad as a +rule.” Rousseau continues to reproach Rameau with a too +powerful instrumentation, compared with Italian simplicity, +and sums up that nobody knew better than Rameau how +to conceive the spirit of single passages and to produce +artistic contrasts, but that he entirely failed to give his +operas “a happy and much-to-be-desired unity.” In another +part of the quoted passage Rousseau says that Rameau +stands far beneath Lulli in <i>esprit</i> and artistic tact, but that +he is often superior to him in dramatic expression.</p> + +<p>A clear understanding of the musical position of Rameau +is necessary to fully appreciate the place of Grétry, his +antithesis as a composer. For a short time the popularity +of Rameau had been shaken by an Italian opera company, +called by the French <i>Les Bouffons</i>, who had created a +genuine sensation by their performance of airy and sparkling +operettas, entirely removed in spirit from the ponderous +productions of the prevailing school. Though the Italian +comedians did not meet with permanent success, the suave +charm of their music left behind it memories which +became fruitful.<a name="FNanchor_N_14" id="FNanchor_N_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_N_14" class="fnanchor">[N]</a> It furnished the point of departure for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>237]</a></span> +the lively and facile genius of Grétry, who laid the foundation +stones for that lyric comedy which has flourished in +France with so much luxuriance. From the outset merriment +and humour were by no means the sole object of the +French comic opera, as in the case of its Italian sister. +Grétry did not neglect to turn the nobler emotions to +account, and by a judicious admixture of sentiment he gave +an ideal colouring to his works, which made them singularly +fascinating and original. Around Grétry flourished several +disciples and imitators, and for twenty years this charming +hybrid between opera and vaudeville engrossed French +musical talent, to the exclusion of other forms of composition. +It was only when Gluck<a name="FNanchor_O_15" id="FNanchor_O_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_O_15" class="fnanchor">[O]</a> appeared on the scene, +and by his commanding genius restored serious opera to its +supremacy, that Grétry’s repute was overshadowed. From +this decline in public favour he never fully recovered, for +the master left behind him gifted disciples, who embodied +his traditions, and were inspired by his lofty aims—pre-eminently +so in the case of Cherubini, perhaps the greatest +name in French music. While French comic opera, since +the days of Grétry, has become modified in some of its +forms, it preserves the spirit and colouring which he so +happily imparted to it, and looks back to him as its founder +and lawgiver.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_N_14" id="Footnote_N_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_N_14"><span class="label">[N]</span></a> +In its infancy Italian comic opera formed the <i>intermezzo</i> between +the acts of a serious opera, and—similar to the Greek sylvan drama +which followed the tragic trilogy—was frequently a parody on the +piece which preceded it; though more frequently still (as in Pergolesi’s +“Serva Padrona”) it was not a satire on any particular subject, +but designed to heighten the ideal artistic effect of the serious opera by +broad comedy. Having acquired a complete form on the boards of +the small theatres, it was transferred to the larger stage. Though it +lacked the external splendour and consummate vocalisation of the +elder sister, its simpler forms endowed it with a more characteristic +rendering of actual life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_O_15" id="Footnote_O_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_O_15"><span class="label">[O]</span></a> +See article on “<a href="#gluck">Gluck</a>,” in <i>The Great German Composers</i> (the first +part of this work), in which his connection with French music is +discussed.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>One of the most accomplished of historians and critics, +Oulibischeff, sums up the place of Cherubini in musical art +in these words—“If on the one hand Gluck’s calm and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>238]</a></span> +plastic grandeur, and on the other the tender and voluptuous +charm of the melodies of Piccini and Zacchini, had +suited the circumstances of a state of society sunk in +luxury and nourished with classical exhibitions, this could +not satisfy a society shaken to the very foundations of its +faith and organisation. The whole of the dramatic music +of the eighteenth century must naturally have appeared +cold and languid to men whose minds were profoundly +moved with troubles and wars; and even at the present +day the word languor best expresses that which no longer +touches us in the operas of the last century, without even +excepting those of Mozart himself. What we require +for the pictures of dramatic music is larger frames, including +more figures, more passionate and moving song, more +sharply marked rhythms, greater fulness in the vocal +masses, and more sonorous brilliancy in the instrumentation. +All these qualities are to be found in ‘Lodoïska’ +and ‘Les Deux Journées;’ and Cherubini may not only be +regarded as the founder of the modern French opera, but +also as that musician who, after Mozart, has exerted the +greatest general influence on the tendency of the art. An +Italian by birth and the excellence of his education, which +was conducted by Sarti, the great teacher of composition; +a German by his musical sympathies as well as by the +variety and profundity of his knowledge; and a Frenchman +by the school and principles to which we owe his finest +dramatic works, Cherubini strikes me as being the most +accomplished musician, if not the greatest genius, of the +nineteenth century.”</p> + +<p>Again, the English composer, Macfarren, observes—“Cherubini’s +position is unique in the history of his art; +actively before the world as a composer for threescore +years and ten, his career spans over more vicissitudes in +the progress of music than that of any other man. Beginning +to write in the same year with Cimarosa, and even +earlier than Mozart, and being the contemporary of Verdi +and Wagner, he witnessed almost the origin of the two +modern classical schools of France and Germany, their rise +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>239]</a></span> +to perfection, and, if not their decline, the arrival of a time +when criticism would usurp the place of creation, and +when to propound new rules for art claims higher consideration +than to act according to its ever unalterable +principles. His artistic life indeed was a rainbow based +on the two extremes of modern music which shed light and +glory on the great art-cycle over which it arched.... His +excellence consists in his unswerving earnestness of purpose, +in the individuality of his manner, in the vigour of his ideas, +and in the purity of his harmony.”</p> + +<p>“Such,” says M. Miel, “was Cherubini; a colossal and +incommensurable genius, an existence full of days, of masterpieces, +and of glory. Among his rivals he found his +most sincere appreciators. The Chevalier Seyfried has +recorded, in a notice on Beethoven, that that grand +musician regarded Cherubini as the first of his contemporary +composers. We will add nothing to this praise: +the judgment of such a rival is, for Cherubini, the voice +itself of posterity.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luigi Carlo Zanobe Salvadore Maria Cherubini</span> was +born at Florence on September 14, 1760, the son of a harpsichord +accompanist at the Pergola Theatre. Like so many +other great composers, young Cherubini displayed signs of a +fertile and powerful genius at an early age, mastering the +difficulties of music as if by instinct. At the age of nine +he was placed under the charge of Felici, one of the best +Tuscan professors of the day; and four years afterwards he +composed his first work, a mass. His creative instinct, +thus awakened, remained active, and he produced a series +of compositions which awakened no little admiration, so +that he was pointed at in the streets of Florence as the +young prodigy. When he was about sixteen the attention +of the Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany was directed to him, +and through that prince’s liberality he was enabled to +become a pupil of the most celebrated Italian master of +the age, Giuseppe Sarti, of whom he soon became the +favourite pupil. Under the direction of Sarti, the young +composer produced a series of operas, sonatas, and masses, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>240]</a></span> +and wrote much of the music which appeared under the +<i>maestro’s</i> own name—a practice then common in the music +and painting schools of Italy. At the age of nineteen +Cherubini was recognised as one of the most learned and +accomplished musicians of the age, and his services were in +active demand at the Italian theatres. In four years he +produced thirteen operas, the names and character of +which it is not necessary now to mention, as they are +unknown except to the antiquary whose zeal prompts him +to defy the dust of the Italian theatrical libraries. Halévy, +whose admiration of his master led him to study these +early compositions, speaks of them as full of striking +beauties, and, though crude in many particulars, distinguished +by those virile and daring conceptions which +from the outset stamped the originality of the man.</p> + +<p>Cherubini passed through Paris in 1784, while the Gluck-Piccini +excitement was yet warm, and visited London as +composer for the Royal Italian Opera. Here he became a +constant visitor in courtly circles, and the Prince of Wales, +the Duke of Queensbury, and other noble amateurs, conceived +the warmest admiration for his character and +abilities. For some reason, however, his operas written +for England failed, and he quitted England in 1786, intending +to return to Italy. But the fascinations of Paris held +him, as they have done so many others, noticeably so among +the great musicians; and what was designed as a flying +visit became a life-long residence, with the exception of +brief interruptions in Germany and Italy, whither he went +to fill professional engagements.</p> + +<p>Cherubini took up his residence with his friend Viotti, +who introduced him to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, and +the highest society of the capital, then as now the art-centre +of the world. He became an intimate of the brilliant +salons of Mdme. de Polignac, Mdme. d’Etioles, Mdme. de +Richelieu, and of the various bright assemblies where the +wit, rank, and beauty of Paris gathered in the days just +prior to the Revolution. The poet Marmontel became his +intimate friend, and gave him the opera story of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>241]</a></span> +“Demophon” to set to music. It was at this period that +Cherubini became acquainted with the works of Haydn, +and learned from him how to unite depth with lightness, +grace with power, jest with earnestness, and toying with +dignity.</p> + +<p>A short visit to Italy for the carnival of 1788 resulted +in the production of the opera of “Ifigenia in Aulide” at +La Scala, Milan. The success was great, and this work, +the last written for his native country, was given also at +Florence and Parma with no less delight and approbation +on the part of the public. Had Cherubini died at this +time, he would have left nothing but an obscure name for +Fétis’s immense dictionary. Unlike Mozart and Schubert, +who at the same age had reached their highest development, +this robust and massive genius ripened slowly. With him +as with Gluck, with whom he had so many affinities, a +short life would have been fatal to renown. His last opera +showed a turning point in his development. Halévy, his +great disciple, speaks of this period as follows:—“He is +already more nervous; there peeps out I know not exactly +how much of force and virility of which the Italian +musicians of his day did not know or did not seek the +secret. It is the dawn of a new day. Cherubini was preparing +himself for the combat. Gluck had accustomed +France to the sublime energy of his masterpieces. Mozart +had just written ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ and ‘Don Giovanni.’ +He must not lag behind. He must not be conquered. In +that career which he was about to dare to enter, he met two +giants. Like the athlete who descends into the arena, he +anointed his limbs and girded his loins for the fight.”</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Marmontel had furnished the libretto of an opera to +Cherubini, and the composer shortly after his return from +Turin to Paris had it produced at the Royal Academy of +Music. Vogel’s opera on the same text, “Demophon,” +was also brought out, but neither one met with great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>242]</a></span> +success. Cherubini’s work, though full of vigour and force, +wanted colour and dramatic point. He was disgusted with +his failure, and resolved to eschew dramatic music; so for +the nonce he devoted himself to instrumental music and +cantata. Two works of the latter class, “Amphion” and +“Circe,” composed at this time, were of such excellence as +to retain a permanent hold on the French stage. Cherubini, +too, became director of the Italian opera troupe, “Les +Bouffons,” organised under the patronage of Léonard, the +Queen’s performer, and exercised his taste for composition +by interpolating airs of his own into the works of the +Italian composers, which were then interesting the French +public as against the operas of Rameau.</p> + +<p>“At this time,” we are told by Lafage, “Cherubini had +two distinct styles, one of which was allied to Paisiello and +Cimarosa by the grace, elegance, and purity of the melodic +forms; the other, which attached itself to the school of +Gluck and Mozart, more harmonic than melodious, rich in +instrumental details.” This manner was the then unappreciated +type of a new school destined to change the forms +of musical art.</p> + +<p>In 1790 the Revolution broke out and rent the established +order of things into fragments. For a time all the +interests of art were swallowed up in the frightful turmoil +which made Paris the centre of attention for astonished +and alarmed Europe. Cherubini’s connection had been +with the aristocracy, and now they were fleeing in a mad +panic or mounting the scaffold. His livelihood became precarious, +and he suffered severely during the first five years +of anarchy. His seclusion was passed in studying music, +the physical sciences, drawing, and botany; and his acquaintance +was wisely confined to a few musicians like +himself. Once, indeed, his having learned the violin as a +child was the means of saving his life. Independently +venturing out at night, he was arrested by a roving band +of drunken <i>Sansculottes</i>, who were seeking musicians to +conduct their street chants. Somebody recognised Cherubini +as a favourite of court circles, and, when he refused to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>243]</a></span> +lead their obscene music, the fatal cry, “The Royalist, the +Royalist!” buzzed through the crowd. At this critical +moment another kidnapped player thrust a violin in Cherubini’s +hands and persuaded him to yield. So the two +musicians marched all day amid the hoarse yells of the +drunken revolutionists. He was also enrolled in the +National Guard, and obliged to accompany daily the march +of the unfortunate throngs who shed their blood under the +axe of the guillotine. Cherubini would have fled from +these horrible surroundings, but it was difficult to evade +the vigilance of the French officials; he had no money; +and he would not leave the beautiful Cécile Tourette, to +whom he was affianced.</p> + +<p>One of the theatres opened during the revolutionary +epoch was the Théâtre Feydeau. The second opera performed +was Cherubini’s “Lodoïska” (1791), at which he +had been labouring for a long time, and which was received +throughout Europe with the greatest enthusiasm and +delight, not less in Germany than in France and Italy. +The stirring times aroused a new taste in music, as well as +in politics and literature. The dramas of Racine and the +operas of Lulli were akin. No less did the stormy genius +of Schiller find its counterpart in Beethoven and Cherubini. +The production of “Lodoïska” was the point of departure +from which the great French school of serious opera, which +has given us “Robert le Diable,” “Les Huguenots,” and +“Faust,” got its primal value and significance. Two men +of genius, Gluck and Grétry, had formed the tastes of the +public in being faithful to the accents of nature. The idea +of reconciling this taste, founded on strict truth, with the +seductive charm of the Italian forms, to which the French +were beginning to be sensible, suggested to Cherubini a +system of lyric drama capable of satisfying both. Wagner +himself even says, in his <i>Tendencies and Theories</i>, +speaking of Cherubini and his great co-labourers, Méhul and +Spontini—“It would be difficult to answer them, if they +now perchance came among us and asked in what respect +we had improved on their mode of musical procedure.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>244]</a></span> +“Lodoïska,” which cast the old Italian operas into permanent +oblivion, and laid the foundation of the modern +French dramatic school in music, has a libretto similar to +that of “Fidelio” and Grétry’s “Cœur de Lion” combined, +and was taken from a romance of Faiblas by Fillette +Loraux. The critics found only one objection: the music +was all so beautiful that no breathing time was granted the +listener. In one year the opera was performed two +hundred times, and at short intervals two hundred more +representations took place.</p> + +<p>The Revolution culminated in the crisis of 1793, which +sent the King to the scaffold. Cherubini found a retreat at +La Chartreuse, near Rouen, the country-seat of his friend, +the architect Louis. Here he lived in tranquillity, and +composed several minor pieces and a three-act opera, never +produced, but afterwards worked over into “Ali Baba” and +“Faniska.” In his Norman retreat Cherubini heard of the +death of his father, and while suffering under this infliction, +just before his return to Paris in 1794, he composed the +opera of “Elisa.” This work was received with much +favour at the Feydeau theatre, though it did not arouse the +admiration called out by “Lodoïska.”</p> + +<p>In 1795 the Paris Conservatory was founded, and +Cherubini appointed one of the five inspectors, as well as +professor of counterpoint, his associates being Lesueur, +Grétry, Gossec, and Méhul. The same year also saw him +united to Cécile Tourette, to whom he had been so long and +devotedly attached. Absorbed in his duties at the Conservatory, +he did not come before the public again till 1797, +when the great tragic masterpiece of “Médée” was produced +at the Feydeau theatre. “Lodoïska” had been +somewhat gay; “Elisa,” a work of graver import, followed; +but in “Médée” was sustained the profound tragic power +of Gluck and Beethoven. Hoffman’s libretto was indeed +unworthy of the great music, but this has not prevented its +recognition by musicians as one of the noblest operas ever +written. It has probably been one of the causes, however, +why it is so rarely represented at the present time, its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>245]</a></span> +overture alone being well known to modern musical audiences. +This opera has been compared by critics to Shakespeare’s +“King Lear,” as being a great expression of anguish and +despair in their more stormy phases. Chorley tells us that, +when he first saw it, he was irresistibly reminded of the +lines in Barry Cornwall’s poem to Pasta—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Now thou art like some wingèd thing that cries<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above some city, flaming fast to death.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The poem which Chorley quotes from was inspired by the +performance of the great Pasta in Simone Mayer’s weak +musical setting of the fable of the Colchian sorceress, which +crowded the opera-houses of Europe. The life of the +French classical tragedy, too, was powerfully assisted +by Rachel. Though the poem on which Cherubini worked +was unworthy of his genius, it could not be from this or +from lack of interest in the theme alone that this great +work is so rarely performed; it is because there have been +not more than three or four actresses in the last hundred +years combining the great tragic and vocal requirements +exacted by the part. If the tragic genius of Pasta could +have been united with the voice of a Catalania, made as it +were of adamant and gold, Cherubini’s sublime musical +creation would have found an adequate interpreter. Mdlle. +Tietjens, indeed, has been the only late dramatic singer who +dared essay so difficult a task. Musical students rank the +instrumental parts of this opera with the organ music of +Bach, the choral fugues of Handel, and the symphonies of +Beethoven, for beauty of form and originality of ideas.</p> + +<p>On its first representation, on the 13th of March 1797, +one of the journals, after praising its beauty, professed to +discover imitations of Méhul’s manner in it. The latter +composer, in an indignant rejoinder, proclaimed himself and +all others as overshadowed by Cherubini’s genius: a singular +example of artistic humility and justice. Three years after +its performance in Paris, it was given at Berlin and Vienna, +and stamped by the Germans as one of the world’s great +musical masterpieces. This work was a favourite one with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>246]</a></span> +Schubert, Beethoven, and Weber, and there have been few +great composers who have not put on record their admiration +of it.</p> + +<p>As great, however, as “Médée” is ranked, “Les Deux +Journées,”<a name="FNanchor_P_16" id="FNanchor_P_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_P_16" class="fnanchor">[P]</a> produced in 1800, is the opera on which +Cherubini’s fame as a dramatic composer chiefly rests. Three +hundred consecutive performances did not satisfy Paris; +and at Berlin and Frankfort, as well as in Italy, it was +hailed with acclamation. Bouilly was the author of the +opera-story, suggested by the generous action of a water-carrier +towards a magistrate who was related to the author. +The story is so interesting, so admirably written, that +Goethe and Mendelssohn considered it the true model for a +comic opera. The musical composition, too, is nearly faultless +in form and replete with beauties. In this opera +Cherubini anticipated the reforms of Wagner, for he dispensed +with the old system which made the drama a web of +beautiful melodies, and established his musical effects for +the most part by the vigour and charm of the choruses and +concerted pieces. It has been accepted as a model work by +composers, and Beethoven was in the habit of keeping it by +him on his writing-table for constant study and reference.</p> + +<p>Spohr, in his autobiography, says, “I recollect, when the +‘Deux Journées’ was performed for the first time, how, +intoxicated with delight and the powerful impression the +work had made on me, I asked on that very evening to +have the score given me, and sat over it the whole night; +and that it was that opera chiefly that gave me my first +impulse to composition.” Weber, in a letter from Munich +written in 1813, says, “Fancy my delight when I beheld +lying upon the table of the hotel the play-bill with the +magic name <i>Armand</i>. I was the first person in the theatre, +and planted myself in the middle of the pit, where I waited +most anxiously for the tones which I knew beforehand +would elevate and inspire me. I think I may assert boldly +that ‘Les Deux Journées’ is a really great dramatic and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>247]</a></span> +classical work. Everything is calculated so as to produce +the greatest effect; all the various pieces are so much in +their proper place that you can neither omit one nor make +any addition to them. The opera displays a pleasing richness +of melody, vigorous declamation, and all-striking truth in +the treatment of situations, ever new, ever heard and +retained with pleasure.” Mendelssohn, too, writing to his +father of a performance of this opera, speaks of the enthusiasm +of the audience as extreme, as well as of his own pleasure +as surpassing anything he had ever experienced in a theatre. +Mendelssohn, who never completed an opera, because he did +not find until shortly before his death a theme which +properly inspired him to dramatic creation, corresponded +with Planché, with the hope of getting from the latter a +libretto which should unite the excellences of “Fidelio” +with those of “Les Deux Journées.” He found, at last, a +libretto, which, if it did not wholly satisfy him, at least +overcame some of his prejudices, in a story based on the +Rhine myth of Lorelei. A fragment of it only was finished, +and the finale of the first act is occasionally performed in +England.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_P_16" id="Footnote_P_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_P_16"><span class="label">[P]</span></a> +In German known as “Die Wasserträger,” in English, “The +Water-Carriers.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Before Napoleon became First Consul, he had been on +familiar terms with Cherubini. The soldier and the composer +were seated in the same box listening to an opera by +the latter. Napoleon, whose tastes for music were for the +suave and sensuous Italian style, turned to him and said, +“My dear Cherubini, you are certainly an excellent musician; +but really your music is so noisy and complicated that I can +make nothing of it;” to which Cherubini replied, “My +dear general, you are certainly an excellent soldier; but in +regard to music you must excuse me if I don’t think it +necessary to adapt my music to your comprehension.” This +haughty reply was the beginning of an estrangement. +Another illustration of Cherubini’s sturdy pride and dignity +was his rejoinder to Napoleon, when the latter was praising +the works of the Italian composers, and covertly sneering at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>248]</a></span> +his own. “Citizen General,” he replied, “occupy yourself +with battles and victories, and allow me to treat according +to my talent an art of which you are grossly ignorant.” +Even when Napoleon became Emperor, the proud composer +never learned “to crook the pregnant hinges of his knee” +to the man before whom Europe trembled.</p> + +<p>On the 12th of December 1800, a grand performance of +“The Creation” took place at Paris. Napoleon on his way +to it narrowly escaped being killed by an infernal machine. +Cherubini was one of the deputation, representing the +various corporations and societies of Paris, who waited on +the First Consul to congratulate him upon his escape. +Cherubini kept in the background, when the sarcasm, +“I do not see Monsieur Cherubini,” pronounced in the +French way, as if to indicate that Cherubini was not +worthy of being ranked with the Italian composers, +brought him promptly forward. “Well,” said Napoleon, +“the French are in Italy.” “Where would they not go,” +answered Cherubini, “led by such a hero as you?” This +pleased the First Consul, who, however, soon got to the +old musical quarrel. “I tell you I like Paisiello’s music +immensely; it is soft and tranquil. You have much talent, +but there is too much accompaniment.” Said Cherubini, +“Citizen Consul, I conform myself to French taste.” +“Your music,” continued the other, “makes too much +noise. Speak to me in that of Paisiello; that is what lulls +me gently.” “I understand,” replied the composer; “you +like music which doesn’t stop you from thinking of state +affairs.” This witty rejoinder made the arrogant soldier +frown, and the talk suddenly ceased.</p> + +<p>As a result of this alienation Cherubini found himself +persistently ignored and ill-treated by the First Consul. +In spite of his having produced such great masterpieces, +his income was very small, apart from his pay as Inspector +of the Conservatory. The ill-will of the ruler of France +was a steady check to his preferment. When Napoleon +established his consular chapel in 1802, he invited Paisiello +from Naples to become director at a salary of 12,000 francs +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>249]</a></span> +a year. It gave great umbrage to the Conservatory that +its famous teachers should have been slighted for an +Italian foreigner, and musical circles in Paris were shaken +by petty contentions. Paisiello, however, found the public +indifferent to his works, and soon wearied of a place where +the admiration to which he had been accustomed no longer +flattered his complacency. He resigned, and his position +was offered to Méhul, who is said to have declined it +because he regarded Cherubini as far more worthy of it, +and to have accepted it only on condition that his friend +could share the duties and emoluments with him. +Cherubini, fretted and irritated by his condition, retired for +a time from the pursuit of his art, and devoted himself +to flowers. The opera of “Anacreon,” a powerful but +unequal work, which reflected the disturbance and agitation +of his mind, was the sole fruit of his musical efforts for +about four years.</p> + +<p>While Cherubini was in the deepest depression—for he +had a large family depending on him and small means with +which to support them—a ray of sunshine came in 1805 in +the shape of an invitation to compose for the managers +of the opera at Vienna. His advent at the Austrian +capital produced a profound sensation, and he received +a right royal welcome from the great musicians of Germany. +The aged Haydn, Hummel, and Beethoven became his +warm friends with the generous freemasonry of genius, for +his rank as a musician was recognised throughout Europe.</p> + +<p>The war which broke out after our musician’s departure +from Paris between France and Austria ended shortly in +the capitulation of Ulm, and the French Emperor took +up his residence at Schönbrunn. Napoleon received +Cherubini kindly when he came in answer to his summons, +and it was arranged that a series of twelve concerts should be +given alternately at Schönbrunn and Vienna. The pettiness +which entered into the French Emperor’s nature in spite of +his greatness continued to be shown in his ebullitions of +wrath because Cherubini persisted in holding his own +musical views against the imperial opinion. Napoleon, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>250]</a></span> +however, on the eve of his return to France, urged him +to accompany him, offering the long-coveted position of +musical director; but Cherubini was under contract to +remain a certain length of time at Vienna, and he would +not break his pledge.</p> + +<p>The winter of 1805 witnessed two remarkable musical +events at the Austrian capital, the production of +Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and the last great opera written +by Cherubini, “Faniska.” Haydn and Beethoven were +both present at the latter performance. The former +embraced Cherubini and said to him “You are my son, +worthy of my love.” Beethoven cordially hailed him as +“the first dramatic composer of the age.” It is an interesting +fact that two such important dramatic compositions +should have been written at the same time, independently +of each other; that both works should have been in +advance of their age; that they should have displayed +a striking similarity of style; and that both should have +suffered from the reproach of the music being too learned +for the public. The opera of “Faniska” is based on a +Polish legend of great dramatic beauty, which, however, +was not very artistically treated by the librettist. +Mendelssohn in after years noted the striking resemblance +between Beethoven and our composer in the conception and +method of dramatic composition. In one of his letters +to Edouard Devrient he says, speaking of “Fidelio,” +“On looking into the score, as well as on listening to +the performance, I everywhere perceive Cherubini’s dramatic +style of composition. It is true that Beethoven did not ape +that style, but it was before his mind as his most cherished +pattern.” The unity of idea and musical colour between +“Faniska” and “Fidelio” seems to have been noted by +many critics both of contemporary and succeeding times.</p> + +<p>Cherubini would gladly have written more for the +Viennese, by whom he had been so cordially treated; but +the unsettled times and his home-sickness for Paris +conspired to take him back to the city of his adoption. +He exhausted many efforts to find Mozart’s tomb in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>251]</a></span> +Vienna, and desired to place a monument over his neglected +remains, but failed to locate the resting-place of one he +loved so much. Haydn, Beethoven, Hummel, Salieri, and +the other leading composers reluctantly parted with him, +and on April 1, 1806, his return to Paris was celebrated +by a brilliant fête improvised for him at the Conservatory. +Fate, however, had not done with her persecutions, for +fate in France took the shape of Napoleon, whose hostility, +easily aroused, was implacable; who aspired to rule the +arts and letters as he did armies and state policy; who +spared neither Cherubini nor Madame de Staël. Cherubini +was neglected and insulted by authority, while honours +were showered on Méhul, Grétry, Spontini, and Lesueur. +He sank into a state of profound depression, and it was +even reported in Vienna that he was dead. He forsook +music and devoted himself to drawing and botany. Had +he not been a great musician, it is probable he would +have excelled in pictorial art. One day the great painter +David entered the room where he was working in crayon +on a landscape of the Salvator Rosa style. So pleased +was the painter that he cried, “Truly admirable! +Courage!” In 1808 Cherubini found complete rest in a +visit to the country-seat of the Prince de Chimay in +Belgium, whither he was accompanied by his friend and +pupil, Auber.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>With this period Cherubini closed his career practically +as an operatic composer, though several dramatic works +were produced subsequently, and entered on his no less +great sphere of ecclesiastical composition. At Chimay for +a while no one dared to mention music in his presence. +Drawing and painting flowers seemed to be his sole pleasure. +At last the president of the little music society at Chimay +ventured to ask him to write a mass for St. Cecilia’s feast-day. +He curtly refused, but his hostess noticed that he +was agitated by the incident, as if his slumbering instincts +had started again into life. One day the Princess placed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>252]</a></span> +music paper on his table, and Cherubini on returning from +his walk instantly began to compose, as if he had never +ceased it. It is recorded that he traced out in full score +the “Kyrie” of his great mass in F during the intermission +of a single game of billiards. Only a portion of the mass +was completed in time for the festival, but, on Cherubini’s +return to Paris in 1809, it was publicly given by an +admirable orchestra, and hailed with a great enthusiasm, +that soon swept through Europe. It was perceived that +Cherubini had struck out for himself a new path in church +music. Fétis, the musical historian, records its reception as +follows:—“All expressed an unreserved admiration for this +composition of a new order, whereby Cherubini has placed +himself above all musicians who have as yet written in the +concerted style of church music. Superior to the masses of +Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and the masters of the +Neapolitan school, that of Cherubini is as remarkable for +originality of idea as for perfection in art.” Picchiante, a +distinguished critic, sums up the impressions made by this +great work in the following eloquent and vigorous passage:—“All +the musical science of the good age of religious music, +the sixteenth century of the Christian era, was summed up +in Palestrina, who flourished at that time, and by its aid he +put into form noble and sublime conceptions. With the +grave Gregorian melody, learnedly elaborated in vigorous +counterpoint and reduced to greater clearness and elegance +without instrumental aid, Palestrina knew how to awaken +among his hearers mysterious, grand, deep, vague sensations, +that seemed caused by the objects of an unknown world, or +by superior powers in the human imagination. With the +same profound thoughtfulness of the old Catholic music, +enriched by the perfection which art has attained in two +centuries, and with all the means which a composer +nowadays can make use of, Cherubini perfected another +conception, and this consisted in utilising the style adapted +to dramatic composition when narrating the church text, +by which means he was able to succeed in depicting man +in his various vicissitudes, now rising to the praises of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>253]</a></span> +Divinity, now gazing on the Supreme Power, now suppliant +and prostrate. So that, while Palestrina’s music places +God before man, that of Cherubini places man before God.” +Adolphe Adam puts the comparison more epigrammatically +in saying “If Palestrina had lived in our own times, he +would have been Cherubini.” The masters of the old +Roman school of church music had received it as an +emanation of pure sentiment, with no tinge of human +warmth and colour. Cherubini, on the contrary, aimed to +make his music express the dramatic passion of the words, +and in the realisation of this he brought to bear all the +resources of a musical science unequalled except perhaps by +Beethoven. The noble masses in F and D were also +written in 1809, and stamped themselves on public judgment +as no less powerful works of genius and knowledge.</p> + +<p>Some of Cherubini’s friends in 1809 tried to reconcile the +composer with the Emperor, and in furtherance of this an +opera was written anonymously, “Pimmalione.” Napoleon +was delighted, and even affected to tears. Instantly, however, +that Cherubini’s name was uttered, he became dumb +and cold. Nevertheless, as if ashamed of his injustice, he +sent Cherubini a large sum of money, and a commission to +write the music for his marriage ode. Several fine works +followed in the next two years, among them the Mass in D, +regarded by some of his admirers as his ecclesiastical +masterpiece. Miel claims that in largeness of design and +complication of detail, sublimity of conception and dramatic +intensity, two works only of its class approach it, +Beethoven’s Mass in D and Niedermeyer’s Mass in D minor.</p> + +<p>In 1811 Halévy, the future author of “La Juive,” +became Cherubini’s pupil, and a devoted friendship ever +continued between the two. The opera of “La Abencérages” +was also produced, and it was pronounced nowise +inferior to “Médée” and “Les Deux Journées.” Mendelssohn, +many years afterwards, writing to Moscheles in +Paris, asked, “Has Onslow written anything new? And +old Cherubini? There’s a matchless fellow! I have got +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>254]</a></span> +his ‘Abencérages,’ and can not sufficiently admire the +sparkling fire, the clear original phrasing, the extraordinary +delicacy and refinement with which it is written, or feel +grateful enough to the grand old man for it. Besides, it is +all so free and bold and spirited.” The work would have +had a greater immediate success, had not Paris been in +profound gloom from the disastrous results of the Moscow +campaign and the horrors of the French retreat, where famine +and disease finished the work of bayonet and cannon-ball.</p> + +<p>The unsettled and disheartening times disturbed all the +relations of artists. There is but little record of Cherubini +for several years. A significant passage in a letter written +in 1814, speaking of several military marches written for a +Prussian band, indicates the occupation of Paris by the +allies and Napoleon’s banishment in Elba. The period of +“The Hundred Days” was spent by Cherubini in England; +and the world’s wonder, the battle of Waterloo, was fought, +and the Bourbons were permanently restored, before he +again set foot in Paris. The restored dynasty delighted to +honour the man whom Napoleon had slighted, and gifts +were showered on him alike by the Court and by the +leading academies of Europe. The walls of his studio +were covered with medals and diplomas; and his appointment +as director of the King’s chapel (which, however, he +refused unless shared with Lesueur, the old incumbent) +placed him above the daily demands of want. So, at the +age of fifty-five, this great composer for the first time ceased +to be anxious on the score of his livelihood. Thenceforward +the life of Cherubini was destined to flow with a placid +current, its chief incidents being the great works in church +music, which he poured forth year after year, to the admiration +and delight of the artistic world. These remarkable +masses, by their dramatic power, greatness of design, and +wealth of instrumentation, excited as much discussion and +interest throughout Europe as the operas of other composers. +That written in 1816, the C minor requiem mass, is pronounced +by Berlioz to be the greatest work of this +description ever composed.</p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>255]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>As a man Cherubini presented himself in many different +aspects. Extremely nervous, <i>brusque</i>, irritable, and absolutely +independent, he was apt to offend and repel. But +under his stern reserve of character there beat a warm heart +and generous sympathies. This is shown by the fact that, +in spite of the unevenness of his temper, he was almost +worshipped by those around him. Auber, Halévy, Berton, +Boïeldieu, Méhul, Spontini, and Adam, who were so intimately +associated with him, speak of him with words of +the warmest affection. Halévy, indeed, rarely alluded to +him without tears rushing to his eyes; and the slightest +term of disrespect excited his warmest indignation. It is +recorded that, after rebuking a pupil with sarcastic severity, +his fine face would relax with a smile so affectionate and +genial that his whilom victim could feel nothing but +enthusiastic respect. Without one taint of envy in his +nature, conscious of his own extraordinary powers, he was +quick to recognise genius in others; and his hearty praise +of the powers of his rivals shows how sound and generous +the heart was under his irritability. His proneness to +satire and power of epigram made him enemies, but even +these yielded to the suavity and fascination which alternated +with his bitter moods. His sympathies were peculiarly +open for young musicians. Mendelssohn and Liszt +were stimulated by his warm and encouraging praise when +they first visited Paris; and even Berlioz, whose turbulent +conduct in the Conservatory had so embittered him at +various times, was heartily applauded when his first great +mass was produced. Arnold gives us the following pleasant +picture of Cherubini:—</p> + +<p>“Cherubini in society was outwardly silent, modest, +unassuming, pleasing, obliging, and possessed of the finest +manners. At the same time, he who did not know that he +was with Cherubini would think him stern and reserved, so +well did the composer know how to conceal everything, if +only to avoid ostentation. He truly shunned brag or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>256]</a></span> +speaking of himself. Cherubini’s voice was feeble, probably +from narrow-chestedness, and somewhat hoarse, but was +otherwise soft and agreeable. His French was Italianised.... +His head was bent forward, his nose was large and +aquiline; his eyebrows were thick, black, and somewhat +bushy, overshadowing his eyes. His eyes were dark, and +glittered with an extraordinary brilliancy that animated in +a wonderful way the whole face. A thin lock of hair came +over the centre of his forehead, and somehow gave to his +countenance a peculiar softness.”</p> + +<p>The picture painted by Ingres, the great artist, now in +the Luxembourg gallery, represents the composer with +Polyhymnia in the background stretching out her hand +over him. His face, framed in waving silvery hair, is full +of majesty and brightness, and the eye of piercing lustre. +Cherubini was so gratified by this effort of the painter that +he sent him a beautiful canon set to words of his own. +Thus his latter years were spent in the society of the great +artists and wits of Paris, revered by all, and recognised, +after Beethoven’s death, as the musical giant of Europe. +Rossini, Meyerbeer, Weber, Schumann—in a word, the +representatives of the most diverse schools of composition—bowed +equally before this great name. Rossini, who was +his antipodes in genius and method, felt his loss bitterly, +and after his death sent Cherubini’s portrait to his widow +with these touching words—“Here, my dear madam, is the +portrait of a great man, who is as young in your heart as he +is in my mind.”</p> + +<p>A mutual affection between Cherubini and Beethoven +existed through life, as is shown by the touching letter +written by the latter just before his death, but which +Cherubini did not receive till after that event. The letter +was as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Vienna</span>, <i>March 15, 1823</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Highly esteemed Sir</span>—I joyfully take advantage of the opportunity +to address you.</p> + +<p>I have done so often in spirit, as I prize your theatrical works +beyond others. The artistic world has only to lament that in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>257]</a></span> +Germany, at least, no new dramatic work of yours has appeared. +Highly as all your works are valued by true connoisseurs, still it is a +great loss to art not to possess any fresh production of your great +genius for the theatre.</p> + +<p>True art is imperishable, and the true artist feels heartfelt pleasure +in grand works of genius, and that is what enchants me when I hear a +new composition of yours; in fact, I take greater interest in it than in +my own; in short, I love and honour you. Were it not that my +continued bad health stops my coming to see you in Paris, with what +exceeding delight would I discuss questions of art with you! Do not +think that this is meant merely to serve as an introduction to the +favour I am about to ask of you. I hope and feel sure that you do +not for a moment suspect me of such base sentiments. I recently +completed a grand solemn Mass, and have resolved to offer it to the +various European courts, as it is not my intention to publish it at +present. I have therefore asked the King of France, through the +French embassy here, to subscribe to this work, and I feel certain that +his Majesty would at your recommendation agree to do so.</p> + +<p>My critical situation demands that I should not solely fix my eyes +upon heaven, as is my wont; on the contrary, it would have me fix +them also upon earth, here below, for the necessities of life.</p> + +<p>Whatever may be the fate of my request to you, I shall for ever +continue to love and esteem you; and you for ever remain of all my +contemporaries that one whom I esteem the most.</p> + +<p>If you should wish to do me a very great favour, you would effect +this by writing to me a few lines, which would solace me much. Art +unites all; how much more, then, true artists! and perhaps you may +deem me worthy of being included in that number.</p> + +<p>With the highest esteem, your friend and servant,</p> + +<p class="sig"><span class="smcap">Ludwig van Beethoven</span>.</p> + +<p class="address smcap">Ludwig Cherubini.</p> +</div> + +<p>Cherubini’s admiration of the great German is indicated +in an anecdote told by Professor Ella. The master rebuked +a pupil who, in referring to a performance of a Beethoven +symphony, dwelt mostly on the executive excellence—“Young +man, let your sympathies be first wedded to the +creation, and be you less fastidious of the execution; accept +the interpretation, and think more of the creation of these +musical works which are written for all time and all +nations, models for imitation, and above all criticism.”</p> + +<p>Actively engaged as Director of the Conservatory, which +he governed with consummate ability, his old age was +further employed in producing that series of great masses +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>258]</a></span> +which rank with the symphonies of Beethoven. His +creative instinct and the fire of his imagination remained +unimpaired to the time of his death. Mendelssohn, in a +letter to Moscheles, speaks of him as “that truly wonderful +old man, whose genius seems bathed in immortal youth.” +His opera of “Ali Baba,” composed at seventy-six, though +inferior to his other dramatic works, is full of beautiful and +original music, and was immediately produced in several of +the principal capitals of Europe; and the second Requiem +mass, written in his eightieth year, is one of his masterpieces.</p> + +<p>On the 12th of March 1842 the old composer died, +surrounded by his affectionate family and friends. His +fatal illness had been brought on in part by grief for the +death of his son-in-law, M. Turcas, to whom he was most +tenderly attached. His funeral was one of great military +and civic magnificence, and royalty itself could not have +been honoured with more splendid obsequies. The congregation +of men great in arms and state, in music, +painting, and literature, who did honour to the occasion, +has rarely been equalled. His own noble Requiem mass, +composed the year before his death, was given at the +funeral services in the church of St. Roch by the finest +orchestra and voices in Europe. Similar services were +held throughout Europe, and everywhere the opera-houses +were draped in black. Perhaps the death of no musician +ever called forth such universal exhibitions of sorrow and +reverence.</p> + +<p>Cherubini’s life extended from the early part of the reign +of Louis XVI. to that of Louis Philippe, and was contemporaneous +with many of the most remarkable events in +modern history. The energy and passion which convulsed +society during his youth and early manhood undoubtedly +had much to do in stimulating that robust and virile quality +in his mind which gave such character to his compositions. +The fecundity of his intellect is shown in the fact that he +produced four hundred and thirty works, out of which only +eighty have been published. In this catalogue there are +twenty-five operas and eleven masses.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>259]</a></span> +As an operatic composer he laid the foundation of the +modern French school. Uniting the melody of the Italian +with the science of the German, his conceptions had a +dramatic fire and passion which were, however, free from +anything appertaining to the sensational and meretricious. +His forms were indeed classically severe, and his style is +defined by Adolphe Adam as the resurrection of the old +Italian school, enriched by the discoveries of modern +harmony. Though he was the creator of French opera as +we know it now, he was free from its vagaries and extravagances. +He set its model in the dramatic vigour and +picturesqueness, the clean-cut forms, and the noble instrumentation +which mark such masterpieces as “Faniska,” +“Médée,” “Les Deux Journées,” and “Lodoïska.” The +purity, classicism, and wealth of ideas in these works have +always caused them to be cited as standards of ideal +excellence. The reforms in opera of which Gluck was the +protagonist, and Wagner the extreme modern exponent, +characterise the dramatic works of Cherubini, though he +keeps them within that artistic limit which a proper regard +for melodic beauty prescribes. In the power and propriety +of musical declamation his operas are conceded to be without +a superior. His overtures hold their place in classical +music as ranking with the best ever written, and show a +richness of resource and knowledge of form in treating the +orchestra which his contemporaries admitted were only +equalled by Beethoven.</p> + +<p>Cherubini’s place in ecclesiastical music is that by which +he is best known to the musical public of to-day; for his +operas, owing to the immense demands they make on the +dramatic and vocal resources of the artist, are but rarely +presented in France, Germany, and England, and never in +America. They are only given where music is loved on +account of its noble traditions, and not for the mere sake of +idle and luxurious amusement. As a composer of masses, +however, Cherubini’s genius is familiar to all who frequent +the services of the Roman Church. His relation to the +music of Catholicism accords with that of Sebastian Bach +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>260]</a></span> +to the music of Protestantism. Haydn, Mozart, and even +Beethoven, are held by the best critics to be his inferiors in +this form of composition. His richness of melody, sense of +dramatic colour, and great command of orchestral effects, +gave him commanding power in the interpretation of religious +sentiments; while an ardent faith inspired with +passion, sweetness, and devotion what Place styles his +“sublime visions.” Miel, one of his most competent critics, +writes of him in this eloquent strain—“If he represents the +passion and death of Christ, the heart feels itself wounded +with the most sublime emotion; and when he recounts the +‘Last Judgment’ the blood freezes with dread at the +redoubled and menacing calls of the exterminating angel. +All those admirable pictures that the Raphaels and Michael +Angelos have painted with colours and the brush, Cherubini +brings forth with the voice and orchestra.”</p> + +<p>In brief, if Cherubini is the founder of a later school of +opera, and the model which his successors have always +honoured and studied if they have not always followed, no +less is he the chief of a later, and by common consent the +greatest, school of modern church music.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="mehul" id="mehul"></a><i>MÉHUL, SPONTINI, AND HALÉVY.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> influence of Gluck was not confined to Cherubini, +but was hardly less manifest in moulding the style and +conceptions of Méhul and Spontini,<a name="FNanchor_Q_17" id="FNanchor_Q_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_Q_17" class="fnanchor">[Q]</a> who held prominent +places in the history of the French opera. <span class="smcap">Henri Étienne +Méhul</span> was the son of a French soldier stationed at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>261]</a></span> +Givet barracks, where he was born June 24, 1763. His +early love of music secured for him instructions from the +blind organist of the Franciscan church at that garrison +town, under whom he made astonishing progress. He soon +found he had outstripped the attainments of his teacher, and +contrived to place himself under the tuition of the celebrated +Wilhelm Hemser, who was organist at a neighbouring +monastery. Here Méhul spent a number of happy and +useful years, studying composition with Hemser and literature +with the kind monks, who hoped to persuade their +young charge to devote himself to ecclesiastical life.</p> + +<p>Méhul’s advent in Paris, whither he went at the age of +sixteen, soon opened his eyes to his true vocation, that of a +dramatic composer. The excitement over the contest +between Gluck and Piccini was then at its height, and the +youthful musician was not long in espousing the side of +Gluck with enthusiasm. He made the acquaintance of +Gluck accidentally, the great chevalier interposing one +night to prevent his being ejected from the theatre, into +one of whose boxes Méhul had slipped without buying a +ticket. Thenceforward the youth had free access to the +opera, and the friendship and tuition of one of the master +minds of the age.</p> + +<p>An opera, “Cora et Alonzo,” had been composed at the +age of twenty and accepted at the opera; but it was not till +1790 that he got a hearing in the comic opera of “Euphrasque +et Coradin,” composed under the direction of Gluck. +This work was brilliantly successful, and “Stratonice,” +which appeared two years afterwards, established his +reputation. The French critics describe both these early +works as being equally admirable in melody, orchestral +accompaniment, and dramatic effect. The stormiest year of +the revolution was not favourable to operatic composition, +and Méhul wrote but little music except pieces for republican +festivities, much to his own disgust, for he was by no +means a warm friend of the republic.</p> + +<p>In 1797 he produced his “Le Jeune Henri,” which +nearly caused a riot in the theatre. The story displeased +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>262]</a></span> +the republican audience, who hissed and hooted till the +turmoil compelled the fall of the curtain. They insisted, +however, on the overture, which is one of great beauty, +being performed over and over again, a compliment which +has rarely been accorded to any composer. Méhul’s +appointment as inspector and professor in the newly organised +Conservatory, at the same time with Cherubini, left +him but little leisure for musical composition; but he +found time to write the spectacular opera “Adrian,” which +was fiercely condemned by a republican audience, not as a +musical failure, but because their alert and suspicious +tempers suspected in it covert allusions to the dead monarchy. +Even David, the painter, said he would set the +torch to the opera-house rather than witness the triumph +of a king. In 1806 Méhul produced the opera “Uthal,” +a work of striking vigour founded on an Ossianic theme, +in which he made the innovation of banishing the violins +from the orchestra, substituting therefor the violas.</p> + +<p>It was in “Joseph,” however, composed in 1807, that +this composer vindicated his right to be called a musician +of great genius, and entered fully into a species of composition +befitting his grand style. Most of his contemporaries +were incapable of appreciating the greatness of the +work, though his gifted rival Cherubini gave it the warmest +praise. In Germany it met with instant and extended +success, and it is one of the few French operas of the old +school which still continue to be given on the German +stage. In England it is now frequently sung as an oratorio. +It is on this remarkable work that Méhul’s lasting reputation +as a composer rests outside of his own nation. The +construction of the opera of “Joseph” is characterised by +admirable symmetry of form, dramatic power, and majesty +of the choral and concerted passages, while the sustained +beauty of the orchestration is such as to challenge comparison +with the greatest works of his contemporaries. Such at +least is the verdict of Fétis, who was by no means inclined +to be over-indulgent in criticising Méhul. The fault in this +opera, as in all of Méhul’s works, appears to have been a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>263]</a></span> +lack of bright and graceful melody, though in the modern +tendencies of music this defect is rapidly being elevated +into a virtue.</p> + +<p>The last eight years of Méhul’s life were depressed by +melancholy and suffering, proceeding from pulmonary +disease. He resigned his place in the Conservatory, and +retired to a pleasant little estate near Paris, where he +devoted himself to raising flowers, and found some solace +in the society of his musical friends and former pupils, who +were assiduous in their attentions. Finally becoming +dangerously ill, he went to the island of Hyères to find a +more genial climate. But here he pined for Paris and the +old companionships, and suffered more perhaps by fretting +for the intellectual cheer of his old life than he gained by +balmy air and sunshine. He writes to one of his friends +after a short stay at Hyères—“I have broken up all my +habits; I am deprived of all my old friends; I am alone +at the end of the world, surrounded by people whose +language I scarcely understand; and all this sacrifice to +obtain a little more sun. The air which best agrees with +me is that which I breathe among you.” He returned to +Paris for a few weeks only, to breathe his last on October +18, 1817, aged fifty-four.</p> + +<p>Méhul was a high-minded and benevolent man, wrapped +up in his art, and singularly childlike in the practical +affairs of life. Abhorring intrigue, he was above all petty +jealousies, and even sacrificed the situation of chapel-master +under Napoleon, because he believed it should have been +given to the greatest of his rivals, Cherubini. When he +died Paris recognised his goodness as a man as well as +greatness as a musician by a touching and spontaneous +expression of grief, and funeral honours were given him +throughout Europe. In 1822 his statue was crowned on +the stage of the Grand Opera, at a performance of his +“Valentine de Rohan.” Notwithstanding his early death, +he composed forty-two operas, and modern musicians and +critics give him a notable place among those who were +prominent in building up a national stage. A pupil and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>264]</a></span> +disciple of Gluck, a cordial co-worker with Cherubini, he +contributed largely to the glory of French music, not only +by his genius as a composer, but by his important labours +in the reorganisation of the Conservatory, that nursery +which has fed so much of the highest musical talent of the +world.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_Q_17" id="Footnote_Q_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_Q_17"><span class="label">[Q]</span></a> +It is a little singular that some of the most distinguished names +in the annals of French music were foreigners. Thus Gluck was a +German, as also was Meyerbeer, while Cherubini and Spontini were +Italians.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luigi Gasparo Pacifico Spontini</span>, born of peasant +parents at Majolati, Italy, November 14, 1774, displayed +his musical passion at an early age. Designed for holy +orders from childhood, his priestly tutors could not make +him study; but he delighted in the service of the church, +with its organ and choir effects, for here his true vocation +asserted itself. He was wont, too, to hide in the belfry, +and revel in the roaring orchestra of metal, when the +chimes were rung. On one occasion a stroke of lightning +precipitated him from his dangerous perch to the floor +below, and the history of music nearly lost one of its great +lights. The bias of his nature was intractable, and he was +at last permitted to study music, at first under the charge +of his uncle Joseph, the curé of Jesi, and finally at the +Naples Conservatory, where he was entered at the age of +sixteen.</p> + +<p>His first opera, “I Puntigli delle Donne,” was composed +at the age of twenty-one, and performed at Rome, where it +was kindly received. The French invasion unsettled the +affairs of Italy, and Spontini wandered somewhat aimlessly, +unable to exercise his talents to advantage till he went to +Paris in 1803, where he found a large number of brother +Italian musicians, and a cordial reception, though himself +an obscure and untried youth. He produced several +minor works on the French stage, noticeably among them +the one-act opera of “Milton,” in which he stepped boldly +out of his Italian mannerism, and entered on that path +afterwards pursued with such brilliancy and boldness. Yet, +though his talents began to be recognised, life was a trying +struggle, and it is doubtful if he could have overcome the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>265]</a></span> +difficulties in his way when he was ready to produce “La +Vestale,” had he not enlisted the sympathies of the +Empress Josephine, who loved music, and played the part +of patroness as gracefully as she did all others.</p> + +<p>By Napoleon’s order “La Vestale” was rehearsed +against the wish of the manager and critics of the +Academy of Music, and produced December 15, 1807. +Previous to this some parts of it had been performed +privately at the Tuileries, and the Emperor had said, +“M. Spontini, your opera abounds in fine airs and effective +duets. The march to the place of execution is admirable. +You will certainly have the great success you so well +deserve.” The imperial prediction was justified by consecutive +performances of one hundred nights. His next +work, “Fernand Cortez,” sustained the impression of +genius earned for him by its predecessor. The scene of +the revolt is pronounced by competent critics to be one of +the finest dramatic conceptions in operatic music.</p> + +<p>In 1809 Spontini married the niece of Erard, the great +pianoforte-maker, and was called to the direction of the +Italian opera; but he retained this position only two +years, from the disagreeable conditions he had to contend +with, and the cabals that were formed against him. The +year 1814 witnessed the production of “Pélage,” and two +years later “Les Dieux Rivaux” was composed, in +conjunction with Persuis, Berton, and Kreutzer; but +neither work attracted much attention. The opera of +“Olympie,” worked out on the plan of “La Vestale” and +“Cortez,” was produced in 1819. Spontini was embittered +by its poor success, for he had built many hopes on it, and +wrought long and patiently. That he was not in his +best vein, and like many other men of genius was not +always able to estimate justly his own work, is undeniable; +for Spontini, contrary to the opinion of his contemporaries +and of posterity, regarded this as his best opera. His +acceptance of the Prussian King’s offer to become musical +director at Berlin was the result of his chagrin. Here he +remained for twenty years. “Olympie” succeeded better +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>266]</a></span> +at Berlin, though the boisterousness of the music seems to +have called out some sharp strictures even among the +Berlinese, whose penchant for noisy operatic effects was +then as now a butt for the satire of the musical wits. +Apropos of the long run of “Olympie” at Berlin, an +amusing anecdote is told on the authority of Castel-Blaze. +A wealthy amateur had become deaf, and suffered much +from his deprivation of the enjoyment of his favourite art. +After trying many physicians, he was treated in a novel +fashion by his latest doctor. “Come with me to the opera +this evening,” wrote down the doctor. “What’s the use? +I can’t hear a note,” was the impatient rejoinder. “Never +mind,” said the other; “come, and you will see something +at all events.” So the twain repaired to the theatre to +hear Spontini’s “Olympie.” All went well till one of the +overwhelming finales, which happened to be played that +evening more <i>fortissimo</i> than usual. The patient turned +around beaming with delight, exclaiming, “Doctor, I can +hear.” As there was no reply, the happy patient again +said, “Doctor, I tell you, you have cured me.” A blank +stare alone met him, and he found that the doctor was as +deaf as a post, having fallen a victim to his own prescription. +The German wits had a similar joke afterwards at +Halévy’s expense. The <i>Punch</i> of Vienna said that +Halévy made the brass play so loudly that the French horn +was actually blown quite straight.</p> + +<p>Among the works produced at Berlin were “Nurmahal,” +in 1825; “Alcidor,” the same year; and 1829, “Agnes +von Hohenstaufen.” Various other new works were given +from time to time, but none achieved more than a brief +hearing. Spontini’s stiff-necked and arrogant will kept +him in continual trouble, and the Berlin press aimed its +arrows at him with incessant virulence: a war which the +composer fed by his bitter and witty rejoinders, for he was +an adept in the art of invective. Had he not been +singularly adroit, he would have been obliged to leave his +post. But he gloried in the disturbance he created, and +was proof against the assaults of his numerous enemies, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>267]</a></span> +made so largely by his having come of the French school, +then as now an all-sufficient cause of Teutonic dislike. +Spontini’s unbending intolerance, however, at last undermined +his musical supremacy, so long held good with an +iron hand; and an intrigue headed by Count Brühl, +intendant of the Royal Theatre, at last obliged him to +resign after a rule of a score of years. His influence on +the lyric theatre of Berlin, however, had been valuable, and +he had the glory of forming singers among the Prussians, +who until his time had thought more of cornet-playing than +of beautiful and true vocalisation. The Prussian King +allowed him on his departure a pension of 16,000 francs.</p> + +<p>When Spontini returned to Paris, though he was +appointed member of the Academy of Fine Arts, he was +received with some coldness by the musical world. He had +no little difficulty in getting a production of his operas; +only the Conservatory remained faithful to him, and in +their hall large audiences gathered to hear compositions to +which the opera-house denied its stage. New idols attracted +the public, and Spontini, though burdened with all the +orders of Europe, was obliged to rest in the traditions of +his earlier career. A passionate desire to see his native +land before death made him leave Paris in 1850, and +he went to Majolati, the town of his birth, where he died +after a residence of a few months in 1851. His cradle was +his tomb.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>A well-known musical critic sums up his judgment of +Halévy in these words—“If in France a contemporary of +Louis XIV., an admirer of Racine, could return to us, and, +full of the remembrance of his earthly career under that +renowned monarch, he should wish to find the nobly +pathetic, the elevated inspiration, the majestic arrangements +of the olden times upon a modern stage, we would +not take him to the Théâtre Français, but to the Opera on +the day in which one of Halévy’s works was given.”</p> + +<p>Unlike Méhul and Spontini, with whom in point of style +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>268]</a></span> +and method Halévy must be associated, he was not in any +direct sense a disciple of Gluck, but inherited the influence +of the latter through his great successor Cherubini, of whom +Halévy was the favourite pupil and the intimate friend. +<span class="smcap">Fromental Halévy</span>, a scion of the Hebrew race, which has +furnished so many geniuses to the art world, left a deep +impress on his times, not simply by his genius and musical +knowledge, which was profound, varied, and accurate, but +by the elevation and nobility which lifted his mark up to a +higher level than that which we accord to mere musical +gifts, be they ever so rich and fertile. The motive that +inspired his life is suggested in his devout saying that music +is an art that God has given us, in which the voices of all +nations may unite their prayers in one harmonious rhythm.</p> + +<p>Halévy was a native of Paris, born May 27, 1799. He +entered the Conservatory at the age of eleven years, where +he soon attracted the particular attention of Cherubini. +When he was twenty the Institute awarded him the grand +prize for the composition of a cantata; and he also received +a government pension which enabled him to dwell at Rome +for two years, assiduously cultivating his talents in +composition. Halévy returned to Paris, but it was not till +1827 that he succeeded in having an opera produced. This +portion of his life was full of disappointment and chilled +ambitions; for, in spite of the warm friendship of +Cherubini, who did everything to advance his interests, +he seemed to make but slow progress in popular estimation, +though a number of operas were produced.</p> + +<p>Halévy’s full recognition, however, was found in the +great work of “La Juive,” produced February 23, 1835, +with lavish magnificence. It is said that the managers of +the Opera expended 150,000 francs in putting it on the +stage. This opera, which surpasses all his others in +passion, strength, and dignity of treatment, was interpreted +by the greatest singers in Europe, and the public +reception at once assured the composer that his place in +music was fixed. Many envious critics, however, declaimed +against him, asserting that success was not the legitimate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>269]</a></span> +desert of the opera, but of its magnificent presentation. +Halévy answered his detractors by giving the world a +delightful comic opera, “L’Éclair,” which at once testified +to the genuineness of his musical inspiration and the +versatility of his powers, and was received by the public +with even more pleasure than “La Juive.”</p> + +<p>Halévy’s next brilliant stroke (three unsuccessful works +in the meanwhile having been written) was “La Reine +de Chypre,” produced in 1841. A somewhat singular fact +occurred during the performance of this opera. One of the +singers, every time he came to the passage,</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Ce mortel qu’on remarque<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Tient-il<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Plus que nous de la Parque<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Le fil?”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>was in the habit of fixing his eyes on a certain proscenium +box wherein were wont to sit certain notabilities in politics +and finance. As several of these died during the first run +of the work, superstitious people thought the box was +bewitched, and no one cared to occupy it. Two fine works, +“Charles VI.” and “Le Val d’Andorre,” succeeded at +intervals of a few years; and in 1849 the noble music +to Æschylus’s “Prometheus Bound” was written with an +idea of reproducing the supposed effects of the enharmonic +style of the Greeks.</p> + +<p>Halévy’s opera of “The Tempest,” written for London, +and produced in 1850, rivalled the success of “La Juive.” +Balfe led the orchestra, and its popularity caused the basso +Lablache to write the following epigram:—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“The ‘Tempest’ of Halévy<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Differs from other tempests.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These rain hail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That rains gold.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The Academy of Fine Arts elected the composer secretary +in 1854, and in the exercise of his duties, which involved +considerable literary composition, Halévy showed the same +elegance of style and good taste which marked his musical +writings. He did not, however, neglect his own proper +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>270]</a></span> +work, and a succession of operas, which were cordially received, +proved how unimpaired and vigorous his intellectual +faculties remained.</p> + +<p>The composer’s death occurred at Nice, whither he had +gone on account of failing strength, March 17, 1862. His +last moments were cheered by the attentions of his family +and the consolations of philosophy and literature, which +he dearly loved to discuss with his friends. His ruling +passion displayed itself shortly before his end in characteristic +fashion. Trying in vain to reach a book on the table, +he said, “Can I do nothing now in time?” On the morning +of his death, wishing to be turned on his bed, he said +to his daughter, “Lay me down like a gamut,” at each +movement repeating, with a soft smile, “<i>Do</i>, <i>re</i>, <i>mi</i>,” etc., +until the change was made. These were his last words.</p> + +<p>The celebrated French critic Sainte-Beuve pays a charming +tribute to Halévy, whom he knew and loved well:—</p> + +<p>“Halévy had a natural talent for writing, which he cultivated +and perfected by study, by a taste for reading +which he always gratified in the intervals of labour, in his +study, in public conveyances—everywhere, in fine, when +he had a minute to spare. He could isolate himself completely +in the midst of the various noises of his family, or +the conversation of the drawing-room if he had no part in +it. He wrote music, poetry, and prose, and he read +with imperturbable attention while people around him +talked.</p> + +<p>“He possessed the instinct of languages, was familiar +with German, Italian, English, and Latin, knew something +of Hebrew and Greek. He was conversant with etymology, +and had a perfect passion for dictionaries. It was often +difficult for him to find a word; for on opening the dictionary +somewhere near the word for which he was looking, if +his eye chanced to fall on some other, no matter what, he +stopped to read that, then another and another, until he +sometimes forgot the word he sought. It is singular that +this estimable man, so fully occupied, should at times have +nourished some secret sadness. Whatever the hidden +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>271]</a></span> +wound might be, none, not even his most intimate friends, +knew what it was. He never made any complaint. +Halévy’s nature was rich, open, and communicative. He +was well organised, accessible to the sweets of sociability +and family joys. In fine, he had, as one may say, too +many strings to his bow to be very unhappy for any length +of time. To define him practically, I would say he was a +bee that had not lodged himself completely in his hive, but +was seeking to make honey elsewhere too.”</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Méhul laboured successfully in adapting the noble and +severe style of Gluck to the changing requirements of the +French stage. The turmoil and passions of the revolution +had stirred men’s souls to the very roots, and this influence +was perpetuated and crystallised in the new forms given to +French thought by Napoleon’s wonderful career. Méhul’s +musical conceptions, which culminated in the opera of +“Joseph,” were characterised by a stir, a vigour, and +largeness of dramatic movement, which came close to the +familiar life of that remarkable period. His great rival, +Cherubini, on the other hand, though no less truly dramatic +in fitting musical expression to thought and passion, was so +austere and rigid in his ideals, so dominated by musical +form and an accurate science which would concede nothing +to popular prejudice and ignorance, that he won his laurels, +not by force of the natural flow of popular sympathy, but +by the sheer might of his genius. Cherubini’s severe works +made them models and foundation-stones for his successors +in French music; but Méhul familiarised his audiences +with strains dignified yet popular, full of massive effects +and brilliant combinations. The people felt the tramp +of the Napoleonic armies in the vigour and movement of +his measures.</p> + +<p>Spontini embodied the same influences and characteristics +in still larger degree, for his musical genius was organised +on a more massive plan. Deficient in pure, graceful melody +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>272]</a></span> +alike with Méhul, he delighted in great masses of tone and +vivid orchestral colouring. His music was full of the military +fire of his age, and dealt for the most part with the +peculiar tastes and passions engendered by a condition of +chronic warfare. Therefore dramatic movement in his +operas was always of the heroic order, and never touched +the more subtile and complex elements of life. Spontini +added to the majestic repose and ideality of the Gluck +music-drama (to use a name now naturalised in art by +Wagner) the keenest dramatic vigour. Though he had a +strong command of effects by his power of delineation and +delicacy of detail, his prevalent tastes led him to encumber +his music too often with overpowering military effects, alike +tonal and scenic. Riehl, a great German critic, says—“He +is more successful in the delineation of masses and groups +than in the pourtrayal of emotional scenes; his rendering +of the national struggle between the Spaniards and Mexicans +in ‘Cortez’ is, for example, admirable. He is likewise +most successful in the management of large masses in the +instrumentation. In this respect he was, like Napoleon, a +great tactician.” In “La Vestale” Spontini attained his +<i>chef-d’œuvre</i>. Schlüter, in his <i>History of Music</i>, gives it +the following encomium—“His pourtrayal of character and +truthful delineation of passionate emotion in this opera are +masterly indeed. The subject of ‘La Vestale’ (which +resembles that of ‘Norma,’ but how differently treated!) is +tragic and sublime as well as intensely emotional. Julia, +the heroine, a prey to guilty passion; the severe but kindly +high priestess; Licinius, the adventurous lover, and his +faithful friend Cinna; pious vestals, cruel priests, bold +warriors, and haughty Romans, are represented with statuesque +relief and finish. Both these works, ‘La Vestale’ +(1807) and ‘Cortez’ (1809), are among the finest that have +been written for the stage; they are remarkable for naturalness +and sublimeness, qualities lost sight of in the noisy +instrumentation of his later works.”</p> + +<p>Halévy, trained under the influences of Cherubini, was +largely inspired by that great master’s musical purism and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>273]</a></span> +reverence for the higher laws of his art. Halévy’s powerful +sense of the dramatic always influenced his methods and +sympathies. Not being a composer of creative imagination, +however, the melodramatic element is more prominent than +the purely tragic or comic. His music shows remarkable +resources in the production of brilliant and captivating, +though always tasteful, effects, which rather please the +senses and the fancy than stir the heart and imagination. +Here and there scattered through his works, notably so in +“La Juive,” are touches of emotion and grandeur; but +Halévy must be characterised as a composer who is rather +distinguished for the brilliancy, vigour, and completeness of +his art than for the higher creative power, which belongs in +such pre-eminent degree to men like Rossini and Weber, or +even to Auber, Meyerbeer, and Gounod. It is nevertheless +true that Halévy composed works which will retain a high +rank in French art “La Juive,” “Guido,” “La Reine de +Chypre,” and “Charles VI.” are noble lyric dramas, full of +beauties, though it is said they can never be seen to the best +advantage off the French stage. Halévy’s genius and taste +in music bear much the same relation to the French stage as +do those of Verdi to the Italian stage; though the former +composer is conceded by critics to be a greater purist in +musical form, if he rarely equals the Italian composer in +the splendid bursts of musical passion with which the latter +redeems so much that is meretricious and false, and the +charming melody which Verdi shares with his countrymen.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="boieldieu" id="boieldieu"></a><i>BOÏELDIEU AND AUBER.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> French school of light opera, founded by Grétry, +reached its greatest perfection in the authors of “La +Dame Blanche” and “Fra Diavolo,” though to the former +of these composers must be accorded the peculiar distinction +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>274]</a></span> +of having given the most perfect example of this style of +composition. <span class="smcap">François Adrien Boïeldieu</span>, the scion of a +Norman family, was born at Rouen, December 16, 1775. +He received his early musical training at the hands of +Broche, a great musician and the cathedral organist, but a +drunkard and brutal taskmaster. At the age of sixteen he +had become a good pianist and knew something of composition. +At all events, his passionate love of the theatre +prompted him to try his hand at an opera, which was +actually performed at Rouen. The revolution which made +such havoc with the clergy and their dependants ruined the +Boïeldieu family (the elder Boïeldieu had been secretary of +the archiepiscopal diocese), and young François, at the age +of nineteen, was set adrift on the world, his heart full of +hope and his ambition bent on Paris, whither he set his +feet. Paris, however, proved a stern stepmother at the +outset, as she always has been to the struggling and unsuccessful. +He was obliged to tune pianos for his living, and +was glad to sell his brilliant <i>chansons</i>, which afterwards +made a fortune for his publisher, for a few francs apiece.</p> + +<p>Several years of hard work and bitter privation finally +culminated in the acceptance of an opera, “La Famille +Suisse,” at the Théâtre Faydeau in 1796, where it was +given on alternate nights with Cherubini’s “Médée.” +Other operas followed in rapid succession, among which +may be mentioned “La Dot de Suzette” (1798) and “Le +Calife de Bagdad” (1800). The latter of these was +remarkably popular, and drew from the severe Cherubini +the following rebuke—“Malheureux! Are you not +ashamed of such undeserved triumph?” Boïeldieu took +the brusque criticism meekly and preferred a request for +further instruction from Cherubini—a proof of modesty +and good sense quite remarkable in one who had attained +recognition as a favourite with the musical public. Boïeldieu’s +three years’ studies under the great Italian master +were of much service, for his next work, “Ma Tante +Aurore,” produced in 1803, showed noticeable artistic +progress.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>275]</a></span> +It was during this year that Boïeldieu, goaded by +domestic misery (for he had married the danseuse Clotilde +Mafleuray, whose notorious infidelity made his name a bye-word), +exiled himself to Russia, even then looked on as an +El Dorado for the musician, where he spent eight years as +conductor and composer of the Imperial Opera. This was +all but a total eclipse in his art-life, for he did little of note +during the period of his St. Petersburg career.</p> + +<p>He returned to Paris in 1811, where he found great +changes. Méhul and Cherubini, disgusted with the public, +kept an obstinate silence; and Nicolo was not a dangerous +rival. He set to work with fresh zeal, and one of his most +charming works, “Jean de Paris,” produced in 1812, was +received with a storm of delight. This and “La Dame +Blanche” are the two masterpieces of the composer in +refined humour, masterly delineation, and sustained power +both of melody and construction. The fourteen years +which elapsed before Boïeldieu’s genius took a still higher +flight were occupied in writing works of little value except +as names in a catalogue. The long-expected opera “La +Dame Blanche” saw the light in 1825, and it is to-day a +stock opera in Europe, one Parisian theatre alone having +given it nearly two thousand times. Boïeldieu’s latter +years were uneventful and unfruitful. He died in 1834 of +pulmonary disease, the germs of which were planted by +St. Petersburg winters. “Jean de Paris” and “La Dame +Blanche” are the two works, out of nearly thirty operas, +which the world cherishes as masterpieces.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Daniel François Esprit Auber</span> was born at Caen, +Normandy, January 29, 1784. He was destined by his +parents for a mercantile career, and was articled to a +French firm in London to perfect himself in commercial +training. As a child he showed his passion and genius for +music, a fact so noticeable in the lives of most of the great +musicians. He composed ballads and romances at the age +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>276]</a></span> +of eleven, and during his London life was much sought +after as a musical prodigy alike in composition and execution. +In consequence of the breach of the treaty of Amiens +in 1804, he was obliged to return to Paris, and we hear no +more of the counting-room as a part of his life. His resetting +of an old libretto in 1811 attracted the attention of +Cherubini, who impressed himself so powerfully on French +music and musicians, and the master offered to superintend +his further studies, a chance eagerly seized by Auber. To +the instruction of Cherubini Auber owed his mastery over +the technical difficulties of his art. Among the pieces +written at this time was a mass for the Prince of Chimay, +of which the prayer was afterwards transferred to +“Masaniello.” The comic opera “Le Séjour Militaire,” +produced in 1813, when Auber was thirty, was really his +début as a composer. It was coldly received, and it was +not till the loss of private fortune set a sharp spur to his +creative activity that he set himself to serious work. “La +Bergère Châtelaine,” produced in 1820, was his first +genuine success, and equal fortune attended “Emma” in +the following season.</p> + +<p>The duration and climax of Auber’s musical career were +founded on his friendship and artistic alliance with Scribe, +one of the most fertile librettists and playwrights of modern +times. To this union, which lasted till Scribe’s death, a +great number of operas, comic and serious, owe their +existence: not all of equal value, but all evincing the +apparently inexhaustible productive genius of the joint +authors. The works on which Auber’s claims to musical +greatness rest are as follows:—“Leicester,” 1822; “Le +Maçon,” 1825, the composer’s <i>chef-d’œuvre</i> in comic opera; +“La Muette de Portici,” otherwise “Masaniello,” 1828; +“Fra Diavolo,” 1830; “Lestocq,” 1835; “Le Cheval de +Bronze,” 1835; “L’Ambassadrice,” 1836; “Le Domino +Noir,” 1837; “Les Diamants de la Couronne,” 1841; +“Carlo Braschi,” 1842; “Haydée,” 1847; “L’Enfant +Prodigue,” 1850; “Zerline,” 1851, written for Madame +Alboni; “Manon Lescaut,” 1856; “La Fiancée du Roi de +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>277]</a></span> +Garbe,” 1867; “Le Premier Jour de Bonheur,” 1868; +and “Le Rêve d’Amour,” 1869. The last two works were +composed after Auber had passed his eightieth year.</p> + +<p>The indifference of this Anacreon of music to renown is +worthy of remark. He never attended the performance of +his own pieces, and disdained applause. The highest and +most valued distinctions were showered on him; orders, +jewelled swords, diamond snuff-boxes, were poured in from +all the courts of Europe. Innumerable invitations urged +him to visit other capitals, and receive honour from +imperial hands. But Auber was a true Parisian, and +could not be induced to leave his beloved city. He was a +Member of the Institute, Commander of the Legion of +Honour, and Cherubini’s successor as Director of the +Conservatory. He enjoyed perfect health up to the day +of his death in 1871. Assiduous in his duties at the +Conservatory, and active in his social relations, which took +him into the most brilliant circles of an extended period, +covering the reigns of Napoleon I., Charles X., Louis +Philippe, and Napoleon III., he yet always found time to +devote several hours a day to composition. Auber was a +small, delicate man, yet distinguished in appearance, and +noted for wit. His <i>bons mots</i> were celebrated. While +directing a musical <i>soirée</i> when over eighty, a gentleman +having taken a white hair from his shoulder, he said, +laughingly, “This hair must belong to some old fellow who +passed near me.”</p> + +<p>A good anecdote is told <i>à propos</i> of an interview of +Auber with Charles X. in 1830. “Masaniello,” a bold and +revolutionary work, had just been produced, and stirred +up a powerful popular ferment. “Ah, M. Auber,” said +the King, “you have no idea of the good your work has +done me.” “How, sire?” “All revolutions resemble each +other. To sing one is to provoke one. What can I do to +please you?” “Ah, sire! I am not ambitious.” “I am +disposed to name you director of the court concerts. Be +sure that I shall remember you. But,” added he, taking the +artist’s arm with a cordial and confidential air, “from this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>278]</a></span> +day forth you understand me well, M. Auber, I expect +you to bring out the ‘Muette’ but <em>very seldom</em>.” It is well +known that the Brussels riots of 1830, which resulted in +driving the Dutch out of the country, occurred immediately +after a performance of this opera, which thus acted the +part of “Lillibulero” in English political annals. It is a +striking coincidence that the death of the author of this +revolutionary inspiration, May 13, 1871, was partly caused +by the terrors of the Paris Commune.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Boïeldieu and Auber are by far the most brilliant representatives +of the French school of Opéra Comique. The +work of the former which shows his genius at its best is +“La Dame Blanche.” It possesses in a remarkable degree +dramatic <i>verve</i>, piquancy of rhythm, and beauty of structure. +Mr. Franz Hueffer speaks of this opera as follows:—</p> + +<p>“Peculiar to Boïeldieu is a certain homely sweetness of +melody which proves its kinship to that source of all truly +national music, the popular song. The ‘Dame Blanche’ +might be considered as the artistic continuation of the +<i>chanson</i>, in the same sense as Weber’s ‘Der Freischütz’ +has been called a dramatised <i>Volkslied</i>. With regard to +Boïeldieu’s work, this remark indicates at the same time a +strong development of what has been described as the +‘amalgamating force of French art and culture;’ for it +must be borne in mind that the subject treated is Scotch. +The plot is a compound of two of Scott’s novels—the +‘Monastery’ and ‘Guy Mannering.’ Julian, <i>alias</i> George +Brown, comes to his paternal castle unknown to himself. +He hears the songs of his childhood, which awaken old +memories in him; but he seems doomed to misery and +disappointment, for on the day of his return his hall and +his broad acres are to become the property of a villain, the +unfaithful steward of his own family. Here is a situation +full of gloom and sad foreboding. But Scribe and Boïeldieu +knew better. Their hero is a dashing cavalry officer, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>279]</a></span> +makes love to every pretty woman he comes across, the +‘White Lady of Avenel’ among the number. Yet no one +who has witnessed the impersonation of George Brown by +the great Roger can have failed to be impressed with the +grace and noble gallantry of the character.”</p> + +<p>The tune of “Robin Adair,” introduced by Boïeldieu +and described as “le chant ordinaire de la tribu d’Avenel,” +would hardly be recognised by a genuine Scotchman; but +what it loses in homely vigour it has gained in sweetness. +The musician’s taste is always gratified in Boïeldieu’s two +great comic operas by the grace and finish of the instrumentation, +and the carefully composed <i>ensembles</i>, while the +public is delighted with the charming ballads and songs. +The airs of “La Dame Blanche” are more popular in +classic Germany than those of any other opera. Boïeldieu +may then be characterised as the composer who carried the +French operetta to its highest development, and endowed it +in the fullest sense with all the grace, sparkle, dramatic +symmetry, and gamesome touch so essentially the heritage +of the nation.</p> + +<p>Auber’s position in art may be defined as that of the last +great representative of French comic opera, the legitimate +successor of Boïeldieu, whom he surpasses in refinement +and brilliancy of individual effects, while he is inferior in +simplicity, breadth, and that firm grasp of details which +enables the composer to blend all the parts into a perfect +whole. In spite of the fact that “La Muette,” Auber’s +greatest opera, is a romantic and serious work, full of bold +strokes of genius that astonish no less than they please, he +must be held to be essentially a master in the field of +operatic comedy. In the great opera to which allusion has +been made, the passions of excited public feeling have their +fullest sway, and heroic sentiments of love and devotion are +expressed in a manner alike grand and original. The +traditional forms of the opera are made to expand with the +force of the feeling bursting through them. But this was +the sole flight of Auber into the higher regions of his art, +the offspring of the thoroughly revolutionised feeling of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>280]</a></span> +time (1828), which within two years shook Europe with +such force. Aside from this outcome of his Berserker mood, +Auber is a charming exponent of the grace, brightness, and +piquancy of French society and civilisation. If rarely deep, +he is never dull, and no composer has given the world more +elegant and graceful melodies of the kind which charm the +drawing-room and furnish a good excuse for young-lady +pianism.</p> + +<p>The following sprightly and judicious estimate of Auber +by one of the ablest of modern critics, Henry Chorley, in +the main fixes him in his right place:—</p> + +<p>“He falls short of his mark in situations of profound +pathos (save perhaps in his sleep-song of ‘Masaniello’). +He is greatly behind his Italian brethren in those mad +scenes which they so largely affect. He is always light and +piquant for voices, delicious in his treatment of the orchestra, +and at this moment of writing—though I believe the +patriarch of opera-writers (born, it is said, in 1784), having +begun to compose at an age when other men have died +exhausted by precocious labour—is perhaps the lightest-hearted, +lightest-handed man still pouring out fragments +of pearl and spangles of pure gold on the stage.... With +all this it is remarkable as it is unfair, that among +musicians—when talk is going around, and this person +praises that portentous piece of counterpoint, and the other +analyses some new chord the ugliness of which has led to +its being neglected by former composers—the name of this +brilliant man is hardly if ever heard at all. His is the +next name among the composers belonging to the last thirty +years which should be heard after that of Rossini, the +number and extent of the works produced by him taken +into account, and with these the beauties which they +contain.”</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>281]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="meyerbeer" id="meyerbeer"></a><i>MEYERBEER.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Few</span> great names in art have been the occasion of such +diversity of judgment as Giacomo Meyerbeer, whose works +fill so large a place in French music. By one school of +critics he is lauded beyond all measure as one “whose +scientific skill and gorgeous orchestration are only equalled +by his richness of melody and genius for dramatic and +scenic effects; by far the greatest composer of recent +years;” by another class we hear him stigmatised as +“the very caricature of the universal Mozart ... the +Cosmopolitan Jew, who hawks his wares among all nations +indifferently, and does his best to please customers of every +kind.” The truth lies between the two, as is wont to be +the case in such extremes of opinion. Meyerbeer’s remarkable +talent so nearly approaches genius as to make the +distinction a difficult one. He cannot be numbered +among those great creative artists who by force of individuality +have moulded musical epochs and left an undying +imprint on their own and succeeding ages. On the other +hand, his remarkable power of combining the resources of +the lyric stage in a grand mosaic of all that can charm the +eye and ear, of wedding rich and gorgeous music with +splendid spectacle, gives him an unique place in music; for, +unlike Wagner, whose ideas of stage necessities are no less +exacting, Meyerbeer aims at no reforms in lyric music, but +only to develop the old forms to their highest degree of +effect, under conditions that shall gratify the general +artistic sense. To accomplish this, he spares no means +either in or out of music. Though a German, there is but +little of the Teutonic <i>genre</i> in the music of Weber’s fellow-pupil. +When at the outset he wrote for Italy, he showed +but little of that easy assumption of the genius of Italian art +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>282]</a></span> +which many other foreign composers have attained. It +was not till he formed his celebrated art partnership with +Scribe, the greatest of librettists, and succeeded in opening +the gates of the Grand Opera of Paris with all its resources, +more vast than exist anywhere else, that Meyerbeer found +his true vocation, the production of elaborate dramas in +music of the eclectic school. He inaugurated no clearly +defined tendencies in his art; he distinctively belongs to +no national school of music; but his long and important +connection with the French lyric stage classifies him +unmistakably with the composers of this nation.</p> + +<p>The subject of this sketch belonged to a family of marked +ability. Jacob Beer was a rich Jewish banker of Berlin, +highly honoured for his robust intellect and scholarly +culture, as well as his wealth. William, one of the sons, +became a distinguished astronomer; another, Michael, +achieved distinction as a dramatic poet; while the eldest, +Jacob, was the composer, who gained his renown under the +Italianised name of Giacomo Meyerbeer, a part of the +surname having been adopted from that of the rich banker +Meyer, who left the musician a great fortune.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Meyerbeer</span> was born at Berlin, September 5, 1791, and +was a musical prodigy from his earliest years. When only +four years old he would repeat on the piano the airs he +heard from the hand-organs, composing his own accompaniment. +At five he took lessons of Lanska, a pupil of +Clementi, and at six he made his appearance at a concert. +Three years afterwards the critics spoke of him as one of the +best pianists in Berlin. He studied successively under the +greatest masters of the time, Clementi, Bernhard Anselm +Weber, and Abbé Vogler. While in the latter’s school at +Darmstadt, he had for fellow-pupils Carl von Weber, +Winter, and Gansbacher. Every morning the abbé called +together his pupils after mass, gave them some theoretical +instruction, then assigned each one a theme for composition. +There was great emulation and friendship between +Meyerbeer and Weber, which afterwards cooled, however, +owing to Weber’s disgust at Meyerbeer’s lavish catering to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>283]</a></span> +an extravagant taste. Weber’s severe and bitter criticisms +were not forgiven by the Franco-German composer.</p> + +<p>Meyerbeer’s first work was the oratorio “Gott und die +Natur,” which was performed before the Grand Duke with +such success as to gain for him the appointment of court +composer. Meyerbeer’s concerts at Darmstadt and Berlin +were brilliant exhibitions; and Moscheles, no mean judge, +has told us that if Meyerbeer had devoted himself to the +piano, no performer in Europe could have surpassed him. +By advice of Salieri, whom Meyerbeer met in Vienna, he +proceeded to Italy to study the cultivation of the voice; for +he seems in early life to have clearly recognised how +necessary it is for the operatic composer to understand this, +though, in after-years, he treated the voice as ruthlessly in +many of his most important arias and scenas as he would a +brass instrument. He arrived in Vienna just as the +Rossini madness was at its height, and his own blood was +fired to compose operas <i>à la Rossini</i> for the Italian +theatres. So he proceeded with prodigious industry to +turn out operas. In 1818 he wrote “Romilda e Costanza” +for Padua; in 1819, “Semiramide” for Turin; in 1820, +“Emma di Resburgo” for Venice; in 1822, “Margherita +d’Anjou” for Milan; and in 1823, “L’Esule di Granata,” +also for Milan. These works of the composer’s ’prentice +hand met with the usual fate of the production of the +thousand and one musicians who pour forth operas in +unremitting flow for the Italian theatres; but they were +excellent drill for the future author of “Robert le Diable” +and “Les Huguenots.” On returning to Germany Meyerbeer +was very sarcastically criticised on the one side as a +fugitive from the ranks of German music, on the other as +an imitator of Rossini.</p> + +<p>Meyerbeer returned to Venice, and in 1824 brought out +“Il Crociato in Egitto” in that city, an opera which made +the tour of Europe, and established a reputation for the +author as the coming rival of Rossini, no one suspecting +from what Meyerbeer had then accomplished that he was +about to strike boldly out in a new direction. “Il +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>284]</a></span> +Crociato” was produced in Paris in 1825, and the same +year in London. In the latter city, Velluti, the last of the +male sopranists, was one of the principal singers in the +opera; and it was said by some of the ill-natured critics +that curiosity to see and hear this singer of a peculiar kind, +of whom it was said, “Non vir sed Veluti,” had as much +to do with the success of the opera as its merits. Lord +Mount-Edgcumbe, however, an excellent critic, wrote of +it “as quite of the new school, but not copied from its +founder, Rossini; original, odd, flighty, and it might be +termed fantastic, but at times beautiful. Here and there +most delightful melodies and harmonies occurred, but it +was unequal, solos being as rare as in all the modern +operas.” This was the last of Meyerbeer’s operas written +in the Italian style.</p> + +<p>In 1827 the composer married, and for several years +lived a quiet, secluded life. The loss of his first two +children so saddened him as to concentrate his attention +for a while on church music. During this period he composed +only a “Stabat,” a “Miserere,” a “Te Deum,” and +eight of Klopstock’s songs. But he was preparing for that +new departure on which his reputation as a great composer +now rests, and which called forth such bitter condemnation +on the one hand, such thunders of eulogy on the other. +His old fellow-pupil, Weber, wrote of him in after-years—“He +prostituted his profound, admirable, and serious +German talent for the applause of the crowd which he +ought to have despised.” And Mendelssohn wrote to his +father in words of still more angry disgust—“When in +‘Robert le Diable’ nuns appear one after the other and +endeavour to seduce the hero, till at length the lady abbess +succeeds; when the hero, aided by a magic branch, gains +access to the sleeping apartment of his lady, and throws +her down, forming a tableau which is applauded here, and +will perhaps be applauded in Germany; and when, after +that, she implores for mercy in an aria; when, in another +opera, a girl undresses herself, singing all the while that +she will be married to-morrow, it may be effective, but I find +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>285]</a></span> +no music in it. For it is vulgar, and if such is the taste of +the day, and therefore necessary, I prefer writing sacred +music.”</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>“Robert le Diable” was produced at the Académie +Royale in 1831, and inaugurated the brilliant reign of Dr. +Véron as manager. The bold innovations, the powerful +situations, the daring methods of the composer, astonished +and delighted Paris, and the work was performed more +than a hundred consecutive times. The history of “Robert +le Diable” is in some respects curious. It was originally +written for the Ventadour Theatre, devoted to comic +opera; but the company were found unable to sing the +difficult music. Meyerbeer was inspired by Weber’s “Der +Freischütz” to attempt a romantic, semi-fantastic legendary +opera, and trod very closely in the footsteps of his model. +It was determined to so alter the libretto and extend and +elaborate the music as to fit it for the stage of the Grand +Opera. MM. Scribe and Delavigne, the librettists, and +Meyerbeer, devoted busy days and nights to hurrying on +the work. The whole opera was remodelled, recitative substituted +for dialogue, and one of the most important +characters, Raimbaud, cut out in the fourth and fifth acts—a +suppression which is claimed to have befogged a very +clear and intelligible plot. Highly suggestive in its present +state of Weber’s opera, the opera of “Robert le +Diable” is said to have been marvellously similar to “Der +Freischütz” in the original form, though inferior in dignity +of motive.</p> + +<p>Paris was all agog with interest at the first production. +The critics had attended the rehearsals, and it was understood +that the libretto, the music, and the ballet were full +of striking interest. Nourrit played the part of Robert; +Levasseur, Bertram; Mdme. Cinti Damoreau, Isabelle; and +Mdlle. Dorus, Alice. The greatest dancers of the age +were in the ballet, and the brilliant Taglioni led the band +of resuscitated nuns. Habeneck was conductor, and everything +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>286]</a></span> +had been done in the way of scenery and costumes. +The success was a remarkable one, and Meyerbeer’s name +became famous throughout Europe.</p> + +<p>Dr. Véron, in his <i>Mémoires d’un Bourgeois de Paris</i>, +describes a thrilling yet ludicrous accident that occurred +on the first night’s performance. After the admirable trio, +which is the <i>dénoûment</i> of the work, Levasseur, who +personated Bertram, sprang through the trap to rejoin the +kingdom of the dead, whence he came so mysteriously. +Robert, on the other hand, had to remain on the earth, +a converted man, and destined to happiness in marriage +with his princess, Isabelle. Nourrit, the Robert of the +performance, misled by the situation and the fervour of his +own feelings, threw himself into the trap, which was not +properly set. Fortunately the mattresses beneath had not +all been removed, or the tenor would have been killed, a +doom which those on the stage who saw the accident +expected. The audience supposed it was part of the opera, +and the people on the stage were full of terror and lamentation, +when Nourrit appeared to calm their fears. Mdlle. +Dorus burst into tears of joy, and the audience, recognising +the situation, broke into shouts of applause.</p> + +<p>The opera was brought out in London the same year, +with nearly the same cast, but did not excite so much +enthusiasm as in Paris. Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, who +represented the connoisseurs of the old school, expressed +the then current opinion of London audiences—“Never +did I see a more disagreeable or disgusting performance. +The sight of the resurrection of a whole convent of nuns, +who rise from their graves and begin dancing like so many +bacchantes, is revolting; and a sacred service in a church, +accompanied by an organ on the stage, not very decorous. +Neither does the music of Meyerbeer compensate for a fable +which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability.”<a name="FNanchor_R_18" id="FNanchor_R_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_R_18" class="fnanchor">[R]</a></p> + +<p>M. Véron was so delighted with the great success of +“Robert” that he made a contract with Meyerbeer for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>287]</a></span> +another grand opera, “Les Huguenots,” to be completed by +a certain date. Meanwhile, the failing health of Mdme. +Meyerbeer obliged the composer to go to Italy, and work +on the opera was deferred, thus causing him to lose thirty +thousand francs as the penalty of his broken contract. At +length, after twenty-eight rehearsals, and an expense of +more than one hundred and sixty thousand francs in +preparation, “Les Huguenots” was given to the public, +February 26, 1836. Though this great work excited +transports of enthusiasm in Paris, it was interdicted in +many of the cities of Southern Europe on account of the +subject being a disagreeable one to ardent and bigoted +Catholics. In London it has always been the most popular +of Meyerbeer’s three great operas, owing perhaps partly to +the singing of Mario and Grisi, and more lately of Titiens +and Giuglini.</p> + +<p>When Spontini resigned his place as chapel-master at the +Court of Berlin, in 1832, Meyerbeer succeeded him. He +wrote much music of an accidental character in his new +position, but a slumber seems to have fallen on his greater +creative faculties. The German atmosphere was not +favourable to the fruitfulness of Meyerbeer’s genius. He +seems to have needed the volatile and sparkling life of +Paris to excite him into full activity. Or perhaps he was +not willing to produce one of his operas, with their large +dependence on elaborate splendour of production, away +from the Paris Grand Opera. During Meyerbeer’s stay in +Berlin he introduced Jenny Lind to the Berlin public, as +he afterwards did indeed to Paris, her <i>début</i> there being +made in the opening performance of “Das Feldlager in +Schlesien,” afterwards remodelled into “L’Étoile du Nord.”</p> + +<p>Meyerbeer returned to Paris in 1849, to present the +third of his great operas, “La Prophète.” It was given +with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and Castellan in the principal +characters. Mdme. Viardot-Garcia achieved one of her +greatest dramatic triumphs in the difficult part of Fides. In +London the opera also met with splendid success, having, as +Chorley tells us, a great advantage over the Paris presentation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>288]</a></span> +in “the remarkable personal beauty of Signor Mario, +whose appearance in his coronation robes reminded one of +some bishop-saint in a picture by Van Eyck or Dürer, and +who could bring to bear a play of feature without grimace +into the scene of false fascination, entirely beyond the +reach of the clever French artist Roger, who originated the +character.”</p> + +<p>“L’Étoile du Nord” was given to the public February +16, 1854. Up to this time the opera of “Robert” had +been sung three hundred and thirty-three times, “Les +Huguenots” two hundred and twenty-two, and “Le +Prophète” a hundred and twelve. The “Pardon de +Ploërmel,” also known as “Dinorah,” was offered to the +world of Paris April 4, 1859. Both these operas, though +beautiful, are inferior to his other works.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_R_18" id="Footnote_R_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_R_18"><span class="label">[R]</span></a> +Yet Lord Mount-Edgcumbe is inconsistent enough to be an +ardent admirer of Mozart’s “Zauberflöte.”</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Meyerbeer, a man of handsome private fortune, like +Mendelssohn, made large sums by his operas, and was +probably the wealthiest of the great composers. He lived +a life of luxurious ease, and yet laboured with intense zeal +a certain number of hours each day. A friend one day +begged him to take more rest, and he answered smilingly, +“If I should leave work, I should rob myself of my greatest +pleasure; for I am so accustomed to work that it has +become a necessity.” Probably few composers have been +more splendidly rewarded by contemporary fame and +wealth, or been more idolised by their admirers. No less +may it be said that few have been the object of more +severe criticism. His youth was spent amid the severest +classic influences of German music, and the spirit of romanticism +and nationality, which blossomed into such beautiful +and characteristic works as those composed by his friend +and fellow-pupil Weber, also found in his heart an eloquent +echo. But Meyerbeer resolutely disenthralled himself from +what he appeared to have regarded as trammels, and +followed out an ambition to be a cosmopolitan composer. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>289]</a></span> +In pursuit of this purpose he divested himself of that fine +flavour of individuality and devotion to art for its own +sake which marks the highest labours of genius. He can +not be exempted from the criticism that he regarded success +and the immediate plaudits of the public as the only satisfactory +rewards of his art. He had but little of the lofty +content which shines out through the vexed and clouded +lives of such souls as Beethoven and Gluck in music, of +Bacon and Milton in literature, who looked forward to +immortality of fame as the best vindication of their work. +A marked characteristic of the man was a secret dissatisfaction +with all that he accomplished, making him +restless and unhappy, and extremely sensitive to criticism. +With this was united a tendency at times to oscillate to +the other extreme of vain-gloriousness. An example of this +was a reply to Rossini one night at the opera when they +were listening to “Robert le Diable.” The “Swan of +Pesaro” was a warm admirer of Meyerbeer, though the +latter was a formidable rival, and his works had largely +replaced those of the other in popular repute. Sitting +together in the same box, Rossini, in his delight at one +portion of the opera, cried out in his impulsive Italian way, +“If you can write anything to surpass this, I will undertake +to dance upon my head.” “Well, then,” said Meyerbeer, +“you had better soon commence practising, for I +have just commenced the fourth act of ‘Les Huguenots.’” +Well might he make this boast, for into the fourth act of +his musical setting of the terrible St. Bartholomew tragedy +he put the finest inspirations of his life.</p> + +<p>Singular to say, though he himself represented the very +opposite pole of art spirit and method, Mozart was to him +the greatest of his predecessors. Perhaps it was this very +fact, however, which was at the root of his sentiment of +admiration for the composer of “Don Giovanni” and “Le +Nozze di Figaro.” A story is told to the effect that Meyerbeer +was once dining with some friends, when a discussion +arose respecting Mozart’s position in the musical hierarchy. +Suddenly one of the guests suggested that “certain beauties +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>290]</a></span> +of Mozart’s music had become stale with age. I defy you,” +he continued, “to listen to ‘Don Giovanni’ after the +fourth act of the ‘Huguenots.’” “So much the worse, +then, for the fourth act of the ‘Huguenots,’” said Meyerbeer, +furious at the clumsy compliment paid to his own +work at the expense of his idol.</p> + +<p>Critics wedded to the strict German school of music +never forgave Meyerbeer for his dereliction from the spirit +and influences of his nation, and the prominence which he +gave to melodramatic effects and spectacular show in his +operas. Not without some show of reason, they cite this fact +as proof of poverty of musical invention. Mendelssohn, who +was habitually generous in his judgment, wrote to the poet +Immermann from Paris of “Robert le Diable”—“The subject +is of the romantic order; <i>i.e.</i>, the devil appears in it +(which suffices the Parisians for romance and imagination). +Nevertheless, it is very bad, and, were it not for two brilliant +seduction scenes, there would not even be effect.... +The opera does not please me; it is devoid of sentiment +and feeling.... People admire the music, but where there +is no warmth and truth, I cannot even form a standard of +criticism.”</p> + +<p>Schlüter, the historian of music, speaks even more bitterly +of Meyerbeer’s irreverence and theatric sensationalism—“‘Les +Huguenots’ and the far weaker production ‘Le +Prophète’ are, we think, all the more reprehensible (nowadays +especially, when too much stress is laid on the subject +of a work, and consequently on the libretto of an opera), +because the Jew has in these pieces ruthlessly dragged +before the footlights two of the darkest pictures in the +annals of Catholicism, nor has he scrupled to bring high +mass and chorale on the boards.”</p> + +<p>Wagner, the last of the great German composers, cannot +find words too scathing and bitter to mark his condemnation +of Meyerbeer. Perhaps his extreme aversion finds +its psychological reason in the circumstance that his own +early efforts were in the sphere of Meyerbeer and Halévy, +and from his present point of view he looks back with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>291]</a></span> +disgust on what he regards as the sins of his youth. The +fairest of the German estimates of the composer, who not +only cast aside the national spirit and methods, but offended +his countrymen by devoting himself to the French stage, is +that of Vischer, an eminent writer on æsthetics—“Notwithstanding +the composer’s remarkable talent for musical +drama, his operas contain sometimes too much, sometimes +too little—too much in the subject-matter, external adornment, +and effective ‘situations’—too little in the absence +of poetry, ideality, and sentiment (which are essential to a +work of art), as well as in the unnatural and constrained +combinations of the plot.”</p> + +<p>But despite the fact that Meyerbeer’s operas contain such +strange scenes as phantom nuns dancing, girls bathing, +sunrise, skating, gunpowder explosions, a king playing the +flute, and the prima donna leading a goat, dramatic music +owes to him new accents of genuine pathos and an addition +to its resources of rendering passionate emotions. Though +much that is merely showy and meretricious there come +frequent bursts of genuine musical power and energy, which +give him a high and unmistakable rank, though he has had +less permanent influence in moulding and directing the +development of musical art than any other composer who +has had so large a place in the annals of his time.</p> + +<p>The last twelve years of Meyerbeer’s life were spent, with +the exception of brief residences in Germany and Italy, in +Paris, the city of his adoption, where all who were +distinguished in art and letters paid their court to him. +When he was seized with his fatal illness he was hard at +work on “L’Africaine,” for which Scribe had also furnished +the libretto. His heart was set on its completion, and his +daily prayer was that his life might be spared to finish it. +But it was not to be. He died May 2, 1864. The same +morning Rossini called to inquire after the health of the +sick man, equally his friend and rival. When he heard the +sad news he sank into a fit of profound despondency and +grief, from which he did not soon recover. All Paris +mourned with him, and even Germany forgot its critical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>292]</a></span> +dislike to join in regret at the loss of one who, with all his +defects, was so great an artist and so good a man.</p> + +<p>Meyerbeer seems to have been greatly afraid of being +buried alive. In his pocket-book after his death was found +a paper giving directions that small bells should be +attached to his hands and feet, and that his body should be +carefully watched for four days, after which it should +be sent to Berlin to be interred by the side of his mother, +to whom he had been most tenderly attached.</p> + +<p>The composer was the intimate friend of most of the +celebrities of his time in art and literature. Victor Hugo, +Lamartine, George Sand, Balzac, Alfred de Musset, +Delacroix, Jules Janin, and Théophile Gautier were his +familiar intimates; and the reunions between these and +other gifted men, who then made Paris so intellectually +brilliant, are charmingly described by Liszt and Moscheles. +Meyerbeer’s correspondence, which was extensive, deserves +publication, as it displays marked literary faculty, and is +full of bright sympathetic thought, vigorous criticism, and +playful fancy. The following letter to Jules Janin, written +from Berlin a few years before his death, gives some +pleasant insight into his character:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>“Your last letter was addressed to me at Königsberg; but I was in +Berlin working—working away like a young man, despite my seventy +years, which somehow certain people, with a peculiar generosity, +try to put upon me. As I am not at Königsberg, where I am to +arrange for the Court concert for the eighteenth of this month, I have +now leisure to answer your letter, and will immediately confess to +you how greatly I was disappointed that you were so little interested +in Rameau; and yet Rameau was always the bright star of your +French opera, as well as your master in the music. He remained +to you after Lulli, and it was he who prepared the way for the +Chevalier Gluck: therefore his family have a right to expect assistance +from the Parisians, who on several occasions have cared for the +descendants of Racine and the grandchildren of the great Corneille. +If I had been in Paris, I certainly would have given two hundred +francs for a seat; and I take this opportunity to beg you to hand that +sum to the poor family, who cannot fail to be unhappy in their +disappointment. At the same time I send you a power of attorney for +M. Guyot, by which I renounce all claims to the parts of my operas +which may be represented at the benefit for the celebrated and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>293]</a></span> +unfortunate Rameau family. Why will you not come to Königsberg +at the festival? Why, in other words, are you not in Berlin? What +splendid music we have in preparation! As to myself, it is not only +a source of pleasure to me, but I feel it a duty, in the position I hold, +to compose a grand march, to be performed at Königsberg while the +royal procession passes from the castle into the church, where the +ceremony of crowning is to take place. I will even compose a hymn, +to be executed on the day that our king and master returns to his +good Berlin. Besides, I have promised to write an overture for the +great concert of the four nations, which the directors of the London +exhibition intend to give at the opening of the same, next spring, in +the Crystal Palace. All this keeps me back: it has robbed me of my +autumn, and will also take a good part of next spring; but with the +help of God, dear friend, I hope we shall see each other again next +year, free from all cares, in the charming little town of Spa, listening +to the babbling of its waters and the rustling of its old grey oaks.</p> + +<p class="center">“Truly your friend,</p> + +<p class="sig">“<span class="smcap">Meyerbeer</span>.”</p> +</div> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Meyerbeer’s operas are so intricate in their elements, and +travel so far out of the beaten track of precedent and rule, +that it is difficult to clearly describe their characteristics in +a few words. His original flow of melody could not have +been very rich, for none of his tunes have become household +words, and his excessive use of that element of opera +which has nothing to do with music, as in the case of +Wagner, can have but one explanation. It is in the treatment +of the orchestra that he has added most largely to the +genuine treasures of music. His command of colour in +tone-painting and power of dramatic suggestion have rarely +been equalled, and never surpassed. His genius for musical +rhythm is the most marked element in his power. This is +specially noticeable in his dance music, which is very bold, +brilliant, and voluptuous. The vivacity and grace of the +ballets in his operas save more than one act which otherwise +would be insufferably heavy and tedious. It is not +too much to say that the most spontaneous side of his +creative fancy is found in these affluent, vigorous, and +stirring measures.</p> + +<p>Meyerbeer appears always to have been uncertain of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>294]</a></span> +himself and his work. There was little of that masterly +prevision of effect in his mind which is one of the attributes +of the higher imagination. His operas, though most +elaborately constructed, were often entirely modified and +changed in rehearsal, and some of the finest scenes, both in +the dramatic and musical sense, were the outcome of some +happy accidental suggestion at the very last moment. +“Robert,” “Les Huguenots,” “Le Prophète,” in the forms +we have them, are quite different from those in which they +were first cast. These operas have therefore been called +“the most magnificent patchwork in the history of art,” +though this is a harsh phrasing of the fact, which somewhat +outrides justice. Certain it is, however, that Meyerbeer +was largely indebted to the chapter of accidents.</p> + +<p>The testimony of Dr. Véron, who was manager of the +Grand Opera during the most of the composer’s brilliant +career, is of great interest, as illustrating this trait of +Meyerbeer’s composition. He tells us in his <i>Mémoires</i>, +before alluded to, that “Robert” was made and remade +before its final production. The ghastly but effective +colour of the resuscitation scene in the graveyard of the +ruined convent was a change wrought by a stage manager, +who was disgusted with the chorus of simpering women in +the original. This led Meyerbeer to compose the weird +ballet music which is such a characteristic feature of +“Robert le Diable.” So, too, we are told on the same +authority, the fourth act of “Les Huguenots,” which is +the most powerful single act in Meyerbeer’s operas, owes +its present shape to Nourrit, the most intellectual and +creative tenor singer of whom we have record. It was +originally designed that the St. Bartholomew massacre +should be organised by Queen Marguerite, but Nourrit +pointed out that the interest centering in the heroine, +Valentine, as an involuntary and horrified witness, would +be impaired by the predominance of another female +character. So the plot was largely reconstructed, and +fresh music written. Another still more striking attraction +was the addition of the great duet with which the act now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>295]</a></span> +closes—a duet which critics have cited as an evidence of +unequalled power, coming as it does at the very heels of +such an astounding chorus as “The Blessing of the +Swords.” Nourrit felt that the parting of the two lovers +at such a time and place demanded such an outburst and +confession as would be wrung from them by the agony of +the situation. Meyerbeer acted on the suggestion with +such felicity and force as to make it the crowning beauty of +the work. Similar changes are understood to have been +made in “Le Prophète” by advice of Nourrit, whose +poetical insight seems to have been unerring. It was left +to Duprez, Nourrit’s successor, however, to be the first +exponent of John of Leyden.</p> + +<p>These instances suffice to show how uncertain and +how unequal was the grasp of Meyerbeer’s genius, and to +explain in part why he was so prone to gorgeous effects, +aside from that tendency of the Israelitish nature which +delights in show and glitter. We see something in it akin +to the trick of the rhetorician, who seeks to hide poverty of +thought under glittering phrases. Yet Meyerbeer rose to +occasions with a force that was something gigantic. Once +his work was clearly defined in a mind not powerfully +creative, he expressed it in music with such vigour, energy, +and warmth of colour as cannot be easily surpassed. With +this composer there was but little spontaneous flow of +musical thought, clothing itself in forms of unconscious and +perfect beauty, as in the case of Mozart, Beethoven, +Cherubini, Rossini, and others who could be cited. The +constitution of his mind demanded some external power to +bring forth the gush of musical energy.</p> + +<p>The operas of Meyerbeer may be best described as highly +artistic and finished mosaic work, containing much that is +precious with much that is false. There are parts of +all his operas which cannot be surpassed for beauty of +music, dramatic energy, and fascination of effect. In +addition, the strength and richness of his orchestration, +which contains original strokes not found in other composers, +give him a lasting claim on the admiration of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>296]</a></span> +lovers of music. No other composer has united so many +glaring defects with such splendid power; and were it not +that Meyerbeer strained his ingenuity to tax the resources +of the singer in every possible way, not even the mechanical +difficulty of producing these operas in a fashion commensurate +with their plan would prevent their taking a +high place among popular operas.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="gounod" id="gounod"></a><i>GOUNOD.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Moscheles</span>, one of the severe classical pianists of the +German school, writes as follows, in 1861, in a letter to +a friend—“In Gounod I hail a real composer. I have +heard his ‘Faust’ both at Leipsic and Dresden, and am +charmed with that refined, piquant music. Critics may +rave if they like against the mutilation of Goethe’s masterpiece; +the opera is sure to attract, for it is a fresh, +interesting work, with a copious flow of melody and lovely +instrumentation.”</p> + +<p>Henry Chorley in his <i>Thirty Years’ Musical Recollections</i>, +writing of the year 1851, says—“To a few hearers, since then +grown into a European public, neither the warmest welcome +nor the most bleak indifference could alter the conviction +that among the composers who have appeared during the last +twenty-five years, M. Gounod was the most promising one, +as showing the greatest combination of sterling science, +beauty of idea, freshness of fancy, and individuality. +Before a note of ‘Sappho’ was written, certain sacred +Roman Catholic compositions and some exquisite settings +of French verse had made it clear to some of the acutest +judges and profoundest musicians living, that in him at last +something true and new had come—may I not say, the +most poetical of French musicians that has till now +written?” The same genial and acute critic, in further +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>297]</a></span> +discussing the envy, jealousy, and prejudice that Gounod +awakened in certain musical quarters, writes in still more +decided strains—“The fact has to be swallowed and +digested that already the composer of ‘Sappho,’ the +choruses to ‘Ulysse,’ ‘Le Médecin malgré lui,’ ‘Faust,’ +‘Philemon et Baucis,’ a superb Cecilian mass, two excellent +symphonies, and half a hundred songs and romances, which +may be ranged not far from Schubert’s and above any +others existing in France, is one of the very few individuals +left to whom musical Europe is now looking for its +pleasure.” Surely it is enough praise for a great musician +that, in the domain of opera, church music, symphony, and +song, he has risen above all others of his time in one +direction, and in all been surpassed by none.</p> + +<p>It was not till “Faust” was produced that Gounod’s +genius evinced its highest capacity. For nineteen years +the exquisite melodies of this great work have rung in the +ears of civilisation without losing one whit of the power +with which they first fascinated the lovers of music. The +verdict which the aged Moscheles passed in his Leipsic +home—Moscheles, the friend of Beethoven, Weber, +Schumann, and Mendelssohn; which was re-echoed by the +patriarchal Rossini, who came from his Passy retirement to +offer his congratulations; which Auber took up again, as +with tears of joy in his eyes he led Gounod, the ex-pupil of +the Conservatory, through the halls wherein had been laid +the foundation of his musical skill—that verdict has been +affirmed over and over again by the world. For in +“Faust” we recognise not only some of the most noble +music ever written, but a highly dramatic expression of +spiritual truth. It is hardly a question that Gounod has +succeeded in an unrivalled degree in expressing the characters +and symbolisms of “Mephistopheles,” “Faust,” and +“Gretchen” in music not merely beautiful, but spiritual, +humorous, subtile, and voluptuous, accordingly as the +varied meanings of Goethe’s masterpiece demand.</p> + +<p>Visitors at Paris, while the American civil war was at +its height, might frequently have observed at the beautiful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>298]</a></span> +Théâtre Lyrique, afterwards burned by the Vandals of the +Commune, a noticeable-looking man, of blonde complexion +and tawny beard, clear-cut features, and large, bright, +almost sombre-looking eyes. As the opera of “Faust” +progresses, his features eloquently express his varying +emotions, now of approval, now of annoyance at different +parts of the performance. M. Gounod is criticising the interpretation +of the great opera, which suddenly lifted him +into fame as perhaps the most imaginative and creative of +late composers.</p> + +<p>An aggressive disposition, an energy and faith that +accepted no rebuffs, and the power of “toiling terribly,” +had enabled Gounod to battle his way into the front rank. +Unlike Rossini and Auber, he disdained social recreation, +and was so rarely seen in the fashionable quarters of Paris +and London that only an occasional musical announcement +kept him before the eyes of the public. Gounod seems to +have devoted himself to the strict sphere of his art-life with +an exclusive devotion quite foreign to the general temperament +of the musician, into which something luxurious and +pleasure-loving is so apt to enter. This composer, standing +in the very front rank of his fellows, has injected into the +veins of the French school to which he belongs a seriousness, +depth, and imaginative vigour, which prove to us how +much he is indebted to German inspiration and German +models.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Charles Gounod</span>, born in Paris, June 17, 1818, betrayed +so much passion for music during tender years, that his +father gave him every opportunity to gratify and improve +this marked bias. He studied under Reicha and Le +Sueur, and finally under Halévy, completing under the +latter the preparation which fitted him for entrance into +the Conservatory. The talents he displayed there were +such as to fix on him the attention of his most distinguished +masters. He carried off the second prize at nineteen, +and at twenty-one received the grand prize for musical +composition awarded by the French Institute. His first +published work was a mass performed at the Church +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>299]</a></span> +of St. Eustache, which, while not specially successful, was +sufficiently encouraging to both the young composer and his +friends.</p> + +<p>Gounod now proceeded to Rome, where there seems to +have been some inclination on his part to study for holy +orders. But music was not destined to be cheated of so +gifted a votary. In 1841 he wrote a second mass, which +was so well thought of in the papal capital as to gain for +the young composer the appointment of an honorary +chapel-master for life. This recognition of his genius +settled his final conviction that music was his true life-work, +though the religious sentiment, or rather a sympathy +with mysticism, is strikingly apparent in all of his compositions. +The next goal in the composer’s art pilgrimage was +the music-loving city of Vienna, the home of Haydn, +Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, though its people waited +till the last three great geniuses were dead before it +accorded them the loving homage which they have since +so freely rendered. The reception given by the capricious +Viennese to a requiem and a Lenten mass (for as yet +Gounod only thought of sacred music as his vocation) was +not such as to encourage a residence. Paris, the queen +of the world, towards which every French exile ever looks +with longing eyes, seemed to beckon him back; so at the +age of twenty-five he turned his steps again to his beloved +Lutetia. His education was finished; he had completed +his “Wanderjahre;” and he was eager to enter on the +serious work of life.</p> + +<p>He was appointed chapel-master at the Church of Foreign +Missions, in which office he remained for six years, in the +meanwhile marrying a charming woman, the daughter of +Herr Zimmermann, the celebrated theologian and orator. +In 1849 he composed his third mass, which made a powerful +impression on musicians and critics, though Gounod’s +ambition, which seems to have been powerfully stimulated +by his marriage, began to realise that it was in the field of +lyric drama only that his powers would find their full +development. He had been an ardent student in literature +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>300]</a></span> +and art as well as in music; his style had been formed on +the most noble and serious German models, and his tastes, +awakened into full activity, carried him with great zeal +into the loftier field of operatic composition.</p> + +<p>The dominating influence of Gluck, so potent in shaping +the tastes and methods of the more serious French composers, +asserted itself from the beginning in the work of +Gounod, and no modern composer has been so brilliant and +effective a disciple in carrying out the formulas of that +great master. More free, flexible, and melodious than +Spontini and Halévy, measuring his work by a conception +of art more lofty and ideal than that of Meyerbeer, and in +creative power and originality by far their superior, +Gounod’s genius, as shown in the one opera of “Faust,” +suffices to stamp his great mastership.</p> + +<p>But he had many years of struggle yet before this end +was to be achieved. His early lyric compositions fell dead. +Score after score was rejected by the managers. No one +cared to hazard the risk of producing an opera by this unknown +composer. His first essay was a pastoral opera, +“Philemon and Baucis,” and it did not escape from the +manuscript for many a long year, though it has in more +recent times been received by critical German audiences +with great applause. A catalogue of Gounod’s failures +would have no significance except as showing that his industry +and energy were not relaxed by public neglect. His +first decided encouragement came in 1851, when “Sappho” +was produced at the French Opera through the influence of +Madame Pauline Viardot, the sister of Malibran, who had +a generous belief in the composer’s future, and such a position +in the musical world of Paris as to make her requests +almost mandatory. This opera, based on the fine poem of +Emile Augier, was well received, and cheered Gounod’s +heart to make fresh efforts. In 1852 he composed the +choruses for Poussard’s classical tragedy of “Ulysse,” performed +at the Théâtre Français. The growing recognition +of the world was evidenced in his appointment as director +of the Normal Singing School of Paris, the primary school +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>301]</a></span> +of the Conservatory. In 1854 a five-act opera, with a +libretto from the legend of the “Bleeding Nun,” was completed +and produced, and Gounod was further gratified to +see that musical authorities were willing to grant him a +distinct place in the ranks of art, though as yet not a very +high one.</p> + +<p>For years Gounod’s serious and elevated mind had been +pondering on Goethe’s great poem as the subject of an +opera, and there is reason to conjecture that parts of it +were composed and arranged, if not fully elaborated, long +prior to its final crystallisation. But he was not yet quite +ready to enter seriously on the composition of the masterpiece. +He must still try his hand on lesser themes. Occasional +pieces for the orchestra or choruses strengthened +his hold on these important elements of lyric composition, +and in 1858 he produced “Le Médecin malgré lui,” based +on Molière’s comedy, afterwards performed as an English +opera under the title of “The Mock Doctor.” Gounod’s +genius seems to have had no affinity for the graceful and +sparkling measures of comic music, and his attempt to rival +Rossini and Auber in the field where they were pre-eminent +was decidedly unsuccessful, though the opera contained +much fine music.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The year of his triumph had at last arrived. He had +waited and toiled for years over “Faust,” and it was now +ready to flash on the world with an electric brightness that +was to make his name instantly famous. One day saw him +an obscure, third-rate composer, the next one of the brilliant +names in art. “Faust,” first performed 19th March 1859, +fairly took the world by storm. Gounod’s warmest friends +were amazed by the beauty of the masterpiece, in which exquisite +melody, great orchestration, and a dramatic passion +never surpassed in operatic art, were combined with a +scientific skill and precision which would vie with that of +the great masters of harmony. Carvalho, the manager of +the Théâtre Lyrique, had predicted that the work would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>302]</a></span> +have a magnificent reception by the art world, and lavished +on it every stage resource. Madame Miolan-Carvalho, his +brilliant wife, one of the leading sopranos of the day, sang +the rôle of the heroine, though five years afterwards she +was succeeded by Nilsson, who invested the part with a +poetry and tenderness which have never been quite equalled.</p> + +<p>“Faust” was received at Berlin, Vienna, Milan, St. +Petersburg, and London, with an enthusiasm not less than +that which greeted its Parisian début. The clamour of +dispute between the different schools was for the moment +hushed in the delight with which the musical critics and +public of universal Europe listened to the magical measures +of an opera which to classical chasteness and severity of +form and elevation of motive united such dramatic passion, +richness of melody, and warmth of orchestral colour. From +that day to the present “Faust” has retained its place as +not only the greatest but the most popular of modern +operas. The proof of the composer’s skill and sense of +symmetry in the composition of “Faust” is shown in the +fact that each part is so nearly necessary to the work, that +but few “cuts” can be made in presentation without +essentially marring the beauty of the work; and it is therefore +given with close faithfulness to the author’s score.</p> + +<p>After the immense success of “Faust,” the doors of the +Academy were opened wide to Gounod. On February 28, +1862, the “Reine de Saba” was produced, but was only a +<i>succès d’estime</i>, the libretto by Gérard de Nerval not being +fitted for a lyric tragedy.<a name="FNanchor_S_19" id="FNanchor_S_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_S_19" class="fnanchor">[S]</a> Many numbers of this fine +work, however, are still favourites on concert programmes, +and it has been given in English under the name of “Irene.” +Gounod’s love of romantic themes, and the interest in +France which Lamartine’s glowing eulogies had excited about +“Mireio,” the beautiful national poem of the Provençal, M. +Frédéric Mistral, led the former to compose an opera on a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>303]</a></span> +libretto from this work, which was given at the Théâtre +Lyrique, March 19, 1864, under the name of “Mireille.” +The music, however, was rather descriptive and lyric than +dramatic, as befitted this lovely ideal of early French +provincial life; and in spite of its containing some of the +most captivating airs ever written, and the fine interpretation +of the heroine by Miolan-Carvalho, it was accepted +with reservations. It has since become more popular in its +three-act form to which it was abridged. It is a tribute to +the essential beauty of Gounod’s music that, however unsuccessful +as operas certain of his works have been, they +have all contributed charming <i>morceaux</i> for the enjoyment +of concert audiences. Not only did the airs of “Mireille” +become public favourites, but its overture is frequently given +as a distinct orchestral work.</p> + +<p>The opera of “La Colombe,” known in English as “The +Pet Dove,” followed in 1866; and the next year was produced +the five-act opera of “Roméo et Juliette,” of which +the principal part was again taken by Madame Miolan-Carvalho. +The favourite pieces in this work, which is a +highly poetic rendering of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy, +are the song of <i>Queen Mab</i>, the garden duet, a short chorus +in the second act, and the duel scene in the third act. For +some occult reason, “Roméo et Juliette,” though recognised +as a work of exceptional beauty and merit, and still occasionally +performed, has no permanent hold on the operatic public +of to-day.</p> + +<p>The evils that fell on France from the German war and +the horrors of the Commune drove Gounod to reside in +London, unlike Auber, who resolutely refused to forsake the +city of his love, in spite of the suffering and privation which +he foresaw, and which were the indirect cause of the veteran +composer’s death. Gounod remained several years in England, +and lived a retired life, seemingly as if he shrank +from public notice and disdained public applause. His +principal appearances were at the Philharmonic, the Crystal +Palace, and at Mrs. Weldon’s concerts, where he directed the +performances of his own compositions. The circumstances +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>304]</a></span> +of his London residence seem to have cast a cloud over +Gounod’s life and to have strangely unsettled his mind. +Patriotic grief probably had something to do with this at +the outset. But even more than this as a source of +permanent irritation may be reckoned the spell cast over +Gounod’s mind by a beautiful adventuress, who was ambitious +to attain social and musical recognition through the +<i>éclat</i> of the great composer’s friendship. Though newspaper +report may be credited with swelling and distorting the +naked facts, enough appears to be known to make it sure +that the evil genius of Gounod’s London life was a woman, +who traded recklessly with her own reputation and the +French composer’s fame.</p> + +<p>However untoward the surroundings of Gounod, his genius +did not lie altogether dormant during this period of friction +and fretfulness, conditions so repressive to the best imaginative +work. He composed several masses and other church +music; a “Stabat Mater” with orchestra; the oratorio of +“Tobie”; “Gallia,” a lamentation for France; incidental +music for Legouvé’s tragedy of “Les Deux Reines,” and +for Jules Barbier’s “Jeanne d’Arc;” a large number of +songs and romances, both sacred and secular, such as +“Nazareth,” and “There is a Green Hill;” and orchestral +works, “Salterello in A,” and the “Funeral March of a +Marionette.”</p> + +<p>At last he broke loose from the bonds of Delilah, and, +remembering that he had been elected to fill the place of +Clapisson in the Institute, he returned to Paris in 1876 to +resume the position which his genius so richly deserved. +On the 5th of March of the following year his “Cinq-Mars” +was brought out at the Théâtre de l’Opéra Comique; +but it showed the traces of the haste and carelessness with +which it was written, and therefore commanded little more +than a respectful hearing. His last opera, “Polyeucte,” +produced at the Grand Opera, October 7, 1878, though +credited with much beautiful music, and nobly orchestrated, +is not regarded by the French critics as likely to add +anything to the reputation of the composer of “Faust.” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>305]</a></span> +Gounod, now at the age of sixty, if we judge him by the +prolonged fertility of so many of the great composers, may +be regarded as not having largely passed the prime of his +powers. The world still has a right to expect much from +his genius. Conceded even by his opponents to be a great +musician and a thorough master of the orchestra, more +generous critics in the main agree to rank Gounod as the +most remarkable contemporary composer, with the possible +exception of Richard Wagner. The distinctive trait of his +dramatic conceptions seems to be an imagination hovering +between sensuous images and mystic dreams. Originally +inspired by the severe Greek sculpture of Gluck’s music, +he has applied that master’s laws in the creation of tone-pictures +full of voluptuous colour, but yet solemnised at +times by an exaltation which recalls the time when as a +youth he thought of the spiritual dignity of priesthood. +The use he makes of his religious reminiscences is +familiarly illustrated in “Faust.” The contrast between +two opposing principles is marked in all of Gounod’s +dramatic works, and in “Faust” this struggle of “a soul +which invades mysticism and which still seeks to express +voluptuousness” not only colours the music with a novel +fascination, but amounts to an interesting psychological +problem.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center">FOOTNOTE:</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_S_19" id="Footnote_S_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_S_19"><span class="label">[S]</span></a> +It has been a matter of frequent comment by the ablest musical +critics that many noble operas, now never heard, would have retained +their place in the repertoires of modern dramatic music, had it not +been for the utter rubbish to which the music has been set.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Gounod’s genius fills too large a space in contemporary +music to be passed over without a brief special study. In +pursuit of this no better method suggests itself than an +examination of the opera of “Faust,” into which the +composer poured the finest inspirations of his life, even as +Goethe embodied the sum and flower of his long career, +which had garnered so many experiences, in his poetic +masterpiece.</p> + +<p>The story of “Faust” has tempted many composers. +Prince Radziwill tried it, and then Spohr set a version of +the theme at once coarse and cruel, full of vulgar witchwork +and love-making only fit for a chambermaid. Since +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>306]</a></span> +then Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz have treated +the story orchestrally with more or less success. Gounod’s +treatment of the poem is by far the most intelligible, +poetic, and dramatic ever attempted, and there is no opera +since the days of Gluck with so little weak music, except +Beethoven’s “Fidelio.”</p> + +<p>In the introduction the restless gloom of the old +philosopher and the contrasted joys of youth engaged in +rustic revelry outside are expressed with graphic force; and +the Kirmes music in the next act is so quaint and original, +as well as melodious, as to give the sense of delightful +comedy. When Marguerite enters on the scene, we have a +waltz and chorus of such beauty and piquancy as would +have done honour to Mozart. Indeed, in the dramatic use +of dance music Gounod hardly yields in skill and originality +to Meyerbeer himself, though the latter composer specially +distinguished himself in this direction. The third and +fourth acts develop all the tenderness and passion of +Marguerite’s character, all the tragedy of her doom.</p> + +<p>After Faust’s beautiful monologue in the garden come the +song of the “King of Thule” and Marguerite’s delight at +finding the jewels, which conjoined express the artless +vanity of the child in a manner alike full of grace and +pathos. The quartet that follows is one of great beauty, +the music of each character being thoroughly in keeping, +while the admirable science of the composer blends all into +thorough artistic unity. It is hardly too much to assert +that the love scene which closes this act has nothing to +surpass it for fire, passion, and tenderness, seizing the mind +of the hearer with absorbing force by its suggestion and +imagery, while the almost cloying sweetness of the melody +is such as Rossini and Schubert only could equal. The full +confession of the enamoured pair contained in the brief +<i>adagio</i> throbs with such rapture as to find its most suggestive +parallel in the ardent words commencing</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Gallop apace, ye fiery-footed steeds,”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>placed by Shakespeare in the mouth of the expectant Juliet.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>307]</a></span> +Beauties succeed each other in swift and picturesque +succession, fitting the dramatic order with a nicety which +forces the highest praise of the critic. The march and the +chorus marking the return of Valentine’s regiment beat +with a fire and enthusiasm to which the tramp of victorious +squadrons might well keep step. The wicked music of +Mephistopheles in the sarcastic serenade, the powerful duel +trio, and Valentine’s curse are of the highest order of +expression; while the church scene, where the fiend +whispers his taunts in the ear of the disgraced Marguerite, as +the gloomy musical hymn and peals of the organ menace +her with an irreversible doom, is a weird and thrilling +picture of despair, agony, and devilish exultation.</p> + +<p>Gounod has been blamed for violating the reverence due +to sacred things, employing portions of the church service +in this scene, instead of writing music for it. But this is +the last resort of critical hostility, seeking a peg on which +to hang objection. Meyerbeer’s splendid introduction of +Luther’s great hymn, “Ein’ feste Burg,” in “Les +Huguenots,” called forth a similar criticism from his +German assailants. Some of the most dramatic effects in +music have been created by this species of musical quotation, +so rich in its appeal to memory and association. Who +that has once heard can forget the thrilling power of “La +Marseillaise” in Schumann’s setting of Heinrich Heine’s +poem of “The Two Grenadiers?” The two French +soldiers, weary and broken-hearted after the Russian +campaign, approach the German frontier. The veterans are +moved to tears as they think of their humiliated Emperor. +Up speaks one suffering with a deadly hurt to the other, +“Friend, when I am dead, bury me in my native France, +with my cross of honour on my breast, and my musket in +my hand, and lay my good sword by my side.” Until this +time the melody has been a slow and dirge-like stave in the +minor key. The old soldier declares his belief that he will +rise again from the clods when he hears the victorious +tramp of his Emperor’s squadrons passing over his grave, +and the minor breaks into a weird setting of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>308]</a></span> +“Marseillaise” in the major key. Suddenly it closes with +a few solemn chords, and, instead of the smoke of battle +and the march of the phantom host, the imagination sees +the lonely plain with its green mounds and mouldering +crosses.</p> + +<p>Readers will pardon this digression illustrating an +artistic law, of which Gounod has made such effective use +in the church scene of his “Faust” in heightening its tragic +solemnity. The wild goblin symphony in the fifth act has +added some new effects to the gamut of deviltry in music, +and shows that Weber in the “Wolf’s Glen” and +Meyerbeer in the “Cloisters of St. Rosalie” did not +exhaust the somewhat limited field. The whole of this +part of the act, sadly mutilated and abridged often in +representation, is singularly picturesque and striking as +a musical conception, and is a fitting companion to the +tragic prison scene. The despair of the poor crazed +Marguerite; her delirious joy in recognising Faust; the +temptation to fly; the final outburst of faith and hope, as +the sense of Divine pardon sinks into her soul—all these +are touched with the fire of genius, and the passion sweeps +with an unfaltering force to its climax. These references +to the details of a work so familiar as “Faust,” conveying +of course no fresh information to the reader, have been +made to illustrate the peculiarities of Gounod’s musical +temperament, which sways in such fascinating contrast +between the voluptuous and the spiritual. But whether +his accents belong to the one or the other, they bespeak +a mood flushed with earnestness and fervour, and a mind +which recoils from the frivolous, however graceful it may +be.</p> + +<p>In the Franco-German school, of which Gounod is so +high an exponent, the orchestra is busy throughout developing +the history of the emotions, and in “Faust” especially +it is as busy a factor in expressing the passions of the +characters as the vocal parts. Not even in the “garden +scene” does the singing reduce the instruments to a +secondary importance. The difference between Gounod +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>309]</a></span> +and Wagner, who professes to elaborate the importance of +the orchestra in dramatic music, is that the former has a +skill in writing for the voice which the other lacks. The +one lifts the voice by the orchestration, the other submerges +it. Gounod’s affluence of lovely melody can only be +compared with that of Mozart and Rossini, and his skill +and ingenuity in treating the orchestra have wrung +reluctant praise from his bitterest opponents.</p> + +<p>The special power which makes Gounod unique in his +art, aside from those elements before alluded to as derived +from temperament, is his unerring sense of dramatic fitness, +which weds such highly suggestive music to each varying +phase of character and action. To this perhaps one exception +may be made. While he possesses a certain airy +playfulness, he fails in rich broad humour utterly, and +situations of comedy are by no means so well handled as +the more serious scenes. A good illustration of this may +be found in the “Le Médecin malgré lui,” in the couplets +given to the drunken “Sganarelle.” They are beautiful +music, but utterly unflavoured with the <i>vis comica</i>.</p> + +<p>Had Gounod written only “Faust,” it should stamp him +as one of the most highly-gifted composers of his age. +Noticeably in his other works, pre-eminently in this, he +has shown a melodic freshness and fertility, a mastery of +musical form, a power of orchestration, and a dramatic +energy, which are combined to the same degree in no one +of his rivals. Therefore it is just to place him in the first +rank of contemporary composers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note by the Editor.</span>—Gounod is a strongly religious man, and +more than once has been on the point of entering the Church. It is, +therefore, not surprising that he should have in his later life turned his +attention to the finest form of sacred music, the oratorio. His first +and greatest work of this class is his “Redemption,” produced at the +Birmingham Festival of 1882, and conducted by himself. It was well +received, and has met with success at all subsequent performances. It +is intended to illustrate “three great facts (to quote the composer’s +words in his prefatory commentary) on which the existence of the +Christian Church depends.... The Passion and death of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>310]</a></span> +Saviour, His glorious life on earth from His resurrection to His +Ascension, and finally the spread of Christianity in the world through +the mission of the apostles. These three parts of the present trilogy are +preceded by a Prologue on the Creation and Fall of our first parents, +and the promise of the Redeemer.” In this work Gounod has discarded +the polyphonic method of the previous school of Italian and German +sacred music, and adopted the dramatic treatment. A competent critic +has written of this work in the following words:—“The ‘Redemption’ +may be classed among its author’s noblest productions. It is a work +of high aim, written regardless of immediate popularity, and therefore +all the more likely to take rank among the permanent additions which +sacred music owes to modern music.” In 1885 the oratorio of “Mors +et Vita” was produced at the Birmingham Festival, conducted by Herr +Richter. Though well received, it did not make as great an impression +as its predecessor, to which it stands in the light of a sequel. It +consists of four parts—a short Prologue, a Requiem Mass, the Last +Judgment, and Judex (or the Celestial City). In the Prologue a +special <i>leitmotive</i> accompanying the words “Horrendum est in incidere +in Manus Dei” signifies the Death, not only of the body, but of the +unredeemed soul. A gleam of hope, however, pierces the darkness, +and a beautiful theme is heard frequently throughout the work expressive +of “the idea of justice tempered with mercy, and finally the +happiness of the blessed. The two opposing forces of the design, <i>Mors</i> +and <i>Vita</i>, are thus well defined.” The work, however, is unequal; +the Requiem Mass, in particular, does not rise in importance when +compared with the many fine examples of the Italian and German +sacred music which preceded it. “Compared with that truly inspired +work, ‘Redemption,’ partly written, it should be remembered, more +than ten years previously, Gounod’s new effort shows a distinct decline, +especially as regards unity of style and genuine inspiration.”</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="berlioz" id="berlioz"></a><i>BERLIOZ.</i></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the long list of brilliant names which have illustrated +the fine arts, there is none attached to a personality more +interesting and impressive than that of Hector Berlioz. +He stands solitary, a colossus in music, with but few +admirers and fewer followers. Original, puissant in faculties, +fiercely dogmatic and intolerant, bizarre, his influence +has impressed itself profoundly on the musical world both +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>311]</a></span> +for good and evil, but has failed to make disciples or to +rear a school. Notwithstanding the defects and extravagances +of Berlioz, it is safe to assert that no art or philosophy +can boast of an example of more perfect devotion to +an ideal. The startling originality of Berlioz as a musician +rests on a mental and emotional organisation different from +and in some respects superior to that of any other eminent +master. He possessed an ardent temperament; a gorgeous +imagination, that knew no rest in its working, and at times +became heated to the verge of madness; a most subtile sense +of hearing; an intellect of the keenest analytic turn; a +most arrogant will, full of enterprise and daring, which +clung to its purpose with unrelenting tenacity; and +passions of such heat and fervour that they rarely failed +when aroused to carry him beyond all bounds of reason. +His genius was unique, his character cast in the mould of a +Titan, his life a tragedy. Says Blaze de Bussy—“Art has +its martyrs, its forerunners crying in the wilderness, and +feeding on roots. It has also its spoiled children sated +with bonbons and dainties.” Berlioz belongs to the former +of these classes, and, if ever a prophet lifted up his voice +with a vehement and incessant outcry, it was he.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hector Berlioz</span> was born on December 11, 1803, at Côte +Saint André, a small town between Grenoble and Lyons. +His father was an excellent physician of more than ordinary +attainments, and he superintended his son’s studies with +great zeal, in the hope that the lad would also become an +ornament of the healing profession. But young Hector, +though an excellent scholar in other branches, developed a +special aptitude for music, and at twelve he could sing at +sight, and play difficult concertos on the flute. The elder +regarded music only as a graceful ornament to life, and in +nowise encouraged his son in thinking of music as a +profession. So it was not long before Hector found his +attention directed to anatomy, physiology, osteology, etc. +In his father’s library he had already read of Gluck, +Haydn, Mozart, etc., and had found a manuscript score of +an opera which he had committed to memory. His soul +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>312]</a></span> +revolted more and more from the path cut out for him. +“Become a physician!” he cried, “study anatomy; dissect; +take part in horrible operations? No! no! That would +be a total subversion of the natural course of my life.”</p> + +<p>But parental resolution carried the day, and, after he had +finished the preliminary course of study, he was ordered up +to Paris to join the army of medical students. So at the +age of nineteen we find him lodged in the Quartier Latin. +His first introduction to medical studies had been unfortunate. +On entering a dissecting-room he had been so +convulsed with horror as to leap from the window, and rush +to his lodgings in an agony of dread and disgust, whence he +did not emerge for twenty-four hours. At last, however, +by dint of habit he became somewhat used to the disagreeable +facts of his new life, and, to use his own words, “bade +fair to add one more to the army of bad physicians,” when +he went to the opera one night and heard “Les Danaïdes,” +Salieri’s opera, performed with all the splendid completeness +of the Académie Royale. This awakened into fresh +life an unquenchable thirst for music, and he neglected his +medical studies for the library of the Conservatoire, where +he learned by heart the scores of Gluck and Rameau. At +last, on coming out one night from a performance of +“Iphigénie,” he swore that henceforth music should have +her divine rights of him, in spite of all and everything. +Henceforth hospital, dissecting-room, and professor’s lectures +knew him no more.</p> + +<p>But to get admission to the Conservatoire was now the +problem; Berlioz set to work on a cantata with orchestral +accompaniments, and in the meantime sent the most imploring +letters home asking his father’s sanction for this change +of life. The inexorable parent replied by cutting off his +son’s allowance, saying that he would not help him to +become one of the miserable herd of unsuccessful musicians. +The young enthusiast’s cantata gained him admission to the +classes of Le Sueur and Reicha at the Conservatoire, but +alas! dire poverty stared him in the face. The history of +his shifts and privations for some months is a sad one. He +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>313]</a></span> +slept in an old, unfurnished garret, and shivered under +insufficient bed-clothing, ate his bread and grapes on the +Pont Neuf, and sometimes debated whether a plunge into +the Seine would not be the easiest way out of it all. No +mongrel cur in the capital but had a sweeter bone to crunch +than he. But the young fellow for all this stuck to his +work with dogged tenacity, managed to get a mass performed +at St. Roch church, and soon finished the score of +an opera, “Les Francs Juges.” Flesh and blood would +have given way at last under this hard diet, if he had not +obtained a position in the chorus of the Théâtre des +Noveauteaus. Berlioz gives an amusing account of his +going to compete with the horde of applicants—butchers, +bakers, shop-apprentices, etc.—each one with his roll of +music under his arm.</p> + +<p>The manager scanned the raw-boned starveling with a +look of wonder. “Where’s your music?” quoth the tyrant +of a third-class theatre. “I don’t want any, I can sing +anything you can give me at sight,” was the answer. “The +devil!” rejoined the manager; “but we haven’t any music +here.” “Well, what do you want?” said Berlioz. “I +sing every note of all the operas of Gluck, Piccini, Salieri, +Rameau, Spontini, Grétry, Mozart, and Cimarosa, from +memory.” At hearing this amazing declaration, the rest of +the competitors slunk away abashed, and Berlioz, after singing +an aria from Spontini, was accorded the place, which +guaranteed him fifty francs per month—a pittance, indeed, +and yet a substantial addition to his resources. This pot-boiling +connection of Berlioz was never known to the public +till after he became a distinguished man, though he was +accustomed to speak in vague terms of his early dramatic +career as if it were a matter of romantic importance.</p> + +<p>At last, however, he was relieved of the necessity of +singing on the stage to amuse the Paris <i>bourgeoisie</i>, and in +a singular fashion. He had been put to great straits to get +his first work, which had won him his way into the Conservatoire, +performed. An application to the great Chateaubriand, +who was noted for benevolence, had failed, for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>314]</a></span> +author of <i>La Génie de Christianisme</i> was then almost as +poor as Berlioz. At last a young friend, De Pons, advanced +him twelve hundred francs. Part of this Berlioz had repaid, +but the creditor, put to it for money, wrote to Berlioz +<i>père</i>, demanding a full settlement of the debt. The father +was thus brought again into communication with his son, +whom he found nearly sick unto death with a fever. His +heart relented, and the old allowance was resumed again, +enabling the young musician to give his whole time to his +beloved art, instantly he convalesced from his illness.</p> + +<p>The eccentric ways and heretical notions of Berlioz made +him no favourite with the dons of the Conservatoire, and +by the irritable and autocratic Cherubini he was positively +hated. The young man took no pains to placate this +resentment, but on the other hand elaborated methods of +making himself doubly offensive. His power of stinging +repartee stood him in good stead, and he never put a +button on his foil. Had it been in old Cherubini’s power +to expel this bold pupil from the Conservatoire, no scruple +would have held him back. But the genius and industry +of Berlioz were undeniable, and there was no excuse for +such extreme measures. Prejudiced as were his judges, he +successively took several important prizes.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Berlioz’s happiest evenings were at the Grand Opera, +for which he prepared himself by solemn meditation. At +the head of a band of students and amateurs, he took on +himself the right of the most outspoken criticism, and led +the enthusiasm or the condemnation of the audience. At +this time Beethoven was barely tolerated in Paris, and the +great symphonist was ruthlessly clipped and shorn to +suit the French taste, which pronounced him “bizarre, incoherent, +diffuse, bustling with rough modulations and +wild harmonies, destitute of melody, forced in expression, +noisy, and fearfully difficult,” even as England at the same +time frowned down his immortal works as “obstreperous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>315]</a></span> +roarings of modern frenzy.” Berlioz’s clear, stern voice +would often be heard, when liberties were taken with the +score, loud above the din of the instruments. “What +wretch has dared to tamper with the great Beethoven?” +“Who has taken upon him to revise Gluck?” This self-appointed +arbiter became the dread of the operatic management, +for, as a pupil of the Conservatoire, he had some +rights which could not be infringed.</p> + +<p>Berlioz composed some remarkable works while at the +Conservatoire, amongst which were the “Ouverture des +Francs Juges,” and the “Symphonie Fantastique,” and in +many ways indicated that the bent of his genius had fully +declared itself. His decided and indomitable nature disdained +to wear a mask, and he never sugar-coated his +opinion, however unpalatable to others. He was already +in a state of fierce revolt against the conventional forms of +the music of his day, and no trumpet-tones of protest were +too loud for him. He had now begun to write for the +journals, though oftentimes his articles were refused on +account of their fierce assaults. “Your hands are too full +of stones, and there are too many glass windows about,” +was the excuse of one editor, softening the return of a +manuscript. But Berlioz did not fully know himself or +appreciate the tendencies fermenting within him until in +1830 he became the victim of a grand Shakespearean +passion. The great English dramatist wrought most +powerfully on Victor Hugo and Hector Berlioz, and had +much to do with their artistic development. Berlioz gives +a very interesting account of his Shakespearean enthusiasm, +which also involved one of the catastrophes of his own +personal life. “An English company gave some plays of +Shakespeare, at that time wholly unknown to the French +public. I went to the first performance of ‘Hamlet’ at +the Odéon. I saw, in the part of Ophelia, Harriet Smithson, +who became my wife five years afterwards. The effect of +her prodigious talent, or rather of her dramatic genius, +upon my heart and imagination, is only comparable to +the complete overturning which the poet, whose worthy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>316]</a></span> +interpreter she was, caused in me. Shakespeare, thus coming +on me suddenly, struck me as with a thunderbolt. His +lightning opened the heaven of art to me with a sublime +crash, and lighted up its farthest depths. I recognised +true dramatic grandeur, beauty, and truth. I measured at +the same time the boundless inanity of the notions of +Shakespeare in France, spread abroad by Voltaire.</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">‘... ce singe de génie,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Chez l’homme en mission par le diable envoyé—’<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>(‘that ape of genius, an emissary from the devil to man’), +and the pitiful poverty of our old poetry of pedagogues and +ragged-school teachers. I saw, I understood, I felt that I +was alive and must arise and walk.” Of the influence of +“Romeo and Juliet” on him, he says, “Exposing myself +to the burning sun and balmy nights of Italy, seeing this +love as quick and sudden as thought, burning like lava, +imperious, irresistible, boundless, and pure and beautiful as +the smile of angels, those furious scenes of vengeance, those +distracted embraces, those struggles between love and +death, was too much. After the melancholy, the gnawing +anguish, the tearful love, the cruel irony, the sombre meditations, +the heart-rackings, the madness, tears, mourning, the +calamities and sharp cleverness of Hamlet; after the +grey clouds and icy winds of Denmark; after the third act, +hardly breathing, in pain as if a hand of iron were +squeezing at my heart, I said to myself with the fullest +conviction, ‘Ah! I am lost.’ I must add that I did not +at that time know a word of English, that I only caught +glimpses of Shakespeare through the fog of Letourneur’s +translation, and that I consequently could not perceive the +poetic web that surrounds his marvellous creations like a +net of gold. I have the misfortune to be very nearly in +the same sad case to-day. It is much harder for a Frenchman +to sound the depths of Shakespeare than for an +Englishman to feel the delicacy and originality of La +Fontaine or Molière. Our two poets are rich continents; +Shakespeare is a world. But the play of the actors, above +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>317]</a></span> +all of the actress, the succession of the scenes, the pantomime +and the accent of the voices, meant more to me, and +filled me a thousand times more with Shakespearean ideas +and passion than the text of my colourless and unfaithful +translation. An English critic said last winter in the +<i>Illustrated London News</i>, that, after seeing Miss Smithson +in Juliet, I had cried out, ‘I will marry that woman and +write my grandest symphony on this play.’ I did both, +but never said anything of the sort.”</p> + +<p>The beautiful Miss Smithson became the rage, the inspiration +of poets and painters, the idol of the hour, at whose +feet knelt all the <i>roués</i> and rich idlers of the town. +Delacroix painted her as the Ophelia of his celebrated +picture, and the English company made nearly as much +sensation in Paris as the Comédie Française recently aroused +in London. Berlioz’s mind, perturbed and inflamed with +the mighty images of the Shakespearean world, swept with +wide, powerful passion towards Shakespeare’s interpreter. +He raged and stormed with his accustomed vehemence, +made no secret of his infatuation, and walked the streets at +night, calling aloud the name of the enchantress, and cooling +his heated brows with many a sigh. He, too, would prove +that he was a great artist, and his idol should know that +she had no unworthy lover. He would give a concert, and +Miss Smithson should be present by hook or by crook. He +went to Cherubini and asked permission to use the great +hall of the Conservatoire, but was churlishly refused. +Berlioz, however, managed to secure the concession over the +head of Cherubini, and advertised his concert. He went to +large expense in copyists, orchestra, solo-singers, and chorus, +and, when the night came, was almost fevered with expectation. +But the concert was a failure, and the adored one +was not there; she had not even heard of it! The disappointment +nearly laid the young composer on a bed of +sickness; but, if he oscillated between deliriums of hope +and despair, his powerful will was also full of elasticity, and +not for long did he even rave in the utter ebb of disappointment. +Throughout the whole of his life, Berlioz displayed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>318]</a></span> +this swiftness of recoil; one moment crazed with grief and +depression, the next he would bend to his labour with a cool, +steady fixedness of purpose, which would sweep all interferences +aside like cobwebs. But still, night after night, he +would haunt the Odéon, and drink in the sights and sounds +of the magic world of Shakespeare, getting fresh inspiration +nightly for his genius and love. If he paid dearly for this +rich intellectual acquaintance by his passion for La Belle +Smithson, he yet gained impulses and suggestions for his +imagination, ravenous of new impressions, which wrought +deeply and permanently. Had Berlioz known the outcome, +he would not have bartered for immunity by losing the +jewels and ingots of the Shakespeare treasure-house.</p> + +<p>The year 1830 was for Berlioz one of alternate exaltation +and misery; of struggle, privation, disappointment; of all +manner of torments inseparable from such a volcanic temperament +and restless brain. But he had one consolation +which gratified his vanity. He gained the Prix de Rome +by his cantata of “Sardanapalus.” This honour had a +practical value also. It secured him an annuity of three +thousand francs for a period of five years, and two years’ +residence in Italy. Berlioz would never let “well enough” +alone, however. He insisted on adding an orchestral part +to the completed score, describing the grand conflagration of +the palace of Sardanapalus. When the work was produced, +it was received with a howl of sarcastic derision, owing +to the latest whim of the composer. So Berlioz started for +Italy, smarting with rage and pain, as if the Furies were +lashing him with their scorpion whips.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The pensioners of the Conservatoire lived at Rome in the +Villa Medici, and the illustrious painter, Horace Vernet, +was the director, though he exercised but little supervision +over the studies of the young men under his nominal charge. +Berlioz did very much as he pleased—studied little or much +as the whim seized him, visited the churches, studios, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>319]</a></span> +picture-galleries, and spent no little of his time by starlight +and sunlight roaming about the country adjacent to the +Holy City in search of adventures. He had soon come to +the conclusion that he had not much to learn of Italian +music; that he could teach rather than be taught. He +speaks of Roman art with the bitterest scorn, and Wagner +himself never made a more savage indictment of Italian +music than does Berlioz in his <i>Mémoires</i>. At the theatres +he found the orchestra, dramatic unity, and common sense +all sacrificed to mere vocal display. At St. Peter’s and +the Sistine Chapel religious earnestness and dignity were +frittered away in pretty part-singing, in mere frivolity and +meretricious show. The word “symphony” was not known +except to indicate an indescribable noise before the rising of +the curtain. Nobody had heard of Weber and Beethoven, +and Mozart, dead more than a score of years, was mentioned +by a well-known musical connoisseur as a young man of +great promise! Such surroundings as these were a species +of purgatory to Berlioz, against whose bounds he fretted +and raged without intermission. The director’s receptions +were signalised by the performance of insipid cavatinas, and +from these, as from his companions’ revels, in which he would +sometimes indulge with the maddest debauchery as if to kill +his own thoughts, he would escape to wander in the majestic +ruins of the Coliseum and see the magic Italian moonlight +shimmer through its broken arches, or stroll on the lonely +Campagna till his clothes were drenched with dew. No +fear of the deadly Roman malaria could check his restless +excursions, for, like a fiery horse, he was irritated to madness +by the inaction of his life. To him the <i>dolce far niente</i> was +a meaningless phrase. His comrades scoffed at him and +called him “<i>Père la Joie</i>,” in derision of the fierce melancholy +which despised them, their pursuits and pleasures.</p> + +<p>At the end of the year he was obliged to present something +before the Institute as a mark of his musical advancement, +and he sent on a fragment of his “Mass” heard +years before at St. Roch, in which the wise judges professed +to find the “evidences of material advancement, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>320]</a></span> +total abandonment of his former reprehensible tendencies.” +One can fancy the scornful laughter of Berlioz at hearing +this verdict. But his Italian life was not altogether +purposeless. He revised his “Symphonie Fantastique,” +and wrote its sequel, “Lelio,” a lyrical monologue, in +which he aimed to express the memories of his passion for +the beautiful Miss Smithson. These two parts comprised +what Berlioz named “An Episode in the Life of an Artist.” +Our composer managed to get the last six months of his +Italian exile remitted, and his return to Paris was hastened +by one of those furious paroxysms of rage to which such +ill-regulated minds are subject. He had adored Miss +Smithson as a celestial divinity, a lovely ideal of art and +beauty, but this had not prevented him from basking in the +rays of the earthly Venus. Before leaving Paris he had +had an intrigue with a certain Mdlle. M——, a somewhat +frivolous and unscrupulous beauty, who had bled his not +overfilled purse with the avidity of a leech. Berlioz heard +just before returning to Paris that the coquette was about +to marry, a conclusion one would fancy which would have +rejoiced his mind. But, no! he was worked to a dreadful +rage by what he considered such perfidy! His one thought +was to avenge himself. He provided himself with three +loaded pistols—one for the faithless one, one for his rival, +and one for himself—and was so impatient to start that he +could not wait for passports. He attempted to cross the +frontier in women’s clothes, and was arrested. A variety +of <i>contretemps</i> occurred before he got to Paris, and by that +time his rage had so cooled, his sense of the absurdity of +the whole thing grown so keen, that he was rather willing +to send Mdlle. M—— his blessing than his curse.</p> + +<p>About the time of Berlioz’s arrival, Miss Smithson also +returned to Paris after a long absence, with the intent of +undertaking the management of an English theatre. It +was a necessity of our composer’s nature to be in love, and +the flames of his ardour, fed with fresh fuel, blazed up again +from their old ashes. Berlioz gave a concert, in which his +“Episode in the Life of an Artist” was interpreted in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>321]</a></span> +connection with the recitations of the text. The explanations +of “Lelio” so unmistakably pointed to the feeling of +the composer for herself, that Miss Smithson, who by +chance was present, could not be deceived, though she +never yet had seen Berlioz. A few days afterwards a +benefit concert was arranged, in which Miss Smithson’s +troupe was to take part, as well as Berlioz, who was to +direct a symphony of his own composition. At the +rehearsal the looks of Berlioz followed Miss Smithson +with such an intent stare, that she said to some one, +“Who is that man whose eyes bode me no good?” This +was the first occasion of their personal meeting, and it may +be fancied that Berlioz followed up the introduction with +his accustomed vehemence and pertinacity, though without +immediate effect, for Miss Smithson was more inclined to +fear than to love him.</p> + +<p>The young directress soon found out that the rage for +Shakespeare, which had swept the public mind under the +influence of the romanticism led by Victor Hugo, Dumas, +Théophile Gautier, Balzac, and others, was spurious. The +wave had been frothing but shallow, and it ebbed away, +leaving the English actress and her enterprise gasping for +life. With no deeper tap-root than the Gallic love of +novelty and the infectious enthusiasm of a few men of +great genius, the Shakespearean mania had a short life, +and Frenchmen shrugged their shoulders over their own +folly, in temporarily preferring the English barbarian to +Racine, Corneille, and Molière. The letters of Berlioz, in +which he scourges the fickleness of his countrymen in +returning again to their “false gods,” are masterpieces of +pointed invective.</p> + +<p>Miss Smithson was speedily involved in great pecuniary +difficulty, and, to add to her misfortunes, she fell down +stairs and broke her leg, thus precluding her own appearance +on the stage. Affairs were in this desperate condition, +when Berlioz came to the fore with a delicate and manly +chivalry worthy of the highest praise. He offered to pay +Miss Smithson’s debts, though a poor man himself, and to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>322]</a></span> +marry her without delay. The ceremony took place +immediately, and thus commenced a connection which +hampered and retarded Berlioz’s career, as well as caused +him no little personal unhappiness. He speedily discovered +that his wife was a woman of fretful, imperious temper, +jealous of mere shadows (though Berlioz was a man to give +her substantial cause), and totally lacking in sympathy with +his high-art ideals. When Mdme. Berlioz recovered, it was +to find herself unable longer to act, as her leg was stiff and +her movements unsuited to the exigencies of the stage. +Poor Berlioz was crushed by the weight of the obligations +he had assumed, and, as the years went on, the peevish +plaints of an invalid wife, who had lost her beauty and +power of charming, withered the affection which had once +been so fervid and passionate. Berlioz finally separated +from his once beautiful and worshipped Harriet Smithson, +but to the very last supplied her wants as fully as he could +out of the meagre earnings of his literary work and of +musical compositions, which the Paris public, for the most +part, did not care to listen to. For his son, Louis, the only +offspring of this union, Berlioz felt a devoted affection, and +his loss at sea in after-years was a blow that nearly broke +his heart.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Owing to the unrelenting hostility of Cherubini, Berlioz +failed to secure a professorship at the Conservatoire, a +place to which he was nobly entitled, and was fain to take +up with the position of librarian instead. The paltry wage +he eked out by journalistic writing, for the most part as +musical critic of the <i>Journal des Débats</i>, by occasional +concerts, revising proofs, in a word anything which a +versatile and desperate Bohemian could turn his hand to. +In fact, for many years the main subsistence of Berlioz was +derived from feuilleton-writing and the labours of a critic. +His prose is so witty, brilliant, fresh, and epigrammatic, +that he would have been known to posterity as a clever +<i>littérateur</i>, had he not preferred to remain merely a great +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>323]</a></span> +musician. Dramatic, picturesque, and subtile, with an +admirable sense of art-form, he could have become a +powerful dramatist, perhaps a great novelist. But his soul, +all whose aspirations set towards one goal, revolted from +the labours of literature, still more from the daily grind of +journalistic drudgery. In that remarkable book, <i>Mémoires +de Hector Berlioz</i>, he has made known his misery, and +thus recounts one of his experiences:—“I stood at the +window gazing into the gardens, at the heights of Montmartre, +at the setting sun; reverie bore me a thousand +leagues from my accursed comic opera. And when, on +turning, my eyes fell upon the accursed title at the head +of the accursed sheet, blank still, and obstinately awaiting +my word, despair seized upon me. My guitar rested against +the table; with a kick I crushed its side. Two pistols on +the mantel stared at me with great round eyes. I regarded +them for some time, then beat my forehead with clinched +hand. At last I wept furiously, like a school-boy unable +to do his theme. The bitter tears were a relief. I turned +the pistols towards the wall; I pitied my innocent guitar, +and sought a few chords, which were given without resentment. +Just then my son of six years knocked at the +door [the little Louis whose death, years after, was the +last bitter drop in the composer’s cup of life]; owing to +my ill-humour, I had unjustly scolded him that morning. +‘Papa,’ he cried, ‘wilt thou be friends?’ ‘I <em>will</em> be +friends; come on, my boy;’ and I ran to open the door. +I took him on my knee, and, with his blonde head on my +breast, we slept together.... Fifteen years since then, +and my torment still endures. Oh, to be always there!—scores +to write, orchestras to lead, rehearsals to direct. +Let me stand all day with <i>bâton</i> in hand, training a chorus, +singing their parts myself, and beating the measure until I +spit blood, and cramp seizes my arm; let me carry desks, +double basses, harps, remove platforms, nail planks like a +porter or a carpenter, and then spend the night in +rectifying the errors of engravers or copyists. I have done, +do, and will do it. That belongs to my musical life, and I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>324]</a></span> +bear it without thinking of it, as the hunter bears the +thousand fatigues of the chase. But to scribble eternally +for a livelihood——!”</p> + +<p>It may be fancied that such a man as Berlioz did not +spare the lash, once he gripped the whip-handle, and, +though no man was more generous than he in recognising +and encouraging genuine merit, there was none more +relentless in scourging incompetency, pretentious commonplace, +and the blind conservatism which rests all its faith +in what has been. Our composer made more than one +powerful enemy by this recklessness in telling the truth, +where a more politic man would have gained friends strong +to help in time of need. But Berlioz was too bitter and +reckless, as well as too proud, to debate consequences.</p> + +<p>In 1838 Berlioz completed his “Benvenuto Cellini,” his +only attempt at opera since “Les Francs Juges,” and, +wonderful to say, managed to get it done at the opera, +though the director, Duponchel, laughed at him as a +lunatic, and the whole company already regarded the work +as damned in advance. The result was a most disastrous +and <i>éclatant</i> failure, and it would have crushed any man +whose moral backbone was not forged of thrice-tempered +steel. With all these back-sets Hector Berlioz was not +without encouragement. The brilliant Franz Liszt, one of +the musical idols of the age, had bowed before him and +called him master, the great musical protagonist. Spontini, +one of the most successful composers of the time, held him +in affectionate admiration, and always bade him be of good +cheer. Paganini, the greatest of violinists, had hailed him +as equal to Beethoven.</p> + +<p>On the night of the failure of “Benvenuto Cellini,” a +strange-looking man with dishevelled black hair and eyes of +piercing brilliancy had forced his way around into the +green-room, and, seeking out Berlioz, had fallen on his +knees before him and kissed his hand passionately. Then +he threw his arms around him and hailed the astonished +composer as the master-spirit of the age in terms of +glowing eulogium. The next morning, while Berlioz was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>325]</a></span> +in bed, there was a tap at the door, and Paganini’s son, +Achille, entered with a note, saying his father was sick, +or he would have come to pay his respects in person. On +opening the note Berlioz found a most complimentary +letter, and a more substantial evidence of admiration, a +check on Baron Rothschild for twenty thousand francs! +Paganini also gave Berlioz a commission to write a concerto +for his Stradivarius viola, which resulted in a grand +symphony, “Harold en Italie,” founded on Byron’s “Childe +Harold,” but still more an inspiration of his own Italian +adventures, which had had a strong flavour of personal if +they lacked artistic interest.</p> + +<p>The generous gift of Paganini raised Berlioz from the +slough of necessity so far that he could give his whole time +to music. Instantly he set about his “Romeo and Juliet” +symphony, which will always remain one of his masterpieces—a +beautifully chiselled work, from the hands of one +inspired by gratitude, unfettered imagination, and the sense +of blessed repose. Our composer’s first musical journey was +an extensive tour in Germany in 1841, of which he gives +charming memorials in his letters to Liszt, Heine, Ernst, +and others. His reception was as generous and sympathetic +as it had been cold and scornful in France. Everywhere +he was honoured and praised as one of the great men +of the age. Mendelssohn exchanged <i>bâtons</i> with him at +Leipsic, notwithstanding the former only half understood +this stalwart Berserker of music. Spohr called him one of +the greatest artists living, though his own direct antithesis, +and Schumann wrote glowingly in the <i>Neue Zeitschrift</i>—“For +myself, Berlioz is as clear as the blue sky above. +I really think there is a new time in music coming.” +Berlioz wrote joyfully to Heine—“I came to Germany as +the men of ancient Greece went to the oracle at Delphi, +and the response has been in the highest degree encouraging.” +But his Germanic laurels did him no good in France. +The Parisians would have none of him except as a writer of +<i>feuilletons</i>, who pleased them by the vigour with which he +handled the knout, and tickled the levity of the million, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>326]</a></span> +who laughed while they saw the half-dozen or more victims +flayed by merciless satire. Berlioz wept tears of blood +because he had to do such executioner’s work, but did it +none the less vigorously for all that.</p> + +<p>The composer made another musical journey in Austria +and Hungary in 1844-45, where he was again received +with the most enthusiastic praise and pleasure. It was in +Hungary, especially, that the warmth of his audiences overran +all bounds. One night, at Pesth, where he played the +“Rackoczy Indulé,” an orchestral setting of the martial +hymn of the Magyar race, the people were worked into a +positive frenzy, and they would have flung themselves +before him that he might walk over their prostrate bodies. +Vienna, Pesth, and Prague led the way, and the other +cities followed in the wake of an enthusiasm which has +been accorded to not many artists. The French heard +these stories with amazement, for they could not understand +how this musical demigod could be the same as he who was +little better than a witty buffoon. During this absence +Berlioz wrote the greater portion of his “Damnation de +Faust,” and, as he had made some money, he obeyed the +strong instinct which always ruled him, the hope of winning +the suffrages of his own countrymen.</p> + +<p>An eminent French critic claims that this great work, of +which we shall speak further on, contains that which +Gounod’s “Faust” lacks—insight into the spiritual significance +of Goethe’s drama. Berlioz exhausted all his +resources in producing it at the Opéra Comique in 1846, +but again he was disappointed by its falling still-born on the +public interest. Berlioz was utterly ruined, and he fled +from France in the dead of winter as from a pestilence.</p> + +<p>The genius of this great man was recognised in Holland, +Russia, Austria, and Germany, but among his own countrymen, +for the most part, his name was a laughing-stock and +a bye-word. He offended the pedants and the formalists by +his daring originality, he had secured the hate of rival +musicians by the vigour and keenness of his criticisms. +Berlioz was in the very heat of the artistic controversy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>327]</a></span> +between the classicists and romanticists, and was associated +with Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Delacroix, Liszt, +Chopin, and others, in fighting that acrimonious art-battle. +While he did not stand formally with the ranks, he yet +secured a still more bitter portion of hostility from their +powerful opponents, for, to opposition in principle, Berlioz +united a caustic and vigorous mode of expression. His +name was a target for the wits. “A physician who plays +on the guitar and fancies himself a composer,” was the scoff +of malignant gossips. The journals poured on him a flood +of abuse without stint. French malignity is the most +venomous and unscrupulous in the world, and Berlioz was +selected as a choice victim for its most vigorous exercise, +none the less willingly that he had shown so much skill and +zest in impaling the victims of his own artistic and personal +dislike.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>To continue the record of Berlioz’s life in consecutive +narrative would be without significance, for it contains but +little for many years except the same indomitable battle +against circumstance and enmity, never yielding an inch, +and always keeping his eyes bent on his own lofty ideal. +In all of art history is there no more masterful heroic +struggle than Berlioz waged for thirty-five years, firm in +his belief that some time, if not during his own life, his +principles would be triumphant, and his name ranked +among the immortals. But what of the meanwhile? This +problem Berlioz solved, in his later as in earlier years, by +doing the distasteful work of the literary scrub. But never +did he cease composing; though no one would then have +his works, his clear eye perceived the coming time when his +genius would not be denied, when an apotheosis should +comfort his spirit wandering in Hades.</p> + +<p>Among Berlioz’s later works was an opera of which he +had composed both words and music, consisting of two +parts, “The Taking of Troy,” and “The Trojans at +Carthage,” the latter of which at last secured a few +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>328]</a></span> +representations at a minor theatre in 1863. The plan of +this work required that it should be carried out under the +most perfect conditions. “In order,” says Berlioz, “to +properly produce such a work as ‘Les Trojans,’ I must be +absolute master of the theatre, as of the orchestra in +directing a symphony. I must have the good-will of all, +be obeyed by all, from prima-donna to scene-shifter. A +lyrical theatre, as I conceive it, is a great instrument of +music, which, if I am to play, must be placed unreservedly +in my hands.” Wagner found a King of Bavaria to help +him carry out a similar colossal scheme at Bayreuth, but ill +luck followed a man no less great through life. His grand +“Trojans” was mutilated, tinkered, patched, and belittled, +to suit the Théâtre Lyrique. It was a butchery of the +work, but still it yielded the composer enough to justify his +retirement from the <i>Journal des Débats</i>, after thirty years +of slavery.</p> + +<p>Berlioz was now sixty years old, a lonely man, frail in +body, embittered in soul by the terrible sense of failure. +His wife, with whom he had lived on terms of alienation, +was dead; his only son far away, cruising on a man-of-war. +His courage and ambition were gone. To one who +remarked that his music belonged to the future, he replied +that he doubted if it ever belonged to the past. His life +seemed to have been a mistake, so utterly had he failed to +impress himself on the public. Yet there were times when +audiences felt themselves moved by the power of his music +out of the ruts of preconceived opinion into a prophecy of +his coming greatness. There is an interesting anecdote +told by a French writer:—</p> + +<p>“Some years ago M. Pasdeloup gave the <i>septuor</i> from +the ‘Trojans’ at a benefit concert. The best places were +occupied by the people of the world, but the <i>élite intelligente</i> +were ranged upon the highest seats of the Cirque. The +programme was superb, and those who were there neither +for Fashion’s nor Charity’s sake, but for love of what +was best in art, were enthusiastic in view of all those +masterpieces. The worthless overture of the ‘Prophète,’ +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>329]</a></span> +disfiguring this fine <i>ensemble</i>, had been hissed by some +students of the Conservatoire, and, accustomed as I was to +the blindness of the general public, knowing its implacable +prejudices, I trembled for the fate of the magnificent +<i>septuor</i> about to follow. My fears were strangely ill-founded; +no sooner had ceased this hymn of infinite love +and peace, than these same students, and the whole +assemblage with them, burst into such a tempest of applause +as I never heard before. Berlioz was hidden in the +further ranks, and, the instant he was discovered, the +work was forgotten for the man; his name flew from +mouth to mouth, and four thousand people were standing +upright, with their arms stretched towards him. Chance had +placed me near him, and never shall I forget the scene. +That name, apparently ignored by the crowd, it had +learned all at once, and was repeating as that of one of its +heroes. Overcome as by the strongest emotion of his life, +his head upon his breast, he listened to this tumultuous cry +of ‘Vive Berlioz!’ and when, on looking up, he saw all eyes +upon him and all arms extended towards him, he could not +withstand the sight; he trembled, tried to smile, and broke +into sobbing.”</p> + +<p>Berlioz’s supremacy in the field of orchestral composition, +his knowledge of technique, his novel combination, his +insight into the resources of instruments, his skill in +grouping, his rich sense of colour, are incontestably without +a parallel, except by Beethoven and Wagner. He +describes his own method of study as follows:—</p> + +<p>“I carried with me to the opera the score of whatever +work was on the bill, and read during the performance. +In this way I began to familiarise myself with orchestral +methods, and to learn the voice and quality of the various +instruments, if not their range and mechanism. By this +attentive comparison of the effect with the means employed +to produce it, I found the hidden link uniting musical +expression to the special art of instrumentation. The study +of Beethoven, Weber, and Spontini, the impartial examination +both of the <em>customs</em> of orchestration and of <em>unusual</em> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>330]</a></span> +forms and combinations, the visits I made to <i>virtuosi</i>, the +trials I led them to make upon their respective instruments, +and a little instinct, did for me the rest.”</p> + +<p>The principal symphonies of Berlioz are works of colossal +character and richness of treatment, some of them requiring +several orchestras. Contrasting with these are such +marvels of delicacy as “Queen Mab,” of which it has been +said that the “confessions of roses and the complaints of +violets were noisy in comparison.” A man of magnificent +genius and knowledge, he was but little understood during +his life, and it was only when his uneasy spirit was at rest +that the world recognised his greatness. Paris, that stoned +him when he was living, now listens to his grand music +with enthusiasm. Hector Berlioz to the last never lost +faith in himself, though this man of genius, in his much +suffering from depression and melancholy, gave good +witness to the truth of Goethe’s lines:—</p> + +<div class="cpoem"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Who never ate with tears his bread,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Nor, weeping through the night’s long hours,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lay restlessly tossing on his bed—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">He knows ye not, ye heavenly Powers.”<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>A man utterly without reticence, who, Gallic fashion, +would shout his wrongs and sufferings to the uttermost +ends of the earth, yet without a smack of Gallic posing and +affectation, Berlioz talks much about himself, and dares to +estimate himself boldly. There was no small vanity about +this colossal spirit. He speaks of himself with outspoken +frankness, as he would discuss another. We cannot do +better than to quote one of these self-measurements:—“My +style is in general very daring, but it has not the slightest +tendency to destroy any of the constructive elements of art. +On the contrary, I seek to increase the number of these +elements. I have never dreamed, as has foolishly been +supposed in France, of writing music without melody. +That school exists to-day in Germany, and I have a horror +of it. It is easy for any one to convince himself that, without +confining myself to taking a very short melody for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>331]</a></span> +a theme, as the very greatest masters have, I have always +taken care to invest my compositions with a real wealth of +melody. The value of these melodies, their distinction, +their novelty, and charm, can be very well contested; it is +not for me to appraise them. But to deny their existence +is either bad faith or stupidity; only as these melodies are +often of very large dimensions, infantile and short-sighted +minds do not clearly distinguish their form; or else they +are wedded to other secondary melodies which veil their +outlines from those same infantile minds; or, upon the +whole, these melodies are so dissimilar to the little +waggeries that the musical <i>plebs</i> call melodies that they +cannot make up their minds to give the same name to +both. The dominant qualities of my music are passionate +expression, internal fire, rhythmic animation, and +unexpected changes.”</p> + +<p>Heinrich Heine, the German poet, who was Berlioz’s +friend, called him a “colossal nightingale, a lark of eagle-size, +such as they tell us existed in the primeval world.” +The poet goes on to say—“Berlioz’s music, in general, +has in it something primeval if not antediluvian to my +mind; it makes me think of gigantic species of extinct +animals, of fabulous empires full of fabulous sins, of heaped-up +impossibilities; his magical accents call to our minds +Babylon, the hanging gardens, the wonders of Nineveh, the +daring edifices of Mizraim, as we see them in the pictures +of the Englishman Martin.” Shortly after the publication +of “Lutetia,” in which this bold characterisation was +expressed, the first performance of Berlioz’s “Enfance du +Christ” was given, and the poet, who was on his sick-bed, +wrote a penitential letter to his friend for not having given +him justice. “I hear on all sides,” he says, “that you +have just plucked a nosegay of the sweetest melodious +flowers, and that your oratorio is throughout a masterpiece +of <i>naïvetè</i>. I shall never forgive myself for having been so +unjust to a friend.”</p> + +<p>Berlioz died at the age of sixty-five. His funeral +services were held at the Church of the Trinity, a few days +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>332]</a></span> +after those of Rossini. The discourse at the grave was +pronounced by Gounod, and many eloquent things were +said of him, among them a quotation of the epitaph of +Marshal Trivulce, “<i>Hic tandem quiescit qui nunquam +quievit</i>” (Here he is quiet, at last, who never was quiet +before). Soon after his death appeared his <i>Mémoires</i>, +and his bones had hardly got cold when the performance +of his music at the Conservatoire, the Cirque, and +the Chatelet began to be heard with the most hearty +enthusiasm.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Théophile Gautier says that no one will deny to Berlioz +a great character, though, the world being given to controversies, +it may be argued whether or not he was a great +genius. The world of to-day has but one opinion on both +these questions. The force of Berlioz’s character was +phenomenal. His vitality was so passionate and active +that brain and nerve quivered with it, and made him reach +out towards experience at every facet of his nature. +Quietude was torture, rest a sin, for this daring temperament. +His eager and subtile intelligence pierced every +sham, and his imagination knew no bounds to its sweep, +oftentimes even disdaining the bounds of art in its audacity +and impatience. This big, virile nature, thwarted and +embittered by opposition, became hardened into violent +self-assertion; this naturally resolute will settled back into +fierce obstinacy; this fine nature, sensitive and sincere, got +torn and ragged with passion under the stress of his unfortunate +life. But, at one breath of true sympathy how +quickly the nobility of the man asserted itself! All his +cynicism and hatred melted away, and left only sweetness, +truth, and genial kindness.</p> + +<p>When Berlioz entered on his studies, he had reached an +age at which Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and +others, had already done some of the best work of their +lives. Yet it took only a few years to achieve a development +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>333]</a></span> +that produced such a great work as the “Symphonie +Fantastique,” the prototype of modern programme music.</p> + +<p>From first to last it was the ambition of Berlioz to widen +the domain of his art. He strove to attain a more intimate +connection between instrumental music and poetry in the +portrayal of intense passions, and the suggestion of well-defined +dramatic situations. In spite of the fact that he +frequently overshot his mark, it does not make his works +one whit less astonishing. An uncompromising champion +of what has been dubbed “programme” music, he thought +it legitimate to force the imagination of the hearer to dwell +on exterior scenes during the progress of the music, and to +distress the mind in its attempt to find an exact relation +between the text and the music. The most perfect specimens +of the works of Berlioz, however, are those in which the +music speaks for itself, such as the “Scène aux Champs,” +and the “Marche au Supplice,” in the “Symphonie Fantastique,” +the “Marche des Pèlerins,” in “Harold;” the +overtures to “King Lear,” “Benvenuto Cellini,” “Carnaval +Romain,” “Le Corsaire,” “Les Francs Juges,” etc.</p> + +<p>As a master of the orchestra, no one has been the equal +of Berlioz in the whole history of music, not even Beethoven +or Wagner. He treats the orchestra with the absolute +daring and mastery exercised by Paganini over the violin, +and by Liszt over the piano. No one has showed so deep +an insight into the individuality of each instrument, its +resources, the extent to which its capabilities could be +carried. Between the phrase and the instrument, or group +of instruments, the equality is perfect; and independent of +this power, made up equally of instinct and knowledge, +this composer shows a sense of orchestral colour in combining +single instruments so as to form groups, or in the combination +of several separate groups of instruments by which he +has produced the most novel and beautiful effects—effects +not found in other composers. The originality and variety +of his rhythms, the perfection of his instrumentation, have +never been disputed even by his opponents. In many of +his works, especially those of a religious character, there is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>334]</a></span> +a Cyclopean bigness of instrumental means used, entirely +beyond parallel in art. Like the Titans of old, he would +scale the very heavens in his daring. In one of his works +he does not hesitate to use three orchestras, three choruses +(all of full dimensions), four organs, and a triple quartet. +The conceptions of Berlioz were so grandiose that he sometimes +disdained detail, and the result was that more than +one of his compositions have rugged grandeur at the expense +of symmetry and balance of form.</p> + +<p>Yet, when he chose, Berlioz could write the most exquisite +and dainty lyrics possible. What could be more exquisitely +tender than many of his songs and romances, and various +of the airs and choral pieces from “Beatrice et Benedict,” +from “Nuits d’Été,” “Irlande,” and from “L’Enfance du +Christ?”</p> + +<p>Berlioz in his entirety, as man and composer, was a most +extraordinary being, to whom the ordinary scale of measure +can hardly be applied. Though he founded no new school, +he pushed to a fuller development the possibilities to which +Beethoven reached out in the Ninth Symphony. He was +the great <i>virtuoso</i> on the orchestra, and on this Briarean +instrument he played with the most amazing skill. Others +have surpassed him in the richness of the musical substance +out of which their tone-pictures are woven, in symmetry of +form, in finish of detail; but no one has ever equalled him +in that absolute mastery over instruments, by which a +hundred become as plastic and flexible as one, and are +made to embody every phase of the composer’s thought +with that warmth of colour and precision of form long +believed to be necessarily confined to the sister arts.</p> + +<div class="figcenter ipadboth imgw6"> +<img src="images/gmc08.png" width="125" height="31" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[<span class="hidden">Pg </span>335]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="appendix" id="appendix"></a>APPENDIX.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="vsmlfont">CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.</span></h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Chronological birth and death years of each composer"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1520-1594</td> + <td class="tdli">Palestrina.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1633-1687</td> + <td class="tdli">Lulli.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1658-1695</td> + <td class="tdli">Purcell.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1659-1725</td> + <td class="tdli">A. Scarlatti.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1685-1750</td> + <td class="tdli">J. S. Bach.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1685-1759</td> + <td class="tdli">Handel.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1710-1736</td> + <td class="tdli">Pergolesi.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1714-1787</td> + <td class="tdli">Gluck.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1728-1800</td> + <td class="tdli">Piccini.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1732-1809</td> + <td class="tdli">Haydn.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1741-1816</td> + <td class="tdli">Paisiello.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1741-1813</td> + <td class="tdli">Grétry.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1749-1801</td> + <td class="tdli">Cimarosa.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1756-1791</td> + <td class="tdli">Mozart.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1760-1842</td> + <td class="tdli">Cherubini.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1763-1817</td> + <td class="tdli">Méhul.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1770-1827</td> + <td class="tdli">Beethoven.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1774-1851</td> + <td class="tdli">Spontini.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1775-1834</td> + <td class="tdli">Boïeldieu.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1782-1871</td> + <td class="tdli">Auber.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1786-1826</td> + <td class="tdli">Weber.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1791-1864</td> + <td class="tdli">Meyerbeer.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1792-1868</td> + <td class="tdli">Rossini.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1797-1828</td> + <td class="tdli">Schubert.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1798-1848</td> + <td class="tdli">Donizetti.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1799-1862</td> + <td class="tdli">Halévy.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1802-1835</td> + <td class="tdli">Bellini.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1803-1869</td> + <td class="tdli">Berlioz.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1809-1847</td> + <td class="tdli">Mendelssohn.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1809-1849</td> + <td class="tdli">Chopin.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1810-1856</td> + <td class="tdli">Schumann.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1813-1883</td> + <td class="tdli">Wagner.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1813</td> + <td class="tdli">Verdi.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">1818</td> + <td class="tdli">Gounod.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p class="center padtop padbase vsmlfont">PRINTED BY WALTER SCOTT, FELLING,<br /> +NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center padtop lrgfont"><i>MONTHLY SHILLING VOLUMES.</i></p> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">GREAT WRITERS.</p> + +<p class="center vlrgfont">A New Series of Critical Biographies.</p> + +<p class="center lrgfont">Edited by Professor <span class="smcap">Eric S. 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The bibliography is unusually full, and adds to +the value of the work.”</p> + +<p>The <i>Academy</i> says—“It is gracefully and sympathetically written, ... and +it is no small praise to say that it is worthy of the memory which it enshrines.”</p> + +<p>The <i>Birmingham Daily Post</i> says—“The book is a great gain, and cannot +be overlooked by any student of Coleridge.”</p> + +<p class="smlpadt"><span class="lrgfont">LIFE OF DICKENS.</span> <span class="smcap">By FRANK T. MARZIALS.</span></p> + +<p>“An interesting and well-written biography.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + + +<p class="center smlpadt"><i>Ready March 25th.</i></p> + +<p><span class="lrgfont">LIFE OF DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI.</span> <span class="smcap">By +JOSEPH KNIGHT.</span></p> + + +<p class="center smlpadt"><i>To be followed on April 25th by</i></p> + +<p><span class="lrgfont">LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON.</span> <span class="smcap">By Col. F. 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Reid, Mrs. Freiligrath Kroeker, J. Logie Robertson, M.A., +Samuel Waddington</span>, etc., etc.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Bindings and prices"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><i>Cloth, Red Edges</i></td> + <td class="tdr">1s.<span class="space"> </span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><i>Cloth, Uncut Edges</i></td> + <td class="tdr">1s.<span class="space"> </span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><i>Red Roan, Gilt Edges</i></td> + <td class="tdr">2s. 6d. </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><i>Silk Plush, Gilt Edges</i></td> + <td class="tdr">4s. 6d. </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p class="center">———<br /> +<i>THE FOLLOWING VOLUMES ARE NOW READY.</i></p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="lrgfont">CHRISTIAN YEAR.</span><br /> +By Rev. 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Symonds.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="lrgfont">BYRON (2 Vols.)</span><br /> +Edited by Mathilde Blind.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="lrgfont">THE SONNETS OF EUROPE.</span><br /> +Edited by S. Waddington.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="lrgfont">ALLAN RAMSAY.</span><br /> +Edited by J. Logie Robertson.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="lrgfont">SYDNEY DOBELL.</span><br /> +Edited by Mrs. Dobell.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="lrgfont">POPE.</span><br /> +Edited by John Hogben.</p> + + +<p class="center padbase">———<br /> +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row.</p> + + + + +<p class="center padtop xlrgfont">THE CAMELOT CLASSICS.</p> + + +<p class="center lrgfont"><i>VOLUMES ALREADY ISSUED.</i></p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">ROMANCE OF KING ARTHUR.</span> +<span class="smcap">By Sir T. MALORY.</span> Edited by <span class="smcap">Ernest Rhys</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">WALDEN.</span> <span class="smcap">By HENRY DAVID THOREAU.</span> +With Introductory Note by <span class="smcap">Will H. Dircks</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER.</span> +<span class="smcap">By THOMAS DE QUINCEY.</span> With Introduction by +<span class="smcap">William Sharp</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS.</span> +<span class="smcap">By WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.</span> With Introduction +by <span class="smcap">Havelock Ellis</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">PLUTARCH’S LIVES.</span> Edited by <span class="smcap">B. J. Snell</span>, M.A.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">SIR THOMAS BROWNE’S RELIGIO MEDICI, etc.</span> +Edited, with Introduction, by <span class="smcap">John Addington Symonds</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">ESSAYS AND LETTERS.</span> +<span class="smcap">By PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.</span> Edited, with +Introduction, by <span class="smcap">Ernest Rhys</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">PROSE WRITINGS OF SWIFT.</span> Edited by <span class="smcap">W. Lewin</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">MY STUDY WINDOWS.</span> +<span class="smcap">By JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.</span> Edited, with Introduction, +by <span class="smcap">Richard Garnett</span>, LL.D.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">GREAT ENGLISH PAINTERS.</span> +<span class="smcap">By ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.</span> Edited, with Introduction, +by <span class="smcap">William Sharp</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">LORD BYRON’S LETTERS.</span> Edited by <span class="smcap">M. Blind</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">ESSAYS BY LEIGH HUNT.</span> Edited by <span class="smcap">A. Symons</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">LONGFELLOW’S PROSE WORKS.</span> Edited, with +Introduction, by <span class="smcap">William Tirebuck</span>.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class="vlrgfont">THE GREAT COMPOSERS.</span> Edited, with Introduction, +by Mrs. <span class="smcap">William Sharp</span>.</p> + + +<p class="center">———</p> + +<p class="padbase">The Series is issued in two styles of Binding—Red Cloth, +Cut Edges; and Dark Blue Cloth, Uncut Edges. Either +Style, <span class="smcap">Price One Shilling</span>.</p> + + + + +<div class="figcenter padtop imgw1"> +<img src="images/gmc10.png" width="400" height="28" +alt="A Poem on the Crofter Evictions" title="A Poem on the Crofter Evictions" /> +</div> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">———<br /> +THE HEATHER ON FIRE.</p> + +<p class="center lrgfont smcap">By MATHILDE BLIND. Price 1s.</p> + + +<p>“A subject of our own time fertile in what is pathetic and awe-inspiring, and free +from any taint of the vulgar and conventional.... Positive subject-matter, the +emotion which inheres in actual life, the very smile and the very tear and heart-pang, +are, after all, precious to poetry, and we have them here. ‘The Heather on Fire’ may +possibly prove something of a new departure, and one that was certainly not superfluous.... +Even apart from the fascination of its subject-matter, the poem is developed +with spirit and energy, with a feeling for homely truth of character and treatment, +and with a generally pervasive sense of beauty.”—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> + +<p>“Miss Blind has chosen for her new poem one of those terrible Highland clearances +which stain the history of Scotch landlordism. Though her tale is a fiction, it is too +well founded on fact.... It may be said generally of the poem that the most difficult +scenes are those in which Miss Blind succeeds best; and on the whole we are inclined +to think that its greatest and most surprising success is the picture of the poor old +soldier, Rory, driven mad by the burning of his wife.”—<i>Academy.</i></p> + +<p>“A subject which has painfully pre-occupied public opinion is, in the poem entitled +‘The Heather on Fire,’ treated with characteristic power by Miss Blind.... Both as +a narrative and descriptive poem, ‘The Heather on Fire’ is equally remarkable.”—<i>Morning +Post.</i></p> + +<p>“A poem remarkable for beauty of expression and pathos of incidents will be found +in ‘The Heather on Fire.’ Exquisitely delicate are the touches with which the progress +of this tale of true love is delineated up to its consummation amid the simple rejoicings of +the neighbourhood; and the flight of years of married life and daily toil, as numerous +as those of their courtship, is told in stanzas full of music and soul.... This tale +is one which, unless we are mistaken, may so affect public feeling as to be an effectual +bar to similar human clearings in future.”—<i>Leeds Mercury.</i></p> + +<p>“Literature and poetry are never seen at their best save in contact with actual life. +This little book abounds in vivid delineation of character, and is redolent with the +noblest human sympathy.”—<i>Newcastle Daily Chronicle.</i></p> + +<p>“‘The Heather on Fire’ is a poem that is rich not only in power and beauty but +in that ‘enthusiasm of humanity’ which stirs and moves us, and of which so much +contemporary verse is almost painfully deficient.... Miss Blind is not a mere poetic +trifler who considers that the best poetry is that written by the man who has nothing +to say but can say that nothing gracefully.... We can best describe the kind of her +success by noting the fact that while engaged in the perusal of her book we do not +say, ‘What a fine poem!’ but ‘What a terrible story!’ or more probably still say +nothing at all but read on and on under the spell of a great horror and an overpowering +pity. Poetry of which this can be said needs no other recommendation.”—<i>The +Manchester Examiner and Times.</i></p> + +<p>“A poem recently published in London (‘The Heather on Fire; a Tale of the Highland +Clearances’) is declared, in one of the articles which have appeared in the German +press on the Scottish Land Question, ‘to be based on terrible truth and undoubted real +horrors; giving, in noblest poetical language and thrilling words, a description which +ought to be a spur of action to thinking statesmen.’”—<i>North British Daily Mail.</i></p> + + +<p class="center padbase">———<br /> +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row.</p> + + + + +<p class="center padtop lrgfont"><i>PRICE SIXPENCE.</i><br /> +———</p> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smlfont">THE</span><span class="lrgspace"> </span><br /> +<span class="smcap xlrgfont">Monthly</span><span class="lrgspace"> </span><br /> +<span class="lrgspace"> </span><span class="smcap xlrgfont">Chronicle</span><br /> +<span class="smlfont">OF</span><br /> +<span class="lrgfont">NORTH-COUNTRY</span><span class="lrgspace"> </span><br /> +<span class="lrgspace"> </span><span class="lrgfont">LORE AND LEGEND.</span></p> + + +<p class="center">———<br /> +CONTENTS.</p> + +<p>Address to the Reader, by the Editor; Men of Mark ’Twixt Tyne +and Tweed, by Richard Welford—Mark Akenside, Rev. Berkeley +Addison, Thomas Addison (“Addison of Guy’s”); Jack Crawford, +the Hero of Camperdown; The Vicar of Lesbury; Centenarians in +the Northern Counties; Joseph Saint, the North Tyne Centenarian; +Laplanders at Ravensworth Castle; Mrs. Jameson in Newcastle; +Lambert’s Leap; The Murder of Ferdinando Forster; Over the +Churchyard Wall, by James Clephan; Charles I. in Northumberland; +Old Tyne Bridge; Raymond Lully at Raby Castle; The +Hawks Family, by William Brockie; Houghton Feast; The Betsy +Cains; Ralph Lambton and His Hounds; Coal in the North; Old +Newcastle Tradesmen—Alder Dunn, Hadwen Bragg; Hadwen Bragg’s +Kinsmen and Descendants; My Lord ’Size—The Author, the Accident, +the Song; Castle Garth Stairs; The Bowes Tragedy; Cock-Fighting +in Newcastle; Rules and Regulations of the Cock-Pit; North-Country +Wit and Humour; North-Country Obituary; Records of Events—North-Country +Occurrences, General Occurrences.</p> + + +<p class="center smlpadt">———<br /> +<i><span class="lrgfont">JUST PUBLISHED</span>, Price 1s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p class="center">GUIDE TO<br /> +<span class="vlrgfont">EMIGRATION AND COLONISATION.</span><br /> +<span class="smlfont">AN APPEAL TO THE NATION.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By WALDEMAR BANNOW</span>,<br /> +<span class="vsmlfont">UPWARDS OF EIGHTEEN YEARS A RESIDENT OF VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.</span></p> + + +<p class="center padbase">London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row.</p> + + + +<div class="figcenter padtop imgw1"> +<img src="images/gmc09.png" width="400" height="46" +alt="The Canterbury Poets" title="The Canterbury Poets" /> +</div> + +<p class="center lrgfont">———<br /> +<i>In Crown Quarto, Printed on Antique Paper,<br /> +Price 12s. 6d.</i></p> + + +<p class="center vlrgfont">———<br /> +EDITION DE LUXE.</p> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">SONNETS OF THIS CENTURY,</p> + +<p class="center"><i>With an Exhaustive and Critical Essay on the Sonnet</i>,</p> + +<p class="center lrgfont smcap">By WILLIAM SHARP.</p> + +<p class="center">This Edition has been thoroughly Revised, and several new Sonnets +added.</p> + + +<p class="center">———<br /> +<i>THE VOLUME CONTAINS SONNETS BY</i></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="List of authors"> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Lord Tennyson.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Edward Dowden.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Robert Browning.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Edmund Gosse.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">A. C. Swinburne.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Andrew Lang.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Matthew Arnold.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">George Meredith.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Theodore Watts.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Cardinal Newman.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Archbishop Trench.</td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="space"> </span><i>By the Late</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">J. Addington Symonds.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Dante Gabriel Rossetti.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">W. Bell Scott.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">Mrs. Barrett Browning.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdlsc">Christina Rossetti.</td> + <td class="tdlsc">C. Tennyson-Turner, etc.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="center">AND ALL THE BEST WRITERS OF THIS CENTURY.</p> + +<p class="center padbase">———<br /> +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row.</p> + + + + +<p class="center padtop">Crown 8vo, Illustrated, Cloth, Bevelled<br /> +Boards, 2s. 6d; Gilt Edges, 3s.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="xlrgfont">OUR QUEEN:</span><br /> +<i>A Sketch of the Life and Times of Victoria.</i><br /> +<i>By the Author of “Grace Darling.”</i></p> + + +<p class="center padtop">Crown 8vo, Cloth, Bevelled Boards,<br /> +Price 3s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="vlrgfont">Carols from the Coal-Fields:</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">And other Songs and Ballads</span>.</p> + +<p class="center lrgfont smcap">By JOSEPH SKIPSEY.</p> + + +<p class="center padtop"><i>NEW VOL. of the 2s. 6d. SERIES.</i></p> + +<p class="center smlfont">By the Authors of “Our Queen,”<br /> +“Grace Darling,” etc.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="vlrgfont"><i>Queens of Literature</i></span><br /> +OF THE VICTORIAN ERA.</p> + + +<p class="center padtop smlfont">Uniform in size with “The Canterbury<br /> +Poets,” 305 pages, Cloth Gilt,<br /> +price 1s. 4d.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="vlrgfont">DAYS OF THE YEAR.</span><br /> +<span class="smlfont"><i>A Poetic Calendar of Passages from the<br /> +Works of Alfred Austin.</i></span></p> + +<p class="center smlfont">With Introduction by William Sharp.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter padtop imgw1"> +<img src="images/gmc11.png" width="400" height="15" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + +<p class="center vlrgfont">THE CANTERBURY POETS.</p> + +<p class="center smcap">———<br /> +Price One Shilling.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>New Edition, Twentieth Thousand, thoroughly Revised, with several +new Sonnets added.</i></p> + +<p class="center xlrgfont">SONNETS OF THIS CENTURY.</p> + +<p class="center lrgfont"><i>With an Exhaustive and Critical Essay on the Sonnet.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">By WILLIAM SHARP.</span></p> + +<p class="center">———<br /> +<i>SONNETS BY</i></p> + +<p>Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, A. C. Swinburne, Matthew Arnold, +Theodore Watts, Archbishop Trench, J. Addington Symonds, W. Bell Scott, +Christina Rossetti, Edward Dowden, Edmund Gosse, Andrew Lang, George +Meredith, Cardinal Newman; <i>By the Late</i> Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Mrs. Barrett +Browning, C. Tennyson-Turner, etc.; and all the Best Writers of the Century.</p> + +<div class="figcenter imgw1"> +<img src="images/gmc11.png" width="400" height="15" +alt="Decoration" /> +</div> + +<p class="center padtop smlfont">Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt, Price 2s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="vlrgfont">Life of General Gordon.</span><br /> +With Photographic Portrait taken<br /> +at Khartoum.</p> + +<p class="center smlfont"><i>By the Authors of “Our Queen,”<br /> +“Grace Darling,” etc.</i></p> + + +<p class="center padtop smlfont">By the same Authors, Crown 8vo, Cloth<br /> +Gilt, Illustrated, Price 2s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="lrgfont">NEW WORLD HEROES:</span><br /> +<span class="vlrgfont"><i>Lincoln and Garfield</i>.</span></p> + +<p class="center smlfont"><i>The Life Story of two self-made Men<br /> +whom the People made Presidents.</i></p> + + +<p class="center padtop lrgfont smcap">NEW BOOKS for CHILDREN.</p> + +<p class="center smlfont">———<br /> +Foolscap 8vo, Cloth Boards, price<br /> +One Shilling each.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="vlrgfont">VERY SHORT STORIES</span><br /> +<span class="smlfont">AND</span><br /> +VERSES FOR CHILDREN.</p> + +<p class="center smcap">By MRS. W. K. CLIFFORD.</p> + + +<p class="center padtop"><span class="lrgfont"><i>A NEW NATURAL HISTORY</i></span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes.<br /> +By JOHN K. LEYS, M.A.</span></p> + + +<p class="center padtop"><span class="vlrgfont">Life Stories of Famous Children.</span><br /> +<span class="lrgfont">ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH.</span><br /> +<i>By the Author of “Spenser for Children.”</i></p> + + +<p class="center padtop padbase"><span class="smcap">London</span>: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="bbox"> +<p><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>Minor punctuation errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent.</p> + +<p>Spelling inconsistencies between the introduction and main text have +been preserved as printed, e.g. Jommelli, Jomelli; Metastasia, +Metastasio; Bonacini, Bononcini; etc.</p> + +<p>Typographic errors, including errors in consistency, have been corrected as +follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Page <a href="#Page_x">x</a>—parodox amended to paradox—"... what may with seeming paradox be called +statuesque, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_xiv">xiv</a>—psuedo amended to pseudo—"... when pseudo-classicism had given all it had +to give; ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>—Brahm amended to Brahms—"... Liszt, Franz, Thomas, Brahms, Rubenstein, +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_xv">xv</a>—writen amended to written—"... and of his work a competent judge has +written ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_30">30</a>—Scheolcher amended to Schœlcher—"Schœlcher, in his <i>Life of +Handel</i>, says ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_33">33</a>—and amended to andt—"Why, by the mercy of Heaven, andt +the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_40">40</a>—Encyclopedists amended to Encyclopædists—"The Encyclopædists stimulated +the ferment ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_49">49</a>—spmphony amended to symphony—"... (alluding to Haydn’s brown complexion +and small stature) “composed that symphony?”"</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_49">49</a>—Hadyn amended to Haydn—"Haydn continued the intimate friend and associate +of Prince Nicholas ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_57">57</a>—Hadyn amended to Haydn—"Haydn was present, but he was so old and feeble +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_61">61</a>—Mme. amended to Mdme.—"... when Mdme. Pompadour refused to +kiss him, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_73">73</a>—expected amended to excepted—"The “Sinfonia Eroica,” the “Choral” only +excepted, is the longest ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_81">81</a>—Mme. amended to Mdme.—"... the following anecdote related by +Mdme. Moscheles ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_83">83</a>—Paesiello amended to Paisiello—"Paisiello liked the warm bed in which to +jot down his musical notions, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_89">89</a>—medodies amended to melodies—"The immemorial melodies to which the popular +songs of Germany were set ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_96">96</a>—effertories amended to offertories—"His church music, consisting of six +masses, many offertories, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_100">100</a>—Musikallische amended to Musikalische—"... in a critical article +published in the <i>Wiener Musikalische Zeitung</i>, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_102">102</a>—veilleicht amended to vielleicht—"Ein mann vielleicht von dreissig Jahr, +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_113">113</a>—noctures amended to nocturnes—"... the preludes, nocturnes, scherzos, +ballads, etc., ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_134">134</a>—harmouy amended to harmony—"... sweetness of harmony and tune, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_139">139</a>—Tanhäuser amended to Tannhäuser—"... next came “Tannhäuser” and +“Lohengrin,” ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_141">141</a>—Tanhäuser amended to Tannhäuser—"In “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin” they +find full sway."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_145">145</a>—Büloz amended to Bülow—"... originated chiefly with the masterly playing +of Herr Von Bülow, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_149">149</a>—Da amended to da, and Michel amended to Michael—"... +Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, and Michael Angelo."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_149">149</a>—Perluigui amended to Perluigi—"<span class="smcap">Giovanni Perluigi Aloisio da +Palestrina</span> was born at Palestrina, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_156">156</a>—musiq amended to music—"... where comedies and other plays are +represented in recitative music ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_165">165</a>—opportuity amended to opportunity—"... as gave Vestris the opportunity +for one of his greatest triumphs."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_168">168</a>—Petersburgh amended to Petersburg—"... the invitation of Catherine to +become the court composer at St. Petersburg, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_173">173</a>—Stendhal amended to Stendhall—"... Stendhall says, in his <i>Life of +Rossini</i>, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_178">178</a>—accomodations amended to accommodations—"... and those unable to get +other accommodations encamp ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_181">181</a>—totaly amended to totally—"Sterbini made the libretto totally different +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_184">184</a>—Davide amended to David—"Mdme. Colbran, afterwards Rossini’s wife, sang +Desdemona, and David, Otello."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_185">185</a>—you amended to your—"... they have not left you a seat in your own house."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_202">202</a>—Faleiro amended to Faliero—"“Marino Faliero” was composed for Paris in +1835, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_204">204</a>—Nigida amended to Nisida—"... the story of which was drawn from “L’Ange +de Nisida,” ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_209">209</a>—chief amended to chef—"... and M. Habeneck, <i>chef d’orchestre</i> of +the Académie Royale, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_224">224</a>—Skakespearian amended to Shakespearian—"... that probably only a +Shakespearian subject could induce him ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_225">225</a>—Othello amended to Otello—"There are no symphonic pieces in “Otello,” ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_228">228</a>—maurir amended to mourir—"<i>... pécheur, il faut mourir</i>, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_229">229</a>—fall amended to full—"... but with a voice so full of shakes and quavers, +..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_261">261</a>—La amended to Le—"In 1797 he produced his “Le Jeune Henri,” ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_264">264</a>—Gaspardo amended to Gasparo—"<span class="smcap">Luigi Gasparo Pacifico Spontini</span>, +born of peasant parents ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_266">266</a>—rejoiner amended to rejoinder—"“What’s the use? I can’t hear a note,” was +the impatient rejoinder."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_268">268</a>—Formental amended to Fromental—"<span class="smcap">Fromental Halévy</span>, a scion of the +Hebrew race, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_282">282</a>—Anslem amended to Anselm—"... Clementi, Bernhard Anselm Weber, and Abbé +Vogler."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_284">284</a>—Veluti amended to Velluti—"In the latter city, Velluti, the last of the +male sopranists, ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_292">292</a>—faancs amended to francs—"... I certainly would have given two hundred +francs for a seat; ..."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_297">297</a>—avried amended to varied—"... accordingly as the varied +meanings of Goethe’s masterpiece demand."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_326">326</a>—by-word amended to bye-word—"... his name was a laughing-stock and a bye-word."</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_335">335</a>—S. Bach amended to J. S. Bach—"1685-1750 <i>J. S. Bach.</i>"</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_335">335</a>—Cerubini amended to Cherubini—"1760-1842 <i>Cherubini.</i>"</p> + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_335">335</a>—1802 amended to 1827—"1770-1827 <i>Beethoven.</i>"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 34381-h.txt or 34381-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/4/3/8/34381">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/8/34381</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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Ferris, +Edited by Elizabeth Amelia (Mrs. William) Sharp + + +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: Great Musical Composers + German, French, and Italian + + +Author: George T. Ferris + +Editor: Elizabeth Amelia (Mrs. William) Sharp + +Release Date: November 20, 2010 [eBook #34381] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS*** + + +E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Sam W., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +The Camelot Series. +Edited by Ernest Rhys. + +GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS + +German, French, and Italian + +by + +GEORGE T. FERRIS + +Edited, with an Introduction by Mrs. William Sharp + + + + + + + +London +Walter Scott, 24 Warwick Lane +Paternoster Row +1887 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION vii + + BACH 1 + + HANDEL 7 + + GLUCK 36 + + HAYDN 46 + + MOZART 59 + + BEETHOVEN 70 + + SCHUBERT AND SCHUMANN 87 + + CHOPIN 103 + + WEBER 115 + + MENDELSSOHN 124 + + WAGNER 131 + + PALESTRINA 147 + + PICCINI, PAISIELLO, AND CIMAROSA 154 + + ROSSINI 175 + + DONIZETTI AND BELLINI 200 + + VERDI 213 + + CHERUBINI AND HIS PREDECESSORS 226 + + MEHUL, SPONTINI, AND HALEVY 260 + + BOIELDIEU AND AUBER 273 + + MEYERBEER 281 + + GOUNOD 297 + + BERLIOZ 310 + + APPENDIX: CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 335 + + + + +[Decoration] + +_Introduction._ + + +The following biographical sketches were originally published in +America by Mr. George T. Ferris, in two volumes, separately entitled +_The Great German Composers_ and _The Great Italian and French +Composers_. They have achieved the success they deserved: for while we +have whole libraries of books upon the history and technicalities of +music in general, upon musical theories and schools, and upon the +exponents thereof in their artistic capacity, there has been a +distinct dearth of treatises dealing in a brief and popular fashion +with the lives of eminent composers themselves. Now, when music is +"mastered and murdered" in almost every house throughout the length +and breadth of the land, there can be no doubt that compilations of +this kind must be welcome to a very large number--we will not say of +musical students, but of lovers of music. There are, it would be +needless to attempt to prove, great numbers of the music-loving +public, who practically have no facilities towards making acquaintance +with the leading facts in the lives of those men whose compositions +they have such a genuine delight in rendering: to these mainly is such +a book as _Great Composers_ addressed. But, indeed, to every one +interested in music and musicians the volume can hardly fail to be of +interest. In his preface to _The Great Italian and French Composers_, +Mr. Ferris explained that--as was very manifest--"the task of +compressing into one small volume suitable sketches of the more famous +Italian and French composers was, in view of the extent of field and +the wealth of material, a somewhat embarrassing one, especially as the +purpose was to make the sketches of interest to the general +music-loving public, and not merely to the critic and scholar. The +plan pursued has been to devote the bulk of space to composers of the +higher rank, and to pass over those less known with such brief mention +as sufficed to outline their lives, and fix their place in the history +of music." + +To _The Great German Composers_ he prefaces a few words which may be +quoted--"The sketches of composers contained in this volume may seem +arbitrary in the space allotted to them. The special attention given +to certain names has been prompted as much by their association with +great art epochs, as by the consideration of their absolute rank as +composers. The introduction of Chopin, born a Pole, and for a large +part of his life a resident of France, among German composers, may +require an explanatory word. Chopin's whole early training was in the +German school, and he may be looked on as one of the founders of the +latest school of pianoforte composition, whose highest development is +in contemporary Germany. He represents German music by his affinities +and his influences in art, and bears too close a relation to important +changes in musical forms to be omitted from this series." + +Various important events have occurred since the publication of these +volumes in America: _inter alia_, the performance of Wagner's last +great work "Parsifal," and the death of the great German musician; +the production of new works by Gounod and Verdi; and so forth. The +editor has endeavoured, as briefly as practicable, to supplement Mr. +Ferris's _causeries_ with the addenda necessary to bring _Great +Composers_ down to date. Mr. Ferris further acknowledges his +obligation to the following authorities for the facts embodied in +these sketches:--Hullah's _History of Modern Music_; Fetis' +_Biographie Universelle des Musiciens_; Clementi's _Biographie des +Musiciens_; Hogarth's _History of the Opera_; Sutherland Edwards' +_History of the Opera_; Schlueter's _History of Music_; Chorley's +_Thirty Years' Musical Reminiscences_; Stendhall's _Vie de Rossini_; +Bellasy's _Memorials of Cherubini_; Grove's _Musical Dictionary_; +Crowestl's _Musical Anecdotes_; Schoelcher's _Life of Handel_; +Liszt's _Life of Chopin_; Elsie Polko's _Reminiscences_; Lampadius' +_Life of Mendelssohn_; Urbino's _Musical Composers_; Franz Hueffer's +_Wagner and the Music of the Future_; Haweis' _Music and Morals_; +and the various articles in the leading cyclopaedias. + +To this volume the present editor has appended a chronological table +of the musicians referred to in the following sketches. + +In reading the lives of these great musical composers, we can trace +the gradual development of music from its earliest days as an art and +as a science. Unlike the other arts which have flourished, decayed, +and had rebirth, music, as we now understand it, sprang into being out +of the ferment of the Renaissance, and therefore is the youngest of +the arts--a modern growth belonging particularly to the later phases +of civilisation. Music in a rude, undeveloped condition has existed +doubtless "since the world began." In all nations, and in the records +of past civilisations, indications of music are to be found; martial +strains for the encouragement of warriors on the march; sacred hymns +and sacrificial chants in religious ceremonials; and song accompanied +by some rude instrument--we find to have been known and practised +among remote tribes as well as among potent races. The bards of divers +peoples and many countries in ancient days played upon the harp not +merely for delight, but for the exorcism of evil spirits, the +dispersion of melancholy, the soothing and cure of mental and physical +disorders. Here we find music as the direct expression of feeling, but +not as a science. The Greeks made further use of music by +incorporating it into their dramas, but it was chiefly declamatory, +and was used solely in the choruses. To modern ears such music would +sound very inefficient, more especially as the antique instruments +were of the crudest--and although musical sounds, to a limited extent, +could be produced from them, all attempts at _expression_ must have +been unsuccessful. + +In Europe in the early middle ages there existed two kinds of music: +that of the people, spontaneous, impulsive, the song of the +Troubadour, unwritten and orally transmitted from father to son; that +of the Church, which had been greatly encouraged since the days of +Constantine, and especially owed much to St. Ambrose and St. Gregory. +For a time music became the handmaid of the Church, but it thereby, to +a certain extent, also gave voice to the lyrical feelings of the +people; for the chorister and composer not only embodied popular songs +into the chants, but in many instances interpolated the words +themselves. This incongruity at length necessitated the reform, +brought about by Palestrina--the father of sacred music as we now know +it--whose _Missa Papae Marcelli_, performed in 1565, established a +type which has been more or less adhered to ever since. The services +of the Church gave rise to the oratorio, which, however, chiefly owes +its development to Protestant genius, more especially to Handel. In +1540 San Filippo Neri formed in Milan a Society called "Le +congregazione dei Padri dell' Oratorio" (from _orare_ to pray), and we +are told by Crescembini that "The oratorio, a poetical composition, +formerly a commixture of the dramatic and narrative styles, but now +entirely a musical drama, had its origin from San Filippo Neri, who in +his chapel, after sermons and other devotions, in order to allure +young people to pious offices, and to detain them from earthly +pleasures, had hymns, psalms, and such like prayers sung by one or +more voices." "Among these spiritual songs were dialogues; and these +entertainments, becoming more frequent and improving every year, were +the occasion that, in the seventeenth century, oratorios were +invented, so called from their origin."[A] + +Then came the fulness of the Renaissance, quickening dead forms into +new life, laying its vivifying touch on the new-born art, music, and +making it its nursling. At first the change was hardly perceptible. It +was church music out of church, fine, stately, what may with seeming +paradox be called statuesque, which came to bear the name of +_L'Opera_, signifying _The Work_:--but, though born to a heritage of +good aims, possessed of very inadequate means for their fulfilment. +Once liberated from its presumed function of expressing religious +feeling, and thus subjected to other impelling forces, music could not +long remain in the old forms. It began to feel its way into new +channels, and in the form of the opera became a national institution. +Its growth at first was weak and faulty; but finally it developed into +a perfect art. It was as the novice, who, freed from the sanctity of +the convent with its calm lights and shadows, enters at last the +portals of the life of the world--a varied world full of turmoil, +passion, and strife. A greater world, after all, than that quitted, +because composed of so many possibilities in so many directions, and +comprising the sufferings, the joys, the aspirations of such +innumerably differentiated beings; a world wherein the novice learns +to widen her sympathies, to feel with and for the people, and to +express for them the never-ceasing craving for something beyond the +fleeting moment. At first, therefore, the stately art and the musical +needs of the people were dissimilar and apart; but little by little +each gave to and took from the other, till at length, out of the +marriage of these elementaries, a third arose to become the expression +of the life of the people, partaking in likeness of both, having lost +certain qualities, having gained many more, becoming richer, broader, +more eclectic--in short, developing into the more fitting expression +of the manifold aspirations of modern days, when life is varied and +intense, and the mind gropes blindly in every direction. + +This development is traceable in all art, and in the sphere of music +it is most manifest in the opera. Like all great movements the opera +began humbly. Towards the end of the sixteenth century a number of +amateurs in Florence, dissatisfied with the polyphonic school of +music, combined "to revive the musical declamation of the Greeks," to +wed poetry and music--so long dissevered--to make the music follow the +inflexion of the voice and the sense of the words. The first opera was +"Il Conte Ugolino," composed by Vicenzio Galileo--father of the famous +astronomer--and it was followed by various others, the titles of which +need not here be recorded. At first, such performances took place in +the palaces of nobles on grand occasions, when frequently both +performers and musicians were of high rank. At length, however, in +1637 a famous theorbo player, Benedetto Farrari, and Francesco +Manetti, the composer, opened in Venice an opera-house at their own +risk, and a little later brought out with great success "Le nozzi di +Peleo e di Telide" by Cavalli, a disciple of Monteverde, and it was +henceforth that the opera became, as we have said, a national +institution. Schools for singing were opened in Rome, Naples, and +Venice--the science of music made rapid strides--instruments for +orchestral purposes naturally likewise improved in quality and in +variety; and the opera developed continuously in breadth of treatment +and form in the hands of Scarlatti, Leo, Jommelli, and Cimarosa. + +About the beginning of the eighteenth century a rival to the _serious_ +opera sprang up in Naples--the _comic_ opera, the direct offspring of +the people, and of lower artistic standing. But as the serious opera +became more stately, more scientific, more purely formal, less human, +less the expression of direct feeling, cultivated more for art's sake +solely, the comic opera throve on the very qualities that its elder +sister rejected, till at length the greatest musicians of the day, +Pergolesi, Cimarosa, Mozart, wrote their masterpieces for it. +Ultimately the two were fused into one, that is, into the modern +Italian opera. The comic opera, as we now understand it, is of French +origin. + +From Italy the opera found its way into other countries with varying +results. In England it took early root, and assimilated itself with +the earlier _masques_ which were played at Whitehall and at Inns of +Court. In the early productions in this country, however, the music +was merely incidental. During the Commonwealth, an opera entitled "The +Siege of Rhodes," composed by Dr. Charles Colman, Captain Henry Cook, +Henry Lawes, and George Hudson, was performed in 1655, under the +express license of Cromwell. Purcell seems, however, to have been the +first to see the possibility of a national English opera;--his music +to Dryden's "King Arthur," and to the "Indian Queen," is considered +very beautiful; "his recitative was as rhetorically perfect as +Lulli's, but infinitely more natural, and frequently impassioned to +the last degree; his airs are not in the Italian form, but breathe +rather the spirit of unfettered natural melody, and stand forth as +models of refinement and freedom." "The Beggar's Opera," set to music +by Dr. Pepusch, and Dr. Arne's "Artaxerxes," a translation from +Metastasia's libretto, adapted to melodious music, were deservedly +popular, and long retained a place on the stage. Nevertheless, when +the Italian opera became an institution in England, the national opera +made no further progress. During the last few years the former seems +to have practically died out in England, and it remains to be seen in +what form the English opera will revive and flourish once more as a +national product. We have good promise in the works of such musicians +as Balfe, Wallace, Sterndale Bennet, Sir G. A. Macfarren, Dr. A. C. +Mackenzie, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Mr. C. V. Stanford, and others. + +The end of the sixteenth and end of the seventeenth centuries form +what has been called "the golden age of English music--aye for all +musical Europe--of the madrigal. Nowhere was the cultivation of that +noble form of pure vocal music, whether in composition or in +performance, followed with more zeal or success than in England." The +Hon. Roger North, Attorney-General to James II., in his _Memories of +Musick_, speaks thus of the state of music in the first half of the +seventeenth century--"Afterwards these (Italian _fantazias_) were +imitated by the English, who, working more elaborately, improved upon +their patterne, which gave occasion to an observation, that in vocall +the Italians, and in instrumental music the English excelled." Again +he alludes to "those authors whose performance gained the nation the +credit in excelling the Italians in all but vocall." In instrumental +music, then, in the madrigal, the cantata, and in ecclesiastical +music, England prospered. Among her most important composers were John +Dowland, Ford, Henry Lawes, John Jenkens, Pelham Humphreys, Wise, +Blow, Henry Purcell--great in secular and ecclesiastical works, in +instrumental and in vocal--Croft and Weldon; all were predecessors of +Handel, who, though one of the greatest of German composers, lived +nearly fifty years in England, composed several operas and all his +famous oratorios for England, and is therefore not unjustifiably added +to the list of English composers. + +The opera was first introduced into France by Cardinal Mazarin early +in the seventeenth century, but the lyrical drama owes its origin in +that country to Lulli, who also introduced into it the ballet, which +was a favourite pastime of the young king Louis XIV. The ballet has +since become an integral part of the French and also of the later +Italian operas. It was Lulli, again, who extended the "meagre prelude" +of the Italian opera into the overture as we now know it. But as the +rise and progress of the French opera is fully portrayed in the +following musical sketches, it is needless to trace it further here. + +Germany--equally with Italy the land of music, but of harmonious in +contra-distinction to melodic music, which belongs most properly to +Italy, well named the land of song--was much later in developing her +musical powers than Italy, but she cultivated them to grander and +nobler proportions; for to Germany we owe the magnificent development +of instrumental music, which culminates in the form of the sonata for +the piano, and in that of the symphony for the orchestra, in the hands +of such masters as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. In Germany the +opera took root by means of a translation of Rinaccini's "Dafne," set +to music by Henry Schuetz in 1627, with Italian airs and German +recitative. The first German opera or _singspiel_, "Adam und Eva," by +Johann Theil, was performed in 1678, but it became national through +the works of Reinhard Keiser, whose opera "Basilino" was performed in +1693. "His style was purely German, less remarkable for its rhetorical +perfection than that of Lulli, but exhibiting far greater variety of +expression, and more earnest endeavour to attain that spirit of +Dramatic Truth which alone can render such music worthy of its +intended purpose." He was worthily followed by Hasse, Grann, by +Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro," "Die Zauberfloete," "Don Giovanni," and +by Beethoven's one opera "Fidelio." + +The growth of a national opera in Germany and France, competing with +that of Italy, induced also the rise of party quarrels between the +adherents of the several schools; and the history of music +demonstrates the fact, often seen in the history of politics, that in +such contentions the real point at issue--the _excellence_ of the +subject in question--is lost sight of in the fierce strife of +opponents; the broader issues are obscured in the narrowing +influences of mere partizanship, wherein each side on principle shuts +its eyes equally to the merits of its adversary and to its own faults. +Thus in the following sketches are recorded the quarrels between the +adherents of Lulli and Rameau, Handel and Bonacini, Piccini and Gluck, +Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, and in the present day between +the advocates of Wagner's "Music of the Future" and those of the +"Music of the Past." "The old order changes, giving place to new," but +only after a long protracted struggle, a struggle that will not be +productive of good as long as the bitterness of partizanship exists, +whose aim is wholly to annihilate its adversary, though thereby much +that is good and fine be lost. This is not, however, the place to +discuss the importance of such strife, nor the comparative advantages +and disadvantages of its existence or non-existence--but it is as well +to draw attention to it in order to point out that in the history of +music the belligerents are usually blind to the important fact that, +inasmuch as nations differ essentially in ways of thought and action, +in character, temperament, and fundamental nature, so also must the +various phases of art differ which are their mediums of expression. + +The history of the art of music is divisible into two great +epochs--the first dating from its birth about three centuries ago +under the impelling influences of the Renaissance, to the end of the +eighteenth century, when pseudo-classicism had given all it had to +give; the second dating from the rise of Romanticism in the beginning +of the nineteenth century to the present day. The revival of the +"forgotten world of old romance--that world of wonder and mystery and +spiritual beauty," no longer crippled by lack of science, and fettered +by asceticism, was to music, that youngest of the arts, a novel +influence, which pushed it vigorously in a new direction, towards the +more direct expression of the cravings of humanity--making it more +_human_, more the fitting medium expression of this democratic age. +The true romantic feeling has been described as "the ever present +apprehension of the spiritual world, and of that struggle of the soul +with earthly conditions." This later period gave "new seeing to our +eyes, which were once more opened to the mysteries and the wonder of +the universe, and the romance of man's destiny; it revived, in short, +the romantic spirit enriched by the clarity and sanity that the +renascence was able to lend." + +In the opera Gluck was one of the earliest masters who came under the +influence of the new movement, and he anticipated Wagner in many of +his reforms. He decreased the importance of the singer, and increased +that of the orchestra, elaborated the recitative, and made the music +to follow the rhythm of the words, and he also gave importance to the +dramatic expression of the human emotions. In Germany Weber is styled +the Father of the Romantic opera, as in France the most noteworthy +figure is Berlioz, and the new method was further developed in the +instrumental music by Schumann, and demonstrated by other musicians, +dead and living, who, from the limited space of this volume, have not +been specially noticed--Liszt, Franz, Thomas, Brahms, Rubenstein, +Dvorak, Massinet, Bizet, Jensen, Grieg, and others. Gounod, is, of +course, unmistakably under the same influence, and may be considered +as the direct descendant of Gluck, and there is every reason to +suppose that he is the last great composer of the grand opera of +France, as Verdi is undeniably that of the Italian opera. The most +remarkable figure of the movement, he who has carried it to its utmost +limits, is Richard Wagner. At first he refused for his compositions +the name of "Music of the Future," and desired for them the more +comprehensive term of "Work of Art of the Future." It is impossible to +predict to what extent his theories will be followed: it is not +desirable that they should be blindly worked out by musicians of power +inferior to his; but they are in the right direction, and may +ultimately bring about a new art mode in music. The resources of art +are endless, being, as the Abbe Lamennais tells us, to man what +creation is to God; and music may safely be trusted to develop in such +a way as to ever be the most fitting expression of the inarticulate +cravings and aspirations of the human soul. Wagner has attempted to +unite the three arts of Painting, Poetry, and Music: and of his work a +competent judge has written--"The musical drama is undoubtedly the +highest manifestation of which men are capable. All the most refined +arts are called in to contribute to the idea. The author of a musical +drama is no more a musician, or a poet, or a painter; he is the +supreme _artist_, not fettered by the limits of one art, but able to +step over the boundaries of all the different branches of aesthetic +composition, and find the proper means for rendering his thought +wherever he wants it. This was Wagner's aim. His latter works, +'Tristram and Isolde,' the 'Niebelungen Ring,' and 'Parsifal,' are the +actuation of the theory, or at least are works showing what is the way +towards the aim." Another eminent critic, Mr. Walter Pater, writing +upon the fine arts, tells us that "_All art constantly aspires towards +the condition of music_.... It is the art of music which most +completely realises this artistic ideal, this perfect identification +of form and matter. In its ideal consummate moments, the end is not +distinct from the means, the form from the matter, the subject from +the expression; they inhere in and completely saturate each other; and +to it, therefore, to the condition of its perfect moments, all the +arts may be supposed constantly to tend and aspire. Music, then, and +not poetry, as is so often supposed, is the true type or measure of +consummate art. Therefore, although each art has its incommunicable +element, its untranslatable order of impressions, its unique mode of +reaching the 'imaginative reason,' yet the arts may be represented as +continually struggling after the law or principle of music, to a +condition which music alone completely realises." + +We may rest assured--as assured as Emerson or Matthew Arnold +concerning the illimitable possibilities of poetry--that the future +has great riches in store for all lovers of music. Giants, indeed, are +they who are no longer among us, but it is not derogatory to these +great ones to believe and hope that--life being "moving music" +according to the definition of the Syrian Gnostics--the world will yet +be electrified by the genius of successors worthy of such royal +ancestry as Handel and Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner. + + ELIZABETH A. SHARP. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] Hawkin's _Musical History_, vol. iii., p. 441. + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +THE GREAT COMPOSERS. + +[GERMAN.] + + + + +_BACH._ + + +I. + +The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthy +facts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a century +and a-half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its +progress being so consecutive and regular that the composers who +illustrated its well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in +one connected series. + +To JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH must be accorded the title of "father of +modern music." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence +before his name, and acknowledged in him the creative mind which not +only placed music on a deep scientific basis, but perfected the form +from which have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases +of orchestral composition. Handel, who was his contemporary, having +been born the same year, spoke of him with sincere admiration, and +called him the giant of music. Haydn wrote--"Whoever understands me +knows that I owe much to Sebastian Bach, that I have studied him +thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him only as my model." +Mozart's unceasing research brought to light many of his unpublished +manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation of this great +master. In like manner have the other luminaries of music placed on +record their sense of obligation to one whose name is obscure to the +general public in comparison with many of his brother composers. + +Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March 1685, the son +of one of the court musicians. Left in the care of his elder brother, +who was an organist, his brilliant powers displayed themselves at an +early period. He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even +at that date the wide-spread branches of the family held annual +gatherings of a musical character. Young Bach mastered for himself, +without much assistance, a thorough musical education at Lueneburg, +where he studied in the gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and +at the age of eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a +few years later he became organist and director of concerts. He had in +the meantime studied the organ at Luebeck under the celebrated +Buxtehude, and made himself thoroughly a master of the great Italian +composers of sacred music--Palestrina, Lotti, Vivaldi, and others. + +At this period Germany was beginning to experience its musical +_renaissance_. The various German courts felt that throb of life and +enthusiasm which had distinguished the Italian principalities in the +preceding century in the direction of painting and sculpture. Every +little capital was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general +spirit of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the arts +of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become known as a gifted +musician, not only by his wonderful powers as an organist, but by two +of his earlier masterpieces--"Gott ist mein Koenig" and "Ich hatte viel +Bekuemmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic, +Bach's ardour for study increased with his success, and his rapid +advancement in musical power met with warm appreciation. + +While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of Prince +Leopold of Anhalt-Koethen, which he assumed about the year 1720, he +went to Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see old Reinke, then nearly a +centenarian, whose fame as an organist was national, and had long been +the object of Bach's enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his +youthful rival improvised on the old choral, "Upon the Rivers of +Babylon." He shed tears of joy while he tenderly embraced Bach, and +said--"I did think that this art would die with me; but I see that you +will keep it alive." + +Our musician rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical +centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant +improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these +last two capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was +the most marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to fully +enlighten the world in regard to his creative powers as a musical +thinker. + + +II. + +Though Bach's life was mostly spent at Weimar and Leipsic, he was at +successive periods chapel-master and concert-director at several of +the German courts, which aspired to shape public taste in matters of +musical culture and enthusiasm. But he was by nature singularly +retiring and unobtrusive, and recoiled from several brilliant offers +which would have brought him too much in contact with the gay world of +fashion, apparently dreading any diversion from a severe and exclusive +art-life; for within these limits all his hopes, energies, and wishes +were focalised. Yet he was not without that keen spirit of rivalry, +that love of combat, which seems to be native to spirits of the more +robust and energetic type. + +In the days of the old Minnesingers, tournaments of music shared the +public taste with tournaments of arms. In Bach's time these public +competitions were still in vogue. One of these was held by Augustus +II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, one of the most munificent +art-patrons of Europe, but best known to fame from his intimate part +in the wars of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia. +Here Bach's principal rival was a French _virtuoso_, Marchand, who, an +exile from Paris, had delighted the king by the lightness and +brilliancy of his execution. They were both to improvise on the same +theme. Marchand heard Bach's performance and signalised his own +inferiority by declining to play, and secretly leaving the city of +Dresden. Augustus sent Bach a hundred louis d'or, but this splendid +_douceur_ never reached him, as it was appropriated by one of the +court officials. + +In Bach's half-century of a studious musical life there is but little +of stirring incident to record. The significance of his career was +interior, not exterior. Twice married, and the father of twenty +children, his income was always small even for that age. Yet, by +frugality, the simple wants of himself and his family never +overstepped the limit of supply; for he seems to have been happily +mated with wives who sympathised with his exclusive devotion to art, +and united with this the virtues of old-fashioned German thrift. + +Three years before his death, Bach, who had a son in the service of +the King of Prussia, yielded to the urgent invitation of that monarch +to go to Berlin. Frederick II., the conqueror of Rossbach, and one of +the greatest of modern soldiers, was a passionate lover of literature +and art, and it was his pride to collect at his court all the leading +lights of European culture. He was not only the patron of Voltaire, +whose connection with the Prussian monarch has furnished such rich +material to the anecdote-history of literature, but of all the +distinguished painters, poets, and musicians whom he could persuade by +his munificent offers (but rarely fulfilled) to suffer the burden of +his eccentricities. Frederick was not content with playing the part of +patron, but must himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and +composer. + +On the night of Bach's arrival Frederick was taking part in a concert +at his palace, and, on hearing that the great musician whose name was +in the mouths of all Germany had come, immediately sent for him +without allowing him to don a court dress, interrupting his concert +with the enthusiastic announcement, "Gentlemen, Bach is here." The +cordial hospitality and admiration of Frederick was gratefully +acknowledged by Bach, who dedicated to him a three-part fugue on a +theme composed by the king, known under the name of "A Musical +Offering." But he could not be persuaded to remain long from his +Leipsic home. + +Shortly before Bach's death, he was seized with blindness, brought on +by incessant labour; and his end was supposed to have been hastened by +the severe inflammation consequent on two operations performed by an +English oculist. He departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried +in St. John's churchyard, universally mourned by musical Germany, +though his real title to exceptional greatness was not to be read +until the next generation. + + +III. + +Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known musical +family, but was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the +best-known organists and church composers of Germany. As a master of +organ-playing, tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with +the possible exception of Handel. He was also an able performer on +various stringed instruments, and his preference for the clavichord[B] +led him to write a method for that instrument, which has been the +basis of all succeeding methods for the piano. Bach's teachings and +influence may be said to have educated a large number of excellent +composers and organ and piano players, among whom were Emanuel Bach, +Cramer, Hummel, and Clementi; and on his school of theory and practice +the best results in music have been built. + +That Bach's glory as a composer should be largely posthumous is +probably the result of his exceeding simplicity and diffidence, for +he always shrank from popular applause; therefore we may believe his +compositions were not placed in the proper light during his life. It +was through Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, that the musical world +learned what a master-spirit had wrought in the person of John +Sebastian Bach. The first time Mozart heard one of Bach's hymns, he +said, "Thank God! I learn something absolutely new." + +Bach's great compositions include his "Preludes and Fugues" for the +organ, works so difficult and elaborate as perhaps to be above the +average comprehension, but sources of delight and instruction to all +musicians; the "Matthaeus Passion," for two choruses and two +orchestras, one of the masterpieces in music, which was not produced +till a century after it was written; the "Oratorio of the Nativity of +Jesus Christ;" and a very large number of masses, anthems, cantatas, +chorals, hymns, etc. These works, from their largeness and dignity of +form, as also from their depth of musical science, have been to all +succeeding composers an art-armoury, whence they have derived and +furbished their brightest weapons. In the study of Bach's works the +student finds the deepest and highest reaches in the science of music; +for his mind seems to have grasped all its resources, and to have +embodied them with austere purity and precision of form. As Spenser is +called the poet for poets, and Laplace the mathematician for +mathematicians, so Bach is the musician for musicians. While Handel +may be considered a purely independent and parallel growth, it is not +too much to assert that without Sebastian Bach and his matchless +studies for the piano, organ, and orchestra, we could not have had the +varied musical development in sonata and symphony from such masters as +Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Three of Sebastian Bach's sons became +distinguished musicians, and to Emanuel we owe the artistic +development of the sonata, which in its turn became the foundation of +the symphony. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[B] An old instrument, which may be called the nearest prototype of +the modern square piano. + + + + +_HANDEL._ + + +I. + +To the modern Englishman Handel is almost a contemporary. Paintings +and busts of this great minstrel are scattered everywhere throughout +the land. He lies in Westminster Abbey among the great poets, +warriors, and statesmen, a giant memory in his noble art. A few hours +after death the sculptor Roubiliac took a cast of his face, which he +wrought into imperishable marble; "moulded in colossal calm," he +towers above his tomb, and accepts the homage of the world benignly +like a god. Exeter Hall and the Foundling Hospital in London are also +adorned with marble statues of him. + +There are more than fifty known pictures of Handel, some of them by +distinguished artists. In the best of these pictures Handel is seated +in the gay costume of the period, with sword, shot-silk breeches, and +coat embroidered with gold. The face is noble in its repose. +Benevolence is seated about the finely-shaped mouth, and the face +wears the mellow dignity of years, without weakness or austerity. +There are few collectors of prints in England and America who have not +a woodcut or a lithograph of him. His face and his music are alike +familiar to the English-speaking world. + +Handel came to England in the year 1710, at the age of twenty-five. +Four years before he had met, at Naples, Scarlatti, Porpora, and +Corelli. That year had been the turning-point in his life. With one +stride he reached the front rank, and felt that no musician alive +could teach him anything. + +GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL (or Haendel, as the name is written in German) +was born at Halle, Lower Saxony, in the year 1685. Like German +literature, German music is a comparatively recent growth. What little +feeling existed for the musical art employed itself in cultivating the +alien flowers of Italian song. Even eighty years after this Mozart +and Haydn were treated like lackeys and vagabonds, just as great +actors were treated in England at the same period. Handel's father +looked on music as an occupation having very little dignity. + +Determined that his young son should become a doctor like himself, and +leave the divine art to Italian fiddlers and French buffoons, he did +not allow him to go to a public school even, for fear he should learn +the gamut. But the boy Handel, passionately fond of sweet sounds, had, +with the connivance of his nurse, hidden in the garret a poor spinet, +and in stolen hours taught himself how to play. At last the senior +Handel had a visit to make to another son in the service of the Duke +of Saxe-Weissenfels, and the young George was taken along to the ducal +palace. The boy strayed into the chapel, and was irresistibly drawn to +the organ. His stolen performance was made known to his father and the +duke, and the former was very much enraged at such a direct evidence +of disobedience. The duke, however, being astonished at the +performance of the youthful genius, interceded for him, and +recommended that his taste should be encouraged and cultivated instead +of repressed. + +From this time forward fortune showered upon him a combination of +conditions highly favourable to rapid development. Severe training, +ardent friendship, the society of the first composers, and incessant +practice were vouchsafed him. As the pupil of the great organist +Zachau, he studied the whole existing mass of German and Italian +music, and soon exacted from his master the admission that he had +nothing more to teach him. Thence he went to Berlin to study the +opera-school, where Ariosti and Bononcini were favourite composers. +The first was friendly, but the latter, who with a first-rate head had +a cankered heart, determined to take the conceit out of the Saxon boy. +He challenged him to play at sight an elaborate piece. Handel played +it with perfect precision, and thenceforward Bononcini, though he +hated the youth as a rival, treated him as an equal. + +On the death of his father Handel secured an engagement at the +Hamburg opera-house, where he soon made his mark by the ability with +which, on several occasions, he conducted rehearsals. + +At the age of nineteen Handel received the offer of the Luebeck organ, +on condition that he would marry the daughter of the retiring +organist. He went down with his friend Mattheson, who it seems had +been offered the same terms. They both returned, however, in single +blessedness to Hamburg. + +Though the Luebeck maiden had stirred no bad blood between them, +musical rivalry did. A dispute in the theatre resulted in a duel. The +only thing that saved Handel's life was a great brass button that +shivered his antagonist's point, when they were parted to become firm +friends again. + +While at Hamburg Handel's first two operas were composed, "Almira" and +"Nero." Both of these were founded on dark tales of crime and sorrow, +and, in spite of some beautiful airs and clever instrumentation, were +musical failures, as might be expected. + +Handel had had enough of manufacturing operas in Germany, and so in +July 1706 he went to Florence. Here he was cordially received; for +Florence was second to no city in Italy in its passion for encouraging +the arts. Its noble specimens of art creations in architecture, +painting, and sculpture produced a powerful impression upon the young +musician. In little more than a week's time he composed an opera, +"Rodrigo," for which he obtained one hundred sequins. His next visit +was to Venice, where he arrived at the height of the carnival. +Whatever effect Venice, with its weird and mysterious beauty, with its +marble palaces, facades, pillars, and domes, its magnificent shrines +and frescoes, produced on Handel, he took Venice by storm. Handel's +power as an organist and a harpsichord player was only second to his +strength as a composer, even when, in the full zenith of his maturity, +he composed the "Messiah" and "Judas Maccabaeus." + +"Il caro Sassone," the dear Saxon, found a formidable opponent as +well as dear friend in the person of Scarlatti. One night at a masked +ball, given by a nobleman, Handel was present in disguise. He sat at +the harpsichord, and astonished the company with his playing; but no +one could tell who it was that ravished the ears of the assembly. +Presently another masquerader came into the room, walked up to the +instrument, and called out: "It is either the devil or the Saxon!" +This was Scarlatti, who afterwards had with Handel, in Florence and +Rome, friendly contests of skill, in which it seemed difficult to +decide which was victor. To satisfy the Venetian public, Handel +composed the opera "Agrippina," which made a _furore_ among all the +connoisseurs of the city. + +So, having seen the summer in Florence and the carnival in Venice, he +must hurry on to be in time for the great Easter celebrations in Rome. +Here he lived under the patronage of Cardinal Ottoboni, one of the +wealthiest and most liberal of the Sacred College. The cardinal was a +modern representative of the ancient patrician. Living himself in +princely luxury, he endowed hospitals and surgeries for the public. He +distributed alms, patronised men of science and art, and entertained +the public with comedies, operas, oratorios, puppet-shows, and +academic disputes. Under the auspices of this patron, Handel composed +three operas and two oratorios. Even at this early period the young +composer was parting company with the strict old musical traditions, +and his works showed an extraordinary variety and strength of +treatment. + +From Rome he went to Naples, where he spent his second Italian summer, +and composed the original Italian "Aci e Galatea," which in its +English version, afterwards written for the Duke of Chandos, has +continued a marked favourite with the musical world. Thence, after a +lingering return through the sunny land where he had been so warmly +welcomed, and which had taught him most effectually, in convincing him +that his musical life had nothing in common with the traditions of +Italian musical art, he returned to Germany, settling at the court of +George of Brunswick, Elector of Hanover, and afterwards King of +England. He received commission in the course of a few months from the +elector to visit England, having been warmly invited thither by some +English noblemen. On his return to Hanover, at the end of six months, +he found the dull and pompous little court unspeakably tiresome after +the bustle of London. So it is not to be marvelled at that he took the +earliest opportunity of returning to the land which he afterwards +adopted. At this period he was not yet twenty-five years old, but +already famous as a performer on the organ and harpsichord, and as a +composer of Italian operas. + +When Queen Anne died and Handel's old patron became King of England, +Handel was forbidden to appear before him, as he had not forgotten the +musician's escapade; but his peace was at last made by a little ruse. +Handel had a friend at court, Baron Kilmansegge, from whom he learned +that the king was, on a certain day, going to take an excursion on the +Thames. So he set to work to compose music for the occasion, which he +arranged to have performed on a boat which followed the king's barge. +As the king floated down the river he heard the new and delightful +"Water-Music." He knew that only one man could have composed such +music; so he sent for Handel, and sealed his pardon with a pension of +two hundred pounds a-year. + + +II. + +Let us take a glance at the society in which the composer moved in the +heyday of his youth. His greatness was to be perfected in after-years +by bitter rivalries, persecution, alternate oscillations of poverty +and affluence, and a multitude of bitter experiences. But at this time +Handel's life was a serene and delightful one. Rival factions had not +been organised to crush him. Lord Burlington lived much at his +mansion, which was then out of town, although the house is now in the +heart of Piccadilly. The intimate friendship of this nobleman helped +to bring the young musician into contact with many distinguished +people. + +It is odd to think of the people Handel met daily without knowing that +their names and his would be in a century famous. The following +picture sketches Handel and his friends in a sprightly fashion:-- + +"Yonder heavy, ragged-looking youth standing at the corner of Regent +Street, with a slight and rather more refined-looking companion, is +the obscure Samuel Johnson, quite unknown to fame. He is walking with +Richard Savage. As Signor Handel, 'the composer of Italian music,' +passes by, Savage becomes excited, and nudges his friend, who takes +only a languid interest in the foreigner. Johnson did not care for +music; of many noises he considered it the least disagreeable. + +"Toward Charing Cross comes, in shovel-hat and cassock, the renowned +ecclesiastic, Dean Swift. He has just nodded patronisingly to +Bononcini in the Strand, and suddenly meets Handel, who cuts him dead. +Nothing disconcerted, the dean moves on, muttering his famous +epigram-- + + 'Some say that Signor Bononcini, + Compared to Handel, is a ninny; + While others vow that to him Handel + Is hardly fit to hold a candle. + Strange that such difference should be + 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.' + +"As Handel enters the 'Turk's Head' at the corner of Regent Street, a +noble coach and four drives up. It is the Duke of Chandos, who is +inquiring for Mr. Pope. Presently a deformed little man, in an +iron-grey suit, and with a face as keen as a razor, hobbles out, makes +a low bow to the burly Handel, who, helping him into the chariot, gets +in after him, and they drive off together to Cannons, the duke's +mansion at Edgeware. There they meet Mr. Addison, the poet Gay, and +the witty Arbuthnot, who have been asked to luncheon. The last number +of the _Spectator_ is on the table, and a brisk discussion soon arises +between Pope and Addison concerning the merits of the Italian opera, +in which Pope would have the better if he only knew a little more +about music, and could keep his temper. Arbuthnot sides with Pope in +favour of Mr. Handel's operas; the duke endeavours to keep the peace. +Handel probably uses his favourite exclamation, 'Vat te tevil I care!' +and consumes the _recherche_ wines and rare viands with undiminished +gusto. + +"The Magnificent, or the Grand Duke, as he was called, had built +himself a palace for L230,000. He had a private chapel, and appointed +Handel organist in the room of the celebrated Dr. Pepusch, who retired +with excellent grace before one manifestly his superior. On week-days +the duke and duchess entertained all the wits and grandees in town, +and on Sundays the Edgeware Road was thronged with the gay equipages +of those who went to worship at the ducal chapel and hear Mr. Handel +play on the organ. + +"The Edgeware Road was a pleasant country drive, but parts of it were +so solitary that highwaymen were much to be feared. The duke was +himself attacked on one occasion; and those who could afford it never +travelled so far out of town without armed retainers. Cannons was the +pride of the neighbourhood, and the duke--of whom Pope wrote, + + 'Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight'-- + +was as popular as he was wealthy. But his name is made still more +illustrious by the Chandos anthems. They were all written at Cannons +between 1718 and 1720, and number in all eleven overtures, thirty-two +solos, six duets, a trio, quartet, and forty-seven choruses. Some of +the above are real masterpieces; but, with the exception of 'The waves +of the sea rage horribly,' and 'Who is God but the Lord?' few of them +are ever heard now. And yet these anthems were most significant in the +variety of the choruses and in the range of the accompaniments; and it +was then, no doubt, that Handel was feeling his way toward the great +and immortal sphere of his oratorio music. Indeed, his first +oratorio, 'Esther,' was composed at Cannons, as also the English +version of 'Acis and Galatea.'" + +But Handel had other associates, and we must now visit Thomas Britton, +the musical coal-heaver. "There goes the famous small-coal man, a +lover of learning, a musician, and a companion of gentlemen." So the +folks used to say as Thomas Britton, the coal-heaver of Clerkenwell +Green, paced up and down the neighbouring streets with his sack of +small coal on his back, destined for one of his customers. Britton was +great among the great. He was courted by the most fashionable folk of +his day. He was a cultivated coal-heaver, who, besides his musical +taste and ability, possessed an extensive knowledge of chemistry and +the occult sciences. + +Britton did more than this. He gave concerts in Aylesbury Street, +Clerkenwell, where this singular man had formed a dwelling-house, with +a concert-room and a coal-store, out of what was originally a stable. +On the ground-floor was the small-coal repository, and over that the +concert-room--very long and narrow, badly lighted, and with a ceiling +so low that a tall man could scarcely stand upright in it. The stairs +to this room were far from pleasant to ascend, and the following +facetious lines by Ward, the author of the "London Spy," confirm +this:-- + + "Upon Thursdays repair + To my palace, and there + Hobble up stair by stair, + But I pray ye take care + That you break not your shins by a stumble; + + "And without e'er a souse + Paid to me or my spouse, + Sit as still as a mouse + At the top of the house, + And there you shall hear how we fumble." + +Nevertheless, beautiful duchesses and the best society in town flocked +to Britton's on Thursdays--not to order coals, but to sit out his +concerts. + +Let us follow the short, stout little man on a concert-day. The +customers are all served, or as many as can be. The coal-shed is made +tidy and swept up, and the coal-heaver awaits his company. There he +stands at the door of his stable, dressed in his blue blouse, +dustman's hat, and maroon kerchief tightly fastened round his neck. +The concert-room is almost full, and, pipe in hand, Britton awaits a +new visitor--the beautiful Duchess of B----. She is somewhat late (the +coachman, possibly, is not quite at home in the neighbourhood). + +Here comes a carriage, which stops at the coal-shop; and, laying down +his pipe, the coal-heaver assists her grace to alight, and in the +genteelest manner escorts her to the narrow staircase leading to the +music-room. Forgetting Ward's advice, she trips laughingly and +carelessly up the stairs to the room, from which proceed faint sounds +of music, increasing to quite an _olla podrida_ of sound as the +apartment is reached--for the musicians are tuning up. The beautiful +duchess is soon recognised, and as soon in deep gossip with her +friends. But who is that gentlemanly man leaning over the +chamber-organ? That is Sir Roger L'Estrange, an admirable performer on +the violoncello, and a great lover of music. He is watching the +subtile fingering of Mr. Handel, as his dimpled hands drift leisurely +and marvellously over the keys of the instrument. + +There, too, is Mr. Bannister with his fiddle--the first Englishman, +by-the-by, who distinguished himself upon the violin; there is Mr. +Woolaston, the painter, relating to Dr. Pepusch of how he had that +morning thrown up his window upon hearing Britton crying "Small coal!" +near his house in Warwick Lane, and, having beckoned him in, had made +a sketch for a painting of him; there, too, is Mr. John Hughes, author +of the "Siege of Damascus." In the background also are Mr. Philip +Hart, Mr. Henry Symonds, Mr. Obadiah Shuttleworth, Mr. Abiell +Whichello; while in the extreme corner of the room is Robe, a justice +of the peace, letting out to Henry Needler of the Excise Office the +last bit of scandal that has come into his court. And now, just as +the concert has commenced, in creeps "Soliman the Magnificent," also +known as Mr. Charles Jennens, of Great Ormond Street, who wrote many +of Handel's librettos, and arranged the words for the "Messiah." + +"Soliman the Magnificent" is evidently resolved to do justice to his +title on this occasion, with his carefully-powdered wig, frills, +maroon-coloured coat, and buckled shoes; and as he makes his progress +up the room, the company draw aside for him to reach his favourite +seat near Handel. A trio of Corelli's is gone through; then Madame +Cuzzoni sings Handel's last new air; Dr. Pepusch takes his turn at the +harpsichord; another trio of Hasse, or a solo on the violin by +Bannister; a selection on the organ from Mr. Handel's new oratorio; +and then the day's programme is over. Dukes, duchesses, wits and +philosophers, poets and musicians, make their way down the satirised +stairs to go, some in carriages, some in chairs, some on foot, to +their own palaces, houses, or lodgings. + + +III. + +We do not now think of Handel in connection with the opera. To the +modern mind he is so linked to the oratorio, of which he was the +father and the consummate master, that his operas are curiosities but +little known except to musical antiquaries. Yet some of the airs from +the Handel operas are still cherished by singers as among the most +beautiful songs known to the concert-stage. + +In 1720 Handel was engaged by a party of noblemen, headed by his Grace +of Chandos, to compose operas for the Royal Academy of Music at the +Haymarket. An attempt had been made to put this institution on a firm +foundation by a subscription of L50,000, and it was opened on May 2nd +with a full company of singers engaged by Handel. In the course of +eight years twelve operas were produced in rapid succession: +"Floridante," December 9, 1721; "Ottone," January 12, 1723; "Flavio" +and "Giulio Cesare," 1723; "Tamerlano," 1724; "Rodelinda," 1725; +"Scipione," 1726; "Alessandro," 1726; "Admeto," 1727; "Siroe," 1728; +and "Tolommeo," 1728. They made as great a _furore_ among the musical +public of that day as would an opera from Gounod or Verdi in the +present. The principal airs were sung throughout the land, and +published as harpsichord pieces; for in these halcyon days of our +composers the whole atmosphere of the land was full of the flavour and +colour of Handel. Many of the melodies in these now forgotten operas +have been worked up by modern composers, and so have passed into +modern music unrecognised. It is a notorious fact that the celebrated +song, "Where the Bee sucks," by Dr. Arne, is taken from a movement in +"Rinaldo." Thus the new life of music is ever growing rich with the +dead leaves of the past. The most celebrated of these operas was +entitled "Otto." It was a work composed of one long string of +exquisite gems, like Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Gounod's "Faust." Dr. +Pepusch, who had never quite forgiven Handel for superseding him as +the best organist in England, remarked of one of the airs, "That great +bear must have been inspired when he wrote that air." The celebrated +Madame Cuzzoni made her _debut_ in it. On the second night the tickets +rose to four guineas each, and Cuzzoni received two thousand pounds +for the season. + +The composer had already begun to be known for his irascible temper. +It is refreshing to learn that operatic singers of the day, however +whimsical and self-willed, were obliged to bend to the imperious +genius of this man. In a spirit of ill-timed revolt Cuzzoni declined +to sing an air. She had already given him trouble by her insolence and +freaks, which at times were unbearable. Handel at last exploded. He +flew at the wretched woman and shook her like a rat. "Ah! I always +knew you were a fery tevil," he cried, "and I shall now let you know +that I am Beelzebub, the prince of de tevils!" and, dragging her to +the open window, was just on the point of pitching her into the +street, when, in every sense of the word, she recanted. So, when +Carestini, the celebrated tenor, sent back an air, Handel was furious. +Rushing into the trembling Italian's house, he said, in his four- or +five-language style--"You tog! don't I know better as yourself vaat it +pest for you to sing? If you vill not sing all de song vaat I give +you, I vill not pay you ein stiver." Among the anecdotes told of +Handel's passion is one growing out of the composer's peculiar +sensitiveness to discords. The dissonance of the tuning-up period of +an orchestra is disagreeable to the most patient. Handel, being +peculiarly sensitive to this unfortunate necessity, always arranged +that it should take place before the audience assembled, so as to +prevent any sound of scraping or blowing. Unfortunately, on one +occasion, some wag got access to the orchestra where the ready-tuned +instruments were lying, and with diabolical dexterity put every string +and crook out of tune. Handel enters. All the bows are raised +together, and at the given beat all start off _con spirito_. The +effect was startling in the extreme. The unhappy _maestro_ rushes +madly from his place, kicks to pieces the first double-bass he sees, +and, seizing a kettle-drum, throws it violently at the leader of the +band. The effort sends his wig flying, and, rushing bareheaded to the +footlights, he stands a few moments amid the roars of the house, +snorting with rage and choking with passion. Like Burleigh's nod, +Handel's wig seemed to have been a sure guide to his temper. When +things went well, it had a certain complacent vibration; but when he +was out of humour, the wig indicated the fact in a very positive way. +The Princess of Wales was wont to blame her ladies for talking instead +of listening. "Hush, hush!" she would say. "Don't you see Handel's +wig?" + +For several years after the subscription of the nobility had been +exhausted, our composer, having invested L10,000 of his own in the +Haymarket, produced operas with remarkable affluence, some of them +_pasticcio_ works, composed of all sorts of airs, in which the singers +could give their _bravura_ songs. These were "Lotario," 1729; +"Partenope," 1730; "Poro," 1731; "Ezio," 1732; "Sosarme," 1732; +"Orlando," 1733; "Ariadne," 1734; and also several minor works. +Handel's operatic career was not so much the outcome of his choice as +dictated to him by the necessity of time and circumstance. As time +went on, his operas lost public interest. The audiences dwindled, and +the overflowing houses of his earlier experience were replaced by +empty benches. This, however, made little difference with Handel's +royal patrons. The king and the Prince of Wales, with their respective +households, made it an express point to show their deep interest in +Handel's success. In illustration of this, an amusing anecdote is told +of the Earl of Chesterfield. During the performance of "Rinaldo" this +nobleman, then an equerry of the king, was met quietly retiring from +the theatre in the middle of the first act. Surprise being expressed +by a gentleman who met the earl, the latter said, "I don't wish to +disturb his Majesty's privacy." + +Handel paid his singers in those days what were regarded as enormous +prices. Senisino and Carestini had each twelve hundred pounds, and +Cuzzoni two thousand, for the season. Towards the end of what may be +called the Handel season nearly all the singers and nobles forsook +him, and supported Farinelli, the greatest singer living, at the rival +house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. + + +IV. + +From the year 1729 the career of Handel was to be a protracted battle, +in which he was sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, but always +undaunted and animated with a lofty sense of his own superior power. +Let us take a view of some of the rival musicians with whom he came in +contact. Of all these Bononcini was the most formidable. He came to +England in 1720 with Ariosti, also a meritorious composer. Factions +soon began to form themselves around Handel and Bononcini, and a +bitter struggle ensued between these old foes. The same drama repeated +itself, with new actors, about thirty years afterwards, in Paris. +Gluck was then the German hero, supported by Marie Antoinette, and +Piccini fought for the Italian opera under the colours of the king's +mistress, Du Barry, while all the _litterateurs_ and nobles ranged +themselves on either side in bitter contest. The battle between Handel +and Bononcini, as the exponents of German and Italian music, was also +repeated in after-years between Mozart and Salieri, Weber and Rossini, +and to-day is seen in the acrimonious disputes going on between Wagner +and the Italian school. Bononcini's career in England came to an end +very suddenly. It was discovered that a madrigal brought out by him +was pirated from another Italian composer; whereupon Bononcini left +England, humiliated to the dust, and finally died obscure and alone, +the victim of a charlatan alchemist, who succeeded in obtaining all +his savings. + +Another powerful rival of Handel was Porpora, or, as Handel used to +call him, "Old Borbora." Without Bononcini's fire or Handel's daring +originality, he represented the dry contrapuntal school of Italian +music. He was also a great singing master, famous throughout Europe, +and upon this his reputation had hitherto principally rested. He came +to London in 1733, under the patronage of the Italian faction, +especially to serve as a thorn in the side of Handel. His first opera, +"Ariadne," was a great success; but when he had the audacity to +challenge the great German in the field of oratorio, his defeat was so +overwhelming that he candidly admitted his rival's superiority. But he +believed that no operas in the world were equal to his own, and he +composed fifty of them during his life, extending to the days of +Haydn, whom he had the honour of teaching, while the father of the +symphony, on the other hand, cleaned Porpora's boots and powdered his +wig for him. + +Another Italian opponent was Hasse, a man of true genius, who in his +old age instructed some of the most splendid singers in the history of +the lyric stage. He also married one of the most gifted and most +beautiful divas of Europe, Faustina Bordoni. The following anecdote +does equal credit to Hasse's heart and penetration: In after-years, +when he had left England, he was again sent for to take Handel's place +as conductor of opera and oratorio. Hasse inquired, "What! is Handel +dead?" On being told no, he indignantly refused, saying he was not +worthy to tie Handel's shoe-latchets. + +There are also Dr. Pepusch, the Anglicised Prussian, and Dr. Greene, +both names well known in English music. Pepusch had had the leading +place, before Handel's arrival, as organist and conductor, and made a +distinct place for himself even after the sun of Handel had obscured +all of his contemporaries. He wrote the music of the "Beggar's Opera," +which was the great sensation of the times, and which still keeps +possession of the stage. Pepusch was chiefly notable for his skill in +arranging the popular songs of the day, and probably did more than any +other composer to give the English ballad its artistic form. + +The name of Dr. Greene is best known in connection with choral +compositions. His relations with Handel and Bononcini are hardly +creditable to him. He seems to have flattered each in turn. He upheld +Bononcini in the great madrigal controversy, and appears to have +wearied Handel by his repeated visits. The great Saxon easily saw +through the flatteries of a man who was in reality an ambitious rival, +and joked about him, not always in the best taste. When he was told +that Greene was giving concerts at the "Devil Tavern," near Temple +Bar, "Ah!" he exclaimed, "mein poor friend, Toctor Greene--so he is +gone to de Tevil!" + +From 1732 to 1740 Handel's life presents the suggestive and +often-repeated experience in the lives of men of genius--a soul with a +great creative mission, of which it is half unconscious, partly +yielding to and partly struggling against the tendencies of the age, +yet gradually crystallising into its true form, and getting +consecrated to its true work. In these eight years Handel presented to +the public ten operas and five oratorios. It was in 1731 that the +great significant fact, though unrecognised by himself and others, +occurred, which stamped the true bent of his genius. This was the +production of his first oratorio in England. He was already playing +his operas to empty houses, the subject of incessant scandal and abuse +on the part of his enemies, but holding his way with steady +cheerfulness and courage. Twelve years before this he had composed the +oratorio of "Esther," but it was still in manuscript, uncared for and +neglected. It was finally produced by a society called Philharmonic, +under the direction of Bernard Gates, the royal-chapel master. Its +fame spread wide, and we read these significant words in one of the +old English newspapers--"'Esther,' an English oratorio, was performed +six times, and very full." + +Shortly after this Handel himself conducted "Esther" at the Haymarket +by royal command. His success encouraged him to write "Deborah," +another attempt in the same field, and it met a warm reception from +the public, March 17, 1733. + +For about fifteen years Handel had struggled heroically in the +composition of Italian operas. With these he had at first succeeded; +but his popularity waned more and more, and he became finally the +continued target for satire, scorn, and malevolence. In obedience to +the drift of opinion, all the great singers, who had supported him at +the outset, joined the rival ranks or left England. In fact, it may be +almost said that the English public were becoming dissatisfied with +the whole system and method of Italian music. Colley Cibber, the actor +and dramatist, explains why Italian opera could never satisfy the +requirement of Handel, or be anything more than an artificial luxury +in England: "The truth is, this kind of entertainment is entirely +sensational." Still both Handel and his friends and his foes, all the +exponents of musical opinion in England, persevered obstinately in +warming this foreign exotic into a new lease of life. + +The quarrel between the great Saxon composer and his opponents raged +incessantly both in public and private. The newspaper and the +drawing-room rang alike with venomous diatribes. Handel was called a +swindler, a drunkard, and a blasphemer, to whom Scripture even was not +sacred. The idea of setting Holy Writ to music scandalised the +Pharisees, who revelled in the licentious operas and love-songs of the +Italian school. All the small wits of the time showered on Handel +epigram and satire unceasingly. The greatest of all the wits, however, +Alexander Pope, was his firm friend and admirer; and in the "Dunciad," +wherein the wittiest of poets impaled so many of the small fry of the +age with his pungent and vindictive shaft, he also slew some of the +most malevolent of Handel's foes. + +Fielding, in _Tom Jones_, has an amusing hit at the taste of the +period--"It was Mr. Western's custom every afternoon, as soon as he +was drunk, to hear his daughter play on the harpsichord; for he was a +great lover of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have +passed as a connoisseur, for he always excepted against the finest +compositions of Mr. Handel." + +So much had it become the fashion to criticise Handel's new effects in +vocal and instrumental composition, that some years later Mr. Sheridan +makes one of his characters fire a pistol simply to shock the +audience, and makes him say in a stage whisper to the gallery, "This +hint, gentlemen, I took from Handel." + +The composer's Oxford experience was rather amusing and suggestive. We +find it recorded that in July 1733, "one Handell, a foreigner, was +desired to come to Oxford to perform in music." Again the same writer +says--"Handell, with his lousy crew, a great number of foreign +fiddlers, had a performance for his own benefit at the theatre." One +of the dons writes of the performance as follows:--"This is an +innovation; but everyone paid his five shillings to try how a little +fiddling would sit upon him. And, notwithstanding the barbarous and +inhuman combination of such a parcel of unconscionable scamps, he +[Handel] disposed of the most of his tickets." + +"Handel and his lousy crew," however, left Oxford with the prestige +of a magnificent victory. His third oratorio, "Athaliah," was received +with vast applause by a great audience. Some of his university +admirers, who appreciated academic honours more than the musician did, +urged him to accept the degree of Doctor of Music, for which he would +have to pay a small fee. The characteristic reply was a Parthian +arrow: "Vat te tevil I trow my money away for dat vich the blockhead +vish? I no vant!" + + +V. + +In 1738 Handel was obliged to close the theatre and suspend payment. +He had made and spent during his operatic career the sum of L10,000 +sterling, besides dissipating the sum of L50,000 subscribed by his +noble patrons. The rival house lasted but a few months longer, and the +Duchess of Marlborough and her friends, who ruled the opposition +clique and imported Bononcini, paid L12,000 for the pleasure of +ruining Handel. His failure as an operatic composer is due in part to +the same causes which constituted his success in oratorio and cantata. +It is a little significant to notice that, alike by the progress of +his own genius and by the force of conditions, he was forced out of +the operatic field at the very time when he strove to tighten his grip +on it. + +His free introduction of choral and instrumental music, his creation +of new forms and remodelling of old ones, his entire subordination of +the words in the story to a pure musical purpose, offended the singers +and retarded the action of the drama in the eyes of the audience; yet +it was by virtue of these unpopular characteristics that the public +mind was being moulded to understand and love the form of the +oratorio. + +From 1734 to 1738 Handel composed and produced a number of operatic +works, the principal ones of which were "Alcina," 1735; "Arminio," +1737; and "Berenice," 1737. He also during these years wrote the +magnificent music to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," and the great +funeral anthem on the occasion of Queen Caroline's death in the +latter part of the year 1737. + +We can hardly solve the tenacity of purpose with which Handel +persevered in the composition of operatic music after it had ruined +him; but it was still some time before he fully appreciated the true +turn of his genius, which could not be trifled with or ignored. In his +adversity he had some consolation. His creditors were patient, +believing in his integrity. The royal family were his firm friends. + +Southey tells us that Handel, having asked the youthful Prince of +Wales, then a child, and afterward George the Third, if he loved +music, answered, when the prince expressed his pleasure, "A good boy, +a good boy! You shall protect my fame when I am dead." Afterwards, +when the half-imbecile George was crazed with family and public +misfortunes, he found his chief solace in the Waverley novels and +Handel's music. + +It is also an interesting fact that the poets and thinkers of the age +were Handel's firm admirers. Such men as Gay, Arbuthnot, Hughes, +Colley Cibber, Pope, Fielding, Hogarth, and Smollett, who recognised +the deep, struggling tendencies of the times, measured Handel truly. +They defended him in print, and never failed to attend his +performances, and at his benefit concerts their enthusiastic support +always insured him an overflowing house. + +The popular instinct was also true to him. The aristocratic classes +sneered at his oratorios and complained at his innovations. His music +was found to be good bait for the popular gardens and the +holiday-makers of the period. Jonathan Tyers was one of the most +liberal managers of this class. He was proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens, +and Handel (_incognito_) supplied him with nearly all his music. The +composer did much the same sort of thing for Marylebone Gardens, +furbishing up old and writing new strains with an ease that well +became the urgency of the circumstances. + +"My grandfather," says the Rev. J. Fountagne, "as I have been told, +was an enthusiast in music, and cultivated most of all the friendship +of musical men, especially of Handel, who visited him often, and had a +great predilection for his society. This leads me to relate an +anecdote which I have on the best authority. While Marylebone Gardens +were flourishing, the enchanting music of Handel, and probably of +Arne, was often heard from the orchestra there. One evening, as my +grandfather and Handel were walking together and alone, a new piece +was struck up by the band. 'Come, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'let us +sit down and listen to this piece; I want to know your opinion about +it.' Down they sat, and after some time the old parson, turning to his +companion, said, 'It is not worth listening to; it's very poor stuff.' +'You are right, Mr. Fountagne,' said Handel, 'it is very poor stuff; I +thought so myself when I had finished it.' The old gentleman, being +taken by surprise, was beginning to apologise; but Handel assured him +there was no necessity, that the music was really bad, having been +composed hastily, and his time for the production limited; and that +the opinion given was as correct as it was honest." + + +VI. + +The period of Handel's highest development had now arrived. For seven +years his genius had been slowly but surely maturing, in obedience to +the inner law of his being. He had struggled long in the bonds of +operatic composition, but even here his innovations showed +conclusively how he was reaching out toward the form with which his +name was to be associated through all time. The year 1739 was one of +prodigious activity. The oratorio of "Saul" was produced, of which the +"Dead March" is still recognised as one of the great musical +compositions of all time, being one of the few intensely solemn +symphonies written in a major key. Several works now forgotten were +composed, and the great "Israel in Egypt" was written in the +incredibly short space of twenty-seven days. Of this work a +distinguished writer on music says--"Handel was now fifty-five years +old, and had entered, after many a long and weary contest, upon his +last and greatest creative period. His genius culminates in the +'Israel.' Elsewhere he has produced longer recitatives and more +pathetic arias; nowhere has he written finer tenor songs than 'The +enemy said,' or finer duets than 'The Lord is a man of war;' and there +is not in the history of music an example of choruses piled up like so +many Ossas on Pelions in such majestic strength, and hurled in open +defiance at a public whose ears were itching for Italian love-lays and +English ballads. In these twenty-eight colossal choruses we perceive +at once a reaction against and a triumph over the tastes of the age. +The wonder is, not that the 'Israel' was unpopular, but that it should +have been tolerated; but Handel, while he appears to have been for +years driven by the public, had been, in reality, driving them. His +earliest oratorio, 'Il Trionfo del Tempo' (composed in Italy), had but +two choruses; into his operas more and more were introduced, with +disastrous consequences; but when, at the zenith of his strength, he +produced a work which consisted almost entirely of these unpopular +peculiarities, the public treated him with respect, and actually sat +out three performances in one season!" In addition to these two great +oratorios, our composer produced the beautiful music to Dryden's "St. +Caecilia Ode," and Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." Henceforth +neither praise nor blame could turn Handel from his appointed course. +He was not yet popular with the musical _dilettanti_, but we find no +more catering to an absurd taste, no more writing of silly operatic +froth. + +Our composer had always been very fond of the Irish, and, at the +invitation of the lord-lieutenant and prominent Dublin amateurs, he +crossed the channel in 1741. He was received with the greatest +enthusiasm, and his house became the resort of all the musical people +in the city of Dublin. One after another his principal works were +produced before admiring audiences in the new Music Hall in Fishamble +Street. The crush to hear the "Allegro" and "Penseroso" at the +opening performances was so great that the doors had to be closed. The +papers declared there never had been seen such a scene before in +Dublin. + +Handel gave twelve performances at very short intervals, comprising +all of his finest works. In these concerts the "Acis and Galatea" and +"Alexander's Feast" were the most admired; but the enthusiasm +culminated in the rendition of the "Messiah," produced for the first +time on 13th April 1742. The performance was a beneficiary one in aid +of poor and distressed prisoners for debt in the Marshalsea in Dublin. +So, by a remarkable coincidence, the first performance of the +"Messiah" literally meant deliverance to the captives. The principal +singers were Mrs. Cibber (daughter-in-law of Colley Cibber, and +afterwards one of the greatest actresses of her time), Mrs. Avoglio, +and Mr. Dubourg. The town was wild with excitement. Critics, poets, +fine ladies, and men of fashion tore rhetoric to tatters in their +admiration. A clergyman so far forgot his Bible in his rapture as to +exclaim to Mrs. Cibber, at the close of one of her airs, "Woman, for +this be all thy sins forgiven thee." The penny-a-liners wrote that +"words were wanting to express the exquisite delight," etc. +And--supreme compliment of all, for Handel was a cynical bachelor--the +fine ladies consented to leave their hoops at home for the second +performance, that a couple of hundred or so extra listeners might be +accommodated. This event was the grand triumph of Handel's life. Years +of misconception, neglect, and rivalry were swept out of mind in the +intoxicating delight of that night's success. + + +VII. + +Handel returned to London, and composed a new oratorio, "Samson," for +the following Lenten season. This, together with the "Messiah," heard +for the first time in London, made the stock of twelve performances. +The fashionable world ignored him altogether; the newspapers kept a +contemptuous silence; comic singers were hired to parody his noblest +airs at the great houses; and impudent Horace Walpole had the audacity +to say that he "had hired all the goddesses from farces and singers of +roast-beef, from between the acts of both theatres, with a man with +one note in his voice, and a girl with never a one; and so they sang +and made brave hallelujahs." + +The new field into which Handel had entered inspired his genius to its +greatest energy. His new works for the season of 1744 were the +"Dettingen Te Deum," "Semele," and "Joseph and his Brethren;" for the +next year (he had again rented the Haymarket Theatre), "Hercules," +"Belshazzar," and a revival of "Deborah." All these works were +produced in a style of then uncommon completeness; and the great +expense he incurred, combined with the active hostility of the +fashionable world, forced him to close his doors and suspend payment. +From this time forward Handel gave concerts whenever he chose, and +depended on the people, who so supported him by their gradually +growing appreciation, that in two years he had paid off all his debts, +and in ten years had accumulated a fortune of L10,000. The works +produced during these latter years were "Judas Maccabaeus," 1747; +"Alexander," 1748; "Joshua," 1748; "Susannah," 1749; "Solomon," 1749; +"Theodora," 1750; "Choice of Hercules," 1751; "Jephthah," 1752, +closing with this a stupendous series of dramatic oratorios. While at +work on the last, his eyes suffered an attack which finally resulted +in blindness. + +Like Milton in the case of "Paradise Lost," Handel preferred one of +his least popular oratorios, "Theodora." It was a great favourite with +him, and he used to say that the chorus, "He saw the lovely youth," +was finer than anything in the "Messiah." The public were not of this +opinion, and he was glad to give away tickets to any professors who +applied for them. When the "Messiah" was again produced, two of these +gentlemen who had neglected "Theodora" applied for admission. "Oh! +your sarvant, meine Herren!" exclaimed the indignant composer. "You +are tamnable dainty! You would not go to 'Theodora'--dere was room +enough to dance dere when dat was perform." When Handel heard that an +enthusiast had offered to make himself responsible for all the boxes +the next time the despised oratorio should be given--"He is a fool," +said he; "the Jews will not come to it as to 'Judas Maccabaeus,' +because it is a Christian story; and the ladies will not come, because +it is a virtuous one." + +Handel's triumph was now about to culminate in a serene and +acknowledged pre-eminence. The people had recognised his greatness, +and the reaction at last conquered all classes. Publishers vied with +each other in producing his works, and their performance was greeted +with great audiences and enthusiastic applause. His last ten years +were a peaceful and beautiful ending of a stormy career. + + +VIII. + +Thought lingers pleasantly over this sunset period. Handel throughout +life was so wedded to his art, that he cared nothing for the delights +of woman's love. His recreations were simple--rowing, walking, +visiting his friends, and playing on the organ. He would sometimes try +to play the people out of St. Paul's Cathedral, and hold them +indefinitely. He would resort at night to his favourite tavern, the +Queen's Head, where he would smoke and drink beer with his chosen +friends. Here he would indulge in roaring conviviality and fun, and +delight his friends with sparkling satire and pungent humour, of which +he was a great master, helped by his amusing compound of English, +Italian, and German. Often he would visit the picture galleries, of +which he was passionately fond. His clumsy but noble figure could be +seen almost any morning rolling through Charing Cross; and everyone +who met old Father Handel treated him with the deepest reverence. + +The following graphic narrative, taken from the _Somerset House +Gazette_, offers a vivid portraiture. Schoelcher, in his _Life of +Handel_, says that "its author had a relative, Zachary Hardcastle, a +retired merchant, who was intimately acquainted with all the most +distinguished men of his time, artists, poets, musicians, and +physicians." This old gentleman, who lived at Paper Buildings, was +accustomed to take his morning walk in the garden of Somerset House, +where he happened to meet with another old man, Colley Cibber, and +proposed to him to go and hear a competition which was to take place +at midday for the post of organist to the Temple, and he invited him +to breakfast, telling him at the same time that Dr. Pepusch and Dr. +Arne were to be with him at nine o'clock. They go in; Pepusch arrives +punctually at the stroke of nine; presently there is a knock, the door +is opened, and Handel unexpectedly presents himself. Then follows the +scene:-- + +"Handel: 'Vat! mein dear friend Hardgasdle--vat! you are merry py +dimes! Vat! and Misder Golley Cibbers, too! aye, and Togder Peepbush +as vell! Vell, dat is gomigal. Vell, mein friendts, andt how vags the +vorldt wid you, mein tdears? Bray, bray, do let me sit town a momend.' + +"Pepusch took the great man's hat, Colley Cibber took his stick, and +my great-uncle wheeled round his reading-chair, which was somewhat +about the dimensions of that in which our kings and queens are +crowned; and then the great man sat him down. + +"'Vell, I thank you, gentlemen; now I am at mein ease vonce more. Upon +mein vord, dat is a picture of a ham. It is very pold of me to gome to +preak my fastd wid you uninvided; and I have brought along wid me a +nodable abbetite; for the wader of old Fader Dems is it not a fine +pracer of the stomach?' + +"'You do me great honour, Mr. Handel,' said my great-uncle. 'I take +this early visit as a great kindness.' + +"'A delightful morning for the water,' said Colley Cibber. + +"'Pray, did you come with oars or scullers, Mr. Handel?' said Pepusch. + +"'Now, how gan you demand of me dat zilly question, you who are a +musician and a man of science, Togder Peepbush? Vat gan it concern you +whether I have one votdermans or two votdermans--whether I bull out +mine burce for to pay von shilling or two? Diavolo! I gannot go here, +or I gannot go dere, but some one shall send it to some newsbaber, as +how Misder Chorge Vrederick Handel did go somedimes last week in a +votderman's wherry, to preak his fastd wid Misder Zac. Hardgasdle; but +it shall be all the fault wid himeself, if it shall be but in print, +whether I was rowed by one votdermans or by two votdermans. So, Togder +Peepbush, you will blease to excuse me from dat.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch was for a moment disconcerted, but it was soon +forgotten in the first dish of coffee. + +"'Well, gentlemen,' said my great-uncle Zachary, looking at his +tompion, 'it is ten minutes past nine. Shall we wait more for Dr. +Arne?' + +"'Let us give him another five minutes' chance, Master Hardcastle,' +said Colley Cibber; 'he is too great a genius to keep time.' + +"'Let us put it to the vote,' said Dr. Pepusch, smiling. 'Who holds up +hands?' + +"'I will segond your motion wid all mine heardt,' said Handel. 'I will +hold up mine feeble hands for mine oldt friendt Custos (Arne's name +was Augustine), for I know not who I wouldt waidt for, over andt above +mine oldt rival, Master Dom (meaning Pepusch). Only by your +bermission, I vill dake a snag of your ham, andt a slice of French +roll, or a modicum of chicken; for to dell you the honest fagd, I am +all pote famished, for I laid me down on mine billow in bed the lastd +nightd widout mine supper, at the instance of mine physician, for +which I am not altogeddere inglined to extend mine fastd no longer.' +Then, laughing: 'Berhaps, Mister Golley Cibbers, you may like to pote +this to the vote? But I shall not segond the motion, nor shall I holdt +up mine hand, as I will, by bermission, embloy it some dime in a +better office. So, if you please, do me the kindness for to gut me a +small slice of ham.' + +"At this instant a hasty footstep was heard on the stairs, accompanied +by the humming of an air, all as gay as the morning, which was +beautiful and bright. It was the month of May. + +"'Bresto! be quick,' said Handel; he knew it was Arne; 'fifteen +minutes of dime is butty well for an _ad libitum_.' + +"'Mr. Arne,' said my great-uncle's man. + +"A chair was placed, and the social party commenced their _dejeuner_. + +"'Well, and how do you find yourself, my dear sir?' inquired Arne, +with friendly warmth. + +"'Why, by the mercy of Heaven, andt the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, +andt the addentions of mine togders andt physicians, and oggulists, of +lade years, under Providence, I am surbrizingly pedder--thank you +kindly, Misder Custos. Andt you have also been doing well of lade, as +I am bleased to hear. You see, sir,' pointing to his plate, 'you see, +sir, dat I am in the way for to regruit mine flesh wid the good viands +of Misder Zachary Hardgasdle.' + +"'So, sir, I presume you are come to witness the trial of skill at the +old round church? I understand the amateurs expect a pretty sharp +contest,' said Arne. + +"'Gondest,' echoed Handel, laying down his knife and fork. 'Yes, no +doubt; your amadeurs have a bassion for gondest. Not vot it vos in our +remembrance. Hey, mine friendt? Ha, ha, ha!' + +"'No, sir, I am happy to say those days of envy and bickering, and +party feeling, are gone and past. To be sure we had enough of such +disgraceful warfare: it lasted too long.' + +"'Why, yes; it tid last too long, it bereft me of mine poor limbs: it +tid bereave of that vot is the most blessed gift of Him vot made us, +andt not wee ourselves. And for vot? Vy, for noding in the vorldt pode +the bleasure and bastime of them who, having no widt, nor no want, set +at loggerheads such men as live by their widts, to worry and destroy +one andt anodere as wild beasts in the Golloseum in the dimes of the +Romans.' + +"Poor Dr. Pepusch during this conversation, as my great-uncle +observed, was sitting on thorns; he was in the confederacy +professionally only. + +"'I hope, sir,' observed the doctor, 'you do not include me among +those who did injustice to your talents?' + +"'Nod at all, nod at all; God forbid! I am a great admirer of the airs +of the "Peggar's Obera," andt every professional gendtleman must do +his best for to live.' + +"This mild return, couched under an apparent compliment, was well +received; but Handel, who had a talent for sarcastic drolling, added-- + +"'Pute why blay the Peggar yourself, Togder, andt adapt oldt pallad +humsdrum, ven, as a man of science, you could gombose original airs of +your own? Here is mine friendt, Custos Arne, who has made a road for +himself, for to drive along his own genius to the demple of fame.' +Then, turning to our illustrious Arne, he continued, 'Min friendt +Custos, you and I must meed togeder somedimes before it is long, and +hold a _tede-a-tede_ of old days vat is gone; ha, ha! Oh! it is +gomigal now dat id is all gone by. Custos, to nod you remember as it +was almost only of yesterday dat she-devil Guzzoni, andt dat other +brecious taughter of iniquity, Pelzebub's spoiled child, the +bretty-faced Faustina? Oh! the mad rage vot I have to answer for, vot +with one and the oder of these fine latdies' airs andt graces. Again, +to you nod remember dat ubstardt buppy Senesino, and the goxgomb +Farinelli? Next, again, mine somedimes nodtable rival Bononcini, and +old Borbora? Ha, ha, ha! all at war wid me, andt all at war wid +themselves. Such a gonfusion of rivalshibs, andt double-facedness, +andt hybocrisy, and malice, vot would make a gomigal subject for a +boem in rhymes, or a biece for the stage, as I hopes to be saved.'" + + +IX. + +We now turn from the man to his music. In his daily life with the +world we get a spectacle of a quick, passionate temper, incased in a +great burly frame, and raging into whirlwinds of excitement at small +provocation; a gourmand devoted to the pleasure of the table, +sometimes indeed gratifying his appetite in no seemly fashion, +resembling his friend Dr. Samuel Johnson in many notable ways. Handel +as a man was of the earth, earthly, in the extreme, and marked by many +whimsical and disagreeable faults. But in his art we recognise a +genius so colossal, massive, and self-poised as to raise admiration to +its superlative of awe. When Handel had disencumbered himself of +tradition, convention, the trappings of time and circumstances, he +attained a place in musical creation, solitary and unique. His genius +found expression in forms large and austere, disdaining the luxuriant +and trivial. He embodied the spirit of Protestantism in music; and a +recognition of this fact is probably the key of the admiration felt +for him by the Anglo-Saxon races. + +Handel possessed an inexhaustible fund of melody of the noblest order; +an almost unequalled command of musical expression; perfect power over +all the resources of his science; the faculty of wielding huge masses +of tone with perfect ease and felicity; and he was without rival in +the sublimity of ideas. The problem which he so successfully solved in +the oratorio was that of giving such dramatic force to the music, in +which he clothed the sacred texts, as to be able to dispense with all +scenic and stage effects. One of the finest operatic composers of the +time, the rival of Bach as an instrumental composer, and performer on +the harpsichord or organ, the unanimous verdict of the musical world +is that no one has ever equalled him in completeness, range of effect, +elevation and variety of conception, and sublimity in the treatment of +sacred music. We can readily appreciate Handel's own words when +describing his own sensations in writing the "Messiah"--"I did think I +did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself." + +The great man died on Good Friday night, 1759, aged seventy-five +years. He had often wished "he might breathe his last on Good Friday, +in hope," he said, "of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and +Saviour, on the day of his resurrection." The old blind musician had +his wish. + + + + +_GLUCK._ + + +I. + +Gluck is a noble and striking figure in musical history, alike in the +services he rendered to his art and the dignity and strength of his +personal character. As the predecessor of Wagner and Meyerbeer, who +among the composers of this century have given opera its largest and +noblest expression, he anticipated their important reforms, and in his +musical creations we see all that is best in what is called the new +school. + +The man, the Ritter CHRISTOPH WILIBALD VON GLUCK, is almost as +interesting to us as the musician. He moved in the society of princes +with a calm and haughty dignity, their conscious peer, and never +prostituted his art to gain personal advancement or to curry favour +with the great ones of the earth. He possessed a majesty of nature +which was the combined effect of personal pride, a certain lofty +self-reliance, and a deep conviction that he was the apostle of an +important musical mission. + +Gluck's whole life was illumined by an indomitable sense of his own +strength, and lifted by it into an atmosphere high above that of his +rivals, whom the world has now almost forgotten, except as they were +immortalised by being his enemies. Like Milton and Bacon, who put on +record their knowledge that they had written for all time, Gluck had a +magnificent consciousness of himself. "I have written," he says, "the +music of my 'Armida' in such a manner as to prevent its soon growing +old." This is a sublime vanity inseparable from the great aggressive +geniuses of the world, the wind of the speed which measures their +force of impact. + +Duplessis's portrait of Gluck almost takes the man out of paint to put +him in flesh and blood. He looks down with wide-open eyes, swelling +nostrils, firm mouth, and massive chin. The noble brow, dome-like and +expanded, relieves the massiveness of his face; and the whole +countenance and figure express the repose of a powerful and passionate +nature schooled into balance and symmetry: altogether the presentment +of a great man, who felt that he could move the world and had found +the _pou sto_. Of a large and robust type of physical beauty, Nature +seems to have endowed him on every hand with splendid gifts. Such a +man as this could say with calm simplicity to Marie Antoinette, who +inquired one night about his new opera of "Armida," then nearly +finished--"_Madame, il est bientot fini, et vraiment ce sera +superbe._" + +One night Handel listened to a new opera from a young and unknown +composer, the "Caduta de' Giganti," one of Gluck's very earliest +works, written when he was yet corrupted with all the vices of the +Italian method. "Mein Gott! he is an idiot," said Handel; "he knows no +more of counterpoint then mein cook." Handel did not see with +prophetic eyes. He never met Gluck afterwards, and we do not know his +later opinion of the composer of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia +in Tauris." But Gluck had ever the profoundest admiration for the +author of the "Messiah." There was something in these two strikingly +similar, as their music was alike characterised by massive simplicity +and strength, not rough-hewn, but shaped into austere beauty. + +Before we relate the great episode of our composer's life, let us take +a backward glance at his youth. He was the son of a forester in the +service of Prince Lobkowitz, born at Weidenwang in the Upper +Palatinate, 2nd July 1714. Gluck was devoted to music from early +childhood, but received, in connection with the musical art, an +excellent education at the Jesuit College of Kommotau. Here he learned +singing, the organ, the violin and harpsichord, and had a mind to get +his living by devoting his musical talents to the Church. The Prague +public recognised in him a musician of fair talent, but he found but +little encouragement to stay at the Bohemian capital. So he decided to +finish his musical education at Vienna, where more distinguished +masters could be had. Prince Lobkowitz, who remembered his +gamekeeper's son, introduced the young man to the Italian Prince +Melzi, who induced him to accompany him to Milan. As the pupil of the +Italian organist and composer, Sammartini, he made rapid progress in +operatic composition. He was successful in pleasing Italian audiences, +and in four years produced eight operas, for which the world has +forgiven him in forgetting them. Then Gluck must go to London to see +what impression he could make on English critics; for London then, as +now, was one of the great musical centres, where every successful +composer or singer must get his brevet. + +Gluck's failure to please in London was, perhaps, an important epoch +in his career. With a mind singularly sensitive to new impressions, +and already struggling with fresh ideas in the laws of operatic +composition, Handel's great music must have had a powerful effect in +stimulating his unconscious progress. His last production in England, +"Pyramus and Thisbe," was a _pasticcio_ opera, in which he embodied +the best bits out of his previous works. The experiment was a glaring +failure, as it ought to have been; for it illustrated the Italian +method, which was designed for mere vocal display, carried to its +logical absurdity. + + +II. + +In 1748 Gluck settled in Vienna, where almost immediately his opera of +"Semiramide" was produced. Here he conceived a passion for Marianne, +the daughter of Joseph Pergin, a rich banker; but on account of the +father's distaste for a musical son-in-law, the marriage did not occur +till 1750. "Telemacco" and "Clemenza di Tito" were composed about this +time, and performed in Vienna, Rome, and Naples. In 1755 our composer +received the order of the Golden Spur from the Roman pontiff in +recognition of the merits of two operas performed at Rome, called "Il +Trionfo di Camillo" and "Antigono." Seven years were now actively +employed in producing operas for Vienna and Italian cities, which, +without possessing great value, show the change which had begun to +take place in this composer's theories of dramatic music. In Paris he +had been struck with the operas of Rameau, in which the declamatory +form was strongly marked. His early Italian training had fixed in his +mind the importance of pure melody. From Germany he obtained his +appreciation of harmony, and had made a deep study of the uses of the +orchestra. So we see this great reformer struggling on with many +faltering steps towards that result which he afterwards summed up in +the following concise description--"My purpose was to restrict music +to its true office, that of ministering to the expression of poetry, +without interrupting the action." + +In Calzabigi Gluck had met an author who fully appreciated his ideas, +and had the talent of writing a libretto in accordance with them. This +coadjutor wrote all the librettos that belonged to Gluck's greatest +period. He had produced his "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Alceste" in +Vienna with a fair amount of success; but his tastes drew him strongly +to the French stage, where the art of acting and declamation was +cultivated then, as it is now, to a height unknown in other parts of +Europe. So we find him gladly accepting an offer from the managers of +the French Opera to migrate to the great city, in which were +fermenting with much noisy fervour those new ideas in art, literature, +politics, and society, which were turning the eyes of all Europe to +the French capital. + +The world's history has hardly a more picturesque and striking +spectacle, a period more fraught with the working of powerful forces, +than that exhibited by French society in the latter part of Louis +XV.'s reign. We see a court rotten to the core with indulgence in +every form of sensuality and vice, yet glittering with the veneer of a +social polish which made it the admiration of the world. A dissolute +king was ruled by a succession of mistresses, and all the courtiers +vied in emulating the vice and extravagance of their master. Yet in +this foul compost-heap art and literature flourished with a tropical +luxuriance. Voltaire was at the height of his splendid career, the +most brilliant wit and philosopher of his age. The lightnings of his +mockery attacked with an incessant play the social, political, and +religious shams of the period. People of all classes, under the +influence of his unsparing satire, were learning to see with clear +eyes what an utterly artificial and polluted age they lived in, and +the cement which bound society in a compact whole was fast melting +under this powerful solvent. + +Rousseau, with his romantic philosophy and eloquence, had planted his +new ideas deep in the hearts of his contemporaries, weary with the +artifice and the corruption of a time which had exhausted itself and +had nothing to promise under the old social _regime_. The ideals +uplifted in the _Nouvelle Heloise_ and the _Confessions_ awakened +men's minds with a great rebound to the charms of Nature, simplicity, +and a social order untrammelled by rules or conventions. The eloquence +with which these theories were propounded carried the French people by +storm, and Rousseau was a demigod at whose shrine worshipped alike +duchess and peasant. The Encyclopaedists stimulated the ferment by +their literary enthusiasm, and the heartiness with which they +co-operated with the whole current of revolutionary thought. + +The very atmosphere was reeking with the prophecy of imminent change. +Versailles itself did not escape the contagion. Courtiers and +aristocrats, in worshipping the beautiful ideals set up by the new +school, which were as far removed as possible from their own effete +civilisation, did not realise that they were playing with the fire +which was to burn out the whole social edifice of France with such a +terrible conflagration; for, back and beneath all this, there was a +people groaning under long centuries of accumulated wrong, in whose +imbruted hearts the theories applauded by their oppressors with a sort +of _doctrinaire_ delight were working with a fatal fever. + + +III. + +In this strange condition of affairs Gluck found his new sphere of +labour--Gluck, himself overflowing with the revolutionary spirit, full +of the enthusiasm of reform. At first he carried everything before +him. Protected by royalty, he produced, on the basis of an admirable +libretto by Du Rollet, one of the great wits of the time, "Iphigenia +in Aulis." It was enthusiastically received. The critics, delighted to +establish the reputation of one especially favoured by the Dauphiness +Marie Antoinette, exhausted superlatives on the new opera. The Abbe +Arnaud, one of the leading _dilettanti_, exclaimed--"With such music +one might found a new religion!" To be sure, the connoisseurs could +not understand the complexities of the music; but, following the rule +of all connoisseurs before or since, they considered it all the more +learned and profound. So led, the general public clapped their hands, +and agreed to consider Gluck as a great composer. He was called the +Hercules of music; the opera-house was crammed night after night; his +footsteps were dogged in the streets by admiring enthusiasts; the wits +and poets occupied themselves with composing sonnets in his praise; +brilliant courtiers and fine ladies showered valuable gifts on the new +musical oracle; he was hailed as the exponent of Rousseauism in music. +We read that it was considered to be a priceless privilege to be +admitted to the rehearsal of a new opera, to see Gluck conduct in +nightcap and dressing-gown. + +Fresh adaptations of "Orpheus and Eurydice" and of "Alceste" were +produced. The first, brought out in 1784, was received with an +enthusiasm which could be contented only with forty-nine consecutive +performances. The second act of this work has been called one of the +most astonishing productions of the human mind. The public began to +show signs of fickleness, however, on the production of the "Alceste." +On the first night a murmur arose among the spectators--"The piece has +fallen." Abbe Arnaud, Gluck's devoted defender, arose in his box and +replied, "Yes! fallen from heaven." While Mademoiselle Levasseur was +singing one of the great airs, a voice was heard to say, "Ah! you tear +out my ears;" to which the caustic rejoinder was, "How fortunate, if +it is to give you others!" + +Gluck himself was badly bitten, in spite of his hatred of shams and +shallowness, with the pretences of the time, which professed to dote +on nature and simplicity. In a letter to his old pupil, Marie +Antoinette, wherein he disclaims any pretension of teaching the French +a new school of music, he says--"I see with satisfaction that the +language of Nature is the universal language." + +So, here on the crumbling crust of a volcano, where the volatile +French court danced and fiddled and sang, unreckoning of what was soon +to come, our composer and his admirers patted each other on the back +with infinite complacency. + +But after this high tide of prosperity there was to come a reverse. A +powerful faction, that for a time had been crushed by Gluck's triumph, +after a while raised their heads and organised an attack. There were +second-rate composers whose scores had been laid on the shelf in the +rage for the new favourite; musicians who were shocked and enraged at +the difficulties of his instrumentation; wits who, having praised +Gluck for a while, thought they could now find a readier field for +their quills in satire; and a large section of the public who changed +for no earthly reason but that they got tired of doing one thing. + +Therefore, the Italian Piccini was imported to be pitted against the +reigning deity. The French court was broken up into hostile ranks. +Marie Antoinette was Gluck's patron, but Madame Du Barry, the king's +mistress, declared for Piccini. Abbe Arnaud fought for Gluck; but the +witty Marmontel was the advocate of his rival. The keen-witted Du +Rollet was Gluckist; but La Harpe, the eloquent, was Piccinist. So +this battle-royal in art commenced and raged with virulence. The +green-room was made unmusical with contentions carried out in polite +Billingsgate. Gluck tore up his unfinished score in rage when he +learned that his rival was to compose an opera on the same libretto. +La Harpe said--"The famous Gluck may puff his own compositions, but he +can't prevent them from boring us to death." Thus the wags of Paris +laughed and wrangled over the musical rivals. Berton, the new +director, fancied he could soften the dispute and make the two +composers friends; so at a dinner-party, when they were all in their +cups, he proposed that they should compose an opera jointly. This was +demurred to; but it was finally arranged that they should compose an +opera on the same subject. + +"Iphigenia in Tauris," Gluck's second "Iphigenia," produced in 1779, +was such a masterpiece that his rival shut his own score in his +portfolio, and kept it two years. All Paris was enraptured with this +great work, and Gluck's detractors were silenced in the wave of +enthusiasm which swept the public. Abbe Arnaud's opinion was the echo +of the general mind--"There was but one beautiful part, and that was +the whole of it." This opera may be regarded as the most perfect +example of Gluck's school in making the music the full reflex of the +dramatic action. While Orestes sings in the opera, "My heart is calm," +the orchestra continues to paint the agitation of his thoughts. During +the rehearsal the musician failed to understand the exigency and +ceased playing. The composer cried out, in a rage, "Don't you see he +is lying? Go on, go on; he has just killed his mother." + +On one occasion, when he was praising Rameau's chorus of "Castor and +Pollux," an admirer of his flattered him with the remark, "But what a +difference between this chorus and that of your 'Iphigenia!'" "Yet it +is very well done," said Gluck; "one is only a religious ceremony, the +other is a real funeral." He was wont to say that in composing he +always tried to forget he was a musician. + +Gluck, however, a few months subsequent to this, was so much +humiliated at the non-success of "Echo and Narcissus," that he left +Paris in bitter irritation, in spite of Marie Antoinette's pleadings +that he should remain at the French capital. + +The composer was now advanced in years, and had become impatient and +fretful. He left Paris for Vienna in 1780, having amassed considerable +property. There, as an old, broken-down man, he listened to the young +Mozart's new symphonies and operas, and applauded them with great +zeal: for Gluck, though fiery and haughty in the extreme, was +singularly generous in recognising the merits of others. + +This was exhibited in Paris in his treatment of Mehul, the Belgian +composer, then a youth of sixteen, who had just arrived in the gay +city. It was on the eve of the first representation of "Iphigenia in +Tauris," when the operatic battle was agitating the public. With all +the ardour of a novice and a devotee, the young musical student +immediately threw himself into the affray, and by the aid of a friend +he succeeded in gaining admittance to the theatre for the final +rehearsal of Gluck's opera. This so enchanted him that he resolved to +be present at the public performance. But, unluckily for the resolve, +he had no money, and no prospect of obtaining any; so, with a +determination and a love for art which deserve to be remembered, he +decided to hide himself in one of the boxes and there to wait for the +time of representation. + +"At the end of the rehearsal," writes George Hogarth in his _Memoirs +of the Drama_, "he was discovered in his place of concealment by the +servants of the theatre, who proceeded to turn him out very roughly. +Gluck, who had not left the house, heard the noise, came to the spot, +and found the young man, whose spirit was roused, resisting the +indignity with which he was treated. Mehul, finding in whose presence +he was, was ready to sink with confusion; but, in answer to Gluck's +questions, he told him that he was a young musical student from the +country, whose anxiety to be present at the performance of the opera +had led him into the commission of an impropriety. Gluck, as may be +supposed, was delighted with a piece of enthusiasm so flattering to +himself, and not only gave his young admirer a ticket of admission, +but desired his acquaintance." From this artistic _contretemps_, then, +arose a friendship alike creditable to the goodness and generosity of +Gluck, as it was to the sincerity and high order of Mehul's musical +talent. + +Gluck's death, in 1787, was caused by over-indulgence in wine at a +dinner which he gave to some of his friends. The love of stimulants +had grown upon him in his old age, and had become almost a passion. An +enforced abstinence of some months was succeeded by a debauch, in +which he drank an immense quantity of brandy. The effects brought on a +fit of apoplexy, of which he died, aged seventy-three. + +Gluck's place in musical history is peculiar and well marked. He +entered the field of operatic composition when it was hampered with a +great variety of dry forms, and utterly without soul and poetic +spirit. The object of composers seemed to be to show mere contrapuntal +learning, or to furnish singers opportunity to display vocal agility. +The opera, as a large and symmetrical expression of human emotions, +suggested in the collisions of a dramatic story, was utterly an +unknown quantity in art. Gluck's attention was early called to this +radical inconsistency; and, though he did not learn for many years to +develop his musical ideas according to a theory, and never carried +that theory to the logical results insisted on by his great +after-type, Wagner, he accomplished much in the way of sweeping +reform. He elaborated the recitative or declamatory element in opera +with great care, and insisted that his singers should make this the +object of their most careful efforts. The arias, duos, quartets, etc., +as well as the choruses and orchestral parts, were made consistent +with the dramatic motive and situations. In a word, Gluck aimed with a +single-hearted purpose to make music the expression of poetry and +sentiment. + +The principles of Gluck's school of operatic writing may be briefly +summarised as follows:--That dramatic music can only reach its highest +power and beauty when joined to a simple and poetic text, expressing +passions true to Nature; that music can be made the language of all +the varied emotions of the heart; that the music of an opera must +exactly follow the rhythm and melody of the words; that the orchestra +must be only used to strengthen and intensify the feeling embodied in +the vocal parts, as demanded by the text or dramatic situation. We get +some further light on these principles from Gluck's letter of +dedication to the Grand-Duke of Tuscany on the publication of +"Alceste." He writes:--"I am of opinion that music must be to poetry +what liveliness of colour and a happy mixture of light and shade are +for a faultless and well-arranged drawing, which serve to add life to +the figures without injuring the outlines; ... that the overture +should prepare the auditors for the character of the action which is +to be presented, and hint at the progress of the same; that the +instruments must be employed according to the degree of interest and +passion; that the composer should avoid too marked a disparity in the +dialogue between the air and recitative, in order not to break the +sense of a period, or interrupt the energy of the action.... Finally, +I have even felt compelled to sacrifice rules to the improvement of +the effect." + +We find in this composer's music, therefore, a largeness and dignity +of treatment which have never been surpassed. His command of melody is +quite remarkable, but his use of it is under severe artistic +restraint; for it is always characterised by breadth, simplicity, and +directness. He aimed at and attained the symmetrical balance of an old +Greek play. + + + + +_HAYDN._ + + +I. + +"Papa Haydn!" Thus did Mozart ever speak of his foster-father in +music, and the title, transmitted to posterity, admirably expressed +the sweet, placid, gentle nature, whose possessor was personally +beloved no less than he was admired. His life flowed, broad and +unruffled, like some great river, unvexed for the most part by the +rivalries, jealousies, and sufferings, oftentimes self-inflicted, +which have harassed the careers of other great musicians. He remained +to the last the favourite of the imperial court of Vienna, and princes +followed his remains to their last resting-place. + +JOSEPH HAYDN was the eldest of the twenty children of Matthias Haydn, +a wheelwright at Rohrau, Lower Austria, where he was born in 1732. At +the age of twelve years he was engaged to sing in Vienna. He became a +chorister in St. Stephen's Church, but offended the choir-master by +the revolt on the part of himself and parents from submitting to the +usual means then taken to perpetuate a fine soprano in boys. So Haydn, +who had surreptitiously picked up a good deal of musical knowledge +apart from the art of singing, was at the age of sixteen turned out on +the world. A compassionate barber, however, took him in, and Haydn +dressed and powdered wigs downstairs, while he worked away at a little +worm-eaten harpsichord at night in his room. Unfortunate boy! he +managed to get himself engaged to the barber's daughter, Anne Keller, +who was for a good while the Xantippe of his gentle life, and he paid +dearly for his father-in-law's early hospitality. + +The young musician soon began to be known, as he played the violin in +one church, the organ in another, and got some pupils. His first rise +was his acquaintance with Metastasio, the poet-laureate of the court. +Through him Haydn got introduced to the mistress of the Venetian +ambassador, a great musical enthusiast, and in her circle he met +Porpora, the best music-master in the world, but a crusty, snarling old +man. Porpora held at Vienna the position of musical dictator and censor, +and he exercised the tyrannical privileges of his post mercilessly. +Haydn was a small, dark-complexioned, insignificant-looking youth, and +Porpora, of course, snubbed him most contemptuously. But Haydn wanted +instruction, and no one in the world could give it so well as the savage +old _maestro_. So he performed all sorts of menial services for him, +cleaned his shoes, powdered his wig, and ran all his errands. The +result was that Porpora softened and consented to give his young admirer +lessons--no great hardship, for young Haydn proved a most apt and gifted +pupil. And it was not long either before the young musician's +compositions attracted public attention and found a sale. The very +curious relations between Haydn and Porpora are brilliantly sketched in +George Sand's _Consuelo_. + +At night Haydn, accompanied by his friends, was wont to wander about +Vienna by moonlight, and serenade his patrons with trios and quartets +of his own composition. He happened one night to stop under the window +of Bernardone Kurz, a director of a theatre and the leading clown of +Vienna. Down rushed Kurz very excitedly. "Who are you?" he shrieked. +"Joseph Haydn." "Whose music is it?" "Mine." "The deuce it is! And at +your age, too!" "Why, I must begin with something." "Come along +upstairs." + +The enthusiastic director collared his prize, and was soon deep in +explaining a wonderful libretto, entitled "The Devil on Two Sticks." +To write music for this was no easy matter; for it was to represent +all sorts of absurd things, among others a tempest. The tempest made +Haydn despair, and he sat at the piano, banging away in a reckless +fashion, while the director stood behind him, raving in a disconnected +way as to his meaning. At last the distracted pianist brought his +fists simultaneously down upon the key-board, and made a rapid sweep +of all the notes. + +"Bravo! bravo! that is the tempest!" cried Kurz. + +The buffoon also laid himself on a chair, and had it carried about the +room, during which he threw out his limbs in imitation of the act of +swimming. Haydn supplied an accompaniment so suitable that Kurz soon +landed on _terra firma_, and congratulated the composer, assuring him +that he was the man to compose the opera. By this stroke of good luck +our young musician received one hundred and thirty florins. + + +II. + +At the age of twenty-eight Haydn composed his first symphony. Soon +after this he attracted the attention of the old Prince Esterhazy, all +the members of whose family have become known in the history of music +as generous Maecenases of the art. + +"What! you don't mean to say that little blackamoor" (alluding to +Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that symphony?" + +"Surely, prince," replied the director Friedburg, beckoning to Joseph +Haydn, who advanced towards the orchestra. + +"Little Moor," says the old gentleman, "you shall enter my service. I +am Prince Esterhazy. What's your name?" + +"Haydn." + +"Ah! I've heard of you. Get along and dress yourself like a +_Kapellmeister_. Clap on a new coat, and mind your wig is curled. +You're too short. You shall have red heels; but they shall be high, +that your stature may correspond with your merit." + +So he went to live at Eisenstadt in the Esterhazy household, and +received a salary of four hundred florins, which was afterwards raised +to one thousand by Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. Haydn continued the +intimate friend and associate of Prince Nicholas for thirty years, and +death only dissolved the bond between them. In the Esterhazy household +the life of Haydn was a very quiet one, a life of incessant and happy +industry; for he poured out an incredible number of works, among them +not a few of his most famous ones. So he spent a happy life in hard +labour, alternated with delightful recreations at the Esterhazy +country-seat, mountain rambles, hunting and fishing, open-air +concerts, musical evenings, etc. + +A French traveller who visited Esterhazy about 1782 says--"The chateau +stands quite solitary, and the prince sees nobody but his officials +and servants, and strangers who come hither from curiosity. He has a +puppet-theatre, which is certainly unique in character. Here the +grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or +to laugh at seeing 'Alceste,' 'Alcides,' etc., put on the stage with +all due solemnity and played by puppets. His orchestra is one of the +best I ever heard, and the great Haydn is his court and theatre +composer. He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humour and +skill in suiting the grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying +the gravest effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a +troupe of wandering players for months at a time, and he himself and +his retinue form the entire audience. They are allowed to come on the +stage uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half dressed. +The prince is not for the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when +the players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humour." + +Yet Haydn was not perfectly contented. He would have been had it not +been for his terrible wife, the hair-dresser's daughter, who had a +dismal, mischievous, sullen nature, a venomous tongue, and a savage +temper. She kept Haydn in hot water continually, till at last he broke +loose from this plague by separating from her. Scandal says that +Haydn, who had a very affectionate and sympathetic nature, found ample +consolation for marital infelicity in the charms and society of the +lovely Boselli, a great singer. He had her picture painted, and +humoured all her whims and caprices, to the sore depletion of his +pocket. + +In after-years again he was mixed up in a little affair with the great +Mrs. Billington, whose beautiful person was no less marked than her +fine voice. Sir Joshua Reynolds was painting her portrait for him, and +had represented her as St. Cecilia listening to celestial music. Haydn +paid her a charming compliment at one of the sittings. + +"What do you think of the charming Billington's picture?" said Sir +Joshua. + +"Yes," said Haydn, "it is indeed a beautiful picture. It is just like +her, but there's a strange mistake." + +"What is that?" + +"Why, you have painted her listening to the angels, when you ought to +have painted the angels listening to her." + +At one time, during Haydn's connection with Prince Esterhazy, the +latter, from motives of economy, determined to dismiss his celebrated +orchestra, which he supported at great expense. Haydn was the leader, +and his patron's purpose caused him sore pain, as indeed it did all +the players, among whom were many distinguished instrumentalists. +Still, there was nothing to be done but for all concerned to make +themselves as cheerful as possible under the circumstances; so, with +that fund of wit and humour which seems to have been concealed under +the immaculate coat and formal wig of the strait-laced Haydn, he set +about composing a work for the last performance of the royal band, a +work which has ever since borne the appropriate title of the "Farewell +Symphony." + +On the night appointed for the last performance a brilliant company, +including the prince, had assembled. The music of the new symphony +began gaily enough--it was even merry. As it went on, however, it +became soft and dreamy. The strains were sad and "long drawn out." At +length a sorrowful wailing began. One instrument after another left +off, and each musician, as his task ended, blew out his lamp and +departed with his music rolled up under his arm. + +Haydn was the last to finish, save one, and this was the prince's +favourite violinist, who said all that he had to say in a brilliant +violin cadenza, when, behold! he made off. + +The prince was astonished. "What is the meaning of all this?" cried +he. + +"It is our sorrowful farewell," answered Haydn. + +This was too much. The prince was overcome, and, with a good laugh, +said: "Well, I think I must reconsider my decision. At any rate we +will not say 'good-bye' now." + + +III. + +During the thirty years of Haydn's quiet life with the Esterhazys he +had been gradually acquiring an immense reputation in France, England +and Spain, of which he himself was unconscious. His great symphonies +had stamped him world-wide as a composer of remarkable creative +genius. Haydn's modesty prevented him from recognising his own +celebrity. Therefore, we can fancy his astonishment when, shortly +after the death of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, a stranger called on him +and said, "I am Salomon, from London, and must strike a bargain with +you for that city immediately." + +Haydn was dazed with the suddenness of the proposition, but the old +ties were broken up, and his grief needed recreation and change. +Still, he had many beloved friends, whose society it was hard to +leave. Chief among these was Mozart. "Oh, papa," said Mozart, "you +have had no training for the wide world, and you speak so few +languages." "Oh, my language is understood all over the world," said +Papa Haydn, with a smile. When he departed for England, December 15, +1790, Mozart could with difficulty tear himself away, and said, with +pathetic tears, "We shall doubtless now take our last farewell." + +Haydn and Mozart were perfectly in accord, and each thought and did +well towards the other. Mozart, we know, was born when Haydn had just +reached manhood, so that when Mozart became old enough to study +composition the earlier works of Haydn's chamber music had been +written; and these undoubtedly formed the studies of the boy Mozart, +and greatly influenced his style; so that Haydn was the model, and, in +a sense, the instructor of Mozart. Strange is it then to find, in +after-years, the master borrowing (perhaps with interest!) from the +pupil. Such, however, was the fact, as every amateur knows. At this we +can hardly wonder, for Haydn possessed unbounded admiration not only +for Mozart, but also for his music, which the following shows. Being +asked by a friend at Prague to send him an opera, he replied:-- + +"With all my heart, if you desire to have it for yourself alone, but +if you wish to perform it in public, I must be excused; for, being +written specially for my company at the Esterhazy Palace, it would not +produce the proper effect elsewhere. I would do a new score for your +theatre, but what a hazardous step it would be to stand in comparison +with Mozart! Oh, Mozart! If I could instil into the soul of every +lover of music the admiration I have for his matchless works, all +countries would seek to be possessed of so great a treasure. Let +Prague keep him, ah! and well reward him, for without that the history +of geniuses is bad; alas! we see so many noble minds crushed beneath +adversity. Mozart is incomparable, and I am annoyed that he is unable +to obtain any court appointment. Forgive me if I get excited when +speaking of him, I am so fond of him." + +Mozart's admiration for Haydn's music, too, was very marked. He and +Herr Kozeluch were one day listening to a composition of Haydn's which +contained some bold modulations. Kozeluch thought them strange, and +asked Mozart whether he would have written them. "I think not," +smartly replied Mozart, "and for this reason: because they would not +have occurred either to you or me!" + +On another occasion we find Mozart taking to task a Viennese professor +of some celebrity, who used to experience great delight in turning to +Haydn's compositions to find therein any evidence of the master's want +of sound theoretical training--a quest in which the pedant +occasionally succeeded. One day he came to Mozart with a great crime +to unfold. Mozart as usual endeavoured to turn the conversation, but +the learned professor still went chattering on, till at last Mozart +shut his mouth with the following pill--"Sir, if you and I were both +melted down together, we should not furnish materials for one Haydn." + +It was one of the most beautiful friendships in the history of art, +full of tender offices, and utterly free from the least taint of envy +or selfishness. + + +IV. + +Haydn landed in England after a voyage which delighted him in spite of +his terror of the sea--a feeling which seems to be usual among people +of very high musical sensibilities. In his diary we find +recorded--"By four o'clock we had come twenty miles. The large vessel +stood out to sea five hours longer, till the tide carried it into the +harbour. I remained on deck the whole passage, in order to gaze my +fill at that huge monster--the ocean." + +The novelty of Haydn's concerts--of which he was to give twenty at +fifty pounds apiece--consisted of their being his own symphonies, +conducted by himself in person. Haydn's name, during his serene, +uneventful years with the Esterhazys, had become world-famous. His +reception was most brilliant. Dinner parties, receptions, invitations +without end, attested the enthusiasm of the sober English; and his +appearance at concerts and public meetings was the signal for stormy +applause. How, in the press of all this pleasure in which he was +plunged, he continued to compose the great number of works produced at +this time, is a marvel. He must have been little less than a Briareus. +It was in England that he wrote the celebrated Salomon symphonies--the +"twelve grand," as they are called. They may well be regarded as the +crowning-point of Haydn's efforts in that form of writing. He took +infinite pains with them, as, indeed, is well proved by an examination +of the scores. More elaborate, more beautiful, and scored for a fuller +orchestra than any others of the one hundred and twenty or thereabouts +which he composed, the Salomon set also bears marks of the devout and +pious spirit in which Haydn ever laboured. + +It is interesting to see how, in many of the great works which have +won the world's admiration, the religion of the author has gone +hand-in-hand with his energy and his genius; and we find Haydn not +ashamed to indorse his score with his prayer and praise, or to offer +the fruits of his talents to the Giver of all. Thus, the symphony in D +(No. 6) bears on the first page of the score the inscription, "_In +nomine Domini: di me Giuseppe Haydn, maia 1791, in London_;" and on +the last page, "_Fine, Laus Deo, 238_." + +That genius may sometimes be trusted to judge of its own work may be +gathered from Haydn's own estimate of these great symphonies. + +"Sir," said the well-satisfied Salomon, after a successful performance +of one of them, "I am strongly of opinion that you will never surpass +these symphonies." + +"No!" replied Haydn; "I never mean to try." + +The public, as we have said, was enthusiastic; but such a full banquet +of severe orchestral music was a severe trial to many, and not a few +heads would keep time to the music by steady nods during the slow +movements. Haydn, therefore, composed what is known as the "Surprise" +symphony. The slow movement is of the most lulling and soothing +character, and about the time the audience should be falling into its +first snooze, the instruments having all died away into the softest +_pianissimo_, the full orchestra breaks out with a frightful BANG. It +is a question whether the most vigorous performance of this symphony +would startle an audience nowadays, accustomed to the strident effects +of Wagner and Liszt. A wag in a recent London journal tells us, +indeed, that at the most critical part in the work a gentleman opened +one eye sleepily and said, "Come in." + +Simple-hearted Haydn was delighted at the attention lavished on him in +London. He tells us how he enjoyed his various entertainments and +feastings by such dignitaries as William Pitt, the Lord Chancellor, +and the Duke of Lids (Leeds). The gentlemen drank freely the whole +night, and the songs, the crazy uproar, and smashing of glasses were +very great. He went down to stay with the Prince of Wales (George +IV.), who played on the violoncello, and charmed the composer by his +kindness. "He is the handsomest man on God's earth. He has an +extraordinary love of music, and a great deal of feeling, but very +little money." + +To stem the tide of Haydn's popularity, the Italian faction had +recourse to Giardini; and they even imported a pet pupil of Haydn, +Pleyel, to conduct the rival concerts. Our composer kept his temper, +and wrote, "He [Pleyel] behaves himself with great modesty." Later we +read, "Pleyel's presumption is a public laughing-stock;" but he adds, +"I go to all his concerts and applaud him." + +Far different were the amenities that passed between Haydn and +Giardini. "I won't know the German hound," says the latter. Haydn +wrote, "I attended his concert at Ranelagh, and he played the fiddle +like a hog." + +Among the pleasant surprises Haydn had in England was his visit to +Herschel, the great astronomer, in whom he recognised one of his old +oboe-players. The big telescope amazed him, and so did the patient +star-gazer, who often sat out-of-doors in the most intense cold for +five or six hours at a time. + +Our composer returned to Vienna in May 1795, with the little fortune +of 12,000 florins in his pocket. + + +V. + +In his charming little cottage near Vienna Haydn was the centre of a +brilliant society. Princes and nobles were proud to do honour to him; +and painters, poets, scholars, and musicians made a delightful +coterie, which was not even disturbed by the political convulsions of +the time. The baleful star of Napoleon shot its disturbing influences +throughout Europe, and the roar of his cannon shook the established +order of things with the echoes of what was to come. Haydn was +passionately attached to his country and his emperor, and regarded +anxiously the rumblings and quakings of the period; but he did not +intermit his labour, or allow his consecration to his divine art to be +in the least shaken. Like Archimedes of old, he toiled serenely at his +appointed work, while the political order of things was crumbling +before the genius and energy of the Corsican adventurer. + +In 1798 he completed his great oratorio of "The Creation," on which he +had spent three years of toil, and which embodied his brightest +genius. Haydn was usually a very rapid composer, but he seems to have +laboured at the "Creation" with a sort of reverential humility, which +never permitted him to think his work worthy or complete. It soon went +the round of Germany, and passed to England and France, everywhere +awakening enthusiasm by its great symmetry and beauty. Without the +sublimity of Handel's "Messiah," it is marked by a richness of melody, +a serene elevation, a matchless variety in treatment, which make it +the most characteristic of Haydn's works. Napoleon, the first consul, +was hastening to the opera-house to hear this, 24th January 1801, when +he was stopped by an attempt at assassination. + +Two years after "The Creation" appeared "The Seasons," founded on +Thomson's poem, also a great work, and one of his last; for the grand +old man was beginning to think of rest, and he only composed two or +three quartets after this. He was now seventy years old, and went but +little from his own home. His chief pleasure was to sit in his shady +garden, and see his friends, who loved to solace the musical patriarch +with cheerful talk and music. Haydn often fell into deep melancholy, +and he tells us that God revived him; for no more sweet, devout nature +ever lived. His art was ever a religion. A touching incident of his +old age occurred at a grand performance of "The Creation" in 1808. +Haydn was present, but he was so old and feeble that he had to be +wheeled in a chair into the theatre, where a princess of the house of +Esterhazy took her seat by his side. This was the last time that Haydn +appeared in public, and a very impressive sight it must have been to +see the aged father of music listening to "The Creation" of his +younger days, but too old to take any active share in the performance. +The presence of the old man roused intense enthusiasm among the +audience, which could no longer be suppressed as the chorus and +orchestra burst in full power upon the superb passage, "And there was +light." + +Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old composer was seen +striving to raise himself. Once on his feet, he mustered up all his +strength, and, in reply to the applause of the audience, he cried out +as loud as he was able--"No, no! not from me, but," pointing to +heaven, "from thence--from heaven above--comes all!" saying which, he +fell back in his chair, faint and exhausted, and had to be carried out +of the room. + +One year after this Vienna was bombarded by the French, and a shot +fell in Haydn's garden. He requested to be led to his piano, and +played the "Hymn to the Emperor" three times over with passionate +eloquence and pathos. This was his last performance. He died five days +afterwards, aged seventy-seven, and lies buried in the cemetery of +Gumpfenzdorf, in his own beloved Vienna. + + +VI. + +The serene, genial face of Haydn, as seen in his portraits, measures +accurately the character of his music. In both we see healthfulness, +good-humour, vivacity, devotional feeling, and warm affections; a mind +contented, but yet attaching high importance to only one thing in +life, the composing of music. Haydn pursued this with a calm, +insatiable industry, without haste, without rest. His works number +eight hundred, comprising cantatas, symphonies, oratorios, masses, +concertos, trios, sonatas, quartets, minuets, etc., and also +twenty-two operas, eight German and fourteen Italian. + +As a creative mind in music, Haydn was the father of the quartet and +symphony. Adopting the sonata form as scientifically illustrated by +Emanuel Bach, he introduced it into compositions for the orchestra and +the chamber. He developed these into a completeness and full-orbed +symmetry, which have never been improved. Mozart is richer, Beethoven +more sublime, Schubert more luxuriant, Mendelssohn more orchestral and +passionate; but Haydn has never been surpassed in his keen perception +of the capacities of instruments, his subtile distribution of parts, +his variety in treating his themes, and his charmingly legitimate +effects. He fills a large space in musical history, not merely from +the number, originality, and beauty of his compositions, but as one +who represents an era in art-development. + +In Haydn genius and industry were happily united. With a marvellously +rich flow of musical ideas, he clearly knew what he meant to do, and +never neglected the just elaboration of each one. He would labour on a +theme till it had shaped itself into perfect beauty. + +Haydn is illustrious in the history of art as a complete artistic +life, which worked out all of its contents as did the great Goethe. In +the words of a charming writer: "His life was a rounded whole. There +was no broken light about it; it orbed slowly, with a mild, unclouded +lustre, into a perfect star. Time was gentle with him, and Death was +kind, for both waited upon his genius until all was won. Mozart was +taken away at an age when new and dazzling effects had not ceased to +flash through his brain: at the very moment when his harmonies began +to have a prophetic ring of the nineteenth century, it was decreed +that he should not see its dawn. Beethoven himself had but just +entered upon an unknown 'sea whose margin seemed to fade forever and +forever as he moved;' but good old Haydn had come into port over a +calm sea and after a prosperous voyage. The laurel wreath was this +time woven about silver locks; the gathered-in harvest was ripe and +golden." + + + + +_MOZART._ + + +I. + +The life of WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, one of the immortal names in +music, contradicts the rule that extraordinary youthful talent is apt +to be followed by a sluggish and commonplace maturity. His father +entered the room one day with a friend, and found the child bending +over a music score. The little Mozart, not yet five years old, told +his father he was writing a concerto for the piano. The latter +examined it, and tears of joy and astonishment rolled down his face on +perceiving its accuracy. + +"It is good, but too difficult for general use," said the friend. + +"Oh," said Wolfgang, "it must be practised till it is learned. This is +the way it goes." So saying, he played it with perfect correctness. + +About the same time he offered to take the violin at a performance of +some chamber music. His father refused, saying, "How can you? You have +never learned the violin." + +"One needs not study for that," said this musical prodigy; and taking +the instrument, he played second violin with ease and accuracy. Such +precocity seems almost incredible, and only in the history of music +does it find any parallel. + +Born in Salzburg, 27th January 1756, he was carefully trained by his +father, who resigned his place as court musician to devote himself +more exclusively to his family. From the earliest age he showed an +extraordinary passion for music and mathematics, scrawling notes and +diagrams in every place accessible to his insatiate pencil. + +Taken to Vienna, the six-year-old virtuoso astonished the court by his +brilliant talents. The future Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was +particularly delighted with him, and the little Mozart naively said he +would like to marry her, for she was so good to him. His father +devoted several years to an artistic tour, with him and his little +less talented sister, through the German cities, and it was also +extended to Paris and London. Everywhere the greatest enthusiasm was +evinced in this charming bud of promise. The father writes home--"We +have swords, laces, mantillas, snuff-boxes, gold cases, sufficient to +furnish a shop; but as for money, it is a scarce article, and I am +positively poor." + +At Paris they were warmly received at the court, and the boy is said +to have expressed his surprise when Mdme. Pompadour refused to kiss +him, saying, "Who is she, that she will not kiss me? Have I not been +kissed by the queen?" In London his improvisations and piano sonatas +excited the greatest admiration. Here he also published his third +work. These journeys were an uninterrupted chain of triumphs for the +child-virtuoso on the piano, organ, violin, and in singing. He was +made honorary member of the Academies of Bologna and Verona, decorated +with orders, and received at the age of thirteen an order to write the +opera of "Mithridates," which was successfully produced at Milan in +1770. Several other fine minor compositions were also written to order +at this time for his Italian admirers. At Rome Mozart attended the +Sistine Chapel and wrote the score of Allegri's great mass, forbidden +by the Pope to be copied, from the memory of a single performance. + +The record of Mozart's youthful triumphs might be extended at great +length; but aside from the proof they furnish of his extraordinary +precocity, they have lent little vital significance in the great +problem of his career, except so far as they stimulated the marvellous +boy to lay a deep foundation for his greater future, which, short as +it was, was fruitful in undying results. + + +II. + +Mozart's life in Paris, where he lived with his mother in 1778 and +1779, was a disappointment, for he despised the French nation. His +deep, simple, German nature revolted from Parisian frivolity, in which +he found only sensuality and coarseness, disguised under a thin +veneering of social grace. He abhorred French music in these bitter +terms--"The French are and always will be downright donkeys. They +cannot sing, they scream." It was just at this time that Gluck and +Piccini were having their great art-duel. We get a glimpse of the +pious tendency of the young composer in his characterisation of +Voltaire--"The ungodly arch-villain, Voltaire, has just died like a +dog." Again he writes--"Friends who have no religion cannot long be my +friends.... I have such a sense of religion that I shall never do +anything that I would not do before the whole world." + +With Mozart's return to Germany in 1779, being then twenty-three years +of age, comes the dawn of his classical period as a composer. The +greater number of his masses had already been written, and now he +settled himself in serious earnest to the cultivation of a true German +operatic school. This found its dawn in the production of "Idomeneo," +his first really great work for the lyric stage. + +The young composer had hard struggles with poverty in these days. His +letters to his father are full of revelations of his friction with the +little worries of life. Lack of money pinched him close, yet his +cheerful spirit was ever buoyant. "I have only one small room; it is +quite crammed with a piano, a table, a bed, and a chest of drawers," +he writes. + +Yet he would marry; for he was willing to face poverty in the +companionship of a loving woman who dared to face it with him. At +Mannheim he had met a beautiful young singer, Aloysia Weber, and he +went to Munich to offer her marriage. She, however, saw nothing +attractive in the thin, pale young man, with his long nose, great +eyes, and little head; for he was anything but prepossessing. A +younger sister, Constance, however, secretly loved Mozart, and he soon +transferred his repelled affections to this charming woman, whom he +married in 1782 at the house of Baroness Waldstetten. His _naive_ +reasons for marrying show Mozart's ingenuous nature. He had no one to +take care of his linen, he would not live dissolutely like other young +men, and he loved Constance Weber. His answer to his father, who +objected on account of his poverty, is worth quoting:-- + +"Constance is a well-conducted, good girl, of respectable parentage, +and I am in a position to earn at least _daily bread_ for her. We love +each other, and are resolved to marry. All that you have written or +may possibly write on the subject can be nothing but well-meant +advice, which, however good and sensible, can no longer apply to a man +who has gone so far with a girl." + +Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that +he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his +chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of +right and wrong. The first year of his marriage he wrote "Il +Seraglio," and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a +deep interest in him and warmly praised his genius. Haydn, too, +recognised his brilliant powers. "I tell you, on the word of an honest +man," said the author of the "Creation" to Leopold Mozart, the father, +who asked his opinion, "that I consider your son the greatest composer +I have ever heard. He writes with taste, and possesses a thorough +knowledge of composition." + +Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless +energy. His life had no lull in its creative industry. His splendid +genius, insatiable and tireless, broke down his body, like a sword +wearing out its scabbard. He poured out symphonies, operas, and +sonatas with such prodigality as to astonish us, even when +recollecting how fecund the musical mind has often been. Alike as +artist and composer, he never ceased his labours. Day after day and +night after night he hardly snatched an hour's rest. We can almost +fancy he foreboded how short his brilliant life was to be, and was +impelled to crowd into its brief compass its largest measure of +results. + +Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want. Oftentimes his sick +wife could not obtain needed medicines. He made more money than most +musicians, yet was always impoverished. But it was his glory that he +was never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, and +riotous living, but by his lavish generosity to those who in many +instances needed help less than himself. Like many other men of genius +and sensibility, he could not say "no" to even the pretence of +distress and suffering. + + +III. + +The culminating point of Mozart's artistic development was in 1786. +The "Marriage of Figaro" was the first of a series of masterpieces +which cannot be surpassed alike for musical greatness and their hold +on the lyric stage. The next year "Don Giovanni" saw the light, and +was produced at Prague. The overture of this opera was composed and +scored in less than six hours. The inhabitants of Prague greeted the +work with the wildest enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart +better than the Viennese. + +During this period he made frequent concert tours to recruit his +fortunes, but with little financial success. Presents of watches, +snuff-boxes, and rings were common, but the returns were so small that +Mozart was frequently obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner +and lodging. What a comment on the period which adored genius, but +allowed it to starve! His audiences could be enthusiastic enough to +carry him to his hotel on their shoulders, but probably never thought +that the wherewithal of a hearty supper was a more seasonable homage. +So our musician struggled on through the closing years of his life +with the wolf constantly at his door, and an invalid wife whom he +passionately loved, yet must needs see suffer from the want of common +necessaries. In these modern days, when distinguished artists make +princely fortunes by the exercise of their musical gifts, it is not +easy to believe that Mozart, recognised as the greatest pianoforte +player and composer of his time by all of musical Germany, could +suffer such dire extremes of want as to be obliged more than once to +beg for a dinner. + +In 1791 he composed the score of the "Magic Flute" at the request of +Schikaneder, a Viennese manager, who had written the text from a fairy +tale, the fantastic elements of which are peculiarly German in their +humour. Mozart put great earnestness into the work, and made it the +first German opera of commanding merit, which embodied the essential +intellectual sentiment and kindly warmth of popular German life. The +manager paid the composer but a trifle for a work whose transcendent +success enabled him to build a new opera-house, and laid the +foundation of a large fortune. We are told, too, that at the time of +Mozart's death in extreme want, when his sick wife, half-maddened with +grief, could not buy a coffin for the dead composer, this hard-hearted +wretch, who owed his all to the genius of the great departed, rushed +about through Vienna bewailing the loss to music with sentimental +tears, but did not give the heart-broken widow one kreutzer to pay the +expense of a decent burial. + +In 1791 Mozart's health was breaking down with great rapidity, though +he himself would never recognise his own swiftly advancing fate. He +experienced, however, a deep melancholy which nothing could remove. +For the first time his habitual cheerfulness deserted him. His wife +had been enabled through the kindness of her friends to visit the +healing waters of Baden, and was absent. + +An incident now occurred which impressed Mozart with an ominous chill. +One night there came a stranger, singularly dressed in grey, with an +order for a requiem to be composed without fail within a month. The +visitor, without revealing his name, departed in mysterious gloom, as +he came. Again the stranger called, and solemnly reminded Mozart of +his promise. The composer easily persuaded himself that this was a +visitor from the other world, and that the requiem would be his own; +for he was exhausted with labour and sickness, and easily became the +prey of superstitious fancies. When his wife returned, she found him +with a fatal pallor on his face, silent and melancholy, labouring with +intense absorption on the funereal mass. He would sit brooding over +the score till he swooned away in his chair, and only come to +consciousness to bend his waning energies again to their ghastly work. +The mysterious visitor, whom Mozart believed to be the precursor of +his death, we now know to have been Count Walseck, who had recently +lost his wife, and wished a musical memorial. + +His final sickness attacked the composer while labouring at the +requiem. The musical world was ringing with the fame of his last +opera. To the dying man was brought the offer of the rich appointment +of organist of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Most flattering propositions +were made him by eager managers, who had become thoroughly awake to +his genius when it was too late. The great Mozart was dying in the +very prime of his youth and his powers, when success was in his grasp +and the world opening wide its arms to welcome his glorious gifts with +substantial recognition; but all too late, for he was doomed to die in +his spring-tide, though "a spring mellow with all the fruits of +autumn." + +The unfinished requiem lay on the bed, and his last efforts were to +imitate some peculiar instrumental effects, as he breathed out his +life in the arms of his wife and his friend, Suessmaier. + +The epilogue to this life-drama is one of the saddest in the history +of art: a pauper funeral for one of the world's greatest geniuses. "It +was late one winter afternoon," says an old record, "before the coffin +was deposited on the side aisles on the south side of St. Stephen's. +Van Swieten, Salieri, Suessmaier, and two unknown musicians were the +only persons present besides the officiating priest and the +pall-bearers. It was a terribly inclement day; rain and sleet came +down fast; and an eye-witness describes how the little band of +mourners stood shivering in the blast, with their umbrellas up, round +the hearse, as it left the door of the church. It was then far on in +the dark, cold December afternoon, and the evening was fast closing in +before the solitary hearse had passed the Stubenthor, and reached the +distant graveyard of St. Marx, in which, among the 'third class,' the +great composer of the 'G minor Symphony' and the 'Requiem' found his +resting-place. By this time the weather had proved too much for all +the mourners; they had dropped off one by one, and Mozart's body was +accompanied only by the driver of the carriage. There had been already +two pauper funerals that day--one of them a midwife--and Mozart was +to be the third in the grave and the uppermost. + +"When the hearse drew up in the slush and sleet at the gate of the +graveyard, it was welcomed by a strange pair--Franz Harruschka, the +assistant grave-digger, and his mother, Katharina, known as 'Frau +Katha,' who filled the quaint office of official mendicant to the +place. + +"The old woman was the first to speak: 'Any coaches or mourners +coming?' + +"A shrug from the driver of the hearse was the only response. + +"'Whom have you got there, then?' continued she. + +"'A bandmaster,' replied the other. + +"'A musician? they're a poor lot; then I've no more money to look for +to-day. It is to be hoped we shall have better luck in the morning.' + +"To which the driver said, with a laugh, 'I'm devilish thirsty, +too--not a kreutzer of drink-money have I had.' + +"After this curious colloquy the coffin was dismounted and shoved into +the top of the grave already occupied by the two paupers of the +morning; and such was Mozart's last appearance on earth." + +To-day no stone marks the spot where were deposited the last remains +of one of the brightest of musical spirits; indeed, the very grave is +unknown, for it was the grave of a pauper. + + +IV. + +Mozart's charming letters reveal to us such a gentle, sparkling, +affectionate nature, as to inspire as much love for the man as +admiration for his genius. Sunny humour and tenderness bubble in +almost every sentence. A clever writer says that "opening these is +like opening a painted tomb.... The colours are all fresh, the figures +are all distinct." + +No better illustration of the man Mozart can be had than in a few +extracts from his correspondence. He writes to his sister from Rome +while yet a mere lad:-- + + "I am, thank God! except my miserable pen, well, and send + you and mamma a thousand kisses. I wish you were in Rome; I + am sure it would please you. Papa says I am a little fool, + but that is nothing new. Here we have but one bed; it is + easy to understand that I can't rest comfortably with papa. + I shall be glad when we get into new quarters. I have just + finished drawing the Holy Peter with his keys, the Holy Paul + with his sword, and the Holy Luke with my sister. I have had + the honour of kissing St. Peter's foot; and because I am so + small as to be unable to reach it, they had to lift me up. I + am the same old + + "Wolfgang." + +Mozart was very fond of this sister Nannerl, and he used to write to +her in a playful mosaic of French, German, and Italian. Just after his +wedding he writes:-- + + "My darling is now a hundred times more joyful at the idea + of going to Salzburg, and I am willing to stake--ay, my very + life, that you will rejoice still more in my happiness when + you know her; if, indeed, in your estimation, as in mine, a + high-principled, honest, virtuous, and pleasing wife ought + to make a man happy." + +Late in his short life he writes the following characteristic note to +a friend, whose life does not appear to have been one of the most +regular:-- + + "Now tell me, my dear friend, how you are. I hope you are + all as well as we are. You cannot fail to be happy, for you + possess everything that you can wish for at your age and in + your position, especially as you now seem to have entirely + given up your former mode of life. Do you not every day + become more convinced of the truth of the little lectures I + used to inflict on you? Are not the pleasures of a + transient, capricious passion widely different from the + happiness produced by rational and true love? I feel sure + that you often in your heart thank me for my admonitions. I + shall feel quite proud if you do. But, jesting apart, you + do really owe me some little gratitude if you are become + worthy of Fraeulein N----, for I certainly played no + insignificant part in your improvement or reform. + + "My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my + great-grandmother, who in turn told it to her daughter, my + grandmother, who again repeated it to her daughter, my + mother, who repeated it to her daughter, my own sister, that + it was a very great art to talk eloquently and well, but an + equally great one to know the right moment to stop. I + therefore shall follow the advice of my sister, thanks to + our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and thus + end, not only my moral ebullition, but my letter." + +His playful tenderness lavished itself on his wife in a thousand +quaint ways. He would, for example, rise long before her to take his +horseback exercise, and always kiss her sleeping face and leave a +little note like the following resting on her forehead--"Good-morning, +dear little wife! I hope you have had a good sleep and pleasant +dreams. I shall be back in two hours. Behave yourself like a good +little girl, and don't run away from your husband." + +Speaking of an infant child, our composer would say merrily, "That boy +will be a true Mozart, for he always cries in the very key in which I +am playing." + +Mozart's musical greatness, shown in the symmetry of his art as well +as in the richness of his inspirations, has been unanimously +acknowledged by his brother composers. Meyerbeer could not restrain +his tears when speaking of him. Weber, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and +Wagner always praise him in terms of enthusiastic admiration. Haydn +called him the greatest of composers. In fertility of invention, +beauty of form, and exactness of method, he has never been surpassed, +and has but one or two rivals. The composer of three of the greatest +operas in musical history, besides many of much more than ordinary +excellence; of symphonies that rival Haydn's for symmetry and melodic +affluence; of a great number of quartets, quintets, etc.; and of +pianoforte sonatas which rank high among the best; of many masses that +are standard in the service of the Catholic Church; of a great variety +of beautiful songs--there is hardly any form of music which he did not +richly adorn with the treasures of his genius. We may well say, in the +words of one of the most competent critics:-- + +"Mozart was a king and a slave--king in his own beautiful realm of +music; slave of the circumstances and the conditions of this world. +Once over the boundaries of his own kingdom, and he was supreme; but +the powers of the earth acknowledged not his sovereignty." + + + + +_BEETHOVEN._ + + +I. + +The name and memory of this composer awaken, in the heart of the lover +of music, sentiments of the deepest reverence and admiration. His life +was so marked with affliction and so isolated as to make him, in his +environment of conditions as a composer, an unique figure. + +The principal fact which made the exterior life of Beethoven so bare +of the ordinary pleasures that brighten and sweeten existence, his +total deafness, greatly enriched his spiritual life. Music finally +became to him a purely intellectual conception, for he was without any +sensual enjoyment of its effects. To this Samson of music, for whom +the ear was like the eye to other men, Milton's lines may indeed well +apply:-- + + "Oh! dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon! + Irrecoverably dark--total eclipse, + Without all hope of day! + Oh first created Beam, and thou, great Word, + 'Let there be light,' and light was over all, + Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree? + The sun to me is dark." + +To his severe affliction we owe alike many of the defects of his +character and the splendours of his genius. All his powers, +concentrated into a spiritual focus, wrought such things as lift him +into a solitary greatness. The world has agreed to measure this man as +it measures Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare. We do not compare him with +others. + +Beethoven had the reputation among his contemporaries of being harsh, +bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is much to justify this in +the circumstances of his life; yet our readers will discover much to +show, on the other hand, how deep, strong, and tender was the heart +which was so wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by-- + + "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." + +Weber gives a picture of Beethoven--"The square Cyclopean figure +attired in a shabby coat with torn sleeves." Everybody will remember +his noble, austere face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, +massive head, with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so +furrowed with the marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, with their +look of introspection and insight; the whole expression of the +countenance as of an ancient prophet. Such was the impression made by +Beethoven on all who saw him, except in his moods of fierce wrath, +which towards the last were not uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely +tried, sublimely gifted man, he met his fate stubbornly, and worked +out his great mission with all his might and main, through long years +of weariness and trouble. Posterity has rewarded him by enthroning him +on the highest peaks of musical fame. + + +II. + +LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN was born at Bonn in 1770. It is a singular fact +that at an early age he showed the deepest distaste for music, unlike +the other great composers, who evinced their bent from their earliest +years. His father was obliged to whip him severely before he would +consent to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was +past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. His first +compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard him play them, and +said, "Mind, you will hear that boy talked of." Haydn, too, met +Beethoven for the first and only time when the former was on his way +to England, and recognised his remarkable powers. He gave him a few +lessons in composition, and was after that anxious to claim the young +Titan as a pupil. + +"Yes," growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason never liked Haydn, +"I had some lessons of him, indeed, but I was not his disciple. I +never learned anything from him." + +Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth on all who knew +him. Aside from the palpable marks of his power, there was an +indomitable _hauteur_, a mysterious, self-wrapped air as of one +constantly communing with the invisible, an unconscious assertion of +mastery about him, which strongly impressed the imagination. + +At the very outset of his career, when life promised all fair and +bright things to him, two comrades linked themselves to him, and ever +after that refused to give him up--grim poverty and still grimmer +disease. About the same time that he lost a fixed salary through the +death of his friend, the Elector of Cologne, he began to grow deaf. +Early in 1800, walking one day in the woods with his devoted friend +and pupil, Ferdinand Ries, he disclosed the sad secret to him that the +whole joyous world of sound was being gradually closed up to him; the +charm of the human voice, the notes of the woodland birds, the sweet +babblings of Nature, jargon to others, but intelligible to genius, the +full-born splendours of _heard_ music--all, all were fast receding +from his grasp. + +Beethoven was extraordinarily sensitive to the influences of Nature. +Before his disease became serious he writes--"I wander about here with +music-paper among the hills, and dales, and valleys, and scribble a +good deal. No man on earth can love the country as I do." But one of +Nature's most delightful modes of speech to man was soon to be utterly +lost to him. At last he became so deaf that the most stunning crash of +thunder or the _fortissimo_ of the full orchestra were to him as if +they were not. His bitter, heart-rending cry of agony, when he became +convinced that the misfortune was irremediable, is full of eloquent +despair--"As autumn leaves wither and fall, so are my hopes blighted. +Almost as I came, I depart. Even the lofty courage, which so often +animated me in the lovely days of summer, is gone forever. O +Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure felicity! How long have I +been estranged from the glad echo of true joy! When, O my God! when +shall I feel it again in the temple of Nature and man? Never!" + +And the small-souled, mole-eyed gossips and critics called him hard, +churlish, and cynical--him, for whom the richest thing in Nature's +splendid dower had been obliterated, except a soul, which never in its +deepest sufferings lost its noble faith in God and man, or allowed its +indomitable courage to be one whit weakened. That there were periods +of utterly rayless despair and gloom we may guess; but not for long +did Beethoven's great nature cower before its evil genius. + + +III. + +Within three years, from 1805 to 1808, Beethoven composed some of his +greatest works--the oratorio of "The Mount of Olives," the opera of +"Fidelio," and the two noble symphonies, "Pastorale" and "Eroica," +besides a large number of concertos, sonatas, songs, and other +occasional pieces. However gloomy the externals of his life, his +creative activities knew no cessation. + +The "Sinfonia Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest of +the immortal nine, and is one of the greatest examples of musical +portraiture extant. All the great composers from Handel to Wagner have +attempted, what is called descriptive music with more or less success, +but never have musical genius and skill achieved a result so +admirable in its relation to its purpose and by such strictly +legitimate means as in this work. + +"The 'Eroica,'" says a great writer, "is an attempt to draw a musical +portrait of an historical character--a great statesman, a great +general, a noble individual; to represent in music--Beethoven's own +language--what M. Thiers has given in words, and Paul Delaroche in +painting." Of Beethoven's success another writer has said--"It wants +no title to tell its meaning, for throughout the symphony the hero is +visibly portrayed." + +It is anything but difficult to realise why Beethoven should have +admired the first Napoleon. Both the soldier and musician were made +of that sturdy stuff which would and did defy the world; and it is +not strange that Beethoven should have desired in some way--and he +knew of no better course than through his art--to honour one so +characteristically akin to himself, and who at that time was the most +prominent man in Europe. Beethoven began the work in 1802, and in 1804 +it was completed, and bore the following title:-- + + Sinfonia grand + "Napoleon Bonaparte" + 1804 in August + del Sigr + Louis van Beethoven + Sinfonia 3. + Op. 55. + +This was copied and the original score despatched to the ambassador for +presentation, while Beethoven retained the copy. Before the composition +was laid before Napoleon, however, the great general had accepted the +title of Emperor. No sooner did Beethoven hear of this from his pupil +Ries than he started up in a rage, and exclaimed--"After all, then, +he's nothing but an ordinary mortal! He will trample the rights of men +under his feet!" saying which, he rushed to his table, seized the copy +of the score, and tore the title-page completely off. From this time +Beethoven hated Napoleon, and never again spoke of him in connection +with the symphony until he heard of his death in St. Helena, when he +observed, "I have already composed music for this calamity," evidently +referring to the "Funeral March" in this symphony. + +The opera of "Fidelio," which he composed about the same time, may be +considered, in the severe sense of a great and symmetrical musical +work, the finest lyric drama ever written, with the possible exception +of Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" and "Iphigenia in Tauris." It is +rarely performed, because its broad, massive, and noble effects are +beyond the capacity of most singers, and belong to the domain of pure +music, demanding but little alliance with the artistic clap-trap of +startling scenery and histrionic extravagance. Yet our composer's +conscience shows its completeness in his obedience to the law of +opera; for the music he has written to express the situations cannot +be surpassed for beauty, pathos, and passion. Beethoven, like +Mendelssohn, revolted from the idea of lyric drama as an +art-inconsistency, but he wrote "Fidelio" to show his possibilities in +a direction with which he had but little sympathy. He composed four +overtures for this opera at different periods, on account of the +critical caprices of the Viennese public--a concession to public taste +which his stern independence rarely made. + + +IV. + +Beethoven's relations with women were peculiar and characteristic, as +were all the phases of a nature singularly self-poised and robust. +Like all men of powerful imagination and keen (though perhaps not +delicate) sensibility, he was strongly attracted towards the softer +sex. But a certain austerity of morals, and that purity of feeling +which is the inseparable shadow of one's devotion to lofty aims, +always kept him within the bounds of Platonic affection. Yet there is +enough in Beethoven's letters, as scanty as their indications are in +this direction, to show what ardour and glow of feeling he possessed. + +About the time that he was suffering keenly with the knowledge of his +fast-growing infirmity, he was bound by a strong tie of affection to +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, his "immortal beloved," "his angel," +"his all," "his life," as he called her in a variety of passionate +utterances. It was to her that he dedicated his song "Adelaida," +which, as an expression of lofty passion, is world-famous. Beethoven +was very much dissatisfied with the work even in the glow of +composition. Before the notes were dry on the music paper, the +composer's old friend Barth was announced. "Here," said Beethoven, +putting a roll of score paper in Barth's hands, "look at that. I have +just finished it, and don't like it. There is hardly fire enough in +the stove to burn it, but I will try." Barth glanced through the +composition, then sang it, and soon grew into such enthusiasm as to +draw from Beethoven the expression, "No? then we will not burn it, old +fellow." Whether it was the reaction of disgust, which so often comes +to genius after the tension of work, or whether his ideal of its +lovely theme was so high as to make all effort seem inadequate, the +world came very near losing what it could not afford to have missed. + +The charming countess, however, preferred rank, wealth, and unruffled +ease to being linked even with a great genius, if, indeed, the affair +ever looked in the direction of marriage. She married another, and +Beethoven does not seem to have been seriously disturbed. It may be +that, like Goethe, he valued the love of woman not for itself or its +direct results, but as an art-stimulus which should enrich and +fructify his own intellectual life. + +We get glimpses of successors to the fair countess. The beautiful +Marie Pachler was for some time the object of his adoration. The +affair is a somewhat mysterious one, and the lady seems to have +suffered from the fire through which her powerful companion passed +unscathed. Again, quaintest and oddest of all, is the fancy kindled by +that "mysterious sprite of genius," as one of her contemporaries calls +her, Bettina Brentano, the gifted child-woman, who fascinated all who +came within her reach, from Goethe and Beethoven down to princes and +nobles. Goethe's correspondence with this strange being has embalmed +her life in classic literature. + +Our composer's intercourse with women--for he was always alive to the +charms of female society--was for the most part homely and practical +in the extreme, after his deafness destroyed the zest of the more +romantic phases of the divine passion. He accepted adoration, as did +Dean Swift, as a right. He permitted his female admirers to knit him +stockings and comforters, and make him dainty puddings and other +delicacies, which he devoured with huge gusto. He condescended, in +return, to go to sleep on their sofas, after picking his teeth with +the candle-snuffers (so says scandal), while they thrummed away at his +sonatas, the artistic slaughter of which Beethoven was mercifully +unable to hear. + + +V. + +The friendship of the Archduke Rudolph relieved Beethoven of the +immediate pressure of poverty; for in 1809 he settled a small +life-pension upon him. The next ten years were passed by him in +comparative ease and comfort, and in this time he gave to the world +five of his immortal symphonies, and a large number of his finest +sonatas and masses. His general health improved very much; and in his +love for his nephew Karl, whom Beethoven had adopted, the lonely man +found an outlet for his strong affections, which was medicine for his +soul, though the object was worthless and ungrateful. + +We get curious and amusing insights into the daily tenor of +Beethoven's life during this period--things sometimes almost +grotesque, were they not so sad. The composer lived a solitary life, +and was very much at the mercy of his servants on account of his +self-absorption and deafness. He was much worried by these prosaic +cares. One story of a slatternly servant is as follows:--The master +was working at the mass in D, the great work which he commenced in +1819 for the celebration of the appointment of the Archduke Rudolph as +Archbishop of Olmuetz, and which should have been completed by the +following year. Beethoven, however, became so engrossed with his work, +and increased its proportions so much, that it was not finished until +some two years after the event which it was intended to celebrate. +While Beethoven was engaged upon this score, he one day woke up to the +fact that some of his pages were missing. "Where on earth could they +be?" he asked himself, and the servant too; but the problem remained +unsolved. Beethoven, beside himself, spent hours and hours in +searching, and so did the servant, but it was all in vain. At last +they gave up the task as a useless one, and Beethoven, mad with +despair, and pouring the very opposite to blessings upon the head of +her who, he believed, was the author of the mischief, sat down with +the conclusion that he must rewrite the missing part. He had no sooner +commenced a new Kyrie--for this was the movement which was not to be +found--than some loose sheets of score paper were discovered in the +kitchen! Upon examination they proved to be the identical pages that +Beethoven so much desired, and which the woman, in her anxiety to be +"tidy" and to "keep things straight," had appropriated at some time or +other for wrapping up, not only old boots and clothes, but also some +superannuated pots and pans that were greasy and black! + +Thus he was continually fretted by the carelessness or the rascality +of the servants in whom he was obliged to trust. He writes in his +diary--"Nancy is too uneducated for a housekeeper--indeed, quite a +beast." "My precious servants were occupied from seven o'clock till +ten trying to kindle a fire." "The cook's off again." "I shied +half-a-dozen books at her head." They made his dinner so nasty he +couldn't eat it. "No soup to-day, no beef, no eggs. Got something from +the inn at last." + +His temper and peculiarities, too, made it difficult for him to live +in peace with landlords and fellow-lodgers. As his deafness increased, +he struck and thumped harder at the keys of his piano, the sound of +which he could scarcely hear. Nor was this all. The music that filled +his brain gave him no rest. He became an inspired madman. For hours he +would pace the room "howling and roaring" (as his pupil Ries puts it); +or he would stand beating time with hand and foot to the music which +was so vividly present to his mind. This soon put him into a feverish +excitement, when, to cool himself, he would take his water-jug, and, +thoughtless of everything, pour its contents over his hands, after +which he could sit down to his piano. With all this it can easily be +imagined that Beethoven was frequently remonstrated with. The landlord +complained of a damaged ceiling, and the fellow-lodgers declared that +either they or the madman must leave the house, for they could get no +rest where he was. So Beethoven never for long had a resting-place. +Impatient at being interfered with, he immediately packed up and went +off to some other vacant lodging. From this cause he was at one time +paying the rent of four lodgings at once. At times he would get tired +of this changing from one place to another--from the suburbs to the +town--and then he would fall back upon the hospitable home of a +patron, once again taking possession of an apartment which he had +vacated, probably without the least explanation or cause. One admirer +of his genius, who always reserved him a chamber in his establishment, +used to say to his servants--"Leave it empty; Beethoven is sure to +come back again." + +The instant that Beethoven entered the house he began to write and +cipher on the walls, the blinds, the table, everything, in the most +abstracted manner. He frequently composed on slips of paper, which he +afterwards misplaced, so that he had great difficulty in finding them. +At one time, indeed, he forgot his own name and the date of his birth. + +It is said that he once went into a Viennese restaurant, and, instead +of giving an order, began to write a score on the back of the +bill-of-fare, absorbed and unconscious of time and place. At last he +asked how much he owed. "You owe nothing, sir," said the waiter. +"What! do you think I have not dined?" "Most assuredly." "Very well, +then, give me something." "What do you wish?" "Anything." + +These infirmities do not belittle the man of genius, but set off his +greatness as with a foil. They illustrate the thought of Goethe: "It +is all the same whether one is great or small, he has to pay the +reckoning of humanity." + + +VI. + +Yet beneath these eccentricities what wealth of tenderness, sympathy, +and kindliness existed! His affection for his graceless nephew Karl is +a touching picture. With the rest of his family he had never been on +very cordial terms. His feeling of contempt for snobbery and pretence +is very happily illustrated in his relations with his brother Johann. +The latter had acquired property, and he sent Ludwig his card, +inscribed "Johann von Beethoven, land-owner." The caustic reply was a +card, on which was written, "Ludwig von Beethoven, brain-owner." But +on Karl all the warmest feelings of a nature which had been starving +to love and be loved poured themselves out. He gave the scapegrace +every luxury and indulgence, and, self-absorbed as he was in an ideal +sphere, felt the deepest interest in all the most trivial things that +concerned him. Much to the uncle's sorrow, Karl cared nothing for +music; but, worst of all, he was an idle, selfish, heartless fellow, +who sneered at his benefactor, and valued him only for what he could +get from him. At last Beethoven became fully aware of the lying +ingratitude of his nephew, and he exclaims--"I know now you have no +pleasure in coming to see me, which is only natural, for my atmosphere +is too pure for you. God has never yet forsaken me, and no doubt some +one will be found to close my eyes." Yet the generous old man forgave +him, for he says in the codicil of his will, "I appoint my nephew Karl +my sole heir." + +Frequently, glimpses of the true vein showed themselves in such little +episodes as that which occurred when Moscheles, accompanied by his +brother, visited the great musician for the first time. + +"Arrived at the door of the house," writes Moscheles, "I had some +misgivings, knowing Beethoven's strong aversion to strangers. I +therefore told my brother to wait below. After greeting Beethoven, I +said, 'Will you permit me to introduce my brother to you?' + +"'Where is he?' he suddenly replied. + +"'Below.' + +"'What, downstairs?' and Beethoven immediately rushed off, seized hold +of my brother, saying, 'Am I such a savage that you are afraid to come +near me?' + +"After this he showed great kindness to us." + +While referring to the relations of Moscheles and Beethoven, the +following anecdote related by Mdme. Moscheles will be found +suggestive. The pianist had been arranging some numbers of "Fidelio," +which he took to the composer. He, _a la_ Haydn, had inscribed the +score with the words, "By God's help." Beethoven did not fail to +perceive this, and he wrote underneath this phylactory the +characteristic advice--"O man, help thyself." + +The genial and sympathetic nature of Beethoven is illustrated in this +quaint incident:-- + +It was in the summer of 1811 that Ludwig Loewe, the actor, first met +Beethoven in the dining-room of the Blue Star at Toeplitz. Loewe was +paying his addresses to the landlord's daughter; and conversation +being impossible at the hour he dined there, the charming creature one +day whispered to him, "Come at a later hour, when the customers are +gone and only Beethoven is here. He cannot hear, and will therefore +not be in the way." This answered for a time; but the stern parents, +observing the acquaintanceship, ordered the actor to leave the house +and not to return. "How great was our despair!" relates Loewe. "We both +desired to correspond, but through whom? Would the solitary man at the +opposite table assist us? Despite his serious reserve and seeming +churlishness, I believe he is not unfriendly. I have often caught a +kind smile across his bold, defiant face." Loewe determined to try. +Knowing Beethoven's custom, he contrived to meet the master when he +was walking in the gardens. Beethoven instantly recognised him, and +asked the reason why he no longer dined at the Blue Star. A full +confession was made, and then Loewe timidly asked if he would take +charge of a letter to give to the girl. + +"Why not?" pleasantly observed the rough-looking musician. "You mean +what is right." So pocketing the note, he was making his way onward +when Loewe again interfered. + +"I beg your pardon, Herr von Beethoven, that is not all." + +"So, so," said the master. + +"You must also bring back the answer," Loewe went on to say. + +"Meet me here at this time to-morrow," said Beethoven. + +Loewe did so, and there found Beethoven awaiting him, with the coveted +reply from his lady-love. In this manner Beethoven carried the letters +backward and forward for some five or six weeks--in short, as long as +he remained in the town. + +His friendship with Ferdinand Ries commenced in a way which testified +how grateful he was for kindness. When his mother lay ill at Bonn, he +hurried home from Vienna just in time to witness her death. After the +funeral he suffered greatly from poverty, and was relieved by Ries, +the violinist. Years afterwards young Ries waited on Beethoven with a +letter of introduction from his father. The composer received him with +cordial warmth, and said, "Tell your father I have not forgotten the +death of my mother." Ever afterwards he was a helpful and devoted +friend to young Ries, and was of inestimable value in forwarding his +musical career. + +Beethoven in his poverty never forgot to be generous. At a concert +given in aid of wounded soldiers, where he conducted, he indignantly +refused payment with the words, "Say Beethoven never accepts anything +where humanity is concerned." To an Ursuline convent he gave an +entirely new symphony to be performed at their benefit concert. +Friend or enemy never applied to him for help that he did not freely +give, even to the pinching of his own comfort. + + +VII. + +Rossini could write best when he was under the influence of Italian +wine and sparkling champagne. Paisiello liked the warm bed in which to +jot down his musical notions, and we are told that "it was between the +sheets that he planned the 'Barber of Seville,' the 'Molinara,' and so +many other _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of ease and gracefulness." Mozart could +chat and play at billiards or bowls at the same time that he composed +the most beautiful music. Sacchini found it impossible to write +anything of any beauty unless a pretty woman was by his side, and he +was surrounded by his cats, whose graceful antics stimulated and +affected him in a marked fashion. "Gluck," Bombet says, "in order to +warm his imagination and to transport himself to Aulis or Sparta, was +accustomed to place himself in the middle of a beautiful meadow. In +this situation, with his piano before him, and a bottle of champagne +on each side, he wrote in the open air his two 'Iphigenias,' his +'Orpheus,' and some other works." The agencies which stimulated +Beethoven's grandest thoughts are eminently characteristic of the man. +He loved to let the winds and storms beat on his bare head, and see +the dazzling play of the lightning. Or, failing the sublimer moods of +Nature, it was his delight to walk in the woods and fields, and take +in at every pore the influences which she so lavishly bestows on her +favourites. His true life was his ideal life in art. To him it was a +mission and an inspiration, the end and object of all things; for +these had value only as they fed the divine craving within. + +"Nothing can be more sublime," he writes, "than to draw nearer to the +Godhead than other men, and to diffuse here on earth these Godlike +rays among mortals." Again: "What is all this compared to the grandest +of all Masters of Harmony--above, above?" + + "All experience seemed an arch, wherethrough + Gleamed that untravelled world, whose margin fades + Forever and forever as we move." + +The last four years of our composer's life were passed amid great +distress from poverty and feebleness. He could compose but little; +and, though his friends solaced his latter days with attention and +kindness, his sturdy independence would not accept more. It is a +touching fact that Beethoven voluntarily suffered want and privation +in his last years, that he might leave the more to his selfish and +ungrateful nephew. He died in 1827, in his fifty-seventh year, and is +buried in the Wahring Cemetery near Vienna. Let these extracts from a +testamentary paper addressed to his brothers in 1802, in expectation +of death, speak more eloquently of the hidden life of a heroic soul +than any other words could:-- + + "O ye, who consider or declare me to be hostile, obstinate, + or misanthropic, what injustice ye do me! Ye know not the + secret causes of that which to you wears such an appearance. + My heart and my mind were from childhood prone to the tender + feelings of affection. Nay, I was always disposed even to + perform great actions. But, only consider that, for the last + six years, I have been attacked by an incurable complaint, + aggravated by the unskilful treatment of medical men, + disappointed from year to year in the hope of relief, and at + last obliged to submit to the endurance of an evil the cure + of which may last perhaps for years, if it is practicable at + all. Born with a lively, ardent disposition, susceptible to + the diversions of society, I was forced at an early age to + renounce them, and to pass my life in seclusion. If I strove + at any time to set myself above all this, oh how cruelly was + I driven back by the doubly painful experience of my + defective hearing! and yet it was not possible for me to say + to people, 'Speak louder--bawl--for I am deaf!' Ah! how + could I proclaim the defect of a sense that I once possessed + in the highest perfection--in a perfection in which few of + my colleagues possess or ever did possess it? Indeed, I + cannot! Forgive me, then, if ye see me draw back when I + would gladly mingle among you. Doubly mortifying is my + misfortune to me, as it must tend to cause me to be + misconceived. From recreation in the society of my + fellow-creatures, from the pleasures of conversation, from + the effusions of friendship, I am cut off. Almost alone in + the world, I dare not venture into society more than + absolute necessity requires. I am obliged to live as an + exile. If I go into company, a painful anxiety comes over + me, since I am apprehensive of being exposed to the danger + of betraying my situation. Such has been my state, too, + during this half year that I have spent in the country. + Enjoined by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing as + much as possible, I have been almost encouraged by him in my + present natural disposition, though, hurried away by my + fondness for society, I sometimes suffered myself to be + enticed into it. But what a humiliation when any one + standing beside me could hear at a distance a flute that I + could not hear, or any one heard the shepherd singing, and I + could not distinguish a sound! Such circumstances brought me + to the brink of despair, and had well-nigh made me put an + end to my life--nothing but my art held my hand. Ah! it + seemed to me impossible to quit the world before I had + produced all that I felt myself called to accomplish. And so + I endured this wretched life--so truly wretched, that a + somewhat speedy change is capable of transporting me from + the best into the worst condition. Patience--so I am told--I + must choose for my guide. Steadfast, I hope, will be my + resolution to persevere, till it shall please the inexorable + Fates to cut the thread. + + "Perhaps there may be an amendment--perhaps not; I am + prepared for the worst--I, who so early as my twenty-eighth + year was forced to become a philosopher--it is not easy--for + the artist more difficult than for any other. O God! thou + lookest down upon my misery; thou knowest that it is + accompanied with love of my fellow-creatures, and a + disposition to do good! O men! when ye shall read this, + think that ye have wronged me; and let the child of + affliction take comfort on finding one like himself, who, in + spite of all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay + in his power to obtain admittance into the rank of worthy + artists and men.... I go to meet Death with joy. If he comes + before I have had occasion to develop all my professional + abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite of my hard + fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his arrival. But + even then I am content, for he will release me from a state + of endless suffering. Come when thou wilt, I shall meet thee + with firmness. Farewell, and do not quite forget me after I + am dead; I have deserved that you should think of me, for in + my lifetime I have often thought of you to make you happy. + May you ever be so!" + + +VIII. + +The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on art. In speaking +of his genius it is difficult to keep expression within the limits of +good taste. For who has so passed into the very inner _penetralia_ of +his great art, and revealed to the world such heights and depths of +beauty and power in sound? + +Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one voice, are ranked as +the greatest ever written, reaching in the last, known as the +"Choral," the full perfection of his power and experience. Other +musicians have composed symphonic works remarkable for varied +excellences, but in Beethoven this form of writing seems to have +attained its highest possibilities, and to have been illustrated by +the greatest variety of effects, from the sublime to such as are +simply beautiful and melodious. His hand swept the whole range of +expression with unfaltering mastery. Some passages may seem obscure, +some too elaborately wrought, some startling and abrupt, but on all is +stamped the die of his great genius. + +Beethoven's compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are no less +notable for range and power of expression, their adaptation to meet +all the varied moods of passion and sentiment. Other pianoforte +composers have given us more warm and vivid colour, richer sensual +effects of tone, more wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even +greater sweetness in melody; but we look in vain elsewhere for the +spiritual passion and poetry, the aspiration and longing, the lofty +humanity, which make the Beethoven sonatas the _suspiria de profundis_ +of the composer's inner life. In addition to his symphonies and +sonatas, he wrote the great opera of "Fidelio," and in the field of +oratorio asserted his equality with Handel and Haydn by composing "The +Mount of Olives." A great variety of chamber music, masses, and songs +bear the same imprint of power. He may be called the most original and +conscientious of all the composers. Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, +and Mendelssohn were inveterate thieves, and pilfered the choicest +gems from old and forgotten writers without scruple. Beethoven seems +to have been so fecund in great conceptions, so lifted on the wings of +his tireless genius, so austere in artistic morality, that he stands +for the most part above the reproach deservedly borne by his brother +composers. + +Beethoven's principal title to fame is in his superlative place as a +symphonic composer. In the symphony music finds its highest +intellectual dignity; in Beethoven the symphony has found its loftiest +master. + + + + +_SCHUBERT AND SCHUMANN._ + + +I. + +Heinrich Heine, in his preface to a translation of _Don Quixote_, +discusses the creative powers of different peoples. To the Spaniard +Cervantes is awarded the first place in novel-writing, and to our own +Shakespeare, of course, the transcendent rank in drama. + +"And the Germans," he goes on to say, "what palm is due to them? Well, +we are the best writers of songs in the world. No people possesses +such beautiful _Lieder_ as the Germans. Just at present the nations +have too much political business on hand; but, after that has once +been settled, we Germans, English, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Italians +will all go to the green forest and sing, and the nightingale shall be +umpire. I feel sure that in this contest the song of Wolfgang Goethe +will gain the prize." + +There are few, if any, who will be disposed to dispute the verdict of +the German poet, himself no mean rival, in depth and variety of lyric +inspiration, even of the great Goethe. But a greater poet than either +one of this great pair bears the suggestive and impersonal name of +"The People." It is to the countless wealth of the German race in +folk-songs, an affluence which can be traced back to the very dawn of +civilisation among them, that the possibility of such lyric poets as +Goethe, Heine, Rueckert, and Uhland is due. From the days of the +"Nibelungenlied," that great epic which, like the Homeric poems, can +hardly be credited to any one author, every hamlet has rung with +beautiful national songs, which sprung straight from the fervid heart +of the people. These songs are balmy with the breath of the forest, +the meadow, and river, and have that simple and bewitching freshness +of motive and rhythm which unconsciously sets itself to music. + +The German _Volkslied_, as the exponent of the popular heart, has a +wide range, from mere comment on historical events, and quaint, droll +satire, such as may be found in Hans Sachs, to the grand protest +against spiritual bondage which makes the burden of Luther's hymn, +"Ein' feste Burg." But nowhere is the beauty of the German song so +marked as in those _Lieder_ treating of love, deeds of arms, and the +old mystic legends so dear to the German heart. Tieck writes of the +"Minnesinger period"--"Believers sang of faith, lovers of love; +knights described knightly actions and battles, and loving, believing +knights were their chief audiences. The spring, beauty, gaiety, were +objects that could never tire; great duels and deeds of arms carried +away every hearer, the more surely the stronger they were painted; and +as the pillars and dome of the church encircled the flock, so did +Religion, as the highest, encircle poetry and reality, and every heart +in equal love humbled itself before her." + +A similar spirit has always inspired the popular German song, a simple +and beautiful reverence for the unknown, the worship of heroism, a +vital sympathy with the various manifestations of Nature. Without the +fire of the French _chansons_, the sonorous grace of the Tuscan +_stornelli_, these artless ditties, with their exclusive reliance on +true feeling, possess an indescribable charm. + +The German _Lied_ always preserved its characteristic beauty. Goethe, +and the great school of lyric poets clustered around him, simply +perfected the artistic form, without departing from the simplicity and +soulfulness of the stock from which it came. Had it not been for the +rich soil of popular song, we should not have had the peerless lyrics +of modern Germany. Had it not been for the poetic inspiration of such +word-makers as Goethe and Heine, we should not have had such +music-makers in the sphere of song as Schubert and Franz. + +The songs of these masters appeal to the interest and admiration of +the world, then, not merely in virtue of musical beauty, but in that +they are the most vital outgrowths of Teutonic nationality and +feeling. + +The immemorial melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were set +display great simplicity of rhythm, even monotony, with frequent +recurrence of the minor keys, so well adapted to express the +melancholy tone of many of the poems. The strictly strophic treatment +is used, or, in other words, the repetition of the melody of the first +stanza in all the succeeding ones. The chasm between this and the +varied form of the artistic modern song is deep and wide, yet it was +overleaped in a single swift bound by the remarkable genius of Franz +Schubert, who, though his compositions were many and matchless of +their kind, died all too young; for, as the inscription on his +tombstone pathetically has it, he was "rich in what he gave, richer in +what he promised." + + +II. + +The great masters of the last century tried their hands in the domain +of song with only comparative success, partly because they did not +fully realise the nature of this form of art, partly because they +could not limit the sweep of the creative power within such narrow +limits. Schubert was a revelation to his countrymen in his musical +treatment of subjective passion, in his instinctive command over +condensed, epigrammatic expression. This rich and gifted life, however +quiet in its exterior facts, was great in its creative and spiritual +manifestation. Born at Vienna of humble parents, January 31, 1797, the +early life of Franz Schubert was commonplace in the extreme, the most +interesting feature being the extraordinary development of his genius. +At the age of fourteen he had made himself a master of counterpoint +and harmony, and composed a large mass of chamber-music and works for +the piano. His poverty was such that he was oftentimes unable to +obtain the music-paper with which to fasten the immortal thoughts that +thronged through his brain. It was two years later that his special +creative function found exercise in the production of the two great +songs, the "Erl-King" and the "Serenade," the former of which proved +the source of most of the fame and money emolument he enjoyed during +life. It is hardly needful to speak of the power and beauty of this +composition, the weird sweetness of its melodies, the dramatic +contrasts, the wealth of colour and shading in its varying phrases, +the subtilty of the accompaniment, which elaborates the spirit of the +song itself. The piece was composed in less than an hour. One of +Schubert's intimates tells us that he left him reading Goethe's great +poem for the first time. He instantly conceived and arranged the +melody, and when the friend returned after a short absence Schubert +was rapidly noting the music from his head on paper. When the song was +finished he rushed to the Stadtconvict school, his only _alma mater_, +and sang it to the scholars. The music-master, Rucziszka, was +overwhelmed with rapture and astonishment, and embraced the young +composer in a transport of joy. When this immortal music was first +sung to Goethe, the great poet said, "Had music, instead of words, +been my instrument of thought, it is so I would have framed the +legend." + +The "Serenade" is another example of the swiftness of Schubert's +artistic imagination. He and a lot of jolly boon-companions sat one +Sunday afternoon in an obscure Viennese tavern, known as the Biersack. +The surroundings were anything but conducive to poetic fancies--dirty +tables, floor, and ceiling, the clatter of mugs and dishes, the loud +dissonance of the beery German roisterers, the squalling of children, +and all the sights and noises characteristic of the beer-cellar. One +of our composer's companions had a volume of poems, which Schubert +looked at in a lazy way, laughing and drinking the while. Singling out +some verses, he said, "I have a pretty melody in my head for these +lines, if I could only get a piece of ruled paper." Some staves were +drawn on the back of a bill-of-fare, and here, amid all the confusion +and riot, the divine melody of the "Serenade" was born, a tone-poem +which embodies the most delicate dream of passion and tenderness that +the heart of man ever conceived. + +Both these compositions were eccentric and at odds with the old canons +of song, fancied with a grace, warmth, and variety of colour hitherto +characteristic only of the more pretentious forms of music, which had +already been brought to a great degree of perfection. They inaugurate +the genesis of the new school of musical lyrics, the golden wedding of +the union of poetry with music. + +For a long time the young composer was unsuccessful in his attempts to +break through the barren and irritating drudgery of a schoolmaster's +life. At last a wealthy young dilettante, Franz von Schober, who had +become an admirer of Schubert's songs, persuaded his mother to offer +him a fixed home in her house. The latter gratefully accepted the +overture of friendship, and thence became a daily guest at Schober's +house. He made at this time a number of strong friendships with +obscure poets, whose names only live through the music of the composer +set to verses furnished by them; for Schubert, in his affluence of +creative power, merely needed the slightest excuse for his genius to +flow forth. But, while he wrote nothing that was not beautiful, his +masterpieces are based only on themes furnished by the lyrics of such +poets as Goethe, Heine, and Rueckert. It is related, in connection with +his friendship with Mayrhofer, one of his rhyming associates of these +days, that he would set the verses to music much faster than the other +could compose them. + +The songs of the obscure Schubert were gradually finding their way to +favour among the exclusive circles of Viennese aristocracy. A +celebrated singer of the opera, Vogl, though then far advanced in +years, was much sought after for the drawing-room concerts so popular +in Vienna, on account of the beauty of his art. Vogl was a warm +admirer of Schubert's genius, and devoted himself assiduously to the +task of interpreting it--a friendly office of no little value. Had it +not been for this, our composer would have sunk to his early grave +probably without even the small share of reputation and monetary +return actually vouchsafed to him. The strange, dreamy unconsciousness +of Schubert is very well illustrated in a story told by Vogl after his +friend's death. One day Schubert left a new song at the singer's +apartments, which, being too high, was transposed. Vogl, a fortnight +afterwards, sang it in the lower key to his friend, who remarked: +"Really, that _Lied_ is not bad; who composed it?" + + +III. + +Our great composer, from the peculiar constitution of his gifts, the +passionate subjectiveness of his nature, might be supposed to have +been peculiarly sensitive to the fascinations of love, for it is in +this feeling that lyric inspiration has found its most fruitful root. +But not so. Warmly susceptible to the charms of friendship, Schubert +for the most part enacted the _role_ of the woman-hater, which was not +all affected; for the Hamlet-like mood is only in part a simulated +madness with souls of this type. In early youth he would sneer at the +amours of his comrades. It is true he fell a victim to the charms of +Theresa Groebe, a beautiful soprano, who afterwards became the spouse +of a master-baker. But the only genuine love-sickness of Schubert was +of a far different type, and left indelible traces on his nature, as +its very direction made it of necessity unfortunate. This was his +attachment to Countess Caroline Esterhazy. + +The Count Esterhazy, one of those great feudal princes still extant +among the Austrian nobility, took a traditional pride in encouraging +genius, and found in Franz Schubert a noble object for his generous +patronage. He was almost a boy (only nineteen), except in the +prodigious development of his genius, when he entered the Esterhazy +family as teacher of music, though always treated as a dear and +familiar friend. During the summer months, Schubert went with the +Esterhazys to their country seat at Zelesz, in Hungary. Here, amid +beautiful scenery, and the sweetness of a social life perfect of its +kind, our poet's life flew on rapid wings, the one bright, green spot +of unalloyed happiness, for the dream was delicious while it lasted. +Here, too, his musical life gathered a fresh inspiration, since he +became acquainted with the treasures of the national Hungarian music, +with its weird, wild rhythms and striking melodies. He borrowed the +motives of many of his most characteristic songs from these +reminiscences of hut and hall, for the Esterhazys were royal in their +hospitality, and exercised a wide patriarchal sway. + +The beautiful Countess Caroline, an enthusiastic girl of great beauty, +became the object of a romantic passion. A young, inexperienced +maiden, full of _naive_ sweetness, the finest flower of the haughty +Austrian caste, she stood at an infinite distance from Schubert, +while she treated him with childlike confidence and fondness, laughing +at his eccentricities, and worshipping his genius. He bowed before +this idol, and poured out all the incense of his heart. Schubert's +exterior was anything but that of the ideal lover. Rude, unshapely +features, thick nose, coarse, protruding mouth, and a shambling, +awkward figure, were redeemed only by eyes of uncommon splendour and +depth, aflame with the unmistakable light of the soul. + +The inexperienced maiden hardly understood the devotion of the artist, +which found expression in a thousand ways peculiar to himself. Only +once he was on the verge of a full revelation. She asked him why he +had dedicated nothing to her. With abrupt, passionate intensity of +tone Schubert answered, "What's the use of that? Everything belongs to +you!" This brink of confession seems to have frightened him, for it is +said that after this he threw much more reserve about his intercourse +with the family, till it was broken off. Hints in his letters, and the +deep despondency which increased after this, indicate, however, that +the humbly-born genius never forgot his beautiful dream. + +He continued to pour out in careless profusion songs, symphonies, +quartets, and operas, many of which knew no existence but in the score +till after his death, hardly knowing of himself whether the +productions had value or not. He created because it was the essential +law of his being, and never paused to contemplate or admire the +beauties of his own work. Schubert's body had been mouldering for +several years, when his wonderful symphony in C major, one of the +_chefs-d'oeuvre_ of orchestral composition, was brought to the +attention of the world by the critical admiration of Robert Schumann, +who won the admiration of lovers of music, not less by his prompt +vindication of neglected genius than by his own creative powers. + +In the contest between Weber and Rossini which agitated Vienna, +Schubert, though deeply imbued with the seriousness of art, and by +nature closely allied in sympathies with the composer of "Der +Freischuetz," took no part. He was too easy-going to become a volunteer +partisan, too shy and obscure to make his alliance a thing to be +sought after. Besides, Weber had treated him with great brusqueness, +and damned an opera for him, a slight which even good-natured Franz +Schubert could not easily forgive. + +The fifteen operas of Schubert, unknown now except to musicians, +contain a wealth of beautiful melody which could easily be spread over +a score of ordinary works. The purely lyric impulse so dominated him +that dramatic arrangement was lost sight of, and the noblest melodies +were likely to be lavished on the most unworthy situations. Even under +the operatic form he remained essentially the song-writer. So in the +symphony his affluence of melodic inspiration seems actually to +embarrass him, to the detriment of that breadth and symmetry of +treatment so vital to this form of art. It is in the musical lyric +that our composer stands matchless. + +During his life as an independent musician at Vienna, Schubert lived +fighting a stern battle with want and despondency, while the +publishers were commencing to make fortunes by the sale of his +exquisite _Lieder_. At that time a large source of income for the +Viennese composers was the public performance of their works in +concerts under their own direction. From recourse to this, Schubert's +bashfulness and lack of skill as a _virtuoso_ on any instrument helped +to bar him, though he accompanied his own songs with exquisite effect. +Once only his friends organised a concert for him, and the success was +very brilliant. But he was prevented from repeating the good fortune +by that fatal illness which soon set in. So he lived out the last +glimmers of his life, poverty-stricken, despondent, with few even of +the amenities of friendship to soothe his declining days. Yet those +who know the beautiful results of that life, and have even a faint +glow of sympathy with the life of a man of genius, will exclaim with +one of the most eloquent critics of Schubert-- + + "But shall we, therefore, pity a man who all the while + revelled in the treasures of his creative ore, and from the + very depths of whose despair sprang the sweetest flowers of + song? Who would not battle with the iciest blast of the + north if out of storm and snow he could bring back to his + chamber the germs of the 'Winterreise?' Who would grudge the + moisture of his eyes if he could render it immortal in the + strains of Schubert's 'Lob der Thraene?'" + +Schubert died in the flower of his youth, November 19, 1828; but he +left behind him nearly a thousand compositions, six hundred of which +were songs. Of his operas only the "Enchanted Harp" and "Rosamond" +were put on the stage during his lifetime. "Fierabras," considered to +be his finest dramatic work, has never been produced. His church +music, consisting of six masses, many offertories, and the great +"Hallelujah" of Klopstock, is still performed in Germany. Several of +his symphonies are ranked among the greatest works of this nature. His +pianoforte compositions are brilliant, and strongly in the style of +Beethoven, who was always the great object of Schubert's devoted +admiration, his artistic idol and model. It was his dying request that +he should be buried by the side of Beethoven, of whom the art-world +had been deprived the year before. + +Compared with Schubert, other composers seem to have written in prose. +His imagination burned with a passionate love of Nature. The lakes, +the woods, the mountain heights, inspired him with eloquent reveries +that burst into song; but he always saw Nature through the medium of +human passion and sympathy, which transfigured it. He was the faithful +interpreter of spiritual suffering, and the joy which is born thereof. + +The genius of Schubert seems to have been directly formed for the +expression of subjective emotion in music. That his life should have +been simultaneous with the perfect literary unfolding of the old +_Volkslied_ in the superb lyrics of Goethe, Heine, and their school, +is quite remarkable. Poetry and song clasped hands on the same lofty +summits of genius. Liszt has given to our composer the title of _le +musicien le plus poetique_, which very well expresses his place in +art. + +In the song as created by Schubert and transmitted to his successors, +there are three forms, the first of which is that of the simple +_Lied_, with one unchanged melody. A good example of this is the +setting of Goethe's "Haideroeslein," which is full of quaint grace and +simplicity. A second and more elaborate method is what the Germans +call "through-composed," in which all the different feelings are +successively embodied in the changes of the melody, the sense of unity +being preserved by the treatment of the accompaniment, or the +recurrence of the principal motive at the close of the song. Two +admirable models of this are found in the "Lindenbaum" and "Serenade." + +The third and finest art-method, as applied by Schubert to lyric +music, is the "declamatory." In this form we detect the consummate +flower of the musical lyric. The vocal part is lifted into a species +of passionate chant, full of dramatic fire and colour, while the +accompaniment, which is extremely elaborate, furnishes a most +picturesque setting. The genius of the composer displays itself here +fully as much as in the vocal treatment. When the lyric feeling rises +to its climax it expresses itself in the crowning melody, this high +tide of the music and poetry being always in unison. As masterpieces +of this form may be cited "Die Stadt" and "Der Erlkoenig," which stand +far beyond any other works of the same nature in the literature of +music. + + +IV. + +ROBERT SCHUMANN, the loving critic, admirer, and disciple of Schubert +in the province of song, was in most respects a man of far different +type. The son of a man of wealth and position, his mind and tastes +were cultivated from early youth with the utmost care. Schumann is +known in Germany no less as a philosophical thinker and critic than as +a composer. As the editor of the _Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik_, he +exercised a powerful influence over contemporary thought in +art-matters, and established himself both as a keen and incisive +thinker and as a master of literary style. Schumann was at first +intended for the law, but his unconquerable taste for music asserted +itself in spite of family opposition. His acquaintance with the +celebrated teacher, Wieck, whose gifted daughter, Clara, afterwards +became his wife, finally established his career; for it was through +Wieck's advice that the Schumann family yielded their opposition to +the young man's bent. + +Once settled in his new career, Schumann gave himself up to work with +the most indefatigable ardour. The early part of the present century +was a halcyon time for the _virtuosi_, and the fame and wealth that +poured themselves on such players as Paganini and Liszt made such a +pursuit tempting in the extreme. Fortunately, the young musician was +saved from such a career. In his zeal of practice and desire to attain +a perfectly independent action for each finger on the piano, Schumann +devised some machinery, the result of which was to weaken the sinews +of his third finger by undue distension. By this he lost the effective +use of the whole right hand, and of course his career as a _virtuoso_ +practically closed. + +Music gained in its higher walks what it lost in a lower. Schumann +devoted himself to composition and aesthetic criticism, after he had +passed through a thorough course of preparatory studies. Both as a +writer and a composer Schumann fought against Philistinism in music. +Ardent, progressive, and imaginative, he soon became the leader of the +romantic school, and inaugurated the crusade which had its parallel in +France in that carried on by Victor Hugo in the domain of poetry. His +early pianoforte compositions bear the strong impress of this fiery, +revolutionary spirit. His great symphonic works belong to a later +period, when his whole nature had mellowed and ripened without losing +its imaginative sweep and brilliancy. Schumann's compositions for the +piano and orchestra are those by which his name is most widely +honoured, but nowhere do we find a more characteristic exercise of his +genius than in his songs, to which this article will call more special +attention. + +Such works as the "Etudes Symphoniques" and the "Kreisleriana" +express much of the spirit of unrest and longing aspiration, the +struggle to get away from prison-bars and limits, which seem to have +sounded the key-note of Schumann's deepest nature. But these feelings +could only find their fullest outlet in the musical form expressly +suited to subjective emotion. Accordingly, the "Sturm and Drang" epoch +of his life, when all his thoughts and conceptions were most unsettled +and visionary, was most fruitful in lyric song. In Heinrich Heine he +found a fitting poetical co-worker, in whose moods he seemed to see a +perfect reflection of his own--Heine, in whom the bitterest irony was +wedded to the deepest pathos, "the spoiled favourite of the Graces," +"the knight with the laughing tear in his scutcheon"--Heine, whose +songs are charged with the brightest light and deepest gloom of the +human heart. + +Schumann's songs never impress us as being deliberate attempts at +creative effort, consciously selected forms through which to express +thoughts struggling for speech. They are rather involuntary +experiments to relieve oneself of some woeful burden, medicine for the +soul. Schumann is never distinctively the lyric composer; his +imagination had too broad and majestic a wing. But in those moods, +peculiar to genius, where the soul is flung back on itself with a +sense of impotence, our composer instinctively burst into song. He did +not in the least advance or change its artistic form, as fixed by +Schubert. This, indeed, would have been irreconcilable with his use of +the song as a simple medium of personal feeling, an outlet and +safeguard. + +The peculiar place of Schumann as a song-writer is indicated by his +being called the musical exponent of Heine, who seems to be the other +half of his soul. The composer enters into each shade and detail of +the poet's meaning with an intensity and fidelity which one can never +cease admiring. It is this phase which gives the Schumann songs their +great artistic value. In their clean-cut, abrupt, epigrammatic force +there is something different from the work of any other musical +lyrist. So much has this impressed the students of the composer that +more than one able critic has ventured to prophesy that Schumann's +greatest claim to immortality would yet be found in such works as the +settings of "Ich grolle nicht" and the "Dichterliebe" series--a +perverted estimate, perhaps, but with a large substratum of truth. The +duration of Schumann's song-time was short, the greater part of his +_Lieder_ having been written in 1840. After this he gave himself up to +oratorio, symphony, and chamber-music. + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--The above account of Robert Schumann does not +give an adequate impression of the composer; the following remarks are +therefore appended, based in most part upon J. A. Fuller Maitland's +"Schumann" in _The Great Musicians_ Series. In 1832 the poet +Grillparzer, in a critical article published in the _Wiener +Musikalische Zeitung_, recognises that Schumann "belongs to no school, +but creates of himself without making parade of outlandish ideas, ... +he has made himself a new ideal world in which he moves about as he +wills, with a certain original _bizarrerie_." Moscheles, a friend of +Schumann, wrote in his diary--"For mind (Geist) give me Schumann. The +Romanticism in his works is a thing so completely new, his genius so +great, that to weigh correctly the peculiar qualities and weakness of +this new school I must go deeper and deeper into the study of his +works." In the _Gazette Musicale_ for November 12, 1837, Franz Liszt +wrote a thoroughly sympathetic criticism of the composer's works, as a +whole, and says--"The more closely we examine Schumann's ideas, the +more power and life do we discover in them; and the more we study +them, the more we are amazed at the wealth and fertility which had +before escaped us." And Hector Berlioz, the great French Romanticist, +looked upon him "as one of the most remarkable composers and critics +in Germany." As a musical critic Schumann ranks very high. In 1834 he, +with several friends, started a critical paper, _Neue Zeitschrift fuer +Music_, in order "no longer to look on idly, but to try and make +things better, so that the poetry of art may once more be duly +honoured." The paper was very successful, and had a considerable +influence in the musical world--more especially as it supplied a +distinct want, for at the time of its appearance "musical criticism in +Germany was of the most futile kind, silly, superficial admiration of +mediocrity--Schumann used to call it 'Honey-daubing'--or the +contemptuous depreciation of what was new or unknown; these were the +order of the day in such of the journals as deigned to notice music at +all." Schumann possessed all the qualities which are required in a +musical critic, and it is said of him that in that capacity he has +never been excelled. His aims were high and pure--to quote his own +words, "to send light into the depth of the human heart--that is the +artist's calling,"--and the chief object of his critical labour was +"the elevation of German taste and intellect by German art, whether by +pointing to the great models of old time, or by encouraging younger +talents." His connection with the paper lasted ten years as a constant +contributor, though he continued to write for it from time to time. +The last article published by him in it was one written in favour of +Johannes Brahms, who had been sent to him with a letter of +introduction by Joseph Joachim, the violinist, "recommending to his +notice a young composer of whose powers the writer had formed the +highest opinion." "At once Schumann recognised the surpassing +capabilities of the young man, and wrote to Joachim these words, and +nothing more--'Das ist der, der kommen musste' ('This is he was wanted +to come')." The article was entitled "New Paths," and is one of his +most remarkable writings. "In it Schumann seems to sing his 'Nunc +Dimittis,' hailing the advent of this young and ardent spirit, who was +to carry on the great line of composers, and to prove himself no +unworthy member of their glorious company." The concluding sentence of +the article, which contained the composer's last printed words, is not +a little remarkable, for it gives fullest expression to that principle +which had always governed his own criticism. "In every age there is a +secret band of kindred spirits. Ye who are of this fellowship, see +that ye weld the circle firmly, so that the truth of art may shine +ever more and more clearly, shedding joy and blessing far and near." + +As a man Schumann was kind-hearted, generous, devoid of jealousy, and +always ready and willing to recognise merit, great or small, in those +with whom he came in contact. It was always easier for him to praise +than to blame; so much so that in conducting an orchestra in +rehearsal, it became impossible for him to find fault with the +performers when necessity arose, and, if they did not find out their +mistakes themselves, he allowed them to remain uncorrected! Although a +faithful friend, he was eminently unsociable; he was very reserved and +silent, and this peculiarity became more marked towards the latter +part of his life, when his terrible malady was spreading its shadow +over him. An amusing account of his silence is given in E. Hanslick's +_Musikalischen Stationen_--"Wagner expressed himself thus to the +author in 1846--'Schumann is a highly gifted musician, but an +_impossible_ man. When I came from Paris I went to see Schumann; I +related to him my Parisian experiences, spoke of the state of music in +France, then of that in Germany, spoke of literature and politics; but +he remained as good as dumb for nearly an hour. One cannot go on +talking quite alone. An impossible man!'" Schumann's account, +apparently of the same interview, is as follows:--"I have seldom met +him; but he is a man of education and spirit; he talks, however, +unceasingly, and that one cannot endure for very long together." + +Schumann has been described "as a man of moderately tall stature, +well-built, and of a dignified and pleasant aspect. The outlines of +his face, with its intellectual brow, and with its lower part +inclining slightly to heaviness, are sufficiently familiar to us all; +but we cannot see the dreamy, half-shut eyes kindle into animation at +a word from some friend with whom he felt himself in sympathy." A +description of him by his friend, Sterndale Bennett, is amusing, on +the words of which S. Bennett wrote a little canon-- + + "Herr Schumann ist ein guter Mann, + Er raucht Tabak als Niemand kann; + Ein Mann vielleicht von dreissig Jahr, + Mit kurze Nas' und kurze Haar." + + ("Herr Schumann is a first-rate man, + He smokes as ne'er another can; + A man of thirty, I suppose, + Short is his hair, and short his nose.") + +Schumann's latter days were very sorrowful, for he was afflicted with +a great mental distress, caused, we are told by one of his +biographers, by ossification of the brain. He was haunted by +delusions--amongst others, by the constant hearing of a single musical +note. "On one occasion he was under the impression that Schubert and +Mendelssohn had visited him, and had given him a musical theme, which +he wrote down, and upon which he set himself to write variations." He +suffered from attacks of acute melancholy, and at length, during one +of them, threw himself into the Rhine, but was, fortunately, rescued. +At length it became necessary to confine him in a private asylum, +where he was visited by his friends when his condition permitted it. +He died on July 29, 1856, in presence of his wife, through whose +exertions, in great part, we, in England, have become acquainted with +his pianoforte works. + +[Decoration] + + + + +_CHOPIN._ + + +I. + +Never has Paris, the Mecca of European art, genius, and culture, +presented a more brilliant social spectacle than it did in 1832. +Hitherward came pilgrims from all countries, poets, painters, and +musicians, anxious to breathe the inspiring air of the French capital, +where society laid its warmest homage at the feet of the artist. Here +came, too, in dazzling crowds, the rich nobles and the beautiful women +of Europe to find the pleasure, the freedom, the joyous unrestraint, +with which Paris offers its banquet of sensuous and intellectual +delights to the hungry epicure. Then as now the queen of the +art-world, Paris absorbed and assimilated to herself the most +brilliant influences in civilisation. + +In all of brilliant Paris there was no more charming and gifted circle +than that which gathered around the young Polish pianist and composer, +Chopin, then a recent arrival in the gay city. His peculiarly original +genius, his weird and poetic style of playing, which transported his +hearers into a mystic fairy-land of sunlight and shadow, his strangely +delicate beauty, the alternating reticence and enthusiasm of his +manners, made him the idol of the clever men and women, who courted +the society of the shy and sensitive musician; for to them he was a +fresh revelation. Dr. Franz Liszt gives the world some charming +pictures of this art-coterie, which was wont often to assemble at +Chopin's rooms in the Chaussee d'Antin. + +His room, taken by surprise, is all in darkness except the luminous +ring thrown off by the candles on the piano, and the flashes +flickering from the fire-place. The guests gather around informally as +the piano sighs, moans, murmurs, or dreams under the fingers of the +player. Heinrich Heine, the most poetic of humorists, leans on the +instrument, and asks, as he listens to the music and watches the +firelight, "if the roses always glowed with a flame so triumphant? if +the trees at moonlight sang always so harmoniously?" Meyerbeer, one of +the musical giants, sits near at hand lost in reverie; for he forgets +his own great harmonies, forged with hammer of Cyclops, listening to +the dreamy passion and poetry woven into such quaint fabrics of sound. +Adolphe Nourrit, passionate and ascetic, with the spirit of some +mediaeval monastic painter, an enthusiastic servant of art in its +purest, severest form, a combination of poet and anchorite, is also +there; for he loves the gentle musician, who seems to be a visitor +from the world of spirits. Eugene Delacroix, one of the greatest of +modern painters, his keen eyes half closed in meditation, absorbs the +vague mystery of colour which imagination translates from the harmony, +and attains new insight and inspiration through the bright links of +suggestion by which one art lends itself to another. The two great +Polish poets, Niemcewicz and Mickiewicz (the latter the Dante of the +Slavic race), exiles from their unhappy land, feed their sombre +sorrow, and find in the wild, Oriental rhythms of the player only +melancholy memories of the past. Perhaps Victor Hugo, Balzac, +Lamartine, or the aged Chateaubriand, also drop in by-and-by, to +recognise, in the music, echoes of the daring romanticism which they +opposed to the classic and formal pedantry of the time. + +Buried in a fauteuil, with her arms resting upon a table, sits Mdme. +George Sand (that name so tragically mixed with Chopin's life), +"curiously attentive, gracefully subdued." With the second sight of +genius, which pierces through the mask, she saw the sweetness, the +passion, the delicate emotional sensibility of Chopin; and her +insatiate nature must unravel and assimilate this new study in human +enjoyment and suffering. She had then just finished "Lelia," that +strange and powerful creation, in which she embodied all her hatred of +the forms and tyrannies of society, her craving for an impossible +social ideal, her tempestuous hopes and desires, in such startling +types. Exhausted by the struggle, she panted for the rest and luxury +of a companionship in which both brain and heart could find sympathy. +She met Chopin, and she recognised in the poetry of his temperament +and the fire of his genius what she desired. Her personality, +electric, energetic, and imperious, exercised the power of a magnet on +the frail organisation of Chopin, and he loved once and forever, with +a passion that consumed him; for in Mdme. Sand he found the blessing +and curse of his life. This many-sided woman, at this point of her +development, found in the fragile Chopin one phase of her nature which +had never been expressed, and he was sacrificed to the demands of an +insatiable originality, which tried all things in turn, to be +contented with nothing but an ideal which could never be attained. + +About the time of Chopin's arrival in Paris the political +effervescence of the recent revolution had passed into art and +letters. It was the oft-repeated battle of Romanticism against +Classicism. There could be no truce between those who believed that +everything must be fashioned after old models, that Procrustes must +settle the height and depth, the length and breadth of art-forms, and +those who, inspired with the new wine of liberty and free creative +thought, held that the rule of form should always be the mere +expression of the vital, flexible thought. The one side argued that +supreme perfection already reached left the artist hope only in +imitation; the other, that the immaterial beautiful could have no +fixed absolute form. Victor Hugo among the poets, Delacroix among the +painters, and Berlioz among the musicians, led the ranks of the +romantic school. + +Chopin found himself strongly enlisted in this contest on the side of +the new school. His free, unconventional nature found in its teachings +a musical atmosphere true to the artistic and political proclivities +of his native Poland; for Chopin breathed the spirit and tendencies of +his people in every fibre of his soul, both as man and artist. Our +musician, however, in freeing himself from all servile formulas, +sternly repudiated the charlatanism which would replace old abuses +with new ones. + +Chopin, in his views of his art, did not admit the least compromise +with those who failed earnestly to represent progress, nor, on the +other hand, with those who sought to make their art a mere profitable +trade. With him, as with all the great musicians, his art was a +religion--something so sacred that it must be approached with +unsullied heart and hand. This reverential feeling was shown in the +following touching fact:--It was a Polish custom to choose the +garments in which one would be buried. Chopin, though among the first +of contemporary artists, gave fewer concerts than any other; but, +notwithstanding this, he left directions to be borne to the grave in +the clothes he had worn on such occasions. + + +II. + +FREDERICK FRANCIS CHOPIN was born near Warsaw, in 1810, of French +extraction. He learned music at the age of nine from Ziwny, a pupil of +Sebastian Bach, but does not seem to have impressed anyone with his +remarkable talent except Madame Catalani, the great singer, who gave +him a watch. Through the kindness of Prince Radziwill, an enthusiastic +patron of art, he was sent to Warsaw College, where his genius began +to unfold itself. He afterwards became a pupil of the Warsaw +Conservatory, and acquired there a splendid mastery over the science +of music. His labour was prodigious in spite of his frail health; and +his knowledge of contrapuntal forms was such as to exact the highest +encomiums from his instructors. + +Through his brother pupils he was introduced to the highest Polish +society, for his fellows bore some of the proudest names in Poland. +Chopin seems to have absorbed the peculiarly romantic spirit of his +race, the wild, imaginative melancholy, which, almost gloomy in the +Polish peasant, when united to grace and culture in the Polish noble, +offered an indescribable social charm. Balzac sketches the Polish +woman in these picturesque antitheses:--"Angel through love, demon +through fantasy; child through faith, sage through experience; man +through the brain, woman through the heart; giant through hope, +mother through sorrow; and poet through dreams." The Polish gentleman +was chivalrous, daring, and passionate; the heir of the most gifted +and brilliant of the Slavic races, with a proud heritage of memory +which gave his bearing an indescribable dignity, though the son of a +fallen nation. Ardently devoted to pleasure, the Poles embodied in +their national dances wild and inspiring rhythms, a glowing poetry of +sentiment as well as motion, which mingled with their Bacchanal fire a +chaste and lofty meaning that became at times funereal. Polish society +at this epoch pulsated with an originality, an imagination, and a +romance, which transfigured even the common things of life. + +It was amid such an atmosphere that Chopin's early musical career was +spent, and his genius received its lasting impress. One afternoon in +after years he was playing to one of the most distinguished women in +Paris, and she said that his music suggested to her those gardens in +Turkey where bright parterres of flowers and shady bowers were strewed +with gravestones and burial mounds. This underlying depth of +melancholy Chopin's music expresses most eloquently, and it may be +called the perfect artistic outcome of his people; for in his sweetest +tissues of sound the imagination can detect agitation, rancour, +revolt, and menace, sometimes despair. Chateaubriand dreamed of an Eve +innocent, yet fallen; ignorant of all, yet knowing all; mistress, yet +virgin. He found this in a Polish girl of seventeen, whom he paints as +a "mixture of Odalisque and Valkyr." The romantic and fanciful passion +of the Poles, bold, yet unworldly, is shown in the habit of drinking +the health of a sweetheart from her own shoe. + +Chopin, intensely spiritual by temperament and fragile in health, born +an enthusiast, was coloured through and through with the rich dyes of +Oriental passion; but with these were mingled the fantastic and ideal +elements which, + + "Wrapped in sense, yet dreamed of heavenlier joys." + +And so he went to Paris, the city of his fate, ripe for the tragedy +of his life. After the revolution of 1830, he started to go to London, +and, as he said, "passed through Paris." Yet Paris he did not leave +till he left it with Mdme. Sand to live a brief dream of joy in the +beautiful Isle of Majorca. + + +III. + +Liszt describes Chopin in these words--"His blue eyes were more +spiritual than dreamy; his bland smile never writhed into bitterness. +The transparent delicacy of his complexion pleased the eye; his fair +hair was soft and silky; his nose slightly aquiline; his bearing so +distinguished, and his manners stamped with such high breeding, that +involuntarily he was always treated _en prince_. His gestures were many +and graceful; the tones of his voiced veiled, often stifled. His stature +was low, his limbs were slight." Again, Mdme. Sand paints him even more +characteristically in her novel, _Lucrezia Floriani_--"Gentle, +sensitive, and very lovely, he united the charm of adolescence with the +suavity of a more mature age; through the want of muscular development +he retained a peculiar beauty, an exceptional physiognomy, which, if we +may venture so to speak, belonged to neither age nor sex.... It was more +like the ideal creations with which the poetry of the Middle Ages +adorned the Christian temples. The delicacy of his constitution rendered +him interesting in the eyes of women. The full yet graceful cultivation +of his mind, the sweet and captivating originality of his conversation, +gained for him the attention of the most enlightened men; while those +less highly cultivated liked him for the exquisite courtesy of his +manners." + +All this reminds us of Shelley's dream of Hermaphroditus, or perhaps +of Shelley himself, for Chopin was the Shelley of music. + +His life in Paris was quiet and retired. The most brilliant and +beautiful women desired to be his pupils, but Chopin refused except +where he recognised in the petitioners exceptional earnestness and +musical talent. He gave but few concerts, for his genius could not +cope with great masses of people. He said to Liszt, "I am not suited +for concert-giving. The public intimidate me, their breath stifles me. +You are destined for it; for when you do not gain your public, you +have the force to assault, to overwhelm, to compel them." It was his +delight to play to a few chosen friends, and to evoke for them such +dreams from the ivory gate, which Virgil fabled to be the portal of +Elysium, as to make his music + + "The silver key of the fountain of tears, + Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild; + Softest grave of a thousand fears, + Where their mother, Care, like a weary child, + Is laid asleep in a bed of flowers." + +He avoided general society, finding in the great artists and those +sympathetic with art his congenial companions. His life was given up +to producing those unique compositions which make him, _par +excellence_, the king of the pianoforte. He was recognised by Liszt, +Kalkbrenner, Pleyel, Field, and Meyerbeer, as being the most wonderful +of players; yet he seemed to disdain such a reputation as a cheap +notoriety, ceasing to appear in public after the first few concerts, +which produced much excitement and would have intoxicated most +performers. He sought largely the society of the Polish exiles, men +and women of the highest rank who had thronged to Paris. + +His sister Louise, whom he dearly loved, frequently came to Paris from +Warsaw to see him; and he kept up a regular correspondence with his +own family. Yet he abhorred writing so much that he would go to any +shifts to avoid answering a note. Some of his beautiful countrywomen, +however, possess precious memorials in the shape of letters written in +Polish, which he loved much more than French. His thoughtfulness was +continually sending pleasant little gifts and souvenirs to his Warsaw +friends. This tenderness and consideration displayed itself too in his +love of children. He would spend whole evenings in playing +blind-man's-buff or telling them charming fairy stories from the +folk-lore in which Poland is singularly rich. + +Always gentle, he yet knew how to rebuke arrogance, and had sharp +repartees for those who tried to force him into musical display. On +one occasion, when he had just left the dining-room, an indiscreet +host, who had had the simplicity to promise his guests some piece +executed by him as a rare dessert, pointed him to an open piano. +Chopin quietly refused, but on being pressed said, with a languid and +sneering drawl:--"Ah, sir, I have just dined; your hospitality, I see, +demands payment." + + +IV. + +Mdme. Sand, in her _Lettres d'un Voyageur_, depicts the painful +lethargy which seizes the artist when, having incorporated the emotion +which inspired him in his work, his imagination still remains under +the dominance of the insatiate idea, without being able to find a new +incarnation. She was suffering in this way when the character of +Chopin excited her curiosity and suggested a healthful and happy +relief. Chopin dreaded to meet this modern Sibyl. The superstitious +awe he felt was a premonition whose meaning was hidden from him. They +met, and Chopin lost his fear in one of those passions which feed on +the whole being with a ceaseless hunger. + +In the fall of 1837 Chopin yielded to a severe attack of the disease +which was hereditary in his frame. In company with Mdme. Sand, who had +become his constant companion, he went to the isle of Majorca, to find +rest and medicine in the balmy breezes of the Mediterranean. All the +happiness of Chopin's life was gathered in the focus of this +experience. He had a most loving and devoted nurse, who yielded to all +his whims, soothed his fretfulness, and watched over him as a mother +does over a child. The grounds of the villa where they lived were as +perfect as Nature and art could make them, and exquisite scenes +greeted the eye at every turn. Here they spent long golden days. + +The feelings of Chopin for his gifted companion are best painted by +herself in the pages of _Lucrezia Floriani_, where she is the +"Floriani," Liszt "Count Salvator Albani," and Chopin "Prince +Karol"--"It seemed as if this fragile being was absorbed and consumed +by the strength of his affection.... But he loved for the sake of +loving.... His love was his life, and, delicious or bitter, he had not +the power of withdrawing himself a single moment from its domination." +Slowly she nursed him back into temporary health, and in the sunlight +of her love his mind assumed a gaiety and cheerfulness it had never +known before. + +It had been the passionate hope of Chopin to marry Mdme. Sand, but +wedlock was alien alike to her philosophy and preference. After a +protracted intimacy, she wearied of his persistent entreaties, or +perhaps her self-development had exhausted what it sought in the +poet-musician. An absolute separation came, and his mistress buried +the episode in her life with the epitaph--"Two natures, one rich in +its exuberance, the other in its exclusiveness, could never really +mingle, and a whole world separated them." Chopin said--"All the cords +that bind me to life are broken." His sad summary of all was that his +life had been an episode which began and ended in Paris. What a +contrast to the being of a few years before, of whom it is +written--"He was no longer on the earth; he was in an empyrean of +golden clouds and perfumes; his imagination, so full of exquisite +beauty, seemed engaged in a monologue with God himself!"[C] + +Both Liszt and Mdme. Dudevant have painted Chopin somewhat as a sickly +sentimentalist, living in an atmosphere of moonshine and unreality. +Yet this was not precisely true. In spite of his delicacy of frame and +romantic imagination, Chopin was never ill till within the last ten +years of his life, when the seeds of hereditary consumption developed +themselves. As a young man he was lively and joyous, always ready for +frolic, and with a great fund of humour, especially in caricature. +Students of human character know how consistent these traits are with +a deep undercurrent of melancholy, which colours the whole life when +the immediate impulse of joy subsides. + +From the date of 1840 Chopin's health declined; but through the seven +years during which his connection with Mdme. Sand continued, he +persevered actively in his work of composition. The final rupture with +the woman he so madly loved seems to have been his death-blow. He +spoke of Mdme. Sand without bitterness, but his soul pined in the +bitter-sweet of memory. He recovered partially, and spent a short +season of concert-giving in London, where he was feted and caressed by +the best society as he had been in Paris. Again he was sharply +assailed by his fatal malady, and he returned to Paris to die. Let us +describe one of his last earthly experiences, on Sunday, the 15th of +October 1849. + +Chopin had lain insensible from one of his swooning attacks for some +time. His sister Louise was by his side, and the Countess Delphine +Potocka, his beautiful countrywoman and a most devoted friend, watched +him with streaming eyes. The dying musician became conscious, and +faintly ordered a piano to be rolled in from the adjoining room. He +turned to the countess, and whispered, feebly, "Sing." She had a +lovely voice, and, gathering herself for the effort, she sang that +famous canticle to the Virgin which, tradition says, saved Stradella's +life from assassins. "How beautiful it is!" he exclaimed. "My God! how +very beautiful!" Again she sang to him, and the dying musician passed +into a trance, from which he never fully aroused till he expired, two +days afterwards, in the arms of his pupil, M. Gutman. + +Chopin's obsequies took place at the Madeleine Church, and Lablache +sang on this occasion the same passage, the "Tuba Mirum" of Mozart's +Requiem Mass, which he had sung at the funeral of Beethoven in 1827; +while the other solos were given by Mdme. Viardot Garcia and Mdme. +Castellan. He lies in Pere Lachaise, beside Cherubini and Bellini. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[C] _Lucrezia Floriani._ + + +V. + +The compositions of Chopin were exclusively for the piano; and alike +as composer and virtuoso he is the founder of a new school, or +perhaps may be said to share that honour with Robert Schumann--the +school which to-day is represented in its advanced form by Liszt and +Von Buelow. Schumann called him "the boldest and proudest poetic spirit +of the times." In addition to this remarkable poetic power, he was a +splendidly-trained musician, a great adept in style, and one of the +most original masters of rhythm and harmony that the records of music +show. All his works, though wanting in breadth and robustness of tone, +are characterised by the utmost finish and refinement. Full of +delicate and unexpected beauties, elaborated with the finest touch, +his effects are so quaint and fresh as to fill the mind of the +listener with pleasurable sensations, perhaps not to be derived from +grander works. + +Chopin was essentially the musical exponent of his nation; for he +breathed in all the forms of his art the sensibilities, the fires, the +aspirations, and the melancholy of the Polish race. This is not only +evident in his polonaises, his waltzes and mazurkas, in which the wild +Oriental rhythms of the original dances are treated with the creative +skill of genius; but also in the _etudes_, the preludes, nocturnes, +scherzos, ballads, etc., with which he so enriched musical literature. +His genius could never confine itself within classic bonds, but, +fantastic and impulsive, swayed and bent itself with easy grace to +inspirations that were always novel and startling, though his boldness +was chastened by deep study and fine art-sense. + +All of the suggestions of the quaint and beautiful Polish dance-music +were worked by Chopin into a variety of forms, and were greatly +enriched by his skill in handling. He dreamed out his early +reminiscences in music, and these national memories became embalmed in +the history of art. The polonaises are marked by the fire and ardour +of his soldier race, and the mazurkas are full of the coquetry and +tenderness of his countrywomen; while the ballads are a free and +powerful rendering of Polish folk-music, beloved alike in the +herdsman's hut and the palace of the noble. In deriving his +inspiration direct from the national heart, Chopin did what Schumann, +Schubert, and Weber did in Germany, what Rossini did in Italy, and +shares with them a freshness of melodic power to be derived from no +other source. Rather tender and elegiac than vigorous, the deep +sadness underlying the most sparkling forms of his work is most +notable. One can at times almost recognise the requiem of a nation in +the passionate melancholy on whose dark background his fancy weaves +such beautiful figures and colours. + +Franz Liszt, in characterising Chopin as a composer, furnishes an +admirable study--"We meet with beauties of a high order, expressions +entirely new, and a harmonic tissue as original as erudite. In his +compositions boldness is always justified; richness, often exuberance, +never interferes with clearness; singularity never degenerates into +the uncouth and fantastic; the sculpturing is never disordered; the +luxury of ornament never overloads the chaste eloquence of the +principal lines. His best works abound in combinations which may be +said to be an epoch in the handling of musical style. Daring, +brilliant, and attractive, they disguise their profundity under so +much grace, their science under so many charms, that it is with +difficulty we free ourselves sufficiently from their magical +enthralment, to judge coldly of their theoretical value." + +As a romance composer Chopin struck out his own path, and has no +rival. Full of originality, his works display the utmost dignity and +refinement. He revolted from the bizarre and eccentric, though the +peculiar influences which governed his development might well have +betrayed one less finely organised. + +As a musical poet, embodying the feelings and tendencies of a people, +Chopin advances his chief claim to his place in art. He did not task +himself to be a national musician; for he is utterly without pretence +and affectation, and sings spontaneously, without design or choice, +from the fullness of a rich nature. He collected "in luminous sheaves +the impressions felt everywhere through his country--vaguely felt, it +is true, yet in fragments pervading all hearts." + +Chopin was repelled by the lusty and almost coarse humour sometimes +displayed by Schubert, for he was painfully fastidious. He could not +fully understand nor appreciate Beethoven, whose works are full of +lion-marrow, robust and masculine alike in conception and treatment. +He did not admire Shakespeare, because his great delineations are too +vivid and realistic. Our musician was essentially a dreamer and +idealist. His range was limited, but within it he reached perfection +of finish and originality never surpassed. But, with all his +limitations, the art-judgment of the world places him high among those + + "... whom Art's service pure + Hallows and claims, whose hearts are made her throne, + Whose lips her oracle, ordained secure + To lead a priestly life and feed the ray + Of her eternal shrine; to them alone + Her glorious countenance unveiled is shown." + + + + +_WEBER._ + + +I. + +The genius which inspired the three great works, "Der Freischuetz," +"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," has stamped itself as one of the most +original and characteristic in German music. Full of bold and +surprising strokes of imagination, these operas are marked by the true +atmosphere of national life and feeling, and we feel in them the +fresh, rich colour of the popular traditions and song-music which make +the German _Lieder_ such an inexhaustible treasure-trove. As Weber was +maturing into that fullness of power which gave to the world his +greater works, Germany had been wrought into a passionate patriotism +by the Napoleonic wars. The call to arms resounded from one end of +the Fatherland to the other. Every hamlet thrilled with fervour, and +all the resources of national tradition were evoked to heighten the +love of country into a puissance which should save the land. Germany +had been humiliated by a series of crushing defeats, and national +pride was stung to vindicate the grand old memories. France, in answer +to a similar demand for some art-expression of its patriotism, had +produced its Rouget de Lisle; Germany produced the poet Koerner and the +musician Weber. + +It is not easy to appreciate the true quality and significance of +Weber's art-life without considering the peculiar state of Germany at +the time; for if ever creative imagination was forged and fashioned by +its environments into a logical expression of public needs and +impulses, it was in the case of the father of German romantic opera. +This inspiration permeated the whole soil of national thought, and its +embodiment in art and letters has hardly any parallel except in that +brilliant morning of English thought which we know as the Elizabethan +era. To understand Weber the composer, then, we must think of him not +only as the musician, but as the patriot and revivalist of ancient +tendencies in art, drawn directly from the warm heart of the people. + +KARL MARIA VON WEBER was born at Eutin, in Holstein, December 18, +1786. His father had been a soldier, but, owing to extravagance and +folly, had left the career of arms, and, being an educated musician, +had become by turns attached to an orchestra, director of a theatre, +Kapellmeister, and wandering player--never remaining long in one +position, for he was essentially vagrant and desultory in character. +Whatever Karl Maria had to suffer from his father's folly and +eccentricity, he was indebted to him for an excellent training in the +art of which he was to become so brilliant an ornament. He had +excellent masters in singing and the piano, as also in drawing and +engraving. So he grew up a melancholy, imaginative recluse, absorbed +in his studies, and living in a dream-land of his own, which he +peopled with ideal creations. His passionate love of Nature, tinged +with old German superstition, planted in his imagination those +fruitful germs which bore such rich results in after years. + +In 1797 Weber studied the piano and composition under Hanschkel, a +thoroughly scientific musician, and found in his severe drill a happy +counter-balancing influence to the more desultory studies which had +preceded. Major Weber's restless tendencies did not permit his family +to remain long in one place. In 1798 they moved to Salzburg, where +young Weber was placed at the musical institute of which Michael +Haydn, brother of the great Joseph, was director. Here a variety of +misfortunes assailed the Weber family. Major Franz Anton was +unsuccessful in all his theatrical undertakings, and extreme poverty +stared them all in the face. The gentle mother, too, whom Karl so +dearly loved, sickened and died. This was a terrible blow to the +affectionate boy, from which he did not soon recover. + +The next resting-place in the pilgrimage of the Weber family was +Munich, where Major Weber, who, however flagrant his shortcomings in +other ways, was resolved that the musical powers of his son should be +thoroughly trained, placed him under the care of the organist Kalcher +for studies in composition. + +For several years, Karl was obliged to lead the same shifting, nomadic +sort of life, never stopping long, but dragged hither and thither in +obedience to his father's vagaries and necessities, but always +studying under the best masters who could be obtained. While under +Kalcher, several masses, sonatas, trios, and an opera, "Die Macht der +Liebe und des Weins" ("The Might of Love and Wine"), were written. +Another opera, "Das Waldmaedchen" ("The Forest Maiden"), was composed +and produced when he was fourteen; and two years later in Salzburg he +composed "Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn," an operetta, which +exacted warm praise from Michael Haydn. + +At the age of seventeen he became the pupil of the great teacher, Abbe +Vogler, under whose charge also Meyerbeer was then studying. Our +young composer worked with great assiduity under the able instruction +of Vogler, who was of vast service in bringing the chaos of his +previous contradictory teachings into order and light. All these +musical _Wanderjahre_, however trying, had steeled Karl Maria into a +stern self-reliance, and he found in his skill as an engraver the +means to remedy his father's wastefulness and folly. + + +II. + +A curious episode in Weber's life was his connection with the royal +family of Wuertemberg, where he found a dissolute, poverty-stricken +court, and a whimsical, arrogant, half-crazy king. Here he remained +four years in a half-official musical position, his nominal duty being +that of secretary to the king's brother, Prince Ludwig. This part of +his career was almost a sheer waste, full of dreary and irritating +experiences, which Weber afterwards spoke of with disgust and regret. +His spirit revolted from the capricious tyranny which he was obliged +to undergo, but circumstances seem to have coerced him into a +protracted endurance of the place. His letters tell us how bitterly he +detested the king and his dull, pompous court, though Prince Ludwig in +a way seemed to have been attached to his secretary. One of his +biographers says:-- + + "Weber hated the king, of whose wild caprice and vices he + witnessed daily scenes, before whose palace-gates he was + obliged to slink bareheaded, and who treated him with + unmerited ignominy. Sceptre and crown had never been + imposing objects in his eyes, unless worn by a worthy man; + and consequently he was wont, in the thoughtless levity of + youth, to forget the dangers he ran, and to answer the king + with a freedom of tone which the autocrat was all unused to + hear. In turn he was detested by the monarch. As negotiator + for the spendthrift Prince Ludwig, he was already obnoxious + enough; and it sometimes happened that, by way of variety to + the customary torrent of invective, the king, after keeping + the secretary for hours in his antechamber, would receive + him only to turn him rudely out of the room, without hearing + a word he had to say." + +At last Karl Maria's indignation burst over bounds at some unusual +indignity; and he played a practical joke on the king. Meeting an old +woman in the palace one day near the door of the royal sanctum, she +asked him where she could find the court-washerwoman. "There," said +the reckless Weber, pointing to the door of the king's cabinet. The +king, who hated old women, was in a transport of rage, and, on her +terror-stricken explanation of the intrusion, had no difficulty in +fixing the mischief in the right quarter. Weber was thrown into +prison, and had it not been for Prince Ludwig's intercession he would +have remained there for several years. While confined he managed to +compose one of his most beautiful songs, "Ein steter Kampf ist unser +Leben." He had not long been released when he was again imprisoned on +account of some of his father's wretched follies, that arrogant old +gentleman being utterly reckless how he involved others, so long as he +carried out his own selfish purposes and indulgence. His friend Danzi, +director of the royal opera at Stuttgart, proved his good genius in +this instance; for he wrangled with the king till his young friend was +released. + +Weber's only consolations during this dismal life in Stuttgart were +the friendship of Danzi, and his love for a beautiful singer named +Gretchen. Danzi was a true mentor and a devoted friend. He was wont to +say to Karl--"To be a true artist, you must be a true man." But the +lovely Gretchen, however she may have consoled his somewhat arid life, +was not a beneficial influence, for she led him into many sad +extravagances and an unwholesome taste for playing the cavalier. + +In spite of his discouraging surroundings, Weber's creative power was +active during this period, and showed how, perhaps unconsciously to +himself, he was growing in power and depth of experience. He wrote the +cantata, "Der erste Ton," a large number of songs, the first of his +great piano sonatas, several overtures and symphonies, and the opera +"Sylvana" ("Das Waldmaedchen" rewritten and enlarged), which, both in +its music and libretto, seems to have been the precursor of his great +works, "Der Freischuetz" and "Euryanthe." At the first performance of +"Sylvana" in Frankfort, September 16, 1810, he met Miss Caroline +Brandt, who sang the principal character. She afterwards became his +wife, and her love and devotion were the solace of his life. + +Weber spent most of the year 1810 in Darmstadt, where he again met +Vogler and Meyerbeer. Vogler's severe artistic instructions were of +great value to Weber in curbing his extravagance, and impressing on +him that restraint was one of the most valuable factors in art. What +Vogler thought of Weber we learn from a letter in which he +writes--"Had I been forced to leave the world before I found these +two, Weber and Meyerbeer, I should have died a miserable man." + + +III. + +It was about this time, while visiting Mannheim, that the idea of "Der +Freischuetz" first entered his mind. His friend the poet Kind was with +him, and they were ransacking an old book, Apel's _Ghost Stories_. One +of these dealt with the ancient legend of the hunter Bartusch, a +woodland myth ranking high in German folk-lore. They were both +delighted with the fantastic and striking story, full of the warm +colouring of Nature, and the balmy atmosphere of the forest and +mountain. They immediately arranged the framework of the libretto, +afterwards written by Kind, and set to such weird and enchanting music +by Weber. + +In 1811 Weber began to give concerts, for his reputation was becoming +known far and wide as a brilliant composer and virtuoso. For two years +he played a round of concerts in Munich, Leipsic, Gotha, Weimar, +Berlin, and other places. He was everywhere warmly welcomed. +Lichtenstein, in his _Memoir of Weber_, writes of his Berlin +reception--"Young artists fell on their knees before him; others +embraced him wherever they could get at him. All crowded around him, +till his head was crowned, not with a chaplet of flowers, but a +circlet of happy faces." The devotion of his friends, his happy family +relations, the success of his published works, conspired to make Weber +cheerful and joyous beyond his wont, for he was naturally of a +melancholy and serious turn, disposed to look at life from its tragic +side. + +In 1813 he was called to Prague to direct the music of the German +opera in that Bohemian capital. The Bohemians had always been a highly +musical race, and their chief city is associated in the minds of the +students of music as the place where many of the great operas were +first presented to the public. Mozart loved Prague, for he found in +its people the audiences who appreciated and honoured him the most. +Its traditions were honoured in their treatment of Weber, for his +three years there were among the happiest of his life. + +Our composer wrote his opera of "Der Freischuetz" in Dresden. It was +first produced in the opera-house of that classic city, but it was not +till 1821, when it was performed in Berlin, that its greatness was +recognised. Weber can best tell the story of its reception himself. In +his letter to his co-author, Kind, he writes:-- + + "The free-shooter has hit the mark. The second + representation has succeeded as well as the first; there was + the same enthusiasm. All the places in the house are taken + for the third, which comes off to-morrow. It is the greatest + triumph one can have. You cannot imagine what a lively + interest your text inspires from beginning to end. How happy + I should have been if you had only been present to hear it + for yourself! Some of the scenes produced an effect which I + was far from anticipating; for example, that of the young + girls. If I see you again at Dresden, I will tell you all + about it; for I cannot do it justice in writing. How much I + am indebted to you for your magnificent poem! I embrace you + with the sincerest emotion, returning to your muse the + laurels I owe her. God grant that you may be happy. Love him + who loves you with infinite respect. + + "Your Weber." + +"Der Freischuetz" was such a success as to place the composer in the +front ranks of the lyric stage. The striking originality, the fire, +the passion of his music, the ardent national feeling, and the +freshness of treatment, gave a genuine shock of delight and surprise +to the German world. + + +IV. + +The opera of "Preciosa," also a masterpiece, was given shortly after +with great _eclat_, though it failed to inspire the deep enthusiasm +which greeted "Der Freischuetz." In 1823, "Euryanthe" was produced in +Berlin--a work on which Weber exhausted all the treasures of his +musical genius. Without the elements of popular success which made his +first great opera such an immediate favourite, it shows the most +finished and scholarly work which Weber ever attained. Its symmetry +and completeness, the elaboration of all the forms, the richness and +variety of the orchestration, bear witness to the long and thoughtful +labour expended on it. It gradually won its way to popular +recognition, and has always remained one of the favourite works of the +German stage. + +The opera of "Oberon" was Weber's last great production. The +celebrated poet Wieland composed the poem underlying the libretto, +from the mediaeval romance of Huon of Bordeaux. The scenes are laid in +fairy-land, and it may be almost called a German "Midsummer-Night's +Dream," though the story differs widely from the charming phantasy of +our own Shakespeare. The opera of "Oberon" was written for Kemble, of +the Covent Garden theatre, in London, and was produced by Weber under +circumstances of failing health and great mental depression. The +composer pressed every energy to the utmost to meet his engagement, +and it was feared by his friends that he would not live to see it put +on the stage. It did, indeed, prove the song of the dying swan, for he +only lived four months after reaching London. "Oberon" was performed +with immense success under the direction of Sir George Smart, and the +fading days of the author were cheered by the acclamations of the +English public; but the work cost him his life. He died in London, +June 5, 1826. His last words were--"God reward you for all your +kindness to me.--Now let me sleep." + +Apart from his dramatic compositions, Weber is known for his many +beautiful overtures and symphonies for the orchestra, and his various +works for the piano, from sonatas to waltzes and minuets. Among his +most pleasing piano-works are the "Invitation to the Waltz," the +"Perpetual Rondo," and the "Polonaise in E major." Many of his songs +rank among the finest German lyrics. He would have been recognised as +an able composer had he not produced great operas; but the superior +excellence of these cast all his other compositions in the shade. + +Weber was fortunate in having gifted poets to write his dramas. As +rich as he was in melodic affluence, his creative faculty seems to +have had its tap-root in deep personal feelings and enthusiasms. One +of the most poetic and picturesque of composers, he needed a powerful +exterior suggestion to give his genius wings and fire. The Germany of +his time was alive with patriotic ardour, and the existence of the +nation gathered from its emergencies new strength and force. The heart +of Weber beat strong with the popular life. Romantic and serious in +his taste, his imagination fed on old German tradition and song, and +drew from them its richest food. The whole life of the Fatherland, +with its glow of love for home, its keen sympathies with the +influences of Nature, its fantastic play of thought, its tendency to +embody the primitive forces in weird myths, found in Weber an eloquent +exponent; and we perceive in his music all the colour and vividness of +these influences. + +Weber's love of Nature was singularly keen. The woods, the mountains, +the lakes, and the streams, spoke to his soul with voices full of +meaning. He excelled in making these voices speak and sing; and he +may, therefore, be entitled the father of the romantic and descriptive +school in German operatic music. With more breadth and robustness, he +expressed the national feelings of his people, even as Chopin did +those of dying Poland. Weber's motives are generally caught from the +immemorial airs which resound in every village and hamlet, and the +fresh beat of the German heart sends its thrill through almost every +bar of his music. Here is found the ultimate significance of his +art-work, apart from the mere musical beauty of his compositions. + + + + +_MENDELSSOHN._ + + +I. + +Few careers could present more startling contrasts than those of +Mozart and Mendelssohn, in many respects of similar genius, but +utterly opposed in the whole surroundings of their lives. FELIX +MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY was the grandson of the celebrated philosopher, +Moses Mendelssohn, and the son of a rich Hamburg banker. His uncles +were distinguished in literary and social life. His friends from early +childhood were eminent scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, and +his family moved in the most refined and wealthy circles. He was +nursed in the lap of luxury, and never knew the cold and hunger of +life. All the good fairies and graces seemed to have smiled benignly +on his birth, and to have showered on him their richest gifts. Many +successful wooers of the muse have been, fortunately for themselves, +the heirs of poverty, and became successful only to yield themselves +to fat and slothful ease. But, with every incitement to an idle and +contented life, Mendelssohn toiled like a galley-slave, and saw in his +wealth only the means of a more exclusive consecration to his art. A +passionate impulse to labour was the law of his life. + +Many will recollect the brilliant novel, _Charles Auchester_, in +which, under the names of Seraphael, Aronach, Charles Auchester, Julia +Bennett, and Starwood Burney, are painted the characters of +Mendelssohn, Zelter his teacher, Joachim the violinist, Jenny Lind, +and Sterndale Bennett, the English composer. The brilliant colouring +does not disguise nor flatter the lofty Christian purity, the splendid +genius, and the great personal charm of the composer, who shares in +largest measure the homage which the English public lays at the feet +of Handel. + +As child and youth Mendelssohn, born at Hamburg, February 3, 1809, +displayed the same precocity of talent as was shown by Mozart. Sir +Julius Benedict relates his first meeting with him. He was walking in +Berlin with Von Weber, and the latter called his attention to a boy +about eleven years old, who, perceiving the author of "Der +Freischuetz," gave him a hearty greeting. "'Tis Felix Mendelssohn," +said Weber, introducing the marvellous boy. Benedict narrates his +amazement to find the extraordinary attainments of this beautiful +youth, with curling auburn hair, brilliant clear eyes, and lips +smiling with innocence and candour. Five minutes after young +Mendelssohn had astonished his English friend by his admirable +performance of several of his own compositions, he forgot Weber, +quartets, and counterpoint, to leap over the garden hedges and climb +the trees like a squirrel. When scarcely twenty years old he had +composed his octet, three quartets for the piano and strings, two +sonatas, two symphonies, his first violin quartet, various operas, +many songs, and the immortal overture of "A Midsummer-Night's Dream." + +Mendelssohn received an admirable education, was an excellent +classicist and linguist, and during a short residence at Duesseldorf +showed such talent for painting as to excite much wonder. Before he +was twenty he was the friend of Goethe and Herder, who delighted in a +genius so rich and symmetrical. Some of Goethe's letters are full of +charming expressions of praise and affection, for the aged Jupiter of +German literature found in the promise of this young Apollo something +of the many-sided power which made himself so remarkable. + + +II. + +The Mendelssohn family had moved to Berlin when Felix was only three +years old, and the Berliners always claimed him as their own. Strange +to say, the city of his birth did not recognise his talent for many +years. At the age of twenty he went to England, and the high breeding, +personal beauty, and charming manner of the young musician gave him +the _entree_ into the most fastidious and exclusive circles. His first +symphony and the "Midsummer-Night's Dream" overture stamped his power +with the verdict of a warm enthusiasm; for London, though cold and +conservative, is prompt to recognise a superior order of merit. + +His travels through Scotland inspired Mendelssohn with sentiments of +great admiration. The scenery filled his mind with the highest +suggestions of beauty and grandeur. He afterwards tells us that "he +preferred the cold sky and the pines of the north to charming scenes +in the midst of landscapes bathed in the glowing rays of the sun and +azure light." The vague Ossianic figures that raised their gigantic +heads in the fog-wreaths of clouded mountain-tops and lonely lochs had +a peculiar fascination for him, and acted like wine on his +imagination. The "Hebrides" overture was the fruit of this tour, one +of the most powerful and characteristic of his minor compositions. His +sister Fanny (Mrs. Hensel) asked him to describe the grey scenery of +the north, and he replied in music by improvising his impressions. +This theme was afterwards worked out in the elaborate overture. + +We will not follow him in his various travels through France and +Italy. Suffice it to say, that his keen and passionate mind absorbed +everything in art which could feed the divine hunger, for he was ever +discontented, and had his mind fixed on an absolute and determined +ideal. During this time of travel he became intimate with the sculptor +Thorwaldsen, and the painters Leopold Robert and Horace Vernet. This +period produced "Walpurgis Night," the first of the "Songs without +Words," the great symphony in A major, and the "Melusine" overture. He +is now about to enter on the epoch which puts to the fullest test the +varied resources of his genius. To Moscheles he writes, in answer to +his old teacher's warm praise--"Your praise is better than three +orders of nobility." For several years we see him busy in multifarious +ways, composing, leading musical festivals, concert-giving, directing +opera-houses, and yet finding time to keep up a busy correspondence +with the most distinguished men in Europe; for Mendelssohn seemed to +find in letter-writing a rest for his over-taxed brain. + +In 1835 he completed his great oratorio of "St. Paul," for Leipsic. +The next year he received the title of Doctor of Philosophy and the +Fine Arts; and in 1837 he married the charming Cecile Jeanrenaud, who +made his domestic life so gentle and harmonious. It has been thought +strange that Mendelssohn should have made so little mention of his +lovely wife in his letters, so prone as he was to speak of affairs of +his daily life. Be this as it may, his correspondence with Moscheles, +Devrient, and others, as well as the general testimony of his friends, +shows us unmistakably that his home-life was blessed in an exceptional +degree with intellectual sympathy, and the tenderest and most +thoughtful love. + +In 1841 Mendelssohn became Kapellmeister of the Prussian court. He now +wrote the "Athalie" music, the "Midsummer-Night's Dream," and a large +number of lesser pieces, including the "Songs without Words," and +piano sonatas, as well as much church music. The greatest work of +this period was the "Hymn of Praise," a symphonic cantata for the +Leipsic anniversary of the invention of printing, regarded by many as +his finest composition. + +Mendelssohn always loved England, and made frequent visits across the +Channel; for he felt that among the English he was fully appreciated, +both as man and composer. + +His oratorio of "Elijah" was composed for the English public, and +produced at the great Birmingham festival in 1846, under his own +direction, with magnificent success. It was given a second time in +April 1847, with his final refinements and revisions; and the event +was regarded in England as one of the greatest since the days of +Handel, to whom, as well as to Haydn and Beethoven, Mendelssohn showed +himself a worthy rival in the field of oratorio composition. Of this +visit to England Lampadius, his friend and biographer, writes--"Her +Majesty, who as well as her husband was a great friend of art, and +herself a distinguished musician, received the distinguished German in +her own sitting-room, Prince Albert being the only one present besides +herself. As he entered she asked his pardon for the somewhat +disorderly state of the room, and began to rearrange the articles with +her own hands, Mendelssohn himself gallantly offering his assistance. +Some parrots whose cages hung in the room she herself carried into the +next room, in which Mendelssohn helped her also. She then requested +her guest to play something, and afterwards sang some songs of his +which she had sung at a court concert soon after the attack on her +person. She was not wholly pleased, however, with her own performance, +and said pleasantly to Mendelssohn, 'I can do better--ask Lablache if +I cannot; but I am afraid of you!'" + +This anecdote was related by Mendelssohn himself to show the +graciousness of the English queen. It was at this time that Prince +Albert sent to Mendelssohn the book of the oratorio "Elijah" with +which he used to follow the performance, with the following +autographic inscription:-- + + "To the noble artist, who, surrounded by the Baal worship + of corrupted art, has been able by his genius and science to + preserve faithfully like another Elijah the worship of true + art, and once more to accustom our ear, lost in the whirl of + an empty play of sounds, to the pure notes of expressive + composition and legitimate harmony--to the great master, who + makes us conscious of the unity of his conception through + the whole maze of his creation, from the soft whispering to + the mighty raging of the elements: Written in token of + grateful remembrance by + + "Albert. + + "Buckingham Palace, _April 24, 1847_." + +An occurrence at the Birmingham festival throws a clear light on +Mendelssohn's presence of mind, and on his faculty of instant +concentration. On the last day, among other things, one of Handel's +anthems was given. The concert was already going on, when it was +discovered that the short recitative which precedes the "Coronation +Hymn," and which the public had in the printed text, was lacking in +the voice parts. The directors were perplexed. Mendelssohn, who was +sitting in an ante-room of the hall, heard of it, and said, "Wait, I +will help you." He sat down directly at a table, and composed the +music for the recitative and the orchestral accompaniment in about +half an hour. It was at once transcribed, and given without any +rehearsal, and went very finely. + +On returning to Leipsic he determined to pass the summer in Vevay, +Switzerland, on account of his failing health, which had begun to +alarm himself and his friends. His letters from Switzerland at this +period show how the shadow of rapidly approaching death already threw +a deep gloom over his habitually cheerful nature. He returned to +Leipsic, and resumed hard work. His operetta entitled "Return from +among Strangers" was his last production, with the exception of some +lively songs and a few piano pieces of the "Lieder ohne Worte," or +"Songs without Words," series. Mendelssohn was seized with an +apoplectic attack on October 9, 1847. Second and third seizures +quickly followed, and he died November 4th, aged thirty-eight years. + +All Germany and Europe sorrowed over the loss of this great musician, +and his funeral was attended by many of the most distinguished persons +from all parts of the land, for the loss was felt to be something like +a national calamity. + + +III. + +Mendelssohn was one of the most intelligent and scholarly composers of +the century. Learned in various branches of knowledge, and personally +a man of unusual accomplishments, his career was full of manly energy, +enlightened enthusiasm, and severe devotion to the highest forms of +the art of music. Not only his great oratorios, "St. Paul" and +"Elijah," but his music for the piano, including the "Songs without +Words," sonatas, and many occasional pieces, have won him a high place +among his musical brethren. As an orchestral composer, his overtures +are filled with strikingly original thoughts and elevated conceptions, +expressed with much delicacy of instrumental colouring. He was brought +but little in contact with the French and Italian schools, and there +is found in his works a severity of art-form which shows how closely +he sympathised with Bach and Handel in his musical tendencies. He died +while at the very zenith of his powers, and we may well believe that a +longer life would have developed much richer beauty in his +compositions. Short as his career was, however, he left a great number +of magnificent works, which entitle him to a place among the Titans of +music. + + + + +_RICHARD WAGNER._ + + +I. + +It is curious to note how often art-controversy has become edged with +a bitterness rivalling even the gall and venom of religious dispute. +Scholars have not yet forgotten the fiery war of words which raged +between Richard Bentley and his opponents concerning the authenticity +of the _Epistles of Phalaris_, nor how literary Germany was divided +into two hostile camps by Wolf's attack on the personality of Homer. +It is no less fresh in the minds of critics how that modern Jupiter, +Lessing, waged a long and bitter battle with the Titans of the French +classical drama, and finally crushed them with the thunderbolt of the +_Dramaturgie_; nor what acrimony sharpened the discussion between the +rival theorists in music, Gluck and Piccini, at Paris. All of the +intensity of these art-campaigns, and many of the conditions of the +last, enter into the contest between Richard Wagner and the +_Italianissimi_ of the present day. + +The exact points at issue were for a long time so befogged by the +smoke of the battle that many of the large class who are musically +interested, but never had an opportunity to study the question, will +find an advantage in a clear and comprehensive sketch of the facts and +principles involved. Until recently there were still many people who +thought of Wagner as a youthful and eccentric enthusiast, all afire +with misdirected genius, a mere carpet-knight on the sublime +battle-field of art, a beginner just sowing his wild-oats in works +like "Lohengrin," "Tristan and Iseult," or the "Rheingold." It is a +revelation full of suggestive value for these to realise that he is a +musical thinker, ripe with sixty years of labour and experience; that +he represents the rarest and choicest fruits of modern culture, not +only as musician, but as poet and philosopher; that he is one of the +few examples in the history of the art where massive scholarship and +the power of subtile analysis have been united, in a pre-eminent +degree, with great creative genius. Preliminary to a study of what +Wagner and his disciples entitled the "Art-work of the Future," let us +take a swift survey of music as a medium of expression for the +beautiful, and some of the forms which it has assumed. + +This Ariel of the fine arts sends its messages to the human soul by +virtue of a fourfold capacity--Firstly, the imitation of the voices of +Nature, such as the winds, the waves, and the cries of animals; +secondly, its potential delight as melody, modulation, rhythm, +harmony--in other words, its simple worth as a "thing of beauty," +without regard to cause or consequence; thirdly, its force of +boundless suggestion; fourthly, that affinity for union with the more +definite and exact forms of the imagination (poetry), by which the +intellectual context of the latter is raised to a far higher power of +grace, beauty, passion, sweetness, without losing individuality of +outline--like, indeed, the hazy aureole which painters set on the brow +of the man Jesus, to fix the seal of the ultimate Divinity. Though +several or all of these may be united in the same composition, each +musical work may be characterised in the main as descriptive, +sensuous, suggestive, or dramatic, according as either element +contributes most largely to its purpose. Simple melody or harmony +appeals mostly to the sensuous love of sweet sounds. The symphony does +this in an enlarged and complicated sense, but is still more marked by +the marvellous suggestive energy with which it unlocks all the secret +raptures of fancy, floods the border-lands of thought with a glory not +to be found on sea or land, and paints ravishing pictures, that come +and go like dreams, with colours drawn from the "twelve-tinted +tone-spectrum." Shelley describes this peculiar influence of music in +his "Prometheus Unbound," with exquisite beauty and truth-- + + "My soul is an enchanted boat, + Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float + Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; + And thine doth like an angel sit + Beside the helm conducting it, + While all the waves with melody are ringing. + It seems to float ever, for ever, + Upon that many-winding river, + Between mountains, woods, abysses, + A paradise of wildernesses." + +As the symphony best expresses the suggestive potency in music, the +operatic form incarnates its capacity of definite thought, and the +expression of that thought. The term "lyric," as applied to the +genuine operatic conception, is a misnomer. Under the accepted +operatic form, however, it has relative truth, as the main musical +purpose of opera seems, hitherto, to have been less to furnish +expression for exalted emotions and thoughts, or exquisite sentiments, +than to grant the vocal _virtuoso_ opportunity to display phenomenal +qualities of voice and execution. But all opera, however it may stray +from the fundamental idea, suggests this dramatic element in music, +just as mere lyricism in the poetic art is the blossom from which is +unfolded the full-blown perfection of the word-drama, the highest form +of all poetry. + + +II. + +That music, by and of itself, cannot express the intellectual element +in the beautiful dream-images of art with precision, is a palpable +truth. Yet, by its imperial dominion over the sphere of emotion and +sentiment, the connection of the latter with complicated mental +phenomena is made to bring into the domain of tone vague and shifting +fancies and pictures. How much further music can be made to assimilate +to the other arts in directness of mental suggestion, by wedding to it +the noblest forms of poetry, and making each the complement of the +other, is the knotty problem which underlies the great art-controversy +about which this article concerns itself. On the one side we have the +claim that music is the all-sufficient law unto itself; that its +appeal to sympathy is through the intrinsic sweetness of harmony and +tune, and the intellect must be satisfied with what it may +accidentally glean in this harvest-field; that, in the rapture +experienced in the sensuous apperception of its beauty, lies the +highest phase of art-sensibility. Therefore, concludes the syllogism, +it matters nothing as to the character of the libretto or poem to +whose words the music is arranged, so long as the dramatic framework +suffices as a support for the flowery festoons of song, which drape +its ugliness and beguile attention by the fascinations of bloom and +grace. On the other hand, the apostles of the new musical philosophy +insist that art is something more than a vehicle for the mere sense of +the beautiful, an exquisite provocation wherewith to startle the sense +of a selfish, epicurean pleasure; that its highest function--to follow +the idea of the Greek Plato, and the greatest of his modern disciples, +Schopenhauer--is to serve as the incarnation of the true and the good; +and, even as Goethe makes the Earth-Spirit sing in "Faust"-- + + "'Tis thus ever at the loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the garment thou seest him by"-- + +so the highest art is that which best embodies the immortal thought of +the universe as reflected in the mirror of man's consciousness; that +music, as speaking the most spiritual language of any of the +art-family, is burdened with the most pressing responsibility as the +interpreter between the finite and the infinite; that all its forms +must be measured by the earnestness and success with which they teach +and suggest what is best in aspiration and truest in thought; that +music, when wedded to the highest form of poetry (the drama), produces +the consummate art-result, and sacrifices to some extent its power of +suggestion, only to acquire a greater glory and influence, that of +investing definite intellectual images with spiritual raiment, through +which they shine on the supreme altitudes of ideal thought; that to +make this marriage perfect as an art-form and fruitful in result, the +two partners must come as equals, neither one the drudge of the +other; that in this organic fusion music and poetry contribute, each +its best, to emancipate art from its thraldom to that which is merely +trivial, commonplace, and accidental, and make it a revelation of all +that is most exalted in thought, sentiment, and purpose. Such is the +aesthetic theory of Richard Wagner's art-work. + + +III. + +It is suggestive to note that the earliest recognised function of +music, before it had learned to enslave itself to mere sensuous +enjoyment, was similar in spirit to that which its latest reformer +demands for it in the art of the future. The glory of its birth then +shone on its brow. It was the handmaid and minister of the religious +instinct. The imagination became afire with the mystery of life and +Nature, and burst into the flames and frenzies of rhythm. Poetry was +born, but instantly sought the wings of music for a higher flight than +the mere word would permit. Even the great epics of the "Iliad" and +"Odyssey" were originally sung or chanted by the Homeridae, and the +same essential union seems to have been in some measure demanded +afterwards in the Greek drama, which, at its best, was always inspired +with the religious sentiment. There is every reason to believe that +the chorus of the drama of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides uttered +their comments on the action of the play with such a prolongation and +variety of pitch in the rhythmic intervals as to constitute a +sustained and melodic recitative. Music at this time was an essential +part of the drama. When the creative genius of Greece had set towards +its ebb, they were divorced, and music was only set to lyric forms. +Such remained the status of the art till, in the Italian Renaissance, +modern opera was born in the reunion of music and the drama. Like the +other arts, it assumed at the outset to be a mere revival of antique +traditions. The great poets of Italy had then passed away, and it was +left for music to fill the void. + +The muse, Polyhymnia, soon emerged from the stage of childish +stammering. Guittone di Arezzo taught her to fix her thoughts in +indelible signs, and two centuries of training culminated in the +inspired composers, Orlando di Lasso and Palestrina. Of the gradual +degradation of the operatic art as its forms became more elaborate and +fixed; of the arbitrary transfer of absolute musical forms like the +aria, duet, finale, etc., into the action of the opera without regard +to poetic propriety; of the growing tendency to treat the human voice +like any other instrument, merely to show its resources as an organ; +of the final utter bondage of the poet to the musician, till opera +became little more than a congeries of musico-gymnastic forms, wherein +the vocal soloists could display their art, it needs not to speak at +length, for some of these vices have not yet disappeared. In the +language of Dante's guide through the Inferno, at one stage of their +wanderings, when the sights were peculiarly mournful and desolate-- + + "Non raggioniam da lor, ma guarda e passa." + +The loss of all poetic verity and earnestness in opera furnished the +great composer Gluck with the motive of the bitter and protracted +contest which he waged with varying success throughout Europe, though +principally in Paris. Gluck boldly affirmed, and carried out the +principle in his compositions, that the task of dramatic music was to +accompany the different phases of emotion in the text, and give them +their highest effect of spiritual intensity. The singer must be the +mouthpiece of the poet, and must take extreme care in giving the full +poetical burden of the song. Thus, the declamatory music became of +great importance, and Gluck's recitative reached an unequalled degree +of perfection. + +The critics of Gluck's time hurled at him the same charges which are +familiar to us now as coming from the mouths and pens of the enemies +of Wagner's music. Yet Gluck, however conscious of the ideal unity +between music and poetry, never thought of bringing this about by a +sacrifice of any of the forms of his own peculiar art. His influence, +however, was very great, and the traditions of the great _maestro's_ +art have been kept alive in the works of his no less great disciples, +Mehul, Cherubini, Spontini, and Meyerbeer. + +Two other attempts to ingraft new and vital power on the rigid and +trivial sentimentality of the Italian forms of opera were those of +Rossini and Weber. The former was gifted with the greatest affluence +of pure melodiousness ever given to a composer. But even his sparkling +originality and freshness did little more than reproduce the old forms +under a more attractive guise. Weber, on the other hand, stood in the +van of a movement which had its fountain-head in the strong romantic +and national feeling, pervading the whole of society and literature. +There was a general revival of mediaeval and popular poetry, with its +balmy odour of the woods, and fields, and streams. Weber's melody was +the direct offspring of the tunefulness of the German _Volkslied_, and +so it expressed, with wonderful freshness and beauty, all the range of +passion and sentiment within the limits of this pure and simple +language. But the boundaries were far too narrow to build upon them +the ultimate union of music and poetry, which should express the +perfect harmony of the two arts. While it is true that all of the +great German composers protested, by their works, against the spirit +and character of the Italian school of music, Wagner claims that the +first abrupt and strongly-defined departure towards a radical reform +in art is found in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with chorus. Speaking of +this remarkable leap from instrumental to vocal music in a professedly +symphonic composition, Wagner, in his _Essay on Beethoven_, says--"We +declare that the work of art, which was formed and quickened entirely +by that deed, must present the most perfect artistic form, _i.e._, +that form in which, as for the drama, so also and especially for +music, every conventionality would be abolished." Beethoven is +asserted to have founded the new musical school, when he admitted, by +his recourse to the vocal cantata in the greatest of his symphonic +works, that he no longer recognised absolute music as sufficient unto +itself. + +In Bach and Handel, the great masters of fugue and counterpoint; in +Rossini, Mozart, and Weber, the consummate creators of melody--then, +according to this view, we only recognise thinkers in the realm of +pure music. In Beethoven, the greatest of them all, was laid the basis +of the new epoch of tone-poetry. In the immortal songs of Schubert, +Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Franz, and the symphonies of the +first four, the vitality of the reformatory idea is richly +illustrated. In the music-drama of Wagner, it is claimed by his +disciples, is found the full flower and development of the art-work. + +WILLIAM RICHARD WAGNER, the formal projector of the great changes +whose details are yet to be sketched, was born at Leipsic in 1813. As +a child he displayed no very marked artistic tastes, though his ear +and memory for music were quite remarkable. When admitted to the +Kreuzschule of Dresden, the young student, however, distinguished +himself by his very great talent for literary composition and the +classical languages. To this early culture, perhaps, we are indebted +for the great poetic power which has enabled him to compose the +remarkable libretti which have furnished the basis of his music. His +first creative attempt was a blood-thirsty drama, where forty-two +characters are killed, and the few survivors are haunted by the +ghosts. Young Wagner soon devoted himself to the study of music, and, +in 1833, became a pupil of Theodor Weinlig, a distinguished teacher of +harmony and counterpoint. His four years of study at this time were +also years of activity in creative experiment, as he composed four +operas. + +His first opera of note was "Rienzi," with which he went to Paris in +1837. In spite of Meyerbeer's efforts in its favour, this work was +rejected, and laid aside for some years. Wagner supported himself by +musical criticism and other literary work, and soon was in a position +to offer another opera, "Der fliegende Hollaender," to the authorities +of the Grand Opera-House. Again the directors refused the work, but +were so charmed with the beauty of the libretto that they bought it to +be reset to music. Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for +the indomitable young musician. "Rienzi" was then produced at Dresden, +so much to the delight of the King of Saxony that the composer was +made royal Kapellmeister and leader of the orchestra. The production +of "Der fliegende Hollaender" quickly followed; next came "Tannhaeuser" +and "Lohengrin," to be swiftly succeeded by the "Meistersinger von +Nuernberg." This period of our _maestro's_ musical activity also +commenced to witness the development of his theories on the philosophy +of his art, and some of his most remarkable critical writings were +then given to the world. + +Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of exile in +Zurich; thence he went to London, where he remained till 1861 as +conductor of the London Philharmonic Society. In 1861 the exile +returned to his native country, and spent several years in Germany and +Russia--there having arisen quite a _furore_ for his music in the +latter country. The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King Louis of +Bavaria by "Der fliegende Hollaender" resulted in a summons to Wagner +to settle at Munich, and with the glories of the Royal Opera-House in +that city his name has been principally connected. The culminating +art-splendour of his life, however, was the production of his +stupendous tetralogy, the "Ring der Niebelungen," at the great +opera-house at Bayreuth, in the summer of the year 1876. + + +IV. + +The first element to be noted in Wagner's operatic forms is the +energetic protest against the artificial and conventional in music. +The utter want of dramatic symmetry and fitness in the operas we have +been accustomed to hear could only be overlooked by the force of +habit, and the tendency to submerge all else in the mere enjoyment of +the music. The utter variance of music and poetry was to Wagner the +stumbling-block which, first of all, must be removed. So he crushed at +one stroke all the hard, arid forms which existed in the lyrical drama +as it had been known. His opera, then, is no longer a congeries of +separate musical numbers, like duets, arias, chorals, and finales, set +in a flimsy web of formless recitative, without reference to dramatic +economy. His great purpose is lofty dramatic truth, and to this end he +sacrifices the whole framework of accepted musical forms, with the +exception of the chorus, and this he remodels. The musical energy is +concentrated in the dialogue as the main factor of the dramatic +problem, and fashioned entirely according to the requirements of the +action. The continuous flow of beautiful melody takes the place alike +of the dry recitative and the set musical forms which characterise the +accepted school of opera. As the dramatic _motif_ demands, this +"continuous melody" rises into the highest ecstasies of the lyrical +fervour, or ebbs into a chant-like swell of subdued feeling, like the +ocean after the rush of the storm. If Wagner has destroyed musical +forms, he has also added a positive element. In place of the aria we +have the _logos_. This is the musical expression of the principal +passion underlying the action of the drama. Whenever, in the course of +the development of the story, this passion comes into ascendency, the +rich strains of the _logos_ are heard anew, stilling all other sounds. +Gounod has, in part, applied this principle in "Faust." All +opera-goers will remember the intense dramatic effect arising from the +recurrence of the same exquisite lyric outburst from the lips of +Marguerite. + +The peculiar character of Wagner's word-drama next arouses critical +interest and attention. The composer is his own poet, and his creative +genius shines no less here than in the world of tone. The musical +energy flows entirely from the dramatic conditions, like the +electrical current from the cups of the battery; and the rhythmical +structure of the _melos_ (tune) is simply the transfiguration of the +poetical basis. The poetry, then, is all-important in the music-drama. +Wagner has rejected the forms of blank verse and rhyme as utterly +unsuited to the lofty purposes of music, and has gone to the metrical +principle of all the Teutonic and Slavonic poetry. This rhythmic +element of alliteration, or _staffrhyme_, we find magnificently +illustrated in the Scandinavian Eddas, and even in our own Anglo-Saxon +fragments of the days of Caedmon and Alcuin. By the use of this new +form, verse and melody glide together in one exquisite rhythm, in +which it seems impossible to separate the one from the other. The +strong accent of the alliterating syllables supply the music with +firmness, while the low-toned syllables give opportunity for the most +varied _nuances_ of declamation. + +The first radical development of Wagner's theories we see in "The +Flying Dutchman." In "Tannhaeuser" and "Lohengrin" they find full sway. +The utter revolt of his mind from the trivial and commonplace +sentimentalities of Italian opera led him to believe that the most +heroic and lofty motives alone should furnish the dramatic foundation +of opera. For a while he oscillated between history and legend, as +best adapted to furnish his material. In his selection of the +dream-land of myth and legend, we may detect another example of the +profound and _exigeant_ art-instincts which have ruled the whole of +Wagner's life. There could be no question as to the utter incongruity +of any dramatic picture of ordinary events, or ordinary personages, +finding expression in musical utterance. Genuine and profound art must +always be consistent with itself, and what we recognise as general +truth. Even characters set in the comparatively near background of +history are too closely related to our own familiar surroundings of +thought and mood to be regarded as artistically natural in the use of +music as the organ of the every-day life of emotion and sentiment. But +with the dim and heroic shapes that haunt the border-land of the +supernatural, which we call legend, the case is far different. This +is the drama of the demigods, living in a different atmosphere from +our own, however akin to ours may be their passions and purposes. For +these we are no longer compelled to regard the medium of music as a +forced and untruthful expression, for do they not dwell in the magic +lands of the imagination? All sense of dramatic inconsistency +instantly vanishes, and the conditions of artistic illusion are +perfect. + + "'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, + And clothes the mountains with their azure hue." + +Thus all of Wagner's works, from "Der fliegende Hollaender" to the +"Ring der Niebelungen," have been located in the world of myth, in +obedience to a profound art-principle. The opera of "Tristan and +Iseult," first performed in 1865, announced Wagner's absolute +emancipation, both in the construction of music and poetry, from the +time-honoured and time-corrupted canons, and, aside from the last +great work, it may be received as the most perfect representation of +his school. + +The third main feature in the Wagner music is the wonderful use of the +orchestra as a factor in the solution of the art-problem. This is no +longer a mere accompaniment to the singer, but translates the passion +of the play into a grand symphony, running parallel and commingling +with the vocal music. Wagner, as a great master of orchestration, has +had few equals since Beethoven; and he uses his power with marked +effect to heighten the dramatic intensity of the action, and at the +same time to convey certain meanings which can only find vent in the +vague and indistinct forms of pure music. The romantic conception of +the mediaeval love, the shudderings and raptures of Christian +revelation, have certain phases that absolute music alone can express. +The orchestra, then, becomes as much an integral part of the +music-drama, in its actual current movement, as the chorus or the +leading performers. Placed on the stage, yet out of sight, its strains +might almost be fancied the sound of the sympathetic communion of +good and evil spirits, with whose presence mystics formerly claimed +man was constantly surrounded. Wagner's use of the orchestra may be +illustrated from the opera of "Lohengrin." + +The ideal background, from which the emotions of the human actors in +the drama are reflected with supernatural light, is the conception of +the "Holy Graal," the mystic symbol of the Christian faith, and its +descent from the skies, guarded by hosts of seraphim. This is the +subject of the orchestral prelude, and never have the sweetnesses and +terrors of the Christian ecstasy been more potently expressed. The +prelude opens with long-drawn chords of the violins, in the highest +octaves, in the most exquisite _pianissimo_. The inner eye of the +spirit discerns in this the suggestion of shapeless white clouds, +hardly discernible from the aerial blue of the sky. Suddenly the +strings seem to sound from the farthest distance, in continued +_pianissimo_, and the melody, the Graal-motive, takes shape. +Gradually, to the fancy, a group of angels seem to reveal themselves, +slowly descending from the heavenly heights, and bearing in their +midst the _Sangreal_. The modulations throb through the air, +augmenting in richness and sweetness, till the _fortissimo_ of the +full orchestra reveals the sacred mystery. With this climax of +spiritual ecstasy the harmonious waves gradually recede and ebb away +in dying sweetness, as the angels return to their heavenly abode. This +orchestral movement recurs in the opera, according to the laws of +dramatic fitness, and its melody is heard also in the _logos_ of +Lohengrin, the knight of the Graal, to express certain phases of his +action. The immense power which music is thus made to have in dramatic +effect can easily be fancied. + +A fourth prominent characteristic of the Wagner music-drama is that, +to develop its full splendour, there must be a co-operation of all the +arts, painting, sculpture, and architecture, as well as poetry and +music. Therefore, in realising its effects, much importance rests in +the visible beauties of action, as they may be expressed by the +painting of scenery and the grouping of human figures. Well may such +a grand conception be called the "Art-work of the Future." + +Wagner for a long time despaired of the visible execution of his +ideas. At last the celebrated pianist, Tausig, suggested an appeal to +the admirers of the new music throughout the world for means to carry +out the composer's great ideas--viz., to perform the "Niebelungen" at +a theatre to be erected for the purpose, and by a select company, in +the manner of a national festival, and before an audience entirely +removed from the atmosphere of vulgar theatrical shows. After many +delays Wagner's hopes were attained, and in the summer of 1876 a +gathering of the principal celebrities of Europe was present to +criticise the fully perfected fruit of the composer's theories and +genius. This festival was so recent, and its events have been the +subject of such elaborate comment, that further description will be +out of place here. + +As a great musical poet, rather epic than dramatic in his powers, +there can be no question as to Wagner's rank. The performance of the +"Niebelungenring," covering "Rheingold," "Die Walkueren," "Siegfried," +and "Goetterdaemmerung," was one of the epochs of musical Germany. +However deficient Wagner's skill in writing for the human voice, the +power and symmetry of his conceptions, and his genius in embodying +them in massive operatic forms, are such as to storm even the +prejudices of his opponents. The poet-musician rightfully claims that +in his music-drama is found that wedding of two of the noblest of the +arts, pregnantly suggested by Shakespeare:-- + + "If Music and sweet Poetry both agree, + As they must needs, the sister and the brother; + . . . . . . + One God is God of both, as poets feign." + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--The knowledge of Wagner's music in England +originated chiefly with the masterly playing of Herr Von Buelow, with +the concerts given by Messrs. Dannreuther and Bache, and later on by +the Wagner festival held at the Albert Hall in 1877, where Wagner +himself presided at the performance of the music of his _Ring des +Niebelungen_. He was not quite satisfied with its reception; but this +is not altogether to be wondered at when we consider that the work was +divorced from its scenic adjuncts, and that in his operas--in +accordance with his own theory--the plastic arts as well as poetry and +music are equally required to produce a well-balanced result. None the +less, this festival greatly increased the interest in "the Music of +the Future;" and in 1880 _The Ring des Niebelungen_ was performed at +Covent Garden, while his other operas were given in their proper +sequence at Drury Lane. In 1882 his last great work, _Parsifal_, was +performed with striking eclat at Bayreuth. On the 18th of February +1883 he died of heart disease at Venice, whither he had gone to +recruit his health. A personal friend has recorded that Wagner's body +was laid in the coffin by the widow herself, who--as a last token of +her love and admiration--cut off the beautiful hair her husband had so +admired, and placed it on a red cushion under the head of the +departed. The body of the great musician was taken to Bayreuth and +buried, in accordance with the wishes he had himself expressed, in the +garden of his own house, "Vahnfried." A large wreath from the King of +Bavaria lay on the coffin, bearing the appropriate inscription--"To +the Deathless One." On the 24th of July in the same year, _Parsifal_ +was again performed at Bayreuth--a fitting requiem service over the +great master. _Parsifal_ is the culmination of Wagner's epic work. In +it he completes the cycle of myths by which he strove to express the +varied and fervent aspirations of humanity; and in particular "the two +burning questions of the day--1. The Tremendous Empire of the Senses. +2. The Immense Supremacy of Soul; and how to reconcile them." + +The Legend of the Sangrail, the _motif_ of his last work, is "the most +poetic and pathetic form of transubstantiation; ... it possesses the +true legendary power of attraction and assimilation." In Mr. Haweis' +words, "The _Tannhaeuser_ and the _Lohengrin_ are the two first of the +legendary dramas which serve to illustrate the Christian Chivalry and +religious aspirations of the middle ages, in conflict on the one side +with the narrow ideals of Catholicism, and on the other with the free +instincts of human nature. _Parsifal_ forms with them a great Trilogy +of Christian legends, as the _Ring of the Niebelungen_ forms a +Tetralogy of Pagan, Rhine, and Norse legends. Both series of sacred +and profane myths in the hands of Wagner, whilst striking the great +key-notes, Paganism and Catholicism, become the fitting and +appropriate vehicles for the display of the ever-recurrent struggles +of the human heart--now in the grip of inexorable fate, now +passion-tossed, at war with itself and with time--soothed with spaces +of calm--flattered with the dream of ineffable joys--filled with +sublime hopes; and content at last with far-off glimpses of God." + +[Decoration] + + + + +[Decoration] + +ITALIAN AND FRENCH COMPOSERS. + + + + +_PALESTRINA._ + + +I. + +The Netherlands share other glories than that of having nursed the +most indomitable spirit of liberty known to mediaeval Europe. The fine +as well as the industrial arts found among this remarkable people, +distinguished by Erasmus as possessed of the _patientia laboris_, an +eager and passionate culture. The early contributions of the Low +Countries to the growth of the pictorial art are well known to all. +But to most it will be a revelation that the Belgian school of music +was the great fructifying influence of the fifteenth century, to which +Italy and Germany owe a debt not easily measured. The art of +interweaving parts and that science of sound known as counterpoint +were placed by this school of musical scholars and workers on a solid +basis, which enabled the great composers who came after them to build +their beautiful tone fabrics in forms of imperishable beauty and +symmetry. For a long time most of the great Italian churches had +Belgian chapel-masters, and the value of their example and teachings +was vital in its relation to Italian music. + +The last great master among the Belgians, and, after Palestrina, the +greatest of the sixteenth century, was Orlando di Lasso, born in +Hainault, in the year 1520. His life of a little more than three score +years and ten was divided between Italy and Germany. He left the deep +imprint of his severe style, though but a young man, on his Italian +_confreres_, and the young Palestrina owed to him much of the +largeness and beauty of form through which he poured his genius in the +creation of such works as have given him so distinct a place in +musical history. The pope created Orlando di Lasso Knight of the +Golden Spur, and sought to keep him in Italy. Unconcerned as to fame, +the gentle, peaceful musician lived for his art alone, and the +flattering expressions of the great were not so much enjoyed as +endured by him. A musical historian, Heimsoeth, says of him--"He is +the brilliant master of the North, great and sublime in sacred +composition, of inexhaustible invention, displaying much breadth, +variety, and depth in his treatment; he delights in full and powerful +harmonies, yet, after all--owing to an existence passed in journeys, +as well as service at court, and occupied at the same time with both +sacred and secular music--he came short of that lofty, solemn tone +which pervades the works of the great master of the South, Palestrina, +who, with advancing years, restricted himself more and more to church +music." Of the celebrated penitential psalms of Di Lasso, it is said +that Charles IX. of France ordered them to be written "in order to +obtain rest for his soul after the terrible massacre of St. +Bartholomew." Aside from his works, this musician has a claim on fame +through his lasting improvements in musical form and method. He +illuminated, and at the same time closed, the great epoch of Belgian +ascendancy, which had given three hundred musicians of great science +to the times in which they lived. So much has been said of Orlando di +Lasso, for he was the model and Mentor of the greatest of early church +composers, Palestrina. + + +II. + +The melodious and fascinating style, soon to give birth to the +characteristic genius of the opera, was as yet unborn, though dormant. +In Rome, the chief seat of the Belgian art, the exclusive study of +technical skill had frozen music to a mere formula. The Gregorian +chant had become so overladen with mere embellishments as to make the +prescribed church-form difficult of recognition in its borrowed garb, +for it had become a mere jumble of sound. Musicians, indeed, carried +their profanation so far as to take secular melodies as the themes for +masses and motetts. These were often called by their profane titles. +So the name of a love-sonnet or a drinking-song would sometimes be +attached to a _miserere_. The Council of Trent, in 1562, cut at these +evils with sweeping axe, and the solemn anathemas of the church +fathers roused the creative powers of the subject of this sketch, who +raised his art to an independent national existence, and made it rank +with sculpture and painting, which had already reached their zenith in +Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, and Michael Angelo. +Henceforth Italian music was to be a vigorous, fruitful stock. + +GIOVANNI PERLUIGI ALOISIO DA PALESTRINA was born at Palestrina, the +ancient Praeneste, in 1524.[D] The memorials of his childhood are +scanty. We know but little except that his parents were poor peasants, +and that he learned the rudiments of literature and music as a +choir-singer, a starting-point so common in the lives of great +composers. In 1540 he went to Rome and studied in the school of +Goudimel, a stern Huguenot Fleming, tolerated in the papal capital on +account of his superior science and method of teaching, and afterwards +murdered at Lyons on the day of the Paris massacre. Palestrina grasped +the essential doctrines of the school without adopting its +mannerisms. At the age of thirty he published his first compositions, +and dedicated them to the reigning pontiff, Julius III. In the +formation of his style, which moved with such easy, original grace +within the old prescribed rules, he learned much from the personal +influence and advice of Orlando di Lasso, his warm friend and constant +companion during these earlier days. + +Several of his compositions, written at this time, are still performed +in Rome on Good Friday, and Goethe and Mendelssohn have left their +eloquent tributes to the impression made on them by music alike simple +and sublime. The pope was highly pleased with Palestrina's noble +music, and appointed him one of the papal choristers, then regarded as +a great honour. But beyond Rome the new light of music was but little +known. The Council of Trent, in their first indignation at the abuse +of church music, had resolved to abolish everything but the simple +Gregorian chants, but the remonstrances of the Emperor Ferdinand and +the Roman cardinals stayed the austere fiat. The final decision was +made to rest on a new composition of Palestrina, who was permitted to +demonstrate that the higher forms of musical art were consistent with +the solemnities of church worship. + +All eyes were directed to the young musician, for the very existence +of his art was at stake. The motto of his first mass, "Illumina oculos +meos," shows the pious enthusiasm with which he undertook his labours. +Instead of one, he composed three six-part masses. The third of these +excited such admiration that the pope exclaimed in raptures, "It is +John who gives us here in this earthly Jerusalem a foretaste of that +new song which the holy Apostle John realised in the heavenly +Jerusalem in his prophetic trance." This is now known as the "mass of +Pope Marcel," in honour of a former patron of Palestrina. + +A new pope, Paul IV., on ascending the pontifical throne, carried his +desire of reforming abuses to fanaticism. He insisted on all the papal +choristers being clerical. Palestrina had married early in life a +Roman lady, of whom all we know is that her name was Lucretia. Four +children had blessed the union, and the composer's domestic happiness +became a bar to his temporal preferment. With two others he was +dismissed from the chapel because he was a layman, and a trifling +pension allowed him. Two months afterwards, though, he was appointed +chapel-master of St. John Lateran. His works now succeeded each other +rapidly, and different collections of his masses were dedicated to the +crowned heads of Europe. In 1571 he was appointed chapel-master of the +Vatican, and Pope Gregory XIII. gave special charge of the reform of +sacred music to Palestrina. + +The death of the composer's wife, whom he idolised, in 1580, was a +blow from which he never recovered. In his latter days he was +afflicted with great poverty, for the positions he held were always +more honourable than lucrative. Mental depression and physical +weakness burdened the last few years of his pious and gentle life, and +he died after a lingering and severe illness. The register of the +pontifical chapel contains this entry--"February 2, 1594. This morning +died the most excellent musician, Signor Giovanni Palestrina, our dear +companion and _maestro di capella_ of St. Peter's church, whither his +funeral was attended not only by all the musicians of Rome, but by an +infinite concourse of people, when his own 'Libera me, Domine' was +sung by the whole college." + +Such are the simple and meagre records of the life of the composer who +carved and laid the foundation of the superstructure of Italian music; +who, viewed in connection with his times and their limitations, must +be regarded as one of the great creative minds in his art; who shares +with Sebastian Bach the glory of having built an imperishable base for +the labours of his successors. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[D] Our composer, as was common with artists and scholars in those +days, took the name of his natal town, and by this he is known to +fame. Old documents also give him the old Latin name of the town with +the personal ending. + + +III. + +Palestrina left a great mass of compositions, all glowing with the +fire of genius, only part of which have been published. His simple +life was devoted to musical labour, and passed without romance, +diversion, or excitement. His works are marked by utter absence of +contrast and colour. Without dramatic movement, they are full of +melody and majesty--a majesty serene, unruffled by the slightest +suggestion of human passion. Voices are now and then used for +individual expression, but either in unison or harmony. As in all +great church music, the chorus is the key of the work. The general +judgment of musicians agrees that repose and enjoyment are more +characteristic of this music than that of any other master. The choir +of the Sistine chapel, by the inheritance of long-cherished tradition, +is the most perfect exponent of the Palestrina music. During the +annual performance of the "Improperie" and "Lamentations," the altar +and walls are despoiled of their pictures and ornaments, and +everything is draped in black. The cardinals dressed in serge, no +incense, no candles: the whole scene is a striking picture of trouble +and desolation. The faithful come in two by two and bow before the +cross, while the sad music reverberates through the chapel arches. +This powerful appeal to the imagination, of course, lends greater +power to the musical effect. But all minds who have felt the lift and +beauty of these compositions have acknowledged how far they soar above +words and creeds, and the picturesque framework of a liturgy. + +Mendelssohn, in a letter to Zelter on the Palestrina music as heard in +the Sistine chapel, says that nothing could exceed the effect of the +blending of the voices, the prolonged tones gradually merging from one +note and chord to another, softly swelling, decreasing, at last dying +out. "They understand," he writes, "how to bring out and place each +trait in the most delicate light, without giving it undue prominence; +one chord gently melts into another. The ceremony at the same time is +solemn and imposing; deep silence prevails in the chapel, only broken +by the re-echoing Greek 'holy,' sung with unvarying sweetness and +expression." The composer Paer was so impressed with the wonderful +beauty of the music and the performance, that he exclaimed, "This is +indeed divine music, such as I have long sought for, and my +imagination was never able to realise, but which, I knew, must exist." + +Palestrina's versatility and genius enabled him to lift ecclesiastical +music out of the rigidity and frivolity characterising on either hand +the opposing ranks of those that preceded him, and to embody the +religious spirit in works of the highest art. He transposed the +ecclesiastical melody (_canto fermo_) from the tenor to the soprano +(thus rendering it more intelligible to the ear), and created that +glorious thing choir song, with its refined harmony, that noble music +of which his works are the models, and the papal chair the oracle. No +individual pre-eminence is ever allowed to disturb and weaken the +ideal atmosphere of the whole work. However Palestrina's successors +have aimed to imitate his effects, they have, with the exception of +Cherubini, failed for the most part; for every peculiar genus of art +is the result of innate genuine inspiration, and the spontaneous +growth of the age which produces it. As a parent of musical form he +was the protagonist of Italian music, both sacred and secular, and +left an admirable model, which even the new school of opera so soon to +rise found it necessary to follow in the construction of harmony. The +splendid and often licentious music of the theatre built its most +worthy effects on the work of the pious composer, who lived, laboured, +and died in an atmosphere of almost anchorite sanctity. + +The great disciples of his school, Nannini and Allegri, continued his +work, and the splendid "Miserere" of the latter was regarded as such +an inestimable treasure that no copy of it was allowed to go out of +the Sistine chapel, till the infant prodigy, Wolfgang Mozart, wrote it +out from the memory of a single hearing. + + + + +_PICCINI, PAISIELLO, AND CIMAROSA._ + + +I. + +Music, as speaking the language of feeling, emotion, and passion, +found its first full expansion in the operatic form. There had been +attempts to represent drama with chorus, founded on the ancient Greek +drama, but it was soon discovered that dialogue and monologue could +not be embodied in choral forms without involving an utter absurdity. +The spirit of the renaissance had freed poetry, statuary, and painting +from the monopolising claims of the church. Music, which had become a +well-equipped and developed science, could not long rest in a similar +servitude. Though it is not the aim of the author to discuss operatic +history, a brief survey of the progress of opera from its birth cannot +be omitted. + +The oldest of the entertainments which ripened into Italian opera +belongs to the last years of the fifteenth century, and was the work +of the brilliant Politian, known as one of the revivalists of Greek +learning attached to the court of Cosmo de' Medici and his son +Lorenzo. This was the musical drama of "Orfeo." The story was written +in Latin, and sung in music principally choral, though a few solo +phrases were given to the principal characters. It was performed at +Rome with great magnificence, and Vasari tells us that Peruzzi, the +decorator of the papal theatre, painted such scenery for it that even +the great Titian was so struck with the _vraisemblance_ of the work +that he was not satisfied until he had touched the canvas to be sure +of its not being in relief. We may fancy indeed that the scenery was +one great attraction of the representation. In spite of spasmodic +encouragement by the more liberally-minded pontiffs, the general +weight of church influence was against the new musical tendency, and +the most skilled composers were at first afraid to devote their +talents to further its growth. + +What musicians did not dare undertake out of dread of the +thunderbolts of the church, a company of _literati_ at Florence +commenced in 1580. The primary purpose was the revival of Greek art, +including music. This association, in conjunction with the Medicean +Academy, laid down the rule that distinct individuality of expression +in music was to be sought for. As results, quickly came musical drama +with recitative (modern form of the Greek chorus) and solo melody for +characteristic parts of the legend or story. Out of this beginning +swiftly grew the opera. Composers in the new form sprung up in various +parts of Italy, though Naples, Venice, and Florence continued to be +its centres. + +Between 1637 and 1700 there were performed three hundred operas at +Venice alone. An account of the performance of "Berenice," composed by +Domenico Freschi, at Padua, in 1680, dwarfs all our present ideas of +spectacular splendour. In this opera there were choruses of a hundred +virgins and a hundred soldiers; a hundred horsemen in steel armour; a +hundred performers on trumpets, cornets, sackbuts, drums, flutes, and +other instruments, on horseback and on foot; two lions led by two +Turks, and two elephants led by two Indians; Berenice's triumphal car +drawn by four horses, and six other cars with spoils and prisoners, +drawn by twelve horses. Among the scenes in the first act was a vast +plain with two triumphal arches; another with pavilions and tents; a +square prepared for the entrance of the triumphal procession, and a +forest for the chase. In the second act there were the royal +apartments of Berenice's temple of vengeance, a spacious court with +view of the prison and a covered way with long lines of chariots. In +the third act there were the royal dressing-room, the stables with a +hundred live horses, porticoes adorned with tapestry, and a great +palace in the perspective. In the course of the piece there were +representations of the hunting of the boar, the stag, and the lions. +The whole concluded with a huge globe descending from the skies, and +dividing itself in lesser globes of fire, on which stood allegorical +figures of fame, honour, nobility, virtue, and glory. The theatrical +manager had princes and nobles for bankers and assistants, and they +lavished their treasures of art and money to make such spectacles as +the modern stagemen of London and Paris cannot approach. + +In Evelyn's diary there is an entry describing opera at Venice in +1645:--"This night, having with my lord Bruce taken our places before, +we went to the opera, where comedies and other plays are represented +in recitative music by the most excellent musicians, vocal and +instrumental, with variety of scenes painted and contrived with no +lesse art of perspective, and machines for flying in the aire, and +other wonderful motions; taken together it is one of the most +magnificent and expensive diversions the wit of man can invent. The +history was Hercules in Lydia. The sceanes changed thirteen times. The +famous voices, Anna Rencia, a Roman, and reputed the best treble of +women; but there was a Eunuch who in my opinion surpassed her; also a +Genoise that in my judgment sung an incomparable base. They held us by +the eyes and ears till two o'clock i' the morning." Again he writes of +the carnival of 1646:--"The comedians have liberty and the operas are +open; witty pasquils are thrown about, and the mountebanks have their +stages at every corner. The diversion which chiefly took me up was +three noble operas, where were most excellent voices and music, the +most celebrated of which was the famous and beautiful Anna Rencia, +whom we invited to a fish dinner after four daies in Lent, when they +had given over at the theatre." Old Evelyn then narrates how he and +his noble friend took the lovely diner out on a junketing, and got +shot at with blunderbusses from the gondola of an infuriated rival. + +Opera progressed towards a fixed status with a swiftness hardly +paralleled in the history of any art. The soil was rich and fully +prepared for the growth, and the fecund root, once planted, shot into +a luxuriant beauty and symmetry, which nothing could check. The Church +wisely gave up its opposition, and henceforth there was nothing to +impede the progress of a product which spread and naturalised itself +in England, France, and Germany. The inventive genius of Monteverde, +Carissimi, Scarlatti (the friend and rival of Handel), Durante, and +Leonardo Leo, perfected the forms of the opera nearly as we have them +to-day. A line of brilliant composers in the school of Durante and Leo +brings us down through Pergolesi, Derni, Terradiglias, Jomelli, +Traetta, Ciccio di Majo, Galluppi, and Giuglielmi, to the most +distinguished of the early Italian composers, Niccolo Piccini, who, +mostly forgotten in his works, is principally known to modern fame as +the rival of the mighty Gluck in that art controversy which shook +Paris into such bitter factions. Yet, overshadowed as Piccini was in +the greatness of his rival, there can be no question of his desert as +the most brilliant ornament and exponent of the early operatic school. +No greater honour could have been paid to him than that he should have +been chosen as their champion by the _Italianissimi_ of his day in the +battle royal with such a giant as Gluck, an honour richly deserved by +a composer distinguished by multiplicity and beauty of ideas, dramatic +insight, and ardent conviction. + + +II. + +NICCOLO PICCINI, who was not less than fifty years of age when he left +Naples for the purpose of outrivalling Gluck, was born at Bari, in the +kingdom of Naples, in 1728. His father, also a musician, had destined +him for holy orders, but Nature made him an artist. His great delight +even as a little child was playing on the harpsichord, which he +quickly learned. One day the bishop of Bari heard him playing, and was +amazed at the power of the little _virtuoso_. "By all means send him +to a conservatory of music," he said to the elder Piccini. "If the +vocation of the priesthood brings trials and sacrifices, a musical +career is not less beset with obstacles. Music demands great +perseverance and incessant labour. It exposes one to many chagrins and +toils." + +By the advice of the shrewd prelate, the precocious boy was placed at +the school of St. Onofrio at the age of fourteen. At first confided to +the care of an inferior professor, he revolted from the arid teachings +of a mere human machine. Obeying the dictates of his daring fancy, +though hardly acquainted with the rudiments of composition, he +determined to compose a mass. The news got abroad that the little +Niccolo was working on a grand mass, and the great Leo, the chief of +the conservatory, sent for the trembling culprit. + +"You have written a mass?" he commenced. + +"Excuse me, sir, I could not help it," said the timid boy. + +"Let me see it." + +Niccolo brought him the score and all the orchestral parts, and Leo +immediately went to the concert-room, assembled the orchestra, and +gave them the parts. The boy was ordered to take his place in front +and conduct the performance, which he went through with great +agitation. + +"I pardon you this time," said the grave _maestro_, at the end; "but, +if you do such a thing again, I will punish you in such a manner that +you will remember it as long as you live. Instead of studying the +principles of your art, you give yourself up to all the wildness of +your imagination; and, when you have tutored your ill-regulated ideas +into something like shape, you produce what you call a mass, and no +doubt think you have produced a masterpiece." + +When the boy burst into tears at this rebuke, Leo clasped him in his +arms, told him he had great talent, and after that took him under his +special instruction. Leo was succeeded by Durante, who also loved +Piccini, and looked forward to a future greatness for him. He was wont +to say the others were his pupils, but Piccini was his son. After +twelve years spent in the conservatory, Piccini commenced an opera. +The director of the principal Neapolitan theatre said to Prince +Vintimille, who introduced the young musician, that his work was sure +to be a failure. + +"How much can you lose by his opera," the prince replied, "supposing +it to be a perfect fiasco?" The manager named the sum. + +"There is the money, then," replied Piccini's generous patron, handing +him a purse. "If the 'Dorme Despetose'" (the name of the opera) +"should fail, you may keep the money, but otherwise return it to me." + +The friends of Lagroscino, the favourite composer of the day, were +enraged when they heard that the next new work was to be from an +obscure youth, and they determined to hiss the performance. So great, +however, was the delight of the public with the freshness and beauty +of Piccini's music, that even those who came to condemn remained to +applaud. The reputation of the composer went on increasing until he +became the foremost name of musical Italy, for his fertility of +production was remarkable; and he gave the theatres a brilliant +succession of comic and serious works. In 1758 he produced at Rome his +"Alessandro nell' Indie," whose success surpassed all that had +preceded it, and two years later a still finer masterpiece, "La Buona +Figluola," written to a text furnished by the poet Goldoni, and +founded on the story of Richardson's "Pamela." This opera was produced +at every playhouse on the Italian peninsula in the course of a few +years. + +A pleasant _mot_ by the Duke of Brunswick is worth preserving in this +connection. Piccini had married a beautiful singer named Vicenza +Sibilla, and his home was very happy. One day the German prince +visited Piccini, and found him rocking the cradle of his youngest +child, while the eldest was tugging at the paternal coat-tails. The +mother, being _en deshabille_, ran away at the sight of a stranger. +The duke excused himself for his want of ceremony, and added, "I am +delighted to see so great a man living in such simplicity, and that +the author of 'La Bonne Fille' is such a good father." Piccini's +placid and pleasant life was destined, however, to pass into stormy +waters. + +His sway over the stage and the popular preference continued until +1773, when a clique of envious rivals at Rome brought about his first +disaster. The composer was greatly disheartened, and took to his bed, +for he was ill alike in mind and body. The turning-point in his career +had come, and he was to enter into an arena which taxed his powers in +a contest such as he had not yet dreamed of. His operas having been +heard and admired in France, their great reputation inspired the royal +favourite, Mdme. du Barry, with the hope of finding a successful +competitor to the great German composer, patronised by Marie +Antoinette. Accordingly, Piccini was offered an indemnity of six +thousand francs, and a residence in the hotel of the Neapolitan +ambassador. When the Italian arrived in Paris, Gluck was in full sway, +the idol of the court and public, and about to produce his "Armide." + +Piccini was immediately commissioned to write a new opera, and he +applied to the brilliant Marmontel for a libretto. The poet rearranged +one of Quinault's tragedies, "Roland," and Piccini undertook the +difficult task of composing music to words in a language as yet +unknown to him. Marmontel was his unwearied tutor, and he writes in +his "Memoirs" of his pleasant yet arduous task--"Line by line, word by +word, I had everything to explain; and, when he had laid hold of the +meaning of a passage, I recited it to him, marking the accent, the +prosody, and the cadence of the verses. He listened eagerly, and I had +the satisfaction to know that what he heard was carefully noted. His +delicate ear seized so readily the accent of the language and the +measure of the poetry, that in his music he never mistook them. It was +an inexpressible pleasure to me to see him practice before my eyes an +art of which before I had no idea. His harmony was in his mind. He +wrote his airs with the utmost rapidity, and when he had traced its +designs, he filled up all the parts of the score, distributing the +traits of harmony and melody, just as a skilful painter would +distribute on his canvas the colours, lights, and shadows of his +picture. When all this was done, he opened his harpsichord, which he +had been using as his writing-table; and then I heard an air, a duet, +a chorus, complete in all its parts, with a truth of expression, an +intelligence, a unity of design, a magic in the harmony, which +delighted both my ear and my feelings." + +Piccini's arrival in Paris had been kept a close secret while he was +working on the new opera, but Abbe du Rollet ferreted it out, and +acquainted Gluck, which piece of news the great German took with +philosophical disdain. Indeed, he attended the rehearsal of "Roland;" +and when his rival, in despair over his ignorance of French and the +stupidity of the orchestra, threw down the baton in despair, Gluck +took it up, and by his magnetic authority brought order out of chaos +and restored tranquillity, a help as much, probably, the fruit of +condescension and contempt as of generosity. + +Still Gluck was not easy in mind over this intrigue of his enemies, +and wrote a bitter letter, which was made public, and aggravated the +war of public feeling. Epigrams and accusations flew back and forth +like hailstones.[E] + +"Do you know that the Chevalier (Gluck's title) has an Armida and +Orlando in his portfolio?" said Abbe Arnaud to a Piccinist. + +"But Piccini is also at work on an Orlando," was the retort. + +"So much the better," returned the abbe, "for then we shall have an +Orlando and also an Orlandino," was the keen answer. + +The public attention was stimulated by the war of pamphlets, lampoons, +and newspaper articles. Many of the great _literati_ were Piccinists, +among them Marmontel, La Harpe, D'Alembert, etc. Suard du Rollet and +Jean Jacques Rousseau fought in the opposite ranks. Although the +nation was trembling on the verge of revolution, and the French had +just lost their hold on the East Indies; though Mirabeau was +thundering in the tribune, and Jacobin clubs were commencing their +baleful work, soon to drench Paris in blood, all factions and discords +were forgotten. The question was no longer, "Is he a Jansenist, a +Molinist, an Encyclopaedist, a philosopher, a free-thinker?" One +question only was thought of, "Is he a Gluckist or Piccinist?" and on +the answer often depended the peace of families and the cement of +long-established friendships. + +Piccini's opera was a brilliant success with the fickle Parisians, +though the Gluckists sneered at it as pretty concert music. The retort +was that Gluck had no gift of melody, though they admitted he had the +advantage over his rival of making more noise. The poor Italian was so +much distressed by the fierce contest that he and his family were in +despair on the night of the first representation. He could only say to +his weeping wife and son, "Come, my children, this is unreasonable. +Remember that we are not among savages; we are living with the +politest and kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a +musician, they will at all events respect me as a man and a stranger." +To do justice to Piccini, a mild and timid man, he never took part in +the controversy, and always spoke of his opponent with profound +respect and admiration. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[E] _See_ article on Gluck in "Great German Composers." + + +III. + +Marie Antoinette, whom Mdme. du Barry and her clique looked on as +Piccini's enemy, astonished both cabals by appointing Piccini her +singing-master--an unprofitable honour, for he received no pay, and +was obliged to give costly copies of his compositions to the royal +family. He might have quoted from the Latin poet in regard to this +favour from Marie Antoinette, whose faction in music, among other +names, was known as the Greek party, "_Timeo Danaos et dona +ferentes_."[F] Beaumarchais, the brilliant author of "Figaro," had +found the same inconvenience when acting as court teacher to the +daughters of Louis XV. The French kings were parsimonious except when +lavishing money on their vices. + +The action of the dauphiness, however, paved the way for a +reconciliation between Piccini and Gluck. Berton, the manager of the +opera, gave a luxurious banquet, and the musicians, side by side, +pledged each other in libations of champagne. Gluck got confidential +in his cups. "These French," he said, "are good enough people, but +they make me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they +can't sing." In fact, the quarrel was not between the musicians but +their adherents. In his own heart Piccini knew his inferiority to +Gluck. + +De Vismes, Berton's successor, proposed that both should write operas +on the same subject, "Iphigenia in Tauris," and gave him a libretto. +"The French public will have for the first time," he said, "the +pleasure of hearing two operas on the same theme, with the same +incidents, the same characters, but composed by two great masters of +totally different schools." + +"But," objected the alarmed Italian, "if Gluck's opera is played +first, the public will be so delighted that they will not listen to +mine." + +"To avoid that catastrophe," said the director, "we will play yours +first." + +"But Gluck will not permit it." + +"I give you my word of honour," said De Vismes, "that your opera shall +be put in rehearsal and brought out as soon as it is finished." + +Before Piccini had finished his opera, he heard that his rival was +back from Germany with his "Iphigenia" completed, and that it was in +rehearsal. The director excused himself on the plea of its being a +royal command. Gluck's work was his masterpiece, and produced an +unparalleled sensation among the Parisians. Even his enemies were +silenced, and La Harpe said it was the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of the world. +Piccini's work, when produced, was admired, but it stood no chance +with the profound, serious, and wonderfully dramatic composition of +his rival. + +On the night of the first performance Mdlle. Laguerre, to whom Piccini +had trusted the role of Iphigenia, could not stand straight from +intoxication. "This is not 'Iphigenia in Tauris,'" said the witty +Sophie Arnould, "but 'Iphigenia in champagne.'" She compensated +afterwards, though, by singing the part with exquisite effect. + +While the Gluck-Piccini battle was at its height, an amateur who was +disgusted with the contest returned to the country and sang the +praises of the birds and their gratuitous performances in the +following epigram:-- + + "La n'est point d'art, d'ennui scientifique; + Piccini, Gluck, n'ont point note les airs. + Nature seule en dicta la musique, + Et Marmontel n'en a pas fait les vers." + +The sentiment of this was probably applauded by the many who were +wearied of the bitter recriminations, which degraded the art which +they professed to serve. + +During the period when Gluck and Piccini were composing for the French +opera, its affairs nourished liberally under the sway of De Vismes. +Gluck, Piccini, and Rameau wrote serious operas, while Piccini, +Sacchini, Anfossi, and Paisiello composed comic operas. The ballet +flourished with unsurpassed splendour, and on the whole it may be said +that never has the opera presented more magnificence at Paris than +during the time France was on the eve of the Reign of Terror. The gay +capital was thronged with great singers, the traditions of whose +artistic ability compare favourably with those of a more recent +period. + +The witty and beautiful Sophie Arnould, who had a train of princes at +her feet, was the principal exponent of Gluck's heroines, while Mdlle. +Laguerre was the mainstay of the Piccinists. The rival factions made +the names of these charming and capricious women their war-cries not +less than those of the composers. The public bowed and cringed before +these idols of the stage. Gaetan Vestris, the first of the family, +known as the "_Dieu de la Danse_" and who held that there were only +three great men in Europe, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Voltaire, +and himself, dared to dictate even to Gluck. "Write me the music of a +chaconne, Monsieur Gluck," said the god of dancing. + +"A chaconne!" said the enraged composer. "Do you think the Greeks, +whose manners we are endeavouring to depict, knew what a chaconne +was?" + +"Did they not?" replied Vestris, astonished at this news, and in a +tone of compassion continued, "then they are much to be pitied." + +Vestris did not obtain his ballet music from the obdurate German; but, +when Piccini's rival "_Iphigenie en Tauride_" was produced, such +beautiful dance measures were furnished by the Italian composer as +gave Vestris the opportunity for one of his greatest triumphs. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[F] I fear the Greeks, though offering gifts. + + +IV. + +The contest between Gluck and Piccini, or rather the cabals who +adopted the two musicians as their figure-heads, was brought to an end +by the death of the former. An attempt was made to set up Sacchini in +his place, but it proved unavailing, as the new composer proved to be +quite as much a follower of the prevailing Italian method as of the +new school of Gluck. The French revolution swept away Piccini's +property, and he retired to Italy. Bad fortune pursued him, however. +Queen Caroline of Naples conceived a dislike to him, and used her +influence to injure his career, out of a fit of wounded vanity. + +"Do you not think I resemble my sister, Marie Antoinette?" queried the +somewhat ill-favoured queen. Piccini, embarrassed but truthful, +replied, "Your majesty, there may be a family likeness, but no +resemblance." A fatality attended him even to Venice. In 1792 he was +mobbed and his house burned, because the populace regarded him as a +republican, for he had a French son-in-law. Some partial musical +successes, however, consoled him, though they flattered his _amour +propre_ more than they benefited his purse. On his return to Naples he +was subjected to a species of imprisonment during four years, for +royal displeasure in those days did not confine itself merely to lack +of court favour. Reduced to great poverty, the composer who had been +the favourite of the rich and great for so many years knew often the +actual pangs of hunger, and eked out his subsistence by writing +conventual psalms, as payment for the broken food doled out by the +monks. + +At last he was released, and the tenor, David, sent him funds to pay +his journey to Paris. Napoleon, the first consul, received him +cordially in the Luxembourg palace. + +"Sit down," said he to Piccini, who remained standing, "a man of your +greatness stands in no one's presence." His reception in Paris was, in +fact, an ovation. The manager of the opera gave him a pension of +twenty-four hundred francs, a government pension was also accorded, +and he was appointed sixth inspector at the Conservatory. But the +benefits of this pale gleam of wintry sunshine did not long remain. He +died at Passy in the year 1800, and was followed to the grave by a +great throng of those who loved his beautiful music and admired his +gentle life. + +In the present day Gluck appears to have vanquished Piccini, because +occasionally an opera of the former is performed, while Piccini's +works are only known to the musical antiquarian. But even the marble +temples of Gluck are moss-grown and neglected, and that great man is +known to the present day rather as one whose influence profoundly +coloured and changed the philosophy of opera, than through any +immediate acquaintance with his productions. The connoisseurs of the +eighteenth century found Piccini's melodies charming, but the works +that endure as masterpieces are not those which contain the greatest +number of beauties, but those of which the form is the most perfect. +Gluck had larger conceptions and more powerful genius than his Italian +rival, but the latter's sweet spring of melody gave him the highest +place which had so far been attained in the Italian operatic school. + +"Piccini," says M. Genguene, his biographer, "was under the middle +size, but well made, with considerable dignity of carriage. His +countenance was very agreeable. His mind was acute, enlarged, and +cultivated. Latin and Italian literature was familiar to him when he +went to France, and afterwards he became almost as well acquainted +with French literature. He spoke and wrote Italian with great purity, +but among his countrymen he preferred the Neapolitan dialect, which he +considered the most expressive, the most difficult, and the most +figurative of all languages. He used it principally in narration, with +a gaiety, a truth, and a pantomimic expression after the manner of his +country, which delighted all his friends, and made his stories +intelligible even to those who knew Italian but slightly." + +As a musician Piccini was noticeable, according to the judgment of his +best critics, for the purity and simplicity of his style. He always +wished to preserve the supremacy of the voice, and, though he well +knew how to make his instrumentation rich and effective, he was a +resolute opponent to the florid and complex accompaniments which were +coming into vogue in his day. His recorded opinion on this subject may +have some interest for the musicians of the present day:-- + +"Were the employment which Nature herself assigns to the instruments +of an orchestra preserved to them, a variety of effects and a series +of infinitely diversified pictures would be produced. But they are all +thrown in at once and used incessantly, and they thus overpower and +indurate the ear, without presenting any picture to the mind, to which +the ear is the passage. I should be glad to know how they will arouse +it when it is accustomed to this uproar, which will soon happen, and +of what new witchcraft they will avail themselves.... It is well known +what occurs to palates blunted by the use of spirituous liquors. In a +few months everything may be learned which is necessary to produce +these exaggerated effects, but it requires much time and study to be +able to excite genuine emotion." Piccini followed strictly the canons +of the Italian school; and, though far inferior in really great +qualities to his rival Gluck, his compositions had in them so much of +fluent grace and beauty as to place him at the head of his +predecessors. Some curious critics have indeed gone so far as to +charge that many of the finest arias of Rossini, Donizetti, and +Bellini owe their paternity to this composer, an indictment not +uncommon in music, for most of the great composers have rifled the +sweets of their predecessors without scruple. + + +V. + +Paisiello and Cimarosa, in their style and processes of work, seem to +have more nearly caught the mantle of Piccini than any others, though +they were contemporaries as well as successors. GIOVANNI PAISIELLO, +born in 1741, was educated, like many other great musicians, at the +Conservatory of San Onofrio. During his early life he produced a great +number of pieces for the Italian theatres, and in 1776 accepted the +invitation of Catherine to become the court composer at St. +Petersburg, where he remained nine years, and produced several of his +best operas, chief among them, "Il Barbiere di Seviglia" (a different +version of Beaumarchais's celebrated comedy from that afterwards used +by Rossini). + +The empress was devotedly attached to him, and showed her esteem in +many signal ways. On one occasion, while Paisiello was accompanying +her in a song, she observed that he shuddered with the bitter cold. On +this Catherine took off her splendid ermine cloak, decorated with +clasps of brilliants, and threw it over her tutor's shoulders. In a +quarrel which Paisiello had with Marshal Beloseloky, the temporary +favourite of the Russian Messalina, her favour was shown in a still +more striking way. The marshal had given the musician a blow, on which +Paisiello, a very large, athletic man, drubbed the Russian general +most unmercifully. The latter demanded the immediate dismissal of the +composer for having insulted a dignitary of the empire. Catherine's +reply was similar to the one made by Francis the First of France in a +parallel case about Leonardo da Vinci-- + +"I neither can nor will attend to your request; you forgot your +dignity when you gave an unoffending man and a great artist a blow. +Are you surprised that he should have forgotten it too? As for rank, +it is in my power to make fifty marshals, but not one Paisiello." + +Some years after his return to Italy, he was engaged by Napoleon as +chapel-master; for that despot ruled the art and literature of his +times as autocratically as their politics. Though Paisiello did not +wish to obey the mandate, to refuse was ruin. The French ruler had +already shown his favour by giving him the preference over Cherubini +in several important musical contests, for the latter had always +displayed stern independence of courtly favour. On Paisiello's arrival +in Paris, several lucrative appointments indicated the sincerity of +Napoleon's intentions. The composer did not hesitate to stand on his +rights as a musician on all occasions. When Napoleon complained of the +inefficiency of the chapel service, he said, courageously, "I can't +blame people for doing their duty carelessly, when they are not justly +paid." The cunning Italian knew how to flatter, though, when occasion +served. He once addressed his master as "Sire." + +"'Sire,' what do you mean?" answered the first consul. "I am a general +and nothing more." + +"Well, General," continued the composer, "I have come to place myself +at your majesty's orders." + +"I must really beg you," rejoined Napoleon, "not to address me in this +manner." + +"Forgive me, General," said Paisiello. "But I cannot give up the habit +I have contracted in addressing sovereigns, who, compared with you, +are but pigmies. However, I will not forget your commands, and, if I +have been unfortunate enough to offend, I must throw myself on your +majesty's indulgence." + +Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass written for +Napoleon's coronation, and one thousand for all others. As he produced +masses with great rapidity, he could very well afford to neglect +operatic writing during this period. His masses were pasticcio work +made up of pieces selected from his operas and other compositions. +This could be easily done, for music is arbitrary in its associations. +Love songs of a passionate and sentimental cast were quickly made +religious by suitable words. Thus the same melody will depict equally +well the rage of a baffled conspirator, the jealousy of an injured +husband, the grief of lovers about to part, the despondency of a man +bent on suicide, the devotion of the nun, or the rapt adoration of +worship. A different text and a slight change in time effect the +marvel, and hardly a composer has disdained to borrow from one work to +enrich another. His only opera composed in Paris, "Proserpine," was +not successful. + +Failure of health obliged Paisiello to return to Naples, when he again +entered the service of the king. Attached to the fortunes of the +Bonaparte family, his prosperity fell with theirs. He had been crowned +with honours by all the musical societies of the world, but his +pensions and emoluments ceased with the fall of Joachim Murat from the +Neapolitan throne. He died June 5, 1816, and the court, which +neglected him living, gave him a magnificent funeral. + +"Paisiello," says the Chevalier Le Sueur, "was not only a great +musician, but possessed a large fund of general information. He was +well versed in the dead languages, acquainted with all branches of +literature, and on terms of friendship with the most distinguished +persons of the age. His mind was noble and above all mean passions; he +neither knew envy nor the feeling of rivalry.... He composed," says +the same writer, "seventy-eight operas, of which twenty-seven were +serious, and fifty-one comic, eight _intermezzi_, and an immense +number of cantatas, oratorios, masses, etc.; seven symphonies for King +Joseph of Spain, and many miscellaneous pieces for the court of +Russia." + +Paisiello's style, according to Fetis, was characterised by great +simplicity and apparent facility. His few and unadorned notes, full of +grace, were yet deep and varied in their expression. In his simplicity +was the proof of his abundance. It was not necessary for him to have +recourse to musical artifice and complication to conceal poverty of +invention. His accompaniments were similar in character, clear and +picturesque, without pretence of elaboration. The latter not only +relieved and sustained the voice, but were full of original effects, +novel to his time. He was the author, too, of important improvements +in instrumental composition. He introduced the viola, clarionet, and +bassoon into the orchestra of the Italian opera. Though voluminous +both in serious and comic opera, it was in the latter that he won his +chief laurels. His "Pazza per Amore" was one of the great Pasta's +favourites, and Catalani added largely to her reputation in the part +of _La Frascatana_. Several of Paisiello's comic operas still keep a +dramatic place on the German stage, where excellence is not sacrificed +to novelty. + + +VI. + +A still higher place must be assigned to another disciple and follower +of the school perfected by Piccini, DOMINIC CIMAROSA, born in Naples +in 1749. His life down to his latter years was an uninterrupted flow +of prosperity. His mother, a humble washerwoman, could do little for +her fatherless child, but an observant priest saw the promise of the +lad, and taught him till he was old enough to enter the Conservatory +of St. Maria di Loretto. His early works showed brilliant invention +and imagination, and the young Cimarosa, before he left the +Conservatory, had made himself a good violinist and singer. He worked +hard, during a musical apprenticeship of many years, to lay a solid +foundation for the fame which his teachers prophesied for him from the +onset. Like Paisiello, he was for several years attached to the court +of Catherine II. of Russia. He had already produced a number of +pleasing works, both serious and comic, for the Italian theatres, and +his faculty of production was equalled by the richness and variety of +his scores. During a period of four years spent at the imperial court +of the North, Cimarosa produced nearly five hundred works, great and +small, and only left the service of his magnificent patroness, who was +no less passionately fond of art than she was great as a ruler and +dissolute as a woman, because the severe climate affected his health, +for he was a typical Italian in his temperament. + +He was arrested in his southward journey by the urgent persuasions of +the Emperor Leopold, who made him chapel-master, with a salary of +twelve thousand florins. The taste for the Italian school was still +paramount at the musical capital of Austria. Though such composers as +Haydn, Salieri, and young Mozart, who had commenced to be welcomed as +an unexampled prodigy, were in Vienna, the court preferred the suave +and shallow beauties of Italian music to their own serious German +school, which was commencing to send down such deep roots into the +popular heart. + +Cimarosa produced "Il Matrimonio Segreto" (The Secret Marriage), his +finest opera, for his new patron. The libretto was founded on a +forgotten French operetta, which again was adapted from Garrick and +Colman's "Clandestine Marriage." The emperor could not attend the +first representation, but a brilliant audience hailed it with delight. +Leopold made amends, though, on the second night, for he stood in his +box, and said, aloud-- + +"Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is admirable, +delightful, enchanting! I did not applaud, that I might not lose a +single note of this masterpiece. You have heard it twice, and I must +have the same pleasure before I go to bed. Singers and musicians, pass +into the next room. Cimarosa will come, too, and preside at the +banquet prepared for you. When you have had sufficient rest, we will +begin again. I encore the whole opera, and in the meanwhile let us +applaud it as it deserves." + +The emperor gave the signal, and, midst a thunderstorm of plaudits, +the musicians passed into their midnight feast. There is no record of +any other such compliment, except that to the Latin dramatist, +Plautus, whose "Eunuchus" was performed twice on the same day. + +Yet the same Viennese public, six years before, had actually hissed +Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro," which shares with Rossini's "Il Barbiere" +the greatest rank in comic opera, and has retained, to this day, its +perennial freshness and interest. Cimarosa himself did not share the +opinion of his admirers in respect to Mozart. A certain Viennese +painter attempted to flatter him, by decrying Mozart's music in +comparison with his own. The following retort shows the nobility of +genius--"I, sir? What would you call the man who would seek to assure +you that you were superior to Raphael?" Another acute rejoinder, on +the respective merits of Mozart and Cimarosa, was made by the French +composer, Gretry, in answer to a criticism by Napoleon, when first +consul, that great man affecting to be a _dilettante_ in music-- + +"Sire, Cimarosa puts the statue on the theatre and the pedestal in the +orchestra, instead of which Mozart puts the statue in the orchestra +and the pedestal on the theatre." + +The composer's hitherto brilliant career was doomed to a gloomy close. +On returning to Naples, at the Emperor Leopold's death, Cimarosa +produced several of his finest works; among which musical students +place first--"Il Matrimonio per Susurro," "La Penelope," +"L'Olimpiade," "Il Sacrificio d'Abrama," "Gli Amanti Comici," and "Gli +Orazi." These were performed almost simultaneously in the theatres of +Paris, Naples, and Vienna. Cimarosa attached himself warmly to the +French cause in Italy, and when the Bourbons finally triumphed the +musician suffered their bitterest resentment. He narrowly escaped with +his life, and languished for a long time in a dungeon, so closely +immured that it was for a long time believed by his friends that his +head had fallen on the block. + +At length released, he quitted the Neapolitan territory, only to die +at Venice in a few months, "in consequence," Stendhall says, in his +_Life of Rossini_, "of the barbarous treatment he had met with in the +prison into which he had been thrown by Queen Caroline." He died +January 11, 1801. + +Cimarosa's genius embraced both the tragic and comic schools of +composition. He may be specially called a genuine master of musical +comedy. He was the finest example of the school perfected by Piccini, +and was indeed the link between the old Italian opera and the new +development of which Rossini is such a brilliant exponent. Schlueter, +in his _History of Music_, says of him--"Like Mozart, he excels in +those parts of an opera which decide its merits as a work of art, the +_ensembles_ and _finale_. His admirable and by no means antiquated +opera, 'Il Matrimonio Segreto' (the charming offspring of his 'secret +marriage' with the Mozart opera) is a model of exquisite and graceful +comedy. The overture bears a striking resemblance to that of 'Figaro,' +and the instrumentation of the whole opera is highly characteristic, +though not so prominent as in Mozart. Especially delightful are the +secret love-scenes, written evidently _con amore_, the composer having +practised them many a time in his youth." + +This opera is still performed in many parts of Europe to delighted +audiences, and is ranked by competent critics as the third finest +comic opera extant, Mozart and Rossini only surpassing him in their +masterpieces. It was a great favourite with Lablache, and its +magnificent performance by Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and the king of +bassos, is a gala reminiscence of English and French opera-goers. + +We quote an opinion also from another able authority--"The drama of +'Gli Orazi' is taken from Corneille's tragedy, 'Les Horaces.' The +music is full of noble simplicity, beautiful melody, and strong +expression. In the airs dramatic truth is never sacrificed to vocal +display, and the concerted pieces are grand, broad, and effective. +Taken as a whole, the piece is free from antiquated and obsolete +forms; and it wants nothing but an orchestral score of greater +fullness and variety to satisfy the modern ear. It is still frequently +performed in Germany, though in France and England, and even in its +native country, it seems to be forgotten." + +Cardinal Consalvi, Cimarosa's friend, caused splendid funeral honours +to be paid to him at Rome. Canova executed a marble bust of him, which +was placed in the gallery of the Capitol. + + + + +_ROSSINI._ + + +I. + +The "Swan of Pesaro" is a name linked with some of the most charming +musical associations of this age. Though forty years silence made +fruitless what should have been the richest creative period of +Rossini's life, his great works, poured forth with such facility, and +still retaining their grasp in spite of all changes in public opinion, +stamp him as being the most gifted composer ever produced by a country +so fecund in musical geniuses. The old set forms of Italian opera had +already yielded in large degree to the energy and pomp of French +declamation, when Rossini poured into them afresh such exhilaration +and sparkle as again placed his country in the van of musical Europe. +With no pretension to the grand, majestic, and severe, his fresh and +delightful melodies, flowing without stint, excited alike the critical +and the unlearned into a species of artistic craze, a mania which has +not yet subsided. The stiff and stately Oublicheff confesses, with +many compunctions of conscience, that, when listening for the first +time to one of Rossini's operas, he forgot for the time being all that +he had ever known, admired, played, or sung, for he was musically +drunk, as if with champagne. Learned Germans might shake their heads +and talk about shallowness and contrapuntal rubbish, his _crescendo_ +and _stretto_ passages, his tameness and uniformity even in melody, +his want of artistic finish; but, as Richard Wagner, his direct +antipodes, frankly confesses in his "Oper und Drama," such objections +were dispelled by Rossini's opera-airs as if they were mere delusions +of the fancy. Essentially different from Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, +Haydn, or even Weber, with whom he has some affinities, he stands a +unique figure in the history of art, an original both as man and +musician. + +GIOACCHINO ROSSINI was the son of a town-trumpeter and an operatic +singer of inferior rank, born in Pesaro, Romagna, February 29, 1792. +The child attended the itinerant couple in their visits to fairs and +musical gatherings, and was in danger, at the age of seven, of +becoming a thorough-paced little vagabond, when maternal alarm trusted +his education to the friendly hands of the music-master, Prinetti. At +this tender age even he had been introduced to the world of art, for +he sang the part of a child at the Bologna opera. "Nothing," said +Mdme. Georgi-Righetti, "could be imagined more tender, more touching, +than the voice and action of this remarkable child." + +The young Rossini, after a year or two, came under the notice of the +celebrated teacher Tesei, of Bologna, who gave him lessons in +pianoforte playing and the voice, and obtained him a good place as +boy-soprano at one of the churches. He now attracted the attention of +the Countess Perticari, who admired his voice, and she sent him to the +Lyceum to learn fugue and counterpoint at the feet of a very strict +Gamaliel, Padre Mattei. The youth was no dull student, and, in spite +of his capricious indolence, which vexed the soul of his tutor, he +made such rapid progress that at the age of sixteen he was chosen to +write the cantata, annually awarded to the most promising student. +Success greeted the juvenile effort, and thus we see Rossini fairly +launched as a composer. Of the early operas which he poured out for +five years it is not needful to speak, except that one of them so +pleased the austere Marshal Massena that he exempted the composer from +conscription. The first opera which made Rossini's name famous through +Europe was "Tancredi," written for the Venetian public. To this opera +belongs the charming "Di tanti palpiti," written under the following +circumstances:--Mdme. Melanotte, the _prima donna_, took the whim +during the final rehearsal that she would not sing the opening air, +but must have another. Rossini went home in sore disgust, for the +whole opera was likely to be put off by this caprice. There were but +two hours before the performance. He sat waiting for his macaroni, +when an exquisite air came into his head, and it was written in five +minutes. + +After his great success he received offers from almost every town in +Italy, each clamouring to be served first. Every manager was required +to furnish his theatre with an opera from the pen of the new idol. For +these earlier essays he received a thousand francs each, and he wrote +five or six a year. Stendhall, Rossini's spirited biographer, gives a +picturesque account of life in the Italian theatres at this time, a +status which remains in some of its features to-day-- + +"The mechanism is as follows:--The manager is frequently one of the +most wealthy and considerable persons of the little town he inhabits. +He forms a company, consisting of _prima donna_, _tenoro_, _basso +cantante_, _basso buffo_, a second female singer, and a third _basso_. +The _libretto_, or poem, is purchased for sixty or eighty francs from +some unlucky son of the muses, who is generally a half-starved abbe, +the hanger-on of some rich family in the neighbourhood. The character +of the parasite, so admirably painted by Terence, is still to be found +in all its glory in Lombardy, where the smallest town can boast of +some five or six families of some wealth. A _maestro_, or composer, is +then engaged to write a new opera, and he is obliged to adapt his own +airs to the voices and capacity of the company. The manager intrusts +the care of the financial department to a _registrario_, who is +generally some pettifogging attorney, who holds the position of his +steward. The next thing that generally happens is that the manager +falls in love with the _prima donna_; and the progress of this +important amour gives ample employment to the curiosity of the +gossips. + +"The company thus organised at length gives its first representation, +after a month of cabals and intrigues, which furnish conversation for +the town. This is an event in the simple annals of the town, of the +importance of which the residents of large places can form no idea. +During months together a population of eight or ten thousand people do +nothing but discuss the merit of the forthcoming music and singers +with the eager impetuosity which belongs to the Italian character and +climate. The first representation, if successful, is generally +followed by twenty or thirty more of the same piece, after which the +company breaks up.... From this little sketch of theatrical +arrangements in Italy some idea may be formed of the life which +Rossini led from 1810 to 1816." Between these years he visited all the +principal towns, remaining three or four months at each, the idolised +guest of the _dilettanti_ of the place. Rossini's idleness and love of +good cheer always made him procrastinate his labours till the last +moment, and placed him in dilemmas from which only his fluency of +composition extricated him. His biographer says:-- + +"The day of performance is fast approaching, and yet he cannot resist +the pressing invitations of these friends to dine with them at the +tavern. This, of course, leads to a supper, the champagne circulates +freely, and the hour of morning steals on apace. At length a +compunctious vision shoots across the mind of the truant composer. He +rises abruptly; his friends insist on seeing him home; and they parade +the silent streets bareheaded, shouting in chorus whatever comes +uppermost, perhaps a portion of a _miserere_, to the great scandal of +pious Catholics tucked snugly in their beds. At length he reaches his +lodging, and shutting himself up in his chamber is, at this, to +every-day mortals, most ungenial hour, visited by some of his most +brilliant inspirations. These he hastily scratches down on scraps of +paper, and next morning arranges them, or, in his own phrase, +instruments them, amid the renewed interruptions of his visitors. At +length the important night arrives. The _maestro_ takes his place at +the pianoforte. The theatre is overflowing, people having flocked to +the town from ten leagues distance. Every inn is crowded, and those +unable to get other accommodations encamp around the theatre in their +various vehicles. All business is suspended, and, during the +performances, the town has the appearance of a desert. The passions, +the anxieties, the very life of a whole population are centered in the +theatre." + +Rossini would preside at the first three representations, and, after +receiving a grand civic banquet, set out for the next place, his +portmanteau fuller of music-paper than of other effects, and perhaps a +dozen sequins in his pocket. His love of jesting during these gay +Bohemian wanderings made him perpetrate innumerable practical jokes, +not sparing himself when he had no more available food for mirth. On +one occasion, in travelling from Ancona to Reggio, he passed himself +off for a musical professor, a mortal enemy of Rossini, and sang the +words of his own operas to the most execrable music, in a cracked +voice, to show his superiority to that donkey, Rossini. An unknown +admirer of his was in such a rage that he was on the point of +chastising him for slandering the great musician, about whom Italy +raved. + +Our composer's earlier style was quite simple and unadorned, a fact +difficult for the present generation, only acquainted with the florid +beauties of his later works, to appreciate. Rossini only followed the +traditions of Italian music in giving singers full opportunity to +embroider the naked score at their own pleasure. He was led to change +this practice by the following incident. The tenor-singer Velluti was +then the favourite of the Italian theatres, and indulged in the most +unwarrantable tricks with his composers. During the first performance +of "L'Aureliano," at Naples, the singer loaded the music with such +ornaments that Rossini could not recognise the offspring of his own +brains. A fierce quarrel ensued between the two, and the composer +determined thereafter to write music of such a character that the most +stupid singer could not suppose any adornment needed. From that time +the Rossini music was marked by its florid and brilliant embroidery. +Of the same Velluti, spoken of above, an incident is told, +illustrating the musical craze of the country and the period. A +Milanese gentleman, whose father was very ill, met his friend in the +street--"Where are you going?" "To the Scala, to be sure." "How! your +father lies at the point of death." "Yes! yes! I know, but Velluti +sings to-night." + + +II. + +An important step in Rossini's early career was his connection with +the widely known impresario of the San Carlo, Naples, Barbaja. He was +under contract to produce two new operas annually, to rearrange all +old scores, and to conduct at all of the theatres ruled by this +manager. He was to receive two hundred ducats a month, and a share in +the profits of the bank of the San Carlo gambling-saloon. His first +opera composed here was "Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra," which was +received with a genuine Neapolitan _furore_. Rossini was feted and +caressed by the ardent _dilettanti_ of this city to his heart's +content, and was such an idol of the "fickle fair" that his career on +more than one occasion narrowly escaped an untimely close, from the +prejudices of jealous spouses. The composer was very vain of his +handsome person, and boasted of his _escapades d'amour_. Many, too, +will recall his _mot_, spoken to a beauty standing between himself and +the Duke of Wellington--"Madame, how happy should you be to find +yourself placed between the two greatest men in Europe!" + +One of Rossini's adventures at Naples has in it something of romance. +He was sitting in his chamber, humming one of his own operatic airs, +when the ugliest Mercury he had ever seen entered and gave him a note, +then instantly withdrew. This, of course, was a tender invitation, and +an assignation at a romantic spot in the suburb. On arriving Rossini +sang his _aria_ for a signal, and from the gate of a charming park +surrounding a small villa appeared his beautiful and unknown +inamorata. On parting it was agreed that the same messenger should +bring notice of the second appointment. Rossini suspected that the +lady, in disguise, was her own envoy, and verified the guess by +following the light-footed page. He then discovered that she was the +wife of a wealthy Sicilian, widely noted for her beauty, and one of +the reigning toasts. On renewing his visit, he barely arrived at the +gate of the park, when a carbine-bullet grazed his head, and two +masked assailants sprang toward him with drawn rapiers, a proceeding +which left Rossini no option but to take to his heels, as he was +unarmed. + +During the composer's residence at Naples he was made acquainted with +many of the most powerful princes and nobles of Europe, and his name +became a recognised factor in European music, though his works were +not widely known outside of his native land. His reputation for genius +spread by report, for all who came in contact with the brilliant, +handsome Rossini were charmed. That which placed his European fame on +a solid basis was the production of "Il Barbiere di Seviglia" at Rome +during the carnival season of 1816. + +Years before Rossini had thought of setting the sparkling comedy of +Beaumarchais to music, and Sterbini, the author of the _libretto_ used +by Paisiello, had proposed to rearrange the story. Rossini, indeed, +had been so complaisant as to write to the older composer for +permission to set fresh music to the comedy; a concession not needed, +for the plays of Metastasio had been used by different musicians +without scruple. Paisiello intrigued against the new opera, and +organised a conspiracy to kill it on the first night. Sterbini made +the libretto totally different from the other, and Rossini finished +the music in thirteen days, during which he never left the house. "Not +even did I get shaved," he said to a friend. "It seems strange that +through the 'Barber' you should have gone without shaving." "If I had +shaved," Rossini exclaimed, "I should have gone out; and, if I had +gone out, I should not have come back in time." + +The first performance was a curious scene. The Argentina Theatre was +packed with friends and foes. One of the greatest of tenors, Garcia, +the father of Malibran and Pauline Viardot, sang Almaviva. Rossini had +been weak enough to allow Garcia to sing a Spanish melody for a +serenade, for the latter urged the necessity of vivid national and +local colour. The tenor had forgotten to tune his guitar, and in the +operation on the stage a string broke. This gave the signal for a +tumult of ironical laughter and hisses. The same hostile atmosphere +continued during the evening. Even Madame Georgi-Righetti, a great +favourite of the Romans, was coldly received by the audience. In +short, the opera seemed likely to be damned. + +When the singers went to condole with Rossini, they found him enjoying +a luxurious supper with the gusto of the _gourmet_ that he was. +Settled in his knowledge that he had written a masterpiece, he could +not be disturbed by unjust clamour. The next night the fickle Romans +made ample amends, for the opera was concluded amid the warmest +applause, even from the friends of Paisiello. + +Rossini's "Il Barbiere," within six months, was performed on nearly +every stage in Europe, and received universally with great admiration. +It was only in Paris, two years afterwards, that there was some +coldness in its reception. Every one said that after Paisiello's music +on the same subject it was nothing, when it was suggested that +Paisiello's should be revived. So the St. Petersburg "Barbiere" of +1788 was produced, and beside Rossini's it proved so dull, stupid, and +antiquated that the public instantly recognised the beauties of the +work which they had persuaded themselves to ignore. Yet for this work, +which placed the reputation of the young composer on a lofty pedestal, +he received only two thousand francs. + +Our composer took his failures with great phlegm and good-nature, +based, perhaps, on an invincible self-confidence. When his +"Sigismonde" had been hissed at Venice, he sent his mother a _fiasco_ +(bottle). In the last instance he sent her, on the morning succeeding +the first performance, a letter with a picture of a _fiaschetto_ +(little bottle). + + +III. + +The same year (1816) was produced at Naples the opera of "Otello," +which was an important point of departure in the reforms introduced by +Rossini on the Italian stage. Before speaking further of this +composer's career, it is necessary to admit that every valuable change +furthered by him had already been inaugurated by Mozart, a musical +genius so great that he seems to have included all that went before, +all that succeeded him. It was not merely that Rossini enriched the +orchestration to such a degree, but, revolting from the delay of the +dramatic movement, caused by the great number of arias written for +each character, he gave large prominence to the concerted pieces, and +used them where monologue had formerly been the rule. He developed the +basso and baritone parts, giving them marked importance in serious +opera, and worked out the choruses and finales with the most elaborate +finish. + +Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, a celebrated connoisseur and admirer of the old +school, wrote of these innovations, ignoring the fact that Mozart had +given the weight of his great authority to them before the daring +young Italian composer:-- + +"The construction of these newly-invented pieces is essentially +different from the old. The dialogue, which used to be carried on in +recitative, and which, in Metastasio's operas, is often so beautiful +and interesting, is now cut up (and rendered unintelligible if it were +worth listening to) into _pezzi concertati_, or long singing +conversations, which present a tedious succession of unconnected, +ever-changing motives, having nothing to do with each other; and if a +satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, which the ear would like +to dwell upon, to hear modulated, varied, and again returned to, it is +broken off, before it is well understood, by a sudden transition in an +entirely different melody, time, and key, and recurs no more, so that +no impression can be made, or recollection of it preserved. Single +songs are almost exploded.... Even the _prima donna_, who formerly +would have complained at having less than three or four airs allotted +to her, is now satisfied with having one single _cavatina_ given to +her during the whole opera." + +In "Otello," Rossini introduced his operatic changes to the Italian +public, and they were well received; yet great opposition was +manifested by those who clung to the time-honoured canons. Sigismondi, +of the Naples Conservatory, was horror-stricken on first seeing the +score of this opera. The clarionets were too much for him, but on +seeing third and fourth horn-parts, he exclaimed, "What does the man +want? The greatest of our composers have always been contented with +two. Shades of Pergolesi, of Leo, of Jomelli! How they must shudder at +the bare thought! Four horns! Are we at a hunting-party? Four horns! +Enough to blow us to perdition!" Donizetti, who was Sigismondi's pupil, +also tells an amusing incident of his preceptor's disgust. He was +turning over a score of "Semiramide" in the library, when the _maestro_ +came in and asked him what music it was. "Rossini's," was the answer. +Sigismondi glanced at the page and saw 1. 2. 3. trumpets, being the +first, second, and third trumpet parts. Aghast, he shouted, stuffing +his fingers in his ears, "One hundred and twenty-three trumpets! _Corpo +di Cristo!_ the world's gone mad, and I shall go mad too!" And so he +rushed from the room, muttering to himself about the hundred and +twenty-three trumpets. + +The Italian public, in spite of such criticism, very soon accepted the +opera of "Otello" as the greatest serious opera ever written for their +stage. It owed much, however, to the singers who illustrated its +roles. Mdme. Colbran, afterwards Rossini's wife, sang Desdemona, and +David, Otello. The latter was the predecessor of Rubini as the finest +singer of the Rossinian music. He had the prodigious compass of three +octaves; and M. Bertin, a French critic, says of this singer, so +honourably linked with the career of our composer, "He is full of +warmth, _verve_, energy, expression, and musical sentiment; alone he +can fill up and give life to a scene; it is impossible for another +singer to carry away an audience as he does, and, when he will only be +simple, he is admirable. He is the Rossini of song; he is the greatest +singer I ever heard." Lord Byron, in one of his letters to Moore, +speaks of the first production at Milan, and praises the music +enthusiastically, while condemning the libretto as a degradation of +Shakespeare. + +"La Cenerentola" and "La Gazza Ladra" were written in quick +succession for Naples and Milan. The former of these works, based on +the old Cinderella myth, was the last opera written by Rossini to +illustrate the beauties of the contralto voice, and Madame +Georgi-Righetti, the early friend and steadfast patroness of the +musician during his early days of struggle, made her last great +appearance in it before retiring from the stage. In this composition, +Rossini, though one of the most affluent and rapid of composers, +displays that economy in art which sometimes characterised him. He +introduced in it many of the more beautiful airs from his earlier and +less successful works. He believed on principle that it was folly to +let a good piece of music be lost through being married to a weak and +faulty libretto. The brilliant opera of "La Gazza Ladra," set to the +story of a French melodrama, "La Pie Voleuse," aggravated the quarrel +between Paer, the director of the French opera, and the gifted +Italian. Paer had designed to have written the music himself, but his +librettist slyly turned over the poem to Rossini, who produced one of +his masterpieces in setting it. The audience at La Scala received the +work with the noisiest demonstrations, interrupting the progress of +the drama with constant cries of "_Bravo! Maestro!_" "_Viva Rossini!_" +The composer afterwards said that acknowledging the calls of the +audience fatigued him much more than the direction of the opera. When +the same work was produced four years after in London, under Mr. +Ebers's management, an incident related by that _impresario_ in his +_Seven Years of the King's Theatre_, shows how eagerly it was received +by an English audience:-- + +"When I entered the stage door, I met an intimate friend, with a long +face and uplifted eyes. 'Good God! Ebers, I pity you from my soul. +This ungrateful public,' he continued. 'The wretches! Why! my dear +sir, they have not left you a seat in your own house.' Relieved from +the fears he had created, I joined him in his laughter, and proceeded, +assuring him that I felt no ill towards the public for their conduct +towards me." + +Passing over "Armida," written for the opening of the new San Carlo +at Naples, "Adelaida di Borgogna," for the Roman Carnival of 1817, and +"Adina," for a Lisbon theatre, we come to a work which is one of +Rossini's most solid claims on musical immortality, "Mose in Egitto," +first produced at the San Carlo, Naples, in 1818. In "Mose," Rossini +carried out still further than ever his innovations, the two principal +roles--_Mose_ and _Faraoni_--being assigned to basses. On the first +representation, the crossing of the Red Sea moved the audience to +satirical laughter, which disconcerted the otherwise favourable +reception of the piece, and entirely spoiled the final effects. The +manager was at his wit's end, till Tottola, the librettist, suggested +a prayer for the Israelites before and after the passage of the host +through the cleft waters. Rossini instantly seized the idea, and, +springing from bed in his night-shirt, wrote the music with almost +inconceivable rapidity, before his embarrassed visitors recovered from +their surprise. The same evening the magnificent _Dal tuo stellato +soglio_ ("To thee, Great Lord") was performed with the opera. + +Let Stendhall, Rossini's biographer, tell the rest of the story--"The +audience was delighted as usual with the first act, and all went well +till the third, when, the passage of the Red Sea being at hand, the +audience as usual prepared to be amused. The laughter was just +beginning in the pit, when it was observed that Moses was about to +sing. He began his solo, the first verse of a prayer, which all the +people repeat in chorus after Moses. Surprised at this novelty, the +pit listened and the laughter entirely ceased. The chorus, exceedingly +fine, was in the minor. Aaron continues, followed by the people. +Finally, Eleia addresses to Heaven the same supplication, and the +people respond. Then all fall on their knees and repeat the prayer +with enthusiasm; the miracle is performed, the sea is opened to leave +a path for the people protected by the Lord. This last part is in the +major. It is impossible to imagine the thunders of applause that +resounded through the house; one would have thought it was coming +down. The spectators in the boxes, standing up and leaning over, +called out at the top of their voices, '_Bello, bello! O che bello!_' +I never saw so much enthusiasm nor such a complete success, which was +so much the greater, inasmuch as the people were quite prepared to +laugh.... I am almost in tears when I think of this prayer. This state +of things lasted a long time, and one of its effects was to make for +its composer the reputation of an assassin, for Dr. Cottogna is said +to have remarked--'I can cite to you more than forty attacks of +nervous fever or violent convulsions on the part of young women, fond +to excess of music, which have no other origin than the prayer of the +Hebrews in the third act, with its superb change of key.'" Thus, by a +stroke of genius, a scene which first impressed the audience as a +piece of theatrical burlesque, was raised to sublimity by the solemn +music written for it. + +M. Bochsa some years afterwards produced "Mose" as an oratorio in +London, and it failed. A new libretto, however, "Pietro L'Eremito,"[G] +again transformed the music into an opera. Ebers tells us that Lord +Sefton, a distinguished connoisseur, only pronounced the general +verdict in calling it the greatest of serious operas, for it was +received with the greatest favour. A gentleman of high rank was not +satisfied with assuring the manager that he had deserved well of his +country, but avowed his determination to propose him for membership at +the most exclusive of aristocratic clubs--White's. + +"La Donna del Lago," Rossini's next great work, also first produced at +the San Carlo during the Carnival of 1820, though splendidly +performed, did not succeed well the first night. The composer left +Naples the same night for Milan, and coolly informed every one _en +route_ that the opera was very successful, which proved to be true +when he reached his journey's end, for the Neapolitans on the second +night reversed their decision into an enthusiasm as marked as their +coldness had been. + +Shortly after this Rossini married his favourite _prima donna_, Madame +Colbran. He had just completed two of his now forgotten operas, +"Bianca e Faliero" and "Matilda di Shabran," but did not stay to watch +their public reception. He quietly took away the beautiful Colbran, +and at Bologna was married by the archbishop. Thence the +freshly-wedded couple visited Vienna, and Rossini there produced his +"Zelmira," his wife singing the principal part. One of the most +striking of this composer's works in invention and ingenious +development of ideas, Carpani says of it--"It contains enough to +furnish not one but four operas. In this work, Rossini, by the new +riches which he draws from his prodigious imagination, is no longer +the author of 'Otello,' 'Tancredi,' 'Zoraide,' and all his preceding +works; he is another composer, new, agreeable, and fertile, as much as +at first, but with more command of himself, more pure, more masterly, +and, above all, more faithful to the interpretation of the words. The +forms of style employed in this opera, according to circumstances, are +so varied, that now we seem to hear Gluck, now Traetta, now Sacchini, +now Mozart, now Handel; for the gravity, the learning, the +naturalness, the suavity of their conceptions, live and blossom again +in 'Zelmira.' The transitions are learned, and inspired more by +considerations of poetry and sense than by caprice and a mania for +innovation. The vocal parts, always natural, never trivial, give +expression to the words without ceasing to be melodious. The great +point is to preserve both. The instrumentation of Rossini is really +incomparable by the vivacity and freedom of the manner, by the variety +and justness of the colouring." Yet it must be conceded that, while +this opera made a deep impression on musicians and critics, it did not +please the general public. It proved languid and heavy with those who +could not relish the science of the music and the skill of the +combinations. Such instances as this are the best answer to that +school of critics, who have never ceased clamouring that Rossini +could write nothing but beautiful tunes to tickle the vulgar and +uneducated mind. + +"Semiramide," first performed at the Fenice theatre in Venice on +February 3, 1823, was the last of Rossini's Italian operas, though it +had the advantage of careful rehearsals and a noble caste. It was not +well received at first, though the verdict of time places it high +among the musical masterpieces of the century. In it were combined all +of Rossini's ideas of operatic reform, and the novelty of some of the +innovations probably accounts for the inability of his earlier public +to appreciate its merits. Mdme. Rossini made her last public +appearance in this great work. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[G] The same music was set to a poem founded on the first crusade, all +the most effective situations being dramatically utilised for the +Christian legend. + + +IV. + +Henceforward the career of the greatest of the Italian composers, the +genius who shares with Mozart the honour of having impressed himself +more than any other on the style and methods of his successors, was to +be associated with French music, though never departing from his +characteristic quality as an original and creative mind. He modified +French music, and left great disciples on whom his influence was +radical, though perhaps we may detect certain reflex influences in his +last and greatest opera, "William Tell." But of this more hereafter. + +Before finally settling in the French capital, Rossini visited London, +where he was received with great honours. "When Rossini entered,"[H] +says a writer in a London paper of that date, "he was received with +loud plaudits, all the persons in the pit standing on the seats to get +a better view of him. He continued for a minute or two to bow +respectfully to the audience, and then gave the signal for the +overture to begin. He appeared stout and somewhat below the middle +height, with rather a heavy air, and a countenance which, though +intelligent, betrayed none of the vivacity which distinguishes his +music; and it was remarked that he had more of the appearance of a +sturdy beef-eating Englishman than a fiery and sensitive native of the +south." + +The king, George IV., treated Rossini with peculiar consideration. On +more than one occasion he walked with him arm-in-arm through a crowded +concert-hall to the conductor's stand. Yet the composer, who seems not +to have admired his English Majesty, treated the monarch with much +independence, not to say brusqueness, on one occasion, as if to +signify his disdain of even royal patronage. At a grand concert at St. +James's Palace, the king said, at the close of the programme, "Now, +Rossini, we will have one piece more, and that shall be the _finale_." +The other replied, "I think, sir, we have had music enough for one +night," and made his bow. + +He was an honoured guest at the most fashionable houses, where his +talents as a singer and player were displayed with much effect in an +unconventional, social way. Auber, the French composer, was present on +one of these occasions, and indicates how great Rossini could have +been in executive music had he not been a king in the higher sphere. +"I shall never forget the effect," writes Auber, "produced by his +lightning-like execution. When he had finished I looked mechanically +at the ivory keys. I fancied I could see them smoking." Rossini was +richer by seven thousand pounds by this visit to the English +metropolis. Though he had been under engagement to produce a new opera +as well as to conduct those which had already made him famous, he +failed to keep this part of his contract. Passages in his letters at +this time would seem to indicate that Rossini was much piqued because +the London public received his wife, to whom he was devotedly +attached, with coldness. Notwithstanding the beauty of her face and +figure, and the greatness of her style both as actress and singer, she +was pronounced _passee_ alike in person and voice, with a species of +brutal frankness not uncommon in English criticism. + +When Rossini arrived in Paris he was almost immediately appointed +director of the Italian Opera by the Duc de Lauriston. With this and +the Academie he remained connected till the revolution of 1830. "Le +Siege de Corinthe," adapted from his old work, "Maometto II.," was the +first opera presented to the Parisian public, and, though admired, did +not become a favourite. The French _amour propre_ was a little stung +when it was made known that Rossini had simply modified and reshaped +one of his early and immature productions as his first attempt at +composition in French opera. His other works for the French stage were +"Il Viaggio a Rheims," "Le Comte Ory," and "Guillaume Tell." + +The last-named opera, which will ever be Rossini's crown of glory as a +composer, was written with his usual rapidity while visiting the +chateau of M. Aguado, a country-seat some distance from Paris. This +work, one of the half-dozen greatest ever written, was first produced +at the Academie Royale on August 3, 1829. In its early form of +libretto it had a run of fifty-six representations, and was then +withdrawn from the stage; and the work of remodelling from five to +three acts, and other improvements in the dramatic framework, was +thoroughly carried out. In its new form the opera blazed into an +unprecedented popularity, for of the greatness of the music there had +never been but one judgment. Fetis, the eminent critic, writing of it +immediately on its production, said--"The work displays a new man in +an old one, and proves that it is in vain to measure the action of +genius," and follows with--"This production opens a new career to +Rossini," a prophecy unfortunately not to be realised, for Rossini was +soon to retire from the field in which he had made such a remarkable +career, while yet in the very prime of his powers. + +"Guillaume Tell" is full of melody, alike in the solos and the massive +choral and ballet music. It runs in rich streams through every part of +the composition. The overture is better known to the general public +than the opera itself, and is one of the great works of musical art. +The opening andante in triple time for the five violoncelli and +double basses at once carries the hearer to the regions of the upper +Alps, where, amid the eternal snows, Nature sleeps in a peaceful +dream. We perceive the coming of the sunlight, and the hazy atmosphere +clearing away before the new-born day. In the next movement the +solitude is all dispelled. The raindrops fall thick and heavy, and a +thunderstorm bursts. But the fury is soon spent, and the clouds clear +away. The shepherds are astir, and from the mountain-sides come the +peculiar notes of the "Ranz des Vaches" from their pipes. Suddenly all +is changed again. Trumpets call to arms, and with the mustering +battalions the music marks the quickstep, as the shepherd patriots +march to meet the Austrian chivalry. A brilliant use of the violins +and reeds depicts the exultation of the victors on their return, and +closes one of the grandest sound-paintings in music. + +The original cast of "Guillaume Tell" included the great singers then +in Paris, and these were so delighted with the music, that the morning +after the first production they assembled on the terrace before his +house and performed selections from it in his honour. + +With this last great effort Rossini, at the age of thirty-seven, may +be said to have retired from the field of music, though his life was +prolonged for forty years. True, he composed the "Stabat Mater" and +the "Messe Solennelle," but neither of these added to the reputation +won in his previous career. The "Stabat Mater," publicly performed for +the first time in 1842, has been recognised, it is true, as a +masterpiece; but its entire lack of devotional solemnity, its +brilliant and showy texture, preclude its giving Rossini any rank as a +religious composer. + +He spent the forty years of his retirement partly at Bologna, partly +at Passy, near Paris, the city of his adoption. His hospitality +welcomed the brilliant men from all parts of Europe who loved to visit +him, and his relations with other great musicians were of the most +kindly and cordial character. His sunny and genial nature never knew +envy, and he was quick to recognise the merits of schools opposed to +his own. He died, after intense suffering, on November 13, 1868. He +had been some time ill, and four of the greatest physicians in Europe +were his almost constant attendants. The funeral of "The Swan of +Pesaro," as he was called by his compatriots, was attended by an +immense concourse, and his remains rest in Pere-Lachaise. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[H] His first English appearance in public was at the King's Theatre, +on the 24th of January 1824, when he conducted his own opera, +"Zelmira." + + +V. + +Moscheles, the celebrated pianist, gives us some charming pictures of +Rossini in his home at Passy, in his diary of 1860. He writes--"Felix +[his son] had been made quite at home in the villa on former +occasions. To me the _parterre salon_, with its rich furniture, was +quite new, and before the _maestro_ himself appeared we looked at his +photograph in a circular porcelain frame, on the sides of which were +inscribed the names of his works. The ceiling is covered with pictures +illustrating scenes out of Palestrina's and Mozart's lives; in the +middle of the room stands a Pleyel piano. When Rossini came in he gave +me the orthodox Italian kiss, and was effusive of expressions of +delight at my reappearance, and very complimentary on the subject of +Felix. In the course of our conversation he was full of hard-hitting +truths on the present study and method of vocalisation. 'I don't want +to hear anything more of it,' he said; 'they scream. All I want is a +resonant, full-toned voice, not a screeching voice. I care not whether +it be for speaking or singing, everything ought to sound melodious.'" +So, too, Rossini assured Moscheles that he hated the new school of +piano-players, saying the piano was horribly maltreated, for the +performers thumped the keys as if they had some vengeance to wreak on +them. When the great player improvised for Rossini, the latter says, +"It is music that flows from the fountain-head. There is reservoir +water and spring water. The former only runs when you turn the cock, +and is always redolent of the vase; the latter always gushes forth +fresh and limpid. Nowadays people confound the simple and the +trivial; a _motif_ of Mozart they would call trivial, if they dared." + +On other occasions Moscheles plays to the _maestro_, who insists on +having discovered barriers in the "humoristic variations," so boldly +do they seem to raise the standard of musical revolution; his title of +the "Grand Valse" he finds too unassuming. "Surely a waltz with some +angelic creature must have inspired you, Moscheles, with this +composition, and _that_ the title ought to express. Titles, in fact, +should pique the curiosity of the public." "A view uncongenial to me," +adds Moscheles; "however, I did not discuss it.... A dinner at +Rossini's is calculated for the enjoyment of a 'gourmet,' and he +himself proved to be the one, for he went through the very select +_menu_ as only a connoisseur would. After dinner he looked through my +album of musical autographs with the greatest interest, and finally we +became very merry, I producing my musical jokes on the piano, and +Felix and Clara figuring in the duet which I had written for her voice +and his imitation of the French horn. Rossini cheered lustily, and so +one joke followed another till we received the parting kiss and 'good +night.' ... At my next visit, Rossini showed me a charming 'Lied ohne +Worte,' which he composed only yesterday; a graceful melody is +embodied in the well-known technical form. Alluding to a performance +of 'Semiramide,' he said, with a malicious smile, 'I suppose you saw +the beautiful decorations in it?' He has not received the Sisters +Marchisio for fear they should sing to him, nor has he heard them in +the theatre; he spoke warmly of Pasta, Lablache, Rubini, and others, +then he added that I ought not to look with jealousy upon his budding +talent as a pianoforte-player, but that, on the contrary, I should +help to establish his reputation as such in Leipsic. He again +questioned me with much interest about my intimacy with Clementi, and, +calling me that master's worthy successor, he said he should like to +visit me in Leipsic, if it were not for those dreadful railways, which +he would never travel by. All this in his bright and lively way; but +when we came to discuss Chevet, who wishes to supplant musical notes +by ciphers, he maintained, in an earnest and dogmatic tone, that the +system of notation, as it had developed itself since Pope Gregory's +time, was sufficient for all musical requirements. He certainly could +not withhold some appreciation for Chevet, but refused to indorse the +certificate granted by the Institute in his favour; the system he +thought impracticable. + +"The never-failing stream of conversation flowed on until eleven +o'clock, when I was favoured with the inevitable kiss, which on this +occasion was accompanied by special farewell blessings." + +Shortly after Moscheles had left Paris, his son forwarded to him most +friendly messages from Rossini, and continues thus--"Rossini sends you +word that he is working hard at the piano, and, when you next come to +Paris, you shall find him in better practice.... The conversation +turning upon German music, I asked him 'which was his favourite among +the great masters?' Of Beethoven he said, 'I take him twice a-week, +Haydn four times, and Mozart every day. You will tell me that +Beethoven is a Colossus who often gives you a dig in the ribs, while +Mozart is always adorable; it is that the latter had the chance of +going very young to Italy, at a time when they still sang well.' Of +Weber he says, 'He has talent enough, and to spare' (_Il a du talent a +revendre, celui-la_). He told me in reference to him, that, when the +part of 'Tancred' was sung at Berlin by a bass voice, Weber had +written violent articles not only against the management, but against +the composer, so that, when Weber came to Paris, he did not venture to +call on Rossini, who, however, let him know that he bore him no grudge +for having made these attacks; on receipt of that message Weber called +and they became acquainted. + +"I asked him if he had met Byron in Venice? 'Only in a restaurant,' +was the answer, 'where I was introduced to him; our acquaintance, +therefore, was very slight; it seems he has spoken of me, but I don't +know what he says.' I translated for him, in a somewhat milder form, +Byron's words, which happened to be fresh in my memory--'They have +been crucifying Othello into an opera; the music good but lugubrious, +but, as for the words, all the real scenes with Iago cut out, and the +greatest nonsense instead, the handkerchief turned into a billet-doux, +and the first singer would not black his face--singing, dresses, and +music very good.' The _maestro_ regretted his ignorance of the English +language, and said, 'In my day I gave much time to the study of our +Italian literature. Dante is the man I owe most to; he taught me more +music than all my music-masters put together, and when I wrote my +"Otello," I would introduce those lines of Dante--you know the song of +the gondolier. My librettist would have it that gondoliers never sang +Dante, and but rarely Tasso, but I answered him, "I know all about +that better than you, for I have lived in Venice and you haven't. +Dante I must and will have."'" + + +VI. + +An ardent disciple of Wagner sums up his ideas of the mania for the +Rossini music, which possessed Europe for fifteen years, in the +following--"Rossini, the most gifted and spoiled of her sons [speaking +of Italy] sallied forth with an innumerable army of Bacchantic +melodies to conquer the world, the Messiah of joy, the breaker of +thought and sorrow. Europe, by this time, had tired of the empty pomp +of French declamation. It lent but too willing an ear to the new +gospel, and eagerly quaffed the intoxicating potion, which Rossini +poured out in inexhaustible streams." This very well expresses the +delight of all the countries of Europe in music which for a long time +almost monopolised the stage. + +The charge of being a mere tune-spinner, the denial of invention, +depth, and character, have been common watchwords in the mouths of +critics wedded to other schools. But Rossini's place in music stands +unshaken by all assaults. The vivacity of his style, the freshness of +his melodies, the richness of his combinations, made all the Italian +music that preceded him pale and colourless. No other writer revels +in such luxury of beauty, and delights the ear with such a succession +of delicious surprises in melody. + +Henry Chorley, in his _Thirty Years' Musical Recollections_, rebukes +the bigotry which sees nothing good but in its own kind--"I have never +been able to understand why this [referring to the Rossinian richness +of melody] should be contemned as necessarily false and +meretricious--why the poet may not be allowed the benefit of his own +period and time--why a lover of architecture is to be compelled to +swear by the _Dom_ at Bamberg, or by the Cathedral at Monreale--that +he must abhor and denounce Michael Angelo's church or the Baths of +Diocletian at Rome--why the person who enjoys 'Il Barbiere' is to be +denounced as frivolously faithless to Mozart's 'Figaro'--and as +incapable of comprehending 'Fidelio,' because the last act of 'Otello' +and the second of 'Guillaume Tell' transport him into as great an +enjoyment of its kind as do the duet in the cemetery between Don Juan +and Leporello and the 'Prisoners' Chorus.' How much good, genial +pleasure has not the world lost in music, owing to the pitting of +styles one against the other! Your true traveller will be all the more +alive to the beauty of Nuremberg because he has looked out over the +'Golden Shell' at Palermo; nor delight in Rhine and Danube the less +because he has seen the glow of a southern sunset over the broken +bridge at Avignon." + +As grand and true as are many of the essential elements in the Wagner +school of musical composition, the bitterness and narrowness of spite +with which its upholders have pursued the memory of Rossini is equally +offensive and unwarrantable. Rossini, indeed, did not revolutionise +the forms of opera as transmitted to him by his predecessors, but he +reformed and perfected them in various notable ways. Both in comic and +serious opera, music owes much to Rossini. He substituted genuine +singing for the endless recitative of which the Italian opera before +him largely consisted; he brought the bass and baritone voices to the +front, banished the pianoforte from the orchestra, and laid down the +principle that the singer should deliver the notes written for him +without additions of his own. He gave the chorus a much more important +part than before, and elaborated the concerted music, especially in +the _finales_, to a degree of artistic beauty before unknown in the +Italian opera. Above all, he made the operatic orchestra what it is +to-day. Every new instrument that was invented Rossini found a place +for in his brilliant scores, and thereby incurred the warmest +indignation of all writers of the old school. Before him the +orchestras had consisted largely of strings, but Rossini added an +equally imposing element of the brasses and reeds. True, Mozart had +forestalled Rossini in many if not all these innovations, a fact which +the Italian cheerfully admitted; for, with the simple frankness +characteristic of the man, he always spoke of his obligations to and +his admiration of the great German. To an admirer who was one day +burning incense before him, Rossini said, in the spirit of Cimarosa +quoted elsewhere, "My 'Barber' is only a bright farce, but in Mozart's +'Marriage of Figaro' you have the finest possible masterpiece of +musical comedy." + +With all concessions made to Mozart as the founder of the forms of +modern opera, an equally high place must be given to Rossini for the +vigour and audacity with which he made these available, and impressed +them on all his contemporaries and successors. Though Rossini's +self-love was flattered by constant adulation, his expressions of +respect and admiration for such composers as Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, +and Cherubini, display what a catholic and generous nature he +possessed. The judgment of Ambros, a severe critic, whose bias was +against Rossini, shows what admiration was wrung from him by the last +opera of the composer--"Of all that particularly characterises +Rossini's early operas nothing is discoverable in 'Tell;' there is +none of his usual mannerism; but, on the contrary, unusual richness of +form and careful finish of detail, combined with grandeur of outline. +Meretricious embellishment, shakes, runs, and cadences are carefully +avoided in this work, which is natural and characteristic throughout; +even the melodies have not the stamp and style of Rossini's earlier +times, but only their graceful charm and lively colouring." + +Rossini must be allowed to be unequalled in genuine comic opera, and +to have attained a distinct greatness in serious opera, to be the most +comprehensive, and, at the same time, the most national composer of +Italy--to be, in short, the Mozart of his country. After all has been +admitted and regretted--that he gave too little attention to musical +science; that he often neglected to infuse into his work the depth and +passion of which it was easily capable; that he placed too high a +value on merely brilliant effects _ad captandum vulgus_--there remains +the fact that his operas embody a mass of imperishable music, which +will live with the art itself. Musicians of every country now admit +his wondrous grace, his fertility and freshness of invention, his +matchless treatment of the voice, his effectiveness in arrangement of +the orchestra. He can never be made a model, for his genius had too +much spontaneity and individuality of colour. But he impressed and +modified music hardly less than Gluck, whose tastes and methods were +entirely antagonistic to his own. That he should have retired from the +exercise of his art while in the full flower of his genius is a +perplexing fact. No stranger story is recorded in the annals of art +with respect to a genius who filled the world with his glory, and then +chose to vanish, "not unseen." On finishing his crowning stroke of +genius and skill in "William Tell," he might have said with +Shakespeare's enchanter, Prospero-- + + "... But this magic + I here abjure; and when I have required + Some heavenly music (which even now I do) + To work mine end upon their senses that + This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff-- + Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, + And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, + I'll drown my book." + + + + +_DONIZETTI AND BELLINI._ + + +I. + +A bright English critic, whose style is as charming as his judgments +are good, says, in his study of the Donizetti music, "I find myself +thinking of his music as I do of Domenichino's pictures of 'St. Agnes' +and the 'Rosario' in the Bologna gallery, of the 'Diana' in the +Borghese Palace at Rome, as pictures equable and skilful in the +treatment of their subjects, neither devoid of beauty of form nor of +colour, but which make neither the pulse quiver nor the eye wet; and +then such a sweeping judgment is arrested by a work like the 'St. +Jerome' in the Vatican, from which a spirit comes forth so strong and +so exalted, that the beholder, however trained to examine and compare +and collect, finds himself raised above all recollections of manner by +the sudden ascent of talent into the higher world of genius. +Essentially a second-rate composer,[I] Donizetti struck out some +first-rate things in a happy hour, such as the last act of 'La +Favorita.'" + +Both Donizetti and Bellini, though far inferior to their master in +richness of resources, in creative faculty and instinct for what may +be called dramatic expression in pure musical form, were disciples of +Rossini in their ideas and methods of work. Milton sang of +Shakespeare-- + + "Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, + Warbles his native wood-notes wild!" + +In a similar spirit, many learned critics have written of Rossini, and +if it can be said of him in a musical sense that he had "little Latin +and less Greek," still more true is it of the two popular composers +whose works have filled so large a space in the opera-house of the +last thirty years, for their scores are singularly thin, measured by +the standard of advanced musical science. Specially may this be said +of Bellini, in many respects the greater of the two. There is scarcely +to be found in music a more signal example to show that a marked +individuality may rest on a narrow base. In justice to him, however, +it may be said that his early death prevented him from doing full +justice to his powers, for he had in him the material out of which the +great artist is made. Let us first sketch the career of Donizetti, the +author of sixty-four operas, besides a mass of other music, such as +cantatas, ariettas, duets, church music, etc., in the short space of +twenty-six years. + +GAETANO DONIZETTI was born at Bergamo, 25th September 1798, his father +being a man of moderate fortune.[J] Receiving a good classical +education, the young Gaetano had three careers open before him: the +bar, to which the will of his father inclined; architecture, indicated +by his talent for drawing; and music, to which he was powerfully +impelled by his own inclinations. His father sent him, at the age of +seventeen, to Bologna to benefit by the instruction of Padre Mattei, +who had also been Rossini's master. The young man showed no +disposition for the heights of musical science as demanded by +religious composition, and, much to his father's disgust, avowed his +determination to write dramatic music. Paternal anger, for the elder +Donizetti seems to have had a strain of Scotch obstinacy and +austerity, made the youth enlist as a soldier, thinking to find time +for musical work in the leisure of barrack-life. His first opera, +"Enrico di Borgogna," was so highly admired by the Venetian manager, +to whom it was offered, that he induced friends of his to release +young Donizetti from his military servitude. He now pursued musical +composition with a facility and industry which astonished even the +Italians, familiar with feats of improvisation. In ten years +twenty-eight operas were produced. Such names as "Olivo e Pasquale," +"La Convenienze Teatrali," "Il Borgomaestro di Saardam," "Gianni di +Calais," "L'Esule di Roma," "Il Castello di Kenilworth," "Imelda di +Lambertazzi," have no musical significance, except as belonging to a +catalogue of forgotten titles. Donizetti was so poorly paid that need +drove him to rapid composition, which could not wait for the true +afflatus. + +It was not till 1831 that the evidence of a strong individuality was +given, for hitherto he had shown little more than a slavish imitation +of Rossini. "Anna Bolena" was produced at Milan and gained him great +credit, and even now, though it is rarely sung even in Italy, it is +much respected as a work of art as well as of promise. It was first +interpreted by Pasta and Rubini, and Lablache won his earliest London +triumph in it. "Marino Faliero" was composed for Paris in 1835, and +"L'Elisir d'Amore," one of the most graceful and pleasing of +Donizetti's works, for Milan in 1832. "Lucia di Lammermoor," based on +Sir Walter Scott's novel, was given to the public in 1835, and has +remained the most popular of the composer's operas. Edgardo was +written for the great French tenor, Duprez, Lucia for Persiani. + +Donizetti's kindness of heart was illustrated by the interesting +circumstances of his saving an obscure Neapolitan theatre from ruin. +Hearing that it was on the verge of suspension and the performers in +great distress, the composer sought them out and supplied their +immediate wants. The manager said a new work from the pen of +Donizetti would be his salvation. "You shall have one within a week," +was the answer. + +Lacking a subject, he himself rearranged an old French vaudeville, and +within the week the libretto was written, the music composed, the +parts learned, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. There could +be no greater proof of his generosity of heart and his versatility of +talent. In these days of bitter quarrelling over the rights of authors +in their works, it may be amusing to know that Victor Hugo contested +the rights of Italian librettists to borrow their plots from French +plays. When "Lucrezia Borgia," composed for Milan in 1834, was +produced at Paris in 1840, the French poet instituted a suit for an +infringement of copyright. He gained his action, and "Lucrezia Borgia" +became "La Rinegata," Pope Alexander the Sixth's Italians being +metamorphosed into Turks.[K] + +"Lucrezia Borgia," which, though based on one of the most dramatic of +stories and full of beautiful music, is not dramatically treated by +the composer, seems to mark the distance about half-way between the +styles of Rossini and Verdi. In it there is but little recitative, and +in the treatment of the chorus we find the method which Verdi +afterwards came to use exclusively. When Donizetti revisited Paris in +1840, he produced in rapid succession "I Martiri," "La Fille du +Regiment," and "La Favorita." In the second of these works Jenny Lind, +Sontag, and Alboni won bright triumphs at a subsequent period. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[I] Mr. Chorley probably means "second-rate" as compared with the few +very great names, which can be easily counted on the fingers. + +[J] Admirers of the author of "Don Pasquale" and "Lucia" may be +interested in knowing that Donizetti was of Scotch descent. His +grandfather was a native of Perthshire, named Izett. The young Scot +was beguiled by the fascinating tongue of a recruiting-sergeant into +his Britannic majesty's service, and was taken prisoner by General La +Hoche during the latter's invasion of Ireland. Already tired of a +private's life, he accepted the situation, and was induced to become +the French general's private secretary. Subsequently he drifted to +Italy, and married an Italian lady of some rank, denationalising his +own name into Donizetti. The Scottish predilections of our composer +show themselves in the music of "Don Pasquale," noticeably in "Com' e +gentil;" and the score of "Lucia" is strongly flavoured by Scottish +sympathy and minstrelsy. + +[K] Victor Hugo did the same thing with Verdi's "Ernani," and other +French authors followed with legal actions. The matter was finally +arranged on condition of an indemnity being paid to the original +French dramatists. The principle involved had been established nearly +two centuries before. In a privilege granted to St. Amant in 1653 for +the publication of his "Moise Sauve," it was forbidden to extract from +that epic materials for a play or poem. The descendants of +Beaumarchais fought for the same concession, and not very long ago it +was decided that the translators and arrangers of "Le Nozze di Figaro" +for the Theatre Lyrique must share their receipts with the living +representatives of the author of "Le Mariage de Figaro." + + +II. + +"La Favorita," the story of which was drawn from "L'Ange de Nisida," +and founded in the first instance on a French play, "Le Comte de +Commingues," was put on the stage at the Academie with a magnificent +cast and scenery, and achieved a success immediately great, for as a +dramatic opera it stands far in the van of all the composer's +productions. The whole of the grand fourth act, with the exception of +one cavatina, was composed in three hours. Donizetti had been dining +at the house of a friend, who was engaged in the evening to go to a +ball. On leaving the house his host, with profuse apologies, begged +the composer to stay and finish his coffee, of which Donizetti was +inordinately fond. The latter sent out for music paper, and, finding +himself in the vein for composition, went on writing till the +completion of the work. He had just put the final stroke to the +celebrated "Viens dans un autre patrie" when his friend returned at +one in the morning to congratulate him on his excellent method of +passing the time, and to hear the music sung for the first time from +Donizetti's own lips. + +After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which last city he wrote +"Linda di Chamouni," our composer returned to Paris, and in 1843 wrote +"Don Pasquale" for the Theatre Italien, and "Don Sebastian" for the +Academie. Its lugubrious drama was fatal to the latter, but the +brilliant gaiety of "Don Pasquale," rendered specially delightful by +such a cast as Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, made it one of +the great art attractions of Paris, and a Fortunatus purse for the +manager. The music of this work, perhaps, is the best ever written by +Donizetti, though it lacks the freshness and sentiment of his "Elisir +d'Amore," which is steeped in rustic poetry and tenderness like a rose +wet with dew. The production of "Maria di Rohan" in Vienna the same +year, an opera with some powerful dramatic effects and bold music, +gave Ronconi the opportunity to prove himself not merely a fine buffo +singer, but a noble tragic actor. In this work Donizetti displays +that rugged earnestness and vigour so characteristic of Verdi; and, +had his life been greatly prolonged, we might have seen him ripen into +a passion and power at odds with the elegant frivolity which for the +most part tainted his musical quality. Donizetti's last opera, +"Catarina Comaro," the sixty-third one represented, was brought out at +Naples in the year 1844, without adding aught to his reputation. Of +this composer's long list of works only ten or eleven retain any hold +on the stage, his best serious operas being "La Favorita," "Linda," +"Anna Bolena," "Lucrezia Borgia," and "Lucia;" the finest comic works, +"L'Elisir d'Amore," "La Fille du Regiment," and "Don Pasquale." + +In composing Donizetti never used the pianoforte, writing with great +rapidity and never making corrections. Yet curious to say, he could +not do anything without a small ivory scraper by his side, though +never using it. It was given him by his father when commencing his +career, with the injunction that, as he was determined to become a +musician, he should make up his mind to write as little rubbish as +possible, advice which Donizetti sometimes forgot. + +The first signs of the malady, which was the cause of the composer's +death, had already shown themselves in 1845. Fits of hallucination and +all the symptoms of approaching derangement displayed themselves with +increasing intensity. An incessant worker, overseer of his operas on +twenty stages, he had to pay the tax by which his fame became his +ruin. It is reported that he anticipated the coming scourge, for +during the rehearsals of "Don Sebastian" he said, "I think I shall go +mad yet." Still he would not put the bridle on his restless activity. +At last paralysis seized him, and in January 1846 he was placed under +the care of the celebrated Dr. Blanche at Ivry. In the hope that the +mild influence of his native air might heal his distempered brain, he +was sent to Bergamo, in 1848, but died in his brother's arms April +8th. The inhabitants of the Peninsula were then at war with Austria, +and the bells that sounded the knell of Donizetti's departure mingled +their solemn peals with the roar of the cannon fired to celebrate the +victory of Goito. + +His faithful valet, Antoine, wrote to Adolphe Adam, describing his +obsequies:--"More than four thousand persons," he relates, "were +present at the ceremony. The procession was composed of the numerous +clergy of Bergamo, the most illustrious members of the community and +its environs, and of the civic guard of the town and the suburbs. The +discharge of musketry, mingled with the light of three or four +thousand torches, presented a fine effect; the whole was enhanced by +the presence of three military bands and the most propitious weather +it was possible to behold. The young gentlemen of Bergamo insisted on +bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-townsman, although the +cemetery was a league and a-half from the town. The road was crowded +its whole length by people who came from the surrounding country to +witness the procession; and to give due praise to the inhabitants of +Bergamo, never, hitherto, had such great honours been bestowed upon +any member of that city." + + +III. + +The future author of "Norma" and "La Sonnambula," Bellini, took his +first lessons in music from his father, an organist at Catania.[L] He +was sent to the Naples Conservatory by the generosity of a noble +patron, and there was the fellow-pupil of Mercadante, a composer who +blazed into a temporary lustre which threatened to outshine his +fellows, but is now forgotten except by the antiquarian and the lover +of church music. Bellini's early works, for he composed three before +he was twenty, so pleased Barbaja, the manager of the San Carlo and La +Scala, that he intrusted the youth with the libretto "Il Pirata," to +be composed for representation at Florence. The tenor part was written +for the great singer, Rubini, whose name has no peer among artists +since male sopranos were abolished by the outraged moral sense of +society. Rubini retired to the country with Bellini, and studied, as +they were produced, the simple touching airs with which he so +delighted the public on the stage. + +La Scala rang with plaudits when the opera was produced, and Bellini's +career was assured. "I Capuletti" was his next successful opera, +performed at Venice in 1829, but it never became popular out of Italy. + +The significant period of Bellini's life was in the year 1831, which +produced "La Sonnambula," to be followed by "Norma" the next season. +Both these were written for and introduced before the Neapolitan +public. In these works he reached his highest development, and by them +he is best known to fame. The opera-story of "La Sonnambula," by +Romani, an accomplished writer and scholar, is one of the most +artistic and effective ever put into the hands of a composer. M. +Scribe had already used the plot, both as the subject of a vaudeville +and a choregraphic drama; but in Romani's hands it became a +symmetrical story full of poetry and beauty. The music of this opera, +throbbing with pure melody and simple emotion, as natural and fresh as +a bed of wild flowers, went to the heart of the universal public, +learned and unlearned; and, in spite of its scientific faults, it will +never cease to delight future generations, as long as hearts beat and +eyes are moistened with human tenderness and sympathy. And yet, of +this work an English critic wrote, on its first London presentation:-- + +"Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of grandeur, no touch +of true pathos in the commonplace workings of his mind. He cannot +reach the _opera semiseria_; he should confine his powers to the +musical drama, the one-act _opera buffa_." But the history of +art-criticism is replete with such instances. + +"Norma" was also a grand triumph for the young composer from the +outset, especially as the lofty character of the Druid priestess was +sung by that unapproachable lyric tragedienne, the Siddons of the +opera, Madame Pasta. Bellini is said to have had this queen of +dramatic song in his mind in writing the opera, and right nobly did +she vindicate his judgment, for no European audience afterwards but +was thrilled and carried away by her masterpiece of acting and singing +in this part. + +Bellini himself considered "Norma" his _chef-d'oeuvre_. A beautiful +Parisienne attempted to extract from his reluctant lips his preference +of his own works. The lady finally overcame his evasions by the query, +"But if you were out at sea, and should be shipwrecked----" "Ah!" he +cried, without allowing her to finish. "I would leave all the rest and +try to save 'Norma.'" + +"I Puritani" was composed for and performed at Paris in 1834, by that +splendid quartette of artists, Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache. +Bellini compelled the singers to execute after _his_ style. While +Rubini was rehearsing the tenor part, the composer cried out in rage, +"You put no life into your music. Show some feeling. Don't you know +what love is?" Then changing his tone, "Don't you know your voice is a +gold-mine that has not been fully explored? You are an excellent +artist, but that is not sufficient. You must forget yourself and +represent Gualtiero. Let's try again." The tenor, stung by the +admonition, then gave the part magnificently. After the success of "I +Puritani," the composer received the Cross of the Legion of Honour, an +honour then not often bestowed. The "Puritani" season is still +remembered, it is said, with peculiar pleasure by the older +connoisseurs of Paris and London, as the enthusiasm awakened in +musical circles has rarely been equalled. + +Bellini had placed himself under contract to write two new works +immediately, one for Paris, the other for Naples, and retired to the +villa of a friend at Puteaux to insure the more complete seclusion. +Here, while pursuing his art with almost sleepless ardour, he was +attacked by his fatal malady, intestinal fever. + +"From his youth up," says his biographer Mould, "Vincenzo's eagerness +in his art was such as to keep him at the piano night and day, till he +was obliged forcibly to leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him +through his short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it +brought on the dysentery which closed his brilliant career, peopling +his last hours with the figures of those to whom his works owed so +much of their success. During the moments of delirium which preceded +his death, he was constantly speaking of Lablache, Tamburini, and +Grisi; and one of his last recognisable impressions was that he was +present at a brilliant representation of his last opera at the Salle +Favart." His earthly career closed September 23, 1835, at the age of +thirty-three. + +On the eve of his interment, the Theatre Italien reopened with the +"Puritani." It was an occasion full of solemn gloom. Both the +musicians and audience broke from time to time into sobs. Tamburini, +in particular, was so oppressed by the death of his young friend that +his vocalisation, generally so perfect, was often at fault, while the +faces of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache too plainly showed their aching +hearts. + +Rossini, Cherubini, Paer, and Carafa had charge of the funeral, and M. +Habeneck, _chef d'orchestre_ of the Academie Royale, of the music. The +next remarkable piece on the funeral programme was a _Lacrymosa_ for +four voices without accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn +was united to the beautiful tenor melody in the third act of the +"Puritani." This was executed by Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and +Lablache. The services were performed at the Church of the Invalides, +and the remains were interred in Pere Lachaise. + +Rossini had ever shown great love for Bellini, and Rosario Bellini, +the stricken father, wrote to him a touching letter, in which, after +speaking of his grief and despair, the old man said-- + +"You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labours; +you took him under your protection, you neglected nothing that could +increase his glory and his welfare. After my son's death, what have +you not done to honour my son's name and render it dear to posterity? +I learned this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude +for your excessive kindness as well as for that of a number of +distinguished artists, which also I shall never forget. Pray, sir, be +my interpreter, and tell these artists that the father and family of +Bellini, as well as of our compatriots of Catania, will cherish an +imperishable recollection of this generous conduct. I shall never +cease to remember how much you did for my son. I shall make known +everywhere, in the midst of my tears, what an affectionate heart +belongs to the great Rossini, and how kind, hospitable, and full of +feeling are the artists of France." + +Bellini was affable, sincere, honest, and affectionate. Nature gave +him a beautiful and ingenuous face, noble features, large, clear blue +eyes, and abundant light hair. His countenance instantly won on the +regards of all that met him. His disposition was melancholy; a secret +depression often crept over his most cheerful hours. We are told there +was a tender romance in his earlier life. The father of the lady he +loved, a Neapolitan judge, refused his suit on account of his inferior +social position. When Bellini became famous the judge wished to make +amends, but Bellini's pride interfered. Soon after the young lady, who +loved him unalterably, died, and it is said the composer never +recovered from the shock. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[L] Bellini was born in 1802, nine years after his contemporary and +rival, Donizetti, and died in 1835, thirteen years before. + + +IV. + +Donizetti and Bellini were peculiarly moulded by the great genius of +Rossini, but in their best works they show individuality, colour, and +special creative activity. The former composer, one of the most +affluent in the annals of music, seemed to become more fresh in his +fancies with increased production. He is an example of how little the +skill and touch, belonging to unceasing work, should be despised in +comparison with what is called inspiration. Donizetti arrived at his +freshest creations at a time when there seemed but little left for him +except the trite and threadbare. There are no melodies so rich and +well fancied as those to be found in his later works; and in sense of +dramatic form and effective instrumentation (always a faulty point +with Donizetti) he displayed great progress at the last. It is, +however, a noteworthy fact, that the latest Italian composers have +shown themselves quite weak in composing expressly for the orchestra. +No operatic overture since "William Tell" has been produced by this +school of music, worthy to be rendered in a concert-room. + +Donizetti lacked the dramatic instinct in conceiving his music. In +attempting it he became hollow and theatric; and beautiful as are the +melodies and concerted pieces in "Lucia," where the subject ought to +inspire a vivid dramatic nature with such telling effects, it is in +the latter sense one of the most disappointing of operas. + +He redeemed himself for the nonce, however, in the fourth act of "La +Favorita," where there is enough musical and dramatic beauty to +condone the sins of the other three acts. The solemn and affecting +church chant, the passionate romance for the tenor, the great closing +duet in which the ecstasy of despair rises to that of exaltation, the +resistless sweep of the rhythm--all mark one of the most effective +single acts ever written. He showed himself here worthy of +companionship with Rossini and Meyerbeer. + +In his comic operas, "L'Elisir d'Amore," "La Fille du Regiment," and +"Don Pasquale," there is a continual well-spring of sunny, bubbling +humour. They are slight, brilliant, and catching, everything that +pedantry condemns, and the popular taste delights in. Mendelssohn, the +last of the German classical composers, admired "L'Elisir," so much +that he said he would have liked to have written it himself. It may be +said that while Donizetti lacks grand conceptions, or even great +beauties for the most part, his operas contain so much that is +agreeable, so many excellent opportunities for vocal display, such +harmony between sound and situation, that he will probably retain a +hold on the stage when much greater composers are only known to the +general public by name. + +Bellini, with less fertility and grace, possessed far more +picturesqueness and intensity. His powers of imagination transcended +his command over the working tools of his art. Even more lacking in +exact and extended musical science than Donizetti, he could express +what came within his range with a simple vigour, grasp, and beauty, +which make him a truly dramatic composer. In addition to this, a +matter which many great composers ignore, Bellini had extraordinary +skill in writing music for the voice, not that which merely gave +opportunity for executive trickery and embellishment, but the genuine +accents of passion, pathos, and tenderness, in forms best adapted to +be easily and effectively delivered. + +He had no flexibility, no command over mirthful inspiration, such as +we hear in Mozart, Rossini, or even Donizetti. But his monotone is in +subtile _rapport_ with the graver aspects of nature and life. Chorley +sums up this characteristic of Bellini in the following words:-- + +"In spite of the inexperience with which the instrumental score is +filled up, the opening scene of 'Norma' in the dim druidical wood +bears the true character of ancient sylvan antiquity. There is +daybreak again--a fresh tone of reveille--in the prelude to 'I +Puritani.' If Bellini's genius was not versatile in its means of +expression, if it had not gathered all the appliances by which science +fertilises Nature, it beyond all doubt included appreciation of truth, +no less than instinct for beauty." + + + + +_VERDI._ + + +I. + +In 1872 the Khedive of Egypt, an oriental ruler, whose love of western +art and civilisation has since tangled him in economic meshes to +escape from which has cost him his independence, produced a new opera +with barbaric splendour of appointments, at Grand Cairo. The spacious +theatre blazed with fantastic dresses and showy uniforms, and the +curtain rose on a drama which gave a glimpse to the Arabs, Copts, and +Franks present of the life and religion, the loves and hates of +ancient Pharaonic times, set to music by the most celebrated of living +Italian composers. + +That an eastern prince should have commissioned Giuseppe Verdi to +write "Aida" for him, in his desire to emulate western sovereigns as a +patron of art, is an interesting fact, but not wonderful or +significant. + +The opera itself was freighted, however, with peculiar significance as +an artistic work, far surpassing that of the circumstances which gave +it origin, or which saw its first production in the mysterious land of +the Nile and Sphinx. + +Originally a pupil, thoroughly imbued with the method and spirit of +Rossini, though never lacking in original quality, Verdi as a young +man shared the suffrages of admiring audiences with Donizetti and +Bellini. Even when he diverged widely from his parent stem and took +rank as the representative of the melodramatic school of music, he +remained true to the instincts of his Italian training. + +The remarkable fact is that Verdi, at the age of fifty-eight, when it +might have been safely assumed that his theories and preferences were +finally crystallised, produced an opera in which he clasped hands with +the German enthusiast, who preached an art system radically opposed to +his own, and lashed with scathing satire the whole musical cult of the +Italian race. + +In "Aida" and the "Manzoni Mass," written in 1873, Verdi, the leader +among living Italian composers, practically conceded that, in the +long, bitterly fought battle between Teuton and Italian in music, the +former was the victor. In the opera we find a new departure, which, if +not embodying all the philosophy of the "new school," is stamped with +its salient traits--viz., the subordination of all the individual +effects to the perfection and symmetry of the whole; a lavish demand +on all the sister arts to contribute their rich gifts to the +heightening of the illusion; a tendency to enrich the harmonic value +in the choruses, the concerted pieces, and the instrumentation, to the +great sacrifice of the solo pieces; the use of the heroic and mythical +element as a theme. + +Verdi, the subject of this interesting revolution, has filled a very +brilliant place in modern musical art, and his career has been in some +ways as picturesque as his music. + +Verdi's parents were literally hewers of wood and drawers of water, +earning their bread, after the manner of Italian peasants, at a small +settlement called La Roncali, near Busseto, where the future composer +was born on October 9, 1813. + +His earliest recollections were with the little village church, where +the little Giuseppe listened with delight to the church organ, for, as +with all great musicians, his fondness for music showed itself at a +very early age. The elder Verdi, though very poor, gratified the +child's love of music when he was about eight by buying a small +spinet, and placing him under the instruction of Provesi, a teacher in +Busseto. The boy entered on his studies with ardour, and made more +rapid progress than the slender facilities which were allowed him +would ordinarily justify. + +An event soon occurred which was destined to wield a lasting influence +on his destiny. He one day heard a skilful performance on a fine +piano, while passing by one of the better houses of Busseto. From that +time a constant fascination drew him to the house; for day after day +he lingered and seemed unwilling to go away lest he should perchance +lose some of the enchanting sounds which so enraptured him. The owner +of the premises was a rich merchant, one Antonio Barezzi, a cultivated +and high-minded man, and a passionate lover of music withal. 'Twas his +daughter whose playing gave the young Verdi such pleasure. + +Signor Barezzi had often seen the lingering and absorbed lad, who +stood as if in a dream, oblivious to all that passed around him in the +practical work-a-day world. So one day he accosted him pleasantly and +inquired why he came so constantly and stayed so long doing nothing. + +"I play the piano a little," said the boy, "and I like to come here +and listen to the fine playing in your house." + +"Oh! if that is the case, come in with me that you may enjoy it more +at your ease, and hereafter you are welcome to do so whenever you feel +inclined." + +It may be imagined the delighted boy did not refuse the kind +invitation, and the acquaintance soon ripened into intimacy, for the +rich merchant learned to regard the bright young musician with much +affection, which it is needless to say was warmly returned. Verdi was +untiring in study and spent the early years of his youth in humble +quiet, in the midst of those beauties of nature which have so powerful +an influence in moulding great susceptibilities. At his seventeenth +year he had acquired as much musical knowledge as could be acquired at +a place like Busseto, and he became anxious to go to Milan to continue +his studies. The poverty of his family precluding any assistance from +this quarter, he was obliged to find help from an eleemosynary fund +then existing in his native town. This was an institution called the +Monte di Pieta, which offered yearly to four young men the sum of +twenty-five _lire_ a-month each, in order to help them to an +education; and Verdi, making an application and sustained by the +influence of his friend the rich merchant, was one of the four whose +good fortune it was to be selected. + +The allowance thus obtained, with some assistance from Barezzi, +enabled the ambitious young musician to go to Milan, carrying with him +some of his compositions. When he presented himself for examination +at the Conservatory, he was made to play on the piano, and his +compositions examined. The result fell on his hopes like a +thunderbolt. The pedantic and narrow-minded examiners not only scoffed +at the state of his musical knowledge, but told him he was incapable +of becoming a musician. To weaker souls this would have been a +terrible discouragement, but to his ardour and self-confidence it was +only a challenge. Barezzi had equal confidence in the abilities of his +_protege_, and warmly encouraged him to work and hope. Verdi engaged +an excellent private teacher and pursued his studies with unflagging +energy, denying himself all but the barest necessities, and going +sometimes without sufficient food. + +A stroke of fortune now fell in his way; the place of organist fell +vacant at the Busseto church, and Verdi was appointed to fill it. He +returned home, and was soon afterwards married to the daughter of the +benefactor to whom he owed so much. He continued to apply himself with +great diligence to the study of his art, and completed an opera early +in 1839. He succeeded in arranging for the production of this work, +"L'Oberto, Conte de San Bonifacio," at La Scala, Milan; but it excited +little comment and was soon forgotten, like the scores of other +shallow or immature compositions so prolifically produced in Italy. + +The impresario, Merelli, believed in the young composer though, for he +thought he discovered signs of genius. So he gave him a contract to +write three operas, one of which was to be an _opera buffa_, and to be +ready in the following autumn. With hopeful spirits Verdi set to work +on the opera, but that year of 1840 was to be one of great trouble and +trial. Hardly had he set to work all afire with eagerness and hope, +when he was seized with severe illness. His recovery was followed by +the successive sickening of his two children, who died, a terrible +blow to the father's fond heart. Fate had the crowning stroke though +still to give, for the young mother, agonised by this loss, was seized +with a fatal inflammation of the brain. Thus within a brief period +Verdi was bereft of all the sweet consolations of home, and his life +became a burden to him. Under these conditions he was to write a comic +opera, full of sparkle, gaiety, and humour. Can we wonder that his +work was a failure? The public came to be amused by bright, joyous +music, for it was nothing to them that the composer's heart was dead +with grief at his afflictions. The audience hissed "Un Giorno di +Regno," for it proved a funereal attempt at mirth. So Verdi sought to +annul the contract. + +To this the impresario replied-- + +"So be it, if you wish; but, whenever you want to write again on the +same terms, you will find me ready." + +To tell the truth, the composer was discouraged by his want of +success, and wholly broken down by his numerous trials. He now +withdrew from all society, and, having hired a small room in an +out-of-the-way part of Milan, passed most of his time in reading the +worst books that could be found, rarely going out, unless occasionally +in the evening, never giving his attention to study of any kind, and +never touching the piano. Such was his life from October 1840 to +January 1841. One evening, early in the new year, while out walking, +he chanced to meet Merelli, who took him by the arm; and, as they +sauntered towards the theatre, the impresario told him that he was in +great trouble, Nicolai, who was to write an opera for him, having +refused to accept a _libretto_ entitled "Nabucco." + +To this Verdi replied-- + +"I am glad to be able to relieve you of your difficulty. Don't you +remember the libretto of 'Il Proscritto,' which you procured for me, +and for which I have never composed the music? Give that to Nicolai in +place of 'Nabucco.'" + +Merelli thanked him for his kind offer, and, as they reached the +theatre, asked him to go in, that they might ascertain whether the +manuscript of "Il Proscritto" was really there. It was at length +found, and Verdi was on the point of leaving, when Merelli slipped +into his pocket the book of "Nabucco," asking him to look it over. For +want of something to do, he took up the drama the next morning and +read it through, realising how truly grand it was in conception. But, +as a lover forces himself to feign indifference to his coquettish +_innamorata_, so he, disregarding his inclinations, returned the +manuscript to Merelli that same day. + +"Well?" said Merelli, inquiringly. + +"_Musicabilissimo!_" he replied; "full of dramatic power and telling +situations!" + +"Take it home with you, then, and write the music for it." + +Verdi declared that he did not wish to compose, but the worthy +impresario forced the manuscript on him, and persisted that he should +undertake the work. The composer returned home with the libretto, but +threw it on one side without looking at it, and for the next five +months continued his reading of bad romances and yellow-covered +novels. + +The impulse of work soon came again, however. One beautiful June day +the manuscript met his eye, while looking listlessly over some old +papers. He read one scene and was struck by its beauty. The instinct +of musical creation rushed over him with irresistible force; he seated +himself at the piano, so long silent, and began composing the music. +The ice was broken. Verdi soon entered into the spirit of the work, +and in three months "Nabucco" was entirely completed. Merelli gladly +accepted it, and it was performed at La Scala in the spring of 1842. +As a result Verdi was besieged with petitions for new works from every +impresario in Italy. + + +II. + +From 1842 to 1851 Verdi's busy imagination produced a series of +operas, which disputed the palm of popularity with the foremost +composers of his time. "I Lombardi," brought out at La Scala in 1843; +"Ernani," at Venice in 1844; "I Due Foscari," at Rome in 1844; +"Giovanna D'Arco," at Milan, and "Alzira," at Naples in 1845; +"Attila," at Venice in 1846; and "Macbetto," at Florence in 1847, +were--all of them--successful works. The last created such a genuine +enthusiasm that he was crowned with a golden laurel-wreath and +escorted home from the theatre by an enormous crowd. "I Masnadieri" +was written for Jenny Lind, and performed first in London in 1847 with +that great singer, Gardoni, and Lablache, in the cast. His next +productions were "Il Corsaro," brought out at Trieste in 1848; "La +Battaglia di Legnano" at Rome in 1849; "Luisa Miller" at Naples in the +same year; and "Stiffelio" at Trieste in 1850. By this series of works +Verdi impressed himself powerfully on his age, but in them he +preserved faithfully the colour and style of the school in which he +had been trained. But he had now arrived at the commencement of his +transition period. A distinguished French critic marks this change in +the following summary:--"When Verdi began to write, the influences of +foreign literature and new theories on art had excited Italian +composers to seek a violent expression of the passions, and to leave +the interpretation of amiable and delicate sentiments for that of +sombre flights of the soul. A serious mind gifted with a rich +imagination, Verdi became chief of the new school. His music became +more intense and dramatic; by vigour, energy, _verve_, a certain +ruggedness and sharpness, by powerful effects of sound, he conquered +an immense popularity in Italy, where success had hitherto been +attained only by the charm, suavity, and abundance of the melodies +produced." + +In "Rigoletto," produced in Venice in 1851, the full flowering of his +genius into the melodramatic style was signally shown. The opera story +adapted from Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'amuse" is itself one of the most +dramatic of plots, and it seemed to have fired the composer into music +singularly vigorous, full of startling effects and novel treatment. +Two years afterwards were brought out at Rome and Venice respectively +two operas, stamped with the same salient qualities, "Il Trovatore" +and "La Traviata," the last a lyric adaptation of Dumas _fils's_ "Dame +aux Camelias." These three operas have generally been considered his +masterpieces, though it is more than possible that the riper judgment +of the future will not sustain this claim. Their popularity was such +that Verdi's time was absorbed for several years in their production +at various opera-houses, utterly precluding new compositions. Of his +later operas may be mentioned "Les Vepres Siciliennes," produced in +Paris in 1855; "Un Ballo in Maschera," performed at Rome in 1859; "La +Forza del Destino," written for St. Petersburg, where it was sung in +1863; "Don Carlos," produced in London in 1867; and "Aida" in Grand +Cairo in 1872. When the latter work was finished, Verdi had composed +twenty-nine operas, besides lesser works, and attained the aged of +fifty-seven. + +Verdi's energies have not been confined to music. An ardent patriot, +he has displayed the deepest interest in the affairs of his country, +and taken an active part in its tangled politics. After the war of +1859 he was chosen a member of the Assembly of Parma, and was one of +the most influential advocates for the annexation to Sardinia. Italian +unity found in him a passionate advocate, and, when the occasion came, +his artistic talent and earnestness proved that they might have made a +vigorous mark in political oratory as well as in music. + +The cry of "Viva Verdi" often resounded through Sardinia and Italy, +and it was one of the war-slogans of the Italian war of liberation. +This enigma is explained in the fact that the five letters of his name +are the initials of those of Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia. His +private resources were liberally poured forth to help the national +cause, and in 1861 he was chosen a deputy in Parliament from Parma. +Ten years later he was appointed by the Minister of Public Instruction +to superintend the reorganisation of the National Musical Institute. + +The many decorations and titular distinctions lavished on him show the +high esteem in which he is held. He is a member of the Legion of +Honour, corresponding member of the French Academy of Fine Arts, grand +cross of the Prussian order of St. Stanislaus, of the order of the +Crown of Italy, and of the Egyptian order of Osmanli. He divides his +life between a beautiful residence at Genoa, where he overlooks the +waters of the sparkling Mediterranean, and a country villa near his +native Busseto, a house of quaint artistic architecture, approached by +a venerable, moss-grown stone bridge, at the foot of which are a large +park and artificial lake. When he takes his evening walks, the +peasantry, who are devotedly attached to him, unite in singing +choruses from his operas. + +In Verdi's bedroom, where alone he composes, is a fine piano--of which +instrument, as well as of the violin, he is a master--a modest +library, and an oddly-shaped writing-desk. Pictures and statuettes, of +which he is very fond, are thickly strewn about the whole house. Verdi +is a man of vigorous and active habits, taking an ardent interest in +agriculture. But the larger part of his time is taken up in composing, +writing letters, and reading works on philosophy, politics, and +history. His personal appearance is very distinguished. A tall figure +with sturdy limbs and square shoulders, surmounted by a finely-shaped +head; abundant hair, beard, and moustache, whose black is sprinkled +with grey; dark-grey eyes, regular features, and an earnest, sometimes +intense, expression make him a noticeable-looking man. Much sought +after in the brilliant society of Florence, Rome, and Paris, our +composer spends most of his time in the elegant seclusion of home. + + +III. + +Verdi is the most nervous, theatric, sensuous composer of the present +century. Measured by the highest standard, his style must be +criticised as often spasmodic, tawdry, and meretricious. He +instinctively adopts a bold and eccentric treatment of musical themes; +and, though there are always to be found stirring movements in his +scores as well as in his opera stories, he constantly offends refined +taste by sensation and violence. + +With a redundancy of melody, too often of the cheap and shallow kind, +he rarely fails to please the masses of opera-goers, for his works +enjoy a popularity not shared at present by any other composer. In +Verdi a sudden blaze of song, brief spirited airs, duets, trios, etc., +take the place of the elaborate and beautiful music, chiselled into +order and symmetry, which characterises most of the great composers of +the past. Energy of immediate impression is thus gained at the expense +of that deep, lingering power, full of the subtile side-lights and +shadows of suggestion, which is the crowning benison of great music. +He stuns the ear and captivates the senses, but does not subdue the +soul. + +Yet, despite the grievous faults of these operas, they blaze with +gems, and we catch here and there true swallow-flights of genius, that +the noblest would not disown. With all his puerilities there is a +mixture of grandeur. There are passages in "Ernani," "Rigoletto," +"Traviata," "Trovatore," and "Aida," so strong and dignified, that it +provokes a wonder that one with such capacity for greatness should +often descend into such bathos. + +To better illustrate the false art which mars so much of Verdi's +dramatic method, a comparison between his "Rigoletto," so often +claimed as his best work, and Rossini's "Otello" will be opportune. +The air sung by Gilda in the "Rigoletto," when she retires to sleep on +the eve of the outrage, is an empty, sentimental yawn; and in the +quartet of the last act, a noble dramatic opportunity, she ejects a +chain of disconnected, unmusical sobs, as offensive as Violetta's +consumptive cough. Desdemona's agitated air, on the other hand, under +Rossini's treatment, though broken short in the vocal phrase, is +magnificently sustained by the orchestra, and a genuine passion is +made consistently musical; and then the wonderful burst of bravura, +where despair and resolution run riot without violating the bounds of +strict beauty in music--these are master-strokes of genius restrained +by art. + +In Verdi, passion too often misses intensity and becomes hysterical. +He lacks the elements of tenderness and humour, but is frequently +picturesque and charming by his warmth and boldness of colour. His +attempts to express the gay and mirthful, as for instance in the +masquerade music of "Traviata" and the dance music of "Rigoletto," are +dreary, ghastly, and saddening; while his ideas of tenderness are apt +to take the form of mere sentimentality. Yet generalities fail in +describing him, for occasionally he attains effects strong in their +pathos, and artistically admirable; as, for example, the slow air for +the heroine, and the dreamy song for the gipsy mother in the last act +of "Trovatore." An artist who thus contradicts himself is a perplexing +problem, but we must judge him by the habitual, not the occasional. + +Verdi is always thoroughly in earnest, never frivolous. He walks on +stilts indeed, instead of treading the ground or cleaving the air, but +is never timid or tame in aim or execution. If he cannot stir the +emotions of the soul he subdues and absorbs the attention against even +the dictates of the better taste; while genuine beauties gleaming +through picturesque rubbish often repay the true musician for what he +has undergone. + +So far this composer has been essentially representative of +melodramatic music, with all the faults and virtues of such a style. +In "Aida," his last work, the world remarked a striking change. The +noble orchestration, the power and beauty of the choruses, the +sustained dignity of treatment, the seriousness and pathos of the +whole work, reveal how deeply new purposes and methods have been +fermenting in the composer's development. Yet in the very prime of his +powers, though no longer young, his next work ought to settle the +value of the hopes raised by the last. + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--In 1874 Verdi composed his "Requiem Mass." It is +written in a popular style, and received unanimous praise from the +Italian critics, and as thorough condemnation from those of Germany, +in particular from Herr Hans von Buelow, the celebrated pianist. It was +chance which induced the composer to attempt sacred music. On the +death of Rossini, Verdi suggested that a "Requiem" should be written +in memory of the dead master, by thirteen Italian composers in +combination, and that the mass should be performed on every hundredth +anniversary of the death in the cathedral of Bologna. The attempt +naturally proved a complete failure, owing to the impossibility of +unity in the method of such a composition. On the death, however, of +Alessandro Manzoni at Milan, Verdi wrote for the anniversary of the +great man's death a Requiem, into which he incorporated the movement +_Libera me_ which he had previously written for the Rossini Requiem. + +In 1881 "Simon Boccanegra" was performed at Milan, with very partial +success. It was a revival of an opera Verdi had written ten years +previously, but which had failed owing to a confused libretto and a +bad interpretation. It, however, in its present form, falls short in +merit when compared with the composer's finest operas--"Rigoletto," +"Il Trovatore," and "Aida." + +Verdi's last work, "Otello," has been brought out since this volume +went to press; its brilliant success at the theatre of La Scala, +Milan, on the 5th of February, is a matter of such recent date that it +is unnecessary to enlarge upon it at present. Verdi has accepted an +invitation from the managers of the Grand Opera at Paris to produce +"Otello" at their theatre in the course of the year; the libretto will +be translated by M. du Loche, and a ballet will be introduced in the +second act, according to the traditions of the French opera. In all +probability it will also be performed in London, but as yet no public +intimation on the subject has been made. + +It is of course impossible at present for any definite decision to be +pronounced on the merits of this latest work compared with the +composer's other operas; the few following facts, however, concerning +"Otello," excerpted from the reports of the musical critics of our +leading journals, may prove of interest. + +Verdi was first induced to undertake the composition of "Otello" on +the occasion of the performance of his "Messa da Requiem," at the +Scala, for the benefit of the sufferers by the inundations at Ferrara. +The next day he gave a dinner to the four principal solo singers, at +which were present several friends, among them Signor Faccio and +Signor Ricordi. The latter laid siege to the _maestro_, trying to +persuade him to undertake a new work. For a long time Verdi resisted, +and his wife declared that probably only a Shakespearian subject could +induce him to take up his pen again. A few hours later Faccio and +Ricordi went to Boito, who at once agreed to make the third in the +generous conspiracy, and two days after sent to Verdi a complete +sketch of the plan for the opera, following strictly the Shakespearian +tragedy. Verdi approved of the sketch, and from that moment it fell to +the part of Giulia Ricordi to urge on the composer and the poet by +constant reminders. Every Christmas he sent to Verdi's house an +"Othello" formed of chocolate, which, at first very small, grew larger +as the opera progressed. + +Rossini's famous opera on the same subject, in which Pasta and +Malibran won renown in their day, was produced in Naples in the autumn +of 1816. How it impressed Lord Byron, who saw it in Venice soon +afterwards, we learn from an amusing postscript to his letter to +Samuel Rogers, wherein he says:--"They have been crucifying 'Othello' +into an opera; the music good but lugubrious; but as for the +words--all the real scenes with Iago cut out and the greatest nonsense +instead. The handkerchief turned into a billet-doux, and the first +singer would not black his face, for some exquisite reason assigned in +the preface." In this curiously maimed and mangled version, Roderigo +became of far more importance than the Moor's crafty lieutenant. Odder +still was the modified French version played in 1823, when the leading +tenor, David, thinking the final duet with Desdemona unsuited to his +voice, substituted the soft and pretty duet, "Amor, possente nume," +from Rossini's later opera "Armida." A contemporary French critic, who +witnessed this curious performance, observes--"As it was impossible to +kill Desdemona to such a tune, the Moor, after giving way to the most +violent jealousy, sheathed his dagger, and began the duet in the most +tender and graceful manner; after which he took Desdemona politely by +the hand and retired, amidst the applause and bravos of the public, +who seemed to think it quite natural that the piece should finish in +this fashion." + +Verdi, with that healthy horror of tiring the public which has always +distinguished him, declined Signor Boito's proposal to treat the +subject in five acts; and, Shakespeare's introductory act being +discarded, the first act of the opera corresponds with the second act +of the tragedy. After that the musical drama marches scene by scene, +and situation by situation, on parallel lines with the play, with this +important exception only--namely, that the "Willow Song," as in +Rossini's opera, is transferred from the last act but one to the last +act. There are no symphonic pieces in "Otello," unless the brief +orchestral presentation of the "Willow Song" before the fourth act can +be so considered. The work is a drama set to music, in which there are +no repetitions, no detached or detachable airs written specially for +the singers, no passages of display, nothing whatever in the way of +music but what is absolutely necessary for the elucidation of the +piece. The influence of Wagner is perceptible here and there, but +there are no leading motives, and the general style is that of Verdi +at his best, as in "Aida." + + "It is well for the Italians that, in hailing Verdi as a + great man of genius, they are not honouring one who moves + the profane world to compassion, scarcely distinguished from + contempt, by weakness of character. His work is so good + throughout, so full of method, so complete, because his + nature is complete and his life methodical; for the same + reason, no doubt, he has preserved to a ripe old age all the + essential qualities of the genius of his manhood. The leaves + that remain on the Autumnal trees are yet green, and the + birds still sing among them. 'Otello' itself will, in some + form or other, soon be heard in London; and it is pleasant + to think that the subject is taken from one of the greatest + works of the greatest of all literary Englishmen. The theme + is noble, and so, apparently, is the treatment. Nor should + we forget that so distinguished a composer as Signor Boito + has not disdained, nay, has elected, to compose the libretto + for the old _maestro_. That is a form and sample of + co-operation we can all admire. Will Italy One and Free + continue to produce great and original musicians? Verdi is + the product of other and more melancholy times. Be that as + it may, better national freedom, civil activity, and + personal dignity, than all the operas that were ever + written." + + + + +_CHERUBINI AND HIS PREDECESSORS._ + + +I. + +In France, as in Italy, the regular musical drama was preceded by +mysteries, masks, and religious plays, which introduced short musical +parts, as also action, mechanical effects, and dancing. The ballet, +however, where dancing was the prominent feature, remained for a long +time the favourite amusement of the French court until the advent of +Jean Baptiste Lulli. The young Florentine, after having served in the +king's band, was promoted to be its chief, and the composer of the +music of the court ballets. Lulli, born in 1633, was bought of his +parents by Chevalier de Guise, and sent to Paris as a present to +Mdlle. de Montpensier, the king's niece. His capricious mistress, +after a year or two, deposed the boy of fifteen from the position of +page to that of scullion; but Count Nogent, accidentally hearing him +sing and struck by his musical talent, influenced the princess to +place him under the care of good masters. Lulli made such rapid +progress that he soon commenced to compose music of a style superior +to that before current in divertisements of the French court. + +The name of Philippe Quinault is closely associated with the musical +career of Lulli; for to the poet the musician was indebted for his +best librettos. Born at Paris in 1636, Quinault's genius for poetry +displayed itself at an early age. Before he was twenty he had written +several successful comedies. Though he produced many plays, both +tragedies and comedies, well known to readers of French poetry, his +operatic poems are those which have rendered his memory illustrious. +He died on November 29, 1688. It is said that during his last illness +he was extremely penitent on account of the voluptuous tendency of his +works. All his lyrical dramas are full of beauty, but "Atys," +"Phaeton," "Isis," and "Armide" have been ranked the highest. "Armide" +was the last of the poet's efforts, and Lulli was so much in love with +the opera, when completed, that he had it performed over and over +again for his own pleasure without any other auditor. When "Atys" was +performed first in 1676, the eager throng began to pour in the theatre +at ten o'clock in the morning, and by noon the building was filled. +The King and the Count were charmed with the work in spite of the +bitter dislike of Boileau, the Aristarchus of his age. "Put me in a +place where I shall not be able to hear the words," said the latter to +the box-keeper; "I like Lulli's music very much, but have a sovereign +contempt for Quinault's words." Lulli obliged the poet to write +"Armide" five times over, and the felicity of his treatment is proved +by the fact that Gluck afterwards set the same poem to the music which +is still occasionally sung in Germany. + +Lulli in the course of his musical career became so great a favourite +with the King that the originally obscure kitchen-boy was ennobled. He +was made one of the King's secretaries in spite of the loud murmurs of +this pampered fraternity against receiving into their body a player +and a buffoon. The musician's wit and affability, however, finally +dissipated these prejudices, especially as he was wealthy and of +irreproachable character. + +The King having had a severe illness in 1686, Lulli composed a "Te +Deum" in honour of his recovery. When this was given, the musician, in +beating time with great ardour, struck his toe with his baton. This +brought on a mortification, and there was great grief when it was +announced that he could not recover. The Princes de Vendome lodged +four thousand pistoles in the hands of a banker, to be paid to any +physician who would cure him. Shortly before his death his confessor +severely reproached him for the licentiousness of his operas, and +refused to give him absolution unless he consented to burn the score +of "Achille et Polyxene," which was ready for the stage. The +manuscript was put into the flames, and the priest made the musician's +peace with God. One of the young princes visited him a few days after, +when he seemed a little better. + +"What, Baptiste," the former said, "have you burned your opera? You +were a fool for giving such credit to a gloomy confessor and burning +good music." + +"Hush, hush!" whispered Lulli, with a satirical smile on his lip. "I +cheated the good father. I only burned a copy." + +He died singing the words, "_Il faut mourir, pecheur, il faut +mourir_," to one of his own opera airs. + +Lulli was not only a composer, but created his own orchestra, trained +his artists in acting and singing, and was machinist as well as +ballet-master and music-director. He was intimate with Corneille, +Moliere, La Fontaine, and Boileau; and these great men were proud to +contribute the texts to which he set his music. He introduced female +dancers into the ballet, disguised men having hitherto served in this +capacity, and in many essential ways was the father of early French +opera, though its foundation had been laid by Cardinal Mazarin. He had +to fight against opposition and cabals, but his energy, tact, and +persistence made him the victor, and won the friendship of the leading +men of his time. Such of his music as still exists is of a pleasing +and melodious character, full of vivacity and fire, and at times +indicates a more deep and serious power than that of merely creating +catching and tuneful airs. He was the inventor of the operatic +overture, and introduced several new instruments into the orchestra. +Apart from his splendid administrative faculty, he is entitled to rank +as an original and gifted, if not a great composer. + +A lively sketch of the French opera of this period is given by Addison +in No. 29 of the _Spectator_. "The music of the French," he says, "is +indeed very properly adapted to their pronunciation and accent, as +their whole opera wonderfully favours the genius of such a gay, airy +people. The chorus in which that opera abounds gives the parterre +frequent opportunities of joining in concert with the stage. This +inclination of the audience to sing along with the actors so prevails +with them that I have sometimes known the performer on the stage to do +no more in a celebrated song than the clerk of a parish church, who +serves only to raise the psalm, and is afterwards drowned in the music +of the congregation. Every actor that comes on the stage is a beau. +The queens and heroines are so painted that they appear as ruddy and +cherry-cheeked as milkmaids. The shepherds are all embroidered, and +acquit themselves in a ball better than our English dancing-masters. I +have seen a couple of rivers appear in red stockings; and Alpheus, +instead of having his head covered with sedge and bulrushes, making +love in a fair, full-bottomed periwig, and a plume of feathers; but +with a voice so full of shakes and quavers, that I should have thought +the murmur of a country brook the much more agreeable music. I +remember the last opera I saw in that merry nation was the 'Rape of +Proserpine,' where Pluto, to make the more tempting figure, puts +himself in a French equipage, and brings Ascalaphus along with him as +his _valet de chambre_. This is what we call folly and impertinence, +but what the French look upon as gay and polite." + + +II. + +The French musical drama continued without much change in the hands of +the Lulli school (for the musician had several skilful imitators and +successors) till the appearance of Jean Philippe Rameau, who +inaugurated a new era. This celebrated man was born in Auvergne in +1683, and was during his earlier life the organist of the Clermont +cathedral church. Here he pursued the scientific researches in music +which entitled him in the eyes of his admirers to be called the Newton +of his art. He had reached the age of fifty without recognition as a +dramatic composer, when the production of "Hippolyte et Aricie" +excited a violent feud by creating a strong current of opposition to +the music of Lulli. He produced works in rapid succession, and finally +overcame all obstacles, and won for himself the name of being the +greatest lyric composer which France up to that time had produced. His +last opera, "Les Paladins," was given in 1760, the composer being then +seventy-seven. + +The bitterness of the art-feuds of that day, afterwards shown in the +Gluck-Piccini contest, was foreshadowed in that waged by Rameau +against Lulli, and finally against the Italian new-comers, who sought +to take possession of the French stage. The matter became a national +quarrel, and it was considered an insult to France to prefer the music +of an Italian to that of a Frenchman--an insult which was often +settled by the rapier point, when tongue and pen had failed as +arbitrators. The subject was keenly debated by journalists and +pamphleteers, and the press groaned with essays to prove that Rameau +was the first musician in Europe, though his works were utterly +unknown outside of France. Perhaps no more valuable testimony to the +character of these operas can be adduced than that of Baron Grimm:-- + +"In his operas Rameau has overpowered all his predecessors by dint of +harmony and quantity of notes. Some of his choruses are very fine. +Lulli could only sustain his vocal psalmody by a simple bass; Rameau +accompanied almost all his recitatives with the orchestra. These +accompaniments are generally in bad taste; they drown the voice rather +than support it, and force the singers to scream and howl in a manner +which no ear of any delicacy can tolerate. We come away from an opera +of Rameau's intoxicated with harmony and stupified with the noise of +voice and instruments. His taste is always Gothic, and, whether his +subject is light or forcible, his style is equally heavy. He was not +destitute of ideas, but did not know what use to make of them. In his +recitatives the sound is continually in opposition to the sense, +though they occasionally contain happy declamatory passages.... If he +had formed himself in some of the schools of Italy, and thus acquired +a notion of musical style and habits of musical thought, he never +would have said (as he did) that all poems were alike to him, and that +he could set the _Gazette de France_ to music." + +From this it may be gathered that Rameau, though a scientific and +learned musician, lacked imagination, good taste, and dramatic +insight--qualities which in the modern lyric school of France have +been so pre-eminent. It may be admitted, however, that he inspired a +taste for sound musical science, and thus prepared the way for the +great Gluck, who to all and more of Rameau's musical knowledge united +the grand genius which makes him one of the giants of his art. + +Though Rameau enjoyed supremacy over the serious opera, a great +excitement was created in Paris by the arrival of an Italian company, +who in 1752 obtained permission to perform Italian burlettas and +intermezzi at the opera-house. The partisans of the French school took +alarm, and the admirers of Lulli and Rameau forgot their bickerings to +join forces against the foreign intruders. The battle-field was +strewed with floods of ink, and the literati pelted each other with +ferocious lampoons. + +Among the literature of this controversy, one pamphlet has an +imperishable place, Rousseau's famous "Lettre sur la Musique +Francaise," in which the great sentimentalist espoused the cause of +Italian music with an eloquence and acrimony rarely surpassed. The +inconsistency of the author was as marked in this as in his private +life. Not only did he at a later period become a great advocate of +Gluck against Piccini, but, in spite of his argument that it was +impossible to compose music to French words, that the language was +quite unfit for it, that the French never had music and never would, +he himself had composed a good deal of music to French words and +produced a French opera, "Le Devin du Village." Diderot was also a +warm partisan of the Italians. Pergolesi's beautiful music having been +murdered by the French orchestra-players at the Grand Opera-House, +Diderot proposed for it the following witty and laconic +inscription:--"Hic Marsyas Apollinem."[M] + +Rousseau's opera, "Le Devin du Village," was performed with +considerable success, in spite of the repugnance of the orchestral +performers, of whom Rousseau always spoke in terms of unmeasured +contempt, to do justice to the music. They burned Rousseau in effigy +for his scoffs. "Well," said the author of the _Confessions_, "I don't +wonder that they should hang me now, after having so long put me to +the torture." + +The eloquence and abuse of the wits, however, did not long impair the +supremacy of Rameau; for the Italian company returned to their own +land, disheartened by their reception in the French capital. Though +this composer commenced so late in life, he left thirty-six dramatic +works. His greatest work was "Castor et Pollux." Thirty years later +Grimm recognised its merits by admitting, in spite of the great faults +of the composer, "It is the pivot on which the glory of French music +turns." When Louis XIV. offered Rameau a title, he answered, touching +his breast and forehead, "My nobility is here and here." This composer +marked a step forward in French music, for he gave it more boldness +and freedom, and was the first really scientific and well-equipped +exponent of a national school. His choruses were full of energy and +fire, his orchestral effects rich and massive. He died in 1764, and +the mortuary music, composed by himself, was performed by a double +orchestra and chorus from the Grand Opera. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[M] Here Marsyas flayed Apollo. + + +III. + +A distinguished place in the records of French music must be assigned +to ANDRE ERNEST GRETRY, born at Liege in 1741. His career covered the +most important changes in the art as coloured and influenced by +national tastes, and he is justly regarded as the father of comic +opera in his adopted country. His childish life is one of much severe +discipline and tribulation, for he was dedicated to music by his +father, who was first violinist in the college of St. Denis, when he +was only six years old. He afterwards wrote of this time in his +_Essais sur la Musique_--"The hour for the lesson afforded the teacher +an opportunity to exercise his cruelty. He made us sing each in turn, +and woe to him who made the least mistake; he was beaten unmercifully, +the youngest as well as the oldest. He seemed to take pleasure in +inventing torture. At times he would place us on a short round stick, +from which we fell head over heels if we made the least movement. But +that which made us tremble with fear was to see him knock down a pupil +and beat him; for then we were sure he would treat some others in the +same manner, one victim being insufficient to gratify his ferocity. To +maltreat his pupils was a sort of mania with him; and he seemed to +feel that his duty was performed in proportion to the cries and sobs +which he drew forth." + +In 1759 Gretry went to Rome, where he studied counterpoint for five +years. Some of his works were received favourably by the Roman public, +and he was made a member of the Philharmonic Society of Bologna. +Pressed by pecuniary necessity, Gretry determined to go to Paris; but +he stopped at Geneva on the route to earn money by singing-lessons. +Here he met Voltaire at Ferney. "You are a musician and have genius," +said the great man; "it is a very rare thing, and I take much interest +in you." In spite of this, however, Voltaire would not write him the +text for an opera. The philosopher of Ferney feared to trust his +reputation with an unknown musician. When Gretry arrived in Paris he +still found the same difficulty, as no distinguished poet was disposed +to give him a libretto till he had made his powers recognised. After +two years of starving and waiting, Marmontel gave him the text of "The +Huron," which was brought out in 1769 and well received. Other +successful works followed in rapid succession. + +At this time Parisian frivolity thought it good taste to admire the +rustic and naive. The idyls of Gessner and the pastorals of Florian +were the favourite reading, and Watteau the popular painter. +Gentlefolks, steeped in artifice, vice, and intrigue, masked their +empty lives under the assumption of Arcadian simplicity, and minced +and ambled in the costumes of shepherds and shepherdesses. Marie +Antoinette transformed her chalet of Petit Trianon into a farm, where +she and her courtiers played at pastoral life--the farce preceding the +tragedy of the Revolution. It was the effort of dazed society seeking +change. Gretry followed the fashionable bent by composing pastoral +comedies, and mounted on the wave of success. + +In 1774 "Fausse Magie" was produced with the greatest applause. +Rousseau was present, and the composer waited on him in his box, +meeting a most cordial reception. On their way home after the opera, +Gretry offered his new friend his arm to help him over an obstruction. +Rousseau with a burst of rage said, "Let me make use of my own +powers," and henceforward the sentimental misanthrope refused to +recognise the composer. About this time Gretry met the English +humorist Hales, who afterwards furnished him with many of his comic +texts. The two combined to produce the "Jugement de Midas," a satire +on the old style of music, which met with remarkable popular favour, +though it was not so well received by the court. + +The crowning work of this composer's life was given to the world in +1785. This was "Richard Coeur de Lion," and it proved one of the great +musical events of the period. Paris was in ecstasies, and the judgment +of succeeding generations has confirmed the contemporary verdict, as +it is still a favourite opera in France and Germany. The works +afterwards composed by Gretry showed decadence in power. Singularly +rich in fresh and sprightly ideas, he lacked depth and grandeur, and +failed to suit the deeper and sounder taste which Cherubini and Mehul, +great followers in the footsteps of Gluck, gratified by a series of +noble masterpieces. Gretry's services to his art, however, by his +production of comic operas full of lyric vivacity and sparkle, have +never been forgotten nor underrated. His bust was placed in the +opera-house during his lifetime, and he was made a member of the +French Academy of Fine Arts and Inspector of the Conservatory. Gretry +possessed qualities of heart which endeared him to all, and his death +in 1813 was the occasion of a general outburst of lamentation. +Deputations from the theatres and the Conservatory accompanied his +remains to the cemetery, where Mehul pronounced an eloquent eulogium. +In 1828 a nephew of Gretry caused the heart of him who was one of the +glorious sons of Liege to be returned to his native city. + +Gretry founded a school of musical composition in France which has +since been cultivated with signal success--that of lyric comedy. The +efforts of Lulli and Rameau had been turned in another direction. The +former had done little more than set courtly pageants to music, though +he had done this with great skill and tact, enriching them with a +variety of concerted and orchestral pieces, and showing much fertility +in the invention alike of pathetic and lively melodies. Rameau +followed in the footsteps of Lulli, but expanded and crystallised his +ideas into a more scientific form. He had indeed carried his love of +form to a radical extreme. Jean Jacques Rousseau, who extended his +taste for nature and simplicity to music, blamed him severely as one +who neglected genuine natural tune for far-fetched harmonies, on the +ground that "music is a child of nature, and has a language of its own +for expressing emotional transports, which cannot be learned from +thorough-bass rules." Again, Rousseau, in his forcible tract on +French music, says of Rameau, from whose school Gretry's music was +such a significant departure-- + +"One must confess that M. Rameau possesses very great talent, much +fire and euphony, and a considerable knowledge of harmonious +combinations and effects; one must also grant him the art of +appropriating the ideas of others by changing their character, +adorning and developing them, and turning them around in all manner of +ways. On the other hand, he shows less facility in inventing new ones. +Altogether he has more skill than fertility, more knowledge than +genius, or rather genius smothered by knowledge, but always force, +grace, and very often a beautiful _cantilena_. His recitative is not +as natural but much more varied than that of Lulli; admirable in a few +scenes, but bad as a rule." Rousseau continues to reproach Rameau with +a too powerful instrumentation, compared with Italian simplicity, and +sums up that nobody knew better than Rameau how to conceive the spirit +of single passages and to produce artistic contrasts, but that he +entirely failed to give his operas "a happy and much-to-be-desired +unity." In another part of the quoted passage Rousseau says that +Rameau stands far beneath Lulli in _esprit_ and artistic tact, but +that he is often superior to him in dramatic expression. + +A clear understanding of the musical position of Rameau is necessary +to fully appreciate the place of Gretry, his antithesis as a composer. +For a short time the popularity of Rameau had been shaken by an +Italian opera company, called by the French _Les Bouffons_, who had +created a genuine sensation by their performance of airy and sparkling +operettas, entirely removed in spirit from the ponderous productions +of the prevailing school. Though the Italian comedians did not meet +with permanent success, the suave charm of their music left behind it +memories which became fruitful.[N] It furnished the point of departure +for the lively and facile genius of Gretry, who laid the foundation +stones for that lyric comedy which has flourished in France with so +much luxuriance. From the outset merriment and humour were by no means +the sole object of the French comic opera, as in the case of its +Italian sister. Gretry did not neglect to turn the nobler emotions to +account, and by a judicious admixture of sentiment he gave an ideal +colouring to his works, which made them singularly fascinating and +original. Around Gretry flourished several disciples and imitators, +and for twenty years this charming hybrid between opera and vaudeville +engrossed French musical talent, to the exclusion of other forms of +composition. It was only when Gluck[O] appeared on the scene, and by +his commanding genius restored serious opera to its supremacy, that +Gretry's repute was overshadowed. From this decline in public favour +he never fully recovered, for the master left behind him gifted +disciples, who embodied his traditions, and were inspired by his lofty +aims--pre-eminently so in the case of Cherubini, perhaps the greatest +name in French music. While French comic opera, since the days of +Gretry, has become modified in some of its forms, it preserves the +spirit and colouring which he so happily imparted to it, and looks +back to him as its founder and lawgiver. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[N] In its infancy Italian comic opera formed the _intermezzo_ between +the acts of a serious opera, and--similar to the Greek sylvan drama +which followed the tragic trilogy--was frequently a parody on the +piece which preceded it; though more frequently still (as in +Pergolesi's "Serva Padrona") it was not a satire on any particular +subject, but designed to heighten the ideal artistic effect of the +serious opera by broad comedy. Having acquired a complete form on the +boards of the small theatres, it was transferred to the larger stage. +Though it lacked the external splendour and consummate vocalisation of +the elder sister, its simpler forms endowed it with a more +characteristic rendering of actual life. + +[O] See article on "Gluck," in _The Great German Composers_ (the first +part of this work), in which his connection with French music is +discussed. + + +IV. + +One of the most accomplished of historians and critics, Oulibischeff, +sums up the place of Cherubini in musical art in these words--"If on +the one hand Gluck's calm and plastic grandeur, and on the other the +tender and voluptuous charm of the melodies of Piccini and Zacchini, +had suited the circumstances of a state of society sunk in luxury and +nourished with classical exhibitions, this could not satisfy a society +shaken to the very foundations of its faith and organisation. The +whole of the dramatic music of the eighteenth century must naturally +have appeared cold and languid to men whose minds were profoundly +moved with troubles and wars; and even at the present day the word +languor best expresses that which no longer touches us in the operas +of the last century, without even excepting those of Mozart himself. +What we require for the pictures of dramatic music is larger frames, +including more figures, more passionate and moving song, more sharply +marked rhythms, greater fulness in the vocal masses, and more sonorous +brilliancy in the instrumentation. All these qualities are to be found +in 'Lodoiska' and 'Les Deux Journees;' and Cherubini may not only be +regarded as the founder of the modern French opera, but also as that +musician who, after Mozart, has exerted the greatest general influence +on the tendency of the art. An Italian by birth and the excellence of +his education, which was conducted by Sarti, the great teacher of +composition; a German by his musical sympathies as well as by the +variety and profundity of his knowledge; and a Frenchman by the school +and principles to which we owe his finest dramatic works, Cherubini +strikes me as being the most accomplished musician, if not the +greatest genius, of the nineteenth century." + +Again, the English composer, Macfarren, observes--"Cherubini's +position is unique in the history of his art; actively before the +world as a composer for threescore years and ten, his career spans +over more vicissitudes in the progress of music than that of any other +man. Beginning to write in the same year with Cimarosa, and even +earlier than Mozart, and being the contemporary of Verdi and Wagner, +he witnessed almost the origin of the two modern classical schools of +France and Germany, their rise to perfection, and, if not their +decline, the arrival of a time when criticism would usurp the place of +creation, and when to propound new rules for art claims higher +consideration than to act according to its ever unalterable +principles. His artistic life indeed was a rainbow based on the two +extremes of modern music which shed light and glory on the great +art-cycle over which it arched.... His excellence consists in his +unswerving earnestness of purpose, in the individuality of his manner, +in the vigour of his ideas, and in the purity of his harmony." + +"Such," says M. Miel, "was Cherubini; a colossal and incommensurable +genius, an existence full of days, of masterpieces, and of glory. +Among his rivals he found his most sincere appreciators. The Chevalier +Seyfried has recorded, in a notice on Beethoven, that that grand +musician regarded Cherubini as the first of his contemporary +composers. We will add nothing to this praise: the judgment of such a +rival is, for Cherubini, the voice itself of posterity." + +LUIGI CARLO ZANOBE SALVADORE MARIA CHERUBINI was born at Florence on +September 14, 1760, the son of a harpsichord accompanist at the +Pergola Theatre. Like so many other great composers, young Cherubini +displayed signs of a fertile and powerful genius at an early age, +mastering the difficulties of music as if by instinct. At the age of +nine he was placed under the charge of Felici, one of the best Tuscan +professors of the day; and four years afterwards he composed his first +work, a mass. His creative instinct, thus awakened, remained active, +and he produced a series of compositions which awakened no little +admiration, so that he was pointed at in the streets of Florence as +the young prodigy. When he was about sixteen the attention of the +Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany was directed to him, and through that +prince's liberality he was enabled to become a pupil of the most +celebrated Italian master of the age, Giuseppe Sarti, of whom he soon +became the favourite pupil. Under the direction of Sarti, the young +composer produced a series of operas, sonatas, and masses, and wrote +much of the music which appeared under the _maestro's_ own name--a +practice then common in the music and painting schools of Italy. At +the age of nineteen Cherubini was recognised as one of the most +learned and accomplished musicians of the age, and his services were +in active demand at the Italian theatres. In four years he produced +thirteen operas, the names and character of which it is not necessary +now to mention, as they are unknown except to the antiquary whose zeal +prompts him to defy the dust of the Italian theatrical libraries. +Halevy, whose admiration of his master led him to study these early +compositions, speaks of them as full of striking beauties, and, though +crude in many particulars, distinguished by those virile and daring +conceptions which from the outset stamped the originality of the man. + +Cherubini passed through Paris in 1784, while the Gluck-Piccini +excitement was yet warm, and visited London as composer for the Royal +Italian Opera. Here he became a constant visitor in courtly circles, +and the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Queensbury, and other noble +amateurs, conceived the warmest admiration for his character and +abilities. For some reason, however, his operas written for England +failed, and he quitted England in 1786, intending to return to Italy. +But the fascinations of Paris held him, as they have done so many +others, noticeably so among the great musicians; and what was designed +as a flying visit became a life-long residence, with the exception of +brief interruptions in Germany and Italy, whither he went to fill +professional engagements. + +Cherubini took up his residence with his friend Viotti, who introduced +him to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, and the highest society of the +capital, then as now the art-centre of the world. He became an +intimate of the brilliant salons of Mdme. de Polignac, Mdme. +d'Etioles, Mdme. de Richelieu, and of the various bright assemblies +where the wit, rank, and beauty of Paris gathered in the days just +prior to the Revolution. The poet Marmontel became his intimate +friend, and gave him the opera story of "Demophon" to set to music. +It was at this period that Cherubini became acquainted with the works +of Haydn, and learned from him how to unite depth with lightness, +grace with power, jest with earnestness, and toying with dignity. + +A short visit to Italy for the carnival of 1788 resulted in the +production of the opera of "Ifigenia in Aulide" at La Scala, Milan. +The success was great, and this work, the last written for his native +country, was given also at Florence and Parma with no less delight and +approbation on the part of the public. Had Cherubini died at this +time, he would have left nothing but an obscure name for Fetis's +immense dictionary. Unlike Mozart and Schubert, who at the same age +had reached their highest development, this robust and massive genius +ripened slowly. With him as with Gluck, with whom he had so many +affinities, a short life would have been fatal to renown. His last +opera showed a turning point in his development. Halevy, his great +disciple, speaks of this period as follows:--"He is already more +nervous; there peeps out I know not exactly how much of force and +virility of which the Italian musicians of his day did not know or did +not seek the secret. It is the dawn of a new day. Cherubini was +preparing himself for the combat. Gluck had accustomed France to the +sublime energy of his masterpieces. Mozart had just written 'Le Nozze +di Figaro' and 'Don Giovanni.' He must not lag behind. He must not be +conquered. In that career which he was about to dare to enter, he met +two giants. Like the athlete who descends into the arena, he anointed +his limbs and girded his loins for the fight." + + +V. + +Marmontel had furnished the libretto of an opera to Cherubini, and the +composer shortly after his return from Turin to Paris had it produced +at the Royal Academy of Music. Vogel's opera on the same text, +"Demophon," was also brought out, but neither one met with great +success. Cherubini's work, though full of vigour and force, wanted +colour and dramatic point. He was disgusted with his failure, and +resolved to eschew dramatic music; so for the nonce he devoted himself +to instrumental music and cantata. Two works of the latter class, +"Amphion" and "Circe," composed at this time, were of such excellence +as to retain a permanent hold on the French stage. Cherubini, too, +became director of the Italian opera troupe, "Les Bouffons," organised +under the patronage of Leonard, the Queen's performer, and exercised +his taste for composition by interpolating airs of his own into the +works of the Italian composers, which were then interesting the French +public as against the operas of Rameau. + +"At this time," we are told by Lafage, "Cherubini had two distinct +styles, one of which was allied to Paisiello and Cimarosa by the +grace, elegance, and purity of the melodic forms; the other, which +attached itself to the school of Gluck and Mozart, more harmonic than +melodious, rich in instrumental details." This manner was the then +unappreciated type of a new school destined to change the forms of +musical art. + +In 1790 the Revolution broke out and rent the established order of +things into fragments. For a time all the interests of art were +swallowed up in the frightful turmoil which made Paris the centre of +attention for astonished and alarmed Europe. Cherubini's connection +had been with the aristocracy, and now they were fleeing in a mad +panic or mounting the scaffold. His livelihood became precarious, and +he suffered severely during the first five years of anarchy. His +seclusion was passed in studying music, the physical sciences, +drawing, and botany; and his acquaintance was wisely confined to a few +musicians like himself. Once, indeed, his having learned the violin as +a child was the means of saving his life. Independently venturing out +at night, he was arrested by a roving band of drunken _Sansculottes_, +who were seeking musicians to conduct their street chants. Somebody +recognised Cherubini as a favourite of court circles, and, when he +refused to lead their obscene music, the fatal cry, "The Royalist, +the Royalist!" buzzed through the crowd. At this critical moment +another kidnapped player thrust a violin in Cherubini's hands and +persuaded him to yield. So the two musicians marched all day amid the +hoarse yells of the drunken revolutionists. He was also enrolled in +the National Guard, and obliged to accompany daily the march of the +unfortunate throngs who shed their blood under the axe of the +guillotine. Cherubini would have fled from these horrible +surroundings, but it was difficult to evade the vigilance of the +French officials; he had no money; and he would not leave the +beautiful Cecile Tourette, to whom he was affianced. + +One of the theatres opened during the revolutionary epoch was the +Theatre Feydeau. The second opera performed was Cherubini's "Lodoiska" +(1791), at which he had been labouring for a long time, and which was +received throughout Europe with the greatest enthusiasm and delight, +not less in Germany than in France and Italy. The stirring times +aroused a new taste in music, as well as in politics and literature. +The dramas of Racine and the operas of Lulli were akin. No less did +the stormy genius of Schiller find its counterpart in Beethoven and +Cherubini. The production of "Lodoiska" was the point of departure +from which the great French school of serious opera, which has given +us "Robert le Diable," "Les Huguenots," and "Faust," got its primal +value and significance. Two men of genius, Gluck and Gretry, had +formed the tastes of the public in being faithful to the accents of +nature. The idea of reconciling this taste, founded on strict truth, +with the seductive charm of the Italian forms, to which the French +were beginning to be sensible, suggested to Cherubini a system of +lyric drama capable of satisfying both. Wagner himself even says, in +his _Tendencies and Theories_, speaking of Cherubini and his great +co-labourers, Mehul and Spontini--"It would be difficult to answer +them, if they now perchance came among us and asked in what respect we +had improved on their mode of musical procedure." + +"Lodoiska," which cast the old Italian operas into permanent +oblivion, and laid the foundation of the modern French dramatic school +in music, has a libretto similar to that of "Fidelio" and Gretry's +"Coeur de Lion" combined, and was taken from a romance of Faiblas by +Fillette Loraux. The critics found only one objection: the music was +all so beautiful that no breathing time was granted the listener. In +one year the opera was performed two hundred times, and at short +intervals two hundred more representations took place. + +The Revolution culminated in the crisis of 1793, which sent the King +to the scaffold. Cherubini found a retreat at La Chartreuse, near +Rouen, the country-seat of his friend, the architect Louis. Here he +lived in tranquillity, and composed several minor pieces and a +three-act opera, never produced, but afterwards worked over into "Ali +Baba" and "Faniska." In his Norman retreat Cherubini heard of the +death of his father, and while suffering under this infliction, just +before his return to Paris in 1794, he composed the opera of "Elisa." +This work was received with much favour at the Feydeau theatre, though +it did not arouse the admiration called out by "Lodoiska." + +In 1795 the Paris Conservatory was founded, and Cherubini appointed +one of the five inspectors, as well as professor of counterpoint, his +associates being Lesueur, Gretry, Gossec, and Mehul. The same year +also saw him united to Cecile Tourette, to whom he had been so long +and devotedly attached. Absorbed in his duties at the Conservatory, he +did not come before the public again till 1797, when the great tragic +masterpiece of "Medee" was produced at the Feydeau theatre. "Lodoiska" +had been somewhat gay; "Elisa," a work of graver import, followed; but +in "Medee" was sustained the profound tragic power of Gluck and +Beethoven. Hoffman's libretto was indeed unworthy of the great music, +but this has not prevented its recognition by musicians as one of the +noblest operas ever written. It has probably been one of the causes, +however, why it is so rarely represented at the present time, its +overture alone being well known to modern musical audiences. This +opera has been compared by critics to Shakespeare's "King Lear," as +being a great expression of anguish and despair in their more stormy +phases. Chorley tells us that, when he first saw it, he was +irresistibly reminded of the lines in Barry Cornwall's poem to Pasta-- + + "Now thou art like some winged thing that cries + Above some city, flaming fast to death." + +The poem which Chorley quotes from was inspired by the performance of +the great Pasta in Simone Mayer's weak musical setting of the fable of +the Colchian sorceress, which crowded the opera-houses of Europe. The +life of the French classical tragedy, too, was powerfully assisted by +Rachel. Though the poem on which Cherubini worked was unworthy of his +genius, it could not be from this or from lack of interest in the +theme alone that this great work is so rarely performed; it is because +there have been not more than three or four actresses in the last +hundred years combining the great tragic and vocal requirements +exacted by the part. If the tragic genius of Pasta could have been +united with the voice of a Catalania, made as it were of adamant and +gold, Cherubini's sublime musical creation would have found an +adequate interpreter. Mdlle. Tietjens, indeed, has been the only late +dramatic singer who dared essay so difficult a task. Musical students +rank the instrumental parts of this opera with the organ music of +Bach, the choral fugues of Handel, and the symphonies of Beethoven, +for beauty of form and originality of ideas. + +On its first representation, on the 13th of March 1797, one of the +journals, after praising its beauty, professed to discover imitations +of Mehul's manner in it. The latter composer, in an indignant +rejoinder, proclaimed himself and all others as overshadowed by +Cherubini's genius: a singular example of artistic humility and +justice. Three years after its performance in Paris, it was given at +Berlin and Vienna, and stamped by the Germans as one of the world's +great musical masterpieces. This work was a favourite one with +Schubert, Beethoven, and Weber, and there have been few great +composers who have not put on record their admiration of it. + +As great, however, as "Medee" is ranked, "Les Deux Journees,"[P] +produced in 1800, is the opera on which Cherubini's fame as a dramatic +composer chiefly rests. Three hundred consecutive performances did not +satisfy Paris; and at Berlin and Frankfort, as well as in Italy, it +was hailed with acclamation. Bouilly was the author of the +opera-story, suggested by the generous action of a water-carrier +towards a magistrate who was related to the author. The story is so +interesting, so admirably written, that Goethe and Mendelssohn +considered it the true model for a comic opera. The musical +composition, too, is nearly faultless in form and replete with +beauties. In this opera Cherubini anticipated the reforms of Wagner, +for he dispensed with the old system which made the drama a web of +beautiful melodies, and established his musical effects for the most +part by the vigour and charm of the choruses and concerted pieces. It +has been accepted as a model work by composers, and Beethoven was in +the habit of keeping it by him on his writing-table for constant study +and reference. + +Spohr, in his autobiography, says, "I recollect, when the 'Deux +Journees' was performed for the first time, how, intoxicated with +delight and the powerful impression the work had made on me, I asked +on that very evening to have the score given me, and sat over it the +whole night; and that it was that opera chiefly that gave me my first +impulse to composition." Weber, in a letter from Munich written in +1813, says, "Fancy my delight when I beheld lying upon the table of +the hotel the play-bill with the magic name _Armand_. I was the first +person in the theatre, and planted myself in the middle of the pit, +where I waited most anxiously for the tones which I knew beforehand +would elevate and inspire me. I think I may assert boldly that 'Les +Deux Journees' is a really great dramatic and classical work. +Everything is calculated so as to produce the greatest effect; all the +various pieces are so much in their proper place that you can neither +omit one nor make any addition to them. The opera displays a pleasing +richness of melody, vigorous declamation, and all-striking truth in +the treatment of situations, ever new, ever heard and retained with +pleasure." Mendelssohn, too, writing to his father of a performance of +this opera, speaks of the enthusiasm of the audience as extreme, as +well as of his own pleasure as surpassing anything he had ever +experienced in a theatre. Mendelssohn, who never completed an opera, +because he did not find until shortly before his death a theme which +properly inspired him to dramatic creation, corresponded with Planche, +with the hope of getting from the latter a libretto which should unite +the excellences of "Fidelio" with those of "Les Deux Journees." He +found, at last, a libretto, which, if it did not wholly satisfy him, +at least overcame some of his prejudices, in a story based on the +Rhine myth of Lorelei. A fragment of it only was finished, and the +finale of the first act is occasionally performed in England. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[P] In German known as "Die Wassertraeger," in English, "The +Water-Carriers." + + +VI. + +Before Napoleon became First Consul, he had been on familiar terms +with Cherubini. The soldier and the composer were seated in the same +box listening to an opera by the latter. Napoleon, whose tastes for +music were for the suave and sensuous Italian style, turned to him and +said, "My dear Cherubini, you are certainly an excellent musician; but +really your music is so noisy and complicated that I can make nothing +of it;" to which Cherubini replied, "My dear general, you are +certainly an excellent soldier; but in regard to music you must excuse +me if I don't think it necessary to adapt my music to your +comprehension." This haughty reply was the beginning of an +estrangement. Another illustration of Cherubini's sturdy pride and +dignity was his rejoinder to Napoleon, when the latter was praising +the works of the Italian composers, and covertly sneering at his own. +"Citizen General," he replied, "occupy yourself with battles and +victories, and allow me to treat according to my talent an art of +which you are grossly ignorant." Even when Napoleon became Emperor, +the proud composer never learned "to crook the pregnant hinges of his +knee" to the man before whom Europe trembled. + +On the 12th of December 1800, a grand performance of "The Creation" +took place at Paris. Napoleon on his way to it narrowly escaped being +killed by an infernal machine. Cherubini was one of the deputation, +representing the various corporations and societies of Paris, who +waited on the First Consul to congratulate him upon his escape. +Cherubini kept in the background, when the sarcasm, "I do not see +Monsieur Cherubini," pronounced in the French way, as if to indicate +that Cherubini was not worthy of being ranked with the Italian +composers, brought him promptly forward. "Well," said Napoleon, "the +French are in Italy." "Where would they not go," answered Cherubini, +"led by such a hero as you?" This pleased the First Consul, who, +however, soon got to the old musical quarrel. "I tell you I like +Paisiello's music immensely; it is soft and tranquil. You have much +talent, but there is too much accompaniment." Said Cherubini, "Citizen +Consul, I conform myself to French taste." "Your music," continued the +other, "makes too much noise. Speak to me in that of Paisiello; that +is what lulls me gently." "I understand," replied the composer; "you +like music which doesn't stop you from thinking of state affairs." +This witty rejoinder made the arrogant soldier frown, and the talk +suddenly ceased. + +As a result of this alienation Cherubini found himself persistently +ignored and ill-treated by the First Consul. In spite of his having +produced such great masterpieces, his income was very small, apart +from his pay as Inspector of the Conservatory. The ill-will of the +ruler of France was a steady check to his preferment. When Napoleon +established his consular chapel in 1802, he invited Paisiello from +Naples to become director at a salary of 12,000 francs a year. It +gave great umbrage to the Conservatory that its famous teachers should +have been slighted for an Italian foreigner, and musical circles in +Paris were shaken by petty contentions. Paisiello, however, found the +public indifferent to his works, and soon wearied of a place where the +admiration to which he had been accustomed no longer flattered his +complacency. He resigned, and his position was offered to Mehul, who +is said to have declined it because he regarded Cherubini as far more +worthy of it, and to have accepted it only on condition that his +friend could share the duties and emoluments with him. Cherubini, +fretted and irritated by his condition, retired for a time from the +pursuit of his art, and devoted himself to flowers. The opera of +"Anacreon," a powerful but unequal work, which reflected the +disturbance and agitation of his mind, was the sole fruit of his +musical efforts for about four years. + +While Cherubini was in the deepest depression--for he had a large +family depending on him and small means with which to support them--a +ray of sunshine came in 1805 in the shape of an invitation to compose +for the managers of the opera at Vienna. His advent at the Austrian +capital produced a profound sensation, and he received a right royal +welcome from the great musicians of Germany. The aged Haydn, Hummel, +and Beethoven became his warm friends with the generous freemasonry of +genius, for his rank as a musician was recognised throughout Europe. + +The war which broke out after our musician's departure from Paris +between France and Austria ended shortly in the capitulation of Ulm, +and the French Emperor took up his residence at Schoenbrunn. Napoleon +received Cherubini kindly when he came in answer to his summons, and +it was arranged that a series of twelve concerts should be given +alternately at Schoenbrunn and Vienna. The pettiness which entered into +the French Emperor's nature in spite of his greatness continued to be +shown in his ebullitions of wrath because Cherubini persisted in +holding his own musical views against the imperial opinion. Napoleon, +however, on the eve of his return to France, urged him to accompany +him, offering the long-coveted position of musical director; but +Cherubini was under contract to remain a certain length of time at +Vienna, and he would not break his pledge. + +The winter of 1805 witnessed two remarkable musical events at the +Austrian capital, the production of Beethoven's "Fidelio" and the last +great opera written by Cherubini, "Faniska." Haydn and Beethoven were +both present at the latter performance. The former embraced Cherubini +and said to him "You are my son, worthy of my love." Beethoven +cordially hailed him as "the first dramatic composer of the age." It +is an interesting fact that two such important dramatic compositions +should have been written at the same time, independently of each +other; that both works should have been in advance of their age; that +they should have displayed a striking similarity of style; and that +both should have suffered from the reproach of the music being too +learned for the public. The opera of "Faniska" is based on a Polish +legend of great dramatic beauty, which, however, was not very +artistically treated by the librettist. Mendelssohn in after years +noted the striking resemblance between Beethoven and our composer in +the conception and method of dramatic composition. In one of his +letters to Edouard Devrient he says, speaking of "Fidelio," "On +looking into the score, as well as on listening to the performance, I +everywhere perceive Cherubini's dramatic style of composition. It is +true that Beethoven did not ape that style, but it was before his mind +as his most cherished pattern." The unity of idea and musical colour +between "Faniska" and "Fidelio" seems to have been noted by many +critics both of contemporary and succeeding times. + +Cherubini would gladly have written more for the Viennese, by whom he +had been so cordially treated; but the unsettled times and his +home-sickness for Paris conspired to take him back to the city of his +adoption. He exhausted many efforts to find Mozart's tomb in Vienna, +and desired to place a monument over his neglected remains, but failed +to locate the resting-place of one he loved so much. Haydn, Beethoven, +Hummel, Salieri, and the other leading composers reluctantly parted +with him, and on April 1, 1806, his return to Paris was celebrated by +a brilliant fete improvised for him at the Conservatory. Fate, +however, had not done with her persecutions, for fate in France took +the shape of Napoleon, whose hostility, easily aroused, was +implacable; who aspired to rule the arts and letters as he did armies +and state policy; who spared neither Cherubini nor Madame de Stael. +Cherubini was neglected and insulted by authority, while honours were +showered on Mehul, Gretry, Spontini, and Lesueur. He sank into a state +of profound depression, and it was even reported in Vienna that he was +dead. He forsook music and devoted himself to drawing and botany. Had +he not been a great musician, it is probable he would have excelled in +pictorial art. One day the great painter David entered the room where +he was working in crayon on a landscape of the Salvator Rosa style. So +pleased was the painter that he cried, "Truly admirable! Courage!" In +1808 Cherubini found complete rest in a visit to the country-seat of +the Prince de Chimay in Belgium, whither he was accompanied by his +friend and pupil, Auber. + + +VII. + +With this period Cherubini closed his career practically as an +operatic composer, though several dramatic works were produced +subsequently, and entered on his no less great sphere of +ecclesiastical composition. At Chimay for a while no one dared to +mention music in his presence. Drawing and painting flowers seemed to +be his sole pleasure. At last the president of the little music +society at Chimay ventured to ask him to write a mass for St. +Cecilia's feast-day. He curtly refused, but his hostess noticed that +he was agitated by the incident, as if his slumbering instincts had +started again into life. One day the Princess placed music paper on +his table, and Cherubini on returning from his walk instantly began to +compose, as if he had never ceased it. It is recorded that he traced +out in full score the "Kyrie" of his great mass in F during the +intermission of a single game of billiards. Only a portion of the mass +was completed in time for the festival, but, on Cherubini's return to +Paris in 1809, it was publicly given by an admirable orchestra, and +hailed with a great enthusiasm, that soon swept through Europe. It was +perceived that Cherubini had struck out for himself a new path in +church music. Fetis, the musical historian, records its reception as +follows:--"All expressed an unreserved admiration for this composition +of a new order, whereby Cherubini has placed himself above all +musicians who have as yet written in the concerted style of church +music. Superior to the masses of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and the +masters of the Neapolitan school, that of Cherubini is as remarkable +for originality of idea as for perfection in art." Picchiante, a +distinguished critic, sums up the impressions made by this great work +in the following eloquent and vigorous passage:--"All the musical +science of the good age of religious music, the sixteenth century of +the Christian era, was summed up in Palestrina, who flourished at that +time, and by its aid he put into form noble and sublime conceptions. +With the grave Gregorian melody, learnedly elaborated in vigorous +counterpoint and reduced to greater clearness and elegance without +instrumental aid, Palestrina knew how to awaken among his hearers +mysterious, grand, deep, vague sensations, that seemed caused by the +objects of an unknown world, or by superior powers in the human +imagination. With the same profound thoughtfulness of the old Catholic +music, enriched by the perfection which art has attained in two +centuries, and with all the means which a composer nowadays can make +use of, Cherubini perfected another conception, and this consisted in +utilising the style adapted to dramatic composition when narrating the +church text, by which means he was able to succeed in depicting man in +his various vicissitudes, now rising to the praises of Divinity, now +gazing on the Supreme Power, now suppliant and prostrate. So that, +while Palestrina's music places God before man, that of Cherubini +places man before God." Adolphe Adam puts the comparison more +epigrammatically in saying "If Palestrina had lived in our own times, +he would have been Cherubini." The masters of the old Roman school of +church music had received it as an emanation of pure sentiment, with +no tinge of human warmth and colour. Cherubini, on the contrary, aimed +to make his music express the dramatic passion of the words, and in +the realisation of this he brought to bear all the resources of a +musical science unequalled except perhaps by Beethoven. The noble +masses in F and D were also written in 1809, and stamped themselves on +public judgment as no less powerful works of genius and knowledge. + +Some of Cherubini's friends in 1809 tried to reconcile the composer +with the Emperor, and in furtherance of this an opera was written +anonymously, "Pimmalione." Napoleon was delighted, and even affected +to tears. Instantly, however, that Cherubini's name was uttered, he +became dumb and cold. Nevertheless, as if ashamed of his injustice, he +sent Cherubini a large sum of money, and a commission to write the +music for his marriage ode. Several fine works followed in the next +two years, among them the Mass in D, regarded by some of his admirers +as his ecclesiastical masterpiece. Miel claims that in largeness of +design and complication of detail, sublimity of conception and +dramatic intensity, two works only of its class approach it, +Beethoven's Mass in D and Niedermeyer's Mass in D minor. + +In 1811 Halevy, the future author of "La Juive," became Cherubini's +pupil, and a devoted friendship ever continued between the two. The +opera of "La Abencerages" was also produced, and it was pronounced +nowise inferior to "Medee" and "Les Deux Journees." Mendelssohn, many +years afterwards, writing to Moscheles in Paris, asked, "Has Onslow +written anything new? And old Cherubini? There's a matchless fellow! I +have got his 'Abencerages,' and can not sufficiently admire the +sparkling fire, the clear original phrasing, the extraordinary +delicacy and refinement with which it is written, or feel grateful +enough to the grand old man for it. Besides, it is all so free and +bold and spirited." The work would have had a greater immediate +success, had not Paris been in profound gloom from the disastrous +results of the Moscow campaign and the horrors of the French retreat, +where famine and disease finished the work of bayonet and cannon-ball. + +The unsettled and disheartening times disturbed all the relations of +artists. There is but little record of Cherubini for several years. A +significant passage in a letter written in 1814, speaking of several +military marches written for a Prussian band, indicates the occupation +of Paris by the allies and Napoleon's banishment in Elba. The period +of "The Hundred Days" was spent by Cherubini in England; and the +world's wonder, the battle of Waterloo, was fought, and the Bourbons +were permanently restored, before he again set foot in Paris. The +restored dynasty delighted to honour the man whom Napoleon had +slighted, and gifts were showered on him alike by the Court and by the +leading academies of Europe. The walls of his studio were covered with +medals and diplomas; and his appointment as director of the King's +chapel (which, however, he refused unless shared with Lesueur, the old +incumbent) placed him above the daily demands of want. So, at the age +of fifty-five, this great composer for the first time ceased to be +anxious on the score of his livelihood. Thenceforward the life of +Cherubini was destined to flow with a placid current, its chief +incidents being the great works in church music, which he poured forth +year after year, to the admiration and delight of the artistic world. +These remarkable masses, by their dramatic power, greatness of design, +and wealth of instrumentation, excited as much discussion and interest +throughout Europe as the operas of other composers. That written in +1816, the C minor requiem mass, is pronounced by Berlioz to be the +greatest work of this description ever composed. + + +VIII. + +As a man Cherubini presented himself in many different aspects. +Extremely nervous, _brusque_, irritable, and absolutely independent, +he was apt to offend and repel. But under his stern reserve of +character there beat a warm heart and generous sympathies. This is +shown by the fact that, in spite of the unevenness of his temper, he +was almost worshipped by those around him. Auber, Halevy, Berton, +Boieldieu, Mehul, Spontini, and Adam, who were so intimately +associated with him, speak of him with words of the warmest affection. +Halevy, indeed, rarely alluded to him without tears rushing to his +eyes; and the slightest term of disrespect excited his warmest +indignation. It is recorded that, after rebuking a pupil with +sarcastic severity, his fine face would relax with a smile so +affectionate and genial that his whilom victim could feel nothing but +enthusiastic respect. Without one taint of envy in his nature, +conscious of his own extraordinary powers, he was quick to recognise +genius in others; and his hearty praise of the powers of his rivals +shows how sound and generous the heart was under his irritability. His +proneness to satire and power of epigram made him enemies, but even +these yielded to the suavity and fascination which alternated with his +bitter moods. His sympathies were peculiarly open for young musicians. +Mendelssohn and Liszt were stimulated by his warm and encouraging +praise when they first visited Paris; and even Berlioz, whose +turbulent conduct in the Conservatory had so embittered him at various +times, was heartily applauded when his first great mass was produced. +Arnold gives us the following pleasant picture of Cherubini:-- + +"Cherubini in society was outwardly silent, modest, unassuming, +pleasing, obliging, and possessed of the finest manners. At the same +time, he who did not know that he was with Cherubini would think him +stern and reserved, so well did the composer know how to conceal +everything, if only to avoid ostentation. He truly shunned brag or +speaking of himself. Cherubini's voice was feeble, probably from +narrow-chestedness, and somewhat hoarse, but was otherwise soft and +agreeable. His French was Italianised.... His head was bent forward, +his nose was large and aquiline; his eyebrows were thick, black, and +somewhat bushy, overshadowing his eyes. His eyes were dark, and +glittered with an extraordinary brilliancy that animated in a +wonderful way the whole face. A thin lock of hair came over the centre +of his forehead, and somehow gave to his countenance a peculiar +softness." + +The picture painted by Ingres, the great artist, now in the Luxembourg +gallery, represents the composer with Polyhymnia in the background +stretching out her hand over him. His face, framed in waving silvery +hair, is full of majesty and brightness, and the eye of piercing +lustre. Cherubini was so gratified by this effort of the painter that +he sent him a beautiful canon set to words of his own. Thus his latter +years were spent in the society of the great artists and wits of +Paris, revered by all, and recognised, after Beethoven's death, as the +musical giant of Europe. Rossini, Meyerbeer, Weber, Schumann--in a +word, the representatives of the most diverse schools of +composition--bowed equally before this great name. Rossini, who was +his antipodes in genius and method, felt his loss bitterly, and after +his death sent Cherubini's portrait to his widow with these touching +words--"Here, my dear madam, is the portrait of a great man, who is as +young in your heart as he is in my mind." + +A mutual affection between Cherubini and Beethoven existed through +life, as is shown by the touching letter written by the latter just +before his death, but which Cherubini did not receive till after that +event. The letter was as follows:-- + + Vienna, _March 15, 1823_. + + Highly esteemed Sir--I joyfully take advantage of the + opportunity to address you. + + I have done so often in spirit, as I prize your theatrical + works beyond others. The artistic world has only to lament + that in Germany, at least, no new dramatic work of yours + has appeared. Highly as all your works are valued by true + connoisseurs, still it is a great loss to art not to possess + any fresh production of your great genius for the theatre. + + True art is imperishable, and the true artist feels + heartfelt pleasure in grand works of genius, and that is + what enchants me when I hear a new composition of yours; in + fact, I take greater interest in it than in my own; in + short, I love and honour you. Were it not that my continued + bad health stops my coming to see you in Paris, with what + exceeding delight would I discuss questions of art with you! + Do not think that this is meant merely to serve as an + introduction to the favour I am about to ask of you. I hope + and feel sure that you do not for a moment suspect me of + such base sentiments. I recently completed a grand solemn + Mass, and have resolved to offer it to the various European + courts, as it is not my intention to publish it at present. + I have therefore asked the King of France, through the + French embassy here, to subscribe to this work, and I feel + certain that his Majesty would at your recommendation agree + to do so. + + My critical situation demands that I should not solely fix + my eyes upon heaven, as is my wont; on the contrary, it + would have me fix them also upon earth, here below, for the + necessities of life. + + Whatever may be the fate of my request to you, I shall for + ever continue to love and esteem you; and you for ever + remain of all my contemporaries that one whom I esteem the + most. + + If you should wish to do me a very great favour, you would + effect this by writing to me a few lines, which would solace + me much. Art unites all; how much more, then, true artists! + and perhaps you may deem me worthy of being included in that + number. + + With the highest esteem, your friend and servant, + + Ludwig van Beethoven. + + Ludwig Cherubini. + +Cherubini's admiration of the great German is indicated in an anecdote +told by Professor Ella. The master rebuked a pupil who, in referring +to a performance of a Beethoven symphony, dwelt mostly on the +executive excellence--"Young man, let your sympathies be first wedded +to the creation, and be you less fastidious of the execution; accept +the interpretation, and think more of the creation of these musical +works which are written for all time and all nations, models for +imitation, and above all criticism." + +Actively engaged as Director of the Conservatory, which he governed +with consummate ability, his old age was further employed in producing +that series of great masses which rank with the symphonies of +Beethoven. His creative instinct and the fire of his imagination +remained unimpaired to the time of his death. Mendelssohn, in a letter +to Moscheles, speaks of him as "that truly wonderful old man, whose +genius seems bathed in immortal youth." His opera of "Ali Baba," +composed at seventy-six, though inferior to his other dramatic works, +is full of beautiful and original music, and was immediately produced +in several of the principal capitals of Europe; and the second Requiem +mass, written in his eightieth year, is one of his masterpieces. + +On the 12th of March 1842 the old composer died, surrounded by his +affectionate family and friends. His fatal illness had been brought on +in part by grief for the death of his son-in-law, M. Turcas, to whom +he was most tenderly attached. His funeral was one of great military +and civic magnificence, and royalty itself could not have been +honoured with more splendid obsequies. The congregation of men great +in arms and state, in music, painting, and literature, who did honour +to the occasion, has rarely been equalled. His own noble Requiem mass, +composed the year before his death, was given at the funeral services +in the church of St. Roch by the finest orchestra and voices in +Europe. Similar services were held throughout Europe, and everywhere +the opera-houses were draped in black. Perhaps the death of no +musician ever called forth such universal exhibitions of sorrow and +reverence. + +Cherubini's life extended from the early part of the reign of Louis +XVI. to that of Louis Philippe, and was contemporaneous with many of +the most remarkable events in modern history. The energy and passion +which convulsed society during his youth and early manhood undoubtedly +had much to do in stimulating that robust and virile quality in his +mind which gave such character to his compositions. The fecundity of +his intellect is shown in the fact that he produced four hundred and +thirty works, out of which only eighty have been published. In this +catalogue there are twenty-five operas and eleven masses. + +As an operatic composer he laid the foundation of the modern French +school. Uniting the melody of the Italian with the science of the +German, his conceptions had a dramatic fire and passion which were, +however, free from anything appertaining to the sensational and +meretricious. His forms were indeed classically severe, and his style +is defined by Adolphe Adam as the resurrection of the old Italian +school, enriched by the discoveries of modern harmony. Though he was +the creator of French opera as we know it now, he was free from its +vagaries and extravagances. He set its model in the dramatic vigour +and picturesqueness, the clean-cut forms, and the noble +instrumentation which mark such masterpieces as "Faniska," "Medee," +"Les Deux Journees," and "Lodoiska." The purity, classicism, and +wealth of ideas in these works have always caused them to be cited as +standards of ideal excellence. The reforms in opera of which Gluck was +the protagonist, and Wagner the extreme modern exponent, characterise +the dramatic works of Cherubini, though he keeps them within that +artistic limit which a proper regard for melodic beauty prescribes. In +the power and propriety of musical declamation his operas are conceded +to be without a superior. His overtures hold their place in classical +music as ranking with the best ever written, and show a richness of +resource and knowledge of form in treating the orchestra which his +contemporaries admitted were only equalled by Beethoven. + +Cherubini's place in ecclesiastical music is that by which he is best +known to the musical public of to-day; for his operas, owing to the +immense demands they make on the dramatic and vocal resources of the +artist, are but rarely presented in France, Germany, and England, and +never in America. They are only given where music is loved on account +of its noble traditions, and not for the mere sake of idle and +luxurious amusement. As a composer of masses, however, Cherubini's +genius is familiar to all who frequent the services of the Roman +Church. His relation to the music of Catholicism accords with that of +Sebastian Bach to the music of Protestantism. Haydn, Mozart, and even +Beethoven, are held by the best critics to be his inferiors in this +form of composition. His richness of melody, sense of dramatic colour, +and great command of orchestral effects, gave him commanding power in +the interpretation of religious sentiments; while an ardent faith +inspired with passion, sweetness, and devotion what Place styles his +"sublime visions." Miel, one of his most competent critics, writes of +him in this eloquent strain--"If he represents the passion and death +of Christ, the heart feels itself wounded with the most sublime +emotion; and when he recounts the 'Last Judgment' the blood freezes +with dread at the redoubled and menacing calls of the exterminating +angel. All those admirable pictures that the Raphaels and Michael +Angelos have painted with colours and the brush, Cherubini brings +forth with the voice and orchestra." + +In brief, if Cherubini is the founder of a later school of opera, and +the model which his successors have always honoured and studied if +they have not always followed, no less is he the chief of a later, and +by common consent the greatest, school of modern church music. + + + + +_MEHUL, SPONTINI, AND HALEVY._ + + +I. + +The influence of Gluck was not confined to Cherubini, but was hardly +less manifest in moulding the style and conceptions of Mehul and +Spontini,[Q] who held prominent places in the history of the French +opera. HENRI ETIENNE MEHUL was the son of a French soldier stationed +at the Givet barracks, where he was born June 24, 1763. His early +love of music secured for him instructions from the blind organist of +the Franciscan church at that garrison town, under whom he made +astonishing progress. He soon found he had outstripped the attainments +of his teacher, and contrived to place himself under the tuition of +the celebrated Wilhelm Hemser, who was organist at a neighbouring +monastery. Here Mehul spent a number of happy and useful years, +studying composition with Hemser and literature with the kind monks, +who hoped to persuade their young charge to devote himself to +ecclesiastical life. + +Mehul's advent in Paris, whither he went at the age of sixteen, soon +opened his eyes to his true vocation, that of a dramatic composer. The +excitement over the contest between Gluck and Piccini was then at its +height, and the youthful musician was not long in espousing the side +of Gluck with enthusiasm. He made the acquaintance of Gluck +accidentally, the great chevalier interposing one night to prevent his +being ejected from the theatre, into one of whose boxes Mehul had +slipped without buying a ticket. Thenceforward the youth had free +access to the opera, and the friendship and tuition of one of the +master minds of the age. + +An opera, "Cora et Alonzo," had been composed at the age of twenty and +accepted at the opera; but it was not till 1790 that he got a hearing +in the comic opera of "Euphrasque et Coradin," composed under the +direction of Gluck. This work was brilliantly successful, and +"Stratonice," which appeared two years afterwards, established his +reputation. The French critics describe both these early works as +being equally admirable in melody, orchestral accompaniment, and +dramatic effect. The stormiest year of the revolution was not +favourable to operatic composition, and Mehul wrote but little music +except pieces for republican festivities, much to his own disgust, for +he was by no means a warm friend of the republic. + +In 1797 he produced his "Le Jeune Henri," which nearly caused a riot +in the theatre. The story displeased the republican audience, who +hissed and hooted till the turmoil compelled the fall of the curtain. +They insisted, however, on the overture, which is one of great beauty, +being performed over and over again, a compliment which has rarely +been accorded to any composer. Mehul's appointment as inspector and +professor in the newly organised Conservatory, at the same time with +Cherubini, left him but little leisure for musical composition; but he +found time to write the spectacular opera "Adrian," which was fiercely +condemned by a republican audience, not as a musical failure, but +because their alert and suspicious tempers suspected in it covert +allusions to the dead monarchy. Even David, the painter, said he would +set the torch to the opera-house rather than witness the triumph of a +king. In 1806 Mehul produced the opera "Uthal," a work of striking +vigour founded on an Ossianic theme, in which he made the innovation +of banishing the violins from the orchestra, substituting therefor the +violas. + +It was in "Joseph," however, composed in 1807, that this composer +vindicated his right to be called a musician of great genius, and +entered fully into a species of composition befitting his grand style. +Most of his contemporaries were incapable of appreciating the +greatness of the work, though his gifted rival Cherubini gave it the +warmest praise. In Germany it met with instant and extended success, +and it is one of the few French operas of the old school which still +continue to be given on the German stage. In England it is now +frequently sung as an oratorio. It is on this remarkable work that +Mehul's lasting reputation as a composer rests outside of his own +nation. The construction of the opera of "Joseph" is characterised by +admirable symmetry of form, dramatic power, and majesty of the choral +and concerted passages, while the sustained beauty of the +orchestration is such as to challenge comparison with the greatest +works of his contemporaries. Such at least is the verdict of Fetis, +who was by no means inclined to be over-indulgent in criticising +Mehul. The fault in this opera, as in all of Mehul's works, appears to +have been a lack of bright and graceful melody, though in the modern +tendencies of music this defect is rapidly being elevated into a +virtue. + +The last eight years of Mehul's life were depressed by melancholy and +suffering, proceeding from pulmonary disease. He resigned his place in +the Conservatory, and retired to a pleasant little estate near Paris, +where he devoted himself to raising flowers, and found some solace in +the society of his musical friends and former pupils, who were +assiduous in their attentions. Finally becoming dangerously ill, he +went to the island of Hyeres to find a more genial climate. But here +he pined for Paris and the old companionships, and suffered more +perhaps by fretting for the intellectual cheer of his old life than he +gained by balmy air and sunshine. He writes to one of his friends +after a short stay at Hyeres--"I have broken up all my habits; I am +deprived of all my old friends; I am alone at the end of the world, +surrounded by people whose language I scarcely understand; and all +this sacrifice to obtain a little more sun. The air which best agrees +with me is that which I breathe among you." He returned to Paris for a +few weeks only, to breathe his last on October 18, 1817, aged +fifty-four. + +Mehul was a high-minded and benevolent man, wrapped up in his art, and +singularly childlike in the practical affairs of life. Abhorring +intrigue, he was above all petty jealousies, and even sacrificed the +situation of chapel-master under Napoleon, because he believed it +should have been given to the greatest of his rivals, Cherubini. When +he died Paris recognised his goodness as a man as well as greatness as +a musician by a touching and spontaneous expression of grief, and +funeral honours were given him throughout Europe. In 1822 his statue +was crowned on the stage of the Grand Opera, at a performance of his +"Valentine de Rohan." Notwithstanding his early death, he composed +forty-two operas, and modern musicians and critics give him a notable +place among those who were prominent in building up a national stage. +A pupil and disciple of Gluck, a cordial co-worker with Cherubini, he +contributed largely to the glory of French music, not only by his +genius as a composer, but by his important labours in the +reorganisation of the Conservatory, that nursery which has fed so much +of the highest musical talent of the world. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[Q] It is a little singular that some of the most distinguished names +in the annals of French music were foreigners. Thus Gluck was a +German, as also was Meyerbeer, while Cherubini and Spontini were +Italians. + + +II. + +LUIGI GASPARO PACIFICO SPONTINI, born of peasant parents at Majolati, +Italy, November 14, 1774, displayed his musical passion at an early +age. Designed for holy orders from childhood, his priestly tutors +could not make him study; but he delighted in the service of the +church, with its organ and choir effects, for here his true vocation +asserted itself. He was wont, too, to hide in the belfry, and revel in +the roaring orchestra of metal, when the chimes were rung. On one +occasion a stroke of lightning precipitated him from his dangerous +perch to the floor below, and the history of music nearly lost one of +its great lights. The bias of his nature was intractable, and he was +at last permitted to study music, at first under the charge of his +uncle Joseph, the cure of Jesi, and finally at the Naples +Conservatory, where he was entered at the age of sixteen. + +His first opera, "I Puntigli delle Donne," was composed at the age of +twenty-one, and performed at Rome, where it was kindly received. The +French invasion unsettled the affairs of Italy, and Spontini wandered +somewhat aimlessly, unable to exercise his talents to advantage till +he went to Paris in 1803, where he found a large number of brother +Italian musicians, and a cordial reception, though himself an obscure +and untried youth. He produced several minor works on the French +stage, noticeably among them the one-act opera of "Milton," in which +he stepped boldly out of his Italian mannerism, and entered on that +path afterwards pursued with such brilliancy and boldness. Yet, though +his talents began to be recognised, life was a trying struggle, and it +is doubtful if he could have overcome the difficulties in his way +when he was ready to produce "La Vestale," had he not enlisted the +sympathies of the Empress Josephine, who loved music, and played the +part of patroness as gracefully as she did all others. + +By Napoleon's order "La Vestale" was rehearsed against the wish of the +manager and critics of the Academy of Music, and produced December 15, +1807. Previous to this some parts of it had been performed privately +at the Tuileries, and the Emperor had said, "M. Spontini, your opera +abounds in fine airs and effective duets. The march to the place of +execution is admirable. You will certainly have the great success you +so well deserve." The imperial prediction was justified by consecutive +performances of one hundred nights. His next work, "Fernand Cortez," +sustained the impression of genius earned for him by its predecessor. +The scene of the revolt is pronounced by competent critics to be one +of the finest dramatic conceptions in operatic music. + +In 1809 Spontini married the niece of Erard, the great +pianoforte-maker, and was called to the direction of the Italian +opera; but he retained this position only two years, from the +disagreeable conditions he had to contend with, and the cabals that +were formed against him. The year 1814 witnessed the production of +"Pelage," and two years later "Les Dieux Rivaux" was composed, in +conjunction with Persuis, Berton, and Kreutzer; but neither work +attracted much attention. The opera of "Olympie," worked out on the +plan of "La Vestale" and "Cortez," was produced in 1819. Spontini was +embittered by its poor success, for he had built many hopes on it, and +wrought long and patiently. That he was not in his best vein, and like +many other men of genius was not always able to estimate justly his +own work, is undeniable; for Spontini, contrary to the opinion of his +contemporaries and of posterity, regarded this as his best opera. His +acceptance of the Prussian King's offer to become musical director at +Berlin was the result of his chagrin. Here he remained for twenty +years. "Olympie" succeeded better at Berlin, though the +boisterousness of the music seems to have called out some sharp +strictures even among the Berlinese, whose penchant for noisy operatic +effects was then as now a butt for the satire of the musical wits. +Apropos of the long run of "Olympie" at Berlin, an amusing anecdote is +told on the authority of Castel-Blaze. A wealthy amateur had become +deaf, and suffered much from his deprivation of the enjoyment of his +favourite art. After trying many physicians, he was treated in a novel +fashion by his latest doctor. "Come with me to the opera this +evening," wrote down the doctor. "What's the use? I can't hear a +note," was the impatient rejoinder. "Never mind," said the other; +"come, and you will see something at all events." So the twain +repaired to the theatre to hear Spontini's "Olympie." All went well +till one of the overwhelming finales, which happened to be played that +evening more _fortissimo_ than usual. The patient turned around +beaming with delight, exclaiming, "Doctor, I can hear." As there was +no reply, the happy patient again said, "Doctor, I tell you, you have +cured me." A blank stare alone met him, and he found that the doctor +was as deaf as a post, having fallen a victim to his own prescription. +The German wits had a similar joke afterwards at Halevy's expense. The +_Punch_ of Vienna said that Halevy made the brass play so loudly that +the French horn was actually blown quite straight. + +Among the works produced at Berlin were "Nurmahal," in 1825; +"Alcidor," the same year; and 1829, "Agnes von Hohenstaufen." Various +other new works were given from time to time, but none achieved more +than a brief hearing. Spontini's stiff-necked and arrogant will kept +him in continual trouble, and the Berlin press aimed its arrows at him +with incessant virulence: a war which the composer fed by his bitter +and witty rejoinders, for he was an adept in the art of invective. Had +he not been singularly adroit, he would have been obliged to leave his +post. But he gloried in the disturbance he created, and was proof +against the assaults of his numerous enemies, made so largely by his +having come of the French school, then as now an all-sufficient cause +of Teutonic dislike. Spontini's unbending intolerance, however, at +last undermined his musical supremacy, so long held good with an iron +hand; and an intrigue headed by Count Bruehl, intendant of the Royal +Theatre, at last obliged him to resign after a rule of a score of +years. His influence on the lyric theatre of Berlin, however, had been +valuable, and he had the glory of forming singers among the Prussians, +who until his time had thought more of cornet-playing than of +beautiful and true vocalisation. The Prussian King allowed him on his +departure a pension of 16,000 francs. + +When Spontini returned to Paris, though he was appointed member of the +Academy of Fine Arts, he was received with some coldness by the +musical world. He had no little difficulty in getting a production of +his operas; only the Conservatory remained faithful to him, and in +their hall large audiences gathered to hear compositions to which the +opera-house denied its stage. New idols attracted the public, and +Spontini, though burdened with all the orders of Europe, was obliged +to rest in the traditions of his earlier career. A passionate desire +to see his native land before death made him leave Paris in 1850, and +he went to Majolati, the town of his birth, where he died after a +residence of a few months in 1851. His cradle was his tomb. + + +III. + +A well-known musical critic sums up his judgment of Halevy in these +words--"If in France a contemporary of Louis XIV., an admirer of +Racine, could return to us, and, full of the remembrance of his +earthly career under that renowned monarch, he should wish to find the +nobly pathetic, the elevated inspiration, the majestic arrangements of +the olden times upon a modern stage, we would not take him to the +Theatre Francais, but to the Opera on the day in which one of Halevy's +works was given." + +Unlike Mehul and Spontini, with whom in point of style and method +Halevy must be associated, he was not in any direct sense a disciple +of Gluck, but inherited the influence of the latter through his great +successor Cherubini, of whom Halevy was the favourite pupil and the +intimate friend. FROMENTAL HALEVY, a scion of the Hebrew race, which +has furnished so many geniuses to the art world, left a deep impress +on his times, not simply by his genius and musical knowledge, which +was profound, varied, and accurate, but by the elevation and nobility +which lifted his mark up to a higher level than that which we accord +to mere musical gifts, be they ever so rich and fertile. The motive +that inspired his life is suggested in his devout saying that music is +an art that God has given us, in which the voices of all nations may +unite their prayers in one harmonious rhythm. + +Halevy was a native of Paris, born May 27, 1799. He entered the +Conservatory at the age of eleven years, where he soon attracted the +particular attention of Cherubini. When he was twenty the Institute +awarded him the grand prize for the composition of a cantata; and he +also received a government pension which enabled him to dwell at Rome +for two years, assiduously cultivating his talents in composition. +Halevy returned to Paris, but it was not till 1827 that he succeeded +in having an opera produced. This portion of his life was full of +disappointment and chilled ambitions; for, in spite of the warm +friendship of Cherubini, who did everything to advance his interests, +he seemed to make but slow progress in popular estimation, though a +number of operas were produced. + +Halevy's full recognition, however, was found in the great work of "La +Juive," produced February 23, 1835, with lavish magnificence. It is +said that the managers of the Opera expended 150,000 francs in putting +it on the stage. This opera, which surpasses all his others in +passion, strength, and dignity of treatment, was interpreted by the +greatest singers in Europe, and the public reception at once assured +the composer that his place in music was fixed. Many envious critics, +however, declaimed against him, asserting that success was not the +legitimate desert of the opera, but of its magnificent presentation. +Halevy answered his detractors by giving the world a delightful comic +opera, "L'Eclair," which at once testified to the genuineness of his +musical inspiration and the versatility of his powers, and was +received by the public with even more pleasure than "La Juive." + +Halevy's next brilliant stroke (three unsuccessful works in the +meanwhile having been written) was "La Reine de Chypre," produced in +1841. A somewhat singular fact occurred during the performance of this +opera. One of the singers, every time he came to the passage, + + "Ce mortel qu'on remarque + Tient-il + Plus que nous de la Parque + Le fil?" + +was in the habit of fixing his eyes on a certain proscenium box +wherein were wont to sit certain notabilities in politics and finance. +As several of these died during the first run of the work, +superstitious people thought the box was bewitched, and no one cared +to occupy it. Two fine works, "Charles VI." and "Le Val d'Andorre," +succeeded at intervals of a few years; and in 1849 the noble music to +Aeschylus's "Prometheus Bound" was written with an idea of reproducing +the supposed effects of the enharmonic style of the Greeks. + +Halevy's opera of "The Tempest," written for London, and produced in +1850, rivalled the success of "La Juive." Balfe led the orchestra, and +its popularity caused the basso Lablache to write the following +epigram:-- + + "The 'Tempest' of Halevy + Differs from other tempests. + These rain hail, + That rains gold." + +The Academy of Fine Arts elected the composer secretary in 1854, and +in the exercise of his duties, which involved considerable literary +composition, Halevy showed the same elegance of style and good taste +which marked his musical writings. He did not, however, neglect his +own proper work, and a succession of operas, which were cordially +received, proved how unimpaired and vigorous his intellectual +faculties remained. + +The composer's death occurred at Nice, whither he had gone on account +of failing strength, March 17, 1862. His last moments were cheered by +the attentions of his family and the consolations of philosophy and +literature, which he dearly loved to discuss with his friends. His +ruling passion displayed itself shortly before his end in +characteristic fashion. Trying in vain to reach a book on the table, +he said, "Can I do nothing now in time?" On the morning of his death, +wishing to be turned on his bed, he said to his daughter, "Lay me down +like a gamut," at each movement repeating, with a soft smile, "_Do_, +_re_, _mi_," etc., until the change was made. These were his last +words. + +The celebrated French critic Sainte-Beuve pays a charming tribute to +Halevy, whom he knew and loved well:-- + +"Halevy had a natural talent for writing, which he cultivated and +perfected by study, by a taste for reading which he always +gratified in the intervals of labour, in his study, in public +conveyances--everywhere, in fine, when he had a minute to spare. He +could isolate himself completely in the midst of the various noises +of his family, or the conversation of the drawing-room if he had no +part in it. He wrote music, poetry, and prose, and he read with +imperturbable attention while people around him talked. + +"He possessed the instinct of languages, was familiar with German, +Italian, English, and Latin, knew something of Hebrew and Greek. He +was conversant with etymology, and had a perfect passion for +dictionaries. It was often difficult for him to find a word; for on +opening the dictionary somewhere near the word for which he was +looking, if his eye chanced to fall on some other, no matter what, he +stopped to read that, then another and another, until he sometimes +forgot the word he sought. It is singular that this estimable man, so +fully occupied, should at times have nourished some secret sadness. +Whatever the hidden wound might be, none, not even his most intimate +friends, knew what it was. He never made any complaint. Halevy's +nature was rich, open, and communicative. He was well organised, +accessible to the sweets of sociability and family joys. In fine, he +had, as one may say, too many strings to his bow to be very unhappy +for any length of time. To define him practically, I would say he was +a bee that had not lodged himself completely in his hive, but was +seeking to make honey elsewhere too." + + +IV. + +Mehul laboured successfully in adapting the noble and severe style of +Gluck to the changing requirements of the French stage. The turmoil +and passions of the revolution had stirred men's souls to the very +roots, and this influence was perpetuated and crystallised in the new +forms given to French thought by Napoleon's wonderful career. Mehul's +musical conceptions, which culminated in the opera of "Joseph," were +characterised by a stir, a vigour, and largeness of dramatic movement, +which came close to the familiar life of that remarkable period. His +great rival, Cherubini, on the other hand, though no less truly +dramatic in fitting musical expression to thought and passion, was so +austere and rigid in his ideals, so dominated by musical form and an +accurate science which would concede nothing to popular prejudice and +ignorance, that he won his laurels, not by force of the natural flow +of popular sympathy, but by the sheer might of his genius. Cherubini's +severe works made them models and foundation-stones for his successors +in French music; but Mehul familiarised his audiences with strains +dignified yet popular, full of massive effects and brilliant +combinations. The people felt the tramp of the Napoleonic armies in +the vigour and movement of his measures. + +Spontini embodied the same influences and characteristics in still +larger degree, for his musical genius was organised on a more massive +plan. Deficient in pure, graceful melody alike with Mehul, he +delighted in great masses of tone and vivid orchestral colouring. His +music was full of the military fire of his age, and dealt for the most +part with the peculiar tastes and passions engendered by a condition +of chronic warfare. Therefore dramatic movement in his operas was +always of the heroic order, and never touched the more subtile and +complex elements of life. Spontini added to the majestic repose and +ideality of the Gluck music-drama (to use a name now naturalised in +art by Wagner) the keenest dramatic vigour. Though he had a strong +command of effects by his power of delineation and delicacy of detail, +his prevalent tastes led him to encumber his music too often with +overpowering military effects, alike tonal and scenic. Riehl, a great +German critic, says--"He is more successful in the delineation of +masses and groups than in the pourtrayal of emotional scenes; his +rendering of the national struggle between the Spaniards and Mexicans +in 'Cortez' is, for example, admirable. He is likewise most successful +in the management of large masses in the instrumentation. In this +respect he was, like Napoleon, a great tactician." In "La Vestale" +Spontini attained his _chef-d'oeuvre_. Schlueter, in his _History of +Music_, gives it the following encomium--"His pourtrayal of character +and truthful delineation of passionate emotion in this opera are +masterly indeed. The subject of 'La Vestale' (which resembles that of +'Norma,' but how differently treated!) is tragic and sublime as well +as intensely emotional. Julia, the heroine, a prey to guilty passion; +the severe but kindly high priestess; Licinius, the adventurous lover, +and his faithful friend Cinna; pious vestals, cruel priests, bold +warriors, and haughty Romans, are represented with statuesque relief +and finish. Both these works, 'La Vestale' (1807) and 'Cortez' (1809), +are among the finest that have been written for the stage; they are +remarkable for naturalness and sublimeness, qualities lost sight of in +the noisy instrumentation of his later works." + +Halevy, trained under the influences of Cherubini, was largely +inspired by that great master's musical purism and reverence for the +higher laws of his art. Halevy's powerful sense of the dramatic always +influenced his methods and sympathies. Not being a composer of +creative imagination, however, the melodramatic element is more +prominent than the purely tragic or comic. His music shows remarkable +resources in the production of brilliant and captivating, though +always tasteful, effects, which rather please the senses and the fancy +than stir the heart and imagination. Here and there scattered through +his works, notably so in "La Juive," are touches of emotion and +grandeur; but Halevy must be characterised as a composer who is rather +distinguished for the brilliancy, vigour, and completeness of his art +than for the higher creative power, which belongs in such pre-eminent +degree to men like Rossini and Weber, or even to Auber, Meyerbeer, and +Gounod. It is nevertheless true that Halevy composed works which will +retain a high rank in French art "La Juive," "Guido," "La Reine de +Chypre," and "Charles VI." are noble lyric dramas, full of beauties, +though it is said they can never be seen to the best advantage off the +French stage. Halevy's genius and taste in music bear much the same +relation to the French stage as do those of Verdi to the Italian +stage; though the former composer is conceded by critics to be a +greater purist in musical form, if he rarely equals the Italian +composer in the splendid bursts of musical passion with which the +latter redeems so much that is meretricious and false, and the +charming melody which Verdi shares with his countrymen. + + + + +_BOIELDIEU AND AUBER._ + + +I. + +The French school of light opera, founded by Gretry, reached its +greatest perfection in the authors of "La Dame Blanche" and "Fra +Diavolo," though to the former of these composers must be accorded the +peculiar distinction of having given the most perfect example of this +style of composition. FRANCOIS ADRIEN BOIELDIEU, the scion of a Norman +family, was born at Rouen, December 16, 1775. He received his early +musical training at the hands of Broche, a great musician and the +cathedral organist, but a drunkard and brutal taskmaster. At the age +of sixteen he had become a good pianist and knew something of +composition. At all events, his passionate love of the theatre +prompted him to try his hand at an opera, which was actually performed +at Rouen. The revolution which made such havoc with the clergy and +their dependants ruined the Boieldieu family (the elder Boieldieu had +been secretary of the archiepiscopal diocese), and young Francois, at +the age of nineteen, was set adrift on the world, his heart full of +hope and his ambition bent on Paris, whither he set his feet. Paris, +however, proved a stern stepmother at the outset, as she always has +been to the struggling and unsuccessful. He was obliged to tune pianos +for his living, and was glad to sell his brilliant _chansons_, which +afterwards made a fortune for his publisher, for a few francs apiece. + +Several years of hard work and bitter privation finally culminated in +the acceptance of an opera, "La Famille Suisse," at the Theatre +Faydeau in 1796, where it was given on alternate nights with +Cherubini's "Medee." Other operas followed in rapid succession, among +which may be mentioned "La Dot de Suzette" (1798) and "Le Calife de +Bagdad" (1800). The latter of these was remarkably popular, and drew +from the severe Cherubini the following rebuke--"Malheureux! Are you +not ashamed of such undeserved triumph?" Boieldieu took the brusque +criticism meekly and preferred a request for further instruction from +Cherubini--a proof of modesty and good sense quite remarkable in one +who had attained recognition as a favourite with the musical public. +Boieldieu's three years' studies under the great Italian master were +of much service, for his next work, "Ma Tante Aurore," produced in +1803, showed noticeable artistic progress. + +It was during this year that Boieldieu, goaded by domestic misery +(for he had married the danseuse Clotilde Mafleuray, whose notorious +infidelity made his name a bye-word), exiled himself to Russia, even +then looked on as an El Dorado for the musician, where he spent eight +years as conductor and composer of the Imperial Opera. This was all +but a total eclipse in his art-life, for he did little of note during +the period of his St. Petersburg career. + +He returned to Paris in 1811, where he found great changes. Mehul and +Cherubini, disgusted with the public, kept an obstinate silence; and +Nicolo was not a dangerous rival. He set to work with fresh zeal, and +one of his most charming works, "Jean de Paris," produced in 1812, was +received with a storm of delight. This and "La Dame Blanche" are the +two masterpieces of the composer in refined humour, masterly +delineation, and sustained power both of melody and construction. The +fourteen years which elapsed before Boieldieu's genius took a still +higher flight were occupied in writing works of little value except as +names in a catalogue. The long-expected opera "La Dame Blanche" saw +the light in 1825, and it is to-day a stock opera in Europe, one +Parisian theatre alone having given it nearly two thousand times. +Boieldieu's latter years were uneventful and unfruitful. He died in +1834 of pulmonary disease, the germs of which were planted by St. +Petersburg winters. "Jean de Paris" and "La Dame Blanche" are the two +works, out of nearly thirty operas, which the world cherishes as +masterpieces. + + +II. + +DANIEL FRANCOIS ESPRIT AUBER was born at Caen, Normandy, January 29, +1784. He was destined by his parents for a mercantile career, and was +articled to a French firm in London to perfect himself in commercial +training. As a child he showed his passion and genius for music, a +fact so noticeable in the lives of most of the great musicians. He +composed ballads and romances at the age of eleven, and during his +London life was much sought after as a musical prodigy alike in +composition and execution. In consequence of the breach of the treaty +of Amiens in 1804, he was obliged to return to Paris, and we hear no +more of the counting-room as a part of his life. His resetting of an +old libretto in 1811 attracted the attention of Cherubini, who +impressed himself so powerfully on French music and musicians, and the +master offered to superintend his further studies, a chance eagerly +seized by Auber. To the instruction of Cherubini Auber owed his +mastery over the technical difficulties of his art. Among the pieces +written at this time was a mass for the Prince of Chimay, of which the +prayer was afterwards transferred to "Masaniello." The comic opera "Le +Sejour Militaire," produced in 1813, when Auber was thirty, was really +his debut as a composer. It was coldly received, and it was not till +the loss of private fortune set a sharp spur to his creative activity +that he set himself to serious work. "La Bergere Chatelaine," produced +in 1820, was his first genuine success, and equal fortune attended +"Emma" in the following season. + +The duration and climax of Auber's musical career were founded on his +friendship and artistic alliance with Scribe, one of the most fertile +librettists and playwrights of modern times. To this union, which +lasted till Scribe's death, a great number of operas, comic and +serious, owe their existence: not all of equal value, but all evincing +the apparently inexhaustible productive genius of the joint authors. +The works on which Auber's claims to musical greatness rest are as +follows:--"Leicester," 1822; "Le Macon," 1825, the composer's +_chef-d'oeuvre_ in comic opera; "La Muette de Portici," otherwise +"Masaniello," 1828; "Fra Diavolo," 1830; "Lestocq," 1835; "Le Cheval +de Bronze," 1835; "L'Ambassadrice," 1836; "Le Domino Noir," 1837; "Les +Diamants de la Couronne," 1841; "Carlo Braschi," 1842; "Haydee," 1847; +"L'Enfant Prodigue," 1850; "Zerline," 1851, written for Madame Alboni; +"Manon Lescaut," 1856; "La Fiancee du Roi de Garbe," 1867; "Le +Premier Jour de Bonheur," 1868; and "Le Reve d'Amour," 1869. The last +two works were composed after Auber had passed his eightieth year. + +The indifference of this Anacreon of music to renown is worthy of +remark. He never attended the performance of his own pieces, and +disdained applause. The highest and most valued distinctions were +showered on him; orders, jewelled swords, diamond snuff-boxes, were +poured in from all the courts of Europe. Innumerable invitations urged +him to visit other capitals, and receive honour from imperial hands. +But Auber was a true Parisian, and could not be induced to leave his +beloved city. He was a Member of the Institute, Commander of the +Legion of Honour, and Cherubini's successor as Director of the +Conservatory. He enjoyed perfect health up to the day of his death in +1871. Assiduous in his duties at the Conservatory, and active in his +social relations, which took him into the most brilliant circles of an +extended period, covering the reigns of Napoleon I., Charles X., Louis +Philippe, and Napoleon III., he yet always found time to devote +several hours a day to composition. Auber was a small, delicate man, +yet distinguished in appearance, and noted for wit. His _bons mots_ +were celebrated. While directing a musical _soiree_ when over eighty, +a gentleman having taken a white hair from his shoulder, he said, +laughingly, "This hair must belong to some old fellow who passed near +me." + +A good anecdote is told _a propos_ of an interview of Auber with +Charles X. in 1830. "Masaniello," a bold and revolutionary work, had +just been produced, and stirred up a powerful popular ferment. "Ah, M. +Auber," said the King, "you have no idea of the good your work has +done me." "How, sire?" "All revolutions resemble each other. To sing +one is to provoke one. What can I do to please you?" "Ah, sire! I am +not ambitious." "I am disposed to name you director of the court +concerts. Be sure that I shall remember you. But," added he, taking +the artist's arm with a cordial and confidential air, "from this day +forth you understand me well, M. Auber, I expect you to bring out the +'Muette' but _very seldom_." It is well known that the Brussels riots +of 1830, which resulted in driving the Dutch out of the country, +occurred immediately after a performance of this opera, which thus +acted the part of "Lillibulero" in English political annals. It is a +striking coincidence that the death of the author of this +revolutionary inspiration, May 13, 1871, was partly caused by the +terrors of the Paris Commune. + + +III. + +Boieldieu and Auber are by far the most brilliant representatives of +the French school of Opera Comique. The work of the former which shows +his genius at its best is "La Dame Blanche." It possesses in a +remarkable degree dramatic _verve_, piquancy of rhythm, and beauty of +structure. Mr. Franz Hueffer speaks of this opera as follows:-- + +"Peculiar to Boieldieu is a certain homely sweetness of melody which +proves its kinship to that source of all truly national music, the +popular song. The 'Dame Blanche' might be considered as the artistic +continuation of the _chanson_, in the same sense as Weber's 'Der +Freischuetz' has been called a dramatised _Volkslied_. With regard to +Boieldieu's work, this remark indicates at the same time a strong +development of what has been described as the 'amalgamating force of +French art and culture;' for it must be borne in mind that the subject +treated is Scotch. The plot is a compound of two of Scott's +novels--the 'Monastery' and 'Guy Mannering.' Julian, _alias_ George +Brown, comes to his paternal castle unknown to himself. He hears the +songs of his childhood, which awaken old memories in him; but he seems +doomed to misery and disappointment, for on the day of his return his +hall and his broad acres are to become the property of a villain, the +unfaithful steward of his own family. Here is a situation full of +gloom and sad foreboding. But Scribe and Boieldieu knew better. Their +hero is a dashing cavalry officer, who makes love to every pretty +woman he comes across, the 'White Lady of Avenel' among the number. +Yet no one who has witnessed the impersonation of George Brown by the +great Roger can have failed to be impressed with the grace and noble +gallantry of the character." + +The tune of "Robin Adair," introduced by Boieldieu and described as +"le chant ordinaire de la tribu d'Avenel," would hardly be recognised +by a genuine Scotchman; but what it loses in homely vigour it has +gained in sweetness. The musician's taste is always gratified in +Boieldieu's two great comic operas by the grace and finish of the +instrumentation, and the carefully composed _ensembles_, while the +public is delighted with the charming ballads and songs. The airs of +"La Dame Blanche" are more popular in classic Germany than those of +any other opera. Boieldieu may then be characterised as the composer +who carried the French operetta to its highest development, and +endowed it in the fullest sense with all the grace, sparkle, dramatic +symmetry, and gamesome touch so essentially the heritage of the +nation. + +Auber's position in art may be defined as that of the last great +representative of French comic opera, the legitimate successor of +Boieldieu, whom he surpasses in refinement and brilliancy of +individual effects, while he is inferior in simplicity, breadth, and +that firm grasp of details which enables the composer to blend all the +parts into a perfect whole. In spite of the fact that "La Muette," +Auber's greatest opera, is a romantic and serious work, full of bold +strokes of genius that astonish no less than they please, he must be +held to be essentially a master in the field of operatic comedy. In +the great opera to which allusion has been made, the passions of +excited public feeling have their fullest sway, and heroic sentiments +of love and devotion are expressed in a manner alike grand and +original. The traditional forms of the opera are made to expand with +the force of the feeling bursting through them. But this was the sole +flight of Auber into the higher regions of his art, the offspring of +the thoroughly revolutionised feeling of the time (1828), which +within two years shook Europe with such force. Aside from this outcome +of his Berserker mood, Auber is a charming exponent of the grace, +brightness, and piquancy of French society and civilisation. If rarely +deep, he is never dull, and no composer has given the world more +elegant and graceful melodies of the kind which charm the drawing-room +and furnish a good excuse for young-lady pianism. + +The following sprightly and judicious estimate of Auber by one of the +ablest of modern critics, Henry Chorley, in the main fixes him in his +right place:-- + +"He falls short of his mark in situations of profound pathos (save +perhaps in his sleep-song of 'Masaniello'). He is greatly behind his +Italian brethren in those mad scenes which they so largely affect. He +is always light and piquant for voices, delicious in his treatment of +the orchestra, and at this moment of writing--though I believe the +patriarch of opera-writers (born, it is said, in 1784), having begun +to compose at an age when other men have died exhausted by precocious +labour--is perhaps the lightest-hearted, lightest-handed man still +pouring out fragments of pearl and spangles of pure gold on the +stage.... With all this it is remarkable as it is unfair, that among +musicians--when talk is going around, and this person praises that +portentous piece of counterpoint, and the other analyses some new +chord the ugliness of which has led to its being neglected by former +composers--the name of this brilliant man is hardly if ever heard at +all. His is the next name among the composers belonging to the last +thirty years which should be heard after that of Rossini, the number +and extent of the works produced by him taken into account, and with +these the beauties which they contain." + + + + +_MEYERBEER._ + + +I. + +Few great names in art have been the occasion of such diversity of +judgment as Giacomo Meyerbeer, whose works fill so large a place in +French music. By one school of critics he is lauded beyond all measure +as one "whose scientific skill and gorgeous orchestration are only +equalled by his richness of melody and genius for dramatic and scenic +effects; by far the greatest composer of recent years;" by another +class we hear him stigmatised as "the very caricature of the universal +Mozart ... the Cosmopolitan Jew, who hawks his wares among all nations +indifferently, and does his best to please customers of every kind." +The truth lies between the two, as is wont to be the case in such +extremes of opinion. Meyerbeer's remarkable talent so nearly +approaches genius as to make the distinction a difficult one. He +cannot be numbered among those great creative artists who by force of +individuality have moulded musical epochs and left an undying imprint +on their own and succeeding ages. On the other hand, his remarkable +power of combining the resources of the lyric stage in a grand mosaic +of all that can charm the eye and ear, of wedding rich and gorgeous +music with splendid spectacle, gives him an unique place in music; +for, unlike Wagner, whose ideas of stage necessities are no less +exacting, Meyerbeer aims at no reforms in lyric music, but only to +develop the old forms to their highest degree of effect, under +conditions that shall gratify the general artistic sense. To +accomplish this, he spares no means either in or out of music. Though +a German, there is but little of the Teutonic _genre_ in the music of +Weber's fellow-pupil. When at the outset he wrote for Italy, he showed +but little of that easy assumption of the genius of Italian art which +many other foreign composers have attained. It was not till he formed +his celebrated art partnership with Scribe, the greatest of +librettists, and succeeded in opening the gates of the Grand Opera of +Paris with all its resources, more vast than exist anywhere else, that +Meyerbeer found his true vocation, the production of elaborate dramas +in music of the eclectic school. He inaugurated no clearly defined +tendencies in his art; he distinctively belongs to no national school +of music; but his long and important connection with the French lyric +stage classifies him unmistakably with the composers of this nation. + +The subject of this sketch belonged to a family of marked ability. +Jacob Beer was a rich Jewish banker of Berlin, highly honoured for his +robust intellect and scholarly culture, as well as his wealth. +William, one of the sons, became a distinguished astronomer; another, +Michael, achieved distinction as a dramatic poet; while the eldest, +Jacob, was the composer, who gained his renown under the Italianised +name of Giacomo Meyerbeer, a part of the surname having been adopted +from that of the rich banker Meyer, who left the musician a great +fortune. + +MEYERBEER was born at Berlin, September 5, 1791, and was a musical +prodigy from his earliest years. When only four years old he would +repeat on the piano the airs he heard from the hand-organs, composing +his own accompaniment. At five he took lessons of Lanska, a pupil of +Clementi, and at six he made his appearance at a concert. Three years +afterwards the critics spoke of him as one of the best pianists in +Berlin. He studied successively under the greatest masters of the +time, Clementi, Bernhard Anselm Weber, and Abbe Vogler. While in the +latter's school at Darmstadt, he had for fellow-pupils Carl von Weber, +Winter, and Gansbacher. Every morning the abbe called together his +pupils after mass, gave them some theoretical instruction, then +assigned each one a theme for composition. There was great emulation +and friendship between Meyerbeer and Weber, which afterwards cooled, +however, owing to Weber's disgust at Meyerbeer's lavish catering to +an extravagant taste. Weber's severe and bitter criticisms were not +forgiven by the Franco-German composer. + +Meyerbeer's first work was the oratorio "Gott und die Natur," which +was performed before the Grand Duke with such success as to gain for +him the appointment of court composer. Meyerbeer's concerts at +Darmstadt and Berlin were brilliant exhibitions; and Moscheles, no +mean judge, has told us that if Meyerbeer had devoted himself to the +piano, no performer in Europe could have surpassed him. By advice of +Salieri, whom Meyerbeer met in Vienna, he proceeded to Italy to study +the cultivation of the voice; for he seems in early life to have +clearly recognised how necessary it is for the operatic composer to +understand this, though, in after-years, he treated the voice as +ruthlessly in many of his most important arias and scenas as he would +a brass instrument. He arrived in Vienna just as the Rossini madness +was at its height, and his own blood was fired to compose operas _a la +Rossini_ for the Italian theatres. So he proceeded with prodigious +industry to turn out operas. In 1818 he wrote "Romilda e Costanza" for +Padua; in 1819, "Semiramide" for Turin; in 1820, "Emma di Resburgo" +for Venice; in 1822, "Margherita d'Anjou" for Milan; and in 1823, +"L'Esule di Granata," also for Milan. These works of the composer's +'prentice hand met with the usual fate of the production of the +thousand and one musicians who pour forth operas in unremitting flow +for the Italian theatres; but they were excellent drill for the future +author of "Robert le Diable" and "Les Huguenots." On returning to +Germany Meyerbeer was very sarcastically criticised on the one side as +a fugitive from the ranks of German music, on the other as an imitator +of Rossini. + +Meyerbeer returned to Venice, and in 1824 brought out "Il Crociato in +Egitto" in that city, an opera which made the tour of Europe, and +established a reputation for the author as the coming rival of +Rossini, no one suspecting from what Meyerbeer had then accomplished +that he was about to strike boldly out in a new direction. "Il +Crociato" was produced in Paris in 1825, and the same year in London. +In the latter city, Velluti, the last of the male sopranists, was one +of the principal singers in the opera; and it was said by some of the +ill-natured critics that curiosity to see and hear this singer of a +peculiar kind, of whom it was said, "Non vir sed Veluti," had as much +to do with the success of the opera as its merits. Lord +Mount-Edgcumbe, however, an excellent critic, wrote of it "as quite of +the new school, but not copied from its founder, Rossini; original, +odd, flighty, and it might be termed fantastic, but at times +beautiful. Here and there most delightful melodies and harmonies +occurred, but it was unequal, solos being as rare as in all the modern +operas." This was the last of Meyerbeer's operas written in the +Italian style. + +In 1827 the composer married, and for several years lived a quiet, +secluded life. The loss of his first two children so saddened him as +to concentrate his attention for a while on church music. During this +period he composed only a "Stabat," a "Miserere," a "Te Deum," and +eight of Klopstock's songs. But he was preparing for that new +departure on which his reputation as a great composer now rests, and +which called forth such bitter condemnation on the one hand, such +thunders of eulogy on the other. His old fellow-pupil, Weber, wrote of +him in after-years--"He prostituted his profound, admirable, and +serious German talent for the applause of the crowd which he ought to +have despised." And Mendelssohn wrote to his father in words of still +more angry disgust--"When in 'Robert le Diable' nuns appear one after +the other and endeavour to seduce the hero, till at length the lady +abbess succeeds; when the hero, aided by a magic branch, gains access +to the sleeping apartment of his lady, and throws her down, forming a +tableau which is applauded here, and will perhaps be applauded in +Germany; and when, after that, she implores for mercy in an aria; +when, in another opera, a girl undresses herself, singing all the +while that she will be married to-morrow, it may be effective, but I +find no music in it. For it is vulgar, and if such is the taste of +the day, and therefore necessary, I prefer writing sacred music." + + +II. + +"Robert le Diable" was produced at the Academie Royale in 1831, and +inaugurated the brilliant reign of Dr. Veron as manager. The bold +innovations, the powerful situations, the daring methods of the +composer, astonished and delighted Paris, and the work was performed +more than a hundred consecutive times. The history of "Robert le +Diable" is in some respects curious. It was originally written for the +Ventadour Theatre, devoted to comic opera; but the company were found +unable to sing the difficult music. Meyerbeer was inspired by Weber's +"Der Freischuetz" to attempt a romantic, semi-fantastic legendary +opera, and trod very closely in the footsteps of his model. It was +determined to so alter the libretto and extend and elaborate the music +as to fit it for the stage of the Grand Opera. MM. Scribe and +Delavigne, the librettists, and Meyerbeer, devoted busy days and +nights to hurrying on the work. The whole opera was remodelled, +recitative substituted for dialogue, and one of the most important +characters, Raimbaud, cut out in the fourth and fifth acts--a +suppression which is claimed to have befogged a very clear and +intelligible plot. Highly suggestive in its present state of Weber's +opera, the opera of "Robert le Diable" is said to have been +marvellously similar to "Der Freischuetz" in the original form, though +inferior in dignity of motive. + +Paris was all agog with interest at the first production. The critics +had attended the rehearsals, and it was understood that the libretto, +the music, and the ballet were full of striking interest. Nourrit +played the part of Robert; Levasseur, Bertram; Mdme. Cinti Damoreau, +Isabelle; and Mdlle. Dorus, Alice. The greatest dancers of the age +were in the ballet, and the brilliant Taglioni led the band of +resuscitated nuns. Habeneck was conductor, and everything had been +done in the way of scenery and costumes. The success was a remarkable +one, and Meyerbeer's name became famous throughout Europe. + +Dr. Veron, in his _Memoires d'un Bourgeois de Paris_, describes a +thrilling yet ludicrous accident that occurred on the first night's +performance. After the admirable trio, which is the _denoument_ of the +work, Levasseur, who personated Bertram, sprang through the trap to +rejoin the kingdom of the dead, whence he came so mysteriously. +Robert, on the other hand, had to remain on the earth, a converted +man, and destined to happiness in marriage with his princess, +Isabelle. Nourrit, the Robert of the performance, misled by the +situation and the fervour of his own feelings, threw himself into the +trap, which was not properly set. Fortunately the mattresses beneath +had not all been removed, or the tenor would have been killed, a doom +which those on the stage who saw the accident expected. The audience +supposed it was part of the opera, and the people on the stage were +full of terror and lamentation, when Nourrit appeared to calm their +fears. Mdlle. Dorus burst into tears of joy, and the audience, +recognising the situation, broke into shouts of applause. + +The opera was brought out in London the same year, with nearly the +same cast, but did not excite so much enthusiasm as in Paris. Lord +Mount-Edgcumbe, who represented the connoisseurs of the old school, +expressed the then current opinion of London audiences--"Never did I +see a more disagreeable or disgusting performance. The sight of the +resurrection of a whole convent of nuns, who rise from their graves +and begin dancing like so many bacchantes, is revolting; and a sacred +service in a church, accompanied by an organ on the stage, not very +decorous. Neither does the music of Meyerbeer compensate for a fable +which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability."[R] + +M. Veron was so delighted with the great success of "Robert" that he +made a contract with Meyerbeer for another grand opera, "Les +Huguenots," to be completed by a certain date. Meanwhile, the failing +health of Mdme. Meyerbeer obliged the composer to go to Italy, and +work on the opera was deferred, thus causing him to lose thirty +thousand francs as the penalty of his broken contract. At length, +after twenty-eight rehearsals, and an expense of more than one hundred +and sixty thousand francs in preparation, "Les Huguenots" was given to +the public, February 26, 1836. Though this great work excited +transports of enthusiasm in Paris, it was interdicted in many of the +cities of Southern Europe on account of the subject being a +disagreeable one to ardent and bigoted Catholics. In London it has +always been the most popular of Meyerbeer's three great operas, owing +perhaps partly to the singing of Mario and Grisi, and more lately of +Titiens and Giuglini. + +When Spontini resigned his place as chapel-master at the Court of +Berlin, in 1832, Meyerbeer succeeded him. He wrote much music of an +accidental character in his new position, but a slumber seems to have +fallen on his greater creative faculties. The German atmosphere was +not favourable to the fruitfulness of Meyerbeer's genius. He seems to +have needed the volatile and sparkling life of Paris to excite him +into full activity. Or perhaps he was not willing to produce one of +his operas, with their large dependence on elaborate splendour of +production, away from the Paris Grand Opera. During Meyerbeer's stay +in Berlin he introduced Jenny Lind to the Berlin public, as he +afterwards did indeed to Paris, her _debut_ there being made in the +opening performance of "Das Feldlager in Schlesien," afterwards +remodelled into "L'Etoile du Nord." + +Meyerbeer returned to Paris in 1849, to present the third of his great +operas, "La Prophete." It was given with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and +Castellan in the principal characters. Mdme. Viardot-Garcia achieved +one of her greatest dramatic triumphs in the difficult part of Fides. +In London the opera also met with splendid success, having, as Chorley +tells us, a great advantage over the Paris presentation in "the +remarkable personal beauty of Signor Mario, whose appearance in his +coronation robes reminded one of some bishop-saint in a picture by Van +Eyck or Duerer, and who could bring to bear a play of feature without +grimace into the scene of false fascination, entirely beyond the reach +of the clever French artist Roger, who originated the character." + +"L'Etoile du Nord" was given to the public February 16, 1854. Up to +this time the opera of "Robert" had been sung three hundred and +thirty-three times, "Les Huguenots" two hundred and twenty-two, and +"Le Prophete" a hundred and twelve. The "Pardon de Ploermel," also +known as "Dinorah," was offered to the world of Paris April 4, 1859. +Both these operas, though beautiful, are inferior to his other works. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[R] Yet Lord Mount-Edgcumbe is inconsistent enough to be an ardent +admirer of Mozart's "Zauberfloete." + + +III. + +Meyerbeer, a man of handsome private fortune, like Mendelssohn, made +large sums by his operas, and was probably the wealthiest of the great +composers. He lived a life of luxurious ease, and yet laboured with +intense zeal a certain number of hours each day. A friend one day +begged him to take more rest, and he answered smilingly, "If I should +leave work, I should rob myself of my greatest pleasure; for I am so +accustomed to work that it has become a necessity." Probably few +composers have been more splendidly rewarded by contemporary fame and +wealth, or been more idolised by their admirers. No less may it be +said that few have been the object of more severe criticism. His youth +was spent amid the severest classic influences of German music, and +the spirit of romanticism and nationality, which blossomed into such +beautiful and characteristic works as those composed by his friend and +fellow-pupil Weber, also found in his heart an eloquent echo. But +Meyerbeer resolutely disenthralled himself from what he appeared to +have regarded as trammels, and followed out an ambition to be a +cosmopolitan composer. In pursuit of this purpose he divested himself +of that fine flavour of individuality and devotion to art for its own +sake which marks the highest labours of genius. He can not be exempted +from the criticism that he regarded success and the immediate plaudits +of the public as the only satisfactory rewards of his art. He had but +little of the lofty content which shines out through the vexed and +clouded lives of such souls as Beethoven and Gluck in music, of Bacon +and Milton in literature, who looked forward to immortality of fame as +the best vindication of their work. A marked characteristic of the man +was a secret dissatisfaction with all that he accomplished, making him +restless and unhappy, and extremely sensitive to criticism. With this +was united a tendency at times to oscillate to the other extreme of +vain-gloriousness. An example of this was a reply to Rossini one night +at the opera when they were listening to "Robert le Diable." The "Swan +of Pesaro" was a warm admirer of Meyerbeer, though the latter was a +formidable rival, and his works had largely replaced those of the +other in popular repute. Sitting together in the same box, Rossini, in +his delight at one portion of the opera, cried out in his impulsive +Italian way, "If you can write anything to surpass this, I will +undertake to dance upon my head." "Well, then," said Meyerbeer, "you +had better soon commence practising, for I have just commenced the +fourth act of 'Les Huguenots.'" Well might he make this boast, for +into the fourth act of his musical setting of the terrible St. +Bartholomew tragedy he put the finest inspirations of his life. + +Singular to say, though he himself represented the very opposite pole +of art spirit and method, Mozart was to him the greatest of his +predecessors. Perhaps it was this very fact, however, which was at the +root of his sentiment of admiration for the composer of "Don Giovanni" +and "Le Nozze di Figaro." A story is told to the effect that Meyerbeer +was once dining with some friends, when a discussion arose respecting +Mozart's position in the musical hierarchy. Suddenly one of the guests +suggested that "certain beauties of Mozart's music had become stale +with age. I defy you," he continued, "to listen to 'Don Giovanni' +after the fourth act of the 'Huguenots.'" "So much the worse, then, +for the fourth act of the 'Huguenots,'" said Meyerbeer, furious at the +clumsy compliment paid to his own work at the expense of his idol. + +Critics wedded to the strict German school of music never forgave +Meyerbeer for his dereliction from the spirit and influences of his +nation, and the prominence which he gave to melodramatic effects and +spectacular show in his operas. Not without some show of reason, they +cite this fact as proof of poverty of musical invention. Mendelssohn, +who was habitually generous in his judgment, wrote to the poet +Immermann from Paris of "Robert le Diable"--"The subject is of the +romantic order; _i.e._, the devil appears in it (which suffices the +Parisians for romance and imagination). Nevertheless, it is very bad, +and, were it not for two brilliant seduction scenes, there would not +even be effect.... The opera does not please me; it is devoid of +sentiment and feeling.... People admire the music, but where there is +no warmth and truth, I cannot even form a standard of criticism." + +Schlueter, the historian of music, speaks even more bitterly of +Meyerbeer's irreverence and theatric sensationalism--"'Les Huguenots' +and the far weaker production 'Le Prophete' are, we think, all the +more reprehensible (nowadays especially, when too much stress is laid +on the subject of a work, and consequently on the libretto of an +opera), because the Jew has in these pieces ruthlessly dragged before +the footlights two of the darkest pictures in the annals of +Catholicism, nor has he scrupled to bring high mass and chorale on the +boards." + +Wagner, the last of the great German composers, cannot find words too +scathing and bitter to mark his condemnation of Meyerbeer. Perhaps +his extreme aversion finds its psychological reason in the +circumstance that his own early efforts were in the sphere of +Meyerbeer and Halevy, and from his present point of view he looks +back with disgust on what he regards as the sins of his youth. The +fairest of the German estimates of the composer, who not only cast +aside the national spirit and methods, but offended his countrymen by +devoting himself to the French stage, is that of Vischer, an eminent +writer on aesthetics--"Notwithstanding the composer's remarkable +talent for musical drama, his operas contain sometimes too much, +sometimes too little--too much in the subject-matter, external +adornment, and effective 'situations'--too little in the absence of +poetry, ideality, and sentiment (which are essential to a work of +art), as well as in the unnatural and constrained combinations of the +plot." + +But despite the fact that Meyerbeer's operas contain such strange +scenes as phantom nuns dancing, girls bathing, sunrise, skating, +gunpowder explosions, a king playing the flute, and the prima donna +leading a goat, dramatic music owes to him new accents of genuine +pathos and an addition to its resources of rendering passionate +emotions. Though much that is merely showy and meretricious there come +frequent bursts of genuine musical power and energy, which give him a +high and unmistakable rank, though he has had less permanent influence +in moulding and directing the development of musical art than any +other composer who has had so large a place in the annals of his time. + +The last twelve years of Meyerbeer's life were spent, with the +exception of brief residences in Germany and Italy, in Paris, the city +of his adoption, where all who were distinguished in art and letters +paid their court to him. When he was seized with his fatal illness he +was hard at work on "L'Africaine," for which Scribe had also furnished +the libretto. His heart was set on its completion, and his daily +prayer was that his life might be spared to finish it. But it was not +to be. He died May 2, 1864. The same morning Rossini called to inquire +after the health of the sick man, equally his friend and rival. When +he heard the sad news he sank into a fit of profound despondency and +grief, from which he did not soon recover. All Paris mourned with him, +and even Germany forgot its critical dislike to join in regret at the +loss of one who, with all his defects, was so great an artist and so +good a man. + +Meyerbeer seems to have been greatly afraid of being buried alive. In +his pocket-book after his death was found a paper giving directions +that small bells should be attached to his hands and feet, and that +his body should be carefully watched for four days, after which it +should be sent to Berlin to be interred by the side of his mother, to +whom he had been most tenderly attached. + +The composer was the intimate friend of most of the celebrities of his +time in art and literature. Victor Hugo, Lamartine, George Sand, +Balzac, Alfred de Musset, Delacroix, Jules Janin, and Theophile +Gautier were his familiar intimates; and the reunions between these +and other gifted men, who then made Paris so intellectually brilliant, +are charmingly described by Liszt and Moscheles. Meyerbeer's +correspondence, which was extensive, deserves publication, as it +displays marked literary faculty, and is full of bright sympathetic +thought, vigorous criticism, and playful fancy. The following letter +to Jules Janin, written from Berlin a few years before his death, +gives some pleasant insight into his character:-- + + "Your last letter was addressed to me at Koenigsberg; but I + was in Berlin working--working away like a young man, + despite my seventy years, which somehow certain people, with + a peculiar generosity, try to put upon me. As I am not at + Koenigsberg, where I am to arrange for the Court concert for + the eighteenth of this month, I have now leisure to answer + your letter, and will immediately confess to you how greatly + I was disappointed that you were so little interested in + Rameau; and yet Rameau was always the bright star of your + French opera, as well as your master in the music. He + remained to you after Lulli, and it was he who prepared the + way for the Chevalier Gluck: therefore his family have a + right to expect assistance from the Parisians, who on + several occasions have cared for the descendants of Racine + and the grandchildren of the great Corneille. If I had been + in Paris, I certainly would have given two hundred francs + for a seat; and I take this opportunity to beg you to hand + that sum to the poor family, who cannot fail to be unhappy + in their disappointment. At the same time I send you a power + of attorney for M. Guyot, by which I renounce all claims to + the parts of my operas which may be represented at the + benefit for the celebrated and unfortunate Rameau family. + Why will you not come to Koenigsberg at the festival? Why, in + other words, are you not in Berlin? What splendid music we + have in preparation! As to myself, it is not only a source + of pleasure to me, but I feel it a duty, in the position I + hold, to compose a grand march, to be performed at + Koenigsberg while the royal procession passes from the castle + into the church, where the ceremony of crowning is to take + place. I will even compose a hymn, to be executed on the day + that our king and master returns to his good Berlin. + Besides, I have promised to write an overture for the great + concert of the four nations, which the directors of the + London exhibition intend to give at the opening of the same, + next spring, in the Crystal Palace. All this keeps me back: + it has robbed me of my autumn, and will also take a good + part of next spring; but with the help of God, dear friend, + I hope we shall see each other again next year, free from + all cares, in the charming little town of Spa, listening to + the babbling of its waters and the rustling of its old grey + oaks. + + "Truly your friend, + + "Meyerbeer." + + +IV. + +Meyerbeer's operas are so intricate in their elements, and travel so +far out of the beaten track of precedent and rule, that it is +difficult to clearly describe their characteristics in a few words. +His original flow of melody could not have been very rich, for none of +his tunes have become household words, and his excessive use of that +element of opera which has nothing to do with music, as in the case of +Wagner, can have but one explanation. It is in the treatment of the +orchestra that he has added most largely to the genuine treasures of +music. His command of colour in tone-painting and power of dramatic +suggestion have rarely been equalled, and never surpassed. His genius +for musical rhythm is the most marked element in his power. This is +specially noticeable in his dance music, which is very bold, +brilliant, and voluptuous. The vivacity and grace of the ballets in +his operas save more than one act which otherwise would be +insufferably heavy and tedious. It is not too much to say that the +most spontaneous side of his creative fancy is found in these +affluent, vigorous, and stirring measures. + +Meyerbeer appears always to have been uncertain of himself and his +work. There was little of that masterly prevision of effect in his +mind which is one of the attributes of the higher imagination. His +operas, though most elaborately constructed, were often entirely +modified and changed in rehearsal, and some of the finest scenes, both +in the dramatic and musical sense, were the outcome of some happy +accidental suggestion at the very last moment. "Robert," "Les +Huguenots," "Le Prophete," in the forms we have them, are quite +different from those in which they were first cast. These operas have +therefore been called "the most magnificent patchwork in the history +of art," though this is a harsh phrasing of the fact, which somewhat +outrides justice. Certain it is, however, that Meyerbeer was largely +indebted to the chapter of accidents. + +The testimony of Dr. Veron, who was manager of the Grand Opera during +the most of the composer's brilliant career, is of great interest, as +illustrating this trait of Meyerbeer's composition. He tells us in his +_Memoires_, before alluded to, that "Robert" was made and remade +before its final production. The ghastly but effective colour of the +resuscitation scene in the graveyard of the ruined convent was a +change wrought by a stage manager, who was disgusted with the chorus +of simpering women in the original. This led Meyerbeer to compose the +weird ballet music which is such a characteristic feature of "Robert +le Diable." So, too, we are told on the same authority, the fourth act +of "Les Huguenots," which is the most powerful single act in +Meyerbeer's operas, owes its present shape to Nourrit, the most +intellectual and creative tenor singer of whom we have record. It was +originally designed that the St. Bartholomew massacre should be +organised by Queen Marguerite, but Nourrit pointed out that the +interest centering in the heroine, Valentine, as an involuntary and +horrified witness, would be impaired by the predominance of another +female character. So the plot was largely reconstructed, and fresh +music written. Another still more striking attraction was the addition +of the great duet with which the act now closes--a duet which critics +have cited as an evidence of unequalled power, coming as it does at +the very heels of such an astounding chorus as "The Blessing of the +Swords." Nourrit felt that the parting of the two lovers at such a +time and place demanded such an outburst and confession as would be +wrung from them by the agony of the situation. Meyerbeer acted on the +suggestion with such felicity and force as to make it the crowning +beauty of the work. Similar changes are understood to have been made +in "Le Prophete" by advice of Nourrit, whose poetical insight seems to +have been unerring. It was left to Duprez, Nourrit's successor, +however, to be the first exponent of John of Leyden. + +These instances suffice to show how uncertain and how unequal was the +grasp of Meyerbeer's genius, and to explain in part why he was so +prone to gorgeous effects, aside from that tendency of the Israelitish +nature which delights in show and glitter. We see something in it akin +to the trick of the rhetorician, who seeks to hide poverty of thought +under glittering phrases. Yet Meyerbeer rose to occasions with a force +that was something gigantic. Once his work was clearly defined in a +mind not powerfully creative, he expressed it in music with such +vigour, energy, and warmth of colour as cannot be easily surpassed. +With this composer there was but little spontaneous flow of musical +thought, clothing itself in forms of unconscious and perfect beauty, +as in the case of Mozart, Beethoven, Cherubini, Rossini, and others +who could be cited. The constitution of his mind demanded some +external power to bring forth the gush of musical energy. + +The operas of Meyerbeer may be best described as highly artistic and +finished mosaic work, containing much that is precious with much that +is false. There are parts of all his operas which cannot be surpassed +for beauty of music, dramatic energy, and fascination of effect. In +addition, the strength and richness of his orchestration, which +contains original strokes not found in other composers, give him a +lasting claim on the admiration of the lovers of music. No other +composer has united so many glaring defects with such splendid power; +and were it not that Meyerbeer strained his ingenuity to tax the +resources of the singer in every possible way, not even the mechanical +difficulty of producing these operas in a fashion commensurate with +their plan would prevent their taking a high place among popular +operas. + + + + +_GOUNOD._ + + +I. + +Moscheles, one of the severe classical pianists of the German school, +writes as follows, in 1861, in a letter to a friend--"In Gounod I hail +a real composer. I have heard his 'Faust' both at Leipsic and Dresden, +and am charmed with that refined, piquant music. Critics may rave if +they like against the mutilation of Goethe's masterpiece; the opera is +sure to attract, for it is a fresh, interesting work, with a copious +flow of melody and lovely instrumentation." + +Henry Chorley in his _Thirty Years' Musical Recollections_, writing of +the year 1851, says--"To a few hearers, since then grown into a +European public, neither the warmest welcome nor the most bleak +indifference could alter the conviction that among the composers who +have appeared during the last twenty-five years, M. Gounod was the +most promising one, as showing the greatest combination of sterling +science, beauty of idea, freshness of fancy, and individuality. Before +a note of 'Sappho' was written, certain sacred Roman Catholic +compositions and some exquisite settings of French verse had made it +clear to some of the acutest judges and profoundest musicians living, +that in him at last something true and new had come--may I not say, +the most poetical of French musicians that has till now written?" The +same genial and acute critic, in further discussing the envy, +jealousy, and prejudice that Gounod awakened in certain musical +quarters, writes in still more decided strains--"The fact has to be +swallowed and digested that already the composer of 'Sappho,' the +choruses to 'Ulysse,' 'Le Medecin malgre lui,' 'Faust,' 'Philemon et +Baucis,' a superb Cecilian mass, two excellent symphonies, and half a +hundred songs and romances, which may be ranged not far from +Schubert's and above any others existing in France, is one of the very +few individuals left to whom musical Europe is now looking for its +pleasure." Surely it is enough praise for a great musician that, in +the domain of opera, church music, symphony, and song, he has risen +above all others of his time in one direction, and in all been +surpassed by none. + +It was not till "Faust" was produced that Gounod's genius evinced its +highest capacity. For nineteen years the exquisite melodies of this +great work have rung in the ears of civilisation without losing one +whit of the power with which they first fascinated the lovers of +music. The verdict which the aged Moscheles passed in his Leipsic +home--Moscheles, the friend of Beethoven, Weber, Schumann, and +Mendelssohn; which was re-echoed by the patriarchal Rossini, who came +from his Passy retirement to offer his congratulations; which Auber +took up again, as with tears of joy in his eyes he led Gounod, the +ex-pupil of the Conservatory, through the halls wherein had been laid +the foundation of his musical skill--that verdict has been affirmed +over and over again by the world. For in "Faust" we recognise not only +some of the most noble music ever written, but a highly dramatic +expression of spiritual truth. It is hardly a question that Gounod has +succeeded in an unrivalled degree in expressing the characters and +symbolisms of "Mephistopheles," "Faust," and "Gretchen" in music not +merely beautiful, but spiritual, humorous, subtile, and voluptuous, +accordingly as the varied meanings of Goethe's masterpiece demand. + +Visitors at Paris, while the American civil war was at its height, +might frequently have observed at the beautiful Theatre Lyrique, +afterwards burned by the Vandals of the Commune, a noticeable-looking +man, of blonde complexion and tawny beard, clear-cut features, and +large, bright, almost sombre-looking eyes. As the opera of "Faust" +progresses, his features eloquently express his varying emotions, now +of approval, now of annoyance at different parts of the performance. +M. Gounod is criticising the interpretation of the great opera, which +suddenly lifted him into fame as perhaps the most imaginative and +creative of late composers. + +An aggressive disposition, an energy and faith that accepted no +rebuffs, and the power of "toiling terribly," had enabled Gounod to +battle his way into the front rank. Unlike Rossini and Auber, he +disdained social recreation, and was so rarely seen in the fashionable +quarters of Paris and London that only an occasional musical +announcement kept him before the eyes of the public. Gounod seems to +have devoted himself to the strict sphere of his art-life with an +exclusive devotion quite foreign to the general temperament of the +musician, into which something luxurious and pleasure-loving is so apt +to enter. This composer, standing in the very front rank of his +fellows, has injected into the veins of the French school to which he +belongs a seriousness, depth, and imaginative vigour, which prove to +us how much he is indebted to German inspiration and German models. + +CHARLES GOUNOD, born in Paris, June 17, 1818, betrayed so much passion +for music during tender years, that his father gave him every +opportunity to gratify and improve this marked bias. He studied under +Reicha and Le Sueur, and finally under Halevy, completing under the +latter the preparation which fitted him for entrance into the +Conservatory. The talents he displayed there were such as to fix on +him the attention of his most distinguished masters. He carried off +the second prize at nineteen, and at twenty-one received the grand +prize for musical composition awarded by the French Institute. His +first published work was a mass performed at the Church of St. +Eustache, which, while not specially successful, was sufficiently +encouraging to both the young composer and his friends. + +Gounod now proceeded to Rome, where there seems to have been some +inclination on his part to study for holy orders. But music was not +destined to be cheated of so gifted a votary. In 1841 he wrote a +second mass, which was so well thought of in the papal capital as to +gain for the young composer the appointment of an honorary +chapel-master for life. This recognition of his genius settled his +final conviction that music was his true life-work, though the +religious sentiment, or rather a sympathy with mysticism, is +strikingly apparent in all of his compositions. The next goal in the +composer's art pilgrimage was the music-loving city of Vienna, the +home of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, though its people +waited till the last three great geniuses were dead before it accorded +them the loving homage which they have since so freely rendered. The +reception given by the capricious Viennese to a requiem and a Lenten +mass (for as yet Gounod only thought of sacred music as his vocation) +was not such as to encourage a residence. Paris, the queen of the +world, towards which every French exile ever looks with longing eyes, +seemed to beckon him back; so at the age of twenty-five he turned his +steps again to his beloved Lutetia. His education was finished; he had +completed his "Wanderjahre;" and he was eager to enter on the serious +work of life. + +He was appointed chapel-master at the Church of Foreign Missions, in +which office he remained for six years, in the meanwhile marrying a +charming woman, the daughter of Herr Zimmermann, the celebrated +theologian and orator. In 1849 he composed his third mass, which made +a powerful impression on musicians and critics, though Gounod's +ambition, which seems to have been powerfully stimulated by his +marriage, began to realise that it was in the field of lyric drama +only that his powers would find their full development. He had been an +ardent student in literature and art as well as in music; his style +had been formed on the most noble and serious German models, and his +tastes, awakened into full activity, carried him with great zeal into +the loftier field of operatic composition. + +The dominating influence of Gluck, so potent in shaping the tastes and +methods of the more serious French composers, asserted itself from the +beginning in the work of Gounod, and no modern composer has been so +brilliant and effective a disciple in carrying out the formulas of +that great master. More free, flexible, and melodious than Spontini +and Halevy, measuring his work by a conception of art more lofty and +ideal than that of Meyerbeer, and in creative power and originality by +far their superior, Gounod's genius, as shown in the one opera of +"Faust," suffices to stamp his great mastership. + +But he had many years of struggle yet before this end was to be +achieved. His early lyric compositions fell dead. Score after score +was rejected by the managers. No one cared to hazard the risk of +producing an opera by this unknown composer. His first essay was a +pastoral opera, "Philemon and Baucis," and it did not escape from the +manuscript for many a long year, though it has in more recent times +been received by critical German audiences with great applause. A +catalogue of Gounod's failures would have no significance except as +showing that his industry and energy were not relaxed by public +neglect. His first decided encouragement came in 1851, when "Sappho" +was produced at the French Opera through the influence of Madame +Pauline Viardot, the sister of Malibran, who had a generous belief in +the composer's future, and such a position in the musical world of +Paris as to make her requests almost mandatory. This opera, based on +the fine poem of Emile Augier, was well received, and cheered Gounod's +heart to make fresh efforts. In 1852 he composed the choruses for +Poussard's classical tragedy of "Ulysse," performed at the Theatre +Francais. The growing recognition of the world was evidenced in his +appointment as director of the Normal Singing School of Paris, the +primary school of the Conservatory. In 1854 a five-act opera, with a +libretto from the legend of the "Bleeding Nun," was completed and +produced, and Gounod was further gratified to see that musical +authorities were willing to grant him a distinct place in the ranks of +art, though as yet not a very high one. + +For years Gounod's serious and elevated mind had been pondering on +Goethe's great poem as the subject of an opera, and there is reason to +conjecture that parts of it were composed and arranged, if not fully +elaborated, long prior to its final crystallisation. But he was not +yet quite ready to enter seriously on the composition of the +masterpiece. He must still try his hand on lesser themes. Occasional +pieces for the orchestra or choruses strengthened his hold on these +important elements of lyric composition, and in 1858 he produced "Le +Medecin malgre lui," based on Moliere's comedy, afterwards performed +as an English opera under the title of "The Mock Doctor." Gounod's +genius seems to have had no affinity for the graceful and sparkling +measures of comic music, and his attempt to rival Rossini and Auber in +the field where they were pre-eminent was decidedly unsuccessful, +though the opera contained much fine music. + + +II. + +The year of his triumph had at last arrived. He had waited and toiled +for years over "Faust," and it was now ready to flash on the world +with an electric brightness that was to make his name instantly +famous. One day saw him an obscure, third-rate composer, the next one +of the brilliant names in art. "Faust," first performed 19th March +1859, fairly took the world by storm. Gounod's warmest friends were +amazed by the beauty of the masterpiece, in which exquisite melody, +great orchestration, and a dramatic passion never surpassed in +operatic art, were combined with a scientific skill and precision +which would vie with that of the great masters of harmony. Carvalho, +the manager of the Theatre Lyrique, had predicted that the work would +have a magnificent reception by the art world, and lavished on it +every stage resource. Madame Miolan-Carvalho, his brilliant wife, one +of the leading sopranos of the day, sang the role of the heroine, +though five years afterwards she was succeeded by Nilsson, who +invested the part with a poetry and tenderness which have never been +quite equalled. + +"Faust" was received at Berlin, Vienna, Milan, St. Petersburg, and +London, with an enthusiasm not less than that which greeted its +Parisian debut. The clamour of dispute between the different schools +was for the moment hushed in the delight with which the musical +critics and public of universal Europe listened to the magical +measures of an opera which to classical chasteness and severity of +form and elevation of motive united such dramatic passion, richness of +melody, and warmth of orchestral colour. From that day to the present +"Faust" has retained its place as not only the greatest but the most +popular of modern operas. The proof of the composer's skill and sense +of symmetry in the composition of "Faust" is shown in the fact that +each part is so nearly necessary to the work, that but few "cuts" can +be made in presentation without essentially marring the beauty of the +work; and it is therefore given with close faithfulness to the +author's score. + +After the immense success of "Faust," the doors of the Academy were +opened wide to Gounod. On February 28, 1862, the "Reine de Saba" was +produced, but was only a _succes d'estime_, the libretto by Gerard de +Nerval not being fitted for a lyric tragedy.[S] Many numbers of this +fine work, however, are still favourites on concert programmes, and it +has been given in English under the name of "Irene." Gounod's love of +romantic themes, and the interest in France which Lamartine's glowing +eulogies had excited about "Mireio," the beautiful national poem of +the Provencal, M. Frederic Mistral, led the former to compose an opera +on a libretto from this work, which was given at the Theatre Lyrique, +March 19, 1864, under the name of "Mireille." The music, however, was +rather descriptive and lyric than dramatic, as befitted this lovely +ideal of early French provincial life; and in spite of its containing +some of the most captivating airs ever written, and the fine +interpretation of the heroine by Miolan-Carvalho, it was accepted with +reservations. It has since become more popular in its three-act form +to which it was abridged. It is a tribute to the essential beauty of +Gounod's music that, however unsuccessful as operas certain of his +works have been, they have all contributed charming _morceaux_ for the +enjoyment of concert audiences. Not only did the airs of "Mireille" +become public favourites, but its overture is frequently given as a +distinct orchestral work. + +The opera of "La Colombe," known in English as "The Pet Dove," +followed in 1866; and the next year was produced the five-act opera of +"Romeo et Juliette," of which the principal part was again taken by +Madame Miolan-Carvalho. The favourite pieces in this work, which is a +highly poetic rendering of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, are the +song of _Queen Mab_, the garden duet, a short chorus in the second +act, and the duel scene in the third act. For some occult reason, +"Romeo et Juliette," though recognised as a work of exceptional beauty +and merit, and still occasionally performed, has no permanent hold on +the operatic public of to-day. + +The evils that fell on France from the German war and the horrors of +the Commune drove Gounod to reside in London, unlike Auber, who +resolutely refused to forsake the city of his love, in spite of the +suffering and privation which he foresaw, and which were the indirect +cause of the veteran composer's death. Gounod remained several years +in England, and lived a retired life, seemingly as if he shrank from +public notice and disdained public applause. His principal appearances +were at the Philharmonic, the Crystal Palace, and at Mrs. Weldon's +concerts, where he directed the performances of his own compositions. +The circumstances of his London residence seem to have cast a cloud +over Gounod's life and to have strangely unsettled his mind. Patriotic +grief probably had something to do with this at the outset. But even +more than this as a source of permanent irritation may be reckoned the +spell cast over Gounod's mind by a beautiful adventuress, who was +ambitious to attain social and musical recognition through the _eclat_ +of the great composer's friendship. Though newspaper report may be +credited with swelling and distorting the naked facts, enough appears +to be known to make it sure that the evil genius of Gounod's London +life was a woman, who traded recklessly with her own reputation and +the French composer's fame. + +However untoward the surroundings of Gounod, his genius did not lie +altogether dormant during this period of friction and fretfulness, +conditions so repressive to the best imaginative work. He composed +several masses and other church music; a "Stabat Mater" with +orchestra; the oratorio of "Tobie"; "Gallia," a lamentation for +France; incidental music for Legouve's tragedy of "Les Deux Reines," +and for Jules Barbier's "Jeanne d'Arc;" a large number of songs and +romances, both sacred and secular, such as "Nazareth," and "There is a +Green Hill;" and orchestral works, "Salterello in A," and the "Funeral +March of a Marionette." + +At last he broke loose from the bonds of Delilah, and, remembering +that he had been elected to fill the place of Clapisson in the +Institute, he returned to Paris in 1876 to resume the position which +his genius so richly deserved. On the 5th of March of the following +year his "Cinq-Mars" was brought out at the Theatre de l'Opera +Comique; but it showed the traces of the haste and carelessness with +which it was written, and therefore commanded little more than a +respectful hearing. His last opera, "Polyeucte," produced at the Grand +Opera, October 7, 1878, though credited with much beautiful music, and +nobly orchestrated, is not regarded by the French critics as likely to +add anything to the reputation of the composer of "Faust." Gounod, +now at the age of sixty, if we judge him by the prolonged fertility of +so many of the great composers, may be regarded as not having largely +passed the prime of his powers. The world still has a right to expect +much from his genius. Conceded even by his opponents to be a great +musician and a thorough master of the orchestra, more generous critics +in the main agree to rank Gounod as the most remarkable contemporary +composer, with the possible exception of Richard Wagner. The +distinctive trait of his dramatic conceptions seems to be an +imagination hovering between sensuous images and mystic dreams. +Originally inspired by the severe Greek sculpture of Gluck's music, he +has applied that master's laws in the creation of tone-pictures full +of voluptuous colour, but yet solemnised at times by an exaltation +which recalls the time when as a youth he thought of the spiritual +dignity of priesthood. The use he makes of his religious reminiscences +is familiarly illustrated in "Faust." The contrast between two +opposing principles is marked in all of Gounod's dramatic works, and +in "Faust" this struggle of "a soul which invades mysticism and which +still seeks to express voluptuousness" not only colours the music with +a novel fascination, but amounts to an interesting psychological +problem. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[S] It has been a matter of frequent comment by the ablest musical +critics that many noble operas, now never heard, would have retained +their place in the repertoires of modern dramatic music, had it not +been for the utter rubbish to which the music has been set. + + +III. + +Gounod's genius fills too large a space in contemporary music to be +passed over without a brief special study. In pursuit of this no +better method suggests itself than an examination of the opera of +"Faust," into which the composer poured the finest inspirations of his +life, even as Goethe embodied the sum and flower of his long career, +which had garnered so many experiences, in his poetic masterpiece. + +The story of "Faust" has tempted many composers. Prince Radziwill +tried it, and then Spohr set a version of the theme at once coarse and +cruel, full of vulgar witchwork and love-making only fit for a +chambermaid. Since then Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz have +treated the story orchestrally with more or less success. Gounod's +treatment of the poem is by far the most intelligible, poetic, and +dramatic ever attempted, and there is no opera since the days of Gluck +with so little weak music, except Beethoven's "Fidelio." + +In the introduction the restless gloom of the old philosopher and the +contrasted joys of youth engaged in rustic revelry outside are +expressed with graphic force; and the Kirmes music in the next act is +so quaint and original, as well as melodious, as to give the sense of +delightful comedy. When Marguerite enters on the scene, we have a +waltz and chorus of such beauty and piquancy as would have done honour +to Mozart. Indeed, in the dramatic use of dance music Gounod hardly +yields in skill and originality to Meyerbeer himself, though the +latter composer specially distinguished himself in this direction. The +third and fourth acts develop all the tenderness and passion of +Marguerite's character, all the tragedy of her doom. + +After Faust's beautiful monologue in the garden come the song of the +"King of Thule" and Marguerite's delight at finding the jewels, which +conjoined express the artless vanity of the child in a manner alike +full of grace and pathos. The quartet that follows is one of great +beauty, the music of each character being thoroughly in keeping, while +the admirable science of the composer blends all into thorough +artistic unity. It is hardly too much to assert that the love scene +which closes this act has nothing to surpass it for fire, passion, and +tenderness, seizing the mind of the hearer with absorbing force by its +suggestion and imagery, while the almost cloying sweetness of the +melody is such as Rossini and Schubert only could equal. The full +confession of the enamoured pair contained in the brief _adagio_ +throbs with such rapture as to find its most suggestive parallel in +the ardent words commencing + + "Gallop apace, ye fiery-footed steeds," + +placed by Shakespeare in the mouth of the expectant Juliet. + +Beauties succeed each other in swift and picturesque succession, +fitting the dramatic order with a nicety which forces the highest +praise of the critic. The march and the chorus marking the return of +Valentine's regiment beat with a fire and enthusiasm to which the +tramp of victorious squadrons might well keep step. The wicked music +of Mephistopheles in the sarcastic serenade, the powerful duel trio, +and Valentine's curse are of the highest order of expression; while +the church scene, where the fiend whispers his taunts in the ear of +the disgraced Marguerite, as the gloomy musical hymn and peals of the +organ menace her with an irreversible doom, is a weird and thrilling +picture of despair, agony, and devilish exultation. + +Gounod has been blamed for violating the reverence due to sacred +things, employing portions of the church service in this scene, +instead of writing music for it. But this is the last resort of +critical hostility, seeking a peg on which to hang objection. +Meyerbeer's splendid introduction of Luther's great hymn, "Ein' feste +Burg," in "Les Huguenots," called forth a similar criticism from his +German assailants. Some of the most dramatic effects in music have +been created by this species of musical quotation, so rich in its +appeal to memory and association. Who that has once heard can forget +the thrilling power of "La Marseillaise" in Schumann's setting of +Heinrich Heine's poem of "The Two Grenadiers?" The two French +soldiers, weary and broken-hearted after the Russian campaign, +approach the German frontier. The veterans are moved to tears as they +think of their humiliated Emperor. Up speaks one suffering with a +deadly hurt to the other, "Friend, when I am dead, bury me in my +native France, with my cross of honour on my breast, and my musket in +my hand, and lay my good sword by my side." Until this time the melody +has been a slow and dirge-like stave in the minor key. The old soldier +declares his belief that he will rise again from the clods when he +hears the victorious tramp of his Emperor's squadrons passing over his +grave, and the minor breaks into a weird setting of the +"Marseillaise" in the major key. Suddenly it closes with a few solemn +chords, and, instead of the smoke of battle and the march of the +phantom host, the imagination sees the lonely plain with its green +mounds and mouldering crosses. + +Readers will pardon this digression illustrating an artistic law, of +which Gounod has made such effective use in the church scene of his +"Faust" in heightening its tragic solemnity. The wild goblin symphony +in the fifth act has added some new effects to the gamut of deviltry +in music, and shows that Weber in the "Wolf's Glen" and Meyerbeer in +the "Cloisters of St. Rosalie" did not exhaust the somewhat limited +field. The whole of this part of the act, sadly mutilated and abridged +often in representation, is singularly picturesque and striking as a +musical conception, and is a fitting companion to the tragic prison +scene. The despair of the poor crazed Marguerite; her delirious joy in +recognising Faust; the temptation to fly; the final outburst of faith +and hope, as the sense of Divine pardon sinks into her soul--all these +are touched with the fire of genius, and the passion sweeps with an +unfaltering force to its climax. These references to the details of a +work so familiar as "Faust," conveying of course no fresh information +to the reader, have been made to illustrate the peculiarities of +Gounod's musical temperament, which sways in such fascinating contrast +between the voluptuous and the spiritual. But whether his accents +belong to the one or the other, they bespeak a mood flushed with +earnestness and fervour, and a mind which recoils from the frivolous, +however graceful it may be. + +In the Franco-German school, of which Gounod is so high an exponent, +the orchestra is busy throughout developing the history of the +emotions, and in "Faust" especially it is as busy a factor in +expressing the passions of the characters as the vocal parts. Not even +in the "garden scene" does the singing reduce the instruments to a +secondary importance. The difference between Gounod and Wagner, who +professes to elaborate the importance of the orchestra in dramatic +music, is that the former has a skill in writing for the voice which +the other lacks. The one lifts the voice by the orchestration, the +other submerges it. Gounod's affluence of lovely melody can only be +compared with that of Mozart and Rossini, and his skill and ingenuity +in treating the orchestra have wrung reluctant praise from his +bitterest opponents. + +The special power which makes Gounod unique in his art, aside from +those elements before alluded to as derived from temperament, is his +unerring sense of dramatic fitness, which weds such highly suggestive +music to each varying phase of character and action. To this perhaps +one exception may be made. While he possesses a certain airy +playfulness, he fails in rich broad humour utterly, and situations of +comedy are by no means so well handled as the more serious scenes. A +good illustration of this may be found in the "Le Medecin malgre lui," +in the couplets given to the drunken "Sganarelle." They are beautiful +music, but utterly unflavoured with the _vis comica_. + +Had Gounod written only "Faust," it should stamp him as one of the +most highly-gifted composers of his age. Noticeably in his other +works, pre-eminently in this, he has shown a melodic freshness and +fertility, a mastery of musical form, a power of orchestration, and a +dramatic energy, which are combined to the same degree in no one of +his rivals. Therefore it is just to place him in the first rank of +contemporary composers. + + * * * * * + +Note by the Editor.--Gounod is a strongly religious man, and more than +once has been on the point of entering the Church. It is, therefore, +not surprising that he should have in his later life turned his +attention to the finest form of sacred music, the oratorio. His first +and greatest work of this class is his "Redemption," produced at the +Birmingham Festival of 1882, and conducted by himself. It was well +received, and has met with success at all subsequent performances. It +is intended to illustrate "three great facts (to quote the composer's +words in his prefatory commentary) on which the existence of the +Christian Church depends.... The Passion and death of the Saviour, +His glorious life on earth from His resurrection to His Ascension, and +finally the spread of Christianity in the world through the mission of +the apostles. These three parts of the present trilogy are preceded by +a Prologue on the Creation and Fall of our first parents, and the +promise of the Redeemer." In this work Gounod has discarded the +polyphonic method of the previous school of Italian and German sacred +music, and adopted the dramatic treatment. A competent critic has +written of this work in the following words:--"The 'Redemption' may be +classed among its author's noblest productions. It is a work of high +aim, written regardless of immediate popularity, and therefore all the +more likely to take rank among the permanent additions which sacred +music owes to modern music." In 1885 the oratorio of "Mors et Vita" +was produced at the Birmingham Festival, conducted by Herr Richter. +Though well received, it did not make as great an impression as its +predecessor, to which it stands in the light of a sequel. It consists +of four parts--a short Prologue, a Requiem Mass, the Last Judgment, +and Judex (or the Celestial City). In the Prologue a special +_leitmotive_ accompanying the words "Horrendum est in incidere in +Manus Dei" signifies the Death, not only of the body, but of the +unredeemed soul. A gleam of hope, however, pierces the darkness, and a +beautiful theme is heard frequently throughout the work expressive of +"the idea of justice tempered with mercy, and finally the happiness of +the blessed. The two opposing forces of the design, _Mors_ and _Vita_, +are thus well defined." The work, however, is unequal; the Requiem +Mass, in particular, does not rise in importance when compared with +the many fine examples of the Italian and German sacred music which +preceded it. "Compared with that truly inspired work, 'Redemption,' +partly written, it should be remembered, more than ten years +previously, Gounod's new effort shows a distinct decline, especially +as regards unity of style and genuine inspiration." + + + + +_BERLIOZ._ + + +I. + +In the long list of brilliant names which have illustrated the fine +arts, there is none attached to a personality more interesting and +impressive than that of Hector Berlioz. He stands solitary, a colossus +in music, with but few admirers and fewer followers. Original, +puissant in faculties, fiercely dogmatic and intolerant, bizarre, his +influence has impressed itself profoundly on the musical world both +for good and evil, but has failed to make disciples or to rear a +school. Notwithstanding the defects and extravagances of Berlioz, it +is safe to assert that no art or philosophy can boast of an example of +more perfect devotion to an ideal. The startling originality of +Berlioz as a musician rests on a mental and emotional organisation +different from and in some respects superior to that of any other +eminent master. He possessed an ardent temperament; a gorgeous +imagination, that knew no rest in its working, and at times became +heated to the verge of madness; a most subtile sense of hearing; an +intellect of the keenest analytic turn; a most arrogant will, full of +enterprise and daring, which clung to its purpose with unrelenting +tenacity; and passions of such heat and fervour that they rarely +failed when aroused to carry him beyond all bounds of reason. His +genius was unique, his character cast in the mould of a Titan, his +life a tragedy. Says Blaze de Bussy--"Art has its martyrs, its +forerunners crying in the wilderness, and feeding on roots. It has +also its spoiled children sated with bonbons and dainties." Berlioz +belongs to the former of these classes, and, if ever a prophet lifted +up his voice with a vehement and incessant outcry, it was he. + +HECTOR BERLIOZ was born on December 11, 1803, at Cote Saint Andre, a +small town between Grenoble and Lyons. His father was an excellent +physician of more than ordinary attainments, and he superintended his +son's studies with great zeal, in the hope that the lad would also +become an ornament of the healing profession. But young Hector, though +an excellent scholar in other branches, developed a special aptitude +for music, and at twelve he could sing at sight, and play difficult +concertos on the flute. The elder regarded music only as a graceful +ornament to life, and in nowise encouraged his son in thinking of +music as a profession. So it was not long before Hector found his +attention directed to anatomy, physiology, osteology, etc. In his +father's library he had already read of Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, etc., +and had found a manuscript score of an opera which he had committed to +memory. His soul revolted more and more from the path cut out for +him. "Become a physician!" he cried, "study anatomy; dissect; take +part in horrible operations? No! no! That would be a total subversion +of the natural course of my life." + +But parental resolution carried the day, and, after he had finished +the preliminary course of study, he was ordered up to Paris to join +the army of medical students. So at the age of nineteen we find him +lodged in the Quartier Latin. His first introduction to medical +studies had been unfortunate. On entering a dissecting-room he had +been so convulsed with horror as to leap from the window, and rush to +his lodgings in an agony of dread and disgust, whence he did not +emerge for twenty-four hours. At last, however, by dint of habit he +became somewhat used to the disagreeable facts of his new life, and, +to use his own words, "bade fair to add one more to the army of bad +physicians," when he went to the opera one night and heard "Les +Danaides," Salieri's opera, performed with all the splendid +completeness of the Academie Royale. This awakened into fresh life an +unquenchable thirst for music, and he neglected his medical studies +for the library of the Conservatoire, where he learned by heart the +scores of Gluck and Rameau. At last, on coming out one night from a +performance of "Iphigenie," he swore that henceforth music should have +her divine rights of him, in spite of all and everything. Henceforth +hospital, dissecting-room, and professor's lectures knew him no more. + +But to get admission to the Conservatoire was now the problem; Berlioz +set to work on a cantata with orchestral accompaniments, and in the +meantime sent the most imploring letters home asking his father's +sanction for this change of life. The inexorable parent replied by +cutting off his son's allowance, saying that he would not help him to +become one of the miserable herd of unsuccessful musicians. The young +enthusiast's cantata gained him admission to the classes of Le Sueur +and Reicha at the Conservatoire, but alas! dire poverty stared him in +the face. The history of his shifts and privations for some months is +a sad one. He slept in an old, unfurnished garret, and shivered under +insufficient bed-clothing, ate his bread and grapes on the Pont Neuf, +and sometimes debated whether a plunge into the Seine would not be the +easiest way out of it all. No mongrel cur in the capital but had a +sweeter bone to crunch than he. But the young fellow for all this +stuck to his work with dogged tenacity, managed to get a mass +performed at St. Roch church, and soon finished the score of an opera, +"Les Francs Juges." Flesh and blood would have given way at last under +this hard diet, if he had not obtained a position in the chorus of the +Theatre des Noveauteaus. Berlioz gives an amusing account of his going +to compete with the horde of applicants--butchers, bakers, +shop-apprentices, etc.--each one with his roll of music under his arm. + +The manager scanned the raw-boned starveling with a look of wonder. +"Where's your music?" quoth the tyrant of a third-class theatre. "I +don't want any, I can sing anything you can give me at sight," was the +answer. "The devil!" rejoined the manager; "but we haven't any music +here." "Well, what do you want?" said Berlioz. "I sing every note of +all the operas of Gluck, Piccini, Salieri, Rameau, Spontini, Gretry, +Mozart, and Cimarosa, from memory." At hearing this amazing +declaration, the rest of the competitors slunk away abashed, and +Berlioz, after singing an aria from Spontini, was accorded the place, +which guaranteed him fifty francs per month--a pittance, indeed, and +yet a substantial addition to his resources. This pot-boiling +connection of Berlioz was never known to the public till after he +became a distinguished man, though he was accustomed to speak in vague +terms of his early dramatic career as if it were a matter of romantic +importance. + +At last, however, he was relieved of the necessity of singing on the +stage to amuse the Paris _bourgeoisie_, and in a singular fashion. He +had been put to great straits to get his first work, which had won him +his way into the Conservatoire, performed. An application to the great +Chateaubriand, who was noted for benevolence, had failed, for the +author of _La Genie de Christianisme_ was then almost as poor as +Berlioz. At last a young friend, De Pons, advanced him twelve hundred +francs. Part of this Berlioz had repaid, but the creditor, put to it +for money, wrote to Berlioz _pere_, demanding a full settlement of the +debt. The father was thus brought again into communication with his +son, whom he found nearly sick unto death with a fever. His heart +relented, and the old allowance was resumed again, enabling the young +musician to give his whole time to his beloved art, instantly he +convalesced from his illness. + +The eccentric ways and heretical notions of Berlioz made him no +favourite with the dons of the Conservatoire, and by the irritable and +autocratic Cherubini he was positively hated. The young man took no +pains to placate this resentment, but on the other hand elaborated +methods of making himself doubly offensive. His power of stinging +repartee stood him in good stead, and he never put a button on his +foil. Had it been in old Cherubini's power to expel this bold pupil +from the Conservatoire, no scruple would have held him back. But the +genius and industry of Berlioz were undeniable, and there was no +excuse for such extreme measures. Prejudiced as were his judges, he +successively took several important prizes. + + +II. + +Berlioz's happiest evenings were at the Grand Opera, for which he +prepared himself by solemn meditation. At the head of a band of +students and amateurs, he took on himself the right of the most +outspoken criticism, and led the enthusiasm or the condemnation of the +audience. At this time Beethoven was barely tolerated in Paris, and +the great symphonist was ruthlessly clipped and shorn to suit the +French taste, which pronounced him "bizarre, incoherent, diffuse, +bustling with rough modulations and wild harmonies, destitute of +melody, forced in expression, noisy, and fearfully difficult," even as +England at the same time frowned down his immortal works as +"obstreperous roarings of modern frenzy." Berlioz's clear, stern +voice would often be heard, when liberties were taken with the score, +loud above the din of the instruments. "What wretch has dared to +tamper with the great Beethoven?" "Who has taken upon him to revise +Gluck?" This self-appointed arbiter became the dread of the operatic +management, for, as a pupil of the Conservatoire, he had some rights +which could not be infringed. + +Berlioz composed some remarkable works while at the Conservatoire, +amongst which were the "Ouverture des Francs Juges," and the +"Symphonie Fantastique," and in many ways indicated that the bent of +his genius had fully declared itself. His decided and indomitable +nature disdained to wear a mask, and he never sugar-coated his +opinion, however unpalatable to others. He was already in a state of +fierce revolt against the conventional forms of the music of his day, +and no trumpet-tones of protest were too loud for him. He had now +begun to write for the journals, though oftentimes his articles were +refused on account of their fierce assaults. "Your hands are too full +of stones, and there are too many glass windows about," was the excuse +of one editor, softening the return of a manuscript. But Berlioz did +not fully know himself or appreciate the tendencies fermenting within +him until in 1830 he became the victim of a grand Shakespearean +passion. The great English dramatist wrought most powerfully on Victor +Hugo and Hector Berlioz, and had much to do with their artistic +development. Berlioz gives a very interesting account of his +Shakespearean enthusiasm, which also involved one of the catastrophes +of his own personal life. "An English company gave some plays of +Shakespeare, at that time wholly unknown to the French public. I went +to the first performance of 'Hamlet' at the Odeon. I saw, in the part +of Ophelia, Harriet Smithson, who became my wife five years +afterwards. The effect of her prodigious talent, or rather of her +dramatic genius, upon my heart and imagination, is only comparable to +the complete overturning which the poet, whose worthy interpreter she +was, caused in me. Shakespeare, thus coming on me suddenly, struck me +as with a thunderbolt. His lightning opened the heaven of art to me +with a sublime crash, and lighted up its farthest depths. I recognised +true dramatic grandeur, beauty, and truth. I measured at the same time +the boundless inanity of the notions of Shakespeare in France, spread +abroad by Voltaire. + + '... ce singe de genie, + Chez l'homme en mission par le diable envoye--' + +('that ape of genius, an emissary from the devil to man'), and the +pitiful poverty of our old poetry of pedagogues and ragged-school +teachers. I saw, I understood, I felt that I was alive and must arise +and walk." Of the influence of "Romeo and Juliet" on him, he says, +"Exposing myself to the burning sun and balmy nights of Italy, seeing +this love as quick and sudden as thought, burning like lava, +imperious, irresistible, boundless, and pure and beautiful as the +smile of angels, those furious scenes of vengeance, those distracted +embraces, those struggles between love and death, was too much. After +the melancholy, the gnawing anguish, the tearful love, the cruel +irony, the sombre meditations, the heart-rackings, the madness, tears, +mourning, the calamities and sharp cleverness of Hamlet; after the +grey clouds and icy winds of Denmark; after the third act, hardly +breathing, in pain as if a hand of iron were squeezing at my heart, I +said to myself with the fullest conviction, 'Ah! I am lost.' I must +add that I did not at that time know a word of English, that I only +caught glimpses of Shakespeare through the fog of Letourneur's +translation, and that I consequently could not perceive the poetic web +that surrounds his marvellous creations like a net of gold. I have the +misfortune to be very nearly in the same sad case to-day. It is much +harder for a Frenchman to sound the depths of Shakespeare than for an +Englishman to feel the delicacy and originality of La Fontaine or +Moliere. Our two poets are rich continents; Shakespeare is a world. +But the play of the actors, above all of the actress, the succession +of the scenes, the pantomime and the accent of the voices, meant more +to me, and filled me a thousand times more with Shakespearean ideas +and passion than the text of my colourless and unfaithful translation. +An English critic said last winter in the _Illustrated London News_, +that, after seeing Miss Smithson in Juliet, I had cried out, 'I will +marry that woman and write my grandest symphony on this play.' I did +both, but never said anything of the sort." + +The beautiful Miss Smithson became the rage, the inspiration of poets +and painters, the idol of the hour, at whose feet knelt all the +_roues_ and rich idlers of the town. Delacroix painted her as the +Ophelia of his celebrated picture, and the English company made nearly +as much sensation in Paris as the Comedie Francaise recently aroused +in London. Berlioz's mind, perturbed and inflamed with the mighty +images of the Shakespearean world, swept with wide, powerful passion +towards Shakespeare's interpreter. He raged and stormed with his +accustomed vehemence, made no secret of his infatuation, and walked +the streets at night, calling aloud the name of the enchantress, and +cooling his heated brows with many a sigh. He, too, would prove that +he was a great artist, and his idol should know that she had no +unworthy lover. He would give a concert, and Miss Smithson should be +present by hook or by crook. He went to Cherubini and asked permission +to use the great hall of the Conservatoire, but was churlishly +refused. Berlioz, however, managed to secure the concession over the +head of Cherubini, and advertised his concert. He went to large +expense in copyists, orchestra, solo-singers, and chorus, and, when +the night came, was almost fevered with expectation. But the concert +was a failure, and the adored one was not there; she had not even +heard of it! The disappointment nearly laid the young composer on a +bed of sickness; but, if he oscillated between deliriums of hope and +despair, his powerful will was also full of elasticity, and not for +long did he even rave in the utter ebb of disappointment. Throughout +the whole of his life, Berlioz displayed this swiftness of recoil; +one moment crazed with grief and depression, the next he would bend to +his labour with a cool, steady fixedness of purpose, which would sweep +all interferences aside like cobwebs. But still, night after night, he +would haunt the Odeon, and drink in the sights and sounds of the magic +world of Shakespeare, getting fresh inspiration nightly for his genius +and love. If he paid dearly for this rich intellectual acquaintance by +his passion for La Belle Smithson, he yet gained impulses and +suggestions for his imagination, ravenous of new impressions, which +wrought deeply and permanently. Had Berlioz known the outcome, he +would not have bartered for immunity by losing the jewels and ingots +of the Shakespeare treasure-house. + +The year 1830 was for Berlioz one of alternate exaltation and misery; +of struggle, privation, disappointment; of all manner of torments +inseparable from such a volcanic temperament and restless brain. But +he had one consolation which gratified his vanity. He gained the Prix +de Rome by his cantata of "Sardanapalus." This honour had a practical +value also. It secured him an annuity of three thousand francs for a +period of five years, and two years' residence in Italy. Berlioz would +never let "well enough" alone, however. He insisted on adding an +orchestral part to the completed score, describing the grand +conflagration of the palace of Sardanapalus. When the work was +produced, it was received with a howl of sarcastic derision, owing to +the latest whim of the composer. So Berlioz started for Italy, +smarting with rage and pain, as if the Furies were lashing him with +their scorpion whips. + + +III. + +The pensioners of the Conservatoire lived at Rome in the Villa Medici, +and the illustrious painter, Horace Vernet, was the director, though +he exercised but little supervision over the studies of the young men +under his nominal charge. Berlioz did very much as he pleased--studied +little or much as the whim seized him, visited the churches, studios, +and picture-galleries, and spent no little of his time by starlight +and sunlight roaming about the country adjacent to the Holy City in +search of adventures. He had soon come to the conclusion that he had +not much to learn of Italian music; that he could teach rather than be +taught. He speaks of Roman art with the bitterest scorn, and Wagner +himself never made a more savage indictment of Italian music than does +Berlioz in his _Memoires_. At the theatres he found the orchestra, +dramatic unity, and common sense all sacrificed to mere vocal display. +At St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel religious earnestness and +dignity were frittered away in pretty part-singing, in mere frivolity +and meretricious show. The word "symphony" was not known except to +indicate an indescribable noise before the rising of the curtain. +Nobody had heard of Weber and Beethoven, and Mozart, dead more than a +score of years, was mentioned by a well-known musical connoisseur as a +young man of great promise! Such surroundings as these were a species +of purgatory to Berlioz, against whose bounds he fretted and raged +without intermission. The director's receptions were signalised by the +performance of insipid cavatinas, and from these, as from his +companions' revels, in which he would sometimes indulge with the +maddest debauchery as if to kill his own thoughts, he would escape to +wander in the majestic ruins of the Coliseum and see the magic Italian +moonlight shimmer through its broken arches, or stroll on the lonely +Campagna till his clothes were drenched with dew. No fear of the +deadly Roman malaria could check his restless excursions, for, like a +fiery horse, he was irritated to madness by the inaction of his life. +To him the _dolce far niente_ was a meaningless phrase. His comrades +scoffed at him and called him "_Pere la Joie_," in derision of the +fierce melancholy which despised them, their pursuits and pleasures. + +At the end of the year he was obliged to present something before the +Institute as a mark of his musical advancement, and he sent on a +fragment of his "Mass" heard years before at St. Roch, in which the +wise judges professed to find the "evidences of material advancement, +and the total abandonment of his former reprehensible tendencies." +One can fancy the scornful laughter of Berlioz at hearing this +verdict. But his Italian life was not altogether purposeless. He +revised his "Symphonie Fantastique," and wrote its sequel, "Lelio," a +lyrical monologue, in which he aimed to express the memories of his +passion for the beautiful Miss Smithson. These two parts comprised +what Berlioz named "An Episode in the Life of an Artist." Our composer +managed to get the last six months of his Italian exile remitted, and +his return to Paris was hastened by one of those furious paroxysms of +rage to which such ill-regulated minds are subject. He had adored Miss +Smithson as a celestial divinity, a lovely ideal of art and beauty, +but this had not prevented him from basking in the rays of the earthly +Venus. Before leaving Paris he had had an intrigue with a certain +Mdlle. M----, a somewhat frivolous and unscrupulous beauty, who had +bled his not overfilled purse with the avidity of a leech. Berlioz +heard just before returning to Paris that the coquette was about to +marry, a conclusion one would fancy which would have rejoiced his +mind. But, no! he was worked to a dreadful rage by what he considered +such perfidy! His one thought was to avenge himself. He provided +himself with three loaded pistols--one for the faithless one, one for +his rival, and one for himself--and was so impatient to start that he +could not wait for passports. He attempted to cross the frontier in +women's clothes, and was arrested. A variety of _contretemps_ occurred +before he got to Paris, and by that time his rage had so cooled, his +sense of the absurdity of the whole thing grown so keen, that he was +rather willing to send Mdlle. M---- his blessing than his curse. + +About the time of Berlioz's arrival, Miss Smithson also returned to +Paris after a long absence, with the intent of undertaking the +management of an English theatre. It was a necessity of our composer's +nature to be in love, and the flames of his ardour, fed with fresh +fuel, blazed up again from their old ashes. Berlioz gave a concert, in +which his "Episode in the Life of an Artist" was interpreted in +connection with the recitations of the text. The explanations of +"Lelio" so unmistakably pointed to the feeling of the composer for +herself, that Miss Smithson, who by chance was present, could not be +deceived, though she never yet had seen Berlioz. A few days afterwards +a benefit concert was arranged, in which Miss Smithson's troupe was to +take part, as well as Berlioz, who was to direct a symphony of his own +composition. At the rehearsal the looks of Berlioz followed Miss +Smithson with such an intent stare, that she said to some one, "Who is +that man whose eyes bode me no good?" This was the first occasion of +their personal meeting, and it may be fancied that Berlioz followed up +the introduction with his accustomed vehemence and pertinacity, though +without immediate effect, for Miss Smithson was more inclined to fear +than to love him. + +The young directress soon found out that the rage for Shakespeare, +which had swept the public mind under the influence of the romanticism +led by Victor Hugo, Dumas, Theophile Gautier, Balzac, and others, was +spurious. The wave had been frothing but shallow, and it ebbed away, +leaving the English actress and her enterprise gasping for life. With +no deeper tap-root than the Gallic love of novelty and the infectious +enthusiasm of a few men of great genius, the Shakespearean mania had a +short life, and Frenchmen shrugged their shoulders over their own +folly, in temporarily preferring the English barbarian to Racine, +Corneille, and Moliere. The letters of Berlioz, in which he scourges +the fickleness of his countrymen in returning again to their "false +gods," are masterpieces of pointed invective. + +Miss Smithson was speedily involved in great pecuniary difficulty, +and, to add to her misfortunes, she fell down stairs and broke her +leg, thus precluding her own appearance on the stage. Affairs were in +this desperate condition, when Berlioz came to the fore with a +delicate and manly chivalry worthy of the highest praise. He offered +to pay Miss Smithson's debts, though a poor man himself, and to marry +her without delay. The ceremony took place immediately, and thus +commenced a connection which hampered and retarded Berlioz's career, +as well as caused him no little personal unhappiness. He speedily +discovered that his wife was a woman of fretful, imperious temper, +jealous of mere shadows (though Berlioz was a man to give her +substantial cause), and totally lacking in sympathy with his high-art +ideals. When Mdme. Berlioz recovered, it was to find herself unable +longer to act, as her leg was stiff and her movements unsuited to the +exigencies of the stage. Poor Berlioz was crushed by the weight of the +obligations he had assumed, and, as the years went on, the peevish +plaints of an invalid wife, who had lost her beauty and power of +charming, withered the affection which had once been so fervid and +passionate. Berlioz finally separated from his once beautiful and +worshipped Harriet Smithson, but to the very last supplied her wants +as fully as he could out of the meagre earnings of his literary work +and of musical compositions, which the Paris public, for the most +part, did not care to listen to. For his son, Louis, the only +offspring of this union, Berlioz felt a devoted affection, and his +loss at sea in after-years was a blow that nearly broke his heart. + + +IV. + +Owing to the unrelenting hostility of Cherubini, Berlioz failed to +secure a professorship at the Conservatoire, a place to which he was +nobly entitled, and was fain to take up with the position of librarian +instead. The paltry wage he eked out by journalistic writing, for the +most part as musical critic of the _Journal des Debats_, by occasional +concerts, revising proofs, in a word anything which a versatile and +desperate Bohemian could turn his hand to. In fact, for many years the +main subsistence of Berlioz was derived from feuilleton-writing and +the labours of a critic. His prose is so witty, brilliant, fresh, and +epigrammatic, that he would have been known to posterity as a clever +_litterateur_, had he not preferred to remain merely a great +musician. Dramatic, picturesque, and subtile, with an admirable sense +of art-form, he could have become a powerful dramatist, perhaps a +great novelist. But his soul, all whose aspirations set towards one +goal, revolted from the labours of literature, still more from the +daily grind of journalistic drudgery. In that remarkable book, +_Memoires de Hector Berlioz_, he has made known his misery, and thus +recounts one of his experiences:--"I stood at the window gazing into +the gardens, at the heights of Montmartre, at the setting sun; reverie +bore me a thousand leagues from my accursed comic opera. And when, on +turning, my eyes fell upon the accursed title at the head of the +accursed sheet, blank still, and obstinately awaiting my word, despair +seized upon me. My guitar rested against the table; with a kick I +crushed its side. Two pistols on the mantel stared at me with great +round eyes. I regarded them for some time, then beat my forehead with +clinched hand. At last I wept furiously, like a school-boy unable to +do his theme. The bitter tears were a relief. I turned the pistols +towards the wall; I pitied my innocent guitar, and sought a few +chords, which were given without resentment. Just then my son of six +years knocked at the door [the little Louis whose death, years after, +was the last bitter drop in the composer's cup of life]; owing to my +ill-humour, I had unjustly scolded him that morning. 'Papa,' he cried, +'wilt thou be friends?' 'I _will_ be friends; come on, my boy;' and I +ran to open the door. I took him on my knee, and, with his blonde head +on my breast, we slept together.... Fifteen years since then, and my +torment still endures. Oh, to be always there!--scores to write, +orchestras to lead, rehearsals to direct. Let me stand all day with +_baton_ in hand, training a chorus, singing their parts myself, and +beating the measure until I spit blood, and cramp seizes my arm; let +me carry desks, double basses, harps, remove platforms, nail planks +like a porter or a carpenter, and then spend the night in rectifying +the errors of engravers or copyists. I have done, do, and will do it. +That belongs to my musical life, and I bear it without thinking of +it, as the hunter bears the thousand fatigues of the chase. But to +scribble eternally for a livelihood----!" + +It may be fancied that such a man as Berlioz did not spare the lash, +once he gripped the whip-handle, and, though no man was more generous +than he in recognising and encouraging genuine merit, there was none +more relentless in scourging incompetency, pretentious commonplace, +and the blind conservatism which rests all its faith in what has been. +Our composer made more than one powerful enemy by this recklessness in +telling the truth, where a more politic man would have gained friends +strong to help in time of need. But Berlioz was too bitter and +reckless, as well as too proud, to debate consequences. + +In 1838 Berlioz completed his "Benvenuto Cellini," his only attempt at +opera since "Les Francs Juges," and, wonderful to say, managed to get +it done at the opera, though the director, Duponchel, laughed at him +as a lunatic, and the whole company already regarded the work as +damned in advance. The result was a most disastrous and _eclatant_ +failure, and it would have crushed any man whose moral backbone was +not forged of thrice-tempered steel. With all these back-sets Hector +Berlioz was not without encouragement. The brilliant Franz Liszt, one +of the musical idols of the age, had bowed before him and called him +master, the great musical protagonist. Spontini, one of the most +successful composers of the time, held him in affectionate admiration, +and always bade him be of good cheer. Paganini, the greatest of +violinists, had hailed him as equal to Beethoven. + +On the night of the failure of "Benvenuto Cellini," a strange-looking +man with dishevelled black hair and eyes of piercing brilliancy had +forced his way around into the green-room, and, seeking out Berlioz, +had fallen on his knees before him and kissed his hand passionately. +Then he threw his arms around him and hailed the astonished composer +as the master-spirit of the age in terms of glowing eulogium. The next +morning, while Berlioz was in bed, there was a tap at the door, and +Paganini's son, Achille, entered with a note, saying his father was +sick, or he would have come to pay his respects in person. On opening +the note Berlioz found a most complimentary letter, and a more +substantial evidence of admiration, a check on Baron Rothschild for +twenty thousand francs! Paganini also gave Berlioz a commission to +write a concerto for his Stradivarius viola, which resulted in a grand +symphony, "Harold en Italie," founded on Byron's "Childe Harold," but +still more an inspiration of his own Italian adventures, which had had +a strong flavour of personal if they lacked artistic interest. + +The generous gift of Paganini raised Berlioz from the slough of +necessity so far that he could give his whole time to music. Instantly +he set about his "Romeo and Juliet" symphony, which will always remain +one of his masterpieces--a beautifully chiselled work, from the hands +of one inspired by gratitude, unfettered imagination, and the sense of +blessed repose. Our composer's first musical journey was an extensive +tour in Germany in 1841, of which he gives charming memorials in his +letters to Liszt, Heine, Ernst, and others. His reception was as +generous and sympathetic as it had been cold and scornful in France. +Everywhere he was honoured and praised as one of the great men of the +age. Mendelssohn exchanged _batons_ with him at Leipsic, +notwithstanding the former only half understood this stalwart +Berserker of music. Spohr called him one of the greatest artists +living, though his own direct antithesis, and Schumann wrote glowingly +in the _Neue Zeitschrift_--"For myself, Berlioz is as clear as the +blue sky above. I really think there is a new time in music coming." +Berlioz wrote joyfully to Heine--"I came to Germany as the men of +ancient Greece went to the oracle at Delphi, and the response has been +in the highest degree encouraging." But his Germanic laurels did him +no good in France. The Parisians would have none of him except as a +writer of _feuilletons_, who pleased them by the vigour with which he +handled the knout, and tickled the levity of the million, who laughed +while they saw the half-dozen or more victims flayed by merciless +satire. Berlioz wept tears of blood because he had to do such +executioner's work, but did it none the less vigorously for all that. + +The composer made another musical journey in Austria and Hungary in +1844-45, where he was again received with the most enthusiastic praise +and pleasure. It was in Hungary, especially, that the warmth of his +audiences overran all bounds. One night, at Pesth, where he played the +"Rackoczy Indule," an orchestral setting of the martial hymn of the +Magyar race, the people were worked into a positive frenzy, and they +would have flung themselves before him that he might walk over their +prostrate bodies. Vienna, Pesth, and Prague led the way, and the other +cities followed in the wake of an enthusiasm which has been accorded +to not many artists. The French heard these stories with amazement, +for they could not understand how this musical demigod could be the +same as he who was little better than a witty buffoon. During this +absence Berlioz wrote the greater portion of his "Damnation de Faust," +and, as he had made some money, he obeyed the strong instinct which +always ruled him, the hope of winning the suffrages of his own +countrymen. + +An eminent French critic claims that this great work, of which we +shall speak further on, contains that which Gounod's "Faust" +lacks--insight into the spiritual significance of Goethe's drama. +Berlioz exhausted all his resources in producing it at the Opera +Comique in 1846, but again he was disappointed by its falling +still-born on the public interest. Berlioz was utterly ruined, and he +fled from France in the dead of winter as from a pestilence. + +The genius of this great man was recognised in Holland, Russia, +Austria, and Germany, but among his own countrymen, for the most part, +his name was a laughing-stock and a bye-word. He offended the pedants +and the formalists by his daring originality, he had secured the hate +of rival musicians by the vigour and keenness of his criticisms. +Berlioz was in the very heat of the artistic controversy between the +classicists and romanticists, and was associated with Victor Hugo, +Alexandre Dumas, Delacroix, Liszt, Chopin, and others, in fighting +that acrimonious art-battle. While he did not stand formally with the +ranks, he yet secured a still more bitter portion of hostility from +their powerful opponents, for, to opposition in principle, Berlioz +united a caustic and vigorous mode of expression. His name was a +target for the wits. "A physician who plays on the guitar and fancies +himself a composer," was the scoff of malignant gossips. The journals +poured on him a flood of abuse without stint. French malignity is the +most venomous and unscrupulous in the world, and Berlioz was selected +as a choice victim for its most vigorous exercise, none the less +willingly that he had shown so much skill and zest in impaling the +victims of his own artistic and personal dislike. + + +V. + +To continue the record of Berlioz's life in consecutive narrative +would be without significance, for it contains but little for many +years except the same indomitable battle against circumstance and +enmity, never yielding an inch, and always keeping his eyes bent on +his own lofty ideal. In all of art history is there no more masterful +heroic struggle than Berlioz waged for thirty-five years, firm in his +belief that some time, if not during his own life, his principles +would be triumphant, and his name ranked among the immortals. But what +of the meanwhile? This problem Berlioz solved, in his later as in +earlier years, by doing the distasteful work of the literary scrub. +But never did he cease composing; though no one would then have his +works, his clear eye perceived the coming time when his genius would +not be denied, when an apotheosis should comfort his spirit wandering +in Hades. + +Among Berlioz's later works was an opera of which he had composed both +words and music, consisting of two parts, "The Taking of Troy," and +"The Trojans at Carthage," the latter of which at last secured a few +representations at a minor theatre in 1863. The plan of this work +required that it should be carried out under the most perfect +conditions. "In order," says Berlioz, "to properly produce such a work +as 'Les Trojans,' I must be absolute master of the theatre, as of the +orchestra in directing a symphony. I must have the good-will of all, +be obeyed by all, from prima-donna to scene-shifter. A lyrical +theatre, as I conceive it, is a great instrument of music, which, if I +am to play, must be placed unreservedly in my hands." Wagner found a +King of Bavaria to help him carry out a similar colossal scheme at +Bayreuth, but ill luck followed a man no less great through life. His +grand "Trojans" was mutilated, tinkered, patched, and belittled, to +suit the Theatre Lyrique. It was a butchery of the work, but still it +yielded the composer enough to justify his retirement from the +_Journal des Debats_, after thirty years of slavery. + +Berlioz was now sixty years old, a lonely man, frail in body, +embittered in soul by the terrible sense of failure. His wife, with +whom he had lived on terms of alienation, was dead; his only son far +away, cruising on a man-of-war. His courage and ambition were gone. To +one who remarked that his music belonged to the future, he replied +that he doubted if it ever belonged to the past. His life seemed to +have been a mistake, so utterly had he failed to impress himself on +the public. Yet there were times when audiences felt themselves moved +by the power of his music out of the ruts of preconceived opinion into +a prophecy of his coming greatness. There is an interesting anecdote +told by a French writer:-- + +"Some years ago M. Pasdeloup gave the _septuor_ from the 'Trojans' at +a benefit concert. The best places were occupied by the people of the +world, but the _elite intelligente_ were ranged upon the highest seats +of the Cirque. The programme was superb, and those who were there +neither for Fashion's nor Charity's sake, but for love of what was +best in art, were enthusiastic in view of all those masterpieces. The +worthless overture of the 'Prophete,' disfiguring this fine +_ensemble_, had been hissed by some students of the Conservatoire, +and, accustomed as I was to the blindness of the general public, +knowing its implacable prejudices, I trembled for the fate of the +magnificent _septuor_ about to follow. My fears were strangely +ill-founded; no sooner had ceased this hymn of infinite love and +peace, than these same students, and the whole assemblage with them, +burst into such a tempest of applause as I never heard before. Berlioz +was hidden in the further ranks, and, the instant he was discovered, +the work was forgotten for the man; his name flew from mouth to mouth, +and four thousand people were standing upright, with their arms +stretched towards him. Chance had placed me near him, and never shall +I forget the scene. That name, apparently ignored by the crowd, it had +learned all at once, and was repeating as that of one of its heroes. +Overcome as by the strongest emotion of his life, his head upon his +breast, he listened to this tumultuous cry of 'Vive Berlioz!' and +when, on looking up, he saw all eyes upon him and all arms extended +towards him, he could not withstand the sight; he trembled, tried to +smile, and broke into sobbing." + +Berlioz's supremacy in the field of orchestral composition, his +knowledge of technique, his novel combination, his insight into the +resources of instruments, his skill in grouping, his rich sense of +colour, are incontestably without a parallel, except by Beethoven and +Wagner. He describes his own method of study as follows:-- + +"I carried with me to the opera the score of whatever work was on the +bill, and read during the performance. In this way I began to +familiarise myself with orchestral methods, and to learn the voice and +quality of the various instruments, if not their range and mechanism. +By this attentive comparison of the effect with the means employed to +produce it, I found the hidden link uniting musical expression to the +special art of instrumentation. The study of Beethoven, Weber, and +Spontini, the impartial examination both of the _customs_ of +orchestration and of _unusual_ forms and combinations, the visits I +made to _virtuosi_, the trials I led them to make upon their +respective instruments, and a little instinct, did for me the rest." + +The principal symphonies of Berlioz are works of colossal character +and richness of treatment, some of them requiring several orchestras. +Contrasting with these are such marvels of delicacy as "Queen Mab," of +which it has been said that the "confessions of roses and the +complaints of violets were noisy in comparison." A man of magnificent +genius and knowledge, he was but little understood during his life, +and it was only when his uneasy spirit was at rest that the world +recognised his greatness. Paris, that stoned him when he was living, +now listens to his grand music with enthusiasm. Hector Berlioz to the +last never lost faith in himself, though this man of genius, in his +much suffering from depression and melancholy, gave good witness to +the truth of Goethe's lines:-- + + "Who never ate with tears his bread, + Nor, weeping through the night's long hours, + Lay restlessly tossing on his bed-- + He knows ye not, ye heavenly Powers." + +A man utterly without reticence, who, Gallic fashion, would shout his +wrongs and sufferings to the uttermost ends of the earth, yet without +a smack of Gallic posing and affectation, Berlioz talks much about +himself, and dares to estimate himself boldly. There was no small +vanity about this colossal spirit. He speaks of himself with outspoken +frankness, as he would discuss another. We cannot do better than to +quote one of these self-measurements:--"My style is in general very +daring, but it has not the slightest tendency to destroy any of the +constructive elements of art. On the contrary, I seek to increase the +number of these elements. I have never dreamed, as has foolishly been +supposed in France, of writing music without melody. That school +exists to-day in Germany, and I have a horror of it. It is easy for +any one to convince himself that, without confining myself to taking a +very short melody for a theme, as the very greatest masters have, I +have always taken care to invest my compositions with a real wealth of +melody. The value of these melodies, their distinction, their novelty, +and charm, can be very well contested; it is not for me to appraise +them. But to deny their existence is either bad faith or stupidity; +only as these melodies are often of very large dimensions, infantile +and short-sighted minds do not clearly distinguish their form; or else +they are wedded to other secondary melodies which veil their outlines +from those same infantile minds; or, upon the whole, these melodies +are so dissimilar to the little waggeries that the musical _plebs_ +call melodies that they cannot make up their minds to give the same +name to both. The dominant qualities of my music are passionate +expression, internal fire, rhythmic animation, and unexpected +changes." + +Heinrich Heine, the German poet, who was Berlioz's friend, called him +a "colossal nightingale, a lark of eagle-size, such as they tell us +existed in the primeval world." The poet goes on to say--"Berlioz's +music, in general, has in it something primeval if not antediluvian to +my mind; it makes me think of gigantic species of extinct animals, of +fabulous empires full of fabulous sins, of heaped-up impossibilities; +his magical accents call to our minds Babylon, the hanging gardens, +the wonders of Nineveh, the daring edifices of Mizraim, as we see them +in the pictures of the Englishman Martin." Shortly after the +publication of "Lutetia," in which this bold characterisation was +expressed, the first performance of Berlioz's "Enfance du Christ" was +given, and the poet, who was on his sick-bed, wrote a penitential +letter to his friend for not having given him justice. "I hear on all +sides," he says, "that you have just plucked a nosegay of the sweetest +melodious flowers, and that your oratorio is throughout a masterpiece +of _naivete_. I shall never forgive myself for having been so unjust +to a friend." + +Berlioz died at the age of sixty-five. His funeral services were held +at the Church of the Trinity, a few days after those of Rossini. The +discourse at the grave was pronounced by Gounod, and many eloquent +things were said of him, among them a quotation of the epitaph of +Marshal Trivulce, "_Hic tandem quiescit qui nunquam quievit_" (Here he +is quiet, at last, who never was quiet before). Soon after his death +appeared his _Memoires_, and his bones had hardly got cold when the +performance of his music at the Conservatoire, the Cirque, and the +Chatelet began to be heard with the most hearty enthusiasm. + + +VI. + +Theophile Gautier says that no one will deny to Berlioz a great +character, though, the world being given to controversies, it may be +argued whether or not he was a great genius. The world of to-day has +but one opinion on both these questions. The force of Berlioz's +character was phenomenal. His vitality was so passionate and active +that brain and nerve quivered with it, and made him reach out towards +experience at every facet of his nature. Quietude was torture, rest a +sin, for this daring temperament. His eager and subtile intelligence +pierced every sham, and his imagination knew no bounds to its sweep, +oftentimes even disdaining the bounds of art in its audacity and +impatience. This big, virile nature, thwarted and embittered by +opposition, became hardened into violent self-assertion; this +naturally resolute will settled back into fierce obstinacy; this fine +nature, sensitive and sincere, got torn and ragged with passion under +the stress of his unfortunate life. But, at one breath of true +sympathy how quickly the nobility of the man asserted itself! All his +cynicism and hatred melted away, and left only sweetness, truth, and +genial kindness. + +When Berlioz entered on his studies, he had reached an age at which +Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and others, had already done +some of the best work of their lives. Yet it took only a few years to +achieve a development that produced such a great work as the +"Symphonie Fantastique," the prototype of modern programme music. + +From first to last it was the ambition of Berlioz to widen the domain +of his art. He strove to attain a more intimate connection between +instrumental music and poetry in the portrayal of intense passions, +and the suggestion of well-defined dramatic situations. In spite of +the fact that he frequently overshot his mark, it does not make his +works one whit less astonishing. An uncompromising champion of what +has been dubbed "programme" music, he thought it legitimate to force +the imagination of the hearer to dwell on exterior scenes during the +progress of the music, and to distress the mind in its attempt to find +an exact relation between the text and the music. The most perfect +specimens of the works of Berlioz, however, are those in which the +music speaks for itself, such as the "Scene aux Champs," and the +"Marche au Supplice," in the "Symphonie Fantastique," the "Marche des +Pelerins," in "Harold;" the overtures to "King Lear," "Benvenuto +Cellini," "Carnaval Romain," "Le Corsaire," "Les Francs Juges," etc. + +As a master of the orchestra, no one has been the equal of Berlioz in +the whole history of music, not even Beethoven or Wagner. He treats +the orchestra with the absolute daring and mastery exercised by +Paganini over the violin, and by Liszt over the piano. No one has +showed so deep an insight into the individuality of each instrument, +its resources, the extent to which its capabilities could be carried. +Between the phrase and the instrument, or group of instruments, the +equality is perfect; and independent of this power, made up equally of +instinct and knowledge, this composer shows a sense of orchestral +colour in combining single instruments so as to form groups, or in the +combination of several separate groups of instruments by which he has +produced the most novel and beautiful effects--effects not found in +other composers. The originality and variety of his rhythms, the +perfection of his instrumentation, have never been disputed even by +his opponents. In many of his works, especially those of a religious +character, there is a Cyclopean bigness of instrumental means used, +entirely beyond parallel in art. Like the Titans of old, he would +scale the very heavens in his daring. In one of his works he does not +hesitate to use three orchestras, three choruses (all of full +dimensions), four organs, and a triple quartet. The conceptions of +Berlioz were so grandiose that he sometimes disdained detail, and the +result was that more than one of his compositions have rugged grandeur +at the expense of symmetry and balance of form. + +Yet, when he chose, Berlioz could write the most exquisite and dainty +lyrics possible. What could be more exquisitely tender than many of +his songs and romances, and various of the airs and choral pieces from +"Beatrice et Benedict," from "Nuits d'Ete," "Irlande," and from +"L'Enfance du Christ?" + +Berlioz in his entirety, as man and composer, was a most extraordinary +being, to whom the ordinary scale of measure can hardly be applied. +Though he founded no new school, he pushed to a fuller development the +possibilities to which Beethoven reached out in the Ninth Symphony. He +was the great _virtuoso_ on the orchestra, and on this Briarean +instrument he played with the most amazing skill. Others have +surpassed him in the richness of the musical substance out of which +their tone-pictures are woven, in symmetry of form, in finish of +detail; but no one has ever equalled him in that absolute mastery over +instruments, by which a hundred become as plastic and flexible as one, +and are made to embody every phase of the composer's thought with that +warmth of colour and precision of form long believed to be necessarily +confined to the sister arts. + +[Decoration] + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. + + 1520-1594 _Palestrina._ + 1633-1687 _Lulli._ + 1658-1695 _Purcell._ + 1659-1725 _A. Scarlatti._ + 1685-1750 _J. S. Bach._ + 1685-1759 _Handel._ + 1710-1736 _Pergolesi._ + 1714-1787 _Gluck._ + 1728-1800 _Piccini._ + 1732-1809 _Haydn._ + 1741-1816 _Paisiello._ + 1741-1813 _Gretry._ + 1749-1801 _Cimarosa._ + 1756-1791 _Mozart._ + 1760-1842 _Cherubini._ + 1763-1817 _Mehul._ + 1770-1827 _Beethoven._ + 1774-1851 _Spontini._ + 1775-1834 _Boieldieu._ + 1782-1871 _Auber._ + 1786-1826 _Weber._ + 1791-1864 _Meyerbeer._ + 1792-1868 _Rossini._ + 1797-1828 _Schubert._ + 1798-1848 _Donizetti._ + 1799-1862 _Halevy._ + 1802-1835 _Bellini._ + 1803-1869 _Berlioz._ + 1809-1847 _Mendelssohn._ + 1809-1849 _Chopin._ + 1810-1856 _Schumann._ + 1813-1883 _Wagner._ + 1813 _Verdi._ + 1818 _Gounod._ + + + PRINTED BY WALTER SCOTT, FELLING, + NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. + + + + +_MONTHLY SHILLING VOLUMES._ + +GREAT WRITERS. + +A New Series of Critical Biographies. + +Edited by Professor ERIC S. ROBERTSON. + + +_ALREADY ISSUED_-- + +LIFE OF LONGFELLOW. By Professor ERIC S. ROBERTSON. + + "The story of the poet's life is well told.... 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Even apart from the fascination of +its subject-matter, the poem is developed with spirit and energy, with +a feeling for homely truth of character and treatment, and with a +generally pervasive sense of beauty."--_Athenaeum._ + +"Miss Blind has chosen for her new poem one of those terrible Highland +clearances which stain the history of Scotch landlordism. Though her +tale is a fiction, it is too well founded on fact.... It may be said +generally of the poem that the most difficult scenes are those in +which Miss Blind succeeds best; and on the whole we are inclined to +think that its greatest and most surprising success is the picture of +the poor old soldier, Rory, driven mad by the burning of his +wife."--_Academy._ + +"A subject which has painfully pre-occupied public opinion is, in the +poem entitled 'The Heather on Fire,' treated with characteristic power +by Miss Blind.... Both as a narrative and descriptive poem, 'The +Heather on Fire' is equally remarkable."--_Morning Post._ + +"A poem remarkable for beauty of expression and pathos of incidents +will be found in 'The Heather on Fire.' Exquisitely delicate are the +touches with which the progress of this tale of true love is +delineated up to its consummation amid the simple rejoicings of the +neighbourhood; and the flight of years of married life and daily toil, +as numerous as those of their courtship, is told in stanzas full of +music and soul.... This tale is one which, unless we are mistaken, may +so affect public feeling as to be an effectual bar to similar human +clearings in future."--_Leeds Mercury._ + +"Literature and poetry are never seen at their best save in contact with +actual life. This little book abounds in vivid delineation of character, +and is redolent with the noblest human sympathy."--_Newcastle Daily +Chronicle._ + +"'The Heather on Fire' is a poem that is rich not only in power and +beauty but in that 'enthusiasm of humanity' which stirs and moves us, +and of which so much contemporary verse is almost painfully +deficient.... Miss Blind is not a mere poetic trifler who considers +that the best poetry is that written by the man who has nothing to say +but can say that nothing gracefully.... We can best describe the kind +of her success by noting the fact that while engaged in the perusal of +her book we do not say, 'What a fine poem!' but 'What a terrible +story!' or more probably still say nothing at all but read on and on +under the spell of a great horror and an overpowering pity. Poetry of +which this can be said needs no other recommendation."--_The +Manchester Examiner and Times._ + +"A poem recently published in London ('The Heather on Fire; a Tale of +the Highland Clearances') is declared, in one of the articles which +have appeared in the German press on the Scottish Land Question, 'to +be based on terrible truth and undoubted real horrors; giving, in +noblest poetical language and thrilling words, a description which +ought to be a spur of action to thinking statesmen.'"--_North British +Daily Mail._ + + +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + +_PRICE SIXPENCE._ + + THE + MONTHLY + CHRONICLE + OF + NORTH-COUNTRY + LORE AND LEGEND. + + +CONTENTS. + +Address to the Reader, by the Editor; Men of Mark 'Twixt Tyne and +Tweed, by Richard Welford--Mark Akenside, Rev. Berkeley Addison, +Thomas Addison ("Addison of Guy's"); Jack Crawford, the Hero of +Camperdown; The Vicar of Lesbury; Centenarians in the Northern +Counties; Joseph Saint, the North Tyne Centenarian; Laplanders at +Ravensworth Castle; Mrs. Jameson in Newcastle; Lambert's Leap; The +Murder of Ferdinando Forster; Over the Churchyard Wall, by James +Clephan; Charles I. in Northumberland; Old Tyne Bridge; Raymond Lully +at Raby Castle; The Hawks Family, by William Brockie; Houghton Feast; +The Betsy Cains; Ralph Lambton and His Hounds; Coal in the North; Old +Newcastle Tradesmen--Alder Dunn, Hadwen Bragg; Hadwen Bragg's Kinsmen +and Descendants; My Lord 'Size--The Author, the Accident, the Song; +Castle Garth Stairs; The Bowes Tragedy; Cock-Fighting in Newcastle; +Rules and Regulations of the Cock-Pit; North-Country Wit and Humour; +North-Country Obituary; Records of Events--North-Country Occurrences, +General Occurrences. + + +_JUST PUBLISHED, Price 1s. 6d._ + + GUIDE TO + EMIGRATION AND COLONISATION. + AN APPEAL TO THE NATION. + + By WALDEMAR BANNOW, + UPWARDS OF EIGHTEEN YEARS A RESIDENT OF VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. + + +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + +The Canterbury Poets. + + +_In Crown Quarto, Printed on Antique Paper, Price 12s. 6d._ + + +EDITION DE LUXE. + +SONNETS OF THIS CENTURY, + +_With an Exhaustive and Critical Essay on the Sonnet_, + +By WILLIAM SHARP. + +This Edition has been thoroughly Revised, and several new Sonnets +added. + + +_THE VOLUME CONTAINS SONNETS BY_ + + Lord Tennyson. + Robert Browning. + A. C. Swinburne. + Matthew Arnold. + Theodore Watts. + Archbishop Trench. + J. Addington Symonds. + W. Bell Scott. + Christina Rossetti. + Edward Dowden. + Edmund Gosse. + Andrew Lang. + George Meredith. + Cardinal Newman. + _By the Late_ + Dante Gabriel Rossetti. + Mrs. Barrett Browning. + C. Tennyson-Turner, etc. + +AND ALL THE BEST WRITERS OF THIS CENTURY. + + +London: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + + Crown 8vo, Illustrated, Cloth, Bevelled + Boards, 2s. 6d; Gilt Edges, 3s. + + OUR QUEEN: + _A Sketch of the Life and Times of + Victoria._ + + _By the Author of "Grace Darling."_ + + + Crown 8vo, Cloth, Bevelled Boards, + Price 3s. 6d. + + Carols from the Coal-Fields: + And other Songs and Ballads. + + By JOSEPH SKIPSEY. + + + _NEW VOL. of the 2s. 6d. SERIES._ + + By the Authors of "Our Queen," + "Grace Darling," etc. + + _Queens of Literature_ + OF THE VICTORIAN ERA. + + + Uniform in size with "The Canterbury + Poets," 305 pages, Cloth Gilt, + price 1s. 4d. + + DAYS OF THE YEAR. + + _A Poetic Calendar of Passages from the + Works of Alfred Austin._ + + With Introduction by William Sharp. + + +THE CANTERBURY POETS. + +Price One Shilling. + +_New Edition, Twentieth Thousand, thoroughly Revised, with several new +Sonnets added._ + +SONNETS OF THIS CENTURY. + +_With an Exhaustive and Critical Essay on the Sonnet._ + +By WILLIAM SHARP. + +_SONNETS BY_ + +Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, A. C. Swinburne, Matthew Arnold, +Theodore Watts, Archbishop Trench, J. Addington Symonds, W. Bell +Scott, Christina Rossetti, Edward Dowden, Edmund Gosse, Andrew Lang, +George Meredith, Cardinal Newman; _By the Late_ Dante Gabriel +Rossetti, Mrs. Barrett Browning, C. Tennyson-Turner, etc.; and all the +Best Writers of the Century. + + + Crown 8vo, Cloth Gilt, Price 2s. 6d. + + Life of General Gordon. + + With Photographic Portrait taken + at Khartoum. + + _By the Authors of "Our Queen," + "Grace Darling," etc._ + + + By the same Authors, Crown 8vo, Cloth + Gilt, Illustrated, Price 2s. 6d. + + NEW WORLD HEROES: + _Lincoln and Garfield_. + + _The Life Story of two self-made Men + whom the People made Presidents._ + + + NEW BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. + + Foolscap 8vo, Cloth Boards, price + One Shilling each. + + VERY SHORT STORIES + AND + VERSES FOR CHILDREN. + + By MRS. W. K. CLIFFORD. + + + _A NEW NATURAL HISTORY_ + OF BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES. + + By JOHN K. LEYS, M.A. + + + Life Stories of Famous Children. + ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH. + + _By the Author of "Spenser for Children."_ + + +LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. + + + + + * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor punctuation errors have been corrected. + +Hyphenation and accent usage have been made consistent. + +Spelling inconsistencies between the introduction and main text have +been preserved as printed, e.g. Jommelli, Jomelli; Metastasia, +Metastasio; Bonacini, Bononcini; etc. + +Typographic errors, including errors in consistency, have been +corrected as follows: + + Page x--parodox amended to paradox--"... what may with + seeming paradox be called statuesque, ..." + + Page xiv--psuedo amended to pseudo--"... when + pseudo-classicism had given all it had to give; ..." + + Page xv--Brahm amended to Brahms--"... Liszt, Franz, Thomas, + Brahms, Rubenstein, ..." + + Page xv--writen amended to written--"... and of his work a + competent judge has written ..." + + Page 30--Scheolcher amended to Schoelcher--"Schoelcher, in + his _Life of Handel_, says ..." + + Page 33--and amended to andt--"Why, by the mercy of Heaven, + andt the waders of Aix-la-Chapelle, ..." + + Page 40--Encyclopedists amended to Encyclopaedists--"The + Encyclopaedists stimulated the ferment ..." + + Page 49--spmphony amended to symphony--"... (alluding to + Haydn's brown complexion and small stature) "composed that + symphony?"" + + Page 49--Hadyn amended to Haydn--"Haydn continued the + intimate friend and associate of Prince Nicholas ..." + + Page 57--Hadyn amended to Haydn--"Haydn was present, but he + was so old and feeble ..." + + Page 61--Mme. amended to Mdme.--"... when Mdme. Pompadour + refused to kiss him, ..." + + Page 73--expected amended to excepted--"The "Sinfonia + Eroica," the "Choral" only excepted, is the longest ..." + + Page 81--Mme. amended to Mdme.--"... the following anecdote + related by Mdme. Moscheles ..." + + Page 83--Paesiello amended to Paisiello--"Paisiello liked + the warm bed in which to jot down his musical notions, ..." + + Page 89--medodies amended to melodies--"The immemorial + melodies to which the popular songs of Germany were set ..." + + Page 96--effertories amended to offertories--"His church + music, consisting of six masses, many offertories, ..." + + Page 100--Musikallische amended to Musikalische--"... in a + critical article published in the _Wiener Musikalische + Zeitung_, ..." + + Page 102--veilleicht amended to vielleicht--"Ein Mann + vielleicht von dreissig Jahr, ..." + + Page 113--noctures amended to nocturnes--"... the preludes, + nocturnes, scherzos, ballads, etc., ..." + + Page 134--harmouy amended to harmony--"... sweetness of + harmony and tune, ..." + + Page 139--Tanhaeuser amended to Tannhaeuser--"... next came + "Tannhaeuser" and "Lohengrin," ..." + + Page 141--Tanhaeuser amended to Tannhaeuser--"In "Tannhaeuser" + and "Lohengrin" they find full sway." + + Page 145--Bueloz amended to Buelow--"... originated chiefly + with the masterly playing of Herr Von Buelow, ..." + + Page 149--Da amended to da, and Michel amended to + Michael--"... Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Titian, + and Michael Angelo." + + Page 149--Perluigui amended to Perluigi--"GIOVANNI PERLUIGI + ALOISIO DA PALESTRINA was born at Palestrina, ..." + + Page 156--musiq amended to music--"... where comedies and + other plays are represented in recitative music ..." + + Page 165--opportuity amended to opportunity--"... as gave + Vestris the opportunity for one of his greatest triumphs." + + Page 168--Petersburgh amended to Petersburg--"... the + invitation of Catherine to become the court composer at St. + Petersburg, ..." + + Page 173--Stendhal amended to Stendhall--"... Stendhall + says, in his _Life of Rossini_, ..." + + Page 178--accomodations amended to accommodations--"... and + those unable to get other accommodations encamp ..." + + Page 181--totaly amended to totally--"Sterbini made the + libretto totally different ..." + + Page 184--Davide amended to David--"Mdme. Colbran, + afterwards Rossini's wife, sang Desdemona, and David, + Otello." + + Page 185--you amended to your--"... they have not left you + a seat in your own house." + + Page 202--Faleiro amended to Faliero--""Marino Faliero" was + composed for Paris in 1835, ..." + + Page 204--Nigida amended to Nisida--"... the story of which + was drawn from "L'Ange de Nisida," ..." + + Page 209--chief amended to chef--"... and M. Habeneck, _chef + d'orchestre_ of the Academie Royale, ..." + + Page 224--Skakespearian amended to Shakespearian--"... that + probably only a Shakespearian subject could induce him ..." + + Page 225--Othello amended to Otello--"There are no symphonic + pieces in "Otello," ..." + + Page 228--maurir amended to mourir--"_... pecheur, il faut + mourir_, ..." + + Page 229--fall amended to full--"... but with a voice so + full of shakes and quavers, ..." + + Page 261--La amended to Le--"In 1797 he produced his "Le + Jeune Henri," ..." + + Page 264--Gaspardo amended to Gasparo--"LUIGI GASPARO + PACIFICO SPONTINI, born of peasant parents ..." + + Page 266--rejoiner amended to rejoinder--""What's the use? I + can't hear a note," was the impatient rejoinder." + + Page 268--Formental amended to Fromental--"FROMENTAL HALEVY, + a scion of the Hebrew race, ..." + + Page 282--Anslem amended to Anselm--"... Clementi, Bernhard + Anselm Weber, and Abbe Vogler." + + Page 284--Veluti amended to Velluti--"In the latter city, + Velluti, the last of the male sopranists, ..." + + Page 292--faancs amended to francs--"... I certainly would + have given two hundred francs for a seat; ..." + + Page 297--avried amended to varied--"... accordingly as the + varied meanings of Goethe's masterpiece demand." + + Page 326--by-word amended to bye-word--"... his name was a + laughing-stock and a bye-word." + + Page 335--S. Bach amended to J. S. Bach--"1685-1750 _J. S. + Bach._" + + Page 335--Cerubini amended to Cherubini--"1760-1842 + _Cherubini._" + + Page 335--1802 amended to 1827--"1770-1827 _Beethoven._" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MUSICAL COMPOSERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 34381.txt or 34381.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/4/3/8/34381 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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