With Great Musicians

FA C E T O FA C E 'W I T H G R E AT M U S I C I A N S

CH ARLES D I SAA C SON

LEOPOLD GODOWSKY

FIRST EKGUP

D A P P L E T O N AN D C O M P A N Y NE W YO R K L O N D O N

D EDI CATEU I F

WH O F IR ST SAW TH E VALU E OF TH E IDE A

PRE FACE

F is there such a place as the Land of the Beyond, the immortals of music doubtless have gathered o o t gether there s me time since, and come to some o about - - conclusi n this, their self appointed latter day os B well . I have seen them if it is possible to see a man in o his o his his w rks, in letters , in his mem irs, in biog ra hies in his or and o n of his p , p traits, in the c mme ts

enemies and friends . Each name in the whole history of music conjures o n I up f r me a livi g personality, with whom may in he c s a t silences of solitude, onver e in no mistak ble - d nn . no n wor ma er It is dead, empty soundi g for me to see the name of a composer on a program ; each number that is to be heard is a key Which un locks for me a stage on Which is reenacted a scene from the ’ drama of a man s life . In these little meetings face to face with great s musicians, I have tried to make it pos ible for the most unlearned novice in music to enter the inner n circle of musical creators and i terpreters . As a matter of fact I have written the articles in such a way that the musical idea may be disre vii Preface

as garded, permitting them to be read just little stories for sheer entertainment . Dr. Humphrey, of s homeopathic fame, used to give sugar tablet that ea people like to t . The tablets, however, had just enough medicine in them to cure many ills . I have never had the fortune to know railroad operators intimately, and I have no particular sym

- pathy for the railroad operating business . If I were to live for some months with a set of men whose en am tire lives were devoted to that subject, I sure that I would emerge with a knowledge and interest r in railroad work, which would car y me through the rest of my days . The reason that so many people are indifferent to music has been simply a matter of circumstance con and environment . In my work of bringing certs to hundreds of thousands of people I have dis covered that the most outspoken skeptic becomes an

— c c ardent music lover, under this pro ess of introdu ing I the human element . t has broken down the im agined barrier between the great public and what “ f ” they erroneously termed high brow stu f. These face to face meetings have been read to some three hundred thousand laymen that they might, in this intimate manner, gain an interest in music through knowing musicians . They have come into the circle ; they have discovered that musicians s r n are not impo sible of unde standi g, but that they are r ve y human creatures , whose lives furnish an Preface l x infinite source of entertainment to keep you laughing an d weeping, to give you thrills and starts . The music that a man writes is only the reflec ” own s tion of his life, ambitions , hope and failures, “ I have said . When you know his life, you have si ni can ce the clue to the g fi of his music . With h c c c t is as a premise, with fa e to fa e arti les as the s c medium, I have a ked audien es to interpret music i a for me n their own w y . Their imaginations are —an d c set at work, what is musi worth if it does not -an d find excite the imagination they the loveliest, z a c most ama ing me nings in the spee h of the piano,

an d c . am violin, cello or hestra Some day I going to write all about these interpretations, but as Kip

it h . ling has , that is anot er story These articles were written for me to read to my audiences ; then it w as asked that they run in my New G o be ﬁnall department in the York l ; and y, hundreds of people asked that the articles be brought c to book publi ation , or I would not have essayed so serious an undertaking. Each article represents research into all the avail c c b able existing data, whi h in most ases is misera ly

c c s ant . I have tried to put no words into a harac ’ c ter s mouth whi h were not taken from some actual ,

- chronicled quotation of his life time utterances , or - c were not j ustiﬁed by co related eviden e . In every instance it has been my desire to write the article in ’ c s s the dominant spirit of the ompo er s music, a I is to conceive it . For instance, Mendelssohn me x Preface

he - o is o t spring time poet, Tschaik wsky m rbid trag

— - edy Rossini is bubbling good humor ; Berlioz is a philosopher ; Chopin is the living expression of re gret ; Gluck represents the revolutionary spirit . I have purposely pressed- down-hard in order to leave the reader with a definite impression of a specific characteristic or set of characteristics to be remem bered evermore when the name is mentioned, or the music of the man is heard . The book is built with Widely varying characters following one another. No academic method of In c has grouping has been attempted . fa t that style been religiously avoided, although the entire series, s weaving all facts together, give a comprehensive knowledge of musical facts and history . I have c Christo fori instru in luded Stradivarius, and other ment makers, that even the instruments may take on a new interest because of those Who are responsi c c ble for their existen e . For the musi student Who has neither the time nor inclination to wade through the voluminous dry-as-dust encyclopedias and biog ra hies ff p , I trust these articles will o er a pleasant s —cut hort to the goal , being vignettes out of the ’ o a comp sers lives , presented without ped ntic or tech fla nical vor. I am grateful to all the sources of information o c c fr m whi h I have gleaned my fa ts . I wish to extend to the publishers and editors of the New York Gl o be my appreciation for the assistance they have given me and to the several hundred important Preface xi artists o f to-day W ho have aided me with their per s onal opinions and experiences . S ACSO N CH ARL E S D . I A

CON TEN TS

PAGE

PR EF ACE,

TRO D U CT IO BY LEO PO LD IN N, Gonowsxy

FACE TO FACE WITH M U S IC FA CE TO FACE wrm BEETHOVEN FACE TO FACE WITH M END ELS SOH N F ' ACE r o FA C}. WITH CH OPIN FACE r' o FACE WITH GRETRY FACE TO FACE WITH BRAHM S FACE TO FACE WITH DE BU SSY FACE TO FACE WITH PAGANINI FACE r' o FACE WITH STRAD IVARIU S FACE TO FACE WITH WO LF FACE TO FACE WITH BACH FACE TO FACE WITH GLU CK FACE TO FACE WITH M Ac W E LL FACE TO FACE WITH LI SZ T FACE TO FACE WITH LU LLY FACE TO FACE WITH PER GO LE S I FACE TO FACE WITH M EYER BEER FACE TO FACE WITH GRANADOS FACE TO FAC E WITH CH ERU BINI FACE TO FACE WITH SU LLIVAN Co nte n ts

FACE TO FACE wi m STRADELLA FACE TO FACE WITH CH AMINAD E FACE TO FACE WITH MASSENET FACE TO FACE WITH MASCAGNI FACE TO FACE WITH HAYDN FACE TO FACE WITH MONTEVERDE FACE TO FACE WITH BELLINI FACE TO FACE WITH NO VE RR E FACE TO FACE WITH VER D I FACE TO FACE WITH HAND EL INTRODUCTION

BY L EO P O LD GO DO W SK Y

H E n America s adore people . If you have done something which gives you a person If c ality, you are popular. you reate an o atm sphere which stimulates the curiosity, excites

admiration, or even arouses scorn, you are sure to ’ be on everybody s lips . Abraham Lincoln will live forever as a dear

i . friend, because he s an idol We know all his

c U . S . foibles and whims . Stonewall Ja kson,

c L . u Grant, Henry Ward Bee her, John S llivan, “ ﬁ ures Matty the pitcher, are national g because the people have a chance to hang their names to a se human t of qualities . Americans want to know what goe s on under s— n neath the skin of folk not the sca dal, but the real

being, irrespective of genius .

D . My good friend, Charles Isaacson, caught this c idea. It might have been an a cident, but I think

it was worked out with malice aforethought . Isaac son knows the American people . To have held to ad gether hundreds of thousands of lay audiences, minister heavy doses of classic music without giving his listeners mental indigestion, is a feat . But the way he did it shows human nature is just the same xv xv i Intro duction

’ c whether it s baseball, politi s or music, under discus sion . These F ace to Face meetings With the famous c musi ians of history, take the musical human beings oﬁ h u the shelf, dust t em, spruce them p, and breathe life into them so that for a brief space of time they o actually reenact their former existence . They g “If through it all over again . I had my chance to ” ff live again, some have said, how di erently I might ” ’ e act, but Isaacson do sn t give them the opportunity to be good . As they were , they are . ’ I ’m it . How my friend did , I don t know sure ’

c c . he s not as old as his most an ient subje t Then, too be , nobody ever wrote anything just like this c fore . Perhaps Isaa son has an intuitive sense of s re what they did, which he adds to the marvelou search he has made . I know that in my own work I have discovered that this sort of treatment adds unusual interest ; in the my teaching young students, I have always tried to make the music appear as a human thing rather n dr c m tha as a y a ademical assort ent of notes . I have always urged the teachers who come to me in — my Master Class to make their lessons with the young people human . The moment a lesson be comes dry it is fatal . “ These Face to Face readings are popular be cause they are very much needed . They are proving the great stepping stone to music for hundreds of w a thousands . The same inspiring y that the genius Intro duction xvii

O f h the the past has been preserved, is possible wit - genius of to day . I commend their publication because at last Amer icans M can think of Beethoven, ozart, Brahms,

Mendelssohn, Chopin, and others as something other

t a a . h n printed names on the printed progr ms Now, M s Johnny Smith and r . Brown can join company

with the gr eat old masters . “ ” Beethoven, reads the man at the concert . I ‘ ” see 3 that a good deal ; what does it mean Now, in “ ” c the Face to Fa e reading, the man himself breaks

through the printed word . Beethoven, at his piano, sad— - eyed, stone deaf, plodding at his task relent

lessly . — — ’ Opera grand opera well that came from W ay “ ” c ace F c ba k, reads the F to ace arti le on Monte

ﬁrst . verde, and tells of the opera house The citi

s c as . zen , all skepti al, are moving about sure life

That violin you see there, with the name ” n Stradivarius . The air is astir and old A tonio Stradivarius has rebuilt his Cremonese shop for you —his daughter is walking about and poor old Strad c is bargaining with his unreasonable ustomers . Mario ! A name which formerly ﬁlled persons an d c ro with awe . Dead gone ex ept that now his

man ces are alive all over.

Those musician s are human indeed . I wish I had ’ C -d ou Z really lived With them, on t y LE O P O LD Go o n w s .

FACE TO FACE W ITH —MUSIC

’ E are to meet so many of music s ambas sadors that it occurred to us that an ex cellent thing would be to meet the mon

arch herself an d be done with it. So forthwith we set out like Jason in search o f

the Golden Fleece . we ou We Will ﬁnd her at once, th ght, and press question after question on her until she tells us she is with her own lips just What , just what are ’ n and f r the true facts co cerning her her li e s histo y . I 2 Face to Face with Great Musicians

Ah t she is we r as f o tre , here , whispe , r m the s et — we hear a melody we will capture her at once . Rushing from the building we are about to turn in is for t u n o f n an back d gust, to the r ing a ha d org o e h grinding out a tawdry tune, s me ragg d c il n is n dre are dancing. Standing nearby a woma , her so e face bearing an empt stare, pretty maybe, and m — y times srniling an empty smile . The woman approaches us and says in hollow ac “ ” am. cents : You wanted me . Here I We look at each other wonderingw the woman is an os o imp t r. “ ” ollo if an n she sa s F w me you w t to k ow me, y , and e in is in vul w shudder, for her voice someth g gar and suggestive . he o f st on But r w rds carry a command, and a e s An In her heels w pursue into the forest depth . th war dian tribe are doing eir dance . “ ” o she o n and Foll w me, says, and thr ugh ju gles ov ns th e r r and o n to the er plai , up to ve y no th d w sunn n she u e us n s o n y Orie t, r ns befor , ever t ppi g o t breathe . But now she darts into a stately castle of old

“ ” ’ o o me she h s rs. If a n F ll w , w i pe we h d t kept n we o o she h our eyes upo her, w uld have th ught ad e r for our she has disapp a ed, to amazement changed n o o s o i to a majestic, gl ri u queen wh m we might wor n us and ship . Te derly she looks toward beckons us o oo to be seated . Fr m out a nearby r m come strains — Face to Face with Music 3

’ of m ’ Chopin s Nocturnes and Schu ann s Carnaval . o us She wo s , and as the passionate gleams in her eye e n the w e b toke full meaning of feminine lure, hear the ’ a motif like singing of Wagner s Isolde . she — Ah, but has only been playing with us a — c e a — or is shrewish oquett Carmen, it seems it the ‘ ﬂatterer G retr Z very nature of that , y A coquette, did we say ? Indeed she laughs mer rily to the gay strains of Sullivan . Aye, indeed, a c and ruel beast, laughing taunting us like a move

- - c . fiend ment from Ts haikowsky Demon like, like, s s she carouses to a lu tful phra e of Puccini, or is it Mas cagni ? — Hark the chimes the church bells, the singing of Handel ! The chanting of D epres ! She is trans formed at the very first note . Her eyes take on a heavenly beauty “ ” o llow F me, she sighs, and out into the meadows s M acD owell of Mozart, pa t the red roses of , close M floats by the rippling rills of endelssohn, she on

e . rm the wings of th spring day Her ga ents, like a eﬂect n s rainbow, r the myriad da cing hue of a De web bussy Arabesque, woven into a spider or a zz Delibes Polka a la pi icato. “ ” ollow she F me, faintly laughs, on an arpeggio s that dies away, even as a phra e of romantic Per golesi ! She is gone ! — —d We are alone in the desert alone eserted . ﬁ ure c us Out of the dim horizon a g omes toward , 4 Face to Face with Great Musicians

a o bent and old, breathing an atmosphere of ages g us like a Brahms study . O—ur eyes have deceived or our ears play us false or we are no longer to de pend on our senses . For the old man croaks : Follow me if you Wish ” k c c to now my story, and s ar ely are the words out of s his mouth when he walks ahead of u like a dandy, fashionably dressed in the clothes of a Beau Brum

s . mel , singing a phrase from an old folk ong Now, — a e son ﬁca ion . a jester . veritable p r i t of Strauss

Now, he stands aloft, and like an old Shakespearean actor plays th e many-parted repertoire of Liszt or

Bach . “ - Follow me, he orders, in solemn, deep throated c o an voi e . Phil sophy is written on his face, deep guish and world-old sorrows are cast in his features

Beethoven resounds . “ am am You wish to know who I and what I , u us says the man as he seats himself h mbly before , k and holds a child upon his nee . The night time has come on apace . It is dark as jet . The man has faded out and we can see nothing . the o Out of vast stillness , a voice b oms , and it seems to have all the beauty of the woman and the character of the man . “ was I am M usic . I born before the universe was conceived . I shall live a million million years after it has passed oh . I am the sister of Time an d the handmaiden of am m Creation . I the mother of the uses . — Face to Face with Music 5

I live in the blade of grass and in the heart of man s an of and and in the tony gr ite buildings, in ﬂeetin c am the g evanescen e of a smile . I in the the o n man am child, w ma , the . I heard in the ’ ’ schoolch ld e mother s lullaby, the i r n s games, the ’ o lover s wo ing, the wedding ceremony, in wars, in peace, in commerce, in rivers , in religion, in lust, in ff I am hate, in a ection, in sorrow . everywhere and anywhere. “ At m A the head of ar ies I sound the alarm . t the rs alta of peace ambassadors I play the docile lamb . “ When the great molten mass of tremendous growth burst into a thousand worlds of which this is but one, I was playing my great symphony . When ﬂocks the prophets led their , I warmed their hearts and san g their inspirational anthems . When Michael

Angelo molded his sculpture, when Shakespeare his wrote his plays, when Raphael painted Madonna, r when Patrick Henry delivered his g eat speech, when his oe was Walt Whitman wrote immortal p try, it I who clas ped them in my arms and gloriﬁed them . “ o am I am I ? is W h , what This my answer, then : “ G o out and live your loveliest ideals and I will — ” be o nly and utterly your slave 1 BEET H OV E N

FACE TO FACE WITH BEETHOVEN

1 770- 1 82 7

MPENETRABLE are the caves of the inﬁnite ! Unsurmountable are the heights of the eternal ! Unapproachable are the distances of the om niscient ! Face to face with Beethoven ! How could you face the thunderbolts or the cavernous depths or the sublime heights ? The rush of centuries and the il limitable outlook o f the future will not stand still

and a ou out . n s g ze at y of two eyes The ragi g torms, o n ﬂ n the r ari g ames, the crashing hurrica e, will not 6

8 Face to Face W ith Great Musicians

’ —he n absolute ca t hear a thing, and his nephew, the ’ I d . rascal, like to choke him, bothers him terribly ” I feel like crying out every time I look at him . She had a great deal to tell about him and she told it . “ ’ Sh s on n t s , there he come . I do hope he w t mi d hi ’ ”

too . liberty . I ve taken much A is a n heavy step heard on the st ir, slowly comi g o fl h s n at up the tw ig t . We can tell whe he pauses first n b wa s the la ding for reath, and by the y he slow u os om . p, that the last steps tire him alm t c pletely H e does not see us as he enters the room but we H e ust fiv e five behold him with awe . is little, j feet r inches in height, with ve y broad shoulders, which e make him look the image of strength , like a littl s n Gibraltar ready to stand almo t anythi g, prepared o f r any shock. H e is s in f h dres ed a light blue rock coat, wit yel low buttons ; underneath is a white waistcoat and unbut sackcloth . But both coat and waistcoat are toned and show the signs of long wear . The whole — appearance is untidy one can tell that the coat — tails are heavily weighted with someth ing probably “ his - s . H e u h book ( keeps ear tr mpet in t ere, the “ ’ it s housekeeper explains, but useless to him o on of his His hat is a gray felt, thr wn the back great forehead . m t n s oo The mo ent Bee hove enter the r m, he puts his hat on the top of a coat-tree it is dripping with his water, and unkempt hair is also wet . H e in stantl to n y goes over the pia o, noticing nothing or Face to Face with Beethoven 9 nobody puts on his double eyeglasses an d sits at n the desk, taking a pen in hand . The ha ds are hairy an d and large, seem scarcely the sort to belong to an esthete . But the face ! What a study ! The forehead is h and m hig com anding. The eyes are large and gray, n a shi ing brilli ntly . The mouth is firm and tightly os the c cl ed, nose long and heavy, the hin square and ! cleft . What a face What tragedy is written there, what pent-up suffering is depicted in that counte c nan e . The housekeeper advances hesitatingly to r his on Beethoven, t ying to catch attenti , which he gives grudgingly. “ ’ ’ ?” ? s . es a What s that What that he asks Y ,

h . mean day . That brot er of mine is after me again ’ I’m I ve just heard bad news of my Carl . afraid of that boy . Such a nephew . Oh, what bad boys I - scofﬁn an d met to day, g leering at me, running in front of me an d laughing in my face and imitating ’ ’ ” ? s ? as me . What s that What that the house s us o m keeper point to , standing in the opp site co er of the room . “ u am . I cann ot talk . Speak lo der ; I deaf I can ” o us . not talk with anyb dy, he says to

We move forward and hand a paper to the Master . H e adjusts his glasses more carefully and reads it with a concentrated expression on his face . “ So ? You come in and you beard the lion in his ” his rn a den, and on ste face a very human smile p “

r . pears, showing two rows of spa kling teeth You 1 0 Face to Face with Great Musicians

? are very brave . Are you sure I will not bite you You will ﬁnd it difficult to understand me and make

sa . me catch what you y Here, come and sit down ” see ann his beside me . You , I c ot hear, and he taps M as us . ear, and hands a pencil and paper to The ter has almost been won over. “ W e want to know your own life and carry a message back to the people which will make them un ” o we derstand your real , y ur good soul , write on the o it ns paper . Beeth ven reads , and a tear gliste in “ e M o ? sa his ey . y go d soul What makes you y n o that, whe everyb dy takes me for a misanthrope, a u an I am hater of h m ity . Oh, my young friend, in 5 o . 0 I love with pe ple But, what can I do, cut , as of an ! am am, by a wall misunderst ding I thinking always of the world ; I am aching for a smile of the people . “ What do you take me for ? What do they think of ? A me weakened invalid, not yet reached the - a of half w y life, racked with pain, driven mad with loneliness, dying in the storms that whistle aroun d n the little house, and thu der and crash, while the lightning sweeps across the window and throws a yellow glare on these hardened features . n of ? What do they thi k me Beethoven, a little man in , a little room, with hairy hands and unkempt ks n loc ; dressed in disheveled way, stormi g at the o and c ok the housemaid, weeping over the lost Ade m laide, drea ing of Leonora, burdened with the petty ’ n s of o son b doi g a spendthrift br ther s , harassed y Face to Face with Beethoven I I

m o s fiddlers pig y credit r , and scribblers, scoffed at ‘ n s s n ’ by leeri g boy , ayi g, What s that ? Speak louder —I’m ’ deaf. “ I sit ne Here alo , endlessly writing down the the notes, music which I never hear, but which never theless resounds in my heart in greater beauty than it any living man might play . Sometimes I sigh that I am so weak and such a worthless instrument to transcribe the magnificen ce which makes joyous my i spiritual ex stence . “ o out in fields To g the all alone, yet real l y ac — companied With the hosts of heaven that is my only T see o freedom . hey me fo lishly waving my hands and like a simpleton gazing hard at the clouds—soli ransfixed tary, lonely and t . Sometimes I think a is tree better than a man . It is so good and demo c i rat c. “ — Can you think of me a volcano whose summit is n n riveted dow , while underneath burni g lava, boil n o s t ing, shovi g, m ved upward by tightened streng h, is fighting its way outward ? Can you feel within of your own breast the agony this volcano, feeling t fi htin on wi hin me the burning lava, g g, rushing ward and striving to flow out With a gush that might lay me dead at a stroke ? “ The first duty of a musician is to hear what is to s not so ? H e rn be heard . I it must be ete ally on the alert to catch the song and laughter of the brooks o n and the flowers and men and w me . The greatest 1 2 Face to Face with Great Musician s tragedy that could befall any musician is to be ren ” dered incapable of hearing . and or s We took the pencil wrote these w d , with the Master looking over our shoulder : But the greatest gift Fate presented to Beethoven was when it locked his soul in a deafness like stone . It thrust him into a cell from which all sunlight was o excluded, it chained him d wn that he might face the bleary dreariness of the colorless floor, it exiled — — him from life And yet and yet it was the great est gift Beethoven might have prayed for . It left him alone with his great soul . It left him to his o converse with c mpanion, the Eternal , and, freed from the whisperings and babblings and confusions of the insects at his feet, he enjoyed his sovereign o p wers . The master looked at us with shining eyes and “ took our hands in his great paws and wept . You

o . have understo d You know what it means to me, has with all this tragedy, what it done for me . I sufi e ed is have r that I might write as I have . This who h fi u e not the Beethoven is the composer, t is g r ou see ou r y here talking to y , and t ying to catch your ideas . “ No ; it is Beethoven in the storm outside in the crashing clouds overhead that reverberate in ominous is accents . It Beethoven in the lightning that zig zags around the world ; in the elements ; in the moun fl tains . It is Beethoven in the surge and ow of the a l a oce n, that rol s and sweeps for thous nds of miles , Face to Face with Beethoven 1 3

s that drag down ships, that beats against trembling reefs . “ un s n c You der ta d , and you on e more make me c ontent . If only others could realize what this mis u fort ne here has done to isolate me from the world, it b not because I wanted , but because it had to e . am c I glad you ame . “ Will you stay With me for a modest bite of ? ” supper Yes, you will !

And Beethoven goes over to his little kitchen, takes ff down his co ee can, and measures out the beans . “ x c Si ty beans for ea h makes just the right ﬂav or.

sit . No, no, no, you right down and let me help you ’ I c There s very little, for do not eat mu h, and guests are a rarity in this house . At s the table, the master talk of many happenings of his career. “ M ? A - a y boyhood picture stolid f ced boy, awak ened from his sleep on a bed as hard as board , dragged downstairs and out to the inn by a drunken , the dissolute father, made to play at piano for tipsy revelers . “ M v on Beethofen y grandfather, Ludwig , was a H e ﬁn e old musician . was disappointed in his son M and laid all his hopes in me . y father not only h s but laid i hopes in me, intended to live forever — on my ability so he tried to exploit me from the c early days . My brother has ever sin e been doing

. the same, living on the poor genius of the family In the early days I studied music With Papa 1 4 Face to Face with Great Musician s

how ? Haydn, but could I study with him One day

I met Schanke after a lesson . I showed him how Haydn had corrected my composition and Schanke became incensed that he should have made such ri dic for ulous changes . I never more had respect H e Haydn, although I like him . says he was Bee ’ ho en ! was t v s teacher . Rot Bach my real teacher, was whom I studied through his writings . I taken inall s . F to play for Mozart, but I grew restle s y I ‘ H e said, Master, may I not improvise for you ‘ h s un H e gave i consent and remarked in an dertone, ’ will make a noise in the world . “ ? A The rest of my life pianist, smiling and bow ing to the noble prince, who gave me a salary, writ ing sonatas to the dedication of that noble benefac e tor, conducting th village orchestra, appearing once ’ beneﬁ o or twice a year at the sick t c ncert . I couldn t i ‘ ’ t . o stand I said, Why can t some one take ver my ‘ ’ life like was done with Goethe and Colta ? Don t

or . permit me to work for a salary, sell my works Give me so much to live and let me work out my ’ music . “ is a ﬁn ll . So That what y happened , ever since, ’ s here I ve been living . Everybody who think he can ‘ ’ ’ do n o an d a ything says,, Let s g down to Beethoven, n while I i terrupt my work, I must listen to every thing. There was once a very good pianist, Him mell , who came to play for me, something of his ‘ ’ ‘ own . H immell But, , I said, where do you begin ‘ It is after he had played for several minutes . not

1 6 Face to Face with Great Musicians

am . how it happened, I mad There was a bad tenor ; he could not act ; I could not make him catch a single ﬂa was . t idea . It impossible I wanted him to fall H e as . on the ground, if he had fainted could not ‘ ’ do it . Here, I will show you, I cried, and rushed

. W n on the stage, falling on the ground as if dead he

u . I got p, I could not hear a thing I had broken the — was o f it drum . That the immediate cause the early beatings by my father, the worries of the later days all contributed . “I never wanted to admit the fact that I was really ruined like this . I can never forget the last rehearsal ‘ ’ was . of Fidelio, which I conducted . It maddening

There I stood, beating time, and faces of the actors was and audience were a study . I not doing it right ’ was I couldn t hear that it like bedlam, and they were too courteous to tell me . Finally a friend , a ‘ r f a o eal riend, called me side and said, C me home at ’ ‘ and once, at home he told me, You had better not ’ conduct any more . Then I knew . I threw my self on the bed here and cried aloud for hours, for nothing could stop me . I wanted to die, but I ’ so couldn t, because I had much to write for the world . “ To ! hear these beauties in my heart Oh, you nn ca ot imagine what I feel inside of me . If only for one moment I could hear an orchestra play the ” music I try to write down . It is terrible . n c The la dlady omes into the room . She is weep n and i g trying hard to be calm . Beethoven is so in Face to Face with Beethoven I 7 tent on what he is saying that even when she taps o him on the shoulder he d es not look up. “ ’ What s that ? What’ s that ? What is it ? “ The landlady formed her lips into Carl . “ ! W ’ ’ ! Carl hat s wrong with him ? He s hurt Oh, ’ son ! ho am my boy, my , my everything It s I w to blame ; I made him unripe for the world ! What is it ? H e ! shot himself Oh, my God, it is I with h the o o im. whom blame sh uld lay. Let me g to am o n o I c mi g, Carl, to you, y ur father is coming to you 3” et o Without hat, his hair dripping w , Beeth ven

and o o . o rushes out, n thing will st p him S ended the interview with the master . o W ho That little man in the little ro m, the man ﬁv e ﬁv e o stood feet inches tall, whose br ad shoul as ders made him the image of strength, he w merely e the mouthpiece of that B ethoven, the master of all s h in its n is the mu ic w ich, tur , the mouthpiece of the universe. O r was it that Beethoven was rather a planet added to the universe ? A little world cut off from th is world ? Made to reproduce within himself all the kaleidoscopic imagery of life itself ? Face to face with Beethoven— imagine ! While you sat beside him and wrote down on a piece o f “ n paper the questio , And what did you think next “ ‘ ’ 2” o r, And how did you happen to write Fidelio “ ‘ s of O r, Which i the true story the origin of The O r Is f Moonlight , it a act that the 1 8 Face to Face with Great Musicians

‘ ’ o is n O r Eroica Symph ny the story of Napoleo ? , “ ‘ ’ What is the tragedy of the Sonata Pathetique 2 where do you suppose Beethoven was ? Do you think that he was really sitting there ?

“ Important works on L udwig v an Beethoven Bri efe ” “ Beethovens b D r . N oh . N otices b F riends a nd , y l y “ Con m o a i s b Se rzed Beethoven his S m te p r r e , y yf ; and y ” “ ' honi es b Sir G. Grave. Beethov s L e en b p , y en b , y

A. T W hayer . ME ND ELSSOH N

FACE TO FACE WITH MENDELSSOHN

1 809-1 847

as ou T was a day in spring, it sh ld have been,

When we went out to meet Felix Mendelssohn . r Buds about to bloom, little g een sprouting grasses taking their ﬁrst modest glimpse of the world — n n youth scamperi g and laughi g, the air fraught with a myriad of throbbing impulses . n And then there was Mendelssoh . If Fragonard had ever lived to paint the portrait I 9 20 Face to Face with Great Musicians

of this man he would have re presented him with dashing fauns and roguish little cupids, all grouped with fastidious arrangement around the oval of the frame . Here was the very personiﬁcation of the season when little pussy willows stick their fuzzy heads out is in on the green stalk . There nothing sad spring v ic time . There can be nothing but laughter and th e tory. In springtime one never thinks about mor row ; one never seeks beneath the countenance of things ; one never philosophizes . Just life and living. A man of am c su small fr e, deli ate as a lily, yet g — gesting the power and endurance of an oak his large, luminous eyes seemed to have the depth and H e liquid softness of a forest lake . moved forward , loosely jointed and lightly, his hand extended in wel

. A c c to us as come deep, ri h voi e spoke in a chant . In the ﬁrst moment we were with him we realized — the whole pas t of his life his utter freedom from worry or woes . In the face of the man who has known an obstacle there is written the struggle on his brow . Who has risen by sheer dint of his own acquired o c p wer trans ribes his biography in his whole future. N being . othing of this sort was to be seen in M en delssohn o —in . In him sp ke Springtime which all is — victory just life and living. Nurtured in the bosom of the wealthiest family in all Hamburg, the grandson of the greatest philos o the pher of time, the son of loving, earnest parents, Face to Face with Mendelsso hn 2 1

o himself handsome, sound, brilliant, amazingly pr m ising, the idol of the idols, the friend, from his boy o Z n five ho d days, of Goethe and elter, a pia ist at , a c fi ure omposer at eight, a world g at seventeen, the c n -fiv e best beloved musi ia in Europe at twenty , what could the world seem to M endelssohn but a place fo r in made him to grow up , peopled with individ n als created to please him, to aid him, to listen to ? him , to praise him, to glorify his name c M The mouthpie e of springtime, endelssohn did infla ed ac t . not grow , however Like his muse, he ce ted p what came, not with a greedy desire, but a glad, modest thankfulness . The budding rosebush c turns its fa e smiling to the sun, and drinks in the ai r ndrops that cool her throat, no more simply than —c Mendelssohn received his never easing gifts, and ’ remained for his people s happiness . Perhaps a little oversensitive in finding fault with ’ a singer s bad taste in having light brown curls in c too stead of bla k, perhaps a little much inclined o c toward the sentimental, perhaps too verly pre ise, yet What freedom, what youthfulness, what inspira tion ! “ I cannot describe how my music came, the com “ It b poser said, in answer to our query . has een utterly a part of myself. Did I but meet the poet Goethe there came gurgling to my lips a series of melodies that expressed my complete joy . “ o countr land Did I but g out into the y , the mere fo sight of a peony gave me a theme r a song. The 22 Face to Face with Great Musicians

’ smile of my friends, the falling of the sun s rays on ’ o my writing table, the rise and fall of the cean s the waves, the mystical silence of midnight, thought n of my sister Fa ny, the sweet fragrance of the gar a den, the distant coming of a coach in the roadw y these have been the cause and call of my singing. “ See how my travels aided my inspiration . My ‘Hebrides Overture’ was my impression of the ocean o in all its majesty, in all its mo diness, rising and and falling, crashing and plashing, playing treacher Fin ous as a woman . When I was twenty I visited ’ gal s Cave in the Hebrides Island and then and there I wrote down the motive for the overture in a letter M to home . y impressions of Italy were done in my ‘ ’ Italian Symphony . The shining sun and the march i ing pilgrims were before me as I wrote t . How else might I have written it ? ’ When I write music, it isn t because I want to particularly, but because life is surging through me and singing and singing in my ear and begging to be c released to ome to you . “ ’ o and ou When you g out of a summer s day, y sun see the red berries in the , and the birds are sing an d ing their lifetime themes, and the grass bushes — o and leaves are swayed in the breeze tell me , do y u try to think of the laws of Newton and of Pascal ? Is that a time for a lesson in geometry and chemis try ? O r do you just want to throw yourself down r o on the ground, bu y your face in the s ft foliage, throw out your arms and forget everything?

24 Face to Face with Great Musicians

es icall o marched maj t y past me, Oberon b wed to me, the fairies went pirouetting before me . The whole thing spun itself out like gossamer or silvery cobwebs — before my eyes and looking at the promenade of can my brain I wrote down what I heard . I remem ber the early days , when I was privileged to call on w as my beloved old friend, Goethe . There I at the he Ju iter m sat piano, and , like a p To ans, in the shade, e with his old eyes flashing fir . “ Play my music for what it brings you that mo ment in which you hear it . Let it give you ever so ” c tiny a spell of beauty and I am re ompensed . 0 sun flowers Shine out, springtime ; bud, little , — i and sprout, green grasses earth is awaken ng, ’ c o youth s season is be k ning ; leave out all sorrows, s and listen to the joyous, miling optimism of Men delssohn .

The principa l works of M endelss ohn are : Stri ng Q uar tettes Ca ri ccio Bri iante Son s without W ords Con , p ll , g , “ ’ M ds um e ce tos s . I 2 O er tu The r No and , v re i m r Night s ” ” ream O ver ture i n C O ver ture The H ebri des O ver D , , , “ “ ture Ca m Sea a nd Pros er ous Vo a e O v er ture R a l p y g , y “ ” “ ” Blas O v ertur e M eluszna M usic to Atha ia M mic , , l , “ ” to Anti one M usic to I ta ian S m hon g , l y p y, Sco ch S m hon Re ormati on S m ho E i h t n a St. y p y, f y p y, l j , Pau H mn o Praise L auda Sion F art -s econd Ps a m l, y f , , y l , ’ Ni net - th Ps a m W a ur is Ni ht An D ie K zi ns tler y ﬁf l , lp g g , , “ ” Concert Ari a I n e ice L ore e . f l , l y

Important books a bout M endelss ohn : Biographies by Lam

adins Benedict D evrient H i er a nd H ens e . I nteres t p , , , ll l i n re er ences i n works o H orse W o Sh t o g f f ly, lf , a t n and o D aniel Gregory M ax n. ' F a nov a'h U C H O PI N

FACE TO FACE WITH CH OPIN

1 808-1 849

H E other night the Dr . Thompsons were at u home . Gro ped about the sitting room were m Pot es a few friends, while in a co er j , the

Belgian pianist, sat apart . As the evening wore on — Potj es was as ked to play the instrument stood awaiting him —but for a considerable time he hesi

ated as . t , if abashed I was reminded of other scenes and gatherings like — that in lands far removed where the subject o f the 26 Face to Face with Great Musicians

urgings was the greatest personage in th e history of its — the pianoforte, its poet, very soul Frederick

Chopin .

See that gentleman sitting back there, in the inner — ? sad room there, right past the alcoves That pale, u - n faced esthete, that sickly, bea tiful faced k ight of s melancholy ! That i Chopin . conﬂict t Oh, what a rages beneath that quie ex r— o terio what passions, what loves, what sorr ws , and yet what fairy-like joys ! What poems of exquisite ﬁnery and delicate melody have been written by

a . a those artistic h nds What bitter, d mning, roar ing pa ans of hate have issued underneath the ﬂash ing of those pitying eyes . S s t . The phinx is beautiful, fragile, almo t unear hly See with what a languor he Opens and closes his eyes ; with what oriental and feminine grace he strokes his

chin . “ now You will play , the hostess is whispering to

him . “ — A little wait, please, he pleads for to him the Ou sight of an audience is painful . but few occa sions has he been able to arouse his courage to give c public re itals . Only in homes like this, with a few c - in hosen intimates a quiet, restful , darkened roo m

will he permit others to hear him at the keyboard . n Oh, to have bee the little statuette which stood in his ~ studio - and was overheard, when he all alone, the truly personal manner in which he caressed the

notes . Face to Face with Chopin 27

now we But, nevertheless, see him rise . Note the — frightened look in his eye s ee with what shrinking e he go s to the piano, as if trying to draw away from the sight of the others . A nocturne ! Are those rippling melodies brought ﬁn ers forth by g , or is the breeze rustling across some ? Now the ancient instrument disappears room, fall ing petals o f sweet perfumed ﬂowers drop on our eye — lids . We no longer see the man great colored lights dazzle our vision . A rainbow of melody c stret hes across the clouds of memory .

When it is completed Chopin does not bow . It is S rather a pleading glance to the audience to pare him .

This is not the proud, smiling, perhaps thankful , bow of the concert performer ; it is rather the frightened bewildered look of the trapped doe . H e - and is racked with a deep seated cough, he is s c led back to his eat in the orner . A ﬁ u e o w e sad g r is Ch pin . Here behold him at t — a h his thirtie h year man wit his foot in the grave, t wi h his heart in the power of an amorous woman, his with his hands on the keyboard he loved, with c the ear placed lose to mouth of nature, with his soul striving hard to reach that impossible goal of para dise . n o If Hamlet was the melancholy Da e, then Ch pin was the melancholy Pole . Never, never, never c merry always saddened by some hidden woe, whi h he never himself could explain . ’ Perhaps that is why Chopin s music brings a tear 28 Face to Face with Great Musicians to the eye of the sensitive and explains the somber aspect of th e merriest mazurkas . The story is told of a certain famous comedian that once as he was about to go upon the stage to act buﬁ oon d the fool and , word was receive that his c dearly beloved hild had died . Thus the actor The stepped to the footlights and played his part . people laughed . But those behind the scenes under stood and wept . can be So with Chopin . I always imagine I see hind that veil o f notes and read the anguish of the

ff c . man, his su erings, his melancholy, his deje tion tr But put him among his friends, he would y to c — be good company . The short, deli ate, curly haired, c prin ely gentleman talked in a low voice, sometimes

s iﬂed . t With eloquent, graceful gesture, he assumed c something like the so iety manner . Sometimes he would become quite droll . “ This is how my music might be played by the ” - o c dance hall musician, he w uld declare, and mimi the style o f the cheap player to perfection . This is how the old man of th e theater would look trying to ” m read my music, and i mediately the beautiful fea and tures would grow grotesque ugly . Once in a great while, the pale waxiness of his complexion would suﬁuse with a hectic glow . But most gen erally the blue eyes were glancing out as if in readi o ness f r tears .

We saw the pianist in his home one evening, when s was tw o he did not expect u . The room darkened , F ace to Face with Chopin 29 w axen candles standing on the piano gave the only

the c a c light in h mber, whi h in the indistinct shadows l of ghostly chairs and tables, seemed fi led with a . r fire l ace str nge fanciful spirits In the g anite p , flames o the c rosy r se towards chimney, asting their was light on the ceiling and walls opposite . All o f quiet and , to add to the s lemnity o the place, a faint glimmer of pale moonlight was peeping through the skylight .

Chopin himself was at the piano, improvising

M me . G lightly as a whisper . eorge Sand was on the ﬂoor ﬁ re lace - by the p , listening, half dozing, with c loving look upon her heek . The pianist was gracious and made himself ami — o able reticent to silence n everything but his music . “ ’ c I didn t study to be a musi ian of Poland . No truly inspired musician could intentionally set out to speak for a nation . I have sung spontaneously

c c of my beloved ountry . I hear oming back to me o all the memories of my childho d, of my boyhood the o at Warsaw, of great Polish f lk who were my friends . I hear the mazurkas and the polonaises . w I hear martyred Poland singing at my elbo . “ W hen you hear my music your heart does not deceive you if in the gloaming you feel stealing upon of— re you the feeling I have never been free regret, gret, always regret . “ am You mus t not ask me to play for you . I not

c suited for concert giving . The publi intimidate 3 0 Face to Face with Great Musicians

e me, their looks , stimulated by curiosity, paralyz me ; h o their strange faces oppress me . Then t eir eul gies

— - ill chosen phrases, poor applause for a spiritual

abasement . It is not enough that I should please people externally . I want to deeply move them,

and strike a real responsive chord . Then I feel it is worth while . Sometimes, I have spent months, years, without giving a concert . That musicale you ” attended the other night was my ﬁrst in ten years 3 “You will write something about your life we s a ked him . “ Oh, no ; that is one thing I never do . I would walk miles to deliver a message rather than write it . saw We left him, and when I him again, the dear e man had become dreadfully ill . H knew he was dying. “ “ Who is near me he whispered . Ah, come and

t . hold me close . Play hat canticle of the Virgin It once saved the life of Stradella—perhaps it might H ow save mine ! How beautiful it is . very beau tiful . Again, again . “ am When I gone, play more music for me . Have ‘ ’ a the Mozart Requiem played at my gr ve . It Will speed me graciously on my way . Send me many ﬂowers who , all love me . Bury me in the cemetery in n a between Bellini and Cherub i, the se timent l genius and the classicist . “ Give me my Louise, sweet sister, faithful com n o panio . Come, my love, h me to my dear family.

GR ETRY

FACE TO FACE WITH GRETRY

1 74 1 - 1 8 1 3

ITIZ EN an GRETRY, by your leave, musici — of the French Revolution salute to Frater

nity and Equality . sir Chevalier Gretry, , of the Legion of Honor,

named by the Emperor Napoleon, Superintendent n o r e c Gretry, of the Co servat i e Musiqu , ivic musi '

cian n . , frie d of the people “ and I am a man, my friend, he said, after that 3 2 Face to Face with Gretry 33

m ‘ a n . o I a musicia V ltaire once sneered at me, You — ! have humor you are no musician Perhaps he ” was right . ou old a ou If y are a woman, young or , inst ntly y

. O r adored him if a man, you put him down for ’ c c friend , and didn t miss in your al ulation . “ b the Oh, I should so like to please every ody, even ” b co fashiona le people, he ntinually reiterated in his — speech and those who know will tell you that he cam c e near to that state of perfe t amenity, and so doing, lost his immortal opportunity to please only ew a f , and write himself alongside the masters .

But see the man, sprightly, fastidious , serenely su ersti complacent, deeply religious, amazingly p o — hu ti us, whimsical , sentimental, vain surely but man u , all too h man, and always sincere . Somebody once said that the Diary of Pepys di5played the man his in all attributes, a small man, but the best known No w man in history. , Andre Ernest Modest Gretry M c c wrote a set of emoirs, whi h pi tured him as he “ ” w as an d J , Rolland, author of ean Christophe, says is o of Gretry, that he the most thor ughly known musician in all history . — H e w as living in his place in M ontmorencyﬂ the home formerly occupied by the great Jean Jacques v Rousseau, Whom he lo ed and admired . o n we In the ro m wherei he worked, found a num ber of odd contrivances , devices developed in his — spare moments how queerly his mind did squirm !

There was a musical barometer, which operated by 3 4 Face to Face with Great Musicians

i a fine n single piece of catgut . In weather the stri g expanded an d set free a pipe which played a lively a air ; in stormy days, the string contracted and mournful dirge in a minor key added to the dismal s atmo phere. First he told us some of his musical theories Different scales have different psychological efiects C fine the scale of major is and outspoken, that of r C mino r is pathetic . The various inst uments have c c their psychologi al effects, too ; the larinet is suited to sorrow if I were to dance in prison, I should wish so to do to the music of a clarinet the flute is tender, s the bassoon i lugubrious . Then there are colors in o s unds, ! the solemn notes are black and gray, the sharp keys are bright and glaring ; purple red depicts ” c G — so he anger, and so does the s ale of and on for fid et goes, a long, long hour, until one grows g y c be and nervous, and wonders where the distin tion tween sane reasoning and insanity is to be found . Politely w e attempt at various pauses to change ’ c h the subject of onversation . But he doesn t catc g his e the cue, so to speak . We don t want to hear th o ries imsel At s , but something about h f. la t he ex hausts se sa what he t out to y, and is ready for the next chapter. “ I have had a very eventful life, my friends s o s there could be book and bo k written about me . From the day when my fath er took his first peep at wa c my face, y back in Liege, and glan ed over toward m ‘ ’— I y mother, saying, A great man have never for Face to Face with Gretry 35

- one moment been still . To day I rest my weary old body in th e home of the greatest man of the Revo luti on ! “ — ’ You see my eyes how weak they are ! That s ! e — as from music Sur When I w six years old ; no, ’ — It I wasn t above ﬁv e I heard a kettle boiling. was h w . playing pretty notes , and I wanted to see y I —o investigated ver went the pot, and hot water splashed into my eyes ! “ ’ You see how thin I am? That s from music ! — Sure when I was eighteen, I wanted to compose . Piccinni I went to Italy . The big name in music was — A eu I would see him ! friend joined me . We e o tered the home of the great man . H never lo ked ’ u — as p went right on writing austerely, if we weren t F nall there . i y I gathered up courage to ask what ‘ ’

as . An . So he w writing oratorio, he said I went — home, determined to do likewise write an oratorio . u Piccinni I r led my paper, seated myself exactly as — ’ So u . had done but the notes didn t come . I gave p — ’ But that isn t what I started to tell you . It — was about my chest see how hollow it is . When I was in Italy, my ideal composer was Pergolesi . Friends told me how much I resembled him in ap ‘ ’ w as ! ea ance . O f p r course I proud You know, they ‘ ff o n said, how he su ered from bl od vomiting whe ’ composing? Now, it s remarkable, how ever since ’ ’ ” ff Per olesi s when I compose, I ve su ered g complaint . M m — y, y, what a man , talking like sixty like a n triﬂer child, like a woma , like a cyclopedia, like a 3 6 Face to Face with Great Musicians

like everything rolled into one . Incessantly moving us c - a- com about, showing little pie es of bric brac, men n H e ti g on them as he goes . picked up a pic ture “ — The statue in Paris they erected to me and he — eyed it admiringly then burst into laughter. “ am Sometimes I imagine I famous . Then I think H e — m of Rousseau . sent for me y opera had just — as been produced and Rousseau liked it . I w in the seventh heaven . We went out walking. We grew bosom friends . I said something. It angered Jac es H e off ! H e Jean qu . strode and left me never S ” poke to me again . ’ H e c ﬁt o f as con ouldn t stop his laughing, he n ed ti u sorting through the old papers . But some

n . thing struck his eye, and he grew instantly solem “ ’ M was y daughter s opera, composed when she — thirteen she died when she was twenty . Three — u c c c girls bea tiful roses, whi h faded s ar ely before J c n n — they bloomed . enni, Lu ille and A toi ette they dressed themselves for the dance , but the carriage brought them out to the cemetery . “ ’ An artist s hardships are the death of his chil o dren . As a father he vi lates nature to attain per — fection in his work and saps his life d eath claims his children before they are born . — But that is life and music—everything that a happens is for music . Even many themes h ve come to me as I watched the sad events of the French Rev

olution . I was one evening returning from the Face to Face with Gretry 3 7

C m a ha ps Elysees. Ou my w y I passed a lilac tree l in b oom . Suddenly I heard voices and music . — Flutes; comets and then some one pointed out to me the guillotine . The kn ife raised and lowered a Ou one w as f dozen times . side the so t air of spring and the last rays of the setting sun -on the other the n u happy victims . I turned away , but a cart with ‘ ’ th e u c and dead caught p . Pea e silence, said the ‘ ’ driver, they sleep, citizens . “ Let us ever seek delightful sensations, but let o them be seemly and pure . Those are the nly kind ! that make us happy. Love and woman Oh, lov se So ! in able x ! Oh, urce of all blessings I fell love s ndeﬁn ite n to n ﬁr t at six. It was i and exte ded ma y

o wa so not h . pe ple, but I s shy I dared tell t em “ n I have lived o impressions . I can still hear the ’ i o l mpid spring by the side of my grandm ther s house . I can still remember my singing experiences with the compan y of Italian opera people an d how there I developed a love of music . “ Now I tell you that if you watch over a man ’ s can t diet, you make him any hing you like, according ’ to the way you feed him . But you re not interested in that . “ I Will tell you something about music you never ah knew . Music will make a criminal confess, will solutel . Be it y betray the lovesick girl careful of , ou for it is a sure sign to everything. Y know it made

n . me sick. It gave me those vomiti g spells My brain at times is like a pivot on which a piece of music 3 8 Face to Face with Great Musicians

it i eternally turns, and I cannot stop Momentum ’ i - un gets into t, and good bye to me, I can t stop it so d ing in my ears . But do you know that when you go to bed at o night, your brain sets y ur thoughts in order, and in the morning everything is neatly arranged for c working ni ely. “ am — Ah, but I happy is not my name on the list of citizens who have a right to national safety on account of the service they have rendered to the useful arts of society ! “ ! am . I Citizen Gretry Salute, sirs Do you not like my new cravat and my new stick ? I bought this stick in the shop on the corn er . It is a very beauti c ful sti k. It is made of sad Oh, yes , my friends, I have seen my days ’ I ve s u but all my life never lo t that sense of h mor, which has been my saving grace . Think of me as who o a man of the world, enj yed the pageantry of life . Play my operas comique and laugh and laugh and laugh

Gretr com osed t o eras ull o me od and ch rmi y p ﬁf y p , f f l y a ng dr ama tic e ec Com a s o si i o ts . os ed x an sonatas s ix ﬁ p l p , s i rm uartett y q es a nd church music.

M emoirs b An r r e o y d e E n st M des t Gretry . An i n teres t “ mg ar ticle in M usici ans of Former D ays by R omai n o a R ll nd.

40 Face to Face with Great Musicians

the Little Corporal of Corsica . Despite the warmth c of the day the man was lothed in a long coat, most too big for him about the arms and the neck . As we came nearer the little bulk became more distinguishable in the details . A splendid head on — the broad shoulders came out of a short neck a head that instantly arrested attention . Despite a wealth of beard and mustache it was a forehead that — intellectu was most amazing broad, massive, and r ally dominant . In the eyes spoke maste y and . - strength ; the whole face seemed heroic, Jove like . ufﬁn H e was smoking a cigarette, p g away like a

- steam engine . a It was Joh nnes Brahms . We would attempt to make his acquaintance here, without our formal So w e o an d introductions . sto d stock still waited H e for him . noted the action, and for a moment it seemed as if he were about to turn about face and

us . on give a glimpse of his back But he went , and “ us o as he was about to pass he snorted, Go d ” morning. “ ” “

is M ? we . n This r. Brahms asked Joha nes o ? Brahms , the fam us composer H e looked us up an d down sharply : You mean — — my brother he is over the hill but he is the most ” unamiable musician in the country . And he went on us - mo rtiﬁca ion , leaving non plussed with t . a Str nge, we thought, I never knew he had a brother ! But doesn ’ t this one look like the pictures ’ of the composer ? They re as like as two peas ! Face to Face with B rahms 4 1

H we h his owever, will seek im out in residence . wa That is the only y to hnd a gentleman . u i When we fo nd t, our letters were sent in to m M r. Brah s and word was sent out that he would us be with immediately . man Soon a little , with a great beard, a broad s uod c forehead, q gy legs, and long coat ame to greet ! us . Tableau M You r. h are very like your brother, Bra ms,

I said laughingly . “ ” “ Very , laughed the host, you will forgive me . ’ — I didn t know it w as you I am eternally bothered d by a mirers, Who seek to reward my work with praise c an d ompliments . That is my only way of warding off M them . y brother is a valuable aid to me, in that respect. My brother, if they have ever found him, n c has been kept busy sig ing pi tures , answering ques ’ an d n ﬂatteries . It s tions, listeni g to pretty a pretty ’

ﬁc ion a . t , you ll dmit It enables me to get rid of all sorts of nuisances . “ Why should they praise me he asked, now making an extraordinary eﬁ ort to appear hospitable

s ff c . with u , and o ering igarettes of various qualities “ c It is not of my creation . That whi h you would call invention is simply an inspiration from above o c for Which I am not resp nsible, whi h is no merit of A mine . present, a gift, which I ought even to de

e o . spise, un til I have made it min by hard w rk “ A composer has no time to listen to such truck . — . the It is work, hard work, all the time The gift 42 Face to Face with Great Musicians inspiration from above is merely the seed which must is be sown . Whether music is beautiful one thing A — I it must be perfect . phrase comes to me might — close the book and not think of it for months it As will return, nothing is lost . a matter of fact, I prefer to let the idea germinate— all by itself in my inner consciousness— suddenly at the appropriate has time it comes back to me in perfect form . It been idealized and crystallized . “ My mission for music was made clear to me early in my boyhood—I saw that I must only create that —s s which is the elect omething grand, something cla

l . sic, something intellectua and philosophic Opera I would not do—I know nothing of the theater—I have tried to walk in the footsteps of Beethoven in producing orchestral music for orchestra and in strumental solos in the footsteps of Schumann with

oo c my songs, in the f tsteps of the grand old Ba h in — the pianoforte and organ compositions and yet d an f . yet be mysel always, always These last few ’ — years I ve been writing songs of death some day ‘ ’ hear my Blessed are they that Moum. “The worst thing in the world would be if I ’ a is — couldn t work. Th t real death not to be able ” to work . n Brahms gla ced at the clock . “ ” m fo h Dear me, he exclai ed, reaching r is hat and “I his cigarette case . t is time for my walk. I never ou o — miss it . Y have the idea where I you already — g know my roads would you come along? Walking Face to Face with B rahms 43

ﬁnest A om is the exercise for everything . young w an ‘ asked me : What s hall I do to improve quickly in ‘ a my music to which I answered, Walk const ntly ’ n in the forest and censure yourself always . You ca t do it cnong As we went along the street we were surprised at the genial manner he displayed to all the villagers, w e and gave voice to our idea . “ Ah, you are amazed to see the most unamiable musician in the world like this ? These people I — love they do not care for me because of my music c or my fame ; or my music be ause they know me .

é . Oh, hello, Rentner, you played well at your d but ” - ﬁne . Here, take this gold tipped cigarette “ Thank you, said the novice, putting the cigar ette in his pocket . “ it it h . Smoke , smoke , Bra ms urged ” “ I do not smoke, was the response, but one is not able to receive an offering from Brahms every ”

it . day. I will keep “

u us . Well, if you m st, let change Take this — ” poor one, it is just as good for a memento, said “

on . Brahms, as he went Ah, good day to you, “ as he bowed to a lady at the little shop . She stands there every day to wait for me to say that ” “ to her, he explained . A nice girl , very kind the sort to make a man happy at home . What a ” misfortune that I never married, thank heaven, and r at the startling tu n his remark took, he laughed

heartily . No marriage and no opera for me ‘quite 44 Face to Face with Great Musicians

’ o when I was younger I couldn t supp rt a wife, and

' a h when I could I w s too busy to ﬁnd er. “ Ah fe— was k , a wi no woman ever a nobler, inder,

more generous wife than my friend Clara Schumann . I ﬁrst met Clara an d Robert Schumann when I was — — very young they received me at their home they ’ m — didn t know my na e they listened to me play, and

you know What they did . You remember what Rob c o ert S humann wr te about me . It almost harmed — ‘ me more than it did me good a true successor to ’ — Beethoven and half the world grinned at me, and

. is c the other half sneered That , until my musi ex plained a bit of why Schumann felt that way toward

me . It made Richard Wagner hate me . It started a war around me—and made me a question of dis ’ . c sension And yet, I know that with S humann s c help, I started on my real career . Re ognition is

absolutely necessary . Indeed , I have felt that if the ’ to world didn t want my music live, I need make ff . am no e ort I not like my father, who said to the was ‘ conductor when told he playing too loud, This

is my contrabass, and I shall play it as loud as I ’ like - I must ﬁt into the orchestra of life and play o softly, as is the decree of the great Conduct r of all . H e My father, good, kind fellow . thought to so make of me a prodigy, and make life easier for

the family. We lived in a cheap little hole on Speck a o street in H mburg, a m st unpicturesque place . As was soon as I could learn, I playing a piano . There c — ame a hard life little pay, and hard work . While Face to Face with B rahms 45

on my mind was great symphonies , I had to live by c arranging dan es for the mob . But I do not regret e one sorrow or pain, one whit of th austere and

o It . rough boyho d . helped me and shaped me I never feel dull ; pain and rain are another kind of c beauty, that is all . The prettiest songs ame to me c o as I bla ked my bo ts before daybreak. It is curious that with my viewpoint on music I should nevertheless have first been heard as a young man R emen l v olins i . i t with y A lovab e boy , a of r M m extraordina y ability . y, oh , y, but what a brag an gart, What a player to the galleries , and what — eccentric egotist ! We struck up a friendship per haps I was glad to travel with him and earn some I b of the fruits of his fame . nnumera le times, we — came near parting he would strike me over the d and fl shoul er With his bow during rehearsals, y w as the first at me . His place in the public eye, and he never los t sight of it . “ One concert I will never forget . We came to a a Remen i te town where the pi no was too low, and y i So fused to bring his pitch down to t . I told him o the to tune to a half t ne higher, and I transposed R emen i—he Kreutzer sonata as I read it at sight . y ’ didn t even acknowledge the task. What a compari son to that later friend and violinist, Joachim, the classic interpreter ! H e understoo d what the pure morning joy of composing and playing really ” meant . ff h As we returned to the village by a di erent pat , 46 Face to Face with Great Musicians

a crowd of children came running toward us . “ - What have you to day, what have you to n n o they shouted, and in answer, he dug dow i t the immense coat pocket and brought forth piles o f “ ” as candy. The dear children, he muttered we and é passed them, went into the caf . one n o There was large table, and ma y gr uped o it h ns ab ut , invited Brahms and is companio . O ne n he was n of them poured out some wi e . That a co noisseur one could s ee at sight “ It is o a great wine, the Brahms f wines . ” us Let have some Bach then, said Brahms . ‘ ’ An B — n other Bach, Beethove and Brahms, d the o f von suggested one in manner Bulow, who “ ’ ” o n it rigi ated . That s better than it sounds, smiled

Brahms . “ ou Like y r music, says a disciple . ’ You don t mean that my music sounds better ” n is ’ tha it , like Tschaikowsky s 2 “ ” not r a s s Indeed , d awls a musician, Br hm say what he means in mus ic instead of what will come ” off well . As the talk grew livelier an d the time for depart on ure drew nigh, we asked for permissi to write o f “ ’ No on —I him . , d t have destroyed my papers, and o old u I shall destr all memories of this , gly frame . y — Posterity does not want to think of me but only ” the music which came through me . A t n at a s ra ger a nearby table on hearing this, p

D E BU SSY

FACE TO FACE WITH DEBUSSY

1 862-1 91 8

’ “ ” my volume of Dante s Inferno the illustra tions by Gustave Doré are saturated with a

spirit of mystery and mysticism . There is one — picture which comes to me n ow the poet accompa nied by Virgil is being led to the entrance of the n t r o the n o e her egi ns ; cavernous depths yaw bel w, and the two ﬁgures stand in curious and heroic con trast to the mocking emptiness peopled with unclean 48 Face to Face with Debussy 49

s o and unregenerate spirit , the furnace of hate int c whi h they are about to plunge . Now w e k , are tal ing with Claude Debussy, in a z c co y Paris home . H e is genial and a good onver — . s ation alist we discuss the simple topics of the day ; us out b - he looks at of warm, rown, deep set, and an kindly eyes . A heavy mustache and V Dyke beard c set s arcely hide the sensitive full lips . His head is ﬁrml y on broad, masterly shoulders . Except for a c ﬁn ers c play of nervous, artisti g , and an abstra t, ’ o c dreamy lo k in the man s eyes , the fantasti trend an d c of his imagination, the epi urean fastidiousness c of his dress, his table, his manner, his voi e, and his whole being, there were none of the mystic about e s — him . H tells u that he loves to travel especially a into lands still wild and untr ined . “ ”

am . I a veritable nomad , he says I believe there is something of the gypsy in me, their wild songs have won me so . I prefer to hear a few notes ’ c of an Egyptian shepherd s ﬂute, for he is in a cord with his scenery and hears harmonies unknown to c yo ur musicianly treatises . If only musi ians would th e o c listen to s unds ins ribed in nature, the sweet, a c c c persu sive voices on ealing perfe t oblivion, instead of that which is written by clever experts . Out in the country I hear songs , the silences, the rustlings of the air . When I was a lad I would tingle with enjoyment when I heard the echoing of the church m bells, especially when they came just out of ti e with the call of the bugles at sundown, and a whole 50 Face to Face with Great Musician s

c regiment of queer harmoni s and tinkling, twinkling overtones came rustling out of the compact of the two metallic voices . “ c ff I prefer light, deli ate e ects in my music . I ‘ M ’ use a small orchestra for Pelleas and elisande, u and rarely permit it to play full strength . Pia is — — simo delicate win the emotion by suggestion . Reach the mind through the imagination ! Take — ﬂeeting impressions not the obvious So there we stand, like Dante and Virgil , before the great mysterious kind of whispering White and green sprites . Debussy, erect and smiling, waves his — wand and we are ﬂoating al ong the river of the ’ land of heart s desire . A u pale blue haze envelops the niverse, a thou u sand voices of soft, g rgling fountains lull the air

. c of into a drowsy listlessness White, haste pillars e Grecian design stand sentinel along th waterway . A dense forest stretches further than the ends of the

. out world Misty shapes dart in and of the dark, A c distant knolls . soft, scar ely distinguishable mel ody ﬂoats out of everywhere ; the river voices its inner spirit-mind with a musical fret ; the fountains are mingling their thousand themes in a volume of

c c - tone s ar ely louder than silence . The white draped ﬁgures move in and out with a swishing of sibylline — singing too low for mortal ear, crashing and shout

‘ . throne o f ing a triumphal strain at the the emperor. ﬁnel c The mood of the music . Like a y arved bit of a Japanese temple like a monkish embellishment Face to Face with D ebussy 5 1

’ o f the Lord s prayer on the head of a pin ; like the dainty embroidering of the face of the world on a ’ doll s doily . I indeﬁnable nsidious , mesmeric, , suggesting the of c - c c kiss a entury dead ourtesan, sear hing for the o lips of a y ung man of love, breathing the breath of c -in the tomb, the curious s ent of the long shut sack cloth .

A c chant, funereal , like the old Catholi service in ff Latin, or the su ering plea of the Hebrews, rending their hearts in a sobbing recall of all that the race c o u has suffered, moaning and ro ning in irreg lar,

- organ like bursts of emotion . do Take care , we not know how far the soul ex — tends about men here is the epoch of the subtle ; ff c an d e a ed are the bodies persons of humans, only s their spirit is left u . What is it that makes one hate or love another at ﬁrst sight ? Is there an outer — being a cosmic effulgence about the body ? This so music would have it . c o The leering fa e of the idiot is g ne . The guns a t and c nnon are car ed away, and only the cries of ff the the the su ering, hopes of survivors, are left

us . s c Struggles , boasting , commerce of ities are stopped up in the throats of the shouters , and only s - the soul of the tree is left u . A never ending ﬂow of inﬁnitesimal dewdrops make up the melody ; they r come shimmering in the pale g een moonlight, form ing graceful arpeggios and shapes somewhat akin to

- cave growing stalactites . They will never end, these 52 Face to Face with Great Musician s — melodies ; they never began he snatched a string us th of the pearls and held them before , but ey

‘ melted away and rejoined their river of jewels, scarcely before we had gazed on them . The phantom boat moves up the river and enters - At the far reaching forest . the fountain of gold sits W n the girl ith the hair of red , singi g her plaintive appeal and braiding her hair of red, ceaselessly . Fur ou as we ther , pass, sits pale Melisande, weeping and ’ n n fearful , until Gola d , the king s so , takes her wed away to and to keep . We follow and reach the dark, damp, unhappy home of the king. See ’ G olaud sad Pelleas, s brother, start at the sight of o f the lovely maiden . Come the nights gladness and fear, When Pelleas and Melisande discover their love ﬂee and to the forest for safety . Oh, that long hair who of Melisande, reaching down to Pelleas, buries i s Golaud his face in t tresses . Deep goes the knife of and a into the back of his brother, pale Melis nde o dr ps into the sleep of the righteous, confessing her love for the dead one . o f Oh, how the musical voices all of that drama whisper behind the veil of the poet’ s and the musi ’ cian s art and whip the ﬂagrant spirit of man to ad ll mit the myriad ghosts a about him . There are n Melisande and Pelleas , Gola d, and his father, and — ’ little Gniold but don t you bathe in the spirit of o s fountains and caves , f rests and ring , lakes and ‘2 dark chambers . — We leave the lovers behind us the phantom boat Face to Face with D ebussy 53 — glides through the forest sylvan delights picture the day of a faun man . Here is a garden of an ar ’ tist s - concept, bathed in the sweet smelling rain of n spri gtime . Yonder you can catch the faint whisper of the k sea, tal ing with the wind, the play of the surges, from dawn to noon . Clouds overhead melt away . Sirens ahead in the river beckon with heavy-eyed t grimace, mou hs Open and lustful ; images, masques, the c all of unreal stalk, dan e, make merry the jour m the . e ney Next lives the Da ozel , blessed by lov r of her earth days . Now she is mou ning for him who the s the is left by sea ide, left with only memories of h arms which one time entwined him, left wit the echoes of laughter and the taste of the kiss which w o as tearful ; blessed Damozel, peering thr ugh c louds to the earth man, weeping and mourning for him - we pass and leave her to suffer until Death makes him hers again .

M elodies play now the sound of the waters . Pic tures the stories of goldﬁsh shoo ting and lingering in the bowl of the palace ; sounds of the death o f lov

e s ﬁnall . r , and y the harmony of evening

Nothing real , only suggestion . Not sharply de be ﬁn ed, but elusive . Not light, but shaded . All — low the surface part of the soul and spirit . Lovely — eﬁects startling effects on the keyboard, the most novel since Chopin .

The blue haze turns into gray , then into brown, An n an d t then purple and black . a tique almos evap 54 Face to Face with Great Musicians orated perfume mingles with penetrating modern o or o ﬂoatin d s , the lines bec me more vague, g, misty, Baﬁlin in n t o . shifting, inta gible and a m spheric g, the calculable, remote and inexplicable, arabesques continue . So I think of the pictures which Doré has made for Dante’ s “ Inferno” —reversing the place from infernal to the magic and mystic and beautiful, won dering how it w as that M aeterlinck scolded De bussy for daring to take “Pelleas and Melisande” for musical setting, when really he should have been see glad to it done by him and no other. I wish that indeed my picture might contain Maeterlinck, writer of mystic beauty ; Verlaine, the poet, and Debussy, — the musician I would paint it in tones such as

use an d c . Monet might , pla e it in keeping of you

“ The pri ncipa l works of D ebussy are Pelleas a nd M eli ” “ ” “ ” “ ’ s a nde A ter noon o a Faun The Sea Chi dren s , f f , , l ” “ ” “ Corner Air de ame M arch E cossaise Six Ar , D , ,

iettes , Three Noctur nes .

56 Face to Face with Great Musicians

H is light ; gaunt and shrunken and hollowed . eyes ,

sad . large and green and ancient, tell of , wild tales ﬁ u e v n His g r , long and thin, is cur ed like a s ake

about to spring. H e does not walk- he undulates and j umps with — weird little motions his arms and shoulders are — in continual activity like a U riah Heep. ’ ’ ” is son an - T the devil s , whispers awe stricken “

50. At woman at our side, every one says night, ’ he s his o o when all alone, the Evil One enters r m and him o r an d and embraces him, tells how to g fo th ’ ’ H e s one—I m r deliver his message. a wicked su e ’ ” he s brought me here against my will . And then comes the answer of her companion ’ d e — An such a miser. H steals into one s city lures oo f o all the g d olk to his wicked music, r bs them of ’ d e on an . H s their m ey, then steals away worth more ’ n sou than kings and nobles . But he d ever spend a ’ ’ — H e s d . m s lives on devil s foo a va pire, suck our — ’ how crawﬁsh. It s money . Look he moves like a

r . o o ter ible There are Paganini waltzes, r nd s, caps, ’ ﬁ e s o . to u hat , bo ts, dishes It s awful make a g r of ’ se such a devil . Did you hear of Ly r s painting him? ‘ ’ H e : T e n said h devil guided my ha d while I did it, ’ ” and I believe it s true . Now the ' sound of a plaintive note silences the rs vicious voices that whisper supe titions and lies . It c o - rises like a ry in the night, and ech es and re echoes And across the moor his music pictures . the slow n o wa a t draw mel dy gives y to a wild, dr ma ic strain . Face to Face with Pagan in i 57

Malicious and frenzied grave-sprites whirl in a der n c vish da e . t ﬁ ure See hat shaking, straining, maddened g of ! H e s s the violinist sma hes his bow upon the string , and in a passage of terriﬁc speed runs from the low

G - est to the uppermost half note on the E . In ar

e ios c c p gg and thirds , and chords in hromatic suc es u o o sion, the notes pile p, beneath th se wiry, b ny

ﬁn ers c . g , whi h seem more automatic than human If the audience believes Paganini devil or of the ﬂesh the t acknowl of Evil One, hen now truly they edge themselves under the spell of Hell ! Never — did a crowd of musicgoers become so mad shriek in g and yelling themselves hoarse . They fear Paga

t c. nini, but hey cannot escape his magi

c sufﬁ ce Recall after re all Will not , and Paganini w is c c . h bows in his lumsy, ircular motion Someone ! u tles and calls him lobster Others take it p. They are determined to let him know that they believe him to be of a sinful breed . “ ” — an Paganini Nicolo Pag ini, he says to himself, ” ? ﬁx o will you let this insult pass I will them . S , raising his violin to his chin, as if to play , he gets “ : their silence, then very dramatically he says I will m give you imitations of birds and other ani als . Sure enough come the voices of nightingales an d b and c . parrots and dogs ats Then, bringing his ow e right over the bridge, he produces a p culiar sound “ “ - n H ee haw . Shouting out, Paga ini cries, That 58 Face to Face with Great Musicians

who and n is the voice of the donkey laughed, agai ” “ - he plays, Hee haw . is — out Well , the concert over the people pass , but we are fortunately able to meet Paganini in his own

rooms . — he is n H is We ﬁnd him practicing agai . beloved

violin is hardly ever out of his hands . It is told of t in n o n his viol , that once Pagani i had to cho se betwee — it and a woman he loved and he gave up the

woman . “ M to the n u n sweetheart, he whispers i str me t — y — he can hardly talk above a whisper and no Ro meo his o - ever put more passion into l ve making, “ m o o . y sweetheart, once I alm st lost y u It was

when I was very young . I had just tasted the joy um —the wa e of tri ph world was at my feet . I s se in new g cities, travel was in my blood . I thirsted for romance and adventure . I began to gamble and — o ost . u I l st l heavily But I would never give p.

I believed in my lucky fate . Despite losses and de f s i eats, I alway knew someth ng would come to my n rescue. One ight, all my money was gone, all that

I earned in my big concert of the day. I had noth the n ing for my hotel, for my travel to ext city where was I to play the following night . Some—one dared me to put up my violin . I was desperate I played — and o . o o l st G ne, my sweetheart, they t ok you

fro . e m me I cri d, I wept, I shrieked, I was going to drown myself in the river . And then came a n —he o frie d b ught you back for me . That cured Face to Face with Paganini 59

. N me, my beloved ever did I risk you again, and never did I approach the gaming table from that ” day forth . You are everything to me . ?” But me, papa And a handsome little boy romps into the room and clasps his tiny hands about “ ” a the lank legs . Ah, my little Achilles, Pag nini “m ” smiles, y violin and you . “ ” M — H e us . y boy , the violinist introduces H e mus be ! will be greater than I . t And he must N o be happier . ever will he g hungry as I did, when

am . I w as a lad . I putting away riches for him The world is paying Achilles for its cruelty to his

it . am . So father . I a miser, says the world be Let them think . Once, when Berlioz was starving, I sent up some money to him . And since, my good friends have been trying to decide what kind soul really gave it in my name . “ — ’ ? Pshaw what s the use One time a goo d lady — ’ — I ve forgotten her name she was the widow of a ﬁddler who used to revile me and throw mud at — beneﬁ t . me well, this widow wished to have a She — c engaged me to play my pri e was very high . But she kn ew that with Paganini as the attraction she could make money . The day came . I played .

c . Afterwards , the widow ame to pay me I knew a what was in her mind . She w nted me to give her ' ’ a discount Wouldn t th e old miser relent ! She brought her small child— they were both dressed in rags (they had better clothes! . She counted out the

s. was o amount to me in the smallest coin One sh rt. 60 Face to Face with Great Musician s I made her count it over and bring the missing money c she sa from her po ket . Several times started to y

we o . something. At last went to the do r ‘ ’ ‘ c c Little boy, I ried to her child, ome here and ’ I Will give you some pennies for candy . When he c the e n s ame, I dumped whole pil i to his hand what do I care We wanted to ask him how he acquired his won derful technique. “

w as . n That easy, he laughs I was bor with it — — — ’ my violin is another limb o r sense that s all . I must grin when I hear these would-be violinists trying to play. Once in Prague, a fool conductor who called me a faker behind my back, wanted me os e to play a symphony he had comp ed . H thought w as diffi c l c it dreadfully u t . But at the oncert I s bo used my walking tick instead of my w. That was ” a lots of fun . The conductor w s wild l So with rare and unexpected humor and humanity “ fiddler was eu the ghost , as he sometimes called, tertained us with bits from his adventurous life . “ ‘E ’ Once during a concert my string broke . I ’ fix was didn t have time to it . I in the middle of

. w as a number It a wet night and a moment later, ‘D ’ ‘ ’ crash went the string, and snap went the A . ‘ ’

G . That left one string, the “ But I kept right on playing, and the audience

‘ thought it was a miracle . Afterwards the news spread, and whenever I played I had to pretend the ‘ ’ G o same thing happened, and play on the al ne . Face to Face with Paganini 61

m am us an d It beca e a f o feat, I even wrote music ‘ ’ s c G e pe ially for the string. “ I have been very much abused and misunder s o d t o , he said, with a tone of injury and tragedy “ in his voice . I have been accused of being a jail c — a as bird, a li entious libertine pervert of the n tiest type . “But I have tried to live my part with virtue and a kind heart until the world forced it out of me, bb made me nasty and unhappy . I grew cra ed and n c the misa thropi . Blame world for its unkindness tO me . “ w as - c Since I six years old sickly, in apable of healthy maturity, I supported my family . We lived M w as in a sad little home . y father brutal, coarse, M — but he loved music and liquor . y mother but for her I would have died— they already had me in my r w as shroud . I came near being bu ied alive when I

w as . four, but my mother saw I breathing I had ’

ﬁft . t no real home until I was y This boy s mo her,

— c - my Wife the cat, was a mis hief breeder, a hateful

c disturban e . “ They have perpetually said I have been in prison . w as I never was . I had lawsuits, but my honesty A never questioned . lie it was to disport at my ex w as pense . They said I loaded down with chains, without a violin, and yet violin music issued from Im my cell . agine in civilized times that I should ﬁnd it necessary to prove I was the son of so-and-so 62 Face to Face with Great Musicians

h and not of the devil . I always thoug t the devil u hated m sic . “ — I have always had simple tastes my beloved violin and jewelry in a dilapidated box, my clothes shabby, traveling in a carriage, eating little, a bit of chocolate would do me for hours . “ But you can forget my own faults, if you Will remember me in the music I left for my successors — to play if you will sometimes think that I taught you how soloists should play without notes ; and that I ﬁrst suggested the inﬁnite possibilities of my As beloved violin . that little English girl , Char run o ff lotte, who fell in love with me and wanted to ‘ : u with me, said You raise me up into the mo ntains ’ with your playing. It is divine .

The pri ncipal works of Pagani ni are : Twenty-four caprice: for violm s olo ( of which pianoforte tra nscriptions were made by Schumann and Lis zt! twelve s onatas for vio li n and guitar ; Concer to i n E ; Concer to in B minor ; varia ti ons o es n many them . m or t or a bout i h ant w ks Pa anin b Ste en S . Stratton I p g y p , '

N . Cones ta bzle J Theodor e Bent D a hale ue n , , e L p q , a d r r scores of interesting efe ences .

64 Face to Face with Great Musicians

' ere o e he After the concert we w t g t r in his home, an d the violinist played again for me . How lov in l g y he handled the instrument, gently taking off w the silken rappings , inspecting the violin from all the sides, slightly adjusting the bridge, tuning strings and bringing the rest under his chin . Scarce ly had the bow touched the string when the notes rang out, so that it seemed as if the violin itself and not the artist were the intelligence . Out of the little thing of wood and gut came messages of heavenly beauty, lifting the prostrate soul to ecstasies more divine than ever are touched by earthly beings . “ ”

m . Inspired artist, I mur ured an Marvelous violin, he swered, and he gave it c into my hands, as a mother would intrust her hild “ it to a dear friend . Look at , what a symphony of c s color and gra e it i . it ﬁn ers i t I clasped in my g , held to the light and — read the label inside there written in a scrawly “ w as Cremonensis Fecit hand Antonius Stradivarius , Anno “ A Stradivarius, I cried with delight . A o Yes , an ntonio Stradivarius of his best peri d, the artist answered .

Just then came a message calling him away . “ And if you will pardon me for a moment, I will ” é e-a- é leave you with my Strad for a little t t t te . ri I tried the instrument under my chin, ra my ﬁn gers up and down the strin gs to feel the sensation — of the neck under my hand brought the bow down F ace to Face with Stradivarius 65

’ s o at r and e sayed a chord or tw . I held it a ms e An n o length , trying to devour it with my yes . A t nio Stradivarius of old Cremona ! And then it seemed as though I must have closed

my eyes, or something happened for I was no W k here I thought, but wal ing along the quaintest o street you ever saw . I lo ked up at the signs to “ m s learn where I had lost y elf, and I read, Antonio

s . . Stradivarius , His Work hop Cremona, Italy

- Old fashioned people all about me, and I dressed in

the garb of long ago . — — S ? . I will enter the shop Antonio upstairs, ignor

I mount a ﬂight of wooden steps, and walk into the

room . A pretty Signorita courtesies and begs for my “ ”

. I n . message would like to buy a violin, I a swer “ ” “ ” I will call father . Please do not disturb him, “ o and I ask. Let me g into the shop talk with him “ ”

. S . there Yes, ignor Then into a large room with open sunlit windows

all around . The ceiling has raw beams, and are about the walls , suspended from nails, violins, ’ in s parts of viol s, lutes , cellos, ba ses , violas da a In m s and g mba . the co er stand ba ses, at half a dozen benches are young and old men bent over their is work. In the very center of the room a large

table, and on the bench nearby is seated a very old e man . H is tall and gaunt ; he wears an apron and

on his head a woolen cap . “ n the Father, dear, a gentlema to buy a violin, young woman announces . 66 Face to Face with Great Musicians

“ ’

n . Ah , Gi a, thank you Won t you be seated, sir, M Stradiv a and tell me your wishes, and the aster u rius rises to greet me . His shoulders are ro nded his from the constant bending over work, but in his

c and is face, mu h wrinkled furrowed, there a look o f inspiration . - nn With compliment and round about ma er, in the Wa y of the day, I tell him my needs and ask for the c privilege of wat hing him at work. “ is — an c There not much to see old man at a ben h, carefully modeling, cutting some wood . You can no t am r tell as you look what I doing, but eve y little Be move I make is part of the life of my violins . so cause I cut the sides with this curve, the tone is and so ; because the depth of the violin is not more or less than it is, the timbre of the tone is what you ” hear. the and in The old man takes me about room, “ s ec s : ow o p t the work of his assistants N , Francesc , c ﬁner that will never do, you must smooth that mu h , much more slender at the ends . And, Omobono, my boy, you better leave the sound post to me, before it goes ; I will adjust that . Ah , here is my good

ose h r . assistant, J p ; you have my ideas ve y well You see the inside of this violin . That little post under — the bridge that is the soul of the violin ; it holds the vibrations of all the parts into one harmonious rhythm . The violinist draws his bow, my friend ; ? what do you suppose happens The strings vibrate, ﬁn e r the black g board here vibrates , the belly and Face to Face with Stradivarius 67

c the ba k vibrate, the sides vibrate, the air inside the violin vibrates— and the little slender piece of wood

is the controller. Look, I move it a bit ; listen, what ff — o a di erence I move it the other way oh, not go d,

but the right place ; that will do. the Here is the wood for the sides, and here is

wood for the back, and here is pine wood for the

belly . It comes from the lower parts of the forest c of the Alps, and all of it is ut only from the south c ern sides of the trees . Here is sy amore for the back, c the the ne k and sides . The wood must be nursed and o s . cured and kept just , until it is alive for me f re Some stuf is cold and lethargic, other kinds are s onsive p and obey the violinist . “ W hen I was a boy I was given over as appren w as h n tice to Amati, and before I wit him ma y years h I wanted to change his model , even t ough I signed h s s i name to my work. But I loved the ma ter H e and . o Amati, he loved me left me his to ls and

was off. patterns and secrets, though his own son cut “ see You these curves at the side, I remodeled — them you see these f-holes at the top I made them

straighter and more slender, for the air current to In come out with more delicacy . the violin are ﬁfty - s is so im eight to seventy two part , and every part ” port ant I can not slight one . “ ” “ n nn oo Father, calls Gi a from the i er r m, here is the gentleman from Poland .

- ih . A tall , noble looking gentleman comes rushing e sir am n of o n Se here, , I here from the Ki g P la d 68 Face to Face with Great Musicians

three months ago I gave you his order, and you have kept me here in this sleepy town awaiting the in strument . “ ” Another week, my friend, says Stradivarius, scarce looking up from his desk. “ it ? I must have it at once . Where is ” F a Show him the violin, r ncesco, and the young man lifts down an instrument from a nail and hands it to the envoy . “ I will take it with me . ’ Oh, no, you won t it is not ready. It needs fur ther varnishing, or it will not be my violin, and my o c r name will not g in it . If you wish to ar y out ’ c m your king s o mands, you wait until I give you this ” k - violin . I have dealt with ings before all this in “ —of- — a very quiet, matter fact manner and they have c waited for the proper time . I sent the Spanish ourt — a set of instruments inlaid with ivory it took me the a full year. I will not be hurried for Pope at ” Rome . I will send for you when the time is ripe . While this dialogue w as going on a long-haired gentleman came in and all arose to bow to him . “ o Ah, Signor C relli , Stradivarius called out, I

now . have the violin for you to play for me Listen, and the maker went into another roo m and brought an forth instrument, which he handed to Corelli . “ I want to have you particularly listen to the purity . of the highest harmoniques on the E string ; I want you to listen to the lowest and fullest open note on ” it — and s the G string . T ry Corelli lift the instru F ace to Face with Stradivarius 69

his o his difﬁcult ment to chin, and performs one f s Sonata . “ h Splendid, Antonio, he cries wit delight, and the violin maker rubs his hands violently as he lis tens to the child of his hands in the glorious care of “ a Now a master musici —n . , please, Corelli, handle with greatest care wrap well at nights an d on damp days in woolen cloths ; when it is cold keep the violin — in a warm place not too hot, you know . Choose — the strings with absolute taste better let me furnish you when you need them . Let not unskilled hands an ﬁn er prof e the g board, and bring it back to me

every once in a while that I may look it over, and ” correct any trouble . It seemed to me that with the exit of the instru ment the old gentleman sighed as if he were parting

With a dear, dear friend . “ h . Anot er gentleman, Gina called “ ” in c o n Have him come , my lear, and a y u g

dandy entered . “ What do you charge for a violin, Signor Stradi

v arius the customer asks . “ t Well , I Will tell you . Woods are high hese

days , and labor is going up in price, besides I per the son ally Will cut and inspect the making of violin, o n as and in it will g my sig ed labels, I do with all s — it my ﬁnest cus tomers . It will be very styli h Will make you very much admired to own a violin of o mine . There are only a little over two th usand in ” the world . 70 Face to Face with Great Musicians

“ T o ? he price, Sign r Stradivarius

Yes es to ou sir 2 . , oh, y y , , $ 4 ” Is that the best you can do? the buyer haggles . is o it Yes, that my price, and I never g below all I feel a violent tug at my shoulders, and ﬂop,

Cremona, Stradivarius, and his shop are gone. Over — me the artist is standing my great violin friend . “ Did you have a good téte-a-tete with the violin ? What do you think of my Strad ? Hasn’ t it a glo s riou tone ? I had lots of trouble getting it . Strads — are getting terribly scarce now not more than two h hundred on record . Do you think it is wort the ” I paid for it ?

Im ortant books a bout Stradivarius : Vincenzo Lance ti p t , “ Car Schu ze H orace Petherick. Re erences i n M M u l l , f y ” “

. . S o i sical Life by H R H aweis . ee Vi l ns of Stradi ” ari . H i 8 ons . v by W E . ll S

72 Face to Face with Great Musician s aﬁects and r the very equilibrium of the world, eve y one in it. o ta o c We draw cl se, all expec tion urselves, ex ited the man is with manner of the , who, all breathless, c vainly tryin g to give utterance to Spee h . “ — A great thing the greatest thing since Schubert — or Schumann I have just completed a song. Oh, it you will grow hot and cold when you hear . You ” will love it so much that you Will just want to die 3 So i e s ncerely does the man talk, that for a mom nt we scarce appreciate the utter absurdity of the situ

u the . ation, and the nbounded vanity of stranger “ ” Oh, wait, wait, wait, he pours forth in a tor rent, and feverishly turning from one to the other of us his fo reﬁn er , he taps g against his lips , to implore “ ” silence, wait and I will play it for you . “ — H e bounds to the piano : A Serenade a very ’ e — I p culiar, very peculiar serenade won t tell you — ” What, you just listen listen to this exquisite music .

And passionately he closes his eyes, turns his head — heavenward and delicately caresses the keys it tells ﬁlled of a youth in love, with the soft sensuousness the of Spring. The man at the piano sings, but melody coming from his lips is the story of an old b d man dreaming of memories gone y. An rippingly the o— is up and down pian keys, the boy alive again . es we see Oh, y , , the voice of the song is reality, to day and the accompan iment is the memory of yes d ter ay. u z The man jumps p, ga ing inquiringly into our Face to Face with Hugo Wo lf 73

face s : What do you say? Did you ever hear any ” thin g more lovely in all your lives ? ’ Who is this stran ge man ? Don t you know ? W H e s . hy, it is Hugo Wolf, writer of song has just completed another melody and he is overj oyed with

the accomplishment . While he is relating the circumstances of his writ ing this composition to the little lady whom he has

cornered, while he is telling her every little detail, — down to the w ay he wrote the double bar let me quickly give you something about him and his ex rao rdin a t ry career . h A stupid yout , passionatelydevoted to music, he did not distinguish himself with an ability either to play or compose— and believed himself a worthless ci c spe men, good for nothing, ex ept to worship at the e t feet of th masters . His fa her had not wanted him c a was to be a musi i n, but he himself eager to e write . H adored Wagner, ran in front of his cab H e to open the door. wrote some songs and con

sidered them worthless .

- During his twenty seventh year, a friend pub ’ — lished some of Wolf s songs and the sight of these H e in print excited the genius in him . had been liv a ing near Vienn , and had become tremendously in e t rested in the poems of Morike, the Swabian pastor e po t, who lived and died amidst the sneers of the o world , but whose resurrection by W lf made him loved and honored as one of the greatest lyricists in

all literature . 74 Face to Face with Great Musicians

W o s and inflamed olf read these p em , he became o c with melodies which grew with every word . A v i e “ ” on cried : Hugo, write, and for three m ths he — scarcely left his room s carcely ate or drank “ o scarcely slept . For the voice cried, Hug , write, and he followed the call and gave to the world - o e fifty three songs of Morike . Nor did he st p her on o of but in rapid successi came songs of G ethe, ichendorfi of and of th e old E , Heyse, of Keller,

Spanish poets . wo rs the man and For t short yea , young cowered h s - u slaved before i master muse, joyo s and afraid, n o as if f f s com gazi g alm st rom a ar at him elf, the poser ! s he s r of ns ra on This i t my te y i pi ti . You are sit ting at your desk. Suddenly an idea comes from

out the . ou o ou of great expanse Y write furi usly, y

o o . f st s gr w hot and c ld Oh, a er, fa ter, write . I am “ o n it . n ro s l si g The voice i side g w excited, Write, ” write .

ro fra . sit You g w a id You back, you watch your s f f r o ’ el carried away be o e the t rrent . And when it s “ sa : all over, you y How did it happen ? Did I do that ?” s ff In this way Wolf wa a ected . H e wrote because he would have been struck dead if he had refused or And for n even hesitated . ma y years Hugo Wolf his s on was slave to overpowering in pirati , happy, and surprised at his great gifts . ' n— o The crash S mething happened, awful, Face to Face with Hugo Wo lf 75

tragic, hateful . The muse departed, and there came no more music to Wolf. Day after day, the man pleaded with himself, went down to the woods , threw himself into rivers , sated himself with new e po ms, wept, raved, languished in anguish . But it c was of no use . Silen e in his brain, a mocking hol ﬁn er lowness at his heart, meaningless notes at the g — — tips he sat for hours at the keyboard not a single

c H e . hord came . lived in this desert for two years And ﬁckle then, as suddenly as the muse had gone,

she returned . She was a mean mistress to Hugo n Wolf, for now that she a swered his prayers and c c ame ba k to him, she again demanded his all, and made him her slave, With increasing cruelty. Still ’ he didn t mind . But again, after a month, she de

serted ﬁnd ﬁve . him, and he did not her for years H e has finished telling his story to the little lady

c H e us. Whom he ornered . is coming back to H e We gaze upon this strange man . is short and slender, stooping as from long nights over his h an d desk or from sheer weakness . His face is t in

- pale ; the hair is the color of burnt out ashes . In the face is a certain degree of force made noticeable by prominent square jaw-bones which project when he is thinking and silently grinding his teeth toge H is and his li ther . mustache is thin, under p is a sparse tuft of bristly beard . “ ” “ am Friends, he says, I so happy, happier than kings . If you could hear what is going on in my m am a n. And heart . I composing, I creating agai 76 Face to Face with Great Musician s

what I write now, I write for the future . Some so times, a song comes to me, which sounds horribly

a t . s str nge, hat it frightens me For in tance, one that

ﬁnished the i . I other day , is like nothing in ex stence

Heaven help the people who will one day hear it . “ You can not imagine how I love those divine am moments when I compose . When I silent, I r think if only I were Hugo Wolf. I feel like c ying ‘ me ! at people, Help , help me Give me some ideas — again shake th e sleeping demon in me and I will fall at your feet and worship you ! ’ Sometimes I imagine that I will go mad or that I am soon to die . In any cas e I feel that a man is not to be taken away has sa am before he has said all he to y, and then I not yet through . You know what I am doing? It is seeking out a pleasant little nook in the lovely heaven of compo u sitio . I want to be in a merry company of primi e n tive b i gs, among the tinkling of guitars, the sighs

- o c . of l ve, the moonlight, and su h like When I put m ’ a poe to music, I don t merely give it notes . I translate the very emotions into melody and har o mony . I read the w rds over and over, live with h h — t em, become saturated with t em become the poet — all over go back over the events which inspired him — am to write and when I ready for my work, the

c whole thing is part of my cons iousness . “ ’ For years I ve wanted an opera ; where could I ’ e ? g t the book I ve searched high and low, but noth Face to Face with Hugo W o lf 77

’ I ve ? ing ever seen suits me . Where are the poets Where are the great books ? The deep brown eyes gazed out with bewilder ment . Such a nervous, unstrung manner was never beheld before . Pity, disappointment, uncertainty are written all over his features . “ ’ ’ I v e I ve led a life of misery. been a log on a troublous sea, doomed to be dashed from wave to wave, calm or furious with my moods . My home

o . was a po r one A dear father whom I disappointed,

so . s Lord knows , without desire to do They ent me to study and I was expelled because some liar sent a nasty letter to the director and signed my name .

I tried to support myself and teach myself . Oh, but — h ﬁ t . what a struggle what a g I took pupils, but ’

w as . n . it misery I could t teach, but I had to live c They got me a job rehearsing horuses , but that ’ didn t suit . “ u — o I wanted to give it p g to America, be a

. So miner, a butcher, anything I took a position as ’ — I critic on a paper . That didn t suit was too frank c I praised a bility irrespective of la k of reputation . I descried inability even where apparently excused - ﬁrst c by so called genius . When my musi was

it . played , directors made fun of Oh, they were nice . They made it easy for me . They tried to kill — ! me but I came through . Thank God If I had ’ b let them have their w ay I d e dead or a butcher . “ — - — oe Wait wait listen that poem . That p m I

It is . Let read last night . come back with music 78 Face to Face with Great Musician s

— M s E P S . me pa s let me pass . LET AS I must ” write it down .

o When Hugo Wolf died, mad, at the age of f rty th e c sud three, whole world whi h had ignored him , ” denly rushed to acclaim him The Second Schubert .

“ The principal works of H ugo W olf ar e I ta lia n Sere ” “ “ “ ' nade Penthes i ea D er Corr e idor Chrzs tnacht , l , g , ” “ ” “ E en i ed Lieder a us der Ju endzeit I ta lianisches lf l , g , ” “ “ ” Lieder buch D em V S anis ches Lieder buch. , p ' H e wrot a bo ut son s o i ndzvia ual a nd ori i na e 500 g , f g l

s tyle.

u o W ol b D r . E r ns t D ecs e I mportant book: on H g f y y, “ ” ers Ernest Newman ; A s liography by Pet .

80 Face to Face with Great Musician s

the a to old Leipzig, to home of Johann Seb stian

- Bach . Out of the dazzling to day we come to a soft land , where all is peace, all is still . Down a spic-and-span road we inquire for the c us home of Ba h . Everybody tells , for everybody kn ows him and reveres him . Led by a procession ﬁnall of urchins and bent old men, we y reach a

- tumble down house, covered with vines and shel “ tered c In with the ri h shade of massive oak trees . ” a there, there he is , old Joh nn . — The door is open none is denied welcome or the right to enjoy the hospitality of this homely board .

Inside, and one realizes that here is home . In a

- great Wide armed chair sits the master of the house, smoking a deep-bowled pipe and sipping occasion O n ally at a mug of creamy ale . his lap are two —on ﬂoo of his children the r are several more, and hustling around the stove and dishes are more Bach boys and girls aiding their mother. — Supper is being made ready and that, despite its cc c c daily o urren e, is an event of importan e . Steam o ousl ing pots bubble j y y, the youngsters chatter, clatter, the old man continues his smoking, dropping a word now and then to the baby on his knees .

c M r. h u As we ome into the room Bac jumps p, c almost upsetting the pipe, the mug, and the hildren . “ — ” Company Good Welcome, my dear people, ff he says, in his gru , deep voice, which comes from “ c the very pit of that huge paun h . Anna, he we — shouts, have company they will stay with us Face to Face with Bach 81 fo r supper, and listening to no entreaties, he per suades us to sit down at the table . “ Yes, we dine early , it leaves more time for work ” “ r afte wards, he explains, and besides the children ” need to get to sleep . “What do you think of my little brood ? Some of them are older than the wife ! It showed that I really loved the first woman When I selected Anna c a to be the se ond . Well, my youngsters h ve more to be thankful for, than was their father. They — can have all the music they like I was forbidden to play violin more than two hours a day . “ it c mu Think of , a Ba h restrained from making sic when for a century and a half music throughout c fift Europe meant Ba h . There were almost y of the c family, musi ians . “ M c y un le Heinrich was a great organist, and it cc was him I su eeded when I grew up . Through working hard every day I had learned the notes . I f had heard famous musicians . I had worked rom farm to farm for daily bread . “ One day I w as near starving. In the roadway c m u were two fried herrings . I pi ked the p, fam ” ished was . , and inside each herring a silver pi ece “ h ? W at did you do With the silver, father piped one little voice . “ I find as tried to the owner, any honest boy would do, but I found nobody, so I accepted that as a sign an d as that fate was with me w going to help me . “When I succeeded to my Uncle Heinrich’ s place 82 Face to Face with Great Musicians as o s s own o be rgani t, I u ed my ideas, and the pe ple ’ was oo came quite indignant . Heinrich s way g d

eno n . ugh . They wanted no innovatio s They brought charges against me because a stranger maid n was en was seen in the choir loft . The maide later ﬁ ” my rst wife . Entertaining us with bits of anecdotes from his f h s his os n s s li e, is tudies, comp i g, he keep u amused throughout the meal . We realize that there are

r. has o many things M Bach never encountered, f rtu na e t l t ly for the world . We realize hat speedy trave ,

ai n s . divorce, rpla e , Mrs Sanger, ragtime, vaudev ille, and Broadway theatrical managers have never come

his fe. So an d n into li sunny, sweet, u tainted he — seems all unconscious of any greatness or superi ori ty. “ ” ou ve ﬁn ers as as s Y have ﬁ g good I, he say , “ as on to c you can play as well I . You have ly tou h the right key at the right time and the instrument ” H e h x n n plays by itself. laug s, but as if e plai i g W o is I was obliged to be industrious . h ever equal ly industrious will succeed as well .

In between mouthfuls and words, the old gentle H e man helps the little mouths . butters the little ’ ’ s a — r ts an boy bread, wipes nother s mouth cor ec ’ o his f ther s table manners, graciously assists wi e in his passing dishes and serving guests .

o s n . n he s s as S he talk u til supper is over The ri e , h s n e o d o is i wo t, and go s to the clavich r , prepared t compose .

84 Face to Face with Great Musicians

— a written and she, far more than her husb nd, feels he a t pang of regret that the world is meager of pr ise, while tawdry and loud-mouthed weaklings hold the public ear.

Either Johann does not know, or does not care, e n for he go s right on laughing, goes on worki g, goes

o r . on studying, goes on comp sing, to the ve y end and Night time has fallen now . All is quiet pen c sive . Anna has taken her pla e at the foot of the e table, just where th lamp sheds its light to the ﬂoor u . She is quietly sewing, gazing p from time to Johann time at . H e is seated at the large table, the blank paper

. H e before him, all ruled and ready taps the table H e with his pen . catches the spirit of a theme, he nods his head several times to make sure he has understoo d perfectly the message which comes to

him . And then he writes it down . After a little while he turns the sheet and continues . But he never — looks back he is absolutely sure from opening bar “ to Finale . Little does he know that the music he writes is destined to remain as the classic standard for all c time . Little does he imagine that men Will look ba k “ : M c at him and say The Father of Modern usi . Just writing— just writing— that is all— and do “

. n ing the best he knew how until late Then, An a, ﬁnish u . it is time to . Come, I will help you wash p and It will relieve my mind help me to sleep well . oo H ow G d little wife . nicely the children sleep. Face to Face with Bach 85

! Little Emanuel is feeling much better . Thank God “ To-morrow I must go over the garden and pick th e e o an w eds , and I supp se I had better write an us ff the swer to the Duke . Let o er our prayer to M ” aker of us all .

The pri ncipa l works of Joha n n Sebas tian Bach are: Sai nt ” “ ” “ M atthew Passio u c B i nor Cha n M si , M ass i n M , ” “ ” “ cone Chri s tmas O ra torio Th W ell- Tem ered Clav , , e p ichord Br andenbur Concertos Si x F rench Suites Six , g , , E n i s h Sui tes 2 2 Sa cr ed Cantatas Tzoo M a ni cats gl , 3 , g ﬁ , 2 e 9 O rgan Prelud s a nd F ugues . I mporta nt works on Joha n n Sebas tian Bach : Biographies i n Ger man b his s on E manue hi s u i A ri co a and y l, p p l g l , — —/ - or i ish b es l . A so works Prof. F hel a E agl y SamueIr IV y l by M is s K ay Shuttleworth L ectures by Sedley T Bi o ra hica noti ces i n Gerber Fetis and other aylor ; g p l , i cti n ri biographical d o a es . f a no v a ! ;

GLU CK

FACE TO FACE WITH GLUCK

1 7 1 4- 1 787

N an d A LA D of tinsel an era of frippery, F rench music was making ee minate toy-melody n as the spirit of opera . Si gers danced merrily they pretended to affect the tragic mood or the com b who edy Hercules was portrayed y a woman, acted -l - t in tra a las . When a son died, the mo her danced ; n W n r . when a daughter was bo , everybody danced he

was . M en war declared, the nation danced made 86

88 Face to Face with Great Musician s

not beholden to any man, and he asked none for aid .

c was stiﬂin . H e The si kish, perfumed opera g to him ’ c its uff -ln ouldn t breathe in st y, closed drawing ’ H e rooms . couldn t sit on the slender gilt chairs ; ’ he didn t like to hold himself straight and frigid and H e to smile at puns and pretty phrases . wanted to take up the manikin men and crush them between his strong hands into powder . H e And that is virtually what he did. determined to sweep out the rubbish of the opera and to fumi — gate it and then to put in place of the lisping woman Hercules the bigness of the world itself. be Think of him, towering over the embroidered, s wigged philo ophers . Tall , massive, and broad h shouldered, with his ead always pushed forward de anc c ﬁ e . with a kind of His fa e, deeply pock — in marked repose, very red and savage ; in anger, white with the pock-marks blackly contrasting and w as savage . His hair mussed most often, with the w as powder on in careless fashion . It a big face, round and hard in its outlines and the cut of the

a . features, the eyebrows raised in querying m nner One could but think that the Creator in molding it his contour had been very determined about , and left very little of softness to mark the soul of the e man . There was an intelligence about the ey s, however, that, if you looked intently, seemed to give out a hint of the mountains, the mountains in the c c c far distan e whi h you wanted always to approa h, but Which always seemed to move further as you Face to Face with Gluck 89

o ? came closer. A p et Not in that frame, and yet, — he was ! w as difﬁ cul and yet, It t to dissociate the idea of the animal ; that thick neck was like a ’ 1 ﬁtted boa s , his heavy hands seemed rather to con ’ tinue to swing the ax than the conductor s baton and When he spoke or san g it was done so boisterous

l . y that it made you move back a bit, away from him H e c as played the harpsi hord , and he did it your ice H e man might . smashed at the keyboard, he — it . pounded no little grace notes, oh , no Chords, c ff heavy, sonorous , or hestral in their e ects . Well, just like all his music, in fact . When he entered the parlors of the bigwigs of c the day he seemed to be so mu h out of place, awk ff H e ward, sti , and sulky . spread all over the place c and sometimes used vulgar language, whi h shocked H e the gentility . would as soon swear at the king c as at the merest singer in his ompany. One time, c c it is told how, a ertain prin e named Henin com o c c who ing into the ro m, all arose ex ept Glu k, said “ ” aloud, I get up for people I respect . When the ﬁrst night of the new opera Iphigenie ” e the en Aulid had arrived , and king and all his G an court were assembled in their boxes, luck and r nounced that the company was not ready, eve y ma este— o body had better go home . Lese j insult t — the king the opera must be played ; this fellow is unbearable and he shall be ousted . Need I say the opera was not played that night ? r Nobody liked Gluck, but eve ybody respected him 90 Face to Face with Great Musician s

f and eared him . Courtiers made no impression upon — him he acted disgustingly crude in all his dealings . H H e e had a desire for wealth and he made it .

ff c —A would stu ed himself at the table, drank to ex ess reach over in true boarding-house fashion to pick any morsel that pleased his fancy, though it were at be the other end of the table, and half a dozen in h H e e tween mig t have passed it . attended his r hea sals an d ﬁnished r in his nightcap, dressing him s c a H e was elf before the entire omp ny. crude as as e the mountains and tru .

c That was the exterior of Christoph Glu k, the battering ram which smashed open the iron gates of the opera house, in order that the interior of his person might be uncovered before a world needing just such a browbeating to whip it into an attention worthy of the music he brought the people . The compos ers who had strung together pretty phrases and effeminate melodies could not un der ’ n stand the sweeping big ess of Gluck s new work. H e brought into opera the memories of his early days, when he slept on the earth and looked up at s H e the ky . told of the naked passions of real men “ “ ” and women . His operas Alceste Iphigenie, “ ” “ et Orfeo Euridice, Semiramide, and the rest - ﬁrst are as genuine to day as when they were heard, c m ba k before our A erican revolution . “ e ’ Som detractors of the day said, Why, you can t ﬁn d any airs or melodies in all he ever wrote that ” n n sta d bei g played in the drawing room, and when

92 Face to Face with Great Musicians

When he came he found F rench music a thing of had n . on wood and mecha ics When he went , it

M r . become human and breathing . Then rose oza t

The pri ncipa l works of Chris toph Willibald Gluck are “ ” “ ” “ Or heus a nd E ur dice A ces te I hi enia en p y , l , p g ” “ ” “ Aulide hi enia T , Ip g en ami de, Echo et

Narcisse.

Important works on Chri s toph Willibald Gluck by L eblond —“ ’ M emozres pour s ervi r a l his toire de l a Revoluti on ” opera dam la M uszgue par M . le Cheva lier Gluck ; “ ”— Gluck und die 0per A. B M arx ; Thematic Cata o ue b M W ot uenne Bio ra h —F et l g y q ; g p y is . ?A eo vnau

M ACDO W E LL

FACE TO FACE WITH M A CDOWELL

1 86 1 -1 908

ERE is a beautiful old hous e that beckons c in o and wel omes you up Peterb ro, in the ’ heart of New Hampshire s hills . r t un You walk up the cu ving pa h, derneath sweet s u smelling trees, and pa t lux rious bushes of ros es and lilacs ; in a little fountain pool lilies bend their graceful stems . ’ is M acD owell a s It the home of Edward , Americ 94 Face to Face with Great Musicians

ﬁrst own composer, her and greatest genius of com

position , who stands beside contemporary writers ’ as the equal of any nation s best . e Ther is a large window, thrown open that the breezes and sweet odors of summer may enter the house and mingle with the music which has grown

out of it . Seated at the open window is M acD owell whit

ened hair and mustache, keen blue eyes, pink and e white skin, he who has been surnam d abroad the “ m ” d handsome A erican . His eyes o not move about ; his face has assumed a single expression of a sad his c smile, hands hold a book, and oc asionally he glances from the bushes to the book and from the

book back to the bushes . We move before him, but us l c he does not see , and then the awfu fa t dawns us M acD owell upon . is a tiny child again . The brain has ﬂed all the memories and melodies e have faded out . His brave wif sits beside him, and strokes his hands and gazes lovingly into his

eyes, but he smiles back at her unknowing. The book in his hand is all that he seems to care about ; it is

a set of fairy tales . Fairy tales ! It is as though he has been carried away to the land of mystery and unreality by the

fairies . As though the dryads and nymphs he waved into being with his music had come to take him with ’ them ; as though his dreams of the land of heart s c desire had at last onquered him, instead of his con

quering i t.

96 Face to Face with Great Musicians

see n t in I old lege ds of King Ar hur, as played the ” Sonata Eroica :

“ ? The king having died , now who was to be King t sum Came Ar hur, the beardless boy, to answer the c mons . Who should pull the magi sword out of the — es anvil he would be King of England . Sir Kay

sayed the task and failed . But Arthur did sur fﬁc l di u t . mount the y Then was he made King, and

all through the night vigil he kept, swearing to give

his life and might to protect the innocent and weak . A blow on the shoulders with the sword and Arthur

was King. Thus is told the coming of Arthur . “ Being out in a forest, King Arthur fell asleep . c When, all of a sudden, dainty musi sounded ; oh, s so faintly . Myriads of lovely girl danced about

the sleeping King . “ k ? Oh, was it sleeping, or was it wa ing So faintly ! So delicately ! G o There was the Lady uinevere, m st beautiful w as damsel in all the world . King Arthur out a- ﬁ s hunting when he r t lay eyes upon her . Her eyes — n were like the doe her ha ds like waxen tapers, and ’ her hair was night s blackness, shimmering with A moonbeams . Instantly, rthur loved Guinevere,

and he pleaded with her until she married him .

Such of Guinevere . Then it came to pass that danger beset the good

Kn ight Arthur . His followers were wroth and civil and war ensued . They gave battle Arthur was Face to Face with M acD owell 97

wounded mortally . They carried him into the church an d later out to the barge where three queens tried to save his life . And to the weeping and sor rowing of the multitude, King Arthur went out . “ An d this is told of the passing of Arthur.

So M ac o ell this is the story o f D w . If you will walk with me down into the slums of the lower East c Side, where peddlers and hawkers rowd the gutters c r with their push a ts , and where the millions of ill clad children make messy the streets with their poor 220 games , I will lead you to a house, Clinton street, “ ”

was r . and I will say to you, That is where he bo n — It was a different neighborhood then rather the c —c residen e of the better lass . Here is where he took his pian o lessons of a South ﬁrst t American , hen a Cuban, and then the beloved

Teresa Carreno. R afI— f Then abroad to Europe, and Joachim Ra f, h s c i . e master Th y loved ea h other, the old maestro ca No M acD owell and the young Ameri n . , was no o c c u c c pr digy ; the question on e ame p, on erning the c c advisability of his ontinuing his musi . One day he was in school and in the drowsy hum of the ’ c M acD owell w as tea her s voice, sketching the teach ’ ’ er s c fa e ; he had a large nose, and the boy didn t M acD owell was hesitate to show it . caught at the o trick, the teacher to k the paper, and was so startled by its realism that he showed it to the drawing mas “ ter. Give me that youth . I will give him three 98 Face to Face with Great Musician s

’ years instruction free, and I will make him a great ” M acD owell painter, said the teacher . And was c almost transferred to the other lass . The mother was consulted . She was nonplussed . But Edward c himself had to de ide . M ac owell D was there to study piano, but he had H e H e c. another habit . used to scribble musi c c it would snat h time from his practi e hours to do , s and he felt really ashamed of himself . Beside he took pupils , one of them was an American girl , Miss

Marion Nevins .

w e ff . But were talking of Ra One time, shortly ’ f c ff c a ter the Ameri an came under Ra s instru tion, he o en was sitting in his little ro m, and the master M acD ow ell tered . It was a great honor to and he “ was overwhelmed . What are you doing, boy “ ” “ “ am Raff as ked . A sonata . Show it to me . I ” “ hed ﬁnis . not quite Well, bring it to me on Sun

su was ﬁnished . day. Then nday came, and it not So o came a p stponement, and others , and the sonata w as n shed never ﬁ i . c s Back to Ameri a, with Mis Marion Nevins, now M acD owell his bride, went for a brief stay, only to return to Europe for real work. Then came the de lightful three years at Wiesbaden in the woods . All ’ co H is nature called out to the mposer s soul . Irish ancestry came to the surface With its love of the mystical , fairylike , delicate . Then came the real return to America as America’ s own -n composer, with concerts with the Kneisel Q uar

1 00 Face to Face with Great Musicians

’

s . 1 0 many craps One of these was a Wild Rose, and I put it aside and kept it for several months be

fore I asked his permission to have it published . “ ” “ M c u he B M rs . a D owell o y the way, went , used to say of the way that some young pianists ren dered ‘To a Wild Rose’ that they pulled it up by ” the roots . H ow The beautiful home of Peterboro . he loved e it . Most of all, how he loved the littl log ca o bin he built in the w ods, where he could sit com

posing with dreams piling up about him . So M acD owell there at the window sits, the book his in hands, the same sad, sweet smile on his feat

ures , and one thinks of those beautiful lines he wrote “ ” for his music From a Log Cabin

“ A house of dreams untold, It looks out over the s Whispering tree tops and faces the setting un .

“ M acD owell Too, of , it might be said A House ” a r U we of M ny D eams Still ntold, and as watch him reading the book we hear “ Lancelot and Elaine “ ” and Hamlet and the Irish fairies, weaving the warp and woof of the unrealities and the tales of

the land of dreams .

M acD ow The pri ncipa l works of Edward A. ell ar e “ ” “ ” “ ” “ L ance ot and E aine L amia Sonata Tra ica S o l l , , g , ” “ ” “ ” nata Eroica. I ndia n Suites , H exentanz, Co ncer to: Face to Face with M acD owell 1 01

i n A M i no o r, Concerto in D M inor, F our Piano S natas, “ ” “ ” ” H am et and O he i B c Id en l p l a, ar arole, yll , “ ” F rom an O ld Garden (Songs ! .

Im or tant work o w r c el b Lawrence p n Ed a d A. M a D ow l y Gi ma l n. LISZ T

FACE TO FACE WITH LISZ T

1 8 1 1 -1 886

C us— s A AME towards the ma ter, Liszt . ﬁ ure g of medium height, just inclined toward — stodginess . His face, smiling those caress o ing eyes glistening beneath huge, bushy eyebr ws .

His hair long, white, with the snowy purity of his c seventy years , brushed ba k from his forehead, and resting on the shoulders which had learned to bear so much . — H e wore his abbe cloak and he was indeed the inﬁnite oo e very picture of the priest of g dn ss . Some

1 04 Face to Face with Great Musicians

end was a grand piano - while in a corner stood a s tatue of Elizabeth of Hungary. “ — I was born of good parents o f a family the r ne noblest in all Hungary . But poverty and di e cessity came into the life of the Liszts with my

gran dfather ; and I peeped into this world, the son of a steward on the estate of the beloved Prince

Esterhazy . “ I lo ved to attend the church serv ice and listen ‘ ’ to the organ with its Ave M aria . I yearned to One play, to sing forth the melody in my heart . day when my father ask—ed me what I should rather be than anything else I pointed to the picture ‘ ’ e of Beethoven and said such as h . “I attribute my early rise in music to my good F H e parents . ather was an amateur pianist . had a love of music such as I have rarely seen in the dilet H e the s tante . worshiped at the feet of famou H e artists and composers . encouraged me to think ’ ﬁrst it . music, and want But at he didn t intend to

make me a professional . Still my early demonstra H e tions at the piano surprised him . had taught — me the rudiments in his unknowing way he knew was no theory of study. And I soon proving better n e s than he was . M y ﬁ g r were too small to reach

all the chords I wanted, and I would devise methods h I ’ d of playing t em anyway. hit some notes with o my n se . o r So n eve ybody knew I could play . Kind friends

a for nc l . p id my i identa expenses Hummel, the Face to Face with Liszt 1 05

o s to teacher my father wanted f r me, refu ed take me except at prices fabulous for us. But along came zem C his . y, and he did it free . Think of generosity — I w as an impetuous child thought everything c was too simple, ompletely balked at supervision . And it was only after my dear father gave me a c severe le ture that I listened to Czerny . “ — One day I w as about twelve I went into a mu sic difﬁcul c shop to see some t ompositions . They were all too easy . I annoyed the clerk by my childish ‘ ’

. H e egotism said, Here, play this, it s the most ’ difﬁ cul c o o f h t musi I kn w , and e handed me Hum ’ B-ﬂat as mel s Concerto in , and I played it if it were nothing . “ Never shall I forget on the occasion of one of c t my early re itals, that Bee hoven, in attendance, m jumped to the platfor , clasped me in his arms and passionately kissed me . That kiss I have never for — c gotten it has inspired me to play and to ompose . “ M y father had been trying to visit Beethoven ’ see with me, but the great man couldn t anybody. win t We tried every idea to his attention, but wi h c out success . Finally he was indu ed to come to that

an o c . concert . It was ep h in my life After that it was one success after another . “ ' — To me no obstacle w as ever oﬁ ered I came at n a time when the world wanted me and my ki d .

is . That , I speak of my piano playing But my com os — p ition there is where I tread on toes , there is where I was offered resistance . I was speaking a 1 06 Face to Face with Great Musicians

new on u new o u . t g e, and the orthodox wished no t ng e “ W h his o — Poor agner, wit great peras how he suﬁe ed e win r and strov to attention . I helped him r and I helped eve y new prophet . If I were with

- you to day, and you asked me what more than any ‘ h : t ing else is needed, I would say this Get closer, m o t n you co p sers , to the breath of na ure, get dow to s o he the heart f the people, listen to the music of t oo s si the o br k and the rivers, p out honey from y ur s of o c ff eo live c mmer e, and o er it up to the p ple them ’ u selves. I have never fo nd in all my life that the o people did n t understand . “ I remember the ﬁrst time I played my sym ‘ ’ n o —the ss pho ic p em, The Prelude pre laughed, — called me a clown said that no real music should i tr . o y to reproduce the mpressions of life N w, I am admitted with my prelude to the best pro ” grams. That is my monument . “ B t ou be s e y wha do y wish to mo t rememb red, “ s b e o s we a ked, y your po ms, your rhaps die , your ” o os o ? ratori , y ur books old man n The paused a moment. The “ — c I know listen . No man ever ame to me with

a message in his soul but that I would listen to him . No man ever brought to me the merest spark o f genius but that I tried to fan it into ﬂame and em o courage him to g forth . “ s You will excuse me now, and the ma ter rose . ' ” e ou J th . oi It is h r for my friends to arrive n us. e us a his H led by the h nd into reception room.

1 08 Face to Face with Great Musicians

lake and glided past us. But now the air grew he o restless, t mo n hid behind a cloud . The storm approached . Suddenly the thunder crashed ; the — lightning crackled and raged the world was in a

n . tumult . We listened, frightened and coweri g The sobbing of the wind ceased the rain gradually less — n was as . ened u til all quiet a tomb Then, with a the e mysterious accent, there came from distanc hbe — c churc lls the singing of a heavenly hoir . We c lifted our heads and ame out of our dream . as e It w th spirit of the piano . While We listened the piano revealed a gorgeous

n . It was scene of mountai view a calm, placid, spring day . Bluish clouds hung low above the sum s mit . The buds were beginning to bloom . Play

fully trickling down the steep incline, a brook mer t rily whispered its lifetime song. Here and here a a f snake wormed its w y across the tufted ground . O a sudden hun dreds of little nymphs and fairies and

gnomes appeared . Out of their midst rose a stately — in . beauty trailing robes She danced swiftly,

lightly, gracefully, passionately, like the weird maid ’ the of Herod s court . All the while tiny band

- pirouetted about her. Then the vision cleared and the mountain and clouds and everything else dis the a as appeared, and once more spirit of the pi no w

still . With the playing of the piano we closed our eyes

and our fancy pictured three old men . They were oo se ated in a dingy r m, but their faces were lighted Face to Face with Liszt 1 09

’ w a d n his r ith joy . One held a violin n eath quive ing bow each impassioned string groaned and trem in con bled like a living thing, and each speak g note tained ff Joinin him nu ine able sweet sadness . g , other drew out notes like sobs from the moaning ’ cello ; while the third struck the strings of his harp and seemed to have reached the heights of heaven. They went through all the shades of fury and when they stopped we could scarcely realize that it was the spirit of the piano which had been talking to us all the while . s s and an -e Then Li zt had ri en, with all mbracing was smile bowing to us.

“ The pri ncipal works of F ranz Liszt are : Divina Comme ” “ ” dia S m ho F us t S m hon E isodes rom Le y p ny, a y p y. p f ’ “ ” “ “ ” “ nau s F aus Tasso Les Pré udes Ber S m t, , l , g y ” “ ” “ ” “ ' ” “ hone M aze a Pr ometheus F esthlan e 0r p , pp , , g , ” “ ” heas H hlacht H uldi un s M ar ch Vom Fcl: p , unnemc , g g , Z no onc um M eer M arch, Piano Concerto No. I , Pia C erto ion M ass o . 2 s un ari an Cor nat N , Graner M as , H g o , “ ” “ ” “ C ris tin L e o the H o E izabeth The Be : h , eg nd f ly l , ll

o S S un arian Rha sodies . f tr as burg, ix H g p

iszt L Impor tant work on Franz L by . R amann. FACOWQ

LU LLY

FACE TO FACE WITH LU LLY

1 63 2-1 687

H E poet La Fon taine had been growing in

favor with the King, Louis XIV . And M c Lully, the Court usi ian, looked on the

- s1 tuation with exceeding ill humor. It did not please Baptiste Lully to see any one upplan t him in the graces of His Majesty even H e for one brief moment . was too much the cour tier, the jester, the politician the Richelieu , to over

1 1 2 Face to Face with Great Musicians

rs of nothing like him to upset, that all these yea plodding and scheming have been spent . The little Florentine peasant ruling the world of music and ruling the king and ruling the world does not appeal

to him . Well, my dear, good poet, you had best

take yourself back to your garret, and compose your

as to . empty nothings , come before me “ e r ! H does not like my ancest y, well I do not H e c ! like yours . does not like my artisti career, well — You have not heard, Lalouette, about me well, c he will tell you . La Fontaine will arry the whole e ! rs stor to the king and th court . Let him But ﬁ t y — I will tell it myself o nly I will tell it truly and a m ke it worse than he dares . “ was an d I born in a dirty family, rogues was wretches . They turned me out when I scarcely sa old enough to y my prayers . But I had a voice to o here, and I used g about the old inns singing and da picking up a bite of food and drink . One y I ot F an e g to r ce, traveling as boy to th Chevalier de — Guise and an old Franciscan monk heard me sing liked me and taught me to play the guitar . “ I have never forgotten that instrument, and I it —I it love can always amuse myself with , strum and ming boring people to death in the attempt . — it Our poet does not like the guitar is too plebeian . So it Fontaine— I be , La shall write a hundred min n it n ets for , and you shall wit ess the king, listening o r of nf to a whole rchest a them, with u eigned de light 2 Face to Face with Lully 1 1 3

m k c and a s . I a it hen scullion, he ays Sure, I s know how to coo k and wash dishes and do thing , is he which more than . Oh, Lalouette, times have selﬁsh made me a , grasping old man, unthinking of an d the has the ways needs of others . But world am made me that way, Lalouette, and I a very dif ferent being from the boy who played violin in the c kit hens of the restaurants . I fought my way out c m of the kit hen gang with my violin, and brought y s self to the top rank of violinists a I fought . And that rhymester thinks to place himself in my way to undermine my dominion ! “ ‘2 Am I mean to my Wife . Do I not call her ‘ ’ -in- ? father, father law Do I not give him a place ? be in my home without charge To sure, the old father gave me a dowry of value when I took his ’ daughter. Don t I let my wife take care of the ’ money ? What if I do cast sheep s-eyes at pretty ladies ? Am I not human ? “ You have watched me since the day the King c took me into his servi e, appointed me to a place in his band, raised me to the rank of director. You have seen me lay my scheme, until the whole em e pire of music came under my hand, and with it th

King. You have seen how the direction of the opera ff M o was o ered me by his ajesty, beseechingly, y u

a it . might s y, and how at last I accepted You have seen those great nobles of the court coax and plead how with me to play for them, and I have refused . You have seen the M inister himself come into this 1 1 4 Face to Face with Great Musicians

r a room, t ying to wheedle me into urging some ide of his with the King. You have seen how I man aged my plans so that the King made me his sec

retar . y Tell me, Lalouette, who has ruled France M since ? Has it been the inister, has it been the King ? — No, no, it has been Lully and every step of it has been my work . But, Lalouette, you must act ? warily, understand

Down to the rehearsal of the Opera, Lully and his c s and secretary now dire t their step . The singers musicians are waiting, and as he steps into the thea s e ter, instantly a new atmo ph re is to be observed, the old wolf has certainly arrived . ’ the Lully steps into director s place, he taps the

first . c baton, lifts it for a sharp note But the or hes h H e tra as not responded as Lully desires . throws “ at his baton to the floor, and stamps his feet The is it ? tack, the attack, where You know what I want, how I have drilled you , I want the thing to first o sing at the note, I want g and rhythm, where is it ? I want you all to start and bow together like ” one . Now . At last it starts, and all seems going well , when c he drops his baton on e more . “ b at Marias, you played a fl , it is not in the b ” . So music, it is , play it as it is written the re hearsal progresses, and the singers come out . Co first o - lasse is , a dark and go d looking little lady. She sings and acts with her eyes glued on the little

1 1 6 Face to Face with Great Musicians

There are words in your lines I would never per

. av ﬁrst en and mit Le e that sc e with me, I will cor ” rect it . and And now for the music . First Lully read reread the words until he knew them by heart ; then sa c a he t at the harpsi hord, and b nged the keys, all dirty and covered with snuff ; then he sang in his

broken voice, then he called Lalouette and dictated

it to him . E e very once in a while, he would interrupt th “ music dictation with remarks like this : H e thinks H e as to overpower me . would do the same I have,

if he could . Lalouette, I believe I shall pur r chase myself an estate in Grignon . The Fi st Presi has dent bid pounds for the land . I shall o a g bove him . I have the whole idea of the build

in it . g worked out in my head . I will do Also,

Lalouette, I shall put up a suburb . I have the place c M onle s all pi ked at the Butte des u . There shall be working buildings, factories , shops and apart

ments . Lalouette, I have more money than — anybody thinks ﬁfty-eight sacks of Spanish dou ’ ’ bloons I m and louis d or . worth over a million

francs, Lalouette . You shall have a goodly bit n e as whe I die. If the King do s I wish him - to night, I shall be enriched with a half a million in o a e more a little time . La F nt in will get his see medicine, you watch and . “ — That horse trot of the other day ou remem — y ber that theme I will use it now as an air for the Face to Face w ith Lully 1 1 7

violins . Close the door, Lalouette, that wind howls ” in a key all out of tune with the opera . o S with the interruptions . n a The sce e with its recitative, aria and d nce, has — meanwhile been written lofty, regal, passion — ate an d deeply enthralling the kind of music which for centuries was to be the example for all operatic c o — c i c c r omp sers the musi wh h inspired Glu k, Gret y in and even Wagner. The scene, written with the ter ections c — j of the rafty miser represented, as it conﬂic were, a t between the god and the devil in the man . — Evening now and the grand ball at the Palace . “ c c You must be wary now, Lalouette, hu kled Lully an d th e secretary nodded and wondered what the M as ter had in mind . The King on his throne looked not so lovingly Fontaine at Lully as he would have liked . La sat by the royal side and glared triumphantly at the discomforted musician . But Lully smiled back as e e though he really nj oy d it . Time wore on with its ban ality of retort and rep artee the , spoken from lisping lips of bored cour tiers . : oe us The King spoke Lully, our p t tells that he has written an epic to our royal person, which he has given you to be transcribed to b eﬁtting ” music .

. H e Lully smiled . His time had arrived looked “ m as ockingly at La Fontaine, he said, Yes, sire, 1 1 8 Face to Face w ith Great Musician s

it is true that our poet has essayed the supreme task u of accomplishing that p rpose, but it is but a mock ing imitation of the sort of tribute my muse seeks . All my life I have been waiting to build my great est masterpiece in singing about your beloved per — son it will be the greatest music ever written . Would you have me ruin it with a base rhyme ? O r would you have me still to wait until the poets now working under my authority complete their in spired verses ? “I will sing you a bit of the music in advance . “ The King turned to Lully and said, Wait, Lully, triﬂe and throw out the you have been given . Hence ” n forward you are my K ight of the Drama as well .

‘ ’ The principa l works of L ully are : Let Fetes de l a mour ” “ ” “ ” et de Bacchus Cadmus et H er mione A ces te , , l , “ ” “ ” “ Le Car nava At s Isis Ps che Be l, y , , y , llé ” ” ” ro hah Pros er ine Le Triom he de L A ou b , p , p m r, “ ” ” Phaéton Ama dis de Gau e Ro and , l , l , “ ” “ ’ ” Ar mide et Renaud Acis et Ga atee as tora s s , l , p l , ym

honics etc. p ,

Important works on Jea n Baptis te L ully by F etis : Les M usiciens les us ce ebres b M de M ontrand pl l y .

1 20 Face to Face with Great Musician s

a and ﬁn ers h nd, the admirably modeled g are lightly c imprinted on the cheek and hin . so Now muss the black hair into a disorder, that um the locks fall back over the shoulders, add an m trimmed beard, growing with a natural sy metry that discloses the graceful curve of the lip and the c contour of the heek ; throw open his shirt, display — ing an attenuated chest and that is Pergolesi . Giovanni Battista Pergolesi is much overwrought

- to night . Maria Spinelli is in great distress . G M and e iovanni loves aria, she had r turned his ff c - a e tion . But to night he must see her in the home h c n 1 s . of a other man, or accept own senten e of death H e is thinking now of M aria and their ﬁrst meet he six . t . ing, just months ago It was in opera house “ ” ’ Per olesi s c- its Olympiade, g musi drama, was at s c c was ﬁr t performan e . All the Roman popula e

in attendance . They remembered with delight the many charm

ing things he had written before . The young boy

was a musical lion . When an Italian creates an — opera which succeeds e very one is on tip-toe for — his new creation every one from the bootblack to “ M ” . M the King They remembered The aid istress, they remembered lovely little sacred songs and arias ’ you couldn t forget but just had to hum . So the city turned out to hear the new Pergolesi

opera . s The composer took his place at the harp ichord, and played the overture, the curtain rose . But the Face to Face with Pergolesi 1 2 1 — audience what was the matter with the people ? a They listened without enthusi sm . They had come prepared to be thrilled . They were not . They had

c r n it . ome p epared to cheer. They were u able to do So sat n they sile t . Then they hissed. They grew ’ an d s An c mean uproariou . Italian audien e doesn t cheer its hero one moment after that hero loses his c rowd . They turn quickly and this time they went and o hot heavy for p or Pergolesi . ! Oh, the shame of it Some one threw an orange .

It hit Giovanni squarely in the eye . Others took

th e . o c s ﬁrin . up hint Chairs, b xes, sti k came g at him H e was disgraced . A woman pushed her way through the infuriated

oo . mob, and st d alongside Giovanni She raised her “ ” han d and shouted Stop ! It was Maria Spinelli of the princely - house of

Carlati . , she who must be obeyed The crowd, sud den l its y called to senses , slunk away and left them the n o e the e t together, you g c mpos r and b au iful u s yo ng princes . “ ” she Please, whispered, bending over him and touching him on the shoulder until he lifted his head, and turned his eyes in amazement at her. Do the — not mind . I think music is beautiful they

it . could not understand , that is all his and n Giovann i opened eyes wider wider, the fell on his knees before her, and gave her the salute due her regal position. “ ou she I have heard much about y , Pergolesi, 1 22 Face to Face with Great Musicians

told him, and I have often played your music . There is something so evanescent and fragrant about it . It breathes so of poetry and seems to bring into of my life all that I have been dreaming , and which has been forbidden me .

That was the beginning, and love had ripened w as new ere it had been sown . To Pergolesi this a sort of love . The youth had followed many will ’ o - - H e c the wisps . had had strange roman es , exotic, H e passionate . had given of himself to many

o satisﬁed . w men, but never had a woman really him

In his search for love, Pergolesi had ruined his health . In his search for the right woman he had known the disappointments of knowing the wrong woman .

w as so ff . But with this new love, it all di erent ’ him Maria didn t ask to give up his ideals . She raised them . She did not laugh at his dreams . She

no . strengthened them . She did t make life harder was She a staff and a support and an inspiration . How Pergolesi loved M aria ! And he loved her with no deeper sentiment than she returned to him . It was the day before yesterday ; their plans had been made for the future . Suddenly the doors were ’ thrown open . Maria s three brothers marched into o the ro m, their swords drawn before them . “ ” “ we Pergolesi, said Leo, the oldest, have been watching you and your impudence in daring to make love to our sister . You must leave her and never ” see her again .

1 24 Face to Face with Great Musician s — I I . . the word . have lived I have lived enough am I have loved . I going to leave the world and ” c conse rate myself to God .

The third day, and the brothers returned ; but w as M A Maria Sister aria in Santa Clara . year dragged and the bells tolled for the passing of Siste r M aria . And Pergolesi, kneeling in the chapel, heard ﬁrst for the time the strains of his Stabat Mater, So t weeping in his heart . out of hat lost love came the M c beautiful Stabat ater, whi h for centuries to c n J ome was to ring out mournful and sighi g. ust ﬂowers as lovely grow out of a sickened, deserted

so h . soil , did t is music sprout from the dead heart Then a sixth month loitered on and Giovanni Bat

tista Pergolesi passed out, and on his grave is written “ Giovane e Moribondo” ( “Young and ?AM Vﬂ A

M EYERBEE R

XVII FACE TO FACE WITH M EYERBEER

1 791 -1 864

T was very evident from the way Giacomo Meyerbeer approached us that he liked to cut

ﬁ ure . c a g His lothes were immaculate, and they had been draped to his rather shapely person,

f . O f c quite for ef ect middle height, he arried him e self well, smiled genially, and display d his teeth to their best advantage . The face was clean shaven, c - e the brow high and intellectual , the heek bones p culiarl y set, rendering unusual character to the 1 26 Face to Face with Great Musicians

n ﬁrm countena ce ; the mouth but kindly, the eyes

large and deep set . His hair was plentiful and was neatly brushed in a pompadour effect over his

temples, in the manner of a gentleman of the day . am I must tell you about myself. I a young ’

c . fellow, a little singer in Meyerbeer s ompany I have known the gentleman very well . I have done little things for nim which brought me into close

c can . ontact with him . I talk about him knowingly “ We were rehearsing The Huguenots, working

at a fever strain to bring it out on time , and in the manner it deserved . “ -mo min M Good g everybody, eyerbeer shouted grandiloquently, pleasantly anticipating the return c salute from all the ompany, which came and

brought the smile again to his lips . We wondered what he would ﬁnd wrong this

time, for, as much as we loved him, we were put

on edge whenever he appeared . Nothing escaped him ; the minutest details came under his obser — the the c vation singing, a ting, the stage setting, the ’ position of the orchestra s chairs ° The stage director was expecting a compliment — from the maestro to-day the scenery he had laid out was elaborate and beautiful— and “What do ” you think, maestro ? “I think you cannot have very much faith in my

music, that you spend so much effort on the scen ! ” M b ’ ery was eyer eer s injured retort . Imagine and only last week he was saying we were surely

1 28 Face to Face with Great Musician s done it he would have closed his eyes and swallowed it all with delight .

Such traits as these, I imagine, were responsible “ : for Heine writing When he is dead, who will ” take care of his glory ?

I do not think the world will neglect to do that, “ ” “ H u ue when it hears Robert the Devil , The g ” ’ ” “ t L Africaine no s, , The Prophet, and Di norah , and all those other masterful , tuneful works . I have faith in the people Who know great music b and will not let it be passed y. The other day the master showed me a passage out of a writing by Richard Wagner— “M eyerbeer is -c mu a miserable music maker, the weather ock of sic who , swings with the fashions of the day, and who really is a dirty little Jew banker who took it in his head to write operas . ’ e H e : H wasn t angry or grieved . said Who would have thought that he would say that of me ! How can he be so narrow to utter nasty th ings be ’ I m ew ? H e ew cause a J himself the son of a J , the Jewish re husband of a woman of extraction, the — cipient of Jewish philanthropy how can he act ? it ? In like that Religion means nothing, does ‘ ’ my Huguenots there is the story of the struggle — between Catholic and Protestant written by a e J w . “ Wagner, Wagner, great genius but petty, nar d row, bigoted . Here, rea this he wrote not so many ‘ years ago about me : It would seem impossible for Face to Face with Meyerbeer 1 29 any one to advance further ; he has reached the su ’ preme heights . Who would think a man could be so changeable and ungrateful— when he remembers c r how he ame to me, penniless , sta ving, unknown, ‘ ’ ‘ and I produced for him Rienzi and The Flying ’ ” c m Dut h an, and gave him his start . “ ” - I said, You are so good, but he shook his head and denied that he had done anything other than “ was I good for the world . brought Jenny Lind to prominence because I owed 1 t to the world to present

such beauty of voice to all mankind . How could any one do otherwise ? What ﬁner thing could I do with my name ? “ I am ndeed, my friend, I a man of the world . I have been accused of debasing my art before the c altar of publi praise . I know some of my closest ’ ’ s m o . I I m friends have said human, just a living ’

. I m little man But in the big all for Art . When I paid the francs forfeit for delaying the ‘ ’ production of my Huguenots that I might perfect it sacriﬁcin ? , was that g the art “ When I was a boy, my friend, I had no need

for aught . My father, John Beer, and my friend M eyer gave me wealth . I took the name M eyer c be ause he was so good, added it to my own and M t —did made it eyerbeer, hus you know that ? “ I c i went into music be ause I loved t . All my

life I have slaved for it . As a boy I studied with an old teacher, Weber, and he recommended me to ‘ the great Abbe Vogler. I Will write a fugue for 1 3 0 Face to Face with Great Musician s

’ nd . him, I thought, a I sent it on to the Abbe b ﬁnall u Weeks went y, and y my fug e came back with a long discourse on how to write a fugue . sad c Poor old teacher was very , but I went ba k to work and made another and sent it to Vogler. ‘ ’ ‘ on Come , my boy, to Darmstadt, he wrote me, and ’ ? be a son to me . Was that for praise or art “ You know, my friend, I started out in life to be c c a pianist . When I was all ready for my on ert v o o —he tour I went to hear Hummel , the irtu s Opened new vistas of the possibilities of piano-play ing. I went back to my room, and spent six months ? perfecting myself anew . Was that for art or not Did not the great critic M oscheles say of me that had I chosen I would have been the most renowned pianist of any time ? I gave up my piano for my n composition, because it called me, and I have bee a slave to it . — I ou Good, kindly master . I know have seen y poring over the little scores of unknown operas you have gathered them from everywhere, and your library is the most complete musical storehouse in — the world . You read everything you are alert to everything, you let nothing escape you . You listen ’ c s to everybody s suggestions and criti isms . I it ” “ not enough, I ask him, that the public responds ‘ to your wonderful operas Z “ ”

It . is, my friend, he says to me I believe in — the people they know ; but it has injured me most t he c deeply to have harge made against me, of all

1 3 2 Face to Face with Great Musician s

was wounded when Weber said of the Italian ized “ opera of M eyerbeer : It made my heart bleed to see a composer of creative power stoo p to become an ” H e c imitator to win the crowd . never re overed

from that dig.

Another thing. To my mind, too many people ’ try to describe M eyerbeer s music without knowing

what it really means, and I remember very distinctly what the composer himself said to John Ella “ M the y friend, you have heard opera once, have ? it you not You are going to write about , or tell it so ? am me what you think of , Well , I going to send you tickets that you may hear it at the next — A fourteen performances use my box . t the end

of that time, I shall send for you, and you may tell — whether you like it we will have a little supper so ? together, And those suppers— nothing like them was ever — “ conceived in the mind of mortal man little sup ” — ﬁnd per why, you would every delicacy under sun M the heaped up at the table, and eyerbeer would pretend to eat very much— the butler was ﬁlled an wary, removing the plate d giving him one—s c an empty u h conspiracies, to make gour ’ mands of one s guests ! — an d King man you did so much for me, Jenny Lind and Wagner and Weber and many others—you

were all too human, vanity , vanity, you owned a bit o more than y ur share . And how afraid of death . You hid your face in your hands when your little Face to Face w ith Meyerbeer 1 33

babies died, and you wrote nothing but religious c hants for years after. You feared your own death, “ ' E too. Imagine giving me a letter like this TO B O P N D A F M Y D H am E E TER EAT . I to be permitted to live face upward for four days after I am sup

am . posed to be dead . I afraid to be buried alive am When I put in my tomb, there is to be a guard ﬁn ers for a week outside, and to my g and toes strings

are to be attached, that if I should move, bells will u ring, and the g ard will rush inside and give me air ” and water . ti I remember one me, when you received this let a how ter from George S nd, you laughed and cried With joy “ c n an Oh, musi ian , you are more of a poet tha y

us. n of Between a gels and demons, between heaven and hell you have seen man divided against him self. You have painted the strife, terrors, pangs, promises of mortal man . This must be because a ’ ’ man s heart beats under the artist s frame . Tell us how upon a few stanzas you were able to construct c c ? chara ters of su h individuality Oh, master, you ” c are a noble dramatic poet, an arch roman er. An d how happy you were when Herbert Spencer, thinker and philosopher, summed up your career in “ this fashion : M eyerbeer combines the two requi sites for ﬁne music ; he has dramatic expression and ” melody .

I applaud you, great composer, I a little singer in your companies, and you are so happy that you 1 34 Face to Face with Great Musicians

I is could throw your arms about me for it . t all right, your littleness is part of your greatness .

“ ’ The pri ncipal works of M eyerbeer are M argherita d An ” “ ” “ ” “ ou l l Crociato m E itto R obert le ia b e Les j , g , D l , ” “ ” “ H u uenots E i n F eldla er i n Sch esien Le Pro h g , g l , p “ ’ ” “ ” éte L E toile da N ord i norah , , D , “ ” “ ' ” O verture to Struens ee F acheltbnze Schi er Cca tca , , ll ar arch Coro a y M , n tion M arch.

Im ortant works i om on G ac o M e erbe r A. L p y e by de assalle,

A. Pou um H g , J W eber .

1 36 Face to Face with Great Musicians

o sun n n red in the dusky , estle cozily together, defyi g o in the oncoming train, emblem of civilizati n and v as on n i . Through Catalo ia, Navarre, New and Old n ff Castile, A dalusia, each province o ering new and s n tra ge sights and peoples , at last we come into the n G the a cient city of ranada . Noble rises Alhambra, n of the fortress of the thirteenth ce tury, the palace n of the Moorish conquerors . Rich ess and elegance n n o the colunms and s t or ame tati n, in the arche , ell of n n e a s of o ova the a cie t splendor, when th c liph C rd received the greatest artists and thinkers of the olden z d world, and civili ation revolved around Grana a. s he and In the treets, lazily t crowds move back fo h a n m rt , m ny standi g at co ers in idle conversation, o cos everybody smoking. All are in gay c lored umes me s and t . The n are in their knee trouser s sashe . The women are in their rich lace mantillas, ﬂ an d a ower a big comb in their hair, their arms in fan c in bare, and their hands a , whi h they use m s ra wa n the o t g ceful y, swingi g it and their bodies r in ha mony . Their skins are a dull white or a dusky t a s a e n f n brown ; heir h nd r lo g and grace ul , sle der and delicate. As we move along the streets beggars plaintively k as a . n for assist nce They are ha dsome, the men, an d ld “ o r . cr to us and hagga d the women They y , Oh, n of n atives a foreig land, may God be merciful and o keep you Tall, p werful men, with lace and dia monds strut of n , , like warriors old alo g the street, Face to Face with Granados 1 3 7 an d s -ﬁ h e s whis . t r all step a ide The bull g , people per, and regard them as true heroes .

had c . We ome to meet Granados, the composer O f a sudden his name had been blazoned all over “ ” c o escas the world . Criti s said that the Opera G y field had opened a brand new of music . It had been the first great opera of a modern Spaniard they knew o t c w e w r h while . And to this ity had been sent in order to talk with him before he left for the U c first n nited States, to condu t there the performa ce “ ” o esc h of G y as at t e M etropolitan Opera House . c We found him at last in a ozy room, his wife and little daughter along with him at the door, making

us c . wel ome Extremely polite and gentle they are, d a c an inst ntly we feel at home . The omposer is a c man of medium height, dressed in s rupulous taste, c the glossy bla k hair being neatly combed, the full black mustache covering a large part of his face . us Large, luminous brown eyes softly fall on , and ’ “ we h n E ames s t i k of Emma remark, They seem to ” see what is not to be seen .

His manner is very modest and simple, but When c he talks on his musi , instantly he grows enthusiastic, c c terribly enthusiasti , and he hanges into a big, ar “ M dent boy of a talker . y he laughs . “When I went to Paris to put it on I had not c any expectation of suc ess . The shock of success almost made me ill . My songs and my pian o work had been talked of around my dwelling place, then o r in the neighborho d, soon throughout my count y , 1 38 Face to Face with Great Musician s

ﬁ s c and r t thing I knew I was called to Fran e . My ‘ ’ Go escas ! poor y Almost twenty years before , the h ca idea for t e opera came to me , as I be me inspired

With the paintings of our great Goya . The pictures were in my heart, the life of the painter seemed c heroic to me, and I wrote the musi , asking my friend ‘ a u s Go P riq et to do the word . Eighteen years ago ’ c yes as was produced and failed . I was heartbroken . d a ﬁ u e . w s It doubtless deserved failure, I g r But I unhappy. To me it seemed to embody the spirit of

Spain, as it is not to be found in tawdry boleros and a habaneras , in coarse t mbourines and castanets . “ Spanish music is much more complex and subtle s than that . There i real color in Spanish life ; its ﬁlled music must be with longing, sadness, tragedy, ‘ ’ and depth of heart . Carmen is a lovely entertain ment, but it is not Spain . Spain is not all dancing z and castanets . Spain is not all la iness and bull h n ﬁ ti . g g Spain is a nation of wonderful beauties . It is the last of the great countries to retain its primi tive aloofness . Some places in Spain are absolutely isolated . The natives never were outside of their c villages . Each provin e has something equally beau ff tiful and unusual to o er you . Wound up in every life is the whole past, glorious history of Spain, from ’ oe the time of Cadiz s glory under the Ph nicians , in the land of the Iberian’ s memories the Roman inva was sions, when Spain the richest province of the em

pire memories of the reign of the Goths, the coming

of the Moors, the coming of Christian rule the great

1 40 Face to Face with Great Musicians

There you have a great composer - and with him to-day have we not Alrneda and Albeniz We made a gesture as if to recall him to his own H c him narrative. e be ame greatly annoyed, made c self like a querulous, petulant hild . His wife n i i to gla ced at him in mpat ence, and this seemed “ : o n . serve the purpose, for he said I beg y ur pardo A — a or passing madness gesture, a random word ’ look sets me off . It s my nerves you Will not mind . “ After I had studied with these teachers at home I n went to Paris, and learned With the French violi

s Beriot . i t, Charles de Previously I had had some of slight experience in compo sition . At fourteen I — ‘ fered my ﬁrst original music I called it A Span ish ’ i t . Dance, and people liked “ H ere is a little something that may interest you . A a w as was childhood necdote . I ten, and I brought o D om bef re Pedro the First, Emperor of Brazil, de o and u H e was p sed traveling thro gh Spain . a great ‘ character ; he talked of all other kings as my col ’ was s the n an d leagues . I a ked to play pia o, I did o Af r o s . te ward Dom Pedro, old and feeble, to k me h s r in i arms and kissed my forehead, and said, ve y ‘ — dramatically : This is the only majesty o f this — ’ child here in this place . “ a c wo and n Well, I studied in Fr n e t years, the c u h h s back to my beloved o ntry, and marriage wit t i and m n my only love, then the little girl, after a y

years . “ So n r n to ss . all this time, I have bee t yi g expre Face to Face with Granado s 1 41

the voice of my country . Everything I have done h — as been spontaneous right from the soil . I have t co o had no patience to study the o her mp sers, no curiosity to see how they do it . Friends have told me I could be a better musician if I would only

. n study I do not wa t to study , I do not want to in write the language of foreign composers . That

would be all wrong. “ See, here is what I have done . I have taken the

tonadillas . They are like the lieder in Germany . ’ 1 They come from the middle ages, real songs of ou people . They have no development ; they are merely

an c . avowal , a ry, a wish They are admirable ma e al t ri for great musical ideas . Why ruin their value by studying the German or the F rench o r the Italian method ? If people can’ t enjoy Spanish music just ’ ’ — so ? as Spanish music, then it s not good isn t that s is But, plea e, tell everybody that Spain bigger than the castanets and dances . The dances are all right . Would you like to see a real Spanish dance ?

After dinner we are led into a little inn . It is —at smok crowded all the tables sit men and women, n ing . Fi ally, a woman goes up to a little platform, sits at a piano, and starts a wild theme . Instantly out come guitars and castanets and tambourines . — U p jumps this one and that tables are pushed back. Nobody recogn izes anybody else ; there are no such

t . things as par ners Women take tiny steps, keeping their feet glued together, wriggling from the hips in rhythm with the music . Madder and madder the 1 42 Face to Face with Great Musician s

c dancers become, yelling and s reaming. Ole, ole,

chi ulka la o . Gracia, Balie la g , Salud . Consuel ” Anda anda . Ole, ole . o us : Enrique Granad s , smiling, turns to This is

the music you have heard as being Spanish music . Would you call your American or English music the ragtime of your dance halls H e us H e e takes back to his home . go s to the piano and plays it like an orchestra— with the

rounded harmonies you might hear in a symphony . ﬁne Lovely songs are accompanied ; , feminine, tender

melodies whisper of lovers in Aragon or Andalusia . c t Somehow or other, the olor and rhy hms of the

towns and mountains, the landscapes, and the real spirit of the people we had seen are conjured up be fore us ; somehow or other the history of the nation

is the , retold by the languorous , tender man at piano

1 44 Face to Face with Great Musicians

ﬁrst s clear . It is this thing and then that which goe

o . wrong. One tells Henri to g here, he goes there But if Henri were the only one who makes life c one series of annoyan es that would be all right .

But it is every one . The students are mischievous imps— they cannot understand one kind of chord o from another . There is that impudent Berli z, who his s tries to tell master what to do . There i the young Halevy, who is always trying some new joke . But what can one expect ? It is impossible to write new music with these duties piling up . If ’ there were not the family to support, it wouldn t be worth while . Yet, it would come as a struggle to — give up the pos t these young aspirants to compo sition need the kind of advice that they get from who n so the the one k ows well right, calm, crystal k os line, pure nowledge of classicism which he p sesses to the last degree . Where is that Henri ? It takes him so long to do — a anything . Ding, buzz full minute of ringing ﬁnall ru the bell, and y Henri comes shing into the room . “

sir M r. es Yes, , Cherubini ; y , sir . “ Why do you take so long ; do you not hear the ? bell Do you think I have nothing to do, but wait for you ? What do you say ﬁ ure The little shrunken g has risen from the desk,

. r c shaking with anger The feeble, hoa se voi e, ema nating from the narrow chest, is trembling with im n s p atie ce and ira cibility. His head is thrust for Face to Face with Cherubini 1 45

the ro ward, eyeb ws, bushy and thick, seem to glower

n c ﬁre . over the black, brillia t eyes, whi h shoot The

. A large, pointed nose is alive with impatience thick of the lock hair curiously curls over forehead, giving M a softness that belies all the other signs . y, how s d irritable i this ol gentleman . “ ow is h N , Henri, t is going to be kept up must I always correct you “ sir a But, , you give me no ch nce to explain “ ” a can be ? What expl nation there , Henri “ — That Berlioz you know your orders about go ff o r the ing in di erent do s, the girls through one, — boys through another Berlioz came through the girls’ door “ ! is scoun What, what, my heavens where the drel ? In the library off c ru ﬂies In And the dire tor, Che bini, . the hall e s as he go s i a very tall man with a very little boy. man s S The attempt to peak to Cherubini, but he H e o brushes him aside. is determined to sh w Ber oz s on li a le s . “ ‘ o s h 2 H ector, what d e t is mean “ i is c G s r. This a s ore of luck, “ — of Not the score this breaking the rules . You ’ know I said no going through the girls door you — o the wa Go o disobey you g and come right y. , g ; ” why do you not go ? “ am It is no crime I here to study. “ Study ? Study ? You go and do not come back - W I sa one n i — o I t . to day . hen y thing I mea g 1 46 Face to Face with Great Musician s e make a rule ; I ob y my own rules . Punctuality, c c regularity and everything orre t . This is a lesson for o c you, Berli z, whi h you might remember also ” for your music . - a The argument well nigh exh usts Cherubini, I ac bursting in his French, so heavy and talian in c H e ﬁnds ent . walks back to his room and the man and child awaiting him . it ? ? too What is Lessons You are big, and he ” an d is too small, he turns his back on the pair, c With a gesture of dismissal , expe ting them to be c gone. But the tiny hild goes to the piano, and starts a melody. Cherubini looks up in amazement . “ — Fine, my boy you are a member of the Con servator y already . I better be careful or you will e be showing me about music . H is like me as a child, my friend . My father played harpsichord ? ? and I did, too . How old are you Seven Good ; at ten I was placed in an orchestra With my violin m to substitute for the concert aster . Very good, boy . an d Henri , take this new student have him taken ” o f care . o Rushing fr m one thing to another, eternally c showing his points like a por upine, utterly devoid — M of tact, Cherubini born ari Luigi Carlo Z enobe Salvatore Cherubini of Florence— pursues the daily

. s routine Nighttime advances . Luigi look to the clock . Ah, it is time for the approach of the opera “ ” Ali Baba . “ o I will not g down to the opening. It is an old

1 48 Face to Face with Great Musician s

’ ‘ on my desk always, and Spohr said, I do, too ; it was that very opera which inspired me to write

1 mus c . “ r These are opinions that count, said Che ubini, “ t c n half to himself . That Bee hoven I annot u der his stand, but alongside of music, I feel like a little

c boy . I feel as if brought ba k to my own childhood ‘ In days, when Sarti, my teacher, said, order to

c write musi , you must sit in a cold room, with a ’ single lamp shspen ded from the ceiling. I never it could understan d what the lamp had to do With ,

wh w as . or y I forced to copy old , dry manuscripts ‘ ’

w a it . Sarti would say, That is the y to do I ’ wa couldn t understand, and I feel the same y about ” this Beethoven . ’ But the day s work must begin . Among the early callers is a gentleman who had left a score to be w as M read, and hinted that it by ehul , a writer of “ ’ c : I c some importan e . Says Cherubini an t believe this is by Mehul ; it is too bad for him to have done, et and y too good for you to have written . Whose, I it ? pray, is To a singer who asks for his advice : You have a big voice . I recommend you to enter the profession ”

. who of auctioneering To a man , knowing Cheru ’ bini s aversion to the flute, asks what is worse than a —“ ” . who flute Two flutes To Halevy, plays over a new score he has written ; no comment after the “ first s part, none after the second, and Plea e, master, F ace to Face with Cherubini 1 49

w do o —no m hat y u say after the last part co ment, w o ld nor he say a word . “ e rez W ﬁddler To sg , the tenor, ell, my former , what do you think ? If I had not forced you to ha ’ play t t part, substituting on a minute s notice,

you would have been scratching away, and instead, ” e ? ladies w ep for your sad notes, eh To a fellow ’ c who de lares that he hasn t heard the popular play, “ ” —“ The White Lady Waiting for her to change c c who s olor To a criti , ask what he would do to the villain who perpetrated a piece of music much : despised, but since accepted I wish I had com mi ed tt it . And now the grand news of Napoleon’ s return c o F n H e —he re sweeps a r ss ra ce . has escaped has on turned, and the Hundred Days are . Cherubini smiles— the old memories of the Emperor come back co m to him, how Napoleon m anded him to make c c musi , and then de lared it was too loud, and how he c : am , the little musi ian, had impudently said I r c sor y, Sire, but I annot suit my music to your intel

li ence . g You cannot understand music, Sire, it takes ff your mind away from a airs of state . To you it ” — c is a disagreeable noise all very ta tless , to be sure, but even before the Emperor, this proud churl could not give up his ideas, or adapt them to suit a con ’ queror s mind .

One memory brings on another. How he left o c Fl ren e, where he was not given his due, and came c to Paris, where he made su cess but never wealth 1 50 Face to Face with Great Musicians

how during the Days of Terror he had been forced

to hide in the convent of the Chartreuse de Parma . d And that terrible day, when he was dragge out by the mob of revolutionists and forced to lead them in — he their singing , with a violin under his chin, they, a with drunken voices, carrying him on a b rrel , with “ u an Keep it p, oh, Cherub, lead the b d, make music ” — ﬁnall the for the Revolution . That terrible day y ” production of the opera Lodoiska which made him un s famous over Europe, played for two h dred time

in one year alone . Henri comes rushing into the room and spoils all “ — a the memories . Monsieur, monsieur messenger — ” from the Emperor Napoleon has returned . “ Yes, yes, I know, I know . What would you have ?” ' The messenger enters . I have the pleasure and the honor to report to you that the Emperor Napo leon has made you a member of the Legion of ” Honor. “ — H e forgives me even Napoleon is goo d . Then comes the end of the Hundred Days and and then Waterloo, the crowning of King Louis

XVIII .

f . r Cherubini is called be ore the King Che ubini, in honor of your lifelong services, I desire to appoint c you my ourt musician .

. At n The old man is overcome last recognitio , and what does the cross, cranky, irascible fellow say : I am honored, Sire ; there is a better musician in

Rav ﬂ h ﬂ.

SU L LIVAN

FACE TO FACE WITH SU LLIVAN

1 842-1 900

IS u E n of England, the r ddy, glowing ngla d Co erﬁeld v David pp , where long lanes ha e their arrn outh turning, where down at Y houseboats e sp ak of other Peggottys and Riderhoods, where the London houses peep cheerily through fog, prom n and ising mutton and ale, rotund i nkeepers chat tering Samuel Pickwicks . is l— Oh, what a cozy, comfortable picture it the 1 52 Face to Face with Sullivan 1 53

ﬁre lace room large and warm, the p sputtering and c coughing, the servants nodding and a tive, with the c gentlemen almost buried in great, deep arm hairs , making their cigarettes and drolly telling stories with

wi . dry, biting wit, English t This gentleman you see with the chopstick whis n ad kers is Sir Arthur Sulliva . You just naturally mire the luxuriant growth of hirsute adornment on c c his cheeks and upper lip, all of whi h bla kly con trast With the dead whiteness of his forehead . The broad shoulders and stocky size of the gentleman the — scarcely mark composer you might, if you ’ c didn t know better, put him down as a hemist or H e member of Parliament . is a cosmopolitan, you w c admit, but someho or other there ome to your — “ memory the words of a famous Sullivan song Ih spite of all temptations to belong to other nations he remains an Englishman . c n The whole s ene is overpoweringly E glish, the kind of picture I love best in my dear Charles c Di kens . “ And m c you were telling him about A eri a, my ” dear Sir Arthur, drawls one of the other gentlemen,

W . the a S . none other than f mous Gilbert, lifelong ’ collaborator of Sullivan s . “ ” o ad Oh, yes, to be sure, the comp ser responds, “ . In wh justing his monocle deliberately America, y, the the music of my operas was all rage. It was ’ M and i ? ikado this Pinafore that, wasn t t, W . S .

I was distinctly honored several times . I was 1 54 Face to Face with Great Musician s — greeted by a crowd of gentlemen very peculiar, — you know and they said they wan ted to welcome ‘M me ; they liked my punch and my bearing . y ’ ‘ wa what ? I asked . Why, the y you handed it to ’ ‘ ’ ’

c . the Kid last night . I don t understand, I de lared ‘ ’ Aren t you Sullivan asked the leading one . I ‘ L ‘3’ ’ nodded . John . Sullivan And I don t know to this day who he is ! But you should have heard

them when I said I was Arthur Sullivan, the com ” poser. “ And i s tell Tim about your American translat on , ” u t Arthur, rged Gilbert, preferring to hear the o her the do talking. “ H M . Oh, yes ; they wanted me to change . S . to m c U . . S . S , and carry the action to A eri a and a lot — m of little things like that very little, said the A eri ’ — can manager, but it ll help and I had to introduce ca Ameri n verses to calm the chap . But a wonder w e ful time, Tim, had n Sir Arthur was k ighted every night, suggested

W . S . “ And Gilbert almost learned to whistle the music, ” he heard it so much . The laugh was on the librettist for the moment “ ’ but he turned the tables by saying : Didn t kn ow a ’ note of music that s why I chose young Arthur Sul irs livan to write around my words . F t time I met “ s o a the young, aspiring, eri us gr nd opera aspirant, ‘ : Sullivan, I said I beg your pardon, but could you tell me the importance of the inﬂated third over the

1 56 Face to Face with Great Musician s

w as c the that truly, like Moses, I radled among ” At th e reeds . this point monocle went to his eye

as a . again, Sir Arthur w ited for the response “ ’ in Oh, oh, oh, Sir Arthur ; that s a poor pun, ” deed . “ But it w as right . Though soon I forsook the

reeds and wanted to sing, to see myself as choir boy ﬁn all at the Chapel Royal , and that wish was y grati ed At c ﬁ . fourteen I tried my hand at omposition, e comp ted, you know, for the Mendelssohn scholar ff ship o ered by my later good friend, Jenny Lind, — I won it the and what do you think , youngest lad

i n i t . “ o ﬁi That started me . I had visions of Mendels in M z r . sohn, o art, and others re ca nated in me I went to Germany “ Enough to ruin you, interposed the silent one . ’ o —I d S they said lose my individuality, my na 1 I t onality, but no matter how try he remains h ‘ ’ hm . A an Englis an , the day of my Tempest c c music, when Charles Di kens ame behind stage and ‘ shook my hand and said : I know very little about ’ ﬁrs . t music, but I must confess I like yours That talk led to a dear friendship which w e never inter

rupted until Dickens passed out . We traveled to n gether over the Cha nel , and visited Rossini , who

said he had much hope for me . es Oh, y , serious music was to be my fate, but o c - - b al ng ame this good for nothing Gil ert, and ﬁrst ‘ ’ ‘ ’ M z c thing you know I was writing ikado, Pen an e, Face to Face with Sullivan 1 57

‘ ’ Patience, Pinafore, and other things , and we were m s n aking phra es all the Continent knew, u til ‘ ’ folks were saying : What ? Never ? Hardly ever —ha ha ! , but we did make people say that, every k ‘ ? N ? !’ body as ing, What ever Hardly ever ’ c . Humor, then , in musi I ve been following But has sometimes, in the still of night, when tragedy — — walked in my path, then then only tears come to me and laughter is forgotten . I remember the day e advis my father died . H had been a good friend, c the ing and en ouraging me to do best. Such happy times as we had spent together, singing, playing, like H e o two brothers . died and all the w rld seemed to ‘ T In fall about my ears . hen music swelled, and ’ Memoriam came to life to remain as my tribute to my father. “ low Later, when my dear brother was taken , c and sat my ompanion friend, I by his bedside and ‘ all through the night I heard the sad strains of The ’ ‘ — was Lost Chord Seated one day at the organ, I ’ weary and ill at ease . That is how the little song And came to life as my brother passed out of life . ‘ ’ Onward , Christian Soldiers came to me in a spirit s of melancholy, and as I listened to the mu ic inside ” o I m an ! f me , too, beca e exult t “ ” the o M y dear Sir Arthur, the silent one of tri “ h s ho n again breaks i quiet, t se very songs are evide ce of your ﬁne humor. The laughter is only real joy when the laugher knows how to weep . The fun o niest moments are often the saddest. For all y ur 1 58 Face to Face w ith Great Musician s

beautiful lyrics , your lovely oratorio, your great c grand opera, it is for your comi operas you will ” live . There is where you are most at home . “ — Yes, he could write a song for anything even ” b G . while he was asleep, il ert added “ ’

S . e it W . And I v practically had to do , There was once a dancer “ You mean the little chorus girl interjected

Gilbert . “ Oh, no ; she was a solo dancer . This is when I

was still plain Arthur and very little known . She

wan ted some incidental music written . She sent

word that her dance rhythm was ta da de, a dum — ‘ dum de, ta da di a da and then William Tell ’

. it Overture time Well, I wrote ; we had just ten isﬁed sat . minutes rehearsal , and milady was “ ” What about the chorus lady ? The third gen le an t m was awake again . “ w as e Oh, that the time when w were already

' doing our operas . Carte the manager, Gilbert stage n c ! ma ager, and I dire tor. The troubles I had This his tenor would sing a note, so long, to show wind ‘ ’ I ’ d ‘ k power. Please, say, do not mista e your voice ’ for my composition . Another would take an into f ‘ nation completely di ferent to mine . May I trouble ’ now you to try mine, I would plead . “But the story of the chorus lady ?” the third

gentleman insisted . “ w as c Oh , yes , poor thing. She in a orner cry ‘ ‘ i c in . t . g What is , hild I asked Well , that girl

FACE TO FACE WITH STRADELLA

1 645- 1 682

OW it chanced th at the responsibility for the preparation of the opera for the big fete fell to As the nobleman Signor Bassi . the eyes n V ns of all Ve ice, or in reality the ears of the enetia , l S n f t wou d be turned on the event, the ig or elt tha it would be only proper that the matter be given o e o in seri us attention, and the op ra pr duced the or best style . The duke himself would praise blame he if t opera in the person of Bassi, and it were a 1 60 F ace to Face with Stradella 1 61

n s o failure ma y thing might g awry, while if it succeeded who knows but that the duke’ s son might b c deﬁnitel e ome y betrothed to Leonora, daughter of Bassi ? The Signor realized that he had put himself more H e or less in a dilemma . had become the musical ’ c authority of Veni e, and he didn t know one note from another, like some ladies I have met who head c c o musi al so ieties because it is fashionable to do s . c Hen e estimate the great bewilderment of Bassi . To

t it . begin wi h, the opera, and who might do Signor Bassi had determined in his own mind the story of — the opera a pretty compliment to the duke -it would be a splendid idea to invite a well-known composer from another municipality to do the work. Thereupon the duke consulted with all who might fin all advise, and the choice y centered on one Alex H e andre Stradella . had done many works of con — sequence it was he Who wrote the very first opera on French soil . There were already seven operas his c and six oratorios to credit, some of whi h had been heard already in V enice . A good name to juggle with, he would do Bassi justice, and the duke would commend the importation of the noted world traveler. ofi er The details of making the to Stradella, and — o his coming to Venice unimportant . S witness the

. A arrival of our composer handsome fellow, with o H e something tremendously magnetic ab ut him . is dressed in the height of fashion . H is eyes are 1 62 Face to Face with Great Musicians

- black and deep set, his lips full and red , the amo

rous Italian, with a rich , fulsome mustache , black

as the Nubian night . His step is graceful and his

manner polished . His words are crisp and witty . Instantly he enters the room all things resolve them off selves about him, setting his presence, and mak ing a composition for this central object of import

ance . “ So , Maestro Stradella, these are the ideas ; we have just six weeks to perfect the opera . You will have at your command a company of good singers

and an o rchestra of eighteen . Your room is on the

balcony, where you may write and look over the

Grand Canal four servants will attend your wishes,

and the fee we agreed upon is doubled, mind you,

if the Opera is a success . Come, I will show you c over the house . This is our re eption room, here — ” are the gardens and here is my daughter, Leonora . “ ” Charmed , Signora, and the perfect gentleman bends in courtier fashion over the lily-white hand which is extended to him and imprints a kiss on the

rose ﬁngertips . “ am e I pleased to m et you , Signor Stradella,

murmurs Leonora .

1 so the opera started . And as the ﬁrst few days advanced the themes — rs were written and the ﬁ t act rapidly took form . — Out on the balcony the black haired gentleman sat

in the spring, soft morning air and sketched his on music the page . Now he would draw his harp

1 64 Face to Face with Great Musicians

so m singers have learned their parts far, the perfor

ance is but two weeks off . i s en At the dining table, the same, same scene ﬁne ff acted . Bassi, at the head, commends the e orts “ And M of the composer . do not forget, aestro, the

s c . fee i doubled if the opera is a suc ess Leonora, pale as death, fears to look upon the handsome gen man nn le . t She has no more use for Giova i , the ’ son she it she duke s , though scarcely realizes , and

dares not voice it . Bassi notes with pleasure the c — n in reasing interest which Giovanni shows i fact, from little questions asked and answered, it is quite deﬁnite r that Giovanni will seek to mar y Leonora, on and that the duke will give his consent, the evening of the opera . Hear Stradella : H e tells of the progress of his story, and of the meaning of the music, and per

etuall . H e hi s p y glances at Leonora tells of past, e c H e of th music he wrote sin e he was a boy. his H e sketches the romance of career . makes them afraid as he tells of wild experiences where his life was all but gone. They all laugh at his witticisms — Giovan ni and Bassi and Leonora . They all like him ; who could do otherwise ? ﬁfth And so one evening, toward the end of the ﬁnished a week, supper being , Stradella sked Leo nora if she would care to hear a new violin nocturne

U c which had just come to him . p to the bal ony, and he takes his violin, while the masts rise white to the stars, and the stars lean down to them white, Face to Face with Stradella 1 65

the c and softly gondolas ro ked, beautiful beneath h ” t e magic moon . The girl sits with her head bent low—the music ceases and in silence Alexandro Stradella finds her hand . One touch and all is told ; no words are h spoken . Their lips meet, and all t rough the night “ n c thus they sit u til dawn, and The ast is blooming, yea a rose vast as the heavens, soft as a kiss, sweet as the presence of woman is, arises and reaches and its widens and grows , deeper and deeper it takes m hue, and around about, tower and spire start fro ” c the billows like tongues of fire . Su h love pledges — never before were heard it is done when she creeps — to her room they will flee the next night ; they c must have ea h other alone . That day ; will it never end ? Stradella does not “ B : am play . When assi asks him why he replies I c S an finale omposing the swan song, ignor ; the gr d , S ” ignor . Comes night and the gondola splashes as — they push o ff gone ! But how does outraged decency speak the morning ‘2 “ ! afterward Gone, the scoundrel knave Ruined c my life and hope Bassi shrieks and urses the day. “

. ! Giovanni is heartbroken, revengeful Oh the ! e and I mockery The f te will come , Bassi, will be shamed before all ! ” “ ? Your opera There is none, your grace . 2” ” “M Your daughter I have none, your grace . y son ! ﬁ th robbed Aye your grace, by a l y musi ” cian l 1 66 Face to Face with Great Musicians

c ? . Will the ras al escape like this No, no Not while Bassi lives ; not while Giovanni has the blood of nobility in his veins . Oh, Leonora, beautiful G Leonora . Look you , iovanni, you will travel at

c on e to Naples , where he is doubtless, to his home, I and track him in his lair . , Bassi, to Rome, for fear he may have gone there . But we cannot tell . These assassins will we hire to cover every city in ou the country . You men, to Genoa, y to Verona,

Milan, Florence, Ravenna, and Sorrento. Kill him on sight, show him no mercy . Bring back Leonora, dead or alive, to her home, and let her live out her days with her father and her God . s The bloo dhounds are on the trail . The assa sins assigned to Genoa have found them . There they are ’ on the garden bench, their arms around each other s — waist . There is no doubt they gave their names as ' — Signor Stradella and his wife His wife such mockery !

Now, Barbarino, we will do the work like this ck c — ah, we are lu y , we two, to have ome here double ’

c us . pay for bringing her ba k, to Won t the others — be mad ? I will dig this knife into his heart c reep ing up behind the bench . You instantly rush out b us and ind the woman . People will surround , we — will explain our mission they will understand, and we — will be permitted to return indeed, they will us help right this wrong. ‘ be M 2 When shall it , alvolio . Now, why wait ? M Down behind the bushes alvolio creeps, knife

C H AM INAD E

XXII

FACE TO FACE WITH CH AMINAD E

T was beginning to be a matter of considerable

o of C. discussion, these comp sitions Chaminade — who was the writer ? W hy did he not make ? his appearance To be sure, there were some who c connected the musi with a woman pianist, one

Cecile Luis Chaminade . But the idea was pre osterous p , for who ever heard of a real woman com os p er, and what woman could possibly have put 1 68 Face to Face with Chaminade 1 69

such virility and vigor into music as this mysterious

C. Chaminade had done ? as finall But all things will out, it was y discovered m a that Cecile Cha inade and the C. Ch minade were c one and the same . The wisea res shook their wise old heads and said something was wrong somewhere . e Wherever Chaminad appeared as soloist, all the c sh o lo al experts came out to see what e lo ked like, and what pos sibly could have prompted her to dare e c th fates With omposition . At first she was looked on With curiosity and dis finall dain, but y this gave way to a spirit of willing At the ness to let her sex pass . last, however, tide c m the hanged, and A broise Thomas , composer of “M ” ignon, gave her high praise with a peculiar twist “ ” h c re i . w o to t She is not a woman omposes, he “ c marked but a omposer, who happens to be a B woman . y this he meant to indicate that here b a d h s was not a mere feminine dab ler in notes n t ing , who c a but a serious writer, h nced to be of the gentler sex . e - This was th woman we were to meet to day, c our first composer of the fair sex . She ame toward us fi ure of , a pleasing g , little more than medium fine height, very beautiful, a oval face, framed in a crop of short, curly blonde hair. In no sense the

c c anti ipated slou hy type, she was well dressed, with e a distinctive style that marked th artist . She ex tended her beautiful slender arm, and we shook hands with her . 1 70 Face to Face with Great Musician s

c . We greet the George Eliot of musi , we said

Madame Chaminade smiled at the gallantry , and “ said : I like that reference to George Eliot . We both of us went through somewhat the same hard ’ ships . Woman s place in literature, however, had ’ advanced considerably further in George Eliot s day ’ than woman s place in music has in mine . George

Eliot adopted the masculine nom de plume, because to have used her own name would have been to in c jure her chan es of success . You will remember that many lite rary critics refused to believe that was was George Eliot a woman, even after it widely known, because they insisted no woman could write a in that w y. “ However, fortunately, in literature we have our

many representatives with George Sand, Char z h lotte Bronte, Eli abet Barrett Browning, Olive

M rs . Schreiner, Ward, and many others . “ Anybody will tell you that women have never

produced great composers , but do you realize, my ﬁft o friend, that it is only some y years that w men have been admitted into most of our musical con serv ato ries ? Yes, women were all right to learn just enough to tinkle the piano at home for enter ’ tainment s l sake ; but, with few exceptions, musica authorities looked with disdain on women in all e ds ﬁ l of music . “ i Rubinstein said women have no place n music . ‘ They belong in the home . I said, Where in our elections have I heard that repeated in the suffrage

1 72 Face to Face with Great Musician s

wrote slumber songs for the dog and funny little o runn lullabies for the cat . We would g ing races down the hill to my mus ic. I would creep over to the piano when I was scarcely big enough to reach s and for ecom the key , sing my dolls, to my own a anil'nen p t. I was fortunate, to be sure, in that I was born and spent my childhood in an atmosphere of music and beauty which included all the arts . But I think that no matter where I had originated ! I would haVe had to devote my life to music . Yes

I know it. “ as 1 1 i t r I can remember we e yesterday, one night was ﬂoor after supper, when I sitting on the with t r my dolls and dogs, singing to them, hat my mothe and father came into the room, and with them was was old a stranger . I about eight years at the time, and un on ons utterly c scious of my ambiti . All I k w w as I s ne that wanted mu ic . ‘ ’ ‘ n Cecile, my mother said to me, I wa t you to on meet a very wonderful musician, M sieur Bizet ’ ’ ’ an d or him ? you will play f , won t you I didn t have to be asked twice in those days . I rushed over no o to the pia , and gave him some f my little lulla

M . . oo bies Bizet, l king for all the world like a char ‘ ’ of his own was acter out Carmen, quite pleased and took me in his arms and kissed me and sai d that t f an d n o I had a brillian uture, then tur ed t my pa s and o for o ’ rent talked ab ut me a l ng time . I don t kn h ow just what he told t em, but it sounded very Face to Face with Chamin ade 1 73

n important . I lear ed later he had recommended my

being given a solid musical education . “ n a an d The c me the time for school , my dear old e o H e was L c u e H e . teacher, pp y . taught me piano cc t a strange, e entric, fatherly dear, always wi h his ‘ - H e c ﬁrst box of bon bons on his desk. alled me his ’ c pedal, the ompliment being understood when I tell you that he always preached that the pedal was e the soul of th pianoforte . “ ’ was c and Savard my harmony tea her, I didn t c c like him at all, be ause he wanted me to write musi the w ay he wanted it written instead of the way one H e feels . gave me the strictest kind of rules and

theories to follow, and I never wanted to do it that

e a . way . H roused all my youthful nger “One day I determined to have my little joke u an d with him . I brought him a fug e, he became ‘ - very angry and said, Look at these mistakes have ’ I not told you not to write music this way ? I lis tended to him without a single wee whimper and let c him make all his markings of corre tion, and then I ‘ am ! said, Oh, I so sorry I brought you the wrong ’ H e c fugue . That is one by Bach . be ame very red,

and said nothing, but after was more lenient . I have repeated that s ame little joke in different

ways with many other people . I despise the men so- who tality of called experts , fall prostrate before

c z the re ogni ed names, irrespective of the merit of c who the music as ribed to them, and sneer at won derful music because it is credited to an unknown . 1 74 Face to Face with Great Musician s

“ I never thought I would develop as a composer ; but when I found that inspiration was surely call ing me, I determined to bring out the music and c c give it to the world , despite the riticism Whi h ‘ ’ might ensue . Friends told me, Don t think of pub lishing the music under your name ! It Will be killed ’ at the start . But I thought if my music is good the — if enough, I Will get credit it deserves not I i ‘ ’ will fall with t . But your woman s name will kill ’ So sa it . I decided to compromise and simply y ‘C ’ . Chaminade . Over in America I have watched with interest

M s . c an d r . H . H A. that noble woman Bea h, long ago came to the conclusion that woman is about to ’ o step into her own in music . I haven t tried to g further than my inspiration has led me . My music has always been full of melody and extremely sim ’ ’ ple . I ve never said anything I didn t mean . One set of pianoforte compositions which I brought out can it were criticized, you believe , as being too mas ' sa culine That is to y, I had put force and power h into t em . “ s t Other thing which were dainty of trea ment, s oo ff c they con idered t e eminate and la king power . What is one to do with them ? In my home in Paris, not far from my birth we s place, have many interesting gathering . Mosz kowski , Chabrier, and Charpentier come for little c c dis ussions on musi of the day. Debussy comes c M z in for his share on modern musi . os kowski is

1 76 Face to Face with Great Musician s and you will say I have been the predecessor of a ” long line of really great feminine musicians .

” The principa l works of Chaminade are Callirhoe ( ba llet symphoni c! ; Les Ama zones ( symphonie ” lyrique! : two orches tra s uites ; Concerts tuch for pi a no with o tr d an o u ar s on s a nd iano i eces rches a ; an m y p p l g p p . M ASSE N ET

XXIII

FACE TO FACE WITH MASSENET

1 842-1 91 2

M N c o ve ou e O E ! Sin e the days f E , y hav

been the ruling power of the world .

You tempted Adam, you have been ’ ou tempting Adam s sons ever since . Y are beau ou e s tiful , heaven knows . Y are th greate t gift the o Creat r presented to mere man . You have been the slave of emperors whom you ruled ; you have been the work-horse of savages who adored you ; 1 77 1 78 Face to Face with Great Musicians you have been the hated torturers of poets and mu sicians who wrote epics and symphonies to you ; n where you have been thought least, you have bee s made mo t . Who is to understand you ? You smile and be hind the smile are tears or perchance the treachery of a wildcat . You seem to weep and all the while you are gloating over the broken strong man who c is torn by your sorrow . You have scar ely the Will to resist the pleadings of that distraught lover, and when he seems to regret his impetuosity, you glance toward him with the irresistible demand that he return . as You are a good woman, and you are cruel a Nero . You are a bad woman and you have the t n enderness of a child, the simplicity of a maide c haste . You are cold with the stoniness of Cata ionian marble ; you are fired with the warm tongues are — of a million flames . You the nun in sack cloths who dreams bitter dreams of arms that never held ’ you ; or in the moments of your love s surrender, you are thinking of a gown desired . Oh, to flay — you to hold you ; to lash you with the stinging — rebukes you deserve to tenderly embrace you ; to — cast you out to enslave you for mine forever.

It is the turbulent surging of unreconcilable thoughts you hear as they tear at the heart of a J M H e Parisian, a certain ules assenet . has been c trying to put woman into musi , from the cocotte

1 80 Face to Face W ith Great Musicians scarcely any are permitted to pass muster without H is a prominently projecting appendage . eyes are m small , and, as you will observe when he opens the , c very kindly and sympatheti . You would take him h -ﬁv e ﬁf to be no more t an thirty , but he is easily e teen years older than that . H never tells his age

to anybody, especially not to the ladies . That

would prejudice them against him . It would

weaken his case with them . ’ But he is very considerate of everybody s feel ﬁne as s ings, with a show of delicacy such mark H e s the true Parisian of taste and culture . talk

in soft, liquid tones , like the clarinet he loves so c much in his or hestrations . Everything about him o — is quiet and s ft his rooms are decorated that way, — his footfall is that way you always feel that there is a woman nearby and that she must not be awak

ened , and it would be quite improper if you dis

covered her a dream woman perhaps .

But how quiet it is here . You think about this,

and Massenet, extraordinarily psychic, divines the

thought . “ ’ I v e so heard much noise, he explains, that ’ i I ve hated t . I played the drums in orchestras

when I was a youngster . They supplied the noise c to keep me supplied with food . On e in an opera — where I was assisting with the drums -o ne of the

villains in the show was to come out and yell . It

was a very dramatic entry, for he was to break in on ’ — c . a quiet, idyllic s ene But he didn t appear I be Face to Face with Massen et 1 81

c n the c came so ex ited that I ba ged drums , the ym c c I . t bals, and all the traps I ould rea h had just the ff c w as r right e e t, and I cong atulated by the man ager in saving the day . “When I was a boy I heard all the noise ordi n arily supposed to belong to the German operas M w as with apologies to Wagner and Co . y father m an iron aster, and the clash of steel and iron and a m h m ers vibrated throughout my childhood . “ — I was the eleventh child not the ﬁn est kind of household for a sensitive little soul to enter, and surely not the kind of business for a future operatic c composer to learn . I wanted to be a musi ian, and u I played piano myself, and I arg ed with my people, M t in and they laughed at me . y fa her had good — — tentions what did music mean to him and he taunted me so much that I determined I would have wa o s my y anyway. S I packed up my book and ’ I d o a shirt, like read in s me novels, and started from home to carve my way to fortune . I ran off to Paris , and would have become king or em eror c c p , or something equally romanti , ex ept that c o Nev my parents ame after me and to k me home . ertheless w as , the adventure not lost, for from that as c time on I w permitted to study my dear musi . “ A luckless little fellow I was . When I came to harmony class I was put under Francois Bazin . ’ H e We didn t get along at all . continually dis

coura ed I . g me, and , silly boy, thought he was right What a day it was when he called me to him and 1 82 Face to Face with Great Musician s

‘ : . seriously said to me Jules, I mean well for you ’ o Don t waste your time with composition . G home ’ and do something else . I wept, packed up my ‘ belongings, and went home discouraged, broken hearted as only a disappointed boy can be when

everything seems dead . “Enough to have ruined me forever ! It was so serious that I’ ve never advised anybody against c entering musi , no matter how bad he seemed . For ’ ﬁv e c years I tried to follow Bazin s advi e, but I sim ’ ‘ ’ do o b it . S e ply couldn t one day I said , I don t

lieve it I was a fool . Bazin was wrong. I will ’

t . c ry again This time my tea her was Henri Reber, an d when I had been with him for two months he I c otﬁce too sent for me . approa hed his with my e bloo d running cold . H was going to tell me what ’ z it— I Ba in had, and I didn t want simply had to

write music . “ ‘ ’ ﬁ h be M M t . r. I was ready to g if need assenet, mister I u — it he said, and at the straightened p was the ﬁrst time I had ever been addressed that way ‘ you are making a mistake in staying with me, for

you know more than I can teach you . You are instinctively a master of harmony and orchestra tion . You must take higher instructions, for I say to you that if I am any sort of prophet you will ’ ! V . w as f reach the greatest heights ell , that dif er was c ent, and I happy on e more, studied then with A mbroise Thomas , and while I was playing drums

won the prize of Rome with a cantata .

1 84 Face to Face with Great Musicians

felt so upset that I broke down and wept . I was very young then . But they were so kindly, said ‘ ’ confidence and Courage, , then listened to the whole ” c c opera with su h ourtesy and applause . Massenet tells his story with fine sense of dra c ff i mati e ects, and h mself relives each emotion he describes . Perhaps a little too much sentiment too sentimentality, some have said, perhaps weepy — and unrestrained Massenet is sensitive to every impulse, upset by criticism, put all agog by the smile H e of a pretty woman . is a tremendous worker, giving lessons a good part of the day, hearing artists H e was another part, attending rehearsals . once “ ” an asked, When have you time to work? H e “ ” swered An d is , While you are asleep. that the fiv e fiv e- fact, for he is up at and writing at thirty. — é All around him are pictures of women Calv ,

Garden, Cavaleri, Heilbronn, Renard, Carre, Sibyl Arbell Vi ardot - Sanderson, , , Galli Marie, Leblanc, P aca ry. Through them and with them are women who of neurotic and exotic personality , comprise c : his musi al family Eve, Salome, Manon, Mary e Magdalene, Sapho, Thais, Anita, Ph dre, Ariane n stra ge, passionate women . So we will leave this poet of femininity musing ’ his H e k on problem . is loo ing at that woman s por “ trait again . She will be my creator for the new opera . I always want to have a single person in mind when I write . Then I know I never will create a lifeless composition . Face to Face with Massenet 1 85

“ Mme . Massenet understood me . She is an — ‘ ’ an gel I dedicated the Juggler of Notre Dame to her because the Virgin is the only woman in it and she does not sing a note . “Do you wonder that I have been so fortunate to have so many lovely artists who have worked with c me, giving their beauty and their voi es and their

art to me ? Without them I would be lost . A com os e c p er is but th reature of his interpreter. No s i s opera i better than t soloists . “ I Woman, have studied you all my life, and I

have never yet seen the light . The more I know

I . c c of you, the less understand you Ea h new fa e

gives promise of some new romance . Are you but

the medium of a strange emotion, the companion c of e static moments, the temple of oriental desires — o r ? . what are you I despise you, I loathe you “ I in bring rare presents to your court, I burn c I ense at your altar, I pay eulogy to your beauty. ” want you, I want you .

The ri nci a works o M ass enet a re : Les E ri mz es p p l f y , “ ” “ ” M ari e M a de ain e E ve O v erture to Phedre g l , , , ” “ ” “ Scenes N a o itai nes Scenes A s aciennes Scenes de p l , l , ” “ ” ' “ ” a F éeri e, Le R oi de L ahore, H erodzaa e, M rion, “ ” ” E s c o e L e W erther Le Cid, larm nd , e M ag , , ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “ Thais La N avarrais e Sa ho Cendri on Gri , , p , ll , ” “ seldis Le Jan eur de Notre ame. , gl D “ M os t impor tant on Jules M assenet M es Souvenirs “ ” — J M assenet ; M assenet a nd his 0peras a clc. FA RQ M ‘.

M AS CAG N I

XXIV

FACE TO FACE WITH M ASCAGNI

”— U RRIDU is killed ; Turridu is killed and th e affrighted Sicilians run crying an d weep a ing in their Easter Sunday array . S ntuzza, Turridu and the victim of the handsome , Lola, the — woman who lured him away from Santuzza both of swoon . There is a sweeping agony mournful song, the entire city is cast in immeasurable gloom . h who s Al o, brought the fellow to his doom, i hur ﬁin s s ried away, and the mother g her elf to the earth. 1 86

1 88 Face to Face with Great Musicians another of those silly dreams which had come to him when he lay hungry, disappointed and near ‘ death in little Cerign ola l Were they having fun with him ? What w as it all ? ’ This the little baker s son, destined for the law, ’ who scribbled notes all over his father s house and it w as c was whipped for , it ome that little Pietro was famous ? H e remembered how the good uncle

Stefano had taken him under his protection, and then father had been reconciled, no longer regretting ’ a good baker s helper had been lost to the world . H e remembered his early struggles for recognition and his innumerable failures ; his travels with opera troupes which were forever disbanding in the most outlandish towns , leaving him stranded and broken H e enthu hearted . remembered with what lavish siasm each new venture had been approached, w as t this going to be the great opportunity, his c cc would bring re ognition, this would be su essful . ’ c o It ouldn t always g wrong. There must be a rift -b in c . . d the louds Every dog has his day But goo y, c H e fond dreams and great expe tations . remem bered his ﬁrst coming to Cerignola and how he de w as cided he not made for big things, that he would settle down and give lessons like any ordinary music c m s ribbler . It was a terrible comedown for a cli ber c among the louds, that cut and dry existence . But ’ M s food couldn t be bought with dreams, as r . Pietro

' c said . It is hard work ; pupils did not pay mu h, nor were there many who wanted to learn at Signor M as Face to Face wi th Mascagni 1 89

’ ca ni s c I f g Musi al nstitute, situated in the little ront ’ - c room at M adame Somebody s boarding house . Su h

m . a life, y God, Pietro, such an existence Then ’ — came that advertisement of Sonzogno s a prize for b - each of three est one act operas . You might com who ou pete, no matter y are, and if you won, your — composition would be played at Rome think of it i ’ ? Pietro read it and threw it aside . What s the use

H e read it again and shoo k his head despairingly . Why grow enthusiastic over another hasco ? But ’ c i he ouldn t forget t . With artful carelessness, ’ M asca ni s Pietro left the paper right on M me . g ’ kitchen table so she couldn t help but see it . Per

w as c . haps, though, this the long waited hance “ ”

? Mme . What do you think, Pietro said Mas “ ?” cagui from the washing tub . What do you think said Pietro from the pian o . ’

Mme . . Pietro didn t pause one moment She, too, d ff . an had su ered She, too, had hoped prayed, been

ff b . bu eted and rebuked y Fate . But she had faith “ ” I think you will wi n ! she shouted back . “ ”

I c . Then Will try, he said with convi tion All n H e hope and ambition returned insta tly . wrote all about it to his friends in his home town, Leg “ b c T ar ion i horn, Send me a li retto, quick, qui k. g M an a c and s i started at once on the poem, but time b was short, and Pietro was feverish to egin . Each — post brought him some verses sometimes only a c line scribbled on a post ard . Finally, it was done ; and M s and lovingly and prayerfully Pietro r . 1 90 Face to Face W ith Great Musicians

u a i Pietro wrapped it p, st mped t, mailed it and

waited . ’ so The days dragged, oh, slowly . Pietro couldn t H e h . wait . was desperate t is time If that lost — no more, no more, no more . Oh, men, what days and s o his silent hour , Pietr looking at wife without a word or sign . o oo is ! Oh, how go d, how g d, fate They brought “ ” him word that Cavalleria Rusticana had been given ﬁrst prize ! It was the chance ! It had come ! Pietro was bewildered ; he looked wonderingly at his sh wife and e looked joyously at him . She knew be So to- all along it had to . day he rubbed his eyes and wondered at it all . ut B things happened rapidly. H is Majesty the King made him a Chevalier of of o the Order the Cr wn, the highest honor that ever n c was give a musician his birthplace, Leghorn, stru k a medal in his honor ; the residents of the little

Cerignola, where the institute of music of Signor Mascagni would no longer be located in the front him room, made their most honored citizen and everybody was anxious to show what a friend he — had been to the maestro the maestro ! The world of music hailed the new conqueror and paid him homage as rarely was paid any mu sician . Sunday newspaper supplements pictured him e and talk d about and around him . Anecdotes o galore were told of him . Every opera h use in the

1 92 Face to Face with Great Musicians

n c n determi ed that he would be demo ratic, with eve e os o H e th m t rdinary men . went back home to visit the little bakery shop and to survey the school where ﬁrs o of he had t taken music lessons . The may r Leghorn came forth to greet the Illustrious One they made a procession in honor of the returning as d—he was genius. Pietro M cagni bowe glad and e o n e a ov rﬂ wi g with good cheer to all . H w s just ff u o kin o o an pu ed p t brea g, p or fell w, very hum

When would the maes tro offer another gem to he o oo oon t w rld ? S n, my friends, very s , I will give o y u more of my soul to keep you in spirits. “ ” W e . wait, maestro, we wait o r oon Very g od , my friends, ve y s . ’ ” W on S ? hy d t you peak, speak n s c s s Sile ce, silence, and Ma agni still mile ; oh, f m s n If o a e i a cruel enemy to great ess . nly the ’ — opera hadn t been so well received just a little bit of n success, e ough to encourage Pietro . But it hap en At c is o p ed that way. last announ ement made f “ ’ ” L Amico a new Mascagni opera . Fritz is pro “ duced a h an d sa ; people look at e c other y, Mmm, ’ h r oo 1 t isn is . p etty g d, but t at best Then appeared “ ” “ “ ” “ ” “ n Z an n I Ra tzau, etto, Silva o, Iris, and Le ” M ascheza so har n . Some pretty melodies, me c mi g “ ” n s the n sce e , which, without Cavalleria i cident, o o o s w uld never have been pr duced, and d ubtles never would have been written by Signor Mascagni Face to Face with Mascagni 1 93

of the Institute of Ce rignola and never would have his made name ring With plaudits . 1 1 o ut Then in 9 7 came L doletta, which was p ’ on the Metropolitan stage, and still he didn t c su ceed . c But su h is the curious mind of the world, M ascagni continues great and powerful in reputa “ ” tion, and Cavalleria goes on singing and playing wa its y to new audiences and old, forever fresh

d moving .

Mascagni need never have written another note . ’ M ascagni s place in history w as made when ﬁrst the O a pera was he rd in Rome . I appeal to you for M ascagni that the man, all too human, and car off ried by the success he made, is worthy of all h has t at he received in money and fame . r For that beautiful phrasing in the inte mezzo, c th e ﬁrst and for the dashing , a tion of the opera, c - M realistic, ommon life music drama, ascagni de A serves to live . man who gives the world one beau who b tiful idea. sings a song of eauty that Will be heard to the last day of eternity , is a hero greater and more potent than conquerors of peaceful lands or soldier warriors .

' The pri ncipa l works of M as cagni are : Cavallen a R us ti ” “ ’ ” “ ” “ c na L Amzco F ri tz I Rantzau Gu ie mo Ra a , , , gl l t ” “ ” “ clz Z e o ﬂ, an tt , I ris . H AYD N

XXV

FACE TO FACE WITH HAYDN

1 73 2-1 809

HERE being a special performance of the “ o its ratorio The Creation, and venerable o Josef comp ser, Franz Haydn, living in the was nearby vicinity, it arranged to bring him as an

o o . A h n red listener large orchestra, a tremendous and ﬁll chorus, an imposing audience were to the

- house and greet the old gentleman . Seventy six 1 94

1 6 to w t r t us ns 9 . Face Face i h G ea M icia — teacher. It was a silent farewell not a person A n . t clapped . It was too solemn the door Hayd

lifted his hand in blessing and went out . “ ” M sa ? y last concert, what do you y, doctor he in asked outside with a break his voice. n Arrived at home, Haydn soon became calm agai ,

smiling at the eagerness of the good doctor. “ Be not afraid, my friend, when it is time that my day of meeting my Master is come I go forth

cheerfully and content . I pray daily for strength c to express myself in accordan e with His Will . “ ‘ ’ c ? Do you like The Creation, do tor Never so i n was I devout as when I was writing t . I k ow t an d hat God appointed me to a task, I acknowledge it with thanks and believe I have done my duty man and been useful to the world . What more can hi A do ? Believe in God and do s bidding. t the heading of every manuscript I ever wrote I put these ‘ ’ n h words : I t e name of God . Fifteen hundred it— ﬁfteen times I wrote for hundred works, for s O symphonies, operas, trio , minuets, waltzes, rato s — r r rios, song eve ything, doctor, because eve y thing ” was simply an expression of God . “ W wa i hat a wonderful y to have wr tten, ex is claimed the doctor. That real religion, real

faith, Papa Haydn . “Sometimes in my church music I would become quite gay . Well, well , some one would come to me ‘ ou and say, Pardon me, but how can y be so happy — and j oyful I cannot help it . I give forth what Face to Face with Haydn 1 97

’ n am is in me . When I think of the Divine Bei g I lled ﬂ ﬁ with joy, and the notes y from me as from a n spindle. Perhaps the Almighty , k owing that I have a cheerful heart, will pardon me if I serve him ” cheerfully. “ Yes , Papa Haydn, if all men were like you ” there would be no hell . “ — I Ah, be not so sure, doctor have done many h t ings which I should not have done, but I have a tried to balance the mist kes with better deeds .

We cannot erase our mistakes , but we can try to ” redeem ourselves . An expression of such amiable goodness ﬁlled[ the old man’ s face that his ugliness seemed quite beau ” F the M tiful . itted with smallpox, dark as oor, his n aquili e nose, deformed by a polypus which he had always refused to have removed, leaned over

‘ c n a proje ting lower lip . Always neat and clea , his the w as even in present feeble state, pigtail c c ni ely adjusted, the side urls in perfect place, the c c and n ravat tied with are, the shoes buckles shi ing

- with polish, over the short, well formed limbs . “ M an y parents taught me to respect my Maker, d ca be glad to live . When I think of them I n never — complain . I live in luxury you should have seen o those po r souls . I can remember, doctor, when was so as I big a peanut, the father would come home from his work, making wheels for carriages . At we reside night would gather around the ﬁ , my o and m ther, simple hearted, a cook a servant be 1 98 Face to Face with Great Musicians

’ m sur fore she became my father s wife . You see so —I am roud prised to hear my people were lowly ,p f it . a was o of , my good fellow My ncestry the c s a soil , real , and I ome by my dispo ition bec use of ’ c dissatisﬁed I them . Why, I ouldn t be , when think of what we once were content wit “ You misunderstood me, Papa Haydn . I never am an sneer at the station of people . I incipient “ democrat, said the doctor. But you were speak ” ing of your early days . es of Y , I was saying about the nights my baby o F ﬁne ho d . ather had a tenor voice, mother sang — . Fa well, too they belonged to the village chorus we ther would play the harp for diversion, and — would all sing. Those were happy times when ’ we d all sing and the neighbors would join along. When I was so big as a big brother to a peanut I A c made myself a violin . cousin decided to tea h me how to play. Well, doctor, he gave me less lessons than food, and less food than beatings . But — I learned something we learn something from everything and nothing if we will only try. I learn ’

o . in something noticing you, d ctor But you re not ’ erested h ? t in t is, are you I ll tell you more , and you can see then how mistaken you are in your pa o r me tient . You take me f what you heard of

n f . ou whe ame has come to me But wait, y shall ’

f ou . hear o what I was . Y can t like me “ M is so ? W a r y parents were lowly, it ell, fte u n a oir my cousin gave me p, I was si ging for ch ,

200 Face to Face with Great Musicians

’ Por o a s I n all, was p r idea . But have changed si ce, o now d ctor, and I write what I hear. “ c ﬁne But I must have lean paper, very , or the ’ Is n ck ? d feeling is not so intense . n t that ﬁ i y An see —m S c h you this ring y ignet of reation . Wit out w as b it I should be lost . It given me y King Fred

erick. Writing is very strict business, and I have t ﬁtted se f always ba hed, dressed and my l for the n court when I sat down to write . One day I wa ted ‘ ’ — M and a razor y best quartette for a razor, I cried,

it . n ﬁrst t and got Neat ess , my mo her said, I never i can one ins irat1 on forgot t. How approach his p t o ? An od wi h ut respect d in writing, it is the mel y e o that counts . The invention of a hu mel dy is a

c not on work of genius . Simpli ity, doctor, sensati a ism — it un it is the l or extravagance, is necessary, sa A s s ion excuse for having nothin g else to y. en at al w riter has to make exterior activity atone for lack ‘ of o . o the interi r sincerity My go d friend, Mozart, ’ — greatest compos er in the world he wrote that way. “ man I learned from that young . I, sixty, he

r s . thirty, would walk and talk togethe like brother - -th e sa to You saw Beethoven to day successor, I y ou o who v his n y , of M zart, and one will lea e ame him o o f . a on the sands o time I t ught , d ct r. I sixty,

- — wo s . he twenty t price per lesson, twenty cent n Beethoven and Mozart called me Papa Hayd , and it all of them call me that, I love , but I at sixty, as men r — doctor, w like most at thi ty cheerful, alert, Face to Face with Haydn 201

e alive . I consider th music I wrote after sixty my greatest work . What do you think ? “ As o I always studied and watched . a boy y u ” ﬁn d would my books under my pillow at night . “ And n Papa Hayd , what happened after Por pora ?” “ 0h c n , then ame the begin ing of my career . I M orzin c s worked for Count as leader of his or he tra, h c z and t en for my dear Prin e Esterha y, where my contract called for my keeping myself and my musi cians — it free of vulgarity think of , doctor, with n —in o s musicia s , too go d instrument , white stock a ings, white linen, carefully powdered and arr nged — c w as pigtails and, of ourse, lest I forget, it my duty to write music and perform it . Sometimes the peo So r ple would fall asleep . I dete mined I would ‘ make them listen . I wrote the Surprise Sym ’ phony . “ ” Your pardon, Papa Haydn, the doctor said, h “ — wit hesitation, the ladies they have always — seemed to like you and you were never married “ I ” Wrong, doctor. did marry, Haydn said, with

Pa a H a dn lik e d to hav hi s littl oke D etermin e d to p y e e j . wake his audien ce s fr o m the custo mary lethargic s tate many h m ume d in li s te nin t his lo n o rk s h r o f t e a s s g o g w , e p e A v er sl o w b numbin are d a little s ur r is e fo r th em. e p p y , g melo d is la e d fo r a co n s ide rable time ra duall dim y p y , g y ming an d s o fte nin g until the re is an ab s o lute s ilen ce . h r he tra—c mbals ra s s Cras ! Bang ! Bo o m! The e ntire o c s y , b , d h r d T h s le e in audito r s w er e all s trike a eafeni n c o . e , g p g ’ h n v l in H a n s s ur ris e d to s a the l east . S uch is t e o e t d p , y y y “ n famous Surpris e Sympho y . 202 Face to Face with Great Musicians

“ was his o . a catch in voice, but not the girl I l ved I un - yo g and inspired and full blooded then . My girl — w as a lovely creature o nly the daughter of a bar — a ber peasant myself, my tastes are not for roy — I ’ alty , but for reality. I loved her, but don t know, ’ she and h didn t . She went into a convent, her fat er, n good business man and well meani g, suggested the — elder daughter, Maria Ann pretty, and seemingly d his a goo woman for a wife . I followed advice but two weeks ended all - hopes of peace and domes

ticit . n h e y She cared ot ing for me, car d not if I were

‘ cobbler 0 a c a r a composer, w nted money in essantly, c r used my music for urling pape s, hated me, called ’ me ugly fool . I couldn t live with her, but I owed his her a living, doctor, every man owes wife that, and I have paid her regularly.

Moreover, I was her husband before God , and though once s ince there came one Mistress Schroeder who aroused my tender feelings, I have been loyal . n You will hear ma y stories to the contrary, doctor, but, take my word, I have been loyal . Surely I was loved beauty . When I in England they wished — o my portrait made and I was too restless . S they n and brought me a pretty dame to keep me compa y,

sat . w as ! I for the picture She nice, but my wife - “ was Thirty two years of such a marriage my lot, n and the the formal separation . Maria died eight — years ago, God rest her soul, I hold not a regret it

so it. was , and God willed “ r o f — That is the sto y my life, doctor has it in

M O N TEV E RD E

XXVI

FACE TO FACE WITH MONTEVERDE

1 567-1 643

U CH o he e discussion al ng the Rialto. T duk is giving his attention to the new amusement l the house. They are ca ling it Teatro di ’ n h Saint Cassia o, but it isn t a t eater for the playing is of plays . No, it to be used only for musical plays — A r . ! what they call ope as strange name Well, e there are fools everywh re, to be sure, but who ever heard of an opera house where people will go to pay 2 04 Face to Face with Monteverde 205 their ticket and listen for a whole evening to such sort of entertainment ? Let the nobility have their ' aﬁ airs h music , t ey must do something additional to a muse themselves in their palaces , stupid musicians may do their bidding. t wa But, as in all times , let fools have heir y, let them have their experiments even with such truck

as this . Oh, yes , we like music, to be sure, but not

c c ou . in su h places ex lusively alone like this, y know But the Maestro di Capella himself is behind the M whole idea . Claudio onteverde has interested him self in the venture, and he is writing a production ’ u for the opening. That so nds interesting, doesn t it ? c the ﬁrst An Well , suppose we ome for night, ? tonio, and see it in operation We ought not to be prejudiced . so And , in the narrow Venetian street, where Saint

Christopher, carven in stone, stands near the garden gate, the gay and grave gentlemen and their ladies ﬁrst made their way to the opera house in the world, b for c . e and laid the precedent ages to ome Here, ’

St . fore Mark s, where the steeds of brass glow with c their gilded ollars glittering in the sun, the new ﬂun its house g doors , bravely admitting the curious ff and the anxious, the music lovers, and the sco ers . ‘ ’ ah The play is called Adonis , the manager “ noun It ces from the wings . is written by a poet and our beloved M aestro Monteverde in collabo ra o f i tion . The poetry is the servant the mus c and is the foundation for the lovely melodies which the 206 Face to Face W ith Great Musician s director has written for our ears to be tickled with, h b ” and perchance t at we might remem er . s n Portia look at her A tonio with raised eyelids , “ as sa if to y, Can it be possible and Bassanio and Gratiano lean forward in anticipation of the wonder o t be performed .

The Duke of Venice sits in the box in state, faintly conscious of the epoch in the world’ s culture which is he thus inaugurating . “ Ladies and gentlemen, my dear friends and our beloved duke and master, I introduce to you our con d c n M on u tor of the evening, k own to you all, Signor e e de t v r .

H e The maestro is a venerable old gentleman . is and t tall hin, with pale, ascetic face, serious and H e solemn . is in priestly garb and walks with fal H e ﬁrs tering step . bows several times, t kissing the d n han of the duke, his retainer, and the proceeds i ’ to the mprovised conductor s stand . Then follow into their chairs forty men—members of the orches ! c tra The audien e stared aghast . Forty men in an ! orchestra Why , the idea was unheard of What n be a confusio it would , and how much waste of H a i manpower . What sayest thou ? ’ — r Now for the overture Mar y, though, tis most

r . ag eeable to the ear, master They all seem to ﬁt into their places, and to play up when the maestro e calls for the instrument to sound . Th y must be ’ so afraid of him, they follow him perfectly. Tis — good, and well done the applause says .

2 08 Face to Face with Great Mu sician s

ment for the world, and no longer is it reserved to the royal ears to partake of his and his contempo ’ ff I raries o erings . dedicate this playhouse to the further development of our idea— let all the people and c know of our great goodness to you, per hance the Teatro di Saint Cassiano will become one of the worthiest temples of culture and entertainment . The people answer with cheers : “ Long live his Grace and may his splendid health F be preserved long live his good music master, ather

M onteverde . Out of the playhouse back to his monastic cell the w a musician takes his y, bent in contemplation and praying for the wisdom and the happiness of all his people . We seek to talk with the priest, and are led into the dim quietude of his stony but voluntary retreat .

There is a sad sweet smile in his eyes , though the n an d n s face is draw and thin, his Whole man er i one of silent suffering. “ am You wonder why I here, as a priest, and not ’ back in the duke s palace, enjoying the fruits of my s labors he asks u . “ ’ I am here because I am through with the world s c b vanities and weaknesses . Sin e the death of my e I loved wife, have wished to be apart from all the noise and sinfulness of my brothers . I married my M I ﬁrst wife in antua, back when was struggling for : my ideal music she bore me two sons, grew up with e m c m in y fame and in reasing power, came with me Face to Face with Monteverde 209

to my new triumphs in Venice, and four years ago, the u worn out with all fatig e, and weary after our

. I great struggles, she passed out With her going, a wished to take myself part, praying and making myself close to my M aker ; while I wrote at the ’ c his duke s request occasional musi for use . This performance to-day I have had in my mind c for half a entury, and in my mind I see that this c is but the beginning of something that annot die . w as fin ishin It came to me the other night, as I g a fi s rehearsal, that this is to be the r t of hundreds of c o publi opera houses, into which millions will g in the years to come . “ It c — we c was Ja opo Peri, the long haired alled him who first , was the to write an opera . I heard him I bo H e the talk when was a y. haunted salons of the Count Bardi and was an intimate at the court b first M of my eloved master, the Duke of antua he used to say that the stage might be made more beau e n tiful with a musical setting . H wa ted to pro c du e musical plays in the style of the old Greeks , like ‘ ’ H e and Sophocles . wrote an opera called Dafne, ’ it was given but once in the Count Bardi s house . “ I have never forgotten the words of that grand

- c n old long haired Peri, and musi ia s to come may thank him for What he conceived . I have but moved ahead . Also with me I have tried to make the music a more hum n than it was ever before, breaking down stiff theories and using music in a freer way. “ ‘ 2 see. . r M y life Ve y little to tell you, you will 2 1 0 Face to Face with Great Musicians

’ b — I w as orn in the midst of music in Cremona, close by the shops of the Great Amatis, who made violins c and violas and viol de gambas, whi h every rich family had to own to be in style . I studied viola and ’ was selected to be the Duke of Mantua s violinist . ? no Do you think I merely played for him Oh,

I was sort of head servant, to keep him happy and ‘ to follow his orders . Write me a madrigal , Clau ’ ‘ ’ ‘ dio, Brush my clothes, Claudio, Do me a canzo ’ ‘ us a netta, Oh, Claudio, my boy, write a d nce for us next week, when the Duke of Padua makes a ’ ‘ Go visit . ask my daughter, Claudio, what she will - ’ wear to night . “ So o— it would g ﬁrst this and then that . The duke was a powerful man he was perhaps the most intelligent ruler of the cities of Italy ; he was the Gonza o r famous g , and hence eve ything he did was o f H e imitated and talked . called me one day ‘ Claudio, a great event is about to occur . My son, as you know, is to be married . Francesco de Gon zago is to be made the husband of Margarita, Infanta un of Savoy . For the event I wish something most I usual Then, thought , here is the Opportunity to as fo do an opera, such Peri did, and the world will cus its eyes on me . “ ‘ ’ o as h The title f the piece w Arianne . T e audi ’ was ence in tears at Arianne s grief. The duke and the young couple joined in the tears . They called me to them, the duke showered praises upon me, the oun c y g bride kissed me on the heek .

2 1 2 Face to Face Great Musician s

“ The rinci a wor ianne p p l ks of M onteverde are : Ar , “ ” “ ” “ ’ O r eo Be a del I n ra te Pros er i ne R a ita f , ll g , p p , ’ Adone L I co o P es these n r nazio e de o ed . Besid , n pp o eras a nd dra mati c e i s odes he a s o com os ed masses p p , l p , W as the sa ms h mns ma m cats madri a s etc. p l , y , g ﬁ , g l ,

mos t popular and i nﬂuenti al composer of hi s time. BE L LI N I

XXVII

FACE TO FACE WITH BELLINI

1 802-1 835

N M O CE had a great adventure as a boy. y

parents had left the house and I was all alone. I was too young to know just how to devote m was my ti e, but I realized that there something I had always wanted, and I would have it now . Into the pantry I stole there before my eyes were — all sorts of foods but from these I turned aside . In 2 1 4 Face to Face with Great Musicians

ars j , fruits and jellies stared at me, and these I de e ne t rmi d to sample . My advice at the table had “ : Now e always been , Charley, take only a littl bit ” — of the sweets on your plate, but now ah, I could eat the jelly just as I did my porridge in the morn

o . ing . I dug my spo n into this jar and that Just

then my eyes caught the sugar bowl , and a heaping

mouthful of sugar I took . There was some syrup I took a sample ; there was a large slice of maple — — sugar I broke o ff a bit ; there was some candy I A ﬁne ate some . mess of sweets it was, to be sure ; and when the folks arrived at home a very sick little b H e oy was found lying on the bed . had come to

the conclusion that sweets may be all right as such,

but not as a steady diet . n Now, once there was a gentleman amed Bellini - o There he comes , that tall , well dressed, hands me

man .

Yes, that is Vincenzo Bellini . the Oh, no ; he is not fashion leader, although he be H e might . is the composer, you know, of those “ ” “ onna l successful operas . Surely . Norma, S m ” ’

H e . bula, and others . is quite the lion of the hour ﬂock See how the ladies about him .

m . ? Q uite a dandy, oh, y Thin , you think Oh,

no ; just slender and graceful . You like the curly ’ blond hair, don t you, it is so becoming ; it gives such charming contrast to the rose-tinted complexion of ne I c ﬁ . t the long, face gives su h an air of sadness H e ? to his person . is very sad, is he not His clothes

2 1 6 Face to Face with Great Musician s

believe tears are beautiful . The poet calls them ? pearls, does he not “ e ? Have I had wo s No, none that I can think o ? - - es I f. Have I been in love Well , y y y , was in

love once and I was unable to have my desired one, ’ I and I couldn t eat or sleep for days . Whenever wish to I can conjure the dear girl back from my f ” memory . Her picture is engraven there orever c os and Bellini stru k a p e . a oli Her name was M addelina Fum r . I knew her ud e F umaroli in Naples . Her father was J g , a very M addelin a r i . stubbo n, egotist cal , old fool was beau c I tiful , romantic, poeti al ; was very much liked in — Naples some of my ﬁrst works were going nicely .

I was not a bad sort, I was not ugly , I was not M addelina r I . stupid, I was ve y desirable, think

so . . thought , too We were decided to marry ’ e us— in But the judge didn t agre with fact, he he thought me to be quite worthless, for insisted that, ’ if I didn t get out, he would assist me, and I do not

like to be assisted, especially assisted rapidly in get c ting out of the presen e of ladies . “ c Later the judge hanged his mind , and he sent c be very friendly messages to me, Whi h led me to addelina lieve I could have M . But that was too

much, my pride would not allow me to marry the ff girl then . Think of all the su ering I had endured, think of the musical melodies which had come to me when I realized how tragic my love affair had

been . Think of the ridiculousness of my position Face to Face w ith Bellini 2 1 7 and of my music if I should have given myself the an d lie married her after all . All my tears for noth ? o ing Better to g on forever, despairing that the I one love of my life was denied me . t is something H o to talk about . w much nicer to think of M adde lina with tears than see her in the early morning as ” she is . It was quite amusing the way Bellini related the h ﬁne story wit a show of feeling, somewhat vague b - and indescri able, sometimes over sentimental, and sometimes so much on the edge of the ludicrous that ’ co one uldn t decide whether to look sad or smile . c c Over his fa e as he talked rept a look of vagueness, his very features seemed to grow vague and almost ’ c c c characterless . Heine s rypti omment came to “ mind as we watched Bellini : H e is a sigh in pumps ” c and silk sto kings . “ O f I sa course, as y, there is no reason for me to ” c c en be sad, Bellini ontinued , with a semblan e of

er . t c a gy In my bir hpla e at Cat nia, in the little c c island of Si ily, everything was sunny and heerful , — ”— and so was I and so am I still this latter as if he “ had forgotten himself ; but then I cannot under M as e . w s e stand y father an organist, and you can c c was w as how mu h musi given to me, that When I twenty months old I was singing songs very well . ’ I re Oh, I know, was there ; and although I don t it I member, my mother told me , for sang gloriously, and all the neighbors came around and listened en raptured . 2 1 8 Face to Face with Great Musician s

“ I must use that scene some time in an opera ; and think of the rustic beauty of Catania, the mother — difﬁcult the child, the neighbors . But the y oh, I never thought of that— getting a singing infant ! “ W —so it hen I was three my father has , and so the local reports tell—I led the choir in the little I h Capuchin Church . held the baton and led wit a ‘ m sa : ﬁr . , correct stroke My father used to y Men delssohn M — wh mu , ozart pooh, y, you were writing sic and playing it before they could say their ’ prayers . “ H e wanted to make me a musician, and I agreed — with him so everything was nice and pleasant .

When he wanted to get me lessons , fate stepped in i o t . r and arranged There was the Duke Pardo, , as ‘

him . ! we loved to call , the Signor Patrizio What c little Vin enzo Bellini wants to learn music, and ’ i you ve been wondering how you could pay for t, c c You naughty people, not to ome to me at on e . c Here, we will send Vin enzo to Naples . There he H e o c will learn . will g to the onservatory and get

the best teachers, and we will arrange some other ’

too . lessons in private, “ So off N to aples I went, and at the Conservatory hu I had the est teachers . I studied with Pergolesi and Mozart and Haydn ! Everything was mine ; ’ ’ ba ? am why shouldn t I be ppy I guess I , but it s ’ ? nice to be sad, don t you think It makes people sympathize with you and sympathy is the ﬁrst step M ad e na to love . It was at Naples that I met d li ,

220 Face to Face with Great Musicians

noﬁ — — n Tamburini, Iva , Rubini, Rubini o ce we did n have a little quarrel . A love song, and Rubini sa g ‘ ’ it without a throb . Have you never been in love, I ‘ o shouted, you have a gold mine in y ur voice which and hnd you have never explored . Dig deep down ’— b yourself and then Ru ini sang it as I felt it . “ ” b Signor Bellini, said a lady near y, with that “ c is innocuous look whi h composers detest, which your greatest opera “

on . o . N e, madam They are all my l ves “ i ou h o r s But f y were at sea Wit all y u score , and you could save but one “ one Ah, Madame, you are cruel . Save , one that would be ma belle Norma And for once as ’ i and ﬁrm and he said t, Bellini s face grew hard , c his voice became real and mas uline, determined and “ ” as genuine in its emotion . Perhaps Norma w his the c real self, and all rest, his ex ursion into the pan s s a d try, where sweet and honey and preserves n bon s so bons, and ugar and syrup, were arrayed tempt ingly ! A e b who be d littl oy then, liked to dresse well, who o c who o l ved to disport his slender ane, never l st for an d so his his taste sweets mixed up sugared, de

licious melody and harmony .

The ri nci a works o Be ini ar e : La Sonnambua p p l f ll l , “ ” “ ” “ ” “ I Puritana orma l l Pirata I Ca uletti E d I , N , , p ” M ontecchi .

Important works on Vi ncenzo Bellim M emoirs of Bel ” “ d M usic l Tunes . ini J. W M ou a l . l NO V E R RE

XXVIII

FACE TO FACE WITH NOVERRE

1 727-1 8 1 0

H E i had beaut ful Q ueen, Marie Antoinette, summoned her former dancing instructor to the Palace She who loved the clear Jean Nov erre , had not forgotten him and his anxiety to — attain to the rank of M aster of the Academy and at her coronation she had fulﬁlled for him his life time ambition . The Court of Louis XVI w as lavish in its enter 221 222 Face to Face with Great Musicians tainments and the ballets were under the supreme on of overre directi N , who studied them, wrote them,

e . produced them, and even acted in th m The rich ness and sumptuousness of the mountings were all o his t f that money could buy. L uis and beau i ul — queen knew not how to stint the requisitions for purchases were sent to th e Chancellor of the Ex n t r chequer, Calonne . This smiling, witty mi is e — never refused to honor the demand he borrowed on and r every side never thought of epaying it . Mil — lions of dollars were owin g what difference did a few hundred thousand more for a sumptuous ballet ’ make to Calonne ? Let the King send his jewelers

s . bill , it all mattered little It had been planned that Noverre should mount — “ the greatest of all his ballets Iphygenie en Au ” o lide . The great ideals of the master dancer w uld — here come to their ultimate fruition the dance which he had brought through vast evolutions would now as n e be shown in its ideal form, co ceived her ’ fo in Nov erre s he was to re imagination, while dreaming dreams . as A of the But history w mumbling. meeting States-General was called to discuss the poverty of the people three million men voted the King tried

e . to keep out the delegat s The tempest broke, the o on mob st rmed the Bastille, they moved the palace ’ ﬁ hters ﬁled o s crude, dirty, drunken g int the Q ueen

. the n of private rooms Then the guillotine, Reig o n Terr r, Marat, Robespierre, the cockade, citize s

224 Face to Face with Great Musicians how the ballet might be brought to a pitch of beauty c a su h as it h s never known . “ You do not need me to tell you how much the has n dance mea t throughout history . To the old

Greeks it was the most important art they possessed . — It was a real language fraught with tremendous meaning. They danced everywhere and on every e es pretext . How importantly th dancers were teemed is shown in this - the dancers were considered

above all other artists . . “ The great dramatists danced in their own produc

t was the . ions . Terpsichore the best loved of muses ‘ ’ m H o Si onides said that Dancing is silent, poetry mer said it was the unapproachable art ; Anacreon w as d c he always rea y to dan e, and Socrates, t great o o was fi st s c est phil s pher, r to trip the light fanta ti H e it toe at every ball . did not sneer at , but wor shi d pe it . “ Dancers have always been known as the sages o f s in the foot and hand, the ballet ma ters old Greece s were recruited from the fine t citizens . “ I o Among the ndians, dancing was the nly form o so h can sa f worship . Dancing is old t at no one y I where it originated . But have a feeling that the first real dances of art were done under the shadows n of the Egyptia sphinxes, while Hercules watched enchanted . “ n I k ow, gentlemen, that the dance had degraded

from the time of the graceful Grecian ideal , until it grew licentious and vile . But the noble dance is Face to Face with Noverre 225

t to has as abou return . It been returning for the l t u and c h ndred years, su h papal decrees as forbid all a A d ncing have been long forgotten . hundred years XIV ago, King Louis led the fashion by taking the o c r . leading r les in ou t ballets The good teacher,

Beauchamp, taught men and women how to step G od gracefully, and Dupre, of the dance, my c friends , and my tea her, brought beauty of form and M line into being again . There was ademoiselle who Camargo, before my time drew vast crowds, and made her name the talk of the country, even a f boo tmaker coining a fortune by selling Camargo shoes ! ” “ h n an s . o nso Who is to make other, a ked Dr J , “ by making Nove rre pan ts Nov erre After the laughter subsided, continued

I have been always a lover of the dance . My father intended me for the army—but I simply couldn’ t o At g . the earliest age I was inventing new steps, e c n c moving to th strains of musi , thrilling to da e my — w ay before great multitudes and my father was forced to let me have my way. I made my debut at sixteen at the Court of Fontainebleau, but I failed .

They laughed at me . “ Let me tell you Why . You have seen the ballets, and the way the dancers look . The women have n huge padded skirts, they are covered with u gainly

r . cloths and jewelry . Their headdress is g otesque

It is pyramided a foot over their foreheads, and over e ach temple there are ﬁve rolls ! What does such 226 Face to Face with Great Musicians ridiculous mummery mean ? I could never under

stand it. “ Think o f Camellia coming out in a hooped petti o o and c at, her hair decked up with fantastic ribb ns o ers e n h n ﬂ w , th whole appearance like a clow . T i k of A o o in an - o o wi p ll enormous black, full b tt med g, sun on his wearing a mask, with a big gold copper ” was o . breast . The whole thing like a puppet sh w Johnson in his - on Garrick laughed, laughed deep t ed - —t haw haws . Boswell did likewise hey applauded n and rou dly, the big Apollo continued “ s o f s con A ballet i a picture or a series picture , c ed in ne t by action, indicated the subject of the bal c n let . The stage is merely the ba kgrou d for the

s. A dancing, the notes are the coloring and the idea oo still picture is an imitation of Nature, but a g d ballet is Nature itself ennobled by all the charms of art. f wh u an rs be rot ? There ore, y sho ld the d ce g esque I have sought to make the ballet something sincere n — its and ge uine real . It should convey idea to the n sa is merest layma . The music, I might y, the

a the . to libretto. The d ncing is music The libret s it out the n n tell the story, the music carries , da ci g ’ vitalizes the composer s ideal . “ o ou see and D y why they laughed at me, why I have had to ﬁght my own ideas before the scoﬁ ers ? “ When I asked the dancers not to wear their ‘ cr : W masks , there went up a y of holy horror hat,

22 8 Face to Face with Great Musicians

' his a ballet work for Gluck and rival, Piccini ; I h ve u t been court dancing master at Vienna, where I ta gh

Maria Theresa how to trip the light fantastic toe . The Duke of Wurtemburg was my patron for many was inﬂuential m s years . I in inducing the E pres Anna of Russia to establish a Russian Imperial Bal c — s let S hool it is already doing good work. I hould see F W like to rance and England follow suit . hy ’ don t you people make a Ballet School ? “ am t is I getting old, but already here that pupil ’

Vestris al . of mine, Gaston , who s getting ong nicely — ‘ Such a little egotist he said publicly one day There ﬁ ures o are three great g in Europe, V ltaire, Frederick ’

an d Ves is . the Great, tr “ ’ oo r— h s Such egotism, but a g d dance t at temper H e — d n . an I ament, he thi ks is already wealthy am o man i well, I a po r , who does not m nd it one to bit . I have been a gentleman, and I want to live the day of my death as one who lived honestly and o ﬁ h in a its ﬁnal m destly, g t g to bring the d nce to

possibilities . “ — I see o f f u e. Oh, my friends a picture the ut r e filled Th re will be vast open spaces, with the people . Lovely music from a large organ and orchestras Will flowin peal forth . The people in g robes will rush — f forward, singing together hundreds of thousands o c them, and they will dan e to the spirit of music conveying the significance of the message by their

pan tomime an d their gestures . It will be a beautiful Face to Face Noverre 229

t sigh , it will inspire the people, it will make them m happier, it will make the more graceful and e stronger . It will be th return of Greece and the ” Greek spirit . Fa t w a ﬁ g , VERD I

XXIX

FACE TO FACE WITH VERD I

1 8 1 3 -1 900

HE grand old man of opera stoo d out on the veranda and watched the moo n rise in its and zenith, with his eyes followed a night

- b s ﬂi ht . ird in it g Tall , erect, white haired and white his bearded, he held lonely station, surveying the o expanse of his farm lands . The co l perfumed air of the summer night cast a mystical spell over the 23 0

232 Face to Face with Great Musicians

The panorama

ss o in Parrna . o act Bu et , , which is Italy T be ex , ’ nn It s anco e i . R l , in a little hut you might call an — hard to feed little Giuseppe and the ragged urchin must get along as well as he can on the poverty fare which the pater and mater have scraped together. s but o n t in R ancole Hard day , n thi g ex raordinary ‘ was it s 3 h s , Giu eppe Indeed not ot er little bodie ff w as n o su ered equally, but it somethi g t climb up f o s ? and r m the rag , eh You remember the bread e c on o s t a, the bit of a bone and o casionally, h liday , of a piece meat. ’ W o of v n now ell, y u ve grown to be a man se e , ’ bo o n o n ? y. G i g t live on your parents bou ty still No H e o and a for his t Giuseppe . would g forth p y ’ place on God s green earth . nn n o ons and See him ru ing errands, carryi g ni greens and frui ts and cheese and spaghetti for the o r H e o n gr ce . w rked very hard the . People get

n s . o no a gry if thing are delayed They sc ld, but t — s l s s Giuseppe alway a smile for him, a way becau e is o bo s his n s and s he a g od y, and mind busi es take h s rs i orde . See him graduated now to the position of chief clerk with an errand boy taking orders from him! It is better to be doing the ordering and not be or n can n o dered . O e be kind whe an ther is taking the o rs rde . Those ev enings : The boss had a spinet upstairs

an e bo was i t . s e d th y permitted to play Ja quith, th Face to Face with Verdi 233

r s his own r h g ocer, had idea all , which were ve y hig

H e a . e and mighty . liked music and musici ns H wh so sold to them . Perhaps that is y he had many b bad de ts . So little Giuseppe had his chance to play . No — sort of method, you know just picking out the n otes and melodies folks used to sing around Eu

ﬁ s . . r t setto His own crude way at , of course But when Signora Barezzi took him in hand and “ said : You must hold your thumb this way and run ” up the scale that way - then he played like a mas ter. It w as wonderful the way Signor Barezzi came ’ n Barezzi was into Verdi s life. Sig or the wealthy e a man who owned th big house . It had high w lls was and gates and fences . But inside the house all lovely because one could hear music . And wherever

h is us t . the t ere m ic, here is happiness It seemed to the little fellow then, that greatest happiness in the world would be a place where there was always mu ’ H e Barezzi 5 sic. used to listen at steps when he o H e called to deliver go ds . would listen so intently “ that the Barezzi cook related it to the Signora and e the c she told her father . H asked gro er boy inside, and and th e boy played for him . Father daughter an d ff were delighted, Signora o ered to teach him, but soon he knew more than she did ! So he played — the a well . Played organ all town c me down to church to see the tiny Verdi at twelve play the or — e gan also they came to hear th priest. 234 Face to Face with Great Musician s

ven e n—ho o ss on t n Se t e t bl oded, pa i ate, see hi g with o n f melody. A free scholarship t Mila but re used the ors— ou too o n d by direct y were rigi al, they sai — oo o ou— t erratic. They were f ols, but y well, there was a job for you as o rgan ist at the princely salary of 75 cents a week. e—a of oh so t and sim Marriag bit a girl, , pret y

d n So fr and is . ple and confi e t of you . ail w tful Ah u e t n ? , Gi sepp , he came hard times, remember — m Your first opera your i migration to Milan, your bo t os a the baby y, your garre opp ite La Scal thea h a of f v and u r the ter, t e d ys e erish work h nge , per f fo ance the f . hs o rm , ailure The mont hardship o o fierce fi ht n s and that f ll wed, the g with sick es pov erty and an opera bouffe that must be roaringly

o u . n th funn y to make pe ple la gh The cold ights, e ’ job as a pianist in a restaurant, the baby s wasting t — f ’ away an d dea h, the child wi e s cough, the opera shed he f and n ou of ﬁni , t ailure again, the passi g t the little mate ! no one -sad Well, blamed you , disappoin ted — ou u . ou os youth that y gave p Y went alm t mad . f o a . Y u o Your baby and wi e way did odd j bs, you b s kn o . u carcely ew what you were d ing Oh, t those wo i— o an d ﬂoatin n t years, Verd l st, you g arou d like ad a ship without its rudder. But the book of life h ’ it written down that you couldn t go on forever like that . was s in ou in ou Something tirr g in y , ach g to make y

23 6 Face to Face with Great Musician s

“ ” — and Traviata the creations you yourself loved the best . Then out of the vas t universe there came to you the — mate of your dreams this time a wife in mind, as as as as — well heart, in body well in station the - -be ﬁft al lovely companion to for y years to come, for — most . She had no ambitions but you to make you happy. ’ e to- she She s gon night, strong old man ; left ’ you a twelvemonth ago, but you see her now, don t — you lovely in her true wifeliness, smiling at you ou out t and encouraging y , of the mist that ga hers round the moon . You see now the serenity of that married life with — her the years of simple, rustic joyousness . You o the old would kiss her hand, and sm oth her hair in ’ wa n ? e she was y agai , wouldn t you Ev n when old rs you were the same . For many yea you lived hap pily with her in a blissful state at the home you of bought ( course, Old Sentimental o ou idea but a beautiful one . S y lived quietly, — broken by an occasional return to the opera such as when there came from the Khedive of Egypt this “ naive command : To the brilliant master of mu sic - an , Verdi, I command you to write me opera, the nature to be Moorish and the dedication to be to the immortal Son of the Sun, the Shah who showers this honor upon you . It must be all about the E the ast, written about the lives of noble great, the wonderful monarchs of Egypt. Face to Face with Verdi 237

“ ” ” C A its 0 A ame ida, with , Celeste ida, with all its wonderful atmosphere of the Nile and the tem its ples, with brilliant triumphant march, the great ’ est spectacle in history ; and the Khedive s order was ﬁlled a h n n o , produced in C iro, with t ousa ds upo th u n n sa ds taking part, with real Egyptia s in the ballet . Came honors such as never before rained on a u an m m sici . Came co munions of free music with the people to whom Verdi belonged and to whom he “ ” n . m ﬁnall retur ed Ca e Othello, and y the laugh “ u alstaff. ing, boistero s , rollicking jollity of F

There was a feat of wit and ov erﬂowing humor. S s and It was the real pirit of Old Verdi, at his be t - full ripened genius . In panorama these scenes pass before the eyes of — the grand old man of music almost a century of — operatic leadership a life of joy and accomplish f n A ment and romance and love and suf eri g. whole library of opera rolled into one life . d on his An l ely, on the veranda of house, the old - - z man, white haired, white bearded, erect, ga es over e And e th plain . the cool, soft, perfumed breez of midnight casts a mystic spell over the scene and the “ ” Miserere sounds out of the monotonous drone of n the night i sects.

“ ” “ ks o Verdi ar e : Emani Ri oletto The pri ncipal wor f , g , “ ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “ T e La Traviata Aida O te o F d l I I rova tor , , , ll , ” “ ” “ ” “ ” “ Nabucco I L ombardi Atti a Luisa M il s taf , , l , ” “ ” “ ” “ he Sici ian Ves ers The M as hed Ba , La ler, T l p , ll ” “ ” “ ’ ” ti no D on Car os M anzom Re uiem. F orza del Des , l , q 23 8 Face to Face with Great Musicians — Important works on F ortunio Giuseppe Francesco Verdi r “ ” “ S tr eal e d M usi M as ters of I ta lian M usic by R . A. ﬁ l : ’“ “ ” cal Times H is Life by P ougin ; Rivista M usicale

2 40 Face to Face with Great Musicians — well not only of the dregs , but of the snobbery , — were at work . Handel had wounded them how, — no one knew and now all the suppressed antago am nism that for years had been smouldering took ﬂ e, l and nothing would stay the conﬂagration . Hande — ~ must go and no one realized it better than himself.

His concerts were played to empty seats, his friends had abandoned him, his opera house was a failure, b-ankru t—in he himself was p debt , ten thousand r — pounds . Creditors were c uel imprisonment stared h1 m 1 n the face . His body was paralyzed down one n side, at moments his mind even seemed to have give way . NO he l . The foreigner, t y ca led him, the usurper W, after all these years, sullen nationalism was express ing itself as an excuse for private grievances . Ene who had mies of Handel , always viewed with envy

his . leadership of the Opera, had plotted it all Their c suc sinister efforts had suc eeded . The mob had c be - andel sm um d to the blandishments of the anti H i .

How they gloated, these miserable cads . How they pulled the cards from the signposts and broke them into tiny pieces . What malice was written c on their fa es . But it was not these underlings who were really s responsible . It was the men behind the work, it c n e ting in their homes , rejoi ing at the dow fall of th erstwhile national idol . c t Stolidly Handel wat hed hem, in this last act of their malice ; his face took on a more de termined Face to Face with Handel 241

o deﬁance frown, his head was raised in a mixture f c and courage . His long fa e, strained with the years ff of su ering and striving, large, serious and sad eyes , mouth of indomitable spirit, tremendous forehead, surmounted with a King George wig— the fallen c c a idol was s ar ely written on him . R ther the hope

c fi ht and win . ful rusader. Once more to g , perhaps H e his shrugged shoulders , he summoned his man, “ lo e Ve and said : You vill back my g th s. leave Eng - land to night . “ it v Vat do you dink of , he asked in his hea y “ o ! Hanoverian accent, after thirty years in Lond n bo I am - fift -fiv e I come here a y, to day y years old e e my whole lif I have given these country . I r n c ow n I meinself oun e my land, make an English I c z c man . be ome naturali ed . I vork for these oun ’ — c c try to make it a pla e in the world s musi . I c c ome here, dere is no musi , no English composer, ‘ c no Opera . Pur ell is dead . Everybody saying, Give

us c us . some musi , give some music Nobody in all ’ n I - Engla d to do it . write forty four operas right in ‘ these city of London ; among th em my beloved Ad ’ ‘ ’ ’ ‘ ’ meto, Rinaldo, and my heart s child, Tamerlano . — — M y audience th ey ask fo r Italian music I give them what they ask in the style of Italians—any ' thing to please them . They vant songs for the king s — I o whims , I write odes, serenatas . write ratorios — I geev e them everything they ask from v edding c march to funeral mar h . “ I write a Te Deum for the Peace of Utrecht, I 242 Face to Face with Great Musicians

write a Birthday Ode for Q ueen Anne ; I do the ‘ ’ Water Music for King George, to make him happy. ‘ But mainly I vork for the people . For the Kings

at the start ; but afterwards for the people . I head I the theater . make English music a thing envied I ﬁ ht I by the vorld . g ; make the greatest virtuoso - Cozzini out of English know nothings . I bring over , I Faustina . take the argument up with Buononcini

and beat him back because he know nothing. Many o n am te times I lose all I have, I g ba krupt . I n c o c thousands pounds out of po ket . I g ba k to vork . “ to I come to England robust, strong, able stand I e o . t everything g sick, I g to the baths to get better — am then comes this sickness, paralysis, I on my

- death legs . “ the ? Debt, and where are friends Creditors, lofel y fellows, vant to put Handel in prison . I ﬁ ht c o g still, I re over . I help other po r musicians give my time an d ideas to make an English Society M beneﬁ of usicians . They try to make a t for me

o it . some fo lish friends, I did not vant That is am killed . Now I through, they do not vant me . ‘ So z “ am — I dismissed I go . The grand old ﬁgure moved away from the win

dow, and into the inner room, helping the servant t wi h the packing ; doing it aimlessly, and pausing

every now and then to soliloquize . “ i hd Perhaps the fader was r g . I should never go ’ n o A t i t music . lawyer, hat s better . Taking gare

244 Face to Face with Great Musicians

s — an d he work , they had played them many times

was received joyously . What a reception when he came into the city to settle there ! The beloved composer to live in

Ireland . h s Every musician called and paid i respects . And So the Handel smiled anew . simple is heart of

was . the great . Handel born all over Overboard — t ! with the woes strike out for bigger, deeper hings s i There he tood aga n at the window, gazing out the w as on populace, but this time he happy and — — felt a kindly welcome he w as no outcast he was A one of th e people . great burst of love surged all

through him, the whole world of men and women seemed to be crying for utterance in a great pman

of hope and fai th . The sorrows were all melting under the warming inﬂuence of the supreme ideal

- that glistened and burned before his soul lit eyes . H e it— it was bursting with could not be contained, it ﬁlled his whole being with humanity and com

passion . he his For two weeks watched at the window, n writing table lit with the Irish sun, and wrote dow o the pr mise that he was urged to give to the world . “ ” us i s an d Unto a son born, it said , it told of the

savior of the world anew . The message of the Messiah was to be brought to people with renewed powers . The old Bible story came to Handel, sing e ing and playing for vast choruses and orch stras . tr ou I vill y and write y some better music, Face to Face with Handel 245

H n his s a del said to Dublin friend , smiling all over, “ a little better than I have written for the E ng lish. If what I have done in the past has been oo t is g d, his far better. We will produce it right in o If here y ur city. you like it you may have the ﬁrs s i ’ t right to t . I will make it for Ireland s music o l vers . “ we r Ve Here will ehearse this very day. will try ‘ h n U s ’ ‘ t is, For U to a Son Is Born, and Worthy Is ’ ‘ the a . L mb You, Miss, have this solo, I Know That ’ My Redeemer Liveth . W h . hat a rehearsal it was, t ough was ff e a It di erent than during the op ras . This w s n deali g in something bigger and mightier. Every ’ - c one felt it . They listened awe stru k and couldn t understand th e hold of it . Handel himself w as unable to fath om the surge of melody and harmony which this mighty subj ect h broug t him . “ be beo le V This must given free to the p . e vill ” — or his s make a beneﬁt f the debtors in brison, word

v k it. were, e idently thin ing how near he had been to

And so everything was to go to charity . e ns n The years seemed to roll away on th i ta t, Handel looked younger than he had at the ﬁrst pub

o t . lic perf rmance, at for y The moment he played out the ﬁrst crashing chord the c r the on the organ, and ho us sang glorious mel o of dy, the Hallelujah Chorus , the great old master 2 46 Face to Face w ith Great Musician s realized that his masterpiece had been given the world . In the audience were prisoners released to hear c the musi . All Dublin rose to do him glory ; they carried him through the streets to show how they an d was loved him the news carried to London, and “ they whispered : Handel has done a big thing ’ the world will s ay we threw him out and didn t ”

l us . rea ize his genius . Let get him back

w as . But he not destined to peace, even yet The ” Messiah offered to London w as forbidden produc “

n . It c tion, u der that name, in England is sa ri ” n c . s legio s, they de lared The plotter refused to be w as stilled . But Handel not to be silenced or de “ F c m feated . rom his now inspired pen a e Judas ” “ ” Maccabeus and Saul , the two others of his trio o the of oratori s . The beauty of the music, over powering majesty of these religious sermons in mu was sic, were applauded by the people . The enemy a — s e damned . The b ttle was won Handel was ’ n land s na i onal com oser claimed E g t p . e H is standing at the window again . Always he is looking at the people, and the green, looking on life and mirroring it in music . This time he realized — was - o his victory but it , too, but short lived . Lo k ' drinkin in ing, gazing, g the beauty of things that — — are something snapped his sight grew dim . “ 0 ” How Dark, Lord, Are Thy Ways, he wrote, “ ” o and Grief Follows J y as Night the Day . Then

FACE TO FACE WITH GREAT MUSICIANS

Tw o Bo o ks . By CHARLES D . ISAACSO N

I t o d tio T ROUP n r uc n b Le o o d Go d ow sk . FIRS G . y p l y d The cha p te rs in clu e Mus ic, Be e tho v en , M e n d e ls

o Cho in G re tr Brahms eb s P i s hn, p , y , . D us y , a gan ni,

Stra div a rius Wo f Bach G uck MacD o w e ll , l , , l , ,

Liszt Lu l Per o esi Me erb e er G ran a d o s , l y, g l , y , ,

Che rubini Su iv an Strad e a Chamina d e Ma s ' , ll , ll , ,

s en et Ma s ca n i H a dn Mo ntev erde Be ini , g , y , , ll ,

No v erre , Ve rdi , H andel .

e SECOND GROUP. Fo rewo rd by Dr. Frank Cran .

r In tro ducti o n by Frank La Fo ge . The thirty cha p

te c ude Wa n e r Ro s sin i Ber ioz Patti Cés a rs in l g , , l , , r

Fra nck, Jo hn Field , Do n izetti, Aub er, Schub e rt ,

a fe Abt Rub enstein Cri sto fo ri Ste he B l , , , , p n

i Pa le strin a G o un o d Co c o Fo s ter , Gr eg, , , u y, Sp hr,

urcell The Sca r a ttis Ts chaiko w sk Garcia P , l , y , ,

o ra Bize t Mo uss o r sk La o Web er Dv k. , g y, l . ,

l M o za rt N. . M .

L E O N A ND C O M P A N Y D . A P P T

Naw vomc LONDON