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BY
NATHAN
HASKELL
DOLE
VOLUME
II
WITH
PORTRAITS
THOMAS
Y.
CROWELL
"
CO.
PUBLISHERS
CONTENTS.
VOL.
II.
PAGE
SCHUBERT
Louis
SPOHR
MEYERBEER
"
MENDELSSOHN
SCHUMANN FREDERIC
MIKHAIL
v
375
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN GLINKA
400
432
451
p
?.
IVANOVITCH
BERLIOZ LISZT
489
.
ff
WAGNER
...
517
SCHUBERT.
(1797-1828.)
VIENNA,
cruel
in
and
the
was sons
of
Art. allowed
Bonn,
Mozart
came
to
her
from
Salzburg,
came
him
and
to
starve.
Beethoven
to
she
deserting
She
was
was
in melancholy
tude, soli-
cruel
and
neglectful singer.
of
mother. He
Schubert
before unknown,
sorrow.
one
native-born
very the
died
his
time,
in the
plenitude victim
of
his
powers, and
unappreciated,
privation
Such
at it.
is the
natural
and
sentimental
way
of looking
There
The
career
is
truer
and
been
more
has
point
of view. disappointed
to be, if not
by
of
how
Beethoven's
"The
"
seclusion
of in
not
from the
the
world
was
self-chosen.
of
tones
soothsayer
consolation
most inner"
world
countree."
own
found
that only
far his
And
was
poverty
less
a
was
fault, but
it would
the
cause
of
suffering
than
have
person
of
finer
physical
284
SCHUBERT.
fibre.
What
for
he wasted him
"the
on common
strong
drink
would
of
have
procured
necessities
life," the
"one's
lack blood
of
which,
as
though
pitiable,
boil,"
Sir George
Burns
Schubert he had
"
is the marvellous
says, and
The
German
ennoblement singer,
W.
Miiller
its highest
finest
him,
native again, he
was
came
the
ancient
purified
most at
and
ease
transfigured
among
was
by
art."
own
Like
Burns,
those
too
of his of
station
in
life;
like
Burns,
he
fond
of
mean sex,
gay
Unlike
Burns,
however,
being
personal
nor
he cared
care
"
did
the
for
him.
And
yet,
strangely
"
enough,
he
won
had
for him
nameless
earnest
personal friends.
Peter
charm
which
always
Franz
Schubert
at
was
born
of the
on
the Ked
of
January,
Rothen
1797,
the
one
was
house
of
a
the
(Zum
of
of
Krebseri),in
His
immediate
Vienna.
sterling
father
character,
a
who, A
like
married
cook.
patriarchal
a
blessed
grew
this and
subsequent
union,
but only
up.
Little is known
or
of the home-life
and
in the Schubert
hold, house-
of the influence
are no
character
There
must
anecdotes
shown by
of the the
musical
which
have
been
gifted
child,
strangely
From his father's own placed. ful words regarding his youthdays, we know that at five he was prepared merely for school, at six he was the leader of his comrades, and
always
fond
of society.
FRANZ
SCHUBERT.
After
the
aquarell of
Dr.
of
G.
W.
A.
Rieder
in
(1796-1888).
Vienna.
Property
Granitsch
SCHUBERT.
285
father
"
"
In his eighth
year,"
of
to
to take
the
continues, and
I taught
him
along
the
violin play
playing,
easy
brought
him
far I sent
tolerably
of
Mr.
well.
Then
singing
Michael
many had
Holzer, times,
such
a
the
with
parish
tears
choir-master,
declared
never
he
put
before
pupil.
that he said he, 'I found I really gave him no instruction, but simply him and looked at him in silent amazement.'
him/
talked
"
His calling,
oldest
gave
brother him
Ignaz,
who
followed playing;
his but
these
a
father's
as
lessons he
in piano
soon
Sir
George
teachers.
Grove What
Mozart, !
says,
a
outstripped he had
not
simple
pity
that
father
a
like
Leopold
capable
He
was
of guiding
genius
came
lisped
no
in
one
tous porten-
numbers
the songs
; but
there
who
and
ten
other
compositions old.
the
a
"
which has
before
he
was
years
He
in his heard
little finger,"
him
extemporize
exclaimed
on
delighted
that
theme
was
he gave
years
him.
and
or
When
was
he
eleven
for the
eight
examined choir-boys
Konvikt, Imperial
the
for
the
Chapel.
lad in his
a
the
fat awkward
light gray
and
took
they the
him
for
miller's
of their
son,
repented
other
when
and
tunes
Salieri his
and
examiners
out
called
the
up,
voice already
rang
; for
been
where
in
parish the
church
solos
Lichtental,
had
also played
violin
"
required
"
in the
was soon
The
miller's
suit
gold-
286
SCHUBERT.
laced uniform A boys' school in those of the Konvi'kt. days even the uniform was was not a paradise, when decorated Schubert's with gold lace. earliest known
letter to his brother
gives
a
Ferdinand,
picture
of
dated the
:
"
November
24, 1812,
serio-comic
hardships
endured
by
Chapel
You
know like
from
a
would
to eat
one
that
a
oftentimes
fellow
couple
when
from
a
has
for eight
a
wretched supper. Nolens he adds, I must have a change." And volens" he beseeches his brother him to send kreutzers two
"
mediocre
dinner
till
month,
on
the
one
principle
to
that poor.
he
who
hath
two
coats
give father
were
the
could
spare
spent.
him
only two
groschen,
and
quickly
and
unheated
icy-cold.
flourished. the love of music and other discomforts, There Schubert an was was admitted. orchestra, into which The leader of the band, an older lad named
Joseph
who boy
was
von
Spaun,
so
"turned
round
the
first day
*
to
a
see
playing
in spectacles,
great
friends, and
generous
enough
was
provide himself
He
Schubert
to buy.
with
music-paper,
which
he
too poor
thus
orchestral
with the acquainted During a formance perworks of the great composers. he declared Symphony G-minor of Mozart's
a
had
chance
to
become
he
could
hear
was
the
angels
singing.
His
reverence
for
Beethoven
deeply
after he entered do one said that he could already " I somehis head and exclaimed,
ingrained.
Soon
SCHUBERT.
287
after Beethoven do
times
have
?
"
such
dreams,
but
who
can
anything
It
seems
strange
a
that
so
little
care
was
taken
to give
Schubert
musical have
thorough
composition.
him lessons
more
given
but
soon
found
that he
that he
saw
knew
than
the
did, and
declared
it
"
from
dear
God."
:
"
Salieri, when
He
can
the boy's He is
a
capacity,
genius.
exclaimed He
do
everything operas,
composes
songs,
masses,
string-quartets,
It
was
in fact, anything
:
you
true
between
fantasia
May-Day,
for
1810, when
and
his when
four-hand
piano,
October
he had
he finished
overture,
composed
many
quintet
string-quartets,
a
and
of
other
instrumental
pieces, besides
quantity
vocal
sitions. compo-
Music in the
occupied
him
so
wholly
that
history,
Latin,
poetry,
and
neglected.
by the
as
Many of
compositions
played
as
pupils by
the
Konvikt;
composers,
; his
and
were
his
quartets,
on
well
those
other
Sundays
and
holidays
at home
second
the
to
His the viola. ear was detect the slightest false note, and he would " Herr be Vater, there must a modest smile,
himself
say with
some
take mis-
there." He also
occasionally
had
chance
or
to hear
an
opera various
by
Weigl,
Cherubini,
during
these and
Bo'ieldieu, years,
Gluck.
At
concerts
Beethoven's
masterpieces,
the
Fifth,
Sixth,
Seventh
Symphonies,
and
other
288
SCHUBERT.
All such privileges were given. eagerly fuel his for to But seized, and added composition. zeal to think that Beethoven at that time he seemed united " too much the tragic and the comic, the agreeable and works,
were
him
petty, the holiest and Mozart," he calls "Mozart, as in his diary, was his favorite, and exercised a deeper the
heroic
influence When
might
have
the school
to pass
so, a
the Merveldt
certain
stayed on in he consented
choose
summer
to do
vacation.
the
that Schubert's
was
orchestra
a
number
school, that the stillcontinued to play his compositions, he made during of the friends whom
memory Konvikt
they reached years' stay, afterwards, when positions of influence, always stood by him in calling public attention to his works.
It speaks
for the quality of Schubert's education his father's that in order to become
at the obliged to study several months then was of St. Anna, and even given he should have only the preparatory classes ! Why ery, drudgto be utter sure taken up with a work that was is not known. His brother thought to that it was
secure
his exemption from Possibly service in the army. it was his ability to earn because his father doubted livelihood by music. He
was
a nervous,
irritable teacher,
and
sometimes
severely boxed the ears of the stupid or mischievous little girls under him, that their fathers interfered. Indeed, one is said to have led to his resignasuch scene tion
so
of the position.
SCHUnERT.
289
had
The
three music, of
years
"
of drudgery
been
prolific in wonderful
list of upwards
sort and
of four In 1815
some
hundred
he wrote them
compositions one
every
kind.
;
hundred
and
thirty-seven
most
songs
of
his most
characteristic,
of August
of them
immortal.
On
he wrote
eight.
Once
written
that
he threw they
were
forgot
"
sometimes
on
his.
was
written
the spur
of the moment, He
Schubert
the
was same
no
having evening
justseen
the
Goethe's
ballad.
took
it
to the Konvikt,
to try it
over,
for there
very well
piano
; the not
at
house;
but
it
was
not
received
were
extraordinary
harmonies
and
its originality
understood.
mass
His
first
was
on
and
first performed
ten ;
composed Sunday,
for the
Parish
Church,
It
was
October
16, 1814.
days
his
Church.
the
Franz
organ.
brother
Ferdinand
led the
played G-rob
"
Schubert's
was
so
octave
as
that he presented the composer with a fiveSalieri was piano. present, and claimed Schubert proud
"
his pupil,
relation which
Beethoven
also gladly
acknowledged. A number to wretchof operas, composed unfortunately ed librettos, fell in this same Some are of them period. fragmentary, now to the ravages of a servant-girl, owing
who,
in
that
1848,
could
find
no
fires than
those
cious pre-
but neglected scores. Salieri is said to have given him lessons, but to many have advised him to avoid Goethe and Schiller's poems. He was to follow his own It was wise enough counsels.
290
Goethe,
SCHUBERT.
through
especially,
that
he
was
inspired
to
the
lyrical flights ; and yet, strange to say, Goethe did not appreciate He the honor. neither expressed pleasure at the immortal alliance, nor even acknowledged
highest the
was
sang
old
man,
"
and
to the beauty
of the "Erlkdnig music, and confessed that he saw its completeness, thus sung when which before had escaped him. In 1816 a government school of music was established
Normal
Institute
at Laybach,
applied with it a
He
for
the
position
of
did he
hold
ever,
in spite of several
any
by
or was
succeed He private.
He
was
in any
was
charge.
life
not
master
upon
ment. instru-
teaching composer, pure and simple ; even few irksome to him, and his pupils were music was and far between. In the autumn the of this same year, having forsworn
a
duty
of grounding
in the lodging
we
Schubert
true
to
saw
Schober
songs,
that anxious he
Schubert's
he
when
live together.
SCHUBERT.
291
him
never
judged
Ignaz, from
from
was
letter also
a
written teacher,
to
by
his
brother
loose
who
and
broke
the toils
"
"You
in
a
man!
freedom
How ;
can
you
are
to
be envied!
musical
are so
You genius
live
free
sweet
can
give
as
your please,
rein,
your the
thoughts
us are
you
loved,
many
admired,
wretched youth, and
rest of
devoted,
like
a
of burden,
to
all the
brutalities
to
of
a
pack
of wild
moreover,
must
be
a
subservient
priest."
thankless
public,
under
the thumb
of
stupid
Another gloomy
of
Schubert's
friends of whom
was
the
eccentric,
wrote
:
"
poet, Mayrhover,
"
Bauernfeld
;
Sickly
Held
was
aloof from
Busied
Found
Earnest
his features,
stony;
Never Both
laughed
or
jested.
behavior
us
his learning
and
With
blackguards.
meaning
but
Weighted
he uttered.
Only
music
could
from
him dulness;
were
Sometimes
And
when
Schubert's
songs
more
given,
Then
his nature
grew
cheerful."
It
was
hearted
of
the
between
the
light-
jokes and
was
all sorts
to
buffooneries
"
(his
"
favorite
a
amusement
sing
the
Erlkonig
through whose
fine-toothed
was so
comb
!) and
misanthropic
set
more
poet
career
pathetic. music,
even
than
had
they
been
292
together for
describes
"It
was
:
"
SCHUBERT.
some
time in quarters
Mayrhover
thus
in
from
gloomy tooth
street.
and
room
had
suffered
sunken,
;
a
the
played-out
the
which, with never pass from my memory." Still a third of Schubert's Michael Vogl,
a
room,
we
spent
there,
can
new
friends
was
Johann
singer of the Vienna opera-house. Spaun, his early friend of the Konvikt, claims to have introduced them, and tells how the awkward, retiring,
tenor
Schubert blushing the famous met and " bow haughty and singer with a clumsy few disconnected, stammering words."
and
rather
a
scrape, and
into the room, Vogl, perfectly at his ease, came which He littered with music. was picked up some of the he took Then, when them through. songs and hummed his departure, he slapped Schubert on the back, arid said : " in you, but you are too little of a There is something You squander your player, too little of a charlatan. to anything." beautiful thoughts without bringing them Nevertheless, he
came
back, and
was a man
soon
found
under
real value to the composer; to all the of great houses and as he had the entree best songs, it was Vienna, and sang many of Schubert's in society. Vogl, not long before they were well known
were
He
of culture
and
of
of them
as
"
truly
divine
of
musical
clairvoyance,"
"words
Vogl
"speech, poetry in tones," phrases: in harmony," "thoughts clad in music." into the very spirit of how to enter understood
of
the
SCHUBERT.
293
his brother
nand Ferdi-
Schubert's
:
"
songs. way
The
latter wrote
The
in which
sings and
we seem
I accompany,
to
be
one,
is
In 1817
Schubert
wrote
a
in the experience of these people." introduced into Vienna ; music was fun inclined to make even of it, and
"
travesty
overture,
as
but
it
Symphony.
Perhaps
it
was
all-conquering popularity that the quantity, but not fell off during this and quality, of his compositions
the
during
this time
is not
known.
His
not broken, but the arrival with Schober was him of his lodgings. He of Schober's brother deprived had no pupils, and the only money that so far he had
earned
by his music
a
was
only
about
twenty
dollars by
some
the sale of
cantata
written
and
performed
years
before. of 1818 Schubert became in the family of Count Johann Esterhazy. in Vienna, and a gave him a winter home
In the
summer
home
at Zelesz
on
the Waag,
that
lesson
was
and an he gave
honorarium the
three
of two
family
von
musical, and the great baritone singer, Schonstein, sang who afterwards many of frequent a songs great applause, was with
of
their
home
concerts,
at
which
they
and
sang
"Seasons,"
including his friend
Mozart's
"Requiem,"
works Schober
by that
Schubert
he
himself,
composing
other for he
is
"
like
doubtless
yearned
for the
freedom
and
independ-
294
ence
SCHUBERT.
life, and in September he writes of his humbler that " not a soul there has again, declaring mournfully any feeling for true art, unless the Countess be an exception. " So I am alone," he adds, with my beloved, and
must
hide
her
in my
room, me
in my
piano, in my
on
breast.
it
Although
sad,
inclines to think
quarters
that
he
was
more
in the servants7
was
than
in the Countess's
salon. He He
there, perhaps, treated with more consideration. " The cook is rather jolly writes : ; the ladies'
pretty, often quite good old soul ; the butler my rival. better suited for the horses than for housemaid very
maid
is thirty ; the
a social ; the nurse The two grooms are The Count is rather rough ; the Countess haughty, us. I yet with a kind heart ; the Countesses nice girls. am good friends with all these people."
...
It has been
the is
was a
youngest
surmised daughter,
that
Schubert
von
Caroline
that once story, not well authenticated, when she dedicated teasing him because he had never any of
"
Why
But
she wr'ote some of his best played the piano well (Schubert four-handed love which he felt pieces for her),any
only eleven
that
summer
of 1818, and
But
his love
must
at
any
rate
have
little man,
arms,
not
much
such
over
rotund could
figure, fat
not master
and
pieces ; his of his own insignificant ; the beauty bad ; his nose was complexion even of his eyes hidden by the spectacles which he wore the technique
SCHUBERT.
295
in bed.
the
What
love
hope
of
a
of winning
of
the
"
beloved
Vienna,"
where,
as
dear and valuable to his brother, all that was It is interesting to know to be found. that his looked
"
motherly The
care
stockings,
was
about forty dollars, Schubert He was without anxiety." loved by all the circle that gathered was at Schober's They or some rooms convenient coffee-house. called
"
"
friends. congenial with Hungary his earnings of money, plenty hundred florins, equivalent two alone were
"
spent Having
July
him
"the
Tyrant,"
because
carry
he for
brenner
"Kanevas,"
fetch
he he
man joined them, any new when dialect, " Can asked, in his quaint Viennese always " " do anything ? " They Schwammerl called him
and because
or (toadstool)
"Bertl." in sham
They
were
they
indulged
rough howled
and
noisy;
and
contradiction!
amid these wild
Strange
nature
of
lovely songs born, as water-lilies, pure and white, grow from the were filth and ooze in a beer-garden once of the pond ! Thus Schubert that some picked up a volume of Shakspere
orgies what
Even
literary friend
had
met
laid
on
table.
He
I
The
song,
:
"
Hark
!
a
his eye.
to
me
exclaimed
If only I
"
Such
some
has
come
had
music-paper
296
SCHUBERT.
A few staves were hastily drawn in pencil on the back are, and amid of a bill-of-f such incongruous surroundings one down. Yet jotted of the most perfect of songs was
music is the product of my genius and my poverty, and that which I have written in my greatest distress is what the world seems to like the best."
Schubert
exclaimed,
"My
He
was
lacking
shy, free from self-conceit,utterly in jealousy; he sometimes in his was what naturally
a
rather comical
late at night. Schubert had been drinking a of the theatres good deal, when two musicians from one into the beer-room, and spying the composer, dropped asked him
to compose
Schubert
for their special instruments. something leaped to his feet, drained a last glass
his hat over his ear, and drew up of punch, pushed one threateningly against the two men, was a of whom
head and shoulders taller : " he cried. " You are musicians, and Artists, you ? " of nothing else. One of you bites the brass mouthpiece stick, and the other puffs out his cheeks your wooden
"
over
his French
. . .
trade.
one
You,
Call that art ? That's a mere artists ! You are blowers and fiddlers,
am an
horn.
Schubert, Franz artist ! I, I am has knows who and names, everybody done great and beautiful things above your comprehension, beautiful ones : cantatas and and will do stillmore
and all. / Schubert, whom
For
am
not
of country
waltzes
as {Landler\,
merely it says in
paper, and as stupid fellows prate. I am Schubert, Franz Schubert, I would have you know, and if the word i art ' is spoken, it concerns me, and not you,
"
SCHUBERT.
297
but
you
I will
worms
and write
never
insects, who want solo pieces for you, and I know them why,
"
the
gnawing foot of
worms
which
who
I would
crush
under
"
creeping, foot
"
feriam
I say dust!"
"
Sublime reaches the stars translate that ! yes, the stars, sidera vertice wriggle in the while you poor, puffing worms
a
man
"
"
The
men
amazement to
at
this
room
Schubert's
in few
the
direst
aphorisms
down
on
paper.
out
Schubert
and
tumbled
to atone promised solos for the virtuosos. It must not be judged by this that he
was
an
habitual
of
sot.
His
habits
were
generally
regular;
or
his hours
A beautiful poem, arduous. Beethoven's C-sharp minor quartet, into paroxysms It of excitement.
labor touched
The
like
the
gushed rod: the fountains finer fibre in him hidden, but it was was
Moses'
to
"
by
vibrate
which
were
in
all harmony.
at
that
not
time
"
were
and
were
wanton.
him
to make
an
with Vogl, who introduced him into the circle of his family and friends. letters dated at Steyr Several describe the delights of this excursion : the and Linz fascinating the music scenery, the jovialcomradeship, famous Schubert for his facility in was and dances. improvising
waltzes
Austria
by
the
hour
when
among
those
298
he knew whom lightning over
expression heard him
"
"
SCHUBERT.
well. the
His
keys.
a
like
composer,"
one
who
the piano sing like a bird. and made In February, 1819, a song of Schubert's was sung for Two the first time in public. years later, after a semi" Erlkonig" a hundred of the copies public performance
"
were
subscribed
"
for, and
the
great
song
was
on no commission," and printed publisher In nine months to incur the risk. eight hundred were the entering wedge, and sold. This was
followed
by
dedicated Count
Dietrichstein, The
of Venice,
that
noblemen.
were now
success
so
great
account. willing to publish others on their own Had Schubert been wise, or his friends looked out for He have been assured. his interests, his future might
foolishly sold
works
for
silver gulden ($400). One single song " " 1822 brought its publishers between The Wanderer he mortgaged of $13,000. Moreover, and 1861 upwards
" "
offered the position of organist to the distress of his to the Court Chapel ; but, much it knowing that his father, he refused erratic and to his success. habits would not conduce unsystematic
"
same
short-sighted
way.
Absolute
freedom
than
Schubert
more
necessary
one
to
!" exclaims
of
his biographers.
Perhaps
also his attraction to the theatre But, poor write an opera. librettos he had ! He himself,
to
stood in his way. His great desire was fellow ! Such wretched
SCHUBERT.
299
that poetical musician his by a placard; and
was
whom
ever
Liszt
was," as
judgment
Not
were case
the
merit
of poetry
most
nate. unfortusome
one
of his many
not
heard
"
with
with Schober
operas after he
was
the
begun
the
a
castle
of
Ochsenburg
countesses,
company
with
and time
princess, two
music-loving
autumn
three
other
spent
opera
lightfu dewas
in the
twenty-six resurrected by Liszt in Weimar, years later; but not until 1881, with a new libretto in place of the inane and stupid one written by Schober, did it meet with success when given at Karlsruhe. With this opera is connected a curious story concerning Schubert Schubert, like Spohr, could and Weber.
see
no
reason
for
Weber's
popularity.
one
"
He
declared melody.
that
"
"Euryanthe" The
'
original
so
was
tender
in
'
sincere,
Weber
snob Schubert,
score
"
Let
the
of
"
that he knew prove something, " Alfonso and Estrella to Weber, who
to
took
the
glanced
puppies
through and
it, and said slightingly, "I !" the first operas are drowned
was
tell you,
beginning
and and
Such Schubert
masters
not
very
harmonious
and
but
two
was
good-natured
song
to
generous,
the
of romantic
attempt
amicably,
new
Weber
at
opera
played
Another
bitter disappointment
came
in the
rejection
300
of his
a
SCHUBERT.
more
ambitious
pages of
three-act
beautiful
opera
"
Fierabras"
"
thousand
to a wretched his in months, shows letters signs of low spirits. He speaks of his brightest hopes to naught; broken beyond come of his health " the most repair ; of being unlucky, the most wretched in the world ; " he declares that he goes to sleep man to wake every night hoping never again.
music, He libretto.
written
in four
Schubert
songs
had
been
(dieSckone
hospital.
But
series)
the
in the
summer
of 1824
he
was
with
;
the Esterhazys
again, among
country with fascinating peasantry
was
the Hungarian
mountains
and the wholesome health. he While familiar with the of the Hungarian with He writes
so
which
more
than for
a
"
been
Hungarian
whom
land
a
not
to speak
enjoyingwalks
splendid piano pieces and songs for in the very bloom of life. now the young countesses May not the complaints which fill his letters be the outcome of that hopeless love for the Countess Caroline ?
stein, and It wasted in playing of money, friends, the Croesus for the benefit of his impecunious for instance, he fed and treated to concerts, as, whom infernally Paganini, Bauernfeld to hear "that taking
" "
seems
at Bogner's
Cafe,
streams
on
the
ers' Sing-
Street, where
wine
flowed
in
j mornings
FRANZ
SCHUBERT
OF
A
IN
HUNGARY,
BAND AND
LISTENING TAKING
TO
THE OF
WEIRD
THE
MELODIES MUSIC.
GYPSY
NOTES
SCHUBERT.
301
ing inquirmonths
music,
ease one
devoted
to work
; letters from
; and
about
his terms
"in a delightful passed with Vogl friends, fine scenery, lovely weather,
and
comfort,"
"
and
of the
happiest
to make
What
good
were
spirits he felt
more
numerous
may
be
judged from
than at any other time, and lengthy that summer full of odd rhymes conceits, as well as and quaint common sense. and sound vivid descriptions Early in 1826, in consequence of the death of Salieri, became Chapel the vice kapellmeistership of the Royal
"
vacant.
It bore
free
to
lodgings.
thousand
for it.
Weigh but
Schubert
since
place,
said : it is given
"
I
to
should such
a
have
that I
worthy
ought He
to be content."
failed also to obtain the post of director at the Theatre, owing, as some Karnthnerthor say, to his obstinacy Schubert's great in refusing to alter his test-piece.
his best friends obstinacy, which even issued This year six publishers not overcome. could fairly well paid a hundred over of Schubert's works, some Often he got only for, others at incredibly low prices.
fault
was
dogged
twenty
cents
apiece
was one was
Schubert
funeral.
of the
torch-bearers
at Beethoven's
This
long worshipped
the The
a
younger
had in
they
lived
same
rarely met
confused
who cared word on that ever-ready tablet. Beethoven, little for the works was of his contemporaries, pleased Schubert dedicated however with some variations which
302
to him.
SCHUBERT.
On his death-bed
he
songs,
more
and was amazed than five hundred. !" he exclaimed that he had not
Schusome shown of bert's to learn that he had written " Truly he has the divine
was
fire in him
; and
known
of him,
to
twice, and visited the dying man have exclaimed, has my "Franz
On
a
back
from
went
into
two several friends, and drank glasses of to Beethoven's the other to the one wine ; one memory, He drank to his own that should follow next. spirit. Schubert Once more an outing with congenial
tavern
enjoyed
at
a
Gratz,
"
"
excursions
and
picnics
by
day
incessant at night country, and and pretty ; good eating and drinking, clever men fuss, a little romping, a good no thetic piano, a sympaaudience,
beautiful
and no of 1827.
notice taken
of him."
This
was
known "his greatest year he composed his first oratohis greatest and longest mass, rio, symphony, his finest piece of chamber music, three noble piano
concertos,"
"
the
Swan
and a Song."
he
death,
including songs of splendid number ven's In March, the anniversary of Beethogave his first and only public concert.
It consisted wholly of his own and netted compositions, " hundred him over one money and fifty dollars, so that " Most as was of it with him. plenty as blackberries That year he got only thirty to pay his debts. went
florins for piano quintet, E-flat trio.
summer
and
only
twenty-one
for his
splendid When
came
journeyto
Styrian
SCHUBERT.
303
stayed in hot Vienna ; though enjoyeda three-days' walking tour with his he was living in the brother Ferdinand, now with whom Neue They Wieden suburb. old residence visited Haydn's
have
He
did his
at Eisenstadt, and the and grave him He had been ailing for good. return
out-of-door
some
"
life
time.
On
the
bad
reappeared,
giddiness
determined
to work
on
study
been He
brought made
arrangements
take The
lessons of Sechter,
lessons
were
never
the the
subject.
eleventh
eaten
of
November,
he wrote
Schober
had
not
for eleven
days.
On
the fourteenth
he took
anything to his
he died. bed ; on Shortly before his the nineteenth death he tried to raise himself up, and with feeble voice " Erlkonig " where death sang that pathetic part of the is mentioned.
was
He
died
calm.
By
and
his
over
own
request
was
he
was
buried
a
"
near
Beethoven,
his grave
to the
erected
monument
bearing buried
a
an
inscription
treasure,
effect that
Music
had
rich
both
rest
in the
great
Central Cemetery
took place
The
in
September,
1888,
ceremonies.
his sole earthly possessions a few " a quantity at only fifty florins, and old clothes valued " inventoried of old music after his death as worth about ten florins ($2), had to wait a generation before his
who
as
"
He
had left
greatness
to discover
was
Schumann was one realized. of the first the buried treasures of his genius.
S04
Now is by
SCHUBERT.
Schubert
some
stands
Beethoven. Every
and
than
heavenly
length
"
too Ion g.
is prized. scrap that bears his name " dipped in moonbeams was says Schumann, flame of the sun." Richest in fancy, most
in
His
and
pencil, in the
musical
He himself
creation,
his
only
fault
was
like gates.
Goethe's
His
predicted harper,
was
that
"
he
should and
creeping
short like his great unfinished his fecundity that even now and yet such was symphony, is still flowing. the stream of Schubert publications What inspiration he has been to other musicians, may
cut
life
be
in the multitude of transcriptions of his songs, the influence which his style has exerted. Taken certainly the most remarkable all in all, he was
seen
ever
lived.
never
"
There
never
has
been
one
there
that
of Vienna."
LOUIS
SPOHR.
(1784-1859.}
POHK,"
says
one
of
his
"
art with
courage
and
lofty idealism,
from
The of most harm."
career
in the
right
preserved
it
of Spohr
offers
contrast
to those
of the great he
went.
wherever domestic
relations. long life he died full of of German music. grandfather Hildesheim, where
grew.
He found appreciation musicians. happy He in his was singularly him, and after a Success crowned
honors
"
almost
an
autocrat
His
was
the
His
at
father,
ran
Karl
away
to
escape of
ment punish-
school,
the
age
sixteen;
after
an
a
adventurous physician
of the
life, succeeded
at Brunswick,
as
daughter
young
pastor
of the
Aegydian
Church.
The
Here Louis, at the parsonage. resided Two born on April 5, 1784. or years later his father became district physician and ultimately Obercouple Ludwig, was
or appellationsgerichtsrat, four brothers where and
judge
a
Seesen,
305
306
Both
LOUIS
SPOHR.
parents were musical, so that Louis's feeling and love for the art were he was When early awakened. four, a terrific thunderstorm The house grew came up. dark. The rain poured down. The boy sat in a corner
troubled
the deep
and
organ
frightened.
tone
sun
But
soon
of the
thunder
the
the
room
was
flooded
young
music. mother.
without that he
His
the awakening of the spirit of year he began to sing duets with his father bought him a which, violin, on
"
"
Riemenschneider,
evenand was allowed to share in the ing his father and mother he played trios
violin. Dufour,
came
to Seesen
music
wrote
and
some
together which the two executed friends. His father long preserved
violin duets, to the delight of their these sions, youthful effubad grammar
As
a
were
reward
a
he
was
presented
Dufour,
of
ress, astonished at the lad's ability and rapid proginstead him a musician urged his parents to make to Brunswick, doctor ; and it was decided to send him thorough He
to
a
A he
he might receive more where difficulty stood in the way. confirmed, and
instruction.
was
according
SPOHR.
LOUIS
SPOHR.
307
before the age
over
The
but
strict
the plan ; but he taught religion and other things, and let him walk throughout the winter twice a week to Alefeld, where the helped him with his music. Halfway precentor stood an he often stopped and played to the miller's old mill, where did not
approve of wife, who At
fruit.
Brunswick
and
he
boarded
in
the
family
baker,
Kunisch
Hartung.
"
the violin with studied harmony an ; and named with old organist in his autobioglatter," says Spohr "The raphy, his essays
out
so
of a rich Kammermusicus
corrected
and
scratched
so
seemed
submit
to
thing anyHar-
Lessons
tung's
art
soon
illness.
was
in
own
of his
Spohr
on
his
guidance.
scores,
By
works write
concert
harmony,
studying appeared
he
at
Katharine
Shortly
take
part
at
some
in the perambulations
town.
of the school
chorus
through
the
year, until his father, finding the expenses family too great, determined to send him for the purpose there. of giving concerts
308
Provided
LOUIS
SPOHR.
he went with several letters of introduction " full of hopes and high spirits," ready to conquer the But he found that the possession world. of a great
name,
get
was
or
means,
was
necessary
to
summer,
of the
it
at
All this he learned of Professor residences. Biisching, the head of the commercial college a youth. where his father had taught when Young Spohr was discouraged so that he packed up
their country
sent
on
it back At
to Brunswick,
foot.
first he
was
thought
that his enterprising father would reproach for his lack of energy ; then the thought struck him of Brunswick
the Duke
had
once
played
would He
perhaps
recognize
wrote
his ability.
a
accordingly
good opportunity, handed he was in the palace park. The Duke read it, walking and asked him a few questions which he answered with He to repair was commanded characteristic readiness.
to the palace at
morning.
manner,
The
groom
was
indignant
your
that
servant
Highness,
against
being
addressed
in such
Duke
was
greatly amused,
and
assured
him
that
the groom should not offend again. It was arranged for Spohr to play at the next concert in the Duchess's The Duchess was more apartments. fond of ombre than of music ; and usually at her concerts a thick carpet was spread to deaden the sound, and
LOUIS
SPOHR.
309
to
were
play as softly as possible. banished, and the Duke that his fate depended
on patted him talent ; I will take
Spohr
on
it.
After
had
the
care
shoulder,
and
said,
You
have
1799,
he
was
musicus,
and
his
the
theatre.
own
a salary of a with duty of playing at court concerts and at the to pay From that time forth he was enabled Ferdinand to help his brother way, and even
at the concerts
when time
was
often
to
One
not
in full swing, he tried a was of ombre new and forgot the Duchess's of his own, violin concerto he was the greatest While with playing prohibition. and
and whispered arrested his arm zeal, a lackey suddenly " to order you not to scrape away Her Grace sends me
so
furiously." Spohr
played
a
louder
than
ever,
which
receiving
to
asked
would
him
which
as a
of the
great
prefer
teacher.
named
Viotti, called
who
was
"the
father
then
living
liked
wine
a
better merchant
than
music, could
back
receive
next
that any
he
had
become
and
pupils.
was
The
application
made
to Ferdinand
Eck
of
310
Paris ; but
married
of who Eck
a
LOUIS
SPOHB.
he
too
refused
to
take
any
the
was
came
travelling
Germany.
at court
; and
Francis it
was
Brunswick, Spohr
for
to
a
played
accompany
arranged
tour
as
a
for
him Duke
pupil
year,
the
instruction They
and half of the travelling expenses. St. Petersburg set forth in April, 1802, and reached
toward autobiography
the
Spohr's diary and end of December. give interesting pictures of their journey
he
to
Liitgens, who, though only thirteen, was She had curly hair, bright brown eyes, and a dazzling divided beSpohr, whose tween allegiance was neck. white
likeness of painting and music, took a miniature her ; but her coquetry for him spoiled all the pleasure of her acquaintance. At
Strelitz, where
they
spent
the
summer,
Eck,
were
who took great pains those of friends and comrades, Here Spohr finished and scholar.
During
an
Eck, young
women,
Spohr
became
a
a
real character.
to
their
and
any
rather
pathetic
consequences.
adventure,
Spohr,
though
it ended
without
serious
and the
attractive to extremely constitution, was kept under feelings, though fair sex, and his own He says himself, easily excited. excellent control? were
who herculean
was
handsome
man
of gigantic
frame
LOUIS
SPOHR.
311
"The
young
to
artist from his earliest youth was female beauty, and already when
fell in love with every pretty woman." in At Mitava, Spohr played for the first time in his place. Eck of his teacher, and presence requested Beethoven's
to
the
was
accompany
violin
sonatas
young
;
but,
one a
of
ready
reader, refused. Spohr offered to take the part, and his skill at sightin good They at stood him service. stayed reading Mitava had then the opportill December, tunity and Spohr
pieces of hearing for the first time many of the masterof Mozart and Beethoven. journeyfrom Narva, where the governor detained
to play at
an
The them
party, to Petersburg, occupied The between the contrast six days and five nights. magnificent city in all its winter gayety, and the sordid huts which they had seen on their long and monotonous
evening
journey, greatly
At
was
impressed Eck
so
him.
Petersburg, engaged
as
the Empress that he pleased solo violinist in the Imperial Orchestra, rubles.
Spohr
made
the
Irishman
John
were
Field
and
reaping
golden
harvest
at
the
He the each by
heard
forty
overture
only Gluck
note
to
blow.
They
"
The
adagio
effective
to
than
be
always
unnatural
execute
quick
passages
with
312
LOUIS
SPOHE.
these living organ pipes, and one could not help thinkhave received." of the thrashings which they must .ng " At a performance Seasons " the orchestra of Haydn's Spohr was consisted of seventy violins. present during it was the festivities of carnival, " the mad as week ing mountains called. He describes the snow and the break"
Petersalso in burg ing the foundat the time of the jubilee commemorating of the city by Peter the Great. up of the
was
He
In
June,
he
was
Spohr
took
leave
never
of
to
his
see
beloved
again, and
teacher,
in company
whom
destined
Leveque, the director of an with orchestra of Russian to a serfs belonging noble, set sail for Lttbeck. They were greatly buffeted by contrary winds, and the lasted three weeks. trying voyage
Shortly the
he played
at
concert
was so
before
overwhelmed
Duke
and
numerous
as
one
it always He
was
his life.
appointed
two
addition
salary for
of
hundred
In
January, friend
as
1804,
Spohr
intending
started
give Gottingen from
to
Paris
his Just
that
Bencke,
were
concerts
with there.
they
his trunk
It
had
he the
discovered
back
carriage.
only
his
sum of money, considerable Guarnerius of all a splendid violin, had to him in presented admirers
It
an
was
never
recovered.
trunk and
The
next
day
a
the
empty remained,
field.
of the
LOUIS
SPOHR.
313
he
Imagine philosophic
of
an
Spohr's
despair
!
He
But
was
a
disposition.
borrowed
gave
of the
the
hall, and
he
had
Not even the obliged to give up the "artistic tour." best violin in Brunswick, munificence which the Duke's him to purchase, could take the place of the enabled
which he had lost. he started on tour through a new The autumn next At Leipzig, he selected one Germany. of Beethoven's to play at a private party ; but the music new quartets Before he left was altogether too fine for the audience.
perfect
instrument
town,
however,
he
was
enabled
to
make
the
Beethoven
quartets
His
throughout
Germany.
The
Councillor
Herr
most
his
in his
musical rank
journalthat
among the
Spohr eminent
less doubt-
take
the At then day.
violinists of Meyerbeer,
Berlin,
Spohr
first heard
the
young
exciting so much attention only thirteen, who was Spohr by his wonderful on the pianoforte. execution had meantime lost his heart again to the beautiful Rosa had sung in several of his concerts Alberghi, who and
even more
accompanied
than
him
Rosa
as
he
said, "she
was
an
by
neglected,
nature,"
and
her
devotion
to
began
and
to repel him.
when
they himself
bade
that
schooled
avoided a declaration, so each other farewell, he had he did not lose his self-control,
therefore
314
Rosa pressed
upon
LOUIS
SPOHR.
while and
burst
into
herself
into his
arms,
his
hands thread
card
worked
tresses.
it with
made
Rosa
with Spohr's
her
mother
afterwards
parents,
and
that the musician, they took betrothed, and were two were at Spohr's very indignant it. His father declared he was letter denying a fool to refuse such a charming girl. She afterwards entered a convent. invited In June, 1805, Spohr was
a
to
Gotha
concert
playing intendant,
musical and the Duchess, that in spite of his youth, he director to the Ducal immediately was concert appointed Court with a salary of about five hundred thalers.
most opened auspiciously, where his engagement he became acquainted with the charming Dorette Scheidler, who was the harp and a skilled performer on
to
At
Gotha,
She also played the violin, but Spohr was oldpiano. fashioned in his notions, and considered it an instrument for women. She therefore relinquished the unbecoming for for her a concerted sonata practice of it. He wrote
" They violin and harp, which they practised together. hours," writes Spohr. happy One day after they were had played it before the court, and were driving home,
he
found
courage
"
to
say,
"
Shall
we
not
thus
play
together
for life ?
and
who
sank
arms.
Then
he in
her
mother,
gave
her
blessing
the proper and conventional manner. in the Palace They were married
Chapel,
and
thus
LOUIS
SPOHR.
315
lasted for
began
almost The with
almost
success.
happy
and
congenial
union
which
events
tours
of
this period
they
were
connected together
which
undertook
every
his sacred oratorio, "The in 1816 Vienna; to Leipzig, Prague, they went and to Italy where they spent visited Switzerland, and went their first journeyto ; in 1820 they made months many
and Mrs. Spohr played for the last time upon From that time forth she devoted herself to the harp.
England,
was
induced
Palffy to accept as leader and director of the der Wien," "An at a salary both
he and
by Count
his wife received he was Through the Count's munificence enat Gotha. abled his orchestra to engage excellent artists, and soon if not in Germany. was regarded as the best in Vienna
than
three times
what
This
position gave
him
an
to carry
out
his had
ambition
task
which
he
him
with
libretto, but
by
fight and
Kb'rner's
was
rupted interto
Vienna
of patriotism
love. and unrequited A poet by the name offered him a version of Bernard " Faust," and Spohr composed the music in less than of four months. It was immediately by Count accepted Palffy, but owing to later disagreements was not duced proin Vienna
for
some
years.
It afterwards
became
316
LOUIS
SPOHR.
but is now Germany, popular throughout having been superseded by Gounod's more One of Spohr's great admirers, Herr von struck
a
seldom
given,
to last curious bargain with him which was for three years. Herr Tost was anxious to be admitted
to
He to pay musical society of Vienna. agreed Spohr thirty ducats for the exclusive possession of any for more new quartet, and proportional sums complicated
the
were pieces. At the end of the three years the manuscripts to be returned to the composer. Spohr was thus enabled to get considerable ready money and furnish his new
house
Herr Tost was von soon s^en and in Vienna everywhere with his portfolio of quartets. he soon lost his money, and the arrangeUnfortunately ment
came
luxuriously,
to
an
acquainted with Beethoven, who often visited at his house, and was " Spohr very friendly with Dorette and the children." so says that his opinions music were regarding always decided
was as
"
During
Spohr's
he
became
to admit
of
was
he
Fifth form
as
so
a
earlier compositions, the unable to relish his later works, including even " Symphony, did not (C-minor) which he declared
the poor
of deaf
no
contradiction.
"
Fond
as
Spohr
maestro's
The
Ninth
Symphony understand
genius could have Count Palffy proved to be a disagreeable threw all sorts of difficulties and annoyances way,
so
second Vienna
during
his engagement at the end of the during his stay in One of his experiences year. he relates vividly in his autobiography. It was His house the great inundation was of 1814.
on
he terminated
situated
the banks
of the Wien
Kiver,
and
the water
if
0.
C4
LOUIS
SPOHR.
317
He
rose
almost
to
the
second
story.
spent
the
night
to the piano. a song, went and occasionally composing in His landlord's family were on the floor above engaged disturbed they called at what much prayer, and were
"the
Christless
heretic ! "
singing of the Lutheran and playing Yet both Catholic and heretic escaped, and was richer by a song ! following
his
departure
from
von
Vienna,
he
in Silesia at the
a
mansion
of Prince
Carolath.
when masonry Free-
very
formal
was
but
then
to
against the
also belonged
order, he
almost
embarrassed
with attentions. Spohr describes his Italian tour with much enthusiasm, though he found little to praise in the domain of music.
wizard of the violin, the He Paganini. tried in vain to strange and mysterious induce him to play to him alone. Paganini ing refused, sayhis style was calculated for the general public only,
met
At
Venice
he
the
famous
which
was a
confirmed
trickster.
the other in But they met in a public competition himself Spohr carried off the honors.
at Milan,
Spohr
in his impression
that
and
was
hailed
the first of living violinists, even " himself, the first of singers
"
superior
on
of to Paganini
as
one
Spohr's
whole
and Rome
expenses
in Italy
were
had
his
family
moreover
with
they
him,
he
gave
concert
necessities ; but when of 1817 their funds were the first time
318
LOUIS
SPOHR.
to
pawn
came
some
to
even
Pastor howGerlach, ever, of his valuables. his aid, and he advanced what money
needed,
and
last long.
of Bavaria. days, caused by the prevailing famine, did Their tour took them into Holland, even they by
reached
an
security
diamond
Queen
When abundant receipts. Spohr was recalled to Germany director of music at Frankfurt.
a
had
offer there
Here
to practise economy,
"
Faust,"
yearly deficit, and the directors had but Spohr succeeded in getting his he wrote a new out aria, brought He
one
with
good Azor," he
was
also wrote
on
"
and
began
The
abandoned
on
when
same
the
subject.
Freischutz
appear
till 1820.
the
two
Frankfurt
theatre
was
closeness of the president Leers, who put all sorts named Spohr was immediately not sorry to be free again, and he was to go to London, arrangements made where for the concerts already engaged of the Philharmonic
Society.
In
London,
boisterous
appearing
reached
created
a
after
great
an
extremely
in the street in
of
George
had
narrowly
escaped
ing pelt-
At
the
first concert
own
he
was
exceptionally
He
allowed ordeal
to
play his
compositions.
passed
the
tri-
LOUIS
SPOHR.
319
he
concert
was
had
hitherto
been
another sensation of leading with violin in hand, During case. this visit Spohr in England,
required by beating
which
by every subsequent visit. On his way back he made a the trip to Paris, where famous (now remembered violinist Kreutzer only by the increased
Beethoven
vogue months'
a
fact that
dedicated
as a
sonata
to
him!)
was
enjoying great
During his two and though,
on
gave
account
day refusing to solicit good notices, the press the next inclined to be critical. was In order to complete the musical education of his
daughters, he
was
Spohr
determined
to
remove
to Dresden
; but
before Carl scarcely settled in his new apartments Maria von Weber, who had received an offer to go to Cassel as kapellmeister to theatre, and did not care at the new
accept curious
were
him State
in his place.
revenues
It is
that
the
of Cassel
largely the result of the sale of the Hessian to the British during our Revolutionary War !
Thus Elector thalers it
was
soldiers
that
Spohr
a
became
engaged
of
by the
two
new
William and
new
II., at
life salary
thousand
The
1822, and
artistic privileges. began on the first day of January, engagement with continued unbroken activity till he was
of Hesse-Cassel
certain
in November,
theatre
"The
he
wrote
his
operas
sonda"
1823,
Mountain
Sprite"
of in
"
Jes1825,
320
"Pietro
von
LOUIS
SPOHR.
Albano"
in 1827,
"The
Alchymist"
"
(from
ders Crusaciety the So-
in Irving)
was
of St. Cecilia, of which the song-writer Curschman For this society, though one of the leading lights. of Leipzig "The
text,
Spohr
wrote
his
oratorio
who sent him the Last Judgment," the earlier oratorio Good Friday, 1826, of
over
which
on
afterwards
same
the
subject.
success,
with
great
audience
two
thousand
persons,
Rhenish
it was at the shortly after given and festival at Diisseldorf, where it had to be repeated
In February,
1831, Spohr
music
with
interesting
built The
on
same
near
the
great
his
the study of the violin (Die Violin- Schule}, " insure by which it was thought at the time he would and beautiful leaf to the eternal celebrity and add a new
laurel wreath that encircled his brow." The following year began a series of petty annoyances by the new Elector of Hesse-Cassel, who at first tried to
close the theatre and dismiss all the singers, actors, and Spohr insisted on his rights, and in this he musicians.
was
supported
by most their
in maintaining
seemed
to
succeeded
take
pleasure
and
indorsed
1834
Mrs.
Spohr
while
he still thought
however. minor annoyances, died; but the gallant composer, " with bitter sadness of the mo-
LOUIS
SPOI1
R.
321
ment
when
he pressed
on
her brow,"
within
two
Marianne, daughter the eldest of years married Councillor Pfeiffer of Cassel, who proved to be a partner " one capable of taking an interest such as he desired
"
labors."
to the
The
Prince,
who
bore
Pfeiffer
sian part he had played in the first Hestried to interfere with the marriage, and parliament, at the same at the last moment, only gave his consent her to give a bond waiving time requiring all claim to a
music
his
give
things oratorio
Mendelssohn's
of "The
oratorio of Last
"
St. Paul
"
and
Judgment."
After
nearly
all
made, the Prince refused to allow it to take place during Whitsuntide, nor would he permit " it would as any scaffolding to be erected in the church, in the vicinity of the burial-vaults of the be unbecoming
arrangements
had
been
Electoral
Neither
family
!"
"
St. Paul
"
to
given on Consequently
he when Music "
be
" Passion the choruses practised of Bach's for long months, on and had it all ready for performance Friday, the Prince Good again refused his permission,
and music He
yielded
was was
"
a when clergyman certified that the perfectly fitted for the church and the day."
only
by such vexations annoyed almost decided to accept an appointment director of the Prague Conservatory.
so
as
these
that he
offered Owing
him
to
as
his
tation. temp-
Strange
as
it may
seem,
Spohr
was
at first a
great
ad-
322
LOUIS
SPOHR.
his side, was delighted on and Wagner, of Wagner, " he called him. the honorable, genuine as old man," with He brought out "The Flying Dutchman," and wrote that mirer he considered Wagner
of
composers
thought
He
of
Wagner's
was
new
matic gifted of all the drahe would What have the day." later innovations, is a question. the
most
a
"
himself
liked to try
to
an
innovator,
and
odd
titles, though
disguise his he could never Schumann, Robert speaking " Napoleon Symphony, said : but before folded
peror !
so,
of
once
to
masked
moments,
ball,
he
Ein-
he
arms
had
been
in the
room
few
his
The
' in his well-known The attitude. Emperor ! ' ran through the assembly.
Just
through
'
the
disguises
! Spohr
of
the
hearing
room."
Spohr
!' spoken
In
new
1843
Spohr
was
invited to England
to
Fall of Babylon," at oratorio "The in spite of the festival. The Prince refused his consent Aberdeen bridge, and the Duke of Camapplication of Lord
habitan asked it as a personal favor, while the inDuring sent an immense of Norwich petition. his vacation, however, he went to London, and conducted who
it there
with
great
success.
The
seats
whole
to
from
their
rose
The
of
At a Sunday concert very polite to him. by were given in his honor, all the works performed him, and included his three double quartets, the only
"
ones
at that time
that had
ever
been
written.
In 1844, Spohr,
honors
who had been the recipient at Paris and at his native town
LOUIS
SPOHR.
323
his " Fall of Babylon " in the conducted he had been baptized sixty years before), church in which York festival in New invited to a great musical was
wick
(where he
City.
His
daughter
he would too long
had been
already
to
come
to
this
country,
and
journey was
age.
glad hazardous
twenty-fifth the of anniversary occurred Spohr's directorship of the Cassel theatre, and the day festivities : serenades, was celebrated with extraordinary
.
In
1847
and the performances, addresses, musical of laurel crowns and costly gifts.1 Even presentation the Prince who had justforbidden him to direct his oratorio
congratulatory
at
Vienna,
though gave
the
a
by Metternich,
him
countersigned request was higher officialposition. occurred, and festival in which the St.
by choruses Hauptmann,
death
The
same
year
Mendelssohn's
it by twelve
a
Spohr
Mendelssohn,
The
year
and 1848,
Spohr.
as
every
one
knows,
excitement.
Spohr
not favorable for composition, of politics was excitement " the glorious yet he wrote his great sextet significant of eur uprising of the nations, for the liberty, unity, and grand-
from a year, during his convalescence his ninth symphony, fall on severe the ice, he wrote " Seasons," and later his seventh string-quintet. called the In the summer his vacation of 1852 he started on
tour
*
through
This occasion
Italy
gave 1838.
without
rise
to
leave
Spohr's
of
absence.
which
He
he
autobiography,
brought
down
to
324
LOUIS
SPOHR.
his vacation but was over arrived at Cassel before " fined five hundred was the bold and fifty thalers for him so stroke," on which his friends had congratulated warmly. Spohr's
now
Such
fame
was
the
treatment
which
man
of
received from a petty prince who is known only for having had Spohr in his employ. In 1856 Spohr wrote his thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth
not quartets, but they did not satisfy him, and he would to be published ; it was the same allow them with a new to him of his repusymphony, which seemed unworthy tation.
year that Spohr was and retired to pensioned, his to fall and break private life,he had the misfortune left arm. Though the bone knit remarkably well, he had Stradivarius, and strength to play his beloved it was He tried in vain to compose laid aside forever. The fountain of harmony was a requiem. sealed to him,
no
The
more
in composing of Goethe's music to one his last composition. This was instruction of talHe kept up to the end his generous ented pupils, for which, like Liszt later, he would young hundred No less than one and receive no compensation.
but he succeeded loveliest songs.
many
of
whom
became
famous,
the
end
of his life he
still undertook
short
trips, and enjoyed as always natural scenery and the friendly intercourse with kindred spirits ; but he began for him. to find the excitement too much
On
soul,"
the
as
twenty-second he
has
been
his last,
he had
nephews
honored
in life, few
more
LOUIS
SPOHR.
325
He found successful in all that they undertook. for every form of musical composition:
ciation appresongs,
stringed
was one
and
concerted
music,
operas, and
ever
of the greatest of
more
virtuosi that
oratorios. lived. He
He
was
reached
But thirty musical societies. Melodious lifetime. its climax in his own
than
were,
are
too
changes,
they
show
more
ent tal-
are already forgotten. of them genius, and most Some beyond Personally, his character was reproach. coarse and churlish people got the impression that he was in his manners. Chorley, an English critic,speaks of his
than
"
bovine
was reproach more self-conceit." Never unjust. his life in he he, So independent never that was all
one
dedicated
one
he
in full dress, he
so as
wore
heavy
overcoat
though
on
hot weather,
not
honesty, were uprightness, fail to agree with the We his characteristics. cannot of his death who at the news words of Wagner, eloquent his coat.
Independence,
wrote
"
"
world
of music
measure
what
the the
was
freshness
master's
of power,
departure
what
from
noble life.
He
with
as
long
list
of noble,
earnest
youth with
irradi
ated
by Mozart's
brilliant
sun,
touching
fidelity cherished
the pure
on
flame, and
chaste
kept
of life and
the
altar.
This
beautiful
me
pure
and
if it be permitted
to express
one
stroke I declare
what
that
inextinguishable
earnest,
clearness
master
meant
to
honest
of his life
faith
326
LOUIS
SPOHR.
faith.
what
This
earnest
he failed to comprehend,
persecuting it.
to
he put to
side without
or
attacking
so
it
or
This
explains he
the
coolness
"
bluntness
a
often
ascribed
him.
What
understood,
to be
and
deep
fine
beautiful was feeling for all that was ' that he loved and of Jessonda,'
"
expected
in the
author
so
soon
as
he recognized
one
and
jealously,
of art."
With
one
master
bids
another
MEYERBEER.
(1791
[4 ?}-1863.)
CCOKDING
Tubal many when
near
to
the
Sunday-school
-"jkas
were
Cain
was
the
sweet
of the
Israel, from
on
the the
time
the captive
Hebrews
hung
their harps
willows
of Babylon
down
to the present
century,
modern With
on
the
been
an
unknown
quantity
in the
history
of music.
had
little cause
to
entrance
as
an
important
came
discovered
:
"
that there
some
reason
It about. in Shylock's
questions
"
Hath
not
Jew
eyes ?
Hath
?
not
Jew
with
hands,
the
senses,
affections, passions
weapons,
Fed
the
with
same as us, a
the
same
subject to
cooled prick
us,
same same
diseases, healed
means,
by the do
us,
winter
and
we
not
we
bleed ? if you
not
tickle
do
we
not
laugh
? if you
poison
do
die ?
"
The
Jew
grew
banker,
stood
was
behind
to the
prime
minister
327
king.
328
MEYERBEER.
the warming sun of prosperity and social recognition, the Jew should again strike up the " harp of his father David ? Was liberty, equality, not
wonder that
under
fraternity,"
at
the watchword
of the
day
And
the Jew
admitted, grudgingly perhaps privileges of the Revolution. how typical of the modern Yet Jew
as
we
last
was
was
see
him
born
successively
a
Gaul
a German, formed and educated and transinto an Italian of the Italians, and ! was
born at Berlin,
on
the fifth
His the year of Mozart's death.1 father laid the foundation of a large fortune in a sugarit by enand notably increased refining establishment, gaging
of
September,
1791
"
He
was
generous
His
of
the
so-called
beautiful, gentle, and gracious. of Berlin, was Heinrich Heine, the sarcastic, scoffing poet, said of her : " Kot a day passes without her helping some poor soul.
Croesus
Verily
had
it
seems
as
some
first done
go to bed
So
"
gifts on people of all denominations, Turks, and even on the wretchedest in well-doing, and She is unwearied this as her highest vocation.-*'
she Jews,
Christians,
sorts of unbelievers.
seems
to look
upon
Jakob
1
was
the
to
oldest
son.
There
were
three
others
Afterwards,
name names
the
two
Meyer
for
Jakob,
please a relative, and insure an inheritance, he adopted Lipmann, or instead of Liebmann and ultimately united the to the world, he is known by which into the one with the Italian date of his birth rests in The James, Meyerbeer. Giacomo or
is official basis
1794. for 1791 ; but
some
doubt.
that
There
was
claim
it
really
MEYERBEER.
Painting
from
Jife by
Gustav
Richter.
MEYERBEER.
329
; Michael's
Wilhelm
as
became
was
famous short
astronomer
career
poet
cut
Jakob
would
very catch
early
any
death
for
in 1833.
He
music.
on
and try to play it again up instinctively an accompaniment he was four, he organized When
tune,
the
with
little
ple Peo-
of playmates
were
with
to
see
drums,
how
fifes, and
cymbals.
amazed
cleverly
sheet
score.
he had
delighted;
to
and
when
he
was
five
they
intrusted
composer
him
teacher he made
and
Franz
the
Bohemian
under
played
which
he was When astonishing progress. for the first time in public in one of the concerts for many August years the piano teacher Johann
had
whom nine he
Patzig
been
in his beautiful
masters.
hall decorated
boy
success.
played
with
old Concerto
The
with
as
brilliant
the
From
time
he
was
regarded
best
His relations were justlyproud of pianist in Berlin. him, and one one of them remarked night, on returning from a lecture on astronomy,
"
"
Just
think,
our
Beer
has been
already
placed
us one
among
Our professor showed the constellations. " in his honor was called the littleBeer !
His painted he was
parents
as
a
which
had
full-length
of
a
memorial in demand as
The
the
concert
great
in his papers of the day printed poems Vogler, who had been giving some the Abbe his way back from tour to a recitals in Berlin on
heard
\vas
Denmark,
him
play
at Tausch's
concert,
in February, the
1801,
amazed,
and
predicted
that
young
330
MEYERBEER.
become This prophecy a great musician. artist would in Berlin. had great weight he practised seven Though or not negeight hours a day, his general education was lected.
A Latin.
In
resident tutor
famous
taught
him
French,
Italian, and
1802
the
Muzio
and
so
dementi,
many
author
Gradus
ad Parnassum
studies
jokinglyasserted,
to count to
recently, that the commission had not yet reached them the
with
on
end
of
them,
came
Berlin Field,
Irishman
were
John
had given up teaching, but he was delighted with so the little musician that he offered to instruct him during his stay. in harmony His teacher the stern was and strict
guests
at the Beers'.
Clementi
and
had
singing-school
thus
rich attended,
coarse
pieces gaining familiarity with the mastertoo rough and But it is said Zelter was
of the delicately organized
young
care an
some
time
was
transferred
to the
Weber,
the
royal
kapellmeister,
but an easy-going, negligent teacher. excellent composer him Meyerbeer Under a of cantatas number composed and other pieces for family festivals, but they are all
lost. Musical
test
knowledge
is based
on
counterpoint.
correct
The
fugues.
is ability to write
was so
brought It
was
him
by
but
not
from
neglect.
The
with
merely
acknowledging
a
the
production, took
time
and
pains to write
treatise
MEYERBEER.
331
on
fugues
work,
it should the fugue as original themes, and wrote be, or as he thought it should be. The treatise was lished pubafter his death, but unfortunately critics discover " is not so very far Fugue that the so-called " Master's
the superior
to the
Meyerbeer
Adopting
Vogler's
it to him.
fugue,
and
sent
"
great
shall
you
be treated
son,
and
at
fountain-head
shall quench
your
knowledge."
His family could not resist this appeal. them, and at the age at first,but he persuaded objected he became to Darmstadt, an went of nineteen where inmate
of the Abbe
Meyerbeer
Vogler's
hitherto
house. been
a
Vogler, who
firmament
of
men,
had
sort of
meteor
in the
of art, darting
and
dazzling
about Europe to the amazement them by his brilliant though ficial super-
qualities, had at last, at the age of fifty-eight, settled down as the bright particular planet in the musicloving court of the Elector Karl Theodor, who paid him
a
handsome
salary, gave
him
title, and
put
him
over
organized
a man
books, concocted
strove
"
chapel. in all sorts of arts, wrote who dabbled systems, invented instruments,1 always
It has been said of him
that he
after originality.
a
was
modern
spirit who
eighteenth-century
too early and
1
too
the
born
he
"
is generally
Abt Vogler,"
looked
has
Read
Browning's
entitled instrument
after he
been
extemporizing
upon
the musical
of his invention.
332
down high
MEYERBEER.
upon
as
typical musical charlatan, Weber had a development, his of his rare psychical
the most of and his skill in making and fully intended to write his life. greatest glory that he had as pupils exclaimed have been if I He
composers,
was
Vogler's
men
had
and Meyerbeer. Oh, how sorry I should than once, died before I formed these two ! "
such
as
"
Weber
Meyerbeer
found
Weber
already
firm friends. and they became Vogler, Weber and his friend Gansbacher by. During near the day the abbe made
studying Meyerbeer
had them
rooms
work
practice
on
the
organ
and
piano, and
of
some
composition,
frequent
up
cantatas
criticised, made
met at two
mass,
the they
round
spent
their time
duties.
They
on
then
improvising
were
the
chapel
organs.
Their they
evenings
devoted
to music.
Occasionally
made
Mannheim
box
would
from
his Berlin
home
containing
Russian
was
cantata
entitled
God
he
same
and Duke
Nature,"
performed
was
in the
so
presence
of with it About
the
he wrote The
cantata
music
was
for
of
Klopstock's
given
in Berlin
in May,
assisted by solo singers and Chapel. The accomcomposer, panied of the Koyal members home for the occaby his friend Weber, went sion,
Singakademie
and
had
perfect
ovation.
Weber
was
like
son
in the charming
mansion
of the
MEYERBEER.
333
self, himother than Weber paper, none critic of the evening life, declared, that the work "glowing manifested loveliness, and above of all the perfect power genuine burning that if the composer genius," and predicted
went
on
and Vogler
discretion
he would
to
teach
"
him.
ing nothcompleted
opera
one
Jephtha's
Vow,"
the
Fisher
went
work
was
won
the composer
At
Munich
to
be
pianist.
"Alimalek, Serious."
Host
This
was
A
at
Jest
entitled Becoming
Stuttgart,
Vienna
he therefore
went,
and
on
arrival
heard
the
delicacy
and
sort of voluntary
retirement
practice It virtuoso.
and
made
was
sant of incesa
concert
at
the
time
with Even
of the
Vienna
was
crowded
won.
favor he instantly
Congress
scarcely dared to enter the field against such At this time he wrote a number of piano
compositions,
two
"
polonaise
with
orchestral
accompani
concertos, many piano variations, marches, and duets for harp and clarinet. Most of these but have been never works still exist in manuscript,
published.
384
His opera
"
MEYERBEER.
Califs
too finely shaded music was and considered dull. The brought it out under Weber too difficult. Nevertheless,
more
favorable
auspices
at Prague,
where
this
it caused
considerabl
by
work,
advised him to go to Italy, and there study the art of writing for the voice. first to Paris, He This advice was followed. went
he remained and long enough
two
"
where
to make
was
"
is interesti
the foreshadowing
of his greater
"
Robert."
In Italy he reaped precisely such laurels as had fallen To be sure, he was to the lot of Gluck and Mozart. not Pedro of Brazil granted the title of Chevalier, but Dom Star. him a Knight of the Order of the Southern made he first reached Venice, in 1816, Rossini's " TanWhen
"
cred
was
on
the
top
wave
of popularity,
popularity
of
at
canons which, in spite of its violating all the sound won more true dramatic and musical art, it has once Rome during the late Rossini revival there.
It
was
not
to catch
"
All
Italy
as
was
then
It seemed
and
if the whole
delirium of rapture. revelling in a sweet had at last found its Lost Paradise, nation
was
further
seeded
than
maze
Rossini's
involuntarily
of tones and
and bewitched
in
magic
garden
from
which
I could
not
would
MEYERBEER.
335
thoughts
to
me
not
Italian ; all my All my feelings became escape. After I had lived a year there it seemed Italian.
an
became
was
that I
Italian born.
was
completely
to the
splendid
therefore
glory
enter
could
sensibilities of
of
the
Italians.
Of
such
complete
effect upon
Rossini,
as
and
diate spiritual life had an immetate loath to imiI was of composition. my methods write in the Italian style, but I had to compose
my
I did because
my
inmost
being
compelled
me
to it."
" " e Costanza ) was opera ( Romilda in June, 1818, at Turin, and was so successful produced him brought at that it immediately orders for works
His
first Italian
Turin,
was Venice, and other cities. His success all the self. in direct rivalry with Rossini himgreater for being won But to a man training and nature, of Meyerbeer's As the poet apples of Sodom. such fruits of fame were
Heine
"
of the
a
senses
as
Italy could not long satisfy yearning for the earnestness him.
German
While
he found
his
ease
of the German
zephyrs
caressed
him
recurred to he thought
chorals of the north wind." of the sombre His operas travelled to Germany, and his best friends serving false not only felt that he was who heard them
Weber : to tell him so. wrote gods, but had the courage " It makes of composer my heart bleed to see a German imitator in order to a mere creative power stoop to become
curry
He asked him if it was so with the crowd." look upon hard to despise the applause or of the moment, In his public critique it as something not the highest. " Emma di Resburgo" on reached Berlin early in which
favor
1820, he wrote
"
836
"I
make
MEYERBEER.
believe
a
the
composer
to
has
show
deliberately
that he
can
chosen
to
descent
in order
master
reign
as
lord and
the wish
over
all forms."
would
that
Meyerbeer
on
and jointhe few earnest ones whose hearts were building up a genuine national opera. Perhaps it was This was not to be. justas well
that
Hebrew
" in what the world-opera." called He still retained his friendship for Weber, and Germans an evidently made protests of the earnest
have
found
more
cosmopolitan
field
the
pressio im-
afterwards called these Italian The last and most successful of works them, the only one of this period that is still occasionally " Egetto" H in for Crociato heard ( Venice), written
is said to show a decided advance upon the earlier ones ; he had tried to show that he might as though combine both methods man. Gerthe light Italian and the earnest
"
It
was
heard
And
an
even
in St.
it in Rio
di
mother
had
come
on
to
Italy to share
in
In the stage. upon crowned and see him company with her he visited the chief cities : Kome, him Baini showed the treasures of the Sistine where pitality delightful hosChapel ; Florence, where again he found
in the house
minister Shortly
the English
after his return to Berlin he lost his father but found consolation in his love for his cousin Minna he saw in 1827. Mosson, Meantime he married whom
that Paris
was
the
place
for
him,
residence
there, where
amid
the
his of
MEYERBEER.
337
He formed the time his mind found wonderful stimulus. friendly relations with Cherubini, Boieldieu, Auber, HabRossini, in spite eneck, Halevy, and Adam ; and he and Yet the warmest of all their rivalries, were of friends. " " Eossini once Meyerbeer said, and I can never agree ; in surprise asked why, he replied, some one and when likes sauerkraut better than he does mac"Meyerbeer aroni
!"
came passed, and nothing of consequence from his pen. Yet he was The secretly hard at work. able French poet Scribe had furnished him with a libretto, but the composer He was morbidly sensitive. could
Several
years
never
"
and
filing.
He
could
never
say,
Other
work
:
delayed
the death of
the
a
theatre.
to the management as uncertainty But at last Dr. Veron, the new royal
began. They agreed to bring it out, and the rehearsals lasted nearly five months, ber, and only on the 22d of Novem" 1831, was le Diable "Robert given for the firsttime.
Scenic
effects, striking
contrasts,
novel
fascinating
appealed
to
melody,
the
"
says,
solid harmony of the pathetic declamation and the varied the French." Mendelssohn found
no
melody Germans
of the
he
united
piquant
rhythm
pleasure in it. He called it a heart or cold calculated work of imagination, without Ambros clared deeffect. So thought many of the Germans.
that Meyerbeer's
luxury
music
was
"
"
banker's
music
for la haute
finance,
and
in the temple.
338
Yet
MEYERBEER.
1858
It
was
In the fortune this opera made of the theatre. it had brought in upwards of four million francs. In 1883 it was given 333 times in twenty years. Louis
of the
a member
given in Vienna for the 401st time in fifty years. Philippe nominated the composer as a member Legion of Honor, and shortly after he was elected
of the Institute of France. " In 1836 his second Les French appeared opera, Huguenots" the libretto of which was also furnished by Scribe. A date had been set for its completion, but
Meyerbeer
failed to have
could
stipulated
else
the work,
so
the
ment manage-
was
the money, refunded and the work At first it was not so successput upon the stage. ful " but the public soon Robert" learned to appreciate as
its beauties.
encyclopaedia, called it a musical It with enough ordinary operas. material for twenty has been compared to a cathedral ; it has been called " an
Berlioz
evangel
"
of religion
and
love."
It has
been
said to be
the most
On
severe
history ever penned." vivid chapter of French even more the other hand, the German critics were " mann SchuRobert" upon it than they had been upon
All could see nothing in it but falsity and trickery. operas repelled him, and he declared that of Meyerbeer's they might be calmly left to their fate. Meyerbeer's was next great undertaking suggested by a
German
novel that had pleased him. Scribe, and the libretto was quickly
He
with He
it again and again, fault with it. Scribe changed but failed to please the composer ; anxious for his royalties, he threatened a lawsuit if the work were not brought
found
out.
Meyerbeer
avoided
the dilemma
by going
back
to
MEYERBEER.
339
to
"
Berlin,
Eome.
he
returned
Paris
Scribe
was
in
great
only
an
unfulfilled wrapped
"
project.
embryo, lived to
up
Africana,"
see
"The
it from time to it put upon the stage, though time occupied his attention until the very end. IV. enrolled him Wilhelm King Friedrich Meantime
Pour le Merite in the newly founded of Arts order him royal director of music. and Sciences, and appointed The King of Honors thick and fast showered upon him. Crown. the order of the Oak the Netherlands gave him
"
"
of its elected him one Spontini resigned his position in Berlin, and associates. in his place, with Meyerbeer was appointed kapellmeister The Eoyal Academy
of London
a
thalers, which
he
distributed
among
the orchestra and members of the chapel. indefatigable to live in Berlin, and was came
He
wrote
in
his labors.
motets
for the
chapel,
number he which
of
cantatas,
psalms,
strengthened.
were
Max
" so-called, and his famous Prince for the weddings of the Crown produced His only original opera for Berlin was and others.
Marches
" in Schlesien" Ein Feldlager entitled 1844, for the first time in December,
It
to
was
opening
of the
new
opera-house.
with great success, his protegee, the when her German Lind,1 made
Josephson,
the composer of the
man
It
debut
thus
in the
speaks
part
of
of
Herr
who
:
"
attended
He is
a
in his diary
meeting
most
something
man
of the courtier;
of
the
of
genius
; something
of the
world,
and
with
something Jenny
his whole
heing.
upon
her, to the
Before
340
"
MEYERBEER.
Vielka"
was
She
won
glory in Vienna,
of
"
when
a
the opera
Vielka/7and
"
the
Weber
monument,
and In July
thus of the
added
same
Spohr's
crowned
Crusaders
the
"
performed,
gray-haired
composer
laurel
wreath. Meyerbeer
ner often criticised for his niggardly manIt has been said that he almost of life in Paris. On the other hand he was charged with starved himself. in bribing the critics to be favorable a fortune spending was
to his work,
for he
not
Yet
he
was
brought
house
morbidly sensitive to blame. lacking in generous He sentiments. for the royal operathat composers
was
of
new
ten
that
three
After the out each year. musicians should be brought death of Lortzing, author of " Tsar and Carpenter," he helped raise a fund of sixteen thousand dollars for his family.
Gluck,
"
proceeds in Paris.
a descendant aged widow, of his own funds, but with certain not only with of Gluck's operas arising from the performance
He
assisted
an
"
ily also contributed to the relief of the famKameau. composer of the great French He was found the labors at Berlin too exacting. He
He
a
not
good conductor, as he himself confessed, and he was At first he was to be released. granted only anxious leave of absence ; he went to Paris and then received the
at least
incessantly,
alters and anxiety, curtails here, dovetails there, and thus, by his eagerness imparts a fragmentary the the work, and of spontaneous growth prevents to ite beauty." character
a
hundred
times,
to consult
about
this, that,
or
the
other.
He
MEYERBEER.
341
" from Scribe, still in Rome. libretto of " Le Prophete While engaged upon this, he composed, with, enthusiasm and in the at the request of Prussia, of the Princess for his brother brief time the music of six weeks,
Michael's
melodrama
success
one
"
Struensee"
which
was
performed
composition.
Lind, to London with Jenny year, he went for shared in a reception almost unequalled
On
"
to Berlin, he brought
out
Wagner's
Meyerbeer found by
an
Wagner,
in Paris.
even
whom
was
he had
He
Wagner's
ingratitude
to explain
some
it hard
Probably
Wagner
because jealous
did not believe were who reforms carried out by a man him to one, in his principles. Wagner who, compared the first syllable of another's speech, screams catching
out
the whole
to
sentence
in
breath
know
what
was
meant.
a
Jew
the
really waiting He a "most called him banker, who tried to compose. without
of
"
name
R. Freigedank,"
he
wrote
his
famous
the New
Jew
was
Journal
of
article on the Jew in Music, for he declared that the Music, in which
of artistic manifestation, his spleen the whole race, vented and
incapable
of any
kind
and
while
on
attacking Meyerbeer
Mendelssohn.
"
endless
"
was
of details, and changing polishing at last ready for its first production began in January,
Le
in
Paris.
1849 ; and, as the boundless. ran eventful April day drew nigh, excitement indeed pitched too high, and in spite of Expectation was
Rehearsals
342
the
MEYERBEER.
a and a Costellan, there was Its greatness was of disappointment. appreciated, and in spite of a fearfully hot
Garcia
and the prevalence of cholera, it kept and soon reached its hundredth performance. Meyerbeer was made commander of the Honor.
Doctor
the boards
Legion
of
The
University
o'clock he received calls, and usually spent the evening at the to a concert. The King theatre or went his ordered poraries. Contemportrait to be painted for the Gallery of Famous
He
gave him the degree of year 1850 he spent in Berlin, working into till the afternoon in his room of Jena
Park.
After
three
was
invited
to St. Petersburg
by the
"
Emperor
Russia
of
"
Struensee
for the
of fifty-
Society, but his failing years' jubilee of the Philharmonic health obliged him to decline. Berlioz and Spohr were also asked, but were unable to accept. In February, first Psalm honor
for
1853, he composed
solo and
It was birthday. of his mother's eighty-seventh sung as her requiem she died, the following year, when by the whole nation. mourned
For
the
first time
a
Opera
was
Comique
opened
to write
was
its doors to
Meyerbeer
for that world-famous stage, and to the du Nord." Owing "L'lZtoile with Russia,
the
war
censorship
nearly
personal
after
a
textual
changes were made, such as eliminating " Vive la Russie" and changing the word
the
SCENE
FROM Act
THE
PROPHI
MEYERBEER.
343
1854, and
a
It
was
performed
was a
in February,
number
year
occupied with various journeys to Italy and to wateringwork, with est, places ; with compositions of comparatively small interfor the marriage Fackeltanz the fourth unless of be excepted. the Princess Victoria of England
"
had
latter years of Meyerbeer's life, though cheered by many distinguished honors, kings gifts from and from many homage were emperors, societies, dened also sadThe
" "
by
the
death
Westmoreland,
and Rellstab,
Spohr
ill-health and and others, and by his own A Swedish his eyes. trouble with editor, who visited him about the time of his fiftieth birthday, described him
as "a
little, benevolent
of power and keenness delicate and yet simple behavior. His had an countenance especially shrewd look ; and those fantastic spirits, which
an
sion expres-
and
with
bewitched
the
' Eobert ' and ' The of night pieces Prophet/ appear to be lurking in its wrinkles." In 1861 Meyerbeer his seventieth birthday, celebrated
world
in
the
was
remembered
same
This
at
year
a
in three parts, march " Rule Britannia." His presence added to the ending with Several theatres enthusiasm with which it was received. brought out his "Prophet," "Huguenots," simultaneously
London
and
"
Dinorah
"
with
festal
success,
After
the perform-
344
the
"
MEYERBEER.
ance
of
Granville,
the
public, and
by Lord publicly thanked of the Queen, of all great artists, English nation," for his great services.
was
his last great triumph. His failing health his eyes the trouble with more more and grew and Occasionally his old energy would flame out, alarming. " L' Africaine" which and he would work on his pet opera
This
was
for
so
many
hunt
even
and
to
was
unable
to
Brussels
"
to
confer
tenor
who Unknown
Vasco da
him,
daughters youngest Julius Beer and one to his bedside. His of last words were May-Day, Sunday,
his
two
two
intimate
friends
nephew hastened
spoken 1863,
cheerfully
"
on
"I
will
see
I bid you good-night.'7 morning. He died early the next day. His body lay in state in his simple he Montmartre. Rue Rossini when
dwelling, heard
the
in the
news
in the Park fainted away. Then he went out to wander he noted down Monceaux, a religious meditation where " inscribed to his poor friend Meyerbeer."
Meyerbeer's
body
was
a
taken
to
Berlin.
It
was
attended
to the station by
stately throng
of notabilities, spoken.
were
Farewell by music. orations were accompanied Selections from the "Prophet" and "Dinorah" with
organ
performed
and voices. On the way to Berlin at every stopping-place, signs of The funeral train reached Berlin grief were manifested.
MEYERBEER.
345
incident, It was a dramatic station. the meeting of the living monarch and the dead musician. days later the pompous Two of the funeral ceremonies
same
The
King
was
justabout
to make
ney jour-
black catafalque, silver candelabra, laurel from royal and princely houses, music wreath, bouquets tions, hearse, throngs of deputaand orations, palm-adorned
took place with
an
drawn
He
by the king's,
was
tomb
by the side of his mother, in the family Later, a religious cerein the Jewish Cemetery. mony Synagogue in his honor took place in the Meyerbeer
by his father. which had been founded Meyerbeer, though possessed of millions, always lived in Paris, with only one servant ; he labored frugally when
as
industriously all
an
as
though
he
were me
poor, saying
"
am
above
artist, and
it gives
that I might have supported myself In Berlin, to be sure, the time I was seven years old. desire keep up some style; but in Paris I have no
stand
aloof
from
my
associates
and He
play
the
rich
amateur."
His habits
nor a
were
took
extremely He
playing
simple.
enjoyedwalking,
one
he would
stop and
distinctions
heaped
upon
never
possessed the cross His judgment of other composers He was terms on of friendship
composers of the of the day.
always
ous. gener-
Gluck
one,"
past.
"
No
and he said,
will
ever
equal
346
Gluck
in simplicity,
MEYERBEER.
dramatic naturalness, and powerful I am and when expression; works, enjoyinghis majestic I like I often feel so humiliated that never would again
to write
a
note."
thouproperty, with the exception of a few sand to half a dozen dollars bequeathed musical and institutions, was divided among his relaphilanthropic tives. " His music, with the exception of L'Africaine"
great
His
leave untouched for thirty years. Then, be permissible in case living it would a grandson were it was to be given to the royal to publish it. Otherwise library in Berlin. he directed
to
"
L'Africaine
Every
"
was
performed effort
was
for the
first time
in
April, 1865.
made
ideas ; and the enthusiasm was like an his biographer says, it seemed
great
that,
as
apotheosis
of his
takes place in Paris in September of the present apotheosis his is birth hundredth of with (1891), celebrated anniversary when year Paris will of his masterpieces. and the reproduction ceremonies appropriate
1
stillgreater
the
share
with
Bayreuth
the pilgrimages
of the musical.
MENDELSSOHN.
(18O9-1847.)
proverb IT proverbs,
a
is
that
names
go
by
contraries.
popular
But
though
often
containing
less often embody crystallized, no for instance, that lightning as, never
Berlioz applied place. to Mendelssohn's godson
"
popular
Moscheles
numerabis is happy,
"
Donee
as
eris Felix
amicos."
("So
many
long
thou
art
Felix, that
shalt
thou
reckon
friends.")
same
biography. up Mendelssohn's He seems to stand as the type of the fortunate composer " Whom rich, talented, courted, petted, loved, even adored. This distinction also he enthe gods love die young."
The
line might
sum
joyed,
additional
a
glamour the
to his life.
certain
sense
musician
of the
" " Songs Words to the ; his unmusical without appeal Philistines of the conservatories; his "Elijah" young is the masterpiece for religious Philistinism.
There
is, undoubtedly,
at the
present
time
tendency,
the adepts of Wagner, to underrate especially among Mendelssohn. It seems indeed ludicrous in a rather being the last of the as recent writer to speak of him
347
348
Titans
; but
MENDELSSOHN.
musical
we
may
who
with
as
Schumann,
master."
And
not
or
though
it may
the spontaneous
a
ing still he deserves the distinction of hav" ing restored the lost art of counterpoint," and of bringback classic forms was at a day when romanticism
men
Beethoven,
compelling
like
Meyerbeer
and
Weber
into
enchanted
him
ground. to a world that had also restored Bach for a hundred This service alone years.
He may have been
narrow
dangerous
immortality. but
and
of the
; prejudiced
judged according
to the standard
His well-nigh above reproach. world, his character was aunt declared that during his whole career she could not that could be criticised. His recall a deed or a word translator up by the American virtues are well summed
"
The
poor
son
man's
and
have
rather
heir of
son,
banker,
he always
in
ease
wrought
or
as as
and
never
himself
sloth,
to win
he might
done;
tempted
write
to writedown
to the masses,
a
popularity, and
than
leave good
any
man
work
behind
high
standard
latter; nattered
but in
one
beyond he
most
never
England,
of the
and
remained
unaffected
surrounded
by
true to all moral obligations, and perfect unprincipled people, he was father; in all the relations of son, brother, lover, husband, and frank, by intriguers, he stood above them all, and was surrounded by his sunny, enthusiastic, honorable, transparent, noble; tempted
alert nature,
thorough,
to do
simply
bright
and
genial
things
in music,
he
was
studious, and
earnest,
religious,
and
steadfastly consecrated
to the highest
the best."
MENDELSSOHN.
MENDELSSOHN.
349
Not
stand
out
as
tle middle of the last century, a litboy, with an alert face and humpbacked Jew peddler keen eyes, entered Berlin by the Rosenthaler The Gate. Some time before the
world he was
at first went
hard
with
him.
He
was
his miserable
by
as
means
of
greater
earn
The
little that he
could
prosecuting
his
studies with a learned rabbi. At last he secured a position as resident tutor in the house of a rich Hebrew and in course silk manufacturer, Jewess, and became a Hamburg rich as of time married
well
as
learned.
He
was
wrote
dialogue
into
on
the immortality
translated
"
dozen
Plato."
languages,
He
was
and
a
gave
him
Modern
of the noted men of valued friend and correspondent It Herder his day, and Lessing. and Kant, Lavater is said that Lessing took him as the model for his "Nathan
"
the Wise."
as
His
name name
was was
not
Nathan,
he
but
became
Moses,
and
as
his father's
son, or
Mendel,
known
Mendel's He had
in German
Mendelssohn.
six
children.
Abraham,
He
was
the
a
second
man
son,
was
of the composer.
remarked between
the
son
was
of my
"
Formerly,"
am
son."
began
returned
training formed
partnership
with
350
his brother
MENDELSSOHN.
Joseph,
and
married
Lea
Salamon,
young
lady
and
accomplishments,
whose
parents
Their
as
first child
mother
was
daughter,
Fanny,
who
was
born,
her
fingers."
it,with " Bach fugue poetically expressed Like Mozart's older sister, she had remarkable
genius for music. Jakob Ludwig Felix It has been Fairies, flew
on
was
born
November
3, 1809.
fancifully that
the
said that Titania, Queen of the day over burg the prosaic city of Hamchild
on
kissed
him he
was
his forehead,
as
he
slept,
with
captured the city ; and house and lived for some years in the grandmother's Promenade. There a new banking-house the Neue
was
established, and
reasons,
for various
Lutheran Bartholdy.
practical, social, and sentimental family were baptized into the the
additional
name
of
not in the patriarchal family rule was least relaxed. Absolute and unquestioning obedience, industry, were Yet unceasing required of the children.
The
somewhat
tempered
had
the warmest
of his life,when,
he had The
become
mother
extremely
was
languages,
the piano. was she who began Felix in music, giving them at first five-minute several times each day.
she It
She spoke
several
Afterwards,
when
they
MENDELSSOHN.
351
that
tised, she
they
sat
by
them
no time. morning wasted Discipline was to study. they began relaxed for a few time talking at lunch, but if Felix spent too much moments " Felix, thust du it she would over appear and say,
" nichts ? He was
see
("Have
you
nothing
to do, Felix ?
"
of course, allowed out-of-door exercise and him seeing playing many people in Berlin remembered " I spy," and other games, under the trees by the canal
in front
"
of
their
house,
or
trotting
His
along
in his "big
shoes
by
his father's
side.
brown
curls, which
attracted attention, as afterwards turned black, always eyes, lurking under long lashes. well as his big brown interesting boy, unspoiled. He was When foolish an people asked
him
idle questions,
he had
peculiarly
dignant in-
almost
spiteful, way
of answering
and
avoiding
flattery.
When
he
was
took
years old his father was called to his whole family with him. Felix and
seven
taking
piano
lessons
returned
When
they
to Berlin
The and
lessons
strenuously.
taught
them
drawing,
enjoyedoften
lived.
on
added
"
The
methodical
him
"
instruction
Berger taught weak, good-natured him on the piano. His knowledge he of counterpoint " the old bear," the crusty but honorable Zelter, got from in the big who taught him as they walked up and down " Marx When ter Zelgarden back of the house. remarked, the
violin ; the
became
master,
swim
"52
many of Mendelssohn's
master.
to this pedantic
of Berlin, and
of Paul French
Heyse
the
was
.
like
his native
tongue.
a
able to write
a
comedy and
not
verse,
charming (the "Andrea") into German of Terence he made He considerable progress in Greek.
of mathematics.
was
He
.was
good
man; horse-
he When
swim almost
and
ten
dance.
years
old he
made
his first
a pianist, and as was much public appearance applauded. The following year he, with his sister, sang alto in the famous founded May, 1791, by Carl old Singakademie,
Fasch, time
Frederick
directed
"
the Great's cembalo player, and at that by Zelter. Devrient tells of seeing him at
Zelter's
Friday
at the
afternoons,"
neck, with
dressed
in
close-fitting
pockets foot to
jacket, open
his hands
in the
from one shifting uneasily another, and rocking his curly head from side to side. list of his The From this time he began to compose. of his full trousers, falling in the next four years is remarkable compositions for its amount There were nearly sixty and variety. in 1821, tata, sonatas, organ pieces, songs, a canmovements He wrote or copied them with and a little comedy.
"
the greatest
course
now
neatness
and
Library.
mature, to
As
was composition by the home that they were circle, performed of four children, the youngest, Paul, consisted now four years younger than Felix.
they
improved
in
this
MENDELSSOHN.
353
All distinguished
Berlin visited
people who musical passed through the Mendelssohns, noon afterand the Sunday
nmsicales often enlisted the local talent of Berlin. Thus, in 1822, the young theatre singer Devrient, through a friend of Fanny the medium of his betrothed, who was Mendelssohn,
operas.
came
to take
a
on
part
in
one
of Felix's of the
little
He
at the
gives
charming
a
description
boy
sitting while
piano
cushion
and
gravely
conducting
Mendelssohn' the dining-table. the performers sat around his greatest from utter freedom conceit was
charm. generally there to pick flaws or give merited Zelter had been for years the friend of Goethe, praise. to visit pupil to Weimar and in 1821 he took his young him. They than two weeks spent more under his roof.
Zelter
was
The
was
friendship delightful.
between
the
old
of poets." hour, He
in
was
Goethe
was
and Mendelssohn " the pole star called him by the play and improvise
man
amazed
a
boy
It
hieroglyphics. Mendelssohn
at
a
Goethe
vastly
had
heard
Mozart,
but he thought
was
Once
am
(though this
Saul, and
spirits you
l
later
visit),
I and
you
are
David.
come
When
me
sad
me
low
must
to
calin
and in by your
accords." In the
to
summer
of 1822
the
Mendelssohns
they
his
as
took had
trip
a
Switzerland.
Felix
At
was
Potsdam,
brief halt,
made
they Heyse
far
started back
describing
and
in search
Goethe
of the
are
Mendelssohn's
in
a
sprightly entitled
"
letters
his visit to
to
be
found
volume
Goethe
Mendelssohn."
354
straggler, but them on foot. with
MENDELSSOHN.
found
They
him
to
overtake
Spohr,
for whom
Mendelssohn
After
stopping
the
the Alps, they returned, among pleasant sojourn Felix astonished Schelble, at Frankfort, when of the
conductor
Cecilia Society, by
his powers
of
they at Weimar, extemporizing ; and where enjoyed delightful intercourse In Goethe. following the with December, Mendelssohn in public a pianoforte played The progress of his talent can be concerto of his own. easily followed
in the
1822
They numerous and 1823. and varied A pianoforte than in the years before. quartet, begun Geneva, was near afterwards published as his first opus. He had grown into a tall, slender lad of fifteen, with his hair cut short, and his features marked by great vivacity. His good spirits were infectious. He was always ready for a frolic. Indeed, so long as he lived he was apt to indulge in the gayest He was pranks. called by his friends "the king of games When Ferdinand and romps." Hiller first saw the Mendelssohn Aloys Schmitt, well-known clinging for a littlewhile and then slipping off, to repeat in Paris, Mendelssohn the frolic. Afterwards, suddenly surprised Hiller as they late one night by saying,
"
which
he
wrote
in
were
"
walking
along
boulevard
We
must
do Now,
some
of
our
"
"
jumps
one
in Paris.
Our
jumps,
And
off
for it
! two
! three ! "
like kangaroos.
little home
or
One
"
The
the
Uncle
on
was
performed
his fifteenth
birth-
MENDELSSOHN.
355
Zelter took A supper followed. day with full orchestra. longer him no him by the hand, and, after proclaiming but a master, "in the name an of Haydn, apprentice
Mozart,
and Old
Bach,"
kissed
him
amid
the enthusiastic
plaudits Some
before,
with
a
Abraham
quantity
Mendelssohn of
cantatas
had
presented
by "the poor Cantor written manuscripts, Zelter affected to call Bach's compositions crabbed
evidently
of
thought
them
the
people;
these sacred
to
sometimes
the
closet
of
the
Singakademie
they
were
to him, saying, them stored, and showed Just think they "There of all that is hidden are! there," but he would never allow his pupil to touch them.
At
last,however,
Mendelssohn's
grandmother
obtained
was
for his violin teacher, permission also his intimate friend, to make Bach's Passion Music,
Edward
a
Bltz, who
score
Christmas,
development.
In the
1823.
of the it to presented
copy
of
at
him
influence
upon
his
the
sea
"
following
the stormy
summer
first time,
He
wrote
saw
an
Baltic
overture
of the bathing
It
was
was
re-scored and in composition, for his progress memorable his C-minor Symphony (now No. 1) and
chamber
came
several
year
seeing
Later
in
the
to
Mendelssohns
daily.
to give
Felix regular
artist, though
356
MENDELSSOHN.
but fifteen ; Fanny extraordinarily gifted, playing fugues by heart and with astonishing correctness." "To-day," he
Bach's
writes in his diary, "I gave Felix his first lesson." But he adds that he could not hide the fact that he was The not his pupil. with his master,
acquaintance is shown as thus formed the
led to
an
intimate
friendship,
the the
two.
by
Felix known
became
well-
who
had
been
hesitating
a
whether
as music determined
profession,
to consult
verdict crabbed
was
and by
like old Zelter, uncertain, him Felix compared the boy. and
ashes
seemed
to
an
nated fasciextinct
volcano covered with stones belching forth flames. Felix himself and
the
and
occasionally
disapproved
atmosphere
of the
musicians
prevailed
of the
frivolous
that the
that
of Paris, there; he
was
thought
make
men
whole
of
place
to
lose sight
and
real musical
feeling
strong
contrasts.
own
His
detestation
extreme.
of the his great fault the firmament art," thought of German in being too old-fashioned, and not yielding enough was to the modern toward tendencies richness and fulness of ornamentation. Curiously enough,
of such things carried him to the his friend Hiller, who Even called beautiful stars in brightest and most
the
French
composer,
think
as
that
had
been
French
might
MENDELSSOHN.
357
lost that
been
the
case,
he would
have and
Germanic
gained
ness stiff-
would
have
in
more
On
Weimar
their
for
way
back
"
from the
Paris
they
"
stopped
another
third
his B-minor he played whom Not long after their return, the so-called " Keck
roomed
ten
acres
again Goethe,
to
at
to
him.
chased pur-
Abraham Palace,"
a
manyover
mansion, and
lovely shrubbery,
and
every
A separate in summer. especially building, called the " Gartenhaus," gave accommodations for musical parties, easily seating several hundred people. The property was really in the suburbs of Berlin, near
pleasure, the Potsdam
Gate
:
on
the
Leipzig
Koad.
It had
three
drawbacks
it was
damp,
it was
glad to
come
to them,
a
their
Sunday
crowd Fanny
than of the
thousand
portraits,
volumes,
family
and
This the of
a
new
home
waste
was
the
one
in
dreary
former
of Berlin.
direction
ble royal groom, he learned to ride with remarkathe boys played bowls under weather skill. In warm the trees, and had lively swimming parties, with songs
sung
in the water,
Klingemann
furnishing
the words
and
Mendelssohn intercourse
the
was
newspaper,
here social and And musical music. A manudelightful and unrestrained. script The Garden Times, entitled in summer
358
in
MENDELSSOHN.
winter
Snow
and
Tea
Times,
as
to
which
scientists and
not
scorn
philosophers
contribute,
Humboldt
to
And their devotees. and chess, and whist, in all things the central figure, happy, witty, Felix was Felix comgay, loved by all. Just before their removal posed for an the music opera, the words of which were furnished
from "Don
by
Klingemann.
The it
was
subject was
entitled
taken
Quixote," and
submitted
"Camacho's
Wedding."
It
was
to General
Musical-Intendant
tini, whose jealousyhad already stood in the Spohr's Spontini was living in "Jessonda."
once
occupied
by the
Mendelssohns.
Spontini
led him
to
the window, and pointing to the dome of the Roman in French : Catholic church opposite, said pompously have "Friend, as as must conceptions you grand
" yonder cupola ! Mendelssohn, inability to one great fault was whose forgive endure lack of appreciation, and who could never a disparaging was this not likely to overlook remark, It is said that Spontini insinuation. disliked man's
Mendelssohn
because
he conducted
without
score,
feat
he himself could not perform. which however, delays, allowed Spontini, after vexatious " " in the small Wedding to be produced Comacho's
theatre. The
even
claque
was
made
up
of
Mendelssohn's had
friends, but it
a success,
it
Mendelssohn talent.
twenty Wedding'
The
had not
scored
was,
truth
years
old sin of
"
Comacho's
should
be stirred up again."
MENDELSSOHN.
359
this period Night's Dream,"
of the
Mendelssohn's
overture
greatest
work
was
to
"
Midsummer's
a
new
inspired
by
the
and life, he
Dream,"
tal immorMendelssohn made ever ; nothing more perfect of its kind was composed it was that when, in the last years of his remarkable
work
alone
would
came
to
set music
to
Night's
he used
same
the overture
This
the
Berlin fell.
unchanged. University,
It is not
and known
ten
later the
upon him and him by conferring Philosophy and B. A. M. One of his friends complained
the degree
of Doctor
of
that
Bach
Mendelssohn exercise. mathematical him mistaken to prove a small choir ; he got together of Saturday the sixteen evenings rehearsed voices, and on " Passion according to St. Matthew."
a
him
to seemed determined
One
His
of the
number
was
Devrient,
the
opera
singer.
were such that Mendelssohn's zeal and enthusiasm timidity in presence overcome. of Zelter's opposition was dressed exactly alike in blue One day the two young men, black cravats coats, white waistcoats, and trousers, and
yellow before
Zelter and laid their plans gloves, called upon him. It may be remarked in passing delssohn that Menhad overdrawn his allowance and had to borrow
thaler to buy
piece
of bad
management
to reprimand.
was
at first so
the door-knob
to smooth
had his surly that Mendelssohn to flee incontinently, but Devrient by deft flattery, and
at last
managed
the way
360
MENDELSSOHN.
the old director yielded and gave his permission by the Singakademie. work to be performed
for the
The
was
rehearsals
began
in January,
on
time
its composer. The of apathy had so much dreaded, was the people, which Mendelssohn Every taken, ticket was stirred to enthusiasm. and hundreds The success turned away. were was complete
publicly death of
March
in every
revival. with
some
restored Mendelssohn
without saying,
"
This was the beginning of the Bach respect. day to Devrient Mendelssohn one remarked have and an actor who glee, "It is a Jew to the people this great Christian work."
knew the work
one
the
score.
At
In the twenty-third
"
the sopranos
C-natural
This
not
C-sharp."
sohn. was characteristic of Mendelsmemory Bardin's, two later in Paris, at the Abbe held every week, were reunions E-flat concerto. play Beethoven's
Hiller The
where
was
asked
were
to
all there, and the string quartet, but no wind. "I will do the wind," said Mendelssohn simply, and he filled in the wind at a second piano sitting down a even note of the not neglecting parts from memory,
parts
second
memory. famous I could
horn.
He
Once
always he when
played
was
That manage
is not
to
art.
forget
everything It might
been
supposed
natural
that Mendelssohn
successor as
would
of
been
Zelter's
conductor
Singakademie,
the election
but
was
MENDELSSOHN.
361
at added to the disappointment " Wedding the failure of " Camacho's ; and the unhappy between Mendelssohn of the and many relationship
votes
out
of 236.
This
Berlin
would
"
the
was
Koyal
Orchestra,
he
was
who
it because
a
Jew
ever.
made
was
Berlin
even
more
like
desert
to him
than
He
"
hopeless
of things
bettering
themselves
there.
Berlin
do
so
afford to look
after the
down
upon
such
ances, annoy-
performance of "the second Bach's birthday, he was Passion," which took place on " off on what he calls his grand tour," and enjoyingsuch a that they would of delightful experiences succession
where
men Englisheven now most of that popularity which makes him look upon He as the greatest of composers. in London, success. gave four concerts with wonderful
was
"
over
he went he
was
to Scotland,
where
Here
inspired
with
overture
called he was
"Fingal's
disgusted
enough, after travelling eighty miles, to be put off with a " half-hour's " indifferent conversation with Sir Walter. Melrose Nor Abbey him. even "We consoled cursed
great
men,
ourselves,
and
the
whole
world,"
were
his
words. His
visit in London
on
his return
in September
kept him him
from
was
lame
in his
being
wedding.
362
In
MENDELSSOHN.
he returned to Berlin, he found when installed in the Gartenhaus, the artist and Fanny which had been turned into a studio. They were ready to take
December,
Mendelssohn part in a surprise which his parents' This silver wedding. " from Abroad," The Return entitled,
had
was
or
"
prepared
a
for
Stranger."
part, but
a as
Every Hensel
member
was
of
the
family
to
was
take
part
note.
In
he
given
same
and
even
an
the
recovered
as
from
as
meaner
for
genius,
well
"the
slings and
arrows
of outrageous
tour.
Mendelssohn
Venice
Weimar
in
reached
visits at and Pres-
enjoying delightful
at
with
Goethe,
at
Munich,
Vienna,
burg.
letter-writing. One passion was of his intimate friends declared that most of his time The have was spent in this way. result is that we Mendelssohn's
great
in regard to every step detailed information remarkably in the very air with drank of his Italian journey. He idled away the ecstasy, and, as he says, systematically
days.
Natural
scenery,
the treasures
with
enjoyment
it has been
sentiment, either showed scarcely a trace of devotional in his letters or his music. Indeed, the ancient music of He the Koman called it service entirely irritated him.
year
in Rome,
of
and
a
was
tunate for-
the
coronation
pope, and
MENDELSSOHN.
363
He
the ceremonies
of
Holy found
Week.
spent
Naples,
then
where
he
Florence,
in
He
Geneva
some
he
was
devoted to dancing. passionately his Italian and Scotch symphoIn Italy he composed nies, " Night," and other Walpurgis the music to Goethe's and vocal, and filled drawing-book pieces instrumental
after drawing-book with his sketches. he reached Paris, where he threw In December " into the vortex " of musical and social life.
time
wore
he had
their
annoyed,
appeared and one morning with his locks close heard of it, but took it "in his Meyerbeer
there, and the presence of Hiller and other good friends, Mendelssohn could not Paris, particularly after his Reformation phony Symstomach had been shelved by the "Concert Society" as
too
learned
smoky
and
"that
He
was
glad
he spent
to
be back
in
where
two
a
months,
and
publishing
number
of
he gave three public winter bringing out a number at the Singakademie, concerts of interesting novelties, his Reformation Symphony, his
the
overtures
to
"
During
following
Midsummer's
Night's the
Dream,"
"
The
rides" Heb-
Voyage,"
as
well
as
Bach.
Mendelssohn's
success
in conducting
the Lower
Rhine
364
Music Festival
MENDELSSOHN.
at the end
of May,
1833, brought
him
an
in Diisselthe entire charge of music offer to undertake dorf for three years at a salary of 600 thalers. By the advice of his father, who was with him during festival, and who was duties, he titles without the
pleased
title, he accepted
it.
would Afterwards
that while others had have duties without a don to Lonthe two went
interesting details of this visit together, and many learned that a very fine The are preserved. old man in London like the end of a November was morning afternoon
son's
in
Germany.
his could not appreciate for English fog, Sundays, and other
to be less pleasant
He
proved
than
sohn Mendels-
He that by four complained anticipated. drunk, so was o'clock in the afternoon, half the town that he had to transact all his business in the morning. he gave operas by After a few months, during which Mozart
and
Cherubini
direction
he the slight connection which immense irritation and disgust. Socially there the
was
much
to
enjoy.
lodged
an
with
painter there.
art
school
Thus
he
had
often took artistic circle. They Schadow with his noble head, and
long
the bevy of speech, quite overshadowing and eloquent him. One handsome fellows who surrounded young No took much one time Chopin was there. notice of him, but when they returned
to
the
was
studio
"the
lyric
to
epicurean"
had
his revenge.
He
called upon
MENDELSSOHN.
365
dumb
play,
and,
after
the
first note,
all
were
with 1834,
amazement.
Mendelssohn he went
ran
kept
for
a
horse.
on
On
Christmas
The
Day,
out
ride
his bay.
through "I
the town
straight
kept
my
seat,"
he
wrote,
"but
was
in such
to
see
rage
the
people
just delighted
!"
a
the
racing
a
along
was
in blazed
rare
rage
out
his
from
not
with
him.
gives
tune
for much He responsible of his irritation. humorous description of their lack of time and Every allegro leaves off twice as fast as it began,
the oboe plays E-natural in C-minor, and they carry it rains, and when it their fiddles under their coats when is fine they do net cover them once at all ; and if you four horses heard me this orchestra, not even conduct
and
time."
was
invited
to Leipzig,
to
He accepted, at the Gewandhaus. conduct the concerts " a paradise." and found it, as he said, A little more than a month after the first concert, he by the sudden death of his father, was quite stunned who very
had
In the cataracts. entirely blind from last letter that he wrote, his father had urged him
become
his oratorio of " St. Paul " which he had begun several years before at Dflsseldorf. Felix selected " He once There are always the words himself. : wrote I stop anywhere two have when things that I must : one
to keep
on
with
is
Bible, and
was
the other
is
It owing
"
of Frankfurt,
was
but,
can-
engagement
366
MENDELSSOHN.
first produced Rhine at the Lower celled, and it was Festival, in 1836, by a chorus of three hundred and sixteen singers, a large and efficient orchestra, all full of
enthusiasm. flowers upon
was
When
it
was
over,
young
ladies the
showered
the composer,
and lyre
crowned
on
score
which
of the aristocratic families of this place was Souchay. They lived in a fine house with a beautiful named became quent Mendelssohn the Main. a freview down
visitor at this house. in love, but here, at last, was
to last.
One
He
a
was
always
more
or
less
genuine
passion, destined
The
objectof
serene
it
was
the
a
Charlotte
of face
Sophie
most
of a Madonna. Mendelssohn was attracted by her mother, a found The townspeople soon young widow. there
was
a
that
courtship
amusement
going
on,
and
it afforded
see
them the
considerable
and
be ; for, though was young, result would a man of culture, amiability, genius, rich and handsome, belonged to a family fame, and of considerable and
little against as celebrity, still all these things weighed " " the imponderable significance of patrician blood ! hard hit, but, being a young man Mendelssohn was of prudence, his idol for he
a
curiosity to Mendelssohn
what
determined
to
tear
himself
away
from
time, and test his affection by separation. her. The It stood the test. He was without miserable baths at Scheveningen sea could not cool his ardor. he flew back, proposed, was At the end of a month
accepted, and made
"
the
happiest
man
in the
world."
MENDELSSOHN.
367
in the
an
full halo
concert
"
of his
early
in the
" by the significant finale to " Fidelio " Who a lovely wife has gotten " by the the program put on He was directors. to improvise on the theme compelled
"
amid
shouts
was
and
hurrahs
in March, 1837. The at Frankfurt married honeymoon delight and fun of their happy are preserved in a diary kept by them both, and adorned with all sorts happiness Their was of droll sketches remarks. and almost
cut short
at
"
He
Bingen
to
on
the
Rhine,"
when
Mendelssohn,
swim
the
barely
Shortly
"
after this, he
"
taken
to England
"
his
St. Paul
at
the
him.
that
absent from her he indulges " is the good of all What : in the world," he asks, " if his
usually successful visit both in he returned to Leipzig, glad and London, He home. established in his own pleasant
not
asks
if he
a
ought
to
be
perfectly
comfortable nice new Lurgenstein's garden, and the fields, and the view over serenely happy, more calmly city towers, feeling more felt since he left his parents' than he had ever joyful, roof. His
Cecile in
happiness,
the
next
year,
was
interrupted
by his
He pain
wife's dangerous
complained
ill health. illness, and by his own deafness ear, of one and of complete
368
in the head playing what
on
MENDELSSOHN.
and
the
neck.
piano,
to
He
could
often It
four
not
even
hear the
his
own
said
a
missed
made
years
one
point
of
him
similar
off in six
weeks,
and
this
also
was
only
temporary. The
full of
summer
he spent in Berlin, and was That month twelvework and pleasure. memorable included forty-second the and ninety-fifth
of that year string
quartets, his violin concerto, and he other things ; and when returned to Leipzig, and had " Elijah" recovered from a second attack of measles, his
Psalms,
several
was
was
"
What
doing
at all is worth
doing
to accomplish
:
in his busy
writing
innumerable
friends, the exhausting society, the circus, visits from labor of conducting ; and while and arranging programs he, one hand composed two cantatas might say, with one for the festival in honor of the invention of printing,
with the other Italian poems
he
translated
into German
"
number
a
of
constant
"a turmoil." whirl of excitement, really overpowering He thus tells of a soiree given in honor of Liszt : hundred "Three and fifty people, orchestra, chorus, Bach's Triple Concerto, at Sea, Psalm, punch, pastry, Calm
"
from St. Paul, Fantasia choruses Erlking, the Devil and his Grandmother." He
was
on
Lucia, the
fond
of Liszt, and
playing
at sight a miracle. of the G-minor pianoforte concerto If he liked anything but if he he liked it immensely, disliked it he would act in the oddest way. Once, when
MENDELSSOHN.
369
he
Hiller
to
on
him
some
poor
composition
threw
the floor and rolled all about the room. he could not Some of Liszt's idiosyncrasies abide. how Hiller could see anything in BerHe could not see lioz's " I cannot Symphony. more conceive of anything
insipid, wearisome, and Philistine," to go stark mad he all his endeavors and as for your Liszt with his two what does a homely Mendelssohn was thought
"
he
never
says, "for
once on
with
fingers
want
on
provincial
a
like
me
severe
"
critic
a
even
William
Tell
perfect
a
and
complete
masterpiece.
pleasant picture of him at is going wrong. He a concert or opera when something boils with indignation, and his ever simply quiet and his coat Cecile lays her hand on serene and says, sometimes
get
"
We
Dear
husband,
he heard
do be calm that
he declared
not
a
!"
When
Meyerbeer
had
been
kapellmeister,
if there miles
that he might
a
had
been
distance
of several
German
real
between
"
court
were
"
kapellmeister
to
and
a
kapellmei
If I
be
made
court
composer
to
to-morrow,"
said
so
he, long
I should
be
bound
not
write
note
as
I lived."
to
was
he
was
himself
be
kapellmeister, disturbed
life at Leipzig
up
to be
broken
of King
after
Frederick
IV., who
throne
to
of
the
end of 1840 to take the post of director of the musical division or class. His better judgment,and his dislike of Berlin with " its its utter lack of shoals of sycophant courtiers" and
toward musical
taste,
Mendelssohn
stood
against
it; but
he
was
probably
370
with
the
MENDELSSOHN.
weary
season's
where 1 and
during history
life the
there
published. for a year, and his farewell He to Leipzig accepted Passion Music consisted of the Matthew appropriately Mendelssohn had interested himself to raise of Bach.
funds Thomas His for
-a
may Gewandhaus
be
read
in
the
concerts
recently
statue
of the
was
old
Cantor
in front
of
the
Schule.
first great
to
It
work
the
he
now
became
gone" "Anti-
kapellmeister
The
King,
the
music
for
first performance of this old drama with beautiful setting took place on October Mendelssohn's 28, 1841. It immediately
with became
his
band,
most
unsatisfactory.
his request that through and obliging, and it was " Oidipous" Mendelssohn the music to " Athalie" wrote Dream," Night's Midsummer's Goethe's "The and
"
Walpurgisnacht" But
the
disagreeable, and more situation grew more from there, residence and at last the King released him him thalers for his thousand a salary of one allowing
had died in December, His mother duties of composition. But during his. 1842, and the Berlin house was now the rest of his life he lived chiefly in Leipzig, where his
darling
of music
applied
to
to this purpose,
named and the great institution destined formally for German art was Mendelssohn, composers David,
among
was
mann, Schuthe
and
other
well-known
MENDELSSOHN.
371
teachers.
One
of the
Joachim,
of
these
were
was
life.
where
And
perhaps
was summer
least
he
the
the most
In
his seventh
journey
to London,
and
this time
twice
received
ham at Bucking-
Palace,
Queen
for the he played accompaniments where him how She asked to sing. she could best express her thanks. He asked to see her sleeping children, this
of his
next
and
when
favor
own
was
granted,
kissed
them,
and
thought
at home.
The
he
own
Schubert,
his
were
right
side
toward decided,
get the nature, good-
sometimes
almost
pains
tact
to
best
had
and
though
wrong
when
things But
he
went
was
sharp.
them
inspired
to enthusiasm.
since
1838
Mendelssohn for
an
had
kept
in mind
the
took
Festival
as
subjectof Elijah
shape, and at last In of 1846. head
was
the
labors
teaching
the
piano details,
"
and he
of
middle
in London
again.
372
The
MENDELSSOHN.
oratorio
home
was
unheard-of
and
wrote
success.
on performed Mendelssohn
with
amazed,
was
glowing
accounts
But
he
not
satisfied with
custom,
and, in accordance with his usual after judgingby the public hearing, made many in it. His taste was fastidious, and often most
the work, spend hours
on
few
to perfection.
" " and Elijah in its revised form, the Prince Consort, who was present, wrote in his program-book, him a note as addressing another
the tenth
When
he
Elijah,
hours Prince
faithful to the worship of true Art, though by the idolaters of Baal." He also played Palace for the Queen and at Buckingham
"
surrounded
two
the
Consort
his way
On
alone. back, he
was
very annoying accident. He had hardly reached home before the news of the sudden death of his sister Fanny to him. was abruptly broken He spent to the ground. With a cry, he fell unconscious himself largely occupying large pictures Thirteen with painting in water-colors. of Swiss scenery, and carefully executed, are in existence. that
summer
in Switzerland,
He
who
had
so
many
times
held vast
audiences
spellbound
on the organ, performances with his masterly played for the last time in the village church of Ringgenberg, on the Lake of Brienz.
When
he
the change
and
grown
his friends were home shocked at returned He had aged, that had taken place in him. dull and listless. Only occasionally his usual themselves
; for the
gay
was
spirits asserted
most
part
he
mournful
and
depressed.
MENDELSSOHN.
373
in his head
The
worse.
he
had
suffered
grew
severe
and
November
died
It
November
Europe
were
4, 1847.
is not
much
was as
mourned. In dead/'
was
In Leipzig,
it
London,
Manchester,
in many
and
Birmingham,
chief
where he Germany,
so
beloved,
even
of the
cities of
were
and
in
Paris,
memorial
concerts
organized. Scholarships
were
were
a
established
erected.
in
his honor.
Busts
and statues of him After his death, selections from They included male
without
was
mass
and
mixed and
words,"
opera
quartets
songs
of unfinishe
and
oratorios, overtures,
concerted
pieces,
be
to
not
for what
are
and
Welsh
harps
were
not
to
his
stupidly
nasal Naturally,
with few exceptions, lack spontaneity. His duets are better. Still greater his four-part songs, many are of which are immortal. He himself confessed that pianoforte not pieces were therefore,
songs, what real he wrote
success.
greatest
"
Songs
with have
enjoyed almost
It
was as a
of chamber
and
especially of symphonies
374
was
MENDELSSOHN.
great.
His
greatness
consists
not
in those
of
a
overwhelming
day;
but
later
this he
is
friend, in all the relations of family His stands alone and apart. and society, Mendelssohn him letters have endeared He is known to the world.
as a
as
unexcelled. As a man,
few
other
composers
have
to
ever
been
known.
it
Though
seems
it is somewhat
to
the fashion
sneer
on
at him,
safe
goes
his fame
will rather
SCHUMANN.
(18W-1856J
MOZAKT'S
was
In
contrast
these,
Schumann
were
antipodes.
The
one
effervescent ; the other, silent clear, open, spontaneous, fond of publicity; The one, deep, sometimes obscure. fireside, or in the by his own the other, most at home
at the editorial sanctum guarded light and spirit of any company;
desk. the
The
one,
the
a
other, almost
hermit We
Both
and
know have
intimately
influence
through
on
their letters.
exerted
was
great
Mendelssohn's
of
weaker
been
felt
Gade
and
of five place birth-
Alexander
His
Schumann
was
was
birthday
June
the
the quaint little Saxon town of Zwickau, with houses tall, picturesque streets, and broad, grass-grown
his father, F. A. G. Schumann, the where carried on father's business of bookseller His and publisher.
375
376
father
surgeon.
was
a
SCHUMANN.
clergyman.
His
mother's
father
was
No
the
ancestry
a
explains the
graft
on
tree.
his
father
man
of poetry
; and
practical
common-sense
with His
an
extravagant
father
favored
seven
he
was
Kuntsch,
long
not
they who drew in music with their mother's milk, thereby feeling themselves of the great family of consciously members their artists, into which others like himself had to make
entrance
that he predicted He must have felt the lack of musical nurture for he afterwards remarked how fortunate were
organist of the Marienkirche, in discovering the boy's talent, and be one of the lights of art. would
at home,
When Moscheles
the
a
famous
Carlsbad.
It
was
pianist to him.
of his
studying
sports formed flutes, a
at
and
a
his
home
again,
little orchestra
two
the
consisting of two violins, two mann horns. Missing parts SchuHe composed pieces piano. He
amazed father The who
use.
suitable
at
was
them
was
extempore
sure
playing.
an
of
audience
was
ready to
SCHUMANN.
377
public performance by Schneider. A lively boy of eleven it was the accompaniment, playing
"
Kuntsch
gave
of
stood Schumann.
years chorus
not
later he and
himself
arranged
played
the in
150th
Psalm He
was
(for
was
and orchestra),
public. he When
a
book
Men
"Picture
Gallery
Nations
His
of
a
of Times." had
the
Most
Famous
been
hindered
in his
von
own
to Carl Maria profession, wrote Dresden, with a view to putting Robert Weber to receive him consented
came
under ; but
His long
of it,and
the gymnasium three years later ; and, out of ended love for his mother, who was in her views by supported his guardian, Herr he reluctantly Etidel, the merchant,
at
began
the study
of law
at
by this time
Jean Paul.
wrote
while
sofa with tears and his friend's letter in his hand ; he wanders a dozen times. out through nature, and reads it over feels pure and undying love for the first time ; he
on
lies
weep with poetic mill is still either because there is too much water in the sluiceway, or too little. Yet can he hardly tell it is Liddy or Naimi whether Verily it cannot be Liddy, that most stirs his heart. for on a fatal Thursday he
and
her eyes, would around her pulses, would through be a her, and die on her eyelashes ! His
and
play
378
her
SCHUMANN.
-W-J""'
-V.
sat with
arose
on
the Rosenburg;
great
in the east ; the sun was setting ; the whole temple of nature lay far and wide before the intoxicated to him It almost seemed by that his ideal was vision. his side. He seized Liddy's hand, and pointing to the
black-purple
"
Liddy, But
such Liddy
on
the
horizon
exclaimed,
not
one
women
so
mon com-
Paul
and
deified
and
over."
words
about
ideal and the real, mental sentiall pictures of peasant dances and idyllic scenes, incomprehensible that strange and to us almost rigmarole friendship
and the and nonsense, of sense heart, flow from his ready then
pen.
so
his acquirements and tastes : He Sophokles ; he has lately taken up has finished reading Plato's " Crito," but can find no delight in it : " Plato is
Occasional
hints
at
Tacitus and Sallust attract him strongly, but Cicero revolts him : " he is a rabulist, that is, pettifogger braggart." charlatan, and windbag
food for
men."
"
"
It is Jean
Paul
him.
"
I place
"
as understand yet)not excepted." him This influence remained through with supreme his love for the life, and explains to a certain extent
I do not
in expression, the sharp conbrilliant and extravagant trasts, laughter and tears, and the disregard of form, which characterize his music.
"
"
Before
he took
up
his residence
at Leipzig
he went
on
SCHUMANN.
379
friend, Gisbert
went
as
pleasure
a
also where
Kosen,
far
as
Munich,
the acquaintance of made of Heine, so many he afterwards At Augsburg set to music. whose poems he lost his heart to a charming Kurrer, but it Clara von The young platonic and sentimental passion. Her image lady was he writes so engaged. of which doomed to go into ecstatically, with eloquent silence was his heart gave so much that picture-gallery to which
was
only
room.
He
Jean
made Paul.
husband. but
more
to Bayreuth to see the widow pilgrimage of Frau Richter him a portrait gave of her He was delighted with the palace-like houses, with the people, like Rollwenzel, who could talk
a
for hours
When
attention
"
it
was
hard
gone
to fix his
had
berg. to Heidel"
Schumann
where
progress
rooms."
one
in
June
"
with is Leipzig
enjoy life.
Yet
he had
written
"
his mother
"
only
days
before
declaring
"
that though
ice-cold definitions
get the
he
can
He
better of it : " indeed do all things." hides nothing from his beloved
"
" chilling jurisprudence with its is revolting to him, yet he will if only a man his will-power, uses
mother,
"
forgiving
the mother," gentle monitor him he faithfully warned so who when " of sinking deeper into the labyrinth of life." He writes her long letters full of sentimental effusiveness, complaining
that there
are
no
his
"
mountains,
no
valleys,
no
380
forests
SCHUMANN.
where
his thoughts
may
have
free
course
no
be alone. he writes her, "Nature," place where he may " handkerchief is the great wide-spread of God, embroidered His for eternal name, and serviceable to man with
wiping The
out
all his tears of sorrow." with which perfect frankness his soul to his mother, and the away between
Schumann
sympathy understand
why
hard
music
to
his
profession. He lets it be
In the
same
no
letter that tells her of the cost of his "patriarchal he mentions ducat a a paying establishment," for the hire of a piano, and wishes he might month " dear old faithful instrument, or be either have his own dollars in the purchase of a able to spend four hundred
new
one."
He
to
tells her
that he
goes
regularly
and
the
and
goes
lectures, plays the piano much, reads a great deal, plays chess every
out for
a
fencing
to
a
the danger
by saying,
never
"
I have
never
been
brawler
he
go
[Raufbold~], and
often
to
the
does
more
delight in the
men
; the
were
three
he
They were musical people, old acquaintances. led to Schumann's with Marschner, acquaintance and " brought Vampyr" was out that spring, and with whose the Wiecks.
who
Schumann
one
began
to
take
lessons
teachers
Wieck,
as
early
SCHUMANN.
381
to leave
as
August
he wrote
for his
mother's
permission
for a year, so as to hear and go to Heidelberg famous German the most jurists, especially Thibaut, the " Purity in Musical Art," who had performed author of
Leipzig
two the miracle of combining His spirits, which had been
such
at
the
prospect
with
paradise,
in that blooming of being with Rosen its great tun and little tuns, its jolly ple, peo-
Italy, and France; to Switzerland, and its nearness of being in the society of those who should understand in Leipzig him. That was the cause the of his gloom lack of sympathizing nous spirits to inspire him, the monoto"
course
of commonplace
went to
life.
"
So
"
he
Heidelberg
the
journey being
It
was
like
all
a
flight through
hundreds
the
illusion
about
law.
life of
university
temptation
Piano
with
open dust.
more
attractive
of practice
than
seven
We
devoted
read
to
covered day, of
evenings rather
than
Thibaut
forecast
musician
Strange
letter to lodgings
old
"
of
his
his mother,
he
tells her
because (princely
mountain
are so
oaks)
or
Church
whether
and
to
the
madhouse, crazy
be
Catholic !
from
descriptions sentimental
of the whole
journeyare
like pages
"Hyperion."
novel,
"
like Longfellow's
Before into
the
he procures establishment
382
the steward
SCHUMANN.
as
of
lord who
and
was
ing think-
of such
letters.
In
September
in
Italy.
tells his
sister-in-law of a beautiful English girl at Milan, who seemed to have fallen in love, not with himself, but his piano-playing. She gave him
She
was
haughty
they parted. sprig of cypress when and kind, loving and hating, hard and Schumann
:
soft, when
poor and rich, weak and strong, long the recollections worn out, yet full of life. And Perhaps they, of the cypresses of Milan filledhis heart. to weep more than lack of ready money, as caused him
played. to himself
he
applied
similar contradicti
he sat
on
stone
bench with
Doge's
at
palace at
the
sea
Venice,
looking
and
weary
well
was,
as
their heights
al Sentimentof
sorrow,
he
angel.
Grecian
Rhine, him he he
of the
maidens
of an dwell
and
their oval
cheeks
from
and
brown
amazingly.
got
Whether
Italy which forth under
all the
advantage
his trip to
be told.
fluently.
he eloquently set expected, and which twelve heads in a letter to his mother, cannot He had learned to speak French and Italian
But
if the
charming the
days
Italian
that lakes
he did
spent
in
Switzerland
more
and
confirm
were
among
than
him
not
they
nothing tiful, in his love for all things beauhe heard Moreover, wasted.
SCHUMANN.
383
Kossini he heard Pasta and when it seemed to him (so he at the Scala in Milan, sung Himself God Friedrich Wieck) as though stood wrote The before him, and let him look into His face. charm
Paganini
And
was
upon
must
"
him
; henceforth
the law
was
an
impossibility.
He
him
make future
her dream his mother renounce of seeing diplomate, ambassador of the Royal Court America !" to the Free States of North
ing undecided, yet longperation yet in a sort of deslost time by more one effort to redeem making An unsatisfacthe course tory with an old lawyer. reviewing his mother, speaking of existence ; for, as he wrote his attraction for music, and of the creative spirit, jurisprudenc
"turns
ice,
so
that
no
gristle, and freezes flower of fancy will any longer " of the world !
him
into
him yearn
into for
how
economical
he
is, living
on
the
hire, and
how
almost
as
much
hundred and only one forty florins for pianofor French lessons, which are because justifiable, he daily
"stupendously
sees
dear,"
a
but
necessary
his is, and because it. recommended led him into the extravagance Sometimes his economy but potatoes for a fortnight at a of living on nothing
time.
of the language
his guardian inclined to keep him was on for he is always short commons, writing to his "most for more honored Herr funds, or sharing Riidel" his Evidently telling of his anxieties with his "dear good mother," debts, and his plans for raising money by methods which he should most adopt unnatural circumonly in the
384
in
SCHUMANN.
stances
namely,
case
he
should
get
none
from
home. He with
was
too
light-hearted
to
be he
unhappy
goes
to
; he
drifted
in
the
current.
One
day
Mannheim
Grand Duchess coach of the widowed "to Stephanie breathe court air for a little of Baden, it is choking." he figures as leadThen ing while, though the
" at the soloist is attended which
four-horse
great, miserable
Heidelberg
concert,
from
Mannheim
or
almost Karlsruhe."
by
all the royal highnesses And he tells his mother it were, under protest, he
"
where from
there
is
pretty "with
move
and
witty
gouvernante
Lausanne,
not
eye-play,"
and Handel a oratorio sung by a select chorus house " of " the splendid, divine " Thibaut,
keenness,
listens to
"holy wit, and
at the
of whose
sensibility,
pure
artistic
sense,
charm
grace, he cannot
say enough. birthday He celebrates his mother's " What the the old castle. else should of
of
in the
ruins
of
life and the vocation ness eternal wish for the happiAs a fervently exclaims.
"
birthday
Liederkranz a several songs, he called it ; but, as he failed to get them (song-wreath) his piano-playing ! adding, done in time, he gave her in his letter, the hope that she is not annoyed at his gift, he
wrote
"
wit, and will smile at the deceiver again. 145 florins to the tailor for his But, oh, the debts !
"
fine red cloak and black stockings and blue dress-coat and black coat and waistcoat, and then dues for shoes And then he must eat and drink, and go and cobbling. to Mannheim, and buy books and music; and smoke,
SCHUMANN.
385
masked
tuner,
soap, good have a glass of bier / and I have four long weeks not !"
at last.
"
kreutzer
But
How
he
revels in
I get up
;
"
brother
the
kiss.
I work
till eight
on
ten to twelve the piano from eight to to two, go and Mittermayer ; from twelve with Thibaut out for a walk and dinner ; from two to four, with Zach-
play
and
civil law ;
; then we go to the castle, or aria, and Johannsen Rhine, or to my dear mountains." On the last day of June, he wrote his mother,
to
the
at five
"
the
most
important sputtering
letter of
boiling and
under
his
to kiss, the sky pure and golden enough coffee machine, ing his cigar tasting excellently, his mother's last letter lyhe comes to his great confession : before him, and now
"
My
whole
twenty
poesy and prose, or call it music and/ws." In Leipzig he dreamed more and cared less about his he says he has plan of life ; but in Heidelberg, really tried
to
and
more
the
on
result
that
he
has
come
more
art.
parting of the ways, and am frightened at the question, ' Whither ?'' He his genius points to him tells her that it seems in spite of her good out the right way, and motherly
"an future and a and the danger of uncertain Thibaut precarious living," he must choose for himself. him had long advised to dedicate himself the jurist to reasons
"Now
the
Art.
386
And
he begs
SCHUMANN.
his mother to write to Wieck, and ask him frankly what he thinks of him and his plan of life. it was for her, she consented. Hard His guardian as her answer When was came not so yielding. enclosing
so
for six months, experiment what an earnest protest he sent her against any longer his talent! degrading With he scorn eloquent what
Wieck's
advice
to
try
the
holds
in a provincial up the petty life as oberactuarius city of 3,000 inhabitants and with 600 thalers salary, in the morning till seven at night in sitting from seven lawsuits, dealing with four-groschen the council-room, with convicts and the and scoundrels
"von"
! Even
much-coveted
would
repay
those
years of service to a false ideal. he had turned his back on Yet when ready for a three-years7 devotion his spurs, and with America already
as
one
dreaming
an
of
career
virtuoso,
English
his
"
that
he
was
"
in
more
an
simple
money.
fashion
On
the
" For two weeks mother : Wieck thalers, and owe twenty His actually living like a dog."
he
a
his
hair
was
yet he could not get it cut, and for a been obliged to wear white cravats, his black His piano is horribly out of tune. so shabby. even shoot himself, because he has no money
were
He
or
can't
pistols.
Still in all his mock despair he her fear lest a good tree may be justified.
assures
his
bear
bad
SCHUMANN.
387
Wieck's
house,
read
get
Schumann began
took
lodgings
beginning, But he
was
near
and any
at the very
at sight.
although
so
he could
to
concerto
anxious
ahead
that he
practised for hours, fastening the third in a strained position, hoping finger of his right hand to give it equal thereby strength with the others, and
secretly thus
equal
was
bros,
if not surpass Moscheles. This, says Amis good illustration of the saying that a man his neck if he jumps through a window down stairs quicker than by descending of 1831,
liable to break
he to what owing calls his "painful, almost childish, fear of cholera," his will, Schumann he even thought of going to made But the plan was Weimar to take lessons of Hummel.
the
summer
perhaps
"
"
it because of the slight lameness Was given up. he began to feel in his hand ? Perhaps. Two he
which that
years
later he the
wrote
is playing
one
crippled
began,
neglect
to play
he
injured and piano but little,having The injury of the fingers of his right hand. insignificant, but through says, by being
worse,
so
it grew
as
to make
it almost
even
impossible
at all. Yet
he
was
resigned, and
considered
his
channels, and
icism. crit-
he though attempted, knew a number not the laws of the science : at Leipzig of songs full of queer indiscretions, but also of soul and At Mannheim he had met a young girl poetic feeling.
Composition
he
had
already
at
a
masked
ball ; and
on
the letters
set of variations
afterwards
printed
388
SCHUMANN.
Pauline
Abegg,
who
This
trifle formed
flies ("Butter"
In
short
baptized
I shall be the father of a blooming I should like to have child, which in Leipzig. Heaven grant that you may
.
writes to his friend Kellstab in Berlin : after reading the last scene in the work, as he Walt called up before his mind and Wult and the and the dances, he sat almost unconscious at masks
Hegeljahre" as
he
"
"
one
Papillon
with but systematic was of the Leipzig opera; application he had to his nature, and years later, when contrary begun knowledge, to feel the need of more a thorough
a manual and his wife poring over Schumann was always grateful to Dorn of counterpoint. for his instruction, and speaks of him as the man who
caller found
Schumann
him
to the heights
herd
of of Art. the
men,
see
less
of the
Schneeberg
was
never
writing
at
Zwickau
in G-minor.
was
and It
published,
at
a
but
one
movement
at
Zwickau
wonder
was
so
Clara
played Schumann, a
in its existence. In March, 1833, he returned to Leipzig, where happy in quiet though a easy circumstances
"
he lived
type of
SCHUMANN.
389
he
"
the
free lance
surrounded eager to do something great. him and the charming Between there
was
"
as
Frau
Voigt,
interrupted noble platonic friendship which was only by the early death of the latter. He wrote " in the following summer, to his mother two splendid of female beings " who had come into their circle, Emily,
a
"
the
"an
sixteen-year-old Englishwoman
daughter
through
of
the
American with
Consul, keen,
and
through,
sparkling
and of a Countess
"
hair, firm step, full of spirit, dignity, eyes, dark life ; " the other, Ernestine, the adopted ter daughBaron Fricken, her mother von rich Bohemian,
Zeltwitz
"
tender
me
and
thoughtful,
gloriously pure, childlike nature, intense love for with the most
everything artistic, extraordinarily musical." into her motherly He whispers ear that and sympathetic if he could choose he would make his this young woman wife. broken
town
and
They
in the
became
summer
was engaged, but the engagement from the little She came of 1835.
of Asch,
made in his
theme
hidden
name.1
At
Poppe's
a
restaurant,
Kaffeebaum,
men,
evening
coterie
of
young though
and
gathered Schumann
joinedthem,
he
am
often
dry, and
1
disagreeable, and
Esin
that
are
laugh
with
much
A-es-c-h:
German
the town
corresponds
of Asch
name,
E-flat; h
B-flat.
"I
that
ones
"
have
the
just discovered
same
has
letters writes
found
a
in my
in
it," he
in
letter
dated
September
13, 1834,
and
signed
Robert
SCHumAnn."
390
SCHUMANN.
to
seclusion,
most
the
he
every hint, every subtle trait in another's understand heart, and yet I so often blunder in what I say and do." " him best were his radiThose who knew satisfied with ant
expression,
approved Among of what these
and
was
his
speechless
"
glance
when
he
said.
congenial
the
spirits originated,
at
mann's Schuwas
suggestion,
musical
journalwhich
to
lead the revolt of genius against traditions, and be the in favor of greatei freedom, protest of youth of new The the establishment things. year 1834 saw of the
New
Journal
of
Music
("Neue
Zeitschrift fur
Wieck, but
Musik
"),
at first was which edited by Friedrich Schunke, Julius Knorr, Schumann, and
Ludwig
afterwards
by Schumann
alone.
various contributors employed Schumann taking for his, either the of it, or
Florestan,
as
The
Eusebius,
Jeanquiritj
according
he
different points of view, criticise from and imaginative, the gentle and sensitive, the light and humorous. These imaginary a revocharacters formed lutionary in all band, conspiring to fight Philistinism
its forms.
Schumann
figure
introduces
in his carnival
them
scenes.
into
makes
march
them
;
a
of the Davidsbundler
against
the Philistines.
Schumann and
time
a
when
both
can
low
tide,
Schumann
feared
a
as
an
at
at
been
publisher
have
been
able to find
They
were
not
generally
SCHUMANN.
391
by his contemporaries ; they were understood Spohr, dry, eccentric, heavy, out of rule.
not
"a
considered could
works mony of har-
comprehend
want
Beethoven,
found
who in Schumann's
breadth euphony and melodious But still he composed, !" with his eyes fixed not on popularity, but on his ideal. Not present until he " " he appreciated Kinderscenen was published his lovely
of
was
blossoming
Mendelssohn after
new
out
as
the
most
city in Germany. On the evening Wieck the concert, gave Mendelssohn The
at next
came
there
in
the
first Gewandhaus
and
Schumann
day they
dined
together,
and
in the
afternoon
Clara Wieck, a and six, Moscheles, pianist from for three pianos, MenBach's delssohn Bremen concerto played furnishing fourth. the orchestral parts on a
"
It
Schumann
They
in the
met
of form.
a
quently, fre-
better than
liked
as
was
their "is
"
In
letter he
calls him
" perfect god ! Among the other brilliant lights who Chopin and Hiller, Gade and Henselt.
shone
then
were
Clara
whose
English
Wieck
had
grown
into
set
woman.
Schumann, by the
warm
heart had
eyes of
been
to
beating by
guishing lan-
dark-haired
Italians,
intellectual
girls, and the pretty maidens in her at last his truest ideal. Years
of the Rhine,
found
before
392
He
SCHUMANN.
perfection. as a brother
of you not of a sister, or as a friend of his friend, but as a thinks somewhat pilgrim of the far-off perhaps And after asking her how apples tasted altar-picture."
wrote
her, in 1832
"
I think
in Frankfurt,
comes
he end.
to
an
the
comes
words:
to
an
"My
paper
end
except
friendship." the greatest pianist in Germany. She and it was said of her, played Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, No came, one "She she played, and she conquered." could
She had
become
poetry said
of
"this
Schubert,
tender,
now
Clara,
were
examples
lightning which make up from its tranquil grazing. loved her. But Schumann
father, who Schumann loose, refused a man of honor, but with a screw said was He forbade any sort to hear of their marriage. even "on He carried Clara pain of death." of intercourse,
off, and where
Schumann
was.
for
one
time
did
not
even
know
called him phlegmatic " " Schumann ! wrote Carnaval, and phlegmatic ! ; " for ! Love E-sharp sonata, and phlegmatic minor he slightingly !" Then such a maiden, and phlegmatic she At time
Wieck
"
"
Juan is his " Don asks where he scornfully remarks Then But his compositions. buy
already
"
and
that
the
"
his the
"
Freischutz
"
appeared.
"
And
"
what
promise
in that of
so
marvellous
"
Toccata
(Op. 7),which
hoping
to
is
prophecy
better found
paying Vienna
basis, transferred
had
musical
centre.
SCHUMANN.
393
No
Paul Jean and seemed able to appreciate interfered with his The Shakspere. police authorities The editor. work, and required him to have an Austrian in vain. Vienna struggle was cakes and the chorus in
one
then
the Karnthnerthor
April
Theatre
helped he
to console
him,
but in and
of the following
*
year
returned
to Leipzig,
in
revenge
Scene
"Marseillaise"
in his
Carnival
Wieck
Clara
law.
in his opposition. But, still strong had recourse reciprocated his love, Schumann The father's
were objections
as
to
on
overruled,
at his
own
and
September had
was
been
who, of Philosophy
request,
by the University,
at the church of Schonfeld. married to Clara Wieck Rtickert wrote them a congratulatory poem. felt justified Schumann He wrote, in the at this step.
following
power,
February
"
We
are
young,
we
have
a
our
fingers, property
which
reputation. brings me
I have,
moreover,
modest
a
three
are
hundred
almost
as
thalers much,
year; my
the
and
compositions
well paid
annoyances
to
a
for."
were of the experience exceedingly He temperament. of Schumann's
Yet
the trying
man
himself
bundler
"
his
concerto,
his
"
"
Davids-
sonata,
the
Kreisleriana"
and that
the
Noveletten"
his Clara
had
betray
the
struggle
Hitherto,
his piano.
with
the
the
E-minor
of gems
most
hundred
are
in
one
and
what
of them
1
'"
Faschingsschwank
Wien."
394
Nearly
years
SCHUMANN.
date
:
during
the
in 1841, three
"
mostly
chamber
music
three
quartets
in
The
same
Berlioz was piano. present, and took the fame of it to Paris. In 1843 Mendelssohn at established the Conservatory Leipzig, and Schumann instructor in comwas appointed position
at the
at the rate of one month, movement year he wrote his quintet for piano and strings, first played January 8, 1843, Madame on
a
string a day.
as
He
had, however,
littleability
The Russia.
were
Schumann
of the
to
were and all the musicians The Grand Princess Helena, whom they visited at Tsar" treated artists skoye Selo, treated them as she had never
kind
them,
nobility friendly.
before."
She
an
was
found
Tver,
to
and
enjoyed
mann Schuto keep them there. anxious living in older brother of his mother's It is pleasthe unexpected ant meeting.
" the old reconciliation with read that complete " had at last taken place, and many man of the details of their Russian visit are to be found in their letters to got, forforgave, if he never Schumann their " dear papa."
the cruel acts of his father-in-law. After Mendelssohn was called to Berlin, Schumann, the who had resigned his editorship, settled in Dresden,
necessitated by his ill-health. He wrote in July, 1845, that he had been having an
:
"
winter by a
absolute
nervous
prostration,
accompanied
swarm
him
to despair."
of metal
tools,
of terrible thoughts, nearly drove Insomnia, a horror of death, a dislike him. fear of being poisoned, tormented
SCHUMANN.
395
And
The
was
doctor
much
forbade
more
his
hearing
quiet
than
he had
being the young them acquaintances, also, among hot-headed Wagner, then kapellmeister, and ready for any kind of revolution.
The
"
following which
glow
was
much to feel
better;
as a
"the
rosy
reof newed
promise
which
its sunrise, and brought he comstrength had posed his second symphony, the drums and trumpets of had been throbbing and blaring in his head tremendousl
as
Encouraged
"
success
* had won Leipzig concerts and the Peri 1843, he took up the composition of December, of " in Genoveva," an was opera entitled which completed 1848. When, after long delays caused by intrigue, this
Paradise
which in the
his
cantata
was
in June, 1850, it fell ciated. in Leipzig unappreproduced In spite of its exquisite music, it was regarded
too
monotonous,
as
After
as
un-
as an own
"
city
tra orches-
as
ability. he what
he would try the
was
nervous,
and
sometimes
a
oblivious
of
doing. think
over
If at rehearsal
to
stop
over,
and
to
whole
and
the
annoyance
of the
performers.
1
In June
on
he wrote
paper many
to
friend
that
during
the past
notes
ten
days
he ready
had
for
been
the
putting heavenly
but
say
hundred
of that
:
"
thousand
great while work
"
and
getting
not
journey
cheerful
in sweet
by
men,
means
an
oratorio,
it,
an
for the
chapel,
to
for
and
accents
composing
art not
inner
voice This
seemed
to him
Thou
writing in vain.
production
will become
immortal."
396
This
SCHUMANN.
difficulty made
his experience at Diisseldorf very had for exceptional opportunity In November, 1853, the works.
comconduct only his own positions the rest to Tausch, the music rector. diThis led to open rupture, and he left Diisseldorf. Those years had been splendidly prolific : among the
him
to
compositions
which
some
his pen after the completion the beautiful "Faust" music, Leipzig, and at Dresden, performed anniversary
of Goethe's
to Byron's
"
from
birth,
Manfred,"
Riickert's
the
"
Advent "Wood
Song,"
Scenes,"
the music
two
the oversymphonies, tures " " to the Bride of Messina," Julius Caesar," and " " Hermann The Pilgrimage the cantata and Dorothea," of the Kose," his Mass and Requiem, and an immense
number
of them
of songs
were
and
instrumental
compositions.
Many
"
written
in most
in the
nursery,
restaurant,
and his wife undertook Holland, which, as he says, an artistic tour through " by good geniuses from beginning was to accompanied He was end." surprised and delighted to find that his
winter
so thoroughly music was appreciated there, "almost in the Fatherland." Still even than it was at home
more
Schumann
the
Fatherland he
treated him
year
or
so
before
written that he was by new acquaintances his music was to notice how
had
and
more
taking
root
in Germany
and
also abroad
I receive
many
proofs
of this,"
SCHUMANN.
397
with him to bring in four volumes. his literary and out essays musical declared that he was Schumann glad to find that during had been written, the twenty of them years since some
In 1854
a
Leipzig
publisher
arranged
he had
These
scarcely essays
changed
of
of the epoch. and performers nearly all the composers lips ever Schubert, " that sweet, pale youth round whose death ; " Bach, who plays an expression of approaching
more eternal neither ancient nor modern, but much " " destined to come Brahms, John who was the ; time," of our and to express the highest ideal utterance hundreds It was a cism, critimany-sided and of others.
"
was
"
genial
recognition
of genius,
un
friendly
;
warning,
trumpet-blast of
a
against
worthiness
the
outpouring
nature
above
pettiness,
generous
"
and
more
senses vases
than
one
that
Florestan,"
critic, kept
was
sition compo-
Many
have
treasured
become
keenness
length,
speaks
romance
of "the in four
volumes," of a Schubert symphony. first thought of going to Diisseldorf, When Schumann he looked up the place in a geography-book, and found " I have no that it had three convents and a mad-house.
to objection
the
former,"
he
wrote,
"but
to read I about the uncomfortable have to be careful in guarding against all melancholy impressions."
rather
it made latter.
me
...
398
The
SCHUMANN.
lunatic
asylum, up
as
a
more
than
once
more
than
was
It
his
disorders, which
ringing in he heard whole his ears. Sometimes Mendelssohn pieces. and Schubert, who had been, with Bach, his guiding lights, seemed to come to him and hold communion with
tones
him.
One
night
he
got
out
of bed
to write
on
down
were
him.
His variations
this
work. In February,
throwing
so
1854, he attempted to commit suicide by himself into the same Rhine sohn Mendelswhere
escaped
drowning.
He
also
was
rescued
After Bonn.
this, he
He
had
near
died his
on
July
29, 1856.
monument
was no
erected
monument
needed
other
a splendid didst rule with a golden world sceptre over freedom. tones, didst therein thou and power with of work and intrusted And themthee, best selves round many of the gathered to thee, inspired thee with their inspiration, and rewarded
"
Thou
thee
with
affection.
with
a
And
what
crown
love adorned
thy
life!
radiant
of genius,
to her as the father to daughter, thy side, and thou wert as to disciple, and to bride, and as saint to the master every stone she could iiol be with thee and remove elect. And when
at stood bridegroom as
SCHUMANN.
399
feel, in the midst
the distance
from
and
before
sorrows,
didst thou
of dreams
when
Angel
of
; and
the
it again
toward
drew
weary
hers
; and
reading
Thus
at his loss.
FREDERIC
FRANCOIS
(1809-1849.)
CHOPIN.
"
TTATS
-LJL
in his
character
of Eusebius
the
mild
the
and
young
dreamy, Polish
the gentle
welcomed
sixty years
composer,
ago.
Julius Knorr,
between David,"
"
"
describes the conversathe pianist, who tion " " Davidsbundler" the the hosts of
" "
never
heard
the
name
before
"
Yet still he's a genius." who may he be ? And " heated with wine, Chopin, and much discussion," " is Raro," who Meister the imaginary go to see army
Schumann
own
"
again
as
umpire,
cool and
critical between
his
showed
small
he
work. your
your
me
"
see
Eusebius,"
Florestan,"
Raro,"
that trinity of critics, all are one of Chopin, the first of the generous
the
the sleeping and fall upon hip and thigh, in that memorable whip them Art which dates from 1830.
wall
400
uprising
of
CHOPIN. After
the
painting
by Ary
Scheffer.
FR"D"RIC
"
FRANCOIS
says
CHOPIN.
401
He
came as
not,"
Schumann,
"
with
an
army,
and In
to come. are wont great geniuses only a little cohort, but it belongs to him to the last hero." entirely, even
of at Nancy. there,
and formed
King
Naturally,
many
settled
or
or
visited
through
there
or
the would
friendships be Frenchmen
pleasure.
Frenchman The
from
Nancy
at Warsaw.
demand
to
that
he
was a
obliged
have
assistant.
About
1787
he engaged
to
come
youth to Warsaw is
a
of seventeen,
and
keep
Chopin,
All about this Nicolas Chopin. that is known about his early years is the date of his birth at Nancy. his father was Polish solWhether a dier Polish nobleman, Szop, or a nameless or a named
There
mystery
French When
or
Choppin,
found
cannot
be told.
he
capital in a ferment. picturesque beginning to rise, bright and enticing, before The Diet the naturally light-hearted Poles.
and after many
of
assembled,
sessions passed the famous (1791), which promised constitution of the third of May " to restore to the country her former the greatness, golden age of Poland." stormy
"
But
It
the Poles
a came
reckoned
without
their host.
was
mirage.
commercial
Stanislas
Leszczynski
First
ruin caused
(pronounced
by the uncertainty.
Les-chin-skee).
402
There
FR"D"RIC
was
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
greater
demand tobacco
for snuff;
the national
Kosciuszko.
national guard and became he was On the fifth of November on guard at captain. Praga, and was relieved only a few hours before the Nicolas
Chopin
joined the
Russians,
Suvarof,
men,
entered and
and
massacred
women,
children, to
the number
"
of ten
Poland,
thousand.
by the Northern condor's beak
And
talons torn,
lay prostrated
again."
This home,
narrow
escape
severe
turned
his thoughts
to his former
but
his him, and illness prevented on himself by giving French lessons. he maintained
a
as
the mother of Count III. Napoleon Walewski, minister to his father's nephew, Fryderyk Count In 1806, while tutor to the young
a
in
wealthy
family,
Skarbek, at he Warsaw,
longer than
about twenty-eight lady,1 whose Polish a married her fortune, but whose character
manor-house
miles
name
was
from
was
They
lived for
to
few
admirable years in a
estate,
belonging
March,
the
Skarbek
was
and
here,
on
the
first of
1809,
born
their
had been erected into a Grand meantime, was professor of appointed and Nicolas Chopin From this time Lyceum. founded at the newly with
were
the
improving
condition
of the country,
in easy circumstances.
village where is Zelazowawola. The they
Justina
Krzyzanowska.
was
lived at first,and
where
Fre\le"ic Chopin
born,
FE"D"RIC
Nicolas Chopin
abilities.
among counted His wife, says
was
a
FRANCOIS
man
CHOPIN.
403
life and
of blameless
excellent
He
various positions of trust, and his friends men of distinction. many "was Karasowski, tenderhearted, peculiarly
in
"
held
and
free from
rich
true
womanly
virtues."
She
was
life
In her old age, after the sorrows which came upon her in the death of her youngest daughter, of her husband, described of her son, and of her oldest daughter, she was
as
quiet, intelligent old lady," of still remarkable " Her son the best of mothers." activity. called her Frederic was All that is of rarely sensitive nature.
a
"
neat,
is the fact that he could of his early childhood His first and not hear music without sobbing violently. Adalbert Zywny, the Bohemian only piano teacher was so was and his progress rapid that at eight he played
known
numerous
company,
and
was
regarded
as
Mozart.
he
was
nine
concert
he
was
invited to take
by
a
part
in
charity
was citizens. The given Poland's After the concert, which took greatest poet.1 place in February, 1818, his mother asked him what the lad, who was The of course public liked best. arrayed in all the bravery of the Polish national costume, replied,
"
organized invitation
number
Oh,
mamma,
Nearly
concerts
to meet
two
looking at my collar ! " was everybody Catalani gave four years later Madame
city hall.
She
expressed
wish
Chopin,
much
was
she gave
1
inscription
in French.
(pronounced
Nee-em.tsee.a-vitch).
404
About
FR"D"RIC
this
same
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
time
dedicated
Prince
to the Grand
Konstantin
of
and
had
on
had renounced who all married a beautiful Polish lady The Grand Duke of Poland."
a
military
band,
and
played
parade. Oftentimes
by four fine carriage, drawn harnessed Chopins' abreast, drove up to the bringing Frederic's young friend Paul, the Grand
a
son,
Moriolles.
were
or
with
were
Count
age
de
about the
same
and
great
friends.
the aristocratic
Among
families
and
of
the
were
Polish
nates, mag-
young
to the
pride
support. and
He
houses
of many
princes
counts,
names star the history of Poland. and unpronounceable insight into that wonderful There he got an elegance This the Poles. characterized and which refinement
strong grew
influence
on
his tastes
summers
and
estates
had
sons
age. of his own But his father, who kept a sort of boarding-school his time. boys, was too wise to let him fritter away
for
He
recognized
music was Lyceum. Zywny,
was
besides his genius, but knew that something necessary ; so he fitted him for the Warsaw himself
though
a
not
the
best
hobby
was
foundation
"
this corner-stone
pianism.
well-tern-
FR"D"RIC
was a
FRANCOIS
his
concert,
CHOPIN.
405
Afterwards,
pered
when
own
clavichord"
about
to
daily
bread.
give
instead
shut
He
was
equally
was
fortunate
in
his
master
a
in composition. native
of
This
Joseph
a
Xaver
Eisner,
after
busy
and
varied
life, had
of the conductor long as it Conservatory so director of the Warsaw was " of keen insight and fine ability ; full existed, and a man learning, industry, perseverance." of purpose, of nobleness
musical
settled in He theatre.
He
him
what alone ; he
saw
genius
Chopin
was,
and
is extraordinarily methods,
"
an
originality
never
before
and discovered in
degree."
teachers mould.
Many into
a
stick to
the
his
sudden
far
as
styles.
is what begins He
three the
imitator.
Then
follows
Then the originality asserts itself. period of the mould. At first,to the beginning. Chopin was original from he was be sure, the tricksy more successful in evoking ing spirits on the pianoforte than in catching them and confin-
them
came
between
He
Afterwards had
severer
this power
to him.
have
have lost. the world would probably Eisner had the strength of his insight
to
criticisms
of
people
who
thought
Chopin
406
drilled Eisner,"
"
FRJSDtiRIC
in
Himmel
a
FRANCOIS
Hummel.
to
CHOPIN.
and
"
The
clever
Pan
says
correspondent
Schumann's
journal,
a there was poetic germ very clearly perceived what dreamer, in the pale young and felt very keenly that he him had under the founder of a new of pianoepoch forte upon him, playing, and declined to put a nose-band
knowing
deed, a well that such noble thoroughbred may, inbe cautiously led, but must be trained and not fettered in the usual way."
Chopin
always
felt himself
deeply
beholden
to his two
teachers, especially to Eisner, who taught him, as Liszt " to be self-exacting, and to value the advantages says patience and hard work." obtainable only through
Chopin
by two
had
It is proved
anecdotes. his father's assistant was Once when not Frederic told the order in the schoolroom,
they
improvise and keep quiet, he would would sit down He had the lights interesting story for them. an
put out
he (for
the house, but approaching justas they were going to climb into the windows, they Instantly, with frightened by some were noise. away feet they make for the deep, dark forest, and winged
He
always began.
preferred
darkness
when
improvising),
robbers
were
the
starry
skies, they
lie down
and
fall
and moresoftly, and at last found that all his audience, like the robbers themselves, were
more
sound asleep. Then he stole out, called in his sisters and the servants himself lights, and, seating at the with piano
again, played
crashing
chord,
which
woke
up
all
FR"D"RIC
the sleeping
one.
FRANCOIS
to
CHOPIN.
407
robbers, much,
the
amusement
of every
Another
Lyceum, he
time,
was
the
summer
before
he
Jews
them
had
to
come
invited
his
room,
Majufes,or
and
to
an
wedding
so
by
were
wedding; approaching " play like a born Jew ! he gives entertaining In his letters home of life in the country, especially of his horseback
riding.
nose, on
pleased Jewish
they
descriptions
attempts
at
on
The
flies bother
the
him
by lighting
his prominent
not
and
mosquitoes
nose.
bite him
"
tunately for-
his prominent
He
only
was
was
full of good
spirits,
capital
a clever acted well, but also wrote his father's birthday. on performed
In
the
of the
on
year
following,
instrument
Chopin
called
new-fangled
aelopantaleon
"
sort
piano.
at the
When
same
time, he which
was was
set
up
Lutheran
Church,
and The
Chopin
Emperor
was was
called
so
upon
pleased
with a diamond ring. This same also memorable year was for the a rondeau of his first opus
"
Mrs.
Linde,
the
Dr. Linde.
With
the Dziewanowskis
at Szafarnla.
408
terized it lesque."
FR"D"RIC
as
"
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
almost
Mosche-
individuality and freedom was progress toward in his next As Schumann very marked pieces. said, have been two years and twenty there must tween beworks
and two. the order of their birth. In his second rondeau
one
His
Opus
They
were
not
published
in
(a la Mazur),
Chopin's
liking
for difficult skips, and for chords to be grasped only by large hands, began to manifest itself. It is said that in hand, he invented an order to stretch his own apparatus
to put
more
between
fortunate
and Schumann,
lameness.
wear
at
night.
He
was
for the
experiment
did
not
of 1826, Chopin, with his mother waterand sisters, went to Reinerz, a famous ing-place in Prussian for his Silesia, to drink whey
holidays
health.
to climb
He
had
been
overworking.
mountain
gave
a
He
was
forbidden
the Heuscheuer
laziness, he
young
children who
to
enough
pay
the
expenses
of
to reach their home. or their poor mother At this time he is described as being
brow,
thin
expression
not
of gentle
was
robust,
the
generally
Eeinerz,
Chopin and
went
to
summer
his
godmother,1
at
also
visited
Radziwill
his country
seat, Aiitonin,
which
near
by.
1
Mrs.
Wiesiolowska
at Strzyzewo,
sister of Count
Fryderyk
Skarbek.
FP."D"RIC
Prince
FRANCOIS
was
CHOPIN.
409
Radziwill
to
goveruor
of Posen,
and
nearly
He was royal family of Prussia. also fond of music, and composed passionately creditvery able " for a prince. His music Faust " was to works at the Berlin Singakademie performed only a few years A few ago, to considerable satisfaction. years later, related the
"
at representative of Prussia he frequently the coronation at Warsaw, of Nicholas friendship him and The between visited the Chopins. the delicate, sensitive youth was very pleasant.
when
the
Prince
was
the
his examinations, though not had music absorbed his time with flying colors, so much from It was the Lyceum. and energies, and graduated finally decided himself that he should devote to Art,
passed
In
1827 Chopin
great
joy he
a
with
going
to attend
was
more
his first visit U Berlin made learned friend of his father's, who the Scientific Congress there.
Chopin
than
interested
in
musical
celebrities
round Mendelssohn
in the
Humboldt.
there and the other famous musicians who were fine performances some at the time, but he heard of " impressed by Handel's Ode on opera, and was greatly St. Cecilia's Day." His letters home detail all his experiences, give the impression of a keen-witted, finds a comedy in, not man, satirical young who stage, who pokes fun at the scientists, all save and
"
rather
on,
the
Humboldt,
"
and his
who
criticises the
dress
of
the
Berlin
ladies.
On
life
he
man.
"
return
to
so
to
Warsaw,
parties
Chopin
that,
as
led he
going
many
rather
nothing
worthy
pleasant
410
house,
FRfiDfiRIC
where
many
FRAN
IS (JO
CHOPIN.
of the talented
young
musicians
and
poets of the city often gathered. Warsaw, though out of the world, wholly
were
as
it were, German
great
was
not
without given
at
advantages
the
French
and the
operas
theatres,
and
a
Hummel
on
and
had
also heard
the
powerful Paganini,
influence
and
perhaps
was
purchasing
gold
snuff-box
which
to the uncanny presented magician of the violin. Next August found Chopin in Vienna, after a delightful
journey with
carriage, through
picturesque Moravia."
at
three "the
congenial
friends
in
private
Polish
Switzerland,"
last he House he
"
regions of Galicia, Upper His friends urged him to give It took place at consented.
on
the
and Imperial
writes "free
Opera
that
was
on
He
his
fantasy
was
Polish
theme
and
by stormy applause and many recalls." faces The only drawback was the grumbling and sour to read his illegible manuscript. of the orchestra, at having "followed
A
week
more
later he
gave
second he
was
concert, to
even
his
by all the praised Some amateurs and favorably criticised by the press. ("Stockdeutschen ") thought he of the ultra Germans indeed his strong point. This was played too delicately. " " I know," that I have pleased the ladies and says he, the musicians." The days and fully occupied of the with sight-seeing, music, and visits at the houses he instantly became Vienna a aristocracy, with whom of his stay
refused
which be paid
was
for
evenings
were
FR"D"IUC
great
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
411
favorite. He
Musically,
wrote
more and wiser in capital spirits. The good, and he was " he remarked, My popularity left Vienna crescendo, and that indeed pleases me."
a great also, his visit was home that he already felt forty health His was experienced.
day
before
on
he the
is here
Such
have
compliments
more
as
he
experienced
to write
he
sober enough
from
his
new on
Vienna
the way
friends,
at
Chopin
famous
the
he
enjoyed
with
"the
charming
statue
Wenzel,
and other jewels," and adorned with amethysts direction of Museum the personal a visit to the under Hanka, Skarbek's. a friend of Count the learned Waclaw
He
also made
the
acquaintance
composer,
of the
much
better
Czerny,
" to repeat it. wish his "dear ones At Teplitz, Chopin found a number of friendly Poles, introduced him to Prince Clary, one of of them and one He went to the castle, the richest magnates of Austria.
he did not
in his best white gloves, and found brilliant a and of Austrian princes, generals, counts, assemblage ladies. He was ceeded asked to play, and judged that he sucdressed
theme
on
the
chief
day, and even to make longer stay at the castle, but he refused the temptations was offered, and, joining his travelling companions, He
urged
to dine
next
412
borne
sum
FR"D"RIC
into Dresden
of two
FRANCOIS
by
a
CHOPIN.
team
which
cost
the
enormous
thalers !
At
was
Dresden,
Tieck's
adaptation
of Goethe's
"Faust"
given in commemoration birthday, with passages from in the entr'actes. There was
Chopin
stay for an in front of the box-office. formed was He was back in Warsaw by the middle of September. Prince and Princess Radziwill offered him lodgings in
to
had
music such a rush for places that hour in the "queue" that
of the Spohr's
author's
their words
palace
"
in Berlin, remembered
but
he
distrusted
their
"fair
the old proverb, " It is not good " to eat cherries with great lords ; nevertheless, he could that not resist the temptation at Antonia, of a week " " Paradise are the " two princesses whereof the young and
Eves."
But He
Berlin
exclaimed
so
for a musician. offered slight advantages in a letter to a friend that he had undertaken
much
work
that Warsaw
it would
were
a
be wiser melancholy
to
stay at
home,
even
though
must
"
place
to
him.
"Pan
He
be
Mr.
near
Frycek,"
his
found
said),
his ideal and was her worshipping dreaming of her every sincerely, and he had never though spoken a word
her !
was
Constantia
Gladkowska,
young
his friend
of Jean
Titus
are
full of
quite
sentimental
Paul
humor
and
saves
1
vein
was
of
so
He
Titus
Woyciechowski,
country
at Poturzyn.
FRANCOIS
deeply in love, that in
a
CHOPIN.
413
the made he that when spirits, he wished should be scattered under her feet.
such
as
occasionally
Like
even
youthful
of
"
itself out.
Not
ashes
roses
On
November
"
sweet
home
as
he
calls it, with the return to it, or see accompanied banquet was him given
that he should never presentiment His friends his native land again. his journey: a farewell part way on him
at the end
a
Conservatory
occasion by with Polish
pupils
the worthy
sang
and a silver goblet filled to him with the needless soil was presented to forget his country or his friends who never injunction Eisner,
great things of him. expected It took him nearly a month four days at Breslau delayed
to
at
the theatre, and intercourse friends ; also a week at Dresden, where with congenial he had his first ride in a post-chaise^ or sedan-chair,
Inn, and
enjoyed music
and
"
"a was
curious
and
innumerable
also
same
of which he and visited the Green Vault, dinners, soirees, operatic performance
at
Prague,
where
he
probably
went
through His
the
Vienna, shows
him
in good
He as a lion." tera rible sound makes pun, occasioned by the fact that he and his friend Titus three charming on were rooms the occupying
just vacated by an English admiral. cabbage market, " Admiral !" he exclaims, " and I receive admiration !" to find the impression Chopin expected which he had
414
FR"D"RIC
in Vienna
FRANCOIS
"
CHOPIN.
made
mistaken.
He the iron still hot. still vivid All his plans for concerts fell through.
to
was
The
not ready publishers were less to pay for them. much Then the Polish came
accept
his compositions,
insurrection,
of
to
the
Grand
Duke
the
was
join the
insurgents.
He stages, his resolution gave out. to Vienna, and had his picture painted, since returned he was for playing. He not in a mood says the artist But, after few has given imagine. him
He
an
inspired
many
look, though
why,
"
makes
and
promises home.
"I
am
to
he
friends. of his Warsaw sad," he writes one " I cannot live as I I feel so lonely and neglected here. in the salons dress, must appear would like. I must with have
my cheerful
a
am
in my
room
again, I
confidential
as
woes
to my
piano, and tell it all with my best friend here in Vienna." talk
that
in his letters mentions from Vienna of forty families and individuals upwards he was personally acquainted, and that his with whom him much study or composition. gayeties prevented
Niecks
declares
Chopin
Chopin's
eight
months
at
the
He
Austrian
capital
were
of little good. productive to his list of compositions, Toward the end of his stay
nothing money.
to
give
FRANCOIS
a
CHOPIN.
415
was
concert,
pay
expenses.
It
at exactly
the upon
wrong
and
perhaps
caused
him
to
draw
his parents, suggesting that they should sell the Alexander. ring given him by the Emperor He was recreation in often in low spirits, but found
where
some
he
was
kept
but
having
made
a
he
of the
was
induced
Society
to give
Philharmonic
at which
he
played
his E-
Polish national songs. and a fantasia on minor concerto, He " gained unanimous applause." It was the last time that he ever played in public in
Germany.
At Stuttgart
he learned
This
of the
event
the Russians.
sad
mission perbut his passport contained to go only to Munich, Paris to London," the words (inFrench)," Passing through his home. It was henceforth and to Paris he came.
gave Poland sympathy
at
Vienna
Chopin
and
to
the the
Poles
were
at ;
this time
objectsof
Parisians
Vienna,
had
it
where
he had
"
taken
in the insurrection.
Polonais
"
besieged
clear the streets. lived in the And the timid, gentle, irresolute Chopin fourth story of a house opposite the General's lodgings !
besides mobs other things excited the Paris of It was 1831. the very heyday of French romanticism, Alfred de Musset, and and Victor Hugo, Balzac, Dumas,
But
416
dozen
FR"D"RIC
other
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
to
had
found and
Chopin also welcomed; host of talented mua what sicians in Paris at that time ! there were
Rossini, Meyerbeer, only mention and Liszt ! They all met in the salon of old Cherubini, whom at first he afterwards Chopin to came though called a mummy,
We
need
like him
better.
The
whom
wanted
time
Kalkbrenner, stiff, elegant, and marchpane-like he thought Paganini, as as perfect in his way in three years' to give him lessons, and promised
a
artist of him, thoroughly grounded in the old traditions. But Chopinetto (as Mendelssohn indicalled the little man) had no wish to surrender his viduality he recognized his shortcomings even though
to make
great
in technique. "I
wrote
he become a shall never copy of Kalkbrenner," his old teacher Eisner : " he will not be able to my
art
break
new
perhaps
bold
but
noble
resolve
"
to create
era."
He
did, however,
attend
Kalkbrenner's
like : pupils, to see what it was of Chopin's other friends, who and some undervalued Kalkbrenner Chopin and thought played better than he
did,
were
furious.
Chopin's
26, 1832,
first concert
in Paris
took
ments. postponeafter several annoying He was and others ; assisted by Kalkbrenner financially it was failure, the audience a consisting been of the tickets having chiefly of Poles, and most
given
February
But
all the
musical
everybody
was
FR"D"RIC
Mendelssohn
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
417
" triumphantly." present and applauded In the following he played May cert again at a charity congiven by the Prince de la Moskowa.
was
At
paid
first he
seems
to have
had
a
plenty
of funds,
for he
twenty-five
francs
for
place
at the
Malibran, funds
ran
depressed
to
Schrdder-Devrient. and low. His health became precarious, and he was in spirits. He ing of emigratseriously thought Rubini, His
parents
advised him to return to Warsaw, and, against the advice of Liszt and his friends, he was so on the point of doing (so the story when he met Prince' Valentine Radziwill, who took him
America.
runs),
a
to
soiree
at
the
one.
Rothschilds',
where his
he
played
and
delighted
From
great
forth he began
"
career
as
one
of the
pianists
of Paris, and
professor
par
excellence of
early in 1833 : " I move in the highest society among ambassadors, I don't know how I got princes, and ministers; and Then there, for I did not thrust myself forward at all."
" "
speaking
of the esteem
in which
artists who
:
"
"
dedicate
their compositions
him,
he tinues con-
of the Conservatoire, nay, even private pupils (consequently of Moscheles, Herz, and Kalkbrenner clever take lessons from me, and regard me as the equal
Pupils
artists),
of Field.
Really,
if I
were
am,
myself
much
somewhat a finished
I have
more
silly than
His
was
delightand Liszt was very ful, and at the houses of the influential Poles in Paris he One day he came into a welcome always visitor.
with
friendship
Hiller
418
Count
FR"D"RIC
Plater's salon and
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
of Pierrot
or an
quin, Harlehour,
about
for
word
was
distinguished
studied but somewhat affected refinement in all things, his gentleness and winning playfulness." Affectionate as he was to his friends, it was only a few, his
" " peneand those his Polish intimates, who, as Liszt says, trated into the sacred recess where, apart from the rest of his life, dwelt the secret fountain of his soul."
Chopin
used
his growing
popularity and fame to float he had brought of which with is surlooking over the list one prised succession
at
both
1832, they
at
came
the
rapid and
with
which,
which
after
out,
the
skill
with
he
selected princes and counts, princesses for his dedications. In this respect he by Beethoven.
Though vein, they his works
were
and
was
countesses,
rivalled only
were
written well
generally
the
case
such received by
in
an
unusual
critics,
the
which
was
was
often
his
who with those of Schumann, failed to stand undersoundly rated by those who knew depth Chopin, however, and height.
not
himself
to
and
an
his limitations.
To one opera.1 who asked him why, with " Ah, count, not do so, he replied :
write
could not be induced Philippe's of Louis aides ideas, he did his admirable
He
let
not
but piano-forte
music
j I
am
me
is
rare.
It has
been
remarked
that with time
The
1859
Polish
there
and
was
established
performances,
in 1778.
Between
5,917
of 285 works
Polish
words.
Of these
composed
by
16 Polish
composers.
FR"D"RIC
that what
FRANCOIS
have
CHOPIN.
419
geniuses they
often
did
least of
on
the he the
smaller
quickly
greatest
forms
music and
orchestral
he stands
abandoned,
of masters
one
thus
writing forth as
of pure
this respect
whose
might
greatest
labors
into
a
were
marvel 1835 he
minute
was
in public, frequently played He it more to dread and more. that the not fit to give concerts, and
intimidated
looks.
his
him
paralyzed
him
with
their
Moreover,
playing audiences
was
too
disappointment a great scale was grand to him, as Niecks says, cruelly torturing and slowly his life like a malignant cancer. consuming In private, however, and congenial spirits, he with in showing delighted his unique of the piano ; mastery
on a
; and
and
during
charming
the
visit which
acquaintance
he
primarily
to make
at several houses, enchanting played " Mendelssohn a really perfect called him virtuoso." Schumann, Mendelssohn, Niecks Chopin, and whom distinguished three most calls "the composers of their
time,"
were
where he met his father of five years ; and from after an and mother, absence to Dresden to see his boyhood friends, there he ran across the Wodzinskis. There Polish
a
Chopin
were
took
part
in the
revolution,
and
one
sister, the
Countess
Maria,
tall, slender
girl of
nineteen,
with
420
fiery black
FE"D"RIC
eyes, long
FRANCOIS
luxuriant
CHOPIN.
ebony-black
hair, and
talent for music and painting. fell in love with her, and offered himself to Chopin her. She liked him, but yielding to her parents' wishes, She gave him a rose refused his hand. and drew his
He portrait. Afterwards
composed she
for her
a
waltz.
of Chopin's
Count
a
Fryderyk
married Skarbek,
son
godfather, turned
out
and
the
marriage
failure.
Chopin
was
in Leipzig
(justafter
with
his
rejection
"
summer
and countess),
He
wrought
enjoyedmuch
him
a new some
intercourse heavenly
with
"
and
mazurkas, etudes, nocturnes, " he played ballade, all of which parably." very incomintroduced and was visited London, James Broadwood, manufacturer
the
name
under house
the
piano of M.
"
Fritz.
He
dined
"
at Broadwood's
and
played
was
most
beautifully
(so Mendelssohn
He
was
detected
in his incognito.
his lungs, and therefore refrained from all He peared a few concerts, and disapattended
as
he
came.
though
this time
forth
Chopin
gave
little party
in his
rooms.
him the famous novelist, George with Sand,1 a beautiful but undisciplined genius, in whose with that veins flowed the blood of Polish kings mixed Liszt brought
of the daughters
1
of French
Aurore de Baronue
Bohemia.
Dudevant
son
Amantine
was
Lucile
(ne'eDupin).
of
Her Strong,
grandfather greatKing
Marshal
Saxe,
natural
August
the
of Poland.
FR"D"RIC
Separated
with de Musset
from
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
421
self herAlfred
was was
her husband,
George
Sand
amused
love-affairs with poets and musicians. it her spell ; now had fallen under He was delicate and feminine turn. she
,
and
weak
even
at
times
wore was
men's
clothes.
He
and
soon
vacillating;
she
She
complete
as
self-willed.
to
Chopin's
to
personal
a
appearance.
extent,
Niecks, he
was
follows
Karasowski
certain
says
hands
and of middle height, with delicately formed parent and feet, an oval softly outlined head, a pale translong silken hair of a light chestnut complexion,
on
than
gent brown eyes, intelliside ; tender dreamy ; ; a finely curved aquiline nose
one
sweet
His
dress Perhaps
cause
was
graceful
and
varied
gestures.
George
Sand's
of Chopin's
soon
the This
dissipated
by
her
beauty
and
her
wonderful
power He
times
at her
country
estate
at
Nohant, sake
and of her
when,
son
Majorca for
was
the
to
induced
accompany
care,
her, thinking
from
be good for him. and the out-of-door life, would delicious At first, the picturesque the tropical scenery, delightful ; but climate and the novel life were
when
the wet
season
and
set
Chopin
to
coughing
were
in the
island
called in,
of
a
Chopin,
gives
an
amusing
account
their
methods
of procedure,
declares
that
he
had
narrow
422
from
FRtiDtiRIC
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
escape
their bleedings,
They
operations.
at Valdemosa;
took
and
up
like
vast, abandoned,
ruined
most
on residence earth." Chopin's cell, so he wrote, was shaped like a coffin, high and full of dust, with a small window shaded by orange, trees, and over their heads palm, and cypress
"the
poetic
ally majestic-
the eagles.
sent
to him
from
of the
or
customs
wrangling,
hundred.
enough,
thievish.1 called the people food consisted mainly of pork and unimaginable
"
imaginable
Juicy
grapes, excellent potatoes and fried Valencia pumpkins, gave a zest to their appetite, but the terrible rains frequently spoiled everything, and to keep starving they had to gnaw Had Chopin been well, he might and-ready picnic, but bronchitis
from the dryest
have
enjoyedthe
nervous
and
brought
of pulmonary He irritable and was at the lowest ebb. spirits were difficultto manage Sand declared, ; in short, as George symptoms
"
on
they which
Majorca on
the
fair weather set in, when loaded down with pigs, steamboat
almost he was
a
"
made reached
they
and
voyage Barcelona,
like
ghost." the
stopped
Hiver A
hemorrhage,
an
and
he
Bead
George
Sand's
Un
Majorque for
exaggerated monastery.
but charmingly
poetic
description
of this abode
in the Carthusian
FEAN^OIS
began
summer
CHOPIN.
423
kept till early
"
to improve.
At
Marseilles
of
an
he
was
excellent
doctor,
ing resign-
By
much
better that he
was organ upon did his best with it, and the song off echo from another world."
suicide Schubert's
Naples.
as a
He
played
sounded
"
He
trip to Genoa,
nine years
and for the first time before had been the land of
he returned to Paris in ber, Octovisit at Nohant his lessons. He 1839, and immediately resumed have been very much better, for Moscheles, must who later, spoke of him for the first time a few months met
him
as
merry
and other
exceedingly
of Liszt
and
invited
and cup
sooner
together
before
sent
Louis
a
lippe Phi-
King
a
and
and
Chopin
to
humor.
Chopin rid of him," remarked did not like a Jew. Chopin, however,
get
February,
at
Chopin
rooms.
to
PleyePs
the
audiences eloquent
aristocratic, and
critics
of trembling chaplets pearls, the interplay of gay colors, roses and mignonettes, " " heads the perfumed and snowy shoulders of
over women
the
beautiful
honor.
whom
princely
salons
were
proud
to
424
The
FBfiDtiRIC
FRANCOIS
playing
CHOPIN.
effect of Chopin's
upon
the
poets
and
musicians of
was.
very remarkable, of the time was and so many have described it that we know it them almost what its great featare. Individuality Schumann was
declared
else did. He was Heine called the Ariel of the pianoforte. and Liszt rhapsodize His about his poetic interpretations.
as
no
that he knew
his instrument
one
one
Sand
Velvet
at the Chateau
Chopin
The
spent
monotonous
eight
summers
life there,
it was by the singing of nightingales varied though and the visits of distinguished people, bored him frightfully. longed for Paris, but his love for George Sand He kept
him
quiet and freedom from him to indulge in composition. cares enabled Niecks him between of the friendship speaks and the
a
prisoner;
and,
moreover,
the
painter
Delacroix
as
green
desert,
amidst the affectations, insincerities, and superficialities infatuation His at Nohant. of his social intercourse for the immortal but one of that of Odysseus reminds
cruel and nymph Kalypso. enormously
"
But
Chopin's
Kalypso
cigars
:
smoked,
and she
thick Trabucco
"
d'Orleans,
cher cadavre ! in the Court they lived in fine apartments from the number of called Little Athens
mon
inhabited
were
it.
luxury ; much flowers, of fond, always he was passionately which by Easy-chairs abounded. and cushions embroidered some princesses and titled dames, his pupils, rugs, and handfurnished
with
tablecloths
made
them
cosey.
He
had
"sane-
FR"D"RIC
turn,"
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
425
where he could retire if he liked ; but he used it He was short generally chiefly in giving his lessons. of money, and always quarrelling with his publishers,
in his letters he whom knaves, and thieves who " profit for his manuscript Though His he earned
poor
calls Jews,
rogues,
much
generous
and
dent. improvi-
him draining always On one occasion he spent a thousand of his last franc. back all the knickfrancs at a charity fair, and gave knacks he bought He to be sold again. got twenty
countrymen
francs
a
a
lesson, but he
never
taught
more
than
five hours
for love, not money. day, and many of his lessons were He kept a cat, and indulged in the luxury of a male servant
at
In
thousand
manners,
high
those
was
society"
who
often
sometimes
more
much
made deserved
"
him his
actually
rude
to
tormented
by
clear
of young
Karasowski pianists so far as he could. relates behavior to the young an example of his impertinent Schulhof, until the latter had played to him, Bohemian,
when of him,
he
caprices of society, "was his brother artists with a too apt to treat and of his equals and a few supercilious hauteur which many insulting." to stigmatize as wont of his superiors were his friends he was Niecks more among says that even
made that he
amends.
was
It
was
common
criticism
spoiled
by the
loved
than
loving.
give
Liszt
says,
"
Ready
He
was
to too
give
thing, every-
he did not
himself."
apt to say
pleasant
things
to people's
faces, and
cutting
things
hind be-
their backs.
He
was,
at
worn
with
426
FRfiDtiRIC
FRANCOIS
CHOPIN.
illness, extremely
wrong, barking j or
went
teaching,
if things
jump up and ask if a dog had been would fling the music on the floor (so it is said) up the chairs as ferociously as Beethoven
did.
Such
were
some
of the spots
on
the
Bach
gods."
his
were
ideals, "his
his favorite
pianists. him. He
Field's
"
Nocturnes
"
were
greatly
prized
by
Schubert, though not without reserve. admired Weber He and Beethoven only partially satisfied him. disliked much of Mendelssohn's music, and found still
less to praise in Schumann, in giving his lessons. He using any of his pieces disapproved of Berlioz, and personally he heartily disliked
never
1 while he liked Meyerbeer his music. Liszt says truly that Chopin
sought
in the
masterpieces corresponded only that which with " his nature. it pleased him ; what What resembled from him." differed from it received scant justice
great
With
Liszt himself
he
was
on
terms
of the
most
mate inti-
comradeship
have
is said to
not very creditable to resulted from a circumstance hardly be said to have Yet he and Liszt can the former. him without been friends. Chopin a rarely mentioned
sneer,
on
in prose a poetic rhapsody and Liszt, who wrote Chopin's life, did not fail to point out his weaknesses. Eossini
a
Just Chopin
i
as
dreaded
the
had
superstitious
once
It is said that
at
Meyerbeer
played
a
had
falling-out
sent
down
the
piano,
and
on
nocturne
sat
was
that
she went
him.
upon There-
the
telling him
inviting
him to
come
and
see
their domestic
happiness.
FR"D"RIC
He live in
on
a
FRANCOIS
a
CHOPIN.
427
or
would
to
not
house
of the
that bore
the
number,
was
start
travel
His
day
shameful It is a long in 1847 that it ended. in 1837, and it was Kalypso Probably tired of Odysseus. and sad story. bonds. She sought a pretext for dissolving the wearisome
In
by it.
her
Prince
him. The
never
mask
of
wounded
In
broken. The two geniuses parted, connection was but once to meet ment. again, and then only for a moAs for Chopin, he loved her to the end. 1848, Chopin in February, gave his last concert
an
Paris, before
audience
sifted
by
himself only
never
from
said to have been selected and long list, so that he was a Tickets
were
by
his friends.
twenty
projected,
on
A second did he win greater success. but the outbreak of the French
Revolution
Two
February
months
22, 1848, upset all his plans. " later Chopin arrived in the whirlpool
a "fine large room," and secured where " to breathe and play." hoped to be able He could rarely be prevailed upon to play in society. heard at the Countess But he was of Blessington's and at
London,"
of he
the Duchess
one where he played
of Sutherland's, who
to
were was us,
and
wrote
present I do not
know
on
also at a private house, " I do not know : what how long our ecstasy
lasted ;
earth ; he had transported into unknown us of flame and regions, into a sphere azure, where the soul freed from all corporeal bonds floats
we no
longer
towards
swan."
the
infinite.
This
was,
alas ! the
song
of
the
He
was
Philharmonic,
but
de-
428
He
FR"D"RIC
gave,
FRANCOIS
however,
two
CHOPIN.
clined. houses,
money, seemed
tickets at a guinea. with in such wretched but he was dark to him, and he soon gave
health up
that
life
his possible
plan of settling in England. for sixty pounds He at Manchester played sterling, long visit in Scotland, where a one and made of his Stirling, resided. He favorite pupils, Miss a sucgave cessful also in Glasgow piano said that the Broadwood
concert
and
on
Edinburgh. he played
It is
was
which of "30. afterwards sold at a premium After a visit at Stirling Castle he wrote
soon
be
forgetting
an
; that
he
French
always spoke with a foreign His intercourse as birth. accent in spite of his French "I drag," he wrote, with the high nobility. usual was " duke lord to another, from one to from one myself French
with Scotchman.
accent,
and
at which
he
ever
appeared
"
this, says
(whose
of every song,"
"
admirable
music took
biography
"
lover), may
the
Mr.
same
place at Guildhall
evening Hueffer says
the sixteenth
as
of November,
"
1848,
on
the
was
Grand
Polish
Ball."
"
he
annual in the
and
in disappointm
little attention which this performance on to exclaim the journeyhome attracted caused him " have ? They Do see the cattle in that meadow you " intelligence than the English ! more
the
too to Paris he was his return had left him capricious improvidence
On
His
penniless,
FRANQ01S
CHOPIN.
429
of his friends, especially Miss and only the generosity him thousand Stirling, who twenty-five sent anonymously francs, kept him from actual want.
His
last days
were
days
of weariness
faithful Princess the the sister Louisa, loved him dearly, and Potocka, who beautiful Countess in their attentions. unwearied several other friends, were
The
His
death
fore Two days belong and trying. struggle was " her sorhe died, the Countess Potocka, row mastering her sobs," sang " beside the bed and suppressing
her friend him
was
where
gave
exhaling
his life."
Polish
abbe
the sacrament.
The
"
"
rather
under
man,
.
Himself, almost
quite another
a
might
saint.
His
patience
did not to the will of God resignation abandon up to the last minute." A He died early in the morning of October 17, 1849. and him
fortnight later
a
most
imposing
funeral
ceremony
took
of the Madeleine, which was packed place in the Church Mozart's Kequiem to the doors. was with the performed, the greatest singers of Paris as soloists. Liszt conducted
to the mausocarried Chopin's body leum, which procession " funeral march." to the solemn sounds of his own Prince He buried in Pere-la-Chaise, Meyerbeer, was
Czartoryski, Delacroix, and other noted Over his coffin was scattered
which
men,
being
Polish
bearers. pallsoil
the
he
had
kept
on
presented
was
to him
for nineteen years in the silver cup forever. His heart leaving Warsaw
taken
to Poland,
and
where
is preserved
a
in the Holy
Cross
Church
was
at Warsaw,
a
marble
set up
few
years
i
ago.
Jelowicki.
Alexander
430
FRfiDtiRIC
FRANCOIS
of George
was
CHOPIN.
Sand's unveiled
daughter,
on
signed denext
the
the
public
a
auction
furniture Ary
by Louis
portrait piano, the Sevres porcelain presented Philippe, and all the trophies of
rooms,
his friendships.
In 1858, after Miss
sent to
were objects
and three years mother, into the hands of his sister Isabella. later came Count Berg, Governor-general The Eussian of Poland, after from
Warsaw
to
Chopin's
the
a
Russian
shot at The house Chopin's sister lived. next where the two houses, soldiery, infuriated, surrounded
insurrection
on
January,
1863,
was
and then sacked of them, all the inhabitants removed All the precious Chopin memorials were thrown them. A Russian into the street, and helped to make a bonfire.
perished all the books had been preserved the letters which Only the Pleyel piano, which years.
elsewhere, Such an quite
"
Scheffer
portrait
into
the
be
was
saved.
Chopin
the
memorials
seems
to
me
tragic note
of Chopin's
life,
his
which
marvellous
Niecks
"
elements
of art to music," in
realm
having
of expression"
for moods
that and emotions and emotions, and shades of moods to the realm hitherto had "belonged of the unuttered the and the unutterable," and he quotes with approval
FRANCOIS
dictum
that
CHOPIN.
431
" his compositions the celestial echo of are what he had felt, loved, and suffered." indeed his autobiography, His works told only to are " No those who can the notes. other poet," read under
says Niecks
romance
again,
"
other
in art the embodied And also no people of Poland. in art the romance of embodied
his
own
existence."
"Poland,"
temper him his
and
him his chivalrous Heine, "gave says historic passion gave (Schmerz); France and
grace
; Germany
gave
him
his
romantic
; while
nature
gave
him
slender,
slim
figure,
the
noblest
an
(withina
sphere)
of music
has
and
NOTE.
rondeaux,
"
errors exwere cruelly piated produced, and purged by the fire of suffering and sorrow.
his
During
nocturnes,
Chopin's
number
of his works
(including
scherzos, 64 ; to these
ten
more
mazurkas,
variations,
krakowiaks,
ballades,
must
etudes,
preludes,
four
impromptus, without
were
raises, polonaises,
etc.)
was
be added with
six opus
works
opus
numbers.
After
his death
works also
numbers
and
published, other
including
of
seventeen
Polish
without
songs, opus
mazurkas
; in
several
200
pieces
number
all nearly
are
distinct
compositions
it may
almost
be
said that
the least
the
greatest.
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
(18O4-18B7.)
GLINKA.
though
one
wholly
songs
bringing
as
of Krakof by them
refinement
children.
it
were,
his of
own
representative
Polish
open to Western isolated from Europe, and hence influences. Russia was in greater purity that heritage of song which preserved has come down Curiously enough the ages. the through
on
All monopoly of national music. musical, but Russia, it is claimed, leads in beauty, and variety of folk-melodies.
no
had
the border,
was
more
widespread
use
or
abuse
of
the
harmonicum
through
provinces
has had, in later years, the Rightly the national type of song.
anti-musical instrument. are characteristics of Russian music very marked. liberty of rhythm, The principal feature is the complete in a few measlike caprice, perhaps ures which often seems
Cui calls it
an
suddenly
ending
in
GLINKA.
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
433
unisons, plaintive minor cadences, dashing dance forms, frequent Greek the of ancient reminiscences modes Lydian folksongs a character and Dorian give Eussian as individual as the jerky measures all their own, of the
"
"
Magyar
Nep
Eussian
the singsong of the Scottish ballad. have done to rescue from musicians much
or
forgetfulness
these
charming is known
; and
wild
was
The
the
took
the
which he wrote
second he embodied
an
132.
Still better
published since.1 little is generally of Eussia, outside known of Eussian music, and some of the best Eussian be even cannot composers said to be "names and nothing
more."
" Eussian N. a sixties prince, Yuri Galitsin, whose father had been one of Beethoven's many in London concerts patrons, directed several hundred The Times and other cities of England and Scotland.
been
Early
in
the
"
declared
had been
that through
the
acclimated.
a
prince's efforts Eussian music At one hundred and fifty of these piece
once
concerts
gay
and
rollicking
kaya"
was
played,
and
not
"
demanded.
This
Such
are
Pisni
of Kotsipinski
; Balukiref
"
National and
Russian
Songs
A.
and
the
collections
of Prokudin,
Ruimsky-Koraakof,
Professor
I. Rubets.
434
MIKHAIL
IV^NOVITCH
Ivanovitch
"
GLINKA.
poser,
"
Mikhail
[or,in
called
English,
the
Michael
of
John's-son]Glinka
Russia." Glinka
was
often
"Berlioz
born
He was early retired captain. Thekla care of his adoring grandmother, he grew Glinka, in whose apartment up, rarely seeing impressionable He his parents. a was sickly, nervous,
was a
child, in his
"a
as
he afterwards
remained
called himself
but
and
was
treated.
He
was
in his studies, and amazed every precocious Books. The by his ability in reading the Holy one in quaint, difficult in Russia Holy Books are printed
type,
and
in
language
that
differs
It was as though a ordinary Russian. to read Coverdale's be compelled version printed in black-letter.
Bible
He
had fond
natural
and
he
was
of all musical
especially
the steppe at all hours of would ring out over the day from the gayly painted belfries of the churches. He would greedily listen to them, and then mimic their
as
they
music by striking on brazen wash-hand-basins. death, Glinka his ailing old grandmother's After She had no belief in the system returned to his mother.
of coddling
to
to which
he had
a
been
accustomed,
more
and
tried
throw
him
he
fresher
a
was
and hot-house
Novospaskoy^.
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
435
According
to
the
often
custom
of old-time
landed
his father
entertained
was
dinners,
It
was
attraction.
his brother-in-law's
tra, orches-
composed Many
great
of serfs.
nobles at that day had private orchestras In the Imperial Orchestra were companies.
each played who difficult music.
most
organ,
and
supported
one
and
strength.
derived considerable income of the proprietors In letting their serfs practise and teach music.
serf named
Danila
Kashin,
belonging
to
Aleksei
Bibikof, not only taught but composed songs, some many became the promoter of which very popular, and he was in Russia. of the first musical journal
Young
Glinka
was
simply
overcome
by the
beautiful
He was like one charmed. music of his uncle's orchestra. him, or rather lifted him, into a delicious but It plunged tormenting region of
dreams.
As
he
grew
older
it
his tutor again ; and when and more for him for his abstraction and again and reproved neglecting his studies for music, he replied, " is my very life ! " Music I do ? What can
absorbed
him
more
"
His
first teacher
who the boy
not
a
in his father's
no
house
was
French
compelled
governess,
had
to
ideas
learn
success
routine. by heart.
a
She
Her
tem sys-
was
sensitive
nature.
She taught
him
was
some
natural
seemed
worthiest
to
have
and
best.
436
One
MIKHAIL
IVANOV1TCH
GLINKA.
of his uncle's fiddlers taught him the violin, but fault in his handling some there was of the bow, and Afterwards, he went Glinka caught it from him. when in queer the latter exclaimed of Bohm, Sieu Klmka,fous ne chourez chabroken French, "Me " du fiolon ("Mr. Glinka, you will never learn to mais
to take
lessons
violin)."
he
was
newly
opened
was sons
sent
to
of the
excellent
men,
with the chief Palseological Institute The teachers in the upper classes had pean training in Eurowho
enjoyed
rough
classes they were universities, but in the lower The sub-inspector, I. E. Kolmakof, and boorish.
to the students, owing popularity among his sweet temper and his comical ways. him capitally, and never forgot him Glinka mimicked Some long as he lived. as of the students composed
enjoyed great
some
doggerel
lines,
"
Podinspektor Umnozhaet On
glazami
Kolmakof durakof
vsio morgaet
I zhilet svo'ipoprevlyaet.
which
might
be translated
Sub-inspector
Is
a
freely
Kolmakof
"
blinking,
And
Glinka
dinner the
set
these
words
sang
students
to
day
of
a
after
serenade.
Kolmakof
listened.
He
pricked
up
his
ears.
The
MIKHAIL
IV AN
0V
ITCH
GLINKA.
437
dawn in the
sense
or
nonsense
of
the
verses
began
He
to
him.
started
came
he
to the suspected
spot he found
the students
quietly
and
diligently
distinguished
Glinka's
of nocturnes,
was
a
John
Field.
curious and hair, blue eyes, a light complexion, and expressive and "an He for was pleasing features. almost remarkable
somnolent
tranquillity,"
" " clear limpid flow and for the he was inclined to indulge too Afterwards
drink.
He
became
heavy, He
was
ing, vulgar-lookextremely
sort
of
musical
Falstaff.
indolent
falling asleep while and easy-going, sometimes he On one this happened occasion when giving lessons. he thought he was was asked whether paid twenty rubles for allowing himself to be played to sleep. Another
he dropped
to
time
along
his
cane
slippers, and
wore
them
in
most
fashionable
company.
Glinka
progress.
began When
to
take Field
lessons of him,
the quitted Glinka continued with one Osman, of his pupils, named he shortly after exchanged for the famous Zeuner. whom But him learn his theoretical lessons by Zeuner made heart, a process which the young man could not endure, and time
a
in consequence
he
made
still
third
German
so
named
this
also
that
if the piano
438
MIKHAIL
IVA^NOVITCH
GLINKA.
were
screened
from
sight, not
even
clever
connoisseurs
playing. could tell which was in 1822, Glinka On the day of his graduation and Hurnmel's in Mayer A-minor public concerto played His for two on the violin had progress pianos. not been less brilliant. During the summer vacations which
he
spent
at
he
played
frequently
in
his uncle's orchestra, and learned the piccolo and other instruments, a and acquired practical knowledge of orchestral demands. At
many
Petersburg
operas
he often went to the theatre, and heard and ballets. He particularly liked Kossini's
music. At first he
studied diligently ; and as he had remarkable in aptitude for languages, he made great advances Latin, English, and Persian. German, he conFrench sidered
barbaric
unpoetical, and
he made
lazy, and neglected his studies. Only through the memory of his earlier attainments and by certain clever artifices, the nature is not of which he managed known, to graduate with good rank, obtaining
he
the chin
(as it
is called
Councillor, corresponding
and conferring personal pieces
published
a
several
of Collegiate to staff captain in the army, The same nobility. year he for harp and piano, and composed
in
Eussia)
The
to
to
the
Caucasus
Mountains
springs. mineral his cousin, He that relates in his by means a course of treatment of who was undergoing into a trance, and advised him to try went magnetism,
drink
similar
measures.
and
Chopin,
was
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
439
He believed, for instance, in superstitious. extremely lights. the fatal meaning of seeing three burning had a bad effect The mineral waters of the Caucasus his health. He to Petersburg worse than on returned
required which hour's than an not more service each day ; and brought him into friendly relations with Count Sievers, had around him a pleasant a great lover of music, who
assistant
secretary,
position
circle of friends. During a visit to the country his variations betrothal, he wrote
to
on
attend
the then
" to his them and dedicated aria Benedetto, sia la Madre, he furnished dear niece ; " and while at Smolensk some choruses and an aria, as a prologue to General Apukhin's
"Death
Nikolai
This
of Alexander Pavlovitch."
was
and
Accession
of the
Emperor
the
was
poetical
and
dreamy
part
of
Glinka's
of
life.
by the romantic carried away poetry "romances," he wrote Zhukovsky; melancholy young " to weep the sweet tears of emotion." and loved
In
He
1827,
thanks
to
the
policy of his chief, he was in the public service ; but it was for the gain of art. had Fortunately his the debts which encumbered father's estate were out by a sudden wiped rise in the tide
of
prosperity.
A and
man
was
that
anxious
500,000
share
were
in the transaction.
great.
It succeeded,
and
the profits
very
440
During
of Prince Prince
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
made
a
the acquaintance
of
to
the him.
the
him to many and introduced performed, works of the leading members of the aristocracy of the city. In company an with Galitsin and his friends, he made Biver, in two boats, illuminated excursion on the Chernaya with lanterns.
on
In
the
stern
of
one
of
them
was
placed
piano,
which
he
accompanied
the
attendant
"
musicians. Afterwards,
as
encouraged
were
by the
success
of these
serenades,"
they
gave a comic called, the musicians for the benefit of Prince Kotchubey,
Council.
muslin
Glinka,
Glinka
that he
was
was
always
"
feeble in health.
It has
been
said
doctors."
more
the
and him
he called in Dr. Spindler, who examined and more, him, found that he had a " whole quadrille of diseases," and advised him to go abroad for three years. In 1830 he summoned the and started on up energy
long
with him as a travelling companion the tenor singer Nikolai Ivanof, who afterwards enjoyed a great reputation in Italy and Paris. taking journey, Glinka
him
to
went
first to
Dresden.
of
The Thence
doctors
he
Aix.
; and
some
through
he took
up
Switzerland
for
his abode
Naples
j and
visited
Venice,
and
other
cities.
MIKHAIL
IV^NOVITCH
GLINKA.
441
Twice
lie and
Ivanof
worked
diligently, and
a
composed
many
sextet,
went
trio, and
variations
into
the houses
artists and
envoys
of the day.
He
also took
lessons for
in singing, and
studied
of writing
he felt completely under the he quickly influence of the Italians, and, like Meyerbeer, He even grew recovered from the subtle intoxication. soulless style of Donizetti and weary of the sensuous, Bellini and the lesser imitators of Rossini. He became His physical infirmities grew alarming. to to say, owing to hallucinations ; but, strange subject the excessive tension of his nervous system, his voice, which had
been
hoarse
and
uncertain,
developed
into
strong, high
tenor.
On reaching
"a
Vienna,
cure,"
Glinka
and had
The
underwent
homoeopathic
seemed
was
Vienna
fallen from
great
masters
its high
estate
as
it had whom 'to die in Strauss neglect were still forgotten. allowed Chopin said, the elite of the city. as were, and Lanner musical
centre.
Glinka
heard
and
was
the
dance
moved
theme
which
he
afterwards
opera. In 1836
back
to
he got word of his father's death and hastened In Moscow, his home. the same year, it sud-
442
denly
MIKHAIL
IV^NOVITCH
to
GLINKA.
occurred
no
him
to write
an
find
suitable words,
on a
and
the
occurred
opera ; but he could few scenes that he composed to him were laid aside.
He
was
even
the
his preparations to go abroad again, at the applied for his passport, when he met Stuneyefs a relative of theirs,
Ivanova. It
was
a
Petrovna
case
of love
at first
He sight. Petersburg,
men
married
where
an
her
in May,
more of a great who were him to compose literature stimulated a national by the Russian opera had been established Petrovna, Elizabeth a troupe and in 1775 of
1835,
Empress Russian
singers
had performed
"Kephale
by an was composed of which tinguish Sarti, Cimarosa, Paisiello, Bo'ieldieu, and many other dishad visited Russia, and foreign composers, helped to stimulate the national love of music, and drill
for their work. singers and orchestral performers in Russia. had Some taken up their abode
Sarti,
Russian-
Saliva, Sapienza,
texts.
came
Caterino
to Petersburg
operas
on
Venetian
by
birth,
to treating
Russian
as name a
that
to be regarded
genuine
as
Russian.
One
bore the
that first chosen by birth who comThere were posed others of genuine Russian the music the first to make operas, but Glinka was
same
as
to him
taken subject
from
history, and was " book of the opera ; " but he failed anxious to write the intrusted to to fulfil his promise, and the task was troublous
times
of Russian
MIKHAIL
IV^NOVITCH
found
GLINKA.
443
Baron
Rosen,
who
it difficult to
keep
Glinka's
Oftentimes energetic flow of ideas. " to fit the words All you to the music. Glinka,
"
up with he was
had
verse
to
"
was
to show
him
what
sort of
wanted, to him.
no
matter
a
how
In
day's
had verses laughingly, that Rosen all remarked, " billeted in his pocket. Tell him what sort, and there " he had the most implicit faith in Moreover, you are !
kovsky
the inspiration
of his
own
poetry.
was was
The
somewhat remarkable
was
one
hindered
for the
of those
who, as the saying goes, would try the temper of he his immortal was a saint. While writing work, she before he was every one that complained wasting ruled paper. Another
some
in
of visitors, she represence marked " All poets and artists come to her husband to : bad end, as, for example, Pushkin, killed who was duel." for
"
time,
in
the
Glinka
He
once
was
goaded
claim
not
to
make
savage
retort. ;
I do
not
to be wiser
than
to
a
Pushkin
certainly
expose
myself
bullet for
of my
between and
them
was
fomented
separated,
by
and
Glinka's
finally they
Glinka man. tried to procure a another she married divorce, but failed after enduring many unpleasant experiences.
On
"
Friday,
Life
December
was
9, 1836, Glinka's
at
the
Bolsho'i
(or Great)
great
presence
of
444
the Emperor
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
immense.
success
was
was
fell,he
congratulated and
the
by
Grand
not
Dukes.
to
Glinka
was
bound
written
agreement
; but
demand
after the
shortly
purse
of
four thousand
in the following January him rubles, and appointed kapellmeister to the court chapel. " The A Life for the Tsar " secret of the success of
was
not
far
to
seek.
It appealed
to
all the
of the people, and, moreover, emotions itself many of the elements of popular national song. After the death of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible, an ambitious
patriotic in embodied
Boris Godundf, by murdering the named He young Prince Dimitri, paved the way to the throne. Just before he died a monk years. reigned only seven Otrepief pretended that Dimitri, the son of the named
boydr
late Tsar,
escaped.
to
but that he had murdered, He to be the Tsarevitch, claimed and managed his to Poles, joined support an army enlist of
not
had
been
by many
disaffected Russians.
young Tsar.
son
Public
reign
was
of short
duration.
Russia
became
the
factions. Anarchy to ruin threatened of warring When the trouble was a at its height, realm.
butcher
Pozharsky, Minin and a prince named named forgetting all differences of rank, heroically determined to restore By their efforts a Tsar of pure Russian order. into power the origin was elected ; and thus came
filled
as
they
were
with
in-
il
"
MIKHAIL
IV AN
0V
ITCH
GLINKA.
445
the
Russian
tensely
dramatic
events,
have
furnished
subject
From
this
Poles
who
had
come
in with
Dimitri
are
cow. or city fortress of Mosstill in possession of the Kreml, Tsar Mikhail to They the new abduct plot force the peasant, Ivan Susanin, to Romanof. They
conduct
them
to his hiding-
into
his design
first forbids
daughter,
Antonida,
marry
Sabinin
of the dangerous
uncertainty
but when news arrives of the he gives his consent. The second
is
ballet divertissement,
krakoviak, a a polonaise, Polish dances. The third and other popular mazurka, for Antonida the wedding act shows preparations and Sabinin interrupted by the arrival of the Polish party.
a
introducing
Susanin
after
a
sends
tender
to
his
son,
Vanya,
to
to
warn
the departs
Tsar,
and
the
farewell death.
Antonida, Sabinin,
with
Poles
what
certain
entering,
a
discovers
starts
is in the
wind,
hastily gathers
party, and
in pursuit.
The
fourth
act has
two
scenes
The and an epilogue. the Tsar ; the second, the relates with the
story
of
concludes
will give a hint at the possibilities of song and dramatic situations which it afforded. Glinka's great innovation was the employof the
opera
brief synopsis
446
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
of
melodies,
ones. are
especially
the
contrast
of
Whenever
Polish
the Poles
are
introduced,
employed, and This, and the orchestral remiof Chopin. niscences quite worthy are of Vanya of the melodies and Antonida, in Wagner distinct foreshadowings are of what called leading motives. rhythms
"Glinka," Cui,
"was
Antonovitch Tsesar says his countryman, fertile and inexhaustible a standing melodist, underthe art of giving songs a perfectly vocal form, violence
and the
He displays commonplace. is always His melody animation. variety, grace, and knowledge, His the astonishing musical expressive. free from
inventions, bold, original, and richness of his harmonic His lucid, are genius. equal to his melodic always introduced harmony a of effects absolutely multitude
" "
novel and full of good taste." In April, 1838, Glinka was despatched the
Emperor land,
so
to
"
Russia
Minor,"
"
of that
border
fertile in popular
stringed of dance
peasant
lute, whose
and hut.
he
sweet
where the threebalalaika, is suggestive very name, heard in many a refrain, still was
songs,
and
especial in succeeded
His
service
was
to
enlisting
three
men,
in
among
was
the
Nicholas
that he gave Glinka fifteen hundred rubles. beyond not retain his position as kapellmeister
year.
severe
Owing
of
to his shattered
health,
of
"
attack
and
fever,
"
the
death
his
brother,
Andrei,
various
disagreeable
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
447
Not
and
three years later, his second opera, " Ruslan Luidmfla,'' was brought out for the first time.
quite
opera
saw
had the
been
suggested
a
by Prince dramatic
scene
possibilities of
narrative poem, it not been Had
in Pushkin's
famous
which is laid in the East. bullet of the duel which cut off Russia's greatest poet in the very prime and dramatist of his powers, Glinka would have followed the author's indications ; but as this
was
the
impossible,
certain
Bakhturin,
one
the task, and, as Glinka undertook himself said, finished the libretto in a quarter of an hour five others had his drunken Four hand." or "with made by
the libretto. The plot represents with Liudmila, the daughter of an Eastern prince, wooed Kuslan, Slav, Katmir, Oriental, and Farlaf, a an a experiments
who
gathered
at the
of a prophetic villain. Nuptial choruses, the singing bard, the marvels of a magician, all enter into the score. A'ivazovsky, who had been in Persia, gave Glinka three
Tatar
give
more
into he introduced which Moreover, Eastern an coloring. than ten years before, Glinka had
songs,
the
third
act to
while caught
or
travelling
a
charming
:
lips of his yamshchik, this he utilized for the ballad of " Phinna." " first performance Ruslan " took The of theme from
the 9th of December,
postilion
1842.
The part
same
ill,and
to
a
the
important
place on the favorite singer, Petrova, was " Ratinir " was intrusted of
name
means
but
was
scenery
had
quarrelled
with The
the
utterly
well
drilled, and
was
the
music
of
448
higher
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCII
GLINKA.
quality
than
that
in
"
not nearly so dramatic, and it did not appeal opera was This, together with directly to patriotic emotions. so it to be coldly the faults of the performance, caused
received
were
by the
the curtain public, and when with the faint applause. friends
fell hisses
tried to comfort
than
him
you
Come
now,
by ing saydo."
herself
took part,
was
and
more
enthusiasm
was
shown.
The
composer
to
on two-thirds of the receipts, but receive ten per centum him three him instead of bringing profit it plunged Bulgarin thousand criticised silver rubles into debt.
the
opera
by Count
composer. The
Bee, edited and the Northern unmercifully, Bielgorsky, had a cruel sting for the sensitive
next
year
the
came was
to
Petersburg,
ever
it
revived
Glinka,
who
felt
this
bitterly,
soon
went
Berlioz appreciated abroad, and this time visited Paris. Caucasian a his greatness, and caused the " Leschinka," dance from " Kuslan," and a cavatina from " A Life for the But neither was in public. executed Mozart had reGlinka what marked successful. remarked, bad listeners before him, that the French were Tsar,"
to
be
at which
"
his krakoviak,
"
Chernoan
March
romance,
"
(from
"
Kuslan
"),a
waltz
Italian
Desiderio"
were
in
spite of the presence of all the Russians a good audience, he lost 1,500 francs.
in Paris, and
In May,
1845, he went
to
Spain, and
travelled
over
MIKHAIL
IVANOVITCH
GLINKA.
449
for lecting colAt years.
on
indulging
was
Ms
for
passion
two
there
in 1847,
he
la
composed
his great
fantasy
the
dance
symphonic the
"
jota arragonesa,"
poem
called "A
desire
of
his
aged
mother
this
this time in
or
again
a
his
health
Warsaw,
life, sometimes
or
in Petersburg,
a
Smolensk.
June,
1857, he
from
and before he had opened shock from his finger-tips : it contained death. mother's
During these
home,
received it felt a
the
news
letter
nervous
of his
Prince
five years of nomadic for life he wrote cluding Varshavsky's a of pieces, inorchestra number his pot-pourri "Recollections of Castile," and
"
Kamdrinskaya"
May he went
abroad for the third time, again visited Paris, and started for Spain ; but his painful Toulouse to nervous sufferings drove him back from following
for his native land, and dreamed he of a quiet life in a little house with a garden, where for his pet animals and birds. should have room
was
Paris.
He
homesick
It
or
his Recollections,
Just
two
years
later he
was
in Russia
Ivanovna
once
more
and
who
great
his
Liudmila At
Shetakova,
he
Petersburg
great
found
and
"
"The
apply
Robbers
some
of the Volga,"
sketches
"
for
which
he
intended
to
of
Malo-
Russian
songs,
formerly
written
for
Taras
Bulba."
450
The time.
MIKHAIL
IVANOV1TCU
GLINKA.
libretto, unfortunately,
him again made to Berlin in order
did
not
reach
him
in
Physical
pains
restless, and
to
in April,
1856, he went
study
the
music
of
the ancients, especially the so-called church ecclesiastical he was Here greatly delighted because a trio of modes. his was by the King's band conat a parade cert, performed
" Life for the Tsar and his for the first time.
"
was
given
in Germany
He
No
suddenly taken ill, and died in February, 1857. found one was peacefully resting with him, but he was in bed with a holy image pressed to his lips.
was
His in the
body
was
brought
to
Russia
in May,
and
buried
Monastery, the near of the Nevsky of Eussia. grave of the great Kruilof, the Msop Glinka always had the good fortune to make friends, cemetery and his intimates
were
the
leading
him looked the greatest upon who with admiration. There are in existence numerous He portraits of him. is portrayed boy in 1817; a as as a regular-featured
young
coat
a
in 1824 ; as an inspired official in 1830; as a contented citizen of the fez, in 1850; Turkish and in 1856,
man as a
his death,
dark-eyed
gray,
Titianesque
thinker,
to
self-willed
and
HECTOR
BEELIOZ.
(1803-1869.)
Colossal
Fierce, With Foiled, Taught
genius
of the eagle's
wing!
unrestrained, capacities
ever
ambitious,
for love
met
passionate,
hate,
vast
and
fostered,
by
spur
and
sting,
by
thy
nature's
wondrous doomed
to work
art to sing,
Volcanic
in impatience,
in defeat,
by
and
Fate,
;
"
Successful What
A
message
wait
hadst
thou
to the
world
to bring
message
far too
as
vast
for human
thought high
of the ;
It
was
though
the
thy
And And
choiring
spheres,
to earthly
It wakes Yet
we
wonder,
stirs
causes
tears,
who
hear
it comprehend
it not !
LOUIS
month French
HECTOR
of
BERLIOZ
in
the
was
born
in the
chill
Frimaire,
; that
twelfth
Republic
is to
December
11,
a
1803.
Cote-
Saint-Andre, "built
plain,
on
tiny village
(touse
hill and
the
words)
a
the
slope
of
overlooking
of
vast
was
green,
peculiarly the
silence dreamy
which
majesty, still
it shutting in the far
enhanced the
south
by
and
east,
distance
by
the
gigantic
snow-capped
peaks
of
the
Alps." His
father,
of
honorable
451
family
and
considerable
452
"
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
health
officer," who
practised
medicine
love
him
medical have been considerable, for he won on chronic diseases that was His
was a
and Monsieur
enjoyed the
who called
must
memorial
published
in Paris.
free a man nature, meditative from of any sort, inclined to the scepticism prejudices he never though of the Revolutionary philosophers,
dreamy
and
interfered
was a
with
the
beliefs of others. In later life he He habit. his son's the opium was literature, history, geography. tribute to his father's learning
that
paying
structi inthis method of home Having to him. dealings almost injurious considered
relations
exclusively chosen
with
and
servants
companions, and seeing " I am was unfitted for rude contact with the world. "that in this respect certain," says he in his Memoirs, I remained ignorant an and awkward child till I was
he
twenty-five." his passion his delight, and such was for studying the maps of far countries, and reading all possible stories of foreign travel and adventure, that he
Geography
was
declared
certainly
consent
if he had
have
been
born
a
nearer
the
or
sea
he
should the
become
without became
By
of his parents. curious freak of heredity visited the lands ceased dreaming.
own
son
of which
obliged each day to learn by heart lines of Horace the task and Vergil, but found he was Nevertheless, at the early age cf twelve
several
odious. imso
HECTOR After
a
BERLIOZ.
photograph
from
life.
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
453
of Dido
voice and flowing tears. in the magic The secret of this lay not so much of Vergil's hexameters, so completely unfelt by the average Hector's ing schoolboy, as in the youthful precocity in falla
a
of the story
in the fourth
to
that
he
found
it impossible
breaking
what
victim to he himself
so
what
poets
"
call "the
tender
"
passion,"
he
was
Indeed, the cruel passion ! called he was, hard hit by Cupid's dart, child though later the wound had not healed ! a century
he
was
summer
in the
habit
of going
"
with
his
and
of Walter
was
His
home
in the
and
of the
of Maylan,
above between
the
toward
army,
"
the mountains.
Hector's
campaigns
uncle
Felix
was
and
warm
the
all
gun-shot
magnificent
of
one
those
"
like Captain
Coignet,
who
followed
the
Emperor's
luminous
" path," was ready to give his life for a glance, believing Blanc." the Napoleon's throne to be as solid as Mont Many stories he had to tell of his adventures, gallant
and
lance jovial
that
he
was
He
also
played
the
lin -viothe
songs.
made
a
less vivid
impression
on
sister and
lived with girl of eighteen, who her aunt, Madame Gautier, during the than
on
her
mer, sum-
up
the vines
mountain-side,
and
in
white
cottage,
by and
gardens,
tower
the mighty
by
454
One
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
of
Hector's
"
favorite
books
was
again and Hamadryad "The the St. Eynard," nymph, again. of Estelle. She was, was also named says Berlioz, "tall, and
of elegant
they
were
entitled in his
Estelle et Nemorin"
father's
library,
and
read
figure, with
always helmet
though
for war, eyes armed smiling, a head of hair worthy of Achilles, and feet, perhaps
great
!"
first time
an
that
the
boy
saw
He electric shock. grew " " I spent whole to a prey pain. nights," he says, day I hid in the corn-fields, in the desolation. By like a secret retreats of my grandfather's orchard,
wounded companion
bird, silent
of the
and
purest
that
me
pallid
a
man
if
spoke the merest word to my idol." he had forgotten Forty years after, when her hair, he
the
her sparkling still remembered rose-colored buskins, and still the clinking of his uncle Marmion's spurs as he danced with her brought a pang to his heart.
He
at
was
only
so
boy
of twelve,
and
he
she
was
least, and
great
"
could
afforded herself,
amusement
the
country-side. encouraged
not what
cruel pain
it caused
"
him.
evening,"
barres. ourselves
One
he
aunt's
to play
"
was
large party
at
her
we
the
two
hostilecamps,
gentlemen
my
had
to divide
groups.
to make
me
The
chose
their partners.
They
took
pains
point out
choice
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
455
; my
one
in presence
violently.
me.
not
heart
was
beat too
my
Every hand,
When
let
Estelle, ;
seizing
Mr. she
well,
choose
I take
as
from
the
This colored
memory
"
of brief duration, but it pathetic episode was all his life. Other loves failed to blot out the of the first.
thirteen from when Italy, house, I parted
across
was
from
her. I
I
saw
"
was
came
home
the
the Alps,
and
little white
and
I still loved
her."
Berlioz
declares
at the
means
in his memoirs
same
that
music
was
revealed
to him
time it
was
with
love, at the
age
of
to
twelve.
compose.
He
that
then
he
first began
His
first impression
of music
was
gained
at
his first
communion.
His
mother,
who
was
tall
woman,
taught
him
was
pupil
at
the
Ursuline
the sun spring morning, early one shining, in the poplars, the priest the fragrant breeze murmuring to take him to the " holy house," where came the august In the chapel he found his sisto occur. was ceremony ter
and
her
companions
all clad
in white,
their heads
bowed
in prayer. honor of being invited to Blushing at the undeserved the table before those charming maidens, he received the "a Host, and just at that moment chorus of virginal
voices,
in joining mystic
hymn
to
the
Eucharist,"
filled him
with
"a
and
passionate
agitation."
456
"
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
" heaven that I saw says he, opening the heaven of love and chaste delight a heaven purer beautiful than that of which times more and a thousand I had heard so much. Oh, marvellous power of true
I thought,"
"
"
beauty
of
melody
coming
Thus,"
"
I became
to hear
mass
suddenly
every
the communion
every
Sunday,
and
worthy priest ; keep followed his advice only too well." Before he was twelve he found a flageolet in and
so
'
I father, spiritual ' Very well, my boy,' replied the for many And I on so/ years
tribunal
drawer,
him
in a day his father succeeded that he good an idea of its use air
"
or was
two
in giving
popular flute, so
Marlborough."
seven
Later
he played, as he himself months Dr. Berlioz, who had taught him says, passably well. to have a violinist arrangements all he knew, then made from Lyons. The boy received two Imbert come named lessons a day, and, as he was able to sing at sight, and play
"
that in
Drouet's
Complicated
Concertos,"
he
made
rapid
progress. He studied
by himself
comprehend
E/ameau's
treatise
he
on
harmony,
the
but
could
not
it, though
burned
midnight
by
in
kind
of mystic
enlighten
Pleyel's
fundamental
mind. Then
on
and Two
was
months
so
quintet, which
difficult that
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
457
of them
play it. All of these pieces, naturally in the breathed were the most minor, and inspired by hopeless They were melancholy.
could
I burned
these two
writing approved
came
these
essays,
first orchestral composition, by my father in the second head, and into my was
my
instructor
more
was
an
Alsatian and
named
clever than
Imbert,
every After a
"
guitar, the clarinet, the violin, the known to man. other instrument
short time Dorant
went to Hector's
able to bass-viol,
father
I cannot
"Why
you, or him ? "
"
guitar
lessons."
any that
manner
toward despair of he
has
he
been
so
indolent
you
Nothing
a
is
as
as
it may he found
seem,
and
himself
"
at the outset
(as he
expresses
it), master
the
of the three
and majestic
incomparable
instruments,
flageolet, flute, and guitar." Even while declaring that he could command he suddenly instrument, recollects the drum.
no
other
could
He
This
was
always
to Haydn.
askance
mother
"
at
his musical
and
his very
pious
did
he
never
458
forgive her for it ?
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
"
saw
tions tempta-
of the stage and all other evil. him, like himself, His father desired to see So having
doctor.
started
him
in Latin,
Greek,
he put him literature, and geography, his home. From of La Cote near
at
eighteen with a fair amount of it is said that he remembered his Latin well learning, to talk in it with a famous enough professor at Stuttgart,
the
age
of
"
many
his memoirs full of classical are and not indisposed to study medicine. quotations, But it chanced day that he picked up the Lives of one Gluck and Haydn, and shortly after a piece of musicyears later, and
"
with had in
twenty
never more
-four
seen
a
dreamed
woke
was
of
to
written
than
a consciousness of what ladder, reached by climbing that marvellous by Jacob in his dreams. than the one seen
to be
magical
under his father's revelation to him ; and when direction he studied the splendid plates, life size, in Monro's was treatise on the human skeleton, his mind
It
was
rather on bribe of
of symphonies, and only the skeletons flute that his father offered, and the a new him yield and respect and fear inspired by him, made " for the most the empyrean melancholy give up what he calls angels abiding places of the earth ; the immortal
the
of poesy
and
love
and
their inspired
songs,
attendants
of the dissecting-room,
hideous
corpses,
cries of patients, moans and death-rattle." Yet he did yield, and in company with a cousin who became a distinguished with physician, he read medicine best for the two to go to the old doctors until it seemed
Paris,
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
459
ing-room to the dissect-
This
was
in 1822.
When
he first went
of the of the hospital of La Pitie, the horror so great that he jumped out of the window sight was and to his lodgings as fast as his legs would ran carry him.
But
it
was
only
he went
than
again
and He studied
months,
The
next
even
day
more
and
assiduously
till, at
the
an
under
famous
fessors pro-
father's hopes,
"
he went
to
opera
evil hour for his and heard Salieri's additions. He tried hard,
against
Daughters Again
of Danaus,"
with
came
Spontini's
the magic
spell
in honor
it. which
The
of his promise
next
week
he
heard
sung
the years
ballet of before
"Nina,"
in
occurred
at
sisterhood
when
Ursuline
convent,
was
the realm
was
of music
opened
The
theme
on
by the
famous
Dalayrac,
and
it
was
played The
horn.
to seek
was
next
of Gluck,
opera
1822, decided
Inspired
once so
which
in
by these
musical
a
treasures,
Berlioz,
who
knew
little, composed
cantata
with
accompaniment.
A had
Gerono,
who
to
Professor inventor
of
Lesueur, program
as
music."
looked
over
The
Arab
Horse,"
the cantata
it abounding in life and dramatic called, and found fire,but pronounced it so full of faults that it was of no
use
even
to
point them
out.
460
Gerono
methods, the
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
was
deputed
he did it
young he
to
so man
"
"
coach
Berlioz
in Lesueur's
a
and
effectively, that in
was
few
ambitious
able
to
enter
weeks Lesueur's
classes. Afterwards
wasted
came
"
to
mourn
the
time
and
that
he
had
in studying
this excellent
worthy
man's
earnest
friend, and
Sunday
on
to
hear
his
masses
Ossianic and episodes, performed Then the ceremony was over, at the Tuileries. when King Charles X. had and retired to the sound of fanfare big drum barbarous on a and a fife, master
take pupil would his struggles, his
successes,
on
Biblical
long
all his
united
and discussing with him theories and philosophies. dissimilar The two friends so were strangely for Gluck, Vergil, and Nain their admiration poleon
!
Berlioz
was
having
heated
discussion
his father, in regard to his " chimerical notion " of for music. And a mass, abandoning medicine when he wrote at the suggestion which of the chapelmaster of Saint-Roch,
so
failed lamentably
(not through
his fault
threatened
much
his that of the performers), parents to cut off his allowance hundred of one and
as a
twenty
francs
him home. month, and finally summoned During his two months' stay at La Cote, he almost his father over to his views, talked and presented Lesueur's in such a light, that Dr. services to him
Berlioz
sent
his
especial
thanks
and
regards
to
the
professor. Berlioz
was
back
1825, but,
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
461
studies, he spent his He could not afford
instead of attending
time
to his medical
revising
a
and
copying
his
mass.
to employ
professional copyist. In order to have it properly represented, he needed francs, and he had applied to briand Chateautwelve hundred
for
a
loan, which
was
spendthrift
whose
the Opera,
was
proffered
it
of his
the
work
excellently
formed per-
In order
moved
into humble
singing,
quarters, gave
at
music
an
almost assiduously, in slowly covering starved himself, and had succeeded half of the indebtedness tience De Pons in a fit of impawhen to Dr. Berlioz, telling him the situation. wrote
twenty
sous
The
hoping
But
a
to bring
new
him
to terms.
revelation
had
come
to
Berlioz
on
hearing
of
"
and
travestied which,
French it
version
was so
Der
through
though and
see
lated, "mutiable,
tortured,
insulted,"
the
he
was
to prejudices,
grace, poetry,
to orchestration
was
disappointment
in 1826,
justhad
when, Lesueur's, he
:
one was
February
told
:
"
Weber play
five minutes
scenes
sooner,
whole
from
our
he missed seeing him Weber and in the evening at the Op^ra. to London, he died. where
Again
that day
at
was
462
Berlioz
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
to present himself as a this year determined " But, unfortunately, prize of Rome." candidate for the he was only a private pupil of Lesueur, and a preliminary
examination
the weaker This news
ones,
was
required,
he
was
"
in order
to
get
rid of
and
than
wrote
a
ever an
had
great
that
"music
streamed
from
all
home
painful visit ; after several days him on first begged his father relented, but his mother his plans, and then, finding him her knees to renounce
a
cursed
es.
him,
"
or
so
at
least he
relates in
One
of Berlioz's
named
a
in Paris
an
was
ardent
Roman
monarchy,"
"legitimate
more
growing
and
more
"liberal,"
both
regarded divergences, a
as
In up
Ferrand,
wrote
a
revolution, and of the Greek stirred, like Lord Byron, by the poetic struggle, Berlioz heroic scene or with choruses. poem
about
the
time
set it to
sufficed music, but no letters of recommendation to get it publicly performed. Then Ferrand an entitled operatic poem composed
"Les
Francs-Juges,"
which
set to music.
While
he
was
engaged
dreaming
of unheard-of
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
463
rolled in the
two
courses
Conservatoire,
at
once:
and
diligently
counterpoint and Keicha, friend of Beethoven's. a He He of his economies. gives a vivid description had taken as a room-mate a young student of pharmacy,
a
townsman
of his, who
had
some
skill in cooking
; and
1826, tillthe twenty-second the sixth of September, day on raisins, another on next, they feasted one of May bread and salt, varied occasionally by a cutlet or pulse fried in lard, or, as a special extravagance, a capon costing
from
more were
than
rigorously Nevertheless, a
francs
"
"
franc and a half ; so that their expenses kept down to thirty francs a month. hundred that cost one piano and ten
a
" piano !
what
exclaims
Berlioz
"
decorated
rooms.
too proud and well, and Berlioz was young It came into his head to to apply to his parents for aid. find an engagement flutist in some American as theatre,
at New
York,
one
or
Then
day
comic
or
in China.
theatre
and Bourse. He
went
to
be
opened
opposite
there
and
applied
for
place
as
flutist
or
chorus singer: all the places were already taken. left his address, and a few days later was given an at fifty francs a month.
He
engagemen
He
kept
this
secret
even
from
his friend
the pharmacist,
that he was pretending he took his place in the chorus by a false nose !
he As soon as slavery lasted only till spring. his visits to the felt free to quit it, he began to renew This
464
Opera, always
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
taking
pains to give
careful preliminary
of the work performed, study to the score and to assure himself of the scope and compass of various instruments. He was still under the influence of Gluck and Sponde Rome trial for the Prix the new when instituted, the judges, Lesueur, were was among whom his compositions Cherubini, Paer, Boieldieu, pronounced Berlioz insisted that it was because the unperformable.
tini, but
to represent
forgave
them
for their
of rejection
claims.
his revenge later by senda few months ing them tickets to his mass, was at which executed Saint Cecilia's Day, 1827, Saint-Eustache on a work, as
He
"
had
Ferrand, presented
more
difficult
It went
prize.
passage
executed and
by
two
trombones,
that
he
had
ever
directed
an
excitement
so
that
This
year
was
revelations
an
came
memorable to him,
"
in Berlioz's
two,
new
and
was
Miss
Harriet
English
spere Hugo,
to the Odeon, and came company Victor for the first time to the French people. Dumas, Vigny, and other writers, hailed the new
; the
were name
phenomenon it as was
of Shakspere
henceforth
for them
knew
Berlioz the watchword of romanticism. ideas came scarcely a word of English, but the new
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
465
he
"
to
him
like
thunderbolt upon
to
me me
"
Shakspere,"
me
me,
struck
as
the heaven
its most
of art with
sublime
for
distant
the true
grandeur, I saw
"
the true
was
living being,
I felt
arise and
walk." Henceforth
companions:
Shakspere
these
his inseparable and Vergil were Scott, Tom Byron, two, Goethe, and
them
Moore,
Cooper,
He
Gluck,
Beethoven
all in turn,
made
worshipped
and
to
the
end.
"
Shakspere
of his life.
confidants
pocket
the
mute
works
in his
wherever
he went.
these
Week
were
after week
Shaksperian
had
away.
in March, 1828, given, and when benefit, more than a thousand people The theatre was turned into a garden
turned
of flowers.
X. and the Duchess de Berri, who were present, Irish actress magnificent made the lovely young presents. Berlioz, with his inflammable heart, found it in vain
Charles
her in "Romeo He saw sudden passion. " but with fierce pain stayed Hamlet," and Juliet/' and " from Lear " and all the other performances. away But it was had become He too late. the prey of a
to
resist the
Fury.
He
could
not
sleep, he
could
not
the streets of wildly through Liszt and Chopin followed him all one
night Plain of Saint-Ouen until at last he fell, worn fatigue, and slept where he lay, like one dead.
It is
a
common
the
out
with
story
that Berlioz
Miss
Smithson
in
"
Eomeo
and
466
this
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
and I will write my greatest symphony Berlioz denied saying such a thing. this drama." Hippeau points out that Jules Janin put the words
woman,
on
But
into
in Les Debats Berlioz's mouth 29, 1839, at the of Nov. time of the first hearing of the symphony, and Berlioz did not then deny " the soft impeachment."
Another
anguish.
to
was
rouse
him
from
this moral
adequately March, 1828,
for the
first time
In
presented
the "Heroic
to the
concerts,
and
fortnight
later, at
concert
in Beethoven's
memory,
only
that master's
from what
Berlioz suddenly
"
awoke
given. calls
"a
sort of stupor
(abrutissemenf), and
that the
he had dreamed so unprofitably of whom should be made to hear of him. he announced Accordingly a concert composed entirely to " Waverley," that of of his own works : the overture
Ophelia
"Les
a
Franc-Juges"
(theopera
"
itself was
"
shelved
forever),
" from La Scene Grecque Death few numbers and the had been declared, by the Academy of Orpheus," which (Berlioz proof the Fine Arts, impossible of execution. posed
to have
program.)
the
The
Resurrexit
servator It took place on the twenty-sixth at the Conof May and in spite of some serious faults of execution,
created
a
genuine
sensation.
were
The
applause
was
tremendous;
congratulations
comments
showered
of the press were generally famous. He With some was of right he was show " For, did not Byron the Byron wake of music." called Still his "star, worto sudden fame? one morning
the
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
467
he could not pronounce name she whose afar," he could not understand, ignored language and whose to receive his letters, scorned his existence, refused even
shipped
"
"
him.
His him
despair
was
almost
comic.
Sometimes
it impelled
to compose
instrumental
he wrote
Then and
to
a
won
pieces hyperbolical
and Sometimes
songs
decreed
between
pupils. and another of Lesueur's important His was at this time most composition from Goethe's " Faust," inspired by Gerard eight scenes him
de Nerval's
into
on
"
translation. Damnation
This
was
The
them
he
learned During
afterwards he While
elaborated
was
at work
Smithson
was
Bordeaux. declared
her
no
that
he
impossible.
Yet oratorio
new
his
sufferings
him
the
more
an
a
for two
accompaniment,
and musical
"
arrangement
to
Francs-Juges"
"
settings
Thomas
Irish
Melodies,"
"
Miss
"
Irish
sorrow
revealed that
the
true
only
Miss Smithson, grain of hope consoled him. for Holland, about to leave Paris and learning of the furious adoration composer, of the young who would Not
one
storm
the
citadel of her
least knew
is
more
at
greatest
of his existence ; she had spoken ! Thus one he calls the act in what ended drama of his life.
468
Again
prize.
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
came
the annual
refused
to
competition
make
for that
Berlioz
allowance
of prejudices
the
rein to his imagination, and most original " The Death of Cleopatra " lost passage in his work him the honor. The decided not to give any committee first prize, and divide to Berlioz the was second.
"
He
free
"
in Paris, and in October gave another concert, with a hundred and ten musicians, under The included the direction of Habeneck. program
a
Beethoven
piano
own
"
concerto,
played
"
by
Hiller, and
and "Waverley," from the " Faust," and the number from his mass. Except for the sextet, which badly played, the concert was He was loaded with a tremendous was artistic success.
compositions,
it brought
him
five hundred
and
fifty
borrowed
and
engraved his two happy,
secondly and
published
were
first for the concert money, " his " dear Irish melodies his earnings from teaching His prospects
to
"
pupils
and
worse
were
not
than
had
correct,
Tell,"
When
Smithson
"
he
learned
in London,
his pet detestations. success of Miss of the immense he was rendered almost insane.
is still in London," ary, he wrote Ferrand, in Febru1830, " and yet I imagine me that I feel her near ; in all my recollections awake and join forces to tear me pieces ; I hear my heart beat, and its pulsations shake
She
me
like
the
piston
strokes
of
steam
engine.
Each
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
469
In vain !
agony.
woman
...
for
of
were
one
my
! if she could all the poetry, all the infinitude fly into my arms, though she
" And to express the depth embrace ! passion, he and height of this fierce and tempestuous " sode his wonderful Fantastique" Symphonie the " Epiwrote
to die in my
from
the Life of
an
Artist."
It is probable that Berlioz was growing weary of this hopeless love. A sudden shock cured him of it for the time
being.
Some
Paris and went the fields, half dead with hunger through and wandering weariness, tillat last he fell fainting, and slept like a dog. At the end of two days he returned to his friends, him dead and had sought for him in supposed Then the morgue. of gloomy after a few days more to himself again, and so far forgot " her, silence he came the Juliet, the Ophelia that his heart called to," that he who had fell
no
disappeared
from
less desperately
She became
was
known
Camille
"
enjoying a
a
European
and lost
his heart
"
to her, and
asked
Berlioz
to be his go-between,
"
always
dangerous
experiment. the
her. young
Berlioz dreamed
with
to
"
supplanted
of
Hebrew
mother
lover.
He
marrying
reason.
Her
was
and objected,
ever
good
Berlioz
great
more
than
accomplish
deeds.
"
First, he
would
Symphonie
should
Fantastique
which
show
in it with a scene performed the world the perfidy of his false one
470
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
and
"
her: nay, not his venhis vengeance upon wreak geance; "I do not wish to avenge myself/7he writes; for her, and I despise her. She is an arn sorry
woman,
ordinary
endowed
with of the
an
instinctive genius for human soul as she has immense Pity and that he
noble love such as did not cling to this view. much suffering !
But after Berlioz
have
saved
him
had
a
his twenty-three
hundred had
pages
of music
one
copied, at
cost of 400
francs, and
came
undergone Next,
and
himself
it. he
The
unheard-o
writes
the
next
not
that
"
as their approval, with Ariel" as he called Mile. Moke, would His successful cantata, written in the
won
"
the wool over to burn the piece the thought that his
soon
the
be his.
last two
weeks
of July, during that exciting political crisis which saw the fall of a monarchy, an annual pension of gave him he francs for five years, and in December three thousand He would for Eome. departed gladly have unwillingly
but the authorities in Paris, where his heart was, he appealed to whom obliged him to fulfil the conditions Before he went he gave several concerts of the pension. he makes ful delightwith great success, and in his memoirs stayed
of the prize cantata solemn performance which utterly failed of its effect, from the fact that the horn forgot to play at the climax, and all the other wind
fun
of the
instruments
likewise,
losing their
cue,
were
silent.
It
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
471
the burning and destruction of Sardanaparepresented What lus' palace. a tumult crash and of brass and be expected of Berlioz : and all that was wood would heard was the twittering of the strings ! No wonder the away mystified and inclined to think that public went Berlioz
had
made
sport of them.
His
last concert
among
took place
included,
Ball,"
"The
and
"The
it
Sabbath,"
from
Symphonie
Witches'
Sabbath"
girl,"
once more as
was
Smithson
she in
was
"
he
that wretched
at that
La
Muette
But
scene
the playing for the first and only time. de Portici" " " satanic effect of this nothing of the did Berlioz care ; she was pilloried, nor good Ariel's
"
in Paris
parents at last consented to their marriage after he should have been a year in Italy ? and was she not his angel, his genius, his thought, his heart, his poetic life ? for had
"
his
The This
story
of his
sojournin
strange,
received
just at
of the
supper-
time. He,
"
like
the
rest,
one
became
an
habitue
dingy
the
was
mother,
in vivid
without
new
world,
gall, calling him a genuine ture caricato create a a of talent, ambitious shadow full of immoderate vanity, desperately
472
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
opposites
had
certain attraction
fine fellow,"
Berlioz ; "his talent of execution genius and that, indeed, is saying much. has I firmly beme. lieve of him charmed
writes
"
one
of
the
has
:
been he
'
my
cicerone.
me a
played
then
a
sonata
me
by Beethoven
to
see
sang ruins,
Gluck's
which,
Armide
; had
he
took
the
me.
famous
I
of
confess, those
very
Mendelssohn
; he has
a
is
firm
one
open
natures
so
belief
him
greatly scandalize
me
given
the
only
endurable
that I have
.moments
during
stay in Rome."
was
Insinuations
to
from drove
Paris
not
true
him
him
His
excessive title
to
"
despair
Pere la
his
associates He
mock
Joy."
wagered
threatened would
not
return to
home.
Mendelssohn
Berlioz having
he
dare
do
so.
left, and money suddenly secured some an eaten at Mendelssohn's excellent dinner was expense. At Florence, where an attack of sore throat detained letter from Madame him, Berlioz received a Moke,
accusing
him
of having
brought
sorrow
into her
family,
the marriage
of her daughter
to Camille
He conceived seized upon him. sheer madness less faithfearful plot : to hasten to Paris, to kill the two
own
innocent
man,
and
then
blow
his
He
his
procured the disguise of a chambermaid last will, secured a passport, and set
at Pietra
; he wrote
forth
in
equipages
Santa
he lost his
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
473
at
was
Genoa
till another
should
about, restlessly roaming he accidentally or purposely from the walls into plunged fished He the salt brine of the Mediterranean. was
out
more
dead
than
sun
alive, "harpooned
like
was
salmon," cured
to dry
thus
"
of !) the
sent
back
had
"
through given
not
"
(of all
but
men
that
he
Camille,"
very
afterwards ; he wrote he
he
a
his revenge
story
entitled
introduced
all the
anagrams. under very transparent Pleyel returned to Paris crowned with " Les Debats," a savage criticism of her playing. gave, in He determined to live for his two sisters, whose death have been caused by his own, a would and wrote tential peni-
And
letter to Horace
Vernet,
the head
of the
French
Academy
Being
at Rome.
that
a
his
name
was
not
few
of the happiest
among
Genoa,
in the
wandering
warm
the
orange
ing bath-
waves,
sea
to compose
on
genius born ? During his leisurely journey back to Koine, mostly foot, he began to compose his Lelio, that extravagant
Was
there
ever
queer
and
extraordinary united
was
afterwards
showing and
then
the
tortures
of the
suicide
returning Berlioz
to life.
was
he considered
frightfully tired of his sojournat Rome : it a miserable waste What of time. could
474
he
HECTOR
BEKLIOZ.
get
out
of
the
works
of
Palestrina
sung
"
by
the
of the Sixtine Chapel male sopranos merely But the lazy interesting vestiges of a glorious past ? " life the Eternal City," the vagabond wanderings around
eighteen
among
no
and
crags
of Tivoli
and
Subiaco,
energetic
were
ambition.
He
wanted
life,
to exercise that " proa chance wanted digious " aptitude for happiness with which he was gifted, " incalculable superabundance to satisfy his of sensibility," to stop the fearful "evaporation of heart, senses,
struggle
he
brain,
Then
nervous
tormented
once
more
"
him.
to
compose
"
with
a number
to
Rob
Roy
and
finished, and tremendous plans were them that of a colossal oratorio on evolved, among " Last Day The of the World," with several different orchestras and groups of brass instruments placed at the pieces
were
four points of the compass. leave of absence, At last he was allowed six months' His eldest and started for Paris by way of his home. just made a satisfactory marriage, and his sister had parents Indeed, dowry
were, were
an
that
he
three
in expectation, it was, as and a similar amount But Berlioz had seen daughthe graceful ter at hand.
of
out to
the
Vernets
at
Rome,
and
went
"
her ; her
also
he
He
had
fair Ariel
and
The
at La
grand concert at which Artist " and " Lelio an place early
Life
of
were
in December,
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
475
to
Paris, with the intention of establishing a English theatre there, was present, in a box. It may be heroine drama! of the musical what
no
imagined
could have
interest
it gave
was
to
the
occasion.
She
doubt
who
meant
text. to
come
to
see
thought
On
a
black
followed
the
the
land
Shakspere
Juliet! accepted
the match.
torments.
He
became
more
her
family
a
Her
and She
followed
year
most
were
Smithson,
whose
bad
to
worse,
at last announced
afternoon
benefit."
Just before
BerMoz
care
it began,
here her,
tender
and of her
of
arranged
concert
at
which
Chopin
Liszt
to pay some managing played, thereby finally, after the most debts, and matic melodrapressing he tried to kill himself in one scenes, of which
"
with
opium
in her presence,
and
on
hearing
her
protestations
some of despair and affection bravely swallowed for an foolish creatures, ipecacuanha the two emetic,
"
destined
so
palpably
on
English
went
to
to spend
returned to Paris what a prospect awaited fourteen bride had only her debts, some them ! The had three hunBerlioz francs' worth, dred thousand and
When
"
"
francs
from
run.
loaned
him which
by had
friend, and
still a year
his
the
Institute
and
pension a half to
476
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
married being," as he
the
falling
called people.
popularity and
the again
French
She On
it back.
In vain.
task
were
of
supporting
their
domestic
arrangements,
which Louis,
ever
made
more
trying and he
"the
sweetest
by the
seen.
He
wrote
were
gave
concerts,
composed,
and
musical
criticisms
which, as might His connection piquant. with the began early in 1835, and lasted for regarded lived, and
as one
was
of the most
liant bril-
the
art.
shares
with
of the
Schumann
canons
many
of
"
His
began
was
to
be spread
with
through
success
Europe.
in Leipzig,
Les
was
Francs-Jug
given
declared Mendelssohn ; though praised by Schumann " was a that the mystic element ing of screechprogression harmonies, cats," unintelligible to all but the March " to show terrible is agitating the that something while
composer's
fevered shakes
as
brain,
an
apoplectic the
stroke
on
the
big drum
orchestra
audience." His two
into
as
shivers
efforts of the
whole
well
the auditory
nerves
of the assembled
great
"
his at this period were musical works in Italy," begun Harold as a viola concerto Messe des Morts (his or ; and the Requiem
for those
who
perished who
were
but
performed of Constantine.
greater
for
those
of
conquests
he
burned
to
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
477
write
an
in
the
for his
certain subject
episodes
great
Benvenuto
Cellini, the
with
Italian
on
silversmith,
"artist
on
musket
the
The
was
had
tremendous
hisses, groans,
"
was
heard,"
more
said
played
less receipts. with even further attempts Four the next were year to made give it, but it was shelved until, thirteen years later,
twice
Franz
Liszt, who
had
been
latent greatness, brought The failure of an opera befallen him. could have
him
its
The
obscured
abroad. Berlioz, suffering with bronchitis, and grieved at the " brilliant failure " of his first opera, was obliged to He to pay the debts incurred. fore theremoney raise some
gave
two
concerts.
The
first scarcely
covered
expenses.
The
second,
was
the
famous
cember, sixteenth of DePaganini the turning-point of his career. " violinist, the infernal virtuoso," was ent, preswhich
occurred
on
the
in Italy" for the first time. "Harold and heard He forced his way to Berlioz, surrounded by congratulating friends, knelt before him and kissed his hand. him a note in Italian, hailing The next day he wrote him
him
as
successor
of Beethoven,
and
begging
that
to accept
thousand
francs
in order
he
might
478
Berlioz such
a
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
that
a
the
encouragement
thousand
The
times letters
new
"
more
of than
published.
the royal
were
his
Romeo
Juliet
"swam
"
in
seven
months
and while he
sea mighty of poetry, breeze of fancy, under the warm kissed Shakspere illuminated, was of love whereby rays of that sun isle the marvellous and feeling able to reach
that
where The
of pure art rises aloft." beauty of Paganini's lessened gift is somewhat by the supposition that it was only a clever advertising by a wily journalist dodge who foresaw that suggested
concerts
were
the
temple
Paganini's
some
great
made.
Paganini
"
granted the Cross of the Legion year Berlioz was " " dramatic of his symphony of Honor, and fragments it inspired by his Juliet ? a great success. was made indeed recognized as a genius by his native land, He was
"
to write his " Symcommissioned " in honor of those muchphonie funelre et triomphale The next year he victims of the July days. mourned " Invitation an wrote of Weber's orchestral arrangement
and
in 1840
he
was
to
the
"
Dance," and
"
Glinka
serthe same vice, also performed " in preparing the Freischutz "
was
greatly
:
"
"
at rejoiced
Juges
abroad
Les Francs-
at St. Petersburg.
Berlioz
had
he
the
was
"
gentle
art
of
making
enemies."
And
while
place
and misrepresen misunderstood generally even while he held a sufficiently prominent by the multitude of in the public eye, as is shown
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
479
throughout journals tormented
stud
the
French
by endurance His wife, who was considerably older than he, had lost her charm, though She she had heroic characteristics. She proved at home to be a termagant, was a failure in public.
a
beyond
Xantippe.
She
too
"
was
too
fond
of the
was
bottle, and
her
jealousy, only
her
says
went
well
founded,
goading
to
Legouve,
the
Smithson
down, and went up, the Berlioz thermometer her love, which at first had been simply cool and when jealousy of a tiger, complaisant, grew into the passionate already tired of the marriage dreamed but plotted a separation. that "she the harp that found was
was
he
noose,
of its strings, many is nothing to be said in extenuaThere tion alas ! I broke." It was But from of her. of his treatment cruel. her, his punishment began ; the time that he deserted
concerts,
my
joys, my
sorrows
; and
one
of the saddest stories in the history of art. He himself found at a stand-still in France.
were
Abroad
there In
tempting
September, music,
and
away
to
and himself
ing yearnnomad, and while ever he had Parisian success, genuine the
with
bitter-sweet
of
increasing
triumphs
His
included
tour
lasted
At
Germany.
batons.
exchanged
480
"Only
wrote
HECTOR
BEELIOZ.
squaws Berlioz.
and
"Be
us
arms," pale-faces love decorated brother, and when the Great my to hunt in the land of souls, let our
friendly evidently
tomawack
on
the
gate
of
The
reading Cooper. " by Mendelssohn is served tomahawk presented prein Paris. at the Conservatoire
"
had
been
Followed
journeysto
Austria, Bohemia,
At everywhere meeting with ovations. for the first time his "Hungarian the
famous
theme
of
Rakoczy,
beginning
a
contrary
of Faust."
at
Snatches
at Breslau
work,
"The
Prague,
to
his
return
a
Paris,
almost
manner
like
an
now of Schubert), while in the garden of the Tuileries. walking finished, being unable to obtain When at last it was he hired Opera the the hall of the Conservatoire,
now
in
cafe
the (after
Comique
for sixteen
thousand
soloists,
and
gave
the sixth of
The
The made
not
Parisian
three
or
away
ring the " beau public" nor awaken helped matters brought or
expenses.
Moreover,
the echoes
partisans who
theatre
could
the hostile
all their venom. Thus always originality and innovation must And only after the innovator way. generally
fight its
is dead
is his greatness
realized.
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
481
For
not
once
Berlioz
atone
the recognition of his genius abroad could for its lack at home. Even Chopin, who had
his friend, thought that
been
man once
such
music
justified
any He
in breaking
all acquaintance
a
with
the
him.
took
up
the
back
fly, spattering
"That
" The result is as chance wills it." composes," said he. How different from the judgment of Glinka, who
wrote
home in
to
"
Kussia
saying
(and
no one
posterity has
upholds
him
it),
the
such colossal inventions, and his combinations have besides all their in Breadth other merits that of being absolutely novel.
of
the ensemble,
"In
domain
fancy
abundance and
monies, of har-
instrumentation, unheard are the characteristics of Berlioz's music." it was And due to Glinka that "the first apparently
powerful
hitherto
"
was
invited
to
to go to Russia.
enable him to get away. in February, He 1847, and his first Petersburg reached by his partisans, brought concert, carefully exploited
money him
francs
was
profit.
When
off all negotiations Lane an offer to go to the Drury director of the Grand Opera on a
broke
things
He
burst like in
a
bubble.
but it of this opportunity, found the affairs of the theatre had nothing else to do but to
continually all his life, his eight months' stay in
doing
"organize
concerts."
During
482
England
He
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
he
had
that
"
in
this
was
respect
declared
he
were
he
a
as
though
The
French
out, and
national Revolution
talent."
of
1848
in the
was an
mean
time
:
"
broke
arts
Berlioz
in France
felt that he
now,"
exile
The
he wrote, " and music in particular begins to putrefy ; may it be buried speedily." him in his one Nevertheless, the Republic continued
are
dead
conceded
at
a
public
position
Soon deepest
great
to
Paris
his
father heard
died, his
regret
being
of his engaged
that he had
now
never
year
works he was
illustrious in
composing
son.
his
fascinating
be read with great caution, for in flames as well as in his music. harmonic a Philof 1850 he founded about the beginning At Society which a gave a concert month.
one
" It was Faust." portion of his its way. The year before, some to make of tory, had been sung and played at the Conserva-
he
gave
and others had in memory of its first performance. his In November, Berlioz had and Meyerbeer
gold medal
struck
a chorus of shepherds, pastoral been written by a certain Pierre Sainte Chapelle in 1679, and discovered
by
him
in
an
charming piece of mystification, for when had praised it to the skies, of Berlioz's enemies many and made invidious comparisons, it leaked out that Berlioz
himself
a
was
the composer
overture,
a
of it !
He
afterwards
little fugued
piece
for tenor
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
483
Eepose
Family/7
year
other
numbers,
completing
In
the
Berlioz
"
was
in London
Philharmonic
again, directing
the concerts he
of the
New
Society/' where
his
"Benvenuto"
the Liszt.
In
same
Yet ovation. received a triumphal it sucfailed there as completely as ceeded under the direction of year at Weimar
March,
1854,
Berlioz's
passed
dying
often
of paralysis,
seen
long had
her proofs of his continual her, and shown into despair, made Her him death threw all affection. by the thought the more of his failings toward poignant
her.
the dissolute woman who shortly after married had brought misery into his home life. Strangely enough, he thus obtained however, a mother-in-law who proved
He Her only fault angel to him. real guardian Spanish, and Berlioz had no that she spoke gift languages.
to be
a
was
for
Berlioz
himself again and again presented for the Institute. But the Immortals
him. Yet
as
date candito
refused
recognize
how
many
crosses
attesting
1856
"
was
says Jullien,
had
a
his membership he elected to that Institute which, so long as a pupil, condemned refused him
him
In
a
1851
as
rejected
him
as
the
the
teenth fif-
in the presence of the emperor and of November, he had a gigantic concert empress, with twelve hundred of the poniards musicians ; it included the benediction " from " Les Huguenots (eighty voices singing instead of
484
four
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
as
own
"
prayer from Rossini's by eighty harps, Mozart's Ave March of the Banners."
the usual),
"
Moses
"
accompanied
Verum,
and
his
repeated, and brought francs and a series of receipts of seventy-five thousand Berlioz caricatures, some of which were very amusing. fond of brass instruments, was caricature and one (of
next
The
day
the
concert
was
later
date)represented
of
cattle being
; and
another placed a cannon in the midst of his orchestra. Still another portrayed the Greeks running from the walls of Troy at the sound of Berlioz's brass.
The
year
a
by
means
his
scores
of
new
"
Berlioz's edition
published
with an additional chapter on the art of first in 1844. It had been published The conducting. to suffer from next of the neuralgia year he began bowels, the agony lasting days at a time, and preventing
At the same time his only son any work. loved, quitted the navy he devotedly Louis, whom to enter the merchant marine, and Berlioz, in order to raise
him
from
for the required examination, published money from his memoirs. last ten years of Berlioz's life were The pathetic. Wagner
to Paris and
selections
sad
and
came
gave
three concerts
in 1859
" " to France. Music of the Future which introduced the " Berlioz wrote his famous Credo " which was a musical tom declaration of war. Probably was at the botjealousy
outside
the
arena
"
redoubtable
creation
for whose
of Beethoven
responsible.
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
485
to the with all his might prejudice " Tannhauser" and in fact it fell flat. public against for classic masterhungry The pieces, public at that time were under Berlioz's and the revival of Gluck's works
Berlioz
worked
direction
think
met
with
which routed
In 1862
a
Berlioz's irony
such
strange
died
women
cruel tortures, were Berlioz did not marry the again ; but when grave. his first love, was "Star of the Mountain," already a a white-haired woman of seventy, he staid grandmother, each
other
saw
her
again,
to
and and
with
all the
ardor
of
himself
her
almost
persecuted
importunities.
Was
this
there
ever
such
strange
volcanic
creature
All
time
his
musical
"
both
as early as 1833),and his superb planned Capture "The Trojans at of Troy," and "The works him. It was but an Carthage," not evil fate pursued
until operas
ten
was
years
after
he
was
dead
that
any
as
one
demanded
"
been
that in spite of Berlioz's remembered music, he was wholly passion for descriptive or program : Gluck and Spontini, controlled by the classic masters It was Beethoven the contradiction of his and Weber.
For
it must
be
nature.
The
comparative
failure
of
his
,"
Troyens
"
(itwas
486
twenty-one receipts, thousand failing health.
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
given
times
in
garbled
to
amounting
francs)was
by his
resign
him
to
his position of critic,which had been a continual for twenty it to a years : he compared
ment punishcannon-
ball perpetually chained to his leg. It also brought him the Cross of the Legion of Honor. None it for him the less bitter was to hear of the their vogue growing of the Wagner music ; already
If it and Berlioz. ! It seemed could only have been Berlioz and Wagner to him as he had though were another reaping what
names
:
began
to be coupled
Wagner
Nor sowed. could he forgive his old friend his Wagner enthusiasm. Abroad, his fame was more and more growing From from America, all parts of Europe, even tidings
of
Liszt
for
December,
was
immense,
Faust
first time
for twelve
years.
The
for the
jewelry
He was with his portrait. ornamented offered the position at the Imperial of kapellmeister chapel, but though
he called the
not
French Paris.
Hottentots
and
a
Chinese, he
nervous
could
state,
forswear
He
was
in
terrible
him into a the least mistake in time or tune threw He flung his baton at the head of the man passion. who handed it was back played the English horn, and when
and
to him,
On
son
death."
of the death of his hearing the news he
"It
was
at Havana,
fever.
On
flung himself
to live, for
me
and
cried:
for thee
young
captain
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
487
to of great grief and anxiety to his father, owing for his irregular habits, but he loved him and mourned More than ever his wonderhim as only a Berlioz could. ful
cause
face
came more
to remind
One
justresigned
of the conservatory Duchess Helena and the Grand at St. Petersburg, of Kussia urged Berlioz to take the direction of six grand
concerts
the following
winter. and
His
honorarium
and
four
thousand
the Imperial
rubles Palace.
time
all expenses
would be lodgings in
At
the
same
William
Steinway
of
New
York
francs to come hundred to a thousand offered him America, and insisted that he should sit for a colossal hall that he was building. bust to ornament a new Berlioz
gave
reached
Petersburg
in
November,
1867.
He
the six great concerts, and directed one at Moscow, and an audience where he had an orchestra of 500 musicians One of his dreams at last ized of 10,600 people. real! No, not realized, for such monster concerts must
be
disappointment.
The
reality
falls below
fearfully exhausted by his labors and the ovations given him, and above all by the One March to Monaco. day, clambering climate, he went the rocks, he fell headlong, over and lay for some
On
his return
from
Kussia,
time
insensible.
he
was
Nevertheless,
He
even
at
last enabled
recovered where
Grenoble,
great meeting
man.
of choral societies.
He
lingered
still six
months.
One
autumn
day
488
friend met
he pressed
"
HECTOR
BERLIOZ.
him
on
the
his hand
:
"
quai, not far from the Institute ; in the mist, whisand disappeared pering ! when it is happy, is
man
shadow
sufficient to
darken
wipes out the image his last days During feed the
sponge
his favorite
was
to
birds that
nocked
liked
to visit and
Shakspere
with
sudden
energy. But his end was that of a volcano growing extinct. for to vote tor One of his last efforts was an old benefacAt last paralysis for the Institute. completely He him. died on Monday, 8, 1869. March overcame Then began him popular.
the stones
the
as
recognized
Statues
he
predicted,
HOMAGE
TO
BERLIOZ.
J. Fantin-Latour.
FRANZ
LISZT.
(1811-1886.)
almost which might mysterious poem " have Parsifal," to Wagner the idea of suggested birth a spirit prophesied, speaks of a genius of whose feast a star stood blazing in baptismal and over whose
^
OETHE,
in
the western
sky.1
genius
was
Such
comet
Franz
on
Liszt.
night
The
of
star
was
the 21-22,
of
1811, which,
the
October
seemed
to the superstitious
peasants
to hover,
the
dwelling
of Raiding Franz
On
The
that night
name
Liszt
was
of
Liszt
is found
no
documents
to
to prove
the Johann
of Kaab.
Bishop sixteenth century was Liszt's leaning to the churchly evidence of it.
Bishop
known
were
wealthy.
Franz
Liszt's
was a
ancestry
were
His His
der
subaltern
was
Wie Und
ihn wie
Mutter
bei seiner
Sich glanzender
Abendhimmel
"
Geheimnissc.
490
to
FRANZ
LISZT.
steward children
the Esterhazys,
and
the father
of twenty-six into
whom
poverty scattered for the most part for themselves. Three made names paths.
son
Adam, followed of this patriarch, also named in his father's footsteps, and in time became a
steward to Prince Esterhazy. He was passionately fond of music, and in his moments instruments. of leisure taught himself to play on many He was frequently at Eisenstadt, where the great Haydn He was frequently called upon took an interest in him.
to play
Here, from
band.
Vienna, then
star
crown.
among
at
them height
Cherubini
of
and
Hummel, like
a
the
his
glory, and
magnate,
to
by
the
rich
Hungarian
in his Few
lurked
suspected what a bitter pain of ambition balked, in the heart of that tall, gaunt, steadfast, defiantwho
was so
looking
frequently
seen
in the
His
was
a
honesty
and
punishment.
of the Esterhazy music-room palace. faithfulness brought that a reward he was When about thirty years old,
to
he
was
promoted
and of Eisenstadt. He had a struggle with his inclinations, but accepted it, took to himself a wife, named Anna Lager, and set up his penates in the steward's residence, surrounded by the humble
huts of the peasantry. His wife was of German origin, and endowed characteristic German virtues; attractive in with calm, regular features, lighted in heart and manner, true, honest, simple housewife ! ; a model womanly
form,
Raiding,
the
FRANZ Paintingby
LISZT.
Ary Scheffer.
FRANZ
LISZT.
491
beautiful boy,
Franz, rather
or
Ferenz,
was
their only
grew
child ;
blue
mass
of
light blond
hair framing
picture.
of
declared that he had none mother failings of children, that he was always " loving, and obedient, very obedient."
His
the
common,
lively, cheerful,
Liszt
tender
long
years
afterward my
wrote
"
With
honor
and
love I thank
and
of goodness
It was son. good how I had such a could I help being a good son when faithful, self-sacrificing mother ? " devoted to music, and employed While his father was leisure at the clavier, the mother, taking abundant vantage adof his sensitive
for her constant proofs mother In my youth I was affection. called a indeed no for especial credit to me,
and
genuine
passion
fostered
in
impressions and
struck
of his life.
errors
again, amid
career,
his worldly
calmness
came
of
for the
it was ; and repose of the Church only a logical step that led him at last to take holy orders, and life not so much in the character of a crownto pass from less king as in that of a humble Franciscan friar.
and
All
Liszt's
"
early
impulses, horizon,
the
bounded
by
wooded
away
mountains
; the
dim, mysterious
where,
forest stretching
holidays, the gorgeous grand ceremonials especially on gypsies stirred his heart ; the dark, swarthy swarming in the outskirts of the village, and at evening practising
their
free, lawless
dances,
or
singing
their
plaintive
songs.
492
As any
FRANZ
LISZT.
for music
was
no
shows
exception
itself earlier than in the case of Liszt. The clavier His father
he
a
tried to imitate.
loadstone.
tried to
six by His
One day when he was off. It was useless. from a concerto years old, he sang correctly a theme Hies, that he had Ferdinand heard. only once
father began
to teach
him
according
to
the
had
to be
man
the
wall.
progress
amazed, but his zeal alarmed, rather have had him play with than spend
so
much
not
over
time help
to
at
the
piano.
At
time, they
little fellow
note
could bending
out
being
strike
hands.
of the reach of his diminutive in conquering culties diffiSuch ingenuity he showed before he could ! He also tried to compose even
that
was
like the newly-hatched swan spell. It was before it could walk. interrupted by a strange This progress was fever
swimming
sort of slow
that
came
upon of
him.
saving
He him.
grew
so
his
parents
despaired
Indeed,
was
that he carpenter, hearing the rumor his coffin. make he got well. And But with fresh impulse Three
to music.
health
came
fresh
not education years thus passed, his general The village priest taught him reading, writing, neglected. learned to speak and arithmetic ; but he never
Hungarian,
"
that the
alien
of
Asiatic Europe.
tongue But
that
has
no
kinship
to
speech
he
must
have
FRANZ
LISZT.
493
come
or
later to know
popular
songs,
the meaning
of those
wonderful
rhythms
nep,
he
so
took
" the artist." where he began to be called A report of his powers reached a blind pianist, Baron Braun, was von at Odenabout to give a concert who
an attraction, and asked additional wanted Adam Liszt to let Franz play. his teeth were When the time came, chattering with fever ; but his indomitable through. will carried him
burg.
He
He
a
was
so
concert
was
decided
This
to let him
Then
at
the
Prince. he
by
concert
great
lived
a
in
Prince
Esterhazy
giving
embroidered
costume.
concert
Magyars as only the warm-blooded enthusiasm The feel was by his playing. ladies evoked could learning that The him men, smothered with caresses.
Such
his father
the
magnates
had
no
money,
an
raised annual
Austrian
than
three
for his musical education. This certainly, Liszt, against the induced Adam it was, his
wife, to prudent His first choice
j but
cut
counsels Esterhazy
son
was
loose
a
from
for
the
sheep.
of
master
his
Hummel
the
avaricious
artist, who
had
494
become
kapellmeister
lesson. Karl
FRANZ
LISZT.
at
Weimar,
demanded
louis*
At him pay
seeing the boy's talent, gave lessons during a year and a half, saying, " I wish no from the littleZizi." The boy rebelled at the dry
upon
Vienna,
Czerny,
technicalities
not
which
Czerny
insisted.
at
Could
he
read
teacher
and knew
perform the
anything
his
and
slightly
elastic method of reaching the result. Salieri was old, and weary of teaching ; but he, too, could not resist the pleasure of instructing the marvellous boy.
It
was
not
long
before
he
was
circles of Vienna; At last his father circle of the highest aristocracy. felt justified in bringing him out in concert. This took
the musical
place "the
sight,
on
The
critics praised
genius
for
"free
read at by the
as
"musical
little Hercules,"
they
it only
great
inspired
came
him
to
When
he
was
done,
the
master
upon
works is a piece containing thirtyIt was three variations on a waltz by Diabelli. published Liszt also with variations by fifty Viennese composers. is said to hold its own contributed, and his number with
however is not saying much, That the rest. ; and the fact is chiefly interesting from the connection which it
kissed
him.
FEANZ
LISZT.
495
Beethoven. Czerny, indeed, between Liszt and makes hesitation in comparing had the boy to Beethoven no in his boyhood as he was of all ; or to Mozart, prototype
musical From prodigies. Vienna, Adam
Liszt
took
his
son
to Paris, and
Conservatoire, tried to place him in the famous The family Cherubini. surly but magnificent
stopping everywhere and
at
all the
principal
a
finding
unlimited
welcome
the
new
and
Mozart,"
praise
qualities which
the
greatest
virtuosos exhibit. had given Liszt a letter of recomPrince Metternich mendation tears and to Cherubini ; but neither this nor
from the crabbed old man sufficed to move the rule that no foreigner could enter the Conservatoire. Liszt, in his vivid foreigner. he himself Yet a was
supplications description
was
a
of
the
fateful
and
interview, afterward
says
the
decision still
thunderbolt,
years
the wound
bled. But lost. Paer consented all was from Letters their of introduction
not to
teach
the
boy.
Austrian
most
and
exclusive
Hungarian
friends
opened of Paris.
as
the
doors
to
the
the
French
called
him,
became
he was Yet the salons. still as fresh and in the fields of Raiding. he played as when unspoiled by his genius, When the Duke of Orleans, carried away idol of
i
In
the
hall
of
the
Seven
Electors
and,
as
at
Budapest,
on
May
In
Day,
his
1823, appeal
he
to
:
played
the
"
"
variations
by Moscheles, nobility,
and the know my inmost
usual, and
improvised.
the
High I
am a
gracious
military,
no
honorable
fortune
to
public,'' he
than
to be
said
to
Hungarian,
greater
and
good
able
dedicate
as
the
first fruits of
of my
education attachment
culture
my
dear
fatherland,
my ure depart-
tne
first offering
and
gratitude
before
for France
and
England."
496
offered
him
FRANZ
LISZT.
desire, he that his heart might anything to simply for a little toy that his eye happened
in Paris took place in the Liszt's first public concert Italian Opera-house He 1824. on the eighth of March, was of the Opera ; and more assisted by the orchestra complimentary
plaudits
were
so
of the
solo
passage
in the
carried Hummel
to
by
that heart),
they
"
forgot
A wag said : place. " Orpheus touched the beasts of the field and moved that stones, but the little Litz so affected the orchestra
in at the proper
became
French
dumb
unselfishness
even
were
generosity
and
always
giving,
at personal
inconvenience.
was a
One
day,
as
he
passing
sou.
begged
than
"
crossing-sweepe
smaller
"
"No."
"Then
go and
get it changed,
and
unconscious
stared
took
He with
good
of the broom
returned
his change.
It must
not
be
supposed
that
the
sunny
sky
of this
FRANZ
LISZT.
497
free from clouds. reports
were
Parisian
success
was
absolutely
Liszt's genius
were
awakened
jealousy. Calumnious
Liszt
threatening circulated about him ; even So, with a feeling of relief, Adam written. to go to London. a favorable opportunity He in his
never
letters
seized
also made
strange
and
almost
inexplicable
broken
His
He his wife back to sent plans. her again. The boy's heart saw by the separation, but his father was first public of
concert
change He Austria.
was
almost
inexorable.
place
on
in London and
"
took
; to
the
twenty-first
concerts,
we
June,
1824,
describe and
Liszt's
as
one only use need will suffice for his whole career, its monotonous repetition.
formula,
we
that
may
spare ourselves
formal more than colder and Paris, but the marvellous It is said boy won all hearts. he played tinguish disthat one a at a soiree, following evening pianist, whose
the ladies present performance
London
is naturally
of
of
the pieces.
piece !
stone
the
boy
to
had
the
philosopher's
everything
able
transmute
that
of genius. he touched
One gold. of his admirers said that oftentimes after he had played a piece of little intrinsic worth with such fire and brilliance that it seemed great, the notes
remaining like a heap of dead ashes. the rack were Liszt was in England he finished the tion While composi" Don Sancho, or the Castle of of an opera entitled
on on
Love," which,
Opera
It
on
was
his return
to France,
was
given
at
the
the twenty-fifth
1825.
; yet
received it
was
with
great
significantly
The
enough
shelved
after
performances.
498
FRANZ
LISZT.
work Opera
most
the
Library
fifty years
compositions
"
Liszt's
were
youthful
ever
Only
studies.
orchestra that
Nothing which
same
printed, is known of
an
a
"
allegro
grand
concert
own,
overture
for
he contributed
year ; off
or
to
in Manchester
as a which ing thus deceiv-
a one
sonata
of his
joke he
After
palmed
The
more
a
of Beethoven's, being deceived ! elect, alas, are ever journeys Liszt returned to Paris
as
thorough
course
of counterpoint
was
delighted
:
at
the
ease
with
under he which
to
six months of
Then lowed folmysteries. of journeying with his father, and he went to London. Only in London this realm
did he fail of fullest appreciation. As But a crisis had come to him. manhood,
a
he grew
and a He begged
renounce
dislike for the world morbid for the life of the Church. yearning
his father to let him
become
priest and
so trials for many endured his sake, sternly set his face against it. " Thy calling " Love is music," he said. God, be good and true, and so much the higher things wilt thou attain in thy art."
But
had
In 1860
"
Liszt wrote
and humble
"
With
tears
enter
the seminary
supplication I begged to be allowed to to live the life at Paris ; there it was my hope to die the death of the martyrs." even perhaps
he adds that though, alas, it was not at that time to be, yet in spite of all his errors and entanglements, And
FEANZ
LISZT.
499
deepest
not
truth
of the
matter
is that him
man
of
emotions.
No
career
one
His
whole
His hears
a
emotions. was emotional ; all his disciples were in which the intellectual compositions, spoke
like
the
incoherent but nothing ravings, are language the intellect cannot which stand. undernot
an uncommon
It is therefore
to
see
phenomenon enthusiasms
"
pianists back
outgrowing
"
their Liszt
and
to look
Lisztomania as only a phase upon their but they are not of development, of which ashamed, In hearing rather proud. and criticising the works of Liszt this must not be forgotten.
Amid
between
discords
was
had
taken
arisen ill,and
died in August,
1827, at Boulogne-sur-mer. After he recovered from what to his sensitive nature he wrote his mother to joinhim ; was a terrible shock, he sold his piano in order to pay certain small debts, and
then hastened
a
back
to
Paris, where
he
and
his
mother
took
dwelling, the maintenance of their estabmodest lishment falling on his shoulders. He was soon able to her a snug fortune of 100,000 francs which settle upon long as she lived. so she
enjoyed
Among
the beautiful
Caroline, Countess
of the Interior.
not
of the Minister
her.
the
She
pretty
was
was
slow
to
return
romance
unfolding enough
petals
of
flower, and
wise
and
enough
to approve.
she died, and the Count his daughter to marry the man
But
de Saint-Cricq
of his choice.
compelled
500
FRANZ
LISZT.
The
once
bitter disappointment
more
turned
"A
pure
as
maiden,"
he wrote
years
later,
was
"a
maiden
the alabaster
to
was
of holy
vessels the
the
the
offered things
the
God
of
Christians.
only word
I tearfully of all
earthly
the leaven,
He
avoided
himself
up
to
religious
have actually taken and meditation, and would his confessor to orders had not his mother persuaded discountenance it. reading The strain upon with
his
state combined
"
day without food, and sometimes going a whole late hours, and all sorts of staying faintness by wine, irregularities, at last brought on him a severe illness.
"
second time the report of his death was circulated. Paris papers printed obituaries of him, and his displayed pictures, with the dates of his too short life, were
a
For
in the shop
windows
a
!
Russian
came
About
young
von
Riga, named
to take
now
"
Lenz,
popular, to Liszt.
"
then
but
Yes,
is at home,"
said his
mother,
very
unusual
thing ; my Franz is almost always at church, to do with music." more will have scarcely anything He found him smoking a Turkish pipe as he lay
sofa surrounded
and
on
by three
young He
the
man,
with
"a
his smile
by introducing
claims to him
flashing of a dagger in Liszt's good graces to have won the pianoforte of Weber, works
to the
FRANZ
LISZT.
501
He all the rage in Riga. claims who at that time was to have been Liszt's first pupil, and in his little book on day," calls him "the great pianoforte virtuosos of our
"
the
past, the
He
apotheosizes
present, him.
and
the
future
of
the
piano."
The
July Eevolution
"
of 1830 woke
that
Liszt from
him,"
his lethargy.
It
was
the
cannon
from
cause
a "Revolutionary planned " Battle of after the model of Beethoven's Even Vittoria," but it was the sketch not completed.
popular Symphony,"
freedom.
He
two
of the motives
are
employed
With
zeal for
returning
health
knowledge.
a tremendous and energy came His had been education general it good. And a throng what made
formed the circle of artists, minds historians, novelists, composers, ing durpoets, philosophers, ! that Romantic awakening
The phases
First he read
are
interesting. Then
to doubt.
he
of Saint-Simon
and
his
joined the
hoped
to revolutionize
Yet he would carried revolted him. of the sect were have been their ideal of an artist, standing as a priestly between God and the world. mediator Still further stimulus came to him from the hearing of
Paganini, celebrity," who,
came
" at the zenith while of to Paris in March, 1831.
his European
The
demonic
inspiration
of his playing
kindled
Liszt to emulation.
502
Music he had
FRANZ,
LISZT.
He again took up his pracneglected. tice, fiercely at it, sometimes exercising his and worked from When fingers six hours a day. again he emerged his hiding, he had become the Paganini of the pianoforte
"
been
Liszt's idol.
He
had
been
first to play Beethoven's in public, concertos the Parisian public found such music when altogether He was to make too high for them. now the acquaintance
the
had of Berlioz and Chopin, both of whom influence that was influence over him an
"
powerful equally
of their characters
wider
scope
for the
symphony,
and aid. A noble and enlisted Liszt's sympathy friendship united them. Liszt transcribed for unbroken
piano several of the movements and they were phonie Fantastique" of his published works. Between friendship
the
of Berlioz's among
"
Sym-
the
earliest
Chopin
; but
"
and We
are
Liszt
there
"
was
we
at
first
warm comrades,"
friends
have
been
of said Chopin, early in the forties. The cause esting, the breach in their friendship is very curious and interbut it lies in a chapter in Liszt's life over which
veil. dead, Liszt wrote l a prose rhapsody After Chopin was if its is a classic, even his genius and career, on which is far from being ideal. To read biographical accuracy
we
must
draw
it is to penetrate into the mysteries of genius. ideas that found vent, especially The turmoil of new in Paris, in the second quarter of this century, bore away many
great
minds,
as
a
i
freshet
Weimar,
in the spring
1849.
overflows
FRANZ
LISZT.
503
barns.
high
Into
banks
the
and
sweeps
; over wells of calm fierce passions ; across the the walls of discretion dashed fields of conventionality ran riotous, extravagant green known. Never was theories. such intellectual ferment
What
From
like Liszt, all emotion, responded to the spirit of the times ? he was indeed saved by the absolute scepticism wonder
that
a
man
influence and of
a
of the
Abbe
came
Lamennais,
whose
eral libthose
conservative
but whose
of
truly religious
the
and
was
truly highly
cosmopolitan
philosophy
at his
universe
country-seat
in Bretagne,
the inspiration of his teachings under composed " " he called him his Pensees des Marts ; beautiful him For instructor." Art was friend and
and his
"
paternal
the
" Art is for between divine medium God and the world. is for God." The Beautiful men the creative power what be the immutable must object of art, which, like loftier be forever progressing knowledge, toward must
heights.
There
is
one
law
the
Good,
the Beautiful.
They
Such
theory
lies, that under the plausible name of the Beautiful, light, a will-o'-the-wisp, that follow a phantom one may into the miasmatic lead one swamps may of Immorality. But because it is beautiful, there is beautiful. Love
come oftentimes against himself
crises when
'
'Love off,
"
himself
takes
part
to
Duty
warn
men
"And
loved
of Love
"
O this world's
comes
curse
beloved
but hated,"
"
"
like Death
betwixt
two
souls.
504
Liszt
FRANZ
LISZT.
conflicted with Duty. His partisans, and oddly enough the women above all, have defended him in the irregularities which his mar
yielded
to that
Love
that
life, affecting to judge him he were king as though a " divine right " placed him above morality. whose by the healthy Judged common standards, he, like Berlioz, for many The world
of the countess years
lived
treated him
who
bore
children declared that he in the difficult position in which have guilty infatuation ; still,we
or
him
right
to
mince
matters
defend
genius
for
its
aberrations. In other respects his character shines bright as the in the history Generous to a degree sun. unexampled bristles simply of art, self-sacrificing, heroic, his career it would beautiful, unselfish take a acts which to describe. volume adequately in pubLiszt, after long silence, again appeared When lic, had it was found that a new era of piano-playing with
come.
No
:
"
one
could withstand
the magic
of it.
It
was
said
"
soul is in his fingers, his soul is in his eyes: This perfect artist seems inspired directly from the skies."
His
in prose
was
ever
and
others
devoted
to traditions
or grams.2 epishoot impudent might vainly try to sneer, Liszt appeared, the people flocked to Wherever hear him.
i
Ron
ses
doigts,
son
ame
est dans
ses
yeux
semble
Cramer
shook
his
head
and
said
De
mon
temps
on
aujourd'hui on
joue bien
fort."
FRANZ
LISZT.
505
all his that
were
It would mention
take too
long
to describe
even
journeysor
those
philanthropic in be found
which began
in Music,"
and book
to
a
d'Agoult,
others, party,
mountain known as
a
taken
by
"
Countess
and
Daniel
Stern,"
Sand,"
making
jolly,unconventional,
"
calling
themselves
as an
the
Piffoels
electrical machine emits sparks. " At one a as of the hotels Liszt inscribed himself musiParnassus his way from on on cien-philosophe, born
witticisms
also described their in her " Travellers' Letters." The memory experiences in his "Years of these Swiss days Liszt preserved of
Doubt
to the Truth."
George
Sand
Swiss
Pilgrimage."
he
was
While
mund
"
Thalberg
he heard
and been determined
that Sigishailed
as
Liszt to meet epoch-making pianist." his rival ; but when he reached Paris, Thalberg had returned however, Liszt, two to Vienna. concerts, gave
an
tremendous
article in the
Gazette
of the
him
to be exthat " all things were and predicting pected His article ended with from him as a composer." be the words : " He is the pianist of the future ; to him
German,
the
time
honor."
new
musical
war
broke
out
as
in the
is Thalberg But where now, of Gluck. and who plays his trivialities ? The Berlioz gave a next (1836), year, in December
great
concert, to take
and part
Liszt
came
once
more was
from
land Switzerall
in it.
Thalberg
present, and
506
his adherents.
"
FRANZ
LISZT.
When
on was
appeared
greater
the
man
with
was
his triumph,
It
was
received because it
wrung
hostile
public.
he
gave
famous
during
his
improvisation
people
not
made
But
a
him
war
see
what
other
was
declared
the
with
Thalderg
over.
Liszt wrote
critical review of two of the German pianist's compositions, them and handled without gloves. it was Of course ascribed to motives of jealousy.
Shortly
and
after, Thalberg
himself
was
appeared
given
to
on
the
scene, compare
abundant
the two
opportunity
hear
and
virtuosos. Then Fetis, Berlioz's bitter enemy, replied, and at the Liszt's prodigious end of his article, while acknowledging difficulties, talent and incomparable ability in conquering
declared
that
no
new
marvel
of his playing,
:
"
character
"
Thou
no
of
school that
art not
is drawing
man
to an
a new
end
and
has
further
mission,
man.
but
thou
the
of
school. you."
Thalberg
is the
That
is the whole
difference
between
by
more
lady who heard the two pianists at Princess the Belgiojoso, expressed
wittily
:
"
concert
given
the
difference
Thalberg,"
said she,
"
known
to predict
and
Brahms
were
FRANZ
LISZT.
507
forgotten,
His opponents, Liszt would still live. and they are not few or to be despised, while acknowledging his genius as an interpreter and transcriber of other
" "
is like sounding people's ideas, declare that his music brass, great noise covering the lack of great ideas. Certainly no one ever equalled him in the beauty of his translations piano. And
of the of opera or song to the keyboard in his fascinating lovely melodies live anew Schubert's
arrangements of them,
a
round
hundred
wove
in all.
into
orchestra
of the
nation
to the knowledge
and from
rive de-
most
original, though
that
and
He
He
was
his
own
declared
of being
an
"I
Whether
I do not
heart dictated. my my things will prove to have permanent value, have but to been honorably they presume predict ; said
"as
he,
intentioned."
His
seventy
songs
with
Liszt himself
are
piano
as
composer
seems
to
suggest
the thought
scale
are
as
the combinations
of the notes
more
in
our
necessarily
limited,
and chords
the
spontaneous
melodies
and
have
and
ago
508
during
FRANZ
LISZT.
exhausted
three hundred
with thousands
the "tone
will be driven to avail himself of the treasures of the past, frankly confessing Perhaps, however, the source. the human ear will educate itself to find beauties
tones, and
in quarter
a
new era
thus inaugurate
tones
and
tone-pictures. After
a
three-months'
"
"
George Sand's visit at Nohant, which he describes in a poetico-pastoral Liszt started once his travels. on more
toward
Italy.
on
the end of July, 1837, and he set his face He spent some time at the beautiful Villa dreamy
"
the
his Como, where shores of Lake " inspired his strange, Comedy Divine
Cosima
was
on
Christmas,
1837,
successively he gave
of Hans
became Eichard
Milan
himself
had
the
"no
Hummel, had
appeared
Chopin,
that
side of
Liszt
enjoyedthe
ture of the past, and the sculpmemorials had done in inspired him as nature
he met
a
warm
Eossini
at Milan.
was
Between
not
the two
cooled of
up
friendship
frankly,
Eossini
saying
by
a
the
making
FRANZ
LISZT.
509
great
composer,
and yet you are Liszt repaid him musical soirees. In Eome, where
at the
great
philosopher
"
by transcribing
dozen
of Kossini's
he went
the next
Palazzo
Poli, then of
concert
G-al-
itsin, governor-general
Moscow.
of titled personages wholly to assist him time he had no one before attempted. Here also he
"
His
composed
his
first1
song.
To
Liszt, Eome
Nature,
consummation of all Italy. the arts, religion, here found their richest manifestations in 1839 he left Italy he was ; and when able to
was
the
write that
more
he
was as an
perfect
mature, older, more artist; for, said he, "I have been
man,
different
working enormously." The period of his development had now And to choose his career. he
was
complete.
He
after much
tion delibera-
a against his inclinations, and became virtuoso rather than a kapellmeister. At the same it necessary to separate time he found
decided
from
the
Countess
d'Agoult,
the
mother
of his
"
three
children. No wonder
that it
uneven as
was
said of him
of
women,
that demon
his
nature
he
and dazzled
blaze
angel."
by
his
his personality,
moths
flew into
the
attraction
torch.
in the
of his fiaine of a
One
1
time
he
was
in his house
"
at Budapest,
fair with
golden
The
exquisite
Angiolin
crin
"
Angel
hair."
510
FRANZ
LISZT.
seated view
cut
on
platform
or
of six
features
gray
hair.
He
was
sound
asleep,
me,"
said he with
failed him,
arrows
in the attitude
are
the
paint-brushes." ladies of the high nobility met him At St. Petersburg him with flowers. on the steps of his hotel, and crowned Four of celebrated beauties of the court of the King Prussia had their portraits painted representing his bust. Ladies begged supporting
treasures
this time
them
as
Caryatides
as
inestimable
the stumps
it strange that such unbounded turned worship the head of the " dear sublime," as Berlioz called him ? in all the 1839 and 1847 Liszt gave concerts Between
Was countries
of
Europe. seemed
to
The
blazing
comet
of
Liszt's
birth-night
have
become
flesh
and
started
through the world. wandering Princely, Zeus-like in his generosity, he everywhere hands the golden rain that his wonder-working poured compelled, into the coffers of deserving charities. It was from his he who, at an expense marks of fifty thousand own means, at Bonn, to Beethoven, caused the monument
to be
finished
and
erected.
This
was
but
one
of
his
services to art. manifold last concert The that Liszt in 1847. From benefit was that
ever
exclusively for others. to direct a number Early in the forties he engaged of Here, in 1849, he settled at Weimar concerts each year. esting interan as conductor of the Court Theatre, and began battle in behalf
of unrecognized
composers.
His
FRANZ
LISZT.
511
theory
and
conthat all truth and genuine quer merit must in the end, though the powers of misrepresentation intrigue may His ideal was lofty : he delay them.
was,
could
aim
was
Dingelstedt,
intendant
was
whom
successful
Liszt caused to be appointed general him, and intrigued at Weimar, against in having the theatre exploited at the The
"
expense
as
of the lyric drama. Victor Hugo called him, retired to semi-private the Church, spending in constant him
"
Orpheus
of Weimar,"
and
to
resigned his official position, life,drawing closer and closer large part of each year at a with
Pope
Eome
intercourse Palestrina,"
Pius
called
my
beautiful
peace,
sweet
hospitality,
delightful walks, good food, tum, musicalien, pianos to be used ad libidelightful temperature."
landscape, astery Monnear
itself he lived either at the Dominican Mario, or at San Francisca Komana, at Monte
He
the Forum.
took charge of the musical performances which the art-loving Pope and Cardinals arranged. " he had become In 1858, at Budapest, tertiary," a member Assisi
of the third order his patron saint. was
or
to
"
Richard
Coine
Wagner
back
to
"
the
Faith
it gives
However only, the true, the eternal. in it the feeling, I cannot help recognizing
cannot
1
"
; it is the
scorn
this
of salvation.
help
I had
of
yearning
dreamed
Karl of
choosing
it."
"
like that
as
August,
leaders,
formerly
Goethe
he wrote in 1860, period for Weimar," in which Wagner I should have been the and Schiller but and were; unfavorable circumstances
art
brought
these
dreams
to naught."
512
FRANZ
LISZT.
In the last weeks of his life he scouted the idea that due to external circumhis appointment of abbe was stances, to the requirements but wholly of his heart;
itself in the yearnings the circle of his life completed for the rest which he could find only in the bosom of Mother Church.
Cardinal
honorary
tonsure,
Hohenlohe,
title of abbe.
in 1865,
In
invested
he the
him
with
to
the
the
1879
submitted
vows
and
took
upon
himself
of the
four
honorary He was canon appointed orders. ; but him these church dignities did not make a priest. He at liberty at any time could not offer mass, and he was had he chosen so to do. to marry
minor
But
Liszt's It
was
life
was
Church.
or
the
"
life,
the Russian
still a favorite resort, his on the Altenburg at the palace of Princess, Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, whose
to
devoted
friendship
the
him
has
become
historical,
on
or
at 1869), (after
beautiful
with
Hofgartnerei
the
Ilm,
memories of Goethe. him dent the authorities of Hungary made presidid not yet exist, academy of music which him a salary of four thousand cordingl Acgulden.
redolent
each
year
saw
him
at Budapest.
The
adoration
of
the
Hungarians
for
their
famous
countryman
At both
pupils, pupil
was
he
was
surrounded
by
but
admitted
to
his instruction.
The
pupils gives the names of 227 men the list is not complete, of whom many
"
have
won
FRANZ
LISZT.
513
life of the
wide
present
fame.
His
influence
on
the
musical
is inestimable ; nor tell what we can generation Wagner would have done without his superb generosity, his wise tact, and his infinite patience. Sangerfest, and was founder of the Weimar Liszt was
first conductor
German
On
the
versal and president of the festivals of the UniUnion. Musical of May, 1884, the Union
The celebrated
next
twenty-second
at Weimar
its twenty-third
Theatre,
of the Ilm
and
Music
upon the stage, and spoke Professor Adolf Stern, and then
came
the tone-poet
to
was
himself,
"
with
his
wonted
smiled
benignly.
"
This ceremony
beautiful
The Jena, 1884.
made
a
Legend
of St. Elizabeth."
ever
on
last time
at the
that Liszt
Singakademie,
last
year
was
directed
His
full
of
enjoyments.
Europe.
on
He
the
triumphal
of January,
journey through
at
a
On
almost
sixteenth
concert
in Rome,
the
fiftieth anniversary there, nothof his first appearance ing but his works was At the Palazzo Bacca, performed. before a brilliant assemblage, he played for the last time
in Borne.
extended improvisation.
E/hapsody, and chose his Thirteenth it to nearly double its length by a marvellous
of March his
"
He
On
the
twenty-first with
he
coinciding
appearance
the sixty-second
there.
Here
"
Graner
Fest-Messe"
which
he
was
wrote
Wagner
was
rather prayed
receipts
than
given, and
brought
to
of 42,000
an
composed," francs.
of forty-
He
also went
England,
after
absence
514
FRANZ
LISZT.
had
have
been
been
which
any
remembrance
of
in the
the
a
fire of enthusiasm
Even
touch
London
were
cabbies,
so
piano,
heard
him
magnetism,
that they
The
May
same
cheered
him
the street. he
he
was
had
in
St. Petersburg.
of
May
In
was
the
seventeenth
he
welcomed Union.
there.
to Weimar
On One
was
the
by the Liszt with a serenade for the last time thirtieth he played
study that he had not performed Indeed, he had, as he expressed it,
a
since he
"a
One Count Giza terrible memory." one occasion Zichy, a young Hungarian but one pianist, who, having have two, had arm, as men played well as most who
composed In Liszt. memory,
was a
Hungarian
the
fantasy.
He
played
caught
it
over
to
it in his
equally Early
talented
in reading
the
scores
at sight.
in June
he
went
to
Halle
to
consult
oculist in regard to his eyes, which seemed him. An operation was suggested, but not performed. His wonderfully to show signs of elastic health began He apologized yielding. one time, saying, " They long journey."
to friends
are
with an to be failing
for keeping
on
his seat
putting
my
The
twenty-fifth
anniversary
of
the
Musical
Union
celebrated Liszt's seventy-fifth year by giving two Liszt At the second his " Cristus " concerts at Sonderhausen. He was was performed. up every day at five o'clock in
the morning.
On
the
seventh
he
returned
to Weimar
in
palace
LISZT.
FRANZ
LISZT.
515
in the best of spirits, He was with flowers. On of whist all the way. and played his favorite game heard a beautiful to Jena, and the twenty-fifth he went
car
crowned
of his
"
St. Paul."
"
The
next
lesson
in the
Hof gart-
in D-major,a It included Schumann's novelette nerei. little gem On the first of to Liszt himself. dedicated He never July he left Weimar. the town saw again.
At
Bayreuth
he
was
present
von
at
the
granddaughter, author of
a
Daniela
Billow,
on
beautiful
work
his
favorite
St. Francis
d'Assisi.
On
Sunday,
July
fourth,
he
went
to
Luxemburg
to
painter
Munkacsy
there
at Schloss
cold, and
increased
it.
But
once
more
he
yielded
to the request
of friends, and
he he
was
On
the
twenty-first
insisted
he
on
attended
the observed On and was of all observers. the following Saturday he played his last game of whist. Though by the doctors, he insisted on attending warned
of
was
"
The
exposure
was
fatal.
enough,
August
Gollerich
thirty years
Wagner
had
written
to
him
"Kemember Thou
the
indefatigable,
If only
Mein
fortune
Franziskus!
that
hast hast
vanished.
divine
memories
thou
left behind
thee!"
516
The inhabitants
FRANZ
LISZT.
splendid Wagner.
founded
a erected in his memory designed by Siegfried chapel-form mausoleum, Duke The Weimar, Karl Alexander, of
of Bayreuth
Liszt Stiftung.
Maria
Hohenlohe-Schillings-
furst, sister of the Cardinal, who so loved Liszt, endowed it with 70,000 marks for the aid of talented pianists It was dedicated on the twenty-second and composers. of October, 1887. The residence in the Hofgartnerei
is
now
museum,
kept
forever
as
Liszt
left it.
Here
his writing-table, and heaped him, were countless stars, sixtywhich upon three medals and orders, golden laurel wreaths, batons, by the Hungarians snuff-boxes, pipes, the sword presented
"
he composed,
into the nobility, of his re-instatement cities, and a of many giving him the freedom Many collection of his published works. of his
Pilgrims are manuscripts still in the hands of friends. fail to be amazed to this interesting Mecca of Art never this knight of artistic at the simplicity which surrounded
chivalry.
He
lived
as
he
died,
utterly
oblivious
of
mercenary
considerations,
simple,
whole-souled,
ascetic.
RICHARD
WAGNER.
(1813-1883.)
six hundred performand forty-one in forty-four ances of Wagner's operas were given -L had swelled In 1890 the number towns of Germany. The Wagner Society to nine hundred and sixty-seven.
the year
TN
1887
founded
forty
in
hundred had, five years later, two and branches, and six thousand ; in 1890 members
1883
hundred
branches,
and
eight
thousand
members.
"
Only
comet
and
no
Wagner,"
But how is the
wrote
Flodoard
great
Geyer
twenty
ago.
"the
train"
grown,
which
then
made
"
Fanatic
"The
"
"
"
"The
Vandal
were
of Art."
some
Such
of
the
hot-tempered
while
tongue
they
to
:
"
malleable
names
German
for his
absurd
and
517
ridiculous
music
518
RICHARD
WAGNER.
"All indistinguishable
"
lyrico-epico-draniatic
gelatine."
moral
delirium
tremens
(Katzenjammer)."
11
Epidemic
Wagneropsy."
"
Transcendental Circus
comedy." chaos
nebulosity."
"
"
Wild
of tones." of music."
"A
"
caricature
chaos
of combined
"A
"
spectacular
Dissonance Butchery is
a
"
There
"
"
"a
dictionary
of
incivilities
containing
of
expressions
master, to vent
used their
by
scorn
the
the
Reformers
have
ever
had
the
jealousy, and
could not grasp remains unchanged. the idea of an alien civilization, called those who spoke barbaroi, as though the foreigners were another tongue
"
gantlet Human
of ridicule,
nature
"
So
the
Russians
called
the
Germans
And
or
language, musical instantly the conservatives have him by the ears, and, is in their own secure conceit, declare that the new
comes
when Wagner,
genius
like Beethoven,
a new
or
Berlioz, Liszt,
speaking
that music will perish with the old. history teach modesty, but men are
loath
Wilhelm
"House
Richard
Wagner
was
born
at Leipzig,
on
in the
second Significantly,
White
Lion,"
the twenty-
prophetically,
around
his
cradle
was
RICHARD
WAGNER.
von
Painting
from
life by F.
Lenbach.
RICHARD
WAGNER.
519
Nations."
and the
fought
the terrible
"
One
dred hunlay
Frenchmen
in the
boy
of popular show, was would one not aristocratic origin ; humble, say, if might honest humble. The were ever work grandfather a service ; the father, a clerk clerk in the customs
in the police service. had Friedrieh Wagner French, speak him in the employed could
so
received that
good Marshal
education Davoust
and had
He police. had a passion for the stage, and often played in private down to his daughter This talent he handed theatricals.
reorganization
of the
won
fame
actor
as
tragedienne
; to
an
and
in turn
both
appeared
the
years' struggle with her, married one the small pension granted of husband's friends, Ludwig Geyer, a member
Wagner,
after two
of the Koyal
Company
she went
to live with
was a
where
Geyer
He
painter,
make
well
a no
as
an
actor
painter
of
having
Geyer
On the any definite plans could be made. day before his death, he asked the boy, then about seven he had two years old, to play over small pieces which learned from " Der Freischutz."
before Wagner
to
died
hearing
him
a
say in
feeble voice
?
"
if he has
sriftfor music
520
"
RICHARD
WAGNER.
Early Wagner
the next in
an
morning,
after he
was
dead,"
"
ues continmother
one
autobiographical
and she
sketch,
our
came
into the
us
nursery
; to
me
of
children worth
to each
that
something
"remember
And
would
place
was
secured
in the
to
(Kreuzschule), where
sort of discipline.
seems
been
Both
at
"
left to his
own
devices.
school I grew
no
he
said,
guides
got
a
"
and
with
He ancient
and
Greek, for
twelve
into
verse.
He
was
a mate schoolapt at literary studies, and when considered died, and a prize was on offered for the best poem it. The verses, the occasion, he won of some shorn He dreamed bathos, were of printed. of their bombastic
being
in the several tragedies composed poet, and Greek spirit. He began to study English so as to read in the original, but after he had translated Shakspere
a
Romeo's He
monologue,
a projected
he dropped
great
Shaksperian
"Hamlet"
stupendous
compound
"
of
Lear."
on the most colossal scale," he wrote. plan was destroyed Forty-two one were after the other, persons on the before the end; and in order to have any one and stage, he was obliged to resuscitate the majority,
The
bring them
In these
in
as
was
of secondary
con-
RICHARD
WAGNER.
521
sons, him His Latin tutor gave a few sideration. piano lesto " Der but his ambition to play the overture to acquire Freischiitz " so outstripped his willingness a he would fingering, that his teacher proper predicted
come
to nothing.
"
Strange
! the two
"
great
masters
no
of the
use
orchestra
Berlioz and
Wagner
both found
for
"
" Wagner runs the piano. attributed his detestation of in music to his inability to play a passage clearly. himself Weber was then living in Dresden, engaged
art against
knew "the and charming probably Greyer, whose pleasant manners and lively character had for artists." Certainly he frequently a special charm Richard always passed the house, and the young rushed
to the
Italian
window
to
was
see
him.
died, he Weber when he received declared his first that from that master " His melodies," says he, " roused impressions : musical had a perto enthusiasm me ; his character fect and nature fascination for me ; his death in a foreign land filled
Though he only thirteen
my childish In heart with
1827
Madame
grief,," Wagner-Geyer,
children, returned to Leipzig, where " had Stadttheater." Eichard an at the engagement here put into the Nicholas College, but in a lower was
him that he so class, and the disappointment embittered let everything the ideal of his portentous go except drama. idle and disorderly," he says, "but "I was my
held its place in my heart." death, and Wagner This was the year of Beethoven's for the first time heard The one of his symphonies.
great
tragedy
impression evening,"
" One upon him was revolutionary. " Pilgrimage to says the hero of his imaginary
it made
522
RICHARD
WAGNER.
fever, and
of his ; I thereupon
recovered
"
was
long
after, he
heard
music.
Goethe's
"Egmont" his
own
with
great
Beethoven's drama
must cannot
incidental
have
an
Forsooth,
One
he
make
a
So
of thorough-bass, and plunged method into its mysteries, hoping in a week's time to be fitted he had It was to compose. as not such easy swimming but its very difficultiesstimulated him, and he then and there decided on his profession. his neglected studies were Meantime, ance. calling for venge-
borrowed
expected,
His
family
once
discovered
more
his
tragedy,
and
he
was
brought
Whatever and
down music
into
the
plane of be made
a
sonata,
quartet,
and an aria. His family, to whom he at last confessed these secret fancj^, but looked upon them a as amusements, passing they
harmony
under
Gottfried
got
hold
"Fantastic
take
to mysticism and day-dreams. given over " to to him fifths," and other chords seemed The he conversed. incarnate forms with which
nothing begin
out
as
He was him. the type of the antishook his head over Wagnerites to the present day. by fell predictions, by the reWagner, proache undisturbed to write of his anxious relatives, set to work
RICHARD
WAGNER.
523
of the leading
overtures.
He
carried
where
one
to
Dora,
was
conductor playing
a
Eoyal
part.
Theatre,
It
was
his sister
A vivacious mer drumplayed. fierce fortissimo four every the then disgusted, then amused
at his expense,
said Wagner,
of
a
deeply.
was
"
very
the
"
of his absurdities, as he climax was calls it written out in three different colored inks in green, and the the strings in red, the wood-wind brass in black.
overture
"
Curiously
enough in adopted
has been similar scheme an edition of Bach's fugues. The fever in the Revolution of 1830.
a
somewhat
Wagner's He
blood
political theme. This same year he entered the University of Leipzig ; but instead of making the most of his opportunities, he " cesses at first, as he confesses, gave himself up to all the exoverture
a
fiery
could began an
of student
life, but
zeal that they soon He had chosen the faculty of philosophy and aesthetics When with a view to their aid in his chosen profession.
recklessness
and
he
he
came
to his
senses
and
to
saw
that he must
begin
hands
anew,
had
the wisdom
put
himself
This
was
in the
of
Theodor
Weinlig,
School.
and,
as
inspired
him,
it
were,
a
him
524
In less than
RICHARD
WAGNER.
Weinlig told him that he had six months " You will probably arrived at technical independence. never wish to write a fugue, but the fact that you can
write
one
played
of
the
Gewandhaus
concerts
Beethoven was encouraging applause." He help in Mozart's also found example, the joint influence of their "clearness
a
his
and
and
was
" superannuated years later this production of boyhood," to have been lost, was discovered as he called it,supposed in different in an old valise at Dresden, and performed
parts and
of
the
world.
It
honor
of
Cosirna
many
Wagner's
singular for he let
Wagner
Mendelssohn
declared
that
it had
evidently felt the same, it not only lie idle but disappear. At this time Heinrich Dorn, who afterwards thorn
"
became
"
one
declared
probably familiar
a
common
to assert
that
he
was
poetical,
"
musical humbug,"
of him
literary,
lence" excel-
"ignorant
par
his first visit to Vienna, Beethoven was given city of Mozart and " " Zampa," Zampa," and Strauss pot-pourris of his pet detestation. were In 1832
but the
over
to
which
some
time
in Prague,
where
he
RICHARD
WAGNER.
525
the director of
symphony and
made
the
of Dionys who
Weber,
Conservatory,
had
his
at
other
of his compositions
played
the
Conservatory
concerts.
Wagner
"
then
began
tremendously
which,
root
tragic
of his
opera
sister's
and
at
Albert
Wagner
was
spent the year 1833 with of the theatre there. his knowledge him, and got much of acting good from He there composed the libretto and music and singing.
to
an
settled Richard
as
manager
opera
were
Weber
"were
Fairies."
at
own
Beethoven the by
that
time
stage
and Germans
their
successful
Italians."
not
Pretty
"
could
year
get
The
he heard
Madame
in
"Romeo
to
seemed
such
and him
Juliet."
so
"unutterably
to study
music insignificant"
causes
with Material
to
success,
led him
the
of it.
beauty, him.
passion,
Germany
seemed
one
Beethoven a whole world. compared with human limits, beyond to have reached no which
go.
could At
he set himself
to compose
an
opera
French
Thus
elements of the should exhibit the sensuous and Italian school. the " Liebesverbot" arose ("Forbidden Love"),
from
"
Measure
for Measure."
keyed
and
twenty
years,
time, he
and
seriousness
526
He
EICHAED
WAGNER.
accepted the position as director of music at the Magdeburg theatre, and there in the spring of 1836 he had it performed As after only ten days' study.
obliged him to take a new Novice title: "The Thus to mount an of Palermo." a timbers are glued opera is like launching ship whose It is sure to go to pieces. and not riveted.
was
had
it
Holy
Week,
the
censor
At
audience to applaud. At
good
was
present
the
second
performance,
were
only
rose,
brought
the
season
to
the prima attacked ferociously them so second tenor and his wife, and pounded So the performance that they could not sing. had to be stopped before it began, and the Polish Jew,
the
who paid
was
probably
the
for admission, received back went home and took off his gala-day costume in his zeal had loaded himself Wagner and, in the hope Bingelhardt at indeed,
them, of extinguishing Leipzig to bring out the
only having
one
of
the
three
be a fine chance said he, there would in a very sympathetic her appearance daughter to make director was The burg than the Magdemore canny part!
censor
:
he
was
not
to be caught
by putting
the salt
of flattery on So Wagner
here
he
saw
Spontini
a
conducting lesson in regard to stage effects that he financial He left Berlin in most wretched and clutched
at
a
circumstances,
straw
a
when
he
director at his
theatre in Minna
betrothed,
RICHABD
WAGNEE.
527
"leading
"
Planer,
Her he
had
gone
from
Magdeburg,
1836.
as
lady." in love,"
he
married
in November,
was
I persisted in getting mar"and wrote, ried, afterwards thus involving myself and another in unhappiness." had gone to Riga as cantor Dorn and director of religious him his wife, and his Wagner, Through music.
places at the theatre ; but cares, sister-in-law obtained followed them. debts, and all sorts of annoyances, " Rienzi," which he read at Dresden, Bulwer's novel, inspired
him
to attempt
of the Romans
for the
wrote
grand to Scribe
Last grand opera with "The " His ambition it its hero. designed as Hueffer opera in Paris. relates that he
a
to
translate
was
the
It
another
Wagner but
the
offered
generous
Scribe
while
met
he
was
at
no
proposal
with
contract
having
London
and
Paris, with
dog, and the two completed acts of "Rienzi." long, boisterous, and terribly fatiguing, The was voyage
in mishaps. abounding in violent storms, and caught Three
once
times
they
were
had him
was
to
put
into
Norwegian
"The
the
a
story of Norwegian
is heard
voyage.
Such
costliest triumphs hardships. howling The of the in the music of the opera born of this in life-blood, and are are written works
their
immortal.
for the city, its public buildings, and did not enter a theatre. After a week's he made to Boulogne, Meyerbeer's rest, he went where
In
London,
Wagner
cared only
628
RICHARD
WAGNER.
him his and showed acquaintance him letters of introduction gave Heine and publishers. managers curious
me on
"
Bienzi."
to famous
Meyerbeer
theatrical
on
"
has
left
record
remark
"
Do
you
know,"
my
guard
recommends
"Celebrity,"
"
is everything
in his autobiography, Wagner, remarks in Paris ; at once the fortune and the
destruction If by
of the artist."
he success, meant celebrity Wagner pecuniary in no danger Antenor Jolly, of being ruined.
de la Renaissance,
went
influenced
so
by
to
Meyerbeer's accept
was
the
"
far
as
French
translation
every into went
admirably
adapted
well,
to
the
music
; but when
thing
the
theatre
suddenly
overdrawn
his account
his overture also disappointed about having It was to " Faust played. rehearsed, but the musicians called it a long enigma, and refused to touch it. Another, " Polonia," he offered for a concert, arranged by entitled
a
Polish
princess.
This
came
overture
was
up
hands
in 1881.
in Palermo
of his wife's
birthday.
into the temple bound by one expected to mount him on He found confronting every side the of fame. lights of hedge thorny the misleading of poverty, intrigue, the fallacies of false friends. He
He revolt
was,
as
he the
expressed
it, in
state
against
artistic life of
Paris.
EICRAED
WAGNER.
529
Berlioz, "in
most
on
of friendship. pleasant experiences spite of his repellant nature," attracted him he knew. Berlioz the musicians whom
many
among
his
side
found
Wagner
"
superb
in
his
heart," and confessed that even him. Liszt was then to him
warmth
of
transported
an
objectof
with
no
While
he
was
thus
encompassed
absolutely to him, or
prospect
other
of
the
any
Meyerbeer
offered to help
opera
was
or
three
act
suggested; of
"
his idea
The
developed assistance
Fillet.
left Paris,
and
Pillet wanted
Wagner
composer opera !
to
part
whom
the libretto, to give to another with he had promised a chance at the grand he
About
the
this
time
was
Gazette Musicale,
and
novelettes,
semi-humorous
The
Pilgrimage
The
End
of
German
his own struggles vividly enough his dog ! In order to and immortalized with poverty, living, he underwent the most humiliating earn a scanty " for every drudgery, arrangements making musical which portrayed
he
imaginable
He
kind
of instrument,
conductor sing !
"
who
examined
him
declared
that
Rienzi,"
and
despatched
it to Dres-
530
RICHARD
WAGNER.
den, where it was by Meyerbeer. cordially recommended induced for five hundred Then he was francs to give up for the Opera; his scheme having more and nothing
urgent
on
hand,
he
hired
his
own
delight
on
his
still
fairly shouted
that the whole The version
was
for
w"as
joy,and
given
In
weeks. by Paul
Foucher
1842, and
these
of Weber's
"
by Berlioz to the requirements schutz" conformed of the Opera, which insisted on ballet; but as nearly as a possible in its pristine form. The clouds were for Dresden
beginning
; and
to lift.
"
Rienzi
"
was
accepted
in the
spring
shook
eyes,
off the dust of Paris, and with for the first time Rhine, saw "the
swore
"
German
Rhine,
"
and Rienzi
was
eternal fealty to his fatherland." October given for the first time on
20,
It showed the influences of the Italian school had but and of power passages of Meyerbeer, and It was with fine scenic effects, and produced promise. instantly made famous. It gave him Wagner the position 1842.
of
kapellmeister
at
the
royal
assured position with a salary of fifty dollars. It was no sinecure, as labors there would He brought show.
great operas besides his " The Flying Dutchman
"
out
number
of
own.
"
"
Wagner's
transition opera
Schroder-Devrient's
creation
of
E1CHARD
WAGNER.
531
Senta
was
regarded
as a
"
Schumann
but it was hailed by wonderful; " that German art signal of hope
as
Spohr called it " a masterpiece," would be emancipated. " Indeed/' said Wagner, at Cassel. and had it performed " kapellmeister Spohr was the only German who received labors to the my warmly, cherished and lovingly best of his ability, and in all circumstances remained friendly and faithful."
me
"
from unconf essed jealousy, perhaps " Rienzi," declared that Wagner could not speaking of four consecutive bars that are melodious, write or imagine
"
Yet
Schumann,
or
even
correct
!
out
"
When
he brought
Tannhauser
more
in 1845, and displayed fully, Schumann relented a that it contained much But with this began that
"
"
to Mendelssohn
and original." chorus of abuse from the critics that has not yet ceased. Auber, hearing it, said, " It is Berlioz without melody." In Paris a word was signifying to bore, se tannhauser,
deep
of 1848
broke
out, Wagner,
"
spirit
"
never
content,
new,"
and Liszt,
always
"was
devising
a
an
something
born
reformer,
undaunted
or
fire," took
in
active
was
part
in it;
insurrection he
Dresden
bayonets,
crushed by first he At
a
reward
was
In the printed description of this " dangerous height, with he is described as of medium
political," brown
nose
brow,
round
gray-blue chin,
quick
speech
and
gestures.
532
The
RICHARD
WAGNER.
Wagner's
new
opera
"
grin," Lohenat
the Revolution,
performed
Weimar. Thus Liszt's unselfish services in aid of the poor Wagner to Zurich, and while ing there, findwent
to
earn a
began
exile. it hard
money.
living, sometimes
asked
Liszt
for
Hence
the
ten
over
"
" has arisen the charge tude," ingratiof mad " But during the cry of the horse-leech !
years
that
three
money
Liszt deal
with
was
are some
only
twelve
bread. mind,"
personal he time
wayward,
human
correctly ; but he
on
said he, to help all others but himself." borrowed He not money alone from
"
Like
Christ
the
cross,"
Liszt
was
ready
Liszt.
In
1876
at
arm,
"
Bayreuth,
during
rehearsal, Wagner seized Liszt's dream-words, to Siegelind's said, theme that I got from you."
"
Good,"
It
was
at least
some
one
it."
"
at
the
a
beginning
Faust
Symphony."
Nearly
dozen
such
have
been
after the
performance
to the
on
Wagner
of that "unique
publicly and
Parsifal," of influence
"
his whole
career.
"When
was
discredited, Liszt
banished,"
came
he
to meet
being
and
my
"
have
faith in you.'
RICHARD
WAGNER.
533
Wagner think
wrote
to
Liszt
"
of thee, and
of thee
When
the
philosopher
to
see
of exile he seized his pen, and The world of music and art. super-eminent "a flashing time
that
"
forced
that
"
a
"
genius,"
as
Liszt
arisen,
see
at that
crown
of fire and
gold."
he worked theories, which out his revolutionary have given They to detail here would too long. occupy library of books. Never was rise to a whole revolution
in art made the himself Wagner Liszt
for
no even one
bitter warfare. And in his bitterness of spirit. led the van " in spite of him, His genius triumphed said : put more spoke than he himself in his own
subject of
more
put into shape the splendid drama, which is the most conception of the Niebelungen colossal structure that ever entered into the mind of man. Its base goes back before history began : its walls embrace
to
he
began
humanity
nature
and
its pinnacles tower Human to heaven. divine, art and religion, are comprehended
:
in it.
Such
for mate is the conception. legitiThere may be room divergences to its creation. Those as of opinion for the tickling melodies of Kossini, who of the Italian opera,
are
who
yearn
stirred by the concerted pieces find only cacophonies in Wagner's motives, and his accompanied For
see
only
wearisome
recitatives.
with
Wagner
as
was
occupied
wrote
usual,
he
the
534
"
"
RICHARD
WAGNER.
words,
bombastic
"
stuttering
and
"
of
alliteration
one
journeys.
to London
He
attack
opponent
Jew
in
well-known he took no
was
of Mendelssohn,
his
After
season
not
talk of his
was one
of Brazil
a
he
was
offered
position
in
of Bio
Janeiro.
In September,
the next
1859, he
year, he gave
They
on
music
new
war.
the
Opera
House,
when,
Metternich,
there.
Napoleon
Wagner have
poor
himself
took
general
succeeded
of the
given
for
the
And
13,
it
a
was
1861,
more
It was fiasco was never simply chronicled. remarkable Club ; and though drowned by the catcalls of the Jockey increasing brought following the two representations
up
was
to ten
thousand it
was
francs, and
the demand
immense,
withdrawn.,
Berlioz
BICHARD
WAGNEE.
535
wrote
his it.
son:
"The
for
me,
As
to Wagner's of late has the political opposition feelings. begun to yield to more generous music he left Paris in June, 1861, though burdened When
Only
free to return to Germany. with frightful debts, he was In order to procure His pardon was assured. Europe, he made tour through a concert cing produmoney, symphonies, and selections from chiefly Beethoven's
again
his
own
works. upwards
to
It
was
series of triumphs.
He
made
in Eussia
on
his
return
such as always marked extravagances, for royal apparel and His expenditures
his private
life.
silken tapestries, so great, that, after the failure of his he had to kapellmeister at Dresden,
Vienna
year
in 1863. This was and his creditors. fate brought to the throne of Bavaria the
II., a youth of nineteen, who summed visionary Ludwig " Word-tone-poetup Wagner's genius by calling him his him handsome Master." The King a gave residence,
and
in the a general overturn planned affairs of his capital. musical At his desire Wagner's great and opera, "Tristan legend, was Welsh Isolde," founded on a Keltic or performed
a
pension,
and
Hans
von
years
later, in
opera,
"The
Singers," in which
was
the old
also performed
It
was
written
in
Switzerland,
Wagner's
effort to establish a new his enemies, Munich; circulated the most when who declaring that he had outrageous libels about hiin, even
vain
after singing-school in
536
RICHARD
WAGNER.
let his wife starve to death,1 had practically driven him lavish gifts were from, the city. The King's a scandal It he in the community. was that estimated presented
hundred and fifty thousand with at least two florins. His greatest pleasure was to dress himself in On his lake at Starnberg, the costumes of the operas.
Wagner twenty
boat
The
like "Lohengrin's,"
man was
crazy ; but
Meantime should
answer
the making of Wagner. friends determined Wagner's under the most famous "Invitation"
be heard
to
his
they
thalers thousand raised three hundred and ideal theatre in the little Bavarian
of
Bay-
Here, so to speak, the Muses of Painting and reuth. to crown Architecture, of Poetry and Music, descended but genius-gifted priest in his Neo-Grecian their wayward immediately It was amphitheatre. Prussia War was that the corner-stone
after the Francolaid, on Wagner's
birthday
in 1872.
Beethoven's
"
Ninth
Symphony
"Kaiserand Wagner's the herald music of the occasion. and singers were musicians in a certain sense, to stand
her husband
at Dresden,
present.
1
Wagner
Wagner,
had
come,
Frau
an
ample
income,
had
allowed
her
January
25, 18C6.
The
"
relations always
she
tenderness
von
Cosima
It is said that affectionate. and cordial her he showed he boy, big was a treated him ; while which 25, 1870, he married filial and On August at once paternal." him, to meet declined first had Billow, Liszt's daughter, at who
between
like
her
"
four
daughters
and
joined
"
him
at place
Lucerne. in
1872,
She
became
ence pres-
Lutheran.
The
religious Von
to
took
in the
them
Liszt.
almost of
heart-broken,
the Future."
forgave
"
faithful
the
Music
He
Women,"
music
of life."
might
have
added,
"
They
have
discords."
pq
EICHARD
WAGNER.
537
And One
as
the
representative
were
of the
German
him
more
nation.
odious.
yet
never
Jew
that
bore the
was
a
name
of Puschinann,
declared
same
come
year dollars to
He
was
dollars
Exhibition.
generally
In August,
before
an
world, and
audience including
heads. and other crowned heard a part of the performance, but he cared little for music, and took his departure, a slight which the Grand forgive. Mogul King The of Bayreuth could not of Bavaria
at first insisted
on
from gathered all the of Brazil and Empress Emperor The of Germany
hearing
the
so alone, but the music sounded hall that he allowed an audience to be present, and twenty thousand additional were marks gained.
thus
The
orchestra,
a
under
the
direction
of Hans
Bichter
"ensemble" of interpreters, showed magnificent " the Music as it had at first been what of the Future," Bischoff, really was. by Ludwig derisively nicknamed All the decorations of the of the stage, the dresses
and
actors,
and
the
shade,
were
prepared
seemed
almost
to
turn
Wagner's
he
head.
on
In
answer
to the
thunders
a
of applause,
appeared
the stage
taste.
a speech which was of bad model He repaired the bad effects of it at a great subscription banquet on the nineteenth, at his own given
and
made
suggestion,
to
himself
and
the
great
artists
who
had
538
brought
meant
art.
RICHARD
WAGNER.
him
such
glory.
Here
he
explained
by saying that at last Germany was The next day a reception at Wagner's
"
"
what to have
he
an
(because
"
here
magnificent my illusions
of enthusiasm. hour.
a place, and again there was Liszt improvised and played for
of the third series of representations, on the thirtieth of August, a still more touching ceremony had a number took place, to commemorate which Wagner medals Ludwig had
to King struck off. One in gold was presented liberality alone the scheme II., through whose before had been made Kings by Warsucceeded.
At the end
this
being
the
was
unique decorated by
name
was
of
of a king already ! A memorial a stone, subject the principal actors in letters of It simply
instance
gold,
also
erected.
:
bore
above
the
script in-
the words
DER
KING
DES
NIEBELUNGEN
IM
ERSTE
AUFPUHRUNG
JAHRE
1876.
Wagner's
!
After
name
nowhere
appeared.
It
was
unnecessary
the
exertions
of the
festival, Wagner
went
to
an
He was Italy, and there received an ovation. made honorary member of the St. Cecilia, and at Bologna " Kienzi." was of his present at a fine performance
he
he found himself conhe returned to Bayreuth, fronted by the fact that the great success of the festival had resulted in a deficit of over one hundred and twenty-
When
five thousand
Wagner
with
Hans
series of concerts.
RICHARD
WAGNER.
539
place in May, but in spite of the immense for the enorinterest which mous they excited, the expenses so heavy sand not less than sixty thouorchestra were
They took
"
pounds
seven
"
that they
brought
profit of only
about
hundred
Meantime,
"
Parsifal
"
"
last work
at Palermo
his on working his drama the solemn of the Holy Grail " his musical It was finally finished will." It was first presented in January, 1882. at
was
"
"
Bayreuth,
on
the
twenty-eighth performances,
of June,
and
a
was
lowed folof
by
seventy-five who
sixteen
thousand
bringing
profit
had
predicted
marks, and silencing the croakers It guaranteed failure. the future of had been closed since 1876. and his family,
by
the in
Venice
with
settled
troubled
February he
to
heart-disease
as a
asthma.
On
Monday,
gondola,
13, 1883,
way
to
gave
all excitement.
up sprang the doctor
was warning ill," and crying, "I feel very he was dead in the arms came,
The
warned in vain. He
avoid
who
to
have
state
funeral, His
but
his
widow,
remains,
who by escorted
were
was
inconsolable,
objected.
on
societies,
at Verona,
taken
Wagnerian
the way
Botzen,
Innspruck, and
Munich.
was was
After
solemn
buried. Wagner
is said
to
have
received
two
hundred
and
540
forty thousand
EICHAED
WAGNER.
" as Parsifal/' marks copyright for and if have he had been wise in saving he would left a large fortune. But he spent lavishly, foolishly, on personal
He died poor. and delicate furnishings. adornments had As a As an genius. artist Wagner unequalled temperate, man, though generous, usual and virtuous to an un-
he was faults : extraordinary egotistical and proud, prone to fierce enmities ; he went A living paradox in everything. to extremes : impatient, degree, he also had
"
nervous, more
irritable
noble
more
friends
hated. notable
and
most
and Taken
made
man
ML
Dole,
390
v.2-
ML
390
v.2
Dole,
Nathan
Haskell
Famous
composers